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HISTORY  OF  THE  FAI^L. 
of  tbe     ,^     ^      llT 


lSIOIJ  &  SETTLEMEKT  OIF  THE  BAB.®  Alii  AH  S  , 

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CABINET   CYCLOPEDIA. 

CONDUCTED    BY    THE 

REV.  DIONYSIUS  LARDNER,  LL.D.  F.R.S.  L.  &E. 

M.RI.A.  F.R.A.S.  F.L.S.  F.Z.S.   Hon.  F.C.P.S.  &c.  &c. 

ASSISTED     BY 

EMINENT  LITERARY  AND  SCIENTIFIC   MEN. 


^i&totp. 


FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE, 

COMPRISING 

A    VIEW    OF    THE    INVASION    AND    SETTLEMENT    OF    THE 
BARBARIANS. 

BY   J.  C.   L.    DE    SISMONDI. 
VOL.    I. 


LONDON: 

PRINTED   FOR 

LONGMAN,  REES,  ORME,   BROWN,   GREEN,  &   LONGMAN, 

PATKRNOSTER.ROW  ; 

AND    JOHN    TAYLOR, 

UPPER  OOWER   STREET. 

1834.. 


ay 

!  9  -  -i' 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL 

TABLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION.  GRAKDEUR     AND     WEAKNESS     OF    THE    ROMAN 

EMPIRE. 

Page 
Importance  of  political  Studies,  or  the  Theory  of  Society  1 
Divisions  of  those  Sciences  which  have  as  their  End  the 

greatest  social  Good  -  -  -  -      2 

Doubts,  Uncertainties,  and  opposed  Systems  in  all  these 

Sciences  -  -  ,  -  -  -      3 

These  Doubts  ought  not  to  diminish  our  Efforts,  as  we 

are  continually  obliged  to  choose  between  Systems  -  5 
It  is  from  Experience  that  we  must  seek  Light  in  all 

Sciences  .  -  -  -  -      7 

.  In  the  social  Sciences  it  is  necessary  to  wait  for  Expe- 
rience, not  to  lead  it  -_  -  -  -  7 
Project  of  the  Emi)eror  Gallicnus  -  -  -  8 
History,  the  Collection  of  all  social  Experiments  .  7 
Indulgence  which  it  should  teach  us  -  9 
Lessons  to  besought  in  the  History  of  the  World,  from 

the  fourth  to  the  tenth  Century  .  -    10 

Connection  between  the  Romans,  their  Conquerors,  and 

ourselves  -  .  -  -  -    II 

Grandeur  attached    to  the  Recollections  of  the  Roman 

Empire,  even  in  its  Decline  -  .  -    12 

Fixedness  of  the  Limits  of  the  Empire;  Extent  of  the 

Roman  Territory  -  .  .  -    13 

Frontiers  of  the  Empire;  Border  Nations  -  -     14 

DiTision  of  the  Empire  into  four  Prefectures ;  Gaul,   II. 

lyricum,  Italy,  and  the  East  -  -  .16 

Number  of  great  Cities;  their  great  Buildings,  all  destined    » 

for  public  Utility  -  -  .  -     17 

Calamities  of   the  Empire ;  its  Vastncss    had  destroyed 

Patriotism  ■  .  .  -    19 

A    .3 


19C955S 


ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

Page 

No  Community  of  Language ;  Greek  and  Latin;  pro- 
vincial Dialects  .  .  .  -     19 

State  of  the  Population  great  Cause  of  Weakness ;  |six 
different  Classes  .  .  .  -    21 

Oppression  of  the  rural  Population  and  Slaves ;  Depopu- 
lation  .  .  .  .  .21 

Predatory  Life  of  runaway  Slaves ;  Extinction  of  the 
Middle  Class  -  .  .  .23 

Population  of  great  Cities ;  their  Recklessness ;  fed  and 
amused  at  the  Expense  of  the  State  -  -    24 


CHAP.  n. 

THE    THREE    FIRST    CENTURIES    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE. 

Cursory  View  of  the  Roman  Empire  before  the  Period 

at  which  this  History  commences  -  .26 

Division  into  four  Periods :    the  Julian   Emperors,  the 
(B.C.  A.D.)     Flavian,  the  Soldiers  of  Fortune,  the  Colleagues  .    27 

30 — 68.    Emperors  of  the  Julian  Family  during  ninety.eight  Years ; 

their  Character  -  -  -  -    28 

Organisation  of  the  Army  ;  Division  of  the  Legions  -    29 

Oppression  in  Rome  ;  Prosperity  of  the  Provinces  .    30 

Republican  Senate  ;  Fidelity  of  the  Army  .  .31 

69—192.    Emperors  of  the  Flavian  Family ;   nine  Princes  in  123 

Years ;  their  Virtues  .  .  -  -    32 

Barrenness  of  History  during  this  peaceful  Period  -    33 

Prosperity ;  Progress  of  Civilisation ;  fatal  Effects  of  Lati- 

fundi'a  .  -  -  -  -    34 

Only  warlike  Population  on  the  Frontiers ;  Munificence 

of  Herodes  Atticus  -  -  -  -    35 

192—284.    Soldiers  of  Fortune  usurp  the  Empire  .  -    36 

Thirty-two  Princes  in  ninety-two  Years  -  -    37 

All  Legitimacy  being  destroyed,  the  Soldiers  sole  Masters 

of  the  State ;  their  Excesses  .  -  -    38 

253 — 268.    Reign  of  Gallian ;  Invasion  of  the  Barbarians  on  all  the 

Frontiers  -  -  -  -  -    38 

The  Soldiers,  feeling  their  Danger,  choose  more  worthy 

Chiefs  -  .  -  -  -    40 

Depopulation  of  the  Empire  ;  Colonies  of  Barbarians  called 

into  the  Interior  .  -  -  -    41 

284—328.   Colleagues ;  great  Character  and  Talents  of  Diocletian ; 

two  Augusti  and  two  Csesars  set  over  the  Empire  .    42 

Harshnessof  the  Government ;  Persecutions  -         .44 

Abdication  of  Diocletian  j  Anarchy  -  •    46 


ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


CHAP.  III. 

THE  BARBARIANS  BEFORE  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY. 

A.  D.  Page 

We  are  Heirs  of  the  joint  Inheritance  of  Romans  and 

Barbarians ;  we  ought  to  study  both  -  -    48 

Division  of  Barbarians  on  the  three  Frontiers  of  Africa, 

Asia,  and  Europe  -  -  -  -    49 

The  Bereberi,  Getulae,  and  Moors,  after  being  subjugated, 

drive  back  the  Komans  to  the  Coast  -  -    50 

Barbarians  of  the  Desert ;  Monks  of  the  Thebais  -    51 

The  Arabs,  commercial  and  predatory  ;  Grandeur  of  Pal- 
(b.c.    a.d.)      myra ;  Zenobia  -  -  -  -    52 

25^-226.   Empire  of  the  Parthians   from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the 

Persian  Gulf  -  -  -  -    54 

226.         Revolt  of  the  Persians  under  Ardschir;  the  Sassanides ; 
A.D.  imperfect  Civilisation  of  the  Persians  -  -    .'55 

297 342.   Armenians ;  their  brilliant  Period  under  Tiridates^  -    56 

Scythians  or  Tartars ;  their  Manners ;  their  Ferocity  in 

War;  their  Liberty ;  their  pastoral  Life  fits  them  for 

Conquests  -  -  -  -  -    5~ 

Fall  of  the  Monarchy  of  the  Huns,  which  drives  their 

Immigration  upon  Europe  -  -  -    60 

Barbarians  of  Europe ;  the  Celtic,  Slavonic,  and  Germanic 

Races  -  -  -  -  -    61 

Ancient  Territory  of  the  Celts  ;  Druids ;  the  Increase  of 

the  Race  -  -  -  -  -    62 

The  Slavonic  Race;  Extent  of  its  Territory;  its  Subju- 
gation -  -  -  -  -    63 
The  Germans  ;  they  stop  short  in  Civilisation  to  preserve 

their  Liberty  -  -  -  -    64 

Government  of  the  Germans ;  Power  and  Dangers  of  their 

Kings  -  -  -  -  -    66 

Influence  of  Women  and  of  Priests  among  the  Germans    -    66 
Different  Nations  and  Confederations  of  Germans,  Franks, 

Almains,  Saxons,  Goths,  &c.  -  -  -    68 

CHAP.  IV. 

CONSTANTINE,      HIS      SONS     AND     HIS     NEPHEWS.  DIVISION      OF 

THE    FOURTH      CENTURY     INTO     THREE     PEKIOns.  REIGN     OF 

CONSTANTINE,    OF      HIS    FAJIILY,    AND     OF     THAT      OF      VALEN- 
TINIAN. 

306.         July  25th.  Constantine  nominatetl  by  the  Army  to  succeed 

his  Father,  Constantius  Chlorus  -  -    71 

Character  of  Constantine;  he  hcsit.ites  between  the  two 
Religions;  his  Cruelty  to  his  Brothers  -  -    73 

A    4 


VUl  ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

A.  D.  Page 

310.         Six  Emperors  at  once ;   Constantine  puts  to  Death   his 

Father-in-law  Maximian  -  -  -    75 

323.         Constantine    reunites  the  Empire,  and  destroys  all  his 

Rivals  .  -  -  -  .    76 

Foundation  of  Constantinople;   Constantine  abjures  the 
Roman  Character  -  -  -  -    77 

Constantine  puts  to  Death  almost  all  his  Kindred;  his 
Prodigality  to  the  Church  ;  his  Death  -  -    78 

337.  Partition  of  the  Empire  among  the  three  Sons  of  Con- 
stantine ;  their  civil  Wars ;  they  massacre  their  Cou- 
sins; Constantius  alone  survives;  he  devotes  all  his 
Attention  to  religi  mis  Disputes  -  -    80 

Donatists  ;  Circoncellions  ;  religious  Suicides  -    81 

Arians  and  Trinitarians ;    the   Church   equally  divided 
between  them  -  -  -  -    83 

Favour  shown  by  Constantius  to  the  Arians;  Resistance 
of  St.  Athanasius  -  -  -  -    85 

Conquests  of  Sapor  II.  in  the  East;  of  the  Franks  and 
Almains  in  the  West  -  -  -  -    86 

355.  Constantius,  being  childless,  intrusts  the  Defence  of  the 
West  to  his  Nephew  Julian  ;  Character  of  Julian  ;  Vic- 
tories of  Julian  ;  his  Recall  into  the  East,  Novembers. 
361 ;  he  succeeds  Constantius  -  -  -    87 

363.         Re-establishment  of  Polytheism  -  -  -    8S 

Campaign  of  Julian  against  Sapor  II.  -  -    89 

June  26.    Julian  mortally  wounded  in  repulsing  the  Per- 
sians -  -  -  -  -    91 

His  last  Words  reported  by  Ammianus  Marcellinus  -    93 

CHAP.  V. 

VALENTINIAN  AND  THEODOSIUS. INVASION  OF  EASTERN  EUROPE 

BY   THE    GOTHS.  364 395. 

363.        Decline  of  the  Empire    accelerated   by  every  Change; 

Jovian;  Degradation  of  the  Pagans  -  -    94 

Election  of  Valentinian  ;  his  Talents  and  his  Severity  ;  he 

divides  the  Government  with  his  Brother  Valens  -    96 

Overwhelming  Weight  of  Taxation;  Oppression  of  the 
Curial  Magistracy  -  -  -  -    97 

364 — 375.    Victories  of  Valentinian  ;  Success  of  Theodosius  the  An- 

cient  against  the  Scots  and  the  Moors  .  -    98 

Feebleness  of  Valens  ;  he  tries  to  conciliate  the  Persians 

and  the  Goths ;  Greatness  of  Hertnanric  in  Dacia  -    99 

Death  of  Valentinian  ;  Gratian  and  Valentinian  II.  suc- 
ceed him  ;  Approach  of  the  Huns  -  -  101 
Death  of  Hermanric ;  Fall  of  the  Empire  of  the  Goths  ; 
their  Terror  at  the  Invasion  of  the  Huns            -           -  102 
376.         The  Goths  obtain  from  Valens  Permission  to  cross  the 

Danube,  and  to  establish  themselves  within  the  Empire  103 
378.         They  revolt  in  consequence  of  their  ill  Treatment  by  the 


ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE.  IX 

A.  u.  Page 

Romans ;  Valeiis  killed  in  an  Engagement  with  them  at 

Adrianople  ....  104 

Eastern  Europe  ravaged  by  the  Goths  ;  Massacre  of  Gothic 

Hostages  in  Asia  ....  1O6 

Vengeance  of  Fritigern,    King  of  the   Goths ;  the  East 

without  an  Emperor  ....  107 

379.         Jan.  19.  Gratian  gives  the  Empire  of  the  East  to  Theo- 

dosius  ;  Prudence  and  Moderation  of  Theodosius  -108 

382.  Oct.  30.  He  induces  the  Goths  to  lay  down  their  Arms  .  109 
He  cedes  Moesia  to  them ;  Civilisation  of  the  Goths  in 

MoEsia  -  .  -  -  .110 

Influence  of  the  Franks  at  the  Court  of  Gratian  ;  Death 

of  Gratian  ;  Maximus  in  Britain  and  Gaul  .  .  Ill 

Virtues  of  Theodosius  ;  his  Orthodoxy  .  -112 

Persecution  of  the  Arians  ;  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  ;  St. 

Ambrose;  St.  Martin  .  .  .113 

Violence  of  Theodosius;  Pardon  of  Antioch;  Massacre 

of  Thcssalonica  ....  114 

Penance  imposed  on  Theodosius  by  St.  Ambrose  -  115 

Defeat  and  Death  of  Maximus ;  of  Valentinian  II.  and 

Eugenius ;  Death  of  Theodosius  .  -  .116 

CHAP.  VI. 

ARCADIUS    AND     HONORIUS.  INVASION    OF    THE    WEST    BY    THE 

GERMANIC    NATIONS.  A.  D.     395 423. 

Theodosius  unjustly  accftsed  of  the  Corruption  and  Ef- 
feminacy of  the  Romans  ; 'Progress  of  Decay      .  -117 

Final  Degradation  caused   by  the  Adversity  which  de- 
stroyed tlie  Middle  Class  -  .  -  118 

The  Populace  and  the  Senators  sought  Forgetfulness  of 
their  Miseries  in  sensual  Pleasure  and  Vice  -         -  120 

The  Massacre  of  Thcssalonica  furnishes  a  Proof  of  this 
State  of  constant  Intoxication  -  -  -121 

395.         Jan.  17.  Partition  of  tlie  two  Empires ;  the  East  to  Ar- 

cadius,  the  VVcst  to  Honorius  -  -  -  122 

Arcadius,  aged  eighteen,  confided  to  the  Care  of  Rufinus ; 
betrays  him  to  Death  -  -  -  123 

Honorius,  aged  eleven,  under  the  Guardianship  of  Sti- 
licho  ;  Greatness  of  Mind  of  the  latter  -  -123 

Africa  subject  to  the  Children  of  Nabal  the  Moor,  Pro. 
prictor  of  immense  Domains  ...  124 

39G.         Alaric,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  ofTcndcd  by  Arcadius ;  he 

invades  Greece  ....  -  126 

Campaign  of  Stilicho  in  Greece  aga:nst  Alaric ;  the  Ar. 
scnalsoflUyricum  surrendered  to  Alaric  -  .127 

402.         Incapacity  cf  Honorius  :  Alaric  invades  Italy ;  Resistance 

of  Stilicho  -  .  .  -  -  128 

Defeat  of  Alaric;  Triumph  of  Honorius  at  Rome;  he 
shuts  himself  up  at  Ravenna  -  -  -  129 


X  ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

A.  D.  Page 

406.         Great  Invasion  of  the  Germans ;  Radogast  in  Italy  ;  de- 

stroyed  by  Famine  at  Fiesole,  by  Stilicho  -  -  130 

■K)6.         Dec.  .jI.  All  the  Germanic  Tribes  pass  the  Khine  and 

ravage  Gaul  .  -  -  -  -  132 

409.        Oct.  I,).  Invasion  of  Spain  by  the  Suevi,  the  Vandals,  and 

the  Alans  .  -  -  -  -  -  132 

408.         Honorius  distrusts  Stilicho,  and  wants  to  govern  by  himself  133 
408.         Aug.  23.  Stilicho  killed  at  Ravenna  by  Order  of  Hono- 
rius ;  Massacre  of  the  Hostages  of  the  Confederates ; 

fresh  War  with  Alaric  ...  135 

Alaric  before  Rome ;  imprudent  Provocations  of  Honorius  136 
4!0.         Aug.  24.  Taking  and  Sack  of  Rome  by  Alaric  -        -  138 

Death  of  Alaric;  Peace   with  the  Visigoths,  to  whom 

Honorius  cedes  Aquitaine  .  .  -  139  Q^ 

Ataulphus,  Son-in-law  and  Successor  of  Alaric,  marries  a 

Sister  of  the  Emperor  -  -  -  140 

CHAP.  VII. 

THE    BARBARIANS    ESTABLISHED    IN    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  IN- 
VASION   OF    ATTILA.  A.   D.    412 453. 

Strange  and  motley  Aspect  of  the  Empire,  from  the  Inter- 
mixture of  the  Barbarian  with  fhe  Roman  Population  -  142 

The  Legions  withdrawn  from  Britain ;  the  Cities  called 
upon  to  defend  themselves  .  .  -  143 

Armorica,  abandoned   in  like  Manner  by  the  Romans, 
forms  a  Celtic  League  -  -  -  -  144 

The  Franks  remain  Soldiers  of  the  Empire;   the  Bur- 
gundians  on  the  Rhone  ;  the  Visigoths  behind  the  Loire  145 

Twofold  Government;  that  of  the  Roman  Prefects,  and 
of  the  Barbaric  Kings  and  National  Assemblies  -  146 

Domination  of  the  Priests  at  Tours  ;  Paganism  prevalent 
in  the  Country ;  State  of  Spain  -  .  .  147 

State  of  Italy,  Pannonia,  and  Africa ;  Universal  Suffer- 
ing      -  -  -  -  .  -147 

Last  Years    of  Arcadius  and  Honorius;   Minorities    of 
Theodosius  II.  and  of  Valentinian  III.  -  -  14S 

Dynasties    of  Barbaric   Kings;    Frequency   of  Crime; 
Fratricides  -----  I49 

Fabulous  Ancestry  of  the  Frankic  Kings.  —  Succession  of 
Visigothic  Kings  -  -  -  -  151 

Suevi,  Alans,  and  Vandals  of  Spain ;  Genseric,  King  of 
the  Vandals  -  -  -  .  -  152 

429.         Genseric  lands  in  Africa ;  called  in  by  Count  Boniface,  the 

Rival  of  .J:tius  -  -  -  -  153 

Conquest    of   Africa    by  the  Vandals ;    their  Ferocity ; 
Takingof  Carthage,  Oct.  9.  429.  -  -  -155 

433.         Attila,  the  .Scourge  of  God,  King  of  the  Huns;  Formation 

of  that  Monarchy  .  -  .  .  156 


ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE,  XI 

A.  D.  Page 

Treaty  of  Attila  with  Theodosius  II.;   The  whole  North 
of  Europe  and  of  Asia  subject  to  Attila  -  -  157 

■  tl — 446.    War  of  Attila  against  the  Eastern  Empire;  Submission 

of  the  Greeks;  their  Embassy  to  his  Camp      -  .  159 

451.  Attila  crosses  the  Rhine,  and  enters  Gaul ;    Efforts  of 

.(Etius  to  arrest  his  Progress  ...  160 

Victory  obtained  by  ^Etius  over  Attila,  in  the  Plains  of 
Chalons-sur-Marne  .  .  -  .  162 

452.  Invasion  of  Upper  Italy  by  Attila ;   Formation  of  Venice 

by  the  Fugitives  ...  -  163 

453.  Death  of  Attila  in  Dacia ;  Dissolution  of  his  Empire      -  164 


CHAP.  VIII. 

FALL    OF    THE    EMPIRE    OF    THE    WEST.  THE    FRANKS    IN    GAUL. 

—  A.  D.    476—511. 

Vital  Energy  of  Political  Bodies  analogous  to  that  of  Indi- 
viduals     .  -  -  .  -  165 
Vast  Empires  sustain  themselves  by  their  Mass,  but  suffer 

also  in  proportion  to  their  Mass  -  -  166 

The  Western  Empire  might  have  endured  as  long  as  the 
Eastern,  but  perished  through  the  Faults  of  its  Chiefs   -  IC7 
455.         June  ;]2.    Taking    and   Pillage    of    Rome  by  Genseric, 

called  in  by  Eudoxia,  Widow  of  Valentinian  III.  -  169 

455 — 476.  Ten  Emperors  in  twenty-three  Years ;  Ricimer  -       .  170 

Odoacer.  —  Suppression  of  the  Western  Empire  (a.  n.  476.)  171 
This  Revolution  did  not  appear  so  important  as  it  was  in 

fact;  Italy  under  Odoacer  -  -  171 

Several  Provinces  of  the  West  continue  to  acknowledge 
the  Emperors  of  the  East  -  .  -  173 

486.         Syagrius,  Count  of  Soissons,  conquered  by  Clovis,  King  of 

the  Salian  Franks       -  -  -  -  174 

The  History  of  the  Franks  ought  to  be  confined  to  what 
Gregory  of  Tours  relates       .  .  -  -  176 

493.         Marriage  of  Clovis  to   Chlotilde  of  Burgundy,  brought 

about  by  the  orthodox  Bishops        ...  177 
496.         Chlotilde  converts  Clovis  ;  Battle  of  Tolbiac;  Baptism  of 

Clovis  -  ....  179 

Joy  of  the  Clergy ;  Union  of  the  Confederates  and  the 
Armoricans  with  the  Franks  ...  iso 

500.         War  of   Clovis    with   the  Burgundians ;    Treachery    of 

Godegisel ;   Flight  of  Gondcbald        .  -  .181 

507.         War  of  Clovis  with  the  Visigoths,  whom  he  first  deceives 

by  a  Treaty ;  Battle  of  VougU'  -  .  182 

Clovis  puts  to  Death  all   the  long-haired  Kings  of  his 
Family  .  .  -  .  184 


XU  ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

Page 

A.  D.  Favour  shown  by  Clovis  to  the  Church  ;  Miracles  attri- 
buted to  him  -  -  -  -  -  185 

The  Army  of  the  Franks  always  united;  its  Power  very 
superior  to  that  of  the  King  -  -  -186 

Death  of  Clovis  -  -  -  188 

CHAP.  IX. 

THE  GOTHS  AND  THE  FRANKS  TO  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SIXTH 
CEXTUKY.  A.  D.  493 561. 

The  Barbarians  had  marched  through  Europe  from  East 

to  West,  and  yet  Constantinople  had  escaped  them        -  189 
Succession  of  Emperors  of  the  East,  of  the  Sassanides  in 

Persia,  and  of  the  Ostrogothic  Kings  -  -190 

Education  of  Tiieodoric  in  the  Greek  Empire ;  his  War 
with  the  Emperor  Zeno       .  -  .  -  192 

489 — 193.  Theodoric,  King  of  the  Ostrogoths,  conquers  Italy  from 

Odoacer ;  his  Moderation  -  .  -  193 

493 — 5i26.    Italy  recovers  her  Prosperity  under  Theodoric's  Govern- 

ment         -  .  -  -  '  -  -  195 

The  Monuments   of  Rome  protected ;    Religious  Toler- 
ation ;  Severity  of  the  early  Part  of  his  Reign  -  195 
Extent  of  his  Domination ;  Letters  of  his  Secretary  Cas- 

siodorus  -  -  .  -  -  197 

Theodoric  protects  his  Grandson  by  means  of  one  of  his 
Daughters.  —  Amalaric  King  of  the  Visigoths       -       -  198 
526 — 554.  Athalaric,  Son  of  another  Daughter,  succeeds  him  in  Italy  ; 

Line  of  Ostrogothic  Kings  ...  199 

Monarchy  of  the  Franks ;  they  despise  and  oppress  con- 
quered Nations       -----  200 
The  Franks  easily  incorporate  the  other  Barbarians  with 
their  own  Forces ;  The  whole  of  Germany  submits  to 
them        .  .  -  -  -  .201 

The  Thuringians ;  their  Fratricides  ;  they  are  conquered 
by  the  Franks         -  ...  -  203 

511—561.   Reigns  of  the  Four  Sons  of  Clovis  j  Thierry,  Chlodomir, 

ChUdebert,  and  Chlothaire  -  -  -  203 

War  of  the  Franks  in    Italy  j    War  with  the  Burgun- 

dians;  End  of  their  Monarchy  -  -  -205 

Reign  of  Gondebald  -  .  .  -  206 

Chlothaire  and  Childebert  murder  the  Sons  of  their  Brother 

Chlodomir  .  .  .  -  .  207 

Partiality  of  the  Priests  for  the  Sons  of  Clovis ;  they  permit 

them  to  practice  Polygamy  -  -  .  208 

Chlothaire  causes  his  Son  Chramne,  with  his  Children,  to 

perish  in  the  Flames  .  _  .  .  209 

Death  of  Chlothaire  j  the  Crown  passes  to  his  four  Sons    210 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


JUSTINIAN.  A.  D.     527 565. 

A.  D.  Page 

Brilliant  Light   thrown  on  the  Reign  of  Justinian  by  two 

Greek  Historians  -  .  .  -  211 

Parallel  in  the  Splendour  and  the   Misery  which   cha. 

racterise  the  Reigns  of  Justinian  and  of  Louis  XIV.  -  212 
Intolerance ;    Abolition  of  the  Schools  of  Athens,   and 

the  Consulate  and  Senate  of  Rome  -  .  213 

Great  Calamities  ;  Invasion  of  Barbarians  ;  Earthquakes; 

Pestilence  .  .  -  -  214 

Justinian,  Nephew  of  a  Soldier,  was  not  a  General  j  his 

Ambition  of  Conquest      -  -  -  -  215 

Wars   of  the  Bulgarians  and  the    Slavonians;    Persian 

War ;  Peace  of  531  with  Chosrocs  I.  .  -  216 

467—533.    Kingdom  of  the   African  Vandals  afler  the  Death  of 

Genscric         -  -  -  -  -  217 

Belisarius  chosen  by  Justinian  to  carry  on  the  War  against 

the  Vandals  -  -  -  -  219 

533.        Expedition  of  Belisarius  into  Africa :  Victory  over  the 

Vandals ;  Taking  of  Carthage  -  -  -  220 

Conquest  of  Africa;  Captivity  of  the  King  of  the  Van- 
dals; Annihilation  of  his  Nation;  Recall  of  Belisarius  221 
526—535.   Xhe  Ostrogoths   in  Italy  after  the  Death  of  Thcodoric ; 

Amalasonta  -  -  -  -  223 

535.  Belisarius  sent  against  the  Ostrogoths;" his  Landing  in 

Sicily  ;  Vitigcs  Successor  to  Thcodatus  -  -  224 

536.  Dreadful  Calamities   inflicted  on  Italy  by  two   Heroes, 

Vitiges  and  Belisarius  ...  225 

536 — 540.   Taking  and  Rotaking  of  Rome ;  Belisarius  ill  supported 

by  Justinian  ;  Incursions  of  the  Franks  -  .  226 

539.        Vitiges  Captive  ;  Recall  of  Belisarius ;    Ruin  of  Africa 

after  his  Departure  ...  -227 

£41—544.   Ruin  of  Italy  after  his  Recall        -  -  -  228 

Power  and  Prosjierity  of  the  Ostrogoths  restored  by  Totila  228 
',H — 553.   Belisarius  .sent  again  to  oppose  Totila  ;  his  second  Recall ; 

the  Goths  defeated  by  Narses  -  -  -  229 

559 — 563.    Last  Victory  of  Belisarius;  Injustice  and  Ingratitude  of 

Justinian  ;  Beli-sarius  reduced  to  Beggary         .  -231 

Glory  of  Justinian  as  a  Legislator        -  -  .  £31 

The  Empire  torn  by  the  Factions  of  the  Blues  and  Greens  ; 
great  Sedition  of  532  ...  232 

CHAP.  XI. 

THE  r,OMHAiins  and  tuv.   i-uanks. — a.  n.   561 — GI3. 

From  the  Time  of  Justinian  our  Interest  is  divided  be- 

twoen  the  Greek  Eini)ire  anil  the  Franks  .  -  234 

Series  of  Greek  Emjierors  ;  Birth  of  Mohammed  -  235 

Reign  of  Chusrocs  II.  in  Persia  .  -  -  236 


Xiv         ANALYTICAL    AND    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

A.  D.  Page 

Narses,  Exarch  of  Italy  ;  the  Gepidae  and  the  Lombards 

between  the  Alps  and  the  Danube  -  -  236 

Romantic   Adventures  of  Alboin  ;   his  Conquest  of  the 

Kingdom  of  the  GepidcB,  which  he  cedes  to  the  Avars  -  237 
568.        Alboin  invades  Italy  at  the  Head  of  the  Lombards  ;  Re. 

sistance  of  the  Cities         -  -  .  -  240 

The  maritime  Towns  of  Italy  governed  by  their  Curise, 

under  the  Protection  of  the  Greeks  -  -  241 

Independence  of  the  maritime  Towns  of  Spain,  Africa, 

and  lUyricum  ;  Growth  of  municipal  Liberties  -  242 

Independence  of  the  Lombards ;    Interregnum ;    their 

thirty  Dukes  in  Italy         -  -  .  -  243 

561.        The  four  Frankic  Kings,  Sons  of  Chlothaire;  territorial 

Aristocracy  formed  among  the  Franks  -  -  243 

The   Mord  Dom  (erroneously  called   Major  Domus),  or 

Chief  Justiciary  of  the  Franks;  the  four  Kingdoms  of 

Germany  ....  244 

Characters  of  the  four  Brothers;    Gontran,  surnamed 

'the  Good;'  Chilperic,  the  Nero  of  France        -  -  246 

Fredegunde,  Wife  of  Chilperic  -  -  -  247 

Brunechilde,  Wifeof  Siegbert  -  -  -248 

Progress  of  Aristocracy  in  Austrasia ;  Efforts  of  Gontran 

to  check  it  -  .  .  .  249 

584.        Curious  Picture  of  the  Plaids,  Parliament    or  National 

Assembly  of  Austrasia,  given  by  Gregory  of  Tours  -  250 
Mutual  Insults  of  King    Gontran    and   the  Austrasian 

Nobles  .  .  .  -  -  251 

Childebert  II.  arrived  at  Man's  Estate  ;  his  Ferocity ;  his 

Death        .  -  .  -  -  252 

696.        Three  Kings  in  their  Minority  under  the  Wardship  of 

Queens  Fredegunde  and  Brunechilde  -  -  253 

Strengtii  of  Character  and  Talents  of  Brunechilde  equal- 
led by  her  Ferocity  .  -  .  .  254 
Victories  and  Ascendancy  of  Brunechilde ;  she  is  at  length 

conquered  by  Chlothaire  11.  .  -  -  255 

Her  miserable  Death,  A.  D.  613  .  -  -256 

CHAP.  XII. 

THE    EAST    AND     THE     WEST     IN     THE      SEVENTH      CENTURY,     AND 
DOWN    TO    THE    ATTACKS    OF    THE    MUSULMANS. 

Obscurity  of  the  History  of  the  seventh  Century  -  257 

Total  Absence  of  historical  Authorities  both  in  the  East 

and  the  AVest  -  -  -  -  258 

568—774.    Firm  Settlement  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy,  and  their  rapid 

Advance  in  Civilisation     -  -  -  -  258 

613 — 638.    Extent  of  the  Frankic  Empire  under  Chlothaire  II.  and 

D.igobert  .  .  .  -  -  259 

State  of  Commerce;  the  Merchant  King,  Samo  -  260 

Character  of  Dagobert ;  contradictory  Qualities  attributed 

to  him  .  -  -  .  -  261 


ANALYTICAL  AND  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.    XV 

A.  D.  Page 

Cruelty  and  Sensuality  of  Dagobert ;  his  Friendship  for 

St.  Eloi  and  St.  Ouen ;  his  Bounties  to  the  Monks  -  262 
638 — 752.    Succession  of  the  Thirteen  Faineant  Kings  ;  they  die  of 

Debauchery  in  early  Youth  -  .  .  263 

Grand  Struggle  between   the  Nobles  and  the  Freeraen ; 

Ebrouin,  Chief  of  the  latter  -  -  -  264 

Rivalry  of  Ebrouin  and  of  Leger  Bishop  of  Autun  -  265 

Victory  of  Ebrouin  at  Pont  St.  Maxence  -  .  266 

687.        St.  Leger  put  to  Death  as  a  Regicide  ;  Victory  of  Pepin  of 

Heristal  at  Testry  .  -  -  -  266 

Triumph  of  the  Aristocracy  at  Testry  succeeded  by  the 

Restoration  of  Germanic  Customs  and  Language  ."267 

567—642.   The  East  during  the  Reigns  of  Justin  II.,  Tiberius  IL, 

Maurice,  Phocas,  and  Heraclius         -  .  .  268 

Explanation  of  their  Revolutions  to  besought  in  the  Dis. 

putes  of  the  Church  concerning  the  two  Natures  .  269 

Controversies  of  the  Monophysites,  Monothelites,  &c.  .  270 
To  escape  Persecution,  they  throw  tliemselves   into  the 

Arms  of  the  Enemies  of  the  Empire  .  -272 

567 — 574.    Wars  of  Justin  IL  against  Chosroes  Nushirvan,  King  of 

Persia,  and  against  the  Avars    -         -  -  -  273 

574 — 602.   Virtues  of  Tiberius  II.,  who  is  nominated  by  Justin  II. 

as  his  Successor;  Talents  of  Maurice,  who  succeeds 

him  -----  274 

Dangers  of  the  War  with  the  Avars ;  War  of  Maurice 

against  Hormouz,  King  of  Persia      -  •  .  275 

Maurice  replaces  Chosroes  II. ,  Son  of  Hormouz,  on  the 

Throne  ;  Assassination  of  Maurice  -  .  276 

602 — 610.    Reign  of  Phocas;  his  Ferocity;  he  is  attacked  by  Chos. 

roes  II.  -  -  .  -  .  277 

610 — 642.   Reign  of  Heraclius ;  Chosroes  wrests  the  whole  of  Asia 

and  Egypt  from  him    .  .  -  .  278 

The  Malecontents  repent  of  having  called  in  the  Persians  ; 

they  recall  Heraclius  into  Asia  -  .  .  279 

Heraclius  conquers  or  lays  waste  Persia,  whilst  the  Per- 
sians occupy  the  whole  of  Roman  Asia  -  -  280 


CHAP.  XIII. 

MOHAMMED.  A.  D.     569 632. 

Extent  and  physical  Constitution  of  Arabia ;  Want  of 
Water  almost  universal  -  .  .  282 

Oases ;  Yemen ;  free  Cities  of  the  Red  Sea ;  peculiar 
Characteristics  of  the  Arabs  -  -  .  283 

The  Poverty  of  the  Arab  the  Guarantee  of  his  Liberty, 
which  is  complete  -  -  .  .  284 

The  Arab  docs  not  recognise  the  Rights  of  territorial 
Property  ;  he  is  at  War  with  every  Stranger  .  285 

Genealogies ;  hereditary  Vengeance ;  Poetry  and  Elo- 
quence .  .  .  -  -  286 


XVI  ANALYTICAL    ANO    CnRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

A.  D.  Page 

Influence  of  Religion  among  the  Arabs ;  Toleration  of 
all  Sects ;  Worship  of  the  Kaaba  -  -  287 

569—609.   Birth  of  Mohammed ;  his  Marriage  %vih  Kadijah  ;  his  re- 
ligious Studies  .  -  -  -  288 
Mohammed  preached  the  true  God  to  Idolaters;  ought 

he  to  be  called  an  Impostor?        -  -  -289 

Respect  of  Jlohammed  for  the  written  Word;  Publication 

and  Beauty  of  the  Koran  -  -  -  291 

Laws  of  Charity,  of  ;  Prayer,  of  Cleanliness;  Sobriety; 

Fasts;  greater  Indulgence  for  the  Pleasures  of  Love    -  292 
Hell  of  a  limited  Duration;  Paradise;  Fatalism  as  to  the 
Hour  of  Death  -  ,.  -  -  294 

609.        Preachings  of  Mohammed;  his  first  Disciples;  the  Inha- 
bitants of  Mecca  are  irritated  -  -  -295 
622.        Flight  of  Mohammed  from  Mecca  to  Medina,  where  his 

Keign  commences       -  .  -  .  296 

622       Military  Spirit  of  Mohammed  ;  his  Frugality  ;  his  early 

Battles       -  .       -  -  -  -:297 

629.        Conquest  of  Mecca;  Conquest  of  the  Rest  of  Arabia       -  299 

Declaration  of  AVar  against  the  Romans  -  -  300 

Decline  of  Mohammed's  Health    -  -  -  300 

Last  Words  of  Mohammed  ;  his  Death  -  .  301 


ERRATA. 

Page  117.  line  18.  before  "  Adolf"  insert  the  words  "  Ataulphus,  or." 
I49  14  7 

ISl!    :"  ll.and  16.  from  bottom,  j'"°'^"^'^o^"''ea<l"  Ataulphus." 

15a  ...   2.  for  "439"  read  "  4'J9." 

168.  ...   19.  from  bottom,  the  final  e  has  fallen  out  from  the  word 

"  degree." 

184.  ...   11.  for  "  Siegebert"  read  "  Siegbert." 
203.         in  the  head-line,  the  folio  is  wrongly  put  "  303." 

217.  ...  3.  from  bottom,  7, „,  „  .o„„  _„   ,  «ro^» 
oii  ..  Hor      o2o     read      533. 

234.         at  the  end  of  chapter  head,  "  a.  d.  561 — 613."  should  have 

been  inserted. 
275.   ...  4.  and  18.  for  "  Ormouz"  read  "  Hormouz." 
27&    ...   16.  for  "  A.  D.  610—643"  read  "  a.d.  610—642." 


HISTORY 


FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

VALUE  OF  HISTORY  AS  ILLUSTRATIVE  OF  THE  MORAL  AND  POLITICAL 

SCIENCES. DIFFICULTY  AND    IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    STUDY   OF 

THOSE    SCIENCES.  PERIOD    OF     HISTORY    EMBRACED    BY     THE 

FOLLOWING  WORK; THE  STRUGGLES  BETWEEN  THE  BARBA- 
RIANS AND  THE  ROMANS,  THE  FINAL  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE 
EMPIRE   OF  THE   WEST,  AND  THE   SUCCEEDING  DARK  AGES,  DOWN 

TO  THE  COJIMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. EXTENT, 

MAGNIFICENCE,     AND      WEAKNESS     OF     THE     ROMAN    EMPIRE. 

FRONTIER  LINE  OF  THE  ROMAN  TERRITORY  FROM  THE  TIME 
OF  AUGUSTUS  TO  THAT  OF  CONSTANTINE.  —  WHAT  IT  INCLUDED. 
DIVISION  OF  THE  EMPIRE  INTO  FOUR  TR^TORIAL  PREFECT- 
URES.  ENUMERATION   OF  PROVINCES. EXTERNAL  GRANDEUR 

CONTRASTED    WITH    INTERNAL    DECAY.  WANT    OF    NATIONAL 

UNITY.  STATE    OF    THE    POPULATION.  ENORJIOUS    WEALTH 

OF  THE  SENATORIAL  CLASS.  JIISERABLE  AND  AliJECT  CON- 
DITION OF  THE  PEASANTilY  AND  SLAVES.  DECLINE  OF  PO- 
PULATION.  ENTIRE  DEUASEMENT  OF  THE    ROMAN  CHARACTER. 

Among  the  studies  calculated  to  elevate  the  heart,  or  to 
enlighten  the  mind,  few  can  be  classed  above  that  of 
history,  when  it  is  considered,  not  as  a  barren  catalogue 
of  incidents,  persons,  and  dates,  but  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  great  s)stcm  of  moral  and  political  science  ;  as 
the  collection  of  all  the  facts  and  experiments  which 
tend  to  throw  light  on  the  theory  of  the  public  weal. 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  FALL  OF  THE  KOMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  I. 

The  social  instinct,  the  need  of  combination,  is  a 
■necessary  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  man  ;  of  his 
inability  to  resist,  by  his  own  unaided  force,  all  the 
sufferings  and  the  dangers  by  which  he  is  perpetually 
surrounded.  He  unites  with  his  fellow  men  to  obtain 
from  them  that  assistance  which  he  offers  to  them  in 
return;  he  seeks  from  them  a  defence  against  the  infirm- 
ities of  infancy,  old  age,  and  disease  ;  he  asks  their  co- 
operation in  repelling  the  hostile  powers  of  nature;  in 
protecting  the  efforts  made  by  each  for  his  own  well- 
being  ;  in  securing  the  enjoyment  of  the  property  he 
has  acquired,  the  leisure  he  has  earned,  and  the  use  he 
makes  of  that  leisure  for  the  developement  of  his  moral 
existence.  Two  objects  perfectly  distinct  present  them- 
selves to  his  mind  as  soon  as  he  is  capable  of  reflecting; 
first,  the  satisfaction  and  happiness  he  can  enjoy  with 
the  faculties  with  which  he  feels  himself  endowed  ; 
secondly,  the  improvement  of  those  faculties,  and  his 
progress  towards  a  more  perfect  state  of  being.  He 
seeks  not  only  to  be  happy  ;  he  seeks  to  render  himself 
worthy  of  happiness  of  a  more  exalted  nature.  Hap- 
piness and  virtue  are  the  twofold  end,  —  first,  of  aU  the 
individual  efforts  of  man  ;  secondly,  of  all  his  combined 
efforts.  He  seeks  in  his  family,  in  his  class,  in  his 
country,  the  means  of  making  this  twofold  progress  ; 
nor  can  any  association  completely  fulfil  his  wishes, 
unless  it  place  these  means  within  his  reach. 

The  theory  of  these  associations,  that  theory  of  uni- 
versal utility,  is  what  has  sometimes  been  designated 
as  the  social  science  ;  sometimes  denoted  by  the  name 
of  the  moral  and  political  sciences. 

Considered  in  its  full  extension,  moral  science  em- 
braces all  that  human  society  can  effect  for  the  ge- 
neral advantage,  and  for  the  moral  developement  of 
man  :  considered  in  its  various  branches,  we  may 
number  among  moral  and  political  sciences,  constitu- 
tional polity,  legislation,  the  science  of  administration, 
political  economy,  the  science  of  war  and  of  national 
defence,  the  science  of  education,  and,  lastly,  the  most 


CHAP.   r.       IMPORTANCK    OP    MORAL    SCIENCES.  3 

profound  and  important  of  all,  that  of  the  moral  edu- 
cation of  the  mature  man  —  religion. 

Wiih  all  these  sciences,  some  of  them  of  a  specu- 
lative nature,  history  isinseparably  connected,  as  forming 
the  practical  part,  the  common  register  of  the  pheno- 
mena and  experiments  of  all  these  sciences.  We  know 
that  the  mere  name  of  politics  suggests  recollections  often 
bitter  or  afflicting  ;  and  that  many  cannot  regard,  with- 
out a  kind  of  terror,  the  study  of  a  science  which,  to 
their  imaginations,  is  characterised  much  more  by  the 
animosities  it  has  engendered  than  by  the  good  it  has 
produced. 

Before,  however,  we  declare  our  aversion  for  political 
science,  let  us  remember  that  such  an  aversion  would 
imply  indifference  to  the  happiness,  the  intelligence, 
and  the  virtue  of  the  human  race. 

On  the  one  hand,  it  is  necessary  to  discover  how  the 
superior  intellectual  powers  and  resources  of  the  few 
can  be  best  employed  for  the  improvement  and  advan- 
tage of  all  ;  how  virtue  can  best  be  honoured,  vice  most 
effectually  discouraged,  and  crime  prevente<l;  how,  even 
in  the  punishment  of  crime,  the  greatest  sum  of  good  can 
be  secured  to  society  with  the  gi-eatest  economy  of  evil. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  important  to  know  how  wealtli 
is  created  and  distributed;  how  the  physical  comforts 
which  that  wealth  procures  can  be  diffused  over  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  persons ;  how  it  may  be  made 
available  to  their  enjoyments; — questions  intimately 
affecting  not  only  the  common  weal,  but  the  domestic 
comfort  and  prosperity;  the  happiness  of  the  interior  of 
every  house  and  of  every  family.  After  such  a  survey  of 
the  topics  lying  witliin  the  domain  of  political  science, 
wiio  will  dare  to  say  that  he  detests  it?  who  will  dare  to 
say  that  he  despises  it? 

But  is  this  science,  important  as  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  in  its  aim,  this  science  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  all  that  is  most  noble  in  the  destiny  of 
man,  is  it  as  unerring  as  it  is  important  and  elevated ? 
Does  it  really  lead  us  to  that  goal  to  wliicli  it  affects  to 
B  2 


4  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  1. 

direct  our  efforts?  Are  its  principles  established  in 
such  a  manner  that  they  can  never  be  shaken  ?  We 
must  confess  that  this  is  very  far  from  being  the  case. 
Social  science  is  divided  into  a  great  number  of  branches, 
each  of  -which  amply  suffices  to  occupy  the  life  of 
the  most  studious  man.  But  there  is  not  one  of  these 
branches  in  which  rival  sects  have  not  sprung  up ; 
in  which  they  do  not  contest  the  first  principles  on 
which  all  their  doctrines  are  founded.  In  speculative 
politics,  liberals  and  serviles  dispute  the  fundamental 
basis  of  society.  In  legislation,  the  schools  of  law  have 
not  been  less  opposed  to  each  other  ;  the  one  always 
looks  to  what  has  been,  the  other,  to  what  ought  to 
be ;  and  in  the  countries  which  have  adopted  the 
Roman  law,  as  well  as  in  those  which  assume  custom 
as  the  groundwork  of  their  legislation,  these  two  parties 
are  in  open  hostility.  In  political  economy,  contradic- 
tory doctrines  are  maintained  with  equal  warmth  as  to 
the  very  basis  of  the  science  ;  and  the  two  contending 
parties  are  not  yet  got  beyond  the  question,  whether  the 
increase  of  production,  or  of  population,  be  always  a 
good,  or  whether  they  be  sometimes  an  evil.  In  the 
theory  of  education,  all  the  means  of  diflfusing  instruc- 
tion, nay,  the  advantage  of  instruction  itself,  are  still 
disputed  points  ;  and  there  are  still  persons  to  be  found 
who  recommend  ignorance  as  the  surest  guardian  of  the 
virtue  and  the  happiness  of  the  mass  of  mankind.  The 
most  sublime  of  social  sciences,  the  most  beneficent 
(when  it  attains  its  end),  —  religion,  is  also  the  most 
fruitful  of  controversy  and  debate  ;  and  the  hostile  sects 
too  often  transform  a  bond  of  peace  and  love  into  a 
weapon  of  aggression  and  hostility.  Never,  perhaps, 
were  principles  more  continually  and  warmly  appealed 
to,  in  all  the  social  sciences,  than  in  this  age ;  never 
were  principles  more  misunderstood ;  never  was  it 
more  impossible  to  enounce  a  single  one  with  the  hope 
of  its  obtaining  universal  assent. 

This  is  not  the  case  witli  regard  to  the  other  subjects 
cf  our  knowledge  :  physical  facts,  and  the  first  princi- 


CHAP.  I.       IMPORTANCE    OF    MORAL    SCIENCES.  O 

pies  which  are  deduced  from  them,  are  universally  es- 
tablished and  recognised.  In  what  are  called  the 
natural  sciences,  we  proceed  from  proof  to  proof ;  and 
if  some  long  admitted  explanatory  theory  is  sometimes 
contested,  the  greater  part  of  the  discoveries  in  the  field 
of  physics  are  not  the  less  safe  from  all  controversy. 
In  fact,  in  the  moral  sciences,  our  doubts  are  far  less  di- 
rected against  the  forms  of  argumentation,  than  against 
the  facts  from  which  we  affect  to  draw  our  conclusions. 
Among  these  facts  there  is  scarcely  one  sufficiently 
firmly  established  to  serve  as  a  groundwork  for  prin- 
ciples. This  is  easily  accounted  for,  if  we  consider, 
that  in  the  physical  sciences  the  facts  are  scientific  ex- 
periments made  with  a  definite  purpose,  and  circum- 
scribed by  that  purpose :  whereas,  in  the  moral  and 
political  sciences,  the  facts  are  the  independent  and 
infinitely  varied  actions  of  human  beings. 

Ought  we,  however,  to  suffer  ourselves  to  be  utterly 
discouraged  by  the  afflicting  uncertainty  which  hangs 
about  every  part  of  moral  and  political  science  ?  Ought 
we,  because  truth  has  not  yet  been  demonstrated,  to  re- 
nounce the  search  after  it  ?  Ought  we  to  abandon  all 
hope  of  finding  it  .^  Were  we  even  to  wish  it,  we 
could  not.  These  sciences  are  of  such  daily  appli- 
cation to  the  events  and  objects  of  life,  that  we  cannot 
set  a  step  without  recurring  to  their  aid.  We  may 
renounce  the  search  after  speculative  truth,  but  we 
cannot  cease  to  act.  Since,  however,  every  one  of  our 
actions  reacts  on  our  fellow  men,  every  one  ought  to  be 
regulated  by  the  grand  laws  of  human  association — by 
those  very  moral  and  political  sciences  which  some 
persons  affect  to  despise. 

When  the  astronomers  of  antiquity  placed  the  earth 
in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  maile  the  sun  rise  and 
the  firmament  revolve  around  it,  their  error  could  only 
extend  to  pajier  spheres  ;  the  celestial  bodies  moved  on 
their  glorious  course,  undisturbed  by  the  systems  of 
Ptolemy  or  of  Tycho  Brahe.  Galileo  himself,  when 
compelled  by  the  holy  office  to  abjure  his  subUme  theory, 
B  3 


6  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  I. 

could  not  help  exclaiming,  " Eppur  si  miiove!"  The 
inquisition  might  stop  the  progress  of  the  human  mind, 
hut  could  not  arrest  the  revolution  of  the  earth.  But 
even  were  the  study  of  the  moral  and  political  sciences 
utterly  prohibited,  their  practice  could  not  be  suspended 
for  a  single  moment.  There  are  nations  in  which  the 
theory  of  government  has  never  formed  a  subject  of  re- 
flection or  of  discussion  ;  but  have  they  therefore  found 
it  possible  to  dispense  with  all  government  ?  No  :  they 
have  adopted  at  random  some  one  of  the  systems  which 
they  ought  to  have  chosen  after  mature  deliberation. 
Whether  in  Morocco  or  in  Athens,  in  Venice  or  in  Uri,  at 
Constantinople  or  at  London,  men  have,  doubtless,  always 
desired  that  their  governments  should  facilitate  their  way 
to  virtue  and  to  happiness.  All  have  the  same  end  in 
view,  and  all  act.  jVIust  they  act  without  regard  to  this 
end  ?  Must  they  walk  without  endeavouring  to  ascertain 
whether  they  advance  or  recede  ?  It  is  impossible  to 
propose  to  any  sovereign,  or  to  any  council,  measures 
whether  political,  military,  administrative,  financial,  or 
religious,  from  which  good  or  evil  will  not  result  to 
masses  of  men ;  which,  consequently,  ought  not  to  be 
judged  in  accordance  with  social  science.  Determin- 
ations the  most  multifold,  the  most  important,  must  be 
made  in  one  direction  or  another  ;  —  is  it  necessary  they 
should  always  be  made  blindfold }  And  if  we  prefer 
what  we  have,  if  we  resolve  to  stop  where  we  are,  that 
also  is  just  as  much  choice  as  the  contrary  line  of  action. 
Must  we  then  always  choose  without  knowing  why  we 
choose.^  The  social  sciences  are  obscure — let  us  then 
seek  to  throw  light  upon  them  :  they  are  uncertain — let 
us  endeavour  to  fix  them:  they  are  speculative  —  let 
us  try  to  establish  them  on  experience.  This  is  our 
duty  as  men — the  law  which  ought  to  regulate  all  our 
conduct  —  the  principle  of  the  good  or  the  evil  we  may 
do :  indifference  on  such  questions  is  a  crime. 

In  order  to  carry  the  social  sciences  to  their  utmost 
extent,  it  is  unquestionably  necessary  to  divide  them  ; 
to  direct  the  whole  force  of  a  speculative  mind  to  one 


CHAP.  I.  VALUE    OF    HISTORY.  7 

single  branch,  as  the  only  means  of  pushing  the  know- 
ledge of  details  and  the  concatenation  or  sequence  of 
principles,  as  far  as  human  infirmity  will  permit.  A 
man  who  sincerely  desires  the  advancement  of  the  science 
to  which  he  mainly  addicts  himself,  must  content  him- 
self with  excellence  in  that  science  ;  —  be  it  the  science 
of  government,  of  jurisprudence^  of  political  economy, 
of  morals,  or  of  education.  But  since  all  men  are  sub- 
ject 10  the  operation  of  the  social  sciences  ;  since  all,  in 
turn,  exercise  some  influence  over  their  fellow  men  ; 
since  all  judge  and  are  judged,  it  is  of  importance  that 
all  should  arrive  at  certain  general  residts  :  it  is  of  im- 
portance that  all  should  understand  and  appreciate  the 
consequences  of  human  institutions  and  human  actions. 
These  consequences  are  to  be  found  in  history. 

History  is  the  general  storehouse  of  the  experiments 
which  have  been  made  in  all  the  social  sciences.  Un- 
questionably, the  physical  sciences  —  chemistry,  agri- 
culture, medicine,  are  experimental ;  so  are  legislation, 
political  economy,  finance,  war,  education,  religion.  Ex- 
perience alone  can  teach  us  how  far  what  has  been  in- 
vented to  serve,  to  unite,  to  defend,  to  enlighten  human 
society,  to  raise  the  moral  dignity  of  man,  or  to  augment 
his  enjoyments,  has  attained  its  end,  or  has  produced  a 
contrary  effect. 

But  there  remains  an  important  difference.  In  the 
))hysical  sciences  we  muJiK  experiments  ;  in  the  moral 
and  political,  we  can  only  wait  and  watch  for  them. 
Via  must  take  them  such  as  they  have  been  furnished 
to  us  by  past  ages  ;  we  can  neither  choose  nor  direct 
them  ;  for  an  abortive  experiment  involves  destruction 
to  the  virtue  and  the  happiness  of  our  fellow  men  ;  and 
not  of  a  few  individuals  only,  but  of  thousands  or  mil- 
lions of  men.  We  know  of  but  one  example  of  a  pro- 
ject for  the  advancement  of  political  science  by  means 
of  experiments,  undertaken  with  the  express  aim,  not 
of  the  interests  of  the  governed,  but  of  the  instruction 
of  the  governors. 

About  the  year  2()0  of  the  Christian  era,   tlie  em- 


b  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EBIPIRE.  CHAP.  I. 

peror  Gallienus,  one  of  those  in  the  long  line  of  Caesars 
who,  perhaps,  by  his  indolence  and  his  levity,  con- 
tributed the  most  to  the  ruin  of  the  Roman  empire, 
took  it  into  his  head  that  he  was  a  philosopher ;  and  of 
course  found  the  high  opinion  he  had  formed  of  his 
taste  and  aptitude  for  science  amply  confirmed  by  the 
testimony  of  his  courtiers :  he  accordingly  resolved  to 
select  certain  cities  of  the  empire  as  experimental  com- 
munities, to  be  submitted  to  the  various  forms  of  go- 
vernment and  polity  invented  by  philosophers,  with  a 
view  to  the  increase  of  the  sum  of  human  happiness. 
In  one,  the  philosopher  Plotinus  was  commissioned  to 
organise  a  republic  on  Plato's  model.  Meanwhile  the 
barbarians  advanced  ;  the  thoughtless  Gallienus  opposed 
no  resistance;  and  they  successively  devastated  all  the 
countries  in  which  the  experimental  cities  were  to  be 
founded.      Thus  vanished  this  imperial  dream. 

Unquestionably  no  man  has  a  right  thus  to  make 
human  beings  the  subject  of  experiment ;  yet  a  Roman 
emperor  might  be  nearly  sure  that  any  theory  of  any 
philosopher  would  be  better  than  the  practice  of  his 
pretorian  prefects,  or  his  governors  ;  and  we  have  reason 
to  regret  that  Gallienus's  singular  project  was  aban- 
doned. But  for  all,  save  a  Roman  emperor,  the  expe- 
rimental study  of  the  social  sciences  can  be  made  in  the 
past  alone  ;  there,  the  results  of  all  institutions  stand 
disclosed  before  us,  though  unhappily  so  complicated, 
so  embarrassed  in  each  other,  that  neither  causes  nor 
effects  present  themselves  distinctly  to  our  eyes.  Ge- 
nerally, they  are  severed  by  a  long  interval  of  time  ;  we 
must  look  back  several  generations  for  the  origin  of  the 
opinions,  the  passions,  the  weaknesses,  the  consequences 
of  which  become  manifest  after  the  lapse  of  ages. 

Often,  too,  these  long-existing  causes  have  been  in- 
adequately observed,  and  many  are  veiled  in  darkness 
which  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  penetrate.  But  the 
main  source  of  the  confusion  and  uncertainty  which 
hang  around  moral  or  political  science  is,  that  several 
causes  always  concur  to  produce  one  effect ;  that,  fre- 


CHAP.   I.  VALUE    OF    HISTORY.  [) 

quently,  it  is  even  necessary  to  seek  in  another  branch 
of  political  science  the  origin  of  a  phenomenon  which 
presents  itself  to  us  in  the  one  which  presently  engages 
our  attention.  We  are  struck  by  the  tactics  of  the  Ro- 
mans ;  but  perhaps  it  is  rather  to  the  education  they 
received  from  their  earliest  infancy,  than  to  the  per- 
fection of  military  science,  that  we  ouglit  to  ascribe  their 
success  in  war.  "\V^e  wish  to  adopt  the  English  trial  by 
jury;  perhaps  it  will  be  found  to  be  devoid  of  equity  or 
of  independence,  if  it  be  not  supported  by  the  religious 
opinion  of  the  country.  We  talk  of  the  fidelity  of  the 
Austrians  to  their  government ;  perhaps  their  attach- 
ment is  not  to  the  government,  but  to  the  economical 
laws  which  are  in  force  among  them.  We  ought  not, 
therefore,  to  be  surprised  if  the  social  sciences  are  in  a 
backward  state;  if  their  principles  are  uncertain;  if  they 
do  not  offer  a  single  question  which  has  not  been  the 
subject  of  controversy.  They  are  sciences  of  fact,  and 
there  is  not  a  single  one  of  the  facts  on  which  they  are 
founded  which  some  one  is  not  disposed  to  deny.  They 
are  sciences  of  observation  ;  and  how  few  are  the  accu- 
rate or  complete  observations  which  have  as  yet  been 
collected  for  the  purposes  of  induction.  We  ought  rather 
to  be  surprised  that  men  should  hate  and  insult  each 
other  for  what  they  understand  so  imperfectly.  There 
is,  perhaps,  not  one  denomination  of  a  sect,  whether  in 
politics,  philosophy,  or  religion,  which  has  not,  at  some 
time  or  other,  become  a  term  of  reproach.  There  has 
not  been  one  opinion,  of  the  many  held  on  subjects  so 
difficult,  so  complicated,  by  men  who  had  no  other  end 
in  view  than  the  gooil  of  their  species,  which  has  not  in 
turn  been  anathematised,  and  the  profession  of  it  treated 
as  evidence  of  dishonesty  and  vice.  Poor  apprentices 
as  we  are  in  the  theory  of  social  existence,  how  dare  we 
to  affirm  that  the  adoption  of  this  or  that  principle 
proves  a  corrupt  heart,  when  we  camiot  even  demonstrate 
that  it  shows  an  error  of  judgment?  Let  us  study: 
thus  only  shall  we  learn  the  extent  of  our  ignorance. 
Let  us  study ;  and  by  learning  to  appreciate  the  difficul- 


10  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  I. 

ties,  we  shall  learn  to  conceive  how  they  may  have  given 
birth  to  systems  the  most  widely  opposed. 

History,  however  profoundly  studied,  will  still,  per- 
haps, leave  us  in  doubt  as  to  the  rules  which  ought  to 
regulate  our  own  conduct,  or  our  share  in  the  general 
conduct  of  society,  of  which  we  are  members  ;  but  it 
will  leave  us  none  as  to  the  boundless  indulgence  we  owe 
to  the  opinions  of  other  men.  "W^hen  we  see  that  science 
is  so  complicated  ;  that  truth  is  so  far  removed  from  us, 
so  shrouded  from  our  ken ;  that  every  step  in  our  work 
offers  fresh  difficulties  to  our  investigation,  raises  fresh 
questions  for  solution  ;  when  we  are  not  sure  of  our 
own  footing,  how  shall  we  pronounce  sentence  on  those 
who  differ  from  us  ? 

Our  purpose  in  the  following  work  is  not  to  establish 
any  particular  system;  not  to  maintain  or  to  demolish  any 
set  of  opinions,  principles,  or  institutions  ;  but  honestly 
to  demand  of  the  past  an  account  of  what  has  existed, 
and  of  the  causes  which  have  combined  to  bring  it  into 
existence.  The  portion  of  history  of  which  we  shall 
endeavour  to  give  a  rapid  sketch  is,  indeed,  more  rich 
in  instructive  warnings  than  in  glorious  examples. 

In  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  the 
known  world  was  united  under  an  almost  universal 
monarchy,  and  seemed  to  have  Avithin  its  reach  all  the 
fruits  of  the  highest  civilisation  to  which  antiquity  had 
attained.  Commencing  our  researches  at  this  period, 
we  shall  endeavour  to  point  out  the  germs  of  destruction 
which  this  immense  body  contained  within  itself.  We 
shall  then  give  a  brief  view  of  the  mighty  struggle  be- 
tween the  barbarians  and  the  Romans,  and  shall  show 
the  empire  of  the  West  crumbling  to  pieces  under 
reiterated  strokes.  The  barbarians  then  endeavoured  to 
reconstruct  what  they  had  destroyed.  The  Merovingian 
Franks,  the  Saracens,  the  Carlovingian  Franks,  and  the 
Saxons,  laboured  in  turn  at  the  establishment  of  a  uni- 
versal monarchy.  Their  efforts  contributed  still  farther 
to  the  dissolution  of  the  ancient  order  of  society,  and 
buried  civilisation  under   the  ruins.     The  empires  of 


CHAP.    I.       PERIOD    OP    HISTORY    TREATED    OF.  11 

Dagobert,  of  the  Khalifs,  of  Charlemagne,  and  of  Otho 
the  Great,  fell  in  succession  before  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century.  These  great  convulsions  at  length  destroyed 
the  tendency  which  mankind  seemed  to  have  preserved 
toward  the  reconstruction  of  a  universal  monarchy. 
At  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  human  society  had 
resolved  itself  into  its  primary  elements — associations  of 
citizens  in  towns  and  cities.  AV'e  shall  take  our  stand 
at  the  year  1000,  on  the  dust  of  the  successive  empires 
of  antiquity.  That  is  the  true  epoch  whence  modern 
history  ought  to  date. 

The  period  of  barbarism  and  destruction  which  we 
design  to  examine  is  little  generally  known.  The 
greater  number  of  readers  hasten  to  turn  their  eyes 
from  so  dark  and  troubled  a  picture ;  nor,  through  its 
whole  duration,  does  it  afford  a  single  author  worthy  to 
be  placed  on  the  same  rank  with  the  great  writers  of 
antiquity.  The  confusion  of  facts;  our  incurable  ig- 
norance concerning  a  great  number  of  details,  concern- 
ing some  entire  periods,  concerning  many  of  the  causes 
which  gave  rise  to  the  most  important  revolutions  ;  the 
absence  of  philosophy,  often  of  good  sense,  in  those 
who  relate  events  ;  the  enormous  number  of  crimes  by 
which  this  period  is  deformed,  and  the  extremity  of 
wretchedness  to  which  the  human  race  was  reduced, 
unquestionably  detract  much  from  the  interest  which 
its  history  might  otherwise  excite.  These  circumstances 
ought  not,  however,  to  deter  us  from  endeavouring  to 
obtain  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  it. 

Indeed,  the  period  which  it  is  our  intention  to  consi- 
der is  much  more  nearly  allied  to  our  own  than  that 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  study  with  the  greatest 
ardour.  It  is  nearer  to  us,  not  only  in  the  order  of 
dates,  but  also  in  that  of  interests.  We  are  the  chil- 
dren of  the  men  whose  history  and  character  we  are  about 
to  exannne  :  we  are  not  the  descendants  of  the  Greeks 
or  of  the  llomans.  A\'ith  them  arose  the  tongues  we 
speak;  the  laws  which  we  have  obeyed,  or  whose  autho- 
rity we  still  acknowledge;  the  opinions,   the  prejudices. 


12  FALIi    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAF.  I. 

more  powerful  than  laws,  before  which  we  bow,  and 
which  will,  perhaps,  retain  their  dominion  over  our 
latest  posterity.  The  nations  and  tribes  who  will 
pass  in  review  before  us,  professed  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  but  in  this  respect  the  difference  is  far  more 
striking  than  the  resemblance.  The  centuries  which 
elapsed  from  the  fourth  to  the  tenth  are  those  in  which 
the  church  was  the  most  deeply  affected  by  the  fatal  influ- 
ences of  ignorance,  of  increasing  barbarism,  and  of 
worldly  ambition.  In  them  we  can  hardly  trace  a  ves- 
tige of  the  plire  religion  we  now  profess.  The  direc- 
tion given  to  the  education  of  youth,  the  study  of  a 
language  then  expiring  and  now  no  longer  in  existence, 
and  of  the  master-works  it  contained,  date  from  the 
same  epoch  ;  as  do  also  the  establishment  of  various 
universities  and  schools,  which  keep  alive  in  Europe  the 
spirit  of  past  ages.  Lastly,  it  was  at  that  period  that 
the  states  of  modern  Europe,  many  of  which  stiU  subsist, 
were  constructed  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  empire. 
We  are  about  to  watch  the  birth  of  the  nations  to  which 
we  are  bound  by  the  various  ties  of  blood  and  interest. 

The  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  in  the  West  is  the 
first  spectacle  that  presents  itself  to  us,  and  is  pregnant 
with  instruction.  Nations  or  tribes  which  have  at- 
tained to  a  like  degree  of  civiUsation  perceive  that  a 
certain  kindred  subsists  between  them.  The  life  of 
a  private  citizen  in  the  time  of  Constantine  or  of  Theodo- 
sius  has  a  greater  resemblance  to  our  own  than  that  of 
our  barbarous  ancestors  of  Germany,  or  than  that  of  those 
virtuous  and  austere  citizens  of  the  republics  of  Greece 
and  Italy,  whose  works  we  admire,  but  of  whose  man- 
ners we  have  a  very  imperfect  knowledge.  It  is  only 
by  acquiring  an  accurate  conception  of  the  resemblance 
and  the  difference  between  the  organisation  of  the  em- 
pire and  that  of  modern  Europe,  that  we  can  venture 
to  foretel  whether  the  calamities  by  which  the  former 
was  destroyed,  menace  us  with  ruin. 

The  mere  name  of  the  Roman  empire  calls  up  in  our 
minds  every  image  of  grandeur,  power,  and  magnifi- 


CHAP.  I.     BOUNDARIES    OF    THE    ROMAN     EMPIRE.  13 

cence.  By  a  very  natural  confusion  of  ideas,  we  bring 
together  the  most  remote,  and  often  dissimilar  times,  to 
concentrate  around  it  a  halo  of  splendour  and  glory. 
The  Roman  republic  had  produced  men  who,  in  moral 
dignity  and  force,  were,  perhaps,  never  surpassed  on 
earth.  They  had  transmitted  their  names,  if  not  their 
virtues,  to  their  descendants ;  and  even  to  the  very 
close  of  the  empire,  the  men  who,  sunk  in  slavery  and 
baseness,  still  called  themselves  Roman  citizens,  seemed 
to  live  in  the  midst  of  their  shades,  and  to  be  encom- 
passed by  the  atmosphere  of  their  glory.  The  laws 
had  changed  their  spirit ;  but  the  changes  had  been  slow, 
and  scarcely  perceptible  to  the  people  :  the  manners  were 
no  longer  the  same;  but  the  memory  of  the  antique  virtue 
of  Rome  still  survived.  The  literature  had  been  preserved 
with  tlie  language  ;  and  it  established  a  community  of 
opinions,  of  emotions,  of  prejudices,  between  the  Ro- 
mans of  the  time  of  Claudian  and  the  contemporaries 
of  Virgil.  The  magistrates  and  officers  of  tlie  state 
had,  generally  speaking,  preserved  their  ancient  names 
and  insignia,  although  their  power  had  fled.  And 
nine  hundred  years  after  the  institution  of  the  consulates, 
the  people  of  Rome  still  respected  the  fasces  of  the  lie- 
tors,  Avho  preceded  the  consul,  habited  in  the  purple  of 
his  office. 

From  the  time  of  Augustus  to  that  of  Constantine 
the  world  of  Rome  was  bounded  by  nearly  the  same 
frontiers.  The  god  Terminus  had  not  yet  learned  to  re- 
cede, and  still  guarded  the  ancient  boundaries,  as  in  the 
days  of  the  republic.  To  this  there  was  but  one  ex- 
ception. Dacia,  conquered  by  Trajan,  lying  to  the 
north  of  the  Danube,  and  without  tbe  natural  limits  of 
the  empire,  was  abandoned,  after  being  held  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half.  Rut  tlie  aggressive  warfare  which 
the  Romans  of  the  first  century  were  continually  push- 
ing beyond  their  frontiers,  was,  in  the  fourth,  almost 
invariably  retaliated  upon  them  within  their  own  terri- 
tory by  the  barbarians  wliom  they  had  formerly 
attacked.     The  emperors  could    no   longer  defend  the 


14         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  I. 

provinces  which  they  still  affected  to  rule ;  and  they 
frequently  saw,  without  regret,  valiant  enemies  become 
their  guests,  and  occupy  the  desert  regions  of  their 
empire. 

This  fixedness  of  the  boundaries  of  the  territory 
subject  to  Rome,  was  in  part  to  be  ascribed  to  the  saga- 
city with  which,  at  the  period  of  her  highest  power, 
her  leaders  had  voluntarily  stopped  short  in  the  career 
of  conquest,  at  the  point  where  they  found  the  best  mi- 
litary frontier.  Great  rivers,  which  afford  little  obstacle 
to  the  armies  of  civilised  nations,  are  generally  a  barrier 
against  the  incursions  of  barbarians  ;  and  great  rivers, 
the  sea,  mountains,  deserts,  formed,  in  fact,  natural 
frontiers  to  this  immense  empire. 

According  to  a  vague  calculation,  it  has  been  asserted 
that  the  Roman  territory  measured  six  hundred  leagues 
from  north  to  south,  upwards  of  a  thousand  from  east 
to  west,  and  extended  over  a  surface  of  a  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  square  leagues.  But  the  idea  conveyed 
by  numbers  is  too  abstract  to  leave  any  distinct  picture 
on  the  mind.  We  shall  understand  more  clearly  the 
immense  extent  of  its  possessions  in  the  richest  and 
most  fertile  countries  in  the  world,  by  following  the  line 
of  its  frontiers.  On  the  north,  the  empire  was  bounded 
by  the  wall  of  the  Caledonians  or  Picts,  the  Rhine,  the 
Danube,  and  the  Black  Sea.  The  Picts'  wall,  which 
transected  Scotland  at  its  narrowest  point,  left  the  Ro- 
mans in  possession  of  the  Lowlands  of  that  country, 
and  of  the  whole  of  England.  The  Rhine  and  the 
Danube,  which  rise  at  nearly  the  same  point,  and  take 
their  course,  the  one  to  the  west,  the  other  to  the  east, 
separated  barbaric  from  civilised  Europe.  The  Rhine 
formed  the  frontier  of  Gaul,  which  then  comprised 
Helvetia  and  Belgium.  The  Danube  covered  the  two 
great  peninsulas  of  Italy  and  lUyricum.  It  divided 
countries,  some  of  which  are  now  regarded  as  Ger- 
manic, others  as  Slavonic.  On  its  right  bank  the  Ro- 
mans possessed  Rhsetia, Noricum,  Pannonia,  and  Mcesia: 
which  answer  pretty  nearly  to  Suabia,  Bavaria,  part  of 


CHAP.  I.        BOUNDARIES    OP    THE    ROMAN    E5IPIRE.         15 

Austria  and  of  Hungary,  and  Bulgaria.  The  narrow 
space  between  the  sources  of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine, 
above  Basel,  was  defended  by  a  line  of  fortifications. 
The  Black  Sea  protected  Asia  Minor.  To  the  north 
and  east,  a  few  Greek  colonies  preserved  a  doubtful  sort 
of  independence,  under  the  protection  of  the  empire. 
A  Greek  prince  reigned  at  CafFa,  on  the  Cimmerian 
Bosphorus.  Greek  colonies  in  the  countries  of  Lazica 
or  Colchis  were  alternately  subject  or  tributary.  The 
Romans  possessed  the  whole  southern  bank  of  the  Black 
Sea,  from  the  mouths  of  the  Danube  to  Trebisond. 

On  the  east,  the  empire  was  bounded  by  the  moun- 
tains of  Armenia,  by  a  part  of  the  course  of  the 
Euphrates,  and  by  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  One  of  the 
loftiest  mountain-ranges  of  the  globe,  the  Cauca- 
sian, stretching  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Caspian, 
touching  Thibet  at  one  extremity,  and  at  the  other  the 
mountains  of  the  centre  of  Asia  Minor,  separated  the 
Scythians  of  Upper  Asia  from  the  Persians  and  the 
Romans.  The  wildest  part  of  these  mountains  belonged 
to  the  Iberians,  who  maintained  their  independence. 
The  part  the  most  susceptible  of  cultivation  was  inhabited 
by  the  Armenians,  who  submitted  alternately  to  the 
yoke  of  the  Romans,  the  Parthians,  and  the  Persians, 
but  as  tributaries  rather  than  as  subjects.  The  Tigris 
and  the  Euphrates,  which  rise  in  the  Armenian  moun- 
tains, and  empty  themselves  into  the  Persian  Gulf, 
flowed  through  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia.  Along 
the  whole  of  this  part  of  the  eastern  boundary,  down 
to  the  sandy  deserts  which,  farther  to  the  south,  divide 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  from  the  fertile  hills  of 
Syria,  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  had  not  been  traced 
by  the  hand  of  nature  ;  and  we  accordingly  see  the  two 
great  monarchies  of  the  Romans  and  of  the  Parthians, 
or  their  successors,  the  Persians,  alternately  wresting 
from  each  other  several  of  the  provinces  of  Armenia  or 
of  Mesopotamia.  The  deserts  of  Arabia  formed  the 
defence  of  Syria  along  a  line  of  two  hundred  leagues, 
while  the  Red  Sea  bounded  Egypt. 


16 


FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE. 


To  the  south,  the  deserts  of  Libya  and  Zahara ;  to 
the  west,  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  were  at  once  the  limits 
of  the  Roman  empire  and  of  the  habitable  globe. 

Having  traced  the  frontier  line  of  the  empire,  we  will 
pause  for  a  moment  over  the  catalogue  of  the  provinces 
of  which  it  consisted.  About  the  year  292,  Diocletian 
had  divided  it  into  four  pretorian  prefectures,  with  a 
view  to  provide  better  for  its  defence,  by  giving  it  four 
heads  or  leaders.  These  prefectures  were  Gaul,  II- 
lyricum,  Italy,  and  the  East.  The  residence  of  the  pre- 
fect of  Gaul  was  at  Treves.  He  had  under  his  orders 
the  three  vicars  of  the  Gallic  provinces,  Spain,  and 
Britain.  The  former  were  divided,  according  to  the 
ancient  language  of  the  inhabitants,  into  Narbonese, 
Aquitanian,  Celtic,  Belgic,  and  Germanic  Gaul.  Spain 
was  divided  into  three  provinces,  Lusitania,  Bfetica,  and 
Tarraconia.  Lastly,  Britain  comprehended  the  whole 
island,  as  far  north  as  the  Friths  of  Forth  and  Clyde. 

The  Illyrian  prefecture  consisted  of  that  immense 
triangle  of  which  the  Danube  is  the  base,  and  the 
Adriatic  and  the  ^gean  and  Euxine  seas  the  two  sides. 
It  comprehended  nearly  the  whole  existing  empire  of 
Austria,  and  the  whole  of  Turkey  in  Europe.  It  was 
divided  into  the  provinces  of  Rhatia,  Noricum,  and  Pan- 
nonia ;  Dalmatia,  IMoesia,  Thrace,  jNIacedonia,  and 
Greece.  The  prefect  resided  at  Sirmium,  not  far  from 
Belgrade  and  from  the  Danube,  or  at  Thessalonica. 

The  prefecture  of  Italy  included,  besides  that  pro- 
vince whence  the  conquerors  of  the  world  had  sprung, 
the  whole  of  Africa,  from  the  western  frontiers  of  Egypt 
to  the  present  empire  of  Morocco.  The  provinces  bore 
the  names  of  Libya,  Africa,  Numidia,  Csesarian  JMauri- 
tania,  and  Tingitanian  Mauritania.  Rome  and  Milan 
were  alternately  the  residence  of  the  prefect  of  Italy, 
but  Carthage  was  the  capital  of  all  the  African  pro- 
vinces. It  equalled  Rome  in  population  as  well  as  in 
magnificence  ;  and  in  the  time  of  their  prcsperity,  the 
African  provinces  alone  w'ere  more  than  equal  to  three 
times  the  territory  of  France. 


/ 


CHAP.  I.       AnCHITECTURE    OF    ANCIENT    ROME.  17 

The  prefecture  of  the  East,  bounded  by  the  Black 
Sea,  the  kingdom  of  Persia,  and  the  Desert,  was  yet 
more  extensive,  more  wealthy,  and  more  populous  than 
either  of  the  others.  It  contained  the  provinces  of 
Asia  Minor,  Bithynia,  and  Pontus ;  Cilicia,  Syria, 
Phoenicia,  and  Palestine;  Egypt,  with  a  part  of  Col- 
chis, of  Armenia,  of  Mesopotamia,  and  of  Arabia. 
The  residence  of  the  prefect  was  at  Antioch,  but  several 
other  capitals,  particularly  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  almost 
rivalled  that  city  in  population  and  in  wealth. 

The  imagination  is  confounded  by  this  enumeration 
of  the  provinces  of  Rome  ;  by  the  comparison  of  them 
with  any  existing  empires  ;  and  our  astonishment  is 
heightened  when  we  call  to  mind  the  vast  and  splendid 
cities  by  which  each  of  these  provinces  was  adorned  ; 
cities,  several  of  which  equalled,  if  they  did  not  sur- 
pass, our  largest  capitals  in  population  and  in  opulence; 
cities  such  as  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Carthage,  within 
whose  walls  a  whole  nation  seemed  enclosed.  The  Gallic 
provinces  alone  numbered  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
towns  distinguished  by  the  name  of  cities.  The  ruins 
of  some  are  yet  standing,  and  surpass  all  those  of  mo- 
dern times  in  magnificence. 

The  aspect  of  these  ruins  still  excites  our  admiration, 
even  when  we  meet  with  them  in  provinces  where  they 
are  not  associated  with  any  glorious  recollections.  At 
Nismes  we  behold  the  Mai.son  cari'ce,  the  Arense,  the 
Pont  du  Gard,  with  reverential  emotion.  'W'ith  the 
same  feelings  Ave  visit  the  remains  of  Roman  grandeur 
at  Aries  and  Narbonne :  yet  what  do  we  find  there, 
except  models  of  art  ?  No  great  historical  recollections 
arc  attached  to  them  :  these  noble  edifices  were  raised 
at  a  time  when  Rome  had  lost  its  liberty,  its  virtues, 
and  its  glory.  A\'hen  wo  succeed  in  fixing  the  date  of 
their  construction,  we  find  it  during  the  reign  of  em- 
perors whose  names  have  been  handed  down  to  the  ex- 
ecration of  all  successive  generations. 

Nevertheless,  these  monuments,  even  in  the  most 
remote  provinces,  the  most  obscure  cities,  still  bear  the 

VOL.  I.  0 


18  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  I. 

antique  Roman  stamp  —  the  stamp  of  vastness  and 
magnificence.  Moral  habits  and  impressions  are  some- 
times perpetuated  in  works  of  art,  even  after  they  are 
obliterated  from  the  soul  of  the  artist.  Even  at  the 
atest  ]ieriods  of  the  decline  of  the  empire,  the  Roman 
artist  lived  surrounded  by  the  time-hallowed  witnesses  of 
the  pastj  which  kept  him  in  the  right  path;  he  felt 
himself  compelled  to  work  for  eternity.  He  continued 
to  impress  on  his  creations  that  character  of  power  and 
durability,  which  give  them  a  preeminence  over  all  that 
have  succeeded  them.  The  imposing  architecture  of 
Rome  has  a  strength  and  a  grandeur  which  remind  us  of 
that  of  Upper  Egypt.  It  differs  from  that,  however,  in 
its  object :    the  Egyptians  laboured  only  for  their  gods 

—  the  Romans,  even  during  the  period  of  their  enslave- 
ment, worked  mainly  for  the  people.  All  their  great  edi- 
fices were  evidently  intended  for  the  enjoyment  of  all. 
In  the  times  of  the  republic,  the  chief  object  was  the 
public  utility,  to  which  the  aqueducts  and  magnificent 
roads  of  that  period  were  destined  to  contribute.  In 
the  days  of  the  empire,  it  was  rather  the  public  plea- 
sure that  was  consulted  :  the  result  was,  circuses  and 
theatres.  Even  in  the  temples,  the  Egyptian  architect 
seems  to  have  thought  only  of  the  presence  of  the  Deity 

—  the  Roman,  of  the  adoration  of  the  people. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  magnificence,  the  empire^ 
whose  fall  we  are  about  to  contemplate,  was  lingering 
in  its  fourth  century  of  incurable  decay.  The  north 
poured  down  upon  it  her  flood  of  warriors.  From  the 
extremity  of  Scandinavia  to  the  frontiers  of  China^ 
nation  after  nation  appeared,  the  new  pressing  upon  the 
older-settled,  crushing  it,  and  marking  its  onivard  pass- 
age with  blood  and  devastation.  The  calamities  which 
afflicted  the  human  race  at  that  period  exceed,  in 
extent  of  desolation,  in  number  of  victims,  in  in- 
tensity of  suffering,  all  that  has  ever  been  presented  to  our 
affrighted  imagination.  We  dare  not  calculate  the  mil- 
lions upon  millions  of  human  beings  who  perished  be- 
fore  the  downfall  of  the   Roman  empire  was  accom- 


CHAP.  I.      LANGUAGES    SPOKEN    IN    THE    EMPIRE.  IQ 

plished.  Yet  its  ruin  was  not  caused  by  the  bar- 
barians :  it  had  long  been  corroded  by  an  internal 
ulcer.  Vai'ious  causes  had,  doubtless,  contributed  to  de- 
stroy, among  the  subjects  of  the  Caesars,  the  patriotism 
of  tlie  people,  the  military  virtues,  the  opulence  of  the 
provinces,  and  the  means  of  resistance.  But  we  shall 
now  confine  ourselves  to  an  endeavour  to  elucidate  those 
which  arose  from  the  state  of  the  population ;  since  upon 
that  must  repose  every  system  of  national  defence. 

