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RIEBER  HALL  LIBRARY 


THE 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 


OP  THE 


ROMAN  EMPIRE. 

By  EDWABD  GIBBON,  Esq. 

WITH    NOTES, 
By  the  Eev.  H.   H.  MILMAN, 

PREBENDARY   OF    ST.  PETER'S,  AND    RECTOR    OF    ST.  MARGARET'S,    WESTMINSTER. 

fs.      NEW      ^DITION, 
TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 

A   COMPLETE  INDEX  OF  THE  WHOLE  WORK. 

IN    SIX    VOLUMES. 
VOL.  III. 


PHILADELPHIA-. 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO., 

1880. 


Rieber  Hall, 
Library 

CONTENTS 

OF    THE    THIRD    VOLUME. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

BANNERS  OP  THE  PASTORAL  NATIONS.  —  PROGRESS  OP  THE  HUNS  PRO* 
CHINA  TO  EUROPE.  —  FLIGHT  OP  THE  GOTHS. THEY  PASS  THE  DAN- 
UBE.—  GOTHIC  WAR.  —  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OP  VALENS.  —  GRATIAN 
INVESTS  THEODOSIUS  WITH  THE  EASTERN  EMPIRE.  —  HIS  CHARACTER 
AND    SUCCESS.  —  PEACE    AND   SETTLEMENT   OF   THE   GOTHS. 

4..  D.  PAGE. 

365.     Earthquakes, 1 

376.     The  Huns  and  Goths, 3 

The  pastoral  Manners  of  the  Scythians,  or  Tartars, 3 

Diet, 5 

Habitations, 6 

Exercises, 8 

Government, .' 10 

Situation  and  Extent  of  Scythia,  or  Tartary,. 12 

Original  Seat  of  the  Huns, 15 

Their  Conquests  in  Scythia, 16 

A.  C. 

201.     Their  Wars  with  the  Chinese, 18 

141—87.     Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Huns, 19 

A.  D. 

100.     Their  Emigrations, 21 

The  White  Huns  of  Sogdiana, 22 

The  Huns  of  the  Volga, 23 

Their  Conquest  of  the  Alani, 24 

375.  Their  Victories  over  the  Goths, 26 

376.  The  Goths  implore  the  Protection  of  Valens, 29 

They  are  transported  over  the  Danube  into  the  Roman  Empire,.  31 

Their  Distress  and  Discontent 34 

Iteyolt  of  the  Goths  in  Majsia,  and  their  first  Victories, 36 

They  penetrate  into  Thrace, 38 


iv  CONTENTS. 

».  D  r»aa 

877-    Operations  of  the  Gothic  War, 40 

Union  of  t.ie  Goths  with  the  Huns,  Alani,  &c 4i 

378.  Victory  of  Gratian  over  the  Alemanni, 44 

Valens  marches  against  the  Goths, 46 

Battle  of  Hadrianople, 49 

The  Defeat  of  the  Romans 49 

Death  of  the  Emperor  Valens, 60 

Funeral  Oration  of  Valens  and  his  Army 61 

The  Goths  besiege  Hadrianople, 62 

878,  379.     They  ravage  the  Roman  Provinces, 54 

37S.    Massacre  of  the  Gothic  Youth  in  Asia, 66 

379.  The  Emperor  Gratian  invests  Theodosius  with  the  Empire  of  the 

East, 66 

Birth  and  Character  of  Theodosius 58 

379 — 382.    His  prudent  and  successful  Conduct  of  the  Gothic  War,....  60 

Divisions,  Defeat,  and  Submission  of  the  Goths, 63 

381.    Death  and  Funeral  of  Athanaric 64 

S86.    Invasion  and  Defeat  of  the  Gruthungi,  or  Ostrogoths, 66 

383—395.     Settlement  of  the  Goths  in  Thrace  and  Asia 68 

Their  hostile  Sentiments, 70 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

DEATH  OF  GRATIAN.  —  RUIN  OF  ARIANISM. — ST.  AMBROSE.  —  FIRST  CIVIL 
WAR  AGAINST  MAXIMUS.  —  CHARACTER,  ADMINISTRATION,  AND  PEN- 
ANCE OF  THEODOSIUS.  —  DEATH  OF  VALENTINIAN  II. — SECOND  CIVIL 
WAR   AGAINST   EUOENIUS. — DEATH   OF  THEODOSIUS. 

879 — 383.     Character  and  Conduct  of  the  Emperor  Gratian 72 

His  Defects 72 

883.    Discontent  of  the  Roman  Troops, 74 

Revolt  of  Maximus  in  Britain, 75 

883.    Flight  and  Death  of  Gratian, 76 

383—387.    Treaty  of  Peace  between  Maximus  and  Theodosius 78 

880.  Baptism  and  Orthodox  Edicts  of  Theodosius, 80 

840 — 380.    Arianism  of  Constantinople, 82 

878.    Gregory  Nazianzen  accepts  the  Mission  of  Constantinople 83 

380.    Ruin  of  Arianism  at  Constantinople, 86 

881.  Ruin  of  Arianism  in  the  East, 87 

The  Council  of  Constantinople, 88 

Retreat  of  Gregory  Nazianzen 90 

880 — 394.    Edicts  of  Theodosius  against  the  Heretics 91 

885.    Execution  of  Priscillian  and  his  Associates 93 

174 — 397-    Ambrose,  Archbishop  of  Milan 96 


CONTENTS.  f 

I      O  "OB, 

386     His  successful  Opposition  to  the  Empress  Justina, 97 

887.    Maxhnus  invades  Italy, 103 

Flight  of  Valentinian, 103 

Theodosius  takes  Arms  in  the  Cause  of  Valentinian, 103 

188.    Defeat  and  Death  of  Maximus, 105 

Virtues  of  Theodosius, *  107 

Faults  of  Theodosius, •••  109 

387.    The  Sedition  of  Antioch, 110 

Clemency  of  Theodosius, 112 

390.    Sedition  and  Massacre  of  Thessalonica, US 

380.    Influence  and  Conduct  of  Ambrose, 115 

390.  Penance  of  Theodosius, 116 

388—391.    Generosity  of  Theodosius, US 

391.  Character  of  Valentinian 119 

392.  His  Death 121 

392 — 394.    Usurpation  of  Eugenius 121 

Theodosius  prepares  for  War, 122 

394.  His  Victory  over  Eugenius 124 

395.  Death  of  Theodosius 127 

Corruption  of  the  Times 128 

The  Infantry  lay  aside  their  Armor, 129 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

FINAL   DESTRUCTION    OF    PAGANISM.  —  INTRODUCTION    OF    THE   WORSHW 
OE  SAINTS    AND   RELICS   AMONG   THE    CHRISTIANS. 

378—395.    The  Destruction  of  the  Pagan  Religion 131 

State  of  Paganism  at  Rome, • 132 

384.    Petition  of  the  Senate  for  the  Altar  of  Victory, 134 

388  Conversion  of  Rome, 136 

381.    Destruction  of  the  Temples  in  the  Provinces, 139 

The  Temple  of  Serapis  at  Alexandria, 143 

389  Its  final  Destruction, 144 

390.    The  Pagan  Religion  is  prohibited 148 

Oppressed, 150 

590-420.    Finally  extinguished, 152 

The  Worship  of  the  Christian  Martyrs, 155 

General  Reflections 157 

I.  Fabulous  Martyrs  and  Relics, 157 

II.  Miracles, 158 

III.  Revival  of  Polytheism 15* 

IV.  Introduction  of  Pagan  Ceremonies, 161 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

RNAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  BETWEEN  THE  SONS  OF  THRO 
DOSIUS. —  REIGN  OF  ARCADIUS  AND  HONORIUS.  —  ADMIN  ISTRATIOK 
Q#"  RUFINUS  AND  STILICHO.  —  REVOLT  AND  DEFEAT  OF  OILDO  IN 
AFRICA. 

A.  D.  no: 

395.    Division  of  the  Empire  between  Arcadius  and  Honorius 164 

386 — 395.    Character  and  Administration  of  Rufinus, 165 

395.    He  oppresses  the  East, 163 

He  is  disappointed  by  the  Marriage  of  Arcadius, 171 

Character  of  Stilicho,  the  Minister  and  General  of  the  "Western 

Empire, 173 

385—408.    His  Military  Command 174 

395.    TheFall  and  Death  of  Rufinus 176 

396     Discord  of  the  two  Empires, 178 

386   -393.     Revolt  of  Gildo  in  Africa, 180 

397.  He  is  condemned  by  the  Roman  Senate 182 

398.  The  African  War, 183 

398.    Defeat  and  Death  of  Gildo, 185 

3S8.    Marriage  and  Character  of  Honorius, 187 


CHAPTER     XXX 

REVOLT  OF  THE  GOTHS. — THEY  PLUNDER  GREECE. — TWO  GREAT  INVA- 
SIONS 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. 

895.  Revolt  of  the  Goths, 190 

896.  Alaric  marches  into  Greece, 192 

897.  He  is  attacked  by  Stilicho, 195 

Escapes  to  Epirus, 196 

898.  Alaric  is  declared  Master-General  of  the  Eastern  Illyricum 197 

Is  proclaimed  King  of  the  Visigoths, 199 

400-403.  He  invades  Italy 199 

403.    Honorius  flies  from  Milan, 201 

He  is  pursued  and  besieged  by  the  Goths 203 

403.    Battle  of  Pollentia, 206 

Boldness  and  Retreat  of  Alaric, 206 

404     The  Triumph  of  Honorius  at  Rome, 208 

The  Gladiators  abolished, 209 

HoDOffioa  fixes  his  Residence  at  Ravenna, 211 


CONTENTS.  VU 

fc.  »  mob. 

400.    The  Revolutions  of  Scythia, 213 

406.    Emigration  of  the  Northern  Germans, 214 

406.  Radagaisus  invades  Italj', 216 

Radagaisus  besieges  Florence •  217 

Radagaisus  threatens  Rome 218 

s0€.    Defeat  and  Destruction  of  his  Army  by  Stilicho 218 

The  Remainder  of  the  Germans  invade  Gaul, 221 

407.  Desolation  of  Gaul 22« 

Revolt  of  the  British  Army 223 

Constantine  is  acknowledged  in  Britain  and  Gaul, 226 

408.  He  reduces  Spain, 227 

404—408.    Negotiation  of  Alaric  and  Stilicho 229 

408.    Debates  of  the  Roman  Senate, 230 

Intrigues  of  the  Palace, 232 

408.    Disgrace  and  Death  of  Stilicho 232 

His  Memory  persecuted, 23S 

The  Poet  Claudian  among  the  Train  of  Stilicho's  Dependants,..  237 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

INVASION  OF  ITALY  BY  ALARIC.  —  MANNERS  OF  THE  ROMAN  8ENATB 
AND  PEOPLE.  —  ROME  IS  THRICE  BESIEGED,  AND  AT  LENGTH  PIL- 
LAGED BY  THE  GOTHS.  —  DEATH  OF  ALARIC. — THE  GOTHS  EVACUATB 
ITALY.  —  FALL  OF  CONSTANTINE.  —  GAUL  AND  SPAIN  ARE  OCCUPIED 
BY  THE    BARBARIANS.  —  INDEPENDENCE   OF   BRITAIN. 

408.    Weakness  of  the  Court  of  Ravenna, 241 

Alaric  marches  to  Rome, 242 

Hannibal  at  the  Gates  of  Rome 244 

Genealogy  of  the  Senators, 246 

The  Anician  Family, 247 

Wealth  of  the  Roman  Nobles, 24C 

Their  Manners, 251 

Character  of  the  Roman  Nobles,  by  Ammianus  Marcellinus, . . . .  252 

State  and  Character  of  the  People  of  Rome, 2-59 

Public  Distribution  of  Bread,  Bacon,  Oil,  Wine,  &c., 261 

Use  of  the  public  Baths 262 

Games  and  Spectacles, 263 

Populousness  of  Rome 265 

toa    First  Siege  of  Rome  by  the  Goths, 268 

Famine, 289 

Plague, 270 

Superstition • • 270 

4M>.    Alarie  accepts  a  Ransom,  and  raises  the  Siege, ••  271 


nn  CONTENTS. 

Fruitless  Negotiations  for  Peace, 273 

Change  and  Succession  of  Ministers, 274 

409.  Second  Siege  of  Rome  by  the  Goths 277 

Attalus  is  created  Emperor  by  the  Goths  and  Romans, 278 

110.    He  is  degraded  by  Alaric, 280 

Third  Siege  and  Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths, 281 

Respect  of  the  Goths  for  the  Christian  Religion, 282 

Pillage  and  Fire  of  Rome .■ 284 

Captives  and  Fugitives, 287 

Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Troops  of  Charles  V., 239 

410.  Alaric  evacuates  Rome,  and  ravages  Italy, 291 

408—412.    Possession  of  Italy  by  the  Goths 293 

410.  Death  of  Alaric, 294 

412.  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Goths,  concludes  a  Peace  with  the  Em- 

pire, and  marches  into  Gaul, .' 294 

414.    His  Marriage  with  Placidia, 296 

The  Gothic  Treasures, 298 

410 — 417.    Laws  for  the  Relief  of  Italy  and  Rome, 299 

413.  Revolt  and  Defeat  of  Heraclian,  Count  of  Africa, 300 

409^13.    Revolutions  of  Gaul  and  Spain, 302 

Character  and  Victories  of  the  General  Constantius, 303 

411.  Death  of  the  Usurper  Constantine, 305 

411 — 416.    Fall  of  the  Usurpers,  Jovinus,  Sebastian,  and  Attalus, ....  305 
409.    Invasion  of  Spain  by  the  Sueva,  Vandals,  Alani,  &c. 307 

414.  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Goths,  marches  into  Spain, 309 

415.  His  Death 310 

415—418.    The  Goths  conquer  and  restore  Spain, 311 

419.  Their  Establishment  in  Aqui tain, 312 

The  Burgundians, 313 

420,  &c.    State  of  the  Barbarians  in  Gaul, 314 

409.    Revolt  of  Britain  and  Armorica 315 

409—449.    State  of  Britain, 317 

418.    Assembly  of  the  Seven  Provinces  of  Gaul, 320 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

«.HCADrUS  EMPEROR  OF  THE  EAST.  —  ADMINISTRATION  AND  DISORACH 
OP  EUTROPIUS. —  REVOLT  OF  OAINAS. — PERSECUTION  OF  ST.  JOHN 
CHRTSOSTOM.  —  THEODOSIUS  II.  EMPEROR  OF  THE  EAST.  —  HIS  SISTER 
PDLCHERIA.  —  HIS  WIFE  EUDOCIA. — THE  PERSIAN  WAR,  AND  DIVIS- 
ION  OP  ARMENIA. 

J85— 1453.    The  Empire  of  the  East 322 

»5— 408.    Reign  of  Arcadius, 329 


CONTENTS.  a 

»•  B,  riau. 

996 — 399.    Administration  and  Character  of  Eutropius 324 

His  Venality  and  Injustice 32? 

Ruin  of  Abundantius 327 

Destruction  of  Timasius, 328 

397.  A  cruel  and  unjust  Law  of  Treason, 329 

399.  Rebellion  of  Tribigild, 331 

Fall  of  Eutropius 334 

400.  Conspiracy  and  Fall  of  Gainas 336 

398.  Election  and  Merit  of  St.  John  Chrysostom, 339 

398 — 403.    His  Administration  and  Defects, 34' 

403.  Chrysostom  is  persecuted  by  the  Empress  Eudoxia, 34b 

Popular  Tumults  at  Constantinople, 344 

404.  Exile  of  Chrysostom, 346 

407.  His  Death, 347 

438.    His  Relics  transported  to  Constantinople, 347 

408.  Death  of  Arcadius, 347 

His  supposed  Testament, 349 

40S — 415.    Administration  of  Anthemius, 349 

41  i — 453.    Character  and  Administration  of  Pulcheria, 351 

Education  and  Character  of  Theodosius  the  Younger, 353 

421 — 460.    Character  and  Adventures  of  the  Empress  Eudocia 854 

422.    The  Persian  War 357 

431 — 440.    Armenia  divided  between  the  Persians  and  the  Romans,..  359 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

DEATH  OF  HONORIU8.  —  VALENTINIAN  III.  EMPEROR  OP  THE  WEST.  — 
ADMINISTRATION  OF  HIS  MOTHER  PLACIDIA.  —  .BTIUS  AND  BONIFACE. 
—  CONQUEST  OF  AFRICA   BY   THE   VANDALS. 

423.    Last  Years  and  Death  of  Honorius, 363 

423—425.    Elevation  and  Fall  of  the  Usurper  John, 364 

425-^55.    Valentinian  III.  Emperor  of  the  West, 365 

425 — 450.    Administration  of  his  Mother  Placidia, 367 

Her  two  Generals.  ^Etius  and  Boniface, 367 

427.  Error  and  Revolt  of  Boniface  in  Africa, 369 

428.  He  invites  the  Vandals ,.  369 

Genseric  King  of  the  Vandals, 370 

429.  He  lands  in  Africa, S71 

Reviews  his  Army 371 

The  Moors, 372 

The  Donatists, 372 

430.  Tardy  Repentance  of  Boniface,   ?74 

54* 


8  CONTENTS. 

Desolation  of  Africa, 874 

430.    Piege  of  Hippo 37* 

430.  Death  of  St.  Augustin, 376 

431.  Defeat  and  Retreat  of  Boniface, 377 

432.  His  Death, 378 

431--439.    Progress  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa 379 

439.    They  surprise  Carthage, •••  360 

African  Exiles  and  Captives, • 381 

Fable  of  the  Seven  Sleepers 383 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

THE  CHARACTER,  CONQUEST8,  AND  COURT  OP  ATTILA,  KINO  OP  THE 
HUNS.  —  DEATH  OP  THEODOSIUS  THE  YOUNGER.  —  ELEVATION  OP 
MARCIAN  TO   THE   EMPIRE   OF  THE   EAST. 

376-433.    TheHuns, 386 

Their  Establishment  in  modern  Hungary 386 

433—453.    Reign  of  Attila 388 

His  Figure  and  Character, 389 

He  discovers  the  Sword  of  Mars, 390 

Acquires  the  Empire  of  Scy thia  and  Germany, 391 

430—440.    The  Huns  invade  Persia, 392 

441,  &c.    They  attack  the  Eastern  Empire >....  394 

Ravage  Europe  as  far  as  Constantinople 396 

The  Scythian  or  Tartar  Wars 397 

State  of  the  Captives, 399 

446.    Treaty  of  Peace  between  Attila  and  the  Eastern  Empire, 401 

Spirit  of  the  Azimuntines, 403 

Embassies  from  Attila  to  Constantinople, 404 

448.    The  Embassy  of  Maximin  to  Attila, 406 

The  royal  Village  and  Palace 409 

The  Behavior  of  Attila  to  the  Raman  Ambassadors, 411 

The  royal  Feast, 412 

Conspiracy  of  the  Romans  against  the  Life  of  Attila, 416 

He  reprimands  and  forgives  the  Emperor, 417 

450.    Theodosius  the  Younger  dies 418 

Is  succeeded  by  Marcian, 419 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

INVASION  OF  GAUL  BY  ATTILA.  —  HE  IS  REPULSED  BY  JETIUS  AND  TBJi 
VI8IOOTHS. —  ATTILA  INVADES  AND  EVACUATES  ITALY. — THE  DBA.THB 
OP  ATTILA,   JiTIUS,    AND  VALENTINIAN   III. 

«,   D.  'AGS. 

450.    Attila  threatens  both  Empires,  and  prepares  to  invade  Gaul 429 

435—454.    Character  and  Administration  of  iEtius, 421 

His  Connection  with  the  Huns  and  Alani,. ..." 425 

419-  451.    The  Visigoths  in  Gaul  under  the  Reign  of  Theodoric,  ....  425 
435-   439.    The  Goths  besiege  Narbonne,  &c.,..'. 425 

420-  451.    The  Franks  in  Gaul  under  the  Merovingian  Kings 428 

The  Adventures  of  the  Princess  Honoria 431 

451  Attila  invades  Gaul,  and  besieges  Orleans, 433 

Alliance  of  the  Romans  and  Visigoths 435 

Attila  retires  to  the  Plains  of  Champagne 437 

Battle  of  Chalons, 439 

Retreat  of  Attila 441 

452  Invasion  of  Italy  by  Attila, 443 

Foundation  of  the  Republic  of  Venice, 446 

Attila  gives  Peace  to  the  Romans, 448 

45H.    The  Death  of  Attila, 451 

Destruction  of  his  Empire, 452 

454.  Valentinian  murders  the  Patrician  ^Etius, 454 

Valentinian  ravishes  the  Wife  of  Maximus, 456 

455.  Death  of  Valentinian, 457 

Symptoms  of  the  Decay  and  Ruin  of  the  Roman  Government,. .  457 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

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,  OLYBKIU8,  GLY- 
CERIUS,  NEPOS,  AUGUSTULUS.  —  TOTAL  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  WESTERN 
EMPIRE.  —  REIGN  OF  ODOACER,  THE  FIRST  BARBARIAN  KING  OP 
ITALY. 


439_445.    Naval  Power  of  the  Vandals, «   459 

455.    The  Character  and  Reign  of  the  Emperor  Maximus, 460 

455.    His  Death, 46* 

455.    Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Vandals, 463 

The  Emperor  Avitus 465 

460 — 406.    Character  of  Theodorio,  King  of  the  Visigotns 467 


JU1  CONTENTS. 

«~  »                                                                                                                         man, 
456.    His  Expedition  into  Spain, 468 

456.  Avitus  is  deposed, 471 

467.  Character  and  Elevation  of  Majorian, 473 

467—461.    His  salutary  Laws 47« 

The  Edifices  of  Rome, 478 

457.  Majorian  prepares  to  invade  Africa, 479 

The  Loss  of  his  Fleet, 483 

461.  His  Death, , 483 

461 — 467.    Ricimer  reigns  under  the  Name  of  Severus, 484 

Revolt  of  Marce-llinus  in  Dalmatia, 484 

Revolt  of  JSgidius  in  Gaul, 48o 

461—467.    Naval  War  of  the  Vandals, 486 

462,  &c.    Negotiations  with  the  Eastern  Empire, 487 

457—474.    Leo,  Emperor  of  the  East, 488 

467—472.    Anthemius,  Emperor  of  the  West, 490 

The  Festival  of  the  Lupercalia, 492 

468.  Preparations  against  the  Vandals  of  Africa, 494 

Failure  of  the  Expedition, 496 

462 — 472.    Conquests  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain  and  Gaul, 498 

468.    Trial  of  Arvandus, 500 

471.  Discord  of  Anthemius  and  Ricimer 502 

472.  Olybrius,  Emperor  of  the  West 504 

472.    Sack  of  Rome,  and  Death  of  Anthemius, 505 

Death  of  Ricimer, 506 

Death  of  Olybrius, 506 

472 — 475.    Julius  Nepos  and  Glycerius,  Emperors  of  the  West, 507 

475.  The  Patrician  Orestes, 508 

476.  His  Son  Augustulus,  the  last  Emperor  of  the  West, 509 

476-490.    Odoacer,  King  of  Italy, 510 

476  or  479.    Extinction  of  the  Western  Empire, 512 

Augustulus  is  banished  to  the  Lucullan  Villa 513 

Decay  of  the  Roman  Spirit, 615 

476—490.    Character  and  Reign  of  Odoacer 516 

Miserable  State  of  Italy, 617 


CHAPTER     AAXVu. 

OHIOIN,  PROGRESS,  AND  EFFECTS  OF  THE  MONASTIC  LIFE. — CONVERSES 
OF  THE  BARBARIANS  TO  CHRISTIANITY  AND  ARIANISM.  —  PERSECU- 
TION OP  THE  VANDALS  IN  AFRICA. — EXTINCTION  OP  ARIANISM 
AMONG  THE   BARBARIANS. 

I.  Institution  of  the  Monastic  Life, 520 

Origin  of  the  Monks 620 


CONTENTS.  XU1 

*    o  nut. 

BOS.    Antony,  and  the  Monks  of  Egypt 622 

841.    Propagation  of  the  Monastic  Life  at  Rome 524 

321.    Hilarion  in  Palestine, 524 

360.   Basil  in  Pontus, 624 

8?0,    Martin  in  Gaul 626 

Causes  of  *he  rapid  Progress  of  the  Monastic  Life 626 

Obedience  af  the  Monks, 528 

Their  Dress  and  Habitations, 53C 

Their  Diet 631 

Their  manual  Labor 63? 

Their  Riches 633 

Their  Solitude, 53£ 

Their  Devotion  and  Visions 536 

The  Coenobites  and  Anachorets, 537 

395-451.    Simeon  Stylites, 538 

Miracles  and  Worship  of  the  Monks, 539 

Superstition  of  the  Age, 540 

II.    Conversion  of  the  Barbarians, 540 

360,  &c.    Ulphilas,  Apostle  of  the  Goths 541 

400,  &c.    The  Goths,  Vandals,  Burgundians,  &c,  embrace  Christianity,  543 

Motives  of  their  Faith 543 

Effects  of  their  Conversion, , 545 

They  are  involved  in  the  Arian  Heresy, 546 

General  Toleration, 548 

Arian  Persecution  of  the  Vandals, 548 

429—477.    Genseric 548 

177.    Hunneric 649 

484.    Gundamund, 549 

496.    Thrasimund 549 

523.    Hilderic 549 

630.    Gelimer, 549 

A  general  View  of  the  Persecution  in  Africa ,    550 

Catholic  Frauds 555 

Miracles, 557 

f-90  —700.    The  Ruin  of  Ananism  among  the  Barbarians, 659 

«*77 — 584.    Revolt  and  Martyrdom  of  Hermenegild  in  Spain, 5&d 

586   -589.    Conversion  of  Recared  and  the  Visigoths  of  Spain, 660 

600  &c.    Conversion  of  the  Lombards  of  Italy, 562 

512-712.  Persecution  of  the  Jews  in  Spain, Wv* 

Conclusion,  . ,  564 


MP  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

SXtON  AND  CONVERSION  OF  CLOVIS. —  HIS  VICTOHIE8  OVER  THE  4LE- 
MANNI,  BUKOUNDIANS,  AND  VISIOOTH8.  —  ESTABLISHMENT  OP  JTHB 
FRENCH  MONARCHY  IN  GAUL.  —  LAWS  OF  THE  BARBARIANS. — STATB 
OF  THE  ROMANS.  — THE  VISIGOTHS  OF  SPAIN.  —  CONQUEST  OF  B37TA1N 
BT  THE   SAXONS. 

*.   t»  »»«■• 

The  Revolution  of  Gaul, 566 

476—485.    Euric.Kingof  the  Visigoths, 567 

481—511.    Clovis,  King  of  the  Franks, 568 

486.    His  Victory  over  Syagrius, 570 

496.    Defeat  and  Submission  of  the  Alemanni, 572 

496.  Conversion  of  Clovis, 573 

497,  &c    Submission  of  the  Armoricans  and  the  Roman  Troops, 576 

499.    The  Burgundian  War, 578 

600.    Victoryof  Clovis, 579 

632.    Final  Conquest  of  Burgundy  by  the  Franks 580 

607.  The  Gothic  War 581 

Victory  of  Clovis, 583 

608.  Conquest  of  Aquitain  by  the  Franks 585 

610.    Consulship  of  Clovis, 587 

636.    Final  Establishment  of  the  French  Monarchy  in  Gaul 587 

Political  Controversy, ' 589 

Laws  of  the  Barbarians, 590 

Pecuniary  Fines  for  Homicide 593 

Judgments  of  God, 695 

Judicial  Combats, , 596 

Division  of  Land  by  the  Barbarians 597 

Domain  and  Benefices  of  the  Merovingians, 599 

Private  Usurpations • 601 

Personal  Servitude 602 

Example  of  Auvergne, 604 

Story  of  Attalus, 606 

Privileges  of  the  Romans  in  Gaul 608 

Anarchy  of  the  Franks 610 

The  Visigoths  of  Spain, 6W 

Legislative  Assemblies  of  Spain 612 

Code  of  the  Visigoths 6l4 

Revolution  of  Britain, 615 

449.    Descent  of  the  Saxons, 618 

165—682.    Establishment  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy, 617 

State  of  the  Britons, fiW 

Their  Resistance, 62° 


CONTENTS.  XV 

A       D.  PAGE. 

Their  Flight, -..  620 

The  Fame  of  Arthur, 622 

Desolation  of  Britain, 624 

Servitude  of  the  Britons, 626 

Manners  of  the  Britons, 628 

Obscure  or  fabulous  State  of  Britain 629 

Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  West, 631 

SajTBiiaL  Observations  on  the  Fall   o»  the   Roman   Emplrb 

tn  thh  West f ........  633 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 


OF    THE 


ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

MANNERS  OF  THE  PASTORAL  NATIONS.  —  PROGRESS  OP  THJJ 
HUNS,  FROM  CHINA  TO  EUROPE.  —  FLIGHT  OF  THE  GOTHS. 
—  THEY  PASS  THE  DANUBE.  —  GOTHIC  WAR.  —  DEFEAT  AND 
DEATH  OF  VALENS.  —  GRATIAN  INVESTS  THEODOSIUS  WITH 

THE  EASTERN  EMPIRE. HIS  CHARACTER  AND  SUCCESS. 

PEACE  AND  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  GOTHS. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Valentinian  and  Valeng, 
Dn  the  morning  of  the  twenty-first  day  of  July,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Roman  world  was  shaken  by  a  violent  and  de- 
structive earthquake.  The  impression  was  communicated  to 
the  waters ;  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  were  left  dry, 
by  the  sudden  retreat  of  the  sea ;  great  quantities  of  fish 
were  caught  with  the  hand ;  large  vessels  were  stranded  on, 
the  mud;  and  a  curious  spectator1  amused  his  eye,  or  rather 
his  fancy,  by  contemplating  the  various  appearance  of  valleys 
and  mountains,  which  had  never,  since  the  formation  of  the 

1  Such  is  the  bad  taste  of  Ammianus,  (xxvi.  10,)  that  it  is  not 
easy  to  distinguish  his  facts  from  his  metaphors.  Yet  lie  positively 
affirms,  that  he  6aw  the  rotten  carcass  of  a  ship,  ad  secundum  lapir 
4cm,  at  Mothone,  or  Modon,  in  Peloponnesus. 

1 


2  TKE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

globe,  been  exposed  to  the  sun.  But  the  tide  soon  returned, 
with  the  weight  of  an  immense  and  irresistible  deluge,  which 
was  severely  felt  on  the  coasts  of  Sicily,  of  Dalmatia,  of 
Greece,  and  of  Egypt :  large  boats  were  transported,  and 
lodged  on  the  roofs  of  houses,  or  at  the  distance  of  two  miles 
from  the  shore  ;  the  people,  with  their  habitations,  were  swept 
away  by  the  waters ;  and  the  city  of  Alexandria  annually 
commemorated  the  fatal  day,  on  which  fifty  thousand  persona 
had  lost  their  lives  in  the  inundation.  This  calamity,  the 
report  of  which  was  magnified  from  one  province  to  another, 
astonished  and  terrified  the  subjects  of  Rome ;  and  their 
affrighted  imagination  enlarged  the  real  extent  of  a  moment- 
ary evil.  They  recollected  the  preceding  earthquakes,  which 
had  subverted  the  cities  of  Palestine  and  Bithynia :  they  con 
sidered  these  alarming  strokes  as  the  prelude  only  of  still 
more  dreadful  calamities,  and  their  fearful  vanity  was  dis- 
posed to  confound  the  symptoms  of  a  declining  empire  and  a 
sinking  world.2  It  was  the  fashion  of  the  times  to  attribute 
every  remarkable  event  to  the  particular  will  of  the  Deity ; 
the  alterations  of  nature  were  connected,  by  an  invisible 
chain,  with  the  moral  and  metaphysical  opinions  of  the 
human  mind  ;  and  the  most  sagacious  divines  could  distin 
guish,  according  to  the  color  of  their  respective  prejudices, 
that  the  establishment  of  heresy  tended  to  produce  an  earth- 
quake ;  or  that  a  deluge  was  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
the  progress  of  sin  and  error.  Without  presuming  to  discuss 
the  truth  or  propriety  of  these  lofty  speculations,  the  nistorian 
may  content  himself  with  an  observation,  which  seems  to  be 
justified  by  experience,  that  man  has  much  more  to  fear  from 
the  passions  of  his  fellow-creatures,  than  from  the  convulsions 
of  the  elements.3  The  mischievous  effects  of  an  earthquake, 
or  deluge,  a  hurricane,  or  the  eruption  of  a  volcano,  bear  a 
very  inconsiderable  proportion  to  the  ordinary  calamities  of 

8  Tiie  earthquakes  and  inundations  are  variously  described  by 
I/ibanius,  (Orat.  de  ulciscenda  JuUani  nece,  c.  x.,  in  Fabricius,  Bibl. 
Grsec.  torn.  vii.  p.  158,  with  a  learned  note  of  Olcarius,)  Zosimus, 
(1.  iv.  p.  221,)  Sozomen,  (1.  vi.  c.  2,)  Ccdrenus,  (p.  310,  314,)  and 
Jerom,  (in  Chron.  p.  186,  and  torn.  i.  p.  2.50,  in  Vit.  Hilarion.)  Epi- 
daurus  must  have  been  overwhelmed,  had  not  the  prudent  citizens 
placed  St.  Hilarion,  an  Egyptian  monk,  on  the  beach.  He  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  :  the  mountain-wave  stopped,  bowed,  and  returned. 

3  Dicasarchus,  the  Peripatetic,  composed  a  formal  treatise,  to  prove 
this  obvious  truth  ;  which  is  not  the  nost  honorable  to  the  humaD 
species.     (Cicero,  de  Officiis,  ii.  5.) 


OF    THE    RGM^N    EMPIRE.  3 

war,  as  they  are  now  moderated  by  the  prudence  or  humanity 
of  the  princes  of  Europe,  who  amuse  their  own  leisure,  and 
exercise  the  courage  of  their  subjects,  in  the  practice  of  the 
military  art.  But  the  laws  and  manners  of  modern  nations 
protect  the  safety  and  freedom  of  the  vanquished  soldier  ;  and 
the  peaceful  citizen  has  seldom  reason  to  complain,  that  hi? 
life,  or  even  his  fortune,  is  exposed  to  the  rage  of  war.  In 
the  disastrous  period  of  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  which 
may  justly  be  dated  from  the  reign  of  Valens,  the  happiness 
and  security  of  each  individual  were  personally  attacked  ;  and 
the  arts  and  labors  of  ages  were  rudely  defaced  by  the  Bar- 
barians of  Scythia  and  Germany.  The  invasion  of  the  Huns 
precipitated  on  the  provinces  of  the  West  the  Gothic  nation, 
which  advanced,  in  less  than  forty  years,  from  the  Danube  to 
the  Atlantic,  and  opened  a  way,  by  the  success  of  their  arms, 
to  the  inroads  of  so  many  hostile  tribes,  more  savage  than 
themselves.  The  original  principle  of  motion  was  concealed 
in  the  remote  countries  of  the  North ;  and  the  curious  obser* 
vation  of  the  pastoral  life  of  the  Scythians,4  or  Tartars,5  will 
illustrate  the  latent  cause  of  these  destructive  emigrations. 

The  different  characters  that  mark  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  globe,  may  be  ascribed  to  the  use,  and  the  abus>e,  of  rea- 
son; which  so  variously  shapes,  and  so  artificially  composes, 
the  manners  and  opinions  of  a  European,  or  a  Chinese.  But 
the  operation  of  instinct  is  more  sure  and  simple  than  that  of 
reason  :  it  is  much  easier  to  ascertain  the  appetites  of  a  quad- 
ruped than  the  speculations  of  a  philosopher;  and  the  savage 
tribes  of  mankind,  as  they  approach  nearer  to  the  condition 

4  The  original  Scythians  of  Herodotus  (1.  iv.  c.  47-  -57,  99—101) 
were  confined,  by  the  Danube  and  the  Palus  Maeotis,  within  a  square 
of  4009"5tadia,  (400  Roman  miles.)  See  D'Anville  (Mem.  de  l'Acada- 
mie,  torn.  xxxv.  p.  573 — 591.)  Diodorus  Siculus  (torn.  i.  1.  ii.  p.  155, 
edit.  Wesseling)  has  marked  the  gradual  progress  of  the  name  and 
nation. 

6  The  Tatars,  or  Tartars,  were  a  primitive  tribe,  the  rivals,  and  at 
length  the  subjects,  of  the  Moguls.*  In  the  victorious  armies  of  Zin- 
gis  Khan,  and  his  siiccessors,  the  Tartars  formed  the  vanguard  ;  and 
the  name,  which  first  reached  the  ears  of  foreigners,  was  applied  to 
the  whole  nation,  (Freret,  in  the  Hist,  de  1' Academic,  torn,  xviii.  p.  60.) 
In  speaking  of  all,  or  any  of  the  northern  shepherds  of  Europe,  or 
Asia,  I  indifferently  use  the  appellations  of  Scythians,  or  Tartars. 


•  The  Moguls,  (Mongols,)  according  to  M.  Klaproth,  are  a  tribe  of  th« 
Tatar  nation.     Tableaux  H'st.  de  l'Asie,  p.  154.  —  M. 


4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  animals,  preserve  a  stronger  resemblance  to  themselves 
and  to  each  other.  The  uniform  stability  of  their  manners  ia 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  imperfection  of  their  faculties. 
Reduced  to  a  similar  situation,  their  wants,  their  desires,  their 
enjoyments,  still  coi  tinue  the  same  :  and  the  influence  of  food 
or  climate,  which,  in  a  more  improved  state  of  society,  is  sus- 
pended, or  subdued,  by  so  many  moral  causes,  most  power- 
fully contributes  to  form,  and  to  maintain,  the  national  char* 
acter  of  Barbarians.  In  every  age,  the  immense  plains  of 
Scythia,  or  Tartary,  have  been  inhabited  by  vagrant  tribes  of 
hunters  and  shepherds,  whose  indolence  refuses  to  cultivate 
the  earth,  and  whose  restless  spirit  disdains  the  confinement 
of  a  sedentary  life.  In  every  age,  the  Scythians,  and  Tartars, 
have  been  renowned  for  their  invincible  courage  and  rapid 
conquests.  The  thrones  of  Asia  have  been  repeatedly  over- 
turned by  the  shepherds  of  the  North  ;  and  their  arms  have 
spread  terror  and  devastation  over  the  most  fertile  and  war- 
like countries  of  Europe.6  On  this  occasion,  as  well  as  on 
many  others,  the  sober  historian  is  forcibly  awakened  from  a 
pleasing  vision  ;.  and  is  compelled,  with  some  reluctance,  to 
confess,  that  the  pastoral  manners,  which  have  been  adorned 
with  the  fairest  attributes  of  peace  and  innocence,  are  much 
better  adapted  to  the  fierce  and  cruel  habits  of  a  military  life. 
To  illustrate  this  observation,  I  shall  now  proceed  to  consider 
a  nation  of  shepherds  and  of  warriors,  in  the  three  important 
articles  of,  I.  Their  diet;  II.  Their  habitations;  and,  III. 
Their  exercises.  The  narratives  of  antiquity  are  justified  by 
the  experience  of  modern  times;7  and  the  banks  of  the  Borys- 

8  Imperium  Asiae  ter  quaesivere :  ipsi  perpetuo  ab  alieno  imperio, 
aut  intacti  aut  invicti,  mansere.  Since  the  time  of  Justin,  (ii.  2) 
they  have  multiplied  this  account.  Voltaire,  in  a  few  words,  (torn. 
x.  p.  64,  Hist.  Gen6rale,  c.  156,)  has  abridged  the  Tartar  conquests. 

Oft  o'er  the  trembling  nations  from  afar. 

Has  Scythia  breathed  the  living  cloud  of  war.* 

7  The  fourth  book  of  Herodotus  affords  a  curious,  though  imper- 
fect, portrait  of  the  Scythians.  Among  the  moderns,  who  describe 
the  uniform  scene,  the  Khan  of  Khowarcsm,  Abulghazi  Bahadur, 
expresses  his  native  feelings  ;  and  his  genealogical  history  of  the  Ta- 
tars has  been  copiously  illustrated  by  the  French  and  English  editors. 
Carpin,  Ascelin,  and  Itubruquis  (in  the  Hist,  des  Voyages,  torn,  vii.) 
represent  the  Moguls  of  the  fourteenth  century.  To  these  guides  I 
have  added  Gerbillon,  and  the  other  Jesuits,  (Description  de  la  Chine. 

•  Gray.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  » 

thenes,  of  the  Volga,  or  of  the  Selinga,  will  indifferently  pre- 
sent the  same  uniform  spectacle  of  similar  and  native  man* 
ners.8 

I.  The  corn,  or  even  the  rice,  which  constitutes  the  ordi- 
nary and  wholesome  food  of  a  civilized  peoply,  can  be 
obtained  only  by  the  patient  toil  of  the  husbandman.  Some 
of  the  happy  savages,  who  dwell  between  the  tropics,  are 
plentifully  nourished  by  the  liberality  of  nature ;  but  in  the 
climates  of  the  North,  a  nation  of  shepherds  is  reduced  to 
their  flocks  and  herds.  The  skilful  practitioners  of  the 
medical  art  will  determine  (if  they  are  able  to  determine) 
how  far  the  temper  of  the  human  mind  may  be  affected  by 
the  use  of  animal,  or  of  vegetable,  food ;  and  whether  the 
common  association  of  carnivorous  and  cruel  deserves  to  be 
considered  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  an  innocent,  perhaps 
a  salutary,  prejudice  of  humanity.9  Yet  if  it  be  true,  that 
the  sentiment  of  compassion  is  imperceptibly  weakened  by 
the  sight  and  practice  of  domestic  cruelty,  we  may  observe, 
that  the  horrid  objects  which  are  disguised  by  the  arts  of 
European  refinement,  are  exhibited  in  their  naked  and  most 
disgusting  simplicity  in  the  tent  of  a  Tartarian  shepherd. 
The  ox,  or  the  sheep,  are  slaughtered  by  the  same  hand  from 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  receive  their  daily  food  ;  and 
the  bleeding  limbs  are  served,  with  very  little  preparation,  on 
the  table  of  their  unfeeling  murderer.  In  the  military  pro- 
fession, and  especially  in  the  conduct  of  a  numerous  army, 
the  exclusive  use  of  animal  food  appears  to  be  productive  of 

par  du  Halde,  torn,  iv.,)  who  accurately  surveyed  the  Chinese  Tar- 
tary ;  and  that  honest  and  intelligent  traveller,  Bell,  of  Antermony 
(two  volumes  in  4to.     Glasgow,  1763.)* 

8  The  Uzbeks  are  the  most  altered  from  their  primitive  manners ; 
1.  By  the  profession  of  the  Mahometan  religion  ;  and  2.  By  the  pos- 
session of  the  cities  and  harvests  of  the  great  Bucharia. 

9  II  est  certain  que  les  grands  mangeurs  de  vi'ande  sont  en  general 
cruels  et  fcroces  plus  que  les  autres  hommes.  Cette  observation  est 
de  tous  les  lieux,  et  de  tous  les  temps  :  la  barbaric  Angloise  est  connue, 
&c.  Emile  de  Rousseau,  torn.  i.  p.  274.  "Whatever  we  may  think  of 
the  general  observation,  toe  shall  not  easily  allow  the  truth  of  his 
txample.  The  good-natured  complaints  of  Plutarch,  and  the  pathet- 
ic lamentations  of  Ovid,  seduce  our  reason,  by  exciting  our  sensi- 
bility.   

*  Of  the  various  works  published  since  the  time  of  Gibbrn,  which  throw 
light  on  the  nomadic  population  of  Central  Asia,  may  be  particulaily 
remarked  the  Travels  and  Dissertations  of  Pallas  ;  and  above  all,  the  verj 
curious  work  of  Bergman,  Nomadische  Streifereyen.     Riga,  1305.  —  M. 


6  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  most  solid  advantages.  Corn  is  a  bulky  and  perishable 
commodity  ;  and  the  large  magazines,  wh'ch  are  indispen- 
sably necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  our  troops,  must  be 
slowly  transported  by  the  labor  of  men  or  horses.  But  tho 
flocks  and*  herds,  which  accompany  the  march  of  the  Tartars, 
afford  a  sure  and  increasing  supply  of  flesh  and  milk  :  in  the 
far  greater  part  of  the  uncultivated  waste,  the  vegetation  of 
the  grass  is  quick  and  luxuriant ;  and  there  are  few  places  sq 
extremely  ban-en,  that  the  hardy  cattle  of  the  North  cannot 
find  some  tolerable  pasture.  The  supply  is  multiplied  and 
prolonged  by  the  undistinguishing  appetite,  and  patient  absti- 
nence, of  the  Tartars.  They  indifferently  feed  on  the  flesh 
of  those  animals  that  have  been  killed  for  the  table,  or  have 
died  of  disease.  Horseflesh,  which  in  every  age  and  country 
has  been  proscribed  by  the  civilized  nations  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  they  devour  with  peculiar  greediness  ;  and  this  singular 
taste  facilitates  the  success  of  their  military  operations.  The 
active  cavalry  of  Scythia  is  always  followed,  in  their  most 
distant  and  rapid  incursions,  by  an  adequate  number  of  spare 
horses,  who  may  be  occasionally  used,  either  to  redouble  the 
speed,  or  to  satisfy  the  hunger,  of  the  Barbarians.  Many 
are  the  resources  of  courage  and  poverty.  When  the  forage 
round  a  camp  of  Tartars  is  almost  consumed,  they  slaughter 
the  greatest  part  of  their  cattle,  and  preserve  the  flesh,  either 
smoked,  or  dried  in  the  sun.  On  the  sudden  emergency  of 
a  hasty  march,  they  provide  themselves  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  little  balls  of  cheese,  or  rather  of  hard  curd, 
which  they  occasionally  dissolve  in  water ;  and  this  unsub- 
stantial diet  will  support,  for  many  days,  the  life,  and  even 
the  spirits,  of  the  patient  warrior.  But  this  extraordinary 
abstinence,  which  the  Stoic  would  approve,  and  the  hermit 
might  envy,  is  commonly  succeeded  by  the  most  voracious 
indulgence  of  appetite.  The  wines  of  a  happier  climate  are 
the  most  grateful  present,  or  the  most  valuable  commodity, 
that  can  be  offered  to  the  Tartars  ;  and  the  only  example  of 
their  industry  seems  to  consist  in  the  art  of  extracting  from 
mare's  milk  a  fermented  liquor,  which  possesses  a  very  strong 
power  of  intoxication.  Like  the  animals  cf  prey,  the  sav- 
ages, both  of  the  old  and  new  world,  experience  the  alternate 
vicissitudes  of  famine  and  plenty ;  and  their  stomach  is 
mured  to  sustain,  without  much  inconvenience,  the  opposite 
extremes  of  hunger  and  of  intemperance. 

II.  In  the  ages  of  rustic  and  martia    simplicity,  a  people 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  7 

c*  soldiers  and  husbandmen  are  dispersed  over  the  face  of 
an  extensive  and  cultivated  country ;  and  some  time  must 
elapse  before  the  warlike  youth  of  Greece  or  Italy  could  be 
assembled  under  the  same  standard,  either  to  defend  their 
own  confines,  or  to  invade  the  territories  of  the  adjacent 
tribes.  The  progress  of  manufactures  and  commerce  insen- 
sibly collects  a  large  multitude  within  the  walls  of  a  city : 
but  the.>e  citizens  are  no  longer  soldiers ;  and  the  arts  which 
adorn  and  improve  the  state  of  civil  society,  corrupt  the 
habits  of  the  military  life.  The  pastoral  manners  of  the 
Scythians  seem  to  unite  the  different  advantages  of  simplicity 
and  refinement.  The  individuals  of  the  same  tribe  are  con- 
stantly assembled,  but  they  are  assembled  in  a  camp  ;  and 
the  native  spirit  of  these  dauntless  shepherds  is  animated  by 
mutual  support  and  emulation.  The  houses  of  the  Tartars 
are  no  more  than  small  tents,  of  an  oval  form,  which  afford  a 
cold  and  dirty  habitation,  for  the  promiscuous  youth  of  both 
sexes.  The  palaces  of  the  rich  consist  of  wooden  huts,  of 
6uch  a  size  that  they  may  be  conveniently  fixed  on  large 
wagons,  and  drawn  by  a  team  perhaps  of  twenty  or  thirty 
oxen.  The  flocks  and  herds,  after  grazing  all  day  in  the 
adjacent  pastures,  retire,  on  the  approach  of  night,  within  the 
protection  of  the  camp.  The  necessity  of  preventing  the 
most  mischievous  confusion,  in  such  a  perpetual  concourse 
of  men  and  animals,  must  gradually  introduce,  in  the  distri- 
bution, the  order,  and  the  guard,  of  the  encampment,  the 
rudiments  of  the  military  art.  As  soon  as  the  forage  of  a 
certain  district  is  consumed,  the  tribe,  or  rather  army,  of 
(shepherds,  makes  a  regular  march  to  some  fresh  pastures ; 
and  thus  acquires,  in  the  ordinary  occupations  of  the  pastoral 
life,  the  practical  knowledge  of  one  of  the  most  important 
and  difficult  operations  of  war.  The  choice  of  stations  is 
regulated  by  the  difference  of  the  seasons  :  in  the  summer, 
the  Tartars  advance  towards  the  North,  and  pitch  their  fents 
on  the  banks  of  a  river,  or,  at  least,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
a  running  stream.  But  in  the  winter,  they  return  to  the 
South,  and  shelter  their  camp,  behind  some  convenient  emi- 
nence, against  the  winds,  which  are  chilled  in  their  passage 
aver  the  bleak  and  icy  regions  of  Siberia.  These  manners 
are  admirably  adapted  to  diffuse,  among  the  wandering  tribes, 
the  spirit  of  emigration  and  conquest.  The  connection  be- 
tween the  people  and  their  territory  is  of  so  frail  a  texture, 
that  it  may  be  broken  by  the  slightest  accident.     The  camp. 


8  "  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

and  not  the  soil,  is  the  native  country  of  the  genuine  Tartar. 
Within  the  precincts  of  that  camp,  his  family,  his  compan- 
ions, his  property,  are  always  included;  and,  in  the  most 
distant  marches,  he  is  still  surrounded  by  the  objects  which 
are  dear,  or  valuable,  or  familiar  in  his  eyes.  The  thirst  of 
rapine,  the  fear,  or  the  resentment  of  injury,  the  impatience 
of  servitude,  have,  in  every  age,  been  sufficient  causes  to 
urge  the  tribes  of  Scythia  boldly  to  advance  into  some  un- 
known countries,  where  they  might  hope  to  find  a  more 
plentiful  subsistence  or  a  less  formidable  enemy.  The  revo- 
lutions of  the  North  have  frequently  determinea  the  fate  of 
the  South ;  and  in  the  conflict  of  hostile  nations,  the  victor 
and  the  vanquished  have  alternately  drove,  and  been  driven, 
from  the  confines  of  China  to  those  of  Germany.10  These 
great  emigrations,  which  have  been  sometimes  executed  with 
almost  incredible  diligence,  were  rendered  more  easy  by  tho 
peculiar  nature  of  the  climate.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
cold  of  Tartary  is  much  more  severe  than  in  the  midst  of  the 
temperate  zone  might  reasonably  be  expected ;  this  uncom- 
mon rigor  is  attributed  to  the  height  of  the  plains,  which  rise, 
especially  towards  the  East,  more  than  half  a  mile  above  the 
level  of  the  sea;  and  to  the  quantity  of  saltpetre  with  which 
the  soil  is  deeply  impregnated.11  In  the  winter  season,  the 
broad  and  rapid  rivers,  that  discharge  their  waters  into  the 
Euxine,  the  Caspian,  or  the  Icy  Sea,  are  strongly  frozen ;  the 
fields  are  covered  with  a  bed  of  snow;  and  the  fugitive,  of 
victorious,  tribes  may  securely  traverse,  with  their  families, 
their  wagons,  and  their  cattle,  the  smooth  and  hard  surface 
of  an  immense  plain. 

III.  The  pastoral  life,  compared  with  the  labors  of  agri- 
culture and  manufactures,  is  undoubtedly  a  life  of  idleness ; 
and  as  the  most  honorable  shepherds  of  the  Tartar  race 
devolve  -on  their  captives  the  domestic  management  of  the 

10  These  Tartar  emigrations  have  been  discovered  by  M.  de  Gui- 
gnes  (Histoire  des  Huns,  torn.  i.  ii. )  a  skilful  and  laborious  inter- 
preter of  the  Chinese  language ;  who  has  thus  laid  open  new  aud 
important  scenes  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

11  A  plain  in  the  Chinese  Tartary,  only  eighty  leagues  from  the 
great  wall,  was  found  by  the  missionaries  to  be  three  thousand  geo- 
metrical paces  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Montesquieu,  who  has 
used,  and  abused,  the  relations  of  travellers,  deduces  the  revolutions 
of  Asia  from  this  important  circumstance,  that  heat  and  cold, 
weakness  and  strength,  touch  each  other  without  any  teriperat* 
cone,  (Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xvii.  o.  3.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPKtE.  9 

catile,  then  own  leisure  is  seldom  disturbed  by  any  servile 
and  assiduous  cares.  But  this  leisure,  instead  of  being 
devoted  to  the  soft  enjoyments  of  love  and  harmony,  is  use- 
fully spent  in  the  violent  and  sanguinary  exercise  of  the 
v.hase.  The  plains  of  Tartary  are  rilled  with  a  strong  and 
serviceable  breed  of  horses,  which  are  easily  trained  for  the 
purposes  of  war  and  hunting.  The  Scythians  of  every  age 
have  been  celebrated  as  bold  and  skilful  riders ;  and  constant 
practice  had  seated  them  so  firmly  on  horseback,  that  they 
were  supposed  by  strangers  to  perform  the  ordinary  duties 
of  civil  life,  to  eat,  to  drink,  and  even  to  sleep,  without  dis- 
mounting from  their  steeds.  They  excel  in  the  dexterous 
management  of  the  lance ;  the  long  Tartar  bow  is  drawn 
with  a  nervous  arm ;  and  the  weighty  arrow  is  directed  to  its 
object  with  unerring  aim  and  irresistible  force.  These 
arrows  are  often  pointed  against  the  harmless  animals  of  the 
desert,  which  increase  and  multiply  in  the  absence  of  their 
most  formidable  enemy ;  the  hare,  the  goat,  the  roebuck,  the 
fallow-deer,  the  stag,  the  elk,  and  the  antelope.  The  vigor 
and  patience,  both  of  the  men  and  horses,  are  continually 
exercised  by  the  fatigues  of  the  chase ;  and  the  plentiful 
supply  of  game  contributes  to  the  subsistence,  and  even 
luxury,  of  a  Tartar  camp.  But  the  exploits  of  the  huntsrs 
of  Scythia  are  not  confined  to  the  destruction  of  timid  or 
innoxious  beasts ;  they  boldly  encounter  the  angry  wild  boar, 
when  he  turns  against  his  pursuers,  excite  the  sluggish 
courage  of  the  bear,  and  provoke  the  fury  of  the  tiger,  as  he 
slumbers  in  the  thicket.  Where  there  is  danger,  there  may 
be  glory ;  and  the  mode  of  hunting,  which  opens  the  fairest 
field  to  the  exertions  of  valor,  may  justly  be  considered  as 
the  image,  and  as  the  school,  of  war.  The  general  hunting 
matches,  the  pride  and  delight  of  the  Tartar  princes,  compose 
an  instructive  exercise  for  their  numerous  cavalry.  A  circle 
is  drawn,  of  many  miles  in  circumference,  to  encompass  the 
game  of  an  extensive  district ;  and  the  troops  that  form  the 
circle  regularly  advance  towards  a  common  centre  ;  where  the 
captive  animals,  surrounded  on  every  side,  are  abandoned  to 
the  darts  of  the  hunters.  In  this  march,  which  frequently 
continues  many  days,  the  cavalry  are  obliged  to  climb  the 
nills,  to  swim  the  rivers,  and  to  wind  through  the  valleys, 
without  interrupting  the  prescribed  order  of  their  gradual 
progress.  They  acquire  the  habit  of  directing  their  eye,  and 
their  steps,  to  a  remote  object ;  ol  preserving  their  intervals 
55 


10  THE    DECL'NE    AND    FALL 

of  suspending  or  accelerating  their  pace,  according  to  th« 
motions  of  the  troops  on  their  right  and  left ;  and  of  watching 
and  repeating  the  signals  of  their  leaders.  Their  leaders 
study,  in  this  practical  school,  the  most  important  lesson  of 
the  military  art ;  the  prompt  and  accurate  judgment  of  ground, 
of  distance,  and  of  time.  To  employ  against  a  human 
enemy  the  same  patience  and  valor,  the  same  skill  and  dis- 
cipline, is  the  only  alteration  which  is  required  in  real  war ; 
and  the  amusements  of  the  chase  serve  as  a  prelude  to  the 
conquest  of  an  empire.12 

The  political  society  of  the  ancient  Germans  has  the  appeal - 
ance  of  a  voluntary  alliance  of  independent  warriors.  The 
tribes  of  Scythia,  distinguished  by  the  modern  appellation  of 
Hords,  assume  the  form  of  a  numerous  and  increasing  family  ; 
which,  in  the  course  of  successive  generations,  has  been  prop- 
agated from  the  same  original  stock.  The  meanest,  and  most 
ignorant,  of  the  Tartars,  preserve,  with  conscious  pride,  the 
inestimable  treasure  of  their  genealogy ;  and  whatever  dis- 
tinctions of  rank  may  have  been  introduced,  by  the  unequal 
distribution  of  pastoral  wealth,  they  mutually  respect  them- 
selves, and  each  other,  as  the  descendants  of  the  first  foundei 
of  the  tribe.  The  custom,  which  still  prevails,  of  adopt- 
ing the  bravest  and  most  faithful  of  the  captives,  may  coun- 
tenance the  very  probable  suspicion,  that  this  extensive  con- 
sanguinity is,  in  a  great  measure,  legal  and  fictitious.  But 
the  useful  prejudice,  which  has  obtained  the  sanction  of  time 
and  opinion,  produces  the  effects  of  truth ;  the  haughty  Bar- 
barians yield  a  cheerful  and  voluntary  obedience  to  the  head 
of  their  blood  ;  and  their  chief,  or  mursa,  as  the  representative 
of  their  great  father,  exercises  the  authority  of  a  judge  in 
peace,  and  of  a  leader  in  war.  In  the  original  state  of  the 
pastoral  world,  each  of  the  mursas  (if  we  may  continue  to  use 
a  modern  appellation)  acted  as  the  independent  chief  of  a 
large  and  separate  family ;  and  the  limits  of  their  peculiar 
territories  were  gradually  fixed  by  superior  force,  or  mutual 
consent.     But  the  constant  operation  of  various  and  perma- 

*  Petit  de  la  Croix  (Vie  de  Gengiscan,  1.  iii.  c.  6)  represents  the 
full  glory  and  extent  of  the  Mogul  chase.  The  Jesuits  Gerbillon  and 
Verbiest  followed  the  emperor  Khamhi  when  he  hunted  in  TarUry, 
(Duhalde,  Description  de  la  Chine,  torn.  iv.  p.  81,  290,  &c,  folio  edit.) 
His  grar.dson,  Kienlong,  who  unites  the  Tartar  discipline  with  the 
laws  and  learning  of  China,  describes  ^Eloge  de  Mouidtn,  p.  273 
— 285)  as  a  poet  the  pleasures  which  he  had  often  enj'>v«>d  -w  a 
sportsman. 


OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  11 

nont  causes  contributed  to  unite  the  vagrant  Herds  into  na« 
tional  communities,  under  the  command  of  a  supreme  head. 
The  weak  vvere  desirous  of  support,  and  the  strong  were  am« 
bilious  of  dominion  ;   the  power,  which  is  the  result  of  unicn, 
uppressed  and  collected   the   divided   forces  of  the  adjacent 
tribes ;   and,  as  the  vanquished  were  freely  admitted  to  share 
the  advantages  of  victory,  the  most  valiant  chiefs  hastened  to 
range  themselves   and  their  followers  under  the  formidable 
standard  of  a  confederate  nation.     The  most  successful  of  ihe 
Tartar   princes  assumed  the  military  command,  to  which  he 
was  entitled  by  the  superiority,  either  of  merit  or  of  power. 
He  was   raised    to   the    throne    by  the    acclamations  of  his 
equals  ;  and  the  title  of  Khan  expresses,  in  the  language  of 
thq^North  of  Asia,  the  full  extent  of  the  regal  dignity.     The 
right  of  hereditary  succession  was  long  confined  to  the  blood 
of  the  founder  of  the  monarchy ;  and  at  this  moment  all  the 
Khans,  who  reign  from  Crimea  to  the  wall  of  China,  are  the 
lineal  descendants  of  the  renowned  Zingis.13    But,  as  it  is  the 
indispensable  duty  of  a  Tartar  sovereign  to  lead  his  warlike 
fiubjects  into  the  field,  the  claims  of  an  infant  are  often  dis- 
regarded ;  and  some  royal  kinsman,  distinguished  by  his  age 
and  valor,  is  intrusted  with  the  sword  and  sceptre  of  his  pred- 
ecessor.    Two  distinct  and  regular  taxes  are  levied  on  the 
tribes,  to  support  the  dignity  of  their  national  monarch,  and 
of  their   peculiar   chief;    and    each    of  those    contributions 
amounts  to  the  tithe,  both  of  their  property,  and  of  their  spoil 
A  Tartar  sovereign  enjoys  the  tenth  part  of  the  wealth  of  his 
people  ;  and  as  his  own  domestic  riches  of  flocks  and  herds 
increase  in  a  much  larger  proportion,  he  is  able  plentifully  to 
maintain  the  rustic  splendor  of  his  court,  to  reward  the  most 
deserving,  or  the  most  favored,  of  his  followers,  and  to  obtain, 
from  the  gentle  influence  of  corruption,  the  obedience  which 
might  be  sometimes  refused  to  the  stern  mandates  of  author- 
ity.    The  manneis  of  his  subjects,  accustomed,  like  himself, 
to  blood  and  rapine,  might  excuse,  in  their  eyes,  such  partial 
acts  of  tyranny,  as  would  excite  the  horror  of  a  civilized  peo- 
ple ;  but  the  power  of  a  despot  has  never  been  acknowledged 

13  See  the  second  volume  of  the  Genealogical  History  of  the  Tar- 
tars ;  and  the  list  of  the  Khans,  at  the  end  of  the  life  of  Gengis,  or 
Zingis.  Under  the  reign  of  Timur,  or  Tamerlane,  one  of  his  sub- 
jects, a  descendant  of  Zirgis,  still  bore  the  regal  appellation  of  Khan 
And  the  conqueror  of  Asia  contented  himself  with  the  title  of  Kmir 
or  Sultan.  Abulghazi,  part  v.  c.  4.  D'Herbelot,  Bibliothe<yifc  Ori- 
entate, p.  887. 


12  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

in  the  deserts  of  Scythia.  The  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the 
khan  is  confined  within  the  limits  of  his  own  tribe ;  and  the 
exercise  of  his  royal  prerogative  has  been  moderated  by  the 
ancient  institution  of  a  national  council.  The  Coroultai,14  or 
Diet,  of  the  Tartars,  was  regularly  held  in  the  spring  and  au« 
tumn,  in  the  midst  of  a  plain  ;  where  the  princes  of  the  reign- 
ing family,  and  the  mursas  of  the  respective  tribes,  may  con- 
veniently assemble  on  horseback,  with  their  martial  and 
numerous  trains ;  and  the  ambitious  monarch,  who  reviewed 
the  strength,  must  consult  the  inclination,  of  an  armed  people. 
The  rudiments  of  a  feudal  government  may  be  discovered  in 
the  constitution  of  the  Scythian  or  Tartar  nations ;  but  the 
perpetual  conflict  of  those  hostile  nations  has  sometimes  ter- 
minated in  the  establishment  of  a  powerful  and  despotic^m- 
pire.  The  victor,  enriched  by  the  tribute,  and  fortified  by  the 
arms,  of  dependent  kings,  has  spread  his  conquests  over  Eu- 
rope or  Asia :  the  successful  shepherds  of  the  North  have 
submitted  to  the  confinement  of  arts,  of  laws,  and  of  cities ; 
and  the  introduction  of  luxury,  after  destroying  the  freedom 
of  the  people,  has  undermined  the  foundations  of  the  throne.15 
The  memory  of  past  events  cannot  long  be  preserved,  in 
the  frequent  and  remote  emigrations  of  illiterate  Barbarians. 
The  modern  Tartars  are  ignorant  of  the  conquests  of  their 
ancestors  ; 16  and  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  Scythians 
is  derived  from  their  intercourse  with  the  learned  and  civilized 
nations  of  the  South,  the  Greeks,  the  Persians,  and  the  Chi- 
nese. The  Greeks,  who  navigated  the  Euxine,  and  planted 
their  colonies  along  the  sea-coast,  made  the  gradual  and  im- 
perfect discovery  of  Scythia ;  from  the  Danube,  and  the  con- 

14  See  the  Diets  of  the  ancient  Huns,  (De  Guignes,  torn.  ii.  p.  20,) 
and  a  curious  description  of  those  of  Zingis,  (Vie  de  Gengiscaa,  1.  i. 
c.  6,  1.  iv.  c.  11.)  Such  assemblies  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
Persian  history  of  Timur  ;  though  they  served  only  to  countenance 
the  resolutions  of  their  master. 

15  Montesquieu  labors  to  explain  a  difference,  which  has  not  exiit 
ed,  between  the  liberty  of  the  Arabs,  and  the  perpetual  slavery  of  the 
Tartars.     (Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xvii.  c.  5,  1.  xviii.  c.  19,  &c.) 

16  Abulghasi  Khan,  in  the  two  first  parts  of  his  Genealogical  His- 
lory,  relates  the  miserable  fables  and  traditions  of  the  Uzbek  Tiirtars 
concerning  the  times  which  preceded  the  reign  of  Zingis.* 


*  The  differences  between  the  various  pastoral  tribes  and  nations  com 
jirehenied  by  the  ancients  under  the  vague  name  of  Scythians,  and  by 
Gibbon  under  that  of  Tartai  I,  have  received  some,  and  still,  perhaps,  ma) 
receive  more,  light  from  the  3ompari6ons  of  their  dialects  and  languagei 
by  modern  scholars.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMFIRE.  1? 

fines  of  Thrace,  as  far  as  the  frozen  MaGOtis,  the  seat  of  eter- 
nal winter,  and  Mount  Caucasus,  which,  in  the  language  of 
poetry,  was  described  as  the  utmost  boundary  of  the  earth. 
They  celebrated,  with  simple  credulity,  the  virtues  of  the 
pastoral  life  :  n  they  entertained  a  more  rational  apprehen- 
sion of  the  strength  and  numbers  of  the  warlike  Barbarians,1* 
who  contemptuously  baffled  the  immense  armament  of  Darius, 
the  son  of  Hystaspes.19  The  Persian  monarchs  had  extended 
their  western  conquests  to  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  the 
limits  of  European  Scythia.  The  eastern  provinces  of  their 
empire  were  exposed  to  the  Scythians  of  Asia ;  the  wild  in- 
habitants of  the  plains  beyond  the  Oxus  and  the  Jaxartes,  two 
mighty  rivers,  which  direct  their  course  towards  the  Caspian 
Sea.  The  long  and  memorable  quarrel  of  Iran  and  Touran 
is  still  the  theme  of  history  or  romance  :  the  famous,  perhaps 
the  fabulous,  valor  of  the  Persian  heroes,  Rustan  and  Asfen- 
diar,  was  signalized,  in  the  defence  of  their  country,  against 
the  Afrasiabs  of  the  North  ;20  and  the  invincible  spirit  of  the 

17  In  the  thirteenth  book  of  the  Iliad,  Jupiter  turns  away  his  eyes 
from  the  bloody  fields  of  Troy,  to  the  plains  of  Thrace  and  Scythia. 
He  would  not/by  changing  the  prospect,  behold  a  more  peaceful  or 
innocent  scene. 

18  Thucydides,  1.  ii.  c.  97.  - 

19  See  the  fourth  book  of  Herodotus.  When  Darius  adyanced  int4 
the  Moldavian  desert,  between  the  Danube  and  the  Niester,  the  king 
of  the  Scythians  sent  him  a  mouse,  a  frog,  a  bird,  and  five  arrows  ;  a 
tremendous  allegory  ! 

20  These  wars  and  heroes  may  be  found  under  their  respective  titles, 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Orientate  of  DTIcrbclot.  They  have  been  cele- 
brated in  an  epic  poem  of  sixty  thousand  rhymed  couplets,  by  Fer- 
dusi,*  the  Homer  of  Persia.  See  the  history  of  Nadir  Shah,  p.  145. 
165.  The  public  must  lament  that  Mr.  Jones  has  suspended  the  pur- 
suit of  Oriental  learning,  f 


*  Ferdusi  is  yet  imperfectly  known  to  European  readers.  An  abstract 
of  the  whole  poem  has  been  published  by  Goerres  in  German,  under  the 
title  "das  Heldenbuch  de3  Iran."  In  English,  an  abstract  with  poetical 
translations,  by  Mr.  Atkinson,  has  appeared,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Oriental  Fund.'  But  to  translate  a  poet  a  man  must  be  a  poet.  The  best 
account  of  the  poem  is  in  an  article  by  Von  Hammer  in  the  Vienna  Jahr- 
bocher,  1820 ;  or  perhaps  in  a  masterly  article  in  Cochrane's  Foreign  Quar- 
terly Review,  No.  1,  1835.  A  splendid  and  critical  edition  of  the  whole 
work  has  been  published  by  a  very  learned  English  Orientalist,  Captain 
Macan,  at  the  expense  of  the  king  of  Oude.  As  to  the  number  of  60,000 
ceuplet-s,  Captain  Macan  (Preface,  p.  39)  states  that  l.e  never  saw  a  MS. 
containing  more  than  56,68;"),  including  doubtful  and  spurious  passages  and 
tpisodes.  —  M. 

*  The  later  studies  of  Sir  W.  Jones  were  more  in  unison  with  the  wunei 
of  the  public,  thus  expressel  by  Gibbon.  — M. 


14  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

same  Barbarians  resisted,  on  the  same  ground,  the  victorious 
arms  of  Cyrus  and  Alexander.21  In  the  eyes  of  the  Greeks 
and  Persians,  the  real  geography  of  Scythia  was  bounded,  on 
the  East,  by  the  mountains  of  Imaus,  or  Caf ;  and  their  distant 
prospect  of  the  extreme  and  inaccessible  parts  of  Asia  was 
clouded  by  ignorance,  or  perplexed  by  fiction.  But  those  inac- 
cessible regions  are  the  ancient  residence  of  a  powerful  and 
civilized  nation,22  which  ascends,  by  a  probable  tradition,  above 
forty  centuries  ; 23  and  which  is  able  to  verify  a  series  of  near 
two  thousand  years,  by  the  perpetual  testimony  of  accurate 
and  contemporary  historians.24     The  annals  of  China25  illus- 

51  The  Caspian  Sea,  with  its  rivers  and  adjacent  tribes,  are  labori- 
ously illustrated  in  the  Examen  Critique  des  Historiens  d' Alexandre, 
which  compares  the  true  geography,  and  the  errors  produced  by  the 
vanity  or  ignorance  of  the  Greeks. 

22  The  original  seat  of  the  nation  appears  to  have  been  in  the  North- 
west of  China,  in  the  provinces  of  Chensi  and  Chansi.  Under  the 
two  first  dynasties,  the  principal  town  was  still  a  movable  camp  ;  the 
villages  were  thiiily  scattered  ;  more  land  was  employed  in  pasture 
than  in  tillage  ;  the  exercise  of  hunting  was  ordained  to  clear  the 
country  from  wild  beasts  ;  Petch^li  (where  Pekin  stands)  was  a  des  • 
ert,  and  the  Southern  provinces  were  peopled  with  Indian  savages 
The  dynasty  of  the  Han  (before  Christ  206)  gave  the  empire  its  actua. 
form  and  extent. 

23  The  aora  of  the  Chinese  monarchy  has  been  variously  fixed  from 
2952  to  2132  years  before  Christ ;  and  the  year  2637  has  been  choser 
for  the  lawful  epoch,  by  the  authority  of  the  present  emperor.  The 
difference  arises  from  the  uncertain  duration  of  the  two  first  dynas- 
ties ;  and  the  vacant  space  that  lies  beyond  them,  as  far  as  the  real, 
or  fabulous,  times  of  Fohi,  or  Hoangti.  Sematsien  dates  his  authentic 
chronology  from  the  year  841  ;  the  thirty-six  eclipses  of  Confucius 
(thirty-one  of  which  have  been  verified)  were  observed  between  the 
years  722  and  480  before  Christ.  The  historical  period  of  China  does 
not  ascend  above  the  Greek  Olympiads. 

24  After  several  ages  of  anarchy  and  despotism,  the  dynasty  of  the 
Han  (before  Christ  206)  was  the  a?ra  of  the  revival  of  learning.  The 
fragments  of  ancient  literature  were  restored ;  the  characters  were 
improved  and  fixed  ;  and  the  future  preservation  of  books  was  secured 
by  the  useful  inventions  of  ink,  paper,  and  the  art  of  printing. 
Ninety-seven  years  before  Christ,  Sematsien  published  the  first  his- 
tory of  China.  His  labors  were  illustrated,  and  continued,  by  a  sent* 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty  historians.  The  substance  of  their  works 
is  stdl  extant ;  and  the  most  considerable  of  them  are  now  deposited 
in  the  king  of  France's  library. 

25  China  has  been  illustrated  by  the  labors  of  the  French ;  of  the 
missionaries  it  Pekin,  and  Messrs.  Freret  and  De  Guignes  at  Paris. 
The  substance  of  the  three  preceding  notes  is  extracted  from  the 
Chou-king,  with  the  preface  and  notes  of  M.  de  Guignes,  Pans,  1770. 
The  Tong-KienKang-Mou,  translated  by  P.  de  'Niailla,  ui  der  tbe  name 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  15 

trate  the  state  and  revolutions  of  the  pastoral  tribes,  which 
may  still  be  distinguished  by  the  vague  appellation  of  Scyth- 
ians, or  Tartars  ;  the  vassals,  the  enemies,  and  sometimes  the 
conquerors,  of  a  great  empire ;  whose  policy  has  uniformly 
opposed  thp  blind  and  impetuous  valor  of  the  Barbarians  of 
the  North.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Danube  to  the  Sea  of 
Japan,  the  whole  longitude  of  Scythia  is  about  one  hundred 
and  ten  degrees,  which,  in  that  parallel,  are  equal  to  more 
than  five  thousand  miles.  The  latitude  of  these  extensive 
deserts  cannot  be  so  easily,  or  so  accurately,  measured  ';  but, 
from  the  fortieth  degree,  which  touches  the  wall  of  China,  we 
may  securely  advance  above  a  thousand  miles  to  the  north- 
ward, till  our  progress  is  stopped  by  the  excessive  cold  of 
Siberia.  In  that  dreary  climate,  instead  of  the  animated  pic- 
ture of  a  Tartar  camp,  the  smoke  that  issues  from  the  earth, 
or  rather  from  the  snow,  betrays  the  subterraneous  dwellings 
of  the  Tongouses,  and  the  Samoides  :  the  want  of  horses  anr1 
oxen  is  imperfectly  supplied  by  the  use  of  reindeer,  and  of 
large  dogs ;  and  the  conquerors  of  the  earth  insensibly  de- 
generate into  a  race  of  deformed  and  diminutive  savages,  who 
tremble  at  the  sound  of  arms.26 

The  Huns,  who  under  the  reign  of  Valens  threatened  the 
empire  of  Rome,  had  been  formidable,  in  a  much  earlier  pe- 
riod, to  the  empire  of  China.27     Their  ancient,  perhaps  their 

of  Hist.  Generate  de  la  Chine,  torn.  i.  p.  xlix. — co. ;  the  Memoires 
sur  la  Chine,  Paris,  1776,  &c.,  torn.  i.  p.  1 — 323  ;  torn.  ii.  p.  5 — 364  ; 
the  Histoire  des  Huns,  torn.  i.  p.  4 — 131,  torn.  v.  p.  345 — 362  ;  and 
the  Memoires  de  l'Academie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  x.  p.  377 — 402 ; 
torn.  xv.  p.  495 — 564  ;  torn,  xviii.  p.  178 — 295  ;  torn,  xxxvi.  p.  164 — 
238. 

26  See  the  Histoire  Generale  des  Voyages,  torn,  xviii.,  and  the  Gene- 
alogical History,  vol.  ii.  p.  620 — 664. 

27  M.  de  Gnignes  (torn.  ii.  p.  1 — 124)  has  given  the  original  history 
of  the  ancient  Hiong-nou,  or  Huns.*  The  Chinese  geography  of 
their  country  (torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  lv. — lxiii.)  seems  to  comprise  a  part 
of  their  conquests. 


*  The  theory  of  De  Guignes  on  the  early  history  of  the  Huns  is,  in  gen- 
eral, rejected  by  modern  writers.  De  Guignes  advanced  no  valid  proof  of 
the  identity  of  the  Hioung-nou  of  the  Chinese  writers  with  the  Huns, 
except  the  similarity  of  name. 

Sehlozer,  (Allgemeine  Nordische  Geschichte,  p.  252,)  Klaproth,  (Ta 
bleaux  Historiques  de  l'Asie,  p.  246,)  St.  Martin,  iv.  61,  and  A.  Remusa  . 
'Recherches  sur  les  Langues  Tartares,  D.  P.  xlvi.  and  p.  328 ;  though  in 
che  latter  passage  he  considers  the  theory  of  De  Guignes  not  absolut' ly 
disproved,)  concur  in  considering  the  Huns  as  belonging  to  the  Fiumsh 
itock.  distinct  from  the  Moguls,  the  Mandscheus,  and  the  Turks.     Tha 


16  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

original,  scat  was  an  extensive,  though  dry  and  barren,  tracl 
of  country,  immediately  on  the  north  side  of  the  great  wall. 
Their  place  is  at  present  occupied  by  the  forty-nine  Hords  oi 
Banners  of  the  Mongous,  a  pastoral  nation,  which  consists  of 
about  two  hundred  thousand  families.28  But  the  valor  of  the 
Huns  had  extended  the  narrow  limits  of  their  dominions  ;  and 
their  rustic  chiefs,  who  assumed  the  appellation  of  Tanjou, 
gradually  became  the  conquerors,  and  the  sovereigns,  of  a 
formidable  empire.  Towards  the  East,  their  victorious  arms 
were  stopped  only  by  the  ocean ;  and  the  tribes,  which  are 
thinly  scattered  between  the  Amoor  and  the  extreme  penin- 
sula of  Corea,  adhered,  with  reluctance,  to  the  standard  of 
the  Huns.  On  the  West,  near  the  head  of  the  Irtish,  in  the 
valleys  of  Imaus,  they  found  a  more  ample  space,  and  more 
numerous  enemies.  One  of  the  lieutenants  of  the  Tanjou 
subdued,  in  a  single  expedition,  twenty-six  nations ;  the 
Igours,29  distinguished  above  the  Tartar  race  by  the  use  of 
letters,  were  in  the  number  of  his  vassals  ;  and,  by  the  strange 
connection  of  human  events,  the  flight  of  one  of  those  vagrant 

28  See  in  Duhalde   (torn.  iv.  p.  18 — 65)    a  circumstantial  descrip- 
tion, with  a  correct  map,  of  the  country  of  the  Mongous. 

29  The  Igours,  or  Vigours,  were  divided  into  three  branches  ;  hunt- 


Hiong-nou,  according  to  Klaproth,  were  Turks.  The  names  of  the  Hun- 
nish  chiefs  could  not  be  pronounced  by  a  Turk ;  and,  according  to  the 
same  author,  the  Hioung-nou,  which  is  explained  in  Chinese  as  detestable 
slaves,  as  early  as  the  year  91  J.  C,  were  dispersed  by  the  Chinese,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  Yue-po  or  Yue-pan.  M.  St.  Martin  does  not  con- 
sider it  impossible  that  the  appellation  of  Hioung-nou  may  have  belonged 
to  the  Huns.  But  all  -agree  in  considering  the  Madjar  or  Magyar  of  mod- 
ern Hungary  the  descendants  of  the  Huns.  Their  language  (compare 
Gibbon,  c.  Iv.  n.  22)  is  nearly  related  to  the  Lapponian  and  Vogoul.  The 
noble  forms  of  the  modern  Hungarians,  so  strongly  contrasted  with  the 
hideous  pictures  which  the  fears  and  the  hatred  of  the  Romans  give  of  the 
Huns,  M.  Klaproth  accounts  for  by  the  intermingling  with  other  races, 
Turkish  and  Slavonian.  The  present  state  of  the  question  is  thus  stated 
in  the  last  edition  of  Malte  Brun,  and  a  new  and  ingenious  hypothesis 
suggested  to  resolve  all  the  difficulties  of  the  question. 

Were  the  Huns  Finns  ?  This  obscure  question  has  not  been  debated  till 
very  recently,  and  is  yet  very  far  from  being  decided.  We  are  cf  opinion 
that  it  will  be  so  hereafter  in  the  same  manner  as  that  with  regard  to  the 
Scythians.  We  shall  trace  in  the  portrait  of  Attila  a  dominant  tribe  of 
Mongols,  or  Kalmucks,  with  all  the  hereditary  ugliness  of  that  race;  but 
in  the  mass  of  the  Hunnish  army  and  nation  will  be  recognized  the  Chuni 
and  the  Ounni  of  the  Greek  Geography,  the  Kuns  of  the  Hungarians,  the 
European  Huns,  and  a  race  in  close  relationship  with  the  Finnish  stock. 
Malte-Brun,  vi.  p.  94.  This  theory  is  m>re  fully  and  ably  developed,  p.  743. 
Whoever  has  seen  the  emperor  of  Austria's  Hungarian  guard,  will  not 
readily  admit  their  descent  from  the  Huns  described  by  Sidonius  A.polli 
naris. — M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMTIRE.  1  / 

tribes  recalled  the  victorious  Parthians  from  the  invasion  of 
Syria.30  On  the  side  of  the  North,  the  ocean  was  assigned 
as  the  limit  of  the  power  of  the  Huns.  Without  enemies  to 
resist  their  progress,  or  witnesses  to  contradict  their  vanity 
they  might  securely  achieve  a  real,  or  imaginary,  conquest 
o(  the  frozen  regions  of  Siberia.  The  Northern  Sea  was  fixed 
as  the  remote  boundary  of  their  empire.  But  the  name  of 
that  sea,  on  whose  shores  the  patriot  Sovou  embraced  the  life 
of  a  shepherd  and  an  exile,31  may  he  transferred,  with  much 
more  probability,  to  the  Baikal,  a  capacious  basin,  above  three 
hundred  miles  in  length,  which  disdains  the  modest  appellation 
of  a  lake,32  and  which  actually  communicates  with  the  seas  of 
the  North,  by  the  long  course  of  the  Angara,  the  Tongusha, 
and  the  Jenissea.  The  submission  of  so  many  distant  nations 
might  flatter  the  pride  of  the  Tanjou ;  but  the  valor  of  the 
Huns  could  be  rewarded  only  by  the  enjoyment  of  the  wealth 
and  luxury  of  the  empire  of  the  South.  In  the  third  century  t 
before  the  Christian  sera,  a  wall  of  fifteen  hundred  miles  iff 
length   was    constructed,   to    defend   the   frontiers  of  Chini 


ers,  shepherds,  and  husbandmen  ;  and  the  last  class  was  despised  \. 
the  two  former.     See  Abulghazi,  part  ii.  c.  7.* 

30  Mcmoires  de  1' Academic  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xxv.  p.  17 — 3S 
The  comprehensive  view  of  M.  de  (iuignes  has  compared  these  dis 
tant  events. 

31  The  fame  of  Sovou,  or  So-ou,  his  merit,  and  his  singular  adven 
tures,  are  still  celebrated  in  China.  See  the  Eloge  de  Moukden,  p.  2Q 
and  notes,  p.  241 — 247  ;  and  Memoires  sur  la  Chine,  torn.  iii.  p.  311 
—360. 

32  See  Isbrand  Ives  in  Harris's  Collection,  vol.  ii.  p.  931  ;  Bell's 
Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  247 — 254  ;  and  Gmelin,  in  the  Hist.  Generale  des 
Voyages,  torn,  xviii.  283 — 329.  They  all  remark  the  vulgar  opinion 
that  the  holy  sea  grows  angry  and  tempestuous  if  any  one  presumes 
to  call  it  a  lake.  This  grammatical  nicety  often  excites  a  dispute  be- 
tween the  absurd  superstition  of  the  mariners  and  the  absurd  obsti- 
nacy of  travellers. 


*  On  the  Ouigour  or  Igour  characters,  see  the  work  of  M.  A.  R^musat, 
Sur  les  Langues  Tartares.  He  conceives  the  Ouigour  alphabet  of  sixteen 
letters  to  have  been  formed  from  the  Syriac,  and  introduced  by  the  Nes- 
toriar.  Christians.     Ch.  ii.  —  M. 

t  244  years  before  Christ.  It  was  built  by  Chi-hoang-ti  of  the  Dynasty 
Thsin.  It  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-live  feet  high.  Ce  monument,  aussi 
jigantesque  qu'impuissant,  arrt  terait  bien  les  incursions  de  quelquea 
Nomades  ;  mais  il  n'a  jan-ais  empeche  les  invasions  des  Turcs,  des  Mon 
gols,  et  des  Mandchous.  Abel  Rcmusat.  Rech.  Asiat  2d  ser.  vol.  i  p. 
W.  — M 

55* 


18  THE    DECLINE    AMD    FALL 

Rgainst  the  inroads  of  the  Huns  ,33  but  this  stupendojs  work, 
which  holds  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  map  of  the  world,  ha* 
never  contributed  to  the  safetj'  of  an  unwarlike  people.  The 
cavalry  of  the  Tanjou  frequently  consisted  of  two  or  three 
hundred  thousand  men,  formidable  by  the  matchless  dexterity 
with  which  they  managed  their  bows  and  their  horses  :  by  their 
hardy  patience  in  supporting  the  inclemency  of  the  weather ; 
and  by  the  incredible  speed  of  their  march,  which  was  sel- 
dom checked  bv  torrents,  or  precipices,  by  the  deepest  rivers 
or  by  the  most  lofty  mountains.  They  spread  themselves  al 
once  over  the  face  of  the  country ;  and  their  rapid  impetu- 
osity surprised,  astonished,  and  disconcerted  the  grave  and 
elaborate  tactics  of  a  Chinese  army.  The  emperor  Kaoti,3*  a 
soldier  of  fortune,  whose  personal  merit  had  raised  him  to  the 
throne,  marched  against  the  Huns  with  those  veteran  troops 
which  had  been  trained  in  the  civil  wars  of  China.  But  he 
was  soon  surrounded  by  the  Barbarians  ;  and,  after  a  siege  oi 
seven  days,  the  monarch,  hopeless  of  relief,  was  reduced  to 
purchase  his  deliverance  by  an  ignominious  capitulation.  The 
successors  of  Kaoti,  whose  lives  were  dedicated  to  the  arts  of 
peace,  or  the  luxury  of  the  palace,  submitted  to  a  more  per- 
manent disgrace.  They  too  hastily  confessed  the  insufficiency 
of  arms  and  fortifications.  They  were  too  easily  convinced, 
that  while  the  blazing  signals  announced  on  every  side  the 
approach  of  the  Huns,  the  Chinese  troops,  who  slept  with  the 
helmet  on  their  head,  and  the  cuirass  on  their  back,  were' 
destroyed  by  the  incessant  labor  of  ineffectual  marches.35  A 
regular  payment  of  money,  and  silk,  was  stipulated  as  tht 
condition  of  a  temporary  and  precarious  peace ;  and  the 
wretched  expedient  of  disguising  a  real  tribute,  under  the 
names  of  a  gift  or  subsidy,  was  practised  by  the  emperors  of 

33  The  construction  of  the  wall  of  China  is  mentioned  by  Duhalde 
(torn.  ii.  p.  45)  and  De  Guignes,  (torn.  ii.  p.  59.) 

34  See  the  life  of  Lieoupang,  or  Kaoti,  in  the  Hist,  de  la  Chine, 
published  at  Paris,  1777,  &c,  torn.  i.  p.  442 — 522.  This  voluminous 
work  is  the  translation  (by  the  P.  de  Mailla)  of  the  Tong-Kien-Kang- 
Mou,  the  celebrated  abridgment  of  the  great  History  of  Semakouang 
(A.  D.  1084)  and  his  continuators. 

35  See  a  free  and  ample  memorial,  presented  by  a  Mandarin  to  the 
emperor  Venti,  (before  Christ  180 — 157,)  in  Duhalde,  (torn.  ii.  p.  412 
—  426,)  from  a  collection  of  State  papers  marked  with  the  red  pencil 
by  Kamhi  himself,  (p.  384 — G12.)     Another  memorial  Iron  the  min 
ist^i  of  war   (Kang-Mou,  torn.  ii.  p.  555)  supplies  some  c  ariou>»  ck 
cuiustances  of  the  manners  of  the  Huns. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  li« 

3hm&  as  well  as  by  those  of  Rome.  But  there  still  i  smained 
a  more  disgraceful  article  of  tribute,  which  violated  the  sacred 
feelings  of  humanity  and  nature.  The  hardships  of  the  savage 
life,  which  destroy  in  their  infancy  the  children  who  are  born 
with  a  less  healthy  and  robust  constitution,  introduced  a  re» 
markable  disproportion  between  the  numbers  of  the  two  sexes. 
The  Tartars  are  an  ugly  and  even  deformed  race  ;  and  while 
they  consider  their  own  women  as  the  instruments  of  domestic 
labor,  their  desires,  or  rather  their  appetites,  are  directed  to 
the  enjoyment  of  more  elegant  beauty.  A  select  band  of 
the  fairest  maidens  of  China  was  annually  devoted  to  the 
rude  embraces  of  the  Huns  ; 36  and  the  alliance  of  the  haughty 
Tanjous  was  secured  by  their  marriage  with  the  genuine,  or 
adopted,  daughters  of  the  Imperial  family,  which  vainly 
attempted  to  escape  the  sacrilegious  pollution.  The  situation 
of  these  unhappy  victims  is  described  in  the  verses  of  a  Chi- 
nese princess,  who  laments  that  she  had  been  condemned  by 
her  parents  to  a  distant  exile,  under  a  Barbarian  husband; 
who  complains  that  sour  milk  was  her  only  drink,  raw  flesb 
her  only  food,  a  tent  her  only  palace ;  and  who  expresses, 
in  a  strain  of  pathetic  simplicity,  the  natural  wish,  that  she 
were  transformed  into  a  bird,  to  fly  back  to  her  dear  country  ; 
.he 'object  of  her  tender  and  perpetual  regret.37 

The  conquest  of  China  has  been  twice  achieved  by  the 
pastoral  tribes  of  the  North  :  the  forces  of  the  Huns  were  not 
inferior  to  those  of  the  Moguls,  or  of  the  Mantcheoux  ;  and 
their  ambition  might  entertain  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of 
success.  But  their  pride  was  humbled,  and  their  progress 
was  checked,  by  the  arms  and  policy  of  Vouti,38  the  fifth 
emperor  of  the  powerful  dynasty  of  the  Han.  In  his  long 
reign  of  fifty-four  years,  the  Barbarians  of  the  southern  prov- 
inces submitted  to  the  laws  and  manners  of  China ;  and  the 
ancient  limits  of  the  monarchy  were  enlarged,  from  the  great 
river  of  Kiang,  to  the  port  of  Canton.  Instead  of  confining 
himself  to  the  timid  operations  of  a  defensive  war,  his  lieu- 
tenants penetrated   many  hundred  miles  into  the  country  of 


86  A  supply  of  women  is  mentioned  as  a  customary  article  of  treaty 
%nd  tribute,  (Hist,  do  la  Conquete  de  la  Chine,  par  les  Tartares  Mant- 
eheoux,  torn.  L  p.  18(5,  187,  with  the  note  of  the  editor.) 

37  De  Guigncs,  Hist,  des  Huns,  torn.  ii.  p.  62. 

38  See  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Vouti,  in  the  Kang-Mou,  torn,  iii 
p.  1 — 98.  HU  various  and  inconsistent  character  seerrs  to  be  impar- 
tially drawi,. 


20  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  Huns.  In  those  houndless  deserts,  where  it  is  impossible 
to  ,orm  magazines,  and  difficult  to  transport  a  sufficient  sup- 
ply of  provisions,  the  armies  of  Vouti  were  repeatedly  exposed 
to  intolerable  hardships  :  and,  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand soldiers,  who  marched  against  the  Barbarians,  thirt) 
thousand  only  returned  in  safety  to  the  feet  of  their  master. 
These  losses,  however,  were  compensated  by  splendid  and 
decisive  success.  The  Chinese  generals  improved  the  supe- 
riority which  they  derived  from  the  temper  of  their  arms, 
their  chariots  of  war,  and  the  service  of  their  Tartar  auxiliaries. 
The  camp  of  the  Tanjou  was  surprised  in  the  midst  of  sleep 
and  intemperance :  and,  though  the  monarch  of  the  Huns 
bravely  cut  his  way  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  he  left 
above  fifteen  thousand  of  his  subjects  on  the  field  of  battle. 
Yet  this  signal  victory,  which  was  preceded  and  followed  by 
many  bloody  engagements,  contributed  much  less  to  the 
destruction  of  the  power  of  the  Huns  than  the  effectual  policy 
which  was  employed  to  detach  the  tributary  nations  from 
their  obedience.  Intimidated  by  the  arms,  or  allured  by  the 
promises,  of  Vouti  and  his  successors,  the  most  considerable 
tribes,  both  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  disclaimed  the  au- 
thority of  the  Tanjou.  While  some  acknowledged  themselves 
the  allies  or  vassals  of  the  empire,  they  all  became  the  impla- 
cable enemies  of  the  Huns  :  and  the  numbers  of  that  haughty 
people,  as  soon  as  they  were  reduced  to  their  native  strength, 
might,  perhaps,  have  been  contained  within  the  walls  of  one 
of  the  great  and  populous  cities  of  China.39  The  desertion 
of  his  subjects,  and  the  perplexity  of  a  civil  war,  at  length 
compelled  the  Tanjou  himself  to  renounce  the  dignity  of  an 
independent  sovereign,  and  the  freedom  of  a  warlike  and 
high-spirited  nation.  He  was  received  at  Sigan,  the  capital  of 
the  monarchy,  by  the  troops,  the  mandarins,  and  the  emperor 
himself,  with  all  the  honors  that  could  adorn  and  disguise  the 
triumph  of  Chinese  vanity.40  A  magnificent  palace  was  pre- 
pared for  his  reception ;  his  place  was  assigned  above  all  the 

39  This  expression  is  used  in  the  memorial  to  the  emperor  Venti, 
(Duhalde,  torn.  ii.  p.  417.)  Without  adopting  the  exaggerations  of 
Marco  Polo  and  Isaac  Vossius,  we  may  rationally  allow  for  Pekin 
two  millions  of  inhabitants.  The  cities  of  the  South,  which  cji.tain 
the  manufactures  of  China,  are  still  more  populous. 

40  See  the  Kang-Mou,  torn.  hi.  p.  150,  and  the  subsequent  events 
under  the  proper  years.  This  memorable  festival  is  celebrated  u  tho 
Eloge  de  Aloukden,  and  explained  in  a  note  by  the  P.  Gaubil,  j.  63, 
90. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  2) 

princes  of  thb  royal  family  ;  and  the  patience  of  the  Barbarian 
king  was  exhausted  by  the  ceremonies  of  a  banquet,  which 
consisted  of  eight  courses  of  meat,  and  of  nine  solemn  piecea 
of  music.  But  he  performed,  on  his  knees,  the  duty  of  a 
respectful  homage  to  the  emperor  of  China ;  pronounced,  in 
his  own  name,  and  in  the  name  of  his  successors,  a  perpetual 
oath  of  fidelity  ;  and  gratefully  accepted  a  seal,  which  was 
bestowed  as  the  emblem  of  his  regal  dependence.  After  this 
humiliating  submission,  the  Tanjous  sometimes  departed  from 
th:jir  allegiance  and  seized  the  favorable  moments  of  war  and 
rapine  ;  but  the  monarchy  of  the  Huns  gradually  declined, 
till  it  was  broken,  by  civil  dissension,  into  two  hostile  and 
separate  kingdoms.  One  of  the  princes  of  the  nation  was 
urged,  by  fear  and  ambition,  to  retire  towards  the  South  with 
eight  hords,  which  composed  between  forty  and  fifty  thousand 
families.  He  obtained,  with  the  title  of  Tanjou,  a  convenient 
territory  on  the  verge  of  the  Chinese  provinces  ;  and  his  con 
stant  attachment  to  the  service  of  the  empire  was  secured  by 
weakness,  and  the  desire  of  revenge.  From  the  time  of  tliis 
fatal  schism,  the  Huns  of  the  North  continued  to  languish 
about  fifty  years ;  till  they  were  oppressed  on  every  side  by 
their  foreign  and  domestic  enemies.  The  proud  inscription  4) 
of  a  column,  erected  on  a  lofty  mountain,  announced  to  pos- 
terity, that  a  Chinese  army  had  marched  seven  hundred  miles 
into  the  heart  of  their  country.  The  Sienpi,42  a  tribe  of  Ori- 
ental Tartars,  retaliated  the  injuries  which  they  had  formerly 
sustained  ;  and  the  power  of  the  Tanjous,  after  a  reign  of 
thirteen  hundred  years,  was  utterly  destroyed  before  the  end 
of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  aera.43 

The   fate   of  the  vanquished   Huns  was  diversified   by  the 
various   influence  of  character  and  situation.44     Above  one 


41  This  inscription  was  composed  on  the  spot  by  Pankou,  President 
of  the  Tribunal  of  History  (Kang-Mou,  torn.  iii.  p.  392.)  SiniUar 
monuments  have  been  discovered  in  many  parts  of  Tartary,  (His- 
toire  des  Huns,  torn.  ii.  p.  122.) 

42  M.  de  Guigncs  (torn.  i.  p.  189)  has  inserted  a  short  account  of 
the  Sienpi. 

43  The  aera  of  the  Huns  is  placed,  by  the  Chinese,  1210  years  befcra 
Christ,  Uut  the  series  of  their  kings  does  not  commence  till  the  year 
230,   (Hist,  des  Huns,  torn.  ii.  p.  21,  123.) 

44  The  various  accidents,  the  downfall,  and  flight  of  the  Huns, 
are  related  in  the  Kang-Mou,  torn.  iii.  p.  88,  91,  95,  139,  &c.  The 
imall  numbers  of  each  horde  may  be  ascribed  to  their  losses  and 
divisions. 


22  the  de;line  and  fall 

hundred  thousand  persons,  the  poorest,  indeed,  and  the  most 
pusillanimous  of  the  people,  were  contented  to  remain  ic 
their  native  country,  to  renounce  their  peculiar  name  and 
origin,  and  to  mingle  with  the  victorious  nation  of  the  Sienpl. 
Fifty-eight  hords,  about  two  hundred  thousand  men,  ambitious 
of  a  more  honorable  servitude,  retired  towards  the  South ; 
implored  the  protection  of  the  emperors  of  China ;  and  were 
permitted  to  inhabit,  and  to  guard,  the  extreme  frontiers  of 
the  province  of  Chansi  and  the  territory  of  Ortous.  But  the 
most  warlike  and  powerful  tribes  cf  the  Huns  maintained,  in 
their  adverse  fortune,  the  undaunted  spirit  of  their  ancestors. 
The  Western  world  was  open  to  their  valor ;  and  they 
resolved,  under  the  conduct  of  their  hereditary  chieftains,  to 
discover  and  subdue  some  remote  country,  which  was  still 
inaccessible  to  the  arms  of  the  Sienpi,  and  to  the  laws  of 
China.45  The  course  of  their  emigration  soon  carried  them 
beyond  the  mountains  of  Imaus,  and  the  limits  of  the  Chinese 
geography ;  but  we  are  able  to  distinguish  the  two  great 
divisions  of  these  formidable  exiles,  which  directed  their 
march  towards  the  Oxus,  and  towards  the  Volga.  The  first 
of  these  colonies  established  their  dominion  in  the  fruitful 
and  extensive  plains  of  Sogdiana,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Caspian ;  where  they  preserved  the  name  of  Huns,  with  the 
epithet  of  Euthalites,  or  Nepthalites.*  Their  manners  were 
softened,  and  even  their  features  were  insensibly  improved, 
by  the  mildness  of  the  climate,  and  their  long  residence  in  a 
flourishing  province,46  which  might  still  retain  a  faint  impres- 
sion  of   the  arts  of    Greece.47     The  white   Huns,  a   name 

45  M.  de  Guignes  has  skilfully  traced  the  footsteps  of  the  Huns 
through  the  vast  deserts  of  Tartary,  (torn.  ii.  p.  123,  277,  &c, 
325,  &c.) 

46  Mohammed,  sultan  of  Carizme,  reigned  in  Sogdiana  when  it  was 
uvaded  (A.  D.  1218)  by  Zingis  and  his  moguls.  The  Oriental  histo- 
rians (see  D'Herbelot,  Petit  de  la  Croix,  &c.)  celebrate  the  populous 
cities  which  he  ruined,  and  the  fruitful  country  which  he  desolated. 
In  the  next  century,  the  same  provinces  of  Chorasmia  and  Nawaral- 
nah/  were  described  by  Abulfeda,  (Hudson,  Geograph.  Minor,  torn, 
iii.)  Their  actual  misery  may  be  seen  in  the  Genealogical  History  of 
the  Tartars,  p.  423— 4G9. 

47  Justin  (xli.  6)  has  left  a  short  abridgment  of  the  Greek  kings 
of  Bactriana.     To  their  industry  I  should  ascribe  the  new  aud  extra- 


•  The  Armenian  authors  often  mention  this  people  under  the  name  of 
Hepthal  St.  Martin  considers  that  the  name  Nephthalites  is  an  error  of 
a  copvist.     In  Procopius,  they  are  'E^daXhai.     St.  Martin,  iv.  254.  — M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  23 

which  they  derived  from  the  change  of  their  complexions, 
soon  abandoned  the  pastoral  life  of  Scythia.  Gorgo,  which, 
ander  the  appellation  of  Carizme,  has  since  enjoyed  a  tem- 
porary splendor,  was  the  residence  of  the  king,  who  exercised 
a  legal  authority  over  an  obedient  people.  Their  luxury  was 
maintained  by  the  labor  of  the  Sogdians ;  and  the  only 
vestige  of  their  ancient  barbarism,  was  the  custom  which 
obliged  all  the  companions,  perhaps  to  the  number  of  twenty, 
who  had  shared  the  liberality  of  a  wealthy  lord,  to  be  buried 
alive  in  the  same  grave.48  The  vicinity  of  the  Huns  to  the 
provinces  of  Persia  involved  them  in  frequent  and  b!<><>  ly 
contests  with  the  power  of  that  monarchy.  But  they  respecu- J, 
in  peace,  the  faith  of  treaties ;  in  war,  the  dictates  of  humanity  ; 
and  their  memorable  victory  over  Peroses,  or  Firuz,  displayed 
the  moderation,  as  well  as  the  valor,  of  the  Barbarians.  The 
second  division  of  their  countrymen,  the  Huns,  who  graduall) 
advanced  towards  the  North-west,  were  exercised  by  the 
hardships  of  a  colder  climate,  and  a  more  laborious  march. 
Necessity  compelled  them  to  exchange  the  silks  of  China  for 
the  furs  of  Siberia ;  the  imperfect  rudiments  of  civilized  life 
were  obliterated  ;  and  the  native  fierceness  of  the  Huns  was 
exasperated  by  their  intercourse  with  the  savage  tribes,  who 
were  compared,  with  some  propriety,  to  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  desert.  Their  independent  spirit  soon  rejected  the  hered- 
itary succession  of  the  Tanjous ;  and  while  each  horde  was 
governed  by  ks  peculiar  mursa,  their  tumultuary  council 
directed  the  public  measures  of  the  whole  nation.  As  late 
as  the  thirteenth  century,  their  transient  residence  on  the 
eastern  banks  of  the  Volga  was  attested  by  the  name  of 
Great  Hungary.49  In  the  winter,  they  descended  with  theii 
flocks  and  herds  towards  the  mouth  of  that  mighty  river ;  and 
their  summer  excursions  reached  as  high  as  the  latitude  of 
SaratofT,  or  perhaps  the  conflux  of  the  Kama.     Such  at  least 


ordinary  trade,  which  transported  the  merchandises  of  India  into 
Europe,  by  the  Oxus,  the  Caspian,  the  Cyrus,  the  Phasis,  and  the 
Euxine.  The  other  ways,  both  of  the  land  and  sea,  were  possessed  by 
the  Seleucides  and  the  Ptolemies.     (See  1' Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xxi.; 

48  Procopius  de  Bell.     Persico,  1.  i.  c.  3,  p.  9. 

49  In  the  thirteenth  century,  the  monk  Plubruquis  (who  traversed 
the  immense  plain  of  Kipzak,  in  his  journey  to  the  court  of  the  Great 
Khan)  observed  the  remarkable  name  of  Hungary,  with  the  traces 
tf  a  common  language  and  origin,  (Hist,  des  Voyages,  torn.  vxL 
p.  269.) 


u 


THE   DECLINE   AND  FALL 


were  the  recent  limits  of  the  black  Calmucks,50  who  remained 
about  a  century  under  the  protection  of  Eussia;  and  who 
have  since  returned  to  their  native  seats  on  the  frontiers  of 
the  Chinese  empire.  The  march,  and  the  return,  of  those 
wandering  Tartars,  whose  united  camp  consists  of  fifty 
thousand  tents  or  families,  illustrate  the  distant  emigrations 
of  the  ancient  Huns.51 

It  is  impossible  to  fill  the  dark  interval  of  time,  which 
elapsed,  after  the  Huns  of  the  Volga  were  lost  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Chinese,  and  before  they  showed  themselves  to  those 
of  the  Romans.  There  is  some  reason,  however,  to  appre- 
hend, that  the  same  force  which  had  driven  them  from  their 
native  seats,  still  continued  to  impel  their  march  towards  the 
frontiers  of  Europe.  The  power  of  the  Sienpi,  their  impla- 
cable enemies,  which  extended  above  three  thousand  miles 
from  East  to  West,52  must  have  gradually  oppressed  them 
by  the  weight  and  terror  of  a  formidable  neighborhood  ;  and 
the  flight  of  the  tribes  of  Scythia  would  inevitably  tend  to 
increase  the  strength,  or  to  contract  the  territories,  of  the 
Huns.  The  harsh  and  obscure  appellations  of  those  tribes 
would  offend  the  ear,  without  informing  the  understanding 
of  the  reader;  but  I  cannot  suppress  the  very  natural  sus- 
picion, that  the  Huns  of  the  North  derived  a  considerable 
reenforcement  from  the  ruin  of  the  dynasty  of  the  South, 
which.,  in  the  course  of  the  third  century,  submitted  to  the 
dominion  of  China ;  that  the  bravest  warriors  marched  aWay 
in  search  of  their  free   and   adventurous  countrymen ;  and 

50  Bell,  (vol.  i.  p.  29—34,)  and  the  editors  of  the  Genealogical  His- 
tory, (p.  539,)  have  described  the  Calmucks  of  the  Volga  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century. 

51  This  great  transmigration  of  300,000  Calmucks,  or  Torgouts,  hap- 
pened in  the  year  1771.  The  original  narrative  of  Kien-long,  the  reign- 
ing emperor  of  China,  which  was  intended  for  the  inscription  of  a  col- 
umn, has  been  translated  by  the  missionaries  cf  Pekin,  (Memoires  sur 
la  Chine,  torn.  i.  p.  401—418.)  The  emperor  affects  the  smooth  and 
specious  language  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  and  the  Father  of  his  People. 

52  The  Khan-Mou  (torn.  iii.  p.  447)  ascribes  to  their  conquests  a 
space  of  14,000  lis.  According  to  the  present  standard,  200  lis  (or 
more  accurately  193)  are  equal  to  one  degree  of  latitude  ;  and  one 
English  mile  consequently  exceeds  three  miles  of  China.  Put  there 
are  strong  reasons  to  believe  that  the  ancient  li  scarcely  equalled  one 
half  of  the  modern.  See  the  elaborate  researches  of  M.  D'Anville, 
a  geographer  who  is  not  a  stranger  in  any  age  or  climate  of  the 
globe.  (Memoires  de  l'Acad.  torn.  ii.  p.  125—502.  Meaures  Pine- 
raire8,  p.  lot-  167. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  25 

that,  as  they  had  been  divided  by  prosperity,  they  were  easdy 
reunited  by  the  common  hardships  of  their  adverse  fortune.53 
The  Huns,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, their  dependants  and  allies,  were  transported  to  the 
west  of  the  Volga,  and  they  boldly  advanced  to  invade  the 
country  of  the  Alani,  a  pastoral  people,  who  occupied,  or 
wasted,  an  extensive  tract  of  the  deserts  of  Scythia.  The 
plains  between  the  Volga  and  the  Tanais  ■were  covered  with 
the  tents  of  the  Alani,  but  their  name  and  manners  were  dif-. 
fused  over  the  wide  extent  of  their  conquests  ;  and  the  painted 
tribes  of  the  Agathyrsi  and  Geloni  were  confounded  among 
their  vassals.  Towards  the  North,  they  penetrated  into  the 
frozen  regions  of  Siberia,  among  the  savages  who  were 
accustomed,  in  their  rage  or  hunger,  to  the  taste  of  human 
flesh  ;  and  their  Southern  inroads  were  pushed  as  far  as  the 
confines  of  Persia  and  India.  The  mixture  of  Samatic  and 
German  blood  had  contributed  to  improve  the  features  of  the 
Alani,*  to  whiten  their  swarthy  complexions,  and  to  tinge 
their  hair  with  a  yellowish  cast,  which  is  seldom  found  in  th<? 
Tartar  race.  They  were  less  deformed  in  their  persons,  les<* 
brutish  in  their  manners,  than  the  Huns ;  but  they  did  not 
yield  to  those  formidable  Barbarians  in  their  martial  and  inde- 
pendent spirit ;  in  the  love  of  freedom,  which  rejected  even 
the  use  of  domestic  slaves ;  and  in  the  love  of  arms,  which 
considered  war  and  rapine  as  the  pleasure  and  the  glory  of 
mankind.  A  naked  cimeter,  fixed  in  the  ground,  was  the 
only  object  of  their  religious  worship ;  the  scalps  of  their 
enemies  formed  the  costly  trappings  of  their  horses ;  and 
they  viewed,  with  pity  and  contempt,  the  pusillanimous  war- 
riors, who  patiently  expected  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  the 


83  See  Histoire  des  Huns,  torn.  ii.  p.  125 — 144.  The  subsequent 
history  (p.  145 — 277)  of  three  or  four  Hunnic  dynasties  evidently 
proves  that  their  martial  spirit  was  not  impaired  by  a  long  residence 
in  China. 


*  Compare  M.  Klaproth's  curious  speculations  on  the  Alani.  He  sup- 
poses them  to  have  been  the  people,  known  by  the  Chinese,  at  the  time 
»f  their  first  expeditions  to  the  West,  under  the  name  of  Yath-sai  or  A  lan- 
na,  the  Alanan  of  Persian  tradition,  as  preserved  in  Ferdusi ;  the  same, 
according  to  Ammianus,  with  the  Massagetw,  and  with  the  Albani.  The 
remains  of  the  nation  still  exist  in  the  Ossetm  of  Mount  Caucasus.  Klap- 
roth,  Tableaux  Historiques  de  l'Asie,  p.  174. — M.  Compare  Shafarik 
Blawische  alterthumer,  i.  p.  350.  —  M.  1845. 


26  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

tortures  of  lingering  disease.54  On  the  banks  of  the  Tanais, 
the  military  power  of  the  Huns  and  the  Alani  encountered 
eacli  other  with  equal  valor,  but  with  unequal  success.  The 
Huns  prevailed  in  the  bloody  contest;  the  king  of  the  Alani 
was  slain  ;  and  the  remains  of  the  vanquished  nation  were 
dispersed  by  the  ordinary  alternative  of  flight  or  submission.6* 
A  colony  of  exiles  found  a  secure  refuge  in  the  mountains 
of  Caucasus,  between  the  Euxine  and  the  Caspian,  where 
they  still  preserve  their  name  and  their  independence.  An- 
other colony  advanced,  with  more  intrepid  courage,  towards 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic ;  associated  themselves  with  the 
Northern  tribes  of  Germany ;  and  shared  the  spoil  of  the 
Roman  provinces  of  Gaul  and  Spain.  But  the  greatest  part 
of  the  nation  of  the  Alani  embraced  the  offers  of  an  honor- 
able and  advantageous  union  ;  and  the  Huns,  who  esteemed 
the  valor  of  their  less  fortunate  enemies,  proceeded,  with  ail 
increase  of  numbers  and  confidence,  to  invade  the  limits  of 
the  Gothic  empire. 

The  great  Hermanric,  whose  dominions  extended  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Euxine,  enjoyed,  in  the  full  maturity  of  age  and 
reputation,  the  fruit  of  his  victories,  when  he  was  alarmed  by 
the  formidable  approach  of  a  host  of  unknown  enemies,68 
on  whom  his  barbarous  subjects  might,  without  injusdce, 
bestow  the  epithet  of  Barbarians.  The  numbers,  the  strength, 
the  rapid  motions,  and  the  implacable  cruelty  of  the  Huns, 
were  felt,  and  dreaded,  and  magnified,  by  the  astonished 
Goths ;  who  beheld  their  fields  and  villages  consumed  with 
liames,  and  deluged  with  indiscriminate  slaughter.  To  these 
real   terrors   they  added   the   surprise    and   abhorrence   which 

61  Utque  hominibus  quietis  et  placidis  otium  est  voluptabile,  ita 
illos  pericula  juvant  et  bella.  Judicatur  ibi  beatus  qui  in  proelio 
profuderit  animam  :  senescentes  etiam  et  fortuitis  mom  bus  in  undo 
digressos,  ut  degeneres  et  ignaTos,  conviciis  atrocibus  insectantur. 
[Ammiaa.  xxxi.  11.]  We  must  think  highly  of  the  conquerors  of 
stuh  men. 

5">  On  the  subject  of  the  Alani,  see  Ammianus,  (xxxi.  2,)  Jornandes, 
(de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  24,)  M.  de  Guignes,  (Hist,  des  Huns,  torn.  ii. 
p  27'J,)  and  the  Genealogical  History  of  the  Tartars,  (torn.  ii.  p.  617.) 

&-  As  we  are  possessed  of  the  authentic  history  of  the  Huns,  it  would 
be  impertinent  to  repeat,  or  to  refute,  the  tables  which  misrepresent 
their  origin  and  progress,  their  passage  of  the  mud  or  water  of  the 
Mjeotis,  in  pursuit  of  an  ox  or  stag,  les  Indes  qu'ils  avoient  de'eouvertes, 
Sw.,  (Z^simus,  1.  iv.  p.  224.  Sozomen,  1.  vi.  c.  37.  Proeopius,  Hist 
Miseell.  c.  6.  Jornandes,  c.  24.  Grandeur  et  Decadence,  &c,  de« 
Komains,  c.  17.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  27 

were  excited  by  the  shrill  voice,  the  uncouth  gestures,  and 
the  strange  deformity  of  the  Huns.*  These  savages  of* 
Scythia  were  compared  (and  the  picture  had  some  resem- 
blance) to  the  animals  who  walk  very  awkwardly  on  two 
legs ;  and  to  the  misshapen  figures,  the  Termini,  which  were 
often  placed  on  the  bridges  of  antiquity.  They  were  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  of  the  human  species  by  their  broad 
shoulders,  fiat  noses,  and  small  black  eyes,  deeply  buried  in 
the  head ;  and  as  they  were  almost  destitute  of  beards,  they 
never  enjoyed  either  the  manly  grace  of  youth,  or  the  ven- 
erable aspect  of  age.57  A  fabulous  origin  was  assigned, 
worthy  of  their  form  and  manners ;  that  the  witches  of 
Scythia,  who,  for  their  foul  and  deadly  practices,  had  been 
driven  from  society,  had  copulated  in  the  desert  with  infernal 
spirits  ;  and  that  the  Huns  were  the  offspring  of  this  execrable 
conjunction.58  The  tale,  so  full  of  horror  and  absurdity,  was 
greedily  embraced  by  the  credulous  hatred  of  the  Goths ; 
but,  while  it  gratified  their  hatred,  it  increased  their  fear, 
since  the  posterity  of  daemons  and  witches  might  be  supposed 
to  inherit  some  share  of  the  prseternatural  powers,  as  well  as 
of  the  malignant  temper,  of  their  parents.  Against  these 
enemies,  Hermanric  prepared  to  exert  the  united  forces  of 

•    « 

57  Prodigiosse  formae,  et  pandi ;  ut  bipedes  existimes  bestias  ;  vel 
quales  in  oommarginandis  pontibus,  effigiati  stipites  dolantur  in- 
compte.  Ammian.  xxxi.  i.  Jornandes  (c.  24)  draws  a  strong  carica- 
ture of  a  Calmuck  face.  Species  pavenda  nigredine  .  .  .  qusedam 
deformis  offa,  non  facies  ;  habensque  magis  puncta  quam  lumina. 
See  Buffon,  Hist.  Naturelle,  torn.  iii.  p.  380. 

58  This  execrable  origin,  which  Jornandes  (c.  24)  describes  with 
the  rancor  of  a  Goth,  might  be  originally  derived  from  a  more 
pleasing  fable  of  the  Greeks.     (Herodot.  1.  iv.  c.  9,  &c.) 


*  Art  added  to  their  native  ugliness ;  in  fact,  it  is  difficult  to  ascribe  the 
proper  share  in  the  features  of  this  hideous  picture  to  nature,  to  the  bar- 
barous skill  with  which  they  were  self-disfigured,  or  to  the  terror  and  hatred 
of  the  Romans.  Their  noses  'vere  flattened  by  their  nurses,  their  cheeks 
were  gashed  by  an  iron  instrument,  that  the  scars  might  look  more  fearful, 
and  prevent  the  growth  of  the  beard.  Jornandes  and  Sidonius  Apolli 
naris  :  — 

Obtiindit  tenoras  circumdata  fascia  nares, 

Ut  galeis  cedant. 

Vet  he  adds  t£At  their  forms  were  robust  and  manly,  their  height  of  9  wrid- 
i)e  siae,  but,  from  the  habit  of  riding,  disproportioned. 

Stant  pectora  vasta, 
Insignes  humeri,  succincta  sub  ilibus  alvus. 
Forma  quidem  pediti  media  est,  procera  sed  eztat 
8i  cernas  equilcs,  sic  longi  stepe  putantur 
Si  sedeunt.  —  M 


28  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Ine  Gothic  state  ;  but  he  soon  discovered  that  his  va&sal  tribes 
provoked  by  oppression,  were  much  more  inc.'ined  to  secondj 
than  to  repel,  the  invasion  of  the  Huns.  One  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  Ruxolani 59  had  formerly  deserted  the  standard  of  Her 
manric,  and  the  cruel  tyrant  had  condemned  the  innocent 
wife  of  the  traitor  to  be  torn  asunder  by  wild  horses.  The 
brothers  of  that  unfortunate  woman  seized  the  favorable 
moment  of  revenge.  The  aged  king  of  the  Goths  languished 
Borne  time  after  the  dangerous  wound  which  he  received  fiom 
their  daggers ;  but  the  conduct  of  the  war  was  retarded  oy 
his  infirmities ;  and  the  public  councils  of  the  nation  were 
distracted  by  a  spirit  of  jealousy  and  discord.  His  death, 
which  has  been  imputed  to  his  own  despair,  left  the  reins  of 
government  in  the  hands  of  Withimer,  who,  with  the  doubtful 
aid  of  some  Scythian  mercenaries,  maintained  the  unequal 
contest  against  the  arms  of  the  Huns  and  the  Alani,  till  he 
was  defeated  and  slain  in  a  decisive  battle.  The  Ostrogoths 
submitted  to  their  fate  ;  and  the  royal  race  of  the  Amali  will 
hereafter  be  found  among  the  subjects  of  the  haughty  Attila. 
But  the  person  of  Witheric,  the  infant  king,  was  saved  bj 
the  diligence  of  Alatheus  and  Saphrax ;  two  warriors  of 
approved  valor  and  fidelity,  who,  by  cautious  marches,  con 
ducted  the  independent  remains  of  the  nation  of  the  Ostro 
goths  towards  the  Danastus,  or  Niester ;  a  considerable  river 
which  now  separates  the  Turkish  dominions  from  the  empire 
of  Russia.  On  the  banks  of  the  Niester,  the  prudent  Athan- 
aric,  more  attentive  to  his  own  than  to  the  general  safety 
had  fixed  the  camp  of  the  Visigoths ;  with  the  firm  resolution 
of  opposing  the  victorious  Barbarians,  whom  he  thought  it 
less  advisable  to  provoke.  The  ordinary  speed  of  the  Huns 
was  checked  by  the  weight  of  baggage,  and  the  encumbrance 
of  captives ;  but  their  military  skill  deceived,  and  almost 
destroyed,  the  army  of  Athanaric.  While  the  Judge  of  the 
Visigoths  defended  the  banks  of  the  Niester,  he  was  encom- 
passed and  attacked  by  a  numerous  detachment  of  cavalry, 


59  The  Roxolani  may  be  the  fathers  of  the  Pvk,  the  Russians,  (D'An- 
rille,  Empire  de  Russie,  p.  1 — 10,)  whose  residence  (A.  D.  862)  about 
Novogrod  Veliki  cannot  be  very  remote  from  that  which  the  Geogra- 
pher of  Ravenna  (i.  12,  iv.  4,  46,  v.  28,  30)  assigns  to  tl  e  Roxolani. 
(A.  D.  886.)* 

*  See,  on  the  origin  of  the  Russ,  Schlozer,  Nordische  Gescbchte,  p 
222.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  29 

who,  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  had  passed  the  river  m  a 
fordable  place  ;  and  it  was  not  without  the  utmost  efforts  of 
courage  and  conduct,  that  he  was  able  to  effect  his  retreat 
towards  the  hilly  country.  The  undaunted  general  had 
already  formed  a  new  and  judicious  plan  of  defensive  war, 
and  the  strong  lines,  which  he  was  preparing  to  construct 
between  the  mountains,  the  Pruth,  and  the  Danube,  would 
have  secured  the  extensive  and  fertile  territory  that  bears  the 
modern  name  of  Walachia,  from  the  destructive  inroads  of 
the  Huns.60  But  the  hopes  and  measures  of  the  Judge  of 
the  Visigoths  were  soon  disappointed,  by  the  trembling  im- 
patience of  his  dismayed  countrymen ;  who  were  persuaded 
by  their  fears,  that  the  interposition  of  the  Danube  was  the 
only  barrier  that  could  save  them  from  the  rapid  pursuit,  and 
invincible  valor,  of  the  Barbarians  of  Scythia.  Under  the 
command  of  Fritigern  and  Alavivus,61  the  body  of  the  nation 
hastily  advanced  to  the  banks  of  the  great  river,  and  implored 
the  protection  of  the  Roman  emperor  of-the  East.  Athanaric 
himself,  still  anxious  to  avoid  the  guilt  of  perjury,  retired, 
with  a  band  of  faithful  followers,  into  the  mountainous 
country  of  Caucaland ;  which  appears  to  have  been  guarded, 
and  almost  concealed,  by  the  impenetrable  forests  of  Tran- 
sylvania.6- * 

After  Valens  had  terminated  the  Gothic  war  with  some 
appearance  of  glory  and  success,  he  made  a  progress  through 
his  dominions  of  Asia,  and  at  length  fixed  his  residence  in 
the  capital   of  Syria.     The  five  years63   which  he   spent  at 

60  The  text  of  Ammianus  seems  to  be  imperfect  or  corrupt ;  but 
the  nature  of  the  ground  explains,  and  almost  defines,  the  Gothio 
rampart.     Mcmoires  de  l'Academie,  &c,  torn,  xxviii.  p.  444 — 462. 

61  M.  de  Buat  (Hist,  des  Peuples  de  l'Europe,  torn.  vi.  p.  407)  has 
conceived  a  strange  idea,  that  Alavivus  was  the  same  person  as  Ul- 
philas,  the  Gothic  bishop  ;  and  that  Ulphilas,  the  grandson  of  a  Cap- 
padocian  captive,  became  a  temporal  prince  of  the  Goths. 

6'2  Ammianus  (xxxi.  3)  and  Jornandes  (de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  24) 
describe  the  subversion  of  the  Gothic  empire  by  the  Huns. 

63  The  chronology  of  Ammianus  is  obscure  and  imperfect.  Tille- 
mont  has  labored  to  clear  and  settle  the  annals  of  Valens. 


*  The  most  probable  opinion  as  to  the  position  of  this  land  is  that  of 
M.  Malte-Brun.  He  thinks  that  Caucaland  is  the  territory  of  the  Caco 
enses,  placed  by  Ptolemy  (1.  iii.  c.  8)  towards  the  Carpathian  Mountains, 
jn  the  side  of  the  present  Transylvania,  and  therefore  the  canton  of  Ca- 
cava,  to  the  south  of  Hermanstadt,  the  capital  of  that  principality. 
Caucaland,  it  is  evident,  is  the  Gothic  form  of  these  different  names.  St 
Martin,  iv.  103.  —  M. 


80  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL, 

Antioch  were  employed  to  watch,  from  a  secure  distance,  the 
hostile  designs  of  the  Persian  monarch  ;  to  check  the  depre* 
dati  )ns  of  the  Saracens  and  Isaurians  ; 64  to  enforce,  by  argu- 
ments more  prevalent  than  those  of  reason  and  eloquence, 
the  belief  of  the  Arian  theology  ;  and  to  satisfy  his  anxious 
suspicions  by  the  promiscuous  execution  of  the  innocent  and 
the  guilty.  But  the  attention  of  the  emperor  was  most 
seriously  engaged,  by  the  important  intelligence  which  he 
received  from  the  civil  and  military  officers  who  were  intrusted 
with  the  defence  of  the  Danube.  He  was  informed,  that  the 
North  was  agitated  by  a  furious  tempest ;  that  the  irruption 
of  the  Huns,  an  unknown  and  monstrous  race  of  savages,  had 
subverted  the  power  of  the  Goths  ;  and  that  the  suppliant 
multitudes  of  that  warlike  nation,  whose  pride  was  now  hum- 
bled in  the  dust,  covered  a  space  of  many  miles  along  the 
banks  of  the  river.  With  outstretched  arms,  and -pathetic 
lamentations,  they  loudly  deplored  their  past  misfortunes  and 
their  present  danger;  acknowledged  that  their  only  hope  of 
safety  was  in  the  clemency  of  the  Roman  government ; 
and  most  solemnly  protested,  that  if  the  gracious  liberality 
of  the  emperor  would  permit  them  to  cultivate  the  waste 
lands  of  Thrace,  they  should  ever  hold  themselves  bound,  by 
strongest  obligations  of  duty  and  gratitude,  to  obey  the  laws, 
and  to  guard  the  limits,  of  the  republic.  These  assurances 
were  confirmed  by  the  ambassadors  of  the  Goths,*  who  impa- 
tiently expected  from  the  mouth  of  Valens  an  answer  that 
must  finally  determine  the  fate  of  their  unhappy  countrymen. 
The  emperor  of  the  East  was  no  longer  guided  by  the  wis- 
dom and  authority  of  his  elder  brother,  whose  death  happened 
towards  the  end  of  the  preceding  year  ;  and  as  the  distressful 
situation  of  the  Goths  required  an  instant  and  peremptory 
decision,  he  was  deprived  of  the  favorite  resource  of  feeble 
and  timid  minds,  who  consider  the  use  of  dilatory  and  am- 
biguous measures  as  the  most  admirable  efforts  of  consum- 
mate prudence.  As  long  as  the  same  passions  and  interests 
subsist  among  mankind,  the  questions  of  war  and  peace,  of 

a<  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  223.  Sozomen,  1.  vi.  c.  38.  The  Isauiians, 
each  winter,  infested  the  roads  oi  Asia  Minor,  as  far  as  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Constantinople.  Basil,  Epist.  eel.  apud  Tillemont,  Hist,  del 
fcmpereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  106. 


*  Sozomen  and  Philostorgius  say  that  the  bishop  Ulphilas  wag  die  of 
these  ambassadors.  —  M. 


0/    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  3] 

justice  and  policy,  which  were  debated  in  the  councils  of 
antiquity,  will  frequently  present  themselves  as  the  subject  of 
modern  deliberation.  But  the  most  experienced  statesman 
of  Europe  has  never  been  summoned  to  consider  the  pro- 
priety, or  the  danger,  of  admitting,  or  rejecting,  an  innumer- 
able multitude  of  Barbarians,  who  are  driven  by  despair  and 
hunger  to  solicit  a  settlement  on  the  territories  of  a  civilized 
nation.  When  that  important  proposition,  so  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  public  safety,  was  referred  to  the  ministers 
of  Valens,  they  were  perplexed  and  divided  ;  but  they  soon 
acquiesced  in  the  flattering  sentiment  which  seemed  the  most 
favorable  to  the  pride,  the  indolence,  and  the  avarice  of  their 
sovereign.  The  slaves,  who  were  decorated  with  the  titles 
of  prcefects  and  generals,  dissembled  or  disregarded  the  ter- 
rors of  this  national  emigration  ;  so  extremely  different  from 
the  partial  and  accidental  colonies,  which  had  been  received 
on  the  extreme  limits  of  the  empire.  But  they  applauded 
the  liberality  of  fortune,  which  had  conducted,  from  the  most 
distant  countries  of  the  globe,  a  numerous  and  invincible 
army  of  strangers,  to  defend  the  throne  of  Valens  ;  who 
might  now  add  to  the  royal  treasures  the  immense  sums  of 
gold  supplied  by  the  provincials  to  compensate  their  annual 
proportion  of  recruits.  The  prayers  of  the  Goths  were 
granted,  and  their  service  was  accepted  by  the  Imperial 
court :  and  orders  were  immediately  despatched  to  the  civil 
and  military  governors  of  the  Thracian  diocese,  to  make  the 
necessary  preparations  for  the  passage  and  subsistence  of  a 
great  people,  till  a  proper  and  sufficient  territory  could  be 
allotted  for  their  future  residence.  The  liberality  of  the  em- 
peror was  accompanied,  however,  with  two  harsh  and  rigor- 
ous conditions,  which  prudence  might  justify  on  the  side  of 
the  Romans  ;  but  which  distress  alone  could  extort  from  tho 
indignant  Goths.  Before  they  passed  the  Danube,  they  were 
required  to  deliver  their  arms  :  and  it  was  insisted,  that  their 
children  should  be  taken  from  them,  and  dispersed  through 
the  provinces  of  Asia  ;  where  they  might  be  civilized  by  the 
arts  of  education,  and  serve  as  hostages  to  secure  the  fidelity 
of  their  parents. 

During  the  suspense  of  a  doubtful  and  distant  negotiation, 
\he  impatient  Goths  made  some  rash  attempts  to  pass  the 
Danube,  without  the  permission  of  the  government,  whose 
protection  they  had  implored.  Their  motions  were  strictly 
observed  by  the  vigilance  of  the  troops  which  were  stationed 


82  THE    DECLINE    AND    FA^L 

along  the  river  ;  and  their  foremost  detachments  were  defeated 
with  considerable  slaughter ;  yet  such  were  the  timid  coun- 
cils of  the  reign  of  Valens,  that  the  brave  officers  who  had 
served  their  country  in  the  execution  of  their  duty,  were 
punished  by  the  loss  of  their  employments,  and  narrowly 
escaped  the  loss  of  their  heads.  The  Imperial  mandate  was 
at  length,  received  for  transporting  over  the  Danube  the 
whole  body  of  the  Gothic  nation  ; 65  but  the  execution  of  this 
order  was  a  task,  of  labor  and  difficulty.  The  stream  of  the 
Danube,  which  in  those  parts  is  above  a  mile  broad,66  had 
been  swelled  by  incessant  rains  ;  and  in  this  tumultuous  pas- 
sage, many  were  swept  away,  and  drowned,  by  the  rapid 
violence  of  the  current.  A  large  fleet  of  vessels,  of  boats,  and 
of  canoes,  was  provided  ;  many  days  and  nights  they  passed 
and  repassed  with  indefatigable  toil  ;  and  the  most  strenuous 
diligence  was  exerted  by  the  officers  of  Valens,  that  not  a 
single  Barbarian,  of  those  who  were  reserved  to  subvert  the 
foundations  of  Rome,  should  be  left  on  the  opposite  shore.  It 
was  thought  expedient  that  an  accurate  account  should  be 
taken  of  their  numbers  ;  but  the  persons  who  were  employed 
soon  desisted,  with  amazement  and  dismay,  from  the  prose- 
cution of  the  endless  and  impracticable  task  :  67  and  the  prin- 
cipal historian  of  the  age  most  seriously  affirms,  that  the 
prodigious  armies  of  Darius  and  Xerxes,  which  had  so  long 
been  considered  as  the  fables  of  vain  and  credulous  antiquity, 
were  now  justified,  in  the  eyes  of  mankind,  by  the  evidence 
of  fact  and  experience.  A  probable  testimony  has  fixed  the 
number  of  the  Gothic  warriors  at  two  hundred  thousand  men  : 
and  if  we  can  venture  to  add   the  just  proportion  of  women, 

64  The  passage  of  the  Danube  is  exposed  by  Ammianus,  (xxxi.  3,  4,) 
Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  2'23,  224,)  Eunapius  in  Excerpt.  Legat.  (p.  19,  20,) 
and  Jornandes,  (c.  25,  26.)  Ammianus  declares  (c.  S^  that  he  means 
only,  ipsas  rerum  digerere  summitates.  But  he  often  takes  a  false 
measure  of  their  importance  ;  and  his  superfluous  prolixity  is  disa- 
greeably balanced  by  his  unseasonable  brevity. 

66  Chishull,  a  curious  traveller,  has  remarked  the  breadth  of  the 
Danube,  which  he  passed  to  the  south  of  Bucharest  near  the  conflux 
of  the  Argish,  (p.  77.)  He  admires  the  beauty  and  spontaneous 
plenty  of  Maesia,  or  Bulgaria. 

91  Quern  si  scire  velit,  Libyci  velit  sequoris  idem 

Discere  quam  multae  Zephyro  turbentur  harenae. 
Ammianus  has  inserted,  in  his  prose,  these  lines  of  Virgil,  (Georgia 
L  ii.  105,)  originally  designed  by  the  poet  to  express  the  impossibility 
of  numbering  the  different  sorts  of  vines.  ,  See  Plin.  Hist.  Natur. 
L  xiv. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  33 

of  children,  and  of  slaves,  the  whole  mass  of  people  which 
composed  this  formidable  emigration,  must  have  amounted  to 
near  a  million  of  persons,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all  ages.  The 
children  of  the  Goths,  those  at  least  of  a  distinguished  rank 
were  separated  from  the  multitude.  They  were  conducted 
without  delay,  to  the  distant  seats  assigned  for  their  residence 
and  education  ;  and  as  the  numerous  train  of  hostages  or  cap- 
tives passed  through  the  cities,  their  gay  and  splendid  apparel, 
their  robust  and  martial  figure,  excited  the  surprise  and  envy 
of  the  Provincials.*  But  the  stipulation,  the  most  offensive 
to  the  Goths,  and  the  most  important  to  the  Romans,  was 
shamefully  eluded.  The  Barbarians,  who  considered  their 
arms  as  the  ensigns  of  honor  and  the  pledges  of  safety,  were 
disposed  to  oifer  a  price,  which. the  lust  or  avarice  of  the  Im 
perial  officers  was  easily  tempted  to  accept.  To  preserve 
their  arms,  the  haughty  warriors  consented,  with  some  reluc- 
tance, to  prostitute  their  wives  or  their  daughters  ;  the  charms 
of  a  beauteous  maid,  or  a  comely  boy,  secured  the  connivance 
of  the  inspectors  ;  who  sometimes  cast  an  eye  of  covetous- 
ness  on  the  fringed  carpets  and  linen  garments  of  their  new 
allies,68  or  who  sacrificed  their  duty  to  the  mean  considera- 
tion of  filling  their  farms  with  cattle,  and  their  houses  with 
slaves.  The  Goths, with  arms  in  their  hands, were  permitted 
to  enter  the  boats ;  and  when  their  strength  was  collected  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  the  immense  camp  which  was 
spread  over  the  plains  and  the  hills  of  the  Lower  Msesia,  as- 
sumed a  threatening  and  even  hostile  aspect.  The  leaders  of 

68  Eunapius  and  Zosimus  curiously  specify  these  articles  of  Gothic 
wealth  and  luxury.  Yet  it  must  be  presumed  that  they  were  the 
manufactures  of  the  provinces ;  which  the  Barbarians  had  acquirec 
as  the  spoils  of  war ;  or  as  the  gifts,  or  merchandise,  of  peace. 

*  A  very  curious,  but  obscure,  passage  of  Eunapius,  appears  to  me  to 
have  been  misunderstood  by  M.  Mai,  to  whom  we  owe  its  discovery.  The 
substance  is  as  follows  :  "  The  Goths  transported  over  the  river  their  native 
deities,  with  their  priests  of  both  sexes  ;  but  concerning  their  rites  they 
maintained  a  deep  and  '  adamantine  silence.'  To  the  Romans  they  pre- 
tended to  be  generally  Christians,  and  placed  certain  persons  to  represent 
bishops  in  a  conspicuous  manner  on  their  wagons.  There  was  even  among 
them  a  sort  of  what  are  called  monks,  persons  whom  it  was  not  difficult  to 
mimic;  it  was  enough  to  wear  black  raiment,  to  be  wicked,  and  held  in 
respect,  novr/pois  n  tlvai  xai  zwTtitoQai."  (Eunapius  hated  the  "  black-robed 
monks,"  as  appears  in  another  passage,  with  the  cordial  detestation  of  a 
heathen  philosopher.)  "Thus,  while  they  faithfully  but  secretly  adhered 
to  their  own  religion,  the  Romans  were  weak  enough  to  suppose  them 
perfect  Christians."  Mai,  277.  Eunapius  in  Nicbuhr,  82. — M. 
56 


54  THE    DECLINE    &ND    FALL 

the  Ostrogcths,  Alatheus  and  Saphrax,  the  guardians  of  theii 
infant  king,  appeared  soon  afterw  ards  on  the  Northern  banks 
of  the  Danube  ;  and  immediately  despatched  their  ambas- 
sadors to  the  court  of  Antioch,  to  solicit,  with  the  same  pro- 
fessions of  allegiance  and  gratitude,  the  same  favor  which  had 
been  granted  to  the  suppliant  Visigoths.  The  absolute  refu- 
sal of  Valens  suspended  their  progress,  and  discovered  the 
repentance,  the  suspicions,  and  the  fears,  of  the  Imperial 
council. 

An  undisciplined  and  unsettled  nation  of  Barbarians 
required  the  firmest  temper,  and  the  most  dexterous  manage- 
ment. The  daily  subsistence  of  near  a  million  of  extraor 
dinary  subjects  could  be  supplied  only  by  constant  and  skilful 
diligence,  and  might  continually  be  interrupted  by  mistake  or 
accident.  The  insolence,  or  the  indignation,  of  the  Goths,  if 
they  conceived  themselves  to  be  the  objects  either  of  fear 
or  of  contempt,  might  urge  them  to  the  most  desperate 
extremities  ;  and  the  fortune  of  the  state  seemed  to  depend 
on  the  prudence,  as  well  as  the  integrity,  of  the  generals  of 
Valens.  At  this  important  crisis,  the  military  government  of 
Thrace  was  exercised  by  Lupicinus  and  Maximus,  in  whose 
venal  minds  the  slightest  hope  of  private  emolument  out- 
weighed every  consideration  of  public  advantage  ;  and  whose 
guilt  was  only  alleviated  by  their  incapacity  of  discerning  the 

fiernicious  effects  of  their  rash  and  criminal  administration, 
nstead  of  obeying  the  orders  of  their  sovereign,  and  satisfy- 
ing, with  decent  liberality,  the  demands  of  the  Goths,  they 
levied  an  ungenerous  and  oppressive  tax  on  the  wants  of 
the  hungry  Barbarians.  The  vilest  food  was  sold  at  an 
extravagant  price  ;  and,  in  the  room  of  wholesome  and  sub- 
stantial provisions,  the  markets  were  filled  with  the  flesh  of 
dogs,  and  of  unclean  animals,  who  had  died  of  disease.  To 
obtain  the  valuable  acquisition  of  a  pound  of  bread,  the 
Goths  resigned  the  possession  of  an  expensive,  though  ser- 
viceable, slave  ;  and  a  small  quantity  of  meat  was  greedily 
purchased  with  ten  pounds  of  a  precious,  but   useless  metal.69 

69  Decern  libras ;  the  word  silver  must  be  understood.  Jornandea 
betrays  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  a  Goth.  The  servile  Greeks, 
Eunapius  *  and  Zosimus,  disguise  the  lloman  oppression,  and  exe- 


*  A  new  passage  from  the  history  of  Eunapius  is  nearer  to  the  truth 
"  It  appeared  to  our  commanders  a  legitimate  source  of  gain  to  be  bribed 
by  the  Barbarians  :  xipioi  avroif  Hokci  yvriaiov  rd  buiyoiotiiBdai  na\A  rwr  iro\t 
•<W."    Edit  Niebuhr,  p.  82  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  35 

When   their  property    was    exhausted,  they    continued    this 
necessary  traffic  by  the  sale  of  their  sons  and  daughters  ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  love  of  freedom,  which  animated  every 
Gothic  breast,  they  submitted  to  the  humiiiating  maxim,  that 
it  was  better  for  their  children  to  be  maintained  in  a  servile 
condition,  than  to  perish  in  a  state  of  wretched  and  helpless 
independence.     The  most  lively  resentment  is  excited  by  the 
tyranny  of  pretended  benefactors,  who  sternly  exact  the  debt 
of  gratitude  which  they  have  cancelled  by  subsequent  inju- 
ries :  a  spirit  of  discontent  insensibly  arose  in   the  camp  of 
the  Barbarians,  who  pleaded,  without  success,  the  merit  of  their 
patient  and  dutiful  behavior  ;  and  loudly  complained  of  the 
inhospitable   treatment  which   they  had   received   from   their 
new  allies.     They  beheld  around  them  the  wealth  and  plenty 
of  a  fertile  province,  in  the  midst  of  which  they  suffered  the 
intolerable  hardships  of  artificial  famine.     But  the  means  of 
relief,  and  even  of  revenge,  were  in  their  hands  ;  since  the 
rapaciousness  of  their  tyrants  had  left  to  an   injured  people 
the  possession  and  the  use  of  arms.     The  clamois  of  a  mul- 
titude, untaught  to  disguise  their  sentiments,  announced  the 
first  symptoms  of  resistance,  and  alarmed  the  timid  and  guilty 
minds  of  Lupicinus  and  Maximus.     Those  cratry  ministers, 
who  substituted  the  cunning  of  temporary  expedients  to  the 
wise  and  salutary  councils  of  general   policy,  attempted   to 
remove  the  Goths  from  their  dangerous  station  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  empire  ;  and  to  disperse  them,  in  separate  quar- 
ters of  cantonment,  through  the  interior  provinces.     As  they 
were  conscious  how  ill  they  had  deserved  the  respect,  or  con- 
fidence, of  the   Barbarians,   they  diligently   collected,   from 
every  side,  a  military  force,   that  might  urge  the  tardy  and 
reluctant  march  of  a  people,  who  had  not  yet  renounced  the 
utle,  or  the  duties,  of  Roman  subjects.     But  the  generals  of 
Valens,  while  their  attention  was  solely  directed  to  the  dis- 
contented Visigoths,  imprudently  disarmed  the  ships  and  the 
fortifications  which  constituted   the  defence  of  the  Danube. 
The  fatal  oversight  was  observed,  and  improved,  by  Alatheus 
and  Saphrax,  who  anxiously  watched  the  favorable  momenl 
of  escaping  from  the  pursuit  of  the  Huns.     By  the  help  of 


crate  the  perfidy  of  the  Barbarians.  Ammianus,  a  patriot  historian, 
•lightly,  and  reluctantly,  touches  on  the  odious  subject.  Jeiom,  who 
WTote  almost*  on  the  spot,  is  fair,  though  concise.  Per  avaritiam 
Maximi  riucis,  ad  rcbellionem  fame  coacti  sunt,  (in  Chron.1 


86  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

such  rafis  and  vessels  as  could  be  hastily  procured,  the  leaders 
of  the  Ostrogoths  transported,  without  opposition,  their  king 
and  their  army ;  and  boldly  fixed  a  hostile  and  independent 
camp  ou  the  territories  of  the  empire.70 

Under  the  name  of  Judges,  Alavivus  and  Fritigern  were 
the  leaders  of  the  Visigoths  in  peace  and  war;  and  the 
authority  which  they  derived  from  their  birth  was  ratified  by 
the  free  consent  of  the  nation.  In  a  season  of  tranquillity, 
their  power  might  have  been  equal,  as  well  as  their  rank; 
but,  as  soon  as  their  countrymen  were  exasperated  by  hunger 
and  oppression,  the  superior  abilities  of  Fritigern  assumed  the 
military  command,  which  he  was  qualified  to  exercise  for  the 
public  welfare.  He  restrained  the  impatient  spirit  of  the 
Visigoths  till  the  injuries  and  the  insults  of  their  tyrants  should 
justify  their  resistance  in  the  opinion  of  mankind  :  but  he 
was  not  disposed  to  sacrifice  any  solid  advantages  for  the 
empty  praise  of  justice  and  moderation.  Sensible  of  the 
benefits  which  would  result  from  the  union  of  the  Gothic 
powers  under  the  same  standard,  he  secretly  cultivated  the 
friendship  of  the  Ostrogoths ;  and  while  he  professed  an  im- 
plicit obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  Roman  generals,  he  pro- 
teeded  by  slow  marches  towards  Marcianopolis,  the  capital 
l»f  the  Lower  Maesia,  about  seventy  miles  from  the  banks  of 
]he  Danube.  On  that  fatal  spot,  the  flames  of  discord  and 
inutual  hatred  burst  forth  into  a  dreadful  conflagration.  Lu- 
picinus  had  invited  the  Gothic  chiefs  to  a  splendid  entertain- 
ment ;  and  their  martial  train  remained  under  arms  at  the 
entrance  of  the  palace.  But  the  gates  of  the  city  were  strictly 
guarded,  and  the  Barbarians  were  sternly  excluded  from  the 
use  of  a  plentiful  market,  to  which  they  asserted  their  equal 
claim  of  subjects  and  allies.  Their  humble  prayers  were 
rejected  with  insolence  and  derision ;  and  as  their  patience 
was  now  exhausted,  the  townsmen,  the  soldiers,  and  the  Goths, 
were  soon  involved  in  a  conflict  of  passionate  altercation  and 
angry  reproaches.  A  blow  was  imprudently  given  ;  a  sword 
was  hastily  drawn ;  and  the  first  blood  that  was  spilt  in  this 
accidental  quarrel  became  the  signal  of  a  long  and  destruc- 
tive war.  In  the  midst  of  noise  and  brutal  intemperance. 
Lupicinus  was  informed,  by  a  secret  messenger,  that  many 
of  his  soldiers  were  slain,  and  despoiled  of  their  arms ;  and 
us  he  was  already  inflamed  by  wine,  and  oppressed  by  sleep, 


70  Ammianus,  xxxi.  4,  6. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  37 

he  issued  a  rash  commar  J,  that  their  death  should  be  revenged 
by  the  massacre  of  the  g jards  of  Fritigern  and  Alavivus.  The 
ilamorous  shouts  and  dying  groans  apprised  Fritigern  of  his 
extreme  danger  ;  and,  as  he  possessed  the  calm  and  intrepid 
spirit  of  a  hero,  he  saw  that  he  was  lost  if  he  allowed  a 
moment  of  deliberation  to  the  man  who  had  so  deeply  injured 
him.  "  A  trifling  dispute,"  said  the  Gothic  leader,  with  a 
firm  but  gentle  tone  of  voice,  "  appears  to  have  arisen  be- 
tween the  two  nations  ;  but  it  may  be  productive  of  the  most 
dangerous  consequences,  unless  the  tumult  is  immediately 
pacified  by  the  assurance  of  our  safety,  and  the  authority  of 
our  presence."  At  these  words,  Fritigern  and  his  com- 
panions drew  their  swords,  opened  their  passage  through  the 
unresisting  crowd,  which  filled  the  palace,  the  streets,  and  the 
gates,  of  Marcianopolis,  and,  mounting  their  horses,  hastily 
vanished  from  the  eyes  of  the  astonished  Romans.  The 
generals  of  the  Goths  were  saluted  by  the  fierce  and  joyful 
acclamations  of  the  camp  ;  war  was  instantly  resolved,  and 
the  resolution  was  executed  without  delay  :  the  banners  of 
the  nation  were  displayed  according  to  the  custom  of  their 
ancestors  ;  and  the  air  resounded  with  the  harsh  and  mourn- 
ful music  of  the  Barbarian  trumpet.71  The  weak  and  guilty 
Lupicinus,  who  had  dared  to  provoke,  who  had  neglected  to 
destroy,  and  who  still  presumed  to  despise,  his  formidable 
enemy,  marched  against  the  Goths,  at  the  head  of  such  a 
military  force  as  could  be  collected  on  this  sudden  emergency. 
The  Barbarians  expected  his  approach  about  nine  miles  from 
Marcianopolis  ;  and  on  this  occasion  the  talents  of  the  general 
were  found  to  be  of  more  prevailing  efficacy  than  the  weap- 
ons and  discipline  of  the  troops.  The  valor  of  the  Goths  was 
so  ably  directed  by  the  genius  of>  Fntigern,  that  they  broke, 
by  a  close  and  vigorous  attack,  the  ranks  of  the  Roman 
leg'nus.     Lupicinus  left  his  arms  and  standards,  his  tribunes 

71  Vexillis  de  more  sublatis,  auditisque  triste  sononlihns  ciassicit. 
Ammian  xxxi.  5.  These  are  the  rauca  curnua  of  Claudian,  (in  Rutin, 
ii.  57,)  the  large  horns  of  the  Uri,  or  wild  bull ;  such  as  have  been 
more  recently  used  by  the  Swiss  Cantons  of  Uri  and  Underwald. 
(Simler  de  Republic!  Ilelvet.  1.  ii.  p.  201,  edit.  Fuselin.  Tigur.  1734.) 
Their  military  horn  is  finely,  though  perhaps  casually,  introduced  in 
an  original  narrative  of  the  battle  of  Nancy,  (A.  D.  1477.)  "Attendant 
le  combat  le  dit  cor  fut  come  par  trois  fois,  tant  que  le  vent  du  soutfler 
pouvoit  durer:  ce  ^ui  esbahit  fort  Monsieur  de  ISourgoigne ;  car  deja 
a  Marat  I'avoit  ouij."  (See  the  Pieces  .lustificatives  in  the  4to.  edition 
of  Philippe  de  Comines,  toui.  iii.  p.  493.* 


88  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL. 

and  h  s  bravest  soldiers,  on  the  field  of  battle  ;  and  their  use- 
less courage  served  only  to  protect  the  ignominious  flight  of 
their  leader.  "  That  successful  day  pin  an  end  to  the 
distress  of  the  Barbarians,  and  the  security  01  the  Romans  : 
t'rora  that  day,  the  Goths,  renouncing  the  precarious  condition 
of  strangers  and  exiles,  assumed  tbe  character  of  citizens  and 
masters,  claimed  an  absolute  dominion  over  the  possessors  of 
land,  and  held,  in  their  own  right,  the  northern  provinces  of 
the  empire,  which  are  bounded  by  the  Danube."  Such  are 
the  words  of  the  Gothic  historian,72  who  celebrates,  with  rude 
eloquence,  the  glory  of  his  countrymen.  But  the  dominion 
of  the  Barbarians  was  exercised  only  for  the  purposes  of 
rapine  and  destruction.  As  they  had  been  deprived,  by  the 
ministers  of  the  emperor,  of  the  common  benefits  of  nature 
and  the  fair  intercourse  of  social  life,  they  retaliated  the 
injustice  on  the  subjects  of  the  empire  ;  and  the  crimes  of 
Lupicinus  were  expiated  by  the  ruin  of  the  peaceful  hus- 
bandmen of  Thrace,  the  conflagration  of  their  villages,  and 
the  massacre,  or  captivity,  of  their  innocent  families.  The 
report  of  the  Gothic  victory  was  soon  diffused  over  the  ad- 
:acent  country  ;  and  while  it  filled  the  minds  of  the  Romans 
with  terror  and  dismay,  their  own  hasty  imprudence  con- 
*nbuted  to  increase  the  forces  of  Fritigern,  and  the  calamities 
of  the  province.  Some  time  before  the  great  emigration,  a 
numerous  body  of  Goths,  under  the  command  of  Suerid  and 
Colias,  had  been  received  into  the  protection  and  service  of 
the  empire.73  They  were  encamped  under  the  walls  of  Ha- 
drianople ;  but  the  ministers  of  Valens  were  anxious  to  remove 
them  beyond  the  Hellespont,  at  a  distance  from  the  danger- 
ous temptation  which  might  so  easily  be  communicated  by  the 
neighborhood,  and  the  success,  of  their  countrymen.  The 
respectful  submission  with  which  they  yielded  to  the  order  of 
their  march,  might  be  considered  as  a  proof  of  their  fidelity  ; 
and  their  moderate  request  of  a  sufficient  allowance  of  pro- 
visions, and  of  a  delay  of  only  two  days,  was  expressed  in 
the  most  dutiful  terms.  But  the  first  magistrate  of  Hadrian 
ople  incensed  by  seme  disorders  which  had  bee  a  committed 
at  his  country-house,  refused   this   indulgence  ;  and   arming 

7*  Jomandes  de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  26,  p.  648,  edit  Grot.  lhese 
splendidi  panni  (they  are  comparatively  such)  are  undoubtedly  tran- 
scribed from  the  larger  histories  of  Priscus,  Ablavius,  or  Cassiodorus. 

73  Cum  populis  suis  longe  ante  suscepti.  We  are  ig;  orai  c  of  tha 
precise  datr  and  cii'-ixostaucefi  of  their  tiransmigratinr, 


JF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  39 

against  the.n  the  .^habitants  and  manufacturers  of  a  populous 
city,  he  urged,  witk  hostile  threats,  their  instant  departure. 
The  Barbarians  stocd  silent  and  amazed,  till  they  were  exas- 
perated by  the  insulting  clamors,  and  missile  weapons,  of  the 
populace  :  but  when  patience  or  contempt  was  fatigued,  they 
crushed  the  undisciplined  multitude,  inflicted  many  a  shame- 
ful wound  on  the  backs  of  their  flying  enemies,  and  despoiled 
them  of  '.he  splendid  armor,74  which  they  were  unworthy  to 
oear.  The  resemblance  of  their  sufferings  and  their  actions 
soon  united  this  victorious  detachment  to  the  nation  of  the 
Visigoths  •  the  troops  of  Colias  and  Suerid  expected  the 
approach  of  the  great  Fritigern,  ranged  themselves  under  his 
standard,  and  signalized  their  ardor  in  the  siege  of  Hadriano- 
ple.  But  the  resistance  of  the  garrison  informed  the  Bar- 
barians, that  in  the  attack  of  regular  fortifications,  the  efforts 
of  unskilful  courage  are  seldom  effectual.  Their  general 
acknowledged  his  error,  raised  the  siege,  declared  that  "  he 
was  at  peace  with  stone  walls," 73  and  revenged  his  disap- 
pointment on  the  adjacent  country.  He  accepted,  with 
pleasure,  the  useful  reenforcement  of  hardy  workmen,  who 
labored  in  the  gold  mines  of  Thrace,76  for  the  emolument,  and 
under  the  lash,  of  an  unfeeling  master : 77  and  these  new 
associates  conducted  the  Barbarians,  through  the  secret  paths, 
to  the  most  sequestered  places,  which  had  been  chosen  to 
secure  the  inhabitants,  the  cattle,  and  the  magazines  of  corn. 
With  the  assistance  of  such  guides,  nothing  could  remain 
impervious  or  inaccessible  ;  resistance  was  fatal  ;  flight  was 
impracticable  ;  and  the  patient  submission  of  helpless  inno- 

74  An  Imperial  manufacture  of  shields,  &c,  was  established  at 
Hadrianople  ;  and  the  populace  were  headed  by  the  Fabricenses,  or 
workmen.     (Vales,  ad  Amniian.  xxxi.  6.) 

76  Pacem  sibi    esse  cum  parietibus  memorans.     Ammian.  xxxi.  7. 

76  These  mines  were  in  the  country  of  the  Bessi,  in  the  ridge  of 
mountains,  the  Rhodope,  that  runs  between  Philippi  and  Philippop- 
olis.;  two  Macedonian  cities,  which  derived  their  name  and  origin 
from  the  father  of  Alexander.  From  the  mines  of  Thrace  he  annually 
received  the  value,  not  the  weight,  of  a  thousand  talents,  (200,000/.,) 
a  revenue  which  paid  the  phalanx,  and  corrupted  the  orators  of 
Greece.  See  Diodor.  Siculus,  torn.  ii.  1.  xvi.  p.  88,  edit.  Wesseling. 
Godefroy's  Commentary  on  the  Theodosian  Code,  torn.  iii.  p.  496. 
Cellarius,  Geograph.  Antiq.  torn.  i.  p.  676,  857.  D'Anville,  Geogra- 
phic Ancienne,  torn.  i.  p.  336. 

"7  As  those  unhappy  workmen  often  ran  away,  Valens  had  enacted 
were  laws  to  drag  them  from  their  hiding-places.  Cod.  Theodosian 
%.  x.  tit.  xix.  leg  5,  7. 


40  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

on^e  seldom  found  mercy  from  the  Barbarian  conqueror.  Iiv 
the  course  of  these  depredations,  a  great  number  of  t lie  chil- 
dren of  the  Goths,  who  had  been  sold  into  captivity,  were 
restored  to  the  embraces  of  their  afflicted  parents;  but  these 
tender  interviews,  which  might  have  revived  and  cherished 
in  their  minds  some  sentiments  of  humanity,  tended  only  to 
stimulate  their  native  fierceness  by  the  desire  of  revenge. 
They  listened,  with  eager  attention,  to  the  complaints  of  their 
captive  children,  who  had  suffered  the  most  cruel  indignities 
from  the  lustful  or  angry  passions  of  their  masters,  and  the 
game  cruelties,  the  same  indignities,  were  severely  retaliated 
on  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Romans.78 

T'i8  imprudence  of  Valens  and  his  ministers  had  introduced 
intc  ihe  heart  of  the  empire  a  nation  of  enemies  ;  but  the  Vis- 
igoths might  even  yet  have  been  reconciled,  by  the  manly  con- 
fession of  past  errors,  and  the  sincere  performance  of  former 
engagements.  These  healing  and  temperate  measures  seemed 
to  concur  with  the  timorous  disposition  of  the  sovereign  of  the 
East :  but,  on  this  occasion  alone,  Valens  was  brave  ;  and  his 
unseasonable  bravery  was  fatal  to  himself  and  to  his  subjects. 
He  declared  his  intention  of  marching  from  Antioch  to  Con- 
stantinople, to  subdue  this  dangerous  rebellion  ;  and,  as  he 
was  not  ignorant'of  the  difficulties  of  the  enterprise,  he  solicit- 
ed the  assistance  of  his  nephew,  the  emperor  Gratian,  who 
commanded  all  the  forces  of  the  West.  The  veteran  troops 
were  hastily  recalled  from  the  defence  of  Armenia ;  that  im- 
portant frontier  was  abandoned  to  the  discretion  of  Sapor ; 
and  the  immediate  conduct  of  the  Gothic  war  was  intrusted, 
during  the  absence  of  Valens,  to  his  lieutenants  Trajan  and 
Profuturus,  two  generals  who  indulged  themselves  in  a  very 
false  and  favorable  opinion  of  their  own  abilities.  On  their 
arrival  in  Thrace,  they  were  joined  by  Richomer,  count  of  the 
domestics ;  and  the  auxiliaries  of  the  West,  that  marched  un- 
der his  banner,  were  composed  of  the  Gallic  legions,  reduced 
indeed,  by  a  spirit  of  desertion,  to  the  vain  appearances  jof 
stiengthand  numbers.  In  a  council  of  war,  which  was  in 
fluenced  by  pride,  rather  than  by  reason,  it  was  resolved  to 
seek,  and  to  encounter,  the  Barbarians,  who  lay  encamped  in 
the  spacious  and  fertile  meadows,  near  the  most  southern  of 

79  See  Ammianus,  xxxi.  5,  6.  The  historian  of  the  Gothic  wai 
.oses  time  and  space,  Ny  an  unseasonable  recapitulation  of  the  ancien« 
Inroads  of  the  Barbarians. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  41 

the  six  mouihs  o ..'  the  Danube.79  Their  camp  was  surrounded 
by  the  usual  fortification  of  wagons ; 80  and  the  Barbarians 
secure  within  the  vast  circle  of  the  enclosure,  enjoyed  the 
fruits  of  their  valor,  and  the  spoils  of  the  province.  In  tho 
midst  of  riotous  intemperance,  the  watchful  Fritigern  observed 
the  motions,  and  penetrated  the  designs,  of  the  Romans.  lie 
perceived,  that  the  numbers  of  the  enemy  were  continually 
increasing  :  and,  as  he  understood  their  intention  of  attacking 
his  rear,  as  soon  as  the  scarcity  of  forage  should  oblige  him 
lo  remove  his  camp,  he  recalled  to  their  standard  his  predatory 
detachments,  which  covered  the  adjacent  country.  As  soon 
as  they  descried  the  flaming  beacons,81  they  obeyed,  with 
incredible  speed,  the  signal  of  their  leader :  the  camp  was 
filled  with  the  martial  crowd  of  Barbarians ;  their  impatient 
clamors  demanded  the  battle,  and  their  tumultuous  zeal  was 
approved  and  animated  by  the  spirit  of  their  chiefs.  The 
evening  was  already  far  advanced  ;  and  the  two  armies  pre- 
pared themselves  for  the  approaching  combat,  which  was 
deferred  only  till  the  dawn  of  day.  While  the  trumpet? 
sounded  to  arms,  the  undaunted  courage  of  the  Goths  was 
confirmed  by  the  mutual  obligation  of  a  solemn  oath  ;  and  as 
they  advanced  to  meet  the  enemy,  the  rude  songs,  which 
celebrated  the  glory  of  their  forefathers,  were  mingled  with 
their  fierce  and  dissonant  outcries,  and  opposed  to  the  arti- 
ficial harmony  of  the  Roman  shout.  Some  military  skill  waa 
displayed  by  Fritigern  to  gain  the  advantage  of  a  command- 
ing eminence  ;  but  the  bloody  conflict,  which  began  and  ended 
with  the  light,  was  maintained  on  either  side,  by  the  personal 
and  obstinate  efforts  of  strength,  valcr,  and  agility.  The 
legions  of  Armenia  supported  their  fame  in  arms ;  but  they 
were  oppressed  by  the  irresistible  weight  of  the  hostile  mul- 

79  The  Itinerary  of  Antoninus  (p.  226,  227,  edit.  Wesseling)  marks 
the  situation  of  this  place  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Tomi,  Ovid's 
exile  ;  and  the  name  of  Salioes  (the  willows)  expresses  the  nature  of 
the  soil. 

80  This  circle  of  wagons,  the  Carrago,  was  the  usual  fortification 
of  the  Barbarians.  (Vegetius  de  lie  Militari,  1.  iii.  c.  10.  Valosius 
ad  Ammian.  xxxi.  7.)  The  practice  and  the  name  were  preserved  by 
their  descendants  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century.  The  Charroy, 
which  surrounded  the  Ust,  is  a  word  familiar  to  the  readers  of  Frois- 
gard,  or  Comines. 

81  Statim  ut  accensi  malleoli.  I  have  used  the  literal  sense  of  rea. 
torches  or  beacons  ;  but  I  abnost  suspect,  that  it  is  only  one  of  those 
turgid  metaphors,  those  false  ornaments,  that  perpetually  oiiriguxa 
'he.  sty  le  of  Ammianus. 

50* 


42  THE    DECLINE    A.NI     TALL 

titude  :  Lie  left  wing  ol  the  Romans  was  thrown  inx>  disorder 
and  the  field  was  strewed  with  their  mangled  carcasses.  This 
partial  defeat  was  balanced,  however,  by  partial  success;  and 
when  the  two  armies,  at  a  late  hour  of  the  evenmg,  retreated 
to  their  respective  camps,  neither  of  them  could  claim  the 
honors,  or  the  effects,  of  a  decisive  victory.  The  real  loss 
was  more  severely  felt  by  the  Romans,  in  proportion  to  the 
smallness  of  their  numbers;  but  the  Goths  were  so  deeply 
confounded  and  dismayed  by  this  vigorous,  and  perhaps 
unexpected,  resistance,  that  they  remained  seven  days  within 
the  circle  of  their  fortifications.  Such  funeral  rites,  a*  .he 
circumstances  of  time  and  place  would  admit,  were  pioasly 
discharged  to  some  officers  of  distinguished  rank  ;  but  the 
indiscriminate  vulgar  was  left  unburied  on  the  plain.  Their 
flesh  was  greedily  devoured  by  the  birds  of  prey,  who  in  that 
age  enjoyed  very  frequent  and  delicious  feasts ;  and  several 
years  afterwards  the  white  and  naked  bones,  which  covered 
the  wide  extent  of  the  fields,  presented  to  the  eyes  of  Ammia- 
nus  a  dreadful  monument  of  the  battle  of  Salices.82 

The  progress  of  the  Goths  had  been  checked  by  the  doubt- 
ful event  of  that  bloody  day ;  and  the  Imperial  generals, 
whose  army  would  have  been  consumed  by  the  repetition  of 
such  a  contest,  embraced  the  more  rational  plan  of  destroy- 
ing the  Barbarians  by  the  wants  and  pressure  of  their  own 
multitudes.  They  prepared  to  confine  the  Visigoths  in  the 
narrow  angle  of  land  between  the  Danube,  the  desert  of 
Scythia,  and  the  mountains  of  Hsemus,  till  their  strength  and 
spirit  should  be  insensibly  wasted  by  the  inevitable  operation  of 
famine.  The  design  was  prosecuted  with  some  conduct  and 
success :  the  Barbarians  had  almost  exhausted  their  own 
magazines,  and  the  harvests  of  the  country  ;  and  the  diligence 
of  Saturninus,  the  master-general  of  the  cavalry,  was  em- 
ployed to  improve  the  strength,  and  to  contract  the  extent,  of 
the  Roman  fortifications.  His  labors  were  interrupted  by  the 
alarming  intelligence,  that  new  swarms  of  Barbarians  had 
parsed  the  unguarded  Danube,  either  to  support  the  cause,  or 

8a  Indicant  nunc  usque  albentes  ossibus  campi.  Ammian.  xxxi.  7. 
The  historian  might  have  viewed  these  plains,  either  as  a  soldier,  or 
is  a  traveller.  But  his  modesty  has  suppressed  the  adventures  of  hia 
ywn  life  subsequent  to  the  Persian  wars  of  Constanti.ua  and  Julian. 
We  are  ignorant  of  the  time  when  he  quitted  the  service,  and  retired 
to  Home  where  he  appears  to  ha-  e  composed  his  History  of  ris  Uwn 
Vim  us. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  43 

co  imitate  the  example,  of  Fritigern.  The  just  apprehension, 
that  lie  himself  might  be  surrounded,  and  overwhelmed,  by 
the  arms  of  hostile  and  unknown  nations,  compelled  Saturm- 
nus  to  relinquish  the  siege  of  the  Gothic  camp ;  and  the  in- 
dignant Visigoths,  breaking  from  their  confinement,  satiated 
their  hunger  and  revenge  by  the  repeated  devastation  of  the 
fruitful  country,  which  extends  above  three  hundred  milesi 
from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  to  the  Straits  of  the  Helles- 
pont.83 The  sagacious  Fritigern  had  successfully  appealea 
to  the  passions,  as  well  as  to  the  interest,  of  his  Barbarian 
allies;  and  the  love  of  rapine,  and  the  "hatred  of  Rome,  sec- 
onded, or  even  prevented,  the  eloquence  of  his  ambassadors 
He  cemented  a  strict  and  useful  alliance  with  the  great  body 
of  his  countrymen,  who  obeyed  Alatheus  and  Saphrax  as  the 
guardians  of  their  infant  king:  the  long  animosity  of  rival 
tribes  was  suspended  by  the  sense  of  their  common  interest ; 
the  independent  part  of  the  nation  was  associated  under  one 
standard  ;  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Ostrogoths  appear  to  have 
yielded  to  the  superior  genius  of  the  general  of  the  Visigoths 
He  obtained  the  formidable  aid  of  the  Taifalse,*  whose  mil- 
itary renown  was  disgraced  and  polluted  by  the  public  infamy 
of  their  domestic  manners.  Every  youth,  on  his  entrance 
into  the  world,  was  united  by  the  ties  of  honorable  friendship, 
and  brutal  love,  to  some  warrior  of  the  tribe  ;  nor  could  he 
hope  to  be  released  from  this  unnatural  connection,  till  he  had 
approved  his  manhood  by  slaying,  in  single  combat,  a  huge 
bear,  or  a  wild  boar  of  the  forest.84     But  the  most  powerful 


b3  Ammifin.   xxxi.  8. 

84  Hanc  Taifalorum  gentem  turpem,  et  obseenre  vitee  flagitiis  ita 
accipimus  mcrsam  ;  ut  apud  cos  nefandi  concubitus  foedere  copulen- 
tur  marcs  puberes,  aetatis  viriditatem  in  eorum  pollutis  usibus  con- 
sumpturi.  Porro,  siqui  jam  adidtus  aprum  exceperit  solus,  vel  intere- 
niit  ursum  immanent,  coiluvione  liberatur  incesti.     Ammian.  xxxi.  9. 


*  The  Taifalae,  who  at  this  period  inhabited  the  country  which  now  forms 
the  principality  of  Wallachia,  were,  in  my  opinion,  the  last  remains  of  the 
great  and  powerful  nation  of  the  Ducians,'  (Daei  or  Dahse,)  which  has  given 
its  name  to  these  regions,  over  which  they  had  ruled  so  long.  The  Taifala 
passed  with  the  Goths  into  the  territory  of  the  empire.  _  A  great  numbet 
of  them  entered  the  Roman  service,  and  were  quartered  in  dilferent  pro* 
inces.  TIipv  are  mentioned  in  the  Notitia  Imperii.  There  was  a  consid 
eral'le  hoay  in  the  country  of  the  Pictavi,  now  Poithou.  They  long  retained 
t'ueir  manners  and  language,  and  caused  the  name  of  the  Thcofalgicua 
pagu»  to  he  given  to  the  district  they  inhabited.  Two  places  iu  the 
department  of  La  Vendee,  Tiifanges,  and  La  Tiffarditre,  still  preserve  evi- 
dent traces  of  this  denomination.     St.  Martin,  iv.  118.  — M. 


44  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

auxiliaries  of  .he  Goths  were  drawn  from  the  camp  of  those 
enemies  who  had  expelled  them  from  their  native  seats.  The ' 
loose  subordination,  and  extensive  possessions,  of  the  Hune 
and  the  Alani,  delayed  the  conquests,  and  distracted  the  coun- 
cils, of  that  victorious  people.  Several  of  the  hords  were 
allured  by  the  liberal  promises  of  Fritigern ;  and  the  rapid 
cavalry  of  Scythia  added  weight  and  energy  to  the  steady  and 
strenuous  efforts  of  the  Gothic  infantry.  The  Sarmatians, 
who  could  never  forgive  the  successor  of  Valentinian,  enjoyed 
and  increased  the  general  confusion ;  and  a  seasonable  irrup- 
tion of  the  Alemanni,  into  the  provinces  of  Gaui,  engaged 
the  attention,  and  diverted  the  forces,  of  the  emperor  of  the 
West.85 

One  of  the  most  dangerous  inconveniences  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Barbarians  into  the  army  and  the  palace,  was 
sensibly  felt  in  their  correspondence  with  their  hostile  coun- 
trymen ;  to  whom  they  imprudently,  or  maliciously,  revealed 
the  weakness  of  the  Roman  empire.  A  soldier,  of  the  life- 
guards of  Gratian,  was  of  the  nation  of  the  Alemanni,  and  of 
the  tribe  of  the  Lentienses,  who  dwelt  beyond  the  Lake  of 
Constance.  Some  domestic  business  obliged  him  to  request 
a  leave  of  absence.  In  a  short  visit  to  his  family  and 
friends,  he  was  exposed  to  their  curious  inquiries :  and  the 
vanity  of  the  loquajious  soldier  tempted  him  to  display  his 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  secrets  of  the  state,  and  the 
designs  of  his  master.  The  intelligence,  that  Gratian  was 
preparing  to  lead  the  military  force  of  Gaul,  and  of  the  West, 
to  the  assistance  of  his  uncle  Valens,  pointed  out  to  the  rest- 
less spirit  of  the  Alemanni  the  moment,  and  the  mode,  of  a 
successful  invasion.  The  enterprise  of  some  light  detach- 
ments, who,  in  the  month  of  February,  passed  the  Rhine  upon 
the  ice,  was  the  prelude  of  a  more  important  war.  The  bold- 
est hopes  of  rapine,  perhaps  of  conquest,  outweighed  the 
considerations  of  timid  prudence,  or  national  faith.  Every 
forest,  and  every  village,  poured  forth  a  band  of  hardy  adven- 
turers ;  and  the  great  army  of  the  Alemanni,  which,  on  their 

Among  the  Greeks,  likewise,  more  especially  among  the  Cretans, 
the  holy  bands  of  friendship  were  confirmed,  and  sullied,  by  unnat- 
ural love. 

94  Ammian.  xxxi.  8,  9.     Jerom  (torn.  i.  p.  26)  enumerates  the  na- 
tions, and  marks  a  calamitous  period  of  twenty  years.     This  epistle  «* 
Heliodoms  was  composed  in  the  year  397,  (Till  emont,  Mem.  Eccl"» 
torn.  xii.  p.  645.) 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  45 

Approach,  was  estimated  at  forty  thousand  men  by  the  fears 
•  of  the  people  was  afterwards  magnified  to  the  number  of 
seventy  thousand  by  the  vain  and  credulous  flattery  of  the 
Imperial  court.  The  legions,  which  had  been  ordered  tc 
march  into  Pannonia,  were  immediately  recalled,  or  detained, 
for  the  defence  of  Gaul ;  the  military  command  was  divided 
between  Nanienus  and  Mellobaudes ;  and  the  youthful  em- 
peror, though  he  respected  the  long  experience  and  sober 
wisdom  of  the  former,  was  much  more  inclined  to  admire 
and  to  follow,  the  martial  ardor  of  his  colleague ;  who  was 
allowed  to  unite  the  incompatible  characters  of  count  of  the 
domestics,  and  of  king  of  the  Ffenks.  His  rival  Priarius. 
king  of  the  Alemanni,  was  guided,  or  rather  impelled,  by  the 
same  headstrong  valor  ;  and  as  their  troops  were  animated  by 
the  spirit  of  their  leaders,  they  met,  they  saw,  they  encoun 
tered,  each  other,  near  the  town  of  Argentaria,  or  Colmar,8b 
in  the  plains  of  Alsace.  The  glory  of  the  day  was  justly 
ascribed  to  the  missile  weapons,  and  well-practised  evolutions 
of  the  Roman  soldiers  ;  the  Alemanni,  who  long  maintained 
their  ground,  were  slaughtered  with  unrelenting  fury ;  five 
thousand  only  of  the  Barbarians  escaped  to  the  woods  and 
mountains  ;  and  the  glorious  death  of  their  king  on  the  field  of 
battle  saved  him  from  the  reproaches  of  the  people,  who  are 
always  disposed  to  accuse  the  justice,  or  policy,  of  an  unsuc- 
cessful  war.  After  this  signal  victory,  which  secured  the 
peace  of  Gaul,  and  asserted  the  honor  of  the  Roman  arms 
the  emperor  Gratian  appeared  to  proceed  without  delay  on 
his  Eastern  expedition  ;  but  as  he  approached  the  confines  of 
the  Alemanni,  he  suddenly  inclined  to  the  left,  surprised  them 
by  his  unexpected  passage  of  the  Rhine,  and  boldly  advanced 
into  the  heart  of  their  country.  The  Barbarians  opposed  to 
his  progress  the  obstacles  of  nature  and  of  courage  ;  and  still 
continued  to  retreat,  from  one  hill  to  another,  till  they  were, 
satisfied,  by  repeated  trials,  of  the  power  and  perseverance 
of  their  enemies.  Their  submission  was  accepted  as  a  proof, 
<?ot  indeed  of  their  sincere  repentance,  but  of  their  actual 

88  The  field  of  battle,  Argentaria  or  Argentovaria,  is  accurately  fixed 
by  M.  D'Anville  (Notice  de  l'Ancienne  Gaule,  p.  96 — 99)  at  twenty- 
three  Gallic  leagues,  or  thirty-four  and  a  half  Roman  miles  to  the 
•outh  of  Strasburg.  From  its  ruins  the  adjacent  town  of  Colmar  baa 
arisen.*  

*  It  is  rather  Horburg,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  River  111  opposite  to 
Cohnar.     From  Schoepnin,  Alsatia  Illustrata.     St  Martin   i*    121. — M. 


46  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

distress  :  and  a  select  number  of  their  brave  and  robust  youth 
was  exacted  from  the  faithless  nation,  as  the  most  substantia, 
pledge  of  their  future  moderation.  The  subjects  of  the  em- 
pire, who  had  so  often  experienced  that  the  Alemanni  could 
neither  be  subdued  by  arms,  nor  restrained  by  treaties,  might 
not  promise  themselves  any  solid  or  lasting  tranquillity  :  bu« 
they  discovered,  in  the  virtues  of  their  young  sovereign,  the 
prospect  of  a  long  and  auspicious  reign.  When  the  legions 
climbed  the  mountains,  and  scaled  the  fortifications  of  the 
Barbarians,  the  valor  of  Gratian  was  distinguished  in  the  fore- 
most ranks  ;  and  the  gilt  and  variegated  armor  of  his  guards 
was  pierced  and  shattered  by  the  blows  which  they  had  re- 
ceived in  their  constant  attachment  to  the  person  of  theii 
sovereign.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  the  son  of  Valentinian 
seemed  to  possess  the  talents  of  peace  and  war  ;  and  his  per- 
sonal success  against  the  Alemanni  was  interpreted  as  a  sure 
presage  of  his  Gothic  triumphs."7 

While  Gratian  deserved  and  enjoyed  the  applause  of  his 
subjects,  the  emperor  Valens,  who,  at  length,  had  removed 
his  court  and  army  from  Antioch,  was  received  by  the  people 
of  Constantinople  as  the  author  of  the  public  calamity.  Be- 
fore he  had  reposed  himself  ten  days  in  the  capital,  he  was 
urged  by  the  licentious  clamors  i  f  the  Hippodrome  to  march 
against  the  Barbarians,  whom  he  had  invited  into  his  domin- 
.ons ;  and  the  citizens,  who  are  always  brave  at  a  distance 
from  any  real  danger,  declared,  with  confidence,  that,  if  they 
were  supplied  with  arms,  they  alone  would  undertake  to  deliver 
'he  province  from  the  ravages  of  an  insulting  foe.88  The 
vain  reproaches  of  an  ignorant  multitude  hastened  the  down- 
fall of  the  Roman  empire  ;  they  provoked  the  desperate  rash- 
ness of  Valens;  who  did  not  find,  either  in  his  reputation  or 
in  his  mind,  any  motives  to  support  with  firmness  the  public 
contempt.  He  was  soon  persuaded,  by  the  successful  achieve 
ments  of  his  lieutenants,  to  despise  the  power  of  the  Goths, 


87  The  full  and  impartial  narrative  of  Ammianus  (xxxi.  10)  may 
derive  some  additional  li^ht  from  the  Epitome  of  Victor,  the  Chroiu- 
cle  of  Jerom,  and  the  History  of  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  33,  p.  552,  edit. 
Haver  camp.) 

b8  Moratus  paucissimos  dies,  seditione  popularium  levium  pulsus. 
Ammian.  xxxi.  11.  fciocra  es  (1.  iv.  c.  38)  supplies  the  dates  and  some 
cue  u  instances.0 


Compare  fi  igment  of  Eunapius.     Mai,  272,  H  Niebuhi,  p  77.  — M 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  47 

who,  by  the  diligence  of  Fritigern,  were  now  collected  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Hadrianople.  The  march  of  the  Taifalse 
had  been  intercepted  by  the  valiant  Frigerid  :  the  king  of 
'hose  licentious  Barbarians  was  slain  in  battle ;  and  the  sup- 
pliant captives  were  sent  into  distant  exile  to  cultivate  the 
lands  of  Italy,  which  were  assigned  for  their  settlement  in  the 
vacant  territories  of  Modena  and  Parma.89  The  exploits  of 
Sebastian,90  who  was  recently  engaged  in  the  service  of 
Valens,  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  master-general  of  the 
infantry,  were  still  more  honorable  to  himself,  and  useful  to 
the  republic.  He  obtained  the  permission  of  selecting  three 
hundred  soldiers  from  each  of  the  legions;  and  this  separate 
detachment  soon  acquired  the  spirit  of  discipline,  and  the  ex- 
ercise of  arms,  which  were  almost  forgotten  under  the  reign 
of  Valens.  By  the  vigor  and  conduct  of  Sebastian,  a  large 
body  of  the  Goths  was  surprised  in  their  camp  ;  and  the  im- 
mense spoil,  which  was  recovered  from  their  hands,  filled  the 
city  of  Hadrianople,  and  the  adjacent  plain.  The  splendio 
narratives,  which  the  general  transmitted  of  his  own  exploits, 
alarmed  the  Imperial  court  by  the  appearance  of  superioi 
merit;  and  though  he  cautiously  insisted  on  the  difficulties  of 
the  Gothic  war,  his  valor  was  praised,  his  advice  was  rejected  ; 
and  Valens,  who  listened  with  pride  and  pleasure  to  the  flat- 
tering suggestions  of  the  eunuchs  of  the  palace,  was  impatient 
to  seize  the  glory  of  an  easy  and  assured  conquest.  His  army 
was  strengthened  by  a  numerous  reenforcement  of  veterans  ; 
and  his  march  from  Constantinople  to  Hadrianople  was  con- 
ducted with  so  much  military  skill,  that  he  prevented  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  Barbarians,  who  designed  to  occupy  the  inter- 
mediate defiles,  and  to  intercept  either  the  troops  themselves 
or  their  convoys  of  provisions.  The  camp  of  Valens,  which 
he  pitched  under  the' walls  of  Hadrianople,  was  fortified,  ac- 


89  Vivosque  omnes  circa  Mutinam,  Regiumque,  et  Parmam,  Italica 
oppida,  rura  culturos  exterminavit.  Ammianu?,  xxxi.  9.  Those 
cities  and  districts,  about  ten  years  after  the  colony  of  the  Taifalae, 
appear  in  a  very  desolate  state.  See  Muratori,  Dissertazioni  sopra  le 
Antichitu  Italiane,  torn.  i.  Dissertat.  xxi.  p.  354. 

90  Ammian.  xxxi.  11.  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  228—230.  The  lattei 
expatiates  on  the  desultory  exploits  of  Sebastian,  and  despatches,  in  a 
few  lines,,  the  important  battle  of  Hadrianople.  According  to  the 
ecclesiastical  critics,  who  hate  Sebastiar.  the  piaise  of  Zosimus  is 
disgrace,  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des Empereura,  torn.  v.  p.  12].)  His  pre- 
judice and  ignorance  undoubtedly  render  him  a  very  questionable 
judge  of  merit. 


48  IttJt    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

cording  to  the  practice  of  the  Romans,  with  a  ditch  and  ram 
*)art ;  and  a  most  important  council  was  summoned,  to  decide 
the  fate  of  the  emperor  and  of  the  empire.  The  party  of  reason 
and  of  delay  was  strenuously  maintained  by  Victor,  who  had 
corrected,  by  the  lessons  of  experience,  the  native  fierceness 
of  the  Sarmatian  character ;  while  Sebastian,  with  the  flexible 
and  obsequious  eloquence  of  a  courtier,  represented  every 
precaution,  and  every  measure,  that  implied  a  doubt  of  im 
mediate  victory,  as  unworthy  of  the  courage  and  majesty  of 
their  invincible  monarch.  The  ruin  of  Valens  was  precip- 
itated by  the  deceitful  arts  of  Fritigern,  and  the  prudent 
admonitions  of  the  emperor  of  the  West.  The  advantages  of 
negotiating  in  the  midst  of  war  were  perfectly  understood  by 
the  general  of  the  Barbarians ;  and  a  Christian  ecclesiastic 
was  despatched,  as  the  holy  minister  of  peace,  to  penetrate, 
and  to  perplex,  the  councils  of  the  enemy.  The  misfortunes, 
as  well  as  the  provocations,  of  the  Gothic  nation,  were  forcibly 
and  truly  described  by  their  ambassador ;  who  protested,  in 
the  name  of  Fritigern,  that  he  was  still  disposed  to  lay  down 
his  arms,  or  to  employ  them  only  in  the  defence  of  the  em- 
pire ;  if  he  could  secure  for  his  wandering  countrymen  a 
tranquil  settlement  on  the  waste  lands  of  Thrace,  and  a  suffi. 
cient  allowance  of  corn  and  cattle.  But  he  added,  in  a  whis- 
per of  confidential  friendship,  that  the  exasperated  Barbarians 
were  averse  to  these  reasonable  conditions  ;  and  that  Fritigern 
was  doubtful  whether  he  could  accomplish  the  conclusion  of 
the  treaty,  unless  he  found  himself  supported  by  the  presence 
and  terrors  of  an  Imperial  army.  About  the  same  time,  Count 
Richomer  returned  from  the  West  to  announce  the  defeat  and 
submission  of  the  Alemanni,  to  inform  Valens  that  his  nephew 
advanced  by  rapid  marches  at  the  head  of  the  veteran  and 
victorious  legions  of  Gaul ;  and  to  request,  in  the  name  of 
Gratian  and  of  the  republic,  that  every  dangerous  and  decisive 
measure  might  be  suspended,  till  the  junction  of  the  two  em- 
perors should  insure  the  success  of  the  Gothic  war.  But  the 
feeble  sovereign  of  the  East  was  actuated  only  by  the  fatal 
illusions  of  pride  and  jealousy.  He  disdained  the  importunate 
advice  ;  he  rejected  the  humiliating  aid  ;  he  secretly  compared 
the  ignominious,  at  least  the  inglorious,  period  of  his  own 
reign,  with  the  fame  of  a  beardless  youth  ;  and  Valens  rushed 
into  the  field,  to  erect  his  imaginary  trophy,  before  the  dili- 
gence of  his  colleague  could  usurp  any  share  of  the  triumphs 
t»f  die  day 


OF   THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE.  49 

On  the  nintn  of  August,  a  day  which  has  deserved  to  be 
marked  among  the  most  inauspicious  of  the  Roman  Calen- 
dar,91 the  emperor  Valens,  leaving,  under  a  strong  guard,  hia 
baggage  and  military  treasure,  marched  from  Hadrianople  to 
attack  the  Goths,  who  were  encamped  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  city.92  By  some  mistake  of  the  orders,  or  some 
ignorance  of  the  ground,  the  right  wing,  or  column  of  cav* 
airy,  arrived  in  sight  of  the  enemy,  whilst  the  left  was  still 
at  a  considerable  distance  ;  the  soldiers  were  compelled,  in 
the  sultry  heat  of  summer,  to  precipitate  their  pace  ;  and  the 
line  of  battle  was  formed  with  tedious  confusion  and  irregular 
delay.  The  Gothic  cavalry  had  been  detached  to  forage  in 
the  adjacent  country  ;  and  Fritigern  still  continued  to  practise 
his  customary  arts.  He  despatched  messengers  of  peace, 
made  proposals,  required  hostages,  ajid  wasted  the  hours,  till 
the  Romans,  exposed  without  shelter  to  the  burning  rays  of 
the  sun,  were  exhausted  by  thirst,  hunger,  and  intolerable 
fatigue.  The  emperor  was  persuaded  to  send  an  ambassador 
to  the  Gothic  camp ;  the  zeal  of  Richomer,  who  alone  had 
courage  to  accept  the  dangerous  commission,  was  applauded  ; , 
and  the  count  of  the  domestics,  adorned  with  the  splendid 
ensigns  of  his  dignity,  had  proceeded  some  way  in  the  space 
between  the  two  armies,  when  he  was  suddenly  recalled  by 
the  alarm  of  battle.  The  hasty  and  imprudent  attack  was 
made  by  Bacurius  the  Iberian,  who  commanded  a  body  of 
archers  and  targiteers ;  and  as  they  advanced  with  rashness, 
they  retreated  with  loss  and  disgrace.  In  the  same  moment, 
the  flying  squadrons  of  Alatheus  and  Saphrax,  whose  return 
was  anxiously  expected  by  the  general  of  the  Goths,  descend- 
ed like  a  whirlwind  from  the  hills,  swept  across  the  plain, 
and  added  new  terrors  to  the  tumultuous,  but  irresistible 
charge  of  the  Barbarian  host.  The  event  of  the  battle  of 
Hadrianople,  so  fatal  to  Valens  and  to  the  empire,  may  be 
described    in   a    few  words :  the    Roman   cavalry  fled ;    the 

91  Ammianus  (xxxi.  12,  13)  almost  alone  describes  the  council* 
and  actions  which  were  terminated  by  the  fatal  battle  of  Hadrianople. 
We  might  censure  the  vices  of  his  style,  the  disorder  and  perplexity 
of  his  narrative  :  but  we  must  now  take  leave  of  this  impartial  his- 
torian ;  and  reproach  is  silenced  by  our  regret  for  such  an  irreparable 
loss. 

92  The  difference  of  the  eight  miles  of  Ammianus,  and  the  twelve 
of  ldatius,  can  only  embarrass  those  critics  (Valesius  ad  loc.)  who 
suppose  a  great  army  to  be  a  mathematical  point,  without  space  oj 
dimensional, 


/ 


50  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

infantry  was  abandoned,  surrounded,  and  cut  in  pieces.  Th.a 
most  skilful  evolutions,  the  firmest  courage,  are  scarcely  suf 
ficient  to  extricate  a  body  of  foot,  encompassed,  on  an  open 
plain,  by  superior  numbers  of  horse  ;  but  the  troops  of  Valens, 
oppressed  by  the  weight  of  the  enemy  and  their  own  fears 
were  crowded  into  a  narrow  space,  where  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  extend  their  ranks,  or  even  to  use,  with  effect, 
their  swords  and  javelins.  In  the  midst  of  tumult,  of 
(daughter,  and  of  dismay,  the  emperor,  deserted  by  his  guards, 
and  wounded,  as  it  was  supposed,  with  an  arrow,  sought  pro- 
tection among  the  Lancearii  and  the  Mattiarii,  who  still  main- 
tained their  ground  with  some  appearance  of  order  and 
firmness.  His  faithful  generals,  Trajan  and  Victor,  who 
perceived  his  danger,  loudly  exclaimed  that  all  was  lost, 
unless  the  person  of  the  emperor  could  be  saved  Some 
troops,  animated  by  their  exhortation,  advanced  to  his  relief . 
they  found  only  a  bloody  spot,  covered  with  a  heap  of  broken 
arms  and  mangled  bodies,  without  being  able  to  discover  their 
unfortunate  prince,  either  among  the  living  or  the  dead. 
Their  search  could  not  indeed  be  successful,  if  there  is  any 
truth  in  the  circumstances  with  which  some  historians  have 
related  the  death  of  the  emperor.  By  the  care  of  his  attend- 
ants, Valens  was  removed  from  the  field  of  battle  to  a 
neighboring  cottage,  where  they  attempted  to  dress  his 
wound,  and  to  provide  for  his  future  safety.  But  this  humble 
retreat  was  instantly  surrounded  by  the  enemy :  they  tried  to 
force  the  door ;  they  were  provoked  by  a  discharge  of  arrows 
from  the  roof,  till  at  length,  impatient  of  delay,  they  set  fire 
♦n  a  pile  of  dry  fagots,  and  consumed  the  cottage  with  the 
Roman  emperor  and  his  train.  Valens  perished  in  the  flames  ,• 
and  a  youth,  who  dropped  from  the  window,  alone  escaped,  to 
attest  the  melancholy  tale,  and  to  inform  the  Goths  of  the 
inestimable  prize  which  they  had  lost  by  their  own  rashness. 
A  great  number  of  brave  and  distinguished  officers  perished 
in  the  battle  of  Hadrianople,  which  equalled  in  the  actual 
loss,  and  far  surpassed  in  the  fatal  consequences,  the  misfor 
tune  which  Rome  had  formerly  sustained  in  the  fields  of 
Cannae.93     Two  master-generals  of  the  cavalry  and  infantry, 

*3  Nee  ulla  annalibus,  praeter  Cannensem  pugnam,  ita  ad  interne- 
cioneni  res  legitur  gesta.  Ammian.  xxxi.  13.  According  to  tha 
grave  Polybius,  no  more  than  370  horse,  and  3,000  foot,  escaped  from 
the  Held  of  Cannae  :  10,000  were  made  prisoners  ;  and  the  number  of 
the  slain  amounted  to  5,630  horse,  and  70,000  foot,  (Polyb.  1.  iii.  d. 


OV    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  5l 

rvo  great  officers  of  the  palace,  and  thirty-five  triounes,  were 
round  among  the  slain ;  and  the  death  of  Sebastian  might 
satisfy  the  world,  that  he  was  the  victim,  as  well  as  the 
author,  of  the  public  calamity.  Above  two  thirds  of  the 
Roman  army  were  destroyed  :  and  the  darkness  of  the  night 
was  esteemed  a  very  favorable  circumstance,  as  it  served  to 
conceal  the  flight  of  the  multitude,  and  to  protect  the  more 
orderly  retreat  of  Victor  and  Richomer,  who  alone,  amidst 
the  general  consternation,  maintained  the  advantage  of  calm 
courage  and  regular  discipline.94 

While  the  impressions  of  grief  and  terror  were  still  recent 
in  the  minds  of  men,  the  most  celebrated  rhetorici.  n  of  the 
age  composed  the  funeral  oration  of  a  vanquished  army,  and 
of  an  unpopular  prince,  whose  throne  was  already  occupied 
by  a  stranger.  "  There  are  not  wanting,"  says  the  candid 
Libanius,  "  those  who  arraign  the  prudence  of  the  emperor, 
or  who  impute  the  public  misfortune  to  the  want  of  courage 
and  discipline  in  the  troops.  For  my  own  part,  I  reverence 
the  memory  of  their  former  exploits :  I  reverence  the  glori- 
ous death,  which  they  bravely  received,  standing,  and  fighting 
in  their  ranks  :  I  reverence  the  field  of  battle,  stained  with 
their  blood,  and  the  blood  of  the  Barbarians.  Those  honor- 
able marks  have  been  already  washed  away  by  the  rains ;  but 
the  lofty  monuments  of  their  bones,  the  bones  of  generals, 
of  centurions,  and  of  valiant  warriors,  claim  a  longer  period 
of  duration.  The  king  himself  fought  and  fell  in  the  fore- 
most ranks  of  the  battle.  His  attendants  presented  him  whi- 
ttle fleetest  horses  of  the  Imperial  stable,  that  would  soor 
have  carried  him  beyond  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  They 
vainly  pressed  him  to  reserve  his  important  life  for  the 
future  service  of  the  republic.  He  still  declared  that  he  was 
unworthy  to  survive  so  many  of  the  bravest  and  most  faithful 
of  his  subjects ;  and  the  monarch  was  nobly  buried  under  a 
mountain  of  the  slain.  Let  none,  therefore,  presume  to 
ascribe  the  victory  of  the  Barbarians  to  the  fear,  the  weak- 

371,  edit.  Casaubon,  8vo.)  Livy  (xxii.  49)  is  somewhat  less  bloody  ! 
he  slaughters  only  2,700  horse,  and  40,000  foot.  The  Roman  army 
was  supposed  to  consist  of  87,200  effective  men,  (xxii.  36.) 

04  We  have  gained  some  faint  fight  from  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  28  and 
in  Chron.  p.  188,)  Victor,  vin  Epitome,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  33,  p.  654,) 
J-.-Tiaiides,  Cc.  27,)  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  230,)  Socrates,  (1.  iv.  c.  38,) 
Sozomen,  <1.  vi.  c.  40.)  Idatius,  (in  Chron.)  But  their  united  evi- 
dence, if  weighed  against  Amraianus  alone,  is  light  and  unsubstan- 
tial. 


52  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ness,  or  the  imprudence,  of  the  Roman  troops.  The  chiefs 
and  the  soldiers  were  animated  by  the  virtue  of  their  ances- 
tors, whom  they  equalled  in  discipline  and  the  arts  of  war 
Their  generous  emulation  was  supported  by  the  love  of  glory, 
which  prompted  them  to  contend  at  the  same  time  with  h'iat 
and  thirst,  with  fire  and  the  sword  ;  and  cheerfully  to  embrace 
an  honorable  death,  as  their  refuge  against  flight  and  infamy. 
The  indignation  of  the  gods  has  been  the  only  cause  of  the 
success  of  our  enemies."  The  truth  of  history  may  disclaim 
some  parts  of  this  panegyric,  which  cannot  strictly  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  character  of  Valens,  or  the  circumstances  of 
the  battle ;  but  the  fairest  commendation  is  due  to  the  elo- 
quence, and  still  more  to  the  generosity,  of  the  sophist  of 
Antioch.95 

The  pride  of  the  Goths  was  elated  by  this  memorable 
victory  ;  but  their  avarice  was  disappointed  by  the  mortifying 
discovery,  that  the  richest  part  of  the  Imperial  spoil  had  been 
within  the  walls  of  Hadrianople.  They  hastened  to  possess 
the  reward  of  their  valor ;  but  they  were  encountered  by  the 
remains  of  a  vanquished  army,  with  an  intrepid  resolution, 
which  was  the  effect  of  their  despair,  and  the  only  hope  of 
their  safety.  The  walls  of  the  city,  and  the  ramparts  of  the 
adjacent  camp,  were  lined  with  military  engines,  that  threw 
stones  of  an  enormous  weight ;  and  astonished  the  ignorant 
Barbarians  by  the  noise,  and  velocity,  still  more  than  by  the 
real  effects,  of  the  discharge.  The  soldiers,  the  citizens,  the 
provincials,  the  domestics  of  the  palace,  were  united  in  the 
danger,  and  in  the  defence  :  the  furious  assault  of  the  Goths 
was  repulsed  ;  their  secret  arts  of  treachery  and  treason  were 
discovered ;  and,  after  an  obstinate  conflict  of  many  hours, 
they  retired  to  their  tents ;  convinced,  by  experience,  that  it 
would  be  far  more  advisable  to  observe  the  treaty,  which 
their  sagacious  leader  had  tacitly  stipulated  with  the  fortifi- 
cations of  great  and  populous  cities  After  the  hasty  and 
impolitic  massacre  of  three  hundred  deserters,  an  act  ot 
justice  extremely  useful  to  the  discipline  of  the  Roman 
armies,  the  Goths  indignantly  raised  the  siege  of  Hadrianople. 
The  scene  of  war  and  tumult  was  instantly  converted  into  a 
silent  solitude :  the  multitude  suddenly  disappeared;  the 
secret  paths  of  the  woods  and  mountains  were  marked  with 
the  footsteps  of  the  trembling  fugitives,  who  sought  a  refuge 

M  Libanius  de  ulciscend.  Julian,  nece,  c.  3,  in  Fabriciu?.  Bibliot. 
Grace,  tim.  vii.  p.  146—148. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  53 

in  the  distant  citie3  of  Illyricum  and  Macedonia ;  and  the 
faithful  officers  of  the  household,  and  the  treasury,  cautiously 
proceeded  in  search  of  the  emperor,  of  whose  death#  they 
were  still  ignorant.  The  tide  of  the  Gothic  inundation  rolled 
from  the  walls  of  Hadrianople  to  the  suburbs  of  Constan- 
tinople. The  Barbarians  were  surprised  with  the  splendid 
appearance  of  the  capital  of  the  East,  the  height  and  extent 
of  the  walls,  the  myriads  of  wealthy  and  affrighted  citizens 
who  crowded  the  ramparts,  and  the  various  prospect  of  the 
sea  and  land.  While  they  gazed  with  hopeless  desire  on  the 
inaccessible  beauties  of  Constantinople,  a  sally  was  made 
from  one  of  the  gates  by  a  party  of  Saracens,96  who  had 
been  fortunately  engaged  in  the  service  of  Valens.  The 
cavalry  of  Scythia  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  admirable  swift- 
ness and  spirit  of  the  Arabian  horses :  their  riders  were 
skilled  in  the  evolutions  of  irregular  war ;  and  the  Northern 
Barbarians  were  astonished  and  dismayed,  by  the  inhuman 
ferocity  of  the  Barbarians  of  the  South.  A  Gothic  soldier 
was  slain  by  the  dagger  of  an  Arab ;  and  the  hairy,  naked 
savage,  applying  his  lips  to  the  wound,  expressed  a  horrid 
delight,  while  he  sucked  the  blood  of  his  vanquished  enemy.9" 
The  army  of  the  Goths,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  wealthy 
suburbs  and  the  adjacent  territory,  slowly  moved,  from  the 
Bosphorus,  to  the  mountains  which  form  the  western  boun- 
dary of  Thrace.  The  important  pass  of  Succi  was  betrayed 
by  the  fear,  or  the  misconduct,  of  Maurus ;  and  the  Bar- 
barians, who  no  longer  had  any  resistance  to  apprehend  from 
scattered  and  vanquished  troops  of  the  East,  spread  them- 
selves over  the  face  of  a  fertile  and  cultivated  country,  as  far 
as  the  confines  of  Italy,  and  the  Hadriatic  Sea.98 


96  Valens  had  gained,  or  rather  purchased,  the  friendship  of  the 
Saracens,  whose  vexatious  inroads  were  felt  on  the  boarders  of  Phoe- 
nicia, Palestine,  and  Egypt.  The  Christian  faith  had  been  lately 
introduced  among  a  people,  reserved,  in  a  future  age,  to  propagate 
another  religion,  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  104, 
\D6,  141.    Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  vii.  p.  593.) 

97  Crinitus  quidam,  nudus  omnia  prater  pubem,  subraucum  et 
lugubre  strepens.  Ammian.  xxxi.  16,  and  Vales,  ad  loc.  The  Axabu 
often  fought  naked  ;  a  custom  which  may  be  ascribed  to  their  sultry 
climate,  and  ostentatious  bravery.  The  description  of  this  unknown 
savage  is  the  lively  portrait  of  Derar,  a  name  so  dreadful  to  tha 
Christians  of  Syria.  See  Ockley's  Hist,  of  the  Saracens,  vol.  i.  p.  72, 
14,87 

98  The  series  of  events  may  still  be  traced  in  the  last  pages  of  Am 


54  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  Romans,  who  so  coolly,  and  so  concisely,  mention  the 
acts  of  justice  which  were  exercised  by  the  legions,"  reserve 
their  compassion,  and  their  eloquence,  for  their  own  suffer- 
ings, when  the  provinces  were  invaded,  and  desolated,  by  the 
arms  of  the  successful  Barbarians.  The  simple  circumstan- 
tial narrative  (did  such  a  narrative  exist)  of  the  ruin  of  a 
single  town,  of  the  misfortunes  of  a  single  family,100  might 
exhibit  an  interesting  and  instructive  picture  of  human  inar.« 
ners :  but  the  tedious  repetition  of  vague  and  declamatory 
complaints  would  fatigue  the  attention  of  the  most  patient 
reader.  The  same  censure  may  be  applied,  though  not  per- 
haps in  an  equal  degree,  to  the  profane,  and  the  ecclesiastical, 
writers  of  this  unhappy  period ;  that  their  minds  were  in- 
flamed by  popular  and  religious  animosity ;  and  that  the  true 
size  and  color  of  every  object  is  falsified  by  the  exaggera- 
tions of  their  corrupt  eloquence.  The  vehement  Jerom 101 
might  justly  deplore  the  calamities  inflicted  by  the  Goths,  and 
their  barbarous  allies,  on  his  native  country  of  Pannonia,  and 
the  wide  extent  of  the  provinces,  from  the  walls  of  Constan- 
tinople to  the  foot  of  the  Julian  Alps ;  the  rapes,  the  mas- 
sacres, the  conflagrations ;  and,  above  all,  the  profanation  of 
the  churches,  that  were  turned  into  stables,  and  the  contemptu- 
ous treatment  of  the  relics  of  holy  martyrs.  But  the  Saint  is 
surely  transported  beyond  the  limits  of  nature  and  history, 
when  he  affirms,  "  that,  in  those  desert  countries,  nothing  was 
left  except  the  sky  and  the  earth ;  that,  after  the  destruction 

mianus,  (xxxi.  15,  16.)  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  227,  231,)  whom  we  are 
now  reduced  to  cherish,  misplaces  the  sally  of  the  Arabs  before  the 
death  of  Valens.  Eunapius  (in  Excerpt.  Legat.  p.  20)  praises  the 
fertility  of  Thrace,  Macedonia,  &c. 

99  Observe  with  how  much  indiiference  Caesar  relates,  in  the  Com- 
mentaries of  the  Gallic  war,  that  he  put  to  death  the  whole  senate  of 
the  Veneti,  who  had  yielded  to  his  mercy,  (hi.  16  ;)  that  he  labored 
to  extirpate  the  whole  nation  of  the  Eburones,  (vi.  31  ;)  that  forty 
chousand  persons  were  massacred  at  Bourges  by  the  just  revenge  of 
ais  soldiers,  who  spared  neither  age  nor  sex,  (vii.  27,)  &c. 

100  Such  are  the  accounts  of  the  sack  of  Magdeburgh,  by  the  eccle- 
siastic and  the  fisherman,  which  Mr.  Harte  has  transcribed,  (Hist,  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  vol.  i.  p.  313 — 320,)  with  some  apprehension  of 
violating  the  dignity  of  history. 

101  Et  vastatis  urbibus,  hominibusque  interfectis,  solitudinem  et 
raritatem  hestiarum  quoque  fieri,  et  volatilium,  pisciumque  :  testis  Elyri- 
cum  est,  '.estis  Thracia,  testis  in  quo  ortus  sum  wlum,  (Pannonia;) 
ubi  praeter  coelum  et  terrain,  et  crescentes  vepres,  ec  condensa  sylva- 
rum  cuttcta  perienutf.  Tom.  vii.  p.  250,  ad  1 ,  Cap.  Sophonias ;  and 
HBQ.  L  p.  2  J 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  55 

of  the  cities,  and  the  extirpation  of  the  human  race,  the  land 
was  overgrown  with  thick  forests  and  inextricable  brambles  ; 
and  that  the  universal  desolation,  announced  by  the  prophet 
Zephaniah,  was  accomplished,  in  the  scarcity  of  the  beasts, 
the  birds,  and  even  of  the  fish."  These  complaints  were 
pronounced  about  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  Valens ; 
and  the  Illyrian  provinces,  which  were  constantly  exposed  to 
the  invasion  arid  passage  of  the  Barbarians,  still  contipu<  il 
after  a  calamitous  period  of  ten  centuries,  to  supply  novv 
materials  for  rapine  and  destruction.  Could  it  even  be  sup- 
posed, that  a  large  tract  of  country  had  been  left  without 
cultivation  and  without  inhabitants,  the  consequences  might 
not  have  been  so  fatal  to  the  inferior  productions  of  animated 
nature.  The  useful  and  feeble  animals,  which  are  nourished 
by  the  hand  of  man,  might  suffer  and  perish,  if  they  were 
deprived  of  his  protection ;  but  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  his 
enemies  or  his  victims,  would  multiply  in  the  free  and  undis- 
turbed possession  of  their  solitary  domain.  The  various 
tribes  that  people  the  air,  or  the  waters,  are  still  less  connected 
with  the  fate  of  the  human  species ;  and  it  is  highly  probable 
that  the  fish  of  the  Danube  would  have  felt  more  terror  and 
distress,  from  the  approach  of  a  voracious  pike,  than  from 
the  hostile  inroad  of  a  Gothic  army. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  just  measure  of  the  calamities 
of  Europe,  there  was  reason  to  fear  that  the  same  calamities 
would  soon  extend  to  the  peaceful  countries  of  Asia.  The  sons 
of  the  Goths  had  been  judiciously  distributed  through  the  cities 
of  the  East ;  and  the  arts  of  education  were  employed  to  polish, 
and  subdue,  the  native  fierceness  of  their  temper.  In  the  space 
of  about  twelve  years,  their  numbers  had  continually  increased  ; 
and  the  children,  who,  in  the  first  emigration,  were  sent  over 
the  Hellespont,  had  attained,  with  rapid  growth,  the  strength 
and  spirit  of  perfect  manhood.102  It  was  impossible  t&  con- 
ceal from  their  knowledge  the  events  of  the  Gothic  war ;  and, 
as  those  daring  youths  had  not  studied  the  language  of  dissim- 
ulation, they  betrayed  their  wish,  their  desire,  perhaps  their 
Intention,  to  emulate  the  glorious  example  of  their  fathers. 
The  danger  of  the  times  seemed  to  justify  the  jealous  sus- 


109  Eunapius  (in  Excerpt.  Legat.  p.  20)  foolishly  supposes  a  prte- 
cernatural  growth  of  the  young  Goths,  that  he  may  introduce  Cad- 
mus'8  armed  men,  who  sprung  from  the  dragon's  teeth,  &c.  Buch 
kv  the  Greek  eloquence  of  the  times. 


56  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

picions  of  the  provincials  ;  and  these  suspicions  were  admitted 
as  unquestionable  evidence,  that  the  Goths  of  Asia  had  formed 
a  secret  and  dangerous  conspiracy  against  the  public  safety. 
The  death  of  Valens  had  left  the  East  without  a  sovereign; 
and  Julius,  who  filled  the  important  station  of  master-general 
of  the  troops,  with  a  high  reputation  of  diligence  and  ability, 
thought  it  his  duty  to  consult  the  senate  of  Constantinople ; 
which  he  considered,  during  the  vacancy  of  the  throne,  as  the 
representative  council  of  the   nation.      As  soon  as   he  had 
obtainei  the  discretionaiy  power  of  acting  as  he  should  judge 
most  expedient  for  the  good  of  the  republic,  he  assembled  the 
principal  officers,  and   privately  concerted  effectual  measures 
for  the  execution  of  his  bloody  design.     An  order  was  imme- 
diately promulgated,  that,  on  a  stated  day,  the  Gothic  youth 
should  assemble  in  the  capital  cities  of  their  respective  prov- 
inces ;  and,  as  a  report  was  industriously  circulated,  that  they 
were  summoned  to  receive  a  liberal  gift  of  lands  and  money, 
the  pleasing  hope  allayed  the  fury  of  their  resentment,  and, 
perhaps,  suspended  the  motions  of  the  conspiracy.     On  the 
appointed  day,  the  unarmed  crowd  of  the  Gothic  youth  was 
carefully  collected  in  the  square  or  Forum  ;  the  streets  and 
avenues  were  occupied  by  the  Roman  troops,  and  the  roofs 
of  the  houses  were  covered  with  archers  and  slingers.     At 
the  same  hour,  in  all  the  cities  of  the  East,  the  signal  was 
given  of  indiscriminate  slaughter ;  and  the  provinces  of  Asia 
were  delivered  by  the  cruel  prudence  of  Julius,  from  a  domestic 
enemy,  who,  in  a  few  months,  might  have  carried  fire  and 
sword  from  the  Hellespont  to  the  Euphrates.103     The  urgent 
consideration  of  the  public  safety  may  undoubtedly  authorize 
the  violation  of  every  positive  law.     How  far  that,  or  any 
other,  consideration  may  operate  to  dissolve  the  natural  obli- 
gations of  humanity  and  justice,  is  a  doctrine  of  which  I  still 
desire  to  remain  ignorant. 

The  emperor  Gratian  was  far  advanced  on  his  march 
towards  the  plains  of  Hadrianople,  when  he  was  informed,  at 
first  by  the  confused  voice  of  fame,  and  afterwards  by  the 
more  accurate  reports  of  Victor  and  Richomer,  that  his  im- 


103  Ammianus  evidently  approves  this  execution,  efficacia  velox  et 
Balutaris,  which  concludes  his  work,  (xxxi.  16.)  Zosimus,  who  ie 
curious  and  copious,  (1.  iv.  p.  233 — 236,)  mistakes  the  date,  and 
labors  to  find  the  reason,  why  Julius  did  not  consult  the  emperor 
Thcodosius,  who  had  not  yet  ascended  the  throne  of  the  East. 


V 

OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  5? 

patient  colle  igue  had  been  slain  in  battle,  and  that  two  thi  rds 
of  the  Roman  army  were  exterminated  by  the  sword  of  the 
victorious  Goths.  Whatever  resentment  the  rash  and  jealous 
vanity  of  his  uncle  might  deserve,  the  resentment  of  a  gen- 
erous mind  is  easily  subdued  by  the  softer  emotions  of  grief 
and  compassion ;  and  even  the  sense  of  pity  was  soon  lost  in 
the  serious  and  alarming  consideration  of  the  state  of  the 
republic.  Gratian  was  too  late  to  assist,  he  was  too  weak  to 
revenge,  his  unfortunate  colleague  ;  and  the  valiant  and  modest 
youth  felt  himself  unequal  to  the  support  of  a  sinking  world. 
A.  formidable  tempest  of  the  Barbarians  of  Germany  seemed 
ready  to  burst  over  the  provinces  of  Gaul ;  and  the  mind  of 
Gratian  was  oppressed  and  distracied  by  the  administration 
of  the  Western  empire.  In  this  important  crisis,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  East,  and  the  conduct  of  the  Gothic  war,  required 
the  undivided  attention  of  a  hero  and  a  statesman.  A  subject 
invested  with  such  ample  command  would  not  long  have  pre- 
served his  fidelity  to  a  distant  benefactor ;  and  the  Imperial 
council  embraced  the  wise  and  manly  resolution  of  conferring 
an  obligation,  rather  than  of  yielding  to  an  insult.  It  was  the 
wish  of  Gratian  to  bestow  the  purple  as  the  reward  of  virtue ; 
but,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  it  is  not  easy  for  a  prince,  educated 
in  the  supreme  rank,  to  understand  the  true  characters  of  his 
ministers  and  generals.  He  attempted  to  weigh,  with  an  im- 
partial hand,  their  various  merits  and  defects ;  and,  whilst  he 
checked  the  rash  confidence  of  ambition,  he  distrusted  the 
cautious  wisdom  which  despaired  of  the  republic.  As  each 
moment  of  delay  diminished  something  of  the  power  and 
resources  of  the  future  sovereign  of  the  East,  the  situation 
of  the  times  would  not  allow  a  tedious  debate.  The  choice 
of  Gratian  was  soon  declared  in  favor  of  an  exile,  whose 
father,  only  three  years  before,  had  suffered,  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  authority,  an  unjust  and  ignominious  death.  The 
great  Theodosius,  a  name  celebrated  in  history,  and  dear  to 
the  Catholic  church,104  was  summoned  to  the  Imperial  court, 
■which  had  gradually  retreated  from  the  confines  of  Thrace  to 


104  A  life  of  Theodosius  the  Great  was  composed  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, (Paris,  1679,  in  4to.  ;  1680,  in  12mo.,)  to  inflame  the  mind  of 
the  young  Dauphin  with  Catholic  zeal.  The  author,  Flechier,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Nismes,  was  a  celebrated  preacher  ;  and  his  history 
is  adorned,  or  tainted,  with  pulpit  eloquence  ;  but  he  takes  hia 
learning  from  Baronius,  and  his  principles  from  St.  Ambrose  and  St. 
Augustin. 

57 


58  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  more  secure  station  of  Sirmium.  Five  months  after  the 
death  of  Valens,  the  emperor  Gratian  produced  before  tho 
assembled  troops  his  colleague  and  their  master ;  who,  after 
a  modest,  perhaps  a  sincere,  resistance,  was  compelled  to 
accept,  amidst  the  general  acclamations,  the  diadem,  the 
purple,  and  the  equal  title  of  Augustus.105  The  provinces  of 
Thrace,  Asia,  and  Egypt,  over  which  Valens  had  reigned, 
were  resigned  to  the  administration  of  the  new  emperor  ;  but, 
as  he  was  specially  intrusted  with  the  conduct  of  the  Gothic 
war,  the  Illyrian  prefecture  was  dismembered  ;  and  the  two 
great  dioceses  of  Dacia  and  Macedonia  were  added  to  the 
dominions  of  the  Eastern  empire.106 

The  same  province,  and  perhaps  the  same  city,107  which 
had  given  to  ihe  throne  the  virtues  of  Trajan,  and  the  talents 
of  Hadrian,  was  the  original  seat  of  another  family  of  Span- 
iards, who,  in  a  less  fortunate  age,  possessed,  near  fourscore 
years,  the  declining  empire  of  Rome.108  They  emerged  from 
the  obscurity  of  municipal  honors  by  the  active  spirit  of  the 
elder  Theodosius,  a  general,  whose  exploits  in  Britain  and 
Africa  have  formed  one  of  the  most  splendid  parts  of  the 
annals  of  Valentinian.  The  son  of  that  general,  who  likewise 
bore  the  name  of  Theodosius,  was  educated,  by  skilful  pre- 
ceptors, in  the  liberal  studies  of  youth  ;  but  he  was  instructed 
in  the  art  of  war  by  the  tender  care  and  severe  discipline  of 


10  The  birth,  character,  and  elevation  of  Theodosius  are  marked 
in  I  icatus,  (in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  10,  11,  12,)  Themistius,  (Orat.  xiv. 
p.  J  t2,)  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  231,)  Augustin,  (de  Civitat.  Dei,  v.  25,) 
Or'v  ius,  (1.  vii.  c.  34,)  Sozomen,  (1.  vii.  c.  2,)  Socrates,  (1.  v.  c.  2,) 
TK*  odoret,  (1.  v.  c.  5,)  Philostorgius,  (1.  ix.  c.  17,  with  Godefroy,  p. 
390,)  the  Epitome  of  Victor,  and  the  Chronicles  of  Prosper,  Idatius, 
and  Marcellinus,  in  the  Thesaurus  Temporum  of  Scaliger.* 

ius  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  716,  &c. 

107  Italica,  founded  by  Scipio  Africanus  for  his  wounded  veterans 
of  Italy.  The  ruins  still  appear,  about  a  league  above  Seville,  but  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  See  the  Hispania  Illustrata  of  Nonius, 
a  short,  though  valuable  treatise,  c.  xvii.  p.  64 — 67. 

08  I  agree  with  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn  i  .  p.  726) 
In  suspecting  the  royal  pedigree,  which  remained  a  secret  till  the 
promotion  of  Theodosius.  Even  after  that  event,  the  silence  of 
Pacatus  outweighs  the  venal  evidence  of  Themistius,  Victor,  and 
Claudvan,  who  connect  the  family  of  Theodosius  with  the  blood  of 
Trajan  and  Hadrian. 


•  Add  a  hostile  fragment  of  Eunapius.     Mai,   p.  273,  in  Niebub;,  \v 
78.—  M. 


0¥   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  59 

his  father.100  Under  the  standard  of  such  a  leader,  young 
Theodosius  sought  glory  ind  knowledge,  in  the  most  distant 
scenes  of  military  action  ;  inured  his  constitution  to  the  differ- 
ence of  seasons  and  climates ;  distinguished  his  valor  by  sea 
and  land  ;  and  observed  the  various  warfare  of  the  Scots,  the 
Saxons,  and  the  Moors.  His  own  merit,  and  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  conqueror  of  Africa,  soon  raised  him  to  a 
eepaiate  c&annand  ;  and,  in  the  station  of  Duke  of  Mresia,  he 
vanquished  an  army  of  Sarmatians ;  saved  the  province ' 
deserved  the  love  of  the  soldiers ;  and  provoked  the  envy  of 
the  court.110  His  rising  fortunes  were  soon  blasted  by  the 
disgrace  and  execution  of  his  illustrious  father ;  and  Theodo- 
sius obtained,  as  a  favor  the  permission  of  retiring  to  a  private 
life  in  his  native  province  of  Spain.  He  displayed  a  firm  and 
temperate  character  in  the  ease  with  which  he  adapted  him- 
self to  this  new  situation.  His  time  was  almost  equally  divided 
between  the  town  and  country  ;  the  spirit,  which  had  animated 
his  public  conduct,  was  shown  in  the  active  and  affectionate 
performance  of  every  social  duty ;  and  the  diligence  of  the 
soldier  was  profitably  converted  to  the  improvement  of  ins 
ample  patrimony,111  which  lay  between  Valladolid  and  Sego- 
►  via,  in  the  midst  of  a  fruitful  district,  still  famous  for  a  most 
exquisite  breed  of  sheep.112  From  the  innocent,  but  humble 
labors  of  his  farm,  Theodosius  was  transported,  in  less  than 
four  months,  to  the  throne  of  the  Eastern  empire  ;  and  the 
whole  period  of  the  history  of  the  world  will  not  perhaps 
afford  a  similar  example,  of  an  elevation  at  the  same  time  so 
pure  and  so  honorable.  The  princes  who  peaceably  inherit 
the  sceptre  of  their  fathers,  claim  and  enjoy  a  legal  right,  the 

109  Pacatus  compares,  and  consequently  prefers,  the  youth  of  Theo« 
dosius  to  the  military  education  of  Alexander,  Hannibal,  and  the 
second  Africanus  ;  who,  like  him,  had  served  under  their  fathers, 
(xii.  8.) 

110  Ammianus  (xxix.  6)  mentions  this  victory  of  Theodosius  Junioi 
Dux  Msesiae,  prima  etiam  turn  lanugine  juvenis,  princeps  postea  per- 
spectissimus.  The  same  fact  is  attested  by  Themistius  and  Zosimua ; 
but  Theodoret,  (1.  v.  c.  5,)  who  adds  some  curious  circumstanced, 
strangely  applies  it  to  the  time  of  the  interregnum. 

111  Pacatus  (in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  9)  prefers  the  rustic  life  of 
Theodosius  to  that  of  Cincinnatus  ;  the  one  was  the  effect  of  choice, 
the  other  of  poverty. 

112  M.  D'Anville  (Geographie  Ancienne,  torn.  i.  p.  25)  han  fixed 
the  situatior  of  Caucha,  or  Coca,  in  the  old  province  of  Gallicia, 
where  Zosimus  and  Idatius  have  placed  the  birth,  or  patrimony,  oi 
rheodosms 


60  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

move  secure  as  it  is  absolutely  distinct  from  the  merits  of 
thmr  personal  characters.  The  subjects,  who,  in  a  monarchy, 
or  a  popular  state,  acquire  the  possession  of  supreme  power 
may  have  raised  themselves,  by  the  superiority  either  of 
genius  or  virtue,  above  the  heads  of  their  equals ;  but  their 
virtue  is  seldom  exempt  from  ambition ;  and  the  cause  of  ihe 
successful  candidate  is  frequently  stained  by  the  guilt  of 
conspiracy,  or  civil  war.  Even  in  those  governments  which 
allow  the  reigning  monarch  to  declare  a  colleague  or  a  suc- 
cessor, his  partial  choice,  which  may  be  influenced  by  the 
blindest  passions,  is  often  directed  to  an  unworthy  object. 
But  the  most  suspicious  malignity  cannot  ascribe  to  Theodo- 
sius,  in  his  obscure  solitude  of  Caucha,  the  arts,  the  desires, 
or  even  the  hopes,  of  an  ambitious  statesman ;  and  the  name 
of  the  Exile  would  long  since  have  been  forgotten,  if  his  genu- 
ine and  distinguished  virtues  had  not  left  a  deep  impression  in 
the  Imperial  court.  During  the  season  of  prosperity,  he  had 
Hgen  neglected  ;  but,  in  the  public  distress,  his  superior  merit 
was  universally  felt  and  acknowledged.  What  confidence 
jnust  have  been  reposed  in  his  integrity,  since  Gratian  could 
trust,  that  a  pious  son  would  forgive,  for  the  sake  of  the 
vepublic,  the  murder  of  his  father!  What  expectations  must 
have  been  formed  of  his  abilities  to  encourage  the  hope,  that 
a  single  man  could  save,  and  restore, the  empire  of  the  East! 
Theodosius  was  invested  with  the  purple  in  the  thirty-third 
year  of  his  age.  The  vulgar  gazed  with  admiration  on  the 
manly  beauty  of  his  face,  and  the  graceful  majesty  of  his 
person,  which  they  were  pleased  to  compare  with  the  pictures 
and  medals  of  the  emperor  Trajan  ;  whilst  intelligent  observers 
discovered,  in  the  qualities  of  his  heart  and  understanding,  a 
more  important  resemblance  to  the  best  and  greatest  of  the 
Roman  princes. 

It  is  not  without  the  most  sincere  regret,  that  I  must  now 
take  leave  of  an  accurate  and  faithful  guide,  who  has  com- 
posed the  history  of  his  own  times,  without  indulging  the  pre- 
judices and  passions,  which  usually  affect  the  mind  of  a 
contemporary.  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  terminates  his 
useful  work  with  the  defeat  and  death  of  Valens,  recommends 
the  more  glorious  subject  of  the  ensuing  reign  to  the  youlhfuJ 
vigor  and  eloquence  of  the  rising  generation.113     The  rising 

m  Let  us  hear  Ammianus  himself.  Haec,  ut  miles  quondam  ec 
GrworuB,  a  principitu  Oap-saris  Nervip  exorsus,  adusque  Valentis  inter 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  61 

generation  was  not  disposed  to  accept  his  advice,  or  to  imilate 
his  example  ; 114  and,  in  the  study  of  the  reign  of  Theodosius, 
we  are  reduced  to  illustrate  the  partial  narrative  of  Zosimus 
by  the  obscure  hints  of  fragments  and  chronicles,  by  the 
figurative  style  of  poetry  or  panegyric,  and  by  the  precari- 
ous assistance  of  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  who,  in  the  heat 
of  religious  faction,  are  apt  to  despise  the  profane  virtues  of 
sincerity  and  moderation.  Conscious  of  these  disadvantages 
which  will  continue  to  involve  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  I  shall  proceed  with 
doubtful  and  timorous  steps.  Yet  I  may  boldly  pronounce, 
that  the  battle  of  Hadrianople  was  never  revenged  by  any 
signal  or  decisive  victory  of  Theodosius  over  the  Barbarians : 
and  the  expressive  silence  of  his  venal  orators  may  be  con- 
firmed by  the  observation  of  the  condition  and  circumstances 
of  the  times.  The  fabric  of  a  mighty  state,  which  has  been 
reared  by  the  labors  of  successive  ages,  could  not  be  over- 
turned by  the  misfortune  of  a  single  day,  if  the  fatal  power  of 
the  imagination  did  not  exaggerate  the -real  measure  of  the 
calamity.  The  loss  of  forty  thousand  Romans,  who  fell  in 
the  plains  of  Hadrianople,  might  have  been  soon  recruited  in 
the  populous  provinces  of  the  East,  which  contained  so  many 
millions  of  inhabitants.  The  courage  of  a  soldier  is  found  to 
be  the  cheapest,  and  most  common,  quality  of  human  nature 
and  sufficient  skill  to  encounter  an  undisciplined  foe  might  hava 
been  speedily  taught  by  the  care  of  the  surviving  centurions. 
If  the  Barbarians  were  mounted  on  the  horses,  and  equipped 
with  the  armor,  of  their  vanquished  enemies,  the  numerous 
studs  of  Cappadocia  and  Spain  would  have  supplied  new 
squadrons  of  cavalry  ;  the  thirty- four  arsenals  of  the  empire 
were  plentifully  stored  with  magazines  of  offensive  and  defen- 

itum,  pro  virium  explicavi  mensura  :  opus  veritatem  professum  nun- 
quam,  ut  arbitror,  sciens,  silentio  ausus  corrumpere  vcl  mendacio. 
Scribant  reliqua  potiores  a;tate,  doctrinisque  fiorentes.  Quos  id,  si 
iibuerit,  aggressuros,  prouudere  linguae  ad  majores  moneo  stilos. 
Ammian.  xxxi.  16.  The  first  thirteen  books,  a  superficial  epitome 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  years,  are  now  lost :  the  last  eighteen, 
which  contain  no  more  than  twenty-live  years,  still  preserve  the 
copious  and  authentic  history  of  his  own  times. 

114  Ammian  us  was  the  last  subject  of  Rome  who  composed  a  pro- 
fane history  in  the  Latin  language.  The  East,  in  the  next  century 
produced  some  rhetorical  historians,  Zosimus,  Olympiodorus,  Mal- 
chus,  Candidus,  &c.  See  Vossius  de  Historicis  Graecis,  1.  ii.  c.  18,  da 
Historicis  Latinis,  1.  ii.  c.  10,  &c. 


<52  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

sivtj  arms  :  and  the  wealth  of  Asia  might  still  have  yielded  an 
ample  fund  for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  But  the  effects  which 
were  produced  by  the  battle  of  Hadrianople  on  the  minds  of 
the  Barbarians  and  of  the  Romans,  extended  the  victory  of  the 
former,  and  the  defeat  of  the  latter,  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
a  single  day.  A  Gothic  chief  was  heard  to  declare,  with  in- 
solent moderation,  that,  for  his  own  part,  he  was  fatigued  with 
slaughter ;  but  that  he  was  astonished  how  a  people,  who  fled 
before  him  like  a  flock  of  sheep,  could  still  presume  to  dispute 
the  possession  of  their  treasures  and  provinces.115  The  same 
terrors  which  the  name  of  the  Huns  had  spread  among  the 
Gothic  tribes,  were  inspired,  by  the  formidable  name  of  the 
Goths,  among  the  subjects  and  soldiers  of  the  Roman  empire.116 
If  Tbeodosius,  hastily  collecting  his  scattered  forces,  had  led 
them  into  tne  field  to  encounter  a  victorious  enemy,  his  army 
would  have  been  vanquished  by  their  own  fears ;  and  his 
rashness  could  not  have  been  excused  by  the  chance  of  suc- 
cess. But  the  great  Theodosius,  an  epithet  which  he  honor- 
ably deserved  on  this  momentous  occasion,  conducted  himself 
as  the  firm  and  faithful  guardian  of  the  republic.  He  fixed 
his  head-quarters  at  Thessalonica,  the  capital  of  the  Mace- 
donian diocese  ; 117  from  whence  he  could  watch  the  irregular 
motions  of  the  Barbarians,  and  direct  the  operations  of  his 
lieutenants,  from  the  gates  of  Constantinople  to  the  shores  of 
the  Hadriatic.  The  fortifications  and  garrisons  of  the  cities 
were  strengthened  ;  and  the  troops,  among  whom  a  sense  of 
order  and  discipline  was  revived,  were  insensibly  emboldened 
by  the  confidence  of  their  own  safety.  From  these  secure 
stations,  they  were  encouraged  to  make  frequent  sallies  on  the 
Barbarians,  who  infested  the  adjacent  country ;  and,  as  they 
were  seldom  allowed  to  engage,  without  some  decisive  supe- 
riority, either  of  ground  or  of  numbers,  their  enterprises  were, 
or  the  most  part,  successful ;  and  they  were  soon  convinced, 
oy  their  own  experience,  of  the  possibility  of  vanquishing  their 
invincible   enemies.      The  detachments  of  these  separate  gar- 

115  Chrrsostom,  torn.  i.  p.  344,  edit.  Montfaucon.  I  have  verified 
»nd  examined  this  passage  :  bat  I  should  never,  without  the  aid  of 
Tilleniont  (Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  152,)  have  detected  an  historical 
anecdote,  in  a  strange  medley  of  moral  and  mystic  exhortations,  ad- 
dressed, by  the  preacher  of  Antioch,  to  a  young  widow. 

n"  Eunapius,  in  Excerpt.  Legation,  p.  21. 

1)7  See  Godefroy's  Chronology  of  the  Laws.    Codex  Theodos.  \om  i 
Piolegomen.  p.  xcix. — civ. 


'     '    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  63 

lisons  were  gradually  united  into  small  armies,  the  same 
cautious  measures  were  pursued,  according  to  an  extensive 
and  well-concerted  plan  of  operations ;  the  events  of  each 
day  added  strength  and  spirit  to  the  Roman  arms ;  and  the 
artful  diligence  of  the  emperor,  who  circulated  the  most  favor- 
able reports  of  the  success  of  the  war,  contributed  to  subdue 
the  pride  of  the  Barbarians,  and  to  animate  the  hopes  and 
courage  of  his  subjects.  If,  instead  of  this  faint  and  imper- 
fect outline,  we  could  accurately  represent  the  counsels  and 
actions  of  Theodosius,  in  four  successive  campaigns,  there  is 
reason  to  believe,  that  his  consummate  skill  would  deserve  the 
applause  of  every  military  reader.  The  republic  had  former- 
ly been  saved  by  the  delays  of  Fabius;  and,  while  the  splen- 
did trophies  of  Scipio,  in  the  field  of  Zama,  attract  the  eyes 
of  posterity,  the  camps  and  marches  of  the  dictator  among  the 
hills  of  Campania,  may  claim  a  juster  proportion  of  the  solid 
and  independent  fame,  which  the  general  is  not  compelled  to 
share,  either  with  fortune  or  with  his  troops.  Such  was  like- 
wise the  merit  of  Theodosius ;  and  the  infirmities  of  his  body, 
which  most  unseasonably  languished  under  a  long  and  dan- 
gerous disease,  could  not  oppress  the  vigor  of  his  mind,  or 
divert  his  attention  from  the  public  service.118 

The  deliverance  and  peace  of  the  Roman  provinces  119  was 
the  work  of  prudence,  rather  than  of  valor :  the  prudence  of 
Theodosius  was  seconded  by  fortune  :  and  the  emperor  never 
failed  to  seize,  and  to  improve,  every  favorable  circumstance. 
As  long  as  the  superior  genius  of  Fritigern  preserved  the 
union,  and  directed  the  motions  of  the  Barbarians,  their  power 
was  not  inadequate  to  the  conquest  of  a  great  empire.  The 
death  of  that  hero,  the  predecessor  and  master  of  the  renowned 
Alaric,  relieved  an  impatient  multitude  from  the  intolerable 
yoke  of  discipline  and  discretion.  The  Barbarians,  who  had 
been  restrained  by  his  authority,  abandoned  themselves  to  the 
dictates  of  their  passions ;  and  their  passions  were   seldom 

118  Most  writers  insist  on  the  illness,  and  long  repose,  of  Theodo- 
sius, at  Thessalonica  :  Zosimus,  to  diminish  his  glory  ;  Jornandes,  to 
favor  the  Goths ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  to  introduce  Ids 
baptism. 

119  Compare  Themistius  (Orat.  xiv.  p.  181)  with  Zosimus,  (1.  iv. 
p.  232,)  Jornandes,  (c.  xxvii.  p.  649,)  and  the  prolix  C<  mmentary  ol 
M.  de  Buat,  (Hist,  des  Peuples,  &c,  torn.  vi.  p.  477 — 552.1  The 
Chronicle?  of  Idatius  and  Mavcellinus  allude,  in  general  terms,  to 
magna  certamina,  magna  multaque  pra;lia.  The  two  epithets  are  not 
ft*H'uy  reconciled. 


b4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL, 

uniform  or  consistent.     An  army  of  conquerors  was  broken 
into  many  disorderly  bands  of  savage  robbers  ;  and  their  blind 
and  irregular  fury  was  not  less  pernicious  to  themselves,  than 
to  their  enemies.     Their  mischievous  disposition  was  shown 
in  the  destruction  of  every  object  which  they  wanted  strength 
to  remove,  or  taste  to  enjoy ;  and  they  often  consumed,  with 
improvident  rage,  the  harvests,  or  the  granaries,  which  soon 
afterwards  became  necessary  for  their  own  subsistence.     A 
spirit  of  discord  arose  among  the  independent  tribes  and  na- 
tions, which  had  been  united  only  by  the  bands  of  a  loose  and 
voluntary  alliance.     The  troops  of  the  Huns  and  the  Alani 
would  naturally  upbraid  the  flight  of  the  Goths  ;  who  were 
not  disposed  to  use  with  moderation  the  advantages  of  their 
fortune  ;  the  ancient  jealousy  of  the  Ostrogoths  and  the  Visi- 
goths could  not  long  be  suspended  ;  and  the   haughty  chiefs 
still   remembered   the   insults   and   injuries,  which  they   had 
reciprocally  offered,  or  sustained,  while  the  nation  was  seated 
in  the  countries  beyond  the  Danube.     The  progress  of  domes- 
tic faction  abated  the  more  diffusive  sentiment  of  national 
animosity ;  and  the  officers  of  Theodosius  were  instructed  to 
purchase,  with  liberal  gifts  and  promises,  the  retreat  or  ser- 
vice of  the  discontented  party.     The  acquisition  of  Modar,  a 
prince  of  the  royal  blood  of  the  Amali,  gave  a  bold  and  faith- 
ful champion  to  the  cause  of  Rome.     The  illustrious  deserter 
soon  obtained  the  rank  of  master-general,  with  an  important 
command  ;  surprised  an  army  of  his  countrymen,  who  were 
immersed  in  wine  and  sleep ;  and,  after  a  cruel  slaughtei  ?f 
the   astonished  Goths,  returned  with   an  immense  spoil,  and 
four  thousand  wagons,  to  the  Imperial  camp.120     In  the  hands 
of  a  skilful  politician,  the  most  different  means  may  be  suc- 
cessfully applied  to  the  same  ends  ;  and  the  peace  of  the  em- 
pire, which  had  been  forwarded  by  the  divisions,  was  accom- 
plished by  the  reunion,  of  the  Gothic  nation.     Athanaric,  who 
had  been  a  patient  spectator  of  these  extraordinary  events, 
was  at  length  driven,  by  the  chance  of  arms,  from  the  dark 
recesses  of  the  woods  of  Caucaland.     He  no  longer  hesitated 
to  p;.ss  the  Danube  ;  and  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  sub- 
jects  of  Fritigern,  who  already  felt  the  inconveniences  of 
anarchy,  were  easily  persuaded  to  acknowledge  for  their  king 
a  Gothic  Judge,  whose  birth  they  respected,  and  whose  abil- 


1,0  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  232)  styles  him  a  Scythian,  a  name  which  the 
more  recent  Greeks  seem  to  have  appropriated  to  the  Goths. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  65 

ities  they  had  frequently  experienced.  But  age  had  chilled 
the  daring  spirit  of  Athanaric ;  and,  instead  of  leading  his 
people  to  the  field  of  battle  and  victory,  he  wisely  listened  to 
the  fair  proposal  of  an  honorable  and  advantageous  treaty. 
Theodosius,  who  was  acquainted  with  the  merit  and  power  of 
his  new  ally,  condescended  to  meet  him  at  the  distance  of 
several  miles  from  Constantinople ;  and  entertained  him  ia 
the  Imperial  city,  with  the  confidence  of  a  friend,  and  the 
magnificence  of  a  monarch.  "The  Barbarian  prince  observed, 
with  curious  attention,  the  variety  of  objects  which  attracted 
his  notice,  and  at  last  broke  out  into  a  sincere  and  passionate 
exclamation  of  wonder.  I  now  behold  (said  he)  what  I  never 
could  believe,  the  glories  of  this  stupendous  capital  !  And  as 
he  cast  his  eyes  around,  he  viewed,  and  he  admired,  the  com- 
manding situation  of  the  city,  the  strength  and  beauty  of  the 
walls  and  public  edifices,  the  capacious  harbor,  crowded  with 
innumerable  vessels,  the  perpetual  concourse  of  distant  na- 
tions, and  the  arms  and  discipline  of  the  troops.  Indeed,  (con- 
tinued Athanaric,)  the  emperor  of  the  Romans  is  a  god  upon 
earth;  and  the  presumptuous  man,  who  dares  to  lift  his  hand 
against  him,  is  guilty  of  his  own  blood."  121  The  Gothic  King 
did  not  long  enjoy  this  splendid  and  honorable  reception  ; 
and.  as  temperance  was  not  the  virtue  of  his  nation,  it  may 
justly  be  suspected,  that  his  mortal  disease  was  contracted 
amidst  the  pleasures  of  the  Imperial  banquets.  But  the  policy 
of  Theodosius  derived  more  solid  benefit  from  the  death,  than 
he  could  have  expected  from  the  most  faithful  services,  of  his 
ully.  The  funeral  of  Athanaric  was  performed  with  solemn 
rites  in  the  capital  of  the  East  ;  a  stately  monument  was 
erected  to  his  memory ;  and  his  whole  army,  won  by  the 
liberal  courtesy,  and  decent  grief,  of  Theodosius,  enlisted 
jnder  the  standard  of  the  Roman  empire.122     The  submission 


121  The  reader  will  not  be  displeased  tu  see  the  original  words  of 
Jornandes,  or  the  author  whom  he  transcribed.  liegiam  urbem 
ingressus  est,  rniransque,  En,  inquit,  cerno  quod  sajpe  incredulus 
audiebam,  t'amam  videlicet  tantae  urbis.  Et  hue  illue  oeulos  volveus, 
nunc  situm  urbis,  coinmeatuinque  navium,  nunc  moenia  clara  pro- 
spectans,  miratur ;  populosque  diversarum  gentium,  quasi  fonte  in  uno 
«  diversis  partibus  scatunente  unda,  sic  quoque  mititeru  ordlnatuia 
nspiciens  ;  Dens,  inquit,  sine  dubio  est  terrenus  Imperator,  et  quis- 
quis  adversus  eum  munum  moverit,  ipse  sui  sanguinis  reus  existit. 
Jornandes  (c.  xxviii.  p.  650)  proceeds  to  mention  his  death  and 
funeral. 

a%  Jornan  les,  c.  xxviii.  p.  650.  Even  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  246)  I* 
K7  * 


66  THi;    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  so  great  a  body  of  the  Visigoths  was  productive  of  the 
mosl  salutary  consequences  ;  and  the  mixed  influence  of  force 
of  reason,  and  of  corruption,  became  every  day  more  powerful 
and  more  extensive.  Each  independent  chieftain  hastened  to 
obtain  a  separate  treaty,  from  the  apprehension  that  an  ob- 
stinate delay  might  expose  him,  alone  and  unprotected,  to  the 
revenge,  or  justice,  of  the  conqueror.  The  general,  or  rather 
the  final,  capitulation  of  the  Goths,  may  be  dated  four  years 
one  month,  and  twenty-five  days,  after  the  defeat  and  death 
of  the  emperor  Valens.123 

The  provinces  of  the  Danube  had  been  already 'relieved 
from  the  oppressive  weight  of  the  Gruthungi,  or  Ostrogoths, 
by  the  voluntary  retreat  of  Alatheus  and  Saphrax,  whose 
restless  spirit  had  prompted  them  to  seek  new  scenes  of  rapine 
and  glory.  Their  destructive  course  was  pointed  towards 
the  West ;  but  we  must  be  satisfied  with  a  very  obscure  and 
imperfect  knowledge  of  their  various  adventures.  The  Ostro- 
goths impelled  several  of  the  German  tribes  on  the  provinces 
of  Gaul ;  concluded,  and  soon  violated,  a  treaty  with  the 
emperor  Gratian ;  advanced  into  the  unknown  countries  of 
the  North ;  and,  after  an  interval  of  more  than  four  years, 
returned,  with  accumulated  *brce,  to  the  banks  of  the  Lowex 
Danube.  Their  troops  were  /ecruited  with  the  fiercest  war- 
riors of  Germany  and  Scythia ;  and  the  soldiers,  or  at  least 
the  historians,  of  the  empire,  no  longer  recognized  the  name 
and  countenances  of  their  former  enemies.124  The  general 
who  commanded  the  military  and  naval  powers  of  the  Thra- 
cian  frontier,  soon  perceived  that  his  superiority  would  be 
disadvantageous  to  the  public  service  ;  and  that  the  Barba- 
rians, awed  by  the  presence  of  his  fleet  and  legions,  would 
probably  defer  tne  passage  of  the  river  till  the  approaching 
winter.  The  dexterity  of  the  spies,  whom  he  sent  into  the 
Gothic  camp,  allured  the  Barbarians  into  a  fatal  snare.  They 
were  persuaded  that,  by  a  bold  attempt,  they  might  surprise, 
in  the  silence  and  darkness  of  the  night,  the  sleeping  army 
of  the  Romans  ;  and  the  whole  multitude  was  hastily  embarked 

compelled  to  approve  the  generosity  of  Theodosius,  so  honorable  is 
hunt  elf,  and  so  beneficial  to  the  public. 

123  The  short,  but  authentic,  hints  in  the  Fasti  of  Idatius  (CLron. 
Bcaligx-r.  p.  52)  are  stained  with  contemporary  passion.  The  four- 
teenth oration  of  Themistius  is  a  compliment  to  Peace,  and  the  con- 
sul Saturninus,  (A.  D.  383.) 

1,4  "E6kj(  ro  2xi6ixuy  nuoit  aytworoi.     Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  252. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  67 

in  a  fleet  of  three  thousand  canoes.125  The  bravest  of  the 
Ostrogoths  led  the  van ;  the  main  body  consisted  of  the 
remainder  of  their  subjects  and  soldiers ;  and  the  women  and 
children  securely  followed  in  the  rear.  One  of  the  nights 
without  a  moon  had  been  selected  for  the  execution  of  then 
design  ;  and  they  had  almost  reached  the  southern  bank  of  the 
Danube,  in  the  firm  confidence  that  they  should  find  an  easy 
landing  and  an  unguarded  camp.  But  the  progress  of  the 
Barbarians  was  suddenly  stopped  by  an  unexpected  obstacle  . 
a  triple  line  of  vessels,  strongly  connected  with  each  other, 
and  which  formed  an  impenetrable  chain  of  two  miles  and  a 
half  along  the  river.  While  they  struggled  to  force  their 
way  in  the  unequal  conflict,  their  right  flank  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  irresistible  attack  of  a  fleet  of  galleys,  which  were 
urged  down  the  stream  by  the  united  impulse  of  oars  and  of 
the  tide.  The  weight  and  velocity  of  those  ships  of  war 
broke,  and  sunk,  and  dispersed,  the  rude  and  feeble  canoes 
of  the  Barbarians  :  their  valor  was  ineffectual ;  and  Alatheus, 
the  king,  or  general,  of  the  Ostrogoths,  perished  with  his 
bravest  troops,  either  by  the  sword  of  the  Romans,  or  in  the 
waves  of  the  Danube.  The  last  division  of  this  unfortunate 
fleet  might  regain  the  opposite  shore  ;  but  the  distress  and 
disorder  of  the  multitude  rendered  them  alike  incapable, 
either  of  action  or  counsel  ;  and  they  soon  implored  the 
clemency  of  the  victorious  enemy.  On  this  occasion,  as  well 
as  on  many  others,  it  is  a  difficult  task  to  reconcile  the  pas- 
sions and  prejudices  of  the  writers  of  the  age  of  Theodosius. 
The  partial  and  malignant  historian,  who  misrepresents  every 
action  of  his  reign,  affirms,  that  the  emperor  did  not  appear 
in  the  field  of  battle  till  the  Barbarians  had  been  vanquished 
by  the  valor  and  conduct  of  his  lieutenant  Promotus.1'26  The 
flattering  poet,  who  celebrated,  in  the  court  of  Honorius,  the 
glory  of  the  father  and  of  the  son,  ascribes  the  victory  to  the 

1,5  I  am  justified,  by  reason  and  example,  in  applying  this  Indian 
name  to  the  poiu£v4u  of  the  Barbarians,  the  single  trees  hollowed  int"J 
the  shape  of  a  boat,  nkifiti  /.luta^vimv  ifijii^aatTtg.     Zosiinus,  1.  iv.  p. 

Ami  Danuhium  qnon  hm  trannre  Griithungi 
In  li  il res  I'regero  litmus  :  tor  niille  rue'iant 
1'er  lluvium  plena:  cuneis  immanibiis  iiltii. 

CI  .udi.Lii,  in  iv.  Cons.  Hon.  623. 

**  Zosirmia  1.  iv.  p.  252--2S5.  lie  too  frequently  betrays  Ids  pov- 
erty of  judgment,  by  disgracing  the  most  serious  narratives  with 
trilling  and  incredible  circumstances. 


6ti  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

personal  r  rowess  of  Theoiosius ;  and  almost  insinuates,  that 
the  king  of  the  Ostiogothb  was  slain  by  the  hand  of  the  em- 
peror.1517 The  truth  of  h. story  might  perhaps  be  found  in 
a  just  medium  between  these  extreme  and  contradictory 
assertions. 

The  original  treaty  which  fixed  the  settlement  of  the  Goths, 
Ascertained  their  privileges,  and  stipulated  their  obligations 
would  illustrate  the  history  of  Theodosius  and  his  successors. 
The  series  of  their  history  has  imperfectly  preserved  the  spirit 
and  substance  of  this  singular  agreement.128  The  ravages  of 
war  and  tyranny  had  provided  many  large  tracts  of  fertile 
out  uncultivated  land  for  the  use  of  those  Barbarians  who 
might  not  disdain  the  practice  of  agriculture.  A  numerous 
colony  of  the  Visigoths  was  seated  in  Thrace  ;  the  remains  of 
the  Ostrogoths  were  planted  in  Phrygia  and  Lydia ;  their  im- 
mediate wants  were  supplied  by  a  distribution  of  corn  and 
cattle ;  and  their  future  industry  was  encouraged  by  an  ex- 
emption from  tribute,  during  a  certain  term  of  years.  The 
Barbarians  would  have  deserved  to  feel  the  cruel  and  perfidi- 
ous policy  of  the  Imperial  court,  if  they  had  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  dispersed  through  the  provinces.  They  required, 
and  they  obtained,  the  sole  possession  of  the  villages  and  dis- 
tricts assigned  for  their  residence  ;  they  still  cherished  and 
propagated  their  native  manners  and  language  ;  asserted,  in 
the  bosom  of  despotism,  the  freedom  of  their  domestic  gov- 
ernment ;  and  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  the  emperor, 
without  submitting  to  the  inferior  jurisdiction  of  the  laws  and 
magistrates  of  Rome.  The  hereditary  chiefs  of  the  tribes  and 
families  were  still  permitted  to  command  their  followers  in 
peace  and  war ;  but  the  royal  dignity  was  abolished  ;  and  the 
generals  of  the  Goths  were  appointed  and  removed  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  emperor.     An  army  of  forty  thousand  Goths 

127  Odothaei  Regis  opima 

Itetulir. Ver.  632. 

The  opima  were  the  spoils  which  a  Roman  general  could  only  win 
from  the  king,  or  general,  i:£  the  enemy,  whom  he  had  slain  with  Ids 
•)wn  hands  :  and  no  more  than  three  such  examples  are  celebrpted  in 
the  victorious  ages  of  Rome. 

123  See  Themistius,  Orat.  xvi.  p.  211.     Claudian  (in  Eutrop.  1.  ii. 
152)  mentions  the  Phrygian  colony  :  — 

Ortrogotbis  colitur  mistisque  Grutliungis 

Phryx  uger 

and  then  pro2eeds  to  nam.,  the  rivers  of  lydia,  the  Pactolus,  *n<i 
Hennas. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRft.  69 

was  maintained  for  the  perpetual  service  of  the  empire  of  the 
East ;  and  those  haughty  troops,  who  assumed  the  title  of 
FcEclcrati,  or  allies,  were  distinguished  by  their  gold  collars, 
liberal  pay,  and  licentious  privileges.  Their  native  courage 
was  improved  by  the  use  of  arms,  and  the  knowledge  of  dis- 
cipline; and,  while  the  republic  was  guarded,  or  threatened, 
by  the  doubtful  sword  of  the  Barbarians,  the  last  sparks  of  the 
military  flame  were  finally  extinguished  in  the  minds  of  the 
Romans.129  Theodosius  had  the  address  to  persuade  his  allies 
that  the  conditions  of  peace,  which  had  been  extorted  from 
him  by  prudence  and  necessity,  were  the  voluntary  expressions 
of  his  sincere  friendship  for  the  Gothic  nation.130  A  differ- 
ent mode  of  vindication  or  apology  was  opposed  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  people ;  who  loudly  censured  these  shameful 
and  dangerous  concessions.131  The  calamities  of  the  war 
were  painted  in  the  most  lively  colors  ;  and  the  first  symptoms 
of  the  return  of  order,  of  plenty,  and  security,  were  diligently 
exasperated.  The  advocates  of  Theodosius  could  affirm, 
with  some  appearance  of  truth  and  reason,  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  extirpate  so  many  warlike  tribes,  who  were  rendered 
desperate  by  the  loss  of  their  native  country  ;  and  that  the 
exhausted  provinces  would  be  revived  by  a  fresh  supply  of 
soldiers  and  husbandmen.  The  Barbarians  still  wore  an  angry 
and  hostile  aspect ;  but  the  experience  of  past  times  might 
encourage  the  hope,  that  they  would  acquire  the  habits  of  in- 
dustry and  obedience  ;  that  their  manners  would  be  polished 
by  time,  education,  and  the  influence  of  Christianity  ;  and  that 
their  posterity  would  insensibly  blend  with  the  great  body  of 
the  Roman  people.132 

129  Compare  Jornandes,  (c.  xx.  27,)  who  marks  the  condition  and 
number  of  the  Gothic  Fcederati,  with  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  258,)  who 
mentions  their  golden  collars ;  and  Pacatus,  (in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii. 
37,)  who  applauds,  with  false  or  foolish  joy,  their  bravery  and  dis- 
cipline. 

130  Amator  pacis  generisque  Gothorum,  is  the  praise  bestowed  by 
the  Gothic  historian,  (c.  xxix.,)  who  represents  his  nation  as  innocent, 
peaceable  men,  slow  to  anger,  and  patient  of  injuries.  According  to 
Livy,  the  Romans  conquered  the  world  in  their  own  defence. 

131  Besides  the  partial  invectives  of  Zosimus,  (always  discontented 
with  the  Christian  reigns,)  sec  the  grave  representations  which  Syne- 
gius  addresses  to  the  emperor  Arcadius,  (de  Regno,  p.  2~>,  26,  edit. 
Petav.)  The  philosophic  bishop  of  Cyrene  was  near  enough  to 
rudge  ;  and  he  was  sufficiently  removed  from  the  temptation  of  fear 
■>r  llattery. 

138  Themistius  (Orat.  xvi.  p.  211,  212}   composes  an  elaborate  anJ 


30  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Notwithstanding  these  specious  arguments,  and  these  san 
guine  expectations,  it  was  apparent  to  every  discerning  eye, 
♦hat  the  Goths  would  long  remain  the  enemies,  and  mighl 
soon  become  the  conquerors,  of  the  Roman  empire.  Their 
rude  and  insolent  behavior  expressed  their  contempt  of  the 
citizens  and  provincials,  whom  they  insulted  with  impunity.133 
To  the  zeal  and  valor  of  the  Barbarians  Theodosius  was 
indebted  for  the  success  of  his  arms  :  but  their  assistance  was 
precarious  ;  and  they  were  sometimes  seduced,  by  a  treacher- 
ous and  inconstant  disposition,  to  abandon  his  standard,  at 
the  moment  when  their  service  was  the  most  essential.  Dur- 
ing the  civil  war  against  Maxim  us,  a  great  number  of  Gothic 
deserters  retired  into  the  morasses  of  Macedonia,  wasted  the 
adjacent  provinces,  and  obliged  the  intrepid  monarch  to  expose 
his  person,  and  exert  his  power,  to  suppress  the  rising  flame  of 
rebellion.134  The  public  apprehensions  were  fortified  by  the 
strong  suspicion,  that  these  tumults  were  not  the  effect  of 
accidental  passion,  but  the  result  of  deep  and  premeditated 
design.  It  was  generally  believed,  that  the  Goths  had  signed 
the  treaty  of  peace  with  a  hostile  and  insidious  spirit ;  and 
that  their  chiefs  had  previously  bound  themselves,  by  a  solemr 
and  secret  oath,  never  to  keep  faith  with  the  Romans ;  to 
maintain  the  fairest  show  of  loyalty  and  friendship,  and  to 
watch  the  favorable  moment  of  rapine,  of  conquest,  and  of 
revenge.  But,  as  the  minds  of  the  Barbarians  were  not 
Insensible  to  the  power  of  gratitude,  several  of  the  Gothic 
leaders  sincerely  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  the 
empire,  or,  at  least,  of  the  emperor ;  the  whole  nation  was 
insensibly  divided  into  two  opposite  factions,  and  much  soph- 
istry was  employed  in  conversation  and  dispute,  to  compare 
the  obligations  of  their  first,  and  second,  engagements.  The 
Goths,  who  considered  themselves  as  the  friends  of  peace,  ot 
justice,  and  of  Rome,  were  directed  by  the  authority  of  Fra- 
ctional apology,  which  is  not,  however,  exempt  from  the  puerilities 
of  Greek  rhetoric.  Orpheus  could  o>dy  charm  the  wild  beasts  ol 
Thrace  ;  but  Theodosius  enchanted  the  men  and  women,  whose  pred- 
ecessors in  the  same  country  had  torn  Orpheus  in  pieces,  &c. 

133  Constantinople  was  deprived,  half  a  day,  of  the  public  allowance 
of  bread,  to  expiate  the  murder  of  a  Gothic  soldier  :  teivovmg  to 
Sxr&ixov,  was  the  guilt  of  the  people.  Libanius,  Orat.  xii.  p.  394, 
edit.  Morel. 

134  Zosmius,  1.  iv.  p.  267 — 271.  He  tells  a  long  and  ridiculous 
itory  of  the  adventurous  prince,  who  roved  the  country  with  onfj 
five  horsemen,  of  a  spy  whom  they  detected,  whipped,  and  killed  ii 
in  old  woman's  cottag'e,  &c. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  71 

vitta,  a  valiant  and  honorable  youth,  distinguished  above  the 
rest  of  his  countrymen  by  the  politeness  of  his  manners,  the 
liberality  of  his  sentiments,  and  the  mild  virtues  of  social  life. 
But  the  more  numerous  faction  adhered  to  the  fierce  and 
faithless  Priulf,*  who  inflamed  the  passions,  and  asserted  the 
independence,  of  his  warlike  followers.  On  one  of  the  solemn 
festivals,  when  the  chiefs  of  both  parties  were  invited  to  the 
Imperial  table,  they  were  insensibly  heated  by  wine,  till  they 
forgot  the  usual  restraints  of  discretion  and  respect,  and 
betrayed,  in  the  presence  of  Theodosius,  the  fatal  secret  of 
their  domestic  disputes.  The  emperor,  who  had  been  the 
reluctant  witness  of  this  extraordinary  controversy,  dissembled 
his  fears  and  resentment,  and  soon  dismissed  the  tumultuous 
assembly.  Fravitta,  alarmed  and  exasperated  by  the  insolence 
of  his  rival,  whose  departure  from  the  palace  might  have  been 
the  signal  of  a  civil  war,  boldly  followed  him  ;  and,  drawing 
his  sword,  laid  Priulf  dead  at  his  feet.  Their  companions 
flew  to  arms  ;  and  the  faithful  champion  of  Rome  would  have 
been  oppressed  by  superior  numbers,  if  he  had  not  been  pro- 
tected by  the  seasonable  interposition  of  the  Imperial  guards.135 
Such  were  the  scenes  of  Barbaric  rage,  which  disgraced  the 
palace  and  table  of  the  Roman  emperor ;  and,  as  the  im- 
patient Goths  could  only  be  restrained  by  the  firm  and  tem- 
perate character  of  Theodosius,  the  public  safety  seemed  to 
depend  on  the  life  and  abilities  of  a  single  man.136 

135  Compare  Eunapius  (in  Excerpt.  Legat.  p.  21,  22)  with  Zosimus, 
(1.  iv.  p.  279.)  The  difference  of  circumstances  and  names  must  un- 
doubtedly be  applied  to  the  same  story.  Fravitta,  or  Travitta,  was 
afterwards  consul,  (A.  D.  401,)  and  still  continued  his  faithful  services 
to  the  eldest  son  of  Theodosius,  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn. 
v.  p.  467.) 

136  Les  Goths  ravagerent  tout  depuis  le  Danube  jusqu'au  Bosphore  ; 
exterminerent  Valens  et  son  armee  ;  et  ne  repasserent  le  Danube,  que 
pour  abandonner  l'affreuse  solitude  qu'ils  avoient  faite,  (CEuvres  de 
Montesquieu,  torn.  iii.  p.  479.  Considerations  sur  les  Causes  de  la 
Grandeur  et  de  la  Decadence  des  Ilomains,  c.  xvii.)  The  president 
Montesquieu  seems  ignorant,  that  the  Goths,  after  the  defeat  of 
Valens,  never  abandoned  the  Roman  territory.  It  is  now  thirty 
years,  says  Claudian,  (de  Bello  Getico,  166,  &c,  A.  D.  404,) 

Ex  quo  jam  patrios  gens  hsec  oblita  Triones, 
Atuue  Jstrnm  transvecta  semel,  vestigia  fixit 
Threicio  funestasolo 

the  erior  is  inexcusable  ;  since  it  disguises  the  principal  and  imme- 
diate cause  of  the  fall  of  the  Western  empire  of  Rome. 


*  'EpiouX^of.     Eunapius. — M. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

DEATH    OF    GRATIAN. RUIN    OF    ARIANISM. ST.  AMBROSE.— 

FIRST    CIVIL  WAR,  AGAINST    MAXIMUS. CHARACTER,  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION,    AND      FENANCE      OF      THEODOSIUS. DEATH     Oi 

VALENTINIAN    II. SECOND    CIVII   WAR,  AGAINST    EUGENITJS 

--DEATH    OF    THEODOSIUS. 

The  fame  of  Gratian,  before  he  had  accomplished  the 
twentieth  year  of  his  age,  was  equal  to  that  of  the  most  cele- 
brated princes.  His  gentle  and  amiable  disposition  endeared 
him  to  his  private  friends,  the  graceful  affability  of  his  man- 
ners engaged  the  affection  of  the  people  :  the  men  of  letters, 
who  enjoyed  the  liberality,  acknowledged  the  taste  and  elo- 
quence, of  their  sovereign  ;  his  valor  and  dexterity  in  arms 
were  equally  applauded  by  the  soldiers ;  and  the  clergy  con- 
sidered the  humble  piety  of  Gratian  as  the  first  and  most  use- 
ful 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  sur- 
vived 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  that  gentle  youth  appears  to  have  escaped.  A 
more  attentive  view  of  the  life  of  Gratian  may  perhaps  sug- 
gest 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 
faiher  was  continually  employed  to  bestow  on  him  those  ad- 
vantages, which  he  might  perhaps  esteem  the  more  highly,  as 
he  himself  had  been  deprived  of  them  ;  and  the  most  skil- 
ful  masters  of  every  science,  and   jf  every  art,  had   labored 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  73 

to  form  the  mind  and  body  of  the  young  prince.1  The  knowl- 
edge 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  grad- 
ually rose  to  the  rank  and  consequence  of  ministers  of  state  :* 
and,  as, they  wisely  dissembled  their  secret  authority,  he 
seemed  to  act  with  firmness,  with  propriety,  and  with  judg- 
ment, op  th  3  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  accu- 
rately guided  the  steps  of  their  royal  pupil,  could  not  infuse 
into  h:<*  feeble  and  indolent  character  the  vigorous  and  inde- 
pendent principle  of  action  which  renders  the  laborious  pur- 
suit 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  ham  i  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 

1  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'Acad6mie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xv.  p.  125 — 138.  The 
poetical  fame  of  Ausonius  condemns  the  taste  of  his  age. 

2  Ausonius  was  successively  promoted  to  the  Praetorian  prefecture 
of  Italy,  (A.  D.  377.)  and  of  Gaul,  (A.  D.  378  ;)  and  was  at  length  in- 
vested 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  Disputare  de  principali  judicio  non  oportet.  Sacrilegii  enim  in- 
?tar  est  dubitarc,  an  is  dignus  sit,  quem  elegerit  imperator.  Codex 
Justinian,  1.  ix.  tit.  xxix.  leg.  3.  This  convenient  law  was  revived 
and  promulgated,  after  the  death  of  Gratian,  by  the  feeble  court  of 
Milan. 

4  Ambrose  composed,  for  his  instruction,  a  theological  treatise  on 
the  faith  of  the  Trinity  :  and  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v. 
p.  158,  169,)  ascribes  to  the  archbishop  the  merit  of  Gratian's  intoler- 
ant laws. 


14  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

capital  offence,  the  violation,  the  neglect,  or  even  the  igno« 
ranee,  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  em- 
peror was  guided  by  the  instructions  of  his  masters,  he  pro 
fessed  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  object  of  his  attentive  con- 
cern. 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  domes- 
tic 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  en- 
closures of  Gaul.  Gratian  admired  the  talents  and  customs 
of  these  favorite   guards,  to  whom  alone    he  intrusted   the 


5  Qui  divinae  legis  sanctitatem  nesciendo  omittunt,  aut  negligendo 
violant,  et  offendunt,  sacrilegium  committunt.  Codex  Justinian.  1. 
ix.  tit.  xxix.  leg.  1.  Theodosius  indeed  may  claim  his  share  in  the 
merit  of  this  comprehensive  law. 

6  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  incruen- 
tus ;  "  and  perhaps  Philostorgius  ;1.  x.  c.  10,  and  Godefroy,  p.  412 
had  guarded,  with  some  similar  reserve,  the  comparison  of  Nero. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  75 

defence  of  his  person  ;  and,  as  if  he  meant  to  insult  the  public 
opinion,  he  frequently  showed  himself  to  the  soldiers  and  peo- 
ple, with  the  dross  and  arms,  the  long  bow,  the  sounding 
quiver,  and  the  fur  garments  of  a  Scythian  warrior.  The 
unwortliv  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 
Constantino.  It  is  not  very  important  to  inquire  from  what 
causes  the  revolt  of  Britain  was  produced.  Accident  is  com- 
monly the  parent  of  disorder;  the  seeds  of  rebellion  happened 
to  fall  on  a  uoil  which  was  supposed  to  be  more  fruitful  than 
any  other  in  tyrants  and  usurpers  ; 8  the  legions  of  that  seques- 
tered 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  his  title 
was  not  yet  ascertained  by  fortune,  —  was  a  native  of  Spain,  the 
eountryman,  the  fellow-soldier,  and  the  rival  of  Theodosius, 
whose  elevation  he  had  not  seen  without  some  emotions  of 


7  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  247)  and  the  younger  Victor  ascribe  the  rev- 
olution to  the  favor  of  the  Alani,  and  the  discontent  of  the  Ro- 
man troops.  Dum  exereitum  negligeret,  et  paucos  ex  Alanis,  quo* 
ingenti  auro  ad  se  transtulerat,  anteferrct  veteri  ac  Romano  miiiti. 

8  Britannia  fertilis  provincia  tyrannorum,  is  a  memorable  expres- 
sion, used  by  Jerom  in  the  Pelagian  controversy,  and  variously  tor- 
tured in  the  disputes  of  our  national  antiquaries.  The  revolutions  of 
the  last  kge  appeared  to  justify  the  image  of  the  sublime  Bossuet, 
"  cetta  ile,  plus  orageuse  que  les  mers  qui  l'enviroiinent." 

9  Zosimus  says  of  the  British  soldiers,  rco*  etXlwv  unurrm*  nlio* 
»i'tW«itt  xai  dvfim  vixaiflirovg. 


?6  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  con- 
tracted with  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  lord  of  Caernarvon- 
shire.10 But  this  provincial  rank  might  justly  be  considered 
as  a  state  of  exile  and  obscurity ;  and  if  Maximus  had  ob- 
tained 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  conspicu- 
ous that  could  extort  such  a  confession  in  favor  of  the  van- 
quished enemy  of  Theodosius.  The  discontent  of  Maximua 
lfcight  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  decla- 
ration, that  he  was  compelled  to  accept  the  dangerous  present 
of  the  Imperial  purple.12 

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, 

10  Helena,  the  daughter  of  Eudda.  Her  chapel  may  still  N2  seen  at 
Caer-segont,  now  Caer-narvon.  (Carte's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.  p. 
168,  from  Rowland's  Mona  Antiqua.)  The  prudent  readei  may  not 
perhaps  be  satisfied  with  such  Welsh  evidence. 

11  Camden  (vol.  i.  introduct.  p.  ci.)  appoints  him  governor  of  Brit- 
ain ;  and  the  father  of  our  antiquities  is  followed,  as  usu»4,  by  hia 
blind  progeny.  Pacatus  and  Zosimus  had  taken  some  pains  to  pre- 
vent this  error,  or  fable  ;  and  I  shall  protect  myself  by  thcil  iecisive 
testimonies,  llegali  habitft  exulem  suum,  illi  exules  orbis  ind'ierunt, 
(in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  23,)  and  the  Greek  historian  still  less  equivo- 
cally, uvrog  (Maximus)  Si  uvSi  ilg  a^jfi,*  tvnftuf  ixvj(t  n(Jotf.6w,  (L 
iv.  p.  248.) 

18  Sulpicius  Severus,  Dialog,  ii.  7.  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  34,  y.  556. 
They  both  acknowledge  (Sulpicius  had  been  his  subject)  his  Vuio- 
cence  and  merit.  It  is  singular  enough,  that  Maximus  should  l>»  les% 
favorably  treated  by  Zosimus,  the  partial  adversary  of  his  rival. 

u  Archbishop  Usher  (Antiquat.  Brit  an.  Eocles.  p.  107,   Iu8)  Swu 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  77 

in  nis  peaceful  residence  of  Paris,  was  alarmed  by  their  hos- 
tile approach  ;  and  the  darts  which  he  idly  wasted  on  lion? 
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  re- 
sources, which  he  still  might  have  found,  in  the  support  of  hia 
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  ex- 
perience, that  every  gate  is  shut  against  the  unfortunate.  Yet 
he  might  still  have  reached,  in  safety,  the  dominions  of  hi? 
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  fidelitv,  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  intentions  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 


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  chil- 
dren of  these  British  virgins. 

14  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  248,  249)  has  transported  the  death  of  Gratian 
from  Lugdunum  in  Gaul  (Lyons)  to  Singidunum  in  Moesia.  Some 
uints  may  be  extracted  from  the  Chronicles  ;  some  lies  may  be  detect- 
ed in  Sozomen  (1.  vii.  c.  13)  and  Socrates,  (1.  v.  c.  11.)  Ambrose  is 
our  most  authentic  evidence,  (torn.  i.  Enarrat  in  Psalm  Ixi.  p.  961, 
torn.  ii.  epist.  xxiv.  p.  888,  &c,  and  de  Obitti  "•'alentinian  Consolat. 
BTo.  28,  p.  1182.) 


78  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

empeior  was  followed  by  that  of  his  powerful  general  Mello- 
baudes,  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  ex- 
ecutions 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 

The  events  of  this  revolution  had  passed  in  such  rapid  suc- 
cession, 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  em- 
peror was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  the  principal  chamber- 
lain 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  spe- 
cious language,  that  the  murder  of  Gratian  had  been  perpe- 
trated, 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 

15  Pacatus  (xii.  28)  celebrates  his  fidelity ;  while  his  treachery  is 
•narked  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,  (torn.  ii.  epist.  xxiv.  p. 
891,  edit.  Benedict.)f 

16  He  protested,  nullum  ex  adversaries  nisi  in  acie  occubuisse. 
Sulp.  Severus  in  Vit.  B.  Martin,  c.  23.  The  orator  of  Theodosius 
bestows  reluctant,  and  therefore  weighty,  praise  on  his  clemency.  Si 
cui  ille,  pro  ceteris  sceleribus  suis,  minus  crudelis  fuisse  videtur,  (Pa- 
uegyr.  Vet.  xii.  28.) 

•  Le  Beau  contests  the  reading  in  the  chronicle  of  Prosper  upon  which 
♦.his  charge  rests.     Le  Beau,  iv.  232.  —  M. 

f  According  to  Pacatus,  the  Count  Vallio,  who  commanded  the  army, 
was  carried  to  Chalons  to  be  burnt  alive  ;  but  Maximus,  dreadiug  the 
Imputation  of  cruelty,  caused  him  to  be  secretly  strangled  by  his  Bretons. 
Macedonius  also,  master  of  the  offices  suffered  the  leath  which  h8 
merited     Le  Beau,  iv.  244.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRjS.  79 

father  of  his  people,  would  choose  rather  to  erriDioy  his  forces 
in  the  common  defence  of  the  republic,  he  was  armtd  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  diffi- 
cult 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 
roceived  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  dis- 
solve the  artificial  fabric  of  government,  and  once  more  to 
replunge  the  empire  in  the  crimes  and  calamities  of  the  pre- 
ceding 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  hu- 
manity 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  em- 
pire :  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  Theodo- 
sius 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  pro- 
tect the  memory,  and  the  laws,  of  the  deceased  emperor.17 
According  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  the  images  of  the  three 

17  Ambrose  mentions  the  laws  of  Gratian,  quas  non  p.brogavit  hoa- 
4*,  (torn.  ii.  epist.  xvii.  p.  827.) 


80  THE    DECLIKE    AND    FALL 

'mperial  colleagues  were  exhibited  to  the  veneration  of  tfo 
people  :  nor  should  it  be  lightly  supposed,  that,  in  the  mo. 
ment  of  a  solemn  reconciliation,  Theodosius  secretly  cher- 
ished the  intention  of  perfidy  and  revenge.18 

The  contempt  of  Gratian  for  the  Roman  soldiers  had  ex- 
posed him  to  the  fatal  effects  of  their  resentment.  His  pro 
found  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  be- 
wailed his  death,  and  their  own  irreparable  loss  ;  but  they 
were  soon  comforted  by  the  discovery,  that  Gratian  had  com- 
mitted 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  ben- 
efactors 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  emula- 
tion 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  seri- 
ous 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  baptism20  from 
Acholius,  the  orthodox  bishop  of  Thessalonica  :  21  and,  as  the 
emperor  ascended  from  the  holy  font,  still  glowing  with  the 


18  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  251,  252.  We  may  disclaim  his  odious  suspi- 
cions ;  but  we  cannot  reject  the  treaty  of  peace  which  the  friends  of 
Theodosius  have  absolutely  forgotten,  or  slightly  mentioned. 

19  Their  oracle,  the  archbishop  of  Milan,  assigns  to  his  pupil  Gra- 
tian a  high  and  respectable  place  in  heaven,  ("om.  ii.  de  Obit.  VaL 
Consol.  p.  1193.) 

20  For  the  baptism  of  Theodosius,  see  Sozomen,  (1.  vii.  c.  4,)  Soc- 
rates, (1.  v.  c.  6,)  and  Tillemont,  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p 
728.) 

21  Ascolius,  or  Acholius,  was  honored  by  the  friendship,  and  the 
praises,  of  Ambrose;  who  styles  him  murus  tidei  atque  sanctitatis, 
(torn.  ii.  epis-t.  xv.  p.  820  ;)  and  afterwards  celebrates  his  speed  and 
diligence  is  running  to  Constantinople,  Italy,  &c,  (epist.  xvi.  p.  822  ;) 
»  virtue  wluch  docs  not  appertain  either  to  a  uxUl,  or  a  bishop. 


OF    THE     ROMAN    EMPIRE.  8) 

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  clem- 
ency 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  follow- 
ers 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  di- 
vine justice,  they  must  expect  to  suffer  the  severe  penalties, 
which  our  authority,  guided  by  heavenly  wisdom,  shall  think 
proper  to  inflict  upon  them."  '2'2  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  land 
mai'ks  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 
Btately  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  sove- 
reign, he  accosted   the  royal    youth  with  the  same  familiar 


23  Codex  Theodos.  1.  xvi.  tit.  i.  leg.  2,  with  Godefxoy's  Commen- 
tary, torn.  vi.  p.  5 — 9.  Such  an  edict  deserved  the  warmest  praises 
of  Baronius,  auream  sanctionem,  «d  ctum  pium  et  salutare.  —  Sic  itui 
ad  astra. 

58 


62  THE   bECLlNE    -.NO   FALL 

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  precence.  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."  Theo- 
dosius  immediately  embraced  the  bishop  of  Iconium,  and 
never  forgot  the  important  lesson,  which  he  had  received 
from  this  dramatic  parable.23 

Constantinople  was  the  principal  seat  and  fortress  of  Arian- 
ism ;  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  em- 
pire ;  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,'1  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.'1  S5     The  heretics,  of  various 

23  Sozomen,  l.  vii.  c.  6.  Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  16.  Tillemont  is  dis- 
pleased (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  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. 

**  Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  v.  Socrates,  1.  v.  c.  7.  Marcellin.  in  Chron, 
The  account  of  forty  years  must  be  dated  from  the  election  or  intru- 
sion of  Eusebius,  who  wisely  exchanged  the  bishopric  of  Nicomedia 
for  the  throne  of  Constantinople. 

■*  See  Jortin's  Remarks  on   Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  iv.  p.  71 
The  thirty-third  Oration  of  Gregory  Nazianzen  affords  indeel  some 
similar  ideas,  even  some  still  more  ridiculous  ;   but   I   have   not  ye* 


OF    THE    ROWAN    EMPIRE.  83 

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  Ho- 
moousians  was  deprived  of  the  public  and  private  exercise  of 
then  religion  ;  and  it  has  been  observed,  in  pathetic  language 
that  the  scattered  flock  was  left  without  a  shepherd  to  wandei 
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  Cappa- 
docia,  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  Cacsarea, 
discovered  to  the  world,  and  perhaps  to  himself,  the  pride  of 
his  character ;  and  the  first  favor  which  he  condescended  to 

found  the  words  of  this  remarkable  passage,  which  I  allege  on  the 
faith  of  a  correct  and  liberal  scholar. 

46  See  the  thirty-second  Oration  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  and  the 
account  of  his  own  ie,  which  he  has  composed  in  1800  iambics. 
Yet  every  physician  is  prone  to  exaggerate  the  inveterate  nature  of 
the  disease  which  he  has  cured. 

87  I  confess  myself  deeply  indebted  to  the  two  lives  of  Gregory  Na- 
eianzen,  composed,  with  very  different  views,  by  Tillemont  (Me^i. 
Eccles.  torn.  ix.  p  30-5—560,  692—731)  and  Le  Clerc,  (Bibliothequa 
Universelle,  torn,  xviii.  p.  1 — 128.) 

a*  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  chrc  nology  of  Suidas  has  been  graciously  received,  be- 
cause it  removes  the  scandal  of  Gregory's  father,  a  saint  likewise, 
begetting  children  after  he  became  a  bishop,  (Tillemont,  Mem.  Ecclea. 
torn,  ix   p.  693—697.) 