That  sentiment  so  pure,  so  elevated,  that  public  vir- 
tue which  sometimes  soars  to  the  highest  pitch  of  hero- 
ism, and  renders  the  citizen  capable  of  the  most  noble 
sacrifices;  that  patriotism  which  had  long  been  the  glory 
and  the  power  of  Rome,  found  no  food  in  the  empire 
of  tlie  world.  An  edict  of  Caracalla  (a.  d.  211-217) 
had  rendered  common  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  em- 
pire, not  only  the  prerogatives,  but  the  titles  and  the 
duties,  of  a  Roman  citizen.  Thus  the  Gaul  and  the 
Briton  were  nominally  the  fellow-citizens  of  the  Mau- 
ritanian  and  the  Syrian  ;  the  Greek  and  the  Egyptian, 
of  the  Spaniard  and  the  Hun.  It  is  evident,  however, 
that  the  more  such  a  faggot  is  enlarged,  tlie  looser  is 
the  tie  that  binds  it.  "WHiat  glory  or  distinction  could 
attach  to  a  prerogative  become  so  common.'^  What 
recollections  could  be  awakened  by  the  name  of  coun- 
try ?  a  name  no  longer  endeared  by  any  local  image,  by 
any  association  of  ideas,  by  any  participation  in  all  that 
had  thrown  radiance  and  glory  around  the  social  body  ? 

Thus  national  recollections,  national  feelings,  were 
obhterated  in  imperial  Rome.  They  were  feebly  re- 
placed by  two  distinctions  between  the  inhabitants  of 
the  empire  ;    that  of  language,  and  that  of  rank. 

Language  is  the  most  powerful  symbol  to  a  nation  of 
its  own  unity  :  it  is  blended  with  every  association  of 
tlie  mind  ;  it  lends  its  colour  to  every  feeling  and  to  every 
thought ;  it  forms  an  indivisible  part  of  our  memory, 
of  all  that  has  made  us  love  life,  of  all  that  has  tauglit 
us  to  know  happiness.  When  it  reveals  to  us  a  fellow- 
countryman  in  the  midst  of  a  strange  people,  it  makes 
c  2 


20         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  I. 

our  heart  beat  with  all  the  emotions  of  home  and  father- 
land. But,  so  far  from  serving  as  a  bond  of  union  be- 
tween the  citizens  of  the  Roman  empire,  language  only 
served  to  sever  them.  A  great  division  between  the 
Greek  and  the  Latin  soon  placed  the  empires  of  the 
East  and  of  the  West  in  opposition.  These  two  tongues, 
which  had  already  shone  in  the  zenith  of  their  literary 
glory,  had  been  adopted  by  the  governments,  by  the 
wealthy  classes,  by  all  who  pretended  to  education,  and 
by  most  of  the  citizens  of  the  great  towns.  Latin  was 
spoken  in  the  Gallic  prefecture,  in  Africa,  Italy, 
and  half  of  the  lUyrian  prefecture,  and  along  the  Da- 
nube ;  Greek,  in  all  the  southern  portion  of  the  Illy- 
rian  prefecture,  and  throughout  the  prefecture  of  the 
East. 

But  the  great  mass  of  the  rural  population,  except  in 
spots  cultivated  exclusively  by_  slaves  brought  from  a 
distance,  had  preserved  its  provincial  language.  Thus, 
Celtic  was  spoken  throughout  Armorica  and  the  island  of 
Britain ;  Illyrian,  in  the  greater  part  of  Illyricum ; 
Syrian,  Coptic,  Armenian,  in  the  several  provinces 
■whence  these  languages  had  taken  their  names.  "VV'here 
the  people  were  the  most  enslaved  and  oppressed,  they 
made  the  greatest  efforts  to  learn  the  language  of  their 
masters  ;  the  latter,  on  the  contrary,  had  to  make  the 
advances,  where  the  people  were  the  most  numerous  and 
strong.  Throughout  the  empire,  however,  there  was 
a  continual  shifting  of  the  population,  from  the  im- 
mense traffic  in  slaves,  from  the  military  service,  and 
from  the  pursuit  of  civil  offices.  Hence  every  province 
presented,  in  the  lower  classes,  the  strangest  mixture  of 
various  patois  and  dialects.  Thus,  in  Gaul,  we  know  that, 
towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  Saxon  was  spoken 
at  Bayeux,  Tartarian  in  the  district  of  Tifauge  in  Poi- 
tou,  Gaelic  at  Vannes,  Alan  at  Orleans,  Frankic  at 
Tournai,  and  Gothic  at  Tours  ;  and  every  century  affords 
a  fresh  combination. 

But  it  is  more  especially  in  the  condition  of  indivi- 
duals, that   we  must  seek   the  causes  of  the   extreme 


CriAP.  I.  rOPULATlOX    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  21 

weakness  of  the  Roman  empire.  We  may  distinguish 
six  classes  of  inhabitants.  First,  we  shall  find  senato- 
rial families,  proprietors  of  immense  territories  and 
immense  wealth,  who  had  successively  encroached  on 
the  possessions  of  all  the  smaller  landed  proprietors. 
Secondly,  the  inhabitants  of  large  towns,  a  mixture  of 
artizans  and  freed  slaves,  who  lived  on  the  luxury  of 
the  rich,  and  shared  in  their  corruption  ;  who  made 
themselves  formidable  to  the  government  by  their  re- 
volts,—  never  to  the  enemy  by  their  valour  in  the  field. 
The  inhabitants  of  small  towns,  poor,  despised,  and 
oppressed.  The  husbandmen  and  the  slaves,  who  tilled 
the  fields.  Lastly,  a  sort  of  banditti,  who,  as  a  means 
of  escaping  from  oppression,  betook  themselves  to  the 
woods,  and  lived  a  life  of  brigandage. 

The  higher  classes  of  a  nation  may  impress  upon  the 
government  a  character  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  if  them- 
selves are  wise  and  virtuous ;  but  they  cannot  give  it 
strength,  for  strength  must  ahvays  come  from  the 
mass.  But  in  imperial  Rome  this  mass,  so  varied  in 
its  language,  its  manners,  its  religion,  its  habits  ;  so 
savage  in  the  midst  of  civihsation  ;  so  oppressed  and 
brutified,  was  scarcely  perceived  by  those  who  lived  on 
its  toils:  it  is  hardly  mentioned  by  historians  ;  it  pined 
in  wretchedness,  it  perished  and  disappeared  in  some 
provinces,  while  no  one  condescended  to  notice  its  ex- 
tinction ;  and  it  is  only  by  a  series  of  comparisons  that 
we  can  discover  its  fate.  In  the  present  state  of  Eu- 
rope, the  class  of  husbandmen — those  who  live  by  the 
manual  labour  of  agriculture  —  forms  four  fifths  of  the 
whole  population,  England  alone  excepted.  We  may 
conclude  that,  in  the  Roman  empire,  the  agricultural  po- 
pulation was  proportionally  larger,  since  manufactures 
and  commerce  were  in  a  less  advanced  state  than  with 
us.  But,  whatever  were  their  numbers,  they  formed  no 
part  of  the  nation.  Tliey  were  regarded  as  scarcely 
superior  to  the  domestic  animals  whose  labours  they 
shared.  The  higher  classes  would  have  dreaded  to  liear 
them  pronounce  the  name  of  country  ;  dreaded  to  call 
c  3 


23  FALL    OP    THE    ilOJIAN    EMPIRE.  CIlAP.   I. 

forth  tlieir  moral  or  intellectual  faculties ;  above  all, 
that  courage  which  they  might  have  turned  against  their 
oppressors.  'I'he  peasantry  were  rigorously  deprived  of 
arms,  and  were  incapacitated  from  contributing  to  the 
defence  of  their  country,  or  from  opposing  resistance  to 
any  enemy,  foreign  or  domestic. 

The  rural  population  of  the  empire  was  divided  into 
two  classes,  free  coloni  and  slaves  ;  differing,  however, 
far  more  in  name  than  in  any  positive  rights.  The 
former  cultivated  the  earth  for  certain  fixed  wages, 
generally  paid  in  kind  ;  but,  as  they  were  severed  from 
their  masters  by  an  impassable  distance ;  as  they  were 
immediately  dependent  on  some  favourite  slave  or  free- 
man ;  as  their  complaints  were  unheard,  and  the  law 
afforded  them  no  security,  their  condition  became  more 
and  more  deplorable  ;  the  payment  exacted  from  them 
more  and  more  ruinous  :  and  if,  rendered  desperate  by 
misery,  they  abandoned  their  fields,  their  dwellings, 
their  family,  and  fled  to  take  refuge  under  the  protection 
of  some  other  proprietor,  the  constitutions  of  the 
emperors  had  provided  a  summary  process  by  which  they 
could  be  reclaimed,  and  seized  wherever  they  were 
found.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  free  cultivators 
of  the  soil. 

The  slaves  were  again  subdivided  into  two  classes  ; 
those  who  were  born  on  tbeir  master's  estate, — and  who, 
having  consequently  no  other  place  of  abode,  no  other 
home  or  country,  inspired  a  larger  share  of  confidence, — 
and  those  who  had  been  purchased.  The  former  lived  in 
huts,  in  the  farm-buildings  or  homesteads,  under  the 
eyes  of  their  inspector  or  bailiff,  nearly  like  the  negroes 
on  a  ^Vest  India  estate.  But,  as  their  numbers  were 
continually  decreasing  from  bad  treatment,  from  the 
avarice  of  their  superiors,  from  misery  and  despair,  a 
continual  and  active  trade  was  carried  on  throughout  the 
empire  to  recruit  them  from  among  the  prisoners  of 
war.  The  victories  of  the  Roman  arms,  —  frequently, 
also,  the  conflicts  of  the  barbarians  among  each  other, 
or  the  punishments  inflicted  by  the  emperors  or  their 


CHAP.   I.    DESTRUCTION    OF    SMALIi    mOPRIETORS.  23 

lieutenants  on  revolted  cities  or  provinces,  the  vrhole 
population  of  which  was  sold  under  the  spear  of  the 
prator, — kept  the  market  constantly  supplied  with  slaves; 
but  at  the  expense  of  all  that  would  have  been  the  most 
valuable  part  of  the  population.  These  wretched  beings 
worked  almost  constantly  with  chains  on  their  feet  : 
they  were  worn  down  with  fatigue,  in  order  to  crush 
their  spirit,  and  were  shut  up  nightly  in  subterraneous 
holes. 

The  frightful  sufferings  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
population,  its  bitter  hatred  against  its  oppressors,  pro- 
duced their  natural  consequences  ;  continual  servile  in- 
surrections, plots,  assassinations,  and  poisonings.  In 
vain  did  a  sanguinary  law  condemn  to  death  all  tiie  slaves 
of  a  master  who  had  been  assassinated;  vengeance  and 
despair  multiplied  crime  and  violence.  Those  who  had 
already  satisfied  their  revenge,  those  who  had  failed  in 
their  attempt  to  do  so,  but  over  whose  head  suspicion 
hung,  fled  to  the  forests  and  lived  by  rapine  and  plun- 
der. In  Gaul  and  Spain  they  were  called  Eagauda-,  in 
Asia  Minor  they  were  confounded  with  the  Isauri  ;  in 
Africa  with  the  Gaetuli,  who  pursued  the  same  course  of 
life.  Their  numbers  were  so  considerable,  that  their  at- 
tacks frequently  assumed  the  character  of  civil  war,  rather 
than  of  the  violences  of  a  band  of  robbers.  Tiiey  were 
like  the  Marroons  of  the  West  India  Islands.  By  their 
irruptions  they  aggravated  the  miseries  of  those  who 
were  lately  their  companions  in  misfortune.  AV'hole 
districts,  whole  provinces,  were  successively  abandoned 
by  the  cultivators,  and  forest  and  heath  usurped  the  place 
of  corn  and  pasture. 

The  wealthy  senator  sometimes  obtained  compensation 
for  liis  losses,  or  the  aid  of  the  authorities  in  defence  of 
his  property  ;  but  the  small  land-owner,  who  cuhivated 
his  own  field,  could  not  escape  amid  so  much  violence 
and  outrage.  His  fortune  and  his  life  were  in  continual 
danger.  He  hastened,  therefore,  to  get  rid  of  his  pa- 
trimony at  any  price,  whenever  he  could  find  an  opulent 
neighbour  willing  to  buy  it;  nay,  he  frequently  aban- 
c  4 


24  FAIiL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CIIAP.  1. 

(loned  it  without  any  compensation.  Often  he  was  driven 
from  it  by  fiscal  exactions,  and  the  overwhehning 
weight  of  the  pubhc  charges.  Thus  the  whole  of  this 
independent  class,  among  whom  love  of  country  exists 
in  peculiar  force  and  intensity,  whose  vigorous  arm  is 
best  able  to  defend  the  soil  it  tills,  was  soon  entirely 
extirpated.  The  number  of  proprietors  diminished  to 
such  a  degree,  that  an  opulent  man,  a  man  of  senatorial 
family,  had  often  a  distance  of  ten  leagues  to  traverse 
before  he  could  reach  the  habitation  of  a  neighbour  and 
equal.  Some  of  them,  proprietors  of  whole  provinces, 
were  accordingly  already  regarded  as  petty  sovereigns. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  desolation,  the  existence 
of  large  cities  is  a  phenomenon  not  easily  explained; 
but  we  find  the  same  extraordinary  state  of  things  in 
our  own  times,  in  Barbary,  Turkey,  throughout  the 
East;  —  wherever,  in  short,  despotism  crushes  isolated 
man,  and  where  he  can  only  find  safety  from  outrage  by 
losing  himself  in  a  crowd.  These  great  cities  were, 
in  a  great  measure,  peopled  by  artizans,  Avho  were  sub- 
jected to  a  very  rigorous  yoke ;  and  by  freed-men  and 
slaves ;  but  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  they  also  con- 
tained a  greater  number  of  persons  who  were  satis- 
fied wiih  bare  necessaries,  provided  they  could  pass 
their  time  in  utter  indolence,  than  are  to  be  found  in 
our  days.  The  whole  of  this  population  was,  like 
the  peasantry,  disarmed  ;  was  equally  deprived  of  the 
feeling  of  country,  was  rendered  equally  fearful  of  the 
enemy  ;  equally  incapable  of  self-defence.  But,  as 
it  was  congregated  into  a  mass,  it  commanded  some 
respect  from  those  in  poAver.  In  all  the  cities  of  the 
first  class,  there  were  gratuitous  distributions  of  provi- 
sions, and  gratuitous  games,  chariot  races,  and  theatri- 
cal exhibitions.  The  levity,  the  love  of  pleasure,  the 
forgelfulness  of  the  future,  Avhich  have  always  charac- 
terised the  jJopulace  of  large  cities,  clung  to  the  pro- 
vincial Romans  through  all  the  final  calamities  of  the 
empire.  Treves,  the  capital  of  the  Gallic  prefecture, 
was  not  the  only  city  which  was  surprised  and  pillaged 


CHAP.  I.      DEBASEMENT    OF    ROMAN    CHARACTER.  25 

by  the  barbarians^  while  its  citizens^  crowned  with  chap- 
lets^  were  rapturously  applauding  the  games  of  the 
circus. 

Such  was  the  interior  of  the  empire  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century  ;  such  was  the  population  called 
upon  to  resist  the  universal  invasion  of  the  barbarians, 
who  often  left  them  no  other  choice  than  that  of  dying 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  or  dying  like  slaves  and 
cowards.  And  the  descendants  of  those  haughty  and 
daring  Romans,  the  heirs  of  such  high  renown,  acquired 
by  so  many  virtues,  had  been  so  enfeebled,  so  debased 
and  degraded  by  the  tyranny  to  Avhich  they  had  been 
subjected,  that,  when  this  alternative  was  offered  them, 
they  constantly  preferred  the  death  of  cowards  and 
of  slaves. 


26  FALI,    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE. 


CHAP.  II. 

THREE   FIRST    CENTURIES    OF    THE     ROMAN  EMPIRE.  FROM  THE 

BATTLE  OP  ACTIUM  TO  THE  REIGN  OF  CONSTANTIXE.  UNIN- 
TERRUPTED   PROGRESS    OF    DECAY.  THESE    THREE  CENTURIES 

DIVIDED  INTO  FOUR  PERIODS  :  1.  OF  THE  JULIAN  RACE  ;  2.  OP 
THE   FLAVIAN  ;     3.    OF  THE   SOLDIERS    OF    FORTUNE  ;     4.    OF    THE 

COLLEAGUES,  OR    CO-EMPERORS. STATE  OF   ROME   UNDER  THE 

JULIAN  FA5IILT.  LIMITS  OF  THE  EMPIRE  NEARLY  UN- 
CHANGED.   MILITARY  FORCE. ARTS LITERATURE. DE- 
GRADED STATE   OF  THE   PEOPLE. VIRTUOUS  EMPERORS   OF  THE 

FLAVIAN  RACE. OPULENCE  AND  SPLENDOUR  OF  THE  PRO- 
VINCIAL CITIES.  INCREASING     DISPROPORTION     BETWEEN    THE 

WEALTH  OF  THE   FEW'AND  THE  MISERY  OF  THE  MASS. RAPID 

DIMINUTION     OF     POPULATION.  DIFFICULTY     OF    RECRUITING 

THE   ARMIES.    DEATH    OF    COMMODUS.  COMMENCEMENT  OF 

THIRD   PERIOD.  TYRANNY     AND      RAPACITY   OF     THE     PRjETO- 

RIANS.  CIVIL  WARS.  ASSASSINATIONS.  SUCCESSFUL  IN- 
VASION   OF     BARBARIANS.   JUDICIOUS     MILITARY     ELECTIONS. 

DIOCLETIAN. DIVISION  OF  THE  EMPIRE    BY   HIM  INTO  FOUR. 

PREFECTURES,   GOVERNED   BY  TWO  AUGUSTI  AND  TWO   C.«SARS. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  endeavoured  to  show 
what  was  the  condition,  what  were  the  internal  circum- 
stances, of  the  Roman  empire  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century ;  but,  in  order  to  the  understanding 
of  the  events  which  fohowed,  it  will  be  necessary 
briefly  to  recall  to  the  memory  of  our  readers  by  what 
steps,  by  what  series  of  revolutions,  the  empire  reached 
that  point  of  decline  of  which  we  have  tried  to  convey 
some  idea.  The  space  assigned  to  this  work  will  render 
it  necessary  to  condense  into  one  chapter  three  centuries 
and  a  half  of  the  existence  of  the  civilised  world ;  three 
centuries  and  a  half  prolific  in  great  events  and  in 
great  men,  many  of  whom  have,  probably,  already  a 
powerful  hold  on  the  imagination  of  our  readers.  In  a 
work  professedly  treating  of  the  middle  ages,  it  is  im- 
possible to  trace  the  long  decay  of  the  empire  which 
preceded    the  reign   of   Constantiue,    since   that  reign 


CHAP.   II.  LINE    OF    EBIPERORS.  27 

must  be  the  point  from  which  we  start.  Perhaps, 
however,  by  strongly  marking  the  epochs  of  this  long 
history,  by  classifying  the  events  and  the  princes  which 
give  it  its  character  and  its  direction,  by  thus  reviving 
the  recollections  which  are  associated  in  the  minds  of  our 
readers  with  their  earlier  studies,  we  may  succeed  in 
enabling  them  to  embrace  with  a  glance  the  period 
which  we  must  leave  behind  us,  but  which  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  over  that  which  we  are  about  to 
follow  out  in  greater  detail. 

The  power  of  an  individual  had  been  definitively  es- 
tablished over  the  Roman  world  by  the  victory  which 
Octavius,  better  known  under  the  name  of  Augustus, 
obtained  over  Marc  Anthony  at  Actium,  on  the  second 
of  September  in  the  year  723  of  Rome  —  thirty  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ.  Constantine  the  Great,  with 
whom  we  shall  begin  our  narrative,  was  invested  with 
the  purple  in  Gaul,  a.  d.  306';  but  he  was  not  acknow- 
ledged by  the  whole  empire  until  the  year  323  —  tbree 
hundred  and  fifty-three  years  after  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tium. 

During  this  long  space  of  time,  the  feebleness  and 
exhaustion  of  the  Roman  empire  made  gradual  and 
uninterrupted  progress.  This  empire,  which  had  threat- 
ened the  whole  earth  with  subjugation,  which  had  united 
civilisation  to  extent,  wealth  to  military  virtue,  talents 
to  strength,  advanced  towards  its  downfall,  but  with 
unequal  steps  ;  its  infirmities  were  not  always  the  same, 
and  the  calamities  which  threatened  it  changed  their 
character  and  aspect.  It  suffered  alternately  from  the 
two  extremes  of  the  excess  and  the  dissolution  of  power: 
it  paid  the  penalty  even  of  its  prosperity.  Without  mi- 
nutely following  the  history  of  its  domestic  tyrannies,  or 
its  foreign  wars,  let  us  endeavour  to  trace  this  change 
in  its  character  in  the  series  of  events. 

These  three  centuries  and  a  half  may  be  divided  into 
four  periods,  each  of  which  had  its  peculiar  vices,  its 
characteristic  weaknesses ;  each  of  which  contributed, 
though  in  a  different  manner,    to  the  grand  work  of 


28  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  11. 

destruction  which  was  going  on.  We  shall  designate 
them  after  the  names  or  the  characters  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  empire ;  since  the  whole  power  of  Rome  was  then 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  those  chiefs,  and  they  were  in 
fact  the  sole  representatives  of  that  republic  whose 
name  still  continued  to  be  vainly  invoked.  The  first 
period  is  that  of  the  reign  of  the  Julian  family^  from 
the  year  30  before  Christ,  to  the  year  68  after  his 
nativity.  The  second  is  marked  by  the  reign  of  the 
Flavian  family,  which,  by  its  own  influence,  and  after- 
wards by  adoption,  kept  possession  of  the  throne  from 
the  year  69  to  192.  The  third  is  that  of  the  soldiers 
of  fortune,  who  alternately  wrested  the  sceptre  from 
each  other's  hands,  from  the  year  19~  to  the  year  284. 
The  fourth  is  that  of  the  colleagues  who  divided  the 
sovereignty,  without  dissolving  the  unity  of  the  empire^ 
from  the  year  284  to  the  year  323. 

The  Julian  family  is  that  of  the  dictator  Csesar  ;  his 
name  was  transmitted,  by  adoption,  out  of  the  direct  line, 
but  always  within  the  circle  of  his  kindred,  to  the  five 
first  heads  of  the  Roman  empire ;  Augustus  reigned 
from  the  year  30  b.c.  to  the  year  14  of  our  era; 
Tiberius,  from  14  to  37  a.  d.;  Caligula,  from  37  to  41; 
Claudius,  from  41  to  54;  Nero,  from  54  to  68.  Their 
names  alone,  with  the  exception  of  the  first,  concerning 
■whom  there  still  exists  some  diversity  of  opinion,  recall 
every  thing  that  is  shameful  and  perfidious  in  man, — 
every  thing  that  is  atrocious  in  the  abuse  of  absolute 
power.  Never  had  the  world  been  astounded  by  such 
a  variety  and  enormity  of  crime;  never  had  so  fatal  an 
attack  been  made  on  every  virtue,  every  principle,  which 
men  had  been  accustomed  to  hold  in  reverence.  Out- 
raged nature  seemed  to  deny  to  these  men  the  power  of 
perpetuating  their  race :  not  one  of  them  left  children  ; 
neverless,  the  order  of  succession  among  them  was  legi- 
mate,  according  to  the  meaning  now  given  to  that 
word.  The  first  head  of  that  house  had  been  invested 
with  supreme  power  by  the  sole  depositaries  of  the 
national  authority,  the  senate  and  the  people  of  Rome  ; 


CHAP.   II.  MILITARY    FORCK.  29 

after  him  the  transmission  of  the  sovereignty  was  al- 
ways regular,  conformable  to  the  laws  of  inheritance, 
recognised  by  all  the  several  bodies  of  the  state,  and 
was  not  disputed  by  any  pretender  to  the  crown. 
The  adoptive  son,  occupying  in  every  respect  the  place 
of  the  natural  son,  was  admitted,  without  hesitation  or 
opposition,  to  the  place  of  his  father. 

During  this  period  of  ninety-eight  years,  the  limits 
of  the  Roman  empire  remained  nearly  unchanged,  with 
the  sole  exception  of  the  conquest  of  Great  Britain  in 
the  reign  of  Claudius.  Military  glory  had  overthrown 
the  republic  and  raised  up  the  dictatorship  ;  the  attach- 
ment of  the  soldiery  to  the  memory  of  the  hero  who 
had  led  them  on  to  battle,  had  founded  the  sovereignty 
of  his  family;  but  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  heirs  of  the 
greatest  military  power  which  the  world  had  ever 
known,  distrusted,  while  they  caressed,  this  instrument 
of  their  supremacy :  they  owed  all  their  power  to  the 
army  ;  they  feared  only  the  more  to  owe  their  ruin  to 
it.  They  wanted  the  selfish,  and  not  the  generous,  pas- 
sions of  the  army.  They  dreaded  the  virtuous  enthu- 
siasm which  is  easily  excited  among  large  bodies  of 
men ;  they  took  care  to  economise  both  the  heroism  and 
the  victories  of  their  legions ;  nor  would  tliey  give  them 
leaders  whose  example  or  whose  ap{)robation  they  might 
prefer  to  the  largesses  of  their  emperors.  Augustus  and 
Tiberius  would  not  attempt  what  the  Republic  Avould 
have  accomplished, — what  Charlemagne  eflected  with 
far  inferior  means,  —  the  conquest  and  civilisation  of 
Germany.  They  thought  they  liad  done  enough  when 
they  had  protected  their  territory  with  a  strong  mili- 
tary frontier,  against  neighbours  who  regarded  war  as  a 
virtue  :  they  bequeathed  to  their  successors  all  the  dan- 
gers of  attack  and  invasion. 

At  this  epoch  the  military  force  of  the  Roman  empire 
consisted  of  thirty  legions.  The  complement  of  each, 
including  its  auxiliaries,  levied  from  among  the  allies  of 
Rome,  was  12, .'300  men,  among  whom  were  reckoned 
COOO  men  of  that   admirable  infantry  of  the  hue,  so 


so         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  II. 

heavily  armed,  yet  so  easily  disposable,  which  had 
achieved  the  conquest  of  the  world  :  a  corps  of  Roman 
cavalry,  726"  strong,  was  attached  to  it ;  the  rest  was 
composed  of  auxiliary  troops,  and  wore  the  arms  of  the 
several  countries  which  furnished  them.  In  time  of 
peace,  the  legions  did  not  inhabit  towns  or  fortresses  : 
they  occupied  intrenched  camps  on  the  principal  fron- 
tiers, where  no  civil  occupation  was  ever  suffered  to 
interfere  with  the  great  profession  of  arms ;  where  the 
exercises  imposed  on  the  legionary  soldier,  to  fortify  his 
body  and  keep  him  in  full  activity  and  vigour,  had 
always  war  for  their  object;  and  where  the  severity  of 
discipline  was  never  relaxed.  Three  of  these  legions 
were  stationed  in  Britain,  south  of  the  Caledonian  wall; 
five  in  Rhenish  Gaul ;  eleven  on  the  Danube,  from  its 
source  in  Rhstia  down  to  its  mouth  in  the  Black  Sea ; 
six  in  Syria,  and  two  in  Cappadocia,  for  the  defence  of 
the  Persian  frontier.  The  pacific  provinces  of  P^gypt, 
Africa,  and  Spain,  had  each  but  one  legion.  Italy  and 
the  city  of  Rome,  on  the  tranquilhty  of  which  the  safety 
of  the  emperor  depended,  Avere  kept  in  awe  by  a  body 
of  20,000  soldiers,  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the 
army  by  higher  pay,  by  the  emperor's  peculiar  favour, 
and  by  immunity  for  every  licence.  They  were  called 
the  Prffitorian  Guard  ;  they  were  encamped  without  the 
gates  of  Rome,  and  never  quitted  the  prastorium  or  the 
residence  of  the  emperor.  The  aggregate  of  the  legions 
formed  an  army  of  .^75,000  men.  Including  the  prsse- 
torians,  the  entire  military  establishment  of  the  empire, 
at  its  greatest  power,  never  exceeded  400,000  men. 

The  domination  of  the  Julian  family  was  disastrous 
to  Rome,  to  the  senators,  to  all  men  distinguished  for 
opulence,  for  moral  elevation,  for  ambition,  or  for  at- 
tachment to  the  memory  and  the  fame  of  their  fore- 
fathers ;  disastrous  to  all  the  antique  virtues  of  Rome, 
to  all  noble  sentiments  and  aspirations,  which  it  crushed 
and  stifled  for  ever.  But  the  provinces,  rarely  visited 
by  the  emperors,  never  invaded  by  the  barbarians, 
enjoved  all  the  advantages  of  peace,,  of  an  immense  com- 


CHAP.  II.  STATE    OF    THE    PROVINCES.  SI 

merce,  of  easy  and  safe  communication^  of  laws  generally 
equal  and  just.  In  times  of  which  the  memory  is  al- 
most exclusively  odious  and  shameful  for  the  capital,  the 
population  of  the  recently  acquired  provinces — of  Gaul 
and  Spain,  for  instance,  which  had  been  almost  devast- 
ated or  reduced  to  slavery  at  the  time  of  their  conquest — 
rapidly  recovered  and  increased  in  strength  and  num- 
bers. It  was  at  this  and  the  subsequent  period  that 
most  of  those  stately  cities  which  adorned  the  provinces 
were  built  or  enlarged ;  that  the  arts  of  Rome  and  of 
Greece  were  borne  by  commerce  to  the  ends  of  the 
empire,  and  that  the  monuments  which  still  excite  our 
wonder,  which  throw  a  lustre  over  spots  unconsecrated 
by  any  glorious  recollections,  bridges,  aqueducts,  cir- 
cuses, theatres,  were  undertaken  or  constructed.  The 
subjects  of  Rome  sought  to  drown  all  thought  of  the 
future;  to  forget  crimes  which  did  not  reach  themselves; 
to  sever  themselves  from  a  country  of  whose  chiefs  they 
could  not  think  without  blushing;  to  deter  their  chil- 
dren from  entering  on  any  ])ublic  career,  where  they 
would  be  beset  by  dangers,  and  to  enjoy  the  advantages 
offered  them  by  arts,  opulence  and  leisure. 

Republican  sentiments  were  still  cherished  by  all  the 
men  who  possessed  the  public  confidence  and  esteem. 
We  find  them  in  all  their  pristine  energy  in  the  poet 
Lucan,  in  the  historian  Tacitus,  in  the  jurisconsult 
Antistius  Labeo.  The  name  of  republic,  which  had 
been  preserved ;  the  laws  and  customs  of  ancient  Rome, 
many  of  which  still  subsisted,  rendered  it  impossible  to 
speak  of  the  past  otherwise  than  with  reverence.  Ne- 
vertheless, for  a  century,  during  which  four  execrable 
men  filled  the  throne,  one  of  whom  was  an  idiot,  and 
two  madmen,  not  one  important  battle  was  fought  for 
the  recovery  of  freedom, — no  revolt — no  civil  war.  The 
reason  for  this  is,  that  the  love  of  liberty  was  confined 
to  the  higher  aristocracy.  The  senators  knew  how  to  die 
with  sufficient  courage  to  save  themselves  from  infamy; 
but  they  could  make  no  resistance.  The  ])eople  of  Rome, 
almost  entirely  fed  by  the  largesses  of  the  emperors,  con- 


32  FALL    OP    TfiE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.   II. 

tinually  amused  and  intoxicated  by  shows  and  games, 
looked  on  the  successive  fall  of  the  heads  of  the  illus- 
trious men  they  had  feared  or  envied,  as  another  variety 
of  exhibition  :  the  people  of  the  provinces,  strangers  to 
the  antique  liberty,  perceived  no  difference  between  the 
republic  and  the  empire  ;  the  army,  confounding  fidelity 
to  a  standard  with  the  duty  of  citizens,  and  blind  obe- 
dience with  patriotism,  attached  themselves  to  the  Julian 
family  with  implicit  and  unhesitating  devotion.  The 
excesses  of  the  fury  and  frenzy  of  Nero  at  length  brought 
about  its  fall;  but  its  power  was,  even  then,  so  firmly 
established,  that  it  was  the  attachment  of  the  soldiery 
to  the  extinct  race  of  the  Julii  which  enkindled  the  first 
civil  war  :  they  would  neither  have  the  republic,  nor 
the  emperor  chosen  by  the  senate.  As  no  law  nor  usage 
existed  determining  the  succession  to  the  sovereignty, 
the  supreme  power  was  necessarily  the  prey  of  the 
strongest  or  the  miOst  dextrous.  Each  army  wislied  to 
invest  its  own  chief  with  the  purple.  Galba,  Otho, 
Vitellius,  Vespasian,  and  other  less  fortunate  pretenders, 
struggled  for  supremacy;  but  the  habits  of  subordination 
were  still  so  strong,  that,  after  this  storm,  which  endured 
scarcely  eighteen  months,  every  thing  returned  into  its 
wonted  order  ;  and  the  senate,  the  provinces,  the  armies, 
obeyed  the  conqueror  Vespasian,  as  they  would  have 
obeyed  one  of  Julian  blood. 

We  have  designated  the  second  period  of  the  empire 
by  the  name  of  the  Flavian  family  —  the  family  of  Ves- 
pasian. The  nine  emperors  who  were  successively  in- 
vested with  the  purple,  in  the  space  of  the  123  years 
from  his  accession,  were  not  all,  however,  of  Flavian 
race,  even  by  the  rites  of  adoption,  which  in  Rome  was 
become  a  second  nature  ;  but  the  respect  of  the  world 
for  the  virtues  of  Flavins  Vespasian  induced  them  all 
to  assume  his  name,  and  most  of  them  showed  them- 
selves worthy  of  such  an  affiliation. 

Vespasian  had  been  invested  with  the  purple  at  Alex- 
andria, on  the  1st  of  July,  a.  n.  6"9  :  he  died  in  79- 
His  two  sons  reigned  in  succession  after  him  ;  Titus, 


CHAP.  11.  FLAVIAN    RACE.  03 

from  79  to  81  ;  Domitian,  from  81  to  QG.  The  latter 
having  been  assassinated,  Nerva,  then  an  old  man,  was 
raised  to  the  throne  by  the  senate  (a.  d.  9^ — 98).  He 
adopted  Trajan  (98 — 117)  ;  who  adopted  Adrian  (117 
—  ],'J8).  Adrian  adopted  Antoninus  Pius  (138  — l6l); 
who  adopted  Marcus  Aurelius  (l6l  — 180);  and  Corn- 
modus  succeeded  his  father,  Marcus  Aurelius  (180 — 
192).  No  period  in  history  presents  such  a  succession 
of  good  and  great  men  upon  any  throne  :  two  monsters, 
Domitian  and  Commodus,  interrupt  and  terminate  it  ; 
the  virtues  of  their  fathers  could  not  save  them  from 
the  corrupting  effect  of  an  education  received  at  the  foot 
of  a  throne.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the  natural 
succession  gave  but  one  single  virtuous  man  to  the  em- 
pire of  the  world; — Titus,  surnamed  the  delight  of  man- 
kind ;  whose  short  reign,  hoAvever,  hardly  afforded  a 
sufficient  trial  of  his  character.  All  the  others  were 
called  to  the  throne  by  a  glorious  election,  sanctioned 
by  the  rites  of  adoption,  by  which  the  prince  consulted 
the  public  voice,  and  voluntarily  transmitted  his  sceptre 
to  the  most  worthy. 

History  throws  little  light  on  this  period.  Abroad, 
the  enterprises  of  the  Romans  were  confined  to  some 
wars  against  the  Parthians,  which  produced  no  per- 
manent change  in  the  frontiers  of  the  two  empires  ;  to 
the  wars  of  Trajan  beyond  the  Danube  (a.  n.  102 — 
107),  in  which  he  conquered  Dacia,  now  Wallachia 
and  Transylvania  ;  and  to  the  wars  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
against  the  Quadi  and  the  Marcomanni,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded in  forming  a  confederation  of  the  whole  of  Ger- 
many, for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  Roman  empire. 

Tlie  j)illars  of  Trajan  and  of  Antonine,  which  are 
still  standing  and  covered  with  bas-reliefs,  are  monu- 
ments of  these  two  glorious  expeditions.  At  home,  the 
attention  of  historians  was  exclusively  directed  to  the 
imperial  palace  ;  and  they  had  only  to  commemorate 
the  virtues  of  the  sovereign,  and  the  happiness  of  the 
subjects.  This  happiness,  the  result  of  universal  peace, 
of  equal  protection,  equal  security  for  all,  was,  doubt- 

VOL.  I.  D 


34  FALt,  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  II. 

less,  great,  and  has  been  often  celebrated.  One  symp- 
tom of  it  was  a  fresh  dawn  of  hterature;  feeble,  indeed, 
compared  with  that  of  the  age  which  has  lent  its 
glory  to  the  name  of  Augustus,  though  it  derived  all 
its  splendour  from  men  formed  during  the  latter  years 
of  the  republic.  The  reign  of  Adrian  was  peculiarly 
marked  by  the  flourishing  state  of  art ;  those  of  the 
Antonines,  by  great  ardour  in  the  cultivation  of  phi- 
losophy. Yet  in  these  123  years,  history  records  few  acts 
of  public  virtue,  few  noble  or  distinguished  characters. 

This  was  the  period  at  which,  more  especially,  the 
provincial  cities  attained  the  highest  pitch  of  opulence^ 
and  were  adorned  with  the  most  remarkable  edifices. 
Adrian  had  a  strong  taste  for  the  arts,  and  for  all  the 
enjoyments  of  life;  he  was  continually  travelling  through 
the  provinces  of  his  vast  empire ;  he  excited  emulation 
among  the  several  large  cities  and  the  wealthier  citizens; 
and  he  carried  to  the  farthest  extremities  of  the  Roman 
dominions  that  luxury  and  taste  for  decoration  which^ 
before  his  time,  was  the  exclusive  distinction  of  those 
magnificent  cities  Avhich  seemed  the  depositories  of  the 
civilisation  of  the  world. 

But  it  was  during  this  same  period  that  peace  and 
prosperity  fostered  the  colossal  growth  of  a  few  fortunes; 
of  those  latifundia,  or  vast  domains,  which,  according 
to  Pliny  the  elder,  were  the  destruction  of  Italy  and  of 
the  empire.  A  single  proprietor  gradually  became  pos- 
sessed of  provinces  which  had  furnished  the  republic 
with  the  occasion  of  decreeing  more  than  one  triumph 
to  its  generals.  While  he  amassed  wealth  so  dispro- 
portionate to  the  wants  of  a  single  man,  he  cleared  all 
the  country  he  got  within  his  grasp,  of  that  numerous 
and  respectable  class  of  independent  cultivators,  hitherto 
so  happy  in  their  mediocrity.  Where  thousands  of  free 
citizens  had  formerly  been  found  ready  to  defend  the 
soil  they  tilled  with  their  own  hands,  nothing  was  to  be 
seen  but  slaves.  Even  this  miserable  population  rapidly- 
diminished,  because  its  labour  was  too  expensive ;  and 
the  proprietor  found  it  answer  better  to  turn  his  land 


CHAP.  II.  DECLINE    OF .  POPULATION.  35 

into  pasture.  The  fertile  fields  of  Italy  ceased  to  supply 
food  for  their  inhabitants  ;  the  provisioning  of  Rome 
depended  on  fleets,  which  brought  corn  from  Sicily, 
from  Egypt,  and  from  Africa  :  from  the  capital  to  the 
uttermost  provinces,  depopulation  followed  in  the  train 
of  overgrown  wealth  ;  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  this 
universal  prosperity,  before  a  single  barbarian  had  crossed 
the  frontiers  of  the  empire,  that  the  difficulty  of  recruit- 
ing the  legions  began  to  be  felt.  In  the  war  against 
the  Quadi  and  the  Marcomanni,  which  was  preceded  by 
so  long  a  peace,  Marcus  Aurelius  was  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  enrolling  the  slaves  and  the  robbers  of 
Rome.  The  frontier  provinces,  those  most  exposed  to 
the  attacks  of  the  barbarians,  those  which  suffered  the 
most  from  the  presence  and  the  military  vexations  of  the 
legions,  did  not  suffer  so  much  from  the  rapid  decline 
of  population,  and  of  the  warlike  virtues,  as  the  more 
wealthy  provinces  of  the  interior.  The  levies  of  troops 
were  no  longer  made  in  Rome;  they  were  raised  almost 
exclusively  in  northern  Gaul,  and  along  the  right  bank 
of  the  Danube.  This  long  Illyrian  frontier,  in  par- 
ticular, for  more  than  two  centuries  preserved  the  repu- 
tation of  furnishing  more  soldiers  to  the  empire  than 
all  the  rest  of  the  provinces  combined.  This  border 
country  had  offered  little  temptation  to  the  cupidity  of 
Roman  senators  :  they  cared  not  to  have  their  property 
in  a  province  constantly  harassed  by  the  enemy.  The 
land  which  the  senators  would  not  buy,  remained  in  the 
possession  of  its  old  proprietors ;  there,  consequently,  a 
population,  numerous,  free,  robust,  and  hardy,  still 
maintained  itself.  It  long  furnished  the  army  with 
soldiers ;   it  soon  supplied  it  with  chiefs. 

History,  which,  during  the  whole  of  this  period, 
rarely  fixes  our  attention  on  any  individual,  has,  how- 
ever, celebrated  the  virtues,  and  still  more  the  mu- 
nificence, of  a  subject  of  the  Antonines,  IlerodcsAtticus, 
consul  in  the  year  143.  He  lived  almost  constantly  at 
Athens,  in  philosophical  retirement.  Several  of  the 
monuments  with  wliich  he  adorned  the  cities  situated 
V  2 


36  FALL    OF    THE    ROiMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.  II. 

in  the  midst  of  his  immense  domains,  are  still  standing  ; 
they  give  us  some  idea,  not  only  of  the  liberality,  but 
of  the  wealth  of  a  Roman  of  that  period :  and  every 
province  contained  some  citizen  who  resembled  Herod 
n  magnificence.  Adrian  appointed  him  prefect  of  the 
free  cities  of  Asia.  He  obtained  from  that  emperor 
a  grant  of  3,000,000  drachmie  (100,000/.)  for  the 
construction  of  an  aqueduct  at  the  city  of  Troy  ;  but, 
to  render  it  more  magnificent,  he  doubled  the  sum  from 
his  own  private  fortune.  At  Athens,  where  he  presided 
over  the  public  games,  he  built  a  stadium  of  white 
marble,  600  feet  in  length,  and  of  sufficient  size  to  con- 
tain the  whole  body  of  the  people.  Shortly  afterwards, 
having  lost  his  wife  Regilla,  he  consecrated  to  her  me- 
mory a  theatre  which  was  unmatched  through  the  whole 
extent  of  the  empire.  The  only  timber  used  was  cedar, 
which  was  exquisitely  carved.  The  Odeon,  built  in 
the  time  of  Pericles,  had  fallen  into  ruin :  Herodes 
Atticus  rebuilt  it,  at  his  own  cost,  in  all  its  ancient 
splendour.  Greece  was  likewise  indebted  to  him  for 
the  restoration  of  the  temple  of  Neptune,  in  the  isthmus 
of  Corinth;  for  the  construction  of  a  theatre  at  Corinth; 
for  a  stadium  at  Delphi ;  a  bath  at  Thermopylae ;  and 
Italy  for  an  aqueduct  at  Canusium.  Many  other  cities  of 
Epirus,  Thessalia,  Eubcea,  Boeotia,  and  Peloponnesus, 
were  likewise  adorned  through  his  liberality.  We  can- 
not refuse  the  tribute  of  praise  due  to  this  illustrious 
citizen,  but  we  must  pity  the  country  where  such  for- 
tunes can  be  accumulated;  where  one  man  of  enormous 
wealth,  and  tliousands  of  dependent  slaves,  must  have 
taken  the  place  of  millions  of  men,  free,  happy,  and 
virtuous. 

The  tyranny  of  Commodus,  the  last  of  the  Flavii,  his 
vices  and  his  abominations,  were  punished  by  the  do- 
mestic assassination  which  delivered  the  world  of  a 
monster.  But  with  his  death  (December  31.  192) 
commenced  the  third  and  most  calamitous  period ;  that 
which  we  have  characterised  as  the  period  of  upstarts — 
soldiers  of  fortune,  who  usurped  the  imperial  power. 


CHAP.   n.  ELECTION    OP    EMPERORS.  3J 

It  lasted  ninety-two  years,  A.  d.  192 — 284.  During 
that  time  thirty-two  emperors,  and  twenty-seven  pre- 
tenders to  the  empire,  alternately  hurled  each  other  from 
the  throne  by  incessant  civil  warfare.  It  was  during 
this  period  that  we  find  the  praetorians  putting  the 
sovereignty  of  the  world  to  auction  ;  the  legions  of  the 
East  and  of  the  West  disputing  the  fatal  honour  of  de- 
corating with  the  purple  the  chiefs  who  soon  perished  by 
assassination  ;  men  taken  from  the  lowest  ranks  of  so- 
ciety, without  genius,  without  education,  raised  by  the 
brutal  caprice  of  their  comrades  above  all  that  the  world 
had  been  accustomed  to  hold  in  reverence.  Such  was 
the  Moor  Macrinus,  who,  in  217,  succeeded  to  Cara- 
calla,  whom  he  had  caused  to  be  assassinated.  Such 
was  the  Goth  Maximin,  distinguished  only  by  his 
gigantic  stature,  his  ignorance,  his  strength,  and  his 
brutality  ;  who  was,  in  like  manner,  the  assassin  and 
the  successor  of  Alexander  Severus.  (a.  d.  255.)  Such 
was  the  Arab  Philip,  a  robber  by  education  and  pro- 
fession, and  raised  to  the  throne  by  the  murder  of 
Gordian. 

When  an  absolute  monarch  is  hurled  from  the  throne 
in  consequence  of  his  tyranny,  and  dies  without  na- 
tural heirs,  there  exists  neither  law  nor  public  opinion 
according  to  which  the  transmission  of  power  may 
be  regulated  :  there  is  no  authority  generally  recognised 
as  legitimate.  Force  alone  decides  ;  and  what  force 
has  raised,  force  is  just  as  likely  to  overthrow.  Des- 
potism, therefore,  gives  a  character  of  greater  distrust 
and  greater  cruelty  to  civil  war,  and  to  those  who  di- 
rect it ;  since  it  eradicates  every  feeling  of  duty  which 
might  serve  as  a  protection  to  themselves  or  to  their 
adversaries.  Ninety-two  years  of  nearly  incessant 
civil  war  taught  the  world  on  what  a  frail  and  unstable 
foundation  the  virtue  of  the  Antonines  had  reared 
the  felicity  of  the  empire.  The  people  took  no  share 
whatever  in  these  intestine  wars  ;  the  sovereignty  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  legions,  and  they  <lis- 
posed  of  it  at  their  pleasure  ;  while  the  cities,  indifferent 
»  3 


38  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  H. 

to  the  claims  of  tlie  pretenders,  having  neither  gar- 
risons, fortifications,  nor  armed  population,  awaited  the 
decision  of  the  legions  without  a  thought  of  resistance. 
Yet  their  helpless  and  despicable  neutrality  did  not 
save  them  from  the  ferocity  or  the  rapacity  of  the  com- 
batants, who  wanted  other  enemies  than  soldiers,  richer 
plunder  than  that  of  a  camp ;  and  the  slightest  mark  of 
favour  shown  by  a  city  to  one  pretender  to  the  empire, 
was  avenged  by  his  successful  competitor  by  military 
executions,  and  often  by  the  sale  of  the  whole  body  of 
the  citizens  as  slaves. 

The  very  soldiers  were  sometimes  weary  of  their  own 
tyranny.  They  had  not  a  single  Roman  sentiment  ;  no 
memory  of  liberty  or  of  the  republic ;  no  reverence  for 
the  senate  or  for  the  laws.  Their  sole  notion  of  legiti- 
mate government  was  the  inheritance  of  power ;  but, 
during  this  disastrous  period,  every  attempt  to  return  to 
the  principle  of  hereditary  succession  was  calamitous. 
To  that,  the  empire  owed  the  ferocity  of  Caracalla,  son 
of  Septimius  Severus  (a.d.  211 — 217);  the  pollution  of 
HeUogabalus,  his  nephew  (a.d. 218 — 222);  and  the  in- 
capacity of  Gallienus,  son  of  Valerius  (a.d. 253 — 26S). 
The  name  of  Gallienus  is  associated  with  the  shameful 
period  in  Avhich  Rome,  heretofore  the  terror  of  the  bar- 
barians, began  to  tremble  before  them.  The  legions, 
enfeebled,  and  reduced  to  less  than  6000  men,  had  been 
withdrawn  from  the  frontiers,  and  opposed  to  each 
other  in  continually  renewed  conflicts.  Their  disciphne 
was  utterly  destroyed ;  their  leaders  neither  merited 
nor  obtained  their  confidence.  After  a  defeat,  it  was 
found  impossible  to  recruit  the  army  ;  at  the  moment 
o*f  an  attack  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  they  could 
be  induced  to  march.  The  barbarians,  witnesses  of  this 
anarchy  and  of  these  conflicts,  no  longer  beholding  on 
their  frontiers  those  formidable  camps  of  legions  which 
had  so  long  held  them  in  awe,  as  if  by  common  con- 
sent, made  incursions  at  all  points  at  once,  from  the 
extremities  of  Caledonia  to  those  of  Persia. 

The  Franks,  a  new  confederation  of  Germanic  tribes. 


CHAP.  II.  INCURSIONS    OP    BARBARIANS.  39 

who  had  established  themselves  near  the  mouths  of  the 
Rhine,  ravaged  the  whole  of  Gaul,  Spain,  and  a  part  of 
Africa,  from  the  year  2.53  to  2()"8.  The  Allemanni, 
another  new  confederation,  established  on  the  Upper 
Rhine,  traversed  Rhaetia,  and  advanced  as  far  as  Ra- 
venna, pillaging  Italy  in  their  course.  The  Goths,  after 
driving  the  Romans  out  of  Dacia,  pillaged  Moesia,  mas- 
sacred 100,000  of  the  inhabitants  of  Phihppopolis  in 
Thrace;  then,  spreading  along  the  coasts  of  the  Euxine, 
ventured  upon  this  unknown  sea  in  vessels  they  had 
taken  from  maritime  towns,  plundered  the  cities  of  Col- 
chis and  Asia  Minor,  and  at  length  penetrated,  by  the 
Bosphorus  and  the  Hellespont,  into  Greece,  which  they 
laid  waste  from  one  extremity  to  the  other.  At  the 
same  time,  the  Persians  of  the  new  dynasty  of  the 
Sassanides  menaced  the  East.  Sapor  (or,  according  to 
Persian  pronunciation.  Shah  Poor)  had  conquered  Ar- 
menia. The  emperor  Valerian,  father  and  colleague 
of  Gallienus,  inarched  to  meet  him  in  jMesopotamia. 
He  was  defeated  and  made  prisoner  jn  the  year  260. 
The  Persian  monarch  then  ravaged  Syria,  Cilicia,  and 
Cappadocia  ;  and  his  progress  was  only  arrested  on  the 
confines  of  Arabia,  by  Odenatus,  the  wealthy  senator  of 
Palmyra,  and  his  wife,  the  celebrated  Zenobia. 

This  first  universal  discomfiture  of  the  Roman  arms, 
coming  after  such  unrivalled  power  and  success,  gave 
a  blow  to  the  empire  from  which  it  never  recovered. 
In  all  their  invasions,  the  barbarians  preserved  the  re- 
collection of,  the  long  terrors  and  the  long  resentment 
with  which  the  Romans  had  inspired  them.  Their 
hatred  was  still  too  fresh  and  fervent  to  allow  them  to 
show  any  pity  to  their  vanquislied  foes.  Till  then  they 
had  seen  nothing  of  the  Romans  but  their  soldiers  ;  but 
when  they  suddenly  penetrated  into  the  midst  of  these 
magnificent  and  poj)ulous  cities,  at  first  they  feared 
that  they  should  be  crushed  by  a  multitude  so  superior 
to  their  own ;  but,  when  they  saw  and  understood  the 
cowardice  of  these  enervated  masses,  their  fear  was 
changed  into  the  deepest  scorn.  Their  cruelty  was 
I)  4 


40  FALIi    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.  II. 

in  proportion  to  these  two  sentiments,  and  their  object 
was  rather  destruction  than  conquest.  The  population, 
which  had  been  thinned  by  tlie  operation  of  wealth  and 
luxury,  was  now  further  reduced  by  that  of  poverty. 
The  human  species  seemed  to  vanish  before  the  sword 
of  the  barbarians.  Sometimes  they  massacred  all  the 
inhabitants  of  a  town:  sometimes  they  sent  them  into 
slavery,  far  from  the  country  of  their  birth.  After  such 
calamities,  fresh  fears,  fresh  oppression,  fresh  miseries, 
effectually  checked  the  growth  of  the  population.  Vast 
deserts  formed  themselves  in  the  heart  of  the  empire, 
and  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  of  the  emperors  en- 
deavoured to  entice  new  colonies  to  settle  there. 

The  military  elections,  however,  which  had  brought  the 
empire  into  so  perilous  a  condition,  at  length  furnished 
it  with  defenders.  The  formidable  armed  democracy 
which  had  consulted  only  its  cupidity  or  its  caprice,  in 
investing  its  unworthy  favourites  with  the  purple,  so 
long  as  its  sole  object  was  to  share  the  spoil  of  the 
state ;  when  its  own  safety  was  threatened,  its  own  ex- 
istence compromised,  together  with  that  of  the  empire, 
had  at  least  a  distinct  perception  of  the  sort  of  merit 
which  might  avail  to  save  it.  Without  great  military 
talenrs  it  was  impossible  to  gain  the  esteem  of  the  Ro- 
man army,  even  in  its  decline.  When  the  soldiers 
wanted  great  men,  they  knew  where  to  find  them  ;  and, 
to  keep  the  barbarians  in  check,  they  at  length  made 
elections  which  did  them  honour. 

It  was  the  soldiery  that  elected  Claudius  (a.  d. 
268 — 270),  who  obtained  so  great  a  victory  over  the 
Goths,  and  for  a  time  saved  the  empire ;  Aurelian 
(A.D.27O — 275),  who  re-established  the  unity  of  power, 
and  crushed  all  rival  pretensions  to  the  throne,  which 
had  divided  the  army  and  the  provinces  ;  who  subju- 
gated the  East,  and  led  captive  that  Zenobia  who  had 
carried  Greek  civilisation  to  Palmyra,  and  had  accus- 
tomed Arabs  to  triumph  over  Romans  and  Persians. 
It  was  the  soldiery  that  chose  Tacitus,  whose  virtues 
were  manifest  even  in  a  reign  of  six  months  (a.  d.  275); 


CHAP.  II.       EMPERORS  ELECTED  BY   THE  SOLDIERY.  41 

Probus  (a.  D.  276 — 282),  who  defeated  nearly  all  the 
German  tribes  in  succession,  and  drove  them  out  of 
Gaul  and  the  provinces  of  the  Danube.  Lastly,  it  was 
the  soldiery  who  gave  the  crown  to  Diocletian,  who  put 
an  end  to  this  long  period  of  anarchy.  This  succession 
of  great  captains  sufficiently  proved  that  valour  was  not 
extinct;  that  military  talents  were  still  at  command;  and 
that  the  soldiers,  when  they  really  wished  to  save  the 
state,  were  no  bad  judges  of  the  quahties  demanded  by 
the  public  weal. 

But  such  a  succession  of  invasions  and  civil  wars,  so 
much  suffering,  disorder,  and  crime,  had  brought  the 
empire  into  a  state  of  mortal  languor,  from  which  it 
never  revived.  The  necessities  of  the  state  had  in- 
creased with  its  dangers.  The  impoverished  provinces 
were  compelled  to  double  the  taxes  which  had  been  too 
heavy  for  them  even  in  their  greatest  prosperity  ;  sur- 
vivors were  obliged  to  pay  for  the  dead.  The  distress 
and  despair  which  urged  the  peasantry  to  abandon  their 
land  and  seek  refuge  in  flight,  constantly  increased,  and 
the  deserts  spread  with  frightful  rapidity.  The  wise 
and  victorious  Probus  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
repeopling  his  provinces  with  the  enemies  he  had  sub- 
dued, and  of  recruiting  his  legions  with  captives.  He 
transported  a  colony  of  Vandals  into  England ;  he 
planted  Gepidae  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  ;  Franks  on 
those  of  the  Danube  ;  other  Franks  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
Bastarna;  in  Thrace :  but,  though  he  took  care  to  place 
each  barbarous  nation  at  an  immense  distance  from  its 
home,  with  very  few  exceptions  they  soon  disdained  the 
enjoyments  of  civilised  life  which  were  offered  them, 
and  the  lands  which  were  allotted  to  them  ;  they  re- 
volted, plundered  the  unarmed  natives  of  the  province, 
crossed  the  empire  in  every  direction,  and  at  length 
regained  their  natal  soil.  The  most  daring  of  these 
rebellions  was  that  of  tlie  Franks  settled  on  the  Kuxine. 
They  seized  some  vessels  in  a  port  of  tlie  Black  Sea, 
descended  the  Hellespont,  pillaged  Greece  and  Sicily, 
sailed  through  tlie  Straits  of  CadiZj  and_,  after  laying 


42         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  II. 

waste  the  coast  of  Spain  and  Gaul,  landed  in  Fries- 
land  amid  their  kindred  tribes. 

Probus  had  likewise  required  from  the  Germans  an 
annual  levy  of  6000  recruits,  whom  he  incorporated 
into  the  different  legions.  It  was  his  endeavour,  as 
he  said,  that  the  Roman  should  feel  the  aid  of  the 
barbarian,  but  should  not  see  it.  But  a  disgraceful 
succour  cannot  long  be  concealed.  The  Roman  saw 
that  the  barbarian  was  capable  of  occupying  his  place 
in  the  camp,  and  gladly  threw  aside  his  buckler.  By  a 
scandalous  decree,  Gallienus  had  forbidden  the  senators 
to  serve  in  the  army ;  nor  did  one  of  them,  either 
during  his  reign  or  that  of  his  successors,  ever  protest 
against  this  degrading  exclusion,  though  it  deprived 
them  of  all  share  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs, 
and  of  all  chance  of  ascending  the  throne.  From  that 
time  the  highest  class  of  society  ceased  to  be  respected 
by  others,  or  by  itself.  It  sought  only  to  lose  all 
thought  of  the  evils  which  beset  the  state,  in  vice  and 
dissipation ;  luxury  and  effeminacy  increased  with  the 
public  calamities  ;  and  those  whom  fate  threatened  with 
the  most  intense  sufferings,  sought  no  better  prepara- 
tion for  them  than  in  the  most  shameful  pleasures. 

We  have,  at  length,  come  to  the  fourth  period,  the 
last  of  those  into  which  we  divided  the  history  of  the 
empire  —  that  of  the  colleagues  who  shared  the  sove- 
reignty from  the  year  284  to  the  year  328.  It  is 
shorter  than  those  which  preceded  it,  and  we  shall, 
therefore,  pass  over  it  more  briefly  ;  the  rather,  that  a 
part  of  this  period  wiU  require  our  attention  hereafter. 

Diocletian,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  army 
of  Persia,  on  the  17th  of  September,  284,  was  an  lUy- 
rian  soldier,  whose  parents  were  slaves,  and  who  had 
probably  been  a  slave  liimself  in  his  youth.  This  man, 
whose  own  strength  had  enabled  him  to  ascend  from 
the  most  abject  to  the  highest  station  in  society,  proved 
to  the  world  that  he  was  still  more  distinguished  for  the 
vigour  of  his  genius,  the  prudence  of  his  counsels,  his 
empire  over  his  own  passions  and  over  the  minds  of 


CHAI-.  ir.  DIOCLETIAN.      '  43 

Others,  than  by  his  personal  bravery.  He  felt  that  the 
empire,  decrepicl  and  tottering  on  its  ancient  base,  re- 
quired a  new  form,  a  new  constitution.  Neither  his 
servile  birth,  his  education,  nor  the  examples  he  saw 
around  him,  were  of  a  kind  to  inspire  him  with  much 
esteem  for  men.  He  expected  little  from  them.  He 
did  not  even  appear  to  understand  that  liberty  which 
had  once  inspired  the  Romans  with  such  heroic  valour. 
All  the  recollections  of  the  republic  were  degraded  and 
defaced,  nor  did  he  attempt  to  turn  them  to  any  advan- 
tage :  he  saw  nothing  but  the  danger  of  the  invasion  of 
barbarians ;  he  thought  of  nothing  but  the  means  of 
resistance;  and  he  organised  a  military  government, 
strong,  prompt,  and  energetic.  But  he  reflected  that 
the  head  of  such  a  government  was  placed  by  his  very 
isolation,  by  the  immense  distance  that  severed  him  from 
all  other  men,  in  a  situation  of  peculiar  peril;  and  that 
community  of  interest,  combination  for  mutual  defence, 
was  the  basis  of  all  security.  He,  therefore,  associated 
with  himself  colleagues  in  whom  he  hoped  to  find  de- 
fenders in  time  of  danger,  and  avengers  if  he  fell.  Thus 
he  founded  a  despotism  on  that  balance  of  power  which 
is  the  essence  of  free  government. 

To  this  end  he  traced  that  division  of  the  empire, 
which  we  have  already  described,  into  the  four  great 
prefectures  of  liaul,  lllyricum,  Italy,  and  the  East.  He 
entrusted  the  administration  of  the  two  most  j)eaceful, 
rich,  and  civilised,  Italy  and  the  East,  to  two  Augusti, 
while  two  Cicsars  were  called  to  defend  tJaul  and  lllyri- 
cum. He  oftered  the  two  Csesars,  as  a  definite  and  le- 
gitimate object  of  ambition,  the  succession  of  the  two 
Augusti,  to  whom  they  were  bound  by  rites  of  adoption. 
All  the  armies  being  thus  attached  to  his  system,  and 
commanded  by  liis  colleagues,  he  had  no  longer  to  dread 
revolt.  He  gave  tlieni  a  new  organisation  and  new  names; 
he  strengthened  their  discipline,  while  he  made  some 
concessions  to  the  degeneracy  of  the  age,  by  lightening 
their  armour  and  increasing  the  proportion  of  the 
cavalry  and  hght  infantry  to  the  infantry  of  the  line. 


44         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  II. 

With  these  new  armies  he  drove  the  barbarians  beyond 
th^  frontiers  at  all  points,  and  once  more  rendered  the 
empire  formidable.  Diocletian  reserved  to  himself  the 
government  of  the  East.  He  established  his  court,  not 
at  Antioch,  though  that  was  the  capital  of  the  prefec- 
ture, but  at  Nicomedia  on  the  Propontis,  nearly  oppo- 
site the  spot  on  which  Constantinople  was  afterwards 
built.  He  affected  an  oriental  splendour,  which  was 
neither  in  keeping  with  his  soldier-like  habits,  nor  with 
the  vigour  of  his  mind  and  character.  He  gave  Italy  to 
Augustus  Maximian,  an  lUyrian  peasant  like  himself, 
and  his  old  companion  in  arms,  whom  he  commissioned 
to  humble  the  senate  and  city  of  Rome.  Cassar  Gale- 
rius  was  charged  with  the  government  of  Illyricum,  and 
CfBsar  Constantius  Chlorus  with  that  of  Gaul.  Des- 
potism, which  trains  men  to  regard  all  resistance  as  a 
crime,  or  as  a  dangerous  revolt,  renders  them  cruel  and 
sanguinary.  The  soldier-like  education  of  Diocletian  and 
his  colleagues,  the  rank  whence  they  had  been  elevated, 
the  habit  of  seeing  blood  flow,  increased  this  ferocity. 
The  government  of  the  colleagues  was  stained  with  nu- 
merous executions ;  but  the  character  of  these  acts  of 
violence  was  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  atrocities  of 
the  earlier  Ctesars.  In  Tiberius  and  his  successors,  Ave 
find  that  cruelty  which  is  almost  invariably  united  with 
cowardice  and  effeminacy  ;  in  Diocletian  and  his  col- 
leagues, that  ferocity  v,fhich  the  lower  orders  of  the 
people  often  display  in  their  abuse  of  power.  j\Iaxi- 
mian  and  Galerius  had  preserved  all  the  habits  of  brutal 
and  illiterate  peasants.  Severus  and  Maximin,  Avho 
were  afterwards  joined  to  them  in  power,  were  from 
the  same  class.  Constantius  Chlorus  alone  belonged  to 
a  more  distinguished  family,  and  in  him  we  find  proofs 
of  more  humane  sentiments. 

It  was  much  more  the  indignation  which  all  resist- 
ance, all  independence  of  mind,  excite  in  tyrants,  than 
any  superstitious  prejudice,  that  induced  Diocletian  and 
his  colleagues  to  set  on  foot  a  violent  persecution  of  the 
Christians.     The  new  rehgion  had  spread  in  silence. 


CHAP.  II.        PERSECUTION  OF  THE  CHRISTIANS.  45 

and  had  made  considerable  progress  throughout  the 
Iloman  empire;  though  it  had  hardly  excited  the  atten- 
tion of  the  government,  or  that  of  the  Roman  historians, 
who,  during  the  three  first  centuries,  seem  hardly  to 
have  remarked  its  existence.  It  had  had  no  share  in 
the  revolutions,  no  public  or  political  influence  ;  the 
philosophers  had  not  thought  it  worth  their  while  to 
engage  in  controversies  with  obscure  sectaries.  The 
priests  of  the  ancient  gods  were  doubtless  indignant  at 
seeing  their  altars  neglected  by  a  set  of  men  who  were 
daily  becoming  more  numerous;  but  these  priests  did  not 
form  a  body  in  the  state.  Those  of  each  divinity  thought 
they  had  separate  interests  ;  they  had  little  influence, 
and  small  means  of  injuring.  The  first  persecutions, 
therefore,  as  they  are  called,  were  little  more  than 
random  acts  of  violence,  extending  to  few  victims, 
and  over  a  short  space  of  time.  But  when  brutal  sol- 
diers, impatient  of  all  opposition,  had  been  invested 
with  the  purple,  and  when  order  had  been  sufficiently 
re-established  throughout  the  empire  for  them  to  per- 
ceive all  that  trangressed  the  limits  of  despotism,  they 
were  indignant  at  the  existence  of  a  new  religion,  as  a 
violation  of  uniformity  of  obedience.  They  looked  upon 
it  much  more  as  a  breach  of  discipline,  than  of  piety ; 
and  they  persecuted  the  Christians,  not  as  enemies  to 
their  gods,  but  as  rebels  to  their  own  authority.  The 
more  absolute  they  were,  the  more  exasperated  were  they 
at  that  new  power  of  the  soul  which  rendered  it  insen- 
sible to  pain,  triumphant  in  torture  ;  which  calmly  and 
unresistingly  rose  above  the  reach  of  their  power.  The 
struggle  between  the  fury  of  despotism  and  the  heroism 
of  conviction,  between  executioners  and  martyrs,  is 
worthy  of  eternal  remembrance.  It  endured,  with  little 
interruption,  up  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  period,  or  the 
union  of  the  whole  empire  under  Constantine. 

Diocletian,  as  if  to  secure  the  perpetuity  of  the  sys- 
tem of  goveriunent  of  which  he  was  the  author,  deter- 
mined to  become,  as  it  were,  witness  of  his  own 
succession.       In    his    four-headed    despotism    he    had 


4(5  FALL    OF    THE    ROJIAN    EilPIRE.         CHAP.  11. 

reckoned  on  what  he  had  found  in  liimself  —  the  as- 
cendancy of  superior  genius  over  ordinary  men.  So  long 
as  he  retained  the  purple,  he  was  the  real,  the  only  head 
of  the  government.  AVlien  he  resolved  to  retire  from  the 
world,  and  to  call  the  two  Caesars,  Galerius  and  Con- 
stantius  Chlorus,  to  the  places  of  the  Augusti,  he  had  suf- 
cient  influence  over  his  colleague,  Maximian  (though 
by  no  means  disgusted  with  power)  to  induce  him  to 
lay  aside  the  purple  at  Milan,  on  the  1st  of  May,  305, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  himself  resigned  it  at  Nico- 
media.  ^Vith  a  strength  of  mind  which  absolute  sway 
had  not  enfeebled,  he  confined  himself  for  nine  years 
within  the  narrow  enclosure  of  private  life,  without 
evincing  a  regret ;  and  found  in  the  care  of  his  garden 
at  Salona,  a  serenity  and  content  which  he  had  never 
known  as  emperor.  But,  from  the  time  of  his  retire- 
ment, the  division  of  the  sovereign  power  brought  about 
its  ruin.  During  the  republic,  the  consuls  had  shared 
the  command  of  the  armies  without  jealousy,  because 
both  were  subject  to  a  superior  power  —  that  of  the 
senate  and  the  people.  In  like  manner,  the  colleagues 
of  Diocletian  had  always  felt  that  in  him  alone  resided 
the  whole  majesty  of  ancient  Rome ;  but  as  soon  as 
they  recognised  nothing  above  themselves,  they  thought 
only  of  their  personal  greatness ;  and  the  remainder  of 
the  fourth  period,  as  we  shall  contemplate  it  during  the 
reign  of  Constantine,  was  a  scene  of  perpetual  tumult 
and  intestine  warfare. 


47 


CHAP.  III. 

BARBARIANS     ANTERIOR    TO     THE    FOURTH     CENTURY.  REVIEW 

OF     THE      BARBAROUS      NATIONS      BORDERING     ON      THE     ROMAN 

TERRITORY. 1.    BARBARIANS  OF  AFRICA  J    BEREBERI,   G^TULI, 

MOORS. 2.    OF  ASIA;     ARABS. SPLENDOUR    OF    PALMYRA. 

ZENOBIA. PARTHIAN  EMPIRE.  REVOLT    OF    THE    PERSIANS. 

—  THEIR  IMPERFECT  CIVILISATION.  ARMENIANS.  SCY- 
THIANS,    OR     TARTARS.  THEIR     UNALTERED    CHARACTER. 

WARLIKE  HABITS   OF    NOMADIC   TRIBES. OVERTHROW    OF    THE 

EMPIRE  OF  THE  HUNS  BY  THE  SIENPl,  CAUSE  OF  THEIR  MI- 
GRATION WESTWARD.  ALANS.  TAIFAL^S.  3.  BARBAROUS 

NATIONS  OF  EUROPE. THREE  GREAT  TRIBES,  CELTS,  SLAVO- 
NIANS, GERMANS. EXTENT  OF  TERRITORY,  HABITS,  AND  RELI- 
GION OF  THE  CELTS. SLAVONIC  TRIBES. GERJIANIC  TRIBES. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THEIR  MANNERS  AND  INSTITUTIONS  ON  MO- 
DERN   EUROPE.  THEIR    SUPERIORITY    TO    THE   OTHER   RACES. 

.^CHARACTER    AND     HABITS. ATTACHMENT  TO  FREEDOM. 

POLITICAL     INSTITUTIONS.  KINGS. POPULAR     ASSEMBLIES, 

—  REVERENCE  FOR  WOMEN. RELIGION. 

We  have  endeavoured,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with 
the  narrow  hmits  prescribed  to  us,  to  place  before  our 
readers  the  condition  and  progress  of  that  part  of  the 
human  species  over  which  civilisation  had  been  diffused 
by  the  (ireek  and  Roman  arms.  This  vast  population 
was  subject  to  laws  still  in  force  in  our  own  tribunals  ; 
it  had  begun  to  acknowledge  the  religion  we  still  pro- 
fess ;  it  studied,  and  strove  to  imitate,  the  same  master- 
pieces of  literature  and  art  which  are  still  the  objects 
of  our  highest  admiration  ;  in  the  culture  of  the  mental 
faculties  it  pursued  a  system  from  which  we  have  not 
widely  deviated.  Even  the  manners  of  the  large  cities 
of  the  Roman  empire  had  considerable  resemblance  to 
our  own. 

We  must  now  transfer  our  attention  to  another  im- 
portant portion  of  mankind  ;  —  to  that  which  was  in- 
cluded under  the  common  denomination  of  barbarian  ; 
and  which,  at  a  period  whose  events  we  are  about   to 


48  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    E3[PIRE.        CHAP.   III. 

trace,  utterly  overthrew  that  government  which  the 
civilised  world  had  so  long  obeyed.  From  the  time  of 
this  great  revolution,  a  new  race  of  men  took  possession 
of  the  regions  we  now  inhabit,  bringing  with  them  other 
laws,  other  religious  opinions,  other  manners,  other  notions 
of  the  perfection  of  man,  and,  by  consequence,  of  the 
ends  to  be  sought  in  education.  The  intermixture  of 
the  two  races  was  not  accomplished  till  after  long  suf- 
ferings, nor  without  the  destruction  of  a  great  part  of 
that  progress  towards  improvement  which  mankind  had 
made  during  a  course  of  ages.  It  was,  however,  this 
intermixture  which  made  us  what  we  are  :  we  are  heirs 
of  the  double  inheritance  of  the  Romans  and  the  bar- 
barians ;  we  have  engrafted  the  laws,  institutions,  man- 
ners, and  opinions  of  the  one  race  on  those  of  the 
other.  If  we  would  know  ourselves,  we  must  go  back 
to  the  study  of  our  progenitors ;  of  those  who  transmitted 
to  us  their  culture,  no  less  than  of  those  who  sought  to 
destroy  it. 

It  is  not  our  object  to  pass  in  review  the  various 
tribes  of  the  whole  civilised  world ;  we  shall  confine 
our  attention  to  those  who  came  into  collision  with  the 
Roman  world  ;  who  were  preparing  to  appear  as  actors 
in  the  terrible  drama  we  are  about  to  behold.  We 
shall  have  very  few  names  of  illustrious  individuals, 
very  few  dates,  with  which  to  encumber  the  memory  of 
our  readers.  The  state  of  savage  man  must  be  studied 
as  part  of  the  natural  history  of  the  species  ;  but  it  is 
subject  to  few  diversities,  or  those  diversities  are  of  a 
kind  easily  to  elude  our  observation.  History  begins 
with  civilisation.  So  long  as  man  has  to  struggle  with 
physical  wants,  he  concentrates  his  whole  attention  on 
the  present ;  for  him  there  is  no  past,  no  memory  of 
events,  no  history.  Not  only  the  migrations  of  tribes, 
the  virtues,  the  errors,  or  the  crimes  of  their  leaders, 
are  not  handed  down  from  age  to  age ;  their  internal 
poUcy,  their  manners,  even  at  the  moment  of  their 
coming  in  contact  with  civilised  nations,  are  very  im- 
perfectly,  often   very   unfaithfully,   represented.     The 


CHAP.  III.         BARBARIC    TRIBES    OF    AFRIC^,  49 

barbarians  did  not  describe  themselves  ;  they  have  left 
no  record  of  their  own  sentiments,  or  of  their  own 
thoughts;  and  those  who  have  described  them  saw  them 
through  the  medium  of  their  prejudices.  In  order  to 
introduce  some  arrangement  into  our  remarks  on  the 
barbarous  nations  which  contributed  to  the  overthrow 
of  the  Roman  empire,  we  sball  fohow  the  frontier  hne 
of  that  empire  ;  setting  out  from  the  southern  point, 
and  proceeding  eastward  and  along  the  north.  We  shall 
thus  pass  in  review  the  border  nations  of  Africa,  Asia, 
and  Europe.  We  shall  begin  with  the  nations  which 
exercised  the  least  influence  over  the  destinies  of  Rome, 
and  end  with  the  most  important.  Following  this  order, 
we  find  the  Goetuli,  the  Moors,  the  Arabs,  the  Persians, 
the  Armenians,  tlie  nomadic  or  shepherd  tribes  of 
Tartary,  and  the  three  main  stems  or  races  of  ancient 
Europe,  the  Celtic  or  Keltic,  the  Slavonic,  and  the  Teu- 
tonic or  Germanic. 

The  most  obscure  and  feeble  among  the  neighboui'S 
of  the  empire  were  the  tribes  inhabiting  Africa  south  of 
the  Roman  provinces ;  on  this  frontier,  as  well  as  on 
all  the  others,  tlie  Romans  had  begun  by  imposing  a 
tribute  on  the  border  countries,  in  order  to  keep  their 
kings  in  a  state  of  dependence :  then,  after  accustoming 
them  for  some  time  to  obedience,  they  incorporated  the 
whole  people  with  the  empire.  Caligula  reduced  ]\Iau- 
ritania  to  the  condition  of  a  Roman  province ;  and, 
under  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Claudius,  the  Romans 
founded  colonies  up  to  the  verge  of  the  great  desert. 
(Jne  of  the  most  southerly  of  their  cities,  Salee,  situated 
in  the  present  kingdom  of  Morocco,  was  exposed  to 
frequent  incursions  of  wild  elephants  :  wild  beasts  were, 
indeed,  almost  the  only  enemies  they  had  to  fear  on 
this  frontier  ;  for  the  Roman  power  extended  nearly  as 
far  as  the  habitable  country  :  generals,  and  men  of 
consular  dignity,  had  penetrated  into  all  the  gorges  of 
Mount  Atlas.  Tlie  wandering  troops  of  Berbers,  of 
(iiL'tuIi,  or  of  Moors,  alone  traversed  the  deserts,  as 
merchants  or  as  robbers.     Some  cultivated  the  oases, 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  III. 

which,  watered  by  some  perennial  spring,  rose  like 
verdant  islands  in  the  midst  of  the  sands ;  others,  with 
their  camels  laden  with  ivory,  and  often  with  slaves, 
crossed  the  Zahara,  and  established  a  communication 
between  Nigritia  and  the  Roman  province.  "Without 
fixed  dwelling-places,  without  regular  government,  they 
remained  free  because  they  were  wanderers.  The  Ro- 
mans had  not  conquered  them  because  they  could  not 
conquer  nature.  They  asked  of  them  only  the  ivory 
and  the  citrons  witli  which  their  caravans  were  laden  ; 
the  murex  which  the  GaetuU  gathered  on  their  rocks ; 
the  lions,  tigers,  and  all  the  monsters  of  Libya,  which 
were  taken  at  great  cost  to  Rome  and  the  other  great 
cities  of  the  empire,  for  the  savage  combats  of  the  am- 
phitheatre. A  very  active  trade  penetrated  much  farther 
into  central  Africa  than  that  of  the  Europeans  of  the 
present  day.  Pliny  expresses  his  wonder  that,  although 
so  many  merchants  continually  traversed  these  regions, 
so  many  Roman  magistrates  had  penetrated  as  far  as 
Mount  Atlas  or  the  desert,  he  had  found  it  difficult  to 
collect  any  thing  relating  to  the  country  but  fables. 

But  the  Africans  did  not  always  remain  at  so  re- 
spectful a  distance,  nor  in  so  pacific  an  attitude.  In 
proportion  as  the  oppression  of  magistrates,  the  weight 
of  taxation,  and  the  disasters  of  the  empire,  thinned  the 
population  of  the  Roman  province,  the  Moors  and  the 
Gffituli  poured  down  from  Mount  Atlas,  or  issued  forth 
from  the  desert,  and  drove  their  flocks  and  herds  to 
feed  in  the  neglected  fields.  Constantly  armed,  but  still 
timorous ;  regarding  property  as  an  usurpation,  and  ci- 
vilisation as  a  foe;  professing  no  religion  but  vengeance, 
and  denying  the  right  of  their  enemies  to  exercise  over 
them  a  judicial  restraint  which  they  would  not  tolerate 
from  their  own  chiefs,  they  plundered  the  more  remote 
and  unprotected  lands,  and,  when  they  found  resistance, 
fled.  They  I'egarded  the  punishment  of  their  robberies 
as  a  wrong  and  an  insult  to  their  nation  ;  and  waited 
in  silence  the  opportunity  of  taking  ruthless  revenge. 
Their  depredations  gradually  became  more  formidable. 


CHAP.  III.       BARBAROUS    NATIONS    OP    AFRICA.  51 

and  drove  the  Romans  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  coast. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century,  Mauri- 
tanian  princes  had  begun  to  form  anew  small  tributary 
states  between  Carthage  and  the  desert,  and  civilisation 
had  almost  disappeared  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Atlas 
while  the  people  still  remained  in  a  state  of  subjection. 
Egypt  was  likewise  girt  round  by  savage  tribes, 
who  had  sought  the  freedom  of  the  wilderness  Avithin 
the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  territory.  The  Nasamonian 
Moors  approached  the  western  bank  of  the  Nile,  the 
Arabs  the  eastern  ;  and  the  two  races  were  hard  to  dis- 
tinguish. Abyssinia  and  Nubia,  wdiich,  two  centuries 
later,  were  converted  to  Christianity  by  the  Egyptians, 
had,  at  the  time  we  are  treating  of,  little  communication 
■with  the  Romans.  Egypt  was  by  much  the  most  south- 
erly of  the  Roman  possessions :  one  of  its  largest  cities, 
Syene,  was  situated  under  the  tropic  of  Cancer.  The  pro- 
digious monuments  of  its  early  civilisation,  on  the  origin 
of  which  history  affords  us  no  light,  are  found  mingled 
with  remains  of  Roman  art.  For  the  first  time,  the 
works  of  the  masters  of  the  world  appeared  petty  and 
contemptible  by  the  side  of  temples  whose  construction 
passes  our  comprehension.  Lower  Egypt  had  adopted 
the  language  and  manners  of  Greece  ;  Upper  Egypt 
preserved  the  use  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  tongue — 
the  Coptic  ;  and  the  deserts  of  Thebais  already  con- 
cealed in  their  inhospitable  wastes  a  new  and  strange 
nation  —  a  nation  barbarous  in  aspect  and  in  manners; 
from  which  women  and  the  joys  of  domestic  life  were 
banished ;  perpetuated  only  by  the  misanthropy  or  the 
fanaticism  of  its  neighbours.  St.  Anthony,  an  illiterate 
peasant  of  the  ThebaTs,  had  retired  into  the  desert,  to  a 
distance  of  three  days'  journey  from  the  habitable  coun- 
try, lie  chose  a  spot  where  a  living  spring  supplied 
him  with  drink,  and  depended  on  the  charity  of  his 
neighbours  for  food :  he  lived  more  than  a  century 
(from  A.]),  251,  to  A.  d.  356).  Before  his  death, 
.'3000  monks,  following  his  example,  had  retired  into  the 
deserts  of  Nitria.  They  took  vows  of  poverty,  solitudo 
E  2 


52  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  III. 

prayer,  dirt,  and  ignorance ;  they  entered  with  passion 
into  theological  disputes ;  and  their  irruptions,  in  which 
they  enforced  their  dognnas  with  clubs  and  stones,  much 
more  than  with  arguments,  disturbed  the  tranquillity 
of  the  capital  of  Egypt  before  it  was  exposed  to  the 
attacks  of  the  barbarians. 

The  great  peninsula  of  Arabia,  lying  between  Egypt 
and  Persia,  was  imperfectly  known  to  the  Romans  :  this 
region,  four  times  as  extensive  as  France,  was  not 
formed  by  nature  to  sustain  a  numerous  population,  nor 
to  admit  of  a  state  of  civilisation  resembling  our  own. 
The  Romans  kept  vip  some  communication  through  it 
with  India,  but  left  to  the  Arabs  the  toil  and  peril  of 
conducting  caravans  through  the  desert.  They  saw  with 
amazement  a  nation  permanently  combining  trade  with 
pillage ;  they  already  designated  by  the  name  of  Sa- 
racens those  daring  robbers  who  issued  from  the  desert 
and  infested  the  plains  of  Syria,  forming  a  cavalry  un- 
matched in  the  world,  especially  for  the  indomitable 
ardour  and  the  docility  of  their  horses.  But  they  did 
not  guess  the  qualities  which  lay  dormant  in  the  Arab 
character  ;  qualities  which  we  shall  see  in  full  strength 
and  activity  three  centuries  later,  when  this  nation  girded 
itself  up  for  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  deserts,  500  miles  from 
Seleucia,  on  the  Tigris,  one  of  the  largest  cities  of 
Persia,  200  miles  from  the  frontiers  of  Syria,  that  the 
city  of  Palmyra  arose,  as  if  by  enchantment,  in  a  fertile 
country,  watered  by  plenteous  springs,  and  thickly 
studded  with  waving  palms.  Immense  plains  of  sand 
surrounded  it  on  all  sides,  serving  as  a  barrier  against 
the  Parthians  and  the  Romans,  and  pervious  only  to 
the  caravans  of  the  Arabs,  who  exchanged  the  trea- 
sures of  the  East  and  of  the  West  between  these  two 
nations,  and  reposed  after  their  toilsome  march  in  this 
sumptuous  city. 

Palmyra,  jieopled  by  a  colony  of  Greeks  and  of 
Arabs,  united  the  manners  of  both.  Its  government 
was  republican,    and  it    maintained   its    independence 


CHAP,  HI.  ZENOBIA.  53 

during  the  time  of  the  greatest  power  of  Rome.  The 
Parthians  and  the  Romans  were  equally  anxious  to  se- 
cure its  alliance  in  all  their  wars.  After  his  victories 
over  the  Parthians,  Trajan  united  this  republic  to  the 
Roman  empire.  Commerce,  however,  did  not  abandon 
Palmyra ;  its  wealth  continued  to  increase,  and  its 
opulent  citizens  covered  their  paternal  soil  with  those 
superb  specimens  of  Greek  architecture,  which  still 
astound  the  traveller  who  beholds  them,  rising  in  lonely 
grandeur  out  of  the  sands  of  the  desert.  Nothing  re- 
mains of  Palmyra  but  these  ruins,  and  the  brilliant  and 
romantic  story  of  Zenobia.  This  extraordinary  woman 
was  the  daughter  of  an  Arab  scheik;  she  declared  herself 
descended  from  Cleopatra,  whom  she,  however,  far 
surpassed  in  dignity  and  in  virtue.  Zenobia  owed  her 
power  only  to  the  services  she  rendered  to  her  country. 
During  the  reign  of  Gallienus,  when  the  empire  was 
attacked  on  every  side,  when  Valerian  was  prisoner  to 
the  king  of  Persia,  and  Asia  was  inundated  with  his 
armies,  Zenobia  emboldened  her  husband  Odenatus,  a 
rich  senator  of  Palmyra,  to  resist  the  invasion  of  tl;e 
Persians,  of  liis  own  authority,  and  with  no  other  aid 
than  that  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  the  Arabs  of  the 
desert.  She  shared  all  her  husband's  toils  and  dangers, 
whether  in  the  field,  or  in  his  favourite  sport,  lion- 
hunting.  She  defeated  Sapor,  pursued  him  twice  up 
to  the  very  gates  of  Ctesiphon,  and  reigned,  at  first,  in 
conjunction  with  Odenatus,  and,  after  his  death,  alone, 
over  Syria  and  Egypt,  which  were  hers  by  conquest. 
Trebellius  Pollio,  a  contemporary  writer,  who  saw  her 
on  that  fatal  occasion  when  she  was  led  in  triumph  to 
Rome  (a.  n.  273),  paints  her  thus  :  it  is  the  ideal  of 
a  lofty  Arab  beauty  :  — 

"  Zenobia  received  those  who  came  to  pay  her  ho- 
mage with  Persian  pomp,  exacting  the  sort  of  adoration 
paid  to  eastern  monarchs  ;  but  at  table  she  followed  the 
Roman  customs.  "NVHien  she  addressed  the  people,  she 
appeared  with  a  helmet  on  her  head  and  her  arms  bare; 
but  a  mantle  of  purple,  adorned  with  gems,  partly  co- 
E    3 


54         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  ill. 

vered  her  person.  Her  countenance  was  of  an  aquiline 
cast ;  her  complexion  was  not  brilliant,  but  her  black 
eyes,  of  singular  radiance,  were  animated  with  a  ce- 
lestial fire,  and  an  inexpressible  grace.  Her  teeth 
were  of  such  dazzling  whiteness,  that  it  was  commonly 
thought  she  had  substituted  pearls  for  those  nature  had 
given  her.  Her  voice  was  clear  and  harmonious,  yet 
manly.  On  occasion,  she  knew  how  to  show  a  tyrant's 
severity  ;  but  she  delighted  rather  in  the  clemency  of 
good  princes.  Beneficent  with  wisdom  and  moderation, 
she  husbanded  her  treasure  in  a  manner  little  common 
among  women.  She  was  to  be  seen  at  the  head  of  her 
armies  in  her  car,  on  horseback,  or  foot,  but  rarely  in  a 
more  luxurious  carriage." 

Such  was  the  woman  who  vanquished  Sapor,  and 
who  gave  her  confidence  to  the  sublime  Longinus,  the 
instructor  of  her  children,  and  her  prime  minister. 

Up  to  the  year  226  of  the  Christian  era,  the  Roman 
territory  was  bounded  by  Parthia  on  its  eastern  border  : 
after  that  period,  the  Persian  Sassanides  were  their 
neighbours  on  the  same  frontier.  The  Parthians,  a 
Celtic  tribe,  sprung  from  Bactriana,  had  founded  their 
empire  256  years  before  Christ.  They  had  conquered 
Persia  from  the  Caspian  Sea  up  to  the  Persian  Gulf. 
This  vast  territory,  bounded  by  two  seas,  by  lofty 
mountains,  and  sandy  deserts,  has  almost  always  formed 
an  independent  state  difficult  to  attack,  and  almost  in- 
capacitated from  acquiring  or  maintaining  distant  pos- 
sessions. For  nearly  five  centuries  of  domination,  the 
Parthians  remained  strangers  amid  the  subject  Persians. 
They  had  given  to  their  monarchy  a  form  somewhat 
resembling  the  feudal  governments  of  Europe.  Their 
kings,  of  the  family  of  the  Arsacides,  had  gi-anted 
small  tributary  sovereignties  to  a  great  number  of  the 
princes  of  their  house,  and  to  other  men  of  high  birth. 
All  this  nobihty,  indeed  the  whole  of  the  victor  race, 
were  mounted  for  the  field.  Several  Greek  colonies 
preserved  their  republican  institutions  and  their  inde- 
pendence in  the  midst  of  the  monarchy  ;  but  the  Per- 


CHAP.  III.        CHARACTER    OF    THE    PERSIANS.  55 

sians  Avere  not  trusted  either  with  civil  power,  or  with 
the  use  of  arms,  and  were  held  in  complete  sub- 
jection. 

These  Persians  were  urged  to  revolt  by  Artaxerxes, 
or  Ardshir,  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Sassanides; 
who,  after  his  victories,  declared  himself  descended 
from  those  kings  of  Persia  who  had  bowed  to  the  vic- 
torious arms  of  Alexander  the  Great.  He  was  yet 
more  powerfully  seconded  by  religious  enthusiasm,  than 
by  the  feeling  of  national  honour  or  independence.  The 
ancient  reUgion  of  Zoroaster  was  once  more  placed  on 
the  throne.  The  belief  in  the  two  principles,  Ormusd 
and  Ahriman,  the  revelation  of  the  Zenda  Vesta ;  the 
worship  of  fire  or  light,  as  the  representative  of  the 
Good  Principle;  the  horror  of  temples  and  images;  the 
power  of  the  magi,  which  extended  to  the  most  indif- 
ferent actions  of  every  true  believer ;  the  spirit  of  per- 
secution (cruelly  displayed  against  the  Christians  when 
tliey  began  to  spread  over  Persia),  were  re-established 
by  a  national  council,  in  which  80,000  magi  assembled 
on  the  convocation  of  Artaxerxes. 

The  Persians  affirmed  that  the  sceptre  of  these  kings 
extended  over  40,000,000  of  subjects  ;  but  tlie  popu- 
lation of  the  countries  of  the  East  has  always  been 
imperfectly  J  known.  The  numbers  usually  given  in 
liistory  have  been  taken  from  the  liyperbolical  reports 
of  their  writers,  and  not  from  any  statistical  documents. 
The  Persians  can  neither  be  classed  with  civilised  na- 
tions, nor  with  barbarians  ;  though  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  always  gave  them  the  latter  appellation.  They 
had  acquired  those  arts  which  minister  to  luxury  and 
effeminacy,  but  not  those  wliich  refine  or  elevate  the 
taste  ;  they  had  laws,  emanating  from  despotic  power, 
which  preserve  order,  but  which  secure  to  a  nation 
neither  justice  nor  happiness  ;  they  had  that  literary 
culture  which  feeds  the  imagmation,  but  docs  not  en- 
lighten the  understanding  ;  their  religion,  that  of  the 
two  principles,  and  their  aversion  for  idolatry,  satisfied 
the  reason,  but  did  not  purify  the  heart.  It  was  at  this 
,  E  4 


56  FALL    Of    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  HI- 

Stage  of  civilisation^  which  contains  within  itself  an 
obstacle  to  all  further  progress,  that  the  people  of  the 
East  founded  great  empires,  while  man  never  attained 
the  highest  excellence  and  dignity  of  which  he  is  ca- 
pable. Artaxerxes  (a.  d.  226 — 238),  and  his  son 
Sapor  (a.  d.  238 — 26"9)j  achieved  great  victories  over 
nations  protected  by  the  Romans,  and  even  over  the 
Romans  themselves.  But  their  monarchy  experienced 
the  fate  of  all  despotic  governments,  until  its  total 
subversion  by  the  Mussulmans  in  651.  Its  history  is 
composed  of  treachery  and  massacre  in  the  royal  family, 
the  members  of  which  hurled  each  other  from  the  throne 
in  rapid  succession  ;  of  long  periods  devoted  to  vice, 
or  to  an  effeminate  indolence,  broken  only  by  flashes  of 
ambition,  leading  to  desolating  wars. 

The  Parthians  had  conquered  Armenia,  ■which  lay 
between  their  territory  and  that  of  the  Romans,  and 
had  placed  on  the  throne  of  Artaxata,  the  Armenian 
capital,  a  younger  branch  of  their  own  kings,  the  Arsa- 
cides.  Liberty  has  ever  been  unknown  in  Armenia. 
The  lofty  mountains  which  surround  the  country  failed 
to  inspire  the  inhabitants  with  the  courage  which  is  the 
ordinary  characteristic  of  mountaineers.  The  Arme- 
nians were  patient,  industrious,  but  always  subdued  and 
dependent.  At  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the  Parthian 
empire,  they  were  conquered  by  Artaxerxes  and  by 
Sapor.  Nevertheless,  Tiridates,  heir  of  their  ancient 
line  of  kings,  threw  off  the  Persian  yoke  in  the  year 
297,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Romans,  rendered  Ar- 
menia independent.  His  reign  (a.  d.  297 — 342)  is 
regarded  by  the  Armenians  as  the  period  of  their  glory. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  they  adopted  the  Christian 
religion,  which  cemented  their  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans ;  it  was  then  thai  they  invented  the  written 
character  still  in  use  among  them  •  that  they  produced 
a  literature   which   they  still   regard  with  admiration, 

—  an    admiration,    however,    confined  to    themselves ; 

—  lastly,  that  they  began  to  translate  the  Bible  and 
some    Greek   works,    which    have    been  found  among 


CHAP.  III.  TARTAR    TRIBES.  5? 

them  in  our  own  times.  This  prosperity  was  not  of 
long  continuance.  At  the  death  of  Tiridates,  thtir  fate 
was  that  which  must  ever  await  a  nation  which  risks  its 
happiness,  its  existence,  on  the  chances  of  succession  of 
an  absolute  monarchy. 

Such  were  the  countries  of  Asia  which  bordered  on  the 
Roman  territory.  But  to  the  north  of  Caucasus,  of 
Thibet,  and  of  the  mountains  of  Armenia,  a  race  of 
men  existed  entirely  different  from  those  we  have  de- 
scribed ;  a  race  free  and  untamed  ;  not  bound  to  the  soil 
they  inhabited ;  a  terror  to  all  their  neighbours,  and 
destined  to  exercise  a  disastrous  influence  over  the  fate 
of  Home.  This  was  the  countless  ncmad  people 
comprehended  under  the  name  of  Scythians,  or  Tartars. 
The  Tartar  race  was  spread  over  the  whole  extent  of 
country  (measuring  from  west  to  east)  from  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea,  where  it  touches  on  the  Slavonic 
tribes,  to  the  sea  of  Japan  and  the  Kurile  Islands,  or 
to  the  great  wall  of  China  ;  and,  from  north  to  south, 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  frozen  sea,  to  the  lofty 
chain  of  Thibet,  which  separates  the  cold  regions  of 
northern  from  the  burning  climes  of  southern  Asia, 
leaving  no  temperate  district  between.  The  centre  of 
Asia  seems  to  be  composed  of  a  vast  table-land,  which 
rises  to  the  level  of  our  highest  mountains,  and  which 
its  temperature  unfits  for  any  very  varied  cultivaiion, 
though  its  boundless  steppes  are  clothed  by  nature  with 
a  luxuriant  vegetation.  In  these  boundless  plains,  the 
Tartar  tribes  have,  from  the  most  remote  antiquity, 
preserved  the  same  manners  and  the  same  mode  of  life. 
They  have  invariably  despised  the  labours  of  tillage; 
have  subsisted  solely  on  the  produce  of  their  herds  and 
flocks ;  and  have  as  invariably  shown  the  utmost  readi- 
ness to  follow,  not  as  an  organised  army,  but  as  an 
armed  nation,  any  chieftain  who  would  lead  tliem  on  to 
the  plunder  of  more  temperate  regions,  and  of  more 
civilised  nations.  The  men  live  on  horseback,  or  in 
their  tents,  holding  nothing  honourable  but  war,  nothing 
venerable  but  the  sword^  which  was  formerly  the  emblem 


58  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  IH< 

of  their  sanguinary  divinity.  The  women  follow  the 
men  in  covered  cars,  which  contain  their  families  and 
all  their  wealth,  and  which  are,  during  half  the  year^ 
their  only  dwelling  place.  Their  contempt  for  the  se- 
dentary arts  is  unchangeable  :  they  esteem  it  an  honour 
or  a  duty  to  destroy,  to  extirpate,  the  civilisation  which 
they  detest,  and  regard  as  hostile ;  and  if  a  chief, 
endowed  with  the  talents  of  Attila,  Zengis,  or  Timur, 
were  now  to  spring  up  among  them,  they  would  be  as 
eager  as  ever  to  rear  the  horrible  trophies  which  marked 
their  conquests  —  the  pyramids  of  heads  for  which  Timur, 
the  most  humane  of  the  three,  ordered  the  massacre  of 
70,000  inhabitants  of  Ispahan,  and  90,000  of  Bagdad, 
Now,  as  then,  they  would,  perhaps,  propose  to  rase 
every  edifice,  every  wall,  that,  to  use  their  favourite  ex- 
pression, no  obstacle  might  arrest  the  career  of  their 
lightning-footed  steeds. 

But  though  their  character  is  unaltered,  their  num- 
bers are  no  longer  the  same  ;  the  inhabitants  of  Siberia, 
and  of  all  the  borders  of  the  frozen  ocean,  subdued  by 
the  rigour  of  the  climate  and  by  their  necessities,  have 
established  themselves  in  permanent  dwellings,  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  Russian  yoke.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
valleys  of  Thibet,  subjugated  by  a  stern  theocracy, 
have  lost  their  energy  in  the  convents  of  the  grand  lama. 
Independent  Tartary,  the  country  of  the  Kalmucs,  the 
Usbecs,  the  Mongols,  is  very  much  narrowed :  it  occu- 
pies only  a  third  of  the  space  it  occupied  in  the  time  of 
the  Romans ;  still,  however,  its  extent  is  prodigious, 
and  its  population  may  yet  visit  Asia  with  new  re- 
volutions. 

'  The  Tartars  have  continued  free.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  estabhsh  a  despotism  in  the  midst  of  boundless 
plains;  unsupported  by  fortresses  or  prisons,  by  standing 
armies,  by  police,  or  courts  of  justice.  The  sovereignty 
resides  in  the  Couroultai,  or  assembly  of  the  nation,  to 
which  all  the  free  men  repair  on  horseback.  Here  they 
decide  on  peace  and  war  ;  frame  and  promulge  laws, 
and  administer  justice.     Domestic  slavery  has,   in  all 


CHAP.  III.    MANNERS    OP    THE    TARTAR    TRIBES.  SQ 

ages,  formed  a  part  of  their  system  of  manners :  the 
absence  of  all  cultivation  of  the  land,  is  a  security 
for  the  slave's  obedience  ;  his  only  food  is  what  he 
receives  from  the  hand  of  his  master;  he  has  no  means 
of  existing  without  the  milk  and  the  flesh  of  the  herds 
he  tends;  and,  if  he  attempted  to  flee  into  the  boundless 
steppes  where  nature  has  provided  no  sustenance  for 
man,  he  would  soon  perish  from  hunger.  Besides,  al- 
though the  Tartar  has  the  right  of  life  and  death  over 
his  slave,  he  usually  treats  him  with  considerable  mild- 
ness, and  regards  him  as  a  member  of  his  family:  he 
even  trusts  him  with  arms  for  the  defence  of  his  camp 
and  his  flocks.  "W^here  civilisation  has  not  refined  the 
manners,  and  separated  the  ranks  of  society  by  an  im.. 
passable  distance,  similar  occupations,  common  wants, 
and  common  toils,  compel  man  to  recognise  man  in  his 
slave  ;  while  the  boundless  extent  given  to  the  paternal 
authority  confounds  the  son  with  the  slave,  and  thus 
tends  yet  further  to  obliterate  the  distinction.  The  chief, 
or  khan,  of  a  Tartar  family  rejoices  in  the  increase  of 
his  children  and  of  his  serfs,  as  much  as  in  that  of  his 
flocks  and  herds.  Thus,  without  emerging  from  a 
private  station,  he  sometimes  finds  himself  at  the  head 
of  an  army ;  he  has  yearly  to  remove  his  tents  from 
summer  to  winter  pastures,  and  thus,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  domestic  economy,  to  plan  and  conduct  great 
military  marches.  His  children  and  his  slaves  are  ready 
to  second  him  in  all  his  quarrels,  to  revenge  all  insults 
to  his  honour,  if  he  receive  any  aggression  or  affront 
from  a  neighbour  or  from  a  superior.  These  petty  feuds 
have  often  been  the  first  cause  of  the  great  revolutions 
of  Asia.  Often,  we  may  observe  a  chief,  encouraged  by 
his  victories  over  some  personal  enemy,  turn  his  arms 
against  the  rich  cities  of  Sogdiana  or  Bactriana ;  pillage 
Bocchara  or  Samarcantl,  and,  at  length,  march  to  the 
conquest  of  Persia,  of  India,  China,  or  the  AVest. 
Often,  too,  we  see  a  vanquished  warrior,  nay,  a  fugitive 
slave,  traverse  the  desert  to  escape  from  the  vengeance 
of  his  adversary;  fall  in  with  some  wandering  horde;  go 


60 


FALL    OP    THE    B03IAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   III. 


on  increasing  the  number  of  his  troop;  and^  at  length, 
appear  as  a  conqueror  on  the  frontiers  of  civilised 
countries. 

Every  incident  of  pastoral  life  is  a  preparation  for 
war.  The  constant  habit  of  braving  the  inclemency  of 
the  seasons,  and  the  attacks  of  wild  beasts  ;  the  science  ' 
of  the  encampments,  and  the  marches  which  form  a 
part  of  daily  life  ;  habitual  temperance,  and  yet  great 
facility  in  obtaining  food;  for  the  flocks  of  the  Tartars 
follow  the  armies,  which  are  but  bands  of  their  shep- 
herds. In  fact,  in  the  Scythian  tribes^  every  man  is  a 
soldier,  and  the  foe  whom  they  attack  or  invade  has 
not  an  army,  but  a  nation  to  contend  with.  This  ex- 
plains the  phenomenon,  which  appears  at  first  sight 
inexplicable,  of  a  desert  pouring  down,  upon  popular 
and  civilised  countries,  torrents  of  armed  men.  This 
northern  region,  which  has  been  called  the  jNIother  of 
Nations,  does  not  teem  v^ith  such  a  superabundance  of 
life.  A  shepherd  can  hardly  exist  on  the  quantity  of 
land  which  would  feed  twenty  husbandmen  ;  but  when 
a  million  of  inhabitants  issue  forth  from  a  region  far 
superior  to  Europe  in  extent,  there  would  be  among 
them  at  least  200,000  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  ; 
and  this  number  is  frequently  sufficient  to  overthrow  an 
empire.  The  country  they  have  abandoned  remains  a 
desert,  and  there  is  no  proof  that  it  has  ever  contained 
more  inhabitants  than  it  could  support. 

The  stream  of  emigration  from  Grand  Tartary  has 
taken  its  course,  alternately,  to  the  east,  the  west,  and 
the  south.  At  the  time  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman 
empire,  the  whole  force  of  the  Tartar  tribes  seemed 
directed  towards  the  west.  An  empire  formerly  power- 
ful, the  first  monarchy  of  the  Huns,  had  been  over- 
thrown by  the  Sienpi,  at  a  distance  of  500  leagues  from 
the  Roman  frontier,  and  near  to  that  of  China,  in  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  Driven  from  their 
own  country,  the  Huns  had  invaded  their  neighbours, 
and  had  pushed  them  onwards  towards  the  west.  But 
their  wars  and  their  conquests  would  have  been  con- 


CHAP.  III.     BARBAnOUS    NATIONS    OF    EUROPE.  Cl 

fined  within  the  wide  plains  of  Tartary,  had  not  the 
thousands  of  Roman  captives,  and  the  immense  treasure 
carried  off  by  the  northern  tribes,  during  the  disastrous 
reign  of  Gallienus,  been  diffused  by  commerce  over  the 
whole  north  of  Asia.  The  dexterity  and  talents  of  the 
slaves,  the  splendour  of  the  costly  stuffs  exposed  to  sale 
in  the  markets  of  Tartary,  tempted  this  warlike  race  to 
go  in  quest  of  similar  treasures  in  the  countries  where 
they  were  to  be  bought,  not  with  gold,  but  with  blood  ; 
and  the  recollection  of  former  pillage  was  the  great  cause 
of  the  repetition  of  such  incursions. 

The  Tartar  race  is  remarkable  in  the  eyes  of  all  others 
for  its  ugliness.  A  large  head,  a  dun  yellow  com- 
plexion, small  and  sunken  eyes,  a  flat  nose,  a  thin  and 
feeble  beard,  broad  shoulders,  and  a  short,  square  body, 
are  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  nation.  The  Tar- 
tars seem  conscious  of  their  own  deformity  :  in  all  their 
treaties  with  conquered  nations,  they  invariably  exacted 
an  annual  tribute  of  young  girls  ;  and  this  intermixture 
of  races  has  gradually  corrected  the  hideousness  of  form 
among  those  established  in  milder  climates. 

The  first  of  this  race  known  to  the  Romans  were  the 
Alani.  In  the  fourth  century  they  pitched  their  tents 
in  the  country  between  the  Volga  and  the  Tanais,  at 
an  equal  distance  from  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian. 
It  does  not  appear  that  they  struck  the  Europeans  by 
their  ugliness.  But  when  the  Taifala?,  the  ifuns, 
the  Hungarians,  the  Turks,  successively  showed  them- 
selves upon  their  frontiers,  the  Greek  writers  expressed 
a  feeling  of  horror  at  their  as])ect,  which  their  southern 
neighbours,  the  Negroes  and  Abyssinians,  had  never 
excited  among  them. 

We  now  come  to  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Europe  ;  — 
those  with  whom  we  are  more  immediately  connected, 
and  whose  history  it  imports  us  the  most  to  know. 
Three  great  races  of  men,  differing  in  language,  habits, 
and  religion,  appear  to  have  originally  shared  between 
them  this  western  and  northern  portion  of  the  antient 
world — the  Celts  or  Kelts^  the  Slavonians,  and  the  Ger- 


62  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  III. 

mans.  Historians  have  often  confounded  them,  from 
that  strange  national  vanity  which  led  them  to  attribute 
to  their  progenitors  the  conquests  and  ravages  of  the 
neighbouring  race  :  as  if  their  own  did  not  furnish  them 
with  enough  of  crimes  and  of  cruelties.  Of  these  three 
races,  two,  the  Celtic  and  the  Slavonic,  were  almost  com- 
pletely subjugated  in  the  third  century  ;  the  third,  on 
the  contrary,  was  destined  to  triumph  over  Rome.  The 
Celtic  race  had  in  part  peopled  Italy  and  Spain,  where 
it  had  been  blended  Avith  the  Iberian,  which  was  pro- 
bably of  African  extraction.  It  had  also  spread  over 
Gaul  and  Great  Britain.  It  had  emerged  from  the  first 
stage  of  barbarism  ;  had  built  towns,  had  practised  agri- 
culture and  some  of  the  arts  of  life,  had  amassetl  riches, 
and  established  gradations  of  rank  in  cities,  which  in- 
dicate a  structure  of  society,  if  not  very  scientific,  at 
least  very  ancient.  But  the  progress  of  the  Celts  in 
the  career  of  improvement  had  been  stopped  by  their 
submission  to  the  oppressive  yoke  of  a  strongly  organised 
body  of  priests.  The  Druids,  jealous  of  every  authority 
that  did  not  emanate  from  themselves,  established  a 
reign  of  terror  over  a  people  whom  it  was  their  policy  to 
render  ferocious.  Their  deities  required  continual 
streams  of  human  blood  to  be  shed  upon  their  altars. 
Their  worship,  performed  in  the  depth  of  forests  im- 
pervious to  the  sun,  or  in  subterranean  caverns,  W"as 
marked  by  the  most  horrible  rites.  The  country  of  the 
Carnuti,  now  called  Chartres,  was  the  centre  of  their 
power  and  the  sanctuary  of  their  religion.  The  misle- 
toe  was  regarded  as  the  type  of  the  divinity,  and  was 
gathered  by  them  yearly  with  solemn  ceremonies.  But 
the  Celtic  race  had  seldom  been  able  to  withstand  the 
Roman  arms.  Augustus  had  forbidden  the  Druids  to 
sacrifice  human  victims.  Claudius  had  broken  up  their 
associations,  abolished  their  institutions,  and  destroyed 
their  sacred  woods.  All  the  men  of  the  higher  classes 
in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  had  received  a  Roman  edu- 
cation. They  had  renounced  the  language  and  the  faith 
of  their    fathers;    the  agricultural    population,    whose 


SLAVONIC    TniBES. 


63 


condition  was  little  better  than  that  of  slaves,  had  either 
perished  from  want,  or  had  learned  the  language  of 
their  oppressors  ;  and  the  Celtic  race,  once  spread  over 
a  third  part  of  Europe,  had  nearly  disappeared.  Their 
manners  and  their  language  were  to  be  found  only  in  a 
part  of  Armorica,  or  Little  Britain,  in  the  western  parts 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  where  the  Roman  domi- 
nation was  comparatively  recent,  and  the  numbers  small ; 
and  lastly,  in  the  mountains  of  Caledonia,  inhabited 
by  the  Scots,  the  only  people  of  Celtic  or  Gaelic  blood, 
who  have  retained  their  independence  from  the  ear- 
liest times  to  the  present  day. 

The  fate  of  the  Slavonic  tribes  had  not  been  much 
more  prosperous :  they  originally  occupied  the  Avhole 
Illyrian  peninsula,  with  the  exception  of  Greece :  its 
language  is,  in  consequence,  still  called  Illyrican.  They 
had  extended  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the 
Black  Sea  to  the  frozen  ocean.  Possessors  of  the  most 
extensive  plains  of  Europe, — plains  which  had  been  fer- 
tilised by  deposits  of  the  mud  of  mighty  rivers, — the 
Slaves  were  tillers  of  the  ground  from  the  remotest  pe- 
riod. But  the  soil  which  fed,  served  to  enchain  them. 
They  were  not  strong  enough  to  defend  its  fruits,  earned 
by  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  and  they  did  not  choose  to 
lose  them.  They  were  invaded  by  all  their  neighbours; 
to  the  south  by  the  Romans,  to  the  east  by  the  Tartars, 
to  the  west  by  the  Germans ;  and  their  very  name,  which, 
in  their  own  tongue,  signifies  glorious,  is  become,  in  all 
modern  languages,  the  badge  of  servitude  ;  a  remarkable 
monument  of  the  oppression  of  a  great  people,  and  of 
the  abuse  of  victory  on  the  jiart  jof  all  its  neighbours. 

All  the  Slavonic  nations,  to  the  south  of  the  Danube, 
had  been  subjugated  by  the  Romans.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that,  in  the  lofty  mountains  of  Bosnia,  Croatia, 
and  Morlachia,  a  portion  of  tliis  race  whicli  had  never 
been  civilised,  might  have  preserved  a  wild  kind  of  in- 
dependence. Indeed,  after  the  fall  of  the  empire  we  find 
traces  of  such  a  people  ;  and  it  has  retained  to  this  day 
the  language,  the  passion  for  war,  the  habits  of  violence 


6i  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   III. 

and  plunder,  proper  to  the  Slavonic  tribes.  To  the  north 
of  the  Black  Sea,  the  Russians,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful nations  of  this  race,  had  not  defended  their  fruitful 
plains  against  the  invasion  of  the  Alans,  who  were  soon 
followed  by  the  Huns,  and  other  Tartar  tribes.  The 
Slavonians  who  occupied  Russia  and  a  part  of  Poland, 
were  subject  to  the  incursions  of  various  tribes  of  the  Go- 
thic or  Germanic  family,  wliich  had  issued  forth  from 
Scandinavia.  In  the  fourth  century, the  Romans  knew  no 
other  independent  Slavonic  people  than  the  Quadi,  the 
Sarmati  and  tlie  Gepida?,  who  with  difficulty  preserved 
some  remnant  of  their  ancient  territory  in  Bohemia  and 
Poland.  At  that  period  the  Sarmatian  horseman  was 
esteemed  more  formidable  for  the  extreme  rapidity  of 
his  movements,  than  for  his  valour.  He  had  usually 
two  or  three  led  horses,  and  changed  as  often  as  the  one 
he  rode  was  fatigued.  In  the  absence  of  iron,  he  pointed 
his  spears  with  bone  hardened,  and  often  poisoned.  His 
cuirass  was  composed  of  lamins  of  horn  placed  closely 
over  each  other,  like  the  scales  of  fish.  Like  the  Cosack 
of  the  present  day,  he  preceded  the  most  formidable 
armies,  and  shared  in  their  successes,  and  in  their  plun- 
der ;  but  he  exhibited  little  bravery  in  attack,^ittle  firm- 
ness in  defence,  and  inspired  little  terror. 

Lastly,  the  whole  north  of  Europe  was  occupied  by 
that  great  Germanic  race  from  which  the  nations  of 
modern  Europe  more  immediately  derive  their  origin. 
The  Tartars  had  issued  forth  to  destroy  —  the  Germans 
advanced  to  conquer  and  to  reconstruct  :  their  very 
names  are  connected  with  cur  present  existence.  Saxons, 
Franks,  Almains  *,  Bujgundians,  Lombards,  either  al- 
ready occupied,  or  were  on  the  point  of  occupying,  the 
countries  in  which  we  find  them  still ;  they  spoke  a  lan- 
guage which  many  among  them  still  speak;  they  brought 
with  them  opinions,  prejudices,  customs,  of  which  there 
are  abundant  traces  around  us.  Throughout  the  vast 
extent  of  Germania,  in  which  Scandinavia  must  be  in- 

*  I  have  used  this  nearly  obsolete  translation  of  Allcmands  —  which 
name  of  a  tribe  the  French  use  to  represent  the  whole  race.  —  [Trans.) 


CHAP.  III.  GERMANIC    TRIBES.  65 

eluded,  the  sentiment  of  haughty  independence  was 
predominant  over  every  other,  and  had  determined  the 
national  constitution  and  manners.  The  Germans  were 
barbarians,  but  it  was  in  some  degree  because  they 
resolved  to  be  so  :  they  had  set  those  first  steps  in  the 
career  of  civilisation  which  are  generally  the  most  dif- 
ficult; and  there  they  stopped  short,  from  the  fear 
of  compromising  their  liberty.  The  example  of  the 
Romans,  with  whom  continual  conflicts  had  brought 
them  acquainted,  had  persuaded  them  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  unite  elegance  and  the  pleasures  of  life,  with 
the  haughty  and  resolute  independence  they  prized 
above  all  other  possessions.  They  were  not  ignorant  of 
the  useful  arts :  they  knew  how  to  work  in  metal,  and 
were  expert  and  ingenious  in  the  fabrication  of  their 
weapons;  but  they  looked  on  every  sedentary  occupation 
with  contempt.  They  did  not  choose  to  shut  themselves 
up  within  the  walls  of  cities,  which  appeared  to  them 
the  prisons  of  despotism.  The  Burgundians,  who  were 
then  established  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  lost  the 
respect  of  their  countrymen,  because  they  had  consented 
to  inhabit  hurgs  (whence  they  derive  their  name),  and 
to  exercise  mechanical  employments.  The  Germans 
practised  agriculture  ;  but,  lest  the  labourer  should  be- 
come too  strongly  attached  to  the  soil ;  lest  by  seizing 
his  property,  it  might  be  possible  to  secure  his  person  ; 
lest  wealth  should  become  the  object  of  his  desires, 
instead  of  military  glory  ;  not  only  did  they  resolve  that 
the  land  should  be  distributed  among  all  the  citizens  in 
equal  portions,  they  also  decreed  that  the  portion  each 
cultivated  should  be  annually  determined  by  lot,  so  as  to 
render  impossible  any  local  attachment.  The  effect  of 
this  was,  of  course,  to  render  equally  impossible  any 
permanent  improvement.  The  Teutonic  tribes  appear  to 
have  possessed  a  kind  of  written  character,  the  Runic, 
but  it  seems  that  they  used  it  only  for  inscriptions  on 
wood  or  stone.  The  length  of  time  required  for  works 
of  this  kind  would,  of  course,  render  the  use  of  it  ex- 
tremely rare  ;  the  inanimate  object  which,  by  the  aid  of 

VOL.  I.  p 


66  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  Ill, 

these  inscriptions,  seemed  to  speak  a  language  known 
only  to  the  sage,  appeared  to  the  people  endowed  with 
a  supernatural  power  ;  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Runes 
was  looked  upon  as  a  branch  of  magic. 

The  government  of  the  Germans,  so  long  as  they 
inhabited  their_  own  country,  was  the  freest  of  which 
we  have  any  record.  They  had  kings :  the  Ro- 
mans, at  least,  translated  the  title  konig  by  their  own 
word  7-ex,  though  the  functions  were  widely  different. 
They  were  frequently  hereditary,  or  were,  at  least, 
always  chosen  out  of  one  family,  the  only  one  which 
had  a  common  name.  These  kings,  distinguished  from 
their  subjects  by  their  long  flowing  hair,  were,  however, 
in  fact,  only  presidents  of  the  councils  of  war  or  of 
justice,  in  which  every  citizen  had  a  voice.  They  com- 
manded all  warlike  expeditions  ;  they  presided  over  the 
distribution  of  the  spoil ;  they  proposed  to  the  people 
the  measures  for  their  consideration  ;  they  kept  up  inter- 
course with  neighbouring  nations  ;  but,  if  any  weakness 
or  vice  rendered  them  unworthy  to  lead  freemen,  the 
war-axe  soon  executed  justice  upon  them  :  for  it  seems 
to  have  been  the  opinion  among  them,  that  preeminent 
honour  must  be  bought  by  exposure  to  preeminent 
danger ;  and  that  the  life  of  a  king  ought  not  to  be 
hedged  in  with  so  many  securities  as  that  of  a  subject. 
In  fact,  almost  every  page  of  German  history  is  stained 
by  the  murder  of  a  king.  But  private  citizens  were 
not  exposed  to  the  same  risks.  Not  only  had  the  king 
no  right  to  put  them  to  death,  but  even  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  Mallum,  or  assembly  of  the  people,  did 
not  extend  to  that.  The  man  from  whom  society  with- 
drew its  protection,  was  still  at  liberty  to  quit  the 
country.  Exile  was  the  severest  punishment  the  sove- 
reign power  could  inflict. 

The  Germans  were  obedient  to  no  authority  but  that 
of  their  women  and  their  priests.  In  the  former  they 
acknowledged  somewhat  of  a  divine  nature :  they 
thought  beauty  must  have  a  kind  of  inspiration,  and 
they  received    the  voice  of   their  prophetesses  as  the 


CHAP.  III.  RELIGION    OF    THE    GERMANS.  67 

voice  of  Heaven.  The  priests  owed  their  influence  as 
much  to  their  own  policy  as  to  the  superstitious  temper  of 
the  people.  The  northern  divinities  were  warlike,  and  their 
example  and  their  worship  were  more  calculated  to  form 
the  minds  of  their  votaries  to  valour  and  independence 
than  to  fear.  The  unknown  world,  peopled  with  spi- 
rits who  rose  from  the  grave,  who  sat  upon  the  clouds, 
whose  wailings  were  heard  floating  in  the  night  winds, 
and  mingled  with  the  voice  of  the  storm,  had  been 
created  or  clothed  with  all  their  terrors  by  the  German 
imagination.  Nevertheless,  this  was  not,  strictly  speak- 
ing, religion.  These  superhuman  powers  were  not 
those  of  the  Deity  ;  their  possessors  were  malevolent 
beings,  whose  perfidy  was  as  much  to  be  dreaded  as 
their  force ;  they  were  foes  against  whom  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  contend;  and  the  priests  of  Odin  seemed 
hardly  to  have  any  succour  to  offer  against  that  pale 
shadow,  the  dread  king  of  the  spirits  of  the  forest,  or 
the  terrible  Valkyries,  who  spun  the  thread  of  human 
destiny. 

The  German  priests  were  not  united  into  a  compact 
body  ;  they  had  not  that  rigorous  organisation  and  dis- 
cipline which  rendered  the  Druids  so  terrible,  and  gave 
such  stability  to  their  power.  Nor  did  the  German  peo- 
ple seem  to  hold  to  their  religion  with  very  ardent  zeal: 
they  were  easily  converted  to  Christianity,  whenever 
their  kings  set  them  the  example ;  and  it  is  remarkable 
that,  in  the  history  of  their  conversions,  we  find  no 
tradition  of  the  opposition  which  it  would  have  been 
natural  to  expect  from  tlieir  priests.  But  the  chiefs 
themselves  appear  to  have  turned  the  sacerdotal  power 
to  political  account.  They  placed  the  police  of  the 
public  meetings  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the 
gods ;  and  the  jiriest  alone,  under  the  authority  of  the 
kingj  ventured  to  inflict  the  punishment  of  death  on 
any  man  who  disturbetl  the  deliberations  of  tlie  na- 
tional assembly  or  Mallum.  Tliis  was  only  to  be 
effected  by  treating  the  offence  as  sacrilege,  for  no  insult 


68        FAIL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  IH. 

to  the  civil  power  would  have  subjected  him  to  the 
sword  of  the  law. 

The  Germans  who  attacked  the  empire  appeared  under 
various  names ;  and  these  names,  sometimes  abandoned, 
and  sometimes  resumed  after  a  considerable  lapse  of 
time,  throw  a  great  confusion  over  the  geography  of 
ancient  Germany,  and  the  classification  of  nations  who 
frequently  shifted  their  place  of  abode.  We  shall  only 
endeavour  to  recall  to  the  minds  of  our  readers  a  small 
number  of  the  most  remarkable.  On  the  lower  Rhine 
were  the  Franks  ;  on  the  upper,  the  Allemans ;  near  the 
mouths  of  the  Elbe,  the  Saxons  :  these  three  nations, 
who  held  possession  of  the  land  of  their  fathers,  were  all 
formed  of  confederations  of  small  states,  or  tribes  more 
ancient  still,  which  had  united  for  their  common  de- 
fence, and  had  dropped  their  original  name  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century,  and  taken  generic  names, 
such  as  Franken,  or  free  men ;  Allemannen,  or  all  men ; 
Sachsen  or  Sassen,  cultivators  *,  or,  to  take  a  cognate 
,  word  in  our  own  tongue,  settlers.  There  were  also 
Schwaben  t,  or  wandering  men.  In  each  of  these  feder- 
ative nations  there  were  as  many  kings  as  small  states; 
and,  almost,  as  villages  :  but,  for  their  most  important 
expeditions,  or  most  dangerous  wars,  they  all  united 
round  one  common  leader. 

On  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  in  Prussia  and  Central 
Germany,  were  found  the  Vandals,  the  Heruli,  the 
Lombards,  and  the  Burgundians,  who  were  regarded  as 
originally  sprung  from  the  same  stem,  and  differing 
from  the  more  western  Germans  in  their  dialect  and  in 
the  form  of  their  government;  this  was  more  purely 
military,  and  seemed  to  have  been  consolidated  during 
migrations  of  which  they  retained  only  vague  and  un- 
certain traditions. 

Lastly,  in  Poland,  and,  more  recently,  in  Transyl- 
vania, we  find  the  great  race  of  the  Goths,  who,  issuing 
id  three  divisions  from  Scandinavia,  first  planted  them- 

*  Saas,  an  inhabitant 

f  Schweben,  to  iloat,     (Modern  German).  Translator. 


CHAP.  III.  GERMANIC    TRIBES.  69 

selves  near  the  mouths  of  the  Vistula,  and  afterwards 
advanced  southward  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 
The  Wisigoths  or  West  Goths,  the  Ostrogoths,  or  East 
Goths,  and  Gepidae  (draggers),  formed  these  three  di- 
visions, who  were  distinguished  among  the  Germanic 
tribes  by  superior  cultivation  of  mind,  gentler  manners, 
and  a  greater  disposition  to  advance  in  the  career  of 
civihsation.  We  shall  soon,  however,  see  what  was  this 
gentleness,  and  what  was  the  condition  of  civihsed  na- 
tions when  they  were  reduced  to  place  their  last  hope  in 
Ostrogoths  and  Wisigoths. 


F  3 


70         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 


CHAP.  IV. 

DIVISION     OF     THE      FOURTH      CENTURT     INTO      THREE      PERIODS  J 
1.    REIGN    OF    CONSTANTINE.  2.   REIGNS     OF     HIS     SONS     AND 

NEPHEWS.  3.    REIGNS  OF  VALENTINIAN  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS, 

DOWN  TO  THEODOSIOS. CHARACTER  OF  CONSTANTINE.  HIS 

WAVERINGS     BETWEEN      PAGANISM     AND     CHRISTIANITT.  HIS 

CRUELTIES. SIX  EMPERORS  AT  ONCE.  FINAL  UNION  OF  THE 

EMPIRE   UNDER  CONSTANTINE.   EXTERMINATION  OP    ALL   HIS 

RIVALS FOUNDATION  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE. MURDER  OF  ALL 

HIS    KINDRED  BY  CONSTANTINE. HIS  ZEAL   FOR  THE   CHURCH. 

HIS    DEATH. DIVISION    OF  THE  EMPIRE  AMONG  HIS  THREE 

SONS.— THEIR  WARS. CONSTANTIUS,  THE  SURVIVOR,  EXCLU- 
SIVELY OCCUPIED   WITH  RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSIES. DONATIST 

AND  CIRCONCELLION   SECTS,  THEIR  QUARRELS  AND   ATROCITIES. 

RELIGIOUS  SUICIDES. ARIAN  CONTROVERSY. — THE  CHURCH 

EQUALLY     DIVIDED.  COUNCIL    OF    NICE. FAVOURS     SHOWED 

BY  CONSTANTIUS    TO     ARIANISM. OPPOSITION    OF    ST.   ATHAN- 

ASIUS.—  CONQUESTS  OF  SAPOR  II.  IN  THE  EAST,  AND  OF  THE 
FRANKS  AND  ALLEMANS  IN  THE  WEST. CONSTANTIUS  CON- 
FIDES TO   HIS  NEPHEW  JULIAN    THE    DEFENCE  OF    THE  WEST. 

CHARACTER  OF  JULIAN. HIS  ATTACHMENT    TO   THE    ANCIENT 

KELIGION. HIS  VICTORIES  AND  DEATH. 

After  endeavouring  to  give  some  general  notion  of  the 
internal  state  of  the  Roman  empire  in  its  decline,  of  the 
revolutions  it  had  passed  through,  of  the  barbarians 
■who  hung  over  its  frontiers,  and  menaced  its  exist- 
ence, we  come  at  length  to  the  epoch  which  we  have 
marked  at  the  starting-point,  whence  to  proceed  in 
our  examination  of  this  portion  of  the  middle  or  dark 
ages.  This  is,  the  coronation  of  the  emperor  Con- 
stantine  by  the  legions  of  Britain,  at  York,  on  the  25th 
of  July,  A.  n.  306. 

The  hmits  assigned  to  works  belonging  to  this  series, 
do  not,  however,  permit  us  to  lay  before  our  readers  a 
complete,  detailed  narrative  of  the  faU  of  the  Roman 
empire,  and  the  establishment  of  the  barbaric  mon- 
archies.     This  is  to  be  found  in  several    celebrated 


CHAP.  IV.  CONST ANTINE.  71 

writers,  to  whose  voluminous  works  we  might  refer  our 
readers,  or,  still  better,  to  the  study  and  comparison  of 
the  ancient  authorities.  History  can  be  effectually 
studied  only  in  the  seclusion  of  the  closet ;  in  the 
patient  examination  of  original  writers,  and  the  accu- 
rate collation  of  evidence.  All  that  we  can  affect  to 
accomplish  in  the  narrow  space  assigned  to  us  is,  to 
bring  together  the  most  striking  pictures,  to  try  to 
arrange  them  distinctly  in  the  mind,  and  to  show  the 
general  tendency  of  events.  The  most  brilliant  periods, 
the  reigns  which  can  be  most  easily  studied  in  works 
devoted  expressly  to  them,  are  precisely  those  which  we 
shall  think  ourselves  justified  in  passing  over  the  most: 
rapidly.  But  all  have  not  leisure  for  such  a  course  of 
study  ;  and,  perhaps,  even  for  those  who  have  passed 
through  it,  a  brief  recapitulation  of  the  general  facts 
will  be  useful,  and  may  repair  the  losses,  or  correct  the 
inaccuracies,  of  memory. 

The  fourth  century  may  be  naturally  divided  into 
three  periods,  of  nearly  equal  length.  The  reign  of 
Constantine,  from  the  year  306  to  337 ;  that  of  his 
sons  and  his  nephews,  from  337  to  36'3  ;  and  the 
reigns  of  Valentinian,  of  his  sons,  and  of  Theodosius, 
from  364  to  395.  During  the  first,  the  ancient 
empire  of  Rome,  the  empire  of  Augustus,  gave  place 
to  a  new  monarchy,  whose  throne  stood  on  the  con- 
fines of  Europe  and  of  Asia,  Avith  other  manners, 
another  character,  and  another  religion.  During  the 
second,  this  religion,  passing  from  a  state  of  persecu- 
tion to  one  of  sovereignty,  experienced  the  fatal  effects 
almost  invariably  attached  to  a  prosperity  too  rapid, 
a  power  too  recent.  The  violence  of  religious  dissen- 
sions, during  this  period,  silenced  all  secular  controver- 
sies, all  political  passions.  During  the  third  period, 
the  empire,  shaken  anew  by  the  general  attack  of  the 
barbarians,  narrowly  escaped  complete  subversion.  The 
following  chapter  is  intended  to  give  a  sketch  of  the 
first  two  periods  only. 

We  have  seen  that  Diocletian,  after  appointing  four 
F   4 


72  FALL    OF    THE    KOMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.  XV. 

heads  to  the  military  despotism  which  ruled  the  empire,, 
induced  his  colleague,  Maximian,  to  abdicate  the  throne 
at  the  same  time  with  himself,  on  the  1st  of  May,  A. d.  305. 
The  two  Caesars,  Constantius  Chlorus  in  Gaul,  and  Ga- 
lerius  in  Illyricum,  were  then  elevated  to  the  rank  of  Au- 
gusti ;  while  two  new  Caesars,  Severus  and  Maximin, 
were  appointed  to  second  them.  But  from  the  moment 
that  Diocletian  ceased  to  moderate  the  hatred  and  the 
jealousy  of  the  subalterns  whom  he  thought  fit  to  ho- 
nour with  the  name  of  colleagues,  the  government  which 
he  had  given  to  the  empire  was  a  scene  of  constant 
confusion  and  civil  war,  till  the  period  at  which  all  the 
colleagues  fell  in  succession,  and  gave  place,  in  the  year 
323,  to  the  soUtary  rule  of  Constantine. 

Constantine  had  not  been  called  to  the  succession. 
Diocletian,  partial  to  Galerius,  his  son-in-law,  had  left 
the  nomination  of  the  two  new  Caesars  to  him.  Con- 
stantius Chlorus,  who  had  led  a  division  of  the  Galhc 
legions  into  Britain  to  oppose  the  incursions  of  the 
Caledonians,  was  then  ill;  and  Galerius,  sure  of  the  sup- 
port of  his  two  creatures,  waited  impatiently  for  the 
death  of  his  rival,  to  unite  the  whole  Roman  empire 
under  his  own  sway.  But  the  moderation  and  justice 
of  Constantius  had  rendered  him  the  more  dear  to  the 
soldiers  and  the  provincials  under  his  command,  from 
their  contrast  with  the  ferocity  of  his  colleagues.  At 
the  moment  of  his  death,  the  legions  stationed  at  York, 
as  a  tribute  of  gratitude  and  affection  to  his  memory, 
saluted  his  son  Constantine  with  the  title  of  Caesar,  and 
decorated  him  with  the  purple.  WTiatever  resentment 
Galerius  felt  at  this,  he  soon  perceived  the  danger  of 
engaging  in  a  civil  war.  As  the  eldest  of  the  empe- 
rors, and  the  representative  of  Diocletian,  he  recognised 
the  authority  of  the  colleague  imposed  upon  him  by 
the  legions.  He  left  him  the  administration  of  Gaul 
and  Britain,  but  assigned  to  him  only  the  fourth 
rank  among  the  rulers  of  the  empire,  and  the  title  of 
Caesar.  Under  this  title  Constantine  administered  the 
prefecture  of   Gaul  for  six    years   (a.  d.   306 — 312), 


CHAP.  IV.  CONSTANTINE.  73 

perhaps  the  most  glorious  and  the  most  virtuous  period 
of  his  life. 

Nature  had  endowed  Constantine,  then  thirty  years 
old,  with  qualities  that  command  respect.  His  person 
was  dignified,  his  countenance  noble  and  gracious, 
his  strength  remarkable  even  among  legionaries,  and 
his  courage  brilliant  even  in  the  estimation  of  the 
bravest.  Although  his  mind  had  not  been  formed  by  a 
liberal  education,  it  was  quick  and  facile  ;  his  convers- 
ation was  lively,  only  he  was  too  much  addiced  to 
raillery  for  a  man  whom  it  is  impossible  to  rally  in 
return.  The  grandeur  of  his  conceptions,  the  firmness 
of  his  character,  and  his  consummate  talents  for  war, 
gave  him  a  high  rank  among  generals  and  statesmen. 
Happy  would  it  have  been  for  him,  if  fortune,  which 
with  a  rare  constancy,  favoured  all  his  enterprises,  had 
not,  by  her  indulgence,  fostered  and  revealed  his  vices  ; 
if  the  height  to  which  he  attained  had  not  made  him 
giddy  ;  if  the  drunkenness  of  absolute  power  had  not 
altered  his  character ;  and  if  every  advance  towards  the 
acquisition  of  a  new  power  had  not  been  outweighed  by 
the  loss  of  a  virtue. 

From  the  time  of  his  elevation  to  the  throne,  Con- 
stantine wavered  between  paganism  and  Christianity ; 
and  throughout  his  prefecture  he  granted  perfect  tolera- 
tion to  all  religious  opinions.  In  this  he  only  followed 
the  example  of  his  father,  who  had  sheltered  the  pro- 
vinces under  his  rule  from  the  persecutions  of  Diocle- 
tian. Gaul  was,  indeed,  the  part  of  the  empire  in 
which  we  find  the  fewest  martyrs.  The  Christian  re- 
ligion had  made  very  little  progress  there ;  but  the 
tolerance  of  Constantine,  contrasted  with  the  ferocity  of 
the  persecutions  of  Galerius  and  the  two  Casars,  at- 
tracted a  great  number  of  refugees  to  the  countries 
under  his  sway,  and  thus  caused  a  rapid  spread  of  the 
new  religion  in  the  West. 

After  pacifying  Britain,  Constantine  had  led  back 
his  army  into  Gaul.  He  had  lessened  the  weight  of 
taxation ;  and  we  learn  that  the  town  of  Autun  ex- 


74  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.  IV. 

pressed  its  gratitude  to  him,  for  lightening  the  pressure 
of  the  capitation,  or  poll-tax.  The  moment  the  Franks 
encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  learned  the  death 
of  his  father,  they  crossed  the  river,  and  laid  waste  a 
part  of  Gaul.  Constantme  marched  against  them  at 
the  head  of  the  British  legions ;  defeated  them  ;  made  a 
great  number  of  prisoners ;  and,  at  the  celebration  of 
the  games  in  his  capital  of  Treves,  he  caused  these 
captives  to  be  thrown  to  wild  beasts.  They  were  de- 
voured before  the  eyes  of  a  people  by  whom  this  spec- 
tacle was  hailed  with  rapturous  applause.  Among  the 
victims,  the  most  remarkable  were  two  Prankish  kings, 
Ascaric  and  Regais.  This  is  the  earliest  tradition  we 
have  of  the  first  race  of  sovereigns  of  France. 

It  did  not  enter  the  mind  of  Constantine,  nor  of 
those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  that  any  humanity 
could  be  due  to  the  vanquished,  any  compassion  to  bar- 
baric kings.  In  a  panegyric  addressed  to  him,  and 
recited  in  his  presence,  this  act  is  especially  celebrated  ; 
and  the  torture  inflicted  on  these  two  Frankish  kings  is 
extolled  above  the  most  glorious  of  his  victories.  But 
Constantine  was  hereafter,  and  repeatedly,  to  shed  blood 
far  more  sacred  in  his  eyes  ;  his  ambition  was  untem- 
pered  by  pity,  and  his  jealousy  of  power  stifled  the  most 
powerful  feelings  of  nature  in  his  breast. 

During  this  time  the  senate  and  the  people  of  Rome^ 
abandoned  by  all  the  emperors,  who  had  fixed  their 
residence  in  the  provinces,  irritated  by  the  announce- 
ment of  fresh  taxes,  conferred  the  rank  of  Augustus 
on  Maxentius,  son  of  Maximian  (a.  d.  306),  who, 
like  Constantine,  had  not  been  raised  by  Galerius  to  the 
rank  of  Csesar,  to  which  he  seemed  to  have  claims.  At 
this  intelligence  the  aged  Maximian,  who  had  been 
reluctantly  drawn  into  an  abdication  to  Avhich  his  con- 
stant restlessness  continually  gave  the  lie,  hastened  to 
resume  the  purple,  in  order  to  protect  his  son  and  to  as- 
sist him  with  his  counsels.  He  gave  his  daughter  Fausta 
in  marriage  to  Constantine,  and  conferred  on  him  the  title 
of  Augustus ;  and  he  claimed  from  the  whole  "West,  go- 


CHAP.  IV.  CONSTANTINE.  / -» 

verned  by  his  son  and  his  son-in-law,  that  deference 
which  those  two  princes  owed  to  the  eldest  head  of  the 
empire,  and  the  author  of  their  own  greatness.  But 
love  of  power  can  ill  be  reconciled  in  royal  minds  with 
the  plebeian  virtues  of  filial  affection  and  gratitude. 
The  veteran,  illustrious  from  his  numerous  victories, 
was  driven  out  of  Italy  by  his  son  Maxentius;  repulsed 
from  Illyricum  by  his  ancient  colleague,  Galerius  ;  and 
permitted  to  take  refuge  in  Gaul  by  Constantine,  only 
on  condition  that  he  would  a  second  time  renounce  the 
supreme  power  he  had  resumed.  He  lived  for  some 
time  in  the  Narbonnese  province  ;  but  on  the  report  of 
the  death  of  Constantine  (probably  spread  by  Maxi- 
mian  himself),  he  once  more  resumed  the  purple.  Con- 
stantine put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  legions,  and 
instantly  marched  to  Marseilles,  where  he  besieged 
Maximian,  caused  him  to  be  deUvered  into  his  hands 
by  the  soldiers  of  the  town,  and  to  be  strangled  (Feb. 
A.J).  310). 

For  two  whole  years  the  empire  had  had  six  em- 
perors at  a  time,  all  recognised  as  legitimate.  But  the 
death  of  Maximian  was  followed  by  that  of  Galerius, 
in  May,  311,  after  a  dreadful  illness.  Four  Augusti,  of 
equal  rank,  now  once  more  shared  the  four  prefectures. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  they  proclaimed  to  the  empire 
their  union,  when  they  began  to  plan  each  other's  de- 
thronement. Maxentius  had  exercised  an  odious  tyranny 
over  Italy  and  Africa;  he  had  plundered,  persecuted,  and 
dishonoured  the  senate,  which  had  placed  him  on  the 
throne  ;  and,  while  he  gave  himself  up  without  reserve 
to  shameful  pleasures,  he  lavished  the  money  he  ex- 
torted from  the  citizens  by  infamous  confiscations,  on 
the  soldiers,  on  whom  he  placed  his  sole  reliance.  Maxi- 
min,  who  reigned  over  the  East,  was  neither  less 
cruel,  nor  less  hateful  to  the  people.  Constantine 
offered  his  alliance,  and  the  hand  of  his  sister,  to  Lici- 
nius,  the  third  of  the  Augusti,  who  governed  Illyricum, 
and  abandoned  to  him  the  conquest  of  the  East,  reserving 
to  himself  that  of  Italy  and  Africa.     He  passed  the  Alps 


76  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 

at  the  head  of  the  Gallic  legions;  gained  three  great 
victories,  at  Turin,  at  Verona,  and  before  the  gates  of 
Rome,  over  those  of  Maxentius,  which  that  dastardly 
and  effeminate  ruler  did  not  venture  to  command  in 
person.  After  the  third,  which  took  place  on  the  3d 
of  October,  312,  the  head  of  Maxentius,  for  whom 
Constantine  had  little  reason  to  feel  as  a  brother-in-law, 
was  exhibited  to  the  people,  severed  from  the  trunk. 
Constantine  was  received  in  Rome  with  acclamations ; 
Africa  acknowledged  him,  as  well  as  Italy ;  and  an 
edict  of  religious  toleration,  issued  at  MUan,  extended 
the  advantages,  hitherto  enjoyed  by  Gaul  alone,  to  this 
prefecture.  Licinius  was  not  less  successful  against 
Maximin,  and  the  use  he  made  of  his  victory  per- 
haps spared  Constantine  the  commission  of  some  crimes. 
Licinius  put  to  death  all  the  sons  of  Maximin,  aU  the 
sons  of  Galerius,  and  all  the  sons  of  Severus,  that  none 
might  remain  to  carry  into  a  private  station  the  me- 
mory of  their  father's  power.  Even  the  wife  and 
daughter  of  Diocletian,  who  were  known  to  him  only  by 
the  benefits  he  had  received  at  their  hands,  and  by  the 
respect  of  the  people,  fell  victims  to  his  ruthless  am- 
bition. He  would  suffer  no  rival  claims  to  the  throne,  and 
he  left  nothing  for  Constantine  to  do  in  the  work  of  ex- 
termination. The  two  allies  and  brothers-in-law,  thus 
left  masters  of  the  field,  immediately  prepared  for  com- 
bat. In  the  first  civil  war,  a.  d.  31 5,  Constantine 
wrested  lUyricum  from  Licinius.  After  an  interval  of 
eight  years,  war  was  renewed.  Licinius  was  beaten 
before  Adrian ople,  on  the  3d  of  July,  323,  and  the 
whole  empire  recognised  Constantine  the  Great  as  its 
monarch. 

Constantine  was  a  native  of  the  western  provinces. 
He  spoke  their  language ;  there  he  first  distinguished 
himself  by  his  victories,  and  by  a  beneficent  administra- 
tion ;  there  his  name,  and  that  of  his  father,  were  en- 
deared to  the  people  and  to  the  soldiers.  Nevertheless, 
one  of  the  first  uses  he  made  of  his  victory  was,  to 
abandon  these  provinces  for  Greece,  whither  he  went  to 


CHAP.  IV.  CONSTANTINE.  77 

build  a  new  Rome,  to  which  he  laboured  to  transfer  all 
the  luxury  and  the  privileges  of  the  ancient  city.     The 
latter  had  long   been  regarded  with  jealousy  by  the 
emperors.  They  dreaded  a  residence  in  a  town  in  which 
the  people  still  remembered  that  the  sovereign  power 
had  resided  in  them  ;  in  which  every  senator  felt  him- 
self of  higher  nobility  than  the  monarch;  more  familiar 
with  those  elegancies  and  refinements  of  manners  which 
are  the  indelible  mark  of  aristocratic  birth,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  humiliating  desire  to  those  who  can  never  acquire 
them.      Constantine    wished  to    have    a    capital   more 
modern  than  the  imperial  dignity,  a  senate  more  recent 
than  despotism.     He  wished  for  the  pomp  of  Rome, 
without  her  recollections,  without  her  means  of  resist- 
ance.    He    chose    Byzantium,    on    the    Bosphorus   of 
Thrace ;  and    the  new  capital,   which   took   its    name 
from  him,  standing  on  the  confines  of  Europe  and  of 
Asia,  with  a  magnificent  port  open  to  the  commerce  of 
the  Black  Sea  and  of  the  Mediterranean,  has  shown, 
by  its  long  prosperity,  by  the  invincible  resistance  it 
offered    to    its    barbarian    aggressors    for   a    thousand 
years,  how  admirably  sagacious  was  the  choice  of  its 
founder. 

But  it  was  while  occupied  in  watching  the  infant 
growth  of  Constantinople  (a.  d.  329),  during  the  four- 
teen years  of  peace  which  closed  his  reign,  that  the 
hero  descended  to  the  common  level  of  kings.  As  he 
approached  the  East,  he  adopted  oriental  manners  ;  he 
affected  the  gorgeous  purple  of  the  monarchs  of  Persia; 
he  decorated  his  head  with  false  hair  of  different  colours, 
and  with  a  diadem  covered  with  pearls  and  gems.  He 
substituted  flowing  silken  robes,  embroidered  with  flow- 
ers, for  the  austere  garb  of  Rome,  or  the  unadorned 
purple  of  the  first  Roman  emperors.  He  filled  his 
palace  with  eunuchs,  and  lent  an  ear  to  their  perfidious 
calumnies ;  he  became  the  instrument  of  their  base  in- 
trigues, their  cupidity,  and  their  jealousy.  He  multi- 
plied spies,  an<l  subjected  the  palace  and  the  empire, 
alike,  to  a  suspicious  police.     He  lavished  the  wealth  of 


78         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 

Rome  on  the  sterile  pomp  of  stately  buildings.  He  re- 
duced the  legions  from  6OOO  men  to  1000  or  1500, 
through  jealousy  of  those  to  whom  he  must  have  given 
the  command  of  these  formidable  bodies.  Lastly,  he 
poured  out  the  best  and  noblest  blood  in  torrents,  more 
especially  of  those  nearly  connected  with  himself. 

The  most  illustrious  victim  of  his  tyranny  was  Cris- 
pus,  his  son  by  his  first  wife,  whom  he  had  made  the 
partner  of  his  empire,  and  the  commander  of  his  ar- 
mies. Crispus  was  at  the  head  of  the  administration 
of  Gaul,  where  he  gained  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  his 
virtue.  In  the  war  against  Licinius  he  had  displayed 
singular  talents,  and  had  secured  victory  to  the  arms  of 
Constantine.  From  that  moment,  a  shameful  and  un- 
natural jealousy  stifled  every  paternal  feeling  in  the 
bosom  of  the  monarch.  The  acclamations  of  the  people 
sounded  in  his  ears  like  the  triumphs  of  a  rival,  and  not 
the  successes  of  a  son.  He  detained  Crispus  within 
the  palace,  he  surrounded  him  with  spies  and  informers. 
At  length,  in  the  month  of  July,  326,  he  ordered  him 
to  be  arrested  in  the  midst  of  a  grand  festival,  to  be 
carried  oflf  to  Pola  in  Istria,  and  there  to  be  put  to 
death.  A  cousin  of  Crispus,  the  son  of  Licinius  and  of 
Constantine's  favourite  sister,  was,  at  the  same  time, 
sent,  without  trial,  without  even  accusation,  to  the 
block.  His  mother  implored  his  life  in  vain,  and  died 
of  grief.  Fausta,  the  daughter  of  Maximian,  the  wife 
of  Constantine,  and  the  mother  of  the  three  princes 
who  succeeded  him,  was  shortly  after  stifled  in  the  bath 
by  order  of  her  husband. 

In  a  palace  which  he  had  made  a  desert,  the  murderer 
of  his  father-in-law,  his  brothers-in-law,  his  sister,  his 
wife,  his  son,  and  his  nephew,  must  have  felt  the  stings 
of  remorse,  if  hypocritical  priests  and  courtier  bishops 
had  not  lulled  his  conscience  to  rest.  We  still  possess 
the  panegyric  in  which  they  represent  him  as  a  favourite 
of  Heaven,  a  saint  %vorthy  of  our  highest  veneration  ; 
we  have  also  several  laws  by  which  Constantine  atoned 
for  all  his  crimes,  in  the  eyes  of  the  priests,  by  heaping 


CHAP.  IV.  SONS    OF    CONSTANTINE.  79 

boundless  favours  on  the  church.  The  gifts  he  be- 
stowed on  it,  the  immunities  he  granted  to  persons  and 
to  property  connected  with  it,  soon  directed  ambition 
entirely  to  ecclesiastical  dignities.  The  men  who  had 
so  lately  been  candidates  for  the  honours  of  martyrdom, 
now  found  themselves  depositaries  of  the  greatest  wealth 
and  the  highest  power.  How  was  it  possible  that  their 
characters  should  not  undergo  a  total  change  ?  Never- 
theless, Constantine  himself  was  hardly  a  Christian. 
Up  to  the  age  of  forty  (a.  d.  314),  he  had  continued  to 
make  public  profession  of  paganism,  although  he  had 
long  favoured  the  Christians.  His  devotion  was  divided 
between  Apollo  and  Jesus ;  and  he  adorned  the  temples 
of  the  ancient  gods  and  the  altars  of  the  new  faith  with 
equal  offerings.  Cardinal  Baronius  severely  censures 
the  edict  by  which  (a.  d.  321)  he  commanded  that  the 
haruspices  should  be  consulted.  But  as  he  advanced  in 
age,  Constantine's  confidence  in  the  Christians  increased: 
he  gave  up  to  them  the  undivided  direction  of  his  con- 
science and  the  education  of  his  children.  When  he 
felt  the  attacks  of  the  disease  which  terminated  his  life 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  he  was  formally  received  into 
the  bosom  of  the  church  as  a  catechumen,  and  a  few 
days  afterwards  was  baptised,  immediately  before  his 
death.  He  expired  at  Nicomedia,  May  22.  337,  after 
a  reign  of  thirty-one  years  from  the  death  of  his  father, 
and  of  fourteen  from  the  conquest  of  the  East. 

During  the  whole  course  of  his  reign  CJonstantine  had 
struggled  to  reunite  the  divided  members  of  the  empire. 
His  own  experience  had  taught  him  what  jealousy  ab- 
solute power  excited  among  colleagues  ;  what  a  feeble 
security  is  given  to  treaties  between  princes  by  the  ties 
of  blood  :  yet,  at  his  death,  he  once  more  divided  the 
empire.  Indeed,  for  several  years,  he  had  sent  his 
three  sons  and  two  nephews  to  serve  their  apprentice- 
ship in  the  art  of  ruling,  at  the  expense  of  the  provinces 
they  were  hereafter  to  govern  as  independent  cliiefs. 
Constantine,  the  eldest  of  the  young  princes,  twenty-one 


80         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  IV. 

years  of  age,  reigned  in  the  province  of  Gaul.  Con- 
stantius,  a  year  younger,  remained  with  his  father,  and 
was  the  destined  ruler  of  the  East.  Constans,  a  youth 
of  seventeen,  was  sent  into  Italy,  which,  together  with 
Africa,  was  to  be  subject  to  him.  Dalmatius  and  Han- 
nibalianus,  the  emperor's  two  nephews,  were  to  inherit 
Thrace  and  Pontus  as  their  share.  Scarcely  had  he 
breathed  his  last,  when  his  two  elder  sons  set  about  to 
destroy  his  work.  Constantius  artfully  enticed  his  two 
cousins  to  his  court,  and  excited  the  jealousy  of  the 
army  against  them.  The  bishop  of  Nicomedia  produced 
a  forged  will  of  the  emperor,  in  which  he  expressed  a 
suspicion  that  he  had  been  poisoned  by  his  brothers, 
and  recommended  his  son  to  avenge  him.  Under  pre- 
text of  obeying  this  injunction,  in  less  than  four  months 
after  his  father's  death,  Constantius  put  to  death  two  of 
his  uncles,  seven  of  his  cousins,  among  whom  were  his 
two  colleagues,  and  a  great  number  of  other  distinguished 
persons,  allied  in  some  way  or  other  to  the  imperial 
family.  Two  children  alone,  Gallus  and  Juhan,  ne- 
phews of  Constantine  the  Great,  were  snatched  by  a 
pious  hand  from  this  butchery. 

Constantius  had  thus  usurped  the  inheritance  of  his 
two  cousins.  Constantine  II.  determined  on  seizing 
that  of  his  youngest  brother.  In  the  third  year  of  his 
reign  he  made  a  descent  upon  Italy,  in  order  to  dethrone 
Constans  ;  but,  having  been  surprised  by  an  ambuscade, 
he  was  put  to  death,  by  order  of  his  brother,  on  the  9th 
of  April,  340.  Constans  was  consequently  acknow- 
ledged emperor  of  Gaul  as  well  as  of  Italy.  After  a 
reign  of  ten  years,  he  was  assassinated  in  the  Pyrenees, 
February  27-  350,  by  Magnentius,  the  captain  of  his 
guards,  who  succeeded  him.  It  was  not  till  three  years 
afterwards  that  Constantius  succeeded  in  recovering  the 
West,  the  empire  of  his  two  brothers,  from  Mag- 
nentius. 

This  chronology  of  murders  is  nearly  all  that  remains 
of  the  civil  history  of  these  three  princes.  Neither  pa- 
triots, nor  men  whose  object  was  personal  aggrandise- 


CHAP.  IV.  DONATIST    CONTROVERSY.  81 

ment,  could  find  any  satisfaction  in  devoting  themselves 
to  political  affairs.  During  the  whole  of  this  period, 
therefore,  they  were  forgotten,  and  the  minds  of  men 
were  completely  engrossed  by  the  religious  disputes 
which  presented  new  fuel  to  the  passions.  It  was  by 
sectarian  violence  alone  that  a  man  could  gain  affection 
from  the  people  or  consideration  from  the  court.  It 
was  by  theological  subtleties  alone,  that  he  could  hope  to 
move  the  popular  passions.  Those  who  could  not  be 
induced,  nor  constrained,  to  take  up  arms  to  defend 
property,  life,  or  honour  against  the  barbarians,  eagerly 
seized  them  to  force  their  fellow-citizens  to  think  with 
themselves.  All  the  temples  of  paganism  Avere  still 
standing,  more  than  half  the  subjects  of  the  empire 
still  professed  the  ancient  faith  ;  and  yet  already  does 
the  history  of  the  people  over  whom  the  sons  of  Con- 
stantine  reigned,  consist  of  little  else  than  the  contentions 
between  sects  of  Christians. 

Two  great  theological  dissensions  had  broken  out  at 
the  very  moment  at  which  Constantine  put  a  stop  to 
persecution,  and  while  Licinius  was  still  endeavouring 
to  crush  the  church  in  the  East.  Both  had  a  long  and 
fatal  influence  on  the  destinies  of  the  empire ;  yet  the 
first,  that  of  the  Donatists  of  Africa,  seems  so  futile, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  explain  the  importance  attached 
to  it  by  the  people,  except  from  the  novelty  of  religious 
disputes,  and  the  universal  disposition  towards  religious 
fanaticism  which  had  been  excited  by  passionate  decla- 
mation. The  Donatist  controversy  was  not  one  of  doc- 
trine, but  of  ecclesiastical  discipline ;  the  contested 
election  for  tlie  archbishopric  of  Carthage.  Two 
competitors,  Cecilius  and  Donatus,  had  been  concur- 
rently elected  while  the  church  was  yet  in  a  depressed 
state,  and  Africa  suliject  to  the  tyrant  Maxentius. 
Scarcely  had  Constantine  subdued  that  province,  when 
the  two  rivals  referred  their  dis{)ute  to  him.  Constan- 
tine, who  still  publicly  professed  paganism,  but  had 
shown  himself  very  favourable  to  the  Christians,  insti- 
tuted a  carefid  examination  of  their  respective  claims 

VOL.  I.  o 


82.         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 

which  lasted  from  the  year  312  to  315,  and  finally  de- 
cided in  favour  of  Cecilius.  Four  hundred  African 
bishops  protested  against  this  decision  ;  from  that  time 
they  were  designated  by  the  name  of  Donatists.  Their 
number  shows  the  progress  the  new  faith  had  already 
made  in  Mauritania  and  Numidia.  We  must  observe, 
however,  that  it  appears  nearly  certain  that,  in  Africa, 
every  parish  was  under  the  spiritual  government,  not  of 
a  curate,  but  of  a  bishop. 

In  compliance  with  an  order  of  the  emperor,  solicited 
by  Cecilius,  the  property  of  the  Donatists  was  seized 
and  transferred  to  the  antagonist  body  of  the  clergy. 
They  revenged  themselves  by  pronouncing  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  all  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
world  ;  and  declaring,  that  whoever  did  not  believe  the 
election  of  Donatus  to  be  canonical,  would  be  everlast- 
ingly damned.  They  even  compelled  aU  whom  they  con- 
verted from  the  hostile  sect  to  be  rebaptized,  as  if  they 
Avere  not  Christians.  Persecution  on  the  one  side,  and 
fanaticism  on  the  other,  were  perpetuated  through  three 
centuries,  up  to  the  period  of  the  extinction  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Africa.  The  wandering  preachers  of  the 
Donatist  faction  had  no  other  means  of  living  than  the 
alms  of  their  flocks  ;  their  influence  and  consideration, 
therefore,  depended  solely  on  their  power  of  heating  the 
imaginations  and  working  on  the  fears  of  the  feeble- 
minded, and  thus  gradually  diffusing  over  the  whole 
congregation  that  moral  contagion  which  they  began  by 
exciting  in  women  and  children.  As  might  be  expected, 
they  outdid  each  other  in  extravagance,  and  soon  gave 
into  the  most  frantic  ravings  :  thousands  of  peasants, 
drunk  with  the  effect  of  these  exhortations,  forsook  their 
ploughs  and  fled  to  the  deserts  of  Getulia.  Their  bishops, 
assuming  the  title  of  captains  of  the  saints,  put  themselves 
at  their  head,  and  they  rushed  onwards,  carrying  death 
and  desolation  into  the  adjacent  provinces  ;  they  were 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Circumcelliones  :  Africa 
was  devastated  by  their  ravages.  They,  in  their  turn, 
were  delivered  over  to  the  most  cruel  torments  whenever 


CHAP.  IV.  TRINITARIAN    CONTROVERSY.  83 

they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  imperial  officers  or  the 
orthodox  party^  in  the  hope  that  the  severity  of  these  ex- 
amples would  intimidate  their  followers.  Such  measures, 
however,  were  perfectly  unsuccessful,  since  the  palm  of 
martyrdom  was  the  object  of  their  most  ardent  desires. 
Persuaded  that  the  most  acceptable  offering  they  could 
make  to  the  Deity  was  their  own  lives,  they  frequently 
stopped  the  affrighted  traveller,  and,  holding  a  dagger 
to  his  breast,  demanded  of  him  to  put  them  to  death. 
Often  with  arms  in  their  hands  they  forced  their  way 
into  the  courts  of  justice,  and  compelled  the  judges  to 
send  them  to  torture  and  to  death.  Often  they  put  an 
end  to  their  own  existence.  Those  who  thought  them- 
selves sufficiently  prepared  for  martyrdom,  assembled 
their  numerous  congregations  at  the  foot  of  some  rock 
or  lofty  tower;  and  there,  in  the  midst  of  prayers  and 
the  chanting  of  litanies,  they  threw  themselves,  one  after 
another,  from  the  height,  and  expired  on  the  ground 
below. 

The  other  theological  contest  arose  out  of  causes 
more  elevated  and  weighty,  but  at  the  same  time  more 
inscrutable,  and  impossible  to  determine.  It  has  divided 
the  church  from  the  second  century  of  its  existence ; 
it  will,  perhaps,  divide  it  to  the  end  of  time.  This  is, 
the  controversy  on  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity.  The 
word  Trinity  is  found  neither  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures nor  in  the  writings  of  the  first  Christians  ;  l)ut  it 
had  been  employed  from  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century,  when  a  more  metaphysical  turn  had  been  given 
to  the  minds  of  men,  and  theologians  had  begun  to  at- 
tempt to  explain  the  divine  nature.  Alexandria  was 
one  of  the  first  cities  in  which  the  Christian  religion 
nad  made  proselytes  among  the  higher  classes  of  society. 
Those  who  had  received  tlieir  education  in  the  I'latonic 
schools  which  flourished  in  that  great  city,  sought  in 
the  Scriptures  a  new  light  on  the  questions  which  had  re- 
cently been  agitated  among  them.  The  dogma  of  a  mys- 
terious trinity,  which  constituted  the  divine  essence, 
had  been  taught  by  the  pagan  Platonists  of  Alexandria. 
G  2 


84         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 

It  seems  to  have  sprung  from  the  astonishment  which 
the  mathematical  properties  of  numbers  had  excited  in 
the  minds  of  students  of  the  abstract  sciences.  They 
thought  they  discovered  something  divine  in  these  pro- 
perties ;  and  the  power  which  numbers  exercised  over 
calculations  appeared  to  them  to  extend  over  regions  far 
removed  from  their  actual  influence.  This  illusion  has 
been  revived  in  every  age  of  imperfect  science.  The 
new  Platonic  converts  employed  the  terms  of  their  pecu- 
iar  system  of  philosophy,  in  the  exposition  of  the  dogmas 
of  the  Christian  faith. 