84  TOE    DECLINE   AND    FALL 

bestow  on  his  friend,  was  received,  and  perhaps  was  intended, 
as  a  cruel  insult.29  Instead  of  employing  the  superior  talenta 
of  Gregory  in  some  useful  and  conspicuous  station,  the  haughty 
prelate  selected,  among  the  fifty  bishoprics  of  his  extensive 
province,  the  wretcbed  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  consum- 
mated 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  Con- 
stantinople. On  his  arrival  in  the  capital,  Gregory  was  enter- 
tained 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 

*•  Gregory's  Poem  on  his  own  Life  contains  some  beautiful  lines, 
(torn.  ii.  p.  8,)  which  burst  from  the  heart,  and  speak  the  pangs  of 
injured  and  lost  friendship  :  — 

novot  xoiroi  Xoyotv, 

'  Ofiuortyug  rt  xal  avreariog  fii'og, 
Nuvg  tig   iv  auipoiv      .... 
Jitoy.tSumai  7iciira,  xn(Ji}iJirai  /u(»/.i0 
jiv(>at  (fiftuvoi  Tug  nuAuiug  iXnidug. 

In  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Helena  addresses  the  same  pa» 
thetic  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  waa 
ignorant  of  the  Greek  language ;  bat  his  mother  tongue,  the  language 
of  Nature,  is  the  same  in  Cappadocia  and  in  Britain. 

30  This  unfavorable  portrait  of  Sasima?  is  drawn  by  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen,  (torn.  ii.  de  Vita  sua,  p.  7,  8.)  Its  precise  situation,  forty  mne 
miles  from  Archelais,  and  thirty-two  from  Tyana,  is  fixed  in  the  Itin- 
erary of  Antoninus,  (p.  144,  edit.  Wesseling.) 

31  The  name  of  Nazianzus  has  been  immortalized  by  Gregory ;  but 
his  native  town,  under  the  Greek  or  Roman  title  of  Dioca^sarea,  (Til- 
lemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  ix.  p.  692,)  is  mentioned  by  Pliny,  (vi.  3.) 
Ptolemy,  and  Hierocles,  (Itinerar.  Wesseling,  p.  709. N  It  appears  to 
have  been  situate  on  the  edge  of  Isauria. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  85 

the  resurrection  of  the  Nicene  faith.  This  private  conventicle 
was  afterwards  comerted  into  a  magnificent  church;  and  the 
credulity  of  the  succeeding  age  was  prepared  to  believe  the 
niracles  and  visions,  which  attested  the  presence,  or  at  leasf 
ihe  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  it  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  mot- 
ley 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.1'  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  sum- 
moned the  next  morning  before  the  magistrate,  had  the  satis- 
faction 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  con- 


M  See  Ducange,  Constant.  Christiana,  1.  fv.  p.  141,  142.  The  &iia 
tviuutg  of  Sozomen  (1.  vii.  c.  5)  is  interpreted  to  mean  the  Virgin 
Mary. 

33  Tillemont  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  ix.  p.  432,  &c.)  diligently  collects, 
enlarges,  and  explains,  the  oratorical  and  poetical  hints  of  Gregory 
himself, 

34  He  pronounced  an  oration  (torn.  i.  Orat.  xxiii.  p.  409)  in  hia 
praise ;  but  after  their  quarrel,  the  name  of  Maximus  was  changed 
into  that  of  Heron,  (see  Jerom,  torn.  i.  in  Catalog.  Script.  Eccles.  p 
101.)     I  touch  slightly  on  these  obscure  and  personal  squabbles. 


86  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL 

gregation  ,  and  he  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  observing,  that  th8 
greater  part  of  his  numerous  audience  retired  from  his  ser- 
mons satisfied  with  the  eloquence  of  the  preacher,35  or  dis- 
satisfied with  the  manifold  imperfections  of  their  faith  and 
practice.36 

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  alterna- 
tive of  subscribing  the  Nicene  creed,  or  of  instantly  resigning, 
to  the  orthodox  believers,  the  use  and  possession  of  the  episco 
pal  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  re- 
moval was  immediately  followed  by  the  purification  of  the 
Imperial  city.  The  Arians  might  compiam,  with  some  appear- 
ance of  justice,  that  an  inconsiderable  congregation  of  sectaries 
should  usurp  the  hundred  churches,  which  they  were  insuffi- 
cient 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  pro- 
tected 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  Impe- 
rial guards.  If  the  mind  of  Gregory  was  susceptible  of  pride, 
he  must  have  felt  a  very  lively  satisfaction,  when  the  empero'- 


35  Under  the  modest  emblem  of  a  dream,  Gregory  (torn.  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,  (torn.  i.  Epist.  ad  Nepotian.  p.  14,)  that  the  preacher  under- 
niood  the  true  value  of  popular  applause. 

39  Lachrymae  auditorum  laudes  tua;  sint,  is  the  lively  and  judicious 
advice  of  St.  Jerom. 

37  Socrates  (1.  v.  c.  7)  and  Sozomen  (1.  vii.  c.  5)  relate  the  evangeli- 
cal 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  tubtnit. 


Or    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  S"7 

conducted  him  through  the  streets  in  solemn  triumph  ;  and. 
with  his  own  hand,  respectfully  placed  him  on  the  archie- 
piscopal  throne  of  Constantinople.  But  the  saint  (wno  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  ashepherd  ;  that  the 
glittering  arms  which  surrounded  his  person,  were  necessary 
for  his  safety  ;  and  that  he  alone  was  the  object  of  the  impre- 
cations 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  de- 
clared his  resolution  of  expelling  from  all  the  churches  of  his 
dominions  the  bishops  and  their  clergy  who  should  obsti- 
nately 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  con- 
ducted 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 
tinder  the  reign  of  the  impious  Theodosius;  and  the  suffer- 
ings of  their  holy  confessors  might  claim  the  pity  of  the  dis- 
interested reader.  Yet  there  is  reason  to  imagine,  that  the 
violence  of  zeal  and  revenge  was,  in  some  measure,  eluded 

3S  See  Gregory  Nazianzen,  torn.  ii.  de  Vita  sua,  p.  21,  22.  Fot 
the  sake  of  posterity,  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  records  h  stU' 
pendous  prodigy.  In  the  month  of  November,  it  was  a  cloudy 
morning,  but  the  sun  broke  ibnh  when  the  procession  entered  the 
thureh. 

39  Of  the  three  ecclesiastical  historians,  Theodoret  alone  (1.  v.  c.  2) 
has  mentioned  this  important  commission  of  Sapor,  which  Tillemont 
(Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  728)  judiciously  removes  from  the 
teign  oi  uratian  to  that  of  Theodosius. 

40  I  do  not  reckon  Philostorgrus,  though  he  mentions  (1  ix.  c.  19) 
the  expulsion  of  Daniophilus.  The  Eunomian  historian  has  bvet 
tarel'ully  strained  through  an  orthodox  sieve. 


88  TUB    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

by  tne  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  circum- 
stance 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  confi- 
dence, 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  unpardona- 
ble offence,  by  the  scanty  praise,  and  parsimonious  honors, 
which  he  bestowed  on  the  Judge  of  the  World.  The  opin- 
ions of  Arianism  might  satisfy  a  cold  and  speculative  mind  : 
but  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicene  creed,  most  powerfully  recom- 
mended by  the  merits  of  faith  and  devotion,  was  much 
better  adapted  to  become  popular  and  successful  in  a  believ- 
ing age. 

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  con- 
cerning the  Second,  were  extended  and  transferred,  by  a  nat- 
ural analogy,  to  the  Third  person  of  the  Trinity.41  Yet  it 
was  found,  or  it  was  thought,  necessary,  by  the  victorious  ad- 


41  Le  Clerc  has  given  a  curious  extract  (Bibliothcque  Universelle, 
torn,  xviii.  p.  91  — 105)  of  the  theological  sermons  which  Gregory 
Nazianzen  pronounced  at  Constantinople  against  the  Avians,  Euno- 
mians,  Macedonians,  &c.  He  tells  the  Macedonians,  who  deitied  the 
Father  and  the  Son  without  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  they  might  as  well 
be  stjled  Trltheists  as  Dit  heists.  Gregory  himself  was  almost  a  Tri- 
theist ;  and  his  monarchy  of  heaven  resembles  a  well-regulated  ^rifl- 
tocracy. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  89 

vcsaries  of  Arianism,  to  explain  the  ambiguous  language  of 
some  respectable  doctors  ;  to  confirm  the  faith  of  the  Catho- 
des;  and  to  condemn  an  unpopular  and  inconsistent  sect  of 
Macedonians  ;  who  freely  admitted  that  the  Son  was  consub- 
stantial  to  the  Father,  while  they  were  fearful  of  seeming  to 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  Three  Gods.  A  final  and  unani- 
mous 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.49 
Their  knowledge  of  religious  truth  may  have  been  preserved 
by  tradition,  or  it  may  have  been  communicated  by  inspira- 
tion ;  but  the  sober  evidence  of  history  will  not  allow  much 
weight  to  the  personal  authority  of  the  Fathers  of  Constanti- 
nople.' In  an  age  when  the  ecclesiastics  had  scandalously 
degenerated  from  the  model  of  apostolical  purity,  the  mosi 
worthless  and  corrupt  were  always  the  most  eager  to  frequent, 
and  disturb,  the  episcopal  assemblies.  The  conflict  and  fer- 
mentation 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  Theodo- 
sius, 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,  and  resent- 
ment. The  death  of  Meletius,  which  happened  at  the  coun- 
cil of  Constantinople,  presented  the  most  favorable  opportu- 
nity of  terminating  the  schism  of  Antioch,  by  suffering  hia 
aged  rival,  Paulinus,  peaceably  to  end  his  days  in  the  episco- 
pal chair.  The  faith  and  virtues  of  Paulinus  were  unblem- 
ished. But  his  cause  was  supported  by  the  Western  churches  ; 
and  the  bishops  of  the  synod  resolved  to  perpetuate  the  mis- 
thiefs   of   discord,    by  the    hasty    ordination    of   a  perjured 


*s  The  first  general  council  of  Constantinople  now  triumphs  in  the 
Vatican  ;  but  the  popes  had  long  hesitated,  and  their  hesitation  per- 
plexes,  and  almost  staggers,  the  humble  Tillemont,  (Men.  Eccles.  torn- 
!x.  p.  490,  509.) 

53* 


90  THK    DECLINE    rtND    FALL 

candidate,4'  rather  than  to  betray  the  imagined  dignity  of  .he 
East,  which  had  been  illustrated  by  the  birth  and  death  of  tho 
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 

A  suspicion  may  possibly  arise,  that  so  unfavorable  a  pic- 
lure  of  ecclesiastical  synods  has  been  drawn  by  the  partial 
hand  of  some  obstinate  heretic,  or  some  malicious  nfidel- 
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  membei 
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  peo- 
ple, 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 

43  Before  the  death  of  Meletius,  six  or  eight  of  his  most  "opular 
ecclesiastics,  among  whom  was  Flavian,  had  abjured,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  the  bishopric  of  Antioeh,  (Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  3,  11.  Socrates, 
1.  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  char- 
racter  of  a  saint,  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  x.  p.  541.) 

44  Consult  Gregory  Nazianzen,  de  Vita  sua,  torn.  ii.  p.  25 — 28.  Ilia 
general  and  particular  opinion  of  the  clergy  and  their  assemblies  may 
De  seen  in  verse  and  prose,  (torn.  i.  Orat.  i.  p.  33.  Epist.  lv.  p.  814, 
torn.  ii.  Carmen  x.  p.  81.)  Such  passages  are  faintly  marked  by  Til- 
lemont, and  fairly  produced  by  Le  Clerc. 

45  See  Gregory,  torn.  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,  (torn.  L 
p.  528,)  in  which  he  takes  a  solemn  leave  of  men  and  angels,  '.he  city 
and  the  emperor,  the  East  and  the  West,  &c,  is  pathetic,  auj.  almos1 
mblime. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  91 

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  transla- 
tions. The  pride,  or  the  humility,  of  Gregory  prompted  him 
to  decline  a  contest  which  might  have  been  imputed  to  am- 
bition and  avarice  ;  and  he  publicly  offered,  not  without  some 
mixture  of  indignation,  to  renounce  the  government  of  8 
church  which  had  been  restored,  and  almost  created,  by  hi& 
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  en- 
joy the  fruits  of  his  victory,  his  episcopal  throne  was  filled 
by  the  senator  Nectarius  ;  and  the  new  archbishop,  accident- 
ally recommended  by  his  easy  temper  and  venerable  aspect, 
w<*»t  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  ten- 
derness of  his  heart,47  and  the  elegance  of  his  genius,  reflect 
a  more  pleasing  lustre  on  the  memory  of  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzun. 

It  was  not  enough  that  Theodosius  had  suppressed  the  inso- 
lent 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  oT  those  powers  might  exercise  their 
peculiar  jurisdiction  over  the  soul  and  body  of  the  guilty. 
The  decrees  of  the  council  of  Constantinople  had  ascertained 


46  The  wliimsical  ordination  of  Nectarius  is  attested  by  Sozomen, 
(1.  vii.  c.  8;)  but  Tillemont  observes,  (Mem.  Eceles.  torn.  ix.  p.  7  19, x 
Apres  tout,  ce  narre  de  .So/.omene  est  si  honteux  pour  tous  ceux  (ju'ii 
y  mele,  et  surtout  pour  Theodose,  qu'il  vaut  mieux  travailler  a  le  de- 
truue,  qu'ii  le  soutenir  ;   an  admirable  canon  of  criticism  ! 

■*7  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  heretic! 
"»f  Constantinople. 


92  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  true  standard  of  the  faith ;  and  the  ecclesiastics,  who  go>. 
erned  the  conscience  of  Theodosius,  suggested  the  most  effec- 
tual  methodg  of  persecution.  In  the  space  of  fifteen  years 
he  promulgated  at  least  fifteen  severe  edicts  against  the  here- 
tics ; 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  forgeiy.  The  penal 
statutes  were  directed  against  the  ministers,  the  assemblies, 
and  the  persons  of  the  heretics ;  and  the  passions  of  the  legis- 
lator 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  doc- 
trine, 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  rea- 
sonably expected,  that  if  the  race  of  pastors  could  be  extin- 
guished, 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 
lerstics  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 

*g  See  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  xvi.  tit  r.  leg.  G — 23,  with  Gode- 
Iroy's  commentary  on  each  law,  and  his  general  summary,  or  Patatitiun. 
torn   vi,  n.  104—110. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  93 

declaration  of  the  supreme  magistrate  tended  to  justify,  cr  at 
least  to  excuse,  ihe  insults  of  a  fanatic  populace.  The  secta- 
ries were  gradually  disqualified  for  the  possession  of  honor- 
able 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  wdls,  or  of  receiving 
any  advantage  from  testamentary  donations.  The  guilt  of 
the  Manichsean  heresy  was  esteemed  of  such  magnitude,  that 
it  could  be  expiated  only  by  the  death  of  the  otfender ;  and 
the  same  capital  punishment  was  inflicted  on  the  Audians,  01 
Quartodecimans,4^  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,  01 
terrify,  his  refractory  subjects.50 

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  foi 
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  Pris- 
cillianists,51  a  recent  sect  of  heretics,  who  disturbed  the  prov- 
inces of  Spain,  was  transferred,  by  appeal,  from  the  synod  of 
Bordeaux  to  the  Imperial  consistory  of  Treves ;  and  by  the 
sentence  of  the  Praetorian  prefect,  seven  persons  were  tor- 
tured,  condemned,  and   executed.      The   first   of   these   was 


49  They  always  kept  their  Easter,  like  the  Jewish  Passover,  on  the 
fourteenth  clay  of  the  first  moon  after  the  vernal  equinox  ;  and  thus 
pertinaciously  opposed  the  lloman  Church  and  Nicene  synod,  which 
had  jixed  Easter  to  a  Sunday.  Bingham's  Antiquities,  1.  xx.  c.  5,  vol. 
li.  p.  309,  fol.  edit. 

60  Spzomen,  1.  vii.  c.  12. 

51  See  the  Sacred  History  of  Sulpicius  Severus,  (1.  ii.  p.  437 — 452, 
petit.  Lugd.  Bat.  1(347,  a  correct  and  original  writer.  l)r.  Lardnes 
(Credibility,  &c,  part  ii.  vol.  ix.  p.  256 — 350)  has  labored  this  article 
with  pure  learning,  good  sense,  and  moderation.  Tillemont  (Mem. 
EfcJes.  torn.  viii.  p.  491 — 527)  has  raked  together  all  t^e  dirt  irf  the 
iuthers  ,  i'  useful  scavenger  ' 


S>1  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Priscillian59  himself,  bishop  of  Avila,53  in  Spain;  who 
adorned  the  advantages  of  birth  and  fortune,  by  the  accom- 
plishments of  eloquence  and  learning.  Two  presbyters,  nnd 
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  01 
pain,  and  to  vague  reports,  the  offspring  of  malice  and  credu- 
lity, the  heresy  of  the  Priscillianists  would  be  found  to  include 
the  various  abominations  of  magic,  of  impiety,  and  of  lewd- 
ness.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  con- 
fidently 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  bv  the  licentiousness, 
but  by  the  austerity,  of  their  lives.  They  absolutely  con- 
demned the  use  of  the  marriage-bed  ;  and  toe  peace  of  fami- 
lies  was    often    disturbed    by    indiscreet    separations.      They 


48  Severus  Sulpicius  mentions  the  arch-heretic  with  esteem  and  pity 
Faelix  profeeto,  si   non   pravo  studio  corrupisset  optimum  ingenium : 
prorsus 'multa  in  eo  animi  et  corporis   bona  eerneres.     (Hist.  Sacra,  1. 
ii.  p.  439.)    Even  Jerom  (torn.  i.  in  Script.  Eccles.  p.  302)  speaks  with 
temper  of  Priscillian  and  Latronian. 

53  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  Exprobrabatur  mulieri  vidua?  nimia  religio,  et  diligentius  culta 
divinitas,  (Paeat.  in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  29.)  Such  was  the  idea  of  a 
humane,  though  ignorant,  polytheist. 

5i  One  of  them  was  sent  in  Sillinam  insulam  qua?  idtra  Britanniam 
est.  What  must  have  been  the  ancient  condition  of  the  rocks  of  Seil- 
ly  f  (Camden"s  Britannia,  vol.  ii.  p.  1519.) 

*6  The  scandalous  calumnies  of  Augustin,  Pope  Leo,  &c.,  which 
Tillemont  swallows  like  a  child,  and  Lardner  refutes  like  a  man,  may 
•uggest  some  candid  suspicions  in  favor  of  the  older  Onostics 


OF    Till:    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  95 

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  specula  .ive  tenets 
of  the  seet>  concerning  the  person  of  Christ,  and  the  natme 
of  the  human  soul,  were  derived  from  the  Gnostic  and  Mani- 
chrean  system  ;  and  this  vain  philosophy,  which  had  been 
transported  from  Egypt  to  Spain,  was  ill  adapted  to  the  grosse. 
spirits  of  the  West.  The  obscure  disciples  of  Priscillian  suf- 
fered, languished,  and  gradually  disappeared  :  his  tenets  were 
rejected  by  the  clergy  and  people,  but  his  death  was  the  sub- 
ject of  a  long  and  vehement  controversy ;  while  some  ar- 
raigned, 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,37 
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  here- 
tics ;  but  tbev  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  scan- 
dalous irregularity  of  the  proceedings  against  Priscillian  and 
his  adherents.  The  ci'vii  and  ecclesiastical  ministers  had  trans- 
gressed 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  juris- 
diction. The  bishops  had  disgraced  themselves,  by  exercising 
the  functions  of  accusers  in  a  criminal  prosecution.  The 
cruelty  of  Ithacius,5J  who  beheld  the  tortures,  and  solicited  the 
death,  of  the  heretics,  provoked  the  just  indignation  of  man- 


57  Ambros.  torn.  ii.  Epist.  xxiv.  p.  891. 

48  In  the  Sacred  History,  and  the  Life  of  St.  Martin,  Snlpicius  Se- 
I'srus  uses  some  caution ;  but  he  declares  himself  more  freely  in  the 
Dialogues,  (iii  1.3.)  Martin  was  reproved,  however,  by  his  own  con- 
scene  j,  and  by  an  angel;  nor  could  he  afterwards  perform  miracles 
with  so  much  ease. 

59  The  Catholic  Presbyter  (Sulp.  Sever.  1.  ii.  p.  448)  and  the  Pagan 
Orator  (Pacat.  in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  29)  reprobate,  with  equal  indlj4- 
cation,  the  I'haractra  and  conduct  of  Ithacius. 


6  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

kind  ;  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  deliv- 
ered 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. 

Among  the  ecclesiastics,  who  illustrated  the  reign  of  Theo- 
dosius,  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;1'0  but  the  palm  of  episcopal  vigor  and  ability  was 
justly  claimed  by  the  intrepid  Ambrose.'31  He  was  descended 
from  a  noble  family  of  Romans;  his  father  had  exercised  the 
important  office  of  Praetorian  pnefect  of  Gaul  ;  and  the  son, 
after  passing  through  the  studies  of  a  liberal  education,  at- 
tained, 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  mix- 
ture, 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  preternatural  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  exer- 
cise, with  zeal  and  prudence,  the  duties  of  his  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  ;  and  while  he  cheerfully  renounced  the  vain  and 


*°  The  Life  of  St.  Martin,  and  the  Dialogues  concerning  his  miracles, 
contain  facts  adapted  to  tne  grossest  barbarism,  in  a  style  not  un- 
worthy of  the  Augustan  age.  So  natural  is  the  alliance  between  good 
taste  and  good  sense,  that  I  am  always  astonished  by  this  contrast. 

61  The  short  and  superficial  Life  of  St.  Ambrose,  by  his  deacor- 
Paulinus,  (ApDendix  ad  edit.  Benedict,  p.  i.— xv.,)  has  the  merit  oi 
jriginal  evidence.  Tillemont  (Mem.  Kccles.  torn.  x.  p.  78 — HOG)  and 
the  Benedictine  editors  (p.  xxxi. — lxiii.)  have  labored  with  their  usual 
liiitrence. 


OF    THE    ROMA'S    EMPIRE.  97 

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.  Jiim  as  a  father ;  and  the  elaborate 
treatise  on  the  faith  of  the  Trinity  was  designed  for  the  in- 
struction 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  per- 
haps 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  cap- 
tives. 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  sov- 
ereigns. 

The  government  of  Italy,  and  of  the  young  emperor,  nat- 
urally 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  en- 
deavored to  instil  into  the  mind  of  her  son.  Justina  was  per- 
suaded, that  a  Roman  emperor  might  claim,  in  his  own  domin- 
ions, 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  Ceesar ;  but  the  churches  were 
the  houses  of  God  ;  and,  within  the  limits  of  his  diocese,  hr 
h'unself,  as  the  lawful  successor  of  the  apostles,  was  the  on.'^ 
minister  of  God.      The   privileges  of  Christianity,  temporal 


"3  Ambrose  himself  (torn.  ii.  Epist.  xxiv.  p.  888 — S91)  gives  the 
emperor  a  very  spirited  account  of  his  own  embassy. 

63  His  own  representation  of  his  principles  and  conduct  (torn,  u. 
Epist.  xx.  xxi.  xxii.  p.  852 — 880)  is  one  of  the  curious  monuments  of 
ecclesiastical  antiquity.  It  contains  two  letters  to  his  sister  Marcel  - 
lina,  with  a  petition  to  Valentinian,  and  ihe  sermon  de  Busilwis  tion 
%vctLmdis. 


98  THE    DECLINE    AND    [-ALL 

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  arch- 
bishop, 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  ina- 
pious  sacrilege  ;  and  Justina,  who  resented  the  refusal  as  as 
act  of  insolence  and  rebellion,  hastily  determined  to  exert  (he 
Imperial  prerogative  of  her  son.  As  she  desired  to  perform 
her  public  devotions  on  the  approaching  festival  of  Easter.  Am- 
brose 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.  in-tead 
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  tranquil- 
lity 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 
has  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  maimer;  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. 

But  while,  he  labored  to  restrain  the  effects  of  their  zeal,  the 
jathetic  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  rei<m  of  Paganism.  The  measures  of  the  court 
served  only  to  expose  the  magnitude  of  the  evil.     A  fine  of 


OP    TITE    ROMAN     EMPIRE.  98 

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  imprudentl) 
confessed,  that  the  most  respectable  part  of  the  citizens  ol 
Milan  was  attached  to  the  cause  of  their  archbishop.  He  waa 
again  solicited  to  restore  peace  to  his  country,  by  timely  com 
pliance  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  u '  die  altar  ;  he  had  not  con- 
tributed to  excite,  but  it  was  in  He  power  of  God  alone  to 
appease,  the  rase  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  peo- 
ple 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  ot  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 


84  Retz  had  a  similar  message  from  the  queen,  to  request  that  lie 
would  appease  the  tumult  of  Paris.  It  was  no  longer  in  his  power, 
fcc.  A  quoi  j'ajoutai  tout  ce  que  vous  pouvez  vous  imaginer  de  10- 
epect,  de  douleur,  de  regret,  et  de  soumission,  &c.  (Mcmoires,  torn.  i. 
p.  1 10.)  Certainly  I  do  not  compare  either  the  causes  or  the  men; 
f«t  the  coadjutor  himself  had  some  idea  (p.  84)  of  imitating  St.  Am' 
oroae. 


100  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 


* 


republic.  The  suspense  of  the  Barbarians  allowed  some  hours 
for  a  more  effectual  negotiation  ;  and  the  empress  was  per- 
suaded, by  the  advice  of  her  wisest  counsellors,  to  leave  the 
Catholics  in  possession  of  all  the  churches  of  Milan ;  and  to  dis- 
semble, 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  exclama- 
tion, that  his  own  servants  were  ready  to  betray  him  into  the 
hands  of  an  insolent  priest. 

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  con- 
stitution, 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  sur- 
prising him  in  some  act  of  disobedience  to  a  law  which  he 
strangely  represents  as  a  law  of  blood  and  tyranny.  A  sen- 
tence 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  loy- 
alty, 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  u nan  imous  consent 
of  his  faithful  people.06  They  guarded  by  turns  the  person  of 
their  archbishop  ;  the  gates  of  the  cathedral  and  theepiscop&l 
palace  werestrongly  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 


te  Sozomen  alone  (1.  vii.  c.  13)  throws  this  luminous  fact  into  a  dark 
and  perplexed  narrative. 

66  Excubabat  pia  plebs  in  ecclesift,  mori  parata  cum  episcopo  sao 
.  .  Nos,  adhuc  fidgidi,  excitabamur  tamen  civitate  ptionita  atque 
lurbata.     Augustin.  Confession.  1.  ix-  c.  7. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  lOl 

ft 

relieved  by  the  liberality  of  Ambrose,  embraced  the  fair  occa 
sion  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  waa 
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  preternatural  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  re- 
luctant confessions  of  several  dsemoniacs,  appeared  to  justify 
the  faith  and  sanctity  of  Ambrose ;  and  the  truth  of  thost 
miracles  is  attested  by  Ambrose  himself,  by  his  secretary  Pau- 
linus,  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  repre- 
sentations which  were  exhibited  by  the  contrivance,  and  at  the 

67  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  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. 

88  Invenimus  mirae  magnitudinis  viros  duos,  ut  prisca  setas  ferebat. 
torn.  ii.  Epist.  xxii.  p.  875.  The  size  of  these  skeletons  was  fortunate- 
ly, or  skilfully,  suited  to  the  popular  prejudice  of  the  gradual  de- 
crease of  the  human  stature,  which  has  prevaded  in  every  age  since 
the  time  of  Homer. 

Grandiaque  effbssis  mirabitur  ossa  sepulchris. 

69  Ambros.  torn.  ii.  Epist.  xxii.  p.  875.  Augustin.  Confes.  1.  ix.  c. 
7,  de  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  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 
•hould  recommend  this  miracle  to  our  divines,  if  it  did  not  prove  th» 
worship  of  i  elics,  as  well  as  the  Nicene  creed. 


102  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

• 

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  inter- 
posed 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 
resigns  of  the  tyrant  of  Gaul.71 

The  reign  of  Maxinus  might  have  ended  in  peace  and  pros- 
perity, could  he  have  contented  himself  with  the  possession  ol 
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  instru- 
ments 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  medi- 
tated the  ruin  of  an  innocent  youth,  whose  government  was 
abhorred  and  despised  by  his  Catholic  subjects.  But  as  Maxi- 
mus  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  Pan- 
nonian  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  obsti- 
nately 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 


70  Paulin.  in  Tit.  St.  Ambros.  c.  5,  in  Append.  Benedict,  p.  5. 

71  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  x.  p.  190,  750.  He  partially  al- 
lows the  mediation  of  Theodosius,  and  capriciously  rejects  that  of 
Maximus,  though  it  is  attested  by  Prosper,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret. 

"  The  modest  censure  of  Sulpicius  (Dialog,  iii.  15)  inflicts  a  much 
deeper  wound  than  the  feeble  declamation  of  Pacatus,  (xii.  25,  26.) 

7a  Esto  tutior  adversus  huminem,  pacis  involucro  tegentem,  was 
the  wise  caution  of  Ambrose  (torn.  ii.  p.  891)  after  his  return  from  his 
second  embassy. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE. 

were  admitted,  without  distrust,  into  the  fortresses  of  the  Alps 
But  the  crafty  'yrant  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,  Justi  \a  and 
her  son  might  accuse  their  own  imprudence,  and  the  perlidioir 
arts  of  Maximus  ;  but  they  wanted  time,  and  force,  and  resolu- 
tion, 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  aa 
Maximus  now  displayed  his  genuine  character,  the  brother  ol 
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  connec- 
tion 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  unfortu- 
nate 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  Theo- 
dosius,  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  precipita 
tion  in  one  of  the  obscure  harbors  of  Venetia,  or  Istria ;  trav- 
ersed 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 
eause  of  a  prince,  who,  by  his  abdication,  had  absolved  them 
from  the  duty  of  allegiance ;  and  if  the  little  city  of  iEmona, 
on  the  verge  of  Italy,  had  not  presumed  to  stop  the  career  of 
his  inglorious  victory,  Maximus  would  have  obtained,  without  a 
•truggle,  the  sole  possession  of  the  Western  empire. 

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  hia 
court  and  .senate.     After  the  first  tender  expressions  of  friend- 

14  Baj~-.ius  (A.  D.  387,  No.  63)  applies  to  this  season  of  public  dis- 
tress some  of  the  penitential  sermons  of  t^ie  archbishop. 


101  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ship  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  he  the  most  effica- 
cious step  to  promote  the  restoration  of  her  son,  by  the  satis, 
faction  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  argu- 
ments 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  Impe- 
rial 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  bound- 
less 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  Dan- 
ube, had  lately  assumed  the  character  of  soldiers  and  subjects, 
but  their  native  fierceness  was  yet  untamed :  and  the  opera- 
tions 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  ot 
her  brother  Valentinian.75  The  heart  of  Theodosius  was 
ioftened  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 


75  The  flight  of  Valentinian,  and  the  love  of  Theodosius  for  his 
»ister,  are  related  by  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  263,  20i.)  Tilleraont  pro- 
luces  some  weak  and  ambiguous  evidence  to  antedate  the  second 
marriage  of  Theodosius,  (Hist,  des  Empeieurs,  torn.  v.  p.  740,)  and 
consequently  to  refute  ces  contes  de  Zosime,  qui  seroient  trop  con 
trairsrf  a  la  pi6tc  de  Th6odose. 


OF   THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE.  105 

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  occa- 
sion, to  dispute  the  suspicious  evidence  of  the  historian  Zosi- 
mus.  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  conquer- 
ors, 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  per- 
suaded to  follow  the  standard,  or  to  respect  the  frontiers,  of 
an  active  and  liberal  monarch ;  and  the  dominions  of  Theo- 
dosius,  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  com- 
mand of  the  intrepid  Arbogastes,  would  direct  their  march 
along  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  boldly  penetrate  through 
the  Rhsetian  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  dis 
ciplined  army,  to  encounter  his  unworthy  rival,  who,  after  the 
siege  of  jEmona,*  had  fixed  his  camp  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Siscia,  a  city  of  Pannonia,  strongly  fortified  by  the  broad  and 
rapid  stream  of  the  Save. 

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.  Tne 
superior  genius  of  the  emperor  of  the  East  might  prevail  over 

76  See  Godefroy's  Chronology  of  the  Laws,  Cod.  Theodos.  torn.  L 

p.  cxix. 

•  JEmonah.  I  aybach.     Sis;ia,  Soiszek. — M. 
59 


106  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  feeble  Maximus,  who,  in  this  important  crisis,  showed 
himself  destitute  of  military  skill,  or  personal  courage ;  but 
ihe  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  them- 
selves, 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 
ihe  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,  tlie  tyrant's  brother,  ad- 
vanced 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  sur- 
viving 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 
iEmona,  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  some  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  sym- 
pathy is  the  most  forcibly  excited  by  the  misfortunes  to  wh  ch 
we  are  exposed  ;  and  the  spectacle  of  a  proud  competitor, 
now  prostrate  at  his  feet,  could  not  fail  of  producing  very 
Bericus  and  solemn  thoughts  in  the  mind  of  the  victorious 
emperor.     But  the   feeble  emotion  of  involuntary  pity  was 


OF    1IIE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  10T 

checxed  by  his  regard  for  public  justice,  and  .he  me  nory  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  Theo- 
dosius were  successfully  executed.  When  he  had  thus  ter- 
minated 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 

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  admin- 
istration respectable  in  the  eyes  both  of  his  subjects  and  of 
nis  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  great- 

77  Besides  the  hints  which  may  be  gathered  from  chronicles  and 
ecclesiastical  history,  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  259 — 267,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c. 
35,)  and  Pacatus,  (in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  30 — 47,)  supply  the  loose  and 
scanty  materials  of  this  civil  war.  Ambrose  (torn.  ii.  Epist.  xl.  p. 
952,  953)  darkly  alludes  to  the  well-known  events  of  a  magazine  sur- 
prised, 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. 

78  Quam  promptum  laudare  principem,  tarn  tutum  siluisse  de  prin- 
cipe,  (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  Em- 
pereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  303. 

79  See  the  fair  portrait  of  Theodosius,  by  the  younger  Victor ;  thfl 
strokss  are  distinct,  and  the  colors  are  mixed.  The  praise  of  Pacatua 
is  toe  vague ;  and  Claudian  always  seems  afraid  of  exalting  tlxe  father 
above  the  son. 


108  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ness  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  em« 
braced,  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  ait, 
Every  talent,  of  a  useful,  or  even  of  an  innocent  nature,  was 
■ewarded  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  experi- 
ence, 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  use- 
fully 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 
iriassacred  in  the  first  heat  of  the  victory,  and  a  small  numhei 


OF    THE    RCMAN    EMPIRE.  109 

cf  the  most  obnoxious  criminals  suffered  the  punishment  of 
ihe  law.  But  the  emperor  showed  himself  much  more  atten 
tive  to  relieve  the  innocent,  than  to  chastise  the  guilty.  Thr 
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  theu 
losses  ;  and  the  liberality  of  the  conqueror  supported  the 
aged  mother,  and  educated  the  orphan  daughters,  of  Maxi- 
inus.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 
;>f  kings  ;  and  ingenuously  confess,  that  such  a  monarch  was» 
the  most  faithful  guardian  of  the  happiness  and  dignity  of  the 
Roman  people.81 

Yet  the  piercing  eye  of  the  founder  of  the  republic  must 
have  discerned  two  essential  imperfections,  which  mightj 
perhaps,  have  abated  his  recent  love  of  despotism.  The  vir- 
tuous mind  of  Theodosius  was  often  relaxed  by  indolence,8'3 
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  enjoy- 
ment of  the  innocent,  but  trilling,  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  hi;>  resentment,  the 
humane  monarch  was  justly  alarmed  by  the  consciousness  of 
his  infirmity  and  of  his  power.    It  was  the  constant  study  of  his 


80  Anibros.  torn,  ii  Epist.  xl.  p.  55.  Paeaths,  from  the  want  of  skill 
or  of  courage,  omits  this  glorious  circumstance. 

81  Pitcat.  in  Panegyr.  Vet.  xii.  20. 

8-  Zosimus,  1.  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  Theo- 
dosius. 

w  This  choleric  temper  is  acknowledged  and  excused  by  Victor 
Sed  babes  (says  Ambrose,  in  decent  and  manly  language,  to  his  sov- 
ereign) naturae  impetum,  quern  si  quis  lenire  velit,  cito  vertes  ad  mis 
ericordiam  :  si  quis  stimulet.  in  magis  exsuscitas,  ut  eum  revocare  vix 
nossis,  (torn.  ii.  Epist  li.  p.  998.)  Theodosius  (Claud,  in.  iv.  Coi.s 
Won.  26(5   &c.)  exhorts  his  son  to  moderate  his  anger. 


I  10  rHE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

life  10  suppress,  or  regulate,  the  intemperate  sallies  of  passion 
and  the  success  of  his  efforts  enhanced  the  merit  of  his  clem 
ency.      But   the   painful   virtue   which  claims  the   merit  of 
rictory,  is  exposed  to  the  danger  of  defeat ;   and  the  reign  of 
a  wise  and  merciful  prince  was  polluted  hy  an  act  of  cruelty, 
which  would  stain  the  annals  of  Nero  or  Domitian.     Within 
(he  space  of  three  years,  the  inconsistent  historian  of  Theo- 
dosius must  relate  the  generous   pardon  of  the   citizens  of 
Antioch,  and  the  inhuman  massacre  of  the  people  of  Thes 
Balonica. 

The  lively  impatience  of  the  inhabitants  of  Antioch  waa 
never  satisfied  with  their  own  situation,  or  with  the  character 
and  conduct  of  their  successive  sovereigns.  The  Arian  sub- 
jects 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  prov- 
inces 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  volun- 
tary offerings  had  been  long  since  converted  into  an  extraor- 
dinary and  oppressive  burden.  The  edicts  of  taxation  inter- 
rupted 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  com- 
plaints 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  co.  \spicuous  places 
of  the  city.  The  statues  of  Theodosius,  of  his  father,  of  his 
wife  Flaccilla,  of  his  two  sons,  Arcadius  and  Honcrius,  were 
vnso'ently  thrown  down  from  their  pedestals,  broker  in  pieces, 
or  diagged  with  contempt  through  the  streets:  and  the  indig 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  Ill 

nities  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  con- 
fession 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  disci- 
ple, of  Libanius  ;  whose  genius,  on  this  melancholy  occasion, 
was  noi  useless  to  his  country.85  But  the  two  capitals,  Anti- 
och and  Constantinople,  were  separated  by  the  distance  of 
eight  hunured  miles  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  diligence  of 
die  Imperial  posts,  the  guilty  city  was  severely  punished  by  a 
long  and  dieadtul  interval  of  suspense.  Every  rumor  agi- 
cated  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  Antiochians,  and  they  heard 
with  terror,  tnat  their  sovereign,  exasperated  by  the  insult 
which  had  been  offered  to  his  own  statues,  and,  more  espe- 
ciady,  to  those  of  his  beloved  wife,  had  resolved  to  level  with 
the  ground  the  offending  city ;  and  to  massacre,  without  dis- 
tinction 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  He'Ieb- 
icus,  and  Caasarius,  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  de- 

84  The  Christians  and  Pagans  agreed  in  believing  that  the  sedition 
of  Antioch  was  excited  by  the  daemons.  A  gigantic  woman  (says 
Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  23)  paraded  the  streets  with  a  scourge  in  her  hand. 
An  old  man,  says  Libanius,  (Orat.  xii.  p.  396,)  transformed  lrimself 
into  a  youth,  then  a  boy,  &c. 

85  Zosimus,  in  his  short  and  disingenuous  account,  (1.  iv.  p.  2o8. 
259,)  is  certainly  mistaken  in  sending  Libanius  himself  to  Constanti- 
nople.    His  own  orations  fix  him  at  Antioch. 

86  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 
slove,  might  have  given  a  sanction  to  the  most  bloody  acts. 


112  THE    DECLINE    APSD    FALL 

nomination  of  a  village,  to  the  jurisdiction  ot  Laodicea 
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  Hel- 
lebicus  and  Ccesarius  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  ex- 
pected to  conclude  the  horrors  of  a  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  Ca^sarius  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  pre- 
sumed 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 

87  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  inter- 
cede for  them. 

88  As  the  days  of  the  tumult  depend  on  the  movable  festival  of 
Easter,  they  can  only  be  determined  by  the  previous  determination  oi 
the  year.  The  year  387  has  been  preferred,  after  a  laborious  inquiry, 
by  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  741 — 744)  and  Montfaucon 
(Chrysostom,  torn.  xiii.  p.  105—110.) 

88  Chrysostom  opposes  their  courage,  which  was  not  attended  witt 
much  risk,  to  the  cowardly  flight  of  the  Cynics. 


of  the  roman  empire.  lid- 

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 

The  sedition  of  Thessalonica  is  ascribed  to  a  more  shame- 
ful cause,  and  was  productive  of  much  more  dreadful  conse- 
quences. 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.  Bothe- 
ric,  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 
orison  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  imbiUered  by  some  previous  disputes;  and,  as  the 
strength  of  the  garrison  had  been  drawn  away  for  the  service 

90  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. 
J  )hn  Chrysostom,  de  Statuis,  (torn.  ii.  p.  1 — 225,  edit.  Mcntfaucon.) 
I  do  not  pretend  to  much  personal  acquaintance  with  Chrysostom: 
but  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  263 — 283)  and  Her- 
mant  (Vie  de  St.  Chrysostome,  torn.  i.  p.  137  —224)  had  read  him  with 
pious  curiosity  and  diligence. 

59* 


114  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  tlie  Italian  war,  tlie  feeble  remnant,  whose  numbers  weiv 
reduced  by  deseition,  could  not  save  the  unhappy  genera! 
from  their  licentious  fury.  Botheric,  and  several  of  his  prin- 
cipal officers,  were  inhumanly  murdered  ;  jheir  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  iijig 
nation  of  his  master.  The  fiery  and  choleric  temper  of  The- 
odosius  was  impatient  of  the  di'atory  forms  of  a  judicial 
inquiry ;  and  he  hastily  resolved,  that  the  blood  of  his  lieu- 
tenant 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  uudistinguishing 
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  amuse 
ments,  that  every  consideration  of  fear,  or  suspicion,  was  dis- 
regarded by  the  numerous  spectators.  As  soon  as  the  assem- 
bly 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  of  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  manes  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  ten- 
derness, 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 


OF    THE    ROMAN    3MPIRE.  115 

defenceless  youths.  The  apology  of  the  assassins,  that  they 
were  obliged  to  produce  the  prescribed  number  of  heaas 
serves  only  to  increase,  by  an  appearance  of  order  and  design. 
(lie  horrors  of  tiie  massacre,  which  was  executed  by  the  com- 
mands of  Theodosius.  The  guilt  of  the  emperor  is  aggra- 
vated 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,  wsro 
familiar,  and  even  present,  to  his  imagination  ;  and  Theodosiua 
possessed  a  quick  and  lively  sense  of  the  existence  of  the 
people  whom  he  destroyed.91 

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  emi- 
nent 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  govern- 
ment may  have  some  connection  with  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  interest  of  the  true  religion.  The  monks  and  populace  of 
Callinicum,*  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  con- 
demned, 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  con- 
firmed by  the  archbishop  of  Milan.92  He  dictated  an  epistle 
of    censure    and    reproach,    more    suitable,    perhaps,    if    the 

91  The  original  evidence  of  Ambrose,  (torn.  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  illus- 
trated by  the  subsequent  and  unequal  testimonies  of  Sozomen,  (1.  vii. 
c.  25,)  Theodoret,  (1.  v.  c.  17,)  Theophanes,  (Chronograph,  p.  62,) 
Cedrenus,  (p.  317,)  and  Zonaras,  (torn.  ii.  1.  xiii.  p.  34.)  Zosimua 
alone,  the  partial  enemy  of  Theodosius,  most  unaccountably  passes 
over  in  silence  the  worst  of  his  actions. 

9?  See  the  whole  transaction  in  Ambrose,  (torn.  ii.  Episu  xl.  xli. 
p.  946 — 9.k'>,)  and  his  biographer  Paulinus,  (c.  23.)  Bayle  and  Bar- 
bcyrac  (Morales  des  Peres,  c.  xvii.  p.  32-5,  &c.)  have  justly  condemiwtil 
\hjt  archbishop. 

*  Racca,  on  the  Euphrates.  —  M. 


116  THE    DECLIINE    Ktiv    (am, 

emperor  had  received  the  mark  of  circumcision,  and  re- 
nounced 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  Thec- 
dosius.  As  this  private  admonition  did  not  produce  an  im- 
mediate 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  con- 
versation. 

When  Ambrose  was  informed  of  the  massacre  of  Thessa- 
lonica,  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  signifying96  an  indirect  sort  of 
excommunication,  by  the  assurance,  that  he  had  been  warned 


93  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  Hodie,  Episoope,  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  de- 
served punishment. 

95  Yet,  five  years  afterwnrds,  when  Theodosius  was  absent  from 
his  spiritual  guide,  he  tolerated  the  Jews,  and  condemned  the  de- 
struction of  their  synagogues.  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  xvi.  tit.  viii.  leg.  9, 
with  Gidefroy's  Commentary,  torn.  vi.  p.  225. 

98  Ambros.  torn.  ii.  Epist.  li.  p.  997 — 1001.  His  epistle  is  a  miser- 
able 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  Lacftantiu*.. 
the  lively  wit  of  Jerom,  or  the  grave  energy  of  Augustin. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRtt.  117 

in  a  vision  not  to  offer  the  oblation  in  the  name,  or  in  the  pres 
ence,  of  Theodosius  ;  and  by  the  advice,  that  he  would  con- 
fine 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  conse 
quences  of  his  rash  fury,  he  proceeded,  in  the  accustomer. 
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  con- 
tracted 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 
yeaia:97  and  as  it  was  impossible,  in  the  period  of  human 
life,  to  purge  the  accumulated  guilt  of  the  massacre  of  Thes- 
salonica,  the  murderer  should  have  been  excluded  from  the 
holy  communion  till  the  hour  of  his  death.  But  the  arch- 
bhihop,  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, 


97  According  to  the  discipline  of  St.  Basil,  (Can  >n  lvi.,)  the  volun- 
tary homicide  was  four  years  a  mourner  ;  five  a  hearer  ;  seven  in  a 
prostrate  state  ;  and  four  in  a  standing  posture.  I  have  the  original 
v'Beveridge,  Pandect,  torn.  ii.  p.  47 — 151)  and  a  translation  (Chardon, 
Hist,  des  Sacremens,  torn.  iv.  p.  219 — 277)  of  the  Canonical  Epistle* 
of  St  Basil. 


118  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

with  signs  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.89  Posterity  has  applauded 
the  virtuous  firmness  of  the  archbishop ;  and  the  example  of 
Theodosius  may  prove  the  beneficial  influence  of  those  prin- 
ciples, which  could  force  a  monarch,  exalted  above  the  appre- 
hension of  human  punishment,  to  respect  the  laws,  and  minis- 
ters, 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."  10°  The  motions  of  the  royal  ani- 
mal 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  hand  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. 

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  em- 
ployed to  restore  the  authority  of  the  laws,  and  to  correct  the 
abuses  which  had  prevailed  with  impunity  under  the  usurpa- 
tion 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,  ap- 

98  The  penance  of  Theodosius  is  authenticated  by  Ambrose,  (torn.  vi. 
de  Obit.  Theodos.  c.  34,  p.  1207,)  Augustin,  (de  Civitat.  Dei,  v.  26,) 
and  Paulinus,  (in  Vit.  Arabros.  c.  24.)  Socrates  is  ignorant;  Sozomen 
(1.  vii.  c.  25)  concise;  and  the  copious  narrative  of  Theodoret  (1.  v. 
C.  18)  must  be  used  with  precaution. 

99  Codex  Theodos.  1.  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.  torn.  t.  p.  721) 
and  Pagi,  (Critica,  torn.  i.  p.  578.) 

100  Un  prince  qui  aime  la  religion,  et  qui  la  craint,  est  un  lion  qui 
cede  a  la  main  qui  le  fiatte,  ou  a  la  voix  qui  1'appaiso.  Esprit  des 
Loix,  1.  xxiv  e.  2. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMFIRE.  11JJ 

peared  to  require  tie  prudent  care  of  an  orthodox  guardian; 
an  J  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  em- 
pire. If  Theodosius  had  consulted  the  rigid  maxims  of  inter 
est  and  policy,  his  conduct  would  have  been  justified  by  his 
friends ;  but  the  generosity  of  his  behavior  on  this  memora- 
ble 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.  'IV 
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  Gra- 
tian.101  Satisfied  with  the  glory  which  he  had  acquired,  by  re- 
venging 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  in- 
dolence. Theodosius  discharged  his  obligation  to  the  brother, 
he  indulged  his  conjugal  tenderness  to  the  sister,  of  Valen- 
tinian ;  and  posterity,  which  admires  the  pure  and  singular 
glory  of  his  elevation,  must  applaud  his  unrivalled  generosity 
in  the  use  of  victory. 

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.10'2 
The  pernicious  attachment  to  the  Arian  sect,  which  Valen- 
unian  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  Cath- 
olics to  entertain  the  most  favorable  opinion  of  the  virtues  of 
the  young  emperor  of  the  West.103    They  applauded  his  chas- 

lul  Tovto  niQi  nnvg  trtoyfTag  xufiijxov  t3o$tv  sir  at,  is  the  niggard 
praise  of  Zosimus  himself,  (1.  iv.  p.  267.)  Augustin  says,  with  soma 
happiness  of  expression,  Valentinianum  ....  misericordissima  ve- 
ueratione  restituit. 

108  Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  14.     His  chronology  is  very  irregular. 

ws  Sue  Ambrose,  (torn.  ii.  de  Obit.  Valentinian.  c.  15,  &c.  p.  1178. 
?  30,  &.c.  p.  1184.)  When  the  young  Emperor  gave  an  entertainment, 
We  fasted  himself ;  he  refined  to  see  a  handsome  actress,  &c.     Since 


120  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

tity  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  wai. 
Arbogartes,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 ;  con- 
tributed, 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  peo- 
ple ;  Lis  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  deter- 
mined 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 
tionors  and  offices  of  the  civil  government ;  the  progress  of 
the  conspiracy  removed  every  faithful  servant  from  the  pres- 
ence 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  un- 
dertake the  office  of  a  mediator ;  as  the  pledge  of  his  sincer- 
ity, and  the  guardian  of  his  safety.  He  contrived  to  apprise 
the  emperor  of  the  East  of  his  helpless  situation,  and  he  de- 
clared, 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 


he  ordered  his  -wild  beasts  to  be  killed,  it  is  ungenerous  in  Philostor- 
gius  (1.  xi.  c.  1)  to  reproach  him.  with  the  love  of  that  amusement 

1'-'*  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  275)  praises  the  enemy  of  Ti.eodosius.  Bu: 
he  is  detested  by  Socrates  (1.  v.  c.  25)  and  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  35.) 

105  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  ii.  c.  9,  p.  165,  in  the  second  volume  of 
the  Historians  of  France)  has  preserved  a  curious  fragment  of  S''lj.-i- 
eius  Alexander,  an  historian  far  more  valuable  than  himself. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  121 

the  hopes  of  relief  were  distant,  and  doubtful  :  and,  as  eveiy 
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  dis- 
missed him  from  all  his  employments.  "  My  authority,"  re 
plied  Arbogastes,  with  insulting  coolness,  "  does  not  depend 
on  the  smile  or  the  frown  of  a  monarch  ; "  and  he  contempt- 
uously 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  de- 
gree 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  commem- 
orate his  virtue  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  bap- 
tism, was  introduced,  without  difficulty,  into  the  mansions  of 
eternal  bliss.108 

The  prudence  of  Arbogastes  had  prepared  the  success  of  hia 
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 

106  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  De  ObitG  Valentinian.  torn.  ii.  p.  1178—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. 

ftw  See  c  51,  p.  Ilb8,  c.  75,  p.  1193.  Dom  Chardon,  (Hist,  dea 
Sacramens,  torn.  i.  p.  86,)  who  owns  that  St.  Ambrose  most  strenu- 
ously maintains  the  indispensable  necessity  of  baptism,  labors  to  reoou« 
silo  the  contradiction. 


122  THE    DECLINE    APiD    FALL 

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  dependen, 
Roman.  He  bestowed  the  purple  on  the  rhetorician  Euge- 
nius  ; 109  whom  he  had  already  raised  from  the  place  of  hi? 
domestic  secretary  to  the  rank  of  master  of  the  offices.  In 
the  course  both  of  his  private  and  public  service,  the  counl 
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  de- 
spatched to  the  court  of  Theodosius,  to  communicate,  with 
affected  grief,  the  unfortunate  accident  of  the  death  of  Valen- 
tinian ;  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  Barba- 
rian 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, 1U  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  Euge- 
nius; 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 

109  Quern  sibi  Germanus  famulum  delegerat  exul, 

is  the  contemptuous  expression  of  Claudian,  (iv.  Cons.  Hon.  74.) 
Eugenius  professed  Christianity  ;  but  his  secret  attachment  to  Pagan- 
win  (Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  22.  Philostorg.  1.  xi.  c.  2)  is  probable  in  a 
grammarian,  and  would  secure  the  friendship  of  Zosirnus,  (1.  iv.  p. 
27C,  277.) 

110  Zosirnus  (1.  iv.  p.  278)  mentions  this  embassy  ;  but  he  is  divert- 
ed by  another  story  from  relating  the  event. 

1,1  JZvviTuQaie r  it  Tuvtuv  yu/ztu,  I'aXXa  ra  JlaaiXna  Tor  afitlipoi 
ikowvQvutrrj.  Zosim.  1.  iv.  p.  277.  He  afterwards  says  (p.  230 )  thai 
Galla  died  in  childbed ;  and  intimates,  that  the  affliction  ■>{  her  hus- 
Iwind  was  extreme,  but  short- 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  12il 

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  Alexan- 
dria, 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  U3  had  constructed,  with  his  own 
hands,  an  humble  cell,  in  which  he  had  dwelt  abeve  fifty 
years,  without  opening  his  door,  without  seeing  the  face  of  a 
woman,  and  without  tasting  any  food  that  had  been  pre- 
pared by  fire,  or  any  human  art.  Five  days  of  the  week 
he  spent  in  prayer  and  meditation  ;  but  on  Saturdays  and  Sun- 
days 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  hia 
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  for- 
warded by  all  the  means  that  human  prudence  could  supply 
The  industry  of  the  two  master-generals,  Stilicho  and  Ti 
masius,  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  chief- 
tains. The  Iberian,  the  Arab,  and  the  Goth,  who  gazed  on 
each  other  with  mutual  astonishment,  were  enlisted  in  the 
service    of  the   same    prince ;  *    and    the    renowned   Alaric 

1,2  Lycopolis  is  the  modern  Siut,  or  Osiot,  a  town  of  Said,  about 
the  size"  of  St.  Denys,  which  drives  a  profitable  trade  with  the  king- 
dom of  Sennaar,  and  has  a  very  convenient  fountain,  "  cujus  potu 
signa  virginitatis  eripiuntur."  See  D'Anville,  Description  do 
l'Egypte,  p.  181.  Abulfeda,  Descript.  Egypt,  p.  14,  and  the  curioua 
Annotations,  p.  25,  92,  of  his  editor  Michaelis. 

113  The  Life  of  John  of  Lycopolis  is  described  by  his  two  friends, 
Rufinus  (1.  ii.  c.  i.  p.  449)  and  Palladius,  (Hist.  Lausiac.  c.  43,  p.  738,) 
in  Rosweyde's  great  Collection  of  the  Vitse  Patrum.  Tillemont  (Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  x.  p.  718,  720)  has  settled  the  chronology. 

lM  Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  22.  Claudian  (in  Eutrop.  1.  i.  312)  mentions 
the  eunuch's  journey ;  but  he  most  conterajttuously  derid-js  the 
Egyptian  dreams,  and  the  oracles  of  the  Nile. 

*  Gibbon  has  embodied  the  picturesque  verses  of  Claudian :  — 
....  Ncc  tantis  dissona  Unguis 
Turba,  nee  armorum  cultu  diversior  unquim 


121  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  ' 

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  per 
mitted  to  occupy,  without  resistance,  the  provinces  of  Panno- 
nia,  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Julian  Alps  ;  and  even  the  passes 
of  the  mountains  were  negligently,  or  perhaps  artfully,  aban- 
doned 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  countiy  which  extends  to  the  walls  of  Aquileia,  and  the 
banks  of  the    Frigidus,117   or  Cold   River.118     This   narrow 


116  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  280.  Socrates,  1.  vii.  10.  Alaric  himself  (de 
Bell.  Getico,  524)  dwells  with  more  complacency  on  his  early  ex- 
ploits against  the  Romans. 

.     .     .     .     Tot  Augustos  Uebro  qui  teste  fugavi. 

Yet  his  vanity  could  scarcely  have  proved  this  plurality  of  flying  em- 
perors. 

116  Claudian  (in  iv.  Cons.  Honor.  77,  &c.)  contrasts  trie  militarv 
plans  of  the  two  usurpers  :  — 

.     .     .     .     Novitas  audere  priorem 
Suadebat ;  cauturpque  dabaul  exempla  sequentem. 
Hie  nova  moliri  prsceps :  hie  quaerere  tuta 
Providus.     Hie  fusis  ;  collectis  viribus  i He. 
Hie  vagus  excurrens  ;  hie  intra  claustra  reductua  ; 
Dissimiles,  sed  morte  pares 

117  The  Fngidu?,  d  small,  though  memorable,  stream  in  the  coun- 
try of  Goretz,  now  called  the  Vipao,  falls  into  the  Sontius,  or  Lisonzo, 
above  Aquileia,  some  miles  from  the  Adriatic.  See  D'Anville's  an- 
cient and  modern  maps,  and  the  Italia  Antiqua  of  Cluverius,  (torn.  i. 
p.  188.) 

*"  Claudian's  wit  is  intolerable  :  the  snow  was  dyed  red  ;  the 
cold  river  smoked ;  and  the  channel  must  have  been  choked  with 
carcasses  if  the  current  had  not  been  swelled  with  blood. 


Confluxit  populus  :  totam  pater  undique  secura 

Moverat  Aurorem  ;  mixtis  hie  Colchus  Iberis, 

Hie  imtri  velatus  Arabs,  hie  crine  decoro 

A vnienius,  hie  pitta  Saces,  fucataque  Medus, 

U'ic  gemmata  niger  lentoria  tixeral  Indus.  —  De  Laud.  StU  t.  114. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  125 

theatre  of  the  war,  circumscribed  by  the  Alps  and  the  Adri- 
atic,  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  Theodo- 
sius  was  impatient  to  satisfy  his  glory  and  revenge,  by  the 
chastisement  of  the  assassins  of  Valentinian.  Without  weigh- 
ing  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  main- 
tained 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  with- 
out hopes  ; 119  except  that  strong  assurance,  which,  under  the 
most  desperate  circumstances,  the  independent  mind  may  de- 
rive 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  Theodo- 
sius the  extent  and  the  extremity  of  his  danger  ;  but  his  appre- 
hensions 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  lucra- 
tive rewards,  which  they  stipulated  as  the  price  of  their  per- 
fidy, were  granted  without  hesitation ;  and  as  ink  and  paper 
could  not  easily  be  procured,  the  emperor  subscribed,  on  hia 
own  tablets,  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.  The  spirit  of  hia 
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 

119  Theodoret  affirms,  that  St.  John,  and  St.  Philip,  appeared  to  tha 
waking,  or  sleeping,  emperor,  on  horseback,  &c.  This  is  the  first  in- 
stance of  apostolic  chivalry,  which  afterwards  became  so  popular  in 
Spain,  and  in  the  Crusades. 


126  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  justice  or  the  success  of  his  arms.  In  the  heat  of  th« 
battle,  a  violent  tempest,120  such  as  is  often  felt  among  rho 
Alps,  suddenly  arose  from  the  East.  The  army  of  Theodo 
sius  was  sheltered  by  their  position  from  the  impetuosity  of 
the  wind,  which  blew  a  cloud  of  dust  in  the  faces  of  th« 
enemy,  disordered  their  ranks,  wrested  their  weapons  from 
their  hands,  and  diverted,  or  repelled,  their  ineffectual  javelins. 
This  accidental  advantage  was  skilfully  improved ;  the  vio- 
lence 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  freedon ,  which 
might  have  been  fatal  to  any  other  subject,  the  archbishop 


IW  Te  propter,  gelidis  Aquilo  de  monte  procellis 

Obruit  adversaa  acies  ;  revolutaque  tela 
Vertit  in  auctores,  et  turbine  reppulit  hastas. 
O  nimium  dilecte  Deo,  cui  fundit  ab  antris 
iEolus  armatas  hyeines  ;  cui  militat  iEther, 
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  ^Eolus,  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 
Moeefc  and  Joshua, 


OF    THK    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  127 

rejected  'he  gifts  of  Eugenius,*  declined  his  correspondence, 
and  withdrew  himself  from  Milan,  to  avoid  the  odious  presence 
of  a  tyrant,  whose  downfall  he  predicted  in  discreet  and  am- 
biguous 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.12! 

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  pub- 
lic 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.12-  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 
ihe  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  Con- 
stantinople and  of  Rome.     Those  princes  were  not  permitted 

121  The  events  of  this  ci  /il  war  are  gathered  from  Ambrose,  (torn. 
li.  Epist.  Lxii.  p.  1022,)  Paulinus,  (in  Vit.  Ambros.  c.  26—34,)  Augus- 
tin,  (de  Civitat.  Dei,  v.  26,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  35,)  Sozomen,  vl.  vii.  c. 
24,)  Theodoret,  (1.  v.  c.  24,)  Zosimus,  (1.  iv.  p.  281,  282,)  Claudian, 
(in  iii.  Cons.  Hon.  63 — 105,  in  iv.  Cons.  Hon.  70 — 117,)  and  the 
Chronicles  published  by  Scaliger. 

iss  'j^1i3  disease,  ascribed  by  Socrates  (1.  v.  c.  26)  to  the  fatigues  of 
«rar,  is  represented  by  Philostorgius  (1.  xi.  c.  2)  as  the  effect  of  sloth 
•»nd  intemperance ;  for  which  Photius  calls  him  an  impudent  liar, 
(Oodefroy,  Dissert,  p.  438.) 


*  Arbogastes  and  his  emperor  had  openly  espoused  the  Pagan  party 
iccording   to   Ambrose   and   Augustin.     See   Le    Beau,   v.    40.     Beugno 
(Histoire   de   la   Destruction   du   Paganisme)  is  more   full,  and   perhaps 
somewhat  fanciful,  on  this  remarkable  reaction  \n  favor  of  f  aganism ;  but 
»ompare  p.  116.  —  M. 


128  THE    DECLINE    AND    PALL 

to  share  the  danger  and  glory  of  the  civil  war ; 123  but  as  sooii 
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  irrep- 
arable loss. 

In  the  faithful  picture  of  the  virtues  of  Theodosius,  his  im- 
perfections 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  ; 
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  degen- 
erate spirit,  which  sacrifices,  without  a  blush,  the  consider- 
ation of  duty  and  interest  to  the  base  indulgence  of  sloth  and 
appetite.124  The  complaints  of  contemporary  writers,  who 
deolore  the  increase  of  luxury,  and  depravation  of  man- 
ners, are  commonly  expressive  of  their  peculiar  temper  and 

1,3  Zosimus  supposes,  that  the  boy  Honorius  accompanied  hii 
father,  (1.  iv.  p.  280.)  Yet  the  quanto  flagrabrant  pectora  voto  is  all 
that  flattery  would  allow  to  a  contemporary  poet ;  who  clearly  de- 
scribes the  emperor's  refusal,  and  the  journey  of  Honorius,  after  th« 
victory,  ^Claudian  in  iii.  Cons.  78 — 125.) 
14  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  244. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  129 

situation.  There  are  few  observers,  who  possess  a  clear  an<i 
comprehensive  view  of  the  revolutions  of*  society  ;  and  who 
are  capable  of  discovering  the  nice  and  secret  springs  of  ac- 
tion, 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  truLh,  that  the  luxury  of 
the  Romans  was  more  shameless  and  dissolute  in  the  reijrn 
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  na- 
tional-riches. A  long  period  of  calamity  or  decay  must  have 
checked  the  industry,  and  diminished  the  wealth,  of  the  peo- 
ple;  and  their  profuse  luxury  must  have  been  the  result  of 
that  indolent  despair,  which  enjoys  the  present  hour,  and  de- 
clines the  thoughts  of  futurity.  The  uncertain  condition  of 
'.heir  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. 

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  Gra- 
tian.  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  ob- 
tained 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 
'ise  of  the  shield  is  incompatible  with  that  of  the  bow,  they 
reluctanliy  marched  into  the  field  ;  condemned  to  suffer  either 
60 


180  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  pain  of  wounds,  or  the  ignominy  of  flig.it,  and  always  dis- 
posed to  prefer  the  more  shameful  alternative.  The  cavalry 
o)  the  Goths,  the  Huns,  and  the  Alani.  had  felt  the  benefits, 
and  adopted  the  use.  of  defensive  armor ;  and,  as  they  ex- 
ceiled  in  the  management  of  missile  weapons,  they  easily 
overwhelmed  the  naked  and  trembling  legions,  whose  heade 
and  breasts  were  exposed,  without  defence,  to  the  arrows  of 
tne  Barbarians.  The  loss  of  armies,  the  destruction  oi  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 


"i 


us  Vegetius,  de  Re  Militari,  1.  i.  c.  10.  The  series  of  calamities 
which  he  marks,  compel  us  to  believe,  that  the  Hero,  to  whom  h« 
Abdicates  his  book,  is  the  last  and  most  inglorious  of  the  Valentini*u8 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

FINAL    DESTRUCTION     OF    PAGANISM. INTRODUCTION    OF     THJJ 

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  con- 
sidered as  a  singular  event  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind. 
The  Christians,  more  especially  the  clergy,  had  impatiently 
supported  the  prudem  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  perse- 
cution 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  erro- 
neously, 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  St.  Ambrose  (torn.  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.  Nea 
tiho  jubet  (the  Mosaic  Law)  parci,  nee  fratri,  et  per  amatam  conju- 
gem  gladium  vindicem  ducit,  &c. 

*  Bay^e  (torn.  ii.  p.  400,  in  his  Commentaire  Philosophique)  justifies, 
•uid  limits,  these  intolerant  laws  by  the  temporal  reign  of  Jehovah 
over  the  Jews.     The  attempt  is  laudable. 

131 


13SJ  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

From  the  age  of  Numa  to  the  reign  of  Grauan,  the  Ro- 
mans 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.  Th*? 
King  of  the  Sacrifices  represented  the  pei»son  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, 
*nd  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  empire.     But  the  dignity  of 

3  See  the  outlines  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  in  Cicero,  (de  Legibus, 
i.  7,  8,)  Livy,  (i.  20,)  Dionysius  Halicarnassensis,  (1.  ii.  p.  119 — 129, 
<dit.  Hudson,)  Beaufort,  (Republique  Romaine,  torn.  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  These  mystic,  and  perhaps  imaginary,  symbols  have  given  birth 
lo  various  fables  and  conjectures.  It  seems  probable,  that  the  Palla. 
dium  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,  oi 
barrel ;  and  that  a  similar  barrel  was  placed  by  its  side  to  discon- 
cert curiosity,  or  sacrilege.  See  Mezeriac  (Comment,  sur  les  Epiireg 
A'Ovide,  torn.  i.  p.  60—66)  and  Lipsiu«,  (torn.  iii.  p.  610,  de  Vesta, 
fcc.,  c.  10  ^ 


OP   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  183 

their  sacred   character  was   still  protected   hy  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  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil  jurisdiction.     Their  robes  of  purple,  chariots 
of  state,  and  sumptuous  entertainments,  attracted   the  admi- 
ration 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  iltar  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  com- 
panions  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  reve- 
nues of  the  priests  and  vestals ;  abolished  their  honors  and 
immunities;  and  dissolved  the  ancient  fabric  of  Roman  super- 
stition, 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 

8  Cicero  frankly  (ad  Atticum,  1.  ii.  Epist.  6)  or  indirectly  (ad  Famil- 
iar. 1.  xv.  Epist.  4)  confesses  that  the  Augurate  is  the  supreme  object 
of  his  wishes.  Pliny  is  proud  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Cicero,  (1.  iv. 
Epist.  8  )  and  the  chain  of  tradition  might  be  continued  from  history 
and  marbles. 

6  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  249,  250.  I  have  suppressed  the  foolish  pui» 
about  Pontifex  and  Maximus. 

7  This  statue  was  transported  from  Tarentum  to  Rome,  placed  in 
the  Curia  Julia  by  Caesar,  and  decorated  by  Augustus  with  the  spoil* 
•f  Egypt 

Prudentius  (1.  ii.  in  initio)  haa  drawn  a  very  awkward  portrait  of 


134  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

to  obsene  the  la«vs  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  idolatrou*3 
sacrifice.11 

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  pro- 
fane, 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 


Victory ;  but  the  curious  reader  will  obtain"  more  satisfaction  from 
Montfaucon's  Antiquities,  (torn.  i.  p.  341.) 

9  See  Suetonius  (in  August,  c.  35)  and  the  Exordium  of  Pliny'8 
Panegyric. 

10  These  facts  are  mutually  allowed  by  the  two  advocates,  Symma- 
chus and  Ambrose. 

11  The  Notitia  Urbis,  more  recent  than  Constantine,  does  not  find 
one  Christian  church  worthy  to  be  named  among  the  edifices  of  the 
city.  Ambrose  (torn.  ii.  Epist.  xvii.  p.  82,5)  deplores  the  public  scan- 
dals of  Rome,  which  continually  offended  the  eyes,  the  ears,  and  the 
nostrils  of  the  faithful. 

u  Ambrose  repeatedly  affirms,  in  contradiction  to  common  sense, 
(Moyle's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  147,)  that  the  Christians  had  a  majority  in 
(lie  senate. 

13  The  Jin':  (A.  D.  382)  to  Gratian,  who  refused  them  audience ; 
the  second  (A.  D.  384)  to  Valentinian,  when  the  field  was  deputed 
by  Symmachus  and  Ambrose ;  the  third  (A.  D.  388)  to  Theodosius ; 
and  the  fourth  (A.  D.  392)  to  Valentinian.  Lardner  (Heathen  Testi- 
monies, vol.  iv.  p.  372 — 399)  fairly  represents  the  whole  transaction. 

'*  Symmachus,  who  was  invested  with  all  the  civil  and  sacerdot^ 
honors,  represented  the  emperor  under  the  two  characters  of  Ponti- 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  l35 

of  pontiff  and  augur  with  the  civil  dignities  of  proconsul  of 
Africa  and  prajfect  of  the  city.  The  breast  of  Symmachus 
was  animated  by  the  warmest  zeal  for  the  cause  of  expiring 
Paganism ;  and  his  religions  antagonists  lamented  the  abuss 
of  his  genius,  and  the  ineificacy  of  his  moral  virtues.16  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  Ids  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  insinu- 
ates, that  the  confiscation  of  the  revenues,  which  were  conse- 
crated 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  permit- 
ted to  guide;  and  every  nation  seems  to  consult  the  dictates 
of  prudence,  by  a  faithful  attachment  to  those  rites  and  opin- 
ions, 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 


fex  Maximus  and  Princeps  Senat&s.      See  the  proud  inscription  at  the 
head  of  his  works.* 

15  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 
l>olemic:  saints,  treat  this  adversary  with  respect  and  civility. 


*  M.  Beugnot  has  made  it  doubtful  whether  Symmachus  was  more  than 
Peutifex  Major.    Destruction  du  Paganisme,  vol.  i.  p.  459.  —  M. 


136  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALX, 

?ause  before  the  tribunal  of  the  emperors.  "  Most  excellent 
princes,"  says  the  venerable  matron,  "  fathers  of  your  coun- 
try  !  pity  and  respect  my  age,  which  has  hitherto  flowed  in  an 
un.nterrupted  course  of  piety.  Since  I  do  not  repent,  permit 
me  to  continue  in  the  practice  of  my  ancient  rites.  Since  1 
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 
fiom  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  cor. 
rection  of  old  age  is  always  an  ungrateful  and  ignominious 
office."  16  The  fears  of  the  people  supplied  what  the  discre 
tion  of  the  orator  had  suppressed  ;  and  the  calamities,  which 
uillicted,  or  threatened,  the  declining  empire,  were  unani- 
mously imputed,  by  the  Pagans,  to  the  new  religion  of  Christ 
and  of  Constantine. 

But  the  hopes  of*  Symmachus  were  repeatedly  baffled  by 
'.he  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  neces- 
sary 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  pro- 
nounces, that  Christianity  alone  is  the  doctrine  of  trutl  and 
salvation  ;  and  that  every  mode  of  Polytheism  conduct  its 
deluded  votaries,  through  the  paths  of  error,  to  the  abyss  of 
eternal  perdition.17     Arguments  like  these,  when  they  were 


16  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  hi? 
fi  tends,  to  equal  or  excel,  (Macrob.  Saturnal.  1.  v.  c.  i.)  But  th« 
luxurianey  of  Symmachus  consists  of  barren  leaves,  without  fruits, 
and  even  without  flowers.  Few  facts,  and  few  sentiments,  can  be 
extracted  from  his  verbose  correspondence. 

See  Ambrose,  (torn.  ii.  Epist.  xvii.  xviii.  p.  825—833.)     The  for- 
mer of  these  epistles  is  a  short  caution  ;  the  latter  is  a  formal  rep.y  to 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  137 

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  tri- 
umph 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.*  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  recem 
admonition,  that  it  might  be  dangerous  to  oppose  the  wishes 


the  petition  or  libel  of  Symmachus.  The  same  ideas  are  more  copious- 
ly 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  Montes- 
quieu (Considerations,  &c.  c.  xix.  torn.  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  See  Prudentius  (in  Symmach.  1.  i.  545,  &c.)  The  Christian 
agrees  with  the  Pagan  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  283)  in  placing  this  visit  of 
Theodosius  after  the  second  civil  war,  gemini  bis  victor  caede  Tyranni, 
(1.  i.  410.)  But  the  time  and  circumstances  are  better  suited  to  his 
first  triumph. 

*  M.  Beugnot  (in  his  Histoire  de  la  Destruction  du  Paganisme  en  Occi 
dent,  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  as- 
sembly 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  demon- 
strated (and  Gibbon —  see  the  preceding  note  —  seems  to  have  acknowl- 
edged 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  priv- 
ileges. The  silence  of  Ambrose  and  of  Jerom  on  an  event  so  striking, 
and  redounding  so  much  to  the  honor  of  Christianity,  is  of  eonsideralle 
weight.  M.  Beugnot  would  ascribe  the  whole  scene  to  the  p(  etic  imagi- 
nation 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  vig- 
orous than  usual  with  this  poet,  that  I  cannot  but  sappose  there  must 
have  been  s  >me  foundation  for  the  story,  though  it  may  have  been  exag 
^er?t^d  by  tae  poet,  and  misrepresented  by  the  histori'vn.  ■—  M. 

60* 


138  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  mus 
be  attributed  either  to  supernatural  or  to  sordid  motives ;  and 
many  of  these  reluctant  proselytes  betrayed,  on  every  favor- 
able occasion,  their  secret  disposition  to  throw  aside  the  mark 
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  expres- 
sions 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  the  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 

19  Prudentius,  after  proving  that  the  sense  of  the  senate  is  declared 
by  a  legal  majority,  proceeds  to  say,  (609,  &c.)  — 

Adspice  quam  pleno  suhsilli  i  nostra  Senatft 
Deccriiunt  infame  Jovis  pulvinar,  et  omne 
Idolum  lunge  purg.ita  ex  urbH  fiigandum, 
Quh  vocat  egre;.'ii  sententia  Principis,  illuc 
Libera,  cum  peilibus,  turn  corde,  frequentia  transit. 

Zosimus    ascribes   to   the   conscript    fathers  a   heathenish   courage, 

which  few  of  them  are  found  to  possess. 

2U  Jerom  specifies  the  pontiff  Albinus,  who  was  surrounded  with 

•uch   a  believing  family  of  children   and  grandchildren,  as    would 

have  been  sufficient  to  convert  even   Jupiter  himself;  an  extiaordi 

nary  proselyte  !  (torn.  i.  ad  Lactam,  p.  54.) 

11  Exultare  Patres  videas,  pulcherrima  mundi 

Lumina  ;  Conciliumque  senum  gestire  Catonum 
Candidiore  togft  niveum  pictatis  amictum 
Sumere  ;  et  exuvias  deponere  pontificales. 

The  fancy  of  Prudentius  is  warmed  and  elevated  by  victory. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  139 

of  the  senate,  whicn  proscribed  the  worship  of  idols,  were 
ratified  by  the  general  consent  of  the  Romans  ,^  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.* 
The  filial  piety  of  the  emperors  themselves  engaged  them 
to  proceed,  with  some  caution  and  tenderness,  in  the  reforma- 
tion 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 


22  Prudentius,  after  he  has  described  the  conversion  of  the  senate 
and  people,  asks,  with  some  truth  and  confidence, 

Et  diibirauiiis  adhuc  Romam,  tibi,  Christe,  dicatara 
In  leges  cransiase  tuas  ? 

23  Jerom  exults  in  the  desolation  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  other  tern, 
pies  of  Rome,  (torn.  i.  p.  54,  torn.  ii.  p.  95.) 

5,4  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  ecclesias- 
tical history.t 

*  M.  Beugnot  is  more  correct  in  his  general  estimate  of  the  measures 
enforced  by  Theodosius  for  the  abolition  of  Paganism.  He  seized  (accord- 
ing to  Zosimus)  the  funds  bestowed  by  the  public  for  the  expense  of  sac- 
rifices. The  public  sacrifices  ceased,  not  because  they  were  positively 
prohibited,  but  because  the  public  treasury  would  no  longer  bear  the  ex- 
pense. The  public  and  the  private  sacrifices  in  the  provinces,  which  were 
not  under  the  same  regulations  with  those  of  the  capital,  continued  to 
take  pla"e.  In  Home  itself,  many  Pagan  ceremonies,  which  were  without 
sacrifice,  remained  in  full  force.  The  gods,  therefore,  were  invoked,  the 
temple0  were  frequented,  the  pontificates  inscribed,  according  to  ancient 
usage,  among  the  family  titles  of  honor ;  and  it  cannot  be  asserted  thai 
idolatry  was  completely  destroyed  by  Theodosius.  See  Beugnot,  p.  491. 
—  M 

f  See  in  Reiske's  edition  of  Libanius,  torn.  ii.  p.  155.  Sacrifice  was  pro 
uilited  by  Valens,  but  not  the  offering  of  incense.  —  M. 


140  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

edicts  of  proscription:  the  same  laws  which  had  been  origi- 
nally published  in  the  provinces  of  the  Eas:,  were  applied 
after  the  defeat  of  Maximus,  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  West- 
ern 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 
prohibit'ng  the  use  of  sacrifices,  which  he  declared  to  bo 
criminal  as  well  as  infamous  ;  and  if  the  terms  of  his  edicts 
more  strictly  condemned  the  impious  curiosity  which  examined 
the  entrails  of  the  victims,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  commis- 
sion was  granted  to  Cynegius,  the  Praetorian  preefect  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  edi- 
fices, which  were  no  longer  employed   in  the  service  of  idol- 

25  See  his  laws  in  the  Thcodosian  Code,  1.  xvi.  tit.  x.  leg.  7 — 11. 

28  Homer's  sacrifices  are  not  accompanied  with  any  inquisition  of 
entrails,  (see  Feithius,  Antiquitat.  Homer.  1.  i.  c.  10,  16.)  The  Tus- 
cans, who  produced  the  first  Haruspices,  subdued  both  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans,  (Cicero  de  Divinatione,  ii.  23.) 

27  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  245,  249.  Theodoret.  1.  v.  c.  21.  Idatius  in 
Chron.  Prosper.  Aquitan.  1.  iii.  c.  38,  apud  Baronium,  Annal.  Ecelea. 
A.  D.  389,  No.  52.  Libanius  (pro  Templis,  p.  10)  labors  to  prove, 
that  the  commands  of  Theodosius  were  not  direct  and  positive.  * 


*  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  fanatical 
monks.  Neander  well  observes,  that  the  prohibition  of  sacrifice  -*rould  b6 
easily  misinterpreted  into  an  authority  for  the  destruction  oi  the  builuings 
in  which  sacrifices  were  performed.  (Gesehichte  der  Christlichen  Religian, 
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  e\tt 
placed  in  the  hands  of,  the  Christian  c.nperor.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  141 

atry   might  have  been  protected  from  the  destructive  rage  of 
fanaticism.     Many  of  those  temples  were  the  most  spiendid 
and.  beautiful  monuments  uf  Grecian  architecture  :  and  tha 
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  maga- 
zines, manufactures,  or  places  of  public  assembly :  and  per- 
lijps,   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  in- 
creased  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  :  ^ 
but  their  oold  and  languid  efforts  were  insufficient  to  stem 
the  torrent  of  enthusiasm  and  rapine,   which  was    conduct- 
ed, 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  pow 
ers,  or  of  carnal  weapons.     In  Syria,  the  divine  and  excel 
lent   Marcellus,31  as   he    is   styled    by  Theodoret,  a   bishop 

M  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  xvi.  tit.  x.  leg.  8,  18.  There  is  room  to  believe( 
that  this  temple  of  Edessa,  which  Theodosius  wished  to  save  for  civi- 
lises, was  soon  afterwards  a  heap  of  ruins,  (Libanius  pro  Templis,  p; 
26,  27,  and  Godefroy's  notes,  p.  59.) 

29  See  this  curious  oration  of  Libanius  urn  Templis,  pronounced,  or 
rather  composed,  about  the  year  390.  I  have  consulted,  with  advan- 
tage, Dr.  Lardner's  version  and  remarks,  (Heathen  Testimonies,  vol. 
iv.  p.  135—163.) 

3u  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. 

Jl  Compare  Sozomen  (1  vii.  c.  15)  with  Theodoret,  (1.  v.  c  21.1 
Between  them,  they  relate  the  crusade  and  death  of  MaiceUus. 


142  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

animated  with  apostolic  fervor,  resolved  to  level  with  the 
ground  the  stately  temples  within  the  diocese  of  Apamea. 
Bis  attack  was  resisted  by  the  skill  and  solidity  with  which 
the  lemple  of  Jupiter  had  been  constructed.  The  building 
was  seated  on  an  eminence :  on  each  of  the  four  sides,  the 
.ofty  roof  was  supported  by  fifteen  massy  columns,  sixteen 
feet  in  circumference  ;  and  the  large  stones,  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  alle- 
gory of  a  black  dcemon,  who  retarded,  though  he  could  not 
defeat,  the  operations  of  the  Christian  engineers.  Elated 
with  victoiy,  Marcellus  took  the  field  in  person  against  the 
powers  of  darkness  ;  a  numerous  troop  of  soldiers  and  glad- 
iators marched  under  the  episcopal  banner,  and  he  succes- 
sively attacked  the  villages  and  country  temples  of  the  diocese 
of  Apamea.  Whenever  any  resistance  or  danger  was  appre- 
hended, 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  tem- 
ples was  protected  by  the  fears,  the  venality,  the  taste,  or  the 
prudence,  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  governors.  The  tem- 
ple of  the  Celestial  Venus  at  Carthage,  whose  sacred  precincts 

33  Libanitis,  pro  Templis,  p.  10 — 13.  He  rails  at  these  black-garbed 
men,  the  Christian  monks,  who  cat  more  than  elephants.  Foor  ele- 
phants !  they  are  temperate  animals. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  143 

formed  a  circumference  of  two  miles,  was  judiciously  con- 
verted 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  Bai 
barians,  who  alone  had  time  and  inclination  to  execute  such 
laborious  destruction. 

In  this  wide  and  various  prospect  of  devastation,  the  spec- 
tator may  distinguish  the  ruins  of  the  temple  of  Serapis,  at 
Alexandria.35  Serapis  does  not  appear  to  have  been  one  oi 
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 


33  Prosper.  Aquitan.  1.  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  Donatus,  Itoma  Antiqua  ct  Nova,  1.  iv.  c.  4,  p.  468.  This  con- 
secration 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. 

35  Sophronius  composed  a  recent  and  separate  history,  (Jerom,  in 
Script.  Eccles.  torn.  i.  p.  303,)  which  has  furnished  materials  to  Socra- 
tes, (1.  v.  c.  16,)  Theodoret,  (1.  v.  c.  22,)  and  Iiufinus,  (1.  ii.  c.  22.) 
Yet  the  last,  who  had  been  at  Alexandria  before  and  after  the  event, 
may  deserve  the  credit  of  an  original  witness. 

86  Gerard  Vossius  (Opera,  torn.  v.  p.  80,  and  de  Idololatria,  1.  i.  c. 
29)  strives  to  support  the  strange  notion  of  the  Fathers  ;  that  the  pn- 
triarch  Joseph  was  adored  in  Egj-pt,  as  the  bull  Apis,  and  the  god 
Serapis.* 

37  Origo  dei  nondum  nostris  celebrata.  iEgyptiorum  antistites  «m 
memorant,  &c,  Tacit.  Hist.  iv.  83.  The  Greeks,  who  had  travelled 
into  Egypt,  were  alike  ignorant  of  this  new  deity. 


•  Consult  du  Diet*  Serapis  et  son  Origine,  par  J.  P.  Guigm>ut,  (th« 
translator  of  Creuzer's  Symbolique,)  Paris,  1828;  and  in  the  afth  relume 
•f  Bournouf  s  translation  of  Tacitus  — M 


144  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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 
t/ie  pride  and  magnificence  of  the  Capitol,  was  erected  on  iho 
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  dis- 
tributed into  vaults  and  subterraneous  apartments.  The  con- 
secrated 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  pre- 
served in  the  famous  Alexandrian  library,  which  had  arisen 
with  new  splendor  from  its  ashes.41  After  the  edicts  of  Theo- 
dosius  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  se- 
cure the  inundations  of  the  Nile,  the  harvests  of  Egypt,  and 
the  subsistence  of  Constantinople.42 

At  that  time  43  the  archiepiscopal  throne  of  Alexandria  was 


38  Macrobius,  Saturnal.  1.  i.  c.  7.  Such  a  living  fact  decisively 
proves  his  foreign  extraction. 

39  At  Rome,  Isis  and  Serapis  were  united  in  the  same  temple.  The 
precedency  which  the  queen  assumed,  may  seem  to  betray  her  un- 
equal alliance  with  the  stranger  of  Pontus.  But  the  superiority  of 
the  female  sex  was  established  in  Egypt  as  a  civil  and  religious  insti- 
tution, (Diodor.  Sicul.  torn.  i.  1.  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  Ammianus,  (xxii.  16.)  The  Expositio  totius  Mundi,  (p.  8,  in 
Iludson's  Geograph.  Minor,  torn,  iii.,)  and  Rufinus,  (1.  ii.  c.  22,)  cele- 
brate the  Serapeum,  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 

41  See  Memoires  de  l'Acad.  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  ix.  p.  397 — 416. 
The  sld  library  of  the  Ptolemies  was  totally  consumed  in  Caesar's  Alex- 
andrian war.  Marc  Antony  gave  the  whole  collection  of  Pergamui 
(200,000  volumes)  to  Cleopatra,  as  the  foundation  of  the  new  library 
of  Alexandria. 

«*  Libanius  (pro  Templis,  p.  21)  indiscreetly  provokes  his  Christian 
masters  bv  this  insulting  remark. 
**  We  may  choose  between  the  date  of  Marcellinus  (A.  D.  SS^  car 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  115 

filled  by  Theophilus,44  the  perpetual  enemy  of  peace  and 
virtue ;  a  bold,  bad  man,  whose  hands  were  alternately  pol- 
luted with  gold  and  with  blood.  His  pious  indignation  was 
excited  by  the  honors  of  Serapis ;  and  the  insults  which  he 
offered  to  an  ancient  chapel  of  Bacchus,*  convinced  the  Pa- 
gans that  he  meditated  a  more  important  and  dangerous  en- 
terprise. In  the  tumultuous  capital  of  Egypt,  the  slightest 
provocation  was  sufficient  to  inflame  a  civil  war.  The  vota- 
ries of  Serapis,  whose  strength  and  numbers  were  much 
inferior  to  those  of  their  antagonists,  rose  in  arms  at  the  insti- 
gation 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  con- 
solation 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  Alexan- 
dria was  pronounced,  the  Christians  sent  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 


that  of  Prosper,  (A.  D.  391.)     Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p 
310,  756)  prefers  the  former,  and  Pagi  the  latter. 

44  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  p.  441 — 500.  The  ambiguoui 
Bi;aation  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. 

44  Lardner   (Heathen  Testimonies,  vol.  iv.  p.  411)   has  alleged  a 
beautiful   passage   from   Suidas,    or   rather  from  Damascius,  which 
shows  the  devout  and  virtuous  Olympius,  not  in  the  light  of  a  war 
nor,  but  of  a  prophet. 

*  No  doubt  a  temple  of  Osiris.     St.  Martin,  iv.  398.  —  M 


146  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  compo- 
sitions 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,*7 
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  min- 
isters of  the  idols ;  their  dexterity  in  the  management  of  the 
loadstone ;  their  secret  methods  of  introducing  a  human  actor 
into  a  hollow  statue ;  *  and  their  scandalous  abuse  of  the  con- 
fidence 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 


46  Nos  vidimus  armaria  librorum  quibus  direptis,  exinanita  ea  a 
nostris  hominibus,  nostris  temporibus  memorant.  Orosius,  1.  vi.  c.  15, 
p.  421,  edit.  Havereamp.  Though  a  bigot,  and  a  controversial  writer, 
Orosius  seems  to  blush. 

47  Eunapius,  in  the  Lives  of  Antoninus  and  iEdesius,  execrates  the 
sacrilegious  rapine  of  Theophilus.  Tillemont  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn, 
xiii.  p.  453)  quotes  an  epistle  of  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  which  reproaches 
the  primate  with  the  idolatrous  worship  of  gold,  the  auri  sacra  fames. 

48  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  dis- 
guise the  tone  of  his  voice.  The  authentic  and  impartial  narrative 
of  vEschines,  (see  Bayle,  Dictionnaire  Critique,  Scamandre,)  and  the 
adventure  of  Mundus,  (Joseph.  Antiquitat.  Judaic.  1.  xviii.  c.  3,  p. 
877,  edit.  Havereamp,)  may  prove  that  such  amorous  frauds  have 
been  practised  with  success. 


*  An  English  traveller,  Mr.  Wilkinson,  has  discovered  the  secret  of  the 
vocal  Memnon.  There  was  a  cavity  in  which  a  person  was  concealed,  and 
•truck  a  stone,  which  gave  a  ringing  sound  like  brass.  The  Arabs,  who 
Btood  below  when  Mr.  Wilkinson  performed  the  miracle,  describe-1  Vhe  sound 
just  as  the  author  of  the  epigram,  uc  xuAaow  t'vkevtoc.—  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  147 

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  Serapis49  was  in- 
volved in  the  ruin  of  his  temple  and  religion.  A  great  num- 
ber 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  em- 
blematic 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 
(he  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  mul- 
titude expected,  with  some  anxiety,  the  event  of  the  combat.50 
He  aimed  a  vigorous  stroke  against  the  cheek  of  Serapis ; 
ihe  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 
d  ragged  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  mate- 

49  See  the  images  of  Serapis,  in  Montfaueon,  (torn.  ii.  p.  297  :  )  t"ut 
the  description  of  Macrobius  (Saturnal.  1.  i.  c.  20)  is  much  more  pic- 
tuiesque  and  satisfactory. 

su  Sed  fortes  tremuere  manus,  motique  verenda. 

Mrtjestate  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  ?  " —  "  /  was  that  man,  (replied  the  clear-sighted  veteran,^ 
and  you  now  sup  on  one  of 'the  legs  of  the  goddess."  (Plin.  Hist. 
Nat  it.  xxx iii.  24.) 


14S  THE    DECLINE    ANE    FALL 

rial  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 
Bcarci?ly  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  dis 
tinguish  from  the  most  common  productions  of  art  or  nature  ; 
and.  if,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  their  secret  and  miraculous  vir- 
tue 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  mas- 
ters 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 

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  sac- 
rifices had  been  severely  prohibited.  The  inhabitants  uf  the 
country,  whose  conduct  was  less  opposed  to  the  eye  of  mali- 
cious curiosity,  disguised  their  religious,  under  the  appear- 
ance 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 

41  The  history  of  *he  reformation  affords  frequent  examples  of  th  9 
■udden  change  from  superstition  to  contempt. 

62  Sozomen,  1.  vii.  c.  20.  I  have  supplied  the  measure.  The  same 
standard,  of  the  inundation,  and  consequently  of  the  cubit,  has  uni- 
formly subsisted  since  the  time  of  Herodotus.  See  Freret,  in  the 
Mfim.  de  1' Academic  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xvi.  p.  344 — 353.  Greaves's 
M-iScellancous  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  233.  The  Egyptian  cubit  is  about 
twenty-two  inches  of  the  English  measure.* 


Compare  Wilkinson's  Thebes  and  Egypt,  p.  313. 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  149' 

honoi  of  the  gods.  But  it  was  alleged,  that,  as  no  part  of 
the  animal  was  made  a  burnt-offering,  as  no  altar  was  pro- 
vided to  leceive  the  blood,  and  as  the  previous  oblation  of 
salt  cakes,  and  the  concluding  ceremony  of  libations,  were 
carefully  omitted,  theso  festal  meetings  did  not  involve  the 
guests  in  the  guilt,  or  penalty,  of  an  illegal  sacrifice.53  What- 
ever 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  *  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,  how- 


63  Libanius  (pro  Temp  lis,  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.  torn.  vi.  p.  284. 

54  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.  1.  xvi.  tit.  x.  leg.  17,  19.) 

45  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  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. 


*  Paganism  maintained  its  ground  for  a  considerable  time  in  the  rural 
districts.  Endelechius,  a  poet  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, speaks  of  the  cross  as 

Signuni  quod  perhibent  esse  crucis  Dei, 

Magnis  qui  colittir  sulus  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  Ch.istians  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  in 
fluence  of  Christianity  ;  yet,  on  the  whole,  no  doubt  the  servile  ekiss  would 
be  the  least  fitted  to  receive  the  gospel  ;  and  its  general  propagation  among 
them  would  be  embarrassed  by  many  peculiar  difficulties.  The  rural  pop- 
ulation was  probably  not  entirely  converted  before  the  general  establish 
merit  of  the  monastic  institutions.  Compare  Quarterly  Review  of  Beug- 
not, vol   lvii.  p.  52.  —  M. 


150  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ever  exal'ed  or  however  humble  may  be  their  rank  and  con- 
dition, 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  cf  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  house- 
nold  gods,  are  included  in  this  rigorous  proscription.  The 
ase  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  com- 
pelled 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 

In  the  cruel  reigns  of  Decius  and  Dioclesian,  Christianity 
had  been  proscribed,  as  a  revolt  from  the  ancient  and  hered- 
itary religion  of  the  empire  ;  and  the  unjust  suspicions  which 


66  Such  a  charge  should  not  be  lightly  made  ;  but  it  may  surely  bo 

i'ustified  by  the  authority  of  St.  Augustin,  who  thus  addresses  the 
)onatists  :  "  Quis  nostrum,  quis  vestrum  non  laudat  leges  ab  Imper- 
atoribus  datas  adversus  sacrificia  Paganorum  ?  Et  certe  longe  ibi  poe- 
na severior  constituta  est ;  illius  quippe  impietatis  capitale  supplicium 
est."  Epist.  xciii.  No.  10,  quoted  by  Le  Clerc,  (Bibliotheque  Choisie, 
torn.  viii.  p.  277,)  who  adds  some  judicious  reflections  on  the  intoler- 
ance of  the  victorious  Christians.* 


*  Yet  Augustine,  with  laudable  inconsistency,  disapproved  of  the  forci- 
ble demolition  of  the  temples.  "  Let  us  first  extirpate  the  idolatry  of  the 
hearts  of  the  heathen,  and  they  will  either  themselves  invite  us  or  antici 

&ate  us   in    the   execution    of  this  good    work,  torn.  v.  s.  62.     Compare 
(eatder,  ii.  169,  and,  in  p.  155.  a  beautiful  passage  from  Chrysostom  against 
ail  violent  means  of  propagating  Christianity.  —  M. 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  151 

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  sarr.e  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  peacu 
and  obscurity,  the  religious  customs  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  sel- 
dom 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, 


67  Orosius,  1.  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  sacriacio  (cum  his 
leigibus  ista  prohiberentur)  et  non  negavit  ? " 

M  Libanius  (pro  Templis,  p.  17,   18)  mentions,  without  censure, 


1&4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

they  wanted  spirit  to  resist ;  and  the  scattered  myriads,  wlv 
deplored  the  ruin  of  the  temples,  yielded,  without  a  contest, 
to  rhe  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  then 
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  per- 
mission, 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  resent 
mcnt  of  the  conqueror,  who  labored  to  deserve  the  favor  of 
Heaven  by  the  extirpation  of  idolatry.60 

A  nation  of  slaves  is  always  prepared  to  applaud  the  clem- 
ency of  their  master,  who,  in  the  abuse  of  absolute  power, 
does  not  proceed  to  the  last  extremes  of  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion. Theodosius  might  undoubtedly  have  proposed  to  his 
Pagan  subjects  the  alternative  of  baptism  or  of  death  ;  ana 
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 
sovf  "eign.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 


the  occasional  conformity,  and  as  it  were  theatrical  play,  of  these 
hypocrites. 

59  Libanius  concludes  his  apology  (p.  32)  by  declaring  to  the  em- 
peror, that  unless  he  expressly  warrants  the  destruction  of  the  tem- 
ples, iciQi  rot)?  T«r  oyptnii  <5fff7l<Jra;,  y.ixi  a'Toi"?  xai  Tu>  vu^iia  (lurfi^owias 
the  proprietors  will  defend  themselves  and  the  laws. 

60  Paulinus,  in  Vit.  Ambros.  c.  26.  Augustin  de  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  v 
Ij.  20.    Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  24. 

•'  Libanius  suggests  the  form  of  a  persecuting  edict,  which  Theodo- 
6ius  might  enact,  (pro  Templis,  p.  32  ;  )  a  rash  joke,  and  a  dangerou* 
experiment,     Some  rrinces  would  have  taken  his  advice. 


oe    I'flE   ruMaN   empire.  153 

C»W.  ana  military  honors  of  the  empire.*  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 ; f>3 
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  licentioua 
freedom  of  speech  and  writing  ;  the  historical  and  philosophic 
remains  of  Eunapius,  Zosimus,6^and  the  fanatic  teachers  of 

62  Denique  pro  meritis  terrestribus  aequa  rependens 
Munera,  sacricolis  summos  impertit  honores. 
Dux  bonus,  et  certare  sinit  cum  laude  suorum, 
Nee  pago  implicitos  per  debita  culmina  mundi 
Ire  viros  prohibet.f 

Ipse  magistratum  tibi  consulis,  ipse  tribunal 
Contulit. 

Prudent,  in  Syramach.  i.  617,  &c. 

63  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  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  eccle- 


*  The  most  remarkable  instance  of  this,  at  a  much  later  period,  occurs 
in  the  person  of  Merobaudc.s,  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.  Frag- 
ments 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  imper- 
sonates 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,  among  other  fatal  measures,  to  extirpate  the  gods  of  Rome  ■- 

Roma,  ipsique  tremant  furialia  murmura  reges. 

Jam  superos  terris  atque  hospita  mimina  pelle : 

Roman/as  populare  Deos,  et  null  us  in  aris 

Vestte  exor.atm  fotus  strut  pallrnt  ignis. 

His  instructs  dolis  palatia  eclsa  subibo; 

Majoruni  mores,  et  pectora  prisca  fugabo 

Funditus  ;  atque  simul,  nullo  discrimine  rerum  \ 

Spernantur  fortes,  nee  sic  reverentia  justis. 

Attica  neglecto  pereat  facundia  Phoebo : 

Indignis  contingat  honos,  et  pontlera  rerum  ; 

Non  virtue  sed  casus  agat ;  tristisque  cupido ; 

Pectoribus  srevi  demons  furor  Kstuet  revi ; 

Omniaque  h<EC  sine  mentc  Jovis,  sine  niimint  summo 

Merobaudes  in  Niebuhr's  edit,  of  the  Byzantines,  p.  14.  —  M 
+  I  have  inserted  some  lines  omitted  by  Gibbon.  —  M. 

61 


154  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

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  Christiau  princes,  who  viewed,  with  a  smile  of 
contempt,  the  last  struggles  of  superstition  and  despair.85  But 
the  Imperial  laws,  which  prohibited  the  sacrifices  and  cere- 
monies of  Paganism,  were  rigidly  executed;  and  every  hour 
contributed  to  destroy  the  influence  of  a  religion  vhich  was 
supported  by  custom,  rather  than  by  argument.  The  devotion 
of  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  reli- 
gious 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.06  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  propaga- 
tion 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 

siastical  historians  prior  to  Evagrius,  (1.  iii.  c.  40 — 42,)  who  lived  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  sixth  century.* 

65  Yet  the  Pagans  of  Africa  complained,  that  the  times  would  not 
-kdow  them  to  answer  with  freedom  the  City  of  tiod ;  nor  does  St. 
Augustin  (v.  26)  deny  the  charge. 

60  The  Moors  of  Spain,  Avho  secretly  preserved  the  Mahometan  reli- 
gion above  a  century,  under  the  tyranny  of  the  Inquisition,  possessed 
the  Koran,  with  the  peculiar  use  of  the  Arabic  tbngiie.  See  the 
curious  and  honest  story  of  their  expulsion  in  Geddes,  (Miscellanies 
vol.  i.  p.  1—198.) 

e7  Paganos  qui  supersunt,  quanquam  jam  nullos  esse  credamus,  &c 


•  Heyne,  in  Lis  Disquisitio  in  Zosimum  Ejusque  Fidem,  places  Zosimu* 
-wards  the  close  of  tte  rifth  century.     Z-jsim.  Heynii,  p.  xvii.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIHE.  155 

The  ruin  of  the  Pagan  religion  is  described  by  the  sophists 
as  a  dreadful  and  amazing  prodigy,  which  covered  the  eanh 
with  darkness,  and  restorec  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. 
4  The  monks  "  (a  race  of  filthy  animals,  to  whom  Eunapiua 
is  tempted  to  refuse  the  name  of  men)  "  are  the  authors  of 
tl>e  new  worship,  which,  in  the  place  of  those  deities  who 
are  conceived  by  the  understanding,  has  substituted  the 
meanest  and  most  contemptible  slaves.  The  head.-),  Salted 
and  pickled,  of  those  infamous  malefactors,  who  for  the  mul- 
lude  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  peti- 
tions to  the  Deity,  whose  tombs  are  now  consecrated  as  the- 
objects  of  the  veneration  of  the  people."68  Without  approv- 
ing 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  deserv- 
edly 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 


Cod.  Theodos.  1.  xvi.  tit.  x.  leg.  22,  A.  D.  423.  The  younger  Theo- 
dosius  was  afterwards  satisfied,  that  his  judgment  had  been  somewhat 
premature.* 

68  See  Eunapius,  in  the  Life  of  the  sophist  iEdesius  ;  in  tfcat  of 
Eustathius  he  foretells  the  ruin  of  Paganism,  r.ai  n  fiv6a>det,  xai  amdif 

tKUTOf   TVQUVttjOtl   Tu    i/ll    Y'i?   XuAAiatlt. 


•  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  ind>  stry.  Compare  likewise 
ante,  p.  112,  on  tie  more  tariy  progress  of  Christianity  in  tke  rural 
iistricts.  —  M. 


156  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

heroes.69  In  the  age  which  followed  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine,  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  depend- 
ent 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  Bos- 
phorus.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  mem- 
bers of  the  clergy  and  senate,  advanced  to  meet  his  extraor- 
dinary guest,  who  had  always  deserved  and  claimed  the 
homage  of  kings.73     The  example  of  Rome  and  Constanti- 

69  Caius,  (apud  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  1.  ii.  c.  25,)  a  Roman  presby- 
ter, who  lived  in  the  time  of  Zephyrinus,  (A.  D.  202 — 219,)  is  an  early 
witness  of  this  superstitious  practice. 

70  Chrysostom.  Quod  Ohristus  sit  Deus.  Tom.  i.  nov.  edit.  No.  9. 
I  am  indebted  for  this  quotation  to  Benedict  the  XlVth's  pastoral 
letter  on  the  Jubilee  of  the  year  1750.  See  the  curious  and  entertain- 
ing letters  of  M.  Chais,  torn.  iii. 

71  Male  facit  ergo  Romanus  episcopus  ?  qui,  super  mortuorara 
hominum,  Petri  &  Pauli,  secundum  nos,  ossa  veneranda  .  .  .  offcrt 
Domino  sacrificia,  et  tumulos  eorum,  Christi  arbitratur  altaria.  Je- 
com.  torn.  ii.  advers.  Vigilant,  p.  183. 

72  Jerom  (torn.  ii.  p.  122)  bears  witness  to  these  translations, 
which  are  neglected  by  the  ecclesiastical  historians.  The  passion  of 
Bt.  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 
VS  the  spiritual  founder  oi  Constantinople,  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  i.  p. 
217—323,  588—594.) 

73  Jerom.  (torn.  ii.  p.  122'  pompously  describes  the  translation  of 
SamueL  which  is  noticed  it  all  the  chronicles  of  the  times. 


OF    THE    ItOMAN    EMPIRE.  157 

nople  confirmed  the  faith  and  discipline  of  the  Catholic  world. 
The  honors  of  t'  le  saints  and  martyrs,  after  a  feeble  and  Inef- 
fectual murmur  of  profane  reason,74  were  universally  estab- 
lished ;  and  in  the  age  of  Ambrose  and  Jerom,  something 
was  still  deemed  wanting  to  the  sanctity  of  a  Christian  church, 
t'H  <t  had  been  consecrated  by  some  portion  of  holy  relics, 
which  fixed  and  inflamed  the  devotion  of  the  faithful. 

In  the  long  period  of  twelve  hundred  years,  which  elapsed 
between  the  leign  of  Constantine  and  the  reformation  of 
Luther,  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics  corrupted  thp  pure 
mid  perfect  simplicity  of  the  Christian  model :  and  some 
Bymptoms  of  degeneracy  may  be  observed  even  in  the  first 
generations  which  adopted  and  cherished  this  pernicious  inno- 
vation. 

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  imagi- 
nary heroes,  who  had  never  existed,  except  in  the  fancy  of 
crafty  or  credulous  legendaries  :  and  there  is  reason  to  sus- 
pect, 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  extin- 
guished the  light  of  history,  and  of  reason,  in  the  Christian 
world. 

7*  The  presbyter  Vigihmtius,  the  Protestant  of  his  age,  firmly, 
though  ineifectu  ally,  withstood  the  superstition  of  monks,  relics, 
taints,  fasts,  &c.  for  which  Jerom  compares  him  to  the  Hydra,  Cerbe- 
rus, the  Centaurs,  &c,  and  considers  him  only  as  the  organ  of  the 
Daemon,  (torn.  ii.  p.  120 — 126.)  Whoever  will  peruse  the  controversy 
of  St.  Jerom  and  Vigilantius,  and  St.  Augustin's  account  of  the  mira- 
cles of  St.  Stephen,  may  speedily  gain  some  idea  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Fathers. 

75  M.  de  Beausobre  (Hist,  du  Manicheisme,  torn.  ii.  p.  648)  has  ap- 
plied a  worldly  sense  to  the  pious  observation  of  the  clergy  of  Smyr- 
na, who  carefully  preserved  the  relics  of  St.  Polycarp  the  martyr. 

w  Martin  of  Tours  (see  his  Life,  c.  8,  by  Sulpicius  Severus)  extort- 
ed this  confession  from  the  mouth  of  the  dead  man.  The  error  is 
allowed  to  be  natural ;  the  discovery  is  supposed  to  be  mir  aciUoua. 
Which  of  the  two  was  likely  to  happen  most  frequently  } 


158  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

II.  But  th  3  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,  a.id  the  ecclesiastical  minister  of 
the  village  of  Gaphargamala,  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  hiin,  in  the  silence  of  the  night, 
with  a  long  beard,  a  white  robe,  and  a  gold  rod  ;  announced 
himself  by  the  nune  _o/  Gamaliel,  and  revealed  to  the  aston- 
ished 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  adjaceni  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 
oresence  of  an  innumerable  multitude.  The  coffins  of  Gama- 
liel, of  his  son,  and  of*  his  friend,  were  found  in  regular 
order ;  but  when  the  fourth  coffin,  which  contained  the 
temains  of  Stephen,  was  shown  to  the  light,  the  earth  trem- 
bled, 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 

77  Lucian  composed  in  Greek  his  original  narrative,  which  has 
been  translated  by  Avitus,  and  published  by  Baronius,  (Annal.  Ec- 
eles.  A.  D.  415,  No.  7—16.)  The  Benedictine  editors  of  St.  Augustin 
nave  given  (at  the  end  of  the  work  de  Civitate  Dei)  two  several 
copies,  with  many  various  readings.  It  is  the  character  oi'  falsehood 
to  be  loose  and  inconsistent.  The  most  incredible  parts  of  the  legend 
are  smoothed  and  softened  by  Tillemont,  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  ii.  p. 
9,  &c.) 

78  A  phia„  of  St.  Stej  hen's  blood  was  annually  liquefied  at  Naples, 
kill  he  was  supers  aded  by  St.  Januarius,  (Buinart.  Hist.  Persecui. 
Vandal,  p.  529.) 


CF    THE    ROMAN    EM  FIRE.  159 

scrapings  of  a  bone,  were  acknowledged,  in  almost  ever? 
province  of  the  Roman  world,  to  possess  a  divine  and  mirac- 
ulous 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  nar 
rative  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  de- 
clares, that  he  lias  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  prodi- 
gies were  omitted,  or  forgotten;  and 'Hippo  had  been  less 
favorably  treated  thau  the  other  cities  of  the  province.  And 
yet  the  bishop  enumerates  above  seventy  miracles,  of  which 
three  wore  resurrections  from  the  dead,  in  the  space  of  two 
years,  a>  d  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. 

III.  The  innumerable  miracles,  of  which  the  tombs  of  the 
martyrs  were  the  perpetual  theatre,  revealed  to  the  pious  be- 
liever 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  con- 
dition of  vulgar  souls,  in  the  long  interval  between  the  disso- 
'ution  and  the  resurrection  of  their  bodies,  it  was  evident  that 
tne  superior  spirits  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  did  not  consume 


79  Augustin  composed  the  two-and-twenty  books  de  Civitatc  De? 
in  the  space  of  thirteen  years,  A.  D.  413 — 42(i.  (Tillemont,  Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  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. 

81  See  Augustin  dc  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  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,  torn, 
viii.  p.  249)  has  preserved  a  Gallic  or  a  Spanish  proverb,  "  Whoever 
pretends  to  have  read  all  the  miracles  of  St.  Stephen,  he  lies." 


lb'O  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

that  portion  of  their  existence  in  silent  and  high  nous  sleep  8 
It  was  evident  (without  presuming  to  determine  the  place  of 
their  habitation,  or  the  nature  of  their  felicity)  :hat  they  en 
joyed  the  lively  and  active  consciousness  of  the  /r  happiness, 
their  virtue,  and  their  powers;  and  that  they  had  already 
secured  the  possession  of  their  eternal  reward.  The  enlarge- 
ment of  their  intellectual  faculties  surpassed  the  measure  o' 
the  human  imagination ;  since  it  was  proved  by  experienct 
that  they  were  capable  of  hearing  and  understanding  the 
various  petitions  of  their  numerous  votaries  ;  who,  in  the  sam» 
moment  of  time,  but  in  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  world, 
invoked  the  name  and  assistance  of  Stephen  or  of  Martin.63 
The  confidence  of  their  petitioners  was  founded  on  the  per- 
suasion, 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  par- 
tial affection,  the  places  which  had  been  consecrated  by  their 
birth,  their  residence,  their  death,  their  burial,  or  the  posses 
sion  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  grate- 
ful approbation  of  the  liberality  of  their  votaries  ;  and  the 
sharpest  bolts  of  punishment  were  hurled  against  those  im- 
pious wretches,  who  violated  their  magnificent  shrines,  or 
disbelieved  their   supernatural    power.83     Atrocious,  indeed. 


81  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  in- 
conveniences which  must  arise,  if  they  possessed  a  more  active  and 
sensible  existence. 

M  Vigilantius  placed  the  souls  of  the  prophets  and  martyrs,  either 
ji  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  (in  loco  refrigerii,)  or  else  under  the  altar 
of  God.  Nee  posse  suis  tumulis  et  ubi  voluerunt  adesse  prasentes. 
But  Jerom  (torn.  ii.  p.  122)  .sternly  refutes  this  blasphemy.  Tu  Deo 
leges  pones?  Tu  apostolus  vihcula  injicies,  ut  usque  ad  diem  judicii 
teneantur  custodia,  nee  sint  cum  Domino  suo  ;  de  quibus  scriptum 
est,  Sequuntur  Agnum  quocunque  vadit.  Si  Agnus  ubique,  ergo,  ei 
hi,  qui  cum  Agno  sunt,  ubique  esse  credendi  sunt.  Et  cum  diab^lus 
et  damones  tcto  vagentur  in  orbe,  &c. 

83  Fleurv,  Discours  sur  1'llist.  Ecclesiastique.  iii.  p.  80. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EBTPIRE.  161 

must  lia  vc  been  the  guilt,  and  strange  would  have  been  the 
Bcepticism,  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  invisi- 
ble 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  effo,-i  to  the  contemplation  and 
worship  of  the  Universal  Cause,  eagerly  embraced  such  in- 
ferior 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. eo 

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  cen- 
tury,86 Tertullian,  or  Lactantius,87  had  been  suddenly  raised 

84  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,  chiving  the  obstinate  infidels  to  starve 
among  the  rocks,  &c.  See  the  original  letter  of  Severus,  bishop  of 
Minorca,  (ad  calccm  St.  Augustin.  de  Civ.  Dei,)  and  tiie  judicious 
remarks  of  Basnage,  (torn.  viii.  p.  245 — 251.) 

85  Mr.  Hume  (Essays,  vol.  ii.  p.  434)  observes,  like  a  philosopher, 
he  natural  flux  and  reflux  of  polytheism  and  theism. 

86  D'Aubigne  (see  his  own  Memoires,  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  fc  aggled  for  forty 
years  more,  which  were  indiscreetly  given.  Yet  neither  party  would 
have  found  their  account  m  this  foolish  bargain. 

87  The  w6rship  practised  and  inculcated  by  Tertullian,  Lactantius, 
Arnobius,  &c,  is  so  extremely  pure  and  spiritual,  that  their  declania« 
tions  against  the  Pagan,  sometimes  glance  against  the  Jewish,  cere- 
inciies. 

61* 


162  THE    uECLINE    /  ND    FALL 

from  the  dead,  to  assist  at  the  festival  of  some  popular  saint, 
or  martyr,**8  they  would  have  gazed  with  astonishment,  and 
indignation,  on  the  profane  spectacle,  which  had  succeeded  tc 
the  pure  and  spiritual  worship  of  a  Christian  congregation. 
As  soon  as  the  doors  of  the  church  were  thrown  open,  they 
must  have  heen  otfended  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,  con- 
sisting, 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  Christiana  frequented  the  tombs  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, 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.  When- 
ever 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  pa- 
trons. 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 

88  Faustus  the  Manichaean  accuses  the  Catholics  of  idolatry.  Yer- 
titis  idola  in  martyrcs  .  .  .  quos  votis  similibus  colitis.  M.  de 
Beausobre,  (Hist.  Critique  du  Mamcheisme,  torn.  ii.  p.  629—700.)  a 
Protestant,  but  a  philosopher,  has  represented,  with  candcr  and 
learning,  trie  introduction  of  Christian  idolatry  in  the  fourth  and  tilth 
cenlures. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMVIRE.  163 

deceiving  the  credulity,  and  of  affecting  the  senses  of  man- 
kind : 89  but  it  must  ingenuously  be  confessed,  that  the  minis 
iers  of  the  Catholic  church  imitated  the  profane  model,  which 
they  were  impatiant  to  destroy.  The  most  respectable  bishops 
had  persuaded  themselves,  that  the  ignorant  rustics  would 
more  cheerfullv  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  em- 
pire :  but  the  v'ctors  themselves  were  insensibly  subdued  bv 
the  arts  of  their  vanquished  rivals.90  * 


89  Tho  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.  12(5,  &c.) 

9U  The  imitation  of  Paganism  is  the  subject  of  Dr.  Middleton's 
agreeable  letter  from  Rome.  Warburton's  animadversions  obliged 
1dm  to  connect  (vol,  hi,  p.  120—132)  the  history  of  the  two  religions, 
und  to  prove  the  antiquity  of  the  Christian  copy. 


*  But  there  was  always  this  important  difference  between  Christian  and 
heathen  Polytheism-  tn  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  de?  *.h,  lurked  at  the  bottom, 
and  op  >rated.  to  q.  certain  extent,  on  the  thoughts  and  feelings,  eometirawi 
ua  the  actions.  —  at* 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

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  tr>n 
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  Dan 
ube  to  the   confines  of  Persia  and  ^Ethiopia.     His   youngei 
brother,  Honorius,  assumed,  in   the  eleventh  year  of  his  age 
the   nominal   government  of  Italy,  Africa,  Gaul,  Spain,  ana 
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  prefecture 
of  Illyricum  was   divided  between  the  two  princes  :  the  de- 
fence 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  na 
very  different  from  the   line  which   now  separates  the  Ger 
mans  and  the  Turks  ;  and   the  respective  advantages  of  tern 
164 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  105 

tory,  riches,  populousness,  and  military  strength,  were  fairly 
balanced  and  compensated,  in  this  final  and  permanent  divis- 
ion of  the  Roman  empire.  The  hereditary  sceptre  of  tht» 
Bons  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  anr 
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  rathei 
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  ambi- 
tion and  avarice1  had  urged  Rufinus  to  abandon  his  native 
country,  an  obscure  corner  of  Gaul,~  to  advance  his  fortune 
in  the  capital  of  the  East :  the  talent  of  bold  and  ready  elocu- 
tion3 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  whote  system  of  civil  govern- 
ment, he  acquired  the  confidence  of  a  monarch,  who  »oon 
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 


1  Alecto,  envious  of  the  public  felicity,  convenes  an  infernal  synod ; 
Megaera  recommends  her  pupil  Rufinus,  and  excites  him  to  deeds  of 
mischic-f,  &e.  But  there  is  as  much  difference  between  Claudian's 
fury  a.id  that  of  Virgil,  as  between  the  characters  of  Tumus  and 
Rufinuo. 

3  It  is  evident,  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  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  G&s- 
oony,  (D'Anville,  Notice  de  l'Aiicieime  Gaule,  p.  289.) 

s  PI  dostorgius   1.  xi.  c.  3,  with  (Jcdefroy's  Dissert,  p.  440. 


166 


THE    DECLINE    AND    FALI 


bsnpath  the  mask  of  profound  dissimulation  ;  4  his  passions 
were  subservient  only  to  the  passions  of  his  master;  yet, 
ai  the  horrid  massacre  of  Thessalonica,  the  cruel  Rufinus 
inflamed  the  fury,  without  imitating  the  repentance,  of  The 
odosius.  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  opinior 
die  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  ;  ana 
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  emperoi 
as  an  insult,  which  it  was  incumbent  on  his  dignity  to  re- 
sent. 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  Rarba- 
nans)  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  imperfec' 
and  precarious,  as  long  as  the  important  posts  of  preefect  of 
the  East,  and  of  prcefect  of  Constantinople,  were  filled  by 
Tatian,6  and  his  son  Proculus;  whose  united  authority  bah 
anced,  for  some  time,  the  ambition  and  favor  of  the  master  of 
the  offices.  The  two  pixefects  were  accused  of  rapine  and 
corruption  in  the  administration  of  the  laws  and  finances 
For  the  trial  of  these  illustrious  offenders,  the  emperor  con- 
stituted a  special  commission  :  several  judges  were  named  to 
share  the  guilt  and  reproach  of  injustice  ;  but  the  right  of  pio- 
nouncing  sentence  was  reserved  to  the  president  alone,  and 


4  A  passage  of  Suidas  is  expressive  of  his  profound  dissiinulaticn  . 
&u£i\>yruitm>v  uvfyui/ioc  xui  X[>v\j.<ivuvg. 

6  Zosimus,  1.  iv.  p.  272,  273. 

8  Zosimus,  who  describes  the  fall  of  Tatian  and  his  eon,  (I.  iv.  p. 
273,  274,)  asserts  their  innocence  ;  and  even  his  testimony  may  out- 
weigh the  charges  of  their  enemies,  (Cod.  Theod.  torn.  iv.  p.  489," 
who  accuse  them  of  oppressing  the  Curia.  The  connection  of  Tatiar 
with  the  Arians,  while  he  was  praefect  of  Egypt,  (A.  D.  373,)  incline* 
Tillemont  to  believe  that  he  was  guilty  of  every  crime,  (Hist.  de» 
Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  300.     Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  vi.  p,  589,) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    ENTIRE.  1CJ 

thai  president  was  Rufinus  himself.  The  father,  stripped  of 
Ihe  prefecture  of  the  East,  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon  ;  bill 
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  waa 
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,  con- 
demned, and  beheaded,  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Constantino- 
ple, 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  prsefects 
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,  whim  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  proofect  of  the   East  (for 


Juvenum  rorantia  colla 


Ante  patrum  vultus  stricta  cecidero  securi. 
Ibat  grandicvi  s  nato  moricnte  supcrstes 
Post  trabeas  exsul.  In  Kuhn.  1    248. 

rbc  facts  of  Zosimus  explain  the  allusions  of  Claudian  ;  but  his  clas- 
sic interpreters  were  ignorant  of  the  fourth  century.  The  fatal  com, 
I  found,  with  the  help  of  Tillemont,  in  a  sermon  of  St.  Asterius  oi 
Amasea. 

8  This  odious  law  is  recited  and  repealed  by  Arcadius,  (A.  D.  29fi, 
ji  the  Theodosian  Ocda,  1.  ix.  tit.  xxxviii.  leg.  9.    The  sense,  as  it  is  ex- 


168  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Rufinus  instantly  succeeded  to  the  vacant  honors  of  his  adver- 
sary) was  not  diverted,  however,  by  the  most  criminal  pur- 
suits, 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  him- 
self as  the  sponsor  of  a  proud  and  ambitious  statesman.9 

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  dis- 
turbing the  indolent  slumber  of  a  prince  still  capable  of  ex- 
erting 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  pnefect  considered  as  his  pupil, 
rather  than  his  sovereign.  Regardless  of  the  public  opinion, 
ne  indulged  his  passions  without  remorse,  and  without  resist- 

plained  by  Claudian,  (in  Rufiii.  i.  234,)  and  Godefroy,  (torn,  iii.  p.  270,) 
is  perfectly  clear. 

Exscindere  cives 

Funilitws  ;  et  uoiiien  gentis  delere  laborat. 

The  scruples  of  Pagi  and  Tillemont  can  arise  only  from  their  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  Theodosius. 

9  Ammonius  .  .  .  Kufinum  propriis  manibus  suscepit  sacro  fonte 
mundatum.  See  Kosweyde's  Vita?  Patrum,  p.  947.  Sozomen  (1.  viii. 
c.  17)  mentions  the  church  and  monastery;  and  Tillemont  (Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  ix.  p.  593)  records  this  synod,  in  which  St.  Gregory  of 
Nyssa  performed  a  conspicuous  part. 

in  Montesquieu  (Esprit  des  I.oix,  1.  xii.  c.  12)  praises  one  of  the 
laws  of  Theodosius  addressed  to  the  praefect  Rufinus,  (1.  ix.  tit.  iv.  leg. 
unic.,)  to  discourage  the  prosecution  of  tieasonable,  or  sacrilegious, 
words.  A  tyrannical  statute  always  proves  the  existence  of  tyranny 
but  a  laudable  edict  may  only  contain  the  spei  ious  professions,  or  inef- 
fectual wishes,  of  the  prince,  or  his  ministers  This,  1  am  afraid,  uj  a, 
just,  though  mortifying,  canon  of  criticism. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  169 

ai.ce ,  and  his  malignant  and  rapacious  spirit  rejected  every 
passion  that  might  have  contributed  to  his  own  glory,  or  the 
happiness  ol  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  cf  par- 
tial and  general  extortion  ;  oppressive  taxes,  scandalous  bri- 
be iy,  immoderate  fines,  unjust  confiscations,  forced  or  fictitious 
testaments,  by  which  the  tyrant  despoiled  of  their  lawful  in 
heritance  the  children  of  strangers,  or  enemies  ;  and  the  pub- 
lic sale  of  justice,  as  well  as  of  favor,  which  he  instituted  in 
the  palace  of  Constantinople.  The  ambitious  candidate  eager- 
ly 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  preefect  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 
tne  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  ca- 
price of  the  young  emperor  ;  yet  he  neglected  to  .conciliate  the 
hearts  of  the  soldiers  and  people,  by  the  liberal  distribution  ol 
those  riches,  which  he  had  acquired  with  so  much  toil,  and  with 
bo  much  guilt.  The  extreme  parsimony  of  Rufinus  left  him 
only  the  reproach  and  envy  of  ill-gotten  wealth  ;  his  dependants 

-  fluctibus  auri 


Expleri  sitis  ista  nequit  - 

Congestae  cumulantur  opes ;  orbisque  ruinas 
Accipit  una  domus. 

This  character  (Claudian,  in  Rutin,  i.  184 — 220)  is  confirmed  Dy 
Jerom,  a  disinterested  witness,  (dedecus  insatiabilis  avaritiae,  torn.  L 
ad  Heliodor.  p.  26,)  by  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  28G,)  and  by  Suidas,  who 
copied  the  history  of  Eunapius. 


170  THE    DECLINE    AND    FAuli 

served  him  without  attachment;  the  unnersal  hatred  of  man- 
kind was  repressed  only  by  the  influence  of  servile  fear.  The 
fate  of  Lucian  proclaimed  to  the  East,  that  the  praefect,  vhosj 
industry  was  much  abated  in  the  despatch  of  ordinary  business, 
was  active  and  indefatigable  in  the  pursuit  of  revenge.  Lucian, 
the  son  of  the  praefect  Florentius,  the  oppressor  of  Gaul,  and 
the  enemy  of  Julian,  had  employed  a  considerable  part  of  Ins 
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  pre- 
sumed to  refuse  an  act  of  injustice,  which  might  have  tended 
to  the  profit  of  the  emperor's  uncle;  Arcadius  was  easily  per- 
suaded to  resent  the  supposed  insult ;  and  the  praefect  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  con 
sternation  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  b* 
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  order,  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  ob- 
ject of  his  expedition,  than  he  returned,  amidst  the  deep  and 
silent  curses  of  a  trembling  people,  from  Antioch  to  Constan- 
tinople ;  and  his  diligence  was  accelerated  by  the  hope  of  ac- 
complishing, without  delay,  the  nuptials  of  his  daughter  with 
the  emperor  of  the  East.ia 

Cretera  Begins  ; 


Ad  facinus  vclox  ;  penitus  rugione  remotas 
Im;)igcr  ire  vias. 

This  allusion  of  Olaudian  (in  Rutin,  i.  211)  is  again  explained  by  the 
Circumstantial  narrative  of  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  288,  289.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  171 

Bui  Rufinus  soon  expenen  :erl,  that  a  prudent  minister  should 
constantly  secure  his  royal  captive  by  the  strong,  though  invis- 
ible 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  prse- 
fect  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  daughtei 
of  Rufinus,  who  had  been  chosen,  without  his  consent,  for  his 
bride  ;  and  they  contrived  to  substitute  in  her  place  the  fan 
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.  Thf 
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  under- 
stood 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 
Areadius.15     The  secrecy  and  success  with  which  this  con 


,s  Zosimus  (1.  iv.  p.  243)  praises  the  valor,  prudence,  and  integrity 
of  Bauto  the  Frank.  See  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn,  v 
p.  771. 

14  Arsenius  escaped  from  the  palace  of  Constantinople,  and  passed 
Bfty-five  years  in  rigid  penance  in  the  monasteries  of  Egypt.  Set 
Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xiv.  p.  676 — 702  ;  and  Fleury,  Hist 
Eccles.  torn.  v.  p.  1,  &c. ;  but  the  latter,  for  want  of  authentic  mate- 
rials  has  given  too  much  credit  to  the  legend  of  Mctaphrastes. 

14  This  story  (Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  290)  proves  that  the  hymeneal  rite* 


172  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

spiracy  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  be- 
come 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  foiid  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  praefect  still  exercised  an  uncontrolled  au- 
thority 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 
ihe  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  prosfect,  whose  life  had  been  spent  in 
the  intrigues  of  the  palace,  opposed,  with  equal  arms,  the  art- 
ful measures  of  the  eunuch  Eutropius ;  but  the  timid  soul  of 
Rufinus  was  astonished  by  the  hostile  approach  of  a  more  for- 
midable rival,  of  the  great  Stilicho,  the  general,  or  rather  the 
master,  of  the  empire  of  the  West.16 

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,  wiin 
less  delicacy,  the  express  and  public  consent  of  a  virgin. 

lfl  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  290,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  37,)  and  the  Chronicle 
of  Marcellinus.  Claudian  (in  Rutin,  ii.  7 — 100)  paints,  in  lively 
colors,  the  distress  and  guilt  of  the  prapfect. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  173 

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  splen- 
did 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  Hono- 
rius,  from  the  invectives,  or  the  panegyrics,  of  a  contemporary 
•»riter;  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  exaggera- 
tion, 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  advan- 
tages of  strength  and  stature,  the  most  flattering  bard,  in  the 
presence  of  so  many  thousand  spectators,  would  have  hesi- 
tated 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  valoi 
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 

17  Stilicho,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  the  perpetual  theme  of  Claudian. 
The  youth  and  private  life  of  the  hero  are  vaguely  expressed  in  tha 
poem  on  his  first  consulship,  35 — 140. 

n  Vandalonim,  imbellis,  avarae,  perfidse,  et  dolosse,  gentis,  genert 
feditus.  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  38.  Jerom  (torn.  i.  ad  (ierontiam,  p.  9°* 
lallfl  him  a  Semi-Barbarian. 


174  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

embassy,  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  name ;  and  after  hia 
letun.  to  Constantinople,  his  merit  was  rewarded  by  an  inti- 
mate and  honorable  alliance  with  the  Imperial  family.  Theo- 
dosius  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  ambi- 
tiously 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  infancy  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  dis- 
played, in  the  defence  of  Italy,  against  the  arms  of  Alaric  and 
Radagaisus,  may  justify  the  fame  of  his  early  achievements ; 
anu  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   re- 

19  Claudian,  in  an  imperfect  poem,  has  drawn  a  fair,  perhaps  a  flat- 
tering, portrait  of  Serena.  That  favorite  niece  of  Theodosius  was 
born,  as  well  as  her  sister  Thcrmantia,  in  Spain ;  from  whence,  in 
their  earliest  youth,  they  were  honorably  conducted  to  the  palace  of 
Constantinople. 

2U  Some  doubt  may  be  entertained,  whether  this  adoption  was  legal, 
or  only  metaphorical,  (see  Ducange,  Fam.  Byzant.  p.  75.)  An  old  in- 
scription gives  Stilicho  the  singular  title  of  Vro-gener  Divi  Theodosii. 

21  Claudian  (Laus  Serenae,  190,  193)  expresses,  in  poetic  language, 
"  the  dilectus  equorum,"  and  the  "  gemino  mox  idem  culmine  duxit 
figmina."  The  inscription  adds,  "  count  of  the  domestics,"  an  impor- 
tant command,  which  Stilicho,  in  the  height  of  his  grandeur,  might 
prudently  retain. 

**  The  beautiful  lines  of  Claudian  (in  i.  Cons.  Stilich.  ii.  113)  dis- 
plays his  genius  :  but  the  integrity  of  Stilicho  (in  the  military  admin- 
istration) is  much  more  firmly  established  by  the  unwilling  evidenc* 
of  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  345.) 

M  Si  hellica  moles 

lngrueret,  quamvis  annis  et  jure  minori. 


O*    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  175 

vended,  the  minder  of  Promotus,  his  rival  anj  his  friend  ;  and 
the' massacre  of  many  thousands  of  the  flying  Bastarme  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  hus- 
band 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  faith- 
ful 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, 

Cedere  grandasvos  equitum  peditumque  magistros 
Adspiceres.  Claudian,  Laus  Seren.  p.  196,  &o. 

A  modern  general  would  deem  their  submission  either  heroic  patriot- 
ism or  abject  servility. 

24  Compare  the  poem  on  the  first  consulship  (i.  95 — 115)  with  the 
Laus  Seren/p  (227 — 237,  where  it  unfortunately  breaks  off.)  We  may 
perceive  the  deep,  inveterate  malice  of  Rufinus. 

25  Quem  fratribus  ipse 

Discedens,  clypeum  defensoremque  dedisti. 

Yet  the  nomination  (iv.  Cons.  Hon.  432)  was  private,  (hi.  Cons.  Her. 
142,)  cunctos  discedere  .  .  .  jubet;  and  may  therefore  be  suspected. 
Zosimus  and  Suidas  apply  to  Stilicho  and  liurinus  the  same  equal 
jtle  of  ' ' Eiiirfioitoi,  guardians,  or  procurators. 

*•  The  Roman  law  distinguishes  two  sorts  of  minority,  which  ex- 
pired at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  of  twenty-five.  The  one  was  sub- 
ject to  the  tutor,  or  guardian,  of  the  person  ;  the  other,  to  the  curator, 
or  trustee,  of  the  estate,  (Hcineccius.  Antiquitat.  Rom.  ad  Juris- 
prudent, pertinent.  1.  i.  tit.  xxii.  xxiii.  p.  218 — 232.)  But  these  legal 
ideas  were  never  accurately  transferred  into  the  constitution  of  ao 
occtive  monarchy. 


176  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

returned,  with  incredible  speed,  to  the  palace  of  Milan.*1 
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  ven- 
geance, 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  ^ver 
the  emperor,  and  the  empire,  of  the  East. 

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  citizen  from 
the  rapine  of  the  licentious  soldier.29  Anxious,  however,  and 
impatient,  to  relieve  Italy  from  the  presence  of  this  formida- 
ble 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 

27  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. 

2S  I.  Cons.  Stilich.  ii.  88 — 94.  Not  only  the  robes  and  diadems  of 
the  deceased  emperor,  but  even  the  helmets,  sword-hilts,  belts-  cui- 
rasses, &c.,  were  enriched  with  pearls,  emeralds,  and  diamonds. 

29  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 
Bnd  good  order  which  were  enjoyed  after  his  death,  (i.  Cons.  Stil.  i. 
150—168.) 

30  Stilicho's  march,  and  the  death  of  Rufinus,  are  described  by 
Claudian,  (in  Rufin.  1.  ii.  101—453,)  Zosimus,  (i.  v.  p.  296,  297,)  Sozo- 
oaen,  (1.  viii.  c.  1.)  Socrates,  (1.  vi.  c.  1,)  Philostorgius,  (1.  xi.  c.  3.  vitb 
Godefroy,  p.  441,)  and  the  Chronicle  of  Marcellinus. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    FMPIKE.  177 

the  approach  of  a  warrior  and  a  rival,  whose  enmitj  he  de- 
Berved ;  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  affec- 
tion 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  Barbarian  would 
never  be  diverted  from  his  purpose  by  any  consideration  of 
fear  or  remorse.  The  soldiers  were  easily  persuaded  to  pun- 
ish 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  praefect  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  troopa 
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  haugh- 
tiness, the  wings  insensibly  wheeled  from  the  right  and  left, 
und  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  sol- 
dier plunged  his  sword  into  the  breast  of  the  guilty  praefect, 
and  Rufinus  fell,  groaned,  and  expired,  at  the  feet  of  the 
affrighted  emperor.  If  the  agonies  of  a  moment  could  expi 
62 


178  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ttte  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 
iccompanied  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  maxihis  of  the 
Greek  republics,  his  innocent  family  would  have  shared  the 
punishment  of  his  crimes.  The  wife  and  daughter  of  Rufi- 
nus 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  exercises  of  Christian  devotion,  in  the 
peaceful  retirement  of  Jerusalem.32 

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  har- 
mony 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 


13  The  dissection  of  Rufinus,  which  Claudian  performs  with  the  sav- 
\ge  coolness  of  an  anatomist,  (in  Rutin,  ii.  405 — 415,)  is  likewise 
Bpecified  by  Zosimus  and  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  26.) 

32  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  boust,  that  she  had  never  washed  her 
hands,  face,  or  any  part  of  her  whole  body,  except  the  tips  of  her  fin- 
gers, to  receive  the  communion.     See  the  Vitae  Patrum,  p.  779,  977 

33  See  the  beautiful  exordium  of  his  invective  against  Rufinus, 
which  is  curiously  discussed  by  the  sceptic  Ba/le,  LHctiorjaaire  Cri- 
tique, Rufin.  Not.  E. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  179 

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  cf  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  disappoint- 
ed. 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  scru- 
ple the  interest  of  his  benefactor ;  and  the  same  troops,  wno 
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  calam'ties,  and  to  embrace,  as  their  faithful 
allies,  the  Barbarians,  whom  they  excited  to  invade  the  ter- 


34  See  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  ix.  tit.  xla.  leg,  14.  15.  Th«  new 
ministers  attempted,  with  inconsistent  avarice,  to  seize  the  spoils  of 
their  predecessor,  and  to  provide  for  their  own  future  security. 


180  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ritories  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  digmty, 
of  Roman  senators  ; 36  and  the  Greeks  had  not  yet  forgot  the 
sentiments  of  hatred  and  contempt,  which  their  polished  ances- 
tors had  so  long  entertained  for  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the 
West.  The  distinction  of  two  governments,  which  soon  pro- 
duced 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. 

The  prudent  Stilicho,  instead  of  persisting  to  force  the 
inclinations  of  a  prince,  and  people,  who  rejected  his  govern- 
ment, 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  sig- 
nalized his  military  spirit  and  abilities.  But  if  Stilicho  had 
any  longer  endured  the  revolt  of  Africa,  he  would  have  be- 
trayed 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  pre- 
served 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  admin- 
istration of  justice,  and  of  the  finances,  without  account,  and 

*  See  Claudian,  (i.  Cons.  Stilich.  1.  i.  275,  292,  296,  1.  ii,  83,)  and 
Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  302.) 

36  Claudian  turns  the  consulship  of  the  eunuch  Eutropius  into  a 
national  reflection,  (1.  ii.  134  :)  — 


Plnudentem  cerne  senatum, 

Et  ByzantinoB  proceres  Graiosquc  Quirites  : 
O  patribu9  plebes,  O  digni  const;'-  patres. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  first  symptoms  of  jealousy  and  schism 
between  old  and  new  Rome,  between  the  Greeks  and  Latins. 

37  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. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  181 

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  tem- 
per 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  their  fears,  the  insolent 
suspicion  served  only  to  excite  his  fury,  and  he  loudly  sum- 
moned the  ministers  of  death.  Gildo  alternately  indulged  Ihe 
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  JJarbarians  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  consented  to  govern  that  extensive  country  in  the  name 


**  Instat  terribilis  vivi»,  morientibus  hares, 

Virginibus  raptor,  thalamis  obscoenus  adulter. 
Nulla  quie3  :  oritur  prsedu.  cessante  libido, 
Divitibusque  dies,  et  nox  metuenda  maritis. 

Mauris  clarissima  quaeque 

Fastidita  datur. 

De  Bello  Gildoniro,  165,  189. 
Baronius  condemns,  still  more  severely,  the  licentiousness  of  Gildo ; 
as  his  wife,  his   daughter,  and   his  sister,  were  examples  of  perfect 
ehaetity.    The  adultoiies  of  the  African  soldiers  are  checked  bv  one  of 
tn«  Imperial  Jaws. 