But  whatever  were  the  origin  of  these  speculations, 
the  question  had  no  sooner  descended  from  the  lofty 
regions  of  metaphysical  abstraction,  to  be  applied  to  an 
explanation  of  the  nature  of  Jesus  Christ,  than  it  ac- 
quired an  importance  which  no  Christian  can  contest. 
The  Founder  of  the  new  religion,  the  Being  who  had 
brought  upon  earth  a  divine  light,  was  he  God,  was  he 
man,  was  he  of  an  intermediate  nature,  and,  though 
superior  to  all  other  created  beings,  yet  himself  created.'^ 
This  latter  opinion  was  held  by  Arius,  an  Alexandrian 
pi'iest,  Avho  maintained  it  in  a  series  of  learned  contro- 
versial works  between  the  years  318  and  325.  As  soon 
as  the  discussion  had  quitted  the  walls  of  the  schools, 
and  been  taken  up  by  the  people,  mutual  accusations  of 
the  gravest  kind  took  the  place  of  metaphysical  subtleties. 
The  orthodox  party  reproached  the  Arians  with  bla- 
spheming the  Deity  himself,  by  refusing  to  acknowledge 
him  in  the  person  of  Christ.  The  Arians  accused  the 
orthodox  of  violating  the  fundamental  law  of  religion,  by 
rendering  to  the  creature  the  worship  due  only  to  the 
Creator.  Both  maintained,  with  a  show  of  reason,  that 
their  adversaries  overturned  the  very  foundations  of  Chris- 
tianity,—  the  one  party  by  denying  the  divinity  of  the 
Redeemer,  the  other  the  unity  of  the  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  two  opinions  appeared  so  nicely  balanced,  that 
they  were  alternately  triumphant,  and  it  was  difficult  to 
decide  which  numbered  the  largest  body  of  followers  ; 
but  the  ardent  enthusiastic  spirits,  the  populace  in  all  the 


CHAP.  IV.       STATE    OP    THE    WESTERN    EMPIRE.  85 

great  cities  (and  especially  at  Alexandria),  the  women, 
and  the  newly-founded  order  of  the  monks  of  the  desert, 
who  had  subjugated  the  force  of  their  reason  by  a  life 
of  continual  solitude  and  contemplation,  were  almost 
without  exception  partisans  of  the  faith  which  has  since 
been  declared  orthodox.  The  contrary  opinion  appeared 
to  them  an  insult  to  the  object  of  their  most  passionate 
devotion.  That  opinion,  — the  Arian  heresy,  as  it  was 
called,  —  was  embraced  by  all  the  new  Christians  of  the 
Germanic  tribes ;  by  the  people  of  Constantinople,  and 
by  a  large  portion  of  Asia  ;  by  the  great  majority  of  the 
dignitaries  of  the  church,  and  by  the  depositaries  of  the 
civil  authority. 

Constantino  thought  this  question  of  dogma  might 
be  decided  by  an  assembly  of  the  whole  church.  In 
the  year  325,  he  convoked  the  council  of  Nice,  at  which 
300  bishops  pronounced  in  favour  of  the  equality  of  the 
Son  with  the  Father,  or  the  doctrine  generally  regarded 
as  orthodox,  and  condemned  the  Arians  to  exile,  and  their 
books  to  the  flames.  In  spite  of  this  decision,  the  Arian 
opinion  appeared  three  years  afterwards  to  prevail  among 
the  whole  clergy  of  the  East.  It  was  sanctioned  by  a  synod 
at  Jerusalem,  and  protected  by  the  emperor.  ^V^hen  Con- 
stantius  ascended  the  throne,  all  the  bishops  and  courtiers 
by  whom  he  was  surrounded  had  adopted  the  opinions 
of  Arius,  and  had  communicated  them  to  him.  The 
emperor,  abandoning  all  other  cares,  in  order  to  devote 
himself  exclusively  to  religious  controversy,  became  a 
mere  theologian,  and  remained  so  during  the  whole  of 
his  long  reign.  He  emi)loycd  his  court  and  wore  out 
his  own  intellect  in  finding  expressions  fitted  for  the 
shades  of  his  belief,  and  the  fluctuations  of  his  senti- 
ments. Every  year  he  convoked  some  fresh  synod  or 
council ;  he  removed  bishops  from  their  flocks ;  he 
destroyed  religion  in  favour  of  theology;  and  as  the 
bishops  whom  he  was  continually  summoning  from 
one  province  to  another  travelled  at  the  public  cost, 
the  multiplicity  of  councils  became  a  ruinous  charge 
on  the  imperial  treasury.  But  a  formidable  adversary 
o  3 


86         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IV. 

appeared,  who  opposed  him  Avith  firmness,  and  rendered 
his  efforts  powerless.  This  was  St.  Athanasius,  arch- 
bishop of  Alexandria,  who  was  regarded  as  head  of  the 
orthodox  party  from  the  year  326  to  373.  He  met 
persecution  Avith  unshaken  constancy,  communicated  his 
own  zeal  to  the  fanatical  populace  of  Alexandria  and 
the  monks  of  the  desert ;  and,  after  a  long  struggle 
between  popular  commotions  and  mihtary  persecutions, 
at  length  secured  victory  to  his  party. 

During  the  whole  of  the  reigns  of  the  three  sons  of 
Constantine,  historians  scarcely  seem  to  have  regarded 
any  thing  as  worthy  of  their  notice  save  ecclesiastical 
disputes;  nor  did  the  sovereign  seem  to  think  his 
station  and  office  imposed  any  duty  upon  him  more 
imperative  than  that  of  engaging  in  the  ranks  of  contro- 
versy. But  the  people  had  more  than  one  occasion  to 
feel  that  they  needed  protection  from  other  perils  than 
those  of  heresy.  During  the  whole  of  tliis  period  the 
East  was  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  Sapor  II.,  king  of 
Persia,  whose  long  reign,  from  310  to  380,  by  a  sin- 
gular destiny,  had  begun  some  months  before  his  birth. 
On  the  death  of  his  father  Hormidas,  his  mother  de- 
clared herself  pregnant.  She  was  presented  to  the 
adoration  of  the  people  reclining  on  a  bed  of  state ;  and 
the  crown,  which  was  placed  on  the  bed  by  the  magi, 
was  supposed  to  cover  the  head  of  the  child  the  nation 
hoped  to  receive  from  her.  Sapor  II.  evinced  much 
more  talents  and  courage  than  could  be  expected  from  a 
king  born  on  the  throne.  He  made  repeated  incursions 
into  the  Roman  provinces  of  the  East.  In  348,  he 
defeated  Constantius  in  a  great  battle  at  Singara,  near 
the  Tigris.  But  his  invasions  were  always  checked  by 
the  fortress  of  Nisibis,  the  bulwark  of  the  East.  Thrice 
he  besieged  it  with  all  his  forces,  and  was  thrice  re- 
pulsed. 

From  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  two  brothers  of 
Constantius,  the  ^Fest  had  suffered  yet  more  severely. 
In  order  to  reconquer  it  from  the  usurper  IMagnentius, 
that  emperor  had  incited  the  Germanic  nations  to  attack 


CnAP.  IV.  JULIAN.  87 

the  northern  frontier  of  Gaul,  at  the  moment  when  civil 
war  compelled  Magnentius  to  leave  the  Rhine  unpro- 
tected, and  to  march  his  legions  into  Illyricum.  The 
Franks  and  AUemans  consequently  poured  down,  the 
former  on  Belgium,  the  latter  on  Alsace,  and  plun- 
dered and  burnt  forty-five  of  the  most  flourishing  cities 
of  either  Gaul.  Their  cruelty  inspired  such  terror, 
that  no  one  throughout  the  remainder  of  the  province 
dared  to  quit  the  shelter  of  the  cities.  Within  the 
walls,  the  inhabitants  cultivated  portions  of  land  amid 
the  ruins,  and  trusted  for  subsistence  to  the  produce  of 
fields  thus  cleared  by  the  devastating  hand  of  the  in- 
vader. But  13,000  soldiers  remained  to  defend  the 
whole  extent  of  Gaul  against  these  torrents  of  barba- 
rians ;  all  the  magazines,  all  the  arsenals  were  emptied  ; 
the  treasury  was  exhausted ;  the  persons  upon  whom  the 
burdens  of  the  state  rested,  reduced  to  the  uttermost 
distress,  fled  and  abandoned  their  lands,  rather  than 
submit  any  longer  to  fiscal  vexations.  The  defence  of 
the  West  seemed  to  have  become  nearly  impossible, 
when,  in  the  year  355,  Constantius  entrusted  it  to  his 
cousin  Julian.  The  fury  of  persecution  which  he  had 
exercised  against  his  family  had  vented  itself.  He  had 
promised  to  suffer  his  two  cousins  to  live  ;  and  as  he 
had  now  reached  the  middle  of  life  without  natural 
successors,  he  had  resolved  on  delegating  some  au- 
thority to  these  his  nearest  relatives.  In  351,  he  had 
granted  the  dignity  of  Ciesar  to  Gallus,  the  brother  of 
Julian,  and  had  sent  him  to  Antioch  ;  but  as  the  power 
with  which  he  was  invested  had  called  forth  nothing  but 
vice,  Constantius  recalled  him  in  December  354,  and 
caused  him  to  be  beheaded  in  prison.  A  few  months 
afterwards  he  invested  the  last  survivor  of  this  once 
numerous  family  with  a  similar  authority,  and  gave  him 
Gaul  to  govern. 

Julian  had  known  nothing  of  his  exalted  station  but 

its  exposure  to  more  terrible  calamity  ;  but  this  had 

tried  )iis  courage,  and  fortified  his  soul.    He  had  sought 

consolation  in  the  philosophy  of  Greece,    and  in  the 

G  4 


0»  FALL    OF    TOE    R03IAX    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  IV. 

Study  of  antiquity.  He  had  compared  the  virtues  of 
former  ages  with  the  vices  and  crimes  of  his  own 
time,  and  of  the  race  wlience  he  sprang  ;  and^  from  a 
spirit  of  opposition  to  all  that  surrounded  him,  he  had 
attached  himself  the  more  ardently  to  the  religion  of  his 
fathers.  He  embraced  polytheism  with  a  fervour  rare 
among  its  followers;  with  a  superstitious  devotion  seem- 
ingly incompatible  with  his  philosophical  turn.  But 
his  religion  had  undergone  a  refining  process,  of  which 
himself  was  not  conscious,  from  its  collision  with 
Christianity.  He  had  adopted  many  of  the  sublimest 
truths  of  the  very  faith  he  combated  ;  and  he  thought 
he  found  them  slightly  veiled  beneath  the  allegories  of 
paganism.  To  him  the  interpreters  of  the  antique  gods 
Avere  not  the  vulgar  oracles  of  priests,  but  the  divine 
Avritings  of  Plato  and  other  philosophers ;  and  the  faith 
so  lately  dominant  was  endeared  to  him  by  its  present 
persecutions;  —  as  the  unfortunate  become  objects  of 
sympathy  to  generous  minds,  even  at  the  expense  of 
justice  and  of  reason. 

In  the  schools  of  Athens,  in  the  pursuit  of  philoso- 
phy, and  in  the  study  of  the  ancients,  Julian  had  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  men  and  of  things  which  none 
but  a  vast  and  commanding  genius  can  obtain  from 
theory  alone.  Passing  from  the  most  profound  retire- 
ment to  the  command  of  an  army  and  the  government 
of  a  disorganised  province,  surrounded  by  spies  and  in- 
formers, Avho  watched  that  they  might  destroy  him,  ill 
obeyed  by  his  subalterns,  ill  seconded  by  his  cousin's 
government,  he  raised  up  the  humbled  majesty  of  the 
empire  in  two  glorious  campaigns  (a.  d.  356 — 357). 
He  defeated  the  AUemans  at  Strasburg,  and  drove  them 
across  the  Rhine  :  during  the  three  following  years,  he 
penetrated  three  several  times  into  Germany :  he  struck 
terror  into  the  Allemans,  recalled  the  Franks  to  their, 
ancient  alliance,  and  admitted  the  bravest  of  their  sol- 
diers into  his  own  ranks.  He  also  enlisted  the  Gauls, 
who  at  length  felt  the  necessity  of  defending  •  their 
country   and    their   personal   existence.      He  restored 


CHAP.  IV.  JULIAN.  89 

ruined  cities,  filled  the  treasury,  while  he  reduced  the 
most  oppressive  taxes  by  two-thirds,  and  inspired  the 
inhabitants  of  the  West  with  an  enthusiasm  which  was 
not  unattended  with  danger  to  himself.  The  court  of 
Byzantium  had  begun  by  ridiculing  the  philosopher 
turned  general ;  but  this  soon  gave  way,  in  the  mind 
of  Constantius,  to  a  feeling  of  bitter  jealousy.  In  the 
account  he  rendered  to  the  provinces  of  the  victories 
obtained  in  Gaul,  the  emperor,  who  had  never  quitted 
the  walls  of  Constantinople,  took  the  credit  of  all  these 
successes.  It  was  he,  as  his  proclamations  affirmed, 
who,  by  his  prudence,  his  valour,  and  his  military  ta- 
lents, had  repulsed  the  Germans.  Julian  was  not  even 
named. 

The  emperor's  jealousy  soon  displayed  itself  by  other 
signs.  Sapor  still  hovered  over  the  eastern  frontier, 
and  menaced  it  with  fresh  invasions.  Constantius  or- 
dered the  Gallic  legions  to  abandon  the  Rhine,  and 
march  to  defend  the  Euphrates.  This  was  to  leave 
both  countries  without  defence  during  a  whole  cam- 
paign ;  for  it  was  impossible  to  accomplish  such  a 
march  in  less  time.  But  Constantius  was  mainly  bent 
on  separating  the  Cscsar  from  his  old  companions  in 
arms  ;  and  he  anticipated  a  sweet  revenge  from  the 
discontent  of  the  legions,  compelled  to  quit  the  chilling 
plains  of  Belgium  for  tlie  burning  sands  of  Mesopotamia. 
But  he  had  not  calculated  on  all  the  effects  of  this  mea- 
sure. The  barbarians,  whose  enthusiasm  for  Julian 
had  led  them  to  enlist  under  his  banner,  tlie  Gauls, 
who  had  shaken  off  their  habitual  sloth  in  defence  of 
their  hearths,  refused  to  traverse  the  entire  Roman 
world  at  the  capricious  order  of  the  emperor.  They  , 
mutinied,  saluted  Julian  with  the  title  of  Augustus, 
raised  him  aloft  on  a  buckler,  encircled  his  brow  with 
the  collar  of  a  soldier,  in  default  of  a  diadem  ;  and  then 
declared  that  they  were  ready  to  march  into  the  East, 
not  to  gratify  the  vengeance  of  a  jealous  master,  but  to 
escort  their  adored  chief  as  victor.  Julian  yielded  to 
their  enthusiasm.  He  set  out  towards  lUyricum;  but  the 


90  FALL    OF    THE    R03IAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  IV. 

death  of  Constantius,  which  happened  on  the  3d  of 
November,  36 1,  and  which  he  learned  half-way, 
averted  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war.  Juhan  was  acknow- 
ledged with  joy  throughout  the  empire. 

He  publicly  returned  thanks  for  his  success  to  the 
ancient  gods,  and  restored  the  pomp  of  pagan  worship, 
which  had  not  yet  become  an  object  of  the  persecution 
directed  against  heretics.  He  admitted  all  the  contending 
sects  of  Christians  to  an  equal  tolerance ;  but  this  toler- 
ance was  mingled  with  sarcasms  and  expressions  of  con- 
tempt ;  and  he  endeavoured  to  undermine  the  foundations 
of  a  church  which  he  dared  not  attempt  to  overthrow 
by  violence.  He  prohibited  Christians  from  entering 
the  schools  of  grammar  and  of  rhetoric  ;  removed  them 
from  places  of  trust,  and  apportioned  his  favour  to  the 
zeal  displayed  in  favour  of  polytheism.  He  soon 
achieved  numerous  conversions  among  those  who  are  the 
faithful  followers  of  power,  and  who  have  no  other  re- 
ligion than  the  pleasure  of  the  master. 

Meanwhile  Juhan  was  nnpatient  to  drive  the  bar- 
barians from  the  East,  as  he  had  already  expelled  them 
from  the  West.  The  whole  remaining  portion  of  his 
short  reign  was  devoted  to  the  preparations  for  his  cam- 
paign against  Sapor.  To  this  end  he  repaired  to  An- 
tioch,  where  he  passed  the  winter  of  the  year  362.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  year  363,  he  marched  to  the 
invasion  of  Mesopotamia.  But  it  was  already  obvious 
that  he  had  not  escaped  the  corrupting  influence  of 
power  and  prosperity.  Deceived  by  the  blind  obedience 
of  courtiers,  he  thought  he  could  exercise  the  same 
haughty  sway  over  those  who  were  not  dependent  upon 
him.  He  offended  the  Arabs,  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  stood  in  need  of  their  aid,  by  refusing  the  customary 
presents,  and  alienated  the  Armenians  by  openly  con- 
temning their  religious  opinions.  He  even  fancied  he 
could  rise  superior  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  command 
the  elements.  In  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  ge- 
nerals, he  advanced  into  the  sandy  deserts,  in  which 
his  army  was  exposed  to  thirst,  fatigue,  and  a  burning 


CHAP.  IV.  JULIAN.  91 

sun.  It  is  true  that  these  dangers  once  more  revealed 
the  great  and  heroic  quahties  which  prosperity  had  ob- 
scured. On  every  occasion  he  set  his  soldiers  an  example 
of  that  courage  which  endures  privations,  as  well  as  of 
tliat  which  braves  the  fight.  Never  did  he  meet  the 
enemy  without  defeating  him.  But  Sapor,  who  did 
not  choose  to  face  the  formidable  and  victorious  legions 
of  Gaul,  harassed  them  with  his  light  cavalry,  and 
retreated  without  suffering  the  enemy  to  come  up 
with  him.  After  passing  the  Tigris,  Juhan,  v/ith 
his  panting  legions,  traversed  the  whole  territory  of 
Bagdad,  where  he  was  misled  by  treacherous  guides. 
On  tlie  verge  of  the  horizon  he  saw  a  village  or  a  city, 
in  which  he  hoped  to  find  some  repose,  some  provisions ; 
but  as  soon  as  he  approached,  devouring  flames,  kindled 
by  the  inhabitants  themselves,  consumed  dwellings  and 
stores,  and  he  found  only  a  heap  of  ashes.  At  length, 
on  the  l6'th  of  June,  363,  he  was  compelled  to  order  a 
retreat.  This  was  the  signal  for  the  approach  of  the 
Persians  ;  the  light  cavalry  was  seconded  by  elei^hants, 
and  by  the  heavy  iron-barbed  cavalry.  Every  march 
was  a  combat;  every  wood,  every  hill,  concealed  an  am- 
buscade. On  the  26"th  of  June,  the  Romans  being  still 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  Tigris,  a  general 
attack  led  Julian  to  hope  that  he  might  still  conquer 
the  enemy  who  had  always  avoided  the  open  fields. 
AV'hile  with  his  advanced  guard,  he  received  the  intelli- 
gence that  his  rear-guard  had  been  thrown  into  disorder 
by  a  charge  of  cavalry.  He  flew  to  its  succour  with 
no  other  arms  than  his  buckler.  The  Persians  fled, 
but  Julian  was  struck  by  an  arrow  from  the  bow  of  one 
of  those  horsemen,  who  were  never  more  formidable 
than  in  their  flight.  It  had  passed  through  the  ribs, 
and  transfixed  the  liver.  As  he  tried  to  draw  it  out  of 
the  wound,  another  arrow  pierced  his  fingers.  He  fell 
from  his  horse,  fainting  and  bathed  in  his  blood,  and  in 
that  state  was  carried  to  his  tent.  As  soon  as  he  reco- 
vered his  senses  he  called  for  his  horse  and  his  arms, 
and  insisted  on  going  to  cheer  on  his  comrades,  many 


92  FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CUAP.  IV. 

of  whom  lie  had  seen  trampled  and  crushed  under  the 
feet  of  the  elephants.  But  it  was  too  late  :  the  blood 
which  flowed  in  fresh  torrents,  soon  exhausted  his  re- 
maining strength.  Being  unable  to  raise  himself,  and 
conscious  that  the  feebleness  of  death  was  upon  him, 
he  asked  the  name  of  the  country  where  he  had  fallen. 
Phrygia,  was  the  reply. — "  It  is  there  that  my  death 
was  foretold/'  said  he.  "  My  destiny  is  accom- 
plished." 

His  friends  pressed  around  him.  He  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  all  these  details,  —  the  last  of  the  illus- 
trious soldiers  who  wrote  in  Latin  the  contemporaneous 
history  of  the  Romans,  Ammianus  Marcellus,  was  pre- 
sent. They  were  in  tears  ;  and  yet  news  had  come  to 
his  tent  that  the  Romans,  infuriated  at  his  loss,  had 
already  worthily  revenged  him  ;  that  Sapor's  army  had 
taken  to  flight;  that  his  two  generals,  fifty  satraps, 
most  of  the  elephants,  and  the  bravest  warriors  of 
Persia  were  slain ;  that  if  Julian  could  once  more  lead 
on  the  army,  the  victory  would  be  decisive. 

"  Friends  and  brothers-in-arms,"  said  Julian,  "  the 
time  for  me  to  retire  from  life  is  come.  As  an  ho- 
nourable debtor  I  ought  to  render  back  to  nature,  who 
claims  her  own,  that  soul  which  she  entrusted  to  me. 
I  have  too  well  learned  of  philosophy  how  superior  is 
the  soul  to  the  body  now  to  afflict  myself,  nay,  rather 
not  to  rejoice,  that  the  nobler  part  regains  its  li- 
berty. Have  not  the  gods  themselves  sometimes 
granted  death  to  the  most  pious  of  mortals,  as  the 
highest  recompence  of  their  virtue  ?  This  favour  I 
am  very  sensible  they  have  granted  me  to-day,  that 
I  might  not  sink  under  the  difficulties  which  surround 
us  —  that  I  might  not  fall  into  any  base  or  pro- 
strate condition.  As  to  the  pains  of  the  body,  they 
overcome  cowards,  but  they  yield  to  the  force  of  the 
will.  I  do  not  repent  of  my  actions  ;  I  feel  not  in  my 
conscience  remorse  for  any  great  crime — neither  when, 
hidden  in  the  shade,  I  laboured  to  form  my  character 
and  correct  my  faults,  nor  since  the  empire  has  been 


CHAP.  IV.  DEATH    OF    JULIAN.  Q3. 

bestowed  upon  me.  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  kept 
spotless  this  soul  which  we  receive  from  heaven,  and 
which  has  its  source  and  its  kindred  there.  I  have 
sought  to  exercise  moderation  in  civil  government,  nor 
have  I  ever  undertaken  or  declined  war  without  a  careful 
examination  of  my  rights.  But  success  depends  not  on 
our  counsels ;  it  is  for  the  celestial  powers  to  chrect  the 
event  of  what  we  do  but  begin.  I  have  ever  thought 
that  the  end  of  a  just  authority  ought  to  be  the  ad- 
vantage and  safety  of  those  who  obey  ;  I  have,  there- 
fore, sought  to  guard  all  my  actions  from  that  arbitrary 
licence  which  is  equally  injurious  to  affairs  and  cor- 
rupting to  morals.  I  render  thanks  to  that  eternal 
divinity  Avhich  decreed  before  my  birth  that  I  should 
not  fall  a  victim  to  clandestine  toils,  nor  to  the  pains, 
the  diseases,  or  the  violent  deaths  which  have  been  the  lot 
of  all  my  race;  but  has  granted  me  a  glorious  exit  from 
this  world  in  the  midst  of  a  career  of  prosperity.  My 
ebbing  strength  does  not  permit  me  to  say  more.  I 
think  it  prudent  not  to  influence  your  choice  in  the 
nomination  of  an  emperor.  I  might  fail  to  distinguish 
the  most  worthy.  I  might  expose  to  peril  him  whom  I 
should  point  out  to  your  suffrages,  and  whom  you  might 
not  approve.  JMy  only  desire  is,  that  the  republic  may 
have  a  worthy  head." 

With  his  small  remaining  strength  Julian  endea- 
voured to  distribute  his  effects  among  the  friends  who 
surrounded  him.  He  did  not  see  among  them  Anato- 
lius,  to  whom  he  wished  to  leave  some  token  of  remem- 
brance. He  also  is  happy,  replied  Sallustius  ;  and 
Julian  shed,  for  the  fate  of  his  friend,  those  tears  which 
he  denied  to  his  own.  All  attempts  to  stop  a  fresh 
effusion  of  blood  had  been  vain.  Julian  asked  for  a  cup 
of  cold  water,  and  having  drunk  it,  instantly  expired. 

Jovian,  whom  the  army  appointed  his  successor, 
bought  the  permission  to  effect  a  disastrous  retreat,  by 
abandoning  to  Sapor  five  provinces  of  Armenia,  with 
the  fortress  of  Nisibis,  the  bulwark  of  the  Eastern  em- 
pire. 


Q4>  FALL    OF    THE    KOMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.  V. 


CHAP.    V. 

JOVIAN.  DEPRESSION  OF   THE    PAGANS. CALAMITOUS    PERIOD 

EMBRACED  BT  THIS  CHAPTER. DEATH  OF  JOVIAN. ELECTION 

OF  VALENTINIAN. HIS   CHARACTER. GRINDING  TAXATION. 

SUCCESSES  OF  THE   ROMAN  ARMS. FEEBLENESS  OF  VALENS.^ 

HERMANRIC. GOTHIC  EMPIRE  IN  DACIA.  ■ DEATH  OF  VA- 
LENTINIAN.   GRATIAN,    EMPEROR   OF   THE    V.'EST.  INVASION 

OF  DACIA  BY  THE  HUNS. HORROR  INSPIRED  BY  THEIR  ASPECT. 

DEFEAT    OF    THE    GOTHS. THEY    CROSS    THE    DANUBE    AND 

TAKE    REFUGE   IN    THE    EJIPIRE.  PERFIDY   AND  CRUELTY    OF 

VALENS.  REVOLT    OF     THE     GOTHS. DEATH    OF   VALENS. 

MASSACRE  OF  THE  GOTHIC  HOSTAGES. VENGEANCE  TAKEN  BY 

FRITIGERN. THE  EASTERN  EMPIRE  WITHOUT  A  HEAD. THEO- 

DOSIUS  THE  GREAT  CHOSEN  AS  COLLEAGUE,  AND  PROCLAIMED 
BY  GRATIAN.  HIS  TALENTS  AND  WISDOM. THE  GOTHS  IN- 
DUCED   TO    LAY     DOWN    AR5IS. MCESIA     CEDED    TO     THEM.  

THEIR  CIVILISATION. ULPHILAS. INFLUENCE  OF  THE  FRANKS 

AT  THE  COURT  OF  GRATIAN. DEATH  OF  GRATIAN.  CHA- 
RACTER   OF    THEODOSIUS.  PERSECUTION   OF    THE    ARIANS.  

DISCOURAGEMENT     OF     PAGANISM.  ST.   GREGORY    OF     NAZI- 

ANZEN.  ST.  AMBROSE. ST.  MARTIN.  DEATH  OF  THEO- 
DOSIUS.—  A.  D.  364 — 395. 

Every  fresh  revolution  that  agitated  the  empire,  urged 
it  another  downward  step  into  the  abyss  which  was 
destined  soon  to  ingulf  it.  Julian's  imprudent  en- 
deavour to  re-establish  a  religion  which  had  received  its 
death-stroke,  to  weaken  the  influence  of  one  which  he 
attacked  by  a  covert  persecution,  and  by  a  system  of 
injustice,  excited  the  most  violent  resentment  among  his 
Christian  subjects,  and  exposed  his  name  to  accusations 
and  calumnies  which  have  stained  his  memory  to  this 
day.  ^Vhen  his  successor,  Jovian,  who  did  not  reign 
long  enough  to  lead  back  to  Constantinople  the  army 
which  he  had  marched  from  the  banks  of  the  Tigris, 
made  public  profession  of  Christianity,  he,  at  the  same 
time,  displaced  a  great  number  of  brave  officers  and  able 
functionaries,  whom  Julian  had  promoted  in  proportion 


CHAP.  V.  DOWNFALL    OP    PAGANISM.  QS 

to  their  zeal  for  paganism.  From  that  period,  up  to 
the  fall  of  the  empire,  a  hostile  sect,  which  regarded  it- 
self as  unjustly  stripped  of  its  ancient  honours,  invoked 
the  vengeance  of  the  gods  on  the  heads  of  the  govern- 
ment, exulted  in  the  public  calamities,  and  probably 
hastened  them  by  its  intrigues,  though  inextricably  in- 
volved in  the  common  ruin. 

The  pagan  faith,  which  was  not  attached  to  a  body  of 
doctrine,  nor  supported  by  a  corporation  of  priests,  nor 
heightened  by  the  fervour  of  novelty,  scarcely  ever  dis- 
played itself  in  open  revolt,  or  dared  the  perils  of  mar- 
tyrdom ;  but  pagans  still  occupied  the  foremost  rank  in 
letters:  —  the  orators,  the  philosophers  (or,  as  they  were 
otherwise  called,  sophists)  the  historians,  belonged,  almost 
without  an  exception,  to  the  ancient  religion.  It  still  kept 
possession  of  the  most  illustrious  schools,  especially  those 
of  Athens  and  Alexandria ;  the  majority  of  the  Roman 
senate  were  still  attached  to  it;  and  in  the  breasts  of  the 
common  people,  particularly  the  rural  population,  it 
maintained  its  power  for  several  centuries,  branded,  how- 
ever, with  the  name  of  magic,  a  name  eagerly  given  to 
a  fallen  religion  which  persecution  forces  into  conceal- 
ment. If  the  pagans  wished  that  their  dishonoured 
faith  should  be  avenged  on  their  fellow  citizens  and  on 
themselves,  they  might  enjoy  this  melancholy  consola- 
tion in  the  thirty-two  years,  the  events  of  which  we  are 
now  about  to  retrace  —  the  years  which  elapsed  from 
the  death  of  Julian  to  that  of  the  great  Theodosius 
(a.  d.  ']6'A — f>95)-  This  period,  though  it  produced 
some  distinguished  leaders,  was  marked  by  dreadful  and 
atrocious  calamities.  The  talents,  even  the  genius,  of 
some  emperors  no  longer  sufficed  to  save  the  civilised 
world  from  the  attacks  of  its  barbarian  foes,  or  from  the 
more  formidable  peril  of  its  own  internal  corruption. 
The  vigour  displayed  by  Valentinian  in  defence  of  the 
AV'cst,  from  the  year  ')()!•  to  'A7-^>  ',  the  imprudence  of 
Valens,  who  laid  open  the  interior  of  the  empire  to  the 
Gothic  nations,  and  the  disasters  which  resulted  from 
this,  from  375  to  379 ;  lastly,  the  policy  of  Theodosius 


Q6  fall  of  the  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  V. 

the  Great,  who,  from  379  to  395,  succeeded  in  disarm- 
ing enemies  whom  he  could  not  subdue,  will  successively 
form  the  subject  of  our  reflections. 

Less  than  eight  months  after  his  elevation  to  the 
throne,  on  the  17th  of  February,  364,  Jovian  died  in  a 
small  town  of  Galatia.  After  the  expiration  of  ten  daySj 
the  army  which  he  was  leading  home  from  Persia,  at  a 
solemn  assembly  held  at  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  chose  as  his 
successor  the  son  of  a  captain  from  a  little  village  of  Pan- 
nonia,  the  f-ountValentinian,  whom  his  valour  and  bodily 
prowess  had  raised  to  one  of  the  highest  posts  of  the 
army.  Valentinian,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in 
Gaul^  knew  no  language  but  Latin,  no  science  but  that 
of  war.  Having  given  proofs  of  independence  of  cha- 
racter in  a  subordinate  condition,  he  thought  to  preserve 
a  certain  consistency  of  virtue  by  showing  himself  firm, 
inflexible,  prompt,  often  cruel,  in  his  judgments.  He 
forgot  that  to  resist  power,  demands  courage;  to  crush 
weakness,  needs  only  brutality.  Spite  of  his  savage 
rudeness,  and  the  furious  violence  of  his  temper,  the 
Roman  empire  found  in  him  an  able  chief  at  the  mo- 
ment of  its  greatest  need.  Unhappily,  the  extent  of  the 
empire  required,  at  least,  two  rulers.  The  army  felt 
this,  and  demanded  a  second.  "  If  you  think  of  your 
country,"  said  a  brave  officer  to  him,  "  choose  a  colleague 
from  among  her  children  ;  if  you  think  only  of  yourself, 
you  have  a  brother."  Valentinian  showed  no  irritation, 
but  he  chose  his  brother,  ^'alens,  with  whom  he  shared 
his  power,  had  the  weak,  timid,  and  cruel  character 
which  ordinarily  distinguishes  cowards,  ^'alentinian,  born 
in  the  ^Vest,  speaking  only  the  language,  and  attached  to 
the  manners  and  the  climate  of  the  'West,  reserved  the 
government  of  it  to  himself.  He  ceded  to  his  brother  a 
part  of  Illyricum  on  the  Danube,  and  the  whole  of  the 
East.  He  established  universal  toleration  by  law,  and 
took  no  part  in  the  sectarian  controversies  which  divided 
Christendom.  A'alens  adopted  the  Arian  faith,  and  per- 
secuted the  orthodox  party. 

The  finances  of  the  empire  demanded  a  reform,  which 


CBAP.  V.  VALENTINIAN.  97 

neither  of  the  emperors  was  in  a  condition  to  undertake. 
They  wanted  money,  and  they  were  ignorant  where  to 
seek  the  long  exhausted  sources  of  pubUc  weaUh.  Three 
direct  taxes,  equally  ruinous,  pressed  upon  the  citizens  ; 
the  indictions,  or  territorial  impost,  calculated  on  the 
third  of  the  income,  and  often  doubled  or  tripled  by 
superindictions,  which  the  necessities  of  the  provinces 
compelled  the  government  to  exact ;  the  capitation  or 
poll  tax,  which  sometimes  amounted  to  a  sum  equivalent 
to  twelve  pounds  sterling  per  head,  and  the  heavy 
gratuitous  labours  imposed  for  the  service  of  the  land, 
and  the  transport  of  the  commodities  belonging  to  the 
revenue.  These  taxes  had  so  utterly  ruined  the  land- 
holders, that  in  all  parts  of  the  country  they  aban- 
doned estates,  which  no  longer  produced  enough  to  pay 
the  charges  upon  them.  Vast  provinces  in  the  interior 
Avere  deserted ;  enUstments  daily  became  more  scanty 
and  difficult ;  the  magistrates  of  the  curicB  or  muni- 
cipalities, who  were  responsible  both  for  the  contributions 
and  the  levies  of  their  respective  towns,  sought  by  a 
thousand  subterfuges  to  escape  the  perilous  honour  of 
the  raagistrature.  Some  were  seen  taking  refuge  on 
the  estates  of  some  powerful  senator,  concealing  them- 
selves among  his  slaves,  voluntarily  submitting  to 
the  brand  of  infamy,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  dis- 
qualify them  from  charges  so  ruinous.  In  vain  ;  they 
were  forcibly  dragged  from  their  ignominious  retreat,  and 
reinvested  with  the  marks  of  these  dreaded  dignities. 
Then,  Avhen  any  disorder  excited  the  anger  of  V'alen- 
tinian,  he  called  them  to  account  for  it  with  transports 
of  fury.  On  one  occasion  lie  ordered  the  lictors  to  bring 
him  the  heads  of  three  magistrates  of  each  town  through- 
out a  whole  ])rovince.  "  Will  your  clemency  be  pleased 
to  order,"  said  the  prefect  Florentius,  '•  what  we  are  to 
do  in  the  case  of  towns  which  do  not  contain  three 
magistrates  ?  "  The  order  was  revoked.  Though  the 
emperor  v.'as  a  Christian,  the  people  and  the  monks 
almost  always  inscribed  in  the  list  of  martyrs  those  who 
fell  victims  to  his  brutal  rage.    During  the  whole  of  the 


98         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  V. 

reigns  of  Constantine  and  his  sons,  the  internal  suffering 
of  the  empire  had  continued  to  increase.  The  mitiga- 
tion of  it  effected  by  Julian  was  but  temporary,  and 
confined  to  a  small  number  of  provinces ;  and  his  fatal 
expedition  into  Syria,  which  destroyed  the  finest  army 
of  the  empire,  increased  the  necessities  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  forced  it  to  have  recourse  to  still  more  dis- 
astrous expedients. 

During  the  twelve  years  that  Valentinian  reigned  over 
the  West  (a.d.  Sb'-i — 376),  he  redeemed  his  cruelties 
by  several  brilliant  victories.  He  drove  the  Allemans 
out  of  Gaul  and  Rhastia,  which  they  had  invaded  and 
laid  waste,  and  pursued  them  into  their  own  country, 
where  he  again  conquered  them.  He  then  excited  a  war 
between  them  and  the  Burgundians,  whom  he  persuaded 
to  come  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  to  avenge  a, 
quarrel  they  had  had  with  the  Allemans  concerning 
certain  salt-works.  Valentinian  had  undertaken  the 
defence  of  Gaul  in  person,  and  generally  resided  at 
Treves,  then  the  capital  of  that  vast  prefecture  ;  but  at 
the  time  he  was  thus  occupied,  invasions  not  less 
formidable  had  devastated  the  other  provinces  of  the 
West.  The  different  tribes  of  Scots,  forefathers  of 
those  Highlanders  who  were  still  so  nearly  in  a  savage 
state,  when  they  invaded  England  in  1745,  marched 
across  the  whole  extent  of  Britain.  Their  path  was 
marked  by  cruelties  so  atrocious,  that  it  was  believed  at 
the  time,  and  recorded  by  St.  Jerome,  that  they  lived 
on  human  flesh.  London,  even,  was  threatened  by  them, 
and  the  whole  island,  which,  like  all  the  other  provinces 
df  the  empire,  had  lost  every  spark  of  military  virtue, 
was  incapable  of  opposing  any  resistance  to  them. 
Theodosius,  a  Spanish  ofBcer,  and  father  of  the  great 
man  of  the  same  name  who  was  afterwards  associated 
in  the  empire,  was  charged  by  Valentinian  with  the  de- 
fence of  Britain.  He  forced  the  Scots  to  fall  back 
(a.  d.  367 — 370),  but  without  having  been  able  to 
bring  them  to  an  engagement.  Scarcely  had  he  deli- 
vered the  Britons  from  these  savage  enemies,  when  Va- 


CHAP.   V.  VALENS.  QQ 

lentiniaii  entrusted  to  him  the  conduct  of  a  war  of  equal 
difficulty  against  the  Moors,  whom  intolerable  oppres- 
sion had  driven  to  revolt,  and  who  had  found  in 
Firmus,  one  of  their  native  princes,  tributary  to  Rome, 
an  able  and  experienced  leader.  Theodosius  pursued 
him  with  undaunted  ardour  and  perseverance  across  the 
burning  plains  of  Gsetulia  and  the  gorges  of  Mount 
Atlas.  He  gave  him  no  rest ;  and  after  defeating  him 
in  several  battles,  left  him  no  other  resource  than  a  vo- 
luntary death.  But  Theodosius  experienced  the  fate 
frequently  reserved  to  eminent  men  under  the  tyrants  of 
Rome.  He  wrote  to  the  emperor  that  the  revolt  of  the 
Moors  was  the  work  of  the  prefect  Romanus,  whose 
insupportable  tyranny  had  reduced  them  to  a  state  of 
desperation.  He  urged  his  recall,  as  the  only  means  of 
saving  the  province.  To  complain,  on  whatever  ground 
or  whatever  provocation,  is  to  call  in  question  the  virtue 
or  the  wisdom  of  the  despot.  The  emperor  resented 
tliis  offence.  He  caused  his  virtuous  general  to  be  be- 
headed at  Carthage,  and  rewarded  Romanus  for  his 
crimes. 

At  this  period  Valens  reigned  over  the  Greeks,  whose 
language  he  did  not  understand  (a.  d.  .'^64 — 378).  His 
eastern  frontier  was  menaced  by  the  Persians,  his  north- 
ern by  the  Goths.  It  is  true,  that,  observing  with  still 
greater  timidity  than  real  weakness,  the  shameful  peace 
which  Jovian  had  concluded  with  the  former,  he  endea- 
voured to  disarm  Sapor,  to  whom  the  strong  places  on 
the  frontier  had  been  given  up.  But  one  of  the  dis- 
graceful conditions  of  a  treaty  imposed  on  the  Romans, 
was  the  desertion  of  the  king  of  Armenia,  and  his 
neighbour  the  king  of  Iberia.  Both  were  attacked  by 
Sapor,  The  former,  deceived  by  an  artful  negotiation, 
was  treacherously  invited  to  a  feast,  where  he  was 
loaded  with  chains  and  afterwards  massacred.  The 
latter  was  compelled  to  flee.  Armenia  and  Iberia  be- 
came subject  to  Persia  ;  but  as  the  people  of  both  these 
countries  were  Christian,  they  remained  faithful  to  the 
interests  of  Rome,  though  conquered  by  her  enemy, 
u  2 


100        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIKE.     CHAP.  V. 

A  son  of  the  king  of  Armenia,  named  Para^  found  his 
father's  subjects  ever  ready  to  take  up  arms  in  his  fa- 
vour :  the  frequent  revolts  of  the  Armenians  kept  the 
Persian  frontier  in  a  state  of  insecurity  and  disquiet, 
and  occupied  the  arms  of  Sapor  in  his  old  age.  Para 
•would,  indeed,  eventually  have  triumphed,  and  have 
established  the  independence  of  Armenia,  had  not  the 
emperor  Valens,  by  a  policy  wholly  inexplicable,  caused 
him  to  be  assassinated,  in  the  year  374,  in  the  midst  of 
an  entertainment  which  he  gave  his  generals. 

The  dominion  of  the  Goths  extended  along  the  shores 
of  the  Danube  and  the  Black  Sea,  and  thirty  years  had 
elapsed  since  they  had  made  any  incursion  into  the 
Roman  territory.  But  during  that  period  they  had  gone 
on  increasing  in  greatness  and  in  power.  The  aged 
Herraanric,  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Amalian  race, 
reigned  over  the  whole  nation  ;  his  power  had  extended 
from  the  Ostrogoths  to  the  Visigoths,  then  to  the 
Gepidse.  He  had  pushed  his  conquests  to  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic ;  the  Esthonians  and  the  Russians,  or 
Roxolani,  were  among  his  subjects,  as  well  as  the  He- 
netes  of  the  plains  of  Poland,  and  the  Heruli  of  the 
Palus  Maeotides.  At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Valens,  an  attempt  of  Procopius,  a  distant  relation  of 
Juhan,  to  get  himself  crowned  at  Constantinople,  had 
drawn  the  Goths,  his  allies,  to  the  south  of  the  Danube. 
They  were,  however,  repulsed  in  three  campaigns 
(a.  d.  367 — 369)?  and  peace  was  re-established  on  that 
frontier.  Spite  of  the  formidable  neighbourhood  of  the 
Goths  and  the  Persians  —  spite  of  the  cowardice  and 
the  incapacity  of  Valens — the  East  had  remained  at 
peace,  protected  by  the  mere  name  of  Valentinian, 
whose  miUtary  talents,  promptitude,  and  severity  were 
known  to  all  the  barbarian  tribes.  But  the  career  of 
this  remarkable  man,  so  dreaded  by  his  enemies  and  by 
his  subjects,  had  now  reached  its  term.  He  was  carry- 
ing war  into  Pannonia  against  the  Quadi,  and  having 
granted  an  audience  to  the  ambassadors  of  that  nation, 
who  came  as  suppliants  to  demand  peace,  gave  way  to 


CHAP.  V.  IRRUPTION    OF    THE    HUNS.  101 

SO  violent  a  fit  of  rage  against  them^  that  he  burst  a 
blood-vessel  in  his  chesty  and  died  in  their  presence, 
stifled  by  his  own  blood,  which  gushed  in  torrents  from 
his  mouth  (Nov.  17-  375).  His  two  sons,  —  Gratian, 
who  was  scarcely  come  to  manhood,  and  Valentinian, 
still  a  child,  —  shared  the  West  between  them;  while 
Valens,  who  had  been  thought  incompetent  to  fill  the 
second  place,  now  remained  in  possession  of  the  supreme 
power  in  the  East. 

Never,  however,  was  the  empire  in  greater  need  of 
an  able  and  vigorous  head.     The  entire  nation  of  the 
Huns,  abandoning  to   the   Sienpi   its    ancient  pastures 
bordering  on  China,  had  traversed  the  whole  north  of 
Asia  by  a   march    of    1300    leagues.      This  immense 
horde,    swelled  by  all  the  conquered  nations  whom  it 
carried  along  in  its  passage,  bore  down  on  the  plains  of 
the  Alans,  and  defeated  them  on  the  banks  of  the  Ta- 
nais  in  a  great  battle.      It  received  into  its  body  a  part 
of  the  vanquished  tribe,  accompanied  by  which  it  con- 
tinued to  advance  towards  the  West ;  while  other  Alans, 
too  haughty  to  renounce   their  independence,  had  re- 
treated, some  into  Germany,  whence  we  shall  see  them 
afterwards  pass  into  Gaul ;  others  into  the  Caucasian 
mountains,  where  they  preserve  their  name  to  this  day. 
The  Goths  who  bordered  on  the  Alans  had  fertilised 
by  their  labours  the  rich  plains  which  lie  to  the  north 
of  the  Danube  and  of  the  Black  Sea.     More  civilised 
than  any  of  the  kindred  Germanic  tribes,  they  began  to 
make  rapid  progress  in   the  social  sciences.      They  ad- 
dicted  themselves   to    agriculture  ;  they   cultivated  the 
arts  ;  they  improved  their  language  ;   they  collected  the 
traditions,   sung,  or  perhaps    inscribed,    in   the  Runic 
character,  which  preserved  the  memory  of  their  migra- 
tions, and  of  the  exploits  of  their  fathers  ;  they  kept 
up  an  advantageous  intercourse  with  Greece,  by  means 
of  which  Christianity  began    to    find   its   way  among 
them ;    and,   while    they    had    gained    more    extensive 
knowledge,   and   more  humane  manners,  they  had  lost 
nothing  of  their  love  of  liberty,  nor  of  their  bravery. 
H    3 


102  FALL    OF    THE    ROBIAN    EBIPIRE.  CHAP.  V. 

This  comparatively  fortunate  state  of  things  was  sud- 
denly interrupted  by  the  appearance  of  the  Huns, —  the 
unlooked-for  arrival  of  that  savage  nation,  which,  from 
the  moment  it  crossed  the  Borysthenes,  or  the  Dnieper, 
began  to  burn  their  villages  and  their  crops;  to  massacre, 
without  pity,  men,  women,  and  children  ;  to  devastate 
and  destroy  whatever  came  within  the  reach  of  a  Scy- 
thian horseman.  Their  language  was  understood  by 
none;  the  Goths  even  doubted  whether  its  shrill  and  dis- 
sonant sounds  were  those  of  any  human  speech.  Their 
name  had  never  been  heard  in  Europe.  Northern  su- 
perstition soon  accounted  for  the  sudden  apparition  of 
these  armed  myriads,  by  supposing  them  the  offspring 
of  infernal  spirits, —  the  only  fit  consorts,  they  said,  of 
women,  the  outcasts  of  Europe,  who  had  been  driven 
into  deserts  for  the  practice  of  arts  of  magic. 

The  hideous  aspect  of  the  Huns  gave  colour  to  this 
devilish  genealogy.  "  They  put  to  flight,"  says  Jor- 
nandes,  the  Gothic  historian,  "  by  the  terror  inspired 
by  their  countenance,  those  whom  their  bravery  would 
never  have  subdued.  The  livid  colour  of  their  skin  had 
something  frightful  in  it;  it  was  not  a  face,  but  a  form- 
less mass  of  flesh,  in  which  two  black  and  sinister  spots 
filled  the  place  of  eyes.  Their  cruelty  wreaked  itself 
upon  their  own  children,  whose  cheeks  they  lacerated 
with  iron  before  they  had  tasted  their  mothers'  milk. 
For  this  reason  no  down  shaded  their  chin  in  youth,  no 
beard  gave  dignity  to  their  old  age."  Their  bodies 
seemed  no  less  disgusting  than  their  faces.  "  Their 
aspect  was  not  that  of  men,"  says  Ammianus  Marcel- 
linus,  "  but  of  beasts  standing  on  their  hind  legs,  as 
it  were  in  mockery  of  our  species." 

The  great  Hermanric,  whose  kingdom  extended  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea,  would  not  have  abandoned 
his  sceptre  to  the  Huns  without  a  struggle,  but  at  this 
very  time  he  was  murdered  by  a  domestic  enemy.  The 
nations  he  had  subjugated  prepared  on  every  side  for 
rebellion.  The  Ostrogoths,  after  a  vain  resistance,  broke 
their  alliance  with  the  Visigoths ;  while  the  latter,  like 


CHAP.  V.  IRRUPTION    OF    THE    HUNS.  103 

an  affrighted  flock  of  sheep,  trooping  together  from  all 
parts  of  their  vast  territory  to  the  right  bank  of  the 
Danube,  refused  to  combat  those  superhuman  beings  by 
whom  they  were  pursued.  They  stretched  out  their 
supplicating  hands  to  the  Romans  on  the  other  bank, 
entreating  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  seek  a  refuge 
from  the  butchery  which  threatened  them,  in  those  wilds 
of  Moesia  and  Thrace  which  were  almost  valueless  to 
the  empire.  They  promised  to  bring  them  into  a  state 
of  cultivation,  to  pay  the  taxes  on  the  land,  and  to 
defend  it  with  their  arms.  Valens,  who  for  five  years 
had  fixed  his  residence  at  Antioch,  learned  with  sur- 
prise that  an  empire  equal  to  his  own  in  extent,  su- 
perior in  valour,  and  so  long  the  object  of  his  terror, 
had  suddenly  crumbled  into  dust,  and  that  his  most 
formidable  enemies  were  now  imploring  to  become  his 
subjects. 

Humanity,  enjoined  him  to  grant  the  petition  of  the 
Goths  ;  perhaps  even  policy  dictated  it ;  but  baser  mo- 
tives determined  the  emperor,  his  counsellors,  and  the 
subalterns  charged  with  the  execution  of  his  orders. 
Their  sordid  cupidity  soon  rendered  odious  the  hospi- 
tality they  offered  to  the  Goths.  The  emperor  had 
imposed  two  conditions  on  their  reception ;  the  one, 
that  they  should  lay  down  their  arms,  the  other,  that 
they  should  give  up  their  children  as  hostages.  The 
officers  charged  with  the  duty  of  receiving  the  arms, 
suffered  themselves  to  be  seduced  by  bribes  into  a  con- 
nivance at  the  non-execution  of  this  order.  Yet,  when 
the  transport,  not  of  an  army,  but  of  a  nation,  was  ac- 
comj)lished,  when  200,000  warriors,  exclusive  of  women 
and  children,  had  crossed  the  Danube,  which,  on  the 
north  of  M(rsia,  is  above  a  mile  in  width;  the  imperial 
officers  tried  to  profit  by  a  famine,  real  or  feigned,  to 
strip  those  of  gold  whom  they  had  left  in  possession  of 
steel.  All  the  necessaries  of  life  were  sold  to  them  at 
the  prices  of  an  exorbitant  monopoly.  Never  was  avarice 
more  blind  ;  never  did  besotted  government  more  effect- 
ually prepare  its  own  ruin, 

ir  4 


104        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  V. 

So  long  as  the  most  vile  and  unwholesome  food  could 
be  purchased  at  the  price  of  money,  of  effects,  of  slaves, 
the  Goths  consented  to  strip  themselves.  The  fear  of 
endangering  their  hostages  sustained  their  endurance  to 
its  utmost  terra  :  they  even  sold  the  children  who  were 
left  them,  and  whom  they  could  no  longer  feed,  to  buy 
sustenance  for  a  few  days.  But  when  the  distrust  of 
the  Romans,  increasing  with  their  injuries,  led  them  to 
take  measures  for  dispersing  the  Goths  over  the  whole 
empire,  and  troops  were  assembled  to  crush  them  if 
they  offered  resistance,  this  very  attempt  to  sever,  did 
but  strengthen  the  ties  that  united  them.  Their  chief, 
Friti£;ern,  formerly  designated  by  the  title  of  Judge, 
began  to  take  upon  himself  the  character  and  functions 
of  sovereign  ;  and  a  violent  quarrel  having  broken  out 
at  Marcianople,  the  capital  of  Lower  Moesia,  between 
the  oppressed  and  the  oppressors,  Lupicinus,  the  general 
of  Valens,  was  defeated,  his  army  put  to  flight,  and  the 
oppressed  guests  of  the  Romans  found  themselves  mas- 
ters of  Moesia. 

The  first  success  secured  nearly  all  that  were  to  fol- 
low. At  the  news  of  it,  the  Ostrogoths,  who  had  main- 
tained their  independence  against  the  Huns,  passed  the 
Danube  arms  in  hand,  and  joined  the  Visigoths.  Long 
before  the  invasion  of  the  Huns,  a  great  number  of 
young  Goths  had  entered  the  Roman  service  as  an  ad- 
vantageous and  honourable  career  :  they  now  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt,  and  went  over  to  their  countrymen. 
But  the  most  dangerous  of  the  auxiUaries  of  the  bar- 
barian army  were  the  slaves,  who  fled  in  all  directions 
from  their  inhuman  masters,  especially  those  who  had 
been  condemned  to  labour  in  the  mines  of  Mount  Rho- 
dope:  they  craved  vengeance  at  the  hands  of  the  stranger, 
and,  in  return,  communicated  their  knowledge  of  the 
country,  and  the  secret  intelligence  they  had  means  of 
procuring.  Notwithstanding  these  advantages,  war  was 
carried  on  for  two  years  with  various  success.  On  the 
side  of  Valens,  Roman  discipline,  and  the  possession  of 
arsenals,  magazines,  and  fortresses,  counterbalanced  the 


CHAP.  V.   DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  VALENS.       105 

bravery  of  the  Gotlis  and  the  talents  of  Fritigern.  But 
the  pride  of  the  emperor  of  the  East  could  only  be 
satisfied  by  a  victory  pained  under  his  auspices.  He 
marched  in  person  against  the  Goths  with  a  most  bril- 
liant army  ;  he  would  not  wait  for  Gratian,  who  was 
advancing  from  the  W^est  to  his  assistance.  His  defeat 
at  Adrianople,  on  the  9th  of  August,  37 S,  after  which 
he  perished  in  the  flames  of  a  hovel  in  which  he  had 
sought  refuge,  left  the  empire  without  a  defender. 

The  forces  of  the  East  were  nearly  annihilated  at  the 
terrible  battle  of  Adrianople  :  more  than  60,000  Roman 
soldiers  perished  in  the  fight  or  in  the  pursuit ;  and  the 
time  was  long  past  when  such  a  loss  could  have  been 
easily  repaired  by  fresh  levies.  Nevertheless,  even  after 
this  frightful  massacre,  the  walls  of  Adrianople  still  op- 
posed an  unconquerable  resistance  to  the  barbarians. 
Valour  may  supply  the  place  of  military  ecience  in  the 
open  field,  but  civilised  nations  recover  all  the  advantages 
of  the  art  of  war  in  the  attack  or  defence  of  fortified 
towns.  Fritigern  quitted  Adrianople,  declaring  that  he 
made  no  war  upon  stones.  But,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  great  cities,  the  Romans  had  neglected  the  forti- 
fications of  the  provincial  towns :  to  defend  them,  it 
would  have  been  necessary  to  arm  the  citizens,  to  train 
them  to  war,  to  place  within  their  reach  means  of  re- 
sistance which  they  might  have  turned  to  the  purposes 
of  revolt  or  of  civil  war.  Empires  are  nodding  to  their 
fall,  when  their  rulers  are  more  in  dread  of  subjects  than 
of  external  foes  :  this  dread  is  almost  invariably  the 
proof  of  injuries,  by  which  they  have  earned  the  hatred 
and  vengeance  of  the  people.  The  Goths,  leaving 
Adrianople  in  their  rear,  advanced,  ravaging  all  around 
them,  to  the  foot  of  the  walls  of  Constantinople  ;  and, 
after  some  unimportant  skirmishes,  returned  westward 
through  Macedonia,  Epirus,  and  Dalmatia.  From  the 
Danube  to  the  Adriatic,  their  passage  was  marked  by 
conflagration  and  blood. 

Whilst  the  European  provinces  of  the  Greek  empire 
sunk  under  these  calamities,  the  Asiatic  provinces  took 


106  FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  V. 

a  horrible  vengeance  on  the  authors  of  them.  We  have 
said,  that  before  the  Goths  were  permitted  to  pass  the 
Danube,  they  were  compelled  to  give  up  their  children 
as  hostages ;  that  those  whom  their  parents  had  been 
able  to  retain  at  that  time,  were  afterwards  sold  for  any 
sum  that  would  purchase  present  sustenance  for  their 
famishing  fathers  ;  that  the  peril  of  these  children  had 
long  been  the  only  tie  that  had  withheld  the  army  of 
the  barbarians,  who,  even  in  selling  them,  had  sought 
to  save  them  from  starvation.  When  their  patience 
was  at  length  utterly  exhausted, —  when  the  whole  East 
resounded  with  the  noise  of  their  exploits, — these  devoted 
children,  with  a  daring  far  beyond  their  strength,  un- 
armed as  they  were,  and  dispersed  through  all  the  towns 
of  Asia,  celebrated  the  triumph  of  their  fathers ;  they  sang 
the  songs  of  their  country  ;  they  would  speak  no  lan- 
guage but  their  native  tongue ;  they  exulted  in  the  hope 
that  they  should  soon  share  in  these  victories, — soon  join 
the  ranks  of  their  countrymen.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  East,  alarmed  or  incensed,  saw,  or  pretended  to  see, 
in  these  imprudent  demonstrations  of  youthful  feeling, 
threatenings  of  a  general  revolt.  Julius,  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  East,  denounced  them  to 
the  senate  of  Constantinople,  as  conspirators,  and  asked 
for  orders;  for  the  empire  had  remained,  since  the  death 
of  Valens,  without  a  head.  The  senate  imprudently 
recurred  to  the  arbitrary  constitutions  of  that  republic, 
the  tutelary  provisions  of  which  they  completely  dis- 
regarded. It  authorised  Julius  to  take  care  that  the 
republic  received  no  detriment  {caveant  consules  ne  quid, 
&c.).  The  young  Goths  were  allured,  by  treacherous 
promises,  into  the  capital  of  each  province.  Scarcely 
were  they  assembled  in  the  Forum,  when  all  the  avenues 
were  invested  by  guards,  bowmen  appeared  on  the  roofs 
of  all  the  houses,  and,  at  a  given  signal,  on  the  same 
day  and  hour  throughout  all  the  cities  of  Asia,  the 
whole  body  of  this  noble  and  ardent  youth  was  assailed, 
unarmed  and  defenceless,  by  a  shower  of  darts,  and  then 
slaughtered  without  mercy. 


CHAP.  V.      ALLIANCE  OF  THE  HUNS  AND  GOTHS.  107 

An  atrocious  act  of  cruelty  is  almost  always  a  sign  of 
cowardice,  not  of  courage.  The  Orientals,  who,  in  thus 
massacring  thousands  of  young  men,  seemed  resolved  to 
destroy  all  possibility  of  a  reconciliation  with  their  fa- 
thers, never  dared  to  meet  those  fathers  in  the  field.  The 
same  terror  with  which  the  Huns  had  so  lately  inspired 
the  Goths,  they  in  their  turn  struck  into  the  Greeks.  Nay, 
the  hostile  races,  Scythian  and  Teutonic,  had  united  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  Huns,  who 
had  penetrated  into  Dacia,  had  stopped  there,  and  had 
pitched  their  tents.  The  captain  who  had  led  them 
thither  was  dead ;  civil  discords  broke  out  in  their 
hordes ;  and  it  was  no  longer  in  pursuit  of  a  general 
war,  but  in  the  quest  of  private  adventures,  that  seve- 
ral divisions  of  Huns  and  Alans  crossed  the  Danube, 
contracted  an  alliance  with  Fritigern,  and  seconded  the 
steady  and  thoughtful  valour  of  the  Goths  by  a  nume- 
rous and  active  cavalry. 

No  general  in  the  East  attempted  to  take  advantage 
of  the  anarchy  in  favour  of  his  own  ambition  ;  no  army 
offered  the  purple  to  its  chief ;  all  dreaded  the  responsi- 
bility of  command  at  so  tremendous  a  crisis.  All  eyes 
were  turned  on  the  court  of  Treves,  the  only  point 
whence  help  was  hoped  for.  But  Gratian,  eldest  son 
of  Valentinian,  and  emperor  of  the  West,  was  only 
nineteen.  He  had,  indeed,  even  at  that  early  age,  ac- 
quired some  renown  in  arms,  especially  through  the 
counsels  of  an  ambitious  Frank  named  Merobaudes, 
one  of  the  kings  of  that  warlike  people,  who  had  not 
scorned  the  title  of  count  of  the  domestics  of  the  impe- 
rial court,  and  who,  uniting  his  influence  over  his 
countrymen  to  the  arts  and  intrigues  of  a  courtier,  had 
become  the  arbiter  of  the  ^V^est.  (Jratian  marched  upon 
Illyricum  with  his  army,  when  he  learned  the  event  of  the 
battle  of  Adrianople,  and  the  death  of  X'aions,  who  had 
been  so  eager  to  secure  the  undivided  honours  of  victory, 
that  he  would  not  wait  for  his  arrival.  Incapable  of  con- 
fronting such  a  tempest,  he  retreated  to  Sirnnum.  The 
news  of  an  invasion  of  the  Allemans  into  Gaul  recailecl 


108        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  V. 

him  to  the  defence  of  his  own  territory.  Danger  started 
up  on  every  hand  at  once.  The  empire  stood  in  need 
of  a  new  chief,  and  one  of  approved  valour.  Gratian 
had  the  singular  generosity  to  choose  from  among  his 
enemies^  and  from  a  sense  of  merit  alone.  Theodosius 
the  Spaniard,  his  father's  general,  who  had  successively 
vanquished  the  Scots,  and  afterwards  the  Moors,  and 
who  had  been  unjustly  condemned  to  the  scaffold  at  *the 
beginning  of  Gratian's  reign,  had  left  a  son  thirty-three 
years  of  age,  who  bore  his  name.  The  younger  Theo- 
dosius had  distinguished  himself  in  the  command  he  held 
in  Moesia,  but  was  living  in  retirement  and  disgrace  on 
his  estates  in  Spain,  when,  with  the  confidence  of  a 
noble  mind,  Gratian  chose  him  out^  presented  him  to 
the  army  on  the  IQih  of  January,  379>  and  declared 
him  his  colleague,  and  emperor  of  the  East. 

The  task  imposed  on  the  great  Theodosius  was  in- 
finitely difficult.  The  abandonment  of  the  Danube  had 
opened  the  entrance  of  the  empire  not  only  to  the 
Goths,  but  to  all  the  tribes  of  Germany  and  Scythia. 
They  overran  the  immense  lUyrian  peninsula  from  one 
end  to  the  other^  unresisted,  yet  with  unabated  fury. 
The  blood  of  the  young  Goths  which  had  been  shed  in 
Asia  was  daily  avenged  with  interest  over  all  that  re- 
mained of  Mcesian,  Thrasian,  Dalmatian,  or  Grecian 
race.  It  was  more  particularly  during  these  four  years 
of  extermination  that  the  Goths  acquired  the  fatal 
celebrity  attached  to  their  name,  which  is  still  that  of 
the  destroyers  of  civilisation.  Theodosius  began  by 
strengthening  the  fortified  cities,  recruiting  the  garrisons, 
and  exercising  his  soldiers  in  small  engagements  when- 
ever he  felt  assured  of  success  :  he  then  waited  to  take 
advantage  of  circumstances ;  he  sought  to  divide  his 
enemies  by  intrigue,  and,  above  all,  strenuously  dis- 
avowed the  rapacity  of  the  ministers  of  Valens,  or  the 
cruelty  of  Julius  ;  he  took  every  occasion  of  declaring 
his  attachment  and  esteem  for  the  Gothic  people,  and 
at  length  succeeded  in  persuading  them  that  his  friend- 
ship was   sincere  :  happy  in  the  peaceful  state  of  his 


CHAP.   V.  THEODOSIUS.  109 

Asian  frontier;  happy  that  the  aged  Sapor  II.,  or  his 
effeminate  successor  Artaxerxes  II.,  did  not  attempt  an 
attack  on  the  Roman  empire,  which  would  infallibly 
have  succeeded. 

The  very  victories  of  the  Goths,  their  pride,  their 
intemperance,  at  length  impaired  their  energy.  Fri- 
tigern,  who,  in  the  most  difficult  moments,  had  led 
them  on  with  so  much  abiUty,  was  dead  :  the  jealousies 
of  independent  tribes  were  rekindled  ;  they  refused  to 
obey  a  common  chief.  The  people  of  Scythia,  the 
Huns,  the  Alans,  who  had  shared  in  the  plunder  of  the 
empire,  now  separated  themselves  from  the  Germans. 
They  contemned  the  Goths  for  their  flight ;  and  the 
Goths  felt  their  antipathy  to  them  to  be  strong  as  ever. 
Theodosius  dexterously  profited  by  these  seeds  of  dis- 
cord ;  he  drew  successively  into  his  service  several 
leaders  of  the  malecontents  ;  he  soon  convinced  the  bar- 
barians that  they  would  find  more  riches,  more  enjoy- 
ment, in  the  pay  of  the  emperor,  than  they  could  conquer 
by  the  sword  in  provinces  laid  waste  by  the  fury  of 
merciless  invaders.  He  was  careful  to  afford  so  much 
countenance  and  support  to  those  whom  he  had  received 
imder  his  banners,  that  the  example  became  contagious. 
It  was  by  a  series  of  treaties  with  as  many  independent 
chieftains,  that  the  nation  was  at  length  induced  to  lay 
down  its  arms  :  the  last  of  these  treaties  was  concluded 
on  the  30th  of  October,  382.  It  restored  peace  to  the 
Eastern  empire,  six  years  after  the  Goths  crossed  the 
Danube. 

This  formidable  nation  was  thus  finally  established 
within  the  boundary  of  the  empire  of  the  East.  The 
vast  regions  they  had  ravaged  were  abandoned  to  them, 
if  not  in  absolute  sovereignty,  at  least  on  terms  little  at 
variance  witli  their  independence.  The  Goths  settled 
in  the  bosom  of  the  empire  had  no  kings  ;  their  here- 
ditary chiefs  were  consulted  under  the  name  of  judges, 
but  their  power  was  unchanged  ;  they  were  still  the 
military  commanders,  the  presidents  of  popular  assem- 
blies, who  administered  justice  and  government.      The 


110        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  V. 

Goths  gave  a  vague  sort  of  recognition  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Roman  emperor ;  but  they  submitted  neither  to 
his  laws,  his  magistrates,  nor  his  taxes.  They  en- 
gaged to  maintain  40,000  men  for  the  service  of  Theo- 
dosius  ;  but  they  Avere  to  remain  a  distinct  army,  to  obey 
no  leaders  but  such  as  they  chose  themselves,  to  be  in  no 
way  confounded  with  the  Roman  soldiery,  and  to  be 
distinguished  by  the  title  of  federated  troops.  The 
labours  of  agriculture,  which  they  had  been  forced  to 
abandon  in  Dacia,  they  now  resumed  in  Mcesia  and  aU 
the  country  lying  on  the  right  of  the  Danube.  They 
portioned  out  waste  lands.  By  their  intermixture  with 
the  original  inhabitants,  they  acquired  new  branches  of 
knowledge,  and  followed  up  the  progress  they  had 
already  made  in  civilisation.  It  was,  probably,  at  this 
period  that  their  apostle,  bishop  Ulphilas,  who  had 
translated  the  Gospels  into  their  tongue,  invented  the 
Moeso-Gothic  character,  which  bears  the  name  of  their 
new  abode.  Occupying  the  border  country  between  the 
two  empires  and  the  two  languages,  they  borrowed 
sometliing  from  each,  even  in  their  alphabet.  At  the 
same  time  that  they  were  virtual  masters  of  these  pro- 
vinces, their  leaders  offered  themselves  as  candidates  for 
all  posts  and  employments  at  the  court  of  Constanti- 
nople. From  these  they  passed  to  the  command  of 
provinces  ;  and  the  great  Theodosius  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  decorate  several  Goths  with  the  consulate;  for 
the  two  emperors  yearly  agreed  on  the  election  of  those 
ancient  magistrates  of  the  republic,  now  without  func- 
tions, and  serving  little  other  purpose  than  to  give  their 
names  to  the  year  in  the  consular  fasti. 

Thus,  then,  the  empire  still  subsisted,  but  the  bar- 
barians possessed  both  the  force  of  arms  and  the  autho- 
rity of  magistratures ;  already  were  they  established  as 
a  compact  national  body  within  her  frontiers.  The- 
odosius conferred  the  consulate  on  Goths,  and  his 
colleague  Gratian  on  Franks  —  among  others  on  Mero- 
baudes,  chief  of  that  warlike  nation.  The  Frankish 
people  had  contracted  a  useful  alliance  with  the  empire. 


CHAP.  V.  ''  GRATIAN.  Ill 

It  supplied  nearly  the  whole  of  the  armies  of  the  West, 
and  exclusively  guided  the  counsels  of  the  court.  About 
this  epoch,  however,  the  young  Gratian,  who  had  early 
obtained  a  brilliant  reputation,  having  delivered  Gaul 
from  a  formidable  invasion  by  a  decisive  victory  ob- 
tained over  the  AUemans,  near  Colmar,  in  the  month  of 
May,  378,  began  to  lose  his  popularity  and  the  sup- 
port of  his  Germanic  allies.  Passionately  addicted  to 
the  chase,  he  was  struck  with  admiration  at  the  superior 
skill  of  the  Scythian  archers.  He  took  into  his  pay  a 
considerable  body  of  those  Alans  who  had  been  obliged 
to  leave  the  Huns  on  the  banks  of  the  "Wolga.  He  es- 
tablished tliem  on  the  Seine,  made  them  the  companions 
of  his  sports  and  exercises,  formed  them  into  a  body 
guard,  and  even  wore  their  dress.  The  Romans,  and 
the  Franks  their  confederates,  equally  regarded  this 
preference  as  an  insult.  The  legions  of  Britain  revolted, 
and  placed  the  purple  on  the  senator  Maximus :  those 
of  Gaul  deserted  Gratian  ;  and  the  young  emperor,  con- 
strained to  flee,  was  killed  at  Lyons  on  the  25th  of 
August,  383.  Theodosius,  at  that  time  occupied  by  a 
new  aggression  of  the  Ostrogoths  and  the  Gruthun- 
gians,  whom  he  defeated,  and  Valentinian  II.,  who, 
while  yet  a  child,  wielded  the  sceptre  of  Italy  and 
Africa,  were  both  compelled  to  acknowledge  Maximus 
as  the  colleague  whom  the  will  of  the  soldiery  had 
given  them.     (a.  d.  383—387.) 

The  history  of  the  reign  of  Theodosius  is  very  im- 
perfectly known.  Cotemporary  historians,  either  of  the 
Eastern  or  Western  empire,  are  wholly  wanting  to  that 
period.  Nevertheless,  the  title  of  Great  has  been 
handed  down  to  bespeak  the  admiration  of  posterity. 
So  far  as  we  can  judge,  he  seems  to  have  merited  this 
title,  in  the  first  place,  by  his  military  talents,  always 
the  surest  claim  to  vulgar  distinction ;  and  secondly,  by 
a  considerable  degree  of  prudence  in  the  difficult 
government  of  a  tottering  state  ;  by  a  generosity  wliich 
broke  forth  with  singular  lustre  on  some  occasions,  and 
by  domestic  virtues  and  aflPections^  purity  of  niannerSj 


112  FALL    OF    THE    ROJIAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  V. 

and  gentleness  in  his  social  relations, — qualities  always 
rare  in  an  exalted  stationj  rarest  of  all  on  the  throne 
of  Constantinople.  Yet  it  was  neither  his  victories,  nor 
his  talents,  nor  his  virtues,  that  procured  him  the  title 
of  Great,  or  tlie  zeal  with  which  his  name  has  been  cele- 
brated from  age  to  age  :  it  was,  above  all,  the  protec- 
tion he  afforded  to  the  orthodox  church, — a  protection 
which  extended  its  triumph  over  heretics  and  pagans, 
but  which,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  his  age,  was 
stained  with  the  most  odious  intolerance. 

When  Theodosius  ascended  the  throne  of  the  East, 
Arianism,  favoured  by  Valens,  was  the  dominant  faith, 
especially  at  Constantinople.  The  patriarch  was  Arian  ; 
the  majority  of  the  clergy,  and  the  monks,  and  the  great 
mass  3  of  the  people,  were  attached  to  that  form  of 
Christianity.  Theodosius,  trained  in  the  opposite 
creed,  decUned  engaging  in  the  subtle  disputes  of  the 
Greeks,  or  examining  for  himself  the  different  con- 
fessions of  faith,  or  the  evidence  by  which  they  were 
supported.  He  deemed  it  more  prudent  to  make  choice 
of  two  living  symbols,  —  two  prelates,  whom,  in  his 
first  religious  edict  (a.  d.  380),  he  declared  to  be  "  the 
treasures  of  the  true  doctrine."  Their  names  were 
Damasus,  bishop  of  Rome,  and  Peter,  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria. Those  whose  faith  was  in  conformity  with 
that  of  these  two  luminaries  of  the  church,  were  de- 
clared the  sole  orthodox,  the  sole  Catholic,  and  were  to 
remain  sole  possessors  of  all  the  churches,  of  all  the 
ecclesiastical  foundations,  and  of  all  property  bequeathed 
to  the  clergy.  All  others  were  rejected  as  outcasts  from 
the  bosom  of  the  church  ;  sentenced,  in  fifteen  successive 
edicts,  to  punishments  continually  increasing  in  seve- 
rity ;  deprived  of  the  exercise  of  their  civil  rights,  — 
among  others,  of  that  of  bequest ;  they  were  driven 
from  their  houses,  then  into  exile;  and  lastly,  those 
guilty  of  certain  heresies,  as,  for  instance,  the  Quarto- 
decimans,  who  celebrated  Easter  on  the  same  days  as  it 
is  observed  by  the  Jews,  instead  of  celebrating  it  on  a 
Sunday,  as  Christians  do,  were  sentenced  to  death.    At 


CHAP.  V.       STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  113 

the  same  time  a  new  magistrature,  —  that  of  inquisitors 
of  the  faithj  —  was  instituted  by  Theodosius,  to  act  at 
once  as  spies,  and  as  judges  of  the  secret  opinions  of  his 
subjects. 

A  sort  of  instinct  of  justice  withheld  these  magistrates, 
for  the  present,  from  exacting  from  pagans  as  rigid  an 
account  of  their  thoughts  as  from  heretics  ;  they  seemed 
to  recognise  the  rights  of  long  possession,  the  sacredness 
of  time-hallowed  opinions,  and  the  potency  of  habit. 
Many  of  the  most  distinguished  senators,  orators,  and 
philosophers  of  Rome  still  publicly  professed  the  antique 
faith.  Theodosius  did  not  venture  to  attach  any  punish- 
ment to  the  manifestation  of  their  sentiments  ;  he  con- 
tented himself  with  prohibiting  the  most  essential  act 
of  the  primitive  religion :  he  declared  a  sacrifice  to  the 
gods  to  be  an  act  of  high  treason,  and  in  consequence, 
punishable  with  death. 

That  church,  which  had  so  lately  escaped  fronn  the 
persecutions  of  the  pagans,  now  demanded,  with  a 
deplorable  zeal,  to  be  permitted  to  persecute  in  its  turn. 
Three  men  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Theodosius^  rise 
distinguished  from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  and  sur- 
pass all  their  rivals  in  talent,  force  of  character,  and 
even  in  virtue; — St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  for  a  time 
patriarch  of  Constantinople;  St.  Ambrose,  archbishop  of 
Milan  ;  and  St.  Martin,  archbishop  of  Tours.  All 
three  powerfully  contributed  to  fan  the  flame  of  per- 
secution. St.  Gregory,  installed  by  soldiers  in  the 
cathedral  of  Constantinople,  in  defiance  of  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  whole  flock  intrusted  to  his  care,  lent  his 
aid  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Arian  clergy,  having  first 
stripped  them  of  their  functions,  and  substituted  others 
in  their  places;  and  when  he  had  himself  abdicated  that 
exalted  station,  he  continued  to  exhort  his  successor, 
Nectarius,  not  to  relax  in  zeal  against  the  heretics. 
At  Milan,  St.  Ambrose  would  not  extend  the  benefit  of 
toleration  so  much  as  to  his  own  emperor,  A^alen- 
tiiiian  II.,  who  had  been  educated  by  his  mother,  Jus- 
tina,  regent  of  Italy  and  of  Africa,  in  Arian  opinions. 

VOL.  I.       '  I 


114        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  V. 

Ambrose  refused  the  emperor,  liis  mother,  and  the 
Gothic  soldiers  who  formed  his  body  guard,  the  use 
of  a  single  church  ;  he  assembled  the  people  in  the 
Basilica  (a.  d.  386),  to  defend  it  against  the  soldiers. 
To  this  popular  resistance  the  celebrated  Ambrosian 
chant  owes  its  origin.  The  ceaseless  chanting  of  the 
psalms,  which  intermitted  not  day  or  night,  was  the 
means  of  preserving  the  wakeful  watch  cf  the  multitude 
who  guarded  the  holy  places.  Lastly,  St.  Martin,  who 
may  be  regarded  as  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gauls, 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  ti-oop  of  armed  people, 
and  undertook  the  destruction  of  the  idols  and  their 
sanctuaries  throughout  his  neighbourhood  (a.  d.  38.9). 
The  peasants  sometimes  attempted  resistance,  but  they 
soon  paid  for  their  temerity  with  their  Uves.  On  this 
occasion  a  judicial  investigation  was  set  on  foot ;  but 
the  saints  declared,  and  the  judges  admitted,  that  the 
blood  of  the  pagans  had  not  been  shed  by  the  armed 
multitude  led  on  by  St.  Martin  to  the  attack  of  their 
temples,  but  that  devils  and  angels  had  combated  in 
these  places,  and  the  idolaters  had  merely  shared  the 
fate  of  the  infernal  spirits  with  whom  they  were 
leagued. 

The  influence  which  religion  exercised  over  Theo- 
dosius  was  more  worthy  of  her,  and  more  consolatory 
to  those  who  watch  the  effects  of  her  power  over  men, 
in  the  penance  enjoined  upon  him  by  St.  Ambrose  in 
expiation  of  a  heavy  crime.  Theodosius  was  subject 
to  the  most  violent  transports  of  rage  ;  and  that  mild- 
ness for  which  he  is  extolled,  vanished  before  the  fits  of 
anger  which  troubled  his  reason.  Twice  he  was  thus 
exasperated  by  the  sedition  of  tw^o  of  the  largest  cities 
of  his  states.  Antioch,  capital  of  Syria  and  of  the  whole 
Levant,  one  of  the  most  flourishing  towns  of  the 
empire,  revolted,  on  the  26th  of  February,  387,  against 
an  edict  enforcing  fresh  taxes,  and  dragged  the  statues  of 
the  emperor  in  the  mud.  The  city  was  soon  reduced 
to  submission,  but  four  and  twenty  hours  elapsed  be- 
fore  it  was   known  w'hat   punishment  was  decreed  by 


CHAP.  V.  THEODOSIUS.  115 

Theodosius,  who  was  then  at  Constantinople.  His 
first  orders  were  cruel  :  a  great  number  of  senators  were 
to  be  beheaded,  many  wealthy  citizens  to  be  stripped 
of  their  property,  all  the  distributions  of  bread  were  to 
be  stopped,  and  the  capital  of  the  East  to  surrender  all 
its  privileges,  and  be  reduced  to  the  rank  of  a  village. 
The  magistrates,  however,  were  slow  in  the  execution 
of  these  orders,  they  even  interceded  with  Theodosius^ 
who,  after  considerable  delay,  granted  full  pardon.  The 
fate  of  Thessalonica  was  more  cruel.  That  powerful 
city,  capital  of  the  whole  Illyrian  province,  rose  in 
insurrection,  on  an  occasion  so  insignificant  as  certain 
games  of  the  Circus,  to  obtain  the  liberty  of  a  skilful 
charioteer  who  had  been  imprisoned  (a.  d.  SpO). 
Botheric,  commandant  of  the  city,  was  killed,  together 
with  several  of  his  officers,  while  endeavouring  to  sup- 
press the  sedition,  and  his  body  treated  with  the  greatest 
indignity  by  the  populace.  Theodosius,  who  was  then 
at  ]\Iilan  with  Valentinian  II.,  immediately  gave  orders 
that  7000,  or,  according  to  some,  1 5,000,  Thessalonian 
heads  should  fall  as  a  punishment  for  this  rebellion. 
The  inhabitants  were  invited  to  the  Circus,  as  if  to  the 
celebration  of  new  games  :  while  they  were  waiting  for 
the  signal  for  the  departure  of  the  chariots,  a  body  of 
soldiers  rushed  in  upon  them,  and  slaughtered  without 
distinction  of  innocence  or  guilt,  of  sex  or  age.  This 
horrible  butchery  lasted  three  hours,  when  the  tribute 
of  heads  exacted  by  the  emperor  was  collected. 

When  the  news  of  this  massacre  reached  St.  Ambrose 
at  Milan,  he  manifested  the  liveliest  grief.  He  wrote 
to  Theodosius,  on  no  account  to  show  himself  in  a 
church,  stained  as  he  was  with  innocent  blood.  Theo- 
dosius, having  disregarded  this  intenhct,  was  stopped 
by  St.  Ambrose,  at  the  head  of  his  clergy,  on  the 
portico  of  the  temple  which  lie  was  about  to  enter. 
''  David,  the  king  who  was  well  pleasing  to  God,"  said 
the  emperor,  "  was  much  more  guilty  than  I,  for  he 
joined  adultery  to  murder."  — "  If  you  have  imitated 
David  in  his  guilt,  imitate  him  in  his  repentance," 
I  2 


1  1 6  FALL    OP    THE    RO.irAN    E3IP1RE.  CHAP.  V. 

replied  the  archbishop.  His  courageous  remonstrances 
intimidated  the  monarch,  who  submitted  to  the  chas- 
tisement of  the  church.  He  laid  aside  the  imperial 
ornaments,  and  confessed  his  sins  with  the  deepest 
sorrow  and  humiliation  in  the  presence  of  the  people  ; 
nor  was  it  till  after  eight  months  of  penitence  that  he 
was  restored  to  the  bosom  of  the  church. 

The  authority  of  Theodosius  did  not  extend  over 
the  West.  His  residence  at  Milan  was  only  the  eon- 
sequence  of  the  succour  he  had  afforded  to  his  colleague, 
Valentinian  II.,  who  had  been  attacked  by  surprise  and 
driven  out  of  Italy,  in  387,  by  Maximus,  emperor  of 
Gaul.  Maximus  was  defeated  on  the  banks  of  the 
Save,  in  June,  388,  and  beheaded  by  order  of  Theo- 
dosius, who  at  the  same  time  ceded  to  Valentinian,  who 
had  become  his  brother-in-law,  Gaul,  and  all  the  re- 
maining countries  of  the  West.  The  new  reign  of  this 
young  prince  was  not  of  long  duration.  He  removed 
the  seat  of  his  court  to  Vienne  on  the  Rhone,  Avhere 
he  was  assassinated,  on  the  15th  of  May,  392,  by 
order  of  Arbogastes,  general  of  the  Franks,  whose 
authority  had  long  predominated  over  that  of  his 
master.  Two  years  elapsed  before  Theodosius  was 
able  to  return  to  the  West,  to  avenge  his  colleague.  On 
the  6th  of  September,  394,  at  the  foot  of  the  Julian 
Alps,  he  vanquished  Eugenius  the  grammarian,  whom 
Arbogastes  had  set  up  as  a  phantom  emperor.  After 
this  victory  he  was  acknowledged,  without  a  rival  or  a 
colleague,  throughout  the  Roman  empire.  But  already 
his  life  was  drawing  to  its  close.  He  was  attacked  by 
a  dropsy,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  consequence 
of  his  intemperance,  and  survived  his  victory  but  four 
months.  He  died  at  Milan  on  the  i7th  of  January, 
395,  aged  fifty  years,  leaving  the  Roman  world  exposed 
to  a  host  of  calamities,  which  his  talents  and  his  courage 
had  hardly  sufficed  to  avert  or  to  suspend. 


117 


CHAP.  VI. 

DEGRADATION  OF  THE  ROMAN   SOLDIERY.  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE 

MIDDLE     CLASSES.  RECKLESSNESS    AND    CORRUPTION     OF    THE 

HIGHER    AND    THE   LOWER.  MASSACRE   OF  THESSALONICA.  

ARCADIUS     AND     HONORIUS,      SONS  OF  THEODOSIUS;     THEIR     IM- 
BECILITY.  STILICHO  ;   HIS  GREAT  QUALITIES.  STATE  OF  THE 

WEST    UNDER    ARCADIUS.  INVASION    OF    GREECE,    BY    ALARIC 

KING    OF    THE    VISIGOTHS. ITALY    INVADED  BY    ALARIC;    DE- 
FENDED BY  STILICHO. DEFEAT  OF  ALARIC.  COWARDICE  OF 

HONORUIS.  GREAT    AND     FINAL     INVASION     OF     THE    ALLIED 

BARBARIANS^ — CAUSES     OF      THE     SIMULTANEOUS    MOVEMENT 

AMONG  THE   GERMANIC    NATIONS.  THEY    CROSS    THE    RHINE, 

AND    RAVAGE  GAUL.  INVASION  OF   SPAIN  BY  THE   SUEVl,    VAN- 
DALS,  AND  ALANS.  CONDUCT  OF    HONORIUS    TO    STILICHO.  

MASSACRE      OF     THE      BARBARIAN      HOSTAGES.  SECOND      WAR 

WITH   ALARIC. ROME     TAKEN    AND   PILLAGED     BY     ALARIC  — 

HIS  DEATH. PEACE  WITH  THE   VISIGOTHS. CESSION   OF  AQUl- 

TAINE. MARRIAGE     OF     ALARIc's     SUCCESSOR,     ADOLF,     W1TH-- 

FLACIDIA,   A  SISTER  OF  THE  EMPEROR. A.  D.    395 423. 

The  great  Theodosius,  who  had  frequently  been  seen 
to  pass  from  the  energetic  activity  of  a  warrior  to  the 
indolence  and  luxurious  indulgence  of  a  Sybarite,  is 
accused,  by  Zosimus,  of  having  corrupted  the  manners 
of  his  age,  and  precipitated  the  fall  of  the  empire. 
Zosimus  constantly  writes  under  the  influence  of  a 
feeling  of  personal  hostility  ;  and,  certainly,  when  we 
recollect  who  and  what  were  the  predecessors  of  Theo- 
dosiuKj — what  the  Romanswere  under  Tiberius  and  Nero, 
what  they  were  under  Gallienus, —  it  does  appear  that 
there  was  very  little  to  corrupt ;  and  that  Theodosius,  who 
was  faithful  to  his  domestic  obligations,  a  good  father  and 
a  good  husband,  even  during  those  intervals  of  luxu- 
rious ease  with  which  he  is  reproached,  can  scarcely  be 
regarded  as  a  corrupter.  Nevertheless,  it  is  incontestable 
that,  during  his  reign,  a  last  step  was  made  towards 
that  utter  degradation  of  mind,  that  prostration  of  spirit,, 


118         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  VI. 

which  manifested  itself  during  the  shameful  reign  of 
his  two  sonSj  and  which  shook  the  colossus  of  the 
Roman  empire  to  its  base.  Then  it  was,  that  soldiers, 
who  did  not  blush  to  call  themselves  Romans,  laid  down 
their  arms  in  the  field;  then  it  was,  that  that  awful 
infantry,  which  had  been  used  to  flight  foot  to  foot,  and 
to  rush,  armed  with  its  terrible  short  sword,  on  the 
ranks  it  had  broken  with  its  hurled  spear,  was  trans- 
formed into  a  troop  of  timid  bowmen,  destitute  of  all 
defensive  armour,  and  compelled  to  flee  from  every 
near  attack  of  the  enemy.  Then  it  was,  that,  in  the 
cities,  the  citizens  showed  the  most  invincible  repug- 
nance to  undertaking  any  public  functions,  which  they 
avoided  by  the  most  disgraceful  expedients.  Then  it 
was,  that  magistrates  and  senators  begai#to  pay  their 
court  to  barbarian  kings  ;  to  transport  the  arts  of  in- 
trigue and  of  adroit  flattery  into  the  camps  of  Gothic 
or  Frankic  warriors,  whom  they  regarded  as  their  in- 
feriors, but  feared  as  the  arbiters  of  their  fortune. 
Then  it  was,  above  all,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  of  the  criminality  of  all  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  gained  currency  and  credit  in  all 
ranks  of  society.  The  prelates,  still  full  of  gratitude 
for  the  support  afforded  them  by  Theodosius,  taught 
that  the  power  of  God  and  of  his  ministers  could 
alone  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  kings.  If,  however, 
there  is  a  great  lesson  to  be  gathered  from  the  degrad- 
ing revolutions  of  the  empire,  it  is,  that  absolute  power 
is  fatal  to  him  who  wields,  and  to  him  who  is  subject 
to  it.  We  have  seen,  we  are  about  again  to  see,  sove- 
reigns, who,  on  the  whole,  do  not  deserve  to  be  called 
wicked,  afflict  mankind  with  calamities  surpassing  those 
which  have  been  most  continually  held  up  to  our  terror 
and  aversion,  as  the  offspring  of  the  stormy  passions  of 
the  people. 

The  utter  corruption  into  which  the  Romans  fell, 
during  the  fourth  century,  may  also  teach  us  this  truth, 
—  that  adversity  may  be  more  fatal  to  the  virtue  of  a 
nation  than  prosperity.     Doubtless  the  period  of  the 


CHAP.  VI.    DESTRUCTION  OP  THE  MIDDLE  CLASSES.         119 

irruption  of  the  Allemans  into  Gaul,  of  the  Caledonians 
into  Britain,  of  the  Moors  into  Africa,  of  the  Sarma- 
tians  into  Pannonia,  and  of  the  Goths  into  the  whole 
province  of  lUyricum,  was  not  that  in  Avhich  mankind 
was  lulled  to  slumber  in  the  lap  of  ease  and  pleasure. 
But  one  effect  of  the  long  duration  of  states,  and  of  their 
extended  power,  is,  to  separate  the  inhabitants  into  two 
classes,  between  whom  the  distance  is  constantly  widen- 
ing, and  gradually  to  destroy  the  intermediate  class, 
togetherwith  which  all  the  social  virtues  are  graduallyup- 
rootcd  and  annihilated.  From  the  time  that  this  gulf  is 
once  opened  between  the  two  extremes  of  society,  every 
successive  revolution  does  but  contribute  to  widen  it: 
the  progress  of  wealth  had  been  favourable  to  the  rich, 
the  progress  of  distress  favours  them  still  more.  The 
middle  class  had  been  unable  to  stand  the  competition 
with  them  during  prosperity ;  in  adverse  times  it  is 
crushed  under  those  calamities  which  only  the  very 
wealthy  can  stand  against.  The  corruption  of  Rome 
had  begun  from  the  time  of  the  republic,  from  the  time 
that  tlie  middle  class  ceased  to  impress  its  own  peculiar 
character  on  the  whole  nation  :  this  corruption  increased 
in  proportion  as  the  intermediate  ranks  disappeared; 
it  was  carried  to  its  highest  pitch  when  the  whole  empire 
consisted  of  men  of  enormous  wealth,  and  populace. 

It  is,  in  fact,  in  the  middle  classes  that  the  domes- 
tic virtues  —  economy,  forethought,  and  the  spirit  of 
association, —  mainly  reside.  It  is  in  them  that  a  certain 
degree  of  energy  is  incessantly  called  into  operation, 
either  as  a  means  of  rising,  or  of  keeping  the  position 
already  acquired.  It  is  in  them  alone  that  the  senti- 
ment of  social  equality,  on  which  all  justice  is  based, 
can  be  kept  alive.  We  must  see  our  equals,  live  with 
them,  meet  tlicm  daily  and  hourly,  encounter  their  in- 
terests and  their  passions,  before  we  can  get  the  liabit 
of  seeking  our  own  advantage  in  the  common  weal  alone. 
Grandeur  isolates  a  man  ;  vast  opulence  accustoms  each 
individual  to  look  upon  himself  as  a  distinct  power. 
He  feels  that  he  can  exist  independently  of  his  coun- 
I  4 


120  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  VI. 

try  ;  that  his  elevation^  or  his  fall,  may  be  distinct ; 
and,  ere  long,  the  servile  dependants,  by  whom  a  man 
who  spends  as  much  as  a  petty  state  is  sure  to  be  sur- 
rounded, succeed  in  persuading  him  that  his  pleasures, 
his  pains,  nay,  his  slightest  caprices,  are  more  import- 
ant than  the  welfare  of  the  thousands  of  families  whose 
means  of  subsistence  he  engrosses. 

The  morality  of  a  nation  is  preserved  by  associating 
its  sentiments  with  all  that  is  stable  and  permanent : 
it  is  destroyed  by  whatever  tends  to  concentrate  them 
on  the  present  inoment.  So  long  as  our  recollections 
are  dear  to  us,  we  shall  take  care  that  our  hopes  be 
worthy  of  them  ;  but  a  people  who  sacrifice  the  memory 
of  their  ancestors,  or  the  welfare  of  their  children,  to  the 
pleasures  of  a  day,  are  but  sojourners  in  a  country,  — 
they  are  not  citizens.  In  the  Roman  enipire,  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Theodosius,  the  only  two  remaining 
classes  of  society  were  equally  ashamed  of  the  past, 
equally  afraid  of  the  future,  equally  driven  to  drown  all 
reflection  in  the  present.  At  the  bottom  of  the  social 
scale,  the  populace,  recently  emerged  from  slavery,  or 
ready  to  sink  into  it  again,  lived  on  the  public  distribu- 
tions of  provisions,  or  on  a  daily  largess,  beyond  which 
they  saw  nothing.  Without  hope  for  the  future,  these 
men  had  nothing  to  lose  but  their  lives ;  and  even  these 
they  were  not  permitted  to  ensure  to  themselves  the 
power  of  defending.  What  remained  for  them,  but  to 
render  themselves  brutishly  reckless  of  calamities  they 
had  no  means  of  averting,  and  which,  whenever  they 
did  come,  Avould  bring  with  them  the  final  insensibility 
to  all  suffering  ?  At  the  other  extremity  of  the  scale, 
the  senators  were  nurtured  in  the  same  indifference. 
Their  possessions  were  almost  invariably  situated  in 
remote  provinces :  he  who  learned  that  his  harvests 
in  Gaul  had  been  burned,  could  still  reckon  on  his 
granaries  in  Spain  or  Africa ;  he  who  coiUd  not  protect 
his  Thracian  fields  from  the  ravages  of  the  Goth,  cal- 
culated that  his  Syrian  olive  grounds,  at  least,  were  safe 
from   the  incuisions  of  the  Persian.     However  severe 


CHAP.  VI.     DEGRADATION    OF    THE    ROMAN    PEOPLK.      121 

the  losses  they  sustained,  they  scarcely  ever  amounted 
to  ruin.  They  sometimes  made  him  renounce  mar- 
riage, (and,  indeed,  all  the  illustrious  families  of  Rome 
■were  rapidly  becoming  extinct,)  but  never  did  they 
cause  him  to  change  his  luxurious  habits.  The 
princes  of  Poland  reposed  on  a  security  similar  in  nature, 
though  on  a  far  less  extended  scale,  previous  to  the  first 
partition  of  that  unhappy  country.  The  frightful  ravages 
of  the  Zaporove  Cosacks  did  not,  indeed,  ruin  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Jagellons  ;  but,  with  him,  the  security 
of  fortune,  united  to  the  sentiment  of  patriotism,  con- 
stituted a  motive  to  dare  every  thing ;  with  the  Roman 
senator,  the  same  security,  joined  with  selfishness,  fur- 
nished merely  a  reason  for  not  fearing  the  worst. 

Improvidence,  and  an  unbridled  appetite  for  pleasure, 
equally  characterising  the  highest  and  the  lowest  class,  are 
visible  in  every  page  of  the  Roman  history  of  this  period. 
We  find  a  singular  instance  of  it  in  the  massacre  of 
Thessalonica.  Thessalonica  was  the  capital  of  that  great 
Illyrian  prefecture,  which,  for  years,  had  been  subject  to 
the  horrible  ravages  of  the  Goths.  Peace,  it  is  true,  had 
prevailed  for  eight  years ;  but  the  Gothic  army  and 
nation  had  remained  masters  of  the  country.  Not 
four  years,  moreover,  had  elapsed  since  a  fresh  invasion, 
that  of  the  Gruthungians,  had  struck  terror  into  the 
whole  province.  It  was  under  these  circumstances 
that  the  people  of  this  great  city,  which  had  never  re- 
sisted either  foreign  conquest  or  domestic  tyranny, 
revolted  on  account  of  a  charioteer  of  the  circus,  and 
massacred  the  lieutenant,  the  officers,  and  soldiers,  of 
their  emperor.  Nay,  so  universal  was  the  rage  for  these 
sjjcctacles,  that,  after  having  irritated  a  monarch  whose 
terrible  violence  was  well  known,  the  crowd,  childish  as 
ferocious,  rushed  again,  with  blind  unsuspecting  eager- 
ness, to  the  circus,  and  expected  games  when  vengeance 
awaited  it.  The  same  tastes  pervaded  all  the  capitals  ; 
the  same  fury  for  scenic  games,  the  only  one  of  all  their 
public  passions  which  the  Romans  retained  to  the  last. 
Distributions  of  bread  among  the  mob  often  exempted 


12^        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  VI. 

them  from  all  necessity  for  labour ;  and,  as  they  knew 
no  other  luxury,  as  they  desired  no  other  enjoyment, 
life,  suiTOunded  by  public  misery,  was  consumed  in 
base  and  brutal  pleasures. 

The  succession  of  the  two  sons  of  Theodosius,  be- 
tween whom  the  empire  was  divided  (Jan.  17-  .^95), 
was  not  an  event  of  a  character  to  rouse  the  Roman 
world  from  its  lethargy.  Two  children,  who  never 
became  men,  were  heirs  to  the  inheritance  of  a  hero. 
Arcadius,  whose  portion  was  the  East,  was  eighteen ; 
Honorius  was  only  eleven.  The  former  reigned  thir- 
teen years  (a.d.  395 — 408),  the  latter  twenty-eight 
(a.d.  395 — 423).  It  was  never  possible  to  discern  the 
moment  at  which  either  arrived  at  the  age  of  reason. 
But  the  imbecility  of  the  elder  was  more  immediately 
felt  by  the  empire,  because  it  Avas  impossible  not  to 
pay  some  deference  to  his  will  and  to  his  taste ;  and. 
the  court,  modelled  on  the  nullity  of  its  master,  was, 
from  his  very  accession,  the  scene  of  base  intrigues,  of 
feebleness,  and  of  fraud ;  whereas  the  infancy  of  the 
younger  left  the  first  place  in  the  state  for  thirteen 
years  in  the  occupation  of  him  who  was  most  worthy  of 
it —  the  great  Stihcho.   (a.i>.  395—408.) 

Theodosius  had  intrusted  his  two  sons  to  his  two 
ablest  ministers ;  he  had  hoped  they  would  second  each 
other,  and  that  the  unity  of  the  empire  would  be  pre- 
served under  the  sway  of  two  old  colleagues,  guiding 
two  minor  brothers.  On  the  contrary,  the  first  feeling 
displayed  by  these  ministers  was  one  of  jealousy  ;  the 
rancour  of  the  weaker  against  the  stronger  mind  sought 
an  ally  in  popular  prejudice.  The  East,  whose  language 
was  Greek,  was  incited  to  distrust  the  "\^''est,  where 
Latin  prevailed.  Difference  of  manners  was  blended 
with  difference  of  language  ;  two  nations  were  set  in 
opposition  to  each  other  ;  the  unity  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire was  broken;  and  two  empires,  that  of  the  East  and 
that  of  the  AVest,  were  taught  to  think  that  they  had 
nothing  in  common. 

Rufinus,  an  able  Gallic  jurisconsult,  whom  Theodo- 


CHAP.  VI.  ARCADIUS.  123 

sius  had  raised  to  the  rank  of  prefect  of  the  East,  was 
charged  with  the  direction  of  the  counsels  of  ArcadiuiS 
and  of  the  court  of  Constantinople.  He  had  long  been 
accused  of  avarice  and  cruelty  ;  his  vices  had,  however, 
been  controlled  by  the  eye  of  the  master  :  as  soon  as 
he  felt  himself  without  a  superior,  they  broke  forth 
without  restraint.  He  already  thought  his  fortune  se- 
cured, beyond  all  chance  of  a  reverse,  by  a  marriage 
between  his  only  daughter  and  his  sovereign.  Arcadius 
appeared  to  acquiesce.  The  day  was  fixed  for  the  cere- 
mony: the  pompous  nuptial  train  Avas  on  its  way  to  the 
palace  of  the  prefect,  to  fetch  the  new  empress.  But,  in 
passing  before  the  house  of  tlie  beautiful  Eudoxia,  Ar- 
cadius suddenly  stopped,  declared  that  she  was  the  bride 
he  had  chosen,  and  took  her  home  to  the  palace,  instead 
of  the  daughter  of  the  prefect.  It  wa.s,  however,  from 
no  project  originating  in  his  own  breast,  from  no  pas- 
sion which  led  him  to  disregard  all  other  considerations, 
that  the  monarch  of  the  East  was  imluced  thus  to  dupe 
his  prime  minister.  He  was  but  the  tool  of  a  court  in- 
trigue, conducted  by  the  eunuch  Eutropius  :  in  this 
instance,  as  in  every  succeeding  one  of  his  reign,  he 
yielded  to  the  insinuations  of  his  servants,  —  the  only 
portion  of  his  subjects  whom  he  ever  knew.  Shortly 
after,  llufinus  was  murdered  at  his  master's  feet  (Nov. 
27.  .".9.5),  by  order  of  the  Goth  Gainas,  who  had  led 
the  legions  of  Theodosius  back  from  the  West ;  and 
Arcadius,  a  stranger  to  all  the  duties  and  functions  of 
empire,  abandoned  the  reins  of  government  to  the  vile 
favourites  whom  fraud  or  violence  alternately  raised  to 
the  domination  of  the  palace. 

Stilicho,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  who  is  believed  to 
have  been  the  son  of  a  Vandal,  and  who,  under  the 
reign  of  Theodosius,  had  already  evinced  great  talents 
for  war,  was  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  the  AVest  at 
the  moment  of  the  emperor's  death,  and  remained  sole 
guardian  of  Honorius.  Stilicho  is  the  hero  of  Ciaudian, 
tlie  last  of  the  great  poets  of  Rome :  his  poem  is  almost 
the  only  document  of  the  history   of  the  guardian  of 


124  FALL    OF    THE    RO.MAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  VI. 

Honorius.  We  can  gather  but  an  indistinct  concep- 
tion of  him  from  this  sort  of  testimony,  unsupported 
by  that  of  historians  ;  we  have  no  materials  for  form- 
ing an  opinion  of  the  character  of  a  great  man,  but  the 
writings  of  his  panegyrists,  or  of  the  calumniators  whom 
we  know  to  have  been  paid  by  the  emperor.  Yet,  even 
from  representations  so  contradictory  and  so  doubtful, 
we  gather  enough  to  see  in  Stilicho  a  great  and  awful 
shade,  worthy  of  that  empire  whose  ruins  he  defended. 
His  military  genius  secured  him  victories,  though  he  no 
longer  found  Roman  soldiers  to  command  ;  he  showed 
not  only  courage,  but  self-devotion,  on  behalf  of  a 
country  which  was  already  but  a  name ;  and,  to  crown 
all,  he  tried  to  interest  in  the  national  defence,  the 
Roman  senate,  the  men  of  high  rank,  the  deputies  of 
provinces  :  but  he  found  in  them  only  unmeaning  de- 
clamation, and  a  pompous  display  of  affected  sentiment, 
in  the  place  of  patriotism. 

This  ^Vestern  empire,  which  Stilicho  was  called  to 
defend  in  the  moment  of  its  extremest  danger,  was  now 
little  more  than  a  vast  desert,  where  no  soldiers  were  to 
be  found,  where  the  regular  operation  of  the  laws  was 
suspended,  and  where  only  two  authorities  were  recog- 
nised^—  that  of  a  territorial  aristocracy  invested  with  no 
legal  power,  but  beyond  the  reach  of  law  ;  and  that  of 
a  fanatical  clergy,  which  swayed  the  multitude  at  its 
pleasure. 

Italy  and  Gaul  had  still  officers  nominated  by  the 
emperor,  and  municipal  magistrates  elected  by  the  cities; 
but  both  were  alike  impotent  to  carry  the  execution  of 
the  laws  into  the  vast  domains  of  a  senator,  who  was 
the  proprietor  of  entire  provinces. 

Africa,  the  live  provinces  of  which  extended  over 
thirty  degrees  of  longitude,  or  more  than  six  hundred 
leagues  along  the  Mediterranean  coast,  had  fallen  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  the  children  of  the  Moor  Nabal,  its 
wealthiest  proprietor.  The  slaves  of  this  family,  its 
creatures,  its  clients,  gave  it  a  power  against  which  the 
emperor  himself  could  not  contend.      Firmus,  whose 


CHAP.  VI.         STATE    OF    THE    WESTERN    EMPIRE.  125 

revolt  we  have  noticed  in  another  place,  was  one  of 
these  children,  after  him  came  Gildo  his  brother,  who 
from  386'  to  39S  formed  to  himself  almost  an  inde- 
pendent sovereignty  of  this  vast  region.  When  at  length 
Stilicho  tried  to  reduce  him  to  obedience,  he  destined 
an  army  of  five  thousand  men  to  conquer  a  country  at 
least  twice  as  large  as  France ;  nor  was  this  all ;  he 
thought  himself  unable  to  attempt  the  enterprise  with- 
out allying  the  animosity  of  a  personal  enemy  to  the 
imperial  power.  Mascezel  had  been  robbed  of  his  in- 
heritance by  his  brother  Gildo,  who  had  also  massaci'ed 
his  children  :  he  cherished  all  a  Moor's  thirst  for  re- 
venge against  his  brother.  It  was  for  him  that  the  con- 
quest of  Africa  was  reserved.  He  made  a  descent  upon 
it  in  398,  with  the  five  thousand  soldiers  which  had 
been  given  him  to  combat  his  brother;  and  after  he  had 
avenged  himself,  his  unexpected  death  in  crossing  a 
bridge,  over  wliich  his  horse  threw  him,  put  an  end  to 
this  patrimonial  power,  which  had  its  source  neither  in 
the  choice  of  the  monarch  nor  in  that  of  the  people. 
On  another  occasion,  we  learn  from  the  disasters  of  the 
reign  of  Honorius,  that  the  brothers  of  Theodosius,  as 
the  richest  proprietors  of  Lusitania,  exercised  a  power 
in  Spain  as  great  as  that  Gildo  had  possessed  in  Africa. 
The  reign  of  the  sons  of  Theodosius  was  fatally 
marlced  by  the  settlement  of  the  barbarians  in  the  "W'^est. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  Visigoths,  setting  out  from  Avhat 
is  now  called  Servia,  after  ravaging  Greece  and  then 
Italy,  obtained  a  fixed  abode  at  tlie  foot  of  the  Pyre- 
nees, and  there  founded  the  monarchy,  which  soon  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  of  Spain.  On  the  other,  the 
Germans  crossed  tlie  Rhine,  and,  spreading  over  Gaul 
and  Spain,  founded  the  monarchies  of  the  Burgundians, 
the  Suevi,  the  Lusitanians,  and  the  Vandals  of  liictica. 
The  acts  of  this  great  drama  must  be  exhibited  in  their 
order.  We  are  called  upon  alternately  to  watch  the 
march  of  history,  and  to  reason  upon  its  results  :  we 
implore  the  indulgence  of  our  readers  for  the  dry  detail 
of  facts  with  which  we  are  compelled  occasionally  to 
burthen  their  memories. 


126        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  VI. 

Sufficient  time  had  already  elapsed  for  the  Visigoths, 
established  in  McEsia  from  the  year  382,  to  recover 
from  the  evils  of  a  war  in  which  they  had  lost  their 
ancient  country  and  conquered  a  new  one  ;  for  a  nation 
in  the  vigour  of  youth  rapidly  recruits  its  strength  dur- 
ing repose  :  while  the  empire  in  its  decrei)itude  was 
gradually  becoming  feebler  by  the  mere  lapse  of  time. 
The  young  men  longed  to  rival  their  fathers  in  feats  of 
arms;  and,  thouglv solicited  to  enter  the  service  of  Arca- 
dius,  they  despised  military  rewards  which  were  not 
awarded  by  bravery,  and  coidd  not  endure  to  see  the 
valour  of  the  soldiers  dishonoured  by  the  cowardice  of 
the  leaders,  or  the  fortune  of  adventurers  dependent  on 
the  favour  of  courts.  Alaric,  a  prince  of  the  royal  house 
of  the  Balthi,  had,  like  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  made 
his  first  campaigns  in  the  armies  of  the  emperor,  but 
when  he  had  subsequently  demanded  promotion  pro- 
portionate to  the  rank  he  held  in  his  own  nation,  or  to 
the  ability  he  had  displayed  in  the  service  of  Rome,  he 
received  an  insulting  refusal.  He  soon  taught  the  feeble 
son  of  Theodosius  what  an  enemy  he  had  thus  impru- 
dently made :  the  Visigoths,  whose  warlike  passions 
he  had  aroused,  raised  him  on  a  shield,  saluted  him  as 
king,  and  called  upon  him  to  lead  them  on  to  those  rich 
provinces,  in  which  glory,  wealth,  and  all  the  enjoy- 
ments it  procures,  would  be  the  prize  of  their  valour. 
As  soon  as  Alaric  announced  that  he  was  about  to  attack 
the  empire,  numerous  hordes  of  Scythians  marched  across 
the  frozen  Danube  and  joined  his  standard  :  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  396,  a  formidable  host,  whose  pro- 
gress no  line  of  fortifications  could  arrest,  advanced  as 
far  as  Constantinople,  laying  waste  the  whole  country 
in  its  line  of  march. 

Till  then,  Greece  had  escaped  the  invasion  of  bar- 
barians, which  rarely  extended  south  of  Constantinople  ; 
but  Alaric  held  out  to  his  soldiers  the  hope  of  dividing 
the  yet  untouched  spoil  of  those  illustrious  regions.  The 
defiles  of  Thermopylae,  at  the  foot  of  ilount  CEta,  were 
abandoned  to  him   by  the  cowardice  of  the   soldiers  : 


CHAP.  VI.  STILICHO    AND    ALARIC.  127 

during  a  long  peace  all  the  fortifications  of  the  cities  of 
Achaia  had  fallen  into  decay  ;  and  the  \^isigoths  now 
penetrated  into  the  sanctuary  of  ancient  civilisation 
(a.  d.  396).  He  granted  a  capitulation  to  Athens;  but 
he  gave  up  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  this  country,  en- 
riched with  the  glory  and  the  beauty  of  former  ages^ 
and  hallowed  by  the  memory  of  the  highest  moral  and 
intellectual  culture  which  human  nature  ever  attained, 
to  the  fury  and  rapacity  of  a  savage  soldiery  :  then  it 
was  that  the  temple  of  Ceres  Eleusis  was  pillaged,  and 
the  mysteries  which  had  been  celebrated  there  for 
eighteen  centuries  were  interrupted. 

Then,  too,  began  the  memorable  struggle  between  the 
skilful  tactics  of  Stilicho  and  the  headlong  courage  of 
Alaric.  The  former,  who  had  passed  the  Adriatic  with 
the  legions  of  Italy,  knew  that  his  soldiers  would  never 
withstand  the  valour  of  the  Goths  :  he  consequently 
employed  all  his  art  in  enticing  them  into  a  district  of 
mountain  gorges,  in  which  he  hemmed  them  up  by  a 
war  of  posts,  always  avoiding  a  battle,  and  tims  as  it 
were  besieging  them  on  a  mountain,  and  there  reducing 
them  by  hunger.  Such  was  the  address  Stilicho  dis- 
played on  several  occasions,  not  only  against  Alaric, 
but  other  barbarian  generals  :  bv.t  in  the  campaign  of 
Greece  his  measures  were  defeated  by  those  upon  whose 
assistance  he  might  reasonably  have  calculated.  The 
base  courtiers  of  Constantinople  were  more  afraid  of 
the  influence  a  great  man  might  acquire  over  their 
monarch  by  a  signal  service,  than  of  the  sword  of  the 
enemy  which  hung  over  their  heads  :  they  prevailed  on 
Arcadius  to  command  the  general  of  the  West  to  evacuate 
his  empire  ;  at  the  same  time  the  emperor  demanded 
peace  of  Alaric,  and  purchased  it  by  appointing  him 
master-general  of  the  infantry  in  eastern  lllyricum. 

The  vices  inlierent  in  despotic  government  had  gra- 
dually dried  up  all  the  resources  of  the  empire  ;  but  in 
these  last  calamities  it  was  more  esfjccially  the  imme- 
diate act^of  the  sovereign  which  brought  the  most  dread- 
ful evils  upon  his   people.     "When  Arcadius,  instigated 


128  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.  VI. 

by  the  basest  jealousy,  granted  to  his  most  dangerous 
foe  the  command  of  the  province  he  liad  just  laid  waste^, 
he  placed  at  his  disposal  the  four  great  arsenals  of  the 
Illyrian  prefecture,  at  Margus,  Ratiaria,  Naissus,  and 
Thessalonica.  For  four  years,  the  most  skilful  armour- 
ers of  the  empire  were  employed  in  the  workshops  of 
these  four  towns  in  forging  arms  for  the  Goths.  For 
four  years,  Alaric  was  industriously  training  his  goldiers 
according  to  Roman  discipline,  and  to  the  use  of  arms 
so  superior  to  those  they  had  been  accustomed  to  bear  ; 
and  when,  with  the  aid  of  the  Greeks,  he  had  rendered 
his  subjects  far  more  formidable  than  they  could  ever 
have  become  without  these  advantages,  he  called  upon 
them  to  show  the  Romans  what  use  they  could  make  of 
the  lessons  they  had  received  from  other  subjects  of  the 
empire.  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  402,  he  traversed 
the  Julian  Alps  and  entered  Italy  by  the  Frioul  (Forum 
Julii). 

Even  were  the  campaigns  of  these  two  great  captains, 
Alaric  and  Stilicho,  known  to  us  sufficiently  in  detail  to 
throw  any  light  on  the  art  of  war,  this  would  not  be 
the  place  to  follow  them  out ;   still  less  would  it  profit 
us  to  pause  over  the  scenes  of  suffering  and  of  misery 
in  which  that  history  is  but  too  abundant.      One  thing 
alone    deserves   our  attention  :   the   new   proofs   which 
every  step  brings  to  view  of  the  exhaustion,  the  death- 
like state,  of  an  empire,]  which  still  numbered  among 
its  members   Italy,  Spain,  France,  England,  Belgium, 
Africa,   and   the   half  of  Germany,  —  an   empire  still 
governed   by  a   great  warrior   and  statesman,   yet  who, 
with  all  his  genius,  could  not  impart  any  vigour  to  the 
worn-out  frame.     Stilicho  was,  in  fact,  the  real  mon- 
yj       arch  of  the  "West.      Honorius,   who   had   attained   the 
^         age  of  eighteen,  fixed   his   residence   at   Milan.       His 
\      chief  pleasure  was  to  breed  chickens  in  the  palace,  which 
i      knew  his  voice,   and  fed  from  his  hand.      There  was 
\       certainly  no  harm  in  this.     It  was  a  very  innocent  plea- 
sure, and  in  no  respect  interfered  with  the  administration 
of  the  empire.     That  nothing  might  interfere  with  that 


CHAP.  VI.  STILICHO    AND    ALARIC.  129 

of  his  poultry-yard^  his  courtiers  had  been  careful  never 
to  pronounce  the  name  of  Alaric  in  his  ears^  nor  to  per- 
mit any  signs  of  the  danger  which  menaced  him,  to 
appear  before  him,  up  to  the  very  moment  when  the  king 
of  the  Goths  had  reached  the  Adige.  On  the  news  of 
the  enemy's  approach,  the  emperor's  first  and  only 
thought  was  to  save  his  person. 

Stilicho,  who  feared  the  panic  that  the  flight  of  the 
youthful  sovereign  would  spread  throughout  Italy,  with 
extreme  difficulty  withheld  him,  by  a  promise  that  he 
would  return  very  shortly  with  an  army  powerful 
enough  to  defend  him.  The  winter,  during  which  the 
Goths  had  gone  into  quarters  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Treviso,  gave  him  a  little  time  to  recruit  his  army. 
But  soldiers  were  not  to  be  found  in  Italy ;  Stilicho 
was  obliged  to  fetch  them  from  Gaul,  and  even  from 
Britain.  He  abandoned  to  the  good  faith  of  barbarians 
both  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Caledonian 
wall.  He  incorporated  into  his  army  all  the  ancient 
enemies  of  Rome  who  were  willing  to  enlist  under  his 
banner,  and  with  40,000  or  50,000  men  he  recrossed 
the  Alps,  in  the  spring  of  403.  Alaric,  who  had 
crossed  the  Adige,  pursued  Honorius,  and  was  already 
besieging  him  in  Asti,  when  Stilicho  marched  to  the 
emperor's  relief;  compelled  the  haughty  king  of  the  Goths 
to  raise  the  siege ;  and  took  advantage  of  his  devotion 
to  attack  him  at  Pollen tia,  during  the  solemnity  of  Easter. 
He  defeated  him  in  a  bloody  engagement  on  the  2.9th 
of  March,  403  ;  stopped  him  as  he  attempted  to  cross 
the  Apennines  and  to  lay  waste  southern  Italy;  forced 
him  to  retreat  towards  the  Alps,  and  there  beat  him 
again  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Verona  ;  and,  after  all 
these  victories,  thought  himself  happy  v;hen  the  terrible 
Alaric  evacuated  Italy,  and  retired  into  Pannonia. 

Honorius  claimed  the  honours  of  a  triumph  in  cele- 
bration of  Stilicho's  victories ;  and  this  solemnity  of 
ancient  Rome  was,  for  the  last  time,  stained  with  the 
bloody  combats  of  gladiators.  They  were  soon  after 
abolished  for  ever,  by  an  edict  of  Honorius.     But  that 

VOL.  I.  K 


]30  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.   VI. 

emperor,  who  had  visited  Rome  with  great  pomp 
(a.d.404);  who,  in  compUance  with  the  counsels  of 
Stilicho,  had  paid  the  senate  and  the  people  a  de- 
ference they  had  long  been  unaccustomed  to  receive 
from  the  masters  of  the  world ;  had  not  sufficient  re- 
liance on  the  victories  he  was  thus  celebrating,  to  dare 
to  fix  his  abode  either  in  the  ancient  capital,  or  in  the 
metropolis  of  Lombardy.  His  first  care  was  to  seek 
in  his  states  a  city  secure  from  the  attacks  of  all  his 
enemies.  He  made  choice  of  Ravenna.  This  city, 
originally  built  on  piles,  intersected  with  canals,  sur- 
rounded with  marshes,  presented  the  appearance  we 
now  see  in  Venice,  and  was  no  less  inaccessible  to  at- 
tack from  the  land.  Scarcely  had  he  retired  thither, 
when  the  West  was  alarmed  by  the  march  of  Radogast, 
and  by  the  great  and  final  invasion  of  the  barbarians, 
who  from  that  time  never  more  evacuated  the  empire. 

The  general  agitation  of  Germany  has  been  attributed, 
by  some  writers,  to  new  movements  among  the  Scythian 
tribes,  to  the  victories  of  Touloun,  Khan  of  the  Georgians, 
over  the  Huns.  (a.d.  400.)  It  appears  to  us  more  pro- 
bable, that  the  last  invasion  of  the  Western  empire  is  to 
be  traced  to  causes  residing  in  the  Germans  themselves. 
Already  had  several  generations  of  their  young  warriors 
successively  left  their  native  woods  to  seek  glory  and 
spoil  within  the  boundaries  of  the  empire :  it  was  be- 
come a  habit ;  the  minds  of  men  were  turned  in  that 
direction.  Each  successive  expedition  more  clearly  re- 
vealed the  feebleness  of  the  adversaries  the  Germans 
hoped  to  plunder ;  and  when  they  saw  the  Goths 
establish  themselves  south  of  the  Danube,  ravage  Italy 
and  Greece,  and  threaten  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
world,  they  feared,  perhaps,  that  Alaric  would  leave 
them  nothing  to  take.  Radogast,  king  of  one  of  the 
nations  which  inhabited  the  southern  shores  of  the 
Baltic,  (the  country  now  called  Mecklenburg,)  declared 
that  he  had  made  a  vow  never  to  return  his  sword  to 
its  scabbard  till  he  had  levelled  the  walls  of  Rome,  and 
divided  its  treasures  among  his   soldiers.     A   host  of 


CHAP.   VI.        GENERAL    IRRUPTION    OF    GOTHS.  131 

warriors,  nay,  whole  nations,  were  eager  to  second  him  ; 
so  that  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  which  was  the  tribe 
more  immediately  subject  to  his  orders.  The  Burgun- 
dians,  the  Vandals,  the  Silingi,  the  Gepidse,  the  Suevi, 
and  the  Alans,  took  arms  at  the  same  time ;  more  than 
i^00,000  warriors  flocked  from  all  parts  of  Germany, 
and  composed  these  great  armies.  In  many  provinces 
they  were  accompanied  by  their  women  and  children, 
and  the  country  they  left  behind  them  was  a  desert. 

StiUcho  had  been  unable  to  send  the  legions  he  had 
summoned  from  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  to  repulse 
Alaric,  back  to  their  original  stations.  He  detained 
them  under  his  command  in  Italy ;  but  the  whole 
military  force  of  this  gigantic  monarchy  scarcely  exceeded 
3.5,000  men, —  so  great  had  been  the  loss  of  soldiers 
in  the  late  wars,  and  so  great  the  difficulty  of  recruit- 
ing. The  Lower  Danube  was  abandoned  to  the  Goths, 
the  Upper  Danube  was  exposed  ;  the  Upper  Rhine  was 
confided  to  the  doubtful  faith  of  the  Allemans,  and 
the  Lower  to  that  of  the  Franks.  Radogast  entered 
Pannonia,  without  difficulty,  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
great  armies  (a.d.  406)  ;  nor  did  he  experience  any 
resistance  on  his  passage  of  the  Alps,  or  of  the  Po,  or 
even  of  the  Apennines.  The  trembling  Honorius  shut 
himself  up  in  Ravenna.  Stilicho  could  hardly  collect 
his  soldiers  at  Pavia.  At  length  he  marched  in  pursuit 
of  Radogast,  came  up  with  him  near  Florence,  and, 
with  the  same  ability  with  which  he  had  twice  attacked 
and  defeated  Alaric,  drove  him  back  from  post  to  post, 
shut  him  up  within  his  fortifications,  without  ever 
giving  him  an  opportunity  of  fighting  a  battle,  and  at 
length  besieged  him  on  the  arid  heights  of  Fiesole, 
where,  after  losing  the  greater  part  of  his  army  by 
hunger,  thirst,  and  disease,  he  was  compelled  to  surren- 
der at  discretion.  The  vanquished  foe,  who  trusted  to 
the  generosity  of  Honorius,  had  small  ground  for  hope. 
The  emperor  put  to  death  the  captive  before  whom  he 
had  trembled. 

But  the  defeat  of  Radogast  did  not  deUvcr  the 
K  2 


132         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VI. 

empire.  Two  other  armies  advanced  upon  Gaul.  One 
led  on  by  Gondecar  king  of  the  Burgundians,  crossed 
the  Upper  Rhine,  bore  along  the  AUemans  with  him, 
and  devastated  the  whole  of  eastern  Gaul.  The  other, 
commanded  by  Godegisela  king  of  the  Vandals,  marched 
to  the  Lower  Rhine ;  they  encountered  the  Franks,  who 
opposed  a  vigorous  resistance :  but,  after  an  obstinate 
combat,  during  which  the  Alans  came  up  to  the  suc- 
cour of  the  Vandals  just  as  they  were  giving  way  before 
the  enemy,  the  passage  of  the  Rhine  was  effected  on 
the  31st  of  December,  406,  and  the  whole  torrent  of  the 
barbarous  tribes  of  Germany  poured  at  once,  with  equal 
fury,  over  every  part  of  Gaul.  During  three  whole 
years  massacre,  pillage,  fire,  spread  from  province  to 
province;  while  the  wretched  inhabitants  were  unable 
to  offer  any  resistance ;  while  the  government  made  not 
an  effort  to  defend  them ;  while  the  conquerors  wearied 
not  in  their  savage  work.  But  as,  in  their  first  blind 
fury,  they  had  destroyed  treasures  which  they  now 
vainly  regretted,  and  had  burned  storehouses,  which 
would  have  preserved  them  frohi  the  famine  which  now 
threatened  them,  the  remaining  spoil  was  insufficient 
to  satisfy  their  cupidity.  On  the  1 3th  of  October,  409, 
a  body  of  Suevi,  Vandals,  and  Alans  forced  the  passes 
of  the  Pyrenees,  and  Spain  shared  the  fate  of  Gaul. 
At  length  these  hordes  began  to  feel  the  need  of 
repose.  They  fixed  their  quarters  in  the  provinces 
they  had  conquered,  in  such  a  manner  that  each  sove- 
reign army  could  exercise  a  systematic  oppression  over  the 
provincials,  who  were  no  longer  treated  as  enemies,  but 
as  slaves.  About  the  year  410,  Spain  was  portioned 
out  among  its  Germanic  conquerors :  the  Suevi  and  the 
Vandals  shared  the  ancient  Gallicia ;  the  Alans  had 
Lusitania ;  the  Silingi,  Boetica ;  whUst  in  Gaul  the 
Burgundians  advanced  from  the  Moselle  to  the  Rhone  ; 
the  Allemans  established  themselves  in  Eastern  Hel- 
vetia ;  and  the  Franks  extended  their  quarters  into 
Belgium.  Nevertheless,  the  Germans  made  no  imme- 
diate allotment  or  distribution  of  lands :  they  did  not 


CHAP.  VI.  STILICHO.  i.33 

choose  to  become  citizens  at  the  expense  of  ceasing  to 
be  soldiers. 

It  may  appear  matter  of  astonishment  that  the  great 
StiHcho  did  nothing  for  the  defence  of  the  empire : 
but  his  power  had  already  been  shaken  by  court  in- 
trigues. From  the  time  of  his  flight  from  Milan, 
Honorius  had  begun  to  think  himself  a  great  captain;  and 
nis  confidence  in  his  own  military  talents  had  been 
raised  by  the  triumph  he  had  decreed  himself.  He 
deemed  himself  of  an  age  to  govern  alone ;  and  his  first 
essay  in  the  art  of  government  was  to  thwart  all  the 
operations  of  his  general.  A  vile  favourite,  whom  he 
had  taken  from  the  situation  of  illuminator  of  the 
palace  to  place  him  near  his  person,  had  found  means 
to  rouse  his  pride.  He  continually  repeated  to  him, 
that  people  were  astonished  that,  at  twenty-five,  the 
emperor  should  not  be  his  own  master.  From  the 
time  the  courtiers  remarked  the  decline  of  Stilicho's 
influence,  they  industriously  accumulated  obstacles  in 
his  way.  This  illustrious  man,  worthy  of  a  better 
age,  had  tried  to  restore  the  dignity  of  the  senate,  and 
to  rouse  its  members  to  fresh  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
republic.  But  he  had  found  only  rhetors,  far  more  intent 
on  catching  popularity  by  making  a  display  of  fine 
sentiments,  or  by  aping  the  expressions  of  their  fore- 
fathers, than  on  understanding  the  state  of  affairs,  their 
means  of  defence,  or  their  resources.  He  had  been 
forced  to  strive  for  a  long  time  before  he  could  bring 
them  to  sign  a  treaty  with  Alaric,  which  was  become 
absolutely  necessary,  but  which  they  pronounced  un- 
worthy the  ancient  majesty  of  Rome.  Stilicho  had 
been  no  less  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  raise  the 
courage  of  the  army,  and  to  restore  its  discipline  ;  but 
experience  had  taught  him,  that  it  was  vain  to  look  for 
intrepidity,  for  constancy  under  privation,  for  strength 
to  support  fatigue,  except  among  his  barbarian  auxi- 
liaries. The  favours  he  granted,  the  politic  means  by 
which  he  endeavoured  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  tie  de- 
fenders of  Rome  from  among  her  enemies,  caused 
K  3 


1S4        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  VI. 

discontent  among  the  soldiers  who  called  themselves 
Romans.  Honorius,  and  his  favourite  Olympius,  strove 
to  heighten  the  animosity,  and  to  embitter  the  accusa- 
tions against  Stilicho.  The  former  seized  the  moment 
of  his  general's  absence  to  review  his  army  at  Pavia, 
and  addressed  them  in  a  speech  calculated  to  exasperate 
them  against  their  chief.  His  aim  was,  to  incite  his 
soldiers  to  demand  the  dismissal  of  a  man  whom  he 
accused  of  having  abused  his  confidence.  But  the 
sedition  he  excited  burst  out  with  a  violence  he  had 
not  calculated  on.  The  soldiers  massacred  two  prae- 
tonian  prefects^  two  masters-general  of  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry, and  almost  all  their  generals  and  officers,  because 
they  had  been  appointed  by  Stilicho.  Honorius,  with 
trembling  haste,  published  a  decree,  in  which  he  con- 
demned the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  applauded  the 
conduct  and  fidelity  of  the  insurgent  troops.  The 
moment  this  news  was  carried  to  the  camp  of  the  con- 
federate army  at  Bologna,  where  Stilicho  then  was, 
the  leaders  of  the  barbarian  soldiers,  with  one  accord, 
offered  to  defend,  to  avenge  him,  and  even  to  seat  him 
upon  the  throne.  He  would  not  expose  the  empire  to 
the  horrors  of  civil  war  for  his  own  security  or  advan- 
tage. He  refused  their  offers :  he  even  warned  the 
Roman  cities  to  be  on  their  guard  against  the  con- 
federate troops ;  and,  proceeding  straight  to  Ravenna, 
seated  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  of  the  great 
church,  thus  invoking  the  protection  of  superstition  in 
default  of  that  he  had  a  right  to  claim  from  gratitude 
But  he  could  not  avert  the  fate  by  which  greatness  in  a 
subject  is  generally  "rewarded  by  baseness  on  a  throne. 
The  count  Heradius,  who  was  sent  by  the  emperor  to 
arrest  the  noble  soldier,  would  have  been  withheld  by 
scruples  from  violating  the  sanctuary :  he  had  none  in  de- 
ceiving the  bishop  of  Ravenna  by  a  false  oath.  Having 
thus  induced  him  to  deliver  up  Stilicho  into  his  hands, 
he  struck  off  his  head  with  his  own  sword  before  the 
porch  of  the  church   (August  23d,  408). 

Stilicho  had  too  much  greatness  of  soul  not  to  ap- 


CHAP.  VI.  CONDUCT    OF    HONORIUS.*  135 

preciate  that  quality  in  others  :  he  honoured  his  adver- 
sary Alaric  ;  he  knew  what  he  had  to  fear  from  him, 
and  he  had  employed  his  utmost  policy  to  keep  at  peace 
with  him  during  the  invasion  of  Radogast.  The  mean 
and  cowardly  Honorius,  on  the  contrary,  who  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  danger  in  his  retreat  at  Ravenna,  thought 
that  a  display  of  arrogance  was  a  proof  of  strength, 
and  that  to  insult  an  enemy,  was  to  intimidate  him. 
He  displaced  the  bravest  and  most  renowned  barbarian 
captains  from  the  commands  they  held  in  his  armies; 
removed  all  who  professed  religious  opinions  different 
from  his  own,  from  every  public  office ;  thus  depriving 
himself  and  the  state  of  the  services  of  a  great  many 
distinguished  pagan  or  Arian  functionaries  ;  and,  to 
complete  the  purification  of  his  army,  ordered  a  general 
massacre  of  all  the  women  and  children  of  the  barba- 
rians, whom  the  soldiers  in  his  service  had  delivered  up 
as  hostages.  In  one  day  and  hour  these  innocent  vic- 
tims were  given  up  to  slaughter,  and  their  property  to 
pillage. 

These  hostages  had  been  left  in  all  the  Italian  cities 
by  the  barbarian  confederates,  as  a  guarantee  for  their 
fidelity  to  Rome  ;  when  they  learned  that  the  whole 
had  perished,  in  the  midst  of  peace,  in  contempt  of  all 
oaths,  one  furious  and  terrific  cry  of  vengeance  arose, 
and  thirty  thousand  soldiers,  who  had  been  the  faithful 
servants  of  the  empire,  at  once  passed  over  to  the  camp 
of  Alaric,  and  urged  him  to  lead  them  on  to  Rome. 

Alaric,  in  language  the  moderation  of  which  Hono- 
rius  and  his  ministers  ascribed  to  fear,  demanded  re- 
paration for  the  insults  offered  him,  and  strict  observance 
of  the  treaties  concluded  with  him.  The  only  answer 
he  obtained  was  couched  in  terms  of  fresh  insult,  and  con- 
tained an  order  to  evacuate  all  the  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire. It  might  have  been  supposed  that  great  armies  were 
ready  to  support  such  insolent  pretensions  ;  yet,  when 
Alaric  crossed  the  Alps,  in  the  month  of  October,  tOS, 
he  traversed  Friuli,  the  towns  of  Aquilea,  Concordia, 
Altino,  and  Cremona,  and  came  up  before  the  walls  of 
K   4 


136  FAIIL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.         CUAP.   VI. 

Ravenna  without  meeting  a  single  foe.  He  had  no  hope 
of  reducing  that  city  by  siege;  but  no  one  attemjited  to 
arrest  his  march  across  llomagna  when  he  continued  his 
route;  and  he  at  length  arrived  before  Rome  ()19  years 
after  that  city  had  been  threatened  by  Hannibal. 
During  that  long  interval  her  citizens  had  never  looked 
down  from  her  walls  upon  the  banner  of  an  enemy 
waving  in  their  plains. 

But  this  long  terra  of  peace  and  prosperity  had  ad- 
ded nothing  to  their  means  of  defence  :   in  vain  did  they 
count  17S0  senatorial  houses,  or  palaces  enriched  with 
every  luxury  ;    in  vain  did  they  boast  that  the  revenue 
of  more  than  one  of  their  senators  exceeded  4000  pounds 
weight  of  goldj  —  l60,000/.  sterlings   (for  it  is  well  to 
compare  this  enormous  wealth  with  that  of  the  country 
which  approaches  the  most  nearly  to  it) ;   all  their  opu- 
lence, all  their  splendour,  were  insufficient   to  procure 
them  the  defence  of  brave  soldiers.      The  people  had 
long  been  regarded  with  distrust ;  —  the  people,  whom  the 
general  organisation  of  society  rendered  miserable,  and 
who  cared  for  nothing  but  public  distributions  of  bread, 
meat,  and  oil.    The  mob,  wlio  had  for  generations  been 
withheld  from  the  use  of  arms,  and  whom  the  higher 
classes  would  have  trembled  to  see  brought  into  military 
training,  was  devoid  of  strength  and  of  courage  when 
the  enemy  appeared  without  the  walls.     Alaric  did  not 
attempt   to   take  Rome  by  assault :   he  blockaded  the 
gates,  stopped  the  navigation  of  the  Tiber,  and    soon 
famine  took   possession  of  a  city  which  was  eighteen 
miles  in  circumference,  and  contained  above  a  million 
of  inhabitants.      The  Romans  were  reduced  to  feed  on 
the  vilest  and  most  revolting  aliments  ;  we  are  assured, 
that  these  men,  who  dared  not  fight,    dared  to  cover 
their  tables  with  human  flesh,  nay,  even  the  flesh  of 
their  children.    That  no  supernatural  aid  might  be  neg- 
lected, not  only  did  they  first  invoke  all  the  celestial 
powers,  by  means  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  but, 
on  the   1st  of  INIarch,  -tOf),  they  had  recourse  to  the 
gods  of  paganism,  and  to  the  infernal  spirits  with  whom 


CHAP.   VI.  CONDUCT    OF    HONORIUS.  137 

those  gods  had  been  confounded  ;  these  they  strove  to 
propitiate  by  forbidden  sacrifices.  Honorius  ceased 
not  to  promise  succours,  which  it  was  not  in  his  power 
to  grant,  and  which,  indeed,  he  did  not  so  much  as  at- 
tempt to  collect ;  this  deluded  expectation  cost  the 
besieged  thousands  of  lives.  At  length,  the  Romans  had 
recourse  to  the  clemency  of  Alaric  ;  and,  by  means  of  a 
ransom  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  gold  and  a  great 
quantity  of  precious  effects,  the  army  was  induced  to 
retire  into  Tuscany. 

But  it  seemed  as  if  Honorius  had  determined  on  the 
destruction  of  Rome,  which  the  barbarians  consented  to 
spare  ;  new  favourites  supplanted  each  other  in  rapid 
succession  in  the  favour  of  the  monarch,  and  in  the 
possession  of  supreme  power.  A  certain  road  was  open 
to  them  ;  —  to  flatter  his  pride,  to  boast  his  resources,  to 
repel  every  idea  of  concession  to  the  enemies  of  the 
state  ;  while  Alaric,  in  the  heart  of  Italy,  reinforced  by 
forty  thousand  slaves  of  Germanic  extraction,  who  had 
fled  from  Rome,  still  more  powerfully  reinforced  by 
the  valiant  Ataulphus,  his  brother-in-law,  who  had  led  a 
fresh  army  from  the  shores  of  the  Danube,  asked  only 
a  province,  in  which  to  establish  his  nation  in  peace. 
Honorius  successively  broke  off  every  negotiation  begun 
by  his  own  orders ;  obstinately  refused  what  he  had 
already  promised,  and,  at  length,  exacted  a  solemn  oath 
from  all  the  officers  of  the  army,  who  swore  on  the 
head  of  the  emperor,  that  never,  and  under  no  circum- 
stances, would  they  lend  an  ear  to  any  treaty  with  the 
pubHc  enemy. 

Notwithstanding  the  thousand  provocations  he  re- 
ceived from  the  imbecile  and  imprudent  Honorius, 
Alaric  had  tiie  generosity  to  spare  tlie  capital  of  the 
world,  for  wliich  lie  felt  an  involuntary  reverence.  But, 
taking  possession  of  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  the 
city  of  Porto,  which  contained  the  chief  granaries,  he 
sent  word  to  the  senate,  that,  if  they  wished  to  save 
Rome  from  famine,  they  must  choose  a  new  emperor. 
The  senate  made  choice  of  Attalus,  a  pnctorian  prefect. 


138  FALL    OF    THE    KOMAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.   VI. 

who  made  peace  with  Alaric,  and  named  him  general  of 
all  the  armies  of  the  empire.  But  the  new  emperor  was 
neither  less  incapable^  nor  less  presumptuous  than  Hon- 
norius  :  he  would  not  follow  the  advice  of  Alaric  ;  he 
neglected  to  cause  himself  to  be  recognised  in  Africa : 
in  a  word,  he  committed  so  many  faults,  that,  after 
allowing  him  to  wield  the  sovereign  power  for  a  year, 
Alaric  was  compelled  to  depose  him.  He  again  offered 
peace  to  Honorius ;  was  again  repulsed  with  insult,  and 
then,  for  the  third  time,  led  back  his  army  to  the  gates 
of  Rome;  and,  on  the  24th  of  April,  410,  the  year  ll63 
from  the  foundation  of  the  august  city,  the  Salarian 
gate  was  opened  to  him  in  the  night,  and  the  capital  of 
the  world,  the  queen  of  nations,  was  abandoned  to  the 
fury  of  the  Goths. 

Yet  this  fury  was  not  without  some  tinge  of  pity  ; 
Alaric  granted  a  peculiar  protection  to  the  churches, 
which  were  preserved  from  all  insult,  together  with 
their  sacred  treasures,  and  all  those  who  had  sought 
refuge  within  their  walls. 

While  he  abandoned  the  property  of  the  Romans  to 
pillage,  he  took  their  lives  under  his  protection;  and  it 
is  affirmed,  that  only  a  single  senator  perished  by  the 
sword  of  the  barbarians.  The  number  of  plebeians  who 
were  sacrificed  appears  not  to  have  been  thought  a 
matter  of  sufficient  importance  even  to  be  mentioned. 
At  the  entrance  of  the  Goths,  a  small  part  of  the  city 
was  given  up  to  the  flames  ;  but  Alaric  soon  took  pre- 
cautions for  the  preservation  of  the  rest  of  the  edifices. 
Above  all,  he  had  the  generosity  to  withdraw  his  army 
from  Rome  on  the  sixth  day,  and  to  march  it  into 
Campania,  loaded,  however,  with  an  immense  booty. 
Eleven  centuries  later,  the  army  of  the  Constable  de 
Bourbon  showed  less  moderation. 

A  religious  veneration  for  the  city  which  had  van- 
quished the  world,  for  the  capital  of  civilisation,  seemed 
to  have  protected  Rome  against  her  most  puissant  enemy. 
Yet,  it  might  soon  have  been  imagined  that  even  this 
generous  foe  was  punished    for    daring  first  to  lay   a 


CHAP.   VI.  DEATH    OF    ALARIC.  139 

sacrilegious  hand  on  her  majesty  ;  for^  at  the  end  of  a 
few  months,  Alaric  fell  ill  and  died,  in  the  full  career  of 
victory,  and  full  of  the  projected  conquest  of  Sicily  and 
Africa.  Alaric  was  buried  in  the  bed  of  the  Bisentiura, 
a  little  river  which  flows  beneath  the  walls  of  Cozenza ; 
and  the  captives  who  had  been  employed  to  dig  his 
grave,  to  turn  the  course  of  the  river,  and  afterwards 
lead  it  into  its  former  bed,  were  all  massacred,  that 
none  might  be  able  to  reveal  the  spot  where  reposed 
the  body  of  the  conqueror  of  Rome. 

In  fact,  the  Goths,  always  wandering,  could  not 
protect  the  graves  of  their  illustrious  men.  They 
thought  with  pain  that,  at  their  death,  they  would  leave 
their  bones  entombed  in  hostile  ground,  and  that  the 
dastardly  inhabitants,  who  never  dared  to  meet  them 
face  to  face,  would  revenge  themselves  on  their  remains, 
for  the  terror  they  had  inspired.  Satisfied  with  unin- 
terrupted conquest,  and  gorged  with  spoil,  they  once 
more  demanded  a  country  and  a  home  ;  and  Ataulphus, 
brother-in-law  of  Alaric,  whom  they  raised  on  their 
shields  and  proclaimed  king,  seconded  their  wishes,  and 
renewed  those  negotiations  with  the  court  of  Ravenna, 
which  Alaric  had  been  unable  to  bring  to  a  conclusion. 
The  terror  caused  by  the  sack  of  Rome  had  at  length 
shaken  even  the  stubborn  pride  of  the  emperor  :  his 
ministers,  liberated  from  their  oath  by  the  death  of 
Alaric,  eagerly  represented  to  him  that,  in  adopting  the 
the  Gothic  king's  army  as  soldiers  of  the  republic,  he 
would  augment  his  power,  and  would  avenge  himself  of 
his  enemies  ;  that  Ataulphus  appeared  disposed  to  rid 
Gaul  of  the  barbarians,  in  consideration  of  obtaining  a 
small  part  of  the  deserts  of  that  province  ;  that  he  offered 
to  render  a  still  more  important  service  in  warring  against 
the  usurpers  who  had  dared  to  assume  the  purple  ;  —  foes 
infinitely  more  dangerous  and  more  criminal  than  the 
public  enemy,  since  they  assailed  the  majesty  of  the 
emperor  himself,  whilst  the  others  directed  their  hos- 
tilities against  the  common  and  ignoble  herd  of  subjects. 
A  treaty  was  actually  concluded,  by  which  Ataulphus  and 


140  FALL    OF    THE    R03IAN    EMPIRE.         CHAP.   VI. 

the  Visigothic  nation  engaged  to  combat  the  enemies 
of  Honorius  in  Gaul  and  Spain;  in  consideration  of 
"vvhich,  the  latter  should  cede  to  them  the  provinces  of 
Aquitanian  and  Xarbonnese  Gaul,  in  which  they  were 
to  establish  themselves,  and  to  found  a  new  Gothland, 
an  independent  people.  In  412  Ataulphus  marched  back 
his  army  and  his  nation  from  the  extremity  of  Cam- 
pania into  southern  Gaul :  the  cities  of  Narbonne, 
Toulouse,  and  Bordeaux  were  open  to  them;  and  the 
^'isigoths  at  length  hailed  with  joy  the  land  in  which 
they  were  at  length  to  find  a  resting  place  and  a  home. 
Ataulphus,  the  first  of  the  Visigoths  who  had  led  his 
countrymen  into  southern  Gaul  and  Spain,  appears  to 
have  had  another  motive  for  his  reconciliation  with  the 
Romans,  which  belongs  rather  to  romance  than  to  his- 
tory. Among  the  captives  carried  off  from  Rome^  and 
compelled  to  follow  the  camp  of  the  Visigoths^  was 
Placidia,  the  sister  of  Honorius,  who  was  very  superior 
to  either  of  her  brothers  in  talents  and  in  ambition. 
Ataulphus  fell  in  love  with  her,  and  regarded  an  alliance 
with  the  daughter  of  the  great  Theodosius,  and  the  sister 
of  the  two  reigning  emperors,  as  a  new  glory  to  himself. 
Among  the  Romans  the  reigning  family  was  not  distinct 
from  all  others,  as  among  the  Germanic  tribes;  the  title 
of  princess  was  unknown  ;  and  Placidia  had  no  other 
alternative  than  celibacy,  or  a  union  with  one  of  her 
brother's  subjects ;  yet  such  an  alHance  still  appeared 
to  a  Roman,  far  superior  to  one  with  a  barbaric  king. 
An  invincible  prejudice  had  hitherto  severed  the  Ro- 
mans from  all  other  nations ;  and  the  first  proposals  for 
this  marriage,  addressed  to  the  court  of  Honorius,  were 
regarded  as  an  insult.  Placidia  thought  otherwise;  she  be- 
held Ataulphus,  whose  noble  countenance  seemed  formed 
to  efface  the  ancient  prejudices  of  Rome.  Before  the 
Goths  quitted  Italy,  she  married  their  leader  and  sovereign 
at  Forli ;  but  the  royal  nuptials  were  celebrated  anew 
with  greater  splendour  at  Narbonne,  the  capital  of 
the  new  kingdom  won  by  Gothic  valour.  "  A  hall 
was  decorated  after  the  Roman  fashion,"  says  Olym- 


CHAP.  VI.    MARRIAGE  OF  ADOLF  AND  PLACXDL4.  141 

piodoruSj  a  contemporary  historian^  '■'  in  the  house  of 
Ingenuus,  one  of  the  first  citizens  of  the  tovni :  the 
place  of  honour  ■was  reserved  for  Placidia,  while  Ataul- 
phus.  clad  in  a  Roman  toga,  seated  himself  at  her  side  : 
fifty  beautiful  youths,  attired  in  silken  garments,  whom 
he  destined  as  a  gift  to  his  bride,  then  advanced,  each 
presenting  to  her  two  cups,  the  one  filled  with  gold,  the 
other  vnih  gems,  —  a  part  of  the  spoil  of  Rome.  At  the 
same  time  Attains,  that  Atulus  whom  Alaric  had 
created  emperor,  appeared  and  sang  the  epithalamium." 
Thus  did  the  calamities  of  the  world  furnish  tro- 
phies to  decorate  the  festivals  of  its  masters. 


142  FALL    OF    THE    ROaiAN    EMPIRE.        CIIAP.  VII. 


CHAP.  VII. 

THE  BARBARIANS  ESTABLISHED  IN  THE  EMPIRE.- — STATE  OK  BRI- 
TAIN, AND  OF  ARMORICA.  SETTLEMENTS  OF  THE  FRANKS  ON 

THE   RHINE,  THE    BURGUNDIANS   ON  THE   RHONE,  THE  VISIGOTHS 

ON    THE     LOIRE. MIXED    GOVERNMENTS  J      ROMAN    PREFECTS, 

BARBARIAN    KINGS     AND    ASSEMBLIES.  STATE    OF    SPAIN,     OF 

ITALY,  OF   PANNONIA,   AND    OF   AFRICA.    UNIVERSAL  SUFFER- 
ING.     DEATHS  OF  ARCADIUS  AND   HONORIUS.  DYNASTIES  OF 

THE  BARBARIC  KINGS.  FREQUENCY   OF  ATROCIOUS  CRIMES. 

FABULOUS    ACCOUNT    OF    FRANKIC    KINGS.  VISIGOTHS,    SUEVI, 

ALANS,    VANDALS.  CONQUEST    OF    AFRICA    BY    THE    VANDALS 

UNDER  GENSEKIC. THEIR   FEROCITY. FALL  OF  CARTHAGE. 

KINGDOM   OF  THE  HUNS.  ATTILA.  HIS  TREATY  WITH  THEO- 

DOSIUS    II.  HIS     NORTHERN     CONQUESTS.  HIS    ATTACK    ON 

THE    EMPIRE.  SUBMISSION    OF    THE   GREEKS.  EMBASSY     TO 

HIS    CAMP.  PASSAGE    OF    THE    RHINE.    — DEFEAT    OF    ATTILA 

BY  iETIUS  AT    CHALONS.  INVASION    OF    ITALY    BY   ATTILA. 

FOUNDATION  OF  VENICE. DEATH    OF    ATTILA. DISSOLUTION 

OF  HIS  EMPIRE. A.  V.  412 453. 

From  the  time  the  barbarians  had  established  them- 
selves in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  this  vast  portion  of  the 
world,  heretofore  subject  to  the  levelling  influence  of  a 
despotism  which  had  broken  down  all  distinctions  and 
all  differences,  now  presented  the  wildest  assemblage  of 
tlissimilar  manners,  opinions,  languages,  religions,  and 
governments.  Spite  of  the  habits  of  servility  which 
were  hereditary  among  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  their 
subordination  was  broken  up;  the  law  no  longer  reached 
them ;  oppression  or  protection  no  longer  emanated  from 
Rome  or  from  Constantinople.  The  supreme  power, 
in  its  impotence,  had  called  upon  them  to  govern 
themselves  ;  and  ancient  national  manners,  ancient 
local  opinions,  began  to  reappear  under  the  borrowed 
garb  of  Rome.  But  this  strange  motley  of  provincial- 
isms was  nothing  compared  to  that  introduced  by  the 
barbarians  who  had  pitched  their  camps  in  the  midst 


CHAP.   VII.  BRITAIN. AB.MORICA.  143 

of  Roman  cities,  and  whose  kings  were  constantly  in- 
termingled with  senators  and  with  bishops. 

At  one  extremity  of  the  Roman  dominions,  the  island 
of  Britain  escaped  from  the  power  which  had  civilised 
but  enervated  it.  Stilicho  had  withdrawn  the  legions 
from  it  for  the  defence  of  Italy.  The  usurper  Con- 
stantino, who  had  revolted  against  Honorius  between 
the  years  407  and  411,  and  who,  after  reducing  Britain, 
had  attempted  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  led  thither  all  the 
soldiers  who  still  remained  in  the  island.  After  he  was 
defeated,  and  his  head  sent  to  Ravenna,  Honorius  did 
not  choose  to  deprive  himself  of  any  portion  of  his 
troops  for  the  defence  of  so  remote  a  province:  he  wrote 
to  the  cities  of  Britain  as  if  they  already  formed  an 
independent  confederation,  and  exhorted  them  to  pro- 
vide for  their  own  defence.  Fourteen  of  these  cities 
were  considerable  ;  several  had  already  made  great  pro- 
gress in  arts  and  commerce,  and,  above  all,  in  that 
Roman  luxury  which  so  rapidly  tamed  and  deadened 
the  fiercest  courage.  London  was  a  large  and  flourish- 
ing town;  but,  among  its  numerous  inhabitants,  not  one 
was  found  who  dared  to  take  up  arms.  Its  municipal 
government,  established  on  the  Roman  system,  like  those 
of  York,  Canterbury,  Cambridge,  &c.,  would  have  given 
them  the  advantages  of  a  republican  administration,  if 
they  had  preserved  a  little  more  public  spirit ;  but  the 
poison  of  a  foreign  domination  had  sapped  the  vital 
energies  of  the  country.  It  was  in  the  country,  and  not 
in  the  towns,  that  we  must  look  for  the  first  symptoms 
of  the  revival  of  a  national  feeling.  The  Celtic  lan- 
guage, which  was  almost  extinct  in  Gaul,  had  been 
preserved  in  Britain,  —  a  proof  that  the  rural  popuhition 
was  not  utterly  crushed.  It  seems  tliat  the  ricli  pro- 
prietors, the  British  senators,  were  aware  that  their 
security  and  their  power  depended  wholly  on  their  union 
with  the  people  ;  it  is  probable  that  they  lived  in  the 
midst  of  their  peasantry,  and  learned  their  language : 
at  all  events,  we  find  them  reappearing  under  British, 
and  not  under  Roman  names,  in  that  struggle  which 


144  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EJIPIRE.      CHAP.  VII. 

they  were  soon  called  upon  to  sustain  with  the  Picts 
and  ScotSj  and,  at  a  later  period,  with  the  Saxons. 

The  condition  of  Armorica,  or  Little  Britain,  was 
nearly  similar,  both  in  the  nature  of  its  population, 
which  had  likewise  preserved  the  Celtic  language  and 
manners,  and  in  its  remoteness  from  the  centre  of  the 
empire.  The  Armorican  cities  also  formed  a  league 
which  raised  a  sort  of  militia  for  their  own  defence, 
and  inspired  some  respect  up  to  the  time  of  the  Frankic 
invasion.  The  vigour  of  the  fierce  Osismians,  who  in- 
habited the  farther  coast  of  Britany  ;  their  courage, 
their  agility,  thefr  attachment  to  their  hereditary  chief- 
tains, recalled  to  the  rest  of  the  Gauls  what  their  fathers 
had  been.  They  resembled  those  mountaineers  of  Scot- 
land whom  a  great  poet  has  so  admirably  depicted,  such 
as  they  remained  scarcely  more  than  half  a  century  ago. 

In  spite  of  the  prohibitory  laws  of  Augustus  and 
Claudius,  many  of  them  adhered  to  the  primitive  worship 
of  the  gods  of  the  Druids ;  those  atrocious  divinities, 
whose  altars  were  buried  in  the  depths  of  forests,  and 
stained  with  human  blood.  Others  had  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, and,  during  four  centuries,  they  furnished  a 
great  number  of  saints  to  the  church  of  Rome.  So 
long  as  the  British  heroes,  such  as  Hoel,  Allan,  Ju- 
dicael  (to  whom  several  churches  were  dedicated),  re- 
tained the  vigour  of  youth  or  manhood,  they  knew  no 
other  passion  than  that  for  war  ;  they  poured  down  by 
night  on  the  nearest  Roman  or  Gaulish  villages,  which 
they  pillaged  and  burned :  but,  when  their  ferocity  was 
tamed  by  age  and  began  to  give  place  to  the  terrors  of 
a  future  judgment,  they  shut  themselves  up  in  convents 
and  lived  a  life  of  the  severest  penance. 

The  Franks  had  begun  to  cross  over  from  the  right 
to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  had  made  some  set- 
tlements in  Belgium;  but,  faithful  to  their  alliance  with 
the  empire,  which  had  made  the  greatest  exertions  and 
sacrifices  to  preserve  their  friendship,  they  every  where 
appeared  in  the  character  of  soldiers  of  the  emperors ; 
their  numerous  petty  sovereigns  solicited  imperial  dig- 


CHAP.  VII.  VISIGOTHS. BURGUNDIANS.  145 

nities  ;  their  highest  ambition  was  to  rise  at  the  court 
of  the  sons  of  Theodosius;  and  they  had  learned  how  to 
combine  the  arts  of  intrigue  with  valour.  If  they  op- 
pressed and  despoiled  the  peasantry  upon  whom  they 
were  quartered  ;  if,  in  a  sudden  burst  of  fury,  or  in  a 
fit  of  rapacity,  they  fell  upon  large  cities;  if  even  Treves, 
the  capital  of  all  the  Gauls,  and  Cologne,  the  chief  town 
of  Lower  Germany,  were  on  several  occasions  pillaged 
by  them,  the  emperors  and  their  prefects  were  too 
sensible  of  the  importance  of  their  Frankic  allies  to 
cherish  long  resentment,  and  peace  was  soon  concluded 
at  the  expense  of  the  defenceless  sufferers. 

The  Burgundians  in  eastern  Gaul,  the  Visigoths  in 
southern,  also  called  themselves  the  soldiers  of  the  em- 
perors. Their  condition  was,  however,  very  different 
from  that  of  the  P'ranks  ;  the  entire  nation  had  trans- 
migrated into  a  new  abode,  without  acknowledging  any 
fixed  limits  :  it  had  extended  its  dominion  wherever  it 
could  make  its  power  feared.  The  king  of  the  Bur- 
gundians sometimes  held  his  court  at  Vienne,  on  the 
Rhone,  sometimes  at  Lyons  or  Geneva  ;  the  kings  of 
the  Visigoths  at  Narbonne,  at  Bordeaux,  or  oftener  at 
Toulouse  :  the  city  was  subject  to  them,  yet  Roman 
magistrates  still  continued  to  regulate  the  police,  and  to 
administer  justice  according  to  Roman  laws,  and  in 
favour  of  Roman  subjects.  The  Visigoths  and  the  Bur- 
gundians had  appropriated  lands  either  waste,  or  taken 
from  the  original  proprietors  witliout  many  formalities  ; 
these  were  abandoned  to  their  flocks  and  herds,  or  oc- 
casionally cultivated  by  their  slaves  ;  but  negligently 
and  without  any  outlay  which  must  await  a  tardy  re- 
turn. They  chose  to  be  ready  to  quit  the  fields  they 
had  sown,  the  next  year,  if  needful.  The  two  nations 
had  not  yet  taken  root  in  the  soil.  The  Visigoths  some- 
times passed  over  from  Aquitaine  into  Spain ;  the  Bur- 
gundians from  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  to  those  of  the 
Moselle.  The  habits  of  a  wandering  life,  confirmed  by 
half  a  century,  could  not  be  broken  through  at  once  : 
all  the  Visigoths  were  Christians,'  but  of  the  Arian  sect, 

VOL.  I.  L 


146        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  KMPIRE.   CHAP.  Vir. 

as  were  also  the  Burgundians.  The  bishops  hated  heresy 
far  more  tlian  paganism,  and  they  sedulously  nourished 
in  their  flocks  an  aversion  which  the  violence  of  these 
arrogant  guests  was  sufficient  to  excite,  and  which  some- 
times burst  forth  in  formidable  commotions.  Never- 
theless, the  priests  understood  too  well  where  the  power 
of  the  sword  lay,  to  dispute  the  authority  of  these  bar- 
baric kings  as  they  had  lately  disputed  that  of  the 
emperors.  At  Toulouse  and  at  Vienne,  they  paid  their 
court  conjointly  with  the  senators  ;  the  prelates,  in  all 
the  pomp  of  their  ecclesiastical  ornaments,  and  the  se- 
nators, still  wearing  the  once  awe-inspiring  toga,  mingled 
with  the  rude  warriors  whom  they  hated  and  despised, 
but  whose  favour  they  sought  and  gained  by  dexterous 
flattery. 

The  same  form  of  civil  administration  still  subsisted. 
A  praetorian  prefect  still  resided  at  Treves;  a  vicar  of 
the  seventeen  Gallic  provinces  at  Aries :  each  of  these 
provinces  had  its  Roman  duke  ;  each  of  the  hundred  and 
fifteen  cities  of  Gaul  had  its  count ;  each  city  its  curia,  or 
municipality.  But,  collaterally  with  this  Roman  organis- 
ation, the  barbarians,  assembled  in  their  malliim,  of  which 
their  kings  were  presidents,  decided  on  peace  and  war, 
made  laws,  or  administered  justice.  Each  division  of  the 
army  had  its  Graf  Jarl,  or  Count ;  each  subdivision  its 
centenary,  or  hundred-man  ;  and  all  these  fractions  of  the 
free  population  had  the  same  right  of  deciding  by  suffi-age 
in  their  own  mallums,  or  peculiar  couit>,  all  their  com- 
mon affairs.  In  cases  of  opposition  between  the  bar- 
barian and  the  Roman  jurisdiction,  the  overbearing  ar- 
rogance of  the  one,  and  the  abject  baseness  of  the  other, 
soon  decided  the  question  of  supremacy. 

In  some  provinces  the  two  powers  were  not  concur- 
rent :  there  were  no  barbarians  between  the  Loire  and  the 
Meuse,  nor  between  the  Alps  and  the  Rhone  ;  but  the 
feebleness  of  the  Roman  government  was  only  the  more 
conspicuous.  A  few  great  proprietors  cultivated  a  part 
of  the  province  with  the  aid  of  slaves  ;  the  rest  was 
desert,  or  only  inhabited  by  Bagauda?,  runaway  slaves. 


CHAP.  VII.         VISIGOTHS. BURGUNDIANS.  147 

who  lived  by  robbery.  Some  towns  still  maintained  a 
show  of  opulence,  but  not  one  gave  the  slightest  sign  of 
strength  ;  not  one  enrolled  its  militia,  nor  repaired  its 
fortifications.  Tours,  renowned  for  the  tomb  of  St. 
Martin,  and  the  miracles  attributed  to  it,  appeared  to 
be  a  capital  of  priests  :  nothing  was  to  be  seen  within 
its  walls  but  processions,  churches,  chapels,  and  books 
of  devotion  exposed  for  sale.  Treves  and  Aries  had  not 
lost  their  ancient  passion  for  the  games  of  the  circus, 
and  the  crowd  could  not  tear  themselves  from  the  theatre 
when  the  barbarians  were  at  their  gates.  Other  towns, 
and  still  more  the  villages,  remained  faithful  to  their 
ancient  gods ;  and,  spite  of  the  edicts  of  successive  em- 
perors, many  temples  were  still  consecrated  to  paganism  ; 
many  continued  so,  even  to  the  end  of  the  following 
century.  Honorius  wished  to  confer  on  the  cities  of 
southern  Gaul  a  diet,  at  which  they  might  have  de- 
liberated on  public  affairs  :  he  did  not  even  find  public 
spirit  enough  to  accept  the  offered  privilege.  It  is  true 
that  they  suspected,  and,  probably,  not  without  reason, 
that  his  edict  concealed  some  projects  of  financial  ex- 
tortion. 