192  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  Honorius  ;  but  his  knowledge  of  the  chai  actor  < .  nd  designs 
of  Stilicho  soon  engaged  him  to  address  his  homage  to  a 
more  distant  and  feeble  sovereign.  The  ministers  of  Arca- 
dius  embraced  the  cause  of  a  perfidious  rebel ;  and  the  delu. 
sive  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 

When  Stilicho  had  given  a  hnn  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  con- 
demnation 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  con- 
scious pride,  the  representation  of  ancient  freedom ;  if  they 
had  not  long  since  been  accustomed  to  prefer  the  solid  assur- 
ance of  bread  to  the  unsubstantial  visions  of  liberty  and 
greatness.  The  subsistence  of  Rome  depended  on  the  har- 
vests of  Africa ;  and  it  was  evident,  that  a  declaration  of  war 
would  be  the  signal  of  famine.  The  praefect  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,  the 
tranquillity,  and  perhaps  the  safety,  of  the  capital  would  be 
threatened  by   the  hungry  rage  of  a   turbulent  multitude.41 

39  Inque  tuam  soriem  numerosas  transtulit  urbes. 

Claudian  (de  Bell.  Gildonico,  230 — 324)  has  touched,  with  political 
delicacy,  the  intrigues  of  the  Byzantine  court,  which  are  likewise 
mentioned  hy  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  302.) 

40  Symmachus  (1.  iv.  epist.  4)  expresses  the  judicial  forms  of  the 
senate;  and  Claudian  (i.  Cons.  Stilich.  1.  i.  325,  &c.)  seemfi  to  feel  the 
spirit  of  a  Roman. 

41  Claudian  finely  displays  these  complaints  of  Symmachus,  in  a 
speech  of  the  goddess  of  Rome,  before  the  throne  of  Jupitei  (de  Bell. 
Uildon   (28—128.)  » 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  1S3 

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 
tilled,  her  dignity  was  vindicated  from  the  humiliating  de- 
pendency, and  the  minds  of  an  immense  people  were  quieted 
by  the  ciJm  confidence  of  peace  and  plenty.4- 

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  forces  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 

42  See  Claudian  (in  Eutrop.  1.  i.  401,  &c.  i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  i.  306,  &c 
D   Cons.  Stilich.  91,  &c.) 

43  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.  (iild.    389—414.)      The   Moorish 
«rir  was  not  worthy  of  Honorius,  or  Stilicho,  &c. 


184  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

by  the  auspicious  names  of  Fortunate,  and  Invincible.     Yei 

such  was  the  smallness  of  their  establishments,  or  the  difficulty 

of  recruiting,  thut  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  now  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 

else  the  consciousness  of  guilt  urges  these   unhappy  men  to 

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  of  Capraria, 

who   were   revered,  by  the   pious   Mascezel,  as   the  chosen 

servants  of  God.47     Some  of  them  were   persuaded,  by  his 

44  Claudian,  Bell.  Gild.  415—423.  The  ohange  of  discipline  allowed 
him  to  use  indifferently  the  names  of  Legio,  Cohort,  Manipulus.  See 
the  Notitla  Imperii,  S.  38,  40. 

45  Orosius  (1.  vii.  c.  36,  p.  565)  qualifies  this  account  with  an  ex- 
pression of  doubt,  (ut  aiunt ;)  and  it  scarcely  coincides  with  the 
towutitis  itSghcg  of  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p^303.)  Yet  Claudian,  alter  some 
declamation  about  Cadmus's  soldiers,  frankly  owns  that  Stilicho  sent 
a  small  army  ;  lest  the  rebel  should  fly,  ne  timeare  times,  (i.  Cons. 
Stilich.  1.  i.  314,  &c.) 

46  Claud.  Rutil.  Numatian.  Itinerar.  i.  439—448.  He  afterwards 
(515 — 526)  mentions  a  religious  madman  on  the  Isle  of  Gorgona. 
For  such  profane  remarks,  ltutilius  aud  his  accomplices  are  styled 
by  his  commentator,  Barthius,  rabiosi  canes  diaboli.  Tillemont  (Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  xii.  p.  471)  more  calmly  observes,  that  the  unbeliev- 
ing poet  praises  where  he  means  to  censure. 

47  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  36,  p.  564.     Augustin  commends  two  of  thest 
■avage  saints  of  the  Isle  of  Goats,  (epist.  lxxxi.  apud  Tillemont,  Mem 
Eccles.  torn.  ziii.   p.  317,   and  Baronius,  Annal.  Eccles    A.  D.  398 
No.  51.) 


OF    THE    nOMAN    EMPIRE.  185 

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  reinforcement, 
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  safe  and  capacious  harbor  of  Cagliari,  at  the 
distance  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  the  African 
6hores.48 

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 
6oldiers,  whilst  he  attracted  to  his  standard  the  distant  tribes  of 
Gaetulia  and- ^Ethiopia.  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  com- 
manded the  legions  of  Honorius,  was  too  well  acquainted  with 
the  manners  of  his  countrymen,  to  entertain  any  serious  appre- 
hension of  a  naked  and  disorderly  host  of  Barbarians  ;  whose 
left  arm,  instead  of  a  shield,  was  protected  only  by  a  mantle ; 
who  were  totally  disarmed  as  soon  as  they  had  darted  their 
javelin  from  their  right  hand  ;  and  whose  horses  had  never 
been  taught  to  bear  the  control,  or  to  obey  the  guidance,  of 
the  bridle.  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.60  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 


48  Here  the  first  book  of  the  Gildonic  war  is  terminated.  The  rest 
»f  Claudian's  poem  lias  been  lost ;  and  we  are  ignorant  how  or  where 
die  army  made  good  their  landing  in  Africa. 

49  Orosius  must  be  responsible  for  the  account.  The  presumption 
ot  Gildo  and  his  various  train  of  Barbarians  is  celebrated  by  Claudian, 
(i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  i.  345—355.) 

6U  St.  Ambrose,  who  had  been  dead  about  a  year,  revealed,   in  a 
vision,  the  time  and  place  of  the  victory.     Mascezel  afterwards  related 
hia  dream  to  Paulinus,  the  original  biographer  of  the  saint,  from  whom 
it  might  easily  pass  to  Orosius. 
G2* 


'i86  THE    DECLINE    AND    FaLL 

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  signal 
the  disaffected  cohorts  proc  aimed  the  name  of  their  lawful 
sovereign  ;  the  Barbarians,  astonished  by  the  defection  of  their 
Roman  allies,  dispersed,  according  to  their  custom,  in  tumult 
uury  flight ;  and  Mascezel  obtained  the  honors  of  an  easy,  and 
almost  bloodless,  victory.51  The  tyrant  escaped  from  the  fielc 
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  crimi- 
nals.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  inter- 
cepted 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  accom- 

61  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  303)  supposes  an  obstinate  combat ;  but  the 
narrative  of  Orosius  appears  to  conceal  a  real  fact,  under  the  disguise 
of  a  miracle. 

M  Tabraca  lay  between  the  two  Hippos,  (Cellarius,  torn.  ii.  p.  ii.  p. 
112;  D'Anville,  torn.  iii.  p.  84.)  Orosius  has  distinctly  named  the 
field  of  battle,  but  our  ignorance  cannot  define  the  precise  situation. 

"  The  death  of  Gildo  is  expressed  by  Claudian  (i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  357) 
and  his  best  interpreters,  Zosimus  and  Orosius. 

**  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 
•eutence,  so  familiar  to  the  friends  of  despotism  : 

Niinqunni  litiertas  gratior  exstat, 

Quain  sub  rege  pio. 

But  the  freedom,  wliich  depends  on  royal  piety,  scarcely  dese>vesthat 
appellation. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  18*5 

plices  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  prosecutiou 
of  the  offences  which  had  been  committed  in  the  time  of  th* 
general  rebellion.55  The  adherents  of  the  tyrant  who  escaped 
the  first  fury  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  judges,  might  derive 
some  consu  ation  from  the  tragic  fate  uf  his  brother,  who  could 
never  obtain  his  pardon  for  the  extraordinary  services  which 
lie  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  accident,  has  been  considered  as  the  crime  of  Stil- 
icho.  In  the  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 

The  joy  of  the  African  triumph  was  happily  connected 
with  thp  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  scat  of  harmony  and  love  ;  the  trium- 
phant progress  of  Venus  over  her  native  seas,  and   the  mild 


65  See  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  ix.  tit.  xxxix.  leg.  3,  tit.  xl.  leg.  19. 

66  Stilicho,  who  claimed  an  equal  share  in  all  the  victories  of  Theo- 
dosius  and  his  son,  particularly  asserts,  that  Africa  was  recovered  by 
the  wisdom  of  his  counsels,  (see  an  inscription  produced  by  Baronius.) 

67  I  have  softened  the  narrative  of  Zosimus,  which,  in  its  crude 
•implicity,  is  almost  incredible,  (1.  v.  p.  303.)  Orosius  damns  the  vic- 
torious general  (p.  538)  for  violating  the  right  of  sanctuary. 

68  Claudian,  as  the  poet  laureate,  composed  a  serious  and  elaborate 
epith;;lam.um  of  340  lines  ;  bosides  some  gay  Fescennines,  which 
jvrre  rtuii^.  in  a  more  licentious  tone,  on  the  wedding  night. 


1S8  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  beau- 
teous 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  or  persuasion,  the 
consummation  of  the  royal  nuptials  ;  Maria  died  a  virgin,  after 
Bhe  had  been  ten  years  a  wife ;  and  the  chastity  of  the  em- 
peror was  secured  by  the  coldness,  or,  perhaps,  the  debility, 
of  his  constitution.00  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  relin- 
quished these  fatiguing  occupations,  and  the  amusement  of 
feeding  poultry  became  the  serious  and  daily  care  of  the  mon- 
arch 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  under- 
standing.02    The  predecessors  of  Honorius  were  accustomed 


59  Calet  obvius  ire 

Jam  princeps,  tardumque  cupit  discedere  solem. 
Nobilis  haud  aliter  sonipes. 

(De  Nuptiis  Honor,  et  Maris,  287,)  and  more  freely  in  the  Fescenninea, 
112 — 116.) 

Dices,  0  quoties,  hoc  milii  dulcius 

Quam  flavos  decies  viucere  Sarmatas. 

Turn  victor  madido  prosilias  toro, 
Nocturni  referens  vulnera  iraelii. 

60  See  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  333. 

61  Procopius  de  Bell.  Uothico,  1.  i.  c.  2.  I  have  borrowed  the  gen- 
eral  practice  of  Honorius,  without  adopting  the  singular,  and,  indeed, 
improbable  tale,  winch  is  related  by  the  Greek  historian. 

"*  Tbe  lessons  of  Theodosius,  nr  rather  Claudian,  (iv.  Cons.  Hour 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMIVRE.  189 

«>  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. 


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. THEY     PLUNDER     GREECE.  --  TWO 

GREAT     INVASIONS    OF    ITALY    BY    ALARIC    AND     RADA'iAISUS. 

THEY     ARE      REPULSED      BY      STILICHO.  THE      GERMAN? 

OVERRUN     GAUL. USURPATION      OF     CONSTANT1NE     IN     THF 

WEST. DISGRACE    AND    DEATH    OF    STILICHO. 

If  the  subjects  of  Rome  could  be  igiorant  of  their  obliga- 
tions to  the  great  Theodosius,  they  we'e  too  soon  convinced, 
how  painfully  the  spirit  and  abilities  of  their  deceased  em- 
peror had  supported  the  frail  and  mouldering  edifice  of  ihe 
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  country- 
men, who  had  been  condemned,  hy  the  conditions  of  the  last 
treaty,  to  a  life  of  tranquillity  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  familial  to 
their  imagination  ;  and  the  various  troops  of  Barbarians,  who 
gloried  in  the  Gothic  name,  were  irregularly  spread  from  the 

1  The  revolt  of  the  Goths,  and  the  blockade  of  Constantinople,  are 
distinctly  mentioned  by  Claudian,  (m  Rutin.  1.  ii.  7 — 100,)  Zosiinus, 
(L  v.  292,)  and  Jornandes,  (de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  29.) 

*  Alii  per  terga  ferocis 

Danubii  solidata  ruunt ;  expertaque  remis 
Frangunt  stagna  rotis. 
Claudian  and  Ovid  often  amuse  their  fancy  by  interchanging  the  met*- 

Ehors  and  properties  of  liquid  water,  and  sulid  ice      Much  false  wit 
a?  been  expended  in  this  easy  exercise. 
190 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  191 

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 
Thoodo.siu3,  was  the  specious  pretence  of  their  revolt :  the 
atrront  was  imbittered  by  their  contempt  for  the  unwarlike 
eons  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  consid 
ered  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  prsefect.  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  descend- 
ed from  the  noble  race  of  the  Balti ; 4  which  yielded  only  to 
the  royal  dignity  of  the  Amali :  he  had  solicited  the  com- 
mand of  the  Roman  armies;  and  the  Imperial  court  pro- 
voked him  to  demonstrate  the  folly  of  their  refusal,  and  the 
importance  of  their  loss.  Whatever  hopes  might  be  enter- 
tained of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople,  the  judicious  gen- 
eral 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 

3  Jerom,  ton.  i.  p.  26.  He  endeavors  to  comfort  his  friend  Helio- 
dorus,  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.  Ecclcs.  torn.  xii.  p.  200,  &c. 

4  Baltha,  or  bold  :  origo  miritica,  says  Jornandes,  (c.  29.)  This  illus- 
trious race  long  continued  to  flourish  in  France,  in  the  Gothic  prov- 
ince of  Septimania,  or  Languedoc  ;  under  the  corrupted  appellation  of 
Boax  :  and  a  branch  of  that  family  afterwards  settled  in  the  kingdom 
•»f  Naples  (Grotius  in  Prolegom.  ad  Hist.  Gothic,  p.  53.)  The  lordi 
of  Baux,  near  Aries,  and  of  seventy-nine  subordinate  ptaces,  were 
independent  of  the  cou-V.s  of  Provence,  (Longuerue,  Description  de 
<a  France,  torn.  i.  p.  357.) 


192  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  riches  in  a  province  which  had  hitherto  escaped  the  rav- 
ages of  war.& 

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  trav- 
ersed, without  resistance,  the  plains  of  Macedonia  and  Thes- 
saly,  as  far  as  the  foot  of  Mount  Oeta,  a  steep  and  woody 
range  of  hills,  almost  impervious  to  bis  cavalry.  They 
stretched  from  east  to  west,  to  the  .edge  of  the  sea-shore  ; 
and  left,  between  the  precipice  and  the  Malian  Gulf,  an  inter- 
val of  three  hundred  feet,  which,  in  some  places,  was  con- 
tracted 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  Thermopylre,  retired,  as  they  were 
directed,  without  attempting  to  disturb  the  secure  and  rapid 
passage  of  Alaric;7  and  the  fertile  fields  of  Phocis  and 
Bosotia  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 


8  Zosimus  (1.  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. 

6  Compare  Horodotus  (1.  vii.  c.  176)  and  Livy,  xxxvi.  15.)  The 
narrow  entrance  of  Greece  was  probably  enlarged  by  each  successive 
ravishcr. 

7  He  passed,  says  Eunapius,  (in  Vit.  1'hilosoph.  p.  93,  edit.  Com- 
toelin,   159(5,)  through  the  straits,    <5/u  r^v   nvkior  (of  Thermopylae 

la^yjitei,  UiO/ity  <5iu  ajtidiuu  Tut   iTMuKQoTuV  ntdiuV  tfji^uif. 


OF   TIIE    ttOMAN    EMPIRE.  193 

gates,  than  to  the  eager  haste  of  Alaric,  who  advanced  to 
occupy  tlit*  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 
irdulged  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,  Athena  itself 
resembled  the  bleeding  and  empty  skin  of  a  slaughtered  vic- 
tim. 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  ene- 
my. The  thick  and  gloomy  woods  of  Mount  Citha?ron  cov- 
ered 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  body  of 
firm  and  intrepid  soldiers  might  have  successfully  defended  a 


8  In  obedience  to  Jerom  and  Claudian,  (in  Rutin.  1.  ii.  191,)  I  have 
mixed  some  darker  colors  in  the  mild  representation  of  Zosimus, 
who  wished  to  soften  the  calamities  of  Athens. 

Nee  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  Vallata  mari  Scironia  rupes, 

Et  duo  continuo  connectens  sequora  muro 
Isthmos. 

Claudian  de  Bel.  Getico,  188. 
The  Scironian  rocks  are  described  by  Pausanias,  (1.  i.  c.  41,  p.  107, 
edit.  Kuhn,)  and  our  modern  travellers,  Wheeler  (p.  436)  and  Chan- 
dler, (p.  298.)     Hadrian  made  the  road  passable  for  two  carriage* 


194  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

temporary  intrenehment  of  five  or  six  miles  from  the  Ionian 
to  the  ^Egean  Sea.  The  confidence  of  the  cities  of  Pelopon- 
nesus 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  prov- 
ince.10 Corinth,  Argos,  Sparta,  yielded  without  resistance  to 
the  arms  of  the  Goths  ;  and  the  most  fortunate  of  the  inhab- 
itants were  saved,  by  death,  from  beholding  the  slavery  of 
their  families  and  the  conflagration  of  their  cities.11  Tho 
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.19 
The  descendant?  of  that  extraordinary  people,  who  had  con- 
sidered valor  and  discipline  as  the  walls  of  Sparta,  no  longer 
remembered  the  generous  rep'y  of  their  ancestors  to  an  inva- 
der 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  antago- 
nists :  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  iEgis,  and  by 

10  Claudian  (in  Rutin.  1.  ii.  13<i,  and  de  Hollo  Gotico.  611,  &c.) 
vaguely,  though  forcibly,  delineates  the  scene  of  rapine  and  destruc- 
tion. 

"  Tglf  nuxafjig  Jitvuiu  xa't  rtrouxic,  &c.  These  gener  ius  lines  ol 
Homer  (Odyss.  1.  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.  1.  ix.  torn.  ii.  p.  737,  edit.  Wechel.) 

12  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  (ii 
Eriphile  for  Achilles)  is  touched  with  admirable  delicacy  by  lla- 
cine. 

w  Plutarch  (in  Pyrrho,  torn.  ii.  p.  471,  edit.  Brian)  gives  tlo  genu- 
ine answer  in  the  Laconic  dialect.  Pyrrhus  attacked  Sparta  with 
25,000  font,  2000  horse,  and  24  elephants ,  and  the  defence  of  that 
open  town  is  a  hue  comment  on  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  even  u  '.he  !«*' 
stage  of  decay. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  195 

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  imagi- 
nary deities  of  Rome  and  Athens.  The  invasion  of  the  Goths, 
instead  of  vindicating  the  honor,  contributed,  at  least  acci- 
dentally, 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 

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  prosper- 
ous 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  doubt- 
ful conflict  between  the  two  generals  not  unworthy  of  eacn 
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 


u  Such,  perhaps,  as  Homer  (Iliad,  xx.  164)  had  so  nobly  painted 
him. 

15  Eunapius  (in  Vit.  Philosoph.  p.  90 — 93)  intimates  that  a  troop 
of  monks  betrayed  Greece,  and  followed  the  Gothic  camp.* 

**  For  Stilicho's  Greek  war,  compare  the  honest  narrative  of  Zosi- 
mus (1.  v.  p.  29.5,  296)  with  the  curious  circumstantial  flattery  of 
Claudian,  (i.  Cons.  Stilich.  1.  i.  172—186,  iv.  Cons.  Hon.  459—487.)  Aa 
the  event  was  not  glorious,  it  is  artfully  thrown  into  the  shade. 


•  The  expression  is  curious  :  ToiuOra;  uvnf  rat  nbXaf  ivliei^t  rrjf  'E\X<iSo',, 
(r*  -iv  Ttl  Qata  \fiana  tx^rwv,  &KU)\bTw;  npomraonaiXOivTiDV,  &cr(@ita.  Vit 
Max.  t.  i.  p.  53,  edit.  Boissonade.  —  M. 


196  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALT. 

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  enter- 
prises, 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  sur 
rounded  his  camp ;  that  he  should  perform  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  march  of  thirty  miles,  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Cor- 
inth ;  and  that  he  should  transport  his  troops,  his  captives,  and 
his  spoil,  over  an  arm  of  the  sea,  which,  in  the  narrow  inter- 
val 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 


17  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  Claudian  (in  iv.  Cons.  Hon.  480)  alludes  to  the  fact  withou» 
naming  the  river ;  perhaps  the  Alpheus,  (i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  i.  185.) 

Et  Alpheus  Geticis  angiisttis  acervis 

Tardior  ad  Siculos  c  damnum  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,  torn.  i.  p.  760.     Chandler's  Travels,  p.  286.) 

19  Strabo,  1.  viii.  p.  517.  Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  iv.  3.  Whee!er,  p.  308 
Chandler,  p.  275.  They  measured,  from  different  points,  the  (litan.'* 
between  the  two  lands. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  197 

sufficien  time  to  conclude  the  treaty,  which  he  secretly 
negotiat  d,  with  the  ministers  of  Constantinople.  The  appre- 
hension of  a  civil  war  compelled  Stilicho  to  retire,  at  the 
haughty  mandate  of  his  rivals,  from  the  dominions  of  Arca- 
dius  ;  and  he  respected,  in  the  enemy  of  Rome,  the  honorable 
character  of  the  ally  and  servant  of  the  emperor  of  the  East 
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  intro- 
duced 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,  per- 
petually 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  em- 
peror 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  dan- 
ger, the  mechanic  from  his  shop,  and  the  philosopher  from  his 
school ;  to  rouse  the  indolent  citizen  from  his  dream  of  pleas- 
ure, 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 

*°  Synesius  passed  three  years  (A.  D.  397 — 400)  at  Constantinople, 
as  deputy  from  Cyrene  to  the  emperor  Arcadius.  He  presented  him 
irith  a  crown  of  gold,  and  pronounced  before  him  the  instructive  ora- 
tion de  Regno,  (p.  1 — 32,  edit.  Petav.  Paris,  1612.)  The  philosoptar 
was  made  bishop  of  Ptolemais,  A.  D.  410,  and  died  about  430.  See 
Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xii.  p.  490,  o54,  683 — 685. 


198  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  stale  of  ignominious- servitude,  which  the  Lacedaemonians 
formelly  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  Spaitan 
king,  had  not  condescended  to  form  a  practicable  scheme, 
consistent  with  the  temper,  and  circumstances,  of  a  degener^ 
ate  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 

,     ™  Synesius  de  Regno,  p.  21 — 26. 

**  qui  fcedera  rumpit 

Ditatur :  qui  servat,  eget :  vastator  Achivae 
Gentis,  et  Epirum  nuper  populatus  inultam, 
Praesidet  Hlyrico  :  jam,  quos  obsedit,  amicos 
Ingreditur  muros  ;  illis  responsa  daturus, 
Quorum  conjugibus  potitur,  natosque  peremit. 
Claudian  in  Eutrop.  1.  ii.  212.     Alaric  applauds  his  own  policy  (de 
Bell.  Getic.  533—543)  in  the  use  which  he  had  made  of  this  IUyrian 
Jurisdiction. 


OF    THE    Rl  MAN    EMPIRE.  199 

cf  his  past  exploits,  and  the  ccnfidcnce  in  his  future  des'gns, 
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  pro- 
claimed king  of  the  Visigoths.53  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 ; 24  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  Constant' nople  had  resisted  his  attack.  But  he  was  temptec 
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 

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 

33  Jornandes,  c.  29,  p.  651.  The  Gothic  historian  adds,  with  un- 
usual spirit,  Cum  suis  deliberans  suasit  suo  labore  quaerere  regna, 
quam  alienis  per  otium  subjacere. 

**  Discors  odiisque  anceps  civilibus  or  bis, 

Non  sua  vis  tutata  diu,  dum  foedera  fallax 
Ludit,  et  alternae  perjuria  venditat  aula?. 

Claudian  de  Bell.  Get.  565. 

**  Alpibus  Italiee  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  rashl  y  fixed, 
the  interpreters  escaped  through  an  ambiguous  meaning. 

M  Our  best  materials  are  970  verses  of  Claudian,  in  the  poem  on  the 
Getic  war,  and  the  beginning  of  that  which  celebrates  the  sixth  con- 
sulship of  Honorius.  Zosimus  is  totally  sdent ;  and  we  are  reduced 
to  such  scraps,  or  rather  crumbs,  as  we  can  pick  from  Orosius  and  the 
Chronicles. 

17  Notwithstanding  the  gross  errors  of  Jornandes,  who  confound* 
the  Italian  wars  of  Alaric,  (c.  29,)  his  date  of  the  consulship  of  Stili- 
sho  and  Aurclian  (A.  D.  400)  is  firm  and  respectable.  It  is  certain 
from  Claudian  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  804)  that  tha 
oattle  of  Polcntia  was  fought  A.  D.  403  ;  but  we  cannot  easily  fill 
the  interval. 


200  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  intrencnments;  the  siege  of  Aquileia,  and  the  conques! 
of  the  provinces  of  Istria  and  Venetia,  appear  to  have  em- 
ployed a  considerable  time.  Unless  his  operations  were  ex- 
tremely 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  im- 
portant events  escape  the  diligence  of  the  historian,  he  may 
amuse  himself  with  contemplating,  for  a  moment,  the  influ- 
ence 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?0  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  cor- 
fined  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  confla- 
gration of  the  whole  country  ;  a  detachment  of  Gothic  cavalry 

u  Tantum  Romanse  urbis  judicium  fugis,  ut  magis  obsidionem  bar- 
Daricam,  quam  pacatce  urbis  judicium  velis  sustinere.  Jerom,  torn.  ii. 
p.  239.  Rufinus  understood  his  own  danger ;  the  peaceful  city  was 
inflamed  by  the  beldam  Marcella,  and  the  rest  of  Jerom's  faction. 

19  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,  L 
xvi.  tit.  v.  leg.  43. 

20  This  epigram  (de  Sene  Veronensi  qui  suburbium  nusquam  egres- 
sus  est)  is  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  pleasing  compositions  of  Clau- 
dian. Cowley's  imitation  (Hurd's  edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  241)  has  some 
natural  and  happy  strokes  :  but  it  is  much  inferior  to  the  original  por- 
trait, which  is  evidently  drawn  from  the  life. 

"  Ingentem  meminit  parvo  qui  germine  quercum 

^Equuevumque  videt  consenuisse  nemus. 


OF    THE    EOMAN    EMPIRE.  20) 

might  sweep  away  his  cottage  and  his  family  ,  and  the  powei 
of  Alaric  could  destroy  this  happiness,  which  he  was  not  abla 
either  to  taste  or  to  bestow.  "  Fame,"  says  the  poet,  "  en- 
circling 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  re- 
proaches 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 

The  emperor  Honorius  was  distinguished,  above  his  sub- 
jects, 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 
Df  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  attend- 
ants, to  some  secure  and  distant  station  in  the  provinces  of 
Gaul.     Stilicho  alone34  had  courage  and  authority  to  resist 


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  thft 
English  poet,  who  was  a  good  botanist,  has  concealed  the  oaks  under 
a  more  general  expression. 

32  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  From  the  passages  of  Paulinus,  which  Baronius  has  produce.!, 
(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. 

34  Solus  erat  Stilicho,  &c,  is  the  exclusive  commendation  which 
Claudian  bestows,  (de  Bell.  Get.  267,)  without  condescending  to  except 
the  emperor.  How  insignificant  must  Honorius  have  appeared  in  nis 
own  court ! 

63 


202  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

this  disgraceful  measure,  which  would  have  abandoned  Rcme 
and  Italy  to  the  Barbarians ;  but  as  the  troops  of  the  palace 
had  been  lately  detached  to  the  Rhsetian  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  re- 
pressed, by  his  unexpected  presence,  the  enemy,  who  had 
disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  Rhsetia.35  The  Barbarians,  per- 
haps 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  stan- 
dard ;  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  cour- 
age, were  exterminated  by  the  Gothic  and  civil  wars ;  and  it 


35  The  face  of  the  country,  and  the  hardiness  of  Stilicho,  are  finelj 
described,  (de  Bell.  Get.  340—363.) 

39  Venit  et  extrtmis  legio  prsetenta  Britannia, 

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  will* 
big  to  allow  for  the  duration  of  the  Gothic  war. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  203 

was  found  impossible,  without  exhausting  and  exposing  tho 
provinces,  to  assemble  an  army  for  the  defence  of  Italy. 

When  Slilicho  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 
obstacle-*  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  trav- 
erse, 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  Aries, 
which  had  often  been  the  royal  residence  of  his  predeces- 
sors.* But  Honorius 38  had  scarcely  passed  the  Po,  before 
he  wa3  overtaken  by  the  speed  of  the  Gothic  cavalry  ;39  since 


37  Every  traveller  must  recollect  the  face  of  Lombardy,  (see  Fon- 
tenelle,  torn.  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'ltalia,  torn.  xvi.  p.  443,  Milan,  1752,  8vo 
edit.) 

33  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  war  is  justified  by  the  Italian  critics,  Sigonius  ^tom. 
i.  P.  ii.  p.  369,  de  Imp.  Occident.  1.  x.)  and  Muratori,  (Annali  d'ltalia, 
torn.  iv.  p.  45.) 

39  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. 

•  According  to  Le  Beau  and  his  commentator  M.  St.  Martin,  Honorius 
did  not  attempt  to  fly.  Settlements  were  offered  to  the  Goths  in  Lom- 
bardy, and  they  advanced  from  the  Po  towards  the  Alps  to  take  possession 
df  them.  But  it  was  a  treacherous  stratagem  of  Stilicho,  who  surprised 
them  while  they  were  reposing  on  the  faith  of  this  treaty.  Le  Beau* 
r.  223.  —  M. 


204  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

the  urgency  of  the  danger  compelled  him  to  seek  a  temporary 
shelter  within  the  fortifications  of  Asta,  a  town  of  Liguna  or 
Piemont,  situate  on  the  banks  of  the  Tanarus.40  The  siege 
of  an  obscure  place,  which  contained  so  rich  a  prize,  anci 
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 
vhrough  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  suc- 
cessively 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  persist- 
ing 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  dis- 
played 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 


40  Asta,  or  Asti,  a  Roman  colony,  is  now  the  capital  of  a  pleasant 
tountry,  which,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  devolved  to  the  dukes  of 
Savoy,  (Leandro  Alberti  Descrizzione  d'ltalia,  p.  382.) 

41  Nee  me  timor  impulit  ullus.  He  might  hold  this  proud  lan- 
guage the  next  year  at  Home,  five  hundred  miles  from  the  seen*  of 
•anger,  (vi.  Cons.  Hon.  449.) 


OF   THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE.  205 

»nd  positive  assurance  that  he  was  resolved  to  find  in  Itai^ 
either  a  kingdom  or  a  grave.42 

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  re- 
solved to  attack  the  Christian  Goths,  whilst  they  were  devout- 
ly 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  Chris- 
tians 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  imme- 


**  Ilanc  ego  vel  victor  regno,  vel  morte  tenebo 

Victus,  humum. 

ITie  speeches  (de  Bell.  Get.  479—549)  of  the  Gothic  NestorT  and 
Achilles,  arc  strong,  characteristic,  adapted  to  the  circumstances  ;  and 
possibly  not  less  genuine  than  thtfse  of  Livy. 

43  Orosius  (1.  vii.  c.  37)  is  shocked  at  the  impiety  cf  the  Romans, 
who  attacked,  on  Easter  Sunday,  such  pious  Christians.  Yet,  at  the 
same  time,  pubdc  prayers  were  offered  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Edossa,  for  the  destruction  of  the  Arian  robber.  See  Tillemont  (Hist, 
des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  529)  who  quotes  a  homily,  which  has  been  ero 
neously  ascribed  to  St.  Chrysostom. 

44  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, 
•*  p«»etrabis  ad  urbern,"  (Cluver.  Ital.  Antiq.  torn.  i.  p.  83 — 85.) 


206  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

diately  led  the  Roman  and  Barbarian  infantjy  to  the  attack. 
The  skill  of  the  general,  and  the  bravery  of  the  soldiers,  sur* 
mounted  every  obstacle.  In  the  evening  of  the  bloody  day, 
the  Goths  retreated  from  the  field  of  battle  ;  the  intrench- 
ments  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  magnifi- 
cent 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  mercv  of  the  insulting  foe  ;  and  many 
thousand  prisoners,  released  trom  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  mem- 
orable  ground,  the  two  most  formidable  enemies  of  Rome.48 

The  eloquence   of  Claudian 49  has  celebrated,  with  lavish 
applause,  the  victory  of  Pollentia,  one  of  the  most  glorious 


45  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 
Caesiodorus  (in  Chron.)  and  Jornandes  (de  Reb.  Get.  c.  29)  claim  a 
decisive  victory. 

48  Demons  Ausonidum  gemmata  monilia  matrum, 
Romanasque  alta  famulas  cervice  petebat. 

De  Pell.  Get.  627. 

47  Claudian  (de  Pell.  Get.  580 — 647)  and  Prudentius  (in  Symmach. 
1.  ii.  694 — 719)  celebrate,  without  ambiguity,  the  Roman  victory  of 
Vollentia.  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. 

*s  Claudian' s  peroration  is  strong  and  elegant ;  but  the  identity  of 
the  Cimbric  and  Gothic  fields  must  be  understood  (like  Virgil's  Phihp- 
pi,  Georgic  i.  490)  according  to  the  loose  geography  of  a  poet.  Vercellsa 
and  Pollentia  are  sixty  miles  from  each  other ;  and  the  latitude  ia 
•till  greater,  if  the  Cimbri  were  defeated  in  the  wide  and  barren  plain 
of  Verona,  (Maffei,  Verona  Illustrata,  P.  i.  p.  54—  62.) 

49  Claudian  and  Prudentius  must  be  strictly  examined,  to  rciuo« 
the  figures,  and  extort  the  historic  senile,  of  those  poets. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  20*i 

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  reproach- 
ful 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  inde- 
pendent 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  achieve 

69  Et  gravant  en  airain  scs  freles  avantages 

De  mes  etats  conquis  enchaincr  les  images. 

fhe  practice  of  exposing  in  triumph  the  images  of  kings  and  provinces 
was  familiar  to  the  Romans.  The  bust  of  Mithridates  himpelf  waa 
twelve  feet  high,  of  mass)  gold,  (Freinshem.  Supplement.  Liviau, 
Mii.  47.) 


208  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ment.  had  resolved  to  occupy  the  important  city  of  Verom, 
which  commands  the  principal  passage  of  the  Rhsetian  Alps ; 
and,  directing   his  march    through    the   territories   of   those 
Gorman  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  mado 
prisoner,  if  the  hasty  rashness  of  the  Alani  had   not  disap- 
pointed 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  Barba- 
rians.    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 
t  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  moment 
of  the  public  safety  is  devoted  to  gratitude  and  joy  ;  but  the 
second  is  diligently  occupied  by  envy  and  calumny.52 

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,  ond 
the  decline  of  the  empire.  After  the  retreat  of  the  Barba- 
rians,  Honorius  was  directed  to  accept  the  dutiful  invitation 

41  The  Getic  war,  and  the  sixth  consulship  of  Honorius,  obscurely 
connect  the  events  of  Alaric's  retreat  and  losses. 

Taceo  de  Alarico  .  .  .  saepe  victo,  saepe  concluso,  semperque  di- 
misso.  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  37,  p.  567.  Claudian  (vi.  Cous.  Hon.  320) 
drops  the  curtain  with  a  fine  image. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  209 

of  th^  senate,  and  to  celebrate,  in  the  Imperial  city,  the 
auspicious  aera  cf  the  Githic  victoiy,  and  of  his  sixth  consul- 
ship.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  destruc- 
tion 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  frequen* 
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  Impe- 
rial chariot,  was  treated  with  the  decent  reverence  which  Stil- 
icho 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. 

In  these  games  of  Honorius,  the  inhuman  combats  of  gladi- 
ators55 polluted,  for  the  last  time,  the  amphitheatre  of  Rome. 


53  The  remaindor  of  Claudian's  poem  on  the  sixth  consulship  of 
Honorius,  describes  the  journey,  the  triumph,  and  the  games,  (330 — 
660.) 

54  See  the  inscription  in  Maseou's  History  of  the  Ancient  Germans, 
viii.  12.  The  words  are  positive  and  indiscreet :  Getarum  nationerr- 
in  omne  a?vum  domitam,  &c.      , 

**  On  the  curious,  though  horrid,  subject  of  the  gladiators,  consult 
.he  two  bonks  of  the  Saturnalia  of  Lipsius,  who  as  an  antiquarian,  in 
Inclined  tc  excuse  the  practice  6i antiquity,  (torn.  iii.  p.  4S3 — 545.) 

63* 


2J0  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  first  Christian  emperor  may  claim  the  honor  of  the  firs? 
edict  which  condemned  the  art  and  amusement  of  shedding 
human  blood;56  but  this  benevolent  law  expressed  the  wis  iea 
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  victoiy  of  Pollentia,  a  Christian  poet  exhort- 
ed the  emperor  to  extirpate,  by  his  authority,  the  horrid  custom 
which  had  so  long  resisted   the   voice  of  humanity  and  reli- 
gion.07    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  sub- 
sided ;  they  respected  the   memory  of  Telemachus,  who  had 
deserved  the  honors  of  martyrdom  ;  and  they  submitted,  with- 
out a  murmur,  to  the  laws  of  Honorius,  which  abolished  for- 
ever the  human  sacrifices  of  the  amphitheatre.*    The  citizens, 
who  adhered  to  the  manners  of  their  ancestors,  might  perhaps 

5J  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  xv.  tit.  xii.  leg.  i.  The  Commentary  of  Gode- 
froy  affords  large  materials  (torn.  v.  p.  396)  for  the  history  of  gladia- 
tors. 

67  See  the  peroration  of  Frudentius  (in  Symmach.  1.  ii.  1121 — 1131) 
who  had  doubtless  read  the  eloquent  invective  of  Lactantius,  (Divin. 
Institut.  1.  vi.  c.  20.)  The  Christian  apologists  have  not  spared  these 
bloody  games,  which  were  introduced  in  the  religious  festivals  of 
Paganism. 

55  Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  26.  I  wish  to  believe  the  story  of  St.  Telema- 
chus. Yet  no  church  has  been  dedicated,  no  altar  has  been  erected,  to 
the  only  monk  who  died  a  martyr  iu  the  cause  of  humanity. 


*  Muller,  in  Iris  valuable  Treatise,  fie  Genio.  moribus  et  luxu  sevl  Thec- 
dosiani,  is  disposed  to  question  the  effect  produced  by  the  heroic,  or  rather 
laintly,  death  of  Telemachus.  No  prohibitory  law  of  Honorius  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  only  the  old  and  imperfect  edict  of  Con- 
stantine.  But  Mulk-r  has  produced  no  evidence  or  allusion  to  gladiatorial 
Bhosvs  after  this  period.  The  combats  with  wild  beasts  certainly  lusted  ti.1! 
the  fall  of  the  Western  empire;  but  the  gladiatorial  combats  ceased  eit*»*r 
V)  common  consent,  or  by  Imperial  edict. —  M 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  211 

insinuate  that  the  last  remains  of  a  martial  spirit  were  preserved 
in  this  school  of  fortitude,  which  accustomed  the  Romans  io 
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  !  d9 

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  cov- 
ered 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/'0  which  they  afterwards  resigned  to  the 
natives  of  Umbria.  Augustus,  who  had  observed  the  oppor- 
tunity 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  establish- 
ment, which  included  the  arsenals  and  magazines,  the  bar- 
racks 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  quar- 
ters 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  info  the  profound  ditches  that  encom- 
passed the  walls ;  they  were  distributed,  by  a  thousand  sub- 
ordinate canals,  into  every  part  of  the  city,  which  they  divided 
into  a  variety  of  small  islands  ;  the  communication  was  main- 
tained only  by  the  use  of  boats  and  bridges  ;  and  the  houses 

59  Crudcle  gladiatorum  spectaculum  et  inhumanum  nonnullis  videri 
polet,  et  haud  acio  an  ita  sit,  ut  nunc  tit. '  Cicero  Tusculan.  ii.  17.  He 
faintly  censures  the  abuse,  and  warmly  defends  the  icse,  of  these  sports  ; 
oculis  nulla  poterat  esse  fortior  contra  dolorem  et  mortem  disciplina.. 
Seneca  (epist.  vii.)  shows  the  feelings  of  a  man. 

60  This  account  of  Ravenna  is  drawn  from  Strabo,  (1.  v.  p.  327,) 
Plinv,  (iii.  20, )  Stephen  of  Byzantium,  (sub  voce  rFupivva,  p.  G51,  edit. 
Berkel,)  Claudian,  (in  vi.  Cons.  Honor.  494,  &c.,)  Sidonius  Apollina- 
ris,  (1.  i.  epist.  5,  8,)  Jornandes,  (de  Reb.  Get.  c.  29,)  Procopius,  (do 
Bell.  Gothic.  1.  i.  c.  i.  p.  309,  edit.  Louvre,)  and  (,'luverius,  (Itai. 
Antiq.  torn.  i.  p.  301 — 307.)  Yet  I  still  want  a  local  antiquarian,  and 
t  good  topographical  map. 


212  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL 

of  Ravenna,  whose  appearance  may  be  compared  to  that  of 
Venice,  were  raised  on  the  foundation  of  wooden  piles.  Tha 
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.01  The  air,  instead  of  receiving  the  sickly,  and  almost 
pestilential,  exhalations  of  low  and  marshy  grounds,  was  dis- 
tinguished, like  the  neighborhood  of  Alexandria,  as  uncom- 
monly 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  sera,  the  port  of  Augustus  was  converted  into  pleas- 
ant orchards  ;  and  a  lonely  grove  of  pines  ccvered  the  ground 
where  the  Roman  fleet  once  rode  at  anchor.62  Even  thin 
alteration  contributed  to  increase  the  natural  strength  01 
the  place  ;  and  the  shallowness  of  the  water  was  a  sufiv 
cient  barrier  against  the  large  ships  of  the  enemy.  This- 
advantageous  situation  was  fortified  by  art  and  labor ;  and  id 
the  twentieth  year  of  his  age,  the  emperor  of  the  West,  anx- 
ious only  for  his  personal  safety,  retired  to  the  perpetual  con- 
finement 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  eighth 

ei  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  com- 
plains that  the  town  is  destitute  of  fountains  and  aqueducts  ;  and 
r^-nks  the  want  of  fresh  water  among  thb  local  evils,  such  as  tha 
croaking  of  frogs,  the  stinging  of  gnats,  &c. 

32  The  fable  of  Theodore  and  Honoria,  which  Dryden  has  so  admi- 
rably transplanted  from  Boccaccio,  (Giornata  iii.  novell.  viii.,)  was  act- 
^d  in  the  wood  of  Chiassi,  a  corrupt  word  from  Classis,  the  naval  sta- 
tion, \»  hich,  with  the  intermediate  road,  or  suburb,  the  Via  CtaartM, 
oou&tituted  the  triple  city  of  Ravenna. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  213 

century,  Ravenna  was  considered  as  the  seat  of  government 
and  the  capital  of  Italy.63 

The  fears  of  Honorius  were  not  without  foundation,  noi 
were  his  precautions  without  effect.  While  Italy  rejoiced  in 
her  deliverance  from  the  Goths,  a  furious  tempest  was  ex- 
cited among  the  nations  of  Germany,  who  yielded  to  the  irre- 
sistible impulse  that  appears  to  have  been  gradually  commu- 
nicated from  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  continent  of  Asia. 
The  Chinese  annals,  as  they  have  been  interpreted  by  the 
♦learned  industiy  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  independ- 
ent 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  formida- 
ble power.  The  Topa  soon  compelled  the  pastoral  nations 
of  the  eastern  desevt  to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  their 
arms  ;  they  invaded  China  in  a  period  of  weakness  and  intes- 
tine 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  gener- 
ations 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  numer- 
ous 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  exer- 
cised 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 


*3  From  the  year  404,  the  dates  of  the  Theodosian  Code  become 
•edentary  at  Constantinople  and  Ravenna.  See  Godefroy's  Chronol- 
ogy of  the  Laws,  torn.  i.  p.  cxlviii.,  &c. 


214  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  gov- 
ernment. 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  vic- 
tory.64 

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  Bar- 
barians, and  the  experience  of  successive  emigrations,  suffi- 
ciently 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  ;  *  and  the  nations  who  retreated 
before  them  must  have  pressed  with  incumbent  weight  on 
the  confines  of  Germany.66  The  inhabitants  of  those  regions, 
which  the  ancients  have  assigned  to  the  Suevi,  the  Vandals, 
and  the  Burgundians,  might  embrace  the  resolution  of  aban- 
doning to  the  fugitives  of  Sarmatia  their  woods  and  morasses ; 
or  at  least  of  discharging  their  superfluous  numbers  on  the 

64  See  M.  de  Guignes,  Hist,  des  Huns,  torn,  i  p.  179—189,  torn.  ii. 
p.  295,  334—338. 

63  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  ih.  c  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. 


*  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  Rada- 
guisus,  particularly  the  Vandals,  had  lorg  occupied  a  more  southern 
position. — M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE,  215 

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  Rada- 
gaisus,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  adven- 
turers 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  ;63 
and  the  whole  multitude,  which  was  not  less  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  fighting  men,  might  be  increased,  by  the  acces- 
sion 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 


66  Zosimus  (1.  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  The  name  of  Rhadagast  was  that  of  a  local  deity  of  the  Obo- 
trites,  (in  Mecklenburg.)  A  hero  might  naturally  assume  the  appel- 
lation 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.* 

68  Olympiodorus  (apud  Photium,  p.  180,  uses  the  Greek  word 
*07irtnuToi  ;  which  does  not  convey  any  precise  idea.f  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  cen- 
turies afterwards. 


*  The  god  of  war  and  of  hospitality  with  the  Vends  and  nil  the  Sclavo- 
nian  races  of  Germany  bore  the  name  of  Eadegast,  apparently  the  same 
with  Rhadagaisus.  His  principal  temple  was  at  Rhetra  in  Mecklti.burg. 
It  was  adorned  with  great  magnificence.  The  statue  of  the  god  was  of 
(<old.  St.  Martin,  v.  235.  A  statue  of  Radegast,  of  much  coarser  mate- 
rials, 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  Alter- 
ttiumer  der  Obotriter  —  by  Masch  and  Wogen.    Berlin,  1771.  — M. 

f  'Onniidrot  is  merely  the  Latin  translation  of  the  word  *i.£aAai<Sra«.  It 
Is  not  quite  clear  whether  Gibbon  derived  his  expression,  "glittered  in 
the  van,"  from  translating  the  woid  "  leaders."  —  M. 


216  TIIE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

forth  the  myriads  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutcnes,  to  assauit 
Rome  and  Italy  in  the  vigor  of  the  republic.  After  the  de- 
parture 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 
novvers  of  generation,  and  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  the  in- 
flux 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  do- 
minion and  property. 

The  correspondence  of  nations  was,  in  that  age,  so  imper- 
fect ana  precarious,  that  the  revolutions  of  the  North  might 
escape  tne  knowledge  of  the  court  of  Ravenna  ;  till  the  dark 
cioud,  winch  was  collected  along  the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  burst 
in  munder  upon  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Danube.  The  em- 
peror of  ine  West,  if  his  ministers  disturbed  his  amusement* 
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  Stili- 
cho ;  but  such  was  the  feeble  and  exhausted  state  of  the  em- 
pire, thai  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  Hono- 
rius  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 


69  Tacit,  de  Moribus  Germanorum,  c.  37. 

70  Cujus  agendi 

Spectator  vcl  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  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  331)  transports  the  war,  and  the  victory  of  Stili- 
cho,  beyond  the  Danube.  A  strange  error,  which  is  awkwardly  and 
imperfectly  cured,  by  reading  \4qrov  for  'Iotqov,  (Tillemont,  Hist,  des 
Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  807.)  In  good  policy,  we  must  use  the  service  of 
Zosimus,  without  esteeming  or  trusting  him. 

72  Codex  Theodos.  1.  vii.  tit.  xiii.  leg.  16.  The  date  of  this  .aw 
(A.  D.  406,  May  18)  satisfies  me,  as  it  had  done  Gcdefroy,  (torn,  ii 


OF   TIIE    ROMAN    EMriSS.  217 

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,  Hul- 
din  and  Sarus,  were  animated  by  interest  and  resentment  to 
oppose  the  ambition  of  Radagaisus.  The  king  of  the  con- 
federate 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 
nxed  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  de- 
stroyed ;  and  the  siege  of  Florence,74  by  Radagaisus,  is  one 
of  the  earliest  events  in  the  history  of  that  celebrated  repub- 
lic ;  whose  firmness  checked  and  delayed  the  unskilful  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 


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. 

75  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, 
vii.  25.)  This  declaration  may  puzzle  an  antiquary,  but  it  is  clearly 
explained  by  Montesquieu. 

74  Machiavel  has  explained,  at  least  as  a  philosopher,  the  origin  of 
Florence,  which  insensibly  descended,  for  the  benefit  of  trade,  from 
the  rock  of  Fcesulse  to  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  (Istoria  Fiorentina, 
torn.  i.  1.  ii.  p.  36.  Londra,  1747.)  The  triumvirs  sent  a  colony  to 
Florence,  which,  under  Tiberius,  (Tacit.  Annal.  i.  79.)  deserved  tha 
reputation  and  name  of  a  flourishing  city.  See  Claver  Ital.  Antiq. 
torn.  i.  p.  1 07,  &c. 


218  THE    DECLINE   AND   TALL 

religion,  and  even  the  language,  of  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
South.  The  fierceness  of  his  temper  was  exasperated  bv 
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  illus- 
trious 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  vo- 
taries 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  countiy,  which  condemned  the  faith  of 
their  Christian  adversaries.75* 

Florence  was  rsduced  to  the  last  extremity  ;  and  the  faint- 
ing 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  vari- 
ously 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,  ascribe  this  miraculous  victory  to  the 
providence  of  God,  rather  than  to  the  valor  of  man.77     They 

'*  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  abhorred  the  human 
sacrifices  of  Gaul  and  Germany. 

78  Paulinus  (in  Vit.  Ambros.  c.  50)  relates  this  story,  which  he 
received  from  the  mouth  of  Pansophia  herself,  a  religious  matron  ol 
Florence.  Yet  the  archbishop  soon  ceased  to  take  an  active  part  in 
the  business  of  the  world,  and  never  became  a  popular  saint. 

77  Augustin  de  Civitat.  Dei,  v.  23.  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  37,  p.  567 — 
571.     The  two  friends  wrote  in  Africa,  ten  or  twelve  years  after  the 


*  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 
Beugnot,  ii   25.  —  M. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  229 

Btilctly  exclude  every  idea  of  chance,  or  even  of  bloodshed 
and  positively  athrm,  that  the  Romans,  whose  camp  was  the 
scene  of  plenty  and  idleness,  enjoyed  the  distress  of  the  Bar- 
barians, slowly  expiring  on  the  sharp  and  barren  ridge  of  the 
hills  of  Fsesulre,  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  dis- 
missed 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.  Tii"  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  the  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  men79  was  gradually  destroyed,  by  famine  rather  than  by 


viocory  ;  and  their  authority  is  implicitly  followed  by  Isidore  of  Se- 
ville, (in  Chron.  p.  713,  edit.  Grot.)  How  many  interesting  facts 
might  Orosius  have  inserted  4n  the  vacant  space  which  is  devoted  to 
pious  nonsense  ! 

n  Franguntur  montes,  planumque  per  ardua  Caesar 

Ducit  opus  :  pandit  fossas,  turritaque  summis 

Disponit  castella  jugis,  magnoque  necessft 

Amplexus  fines,  saltus,  memorosaque  tesqua 

Et  silvas,  vastaque  feras  indagine  claudit. 

Vet  the  simplicity  of  truth  (Caesar,  de  Bell.  Civ.  iii.  44)  is  far  greater 
than  the  amplifications  of  Lucan,  (Pharsal.  1.  vi.  29 — 63.) 

79  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  Fajsuhe,  only  three  miles  from 
Florence,  might  afford  space  for  the  head-quarters  of  Itadagaisus,  and 
would  oe  comprehended  within  the  circuit  of  the  Roman  lines. 


220  THE    DECLINE    AND    FjU.L 

the  sword  ;  but  the  Romans  were  exposed,  during  the  progress 
of  such  an  extensive  work,  to  the  frequent  attacks  of  an  impa- 
tient enemy.  The  despair  of  the  hungry  Barbarians  would  pre- 
cipitate them  against  the  fortifications  of  Stilicho  ;  the  genera- 
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  seasonaole 
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  con- 
temptible price  of  as  many  single  pieces  of  gold ;  but  the 
difference  of  food  and  climate  swept  away  great  numbers  of 


80  See  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  331,  and  the  Chronicles  of  Prosper  and 
Marcellinus. 

81  Olympiodorus  (apud  Photium,  p.  180)  uses  an  expression  (nqo- 
oTjiaiQioaTo)  which  would  denote  a  strict  and  friendly  alliance,  and 
render  Stilicho  still  more  criminal.  The  paulisper  detentus,  deinde 
interfectus,  of  Orosius,  is  sufficiently  odious.* 

88  Orosius,  piously  inhuman,  sacrifices  the  king  and  people,  Agag 
and  the  Amalekites,  without  a  symptom  of  compassion.  The  bloody 
aetor  is  less  detestable  than  the  cool,  unfeeling  historian,  f 


*  Gibbon,  by  translating  this  passage  of  Olympiodorus,  as  if  it  had  been 
good  Greek,  has  probably  fallen,  into  an  error ;  out  KaTcmo>.ifiiioa$  TriXi^v 
'Poboyaioov  npoariTaipiaar:.  The  natural  order  of  the  words  is  as  Gibbon 
translates  it ;  but  npoattTaipiaaro,  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. 

f  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  Rada- 
gaisus, if,  as  it  appears,  he  was  taken  in  arms,  cannot  deserve  Gibbon's 
•evere  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,  attritutes  the  execution 
to  the  Gothic  chiefs,  Huldin  and  Sarus.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  221 

those  unhappy  strangers ;  and  it  was  observed,  that  the  in- 
human purchasers,  instead  of  reaping  the  fruits  of  their  labor, 
were  soon  obliged  to  provide  the  expense  of  their  interment. 
Stihcho  informed  the  emperor  and  the  senate  of  his  success , 
and  deserved,  a  second  time,  the  glorious  title  of  Deliverer 
of  Italy.83 

The  fame  of  the  victory,  and  more  especially  of  the  mira- 
cle, 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 
Scch  indeed  was  the  fate  of  Radagaisus  himself,  of  his  brave 
end  faithful  companions,  and  of  more  than  one  third  of  the 
various  multitude  of  Sueves  and  Vandals,  of  Alani  and  Bur- 
gundians,  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 
ppinions,  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  thou- 
sand men,  still  remained  in  arms,  between  the  Apennine  and 
the  Alps,  or  between  the  Alps  and  the  Danube.  It  is  uncer- 
tain whether  they  attempted  to  revenge  the  death  of  their 
general ;  but  their  irregular  fury  was  soon  diverted  by  the 
piudence  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  sac 
rificed,  with  too  much  indifference,  the  wealth  and  tranquillity 
Df  the  distant  provinces.85  The  Barbarians  acquired,  from  the 
junction  of  some  Pannonian  deserters,  the  knowledge  of  the 

83  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  thav 
the  state  could  no  longer  be  saved,  Stilicho  (after  Romulus,  Camillus, 
and  Marius)  might  have  been  worthily  surnamed  the  fourth  founder 
of  Rome. 

84  A  luminous  passage  of  Prosper's  Chronicle,  "  In  tres  partes,  per 
diversos  principes,  diversus  exercitus,"  reduces  the  miracle  of  Florence, 
*nd  connects  the  history  of  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Germany. 

96  Orosius  and  Jerom  positively  charge  him  with  instigating  the  m- 
ttijuon.  "Excitatae  a  Stilichone  gentes,"  &c.  They  must  mean 
indirectly.    lie  saved  Italy  at  the  expense  of  Gaul. 


222  THE   DECLINE    AAD    FALL 

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 

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  empire.  In  the  rapid 
progress  down  the  Rhine,  which  was  the  first  act  of  the 
administration  of  Stilicho,  he  had  applied  himself,  with  pecu- 
liar 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  con- 
victed, before  the  tribunal  of  the  Roman  magistrate,  of  vio- 
lating the  faith  of  treaties.  He  was  sentenced  to  a  mild,  but 
distant,  exile,  in  the  province  of  Tuscany ;  and  this  degra- 
dation 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, 

86  The  Count  de  Buat  is  satisfied,  that  the  Germans  who  invaded 
Gaul  were  the  two  thirds  that  yet  remained  of  the  army  of  Radagai- 
bus.  See  the  Histoire  Ancienne  des  Peuples  de  l'Europe,  (torn.  vii. 
p.  87,  121.  Paris,  1772  ;)  an  elaborate  work,  which  I  had  not  the  ad- 
vantage of  perusing  till  the  year  1777.  As  early  as  1771,  I  find  the 
name  idea  expressed  in  a  rough  draught  of  the  present  History.  1 
have  since  observed  a  similar  intimation  in  Mascou,  (viii.  15.)  Such 
agreement,  without  amtual  communication,  may  add  some  weight  to 
our  common  sentiment. 

87  Provincia  missos 

Expellet  citius  fasces,  quam  Francia  reges 
Quos  dederis. 

Claudian  (I.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  i.  235,  &c.)  is  clear  and  satisfactory.  These 
kings  of  France  are  unknown  to  Gregory  of  Tours ,  but  the  author 
Df  the  Gesta  Francorum  mentions  both  Sunno  and  Marcomir,  and 
names  the  latter  as  the  father  of  Pharamond,  (in  torn  ii.  p.  543.)  He 
Eeems  to  write  from  good  materials,  which  he  did  not  un  Jarstflnd. 


OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  223 

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  prov- 
inces of  Gaul.  This  memorable  passage  of  the  Suevi,  the 
Vandals,  the  Alani,  and  the  Burgundians,  who  never  after- 
wards 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 

While  the  peace  of  Germany  was  secured  by  the  attach- 
ment 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  gaze  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 


88  See  Zosimus,  (1.  vi.  p.  373,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  40,  p.  576,)  and 
the  Chronicles.  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  ii.  e.  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  Chris- 
tian, a  Roman  subject,  and  a  Semi-Barbarian. 

89  Claudian  (i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  i.  221,  &c,  1.  ii.  186)  describes  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Gallic  frontier.  The  Abbe  Dubor  (Hist. 
Critique,  &c,  torn.  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  examine 
lion  of  our  antiquaries. 

w  Germinasque  viator 

•  Cum  videat  ripas,  quae  sit  Romana  requirat. 


224  "fl£    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

frc*n  the  desolation  of  man.  The  nourishing  city  of  Menti 
w&s  surprised  and  destroyed ;  and  many  thousand  Christians 
weie  inhumanly  massacred  in  the  church.  Worms  perished 
uner  a  long  and  obstinate  siege  ;  Strasburgh,  Spires,  Rneims, 
Tournay,  Arras,  Amiens,  experienced  the  cruel  oppression 
of  the  German  yoke ;  and  the  consuming  flames  of  wai 
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  eccle- 
siastics, to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  vague  description 
of  the  public  calamities,  embraced  the  opportunity  of  exhort- 
ing 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  contro- 
versy,92 which  attempts  to  sound  the  abyss  of  grace  and  pre- 
destination, soon  became  the  serious  employment  of  the  Latin 
clergy,  the  Providence  which  had  decreed,  or  foreseen,  01 
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  con- 
nected 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  un- 
equal to  the  arduous  task;  and  the  Barbarian  auxiliaries 
might  prefer  the  unbounded  license  of  spoil  to  the  benefits 


91  Jerom,  torn.  i.  p.  93.  See  in  the  1st  vol.  of  the  Historians  ol 
France,  p.  777,  782,  the  proper  extracts  from  the  Carmen  de  Providen- 
tia  Divina,  and  Salvian.  The  anonymous  poet  was  himself  a  captive, 
with  his  bishop  and  fellow-citizens. 

•*  The  Pelagian  doctrine,  which  was  first  agitated  A.  D.  405,  wai 
condemned,  in  the  space  of  ten  years,  at  Rome  and  Carthage.  Su 
Augustin  fought  and  conquered  ;  but  the  Greek  church  was  favora- 
ble to  his  adversaries  :  and  (what  is  singular  enough)  the  people  did 
not  take  any  part  in  a  dispute  which  tncy  could  not  understand. 


OF   THE   ROMAN    ENTIRE.  22f» 

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,  ana 
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  obsta- 
cles 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  spirt ;  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. 

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  char- 
acter of  Honorius  must  have  tended  to  dissolve  the  bonds  of 
allegiance,  and  to  exasperate  the  seditious  temper  of  the  Brit- 

M  See  the  Memoires  de  Guillaume  du  Bellay,  1.  vi.  In  French,  tie 
original  reproof  is  less  obvious,  and  more  pointed,  from  the  double 
sense  of  the  word  journ6e,  which  alike  signifies,  a  day's  travel,  or  a 
battle. 

•4  Claudian,  (i.  Cons.  Stil.  1.  ii.  250.)  It  is  supposed  that  the  Scot* 
of  Ireland  invaded,  by  sea,  the  whole  western  coast  of  Britain  :  and 
some  slight  credit  may  be  given  even  to  Nennius  and  the  Irish  tradi- 
tions, (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,  Amiquit. 
Eccles.  Britann.  p.  4c  1,  and  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xvi.  p.  456, 
782,  fcc^ 

64 


226  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ish  array.  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  in- 
struments, and  at  length  the  victims,  of  their  passion.95  Mar- 
cus 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,  Gra- 
tian 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  appella- 
tion.95 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  in- 
considerable 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 

•*  The  British  usurpers  are  taken  from  Zosimus,  (1.  vi.  p.  371 — 375,1 
Orosius,   (1.  vii.  c.  40,  p.  576,  577,)   Olynipiodorus,   (apud  Photium, 

L180,  181,)  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  and  the  Chronicles.     The 
tins  are  ignorant  of  Marcus. 

H  Cum  in  Constantino  inconstantiam  .  .  .  execrarentur,  (Sidoniu» 
Apoliinaris,  1.  v.  epist.  9,  p.  139,  edit,  secund.  Sirmond.)  Yet  Sido- 
nius  might  be  tempted,  by  so  fair  a  pun,  to  stigmatize  a  prineo  -who 
bad  disgraced  his  grandfather 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  %lYl 

protect  the  unhappy  country  from  the  n.ge  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  expen- 
sive  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  treas- 
ures 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  dan- 
ger. 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  Nevi- 
gastes,  the  former  of  whom  was  slain  in  the  field  of  battle,  the 
latter  in  a  peaceful  but  treacherous  interview,  Constantine  for- 
tified 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  fron- 
tier were  guarded  by  the  troops  of  the  empire,  whose  anus 
would  have  been  more  usefully  employed  to  maintain  die 
Roman  limits  against  the  Barbarians  of  Germany  and  Scytnia. 
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  ihe 
Gallic  prefecture.  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  Thecdosius.     Four 


""  Bagaudce  is  the  name  which  Zosimus  applies  to  them  ;  perhaps 
tney  deserved  a  less  odious  character,  (see  Duhoa,  Hist.  Critique,  torn. 
I.  p.  203,  and  this  History,  vol.  i  p.  407.)  We  shall  hear  of  them 
%gaic. 


228  THE   DECLINE   AN0   PALL 

brothers98  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  un- 
successful 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  con- 
siderable 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  Hono- 
rians ; "  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  dis- 
tributed 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  Aries ;  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  arid  war  have  undoubtedly  been  diminished  by  the  nar- 
row and  imperfect  view  of  the  historians  of  the  times,  who 

M  Verinianus,  Didymus,  Theodosius,  and  Lagodiu9,  -who  in  modera 
courts  would  be  styled  princes  of  the  blood,  were  not  distinguished 
by  any  rank  or  privileges  above  the  rest  of  their  fellow-subjects. 

"  These  Honoriani,  or  Honoriaci,  consisted  of  two  bands  of  Scots,  ot 
Attacotti,  two  of  Moors,  two  of  Marcomanni,  the  Victores,  the  Ascaiii, 
and  the  Gallicani,  (Notitia  Imperii,  sect,  xxxiii.  edit.  Lab.)  Th**y 
were  part  of  the  sixty-five  Auxilia  Palatina,  and  are  properly  styl<*d 
i*1 1  Jf  atfij?  raitis,  by  Zosimus,  (1.  vi.  374.) 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  229 

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. 

The  poet,  whose  flattery  has  ascribed  to  the  Roman  eagle 
he  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  ex- 
pedition, the  king  of  the  Goths  must  indeed  have  sustained 
considerable  loss ;  and  his  harassed  forces  required  an  inter- 
val of  repose,  to  recruit  their  numbers  and  revive  their  confi- 
dence. Adversity  had  exercised  and  displayed  the  genius  of 
Alaric ;  and  the  fame  of  his  valor  invited  to  the  Gothic  stan- 
dard 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  prefecture  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 


Comitatur  euntem 


Pallor,  et  atra  fames  ;  et  saucia  lividus  ora 
Luctus ;  et  inferno  stridentes  agmine  morbi. 

Claudian  in  vi.  Cons.  Hon.  321,  &c 

101  These  dark  transactions  are  investigated  by  the  Count  de  Bu.it, 
(Hist,  des  Peuples  de  1'Europe,  torn.  vii.  c.  iii. — viii.  p.  69 — 206,j 
Vhote  laborious  accuracy  may  sometimes  fatigue  a  superficial  reader. 


230  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

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  em- 
ploy 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  treach- 
erous, correspondence  with  the  rival  courts ;  who  protracted, 
like  a  dissatisfied  mercenary,  his  languid  operations  in  Thes- 
saly  and  Epirus,  and  who  soon  returned  to  claim  the  extrava- 
gant reward  of  his  ineffectual  services.  From  his  camp  near 
jEmona,102  on  the  confines  of  Italy,  he  transmitted  to  the 
emperor  of  the  West  a  long  account  of  promises,  of  ex- 
penses, 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. 

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  cab- 
inet, if  the  debates  of  a  popular  assembly  had  not  thrown 
some  rays  of  light  on  the  correspondence  of  Alaric  and  Stil- 
icho. 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  legis- 
lative council  of  the  republic.  Stilicho  assembled  the  senate 
in  the  palace  of  the  Caesars ;  represented,  in  a  studied  ora- 
tion, the  actual  state  of  affairs ;  proposed  the  demands  of  the 
Gothic  king,  and  submitted  to  their  consideration  the  choice 

104  See  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  334,  335.  He  interrupts  his  scanty  narra- 
tive to  relate  the  fable  of  iEmona,  and  of  the  ship  Argo  ;  which  w&» 
drawn  overland  from  that  place  to  the  Adriatic.  Sozomen  (1.  viii.  c 
25.  1.  ix.  c.  4)  and  Socrates  (1.  vii.  c.  10)  cast  a  pale  and  doubtful 
light ;  and  Orosius  (1.  vii.  c.  38,  p.  571)  is  abominably  partial. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  231 

>f  peac*  or  war.  The  senators,  as  if  they  had  been  sud- 
denly awakened  from  a  dream  of  four  hundred  years,  ap- 
peared, on  this  important  occasion,  to  be  inspired  by  the  cour- 
age, rather  than  by  the  wisdom,  of  their  predecessors.  They 
loudly  declared,  in  regular  speeches,  or  in  tumultuary  aorla- 
mations,  that  it  was  unworthy  of '.the  majesty  of  Rome  to  pur- 
chase 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  sec- 
onded only  by  the  voices  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  indigna- 
tion of  the  Romans,  ought  not  (such  was  the  language  of  Stil- 
icho)  to  be  considered  in  the  odious  light,  either  of  a  tribute, 
or  of  a  ransom,  extorted  by  the  menaces  of  a  Barbarian  ene- 
my. Alaric  had  faithfully  asserted  the  just  pretensions  of  the 
republic  to  the  provinces  which  were  usurped  by  the  Greeita 
of  Constantinople :  he  modestly  required  the  fair  and  stipu- 
lated 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  t\\e  emperor 
himself.  These  contradictory  orders  (he  would  not  dissem- 
ble 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,  w  e"  sup- 
ported 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   th6 

,n  Zosimus.  1.  v.  p.  338,  339.     He  repeats  the  words  of  Lampadms, 
M  tney  were  spoke  in  Latin,   '*  Non  eat  ista  pax,  sed  pactio  servi- 


232  .  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

danger  of  such  bold  opposition  by  immediately  retiring  to  the 
sanctuary  of  a  Christian  church. 

But  the  reign  of  Stilicho  drew  towards  its  end ;  and  the 
proud  minister  might  perceive  the  symptoms  of  his  approach- 
ing disgrace.  The  generous  boldness  of  Lampadius  had  been 
applauded  ;  and  the  senate,  so  patiently  resigned  to  a  lon£ 
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  em- 
peror, 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  medi- 
tated the  death  of  his  sovereign,  with  the  ambitious  hope  of 
placing  the  diadem  on  the  head  of  his  son  Euchenus.  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  inten- 

tutis,"*  and  then  translates  them  into  Greek  for  the  benefit  of  hia 
renders. 

1V4  He  came  from  the  coast  of  the  Euxine,  and  exercised  a  splendid 
office,  XafinQat  Si  OTQartlaf  iv  Toff  paqtktiotf  t'^itofiivog.  His  actions 
justify  his  character,  which  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  340)  exposes  with  visible 
satisfaction.  Augustin  revered  the  piety  of  Olympius,  whom  he 
styles  a  true  son  of  the  church,  (Baronius,  Annal.  Ecclea.  A.  D.  408, 
No.  19,  &o.  Tillemont,  Mem.  Ecclcs.  torn.  xiii.  p.  4(57.408.)  But 
these  praises,  which  the  African  saint  so  unworthily  bi;jtow*,  slight 
proceed  as  well  from  ignorance  as  from  adulation. 


*  Frcm  Cicero's  XHth  Philippic,  c.  14  —  M- 


OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPirtE.  233 

lioin.  Instead  of  residing  in  the  palace  of  Rome,  Hono- 
rius  declared  that  it  was  his  pleasure  to  return  to  the  secure 
fortress  of  Ravenna.  On  the  first  intelligence  of  tht.  death 
of  his  brother  Arcadius,  he  prepared  to  visit  Constantinople, 
and  to  regulate,  with  the  authority  of  a  guardian,  the  prov. 
mces  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  pen- 
etrating genius,  to  oppose  a  journey  so  prejudicial  to  his  repu- 
tation and  safety.  His  strenuous  but  ineffectual  efforts  con- 
firmed the  triumph  of  Olympius ;  and  the  prudent  lawyer 
withdrew  himself  from  the  impending  ruin  of  his  patron. 

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  re- 
ceived by  the  loyal  acclamations  of  the  troops  who  were  assem- 
bled 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  exe- 
cute a  dark  and  bloody  conspiracy.  At  the  first  signal,  the} 
massacred  the  friends  of  Stilicho,  the  most  illustrious  officers 
of  the  empire  ;  two  Praetorian  prefects,  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  plun- 
dered ;  the  furious  sedition  continued  to  rage  till  the  close  of 
the  evening ;  and  the  trembling  emperor,  who  was  sten  in  the 
streets  of  Pavia   without  his  robes  or  diadem,  yielded  to  the 


106  Zosimus,  L  v.  p.  338,  339.  Sozomen,  1.  ix.  c.  4.  StiLcho  offered 
to_undertake  the  journey  to  Constantinople,  that  he  might  divert 
Honorius  from  the  vain  attempt.  The  Eastern  empire  wouid  not 
oav*.  obeyed,  and  could  not  havo  boon  conquered. 

64* 


234  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  coun- 
cil of  the  confederate  leaders,  who  were  attached  to  his  ser- 
vice, and  would  be  involved  in  hisruin.  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,  pen- 
sive 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  confi- 
dence, 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  Honurius,  was 
speedily  informed,  that  his  rival  had  embraced,  as  a  suppliant, 
the  altar  of  the  Christian  church.  The  base  and  cruel  dis- 
position of  the  hypocrite  was  incapable  of  pity  or  remorse  ; 
but  he  piously  affected  to  elude,  rather  than  to  violme,  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 
uroduced  the  warrant  for  his  instant  execution.     Stilicho  sup- 


OF    THE    KOMAN    EMPIRE.  235 

ported,  with  calm  resignation,  the  injurious  names  of  traitor 
and  parricide  ;  repressed  the  unseasonable  zeal  of  his  follow- 
ers, who  were  ready  to  attempt  an  Ineffectual  rescue;  and, 
with  a  firmness  not  unworthy  of  the  last  of  the  Roman  gen- 
erals, submitted  his  neck  to  the  sword  of  Heraclian.106 

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  stu 
diously  denied,  and  rigorously  punished.  His  family,  united 
by  a  triple  alliance  with  the  family  of  Theodosius,  might  emy 
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  in- 
nocence of  their  patron  :  and  the  despotic  power,  which  could 
take  his  life  without  a  trial,  and  stigmatize  his  memory  with- 
out 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  flat- 
tery and  hatred,  are  obscure  at  least,  and  improbable.  About 
tour  months  after  his  death,  an  edict  was  published,  in  the 


108  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  333 — 345)  has  copiously,  though  not  clearly, 
related  the  disgrace  and  death  of  Stilicho.  Olympiodorus,  (apud 
Phot.  p.  177,)  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  38.  p.  571,  572,)  Sozomen,  (1.  ix.  c. 
4,)  and  Philostorgius,  (1.  xi.  c.  3,  1.  xii.  c.  2,)  afford  supplemental 
hints. 

Iw  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  333.  The  marriage  of  a  Christian  with  two  sis- 
ters, scandalizes  Tillemont  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  557  ;) 
who  expects,  in  vain,  that  Pope  Innocent  I.  should  have  done  some- 
thing in  the  way  either  of  censure  or  of  dispensation. 

108  Two  of  his  friends  are  honorably  mentioned,  (Zosimus,  1.  v.  p. 
346:)  Peter,  chief  of  the  school  of  notaries,  and  the  gr3at  chamber- 
lain Deutcrius.  Stilicho  had  secured  the  bed-chamber  ;  and  it  is  sur- 
prising that,  vinder  a  feeble  prince,  the  bed-chamber  was  not  able  to 
secure  him. 

'u9  Orosius  (1.  vii.  c.  38,  p.  571,  572)  seems  to  copy  the  false  ard 
furious  manifestos,  which  were  dispersed  through  the  provinces  by 
Lhe  new  administration. 


236  'XHE    DECLINE   aND   FALL 

name  of  Honorius,  to  restore  the  free  communication  of  tho 
two  empires,  which  had  been  so  long  interrupted  by  the  pub- 
lic 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  Pol- 
lentia,  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  prepara- 
tions 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,  deliver- 
ance  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  *  Serena  had  bor- 
rowed her  magnificent  necklace  from  the  statue  of  Vesta  ; 119 
and  the  Pagans  execrated  the  memory  of  the  sacrilegioua 
minister,  by  whose  order  the  Sibylline  books,  the  oracles  of 
Rome,  had  been  committed  to  the  flames.113     The  pride  and 

110  See  the  Theodosian  code,  1.  vii.  tit.  xvi.  leg.  1,  1.  ix.  tit.  xlii.  leg. 
22.  Stilicho  is  branded  with  the  name  of  prcedo  publicus,  who  em- 
ployed his  wealth,  ad  omnem  ditahdam,  inquietandamque  Barbariem. 

111  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  con- 
firmation, (Baronius,  Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  408,  No.  19.) 

111  Zosimus,  1.  y.  p.  351.  We  may  observe  the  bad  taste  of  the  age, 
in  dressing  their  statues  with  such  awkward  finery. 

1U  See  Rutilius  Numatianus,  (Itincrar.  1.  ii.  41—60,)  to  whom  re- 
ligious enthusiasm  has  dictated  some  elegant  and  forcible  lines. 
Stilicho  likewise  stripped  the  gold  plates  from  the  doors  of  the  Capi- 
tol, and  read  a  prophetic  sentence  which  was  engraven  under  them, 
(Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  352.)     These  are  foolish  stories  ;  yet  the  charge  of 


•  Hence,  perhaps,  the   accusation  of   treachery  is  countenanced   bj 

ntilvis-  — 


Butilius :  — 


Quo  magis  est  facinus  diri  Stilichonis  lniquura 

Proditor  arcani  quod  fuit  imperii, 
itomano  generi  dutn  nitituresse  superstes, 

Crudelia  summis  mincuit  ima  turor. 
Dunique  timet,  quicquid  se  fecerat  :pse  timen, 

lminisit  Latin:  burbara  tela  noci.  Ruiii.  hie.  il.  41  —  M 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  237 

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  pos- 
terity has  not  condescended  to  reproach  him  with  his  base 
ingratitude  to  the  guardian  of  his  youth,  and  the  support  of 
his  empire 

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  heir, 
ess  of  the  province  of  Africa ;  m  and  the  statue  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  Praetorian 
prcefects  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 

impiety  adds  weight  and  credit  to  the  praise  which  Zosimus  reluctant- 
ly bestows  on  his  virtues.*  * 

114  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  Sercnam.) 

114  Claudian  feels  the  honor  like  a  man  who  deserved  it,  (in  praefat. 
Bell.  Get.)  The  original  inscription,  on  marble,  was  found  at  Rom-, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  in  the  hfMise  of  Pomponius  Laetus.  The 
etatue  of  a  poet,  far  superior  to  Claudian,  should  have  been  erected, 
during  his  lifetime,  by  the  men  of  letters,  his  countrymen  and  con- 
temporaries.    It  was  a  noble  design. 


•  One  particular  in  the  extorted  praise  of  Zosimus,  deserved  the  no. ice 
of  the  historian,  as  strongly  opposed  to  the  former  imputations  of  Zosimus 
nimself,  and  indicative  of  the  corrupt  practices  of  a  declining  age.  "  He 
had  never  bartered  promotion  in  the  army  for  bribes,  nor  peculated  in  th» 
■uppliei  of  provisions  for  the  army."    1.  v  o.  xxjuv.  —  M. 


238  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

sacrilegious  gain.  "  How  happy,"  continues  Clauilian,  "  h<m 
happy  might  it  be  for  the  people  of  Italy,  if  Mallius  could  be 
constantly  awake,  and  if  Hadrian  would  always  sleep  !  "  u* 
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  sup- 
pliant and  humble  recantation  to  the  offended  prsefect.  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  dis 
grace  and  poverty,  and  deeply  wounded  by  the  exile,  thb 
tortures,  and  the  death  of  his  dearest  friends.117     Whatevei 

1,6  See  Epigram  xxx. 

Mallius  indulget  somno  noctesque  diesque: 

Insomnis  PUarius  sacra,  profana,  rapit. 
Omnibus,  hoc,  Ttalre  gentes,  exposcite  votii  ; 
Mallius  ut  vigilet,  dormiat  ut  I'liarius. 

Hadrian  was  a  Pharian,  (of  Alexandria.)     See  his  public  life  in  Gode- 
froy,  Cod.  Theodos.  torn.  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  See  Claucuan's  first  Epistle.     Yet,  in  some  places,   an   air  of 
irony  and  indignation  betrays  his  secret  reluctance.* 


*  M.  Beugnot  has  pointed  out  one  remarkable  characteristic  of  Clau 
dian'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,  & 
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 
eatire  preserve  the  same  religious  impartiality;  award  their  most  larish 
praise  or  their  bitterest  invective  on  Christian  or  Pagan  ;  he  insults  the 
fall  of  Eugenius,  and  glories  in  the  victories  of  Thcodosius.  Under  the 
child, —  and  Honorius  never  became  more  than  a  child,  —  Christianity  con- 
tinued to  inflict  wounds  more  and  more  deadly  on  expiring  Paganism.  Ala 
tb  ft  go  Is  of  Olympus  agitated  with  apprehension  at  the  birth  of  this  new 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  239 

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  situa- 
tions 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  th« 
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  espe- 
cially in  descriptive  poetry,  is  soft  and  splendid ;  and  he  seldom 
fails  to  display,  and  even  to  abuse,  the  advantages  of  a  culti- 
vated understanding,  a  copious  fancy,  an  easy,  and  sometimes 


enemy?  They  are  introduced  as  rejoicing  at  his  appearance,  and  prom- 
ising 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 
SufScerent  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  vr.ces  avium?  quanti  per  inane  volatus? 
Quia  Tdtum  discursus  erat?     Tibi  corniger  Ammon, 
Et  du.lum  taciti  rupere  silentia  Delphi. 
Te  Persae  cecinere  Magi,  te  sensit  Etruscus 
Augur,  et  inspectis  Babylonius  horruit  astris; 
Chaldaei  stupuere  senes,  Cumanaque  rursus 
Intonuit  rupes,  rabidae  delubra  Sibyllae. 

Claud.  It.  Cons.  Hon.  141. 

Fran   the   Quarterly  Review  of  Beugnot.      Hist,   de   la   Destruction   do 
Paganism©  ei»  Occident,  Q-  R  v.  lvii.  p.  61.  —  M. 


240  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

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  com- 
mand, of  the  Latin  language  ; 119  soared  above  the  heads  of 
his  feeble  contemporaries ;  and  placed  himself,  after  an  in- 
terval of  three  hundred  years,  among  the  poets  of  ancient 
Rome.1^ 


118  National  vanity  has  made  him  a  Florentine,  or  a  Spaniard.  But 
the  first  Epistle  of  Claudian  proves  Mm  a  native  of  Alexandria,  (Fa- 
Dricius,  Bibliot.  Latin,  torn.  iii.  p.  191 — 202,  edit.  Ernest.) 

119  His  first  Latin  verse*  were  composed  during  the  consulship  of 
Probinus,  A.  D.  395. 

Romanoi  bibimui  pnmum,  te  consule,  fontts. 
Et  Lutiie  cessit  Graiu  Thalia  toj:«e. 

Besides  some  Greek  epigrams,  which  are  still  extant,  the  Latin  poet 
had  composed,  in  Greek,  the  Antiquities  of  Tarsus,  Anazarbus,  Bery- 
tus,  Nice,  &c.  It  is  more  easy  to  supply  the  loss  of  good  poetry,  than 
of  authentic  history. 

120  Strada  (Prolusion  v.  vi.)  allows  him  to  contend  with  the  fiv« 
heroic  poets,  Lucretius,  Virgil,  Ovid,  Lucan,  and  Statius.  His  patroc 
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  Latiar  soil 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 

INVASION    OF    ITALY     BY    ALAKIC.  —  MANNERS    OP   THE     BOHAI* 

SENATE    AND    PEOPLE. ROME    IS   THRICE    BESIEGED,  AND  AT 

LENGTH    PILLAGED,    BY    THE    GOTHS. DEATH    OF     ALARIC. — 

THE    GOTHS     EVACUATE     ITALY. FALL    OF    CONSTANTINB.  — 

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  reluc- 
tance, 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,  influ- 
ence 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 

1  The  series  of  events,  from  the  death  of  Stilicho  to  the  arrival  of 
Alaric  befoie  Rome,  can  only  be  found  in  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  347 — 350. 

*  The  expression  of  Zosimus  is  strong  and  lively,  xaTai/jfJujcn 
iunuiijaat  rot";  nolifiioit  a^xovvrut,  sufficient  to  excite  the  coi.tempt  of 
the  enemy. 

241 


2VI  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

most  skilful  officers,  who  adhered  to  the  Pagan  worship,  01 
whn  had  imbibed  the  opinions  of  Arianism.3  These  measures, 
bo  advantageous  to  an  enemy,  Alaric  would  have  approved, 
and  m>ght  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  appre- 
hension 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,  that  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. 

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  al'.y  of  the  great  Stilicho  ; 
to  whose  virtues,  when  they  were  no  longer  formidable,  he 


*  Eos  qui  catholicae  sectae  sunt  inimici,  intra  palatium  militare  pro- 
hibeinus.  Nullus  nobis  sit  aliqua  ratione  conjunctus,  qui  a  nobis  fide 
et  religisne  discordat.  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  xvi.  tit.  v.  leg.  42,  and  Gode- 
troy's  Commentary,  torn.  vi.  p.  164.  This  law  was  applied  in  the 
Utmost  latitude,  and  rigorous'y  executed.     Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  364. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EKPIRE.  243 

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  speciously  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  hia 
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  Muus  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 
6hould  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  \jj  the  acces- 
sion 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  em- 
peror 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  Hadri. 
atic,  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  vic- 
torious 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  prajternatural  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  communi- 
cated to  the  Goths,  insensibly  removed  the  popular,  and  almost 


244  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

superstitious,  reverence  of  the  nations  for  the  majestj  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.5  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 

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  ' 
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  am- 
bassador of  Pyrrhus  ascribed  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  the 
Hydra.8     Each  of  the  senators,  in  the  time  of  the  Punic  war, 


4  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  pas- 
sage which  Vespasian  had  cut  through  the  rock,  (Oluver.  Italia  Antiq. 
torn.  i.  p.  618,)  was  totally  neglected. 

*  Hinc  albi,  Clitumne,  greges,  et  maxima  taurus 
Victima,  saepe  tuo  perfusi  flumine  sacro, 
Romanos  ad  tempi  a  Deum  dux  ere  triumphos. 

Georg.  ii.  147. 

Besides  Virgil,  most  of  the  Latin  poets,  Propertius,  Lucan,  Silius  Ital- 
.cus,  Claudian,  &c,  whose  passages  may  be  found,  in  Cluverius  and 
Addison,  have  celebrated  the  triumphal  victims  of  the  Clitumnus. 

*  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  Borne  waa 
254  Roman  miles.     Itinerar.  Wesseling,  p.  126. 

7  The  march  and  retreat  of  Hannibal  are  described  by  Livy,  1.  xxvi. 
c.  7,  8,  9,  10,  11 ;  and  the  reader  is  made  a  spectator  of  the  interesting 
Mane. 

*  These  comparisons  were  used  by  Cyneas,  the  counsellor  of  Pyr 
»hus,  after  his  return  from  his  embassy,  in  which  he  had  diligently 
studied  the  discipline  and  manners  of  Rome.     See  Plutarch  in  Pyrrho, 
torn.  ii.  p.  459. 


«»F   THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE.  346 

had  accomplished  his  term  of  military  service,  eitier  in  a  sub* 
ordinate  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  assist- 
ance of  many  brave  and  experienced  generals.  In  the  begin- 
ning 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  ap- 
proach. He  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  Anio,  at  the  dis- 
tance 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 ;  *  and  that  a  body  of 
troops  was  dismissed  by  an  opposite  road  to  reenforce  the 
legions  of  Spam.10     He  led  his  Africans  in  rfie  gates  of  Rome, 

•  In  the  three  census  which  were  made  of  the  Roman  people,  about 
the  time  of  the  second  Punic  war,  the  numbers  stand  as  follows,  (sea 
Livy,  Epitom.  L  xx.  Hist.  1.  xxvii.  36,  xxix.  37  :)  270,213,  137,108, 
214,000.  The  fall  of  the  second,  and  the  rise  of  the  third,  appears  sc 
enormous,  that  several  critics,  notwithstanding  the  unanimity  of  the 
MSS.,  have  suspected  some  corruption  of  the  text  of  Livy.  (Seo 
Drakenborch  ad  xxvii.  30,  and  Beaufort,  Rcpublique  Romaine,  torn.  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. 

10  Livy  considers  these  two  incidents  as  the  effects  only  of  chance 
and  courage.  I  suspect  that  they  were  both  n.  anaged  by  the  admira- 
ble policy  of  the  senate. 

•  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  tri.imph  of  religious  faith,  in  the  other 
of  national  pride.  —  M. 


246  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL 

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. 

From  the  time  of  the  Punic  war,  the  uninterrupted  succes- 
sion 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  n  inherited  and  de- 
spised, 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,  Blsesil- 
la,  numbered  the  Scipios,  ^Emilius  Paulus,  and  the  Gracchi, 
In  the  list  of  her  ancestors  ;  and  Toxotius,  the  husband  of 
Paula,,  deduced  his  royal  lineage  from  ^Eneas,  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  succes- 
sive reign,  and  from  every  province  of  the  empire,  a  crowd 
of  hardy  adventurers,  rising  Jo  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 


11  See  Jerom,  torn.  i.  p.  169,170,  ad  Eustochium  ;  he  bestows  on  Paula 
the  splendid  titles  of  Gracchorum  stirps,  soboles  Scipionum,  Pauli 
haeres,  cujus  vocabulum  trahit,  Martise  Papyrise  Matris  Africani  vera 
it  germana  propago.  This  particular  description  supposes  a  more 
•olid  title  than  the  surname  of  Julius,  which  Toxotius  shared  with  a 
thousand  families  of  the  western  provinces.  See  the  Index  of  Taci- 
tus, of  Gruter's  Inscriptions,  &o. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  247 

remains  of  consular  families ;  who  were  ignorant,  perhara,  of 
the  glory  of  -heir  ancestors.12 

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  Pneneste ;  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  Chris- 
tian sera,  the  family  was  ennobled  by  the  Prsetorship  of  AniciuSj 
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  Diocle- 
tian 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 

11  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. 

13  Nee  quisquam  Procerum  tentet  (licet  aere  vetusto 
Floreat,  et  claro  cingatur  Roma  senate ) 

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  haa 
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  The  earliest  date  in  the  annals  of  Pighius,  is  that  of  M.  Anicius 
Gallus,  Trib.  PI.  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. 

14  Livy,  xliv.  30,  31,  xlv.  3,  26,  43.  He  fairly  appreciates  the  merit 
of  Anicius,  and  justly  observes,  that  his  fame  was  clouded  oy  the 
superior  lustre  of  the  Macedonian,  which  preceded  the  Illyrian, 
triumph. 

18  The  dates  of  the  three  consulships  are,  A.  IT.  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 
t«e  stamp  of  greatness  and  antiquity,  is  admitted,  without  reluctance, 
tf»  prove  ths  genealogy  of  a  noble  house. 

*7  In  the  sixth  century,  the  nobility  of  the  Anician  name  ia  men- 


248  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

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  gener- 
ation the  number  of  consulships  was  multiplied  by  an  hered 
itary  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  prsefect  of  the  city,  atoned  for  his  attach- 
ment to  the  party  of  Maxentius,  by  the  readiness  with  which 
he  accepted  the  religion  of  Constantine.19  Their  ample  patri- 
mony 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 
Praetorian,  praefect.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  en- 


tioned  (Cassiodor.  Variar.  1.  x.  Ep.  10,  12)  with  singular  respect  by 

the  minister  of  a  Gothic  king  of  Italy. 

>•  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. 

«  Haudian  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  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, 
torn.  iv.  p.  183,  v.  p.  44.  Baron.  Annal.  A.  D.  312,  No.  78,  A.  D.  322, 
No.  2. 

,0  Probus  ....  claritudine  generis  et  potentia  et  opum  magnitu- 
dine,  cognitus  Orbi  Romano,  per  quern  universum  poene  patrimonii 
eparsa  possedit,  juste  an  secus  non  judicioli  est  nostri.  Ammian. 
Marcellin.  xxvii.  11.  His  children  and  widow  erected  for  him  a  mag- 
nificent 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  dili- 
gently preserved  the  inscriptions  and  basso-relievos.  See  Annal.  Ec- 
cles.  A.  D.  395,  No.  5—17. 

11  Two  Parsian  satraps  travelled  to  Milan  and  Rome,  to  hear  St. 
Ambrose,   and  to  see  Probus,   (Paulin.  in  Viv.  Ambrose     Oaudiar 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  249 

tertamed  for  his  memory,  that  the  two  sons  of  Prohufc  in  theii 
earliest  youth,  and  at  the  request  of  the  senate,  were  associated 
in  the  consular  dignity  ;  a  memorable  distinction,  without  ex» 
ample,  in  the  annals  of  Rome.22 

"  The  marbles  of  the  Anician  palace,"  were  used  as  a  pro- 
verbial 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  thou- 
sand 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  Olym- 
piodorus,  who  represents  the  state  of  Rome  when  it  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Goths,26  .continues  to  observe,  that  several  of  the 
richest  senators  received  from  their  estates  an  annual  income 
v.f  four  thousand  pounds  of  gold,  above  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  ;  without  computing  the  stated  pro- 
vision 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  re- 
quired many  expenses  of  a  public  and  ostentatious  kind.    Sev- 

(in  Cons.  Probin.  et  Olybr.  30 — 60)  seems  at  a  loss  how  to  express  tha 
glory  of  Probus'. 

82  See  the  poem  which  Claudian  addressed  to  the  two  noble  youths. 

93  Secundums,  the  Manichrean,  ap.  Baron.  Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  390, 
No.  34. 

*<  See  Nardini,  Roma  Antica,  p.  89,  498,  500. 

25  Quid  loquar  inclusas  inter  laquearia  sylvas  ; 
Vernula  queis  vario  carmine  ludit  avis. 

Claud.  Rutil.  Numatian.  Itinerar.  ver.  Ill 

The  poet  lived  at  the  time  of  the  Gothic  invasion.  A  moderate  paltice 
would  have  covered  Cincinnatus's  farm  of  four  acres,  (Val.  Max.  iv.  4.) 
In  laxitatem  ruris  excurnmt,  says  Seneca,  Epist.  114.  See  a  judi- 
cious note  of  Mr.  Hume,  Essays,  vol.  i.  p.  562,  last  Svo  edition. 

26  This  curious  account  of  Rome,  in  the  reign  of  Honorius,  ii 
fousid  in  a  fragment  of  the  historiap  Olympiodorus,  ap.  Photiuin, 
■».  197 

6u 


250  THE    PECL7NE    AND    FALL 

eral  examples  are  recorded,  In  the  age  of  Honorius,  of  vain 
and  popu'ar  nobles,  who  celebrated  the  year  of  their  praetor* 
ship  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  iEgean  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  hos- 
tile nations,  now  flowed  through  the  lands  of  private  citizens.23 
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  recom- 
mend the  former  method,  wherever  it  may  be  practicable  ; 
but  if  the  object  should  be  removed,  by  its  distance  or  magni 
tude,  from  the  immediate  eye  of  the  master,  they  prefer  the 

27  The  sons  of  Alypius,  of  Symmachus,  and  of  Maximus,  spent, 
during  their  respective  piEetorships,  twelve,  or  twenty,  or  forty,  cen- 
tenaries, (or  hundred  weight  of  gold.)  See  Olympiodor.  ap.  Phot, 
p.  197.  This  popular  estimation  allows  some  latitude  ;  but  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  explain  a  law  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  (1.  vi.  leg.  5,)  which  iixes 
the  expense  of  the  first  praetor  at  2.5,000,  of  the  second  at  20,000,  and 
of  the  third  at  15,000  folles.  The  name  oi  foil  is  (see  Mem.  de  1' Aca- 
demic des  Inscriptions,  torn,  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 part  of  that   purse.     In  the  former  sense,  the  25,000  folles 

w  ould  be  equal  to  150.000Z. ;  in  the  latter,  to  five  or  six  pounds  sterling. 
The  one  appears  extravagant,  the  other  is  ridiculous.  There  must  have 
existed  some  third  and  middle  value,  which  is  here  understood  ;  bui 
ambiguity  is  an  excusable  fault  in  the  language  of  laws. 

*"  Nicopolis ,  in  Actiaco  littore  sita  possessionis   vestrw 

nunc  pars  vel  maxima  est.  Jerom.  in  prsefat.  Comment,  ad  Epistoi. 
ad  Titum,  torn.  ix.  p.  243.  M.  D.  Tillemont  supposes,  strangely 
enough,  that  it  was  part  of  Agamemnon's  inheritance.  Mem.  Ecclee. 
'.cm.  xii.  p.  85. 

29  Seneca,  Epist.  lxxxix.  His  language  is  of  the  declamatory  kind  ' 
Sut  declamation  could  scarcely  exaggerate  the  avarice  and  luxury  .">! 
the  Romans.  The  philosopher  himself  deserved  some  share  of  the 
reproach,  if  it  be  true  that  h.s  rigorous  exaction  of  Quadringenties, 
above  three  hundred  thousand  pounds  which  he  had  lent  at  high  in- 
terest, provoked  a  rebellion  in  Britain,  (Dion  C'assius,  1.  lxii.  p..  1003.) 
According  to  the  coi  jecture  of  Gale  (Antoninus' 8  Itinerary  in  Britair. 
p.  92,)  the  same  Faustinus  possessed  an  estate  near  Bury,  in  Suffo'': 
and  another  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 


OF    THE    KOMAN    UMPIRE.  251 

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 

The  opulent  nobles  of  an  immense  capital,  who  wore  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. 
Ai  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  prac- 
tice of  usury ;  and  the  obsolete  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  pro- 
fessions of  artificers  and  merchants,  who  were  more  power- 
fully 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  comforta 
among  the  modern  nations  of  Europe,  than  the  senators  of 
Rome  could  derive  from  all  the  .refinements  of  pompous  or 


,0  Volusius,  a  wealthy  senator.  (Tacit.  Annal.  iii.  30,)  always  pre- 
ferred tenants  born  on  the  estate.  Columella,  who  received  this 
maxim  from  him,  argues  very  judiciously  on  the  subject.  De  Re 
Rustiea,  1.  i.  c.  7,  p.  408,  edit.  Gesner.  Leipsig,  1735. 

81  VaJesius  (ad  Ammian.  xi*\  6)  has  proved,  from  Chrysostoia  Mid 
A.ugustin,  that  the  senators  were  not  allowed  to  lend  money  at  usury. 
Yet  it  appears  from  the  Theodosian  Code,  (see  Godefroy  ad  1.  ii.  tit. 
xxxiii.  torn.  i.  p.  230--2S9,)  that  they  were  permitted  to  take  six  per 
cent.,  or  one  half  of  tne  legal  interest;  and,  what  is  more  singular,  this 
permission  was  granted  to  the  young  senators. 

32  Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  xxxiii.  50.  He  states  the  silver  at  only  4380 
pounds,  which  is  increased  by  I.ivy  (xxx.  45)  to  100,023  :  the  former 
M*ems  too  little  for  an  opulent  city,  the  Jatter  too  much  for  any  piivata 
sideboard 


252  THE   DECLINE    AN       FALL 

sensual  luxury.33  Their  luxury,  and  their  manners,  ht  ve 
been  the  subject  of  minute  and  laborious  disquisition :  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  Marcel  I  inus,  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  judi~ 
cious  reader  will  not  always  approve  of  the  asperity  of  cen- 
sure, the  choice  of  circumstances,  or  the  style  of  expression  • 
he  will  perhaps  detect  the  latent  prejudices,  and  persona, 
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 

"  The  greatness  of  Rome  "  —  such  is  the  language  of  the 
historian  —  "was  founded  on  the  rare,  and  almost  incredible, 
alliance  or  virtue  and  of  fortune.  The  long  period  of  her 
infancy  «vas  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  bevond  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 


33  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,  r.or  a  shirt  to  his  back.  Under  the  lower 
empire,  the  use  of  linen  and  glass  became  somewhat  more  common.* 

34  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  hyperboles, 
and  pared  away  some  superfluities  of  the  orignal.  4.  I  have  developed 
some  observations  which  were  insinuated  rather  than  expressed. 
With  these  allowances,  my  versior  will  be  found,  not  literal  indued, 
but  faithful  ar.d  exact. 


•  The  disco\ery  of  glass  in  such  common  use  at  Pompeii,  spoils  th*  jest 
•f  ArbuVhnot      See  Sir  W.  Gell.     Pomneiana.  2d  ser.  p.  &<J.  — ill  . 


OF   '•'HE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  253 

fiercest  nations,  and  established  a  system  of  laws,  the  per- 
petual guardians  of  justice  and  freedom,  was  content,  like  a 
wise  and  wealthy  parent,  to  devolve  on  the  Caesars,  her  favor 
ite  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  con- 
duct 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  Fa- 
bunius,  Pagonius,  or  Tarasius,36  which  may  impress  the  ear3 
of  the  vulgar  with  astonishment  and  respect.  From  a  vain 
ambition  of  perpetuating  their  memory,  they  affect  to  multi- 
ply 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  lofti- 

35  Claudian,  who  seems  to  have  read  the  history  of  Ammianus, 
speaka  of  this  great  revolution  in  a  much  less  courtly  style  :  — 

Fostquam  jura  ferox  in  se  communia  Cisar 
'J'ranstulit ;  et  iapsi  mores  ;  desuetaque  priscia 
Artibus,  in  gremium  pacis  servile  recessi. 

De  Bel.  Gildonico,  p.  49. 

M  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  ap- 
plication. 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  Mxcius 
Msemmius  Furius  Balburius  Caecilianus  Placidus.  See  Naris  Ceno- 
taph. Pisan.  Dissert  iv.  p.  438. 


254  THE    LECUNE    AND    FALL 

ness  of  their  chariots,37  and  the  weighty  magnificence  of  tneif 
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  appropri- 
ate to  their  own  use  the  conveniences  which  were  designed 
for  the  Roman  people.  If,  in  tlijese  places  of-  mixed  and  gen- 
eral 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  beer 
excused  in  the  great  Marcellus,  after  the  conquest  of  Syra 
cuse.      Sometimes,    indeed,    these    heroes    undertake    mor* 

S7  The  carrucce,  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 
eiege,  (Seneca,  epist.  lxxxvii.  Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  xxxiii.  49.  Paulin. 
Nolan,  apud  Baron.  Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  397,  No.  5.)  Yet  pomp  is 
well  exchanged  for  convenience  ;  and  a  plain  modern  coach,  that  in 
hung  upon  springs,  is  much  preferable  to  the  silver  or  gold  carts  oi 
antiquity,  which  rolled  on  the  axle-tree,  and  were  exposed,  for  the 
most  part,  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather. 

38  In  a  homily  of  Asterius,  bishop  of  Amasia,  M.  de  Valois  has  dis- 
covered (ad  Ammian.  xiv.  6)  that  this  was  a  new  fashion ;  that  bears, 
wolves,  lions,  and  tigers,  woods,  hunting- matches,  &c,  were  repre- 
sented in  embroidery  ;  and  that  the  more  pious  coxcombs  substituted 
the  figure  or  legend  of  some  favorite  saint. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  255 

arduous  achievements ;  they  visit  their  estates  in  itaiy,  and 
procure  themselves,  by  the  toil  of  servile  hands,  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  chase.39  If  at  any  time,  but  more  especially  on 
i  hot  day,  they  have  courage  to  sail,  in  their  painted  gallevs, 
from  the  Lucrine  Lake  4u  to  their  elegant  villas  on  the  sea- 
coast  of  Puteoli  and  Cayeta,41  they  compare  their  own  expe- 
ditions to  the  marches  of  Caesar  and  Alexander.  Yet  should 
a  fly  presume  to  settle  on  the  silken  folds  of  their  gilded  um- 
brellas ;  should  a  sunbeam  penetrate  through  some  unguarded 
and  imperceptible  chink,  they  deplore  their  intolerable  hard- 
ships, and  lament,  in  affected  language,  that  they  were  not 
born  in  the  land  of  the  Cimmerians,4-  the  regions  of  eternal 
darkness.     In  these  journeys  into   the   country,43  the  whole 

39  See  Pliny's  Epistles,  i.  6.  Three  large  wild  boars  were  allured 
and  taken  in  the  toils  without  interrupting  the  studies  of  the  philo- 
sophic sportsman. 

40  The  change  from  the  inauspicious  word  Avemus,  which  stands  is 
the  text,  is  immaterial.  The  two  lakes,  A  vermis  and  Lucrinus,  com- 
municated 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  execu- 
tion :  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.* 

41  The  regna  Cumana  et  Puteolana ;  loca  ",aetiroqui  valde  expe- 
tenda,  interpellantium  autem  multitudine  pyene  fugienda.  Cicero  ad 
Attic,  xvi.  17. 

ri  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 
snores  of  the  ocean.  See  Erasmi  Adagia,  in  his  works,  torn.  ii.  p.  593, 
the  Leyden  edition. 

4J  We  may  learn  from  Seneca  (epist.  exxiii.)  three  curious  circum- 
stances relative  to  the  journeys  of  the  Romans.  1.  They  were  pre- 
ceded by  a  troop  of  Numidian  light  horse,  who  announced,  by  a  cloud  of 
dust,  the  approach  of  a  great  man.  2.  Their  baggage  mules  tru  isported 
not  only  the  precious  vases,  hut  even  the  fragile  vessels  of  crystal  and 
murra,  which  last  is  abnost  proved,  by  the  learned  French  translator 
of  Seneca,  (torn.  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  effe eta 
of  the  sun  and  frost. 


Compare  Lyell's  Geology,  ii.  11. — M. 


256  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

body  of  the  household  marches  with  their  master.  In  the 
same  manner  as  the  cavalry  and  infantry,  the  heavy  and  the 
light  armed  toops,  the  advanced  guard  and  the  rear,  are  mar- 
shalled by  the  skill  of  their  military  leadeis;  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  im- 
mediately followed  by  a  multitude  of  cooks,  and  inferior  min- 
isters, 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  exe- 
crate the  memory  ot  eemiramis,  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  exqui- 
site 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  otfence,  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  native  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,  in- 
capable of  gratitude  or  friendship  ;  who  scarcely  deigns  to 
remark  his  presence,  his  departure,  or  his  return.      Whouevei 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  257 

the  rich  prepare  a  solemn  and  popular  entertainment  ;** 
whenever  they  celebrate,  with  profuse  and  pernicious  luxury, 
their  private  banquets ;  the  choice  of  the  guests  is  the  sub 
ject  of  anxious  deliberation.  The  modest,  the  sooer,  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  com- 
panions of  the  great,  are  those  parasites,  who  practise  the  most 
useful  of  all  arts,  the  art  of  flattery  ;  who  eagerly  applaud 
each  word,  and  everv  action,  of  their  immortal  patron  ;  gaze 
with  rapture  on  his  marble  columns  and  variegated  pave- 
ments ;  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^  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  dis- 
gusted by  the  vain  and  tedious  repetition,  notaries  are  sum- 
moned to  attest,  by  an  authentic  record,  the  truth  of  such  a 

44  Distributio  solemnium  sportularum.  The  sportuke,  or  sportellm, 
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  cus- 
tom 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  after- 
wards converted  into  large  pieces  of  gold  and  silver  coin,  or  plate, 
which  were  mutually  given  and  accepted  even  by  persons  of  the  high- 
est rank,  (see  Symmach.  epist.  iv.  55,  ix.  124,  and  Miscell.  p.  256,)  on 
solemn  occasions,  of  consulships,  marriages,  &c. 

45  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,  torn.  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,  (Yarro,  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  ar« 
ntill  esteemed  in  modern  Rome,  and  are  frequently  sent  as  presents  by 
the  Colonna  princes,  (see  Brotier,  the  last  editor  of  Pliny,  torn.  ii. 
p.  458,  apud  Barbou,  1779.) 


•  Is  it  not  the  dormouse  ?  —  M. 
65* 


858  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

marvellous  event.  Another  method  of  introduction  into  the 
houses  and  society  of  the  great,  is  derived  from  the  profes- 
sion of  gaming,  or,  as  it  is  more  politely  styled,  of  play.  The 
confederates  are  united  by  a  strict  and  indissoluble  bond  oi 
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  assem 
bly,  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 
ihey  have  inherited  from  their  fathers,  are  secluded,  like  dreary 
sepulchres,  from  the  light  of  day.48  But  the  costly  instru- 
ments 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 


* 


46  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  Mucins  Scaevola,  the  lawyer,  had  the  reputation  oi 
a  very  skilful  player.  It  was  called  Indies  duodecim  scriptorum,  from 
Axe  twelve  scripta,  or  lines,  which  equally  divided  the  alveolus  or  table. 
On  these,  the  two  armies,  the  white  and  the  black,  each  consisting  of 
fifteen  men,  or  cat  culi,  were  regularly  placed,  and  alternately  moved 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  game,  and  the  chances  of  the  tessera;  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.  torn.  ii.  p.  217 — 405. 

47  Marius  Maximus,  homo  omnium  verbosissimus,  qui,  et  mythisto- 
ricia  se  voluminibus  implicavit.  Vopiscus  in  Hist.  August,  p.  242 
He  wrote  the  lives  of  the  emperors,  from  Trajan  to  Alexander  Sever  us 
See  Gerard  Vossius  de  Historicis  Latin.  1.  ii.  c.  3,  in  his  works,  vol.  iv 
p.  47. 

48  This  satire  is  probably  exaggerated.  The  Saturnalia  of  Macro- 
bius,  and  the  epistles  of  Jerom,  afford  satisfactory  proofs,  that  Chris- 
tian theology  and  classic  literature  were  studiously  cultivated  by 
■everal  Rom  ins,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  the  highest  rank. 


C  F   thj:    ROMAN    EMIGRE.  259 

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  pre- 
vious ablution.  Yet  this  selfish  and  unmanly  delicacy  occa- 
sionally 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  sum- 
moned 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  main- 
tain a  charge  of  poison,  or  magic,  against  the  insolent  credi- 
tor ;  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 
rind  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  dis- 
covered among  the  profane  sceptics,  who  impiously  doubt,  or 
deny,  the  existence  of  a  celestial  power." 

In  populous  cities,  which  are   the  seat  of  commerce  and 


40  Macrobius,  the  friend  of  these  Roman  nobles,  considered  the  stars 
as  the  cause,  or  a'u  least  the  signs,  of  future  events,  (tie  Somn.  Scijioiv 
1.  i.  c.  19,  ]..  GS.) 


iJbO  THh    DECLINE    AND    KALl 

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  thai 
sense,  the  most  respectable  part  of  the  community.  But  the 
plebeians  of  Rome,  who  disdained  such  sedentary  a  ad  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  pos- 
sessed of  an  independent  eubstance.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  imprudently  alienated  not  only  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, 
't  was  the  just  complaint  of  the  ingenuous  natives,  that  the 
capital  had  attracted  the  vices  of  the  universe,  and  the  man- 
ners 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 

*°  The  histories  of  Livy  (see  particularly  vi.  36)  are  full  of  the  ex- 
tortions of  the  rir  h,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  debtors.  The  mel- 
ancholy story  of  a  brave  old  soldier  (Dionys.  Hal.  1.  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  Non  esse  in  civitate  duo  millia  hominum  qui  rem  haberent. 
iJicero.  Offic.  ii.  21.  and  Comment.  Paul.  Manut.  in  edit.  Graev.  This 
vague  computation  was  made  A.  U.  C.  649,  in  a  speech  of  the  tri  unfe 
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 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  261 

Syrians,  were  mingled  in  the  various  mu'titude,  which,  under 
the  proud  and  false  denomination  of  Romans,  presumed  to 
despise  theii  fellow-subjects,  and  even  their  sovereigns,  who 
dwelt  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  eternal  city.52 

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  amusr 
the  idleness,  of  an  innumerable  people.53  I.  For  the  con- 
venience 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. 

52  See  the  third  Satire  (60 — 125)  of  Juvenal,  who  indignantly  com- 
plains, 


.  Qimmvis  quota  portio  fa'cis  Aclisei  ! 


'impridem  Syrus  in  Tiberem  ileHuxit  Orontes ; 
Et  lingual!)  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. 

53  Almost  all  that  is  said  of  the  bread,  bacon,  oil,  wine,  &c,  may  be 
found  in  the  fourteenth  book  of  the  Theodosian  Code  ;  which  ex- 
pressly treats  of  the  police  of  the  great  cities.  See  particularly  the 
titles  iii.  iv.  xv.  xvi.  xvii.  xxiv.  The  collateral  testimonies  are  pro- 
duced in  Godefroy's  Commentary,  f.nd  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  equiva- 
lent to  eighty  pounds  of  bacon,  or  to  eighty  pounds  of  oil,  or  to 
twelve  modii  (or  pecks)  of  salt,  (Cod.  Theod.  1.  viii.  tit.  iv.  leg.  17.) 
This  equation,  compared  with  another  of  seventy  pounds  of  bacon  ibr 
an  amphora,  (Cod.  Theod.  1.  xiv.  tit.  iv.  leg.  4,)  Axes  the  price  of  wine 
at  about  sixteenpence  the  gallon. 

M  The  anonymous  author  of  the  Description  of  the  World  (p.  1  i,  in 
torn.  iii.  Geograph.  Minor.  Hudson)  observes  of  Luiania,  in  his  bar- 
barous Latin,  Uegio  optima,  et  ipsa  omnibus  habundo.ns,  et  lardum 
multum  foras  emittit.  Propter  quod  est  in  montibus,  cujus  sescara 
animalium  variam,  &c. 


262  TJIE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

» 

a  plentiful  supply  of  cheap  and  wholesome  me  it.  During 
five  months  of  the  year,  a  regular  allowance  of  bacon  was 
distributed  to  the  poorer  citizens ;  and  the  annual  consump- 
tion of  the  capital,  at  a  time  when  it  was  much  declined  from 
its  former  lustre,  was  ascertained,  by  an  edict  of  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 
rhe  city  so  many  copious  streams  of  pure  and  salubrious 
water.56  This  rigid  sobriety  was  insensibly  relaxed  ;  and, 
although  the  generous  design  of  Aurelian57  does  not  appear 
"o  have  been  executed  in  its  full  extent,  the  use  of  wine  was 
allowed  on  very  easy  and  liberal  terms.  The  administration 
jf  the  public  cellars  was  delegated  to  a  magistrate  of  honor- 
able rank  ;  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  vintage  of  Campania 
was  reserved  for  the  fortunate  inhabitants  of  Rome. 

The  stupendous  aqueducts,  so  justly  celebrated  by  the 
©raises  of  Augustus  himself,  replenished  the  Thermae,  or  baths, 
which  had  been  constructed  in  every  part  of  the  citv,  with 
.mperial  magnificence.  The  baths  of  Antoninus  Caracalla, 
which  were  open,  at  stated  hours,  for  the  indiscriminate 
service  of  the  senators  and  the  people,  contained  above  six- 
teen hundred  seats  of  marble  ;  and  more  than  three  thousand 
were  reckoned  in  the  baths  of  Diocletian.58     The  walls  of  the 


»»  See  Novell,  ad  calcem  Cod.  Theod.  D.  Valent.  1.  i.  tit.  xv.  This 
law  was  published  at  Kome,  June  29th,  A.  D.  452. 

46  Sucton.  in  August,  c.  42.  The  utmost  debauch  of  the  emperor 
h:^nsell',  in  his  favorite  wine  of  Rhietia,  never  exceeded  asextarhis,  (an 
English  pint.)  Id.  c.  77.  Torrcntius  ad  loc.  and  Arbuthnot's  Tables, 
p.  86. 

°7  His  design  was  to  plant  vineyards  along  the  sea-coast  of  Hetruria, 
(Vopiscus,  in  Hist.  August,  p.  225  ;)  the  dreary,  unwholesome,  uncu> 
tivated  Maremme  of  modern  Tuscany. 

^  Olympiodor.  apud  Phot.  p.  iy7. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  263 

lofty  apartments  were  covered  with  curious  mosaics,  thai 
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  or  Forum,  to  hear  news  ana 
to  hold  disputes ;  who  dissipated,  in  extravagant  gaming,  the 
miserable  pittance  of  their  wives  and  children  ;  and  spent  the 
hours  of  the  night  in  obscure  taverns,  and  brothels,  in  the  in- 
dulgence of  gross  and  vulgar  sensuality.60 

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 

M  Seneca  (epistol.  lxxxvi.)  compares  the  baths  of  Scipio  Africanus, 
«  his  villa  of  Liternum,  with  the  magnificence  (which  was  continu- 
ally increasing)  of  the  public  baths  of  Rome,  long  before  the  stately 
Thermae  of  Antoninus  and  Diocletian  were  erected.  The  quadrant 
paid  for  admission  was  the  quarter  of  the  as,  about  one  eighth  of  an 
English  penny. 

<u  Ammianus,  (1.  xiv.  c.  6,  and  1.  xxviii.  c.  4,)  after  describing  the 
Kixury  and  pride  of  the  nobles  of  Rome,  exposes,  with  equal  indigna- 
tion, the  vices  and  follies  of  the  common  people. 

•'  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  Circis  was  capable  of  receiving  are  taken  fiom  the 


264  THE    DECLINE    AMD    FALL 

their  clamors,  and  their  applause,  as  often  as  they  were  enter 
tained  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  reputa- 
tion 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,  a*>d  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 


original  Notitia  of  the  city.     The  differences  between  them  prove  that 
they  did  not  transcribe  each  other  ;  but  the  sum  may  appear  incredi- 
ble, though  the  country  on  these  occasions  nocked  to  the  city. 
62  Sometimes  indeed  they  composed  original  pieces. 


Vestiaia  Grseca 


Ausi  deserere  et  celebraro "domestical  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  unfavor- 
able specimen  of  Roman  tragedy. 

a3  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  See  the  dialogue  of  Lucian,  entitled  de  Saltatione,  torn.  ii.  p.  265 
-317,  edit.  Ileitz.  The  pantomimes  obtained  the  honorable  name  of 
vtiguoowi-  ;  and  it  was  required,  that  they  should  be  conversant  with 
almost  ev  ;ry  art  and  science.  Burette  (in  the  Memoires  de  l'Acade- 
inie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  i.  p.  127,  &c.)  has  given  a  short  history  of 
the  art  of  pantomimes. 

66  Ammianus,  1.  jdv.  c.  6.     He  complains,  with  decent  indignation, 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  265 

It  is  said,  that  the  foolish  curosity  of  Elagabalus  attempted 
lo  discover,  from  the  quantity  of  spiders'  webs,  the  number 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Rome.  A  more  rational  method  of  in- 
quiry 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  con- 
descended to  mention  the  annual  amount,  or  the  common 
average,  we  might  now  produce  some  satisfactory  calculation, 
which  woulc  destroy  the  extravagant  assertions  of  critics,  and 
perhaps  confirm  the  modest  and  probable  conjectures  of  phi- 
losophers.til3  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  mathema 
tician,  who  found  it  equal  to  twenty-one  miles.67  It  shoula 
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,  ana 
whose  evidence,  on  this  occasion,  has  peculiar  weight  ana 
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  rais- 
ing the  houses  to  a  considerable  height  in  the  air.68     But  the 


that  the  streets  of  Rome  were  filled  wHh  crowds  of  females,  who 
might  have  given  children  to  the  state,  but  whose  only  occupation 
was  tc  curl  and  dress  their  hair,  and  jactari  volubilibus  gyris,  dura 
esperimunt  innumera  simulacra,  quae  finxere  fabulse  theatrales. 

66  Lipsius  (torn.  iii.  p.  423,  de  Magnitud.  llomana,  1.  iii.  c.  3)  and 
Isaac  Vossius  (Observat.  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  oi 
ancient  times. 

67  Olyrnpiodor.  ap.  Phot.  p.  197.  See  Fabricius,  Bibl.  Graec.  lorn. 
Ix.  p.  400. 

68  In  ea  autem  majestate  urbis,  et  civium  infinita  frequentiA,  innu« 
Bierabiles  habitationes  opus  fait  explicare.     Ergo  cum  recipere  non 


266  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL, 

oftiness  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  Augu?tus, 
as  well  as  by  Nero,  that  the  height  of  private  edifices  within 
the  walls  of  Rome,  should  not  excord  the  measure  of  seventy 
feet  from  the  ground.69  III.  Juvenal70  laments,  as  it  should 
seem  from  his  own  experience,  the  hardships  of  the  pool  or 
citizens,  to  whom  he  addresses  the  salutary  advice  of  emi- 
grating, without  delay,  from  the  smoke  of  Rome,  since  they 
might  purchase,  in  the  little  towns  of  Italy,  a  cheerful  com- 
modious 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  ex- 
pense, the  ground,  which  they  covered  with  palaces  and  gar- 
dens ;  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  thoii' 
sand  three  hundred  and  eighty-two.71  The  two  classes  of 
domus  and  of  insula,  into  vvhioh  they  are  divided,  include  all 

posset  area  plana  tantam  multitudinem  in  urbe,  ad  auxilium  altitu 
dinis  ffidificiorum  res  ipsa  coiigit  devenire.  Vitruv.  ii.  8.  This  pas 
eage,  which  I  owe  to  Vossius,  is  clear,  strong,  and  comprehensive. 

69  The  successive  testimonies  of  Pliny,  Aristides.  Olaudian,  Rutilius, 
&c,  prove  the  insufficiency  of  these  restrictive  edicts.  See  Lipsius, 
de  Magnitud.  Romana,  1.  hi.  c.  4. 


Tahulala  lilii  jam  tertia  fumant 


Tu  negcis  ;  nam  si  gradiSus  trepidutur  ah  imis 

L'ltimiis  ardebit,  queni  ttgulu  sola  tuutur 

A  pluvia.  Juvenal.  Satir.  ill.  199. 

70  Read  the  whole  third  satire,  but  particularly  166,  223,  &c.  The 
description  of  a  crowded  insula,  or  lodging-house,  in  Petronius,  (c.  96, 
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  caenacttla, 
or  apartments  of  an  insula,  annually  produced  forty  thousand  sester- 
ces, 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  This  sum  total  is  composed  of  1780  domus,  or  great  houses,  of 
46,602  insuUp,  or  plebeian  habitations,  (sec  Nardini,  Roma  Antica.  I 
id.  p.  88  ;)  and  these  numbers  arc  ascertained  by  the  agreement  of 
the  texts  of  the  different  Nottiia.     Nardiid,  1.  viii.  p.  498,  500. 


OP  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  267 

the  habitations  of  the  capital,  of  every  rank  and  condition, 
from  the  marble  palace  of  the  Anicii,  with  a  numerous  estab- 
lishment of  freed  men  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  in- 
differently 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  populousuess  of  the  greatest  cities  of  modern 
Europe.73  * 

78  See  that  accurate  writer  M.  de  Messance,  Recherches  sur  la  Po- 
pulation, p.  175 — 187.  From  probable,  or  certain  grounds,  he  assigns 
to  Paris  23. 56.5  houses,  71,114  families,  and  576,630  inhabitants. 

73  This  computation  is  not  very  different  from  that  which  M. 
Brotier,  the  last  editor  of  Tacitus,  (torn.  ii.  p.  3S0,)  has  assumed  from 
similar  principles  ;  though  he  seems  to  aim  at  a  degree  of  precision 
which  it  is  neither  possible  nor  important  to  obtain. 


*  M.  Dureau  de  la  Malle  (Economie  Politique  des  Romaines,  t.  i.  p. 
369)  quotes  a  passage  from  the  xvth  chapter  of  Gibbon,  in  whicn  he  esti- 
mates the  population  of  Koine  at  not  less  than  a  million,  and  adds,  (omit- 
ting 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  in- 
habitants ;  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  imper- 
fectly 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.  •■i\  t's£<  (iijjiuov  gii/iiim  ov&iv,  (J  iiinyvibaerai,  ptxP' 
rev  noojiaivovaa  a  ttAXii.  in  -6\n  eori,  Ktii  ndOiv  ap-^cTtt  nrjKiri  uvai  rrdAis  ovti* 
cvvvfavrui  tu>  nam  17  X^"'  *"'  £'»  avctpuv  IKfittuvroixivri',  Tr6\tu>s  vnu\rji^iv  -oi$ 
dcmnivoii  TTaoivr'ni  tl  ie  7<3  tei'vci,  Tip  cvacvpiria \  ptv  Svri  &tii  rai  nipi^itftiiuvoiicai 
avr&  noAAii^rfyfi'  nhtttuKtt  «JK""  &i  Ttva  <f>v\aTTovTi  Kara  ltoWovs  rdnovi  tTjs  <ip\uiu( 
xvaiTKivru  liuv\r)Vnri  fitrpciv  avrr\v,  k.  t.  X.  Ant.  Rom.  iv.  13.  None  of  M.  de 
la  Malle's  arguments  appear  to  me  to  prove,  against  this  statement,  that 
these  irrfgular  suburbs  did  not  extend  so  far  in  many  parts,  as  to  make  it 
mipossible  to  calculate  accurately  the  inhabited  area  of  the  city.  Thojgh 
io  doubt  the  city,  as  reconstructed  by  Nero,  was  much  less  closely  built, 
and  with  many  more  open  spaces  for  palaces,  temples,  and  other  publio 
edifices,  yet  many  passages  seem  to  prove  that  the  laws  respecting  the 
height  of  houses  were  not  rigidly  enforced.     A  great  part  of  the  loTer. 


268  THE    DECLINE    AND    *A_L 

Such  was  the  state  of  Rome  under  the  reign  of  Honcrius 
at  the  time  when  the  Gothic  army  formed  the  siege,  or  rathei 
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  ad- 
jacent country,  and  vigilantly  guarded  the  navigation  of  the 
lyber,  from  which  the  Romans  derived  the  surest  and  most 
plentiful  supply  of  provisions.  The  first  emotions  of  the  no- 
bles, 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  cred- 
ulous 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 

74  F<*  the  events  of  the  first  siege  of  Rome,  -which  are  often  con- 
founded with  those  of  the  second  and  third,  see  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  350 
— 351,  Sozomen,  1.  ix.  c.  6,  Olympiodorus,  ap.  Phot.  p.  ISO,  Philostor 
gius,  1.  xii.  c.  3,  and  Godefroy,  Dissertat.  p.  467 — 475. 


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 
insula?  (of  which  the  Notitia?  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  or  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  disa- 
grees witli  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  Sep- 
tiir.ius  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.  Aftel 
careful  consideration,  I  should  conceive  the  number  in  the  text,  1,200,000 
to  be  nearest  the  truth.  —  M.  1845. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  269 

frenzy,  the  senate,  without  requiring  any  evidence  of  her  guilt, 
pronounced  the  sentence  of  her  death.  Serena  was  ignomin- 
iously  strangled  •  and  the  infatuated  multitude  were  astonished 
to  find,  that  this  cruel  act  of  injustice  did  not  immediately  pro- 
duce 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  con- 
tinued 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 
guld  and  silver,  to  obtain  the  coarse  and  scanty  sustenance 
which  they  would  formerly  have  rejected  with  disJain.  The 
food  the  most  repugnant  to  sense  or  imagination,  the  ali- 
ments 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  des- 
perate 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  im- 
planted by  nature  in  the  human  breast,)  even  mothers  are  said 
to  have  tasted  the  flesh  of  their  slaughtered  infants  ! 7t3     Many 


76  The  mother  of  Lseta  was  named  Pissumena.  Her  father,  family, 
and  country,  are  unknown.     Ducange,  Fam.  Byzantium,  p.  59. 

76  Ad  nei'andos  cibos  erupit  esurientium  rabies,  et  sua  invicem  mem< 
bra  laniarunt,  dum  mater  non  parcit  lactenti  infantiae  ;  et  recipit  utero, 
quem  paullo  ante  effuderat.  Jerom.  ad  Principiam,  torn.  i.  p.  121, 
The  same  horrid  circumstance  is  likewise  told  of  the  sieges  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  Paris.  For  the  latter,  compare  the  tenth  book  of  the  Henri- 
ade,  and  the  Journal  de  Henri  IV.  torn.  i.  p.  47—83;  and  observe 
that  a  plain  narrative  of  facts  is  much  more  pathetic,  than  the  most 
labored  descriptions  of  ethic  poetry. 


270 


THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 


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,  sup- 
ported, 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  pneternatural  deliverance.  Pompeianus, 
praefect  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  Barba- 
rians.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  repub- 
lic 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,  appre- 
hensive 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 


77  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  355,  356)  speaks  of  these  ceremonies  like  a  Greek 
unacquainted  with  the  national  superstition  of  Rome  and  Tuscany.  I 
Buspect,  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 
A.vcntine. 


Quid  agnit  laqueia,  quae  carmine  dicaiit, 


t i 1 1 : i ■  1 1 1 ■  -  trahant  superis  scdibua  arte  Jovem, 
Scire  nifus  homini.* 

Fhe  ancilia,  or  shields  of  Mars,  the  pignora  Imperii,  which  were  (  nrried 
in  solemn  procession  on  the  calends  of  March,  derived  their  origin 
from  this  mysterious  event,  (Ovid.  Fast.  iii.  259 — 398.)  It  was  proba- 
bly designed  to  revive  this  ancient  lestival,  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. 

78  Sozomen  (I.  ix.  c.  (1)  insinuates  that  the  experiment  was  actually, 


•  On  the  curious  question  of  the  knowledge  of  conducting  lightning! 
possessed  bv  the  ancients,  consult  Kusebe  Salverte.  des  Sciences  Occultea« 
n.  axi?.     Paris,  1829.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  27  I 

The  last  resource  of  the  Romans  was  in  the  clemency,  or 
at  ieast  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  innumer- 
able people,  exercised  in  arms,  and  animated  by  despair. 
"  The  thicker  the  hay,  the  easier  it  is  mowed,1'  was  the  con- 
cise 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  unwnriike  populace,  ener- 
vated 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  mova- 
bles ;  and  all  the  slaves  who  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!1'  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 


though  unsuccessfully,  made ;  but  he  does  not  mention  the  name  of 
Innocent:  and  Tillemont  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  x.  p.  645)  is  determined 
not  to  believe,  that  a  pope  could  be  guilty  of  such  impious  coida- 
tKsensioD . 


272  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

weight  of  pepper.79  But  the  puhlic  treasury  was  exhausted; 
the  annual  rents  of  the  great  estates  in  Italy  and  the  provinces, 
were  intercepted  by  tl  e  calamities  of  war  ;  the  gold  and  gem* 
had  been  exchanged,  during  the  famine,  for  the  vilest  suste- 
nance ;  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  impend- 
ing 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  pro- 
visions 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  sub- 
urbs ;  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,  depos- 
ited in  the  public  and  private  granaries.  A  more  regular  dis- 
cipline 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  estab- 
lish 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  invita- 


79  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.  torn.  i.  p.  457. 

B0  This  Gothic  chieftain  is  called  by  Jomandcs  and  Isidore,  Athaui- 
phus ;  by  Zosimus  and  Orosius,  Atau/jihus  ;  and  by  Olympiodorus, 
Adfimtlphus.  I  have  used  the  celebrated  name  of  Adolphus,  which 
•eem9  to  be  authorized  by  the  practice  of  the  Swedes,  the  sons  or 
brothem  o*'?  the  ancient  Gath. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  27Jl 

Uon,  froM  the  banks  of  the  Danube  to  those  of  the  Tyber 
and  who  had  cut  their  way,  with  seme  difficulty  and  loss, 
through  the  superior  numbers  of  the  Imperial  troops.  A  vic- 
torious leader,  who  united  the  daring  spirit  of  a  Barbariau 
with  the  art  and  discipline  of  a  Roman  general,  was  at  tin1 
head  of  a  hundred  thousand  fighttng  men;  and  Italy  pio 
nounced,  with  terror  and  respect,  the  formidable  name  of 
Alaric  S1 

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,  Aluric  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  impor- 
tant 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.8-  But  the  hopes  of  peace  were 
disappointed  by  the  weak  obstinacy,  or  interested  views,  of 
.he  minister  Olympius.  Without  listening  to  the  talutary 
remoitstrances  of  the  senate,  he  dismissed  their  ambassadors 
under  the  conduct  of  a  military  escort,  too  numerous   for  a 


"  The  treaty  between  Alaric  and  the  Romans,  &c,  is  taken  from 
Zosiraus,  1.  v.  p.  354,  35.5,  358,  359,  3(52,  363.  The  additional  eircunv 
♦  tanues  are  too  tew  and  trifling  to  require  any  other  quotation. 

"  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  367,  368,  369. 

66 


274 


THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 


retinue  of  honor,  and  too  feeble  for  an  army  of  defence. 
Six  thousand  Dalmatians,  the  flower  of  the  Imperial  legions, 
were  ordered  to  march  from  Ravenna  to  Rome,  through  ari 
open  country  which  was  occupied  by  the  formidable  myriads 
of  tfie  Barbarians.  These  brave  legionaries,  encompassed 
and  betrayed,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  ministerial  folly  ;  their  gen- 
eral, 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  pur- 
chase 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 

Olympius84  might  have  continued  to  insult  the  just  resent- 
ment of  a  people  who  loudly  accused  Inm  as  tne  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  Praetorian  prasfect ;  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 
B]>ectacle  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  dignir'es 
of  the  state.     The  brave  Gennerid,85  a  soldier  of  Barbarian 


*3  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  360,  .3(51,  362.  The  bishor,  by  remaining  at 
luivenna,  escaped  the  impending  calamities  of  tho  city.  Orosius,  1. 
vii.  c.  39,  p.  573. 

84  For  the  adventures  of  Olympius,  and  his  successors  in  the  minis" 
trv,  see  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  363,  365,  366,  and  Olympiodor.  ap.  Phot.  p. 
ISO,  181. 

84  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  364)  relates  this  circumstance  with  visible  com- 
placency, and  celebrates  the  character  of  Gennerid  as  the  last  glory 
of  ©spiring   Paganism.     Very    different   were    the   sentiments   of  tin 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  273 

origin,  who  still  adherea  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  honor- 
able 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  pro- 
moted or  restored,  of  master-general  of  Dalmatia,  Pannonia, 
Noricum,  and  Rhastia,  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  lllyrian 
frontier ;  and  his  vigilant  care  assisted  the  empire  with  a 
reenforcement  of  ten  thousand  Huns,  who  arrived  on  th* 
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  foi 
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  prsefect  Jovius, 
the  guards  rose  in  furious  mutiny,  and  demanded  the  heads 
of  two  generals,  and  of  the  two  principal  eunuchs.  The  gen- 
erals, 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  cham- 
berlain 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  dis- 


council  of  Carthage,  who  deputed  four  bishops  to  the  court  of  Raven- 
na, to  complain  of  the  law,  which  had  been  just  enacted,  that  all 
conversions  to  Christianity  should  be  free  and  voluntary.  See  Baro- 
ftius,  AnnaJ.  Ficles.  A.  li  409,  No.  12,  A.  D.  410,  No.  47.  48. 


276  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

covered    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  conclu- 
sion 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  char- 
acter, could  enable  him  to  support ;  and  a  letter,  signed  with 
the  name  of  Honorius,  was  immediately  despatched  to  the 
l'roetorian  prsefect,  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  Barba- 
rian.    This  letter  was  imprudently  communicated  to  Alaric 
himself;    and   the  Goth,  who   in  the  whole   transaction  had 
behaved  with  temper  and  decency,  expressed,  in   tne  most 
outrageous  language,  his  lively  sense  of  the   insult  so  wan- 
tonly offered  to  his  person  and  to  his  nation.     The  confer- 
ence of   Rimini   was   hastily   interrupted ;    and   the   prefect 
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  woulc 
stdl   persevere  in   perpetual  and   implacable  war  against  the 
enemy  of  the  republic.     This  rash  engagement  opposed  an 
insuperable  bar  to  all  future  negotiation.     Tho  ministers  of 
Honorius  were  heard  to  declare,  that,  if  thf.y  had  only  in 
vokcd  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  re- 
bellion.86 


88  Zosimus,  1.  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,  bv  flattery,  to  the  Caesars ;  and  Tertullian  complain?,  tha» 
it  was  the  only  oath  which  the  Romans  of  his  time  effected  to  rever- 
ence. See  an  elegant  Dissertation  of  the  Abbe  MsWPl  on  the  Oatrj 
of  the  Ancien  s,  in  the  Mem.  de  T  Academic  des  Ir.»<  f^-ons,  tam-  i 
p.  208,  209. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  277 

While  the  emperor  and  his  court  enjoyed,  with  sullen  pride, 
the  security  of  the  marshes  and  fortifications  of  Ravenna, 
they  abandoned  Rome,  almost  without  defence,  to  the  resent- 
ment 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  con- 
jure the  emperor,  that  he  would  save  the  city  and  its  inhab- 
itants from  hostile  fire,  and  the  sword  of  the  Barbarians.87 
These  impending  calamities  were,  however,  averted,  not  in- 
deed by  the  wisdom  of  Honorius,  but  by  the  prudence  01 
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  pre- 
carious 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  exe- 
cuted 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  capa- 
cious basins,  which  received  the  northern  branch  of  the  Tyber, 
about  two  miles  from  the  ancient  colony  of  Ostia.89     The 


87  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  368,  369.  I  have  softened  the  expressions  of 
Alaric,  who  expatiates,  in  too  florid  a  manner,  on  the  history  of  Rome. 

89  See  Sueton.  in  Claud,  c.  20.  Dion  Cassius,  1.  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,  Mom. 
de  1' Academic  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xxx.  p.  198,)  and  declared,  with 
enthusiasm,  that  all  the  monarchs  of  Europe  would  be  unable  to  exe- 
cute so  great  a  work,  (Bergier,  Hist,  des  grands  Chemins  des  Romains, 
torn.  ii.  p.  356) 

89  The  Ostia  Tyberina,  (see  Cluver.  Italia  Antiq.  1.  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  the  river ;  and  the  distance 
between  their  remains  measures  something  more  thati  two  miles  on 
t/ingolani's  map.  In  the  tune  of  Strabo,  the  sand  anl  mud  deposited 
by  the  Tyber  had  choked  the  harbor  of  Ostia;  the  progress  of  th« 
some  cause,  has  added  much  to  the  size  of  the  Holy  Island,  and  gradu- 


278  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Roman  Port  insensibly  swelled  to  the  size  of  an  episcopal 
cit5  ,90  where  the  com  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 
tc  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  maga- 
zines, 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  un 
worthy  Honorius ;  and  the  suffrage  of  the  Gothic  conqueror 
bestowed  the  purple  on  Attains,  praefect  of  the  city.  The 
grateful  monarch  immediately  acknowledged  his  protector  ua 
master-general  ot  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 

The  gates  of  the  city  were  thrown  open,  and  the  new  em- 
peror 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,  At- 
talus convened  an  assembly  of  the  senate  ;  before  whom,  in  a 


ally  left  both  Ostia  and  the  Port  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
shore.  The  dry  channels  (fiurai  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  mathemati- 
cians 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  As  early  as  the  third,  (Lardner's  Credibility  of  the  Gospel,  part 
ii.  vol.  iii.  p.  S9 — 9'2,)  or  at  least  the  fourth,  century,  (Carol,  a  Sancta 
Paulo,  Notit.  Eccles.  p.  47,)  the  Port  of  Home  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  ho"ise,  or  palbce,  of  the  bishop  , 
who  ranks  as  one  of  six  cardinal-bishops  of  the  Roman  church.  See 
Eschmard,  Descrizione  di  Roma  et  dell'  Agro  Romano,  p.  328.* 

91  For  the  elevation  of  Attalus,  consult  Zosimus,  1.  vi.  p.  377 — 38C, 
Sozomen,  1.  ixj  c.  8,  9,  Olympiodor.  ap.  Phot.  p.  180,  181,  Fhilo*' 
lorg.  1.  xii.  c.  3?  and  Godefroy,  Dissertat.  p.  470. 


Compare  Sir  W.  Gell,  Rome  and  its  Vicinity,  vol.  ii.  p.  IU.      M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN     EMPIRE.  279 

l«  rma  und  florid  speech,  be  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  acknowl- 
edged 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 
Anan  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 
orothic  powers  ;  and  though  the  city  of  Bologna  made  a  vigor- 
ous 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  prin- 
cipal ministers,  of  Jovius,  the  Praetorian  .prefect,  of  Valens, 
master  of  the  cavalry  and  infantry,  of  the  qiuestor  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 
tnat,  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 

M  We  may  admit  the  evidence  of  Sozomen  for  the  Arian  baptism, 
BT.d  that  of  Philostorgius  for  the  Pagan  education,  of  Attalus.  The 
visible  joy  of  Zosimus,  and  the  discontent  which  he  imputes  to  the 
Anieian  family,  are  very  unfavorable  to  the  Christianity  of  the  new 
emperor. 

93  he  carried  his  insolence  so  far,  as  to  declare  that  he  should  mutw 


210  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL 

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 
f'evoted  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  Raveflna, 
to  transport  the  abdicated  monarch  to  the  dominions  of  his 
infant  nephew,  the  emperor  of  the  East. 