The  description  we  have  given  of  the  state  of  Gaul 
applies  equally  to  that  of  Spain,  where  the  kings  of  the 
Suevi,  the  Vandals,  the  Alans,  the  Silingi,  were  en- 
camped with  their  troops  and  their  followers  in  the 
midst  of  Roman  subjects,  who  had  long  ceased  to  offer 
resistance,  yet  whose  abject  submission  had  not  earned 
for  them  the  peace  of  slaves.  A  great  jiortion  of  Spain 
was  still  Roman  ;  but  the  districts  which  the  barbarians 
had  not  yet  entered  had  no  communication  with  each 
other,  i-.or  with  the  seat  of  government :  they  could 
hope  for  no  protection  from  any  neighbouring  aggression. 
Besides,  if  the  barbarians  occasionally  plundered  them 
with  rapacity,  or  even,  at  their  first  coming,  butchered 
the  inhabitants  most  exposed  to  their  fury,  they  after- 
wards protected  the  remaining  population  against  the 
extortions  of  tax-gatherers;  and  the  demands  of  the  state 
were  so  excessive,  that  the  people  often  preferred  the 
L  2 


148         FALL  OF  THE  KOMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

sword  of  the  Vandal  to  the  staff  of  the  lictor.  Even 
Italy^  which  was^,  perhaps,  more  uncultivated  than  any 
of  the  distant  provinces, —  Italy,  whose  richest  plains 
were  disfigured  by  wild  forests,  or  unwholesome  marshes^ 
— was  not  exempt  from  the  barbarian  yoke.  Although  no 
longer  occupied  by  a  conqueror,  she  found  hard  masters 
in  the  confederates,  or  auxiliary  troops  of  Germans  and 
Scythians,  of  which  the  armies  were  almost  entirely 
composed.  Their  tyranny,  which  was  that  of  the  sword, 
did  not,  however,  preserve  the  inhabitants  from  the 
more  oppressive  power  of  the  Roman  magistrates.  Pan- 
nonia  and  the  banks  of  the  Danube  were  no  sooner 
evacuated  by  the  Goths,  than  they  were  occupied  by 
other  nations  of  barbarians.  The  Moors  and  the  Gaetuli, 
and  still  more  the  fanatical  Donatists  and  Circoncellians, 
kept  Africa  in  a  continued  state  of  alarm.  In  short, 
there  was  not  a  single  province  of  the  Western  empire 
in  which  a  uniform  government  was  maintained,  or  in 
which,  under  a  common  protection,  man  could  live  se- 
curely among  his  fellow-men. 

The  influence  of  the  early  events  of  the  reign  of  Ar- 
cadius  and  Honorius  was  universal,  and  their  conse- 
quences may,  in  some  respects,  be  perceived  to  this 
day.  Very  different  was  the  close  of  the  reign  of  these 
indolent,  vain,  and  cowardly  princes.  "We  should 
gain  but  little  instruction  from  any  attempt  to  under- 
stand the  base  intrigues  of  their  palace ;  and,  with  re- 
gard to  the  competitors  for  the  empire,  who  arose 
successively  in  Britain,  in  Gaul,  in  Spain,  and  at  Rome, 
it  would  be  useless  to  record  their  names.  But  it  is 
remarkable  that,  in  five  years,  seven  pretenders  to  the 
throne,  all  very  superior  to  Honorius  in  courage,  talents, 
and  virtues,  were  in  turn  sent  captive  to  Ravenna, 
or  punished  with  death ;  that  the  people  constantly 
applauded  the  sentence  passed  upon  them,  and  main- 
tained their  allegiance  to  the  legitimate  authority.  So 
much  progress  had  already  been  made  by  the  doctrine 
of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  which  the  bishops  had 
begun  to  preach  under  Theodosius ;   and  so  fully  do- 


CLOSE  OF  THE  REIGNS  OF  ARCADIUS  AND  HONORIUS.   149 

termined  did  the  Roman  world  appear,  to  perish  with 
an  imbecile  monarchy  rather  than  choose  for  themselves 
a  deliverer. 

Arcadius,  who  was  governed  alternately  by  his  mi- 
nisters, his  eunuchs,  and  his  wife,  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-one,  on  the  1st  of  May,  408,  and  left,  at  the  head 
of  the  empire  of  the  East,  his  son,  Theodosius  II.,  who 
was  yet  a  child,  with  a  council  of  women  to  direct  him. 
The  life  of  Honorius  was  of  longer  duration ;  he  lived 
till  the  15th  of  August,  423;  but  he  also  left  his  empire 
to  a  child,  Valentinian  III.,  who  was  his  nephew.  This 
young  prince  was  under  the  guidance  of  his  mother  : 
she  was  the  same  Placidia,  the  sister  to  Honorius  and 
Arcadius,  who  had  married  Adolf,  king  of  the  Visi- 
goths. Her  second  husband  was  Constantius,  one  of 
the  best  generals  of  the  Western  empire,  who  obtained 
the  title  of  Caesar.  He  was  the  father  of  Valentinian  III., 
and  died  before  Honorius. 

Never  could  the  helm  of  the  state  have  passed  into 
the  feeble  hands  of  women  and  of  children  under  more 
unfavourable  circumstances.  The  great  revolution  which 
was  slowly  taking  place  throughout  the  West,  was 
hastened  by  the  minority  of  the  two  emperors ;  yet  the 
government  of  Placidia,  though  weak,  was  honourable : 
she  had  the  talent  of  selecting  and  attracting  to  her 
court  some  great  men,  though  she  had  not  the  power  to 
restrain  their  passions,  nor  to  make  them  act  consistently 
for  the  public  good.  After  her  death,  the  world  learned 
to  estimate  her  loss  by  the  vice  and  coAvardice  of  her 
son.  (a.d.  450 — 455.) 

As  we  shall  not  bestow  on  these  weak  emperors  the 
attention  which  it  would  require  to  become  acquainted 
with  aU  the  scandalous  details  of  their  reigns,  neither 
shall  we  attach  to  the  barbarian  kings  of  the  same 
period  a  degree  of  importance  of  which  they  are  equally 
unworthy.  These  kings,  powerful  as  long  as  war  lasted, 
while  their  whole  nation  was  in  action  and  relied  impli- 
citly upon  the  prudence  of  the  leader  of  their  choice, 
ceased  to  be  persons  of  importance  as  soon  as  peace  was 
L  3 


150         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

concluded.  From  that  moment  every  German  deter- 
mined to  be  his  own  defender,  his  own  avenger^  and  to 
decide  alone,  and  without  advice,  on  whatever  he  judged 
advantageous ;  he  was  little  influenced  in  his  determin- 
ations by  public  authority,  and  less  still  by  that  of  kings; 
for  the  little  which  was  done  for  the  common  weal  was 
done  by  the  assembly  of  the  people.  Thus  the  kings  are 
only  conspicuous  by  their  private  conduct,  or  rather,  by 
their  crimes  and  vices  ;  for  their  virtues  could  only  have 
been  displayed  in  the  administration  of  government,  and  in 
this  they  had  no  part.  To  the  pride  of  riches  they  added 
the  consciousness  of  b^ing  above  the  law  ;  while  the 
encouragements  of  the  flatterers  who  surrounded  them, 
especially  of  their  Roman  subjects,  who  excelled  the  bar- 
barians in  the  arts  of  intrigue,  carried  to  an  unheard-of 
pitch  the  corruption  of  these  chiefs  of  the  people.  It 
would  be  diffieult  to  find,  in  any  class  of  men,  even 
among  those  whom  public  justice  has  consigned  to  the 
hulks  and  the  galleys,  so  many  examples  of  atrocious 
crimes,  assassinations,  poisonings,  and,  above  all,  fratri- 
cides, as  these  royal  families  afforded  during  the  fifth, 
sixth,  and  seventh  centuries.  It  would  be  unjust  to 
the  nations  they  governed  to  judge  of  them  by  the 
example  of  their  chiefs,  who  alone  occupy  a  conspicuous 
station  in  history.  It  is  not  the  fact,  that  all  feel- 
ings of  respect  for  virtue,  love  of  kindred,  compassion 
for  inferiors, — in  a  word,  that  justice  and  human- 
ity were  generally  extinct  among  the  barbarians,  not- 
withstanding all  the  horrors  we  find  in  their  annals, 
and  of  which  we  have  suggested  but  a  small  part.  But 
these  nations  were  accustomed  to  consider  their  kings 
as  a  race  apart,  distinguished  from  themselves  by  their 
long  hair ;  a  race  not  subject  to  the  same  laws,  nor 
moved  by  the  same  feehngs,  nor  protected  by  the  same 
securities.  These  kings,  keeping  themselves  aloof  from 
all  other  men,  were  singular  in  having  family  names, 
and  in  intermarrying  only  with  each  other ;  and  we  owe 
to  them  the  introduction  of  that  system  of  relationship 


CHAP.  VII.  VISIGOTHS. SUEVI.  151 

between  crowned  heads  which  was  before  unknown  in 
the  world. 

We  have  no  authentic  account  of  the  kings  of  the 
Franks  during  the  greater  part  of  the  fifth  century. 
The  reigns  of  Pharamond,  Clodion,  Merovaeus,  and  even 
Childeric  (a.d.420 — 486),  which  are  found  registered  in 
the  histories  of  France,  have  scarcely  any  foundation  in 
truth.  The  chronicle  which  contains  their  names  says, 
that  they  reigned  over  the  Franks  ;  but,  if  the  fact  is 
true,  it  is  still  uncertain  whether  they  governed  the 
whole  of  the  nation  ;  the  country  where  tliey  resided  is 
unknown ;  and,  in  short,  no  authentic  history  of  their 
race  can  be  traced  earlier  than  the  reign  of  Clovis. 
Neither  do  we  know  any  thing  of  Gondecar,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  king  of  the  Burgundians  from 
406  to  463  :  the  crimes  of  his  four  sons,  three  of  whom 
perished  in  the  most  horrible  manner  by  fratricide,  will 
be  noticed  hereafter. 

The  succession  of  the  Visigothic  kings  is  better  known. 
More  civilised  than  any  other  of  the  Germanic  tribes, 
the  Visigoths  permitted  a  greater  stability  of  the  royal 
authority,  and  formed  a  united  body,  even  in  time  of 
peace.      They  had  also  some  historians. 

Adolf,  who  had  led  the  Visigoths  into  Aquitaine 
and  into  Spain,  who  liad  contracted  an  alliance  with 
the  Romans  and  had  married  I'lacidia,  was  assassinated 
at  Barcelona,  in  the  month  of  August,  415,  by  one  of 
his  own  domestics.  His  successor  Siegeric  put  to  death 
six  children  of  Adolf  by  a  former  wife,  reduced  Pla- 
cidia  to  the  wretched  state  of  a  captive,  and  made  her 
walk  before  his  horse  twelve  miles  through  mhy  ways, 
with  the  rest  of  the  Roman  women.  He  was  killed 
in  his  turn,  after  a  few  days.  Wallia,  his  successor, 
made  a  new  alliance  with  the  Romans,  restored  I'la- 
cidia  to  her  brother,  and  declared  war  upon  the  other 
barbarians  who  had  invaded  Spain.  He  conquered 
them  in  a  succession  of  engagements,  exterminated  the 
Silingi,  and  compelled  the  Suevi,  the  Alans,  and  the 
Vandals  to  retreat  into  the  mountains  of  Gallicia  ;  he 
L  4 


152         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  Vfl. 

then  restored  the  rest  of  Spain  to  the  empire,  and 
finally  settled  himself  in  peace  at  Toulouse,  in  Aqui- 
taine,  where  he  died,  towards  the  end  of  the  year 
418.  Dietrich,  or,  according  to  the  Roman  corrup- 
tion, Theodoric,  the  son  of  the  great  Alaric,  was 
elected  in  the  room  of  Wallia,  by  the  free  choice  of  his 
soldiers.  During  a  reign  of  thirty-three  years  he  es- 
tablished the  dominion  of  the  Visigoths  in  the  south  of 
Gaul  and  in  Spain.  He  was  killed  in  451,  in  the  battle 
of  the  plains  of  Champagne,  where  Attila  was  de- 
feated. His  eldest  son,  Thorismund,  who  succeeded 
him,  was  assassinated  two  years  after  by  his  brother, 
Theodoric  II.,  who  ascended  the  throne;  and  he  also, 
after  a  reign  of  thirteen  years  (a.  d.  453 — 466),  was 
murdered  by  another  brother  named  Euric,  who  reigned 
from  466  to  484.  In  these  times,  fratricide  was  so 
common  a  crime  among  those  of  royal  blood,  that, 
although  stained  with  it,  Theodoric  II.  and  Euric  are 
justly  considered  as  the  two  best  and  greatest  kings  who 
mounted  the  throne  of  the  Visigoths. 

The  history  of  the  Suevi  in  Gallicia  and  part  of 
Lusitania,  is  little  known  ;  but,  at  the  same  period, 
we  discover  in  it  sons  revolting  against  fathers,  and 
brothers  assassinating  brothers.  The  Suevi  kept  their 
ground  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  Spain,  before 
they  embraced  the  Christian  religion  and  became  Arians. 
Being  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  Visigoths,  their 
history  contains  merely  an  account  of  the  wars  which 
they  had  to  maintain  against  these  neighbours  :  they 
were  long  and  bloody  ;  l64  years  were  passed  in  fight- 
ing, before  they  could  be  brought  to  yield.  In  573, 
Leovigild,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  united  them  to  the 
monarchy  of  Spain. 

In  the  same  province,  the  Alans  had  been  almost 
destroyed  by  Wallia,  in  418.  The  fate  of  the  Vandals 
was  more  remarkable  :  it  had  a  more  durable  influence 
upon  civilisation,  and  a  closer  connection  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  Roman  empire.  Like  the  Suevi  and  Alans 
they  had  been  conquered  by  ^Vallia,  and  driven  among 


CHAP.  VII.  THE    VANDALS. GENSERIC.  153 

the  mountains  of  Gallicia;  but  when  Spain  was  restored 
to  the  officers  of  Honorius,  and  afterwards  to  those  of 
Valentinian  III.,  the  Vandals,  led  by  their  king,  Gon- 
deric,  again  spread  themselves  in  Bretica,  took  Seville 
and  Carthagena,  and  added  to  the  command  which  they 
had  obtained  of  the  plains,  the  possession  of  a  fleet 
which  they  found  in  the  latter  city.  About  this  time 
Gonderic  died,  and  Genseric,  his  illegitimate  brother, 
succeeded  him.  He  was  small  in  stature,  lame  in  con- 
sequence of  an  accident,  and  austere  in  his  manners  and 
habits,  disdaining  the  luxuries  of  the  people  he  con- 
quered. He  spoke  slowly  and  cautiously,  inspiring 
reserve  when  he  was  silent,  and  terror  when  he  gave 
way  to  the  transports  of  anger.  His  ambition  was 
without  bounds,  and  without  scruple :  his  policy,  not 
less  refined  than  that  of  the  civilised  people  Avhom  he 
opposed,  prompted  him  to  employ  every  kind  of  stra- 
tagem :  he  knew  how  to  captivate  the  passions  of  men, 
while  he  embraced  the  whole  world  in  the  extent  of  his 
projects.  He  had  not  long  been  master  of  Carthagena^ 
when  the  count  Boniface,  general  of  the  Romans  in 
Africa,  sent  him  an  invitation  to  cross  over  to  that 
country. 

Placidia,  who  governed  the  court,  and  what  remained 
of  the  empire,  in  the  name  of  her  son  Valentinian  III., 
had  chosen  two  men  to  direct  her  councils  and  her 
armies  who  Avere  undoubtedly  possessed  of  great  ta- 
lents, high  character,  and  as  much  virtue  as  it  was 
possible  to  preserve  under  such  a  government.  One  of 
these  —  the  patrician  iEtius,  son  of  a  Scythian  who 
had  died  in  the  service  of  the  empire  —  was  brought 
up  as  a  hostage  at  the  court  of  Alaric  :  he  governed 
Italy  and  Roman  (Jaul  more  by  his  influence  over  the 
barbarians  than  by  his  authority  as  a  Roman  magis- 
trate. The  other,  count  Boniiace,  who  Avas  the  friend 
of  St.  Augustin,  and  reckoned  among  the  protectors  of 
the  church,  governed  Africa.  iEtius  was  jealous  of  his 
colleague,  and  resolved  to  destroy  him  by  driving  him 
to  acts  of  rebellion.     With  the  blackest  perfidy  he  en- 


154!  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

gaged  Placitlia  to  recall  Boniface^  and  at  the  same  time 
entreated  Boniface  not  to  return^  but  to  fly  to  arras  if 
he  would  preserve  his  head.  Boniface  imagined  he  had 
no  resource  but  in  appealing  to  the  enemies  of  his 
country.  His  crime,  which  in  its  nature  was  inexcus- 
able, appears  to  us  still  more  so  from  the  extent  of  its 
consequences. 

By  thus  opening  Africa  to  the  Vandals,  he  not  only 
hastened  the  fall  of  the  empire,  but  he  annihilated  the 
resources  of  an  immense  country,  which,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  first  invasion,  has  been  lost  to  Chris- 
tendom and  to  civilisation  ;  preserving  to  this  day  the 
name  of  Barbary,  with  a  government  worthy  of  the 
name.  The  repentance  of  Boniface,  however,  the  fa- 
vour of  the  church,  and  the  friendship  of  St.  Au- 
gustin,  have  transmitted  his  name  to  posterity  without 
that  %veight  of  infamy  which  would  have  attached  to 
it,  if  the  rights  of  country  had  been  understood  in  his 
day. 

Genseric  landed  upon  the  shores  of  Africa  in  the 
month  of  May,  429,  with  about  50,000  men,  col- 
lected not  only  among  the  Vandals,  but  from  all  the 
other  Germanic  adventurers  who  were  willing  to  follow 
his  standard.  He  invited  the  Moors,  who,  at  the  de- 
cline of  the  empire,  had  recovered  some  portion  of 
their  independence  and  boldness,  and  seized  with  joy  an 
opportunity  for  pillage  and  revenge.  He  also  ranged 
under  his  colours  the  Donatists  and  Circoncellions,  who 
had  been  driven  by  persecution  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
fanaticism ;  and  who,  reckoning  among  them  three  hun- 
dred bishops,  and  several  thousands  of  priests,  were  able  to 
carry  with  them  a  large  part  of  the  population.  With 
these  formidable  auxiliaries  Genseric  advanced  into  Africa, 
less  as  a  conqueror  wishing  to  subdue  a  rich  kingdom, 
than  as  a  ravager  bent  on  destruction.  Furious  in  his 
hostility  to  an  effeminacy  which  he  despised,  to  riches 
which  might  be  employed  against  him,  to  a  population 
which,  though  subjugated,  might  keep  him  in  dread  of 
revolt,   he  resolved  to    lay  waste    the    whole    country. 


CHAP.  VII.  CONQUEST    OF    AFRICA.  155 

His  excesses  have,  doubtless,  been  exaggerated  by  the 
hatred  and  terror  of  the  Africans  ;  but  the  total  ruin  of 
Africa,  and  the  annihilation,  as  it  may  almost  be 
called,  of  the  population  of  so  vast  a  country,  are 
facts  of  which  succeeding  events  leave  not  the  smallest 
doubt. 

Boniface  having  discovered  the  perfidy  of  ^tius,  and 
terrified  at  the  crime  he  had  himself  been  led  to  com- 
mit, made  vain  efforts  to  remedy  the  frightful , evils  he 
had  occasioned ;  but  it  was  too  late.  After  being 
beaten  by  Genseric  in  a  great  battle,  he  concentrated 
the  Roman  forces  in  the  three  cities  of  Carthage, 
Hippo,  and  Artha  ;  the  rest  of  Africa  became  a  prey  to 
the  Vandals.  Boniface  himself  withdrew  into  Hippo, 
and  joined  his  friend,  St.  Augustin,  who  died  during 
the  siege  of  that  town,  the  28th  of  August,  430.  Some 
'reinforcements  which  Boniface  received  from  Italy  and 
the  East  at  the  same  time,  enabled  him  once  more  to 
take  the  field.  He  marched  against  Genseric  ;  but  he 
was  conquered,  and  obliged  to  evacuate  Hippo.  He 
then  retired  into  Italy,  where  he  soon  after  died  of  the 
consequences  of  a  wound  whicli  he  had  received  in  an 
engagement  with  -fl^tius. 

Between  the  taking  of  Hippo  and  the  final  reduction 
of  Africa,  eight  years  elapsed,  during  which  Genseric 
seemed  more  occupied  in  shedding  the  blood  of  his 
relations  than  that  of  his  enemies.  The  race  of 
Vandal  kings  could  not  escape  the  common  fate  of  bar- 
baric monarchs.  Gonderic,  the  brother  of  Genseric, 
had  left  a  wife  and  children  whose  right  to  the  throne 
was  superior  to  his  own.  He  beheaded  the  sons  and 
cast  their  mother  into  a  river  of  Africa.  But  it  was 
not  without  a  struggle  of  some  duration  that  he  ruined 
or  destroyed  all  their  adherents.  Placidia  believed  him 
to  be  constantly  occupied  in  parrying  or  avoiding  the 
poignard  of  tlic  assassin  ;  she  depeiuled  upon  a  treaty 
she  had  made  with  liiin  ;  while  (ienseric  was,  in  fact, 
preparing  his  forces  to  surprise  Carthage.  This  great 
city,  the  Rome  of  the  African  world  (as  a  contemporary 


156        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

calls  it),  opened  its  gates  to  the  Vandals  on  the  9th  of 
October,  439.  The  cruelty  which  had  stained  the  tri- 
umph of  Genseric  in  the  six  provinces  of  Africa,  was 
not  less  conspicuous  in  the  capture  of  the  capital.  After 
a  sea  of  blood  had  been  shed,  every  kind  of  property 
was  pillaged  ;  even  the  houses  and  estates  near  the 
city  were  divided  among  the  conquerors ;  and  Genseric 
made  it  an  unpardonable  crime  for  a  Carthaginian  or 
Roman  to  preserve  any  part  of  his  possessions. 

The  loss  of  Africa  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  greatest 
calamities  which  could  have  overtaken  the  Western 
empire :  it  was  the  only  province  the  defence  of  which 
had  hitherto  been  attended  with  no  difficulty  ;  the  only 
one  which  supplied  money,  arms,  and  soldiers,  without 
requiring  any  in  return.  Africa  was  also  the  granary 
of  Rome  and  of  Italy.  The  gratuitous  distribution  of 
corn  among  the  people  of  Rome,  of  Milan,  and  of  Ra- 
venna, had  put  an  end  to  the  cultivation  of  land 
throughout  the  peninsula.  It  was  impossible  for  the 
cost  of  production  to  be  paid  in  Italy,  while  govern- 
ment levied  the  taxes  in  kind  from  the  plains  of  Africa, 
and  thus  obtained  sufficient  for  the  support  of  the  Ro- 
man people.  The  cessation  of  this  annual  tribute, 
instead  of  reviving  agriculture,  caused  a  dreadful  fa- 
mine, and  a  farther  diminution  of  the  population.  The 
part  which  iEtius  had  borne  in  the  ruin  of  Africa,  by 
the  shameful  treachery  which  had  been  brought  to  light, 
must  have  rendered  him  an  object  of  aversion  to  Placi- 
dia.  But  a  danger  now  threatened  the  empire  far 
more  alarming  than  any  it  had  known  before ;  one 
which  involved  the  whole  population ;  the  existence  of 
all  the  cities ;  the  property  and  the  Ufe  of  every  indivi- 
dual ;  and  it  was  impossible  to  part  with  the  only 
general  who  was  capable  of  inspiring  the  troops  with 
confidence,  or  of  uniting  into  one  body  the  forces  of  the 
Romans  and  of  the  barbarians  :  —  Attila  was  at  hand. 

Attila,  the  Scourge  of  God,  —  such  was  the  name  in 
which  he  delighted, — was  the  son  of  Mundzuk,  and 
the  nephew  of  Rugilas,   whom   he   succeeded  on  the 


CHAP.  VII.  ATTILA.  157 

throne  of  the  Huns,  in  433.  That  inundation  of 
Tartar  hordes  which  had  driven  before  it  the  Alans, 
the  Goths,  and  perhaps  all  the  Germanic  nations  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  empire,  had  made  a  volun- 
tary halt.  Having  arrived  at  Dacia  (the  modern 
Hungary),  the  Huns  had  been  enjoying  the  riches  of  the 
country  which  they  had  wrested  from  the  Goths  and 
their  immediate  neighbours.  At  the  time  when  they 
stayed  their  conquests,  they  had  ranged  themselves 
under  different  chiefs,  who  all  bore  the  title  of  king, 
and  who  acted  in  a  manner  wholly  independent  of  each 
other.  Rugilas  himself  had  several  brothers,  who  had, 
by  turns,  made  war  upon  the  Greeks,  the  Sarmatians, 
and  the  Germans,  their  neighbours.  Attila  also  had  a 
brother  named  Bleda,  who  shared  the  throne  with  him  ; 
but  he  proved,  by  becoming  his  assassin,  that  the  man- 
ners of  the  Scythians  resembled  those  of  the  Germans. 
He  now  stood  alone  at  the  head  of  that  puissant  nation 
of  shepherds,  which  would  neither  enjoy  nor  endure 
the  possession  of  civihsation  or  of  fixed  abode ;  and  he 
began  to  make  the  world  tremble  anew. 

Attila  took  advantage  of  the  terror  with  which  his 
uncle  Rugilas  had  inspired  the  Greeks,  to  impose  upon 
Theodosius  II.,  at  Margus,  the  most  shameful  treaty 
that  ever  monarch  signed.  All  those  among  the  unfor- 
tunate subjects  of  Attila,  or  of  the  kings  he  had  con- 
quered, who  had  sought  an  asylum  on  the  soil  of  the 
empire,  were  delivered  up  by  the  Greek  ambassador  to 
their  furious  master,  and  were  crucified  before  his  eyes. 
In  like  manner  all  the  Romans  who  had  escaped  from 
his  bondage,  were  restored  to  him,  unless  they  could 
ransom  themselves  by  paying  twelve  pieces  of  gold. 
The  empire  of  Constantinople  engaged  to  pay  an  an- 
nual tribute  of  700  pounds  of  gold  to  the  empire  of 
Scythia  :  on  these  conditions  Attila  allowed  Theodosius 
still  to  reign,  while  he  employed  himself  in  the  con- 
quest of  the  North. 

Tliis  conquest  was  the  most  extensive  that  had  ever 
been  accompUshed  by  armies  in  the  course  of  one  reign. 


158        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

Attila  brought  into  subjection  the  whole  of  Scythia 
and  Germania.  His  authority  appears  to  have  been 
acknowledged  from  the  confines  of  China  to  the  At- 
lantic. We  are  ignorant,  however,  of  the  particulars  of 
his  warlike  expeditions,  as  well  as  of  the  victories  ob- 
tained by  his  lieutenants.  When  he  ascended  the  throne 
he  was  already  past  the  prime  of  life,  and  was  distin- 
guished from  his  fellow-countrymen  much  more  by  his 
political  sagacity  than  by  his  personal  valour  or  activity. 
Among  the  Tartar  portion  of  his  subjects  he  had  ex- 
cited a  high  degree  of  superstitious  enthusiasm,  by  pre- 
tending that  he  had  found  the  sword  of  the  God  of 
War  ;  this  became  his  symbol,  and,  being  fixed  on  the 
summit  of  an  immense  pile  of  wood,  received  divine 
honours  from  the  Scythians.  To  subjugate  the  Ger- 
mans, a  different  language  and  other  artifices  were 
required.  But  it  is  not  very  difficult  for  a  barbarian 
conqueror  to  obtain  the  voluntary  submission  of  the 
warlike  and  savage  nations  whom  he  invites  to  share 
his  conquests,  without  asking  them  to  change  their  laws, 
of  which  he  is  ignorant  and  reckless,  or  to  pay  him  a 
tribute  which  their  poverty  could  not  supply.  In  pro- 
posing to  them  to  follow  his  standard  to  the  field,  he  does 
but  invite  them  to  their  favourite  sport. 

It  was  for  this  reason,  no  doubt,  that  Attila  suc- 
ceeded, in  a  few  years,  and  with  no  great  difficulty,  in 
causing  himself  to  be  acknowledged  King  of  kings,  by 
the  very  nations  who  had  trodden  under  foot  the 
Roman  empire.  And  he  was  truly  the  king  of  kings  ; 
for  his  court  was  formed  of  chiefs,  who,  in  offices  of 
command,  had  learned  the  art  of  obedience.  There 
were  three  brothers  of  the  race  of  the  Amales,  all  of 
them  kings  of  the  Ostrogoths ;  Ardaric,  king  of  the 
■  Gepida?,  his  principal  confidant  ;  a  king  of  the  ^lero- 
vingian  Franks ;  kings  of  the  Burgundians,  Thurin- 
giansj  Rugians,  and  Heruli,  who  commanded  that  part 
of  their  nation  which  had  remained  at  home,  when  the 
other  part  crossed  the  Rhine  half  a  century  before.  The 
names  of  a  great  number  of  other  nations  who  inha- 


CHAP.  VII.  ATTILA.  159 

bited  the  vast  regions  of  Tartary,  Russia^,  and  Sarmatia^ 
are  not  even  come  down  to  us. 

After  so  many  victories,  which  left  no  trophies  to 
posterity,  Attila  turned  his  arms  once  more  against  the 
countries  of  the  South.  He  asserted  that  the  treaty 
which  he  had  concluded  at  ]\Iargus,  with  the  emperor  of 
the  East,  had  been  violated  by  the  Greeks;  and,  putting 
in  motion  simultaneously  the  immense  multitude  of 
warriors  who  followed  his  banners,  he  crossed  the  Da- 
nube at  every  point,  from  high  Pannonia  to  the  Black 
Sea.  He  advanced  upon  the  whole  extent  of  the  Illy- 
rian  peninsula,  destroying  every  thing  in  his  way  (a.  d. 
441  —  44f)).  Seventy  cities  were  levelled  to  the  ground 
by  his  army  ;  villages,  houses,  harvests,  all  were  burnt; 
and  such  of  the  wretched  inhabitants  as  escaped  the 
sword,  were  carried  away  captive  beyond  the  Danube. 
The  Greeks  were  defeated  in  three  pitched  battles,  and 
the  army  of  the  Huns  advanced  to  the  very  Avails  of 
Constantinople,  which  had  recently  been  shaken  by  an 
earthquake,  and  fifty-eight  of  their  towers  thrown  down. 

Yet  the  empire  of  the  East  survived  even  this  devas- 
tation :  some  of  its  provinces  were  secure  from  inva- 
sion. Theodosius  II.  showed  great  patience  under  the 
sufferings  of  others.  He  rebuilt  the  walls  of  his  ca- 
pital ;  and,  shut  up  within  the  precincts  of  his  palace, 
he  scarcely  perceived  the  war  that  raged  without.  Ne- 
vertheless, one  negotiator  after  another  was  sent  to  the 
camp  of  Attila  ;  and,  by  dint  of  abject  concessions,  and 
of  money  distributed  among  his  ministers,  the  Greeks 
induced  him  to  retire  beyond  the  Danube.  Thither 
their  ambassadors  followed  him.  In  their  way  to  his 
camp  they  had  to  pass  over  those  cities  of  Mcesia, 
where  the  inhabitants  were  slain,  and  the  houses  razed ; 
where  the  place  of  the  streets  was  only  marked  by 
ruins,  and  ashes,  and  dead  bodies.  Among  the  remains 
of  the  churches,  however,  they  discovered  some  sick 
and  wounded  wretches,  wlio  had  not  had  strength  to 
crawl  away,  and  who  still  dragged  on  a  miserable 
existence.     The  ambassadors  were   moved   to  tears  as 


l60        FALL  OF  THE  EOMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VII. 

they  gave  alms  to  the  wretched  beings  who  Ungered 
among  the  ruins  of  Naissus,  formerly  one  of  the  great 
arsenals  of  the  empire.  They  crossed  the  Danube  in 
boats,  or  canoes,  formed  of  a  single  tree  hollowed  out ; 
for  the  arts  of  civilised  life  had  already  disappeared,  and 
the  earth,  hke  its  inhabitants,  had  relapsed  into  savage- 
ness. 

At  the  court  of  Attila,  in  an  obscure  village  of  Hun- 
gary, the  ambassadors  from  the  East  found,  among  the 
crowd  of  barbarians  and  of  conquered  kings,  the  am- 
bassadors from  the  ^\^est,  who  were  come  to  appease 
the  terrible  monarch  and  to  endeavour  to  maintain  peace. 
What  formed  the  strangest,  the  most  incredible  con- 
trast, was,  the  paltriness  of  the  motive  which  brought 
them  there.  It  was  for  the  sake  of  some  golden  vessel 
belonging  to  the  church  of  Sirmium,  which  Attila  pre- 
tended to  have  been  taken  from  him  at  the  conquest  of 
that  city,  that  iEtius,  or  Valentinian  III.,  sent  ambas- 
sadors from  Rome,  and  that  the  world  was  threatened 
with  a  war  between  Tartary  and  Europe.  One  of  the 
ambassadors  of  Theodosius  was  secretly  instructed  by 
his  master  to  bribe  the  prime  minister  of  Attila,  and 
persuade  him  to  assassinate  the  dreaded  conqueror.  The 
Scythian  monarch  was  not  ignorant  of  this  treacherous 
plot;  but,  though  he  manifested  his  indignation  by  some 
violent  expressions,  and  treated  the  Roman  name  with 
profound  contempt,  he  respected,  even  in  these  traitors, 
the  rights  of  ambassadors,  and  left  Theodosius  in  peace. 

About  the  time  when  Theodosius  II.  died  (28th  of 
June,  450),  and  when  the  Greeks,  from  an  incon- 
ceivable veneration  for  the  royal  blood,  bestowed  the 
crown  on  his  sister  Pulcheria  and  the  husband  she 
might  marry  (she  married  jMarcian,  an  old  senator), 
Attila  advanced  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  to  those 
of  the  Rhine,  to  occupy  Gaul,  at  the  head  of  the  Ger- 
manic nations. 

At  the  confluence  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Neckar,  he 
met  a  party  of  Franks,  who  had  submitted  to  his  au- 
thority, and  with  whom  he  passed  the  river,  took  and 


CHAP.  VII.  ATTILA.  l6l 

burned  the  city  of  Metz,  and  destroyed  all  its  inha- 
bitants :  in  like  manner  he  laid  waste  Tongres,  and, 
crossing  the  country  as  far  as  the  Loire,  laid  siege  to 
Orleans. 

The  patrician  ^tius,  who  governed  the  West  in  the 
name  of  Valentinian  III.,  had  estabUshed  his  repu- 
tation in  Gaul  by  victories  over  the  Franks,  the  Bur- 
gundians,  and  the  Visigoths.  He  had  scarcely  any 
Roman  soldiers  in  his  ranks ;  but  he  sedulously  culti- 
vated the  friendship  of  the  Scythians  and  Alans,  from 
whose  race  he  sprang,  and  had  engaged  numerous  bands 
of  them  in  the  service  of  the  empire.  He  had  been 
careful  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  Attila  himself,  to 
whom  he  had  entrusted  his  son,  perhaps  as  a  hostage, 
or,  possibly,  in  order  to  secure  his  being  brought  up 
far  from  the  dangers  of  the  imperial  court.  Never- 
theless, he  did  not  hesitate  to  undertake  to  defend  Gaul 
against  him.  The  ancient  inhabitants,  the  Romans, 
were  without  power  to  resist  such  an  enemy  :  the  bar- 
barians of  German  race  who  were  established  in  Gaul, 
were  terrified  at  the  idea  of  a  Tartar  invasion,  which 
threatened  to  change  into  a  desert  that  country  in 
which  they  began  to  taste  the  tranquil  enjoyments  of 
life.  /Etius  visited  successively  the  kings  of  the  Franks, 
the  Burgundians,  and  the  Visigoths,  who  were  able  to 
afford  him  powerful  assistance.  He  likewise  had  re- 
course to  the  smaller  tribes,  who  wandered  at  will 
throughout  Gaul,  encouraging  them  to  assemble  under 
his  standard.  The  TaifaliE,  in  Poitou ;  the  Saxons,  in 
Bayeux  ;  the  Breones,  in  Rhstia ;  the  Alans,  in  Or- 
leans and  at  Valence ;  the  Sannatians,  who  were  dis- 
persed over  all  the  provinces,  promised  him  their  as- 
sistance. Other  barbarians,  who  did  not  form  any 
national  body,  engaged  themselves  in  the  mercenary 
troops  of  letes  and  confederates.  Even  the  Armo- 
ricans  furnished  soldiers ;  and  of  this  collection  of 
troops,  among  whom  were  to  be  found  every  variety  of 
arms  and  of  language,  iEtius  formed  the  army  of  the 
em])irc. 


l62  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP  VII. 

But  in  military  skill,  and  in  the  power  of  tactics, 
the  Roman  empire  retained  its  superiority  to  the  last 
stage  of  its  decay.  When  an  able  general  had  drawn 
up  his  troops  and  inspired  them  with  courage,  he  was 
not  appalled  by  the  numbers  of  the  enemy.  Attila  was 
said  to  have  invaded  the  Gauls  with  500,000  men. 
Whatever  was  the  real  strength  of  his  army,  the  multi- 
tude of  these  hungry  warriors  was  to  him  an  incum- 
brance, while  to  ^tius  it  was  an  advantage.  The 
king  of  the  barbarians  vainly  wished  to  take  advantage 
of  the  most  extensive  plains  of  Gaul,  to  draw  out  all  his 
battalions  :  he  retreated  from  the  environs  of  Orleans 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Chalons,  in  Champagne, 
^tius  pursued  him,  and  fiercely  disputed  with  him 
the  possession  of  a  small  eminence  which  commanded 
the  rest  of  the  plain,  and  seemed  to  both  generals  ^an 
important  position.  At  length,  Thorismund,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  king  of  the  Visigoths,  remained  master  of  it. 
Jornandes  relates,  that  the  rivulet  which  flowed  at  the 
foot  of  this  hill  was  swollen  Avith  blood,  till  it  overflowed 
its  banks  like  a  torrent.  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Visigoths, 
was  killed  at  the  commencement  of  the  battle,  and  lay 
buried  under  heaps  of  slain.  His  son  Thorismund  and 
^tius  were  separated  from  the  main  body  of  their 
army,  and  were  very  near  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Huns  ;  but  Attila,  meanwhile,  was  so  alarmed  at  the 
prodigious  losses  he  had  experienced,  that  he  hemmed 
himself  in  with  a  wall  of  Scythian  chariots,  which  he 
opposed  as  a  fortification  to  the  assailants.  Night 
closed  in  before  it  was  possible  to  know  on  which  side 
victory  lay.  Attila's  quiescence  in  the  morning  showed 
that  he  considered  himself  conquered.  If  the  account 
of  an  almost  contemporary  historian  may  be  credited, 
162,000  men  lay  dead  on  the  field  of  battle. 

This  victory  was  the  last  that  adorned  the  annals  of 
Rome  :  if  it  did  not  preserve  her  from  ruin,  we,  at  least, 
have  been  saved  by  it ;  —  saved  from  Tartar  barbarism 
and  Russian  civilisation.  If  the  empire  of  Attila 
had  been  perpetuated,  if  it  had  spread  over  Gaul  and 


OHAP.  Vir.         BATTLE  OP  CHALONS.  l63 

the  temperate  regions  of  Europe,  perhaps  the  nature  of 
the  country  would  have  led  the  Huns  to  renounce  their 
pastoral  life,  as  the  Moguls  renounced  it  in  India,  and 
the  Mantchou  Tartars  in  China :  but  the  vices  of  the 
nation,  stamped  upon  it  by  servitude,  would  have  been 
perpetuated,  as  they  have  been  in  Russia  — as  they  have 
been  wherever  the  Tartar  has  ruled ;  and  the  nations 
which  at  this  day  diffuse  light  and  knowledge  through- 
out the  globe,  would  scarcely  have  been  in  a  condi- 
tion to  receive  what  might  have  reached  them  from 
without. 

It  is,  indeed,  with  astonishment  and  admiration, 
that  we  contemplate  the  most  formidable  power  which 
ever  affrighted  the  world,  dashed  to  pieces  against  the 
last  ruins  of  ancient  civilisation.  The  Roman  empire 
had  declined  so  rapidly,  that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
how  it  furnished  aspirants  to  a  throne  so  surrounded 
Avith  danger  and  disgrace.  But  the  dominion  of  Attila 
was  overthrown  to  the  very  dust,  before  that  of  Theo- 
dosius  fell,  ^tius  did  not  care  to  disturb  the  retreat  of 
the  Scythian  conqueror,  who  was  formidable  even  in 
defeat :  he  waited  until  he  ventured  to  seek  his  revenge, 
and  to  attack  the  Romans  anew.  In  the  campaign 
which  followed  (a.d.452),  Attila  poured  forth  his  troops 
from  Pannonia,  passed  the  Julian  Alps,  and  advanced 
to  the  siege  of  Aquileia.  The  extent  of  his  ravages, 
and  the  certainty  of  having  no  mercy  from  the  barbarian, 
produced  an  effect  upon  the  people  of  Italy  that  led  to 
the  erection  of  a  splendid  monument,  which  has  perpe- 
tuated to  our  days  the  memory  of  the  terror  he  inspired. 
All  the  inhabitants  of  that  rich  part  of  the  plain  of  Italy 
which  is  situated  at  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers,  and 
called  Venetia,  took  refuge  in  the  low  lands,  upon  the 
islands,  almost  covered  with  water,  which  choke  the 
mouths  of  the  Adige,  the  Po,  the  Brenta,  and  the  Taglia- 
mento.  There  they  sheltered  themselves  under  huts  made 
of  branches,  and  transported  thither  a  small  part  of  their 
wealth.  In  a  short  time  they  constructed  more  com- 
modious habitations,  and  several  small  cities  were  seen 
M  2 


164  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  VII. 

to  rise  as  it  were  out  of  the  waters.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  Venice  j  and  that  haughty  republic  justly 
called  herself  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire. She  was  founded  by  the  Romans  while  the 
empire  was  yet  standing,  and  the  independence  which 
characterised  her  early  years  was  still  inviolate  to  our 
own  time. 

Aquileia  withstood  a  lengthened  siege ;  but  all  the 
other  cities  of  northern  Italy,  —  Milan,  Pavia,  \'erona, 
and,  perhaps,  even  Turin,  as  well  as  Como,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Helvetian  and  Gallic  Alps, — opened  their  gates  to 
the  conqueror.  Disease,  the  natural  consequence  of 
the  intemperance,  the  violence,  and  the  vices  of  a  bar- 
barian army,  avenged,  as  they  may  again  avenge,  the 
Italians ;  and  Attila  began  to  feel  the  pressing  neces- 
sity of  leading  back  his  companions  in  arms  to  a  coun- 
try less  pernicious  to  natives  of  a  northern  clime,  when 
the  ambassadors  of  Valentinian  and  the  senate  of  Rome 
came  to  demand  peace.  They  were  accompanied  by 
pope  Leo  I.  The  striking  figure  and  calm  self-possession 
of  the  venerable  pontiff  inspired  the  people  with  respect, 
and  struck  awe  into  every  heart,  not  even  excepting  that 
of  the  pagan  king,  although  he  had  professed  himself  a 
prophet.  With  a  moderation  unknown  to  him,  per- 
haps the  effect,  in  some  measure,  of  religious  fear,  he 
granted  peace  to  the  empire.  In  the  following  year 
(a.d.453),  Attila  died  in  Dacia,  during  the  intoxication 
of  a  banquet.  His  empire  fell  with  him.  Ardaric,  his 
favourite,  established  the  monarchy  of  the  Gepid^e  in 
Dacia,  between  the  Carpathian  mountains  and  the  Black 
Sea,  in  the  very  spot  which  had  been  regarded  by  Attila 
as  the  seat  of  his  power.  The  Ostrogoths  took  posses- 
sion of  Pannonia,  between  Vienna  and  Sirmium ;  and 
Irnak,  the  youngest  son  of  Attila,  retired  with  the 
Huns  into  Little  Tartary,  where  the  remnant  of  this 
people  were  enslaved,  some  years  after,  by  the  Igours, 
who  issued  from  the  plains  of  Siberia. 


165 


CHAP.  VIII. 

FALL  OF  THE  WESTERN  EMPIRE.  ROME  TAKEN  AND  SACKED  BY 

GENSERIC,  CALLED  IN  BY  EUDOXIA,  WIDOW  OF  VALENTINIAN  III. 

TEN   EMPERORS    IN    TWENTY-THREE    YEARS. ODOACER.  

FINAL  EXTINCTION  OF  TH*  FORM  OF  THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  WEST. 

—  CHANGE  UNIMPORTANT  TO  THE  PEOPLE.  THEIR  WRETCHED 

CONDITION.  SOME  CITIES  OF  THE  WEST  RETAIN    THEIR  ALLE- 
GIANCE TO  THE   EASTERN  EMPIRE.  GROWTH  OF  THE  FRANKIC 

MONARCHY.  CHLODWIG,   COMMONLY  CALLED  CLOVIS.  HIS 

VICTORY    OVER    SYAGRIUS.  HIS    MARRIAGE    WITH   CHLOTILDE 

OF  BURGUNDY. HIS    CONVERSION.  BATTLE    OP    TOLBIAC. 

HIS  BAPTISM.  HIS  WARS  WITH  THE  BURGUNDIANS,  AND   WITH 

THE    VISIGOTHS. HIS    TREACHERY.  HIS    ASSASSINATION    OF 

ALL    THE    KINGS   OF    HIS    FAMILY.  HIS     PROTECTION    OF    THE 

CHURCH. MIRACLES  ATTRIBUTED  TO  HIM. LIMITED  POWER 

OF     THE     FRANKIC     KINGS.  SOVEREIGNTY  OF    THE   ARMY.  

STATE  OF  GOVERNMENT. DEATH  OF  CLOVIS. A.  D.  476 511. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  remark^  in  communities  and  in 
nations^  a  principle  of  vitality^  a  power  of  resistance, 
which  is  brought  into  action  after  great  calamities,  and 
prolongs  the  existence  of  sinking  states  when  they 
seemed  on  the  brink  of  annihilation.  This  power  has, 
in  its  effects,  a  resemblance  to  the  vital  energy  which 
exists  in  man  and  other  organised  beings  ;  but  it  is  not, 
like  that,  one  of  the  mysteries  of  nature.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  principle  of  which  we  are  speaking  is  the 
necessary,  the  easily  anticipated  consequence  of  those 
efforts  which  each  individual  makes  to  improve  his  con- 
dition, and  to  defend  himself  from  the  common  cala- 
mities, or  to  meet  them  with  the  smallest  possible  injury  : 
in  thus  providing  for  his  own  security,  he  is  really 
labouring  for  the  preservation  of  the  community  to 
which  he  belongs. 

On  every  side,  the  empire  of  Rome  had  been  sur- 
rounded by  causes  which  conspired  to  work   its  ruin. 
M  3 


l66  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EBIPIRE.      CHAP.  VIII. 

During  the  three  first  centuries,  it  had  constantly  been 
declining;  and  when  we  recollect  that^  in  the  century  and 
half  which  followed, — a  period  which  we  have  examined 
in  detail, —  the  empire  was  assailed  by  attacks^  any  of 
•which  seemed  sufficient  to  overthrow  it,  our  only  wonder 
will  be  how  it  continued  to  exist. 

The  vital  principle  exhibited  in  the  human  frame 
often  repairs  the  ravages  of  disease,  or  entirely  sur- 
mounts them.  Although,  in  some  cases,  it  does  but  pro- 
long the  sufferings  of  the  body,  we  are  not  permitted 
to  endeavour  to  abridge  these  sufferings ;  for  we  know 
not  but  the  moral  may  become  perfect  through  the  pains 
of  the  physical  being.  It  would  be  a  fiction  of  the 
fancy,  however,  to  attribute  to  social  bodies  the  proper- 
ties or  the  sensitiveness  of  individual  natures  ;  and  we 
must  not  allow  our  pity  and  regret  for  the  long  decline 
of  Rome,  nor  our  reverence  for  all  its  grandeur  and  its 
glory  —  for  the  thousand  recollections  about  to  be  obliter- 
ated,—  to  make  us  forget  that  truer  compassion  which  we 
owe  to  men  like  ourselves ;  to  whole  generations  that 
endured  the  lingering  torments  of  their  country's  ex- 
piring state,  and  the  burden  of  all  its  calamities. 

The  revolution  which  overthrew  the  Roman  empire, 
and  swept  away  the  ancient  forms  of  civilisation  from 
the  earth,  made  room  for  new  combinations  and  new 
social  institutions,  and  led  to  progress  of  another  kind. 
It  was,  perhaps,  the  most  important  of  all  the  con- 
vulsions which  have  agitated  the  human  race.  It  was 
time  for  this  great  change  to  take  place ;  it  was  time 
that  the  universal  languor  and  feebleness  of  soul  which 
lowered  the  character  of  humanity  should  give  place  to 
a  new  principle  of  virtue,  or,  at  least,  to  a  new  principle 
of  action. 

Large  empires  derive  a  power  of  self-preservation 
from  their  size  :  it  is  their  privilege  to  be  able  to  endure 
bad  government  in  proportion  to  their  extent.  Ancient 
Greece  afforded  instances  of  odious  tyrants,  whose 
names  are  for  ever  covered  with  infamy.  Yet,  neither 
Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  nor   Phalaris,  nor  Pisistratus, 


CHAP.  VIII.  VITALITY    OF    EMPIRES.  l67 

would  have  been  able  to  inflict  upon  their  fellow  citi- 
zens such  calamities  as  those  to  which  the  subjects  of 
the  bad  emperors  were  exposed.  Never  would  those 
men  have  thought  of  confounding  the  innocent  with  the 
guilty  in  one  universal  proscription  ;  of  rasing  a  city  to 
the  ground,  or  putting  all  its  inhabitants  to  the  sword  : 
such  conduct  would  have  been  their  own  destruction, 
since  the  city  was  their  whole  domain.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  merciless  acts  committed  by  the  emperors, 
the  national  chastisements  which  they  inflicted,  as  well 
as  the  calamities  resulting  from  the  wars  in  which  they 
engaged,  were  extensive  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  their 
territory. 

But  man  does  not  become  the  less  sensible  of  his 
sufferings,  because  the  state  to  which  he  belongs  is  of 
vast  dimension  ;  and  the  number  of  victims  to  a  single 
act  of  cruelty,  or  a  single  fault,  exceeded  all  beUef.  In 
like  manner,  the  conduct  of  a  weak,  vain  monarch, 
who  persisted  in  a  disastrous  war,  produced  conse- 
quences not  in  proportion  to  the  character  of  the  man, 
but  to  the  extent  of  his  kingdom.  The  obstinacy  of 
Theodosius  II.  within  the  walls  of  Constantinople,  or 
of  Honorius  at  Ravenna,  which  they  mistook  for  noble 
daring,  produced  the  entire  devastation  of  Illyricum, 
Gaul,  and  Italy.  No  empire  but  that  of  Rome  could 
have  withstood  such  shocks.  From  the  time  when  the 
monarchy  of  Attila  had  fallen,  and  the  Goths  and 
Vandals,  established  in  their  new  country,  had  begun  to 
exchange  the  work  of  destruction  for  that  of  preserv- 
ation, the  empire  of  the  West  had  regained  a  chance  of 
prolonging  its  languishing  existence  ;  for  that  of  the 
East,  which  was  scarcely  less  enfeebled,  or  less  surrounded 
by  powerful  foes,  maintained  itself  a  thousand  years 
longer.  Ravenna,  the  seat  of  government,  was  equally 
sheltered  from  foreign  invasion  ;  and  if  the  empire  had 
enjoyed  a  period  of  tranquillity  like  that  which  Italy 
obtained  a  few  years  after  the  extinction  of  the  A\^estern 
emperors,  so  great  is  the  predilection  of  every  people  for 
an  old  established  authority,  and  so  strong  their  prefer- 
31    4 


l6'8  FALL    OF    THE    KOMAN    EBIPIRE.      CHAP.  VIII. 

ence  for  evils  with  which  they  are  familiar,  to  untried 
and  doubtful  reform,  that  in  all  probability  the  alter- 
ations which  had  been  the  result  of  force,  would  have 
been  admitted  into  the  frame-work  of  society.  A  new 
organisation  would  have  brought  about  a  closer  con- 
nection between  the  centre  of  government  and  those 
provinces  which  were  not  conquered  ;  and  the  state, 
superior  in  extent  to  any  in  modern  Europe,  would  have 
recovered  the  means  of  resistance. 

But  monarchical  states  are  not  only  subject  to  the 
calamities  which  assail  them  from  without,  through  the 
jealousy  or  hatred  of  their  neighbours  ;  they  have  also 
the  chance  of  falling  under  the  sway  of  the  most  stupid, 
or  the  basest  of  mankind.  These  chances  of  succession 
were  fatal  to  the  empire  of  the  ^Fest.  From  the  death 
of  Attila,  in  453,  to  the  extinction  of  the  imperial 
dignity,  in  475,  ten  emperors,  in  the  space  of  twenty- 
three  years,  succeeded  each  other  on  the  throne ;  and 
the  ten  revolutions  which  hurled  them  from  it  were 
more  than  so  frail  a  structure  could  resist. 

These  revolutions  were  in  a  great  degre  attributable 
to  the  last  descendant  of  the  great  Theodosius.  Valen- 
tinian  III.  had  reached  the  age  of  manhood ;  his  mother 
was  dead,  Boniface  was  dead,  Attila  was  dead.  Valen- 
tinian  imagined  the  highest  privilege  of  the  imperial 
dignity  to  be  that  of  securing  impunity  for  all  the  vices 
which  subject  private  individuals  to  the  punishment  of 
the  laws.  The  greatness  and  renown  of  -Sltius  were 
irksome  to  him ;  and  the  first  time  his  coward  hand 
brandished  a  sword,  he  employed  it,  with  the  help  of  his 
eunuchs  and  courtesans,  to  kill  the  general  who  had 
saved,  and  who  alone  could  still  save,  the  empire.  In 
less  than  a  year  after  (March  l6'.  455),  he  was  assas- 
sinated, in  his  turn,  by  Petronius  Maximus,  a  senator, 
whose  wife  he  had  insulted. 

Maximus  was  then  acknowledged  emperor  ;  but  the 
people  found  in  him  nothing  deserving  of  supreme 
power.  It  was  equally  impossible  for  the  Romans  not 
to  despise  the  descendants   of  Theodosius,  and  not  to 


CHAP.  VIII.    VALENTINIAN    III. MAXIMUS.  ISQ 

extend  their  contempt  to  those  men  who,  devoid  of 
either  virtues  or  talents,  took  advantage  of  the  fall  of 
these  princes  to  raise  themselves  to  the  thi-one. 

As  nothing  indicated  clearly  where  the  right  to  sove- 
reign power  resided,  the  road  to  it  was  again  laid  open 
to  ambition,  intrigue,  and  crime.  The  sufferings  and 
the  ignominy  of  the  Roman  empire  were  increased  by  a 
new  calamity  which  happened  in  the  year  of  Valentinian's 
death.  Eudoxia,  the  widow  of  that  emperor,  who  had 
afterwards  become  the  wife  of  INIaximus,  avenged  the 
murder  of  her  first  husband,  by  plotting  against  her 
second ;  reckless  how  far  she  involved  her  country  in 
the  ruin.  She  invited  to  Rome  Genseric,  king  of  the 
Vandals,  who,  not  content  with  having  conquered  and 
devastated  Africa,  made  every  effort  to  give  a  new 
direction  to  the  rapacity  of  his  subjects,  by  accustoming 
them  to  maritime  warfare,  or,  more  properly  speaking, 
piracy.  His  armed  bands,  who,  issuing  from  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic,  had  marched  over  the  half  of  Europe, 
conquering  wherever  they  went,  embarked  in  vessels 
which  they  procured  at  Carthage,  and  spread  desolation 
over  the  coasts  of  Sicily  and  Italy.  On  the  12th  of 
June,  i'55,  they  landed  at  Ostia.  iNIaximus  was  killed 
in  a  seditious  tumult  excited  by  his  wife.  Defence  was 
impossible  ;  and  from  the  1  ;)th  to  the  29th  of  June,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  world  was  pillaged  by  the  Vandals 
with  a  degree  of  rapacity  and  cruelty  to  which  Alaric 
and  the  Goths  had  made  no  approach.  The  ships  of 
the  pirates  were  moored  along  the  quays  of  the  Tiber, 
and  were  loaded  Avith  a  booty  which  it  would  have  been 
impossible  for  the  soldiers  to  carry  off  by  land. 

The  unhappy  Romans  were  compelled,  by  protracted 
tortures,  to  discover  all  their  hidden  treasures :  neither 
were  they  secure  from  the  cupiility  of  Genseric's  troops 
when  stripped  of  all  they  possessed.  The  hope  of  ex- 
torting a  ransom  from  their  relations  or  friends  led  to 
thousands  of  noble  captives  being  carried  over  to  Car- 
thage. Eudoxia  herself  shared  in  the  miseries  which 
she  had  brought  upon  Rome :  Genseric  forcibly  carried 


170  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EBIPIRE.      CHAP.  VUI. 

her  off,  with  her  two  daughters,  the  only  survivors  of 
the  race  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  in  one  of  his  vessels ; 
and  in  spite  of  the  attachment  the  Romans  had  recently 
shown  to  the  hereditary  claims  of  this  family,  they 
found  themselves,  against  their  wishes,  reinvested  with 
the  power  of  bestowing  the  crown  on  a  ruler  of  their 
choice.  This  prerogative  falling  to  a  people  alike  devoid 
of  national  spirit  and  of  protecting  institutions,  of  respect 
for  justice  or  for  virtue,  could  not  fail  to  prove  fatal. 
The  Gauls,  the  Greeks,  the  confederate  barbarians  who 
composed  the  army,  all  in  turn  contended  for  the  privi- 
lege of  giving  a  chief  to  the  empire ;  and  the  favourite 
of  one  party  was  no  sooner  invested  with  the  purple, 
than  a  hostile  faction  rose  up  to  dethrone  him. 

In  the  calamitous  period  of  twenty-one  years,  which 
embraces  the  last  convulsive  sti-uggles  of  the  Western 
empire  (a.d.  455 — 476),  one  man  signalised  himself 
above  all  those  ephemeral  emperors  whom  he  created  or 
dethroned  at  his  wiU,  without  having  it  in  his  power  to 
occupy  their  place.  This  was  the  patrician  Ricimer,  a 
Swabian  or  Suevus  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  the  daughter 
of  WaUia  king  of  the  Visigoths.  A  popular  sentiment, 
which  it  is  surprising  to  discover  in  a  country  where  there 
could  not  be  said  to  be  a  people,  rose  in  opposition  to 
this  barbarian,  when  he  would  have  assumed  the  purple; 
though  the  men  he  nominated  to  wear  it  were  sure  to  be 
elected.  The  haughty  Swabian,  disdaining  to  obey  those 
whom  he  considered  as  his  own  creatures,  accomplished 
their  downfall  before  they  were  well  seated  on  the  throne. 
He  thus  destroyed  the  very  root  of  civil  authority  and 
obedience.  He  died  the  20th  of  August,  472.  At  this 
period,  the  provinces  of  the  West  acknowledged  no  other 
power  than  that  of  the  barbarian  troops,  who  took  the 
name  of  Confederates  ;  these  men  governed  Italy.  Two 
of  their  chiefs,  who  came  in  the  train  of  the  king  of 
the  Huns,  next  contended  for  the  empire. 

Orestes,  a  Patricius  of  Pannonian  extraction,  who 
had  long  served  Attila  as  secretary  and  ambassador, 
placed  upon  the  throne  his  own  son  Romulus  Augustus, 


CHAP.  VIII.  ODOACER.  171 

who,  in  mockery  of  his  youth,  Avas  calleil  Augustulus  ; 
while  Odoacer,  the  son  of  Edecon,  another  minister  of 
Attila,  excited  the  Confederates  to  revolt  against  the  chief 
they  had  just  elected.  He  promised  them  a  third  of  the 
soil  of  Italy  to  divide  amongst  them  ;  caused  Orestes  to 
be  put  to  death,  and  shut  up  his  son  in  LucuUus's  villa,  in 
Campania,  without  choosing  to  appoint  his  successor. 

Thus,  in  476,  was  accomplished  the  extinction  of  the 
empire  of  the  West.  But  this  revolution,  so  important 
in  our  eyes,  which  forms  so  marked  an  epoch  in  history, 
was  so  disguised  from  the  view  of  contemporaries,  that 
they  did  not  foresee  its  consequences.  Odoacer  com- 
pelled the  senate  of  Rome  to  send  away  the  imperial 
insignia  to  Zeno,  emperor  of  Constantinople ;  declaring^ 
that  one  ruler  was  sufficient  to  govern  the  whole  em- 
pire. He  conveyed  a  request  to  this  emperor,  that  he 
might  himself  be  allowed  to  govern  the  diocese  of  Italy, 
under  the  title  of  Patricius.  It  is  true,  he  also  took 
the  appellation  of  King.  This  was  a  barbaric  dignity, 
which  had  not  been  held  incompatible  with  the  com- 
mand of  an  army,  or  of  a  Roman  province.  It  rather 
denoted  a  ruler  of  men,  than  of  territory.  It  w^as  con- 
ferred on  Odoacer  by  his  soldiers,  among  whom  the 
Heruli  were,  probably,  the  most  numerous ;  whence  he 
is  often  represented  as  king  of  the  Heruli.  Meanwhile 
the  imperial  government  was  little  changed  from  what 
it  had  been  during  the  last  century  in  Italy  ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  power  was  completely  in  the  hands  of  armed 
barbarians ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  senate  of  Rome 
continued  to  assemble  as  usual  ;  the  consuls  were  ap- 
pointed yearly,  one  by  the  East,  the  other  by  Italy ; 
the  imperial  laws  were  proclaimed  in  Italy,  and  re- 
spected as  before ;  and  none  of  the  municipal  or  pro- 
vincial authorities  were  changed.  It  is  difficult  to  dis- 
cover what  that  public  opinion  was,  and  under  what 
form  it  was  expressed,  which  had  still  power  to  pre- 
vent the  sovereign  of  Italy  and  of  the  army  from  taking 
upon  himself  the  title  of  Roman  Emperor,  and  to  con- 
vince him  that  he  was  too  weak  to   attempt  the  sup- 


172  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.     CHAP.  VIII. 

pression  of  rights  and  claims  which  he  was  unable  to 
assert  for  himself,  although  he  could  not  endure  to  see 
them  granted  to  another.      We  should  look  in  vain  for 
Romans,  or  for  Italians,  who  had  still  so  far  preserved 
the  dignity  of  their   ancient  prejudices   as   to  repel  a 
master  who  should  adopt  the  title  of  King  of  Rome  or 
of  Italy.     Odoacer,  however,  felt  that  such   a  power 
existed,  and  took  care  not  to  oppose  it.     He  founded 
anew  the  kingdom  of  Italy,   and  called  it  by  another 
name.     He  was  independent,  without  daring  to  appear 
so.     By  the  distribution  of  lands  in  Italy  among  the 
confederate  soldiers,  he  satisfied  their  cupidity  without 
relaxing  their  discipline  ;  and  as  he  no  longer  recruited 
his  army  with  the  barbarian  adventurers  who  had  yearly 
flocked  to  his  standard,  he    kept  it  within  moderate 
limits,  though  sufficiently  powerful  to  guard  his  fron- 
tiers.    He  made  no  attempt  to  extend  his  dominions 
beyond    Italy,    from    which   Sicily  and    Sardinia   had 
ah-eady  been  separated  by  the  invasions  of  Genseric  :  on 
one  occasion,  however,  he  made  war  against  lUyricum, 
and  on  another  against  Noricum,  with  equal  success. 
The  whole  extent  of  country  between  the  Alps  and  the 
Danube  had  been  fertilised  by  Roman  agriculture,  and 
enriched  by  Roman  commerce,  and  by  the  residence  of 
Roman  legions  :  it  was  looked  upon  as  the  nursery  of 
the  best  soldiers  of  the  empire.     But  it  had  been  so 
devastated  by  successive  invasions,  that  the  race  of  its 
Roman   inhabitants  was  nearly  extinct,  and  was   suc- 
ceeded by  barbarians  of  whose  history  nothing  is  known. 
The  Rugians,  who  possessed  it  at  the  time  of  which 
we    are    speaking,   were   conquered  by    Odoacer,   and 
great   numbers   of  them  brought  captive  into  Italy,  to 
assist  in  the  cultivation  of  the  deserts  of  that  country. 
Deserts  they    might    tridy  be  called.     The  population 
had  been  swept  away  by  every  scourge  under  heaven  ; 
war,    plague,    famine,    pubUc    tyranny,    and    domestic 
slavery.     Throughout  the  preceding  century,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  people  had  been  entirely  artificial.     They 
were  principally  supported  by  the  distributions  of  corn. 


CHAP.  VIII.  ODOACER.  173 

which  the  emperors  had  bound  themselves  to  conti- 
nue at  Romej  Milan,  and  other  great  towns  where 
the  court  resided.  These  largesses  had  ceased  with 
the  loss  of  Africa  and  the  ruin  of  Sicily.  Odoacer 
did  not  attempt  to  renew  them.  Meanwhile  most  of' 
the  landed  proprietors  had  ceased  to  cultivate  their 
estates :  there  was  little  encouragement  to  incur  great 
expense  in  growing  corn,  which  was  afterwards  given 
away  in  the  market-place.  The  rearing  of  cattle  had 
for  a  time  superseded  the  cultivation  of  grain ;  but 
both  the  herds,  and  the  slaves  who  tended  them,  had 
been  carried  off  by  continual  incursions  of  barbarians. 
The  desolation  of  these  regions  is  frequently  expressed 
in  simple  yet  affecting  language  in  the  contemporary 
letters  of  the  saints.  Pope  Gelasius  (a.  d.  496)  speaks 
of  Emilia,  Tuscany,  and  other  provinces,  in  which  the 
human  race  was  almost  extinct.  St.  Ambrose,  of  the 
towns  of  Bologna,  Modena,  Reggio,  Piacenza,  which 
remained  deserted,  together  with  the  adjacent  country. 
Those  who  have  seen  the  Campagna  di  Roma  in  our  own 
days,  have  witnessed  the  desolation  of  a  country  ruined 
by  bad  laws,  even  more  than  by  foreign  aggression.  Let 
them  imagine  the  gloomy  scenery  which  now  surrounds 
the  capital,  extended  over  every  part  of  Italy,  and  they 
will  have  some  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  Odoacer. 

The  usurpation  of  Odoacer  had  relaxed,  but  not 
severed,  the  tie  which  united  the  more  distant  western 
provinces  to  the  empire.  Several  districts  of  Spain, 
and  particularly  the  sea-coast,  had  preserved  their  inde- 
pendence against  the  Suevi  and  the  Visigoths  ;  some 
towns  in  Africa  had  escaped  the  attacks  of  the  Vandals  ; 
and  there  were  provinces  in  the  centre  of  Gaul  which 
obeyed  neither  the  Franks,  Burgundians,  nor  Visigoths. 
In  those  territories  which  had  been  occupied  by  the 
barbarians,  they  were  looked  upon  (according  to  the 
legal  expression  which  assigned  them  their  quarters) 
as  guests,  rather  than  as  masters.  The  inhabitants  diil 
not  cease  to  consider  themselves  as  Romans ;  and  they 
long  retained  their  name,  their  language,  their  customs. 


174  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  VIII. 

and  their  laws.  The  eyes  of  all  were  turned  towards 
Constantinople  ;  they  all  recognised  as  their  emperor, 
Zeno  (a.  d.  474 — 491),  who  had  succeeded  to  Leo 
(a.  d.  457 — 474)  upon  the  Eastern  throne.  The 
Greek  emperors  escaped  the  storm  which  raged  around 
them^  by  their  good  fortune  more  than  by  their  wisdom. 
They  were  unacquainted  with  the  languages  of  the 
Western  provinces,  which  they  despised  as  barbarian  ; 
and  they  were  alike  ignorant  of  their  condition  and  of 
their  interests.  They  had  no  means  of  defending, 
scarcely  any  of  governing  them  ;  and,  as  they  had  no 
chance  of  drawing  supplies  from  them,  they  abandoned 
their  administration  to  men  of  wealth  and  rank,  who 
assumed  the  title  of  Count  of  the  several  cities.  These 
counts  flattered  the  emperor  in  their  correspondence,  and 
were  flattered  in  return  by  imperial  titles :  the  power 
they  exercised  was  that  of  independent  sovereigns. 

^gidius,  count  of  Soissons,  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  powerful  of  these  nobles  of  Gaul,  who, 
during  the  decline  of  the  empire,  were  indebted  to  their 
wealth  for  a  kind  of  sovereignty.  He  gained  several 
advantages  over  the  Visigoths,  at  the  head  of  an  army 
of  Franks  accustomed  to  serve  in  the  pay  of  Rome ;  a 
circumstance  which  has  caused  it  to  be  said  that  he 
reigned  over  the  Franks  during  the  exile  of  Childeric, 
the  father  of  Clovis.  His  son,  Afranius  Syagrius,  also 
governed  Soissons  with  the  title  of  Count,  during  the  ten 
years  which  succeeded  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire 
(a.d.  476 — 486").  He  was  by  these  means  brought  into 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Franks,  who  were  ancient  allies 
of  the  empire,  and  accustomed  to  fight  under  its  banner 
for  payment ;  but  he  had  nothing  left  to  offer  them, — 
neither  battles  nor  spoils.  The  Franks,  however,  with- 
out making  war,  had  contrived  to  extend  their  frontier 
in  Belgium.  They  were  become  masters  of  Tournai, 
Cambray,  Terouane,  and  Cologne ;  and  in  each  of 
these  cities  they  had  a  different  king.  All  these  petty 
kings  ascribed  their  origin  to  MeroviEus  (Meer-wig, 
or  Sea  Hero),   for  the   date    of   whose  half   fabulous 


CHAP.  VIII.  THE    FRANKS.  175 

existence  we  must  rather  go  back  to  the  first  appearance 
of  the  Franks,  about  the  year  250,  than  to  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  where  it  is  commonly  placed.  There  was 
one  among  them,  —  a  young  man,  scarcely  twenty  years 
of  age, — who  was  greatly  distinguished  by  his  personal 
appearance,  and  by  his  bravery,  and  who  had  already 
reigned  five  years  over  the  Franks  of  Tournai.  His  name 
was  Clovis*:  he  was  the  son  of  Childeric,  who  had  been 
banished  on  account  of  the  licentiousness  of  his  man- 
ners ;  but  who  was  afterwards  recalled  by  his  tribe  when 
age  had  calmed  his  passions.  Like  all  the  rest  of  his 
race,  he  worshipped  the  gods  of  Germania  ;  but  his 
enthusiastic  mind  was  ever  ready  to  credit  all  the  pro- 
digies which  were  related  to  him  by  the  priests  of  a  dif- 
ferent religion,  who  easily  won  him  over  to  their  belief. 
In  486,  he  proposed  to  the  warriors  of  Tournai,  of  the 
tribe  of  the  Salian  Franks,  to  go  and  share  the  riches  of 
their  Roman  neighbours,  who  neither  knew  how  to 
defend  them,  nor  how  to  bestow  them  upon  other  de- 
fenders. Not  more  than  3000  or  4000  Franks  answered 
his  appeal,  and  took  up  their  francisque  or  war  hatchet, 
ready  to  follow  him.  Ragnacar,  another  king  of  the 
Franks,  at  Cambray,  came  with  his  followers  to  join  the 
standard  of  Clovis.  They  sent  a  message  of  defiance 
to  Syagrius.  The  Roman  count  was  not  so  formidable 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  resort  to  surprise ;  neverthe- 
less, he  occupied  the  frontier,  and  all  the  soldiers 
north  of  the  Seine,  calling  themselves  Roman  or  legion- 
ary, or  letes  or  federal,  assembled  at  his  order.  The 
armies  met ;  Syagrius  was  beaten,  and  the  Franks 
took  and  pillaged  Soissons.  Syagrius  in  his  flight 
crossed  the  Seine  ;  but  the  cities  along  this  river  and 
the  Loire,  although  calling  themselves  Roman,  had  taken 
no  thouglit  about  their  future  safety.  They  possessed 
no  soldiers,  no  treasure,  no  means  of  resistance. 

Syagrius   could  obtain   no   succour    from   them  ;    he 
therefore  passed  the  Loire,  and  advanced  to  Toulouse,  to 

*  The  Roman  corruption  of  Chlodwig,  or,  in  modern  German,  Ludwig  ; 
H  modern  Ir'rench,  Louis.  —  (TraiNsJ) 


176  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.     CHAP.  VIII. 

crave  the  assistance  of  Alaric  II.,  who  had  reigned  for 
two  years  over  the  Visigoths.  The  councillors  of  this 
king,  who  was  yet  a  child,  thought  the  moment  favour- 
able for  extinguishing  the  last  remains  of  Roman  power. 
They  took  Syagrius,  therefore,  and,  loading  him  with 
chains,  sent  him  back  to  Clovis,  who  suffered  him  to 
die  in  prison. 

And  this  is  nearly  all  that  we  can  ever  know  concern- 
ing the  combats  which  finally  annihilated  the  dominion 
of  the  Romans  in  Gaul,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
French  monarchy.  The  task  of  the  historian  is  no 
longer  what  it  was,  Avhen,  following  the  annals  of 
Rome,  he  had  to  choose  from  rich  and  varied  materials  ; 
to  combine,  to  reconcile,  to  select.  Grief  and  shame 
had  reduced  almost  all  the  West  of  Europe  to  silence. 
Who,  indeed,  could  wish  to  preserve  the  details  of 
revolutions,  every  crisis  of  which  exposed  to  view  the 
vices  of  the  people  and  of  the  government .''  The 
Germans  could  not  write,  the  Romans  would  not.  One 
man  alone,  a  prelate  and  a  saint,  —  Gregory,  bishop  of 
Tours, — undertook,  at  the  end  of  the  following  century, 
to  make  known  to  us  the  origin  of  the  French  mon- 
archy ;  and,  by  his  work,  he  affords  the  only  light 
that  has  been  thrown  upon  the  other  countries  of  the 
West.  It  has  been  abridged,  and  copied,  and  amplified, 
by  turns,  from  the  seventh  century  to  our  own  time  : 
but  commentaries  serve  only  to  mislead  us ;  we  must 
consult  the  original,  if  we  wish  to  come  at  truth.  This 
rude  narrative  ought  to  satisfy  us ;  it  exhibits  at 
once  the  manners  of  the  age,  and  the  opinions  of  the 
church  ;  and  though  it  consists  almost  entirely  of  a 
tissue  of  crimes,  we  ought  not  hastily  to  turn  from  its 
perusal.  It  is  right  to  know  what  we  have  to  dread 
from  the  various  revolutions  of  human  society.  We 
shall  set  a  higher  value  on  the  virtues  of  our  contem- 
poraries, and  on  the  happiness  we  enjoy,  and  we  shall 
endure  Avith  greater  patience  the  evils  which  accom- 
pany all  human  institutions,  when  Ave  know  what  our 
ancestors  really  were. 


CHAP.  VIII,  ■   ST.    GREGOmr    OP    TOURS.  177 

Clovis  had  fixed  himself  at  Soissons.  The  rich  booty 
which  he  had  divided  among  his  victorious  warriors, 
and  which,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Franks,  had 
been  distributed  by  lot  in  equal  portions  amongst  all  the 
soldiers,  had  drawn  fresh  adventurers  to  their  standards. 
There  was  no  other  king  of  the  Franks  who  seemed  to 
equal  him  in  activity  and  courage  ;  and  the  German 
was  always  free  to  choose  the  chief  with  whom  he  pre- 
ferred to  share  the  dangers  of  the  war.  Nearly  a  third 
part  of  Gaul,  from  the  Oise  to  the  Loire,  was  given  up 
without  defence  to  the  pillage  or  conquest  of  the  Franks, 
"We  have  no  record  of  their  progress  in  these  provinces. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  weakness  and  cowardice 
of  the  Romans,  it  was  impossible  for  an  army  of  4000 
men  to  occupy  at  once  their  rural  domains  and  their 
cities.  Fourteen  years  elapsed  between  the  first  victory 
of  Clovis  over  Syagrius,  and  the  time  when  the  Loire, 
the  Mozelle,  the  Jura,  and  the  Rhine,  formed  the 
boundaries  of  his  kingdom.  During  this  period,  from 
48()  to  .500,  the  Romans  negotiated  with  him,  in  hopes 
of  lightening  the  yoke  which  they  were  forced  to  bear. 
They  sent  a  deputation  to  the  conqueror,  and,  by  the 
payment  of  tribute  money,  bought  his  protection. 

The  bishops,  on  their  side,  were  intent  on  the  con- 
version of  the  king  who  was  to  reign  over  them.  They 
found  his  mind  accessible  to  that  fanaticism  with  which 
they  wished  to  inspire  it;  and  as  he  was  not  yet  a 
Christian,  nor  consequently  imbued  with  a  sectarian 
partiality,  they  imagined  he  would  be  more  favourable 
to  orthodox  opinions  than  the  kings  of  the  Burgundians 
and  Visigoths,  who  were  Arians.  They  resolved  to 
take  advantage  of  his  fondness  for  women,  to  gain  him 
over  to  their  side ;  and  after  causing  him  to  divorce  his 
wife  —  who  was  a  Frank  and  a  pagan,  and  the  mother  of 
his  eldest  son,  —  Aurelian,  a  (iaul,  the  Christian  adviser 
of  Clovis,  negotiated  his  marriage  with  Chlotilde. 

The  barbarian  kings  intermarried  with  none  but 
women  of  royal  blood  ;  and  Clovis  would  have  scorned 
the  daughter  of  a  subject.     He  was  not  yet  powerful 

VOL.  I.  ^ 


178  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  VIII. 

enough  to  obtain  the  daughter  of  a  king  of  the  Vandals, 
the  Burgundians,  or  the  Visigoths ;  but  Chlotilde  was  at 
the  same  time  of  royal  descent,  and  persecuted.  Gondicar, 
king  of  the  Burgundians,  who  died  in  4^63,  had  left 
four  sons,  each  of  them  bearing  the  title  of  king,  com- 
manding the  armies,  and  sharing  the  conquests  of  their 
nation.  But  Gondebald,  the  eldest  of  these  four  princes, 
took  away  the  life  of  his  three  brothers  in  succession. 
Having  surprised  two  of  them,  Chilperic  and  Godemar, 
in  their  residence  at  Vienne,  he  killed  Chilperic,  who 
had  surrendered  himself  his  prisoner,  with  his  own 
hand;  ordered  his  wife  to  be  thrown  into  the  Rhone 
with  a  stone  tied  round  her  neck ;  and  her  two  sons  to 
be  beheaded,  and  their  bodies  cast  into  a  well. 

Two  daughters  remained  captive  :  one  of  these  was 
Chlotilde.  Godemar,  the  other  brother,  had  taken  re- 
fuge in  a  tower  ;  but  the  savage  Gondebald  had  the 
lower  part  filled  with  combustibles,  and  burned  him 
alive.  The  fourth  brother,  Godegesil,  perished  ten  years 
later. 

Chlotilde,  who  escaped  the  disastrous  fate  of  her 
house,  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  confinement  at 
Geneva.  She  had  been  educated  by  an  orthodox  bishop. 
She  was  handsome,  and  enthusiastic ;  and  she  felt  it  an 
act  of  piety  to  hate  her  persecutor.  She  abhorred 
him  as  the  murderer  of  her  nearest  kindred,  and,  still 
more,  because  he  was  an  Arian ;  but  she  dissembled 
her  hatred  at  the  moment  of  her  marriage.  Gonde- 
bald, like  many  other  kings,  thought  his  crimes  for- 
gotten, as  soon  as  he  could  forget  them  himself ;  and 
consented  to  the  marriage  of  his  niece  with  Clovis,  as  a 
bond  of  union  between  the  two  nations.  Ste.  Chlotilde, 
as  she  was  called  by  the  priests,  was  very  imperfectly 
known  to  her  uncle  Gondebald.  No  length  of  time, 
no  attempts  at  reconciliation,  no  benefits  conferred, 
could  eradicate  from  her  heart  the  hatred  she  had  con- 
ceived. Her  marriage  was  celebrated  in  493 ;  and, 
thirty  years  after,  she  demanded  and  obtained  the  ven- 
geance for  which,  she  had  constantly  panted.       The 


CHAP.  VIII.  CLOVIS. CHLOTILDE.  179 

confidence  which  the  bishops  of  Gaul  had  placed  in 
the  charms  of  Chlotilde  was  fully  justified.  She  con- 
verted her  husband  ;  persuaded  him  first  to  have  his 
children  baptised ;  and  afterwards  prevailed  on  hirn  to 
seek  the  protection  of  her  God  in  a  moment  of  danger. 

In  490,  the  Allemans  had  invaded  all  the  country 
which  lies  between  the  Moselle  and  the  j\Ieuse.  To 
the  Franks,  this  was  a  national  war ;  all  their  tribes 
assembled,  and  gave  battle  to  the  aggressors  at  Tolbiac, 
four  leagues  from  Cologne.  They  were  repulsed,  how- 
ever, and  seemed  upon  the  point  of  being  routed,  when 
Clovis  invoked  thd  God  of  Chlotilde:  animated  with 
fresh  courage,  he  again  attacked  the  enemy  ;  the  Alle- 
man  chief  was  slain ;  and  his  soldiers  immediately 
offered  to  join  the  standard  of  Clovis,  and  acknowledge 
him  as  their  king.  The  two  nations  spoke  the  same 
language,  their  origin  was  the  same,  and  their  manners 
and  customs  were  similar  ;  they  were,  therefore,  easily 
united  ;  and  Clovis  returned  from  the  field  of  Tolbiac 
at  the  head  of  an  army  much  more  numerous  than  that 
which  he  had  led  thither,  or  than  any  which  he  had  ever 
before  commanded.  He  Avas  acknowledged  king  by  his 
enemies,  and  suzerain  or  chief  by  the  otlier  kings  of 
the  Franks,  who  till  then  had  been  liis  equals. 

On  his  return  to  Soissons,  his  seat  of  empire,  Clovis 
became  one  of  the  catechumens  of  St.  Remi,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Rheims :  his  soldiers,  carried  away  like  him- 
self by  tlie  universal  behef  of  the  people  amongst  whom 
they  lived,  by  the  miracles  which  they  heard  attested, 
and  by  the  magnificence  of  the  catholic  worship,  readily 
followed  his  example.  On  Christmas-day,  49^)",  he 
repaired,  with  an  army  of  only  SOOO  soldiers,  to  tlie 
cathedral  of  Rheims,  where  St.  Remi  poured  upon  him 
the  water  of  baptism,  uttering  these  words,  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  :  — "  Row  down  thy  head,  oh  ! 
Sicambrian,  with  'humility.  Adore  what  thou  hast 
burnt,  and  burn  wliat  thou  hast  adored."  The  joy  of 
tlie  clergy  throughout  Gaul  was  boundless,  when  they 
heard  of  the  conversion  of  kiiig  Clovis.  In  him,  the 
N    2 


180  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.    CHAP.        VIII. 

orthodox  believers  gained  a  defender,  and  an  avenger ; 
a  persecutor  of  their  rivals,  at  the  moment  when  their 
heed  was  greatest.  For  the  emperor  Zeno  at  Constan- 
tinople, and  all  the  barbarian  kings, — at  Ravenna,  at 
Vienne,  at  Toulouse,  at  Carthage,  in  Spain  and  in 
Germany,  —  were  either  heretic  or  pagan.  Hence  it  is, 
that  the  king  of  the  Franks  has  been  called  the  eldest 
son  of  the  church.  St.  Avitus,  archbishop  of  Vienne, 
on  the  Rhone,  wrote  to  Clovis, — "  Your  faith  is  our  vic- 
tory." This  prelate  was  a  Burgundian  subject ;  but  he 
rejoiced  in  the  expectation  that  Clovis  would  attack  the 
rulers  of  his  nation ;  and  all  the  clergy  of  Gaul, 
whether  they  were  subject  to  the  Burgundians  or  Visi- 
goths, showed  the  same  zeal  for  the  future  triumph  of 
Clovis.  At  the  same  time,  the  confederated  towns  of 
Armorica,  which  hitherto  had  defended  themselves 
against  the  barbarians  by  the  force  of  their  own  arms, 
offered  to  treat  with  Clovis.  They  entered  into  an 
alliance  with  him,  or,  rather,  became  incorporated  in  his 
nation ;  and  the  Armoricans  were  placed  upon  an  equal 
footing  with  the  Franks.  AU  the  barbarian  soldiers 
that  remained  scattered  throughout  Gaul,  who  till  then 
had  followed  the  standards  of  Rome,  under  the  name  of 
Letes  or  Confederates,  were  in  like  manner  adopted  by 
the  Frankic  nation  ;  the  new  king  saw  his  empire 
extending  to  the  ocean  ;  to  the  Loire,  which  separated 
it  from  the  Visigoths ;  to  the  mountains  around  Lan- 
gres,  the  boundary  of  the  Burgundian  territory  ;  and 
to  the  Rhine,  which  divided  it  from  the  independent 
Franks. 

Such  an  extent  of  conquest  might  have  sufficed  to 
satisfy  the  ambition  of  the  little  chieftain  of  3000 
warriors.  But  Clovis  knew  that  he  co'ild  only  main- 
tain his  influence  over  his  companions  in  arms  by  new 
victories,  and  by  holding  out  fresh  booty  to  their  ra- 
pacity. Many  of  the  soldiers  lamented  the  submission 
of  the  Roman  provinces.  Each  of  those  protected  by 
Clovis  was  rescued  from  the  cupidity  of  plunderers  : 
but  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  them,  that  whatever  ad- 


CHAP.  VIII.  CLOVIS.  181 

ditions  he  had  made  to  his  territory,  there  would  always 
remain  in  Gaul  provinces  to  pillage,  estates  to  parcel 
out,  and  inhabitants  to  reduce  to  slavery. 

Clovis  sought  an  occasion  of  quarrel  with  the  two 
nations  which  shared  with  him  the  empire  of  Gaul ;  but 
with  that  policy  to  which  he  owed  success,  even  more 
than  to  his  valour,  he  began  by  giving  them  insidious 
counsels  before  he  attempted  to  surprise  them. 

The  Burgundians  were  first  the  object  of  his  attack. 
They  were  governed  by  the  two  brothers  of  Chlotilde  : 
Godegesil,  who  had  fixed  his  seat  at  Geneva;  and  Gon_ 
dibard,  who  resided  at  Vienne.  The  kingdom  was  not 
divided  between  them,  but  each  had  endeavoured  to 
secure  a  large  number  of  warriors,  or  Leudes  :  this 
name,  which  answers  to  lieges*,  describes  those  parti- 
sans attached  to  their  chiefs  by  benefits  conferred. 
Each  of  the  brothers,  in  distrust  of  the  other,  had  re- 
tired to  as  great  a  distance  as  possible,  to  escape  from 
perfidious  snares,  and  to  enjoy  at  liberty  the  pleasures 
then  attached  to  kingly  power.  From  this  mutual 
dread  proceeded  the  custom  so  universal  among  bar- 
barians, of  designating  kings  by  the  name  of  their  capitals, 
rather  than  by  that  of  their  provinces.  One  was  king  at 
Vienne,  the  other  king  at  Geneva,  but  both  of  them 
were  kings  of  the  Burgundians.  In  the  year  500, 
Clovis  gained  over  Godegesil :  he  persuaded  him  to 
separate  himself  from  his  brother  at  the  moment  when 
the  Franks  were  giving  battle  to  his  countrymen  ;  and 
as  a  reward  for  his  compliance,  he  promised  to  assist  him 
in  gaining  sole  possession  of  the  throne  of  the  Burgun- 
dians. He  then  declared  war  upon  this  people,  and 
led  on  his  Franks  to  the  combat.  The  two  nations 
met  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ousche,  near  Dijon  ;  but  at 
the  very  moment  when  the  battle  was  about  to  begin, 
Godegesil,  with  all  his  forces,  deserted  the  national 
banner,  and  joined  that  of  Clovis.     Gondebald,  in  dis- 

•  Leule  —  people.    (Gennaii.)  —  (TransL) 
N    3 


182  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.   VIII. 

may,  took  to  flight,  and  could  not  believe  himself  safe 
until  he  had  shut  himself  up  in  Avignon.  Godegesil 
lost  no  time  in  reaching  his  brother's  palace  at  Vienne, 
and  taking  possession  of  all  the  riches  it  contained ; 
while  Clovis  pursued  his  ravages  into  Provence, 
where,  tearing  up  the  vines  and  burning  the  olive  trees, 
he  forcibly  carried  off  the  peasants,  and  loaded  his  sol- 
diers with  booty.  But  when  he  endeavoured  to  render 
himself  master  of  Avignon,  he  found  the  walls  too 
strong  for  warriors  so  ignorant  of  the  art  of  besieging  : 
he  was  obliged,  therefore,  to  enter  into  a  compromise  Avith 
Gondebald,  and  to  consent  to  retire  to  the  banks  of  the 
Seine,  with  all  the  spoils  which  his  troops  had  obtained. 

Gondebald  being  delivered  from  the  fear  of  the  Franks, 
immediately  marched  to  Vienne  with  a  great  body  of 
Burgundians,  who  were  indignant  at  the  treachery 
of  Godegesil.  He  gained  entrance  through  an  aque- 
duct, and  having  found  his  brother,  who  in  terror 
had  sought  refuge  in  a  church,  he  put  him  to 
death,  as  well  as  the  bishop  who  had  granted  him 
asylum.  He  destroyed  by  horrible  tortures  all  those 
whom  he  accused  of  participating  in  his  brother's  trea- 
son, and  caused  his  authority  again  to  be  acknowledged 
throughout  the  army  of  the  Burgundians. 

Clovis,  in  the  mean  time,  had  not  been  making  con- 
quests ;  possibly,  this  was  not  his  object ;  but  he  had 
been  enriching  his  army.  At  the  end  of  a  few  years, 
he  led  it  forth  on  another  expedition.  Alaric  II.  reigned 
over  the  Visigoths,  and  between  him  and  the  Franks 
there  had  been  some  disputes.  Clovis  proposed  to  him 
to  hold  a  conference  in  an  island  on  the  Loire,  near 
Amboise :  here  he  settled  all  their  differences,  removed 
all  Alaric's  anxiety  about  his  own  projects,  and  a  lasting 
peace  was  confirmed  between  the  Visigoths  and  the 
Franks  by  mutual  oaths.  On  his  return  home,  he  assem- 
bled his  troops  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  between 
Soissons  and  Paris,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  507- 
"  I  cannot  bear,"  he  said,    "  that  those  Arians   (the 


CHAP.  VIII.  CLOVIS.  183 

Visigoths)  should  possess  the  best  part  of  Gaul :  let  us 
go  forth  against  them,  and  when,  by  God's  help,  we 
have  overcome  them,  we  will  reduce  their  country  under 
our  dominion^  and  their  persons  to  slavery."  A  longer 
harangue  was  not  required  to  excite  the  Franks  to  war- 
fare. They  made  the  air  resound  with  the  clang  of  their 
arms,  and  followed  their  king  to  the  field. 

Clovis  had  deceived  his  enemy  by  a  shameful  perjury  ; 
but,  in  order  to  gain  the  blessing  of  heaven  upon  his 
arms,  he  caused  it  to  be  proclaimed  that  any  soldier 
would  be  punished  with  death  who  should  carry  off  so 
much  as  a  blade  of  grass  from  the  territory  of  Tours 
without  paying  for  it,  this  country  being  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  St.  Martin.  The  church,  at 
that  time,  did  not  hesitate  between  the  two  kinds  of 
merit  —  liberality  toward  monks,  or  probity.  St.  Gre- 
gory of  Tours  assures  us  that  the  march  of  Clovis 
was  constantly  directed  and  aided  by  miracles.  The 
perpetual  chorus  of  monks,  —  the  Ff<nlleuthim,  who 
night  and  day  sang  psalms  in  the  church  of  Tours, 
announced  his  victory  by  a  prophecy.  A  fawn  guided 
his  passage  across  the  waters-  of  the  Vienne  ;  a  column 
of  fire  led  his  army  on  to  Poictiers.  At  the  distance  of 
ten  leagues  from  this  city,  Clovis  encountered  the  Visi- 
goths, commanded  by  Alaric  II.  He  vanquished  their 
in  the  plains  of  Vougle  (a.d.  507);  their  king  was  killed^ 
and  their  whole  army  routed.  The  greater  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  Visigoths,  between  the  Loire  and  the 
Pyrenees,  was  ravaged  by  the  Franks,  who  spent  a  con- 
siderable time  in  conquering  these  provinces  ;  but  during 
a  four  years'  war,  of  which  we  have  no  details,  they  lost 
a  part  of  what  they  had  gained,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Clovis,  in  511,  his  authority  was  acknowledged 
by  little  more  than  the  half  of  Aquitaine. 

The  other   Frankic  kings   could   certainly  no  longer 
be  considered  as  the   equals  of  Clovis  ;  some  of  them 
had,  indeed,  fought  by  his  side,  but  not  one  had   dis- 
covered the  talents  of  a  great  general,  or  a  great  poli- 
N  4 


184  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  VIII. 

tician.  All  of  them  had  given  themselves  up  to  that 
effeminacy  which  so  rapidly  corrupts  uncivilised  man  in 
affluence.  Nevertheless^  Clovis  still  regarded  them  as 
rivals  ;  he  feared  the  inconstancy  of  the  people,  who 
might  at  some  future  time  seek  among  the  other  kings 
a  protector  against  himself ;  and  he  dreaded  the  develope- 
ment  of  talents  dangerous  to  his  power  in  them  or 
their  children,  or  the  comparison  that  might  be  made 
between  their  mildness  and  his  own  cruelty.  He 
therefore  came  to  the  resolution  of  getting  rid  of  them, 
and  began  with  Siegebert,  king  of  the  Ripuarians,  his 
companion  in  arms,  who  reigned  at  Cologne.  In  the 
year  509,  he  persuaded  Chloderic,  the  son  of  this  unfor- 
tunate king,  who  had  accompanied  him  in  his  war 
against  the  Visigoths,  to  assassinate  his  father ;  pro- 
mising that  he  would  afterwards  assist  him  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  his  parricide.  The  crime  was  committed; 
but  Clovis  made  no  attempt  to  screen  the  perpetrator, 
whom  he  caused  to  be  assassinated  in  his  turn  ;  and 
immediately  assembled  the  Ripuarians,  who  raised 
him  upon  a  shield  and  proclaimed  him  their  king. 
Shortly  after,  Clovis  laid  snares  for  Cararic,  who 
reigned  at  Terouane.  Having  obtained  possession 
of  his  person,  he  compelled  him  and  his  son  to  assume 
holy  orders,  after  which  he  cut  off  both  their  heads. 
He  seduced  the  Leudes  of  Ragnacar,  who  reigned  at 
Cambray,  by  presents ;  and  having  commanded  him 
and  his  brother  to  be  brought  before  him  in  chains  ; 
"  Art  thou  not  ashamed,"  said  he,  "  of  disgracing  our 
descent  by  allowing  thyself  to  be  thus  manacled  .''  thou 
oughtest  to  have  died  honourably."  Then  raising  his 
arm,  with  one  blow  of  his  axe  he  cut  off  his  head. 
"  And  as  for  thee,"  said  he  to  the  brother  of  Ragnacar, 
"  hadst  thou  defended  thy  brother,  thou  wouldst  not 
now  be  a  captive  with  him."  And  immediately, 
by  a  mortal  blow,  he  laid  him  prostrate  in  his  turn. 
He  also  procured  the  death  of  several  other  long-haired 
kings  who  reigned  over  smaller  tribes ;  then  pretending 


CHAP.  VIII.  CLOVIS.  185 

to  repent  of  his  barbarity,  he  offered  his  protection 
to  all  those  who  had  escaped  the  massacre.  He 
hoped  thus  to  discover  any  of  his  relations  whose 
lives  might  have  been  preserved,  that  he  might  rid 
himself  of  them  also :  but  they  had  all  perished,  and 
his  work  was  accomphshed.  So  says  St.  Gregory,  from 
whom  we  have  borrowed  the  history  of  all  these  horrors  ; 
and  whose  sentiments,  even  better  than  his  narrative, 
pourtray  the  spirit  of  the  age  he  hved  in.  "  Thus 
did  God  every  day  cause  some  among  his  enemies 
to  fall  into  his  hands,  and  increased  the  limits  of  his 
kingdom;  because  he  walked  with  an  upright  heart  be- 
fore the  Lord,  and  did  that  which  was  pleasing  in  his 
sight,     (b.  ii.  c.  40.) 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  by  the  larger  part  of  the 
clergy  of  Gaul,  Clovis  was  considered  a  saint.  His 
success  was  attributed  to  a  succession  of  miracles, 
which  enabled  him  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  French 
monarchy  :  one  of  these,  more  famous  than  the  rest, 
has  been  commemorated  ever  since,  at  the  consecration 
of  the  kings  of  France.  It  was  asserted  that  a  phial, 
called  La  Sainte  Ampoulle,  was  brought  from  heaven 
by  a  white  dove  to  St.  Remi,  and  contained  the  holy 
oil  with  which  he  was  to  anoint  the  king.  This  story, 
however,  did  not  gain  much  credit  until  the  ninth  century. 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  respect  and  deference  which 
Clovis  testified  on  all  occasions  for  the  clergy,  in  re- 
turn for  the  zeal  with  which  they  espoused  his  cause. 
We  learn,  from  letters  which  have  been  preserved  in  the 
collection  of  the  councils,  that,  in  every  country  which 
was  the  seat  of  war,  he  had  taken  under  his  special 
protection  not  only  the  persons  and  property  of  bishops 
and  priests,  but  even  of  their  mistresses  and  their  child- 
ren. He  had  freed  the  property  of  the  church  from 
every  kind  of  tax,  and  had  consulted  the  ecclesiastical 
council  upon  the  administration  of  his  kingdom. 

We  should  fall  into  a  great  error,  if  we  compared 
this  administration  with  any  of  those  wliich  exist  in  mo- 


186  PALL   OP    THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE.       CHAP.  Vin. 

dem  monarchies.    Clovis  reigned  without  any  ministry, 
or  civil  establishment :    he  was  not  the  king  of  Gaul, 
but  king  of  the  Franks  who  dwelt  in  Gaul.      He  was 
the  captain  of  a  sovereign  army,  both  by  choice  and  by 
inheritance;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  none  but  a  descendant 
of  Merovsus  would  have  been  exalted  by  the  soldiers 
to  this  high  dignity  ;  and,  on  the  other,  they  would  not 
have  entrusted  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  any  but  the  most 
able  and  fortunate  of  the  royal  line.     If  Clovis  had  ap- 
peared not  to  justify  their  choice,  his  head  would  soon 
have  fallen  under  the  francisque,  like  those  of  the  kings 
whom  he  had  removed  out  of  his  way.     This  sovereign 
army,  by  whose  aid  he  reigned,  very  much  as  the  dey  of 
Algiers  reigned    among    the  janissaries,  never  quitted 
arms  for  agriculture.     They  had  not  taken  possession 
of  the  estates   or   the   persons  of  the   Gauls ;   for,  by 
spreading  themselves  over  a  large  territory,  they  would 
have  been  lost ;  they  kept  together,  or  at  least  their  can- 
tonments were  always  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris  or 
of  Soissons,  according  as  the  residence  of  Clovis  was  in 
one  or  the  other  of  these  cities.     The  soldiers  were  ge- 
nerally quartered  upon  the  citizens :   they  lived  in  the 
enjoyment    of  luxury    and   brutal    pleasures,    such    as 
barbarians  could  relish,  until    the  wealth  acquired  in 
former  expeditions  was  dissipated,  and  then  urgetl  their 
king   to  lead  them  against  some  new  enemy.     As  the 
nation  of  Franks  had  never  emigrated  in  a  body,  Uke 
that  of  the  Burgundians  and  Visigoths,  there  were  no 
families  to  be  planted,  no  partitions  of  land  to  be  made. 
By  degrees  only,  as  the  veteran  soldier   retiring   from 
ser\'ice  asked  the  grant  of  some  uncultivated  spot,  the 
king  was  called   upon   to  distribute  land,   and   he  had 
always  more  to  give  than  he  found  claimants  for.    Often, 
indeed,  the  soldier  helped  himself,  and,  with  the  aid  of  his 
francisque,  got  rid  of  the  proprietor  whose  dwelling  or 
whose  land  he  coveted  :  aware  that,  if  he  chanced  to  be 
pursued  and  condemned  for  this  murder,   the  law  re- 
quired nothing  but  a  mulct  or  widergeld  of  100  sols  of 


CHAP.  VIII.       INSTITUTIONS    OF    THE    FRANKS.  1 87 

gold  (equal  to  50/.  sterling)  for  the  murder  of  a  Roman 
landholder. 

The  army,  thus  kept  together,  was  summoned  to  de- 
liberate not  only  in  what  was  properly  called  the  Champ 
de  Mars,  where  the  review  took  place  at  the  commence- 
ment of  spring,  but  on  all  public  occasions,  whether  for 
peace  or  for  war,  —  to  make  laws,  or  to  pass  sentence. 
The  Romans  were  not  admitted  to  these  assemblies ; 
they  had  no  part  in  the  sovereignty ;  but  they  had  all 
the  resources  of  court  intrigue  and  flattery ;  all  the 
places  of  finance  or  of  correspondence,  in  which  their 
education  and  literary  acquirements  were  indispensable  ; 
and  all  offices  in  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  :  in  each 
of  these  different  careers  they  not  only  preserved,  but 
very  often  augmented,  the  fortune  they  had  received  from 
their  fathers,  and  their  credit  increased  so  much,  that  be- 
fore long  they  enjoyed  the  special  favour  and  confidence 
of  the  Frankic  kings. 

The  towns  continued  to  be  governed  by  the  Roman 
law,  with  their  curia,  or  municipalities.  To  all  those 
places,  however,  which  had  put  themselves  under  his 
protection,  Clovis  sent  a  Frankic  officer  called  Graf,  or 
Grafio,  answering  pretty  nearly  to  the  Roman  Comes.  He 
superintended  the  municipality,  collected  certain  royal 
dues,  and  presided  over  the  partial  assemblies  of  the 
Franks,  —  the  courts  where  justice  was  administered 
when  any  troop  of  Franks  was  settled  in  a  town. 

In  the  rural  districts  the  people  remained  slaves,  as 
they  were  before  the  conquest.  They  laboured  for  the 
proprietor  of  the  estate  upon  which  they  happened  to 
live,  whether  he  were  Frank  or  Roman.  War  had  ruined 
many  citizens,  and  greatly  augmented  the  number  of 
captives  :  the  common  lot  of  prisoners  was  slavery  ;  and 
a  warlike  expedition,  crowned  with  brilliant  success,  was 
often  the  cause  of  transporting  from  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone  to  those  of  the  Seine  whole  droves  of  unhappy 
beings  destined  to  work  for  any  masters  who  might  be- 
come their  purchasers. 


188       FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  VIU. 

"  After  having  done  all  these  things/'  continues  Gre- 
gory of  Tours,  "  Clovis  died  at  Paris  on  the  5th  of 
November,  511.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Apostles,  now  called  Ste.  Genevieve ;  which,  in 
concert  with  queen  Chlotilde,  he  had  founded.  He  had 
reigned  in  aU  thirty  years, — five  since  the  battle  of 
Vougle ;  and  had  completed  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his 


189 


CHAP.  IX. 

COURSE    OF    BARBARIC     INVASION     FROM     EAST    TO     WEST. THE 

EASTERN    EMPIRE,    BY    MERE    GOOD    FORTUNE,      SURVIVES     THE 

WESTERN.  EMPERORS    OF    THE    EAST.  —  PERSIAN    KINGS.— 

OSTROGOTHS.  THEIR     KING     DIETRICH,     COMMONLY    CALLED 

THEODORIC  ;    HIS    EDUCATION  AT    THE    COURT  OF    ZENO.  HIS 

CONQUEST     OF     ITALY.  HIS     WISDOM    AND     MODERATION.  

RESTORED  PROSPERITY  OF  ITALY  UNDER   HIS   RULE. RELIGIOUS 

TOLERATION. EXTENT  OF  HIS  TERRITORY.  LETTERS  OF  HIS 

SECRETARY     CASSIODORUS.  HIS      WAR     WITH     CLOVIS.  HIS 

DEATH. HIS     UNWORTHY     SUCCESSORS. AGGRANDISEMENT 

OF  THE  FRANKS,  THE  MOST  BARBAROUS  AND  THE  MOST  POWER- 
FUL OF  THE   GERMAN   NATIONS.  INCORPORATION    OF     OTHER 

TRIBES    WITH    THEM.  CONQUEST     OF    THE     THURINGIANS.  

REIGNS  OF  THE    FOUR  SONS  OF  CLOVIS  ;    THIERRY,  CHLOTHAIRE, 

CHILDEBERT,  AND  THEODEBERT.  CONQUEST  OF  BURGUNDY. 

GONDEBALD.  ATROCITIES  OF  THE    FRANKIC  KINGS.  DEATH 

OF  CHLOTHAIRE.  A.  D.  493 561. 

The  torrent  of  barbaric  invasion  had  rolled  its  waves 
from  the  East  to  the  West :  it  had  received  its  first  im- 
pulse in  Scythia^  whence  it  had  followed  the  shores  of 
the  Black  Sea,  and  laid  waste  that  enormous  Illyrian 
isthmus,  on  the  coast  of  which  the  new  city  of  Constan- 
tine  was  built.  Almost  all  the  tribes  which  had  con- 
quered the  West,  had  previously  vented  their  fury  upon 
the  empire  of  the  East :  Goths  of  every  denomination. 
Vandals,  Alans,  and  Huns :  nevertheless,  the  Eastern 
empire  survived  the  tempest,  while  that  of  the  West 
perished  in  it.  The  former  was  certainly  not  more  war- 
like than  the  latter,  nor  better  }:^overned,  nor  more  peo- 
pled,  nor  more  wealthy;  it  had  no  f!;lorious  recollections 
of  the  past  to  recall,  and  it  contained  no  sparks  of 
ancient  patriotism  which  a  virtuous  administration  might 
have  rekindled.  The  senate  of  Constantinople,  an  im- 
perfect copy  of  that  of  Rome,  was  always  despicable  and 


IPO         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX- 

timid.  The  character  of  the  great  was  as  servile  as 
that  of  the  people.  The  emperors  assumed  the  haughty 
language  of  despotism^  and  though  they  professed  Chris- 
tianity^  they  continued  to  accept  worship  offered  to 
them  as  divinities.  The  ambassadors  of  Theodosius  II. 
engaged  in  a  violent  dispute  with  the  ministers  of 
Attila,  at  the  very  time  when  they  were  about  to  sup- 
plicate for  peace  at  the  feet  of  that  monarch,  declaring 
that  it  was  impious  to  compare  Attila,  who  was  only  a 
man,  with  their  emperor  Theodosius,  who  was  a  god. 
If  we  compare  the  Greeks  of  the  fifth  century,  who  main- 
tained their  existence,  with  the  Romans,  who  forfeited 
theirs,  we  shall  find  them  to  have  been  superior  neither 
in  talents,  nor  in  virtue,  nor  in  energy,  but  simply  more 
fortunate. 

After  the  extinction  of  the  race  of  the  great  Theo- 
dosius (a.  d.  450),  the  throne  of  Constantinople  was 
occupied,  during  a  period  of  seventy-seven  years,  by 
five  emperors,  down  to  the  time  of  Justinian :  — Marcian 
(a.  e.  450—437)  ;  Leo,  till  474  ;  Zeno,  till  491  ; 
Anastasius,  till  518  ;  and  Justin,  till  527.  These  were 
almost  all  men  advanced  in  age,  equally  feeble  in  mind 
and  in  body,  and  raised  to  the  throne  by  women  who  go- 
verned in  their  names.  History  has  but  little  to  record  of 
them.  We  have  probably  lost  some  contemporary 
writers,  but  the  Uttle  we  know  of  these  five  reigns  leaves 
us  no  reason  to  regret  that  we  do  not  know  more. 
Thrace  and  the  European  part  of  the  empire  were  ex- 
posed to  frequent  ravages  during  these  seventy-seven 
years ;  but  the  extensive  provinces  of  Asia,  Egypt,  and 
the  Greek  islands  suffered  only  from  the  vices  of  the 
government.  These  vast  regions  could  scarcely  be  at- 
tacked, except  from  the  frontier  of  the  Euphrates  ;  and 
as  the  government  of  the  Sassanides,  in  Persia,  was 
characterised  by  an  equal  degree  of  pusillanimity,  the 
two  empires  remained  at  peace  with  one  another.  The 
kings  of  Persia,  Ferouz,  (a.d.  457 — 488);  Balasch, 
491 ;  Xobad,  531,  are  only  known  to  us  by  name  ;  they 
were  engaged  in  dangerous  wars  with  the  ^Vhite  Huns 
or  Euthalites  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  Caspian  Sea, 


CHAP.   IX."  OSTROGOTHS. THEODORIC.  IQl 

Avhich  left  them  no  leisure  to  turn  their  arms  against 
the  Romans. 

But  in  the  mean  time  a  new  people  started  from  the 
frontiers  of  the  Eastern  empire,  to  fall  upon  the  provinces 
which  had  belonged  to  the  empire  of  the  ^Vest,  and  to 
effect  another  change  in  their  condition.  The  conquest 
of  Italy  by  the  Ostrogoths  was  connected  with  the 
reigns  of  the  emperors  Zeno  and  Anastasius,  and  was 
partly  the  result  of  their  suggestions. 

^Vhilst  a  portion  of  the  nation  of  the  Goths,  which  had 
inhabited  the  western  regions,  and  were  called  Visigoths 
(^Westgothen),  had  boldly  entered  the  territory  of  the  em- 
pire, and  had  at  length  found  an  abode  in  part  of  Gaul  and 
in  Spain ;  the  Goths  of  the  East,  or  Ostrogoths  (O.stgo- 
theii),  still  remained  beyond  the  Danube.  They  had  sub- 
mitted to  Attila,  but  as  they  had  neither  treasures  nor 
cities  to  pillage,  and  nothing  to  offer  to  their  new  master 
but  brave  soldiers,  they  were  soon  incorporated  into  the 
Tartar's  army,  and  honoured  by  the  name  of  his  sub- 
jects. Three  brothers,  who  were  kings  amongst  the 
Ostrogoths,  ^Valamir,  Theodemir,  and  Widimir,  had 
followed  Attila  in  his  expeditions  against  Thrace,  and 
afterwards  against  Gaul.  After  the  death  of  the  king 
of  the  Huns,  they  had  no  difficulty  in  recovering  their 
independence.  They  occupied,  at  that  time,  the  de- 
solate plains  of  Pannonia  (Austria  and  Hungary).  The 
impulse  they  had  received  from  the  Huns,  the  wars  in 
which  they  had  been  engaged,  and  the  rapid  marches 
they  had  effected  across  Europe,  had  induced  them  to 
abandon  the  arts  of  agriculture.  The  habits  of  indolence 
and  prodigality  which  they  had  contracted  in  the  rich 
provinces  they  had  laid  waste,  unfitted  them  to  resume 
a  life  of  industry  ;  so  that,  in  the  rich  lands  of  Hungary, 
where  the  slightest  cultivation  is  rewarded  by  the  most 
abundant  crops,  a  nation,  less  numerous  than  the  popu- 
lation of  any  one  of  the  cities  they  had  destroyed  there, 
or  which  exist  there  at  the  present  time,  was  constantly 
in  dread  of  famine.  Their  cupidity  was  goaded  by  their 
privations :  the  more  they  suffered,  the  more  they  op- 
pressed the  few  wretched  inhabitants  who  remained  in 


192        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  IX, 

these  vast  regions:  they  destroyed  the  last  remnants  of 
the  race,  and  after  having  consumed  the  substance  of 
the  husbandmen  who  were  their  subjects,  they  relapsed 
into  their  former  misery. 

Theodoric,  the  son  of  Theodemir,  one  of  the  three 
brothers,  had  been  given  to  the  emperor  Zeno  as  a 
hostage,  and  brought  up  at  Constantinople.  The  ex- 
ample of  that  great  empire,  which  still  enjoyed  im- 
mense wealth,  and  exercised  the  most  valuable  of  the 
arts,  was  not  lost  upon  him.  His  mind,  open  to  in- 
struction, did  not  fail  to  profit  by  whatever  was  still  to 
be  learnt  amongst  the  Romans  in  the  arts  of  war  and 
administration ;  he  not  choose,  however,  to  submit  to 
Greek  pedagogues,  but  educated  himself,  and  would  not 
even  be  taught  to  write.  About  the  year  475,  he 
succeeded  his  father,  and  as  his  two  uncles  were  already 
dead,  he  was  then  chief  of  the  whole  Ostrogothic  na- 
tion. He  hastened  to  rescue  his  countrymen  from  the 
miseries  they  were  suffering  in  the  deserts  of  Pannonia. 
He  invaded  the  empire  of  the  East,  and  terrified  Zeno 
into  a  purchase  of  his  friendship.  He  rendered  many 
important  services  to  the  emperor  in  the  revolts  which 
troubled  his  reign  ;  but  afterwards,  being  provoked  by 
some  instance  of  bad  faith,  or  urged  by  the  mere  incon- 
stancy and  impatience  of  his  soldiers,  he  again  turned 
his  arms  against  the  empire,  and  ravaged  Thrace  with  a 
cruelty  which  has  left  a  stain  upon  his  memory.  It  was 
said  that,  in  this  expedition,  the  Goths  cut  off  the  right 
hands  of  the  peasants  they  took  prisoners,  in  order  to 
prevent  them  from  holding  the  handle  of  the  plough. 

Theodoric  could  not  live  in  peace,  and  Zeno,  his  ad- 
versary, was  at  a  loss  for  a  pretext  for  terminating  a 
war  which  he  was  unable  to  carry  on.  At  this  juncture, 
the  king  of  the  Ostrogoths  proposed  to  the  emperor  of 
Byzantium  a  negotiation  by  which  he  should  be  au- 
thorised to  conquer  Italy,  and  to  govern  it  according  to 
the  laws,  if  not  in  the  dependence,  of  the  ampire.  Zeno 
was  deUghted  to  deliver  himself  from  so  formidable  an 
enemy  at  any  price ;  he  therefore  abandoned  Odoacer  to 


CHAP.  IX.  THEODORIC.  IQS 

the  arms  of  the  Ostrogoths,  and  in  the  treaty  which 
he  finally  concluded  with  the  king  his  vassal,  expres- 
sions were  introduced  sufficiently  ambiguous  to  save  tl:e 
dignity  of  the  empire,  without  compromising  the  inde- 
pendence of  Theodoric.  The  army  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
and  with  it  the  entire  nation,  left  Thrace  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  campaign  of  489,  intending  to  cross  JNIoesia, 
Pannonia,  and  the  Julian  Alps,  in  order  to  enter  Italy. 

^randering  tribes  of  Bulgarians,  Gepidie,  and  Sar- 
matians  occupied  these  regions,  which  had  once  been 
opulent  and  populous.  The  Ostrogoths  were  sometimes 
obliged  to  maintain  a  running  fight  with  them  during  a 
march  of  700  miles;  but  in  other  parts  they  were  joined 
by  numerous  adventurers,  attracted  by  the  fame  of  The- 
odoric to  serve  under  his  banner.  W^hen  this  formid- 
able army  descended  the  Alps  of  Friuli,  Odoacer  showed 
himself  to  be  nowise  inferior  to  his  reputation  for 
activity,  skill,  and  bravery.  He  defended  Italy  better 
than  it  had  been  defended  for  ages  ;  but  after  having 
lost  three  pitched  battles,  he  was  obliged  to  quit  the 
open  country,  and  to  take  refuge,  with  his  most  faithful 
])artisans,  in  the  fortress  of  Ravenna,  where  he  stood  a 
siege  of  three  years.  He  was  at  length  obliged  to  sur- 
render, on  the  .'jth  of  March,  493  ;  the  conditions  he 
obtained  were  honourable  and  advantageous,  but  he  soon 
learned  that  good  faith  in  treaties  was  a  virtue  scarcely 
known  amongst  barbarians.  The  chiefs  themselves 
rarely  hesitated  between  their  interests  and  their  engage- 
ments, at  a  time  when  public  opinion  was  without  force, 
and  public  morality  without  principle.  Theodoric,  who 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  most  loyal  and  the  most 
virtuous  of  these  barbarian  conquerors,  caused  Odoacer 
to  be  assassinated  at  the  close  of  a  banquet  of  recon- 
ciliation. 

Tlie  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  when  he  had  conquered 
Italy,  soon  rendered  himself  master  of  the  territory 
lying  between  the  Danube  and  the  Alps,  which  formed 
the  outworks  of  the  country  he  governed.  He  also  ob- 
tained from  the  \'andals   the  restitution  of  Sicily,  by 

VOL.   I.  0 


194  FALL    OF    THE    KOJIAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   IX. 

the  terror  of  his  name  alone.  He  then  proceeded  to 
establish  the  wisest  and  most  equitable  institutions 
ivhich  any  northern  conqueror  had  ever  granted  to 
the  conquered  countries  of  the  south.  Instead  of 
oppressing  one  people  by  means  of  the  other,  he  strove 
to  hold  the  balance  fairly  between  them,  and  to  pre- 
serve, or  even  to  augment,  the  distinct  privileges  of 
each.  He  consolidated  the  entire  structure  of  the  Ger- 
manic liberties  of  the  Goths ;  their  popular  judicial 
proceedings;  their  laws  of  Scandinavian  origin;  their  in- 
stitutions, at  once  civil  and  military,  which  assembled 
the  citizens  of  the  same  districts,  to  deliberate  or  to 
judge  in  time  of  peace,  and  to  take  the  field  together  in 
time  of  war.  He  confided  the  defence  of  the  state  to 
them  exclusively,  and  towards  the  close  of  his  life  he 
went  so  far  as  to  prohibit  the  Romans  from  wearing 
arms,  (which  they  showed  little  eagerness  to  use,)  and  to 
allow  them  only  to  the  barbarians.  At  the  same  time, 
he  attempted  to  introduce  the  practice  of  agi-iculture 
among  the  Ostrogoths,  by  giving  them  lands,  which  they 
held  on  the  ancient  German  tenure  of  military  service. 
There  were  deserted  estates  in  Italy,  at  that  time,  suffi- 
cient to  have  maintained  thirty  or  forty  thousand  new  fa- 
milies, and  it  is  not  be  doubted  that  Theodoric  had 
brought  as  many  with  him  ;  but  these  warriors  had  so  far 
lost  the  habit  of  labour,  that  they  could  not  submit  to  the 
task  of  bringing  waste  lands  into  cultivation  :  they  were 
therefore  allowed  to  choose  out  of  the  estates  of  the 
Romans,  with  the  restriction,  that  no  Roman  citizen  was 
to  lose  more  than  the  third  of  his  inheritance.  It  is 
also  possible  (for  the  expressions  of  Procopius  on  this 
head  are  somewhat  ambiguous)  that  he  imposed  on  the 
Roman  husbandman  the  obligation  of  handing  over  to 
his  barbarian  master  one-third  of  his  crop ;  in  which 
case  we  must  ascribe  to  Theodoric  the  merit  of  having 
restored  that  system  of  partiary  or  metayer  husbandry 
to  which  Italy  owes  the  prosperity  of  its  agricultural 
population.  As  legislator,  he  made  great  efforts  to  unite 
in  the  Ostrogoth  the  domestic  habits  of  the  cultivator. 


CHAP.  IX.  THEODORIC.  1^5 

with  the  exercises  and  discipline  of  the  soldier.  His  wish 
was  to  instruct  his  subjects  in  the  arts,  but  not  in  the 
science  or  literature  of  the  Romans^  '•  for,"  said  he,  "^he 
who  has  trembled  at  the  rod  of  a  tutor,  will  always 
tremble  at  the  sight  of  a  sword." 

Theodoric  indulged  his  Roman  subjects  in  what  they 
called  their  liberties;  that  is  to  say,  the  names  of  the  re- 
public, the  senate,  the  consuls,  and  the  magistracy  ;  in 
their  laws,  language,  and  dress.  He  was  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  constitution  of  the  empii-e,  to  perceive 
the  great  advantages  he  might  derive  from  this  state  of 
things.  The  Romans  would  pay  taxes,  whilst  the  Goths 
would  remain  free  from  contributions  ;  and  he  could  not 
fail  to  discern  the  security  he  might  gain  from  their  settled 
obedience,  and  their  great  superiority  over  the  Goths  in 
the  science  of  administration,  in  foreign  correspondence, 
and  in  diplomacy.  With  the  aid  of  Roman  industry, 
fostered  by  the  protection  of  just  laws,  and  by  the  ac- 
tivity of  a  great  mind,  he  worked  some  ancient  gold 
and  iron  mines  in  Pannonia  and  Istria  ;  he  encouraged 
improvements  in  agriculture  ;  he  commenced  the  drain- 
ing of  the  Pontine  Marshes ;  restored  the  spirit  of 
commerce  and  manufactures,  and  re-established  the  im- 
perial posts,  which  were  then  exclusively  destined  to 
the  convenience  of  the  government,  and  of  such  as  could 
obtain  gratuitous  orders  for  horses.  In  the  year  500, 
during  a  visit  he  made  to  the  city  of  Rome,  where  he 
received  the  compliments  of  the  senate  and  the  peo2>le, 
he  assigned  an  annual  revenue  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Roman  monuments  from  the  depredations  of  builders, 
who  already  looked  upon  them  as  quarries  which  were 
to  furnish  materials  for  new  edifices.  He  even  reestab- 
lished, on  a  less  lavish,  but  still  on  an  expensive 
scale,  the  distributions  of  food  to  the  Roman  people,  and 
those  public  sjiorts  which  were  not  less  dear  to  them 
than  bread.  He  did  not,  however,  take  up  his  residence 
in  the  ancient  capital,  but  divided  his  time  between 
Ravenna,  the  most  important  fortress  of  his  kingdom, 
his  great  arsenal  and  storehouse,  and  Verona,  the  city 
o  2 


]p6  FALL    OF    THE    R05IAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   IX. 

of  his  choice^  and  that  from  which  he  was  best  enabled 
to  provide  for  the  defence  of  Italy.  Thence  it  is,  that 
in  the  Niebelungen  Lied,  the  most  ancient  German 
poem,  he  is  designated  as  Dietrich  von  Berne,  which 
must  be  translated  Theodoric  of  Verona,  since  Bern  was 
not  then  in  existence.  Although  he  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  Arian  faith,  Theodoric  granted  perfect  tolera- 
tion to  the  catholics,  and  even  acceded  to  the  wishes  of 
their  clergy,  in  forbidding  any  but  the  catholic  religion 
amongst  his  conquered  subjects.  He  distributed  re- 
Avards  and  benefices  to  the  clergy  with  such  judgment 
and  address,  that  they  remained  obedient  and  faithful  to 
him  till  nearly  the  close  of  his  life.  He  had  intended 
to  restore  the  glory  of  the  Roman  senate,  and  to  attach 
it  to  his  monarchy :  his  success  was  complete  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign,  but  the  men  whom  he  imagined  he 
had  secured,  eluded  him  towards  the  end  of  it.  The 
bishops  and  senators,  deceived  by  the  attentions  he  paid 
them,  thought  themselves  more  important  and  more 
formidable  than  they  really  were.  The  senators  wei-e 
still  distinguished  by  their  immense  wealth;  they  dwelt 
upon  the  antiquity  of  their  race,  with  a  degree  of  pride 
which  seemed  to  increase  as  the  chances  of  raisii^g  its 
dignity  by  illustrious  actions  diminished.  They  still  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  ancient  Romans,  not  only  the 
descendants,  but  the  equals,  of  the  masters  of  the 
world:  they  dreamed  of  liberty  without  equality,  public 
strength,  or  courage ;  and  they  entered  into  obscure 
conspiracies  to  restore,  not  the  republic,  but  the  empire. 
Theodoric,  who  had  become  irritable  by  prosperity  and 
suspicious  by  age,  punished  these  men,  whom  he  accused 
of  treacherous  plans  and  intentions,  more  perhaps  on 
suspicion  than  on  any  proof  of  real  guilt.  The  end  of 
his  reign  was  suUied  by  the  condemnation  of  Boethius 
and  Symmachus,  both  of  whom  were  senators,  men  of 
consular  dignity,  and  eminently  fitted  to  do  honour  to 
the  last  age  of  Rome.  Boethius  languished  for  a  long 
time  in  his  prison  at  Pavia ;  before  he  perished  by 
a  cruel  death,  he  composed  his  work,  "  De  Consolatione 


CHAP.  IX.  THEODORIC.  197 

Philosopliise,"  Avhich  is  still  read  with  pleasure.  It  is 
said  tliat  Theodoric,  exasperated  by  the  persecution  of 
the  Arians  at  Constantinople^  was  about  to  set  on  foot 
a  persecution  of  the  catholics  in  Italy,  Avhen  he  died,  on 
the  30th  of  August,  526. 

During  a  reign  of  thirty-three  years  Theodoric  carried 
on  several  successful  wars,  by  means  of  his  generals:  he 
repelled  the  attacks  of  the  Greeks,  of  various  barbaric 
tribes  from  the  Danube,  of  the  Burgtindians,  and  of  the 
Franks.  He  was,  however,  less  solicitous  for  the  ex- 
tension of  his  monarchy  by  conquest,  than  for  its  in- 
ternal prosperity.  The  population  of  his  kingdom 
rapidly  increased,  thanks  to  the  long  peace  it  enjoyed,  to 
the  wise  laws  which  he  had  promulgated,  and  to  the 
immense  resources  of  a  country  which  had  been  thus 
regenerated  by  the  barbarians,  and  in  which  every  kind 
of  labour  ensured  an  ample  recompence.  At  the  close 
of  his  reign  the  nation  of  the  Ostrogoths  was  computed 
to  possess  200,000  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  which, 
supposes  a  total  population  of  nearly  1,000,000;  we 
must  not,  however,  forget  that  it  had  been  recruited 
by  the  soldiers  and  adventurers  of  all  the  barbarous 
nations  who  flocked  to  share  the  riches  and  the  glory 
with  which  Tlieodoric  loaded  it.  It  then  occupied  not 
only  Sicily  and  Italy,  but  the  provinces  of  Rluctia  and 
Noricum  to  the  Danube,  Istria  on  the  other  side  the 
Adriatic,  and  the  south  of  Gaul  to  the  Rhone.  We 
have  no  positive  information  as  to  the  Roman  popu- 
lation of  these  territories  at  the  same  time,  but  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  also  considerably  increased. 

The  negotiations  of  Theodoric  extended  throughout 
Germany,  and  even  to  Sweden,  whence  his  countrymen 
originally  came,  and  whence  he  constantly  received 
fresh  ^migrants.  The  voluminous  collection  of  the  let- 
ters of  his  secretary  Cassiodorus  lias  been  preserved  ; 
and  although  the  trutli  often  lies  hid  under  the  ])om- 
pous  style,  cumbrous  metaphors,  or  pedantic  erudition 
of  that  rhetorician,  these  twelve  books  furnisli  us  with 
many  precious  documents,  relating  to  the  internal  ud- 
0  3 


198  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    E3IPIRE.        CHAP.  IX. 

ministration  of  the  country^  the  manners  of  the  age,  and 
the  diplomatic  relations  of  the  new  states  :  it  is  worthy 
of  note  that  the  Latin  language  was  employed  in  these 
last  communications  hy  nations  who  did  not  under- 
stand it  themselves.  We  find  letters  addressed  by 
Cassiodorus  in  the  name  of  Theodoric  to  the  kings  of 
the  Warnes,  of  the  Heruli,  and  of  the  Thuringians,  who 
were  all  completely  barbarous,  and  who  lived  beyond 
the  Danube,  begging  them  to  interest  themselves,  as 
well  as  the  king  of  the  Burgundians,  in  the  defence  of 
his  son-in-law  Alaric  II.  against  Clovis.  These  kings 
had  been  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  advantages  of 
letters,  and  of  the  means  of  communication  which  they 
afforded  to  men  separated  by  enormous  distances, 
although  united  by  the  same  interests  ;  but,  as  their 
language  had  no  alphabet,  and  neither  they  nor  any 
one  else  could  write  it,  they  took  Roman  slaves  as 
secretaries,  and  frequently  maintained  a  correspondence 
in  a  language  which  was  equally  unknown  to  both 
parties. 

Theodoric,  who  had  obliged  the  Burgundians  to  cede 
a  great  portion  of  Provence  and  the  town  of  Aries,  in 
which  he  had  established  a  prefect  of  Gaul  in  imitation 
of  the  prefecture  under  the  empire,  had  endeavoured 
to  protect  his  son-in-law  Alaric  II.,  king  of  the  Visi- 
goths in  Spain  and  Aquitaine,  Avhose  territories  ad- 
joined his  own  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone.  Deceived 
as  much  as  his'  young  ally,  by  the  oaths  of  Clovis,  he 
was  unable  to  prevent  the  battle  of  Vougle  and  the  ruin 
of  the  Visigoths  in  Aquitaine,  but  he  lost  no  time  in 
sending  them  assistance.  A  natural  son  of  Alaric,  who 
was  of  age  to  bear  arms,  had  been  placed  upon  the 
throne  during  the  infancy  of  Amalaric,  his  legitimate 
son  by  the  daughter  of  Theodoric  ;  however  valid  this 
motive  might  appear  to  the  nation,  it  did  not  satisfy 
the  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  who  immediately  caused  his 
grandson  to  be  crowned,  and  assumed  the  government 
of  Spain  and  of  the  south  of  France  as  his  guardian. 
Amalaric  in  the  meanwhile  established  his  residence  at 


CHAP.  IX.       WJEST    AND    EAST    GOXniC    KINGS.  199 

Narbonne ;  the  lustre  of  his  court,  and  of  the  officers 
who  attended  him,  served  to  remind  the  Visigoths  that 
they  were  still  an  independent  nation  ;  while  the  con- 
tinued advantages  with  which  they  carried  on  a  border 
war  against  the  Franks,  attached  them  to  the  powerful 
protector  who  maintained  the  glory  of  their  monarchy. 

If  Theodoric  had  had  a  son  to  whom  he  might  have 
transmitted  the  dominion  over  so  large  a  portion  of  Eu- 
rope, the  Goths  would  probably  have  had  the  honour  of 
restoring  the  empire  of  the  West;  but  fortune,  who  had 
conferred  more  true  greatness  on  this  prince  than  on 
any  other  barbaric  monarch,  refused  him  a  male  heir, 
and  had  granted  him  only  two  daughters.  He  died  on 
the  30th  of  August,  526",  and  his  reign  passed  like  a 
brilliant  meteor,  which  disappears  without  exercising 
any  permanent  influence  on  the  seasons.  The  two  nations 
of  the  Visigoths  and  Ostrogoths,  which  he  had  united, 
were  again  divided  at  his  death.  Amalaric,  who  was 
then  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  years  old,  remained  at 
Narbonne,  whence  he  governed  Spain,  and  that  part  of 
Gaul  which  lies  between  the  Rhone,  the  Loth,  and  the 
Pyrenees.  Athalaric,  the  grandson  of  Theodoric,  then 
only  four  or  five  years  old,  remained  at  Ravenna  under 
the  guardianship  of  his  mother  Amalasonta,  at  the  head 
of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy  and  Provence. 

As  corruption  advances  with  more  rapid  strides  among 
barbarians  than  among  civilised  nations,  so  also  does 
their  ruin.  Their  virtues  are  owing  to  position  rather 
than  to  principle  :  they  are  sober,  valiant  and  active, 
because  they  are  poor  and  hardy  from  their  infiuicy. 
Physical  pleasure  is  all  that  wealth  can  give  them ; 
they  are  unable  to  share  the  intellectual  enjoyments  of 
civilised  men,  so  that,  to  tliem,  opulence  is  the  source* 
of  every  vice.  Tlie  plan  of  this  work  does  not  compel 
us  to  enter  into  tliese  infamous  details  ;  suffice  it  to 
say,  that  froni  the  death  of  the  great  Theodoric,  to  the 
reign  of  Athanagild,  who  transferred  the  seat  of  mo- 
narchy to  Toledo  (a.]).526-.554),  four  kings  successively 
occupied  the  throne :  Amalaric  reigned  from  .'520'  to 
o  4 


200         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX. 

531,  Thendis  died  in  548,  Thendisdi  in  549,  and  Agila 
in  554.  Each  was  assassinated  by  the  hand  of  his  suc- 
sessor.  In  Italy  seven  kings  of  the  Ostrogoths  suc- 
ceeded Theodoric,  till  the  destruction  of  that  monarchy 
by  Belisarius  in  554  :  Athalaric  reigned  from  526  to 
534,  Theodatus  to  536,  Vitiges  to  540,  Hildebald  541, 
Evaria  541,  Totila  552,  and  Teja  554.  The  fate  of 
these  monarchs  was  scarcely  less  tragical  tlian  that  of 
their  contemporaries  in  Gaul  :  but  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  recur  to  them,  in  speaking  of  the  conquests  of 
■  Justinian,  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  We  shall  at  the 
same  time  witness  the  fall  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa:  we 
are  about  to  record^  that  of  the  Burgundians  in  Gattf. 
No  ray  of  light  enables  us  as  yet  to  discern  the  history 
of  the  internal  revolutions  of  Great  Britain  or  of  Ger- 
many, so  that,  after  the  death  of  Theodoric,  all  the 
interest  of  the  West  centers  in  the  history  of  the  Franks. 
The  sudden  rise  of  the  monarchy  of  the  Franks  is 
the  more  remarkable,  as,  from  the  death  of  Clovis,  that 
nation  was  distinguished  neither  by  the  virtues  or  talents 
of  its  chiefs,  nor  by  its  own  merits.  At  the  time  of 
the  conquest  of  Gaul,  the  Franks  were  the  most  bar- 
barous of  the  barbarians,  and  they  long  remained  so : 
they  manifested  an  extreme  contempt  for  the  people 
they  had  subdued,  and  treated  them  Avith  excessive 
rigour.  The  Visigoths  had  adopted  a  pretty  copious 
selection  from  the  code  of  Theodosius  (which  was  then 
the  law  of  the  empire)  as  the  law  of  their  monarchy  : 
the  Ostrogoths  had  promulgated  laws  of  their  own, 
"which  were  not  entirely  dissimilar  from  those  of  the 
Ptoman  republic,  and  which  attested  the  importance 
they  attached  to  legal  science,  and  to  the  administration 
of  justice.  The  Burgundians,  more  rude  than  the  Goths, 
had  retained  their  national  laws,  which  were  certainly 
less  polished  than  the  preceding  codes,  but  equitable  in 
spirit,  and  equally  just  to  the  conquerors  and  the 
conquered.  The  Franks  published  their  laws,  which 
were  the  most  barbarous  of  all.  The  penal  code  of  the 
Germanic  nations  reduced  itself  to  a  scale  of  fines :  every 


CHAP.  IX.  THE    FRANKS.  201 

oiFence  might  be  atoned  for  by  a  pecuniary  compen- 
sation :  wekrgeld  was  the  money  of  defence,  wiedergeld 
the  .money  of  compensation.  But  the  Franks,  both 
SaHan  and  Ripuan,  were  the  only  people  who  valued 
the  blood  of  a  Roman  at  half,  or  even  less  than  half, 
the  value  of  the  blood  of  a  barbarian.  Murder  and 
every  other  crime  was  punished  in  the  same  proportion. 
This  public  insult  offered  by  the  legislature  to  the  con- 
quered people,  was  of  a  piece  with  the  rest  of  their 
conduct.  They  despised  the  learning  of  the  Latins,  as 
■well  as  their  language,  their  arts,  and  their  sciences  :  ■ 
as  governors,  the  Franks  Avere  violent,  brutal,  and  piti- 
less :  their  respect  for  the  priests  alone  contributed  to 
render  their  yoke  supportable.  Their  high  veneration 
for  the  church,  and  their  rigorous  orthodoxy,  which 
was  the  more  easily  preserved  as  they  Avere  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  disputes  and  controversies  which  had 
arisen  on  matters  of  faith,  induced  the  clergy  to  look 
upon  them  as  their  firmest  allies.  They  were  ever  ready 
to  detest,  to  combat,  and  to  pillage  the  Arians,  Avithout 
listening  to  their  arguments.  The  bishops,  in  their 
turn,  Avere  not  very  strict  in  enforcing  the  moral  obli- 
gations of  religion  :  they  shut  their  eyes  upon  violence, 
murder,  and  licentiousness ;  they  even  seem  to  have 
publicly  authorised  polygamy,  and  they  preached  the 
divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  duty  of  passive  obedience. 
The  Franks  were,  hoAvever,  braA'e,  numerous, —  for  their 
population  had  increased  rapidly  in  Gaul, —  Avell  ai-med, 
tolerably  well  versed  in  the  ancient  Roman  discipline, 
from  their  long  service  in  the  imperial  armies,  and 
almost  always  victorious  in  battle.  The  ties  that  united 
them  were  so  lax,  their  obedience  to  the  king  and  to  the 
law  so  voluntary,  their  freedom  from  pecuniary  and  social 
obligations  so  complete,  that  no  barbarian  thought  he 
forfeited  any  of  his  national  privileges  by  entering  into 
their  community.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Franks,  Avho, 
at  their  first  establishment  on  the  other  side  the  Rhine, 
had  been  composed  of  a  confederation  of  several  small 
nations,  Avere  faraihar  Avith  the  idea  of  admitting  new 


202         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX. 

confederates :  all  they  asked  of  their  associates  was  to 
march  under  the  same  standard  in  time  of  war :  they 
did  not  interfere  with  their  internal  constitution;  they 
appointed  no  governor;  they  did  not  dismiss  their  dukes 
or  hereditary  kings,  and,  without  claiming  from  them 
forced  subsidies  of  men  or  of  money,  they  admitted  them 
to  participation  in  their  glory  and  their  power.  In  this 
manner  the  whole  of  Germany,  without  having  been 
conquered,  became  engaged  in  the  J'rankic  confederation 
in  the  course  of  that  half  century  which  comprised  the 
reigns  of  the  four  sons  of  Clovis.    (a.  d.  51 1 — 56l.) 

The  kingdom  of  Clovis,  which  had  been  founded  by 
soldiers  of  fortune  in  some  of  the  towns  of  Belgium, 
was  bounded  by  the  Rhine.  His  tribe  consisted  of 
Salians,  and,  perhaps,  of  Sicambrians  also,  though  it 
is  not  at  all  certain  that  other  Salians,  independent  of 
Clovis,  did  not  remain  in  their  former  settlements  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine.  The  Chauci,  the  Che- 
rusci,  and  the  Chamavi,  are  not  mentioned  in  the  his- 
tory of  his  reign,  any  more  than  the  other  ancient 
Franks  who  belonged  to  the  primitive  confederation. 
They  had  all  retained  their  independence  in  a  part  of 
Germany  which  is  stiU  called  Frankenland  (Franconia), 
after  them  ;  but  in  the  following  half  century  they  gladly 
entered  into  a  new  confederation,  which,  without  abridg- 
ing their  rights,  promised  to  ensure  them  many  new 
advantages.  Beyond  the  Franks  of  the  Rhine,  and  of 
Franconia,  dwelt  the  Frisons  on  the  shores  of  the  ocean, 
and  the  Saxons  at  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe  :  both  these 
nations  began  to  call  themselves  Franks,  or  at  least  to 
march  with  the  Frankic  armies,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixth  century.  The  Alemanni,  or  Swabians,  from  the 
sources  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Bavarians  on  the  banks 
of  the  Danube,  contracted  the  same  pacific  engagements, 
without  in  any  way  changing  their  respective  insiitu- 
tions  ;  except  that  their  sovereigns  probably  abandoned 
the  title  of  king  to  Clovis,  and  assumed  that  of  duke. 
The  Thuringians  alone  were  subdued  by  force  of  arms. 
They  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  powerful  monarchy 


CHAP.  IX.  FBANKIC    KINGS.  SOS 

from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  and  the  Unstrut  to  those 
of  the  Neckar;  they  had  allied  themselves  with  the 
Varnes  and  the  Heruli  ;  and  they  had  a  long  rivalship 
of  glory  to  decide,  as  well  as  a  long  list  of  grievances 
to  redress,  with  the  Franks.  The  Thuringian  war  is 
believed  to  have  occurred  in  the  years  528  and  530. 
The  sons  of  Clovis  took  advantage  of  the  dissensions  of 
its  chiefs,  and  of  those  royal  fratricides  which  stain  the 
annals  of  all  the  monarchies  of  that  age,  to  attack  this 
nation.  Three  brothers  governed  the  Thuringians  — 
Baderic,  Hermanfrid,  and  Berthar ;  they  were  recent 
converts  to  Christianity,  and  Hermanfrid  had  married 
a  niece  of  the  great  Theodoric,  king  of  Italy.  This 
princess,  who  was  accustomed  to  the  Gothic  order  of  suc- 
cession according  to  primogeniture,  upbraided  her  hus- 
band for  consenting  to  occupy  a  divided  throne.  Her- 
manfrid came  one  day  into  the  banquet  hall,  where  he 
found  the  table  partly  uncovered  :  when  he  asked  his 
wife  the  cause,  she  said,  "  You  complain  of  having  only 
half  a  table,  and  you  submit  quietly  to  having  only  half 
a  kingdom."  Hermanfrid  felt  this  reproach :  to  satisfy 
his  wife,  he  surprised  and  assassinated  his  brother  Ber- 
thar :  he  afterwards  concerted  the  death  of  Baderic 
with  Thierry,  one  of  the  sons  of  Clovis  ;  but  as  he  re- 
fused to  pay  this  prince  the  recompence  he  had  pro- 
mised, war  was  declared,  in  which  Hermanfrid  perished 
with  his  whole  family  ;  not,  however,  in  battle,  but  by 
treachery,  in  a  conference  Avith  his  enemy. 

AVe  have  advanced  in  this  history  without  mentioning 
the  names  of  the  new  kings  of  the  Franks  ;  it  is,  in- 
deed, repulsive  to  dwell  upon  the  lives  of  princes  whose 
annals  are  one  tissue  of  perfidy  and  of  crime.  Clovis 
was  succeeded  by  his  four  sons  —  Thierry,  Chlodomir, 
Childebert,  and  Chlothaire,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
twenty-five,  the  youngest  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  old. 
All  four  were  distinguished  by  their  regal  length  of  liair, 
and  all  bore  the  title  of  king,  but  they  lived  in  four  distinct 
though  not  very  distant  towns, —  Paris,  Orleans,  Soissons, 
and  Metz, — in  order  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  throne 


204)         FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX. 

without  restraint^  and  to  be  more  secure  from  the  poison 
or  the  dagger  each  dreaded  from  the  other.  The  mo- 
narchy, however,  %vas  not  divided,  though  the  royalty 
was  ;  the  Franks  still  formed  one  nation.  In  time  of 
peace  the  kings  took  so  little  part  in  the  government, 
that  the  division  of  the  royal  power  was  unperceived 
by  their  subjects  ;  in  war  each  had  his  own  leudes  or  war- 
riors, immediately  depending  upon  his  personal  favour; 
while,  in  their  more  important  expeditions,  the  Franks 
followed  the  king  in  whom  they  had  the  greatest  confi- 
dence. The  provinces  were  divided  amongst  the  bro- 
thers, but  in  so  strange  a  manner,  that  it  is  evident 
the  convenience  of  government  was  not  the  object  they 
had  in  view.  The  division  apphed  more  to  the  tribute 
of  the  Roman  towns,  and  to  the  productions  of  the  soil, 
than  to  the  territory  itself :  each  prince  chose  to  have 
his  share  in  the  vines  and  olives  of  the  south,  as  well  as 
in  the  forest  or  pasture  lands  of  the  north  ;  and  their 
possessions  were  so  intermingled  throughout  Gaul,  that 
it  Avas  impossible  to  travel  for  ten  leagues  without  pass- 
ing a  frontier. 

The  Uves  of  the  four  brothers  w^ere  not  of  equal 
duration.  Thierry,  the  eldest,  who  was  not  a  son  of 
Chlotilde,  but  of  a  concubine  or  pagan  mistress  of  Ciovis, 
died  in  534  :  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Theodebert, 
who  died  in  547,  and  was  followed  by  Theodebald,  his 
son,  who  died  in  55S  without  issue.  Chlodomir,  the 
second  of  the  Frankic  kings,  was  slain  in  the  Burgun- 
dian  war  in  b'-J.Q.  Childebert,  the  third,  died  in  558  ; 
and  Chlothaire,  who  survived  his  brothers,  inherited  aU 
their  possessions,  and  reigned  over  the  Franks  till  56l. 
It  would  be  difficult  and  useless  to  fix  this  list  of  deaths 
in  the  memory  :  the  government  of  the  four  sons  of 
Ciovis  properly  forms  but  one  reign,  which  lasted  from 
511  to  56l.  These  four  princes  laid  snares  for  each 
other,  but  they  never  broke  out  into  open  hostihty.  Vie 
shall  shortly  see  that  they  were  far  from  sparing  of  the 
blood  of  their  kindred,  but  they  probably  thought  that 
the  Franks  would  refuse  to  make  war  upon  each  other. 


CHAP.  IX.  BURGUNDIAN    KINGS.  205 

They  had  but  few  opportunities  of  displaying  their 
military  talents  :  they,  however,  made  some  warlike  ex- 
peditions ;  Thierry  and  Chlothaire  in  Thuringia,  Chilcle- 
bert  in  Narbonnensian  (iaul,  and  Theodebert  in  Italy; 
they  thus  enriched  their  soldiers  with  booty,  and  kept 
up  the  reputation  of  the  valour  of  their  nation. 

The  bravery  of  the  Franks  was  more  frequently  called 
into  action  in  numerous  voluntary  expeditions,  under- 
taken by  soldiers  of  fortune  under  captains  of  their  own 
choice,  in  order  to  share  the  spoils  of  Italy,  which  was 
at  that  time  the  theatre  of  war  between  Belisarius,  the 
general  of  Justinian,  and  the  Ostrogoths.  These  partial 
expeditions  would  have  had  no  consequences  more  im- 
portant than  the  success,  or  the  untimely  death,  of  indi- 
vidual warriors,  had  not  the  Ostrogoths  surrendered  the 
occupation  of  Provence,  by  which  means  that  important 
part  of  Gaul  was  added  to  the  empiie  of  the  Franks. 
A  still  more  brilliant  acquisition  was  that  of  Burgundy, 
which  was  the  consequence  of  a  national  war,  and  of  a 
family  quarrel. 

Gondebald,  king  of  the  Burgundians,  who  liad  mas- 
sacred his  three  brothers,  continueil  to  reign  alone  over 
that  nation  from  the  year  500  to  51 6'.  St.Avitus,  arch- 
bishop of  Vienne,  his  subject,  exhorted  him,  in  a  letter 
Avhich  is  still  extant,  to  calm  his  remorse  for  this  fra- 
tricide;  he  conjured  him  "  to  weep  no  longer  with  such 
ineffable  piety  the  death  of  his  brothers,  since  it  was 
the  good  fortune  of  the  kingdom  which  diminished  the 
number  of  persons  invested  with  royal  authority,  and 
preserved  to  the  world  such  iiily  as  were  necessary  to 
rule  it."  Gondebald,  from  the  time  of  the  commission 
of  this  crime,  governed  with  great  wisdom  and  justice  : 
he  protected  his  Roman  subjects,  and  insured  the  future 
observance  of  their  rights.  When  he  died,  in  51  (i,  his 
son  Sigismund  succeeded  him,  after  having  embraced 
the  orthodox  faith,  and  induced  the  majority  of  his 
subjects  to  join  in  his  conversion. 

Sigismund  was  canonised  by  the  Romish  church,  and 
is  to  this  day  revered  as  a  saint.      He  was  the  founder 


206         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX. 

of  the  convent  of  St.  Maurice  in  the  Valais^  which  he 
endowed  with  immense  revenues  :  we  know  nothing  of 
what  occurred  during  his  reign  of  eight  years,  except 
this  monastic  institution,  and  the  precipitation  with 
\vhich  he  caused  his  brother  Siegeric  to  be  strangled  in 
his  sleep,  on  false  suspicions.  He  lived  in  peace,  fully 
occupied  with  what  were  then  called  good  works,  such 
as  acts  of  penitence,  and  munificent  almsgivings  to  the 
monks.  St.  Chlotilde,  the  widow  of  Clovis,  who  had  also 
retired  from  the  world  to  devote  herself  exclusively  to 
the  exercises  of  religion  at  the  tomb  of  St.  IMartin  at 
Tours,  came  to  Paris  in  the  year  523,  to  meet  her 
three  sons ;  and,  according  to  the  holy  bishop,  Gregory 
of  Tours,  she  addressed  them  to  the  following  effect:  — 
"  I  exhort  you,  my  dear  children,  to  live  so  that  I  may 
never  repent  the  tenderness  with  which  I  have  brought 
you  up  ;  to  resent  with  indignation  the  injury  Avhich  I 
received  thirty-three  years  ago,  and  to  avenge,  with 
unflinching  constancy,  the  death  of  my  parents."  The 
three  sons  swore  to  perform  the  injunctions  of  their 
mother  :  they  attacked  the  Burgundians,  defeated  them 
in  battle,  secured  the  person  of  St.  Sigismund,  Avho  had 
already  assumed  the  monastic  garb,  and  was  retiring  to 
the  convent  of  St.  Maurice  :  after  keeping  him  some 
time  prisoner,  Chlodomir  caused  him  to  be  thrown  into 
a  well  near  Orleans,  with  his  wife  and  his  two  children. 
A  brother  of  Sigismund,  called  Godemar,  rallied  the 
fugitive  Burgundians,  put  himself  at  their  head,  and 
repelled  the  Franks.  Chlodomir,  who  renewed  the  at- 
tack in  524,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Veserruce.  The 
Franks  offered  to  treat  with  the  Burgundians,  and  Go- 
demar was  allowed  to  reign  in  peace  for  eight  years  ; 
but  in  532  he  was  again  assailed,  taken  prisoner,  and 
treated  as  captive  kings  were  treated  at  that  time :  the 
whole  of  Burgundy  was  subdued,  and  thenceforth 
the  Burgundians  marched  under  the  standard  of  the 
Franks,  though  they  retained  their  own  laws  and  ma- 
gistracy. 

The  revenge  of  St.  Chlotilde  was  at  length  accomplished 


CHAP.  IX.  DESCENDANTS    OF    CLOVIS.  207 

on  the  children  and  grandchildren  of  her  enemies  ;  but 
her  satisfaction  was  embittered.  Chlodomir  was  killed  ; 
and  his  brother,  Chlothaire,  though  he  had  already  two 
wives,  married  his  brother's  widow,  named  Gondioca, 
and  sent  his  three  infant  children  to  be  brought  up  by 
St.  Chlotilde.  He  feared,  however,  lest  these  sons  of 
Chlodomir  should,  at  some  future  time,  assert  their  claim 
to  their  father's  inheritance ;  and  accordingly  summoned 
his  brother  Childebert  to  Paris,  to  consult  with  him  on 
their  common  interests.  They  desired  their  mother  to 
seiul  the  three  children  to  them,  in  order  that  they  might 
be  shown  to  the  people,  and  proclaimed  kings.  Chlotilde 
accordingly  sent  them  with  a  numerous  train  of  officers, 
and  of  young  pages  who  were  brought  up  with  them. 
Arcadius,  a  senator  of  Auvergne,  and  a  confidential  agent 
of  Childebert,  shortly  afterwards  returned  to  her  with  a 
pair  of  scissars  and  a  drawn  sword,  calling  upon  her  to 
decide  the  fate  of  her  grandchildren  :  in  a  paroxysm 
of  indignation  and  despair,  Chlotilde  exclaimed,  that 
"  she  had  rather  they  should  perish,  than  be  shorn  and 
buried  alive  in  a  cloister."  This  answer  was  construed 
into  assent  by  her  two  sons:  Chlothaire  seized  the  eldest 
of  the  princes,  then  about  ten  years  old,  by  the  arm, 
threw  him  down,  and  plunged  a  dagger  into  his  side :  the 
younger  child  then  fell  at  the  feet  of  Childebert  and 
implored  mercy:  Childebert,  touched  by  his  supplications^ 
with  tears  in  his  eyes  intreated  liis  brother  to  stay  his 
hand ;  but  Chlothaire  exclaimed  furiously,  "  thou  hast 
urged  me  on,  and  now  thou  desertest  me  ;  give  up  the 
boy,  or  perish  in  his  stead;"  on  which  Childebert 
flung  the  supplicant  down,  and  (Jhlothaire  slew  him  on 
the  ground.  7^11  the  pages  and  attendants  were  mas- 
sacred at  the  same  time,  and  ("hildebert  divided  the 
inheritance  of  Chlodomir  with  his  surviving  brother. 
Chlodoald,  the  youngest  of  these  unhappy  children,  es- 
caped the  pursuit  of  his  uncles  :  for  a  long  time  he  re- 
mained in  concealment;  when  he  was  grown  uji  he  cut  off 
his  hair  with  his  own  hands,  and  assumed  the  monkish 
garb:  returning  to  France  after  the  death  of  Chlothaire, 


208         FALL  OF  THE  KOMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  IX. 

he  built  the  monastery  of  St.  Cloudy  which  hears  his 
name. 

After  recording  the  crimes  of  the  early  kings  of  the 
Franks,  we  long  to  hear  that  speedy  vengeance  overtook 
them,  but  this  was  too  rarely  the  case.  Nations  are 
quickly  chastised  for  their- vices  and  their  crimes ;  for 
them,  morality  is  identical  with  good  policy ;  but  indi- 
viduals, of  whose  existence  we  see  but  the  beginning, 
await  a  different  retribution.  The  powerful  frequently 
find  means  to  hush  the  upbraidings  of  conscience,  of 
public  opinion,  and  of  posterity.  Childebert  and.Chlo- 
thaire  had  risen  above  the  scruples  of  remorse;  they  were 
assisted  in  recovering  their  tranquillity  of  mind  by  the 
assurances  of  the  monks,  whom  they  loaded  with  wealth. 
'^' When,"  says  Chlothaire  in  the  diploma  which  was  given 
to  the  convent  of  Riom  in  515",  "  we  listen  with  a  de- 
vout soul  to  the  supplications  of  our  priests,  as  to  what 
regards  the  advantage  of  the  churches,  we  are  certain 
that  Jesus  Christ  will  remunerate  us  for  all  the  good  we 
do  thera."*  Such  was  the  Christianity  which  was 
taught  to  Chlothaire,  and  such  the  confidence  in  which 
he  was  educated,  whilst  his  eyes  were  closed  to  the 
atrocity  of  the  murders  we  have  seen,  and  are  yet  to  see  ; 
and  whilst  he  was  allowed  to  marry,  at  the  same  time, 
Rhadegunde,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Thurin- 
gians  whom  he  had  slain,  Chemsene,  the  mother  of  his 
son  Chramne,  Gondioca,  the  widow  of  his  brother  Chlo- 
domir,  Wuttrade,  the  widow  of  his  nephew  Theodewald, 
Ingunde,  and  Aregunde.  It  should  be  mentioned  that 
the  bishops  objected  to  his  marriage  with  "Wuttrade,  and 
that  he  was  obliged  at  the  end  of  a  few  months  to  give 
her  up  to  Gariwald  duke  of  Bavaria  ;  but  as  to  the 
other  marriages,  the  bishop  of  Tours  relates  them  in  the 
language  of  the  Old  Testament :  — 

'•  Chlothaire  had  already  espoused  Ingunde,"  says  St. 
Gregory,  and  "  he  loved  her  alone,  when  she  proffered 
a  request  to  him,  and  said,  '  My  lord  hath  done  with  his 

*  Diplom.  torn.  iv.  p.  616. 


CHAP.  IX.  DESCENDANTS    OP    CLOVIS.  209 

servant  that  which  hath  seemed  good  to  him,  and  hath 
called  her  to  his  bed,  but  now  that  the  kindness  of  my 
lord  and  king  be  complete,  let  him  listen  to  the  prayer 
of  his  handmaiden.  Choose,  I  pray  thee,  for  Aregunde 
my  sister,  his  servant,  a  man  wise  and  rich,  so  that  I 
be  not  humbled  by  her  alliance,  but  exalted  on  the  con- 
trary, and  that  I  may  serve  my  lord  with  greater  faith- 
fulness.' Chlothaire  heard  what  she  said,  and  as  he  was 
extremely  sensual,  he  burned  with  love  for  Aregunde. 
He  speedily  repaired  to  the  country-house  where  she 
dwelt,  and  took  her  to  wife  ;  after  this  he  returned  to 
Ingunde  and  said,  '  I  have  provided  for  that  which 
thou  hast  sought  of  me  ;  thou  hast  asked  a  husband  for 
thy  sister  both  rich  and  wise,  and  I  have  found  no  one 
better  than  myself;  know  then  that  I  have  married  her, 
and  that  I  would  not  have  thee  be  displeased  thereat.' 
Then  Ingunde  answered ;  '  Let  my  lord  do  that  which 
is  good  in  his  sight,  so  that  his  handmaid  find  favour 
in  the  eyes  of  her  king.'  " 

The  end  of  Chlothaire's  career  was  worthy  of  its 
commencement :  after  having  shared  the  throne  with 
his  brothers  for  forty-seven  years,  he  survived  the  last 
of  them  three  years.  Chiklebert  died  at  Paris  in  558, 
leaving  no  son  ;  Chlothaire  immediately  drove  his  wife 
and  two  daughters  from  the  country,  and  sought  to 
wreak  his  revenge  on  his  own  son  Chramne,  who  had 
attached  himself  to  Chiklebert  by  choice.  Chramne 
took  refuge  with  the  Britons  in  Armorica,  a  people 
who  had  refused  to  submit  to  the  Franks,  and  who 
readily  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  young  prince  ; 
the  Britons  were  however  defeated,  and  Chramne  again 
took  to  flight.  "  He  had  vessels  ready  upon  the  sea," 
continues  Gregory  of  Tours,  "  but  as  he  tarried  to  place 
his  wife  and  his  daughters  in  safety,  the  soldiers  of  his 
father  came  up  with  him,  and  cast  him  into  cliains. 
When  this  was  told  to  king  Chlothaire,  he  ordered  his 
son  to  be  burnt  in  fire,  together  with  his  wife  and 
daughters  :  thereupon  they  were  shut  up  in  the  hovel 
of  a  poor  man  ;  Chramne  was  stretched  out  and  bound 

VOL.  I.  P 


210        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  IX. 

upon  a  bench,  with  a  cloth  taken  from  an  altar  (orarium), 
and  the  house  was  set  on  fire,  so  that  he  perished  in  it 
with  his  wife  and  daughters." 

"  Now  when  the  king  Chlothaire  had  reached  the 
fiftieth  year  of  his  reign,  he  went  to  the  gates  of  the 
shrine  of  St,  Martin  with  very  rich  presents  ;  and  when 
he  came  to  Tours,  at  the  tomb  of  that  bishop,  he  con- 
fessed all  the  actions  in  which  he  had  any  negligence  to 
reproach  himself  with ;  he  lifted  up  his  voice  and  groaned 
exceedingly,  begging  the  holy  confessor  to  obtain  the 
mercy  of  the  Lord,  and  to  efface  by  his  intercession 
whatever  might  have  been  sinful  in  his  conduct.  After 
his  return,  he  was  hunting  one  day  in  the  forest  of 
Cuise,  when  he  was  attacked  by  a  fever,  so  that  he  re- 
turned to  his  palace  at  Compiegne ;  being  cruelly  tor- 
mented by  the  fever,  he  cried,  '  What  are  we  to  think 
of  this  king  of  heaven,  who  kills  the  kings  of  earth  in 
this  wise?'  But  he  expired  in  this  suffering.  His  four 
sons  carried  his  body  in  great  pomp  to  Soissons,  and  in- 
terred it  in  the  church  of  St.  Medard  :  he  died  on  the 
day  after  the  anniversary  of  that  on  which  his  son 
Chramne  had  been  put  to  death." 


211 


CHAP.  X. 

THE     REIGN    OF     JUSTINIAN,     ILLUSTRATED    BY    TWO    HISTORIANS, 
PROCOPIUS    AND    AGATHIAS,    AND    DISTINGUISHED     FOR     GREAT 

MEN.  CHARACTER    OF    JUSTINIAN.  HIS       INTOLERANCE.  

ABOLITION  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  OF  ATHENS  ;  OF  THE  CONSULATE 
AND  THE  SENATE  OF  ROME.  CONTRAST  BETWEEN  THE  BRIL- 
LIANCY   AND    THE    CALAMITY    OF    THIS    PERIOD.  WARS    WITH 

THE    BULGARIANS,   SLAVONIANS,   AND   PERSIANS.  —  PEACE  WITH 

CHOSROES    II.  KINGDOM    OF  THE  VANDALS  IN  AFRICA,  FROM 

THE     DEATH    OF     GENSERIC.  AFRICAN    WAR.   —  BELISARIUS. 

TAKING  OF  CARTHAGE.  CONQUEST  OF  AFRICA.  RECALL 

OF    BELISARIUS.  THE     OSTROGOTHS       IN      ITALY,       FROM      THE 

DEATH       OF      THEODORIC.  —  AMALASONTA.   EXPEDITION     OF 

BELISARIUS      AGAINST     THE      OSTROGOTHS.   VITIGES.  ROME 

TAKEN  AND  RETAKEN.  CONDUCT  OF  JUSTINIAN  TO  BELI- 
SARIUS.  INCURSIONS  OF  THE  FRANKS.  RECALL  OF  BELI- 
SARIUS FROM  ITALY.  —RUINOUS    CONSEQUENCES.  SUCCESSES 

OF  THE  OSTROGOTHS  UNDER  TOTILA. EXPEDITION  OF  BELI- 
SARIUS  AGAINST  HIM. DEFEAT  OF  THE  GOTHS  BY  NARSES.  

LAST  VICTORY  OF  BELISARIUS. INGRATITUDE  OF  THE  EM- 
PEROR.  DEATH   OF   BOTH.  JUSTINIAN  AS  LAWGIVER. A.  D. 

527—565. 