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  dan- 
ger. 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  sprit  to 
command,  or  docility  to  obey.     The  most  imprudent  measures 

late  Honorius  before  he  sent  him  into  exile.  But  this  assertion  of 
Zosimus  is  destroyed  by  the  more  impartial  testimony  of  Olymjno- 
dorus,  who  attributes  the  ungenerous  proposal  (which  was  absolutely 
rejected  by  Attalus)  to  the  baseness,  and  perhfps  the  treachery,  o* 
Jovius. 
w  Procop.  de  Boll.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  2. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  28\ 

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 
Oetrayed  a  suspicious  and  distrustful  temper,  which,  in  theii 
situation,  was  neither  generous  nor  prudent.  The  resentinenl 
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  innu- 
merable 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  pledgo 
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  per 
mission  of  following  the  Gothic  camp,  in  the  train  of  a  haughty 
and  capricious  Barbarian.96 

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  Im- 
perial 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,  tha' 
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 


n  See  the  cause  and  circumstances  of  the  fall  of  Attalus  in  Zosimus, 
.  vi.  p.  380—383.  Sozomen,  1.  ix.  c.  8.  Philostorg.  1.  xii.  c.  3.  The 
two  acts  of  indemnity  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  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. 
•*  In  hoc,  Alaricus,  imperatore,  facto,  infecto,  refecto,  ac  defecto 
■  .  ALmum  risit,  et  ludum  spectavit  imperii.  Orosius,  1.  svl.  c.  12. 
p.  582 

66* 


282  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

from  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  the  emperor.97  The  crime 
and  foliy  of  the  court  of  Ravenna  was  expiated,  a  third  time 
by  the  cal  imities  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  delay  the  ruin  of  their  country.  But 
ihey  were  unable  to  guard  against  the  secret  conspiracy  of 
their  slaves  and  domestics  ;  who,  either  from  birth  or  interest, 
weie  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 
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  them- 
selves 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  sanctu- 
aries. 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 

87  Zosimus,  1.  vi.  p.  384.  Sozoraen,  1.  ix.  c.  9.  Philostorgius,  1.  xii. 
o.  3.  In  this  place  the  text  of  Zosimus  is  mutilated,  and  we  have  lost 
she  remainder  of  his  sixth  and  last  book,  which  ended  with  the  sack 
af  liome.  Credulous  and  partial  as  he  iSj  we  must  take  our  leave  of 
that  historian  with  some  regret. 

98  Adest  Alaricus,  trepidam  Eomam  obsidet,  turbat,  irrumpit. 
Oroeius,  1.  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.  1.  i.  c.  2.  He  supposes  that  the  city  was  surprised  while  the 
■enators  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,  torn.  i.  p.  121,  ad  Principiam. 

*•  Orosius  (I    vii.   c.   39,  p.  573—576)   applauds  the  piety  of  the 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  283 

quest  of  pre)  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  de- 
manded, though  in  civil  language,  all  the  gold  and  silver  10 
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  valuablt 
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.1'  The  Gothic  captain,  struck  with  rever- 
ential 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  orna- 
ments 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  numer- 
ous 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  re- 
ligious 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 
Df  the  Roman  greatness.  He  celebrates,  with  peculiar  satis- 
faction, this  memorable  triumph  of  Christ ;  and  insults  his 
adversaries,  by  challenging  them   to  produce   some   similar 


Christian  Goths,  without  seeming  to  perceive  that  the  greatest  part  ol 
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 
wtr  with  the  Romans,  and  not  with  the  apostles.  Such  was  the  style 
of  the  seventh  century  ;  two  hundred  years  before,  the  fame  anH 
merit  had  been  ascribed,  not  to  the  apostles,  but  to  Christ. 


284  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

example  oi  a  town  taken  by  storm,  in  which  the  fabulous  goila 
of  antiquity  had  been  able  to  protect  either  themselves  or  iheir 
deluded  votaries.100 

In  the  sack  of  Rome,  some  rare  and  extraordinary  exam 
pies  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  stranger? 
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  pro- 
voked 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  for- 
merly 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 

100  See  Augustin,  de  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  i.  c.  1 — 6.  He  particularly  ap- 
peals to  the  examples  of  Troy,  Syracuse,  and  Tarentum. 

:ul  Jerom  (torn.  i.  p.  121,  ad  Principiam)  has  applied  to  the  sack  of 
Rome  all  the  strong  expressions  of  Virgil :  — 

Quis  cladem  illius  noctis,  qui:-  funera  fando, 
Explicet,  &.c. 

Procopius  (1.  i.  c.  2)  positively  affirms  that  great  numbers  were  slain 
by  the  Goths.  Augustin  (de  Civ.  Dei,  1.  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. 

,us  So/omen,  1.  ix.  c.  10.  Augustin  (de  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  i.  c.  17)  in- 
timate), that   some   virgins  or   matrons  actually  killed  themselves  to 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMP1R*.  285 

•rthoiox  faith,  had  excited  the  impatient  de^res  of  a  young 
oroth,  who  according  to  the  sagacious  remark  of  Sozomen, 
was  attached  to  the  Arian  heresy.  Exasperated  by  her  ob- 
stinate resistance,  he  drew  his  sword,  and,  with  the  anger  of 
a  lover,  slightly  wounded  her  neck.  The  bleeding  heroine 
stil.  continued  to  brave  his  resentment,  and  to  repel  his  love 
till  the  ravisher  desisted  from  his  unavailing  efforts,  respect- 
filly  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  serious- 
ly 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 
There  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  chas- 
tity, 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 

escape  violation  ;  and  though  he  admires  their  spirit,  he  is  obliged,  b> 
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. 

1,3  See  Augustin  de  Civitat.  Dei,  1.  i.  c.  16,  18.  He  treats  the  sub- 
ject 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  con- 
Btantissimo  animo  pudicitiam  non  excutit,  pudorem  tamen  incutit,  ne 
credatur  factum  cum  mentis  etiam  voluntate,  quod  fieri  fortasse  sine 
carnis  aliquft  voluptate  non  potuit.  In  c.  18  he  makes  some  curioui 
distinctions  between  moral  and  physical  virginity. 


286  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

diligent  robbei ;,  the  palaces  of  Rome  were  rudely  stripped  of 
th«;ir  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  rough- 
ly 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  pro- 
ceeded, by  threats,  by  blows,  and  by  tortures,  to  force  from 
their  prisoners  the  confession  of  hidden  treasure.1"4  Visible 
splendor  and  expense  were  alleged  as  the  proof  of  a  plentiful 
fortune  ;  the  appearance  of  poverty  was  imputed  to  a  parsi- 
monious 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  Sala- 
rian  gate,  they  fired  the  adjacent  houses  to  guide  their  march, 
and  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  citizens  ;  the  Acmes,  which 
encountered  no  obstacle  in  the  disorder  of  the  night,  consumed 
many  private  and  public  buildings  ;  and  the  ruins  of  the  palace 
of  Sallust 1U5  remained,  in  the  age  of  Justinian,  a  stately  monu- 
ment of  the  Gothic   conflagration.106     Yet  a   contemporary 


104  MarceUa,  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,  torn.  i.  p.  121,  ad 
Principiam.  See  Augustin,  do  Civ.  Dei,  1.  i.  c.  10.  The  modern 
Sacco  di  Roma,  p.  208,  gives  an  idea  of  the  various  methods  of  tor- 
turing prisoners  for  gold. 

103  The  historian  Sallust,  who  usefully  practised  the  vices  which  he 
has  so  eloquently  censured,  employed  the  plunder  of  Numidia  to 
edorn  his  palace  and  gardens  on  the  Quirinal  hill.  The  spot  where 
the  house  stood  is  now  marked  by  the  church  of  St.  Susanna,  sepa- 
rated 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  grea*  Plan  of  Modern  Rome,  by  Nolli. 

:o6  rr;he  expressions  of  Procopius  are  distinct  and  moderate,  (de  Bell. 
Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  2.)  The  Chronicle  of  Marcellinus  speaks  too  strongly, 
partem  urbis  Romae  cremavit ;  and  the  words  of  Philostorgius  (»» 
iotmiutg  Si  T>]g  nJAtuti;  xeiuivr,;,  1.  xii.  c.  3)  convey  a  false  and  exag- 
gerated idea.     Eargams  has  composed  a  particular  dissertation  'sea 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  287 

historian  has  coserved,  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  de- 
vout assertion,  that  the  wrath  of  Heaven  supplied  the  imper- 
fections of  hostile  rage  ;  and  that  the  proud  Forum  of  Rome, 
decorated  with  the  statues  of  so  many  gods  and  heroes,  wa* 
levelled  in  the  dust  by  the  stroke  of  lightning.107 

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  aru 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  stran- 
gers.100 The  captives,  who  were  regularly  sold,  either  in 
open  market,  01  by  private  contract,  would  have  legally 
regained  their  native  freedom,  which  it  was  impossible  for  a 
citizen  to  lose,  or  10  alienate.110  But  as  it  was  soon  discovered 
that   the   vindication  of   their    liberty   would   endanger  their 


torn.  iv.  Antiqii'4.  Rom.  Graev.)  to  prove  that  the  edifices  of  Rome 
were  not  subverted  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals. 

""  Orosius,  1.  ii.  o.  19,  p.  143.  He  speaks  as  if  he  disapproved  alt 
statues;  vel  Deum  \el  hominem  mentiuntur.  They  consisted  of  the 
kings  of  Alba  and  Rome  from  iEneas,  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  Jive  princi- 
pal 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  Anticaof  Nar- 
dini,  p.  212 — 273.  The  former  is  more  useful  for  the  ancient  descrip- 
tions, the  latter  for  the  actual  topography. 

108  Orosius  (1.  ii.  c.  19,  p.  142)  compares  the  cruelty  of  the  Gauls 
and  the  clemency  of  the  Goths.  Ibi  vix  quemquam  inventum  sena- 
torem,  qui  vel  absens  evaserit ;  hie  vix  quemquam  requiri,  qui  forte 
ut  latens  pericrit.  But  there  is  an  air  of  rhetoric,  and  perhaps  of 
falsehood,  in  this  antithesis;  and  Socrate3  (1.  vii.  c.  10)  affirms,  per- 
haps by  an  opposite  exaggeration,  that  many  senators  were  put  to 
death  with  various  and  exquisite  tortures. 

109  Multi  .  .  .  Christiani  incaptivitatem  ducti  sunt.  Augustin,  de  Civ. 
Dei.  1.  i.  c.  14 ;  and  the  Christians  experienced  no  peculiar  hardships. 

ilc  Sue  Heineccius,  Antiquitat.  Juris  Roman,  torn.  i.  p.  96. 


288  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  regu- 
lation, that  they  should  be  obliged  to  serve  the  moderate  t€TlH 
of  five  years,  till  they  had  discharged  by  their  labor  the  pi  ice 
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  servi- 
tude 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  Campank. 
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  patri- 
monies, 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  hos- 
pitable province.  The  most  illustrious  of  these  fugitives  was 
the  noble  and  pious  Proba,113  the  widow  of  the  praefect  Petro- 
nius.     After  the   death  of  her  husband,  the  most  powerfu 


111  Appendix  Cod.  Theodos.  xvi.  in  Sirmond.  Opera,  torn.  i.  p.  735 
Tlus  edict  was  published  on  the  11th  of  December,  A.  D.  408,  and  ii 
more  reasonable  than  properly  belonged  to  the  ministers  of  Honorius. 
118  Eminvis  Igilii  sylvosa  cacumina  miror  ; 

Quem  fraudarc  nefas  laudis  honorc  suae. 
Haec  proprios  nuper  tutata  est  insula  saltus ; 

Sive  loci  ingenio,  seu  Domini  genio. 
Gurgite  cum  modico  victricibus  obstitit  armis, 

Tanquam  longinquo  dissociata  mari. 
Ha?c  multos  lacera  suscepit  ab  urbe  fugatos, 

Hie  fessis  posito  certa  timore  salus. 
Plurima  terreno  populaverat  sequorar  bello, 
Contra  naturam  classe  timendus  equcs  : 
Unum,  mira  fides,  vario  discrimine  portum ! 
Tam  prope  Ron:  anis,  tam  procul  esse  Getis. 

Kutilius,  in  Itinerar.  1.  l.  325 

The  island  is  now  called  Giglio.  See  Cluver.  Ital.  Antiq.  1.  ii. 
p.  502. 

1,1  As  the  adventures  of  Proba  and  her  family  are  connected  -with 
the  life  of  St.  Augustin,  they  are  diligently  illustrated  by  Tillemont, 
Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xiii.  p.  620—635.  Some  time  after  their  arrival  in 
Africa,  Demetrias   took  the  veil,  and  made  a  vow  of  virginity  ;  au 


=LF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  2$9 

subject  of  Rome,  &ne  had  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Aniciai 
family,  and  successively  supplied,  from  her  private  fortune 
the  expense  of  the  consulships  of  her  three  sons.  When  tlr.5 
city  was  besieged  and  taken  by  the  Goths,  Proba  supported, 
with  Christian  resignation,  the  loss  of  immense  riches;  em- 
barked in  a  small  vessel,  from  whence  she  beheld,  at  sea,  the 
flames  of  her  burning  palace,  and  fled  with  her  daughter 
Lajta,  and  her  granddaughter,  the  celebrated  virgin,  Deme- 
trias,  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  Heruclian, 
who  basely  sold,  in  matrimonial  prostitution,  the  noblest 
maidens  of  Rome  to  the  lust  or  avarice  of  the  Syrian  rma 
chants.  The  Italian  fugitives  were  dispersed  through  the 
provinces,  along  the  coast  of  Egypt  and  Asia,  as  far  as  Con- 
stantinople and  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  village  of  Bethiem,  the 
solitary  residence  of  St.  Jerom  and  his  female  converts,  vv^a 
crowded  with  illustrious  beggars  of  either  sex,  and  every  ;ij*f», 
who  excited  the  public  compassion  by  the  remembrance  cf 
their  past  fortune.114  This  awful  catastrophe  of  Rome  lilied 
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  some- 
times tempted  to  confound  the  destruction  of  the  capital  and 
the  dissolution  of  the  globe. 

There  exists  in  human  nature  a  strong  propensity  to  depre- 
ciate the  advantages,  and  to  magnify  the  evils,  of  the  present 
'.  mes.  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 


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,  (torn.  i.  p.  62 — 73,  ad  Demetriad.  de  servanda 
Virginitat.,)  and  contains  a  mixture  of  absurd  reasoning,  spirited 
declamation,  and  curious  facts,  some  of  which  relate  to  the  siege  anu 
»nck  of  Rome. 

,M  See  the  pathetic  complaint  of  Jerom,  (torn.  v.  p.  400,)  in  his  pref- 
ace to  tne  second  book  of  liis  Commentaries  on  the  Prophet  Ezek'el 


290  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Gauls,  than  she  bad  now  sustained  from  the  Gclhs  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  Barba- 
rians, 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  perserved  some  order  and 
moderation  among  the  ferocious  multitude  which  acknowl- 
edged 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  begin- 
ning 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  vio- 
lated every  prejudice  of  patriotism  and  superstition  to  assault 
the  palace  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  must  deserve  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  most  profligate  of  the  Italians.  At  the  same  a?ra, 
the  Spaniards  were  the  terror  both  of  the  Old  and  New  World  : 
but  their  high-spirited  valor  was  disgraced  by  gloomy  pride. 


115  Orosius,  though  with  some  theological  partiality,  states  this 
comparison,  1.  ii.  c.  19,  p.  142,  1.  vii.  c.  39,  p.  575.  But,  in  the  history 
of  the  taking  of  Rome  by  the  Gauk,  every  thing  is  uncertain,  and 
perhaps  fabulous.  See  Beaufort  sur  1' Incertitude,  &c,  de  l'Histoire 
Komaine,  p.  356  ;  and  Melot,  in  the  Mem.  de  l'Academie  des  Inscript. 
torn.  xv.  p.  1  — 21. 

1,1  The  reader  who  wishes  to  inform  himself  of  the  circumstances 
of  this  famous  event,  may  peruse  an  admirable  narrative  in  Dr.  Ko',- 
ertson's  History  of  Charles  V.  vol.  ii.  p.  283  ;  or  consult  the  Annali 
d'  Italia  of  the  learned  Muratori,  torn.  xiv.  p.  230—244,  octavo  edition, 
If  he  is  desirous  of  examining  the  originals,  he  may  have  recourse  t- 
the  eighteenth  book  of  the  great,  but  unfinished,  history  of  Guicciar 
dini.  But  the  account  which  most  truly  deserves  the  name  of  au- 
thentic and  original,  is  a  little  book,  entitled,  11  Sacca  di  Roma,  com 
posed,  w^.hin  less  than  a  month  after  the  assault  of  the  city,  by  th. 
Vrothe\  of  the  historian  Guicciardini,  who  appears  to  have  been  an 
"bit*  magistrate  and  a  dispassionate  writer. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMriRE.  291 

rapacious  avarice,  and  unrelenting  cruelty,  •ndefatigablc  in 
the  pursuit  of  fame  and  riches,  they  had  improved,  t>y 
repeated  practice,  the  most  exquisite  and  effectual  methods 
of  torturing  their  prisoners  :  many  of  the  Castilians,  who 
pillaged  Rome,  were  familiars  of  the  ho.y  inquisition  ,  and 
some  volunteers,  perhaps,  were  lately  returned  from  the  con- 
quest 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  dis- 
guised 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  modem  Rome  ;  and  their  fanatic  zeal  might  aspire  to  sub- 
vert the  throne  of  Antichrist,  to  purify,  with  blood  and  firs 
the  abominations  of  the  spiritual  Babylon.117 

The  retreat  of  the  victorious  Goths,  who  evacuated  Rome 
on  the  sixth  day,118  might  be  the  result  of  prudence  ;  but  ii 
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  furious  spirit  of  Luther,  the  effect  of  temper  and  enthusi 
asm,    has  been  forcibly  attacked,  (Bossuet,  Hist,   des  Variations  de» 
Kglise.  Protestantes,  livre  i.  p.  20 — 36,)  and  feebly  defended,  (Secken- 
dorf,  Comment,  de  Lutheranismo,  especially  i.  i.  No.  78,  p.  120,  and  L 
ui.  No.  122,  p.  55(5.) 

118  M  u-cellinus,  in  Chron.  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  39,  p.  575,)  asserts 
lhal  he  left  Rome  on  the  third  clay  ;  but  this  difference  is  easily  rec- 
onciled by  the  successive  motions  of  great  bodies  of  troops. 

119  So  urates  (1.  vii.  1.  10  J  pretends,  without  any  color  of  truth,  oi 
-«>ason,  that  Alaric  fled  on  the  report  that  the  armies  of  the  Eastern 
empire  were  in  full  march  to  attack  him. 

12J  Ausonius  de  Claris  Urbibus,  p.  233,  edit.  Toll.  The  luxury  cu 
.'apua  had  formerly  surpassed  that  of  Sybaris  itself.  See  A-thenseui 
. ^unosophis »  1.  xii.  p.  528,  edit.  Casaubon 


£92  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  aJicu-ent  town   of  Nola121  has  been   illustrated,  on    h» 
occasion,  oy  the  sanctity  of  Paulinus,12'2  who  was  successively 
a  consul,  a  monk,  and  a  bishop.     At  the  age   of  forty,  be 
renounced  tbe  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  dwell- 
ing in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Nola,  near  the  miraculous  tomb 
ofSt.  Faelix,  which  the  public  devotion  had  already  surrounded 
with  five  large  and  populous  churches.    The  remains  of  his  for- 
tune, and  of  his  understanding,  were  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  the  glorious  martyr ;  whose  praise,  on  the  day  of  his  festi- 
val, Paulinus  never  failed  to  celebrate  by  a  solemn  hymn  ;  and 
in  whose  name  he  erected  a  sixth  church,  of  superior  elegance 
*nd  beauty,  which  was  decorated  with  many  curious  pictures, 
from  the  history  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.     Such  assid- 
uous zeal  secured  the  favor  of  the  saint,124  or  at  least  of  the 
people;   and,  after  fifteen  years'  retirement,  the  Roman  con- 
sul 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 

131  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  Tillemont  (M6m.  Eccle^.  torn.  xiv.  p.  1 — 46)  has  compiled,  with 
his  usual  diligence,  all  that  relates  to  the  life  and  writings  of  Pauli- 
ims,  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  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  Me"m.  de 
i' Academic  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xv.  p.  12:!— 138.)  I  believe  that  it 
was  such  in  his  own  time,  and  consequently,  that  in  his  heart  he  was 
a  Pagan. 

124  The  humble  Paulinus  once  presumed  to  say,  that  he  believed 
St.  Faelix  did  love  him ;  at  least,  as  a  master  loves  his  little  dog. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  293 

from  tne  general  devastation  ; 1-5  and  the  captive  bishop  was 
protected  only  by  the  general  opinion  of  his  innocence  and 
poverty.  Above  four  years  elapsed  from  the  successful  inva- 
sion of  Italy  by  the  arms  of  Alaric,  to  the  voluntary  retreat  ol 
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, 
hich  Italy  had  attained  in  the  auspicious  age  of  the  Anto- 
nines,  had  gradually  declined  with  the  decline  of  the  empire. 
The  fruits  of  a  long  peace  perished  under  the  rude  grasp  of 
th»;  Barbarians  ;  and  they  themselves  were  incapable  of  tast 
ing  the  more  elegant  refinements  of  luxury,  which  had  beer 
prepared  for  the  use  of  the  soft  and  polished  Italians.  Each 
soldier,  however,  claimed  an  ample  po  \:on  of  the  substantial 
plenty,  the  corn  and  cattle,  oil  and  w.r.o  that  was  daily  col- 
lected 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,1215 
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  :  tne  comparison 
nf  their  native  soil,  the  bleak  and  barren  bills  of  Scythia,  and 
the  frozen  banks  of  the  Elbe  and  Danube,  added  new  charms 
to  the  felicity  of  the  Italian  climate.127 


'•  See  Jomandes,  de  Reb.  Get.  c.  30,  p.  653.  Philostorgius,  1.  xiL 
c.  3.  Augustin,  de  Civ.  Dei,  1.  i.  c.  10.  Baronius,  Annal.  Eccles. 
A.  D.  410,  No.  45,  46. 

128  The  platanas,  or  plane-tree,  was  a  favorite  of  the  ancients,  by 
whom  it  was  propagated,  for  the  sake  of  shade,  from  the  East  to  Gaul. 
Pliny,  Hist.  Natur.  xii.  3,  4,  5.  He  mentions  several  of  an  enormous 
size  ;  one  iu  the  Imperial  villa,  at  Velitrse,  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  par* 
mmbrte ;  an  expression  which  might,  with  equal  reason,  be  applied  to 
Alaric. 

ln  The  prostrate  South  to  the  destroyer  yields 

Her  boasted  titles  and  her  golden  holds  ; 
With  grim  delight  the  brood  of  winter  view 
A  brighter  day,  and  skies  of  azure  hue  ; 


294  THE  DECLINF  AND  FALL. 

"Whether  fame,  or  conauest,  or  riches,  were  the  object  of 
Alaric,  he  pursued  that  object  with  an  indefatigable  ardor 
which  could  neither  be  quelled  by  adversity  nor  satiated  by 
puceess.  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  ex- 
pedition, which  he  already  meditated  against  the  continent  of 
Africa.  The  Straits  of  Rhegium  and  Messina  12B  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  trans- 
ports ;  their  courage  was  daunted  by  the  terrors  of  a  new  ele- 
ment ;  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  Bar- 
barians 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  Oon- 
sentia.  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 

The  personal  animosities  and  hereditary  feuds  of  the  Bar- 
barians were  suspended  by  the  strong  necessity  of  their  affairs, 
and  the  brave  Adolphus,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  deceased 


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  coa. 
piling  tables  of  chronology  and  natural  history,  why  did  not  Mr.  Gi  \J 
apply  the  powers   of  his   genius   to   finish  the  philosophic  poem,  of 
which  he  has  left  such  an  exquisite  specimen  ? 

128  For  the  perfect  description  of  the  Straits  of  Messina,  Scylln, 
Charybdis,  &c,  see  Cluverius,  (Ital.  Antiq.  1.  iv.  p.  1293,  and  Sicilii 
4.ntiq.  1.  i.  p.  60 — 76,)  who  had  diligently  studied  the  ancients,  an* 
•nrveyed  with  a  curious  eye  the  actual  face  of  the  country. 

vw  Jornand*?s,  de  llek  Get.  <:.  30,  p.  654. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  295 

monarch,  was  unanimously  elected  to  succeed  to  his  throne. 
The  character  and  political  system  of  the  new  king  of  the 
Goths  may  he  best  understood  from  his  own  conversation  with 
an  illustrious  citizen  of  Narbonne  ;  who  afterwards,  in  a  pil- 
grimage 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 

tect  on  its  ruins  the  dominion  of  the  Goths  ;  and  ito  acquire, 
like  Augustus,  the  immortal  fame  of  the  founder  of  a  new 
empire.  By  repeated  experiments,  I  was  gradually  convinced, 
mat  laws  are  essentially  necessary  to  maintain  and  regulate 
a  well-constituted  state  ;  and  that  the  fierce,  untractahle  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  ac- 
knowledge 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  friend- 
ship and  alliance.  It  was  the  interest  of  the  ministers  of  Ho- 
norius,  who  were  now  released  from  the  obligation  of  their 
extravagant  oath,  to  deliver  Italy  from  the  intolerable  weighl 
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 
3ampania  to  the  southern  provinces  of  Gaul.  His  troops, 
either  by  force  or  agreement,  immediately  occupied  the  cities 
of   Narbonne,  Thoulouse,  and    Bordeaux  ;  and    though  tb,ey 

vere  repulsed  by  Count  Boniface  from  the  walls  of  Marseilles, 
they  soon  extended  their  quarters  from  the  Mediterranean  to 
rhe  Ocean.     The  oppressed   provincials  might  exclaim,  that 


130  Orosius,  1.  vii.  c.  43,  p.  584,  585.  He  was  sent  by  St.  Augustm, 
:n  the  year  415,  from  Africa  to  Palestine,  to  visit  St.  Jerom,  and  to 
consult  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  Pelagian  controversy. 

131  Jornandcs  supposes,  without  much  probability,  that  AdolpllUB 
risited  and  plundered  Rome  a  second  time,  (more  locustarum  eraait.) 
Yet  he  agrees  with  Orosius  in  supposing,  that  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
concluded  between  the  Gothic  prince  and  Honorius.  See  Oros  L.  vii. 
*  43,  p  584,  585      Jornandcs,  de  Keb.  Geticis,  c.  31,  p.  654,  656. 


296  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  un- ' 
governable  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. iy2 

The  professions  of  Adolphus  were  nrobably  sincere,  and 
his  attachment  to.  the  cause  of  the  republic  was  secured  bv 
the  ascendant  which,  a  Romai,  princess  had  acquired  n\n 
the  heart  and  understanding  of  the  Barbarian  king.  Pla- 
cidia,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  cir- 
cumstances of  the  action,  may  be  aggravated,  or  excused,  by 
the  consideration  of  her  tender  age.134  The  victorious  Bar- 
barians detained,  either  as  a  hostage  or  a  carMve,135  the  sister 
of  Honorius ;  but,  while  she  was  exposed  to  the  disgrace  of 

,a*  The  retreat  of  the  Goths  from  Italy,  and  their  first  transactions 
r_::  Gaul,  are  dark  and  doubtful.  I  have  derived  much  assistance  from 
Mascou,  (Hist,  of  the  Ancient  Germans,  1.  viii.  c.  29,  35,  36,  37,)  who 
has  illustrated,  and  connected,  the  broken  chronicles  and  fragments  of 
the  times. 

33  See  an  account  of  Placidia  in  Ducange,  Fam.  Byzant.  p.  72 ;  and 
l'illemont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  260,  386,  &c,  torn.  vi.  p. 
240. 

134  Zosim.  1.  v.  p.  350. 

135  Zosim.  1.  vi.  p.  383.  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  40,  p.  576,)  and  the 
Chronicles  of  Marcellinus  and  Idatius,  seem  to  suppose,  that  'in 
Uoths  did  not  carry  away  Placidia  till  after  the  last  siege  of  Rome. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  29? 

foilowing  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  Pla- 
cidia, 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  em- 
peror. 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  Pla- 
cidia,  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  cele- 
brated 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  rar& 

136  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  consum- 
mated, or  celebrated,  the  MSS.  of  Jornandes  vary  between  two  neigh- 
boring cities,  Forli  and  Imola,  (Forum  Livii  and  Forum  Comelii.)  It 
is  fair  and  easy  to  reconcile  the  Gothic  historian  with  Olympiodorus, 
(see  Mascou,  f.  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  The  Visigoths  (the  subjects  of  Adolphus')  restrained,  by  subse- 
quent laws,  the  prodigality  of  conjugal  love.  It  was  illegal  for  a  hus 
band  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  cau- 
tious maidens,  indeed,  were  wise  enough  to  stipulate  beforehand  » 

67 


B98  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

and  magnificent  spoils  of  her  country.  Fifty  beautiful  yourt*»i 
in  silken  robes,  carried  a  basin  in  each  hand :  and  one  of 
these  basins  was  filled  with  pieces  of  gold,  tne  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  Barba- 
rians enjoyed  the  insolence  of  their  triumph  ;  and  the  provin- 
cials rejoiced  in  this  alliance,  which  tempered,  by  the  mild 
influence  of  love  and  reason,  the  fierce  spirit  of  their  Gothic 
lord.*3* 

The  hundred  basins  of  gold  and  gems,  presented  to  Pla- 
cidia  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  Adol- 
phus.  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  exqui- 
site workmanship,  and  the  tradition,  that  it  had  been  presented 
by  jEtius,  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 

present,  which  they  were  too  sure  of  not  deserving.  See  Montesquieu, 
Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xix.  c.  25.  Muratori,  delle  Autichita  Italiane,  torn. 
i.  Dissertazion,  xx.  p.  243. 

138  -^ye  owe  the  curious  detail  of  this  nuptial  feast  to  the  historian 
Olympiodorus,  ap.  Photium,  p.  185,  188. 

'w  See  in  the  great  collection  of  the  Historians  of  France  by  Dom 
Jouquet,  torn.  ii.  Greg.  Turonens.  1.  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  nxust  be,  that  they  were  found  in  the  sack  of  liome. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  299 

them  on  the  road ;  stipulated,  after  a  long  negotiation,  th« 
inadequate  ransom  of  two  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  geld ; 
and  preserved  the  missorium,  as  the  pride  of  the  Gothic  treas- 
ury.1 '°  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  esti- 
mated at  the  price  of  five  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  gold.143 
Some  portion  of  the  Gothic  treasures  might  be  the  gift  of 
friendship,  or  the  tribute  of  obedience ;  but  the  far  greatei 
part  had  been  the  fruits  of  war  and  rapine,  the  spoils  of  the 
empire,  and  perhaps  of  Rome. 

After  the  deliverance  of  Italy  from  the  oppression  of  the 
Goths,  some  secret  counsellor  was  permitted,  amidst  the  fac- 
tions of  the  palace,  to  heal  the  wounds  of  that  afflicted  coun- 
fry.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. 
Bv  another  law,  the  lands  which  had  been  left  without  inhab- 
itants  or  cultivation,  were  granted,  with  some  diminution  of 

140  Consult  the  following  original  testimonies  in  the  Historians  of 
France,  torn.  ii.  Fredegarii  Scholastici  Chron.  c.  73,  p.  441.  Fredegar. 
Fragment,  hi.  p.  463.  Gesta  Regis  Dagobert,  c.  29,  p.  587.  The  ac- 
cession of  Sisenand  to  the  throne  of  Spain  happened  A.  D.  631.  The 
200,000  pieces  of  gold  were  appropriated  by  Dagobert  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  church  of  St.  Denys. 

141  The  president  Goguet  (Origine  des  Loix,  &c,  torn.  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  Constanti- 
nople, were  in  reality  artificial  compositions  of  colored  glass.  The  fa- 
mous emerald  dish,  which  is  shown  at  Genoa,  is  supposed  to  counte- 
nance the  suspicion. 

*48  Elmacin.  Hist.  Saracenica,  1.  i.  p.  85.  Roderic.  Tolet.  Hist.  Arab, 
c.  b.  Cardonne,  Hist,  de  l'Afrique  et  de  l'Espagne  sous  les  Arabes, 
!«m.  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. 

143  His  three  laws  are  inserted  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  xi.  tit, 
xxviii.  leg.  7.  L.  xiii.  til.  xi.  leg.  12.  L.  xv.  tit.  xiv.  leg.  14.  The 
expressions  of  the  last  are  very  remarkable,  since  they  contain  not 
only  u.  oardon,  but  an  apology. 


300 


THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 


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  invol- 
untary 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  thou- 
Band  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 

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.  Herac- 
lian,  count  of  Africa,  who,  under  the  most  difficult  and  dis- 
tressful circumstances,  had  supported,  with  active  loyalty, 
the  cause  of  Honorius,  was  tempted,  in  the  year  of  his  con 
sulship,  to  assume  the  character  of  a  rebel,  and  the  title  of 
emperor.     The  ports  of  Africa  were  immediately  filled  with 

U4  Olympiodorus  ap.  Phot.  p.  188.  Philostorgius  (1.  xii.  c.  5)  ob- 
serves, that  when  Honorius  made  his  triumphal  entry,  he  encouraged 
the  Romans,  with  his  hand  and  voice,  (/•«<£«  *<*'  yAc.VrT»„)  to  rebuild 
their  city ;  and  the  Chronicle  of  Prospei  commends  Heraclian,  qui  in 
Romanae  urbis  reparationem  strenuum  exhibuerat  ministerium. 

145  The  date  of  -*a*  voyage  of  Claudius  Rutilius  Numatianus  ia 
clogged  with  some  diifiVuties  ;  but  Scaliger  has  deduced  from  astro- 
nomical characters,  that  he  left  Rome  the  24th  of  September,  and  em- 
barked at  Porto  the  9th  of  October,  A.  D.  416.  See  TLHemont,  Hist 
des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  820.  In  this  poetical  Itinerary,  Rutilhu 
(I.  i.  115,  &c.)  addresses  Rome  in  a  high  strain  of  cong«-3t»il4tioi;  • 

Erige  criiuile?  Ii>uri3,  seniemque  9acrati 
Verticis  in  virides,  Roma,  recinge  comas,  &o 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  301 

(he  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 
Doat,  did  actually  amount  to  the  incredible  number  of  th/ee 
thousand  two  hundred.146  Yet  with  such  an  armament, 
which  might  have  subverted,  or  restored,  the  greatest  em- 
pires 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  pri- 
vate fortune,  not  exceeding  the  moderate  sum  of  four  thou- 
sand 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, 

146  Orosius  composed  his  history  in  Africa,  only  two  years  after  the 
event ;  yet  his  authority  seems  to  be  overbalanced  by  the  improba- 
bility of  the  fact.  The  Chronicle  of  Marcellinus  gives  Heraclian  700 
ships  and  3000  men  :  the  latter  of  these  numbers  is  ridiculously  cor- 
rupt ;  but  the  former  would  please  me  very  much. 

1,7  The  Chronicle  of  Idatius  affirms,  without  the  least  appearance 
of  truth,  that  he  advanced  as  far  as  Otriculum,  in  TJmbria,  where  he 
was  overthrown  in  a  great  battle,  with  the  loss  of  50,000  men. 

148  See  Ood.  Theod.  1.  xv.  tit.  xiv.  leg.  13.  The  legal  acts  per- 
formed in  his  name,  even  the  manumission  of  slaves,  were  declared 
invalid,  till  they  had  been  formally  repeated. 

149  I  have  disdained  to  mention  a  very  foolish,  and  probably  a  false, 
report,  (Procop.  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  2,)  that  Honorius  was  alarmed 
by  the  loss  of  Home,  till  he  understood  that  it  was  not  a  favorite 
jhi  jken  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. 


302  THE   RECLINE   AND   FALL 

while  the  t)  rants  beyond  the  Alps  were  repeatcd.y  vaf 
quiuned  in  the  name,  and  by  the  lieutenants,  of  the  son  of 
Thuodosius.150  In  the  course  of  a  busy  and  interesting  nar- 
rative I  might  possibly  forget  to  mention  the  death  of  such  a 
prince :  and  I  shall  therefore  take  the  precaution  of  observ- 
ing, in  this  place,  that  he  survived  the  last  siege  of  Rome 
about  thirteen  years. 

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  Hono- 
rius,  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  pusillani- 
mous ally,  hastily  returned  to  the  palace  of  Aries,  to  cele- 
brate, with  intemperate  luxury,  his  vain  and  ostentatious  tri- 
umph. 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  as- 
suming the  diadem,  placed  it  on  the  head  of  his  friend  Max- 
im us,  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  hit* 

n  The  materials  for  the  lives  of  all  these  tyrants  are  taken  from 
six  contemporary  historians,  two  Latins  and  four  Greeks  :  Orosius,  1. 
vii.  c.  42,  p.  581,  582,  583;  llenatus  Profuturus  Frigeridus.  apuu 
Gregor.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  9,  in  the  Historians  of  France,  torn,  ii  p.  165. 
106;  Zosimus,  1.  vi.  p.  370,  371  ;  Olympiodorus,  apud  Phot.  p.  180, 
181,  184,  185;  Sozomen,  1.  ix.  c.  12,  13,  14,  15;  and  Philostoi  gius, 
L  xii.  c.  5,  6,  with  Godefroy's  Dissertation,  p.  477 — 481 ;  besides  th« 
four  Chronicles  of  Prosper  Tyro,  Prosper  of  Aquitain,  Iiat;.us,  *a<i 
ftiarcellinus. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  303 

family ;  which  nad  tempted,  or  compelled  him,  sacrilegiously 
to  desert  the  peaceful  obscurity  of  the  monastic  life.  Th° 
father  maintaine  1  a  siege  within  the  walls  of  Aries  ;  but  thoso 
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  con- 
fines of  Spain ;  and  rescued  his  name  from  oblivion,  by  the 
Roman  courage  which  appeared  to  animate  the  last  momenls 
of  his  life.  In  the  middle  of  the  night,  a  great  body  of  hig 
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  sti'l  attached 
to  his  person ;  and  he  used,  with  so  much  skill  and  resolutions 
large  magazine  of  darts  and  arrows,  that  above  three  hundred 
of  the  assailants  lust  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  con 
jugal  tenderness,  might  have  imitated  their  example ;  till  tlw* 
soldiers,  provoked  by  such  obstinate  resistance,  applied  fire 
on  all  sides  to  the  house.  In  this  fatal  extremity,  he  com- 
plied with  the  request  of  his  Barbarian  friend,  and  cut  off  his 
head.  The  wife  of  Gerontius,  who  conjured  him  not  to  aban- 
don 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  Impe 
rial  phantom  on  the  throne :  but  they  soon  resigned  him  lo 
the  justice  of  Honorius  ;  and  the  tyrant  Maximus,  after  he 
had  been  shown  to  the  people  of  Ravenna  and  Rome,  was 
publicly  executed. 

The  general,  (Constantius  was  his  name,)  who  raised  by  hia 
approach    the   siege   of  Aries,  and   dissipated    the   troops  of 

161  The  praises  which  Sozomen  has  bestowed  on  this  act  of  despair, 
appear  strange  and  scandalous  in  the  mouth  of  an  ecclesiastical  his- 
fonar.  He  observes  (p.  379)  that  the  wile  of  Gerontius  was  a  Chris- 
•tan  ;  <»ud  that  her  death  was  worthy  of  her  religion,  and  of  immortal 
&ine. 


304     •  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Gerontius,  was  born  a  Roman  ;  and  this  remukable  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  tltat  general,152  marked 
him,  in  the  popular  opinion,  as  a  candidate  worthy  of  the 
throne,  which  he  afterwards  ascended.  In  the  familiar  inter- 
course of  private  life,  his  manners  were  cheerful  and  en- 
gaging ;  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 
uf  a  more  formidable  enemy.  Yet  this  interval  allowed  time 
"or  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  Aries.  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, 


,5S  Eldog  a^ioyrvQuvrliog,  is  the  expression  of  Olympiodorus,  whicu 
he  seems  to  have  borrowed  from  JEolus,  a  tragedy  of  Euripides,  of 
which  some  fragments  only  are  now  extant,  (Euripid.  Barnes,  torn.  ii. 
p.  443,  ver.  38.)  This  allusion  may  prove,  that  the  ancient  tragic 
poeta  were  still  familiar  to  the  Greeks  of  the  fifth  century. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  305 

every  sent  men.,  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  loiger  be  polluted  by  the  presence  ol 
an  ungrateful  wretch,  who  had  violated  the  laws  of  friendship 
and  hospitality.  The  usurper,  who  beheld,  from  the  walls  of 
Aries,  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  imoosi- 
tion  of  hands,  the  sacred  character  of  a  Christian  Presbyter, 
he  ventured  to  open  the  gates  of  the  city.  But  he  soon  ex- 
perienced 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  Constantino  ;  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. 

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,  wheie 
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  Aries,  intelligence  was 
received  in  the  Imperial  camp,  that  Jovinus  had  assumed  the 
diadem  at  Mentz,  in  the  Upper  Germany,  at  the  instigation  of 
Goar,  king  of  the  Alani,  and  of  Guntiarius,  king  of  the  Bur- 
gundians  ;  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  letreat  of  Constantius"  might 
be  justified  by  weighty  reasons  ;  but  he  resigned,  without  a 
struggle,  the  possession  of  Gaul  ;  and  Dardanus,  the  Praetorian 
prefect,  ist  recorded  as  the  only  magistrate  who  refuse!  to 
67* 


306  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

yield  obedience  to  the  usurper.153  When  the  Goths,  two  years 
after  the  shge  of  Rome,  established  their  quarters  id  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  sur- 
prised 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  in 
vested  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  follow- 
ers. 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  token  in  the  toils,154  than  he  was 


153  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  (1.  v.  epist.  9.  p.  139,  and  Not.  Sirmond  p. 
68,)  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  correspondency  w;th  St.  Augustin  and 
St.  Jcrom  ;  and  was  complimented  by  the  latter  (torn.  iii.  p.  66)  with 
the  epithets  of  Christianorum  Nobilissime,  and  Nobilium  Cliristia- 
nissime. 

u*  The  expression  may  be  understood  almost  lite-ally  :  Olympiodo- 
us  says,  uo/.is  aUxy.ua;  tluiympav.     2U.xx.uc  (or  «a«<)*  may  signify  a 


•  Bekker  in  his  Photius  reads  a6«Koa,  but  in  the  new  edition  of  the  By 
tannines,  he  retains  ad/aeon,  which  is  translated  Scutis,  as  if  they  protected 
him  with  their  shields,  in  crder  to  take  him   alive.     Fhotms,  Bekker,  p 
68  — M. 


UV   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  307 


instantly  despatched.  The  death  ot'Sarus  dissolved  the  loose 
alliance  which  Adolphus  still  maintained  with  the  usurpers  ui 
Gaul.      He  again  listened   to  the  dictates  of  love  and 


r 


*S 


pru 
dence  ;  and  soon  satisfied  the  brother  of  Placidia,  by  the  assur- 
ance 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  b) 
the  Roman  senate,  who  had  been  promoted,  degraded,  insulted, 
restored,  again  degraded,  and  again  insulted,  was  finally  aban- 
doned to  his  fate  ;  but  when  the  Gothic  king  withdrew  his  pro- 
tection, 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  l:%.  The 
remainder  of  the  reign  of  Honorius  was  undisturbed  by  rebel- 
lion ;  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. 

The  situation  of  Spain,  separated,  on  all  sides,  from  the 
enemies  of  Rome,  by  the  sea,  by  the  mountains,  and  by  inter- 
mediate 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  Barba- 


«ack,  or  a  loose  garment ;  and  this  metl.od  of  entangling  and  catching 
an  enemy,  laoiniis  contortis.  was  much  practised  by  the  Huns,  (Am- 
mia'i.  \xxi.  2.)  II  fat  prw  vif  avec  des  filets,  is  tre  translatic v.  of 
ulleiiniit.  Ili  -r.  ties  Empereurs,  torn  v.  p.  G08. 


308  THL    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

rians,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Gaiiienus,  had  penetrated  beyond 
the  Pyrenees,  were  soon  obliterated  by  the  return  of  peace 
and  in  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  aera,  the  cities  of 
Emerita,  or  Merida,  of  Corduba,  Seville,  Bracara,  and  Tar- 
ragona, 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  nourished  under 
the  protection  of  the  emperors  ;  and  if  the  character  of  the 
Spaniards  was  enfeebled  by  peace  ana  servitude,  the  hostile 
approach  of  the  Germans,  who  had  spread  terror  and  desola- 
tion 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  Constantino,  than  the  gates  of  Spain  were 
treacherously  betrayed  to  ^e  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  mercenaiy 
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 


155  "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.  lf>,  in  the  third  volume  of 
Hudson's  Minor  Geographers,)  Ausonius,  (de  Claris  Urbibus,  p.  242, 
edit.  Toll.,)  an  1  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,  e.  40,  p.  228 — 234. 

Ise  The  date  is  accurately  fixed  in  the  Fasti,  and  the  Chronicle  of 
Idatius.  Orosius  (1.  vii.  c.  40,  p.  578)  imputes  the  loss  of  Spain  t& 
(he  treachery  of  the  Honorians;  while  Sozomen  (1.  ix.  e.  12)  accas<>s 
only  their  negligence. 

:s7  Idatius  wishes  to  apply  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  to  tlese  ui 


OF    .^HE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  309 

the  moat  dreadful  calamities;  as  the  Barbarians  exercised 
their  indiscriminate  cruelty  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Romans 
and  the  Spaniards,  and  ravaged  with  eq^al  fury  the  citiea 
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  conta- 
gious 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  fruit- 
ful territory  of  Bcetica  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 
Jands  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  Ro- 
man government ;  yet  there  were  many  who  still  asserted 
their  native  freedom ;  and  who  refused,  more  especially 
\n  the  mountains  of  Gallicia,  to  submit  to  the  Barbarian 
yoke."  158 

The  important  present  of  the  heads  of  Jovinus  and  Sebas- 
tian had  approved  the  friendship  of  Adolphus,  and  restored 
Giul  to  the  obedience  of  his  brother  Honorius.  Peace  was 
incompatible  with  the  situation  and  temper  of  the  king  of  the 
(jioths.      He  readily  accepted  the  proposal  of  turning  his  vic- 

tional  calamities ;  and  is  therefore  obliged  to  accommodate  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  event  to  the  terms  of  the  prediction. 

laS  Mariana  de  Rebus  Hispanicis,  1.  v.  c.  1,  torn.  i.  p.  148.  Hag 
Comit.  1733.  He  had  read,  in  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  41,  p.  579,)  that  the 
Barbarians  had  turned  their  swords  into  ploughshares  ;  and  thatman* 
of  the  Provincials  had  preferred  inter  Rarbaros  pauperero  libertatem 
iju-un  inter  Romanos  tributariam  solicitudinem,  sustinere. 


310  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

torious  arms  against  the  Barbarians  of  Spain  ;*  the  troops  of 
Constantius  intercepted  his  communication  with  the  seaport* 
of  Gaul,  and  gently  pressed  his  march  towards  the  Pyrenees  : 1M 
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  grand- 
sire,  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  Bar- 
celona, 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  flaring  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 ; ltiU  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 
.<n  the  most  savage  breasts,  was  treated  with  cruel  and  wanton 
insult.  The  daughter  of  the  emperor  Theodosius,  confounded 
among  a  crowd  of  vulgar  capnves,  was  compelled  to  march 
on  foot  above  twelve  miles,  before  the  horse  of  a  Barba- 
rian, the  assassin  of  a  husband  whom  Placidia  loved  and 
lamented.102 


159  This  mixture  oi  force  and  persuasion  may  be  fairly  inferred 
from  comparing  Orosius  and  Jornandes,  the  Roman  and  the  tioflut 
historian. 

160  According  to  the  system  of  Jornandes,  (c.  33,  p.  659,)  the  true 
hereditary  right  to  the  Gothic  sceptre  was  vested  in  the  Amuli ;  but 
those  princes,  who  were  the  vassals  of  the  Huns,  commanded  the 
tribes  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  some  distant  parts  of  Germany  or  Scytliia. 

161  The  murder  is  related  by  Olympiodorus  :  but  the  number  of 
the  children  is  taken  from  an  epitaph  of  suspected  authority. 

162  The  death  of  Adolphus  was  celebrated  at  Constantinople  with 
illuminations  and  Circensian  games.  (See  Chron.  Alexandria.)  It 
may  seem  doubtful  whether  the  Greeks  waiv  a  tuaied,  on  tii.s  ucea- 
iiou,  by  their  haired  of  the  Barbarians,  or  oi   ihe  Latins. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  811 

Bu:  Pla  :idia  soon  obtained  the  pleasure  of  revenge  :  and 
ihe  view  of  her  ignominious  sufferings  might  rouse  an  indig- 
nant people  against  the  tyrant,  who  was  assassinated  on  the 
seventh  day  of  his  usurpation.  After  the  death  of  Singerie, 
the  free  choice  of  the  nation  bestowed  the  Gothic  sceptre  on 
Wallia  ;  whose  warlike  and  ambitious  temper  appeared,  in  th« 
beginning  of  his  reign,  extremely  hostile  to  the  republic.  He 
marched  in  arms  from  Barcelona  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  whicli  the  ancients  levered  and  dreaded  as  the 
boundary  of  the  world.  But  when  he  reached  the  southern 
promontory  of  Spain,11'3  and,  from  the  rock  now  covered  by 
the  fortress  of  Gibraltar,  contemplated  the  neighboring  and 
fertile  coast  of  Africa,  Wallia  resumed  the  designs  of  con- 
quest, 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  nave  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  sup- 


w  Quod  Tarteasiaoia  avus  hujus  Vallia  terris 

Vandalicas  turraas,  et  juncti  Martis  Alanos 
Stravit,  ct  occiduam  texere  cadavera  Calpen. 

Sidon.  Apollinar.  in  Panegyr.  An^nem.  363, 
p.  300,  edit.  Sirmond. 

1,4  This  supply  was  very  acceptahle  :  the  Goths  were  insolted  by 
Lhe  Vandals  of  Spain  with  the  epithet  of  Truli,  because,  in  their  ex- 
treme distress,  they  had  given  a  piece  of  gold  for  a  trula,  or  ar,out 
half  a  pound  of  Hour.     Olympiod.  apud  Phot  p.  189. 

114  Orosius  inserts  a  copy  of  these  pretended  letters.  Tu  cum  om- 
nibus pacein  habe,  omniumque  ol^ides  accipe  ;  nos  nobis  joniiigimut* 


812  THE    DECLINE    AKD    FALL 

ported,  during  three  campaigns,  with  desperate  valor,  and 
various  success  ;  and  the  martial  achievements  of  Wal!ia 
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  Beetica.  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,  wiih  whom  they  were  ever  afterwards 
confounded.  The  Vandals  themselves,  and  the  Suevi,  yielded 
to  the  efforts  of  the  invincible  Goths.  The  promiscuous  mul- 
titude of  Barbarians,  whose  retreat  had  been  intercepted,  weie 
driven  into  the  mountains  of  Gallicia  ;  where  they  still  contin- 
ued, 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 
uivincible  courage,  of  the  emperor  Honorius.106 

Such  a  triumph  might  have  been  justly  claimed  by  the  ally 
of  Rome,  if  Wallia,  before  he  repassed  the  Pyrenees,  had  ex- 
tirpated 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  juris- 


nobis  perimus,  tibi  vincimus ;  immortalis  vcro  qurestus  erit  Reipuo- 
lieae  tuse,  si  utrique  percamus.  The  idea  is  just ;  but  I  cannot  per- 
suade myself  that  it  was  entertained,  or  expressed,  by  the  Barbarians. 
166  ltomam  triumphans  ingreditur,  is  the  formal  expression  of  Pros- 
per's  Chronicle.  The  facts  which  relate  to  the  death  of  Adolphus, 
ind  the  exploits  of  Wallia,  are  related  from  Olympiodorus,  (ap.  1'hot 
p.  188,,  Orosius,  (1.  vii.  c.  43,  p.  584— ,587.)  Jornandes,  (de  lifhat 
Getieis,  c.  31.  32,")  and  the  Chronicles  of  Idatius  and  Isidore. 


OF    THE    ROMAN     EMPIRE.  313 

diction  of  Bourdeaux.  That  metiopolis,  advantageously  situ- 
ated 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  polite- 
ness 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  coun- 
try displayed  the  arts  and  the  rewards  of  industry  ;  and  the 
Goths,  after  their  martial  toils,  luxuriously  exhausted  the  rich 
vineyards  of  Aqurtain.]ti7  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  Burgunmans, 
and  the  Franks,  obtained  a  permanent  seat  and  dominion  in 
the  provinces  of  Gaul.  The  liberal  grant  of  the  usurper  Jovi- 
nus  to  his  Burgundian  allies,  was  confirmed  by  the  lawful  em- 
peror ;  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  of  County,  the  national 
appellation  of  Burgundy.108  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  independ- 
ent power  filled  the  whole  extent  of  the  Second,  or  Lower, 
Germany.  These  facts  may  be  sufficiently  justified  by  his- 
toric evidence  ;  but  the  foundation  of  the  French  monarchy 
by  Pharamond,  the  conquests,  the  laws,  and  even  the  exist- 


187  Ausonius  (de  Claris  Urbibus,  p.  257 — 262)  celebrates  Bcm- 
ileaux  with  the  partial  affection  of  a  native.  See  in  Salvian  (de  Gu- 
bern.  Dei,  p.  228.  Paris,  1608)  a  florid  description  of  the  province* 
of  Aquitain  and  Novempopulania. 

ISS  Orosins  (1.  vii.  c.  32,  p.  550)  commends  the  mildness  and  mod- 
esty of  these  Burgundians,  who  treated  their  subjects  of  Gaul  as  their 
Christian  brethren.  Mascou  has  illustrated  the  origin  of  their  "kins:- 
dom  in  the  four  first  annotations  at  the  end  of  his  laborious  History 
of  the  Ancient  Germans,  vol.  ii.  p.  555 — 572.  of  the  English  traiisla 
tion. 


314  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ence,  of  that  he  o,  have  been  justly  arraigned  by  the  impartial 
severity  of  modem  criticism.169 

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  fair- 
est 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 
tsit  and  inflicted  by  the  Romans  themselves,  not  only  in  the 
insolence  of  foreign  conquest,  but  in  the  madness  of  civil  dis- 
cord. The  Triumvirs  proscribed  eighteen  of  the  most  flour- 
phing  colonies  of  Italy  ;  and  distributed  their  lands  and  houses 
to  the  veterans  who  revenged  the  death  of  Caesar,  and  op- 
pressed the  liberty  of  their  country.  Two  poets  of  unequal 
fame  have  deplored,  in  similar  circumstances,  the  loss  of  theii 
patrimony ;  but  the  legionaries  of  Augustus  appear  to  have 
surpassed,  in  violence  and  injustice,  the  Barbarians  who  in- 
vaded 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 

169  See  Mascou,  1.  viii.  ti.  43,  44,  4,5.  Except  in  a  short  and  suspi- 
cious line  of  the  Chronicle  of  Prosper,  (in  torn.  i.  p.  638.)  the  name 
of  Pharamond  is  never  mentioned  before  the  seventh  century.  The 
author  of  the  Gesta  Francorum  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  543)  suggests,  probably 
enough,  that  the  choice  of  Pharamond,  or  at  least  of  a  king,  w.ia 
recommended  to  the  Franks  by  his  father  Marcomir,  who  was  an  exue 
in  Tuscany.* 

,7U         O  Lycida,  vivi  pervenimus  :  advena  nostri 

(Quod  nunquam  veriti  sumus)  ut  possessor  agelli 
Diseret :  Haec  mea  sunt ;  veteres  migrate  coloni. 
Nunc  victi  tristes,  &c. 
Bee  the  whole  of  the  ninth  eclogue,  with  the  useful  Commentary  of 


*  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  Mar- 
komir,  quoique  son  nom  soit  bien  germanique,  et  son  r  gne  possible,  ne 
figure  pas  dans  les  histoives  les  plus  digues  de  foi.     A.  Thierry,   Lettres 

*  1'Histoire  de  France,  p.  90.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  315 

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 
moderatioii  and  equity  m  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  peo- 
ple 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  ex- 
ercised 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  in- 
voluntary reverence  which  the  Roman  name  still  impressed 
on  the  minds  of  those  warriors,  who  had  borne  away  in  tri- 
umph the  spoils  of  the  Capitol. 

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 


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  Alfa- 
nus  Varus,  a  famous  lawyer,  and  one  of  th»  commissioners,  who 
measured  eight  hundred  paces  of  water  and  morass. 

171  See  the  remarkable  passage  of  the  Eucharisticon  of  P&ulinus, 
675,  apud  Mascou,  1.  viii.  c.  42. 

172  This  important  truth  is  established  by  the  accuracy  of  Tillemont, 
-'Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  v.  p.  641,)  and  by  the  ingenuity  of  the  Abbe 
Dubos,  (Hist,  de  l'Etablissement  de  la  Monarchic  Francoise  dans  lea 
Gaules,  torn.  i.  p.  259.) 

173  Zosimus  (1.  vi.  376,  383)  relates  in  a  few  words  the  revolt  of 
bntain  and  Armorica.  Our  antiquarians,  even  the  great  Cambden 
himself,  have  been  betrayed  into  many  gross  errors,  by  their  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  continent. 


316  THE    DECLINE     IND    FALL 

by  the  same  spirit,  the  Armorican  provinces  (a  name  win 
comprehended  the  maritime  countries  of  Gaul  between  tha 
Seine  and  the  Loire  m)  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  independ- 
ence 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  mari- 
time 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  inde- 

174  The  limits  of  Armorica  are  defined  by  two  national  geographers, 
Messieurs  De  Valois  and  D'Anville,  in  their  Nutitias  of  Ancient  Gaul. 
The  word  had  been  used  in  a  more  extensive,  and  was  afterwards, 
contracted  to  a  much  narrower,  signification. 

175  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.  1.  v.  apud  Vales.  Notit.  Gallia- 
rum,  p.  43.  Valesius  alleges  several  testimonies  to  confirm  this  char- 
acter ;  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  mobilcm  et  indiscijjUnatum  populum.  See  the  Historians  of 
France,  torn.  i.  p.   643. 

"6  I  thought  it  necessary  to  enter  my  protest  against  this  part  of 
the  system  of  the  Abbe  Uubos,  which  Montesquieu  has  so  vigorously 
opposed.     See  Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xxx.  c.  24.* 

177  Bf)truii  iuv  uivjui  ' Fw^iuiiui  aiucndnaa&cct  ovxixi  tO/ov,  are  the 
words  of  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  2,  p.  181,  Louvre  edition) 


*  See  Memoires  de  Gallet  sur  l'Origine  des  Bretons,  quoted  by  Daru 
Uistoire  de  Bretagne,  i.  p.  57.  According  to  the  opinion  of  these  authors 
the  government  of  Armorica  was  monarchical  from  the  pfriod  of  its  imle 
pendence  ou  the  Roman  empire.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  311 

pendence  of  a  remote  province,  the  separation  was  not  im- 
bittered  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 

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  prov- 
inces of  the  empire,  formed  a  legal  corporation,  for  the  pur- 
pose o^  regulating  their  domestic  policy ;  and  the  powers  of 
municipal  government  were  distributed  among  annual  magis- 
trates, a  select  senate,  and  the  assembly  of  the  people,  accord- 
ing to  the  original  model  of  the  Roman  constitution.182     The 


in  a  very  important  passage,  which  has  been  too  much  neglected. 
Even  Bede  (Hist.  Gent.  Anglican.  1.  i.  c.  12,  p.  50,  edit.  Smith)  ac- 
knowledges that  the  Romans  finally  left  Britain  in  the  reign  of  Hono- 
rius. 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  Bede  has  not  forgotten  the  occasional  aid  of  the  legions  against 
the  Scots  and  Picts ;  and  more  authentic  proof  will  hereafter  be  pro- 
duced, that  the  independent  Britons  raised  12,000  men  for  the  service 
of  the  emperor  Anthemius,  in  Gaul. 

179  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  Ttooq  Ta;  iv  BqtXTavvta  7l6Xsi$.      Zosimus,  1.  vi.  p.  383. 

•8i  Two  cities  of  Britain  were  municipia,  nine  colonies,  ten  Latiijura 
fonatcp,  twelve  stipendiarim  of  eminent  note.  This  detail  is  taken  from 
Richard  of  Cirencester,  de  Situ  Britannia?,  p.  36  ;  and  though  it  may 
aot  seem  probable  that  he  wrote  from  the  MSS.  of  a  Roman  general, 
ne  shows  a  genuine  knowledge  of  antiquity,  very  extraordinary  for  a 
monk  of  the  fourteenth  century.* 

188  Set;  MafFei  Verona  Illustrata,  part  i.  1.  v.  p.  83—106. 


•  Tne  names  may  be  found  in  Whitaker's   Hist,  of  Manchester,  vol.  ii 
130,  379.     Turner,  Hist.  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  216.  —  M. 


318  THE    DECLINE    AXV    FALL 

management  ol  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  ob- 
taining the  advantages,  and  of  escaping  the  burdens,  of  polit- 
ical society,  is  a  perpetual  and   inexhaustible  source  of  dis- 
cord ;  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  fre- 
quently violated  by  bold  and  popular  citizens  ;  and  the  haughty 
nobles,  who  complained  that  they  were   become  the  subjects 
of  their  own  servants,163  would  sometimes  regret  the  reign  of 
an  arbitrary  monarch.     II.  The  jurisdiction  of  each  city  over 
the  adjacent  country,  was  supported  by  the  patrimonial  influ- 
ence 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  magis- 
trate.    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  hered- 
itary claims,  which  had  been  suspended  by  the  usurpation  of 


-**  Leges  restituit,  libcrtatemque  reducit, 

Et  servos  famulis  non  sinit  esse  suis. 

Itinerar,  Rutil.  1.  i.  215, 

184  An  inscription  (apud  Sirmond,  Not.  ad  Sidon.  Apollinar.  p.  69) 
describes  a  castle,  cum  muris  et  portis,  tuitioni  omnium,  erected  by 
Dardanus  on  his  own  estate,  near  Sisteron,  in  the  second  Narboexoese, 
and  named  by  him  Theopolis. 


UK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  319 

the  Cseaars.185  Their  situation  and  their  hopes  w  uld  mspcse 
them  to  affect  the  dress,  the  language,  and  the  customs  of 
their  ancestors.  If  the  princes  of  Britain  relapsed  into  bar- 
barism, while  the  cities  studiously  preserved  the  laws  and 
manners  of  Rome,  the  whole  island  must  have  been  gradu- 
ally 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  free- 
dom 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  com- 
posed of  thirty  or  forty  bishops,187  with  an  adequate  propor- 
tion of  the  inferior  clergy ;  and  the  want  of  riches  (for  they 
seem  to  have  been  poor  18ri)  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  sal- 
utary 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  magis- 
trates sat  promiscuously  with  the  bishops,  the  important  affairs 
of  the  state,  as  well  as  of  the  church,  might  be  freely  de- 
bated ;  differences  reconciled,  alliances  formed,  contributions 

,S5  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 — 2,57. 

196  ' AXX'  ovaa  vno  tvqixwois  an'  aihov  tfitri.  Procopiu?,  de  Bell- 
Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  2,  p.  181.  Britannia  fertilis  provincia  tyrannorum,  wai 
'-he  expression  of  Jerom,  in  the  year  415  (torn.  ii.  p.  255,  ad  Ctesi- 
phont.)  By  the  pilgrims,  who  resorted  every  year  to  the  Holy  Land, 
the  monk  of  Bethlem  received  the  earliest  and  most  accurate  intelli- 
gence. 

,87  See  Bingham's  Eccles.  Antiquities,  vol.  i.  1.  ix.  c.  6,  p.  394. 

188  It  is  reported  of  three  British  bishops  who  assisted  at  the  coun- 
cil of  Rimini,  A.  D.  359,  tarn  pauperes  fuisse  ut  nihil  haberent.  Sul- 
picius  Severus,  Hist.  Sacra.  1.  ii.  p.  420.  Some  of  their  brethren, 
uowever   were  in  better  circumstances. 


320  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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 

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  Aries, 
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  Praetorian 
presfect  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  pos- 
sessors of  land,  who  might  justly  be  considered  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  their  country.  They  were  empowered  to  inter- 
pret 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 


"'  Consult  Usher,  de  Antiq.  Eccles.  Britannicar.  c.  8 — 12. 

*  See  the  correct  text  of  this  edict,  as  published  by  Sirmond, 
'Not.  ad  Sidon.  Apollin.  p.  147.)  Hincmar  of  Khcims,  who  assigns  a 
place  to  the  bishops,  had  probably  seen  (in  the  ninth  century)  a  more 
perfect  copy.  Dubos,  Hist.  Critique  de  la  Monarchic  Francoise,  torn. 
p.  241—255. 

191  It  is  evident  from  the  Notitia,  that  the  seven  provinces  were  the 
Vicnnensis,    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  oi  Hincmar,  d*» 
»\res  to  introduce  the  first  Lugdunensis,  or  Lyomicse. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  321 

lend  to  the  restoration  of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
seven  provinces.  If  such  an  institution,  which  gave  the  peo- 
ple 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  representa- 
tive 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  constit- 
uent 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  pro- 
ducing 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  constitu- 
tion, as  the  last  and  most  cruel  insult  of  their  c  ppressora 

68 


CHAPTER     XXXII. 

IBCADKS     EMPEROR     OF     THE     EAST. ADMINISTRATION     AND 

DISGRACE    OF    EUTROPIUS. REVOLT     OF     GAINAS. PERSE- 
CUTION    OF     ST.    JOHN    CHRYSOSTOM. THEODOSIUS     II.    EM- 

TEROR    OF  THE    EAST. HIS    SISTER  PULCHERIA. HIS  WIFK 

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  Con- 
stantinople 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  re- 
tained, the  vain,  and  at  length  fictitious,  title  of  Emperor  of 
the  Romans  ;  and  the  hereditary  appellations  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  palace  of  Constantinople  rivalled,  and  perhaps 
excelled,  the  magnificence  of  Persia  ;  and  the  eloquent  ser- 
mons of  St.  Chrysostom  l  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 ; 


1  Father  Montfaucon,  who,  by  the  command  of  his  Benedictine  su- 
periors, was  compelled  (see  Longueruana,  torn.  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  col- 
lection of  morals,  some  curious  antiquities,  which  illustrate  the  man- 
ners of  the  Theodosian  age,  (see  Chrysostom,  Opera,  torn.  xiii.  p.  192 
—196,)  and  his  French  Dissertation,"  in  the  Mcmoires  de  l'Acal  de« 
Inscriptions,  torn.  xiii.  p.  474 — 490. 
822 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  323 

and  t*ie  large  splendid  boss  in  the  midst  of  jheir  shield  is 
encircled  with  smaller  bosses,  which  represent  the  shape  of 
the  human  eye.  The  two  mules  that  draw  the  chariot  of  the 
monarch  are  perfectly  white,  and  shining  all  over  with  gold. 
The  chariot  itself,  of  pure  and  solid  gold,  attracts  the  admira- 
tion 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  carnage.  The  Imperial  pictures  are  white, 
on  a  blue  ground  ;  the  emperor  appears  seated  on  his  throne, 
with  bis  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  do- 
minions 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 
./Ethiopia,2  was  comprehended  with  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  prov- 
inces ;  and  the  princes  of  Constantinople  measured  their 
greatness  by  the  servile  obedience  of  their  people.  They 
were  ignorant  how   much  this  passive   disposition  enervates 

1  According  to  the  loose  reckoning,  that  a  ship  could  sail,  with  9 
fair  wind,  1000  stadia,  or  125  miles,  in  the  revolution  of  a  day  and 
night,  Diodorus  Siculus  computes  ten  days  from  the  Palus  Mceotis  to 
.Rhodes,  and  four  days  from  Rhodes  to  Alexandria.  The  navigation 
of  the  Nile  from  Alexandria  to  Syene,  under  the  tropic  of  Cancer,  re- 
quired, as  it  was  against  the  stream,  ten  days  more.  Diodor.  Sicul. 
torn.  i.  1.  iii.  p.  200,  edit.  "VVesselmg.  He  might,  without  nnich  im- 
propriety, measure  the  extreme  heat  from  the  verge  of  the  torrid 
«one ;  but  he  speaks  of  the  Moeotis  in  the  47th  degree  of  northern 
latitude,  as  if  it  lay  within  the  polar  circle. 


324  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  degrades  every  faculty  of  the  mind.  The  subjects,  who 
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  defend- 
ing their  reason  from  the  terrors  of  superstition. 

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  his- 
tory of  the  West.  It  has  already  been  observed,  that  Eutro- ' 
pius,3  one  of  the  principal  eunuchs  of  the  palace  of  Constan- 
tinople, 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  pub- 
lic honors  of  the  state.  Eutropius  was  the  first  of  his  artifi- 
cial sex,  who  dared  to  assume  the  character  of  a  Roman 
magistrate  and  general.5     Sometimes,  in  the  presence  of  the 


3  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,  torn.  iv.  p.  227.)  They  are  indeed  a  very  ele- 
gant and  spirited  satire  ;  and  would  be  more  valuable  in  an  historical 
light,  if  the  invective  were  less  vague  and  more  temperate. 

4  After  lamenting  the  progress  of  the  eunuchs  in  the  Koman  palace, 
and  defining  their  proper  functions,  Claudian  adds, 

~ A  fronte  recedant 

Imperii. 

In  Eutrop.  i.  422. 

Yet  it  does  not  appear  that  the  eunuch  had  assumed  any  of  the  effi- 
cient offices  of  the  empire,  and  he  is  styled  only  Propositus  sacri 
eubiculi,  in  the  edict  of  his  banishment.  See  Cod.  Theod.  1.  ix.  tit 
sJ.  leg.  17. 

*  Jamque  oblita  sui,  nee  sobria  livitiis  mens 

In  iniseras  leges  hominumque  negotia  ludit  t 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  325 

Blushing  senate,  he  ascended  the  tribunal  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment, 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 
a.ways  betrays  a  weak  and  ill-regulated  mind  ;  nor  does  Eu- 
tropius seem  to  have  compensated  for  the  fully  of  the  design 
by  any  superior  merit  or  ability  in  the  execution.  His  former 
habits  of  life  had  not  introduced  him  to  the  studv  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  de- 
crepit 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  succes- 
sively 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  conversations,  the  vanity 

Judicat  eunuehus 

Anna  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  oJ 
the  eunuch,  the  disgrace  of  the  empire,  and  the  joy  of  the  Goths. 

Gaudct,  cum  viderit,  hostis, 

Et  suntit  j:\rn  deesse  viros. 

6  The  poet's  lively  description  of  his  deformity  (i.  110 — 125)  is  con- 
firmed by  the  authentic  testimony  of  Chrysostorn,  (torn.  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.  4flfe,)  and  the  remark 
must  have  been  founded  on  experience,  that  there  was  scarcely  ail 
interval  between  the  youth  and  the  decrepit  age  of  a  eunuch. 

7  Eutropius  appears  to  have  been  a  native  of  Armenia  or  Assyritb 
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  hei  hair,  to 
'resent  the  silver  ewer  to  wash  and  to  fan  hi?  mistress  in  hot  weather. 
Seel.  i.  31—137. 


526  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

of  the  favorite  was  flattered  with  the  most  extraordinary  hon- 
ors. 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  prodigy8  awakened,  however,  the  pre- 
judices of  the  Romans.  The  effeminate  consul  was  rejected 
by  the  West,  as  an  indelible  stain  to  the  annals  of  the  repub 
lie  ;  and  without  invoking  the  shades  of  Brutus  and  Camillus, 
the  colleague  of  Eutropius,  a  learned  and  respectable  magis- 
trate,9 sufficiently  represented  the  different  maxims  of  the 
two  administrations. 

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  prsefect.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 

8  Claudian,  (1.  i.  in  Eutrop.  1 — 22,)  after  enumerating  the  various 
prodigies  of  monstrous  births,  speaking  animals,  showers  of  blood  or 
•tones,  double  suns^c.,  adds,  with  some  exaggeration, 

Omnia  cesserunt  eunuclio  consuls  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  Fl.  Mallius  Theodorus,  whose  civil  honors,  and  philosophical 
works,  hdve  been  celebrated  by  Claudian  in  a  very  elegant  panegyric. 

10  AJtdvwv  fie  r,8t}  tw  n).or-Tw,  drunk  with  riches,  is  the  forcible  ex- 
pression of  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  301;)  and  the  avarice  of  Eutropius  it 
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,  torn.  iii.  p.  381. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  327 

unlock  the  coffers  of  his  o.aster,  now  grasps  the  riches  ol 
the  world  ;  and  this  infamous  broker  of  the  empire  appreci- 
ates and  divides  the  Roman  provinces  from  Mount  Ha;mus  tc 
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  pater- 
nal estate  for  the  government  of  Bithynia.  In  the  antecham- 
ber 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  con- 
tains 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.11  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  hon 
ors  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  impa- 
tient 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  ia 
had  reason  to  dread  the  first  effects  of  the  resentment  of 


11  certantum  ssepe  duorum 

Diversum  suspendit  onus  :  cum  pondcre  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  Claudian  (i.  154 — 170)  mentions  the  guilt  and  exile  of  Abundan- 
tius ;  nor  could  he  fail  to  quote  the  example  of  the  artist,  who  mado 
the  first  trial  of  the  brazen  bull,  which  he  presented  to  Phalaris.  See 
Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  302.  Jerom.  torn.  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  Einpereurs,  torn,  v  p.  435* 
must  turn  the  scale  in  favor  of  Pityus. 


328  THF.    hr.OLTNK    JND    FALL. 

Eutropms.  He  had  been  guilty  of  the  unuardonable  crime 
of  introducing  that  abject  slave  to  the  palace  of  Constanti 
nople ;  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  hia 
ample  fortunes  by  an  Imperial  rescript,  and  banished  to  Pityu3, 
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  ?hoenici?  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  dependent  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  hon- 
esty of  Procopius ;  and  he  yielded  with  reluctance  to  the 
obsequious  dexterity  of  his  colleague,  who  pronounced  a  sen- 
tence 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  at  Oasis,  a  solitary  spot  in  the 


13  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.  (Sec  Zosimus,  1.  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,  &vo  edit.,)  which  may  be  con?i  lered  as  th» 
history  of  human  nature. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  32S 

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  hi? 
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  Afri- 
can 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. 

The  public  hatred,  and  the  despair  of  individuals,  continu- 
ally 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  principle  of  humanity  and 


14  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,  Descrip- 
tion de  l'Egypte,  p.  186,  187,  188.  The  barren  desert  which  encom- 
passes Oasis  (Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  300)  has  suggested  the  idea  of  com- 
parative fertility,  and  even  the  epithet  of  the  happy  island,  (Herodot. 
iii.  26.) 

15  The  line  of  Claudian,  in  Eutrop  1.  i.  180, 

Marmurims  clarifl  viol.itur  caeililius  Han.mon,* 

evidently  alludes  to  his  persuasion  of  the  death  of  Timasius. 

18  Sozomen,  1.  viii.  c.  7.     He  speaks  fiom  report,  «j;  Tiros  inv3ifu*, 
"  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  300.     Yet  he  seems  to  suspect  that  this  runioi 

was  spread  by  the  friends  of  Eutropius. 


*  A  fragment  of  Eunapius  confirms  this  account.  "  Thus  having 
deprived  this  preat  person  of  his  life  —  a  eunuch,  a  man,  a  slave,  a  consul) 
t  minister  of  the  bed-chamber,  one  bred  in  camps. "  Mai,  p.  283,  in  Nie- 
trahr.  87.  —  M. 

68* 


330  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

justice.18  I.  It  is  enacted,  in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority, 
of  Arcadns,  that  all  those  who  shall  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  are  admitted  into  the  sacred  consistory,  but  like- 
wise the  principal  domestics  of  the  palace,  the  senators  ol 
Constantinople,  the  military  commanders,  and  the  civil  magis 
trates  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  im- 
punity, 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  edict  of  Arcadius  most  posi- 
tively 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 


,s  See  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  ix.  tit.  14,  ad  legem  Corneliam  do 
Sicariis,  leg.  3,  and  the  Code  of  Justinian,  1.  ix.  tit.  viii.  ad  legem 
Juliam  de  Majestate,  leg.  5.  The  alteration  of  the  title,  from  murder 
to  treason,  was  an  improvement  of  the  subtle  Tribonian.  Godefrov, 
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  torn.  iii.  p.  88 — 111. 

19  Bartolus  understands  a  simple  and  naked  consciousness,  without 
any  sign  of  approbation  or  concurrence.  For  this  opinion,  says  Bal- 
dus,  he  is  now  roasting  in  hell.  For  myr  own  part,  continues  the  dis- 
creet Heineccius,  (Element.  Jur.  Civil.  1.  iv.  p.  411,)  I  must  approve 
the  theory  of  Bartolus  ;  but  in  practice  I  should  incline  to  the  sen- 
timents of  Baldus.  Yet  Bartolus  was  gravely  quoted  by  the  lawyers 
f»f  Cardinal  Richelieu  ;  and  Eutropius  was  indirectly  guUty  of  th« 
murder  of  the  virtuous  De  Thou. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  331 

presume  to  solicit  the  paiion  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  theu 
lives ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  we  declare  them  incapable  of 
inheriting,  either  on  the  father's  or  on  the  mother's  side,  or 
:>f  receiving  any  gift  or  legacy,  from  the  testament  either  of 
Kinsmen  or  of  strangers.  Stigmatized  with  hereditary  in- 
famy, 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  win 
had  seconded,  or  wbo  had  not  disclosed,  their  fictitious  con- 
spiracies. Some  of  the  noblest  regulations  of  Roman  juris- 
prudence 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 

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-1  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 


so  Godefroy,  torn.  iii.  p.  89.  It  is,  however,  suspected,  that  this 
law',  so  repugnant  to  the  maxims  of  Germanic  freedom,  has  been  sur- 
reptitiously added  to  the  golden  bull. 

21  A  copious  and  circumstantial  narrative  (which  he  might  have 
reserved  for  more  important  events)  is  bestowed  by  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p. 
304 — 312)  on  the  revolt  of  Tribigild  and  Gainas.  See  likewiso 
Socrates,  1.  vi.  c.  (i,  and  Sozomen,  1.  viii.  c.  4.  The  second  book  of 
Claudian  against  Eutropius  is  a  line,  though  imperfect,  piece  of  his- 
<'>rv 

»  Claudian  (in  Eutrop.  1.  ii.  237—2.50)  very  accurately  observes, 
that  the  ancient  name  and  nation  of  the  Phrygians  extended  very  tax 
on  every  side,  till  their  limits  were  contracted  by  the  colonies  of  the 
Bi'hynians  of  Thrace,  cf  the  Greeks,  and  at  last  of  the  Gau1*.     Ilifl 


332.  THE    DECLINE    AND    FAIL 

■with  the  successful  rapine  and  liberal  rewards  of  Alaric  ;  and 
their  leader  resented,  as  a  personal  affront,  his  own  ungracio  is 
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  dis- 
regarded or  oppressed,  was  again  respected,  as  soon  as  ho 
resumed  the  hostile  character  of  a  Barbarian.  The  vine- 
yards and  fruitful  fields,  between  the  rapid  Marsyas  and  the 
winding  Mseander,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  Tribi- 
gild.  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  re- 
cruited 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  ex- 
aggerated 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  pas- 
sage of  Mount  Taurus,  and  the  invasion  of  Syria.  If  he 
descended  towards  the  sea,  they  imputed,  and  perhaps  sug- 
gested, to  the  Gothic  chief,  the  more  dangerous  project  of 
arming  a  fleet  in  the  harbors  of  Ionia,  and  of  extending  his 


description  (ii.  257 — 272)  of  the  fertility  of  Phrygia,  and  of  the  four 
rivers  that  produced  gold,  is  just  and  picturesque. 

23  Xenophon,  Anabasis,  1.  i.  p.  11,  12,  edit.  Hutchinson.  Ntrabo,  1, 
xii.  p.  865,  edit.  Amstel.  Q.  Curt.  1.  iii.  c.  1.  Claudian  compares  the 
junction  of  the  Marsyas  and  Maeander  to  that  of  the  Saone  and  the 
Khone  ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  the  smaller  of  the  Phry- 
gian rivers  is  not  accelerated,  but  retarded,  by  the  larger. 

24  Selgre,  a  colony  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  had  formerly  numbered 
twenty  thoi  sand  citizens  ;  but  in  the  age  of  Zosimus  it  was  reduced 
to  a  iiul'ix*'1  >  or  small  town.  See  Cellarius,  Geograph.  Antiq.  torn,  ii, 
V-  H7. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  333 

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  vet- 
eran 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  differ- 
ently, but  effectually,  promoted  the  cause  of  the  rebels. 
Leo,-''  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  be- 
sieged 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  sur- 
prised 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  dis- 
cipline, 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  suc- 
cessor; he  accused  his  own  dishonorable  patience  under  the 
servile  reign  of  a  eunuch  ;  and  the  ambitious  Goth  was  con- 
victed, 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 

25  The  council  of  Eutropius,  in  Claudian,  may  be  compared  to  that 
»f  Domitian  in  the  fourth  Satire  of  Juvenal.  The  principal  members  of 
the  former  were  juvenes  protervi  lascivicpie  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  conver- 
sation about  tragedies,  dancers,  &c,  is  made  still  more  ridiculou3  by 
the  importance  of  the  debate. 

96  Claudian  (1.  ii.  376 — 461)  has  branded  him  with  infamy  ;  and 
Zosimus,  in  more  temperate  language,  confirms  his  reproaches.  L.  v. 
p.  305. 

17  The  conspiracy  of  Gainas  and  Tribigild,  which  is  attested  bj  thtf 


S31  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

passed  the  Hellespont,  to  unite  under  his  standard  the  remain? 
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  per- 
emptory demand  of  the  head  of  Eutropius  revealed  the 
author  and  the  design  of  this  hostile  conspiracy. 

The  bold  satirist,  who  has  indulged  his  discontent  by  the 
partial  and  passionate  censure  of  the  Christian  emperors,  vio- 
lates the  dignity,  rather  than  the  truth,  of  history,  by  compar- 
ing the  son  of  Theodosius  to  one  of  those  harmless  and  simple 
animals,  who  scarcely  feel  that  they  are  the  property  of  theii 
shepherd.  Two  passions,  however,  fear  and  conjugal  affec- 
tion, awakened  the  languid  soul  of  Arcadius  :  he  was  terri- 
fied 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  con  lemnation  of  Eutropius ;  the 
magic  spell,  which  during  foui  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  pro- 
tecting a  prostrate  minister,  whose  choice  had  raised  him  tc 
the  ecclesiastical  throne  of  Constantinople.  The  archbishop 
ascending  the  pulpit  of  the  cathedral,  that  he   might  be  dis- 

Greek  historian,  had  not  reached  the  ears  of  Claudian,  who  attribute! 
the  revolt  of  the  Ostrogoth  to  his  own  martial  spirit,  and  the  advice 
of  Ids  wife. 

M  This  anecdote,  which  Philostorgius  alone  has  preserved  (1.  xi 
o.  6,  and  Gothofred.  Dissertat.  p.  451--456)  is  curious  and  impor. 
lant ;  since  it  connects  the  revolt  of  the  Goths  with  the  secret  \u- 
triguea  of  the  palace. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  335 

tinctly  seen  and  heard  by  an  innumerable  crowd  of  either  sea 
and  of  every  age,  pronounced  a  seasonable  and  pathetic  dis- 
course 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,  ex- 
hibited a  solemn  and  instructive  spectacle  ;  and  the  orator, 
who  was  afterwards  accused  of  insulting  the  misfortunes  ol 
Eutropius,  labored  to  excite  the  contempt,  that  he  might  as- 
suage the  fury,  of  the  people.29  The  powers  of  humanity,  of 
superstition,  and  of  eloquence,  prevailed.  The  empress  Eu- 
doxia  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  ene- 
mies ;  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 


29  See  the  Homily  of  Chrysostom,  torn.  iii.  p.  381 — 386,  of  which 
the  exordium  is  particularly  beautiful.  Socrates,  1.  vi.  c.  5.  Sozomen, 
1.  viii.  c.  7.  Montfaucon  (in  his  Life  of  Chrysostom,  torn.  xiii.  p.  135) 
too  hastily  supposes  that  Tribigild  was  actually  in  Constantinople ; 
and  that  he  commanded  the  soldiers  who  were  ordered  to  seize  Eu- 
tropius. Even  Claudian,  a  Pagan  poet,  (praefat.  ad  1.  ii.  in  Eutrop. 
27,)  has  mentioned  the  flight  of  the  eunuch  to  the  sanctuary. 

Supplieiterque  pias  humilis  proatratus  ad  aras, 
Mitigat  iratas  voce  tremente  nurua. 

30  Chrysostom,  in  another  homily,  (torn.  iii.  p.  386,)  affects  to  de- 
clare that  Eutropius  would  not  have  been  taken,  had  he  not  deserted 
the  church.  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  313,)  on  the  contrary,  pretends,  that 
his  enemies  forced  him  (ijay/ruflavrfs  avrbv)  from  the  sanctuary.  Yet 
the  promise  is  an  evidence  of  some  treaty ;  and  the  strong  assurance 
of  Claudian,  (Praefat.  ad  1.  ii.  46,) 

Sed  tanien  exemplo  non  fenere  tuo, 

may  be  considered  as  an  evidence  of  some  promise. 

31  Cod.  Theod.  1.  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  Tillemoat, 
Hif-t.  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  780. 


336  TEE    DECLINE    ANLl    FALL 

shores  of  Cyprus,  than  he  was  hastily  recalled.  The  vain 
hope  of  eluding,  hy  a  change  of  place,  the  obligation  of  an 
oath,  engaged  the  empress  to  transfer  the  scene  of  his  trial 
'tnd  execution  from  Constantinople  to  the  adjacent  suburb  of 
Ciialcedon.  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  ho  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 

While  this  domestic  revolution  was  transacted,  Gainas33 
openly  revolted  from  his  allegiance  ;  united  his  forces,  at  Thy- 
atira  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 
•  traits  of  the  Hellespont  and  the  Bosphorus  ;  and  Arcadius  was 
.nstructed  to  prevent  the  loss  of  his  Asiatic  dominions,  by  re- 
signing his  authority  and  his  person  to  the  faith  of  the  Barba- 
rians. 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  Constanti- 
nople with  his  troops,  and  distributed  among  his  dependants 
the  honors  and  rewards  of  the  empire.  In  his  early  youth, 
Gai*ias  had  passed  the  Danube  as  a  suppliant  and  a  fugitive  : 


32  Zosimus,  1.  v.  p.  313.     Philostorgius,  1.  xi.  c.  6. 

3J  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  313 — 323,)  Socrates,  (1.  vi.  c.  4,)  So>:.men, 
(1.  viii.  c.  4,)  and  Theodorct,  (1.  v.  c.  32,  33,)  represent,  though  with 
some  various  circumstances,  the  conspiracy,  defeat,  and  death  of 
Gainas. 

34  '  Oolu;  Evcprtftiug  f<aoTvoiui;  is  the  expression  of  Zosimus  himself, 
(1.  v.  p.  314,)  who  inadvertently  uses  the  fashionable  language  of 
the  Christians.  Evagrius  describes  (1.  ii.  c.  3)  the  situation,  archi- 
tecture, relics,  and  miracles,  of  that  celebrated  church,  in  whicn  tne 
general  council  of  Chalcedon  was  afterwards  held. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  3o7 

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  ana 
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  judgea 
prudent  to  remove  those  dangerous  temptations  from  thei: 
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  mu- 
tual 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  thou* 
sand  Barbarians  perished  in  this  bloody  massacre.  In  the 
fury  of  the  pursuit,  the  Catholics  uncovered  the  roof,  and  con- 
tinued to  throw  down  flaming  logs  of  wood,  till  they  over- 
whelmed 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  inglo- 
riously  destroyed  ;  that  he  himself  was  declared  a  public 
enemy  ;  and  that  his  countryman,  Fravitta  31  orave  and  loyal 
confederate,  had  assumed  the  managerr  tat  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  de- 
fence ;  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  Helles- 

35  The  pious  remonstrances  of  Chrysostom,  which  do  not  appear  in 
his  own  writings,  are  strongly  urged  by  Thcodoret ;  but  Ms  insinua- 
tion, that  they  were  successful,  is  disproved  by  facts.  Tillemont 
^Hist.  des  Empereurs,  torn.  v.  p.  383)  has  discovered  that  the  em- 
peror, to  satisfy  the  rapacious  demands  of  Gainas,  was  obliged  to 
melt  the  plate  of  the  church  of  the  apostles. 

34  The  ecclesiastical  historians,  who  sometimes  guide,  and  some- 
times follow,  the  public  opinion,  most  confidently  assert,  that  the 
palace  of  Constantinople  was  guarded  by  legions  of  angels. 


338  1*IE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

pont.  He  was  destitute  of  vessels ;  but  the  woods  of  the 
Chersonesus  afforded  materials  for  rafts,  and  his  intrepid  Bar- 
barians 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  hundrec 
miles  from  the  Hellespont  to  the  Danube  ; 38  the  garrisons  of 
that  important  frontier  had  been  gradually  annihilated  ;  thy 
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,*  who,  instead  of 

91  Zosimus  (1.  v.  p.  319)  mentions  these  galleys  by  the  name  of 
Ltbumians,  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  Polyb- 
ius,  that  galleys  of  a  still  larger  size  had  been  constructed  in  the 
Punic  wars.  Sinte  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  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  Englisn  ambassador,  whose  baggage  consisted  of 
seventy-one  wagons.  That  learned  traveller  has  the  merit  of  tracing 
a  curious  «nd  unfrequented  route. 


•  Fravitta,  according  to  Zosimus,  though  a  Pagan,  received  the  honori 
of  the  consulate.  Zosim.  v.  c.  20.  On  Fravitta,  see  a  very  imperfect  frag 
nient  of  Eunapius.     Mai,  ii.  290,  in  Niebuhr,  92.  —  M. 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  339 

extingu 'sliing  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.89 
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  re- 
ceived at  Constantinople  with  the  most  liberal  expressions  of 
gratitude ;  and  the  public  deliverance  was  celebrated  by  fes- 
tivals and  illuminations.  The  triumphs  of  Arcadius  became 
the  subject  of  epic  poems ; 40  and  the  monarch,  no  longer  op 
pressed  by  any  hostile  terrors,  resigned  himself  to  the  mild  and 
absolute  dominion  of  his  wife,  the  fair  and  artful  Eudoxia, 
who  has  sullied  her  fame  by  the  persecution  of  St.  John 
Chrysostom. 

After  the  death  of  the  indolent  Nectarius,  the  successor  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  the  church  of  Constantinople  was  dis« 
tracted  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  uncor- 
rupted  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  Chrys- 
ostom, or  the  Golden  Mouth.41    A  private  order  was  despatched 

39  The  narrative  of  Zosimus,  who  actually  leads  Gainas  beyond  the 
Danube,  must  be  corrected  by  the  testimony  of  Socrates,  and  Sozo- 
men,  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  waa 
brought  to  Constantinople  the  third  of  the  nones  of  January,  (Janu- 
ary 3.)  in  the  month  Audynaeus. 

*°  Eusebius  Scholasticus  acquired  much  fame  by  his  poem  on  the 
Gothic  war,  in  which  he  had  served.  Near  forty  years  afterwards, 
Ajomoiiius  recited  another  poem  on  the  same  subject,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  emperor  Theodosius.     See  Socrates,  1.  vi.  c.  6. 

41  The  sixth  book  of  Socrates,  the  eighth  of  Sozomen,  and  the  fifth 
af  Theodoret,  afford  curious  and  authentic  materials  for  the  life  of 


S40  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

to  the  governor  of  Syria ;  and  as  the  people  might  be  u'nwill. 
ing  to  resiga-their  favorite  preacher,  he  was  transported,  with 
speed  and  secrecy  in  a  post-chariot,  from  Antioch  to  Constan- 
tinople.    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  sur- 
passed  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 


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  Con- 
stantinople, composed  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  and  under  the  name 
of  his  zealous  partisan,  Palladius,  bishop  of  Helenopolis,  (Tillemont, 
M^m.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  p.  500—533.)  It  is  inserted  among  the  works 
of  Chrysostom,  torn.  xiii.  p.  1 — 90,  edit.  Montfaucon.  2.  The  mod- 
crate  Erasmus,  (torn.  iii.  epist.  mcx.  p.  1331—1347,  edit.  Lugd.  Bat.) 
His  vivacity  and  good  sense  were  his  own ;  his  errors,  in  the  unculti- 
vated state  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  were  almost  inevitable.  3.  The 
Sflurned  Tillemont,  (Mem.  Ecclesiastiqucs,  torn.  xi.  p.  1 — 405,  54  J— 
526,  &C.  &C.,)  who  compiles  the  lives  of  the  saints  with  incredible  pa- 
tience and  religious  accuracy.  He  has  minutely  searched  the  volu- 
minous works  of  Chrysostom  himself.  4.  Father  Montfaucon,  who 
has  perused  those  works  with  the  curious  diligence  of  an  editor,  dis- 
covered several  new  homilies,  and  again  reviewed  and  composed  tht 
Life  of  Chrysostom.  (Opera  Chrvsostom.  torn.  xiii.  p.  91 — 177.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  341 

of  that  eloquence,  which  was  admired  near  twenty  years  ai 
Antioch  and  Constantinople,  have  been  carefully  presevved , 
and  the  possession  of  near  one  thousand  sermons,  or  homilies, 
has  authorized  the  critics  4a  of  succeeding  times  to  appreciate 
die  genuine  merit  of  Ghrysostom.  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  philos- 
ophy;  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  repre- 
sentation. 

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 

42  As  I  am  almost  a  stranger  to  the  voluminous  sermons  of  Chrysos- 
tom, I  have  given  my  confidence  to  the  two  most  judicious  and  mod- 
erate of  the  ecclesiastical  critics,  Erasmus  (torn.  iii.  p.  1344)  and 
Dupin,  (Bibliotheque  Ecclesiastique,  torn.  iii.  p.  38 :)  yet  the  good 
taste  of  the  former  is  sometimes  vitiated  by  an  excessive  love  of  an- 
tiquity ,  and  the  good  sense  of  the  latter  is  always  restrained  by  pru- 
dential considerations. 

43  The  females  of  [/onstantinople  distinguished  themselves  by  thei* 
enmity  or  their  attachment  to  Chrysostom.  Three  noble  and  opulent 
vidows,  Marsa,  Castricia,  and  Eugraphia,  were  the  leaders  of  the  per- 
secution, (.Pallad.  Dialog,  torn.  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  r  orv  pious  cause, 
Las  obtained  the  title  of  saint.  See  Tillemont,  Mcet.  £«jles.  torn.  xL 
p.  *16— 44C. 


342  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

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  con- 
Ecience;    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  Con- 
stantinople, 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  senti- 
ments 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 


44  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  th« 
next  generation,  when  party  violence  was  abated,  and  had  conversed 
with  many  persons  intimately  acquainted  with  the  virtues  and  impv»» 
flections  of  the  saint. 

45  Palladius  (torn.  xiii.  p.  40,  &c.)  very  seriously  defends  the  arch- 
bishop. 1.  He  never  tasted  wine.  2.  The  weakness  of  his  stomacl 
required  a  peculiar  diet.  3.  Business,  or  study,  or  devotion,  often 
kept  him  fasting  till  sunset.  4.  He  detested  the  noise  and  levity  of 
gTeat  dinners.  5.  He  saved  the  expense  for  the  use  of  the  poor. 
6.  He  was  apprehensive,  in  a  capital  like  Constantinople,  oc  the  trnrj 
»nd  reproach  of  partial  invitations. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  343 

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  h's 
speculative  knowledge  of  human  nature  to  the  particular 
characters,  either  of  his  dependants,  or  of  his  equals.  Con- 
scious 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  indispen- 
sable duty.  In  his  visitation  through  the  Asiatic  provinces,  he 
deposed  thirteen  bishops  of  Lydia  and  Phrygia ;  and  indis- 
creetly declared  that  a  deep  corruption  of  simony  and  licen- 
tiousness 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. 

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  ostenta- 
tion. 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  disputes 
with  Chrysostom  himself.48  By  the  private  invitation  of  the 
empress,  Theophilus  landed  at  Constantinople  with  a  stout 
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 

46  Chrysostom  declares  his  free  opinion  (torn.  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. 

47  See  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  p.  441 — 500. 

48  I  have  purposely  omitted  the  controversy  which  arose  among 
ihe  monks  of  Egypt,  concerning  Origenism  and  Anthropomorphism ; 
the  dissimulation  and  violence  of  Theophilus  ;  his  artful  management 
of  tha  simplicity  of  Epiphanius  ;  the  persecution  and  flight  of  the 
king,  or  tall,  brothers  ;  the  ambiguous  support  which  they  received  at 
Constantinople  from  Chrysostom,  &c.  &c. 

**  Photius  (p.  53 — 60)  has  preserved  the  original  acts  of  the  synod 
tf  the  Oak  ;  which  destroys  the  false  assertion,  that  Clirytxjtf.om  wae 


3-14  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

suburb  of  Chalcedon,  surnamed  the  Oak,  where  Rufinus  had 
erected  a  stately  church  and  monastery  ;  and  their  proceed- 
ngs  were  continued  during  fourteen  day*s  or  sessions.  A 
b'shop  and  a  deacon  accused  the  archbishop  of  Constantino- 
pie  ;  but  the  frivolous  or  improbable  nature  of  the  forty-sevfc.*} 
articles  which  they  presented  against  him,  may  justly  be  cor. 
smei-ed  as  a  fair  and  unexceptionable  panegyric.  Four  suc- 
cessive summons  were  signified  to  Chrysostom  ;  but  he  still 
refused  to  trust  either  his  person  or  his  reputation  in  the  handa 
of  his  implacable  enemies,  who,  prudently  declining  the  exam- 
ination of  any  particular  charges,  condemned  his  contuma- 
cious disobedience,  and  hastily  pronounced  a  sentence  of  dep- 
osition. 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  naviga- 
tion, near  the  entrance  of  the  Euxine  ;  from  whence,  before 
the  expiration  of  two  days,  he  was  gloriously  recalled. 

The  first  astonishment  of  his  faithful  people  had  been  mute 
*nd  passive  :  they  suddenly  rose  with  unanimous  and  irre- 
sistible 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  Bos- 
condemned  by  no  more  than  thirty-six  bishops,  of  whom  twenty-nine 
were  Egyptians.  Forty-five  bishops  subscribed  his  sentence.  See 
Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  p.  595.* 

6U  Palladius  owns  (p.  30)  that  if  the  people  of  Constantinople  had 
found  Theophilus,  they  would  certainly  have  thrown  him  into  the  sea. 
Socrates  mentions  (1.  vi.  c.  17)  a  battle  between  the  mob  and  the 
Eailors  of  Alexandria,  in  which  many  wounds  wer«  given,  and  some 
lives  were  lost.  The  massacre  of  the  monks  is  observed  only  by  tha 
Pagan  Zosimus,  (1.  v.  p.  324,)  who  acknowledges  that  Chrysostom  hart 
a  singular  talent  to  lead  the  illiterate  multitude,  i]v  ya§  6  awtyuiHo* 


"  Tillcaccnt  argues  stiongly.for  the  number  of  thirty-six. — 


24 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRli.  IU5 

phorus  was  co\ered  with  innumerable  vessels  ;  the  shores  of 

Europe  and  Asia  were  profusely  illuminated  ;  and  the  accla- 
mations of  a  victorious  people  accomoanied,  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  resent- 
ment ;  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  invent- 
ing, 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  arch- 
bishop. 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  peo- 
ple. 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.  Arsa- 
cius  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 
vas  marked  by  the  conflagration  of  the  cathedral,  of  the 
senate-house,  and  of  the  adjacent  buildings  ;  and  this  calam- 
ity was  imputed,  without  proof,  but  not  without  probability, 
io  the  despair  of  a  persecuted  faction.52 

61   See  Socrates,  1.  vi.  c.  18.     Sozomen,  1.  viii.  c.  20.     Zosin.us  (1.  v. 

?.  o24,  327)  mentions,  in  general  terms,  his  invectives  against  Eudoxia, 
'he  homilyj  which  begins  with  those  famous  words,  is  rejected  aa 
•purous.  Montfaucon,  torn.  xiii.  p.  LSI.  Tillcmont,  Mem.  Eccles. 
V»m.  xi.  p.  6(t:t. 

68   We  might  naturally  expect  such  a  charge-  from  rSc3imus,  (1.  v.  p. 

69 


346  THE    DECLiInE    AND    FALL 

Cicero  might  claim  some  merit,  if  his  voluntaiy  banish > 
mem  preserved  the  peace  of  the  republic  ; r>3  but  the  sub- 
mission of  Chrysostom  was  the  indispensable  duty  of  a  Chris- 
tian 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 
remoie  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  sum- 
mer, 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  Chrysos- 
tom arrived  in  safety  at  the  place  of  his  confinement ;  and 
the  three  years  which  he  spent  at  Cucusus,  and  the  neighbor- 
ing town  of  Arabissus,  were  the  last  and  most  glorious  of 
his  life.  His  character  was  consecrated  by  absence  and  per- 
secution ;  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  Chris- 
tian 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 
Is)  5  of  Cyprus  ;  extended  his  pastoral  care  to  the  missions  of 
P'  rsia  and  Scythia  ;  negotiated,  by  his  ambassadors,  with  the 
Roman  pontiff  and  the  emperor  Honorius  ;  and  boldly  ap- 
pealed, 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 


327 ;)  but  it  is  remarkable  enough,  that  it  should  be  confirmed  by 
Socrates,  (1.  vi.  c.  18,)  and  the  Paschal  Chronicle,  (p.  307.) 

63  He  displays  those  specious  motives  (Post  Keditum,  c.  13,  14)  in 
the  language  of  an  orator  and  a  politician. 

54  Two  hundred  and  forty-two  of  the  epistles  of  Chrysostom  are 
etill  extant,  (Opera,  torn.  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  curi- 
rms  narrative  of  the  dangers  of  his  iourney. 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  3-17 

name  ar. i  authority  of  Arcadius.55  An  ordt  r  was  desj  atched 
f~r  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  Eux- 
me,  he  expired  at  Comana,  in  Pontus,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of 
his  age.  The  succeeding  generation  acknowledged  his  inno- 
cence and  merit.  The  archbishops  of  the  East,  who  migltf 
blush  that  their  predecessors  had  been  the  enemies  of  Chrys« 
ostom,  were  gradually  disposed,  by  the  firmness  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  to  restore  the  honors  of  that  venerable  name.56 
At  the  pious  solicitation  of  the  clergy  and  people  of  Constan- 
tinople, his  relics,  thirty  years  after  his  death,  were  trans- 
ported from  their  obscure  sepulchre  to  the  royal  city.57  The 
emperor  Theodosius  advanced  to  receive  them  as  far  aa 
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 

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 

55  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  da,>monem ;  he  affirms,  that  John  Chrysostom  had  deliv- 
ered his  soul  to  be  adulterated  by  the  devil ;  and  wishes  that  some 
further  punishment,  adequate  (if  possible)  to  the  magnitude  of  hia 
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.  1.  vi 
e.  5,  published  by  Sirmond.     Opera,  torn.  ii.  p.  595,  596,  597. 

50  Ilis  name  was  inserted  by  his  successor  Atticus  in  the  Dyptics  of 
the  church  of  Constantinople,  A.  D.  418.  Ten  years  afterwards  hf 
vas  revered  as  a  saint.  Cyril,  who  inherited  the  place,  and  the  pas- 
sions, of  his  uncle  Theophilus,  yielded  with  much  reluctance.  See 
1'acund.  Hermian.  1.  4,  c.  1.  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xiv. 
p.  277—283. 

M  Socrates,  1.  vii.  c.  45.  Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  36.  This  event  recon- 
ciled the  Joannites,  who  had  hitherto  refused  to  acknowledge  his 
successors.  During  his  lifetime,  the  Joannites  were  respected,  by  tho 
Cf.iholics  as  the  true  and  orthodox  communion  of  Constantinople. 
Their  obstinacy  gradually  drove  them  to  the  brink  of  schism. 

5"  According  to  some  accounts,  (Baronius,  Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  438, 
No  P,  ]o.)  the  emperor  was  forced  to  send  a  letter  of  invitation  and 
mouses,  before  the  body  of  the  ceremonious  saint  could  be  i&ovsd 
th.-m  Comana. 


348  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  glo- 
rious son.  The  Catholics  applauded  the  justice  of  Heaven, 
which  avenged  the  persecution  of  St.  Chrysostom  ;  and  per- 
haps 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  im- 
punity accused  the  weakness  of  the  government ;  and  the 
earthquakes,  the  conflagrations,  the  famine,  and  the  Mights  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  Constantino- 
ple.    It  is  impossible  to  delineate   his  character ;  since,  in  a 

59  Zosimus,  1.  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  Empcreurs,  torn.  v.  p.  782)  is  not  averse  to  brand  the  reputation 
of  Eudoxia. 

60  Porphyry  of  Gaza.  His  zeal  was  transported  by  the  order  which 
lie  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. 

81  Philostorg.  1.  xi.  c.  8,  and  Godefroy,  Dissertat.  p.  457. 

61  Jerom  (torn.  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  thn 
Mediterranean. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  349 

'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. 

The  historian  Procopius63  has  indeed  illuminated  the  mind 
of  the  dying  emperor   with  a   ray   of  human  prudence,  o<- 
celestial  Wisdom.     Arcadius  considered,  with  anxious  fore- 
sight, 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  ambi- 
tious   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  hpnorable  trust  with  unexampled  fidelity  ;  and 
the   infancy   of  Theodosius  was   protected  by  the  arms  and 
councils  of  Persia.     Such  is  the  singular  narrative  of  Proco 
pins;  and  his  veracity  is   not   disputed   by  Agafchias,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  ques- 
tion might  be  debated  in  the  court  of  Justinian  ;  but  a  pru- 
dent historian  will  refuse  to  examine  the  propriety,  till  he  hag 
ascertaine     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. 

The  maxims  of  Roman  jurisprudence,  if  they  could  fairly 


es  Procopius,  de  Bell.  Persic.  1.  i.  c.  2,  p.  8,  edit.  Louvre. 

*4  Agathias,  1.  iv.  p.  136,  137.  Although  he  confesses  the  prevalence 
of  the  tradition,  he  asserts,  that  Procopius  was  the  first  who  had  com- 
mitted it  to  writing.  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  vi.  p.  597) 
argues  very  sensibly  on  the  merits  of  this  fable.  His  criticism  was 
not  warped  by  any  ecclesiastical  authority  :  both  Procopius  and  Aga- 
thias are  half  Pagans.* 

♦  See  St.  Martin's  a  v.icle  on  Jezdegerd,  in  the  Biographie  Uniyeroelle 
ie  Michaud.  —  M. 


350  THE    UECLlNE    AND    FA!  L 

be  transferred  from  private  property  to  pub  5c  dominion, 
would  have  a-ljudged  to  the  emperor  Honorius  the  guardian 
ship  of  his  nephew,  till  he  had  attained,  at  least,  the  four- 
teenth year  of  his  age.  But  tne  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  repub- 
lic ;  and  the  government  of  the  Eastern  empire  was  fortu- 
nately assumed  by  the  praefect  Anthem ius,65  who  obtained,  bv 
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  accommo- 
dation ;  and,  pointing  to  the  rising  sun,  declared  to  the  Ro- 
man 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 
nis  rear-guard,  was  almost  extirpated  ;  and  many  thousand 
captives  were  dispersed  to  cultivate,  with  servile  labor,  the 


84  Socrates,  1.  vii.  c.  1.  Anthemius  was  the  grandson  of  Philip, 
one  of  the  ministers  of  Constantius,  and  the  grandfather  of  the  emperoi 
Anthemius.  After  his  return  from  the  Persian  embassy,  he  was 
appointed  consul  and  Praetorian  praefect  of  the  East,  in  the  year  405 ; 
»nd  neld  the  praefecture  about  ten  vears.  See  his  honors  and  praisea 
in  Godefroy,  Cod.  Theod.  torn.  vi.  p.  350.  Tilleinont,  Hist,  des  Ercp 
torn.  vi.  p.  1,  &c 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  351 

fields  of  Asia..66  In  the  midst  :>f  the  public  triumph,  Con 
Btantiuonlc  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 

But  the  Romans  had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  the  au- 
thority of  a  monarch,  that  the  first,  even  among  the  females, 
of  the  Imperial  family,  who  displayed  any  courage  or  capa- 
city, was  permitted  to  ascend  the  vacant  throne  of  Theodosius. 
His  sister  Pulcheria,68  who  was  only  two  years  older  than  him- 
self, 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  Marciaa, 
her  nominal  husband.  From  a  motive  either  of  prudence  or 
religion,  she  embraced  a  life  of  celibacy;  and  notwithstand- 
.ng  some  aspersions  on  the  chastity  of  Pulcheria,69  this  resolu- 
tion, 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  Arcadius70  dedicated  their  vir- 
ginity to  God  ;  and  the  obligation  of  their  solemn  vow  was 

66  Sozomen,  1.  ix.  c.  5.  lie  saw  some  Seym  at  work  near  Mount 
Olympus,  in  Bithynia,  and  cherished  the  vain  hope  that  those  captives 
were  the  last  of  the  nation. 

67  Cod.  Theod.  1.  vii.  tit.  xvii.  1.  xv.  tit.  i.  leg.  49. 

88  Sozomen  has  filled  three  chapters  with  a  magnificent  panegyric 
of  Pulcheria,  (1.  ix.  c.  1,  2,  3 ;)  and  Tillemont  (Memc'res  Eccles.  tore 
xv.  p.  171  — 184)  has  dedicated  a  separate  article  to  the  honor  of  St 
Pulcheria,  virgin  and  empress.* 

69  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  Pauli- 
nus,  and  her  incest  writh  her  brother  Theodosius. 

70  See  Ducange,  Famil.  Byzantin.  p.  70.  Flaccilla,  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter, either  died  before  Arcadius,  or,  if  she  lived  till  the  year  431, 
(MarceUin.  Chron.,)  some  defect  of  mind  or  body  must  have  excluded 
ner  from  the  honors  of  her  rank. 


*  The  heathen  Eunapius  gives  a  frightful  picture  of  the  ▼snality  and 
injustice  of  the  court  of  Pulcheria.  Fragm.  Euriap.  in  Mai,  ii.  293,  in 
Nieouhr,  97.  — M. 


352  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

inscribed  on  a  tablet  of  gold  and  gems ;  which  they  publicly 
uHbred  in  the  great  church  of  Constantinople.  Their  palace 
was  converted  into  a  monastery  ;  and  ail  males,  except  the 
guides  of  their  conscience,  the  saints  who  had  iorgotien 
die  distinction  of  sexes,  were  scrupulously  excluded  from  die 
holy  threshold.  Pulcheria,  her  two  sisters,  and  a  chosen  train 
cf  favorite  damsels,  formed  a  religious  community:  they 
renounced  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  liberal- 
ity 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  socie- 
ties ;  and  the  active  severity  with  which  she  labored  to  sup- 
press 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  ac- 
quired, both  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  was  readilr 
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 


71  She  was  admonished,  by  repented  dreams,  of  the  place  where 
the  relics  of  the  forty  martyrs  had  been  buried.  The  ground  had  suc- 
cessively belonged  to  the  house  and  garden  of  a  woman  of  Constanti- 
nople, to  a  monastery  of  Macedonian  monks,  and  to  a  church  of  St 
Thyrsus,  erected  by  Csesarius,  who  was  consul  A.  D.  307;  and  thi 
memory  of  the  relics  was  almost  obliterated.  Notwithstanding  till 
charitable  wishes  of  Dr.  Jortin,  (Remarks,  torn.  iv.  p.  234.)  it  if  noi 
easy  to  acquit  Pulcheria  of  some  share  in  the  pious  fraud  ;  which  must 
have  been  iij,.isacted  when  she  was  more  than  five-and-thirty  yean 
of  age. 


OF    THE.    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  853 

!if»\  Europe  was  indeed  afflicted  by  the  arms  of  Attila  ;  bu 
the  more  extensive  provinces  of  Asia  still  continued  to  enjoy 
a  profound  and  permanent  repose.  Theodosius  the  younger 
vas  never  reduced  to  the  disgraceful  necessity  of  encounter 
nig  and  punishing  a  rebellious  subject :  and  since  we  cannol 
applaud  the  vigor,  some  praise  may  be  due  to  the  mildness 
and  prosperity,  of  the  administration  of  Pulcheria. 

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  ani- 
mate 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  suspicion  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  him- 
self 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  dignif,r 
the  external  figure  of  a  Roman  emperor.  But  Theodosius  7a 
was  never  excited  to  support  the  weight  and  glory  of  an  illus- 
trious name  :  and,  instead  of  aspiring  to  imitate  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  author- 
ity and  example.     But  the  unfortunate   prince,  who  is  born 


72  There  is  a  remarkable  difference  between  the  two  ecclesiastical 
historians,  who  in  general  bear  so  close  a  resemblance.  Sozomen  (1.  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  sup- 
presses the  merits  of  his  sister,  (1.  vii.  c.  22,  42.)  Philostorgius  (1.  xii 
c.  7)  expresses  the  influence  of  Pulcheria  in  gentle  and  courtly  Ian 
^uage,  ru{  puaiXixltg  Oijfieiwatis  I'mjoeTovfiivr]  xul  ditv&rrvvoa.  Suidaa 
'Excerpt,  p.  53)  gives  a  true  character  of  Theodosius;  and  I  have 
follow  ed  the  example  of  Tillemont  (torn.  vi.  p.  25)  in  borrowing  some 
itirkes  from  the  modern  Greeks. 

69* 


354  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

in  the  purple,  must  remain  a  stranger  tc  the  voice  of  truth 
and  the  son  of  Arcadius  was  condemned  to  pass  his  perpetua. 
infancy  encompassed  only  by  a  servile  train  of  women  and 
eunuchs.  The  ample  leisure,  which  he  acquired  by  neglect- 
ing 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  paint* 
ing  and  carving  ;  and  the  elegance  with  which  he  transcribed 
religious  books,  entitled  the  Roman  emperor  to  the  singulai 
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 
oaners  that  were  presented  for  the  royal  signature,  the  acts 
of  injustice  the  most  repugnant  to  his  character  were  fre- 
quently 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  sel- 
dom 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,  conde- 
scended to  heal  the  spiritual  wound  which  he  had  inflicted.73 
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  14 

73  Theodoret,  1.  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. 

74  Socrates  (1.  vii.  c.  21)  mentions  her  name,  (Athenais,  the  daugh- 
ter 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.  Yenet.  1743)  and  in  the  Paschal  Chron- 
icle, (p.  311,  312.)  Those  authors  had  probably  seen  original  pictures 
of  the  empress  Eudocia.  The  modern  Greeks,  Zonaras,  Cedrenus, 
8"-.,  Lave  displayed  the  love,  rather  than  the  'alent.  of  fiction      From 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  356 

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  contempo- 
raries, 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  saga- 
cious 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  curi- 
osity of  her  brother,  by  an  interesting  picture  of  the  charms 
of  Athenais  ;  large  eyes,  a  well-proportioned  nose,  a  fair  com- 
plexion, 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  o.'  Theodosius  had  approved  her  fruitfulness  by  the  birth 
of  a  daughter,  who  espoused,  fifteen  years  afterwards,  tne 
emperor  of  the  West.  The  brothers  of  Eudocia  obeyed,  with 
some  anxiety,  her  Imperial  summons  ;  but  as  she  could  easily 
forgive  their  fortunate  unkindness,  she  indulged  the  tender- 
ness, or  perhaps  the  vanity,  of  a  sister,  by  promoting  them  to 
the  rank  of  consuls  and  prefects.  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  com- 
posed a  poetical  paraphrase  of  the  first  eight  books  of  the  Old 
TDStament,  and  of  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and  Zechariah ; 
a  cento  of  the  verses  of  Homer,  applied  to  the  life  and  mira* 


Nicephorus,  indeed,  T  hn.ve  ventured  to  assume  her  age.  The  writer 
of  a  romance  would  not  have  imagined,  that  Athenais  was  near  twen- 
ty-eight years  old  wheu  she  inflamed  the  heart  of  a  young  emperor. 


356  THB    DECLINE    .aND    FALL 

clcs  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  randor  of  impartial  criticism.75  The 
fondness  of  the  emperor  was  not  abated  by  time  and  posses- 
sion ;  and  Eudocia,  after  the  marriage  of  her  daughter,  was 
permitted  to  discharge  her  grateful  vows  by  a  solemn  pilgrim- 
age 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  oilices,  and  the  disgrace  of  Cyrus,  Praetorian  prefect 
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 


76  Socrates,  1.  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.  Grsee.  torn.  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  ;Ae 
work  is  still  extant  in  manuscript. 

76  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  ani  henticity. 

77   in  this  short  view  nf  the  disgrace  of  Eudocia,  I  have  imitated 
the  caution  of  Evagrius  (1.  i.  c.  21)  *ud  Couat  Marcelliuus,  (inCuron. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIKii.  35") 

impress  perceived  that  the  affection  of  Theodosius  was  irre« 
trievably  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 
Pulohcria,  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  em- 
press, 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  Jerusa.em,  in  tne  sixty-seventn  year  of 
her  age  ;  protesting,  with  her  dying  breath,  that  she  had  never 
transgressed  the  bounds  of  innocence  and  friendship.79 

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  honor- 
able. 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.8t) 

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  Priscus,  (in  Excerpt.  Legat.  p.  69,)  s.  contemporary,  and  a  cour- 
tier, dryly  mentions  her  Pagan  and  Christian  names,  without  adding 
any  title  of  honor  or  respect. 

79  For  the  two  pilgrimages  of  Eudocia,  and  her  long  residence  at 
Jerusalem,  her  devotion,  abns,  &c,  see  Socrates  (1.  vii.  c.  47)  and 
Evagrius,  (1.  i.  c.  20,  21,  22.)  The  Paschal  Chronicle  may  sometimes 
leserve  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,  cal- 
culate;' me  gifts  of  Eudocia  at  20,488  pounds  of  gold,  above  800,000 
pounds  sterling. 

M  Tbeodoret,  1.  v.  c.  39.    Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xii.  p.  356- 


358  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

His  zeal  and  obstinacy  were  revenged  on  nis  brethren  ■  th« 
Magi  excited  r  cruel  persecution ;  and  the  intolerant  zeal  of 
Jezdegerd  was  imitated  by  his  son  Varanes,  or  Bahram,  who 
Boon  afterwards  ascended  the  throne.  Some  Christian  fugi- 
tives,  who  escaped  to  the  Roman  frontier,  were  sternly 
demanded,  and  generously  refused  ;  and  the  refusal,  aggra- 
vated 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  produc- 
tive  of  any  decisive  or  memorable  events.  Some  engage- 
ments 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  thun- 
dering engine  in  the  name  of  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle.  Yet 
the  splendid  victories  which  the  incredible  speed  of  the  mes- 
senger Palladius  repeatedly  announced  to  the  palace  of  Con- 
stantinople, were  celebrated  with  festivals  and  panegyrics. 
From  these  panegyrics  the  historians81  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  Im/aortals,  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  ef  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 


364.  Assemanni,  Bibliot.  Oriental,  torn.  iii.  p.  396,  torn.  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  hare  unlawfully 
committed. 

81  Socrates  (1.  vii.  c.  18,  19,  20,  21)  is  the  best  author  for  the  Persian 
war.  We  may  likewise  consult  the  three  Chronicles,  the  Paschai 
and  those  of  Maice'.linus  and  Malala. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  359 

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  benevo- 
lence in  the  midst  of  war  must  always  tend  to  assuage  the 
animosity  of  contending  nations;  and  I  wish  to  persuade  my- 
self, 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  thf 
Persians  to  prevent,  by  a  timely  accommodation,  the  wratb 
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  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  the  essential  conditions  of  this  treaty  were 
respected  near  fourscore  years  by  the  successors  of  Constan- 
tine  and  Artaxerxes. 

Since  the  Roman  and  Parthian  standards  first  encountered 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  the  kingdom  of  Armenia82 
was  alternately  oppressed  by  its  formidable  protectors  ;  and 
•n  the  course  of  this  History,  several  events,  which  inclined 
die  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. 
3ut  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 
ittached  to  the  Christian  princes  of  Constaminople.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  Armenia  was  divided  by  the 
progress  of  war  and  faction  ; 83   and  the   uruiatural  division 

82  This  account  of  the  rum  and  division  of  the  kingdom  of  Armenia 
is  taken  from  the  third  book  of  the  Armenian  fJsiory  of  Moses  of 
Chorene.  Deficient  as  he  is  in  every  qualification  of  a  good  historian, 
bis  local  information,  his  passions,  and  his  prejudices  are  strongly 
expressive  of  a  native  and  contemporary.  Procopius  (de  Edificiis, 
1.  iii  c.  1,  5)  relates  the  same  facts  in  2.  very  different  manner  :  but  I 
have  extracted  the  circumstances  the  most  probable  in  themselves, 
»nd  the  least  inconsistent  with  Moses  of  Chorene. 

1,3  The  Western  Armenians  used  the  Greek  language  and  character 
in  their  religious  offices ;  but  the  use  of  that  hostile  tongue  was  pro- 
hibited by  the  Persians  in  the  Eas  lern  provinces,  which  were  obliged 
to  use  the  Syriac,  till  the  invent*  m  of  the  Armenian  letters  by  Mes- 
robes,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  and  the  subsequent  version 
Df  tne  Bible  into  the  Armenian  lai  guage;  an  event  which  relaxed  tl:9 
•ounection  of  the  church  and  nation  with  Constantinople. 


360  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

precipitated  the  downfall  of  that  ancient  monarchy.  Chew- 
roes,  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.*  After  the  death  of  Arsaces,  the 
Romans  suppressed  the  regal  government,  and  imposed  on 
their  allies  the  condition  of  subjects.  The  military  command 
*vas  delegated  to  the  count  of  the  Armenian  frontier;  the 
city  of  Theodosiopolis84  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 
hve  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  Chosroest  for  their  lawful 
sove^ign.  About  thirty  years  afterwards,  Artas''res,  the 
nepVew  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 

M  Moses  Choren.  1.  iii.  c.  59,  p.  309,  and  p.  358.  Procopius,  deEdi- 
ticiis,  1.  iii.  c.  5.  Theodosiopolis  stands,  or  rather  stood,  about  thirty- 
five  miles  to  the  east  of  Arzeroum,  the  modern  capital  of  Turkish  Ar- 
menia.    See  D'Anville,  Geographie  Ancienne,  torn.  ii.  p.  99,  100. 


*  The  division  of  Armenia,  according  to  M.  St.  Martin,  took  placo  ranch 
earlier,  A.  C.  390.  The  Eastern  or  Persian  division  was  four  times  as  large 
as  '.he  Western  or  Roman.  This  partition  took  place  during  the  reigns  of 
Theodosius  the  First,  and  Yaranes  (Bahram)  the  Fourth.  St.  Martin,  Sup. 
to  Le  Beau,  iv.  429.  This  partition  was  but  imperfectly  accomplished,  an 
both  parts  were  afterwards  reunited  under  Chosroes,  who  paid  tribute  both 
to  the  Roman  emperor  and  to  the  Persian  king.  v.  439.  —  M. 

f  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  nobler  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  Per- 
sia :  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,  Ar- 
daschir,  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  PattiMca 
BahaR.     St.  Martin,  vi.  29.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  361 

sanction  they  earnestly  solicited,  is  expressive  of  the  charac- 
ter of  a  superstitious  people.  He  deplored  the  manifest  and 
inexcusable  vices  of  Artasires  ;  and  dec'ared,  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  liccn 
tious  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  lewd- 
ness, 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.1'85  Exasper- 
ated 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  condem- 
nation, which,  after  a  partial  hearing,  was  solemnly  pro- 
nounced 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,*  under  the  new  and 


Sb  Moses  Choren.  1.  iii.  c.  63,  p.  316.  According  to  the  institution 
oi  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  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.  1.  iii.  c.  65,  p.  321. 

87  Valarsaces  was  appointed  king  of  Armenia  by  his  brother  the 
Parthian  monarch,  immediately  after  the  defeat  of  Antiochus  Sidetes, 
(Moses  Choren.  1.  ii.  c.  2,  p.  85,)  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  before 
Christ. t  Without  depending  on  the  various  and  contradictory  periods 
of  the  reigns  of  the  last  kings,  we  may  be  assured,  that  the  ruin  of  tVie 
Armenian  kingdom  happened  after  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  A.  D. 
431,  (1.  iii.  c.  61,  p.  312  ;)  and  under  Varamus,  or  Bahram,  king  of 
Persia,  (1.  iii.  c.  64,  p.  317,)  who  reigned  from  A.  D.  420  to  440.  Sea 
A.sscmanni,  Bibliot.  Oriental,  torn.  iii.  p.  39G.J 


*  Artasires  or  Ardaschir  was  probably  sent  to  the  castle. of  Oblivion. 
B(.  Martin,  vi.  31.— M. 

f  Five  hundred  and  eighty.  St.  Martin,  ibid.  He  places  this  event 
A.  C.  429.  — M. 

J  According  to  M.  St.  Martin,  vi.  32,  Vagharschah,  or  Valarsaces,  was 
appointed  king  by  his  brother  Mithridates  the  Great,  king  of  Parthia.  —  M. 


362  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  :  *  and  a  territorial  acquisition, 
which  Augustis  might  have  despised,  reflected  some  lustre 
on  the  declining  empire  of  the  younger  Theodosius. 

*  The  duration  of  the  Armenian  kiugdom,  according  to  M.  St.  Kirtna. 
ww  660  years.  —  M. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

DEATH    OF    HONORIUS. VALENTINIAN    III.    EMPEROR    OF     THI 

EAST. ADMINISTRATION      OF      HIS      MOTHER      PLACIDIA. 

jETIUS      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 ;  md  Constantinople  beheld,  with  ap- 
parent indifference  and  secret  joy,  the  calamities  of  Rome. 
The  strange  adventures  of  Placidia1  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  Con- 
stant us,  as  a  noble  reward  for  the  tyrants  whom  he  had  van- 
quished, received,  from  the  hand  of  Honorius  himself,  the 
struggling  and  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  gen- 
erous soldier,  whose  time  had  hitherto  been  divided  between 
6ocial  pleasure  and  military  service,  was  taught  new  lessons 
cf  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  increase  the 
power    of   Placidia;    aid    the    indecent    familiarity2    of  her 

1  See  vol.  iii.  p.  296. 

8   Tix  ovi*x>i  *«r«  ar6f/a  (fiXi',ftara,  is  the  expression  of  Olympiodorus, 
'apud  Photium,  p.  197  ;)  who  means,  perhaps,  to  describe  the  same 

363 


364  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

brother,  which  might  be  no  more  than  the  symptcms  af  a 
childish  affecton,  were  universally  attributed  to  incesluo  is 
love.  On  a  sudden,  by  some  base  intrigues  of  a  steward  and 
a  nurse,  this  excessive  fondness  was  converted  into  an  irrecon- 
cilable quarrel:  the  debates  of  the  emperor  and  his  sistei 
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  Pla- 
cidia, 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. 

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  em- 
bassy, 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 

caresses  which  Mahomet  bestowed  on  his  daughter  Phatemah.  Quando, 
(says  the  yrophet  himself,)  quando  subit  mini  desiderium  Paradisi, 
osculor  earn,  et  ingcro  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  Ma- 
tacci,  in  his  Version  and  Confutation  of  the  Koran,  torn.  i.  p.  32. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    KMPIRE.  3f>£ 

marched  in  person  :  but  the  young  emperor  was  easily  divert- 
ed, by  his  physicians,  from  so  rash  and  hazardous  a  design ; 
and  the  conduct  of  the  Italian  expeditior  was  prudently  in- 
trusted 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  ;  whilsl 
Aspar,  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry,  conducted  Placidia  and  her 
6on  Valentinian  along  the  sea-coast  of  the  Adriatic.  The 
march  of  the  cavalry  was  performed  with  such  active  dili- 
gence, that  they  surprised,  without  resistance,  the  important 
city  of  Aquileia  :  when  the  hopes  of  Aspar  were  unexpect- 
edly confounded  by  the  intelligence,  that  a  storm  had  dis- 
persed 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  grat- 
itude ;  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 
oi  Aquileia.  The  emperor  Theodosius,  when  he  received 
tne  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  giateful  devo- 
tion.3 

In  a  monarchy,  which,  according  to  various  precedents, 
might  be  considered  as  elective,  or  hereditary,  or  patrimonial, 
t   was   impossible   that   the  intricate    claims    of   female    and 


*  For  these  revolutions  of  the  Western  empire,  consult  Olympiodor. 
ftpud  Phot.  p.  192,  193,  196,  197,  20.0  ;  So/.omen,  1.  ix.  c.  16  ;  Socrates, 
'.  vii.  23,  24  ;  Philostorgius,  1.  xii.  c.  10,  11,  and  Godefroy,  Dissertat. 
p.  486  ;  Procopius,  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  3,  p.  182,  183  :  Theoph- 
ti.es,  in  Chronograph,  p.  72,  73,  and  the  Chronicles. 


366  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

collateral  succession  should  be  clearly  defined  ; 4  and  Theodo. 
sius,  by  the  right  of  consanguinity  or  conquest,  might  have 
reigned  the  sole  legitimate  emperor  of  ine  Romans.  For  a 
moment,  perhaps,  his  eyes  were  dazzled  by  the  prospect  of 
unbounded  sway ;  but  his  indolent  temper  gradually  acqu'u 
esced  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 
Nubilissi?nus :  he  was  promoted,  before  his  departure  from 
Thessalonica,  to  the  rank  and  dignity  of  Ccesar  ;  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  hon- 
orable alliance  was  faithfully  accomplished.  At  the  same 
lime,  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  Constantinople6 
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 
ind  ravaged  above  twenty  years  by  a  promiscuous  crowd  of 

4  See  Grotius  de  Jure  Belli  et  Pacis,  1.  ii.  c.  7.     He  Las  laboriously 
hut  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  The  original  writers  are  not  agreed  (see  Muratori,  Annali  d'ltalia, 
Son,  iv.  p.  139)  whether  Valentinian  received  the  Imperial  diadem  at 
Rome  or  Ravenna.  In  this  uncertainty,  I  am  willing  to  believe,  that 
lome  respect  was  shown  to  the  senate. 

8  The  count  de  Buat  (Hist,  cles  Peuplcs  de  l'Europe,  torn.  vii.  p 
?92 — 300)  has  established  the  reality,  explained  the  motives,  an/ 
traced  the  consequences,  of  this  remarkable  cession. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  3b") 

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  govern- 
ment 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  com- 
municate them,  subscribed  with  his  own  hand,  for  the  appro- 
bation of  his  independent  colleague.7 

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  ge- 
nius of  Eudocia,  the  wise  and  successful  policy  of  Pulclieria 
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  un- 
worthy emperor  gradually  countenanced  the  suspicion  thai 
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,  ^Etius  9  and  Boni- 
face,10 who   may   be   deservedly   named   as   the  last  of  the 

7  See  the  first  Novel  of  Theodosius,  by  which  he  ratifies  and  com- 
municates (A.  D.  438)  the  Theodosian  Code.  About  forty  years 
before  that  time,  the  unity  of  legislation  had  been  proved  by  an  excep- 
tion. 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.  1.  xvi.  tit.  viii.  leg.  13  ;)  and  the  West- 
ern emperor  was  obliged  to  invalidate,  by  a  special  edict,  the  law, 
quam  constat  meis  partibus  esse  damnosam.  Cod.  Theod.  1.  xi.  tit.  i. 
leg.  158. 

8  Cassiodorus  (Variar.  1.  xi.  Epist.  i.  p.  238)  has  compared  the  re- 
gencies of  Placidia  and  Amalasuntha.  He  arraigns  the  weakness  of 
the  mother  of  Valentinian,  and  praises  the  virtues  of  his  royal  mis- 
tress. On  this  occasion,  flattery  seems  to  have  spoken  the  language  o* 
ti  ith. 

*  Philostorgius,  1.  xii.  c.  12,  and  Godefroy's  Dissertat.  p.  493,  &c. ; 
and  Kenatus  Frigeridus,  apud  Gregor.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  8,  in  torn.  ii. 
p,  163.  The  father  of  ^Etius  was  Gaudentius,  an  illustrious  citizen 
i#f  the  province  of  Scythia,  and  master-general  of  the  cavalry ;  hifl 
mother  was  a  rich  and  noble  Italian.  From  his  earliest  youth,  yEtiuB, 
els  a  soldier  and  a  hostage,  had  conversed  with  the  Barbarians. 

10  For  the  character  of  Boniface,  see  Olympiodorus,  apud  Phot 
p  1t>6  ;  and  St.  Augustin,  apud  Tillemont,  Memoires  Eccles.  torn,  xiii 


368  THE    DECLINE    A.ND    FALL 

Romms.     Their  union  might  have  supported  a  sinking  em- 
piie  ;  their  discord  wis  the  fatal  and  immediate  cause  of  the 
loss  of  Africa.     The  invasion  and  defeat  of  Attila  have  im 
mortalized  the  fame  of  ^Etius  ;  and  thougn  time  has  thrown 
a  shade  over  the  exploits  of  his   rival,  the   defence  of  Mar- 
seilles, 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 
Uaibarians  :  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  tribu- 
nal the   following  day  :   in  the  evening  the   count,  who   had 
diligently  informed  himself  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  assig- 
nation, 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  present- 
ing him,  the  next   morning,  with   the   head  of  the  adulterer. 
The  abilities  of  J3tius  and  Boniface  might  have  been  usefully 
employed  against  the  public  enemies,  in  separate  and  impor- 
tant commands  ;  but  the   experience   of  their   past  conduct 
Fhould  have  decided  the  real  favor  and  confidence  of  the  em- 
press Placidia.      In  the  melancholy  season  of  her  exile  and 
distress,  Boniface   alone  had   maintained   her  cause  with  un- 
shaken 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 
jEtius,  who  brought  an  army  of  sixty  thousand    Huns  from 
the  ftanube  to  the  confines  of  Italy,  for  the  service   of  tho 
usurper.      The   untimely  death  of  John  compelled    him   to 
accept  an  advantageous  treaty  ;  but  he  still  continued,  the  sub- 
ject and  the  soldier  of  Valentinian,  to  entertain  a  secret,  per- 
haps a  treasonable,  correspondence  with  his  Barbarian  allies, 
whose  retreat  had  been   purchased  by  liberal  gifts,  and  more 
liberal  promises.     But  TEtius  possessed  an  advantage  of  sin 


f.  712—715,  886.  The  bishop  of  Hippo  at  length  deplored  1he  fall  of 
his  friend,  who,  after  a  solemn  vow  of  chastity,  had  married  a  second 
wifi;  of  the  Arian  sect,  and  who  was  suspected  of  keeping  sever* 
•one  L.bLues  in  his  house. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  369 

jrular  moment  in  a  female  reign  ;  he  was  present :  he  besieged 
with  artful  and  assiduous  flattery,  the  palace  of  Ravenna  ;  dis- 
guised  his  dark  designs  with  the  mask  of  loyalty  and  friend- 
ship ;  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  per- 
suaded n  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,  ^Etius  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  iEtius  still  continued  to 
betray  and  to  inflame,  and  the  count  was  urged,  by  persecu- 
tion, 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,  dis- 
orderly 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  settle- 
ment. 

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  hos- 
tile independence.  The  Vandals  prevailed  ;  and  their  adver- 
saries 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  Bcetica.     The  rapid  progress  of 


11  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  3,  4,  p.  182—186)  relates  the 
fraud  of  iEtius,  the  revolt  of  Boniface,  and  the  loss  of  Africa.  Thia 
anecdote,  which  is  supported  by  some  collateral  testimony,  (see  Rui- 
nart,  Hist.  Persecut.  Vandal,  p.  420,  421,)  seems  agreeable  to  the  prac- 
tice of  ancient  and  modern  courts,  and  would  be  naturally  revealed  by 
the  repentance  of  B  miface. 

70 


370  THE    DECLuVE    AND    TALL 

the  Vandals  soon  required  a  more  effectual  opposition ;  and 
the  master-general  Castinus  marched  against  them  with  a 
numerous  army  of  Romans  and  Goths.  Vanquished  in  hattle 
by  an  inferior  enemy,  Castinus  fled  with  dishonor  to  Tarra- 
gona ;  and  this  memorable  defeat,  which  has  been  represented 
as  the  punishment,  was  most  probably  the  effect,  of  his  rash 
presumption.1^  Seville  and  Carthagena  became  the  reward, 
or  rather  the  prey,  of  the  ferocious  conquerors ;  and  the  ves- 
sel s  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  Gen- 
seric  ; 13  a  name,  which,  in  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, 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  van- 
quished ;  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, 

ls  See  the  Chronicles  of  Prosper  and  Idatius.  Salvian  (de  Guber- 
nat.  Dei,  1.  vii.  p.  246,  Paris,  1608)  ascribes  the  victory  of  the  Vandala 
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  Gizericus  'his  name  is  variously  expressed)  statura  mediocris  et 
equi  casu  claudicans,  animo  profundus,  sermone  rarus,  luxuriae  con- 
temptor,  ira  turbidus,  habendi  cupidus,  ad  solicitandas  gentes  pro- 
videntissimus,  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  likenesa,  must  have  been  copied 
from  the  Gothic  history  of  Cassiodorue. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  871 

had  presumed  to  ravage  the  Spanish  territories,  which  he  was 
reso.ved  to  abandon.  Impatient  of  the  insult,  Genseric  pur- 
sued  the  hasty  retreat  of  the  Suevi  as  far  as  Merida ;  precip- 
itated 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  mod* 
em  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 

Our  fancy,  so  long  accustomed  to  exaggemte  and  multiply 
the  martial  swarms  of  Barbarians  that  seemed  to  issue  from 
the  North,  will  perhaps  be  surprised  by  the  account  of  tho 
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  cli- 
mate. 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  chiliarchs,  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 

24  See  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius.  That  bishop,  a  Spaniard  and  a  con- 
temporary, 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  writera 
who  have  marked  for  that  event  one  of  the  two  preceding  years.  See 
Pagi  Critica,  torn.  ii.  p.  205,  &c. 

16  Compare  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  5,  p.  190)  and  Victor 
Vitensis,  (de  Persecutione  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  1,  p.  3,  edit.  Ruinart.)  We 
are  assured  by  Idatius,  that  Genseric  evacuated  Spain,  cum  Vandalia 
omnibus  eorumque  familiis  ;  and  Possidius  (in  Vit.  Augustin.  c.  23, 
apud  Ruinart,  p.  427)  describes  his  army  as  manus  ingens  im- 
manium  gentium  Vandalorum  et  Alanorum,  commixtam  seciua 
habens  Gothorum  gGntem>  aliarumque  diversarum  personas. 


372  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  accession  of  numerous  and  active  allies.  The  parts  of 
Mauritania  which  border  on  the  Great  Desert  and  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  were  rilled  with  a  fierce  and  untractable  race  of  men, 
whose  savage  temper  had  been  exasperated,  rather  than  re- 
claimed, by  their  dread  of  the  Roman  arms.  The  wandering 
Moors,16  as  they  gradually  ventured  to  approach  the  sea- 
shore, 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  neighbor- 
fiood  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  ene- 
mies 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. 

The  persecution  of  the  Donatists  17  was  an  event  not  less 
favorable  to  the  designs  of  Genseric.  Seventeen  years  befoie 
he  landed  in  Africa,  a  public  conference  was  held  at  Car- 
thage, 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  pos- 
sessions, banished  to  the  islands,  and  proscribed  by  the  laws, 

16  For  the  manners  of  the  Moors,  see  Procopius,  (de  Bell.  Vandal. 
1.  ii.  c.  6,  p.  249  ;)  for  their  figure  and  complexion,  M.  de  BufFon, 
(Histoire  Naturelle,  torn.  iii.  p.  430.)  Procopius  says  in  general,  that 
the  Moors  had  joined  the  Vandals  before  the  death  of  Valentinian, 
(de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  5,  p.  190  ;)  and  it  is  probable  that  the  independ- 
ent tribes  did  not  embrace  any  uniform  system  of  policy. 

17  See  Tillemont,  Memoires  Eccles.  torn.  xiii.  p.  516 — 558  ;  and  the 
whole  series  of  the  persecution,  in  the  original  monuments,  published 
by  Dupin  at  the  end  of  Optatus,  p.  32.3 — 515. 

18  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- foui 
racant  bishoprics. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  373 

if  they  presumed  to  conceal  themselves  in  the  provinces  of 
Africa.  Their  numerous  congregations,  both  in  cities  and  in 
die  country,  were  deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizens,  and  of 
the  exercise  of  religious  worship.  A  regular  scale  of  fine3, 
from  ten  to  two  hundred  pounds  of  silver,  was  curiously  ascer- 
tained, according  to  the  distinctions  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  oppo- 
sition, were  provoked  to  madness  and  despair ;  the  distracted 
country  was  filled  with  tumult  and  bloodshed  ;  the  armed 
troops  of  Circum?ellions  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  rea- 
sonably expect  the  repeal  of  the  odious  and  oppressive  edicts 
of  the  Roman  emperors.22  The  conquest  of  Africa  was  facil- 
itated by  the  active  zeal,  or  the  secret  favor,  of  a  domestic  fac- 


19  The  fifth  title  of  the  sixteenth  book  of  the  Theodosian  Code  ex- 
nibits  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  St.  Augustin  altered  his  opinion  with  regard  to  the  proper  treat- 
ment of  heretics.  His  pathetic  declaration  of  pity  and  indulgence  for 
the  Manichseans,  has  been  inserted  by  Mr.  Locke  (vol.  iii.  p.  469) 
among  the  choice  specimens  of  his  common-place  book.  Another 
philosopher,  the  celebrated  Bayle,  (torn.  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  Sec  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xiii.  p.  586—592,  806.  Th* 
Donatists  boasted  of  thousands  of  these  voluntary  martyrs.  Augus- 
tin 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  ir  hell 
Games. 

22  According  to  St.  Augustin  and  Theodoret,  the  Donatists  were 
inclined  to  the  principles,  or  at  least  to  the  party,  of  the  Arians,  which 
Serseric  supported.     Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  vi.  p.  68. 


374  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

tion  ;  the  wanton  outrages  against  the  churches  and  the  clergy , 
of  which  the  Vandals  are  accused,  may  be  fairly  imputed  to  thp 
fanaticism  of  their  allies  ;  and  the  intolerant  spirit  which  dis- 
graced the  triumph  of  Christianity,  contributed  to  the  loss  <J 
the  most  important  province  of  the  West.23 

The  court  and  the  people  were  astonished  by  the  strange 
mtelligence,  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  tv  his  com- 
mand. The  friends  of  Boniface,  who  still  believed  that  his 
criminal  behavior  might  be  excused  by  some  honorable 
motive,  solicited,  during  the  absence  of  ^Etius,  a  free  con- 
ference with  the  Count  of  Africa ;  and  Darius,  an  officer  of 
yjigh  distinction,  was  named  for  the  important  embassy.24  In 
their  first  interview  at  Carthage,  the  imaginary  provocations 
were  mutually  explained  ;  the  opposite  letters  of  iEtius  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  forgive- 
ness 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 


43  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  con- 
nection of  the  Vandals  and  the  Donatists.  Under  the  reign  of  the 
Barbarians,  the  schismatics  of  Africa  enjoyed  an  obscure  peace  z£  one 
hundred  years  ;  at  the  end  of  which,  we  may  again  trace  them  by  the 
light  of  the  Imperial  persecutions.  See  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn. 
vi,  p.  192,  &c. 

■*  In  a  confidential  letter  to  Count  Boniface,  St.  Augustm,  without 
examining  the  grounds  of  the  quarrel,  piously  exhorts  him  to  dis- 
charge 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.  torn.  xiii.  p.  890.)  The  bishop 
was  intimately  connected  with  Darius,  the  minister  of  p«f  ce  (Id.  torn, 
liii.  p.  92S.) 


OF    THE    nOBIAN    EMPIRE.  375 

his  hasty  ievies  of  provincial  troops,  were  llefeated  with  con- 
siderable toss :  the  victorious  Barbarians  insulted  the  open 
country  ;  and  Carthage,  Cirta,  and  Hippo  Regius,  were  the 
only  cities  lhai  appeared  to  rise  above  the  general  inundation. 
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  accu- 
rately measured  by  the  distance  from  Carthage  and  the  Med- 
iterranean. 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  exporta- 
tion, 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  io  Tripoli,  were  overwhelmed  by  the  invasion 
of  the  Vandals;  whose  destructive ' rage  has  perhaps  been 
exaggerated  by  popular  animosity,  religious  zeal,  and  extrav- 
agant declamation.  War,  in  its  fairest  form,  implies  a  per- 
petual violation  of  humanity  and  justice  ;  and  the  hostilities  oi 
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.  Care 
less  of  the  distinctions  of  age,  or  sex,  or  rank,  they  employed 
every  species  of  indignity  and  torture,  to  force  from  the  cap- 
tives a  discovery  of  their  hidden  wealth.  The  stern  policy 
of  Genseric  justified  his  frequent  examples  of  military  execu- 
tion :  he  was  not  always  the  master  of  his  own  passions,  or  of 
those  of  his  followers  ;  and  the  calamities  of  war  were  aggra- 
vated 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  ai-,  and 
producing  a  pestilence,  of  which  they  themselves  must  have 
been  the  first  victims.25 

**  The  original  complaints  of   the  desolation  of   Africa    are   con- 
tiined,  V  In  a  letter  from  Cupreolus,  bishop  of  Carthage,  to   excu3« 


376  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  generous  mind  of  Count  Boniface  was  tortured  [y  the 
exquisite  distress  of  beholding  the  ruin  which  he  had  occa- 
sioned, and  whose  rapid  progress  he  was  unable  to  check. 
After  the  loss  of  a  battle,  he  retired  Jnto  Hippo  Regius 
where  he  was  immediately  besieged  by  an  enemy,  who  con- 
sidered him  as  the  real  bulwark  of  Africa.  The  maritime 
colony  of  Hippo?6  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  Manicha^ans,  the  Donatists,  and  the  Pe- 
lagians, 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  con- 
tained his  voluminous  writings ;  two  hundred  and  thirty-two 

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,  (1.  i.  c.  1,  2,  3,  edit.  Ruinart.)  The  last  picture,  which 
was  drawn  sixty  years  after  the  event,  is  more  expressive  of  the  au- 
thor's passions  than  of  the  truth  of  facts. 

26  See  Cellarius,  Geograph.  Antiq.  torn.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  112.  Leo  Af- 
rican, in  Ramusio,  torn.  i.  fol.  70.  L'Afrique  de  Marmol,  torn.  ii.  p. 
434,  437.  Shaw's  Travels,  p.  46,  47.  The  old  Hippo  Regius  waa 
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  tor  a  pure  air,  a  fertile  soil,  and  plenty  of  exquisite  fruits. 

27  The  life  of  St.  Augustin,  by  Tillemont,  fills  a  quarto  volume 
(Mem.  Eccles.  torn,  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. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  371 

■eparate  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 
ihe  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 
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  ad- 
jacent 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 

28  Such,  at  least,  is  the  account  of  Victor  Vitensis,  (de  Persecut. 
Vandal.  1.  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,  torn.  i.  p.  319,  in  Catalog.  Scriptor.  Eccles.)  They 
have  been  repeatedly  printed  ;  and  Dupin  (Bibliotheque  Eccles.  torn, 
iii.  p.  158 — 257)  has  given  a  large  and  satisfactory  abstract  of  them  aa 
■  they  stand  in  the  last  edition  of  the  Benedictines.  My  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  the  bishop  of  Hippo  does  not  extend  beyond  the 
Confessions  and  the  City  of  God. 

2*  In  his  early  youth  (Confes.  i.  14)  St.  Augustin  disliked  and  neg- 
lected 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  ex- 
pounding the  Scriptures ;  and  Cicero  or  Quintilian  would  have  re- 
quired the  knowledge  of  that  language  in  a  professor  of  rhetoric. 

30  These  questions  were  seldom  agitated,  from  the  time  of  St.  Paul 
to  that  of  St.  Augustin.  I  am  informed  that  the  Greek  fathers  main- 
tain the  natural  sentiments  of  the  Semi-Pelagians  ;  and  that  the  or- 
thodoxy of  St.  Augustin  was  derived  from  the  Manichsean  school. 

31  The  church  of  Pome  has  canonized  Augustin,  and  reprobated 
Calvin.  Yet  as  the  real  difference  between  them  is  invisible  even  to  a 
theological  microscope,  the  Molinists  are  oppi  essed  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,  Bibliotheque  Universelie, 
(torn.  xiv.  p.  144 — 39S.)  Perhaps  a  reasoner  still  more  independent 
may  smile  in  his  turn,  when  he  peruses  an  Arminian  Commentary  on 
•he  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

70*  •  •    . 


378  TIIE    DECLINE    AND    TALL 

deeply  fell  by  the  regent  of  the  West.  Placidia  implored  the 
assistance  of  her  eastern  ally  ;  and  the  Italian  fleet  and  army 
were  reenforccd  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  bat- 
tle 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  ac- 
cepted 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  repre- 
sented with  the  name  and  attributes  of  victory.32  The  dis- 
covery of  his  fraud,  the  displeasure  of  the  empress,  and  the 
distinguished  favor  of  his  rival,  exasperated  the  haughty  and 
perfidious  soul  of  iEtius.  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  con- 
flict 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  iEtius  for  her  second  husband.  But  iEtius  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 


3S  Ducange,  Fam.  Byzant.  p.  67.  On  one  side,  the  head  of  Yalen- 
tinian ;  on  the  reverse,  Boniface,  with  a  scourge  in  one  hand,  and  a 
palm  in  the  other,  standing  in  a  triumphal  car,  winch  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  dea 
Medailles,  by  the  Pere  Jobert,  torn.  i.  p.  132—150,  edit,  of  1739,  by 
the  baron  de  la  Bastie. 


■  Lord  Manon,  Life  of  Belisarius,  p    133,  mentions  one  of  Belisarius,  on 
the  authority  of  Cedrenus.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  379 

fortresses,  erected  on  his  patrimonial  estate,  ihe  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 

It  might  naturally  be  expected,  after  the  retreat  of  Boni- 
face, that  the  Vanials  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  Genserie,  in  the 
full  ude  of  apparent  prosperity  negotiated  a  treaty  of  peace, 
by  which  he  gave  his  son  Humieric  for  a  hostage  ;  and  con- 
sented to  leave  the  Western  emperor  in  the  undisturbed  pos- 
session 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 
disserted  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  threat- 
ened, the  unsettled  reign  of  the  conqueror.  As  he  advanced 
towards  Carthage,  he  was  forced  to  withdraw  his  troops  from 


33  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  3,  p.  185)  continues  the  his- 
tory of  Boniface  no  further  than  his  return  to  Italy.  His  death  is 
mentioned  by  Prosper  and  Marcellinus  ;  the  expression  of  the  latter, 
that  iEtius,  the  day  before,  had  provided  himself  with  a  longer  spear, 
implies  something  like  a  regular  duel. 

34  See  Procopius,  dc  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  4.  p.  186.  Valentinian 
piiblished  several  humane  laws,  to  relieAre  the  distress  of  his  Numid- 
ian  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  praefcct  of  Rome.     Cod.  Theod.  torn.  vi.     Novell,  p.  11,  12. 

35  Victor  Vitensis,  de  Persccut.  Vandal.  1.  ii.  c.  5,  p.  26.  The 
erijolties  of  Genserie  towards  his  subjects  are  strongiy  exjjressed  in 
Prosper  s  Chronicle,  A.  D  442. 


380  THE    DECLINE    AND    FATX 

:he  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  stil 
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 

A  new  city  had  arisen  from  its  ruins,  with  the  title  of  a 
colony ;  and  though  Carthage  might  yield  to  the  royal  pre- 
rogatives of  Constantinople,  and  perhaps  to  the  trade  of  Alex- 
andria, 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  prov- 
inces. 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  insti- 
tuted 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 

36  Possidius,  in  Vit.  Augustin.  c.  28,  apud  Ituinart,  p.  428. 

37  See  the  Chronicles  of  Idatius,  Isidore,  Prosper,  and  Marcellinoa 
They  mark  the  same  year,  but  different  days,  for  the  surprisal  of 
Carthage. 

38  The  picture  of  Carthage,  as  it  nourished  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  Guber- 
natione  Dei,  1.  vii.  p.  257,  258.  I  am  surprised  that  the  Notitia  should 
not  place  either  a  mint,  or  an  arsenal,  at  Carthage  ;  but  only  a  gyne- 
fceum,  or  female  manufacture. 


OF    THE    ROHAN    EMPIRE.  88] 

secure  and  capacious  ha.oor,  was  subservient  U  the  commei- 
cial  industry  of  citizens  and  strangers;  and  the  sp.endid  games 
of  the  c'.rcus  and  theatre  were  exhibited  almost  in  the  pres- 
ence 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  charac- 
ter.-39  The  habits  of  trade,  and  the  abuse  of  luxury,  had  cor 
rupted  their  manners  ;  but  their  impious  contempt  of  monks 
and  the  shameless  practice  of  unnatural  lusts,  are  the  twG 
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  fur- 
niture oc  apparel,  to  the  royal  officers ;  and  the  attempt  to 
secrete  any  part  of  their  patrimony  was  inexorably  punished 
with  doath  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 

It  was  natural  enough  that  Genseric  should  hate  those  whom 


39  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,  Diificile  autein 
inter  eos  invenitur  bonus,  tamen  in  multis  pauci  boni  esse  possunt. 
P.  18. 

40  He  declares,  that  the  peculiar  vices  of  each  country  were  collected 
in  the  sink  of  Carthage,  (1.  vii.  p.  257.)  In  the  indulgence  of  vicp, 
the  Africans  applauded  their  manly  virtue.  Et  illi  se  inagis  virilis 
fortitudinis  esse  crederent,  qui  maxime  vires  fceminei  usQs  probrositate 
fregissent,  (p.  268.)  The  streets  of  Carthage  were  polluted  by  effem- 
inate wretches,  who  publicly  assumed  the  countenance,  the  dress, 
and  the  character  of  women,  (p.  264.)  If  a  monk  appeared  in  the 
^ity,  the  holy  man  was  pursued  with  impious  scorn  and  ridicule ;  de- 
•cstantibus  ridentium  cachinnis,  (p.  289.) 

41  Compare  Procopius,  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  5.  p.  189,  190,  and 
Victor  Vitensis,  de  Persecut.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  4. 


382  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  Theod- 
oret  still  preserve  the  names  and  misfortunes  of  Cpelestian 
and  Maria.42  The  Syrian  bishop  deplores  the  misfortunes  of 
Caelestian,  who,  from  the  state  of  a  noble  and  opulent  senator 
of  Carthage,  was  reduced,  with  his  wife  and  family,  and  ser- 
vants, 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  jEgre. 
i  maritime  city  of  Cilicia,  which  was  frequented,  during  th« 
annual  fair,  by  the  vessels  of  the  West ;  most  earnestlj 
requesting,  that  his  colleague  would  use  the  maiden  with  a 


4t  Ruinart  (p.  444 — 457  has  collected  from  Theodoret,  and  othei 
authors,  the  misfortunes  real  and  fabulous,  >f  th*  inhabitants  of 
Caithage. 


of  the  homan  empire.  383 

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. 

Among  the  insipid  legends  of  ecclesiastical  history,  I  am 
tempted  to  distinguish  the  memorable  fable  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers  ,  <3  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  Chi  is- 
tians,  seven  noble  youths  of  Ephesus  concealed  themselves 
ma  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  with  a  pile  of  huge 
stones.  They  immediately  fell  into  a  deep  slumber,  which 
was  miraculously  prolonged,  without  injuring  the  poAvers  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  appel- 
lation) 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 


43  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  Martyr&m,  1.  i.  c 
95,  in  Max.  Bibliotheca  Patrum,  torn.  xi.  p.  855,)  to  the  Greek  acts  of 
their  martyrdom  (apud  Photium,  p.  1400,  1401)  and  to  the  Annals  of 
the  Patriarch  Eutychius,  (torn.  i.  p.  391,  531,  532,  535,  Vers.  Pocock.J) 

44  Two  Syriac  writers,  as  they  are  quoted  by  Assemanni,  (Bibliot. 
Oriental,  torn.  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  aera 
of  the  Seleucides.  Their  Greek  acts,  which  Photius  had  read,  assi  gn 
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  interval  of  three  or  four  huiulred  years. 


384  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

language,  confounded  the  baker,  to  whom  he  offered  ftn 
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  Theo- 
dosius  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  cre- 
dulity of  the  modern  Greeks,  since  the  authentic  tradition  maybe 
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  hid 
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 

45  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,  torn.  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  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists,  Mensis  Julii,  torn.  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  See  Maracci  Alcoran.  Sura  XA'iii.  torn.  ii.  p.  420 — 427,  and  torn.  i. 
part  iv.  p.  103.  With  such  an  ample  privilege,  Mahomet  has  not 
shown  much  taste  or  ingenuity.  He  has  invented  the  dog  (Al  ltakim) 
of  the  Seven  Sleepers  ;  the  respect  of  the  sun,  who  altered  his  courno. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMHRE.  385 

has  been  adopted  and  adorned  by  the  nations,  from  Bengal  to 
Africa,  who  profess  the  Mahometan  religion;43  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  uur  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  aeras 
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  iff 
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  per- 
secuting 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  impatien* 
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. 

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. 

*s  See  D'Herbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientale,  p.  139 ;  and  Ilenaudot, 
Hist.  Patriarch.  Alexandrin.  p.  39,  40. 

*°  Paul,  the  deacor  of  Aqulleia,  (de  Gestis  Langobardorum,  1.  i.  c. 
4,  p.  745,  746,  edit.  G  *ot.,)  who  lived  towards  the  end  of  the  eighth 
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  re- 
•pected  by  the  Barbarians.  Their  dress  declared  them  to  be  Romans , 
and  the  deacon  conjectures,  that  they  were  reserved  by  Providence  aa 
the  future  apostles  of  those  unbelieving  countries. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

THE  CHARACTER,  CONQUESTS,  AND  COURT  OF  ATTILA,  KINO  OF 
THE  HUNS. DEATH  OF  THEODOSIUS  THE  YOUNGER. ELE- 
VATION   OF    MARCIAN    TO    THE    EMPIRE    OF    THE    EAST. 

The  Western  world  was  oppressed  by  the  Goths  and  Van- 
dals, who  fled  before  the  Huns ;  but  the  achievements  of  the 
Huns  themselves  were  not  adequate  to  their  power  and  pros- 
Derity.  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  con- 
sumed 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. 

In  the  tide  of  emigration  which  impetuously  rolled  from 
the  confines  of  China  to  those  of  Germany,  the  most  power- 
ful and  populous  tribes  may  commonly  be  found  on  the  verge 
of  the  Roman  provinces.  The  accumulated  weight  was  sus- 
tained for  a  while  by  artificial  barriers  ;  and  the  easy  conde- 
scension of  the  emperors  invited,  without  satisfying,  the  insolent 
demands  of  the  Barbarians,  who  had  acquired  an  eager  appe- 
tite for  the  luxuries  of  civilized  life.     The  Hungarians,  who 

1  The  authentic  materials  for  the  history  of  Attila  may  be  found  in 
Jornandes  (de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  34 — 50,  p.  G68 — 688,  edit.  Grot.)  and 
Pnscus,  (Excerpta  de  Legationibus,  p.  33 — 76,  Paris,  1648.)  I  have 
no*  seen  the  Lives  of  Attila,  composed  oy  Juvencus  Caelius  Calanus 
Di  Imatinus,  in  the  twelfth  century,  or  by  Nicholas  Olahus,  archbishop 
of  Gran,  in  the  sixteenth.  See  Mascou's  History  of  the  Germans,  ix. 
23,  and  Maffei  Osservazioni  Litterarie,  torn.  i.  p.  88,  89.  "Whatever 
the  modern  Hungarians  have  added  must  be  fabulous ;  and  they  do 
cot  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.  p.  i. 
e.  22,  in  Script.  Hungar.  torn.  i.  p.  76. 
386 


OJ    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  387 

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  ^Etius ;  who 
was  always  secure  of  finding,  in  the  Barbarian  camp,  a  hos- 
pitable 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  ^Etius  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;1' 
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 


2  Hungary  has  been  successively  occupied  by  three  Scythian  Con- 
nies. 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  concern- 
ing ancient  and  modern  Hungary.  I  have  seen  the  extracts  in  Bibli- 
otheque  Ancienne  et  Moderne,  torn.  xxii.  p.  1 — 5 1,  and  Bibliotheque 
Raisonnee,  torn.  xvi.  p.  127 — 175.* 

3  Socrates,  1.  vii.  c.  43.     Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  36.     Tiilemont,  who 
tlways  depends  on  the  faith  of  his  ecclesiastical  authors,  strenuously 
contends  (Hist,  des  Emp.  torn.  vi.  p.  136,  607)  that  the  wars  and  per 
Bonages  were  not  the  same. 


*  Mailath  (in  his  Geschichte  der  Magyaren)  considers  the  question  cf 
the  origin  of  the  Magyars  as  still  undecided.  The  old  Hungarian  chroni 
ties  unanimously  derived  them  from  the  Huns  of  Attila.  See  note,  vol. 
iv.  pp.  341,  342.  The  later  opinion,  adopted  by  Schlozer,  lielnay,  and 
Pankowsky,  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 
ittempts  to  connect  them  with  the  Parthians.     Vol.  i.  Ammerkungen,  p. 


388  THE    DECLINE    AND    fALE 

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  Bavarians,  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  e.\4raction,  but  of  consular  rank  ;  and  the  quasstor 
Epigenes,  a  wise  and  experienced  statesman,  who  was  recom- 
mended to  that  office  by  his  ambitious  colleague. 

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  re- 
fused 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 
»3  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  inde- 
pendent nations  of  Scythia  and  Germany.4 

*  See  Priscus,  p.  47,  48,  and  Hist,  des  Peuples  de  i'Europe,  torn, 
vii.  c.  xii.  xiii.  xiv.  xv. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  389 

Attila,  the  son  of  Mundzuk,  deduced  his  noble,  perhaps  hi* 
regal,  descent5  from  the  ancient  Huns,  who  had  formerly 
contended  with  the  monarchs  of  China.  His  features,  accord  ■ 
ing  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  sup- 
pliant 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  country- 
men 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 

R  Priscus,  p.  39.  The  modern  Hungarians  have  deduced  his  gene- 
alogy, 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,  torn.  ii.  p.  297.) 

8  Compare  Jornandes  (c.  35,  p.  661)  with  Buffon,  Hist.  Naturelle, 
torn.  hi.  p.  380.  The  former  had  a  right  to  observe,  originis  suae 
«igna  restituens.  The  character  and  portrait  of  Attila  are  probably 
transcribed  from  Cassiodorus. 

v  Abulpharag.  Dynast,  vers.  Pocock,  p.  281.  Genealogical  History 
of  the  Tartars,  by  Abulghazi  Bahader  Khan,  part  iii.  c.  15,  part  tr 


390  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL 

religious  arts  of  A.ttila  were  not  less  skilfully  adapted  to  the 
character  of  his  age  and  country.  It  was  natural  enough  thai 
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.0  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.1" 
Whether  human  sacrifices  formed  any  part  of  the  worship  of 
Attila,  or  whether  he  propitiated  the  god  of  war  with  the  vic- 
tims which  he  continually  offered  in  the  field  of  battle,  the 
favorite  of  Mars  soon  acquired  a  sacred  character,  which 
•endered  his  conquests  more  easy  and  more  permanent ;  and 

c.  3.  Vie  de  Gengiscan,  par  Petit  de  la  Croix,  1.  1,  c.  1,  6.  The  rela- 
tions of  the  missionaries,  who  visited  Tartary  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, (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  Nee  templum  apud  eos  visitur,  aut  delubrum,  ne  tugurium  qui- 
dem  culmo  tectum  cerni  usquam  potest ;  sed  gladhcs  Barbarico  ritft 
humi  figitur  nudus,  eumque  ut  Martem  regionum  quas  circumcircant 
praesulem  verecundius  colunt.  Ammian.  Marcellin.  xxxi.  2,  and  the 
learned  Notes  of  Lindenbrogius  and  Valesius. 

8  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  fa- 
mous sword,  and  the  name,  as  well  as  attributes,  of  the  Scythian 
deity,  whom  he  has  translated  into  the  Mars  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans. 

10  Hercdot.  1.  iv.  c.  62.  For  the  sake  of  economy,  I  have  calcu- 
lated by  tha  smallest  stadium.  In  the  human  sacrifices,  they  cut  off 
the  shoulder  and  arm  of  the  victim,  which  they  threw  up  into  tha 
ur,  and  drew  omens  and  presages  from  the  manner  of  their  falling  on 
'ha  pile. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  391 

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. 

If  a  line  of  separation  were  drawn  between  the  civilized 
and  the  savage  climates  of  the  globe  ;  between  the  inhabit- 
ants 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  'atitude.  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  Burcundians  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  pro- 
tected from  all  other  conquerors  by  the  severity  of  the  climate 

11  Priscus,  p.  55.  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. 

13  The  Count  de  Buat  (Hist,  des  Peuples  de  l'Europe,  torn.  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. 

13  Fortissimarum  gentium  dominus,  qui  inaudita  ante  se  potentia, 
eolus  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  Ctom.  ii.  p.  29o — 301)  an  adequate  idea  of  the  empire  of 
Attila. 


392  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  the  courage  of  the  natives.  Towards  the  East,  it  is  diffi- 
cult 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  van- 
quished 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  natior&  who 
acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  Attila,  and  who  never  enter- 
tained, during  his  Ufetime,  the  thought  of  a  revolt,  the  Gepids 
and  the  Ostrogoths  were  distinguished  by  their  numbers,  their 
bravery,  and  the  personal  merit  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 

The  ambassadors  of  the  Huns  might  awaken  the  attention 
of  Theodosius,  by  reminding  him  that  they  were  his  neigh- 

14  See  Hist,  des  Iluns,  torn.  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  four, 
teenth  century.  See  Cherefeddin  Ali,  Hist,  de  Timur  Bee,  torn.  i.  p. 
82,  83. 

15  Jornandes,  c.  35,  p.  661,  c.  37,  p.  667.  See  Tillemont,  Hist,  des 
Empereurs,  torn.  vi.  p.  129,  138.  Corneille  has  represented  the  pride 
of  Attila  to  his  subject  kings,  and  his  tragedy  opens  with  these  two 
ridiculous  lines  :  — 

lis  ne  sont  pas  venus,  nos  deux  rois  !  qu'on  leur  die 
Qu'ils  Be  font  trop  attemlre,  et  qu'Attila  s'ennuie. 

The  two  kings  of  the  Gepidae  and  the  Ostrogoths  are  profound  poli« 
ticians  and  sentimental  lovers  ;  and  the  whole  piece  exhibits  the 
defects,  without  the  genius,  of  the  poet. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  393 

bors  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.15 
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  monies  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  adven- 
turers had  so  boldly  attempted  ;  and  it  soon  became  the  sub- 
ject 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  Mseotis,  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* 

16  alii  per  Caspia  claustra 

Armeniasque  nives,  inopino  tramite  ducti 
Invadimt  Orientis  opes  :  jam  pascua  fumant 
Cappadocum,  volucrumque  parens  Argaeus  equorum. 
Jam  rubet  altus  Halys,  ncc  se  defendit  iniquo 
Monte  Cilix  ;  Syrise  tractus  vestantur  amoeni  ; 
Assuetumque  choris,  et  lseta  plebe  canorum, 
Proterit  imbellem  sonipes  hostilis  Orontem. 

Claudian,  in  Rutin.  1.  ii.  28—35. 

See  likewise,  in  Eutrop.  1.  i.  243 — 251,  and  the  strong  description  of 
Jerom,  who  wrote  from  his  feelings,  torn.  i.  p.  26,  ad  Heliodor.  p.  200 
ad  Ocean.     Philostorgius  (1.  ix.  c.  8)  mentions  this  irruption. 


*  Gibbon  bas  made  a  curious  mistake  ;  Basic  and  Cursic  were  the  names 
of  the  commanders  of  the  Huns.     Ylapi\t]\vO(vat  it  is  rfiv  Mij6o>v  rbt  re  Basig 
cat  Kovptriy.     *     *     *     nvofxts  tu>v  Baoi\tiu>v  YkvO&v  teal  noAXou  nX/jQov;  £(r%ovTai 
Friscus,  edit.  Bonn,  p.  200.  —  M. 

71 


S94  THE    DECLINE    INI)   FALL 

Thf  y  encountered  the  Persian  army  in  the  plains  of  Media 
and  the  aii,  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  know'edge  of  the  country,  and  an  impatient  desire 
of  revenge.  In  the  free  conversation  of  the  Imperial  ambas- 
sadors, who  discussed,  at  the  court  of  Attila,  the  character 
and  designs  of  their  formidable  enemy,  the  ministers  of  Con- 
stantinople expressed  their  hope,  that  his  strength  might  be 
diverted  and  employed  in  a  long  and  doubtful  contest  whh 
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 

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  Constan- 
tinople, 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 ; 
nnd  a  trifling  incident  soon  became  the  motive,  or  pretence, 
Df  a  destructive  war.18     Under  the   faith  of  the  treaty  of 


17  See  the  original  conversation  in  Priscus,  p.  64,  65. 

,s  Priscus,  p.  331.  His  history  contained  a  copious  and  elegant 
account  of  the  war,  (Evagrius,  1.  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,  Jomandes,  Theophanf  s,  Count 
Marccllinus,  Prospei  -Tyro,  and  the  author  of  the  Alexandrian,  or 
Paschal,  Chronicle.     M."  de  Buat  (Hist,  des  Peuples  dc  l'Euxope,  torn. 


OF   TIIE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  395 

Margus,  a  free  market  was  held  on  the  Northern  side  of  tho 
Danube,  which  was  protected  by  a  Roman  fortress  surnamed 
ConsUintia.     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  C 
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  Mcesians 
at  first  applauded  the  generous  firmness  of  their  sovereign. 
But  they  were  soon  intimidated  by  the  destruction  of  Vimini- 
acum  and  the  adjacent  towns ;  and  the  people  was  persuaded 
to  adopt  the  convenient  maxim,  that  a  private  citizen,  how- 
ever 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  am- 
bush, 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  Marcianapolis,  of 
Naissus  and  Sardica ;  where  every  circumstance  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  people,  and  the  construction  of  the  buildings, 


vii.  c.  xv.)  has  examined  the  cause,  the  circumstances,  and  the  dura- 
tion, of  this  war ;  and  will  not  allow  it  to  extend  beyond  the  year 
444. 

19  Procopius,  de  Editions,  1.  4,  c.  5.  These  fortresses  were  after- 
wards restored,  strengthened,  and  enlarged  by  the  emperor  Justinian; 
but  they  were  soon  destroyed  by  the  Abares,  who  succeeded  to  tn« 
power  and  possessions  ot.  the  Huns. 


896  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

had  been  gradually  adapted  to  the  sole  purpose  of  defence 
The  whole  breadth  of  Europe,  as  it  extends  above  five  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  Euxine  to  the  Hadriatic,  was  at  once 
invaded,  and  occupied,  and  desolated,  by  the  myriads  of 
Barbarians  whom  Attila  led  imo  ihe  field.  The  public  dan 
ger  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  their  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  Marcianapolis,  were 
fought  in  the  extensive  plains  between  the  Danube  and  Mount 
Hsemus.  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  irrepa- 
rable, 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  rav- 
aged, 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  Con- 
stantinople ;  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  speed- 
ily repaired ;  but  this  accident  was  aggravated  by  a  super- 
stitious 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 

20  Septuaginta  civitatcs  (says  Prosper-Tyro)  depredatione  vastatse 
The  language  of  Count  Marcellinus  is  still  more  forcible.  Pene  totam 
Europam,  invasis  excisisque  civitatibus  atque  castellis,  conrasit. 

21  Tilkmont  'Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  vi.  p.  106,  107)  has  paid 


OP   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  397 

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  en 
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  pas- 
sion, but  in  calm  deliberate  council,  to  exterminate  all  the  in- 
cabitants  of  that  populous  country,  that  the  vacant  land  might 
be  converted  to  the  pasture  of  cattle.   The  firmness  of  a  Chinese 
mandarin,2-  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  rea- 
son, though  not  with  equal  authority,  be  imputed  to  the  vic- 
torious 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 

great  attention  to  this  memorable  earthquake  ;  which  was  felt  as  fai 
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. 

22  lie  represented  to  the  emperor  of  the  Moguls  that  the  four  prov- 
inces, (Petchcli,  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  sdk.  Gaubil,  Hist,  de  la  Dynastic  des  Mongous,  p.  58,  59.  Yelut- 
;housay  (such  was  the  name  of  the  mandarin)  was  a  wise  and  vii- 
taous  minister,  who  saved  his  country,  and  civilized  the  conquerors.* 


•  Compare  the  life  of  this  remarkable  man,  translated  from  the  Chines* 
£y  M.  Abel  Reruusat  Nouveaux.  Melanges  Asiatiques,  t.  ii.  p.  64.  —  M. 


398  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

capable  of  beaiing  arms  ;  and  their  fate  was  instantly  decided  ; 
they  were  either  enlisted  among  the  Moguls,  or  they  were  mas- 
sacred 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  co  iquerors,  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  inhab- 
itants 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  provoca- 
tion, the  slightest  motive  of  caprice  or'  convenience,  often 
provoked  them  to  involve  a  whole  people  in  an  indiscriminate 
massacre  ;  and  the  ruin  of  some  nourishing  cities  was  ex- 
ecuted with  such  unrelenting  perseverance,  that,  according 
to  their ,  own  expression,  horses  might  run,  without  stum- 
bling, 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  foui 
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 

23  Particular  instances  would  be  endless  ;  but  the  curious  reader 
may  consult  the  life  of  Gcngiscan,  by  Petit  de  la  Croix,  the  Histoire 
des  Mongous,  and  the  fifteenth  book  of  the  History  of  the  Huns. 

24  At  Maru,  1,300,000  ;  at  Herat,  1,600,000;  at  Neisabour,  1,747,000. 
D'Hc-rbclot,  Bibliothcque  Orientale,  p.  380,  381.  I  use  the  orthog- 
raphy 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  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  anry  of  iheii 
countrymen  appeared  in  sight,  (Hist,  de  Timur  Bee,  torn.  hi.  p.  90.) 
The  people  of  Ispahan  supplied  70,000  human  skulls  for  the  structure 
of  several  lofty  towers,  (id.  torn.  i.  p.  434.)  A  similar  tax  was  levied 
on  the  revolt  of  Bagdad,  (torn.  iii.  p.  370  ;)  and  the  exact  account, 
which  Cherefeddin  was  not  able  to  procure  from  the  proper  officers,  u 
Btated  by  another  historian  (Ahmed  Arabsiada,  torn.  ii.  p.  ^76,  vera. 
Monger)  at  90,000  heads. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  399 

the  Tartar  or  the   Hun   might  deserve   the   epithet  of  the 
Scourge  of  God.28 

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  tho 
rudiments  of  the  useful  and  ornamental  arts  ;  but  these  cap- 
tives, 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  ap- 
proaching the  person  or  the  palace  of  the  monarch,  success- 
fully 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  ex- 
cite 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  Bar- 
barians were  ambitious  of  conversing  in  Latin,  the  military 
idiom  even  of  the  Eastern  empire.29     But  they  disdained  the 


20  The  ancients,  Jornandes.  "^riscus,  &c.,  are  ignorant  of  this  epithet. 
The  modern  Hungarians  have  imagined,  that  it  was  applied,  by  a  her- 
mit of  Gaul,  to  Attda,  who  was  pleased  to  insert  it  among  the  titles 
of  his  royal  dignity.  Mascou,  ix.  23,  and  Tiliemont,  Hist,  des  Em- 
pereurs,  torn.  vi.  p.  143. 

27  The  missionaries  of  St.  Chrysostom  had  converted  great  numbers 
of  the  Scythians,  who  dwelt  beyond  the  Danube  in  tents  and  wagons. 
Theodoret,  1.  v.  c.  31.  Photius,  p.  1517.  The  Mahometans,  the 
Nestorians,  and  the  Latin  Christians,  thought  themselves  secure  rf 
gaining  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  Zingis,  who  treated  the  rival  mis- 
sionaries with  impartial  favor. 

28  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  satis- 
faction, that  the  viper  could  no  longer  hiss.     Florus,  iv.  12. 

99  Priscus,  p.  59.  It  should  seem  that  the  Huns  preferred  the 
Gothic  and  Latin  languages  to  their  own  ;  which  was  probab.y  a 
harsh  and  barren  idiom- 


400  mr  lzcline  and  fall 

language  and  the  sciences  of  the  Greeks ;  and  the  vain 
sophist,  or  grave  philosopher,  who  had  enjoyed  the  flatter- 
ing applause  of  the  schools,  was  mortified  to  find  that  hia 
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  de- 
spised death,  might  be  apprehensive  of  disease ;  and  the 
haughty  conqueror  ti'embled  in  the  presence  of  a  captive,  to 
whom  he  ascribed,  perhaps,  an  imaginary  power  of  prolong- 
ing 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  suscep- 
tible 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  Scyth- 
ian. 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 
r^ ■ 

30  Philip  de  Comines,  in  his  admirable  picture  of  the  last  momentf 
of  Lewis  XL,  (Mcmoires,  1.  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  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  discipline  et  severitatc,  sed  impctu  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. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  401 

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  reflec- 
tion  naturally  produced  a  dispute  on  the  advantages  and 
defects  of  the  Hainan  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  collec- 
tion ;  the  obscurity  of  numerous  and  contradictory  laws ;  the 
tedious  and  expensive  forms  of  judicial  proceedings;  the  par- 
tial 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 

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  sup- 
plied 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  *  days1  journey  ;  but,  from  the 
proposal  of  Attila  to   remove   the   situation  of  the   national 

*4  See  the  whole  conversation  in  Priscus,  p.  59 — 62. 

33  Nova  iterum  Orienti  assurgit  ruina  .  .  .  quum  nulla  ab  Occi- 
dentalibus  fcrrentur  auxilia.  Prosper-Tyro  composed  his  Chronicle 
to  the  Webt ;  and  his  observation  implies  a  censure. 


•  Five  in  the  last  edition  of  Priscus.     Niebuhr,  By2  Hist.  r>.  147.  —  M 

71* 


402  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

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  impov- 
erished, 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,  through  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  lost* 
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  prisoners  in  war,  should  be  released  without  delay,  and 
without  ransom  ;  that  every  Roman  captive,  who  had  pre- 
sumed 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  execu- 

,4  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, 
•uch  as  two  men  could  scarcely  lift,  a  vase  of  solid  gold  of  the  weight 
«f  forty  pounds,  cups,  dishes,  of  the  same  metal,  &c. 


OF   THE    R/OMAN    EMP.'RE.  403 

hon  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 

The  firmness  of  a  single  town,  so  obscuie,  that,  except  on 
this  occasion,  it  has  never  been  mentioned  by  any  historiai. 
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  mar- 
rtial  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  ex- 
pecting 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 
Dersuaded,  or  compelled,  to  comply  with  the  conditions  whicl 
their  sovereign  had  accepted.  The  ministers  of  Theodo'siui 
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  sur- 
prised.    A  strict,  though   fruitless,  inquiry  was  allowed  :   but 


35  The  articles  of  the  treaty,  expressed  without  much  order  or  pre- 
cision, may  be  found  in  Priscus,  (p  34,  35,  36,  37,  53,  &c.)  Count 
Mareellinus  dispenses  some  comfort,  by  observing,  <1.  That  Attila 
himself  solicited  the  peace  and  presents,  which  he  had  frrmerly  re- 
fused ;  and,  2dly,  That,  about  the  same  time,  the  ambassadors  of  In- 
dia presented  a  tine  large  tame  tiger  to  the  emperor  Theodosius. 

38  Priscus,  p.  35,  36.  Among  the  hundred  and  eighty-two  forts, 
or  castles,  of  Thrace,  enumerated  by  Procopius,  ( de  Editions,  1.  iv.  c.  xi. 
torn.  ii.  p.  92,  edit.  Paris,)  there  is  one  of  the  name  of  Esimontou, 
whose  position  is  doubtfully  marked,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Anchia- 
lus  and  the  Euxine  Sea.  The  name  and  Avails  of  Azimuntium  might 
gubsist  till  the  reign  of  Justinian ;  but  the  race  of  its  brave  defender* 
bad  been  carefully  extirpated  by  the  jealousy  of  the  ltoman  princes. 


404  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  Huns  were  obliged  to  swear,  that  they  did  not  detain  uny 
prisoners  belonging  to  the  city,  before  they  could  iecover  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  assevera- 
tion, that  the  rest  of  the  captives  had  been  put  to  the  sword ; 
and  that  it  was  their  constant  practice,  immediately  to  dis- 
miss the  Romans  and  the  deserters,  who  had  obtained  the  secu- 
rity of  the  public  faith.  This  prudent  and  officious  dissimu- 
lation 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 

It  would  have  been  strange,  indeed,  if  Thcodosius  had 
purchased,  by  the  loss  of  honor,  a  secure  and  solid  tran- 
quillity, 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  uni- 
formly instructed  to  press  the  tardy  or  imperfect  execution 
of  the  last  treaty ;  to  produce  the  names  of  fugitives  and  de- 
serters, who  were  still  protected  by  the  empire  ;  and  to  de- 
clare, 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  re- 
sentment 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 

aT  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  impor- 
tant question,  (Middleton's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  5—10,)  which  has  been 
frequently  agitated  by  Catholic  and  Protestant  divines,  and  even  bj 
lawyers  and  philosophers  of  every  age. 

38  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 
Ue  deserves  the  praise  of  having  read  the  Pragments  of  Pr'.sevs, 
which  have  been  too  much  disregarded- 


UK    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  405 

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  com- 
puted, 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  recom- 
mended by  ./Etius  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  com- 
pelled to  sacrifice  to  this  insolent  stranger  the  widow  of  Ar- 
matius,  whose  birth,  opulence,  and  beauty,  placed  her  in  the 
most  illustrious  rank  of  the  Roman  matrons.  For  these  im- 
portunate 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  dig- 
nity. 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  era- 


39  See  Priscus,  p.  69,  71,  72,  &c.  I  would  fain  believe,  that  this 
adventurer  was  afterwards  crucilied  by  the  order  of  Attila,  on  a  sus- 
picion 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  In  the  Persian  treaty,  concluded  in  the  year  422,  the  wise  and 
eloquent  Maximin  had  heen  the  assessor  of  Ardaburius,  (Socrates, 
1.  vii.  c.  20.)  When  Marcian  ascended  the  tin-one,  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 
ine  Eastern  provinces ;  and  his  death  was  lamented  by  the  savages  of 
Ethiopia,  whose  incursions  he  had  repressed.     See  Priscus,  p.  40,  4L 


406  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

ployments,  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  Barba- 
rian hero  in  the  peaceful  and  domestic  scenes  of  life :  but 
the  secret  of  the  embassy,  a  fatal  and  guilty  secret,  was  in- 
trusted only  to  the  interpreter  Vigilius.  The  two  last  am- 
bassadors of  the  Huns,  Orestes,  a  noble  subject  of  the  Pan- 
nonian  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  afterwarda 
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  Barba 
rian  king  of  Italy. 

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  in- 
cumbent on  the  Romans  to  exercise  the  duties  of  hospitality. 
They  provided,  with  the  assistance  of  the  provincials,  a  suf- 
ficient 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  em- 
pire 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  unsea- 
sonable flattery  of  Vigilius,  who  passionatelv  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 

4*  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.  torn.  vi.  p.  235,  2.36.  Not- 
withstanding the  charitable  judgment  of  the  critics,  I  suspect  that 
Priscus  was  a  Pagan.  * 

•  Niebuhr  concurs  in  this  opinion.     Life  of  Priscus  in  the  new  edition 

C*  Uie  Byzantine  historians.  —  M. 


Or    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  407 

Imperial  ambassador  presented  Edecon  and  Orestes  with  rich 
gilts  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  liber- 
ality :  and  the  offensive  distinction  which  was  implied,  be- 
tween his  civil  office  and  the  hereditary  rank  of  his  colleague, 
seems  to  have  made  Edecon  a  doubtful  friend,  and  Orestes  an 
irreconcilable  enemy.  After  th.s  entertainment,  they  tray- 
elled  about  one  hundred  miles  from  Sardica  to  Naissus. 
That  flourishing  city,  which  had  given  birth  to  the  great 
Constantino,  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  Thoodosius  were  safely  landed 
on  the  opposite  bank  ;  and  their  Barbarian  associates  imme- 
diately 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  *  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. f  The  ministers  of  Attila 
presswd  him  to  communicate  the  business,  and  the  instruc- 
tions, 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  resolu- 
tions 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  i  jstantly  to  depart ;    the  order  wa? 


*  70  stadia.     Prisons,  173.  —  M. 

♦  He  was  forbidden  to  piu^h  his  ttnts  en  an  eminence  because  Attila'i 
were  below  on  the  plain.     Ibid.  — M. 


108  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  broth- 
er of  Onegesius,  whose  friendship  had  been  purchased  by  a 
liberal  gift,  he  was  aH  .-rutted  to  the  royal  presence  ;  but,  in- 
stead 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  port- 
able boats ;  but  there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  the  winding 
stream  of  the  Teyss,  or  Tibiscus,  might  present  itself  in  dif- 
ferent places  under  different  names.  From  the  contiguous 
villages  they  received  a  plentiful  and  regular  supply  of  pro- 
visions ;  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  appre- 
hensive of  some  unknown  danger,  till  they  awakened  by 
their  cries  the  inhabitants  of  a  neighboring  village,  the  prop- 
erty 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, 


42  The  Huns  themselves  still  continued  to  despise  the  labors  of  agri- 
culture :  they  abused  the  privilege  of  a  victorious  nation ;  and  tho 
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  then 
own  subsistence,  and  for  that  of  the  Usbec  Tartars,  their  lazy  and 
rapacious  sovereigns.  See  Genealogical  History  of  the  Tartars,  p.  423, 
4o5,  &c. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  40S 

of  the  Romans  were  liberally  satisfied  ;  and  they  seem  to 
have  been  embarrassed  by  the  singular  politeness  of  Bieda^a 
widow,  who  added  to  her  other  favors  the  gift,  or  at  least  the 
loan,  of  a  sufficient  number  of  beautiful  and  obsequious  dam- 
sels. The  sunshine  of  the  succeeding  day  was  dedicated  to 
repose,  to  collect  and  dry  the  baggage,  and  to  the  refresh- 
ment of  the  men  and  horses :  but,  in  the  evening,  before 
they  pursued  their  journey,  the  ambassadors  expressed  theii 
gratitude  to  the  bounteous  lady  of  the  village,  by  a  very  ac- 
ceptable 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. 

As  far  as  we  may  ascertain  the  vague  and  obscure  geog- 
raphy 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 
»ong  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,  con- 

43  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  defini- 
tion. M.  de  Buat  (Histoire  des  Peuplcs,  &c.J  torn.  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.* 

44  The  royal  village  of  Attila  maybe  compared  to  the  city  of  Kara- 
corum,  the  residence  of  the  successors  of  Zingis ;  which,  though  it 


*  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,  1.  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  lime  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. 


410  THE    DECLINE    ANI>  FALL 

Btructed  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  canvas.  The  wooden 
house3of  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  be- 
came more  honorable  as  it  approached  the  person  of  the  sove- 
reign. 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  pres- 
ence, their  table,  and  even  to  the  freedom  of  an  innocent 
embrace.  When  Maximin  offered  his  presents  to  Cerca,* 
the  principal  queen,  he  admired  the  singular  architecture  of 
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  dis- 
cover 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  f  the  domestics  formed  a  circle 

appears  to  have  been  a  more  stable  habitation,  did  not  equal  the  size 
or  sj)lendor  of  the  town  and  abbey  of  St.  Derys,  in  the  13th  century. 
(See  Rubruquis,  in  the  Histoire  Generate  des  Voyages,  torn.  vii. 
p.  286.)  The  camp  of  Aurengzcbe,  as  it  is  so  agreeably  described  by 
llernier,  (torn.  ii.  p.  217 — 235,)  blended  the  manners  of  Scythia  with 
the  magnilicence  and  luxury  of  Ilindostan. 


*  The  name  of  this  queen  occurs  three  times  in  Priscus,  ana  aiways  in  a 
JUfFerent  form — Cerca,  Creca,  and  Rheca.  The  Scandinavian  poets  have 
preserved  her  memory  under  the  name  of  Herkia.  St.  Martin,  vi.  192 
—  M. 


OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  411 

round  the  queen;  and  her  damsels,  seated  o^i  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  go  d 
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  onlv 
food  ;  and  the  conqueror  of  the  North  never  tasted  the  lux 
uiy  of  bread. 

When  Attila  first  gave  audience  to  the  Roman  ambassador* 
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  Vi- 
gilius  had  more  reason  to  tremble,  since  he  distinctly  under- 
stood 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  conde- 
scended, 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  inter- 
preter, who  returned  4o  Constantinople  with  his  peremptory 
demand  of  more  complete  restitution,  and  a  more  splendid 
embassy.     His  anger  gradually  subsided,  and  his  domestic 

**  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 
tommand  of  his  warlike  countrymen.  See  Vie  de  Gengiscan,  1.  iv 
t.  9. 


412  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

satisfaction  in  a  marriage  which  he  celebrated  en  the  road 
with  the  daughter  of  Eslam,*  might  perhaps  contribute  to 
mollify  tne  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,  dis- 
tributed 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  he  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  hia 
superior  dignity,  without  concealing  his  person  from  the  pub- 
lic 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  prin- 
cipal 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, 


*  Escam — iv  y  yaptiv  Qvyarlpa  'E<tk/)/i  f^otXtro,  tt\ tiaras  piv  c\u>v  ynftcrd;, 
iydpnoi  ii  xal  roiir^c  Kara  v6pov  rbv  Ykv0ik6v.  Was  this  his  own  daughter,  cr 
the  daughter  of  a  person  named  Escam  ?  (Gibbon  has  written  incorrectly 
Eslam,  an  unknown  name.  The  officer  of  Attila,  called  Eslas,  is  spelt 
Ha>ac.)  In  either  case  the  construction  is  imperfect  :  a  good  Greek  writer 
would  have  introduced  an  article  to  determine  the  sense,  either  rtiv  avrvu 
Bvydrcpa,  or  rr)v  tov  'Eok<ih  dvyarcpa.  Nor  is  it  quite  clear,  whethei  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  con 
Btrue  it  '  his  own  daughter,'  though  I  have  too  little  confidence  in  the  uni- 
formity of  the  grammatical  idioms  of  the  Byzantines  (though  Priscus  is  one 
of  the  best)  to  express  myself  without  hesitation.  — M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE,  4IJ 

till  they  had  made  a  devout  libation  to  the  health  and  pros- 
perity of  the  king  of  the  H'lns;  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  un- 
known 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  ex- 
pressed, 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  amuse- 
ments. Two  Scythians  stood  before  the  couch  of  Attila,  and 
recited  the  verses  which  they  had  composed,  to  celebrate  his 
valor  and  his  victories.*     A  profound  silence  prevailed  in  the 


*  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 
Attila?,  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  Gaul, 
Which  cannot  be  traced  in  history,  during  which  the  kings  of  the  Franks, 
of  the  Burgundians,  and  of  Aquitaine,  submit  themselves,  and  give  hos- 
tages 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 


414  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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.45 
This  entertainment,  which  might  be  considered  as  a  school 

48  If  we  may  believe  Plutarch,  (in  Demetrio,  torn.  v.  p.  24,)  it  waa 
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. 


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  un- 
known, 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  monas- 
tery, 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  count- 
less lays  and  ballads  in  all  the  dialects  of  Scandinavia,  appears  King  Etzel 
(Attila)  in  strife  with  the  Burgundians  and  the  Franks.  With  these  ap- 
pears, by  a  poetic  anachronism,  Dietrich  of  Berne,  (Theodoric  of  Verona,) 
the  celebrated  Ostrogothic  king  :  and  many  other  very  singular  coinci- 
dences of  historic  names,  which  reappear  in  the  poems.  (See  Lachman, 
Kritik  der  Sage  in  his  volume  of  various  readings  to  the  Nibelungen ; 
Berlin,  1836,  p.  336.) 

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  in 
^estigations  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  tne  Latin  poem, 
though  strained  through  the  imagination  of  a  monk. 

The  English  reader  will  find  an  amusing  account  of  th«  German  Nibe* 
lungen  and  Heldenbuch,  and  of  some  of  the  Scandinavian  Sagas,  in  the 
volume  of  Northern  Antiquities  published  by  Weber,  the  fritud  of  Sii 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  415 

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  cneeK,  ana 
betrayed  a  partial  affection,  whicn  was  justified  by  the  assur- 
ance of  his  prophets,  that  irnac  would  oe  the  future  support 
of  his  family  and  empire.  Two  davs  afterwards,  the  ambas- 
sadors 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  kong  and  familiar  conversa- 
tion 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 :  Con- 
stantius 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  cap- 
tives was  granted,  for  a  moderate  ransom,  to  their  pressing 
entreaties  ;  and,  besides  the  royal  presents,  they  were  per- 
mitted to  accept  from  each  of  the  Scythian  nobles  the  honor- 
able 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.47 


47  The  curious  narrative  of  this  embassy,  which  required  few  obser- 


Walter  Scott.  Scott  himself  contributed  a  considerable,  no  doubt  far  the 
most  valuable,  part  to  the  work.  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. 

*  The  Scythian  was  an  idiot  or  lunatic  ;  the  Moor  a  regular  buffoon. 
-M. 


416  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

But  the  Roman  ambassador  was  ignorant  of  the  treacherous 
design,  which  had  been  concealed  under  the  mask  of  the  pub- 
lic faun.  The  surprise  and  satisfaction  of  Edecon,  when  he 
contemplated  the  splendor  of  Constantinople,  had  encouraged 
the  inteipreter  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  oaih  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  am- 
bassador of  the  Huns  listened  to  the  tempting  offer ;  and  pro- 
fessed, 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  con- 
sented 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  tc 
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  gener- 
ously 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,  con- 
scious of  his  guilt  and  danger,  to  the  royal  camp,  accom- 
panied 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  spe- 

rations,  and  was  not  susceptible  of  any  collateral  evidence,  may  be 
found  in  Priscus,  p.  49 — 70.  But  I  have  not  confined  myself  to  tht 
Bame  order ;  and  I  had  previously  extracted  the  historical  circum- 
stances, -which  were  less  intimately  connected  with  the  journey,  and 
business,  of  the  Roman  ambassadors. 

*8  M.  de  Tillemont  has  very  properly  given  the  succession  of  cham- 
berlains, 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,  torn.  vi.  p.  117 — 
119.  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xv.  p.  438.)  His  partiality  for  his  godfather, 
ihe  heresiarch  Eutyches,  engaged  him  to  persecute  the  orthodox  party. 


OK   TUT.    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  417 

eions  firmness,  till  the  threat  of  inflicting  instant  death  on  his 
pon  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,  Ha 
pointed  his  just  indignation  against  a  nobler  object.  His  am- 
bassadors, 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 
Ohrysaphius,  as  he  stood  beside  Lhe  throne,  whether  he  recog- 
nized the  evidence  of  his  guilt.  But  the  office  of  reproof  was 
reserved  for  the  superior  dignify  of  his  colleague,  Eslaw,  who 
gravely  addressed  the  emperor  of  the  East  in  the  following 
words  :  '•  Theodosius  is  the  son  of  an  illustrious  and  respecta- 
ble 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  for- 
feited his  paternal  honors,  and.  by  consenting  to  pay  tribute, 
has  degraded  himself  to  the  condition  of  a  slave.  It  is  there- 
fore 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  depre- 
cate 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-jreneral  of  the  armies  of  the  East.  Ho 
condescended  to  meet  these  ambassadors  on  the  banks  of  th.J 
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  huge  territory,  to  the  south  of  the 
Danube,  which  hi;  had  already  exhausted  of  its  wealth  and 
72 


418  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  trie 
safety  of  a  worthless  favorite  by  oppressive  taxes,  which  they 
would  more  cheerfully  have  paid  I'or  his  destruction.49 

The  emperor  Theodosius  did  not  long  surv.ve  the  most 
humiliating  circumstance  of  an  inglorious  life.  As  he  waa 
riding,  or  hunting,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Constantinople,  he 
w  .is  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  per- 
nicious 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  acclama- 
tions 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 
^mk  and  virgin  chastity  of  his  wife.     She  gave  her  hand  lo 

49  This  secret  conspiracy,  and  its  important  consequences,  may  be 
traced  in  the  fragments  of  Priscus,  p.  37,  38,  39,  o4,  70,  71,  I'l.  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. 

eu  Theodorus  the  Reader,  (see  Vales.  Hist.  Eccles.  torn.  iii.  p.  503,) 
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  Callis- 
tus,  a  Greek  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

51  Pulchcriae  nutfl  (says  Count  Marccllinus)  sua  cum  avpritia  in- 
teremptus  est.  She  abandoned  the  eunuch  to  the  pious  revcige  of  a 
son,  whose  father  hud  suffered  at  his  instigation.* 


*  Might  nol  the  execution  of  Chrysaphius  have  been  a  sacrifice  to  avert 
the  anger  of  Attila,  whose  assassination  tlie  eunuch  had  attempted  to  coa 
trive }  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  419 

Marcian,  a  senator,  about  sixty  years  of  age  ;  and  the  nomina« 
husband  of  Pulcheria  was  solemnly  invested  with  the  Imperial 
purpie.  The  zeal  which  he  disp.ayed  for  the  orthodox  creed 
as  it  was  established  by  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  would  alone 
have  inspired  the  grateful  eloquence  of  the  Catholics.  Hut 
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  pro- 
fession of  arms ;  but  Marcian's  youth  had  been  severely  ex- 
ercised by  poverty  and  misfortune,  since  his  only  resource, 
when  he  first  arrived  at  Constantinople,  consisted  in  two  hun- 
dred pieces  of  gold,  which  he  had  borrowed  of  a  friend.  He 
passed  nineteen  years  in  the  domestic  and  military  servicn. 
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  o«m  example 
gave  weight  and  energy  to  the  laws,  which  he  promulgated 
for  the  reformation  of  manners.52 


52  Procopius,  de  Bell.  Vandal.  Li.  c.  4.  Evagrius,  1.  ii.  c  1.  The- 
ophanes,  p.  90,  91.  Novell,  ad  Calcem.  Cod.  Theod.  torn.  vi.  p.  30. 
The  praises  which  St.  Leo  and  the  Catholics  have  bestowed  on  Mar- 
cian, are  diligently  transcribed  by  Baronius,  as  aai  encouragement  fot 
future  princes. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

.NVASTON    OF    GAUL    BY    ATTILA. HE    IS    REPULSED    BY     JETIUS 

AND    THE     VISIGOTHS. ATTILA     INVADES     AND     EVACUATES 

ITALY. THE    DEATHS  OF  ATTILA,  .fcTIUS,  AND    VALENT1NIAN 

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  Barba- 
rians, 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  con- 
tempi  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  foi 
his  immediate  reception."2    But  as  the  Barbarian  despised,  or 


1  See  Priscus,  p.  39,  72. 

*  The   Alexandrian   or  Paschal   Chronicle,    which    introduces  this 
haughty  message,  during  the  lifetime  of  Theodosius,  mav  have  antici- 
pated the  date  ;    hut  the  dull  annalist  was  in.-ajxiblc  of  inventing  tht» 
origina    and  genuine  style  of  Attila. 
4^0 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  421 

affected  to  despise,  the  Romans  of  the  East,  whom  he  had  so 
often  vanquished,  he  soon  declared  his  resolution  of  suspend' 
ing  the  easy  conquest,  till  he  had  achieved  a  more  glorious 
and  important  enterprise.  In  the  memorable  invasions  of  Gaui 
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 
■peak  more  correctly,  under  the  administration  of  vEtius.3 

After  the  death  of  his  rival  Boniface,  iEtius  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  sup- 
pliant 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  Valen- 
tinian, 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  per 
secution,  which  urged  him  from  one  kingdom  to  another,  till 
he  miserably  perished  in  the  service  of  the  Vandals.  The 
fortunate  jEtius,  who  was  immediately  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  patrician,  and  thrice  invested  with  the  honors  of  the  con- 
sulship, 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  gen- 
eral, 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 


1  The  second  book  of  the  Histoire  Critique  de  l'Etablissement  de 
la  Monarchic  Franchise,  torn.  i.  p.  189 — 424,  throws  great  light  on 
the  state  of  Gaul,  when  it  was  invaded  by  Attila  ;  but  the  ingenious 
outr.jc,  the  Abbe  Dubos,  too  often  bewilders  himself  in  system  and 
conjecture. 

4  Victor  Vitensis  ( de  Persecut.  Vandal.  1.  i.  6,  p.  8,  edit.  Ruinart) 
Calls  him,  acer  consilio  et  strenuus  'ti  bello  :  but  his  courage,  when  he 
became  unfortunate,  was  censured  as  desperate  rashness  ;  and  Sebas- 
tian deserved,  or  obtained,  the  epithet  of  prceceps,  (Sidon.  Apollinar. 
i'armen  ix.  181.)  His  adventures  in  Constantinople,  in  Sicily,  Gaul, 
Spain,  and  Africa,  are  faintly  marked  in  the  Chronicles  of  Marcelli- 
tus  and  Idatius.  In  his  distress,  he  was  always  followed  by  a  numer- 
ous train  ;  since  he  could  ravage  the  Hellespont  and  Piopontis,  suid 
seize  the  city  of  Barcelona. 


422  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  jEtius  waa 
born  for  the  salvation  of  the  Roman  republic;5  and  the  fol- 
lowing portrait,  though  it  is  drawn  in  the  fairest  colors,  must 
be  allowed  to  contain  a  much  larger  proportion  of  truth  than 
of  flattery.*  "  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  tho 
guards,  was  given  as  a  hostage,  first  to  Alaric,  and  afterwards 
to  the   Huns;t  and   he   successively  obtained   the  civil  and 


8  Reipublicae  Romanae  singulariter  natus,  qui  superbiam  Suevorum, 
Francorumque  barbariem  immensis  caedibus  servire  Imperio  Romano 
coegisset.     Jornandes  de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  34,  p.  660. 


*  Some  valuable  fragments  of  a  poetical  panegyric  on  Otitis  by  Mero- 
baudes,  a  Spaniard,  have  been  recovered  from  a  palimpsest  MS.  by  the 
Bagacity  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  (ar.nosa)  peace  enjoyed  under  the  administration  of  JEtmt. 
The  verses  are  very  spirited.  The  poet  was  rewarded  by  a  statue  publiclf 
dedicated  to  his  honor  in  Rome. 

Danuvii  cum  pace  redit,  Tinaimque  furore 
Exuit,  et  nigro  candantes  etliere  terras 
Marie  suo  enmisse  'iibet.     Declit  otia  fcrro 
Caucasus,  et  MBvi  mndeninant  prteliu  rcges. 
Addidit  iiiberni  famulontia  fasdera.  Khenus 
Orbis  ..... 

Lustrat  Aremnricos  j;im  niitior  incola  anltus  ; 
Perdidit  et  mores  tellus,  adsuetaque  sevo 
Criniine  quiesilas  silvis  celare  rapinas, 
Discit  inexperlis  ('erercm  eommittere  rampis. 
Cavsareoquc  diu  maims  uhluctata  labori 
Sustinel  acceptas  nostro  suh  consule  leges  ; 
Et  quamvis  Geticis  sulcimi  confiindat  aiatris, 
Barbara  vicine  refugit  consortia  gentis. 

Merobatides,  p.  11        uL 

f  — cum  Seythieis  succumberet  ensibus  orbis, 
Telaque  Tarpeias  premerent  Arctoa  secures, 
Hostilem  fre^it  rabiem,  pignusque  superbi 
Foederis  et  mundi  pretium  fuit.     Hinc  modo  voti 
Rata  fides,  validis  quod  dux  premat  impiger  armis 
Edomuit  quos  pace  puer ;  bcllumque  repressit 
Ignarus  quid  bella  torent.     Stupuere  feroces 
In  tenero  jam  membra  Geta?.     Rex  ipse,  verenduxn 
Miratus  pueri  decus  ct  prodentia  fatum 
Lumina,  primanas  dederat  gestare  faretras, 
Laudabatque  manus  librantem  et  tela  gerentera 


OF    THE    Ron.  AN    EMPIRE.  423 

military  honors  of  the  palace,  for  which  he  was  equally  quali- 
fied hy  superior  merit.  The  graceful  figure  of  ./Etius  was  not 
above  the  middle  stature;  but  his  manly  limbs  were  admi- 
rably formed  for  strength,  beauty,  and  agility  ;  and  he  excelled 
m  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  gen- 
uine courage  that  can  despise  not  only  dangers,  but  injuries : 
and  it  was  impossible  either  to  corrupt,  or  deceive,  or  intimi- 
date the  firm  integrity  of  his  soul."  ti  The  Barbarians,  who 
had  seated  themselves  in  the  Western  provinces,  were  insen- 
sibly taught  to  respect  the  faith  and  valor  of  the  patrician 
^Etius.  He  soothed  their  passions,  consulted  their  prejudices, 
balanced  their  interests,  and  checked  their  ambition.*  A 
seasonable  treaty,  which  he  concluded  with  Genseric,  pro- 
tected Italy  from  the  depredations  of  the  Vandals;  the  inde- 
pendent 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. 

From  a  principle  of  interest,  as  well  as  gratitude,  iEtiufc 
assiduously  cultivated  the  alliance  of  the  Huns.  While  he 
resided  in  their  tents  as  a  hostage,  or  an  exile,  he  had  famil- 
iarly conversed  with  Attila  himself,  the  nephew  of  his  bene- 
factor ;  aid  the  two  famous  antagonists  appeared  to  have  been 


8  This  portrait  is  drawn  by  Renetus  Profuturus  Frigeridus,  a  con- 
temporary historian,  known  only  by  some  extracts,  which  are 
preserved  by  (Jregory  of  Tours,  (1.  ii.  c.  8,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  1G3.)  It  was 
probably  the  duty,  or  at  least  the  interest,  of  Renatus,  to  magn  fy  the 
virtues  of  iEtius  ;  but  he  would  have  shown  more  dexterit)  if  ha 
Lad  n.ot  insisted  on  his  patient,  forgiviny  disposition. 


Oblitus  quod  noster  erat.     Pro  nescia  regis 
Corda,  feris  quanto  populis  discrimine  constet 
Quod  Latiuin  docet  arma  duceni. 

Merobaudes,  Panegyr.  p.  15  — M. 

Insessor  .Libyes,  quamvis,  fatallbus  armis 
Ausus  Elisoci  solium  rescindere  regni, 
Milibus  Arctois  Tyrias  eompleverat  arces, 
Nunc  hostem  exutus  pactis  prnprioribus  arsit 
Romanam  vincire  fidem,  Latinsque  parentes 
Adnumcrare  sibi,  sociamque  intexere  prolem. 

Merobaudes,  p.  12.  —  M. 


424  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

connected  by  a  personal  and  military  friendship,  which  thej 
afterwards  confirmed  by  mutual  gifts,  frequent  embassies,  and 
the  education  of  Carpilio,  the  son  of  jEtius,  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  con- 
versation with  Maximin  and  Priscus,  in  the  royal  village,  that 
the  valor  ;>nd  prudence  of  ^Etius  had  not  saved  the  Western 
llomans  from  tlie  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  inva- 
sion.9    Strangers  to  the  emperor  or  the  republic,  the  Alani  of 


7  The  embassy  consisted  of  Count  Romulus  ;  of  Promotus,  presi- 
dent 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,  t>5.  Cassiodorus  (Variar.  i.  41 
mentions  another  embassy,  which  was  executed  by  his  father  and 
Carpilio,  the  son  of  iEtius ;  and,  as  Attila  was  no  more,  he  could 
safely  boast  of  their  manly,  intrepid  behavior  in  his  presence. 

i  Deserta  Valentinte  urbia  rura  Alanis  partienda  traduntur.  Pro3 
per.  Tyronis  Chron.  in  Historiens  de  France,  torn.  i.  p.  639.  A  few 
lines  afterwards,  Prosper  observes,  that  lands  in  the  ulterior  Gaul  ware 
assigned  to  the  Alani.  Without  admitting  the  correction  of  Dnhos, 
(torn.  i.  p.  300,)  the  reasonable  supposition  of  two  colonies  or  garrisons 
of  Alani,  will  confirm  his  arguments,  and  remove  his  objections. 

*  See  Prosper.  Tyro,  p.  639.  Sidonius  (Panegyr.  Avit.  24'i)  cwra- 
plains,  in  the  name  of  Auvergne,  his  native  country,  — 

Litorius  Scylliicos  equites  nine  lortp  suliai:to 
Celsufl  Areinurico,  Geticiim  r : 1 1 »•  •  ■  t>. ■  t  in  •  i ir < n *- r» 

Pel  teiias,  Arvuriir,  tuus,  i|ui  pruximj  'luaeuue 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  42£ 

Gaul  were  devoted  to  the  ambition  of  ^Etius ;  and  though  ho 
might  suspect,  that,  in  a  contest  with  Attila  himself,  they 
would  revolt  tc  the  standard  of  their  national  king,  the  patri- 
cian labored  to  restrain,  rather  than  to  excite,  their  zeal  and 
resentment  against  the  Goths,  the  Burgundians,  and  the  Franks 
The  kingdom  established  by  the  Visigoths  in  the  southern 
provinces  of  Gaul,  had  gradually  acquired  strength  and  ma- 
turity ;  and  the  conduct  of  those  ambitious  Barbarians,  either 
in  peace  or  war,  engaged  the  perpetual  vigilance  of  jEtius. 
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,  ma/ 
be  allowed  to  prove,  that  his  prudence  was  supported  by  un- 
common vigor,  both  of  mind  and  body.  Impatient  of  hi3 
narrow  limits,  Theodoric  aspired  to  the  possession  of  Aries, 
the  wealthy  seat  of  government  and  commerce  ;  but  the  city 
was  saved  by  the  timely  approach  of  jEtius ;  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  renew- 
ing 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  jEtius,  and  his  Scythian  cavalry,  opposed  a 
firm  and  successful  resistance.  Twenty  thousand  Burgun- 
dians were  slain  in  battle ;  and  the  remains  of  the  nation 
humbly  accepted  a  dependent  seat  in  the  mountains  of  Sa- 
voy.11     The   walls  of  Narbonne    had    been  shaken  by  the 

Discnrsu,  flammis,  fprro,  feritnte,  rapinis, 
Delebiint  ;  pacia  f  illentes  nonien  inane. 

Another  poet,  Paulinus  of  Perigord,  confirms  the  complaint :  — 

Nam  dociuni  vix  ferre  queai,  qui  durior  hoste. 

See  Dubos,  torn.  i.  p.  330. 

10  Theodoric  II.,  the  son  of  Theodoric  I.,   declares  to  Avitus  hii 

^solution  of  repairing,  or  expiating,  the  faults  which  his  grandfather 

bad  committed,  — 

Qus  -noster  peccavit  aviu,  quern  fuscat  id  unum, 
Quod  te,  Rpma,  capit. 

Sidon.  Panegyric.  A  rit.  505. 

This  character,  applicable  only  to  the  great  Alaric,  establishes  the 
genealogy  of  the  Gothic  kings,  which  has  hitherto  been  unnoticed. 

11  The  name  of  Sapaudia,  the  origin  of  Savoy,  is  first  mentioned  by 
Ammianus  Marcellinus  ;  and   two  military  posts   are  ascertained  by 

72* 


426  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

battering   engines,  and  the  inhabitants  had  endured  the  last 
exlrpmities  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 
besiegeis.     The  siege  was  immediately  raised  ;  and  the  more 
decisive  victory,  which  is  ascribed  to  the  personal  conduct  of 
iEtius  himself,  was  marked  with  the  blood  of  eight  thousand 
Goths.     But  in  the  absence  of  the  patrician,  who  was  nastiiy 
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  sol- 
diers, animated  with  martial  and  religious  enthusiasm,  assault- 
ed the  camp  of  Litorius.     The   conflict  was  obstinate ;    the 
slaughter  was  mutual.     The  Roman  general,  after  a  total  de- 
feat, 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  experi 
enced,  in  a  long  and  ignominious  captivity,  excited  the  com 
passion  of  the   Barbarians  themselves.12     Such  a  loss,  in  ? 
country  whose  spirit  and  finances  were  long  since  exhausted 
could   not  easily  be   repaired ;  and  the  Goths,  assuming,  ii 


the  Notitia,  within  the  limits  of  that  province  ;  a  cohort  was  statione<. 
it  Grenoble  in  Dauphine  ;  and  Ebredunum,  or  Iverclun,  sheltered  a 
fleet  of  small  vessels,  which  commanded  the  Lake  of  Neufchatel.  St«< 
Valesius,  Notit.  Galliarum,  p.  503.  D'Anville,  Notice  de  rAncienr* 
Gaule,  p.  284,  579. 

w  Salvian  has  attempted  to  explain  the  moral  government  of  the 
Deity;  a  tfsk  which  may  be  readily  performed  by  supposing,  that 
the  calamiti  ?s  of  the  wicked   are  judgments,  and   those  of  the  right 
eoua,  trials. 


OP  THE  ROMAN   EMPIRE.  427 

their  turn,  the  sentiments  of  ambition  and  revenge,  would 
have  planted  their  victorious  standards  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone,  if  the  presence  of  iEtius  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  val- 
iant 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  re- 
turned to  the  court  of  Thoulouse  in  that  deformed  and  muti- 
lated condition.     This  horrid  act,  which  must  seem  incredible 


•a  Capto  terrarum  damna  patebant 

Litorio,  in  Rhodanum  proprios  producere  fines, 
Theudoridae  fixum ;  nee  erat  pugnare  necesse, 
Sed  migrare  Getis ;  rabidam  trux  asperat  iram 
Victor  ;  quod  sensit  Scythicum  sub  mosnibus  hostem 
.       Imputat,  et  nihil  est  gravius,  si  forsitan  unquam 

Vincere  contingat,  trepido.  Panegyr.  Avit.  300,  &<r. 

Bidonius   then  proceeds,  according   to   the  duty  of    a  panegyrist,  U 
transfer  the  whole  merit  from  ..-Etius  to  his  minister  Avitus. 

14  Theodoric  II.  revered,  in  the  peison  of  Avitus,  the  character  of 
iifl  preceptor. 

Milii  Rnmnla  cliidum 

Per  te  jura  placent;  parvumque  ediacere  ju9sit 
Ad  tua  verba  p:iter,  docili  quo  prisca  Jilaronis 
Carmine  uiolliret  Scytliicus  milii  pagina  mores. 

Si  Jon.  Panegyr.  Avit.  495,  &* 


428  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

to  a  civilized  age,  drew  tears  from  every  spectator;  but  The* 
odoric  was  urged,  by  the  feelings  of  a  parent  and  a  king,  tc 
revenue  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  ,ZEtius  and  Theodoric  were  prevented  by  the 
invasion  of  Gaul.15 

The  Franks,  whose  monarchy  was  still  confined  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Lower  Rhine,  had  wiselv  estahlished  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.  Theii 
flaxen  locks,  which  they  combed  and  dressed  witli  singulai 
care,  hung  down  in  flowing  ringlets  on  their  back  and  shoul- 
ders ;  while  the  rest  of  the  nation  were  obliged,  either  by  law 
or  custom,  to  shave  the  hinder  part  of  their  head,  to  ccmb 
their  hair  over  the  forehead,  and  to  content  themselves  with 
the  ornament  of  two  small  whiskers.18     The  lofty  stature  of 

16  Our  authorities  for  the  reign  of  Theodoric  I.  are,  Jorn ancles  de 
llcbus  Geticis,  c.  34,  36,  and  the  Chronicles  of  Idatius,  and  the  two 
Prospers,  inserted  in  the  Historians  of  France,  torn.  i.  p.  612 — 640. 
To  these  we  may  add  Salvian  de  Gubernatione  Dei,  1.  vii.  p.  243,  244, 
24o,  and  the  panegyric  of  Avitus,  by  Sidonius. 

16  lieges  Crinitos  se  creavisse  de  prima,  et  ut  ita  dicam  nobiliori 
suorum  familia,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  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  haa 
clearly  proved,  that  the  prince,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  first  race, 
was  more  ancient  than  the  father  f  >  Childeric.  See  Memoires  de 
I'Academie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xx.  p.  52 — 90,  torn.  xxx.  p.  557 
—537. 

17  This  German  custom,  which  may  be  traced  from  Tacitus  to  Greg- 
ory of  Tours,  was  at  length  adopted  by  the  emperors  of  Constanti- 
nople. 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  Monarchic 
Frant-oise,  torn.  i.  Discours  Prcliminaire. 

8  Csesaries  prolixa  .  .  .  criniuiti   ilagellis   per    terga    diinissis,  &o 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  429 

the  Franks,  and  their  blue  eyes,  denoted  a  Germanic  origin ; 
their  close  apparel  accurately  expressed  the  figure  of  their 
iiuibs ;  a  weighty  sword  was  suspended  from  a  broad  belt ; 
their  bodies  were  protected  by  a  large  shield  ;  and  these  war- 
like 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  vaiu 

See  the  Preface  to  the  third  volume  of  the  Historians  of  Fiance,  ana 
the  Abbe  Le  Boeuf,  (Uissertat.  torn.  iii.  p.  47 — 79.)  This  pecuiiai 
fashion  of  the  Merovingians  has  been  remarked  by  natives  and  stran- 
gers; by  Priscus,  (torn.  i.  p.  608,)  by  Agathias,  (torn.  ii.  p.  49,)  and 
by  Gregory  of  Tours,  (1.  viii.  18,  vi.  24,  viii.  10,  torn.  ii.  p.  196,  278, 
316.) 

9  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  Fran<joise,  torn.  i. 
p.  2 — 7)  has  illustrated  the  description. 

*°  Dubos,  Hist.  Critique,  &c,  torn.  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,  torn.  ii. 
p.  166. 

21  The  Carbonarian  wood  was  that  part  of  the  gre*at  forest  of  the 
Ardennes  which  lay  between  the  Escaut,  or  Scheldt,  and  the  Meuse. 
Vales.  Notit.  Gall.  p.  126.  - 

22  Gregor.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  9,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  166,  167.  Fredegar.  E;>it- 
om.  e.  9,  p.  395.  Gesta  Reg.  Francor.  c.  5,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  $44.  Vit 
BL  Rtmig.  ab  Hincmar,  in  torn.  iii.  p.  373. 

M  Francus  qu;\  Cloio  patentes 

Atrebatum  terras  ptTvaserat. 

Panegyr.  Majoiian.  212. 


430  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  ostentatious  security,  the  marriage,  perhaps,  of  his  son 
the  nuptial  feast  was  interrupted  by  the  unexpected  and 
unwelcome  presence  of  iEtius,  who  had  passed  the  Somrno 
at  the  head  of  his  light  cavalry.  The  tables,  which  had  been 
spread  under  the  shelter  of  a  hill,  along  the  banks  of  a  pleas- 
ant stream,  were  rudely  overturned  ;  the  Franks  were  op- 
pressed 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  advantage,  which  had  been  obtained 
by  the  skill  and  activity  of  iEtius,  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 

The  precise  spot  was  a  town  or  village,  called  Yicus  Helena ;  anc> 
both  the  name  and  the  pla^'e  are  discovered  by  modern  geographers  ai 
Lens.  See  Vales.  Notit.  Gall.  p.  216.  Longuerue,  Description  de  la 
France,  torn.  ii.  p.  88. 

24  See  a  vague  account  of  the  action  in  Sidonius.  Panegyr.  Ma- 
jorian.  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  vanguished  Franks  were 
compelled  to  repass  the  Rhine.     Dubos,  torn.  i.  p.  322. 

23  Salvian  (de  Gubernat.  Dei,  1.  vi.)  has  expressed,  in  vague  and 
leclamatory  language,  the  misfortunes  of  these  three  cities,  which  are 
distinctly  ascertained  by  the  learned  Mascou,  Hist,  of  the  Ancient 
Germans,  ix.  21. 

26  Priscus,  in  relating  the  contest,  does  not  name  the  two  brothers  ; 
the  second  of  whom  he  had  seen  at  Koine,  a  beardless  youth,  with 
long,  flowing  hair,  (Historians  of  France,  torn.  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  five 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  43J 

persuaded  to  implore  the  protection  of  Rome  ;  ae  was  received 
at.  the  Impel ial  court,  as  the  ally  of  Valentinian,  and  the 
adopted  son  of  the  patrician  vEtius ;  and  dismissed  to  hia 
native  country,  with  splendid  gifts,  and  the  strongest  assur- 
ances of  friendship  and  support.  During  his  absence,  hia 
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 

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  tlio 
princess  Honoria. .  The  sister  of  Valentinian  was  educated  in 
the  palace  of  Ravenna ;  and  as  her  marriage  might  be  pro- 
ductive 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  im- 
perious 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 : 


Neckar ;  but  the  arguments  of  M.  de  Foncemagne  (Mem.  de  l'Acade- 
mie,  torn.  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* 

87  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  Fon- 
cemagne, in  the  sixth  and  eighth  volumes  of  the  Memoires  de  l'Aca- 
demie. 

28  A  medal  is  still  extant,  which  exhibits  the  pleasing  countenance* 
of  Honoria,  with  the  title  of  Augusta ;  and  on  the  reverse,  the  im- 
proper legend  of  Salas  Rdpublicce  round  the  monogram  of  Christ.  See 
Uucange,  Famil.  Byzantln.  p.  67,  73. 


The  relationship  of  Meroveus  to  Clodion  is  extremely  doubtful.  —  By 
■ome  he  is  called  an  illegitimate  son  ;  by  others,  merely  of  his  race  Greg 
Tur  ii  c  9,  in  Sisinondi,  Hist,  des  Francai: ,  i.  177.     See  Mezeray,  1.  —  M. 


(32  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

who  dismissed  her  daughter,  after  a  strict  and  shameful  con- 
finement, to  a  remot3  exile  at  Constantinople.  The  unhappy 
Drincess  passed  twelve  or  fourteen  years  in  the  irksome  society 
if  the  sisters  of  Theodos;us,  and  their  chosen  virgins  ;  to 
whose  crown  Honoria  could  no  longer  aspire,  and  whose 
monastic  assiduity  of  prayer,  fasting,  and  vigils,  she  reluc- 
tantly imitated.  Her  impatience  of  long  and  hopeless  celi- 
bacy urged  her  to  embrace  a  strange  and  desperate  resolution. 
The  name  of  Attila  was  familiar  and  formidable  at  Constanti- 
nople ;  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  pre- 
ceded, and  justified,  by  a  formal  demand  of  the  princess 
Honoria,  with  a  just  and  equal  share  of  the  Imperial  patri- 
mony. 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  argu- 
ment from  the  recent  examples  of  Placidia  and  Pulcheria, 
was  strenuousiy  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 


n  See  Priscus,  p.  39,  40.  It  might  be  fairly  alleged,  that  if  females 
could  succeed  to  the  throne,  Valentinian  himself,  who  had  married  the 
daugnler  and  heiress  of  the  younger  Theodosius,  would  have  asserted 
her  right  to  the  Eastern  empire. 


OF  THE  KOMA.N  EMPIRE.  433 

spared  ;  but  the  ceremony  of  her  marriage  was  performed 
with  some  obscure  and  nominal  husband,  before  she  was  im- 
mured in  a  perpetual  prison,  to  bewail  those  crimes  and  mis- 
fortunes, which  Honoria  might  have  escaped,  had  she  not 
;een  born  the  daughter  of  an  emperor. 3U 

A  native  of  Gaul,  and  a  contemporary,  the  learned  and 
eoquent  Sidonius,  who  was  afterwards  bishop  of  Clermont, 
hai  made  a  promise  to  o\ie  of  his  friends,  that  he  would  com.  . 
pose  a  regular  histoiy  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 
ihe  simplicity  of  truth,  those  memorable  events,  to  which  the 
poet,  in  vague  and  doubtful  metaphors,  has  concisely  alluded.33 
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  or"  the  sons  of  Clodion.  A 
troop  of  light  Barbarians,  who  roamed  in  quest  of  plunder- 
might  choose  the  winter  for  the  convenience  of  passing  tUtj 
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  sup- 
plied materials  for  a  bridge  of  boats ;  and  the  hostile  myriads 


30  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  con- 
sistent, or  probable,  unless  we  separate,  by  an  interval  of  time  and 
place,  her  intrigue  with  Eugenius,  and  her  invitation  of  Attila. 

31  Exegeras  mihi,  ut  promitterem  tibi,  Attila?  bellum  stylo  me  pos- 
teris  intimaturum  ....  cceperam  scribere,  sed  operis  arrepti  fasce 
perspecto,  taeduit  inchoasse.     Sidon.  Apoll.  1.  viii.  episu.  15,  p.  235. 

**  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,    Toringua, 
Bructerus,  ulvosft  vel  quern  Nicer  abluit  unda 
Prorumpit  Francus.     Cecidit  cito  secta  bipenni 
Hercynia  in  lintres,  et  Rhenum  texuit  alno. 
Et  jam  territicis  diffudeiat  Attila  turmis 
In  campos  se,  Belga,  tuos. 

Panegyr.  Avit.  3 19,  ho. 


434  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

were  poured,  with  resistless  violence,  into  the  Belgic  prov- 
inces.** 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  Altila  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  dan- 
ger, had  been  providently  baptized  by  the  bishop  ;  the  flour- 
ishing 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 

33  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  superflu- 
ous to  repeat,  may  be  corrected  and  illustrated  by  Gregory  of  Tours, 
1.  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  frag- 
ments of  Fredegarius,  torn,  ii  p.  462,)  which  often  contradicts  the 
genuine  text  of  the  Gallician  bishop. 

34  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.  Gene- 
vieve, &c,  in  the  Historians  of  France,  torn.  i.  p.  644,  645,  649,  torn, 
iii.  p.  369. 

31  The  scepticism  of  the  count  de  Buat  ^Hist.  des  Peuples,  torn.  vii. 
p.  539,  540)  cannot  be  reconciled  with  any  principles  of  reason  or  crit- 
icism. Is  not  Gregory  of  Tours  precise  and  positive  in  lus  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  At- 
tila and  the  Barbarians,  appeals  to  the  false  Idatius,  parcens  civitati- 
bus  Germanise  et  Galliae,  and  forgets,  that  the  true  Idatius  had 
explicitly  affirmed,  plurimae  civitates  ejf'n-ctn,  among  whi'h  he  enu- 
merates Metz. 


Ot     THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  435 

possession  of  an  advantageous  post,  which  commanded  the 
passage. of  the  Loire  ;  and  he  depended  on  the  secret  invita- 
tion of  Sangiban,  king  of  the  Alani,  who  had  promised  to 
betray  the  city,  and  to  revolt  from  the  service  of  the  empire. 
Hut  this  treacherous  conspiracy  was  detected  and  disap- 
pointed :  Orleans  had  been  strengthened  with  recent  fortifi- 
cations ;  and  the  assaults  of  the  Huns  were  vigorously  re- 
pelled 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,  ex- 
hausted 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,  de- 
spatched a  trusty  messenger  to  observe,  from  the  *«mpart, 
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,  whicn  he  had 
faintly  descried  at  the  extremity  of  the  horizon.  "  It  is  the 
aid  of  God  !  "  exclaimed  the  bishop,  in  a  tone  of  pious  con- 
fidence ;  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  jEtius  and  Theodoric, 
who  pressed  forwards  to  the  relief  of  Orleans. 

The  facility  with  which  Attila  had  penetrated  into  the 
heart  of  Gaul,  may  be  ascribed  to  his  insidious  policy,  a9 
well  as  to  the  terror  of  his  arms.  His  public  declarations 
were  skilfully  mitigated  by  his  private  assurances  ;  he  alter- 
nately soothed  and  threatened  the  Romans  and  the  Goths  • 
and  the  courts  of  Ravenna  and  Thoulouse,  mutually  suspicion? 
of  each  other's  intentions,  beheld,  with  supine  indifference 
the  approach  of  their  common  enemy.  iEtius  was  the  sole 
guardian  of  the  public  safety  ;  but  his  wisest  measures  were 
embarrassed  by  a  faction,  which,  since  the  death  of  Placidia 
uifested  the  Imperial  palace  :  the  youth  of  Italy  trembled  at 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet ;  and  the  Barbarians,  who,  from  feai 
or  aff°ction,  were  inclined  to  the  cause  of  Attila,  awaited  w.lh 
doubtful  and  venal  faith,  the  event  (f  the  war.    The  patric'au 


136 


THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 


passed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  some  troops,  whose  strength 
and  numbers  scarcely  deserved  the  name  of  an  army.36    Bat 
on  his  arrival  at  Aries,  or  Lyons,  he  was  confounded  by  the 
intelligence,  that  the  Visigoths,  refusing  to  embrace  the  de- 
fence 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  exer- 
cise of  the  Praetorian  praefecture,  had  retired  to  his  estate  in 
A  uvergne,  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  op- 
press.     The  lively  eloquence  of  Avitus  inflamed  the  Gothic 
warriors,  by  the  description  of  the  injuries  which  their  ances- 
tors 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  Bar- 
barian, 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  yEtius  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  per- 

Vix  liquerat  Alpes 


Aetius,  tenue,  et  rarum  sine  milite  ducens 
Robur,  in  auxiliis  Geticum  male  credulus  agmen 
Ineassum  propriis  praesumens  adfore  castris. 

Panegyr.  Avit.  328,  &c. 
37  The  policy  of  Attila,  of  vEtius,  and  of  the  Visigoths,  is  imperfectlj 
described  in  the  Panegyric  of  Avitus,  and  the  thirty-sixth  chapter  ol 
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 
•re  fairly  interoreted,  is  a  proof  of  their  veracity. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  437 

son  his  numerous  and  valiant  people.  The  example  of  tha 
Golh3  determined  several  tribes  or  nations,  that  seemed  to 
fluctuate  between  the  Huns  and  the  Romans.  The  indefati- 
gable diligence  of  the  patrician  gradually  collected  the  troops 
of  Gaul  and  Germany,  who  had  formerly  acknowledged  them- 
selves the  subjects,  or  soldiers,  of  the  republic,  but  who  now 
claimed  the  rewards  of  voluntary  service,  and  the  rank  of 
independent  allies  ;  the  Laeti,  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  --Etius  and  Theodoric,  advanced,  by  rapid  marches, 
to  relieve  Orleans,  and  to  give  battle  to  the  innumerable  host 
of  Attila.38 

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  en- 
tered.39 The  valor  of  Attila  was  always  guided  by  his  pru- 
dence ;  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  sur- 
face 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  Gepidse,  in  which  fifteen 
thousand  40  Barbarians  were  slain,  was  a   prelude  to  a  more 


38  The  review  of  the  army  of  iEtius  is  made  by  Jornanies,  c.  36,  p. 
664,  edit.  Grot.  torn.  ii.  p.  23,  of  the  Historians  of  France,  with  the 
notes  of  the  Benedictine  editor.  The  Lceti  were  a  promiscuous  nee 
of  Barbarians.born  or  naturalized  in  Gaul ;  and  the  Iliparii,  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 
Bavoy ;  and  the  Breones  were  a  warlike  tribe  of  lihaetians,  to  the  east 
Of  the  Lake  of  Constance. 

39  Aureliancnsis  urbis  obsidio,  oppugnatio,  irruptio,  nee  direptio,  1. 
▼.  Sidon.  Apollin.  1.  viii.  Epist.  15,  p.  246.  The  preservation  of 
Orleans  might  easily  be  turned  into  a  miracle,  obtained  and  foretold 
by  the  holy  bishop. 

40  Tbe  common  editions  read  xcm  ;  but  there  is  some  authority  of 


138  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

general  and  decisive  action.  The  Catalaunian  fields41  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  whols 
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  Tori;*- 
mond  first  occupied  the  summit ;  the  Goths  rushed  with  irre- 
sistible 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  scru- 
tinizing 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  Barbarian,  by 
accepting  the  equivalent,  expressed  his  involuntary  esteem  foi 
the  superior  merit  of  ^Etius.  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  trqops  by  a  military  oration  ;  and  his  language 
w;is  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  for- 
tune, 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 


manuscripts   (and  almost  any  authority  is   sufficient)   for  the  more 
reasonable  number  of  xvm. 

41  Chalons,  or  Duro-Catalaunum,  afterwards  Catalauni,  had  formerly 
made  a  part  ofthe  territory  of  Kbeims,  from  whence  it  is  distant  only 
twenty-seven  miles.  See  Vales.  Notit.  Gall.  p.  136.  D'Anville,  Notice 
de  1'Ancienne  Gaule,  p.  212,  279. 

42  The  name  of  Campania,  or  Champagne,  is  frequent')/  mentioned 
by  Gregory  of  Tours;  'and  that  great  province,  of  which  Rheims  \rm 
the  capital,  obeyed  the  command  of  a  duke.    Vales.  Notit.  p.  120 — 123. 

43  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  certami 
ai3  yaudia. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMI  IRE.  439 

field  for  the  consummation  of  their  victories.  The  cautious 
steps  of  their  enemies,  their  strict  alliance,  and  their  advan- 
tageous 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  secure- 
ly trample  on  the  degenerate  Romans,  whose  close  and  com- 
pact 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  Attiia,  "  will  throw 
the  first  javelin,  and  the  wretch  who  refuses  to  imitate  the  ex- 
ample 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  Attiia, 
yielding  to  their  impatience,  immediately  formed  his  order  of 
battle.  At  the  head  of  his  brave  and  faithful  Huns,  he  occu- 
pied 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  GepidaB ;  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  his 
treachery  might  be  instantly  punished.  jEtius  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  emigra- 
tion ;  and  the  appearance  of  similar  arms  and  ensigns,  which 
threatened  each  other,  presented  the  image  of  a  civil  war. 

The  discipline  and  tactics  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  form 
an  interesting  part  of  their  national  manners.  The  attentive 
itudy  of  the  military  operations  of  Xenophon,  or  Ca^sai,  or 
Frederic,  when  they  are  described  by  the  same  genius  which 


14G  THE    DECLINE    AND    TALL 

conceive!  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  curi- 
osity 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  se- 
cluded them  from  the  knowledge  of  military  affairs.  Cassio- 
dorus,  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.1''  The  number  of  the  slajn  amounted 
to  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand,  or,  according  to  an- 
other account,  three  hundred  thousand  persons;44  and  these 
incredible  exaggerations  suppose  a  real  and  effective  loss 
sufficient  to  justify  the  historian's  remark,  that  whoje  gener- 
ations may  be  swept  away,  by  the  madness  of  kings,  in  the 
space  of  a  single  hour.  After  the  mutual  and  repeated  dis- 
charge 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  dis- 
order, and  trampled  under  the  feet  of  his  own  ca/alry  ;  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  verrified  the  remainder  of  the  prediction.  The  Vis- 
igoths, who  had  been  thrown  into  confusion  by  the  flight  or 

44  The  expressions  of  Jornandes,  or  rather  of  Cassiodorus.  are  ex- 
tremely strong.  15ellum  atrox,  multiplex,  immane,  pertmax,  cui  simile 
nulla  usquam  narrat  antiquitas :  ubi  talia  gesta  referuntur,  ut  nihil 
esset  quod  in  vita  sua  conspiccre  potuisset  egregius,  qui  hujus  mirac- 
uli  privaretur  aspeetu.  Dubos  (Hist.  Critique,  torn.  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  sla-\ghtei  of 
the  unarmed  people,  &c. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  441 

defection  of  the  Alani,  gradually  restored  their  order  of  bat 
tie  ;  and  the  Huns  were  undoubtedly  vanquished,  since  Attiln 
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  un- 
guarded ;  and  the  conquerors  of  Scythia  and  Germany  weie 
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  de- 
fence, 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 
mtrenchments  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 

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  him- 
self, 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  per- 
ished like  his  father,  if  his  youthful  strength,  and  the  intrepid 
zeal  of  his  companions,  had  not  rescued  him  from  this  dan- 
gerous situation.  In  the  same  manner,  but  on  the  left  of  the 
line,  iEtius  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  Cha- 
lons ;  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  princi- 
pally fallen  on  the  Barbarians.  The  body  of  Theodoric, 
pierced  with  honorable  wounds,  was  discovered  under  a  heap 

45  The  count  de  Buat,  (Hist,  des  Peuples,  &c,  torn.  vii.  p.  554— 
573,)  still  depending  on  the  fake,  and  again  rejecting  the  true,  Idatius, 
has  divided  the  defeat  of  Attila  into  two  great  battles  ;  the  former  new 
Orleans,  the  latter  in  Champagne  :  in  the  one,  Theodoric  was  slain  • 
in  the  other,  he  was  revenged. 

73 


42  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  the  <tlah  •  his  subjects  bewailed  the  death  of  their  king  and 
father  ;  bul  their  tears  were  mingled  with  songs  and  accia- 
mations,  and  his  funeral  rites  were  performed   in  the  face  of 
a  vanquished  enemy.     The   Goths,  clashing  their   arms,  ele- 
vated 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  aston- 
ished 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  sen- 
sible that  the  displeasure   of  their  monarch   was    the   most 
mminent  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   intrench ments.     It  was   determined,  in  & 
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  ^Etius  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  waa 
eurprised  at  the  vast  silence  that  reigned  over  the  plains  of 

«•  Jornandes  de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  41,  p.  671.  The  policy  of  ^Etiua, 
and  the  behavior  of  Torismond,  are  extremely  natural ;  and  the  patri- 
cian, according  to  Gregory  of  Tours,  (1.  ii.  c.  7,  p.  163.)  dismissed  the 
prince  of  the  Franks,  by  suggesting  to  him  a  similar  apprehension. 
The  false  Idatius  ridiculously  pretends,  that  yEtius  paid  a  clandestine 
uocturnal  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,  aa 
the  price  of  an  undisturbed  retreat. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  443 

Chalons  :  the  suspicion  of  some  hostile  stratage  m  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  thenr 
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  vul- 
tures. Such  were  those  savage  ancestors,  whose  imaginary 
virtues  have  sometimes  excited  the  praise  and  envy  of  civ- 
ilized ages ! 47 

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  9 
regular  siege,  which,  even  among  the  ancients,  required  some 
knowledge,  or  at  least  some  practice,  of  the  mechanic  arts. 
But  the  'abor  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  counuy. 
The  walls  of  Aquileia  were  assaulted  by  a  formidable  train 


**  These  cruelties,  which  are  passionately  deplored  by  Theodoric, 
me  son  of  Clovis,  ^Gregory  of  Tours,  1.  iii.  c.  10,  p.  190,)  suit  the  time 
and  circumstances  of  the  invasion  of  Attila.  His  residence  in  Thuiin- 
gia  was  long  attested  by  popular  tradition  ;  and  he  is  supposed  to 
aave  assembled  a  couroultai,  or  diet,  in  the  territory  of  Eisenach.  Set 
Mascou,  ix-  30,  who  settles  with  nice  accuracy  the  extent  of  ancieit 
rhuringia,  and  derives  its  name  from  the  Gothic  tribe  of  the  'i'her- 
ringi. 


444  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  battering  rams,  movable  turrets,  and  engines,  that  threw 
stones,  darts,  and  fire ; 4a  and  the  monarch  of  the  Huns  em- 
ployed the  forcible  impulse  of  hope,  fear,  emulation,  and 
interest,  to  subvert  the  only  barrier  which  delayed  the  con- 
quest 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  Anta.a, 
communicated  thoir  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  Aque- 
leia  ;  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  inci- 
dent, which  chance  had  offered  to  superstition  ;  and  exclaimed, 
in  a  loud  and  cheei  ful  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  re- 
newed and  prosecuted  with  fresh  vigor ;  a  large  breach  waa 
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 


49  Machinis  constructis,  omnibusque  tormentorum  generibus  adhi- 
bitis.  Jornandes,  c.  42,  p.  673.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Mo- 
guls 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  infer- 
nal, arms  were  insufficient  to  protect  a  pusillanimous  nation.  Sea 
(Jaubil.  Hist,  des  Mongous,  p.  70,  71,  155,  157,  &c. 

**  The  same  story  is  told  by  Jornandes,  and  by  Procopius,  (de  Bell. 
Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  4,  p.  187,  188  :)  nor  is  it  easy  to  decide  which  is  the 
original.  But  the  Greek  historian  is  guilty  of  an  inexcusatle  mistaka, 
in  plaoi/jg  the  sie  je  of  Aquileia  after  the  death  of  ^Etiua, 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  445 

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 
C;csars  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  atti- 
tudes ;  and  the  emperors  were  delineated  on  the  same  canvas 
approaching  in  a  suppliant  posture  to  empty  theii  bags  of 
tributary  gold  before  the  throne  of  the  Scythian  monarch.52 

60  Jornandes,  about  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  affirms,  that 
Aquileia  was  so  completely  ruined,  ita  ut  vix  ejus  vestigia,  ut  appare- 
ant,  reliquerint.  See  Jornande3  de  Ileb.  Geticis,  c.  42,  p.  673.  Paul. 
Diacon.  1.  ii.  c.  14,  p.  785.  Liutprand,  Hist.  1.  iii.  c.  2.  The  name  of 
Aquileia  was  sometimes  applied  to  Forum  Julii,  (Cividad  del  Friuli,) 
the  more  recent  capital  of  the  Venetian  province.* 

61  In  describing  this  war  of  Attila,  a  war  so  famous,  but  so  imper- 
fectly known,  I  have  taken  for  my  guides  two  learned  Italians,  who 
considered  the  subject  with  some  peculiar  advantages  ;  Sigonius,  de 
Irnperio  Occidentali,  1.  xiii.  in  his  works,  torn.  i.  p.  495 — 502  ;  and 
Muratori,  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  iv.  p.  229 — 236,  8vo.  edition. 

02  This  anecdote  may  be  found  under  two  different  articles  (^trho- 
lavov  and  xutjvxug)  of  the  miscellaneous  compilation  of  Suidas. 


•  Compare  the  curious  Latin  poems  on  the  destruction  of  Aquileia,  pub 
I'shcd  by  M.  Endlichei  in  his  valuable  catalogue  of  Latin  MSS.  in  the 
library  of  Vienna,  p.  298,  etc. 

Replctu  quondam  doinibus  sublimibus,  ornatis  mire,  niveis,  marmoreis, 

Nunc  furj.x  I'ru'um  met  iris  I'uniuulo  ruriuolarum. 

The  monkish  poet  has  his  consolation  in  Attila's  sufferings  in  soul  and 

LOdj. 

Vindictam  tainon  non  evusit  impius  destructor  tuus  Atti  a  sevissimus, 
Nunc  igui  gimul  g  ibemue  et  vennibug  excruciatur.  —P.  290.  —  M 


4-16  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  spectators  must  have  confessed  the  truth  and  propriety 
of  the  alteration  ;  and  were  perhaps  tempted  to  apply,  on  thia 
singular  occasion,  the  well-known  fable  of  the  dispute  between 
the  lion  and  the  man.53 

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  sjnage  destroyer  undesignedly  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  republic,  which  revived,  in  the  feudal  state  of  Europe,  the 
art  and  spirit  of  commercial  industiy.  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  Rhsetian  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  manufac- 
tures ;  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 
fowns,  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  sepa- 


M  Leo  respondit,  human!  hoc  pictum  manft : 

Videres  hominem  dejectum,  si  pingere 
Leones  scirent. 

Appendix  ad  Phaedrum,  Fab.  xxv. 

The  lion  in  Phaedrus  very  foolishly  appeals  from  pictures  to  the  am- 
phitheatre ;  and  I  am  glad  to  observe,  that  the  native  taste  of  La 
Fontaine  (1.  iii.  fable  x.)  has  omitted  this  most  lame  and  impotent  con- 
clusion. 

54  Paul  the  Deacon  (de  Gestis  Langobard.  1.  ii.  c.  14,  p.  784)  de- 
scribes the  provinces  of  Italy  about  the  end  of  the  eighth  century. 
Venetia  non  solum  in  paucis  insulis  quas  nunc  Venetias  dicimus,  con- 
stat ;  sed  ejus  terminus  a  Pannoniae  finibus  usque  Adduam  fluvium 
protelatur.  The  history  of  that  province  till  the  age  of  Charlemagne 
forms  the  hrst  and  most  interesting  part  of  the  Verona  Illustrata,  (p. 
1 — 388,)  in  which  the  marquis  Scipio  Mafl'ei  has  shown  himself  equal- 
ly capable  of  enlarged  views  and  minute  disquisitions. 

&s  This  emigration  is  not  attested  by  any  contemporary  evidence , 
Dut  the  fact  is  proved  by  the  event,  and  the  circumstances  might  be 
preserved  by  tradition.  The  citizens  of  Aquileia  retiree''  to  the  Isle  of 
Oradus,  those  of  Padua  to  Rivus  Altus,  or  Rialto,  where  the  city  of 
Venice  was  afterwards  built,  &c. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  447 

rated  by  shadow  water  from  the  continent,  and  protected  from 
the  waves  by  several  long  slips  of  land,  which  aamit  tne  en- 
trance of  vessels  through  some  secret  and  narrow  channels.56 
Till  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  these  remote  and  seques- 
tered spots  remained  without  cultivation,  with  few  inhabitants, 
and  almost  without  a  name.  But  the  manners  of  the  Vene- 
tian fugitives,  their  arts  and  their  government,  were  gradually 
formed  by  their  new  situation ;  and  one  of  the  epistles  cf 
Cassiodorus,57  which  describes  their  condition  about  seventy 
years  afterwards,  may  be  considered  as  the  primitive  mon- 
ument ol  the  republic*  The  minister  of  Theodoric  compares 
them,  in  .lis  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 


86  The  topography  and  antiquities  of  the  Venetian  islands,  from 
Gradus  to  Clodia,  or  Chioggia,  are  accurately  stated  in  the  Dissertatio 
Chorographica  de  Italia  Medii  JEvi,  p.  151 — 155. 

67  Cassiodor.  Variar.  1.  xii.  epist.  24.  Maffci  (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  con- 
sidered Venice  as  the  only  legitimate  offspring  of  the  Roman  republic. 
He  fixes  the  date  of  the  epistle,  and  consequently  the  prefecture,  of 
Cassiodorus,  A.  D.  523  ;  and  the  marquis's  authority  has  the  more 
weight,  as  he  had  prepared  an  edition  of  his  works,  and  actually  pub- 
lished a  dissertation  on  the  true  orthography  of  his  name.  See  Osser- 
vazioni  Letterarie,  torn.  ii.  p.  290 — 339. 


•  The  learned  count  Figliasi  has  proved,  in  his  memoirs  upon  the  Veneti 
(Memorie  de'  Veneti  primi  e  secondi  del  conte  Figliasi,  t.  vi.  Venezia, 
1796,)  that  from  the  most  remote  period,  this  nation,  which  occupied  the 
country  which  has  since  been  called  the  Venetian  States  or  'I'/rra  Firma, 
likewise  inhabited  the  islands  scattered  upon  the  coast,  and  that  from 
thence  arose  the  names  of  Venetia  prima  and  secunda,  of  which  the  firsi 
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 
eituated  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  re- 
duced 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  Ro- 
mans have  considered  the  inhabitants  of  this  part  as  beneath  the  dignity 
»f  history,  and  have  left  them  in  obscurity.  *  *  *  They  dwelt  there 
until  the  period  when  their  islands  aiforded  a  retreat  to  their  ruined  and 
fugitive  compatriots.     Sismondi,  Hist,  des  R -p.  Italiens,  v.  i.  p.  313.  —  Q. 

Compare,  on   the  origin  of  Venice,   Daru,  ili.,t.   de  Yenise,  vol.  i.  c.  i 
-  M 


Ait>  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

many  noble  families,  he  insinuates,  that  they  were  now  re- 
duced 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  plei/ty  of  salt,  which 
they  extracted  from  the  sea :  and  the  exchange  of  that  com- 
modity, 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  riv 
ers  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,  Avas  contracted  in  her  early  infancy.  The 
epistle  of  Cassiodorus,  the  Praetorian  prsefect,  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  magis- 
trates is  explained  by  the  tradition,  that,  in  the  twelve  prin- 
cipal 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.68 

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,  ^Etius  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 

w  See,  in  the  second  volume  of  Amelot  de  la  Houssaie,  Histoire  du 
Gouverneraent  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  apocryplial,  is  brought  together,  and  the  riadex 
will  oasily  choose  the  fair  medium. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  449 

march  to  the  relief  of  Italy  ;  and  the  succors  promised  by  the 
Kastern  emperor  were  distant  and  doubtful.  Since  iEtius, 
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  gen- 
erous sentiments,  he  would  have  chosen  such  a  generai  foi 
his  example  and  his  guide.  But  the  timid  grandson  of  Theo- 
dosius,  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  abdica- 
tion 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 
Avienus60  was  admirably  qualified  to  conduct  a  negotiation 
either  of  public  or  private  interest :  his  colleague  Trigetius 
had  exercised  the  Praetorian  prajfecture  of  Italy ;  and  Leo, 
bishop  of  Rome,  consented  to  expose  his  life  for  the  safety 
of  his  flock.     The  genius  of  Leo61  was  exercised  and  dis- 

69  Sirrnond  (Not.  ad  Sidon.  Apollin.  p.  19)  lias  published  a  curioua 
pag9ago  from  the  Chronicle  of  Prosper.  Attila,  redintegratis  virions 
quas  in  Gallia  amiserat,  Italiam  ingredi  per  Pannonias  intendit;  nihil 
duee  nostro  iEtio  secundum  prioris  belli  opera  prospiciente,  &c.  He 
reproaches  iEtius  with  neglecting  to  guard  the  Alps,  and  with  a  de 
sign  to  abandon  Italy ;  but  this  rash  censure  may  at  least  be  counter- 
balanced by  the  favorable  testimonies  of  Idatius  and  Isidore. 

bu  See  the  original  portraits  of  Avienus  and  his  rival  Basilius,  delin- 
eated 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 
bimself  to  Basilius,  as  the  more  solid  and  disinterested  friend. 

61  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, 
Bibliothequc  Eccle'siastique,  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  120 — 1G5. 
73* 


450  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

played  in  the  public  misfortunes ;  and  he  has  deserved  th*. 
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  disci- 
pline. 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  lis- 
tened 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  indolence  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  Ital- 
ians.64    When  Attila  declared   his   resolution  of  carrying  his 

6*  tardis  ingens  ubi  flexibua  errat 

Mincius,  et  tenera  prsetexit  arundine  ripas 

Anne  lacus  tantos,  te  Lari  maxime,  teque 
Fluctibus,  et  freniitu  assurgens  Beiuice  marine 

83  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  Ario- 
lica,  or  Ardeliea,  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  liandes,  precisely 
situate,  qu.\  se  subducere  colics  incipiunt,  where  the  Veronese  hills 
imperceptibly  slope  down  into  the  plain  of  Mantua.* 

84  Si  statim  infesto  agmine  urbem  pctiissent,  grande  discrimen  esset : 
i?ed  in  Venetia  quo  fere  tractu  Italia  mollissima  est,  ipsa  soli  oudique 
."ilementia  robur  elanguit.  Ad  hoc  panis  usu  carnisque  coctae,  et  dul- 
cedine  villi  mitigates,  &c.  This  passage  of  Florus  (iii.  3)  is  still  more 
applicable  to  the  Huns  than  to  the  Cimbri,  and  it  may  serve  as  a  com- 
mentary on  the  celestial  plague,  with  which  Idatius  and  Isidore  have 
afflicted  the  troops  of  Attila. 


*  Gibbon  has  made  a  singular  mistake  :  the  Mincius  flows  out  of  thfc 
Benacus  at  Peschiera,  not  into  it.  The  interview  is  likewise  placed  at 
Ponte  Molino,  and  at  Governolo,  at  the  conflux  of  the  Mincio  and  the  Po. 
Goniajia,  bishop  of  Mantua,  erected  a  tablet  in  the  year  1G16,  in  the  church 
Df  the  latter  place,  commemorative  of  th«  event.  Jjescriziine  di  Verona  * 
della  sua  provincia.  C.  il   p    126  —  M. 

« 


OF    THK    POMAN    EMPIRE.  -151 

victorious  arms  to  the  ga'es  of  Rome,  he  was  admonished  by 
his  friends,  as  well  as  by  his  enemies,  that  Alaric  hod  not  long 
survived  the  conquest  of  the  eternal  city.  His  mind,  superior 
.0  real  danger,  was  assaulted  by  imaginary  terrors  ;  nor 
could  he  escape  the  influence  of  superstition,  which  had  so 
often  been  subservient  to  his  designs.05  The  pressing  elo- 
quence of  Leo,  his  majestic  aspect  and  sacerdotal  rubes 
excited  the  veneration  of  Attila  for  the  spiritual  father  of  the 
Christians.  The  apparition  of  trie  two  apostles,  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  who  menaced  the  Barbarian  with  instant  death,  if 
lie  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  indul- 
gence is  due  to  a  fable,  which  has  been  represented  by  the 
pencil  of  Raphael,  and  the  chisel  of  Algardi.66 

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  lldico,  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  reipect  his  pleasures,  or  his  repose,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  ensuing  day,  till  the  unusual  silence  alarmed  their 

63  The  historian  Priscus  had  positively  mentioned  the  effect  which 
this  example  produced  on  the  mind  of  Attila.     Jornandes,  c.  42,  p.  673. 

66  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,  torn.  i.  p.  519, 
520.)  Baronius  (Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  452,  No.  57,  58)  bravely  sus- 
tains the  truth  of  the  apparition  ;  which  is  rejected,  however,  by  the 
most  learned  and  pious  Catholics. 

67  Attila,  ut  Priscus  historicus  refert,  extinctionis  suae  tsmnors, 
puellam  lldico  nomine,  decoram  valde,  sibi  matrimonium  post  innu- 
merabiles  uxores  .  .  .  socians.  Jornandes,  c.  49,  p.  683,  684.  He 
afterwards  adds,  (c.  50,  p.  686,)  Filii  Attilae,  quorum  per  licentiam 
libidmis  pcene  populus  fuit.  Polygamy  has  been  established  araon^, 
the  Tartars  of  every  age.  The  rank  of  plebeian  wives  is  regulated 
only  by  their  personal  charms  ;  and  the  faded  matron  prepares,  with- 
out 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  of  inheritance.     See  Genealogical  History,  p.  406,  407.  408 


4J*2  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALE 

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  tho  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  nos- 
trils, 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  funsral  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  bewaibd  their  valiant  leader  as  he 
Reserved,  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  ex- 
pired, Marcian  beheld  in  a  dream  the  bow  of  Attila  broken 
asunder:  and  the  report  maybe  allowed  to  prove,  how  sel* 
dom  the  image  of  that  formidable  Barbarian  was  absent  from 
the  mind  of  a  Roman  emperor.69 

The  revolution  which  subverted  the  empire  of  the  Huns, 
established  the  fame  of  Attila,  whose  genius  alone  had  sus- 
tained the  huge  and  disjointed  fabric.  After  his  death,  the 
boldest  chieftains  aspired  to  the  rank  of  kings  ;  the  most  pow- 

68  The  report  of  her  guilt  reached  Constantinople,  where  it  obtained 
<t  very  different  name  ;  and  Marcellinus  observes,  that  the  tyrant  of 
Europe  w!is  slain  in  the  night  by  the  hand,  and  the  knife,  of  a  woman. 
Corneille,  who  has  adapted  the  genuine  account  to  his  tragedy,  de- 
Jcribes  the  irruption  of  blood  in  forty  bombast  lines,  and  Attila  ex* 
jlaims,  with  ridiculous  fury, 

S'il  ne  veut  s'arreter,  {his  bis  3d,) 

(Dit-il)  on  mo  payera  ce  qui  m  en  va  couler. 

89  The  curious  circumstances  of  the  death  and  funeral  of  Attila  are 
»vlated  by  Jornandes,  (c.  4 ),  p.  683,  684,  685,)  and  were  probably 
uaiiscribed  from  Priscus. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  453 

erfu'.  kings  refused  to  acknowledge  a  superior  ;  and  the 
numerous  sons,  whom  so  many  various  mothers  bore  fc?  the 
deceased  monarch,  divided  and  disputed,  like  a  private  inherit- 
ance, 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  Gepidse,  the  sword 
of  the  Goths,  the  arrows  of  the  Huns,  the  Suevic  infantry, 
Ihe  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  Ar- 
daric, king  of  the  Gepidoe.  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  op- 
pressed 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  peo- 
ple of  Constantinople.  Attila  had  fondly  or  superstitiously 
believed,  that  Irnac,  the  youngest  of  his  sons,  was  destined  to 


10  See  Jornandes,  de  Rebus  Geticis,  c.  50,  p.  6S5,  686,  687,  688. 
His  distinction  of  the  national  arms  is  curious  and  important.  Nam 
ibi  admirandum  reor  fuisse  spectaculum,  ubi  cernere  erat  cunctis, 
pugnantem  Gothum  ense  furentem,  Gepidam  in  vulnere  suorum  cuncta 
tela  frangentem,  Suevum  pede,  Hunnum  sagitta  prsesumere,  Alanuro 
gravi,  Herulum  levi,  armatura,  aciem  instruere.  I  am  not  precisely 
uifonred  of  the  situation  of  the  River  Netad. 


154  TIIE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  tbeir  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  hngth  the  Igours  of  the  North,  issuing  from  the  cold 
Siberian  regions,  who  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 

Such  an  event  might  contribute  to  the  safety  of  the  Eastern 
empire,  under  the  reign  of  a  prince  who  conciliated  the  friend- 
ship, without  forfeiting  the  esteem,  of  the  Barbarians.  But 
the  emperor  of  the  West,  the  feeble  and  dissolute  Valentinian, 
who  had  reached  his  thirtj'-fifth  year  without  attaining  the  age 
of  reason  or  courage,  abused  this  apparent  security,  to  under- 
mine the  foundations  of  his  own  throne,  by  the  murder  of  the 
patrician  -ZEtius.  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  ;  * 
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. 

71  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,  (torn.  viii.  p.  3—31,  68—94,)  and  M.  de  Guig- 
nes,  by  his  extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language  and 
writers.     See  Hist,  des  Huns,  torn.  ii.  p.  315 — 319. 

72  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 

*  The  praises  awarded  by  Gibbon  to  the  character  of  j£tius  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  crime? 
or  treasons  of  JEtius;  but  his  position  at  the  time  of  his  murder  was  cer- 
tainly that  of  the  preserver  of  the  empire,  the  conqueror  of  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  the  barbarians :  it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  he  was  not  "  inno- 
cent "  of  any  treasonable  designs  against  Valentinian.  If  the  early  act." 
of  his  life,  the  introduction  of  the  Huns  into  Italy,  and  of  the  Vandal.1 
into  Africa,  vmrfi  among  the  proximate  causes  of  the  ruin  of  th«  <ampirfc 
bis  m  nder  was  the  signal  for  its  almost  immediate  downfall.  —  M 


OF    TOE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  455 

The  fame  of  ./Etius,  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  Val- 
entinian.     iEtius   himself,  supported  by    the  consciousness  of 
his   merit,  his  services,  and   perhaps  his  innocence,   seema  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  pro- 
claimed  his  suspicions,   he  neglected  his  safety  ;  and  from  a 
vain  confidence  that  the  enemy,  whom  he  despised,  was  inca- 
pable even  of  a  manly  crime,  he  rashly  ventured  his  person 
in  the  palace  of  Rome.     Whilst  he  urged,  perhaps  with  intem- 
perate   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   struggle   to    imitate    their 
master  ;  and  ^Etius,  pierced  with  a  hundred  wounds,  fell  dead 
in  the  royal  presence.     Boethius,  the  Praetorian  praefect,  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  .ZEtius,  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  con- 
tempt,  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  ycftar  motives  or  provocations ;  I  only  know, 


many  compliments  from  the  orthodox  clergy;  and  St.  Peter  Ohry- 
lologus  assured  her,  that  her  zeal  for  the  Trinity  had  been  recom- 
pensed by  an  august  trinity  of  children.  See  Tiliemont,  Hist,  det 
Emp.  torn.  vi.  p.  240. 


456  THE    DECLINE     LND    FALL 

that  you  have  acted  like  a  man  who  cuts  off  his  rignt  nasd 
with  his  left."  ™ 

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  pleas- 
ures 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  dissi- 
pated 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  obsti- 
nate 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  un- 
suspecting wife  of  Maximus  was  conveyed  in  her  litter  to  the 
Imperial  palace  ;  the  emissaries  of  her  impatient  lover  con- 
ducted her  to  a  remote  and  silent  bed-chamber ;  and  Valen- 
tinian 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  jEtius.     Two  of  these,  of  Barbarian  race, 


73  iEtium  Placidus  mactavit  semnir  aniens,  is  the  expression  of 
Sidonius,  (Panegyr.  Avit.  359.;  The  poet  knew  the  world,  and  was  not 
Inclined  to  natter  a  minister  who  had  injured  or  disgraced  Avitus  ana 
Majorian,  the  successive  heroes  of  hiu  song. 


Cr-    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  451 

were  persuaded  to  execute  a  sacred  and  honcrable  duty,  by 
punishing  with  death  the  assassin  of  their  patron ;  and  theii 
mtrepid  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  Herac- 
lius,  and  stabbed  the  emperor  to  the  heart,  without  the  leas/ 
opposition  from  his  numerous  train,  who  seemed  to  rejoice  iu 
the  tyrant's  death.  Such  was  the  fate  of  Valentinian  tho 
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 
owestionable  ;  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. 

As  early  as  the  time  of  Cicero  and  Varro,  it  was  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Roman  augurs,  that  the  twelve  vultures  which  Rom- 
ulus had  seen,  represented  the  twelve  ce/ituries,  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  cir- 
cumstance has  been  seriously  verified  in  the  downfall  of  the 


74  With  regard  to  the  cause  and  circumstances  of  the  deaths  of 
iEtius  and  Valentinian,  our  information  is  dark  and  imperfect.  Pro- 
copius  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  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  rive  or  six  Chronicles,  none  of 
which  were  composed  in  Rome  or  Italy ;  and  which  can  oidy  express, 
in  broken  sentences,  the  popular  rumors,  as  they  were  conveyed  to 
Gaul,  Spain,  Africa,  Constantinople,  or  Alexandria. 

75  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  According  to  Varro,  the  twelfth  century  would  expire  A.  D.  447 , 
but  the  uncertainty  of  the  true  sera  of  Rome  might  allow  some  lati- 
tude of  anticipation  or  delay.  The  poets  of  the  age,  Claudian  (da 
Bell.  Getico,  265)  and  Sidonius,  (in  Panegyr.  Avit.  357,)  may  be  ad- 
mitted as  fair  witnesses  of  Mie  popular  opinion. 


458  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Western  empire.  But  its  fall  was  announced  by  a  clearei 
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  mul- 
tiplied 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  Bagaudse  ;  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. 

Jam  reputant  annos,  interceptoque  volatfl 
Vulturis,  incidunt  properatis  ssoula  metis. 

Jam  prope  fata  tui  bissenas  Vulturis  alas 
Implebant ;  scis  namque  tuos,  scis,  Roma,  labores 

See  Dubos,  Hi3t.  Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  340—346. 

17  The  fifth  book  of  Salvian  is  filled  with  pathetic  lamentations  ar  i 
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 
Attda's  war,  (A.  D.  451.) 

78  The  Bagaudae  of  Spain,  who  fought  pitched  battles  with  the  Ro- 
man troops,  are  repeatedly  mentioned  in  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius. 
Salvian  has  described  their  distress  and  rebellion  in  very  forcible  lan- 
guage. Itaque  nomen  civium  Romanorum  .  .  .  nunc  ultro  repudia- 
tur  ac  fugitur,  nee  vile  tamen  sed  etiam  abominabile  pcene  habetur 
.  .  .  .  Et  hinc  est  ut  etiam  hi  quid  ad  Barbaros  non  confugiunt,  Bar- 
bari  tamen  esse  coguntur,  scilicet  ut  est  pars  magna  Hispanorum,  et 
Bon  minima  Gallorum  .  .  .  .  De  Bagaudis  nunc  mihi  sermo  est,  qui 
per  malos  judices  et  cruentos  spoliati,  afflicti,  necati  postquam  jiu 
Komanx  libertatis  amiserant,  etiam  honorem  Roman  i  nominis  perdi- 
derunt  ....  Vocamus  rabelles,  vocamus  perditos  quos  esse  com- 
puliimis  criminosos.     De  Gubernat.  Dei,  1.  v.  p.  158,  159. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

BACK    OF    ROME    BY    GENSERIC,    KING    OF    THE    VANIALS. tilH 

NAVAL    DEPREDATIONS. SUCCESSION    OF    THE    LAST    EMPEH* 

ORS    OF    THE    WEST,    MAXIMUS,  AVITUS,    MAJORIAN,  SEVERUS, 

ANTHEM  .US,    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  in- 
ternal prosperity  was  irretrievably  destroyed  by  the  separation 
of  Africa.  The  rapacious  Vandals  confiscated  the  patrimo- 
nial estates  of  the  senators,  and  intercepted  the  regular  sub- 
sidies, 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  sub- 
jects, 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  Medi- 
terranean. 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  navi- 
gation and  ship-building ;  he  animated  his  daring  Vandals  to 
embrace  a  mode  of  warfare  which  would  render  every  mari- 
time .country  accessible  to  their  arms  ;  the  Moors  and  Afri- 
cans 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 
af  Palermo,  and  the  frequent  descents  on  the  coast  of  Luca- 

459 


460  THE    DECLINE    fcND    FALL 

nia,  awakened  and  alarmed  the  mother  of  Valentinian,  and 
the  sister  of  Theodosius.  Alliances  were  formed  ;  and  arma- 
ments, expensive  and  ineffectual,  were  prepared,  for  the  de- 
struction 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  re- 
peatedly baffled  by  his  artful  delays,  ambiguous  promises, 
and  apparent  concessions ;  and  the  interposition  of  his  formi- 
dable confederate,  the  king  of  the  Huns,  recalled  the  emper- 
ors from  the  conquest  of  Africa  to  the  care  of  their  domestic 
safety.  The  revolutions  of  the  palace,  which  left  the  West- 
ern 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  J  was 
often  alleged  as  a  rare  example  of  human  felicity.  His 
6irth  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  man- 
ners, which  adorn  or  imitate  the  inestimable  gifts  of  genius 
and  virtue.  The  luxury  of  his  pal?ce  and  table  was  hos- 
pitable 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  Praetorian  prsefect  of  Italy ;  he  was 
twice  invested  with  the  consulship,  and  he  obtained  the  rank 
of  patrician.  These  civil  honors  were  not  incompatible  with 
\he  enjoyment  of  leisure  and  tranquillity  ;  his  hours,  according 


1  Sidonius  Apollinaris  composed  the  thirteenth  epistle  of  the 
second  book,  to  refute  the  paradox  of  his  friend  Serranus,  who  enter- 
tained 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. 

8  Clientum,  praevia,  pedisequa,  circumfusa,  populositas,  is  the  train 
which  Sidonius  himself  (1.  i.  epist.  9)  assigns  to  another  senator  of 
consular  rank. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMTIRE.  461 

to  the  demands  of  pleasure  or  reason,  were  accurately  dis- 
tributed by  a  water-clock  ;  and  this  avarice  of  time  may  be 
allowed  to  prove  the  sense  which  Maximus  entertained  of  hia 
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  con- 
sented 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  Em- 
peror 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  Fulpentius ;  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  din- 
ner ; "  a  well-known  allusion,  which  Fulyentius  afterwards 
repeated  as  an  instructive  lesson  for  princes  and  subjects. 

The  reign  of  Maximus  continued  about  three  months.  Hi3 
hours,  of  which  he  had  lost  the  command,  were  disturbed  by 
remorse,  or  guilt,  or  terror,  and  his  throne  wis  shaken  by  the 
seditions  of  the  soldiers,  the  people,  and  the  confederate  Bar- 
barians. The*  marriage  of  his  son  Paladius  with  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  late  emperor,  might  tend  to  establish  ih» 
hereditary  succession  of  his  family ;  but  the  violence  w.nou 


•  Districtus  ensis  cui  super  impia 

Cervice  pendet,  non  Siculce  dapes 
Dulcem  elaborabunt  saporem : 
Non  avium,  citharreque  cantus 
Somnum  rcducent. 

Horat.  Carm.  iii.  1. 

Sidonius  concludes  his  letter  with  the  story  of  Damocles,  which  Cie«"! 
'Tusculan.  v.  20,  21)  had  so  inimitably  told. 


162  THE    DECLINE    AND    FAJ.V 

he  offered  to  the  empress  Eudoxia,  could  proceed  only  front 
the  blind  impulse  of  lust  or  revenge  His  own  wife,  the 
^ause  of  these  tragic  events,  had  been  seasonably  removed 
oy  death;  and  the  widow  of  Valentinian  was  compelled  to 
violate  her  decent  mourning,  perhaps  her  real  grief,  and  tc 
submit  to  the  embraces  of  a  pi  esumptuous  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,  how- 
ever, Eudoxia  could  not  hope  to  obtain  any  effectual  assist- 
ance ;  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 
.0  improve  the  fair  opportunity  of  disguising  his  rapacious 
designs  by  the  specious  names  of  honor,  justice,  and  com- 
passion.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  precipi- 
tate 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  Ro- 
man, 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 

4  Notwithstanding  the  evidence  of  Procopius,  Evagrius,  Idatius, 
Marcellinus,  &c,  the  learned  Muratori  (Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  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  spac- 
ciar  voci  false."  But  his  argument,  from  the  interval  of  time  and 
place,  is  extremely  feeble.  The  figs  which  grew  near  Caitbage  were 
produced  to  the  senate  of  Rome  on  the  third  day. 


Ot    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  463 

tliey  had  inflicted  on  the  author  of  the  public  calamities  ;  and 
die  domestics  of  Eudoxia  signalized  their  zeal  in  the  service 
of  their  mistress.5 

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, 
me  mediation  of  Leo  was  glorious  to  himself,  and  in  some 
degree  beneficial  to  his  country.  But  Rome  and  its  inhabit- 
ants were  delivered  to  the  licentiousness  of  the  Vandals  and 
Moors,  whose  blind  passions  revenged  the  injuries  of  Car- 
thage. 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 
Jemples,  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 

*  Irifidoque  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. 

6  The  apparent  success  of  Pope  Leo  may  be  justified  by  Prosper, 
and  the  Historic/,  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  The  profusion  of  Catulus,  the  first  who  gilt  the  roof  of  the  Capi- 
tol, 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/.)  The  expressions 
of  Claudian  and  Rutilius  {luce  metalli  temiila  ....  fastigia  astris,  and 
eonfunduntque  vagos  delubra  micantia,  visus)  manifestly  prove,  that  thia 
splendid  covering  was  not  removed  either  by  the  Christians  or  the 
Goths,  (see  Donatus,  Roma  Antiqua,  1.  ii.  c  6,  p.  125.)    It  shou!4 


*64  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL 

of  the  Jewish  worship,8  the  gold  table,  and  the  gold  candle 
stick  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  dis- 
played 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  trans- 
ferred from  Rome  to  Carthage,  by  a  Barbarian  who  derived 
his  origin  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  These  ancient  mon- 
uments 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  trans- 
port, the  wealth  of  the  capital.  The  Imperial  ornaments  of 
the  palace,  the  magnificent  furniture  and  wardrobe,  the  side- 
boards 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  re- 
moved. Eudoxia  herself,  who  advanced  to  meet  her  friend 
and  deliverer,  soon  bewailed  the  imprudence  of  her  own  con- 
duct. She  was  rudely  stripped  of  her  jewels ;  and  the  un- 
fortunate 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 
•or  some  useful  or  agreeable  qualifications,  reluctantly  em- 


seem  that  the  roof  of  the  Capitol  was  decorated  with  gilt  statues,  and 
chariots  drawn  by  four  horses. 

8  The  curious  re  ider  may  consult  the  learned  and  accurate  treatise 
of  Hadrian  Reland,  de  Spoliis  Templi  Hierosolymitani  in  ArcCl  Titiano 
Romse  conspicuis,  in  12mo.    Trajecti  ad  Rhenum,  1716. 

9  The  vessel  which  transported  the  relics  of  the  Capitol  was  the  only 
ane  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. 


OT   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  465 

barked  on  board  the  fleet  of  Genseric  ;  and  their  distress 
was  aggravated  by  the  unfeeling  Barbarians,  who,  in  tho 
d  vision  of  the  booty,  separated  the  wives  from  their  husbands 
a  d  the  children  from  their  parents.  The  charity  of  Deogra 
lias,  bishop  of  Carthage,10  was  their  only  consolation  and  sup- 
port, lie  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  hos- 
pitals;  the  sick  were  distributed  in  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  Ins  strength,  and  a  tender  sympathy 
which  enhanced  the  value  of  his  services.  Compare  this 
scene  with  the  field  of  Carina?  ;  and  judge  between  Hannibal 
and  the  successor  of  St.  Cyprian.11 

The  deaths  of  iEtius  and  Valentinian  had  relaxed  the  ties 
which  held  the  Barbarians  of  Gaul  in  peace  and  subordina- 
tion. The  sea-coast  was  infested  by  the  Saxons;  the  Ale- 
manni  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  in  Gaul.  Avitus,12  the  stranger, 
whose  merit  was  so  nobly  rewarded,  descended  from  a  wealthy 
and  honorable  family  in  the  diocese  of  Auvergne.  The  con- 
vulsions of  the  times  urged   him  to  embrace,  with  the  same 


10  See  Victor  Vitensis,  de  Persecut.  Vandal.  1.  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  th(  mad  devotion  of  the  people. 

11  The  general  evidence  for  the  death  of  Maximus,  and  the  sack  of 
Rome  by  the  Vandals,  is  comprised  in  Sidonius,  (Panegyr.  Avit.  4  il-- 
450,)  Procopius,  (dc  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  4,  o,  p.  188,  189,  and  1.  ii. 
C.  9,  p.  255,)  Evagrius,  (I.  ii.  c.  7,)  Jornandes,  (de  Reb.  Geticis,  c.  4.5, 
p.  677,)  and  the  Chronicles  of  Idatius,  Prosper,  Marcellinus,  and  The- 
Dphanes,  under  the  proper  year. 

"  The  private  life  and  elevation  of  Avitus  must  be  deduced,  with 
becoming  suspicion,  from  the  panegyric  pronounced  by  Sidouhu 
/  pollinaris,  hi.-  subject,  and  his  son-in-law. 

74 


466  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ardor,  the  civil  and  military  professions :  and  the  indefatU 
gable  youth  blended  the  studies  of  literature  and  jurisprudence 
with  the  exercise  of  arms  and  hunting.  Thirty  years  of  hia 
lifp  were  laud-ably  spent  in  the  public  service;  he  alternately 
aisplayed  his  talents  in  war  and  negotiation  ;  and  the  soldiei 
of  iEtius,  after  executing  the  most  important  embassies,  was 
raised  to  the  station  of  Praetorian  prsefect  of  Gaul.  Either 
the  merit  of  Avitus  excited  envy,  or  his  moderation  was  desi- 
rous 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  lako 
about  two  miles  in  length,  and  the  villa  was  pleasantly  seated 
on  the  margin  of  the  lake.  The  baths,  the  porticos,  the  sum 
mer  and  winter  apartments,  were  adapted  to  the  purposes  of 
luxury  and  use  ;  and  the  adjacent  country  afforded  the  vari- 
ous 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  enioyed 
the  benefits  of  actual  tranquillity.  But  the  late  of  Gaul 
depended  on  the  Visigoths ;  and  the  Roman  general,  less 
Utentive  to  his  dignity  than  to  the  public  interest,  did  not  dis- 
dain 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 


13  After  the  example  of  the  younger  Pliny,  Sidonius  (1.  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.  OrxsuJt,  ^uwever,  the  notes 
of  Savaron  and  Sirmond. 

14  Sidonius  (1.  ii.  epist.  9)  has  described  the  country  life  of  the  Gal- 
lic 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 
tpharisterium,  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 
Bupper,  with  hot  meat  (boiled  and  roast)  and  wine.  During  the  in- 
termediate time,  the  company  slept,  took  the  air  on  horseback,  and 
uaed  the  warm  bath. 


3F    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  467 

solid  alliance  with  that  powerful  nation,  he  was  astonished  by 
the  intelligence,  that  the  emperor  Maxim  us  was  slain,  and 
that  Rome  had  been  pillaged  by  the  Vandals.  A  vacant 
throne,  which  he  might  ascend  without  guilt  or  danger,  tempt- 
ed his  ambition  ; 15  and  the  Visigoths  were  easily  persuade  1 
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  giv- 
ing an  emperor  to  the  West.  The  season  was  now  approach- 
ing, in  which  the  annual  assembly  of  the  seven  provinces  was 
held  at  Aries;  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. 

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  man- 
ners 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 

15  Seventy  lines  of  panegyric  (50/5 — 575)  which  describe  the  impor- 
tunity of  Theodoric  and  of  Gaul,  struggling  to  overcome  the  modest 
reluctance  of  Avitus,  are  blown  away  by  three  words  of  an  honest 
historian.  Ronianum  ambisset  Imperium,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  11,  ia 
torn.  ii.  p.  168.) 

16  Isidore,  archbishop  of  Seville,  who  was  himself  of  the  blood 
loyal  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  Thin  elaborate  description  (1.  i.  ep.  ii.  p.  2 — 7)  was  dictated  by 
lome  pol  'ical  motive.  •  It  was  designed  for  the  public  eye,  and  had 


468  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  majesty  of  his  appearance,  Theodoric  would  commana 
the  respect  of  those  who  are  ignorant  or  his  merit;  and 
although  he  is  born  a  prince,  his  merit  would  dignify  a  pri- 
vate station.  He  is  of  a  middle  stature,  his  body  appears 
rather  plump  than  fat,  and  in  his  well-prcportioned  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  fre- 
quently from  modesty  than  from  anger.  The  ordinary  distri- 
bution 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  devo- 
tion as  the  effect  of  habit  and  policy.  The  rest  of  the  morn- 
ing 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  occu- 
pies the  hall  of  audience  ;  bu  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  suc- 
cessively 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  lie  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  war- 
fare ;  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 

neen  shown  by  the  friends  of  Sidonius,  before  it  was  inserted  in  the 
collection  of  his  epistles.  The  first  book  was  published  separately. 
Soe  Tillemont,  Memoircs  Eccles.  torn.  xvi.  p.  2G4. 

'*  I  have  suppressed,  in  this  portrait  of  Theodoric,  several  minute 
euct  instances,  and  technical  phrases,  which  could  be  tolerable,  or  in- 
deed intelligible,  to  those  only  who,  like  the  contemporaries  of  Sido- 
nius had  fscquented  the  markets  where  naked  slaves  were  exposed  to 
sale,  rDubos,  Hist.  Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  4040 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  469 

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  remark* 
able  for  its  weight  than  for  the  brightness  and  curious  work- 
manship :  the  taste  is  gratified  without  the  help  of  foreign 
and  costly  luxury  ;  the  size  and  number  of  the  cups  of  wiue 
are  regulated  with  a  strict  regard  to  the  laws  of  temperance  j 
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 
frierds  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  apolications 
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." 

When  the  king  of  the  Visigoths  encouraged  Avitus  to  as- 
sume the  purple,  he  offered  his  person  and  his  forces,  as  a 
faithful  soldier  of  the  republic.21     The  exploits  of  Theodoric 

19  Videas  ibi  elegantiam  Graecam,  abundantiam  Gallicanam  ;  celer- 
itatem  Italam ;  pubheam  pompam,  privatam  diligentiam,  regiara, 
disciplinam. 

80  Tunc  etiam  ego  aliquid  obsecraturus  feliciter  vincor,  et  mihi 
tabula  perit  ut  causa  salvetur.  Sidonius  of  Auvergne  was  not  a  sub- 
ject of  Theodoric  ;  but  he  might  be  compelled  to  solicit  either  justice 
or  favor  at  the  court  of  Thoulouse. 

sl  Theodoric  himself  had  given  a  solemn  and  voluntary  promise  ol 
tidelity  which  was  understood  both  in  Gaul  and  Spain. 


470  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Boon  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  Vanda'.s  inlo 
Africa,  the  Suevi,  who  had  fixed  their  kingdom  in  Gallicia, 
aspired  to  the  conquest  of  Spain,  and  threatened  to  extinguish 
the  fjeble  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  Thou- 
louse."  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  tne 
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,  en- 
countered 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 


Roniae  sum,  te  (luce,  Amicus, 


Principe  te,  .Miles. 

Siilon.  Panegyr.  Av'.l.  511. 

**  Quaeque  sinft  pelagi  jactat  se  Bracava  dives. 

Auson.  de  Claris  Urbibus,  p.  945. 
From  the  design  of  the  king  of  the  Suevi,  it  is  evident  that  the  /lari- 
gation  from  the  ports  of  Gallicia  to  the  Mediterranean  waskr.o  *vn  and 
practised.     The  ships  of  Braeara,  or  Braga,  cautiously  steered  oloug 
the  coast,  without  daring  to  lose  themselves  in  the  Atlantic. 


OF    THK    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  471 

ucean ;  but  the  obstinacy  of  the  winds  opposed  his  flight :  ho 
was  delivered  to  his  implacable  rival  ;  and  Rechiarius,  who 
neither  desired  nor  expected  mercy,  received,  with  manl} 
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  re- 
treat 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 
nad  seated  on  the  throne  of  the  Western  empire.23 

The  pressing  solicitations  of  the  senate  and  people  per- 
suaded 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  com- 
position, 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,  ex- 
aggerates 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  extin- 
guished his  amorous  inclinations  ;  and  he  is  accused  of  insult- 
ing, with  indiscreet  and  ungenerous  raillery,  the  husbands 
whose  wives  he  had  seduced  or  violated.25     But  the  Romans 


n  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.  67-5,  676,  677)  has  expatiated,  with 
pleasure,  on  the  Gothic  victory. 

'u  In  one  of  the  porticos  or  galleries  belonging  to  Trajan's  library, 
among  the  statues  of  famous  writers  and  orators.  Sidon.  Apoll.  1.  ix. 
episf.  16,  p.  284.     Carm.  viii.  p.  350. 

26  Luxuriose  agere  volens  a  senatorihus  projectus  est,  is  the  conci»« 
•xpression  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  (1.  ii.  c.  xi.  in  torn.  ii.  p.  168.)    "An 


472  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

were^ot  inclined  either  to  excuse  his  faults  or  'o  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  weak- 
ness 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  formi- 
dable ; 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  trie  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  arm- 
old  Chronicle  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  649)  mentions  an  indecent  jest  of  Avitu3, 
which  seems  more  applicable  to  Rome  than  to  Treves. 

"6  Sidonius  (Panegyr.  Anthem.  302,  &c.)  praises  the  royal  birth  of 
Ricimer,  the  lawful  heir,  as  he  chooses  to  insinuate,  both  of  the  Gothia 
end  Suevic  kingdoms. 

27  See  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius.  Jomandes  (c.  xliv.  p.  6761  styles 
him,  with  some  truth,  virum  egregium,  et  pene  tunc  in  Italia  ad  ex- 
el  citum  singularem. 

28  Parceus  innocentia?  Aviti,  is  the  compassionate,  hut  contemptu- 
ous, language  of  Victor  Tunnunensis,  (in  Chron.  apud  Scaliger  Euseb.) 
In  another  place,  he  calls  him,  vir  totius  simpliritatis.  This  commen- 
dation is  more  humble,  but  it  is  more  solid  and  sincere,  than  *h.t 
praises  of  Sidonius. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  473 

ing  tne  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  executiouer. 
arrested  him  on  the  road  ;  yet  his  remains  were  decently 
transported  to  Brivas,  or  Brioude,  in  his  native  province,  ana 
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  samo 
time,  the  disappointment  of  his  public  and  private  expecta- 
tions. 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  incum- 
bent on  him  to  expiate,  by  a  new  tribute  of  flattery  to  the  suc- 
ceeding emperor.31 

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  con- 
temporaries, and  of  posterity ;  and  these  praises  may  be 
strongly  expressed  in  the  words  of  a  judicious  and  disinter- 
ested 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  Ro- 
mans." 32     Such  a  testimony  may  justify  at  least  the  panegyric 

99  He  suffered,  as  it  is  supposed,  in  the  persecution  of  Diocletian, 
(Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  v.  p.  279,  696.)  Gregory  of  Tours, 
his  peculiar  votary,  has  dedicated  to  the  glory  of  Julian  the  Martyr  an 
entire  book,  (dc  Gloria  Martyrum,  1.  ii.  in  Max.  Bibliot.  Patrum,  torn, 
xi.  p.  861 — 871,)  in  which  he  relates  about  fifty  foolish  miracles  per- 
formed by  his  relics. 

3U  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  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  (1.  ii.  c.  7)  could  suppose,  that 
he  died  of  the  plague. 

31  After  a  modest  appeal  to  the  examples  of  his  brethren,  Virgil  and 
Horace,  Sidonius  honestly  confesses  the  debt,  and  promises  payment. 

Sic  mihi  iliverso  nuper  sub  Mnrte  cadenti 

Jiissisti  placido  Victor  ut  ess»m  animo. 
Sorviat  orgo  lihi  aervati  lingua  poutJB, 

Atque  mete  vita;  laus  tua  ait  protium. 

Sidon.  Apoll.  Carm   ir.  p.  308. 

See  Dnbos,  Hist.  Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  448,  &c. 

M  The  words  of  Procopius  deserve  to  be  transcribed ;  cvto$  y'no  & 
MHioQtroq  £i'fixarT<x$  Tot)?  TtamoTi  ' Pwuaiwr  ^t^ufK^.JVXOTas  untQaiQtor 
i5»T$   jtufrj  •  and  afterwards,  ar^o  r«  pi*  t<'«   rut);  v  tijxoovj   ^i»<}ioi 

74* 


474  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  Sicbnius ;  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  II  lyrian  frontier.  He  gave  hia 
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  iEtius 
to  the  tempting  offer  of  an  insidious  court.  His  son,  the  future 
emperor,  who  was  educated  in  the  profession  of  arms,  dis- 
played, from  his  early  youth,  intrepid  courage,  premature  wis- 
dom, and  unbounded  liberality  in  a  scanty  fortune.  He  followed 
the  standard  of  /Etius,  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  iEtius,  was 
recalled  and  promoted  :  and  his  intimate  connection  with  Count 
Ricimer  was  the  immediate  step  by  which  he  ascended  tho 
throne  of  the  Western  empire.  During  the  vacancy  that  suc- 
ceeded 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 

yfyoiio?,  (fo^nic  Hi  t'u  term's  noXffilnvc,  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  7,  p. 
19 1  ;)  a  concise  but  comprehensive  definition  of  royal  virtue 

33  The  Panegyric  was  pronounced  at  Lyons  before  the  ei  I  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  or  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  She  pressed  his  immediate  death,  and  was  scarcely  satisfied  with 
his  disgrace.  It  should  seem  that  iEtius,  like  Belisarius  and  Marl* 
boiough,  was  governed  by  his  wife ;  whose  fervent  piety,  though  it 
might  work  miracles,  (Gregor.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  7,  p.  162,)  was  not  in- 
compatible with  base  and  sanguinary  counsels. 

33  The  Alemanni  had  passed  the  Rha;tian  Alps,  and  were  defeated 
in  the  Campi  Canini,  or  Valley  of  Bellinzonc,  through  which  the  Tesin 
Hows,  in  its  descent  from  Mount  Adula  to  the  Lago  Maggiore,  vCiu- 
ver.  Italia  Antiq.  torn.  i.  p.  100;  101.)     Tliis  boasted  victory  over  nine 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMP'RE.  475 

invested  with  the  purple  at  Ravenna :  and  the  enistie  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  selfch 
ingratitude,  to  support  the  weight  of  those  labors,  which  weie 
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,2,1  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  govern- 
ment ;  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 

hundred  Barbarians  (P&negyr.  Majorian.  373,  &c.)  betrays  the  extreme 
weakness  of  Italy. 

36  Imperatorem  me  factum,  P.  C.  electionis  vestrse  arbitrio,  et  for- 
tissimi  exercitds  ordi.iatione  agnoscite,  (Novell.  Majorian.  tit  iii.  p. 
3t,  ad  Calcem.  Cod  Theodos.)  Sidonius  proclaims  the  unau-mous 
voice  of  the  empire  :  - 

Poslquiim  ordine  voliis 

Ordo  omnis  roguum  tlederat ;  pltbs,  curia,  miles, 
Et  collega  simul.  3b(j. 

This  language  is  ancient  and  constitutional ;  and  we  may  observe, 
that  the  clergy  were  not  yet  considered  as  a  distinct  order  of  tne  state. 

37  Either  dtlationes,  or  delationcs,  would  afford  a  tolerable  leading  ; 
3ut  there  is  much  more  sense  and  spirit  in  the  latter,  to  whicl .  I  have 
therefore  given  the  preference. 

38  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,  Sido- 
oius  i3  fearful  and  obscure  ;  he  describes  the  twelve  Caesars,  the  nations 
of  Africa,  &c,  that  he  may  escape  the  dangerous  name  of  Avitu*, 
(305—369.) 


176  THE    DECLINE    AMD    FALL 

senator,  and  wro  is  anxious  that  you  should  neve;  repen*  of 
llie  judgment  which  you  have  pronounced  in  his  fa  or."  The 
emperor,  who,  amidst  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  wot  d,  revived 
the  ancient  language  of  law  and  liberty,  wnich  Trajan  would 
not  have  disclaimed,  must  have  derived  those  generous  senti- 
ments 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 

The  private  and  public  actions  of  Majorian  are  very  imper- 
fectly known  :  but  his  laws,  remarkable  for  an  original  cast 
of  thought  and  expression,  faithfully  represent  the  charactei 
f  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 
relievo  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  abso- 
lute 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  him- 
self 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 


39  See  the  whole  edict  or  epistle  of  Majorian  to  the  senate,  (Novell 
tit.  iv.  p.  34.)  Yet  the  expression,  regtmm  nostrum,  bears  some  taint 
of  the  age,  and  does  not  mix  kindly  with  the  word  reapublica,  which 
he  frequently  repeats. 

40  See  the  laws  of  Majorian  (they  are  only  nine  in  number,  but 
very  long,  and  various)  at  the  end  of  the  Theodosian  Code,  N3velL 
L  iv.  p.  32—37.  Godefroy  has  not  given  any  commentary  on  these 
additional  pieces. 

*'  Fessas  provincialium  van  A  atque  multiplici  tributoruro  exact)one 
fortunas,  et  extraordinariis  nscBJiurn  solutionum  onerilus  attritas,  AC 
Novell.  Majorian.  tit.  iv.  p.  34. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  177 

emperor  himself,  or  of  the  Praetorian  praefect".  The  favor te 
servants,  who  obtainnd  such  irregular  powers,  were  insolep*- 
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 
Bum  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  cor- 
porations, (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  func- 
tions. 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  peoj 'e  tc 
elect,  in  a  full  and  free  assembly,  some  man  of  discretion  and 
integrity,  who  would  dare  to  assert  their  privileges,  to  rcpre- 


42  The  learned  Greaves  (vol.  i.  p.  329,  330,  331)  has  found,  by  a 
diligent  inquiry,  that  aurci  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  lolidm,  from  its  deficiency,  not  in  the  weight,  but  in  the  stan- 
dard. 


478  THE    DECLINi.    4.ND    FALL 

Bent  their  grievances,  to  protect  the  poor  from  the  tyranny  of 
the  rich,  and  to  inform  the  eirperor  of  the  abuses  that  were 
committed  under  the  sanction  of  his  name  and  authority. 

The  spectator,  who  casts  a  mournful  view  over  ffie  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  tem- 
pest 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  tem- 
ples, 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  monu- 
ments 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  peuiions 
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  uf  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 


**  The  whole  edict  (Novell.  Majorian.  tit.  vi.  p.  35)  is  curious. 
•«  Antiquai'um  tedium  dissipatur  speciosa  constructio  ;  et  ut  aliquid 
reparetur,  magna  diruuntur.  Hinc  jam  occasio  nascitur,  ut  etiam  unus- 
quisque  privatum  atditieium  constr uens,  per  gratiam  judicum  .  .  .  . 
prafTumere  de  publicis  locis  neeessaria,  et  transfcrre  non  dubitet,"  &c. 
With  equal  zeal,  but  with  less  power,  Petrarch,  in  the  fourte  onth  cen- 
tury, repeated  the  sam^  complaints.  (Vie  de  Petrarque,  torn.  i.  p-  326, 
827.)     If  I  prosecute  this  history,   I  shall  rot  he  unmiiidf'J  ^f  *ho 


OF    THE     ROMAN    EMPIRE.  470 

cognizance  of  the  extreme  cases  which  might  justify  the  de- 
struction of  an  ancient  edifice  ;  imposed  a  fine  of  fifty  pounds 
of  gold  (two  thousand  pounds  sterling)  on  every  magistrate 
who  sh  ula  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  am- 
putation of  both  their  hands.  In  the  last  instance,  the  legislator 
might  seem  to  forget  the  proportion  of  guiit  and  punishment, 
but  his  zeal  arose  from  a  generous  principle,  and  Major  an 
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  conse- 
crated their  virginity  to  Christ,  were  restrained  from  taking 
ihe  veil  till  they  had  reached  their  fortieth  year.  Widows 
onder  that  age  were  compelled  to  form  a  second  alliance  within 
ihe  term  of  five  years,  by  the  forfeiture  of  half  their  wealth 
lo  their  nearest  relations,  or  to  the  state.  Unequal  marriages 
were  condemned  or  annulled.  The  punishment  of  confisca- 
tion and  exile  was  ueemed  so  inadequate  to  the  guilt  of  adul- 
tery, that,  if  the  criminal  returned  to  Italy,  he  might,  by  the 
express  declaration  of  Majorian,  be  slain  with  impunity.44 

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  mosi 
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 ; 

decline  and  fall  of  the  city  of  Rome  ;  an  interesting  object,  to  which 
my  plan  was  originally  confined. 

44  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  re\  ealed  by  uu>  suc- 
cessor Severufc,  (Novell.  Sever,  tit.  i.  p.  37.) 

44  Sidon.  Panegyr   Majoriar,  335—440 


480  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  Ma- 
orian.     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  genera- 
tion ;  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   unvvarlike  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  confed- 
erates, 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  Gepidse,  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 
«<taif,  the   depth  of  the   ice,  or   snow,  and   encouraging  the 
Scythians,  who  complained  of  the  extreme  cold,  by  the  cheer- 
ful assurance,  that  they  should  be  satisfied  with  the  heat  of 
Africa.     The  citzens  of  Lyons   had   presumed  to  shut  their 
gales  ;  they  soon  implored,  and  experienced,  the  clemency  of 
Majorian.    He  vanquished  Theodoric  in  the  field  ;  and  admitted 


«  The  review  of  the  army,  and  passage  of  the  Alps,  contain  tne 
mobt  tolerable  passages  of  the  Panegyric,  (470 — 552.)  M.  de  Buat 
(Hist,  des  Peuples,  &c,  torn.  viii.  p.  49— 55)  is  a  more  satisfactory 
loiument.itor,  than  either  Savaron  or  Sirmond. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  4fc*l 

U>  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  Ba- 
gau«(se,  who  had  escaped,  or  resisted,  the  oppression  of  formei 
reigns,  were  disposed  to  confide  in  the  virtues  of  Majorian. 
His  camp  was  filled  with  Barbarian  allies  ;  his  throne  waa 
Kuppurted  by  the  zeal  of  an  affectionate  people  ;  but  tli6 
emperor  had  foreseen,  that  it  was  impossible,  without  a  mar- 
itime power,  to  achieve  the  conquest  of  Africa.  In  the  first 
1'unic  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  circum- 
stances 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  Ra- 
venna 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  dis- 
guising the  color  of  his  hair,  to  visit  Carthage,  in  the  character 


47  Tie  ut<  onXois  t'u  81  ?.i>yuic,  is  the  just  and  rorcible  distinction  of 
Priseus,  (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  pro- 
claimed in  Gallicia ;  and  are  marked  in  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius. 

48  Florus,  1.  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  Intcrea  duplici  texis  dum  littore  classem 
Inferno  superoque  mari,  cadit  omnis  in  aequor 
Sylva  tibi,  &.c. 

Sidon.  Tanegyr.  Majorian,  441 — 4fl. 

The  number  of  ships,  which  Priseus  fixed  at  300,  is  magnified,  by  an 
Indefinite  comparison  with  the  fieets  of  Agamemnon,  Xerxes,  and  Au- 
gustus. 


482  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  his  own  ambassador:  and  Genseric  was  afterwards  mor- 
tified by  the  discovery,  that  he  had  entertained  and  dismissed 
the  emperor  of  the  Romans.  Such  an  anecdote  may  be  re- 
jected as  an  improbable  fiction  ;  but  it  is  a  fiction  which  would 
not  have  been  imagined,  unless  in  the  life  of  a  hero.60 

Without   the   help  of  a  personal   interview,   Genseric   was 
sufficiently    acquainted    with    the    genius    and    designs    of   his 
adversary.      He    practised  his   customary  arts  of  fraud   and 
delay,   but  he   practised  them  without  success.     His  applica- 
tions for  peace  became  each  hour  more  submissive,  and  per- 
haps 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;61  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,5'2  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  pow- 
erful  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  pieparations  of 
three   years   were   destroyed   in  a  single  day.53     After  this 

50  Procopius  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  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  lock 
w  \th  a  black  color. 
61  Spoliisque  potitus 

Immensis,  robur  luxti  jam  perdidit  omne, 
Quo  valuit  dum  pauper  erat. 

Panegyr.  Majorian,  330. 

lie  afterwards  applies  to  Genseric,  unjustly,  as  it  should  seem,  the 
vice~>  of  his  subjects. 

52  He  burnt  the  villages,  and  poisoned  the  springs,  (Priscus,  p.  42. 
Dubos  (Hist.  Critique,  torn.  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. 
Ehnw's  Travels,  p.  139. 

M  Idatius,  who   was  safe  in  Gallicia  from  the  power  of  liicinaer, 
bold'.y  and  honestly  declares,  Yandali  per  proditores  admnniti,  &c, 
h©  dmcmblcs,  however,  the  name  of  the  traitor. 


OF    THE    KOMAN    EMPIRE.  483 

event,  the  behavior  of  the  two  antagonists  showed  them  sjpe- 
rior  to  their  fortune.  The  Vandal,  instead  of  being  elatea 
by  .this  accidental  victory,  immediately  renewed  his  soiicilu- 
tions  for  peace.  The  emperor  of  the  West,  who  was  capable 
of  forming  great  designs,  and  of  supporting  heavy  disappoint- 
ments 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  sedi- 
tion, 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  ho 
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  Majo- 
rian 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  de- 
grading  the  majesty  of  his  rank.56 

64  Procop.  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  8,  p.  194.  The  testimony  of  E<i«- 
tius  is  fair  and  impartial :  "  Majorian um  de  Galliis  Romam  redeuntem, 
et  Romano  imperio  vel  nomini  res  necessarias  ordinantem  ;  Richimtt 
livorc  percitus,  ot  invidorum  consilio  fultus,  fraude  iiiterficit  cireum- 
vcr.tum.'  Some  read  t-uevorum,  and  I  am  unwilling  to  efface  eithe* 
of  the  words,  as  they  express  the  different  accomplices  who  united  jn 
the  conspiracy  against  M  ijorian. 

46  See  the  Epigrams  of  Ennodius,  No.  exxxv.  inter  Sinnond. 
Opera,  torn.  i.  p.  1903.  It  is  flat  and  obscure  ;  but  Ennodius  was 
made  bishop  of  Pavia  fifty  years  after  the  death  of  Majorian,  and  Ids 
piiise  deserves  credit  and  regard. 

48  Sidonius  gives  a  tedious  account  (1.  i.  cpist.  xi.  p.  25— 3 1}  sf  a 


484  THE    DECLINE    AND    TALL 

It  was  not,  perhaps,  without  some  regret,  that  Ricimor  sac- 
rificed his  friend  to  the  interest  of  his  ambition  :  but  ho  re- 
solved, in  a  second  choice,  to  avoid  the  imprudent  preference 
of  superior  virtue  and  merit.  At  his  command,  the  obsequi- 
ous senate  of  Rome  bestowed  the  Imperial  title  on  Libiua 
Severus,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  the  West  without  emerg- 
ing from  the  obscurity  of  a  private  condition.  History  has 
scarcely  deigned  to  notice  his  birth,  his  elevation,  his  charac- 
ter, or  his  death.  Severus  expired,  as  soon  as  his  life  became 
inconvenient  to  his  patron ; 51  and  it  would  be  useless  to  dis- 
criminate his  nominal  reign  in  the  vacant  interval  of  six  years, 
between  the  death  of  Majorian  and  the  elevation  of  Anthe- 
mius.  During  that  period,  the  government  was  in  the  hands 
of  Ricimer  alone  ;  and,  although  the  modest  Barbarian  dis 
claimed  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  gen- 
erals, Marcellinus  and  ^Egidius,  maintained  their  allegiance  to 
the  republic,  by  rejecting,  with  disdain,  the  phantom  which  he 
styled  an  emperor.  Marcellinus  still  adhered  to  the  old  reli- 
gion ;  and  the  devout  Pagans,  who  secretly  disooeyed  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  mili- 
tary talents  had  recommended  him  to  the  esteem  and  confi- 
dence of  the  great  iEtius,  in  whose    ruin   he   was   involved. 


supper  at  Aries,  to  whicl  he  was  invited  by  Majorian,  a  short  time 
before  his  death.  lie  had  no  intention  of  praising  a  deceased  em- 
peror :  but  a  casual  disinterested  remark,  "  Subrisit  Augustus  ;  ut 
erat,  auctoritate  servata,  cum  se  comnumioni  dedisset,  joci  plenus," 
outweighs  the  six  hundred  lines  of  his  venal  panegyric. 

67  Sidonius  (Panegyr.  Anthem.  317)  dismisses  him  to  heaven:  — 

AuxiTHt  Aii.'usIih  ii    in. a'  le^'L-  Skviiu. 
Divorum  miuu-rum. 

And  an  old  list  of  the  emperors,  composed  about  the  tune  of  Justin- 
ian, praises  his  piety,  and  tixes  his  residence  at  Home,  ^Sirmond.  Not 
ad  Sidon.  p.  Ill,  112.) 

48  Tillemont,  who  is  always  scandalized  by  the  virtues  of  infidels, 
attributes  this  advantageous  portrait  of  Marcellinus  (which  Suidw 
has  preserved)  to  the  partial  zeal  of  some  Pagan  historian,  (Hist,  den 
Empereurs,  torn.  vL  p.  330.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  485 

B\  a  timely  flight,  Marcellinus  escaped  the  rage  of  Va'.eu 
tinian,  and  boldly  asserted  his  liberty  amidst  the  convulsion* 
of  the  Western  empire.  His  voluntary,  or  reluctant,  submis- 
sion to  the  authority  of  Majorian,  was  rewarded  by  the  gov- 
ernment 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,  wero 
tempted  to  revolt  by  the  artful  liberality  of  Ricimer.  At  the 
head  of  a  band  of  faithful  followers,  the  intrepid  Marcellinuj 
occupied  the  province  of  Dalmatia,  assumed  the  title  of  patri 
cian  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  Ital) 
and  of  Africa.59  yEgidius,  the  master-general  of  Gaul,  whi 
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  pre- 
vented by  the  arts  of  Ricimer,  and  the  arms  of  the  Visigoths, 
from  marching  to  the  gates  of  Rome,  he  maintained  his  inde- 
pendent sovereignty  beyond  the  Alps,  and  rendered  the  name 
of  iEgidius  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  yEgidius  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 

l*  Procopius  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  6,  p.  191.  In  various  circum- 
Btances  of  the  lite  of  Marcellinus,  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  the  Greek 
historian  with  the  Latin  Chronicles  of  the  times. 

60  I  must  apply  *o  /Egidius  the  praises  which  Sidonius  (Panegyr- 
Majorian,  553)    bestows   on    a   nameless   master-general,   who    com 
manded   the  rear-guard  of   Majorian.     Idatius,  from  public  report, 
commends  his  Christian  piety  ;  and  Priscus  mentions  (p.  42)  his  mili- 
tary virtues. 

61  Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  12,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  168.  The  Pcre  Daniel,  wnose 
ideas  were  superficial  and  modern,  has  started  some  objections  against 
the  story  of  Childeric,  (Hist,  de  France,  torn.  i.  Preface  Historiquo 
^.  Ixxvii.,  &c  :)  but  they  have  been  fairly  satisfied  by  Dubos,  (Hist 


486  THE    DF.CL1NE    AND    FALL 

The  kingdom  of  Italy,  a  name  to  which  the  Western  em- 
pire was  gradually  reduced,  was  afflicted,  under  the  reign  o' 
kicimer,  by  the  incessant  depredations  of  the  Vandal  pirates.6* 
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  im- 
portant expeditions.  His  designs  were  concealed  witn  impen- 
etrable 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  Barba- 
rian, with  pious  arrogance  :)  they  will  transport  us  to  the 
guilty  coast,  whose  inhabitants  have  provoked  the  divine  jus- 
tice  ;  "  but  if  Genseric  himself  deigned  co  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 
I  he  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 
r.i-lerity  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  Suf- 
ficient number  of  horses,  they  had  no  sooner  landed,  than 
they  swept  the  dismayed  country  with  a  body  of  light  cavalry. 

Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  4G0 — 510",)  and  by  two  authors  who  disputed  the 
prize  of  the  Academy  of  Soissors,  (p.  131 — 177,  310 — 339.)  With  regard 
to  the  term  of  C'hilderic's  exile,  it  is  necessary  cither  to  prolong  the  life 
of  .Egidius  beyond  the  date  assigned  by  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius ;  or  to 
correct  the  text  of  Gregory,  by  reading  quarto  anno,  instead  of  octavo. 
62  The  naval  war  of  Genseric  is  described  by  Priscus,  (Exccrpta  Le- 
gation, p.  42,)  Procopius,  (dc  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  5,  p.  189,  190.  and 
C.  22,  p.  228,)  Victor  Vitensis,  (de  Persecut.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  17,  and 
Ruinart,  p.  467 — 481,)  and  in  the  three  panegyrics  of  Sidonius,  whose 
thronological  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  pas- 
*ige.  the  poet  seems  inspired  by  his  subject,  and  expresses  a  strong 
>dea  x)y  a  lively  image  :  — 

Hinc  Viimlnliis  host  is 

Urget;  «t  in  nostrum  numerosa  classe  (jtioUtimia 

Militat  exciilium  ;  conversoquc  online  Fati 

Ton  Hi. i  Cuucuseos  iul'ert  mini  Uyrsa  lurorei 


OF    THE    ROIuAN    EPIPrKE.  487 

Vet,  notwithstanding  the  example  of  their  king,  ihe  native 
Vandals  and  Alani  insensibly  declined  this  toilsome  and  peril* 
ous  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 
iieea  acquired  by  the  valor  of  their  fathers.  Their  placo 
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  coun- 
try, 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. 

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 
die  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  re- 
futed or  satisfied,  demanded  a  just  proportion  of  the  Imperial 
patrimony.  An  adequate,  or  at  least  a  valuable,  compensa- 
tion, was  offered  by  the  Eastern  emperor,  to  purchase  a  neces- 
sary 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  pro- 
tecting 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 
division  of  the  two  empires  had  alienated  their  interest  and 
heir  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  diffi- 
culties of  his  situation,  was  at  length  reduced  to  address  tha 
throne  of  Constantinople,  in  the  humble  language  ot  a  sub- 
ject ;  and  Italy  submitted,  as  the  price  and  seeurit)  of  the 
alliance,  to  accent  a  master  from  the  choice  of  the  emperoj 


4S8  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  the  East.63  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter, 
or  even  of  the  present  volume,  to  continue  the  distinct  serie? 
of  the  Byzantine  history  ;  but  a  concise  view  of  the  reign  ano 
character  of  the  emperor  Leo,  may  explain  the  last  efforts 
lhat  were  attempted  to  save  the  fairing  empire  of  the  West.64 
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  prom- 
ise, 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  patri- 
cian Aspar  might  have  placed  the  diadem  on  his  own  head, 
if  he   would    have   subscribed  the   Nicene   creed.67     During 

63  The  poet  himself  is  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  distress  of 
Rieiiiier :  — 

Prtetcrea  invictus  Ricimer,  quern  pn'ilica  fatu 
Respiciunt,  propria  solus  vix  JUarte  repellit 
Piratam  per  rum  vaguui. 

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. 

S4  The  original  authors  of  the  reigns  of  Marcian,  Leo,  and  Zeno, 
*re  reduced  to  some  imperfect  fragments,  whose  deficiencies  must  bo 
supplied  from  the  more  recent  compilations  of  Theophanes,  Zonaras, 
and  (.'edrenus. 

64  St.  Pulcheria  died  A.  D.  453,  four  years  before  her  nominal  hus- 
band ;  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  Tillcmont,  Mcmoires  Eccles.  torn. 
17.  p.  131 — 184. 

00  See  Procopius,  d»  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  4,  p.  185. 

87  from  this   disability  of    Aspar  to   ascend  the  throne,  it  »uay  bo 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  4S& 

three  generations,  the  armies  of  the  East  were  successively 
commanded  by  his  father,  by  himself,  and  ty  his  son  Ardabu"' 
rius ,  his  Barbarian  guards  formed  a  military  force  that  over- 
awed the  palace  and  the  capital ;  and  the  liberal  distribution 
of  his  immense  treasures  rendered  Aspar  as  popular  as  hs 
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.08  This  emperor,  the  first  of  the  name  of  Leo, 
has  been  distinguished  by  the  title  of  the  Great ;  from  a  suc- 
cession 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  re- 
sisted 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  prsefect  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  under- 
mined the  authority,  and  prepared  the  disgrace,  of  the  family 


inferred  that  the  stain  of  Heresy  was  perpetual  and  indelible,  while 
that  of  Barbarisyn  disappeared  in  the  second  generation. 

6H  Theophanes,  p.  95.  This  appears  to  be  the  first  origin  of  a  cere- 
mony, which  all  the  Christian  princes  of  the  world  have  since  adopted ; 
and  from  which  the  clergy  have  deduced  the  most  formidable  conse- 
quences. 

69  Cedrenus,  (p.  345,  346,)  who  was  conversant  with  the  writers  of 
hettei  days,  has  preserved  the  remarkable  words  of  Aspar,  UuotXtv, 
lov  tuiiti/i'  T>tv  uhwoy'iSa  neoi^fiXtjuhoy  ov  xq?/  dtaxpevdto&ai. 

70  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  tl  eir  fierce  independ. 
ence  about  tvo  hundred  and  thirty  years. 

75 


490  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

of  -Asptu  his  mild  and  cautious  behavior  restrained  them 
from  any  rash  and  desperate  attempts,  which  might  have 
been  fata,  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 
,.o  favor  the  cause  of  Genseric.  When  Leo  had  delivered 
himself  from  that  ignominious  servitude,  he  listened  to  tho 
complaints  of  the  Italians  ;  resolved  to  extirpate  the  tyranny 
of  the  Vandals  ;  and  declared  his  alliance  with  his  colleague, 
Anthom'us,  whom  he  solemnly  invested  with  the  diadem  and 
purple  of  the  West. 

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  emper- 
ors.71 But  the  merit  of  his  immediate  parents,  their  honors, 
and  their  riches,  rendered  Anthemius  one  of  the  most  illustri- 
ous 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  prefect,  who  protected,  with  so 
much  ability  and  success,  the  infant  reign  of  Theodosius. 
The  grandson  of  the  prefect  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  ob- 
tained 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  sub- 
sequent 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  Constan- 


Tali  tu  civls  ab  urbe 


Procopio  genitore  micas  ;  cui  pnsca  propago 

Augustis  venit  a  proavis. 
The  poet  (Sidon.  Pauegyr.  Anthem.  67—306)  then  proceeds  to  relate 
ihe  private  life  and  fortunes  of  the  future  emperor,  with  which  he 
ff\vmt  have  been  very  imperfectly  acquainted. 
■"  Sidonius  discovers,  with  tolerable   ingenuity,  that   this   diaap- 


OF    THB    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  491 

m>aple,  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  waa 
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  busi- 
ness was  suspended  during  this  festival ;  the  courts  of  justice 
were  shut ;  the  streets  of  Rome,  the  theatres,  the  places  of 
pubnc  and  private  resort,  resounded  with  hymameal  songa 
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,  Sido- 
nius,  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  approach- 
ing, 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  pro- 
nounced, with  assurance  and  success,  a  panegyric  which  ie 
still  extant ;  and  whatever  might  be  the  imperfections,  eithei 
of  the  subject  or  of  the  composition,  the  welcome  flatterei 
was  immediately  rewarded  with  the  prefecture  of  Rome  ;  u 
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 

pointment  added  new  lustre  to  the  virtues  of  Anthemius,  (210,  &e.,> 
who  declined  one  sceptre,  and  reluctantly  accepted  another,  (22,  &o.) 

73  The  poet  again  celebrates  the  unanimity  of  all  orders  of  the  state, 
(15 — 22  ;)  and  the  Chronicle  of  Idatius  mentions  the  foroes  which 
attended  his  march. 

74  Interveni  autem  nuptiis  Patricii  Ricimeris,  cui  fllia  perennis 
A.ugusti  in  spem  publicse  securitatis  copulabatur.  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. 

"*  Sidonius  (1.  i.  epist.  9,  p.  23,  24)  very  fairly  states  his  motive,  hi* 
labor  ai>d  his  reward.     "  Hie  ipse  Panegyricus,  si  non  judicium,  cert* 


102  I  HE   DECLINE    AND    FA.Ui 

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  sus- 
picions appearances  are  found  to  sully  the  theological  fame 
of  Anthemius.  From  the  conversation  of  Philotheus,  a  Mace* 
donian  sectary,  he  had  imbibed  the  spirit  of  religious  tolera- 
tion ;  and  the  Heretics  of  Rome  would  have  assembled  with 
impunity,  if  the  bold  and  vehement  censure  which  Pope  Hil- 
ary 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,  thai 
•t  might  be  employed  without  scandal,  or  at  least  without 
suspicion,  by  Christian  poets.79  Yet  the  vestiges  of  supersti- 
tion 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. 

cventum,  boni  operis,  accepit."     He  was  made  bishop  of  Clermont, 
A.  D.  471.     Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xvi.  p.  750. 

76  The  palace  of  Anthemius  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Propontis. 
In  the  ninth  century,  Alexius,  the  son-in-law  of  the  emperor  Theophi- 
lus,  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  Papa  Hilarius  .  .  .  apud  beatum  Petrum  Apostolum,  palam  ne 
id  fieret,  clara  voce  constrinxit,  in  tantum  ut  non  ea  facienda  cum  in- 
terpositione  juramenti  idem  promitteret  Imperator.  Gelasius  Epistol. 
ad  Andronicum,  apud  Baron.  A.  D.  467,  No.  3.  The  cardinal  ob- 
serves, with  some  complacency,  that  it  was  much  easier  to  plant 
heresies  at  Constantinople,  than  at  Rome. 

7f>  Damascius,  in  the  life  of  the  philosopher  Isidore,  apud  Photium, 
p.  1049.  Damascius,  who  lived  under  Justinian,  composed  anothei 
work,  consisting  of  570  praeternatural  stories  of  souls,  daemons,  ap- 
paritions, the  dotage  of  Platonic  Paganism. 

79  In  the  poetical  works  of  Sidonius,  which  he  afterwards  condemned, 
(1.  ix.  epist.  16,  p.  285,)  the  fabulous  deities  are  the  principal  actors. 
If  Jerom  was  scourged  by  the  angels  for  only  reading  Virgil,  the 
biehop  of  Clermont,  for  such  a  vile  imitation,  deserved  an  additional 
Whipping  from  the  Muses. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  4lKi 

Th«.  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 
toucheu.80  The  altar  of  Pan  was  erected,  ->erhaps  by  Evan- 
der  the  Arcadian,  in  a  dark  recess  in  the  side  of  the  Palantine 
hill,  watered  by  a  perpetual  fountain,  and  shaded  by  a  hang- 
ing 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  sub- 
sisted 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 


•°  Ovid  (Fast.  1.  ii.  267 — 452)  has  given  an  amusing  description  of 
the  follies  of  antiquity,  which  still  inspired  so  much  respect,  that  a 
«rave  magistrate,  running  naked  through  the  streets,  was  not  an  ob- 
ject of  astonishment  or  laughter. 

81  See  Pionys.  Halicarn.  1.  i.  p.  25,  65,  edit.  Hudson.  The  Roman 
antiquaries  Donatus  (1.  ii.  c.  18,  p.  173,  171)  and  Nardini  (p  386, 
387)  have  labored  to  ascertain  the  true  situation  of  the  Lupercal. 

82  Baronius  published,  from  the  MSS.  of  the  Vatican,  this  epistle  of 
Pope  Gelasius,  (A.  D.  496,  No.  28 — 45,)  which  is  entitled  Ad  vers  u* 
Andromachum  Senatorem,  caeterosque  Romanos,  qui  Lupercalia  se 
cundum  morem  pristinum  colenda  constituebant.  Gelasius  always 
eupposes  that  his  adversaries  are  nominal  Christians,  and,  that  he  may 
not  yield  to  them  in  absurd  prejudice,  he  imputes  to  this  harmlesi 
festival  all  the  calamities  of  the  age. 


494  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

In  all  his  public  declarations,  the  emperor  Leo  assumes  the 
authority,  and  professes  the  affection,  of  a  lither,  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  v  ith  a  formidable  invasion.  The  campaign  was 
opened  by  a  bold  and  successful  enterprise  of  the  prefect 
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.  Herac- 
lius 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  Im- 
perial army  under  the  walls  of  Carthage.  The  intelligence 
of  this  loss  extorted  from  Genseric  some  insidious  and  ineffec- 
tual 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; 

83  Itaque  nos  quibus  totius  mundi  regimen  commisit  superna  pro- 
visio  ....  Pius  et  triumphator  semper  Augustus  filius  noster  An- 
themius, licet  Divina  Majestas  et  nostra  creatio  pietati  ejus  plenam 

Imperii  commiserit  potestatem,  &c Such  is  the  dignified  stylo 

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  The  expedition  of  Heraclius  is  clouded  with  difficulties,  (Tille- 
mont,  Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  vi.  p.  640,)  and  it  requires  some 
dexterity  to  use  the  circumstances  afforded  by  Theophanes,  without 
injury  to  the  more  respectable  evidence  of  Procopius. 

84  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  pro- 
Vide,  besides  the  ordinary  supplies,  a  great  number  of  skins  filled  with 
water,  and  several  Psylli,  who  were  supposed  to  possess  the  art  of 
Bucking  the  wounds  which  had  been  made  by  the  serpents  of  theii 
native  country.  See  Plutarch  in  Caton.  Uticens.  ton.  iv.  p.  276. 
Strabon  Geograph.  1.  xvii.  p   1193. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  495 

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  instruc- 
tive 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  Praetorian 
praefects.  But  the  cities  were  reduced  to  extreme  poverty  , 
and  the  diligent  calculation  of  fines  and  forfeitures,  as  a  val- 
uable 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  arwd  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.  Put  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 


96  The  principal  sum  is  clearly  expressed  by  Procopius,  (de  Bell. 
Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  6,  p.  191  ;)  the  smaller  constituent  parts,  which  Tille- 
mont  (Hist,  des  Empercurs,  torn.  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.* 


*  Compare  likewise  the  newly-discovered  work  of  Lydus,  de  MagiStrarti- 
ous,  ed.  Hase,  Paris,  1S12,  (and  in  the  new  collection  of  the  Byzantines,)  1. 
lii.  c.  43.  Lydus  states  the  expenditure  at  (>5,o:)0  lbs.  of  gold,  700,000  of 
Bilver.  But  Lydus  exaggerates  the  fleet  to  the  incredible  number  of  10,000 
long  ships,  (Liburn«B,)  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  thai  time  all  the  revenues  of  the  empire 
were  anticipated;  and  the  finances  fell  into  inextricable  confusion.  — M. 


496  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

spare  Genseric,  and  to  betray  the  last  hope  of  the  Western 
empire. 

Experience  has  shown,  that  the  success  of  an  invader 
most  commonly  depends  on  the  vigor  and  celerity  of  hia 
operations.  The  strength  and  sharpness  of  the  first  im- 
pression 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  Bos- 
phorus  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  Mar- 
cellinus,  either  joined  or  seconded  the  Imperial  lieutenant ; 
and  theVandals  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  pro- 
tested, 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  con- 
sidered himself  as  the  conqueror  of  Africa.  During  this  short 
interval,  the  wind  became  favorable  to  the  designs  of  Gen- 
eerie.  He  manned  his  largest  ships  of  war  with  the  bravest 
of  the  Moors  and  Vandals ;  and  they  towed  after  them  many 

87  This  promontory  is  forty  miles  from  Carthage.  (P-ocop.  1.  i.  c.  6, 
p.  192,)  and  twenty  leagues  from  Sicily,  (Shaw's  Travels,  p.  S9.) 
Scipio  landed  farther  in  the  bay,  at  the  fair  promontory  ;  see  the  ani- 
mated description  of  Livy,  xxix.  26,  27. 

"*  Theophanes  (p.  100)  affirms  that  many  ships  of  the  Vandals  wjre 
Bunk.  The  assertion  of  Jornandes,  (de  Successione  Itegn.,-)  that  Basi- 
liscus attacked  Carthage,  must  be  understood  in  a  very  qualified  sense* 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  491 

large  barks,  filled  with  combustible  materials.  In  the  ob- 
scurity 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  them- 
selves  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  vic- 
torious 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  quar- 
ter, 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  Con- 
stantinople 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  Ro- 
mans themselves  should  remove  from  the  world  his  most 
formidable  antagonists.69  After  the  failure  of  this  great 
expedition,*  Genseric  again  became  the  tyrant  of  the  sea : 

89  Damascius  in  Vit.  Isidor.  apud  Phot.  p.  1048.  It  will  appear,  by 
comparing  the  three  short  chronicles  of  the  times,  that  Marceliinua 
had  fought  near  Carthage,  and  was  killed  in  Sicily. 


•  According  to  Lytlus,  Leo,  districted  by  this  and  the  other  calamities 
of  his  reign,  particularly  a  dreadful  fire  at  Constantinople,  abandoned  th* 


49H  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ths  coasts  of  Italy,  Greece,  and  Asia,  were  again  exposed  tfl 
his  revenge  and  avarice  ;  Tripoli  and  Sardinia  returned  to 
his  obedience  ;  he  added  Sicily  to  the  number  of  his  prov- 
inces ;  and,  before  he  died,  in  the  fulness  of  years  and  of 
glory,  he  beheld  the  final  extinction  of  the  empire  of  tho 
West.90 

During  his  long  and  active  reign,  the  African  monarch  had 
studiously  cultivated  the  friendship  of  the  Barbarians  of  Eu- 
rope, whose  arms  he  might  employ  in  a  seasonable  and  effee« 
tual  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  in- 
flicted 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  yEgid- 
ius,  his  rival ,  but  the  active  count,  by  the  defence  of  Aries, 
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,  su- 
perior abilities,  both  in  peace  and  war.  He  passed  tho 
Pyrenees  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  subdued  the  cities 

90  For  the  African  war,  see  Procopius,  (de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  6,  p. 
191,  192,  193,)  Theophanes,  (p.  99,  100,  101,)  Cedrenus,  (p.  349,350,) 
and  Zonaras,  (torn.  ii.  1.  xiv.  p.  50,  51.)  Montesquieu  (Considerations 
Mir  la  Grandeur,  &c.,  c.  xx.  torn.  iii.  p.  497)  has  made  a  judicious 
observation  on  the  failure  of  these  great  naval  armaments. 

91  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  ha 
might  have  given  on  the  affairs  of  Spain.  The  events  that  relate  to 
Gail  are  laboriously  illustrated  in  the  third  book  of  the  Abbe  Dubos, 
Hist.  Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  424 — 620. 


palace,  like  another  Orestes,  and  was  preparing  to  quit  Constantinople  fof 
*ver,  1.  iii.  c.  44  p.  230.  — W. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  409 

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 
nold  the  kingdom  of  Gallicia  under  the  Gothic  monarchy  of 
Spain.92  The  efforts  of  Euric  were  not  less  vigorous,  jr  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  Cle» 
mont,  their  principal  town,  the  inhabitants  of  Auvergne  sus 
tained,  with  inflexible  resolution,  the  miseries  of  war,  pes- 
tilence, and  famine ;  and  the  Visigoths,  relinquishing  the 
fruitless  siege,  suspended  the  hopes  of  that  important  con- 
quest. 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  pub- 
lic confidence  was  lost  ;  the  resources  of  the  state  were  ex- 
hausted ;  and  the  Gauls  had  too  much  reason  to  believe,  thuc 
Anthemius,  who  reigned  in  Italy,  was  incapable  of  protecting 
his  distressed  subjects  beyond  the  Alps.     The  feeble  emperoi 


•*  Sec  Mariana,  Hist.  Hispan.  torn,  i.  1,  v.  c.  .5,  p.  162. 

93  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  1.  v 
epist.  1,  5,  9,  &c. 

94  Sidonius,  1.  iii,  cpist.  3,  p.  6.5—68.  Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  24,  in 
torn.  ii.  p.  174.  Jornandes,  c.  45,  p.  675.  Perhaps  Ecdicius  was  oidy 
the  son-in-law  of  Avitus,  his  wife's  son  by  another  husband. 

9i  Si  nulla?  a  republica  vires,  nulla  praesidia  ;  si  nulhe,  quantum 
rumor  est,  Anthcmii  principis  opes  ;  statuit,  te  auctore,  nobilitas,  seu 
patriam  din-.ittere  seu  capilios,  (Sidon.  1.  ii.  epist.  1,  p.  33.)  The  last 
words  (Sirmond,  Not.  p.  25)  may  likewise  denote  the  clerical  tonrtira 
which  was  indeed  the  choice  of  Sidonius  himself. 


500  THE    DECLINE    AN  0    FALL 

could  only  procure  for  their  defence  the  service  of  twelve 
thousand  British  auxiliaries.  Riothamus,  one  of  the  indepenil 
ent  kings,  or  chieftains,  of  the  island,  was  persuaded  to  trans- 
port his  troops  tc  the  continent  of  Gaul :  he  sailed  up  the  Loire, 
and  established  his  quarters  in  Berry,  where  the  people  com- 
plained of  these  oppressive  allies,  till  they  were  destroyed  oj 
dispersed  hy  the  arms  of  the  Visigoths.96 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  jurisdiction,  which  the  Roman  senato 
exercised  over  their  subjects  of  Gaul,  was  the  trial  and  con 
demnation  of  Arvandus,  the  Praetorian  praefect.  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  con- 
fidence 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 
prefecture,  which  he  obtained  within  the  term  of  five  years, 
abolished  the  merit  and  popularity  of  his  preceding  adminis- 
tration. His  easy  temper  was  corrupted  by  flattery,  and  ex- 
asperated by  opposition ;  he  was  forced  to  satisfy  his  impor- 
tunate 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  pres- 
age as  he  vainly  imagined,  of  his  future  fortunes.  A  decent 
respect  was  still  observed  for  the  Prcefectorian  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  eager- 

96  The  history  of  these  Britons  may  be  traced  in  Jornandes,  (c.  45, 
p.  678,)  Sidonius,  (1.  iii.  epistol.  9,  p.  73,  74,)  and  Gregory  of  Tours, 
(L  ii.  c.  18,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  170.)  Sidonius  (who  styles  these  mercenary 
troops  argutos,  armatos,  tumultuosos,  virtute  numero,  centubcrnio, 
contumaces)  addresses  their  general  in  a  tone  of  friendship  and  famil- 
iarity. 

97  See  Sidonius,  1.  i.  epist.  7,  p.  15—20,  with  Sirmond's  notes.  Tlus 
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  "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  Ro- 
man  senator.  The  jewellers,  &c,  might  be  allowed  to  expose  theu 
precious  wares  in  the  porticos. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    K.MPIRE.  501 

"y  pursued  by  liis  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  com- 
pensate 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."  These  pernicious  schemes,  which  a  friend 
could  only  palliate  by  the  reproaches  of  vanity  and  indiscretion, 
were  susceptible  of  a  treasonable  interpretation  ;  and  the  depu- 
ties had  artfully  resolved  not  to  produce  their  most  formidable 
weapons  till  the  decisive  moment  of  the  contest.  But  their  inten- 
tions were  discovered  by  the  zeal  of  Sidonius.  He  imme- 
diately 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  situ- 
ation, 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  com- 
plained of  the  times,  of  the  senate,  of  the  prince,  and  of  the 
delays  of  justice.  His  complaints  were  soon  removed.  An  ear- 
ly day  was  fixed  for  his  trial  ;  and  Arvandus  appeared,  with  hi.«* 
accusers,  before  a  numerous  assembly  of  the  Roman  senate. 
The  mournful  garb  which  they  affected,  excited  the  compas- 
sion of  the  judges,  who  were  scandalized  bv  the  gay  and  spleit 
did  dress  of  their  adversary  :  and  when  the  prefect  Arvandus,, 
with  the  first  of  the  Gallic  deputies,  were  directed  to  take  their 


99  Hegc  ad  regem  Gothorum,  charta  vidobatur  emitti,  pacem  cum 
Gneco  Imperatore  dissuadens,  Britaiuios  super  Ligerim  sitos  impug- 
aari  oportcre,  deraonstrans,  cum  Burgundioiiibus  jure  gentium  Gallic 
Aiviui  debere  counrnians, 


&02  THE    DECLINE    *ND    FALL 

places  on  the  seratorial  benches,  the  same  comrast  of  pnde 
and  modesty  was  observed  in  their  behavior.  In  this  memo- 
rable  judgment,  which  presented  a  lively  image  of  the  old  re- 
public, the  Gauls  exposed,  with  force  and  freedom,  the  griev 
ances  of  the  province  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  minds  of  tht 
audience  were  sufficiently  inflamed,  they  recited  the  fata) 
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  pur- 
ple. As  the  paper  was  read,  he  repeatedly,  and  with  a  loud 
voice,  acknowledged  it  for  his  genuine  composition ;  and  hia 
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  prefect 
to  the  obscure  condition  of  a  plebeian,  and  ignominiously 
dragged  by  servile  hands  to  the  public  prison.  After  a  fort- 
night's adjournment,  the  senate  was  again  convened  to  pro- 
nounce  the  sentence  of  his  death  ;  but  while  he  expected,  in 
the  Island  of  iEscuIapius,  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 
prefect  of  Gaul  obtained  the  milder  punishment  of  exile  and 
confiscation.  The  faults  of  Arvandus  might  deserve  compas- 
sion ;  but  the  impunity  of  Seronatus  accused  the  justice  of 
the  republic,  till  he  was  condemned  and  executed,  on  the  com- 
plaint of  the  people  of  Auvergne.  That  flagitious  minister, 
the  Catiline  of  his  age  and  country,  held  a  secret  correspond- 
ence with  the  Visigoths,  to  betray  the  province  which  he 
oppressed  :  his  industry  was  continually  exercised  in  the  dis- 
covery of  new  taxes  and  obsolete  offences ;  and  his  extrav- 
agant vices  would  have  inspired  contempt,  if  they  had  not 
excited  fear  and  abhorrence.101 

Such  criminals  were  not  beyond  the  reach  of  justice  ;  but 
whatever  might  be  the  guilt  of  Ricimer,  that  powerful  Barba- 
rian was  able  to  contend  or  to  negotiate  with  the  prince,  whose 

iM  Senatv&consultum  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  Catilina  seculi  nostri.  Sidonius,  1.  ii.  epist.  1,  p.  33  ;  1.  v.  epist. 
13,  p.  143  ;  1.  vii.  epist.  vii.  p.  185.  He  execrates  the  crimes,  and 
applauds  the  punishment,  of  Seronatus,  perhaps  with  the  indigna- 
tion of  a  « irtuous  citizen,  perhaps  with  the  resentment  of  a  persona 
tnciay. 


OF    TIIE     ROMAN    EMPIRE.  503 

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,  appre- 
hensive, 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.10'2  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  Epipha- 
nius, 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  seri- 
ously 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 


102  Ricimer,  under  the  reign  of  Anthemius,  defeated  and  slew  in 
battle  Beorgor,  king  of  the  Ahini,  (Jornandes,  c.  45,  p.  678.)  His  sis- 
ter had  married  the  king  of  the  Burgundians,  and  he  maintained  an 
intimate  connection  with  the  Suevic  colony  established  in  Pannonia 
and  Noricum. 

1IJ3  Galatam  concitatum.  Sirmond  (in  his  notes  to  Ennodius)  ap- 
plies this  appellation  to  Anthemius  himself.  The  emperor  Mas  proba- 
bly born  in  the  province  of  Galalia,  whose  inhabitants,  the  Gallo-Gre- 
cia^s,  were  supposed  to  unite  the  vices  of  a  savage  and  a  corrupted 
people. 

104  Epiphanius  was  thirty  years  bishop  of  Tavia,  (A.  D.  407 — 497  ;) 
lee  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xvi.  p.  788.  His  name  and  actions 
would  have  been  unknown  to  posterity,  if  Ennodius,  one  of  his  sue- 
Atissors,  had  not  written  his  life  ;  )  Sirmcnd,  Opera,  torn.  i.  p.  1647— 
16U2  ;)  iii  which  he  represents  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  characters  of 
the  age. 


604  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

maxims ,  but  he  deeply  felt,  with  grief  and  indignation,  tflfl 
behavior  of  Ricimer ;  and  his  passion  gave  eloquence  and 
energy  to  his  discourse.  "  What  favors,"  he  warmly  ex- 
claimed, "  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  sac* 
rificed  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  bi  nop 
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. 

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,  aftei 
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  solicita- 
tions, the  fair  pretensions  of  his  Roman  ally  ;  and  assigned, 
as  one  of  the  motives  of  the  war,  the  refusal  of  the  senate 
und  people  to  acknowledge  their  lawful  prince,  and  the  unwor- 
thy preference  which  they  had  given  to  a  stranger.100     The 

104  Ennodius  (p.  1659 — 1664)  has  related  this  embassy  of  Epiphi.- 
nius ;  and  his  narrative,  verbose  and  turgid  as  it  must  appear,  illus- 
jrates  some  curious  passages  in  the  fall  of  the  Western  empire. 

106  Piiseus,  Excerpt.  Legation,  p.  74.     Proeopius  de  Bell.  VandaJ    L 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  &U5 

friendship  of  the  public  enemy  might  render  Olybrius  still 
more  unpopular  to  the  Italians  ;  .but  when  Ricimer  meditated 
the  /urn  of  the  emperor  Anthemius,  he  tempted,  with  the  otYer 
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  ;i 
secure  and  splendid  fortune  in  the  peaceful  residence  of  Con- 
stantinople ;  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 

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  An- 


1.  o.  6.  p.  191.  Ludoxia  and  her  daughter  were  restored  after  the 
aeatn  of  Majorian.  Perhaps  the  consulship  of  Olybrius  (A.  D.  4G4) 
was  bestowed  as  a  nuptial  present. 

1U7  The  hostile  appearance  of  Olybrius  infixed  (notwithstanding  the 
opinion  of  Pagi)  by  the  duration  of  his  reign.  The  secret  connivance 
of  Leo  is  acknowledged  by  Theophanes  and  the  Paschal  Chrcnicle. 
We-  are  ignorant  of  his  moti  vcs  ;  but  i>  this  obscure  period,  our 
ignorance  extends  to  the  most  public  and  important  facts. 

lcs  Of  the  fourteen  regions,  or  quarters,  into  which  Home  was 
divided  by  Augustus,  only  one,  the  Janiculum,  lay  on  the  Tuscan 
gide  of  the  Tyber.  But,  in  the  fifth  century,  the  Vatican  subiu-b 
formed  a  considerable  city ;  and  in  the  ecclesiastical  distribution, 
which  had  been  recently  made  by  Simplicius,  the  reigning  pope,  iioo 
of  the  seven  regions,  or  parishes  of  Pome,  depended  on  the  church  of 
St  Vpter.  See  Nnidini  UorrcR  Antiea,  p.  67.  It  would  require  a  1e- 
dious  dissertation  to  mark  the  circumstances,  in  which  I  am  incluied 
to  depart  from  the  topography  of  that  learned  iiomaji. 


B06  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

themius ;  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  lan- 
guage of  a  contemporary  pope)  was  subverted  by  the  civil 
fury  of  Anthemius  and  Ricimer.109  The  unfortunate  An- 
themius  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  cit- 
izens with  the  savage  manners  of  Barbarians,  were  indulged, 
without  control,  in  the  license  cf  rapine  and  murder :  the 
crowd  of  slaves  and  plebeians,  who  were  unconcerned  in  the 
event,  could  only  gain  b)  the  indiscriminate  pillage ;  and  the 
face  of  the  city  exhibited  the  strange  contrast  of  stern  cruelty 
and  dissolute  intemperance.110  Forty  days  after  this  calami 
tous  event,  the  subject,  not  of  glory,  but  of  guilt,  Italy  was 
delivered,  by  a  painful  disease,  from  the  tyrant  Ricimer,  whc 
bequeathed  the  command  of  his  army  to  his  nephew  Gundo- 
bald,  one  of  the  princes  of  the  Burgundians.  In  the  same 
year  all  the  principal  actors  in  this  great  revolution  were 
lemoved  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  Placid ia  :  and  the 
family  of  the  great  Theodosius,  transplanted  from*  Spam  to 


109  Nuper  Anthemii  et  Ricimeris  chili  furore  subversa  est.  Gclasma 
in  Epist.  ad  Andromach.  apud  Baron.  A.  D.  496,  No.  42,  Sigonius, 
(torn.  i.  1.  xiv.  de  Occidentali  Imperio,  p.  542,  543,)  and  Muratori, 
(Annali  d  Italia,  torn.  iv.  p.  308,  309,)  with  the  aid  of  a  less  imper- 
fect MS.  of  the  Historia  Miscella.,  have  illustrated  this  dark  and  bloody 
transaction.  * 

110  Such  had  been  the  saeva  ac  deformis  urbe  tota  facies,  whsn 
Rome  was  assaulted  and  stormed  by  the  troops  of  Vespasian,  (sc-e 
Tacit.  Hist.  iii.  82,  83  ;)  and  every  cause  of  mischief  bad  since  acquired 
much  additional  energy.  The  revolution  of  ago*  mav  h««fr  round 
the  same  calamities;  but  ages  may  revolve  without  iirodneia^  a 
Tacitus  to  describe  them 


0I7    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  507 

Constantinople,  was  propagated  in  the  female  line  as  far  \a 
the  eighth  generation.111 

Whilst  the  vacant  throne  of  Italy  was  abandoned  to  lawles* 
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  Mar- 
cellinus  in  the  sovereignty  of  Dalmatia,  a  more  solid  posses 
sion  than  the  title  which  he  was  persuaded  to  accept,  of 
Emperor  of  the  West.  But  the  measures  of  the  Byzantire 
court  were  so  languid  and  irresolute,  that  many  months  elapseo 
after  the  death  of  Anthemius,  and  even  of  Olybrius,  before 
their  destined  successor  could  show  himself,  with  a  respecta- 
ble force,  to  his  Italian  subjects.  During  that  interval,  Gly- 
cerius,  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  govern- 
ment, announced,  in  prophetic  strains,  the  restoration  of  the 
public  felicity.114  Their  hopes  (if  such  hopes  had  been  enter- 
tained) were  confounded  within  the  term  of  a  single  year; 

1,1  See  Dueange,  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. 

,M  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  hia 
Extracts,  p.  172—179. 

113  See  Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  28,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  175.  Dul  oe,  Hist. 
Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  613.  By  the  murdei  or  death  of  his  two  brothers, 
Gundobald  acquired  the  sole  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy, 
whose  ruin  was  hastened  by  their  discord. 

114  Julius  Nepos  armis  pariter  summus  Augustus  ac  moribus.  Si- 
donius,  1.  v.  ep.  16,  p.  146.  Nepos  had  given  to  Ecdicius  the  title  of 
Patrician,  which  Anthemius  had  promised,  decessoris  Anthemii  fidem 
tbsolvit.     See  1.  viii.  ep.  7,  p.  224. 


508  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  ceded  Auvergne  to  the  Via« 
igoths,  is  the  only  event  of  his  short  and  inglorious  reign. 
The  most  faithful  subjects  of  Gaul  were  sacrificed,  by  th« 
Italian  emperor,  to  the  hope  of  domestic  security  ; 115  but  hia 
repose  was  soon  invaded  by  a  furious  sedition  of  the  Barbarian 
confederates,  who,  under  the  command  of  Orestes,  their  gen- 
eral, were  in  full  march  from  Rome  to  Ravenna.  Nepoa 
trembled  at  their  approach  ;  and,  instead  of  placing  a  just  con- 
fidence in  the  strength  of  Ravenna,  he  hastily  escaped  to  hia 
ships,  and  retired  to  his  Dalmatian  principality,  on  the  opposite 
coast  of  the  Adriatic.  By  this  shameful  abdication,  he  pro- 
tracted his  life  about  five  years,  in  a  very  ambiguous  slate, 
between  an  emperor  and  an  exile,  till  he  was  assassinated  at 
Salona  by  the  ungrateful  Glycerius,  who  was  translated,  per- 
haps as  the  reward  of  his  crime,  to  the  archbishopric  of 
Milan.116 

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  Dan- 
ube ;  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 ;  u7  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  war 
nors  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 

114  Epiphanius  was  sent  ambassador  from  Nepos  to  the  Visigoths, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  fines  Imperii  Italici,  (Ennodius  in 
Sirmond,  torn.  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  Malchus,  apud  Phot.  p.  172.  Ennod.  Epigram,  lxxxii.  in  Sir- 
mond. Oper.  torn.  i.  p.  1879.  Some  doubt  may,  however,  be  raised  on 
the  identity  of  the  emperor  and  the  archbishop. 

117  Our  knowledge  of  these  mercenaries,  who  subverted  the  West- 
ern empire,  is  derived  from  Proeopius,  (de  Bell.  Gothico,  1.  i.  c.  i.  p. 
308.)  The  popular  opinion,  and  the  recent  historians,  represent  Odo- 
ecer  in  the  false  light  of  a  stranger,  and  a  king,  who  invaded  Italy  with 
an  army  of  foreigners,  his  native  subjects. 

118  Orestes,  qui  eo  tempore  quando  Attila  ad  Italiam  venit,  so  llli 
itinxit,  et  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. 


OF   THE    ROHAN    EMriRE.  509 

Jeserted  nis  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  sec- 
retary, and  was  repeatedly  sent  ambassador  to  Constantino- 
ple, to  represent  the  person,  and  signify  the  commands,  of 
the  imperious  monarch.  The  death  of  that  conqueror  re- 
stored 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  con- 
nected with  their  national  chieftains,  by  long  habits  of  famil- 
iarity 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,  de- 
clined 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 
vhe  end  of  the  first  year,  that  the  lessons  of  perjury  and  ingrati- 
tude, which  a  rebel  must  inculcate,  will  be  resorted  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  alli- 
ance 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  situa- 
tion, might  be  entitled  to  our  esteem,  chose  rather  to  encounter 
the  rage  of  an  armed  multitude,  than  to  subscribe  the  ruin  oi 


510  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

an  innocent  people.  He  rejected  the  audacious  d<  iL.nd  ;  and 
his  refusal  was  favorable  to  the  ambition  of  Odoa  .er  ;  a  bola 
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 
nil  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  unfor- 
tunate 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  fortifica- 
tions 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. 

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  him- 
self.* 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  expi- 
ated by  his  merit  or  repentance  :  his  rank  was  eminent  and 
oonspicuous  ;  he  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Attila ;  and  the  troopa 
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  after- 
wards, 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 


119  See  Ennodius,  (in  Vit.  Epiphan.  Sirmond,  torn.  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. 

•  Manso  observes  that  the  evidence  which  identifies  Edecon,  the  father 
of  Odoacer,  with  the  colleague  of  Orestes,  is  not  conclusive.  GeschieM* 
des  Ost-Gothischen  Reiches,  p.  32.  But  St.  Martin  inclines  U  agre«  f  tb 
Gibbon,  note,  vi.  75.  —  M. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  511 

Seym.190  Their  gallant  leader,  who  did  not  survive  tnis 
national  calamity,  left  two  sons,  Onulf  and  Odoacer,  to  strug- 
gle with  adversity,  and  to  maintain  as  they  might,  by  rapine 
or  service,  the  faithful  followers  of  their  exile.  Onulf  di- 
rected 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  Severi- 
nus,  the  popular  saint  of  the  country,  to  solicit  his  approba- 
tion 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 

,2U  Jornandes,  c.  53,  54,  p.  692—695.  M.  de  Buat  (Hist,  des  Peu- 
ples  de  l'Europe,  torn.  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.  1.  ii.  c.  18,  in  torn.  ii. 
p.  170.* 

121  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  Eugippiua 
(A.  D.  511)  thirty  years  after  his  death.  See  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles. 
torn.  xvi.  p.  168—181. 

m  Theophanes,  who  calls  him  a  Goth,  affirms,  that  he  was  educated, 
nursed,  (TQuyevTos,)  in  Italy,  (p.  102 ;)  and  as  this  strong  expression 
will  not  bear  a  literal  interpretation,  it  must  be  explained  by  long  ser-« 
vice  in  the  Imperial  guards. 


•  According  to  St.  Martin  there  is  no  foundation  for  this  conjecture,  Tit 
76.  —  M. 


512  THE    DECLINE    A.KD    FALL 

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  mix- 
ture, had  formed  the  victorious  army,  which  time  and  policy 
might  insensibly  unite  into  a  great  nation. 

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  tho 
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  opin- 
ion, 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  con- 
sent 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  dio- 
cese of  Italy.11  The  deputies  of  the  senate  were  received  at 
Constantinople  with  some  marks  of  displeasure  and  indigna- 

123  Nomen  regis  Odoacer  assumpsit,  cum  tamen  neque  purpura  nee 
regalibus  utcretur  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.* 


*  Manso  observes  that  Odoacer  never  called  hirr.self  king  jf  Italy,  did 
not  assume  tha  purple,  and  no  coins  are  extant  with  his  name.  Geachicbta 
Oat  Uuth.  Keiches,  p.  36.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  513 

[ion :  and  when  *hev  were  admitted  to  the  audience  of  Zeno, 
tie  sternly  reproached  them  with  their  treatment  of  the  two 
emperors,  Anthemius  and  Nepos,  whom  the  East  had  suc- 
cessively granted  to  the  prayers  of  Italy.  "  The  first "  (con- 
tinued he)  "  you  have  murdered  ;  the  second  you  have  ex- 
pelled ;  but  the  second  is  still  alive,  and  whilst  he  lives  he  is 
vour  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  ;  h*  en- 
tertained a  friendly,  though  ambiguous,  correspondence  with 
the  patrician  Odoacer ;  and  he  gratefully  accepted  the  Impe- 
rial ensigns,  the  sacred  ornaments  of  the  throne  and  palace 
which  the  Barbarian  was  not  unwilling  to  remove  from  the 
sight  of  the  people.124 

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  ti^e  Roman  empire  in  the 
West,  did  not  leave  a  memorable  era  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind.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  Aqui 
leia  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 


184  Malchus,  whose  loss  excites  our  regret,  has  preserved  (in  Ex- . 
cerpt.  Legat.  p.  93)  this   extraordinary  embassy  from  the  senate  to 
Zeno.     The  anonymous  fragment,  (p.  717,)  and  the  extract  from  Can- 
didus,  (apud  Phot.  p.  176,)  are  likewise  of  some  use. 

125  The  precise  year  in  which  the  Western  empire  was  extin- 
guished, is  not  positively  ascertained.  The  vulgar  era  of  A.  D.  476 
appears  to  havs  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  Ms 
evidence,  he  produces  (torn.  viii.  p.  261 — 288)  many  collateral  circum- 
stances in  support  of  the  same  opinion. 

,M  See  his  medals  in  Ducange,  (Fam.  Byzantin.  p.  81,)  Prise  ib, 
(Excerpt.  Legat.  p.  56,)  Maffei,  (Osservazioni  Letterarie,  torn.  'i. 
p.  314.)  We  may  allege  a  famous  and  similar  case.  The  meanest 
subjects  of  the  Roman  empire  assiimed  the  illustrious  name  of  Pairi 
«'*«,  which,  by  the  conversion  of  Ireland,  has  been  lommuoicated  to 
9  whole  nition. 
76 


5J4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Augustus;  but  the  first  was  corrupted  into  Momvdus,  ly  the 
(Greeks,  and  the  second  has  been  changed  by  the  Latins  into 
the  contemptible  diminutive  Augustulus.  The  life  of  thia 
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  thou- 
sand pieces  of  gold,  and  assigned  the  castle  of  Lucullus,  in 
Campania,  for  the  place  of  his  exile  or  retirement.127  Aa 
soon  as  the  Romans  breathed  from  the  toils  of  the  Punic  war, 
1hi;y  were  attracted  by  the  beauties  and  the  pleasures  of  Cam- 
pania ;  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  promontoiy  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  pur 
chased,  within  a  few  years,  by  Lucullus,  and  the  price  had 
increased  from  two  thousand  five  hundred,  to  more  than  four- 
score 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 


127  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  Cam- 
paniam  cum  parentibus  suis  libere  viVere.  Anonym.  Vales,  p.  716. 
Jornandes  says,  (c.  46,  p.  680,)  in  Lucullano  Campanise  castello  exilii 
pcena  damnavit. 

128  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  contem- 
poraries, (Livy,  xxix.  19.) 

129  Sylla,  in  the  language  of  a  soldier,  praised  his  peritia  castrame- 
tatidi,  (Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  xviii.  7.)  Phaedrus,  who  makes  its  shady 
walks  (lata  viridia)  the  scene  of  an  insipid  fable,  (ii.  5,)  has  thus 
described  the  situation  :  — 

Caesar  Tiberius  quum  petens  Neapolim, 
In  Mixenensem  villarn  venissit  suam; 
Qiice  monte  summo  posita  Luculti  manu 
Prospectat  Siculum  et  pro9picit  Tusoum  mare. 

'*°  From  seven  myriads  and  a  half  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  myriad* 
of  drachmae.  Yet  even  in  the  possession  of  Marius,  it  was  a  luxuri- 
ous retiremen*  xne  Romans  derided  his  indolence ;  thev  60on 
bewailed  his  activity.     See  Plutarch,  in  Mario,  torn.  ii.  p.  524. 

1,1  Lucullus  had  othei  villas  of  equal,   though  various,  reagnifl- 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  ft  15 

forrnidame  .y  me  sea-coast,  the  Lucullan  villa,  on  the  promon* 
tory  of  Misenum,  gradually  assumed  the  strength  and  appel 
lation  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  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 

Odoacer  was  the  first  Barbarian  who  reigned  in  Italy,  over 
a  people  who  had  once  asserted  their  just  superiority  abova 
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  prov- 
inces 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  sov- 
ereigns, 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  &»v.v-Tity  and 
contempt,  and  the  warriors  of  Germany  and  Scythia  weie 
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 ; 
ihey  respected  the  spirit  and  splendor  of  the  martial  chiefs 

eence,  at  Baiee,  Naples,  Tusculum,  &c.  He  boasted  that  he  changed 
his  climate  with  the  storks  and  cranes.  Plutarch,  in  Lucull.  torn, 
ii".  p.  193. 

,32  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 
aaint  to  the  Lucullan  villa,  in  the  place  of  Augustulus,  who  was  proba- 
bly no  more.  See  Baronuis  (Annal.  Eccles.  A.  T).  496.  No.  50,  51)  and 
Tillemont,  (Mrm  TiivJe".  toxa  xvi.  p.  17S--  _8:  '  Er-fi'  in*  orifr:r?l  .':f*5 
bv  Eugippius.  The  narrative  of  the  last  migration  M  Severinus  U* 
Naples  is  likewise  an  authentic  piece. 


516  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

who  were  invested  with  the  honors  of  the  empire^  and  the 
fate  of  Rome  had  long  depended  on  the  sword  of  those  for- 
midable 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  insti- 
tutions, 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  Prsetorian 
praefect  and  his  subordinate  officers.  Odoacer  devolved  on 
the  Roman  magistrates  the  odious  and  oppressive  task  of  col- 
lecting 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  charac- 
ters ;  and  the  silence  of  the  Catholics  attest  the  toleration 
which  they  enjoyed.  The  peace  of  the  city  required  the 
interposition  of  his  prasfect  Basilius  in  the  choice  of  a  Roman 
pontiff:  the  decree  which  restrained  the  clergy  from  alien- 
ating their  lands  was  ultimately  designed  for  the  benefit  of 

133  The  consular  Fasti  may  be  found  in  Pagi  or  Muratori.  The  con- 
suls named  by  Odoacer,  or  perhaps  by  the  Koman  senate,  appear  to 
have  been  acknowledged  in  the  Eastern  empire. 

134  Sidonius  Apollinaris  (1.  i.  epist.  9,  p.  22,  edit.  Sirmond)  has  com- 
pared the  two  leading  senators  of  his  time,  (A.  D.  468,)  Gennadius 
Avienus  and  Caecina  Basilius.  To  the  former  he  assigns  the  specious,  tc 
the  latter  the  solid,  virtues  of  public  and  private  life.  A  Basilius 
junior,  possibly  bis  son,  was  consul  in  the  year  480. 

'*' 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  Prsetorian  prsefect,  (Ennodius  in 
Vit.  St.  Epiphan.,  in  Sirmond,  Opcr.  torn.  i.  p.  1670—1672.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  51 1 

the  peopie,  whose  devotion  would  have  been  taxed  .o  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  fo  long 
insulted  the  feeble  race  of  Theodosius.  Odoacer  parsed  tie 
Adriatic,  to  chastise  the  assassins  of  the  emperor  Nepos,  and 
to  acquire  tne  maritime  province  of  Dalmatia.  fie  passed 
the  Alps,  to  rescue  the  remains  of  Noricum  from  Fava,  or 
Felctheus,  king  of  me  Rugians,  who  held  his  resilience  beyond 
the  Danube.  Tbe  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  Bar- 
barian master.137 

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.13a  In  the  division  and  the  decline  of  the 
empire,  the  tributary  harvests  of  Egypt  and  Africa  were 
withdrawn  ;  the  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  continually  d;™in- 
ished  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 


136  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  The  wars  of  Odoacer  are  concisely  mentioned  by  Paul  the  Deacon, 
(de  Gest.  Langobard.  1.  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,  torn, 
viii.  c.  1,  4,  8,  9)  has  diligently  studied,  illustrates  the  ruin  of  Nori- 
cum and  the  Bavarian  antiquities. 

138  Tacit.  Annal.  iii.  53.  The  Itecherches  sur  1' Administration  de* 
Terres  chez  les  Komains  (p.  351—361)  clearly  state  the  progress  of  in- 
ternal decay. 

139  A  famine,  which  afflicted  Italy  at  the  time  of  the  irruption  c  f 
Odoactr,  king  of  the  Heruli,  is  eloquently  described,  in  prose  and 
verse,  by  a  French  poet,  (Les  Mois,  torn.  ii.  p.  174,  206,  edit,  in  12mo.) 
I  am  ignorant  from  whence  he  derives  his  information  ;  but  I  am  well 
assured  that  he  relates  som"  facts  incompatible  with  the  truth  of  hifl» 
tory. 


518  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

cities  of  Bologna,  Modena,  Regium  and  Placentia.14*  Pope 
Gelasius  was  a  subject  of  Odoacer ;  and  he  affirms,  with 
strong  exaggeration,  that  in  iErailia,  Tuscany,  and  the  adja- 
cent provinces,  the  human  species  was  almost  extirpated."1 
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.*  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  aggra- 
vated by  insults :  the  sense  of  actual  sufferings  was  imbittered 
by  the  fear  of  more  dreadful  evils ;  and  as  new  lands  were 
allotted  to  new  swarms  of  Barbarians,  each  senator  was  appre- 
hensive lest  the  arbitrary  surveyors  should  approach  his  favo- 
rite 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.148     The   distress  of  Italy!  was   mitigated   by 

140  See  the  xxxixth  epistle  of  St.  Ambrose,  as  it  is  quoted  by  Mura- 
tori,  sopra  le  Antichita  Italiane,  torn.  i.  Dissert,  xxi.  p.  354. 

141  Emilia,  Tuscia,  ceteraeque  provinciae  in  quibus  hominum  prope 
nullus  exsistit.  Gelasius,  Epist.  ad  Andromachum,  ap.  Baronium, 
Annal.  Eccles.  A.  D.  496,  No.  3jB. 

142  Verumque  confitentibus,  latifundia  perdidere  Italiam.  Plin. 
Hist.  Natur.  xviii.  7. 

143  Such  are  the  topics  of  consolation,  or  rather  ot  patience,  which 
Cicero  Cad  Fainiliares,  lib.  ix.  Epist.  17)  suggests  to  his  friend  Papirius 


*  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  sup- 
plies beyond  the  limits  of  Italy,  throughout  which  the  agriculture  had  been 
long  in  a  state  of  progressive  but  rapid  depression.  (Denina,  Rev  d'  Italia. 
Lv.  c.  i.)  — M. 

\  Compare,  on  the  desolation  and  change  of  property  in  Italy,  Manao, 
Geachichtc  de»  Ost-Go'hischen  Reicb.es,  Part  ii.  p.  73,  et  seq.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  519 

the  prudence  and  humanity  of  Odoacer,  win.  nad  hound  him- 
self, as  the  price  of  his  elevation,  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a 
licentious  and  turbulent  multitude.  The  kings  of  the  Barba- 
rians 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  largei  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. 


Psetus,  under  the  military  despotism  of  Ca?sar.  The  argument,  how- 
ever, of  "  rirere  nuldierrimum  duxi,"  is  more  forcibly  addressed  to  a 
Roman  philosopher,  who  possessed  the  free  alternative  of  life  or  de4ta. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    EFFECTS    OF    THE    MONASTIC    LIFE. — 
CONVERSION      OF     THE     BARBARIANS     TO     CHRISTIANITY    A  N8 

AR1ANISM. PERSECUTION    OF    THE    VANDALS    IN    AFRICA. 

EXTINCTION    OF    ARIAN1SM    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  impor- 
tant in  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  empire.  I.  The 
institution  of  the  monastic  life  ; J  and,  II.  The  conversion  of 
the  northern  Barbarians. 

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  indul- 
gence 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,  mortitied  their 

1  The  origin  of  the  monastic  institution  has  been  laborious  y  dis- 
cussed by  Thomassin  (Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn,  i.  p.  1113 — 1426) 
and  Helyot,  (Hist,  des  Ordres  Monastiques,  torn.  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  Prot- 
estant, who  distrusts  any  popish  guides,  may  consult  the  seventh  book 
of  Bingham's  Christian  Antiquities. 

*  See  Euseb.  Demonstrat.  Evangel.,  (1.  i.  p.  20,  21,  edit.  Greec. 
Rob.  Stephani,  Paris,  1545.)  In  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  published 
twelve  years  after  the  Demonstration,  Eusebius  (1.  ii.  c.  17)  assert* 
the  Christianity  of  the  Therapeutae  ;  but  he  appears  ignoraxi.  that  a 
Bii£ilar  institution  was  actually  revived  in  Egypt. 
520 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  521 

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  soli- 
tude, or  religious  society.  Like  the  first  Christians  of  Jeru- 
salem,3 *  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  loud- 
est 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  submis- 
sion were  revived  in  their  servile  discipline ;  and  they  dis- 
dained, 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 
■nodel.  They  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  the  prophets,  who  had 
retired  to  the  desert ; ft  and  they  restored  the  devout  and  con- 
templative life,  which  had  been  instituted  by  the  Essenians, 


3  Cassian  (Collat.  xviii.  5)  claims  this  origin  for  the  institution  of 
the  Cwnobites,  which  gradually  decayed  till  it  was  restored  by  Antony 
and  his  disciples. 

4  'HipcHifiooTtxTov  yuQ  Ti  XQ'ltia  *^5  avdQwnovg  iX&ovaa  nana  fi>iov  tj 
Toiwrt]  ifiloooif'ia.  These  are  the  expressive  words  of  Sozomen,  who 
copiously  and  agreeably  describes  (1.  i.  c.  12,  13,  14)  the  origin  and 
progress  of  this  monkish  philosophy,  (see  Suicer.  Thesau.  Ecclcs.. 
torn.  ii.  p.  1441.)  Some  modern  writers,  Lipsius  (torn.  iv.  p.  448 
Manuduct.  ad  Philosoph.  Stoic,  iii.  13)  and  La  Mothe  le  Vajer,  (torn. 
ix.  de  la  Vertu  des  Payens,  p.  228 — 262,)  have  compared  the  Carmel- 
ites to  the  Pythagoreans,  and  the  Cynics  to  the  Capucins. 

8  The  Carmelites  derive  their  pedigree,  in  regular  succession,  from 
the  prophet  Elijah,  (see  the  Theses  of  Beziers,  A.  D.  1682,  in  Bayle's 
Ncuvelles  de  la  Republiquc  des  Lettres,  CEuvres,  torn.  i.  p.  82,  &c. 
and  the  prolix  irony  of  the  Ordres  Monastiques,  an  anonymous  work, 
torn.  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,  torn.  i.  p.  282 — 300,)  and  the 
Htatue  of  Elijah,  the  Carmelite,  has  been  erected  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  (Voyages  du  P.  Labat,  torn.  iii.  p.  87.) 


•  It  lias  before  been  shown  that  the  first  Christian  community 
krietly  cjenobitic.     See  vol.  ii.  — M. 


««  not 

/ivrietl  s 

76*  44  * 


022  '--HE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

in  Palestine  and  Egypt.  The  philosophic  eye  of  Piiny  had 
surveyed  with  astonishment  a  soi-itary  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 

Egypt,  the  fruitful  parent  of  superstition,  afforded  the  first 
example  of  the  monastic  life.  Antony,7  an  illiterate  b  youth 
of  the  lower  parts  of  Thebais,  distributed  his  patrimony,'-1 
deserted  his  family  and  native  home,  and  executed  his  monns 
tic  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'  journe}' 
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 


6  Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  v.  15.  Gens  sola,  et  in  toto  orbe  prater  ceteraa 
mira,  sine  ulla  femina,  omni  venere  abdicata,  sine  pecunia,  socia  pal- 
marum.  Ita  per  seculorum  millia  (incredibile  dictu)  gens  a?terna  est 
in  qua  nemo  nascitur.  Tam  foecunda  illis  aliorum  vitae  pceniteutia  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 
Ecland.  Palestin.,  torn.  i.  p.  295  ;  torn.  ii.  p.  763,  874,  880,  890. 

7  See  Athanas.  Op.  torn.  ii.  p.  450 — 505,  and  the  Vit.  Patrum, 
p.  26 — 74,  with  Posweyde's  Annotations.  The  former  is  the  Greek 
original ;  the  latter,  a  very  ancient  Latin  version  by  Evagrius,  the 
friend  of  St."  Jerom. 

8  riJuppuTu  (ikv  fiuStir  urx  >]i*o/iTo.  Athanas.  torn.  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  Tilicmont  (Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  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  Antra  autem  erant  ei  trecenta?  uberes,  et  valde  optimae,  (Vfr 
Patr.  1.  v.  p.  36.)  If  the  Arura  be  a  square  measure  of  a  hur.drt  i 
Egyptian  cubits,  (Rosweyde,  Onomasticon  ad  Vit.  Patrum,  p.  1014, 
1015.)  and  the  Egyptian  cubit  of  all  ages  be  equal  to  twenty  tvrc 
English  inches,  (Greaves,  vol.  i.  p.  233,)  the  arura  will  consist  of 
fchout  three  quarters  of  an  English  acre. 

0  The  description   of  the   monastery   is   given  by  Jerom   (torn.  I 
p    <4S.  219,  in  Vit.  Ilih-.rion)  and  the  P.  Sicard,  (Missions  du  Levant 


)F    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  523 

M)  the  desert ;  ami  when  he  was  obliged  to  appear  at  Alex- 
andria, in  the  face  of  mankind,  he  supported  his  fame  with 
discretion  and  dignity.  He  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Athana- 
sius,  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  inves- 
tigate 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 


torn.  v.  p.  122 — 200.)     Their  accounts  cannot  always  be  reconciled: 
the  father  painted  from  his  fancy,  and  the  Jesuit  from  his  experience. 

11  Jerom,  torn.  i.  p.  146,  ad  Eustochium.  Hist.  Lausiac.  c.  7,  in 
Vit.  Patrum,  p.  712.  The  P.  Sicard  (Missions  du  Levant,  torn.  ii. 
p.  22 — 79)  visited  and  has  described  this  desert,  which  now  contains 
four  monasteries,  and  twenty  or  thirty  monks.  See  D'Anville,  De- 
scription de  l'Egypte,  p.  74. 

12  Tabenne  is  a  small  island  in  the  Nile,  in  the  diocese  of  Tentyra 
or  Dendcra,  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  ol 
Bau  or  Pabau,  (Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  vii.  p.  678,  688.) 

13  See  in  the  Cod  ;x  Ilegularum  (published  by  Lucas  Holstenius, 
Rome,  1661)  a  preface  of  St.  Jcrom  to  his  Latin  version  of  the  Rule 
cf  Pachomius,  torn.  i.  p.  61. 

14  Kutin.  c.  5,  in  Vit.  Patrum,  p.  459.  He  calls  it  civitas  ampla 
valdc  et  populosa,  and  reckons  twelve  churches.  Strabo  (1.  xviL 
p.  1166)  and  Ammianus  (xxii.  16)  have  made  honorable  mention  of 


524  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

this  marvellous  revolution,  were  disposed  to  hope,  and  tc 
believe,  tnat  the  number  of  the  monks  was  equal  to  tho 
remainder  of  the  people  ; 15  and  posterity  might  repeat  tho 
saying,  which  had  formerly  been  applied  to  the  sacred  ani 
mals  of  the  same  country,  "That  in  Egypt  it  was  less  difficul) 
to  find  a  god  than  a  man. 

Athanasius  introduced  into  Rome  the  knowledge  and  prac 
tice  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.  Tho 
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  tho 
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  Basil18  is  immortal  in  the  monastic  history  of 
the  East.     With  a   mind    that  had  tasted  the  learning  and 


Oxyrinchus,  whose  inhabitants  adored  a  small  fish  in   a  magnificent 
temple. 

16  Quanti  populi  habentur  in  urbibus,  tantae  paene  habentur  in  de- 
sertis  multitudines  monachorum.  Rutin,  c.  7,  in  Vit.  Patrum,  p.  461. 
He  congratulates  the  fortunate  change. 

16  The  introduction  of  the  monastic  life  into  Rome  and  Italy  i» 
occasionally  mentioned  by  Jerom,  torn.  i.  p.  119,  120,  199. 

17  See  the  Life  of  Hilarion,  by  St.  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  241,  252.) 
The  stories  of  Paul,  Hilarion,  and  Malehus,  by  the  same  author,  are 
admirably  told  :  and  the  only  defect  of  these  pleasing  compositions 
is  the  want  of  truth  and  common  sense. 

18  His  original  retreat  was  in  a  small  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
Iris,  not  far  from  Neo-Csesarea.  The  ten  or  twelve  years  of  his  mo- 
nastic life  were  disturbed  by  long  and  frequent  avocations.  Some 
critics  have  disputed  the  authenticity  of  his  Ascetic  rules  ;  but  the 
external  evidei.ee  is  weighty,  and  they  can  only  prove  that  it  is  the 
work  of  a  real  ?r  affected  enthusiast.  See  Tillcmont,  Mem.  Krdes, 
torn.  ix.  p.  636 — 644,  Helyot,  Hist,  des  Ordres  Monastiques,  ton;.  » 
p.  176—181. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRL.  525 

rloquence  of  Athens ;  with  an  ambition  scarcely  to  be  satis* 
fied  with  the  archbishopric  of  Ca;sarea,  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  mon- 
asteries of  Gaul ;  two  thousand  of  his  disciples  followed  him 
to  the  gra've  ;  and  his  eloquent  historian  challenges  the  deserts 
of  Thebais  to  produce,  in  a  more  favorable  climate,  a  cham- 
pion 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  fdled 
with  their  increasing  multitudes ;  and  the  bleak  and  barren 
isles,  from  Lerins  to  Lipari,  that  arise  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  them- 
selves beyond  the  tropic,  over  the  Christian  empire  of  ./Ethio- 
pia,21 The  monastery  of  Banchor,22  in  Flintshire,  which 
contained  above  two  thousand  brethren,  dispersed  a  numerous 
colony  among  the  Barbarians  of  Ireland  j23  and  Iota,  one  of 

19  See  his  Life,  and  the  three  Dialogues  by  ^ulpicius  Severu«,  who 
asserts  (Dialog,  i.  16)  that  the  booksellers  of  Kome  were  delighted 
with  the  quick  and  ready  sale  of  his  popular  work. 

20  When  Hilarion  sailed  from  Panetonium  to  Cape  Pachynus,  he 
offered  to  pay  his  passage  with  a  book  of  the  Gospels.  Posthnmian, 
a  Gallic  monk,  who  had  visited  Egypt,  found  a  merchant  ship  be  u:id 
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,  (-torn, 
ii.  p.  451.) 

41  See  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  126,)  Assemanni,  Bibliot.  Orient,  lom.  iv. 
p.  02,  p.  857—919,  and  Geddes,  Church  History  of  ^Ethiopia,  p.  29 
— 31.  The  Abyssinian  monks  adhere  very  strictly  to  the  primitive 
institution. 

**  Camden's  Britannia,  vol.  i.  p.  666,  667. 

28  All  that  learning  can  extrect  from  the  rubbish  of  ♦.he  dark  agc» 


626  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  Hebrides,  which  was  planted  by  the  Irish  monks,  diffused 
over  the  northern  regions  a  doubtful  ray  of  science  and 
superstition.24 

These  unhappy  exiles  from  social  life  were  impelled  by 
the  dark  and  implacable  genius  of  superstition.  Their  mutua' 
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  deter- 
mined 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  acci- 
dental misfortune  ;  and  they  might  derive  some  aid  from  the 
temporal  considerations  of  vanity  or  interest.  It  was  natu- 
rally  supposed,  that  the  pious  and  humble  monks,  who  had 
renounced  the  world  to  accomplish  the  work  of  their  salva- 
tion, 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, 


is  copiously  stated  by  Archbishop  Usher  in  his  Britannicaruni  Eccle- 
siarum  Antiquitates,  cap.  xvi.  p.  425 — 503. 

'u  This  small,  though  not  barren,  spot,  Iona,  Hy,  or  Columbkilh 
only  two  limes  in  longth,  and  one  mile  in  breadth,  has  been  distin- 
guished, 1.  By  the  monastery  of  St.  Columba,  founded  A.  D.  56G  J 
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,  3G0 
— 370)"and  Buchanan,  (Rer.  Scot.  1.  ii.  p.  15,  edit.  Kuddiman.) 

"°  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  out  the  elect  (the  monks)  can  possibly  be  saved,  (1.  i.  p.  55,  56.) 
Elsewhere,  indeed,  he  becomes  more  merciful,  (1.  iii.  p.  S3,  84,)  ani 
allows  different  degrees  of  glory,  like  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  In 
his  lively  comparison  of  a  king  and  a  monk,  (1.  iii.  p.  116 — 121,)  he 
supposes  (what  is  hardly  fair)  that  the  king  will  be  more  sparingly 
rewarded,  and  more  rigorously  punished. 

w  Ihomas3in  (Discipl  no  de  l'Elgise,  torn.  i.  p.  1426—1460)    mil 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  527 

whose  reputation  was  connected  with  the  fame  and  success 
of  the  order,  assiduously  labored  to  multiply  the  number  ot 
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  pro- 
fane title  of  mother-in-law  of  God29  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  monas- 
teries ;  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 

Mabillon,  ((Euvres  Posthumes,  torn.  ii.  p.  115     158.)     The  monks 
were  gradually  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy. 

*7  Dr.  Middleton  (vol.  i.  p.  110)  Hberillv  cenmi-es  the  conduct  and 
writings  of  Chrysostom,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  successful 
advocates  for  the  monastic  life. 

88  Jerom's  devout  ladies  form  a  very  consmeraoie  portion  of  hi! 
works  :  the  particular  treatise,  which  he  styles  the  Epitaph  of  Paula, 
(torn.  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. 

49  Socrus  Dei  esse  coepisti,  (Jerom,  torn.  i.  p.  140,  ad  Eustochium.) 
Uuflnus,  (in  Hieronym.  Op.  torn.  iv.  p.  223,)  who  was  justly  scan- 
dalized, asks  his  adversary,  from  what  Pagan  poet  he  had  stolen  an 
expression  so  impious  and  absurd. 

30  Nunc  autem  veniunt  plerumque  ad  hanc  professionem  servitutis 
Dei,   et  ex  conditione  servili,  vel  etiam  liberati,  vel  propter  hoc  a 
Dominis  liberati  sive  liberandi ;  ct  ex  vita  rusticana,  et  ex  opificuin 
exercitatione,  et  plebeio  labore.     Augustin,  de  Oper.  Monach.  c.  22, 
ap.  Thomassin  Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn.  iii.  p.  1091:.     The  Egyptian 
who  blamed  Arsenius,  owned  that  he  led  a  more  comfortable  life  as 
monk  than  as  a  jhephcrd.     See  Tillemont,   Mem.  Eccles.   torn.  xi> 
p.  679. 


528  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

apparent  hardships  are  mitigated  by  custom,  by  popular 
applause,  and  by  the  secret  relaxation  of  discipline.81  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  pusillani- 
mous youth  preferred  the  penance  of  a  monastic,  to  the  dan- 
gers of  a  military,  life.  The  affrighted  provincials  of  every 
rank,  who  fled  before  the  Barbarians,  found  shelter  and  sub* 
6istence  :  whole  legions  were  buried  in  these  religious  sanc- 
tuaries ;  and  the  same  cause,  which  relieved  the  distress 
of  individuals,  impaired  the  strength  and  fortitude  of  the 
empire.32 

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  scan- 


31  A  Dominican  friar,  (Voyages  du  P.  Labat,  torn.  i.  p.  10,)  who 
'odged  at  Cadiz  in  n  convent  of  his  brethren,  soon  understood  that 
their  repose  was  never  interrupted  by  nocturnal  devotion  ;  "  quoiqu'on 
r.e  laisse  pas  de  sonner  pour  l'edification  du  peuple." 

a"  See  a  very  sensible  preface  of  Lucas  Holstenius  to  the  Codex 
Begularum.  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  san- 
guine wishes  of  the  monks,  (Thomassin,  torn.  i.  p.  1782—1799,  and 
Bingham,  1.  vii.  c.  3,  p.  253.)* 

u  The  monastic  institutions,  particularly  those  of  Egypt,  about  the 
year  400,  are  described  by  four  curious  arid  devout  travellers ;  Rufi- 
l'us,  (Vit.  Patrum,  1.  ii.  hi.  p.  424— 536,)  Posthumian,  (Sulp.  Sever. 
Dialog,  i.)  Palladius,  (Hist.  Lausiac.  in  Vit.  Patrum,  p.  709—863,) 
und  Cassian,  (see  in  torn.  vii.  Bibliothec.  Max.  Patrum,  his  four  first 
books  of  Institutes,  and  the  twenty-four  Collations  or  Conferences.) 

34  The  example  of  Malehus,  ( Jcrom,  torn.  i.  p.  256.)  and  the  design 
of  Cassian  and  his  friend,  (Collation,  xxiv.  1,)  are  incontestable  proof* 
of  their  freedom  ;  which  is  elegantly  described  by  Erasmus  in  his 
Life  of  St.  Jerom.  See  Chardon,  Hist,  des  Sacremens,  torn.  vi. 
p.  279—300. 

•  The  emperor  Valens,  in  particular,  promulgates  a  law  contra  ignavia 
quosdam  sectatores,  qui  desertis  civitatum  muneribus,  captant  solitudinet 
ac  secreta,  et  specie  religionis  cum  coetibus  mouachoruin  congreRantur 
Cod   Theod.  1.  xii.  tit.  i.  leg.  63.  —  G. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  529 

Hal .  and  the  progress  of  superstition,  suggested  the  propriety 
of  more  forcible  restraints.  After  a  sufficient  trial,  the  fide! 
ityof  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, 
end  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  submia 
sion  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  fre- 
quently 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  obedi- 


3S  See  the  Laws  of  Justinian,  (Novel,  cxxiii.  No.  42,)  and  of  Lewis 
the  Pious,  (in  the  Historians  of  France,  torn.  vi.  p.  427,)  and  the 
actual  jurisprudence  of  France,  in  Denissart,  (Decisions,  &c,  torn.  iv. 
p.  855,  &c. 

38  The  ancient  Codex  Regularum,  collected  by  Benedict  Anianinu9, 
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  Itajy,  one  in 
Africa,  four  in  Spain,  eight  in  Gaul,  or  France,  and  one  in  England. 

37  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  subteivanev  mi 
dungeon  or  sepulchre)  which  was  afterwards  invented.  See  an  admi 
rable  discourse  of  the  learned  Mabillon,  (QEuvrcs  Posthumes,  torn,  ft 
p  321 — 336,)  who,  on  this  occasion,  seems  to  be  inspired  by  the  geniu* 
of  humanity.  For  such  an  effort,  I  can  forgive  his  dtfence  of  the 
holy  tear  of  Vendome,  (p   361—399.) 


630  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

ence.38  The  freedom  of  the  mind,  the  source  of  every  gen 
erous  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  hia 
ecclesiastical  tyrant.  The  peace  of  the  Eastern  church  waa 
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 

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  sim- 
ple 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  or 
merit ;  and  soberly  exhorts  his  disciples  to  adopt  the  coarse 
and  convenient  dress  of  the  countries  which  they  may  in- 
habit.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  them- 
selves 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 

38  Sulp.  Sever.  Dialog,  i.  12,  13,  p.  532,  &c.  Cassian.  Institut.  1.  iv. 
t.  26,  27.  "  Praecipua  ibi  virtus  et  prima  est  obediential'  Among 
the  Verba  seniorum,  (in  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  v.  p.  617,)  the  fourteenth 
libel  or  discourse  is  on  the  subject  of  obedience  ;  and  the  Jesuit  Ros- 
weyde,  who  published  that  huge  volume  for  the  use  of  convents,  has 
collected  all  the  scattered  passages  in  his  two  copious  indexes. 

39  Dr.  Jortin  (Remarks  on  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  iv.  p.  161) 
has  observed  the  scandalcus  valor  of  the  Cappadocian  monks,  which 
was  exemplified  in  the  banishment  of  Chrysostom. 

40  Cassian  has  simply,  though  copiously,  described  the  raonastio 
habit  of  Egypt,  (Institut.  1.  i.,)  to  which  Sozomen  (1.  iii.  c.  14)  attrib- 
utes such  allegorical  meaning  and  virtue. 

41  Regul.  Benedict.  No.  55,  in  Cod.  Regul.  part  ii.  p.  61 

u  See  the  Rule  of  Ferreolus,  bishop  of  TJsez,  (No.  31,  in  Cod.  R*gul 
part  ii.  p.  136.)  and  of  Isidore,  bishop  of  Seville,  (No.  13,  in  Cod 
Be«ul.  part  ii.  p.  214.) 


Or    THE    ROMAN    EMriRE.  53J 

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  *  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,  nar- 
row 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  hos- 
pital, perhaps  a  library,  some  necessary  offices,  a  garden,  and 
a  fountain  or  reservoir  of  fresh  water.  Thirty  or  forty  breth- 
ren composed  a  family  of  separate  discipline  and  diet ;  and 
the  gveat  monasteries  of  Egypt  consisted  of  thirty  or  forty 
families. 

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  ab- 
stinence, which  they  imposed,  or  practised,  were  not  uniform 
or  perpetual  :  the  cheerful  festival  of  the  Pentecost  was  bal- 
anced 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  tem- 
perate virtue  of  the   Egyptians.45       The  disciples  of  Antony 

43  Some  partial  indulgences  were  granted  for  the  hands  and  feet. 
"  Totum  autem  corpus  nemo  unguet  nisi  causa  infirmitatis,  nee  la- 
vabitur  aqua  nudo  corpore,  nisi  languor  perspicuus  sit,"  (Regul. 
Pachom.  xcii.  part  i.  p.  78.) 

44  St.  Jerom,  in  strong,  but  indiscreet,  language,  expresses  the  most 
important  use  of  fasting  and  abstinence  :  "  Non  quod  Deus  universi- 
latis  Creator  et  Dominus,  intestinorum  nostrorum  rugitft,  et  inanitate 
ventris,  pulmonisque  ardore  delectetur,  sed  quod  aliter  pudicitia  tuta 
esse  non  possit."  (Op.  torn.  i.  p.  32,  ad  Eustochium.)  See  the 
twelfth  and  twenty-second  Collations  of  Cassian,  de  Castitate  and  dt 
lUusionibus  Nocturnis. 

45  Edacitas  in  Grsecis  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  nostras  fragilitatis,  (Institut.  iv.  11.)  Among  the  West- 
ern rules,  that  of  Columbanus  is  the  most  austere ;  he  had  been 
educated  amidst  the  poverty  of  Ireland,  as  rigid,  perhaps,  and  inflex- 


•  Athanasius  (Vit.  Ant.  c.  47)  boasts  of  Antony's  holy  horror  of  clean 
water,  by  which  his  fe»t  were  uncontaminated,  except  under  dire  necessity 


532  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  Pachomius  were  satisfied  with  their  daiiy  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 
.he  boiled  vegetables  which  were  provided  for  the  refectory  ; 
but  the  extraordinary  Dounxy  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 
liver  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. 

The  candidate  who  aspired  to  the  virtue  of  evangelical 
poverty,  abjured,  at  his  first  entrance  mto  a  regular  commu- 
nity, the  idea,  and  even  the  name,  of  all  separate  or  exclusive 
possession.50     The  brethren  were  supported  by  their  manual 


ible  as  the  abstemious  virtue  of  Egypt.     The  rule  of  Isidore  of  Seville 
is  the  mildest ;  on  holidays  he  allows  the  use  of  flesh. 

48  u  Those  who  drink  only  water,  and  have  no  nutritious  liquor, 
ought,  a-t  least,  to  have  a  pound  and  a  half  {twenty-four  owices)  of 
bread  every  day."     State  of  Prisons,  p.  40,  by  Mr.  Howard. 

47  See  Cassian.  Collat.  1.  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 
gome  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,  1.  viii.  p.  736,  737.) 

48  See  the  banquet  to  which  Cassian  (Collation  viii.  1)  was  invited 
by  Serenus,  an  Egyptian  abbot. 

49  See  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict,  No.  39,  40,  (in  Cod.  Reg.  part  iL 
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. 

50  Such  expressions  as  my  book,  my  cloak,  my  shoes,  (Cassian. 
Institat.  1.  iv.  c   13,)  were  not  less  severely  prohibited  among  tne 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  5.T3 

labor  ;  and  the  duty  of  labor  was  strenuously  recommei  ded 
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  tha 
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  neces- 
sary 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  pos- 
terity must  gratefully  acknowledge,  that  the  monuments  of 
Greek  and  Roman  literature  have  been  preserved  and  multi- 
plied 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  san- 
dals, 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  in- 
trinsic value  of  the  work. 

But  the   necessity  of  manual   labor  was  insensibly  super- 
seded.    The  novice  was  tempted  to  bestow  his  fortune  on  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. 

81  Two  great  masters  of  ecclesiastical  science,  the  P.  Thomassin, 
(Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn.  iii.  p.  1090—1139,)  and  the  P.  Mabillon, 
(Etudes  Monastiques,  torn.  i.  p.  116 — 1-55,)  have  seriously  examined 
the  manual  labor  of  the  monks,  which  the  former  considers  as  a  merit, 
and  the  latter  as  a  duty. 

41  Mabillon  (Etudes  Monastiques,  torn.  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  mon- 
asteries of  Egypt,  (Cassian.  Institut.  1.  iv.  c.  12,)  and  by  the  disciples 
of  St.  Martin,  (Sulp.  Sever,  in  Vit.  Martin,  c.  7,  p.  473.)  Cassiodorua 
has  allowed  an  ample  scope  for  the  studies  of  the  monks  ;  and  w« 
»hall  not  bo  scandalized,  if  their  pens  sometimes  wandered  from 
Chrysostom  and  Augustin  to  Homer  and  Virgil. 


534  THE    DJi>.' LINE    AND    FALL 

saints,  m  whose  society  he  was  resolved  to  spend  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  ;  and  the  pernicious  indulgence  of  ;he  lawa 
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  contacted 
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  man- 
kind 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 
intrusted  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 
t\nd  sensual  pleasures  of  the  world,  which  they  had  re- 
nounced,56 and  scandalously  abused   the  riches  which    had 


53  Thoraassin  (Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn.  iii.  p.  118,  145,  146,  171 
—179)  has  examined  the  revolution  of  the  civil,  canon,  and  common 
iaw.  Modern  France  confirms  the  death  which  monks  have  inflicted 
on  themselves,  and  j  ustly  deprives  them  of  all  right  of  inheritance. 

54  See  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  176,  183.)  The  monk  Pambo  made  a  sub- 
lime 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 
mountains  in  a  balance,  need  not  be  informed  of  the  weight  of  your 
plate,"    (Pallad.   Hist.   Lausiac.   c.   10,  in  the  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  viii. 

P-  715-)  '  , 

55  To  noHv  ptQoi;  rijq  yijq  wxttwoavTo,  nqotpctou  rov  ^itTaSidovai  nana* 

TTtojfof;,  nuvrag  (o>?  tintiv')  mviyovq  y.araar •[fiavris.  Zosim.  1.  v.  p.  325. 
Yet  the  wealth  of  the  Eastern  monks  was  far  surpassed  by  the 
princely  greatness  of  the  Benedictines. 

w  The  sixth  general  conncil  (the  Quinisext  in  Trullo,  Canon  xlvii. 
in  Beveridge,  torn.  i.  p.  213)  restrains  women  from  passing  tne  nigh. 
in  a  male,  or  men  in  a  female,  monastery.  The  seventh  genera, 
touncil  (the  second  Nicene,  Canon  xx.  in  Beveridge,  torn.  i.  p.  325) 
prohibits  the  erection  of  double  or  promiscuous  monasteries  of  both 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  f>35 

been  acquired  by  the  austere  virtues  of  their  founders.5' 
Their  natural  descent,  from  such  painful  and  dangerous  vir- 
tue, to  the  common  vices  of  humanity,  will  not,  perhaps 
excite  much  grief  or  indignation  in  the  mind  of  a  philosopher 
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  compan 
ions  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  dan- 
gerous 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  pre- 
pared and  qualified  for  any  liberal  studies  the  mechanics  and 
peasants  who  filled  the  monastic  communities.     They  might 

hexes ;  but  it  appears  from  Balsamon,  that  the  prohibition  was  not 
effectual.  On  the  irregular  pleasures  and  expenses  of  the  clergy  and 
monks,  see  Thomassin,  torn.  iii.  p.  1334 — 1368. 

57  I  have  somewhere  heard  or  read  the  frank  confession  of  a  Bene- 
dictine abbot :  "  My  vow  of  poverty  has  given  me  a  hundred  thou- 
sand 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 
•jhastity. 

58  Pior,  an  Egyptian  monk,  allowed  his  sister  to  see  him  ;  but  ho 
shut  his  eyes  during  the  whole  visit.  See  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  iii.  p.  504. 
Many  such  examples  might  be  added. 

59  The  ?th,  8th,  29th,  30th,  31st,  34th,  57th,  60th,  86th,  and  95th 
articles  of  the  Rule  of  Pachomius,  impose  most  intolerable  laws  of 
Bilence  and  mortification 


536  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  per- 
sonal interest. 

According  to  their  faith  and  zaul,  they  might  employ  th* 
day,  which  they  passed  in  their  cells,  either  in  vocal  or  men- 
tal prayer :  they  assembled  in  the  evening,  and  they  were 
awakened  in  the  night,  for  the  public  worship  of  the  monas- 
tery. The  precise  moment  was  determined  by  the  star?, 
which  are  seldom  clouded  in  the  serene  sky  of  Egypt ;  and  a 
rustic  horn,  or  trumpet,  the  signal  of  devotion,  twice  inter- 
rupted 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  repeat- 
edly accused  the  tedious  progress  of  the  sun.61  In  this  com- 
fortless 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  un- 
happy 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.68      Their  visions,  before    they  attained    this 


60  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  Cassian,  from  his  own  experience,  describes  the  acedia,  or  list- 
isssness  of  mind  and  body,  to  which  a  monk  was  exposed,  when  he 
eighed  to  find  himself  alone.  Saepiusque  egreditur  et  ingreditur 
cellam,  et  Solem  velut  ad  occasum  tardius  properantem  crebrius 
intuetur,  (Institut.  x.  1.) 

BS  The  temptations  and  sufferings  of  Stagirius  were  communicated 
by  that  unfortunate  youth  to  his  friend  St.  Chrysostom.  See  Mid- 
dleton'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,  torn.  i.  p.  29 — 38,)  may 
serve  as  a  memorable  example. 

1,3  Fleury,  Hist.  Ecclesiastique,  torn.  vii.  p.  46.  I  have  read  some- 
where, in    the  Vitas   Patrum,  but   I   cannot  recover  the  p-nee,  thai 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRfc.  537 

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  imagma* 
tion,  «md  even  the  senses,  were  deceived  by  the  illusions  of 
distempered  fanaticism  ;  and  the  hermit,  whose  midnight 
piayer  was  oppressed  by  involuntary  slumber,  might  easily 
confound  the  phantoms  of  horror  or  delight,  which  had  occu- 
pied his  sleeping  and  his  waking  dreams.64 

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  fanat- 
icism.65 The  most  devout,  or  the  most  ambitious,  of  the 
spiritual  brethren,  renounced  the  convent,  as  they  had  re- 
nounced the  world.  The  fervent  monasteries  of  Egypt, 
Palestine,  and  Syria,  were  surrounded  by  a  Laura,G6  a  dis- 
tant circle  of  solitary  cells  ;  and  the  extravagant  penanco 
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,  brace- 
lets, gauntlets,  and  greaves  of  massy  and  rigid  iron.  All 
superfluous  encumbrance  of  dress  they  contemptuously  cast 

several,  I  believe  many,  of  the  monks,  who  did  not  reveal  their  temp- 
tations to  the  abbot,  became  guilty  of  suicide. 

64  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. 

85  For  the  distinction  of  the  Ccciiobites  and  the  Hermits,  especially 
in  Egypt,  see  Jerom,  (torn.  i.  p.  45,  ad  Rusticum,)  the  first  Dialogue 
of  Sulpicius  Severus,  Rufinus,  (c.  22,  in  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  ii.  p.  478,) 
Palladius,  (c.  7,  69,  in  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  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. 

88  Suicer.  Thesaur.  Ecclesiast.  torn.  ii.  p.  205,  218.  Thomassin. 
(Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn.  i.  p.  1501,  1502)  gives  a  good  account  of 
these  cells.  When  Gerasimus  founded  his  monastery  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Jordan,  it  was  accompanied  by  a  Laura  of  seventy  cells. 

87  Theodoret,  in  a  large  volume,  (the  Phdotheus  in  Vit.  Patrum, 
\.  ix.  p.  703 — 863,)  has  collected  the  lives  and  miracles  of  thirty  An- 
achorets. Evagrius  (1.  i.  c.  12)  more  briefly  celebrates  the  monks  and 
hermits  ot  Palestine. 

77 


538  Tfffi  DECLINE  a:<o  fall 

away  |  and  some  savage  saints  of  both  sexes  have  been  ad- 
mired,  whose  naked  bodies  were  oni>  covered  by  their  long 
hair.  They  aspired  to  reduce  themselves  to  the  rude  and 
miserable  state  in  which  the  human  brute  is  scarcely  dis- 
tinguishable 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  tho 
common  herd.08  They  often  usurped  the  den  of  some  wild 
hpast  whom  they  affected  to  resemble  ;  they  buried  them- 
selves 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.6' 
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  con 
struction,  which  might  expose  him,  in  the  most  inconvenient 
posture,  to  the  inclemency  of  the  seasons. 

Among  these  heroes  of  the  monastic  life,  the  name  and 
genius  of  Simeon  Stylites  70  have  been  immortalized  by  the  sin- 
gular invention  of  an  aerial  penance.  At  the  age  of  thirteen, 
♦he  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  mandrel^  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  Anachorct  resisted  the  heat  of  thirty  summers,  and 

69  Sozomen,  1.  vi.  c.  33.  The  great  St.  Ephfcm  composed  a  pane- 
gyric on  these  BCoxoi,  or  grazing  monks,  (Tillemont,  Mem.  Ecclea. 
torn.  viii.  p.  292.) 

69  The  P.  Sicard  (Missions  du  Levant,  torn.  ii.  p.  217*— 233)  exam- 
ined  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. 

75  See  Theodoret,  (in  Vit.  Patrum,  1.  ix.  p.  848—854,)  Antony,  (in 
Vit.  Patrum,  1.  i.  p.  170—177,)  Cosmas,  (in  Asseman.  Bibliot.  Orien- 
tal, torn.  i.  p.  239—253,)  Evagrius,  (1.  i.  c.  13,  14,)  and  Tillemont, 
(Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  xv.  p.  347 — 392.) 

71  The  narrow  circumference  of  two  cubits,  or  three  feet,  which 
Evagrius  assigns  for  the  summit  of  the  column,  is  inconsistent  with 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.  639 

the  cold  of  is  many  winters.  Habit  and  exercise  instructed 
Kirn  f»>  maintain  his  dangerous  situation  without  fear  or  gid 
diness,  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,  aftef 
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  capri- 
ciously 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  pre- 
sumed that  the  fanatics,  who  torment  themselves,  are  suscep- 
tible of  any  lively  affection  for  the  rest  of  mankind.  A  cruel, 
unfeeling  temper  has  distinguished  the  monks  of  every  age 
am?  country  :  their  stern  indifference,  which  is  seldom  mollified 
b;,  personal  friendship,  is  inflamed  by  religious  hatred  ;  and 
their  merciless  zeal  has  strenuously  administered  the  holy 
office  of  the  Inquisition. 

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  pilla.  of  Simeon  :  the  tribes  of 
Saracens  disputed  in  arms  the  honor  of  his  benediction ;  the 
queens  of  Arabia  and  Persia  gratefully  confessed  his  super- 
natural 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  patri- 
arch, the  master-general  of  the  East,  six  bishops,  twenty-one 
counts  or  tribunes,  and  six  thousand  soldiers ;  and  Antioch 

reason,  with  facts,  and  with  the  rules  of  architecture.     The  people 
who  saw  it  from  below  might  be  easily  deceived. 

7*  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 
if  inflicting  this  chastisement  on  his  vanity. 


i)40  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

revered  his  bones,  as  her  glorious  ornament  and  impi-cgiiaV.d 
defence.  The  fame  of  the  apostles  and  martyrs  was  gradu 
ally  eclipsed  by  these  recent  and  popular  Anachoreis  ,  the 
Christian  world  fell  prostrate  before  their  shrines  ;  and  the 
miracles  ascribed  to  their  relics  exceeded,  at  least  in  numbei 
and  duration,  the  spiritual  exploits  of  their  lives.  But  the 
golden  legend  of  their  lives73  was  embellished  by  the  artfu. 
credulity  of  their  interested  brethren ;  and  a  believing  age 
was  easily  persuaded,  that  the  slightest  caprice  of. an  Egyp- 
tian or  a  Syrian  rionk  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  famil- 
iarly 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  tht  rea- 
son, the  faith,  and  the  morals,  of  the  Christians.  Their  cr-du- 
lity  debased  and  vitiated  the  faculties  of  the  mind  :  they  cor- 
rupted 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  resolution  which 
was  accomplished  in  the  Roman  empire  within  a  period  of  five 
hundred  years. 

II.  The  progress  of  Christianity  has  been  marked  by  two 
glorious  and  decisive  victories  :  over  the  learned  and  luxurious 

73  I  know  not  how  to  select  or  specify  the  miracles  contained  in  the 
Vitce  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  tho  bishep  of 
lours  had  restored  three  dead  men  to  life. 


OP    THE    ROMAi*    EMPIRE.  541 

ctizeus  of  the  Roman  empire  ,  and  over  the  warlike  Barba- 
rians of  Seythia  and  Germany,  who  subverted  the  empire,  and 
embraced  the  religion,  of  the  Romans.  The  Goths  were  the 
fore  must  of  these  savage  proselytes  ;  and  the  nation  was  in- 
debted 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 
ted  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  Dac>«  successively  labored  for  the  salvation 
of  their  masters.  ihe  seeds  which  they  planted,  of  the  evan- 
gelic 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  lan- 
guage ;  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  ;  *  four  of  which  he  in- 


74  On  the  subject  of  Ulphilas,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Goths, 
see  Sozomen,  1.  vi.  c.  37.  Socrates,  1.  iv.  c.  33.  Theodoret,  1.  iv. 
c.  37.  Philostorg.  1.  ii.  c.  5.  The  heresy  of  Philostorgius  appears  to 
have  given  him  superior  means  of  information. 


*  This  is  the  Mceso-Gothic  alphabet,  of  which  many  of  the  letters  are 
evidently  formed  from  the  Greek  and  Roman.  M.  St.  Martin,  howevet, 
sontends,  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  con- 
nected with  the  old  idolatrous  superstitions,  were  proscribed  by  the  Chris- 
tian missionaries.  Every  where  the  runes,  so  common  among  all  the  Ger- 
mai  tribes,  disappear  alter  the  propagation  of  Christianity.  St.  Martia, 
W.I    V,  98.  —  M. 


642  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

vente !,  ,.0  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  in- 
testine 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 
A.thanaric  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 
imago  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  imme- 
diately 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  *W> 
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. 


75  A  mutilated  copy  of  the  four  Gospels,  in  the  Gothic  version, 
was  published  A.  D.  1665,  and  is  esteemed  the  most  ancient  monu- 
ment 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. 
Sec  Simon,  Hist.  Critique  du  Nouveau  Testament,  torn.  ii.  p.  219— 
223.  Mill.  Prolegom.  p.  151,  edit.  Kuster.  Wetstein,  Prolegom. 
torn.  i.  p.  114.  * 

78  Philostorgius  erroneously  places  this  passage  under  the  reign 
of  Constantine  ;  but  I  am  much  inclined  to  believe  that  it  preceded 
the  great  emigration. 


•  The  Codex  Argenteus,  found  in  the  sixteenth  century  at  TVenden 
near  Cologne,  and  now  preserved  at  Upsal,  contains  almost  the  entire  foui 
Gospels.  The  best  edition  is  that  of  J.  Christ.  Zahn,  Weissenfels,  1805. 
In  1"62  Knettel  discovered  and  published  from  a  Palimpsest  MS.  foui 
chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans :  they  were  reprinted  at  Upsal, 
1763.  M.  Mai  has  since  that  time  discovered  further  fragments,  and  othei 
remains  of  Mceso-Gothic  literature,  from  a  Palimpsest  at  Milan.  See  Ul- 
philae  partium  ineditarum  in  Ambrosianis  Palimpsestis  ab  Ang.  Maio  re- 
pertarum  specimen.     Milan,  4to.  1819.  — -M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  543 

These  harmless  Barbarians  multiplied  in  obscure  peace  and 
the  profession  of  Christianity.77 

Their  fiercer  brethren,  the  formidable  Visigoths,  universally 
adopted  the  religion  of  the  Romans,  with  whom  they  main- 
tained 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  edu- 
cated 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  Dur- 
ing 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  perse- 
vered 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.  Eng- 
land 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  Bal- 
tic.79 

The  different  motives  which  influenced  the  reason,  or  the 
passions,  of  the  Barbarian  converts,  cannot  easily  be  ascer- 
tained. They  were  often  capricious  and  accidental ;  a  dream, 
an  omen,  the  report  of  a  miracle,  the  example  of  some 
priest,  or  hero,  the  chasms  of  a   believing  wife,  and,  above 

77  We  are  obliged  to  Jornundes  (de  Reb.  Get.  c.  51,  p.  688)  for  a 
abort  and  lively  picture  of  these  lesser  Goths.  Gothi  minores,  pop- 
ulus  immensus,  euin  suo  Pontitice  ipsoque  primate  Wultila.  Ths 
last  words,  if  they  are  not  mere  tautology,  imply  some  temporal 
jurisdi  tion. 

7*  At  non  ita  Gothi  non  ita  Vandali  ;  malis  licet  doetoribus  instituti, 
in ^liires  tamen  etia.n  in  h<ie  parte  iiuam  nostri.  Salvian,  de  Gubern. 
IVi,  1.  vii.  n.  21. 'S 

r*  XJoshoim  has  slightly  sketched  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  the 
North,  from  the  fourth  to  the  fourteenth  century.  The  subject  would 
ailord  materials  for  an  ecclesiastical,  and  even  philosophical,  history. 


544  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  insen- 
sibly erased  by  the  habits  of  frequent  and  familiar  society  ; 
the  moral  precepts  of  the  gospel  were  protected  by  the  ex- 
travagant virtues  of  the  monks ;  and  a  spiritual  theology  wiiS 
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  god- 
desses, who  are  p  opagated  from  each  other.  From  this 
principle  deduce  their  imperfect  nature,  and  human  infirmi- 
ties, 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  argu- 
ments 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,  toe 
refined,  perhaps,  for  the  Barbarians  of  Germany,  was  forti- 
fied by  the  grosser  weight  of  authority  and   popular  consent 

80  To  such  a  cause  has  Socrates  (1.  vii.  c.  30)  ascribed  the  conversion 
of  the  Burgundians,  whose  Christian  piety  is  celebrated  by  Orosius, 
(1.  vii.  c.  19.) 

81  See  an  original  and  curious  epistle  from  Daniel,  the  first  bishop 
of  "Winchester,  (Bcda,  Ili^t.  Eecles.  Anglorum,  1.  v.  c.  18,  p.  20.3,  edit. 
Smith,)  to  St.  Boniface,  who  preached  the  gospel  among  the  savages 
of  Hesse  and  Thuringia.  Epistol.  Bonifacii,  lxvii.,  in  the  Maxinit 
Bibliotheca  Tatrum,  torn.  xiii.  p.  93. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  545 

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  con- 
version of  the  victorious  Goths.  The  valiant  and  fortunate 
Barbarians,  who  subdued  the  provinces  of  the  West,  succes 
rively  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  tern 
perate  climates,  of  the  fertile  lands,  which  produced  cor.u, 
wine,  and  oil ;  while  the  savage  idolaters,  and  their  helpless 
idols,  were  confined  to  the  extremities  .  f  the  earth,  the  dark 
and  frozen  regions  of  the  North.82 

Christianity,  which  opened  the  gates  of  Heaven  to  the  Bar- 
barians, 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  con- 
tained 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  lan- 
guages, which  concealed  the  inestimable  monuments  of  an- 
cient learning.  The  immortal  productions  of  Virgil,  Cicero, 
and  Livy,  which  were  accessible  to  the  Christian  Barbarians, 
maintained  a  silent  intercourse  between  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus and  the  times  of  Clovis  and  Charlemagne.  The  emula- 
tion of  mankind  was  encouraged  by  the  remembrance  of  a 
more  perfect  state  ;  and  the  (lame  of  science  was  secretly 
kept  alive,  to  warm  and  enlighten  the  mature  age  of  the 
Western  world.  In  the  most  corrupt  state  of  Christianity, 
Ihe  Barbarians  might  learn  justice  from  the  law,  and  mercy 
from   the  gospel;  and    if  the   knowledge   of  their   duty   was 

**  The  sword  of  Charlemagm  added  weight  to  the  argument ;  but 
when  Daniel  wrote  this  epistle,  (A.  D.  723,)  the  Mahometans,  who 
reigned  from  India  to  Soain,  might  have  retorted  it  against  the  Chris- 
tiana, v 

77* 


546  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  religiqjn 
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  alle- 
viate the  horrors  of  war,  to  moderate  the  insolence  of  con- 
quest, and  to  preserve,  in  the  downfall  of  the  empire,  a  per- 
manent  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  Barba- 
rians. 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  man- 
ners, 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  sen- 
timents 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  ;  pro- 
fessod  with  freedom,  and  perhaps  with  sincerity,  that  the  Son 
was  not  equal,  or  consubstantial  to  the  Father  ; 83  commu- 
nicated these  errors  to  the  clergy  and  people ;  and  infected 
the  Barbaric  world  with  a  heresy,84  which  the  great  Theodo- 

83  The  opinions  of  Ulphilas  and  the  Goths  inclined  to  semi-Arian- 
Ism,  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.  Theod- 
oret,  1.  iv.  c.  37. 

«  The  Arianifim  of  the  Goths  has  been  imputed  to  the  ejaperoi 


Of    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  547 

iius  proscribed  and  extinguished  among  the  Romans.  The 
temper  and  understanding  of  the  new  proselytes  were  not 
adapted  to  metaphysical  subtilties ;  but  the;'  strenuously 
maintained,  what  they  had  piously  received,  as  the  pure  and 
genuine  doctrines  of  Christianity.  The  advantage  of  preach- 
ing and  expounding  the  Scriptures  in  the  Teutonic  languag* 
promoted  the  apostolic  labors  of  Ulphilas  and  his  successors; 
and  they  ordained  a  competent  number  of  bishops  and  pres- 
byters for  the  instruction  of  the  kindred  tribes.  The  Ostro- 
goths, the  C.-guMCiians,  the  Suevi,  and  the  Vandals,  who  had 
listened  to  the  eloquence  of  the  Latin  clergy,*5  preferred  the 
more  intelligible  lessons  of  their  domestic  teachers ;  ar.d 
Arianism  was  adopted  as  the  national  faith  of  the  warlike 
converts,  #ho  were  seated  on  the  ruins  of  the  Western  em- 
pire. This  irreconcilable  difference  of  religion  was  a  per- 
petual 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  con- 
demnation. 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  opposi- 
tion to  the  Arian  courts ;  and  their  indiscreet  opposition  fre- 
quently became  criminal,  and  might  sometimes  be  danger- 
ous.87    The  pulpit,  that  safe   and   sacred   organ  of  sedition, 

Valens  :  "  Itaque  justo  Dei  judicio  ipsi  eum  vivum  incenderunt,  qui 
propter  eum  ctiam  mortui,  vitio  erroris  arsuri  sunt."  Orosius,  1.  vii. 
c.  33,  p.  554.  This  cruel  sentence  is  confirmed  by  Tillemont,  (Mem. 
Eccles.  torn.  vi.  p.  604 — 610,)  who  coolly  observes,  "  un  seul  hommo 
entraina  dans  1' enter  un  nombre  infini  do  Septentrionaux,  &c."  Sal- 
vian  (de  Gubcrn.  Dei,  1.  v.  p.  150,  151)  pities  and  excuses  their  in- 
voluntary error. 

85  Orosius  affirms,  in  the  year  416,  (1.  vii.  c.  41,  p.  580,)  that  the 
Churches  of  Christ  (of  the  Catholics)  were  filled  with  Huns,  Suevi, 
Vandals,  Burgundians. 

M  Radbod,  king  of  the  Prisons,  was  so  much  scandalized  by  this 
rash  declaration  of  a  missionary;  that  he  drew  back,  his  foot  alter  he 
Vad  entered  the  baptismal  font.  See  Fleurv,  Hist.  Eccles.  torn.  ix. 
p.  167. 

*7  The  epistles  of  Sidonius,  bishop  of  Clermont,  under  the  Visigoth^ 
•iwl  of  Avitus,    bishop   of  Vienna,  under  the  Burgundians,   explair 
»ometimes   in   dark  hints,   the   general   disposi'ions  of  the   Catholics. 
The  history  of  Clovis  ac  d  Thcodoric   will  suggest  seme   particuUi 
fee  "a. 


548  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

resounded  with  the  names  of  Pharaoh  and  Holofernes ; i8  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  imitate  J  by  the  Barba- 
rians themselves.  The  conquerors  evaded,  however,  the  dis 
graceful  reproach,  or  confession,  of  fear,  by  attributing  theii 
toleration  to  the  liberal  motives  of  reason  and  humanity  ;  and 
while  they  affected  the  language,  they  imperceptibly  imbibed 
the  spirit,  of  genuine  Christianity. 

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  pun- 
ished 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  synous 
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  fre- 


88  Genseric  confessed  the  resemblance,  by  the  severity  with  which 
he  punished  such  indiscreet  allusions.     Victor  Vitensis,  1.  7,  p.  10. 

89  Such  are  the  contemporary  complaints  of  Sidonius,  bishop  of 
Clermont  (1.  vii.  c.  6,  p.  182,  &c,  edit.  Sirmond.)  Gregory  of  IVtr*. 
who  quotes  this  Epistle,  (1.  ii.  c.  25,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  174,)  extorts  an  un- 
warrantable assertion,  that  of  the  nine  vacancies  in  Aquitain,  some 
had  been  proiuccd  by  episcopal  martyrdoms. 


OF   TTIP".    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  549 

quent  executions  which  Plained  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,  tor- 
mented  the    Catholics  with   the  same   unrelenting  fury  winch 
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  busi- 
ness  of  the  Vandal  court;    and  the  loathsome  disease  which 
hastened  the  death  of    Hunneric,  revenged  the  injuries,  with- 
out    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  Thrasimnnd,  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,  Thrasimnnd, 
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  hy  tne  renunciation  of 
their  faith  ;  and   whenever  Thrasimnnd   meditated  any  rigor- 
ous measure,  he  patiently  waited   till    the    indiscretion  of  his 
adversaries  furnished   him  with  a  specious  opportunity.      Big- 
otry was    his   last   sentiment   in    the    hour  of  death  ;  and    he 
exacted  from  his  successor  a  solemn  oath,  that  he  would  nevei 
tolerate  the  sectaries  of  Athanasius.     But    his  successor,  11  il- 
deric,  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   mor arch,  was  usurped    by  his 
cousin    Gelimer,  a    7.ealous  Arian:   but  the  Vandal   kingdom, 
tH)l'ow  he  could  enjoy  or  abuse  his    power,  was  subverted   by 


550  THE    DECLINE    AND    FAL^ 

the  arms  of  Belisarius ;  and  the  orthcdox  party  retal'.alcJ  tue 
injuries  which  they  had  endured.90 

The  passionate  declamations  of  the  Catholics,  the  sole  his- 
torians of  this  persecution,  cannot  afford  any  distinct  series  of 
causes  and  events ;  any  impartial  view  of  the  characters,  01 
counsels  ;  but  the  most  remarkable  circumstances  that  deserve 
either  credit  or  notice,  may  be  referred  to  the  following  heads  ; 
I.  In  the  orig'nal  law,  which  is  still  extant,91  Hunneric  ex 
pressly  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  estab- 
lished religion.  If  the  rights  of  conscience  had  been  under- 
stood, the  Catholics  must  have  condemned  their  past  conduct, 
or  acquiesced  in  their  actual  sufferings.  But  they  still  per- 
sisted 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  Manichseans ; 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 

w  The  original  monuments  of  the  Vandal  peisecution  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,  torn.  ix.  p.  4 — 16 ;)  and  in  the  first  book 
of  the  Vandalic  War,  by  the  impartial  1'rocopius,  (c.  7,  8,  p.  19G,  197, 
198,  199.)  Dom  liuinart,  the  last  editor  of  Victor,  has  illustrated  the 
whole  subject  with  a  copious  and  learned  apparatus  of  notes  and 
supplement.     (Paris,  1694.) 

91  Victor,  iv.  2,  p.  65.  Hunneric  refuses  the  name  of  Catholics  to 
the  Homoousians.  He  describes,  as  the  veri  Diviiue  Majcstatis  culto- 
res,  his  own  party,  who  professed  the  faith,  confirmed  by  more  than  n 
thousand  bishops,  in  the  synods  of  Kimini  and  Seleucia. 

92  Victor,  ii.  1,  p.  21,  22  :  Laudabilior  .  .  .  videbatur.  In  the  MSS. 
which  omit  this  word,  the  passage  is  unintelligible.  See  Kuinart, 
Not.  p.  164. 

M  Victor,  ii.  2,  p.  22,  23.  The  clergy  of  Carthage  called  these  con- 
ditions periculosee  ;  and  they  seem,  indeed,  to  have  been  proposed  as  a 
ftnare  to  entrap  the  Catholic  bishops. 

M  See  the  narrative  of  this  conference,  and  the  treatment  of  th« 
buhops,  in  Victrr,  ii.  13 — 18,  p.  35—42,  ^nd  the  whole  fourth  book. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  551 

the  command  of  Hunneric,  four  hundred  and  sixty-six  ortho- 
dox bishops  assembled  at  Cartilage  ;  but  when  diey  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  ordinal") 
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  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Africa,  exposed  to  the  insults  of  their  enemies, 
and  carefully  deprived  of  all  the  temporal  and  spiritual  com- 
forts of  life.90  The  hardships  of  ten  years1  exile  must  have 
reduced  their  numbers  ;  and  if  they  had  complied  with  the 
law  of  Thrasimund,  which  prohibited  any  episcopal  conse- 
crations, 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  t\\  o 
hundred  and  twenty  bishops  into  Sardinia ;  where  they  lan- 
guished fifteen  years,  till  the  accession  of  the  gracious  Hi'- 
deric.96  The  two  islands  were  judiciously  chosen  by  the 
malice  of  their  Arian  tyrants.  Seneca,  from  his  own  expe- 
rience, has  deplored  and  exaggerated  the  miserable  state  of 
Corsica,97  and  the   plenty  of   Sardinia  was  overbalanced  by 

p.  63—171.     The  third  book,  p.  42—62,  is  entirely  filled  by  their 
apology  or  confession  of  faith. 

95  See  the  list  of  the  African  bishops,  in  Victor,  p.  117 — 140,  and 
Ruinart's  notes,  p.  215 — 397.  The  schismatic  name  of  Doimtus  fre- 
quently occurs,  and  they  appear  to  have  adopted  (like  our  fanatics 
of  the  last  ago)  the  pious  appellations  of  Deodutus,  Deogratias,  Q,uidvuU~ 
deus,  Habetdeum,  &c* 

96  Fulgent.  Vit.  c.  16 — 29.  Thrasimund  affected  the  praise  of  mod- 
eration and  learning ;  and  Fulgentius  addressed  three  books  of  con- 
troversy to  the  Arian  tyrant,  whom  he  styles  piixsime  Rex.  Biblioth. 
Maxim"  Patruin,  torn.  ix.  p.  41.  Only  sixty  bishops  are  mentioned  aa 
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  Micella,  and  a 
Bhort  authentic  chronicle  of  the  times.     See  Kuinart,  p.  570,  571. 

87  See  tne  base  and  insipid  epigrams  of  the  Stoic,  who  could  not 
mpport  exile  with  more  fortitude  than  Ovid.  Corsica  might  not  pro- 
duce corn,  wine,  or  oil ;  bit  it  could  not  be  destitute  of  grass,  water 
tnd  even  fire. 


•  These  names  appear  to  have  berai  introduced  by  the  Donatista.  — M 


552  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

the  unwholesorr.e  quality  of  the  air.98  III.  The  zeal  of  Gen 
seric  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  igno- 
miniously  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  exer- 
cise 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,  inform- 
ers, 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  Hun- 
neric.  During  the  night  they  were  confined,  like  a  herd  ot 
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 


88  Si  ob  gravitatem  cceli  interisscnt,  vile  damnum.  Tacit.  Anna) 
„.  85.  In  this  application,  Thrasimund  would  have  adopted  the  read- 
ing of  some  critics,  utile  damnum. 

99  See  these  preludes  of  a  general  persecution,  in  Victor,  ii.  3,  4.  7 
and  the  two  edicts  of  llunneric,  1.  ii.  p.  35,  1.  iv.  p   64. 

100  See  Procopius  do  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  7,  p.  197.  198.  A  Moorish 
prince  endeavored  to  propitiate  the  God  of  the  Christians,  by  his  dili- 
gence to  erase  the  marks  of  the  Vandal  sacrilege. 

IOi  See  this  story  in  Victor,  ii.  8—12,  p.  30—34.  V\ctor  describe* 
the  distress  of  these  confessors  as  an  eye-witneta. 


OF   TITE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  553 

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  oa 
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  be- 
comes necessary  to  chastise  the  contumacy,  as  well  as  the 
crin  e,  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,  en- 
dured the  most  cruel  and  ignominious  treatment.102  Respect- 
able 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  aa 
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  Catho- 
lics, if  they  disclaimed  this  odious  and  profane  ceremony, 
which  scandalously  violated  the   freedom  of  the  will,  and  the 

101  See  the  fifth  hook  of  Victor.  His  passionate  complaints  are  con- 
firmed by  the  sober  testimony  of  Piocopius,  and  the  public  declaration 
of  the  emperor  Justinian.     Cod.  1.  i.  tit.  xxvii. 

103  Victor,  ii.  18,  p.  41. 

,0*  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. 

'**  Victor,  i.  6,  p.  8,  9.  After  relating  the  firm  resistance  and  dex- 
terous reply  of  Count  Sebastian,  he  adds,  q uare  alio  genem  arguments 
postea  bellicosuin  virum  occidit. 


5I>4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

unity  of  the  sacrament.106  The  hostile  sects  had  formerly 
allowed  the  validity  of  each  other's  baptism  ;  and  the  inno- 
vation, so  fiercely  maintained  by  the  Vandals,  can  be  imputed 
Bnly  to  the  example  and  advice  of  the  Donatists.  VII.  The 
Arian  clergy  surpassed  in  religious  cruelty  the  king  and  ma 
Vandals ;  but  they  were  incapable  of  cultivating  the  spiritual 
vineyard,  which  they  were  so  desirous  to  possess.  A  patri- 
arch 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  tl)3  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  tho 
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  friend- 
ship, 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 
->r  transmarine  correspondence.     This  engagement,  consist- 


108  Victor,  v.  12,  13.     Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  vi.  p.  609. 

137  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,  torn.  i. 
p.  155,  158. 

108  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  ^r 
preaching  in  that  language.  His  Vandal  clergy  were  still  mere  igno- 
rant ;  and  small  confidence  could  be  placed  in  the  Africans  who  had 
eonformed. 

,0»  Victor,  ii.  1,  2,  p.  22. 

1,0  Victor,  v.  7,  p.  77.  He  appeals  to  the  ambassador  himself,  whose 
lune  was  Uranius. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  5&5 

ent,  as  it  should  seem,  with  their  moral  and  religious  duties, 
was  refused  by  ihe  more  sagacious  members  U1  of  the  assem- 
bly. Their  refusal,  faintly  colored  by  the  pretence  that  it  i» 
unlawful  for  a  Christian  to  swear,  must  provoke  the  suspicion* 
cf  a  jealous  tyrant. 

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  lia  and  Latin  fa- 
thers had  already  provided  for  the  Arian  controversy,  they 
repeate'dly  silenced,  or  vanquished,  the  fierce  and  illiterate 
successors  of  (Jlphilas.  The  consciousness  of  their  own 
superiority  might  have  raised  them  above  the  arts  and  pas- 
sions 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.  The) 
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.11'1 


111  Astutiores,  Victor,  iv.  4,  p.  70.  He  plainly  intimates  that  theii 
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. 

112  Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Ruspue,  in  the  Byzacene  province,  was  of 
a  senatorial  family,  and  had  received  a  liberal  education.  He  could 
lepeat  all  Homer  and  Menander  before  he  was  allowed  to  study  Latin, 
his  native  tongue,  (Vit.  Fulgent,  c.  1.)  Many  African  bishops  might 
understand  Greek,  and  many  Greek  theologians  were  translated  into 
Latin. 

113  Compare  the  two  prefaces  to  the  Dialogue  of  Vigilius  of  Thap- 
bus,  (p.  118,  119,  edit.  Chiflet.)  He  might  amuse  his  learned  readei 
with  an  innocent  fiction  ;  but  the  subject  was  too  grave,  and  the 
Africans  were  too  ignorant. 

114  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,  ton1 
vi.  p.  516 — 522.  Tillemont,  Mem.  Eccles.  torn.  viii.  p.  G67 — 671.) 
1.  St.  Athanasius  is  not  the  author  of  the  creed  which  is  so  frequently 
rend  in  our  churches.  2.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  existed  within  a 
century  aiter  his  death.  3.  It  .was  originally  composed  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  and,  consequently,  in  the  Western  provinces.  Gcnnadius, 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  was  so  much  amazed  by  this  extraordi- 


556  TIIE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Even  the  Scriptuies  themselves  were  profaned  by  their  ntsb 
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  interpreta- 
tion, 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 

nary  composition,  that  he  frankly  pronounced  it  to  be  the  work  of 
a  drunken  man.  Petav.  Dogmat.  Theologica,  torn.  ii.  1.  vii.  c.  8, 
p.  687. 

115  1  John,  v.  7.  See  Simon,  Hist.  Critique  du  Nouvcau  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 
Btrove  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.* 

116  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  Ste- 
phens, 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 
torn.  viii.  and  ix.  of  the  Journal  Britannique. 

117  Or,  more  properly,  by  the  four  bishops  who  composed  and  pub- 
lished the  profession  of  faith  in  the  name  of  their  brethren.  They 
styled  this  text,  luce  clarius,  (Victor  Vitensis  de  Persecut.  Vandal.  1. 
iii.  c.  11,  p.  54.)  It  is  quoted  soon  afterwards  by  the  African  polemics, 
Vigilius  and  Fulgentius. 

118  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,  (Wet- 
stein, 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  The  art  which  the  Germans  had  invented  was  applied  in  Italy 
to  the  profane  writers  of  Rome  and  Greece.     The  original  Greek  of 


*  This  controversy  has  continued  to  be  agitated,  but  with  declining 
inteiest  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  in  the  conclusions  of  Porson  in  his  Letters  to  Travis.  See  the 
pamphlets  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Salisbury  and  of  Crito  Cantabvigitnsis,  Dr 
Tux  ton  of  Cambridge.  —  M. 


OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  557 

their  own  prejudices,  or  those  of  the  times;120  and  the  pioua 
fraud,  which  was  embraced  with  equal  zeal  at  Rome  and  at 
Geneva,  has  been  infinitely  multiplied  in  every  country  ana 
every  language  of  modern  Europe. 

The  example  of  fraud  must  excite  suspicion  :  and  the  spe- 
cious 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  pro- 
tection 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  jf  Csesarea,  had  been 
distinguished,  in  every  age,  by  the  orthodox  zeal  of  its  inhab- 
itants. 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  com- 
munion 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  mira- 
cle is  attested  by  Victor,  an  African  bishop,  who  published  a 
history  of  the  persecution  within  two  years  after  the  event.123 


the  New  Testament  was  published  about  the  same  time  (A.  D.  1514, 
1616,  1520,)  by  the  industry  of  Erasmus,  and  the  munificence  of  Car- 
dinal Ximcnes.  The  Complutensian  Polyglot  cost  the  cardinal  50,000 
ducats.  See  Mattaire,  Annal.  Typograph.  torn.  ii.  p.  2 — 8,  125 — 133; 
End  Wetstein,  Prolegomena,  p.  116 — 127. 

wc  T^g  three  witnesses  have  been  established  in  our  Greek  Testa- 
ments by  the  prudence  of  Erasmus  ;  the  honest  bigotry  of  the  Com- 
plutensian editors  ;  the  typographical  fraud,  or  error,  of  Robert  Ste- 
phens, in  the  placing  a  crotchet ;  and  the  deliberate  falsehood,  ot 
strange  misapprehension,  of  Theodore  Beza. 

81  Plin.  Hist.  Natural,  v.  1.  Itinerar.  Wesseling,  p.  15.  Cella- 
rius,  Geograph.  Antiq.  torn.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  127.  This  Tipasa  (which 
must  not  be  confounded  with  another  in  Numidia)  was  a  town  of  soma 
note,  since  Vespasian  endowed  it  with  the  right  of  Latium. 

m  Optatus  Milevitanus  de  Schism.  Donatist.  1.  ii.  p.  38. 

in  Victor  Vitensis,  v.  6,  p.  76.     Ruinart,  p.  483—487 


5afcJ  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

"  If  any  one,"  says  Victor,  "  should  doubt  of  the  truth,  let 
him  repair  to  Constantinople,  and  listen  to  the  clear  and  per- 
fect 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.  jEneas.of  Gaza,  a  Platonic  philosopher,  has  accu- 
rately described  his  own  observations  on  these  African  suffer- 
ers. "  1  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."  l'24  The  testimony  of  ^Eneas  of  Gaza 
might  be  confirmed  by  the  superfluous  evidence  of  the  em- 
peror Justinian,  in  a  perpetual  edict;  of  Count  Marcel! inus, 
in  his  Chronicle  of  the  times  ;  and  of  Pope  Gregory  the  First, 
who  had  resided  at  Constantinople,  as  the  'minister  of  the 
Roman  pontiff125  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  thea- 
tre 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 

m  JEneas  Gaza?us  in  Theophrasto,  in  Biblioth.  Patrum,  torn.  viii. 
p.  664,  655.  He  was  a  Christian,  and  composed  this  Dialogue  (tho 
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.  Grsec.  torn.  i. 
p.  422.) 

'**  Justinian.  Codex,  I.  i-  tit.  xxvii.  Marcellin.  in  Chron.  p.  45,  in 
Thesaur.  Temporum  Scaliger.     Procopius,  de  Bell.  Vandal.  1.  i.  c.  7, 

L196.  Gregor.  Magnus,  Dialog,  iii.  32.  None  of  these  witnesses 
ve  specified  the  number  of  the  confessors,  which  is  fixed  at  sixty  in 
mi  old  menology,  (apud  Ruinart,  p.  486.)  Two  of  them  lost  their 
•peech  by  fornication ;  but  the  miracle  is  enhanced  by  the  singular 
instance  of  a  boy  who  had  never  spoken  before  his  tt  ngue  was  cui 
•at 


OF    THE    FOVAN    EMPIRE.  559 

rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  will  not  be  shaken  by 
the  most  plausible  evidence  of  an  Athanasian  miracle. 

The  Vandals  and  the  Ostrogoths  persevered  in  the  profes- 
sion 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  1~6  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  sub* 
jects ;  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  Bcetica, 
contracted  an  honorable  and  orthodox  alliance  with  a  Mero- 
vingian princess,  the  daughter  of  Sigebert,  king  of  Austrasia, 
and  of  the  famous  Brunechild.  The  beauteous  Ingundis,  who 
was  no  more  than  thirteen  years  ot  age,  was  received,  beloved, 
and  persecuted,  in  the  Arian  court  of  Toledo  ;  and  her  re- 
ligious 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 

146  See  the  two  general  historians  of  Spain,  Mariana  (Hist,  de 
"Rebus  Hispanite,  torn.  i.  1.  v.  c.  12 — 15,  p.  182 — 194)  and  Fprreras, 
(French  translation,  torn.  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. 

147  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  R,ecared,  were  the 
issue  of  a  former  marriage. 

148  Iracundiae  furore  succensa,  adprehensam  per  comam  capitis 
puellam  in  terrain  conlidit,  et  diu  calcibus  verberatam,  ac  sanguine 
eruentatam,  jussit  exspoliari,  et  piscinse  immergi.  Greg.  Turon.  1.  v. 
9.  39,  in  torn.  ii.  p>  25o.  Gregory  is  one  of  our  best  originals  for  Xbrjt 
portion  of  history 


560  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL 

injurious  treatment  of  his  bride;  and  he  was  gradjally  per 
suaded  that  Ingundis  suffered  for  the  cause  of  divine  truth. 
Her  tender  complaints,  and  the  weighty  arguments  of  Le« 
nndor,  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  per- 
secution, applauded  his  pious  rebellion  against  an  heretical 
father.  The  civil  war  was  protracted  by  the  long  and  obsti- 
nate sieges  of  Merida,  Cordova,  and  Seville,  which  had  strenu- 
ously espoused  the  party  of  Hermenegild.  He  invited  the 
orthodox  Barbarians,  the  Suevi,  and  the  Franks,  to  the  de- 
struction of  his  native  land  ;  he  solicited  the  dangerous  aid 
of  the  Romans,  who  possessed  Africa,  and  a  part  of  the  Span- 
ish 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  a  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  sur- 
render himself  into  the  hands  of  an  incensed  father.  Leo- 
vigild  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  Leovi- 
gild,  and  imbittered  the  last  moments  of  his  life. 

His  son  and  successor,  Recared,  the  first  Catholic  king  of 
Spain,  had  imbibed  the  faith  of  his  unfortunate  brother,  which 

1M  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  prerogative^ 
both  visible  and  invisible.  See  Ohardon,  Hist,  des  Saeremens,  torn,  i. 
p.  405—552. 


OF    Th"E    ROl-tAN    EMPIRE-  561 

he  supported  with  more  prudence  and  success.  Instead  of 
evohiug  against  his  father,  Rccared  patiently  expected  the 
nour  of  his  death.  Instead  of  condemning  his  memory,  ha 
piously  supposed,  that  the  dying  monarch  had  abjured  the 
errors  of  Arianism,  and  recommended  to  his  son  the  conver- 
sion 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  interpre- 
tation 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  rever- 
ence, •  as  the  testimony  of  Heaven,  the  preternatual  cures, 
which  were  performed  by  the  skill  or  virtue  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  ;  the  baptismal  fonts  of  Osset  in  Bcetica,130  which  were 
spontaneously  replenished  each  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  per- 

130  Osset,  or  Julia  Constantia,  was  opposite  to  Seville,  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Bnetis,  (Plin.  Hist.  Natur.  iii.  3  :)  and  the  authen- 
tic reference  of  Gregory  of  Tours  (Hist.  Francor.  1.  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,  (Fcrreias,  Hist.  d'Espagjje,  torn.  ii.  p.  16i>.) 

,sl  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  Ferreras  (torn.  ii.  p.  108 — 175,  A.  D.  6,50)  has  illustrated  the 
difficulties  which  regard  the  time  and  circumstances  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Suevi.  They  had  beer,  reecrtly  united  by  Leovigild  to  the 
fl'athic  monarchy  of  Spain. 

78 


66£  THE    IjKCI  INE    AND    FALL 

sccution.  Eiglit  bishops,  whose  names  be. ray  their  Barbaric 
origin,  abjured  their  errors;  and  all  the  books  of  Arian  the. 
ology  were  reduced  to  ashes,  with  the  house  in  which  thev 
had  been  purposely  collected.  Tb.3  whole  body  of  the  Visi- 
goths and  Suevi  were  allured  or  driven  into  the  pale  of  the 
Catholic  communion;  the  faith,  at  least  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, 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  Nicenc  creed,  by  declaring  the  pro- 
cession 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.  ™ 

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  Lombaids  of 
Italy.135 

u3  This  addition  to  the  Nicene,  or  rather,  the  Constantinopol;*aa 
creed,  was  first  made  in  the  eighth  council  of  Toledo,  A.  D.  653  ;  ^ut 
it  was  expressive  of  the  popular  doctrine,  (Gerard  Vossius,  tom.  vi. 
p.  527,  de  tribus  Symbolis.) 

,?4  See  Gregor.  Magn.  ).  vii.  epist.  126,  apud  Baronium,  AnnaL 
Eccles.  A.  D.  599,  No.  25,  26. 

'"  Paul  Warriefnd  (do  Gcstis  Li.ngobard.  1.  iv.  c.  44,  p.  153,  edit 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  563 

The  first  missionaries  who  preached  the  gospel  to  the  Bar- 
barians, appealed  o  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  Bar- 
baric superstition.  The  successors  of  Clovis  inflicted  ono 
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  im- 
prisonment 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  the- 
ological dispites  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  tlrfe 
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,  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  the  last  extremes  of  persecution.139    Ninety 


Grot.)  allows  that  Arianism  still  prevailed  under  the  reign  of  Rotha 
ris,  (A.  D.  636 — 652.)     The  pious  deacon  does  not  attempt  to  mark  the 
precise  era  of  the  national  conversion,  which  was  accomplished,  how- 
ever, before  the  end  of  the  seventh  century. 

1:16  Quorum  fidei  et  conversioni  ita  congratulatus  esse  rex  perhibe- 
tur,  ut  nullum  tarn  en  cogeret  ad  Christianismum.  .  .  .  Didiceret  enim 
a  doctoribus  auctoribusque  su;e  salutis,  scrvitium  Christi  voluntariura 
non  coactitium  esse  debere.  liedae  Hist.  Ecclesiastic.  1.  i.  c.  26,  p.  62, 
edit.  Smith. 

137  See  the  Historians  of  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  114  ;  and  Wilkira, 
Leges  Anglo-Saxonieaj,  p.  11,  31.  Siquis  sacririeium  immolaverit 
propter  Deo  soli  morte  moriatur. 

138  The  Jews  pretend  that  they  were  introduced  into  Spain  by  the 
fleets  of  Solomon,  and  the  arms  of  Nebuchadnezzar ;  that  Hadrian 
transported  forty  thousand  f.imilies  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  teu 
thousand  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  &c.  liasnage,  Hist,  des  Juifs,  torn, 
vii.  c.  9,  p.  240—256. 

lM  Isidore,  at  that  time  archbishop  of  Seville,  mentions,  disapproves, 
mid  congratulates,  the  zeal  of  Sisebut  (Union.  Goth.  p.  728  v  Baro- 
tuiLJ  (A.   D.  614,  No.  41)  assigns  the   number  on  the  evidence  of 


664  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

thousand  Jews  were  compelled  to  receive  the  sacrament  of 
baptism ;  the  fortunes  of  the  obstinate  infidels  were  confis- 
cated, tlieir  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  incon- 
sistent 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  dis- 
covered, 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  servi- 
tude and  distress  ;  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Jews  promoted  the 
rapid  success  of  the  Arabian  conquerors.140 

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  dis 
position  :  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 

Almoin,  (1.  iv.'  c.  22  ;)  but  the  evidence  is  weak,  and  I  have  not  been 
»ble  to  verify  the  quotation,  (Historians  of  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  127.) 

140  Basnage  (torn.  viii.  c.  13,  p.  388—400)  faithfully  represents  th« 
Itate  of  the  Jews;  but  he  might  have  added  from  the  canons  of  the 
Spanish  councils,  and  the  laws  of  the  Visigoth*,  many  curioua 
circumstances,  essential  to  his  subject,  though  they  are  foreign  to 
nine.* 

•  Compare  Milman,  Hist,  of  Jews,  iii.  256,  266    -  At 


91    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  56& 

were  confined  to  the  obscurity  of  schools  and  synods.  The 
Manichjeans,  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  contro- 
versies ;  which  attempted  to  explain  the  mystery  of  the  incar- 
nation, 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 
Cha'cedon,  to  the  conquest  of  the  East  by  the  successor*  of 
Mahomet. 
VOL.  III. 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 

BEIGN    KND    CONVERSION     OF     CLOVIS. HIS     VICTORIES     OVE? 

THE     ALEMANNI,     BURGUNDIANS,     AND     VISIGOTHS. ESTAB- 
LISHMENT   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, 
leeeived  a  memorable  lesson  from  one  of  the  lieutenants  of 
Vespasian,  whose  weighty  sense  has  been  refined  and  ex- 
pressed 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  ourselves,  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  sup- 
ported 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 


1  In  this  chapter  I  shall  draw  my  quotations  from  the  Rceueil  des 
Ilistoricns  des  Gaules  ct  de  la  France,  Paris,  1738 — 1767,  in  eleven 
volumes  in  folio.  By  the  labor  of  Dom  Bouquet,  and  the  other  Bene 
dictincs,  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  pro- 
voke our  emulation. 

*  Tacit.   Hist.   iv.    73,  74,   in   torn.  i.   p.  445.     Td  abridge   Tacitus 
rould  indeed  be  presumptuous ;  but  I  may  select  the   general  ideas 
*hich  ho  applies  to  the  present  state  and  future  revolutions  of  <iauL 
5G6 


OK    THE    ROMAN    EMFIRE.  567 

by  the  valcr  and  wisdom  of  eight  hundred  years.  Your  imagi- 
nary freedom  would  he  insulted  and  oppressed  by  a  savage 
master;  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Romans  would  be  succeeded 
by  the  eternal  hostilities  if  the  Barbarian  conquerors."3  Thia 
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  imper- 
ceptibly 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  victo- 
rious Barbarians,  by  whose  clemency  they  held  their  preca- 
rious fortunes  and  their  lives.4 

As  soon  as  Odoacer  had  extinguished  the  Western  empire, 
he  sought  the  friendship  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Barba- 
rians. 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  con- 
firm this  liberal  gift  with  some  ostentation  of  power,  and  without 

3  Eadem  semper  causa  Germanis  transcendendi   in   Galuas  libid  . 
atque  avaritia?  et  mutandre  sedis  amor  ;   ut  relictis   paludibus  et  soli 
tudinibus  suis,   fecundissimum   hoc  solum  vpsque  ipsos  possidcrent 

.  .  Nam  pulsis  Romania  quid  aliud  quam  bella  omnium  inter  so 
gentium  exsistent? 

*  Sidonius  Apollinaris  ridicules,  with,  affected  wit  and  pleasantly, 
the  hardships  of  his  situation,  (Carm.  xii.  in  torn.  i.  p.  811.) 

*  See  Procopius  de  Bell.  Gothico,  1.  i.  c.  12,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  31.  The 
Character  of  Grotius  inclines  me  to  believe,  that  he  has  not  substituted 
'he  Rhine  for  the  Rlidne  (Hist.  Gothorum,  p.  175)  without  the  au- 
thority of  some  MS. 


568  THE    DECLINE    AND    KALL 

any  real  loss  of  revenue  or  dominion.  The  lawful  pretensioni 
of  Euric  were  justified  by  ambition  and  success  ;  and  the 
Gothic  nation  might  aspire,  under  his  command,  to  (he  mon- 
archy of  Spain  and  Gaul.  Aries  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  tefore 
the  gates  of  the  palace  among  a  crowd  of  ambassadors  and 
suppliants  ;  and  their  various  business  at  the  court  of  Bor- 
deaux attested  the  power,  and  the  renown,  of  the  king  of  the 
Visigoths.  The  Heruli  of  the  distant  ocean,  who  painted  their 
naked  bodies  witli  its  ccerulean  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  bis  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  sup- 
ported.by  his  powerful  aid  against  the  oppression  of  the  neigh- 
boring 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  YV~  est ;  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  Clovis7 
an  ambitious  and  valiant  youth. 

While  Childeric,  the  father  of  Clovis,  lived  an  exile  in  Ger- 
many, 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     Clovis  was    the  offspring    of 


6  Sidonius,  1.  viii.  epist.  3,  9,  in  torn.  i.  p.  800.  Jornandes  (de  Rebus 
Getieis,  c.  47,  p.  680)  justifies,  in  some  measure,  this  portrait  of  the 
G   tliie  iiero. 

7  1  use  the  familiar  appellation  of  Clovis,  from  the  Latin  Chlodore- 
thus,  or  ChlodowEUS.  But  the  L'li  expresses  only  the  German  aspira- 
tion;  and  the  true  name  is  not  different  from  Luduiu,  or  Lewis,  (Mem. 
de  1'Aeademie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xx.  p.  68.) 

b  Grey.  .Xuron.  1.  ii.  c.  lli,  iu   torn.  :.  p.  168.     Basina  speaks  the 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  563 

this  voluntary  union  ;  and,  when  he  was  no  more  than  fifteen 
years  of  age,  he  succeeded,  by  his  father's  death,  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Salian  tribe.  The  narrow  limits  of  his  kingdom9 
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  F:anks,  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  ;  u  but  he  imitated  the  example 
of  Caesar,  who,  in  the  same  country,  had  acquired  wealth  by 
the  6word,  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  sub- 
mitted to  the  equal  regulations  of  military  law.  The  untamed 
spirit  of  the  Barbarians  was  taught  to  acknowledge  the  advan- 
tages of  regular  discipline.12     At  the  annual   review  of  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  Toura 
could  not  wish  to  defame  the  mother  of  the  first  Christian  king. 

9  The  Abbe  Dubos  (Hist.  Critique  de  l'Etablissement  de  la  Monar- 
chic Francoise  dans  les  Gaules,  torn.  i.  p.  630 — 650)  has  the  merit  of 
defining  the  primitive  kingdom  of  Clovis,  and  of  ascertaining  the 
genuine  number  of  his  subjects. 

10  Eeclesiam  incultam  ac  ncgligentii  civium  Paganorum  praetermia 
earn,  veprium  densitate  oppletam,  &c.     Vit.  St.  Vedasti,  in  torn,  iii 
p.  372.     This  description  supposes  that  Arras  was  possessed  by  the 
Pagans  many  years  before  the  baptism  of  Clovis. 

"  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  v.  c.  i.  torn.  ii.  p.  232)  contrasts  the  poverty 
of  Clovis  with  the  wealth  of  his  grandsons.  Yet  Reimgius  (in  torn. 
iv.  p.  52)  mentions  his  ■paternas  opes,  as  sufficient  for  the  redemption 
of  captives. 

,J  See  Gregory,  (1.  ii.  c.  27,  37,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  175,  181,  182.)  The 
famous  story  of  the  vase  of  Soissons  explains  both  the  power  and  'he 
character  of  Clovis.  As  a  point  of  controversy,  it  has  been  strangely 
tortured  by  Bsulainvilliers,  D  ibos,  and  the  other  political  antiqua- 
rians. 

78* 


570  THE    DECLINE    ANE    FALL 

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  inex- 
orable ;  and  his  careless  or  disobedient  soldiers  were  punished 
with  instant  death.  It  would  be  superfluous  to  praise  the 
fa  lor  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  mod- 
erated 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. 

The  first  explo  t  of  Clovis  was  the  defeat  of  Syagrius,  the  son 
of  iEgidius  ;  and  the  public  quarrel  might,  on  this  occasion,  be 
inflamed  by  private  resentment.  The  glory  of  the  father  si  ill 
insulted  the  Merovingian  race  ;  the  power  of  the  son  might  ex- 
cite the  jealous  ambition  of  the  king  of  the  Franks.  Syagrius 
inherited,  as  a  patrimonial  estate,  the  city  and  diocese  of  Sois- 
sons  :  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  West- 
ern 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  juris- 
prudence ;  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 

13  The  duke  of  Nivernois,  a  noble  statesman,  who  has  man.iged 
weighty  and  delicate  negotiations,  ingeniously  illustrates  (Mem.  de 
I'Acad.  dcs  Inscriptions,  torn.  xx.  p.  147 — 184)  the  political  system  of 
Clovis. 

14  M.  Bie*  (in  a  Dissertation  which  deserved  the  prize  of  the  Acade- 
my 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  (torn.  ii.  p.  54  —  57)  to  deprive 
aim  of  Beauvais  and  Amiens. 

15  I  may  observe  that  Fiedegarius,  in  his  epitome  of  Gregory  tf 
Tours,  (torn.  ii.  p.  398,)  has  prudently  substituted  the  name  of  l'atiiciut 
tor  the  incredible  title  of  Rex  JRomanorum- 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  571 

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  institutio  1  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  n  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  num 
bers  of  the  Gallic  youth  were  long  since  exhausted  ;  and  the 
loose  bands  of  volunteers,  or  mercenaries,  who  marched  undei 
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,  wko  es- 
caped, after  the  loss  of  a  battle,  to  the  distant  court  of  Thou- 
louse.  The  feeble  minority  of  Alaric  could  not  assist  or  pro- 
tect 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  ol 
the  Franks ;  and  his  dominions  were  enlarged  towards  the 
East  by  the  ample  diocese  of  Tongrcs  ao  which  Clovis  subdued 
in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign. 

16  Sidonius,  (1.  v.  Epist.  5,  in  torn.  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  arbitra- 
tion, the  crafty  Dejoces  had  raised  himself  to  the  throne  of  the  Modes, 
(Herodot.  1.  i.  c.  96—100.) 

17  Campum  sibi  pncparari  jussit.  M.  Diet  (p.  226—251)  has  dili- 
gently ascertained  this  held  of  battle,  at  Nogent,  a  Benedictine  abbey, 
about  ten  miles  to  the  north  of  Soissons.  The  ground  wa,,  marked  by 
a  circle  of  Pagan  sepulchres  ;  and  Clovis  bestowed  the  adjacent  lands 
of  Leully  and  Coucy  on  the  church  of  Rheims. 

18  See"  Caesar.  Comment,  de  Bell.  Gallic,  ii.  4,  in  torn.  i.  p.  220,  and 
the  Notitiae,  torn.  i.  p.  126.  The  three  Fabricas  of  Soissons  were,  Scti- 
taria,  Balistaria,  and  Glinabaria.  The  last  supplied  the  complete 
armor  of  the  heavy  cuirassiers. 

19  The  epithet  must  be  confined  to  the  circumstances ;  and  history 
oMinot  j ustify  the  French  prejudice  of  Gregory,  (1.  ii.  c.  27,  in  torn-  ii* 
p.  17o,)  ut  Gothorum  pavere  mos  est. 

m  Dubos  haa  satisfied  me  (torn.  i.  p.  277—286)  that  Gregory  of 


572  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  name  of  the  Alemanni  has  been  absurdly  derived  from 
•heir  imaginary  settlement  of  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  north- 
ern parts  of  Helvetia  had  indeed  been  subdued  by  the  fero- 
cious 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  wildci 
ness ;  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  thqrnselves 
into  Gaul,  over  the  modern  provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine ;  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  Talbiac,  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 
jjreatness.  The  Franks,  after  an  obstinate  struggle,  gave 
way  ;  and  the  Alemanni,  raising  a  shout  of  victory,  impetu- 
ously pressed  their  retreat.     But  the  battle  was  restored  by 

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. 

21  I'opuli  habitantes  juxta  Lemannum  lacum,  Alemanni  dicuntur. 
Servius,  ad  Virgil.  Georgic.  iv.  278.  Dom  Bouquet  (torn.  i.  p.  817) 
nas  only  alleged  the  more  recent  and  corrupt  text  of  Isidore  of  .Seville. 

22  Gregory  of  Tours  sends  St.  Lupicinus  inter  ilia  Jurensis  deserti 
eecreta,  quai,  inter  Burgundiam  Alamanniamque  sita,  Aventica?  adja- 
cent civitati,  in  torn.  i.  p.  648.  M.  de  Watteville  (Hist,  de  la  Confe- 
deration Helvetiquc,  torn.  i.  p.  9,  10)  has  accurately  defined  the  Hel- 
vetian limits  of  the  Duchy  of  Alemannia,  and  the  Tra.i.-jurane  Bur- 
gundy. 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  See  Guilliman  de  Rebus  Helvcticis,  1.  i.  c.  3,  p.  11,  12.  Within  the 
ancient  walls  of  Vindonissa,  the  castle  of  Hapsburgh,  the  abbey  of 
Kcnigsfield,  and  the  town  of  Bruck,  have  successively  arisen.  The 
philosophic  traveller  may  compare  the  monuments  of  Roman  conquest, 
of  feudal  or  Austrian  tyranny,  of  monkish  superstition,  and  of  in- 
dustrious freedom.  If  he  be  truly  a  philosopher,  he  will  applaud  the 
merit  and  happiness  of  his  own  times. 


OF    THE     ROMAN    EMPIRE.  573 

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  slaugh- 
tered 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  de- 
molished the  walls  and  fortifications  which  might  have  pro- 
tected 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  protec- 
tion. 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  provincas,  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 

Till  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age,  Clovis  continued  to  wor- 
ship the  gods  of  his  ancestors.25  His  disbelief,  or  rather  dis- 
regard, of  Christianity,  might  encourage  him  to  pillage  with 
less  remorse  the  churches  of  a  hostile  territory  :  but  his  sub- 
jects of  Gaul  enjoyed  the  free  exercise  of  religious  worship; 

**  Gregory  of  Tours,  (1.  ii.  30,  37,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  176,  177,  182.)  the 
Gesta  Francorum,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  551,)  and  the  epistle  of  Theodoric, 
(Cassiodor.  Variar.  1.  ii.  c.  41,  in  torn.  iv.  p.  4,)  represent  ..he  defeat 
of  the  Alemanni.  Some  of  their  tribes  settled  in  Rhietia,  under  the 
protection  of  Theodoric  ;  whose  successors  ceded  the  colony  and  their 
country  to  t'.ie  grandson  of  Clovis.  The  state  of  the  Alemanni  under 
the  Merovingian  kings  may  be  seen  in  Mascou  (Hist,  of  tl  e  Ancient 
Germans,  xi.  8,  &c.  Annotation  xxxvi.)  and  Guilliman,  (de  lieb.  Hel- 
vet.  1.  ii.  c.  10—12,  p.  72—80.) 

26  Clotilda,  or  rather  Gregory,  supposes  Jhat  Clovis  worshipped  the 
gods  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  fact  is  incredible,  and  the  mistake 
inly  shows  how  completely,  in  less  than  a  century,  the  national 
religion  oi  the  Franks  had  been  abolished,  and  even  forgotten 


574  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  wa* 
her  interest,  as  well  as  her  duty,  to  achieve  the  conversion28 
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 
son:;-  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  eloquent27  Reinigius,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  re- 
moved 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  solem- 
nity that  could  impress  an  awful  sense  of  religion  on  the 
minds   of  its   rude    proselytes.29     The  new  Constantine  was 

28  Gregory  of  Tours  relates  the  marriage  and  conversion  of  Clovis, 
(1.  ii.  c.  28— 31,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  175—178.)  Even  Fredegarius,  or  the 
nameless  Epitomi/er,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  398 — 100,)  the  author  of  the  Ges- 
ta  Francorum,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  548— .5.52,)  and  Aimoin  himself,  (1.  i.  c. 
13,  in  torn.  iii.  p.  37—10,)  may  be  heard  without  disdain.  Tradition 
might  long  preserve  some  curious  circumstances  of  these  important 
transactions. 

27  A  traveller,  who  returned  from  Rheims  to  Auvergne,  had  stolen 
a  copv  of  his  declamations  from  the  secretary  or  bookseller  of  the 
modest  archbishop,  (Sidonias  Apollinar.  1.  ix.  epist.  7.)  Foui  epistles 
of  Reinigius,  which  arc  sail  extant,  (in  torn.  iv.  p.  51,  52,  53,)  do  not 
correspond  with  the  splciulid  praise  of  Sidonius. 

28  Hincmar,  one  of  the  successors  cf  ltcmigius,  (A.  D.  845—882,)  has 
composed  his  life,  (in  torn.  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  Hinc- 
mar. It' is  remarkable  enough,  that  Rcmigius,  who  was  consecrated 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  (A.  D.  457,)  hllcd  the  episcopal  chair  seven- 
ty-fun years,  (Pagi  Critica,  in  Baron,  torn.  ii.  p.  384,  572.) 

99  A  phial  (the  Salute  Amyoulle  of  holy,  or  rather  cek'Stial,  o»L  wa« 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  575 

immediately  baptized,  with  three  thousand  of  his  war. ike  sub- 
jects ;  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  tala  of  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ;  and, 
instead  of  weighing  the  salutary  consequences  of  that  myste- 
rious sacrifice,  he  exclaimed,  with  indiscreet  fury,  "  Had  I 
been  present  at  the  head  of  my  vali'ant  Franks,  I  would  have 
revenged  his  injuries.11  31  But  the  savage  conqueror  of  Gaui 
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  Gallica.i 
church,  he  calmly  assassinated  all  the  princes  of  the  Mero- 
vingian 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 


brought  down  by  a  white  dove,  for  the  baptism  of  Clovis  ;  and  it  is 
still  used,  and  renewed,  in  the  coronation  of  t..e  kings  of  France. 
Hinemar  (he  aspired  to  the  primacy  of  Gaul)  is  the  first  author  of 
this  fable,  (in  torn.  iii.  p.  377,)  whose  slight  foundations  the  Abbe  de 
Vertot  ( Mcmoires  dc  l'Acadeniie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  ii.  p.  619 — 
633)  has  undermined,  with  profound  respect  and  consummate  dex- 
terity. 

30  Mitis  depone  colla,  Sicamber :  adora  quod  incendisti,  incende 
quod  adorasti.     Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  31,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  177. 

31  Si  ego  ibidem  cum  Francis  meis  fuissem,  injurias  ejus  vindicas- 
eem.  This  rash  expression,  which  Gregory  has  prudently  concealed, 
is  celebrated  by  Fredegarius,  (Epitom.  c.  21,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  400,) 
Aimoin,  (1.  i.  c.  16,  in  torn.  iii.  p.  40,)  and  the  Chroniqucs  de  St 
Denys,  (1.  i.  c.  20,  in  torn.  iii.  p.  171,)  as  an  admirable  effusion  of 
Christian  zeal. 

**  Gregory,  (1.  ii.  c.  40—43,  in  torn.  ii.  p.   183—  18o.)  after  coolly 
relating  the  repeated  crimes,  and  affected  remorse,  of  Clovis,  concludes, 
perhaps  undesignedly,  with  a  lesson,  which  ambition  will  never  hew 
'*  His  ita  transaetis  .         cb:it." 


676  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

fame  of  those  miracles  which  were  incessantly  performed  at 
lis  holy  sepulchre  of  Tours.  His  visible  or  invisible  aid  pro- 
moted 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  tho 
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  Anastasiua 
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  acknowl- 
edged by  the  clergy  as  their  lawful  sovereign,  or  glorious  de- 
liverer; and  the  armies  of  Clovis  were  strenuously  supported 
by  the  zeal  and  fervor  of  the  Catholic  faction.34 

Under  the  Roman  empire,  the  wealth  and  jurisdiction  of 
the  bishops,  their  sacred  character,  and  perpetual  office,  their 
numerous  dependants,  popular  eloquence,  and  provincial  as- 
semblies, had  rendered  them  always  respectable,  and  some- 
times dangerous.  The'w  influence  was  augmented  with  the 
progress  of  superstition  ;  and  the  establishment  of  the  French 
monarchy  may,  in  some  degree,  be  ascribed  to  the  firm  alli- 
ance 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  over- 
thrown ;  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 


M  After  the  Gothic  victory,  Clovis  made  rich  offerings  to  St.  Mart''? 
of  Tours.  Hb  wished  to  redeem  his  war-horse  by  the  gift  of  one  hun 
dred  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 
suxilio,  sed  carus  in  negotio.  (Gesta  Francorum,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  554, 
655.) 

34  See  the  epistle  from  Pope  Anastasius  to  the  royal  convert,  fin 
torn.  iv.  p.  50,  51.)  Avitus,  bishop  of  Vienna,  addressed  Clovis  on  tho 
same  subject,  (p.  49 ;)  and  many  of  the  Latin  bishops  would  assure 
him  of  their  joy  and  attachment. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  5TT 

Armoncans ; 35  and  the  Armoricans  were  reconciled  ly  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  dnd  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 
Ihe  r  retreat  was  intercepted,  and  their  communication  waa 
impracticable  :  they  were  abandoned  by  the  Greek  princes  of 
Constantinople,  and  they  piously  disclaimed  all  connection  with 
(he  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  in- 
stitutions. But  the  national  strength  was  increased  by  these 
powerful  and  voluntary  accessions  ;  and  the  neighboring  king- 
doms dreaded  the  numbers,  as  well  as  the  spirit,  of  the  Franks. 
The  reduction  of  the  Northern  provinces  of  Gaul,  instead  of 
Deing  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 


*  Instead  of  the  IJopuQij/oi,  an  unknown  people,  who  now  appear 
in  the  text  of  Procopius,  Hadrian  de  Valois  has  restored  the  proper 
name  of  the  ' sttjyonvxoi  ;  and  this  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.* 

36  This  important  digression  of  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Gothic.  1.  i.  c. 
12,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  29 — 36)  illustrates  the  origin  of  the  French  monarchy. 
Yet  I  must  observe,  1.  That  the  Greek  historian  betrays  an  inexcu- 
nable  ignorance  of  the  geography  of  the  West.     2.  That  these  treaties 


•  Compare  Hallam's  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p  2   kS'J 
D'iru,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  vol.  i.  p.  129.  —  M. 


678  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  Marseilles.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  pru- 
dence still  permitted  Godegesil,  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  con- 
version   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  apprehen- 
sions, 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  de- 
livered with  the  voice   and  countenance  of  an  angel.     "  We 
are  ignorant  of  the  motives  and  intentions  of  the  king  of  the 


and  privileges,  which  should  leave  some  lasting  traces,  are  totally  in- 
visible in  Gregory  of  Tours,  the  Salic  laws,  &c. 

"  Kegnum  circa  Rhodanum  aut  Ararim  cum  provincia  Massiliensi 
retinebant.  Greg.  Turon.  1.  ii.  c.  32,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  17S.  The  provinca 
of  Marseilles,  as  far  as  the  Durance,  was  afterwards  ceded  to  the  Os- 
trogoths ;  and  the  signatures  of  twenty-five  bishops  are  supposed  to 
represent  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  A  D.  519.  (Concil.  Epaon.  in 
torn.  iv.  p.  104,  105.)  Yet  I  would  except  Yindonissa.  The  bishop, 
who  lived  under  the  Pagan  Alcmanni,  would  naturally  resort  to  the 
synods  of  the  next  Christian  kingdom.  Maseou  (in  his  four  first  an- 
notations) has  explained  many  circumstances  relative  to  the  Burgun- 
dian  monarchy. 

J*  Maseou,  (Hist,  of  the  Germans,  xi.  10,)  who  very  reasonably  du>- 
trusts  the  tesnmony  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  lias  produced  a  passage  from 
Avitus  (epjst.  v.)  to  prove  luftt  Gundobald  affected  to  e'epiore  the 
tragic  event,  which  las  subjects  affected  to  applaud. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  679 

Franks:  nut.  we  are  taught  by  Scripture,  that  the  ku  gaom? 
which  abandon  the  divine  law  are  frequently  subverted  ;  and 
that  enemies  will  arise  on  every  side  against  those  who  have 
made  God  their  enemy.  Retui  1,  with  thy  people,  to  the  law 
of  G  <d,  and  he  will  give  peace  and  security  to  thy  domin- 
ions." The  king  of*  Burgundy,  who  was  not  prepared  to  ac- 
cept the  condition  which  the  Catholics  considered  as  essential 
to  the  treaty,  delayed  and  dismissed  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
ference ;  after  reproaching  his  bishops,  that  Clovis,  their 
friend  and  proselyte,  had  privately  tempted  the  allegiance  of 
his  brother.3^ 

The  allegiance  of  his  brother  was  already  seduced;  and 
the  obedience  of  Godegesil,  who  joined  the  royal  standard 
with  the  troops  of  Geneva,  more  effectually  promoted  the  suc- 
cess 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  sup- 
ported 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  : 4U  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  diffi- 
culty of  his  enterprise.  He  imposed  a  tribute  on  the  Bur- 
gundian  prince,  compelled  him  to  pardon  and  reward  his 
brother's  treachery,  and  proudly  returned  to  his  own  domin- 
ions, with  the  spoils  and  captives  of  the  southern  provinces. 
This  splendid  triumph  was  soon  clouded  by  the  intelligence, 


*9  See  the  original  conference,  (in  torn.  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  found 
hi  Dupin,  (Bibliotheque  Ecclesiastique,  torn.  v.  p.  5 — 10.) 

*°  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  iii.  c.  19,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  197)  indulges  his 
gonius,  or  rather  transcribes  some  more  eloquent  writer,  in  the  de- 
scription of  Dijon  ;  a  castle,  which  already  deserved  the  title  of  a  city. 
It  depended  on  the  bishops  of  Langres  till  the  twelfth  century,  anci 
afterwards  became  the  capital  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy.  Longuerue. 
Description  de  la  France,  part  i.  p.  230. 


680  THE    UECLINE    AND    FALL 

'hal  Gundobald  had  violated  his  recent  obligations,  and  that 
the  unfortunate  Godegesil,  who  was  left  at  Vienna  with  a  gar- 
rison 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  pcacefjl 
sovereign  ;  yet  the  conqueror  of  Gaul  dissembled  the  in* 
jury,  released  the  tribute,  and  accepted  the  alliance,  and 
military  service,  of  the  king  of  Burgundy.  Clovis  no  longer 
possessed  tho^e  advantages  which  had  assured  the  success  of 
the  preceding  war ;  and  his  rival,  instructed  by  adversity, 
had  found  new  resources  in  the  affeotions  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  fiis 
approaching  conversion ;  and  though  he  eluded  their  accom- 
plishment to  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  his  moderation 
secured  the  peace,  and  suspended  the  ruin,  of  the  kingdom 
of  Burgundy.4"2 

I  am  impatient  to  pursue  the  final  ruin  of  that  kingdom, 
which  was  accomplished  under  the  reign  of  Sigismond,  the 
eon  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  thino 
which  deserves  pity  and   lamentation."     The  reproaches  of 


41  The  Epitomizer  of  Gregory  of  Tours  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  401)  has  sup- 
plied this  number  of  Franks  ;  but  he  rashly  supposes  that  they  were 
cut  in  pieces  by  Gundobald.  The  prudent  Burgundian  spared  the 
boldiers  of  Clovis,  and  sent  these  captives  to  the  king  of  the  Visigoths, 
who  settled  them  in  the  territory  of  Thoulouse. 

**  In  this  Burgundian  war  I  have  followed  Gregory  of  Tours,  (L  ii. 
e.  32,  33,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  178,  179,)  whose  narrative  appears  so  incompi t» 
ible  with  that  of  Procopius,  (de  Bell.  Goth.  1.  .  c.  12,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  1 1, 
32,)  that  some  critics  have  supposed  two  different  wars.  The  Abbe 
Dubos  (Hist.  Critique,  &c,  torn.  ii.  p.  126 — 162)  has  distinctly  repre- 
sented the  causes  and  the  events. 

43  See  his  life  or  legend,  (in  torn.  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  oi 
fevers. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  581 

a  guilty  conscience  were  alleviated,  however,  by  nis  liberal 
donations  to  the  monastery  of  Agaunum,  or  St.  Maurice,  in 
Vallais  ;  which  he  himself  had  founded  in  honor  of  the  imagi- 
nary martyrs. of  the  Thebrean  legion.44  A  full  chorus  of 
perpetual  psalmody  was  instituted  by  the  pious  king;  he  as- 
siduously 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,  con- 
cealed himself  in  the  desert  in  a  religious  habit,  till  he  waa 
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  ambi- 
tion, 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  assas- 
sin. The  rebellious  Burgundians  (for  they  attempted  to  break 
tneir  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 

The   first  victory  of  Clovis  had  insulted  the  honor  of  the 


44  Before  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  the  church  of  St.  Maurice,  and 
his  Thebsean  legion,  had  rendered  Agaunum  a  place  of  devout  pil- 
grimage. A  promiscuous  community  of  both  sexes  had  introduced 
seme  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  ciergy. 
See  in  the  Bibliotheque  Raisonnee  (torn,  xxxvi.  p.  435 — 438)  the  curi- 
ous remarks  of  a  learned  librarian  of  Geneva. 

44  Marius,  bishop  of  Avenche,  (Chron.  in  tom.ii.  p.  15,)  has  marked 
the  authentic  dates,  and  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  iii.  c.  5,  6,  in  torn.  ii.  p 
188,  189)  has  expressed  the  principal  facts,  of  the  life  of  Sigismond. 
and  the  conquest  of  Burgundy.  Procopius  (in  toin.  ii.  p.  34)  and 
A.gathias  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  49)  show  their  reim  te  and  imperfect  knowl- 
edge. 


582  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Goths.  Trey  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 
srose  on  the  edge  of  their  contiguous  dominions;  and  after 
the  delays  of  fruitless  negotiation,  a  personal  interview  of  tho 
two  kings  was  proposed  and  accepted.  This  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  cunfidence 
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. 
u  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  pub- 
lic or  private  exhortations  of  Clotilda.  She  reminded  her 
husband  how  effectually  some  pious  foundation  would  pro- 
pitiate the  Deity,  and  his  servants  :  and  the  Christian  hero, 
darting  his  battle-axe  with  a  skilful  and.  nervous  hand,  "  There, 
(said  he,)  on  that  spoMvhere  my  Francisca  A1  shall  fall,  will 
I  erect  a  church  in  honor  of  the  holy  apostles."  This  osten- 
tatious piety  confirmed  and  justified  the  attachment  of  the 
Catholics,  with   whom   he  secretly  corresponded;    and   their 


46  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  ii.  c.  37,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  181)  inserts  the  skcrt 
but  persuasive  speech  of  Clovis.  Valde  molcste  fero,  quod  hi  Aru.ni 
partem  tcneant  Galliarum,  (the  author  of  the  Gesta  Francorum,  in 
torn.  ii.  p.  553,  adds  the  precious  epithet  of  optimum,)  eamus  cum 
D-i  adjutorio,  et,  superatis.  cis,  redigamus  terram  in  ditioncm  nostrum. 

"  Tunc  rex  projecit  a  se  in  directum  liipennem  suam  quod  est 
Francisca,  &c.  (Gesta  Franc,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  554.)  The  form  and  use  of 
this  weapon  are  clearly  described  by  Frocopius,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  37.) 
Examples  of  its  national  appellation  in  Latin  and  French  may  be 
tound  in  the  Glossary  of  Ducange,  and  the  large  Dictiomaire  de 
Trevoux. 


OF    THE    SOMAN    EMPIRE.  f>N3 

devout  wishes  were  gradually  ripened  into  a  formidable  con* 
spiracy.  The  people  of  Aquitaic  was  alarmed  by  die  indis- 
creet reproaches  of  their  Gothic  tyrants,  who  ;ustlv  accused 
them  of  preferring  the  dominion  ot  the  Franks :  and  tnoil 
zealous  adherent  Quintianus,  bishop  of  Rodez,48  p readied 
more  forcibly  in  his  exile  than  in  his  diocese.  To  rosis 
diese  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,  A'hich  they  had  neg- 
lected in  a  long  and  luxurious  peace ; 49  a  select  band  of 
valiant  and  robust  slaves  attended  their  masters  to  the  field  ;  •)0 
and  the  cities  of  Gaul  were  compelled  to  furnish  their  doubt- 
ful 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  mon- 
arch dreaded  the  rising  empire  of  Clovis,  and  he  was  firmly 
engaged  to  support  the  national  and  religious  cause  of  the 
Goths. 

The  accidental,  or  artificial,  prodigies  which  adorned  the 
expedition  of  Clovis,  were  accepted  by  a  superstitious  age,  a? 
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  al 
the  precise  moment  when  they  entered  the  church.  1'hose 
words  most  fortunately  expressed  the  valor  and  victory  of  the 


43  It  13  singular  enough  that  some  important  and  authentic  facts 
should  be  found  in  a  Lite  of  Quintianus,  composed  in  rhyme  in  tht 
old  Patois  of  Roucrgue,  (Dubos,  Hist.  Critique,  &c,  torn.  ii.  p.  179.) 

49  Quamvis  fortitudini  vestra?  confidentiam  tribuat  parentum  vcs- 
trorum  innumerabilis  multitudo  ;  qiiamvis  Attilam  potentem  remWus- 
camini  Visigotharum  viribus  inclinatum ;  tamen  quia  populorum 
ferocia  corda  longa  pace  mollcscunt,  cavete  subito  in  aleara  mittere, 
quos  constat  tantis  temporibus  exercitia  non  habere.  Such  was  tht 
Balutary,  but  fruitless,  advice  of  peace,  of  reason,  and  of  Theodorio 
(Cassiodor.  1.  ill.  ep.  2.) 

w  Montesqiiieu  (Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xv.  c.  14)  mentions  and  ap- 
proves the  law  of  the  Visigoths,  (1.  ix.  tit.  2,  in  torn.  iv.  p.  425,)  vvhicb 
obliged  all  masters  to  arm,  and  send,  or  lead,  into  the  field  a  tenth 
jf  their  slaves. 


684  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

champions  of  Heaven,  and  the  application  was  easily  trans- 
ferred to  the  new  Joshua,  the  new  Gideon,  ivho  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  ex- 
traordinary swell  of  the  River  Vigenna  or  Vienne  ;  and  the 
opposite  banks  were  covered  by  the  encampment  of  the  Vis- 
igoths. 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,  ap- 
peared 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  conqueror 
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  Ostro- 
goths, whom  the  king  of  Italy  had  already  sent  to  his  assist- 
ance. 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 
hast)  steps  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  enemy.  His  nocturnal 
march  was  directed  by  a  flaming  meteor,  suspended  in  the 
air  abjve  the  cathedral  of  Poitiers;  and  this  signal,  which 
might  be  previously  concerted  with  the   orthodox  successor 


41  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  sa;  nts.  See  a  curious  dissertation  of 
the  Abbe  du  Kesnel,  in  the  Memoires  dc  1'Aca.lemit  torn,  xis..  p.  287 
-310. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  585 

of  St.  Hilary,  was  compared  to  the  column  of  fire  that  guide*? 
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  pre- 
pared by  terror  and  confusion.  Yet  they  rallied  in  their  ex- 
treme 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.  Ah 
anc  fell  oy  the  hand  of  his  rival  ;  and  the  victorious  Frank 
was  saved  by  the  goodness  of  his  cuirass,  and  the  vigor  of  hi3 
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 

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  suffi- 
cient 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  bas- 
tard 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  dis- 
cord. The  victorious  king  of  the  Franks  proceeded  without 
delay  to  the  siege  of  Angouleme.  At  the  sound  of  his  trum- 
pets the  walls  of  the  city  imitated    the  example  of  Jericho, 


62  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.  Clo- 
vis overtook  and  attacked  the  Visigoths  near  Vivonne,  and  the  victory 
was  decided  near  a  village  still  named  Champagne  St.  Hilaire.  Se« 
thv  Dissertations  of  the  Abbe'  le  Boeuf,  torn.  i.  p.  304 — o31. 
79 


586  THE    DECLINE    AND    7 ALT. 

and  instantly  fell  to  the  ground  ;  a  splendid  miracle,  which 
may  be  reduced  to  the  supposition,  that  some  clerical  engi- 
neers had  secretly  undermined  the  foundations  of  the  ram- 
part.53 At  Bordeaux,  which  had  submitted  without  resistance, 
Clovis  established  his  winter  quarters ;  and  his  prudent  econ- 
omy transported  from  Thoulouse  the  royal  treasures,  which 
were  deposited  in  the  capital  of  the  monarchy.  The  con- 
queror 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  mon- 
arch 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  Aries,  with  the  loss,  as  it  ia 
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  posses- 
sion 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 


63  Angouleme  is  in  the  road  from  Poitiers  to  Bordeaux ;  and  al- 
though 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  Pyrenseos  montes  usque  Perpinianum  subjecit,  is  the  expression 
of  Rorico,  which  betrays  his  recent  date  ;  since  Perpignan  aid  not  ex- 
ist before  the  tenth  century,  (Marca  Hispanica,  p.  458.)  This  florid 
and  fabulous  writer  (perhaps  a  monk  of  Amiens  —  see  the  Abbe  le 
Bceuf,  Mem.  de  TAcad6mie,  torn.  xvii.  p.  228  —  245)  relates,  in  the 
allegorical  character  of  a  shepherd,  the  general  history  of  his  country- 
men the  Franks  ;  but  his  narrative  ends  with  the  death  of  Clovis. 

64  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,  torn.  ii. 
p.  215.) 

M  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.  1.  iii.  epist.  1--4,  in  tom.iv. 


OF   THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE.  581 

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  in* 
vested,  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  mas- 
ter, 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. 

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 

p.  3 — 5 ;)  Procopius,  (de  Bell.  Goth.  1.  i.  c.  12,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  32,  33 ;) 
Gregory  of  Tours,  (1.  ii.  c.  35,  36,  37,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  181 — 183  ;)  Jornan- 
des,  (de  Reb.  Geticis,  c.  68,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  28  ;)  Fortunatus,  (in  Vit.  St. 
Hilarii,  in  torn.  iii.  p.  380  ;)  Isidore,  (in  Chron.  Goth,  in  torn.  ii.  p. 
702  ;)  the  Epitomy  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  401  ;)  the  au- 
thor of  the  Gesta  Francorum,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  553 — 555  ;)  the  Fragments 
•>f  Fredegarius,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  463  ;)  Aimoin,  (1.  i.  c.  20,  in  torn.  iii.  p. 
41,  42 ;)  and  Rorico,  (1.  iv.  in  torn.  iii.  p.  14 — 19.) 

67  1  he  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  Bur- 
gundy. If  the  evidence  of  Gregory  of  To  irs  were  less  weighty  and 
positive,  (1.  ii.  c.  38,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  183,)  I  could  believe  that  CIovLj, 
like  Odoacer,  received  the  lasting  file  aud  honors  of  Patrician,  (I*sg) 
Critica,  torn.  ii.  p.  474,  492.) 


688  THE    DECLiNE    AND    FALL 

the  Franks  the  cities  of  Aries  and  Marseilles ;  of  Aries,  still 
adorned  with  the  seat  of  a  Praetorian  prsefect,  and  of  Mar- 
seilles, 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  sover- 
eignty 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  Aries  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.6" 
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  urbarity,  their  regular  govern- 
ment, and  orthodox  religion;  and  bv. Idly  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  some- 
times  concealed    their    intrinsic    merit.      Perhaps  Agathias, 

59  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  1' Academic,  torn,  xxxvii.  p. 
471—475. 

59  Ov  yuQ  noTs  ojOito  JTailiaS  tt'*  tco  aoifuf.ii  xtxT>]n6i.tt  <t>Qaryott 
fi>l  Tou  udroxQuToQo?  rii  fQyuv  ininif ayiciuiTo;  rovro  yt.  This  strong 
declaration  of  Procopius  (de  Bell.  Gothic.  1.  iii.  cap.  33,  in  torn.  ii.  p. 
41)  would  almost  suffice  to  justify  the  Abbe  Dubos. 

60  The  Franks,  who  probably  used  the  mints  of  Treves,  Lyons,  and 
Aries,  imitated  the  coinage  of  the  Roman  emperors  of  seventy-two 
iolidi,  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  dvnarii,  or  silver 
threepences.  Twelve  of  these  denarii  made  a  solidus,  or  shilling,  the 
twentieth  part  of  the  pondcral  and  numeral  litre,  or  pound  of  silver, 
which  has  been  so  strangely  reduced  in  modern  France.  See  La 
Blano,  Traite  Historique  des  Monnoyes  dc  France,  p.  37 — 43,  ic. 

61  Agathias,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  47.  Gregory  of  Tours  exhibits  a  very 
different  picture.  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  easy,  within  the  same  his- 
torical space,  to  find  more  vice  and  less  virtue.  We  are  continuallj 
•hocked  by  the  union  of  savage  and  corrup'  manners 


DF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  589 

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  Septima 
n'ta,  was  subject,  in  its  whole  extent,  to  the  sons  of  Clovis. 
Thev  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  Ba\arj- 
ans,  who  had  occupied  the  Roman  provinces  of  Rhsetia  and 
Noricum,  to  the  south  of  the  Danube,  confessed  themsel  ret 
the  humble  vassals  of  the  Franks ;  and  the  feeble  barrier  of 
the  Alps  was  incapable  of  resisting  their  ambition.  When  tne 
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.6- 

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  an- 
cestors ;  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 

62  M.  de  Foncemagne  has  traced,  in  a  correct  and  elegant  disserta- 
tion, (Mem.  de  1' Academic,  torn.  viii.  p.  505 — 528,)  the  extent  and 
limits  of  the  French  monarchy. 

CT  The  Abbe  Dubos  (Histoire  Critique,  torn.  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  15G0.  According  to  the  complaint  of  Heineccius,  (Opera,  torn, 
lii.  Sylloge,  iii.  p.  248,  &c.,)  Germany  received  with  indifference  and 
contempt  the  codes  of  Barbaric  laws,  which  were  published  by  Hetol- 
dua,  Lindenbrogius,  &c.  At  present  those  laws,  (as  far  as  they  relata 
to  Gaul,)  the  history  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  all  the  n  muiaents  of 
the  Merovingian  race,  appear  in  a  pure  and  perfect  stata  in  the  firm 
(oui  volumes  of  the  Historians  of  France. 


690  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  th.2  freedom  of  the  people.  Yet  the  sharp  conflict  has  use- 
fully 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  pro- 
vincials, after  Gaul  had  submitted  to  the  arms  and  laws  of  the 
Merovingian  kings.64 

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 ; G6  and  their 

84  In  the  space  of  [about]  thirty  years  (1728 — 1765)  this  interesting 
*ubject  has  been  agitated  by  the  free  spirit  of  the  count  de  Boulain- 
villiers,  (Memoires  Historiques  sur  l'Etat  de  la  France,  particularly 
torn.  i.  p.  15 — 49  ;)  the  learned  ingenuity  of  the  Abbe  Dubos,  (Histoire 
Critique  de  l'Etablisscmcnt  de  la  Monarchic  Fran<joise  dans  les  Gaules, 
2  vols-  in  4to. ;)  the  comprehensive  genius  of  the  president  de  Montes- 
quieu, (Esprit  des  Loix,  particularly  1.  xxviii.  xxx.  xxxi. ;)  and  the 
good  sense  and  diligence  of  the  Abbe  de  Mably,  (Observations  sur 
1' Histoire  de  France,  2  vols.  12mo.) 

63  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  Latin  appears  to  have  been  the  original  language  of  the  Salic  law. 
It  was  probably  composed  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  centrary,  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,  hav6 
claimed  them  as  their  own.  See  an  excellent  Dissertation  o?Heinec- 
eius,  deLcge  Salica,  torn.  iii.  Sylloge  lii.  p.  247 — 267.* 


*  The  relative  antiquity  of  the  two  copies  of  the  Salic  law  has  oeen  con- 
tested with  great  learning  and  ingenuity.  The  work  of  M.  Wiarda,  His- 
tory and  Explanation  of  the  Salic  Law,  Bremen,  1808,  asserts,  that  wh»t  is 
called  the  Lex  Antiqua,  or  Vetustior,  in  which  many  German  words  *r« 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  591 

labors  wc/e  examined  and  approved  in  three  successive  as* 
semblies  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  re- 
vised 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  hia 
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 
Alcmanni  and  Bavarians  were  diligently  compiled  and  ratified 
by  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Merovingian  kings.  The 
Visigoths  and  Burgundians,  whose  conquests  in  Gaul  pre- 
ceded those  of  the  Franks,  showed  less  impatience  to  attair 
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  con- 
summated. 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 

67  Eginhard,  in  Vit.  Caroli  Magni,  c.  29,  in  torn.  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,  (torn. 
iv.  p.  151,)  and  the  latter  might  be  obeyed  from  the  same  forest  to  the 
Rhine,  (torn.  iv.  p.  222.) 

63  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 
6pirit  of  the  Franks  more  forcibly  than  the  ten  books  of  Gregory  of 
Tou'-s. 


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  asje  of  the  "ancient"  Code,  which  lias 
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  fivo 
of  the  different  texts  of  the  Salic  law,  with  that  of  the  Ripuaiiacs,  in  par- 
lUel  columns.     By  E.  A   1.  Laspeyrns    Balte,  1833  — M. 


592  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

favor  of  Barbarism,  our  calmer  reflections  will  a.-cribe  to  the 
llomans  the  superior  advantages,  not  only  of  science  and 
reason,  but  of  humanity  and  justice.  Yet  the  laws  *  of  tli6 
Barbarians  were  adapted  to  their  wants  and  desires,  their  oc- 
cupations and  their  capacity  ;  and  they  all  contributed  to  pre- 
serve the  peace,  and  promote  the  improvement,  of  the  society 
for  whose  use  they  were  originally  established.  The  Mero- 
vingians, 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  6a 
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  judi- 
cial presumption  of  right,  or  innocence.  A  more  ample  lati- 
tude 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 


69  The  Ripuarian  law  declares,  and  defines,  this  indulgence  in  favor 
of  the  plaintiff,  (tit.  xxxi.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  240  ;)  and  the  same  toleration 
is  understood,  or  expressed,  in  all  the  codes,  except  that  of  the  Visi- 
goths 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  euro 
altero  habeat,  (in  torn.  vi.  p.  356.)  He  foolishly  proposes  to  introduce 
a  uniformity  of  law,  as  well  as  of  faith. t 

70  Inter  Jlomanos  negotia  causarum  Romanis  legibus  praecipimua 
terminari.  Such  are  the  words  of  a  general  constitution  promulgated 
by  Clotaire,  the  son  of  Clovis,  and  sole  monarch  of  the  Franks  (in 
torn.  iv.  p.  116)  about  the  year  560. 

71  This  liberty  of  choice  %  has  been  aptly  deduced  (Esprit  des  Loix, 


*  The  most  complete  collection  of  these  codes  is  in  the  "  Bartarorum 
leges  antique, "  by  P.  Canciani,  5  vols,  folio,  Venice,  1781-9.  —  M. 

t  It  is  the  object  of  the  important  work  of  M.  Savigny,  Geschichte  des 
Romisches  Rechts  in  Mittelalter,  to  show  the  perpetuity  of  the  Roman 
taw  from  the  5th  to  the  12th  century.  —  M. 

X  Gibbon  appears  to  have  doubted  the  evidence  on  which  this  "  liberty 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  593 

When  justice  inexorably  requires  the  death  of  a  murderer, 
each  prfcate  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  Ger 
mans,  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  ho 
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,  inter- 
posed, 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  pub- 
lic peace  was  continually  violated  by  acts  of  hasty  or  delib- 
erate guilt.  In  every  just  government  the  same  penalty  is 
inflicted,  or  at  least  is  imposed,  for  the  murder  of  a  peasant 


1.  xxviii.  2)  from  a  constitution  of  LothaireL*  (Leg.  Langobard.  1.  ii. 
tit.  lvii.  in  Codex  Lindenbrog.  p.  664  ;)  though  the  example  is  too  re- 
cent and  partial.  From  a  various  reading  in  the  Salic  law,  (tit.  xliv. 
not.  xlv.)  the  Abbe  de  Mably  (torn.  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  (homincm)  is  authorized  only  by  the  MS.  of  Fulda,  from 
whence  Heroldus  published  his  edition.  See  the  four  original  texts 
of  the  Salic  law  in  torn.  iv.  p.  147,  173,  196,  220. 

73  In  the  heroic  times  of  Greece,  the  guilt  of  murder  was  expiated 
hy  a  pecuniary  satisfaction  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  (Feithius 
Antiquitat.  Homeric.  1.  ii.  c.  8.)  Heineccius,  in  his  preface  to  the  Ele- 
ments 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. 


of  choice  "  rested.  His  doubts  have  been  confirmed  by  the  reiearches  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.  IiOiuische 
Recht,  vol.  i.  p.  123— 133.  —  M. 

*  This   constitution  of  Lothairc  at  first  related   only  to  the  duchy  of 
R  ime ;    it  afterwards  found   its   way  into  the   Lombard  code.     Savigny, 
v.  133  -M. 
79* 


MJ4  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

or  a  prince.  But  the  national  inequality  established  by  tn« 
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  A?Urustion,"4  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  compensa- 
tion 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  insensi- 
bly abated  the  pride  of  the  conquerors  and  the  patience  of 
the  vanquished  ;  and  the  boldest  citizen  was  taught,  by  expe- 
rience, that  he  might  suffer  more  injuries  than  he  could  inflict. 
As  the  manners  of  the  Franks  became  less  ferocious,  theii 
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 

73  This  proportion  is  fixed  by  the  Salic  (tit.  xliv.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  147) 
and  the  llipuarian  (tit.  vii.  xi.  xxxvi.  in  torn.  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  Alcmanni  between  the  Franks  and  the  Romans. 

74  The  Antrustiones,  qui  in  trusie  DominicA  sunt,  leitdi,  Ji deles,  un- 
doubtedly represent  the  first  order  of  Franks  ;  but  it  is  a  question 
whether  their  rank  was  personal  or  hereditary.  The  Abbe  de  Mabiy 
(torn.  i.  p.  334 — 347)  is  not  displeased  to  mortify  the  pride  of  birth 
(Esprit,  1.  xxx.  c.  25)  by  dating  the  origin  of  French  nobility  from 
the  r^ign  of  Clotaire  II.  (A.  1).  015.) 

76  See  the  Burgundiau  laws,  (tit.  ii.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  257,)  the  code  of 
the  Visigoths,  (1.  vi.  tit.  v.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  384.)  and  the  constitution  of 
Vhildebert,  not  of  Paris,  but  most  evidently  of  Austiasia,  (in  torn.  iv.  p 
i\'l)  Their  premature  severity  was  sometimes  rash,  and  extessive 
Childcbert  condemned  not  only  murdei/ers  but  robbers  ;  quoincdo  .einfl 
lege  involavit,  sine  lege  moriatur;  and  even  the  negligent  judge  was 
involved  in  the  suir.e  sentence.     The  Visigoths  abandoned  an   unsuc 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMIGRE.  59G 

«vas  universally  punished  with  death  ;  and  the  use  of  capitaV 
punishments  has  been  liberally  multiplied  in  the  jurisprudence 
of  modern  Europe.76 

The  civil  and  military  professions,  which  had  been  sepa- 
rated by  Constantine,  were  again  united  by  the  Barbaiiana. 
The  harsh  sound  of  the  Teutonic  appellations  was  mollified 
into  the  Latin  titles  of  Duke,  of  Count,  or  of  Prsefect ;  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  philo- 
sophic mind,  laboriously  cultivated  by  experience  and  study ; 
and  his  rude  ignorance  was  compelled  to  embrace  some  sim- 
ple, 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 

cessful  surgeon  to  the  family  of  his  deceased  patient,  ut  quod  de  eo 
facere  voluerint  habeant  potestatem,  (1.  xi.  tit.  i.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  435.) 

76  See,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  works  of  Heineccius,  the  Ele- 
menta  Juris  Germanici,  1.  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. 

77  The  whole  subject  of  the  Germanic  judges,  and  their  jurisdic- 
tion, is  copiously  treated  by  Heineccius,  (Element.  Jur.  Germ.  I.  iii 
No.  1 — 72.)  I  cannot  find  any  proof  that,  under  the  Merovingian  race 
the  scabini,  or  assessors,  were  chosen  by  the  people.* 

78  Gregor.  Turon.  1.  viii.  c.  9,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  316.  Montesquieu  ob- 
serves, (Esprit  des  Loix,  1.   xxviii.   c.  13,)  that  the  Salic  law  did  not 


*  The  question  of  the  scabini  is  treated  at  considerable  length  by  Savigny 
He  questions  the  existence  of  the  scabini  anterior  to  Charlemagne.  Be- 
fore this  time  the  decision  ivas  by  an  open  court  of  the  freemen,  the  bonf 
lomines.     Romische  llecht  vo..  i   p.  195.  et  seq. — M. 


596  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  manifest  and  frequent  perjuries  engaged  the  magistrates 
to  remove  thesu  dangerous  temptations ;  and  to  supply  the 
defects  of  human  testimony  by  the  famous  experiments  of 
fire  and  water.  These  extraordinary  trials  were  so  capri- 
ciously contrived,  that,  in  some  cases,  guilt,  and  innocence  in 
others,  could  not  be  proved  without  the  interposition  of  a 
miracle.  Such  miracles  were  readily  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,  sub- 
missively acquiesced  in  the  judgment  of  God.79 

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  surfer,  or  that  a  cowaid 
deserved  to  live.80  Both  in  civil  and  criminal  proceedings, 
the  plaintiff,  or  accuser,  the  defendant,  or  even  the  wit- 
ness, 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  sane 
tion  of  Heaven,  of  the  judge,  and  of  the  people.  This  san- 
guinary law  was  introduced  into  Gaul  by  the  Burgundians; 
and  their  legislator  Gundobald  8-  condescended  to  answer  the 

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  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. 

80  Montesquieu  (Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xxviii.  c.  17)  has  condescended  to 
explain  and  excuse  "la  manierc  de  penser  denos  peres,"  on  the  sub- 
ject 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  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  congres- 
tus  est,  (Vit.  Lud.  Pii,  c.  33,  in  torn.  vi.  p.  103.)  Ermoldus  Nigellus, 
'1.  iii.  543 — G!i3,  in  torn.  vi.  p.  48 — 50,)  who  describes  the  duel,  admires 
the  ars  nooa  of  fighting  on  horseback,  which  was  unknown  to  the 
Franks. 

81  In  his  original  edict,  published  at  Lyons,  (A.  D.  501,)  Gundo- 
Dald    establishes    and  justifies   the    use    of  judicial   combat,)    Leg 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  597 

pomplainta  and  objections  of  his  subject  Avitus.  "•  Is  it  not 
true,"  said  the  king  of  Burgundy  to  the  bishop,  "that  tbp 
event  of  national  wars,  and  private  combats,  is  directed  bj 
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  respect- 
able 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  pos- 
sessions, to  sustain  the  dangers  of  an  unequal  conflict,88  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  ano 
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 

A  devouring    host  of  one    hundred    and    twenty  thousand 

Burgund.  tit.  xlv.  in  torn.  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  torn.  vi.  p.  356 — 858.)  He  re- 
lates the  conversation  of  Gundobald  and  Avitus. 

m  "  Accidit,  (says  Agobard,)  ut  non  solum  valentes  viribus,  sed  etiara 
infirmi  et  senes  Lacessantur  ad  pugnani,  etiam  pro  vilissimis  rebus. 
Quibus  foralibus  certaminibus  contingunt  homicidia  injusta ;  et  cru- 
deles  ac  perversi  eventus  judiciorum.  Like  a  prudent  rhetorician,  he 
Buppresses  the  legal  privilege  of  hiring  champions. 

si  Mcntesquieu,  (Esprit  des  Loix,  xxviii.  c.  14,)  who  understand 
why  the  judicial  combat  was  admitted  by  the-  Burgundians,  Kij  u- 
arians,  Alemanni,  Bavarians,  Lombards,  Thuringians,  Prisons,  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  (1.  iii.  543, 
in  torn.  vi.  p.  48,)  and  the  anonymous  biographer  of  Lewis  the  IJious, 
(c.  46,  in  torn.  vi.  p.  112,)  as  the  "  mos  antiquus  Francorum,  more 
Francis  solito,"  &c,  expressions  too  general  to  exclude  the  w  blest  of 
their  tribes. 


598  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Germans  hau  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   Visi- 
goths and  Burgundians,  who  revenged  the  defeat  of  Ariovis- 
tus, 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  b} 
their  own  choice,  or  by  the  policy  of  their  leader.     In  these 
districts,  each  Barbarian  was  connected  by  the  ties  of  hospi- 
tality 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  val 
uable,  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  dis- 
persed 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  exer- 
cise 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.*     The  memorable  vase  of 

85  Ctesar  de  Bell.  Gall.  1.  i.  c.  31,  in  torn.  i.  p.  213. 

M  The  obscure  hints  of  a  division  of  lands  occasionally  scattered 
in  the  laws  of  the  Burgundians,  (tit.  liv.  No.  1,  2,  in  torn.  iv.  p.  271, 
272.)  and  Visigoths,  (1.  x.  tit.  i.  No.  8,  9,  16,  in  torn.  iv.  p.  428,  429. 
*30,)  are  skilfully  explained  by  the  president  Montesquieu,  (Esprit 
des  Loix,  1.  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. 


•  Sismondi  (Hist,  dis  Francais,  vol.  i.  p.  197)  observes,  that  the  Frauki 


OF    THE    ROHAN    EMPIRE.  599 

Soissons  is  a  monument  and  a  pledge  of  the  regular  distribu- 
tion of  the  Gallic  spoils.  It  was  the  duty  and  the  interest  of 
Clovis  to  provide  rewards  for  a  successful  army,  and  settle- 
ments for  a  numerous  people  ;  without  inflicting  any  wantor. 
or  superfluous  injuries  on  the  loyal  Catholics  of  Gaul.  The 
ample  fund,  which  he  might  lawfully  acquire,  of  the  Impe- 
rial patrimony,  vacant  lands,  and  Gothic  usurpations,  would 
diminish  the  cruel  necessity  of  seizure  and  confiscation,  and 
the  humble  provincials  would  more  patiently  acquiesce  in  thr 
equal  and  regular  distribution  of  their  loss.87 

The  wealth  of  the  Merovingian  princes  consisted  in  their 
extensive  domain.  After  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  they  still  de- 
ighted  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  lux- 
ury, 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  sur- 
rounded with  convenient  yards  and  stables,  for  the  cattle  and 
the  poultry  ;  the  garden  was  planted  with  useful  vegetables , 

87  It  is  singular  enough  that  the  president  de  Montesquieu  (Esprit 
des  Loix,  1.  xxxc.  7 )  and  the  Abbe  de  Mably  (Observations,  torn,  i 
p.  21,  22)  agree  in  this  strange  supposition  of  arbitrary  and  private 
rapine.  The  Count  de  Boulainvilliers  (Etat  de  la  France,  torn.  i.  p.  22, 
23)  shows  a  strong  understanding  through  a  cloud  of  ignorance  and 
prejudice.* 

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.  He&ce 
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  witli  that  of  the  Dey  of  Algiers 
and  his  corsair  troops  to  th"  peaceful  inhabitants  of  that  province  ;  M 
Thierry  (Lettres  sur  l'Histoire  de  Fiance,  p.  117)  with  that  of  the  Turkt 
towards  the  Raias  or  Phanaiictes,  the  mass  of  the  Greeks.  —  M. 

*  Sismondi  supposes  that  the  Barbarians,  if  a  farm  were  conveniently 
•ituated,  would  show  no  great  respcot  for  the  laws  of  property  ;  but  ia 
general  there  would  have  been  vacant  land  enough  for  the  lots  assigned  tJ 
old  or  worn-o  it  warriors,  (Hist,  des  Frau^-ais,  vol.  i.  p.  196.)  —  M 


600  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  maxima 
of  private  economy.88  This  ample  patrimony  was  appropri- 
ated to  supply  the  hospitable  plenty  of  Clovis  and  his  suc- 
cessors ;  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  com- 
panion, 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.*  But  this 
dependent  tenure  was  gradually  abolished  89  by  the  independ- 
ent and  rapacious  nobles  of  France,  who  established  the  per- 
petual 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, 
b  the  division  of  Gaul,  of  allodial  and  Salic  lands  :  they  were 

88  See  the  rustic  edict,  or  rather  code,  of  Charlemagne,  which  con- 
tains seventy  distinct  and  minute  regulations  of  that  great  monarch, 
(in  torn.  v.  p.  652 — 657.)  He  requires  an  account  of  the  horns  and 
skins  of  the  goats,  allows  Ms  fish  to  be  sold,  and  carefully  directs, 
that  the  larger  villas  {Capitanccp)  shall  maintain  one  hundred  hens  and 
thirty  geese  ;  and  the  smaller  (Mansionales)  fifty  hens  and  twelve 
geese.  Mabillon  (de  lie  Diplomatica)  has  investigated  the  names,  the 
number,  and  the  situation  of  the  Merovingian  villas. 

89  From  a  passage  of  the  Burgundian  law  (tit.  i.  No.  4,  in  torn.  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  Gundo- 
bald.  The  Burgundian3  would  firmly  maintain  their  privilege,  and 
their  example  might  encourage  the  Beneficiaries  of  France. 

30  The  revolutions  of  the  benefices  and  fiefs  are  clearly  fixed  by  tho 
Abbe  de  Mably.  His  accurate  distinction  of  times  gives  him  a  merit 
to  which  even  Montesquieu  is  a  stranger. 


*  The  resumption  of  benefices  at  the  pleasure  of  the  sovereign,  (the 
general  theory  down  to  his  time,)  is  ably  contested  by  Mr.  Hallatn  ;  *'  foi 
this  resumption  some  delinquency  must  be  imputed  to  the  vassal."  Middle 
Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  162.  Tne  reader  will  be  inteiested  by  the  singular  analogies 
with  the  beneficial  and  feudal  system  of  E  irope  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
Woild,  indicated  by  Col.  Tod  in  his  splendid  wo-k  on  Raia'sthau,  vl,  i.  o 
I.  p.  129,  &c  — M. 


OF    TIIE    HUMAN    EMPIRE..  601 

exempt  from  tribute,  and  the  Salic  lands  were  equally  share  j 
among  the  male  descendants  of  the  Franks.91 

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  terri- 
tory. Their  ambition  might  be  checked  by  the  hostile  resist- 
ance of  an  equal :  but  the  laws  were  extinguished  ;  and  the 
fiacnlegious  Barbarians,  who  dared  to  provoke  the  vengearce 
of  a  saint  or  bishop,9-  would  seldom  respect  the  landmarks  (if 
a  profane  and  defenceless  neighbor.  The  common  or  pub- 
lic 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  trans- 
gressors were  legally  chastised  with  stripes  and  imprison- 
ment ; 94  but  in  an  age  which  admitted  a  slight  composition 

91  See  the  Salic  law,  (tit.  lxii.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  156.)  The  origin  and 
nature  of  these  Salic  lands,  which,  in  times  of  ignorance,  were  per- 
fectly understood,  now  perplex  our  most  learned  and  sagacious  crit- 
ics.* 

92  Many  of  the  two  hundred  and  six  miracles  of  St.  Martin  (Greg. 
Turon.  in  Maxima  Bibliotheca  Patrum,  torn.  xi.  p.  896 — 932)  were 
repeatedly  performed  to  punish  sacrilege.  Audite  haec  omnes  (ex- 
claims the  bishop  of  Tours)  protestatem  habentes,  after  relating,  how 
some  horses  ran  mad,  that  had  been  turned  into  a  sacred  meadow. 

93  Heinec.  Element.  Jur.  German.  1.  ii.  p.  1,  No.  8. 

94  Jonas,  bishop  of  Orleans,  (A.  D.  821—826.  Cave,  Hist.  Litte- 
raria,  p.  443,)  censures  the  legal  tyranny  of  the  nobles.  Pro  feris,  quaa 
cura  hominum  non  aluit,  sed  Deus  in  commune  mortalibus  ad  uten- 


*  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  Salic,  ilallam's  Middle 
Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  145.     Compare  Sismondi,  vol.  i.  p.  196. — M. 


60SS  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

for  the  life  of  a  citi/en,  it  was  a  capital  crime  to  destroy  a  slag 
or  a  wild  bull  within  th^  px-ecincts  of  the  royal  forests.93 

According  to  the  maxims  of  ancient  war,  the  conqueror 
became  the  lawful  master  of  the  enemy  whom  he  had  sub- 
dued and  spared  :  96  and  the  fruitful  cause  of  personal  slavery, 
which  had  been  almost  suppressed  by  the  peaceful  sovereign* 
ty  of  Rome,  was  again  revived  and  multiplied  by  the  perpetual 
hostilities  of  the  independent  Barbarians.  The  Goth,  the  Bur- 
gundian,  or  the  Frank,  who  returned  from  a  successful  expe- 
dition, dragged  after  him  a  long  train  of  sheep,  of  oxen,  and 
of  human  captives,  whom  he  treated  with  the  same  brutal  con- 
jempt.  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  theii 
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  num- 
ber 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 


dum  concessit,  pauperes  a  potentioribus  spoliantur,  flagellantur 
ergastuli3  detruduntur,  et  multa  alia  patiuntur.  Hoc  enim  qui  fa- 
ciunt,  lege  mundi  se  facere  juste  posse  contendant.  De  Institutione 
Laicorum,  1.  ii.  c.  23,  apud  Thomassin,  Discipline  de  l'Eglise,  torn.  iii. 
p.  1348. 

95  On  a  mere  suspicion,  Chundo,  a  chamberlain  of  Gontram,  king 
of  Burgundy,  was  stoned  to  death,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  x.  c.  10,  in  torn. 
ii.  p.  369.)  John  of  Salisbury  (Policrat.  1.  i.  c.  4)  asserts  the  rights  ol 
nature,  and  exposes  the  cruel  practice  of  the  twelfth  century.  See 
Heineccius,  Elem.  Jur.  Germ.  1.  ii.  p.  1,  No.  51 — 57. 

w  The  custom  of  enslaving  prisoners  of  war  was  totally  extin- 
guished in  the  thirteenth  century,  by  the  prevailing  influence  of 
Christianity;  but  it  might  be  proved,  from  frequent  passages  of  Greg- 
ory of  Tours,  &c,  that  it  was  practised,  without  censuie,  under  tho 
Merovingian  race  ;  and  even  Grotius  himself,  (de  Jure  Belli  et  Pack, 
L  iii.  c.  7,)  as  well  as  his  commentator  Barbeyrac,  have  labored  to 
reconcile  it  with  the  laws  of  nature  and  reason. 

87  The  state,  professions,  &c,  of  the  German,  Italian,  and  Gallk 
•laves,  during  the  middle  ages,  are  explained  by  Heineccius,  (Element 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  G03 

absolute  power  of  life  and  death  was  exercised  by  these  lords; 
and  when  they  married  their  daughters,  a  train  of  useful  ser- 
vants, chained  on  the  wagons  to  prevent  their  escape,  wa3 
sent  as  a  nuptial  present  into  a  distant  country.98  The  majes- 
ty of  the  Koman  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."  The  example  of  the  poor,  who 
purchased  life  by  the  sacrifice  of  all  that  can  render  life  desir- 
able, 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  wa9 
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  uni- 
formly 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  ob- 
scure 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  F ranks,  have  asserted  and 
abused  the  indefeasible  right  of  conquest  over  a  prostrate  crowd 


Jur.  Germ.  1.  i.  No.  28 — 47,)  Muratori,  (Dissertat.  xiv.  xv.,)  Ducange 
(Gloss,  sub  voce  Serci,)  and  the  Abbe'  de  Mably,  (  Observations,  toia. 
li.  p.  3,  &c,  p.  237,  &&)* 

98  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  vi.  c.  45,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  289)  relates  a  memo- 
rable example,  in  which  Chilperic  only  abused  the  private  rights  if  & 
master.  Many  families,  which  belonged  to  his  domus  /.scales  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Paris,  were  forcibly  sent  away  into  Spain. 

,Ji  Licentiam  habeatis  mini  qualenicunque  volueritis  disciplinam 
ponere ;  vel  venunidare,  aut  quod  vobis  placuerit  de  me  facere. 
Marculf.  Forrnul.  1.  ii.  28,  in  torn.  iv.  p.  497.  The  Formula  of  Lin- 
denbrogius,  (p.  559,)  and  that  of  Anjou,  (p.  565,)  are  to  the  same 
etfect.  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  vii.  c.  45,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  311)  speaks  ojt 
many  persona  who  sold  themselves  for  bread,  in  a  great  famine. 


*  Compare  Hallain,  vol.  i.  p.  216.  —  M. 


604  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

of  slaves  and  plebeians,  to  whom  they  imputed  the  imaginan 
disgrace  of  Gallic  r.r  Roman  extraction. 

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  preem- 
inence 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 
.id  loyalty  of  Auvergne,  the  fall  of  the  Western  empire  might 
nave  been  prevented  or  delayed.  They  firmly  maintained  the 
fidelity  which  they  had  reluctantly  sworn  to  the  Visigoths; 
but  when  their  bravest  nobles  had  fallen  in  the  battle  of  Poi- 
tiers, they  accepted,  without  resistance,  a  victorious  and  Cath- 
olic 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  fail 

100  When  Caesar  saw  it,  he  laughed,  (Plutarch,  in  Caesar,  in  torn.  L 
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,  1.  xu 
c  44—53,  in  torn.  i.  p.  270—272.) 

101  Audebant  se  quondam  fratres  Latio  dicere,  et  sanguine  ab  lliaco 

rpulos  computare,  (Sidon.  Apollinar.  1.  vii.  epist.  7,  in  torn.  i.  p.  799.) 
am  not  informed  of  the  degrees  and  circumstances  of  this  fabulous 
pedigree. 

lus  Either  the  first,  or  second,  partition  among  the  sons  of  Clovis, 
had  given  Berry  to  Childebert,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  iii.  c.  12,  in  torn.  ii. 
p.  192.)  Velini  (said  he)  Arvernam  Lemanem,  qua?  tanta  jocundi- 
tatis  gratia  refulgere  dicitur,  oculis  cernere,  (1.  iii.  c.  9,  p.  191.)  The 
face  of  the  country  was  concealed  by  a  thick  fog,  whep  th«  king  of 
Paris  made  his  entry  into  Clermont. 


/ 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMP1.1E.  60b 

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 
faise  report,  that  their  lawful  sovereign  had  been  slain  in  Ger- 
many, the  city  and  diocese  of  Auvergne  were  betrayed  by  the 
grandson  of  Sidonius  Apollinaris.  Childebert  enjoyed  this 
clandestine  victoiy  ;  and  the  free  subjects  of  Theodoric  threat- 
ened to  desert  his  standard,  if  he  indulged  his  private  resent- 
ment, 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  allegi- 
ance 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  for- 
tifications. 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 

103  For  the  description  of  Auvergne,  see  Sidonius,  (1.  iv.  epist.  21, 
in  torn.  i.  p.  793,)  with  the  notes  of  Savaron  and  Sirmond,  (p.  279, 
and  51,  of  their  respective  editions.)  Boulainvilliers,  (Etat  de  la 
France,  torn.  ii.  p.  242—268,)  and  the  Abbe  de  la  Longuerue,  (Descrip- 
tion de  la  France,  part  i.  p.  132 — 139.) 

lv*  Furorem  gentium,  qure  de  ulteriore  Rheni  amnis  parte  venerant, 
superare  non  poterat,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  iv.  c.  50,  in  torn.  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. 

104  From  the  name  and  situation,  the  Renedietine  editors  of  Greg- 
ory of  Tours  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  192)  have  fixed  this  fortress  at  a  place 
named  Castel  Mediae,  two  miles  from  Mauriac,  in  the  Upper  Auvergne. 
In  this  d  ascription,  I  translate  infra  as  if  I  read  intra ;  the  two  prep  • 
ositions  ar^  perpetually  confounded  by  Gregory,  or  his  transcribers ; 
and  the  sense  must  always  decide. 


606  THE   DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  jis  far  as  Brivaa 
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  pro- 
fane spoils,  were  rudely  torn  from  the  altar  ;  and  the  sacri- 
legious 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  ven- 
geance 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 

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  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  servitude  ;  and  one  of  tliem,  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. 1M 

106  See  these  revolutions,  and  wars,  of  Auvergne,  in  Gregory  of 
Tours,  (I.  ii.  c.  37,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  183,  and  1.  iii.  c.  9,  12,  13,  p.  191,  192, 
de  Miraculis  St.  Julian,  c.  13,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  466.)  He  frequently  be- 
trays his  extraordinary  attention  to  his  native  country. 

107  The  story  of  Attalus  is  related  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  (I.  iii.  c.  16, 
in  torn.  ii.  p.  193 — 195.)  His  editor,  the  P.  Ruinart,  confounds  this 
Attalus,  who  was  a  youth  (puer)  in  tlie  year  632,  with  a  friend  of  Si- 
donius  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  This  Gregory,   the  great  grandfather  of  Gregory  of  Tuurs,  (in 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMHRE.  607 

An  unknown  agent  easily  introduced  him  into  tlie  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  quan- 
tity 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  house- 
hold. 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  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  bed- 
chamber;  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 


torn.  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 
tations. 

No'nilis  nntiqua  decurrens  prole  parentum, 
Nobilior  gestis,  nunc  super  astra  manet. 
Arbiter  ante  ferox,  dein  pins  ipse  sacerdos, 
Quo?  domnit  judex,  t'ovit  amore  patris. 

1<M  As  M.  de  Valois,  and  the  P.  Ruinart,  are  determined  to  change 
the  Moaella  of  the  text  into  Mosa,  it  becomes  me  to  acquiesce  in  the 
alteration.  Yet,  after  some  examination  of  the  topography,  I  could 
dtfend  the  conuton  reading. 


608  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

with  his  sword,  and  would  expose  the  other  on  a  gibbet.  At 
length,  Attalus  and  his  faithful  Leo  reached  the  friendly  habi« 
tation  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  servi- 
tude, 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  circum- 
stances 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  sen- 
ator, and  a  bishop.  The  difference  of  their  style  and  senti- 
ments 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 

We  are  now  qualified  to  despise  the  opposite,  and,  perhaps, 
artful,  misrepresentations,  which  have  softened,  or  exagger- 
ated, 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  de- 
generate 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  in- 
sulted their  possessions,  their  freedom,  and  their  safety. 
Their  personal  injuries  were   partial   and   irregular  ;  but  the 

1,0  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 
693  or  595,  soon  after  he  had  terminated  his  history.  See  his  Life  by 
Odo,  abbot  of  Clugny,  (in  torn.  ii.  p.  129 — 135,)  and  a  new  Life  in  the 
Memoires  de  1' Academic,  &c,  torn.  xxvi.  p.  598 — 637. 

111  Decedente  atque  immo  potius  percunte  ab  urbibus  Gallicanis 
liberalium  cultura  literarum,  &c,  (in  praefat.  in  torn.  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  countr}' ;  and 
in  a  prolix  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  unJaxra*.. 

j^bJQ  SAnt.pnf.tt. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  609 

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  ex- 
pensive system  of  Imperial  despotism.  The  Provincials 
must  frequently  deplore  the  savage  jurisprudence  of  the 
Salic  or  Ripuarian  laws ;  but  their  private  life,  in  the  impor- 
tant concerns  of  marriage,  testaments,  or  inheritance,  waa 
still  regulated  by  the  Theodosian  Code  ;  and  a  discontented 
Roman  might  freely  aspire,  or  descend,  to  the  title  and  char- 
acter of  a  Barbarian.  The  honors  of  the  state  were  accessi* 
ble  to  his  ambition  :  the  education  and  temper  of  the  Romans 
more  peculiarly  qualified  them  for  the  offices  of  civil  gov- 
ernment ;  and,  as  soon  as  emulation  had  rekindled  their  mili- 
tary 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  tal- 
ents 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 

113  The  Abbe  de  Mably  (torn.  i.  p.  247—267)  has  diligently 
confirmed  this  opinion  of  the  President  de  Montesquieu,  (Esprit  de8 
Loix,  1.  30,  c.  13.) 

113  See  Dubos,  Hist.  Critique  de  la  Monarchie  Franchise,  torn.  ii.  1. 
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  read- 
ing Gregory  of  Tours,  I  have  observed  Gondulphus,  of  Senatorian, 
or  Roman,  extraction,  (1.  vi.  c.  11,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  273  ;)  and  Claudius,  a 
Barbarian,  (1.  vii.  c.  29,  p.  303.) 

114  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  Mummo. 

us  must  have  exceeded  100,000^.  sterling. 
145  See  Fleuiy,  Discerns  iii.  sur  l'Histoire  Ecclesiastique. 

80 


610  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

almost  entirely  of  native  provincials  ;  the  haughty  Franks 
fell  prostrate  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  juris- 
prudence had  liberally  provided  for  their  personal  safety  ;  a 
gub-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 
tne  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. 

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  Csesars :  the  adjacent 
field,  where  the  emperors  reviewed  their  mercenary  legions, 
would  have  admitted  the  legislative  assembly  of  freemen  and 

i16  The  bishop  of  Tours  himself  has  recorded  the  complaint  of 
Chilperic,  the  grandson  of  Clovis.  Ecce  pauper  remansit  Fiscus  nos- 
ter;  ecce  divitiae  nostras  ad  ecclesias  sunt  translate;  nulli  pemtus  nisi 
soli  Episcopi  regnant,  (1.  vi.  c.  46,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  291.) 

JM  See  the  Ripuarian  Code,  (tit.  xxxvi.  in  torn.  iv.  p.  241.)  Tho 
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  Praetexta 
tus,  archbishop  of  Rouen,  was  assassinated  by  the  order  of  Queen  Fred 
egundis  before  the  altar,  (Greg.  Turon.  1.  viii.  c.  31,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  326.) 

"8  M.  Bonamy  (Mem.  de  ['Academic  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xxiv. 
p.  582—670)  has  ascertained  the  Lingua  Romano.  Rustica,  which, 
through  the  medium  of  the  Romance,  has  gradually  been  polished  \nto 
the  actual  form  of  the  French  language.  Under  the  Carloving'an  race, 
the  kings  and  nobles  of  France  still  understood  the  diahct  of  tLeif 
German  ancestors. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  611 

and  the  rude  mode',  which  had  heen  sketched  in 
the  woods  of  Germany,119  might  have  been  polished  and  im- 
proved 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  sep- 
arated, and  almost  dissolved,  by  the  conquest  of  Gaui.129 
The  monarchy  was  left  without  any  regular  establishment  of 
justice,  of  arms,  or  of  revenue.  The  successors  of  Clovia 
wanted  resolution  to  assume,  or  strength  to  exercise,  the 
legislative  and  executive  ■  powers,  which  the  people  had  abdi- 
cated :  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  con- 
sumed 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  Jegal 
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,  hi* 
duke,  or  his  count.  Each  man  loves  to  do  evil,  and  freely 
indulges  his  criminal  inclinations.  The  most  gentle  correc- 
tion provokes  an  immediate  tumult,  and  the  rash  magistrate, 
who  presumes  to  censure  or  restrain  his  seditious  subjects, 


n*  Ce  beau  systeme  a  ete  trouve  dans  lis  bois.  Montesquieu, 
Esprit  des  Loix,  1.  xi.  c.  6. 

>*•  See  the  Abb6  de  Mably.  Observations,  fee,  torn.  i.  p.  34—51. 
It  should  seem  that  the  institution  of  national  assemblies,  which  ar<» 
eofival  with  the  French  nation,  hhs  never  been  congenial  to  its  temper, 


612  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

seldom  escapes  alive  from  their  revenge." m  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  allevi- 
ates and  dignifies  their  obedience  to  an  absolute  sovereign.* 

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  in- 
volved 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  'he  rest  of  mankind  by  the 
lofty  ridge  of  the  Pyrena;an  mountains  :  their  manners  ano 
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  ecclesias- 
tical events,  the  fall  of  Arianism,  and  the  persecution  of  the 
Jews  ;  and  it  only  remains  to  observe  some  interesting  cir- 
cumstances which  relate  to  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution of  the  Spanish  kingdom. 

After  their  conversion  from  idolatry  or  heresy,  the  Franks 
and  the  Visigoths  were  disposed  to  embrace,  with  equal  sub- 
mission, the  inherent  evils,  and  the  accidental  benefits,  of 
superstition.  But  the  prelates  of  France,  long  before  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  Merovingian  race,  had  degenerated  into  fight- 
ing 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 

1,1  Gregory  of  Tours  (1.  viii.  c.  30,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  325,  326)  relates, 
with  much  indifference,  the  crimes,  the  reproof,  and  the  apology 
Nullus  Itegem  metuit,  nullus  Ducem,  nullus  Comitem  reveretur ;  st 
si  fortassis  alicui  ista  displicent,  et  ea,  pro  longaavitate  vitae  vestrat. 
emendare  conatur,  statim  seditio  in  populo,  statim  tumultus  exoritur, 
et  in  tantum  unusquisque  contra  seniorem  seeva  intentione  grassatur, 
ut  vix  se  credat  evadere,  si  tandem  silere  nequiverit. 

122  Spain,  in  these  dark  ages,  has  been  peculiarly  unfortunate.  The 
/ranks  had  a  Gregory  of  Tours  ;  the  Saxons,  or  Angles,  a  Bede  ;  the 
Lombards,  a  Faul  Warnefrid,  &c.  But  the  history  of  the  Visigoths  in 
contained  in  the  short  and  imperfect  Chronicles  of  Isidore  of  Seville, 
ind  John  of  Biclar. 


This  remarkable  passage  was  published  in  1779.    -  M. 


OP   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  618 

tlio   general    interest   of  the    sacerdotal    profession. 128      Thw 
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  prede- 
cessor 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  questions  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  the  profane 
laity  was  excluded   from  their  debates ;  which  were  conduct- 
ed, 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  gov- 
ernment   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 
6till  limited   to  the  pure  and  noble  blood  of  the  Goths.     The 
clergy,   who     anointed     their    lawful   prince,   always    recom- 


123  Such  are  the  complaints  of  St.  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany, 
and  the  reformer  of  Gaul,  (in  torn.  iv.  p.  94.)  The  fourscore  years, 
which  he  deplores,  of  license  and  corruption,  would  seem  to  i  lsinu- 
*te  ihat  the  Barbarians  were  admitted  into  the  clergy  aboit  th« 
vear  660. 


614  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

mended,  and  sometime*  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  w'dow.  But  the  monarch  himself,  when  he  as- 
cended the  throne,  was  bound  by  a  reciprocal  oath  to  GoJ 
and  his  people,  that  he  would  faithfully  execute  his  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,  tor- 
tured, nor  punished  with  death,  exile,  or  confiscation,  unless 
by  the  free  and  public  judgment  of  their  peers.124 

One  of  these  legislative  councils  of  Toledo  examined  am1 
ratified  the  code  of  laws  which  had  been  compiled  by  a  suc- 
cession of  Gothic  kings,  from  the  fierce  Euric,  to  the  Hevout 
Egica.  As  long  as  the  Visigoths  themselves  were  satisfied 
with  the  rude  customs  of  their  ancestors,  they  indulged  fiVir 
subjects  of  Aquitain  and  Spain  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  Ro- 
man law.  Their  gradual  improvement  in  arts,  in  policy,  and 
at  length  in  religion,  encouraged  them  to  imitate,  and  to  su 
persede,  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  re- 
ligion. 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  Ro- 

lu  The  acts  of  the  councils  of  Toledo  are  still  the  most  authentic 
tecords  of  the  church  and  constitution  of  Spain.  The  following  paa- 
•ages  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 
xxxih.)  ind  Ferreras  (Hist.  (J^nerale  de  l'Espagne,  torn,  ii.j  very  use- 
ful and  accurate  guides. 


OP    THE    ROMAN    EMIGRE.  615 

mun  citizens.  The  allegiance  of  doubtful  sjbjrcts  is  indeed 
most  effectually  secured  by  their  own  persuasion,  that  the)* 
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  de- 
serves the  praise  of  wisdom  and  moderation.1-5 

While  the  kingdoms  of  the  Franks  and  Visigoths  were 
established  in  Gaul  and  Spain,  the  Saxons  achieved  the  con- 
quest of  Britain,  the  third  great  diocese  of  the  Prefecture  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  extin- 
guished, 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,'26  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  tran- 
scribe.127    Yet  the  historian  of  the  empire  may  be  tempted 

125  The  Code  of  the  Visigoths,  regularly  divided  into  twelve  books, 
has  been  correctly  published  by  Dom  Bouquet,  (in  torn.  iv.  p.  273 — 
460.)  It  has  been  treated  by  the  President  de  Montesquieu  (Esprit 
des  Loix,  1.  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. 

126  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  Walucte,  by  Wotton  and  Clarke,  Lon- 
don, 1730,  in  folio. 

1,7  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  Englard.* 


•  Add  the  Anglo-Saxon  History  of  Mr  S.  Turner;  and  Sir  F.  Palgrave's 
Sketch  of  the  "  Early  History  of  England."  —  M. 


616  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

*o  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  hia 
name,  his  laws,  and  perhaps  his  origin. 

About  forty  years  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  gov 
ernment,  Vortigern  appears  to  have  obtained  the  supreme, 
though  precarious,  command  of  the  princes  and  cities  of 
Britain.  That  unfortunate  monarch  has  been  almost  unani- 
mously condemned  for  the  weak  and  mischievous  policy  of 
inviting  12S  a  formidable  stranger,  to  repel  the  vexatious  in- 
roads of  a  domestic  foe.  His  ambassadors  are  despatched, 
by  the  gravest  historians,  to  the  coast  of  Germany  :  they  ad- 
dress 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  destruc- 
tion. 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.  Hcngist  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  plenti- 
ful allowance  of  clothin'g  and  provisions.  This  favorable 
*cception  encouraged  five  thousand  warriors  to  embark  with 


XK  Thi3  invitation,  which  may  derive  some  countenance  from  the 
loose  expressions  of  Gidas  and  Bede,  is  framed  into  a  regular  story 
by  Witikind,  a  Saxon  monk  of  the  tenth  century,  (see  Cousin,  Hist, 
de  l'Kmpire  d'Occiclent,  torn.  ii.  p.  356.)  Rapin,  and  even  Ilume, 
have  too  freely  used  this  suspicious  evidence,  without  regarding  tba 
precise  and  probable  testimony  of  Nennius  :  Iterea  venerunt  tre« 
Cui'-ikc  a  Germania  in  exilio  pulsce,  in  quibus  erant  Hors  et  llengist- 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  617 

.heir  families  in  seventeen  vessels,  and  the  infant  power  of 
Hengist  was  fortified  by  this  strong  and  seasonable  reinforce- 
ment. The  crafty  Barbarian  suggested  to  Vortigcrn  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  extrem- 
ity 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  dur- 
ing the  security  of  a  feast,  they  destroyed  the  reciprocal  con- 
fidence which  sustains  the  intercourse  of  peace  and  war.129 

Hengist,  who  boldly  aspired  to  the  conquest  of  Britain,  ex- 
horted 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.  T.ie  successive  colonies 
which  issued,  in  the  period  of  a  century,  from  the  mouths  of 
the  Elbe,  the  Weser,  and  the  Rhine,  were  principally  com- 
posed 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 
heading  their  countrymen  in  the  paths  of  glory,  and  of  erect- 
, * 

129  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,  1.  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 
Dy  the  order  of  Ambrosius,  and  the  art  of  Merlin.* 


*  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  Pi.em,  called  Samor, 
commenced  at  Eton,  and  finished  before  he  had  arrived  at  the  mature* 
taste  of  manhoi  d.  — M. 

80* 


*fl8  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Vng  in  Kent,  the  first  independent  kingdom.  The  fame  of 
the  enterprise  was  attributed  to  the  primitive  Saxons ;  and  tha 
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 
und  their  success  ;  and  they  claimed  the  honor  of  fixing  a 
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  Rngians,  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  fol- 
lowers ;  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  6  >c- 
tates  of  his  private  interest.  In  the  invasion  of  Britain  ma  iy 
heroes  vanquished  and  fell ;  but  only  seven  victorious  lead  ;ra 
assumed,  or  at  least  maintained,  the  title  of  kings.  Se\en 
independent  thrones,  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,*  were  founded 
by  the  conquerors,  and  seven  families,  one  of  which  has  b(.en 
continued,  by  female  succession,  to  our  present  sovereign, 
derived  their  equal  and  sacred  lineage  from  Woden,  the  %o<* 
of  war.  It  has  been  pretended,  that  this  republic  of  kings 
was  moderated  by  a  general  council  and  a  supreme  magis- 
trate.    But  such  an  artificial  scheme  of  policy  is  repugnant  to 

130  All  these  tribes  are  expressly  enumerated  by  Bede,  (1.  i.  c.  15, 
p.  52, 1.  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. 

*  This  term  (the  Heptarchy)  must  be  rejected  because  An  idea  is  con- 
»eyed  thereby  which  is  substantially  wrong.  At  no  one  period  were  tl  er« 
ev°r  seven  kingdoms  independent  of  each  other.  Pijlgrave,  vol.  i.  p  46. 
\Lt.  Sharon  Turner  has  the  merit  of  having  first  confuted  the  poy  J-» 
notion  on  this  subject.     Anglo-Sax  m  History,  vol.  i.  p.  302  --M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  619 

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 

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  133  describes  in  florid  !an 
guage  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  peo- 
ple, according  to  the  same  writer,  ignorant  of  the  most  simple 
arts,  and  incapable,  without  the  aid  of  the  Romans,  of  provid- 
ing 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  uncer- 
tain 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. 

131  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  im- 
posed a  tribute  on  the  Scots  and  Picts.  (Hist.  Eccles.  1.  ii.  c.  5,  p.  83.) 

,M  See  Gildas  de  Excidio  Britannia;,  c.  i.  p.  1.  edit.  Gale. 

133  Mr.  Whitaker  (Hist,  of  Manchester,  vol.  ii.  p.  503,  516)  has 
■martly  exposed  this  glaring  absurdity,  which  had  passed  unnoticed 
by  the  general  historians,  as  they  were  hastening  to  more  interesting 
tiid  important  events.. 


620  THE    DECLINTs    AND    FALJ, 

While  the  continent  of  Europe  and  Africa  yielded,  without 
'esistance,  to  the  Barbarians,  iiie  British  island,  alone  ?nd 
unaided,  maintained  a  long,  a  vigorous,  tnough  an  unsuccess- 
ful, 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  s-trongly  attested  by 
the  discreet  silence  of  their  annalist.  Hmgist  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  van- 
quisned  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 
short  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. 

After  a  war  of  a  hundred   years,  the  independent   Britona 

124  At  Bcran-birig,  or  Barbury-castle,  near  Marlborough.  The 
Saxon  chronicle  assii^ns  the  name  and  date.  Camden  (Britannia,  vol. 
\  p.  128)  ascertains  the  place  ;  and  Henry  of  Huntingdon  (Scriptores 
post  Bedam,  p.  314)  relates  the  circumstances  of  this  battle.  They  are 
^A'obable  and  rhanetoristic  ;  and  the  historians  of  the  twelfth  century 
might  '.\msuJ    some  materials  that  no  longer  exist. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  62 1 

still  occupied  the  whole  extent  of  the  Western  coast,  from  the 
waL  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  continuaLy 
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  tho 
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  fugitivea 
acquired  a  settlement  in  Gaul,  by  their  own  valor,  or  the  lib- 
erality 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  thei" 
counts  and  bishops,  preserved  the  laws  and  language  of  their 
ancestors.  To  the  feeble  descendants  of  Clovis  and  Charle- 
magne, the  Britons  of  Armorica  refused  the  customary  tribute, 
subdued  the  neighboring  diocesses  of  Vannes,  Rennes,  and 
Nantes,  and  formed  a  powerful,  though  vassal,  state,  which 
has  been  united  to  the  crown  of  France.137 


135  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,  1.  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  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  Riotharnus,  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 
onJy  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  Ca^te,  whose  venial  errors  he  has  so  rigorously 
chastised. 

137  The  antiquities  of  Bretagne,  wl>"ch  have  been  the  subject  even  of 


622  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

In  a  century  )f  perpetual,  or  at  least  implacable,  war,  much 
courage,  and  some  skill,  must  have  been  exerted  for  the  de- 
fence 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  abourtf « 
with  acts  of  blood  and  military  renown.  The  tomb  of  Vor- 
timer,  the  son  of  Vortigern,  was  erected  on  the  margin  of  the 
sea-shore,  as  a  landmark  formidable  to  the  Saxons,  whom  he 
and  thrice  vanquished  in  the  fields  of  Kent.  Ambrosius  Au- 
relian  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 


political  controversy,  are  illustrated  by  Hadrian  Valesius,  (Notitia 
Gailiarum,  sub  voce  Britannia  Cismarina,  p.  98 — 100.)  M.  D'Anville, 
(Notice  de  l'Ancienne  Gaule,  Corisopiti,  Curiosolites,  Osismii,  Vorga- 
nium,  p.  248,  258,  508,  720,  and  Etats  de  l'Europe,  p.  76 — 80,)  Lon- 
guerue,  (Description  de  la  France,  torn.  i.  p.  84 — 94,)  and  the  Abbe 
de  Vertot,  (Hist.  Critique  de  l'Etablissement  des  Bretons  dans  les 
Gaules,  2  vols,  in  12mo.,  Paris,  1720.)  I  may  assume  the  merit  of 
examining  the  original  evidence  which  they  have  produced.* 

138  Bode,  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,"  (1.  i.  c.  16,  p.  53.)  The  ex- 
pression of  Nennius  (c.  44,  p.  110,  edit.  Gale)  is  still  more  singular, 
"  Unus  de  consulibus  gentis  Romanics  est  pater  meus." 

lJ9  By  the  unanimous,  though  doubtful,  conjecture  of  our  antiqua- 
rians, Ambrosius  is  confounded  with  Natanleod,  who  (A.  D.  508)  lost 
his  own  life,  and  five  thousand  of  his  subjects,  in  a  battle  against  Cer- 
dic,  the  West  Saxon,  (Chron.  Saxon,  p.  17,  18.) 

uu  As  I  am  a  stranger  to  the  Welsh  bards,  Myrdhin,  Llomarch.f 
and  Taliessin,  my  faith  in  the  existence  and  exploits  of  Arthur  princi- 
pally rests  on  the  simple  and  circumstantial  testimony  of  Nennius, 
(Hist.  Brit.  c.  62,  63,  p.  114.)     Mr.  Whitaker  (Hist,  of  Manchester  f 


*  Compare  Gallet,  Memoires  sur  la  Bretagne,  and  Daru,  Histoire  de 
Bretagne.  These  authors  appear  to  me  to  establish  the  point  of  the  inde- 
pendence 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 
joldiers,  (Milites  limitanei,  la-ti,)  during  the  usurpation  of  Maximus,  (381, 
388,)  who  gave  their  name  and  peculiar  civilization  to  Bretagne.  M.  Lap- 
cnberg  expresses  his  surprise  that  Gibbon  here  rejects  the  authority  which 
e  follows  elsewhere.  —  M. 

f  1  presume  that  Gibbon  means  Llywarch  Hen,  or  the  Aged. — The 
Elegies  of  this  Welsh  prince  and  bard  have  been  published  by  Mr.  Owen: 
in  whose  works  and  in  the  Myvyriau  Archeology,  slumbers  much  curioua 


E 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMI  IRE  623 

the  hereditary  prince  of  the  Silurcs,  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  ingrati- 
tude and  domestic  misfortunes.  The  events  of  his  life  arp 
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  ob- 
scure bards  of  Wales  and  Armorica,  who  were  odious  to  thr 
.Saxons,  and  unknown  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  pride  «'ind 
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  fash- 
ionable idiom  of  the  times,  was  enriched  with  the  various, 
though  incoherent,  ornaments  which  were  familiar  to  the  ex- 
perience, the  learning,  or  the  fancy,  of  the  twelfth  centuiy. 
The  progress  of  a  Phrygian  colony,  from  the  Tyber  to  the 
Thames,  was  easily  ingrafted  on  the  fable  of  the  jEneid ; 
and  the  royal  ancestors  of  Arthur  derived  their  origin  from 
Troy,  and  claimed  their  alliance  with  the  Caesars.  His  tro- 
phies 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  institu- 
tion of  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  were  faithfully  copied 
from  the  reigning  manners  of  chivalry  ;  and  the  fabulous  ex- 
ploits of  Uther's  son  appear  less  incredible  than  the  adven- 
tures 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, 


vol.  ii.  p.  31-  71)  has  framed  an  interesting,  and  even  probable,  nai- 
rative  of  the  wars  of  Arthur:  though  it  is  impossible  to  allow  tin 
reality  of  the  round  table. 


information  on  the  subject  of  Welsh  tradition  and  poetry.  But  the  Welsh 
antiquarians  have  never  obtained  a  hearing  from  the  public ;  they  hart 
bad  no  Maopherson  to  compensate  for  his  corruption  of  their  poetic  legends, 
bv  forcing  them  into  popularity.  —  See  also  Mr.  Sharon  Turner's  Essay  oa 
the  WeUh  Bards.  — M. 


624  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

and  giants,  flying  dragons,  and  enchanted  palaces,  wet* 
biended  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 : 
dieir  names  were  celebrated  in  Greece  and  Italy  ;  and  the 
voluminous  tales  of  Sir  Lancelot  and  Sir  Tristram  were  de- 
voutly 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  nat- 
ural, though  unjust,  reverse  of  the  public  opinion,  the  severity 
of  the  present  age  is  inclined  to  question  the  existence  of  Ar- 
thur."! 

Resistance,  if  it  cannot  avert,  must  increase  the  miseries 
of  conquest ;  and  conquest  has  never  appeared  more  dread- 
ful and  destructive  than  in  the  hands  of  the  Saxons  ;  who 
hated  the  valor  of  their  enemies,  disdained  the  faith  of  trea- 
ties, 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  frag- 
ments of  falling  towers  were  stained  with  blood  ;  the  last  of 
the  Britons,  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex,  was  massa- 
cred,142 in  the  ruins  of  Anderida  ; 143  and  the  repetition  of 
such  calamities  was  frequent  and  familiar  under  the  Saxon 


141  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.* 

142  Hoc  anno  (490)  JElla  et  Cissa  obsederunt  Andredes-Ceaster  ;  et 
interfecerunt  omnes  qui  id  incoluerunt ;  adeo  ut  ne  unus  Brito  ibi 
Buperstes  fuerit,  (Chron.  Saxon,  p.  15 ;)  an  expression  more  dreadful 
in  its  simplicity,  than  all  the  vague  and  tedious  lamentations  of  the 
British  Jeremiah. 

143  Ajidredes-Ceaster,  or  Anderida,  is  placed  by  Camden  (Britannia, 
toI.  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 
feres*  'Anderida)  which  overspread  so  large  a  portion  of  Hampshire 
and  Sussex. 


*  These  valuable  dissertations  should  not  now  be  read  without  the  note* 
nr.d  preliminary  essay  of  the  late  editor,  Mr.  Price,  which,  in  point  of  taste 
aid  fulness  of  information,  are  worthy  of  accompanying  and  completing 
tnose  of  Warton.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  6*25 

heptarchy.  The  arts  and  religion,  the  laws  and  language, 
which  the  Romans  had  so  carefully  planted  in  Britain,  wt;re 
extirpated  by  their  barbarous  successors.  Yfter  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  principal  churches,  the  bishoos,  who  had  declined 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  retired  with  the  holy  relics  inio 
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  tho 
idolatrous  strangers.  The  kings  of  France  maintained  the 
privileges  of  their  Roman  subjects  ;  but  the  ferocious  Saxor.i 
trampled  on  the  laws  of  Rome,  and  of  the  emperors.  The 
proceedings  of  civii  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  t  as  governed  by  the  traditionary  customs, 
which  had  been  coarsely  framed  for  the  shepherds  and  pirates 
of  Germany.  The  language  of  science,  of  business,  ami  of 
conversation,  which  had  been  introduced  by  the  Romans,  wag 
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  Pagan 
preserved  and  established  the  use  of  their  national  dialect.145 
Almost  every  name,  conspicuous  either  in  the  church  or  state, 
reveals  its  Teutonic  origin  ; 14ti  and  the  geography  of  England 
was  universally  inscribed  with  foreign  characters  and  appel- 
lations.    The  example  of  a  revolution,  so  rapid  and  so  com* 

144  Dr.  Johnson  affirms,  that  few  English  words  are  of  British  ex- 
traction. Mr.  Whi taker,  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.* 

145  In  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  the  Franks  and  the  An- 
plo-Saxons  mutually  understood  each  other's  language,  wh'-,h  waa 
derived  from  the  same  Teutonic  root,  (Bede,  1.  i.  c.  25,  p.  60.) 

^  us  After  the  first  generation  of  Italian,  or  Scottish,  missionaries,  the* 
dignities  of  the  church  were  filled  with  Saxon  proselytes. 


•  Dr  Prichnrd's  very  curious  researches,  which  connect  the  Celtic,  as 
well  as  the  Teutonic,  languages  with  the  Indo-European  class,  make  it 
•till  more  difficult  to  decide  b  'tween  the  Celtic  or  Teutonic  origin  of  Eng- 
lish words. —  See  Prichard  oa  the  Eastern  Origin  of  the  Celtic  Nati.ma, 
Oiford,  1831.  —  M. 


626  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

rlete,  may  not  easily  be  found  ;  but  it  will  excite  a  piobable 
suspicion,  that  the  arts  of  Rome  were  less  deeply  looted  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. 

This  strange  alteration  has  persuaded  historians,  and  even 
philosophers,  that  the  provincials  of  Britain  were  totally  ex- 
terminated ;  and  that  the  vacant  land  was  again  peopled  by 
the  perpetual  influx,  and  rapid  increase,  of  the  German  colo- 
nies. Three  hundred  thousand  Saxons  are  said  to  have 
obeyed  the  summons  of  Hengist ; 147  the  entire  emigration  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 
/he  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 


147  Carte's  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  195.  He  quotes  the  British 
historians  ;  but  I  much  fear,  that  Jeffrey  of  Monmouth  (1.  vi.  c.  15)  i& 
his  only  witness. 

UH  Bede,  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  1.  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  tnd 
Warini  of  Germany,  (Lindenbrog.  Codex,  p.  479 — 486.) 

u9  See  Dr.  Henry's  useful  and  laborious  History  of  Great  Britain, 
vol.  ii.  p.  388. 

180  Quicquid  (says  John  of  Tinemouth)  inter  Tynam  et  Tesam  flu- 
vios  extitit,  sola  eremi  vastitudo  tunc  temporis  fuit,  et  iclcireo  nullius 
ditioni  servivit,  eo  quod  sola  indomitorum  ct  sylvestrium  aninialium 
•pelunea  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  Oxf'oro',  Lambeth,  &c. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  62*7 

necured  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  hecoines  the  property  of  its  new  masters  5 
and  the  salutary  compact  of  food  and  labor  is  silently  ratified 
by  their  mutual  necessities.  Wilfrid,  the  apostle  of  Sus- 
sex,151 accepted  from  his  royal  convert  the  gift  of  the  penin- 
sula 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  bond- 
age ;  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 ; 15~  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  miti- 
gated the  fierce  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  laws  encour- 
aged 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 


""  See  the  mission  of  Wilfrid,  &c,  in  Bede,  Hist.  Eccles.  1.  iv.  c.  13. 
16,  p.  loo,  156,  159. 

16*  From  the  concmrent  testimony  of  Bede  (1.  ii.  c.  1,  p.  78)  and 
William  of  Malmsbury,  (1.  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. 

143  According  to  the  laws  of  Ina,  they  could  not  be  lawfully  sold 
oeyond  the  seas. 

564  The  life  of  a  Watt-us,  or  Cambricus,  homo,  who  possessed  a  hyds 
of  land,  is  fixed  at  120  shilling?,  by  the  same  laws  (of  Ina,  tit.  xxxii. 
in  Leg.  Anglo-Saxon,  p.  20)  which  allowed  200  shillings  for  a  free 
Saxon,  1200  lor  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  Chris' ians.  Tha 
'aws  of  the  four  kings  of  Kent  do  not  condescend  to  notice  the  exist- 
snee  of  any  subject  Britons. 


628  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

Becure  the  allegiance  of  a  fierce  people,  who  had  been  recently 
Bubdued  on  the  confines  of  Wales  and  Cornwall.  The  sage 
Iua,  the  legislator  of  Wessex,  united  the  two  nations  in  the 
bands  of  domestic  alliance  ;  and  four  British  lords  of  Somer- 
setshire may  be  honorably  distinguished  in  the  court  of  a 
Saxon  monarch.155 

The  independent  Britons  appear  to  have  relapsed  into  the 
state  of  original  barbarism,  from  whence  they  had  been  im- 
perfectly 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  schisma- 
tics, in  the  form  of  the  clerical  tonsure,  and  in  the  day  of  the 
celebration  of  Easter,  obstinately  resisted  the  imperious  man- 
dates of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  The  use  of  the  Latin  language 
was  insensibly  abolished,  and  the  Britons  were  deprived  of  tho 
ails  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  Eliza- 
beth. 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  c'aimed  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  ex- 
hausted 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 


155  See  Carte's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  278. 

158  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,  (1.  v.  c.  23,  p.  219.) 

147  Mr.  Pennant's  Tour  in  Wales  (p.  426—449)  has  famished  me 
with  a  curious  and  interesting  account  of  the  Welsh  bards.  In  th« 
year  1568,  a  session  was  held  at  Caerwys  by  the  special  command  of 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMTIRB..  629 

and  Britain,  were,  less  adapted  to  agriculture  than  to  pastur- 
age :  the  wealth  of  the  Britons  consisted  in  their  flocks  and 
herds;  milk  and  flesh  weie  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 ;  bui  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  domes- 
tic war.  The  cavalry  of  Armorica,  the  spearmen  of  ( Iwent, 
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 

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  dis- 
pelled 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  yeara 

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. 

i5»  i{e£i0  longe  lateque  diffusa,  milite,  magis  quam  credibile  sit,  re- 
ferta.  Farttbus  equidem  in  illis  miles  unus  quiuquaginta  generat, 
eortitus  more  barbaro  denas  aut  amplius  uxores.  This  reproach  of 
William  of  Poitiers  (in  the  Historians  of  France,  torn.  xi.  p.  88)  is  dis- 
claimed by  the  BeneOictine  editors. 

J69  Giraldus  Cambrensis  confines  this  gift  of  bold  and  ready  elo- 
quence 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. 

100  The  picture  of  Welsh  and  Armorican  manners  is  drawn  from 
Giraldus,  (l)e-*cript.  Cambrias,  c.  6—15,  inter  Script.  Camden,  p.  886— 
691,)  and  the  authors  quoted  by  the  Abbe'  de  Vertot,  (Hist.  Critique, 
torn.  ii.  p.  259 — 266.) 


630  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

after  the  reign  of  Honorius,  the  gravest  historian  of  ilie 
times  ,61  describes  the  wonders  of  a  remote  isle,  whose  east 
ern  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 
oeople  :  the  air  is  healthy,  the  waters  are  Dure  and  plentiful 
and  the  earth  yields  her  regular  and  fruitful  increase.  In  tho 
west,  beyond  the  wall,  the  air  is  infectious  and  mortal  ;  the 
ground  is  covered  with  serpents;  and  this  dreary  solitude  ii 
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  Briltia  ; 
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 
I'rucopius  might  be  informed  of  a  singular,  though  not  im- 
probable, 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,  Ut  prefer  his  father's  widow, 
the  sister  of  Theodebert,  king  of  the   Franks.162     The   for- 


161  See  Procopius  de  Bell.  Gothic.  1.  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  liritia 
and  Britain,  which  he  has  identified  by  so  many  inseparable  circum- 
stances. 

162  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  extremo 
terms  of  his  reign.  His  sister  Theude'childis  retired  to  Sens,  where 
she  founded  monasteries,  and  distributed  alms,  (see  the  notes  of  the 
Benedictine  editors,  in  torn.  ii.  p.  216.)  .  If  we  may  credit  the  piaisei 
of  Fortunatus,  (1.  vi.  carm.  5,  in  Mm.  ii.  p.  507,)  Radiger  wae  deprived 
of  a  most  valuable  wife. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  631 

Baken  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  bo 
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  waa 
seldom  connected,  either  in  peace  or  war,  with  the  nations  of 
the  Continent.164 

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  Visi- 
goths, and  the  dependent  kingdoms  of  the  Suevi  and  Burgun- 
dians  :  Africa  was  exposed  to  the  cruel  persecution  of  the 
Vandals,  and  the  savage  insults  of  the  Moors :  Rome  and 
I'aly,  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 


163  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 
H  umber  and  the  Thames,  and  gradually  founded  the  kingdoms  of 
East  A.nglia  and  Mercia.  The  English  writers  are  ignorant  of  her 
aame  and  existence :  but  Procopius  may  have  suggested  to  Mr.  Kowe 
the  character  and  situation  of  Rodogune  in  the  tragedy  of  the  Royal 
Convert. 

164  In  the  copious  history  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  we  cannot  find  any 
traces  of  hostile  Or  friendly  intercourse  between  France  and  England, 
sxcept  in  the  marriage  of  the  daughter  of  Caribert,  king  of  Paris, 
quam  regis  cujusdam  in  Cantia  filius  matrimonio  copulavit,  (1.  ix.  c.  26, 
in  torn.  ii.  p.  348.)  The  bishop  of  Tours  ended  his  history  and  hi* 
fife  almost  immediately  before  the  conversion  of  Kent. 


632  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL 

subjects  of  the  empire,  who,  hy  the  use  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, 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  con- 
tinued 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  serie* 
of  instructive,  lessons,  ana  interesting  revolutions. 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE    FALL   OF    THR 
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.1  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.'2  The  fidelity 
of  the  citizens  to  each  other,  and  to  the  state,  was  confirmee 
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.3  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 

k  Such  are  the  figurative  expressions  of  Plutarch,  (Opera,  torn.  ii.  p. 
318,  edit.  Wechel,)  to  whom,  on  the  faith  of  his  son  Lamprias,  (Fabri- 
cius,  Bibliot.  Graec.  torn.  iii.  p.  341,)  I  shall  boldly  Impute  the  mali- 
cious declamation,  tiiqi  rij?  'Pmfia'imv  ti:/i/«.  The  same  opinions  had 
prevailed  among  the  Greeks  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Plu- 
tarch ;  aud  to  confute  them,  is  the  professed  intention  of  Polybius, 
(Hist.  1.  i.  p.  90,  edit.  Gronov.  Amstel.  1670.) 

2  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. 

3  Sallust,  de  Bell.  Jugurthin.  c.  4.  Such  were  the  generous  profes- 
sions of  P.  Scipio  and  Q.  Maximus.  The  Latin  historian  had  read, 
and  most  probably  transcribes,  Polybius,  their  con!/  m^orary  and 
friend. 

81  633 


634  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

draw  his  sword  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  til  he  had  dis- 
charged  the  sacred  duty  by  a  1  lilitary  service  jf  ton  years, 
This  wise  institution  continually  poured  into  the  field  the 
rising  generations  of  freemen  and  soldiers  ;  and  their  num 
bers  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  nistu- 
nan,  who  excited  the  virtue  of  the  younger  Scipio.  and  beheld 
the  ruin  of  Carthage,4  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  succes- 
sively broken  by  the  iron  monarchy  of  Rome.5 

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  inev- 
itable effect  cf  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 


*  "While  Carthage  was  in  flames,  Scipio  repeated  two  lines  of  the 
Iliad,  which  express  the  destruction  of  Troy,  acknowledging  to  Polyb- 
ius, his  friend  and  prece-ptor,  (Polyb.  in  Excerpt,  de  Virtut.  et  Vit. 
torn.  ii.  p.  1455 — 14G5,)  that  while  he  recollected  the  vicissitudes  of 
human  affairs,  he  inwardly  applied  them  to  the  future  calamities  cf 
Home,  (Appian.  in  Libyeis,  p.  136,  edit.  Toll.) 

6  See  Daniel,  ii.  31 — 40.  "  And  the  fourth  kingdom  shall  be  stj  Dug 
as  iron ;  forasmuch  as  iron  breaketh  in  pieces  and  subdueth  all 
things."  The  remainder  of  the  prophecy  (the  mixture  of  iron  and 
claij)  was  accomplished,  according  to  St.  Jerom,  in  his  own  time. 
Sicut  eniin  in  prineipio  nihil  Romano  Imperio  fortius  et  durius,  ita  in 
hue  renim  nihil  imbecillius  :  quum  et  in  bellis  civilibus  et  adversua 
diverssv?  nationes,  aliarum  gentium,  barbararum  auxilio  mdigerr.ua, 
(Opera,  torn.  v.  p.  572.) 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMFIRL.  637) 

had  removed  tt  e  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  *.ho 
Roman  empire  was  destroyed,  we  should  rather  he  surprise i 
that  it  had  subsisted  so  lung.  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  ren- 
Gfred  them  alike  formidable  to  their  sovereign  and  to  th« 
enemy;  the  vigor  of  the  military  government  was  relaxed, 
and  finally  dissolved,  by  the  partial  institutions  of  Constan- 
tine  ;  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  dan- 
gerous novelty  impaired  the  strength,  and  fomented  the  vices, 
of  a  double  reign:  the  instruments  of  an  oppressive  and  arbi- 
trary system  were  multiplied  ;  and  a  vain  emulation  of  luxury, 
not  of  merit,  was  introduced  and  supported  between  the  degen- 
erate 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  alli- 
ance 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 
^terests,  and  even  of  religion.  Yet  the  salutary  event 
approved  in  some  measure  the  judgment  of  Constantino. 
During  a  long  period  of  decay,  his  impiegnable  city  repelled 
.he  victorious  armies  of  Barbarians,  protected  the  wealth  of 
Asia,  and  commanded,  both  in  peace  and  war,  the  importanl 
straits  which   connect  the    Euxine  and   Mediterranean  Seaa. 


b'36  THL    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

The  foundation  of  Constantinople  more  essentially  contrib- 
uted 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  reli- 
gion,  we  may  hear  without  surprise  or  scandal,  that  the  intro- 
duction, or  at  least  the  abuse,  of  Christianity  had  some  influ- 
ence on  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  empire.  The 
ciergy  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  charitv  and  devotion  ; 
and  the  soldiers'  pay  was  lavished  oft  the  useless  multitudea 
of  both  sexes,  who  could  only  plead  the  merits  of  abstinence 
and  chastity.*  Faith,  zeal,  curiosity,  and  the  more  earthly 
passions  of  malice  and  ambition,  kindled  the  flame  of  theo- 
logical 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  op- 
pressed 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  per- 
petual 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  influ- 
ence 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  th» 

*  It  might  be  a  curious  speculation,  how  far  the  purer  morals  of  the 
genuine  and  more  active  Christians  may  have  compensated,  in  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Roman  empire,  for  the  secession  cf  such  numbers  into  inactive 
And  unproductive  celibacy.  —  M. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  637 

conversion  of  Constantine,  his  victorious  religion  broke  tho 
violence  of  the  fall,  and  mollified  the  ferocious  temper  of  the 
conquerors. 

This  awful  revolution  may  be  usefully  applied  to  the  in- 
struction 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  en- 
large his  views,  and  to  consider  Europe  as  one  great  republic, 
whose  various  inhabitants  have  attained  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  de- 
pressed ;  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  sav- 
age nations  of  the  globe  ai*e  the  common  enemies  of  civilized 
society  ;  and  we  may  inquire,  with  anxious  curiosity,  whether 
Europe' is  still  threatened  with  a  repetition  of  those  calam- 
ities, 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  dan- 
ger, 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 
tc  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  fore- 
most were  destroyed,  the  vacant  space  was  instantly  replen- 
ished 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 


638  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

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  ex- 
tended their  colonies  along  the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  as  far  as 
the  Gulf  of  Finland.  From  the  Gulf  of  Finland  to  the  East- 
ern 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  Cal- 
mucks  or  Uzbecks,  whose  forces  may  be  almost  numbered 
cannot  seriously  excite  the  apprehensions  of  the  great  repub- 
lic of  Europe.6  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. 

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  independ- 
ence, embraced  the  character  of  Roman  citizens ;  and  the 
provinces  of  the  West  were  reluctantly  torn  by  the  Barbari- 
ans from  the  bosom  of  their  mother  country."  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  govern- 
ors, who  were  directed  by  the  orders  of  a  distant  court.     The 

6  The  French  and  English  editors  of  the  Genealogical  History  oi 
the  Tartars  have  subjoined  a  curious,  though  imperfect,  description 
cf  their  present  state.  We  might  question  the  independence  of  the 
(Jnlmueks,  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  sources  of  the  Oxus, 
(M6moires  sur  les  Cliinois,  torn.  i.  p.  325 — 400.)  But  these  conquests 
are  precarious,  nor  will  I  venture  to  insure  the  safety  of  the  Chinese 
empire. 

7  The  prudent  reader  will  determine  how  far  this  general  proposi- 
tion is  weakened  by  the  revolt  of  the  Isaurians,  the  independence  of 
Britain  and  Armorica,  the  Moorish  tribes,  or  the  Bagaudae  of  Gaul 
itnd  Spain,  (vol.  i.  p.  323,  vol.  iii.  p.  315,  vol.  iii   p.  372,  480.) 


Ot    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  639 

nappiness  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  king- 
doms, 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  defec- 
tive 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  Euro- 
pean forces  are  exercised  by  temperate  and  undecisive  con- 
tests. 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  soci- 
ety ;  and  Europe  would  revive  and  flourish  in  the  American 
world,  which  is  already  filled  with  her  colonies  and  institu- 
tions.8 

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, 

America  now  contains  about  six  millions  of  European  blood  and 
descent ;  and  their  numbers,  at  least  in  the  North,  are  continually  in- 
creasing. Whatever  may  be  the  changes  of  their  political  situation, 
they  must  preserve  the  manners  of  Europe  ;  and  we  may  reflect  with 
eome  pleasure,  that  the  English  language  will  probably  be  diffused 
ever  an  immense  and  populous  continent. 


640  THE    DECLINE    AND    FALL 

find  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,  disci- 
plined their  courage,  multiplied  their  forces  by  regular  evolu 
tions,  and  converted  the  iron,  which  they  possessed,  into 
Btrong  and  serviceable  weapons.  But  this  superiority  insen- 
sibly 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.  Mathe- 
matics, 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  ;9  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  irruption  of  Barbarians  , 
Bince,  before  they  can  conquer,  they  must  cease  to  be  bar- 
barous. 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. 

Should  these  speculations  be  found  doubtful  or  fallacious, 
there  still  remains  a  more  humble  source  of  comfort  and  hope. 


9  On  avoit  fait  venir  (for  the  siege  of  Turin)  140  pieces  de  canon ; 
ot  il  est  a  remarquer  que  chaque  gros  canon  mont6  revient  a  enviroa 
':000  ecus  :  il  y  avoit  100,000  boulets  ;  10i5,060  cartouches  d'une  fa^on, 
et  300,000  d'une  autre;  21,000  bombes  ;  27,700  grenades,  15,000  sacs 

i  terre,  30,000  instruments  pour  la  pionnage  ;  1,200,000  livres  de  pou- 
dre.  Ajoutez  a  ces  munitions,  le  plomb,  le  fer,  et  le  fer-blanc,  les 
cordages,  tout  ce  qui  sert  aux  mineurs,  le  souphre,  le  salpetre,  lis* 
outils  de  toute  eapece.  11  est  certain  que  les  frais  de  tous  ces  prepara- 
'it's  de  destruction  suffiroient  pour  fonder  et  pour  i'aire  fleurir  la  p)uH 

lonbreuse   colonic     Voltaire,    Siccle   de  Louis  XIV.  c.  xx.  in  Lia 

sVe-ks,  torn.  xi.  p.  391. 


OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  641 

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  mind  and  body, 
and  destitute  of  laws,  of  arts,  of  ideas,  and  almost  of  lan- 
guage.10 From  this  abject  condition,  perhaps  the  primitive 
and  universal  state  of  man,  he  has  gradually  arisen  to  com- 
mand the  animals,  to  fertilize  the  earth,  to  traverse  the  ocean, 
and  to  measure  the  heavens.  His  progress  in  the  improve- 
ment and  exercise  of  his  mental  and  corporeal  faculties  u  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  perfec- 
tion ;  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  illus- 
trates his  age  and  country  by  the  efforts  of  a  single  mind  ;  but 
•.hose  superior  powers  of  reason  or  fancy  are  rare  and  spon- 
taneous productions ;  and  the  genius  of  Homer,  or  Cicero, 
ar  Newton,  would  excite  less  admiration,  if  they  could  be 
created  by  the  will  of  a  prince,  or  the  lessons  of  a  preceptor. 
'i  The  benefits  of  law  and  policy,  of  trade  and  manufactures, 
cf  arts  and  sciences,  are  more  solid  and  permanent :  and 
winy  individuals  may  be  qualified,  by  education  and  disci- 
D"ne,  to  promote,  in   their  respective   stations,  the  interest  of 


"  It  would  be  an  easy,  though  tedious,  task,  to  produce  the  author- 
ities of  poets,  philosophers,  and  historians.  I  shall  therefore  content 
myself  with  appealing  to  the  decisive  and  authentic  testimony  of  Dio- 
aoras  Siculus,  (torn.  i.  1.  i.  p.  11,  12,  1.  iii.  p.  184,  &c,  edit.  Wesse- 
ing  )  The  Icthyophagi,  who  in  his  time  wandered  along  the  sliorea 
«  ttie  Red  Sea,  can  only  be  compared  to  the  natives  of  New  Holland, 

I»ampier's  Voyages,  vol.  i.  p.  464 — 469.)  Fancy,  or  perhaps  reason, 
roav  still  suppose  an  extreme  and  absolute  state  of  nature  far  below 
lie  level  of  these  savages,  who  had  acquired  some  arts  and  instru- 
ments. 

Nee  the  learned  and  rational  work  of  the  president  Goguet,  de 

J'netne  des  Loix,  des  Arts,  et  des  Sciences.  He  traces  from  facta, 
oi  conjectures,  (torn.  i.  p.  147 — 337,  edit.  12mo.,)  the  first  and  mosfl 
difficult  steps  of  human  invention. 


t>12  THE    DECLniZ   ANS   7AUL 

the  community.  But  this  general  order  is  the  effect  of  8&i:l 
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  vil- 
lage, each  family,  each  individual,  must  always  possess  both 
ability  and  inclination  to  perpetuate  the  use  of  fire  '-  and  of 
metals  ;  the  propagation  and  service  of  domestic  animals  ; 
the  methods  of  hunting  and  fishing;  the  rudiments  of  navi 
gation  ,  the  imperfect  cultivation  of  corn,  or  other  nutritive 
grain  ,  and  the  simple  practice  of  the  mechanic  trades.  Pri- 
vate 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  tne  scythe,  the  invention  or  emblem  of  Saturn,13  still 
continued  annually  to  mow  the  harvests  of  Italy ;  and  the 
human  feasts  of  the  Lsestrigons  14  have  never  been  renewed 
on  the  coast  of  Campania. 

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.15  \ 


12  It  is  certain,  however  strange,  that  many  nations  have  been  igno- 
rant of  the  use  of  fire.  Even  the  ingor.iovj  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. 

13  Plutarch.  Qiucst.  Rom.  in  torn.  ii.  p.  275.  Macrob.  Saturnal.  1.  i. 
e.  8,  p.  1.52,  edit.  London.  The  arrival  of  Saturn  (of  his  religious  wor- 
ship) in  a  ship,  may  indicate,  that  the  savage  coast  of  Latium  was  fvrnt 
discovered  and  civilized  by  the  Phoenicians. 

14  In  the  ninth  and  tenth  books  of  the  Odyssey,  Homer  has  embel- 
lished the  tales  of  fearful  and  credulous  sailors,  who  transformed  the 
cannibals  of  Italy  and  Sicily  into  monstrous  giants. 

li  The  merit  of  discovery  has  too  often  been  stained  with  avaric*. 
cruelty,  and  fanaticism  ;  and  the  intercourse  of  nations  has  produced 
the  communication  of  disease  and  prejudice.     A  singular  exception  lb 


OF   THE    ROMAN    KMPIRE.  *U3 

due  to  the  virtue  of  our  own  times  and  country.  The  five  great  voy 
ages,  successively  undertaken  by  the  command  of  his  present  Majesty, 
were  inspired  by  the  pure  and  generous  love  of  science  and  of  man- 
kind. The  same  prince,  adapting  his  benefactions  to  the  different 
stages  of  society,  lias  founded  a  school  of  painting  in  his  capital  ;  and 
has  introduced  into  the  islands  of  the  South  Sea  the  vegetables  e>ni 
Kuimalfl  most  useful  to  human  life. 


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