In  the  midst  of  the  darkness  through  which  we  have 
groped  our  way ;  after  having  seen  the  lights  of  history 
die  out  in  the  East  and  in  the  West ;  after  having  lost 
sight  of  all  the  historians  of  Rome,  and  of  the  school 
of  rhetoricians  and  philosophers  which  had  been  formed 
during  the  reigns  of  Constantine  and  of  Julian,  we  are 
all  at  once  surrounded  by  a  flood  of  historic  light, 
spreading  from  the  East  to  the  ^^'est,  and  showing  how 
the  face  of  things  was  changed,  when  the  prince  of 
legislators  published  that  digest  of  laws  which  is  still 
used  in  many  of  the  tribunals  of  n  odern  Europe. 
The  reign  of  Justinian,  from  527  to  565,  is  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  periods  of  the  history  of  the  lower  em- 
pire. It  has  been  celebrated  by  two  Greek  writers, 
Procopius  and  Agathias^  the  former  of  whom,  especi- 
p  2 


212        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  X. 

ally,  is  worthy  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  the  fathers 
of  Grecian  history,  whom  he  took  for  his  models.  One 
of  the  greatest  men  who  ever  adorned  the  annals  of 
the  world, — Belisarius,  whose  virtues  and  whose  talents 
were  alike  strangers  at  the  court  of  Byzantium,  and  in. 
explicable  in  the  midst  of  the  universal  turpitude  and 
crime,  —  wrenched  from  the  barbarians  both  Africa, 
Sicily  and  Italy  ;  provinces  in  which  the  foundations  of 
powerful  monarchies  had  been  laid,  and  which  seemed 
to  defy  the  contemptible  attacks  of  the  Greeks.  A  code 
of  laws,  acknowledged  throughout  western  Europe,  in 
countries  which  had  never  belonged  to  the  empire,  or 
which  had  long  since  thrown  off  its  yoke,  though  re- 
jected centuries  ago  by  the  nations  for  which  it  was 
specially  designed,  has  survived  that  empire,  and  has 
obtained,  in  our  days,  the  appellation  of  "  written  rea- 
son." Monuments  of  art,  worthy  of  admiration,  began 
to  rise  in  Constantinople  and  in  the  provinces,  after  the 
lapseof  two  centuries,  during  which  construction  had  been 
utterly  at  a  stand,  and  nations  seemed  solely  intent  upon 
destroying  what  existed.  The  reign  of  Justinian,  from 
its  length,  its  glory,  and  its  disasters,  may,  on  more 
than  one  account, be  compared  to  the  reign  of  LouisXIV. 
which  exceeded  it  in  length,  and  equalled  it  in  glory  and 
in  disaster.  The  great  emperor,  like  "  the  great  king," 
was  handsome  in  his  person,  graceful  and  dignified  in 
his  manners,  and  impressed  aU  who  approached  him 
with  a  sense  of  that  majesty  to  which  both  of  them 
so  ardently  aspired.  Justinian  displayed  the  same 
sagacity  as  Louis  in  choosing  his  ministers,  and  in  em- 
ploying them  in  the  career  most  fitted  to  their  talents, 
Belisarius,  Narses,  and  many  others,  whose  names, 
though  less  celebrated,  are  not  less  worthy  of  renown, 
gained  victories  for  him  which  conferred  upon  the 
monarch  the  glory  of  a  conqueror.  John  of  Cappa- 
docia,  who  was  employed  to  regulate  the  finances, 
brought  them  into  perfect  order,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  carried  to  the  highest  perfection  the  art  of  draining 
the    purse  of  the  subject.      Tribonian,    to    whom  he 


CHAP.  X.  JUSTINIAN.  213 

confided  the  task  of  legislation,  brought  to  his  service 
his  prodigious  erudition,  his  sagacious  understanding, 
and  his  knowledge  of  jurisprudence,  to  which  was 
united  all  the  servility  of  a  courtier,  whose  object  it 
was  to  sanction  despotism  by  law.  The  magnificence 
of  the  edifices  built  by  Justinian,  which  are  more  re- 
markable for  their  splendour  than  for  the  purity  of 
their  style,  exhausted  his  treasury  ;  and  though  these 
monuments  still  illustrate  his  memory,  the  erection  of 
them  w^as  more  disastrous  to  his  people  than  war  itself. 
The  fortresses  with  Avhich  he  covered  his  frontiers,  and 
which  he  built  on  every  side,  at  an  immense  expense, 
could  not  check  the  invasions  of  his  enemies  in  his  old 
age.  Justinian  was  the  protector  of  commerce.  For 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  antiquity,  we  find  a  go- 
vernment paying  some  attention  to  the  science  of  eco- 
nomy ;  and  though  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the 
real  wealth  and  happiness  of  his  subjects  were  increased 
by  tlie  encouragement  he  gave  to  manufactures,  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  we  owe  to  him  the  introduction  of 
the  silkworm,  the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry-tree,  and 
the  fabric  of  silk,  imported  from  China  ;  and  that  by  his 
negotiations  in  Abyssinia  and  in  Sogdiana,  he  attempted 
to  open  a  new  route  for  the  commerce  of  India,  and  to 
render  his  subjects  independent  of  Persia.  Justinian, 
believing  that  kings  are  more  enlightened  in  matters  of 
faith  than  the  common  run  of  men,  determined  on  estab- 
lishing his  creed  throughout  the  empire.  lie  persecuted 
all  who  differed  from  him,  and  thus  deprived  himself 
of  the  assistance  of  many  millions  of  citizens,  who  took 
refuge  with  his  enemies,  and  introduced  the  arts  of 
Greece  amongst  them.  His  reign  may  be  signalised  as 
the  fatal  epoch  at  which  several  of  the  noblest  insti- 
tutions of  antiquity  were  abolished.  He  shut  the 
schools  of  Athens  (a.  d.  52.9),  in  which  an  uninter- 
rupted succession  of  philosophers,  supported  by  a  public 
stipend,  had  taught  the  doctrines  of  Plato,  Aristotle, 
Zeno,  and  Epicurus,  ever  since  the  time  of  the  Anto- 
nines.  They  were,  it  is  true,  still  attached  to  paganism, 
p  3 


214        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  X. 

and  even  to  the  arts  of  magic.  In  541  he  abolished 
the  titular  consulate  of  Rome,  which  was  become  an 
office  of  ruinous  expense,  from  the  magnificence  of  the 
games  which  those  who  held  it  thought  themselves 
obliged  to  give  to  the  people.  These  pageants  frequently 
cost  each  candidate  a  sura  of  80,000/.  sterling.  In  a 
few  years  afterwards,  (about  552),  the  senate  of  Rome 
also  ceased  to  exist.  The  ancient  capital  of  the  world 
was  taken  and  retaken  five  times  during  the  reign  of 
Justinian,  each  assault  being  marked  by  increased  atro- 
city. It  was  now  completely  ruined,  and  the  ancient 
senatorial  famiHes  were  so  thinned  by  the  sword,  by 
want,  and  by  capital  punishments,  that  they  no  longer 
attempted  to  support  the  dignity  of  their  ancient  name. 
The  brilliant  reign  of  Justinian  proves,  even  more 
clearly  than  that  of  Louis  XIV.,  that  a  period  of  glory 
is  seldom  one  of  happiness.  Never  did  a  man  furnish 
more  brilliant  pictures  to  his  panegyrists,  who,  as  they 
looked  but  on  one  side  of  things,  lavished  their  praises 
on  his  extensive  conquests,  his  wise  laws,  his  splendid 
court,  his  magnificent  edifices,  and  even  on  the  progress 
of  the  useful  arts.  Never  did  a  man  leave  a  more 
grievous  reverse  to  be  described  by  the  historian,  nor 
the  recollection  of  calamities  more  general,  or  more  de- 
structive of  the  human  race.  Justinian  conquered  the 
kingdoms  of  the  Vandals  and  of  the  Ostrogoths  ;  but 
both  these  nations  were  in  a  manner  annihilated  by  their 
defeat :  and  before  he  recovered  a  province,  it  was  re- 
duced to  a  desert  by  the  excesses  of  his  armies.  He 
extended  the  Hmits  of  his  empire  ;  but  he  was  unable 
to  defend  the  territory  he  had  received  from  his  prede- 
cessors. Every  one  of  the  thirty-eight  years  of  his 
reign  was  marked  by  an  invasion  of  the  barbarians  ; 
and  it  has  been  said,  that  reckoning  those  who  fell  by 
the  sword,  who  perished  from  want,  or  were  led  into 
captivity,  each  invasion  cost  200,000  subjects  to  the 
empire.  Calamities,  which  human  prudence  is  unable 
to  resist,  seemed  to  combine  against  the  Romans,  as  if 
to  compel  them  to  expiate  their  ancient  glory.     Their 


CHAP.  X.  JUSTINIAN.  215 

cities  were  overwhelmed  by  earthquakes,  more  frequent 
than  at  any  other  period  of  history.  Antioch,  the  me- 
tropolis of  Asia,  was  entirely  destroyed,  on  the  20th  of 
May,  526,  at  the  very  time  when  the  inhabitants  of  the 
adjacent  country  were  assembled  to  celebrate  the  festival 
of  the  Ascension  ;  and  it  is  affirmed  that  250,000  per- 
sons were  crushed  by  the  fall  of  its  sumptuous  edifices. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  scourge,  which  was  re- 
newed at  short  intervals  till  the  end  of  that  century. 
The  plague  was  brought  from  Pelusium,  in  Egypt,  in 
SiS,  and  attacked  the  Roman  world  with  such  fury, 
that  it  did  not  finally  disappear  till  594  ;  so  that  the 
very  period  which  gave  birth  to  so  many  monuments  of 
greatness,  ^may  be  looked  back  upon  with  horror,  as 
that  of  the  widest  desolation  and  the  most  terrific  mor- 
tality. 

Justinian  was  born  in  482  or  483,  near  Sophia,  in 
modern  Bulgaria,  or  ancient  Dardania.  He  came  of  a 
family  of  common  labourers.  His  uncle  Justin,  who 
had  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  guards  of  the 
emperor  Leo,  rose  by  his  valour  alone  from  rank  to 
rank,  till  he  reached  the  highest  dij^nity  of  the  state. 
He  obtained  the  purple  on  the  10th  of  July,  518,  when 
he  was  already  sixty-eight  years  of  age  ;  but  he  had 
long  since  summoned  to  his  counsels  his  nephew,  to 
whom  he  intended  to  leave  his  inheritance,  and  whose  ta- 
lents and  activity  might  sustain  his  declining  years.  'Four 
months  before  his  death,  on  the  1st  of  April,  527,  Justi- 
nian was  allowed  to  share  the  imperial  dignity.  He  was 
then  forty-five  years  old:  he  was  well  acquainted  Avith  the 
policy  of  his  uncle's  court ;  but  though  the  nephew  of  a 
successful  soldier  of  fortune,  he  was  personally  unknown 
to  the  army,  and  unaccustomed  to  actual  warfare. 
After  he  was  seated  upon  the  throne,  his  advancing 
years,  the  etiquette  of  the  court  of  Byzantium,  and  the 
fears  his  courtiers  expressed  for  his  safety,  kept  him 
aloof  from  the  army ;  and  though  he  made  war  for 
thirty-eight  years,  he  never  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  soldiers. 

p  4> 


2l6        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  X. 

•Justinian  was,  hoAvever,  extremely  ambitious  of 
military  fame,  even  from  the  commencement  of  his 
reign.  The  situation  of  the  empire,  the  dangers  which 
surrounded  him,  and  the  menacing  attitude  of  the  bar- 
barians upon  all  his  frontiers,  made  it  his  duty  to 
adopt  the  most  expeditious  means  of  defence,  by  re- 
storing the  discipline  of  his  troops,  by  encouraging  a 
warlike  spirit  among  his  subjects,  and  especially  by 
creating  an  active  militia  from  among  the  population  of 
his  vast  territories.  The  love  of  a  military  glory  like  this 
would  have  been  no  less  honourable  to  the  sovereign 
than  advantageous  to  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  but 
such  was  not  the  policy  Justinian  adopted.  Like  his 
predecessors,  he  strictly  forbade  his  citizens  to  carry 
arms ;  and  though  some  few,  hoarded  in  private 
families,  might  escape  the  vigilance  of  domestic  inqui- 
sition, every  kind  of  military  exercise  was  positively 
forbidden  the  people,  by  the  timidity  and  jealousy  of 
the  emperor ;  so  that,  notwithstanding  the  immense  ex- 
tent of  the  empire  and  the  dense  population  of  the 
western  provinces,  levies  of  men  were  rendered  almost 
impossible.  The  great  generals  of  Justinian  under- 
took their  most  brilliant  expeditions  with  armies  of 
no  more  than  20,000  men  ;  and  these  troops  consisted 
chiefly  of  enemies  to  the  empire  enlisted  under  its 
standard.  The  cavalry  and  the  archers  of  Belisarius  Avere 
composed  of  Scythians  or  Massagetes,  and  of  Persians  ; 
the  infantry  of  Heruli,  Vandals,  Goths,  and  a  small 
number  of  Thracians,  who  were  the  only  subjects  of 
the  empire  that  retained  the  slightest  military  ardour. 
The  citizens  and  peasants  were  not  only  incapable  of 
fighting  for  life  or  property  in  the  open  field  ;  they  dared 
not  even  defend  the  ramparts  of  cities,  the  fortresses 
which  the  emperor  had  constructed  for  them  on  all 
the  frontiers,  nor  the  long  line  of  Malls  which  covered 
the  Thracian  Chersonesus,  Thermopylae,  or  the  isthmus 
of  Corinth.  The  Bulgarians,  who  appear  to  be  of  Sla- 
vonic origin,  with  a  mixture  of  Tartar  blood,  took  up 
their  abode  in  the  valley  of  the  Danube,  where  they 


CHAP.  X.  JUSTINIAN.  217 

united  themselves  to  other  Slavonians  who  had  always- 
dwelt  there,  and  who  had  bent,  like  a  reed,  beneath 
the  waves  of  the  inundation,  and  risen  again  when  it 
had  passed  over  them.  These  united  tribes  at  length 
became  sufficiently  powerful  to  devastate  the  empire. 
They  were  distinguished  neither  by  their  arms,  their 
discipline,  nor  their  military  virtues ;  but  they  fearlessly 
crossed  the  Danube  every  year  to  make  prisoners  and 
carry  off  booty  ;  they  frequently  advanced  300  miles 
into  the  country,  and  Justinian  looked  upon  it  as  a 
victory,  when  he  succeeded  in  obliging  them  to  retire 
with  their  plunder. 

Another  portion  of  the  empire  was  threatened  by  a 
far  more  formidable  enemy,  who  had  at  his  disposal 
numerous  armies,  immense  wealth,  and  almost  all 
the  arts  of  civilisation,  though  he  made  war  with  the 
atrocious  ferocity  of  a  barbarian.  The  great  Chosroes 
Nushirran,  king  of  Persia,  was  contemporary  with  Justi- 
nian, and  his  reign  was  even  longer  than  that  of  the 
emperor  (531 — 579).  When  he  ascended  the  throne, 
hostilities  had  broken  out  between  the  two  nations  ;  but 
his  kingdom  was  enfeebled  by  civil  wars,  and  by  the 
inroads  of  the  "W^hite  Huns,  so  that  its  need  of  a  peace- 
ful and  judicious  government  was  not  less  urgent  than 
that  of  the  empire.  In  531,  Chosroes  signed  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  Justinian,  which  both  monarchs  called 
perpetual ;  and  the  Greek  emperor,  instead  of  taking 
advantage  of  it  to  strengthen  his  frontiers  against  the 
frequent  aggressions  of  his  ancient  foes,  turned  his 
arms  to  the  conquest  of  distant  provinces,  which  he 
could  scarcely  hope  to  defend. 

The  ambitious  views  of  Justinian  were  first  at- 
tracted to  Africa.  Genseric  died  on  the  24th  of  January, 
477j  after  a  reign  of  thirty-seven  years  over  Carthage. 
The  crown  of  the  Vandals  had  passed  successively  to 
Hunneric,  who  died  in  484,  to  Gunthamond  till  4.96, 
and  to  Thrasamond  till  523  :  these  three  monarchs  were 
all  sons  of  Genseric,  and  all  zealous  enemies  of  the 
catholic  faith.     They  carried  on  the  most  cruel  perse- 


218        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  X. 

cutions  in  the  name  of  the  Arian  faith :  they  are  ac- 
cused of  having  caused  the  tongues  of  a  considerable 
number  of  bishops  to  be  torn  up  by  tTie  roots ;  but  we 
are  assured  by  eye-witnesses  (not  of  the  punishment 
but  of  the  miracle)  that  these  prelates  continued  to 
preach  with  greater  eloquence  than  before,  without  suf- 
fering the  least  inconvenience.  In  523,  Hilderic,  the 
grandson  of  Genseric,  succeeded  his  uncle  Thrasamond  ; 
he  recalled  the  exiled  bishops,  and  during  seven  years  the 
Roman  subjects  in  Africa  lived  under  a  more  paternal 
rule.  The  Vandals,  however,  soon  regretted  the  tyranny 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  exercise  over  the  nations 
they  had  subdued.  They  accused  their  monarch  of 
indolence  and  effeminacy,  while  they  were  themselves 
open  to  the  charge  of  having  too  soon  yielded  to  the 
enervating  influence  of  those  sultry  regions  ;  the  wealth 
they  had  acquired  by  the  sabre  was  dissipated  without 
restraint  and  without  shame ;  they  were  constantly 
surrounded  by  slaves,  like  the  jNIamelukes  of  our  own 
times  ;  and  though  their  amusements  were  all  of  a 
martial  kind,  they  delighted  in  the  pomp  rather  than 
in  the  fatigue  of  warlike  exercise.  Gelimer,  of  the 
royal  blood  of  the  Vandals,  embittered  their  resentment; 
he  headed  a  conspiracy  against  Hilderic,  threw  that 
prince  into  a  dungeon,  and  took  possession  of  his 
throne. 

The  war  of  Africa  was  undertaken  by  Justinian  under 
pretence  of  restoring  the  legitimate  succession  to  the 
throne,  and  of  delivering  Hilderic  from  prison.  The 
emperor  was  encouraged  in  his  designs  by  the  state  of 
anarchy  in  which  Africa  was  plunged.  A  lieutenant  of 
Gelimer  had  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  in  Sardinia, 
and  had  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  king :  on  the 
other  hand,  an  African  Roman  had  incited  his  country- 
men of  Tripoli,  in  the  name  of  the  Athanasian  creed, 
and  had  raised  the  banner  of  the  empire.  Justinian 
was  encouraged  by  the  prophecies  of  the  orthodox 
bishops,  which  all  promised  him  success;  and  by  putting 


CHAP.  X.  BELISARIUS. AFRICAN    WAR.  219 

Belisarius  at  the  head  of  the  expedition,  he  adopted  the 
means  most  Hkely  to  ensure  it. 

Belisarius,  who  was  born  among  the  peasants  of 
Thrace,  had  begun  his  career  in  the  guards  of  the  em- 
peror Justin.  He  had  already  distinguished  himself  in 
the  Persian  war,  at  a  juncture  of  considerable  difficulty  ; 
after  a  defeat,  for  which  he  was  not  to  blame,  he  dis- 
played more  ability  than  is  usually  shown  in  victory,  and 
saved  the  army  which  was  entrusted  to  him.  He  was 
about  the  same  age  as  the  emperor,  and  like  him  he 
was  governed  by  his  wife  ;  like  him,  he  was  faithful  to 
one  who  was  destitute  both  of  the  modesty  and  the 
gentleness  of  her  sex.  Justinian,  on  his  accession,  has- 
tened to  share  the  honours  of  his  new  dignity  with 
Theodora,  the  daughter  of  a  charioteer  in  the  public 
circus,  who  had  united  the  infamy  of  a  vicious  life  to 
the  degradation  of  her  father's  occupation,  until  the 
emperor  raised  her  to  the  throne.  Henceforward  her 
manners  were  irreproachable  ;  her  advice  was  frequently 
courageous  and  energetic ;  but  her  cruelty  and  her 
avarice  contributed  to  render  the  emperor  odious.  An- 
tonina,  the  wife  of  Belisarius,  was  also  the  daughter  of 
a  public  charioteer ;  her  conduct  had  been  as  irregular 
as  that  of  the  empress,  her  character  was  equally  firm 
and  audacious  :  unlike  Theodora,  however,  she  did  not 
conquer  her  early  propensities ;  but  though  a  faithless 
wife,  she  was  a  faithful  friend  to  her  husband.  Ad- 
mitted to  the  confidence  of  the  empress,  sbe  led  the  way 
to  Belisarius's  future  greatness,  she  defended  him  by  her 
influence,  and  maintained  him  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
in  spite  of  the  intrigues  of  his  rivals. 

Not  more  than  10,000  foot  and  .5000  horse  were 
embarked  at  Constantinople  for  the  conquest  of  Africa, 
under  the  command  of  Belisarius,  in  tiie  month  of  June 
533.  The  fleet  which  conveyed  this  army  was  unable 
to  make  the  whole  voyage  without  taking  in  provisions  ; 
it  was  received  with  indiscreet  hospitality  in  a  Sicilian 
port,  then  dependent  on  the  Ostrogoths.     The  barbaric 


220  FALL    OF    THE    B0.1IAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.   X. 

kings  who  had  partitioned  out  the  provinces  of  the 
Roman  empire,  would  have  done  well  to  recollect  that 
their  cause  was  a  common  one  ;  their  means  of  resist- 
ance would  then  have  been  far  superior  to  any  means 
of  attack  possessed  by  the  Greeks  :  private  offences  and 
family  quarrels  had,  however,  disturbed  their  mutual 
relations ;  the  marriages  of  kings  with  the  daughters  of 
kings  began  to  exercise  their  fatal  influence,  by  em- 
broiling those  they  were  intended  to  unite ;  so  that  the 
Ostrogoths,  the  Visigoths,  the  Franks,  and  the  Vandals, 
blindly  rejoiced  in  each  other's  disasters. 

Belisarius  landed  in  September  533,  at  Caput  Vadse, 
which  is  about  five  days'  journey  from  Carthage.  The 
Vandals  were  so  little  prepared  for  this  invasion,  that 
the  brother  of  Gelimer  was  at  that  very  time  with 
the  best  troops  of  the  army  in  Sardinia,  wdiere  he 
was  endeavouring  to  quell  the  insurrection.  This  cir- 
cumstance induced  Gelimer  to  avoid  a  battle  for  some 
days.  But  while  he  was  thus  temporising,  he  afforded 
Belisarius  an  opportunity  of  impressing  the  inhabitants 
of  the  provinces  (the  Africans,  who  were  still  called 
Romans)  with  a  high  idea  of  the  discipline  of  his  army, 
of  the  liberal  protection  he  was  inclined  to  afford  them, 
and  of  the  mildness  of  his  own  character.  Belisarius 
founded  his  hopes  of  conquest  on  the  sympathies  of  the 
people ;  he  displayed  such  a  paternal  benevolence  to- 
wards these  provincials,  whom  he  came  to  protect  and 
not  to  subdue;  he  so  carefully  respected  their  rights,  and 
so  scrupulously  spared  their  property,  that  the  Africans, 
who  had  long  been  oppressed,  humiliated,  and  robbed 
by  their  barbarian  masters,  no  sooner  hailed  the  Roman 
eagles,  than  they  imagined  that  the  days  of  their 
greatest  prosperity  under  the  Antonines  were  returned. 
Before  the  arrival  of  Belisarius,  Gelimer  reigned  over 
seven  or  eight  millions  of  subjects,  in  a  country  which 
had  perhaps  contained  80,000,000  ;  on  a  sudden  he 
found  himself  alone  with  his  Vandals  in  the  midst  of  a 
Roman  population.  The  historian  Procopius,  who  seeks 


CHAP.  X.  BELISARIUS. — AFRICAN    WAR.  221 

to  exaggerate  the  number  of  the  conquered,  in  order  to 
enhance  the  glory  of  the  conquest,  asserts  that  the  nation 
did  not  possess  fewer  than  160,000  men  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms  ;  —  a  considerable  number  certainly,  and  one 
which  supposes  a  rapid  increase  since  the  former  con- 
quest; but  extremely  small  if  it  be  taken  to  denote  a 
nation  and  not  an  army. 

Gelimer  attacked  Belisarius  with  all  the  troops  he 
had  been  able  to  muster,  on  the  14th  of  September,  at 
about  ten  miles  from  Carthage :  his  army  was  routed, 
his  brother  and  his  nephew  were  killed,  and  he  himself 
was  obliged  to  fly  to  the  deserts  of  Numidia,  after 
having  caused  his  predecessor  Hilderic  to  be  murdered 
in  prison.  On  the  morrow  Belisarius  entered  Car- 
thage, and  that  great  capital,  in  which  the  Romans  still 
far  outnumbered  the  Vandals,  received  him  as  a  deli- 
verer. 

Never  was  there  a  more  rapid  conquest  than  that  of 
the  vast  kingdom  of  the  Vandals :  never  did  the  dis- 
2)roportion  between  the  number  of  the  conquerors  and 
the  conquered,  more  clearly  show  that  tyranny  is 
the  worst  policy,  and  that  the  abuse  of  victory  by  those 
who  govern  with  the  sword,  hollows  a  sepulchre  beneath 
their  thrones.  In  the  beginning  of  September  Beli- 
sarius had  landed  in  Africa  ;  before  the  etid  of  Novem- 
ber Gelimer  had  recalled  his  second  brother  from  Sar- 
dinia, collected  another  army,  fought  and  lost  another 
battle  ;  Africa  was  conquered,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Vandals  destroyed.  The  army  of  Belisarius  would  have 
required  much  more  time  merely  to  advance  along  the 
coast,  but  the  Roman  fleet  transported  to  Ceuta  the 
tribunes  of  the  soldiers  who  were  to  take  the  command 
of  the  towns  ;  they  were  every  where  received  with  ac- 
clamation ;  every  where  the  Vandals  were  intimidated, 
submitted  without  resistance,  and  disappeared.  Geli- 
mer, who  had  retired  into  a  distant  fortress  of  Numidia, 
with  a  small  retinue,  capitulated  in  the  following  spring, 
and  the  terms  of  his  submission  were  most  honourably 
observed    by  Justinian.     Gelimer  received  ample  pos- 


222  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  X. 

sessions  in  Galatia,  where  he  was  allowed  to  grow  old 
in  peace,  surrounded  by  his  friends  and  kinsfolk.  The 
observance  of  faith  plighted  to  a  rival  was  too  rare  a 
virtue  in  those  times  for  us  to  pass  it  by  in  silence. 
The  bravest  of  the  Vandals  enlisted  in  the  troops  of  the 
empire,  and  served  under  the  immediate  orders  of  Beli- 
sarius.  The  remainder  of  the  nation  was  involved  in 
the  convulsions  of  Africa  which  we  shall  shortly  men- 
tion, and  ere  long  entirely  disappeared. 

Justinian  demanded  trophies  from  his  generals,  but 
he  grudged  them  their  successes.  His  jealousy  at  the 
rapid  victories  of  Belisarius  was  intense.  Before  the 
close  of  that  same  autumn  of  534  which  had  sufficed 
for  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom,  too  soon  for  the  welfare 
of  Africa,  he  ordered  him  to  return  to  Constantinople. 
In  the  matchless  character  of  Belisarius,  the  virtues  them- 
selves seemed  adapted  to  the  despotism  under  which  he 
served.  The  will  of  his  sovereign,  and^not  the  welfare  of 
the  empire,  was  the  sole  end  of  his  actions,  and  the  sole 
standard  of  what  he  judged  to  be  good  or  evil.  He 
foresaw  that  his  recall  would  be  the  ruin  of  Africa,  but 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  obey  the  mandate.  As  he  was 
embarking  at  Carthage,  he  saw  the  flames  which  were 
already  lighted  by  the  insurgent  Moors  in  the  provinces 
which  he  had  reconquered,  and  he  predicted  that  his 
work  would  be  undone  as  rapidly  as  it  had  been  accom- 
plished ;  but  the  will  of  the  emperor  seemed  to  him  to 
be  the  will  of  fate.  His  prompt  obedience  allayed  the 
jealousy  which  his  remarkable  success  had  excited,  and 
Justinian  allowed  him  the  honours  of  a  triumph,  and 
the  consulate  for  the  ensuing  year.  This  triumph  was 
the  first  which  Constantinople  had  ever  seen  conferred 
upon  a  subject. 

The  conquest  of  Africa  was  no  sooner  accomplished, 
than  Justinian  projected  that  of  Italy,  and  he  designed 
to  subdue  the  Ostrogoths  by  the  same  general  who  had 
acquired  so  much  glory  in  defeating  the  Vandals.  A 
Roman  emperor  may  be  supposed  to  have  thought  his 
honour  interested  in  the  possession  of  Rome  and  of 


CHAP.  X.  BELISARIUS. ITALIAN    WAR.  223 

Italy,  but  the  West  had  no  reasons  for  wishing  hira 
success.  The  Vandals  had  rendered  themselves  odious 
by  their  cruelty,  their  religious  persecutions,  and  their 
piracies ;  but  the  Goths  had  better  claims  on  public 
esteem  :  they  were  the  wisest,  the  most  temperate,  and 
the  most  virtuous  of  the  Germanic  tribes,  and  they  gave 
substantial  grounds  of  hope  to  the  nations  which  they 
had  regenerated.  Their  glory  did  not  terminate  with 
the  reign  of  Theodoric,  but  to  the  very  close  of  the 
struggle  in  which  they  perished  they  displayed  virtues 
which  we  look  for  in  vain  amongst  the  other  bar- 
barians. 

We  have  seen  that  upon  the  death  of  the  great  Theo- 
doric (a.  d.  526),  the  crown  of  Italy  descended  to  his 
grandson  Athalaric,  who  was  then  only  ten  years  old, 
under  the  regency  of  his  mother  Amalasonta.  This 
princess,  who  had  lost  her  husband  before  her  father's 
death,  attempted  to  procure  for  her  son,  the  only  hope  of 
his  family  and  of  his  nation,  those  advantages  of  a  liberal 
education  which  she  had  herself  enjoyed.  But  Athalaric, 
who  felt  the  irksomeness  of  study  more  than  its  advan- 
tages, easily  found  young  courtiers  who  persuaded  him 
that  the  protecting  care  of  his  mother  was  degrading  to 
him.  The  old  warriors  of  the  nation  had  not  lost 
their  prejudices  against  Roman  instruction,  and  Roman 
manners ;  Athalaric  was  removed  from  his  mother's 
guardianship,  and  before  Ke  was  sixteen,  drunkenness 
and  debauchery  brought  him  to  the  grave  (a.  d.  534). 
Out  of  respect  for  the  blood  of  Theodoric,  and  the 
grief  of  Amalasonta,  she  was  allowed  by  the  Goths  to 
choose  the  future  partner  of  her  throne  from  amongst  her 
kindred.  She  accordingly  bestowed  her  hand  on  Theo- 
datus,  who,  like  herself,  preferred  studious  pursuits  to 
the  boisterous  revelry  of  the  Goths  ;  who  passed  for  a 
philosopher  ;  whom  she  believed  to  be  destitute  of  am- 
bition, and  who  had,  indeed,  sworn  to  her  that,  grateful 
for  so  signal  a  favour,  he  would  respect  her  commands 
and  allow  her  to  rule  alone,  whilst  he  shared  her  throne 
in  appearance.     No  sooner,  however,  was  he  crowned. 


224        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  X. 

than  he  caused  his  benefactress  to  be  arrested  (30th  of 
April,  535),  conveyed  as  a  prisoner  to  an  island  in  the 
lake  of  Bolsena,  and  a  few  months  afterwards  strangled 
in  her  bath.  Justinian  embraced  the  cause  of  Amala- 
sonta,  as  he  had  embraced  that  of  Hilderic,  to  avenge, 
though  not  to  protect  her.  Belisarius  received  orders 
to  prepare  for  the  conquest  of  Italy,  but  the  army  with 
which  he  was  entrusted  for  this  important  enterprise, 
amounted  only  to  4500  barbarian  horsemen,  and  3000 
Isaurian  foot-soldiers.  Belisarius  landed  in  Sicily  in 
535,  and  in  the  first  campaign  of  the  Gothic  war  he 
subdued  that  island  ;  the  city  of  Palermo  alone  offered 
him  some  resistance. 

In  the  following  year  Belisarius  transported  his  army 
to  Reggio  in  Calabria,  marching  along  the  coast,  accom- 
panied by  his  fleet,  till  he  arrived  at  Naples  :  no  forces 
were  sent  to  oppose  his  progress  ;  he  was  assisted  by  the 
same  favourable  circumstances  as  in  Africa,  and  his 
humanity  and  moderation  procured  for  him  the  same 
advantages  in  Italy  as  in  that  country.  On  a  sudden 
the  Goths  perceived,  with  consternation,  that  they  were 
in  an  isolated  position,  in  the  midst  of  a  people  which 
invoked  their  enemies  as  its  liberators.  All  their 
plans  of  defence  were  confounded,  treason  began  to 
show  itself  in  their  ranks,  and  a  relation  of  Theodatus, 
to  whom  the  government  of  Calabria  had  been  entrusted, 
passed  over  to  the  standard  of  the  emperor.  The 
cowardice  of  their  king  was,  however,  the  chief  cause  of 
the  ruin  of  the  Goths.  Theodatus  had  shut  himself 
up  in  Rome,  whilst  Belisarius  besieged  Naples,  and 
entered  it  by  means  of  an  aqueduct.  The  nation  of  the 
Goths,  which  still  reckoned  250,000  warriors,  dispersed, 
indeed,  from  the  Danube  and  the  Rhone  to  the  extre- 
mities of  Italy,  would  no  longer  submit  to  so  degrading 
a  yoke.  Vitiges,  a  brave  general,  who  had  been  ordered 
to  secure  the  approaches  to  Rome,  was  suddenly  pro- 
claimed king  by  the  soldiers,  and  raised  upon  the  buckler ; 
whilst  Theodatus,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  this  revolt, 


CHAP.  X.  BELISARIUS. ITALIAtNT    WAR.  225 

took  flight,  and  was  slain  by  the  hand  of  a  private  enemy, 
against  whom  he  did  not  even  attempt  to  defend  himself 
(August,  536"). 

After  the  election  of  Vitiges,  the  war  of  the  Ostro- 
goths assumed  a  new  character.  The  struggle  was  no 
longer  one  of  cowardice  and  improvidence  with  talent  ; 
it  lay  between  two  great  men,  both  of  them  masters  of 
the  art  of  war,  both  equally  worthy  of  the  love  and  of 
the  confidence  of  their  respective  nations  ;  both  contend- 
ing against  insurmountable  difficulties.  Behsarius  was, 
as  he  had  been  in  Africa,  just,  humane,  generous,  and 
brave  ;  he  won  the  hearts  of  the  Italians  ;  but  his  court 
ke[)t  him  without  money,  and  almost  without  an  army. 
The  hard  law  of  necessity,  the  orders  he  received  from 
Constantinople,  and  the  rapacious  colleagues  who  were 
sent  out  to  him,  compelled  him  to  sustain  the  war  by 
plunder,  and  to  strip  those  whom  he  would  have  willingly 
protected.  Vitiges  was  still  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
and  martial  people  ;  but  his  kingdom  was  disorganised, 
time  was  needed  to  collect  his  scattered  battalions,  and 
to  revive  the  confidence  of  his  soldiers,  who  believed  that 
they  were  surrounded  by  traitors.  He  found  it  neces- 
sary to  evacuate  Rome,  (which  Belisarius  occupied  on  the 
10th  of  December,  536',)  and  even  to  quit  the  lower  part 
of  Italy,  and  fall  back  upon  Ravenna,  in  order  to  re- 
store the  discipline  of  his  army.  As  soon  as  he  had 
organised  his  forces,  he  returned,  in  the  month  of  JNIarch 
following,  to  besiege  Belisarius  in  the  ancient  capital 
which  he  had  ceded  to  him. 

Our  prescribed  limits  do  not  allow  us  to  give  any 
detailed  account  of  the  military  operations  even  of  the 
greatest  general.  A  succinct  abridgment  like  the  pre- 
sent docs  not  profess  to  afford  any  instruction  in  the 
art  of  war.  We  merely  design  to  present  in  one  pic- 
ture the  fall  of  the  ancient  empire,  and  the  dispersal  of 
those  elements  out  of  which  the  modern  world  was 
to  arise,  referring  to  other  works  for  details.  Nor 
would  it  be  without  repugnance  that  we  should  dwell 
upon  the  sufferings  of  humanity,  or  the  unparalleled 
v(ii>.  I.  y 


226  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  X. 

calamities  which  were  caused  by  two  virtuous  chiefs. 
The  spectacle  of  the  excesses  of  tyranny  is  far  less 
painful^  for  then  our  indignation  relieves  our  sympathy. 
In  recording  the  crimes  of  the  sons  of  Clovis,  the 
horror  these  monsters  inspire,  leaves  no  room  for  pity. 
But  when  Vitiges  besieged  Belisarius  in  Rome  during 
a  whole  year,  two  heroes  sacrificed  two  nations  to  their 
animosity.  Belisarius  kept  up  the  courage  of  his  feeble 
garrison  by  his  intrepidity,  his  patience,  and  his  per- 
severance, whilst  the  entire  population  of  Rome  was 
perishing  by  famine :  Vitiges,  equally  inflexible, 
led  back  the  battalions  of  his  Goths  to  the  walls 
of  Rome,  until  the  assailants  were  all  destroyed  by  the 
sword,  or  by  pestilential  diseases.  His  courage  and  his 
ability  shone  conspicuous  in  this  deadly  war ;  if  he 
had  succeeded,  the  independence  of  his  nation  was 
secured ;   but  it  perished  in  these  fatal  conflicts. 

Justinian  had  desired  that  Italy  should  again  be 
classed  amongst  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 
But  his  vanity  was  satisfied  by  the  mere  possession  of 
the  soil  on  which  the  Romans  had  raised  their  power ; 
and  he  purchased  it  by  the  sacrifice  of  all  that  made  it 
glorious  or  valuable.  Rome  was  defended  ;  but  during 
the  long  famine  to  which  it  was  reduced  it  lost  almost 
all  its  inhabitants.  The  Goths  were  conquered  ;  but 
they  were  destroyed,  not  subdued,  and  the  void  they 
left  in  the  energetic  and  warlike  population  of  Italy  was 
never  repaired.  The  Italians  were  delivered  from  a 
yoke  which  they  thought  debasing,  but  they  fell  under 
one  a  thousand  times  worse.  The  long  continuance  of 
the  war,  and  the  pressure  of  want,  did  violence  to  the 
natural  moderation  of  Belisarius,  and,  moreover,  gave 
him  time  to  receive  direct  orders  from  Justinian,  in- 
stead of  following  his  own  impulses. 

The  extortions  practised  on  the  Roman  subjects  were 
rigorous  in  the  extreme,  and  that  population,  which  had 
repaired  its  losses  during  the  protecting  reign  of  Theo- 
doric,  was  swept  off"  by  famine,  pestilence,  and  the 
avenging  sword  of  the  Goths  :  the  glorious  monuments 


CHAP.  X.  SIEGE    OF    ROME.  22? 

of  Italy^ — the  very  stones, —  were  not  rescued  from  de- 
struction. The  master-works  of  art  were  used  as  mili- 
tary engines,  and  the  statues  which  adorned  the  mole 
of  Adrian  were  hurled  down  upon  the  besiegers.  In  his 
utmost  need,  Vitiges  had  demanded  the  succour  of  the 
Franks,  and  a  dreadful  invasion  of  that  barbarian  people, 
which  was  marked  by  the  destruction  of  Milan  and 
Genoa  (a.d.  538-539),  taught  the  Goths,  that  these  fierce 
warriors,  thirsting  for  booty  and  for  blood,  did  not  even 
care  to  distinguish  their  allies  from  their  enemies.  On 
the  same  day  they  cut  to  pieces  the  army  of  the  Goths, 
and  the  army  of  the  Greeks,  which  had  both  reckoned 
upon  their  assistance  ;  at  length  they  almost  all  perished 
from  want  in  the  Cisalpine  country,  Avhich  they  had 
devastated ;  and  when  soldiers  like  these  perish  from 
hunger,  it  is  easy  to  infer  that  nothing  remains  either 
to  the  peasant  or  to  the  citizen,  which  their  oppressors 
can  pillage  or  destroy. 

In  March  538,  when  the  Goths  were  obliged  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Rome,  Belisarius  profited  by  their  dis- 
couragement, their  sufferings,  and  their  faults ;  he  laid 
siege  in  his  turn  to  Ravenna,  and  forced  Vitiges  to  give 
up  that  town,  and  to  surrender  himself  prisoner  (De- 
cember, 53(}).  Vitiges  was  as  deeply  indebted  to  the 
generosity  of  Justinian,  as  Gelimer  had  been  ;  he  passed 
his  days  in  affluence  at  Constantinople :  Belisarius  was 
at  the  same  time  recalled  from  Italy. 

Justinian  hastened  to  recall  his  general  after  each 
victory,  and  Belisarius  was  not  less  prompt  in  his  obcr 
dience  ;  but  every  time  he  quitted  the  command,  the 
])rovinces  he  abandoned  were  exposed  to  the  most 
dreadful  calamities  ;  and  the  wliole  empire  had  ample 
reason  to  regret  that  the  fate  of  several  millions  of  men 
depended  on  the  caprices  of  a  court,  on  the  mistrust  or 
the  envy  of  a  haughty  woman,  or  of  a  jealous  despot. 
Five  years  before,  at  the  very  time  when  Belisarius  was 
leaving  Africa,  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  Justinian, 
a  rebellion  broke  out  among  the  Moors,  and  the  liero, 
who  was  submissively  leaving  those  shores  in  the  nio- 
<j  2 


928        FALL  OF  THE  BOMAN  EMPIRE.     CHAP.  X. 

DQcnt  of  danger,  could  see  from  his  vessel  the  fires  which 
were  kindled  over  the  country  by  the  very  enemy  from 
■whose  attacks  he  had  hitherto  protected  it.  The  mi- 
nisters of  Justinian  seemed  studiously  to  increase,  by 
their  vexatious  enactments,  the  resentment  of  the  armed 
population  of  Africa,  the  weakness  and  the  degradation 
of  the  unarmed.  The  wandering  Moor,  whose  habits 
were,  even  in  that  age,  not  unlike  those  of  the  Bedouin 
Arab,  endeavoured  to  destroy  all  cultivation,  all  per- 
manent dwellings,  and  industrious  arts,  and  drove 
civilisation  back  to  the  sea  coast :  there  it  was  restricted 
to  the  maritime  towns  and  their  narrow  suburbs;  so  that 
during  the  remainder  of  Justinians  reign  it  was  esti- 
mated that  the  province  of  Africa  barely  equalled  one 
tliird  of  the  province  of  Italy. 

The  retirement  of  Belisarius  after  the  capture  of 
Vitiges  was  followed  by  similar  calamities  ;  Pavia  was 
tlie  only  town  of  importance  which  still  resisted  the 
Roman  yoke.  It  was  defended  by  a  thousand  Goths, 
who  proclaimed  their  chief  Hildebald  king :  he,  as  well 
as  his  successor  Eraric,  was  assassinated  within  the  year, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Totila,  a  young  kinsman  of 
Vitiges,  whose  excellent  abilities  were  only  equalled  by 
his  bravery  and  his  humanity.  This  new  king  repaired 
the  dilapidated  fortunes  of  the  Goths  by  his  remarkable 
"virtues  as  much  as  by  his  victories  :  he  recalled  to  the 
army  the  sons  of  those  who  had  already  fallen  in  its 
ranks ;  he  harassed,  attacked,  and  routed  successively 
eleven  generals,  to  whom  Justinian  had  entrusted  the 
defence  of  the  different  towns  of  Italy  :  he  crossed  the 
whole  peninsula  from  Verona  to  Naples,  in  order  to  col- 
lect the  scattered  warriors  of  his  nation,  who  had  been 
obliged  to  submit  in  every  province,  and  in  the  course 
of  three  years  (a.d.  541-544)  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostro- 
goths became,  under  his  command,  as  extensive,  if  not 
as  powerful,  as  it  was  when  the  war  began.  Justinian 
occasionally  sent  reinforcements  to  his  generals  in  Italy, 
but  these  scanty  supplies  served  only  to  prolong  a  con- 
test which   they   could   not  hope   to   terminate.     The 


CHAP.  X.  ITALIAN    WAR.  229 

arrival  of  200  men  from  Constantinople  was  looked  upon 
as  an  event  ;  and  such  was  the  universal  desolation  of 
Italy,  that  bands  of  one  or  two  hundred  soldiers  crossed 
its  whole  extent,  without  meeting  any  sufficient  obstacle 
to  their  progress.  In  544,  Justinian  sent  back  Belisarius, 
but  without  an  army  ;  so  that  for  four  years  this  hero  was 
compelled  to  struggle  with  his  adversary,  more  like  a 
captain  of  banditti  than  a  distinguished  general  ;  the 
extent  of  the  havoc  was  disproportioned  to  their  scanty 
resources,  and  a  handful  of  soldiers  on  either  side 
burnt  and  destroyed  what  they  were  unable  to  defend. 

Totila  besieged  Rome  for  a  long  time,  and  obtained 
possession  of  it  on  the  17th  of  December,  546;  he 
determined  to  destroy  a  city  which  had  displayed  such 
inveterate  hostility  to  the  Goths  ;  he  rased  the  walls, 
and  forced  the  inhabitants  to  seek  a  refuge  in  the  Cam- 
pania. For  forty  days  the  ancient  capital  of  the  world 
remained  deserted.  Belisarius  took  advantage  of  this 
occurrence  to  re-enter  it,  and  fortify  himself  in  it  once 
more  ;  but  he  was  again  obliged  to  quit  it.  Justinian, 
in  leaving  this  great  man,  to  contend,  almost  without 
money  and  without  troops,  against  an  enemy  infinitely 
superior  to  him  in  strength,  seemed  to  be  labouring  to 
destroy  a  reputation  of  which  he  was  jealous.  When 
he  recalled  Belisarius  for  the  second  time,  Italy  was 
ravaged  for  four  years  by  the  conflicting  fury  of  civil 
and  foreign  war ;  the  Franks  and  Germans  made  an- 
other incursion  without  the  authority  of  their  govern- 
ment, without  leaders,  and  with  the  sole  object  of 
plundering  on  a  large  scale.  At  length,  in  552,  Justinian 
formed  an  army  of  .30,000  men  ;  he  appointed  a  man 
to  command  it,  in  whom  we  scarcely  expect  to  find  the 
talents  or  the  character  of  a  hero  ;  but  the  eunuch 
Narses,  who  had  passed  his  youth  in  directing  the  tasks 
of  the  women  in  the  palace,  and  had  gained  experience 
in  various  embassies  in  his  later  years,  fully  justified 
the  choice  of  Justinian,  when  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
army.  In  the  month  of  July,  552,  he  gained  a  great 
victory  over  the  Goths  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome, 
Q   3 


230  PAtIi    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  X. 

when  Totila  was  slain  :  in  the  month  of  March,  553, 
he  won  another  battle  near  Naples,  in  which  Teia,  who 
had  been  chosen  to  succeed  Totila,  was  also  killed  :  and 
thus  was  accomplished  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy 
of  the  Ostrogoths,  the  almost  total  destruction  of  that 
nation,  and  the  submission  to  the  emperor  of  the  sad  de- 
serts of  that  Italy,  in  which  all  that  was  most  delicious  and 
magnificent  in  the  world  had  so  long  been  accumulated. 

After  the  victories  of  Narses,  Italy  was  governed,  in 
the  name  of  the  emperor  of  Constantinople,  by  Exarchs, 
who  resided  at  Ravenna,  though  indeed  the  government 
of  the  country  scarcely  remained  sixteen  years  under  the 
control  of  the  empire  of  the  East :  the  fortified  town  of 
Ravenna,  however,  and  the  Pentapolis,  which  is  now 
called  La  Romagna,  not  in  memory  of  Rome,  but  of  the 
Greeks  who  affected  to  call  themselves  Romans,  long 
formed  part  of  its  possessions.  La  Romagna  and  some 
other  smaller  provinces  continued  for  two  centuries,  that 
is,  until  752,  to  be  governed  by  the  exarch  of  Italy  ; 
another  exarch  governed  Africa,  and  resided  at  Car- 
thage. Justinian  had  even  extended  his  conquests  to 
some  cities  in  Spain,  and  had  contributed  to  keep  alive 
anarchy  in  that  great  peninsula ;  but  as  the  Roman 
province  which  he  had  recovered  was  not  sufficiently 
important  to  deserve  a  third  exarch,  Greek  dukes  were 
appointed  to  such  of  the  Spanish  towns  as  opened  their 
gates  to  the  generals  of  Justinian,  and  of  his  successors, 
from  550  to  620. 

The  wars  which  Justinian  carried  on  in  the  East 
against  Chosroes  occasioned  as  much  misery  as  his  ex- 
pedition in  the  West.  Syria  was  entirely  occupied,  and 
the  frontiers  of  Armenia  were  devastated  by  the  Per- 
sians, whilst  Colchis  was  disputed  with  the  greatest  ob- 
stinacy, for  sixteen  years,  by  the  two  empires  (a.d.  540 — 
556).  After  a  prodigious  ivaste  of  human  life,  the 
frontiers  of  the  Romans  and  the  Persians  remained  much 
the  same  as  they  were  before  the  war  :  as  those  countries 
have  remained  in  a  barbarous  state  ever  since,  they  the 
less  merit  our  notice. 


CHAP.  X.  PERSIAN    WAR.  231 

Justinian  was  nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  when  he 
was  obliged  to  have  recourse  for  the  last  time  to  the 
valour  and  ability  of  his  general,  who  was  not  less  aged 
than  himself,  in  order  to  repel  an  invasion  of  the  Bul- 
garians, who,  in  559,  advanced  to  the  gates  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  venerable  Belisarius  was  looked  upon 
as  the  only  safeguard  of  the  empire  ;  he  with  difficulty 
collected  300  of  those  soldiers,  who,  in  happier  years, 
had  shared  his  toils  ;  to  these  was  added  a  timorous 
troop  of  peasants  and  recruits,  who  refused  to  fight.  He 
succeeded,  however,  in  repulsing  the  Bulgarians  ;  but 
this  success,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  excited 
the  jealousy  and  the  fears  of  Justinian,  who  had  in- 
variably punished  his  general  for  the  victories  he  gained. 
In  5iO  he  had  been  condemned  to  a  fine  amounting  to 
120,000/.  sterling:  in  563  a  conspiracy  against  the 
emperor  was  discovered,  Belisarius  was  implicated  in 
it,  and  whilst  his  pretended  accomplices  were  executed, 
Justinian  affected  to  pardon  his  old  servant ;  but  he 
caused  his  eyes  to  be  torn  out,  and  confiscated  his  whole 
fortune.  This  account  is  adopted  by  the  young  and 
learned  biographer  of  Belisarius,  lord  JMahon,  though  it 
only  rests  upon  the  authority  of  historians  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries.  The  general  who  had  conquered 
two  kingdoms  was  to  be  seen,  blind,  and  led  by  a  child, 
holding  out  a  wooden  cup  before  the  convent  of  Lauros 
to  crave  the  pittance  of  an  obolus.  It  appears,  however, 
that  the  disapprobation  of  the  people  cavxsed  Justinian 
to  repent  his  severity,  and  Belisarius  was  restored  to  his 
palace,  where  he  died  on  the  13th  of  March,  5()5  : 
Justinian  also  expired  on  the  1  tth  of  September  in  the 
same  year. 

The  glory  which  Justinian  derives  from  the  collection 
and  publication  of  the  ancient  Roman  laws,  is  more  solid 
and  more  durable  than  that  of  his  conquests.  The 
Pandects  and  the  Code,  which  were  arranged  and  i)ro- 
inulgated  by  his  authority,  contain  the  immense  store 
of  the  wisdom  of  preceding  ages  ;  and  we  cannot  but  be 
astonished  at  finding  so  much  respect  for  law  in  tlie 
Q  4 


232  FALIi    OF    THE    RO.UAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  X. 

character  of  a  despot ;  so  much  virtue  in  so  corrupt  an 
age ;  so  deep  a  reverence  for  antiquity,  at  a  time  when 
every  institution  was  overthrown  ;  and,  lastly,  a  system 
of  legislation  entirely  Latin,  pubHshed  by  a  Greek  in 
the  midst  of  Greeks.  For,  although  Justinian  sometimes 
substituted  the  stamp  of  servility  for  the  noble  and-, 
primitive  character  of  the  ancient  law  ;  though  he  oc- 
casionally deranged  a  system  which  had  been  slowly 
matured  by  the  jurists,  to  satisfy  the  whim  of  the  mo- 
ment, or  his  own  personal  interest,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  work  he  sanctioned  is  a  valuable  monument  of 
justice  and  of  reason,  of  which  he  was,  though  not  the 
author,  the  preserver. 

That  absolute  government  w^hich  had  corrupted  every 
Roman  virtue,  did  not,  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  even 
give  internal  peace  to  the  people  in  exchange  for  their 
lost  liberty.  Despotism  may  render  civil  war  and  popular 
commotions  dishonourable,  but  it  cannot  suppress  them. 
There  was  no  longer  sufficient  virtue  in  Constantinople 
to  induce  a  man  to  expose  his  life  in  the  defence  of  his 
civil  rights,  for  the  honour  of  his  country,  orfor  the  laws 
which  he  regarded  as  sacred ;  but  battles  %vere  fought 
for  the  charioteers  of  the  circus.  Chariot-racing,  Avhich 
had  been  a  favourite  amusement  of  the  Romans,  was  in- 
troduced into  Constantinople,  and  afterwards  into  all  the 
great  towns  of  the  empire ;  the  prizes  were  contended 
for  by  charioteers  dressed  either  in  a  blue  or  a  green  uni- 
form :  the  entire  population  was  divided  into  two  parties 
distinguished  by  these  colours.  Two  hostile  factions 
broke  out  throughout  the  empire ;  religion,  politics, 
morality,  liberty,  and  all  the  lofty  sentiments  of  human 
nature,  had  no  part  in  their  animosity  ;  but  the  Greens 
and  the  Blues,  who  Avere  only  contending  for  the  prizes 
of  the  circus,  could  not  be  satisfied  without  shedding 
each  other's  blood.  Justinian  himself,  worked  upon  by 
an  ancient  enmity  of  Theodora,  embraced  the  cause  of 
the  Blues,  and  during  his  reign  the  Greens  could  never 
obtain  justice.  The  judges,  who  were  to  pass  sentence  on 
the  property,  the  good  name,  or  the  lives  of  the  citizenSj 


CHAP.  X.        STATE  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  233 

examined  less  into  their  conduct  and  their  rights  than 
into  the  colour  of  their  party.  On  several  occasions 
private  violence  assumed  the  character  of  open  sedition; 
but  in  532,  during  the  most  terrible  of  these  revolts, 
which  is  called  Nika,  or  victory,  from  the  cry  which  was 
adopted,  the  capital  remained  for  five  days  in  the  power 
of  an  infuriated  mob :  the  cathedral,  several  churches, 
baths,  theatres,  palaces,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  town, 
was  reduced  to  ashes.  Justinian,  who  was  on  the  point 
of  taking  flight,  was  only  maintained  upon  the  throne 
by  the  firmness  of  his  wife  Theodora.  Torrents  of  blood 
were  shed  by  men  who  were  too  cowardly  to  defend 
their  country  against  barbarians,  or  their  rights  against 
internal  oppression. 


234        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


CHAP.  XI. 

SUCCESSION  OF  GREEK   EMPERORS.  NARSES,  EXARCH  OF  ITALY. 

THE   GErlDiE   AND   THE  LOMBARDS,   BETWEEN  THE  ALPS  AND 

THE    DANUBE.  ROMANTIC    STORY    OF    ALBOIN,    KING    OF    THE 

LOMBARDS  ;    HIS      CONQUEST    OF    THE    GEPID-E  ;     HIS    INVASION 

OF  ITALY.  RESISTANCE  OF  THE   MARITIME   CITIES  OF  ITALY  ; 

THEIR  INTERNAL  GOVERNMENT.  MARITIME   CITIES  OF   SPAIN, 

AFRICA,  AND  ILLYRICUM. GROWTH   OF  MUNICIPAL  LIBERTIES. 

INDEPENDENCE    OF    THE   LOMBARDS;    THEIR    THIRTY    DUKES 

IN   ITALY. THE   FOUR   FRANKIC   KINGS,   SONS  OF    CHLOTHAIRE. 

GROWTH  OF  A  TERRITORIAL  ARISTOCRACY.  THEMORD  DOM, 

OR   SUPREME  JUDGE   OF  THE    FRANKS.  THE    FOUR     KINGDOMS 

OF      GERMANY.  GONTRAN,      SURNAMED       "THE      GOOD." 

CHILPERIC,    THE    NERO  OF  FRANCE. FREDEGUNDE. BRUNE- 

CHILDE.   EFFORTS   OF  GONTRAN  TO   KEEP  DOWN   THE  NOBLES. 

SCENE  IN   THE   NATIONAL  ASSESIBLY  OF  THE   FRANKS,     FROM 

GREGORY     OF     TOURS.    CHILDEBERT     II.  ;       HIS     FEROCITT.  ■ 

ENERGY,     TALENTS,    AND    CRUELTY      OF    BRUNECHILDE.    HER 

SUCCESSES.  HER  DEFEAT  AND  MISERABLE  DEATH. 

At  the  time  when  the  empire  of  the  West  was  over- 
thrown^ when  each  of  its  provinces  was  occupied  by  a 
different  people,  and  when  as  many  kingdoms  were 
founded  as  there  were  daring  chiefs  at  the  head  of 
a  horde  of  barbarians,  the  world  presented  a  scene  of 
such  complex  and  conflicting  interests,  that  it  seemed  a 
very  difficult  task  to  follow  the  general  progress  of  events. 
This  difficulty  has,  however,  ceased  in  a  great  measure, 
as  far  as  we  are  concerned.  From  the  reign  of  Jus- 
tinian the  interest  of  European  history  lies  almost  en- 
tirely between  the  Greek  empire  and  the  kingdom  of 
the  Franks,  which,  although  it  had  not  yet  acquired 
the  title  of  empire,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  whole  of 
western  Europe.  This  exclusive  interest,  this  almost 
universal  monarchy  of  the  Franks  in  the  ^Vest,  continued 
until  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  and 
the  civil  wars  between  his  children  in  840. 

During  these  three  centuries,  the  history  of  the  Latin 


CHAP.  XI.  SUCCESSORS    OF    JUSTINIAN.  2.'?5 

world  is  frequently  obscure,  generally  barbarous,  and 
always  incomplete ;  but  it  is  constantly  connected  with 
the  progressive  revolutions  of  that  great  people  which  will 
be  the  principal  object  of  our  observations.  During  the 
same  period  the  history  of  the  East  became  extremely 
complicated  ;  the  sceptre  of  Justinian  passed  successively 
to  his  nephew,  Justin  the  younger  (a.  d.  565 — 57-t)  ; 
from  him  to  Tiberius  II.  (57  t — 582)  ;  to  Maurice 
(582—602)  ;  to  I'hocas  (6"02— (ilO)  ;  and  to  Heraclius 
(6 10 — f)42).  Three  of  these  princes,  Tiberius,  Mau- 
rice, and  Heraclius,  were  distinguished  by  their  virtues  ; 
and  the  claim  of  this  period  to  the  epithet  of  glorious,  is 
at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  reign  of  Justinian.  It  Avould 
probably  be  esteemed  so,  if  the  events  were  better  known ; 
but,  in  monarchies,  the  interest  excited  by  public  con- 
cerns is  not  .sufficiently  strong  to  induce  many  men  of 
distinguished  talents  to  devote  themselves  to  the  severe 
labours  of  the  historian.  Annals  are  seldom  continued 
from  the  zeal  of  their  authors  alone:  the  vanity  of  the 
monarch  may,  indeed,  lead  him  to  appoint  an  historio- 
grapher, but  at  the  same  time  it  forbids  the  salaried 
historian  to  tell  the  truth.  Events  are  then  oidy  recorded 
in  panegyrics,  which  inspire  no  confidence,  or  in  dry  and 
insipid  chronicles,  which  excite  no  interest.  The  good 
fortune  by  which  the  reign  of  Justinian  possessed  a  great 
historian  was  rare  indeed  in  the  history  of  Byzantium. 

This  same  period  answers  to  that  of  the  birth  and 
education  of  a  man,  who  was  destined  in  his  maturer 
years  to  change  the  face  of  the  world.  Justinian  died 
in  5G5,  and  Mohammed  was  born  in  5f)9;  yet,  until  his 
flight  to  Medina  in  6'22,  the  remainder  of  the  world,  and 
even  Arabia  itself,  was  almost  unconscious  of  his  exist- 
ence ;  and  as  the  ten  last  years  of  iiis  life  (a.  n.  622 — 
6.32),  after  he  had  obtained  the  sovereign  power,  were 
devoted  to  the  conquest  of  that  great  peninsula,  the 
empire  only  learned  the  mighty  revolution  which  had 
taken  place,  wlien  (a.d.  628 — 6.32)  it  was  called  upon 
for  the  first  time  to  meet  the  Musulmauns  in  the  field. 

Before  we  engage  in  the  history  of  the  founder  of  the 


236  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  XI. 

new  religion^  we  shall^  in  another  chapter^  survey  the 
state  of  the  East,  and  the  conquests  and  defeats  of 
Chosroes  II.,  whose  memorable  reign  cast  a  lustre, 
which  was  but  the  harbinger  of  its  fall,  over  the 
monarchy  of  the  Sassanian  Persians.  Our  present  object 
has  been  simply  to  recall  the  concordance  of  events  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  world,  before  we  return  to  the 
history  of  the  West. 

That  country,  which  had  so  long  been  looked  upon 
as  the  queen  of  the  earth,  —  that  Italy,  which  had  been 
ruined  and  desolated  by  the  wars  of  the  Greeks,  and  by 
the  annihilation  of  the  monarchy  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
soon  underwent  another  revolution.  The  eunuch  Xarses, 
who  had  conquered,  was  appointed  to  govern  it ;  in  his 
extreme  old  age  he  administered  for  fifteen  years  (a.  d. 
553 — 568)  the  affairs  of  a  country,  which,  perhaps, 
stood  in  need  of  a  younger  and  more  active  ruler.  This 
extraordinary  man,  who  is  said  to  have  attained  the  age  of 
ninety-five,  had  established  himself  at  Ravenna,  ivhence 
he  once  more  imposed  the  laws  of  the  empire  on  the  Ita- 
lians ;  laws  of  which  they  knew  little,  except  the  grievous 
imposts  heaped  upon  them  in  their  name.  Narses 
was  the  avaricious  servant  of  an  avaricious  master  ; 
he  was  accused  of  amassing  excessive  wealth  by  draining 
the  people,  who  enjoyed  no  advantages  which  might  com- 
pensate for  the  costliness  of  their  government.  The  fugi- 
tives who  had  been  dispersed  by  the  Greek  and  Gothic 
armies  gradually  congregated  in  the  towns;  IMilan  arose 
from  its  ruins,  and  the  other  cities  recovered  a  part  of 
their  population  ;  but  the  country  was  entirely  deserted, 
and  the  crops  which  sustained  the  remnant  of  the  Ita- 
lians were  probably  raised  by  the  hands  of  citizens  :  no 
one  dared  to  inhabit  the  rural  districts,  at  a  time  when 
public  force  was  extinct,  and  no  protection  was  ensured 
to  the  agriculturist.  The  events  which  occurred  at  the 
close  of  the  administration  of  Narses,  showed  that  there 
was  no  army  in  Italy ;  although  barbarous  and  hostile 
nations,  who  were  acquainted  with  the  roads  throughout 
the  country,  were  besieging  its  approaches. 


CHAP.  XI.  LOMBARDS. ALBOI.V.  237 

Narses  was  driven  from  his  post  in  the  most  insulting 
manner  by  the  empress  Sophia^  wife  of  Justin  II., 
who  sent  him  a  distafT,  and  told  him  that  he  ought  to 
resume  those  feminine  occupations  for  which  he  was 
fitted.  He  has  been  accused  of  having  summoned  the 
barbarians  to  assist  him  in  avenging  himself,  but  it  is 
certain  that  such  an  invitation  was  unnecessary. 

In  that  district,  which  had  once  been  Roman,  extend- 
ing from  the  foot  of  the  Alps  to  the  Danube,  the  Gepida?, 
of  Gothic,  and  the  Lombards,  of  Vandal,  race,  had 
taken  up  their  abode :  both  of  these  tribes  were  said 
to  surpass  in  ferocity  any  of  the  preceding  enemies  of 
the  empire ;  both  of  them  had  accepted  the  alliance  of 
the  Greeks  for  the  sake  of  tribute,  disguised  under  the 
name  of  pension.  The  Gepidre  were  to  guard  the  en- 
trance to  Italy  :  the  Lombards  had  contributed  to  the 
conquest  of  that  country,  by  the  valiant  auxiliaries 
they  had  furnished  to  Narses.  The  most  virulent  ani- 
mosity divided  these  two  nations,  wliich  had  been  kept 
alive  by  the  romantic  and,  perhaps,  fabulous  adventures 
related  of  their  kings.  The  historians  of  a  barbarous 
people  are  always  unacquainted  with,  or  indifferent  to, 
the  domestic  events  of  their  country  :  kings  alone  ap- 
pear upon  the  scene  ;  their  adventures  take  the  place 
of  national  exploits ;  and  even  the  fictions  of  which 
they  are  the  heroes  merit  some  attention,  as  they  show 
us  the  bent  of  the  popular  imagination. 

Alboin,  the  young  heir  to  the  throne  of  the  Lom- 
bards, had  already  displayed  his  valour  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Gepida?,  and  had  slain  with  his  own  hand 
the  son  of  their  king;  nevertheless  his  father  would  not 
consent  to  admit  him  to  his  table  until  he  had  received 
his  arms  from  the  hands  of  some  foreign  sovereign. 
Such  was  the  invariable  custom  of  their  nation,  after- 
wards incorporated  into  the  laws  of  chivalry,  and  called 
the  arming  of  a  knight.  This  custom  is  attested  by 
Paul  W'arnefrid,  a  Lombard  liistorian,  contemporary 
Avith  Charlemagne.  Alboin,  witli  forty  of  his  bravest 
comj)anions,  did  not  hesitate  to  ask  his  knightly  arms 


238        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XI. 

at  the  hands  of  Thurisund,  king  of  the  Gepidse,  and 
father  of  the  prince  whom  he  had  slain.  The  duties  of 
hospitaUty  were  more  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  okl  king 
than  those  of  vengeance,  and  the  prince  was  received  at 
the  table  of  the  monarch  of  the  Gepidie  ;  he  was  ar- 
rayed in  new  armour,  and  protected  amid  the  disorder 
of  a  banquet,  at  which  Cunimund,  another  son  of  Thu- 
risund, attempted  to  avenge  his  brother.  This  warlike 
hospitality,  with  which  so  many  vindictive  and  hostile 
feelings  were  mingled,  gave  Alboin  an  opportunity  of 
inflicting  a  fresh  outrage  on  the  royal  house  of  the 
Gepidae :  he  carried  off  Rosamunde,  the  daughter  of 
Cunimund,  but  he  was  overtaken  before  he  could  escape; 
the  princess  was  taken  from  him,  his  offer  of  marri- 
age rejected,  and  the  two  kings,  as  well  as  the  two 
nations,  excited  by  mutual  aggressions,  mutually  de- 
termined on  each  other's  destruction.  Their  hostility 
broke  out  when  Alboin  and  Cunimund  had  both  suc- 
ceeded to  their  aged  parents.  The  Lombard  king,  per- 
ceiving that  he  was  the  weaker,  sought  for  foreign 
assistance ;  he  enlisted  the  Saxons  under  his  standard, 
and  he  more  especially  strengthened  his  forces  by  an 
alliance  with  the  khan  of  the  Avars,  a  nomadic  people, 
which  had  descended  from  the  mountains  of  Tartary 
and  had  crossed  all  the  Slavonian  and  Sarmatian  deserts, 
in  its  flight  from  the  vengeance  of  the  Turks.  The 
Avars  had  threatened  the  frontiers  of  the  Greeks,  in- 
vaded the  territory  of  several  German  nations  subject  to 
the  Franks,  and  had  afterwards  roamed  over  the  north 
of  Europe  with  their  flocks,  seeking  to  possess  them- 
selves of  some  territory  by  the  sword.  Alboin  united 
his  desire  of  vengeance  on  the  Gepidie,  to  a  design 
which  he  cherished  of  conquering  Italy  and  establishing 
his  people  in  that  country.  The  valley  of  the  Danube 
had  been  so  cruelly  devastated  by  successive  barbarous 
hordes,  that  every  trace  of  its  ancient  civilisation  was 
effaced.  Its  rich  pastures  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  a 
pastoral  people ;  but  the  Germans  were  unwilling  to 
perform  the  drudgery  of  the  mechanical  or  agricultural 


CHAP.  XI.        ALBOIN. INVASION    OP    ITALY.  239 

arts,  though  they  had  learned  to  appreciate  the  enjoy- 
ments they  procure :  they  accordingly  wished  to  subdue 
a  country  in  which  the  conquered  people  should  work 
for  them,  and  they  concluded  a  singular  treaty  with  the 
Avars,  by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  they  should 
attack  the  Gepidse,  destroy  their  monarchy,  and  divide 
their  spoils  in  common  ;  but  that,  after  this  conquest, 
the  Lombards  should  abandon  their  own  country,  as 
well  as  that  of  their  subdued  enemies,  to  their  allies, 
and  start  themselves  to  seek  their  fortune  elsewhere. 
These  extraordinary  conditions  were  literally  fulfilled  ; 
the  kingdom  of  the  Gepidae  was  overrun  ;  their  army 
was  defeated  by  Alboin  in  a  great  battle  (a.  d.  566)  ; 
their  wealth  was  divided  between  the  conquerors ;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country  were  reduced  to  slavery,  and 
the  princess  Rosamunde  Avas  given  back  to  Alboin,  who 
married  her.  At  the  same  time  the  Lombards  prepared 
to  abandon  to  the  Avars  Pannonia  and  Noricum,  where 
they  liad  dwelt  for  forty-two  years.  They  gathered  toge- 
ther their  wives,  their  children,  their  old  men,  and  their 
slaves  together,  removed  all  their  valuables,  and,  having 
set  fire  to  their  houses,  migrated  towards  the  Italian  Alps. 
Alboin,  who  united  in  his  own  character  all  the  virtues 
and  all  the  vices  of  a  barbarian,  was  not  less  remarkable 
for  his  prudence  and  his  valour,  than  for  his  ferocity 
and  intemperance.  The  nation  of  the  Lombards,  of 
which  he  was  the  leader,  had  been  distinguished  above 
all  the  nations  of  Germany  for  its  bravery  ever  since  the 
time  of  Tacitus,  but  it  was  far  from  numerous.  Before 
he  invaded  Italy,  he  endeavoured  to  secure  some  rein- 
forcements. He  had  formerly  been  connected  with  the 
Saxons,  and  as  his  previous  conduct  had  won  their  con- 
fidence, twenty  thousand  of  their  warriors  joined  his 
army  as  soon  as  he  summoned  them  to  his  standard. 
He  liberated  all  the  Gepid;c  who  had  fallen  to  his  lot, 
and  enrolled  them  in  his  battalions.  He  also  invited 
several  other  Germanic  nations  to  join  him  ;  amongst 
them  were  the  Bavarians,  who  had  recently  settled  in 
the  country  which  has  since  borne  their  name. 


240        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XI. 

It  was  not  an  army,  but  an  entire  nation,  which  de- 
scended the  Alps  of  Friuli  in  the  year  568.  The  exarch 
Lorginus,  who  had  succeeded  Narses,  shut  himself  up 
within  the  walls  of  Ravenna,  and  offered  no  other  resist- 
ance. Pavia,  which  had  been  well  fortified  by  the  kings  of 
the  Ostrogoths,  closed  its  gates,  and  sustained  a  siege  of 
four  years.  Several  other  towns,  Padua,  Monzelice,  and 
Mantua,  opposed  their  isolated  forces,  but  with  less 
perseverance.  The  Lombards  advanced  slowly  into  the 
country,  but  still  they  advanced ;  at  their  approach, 
the  inhabitants  fled  to  the  fortified  towns  upon  the 
sea  coast,  in  the  hope  of  being  relieved  by  the  Greek 
fleet,  or  at  least  of  finding  a  refuge  in  the  ships,  if  it 
became  necessary  to  surrender  the  place.  It  was  known 
that  Alboin  had  bound  himself  by  an  atrocious  vow  to 
put  to  the  sword  all  the  inhabitants  of  Pavia,  whenever 
it  surrendered,  and  the  resistance  of  that  place,  which 
it  was  impossible  to  relieve,  was  foreseen  to  be  the  pre- 
lude to  dreadful  calamities.  The  islands  of  Venice  re- 
ceived the  numerous  fugitives  from  Venetia,  and  at  their 
head  the  patriarch  of  Aquileia,  who  took  up  his  abode 
at  Grado  :  Ilavenna  opened  its  gates  to  the  fugitives 
from  the  two  banks  of  the  Po  ;  Genoa  to  those  from 
Liguria ;  the  inhabitants  of  La  Romagna,  between  Ri- 
mini and  Ancona,  retired  to  the  cities  of  the  Pentapolis  ; 
Pisa,  Rome,  Gaeta,  Naples,  Amalfi,  and  all  the  maritime 
towns  of  the  south  of  Italy  were  peopled  at  the  same 
time  by  crowds  of  fugitives.  The  Lombards,  who  were 
ignorant  of  the  arts  used  in  sieges,  could  only  reduce  the 
cities  which  opposed  them  by  famine,  or  by  threats  of  a 
general  massacre.  This  manner  of  attack  was  infallible 
for  the  places  in  the  interior,  but  it  was  unsuccessful 
for  those  which  lay  upon  the  coast,  all  of  which  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  Greeks. 

But  the  Greeks,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  remote  countries 
whose  geography  even  they  had  forgotten,  and  too  much 
occupied  with  the  wars  of  the  Avars,  the  Persians,  and 
the  Arabs,  to  send  succour  to  a  few  fortresses  scattered 


CHAP.  XI.  RISE    OF    ITALIAN    REPUBLICS.  241 

along  a  distant  shore,  contented  themselves  with  an 
honorary  allegiance.  They  gave  up  the  revenues  of 
each  town  for  its  defence,  and  they  thought  themselves 
generous ;  indeed  they  were  so,  for  while  they  gave 
nothing,  they  exacted  nothing.  Each  city  had  pre- 
served its  curia,  and  its  municipal  institutions.  As 
long  as  the  ruling  power  had  been  close  at  hand,  and 
perpetually  despotic,  this  curia  had  been  only  a 
means  of  oppression,  but  it  became  a  means  of  sal- 
vation to  cities  forgotten  by  their  sovereign,  and  left 
entirely  to  their  own  resources.  Their  constitution  was 
purely  republican  ;  the  confidence  of  the  citizens,  and 
the  necessity  of  union,  restored  them  to  new  vigour  and 
dignity.  The  Greek  emperor  placed  a  duke  at  the  head 
of  each  curia;  he  found  it  more  economical  to  give 
that  title  to  one  of  the  citizens  of  these  distant  towns, 
and  he  generally  followed  the  suggestion  of  the  muni- 
cipal senate  in  his  choice.  Thenceforward  this  duke  or 
doge  was  nothing  more  than  a  republican  magistrate, 
commanding  a  republican  militia;  disposing  of  finances, 
which  were  formed  by  almost  voluntary  contributions, 
and  reviving  in  the  breasts  of  the  Italians,  virtues  which 
had  been  extinct  for  centuries. 

This  happy  revolution  which  was  silently  taking  place 
in  the  maritime  towns,  was  so  little  perceived  by  the 
Greek  writers,  that  they  continued  to  put  into  the  mouths 
of  the  free  Venetians,  the  declaration,  that  they  were  the 
slaves  of  theem.pire,  and  that  they  desired  to  remain  so. 
But  this  change,  which  gradually  raised  the  most  des- 
picable of  men  from  the  depths  of  baseness  and  of  crime 
to  be  an  example  to  the  world,  was  not  confined  to  the 
maritime  cities  of  Italy. 

Throughout  the  west,  the  Greek  empire  possessed  scat- 
tered points  along  the  coast,  which  it  was  too  weak  to 
protect  ;  and  it  appealed  to  that  virtue  which  it  could 
not  know,  and  to  tliat  patriotism  wiiich  it  couhl  not 
understand,  to  defend  those  walls  which  it  was  itself  un- 
able to  guard.  In  Spain,  the  civil  wars  during  the  reign 
of  Loevvegild  (a.  u.  57-2 — 586),  and  of  Rccasede  (a.  i>. 

VOL.   I.  R 


242        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    pHAP.  XI. 

586 — fiOl),  which  had  been  excited  by  themutualintoler- 
ance  of  the  catholics  and  the  Arians,  opened  a  great  num- 
ber of  maritime  places  to  the  Greeks,  and  established  in 
them  municipal  governments,  which  afterwards  became 
glorious  examples  for  the  free  cities  of  Catalonia  and 
Aragon.  In  Africa,  the  invasions  of  the  Gaetuli  and  the 
Moors,  by  cutting  off  all  land  communication  between 
the  maritime  cities,  converted  them,  into  so  many  little 
isolated  republics  ;  these  were  shortly  after  destroyed 
by  the  great  conquest  of  the  Arabs.  On  the  Illyrian 
coast,  opposite  to  Italy,  the  inhabitants,  driven  to  the 
cliffs  which  overhang  the  sea,  found  refuge  against 
the  risings  of  the  Slavonians,  and  the  inroads  of  the 
Bulgarians  ;  —  the  celebrated  league  of  the  free  cities  of 
Istria  and  Dalmatia,  in  which  Ragusa  obtained  a  dis- 
tinguished place,  had  enjoyed  an  independent  existence 
of  several  centuries,  before  its  voluntary  union  with 
Venice  in  997-  The  Greeks  obtained  no  footing  upon 
the  coast  of  France,  but  the  example  of  Genoa,  Pisa, 
and  Naples,  was  not  lost  upon  the  cities  of  Aries, 
Marseilles,  and  Montpellier,  which  traded  with  them  ; 
a  circumstance  which  explains  the  preservation  of  muni- 
cipal privileges  in  the  south  of  France,  at  a  time  when 
they  were  almost  abolished  in  the  north. 

If  the  Lombards  revived  the  spirit  of  social  liberty, 
they  also  gave  their  subjects  an  example  of  the  in- 
dividual liberty  and  savage  freedom  of  a  nation  which 
is  more  averse  to  servitude  than  to  public  disorder. 
Alboin  did  not  long  remain  at  the  head  of  their  armies ; 
after  a  reign  of  three  years  and  a  half  from  the  capture  of 
Pavia,  (which  he  had  spared,  notwithstanding  his  vow), 
he  was  assassinated  by  that  Rosamunde,  whose  father  he 
had  slain,  whose  people  he  had  destroyed,  and  whom  he 
had  married  after  he  had  outraged  her  honour.  In  the 
intoxication  of  a  banquet  he  sent  her  a  cup  which  he 
had  caused  to  be  made  of  the  scull  of  Cunimund,  inlaid 
with  gold,  and  ordered  her  to  drink  with  her  father. 
Rosamunde  dissembled  her  resentment,  but  she  employed 
that  beauty  which  had  been  the  source  of  her  misfor- 


CHAP.  XI.       LOMBARDS. FRANKS.  243 

tunes  and  her  crimes,  to  corrupt  two  of  the  guards  of 
Alboin,  whom  she  armed  with  daggers  against  the  life 
of  her  Imsband.  After  the  death  of  Alboin,  at  Verona, 
(a.d.  573),  Clef  was  elected  by  the  suffrages  of  the 
Lombards,  and  raised  upon  the  buckler  :  but  after  a 
reign  of  eighteen  months  he  was  killed  by  one  of  his 
pages,  and  the  nation,  which  had  already  extended  itself 
over  a  great  portion  of  Italy,  elected  no  successor  to  the 
throne  for  ten  years.  In  every  province  where  the 
Lombards  had  formed  a  settlement,  their  general  as- 
sembly sufficed  to  administer  justice,  and  to  regu- 
late the  affairs  of  the  government ;  it  elected  dukes  as 
presidents,  the  number  of  whom  amounted  to  thirty,  for 
the  whole  of  Italy.  At  length,  however,  the  weaker 
members  of  the  community  began  to  feel  the  want  of  an 
authority  which  should  control  that  of  the  dukes,  and 
protect  the  rights  of  the  people;  whilst  the  danger  of 
foreign  wars,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Greeks,  rendered 
it  advisable  to  name  a  chief.  After  an  interregimm  of 
ten  years,  Antharic  was  raised  to  the  throne,  probably 
in  the  year  584  ;  and  before  the  middle  of  the  following 
century,  the  Lombards  had  acquired  the  habit  of  trans- 
mitting the  crown  from  father  to  son,  though  they  had 
not  formally  renounced  the  right  of  electing  their  kings. 

The  Lombards  had  scarcely  completed  the  conquest 
of  that  part  of  Italy  which  is  called  Lombardy  after 
them,  when  they  crossed  the  Provenij-al  Alps  to  pillage 
the  territory  of  the  kings  of  the  Franks,  or  perhaps  with 
the  intention  of  effecting  a  settlement  there. 

After  the  death  of  Chlothaire  I.,  which  happened  in 
561,  the  Frankic  monarchy  was  governed  by  his  fcur 
sons,  Charibert,  (Jontran,  Chilperic,  and  Siegbert.  This 
was  only  the  second  generation  of  the  conquerors,  for 
these  ])rinces  were  the  grandsons  of  Clovis :  yet  Gon- 
tran,  who  survived  all  his  brotliers,  did  not  die  till  the 
year  5[)3,  exactly  a  century  after  the  marriage  of  C'iovis 
with  Chlotilde.  This  century  had  witnessed  very  im- 
portant changes  in  the  administration  and  in  the  opin- 
ions of  the  Franks.  The  warriors,  who  were  all  equal 
11  2 


244        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XT. 

when  they  arrived  in  Gaul,  had  soon  found  in  the  abuse 
of  victory,  means  of  acquiring  iniquitous  possessions, 
virhich  could  not  be  restrained  within  the  bounds  of 
equaUty.  As  the  soil  was  cultivated  by  slaves,  or  by 
those  classes  of  men,  intermediate  between  slaves  and 
free-born  men,  who  are  designated  in  their  laws  as  tri- 
butaries, lidi,  or  fiscal  dependants,  the  extent  of  their 
estates  appeared  to  them  no  obstacle  to  their  cultivation. 
The  smaller  the  number  of  proprietors  in  proportion  to 
the  extent  of  their  conquest,  the  more  alarming  was 
their  usurpation.  They  did  not,  indeed,  rob  the  wealthy 
Romans  of  their  property  by  a  general  measure  of 
spoliation,  nor  did  they  reduce  them  to  slavery;  but 
they  constantly  resorted  to  the  law  of  the  strongest,  in  a 
country  where  there  was,  in  fact,  no  government — no 
protection  for  the  weak.  The  poor  freeman  of  Frankic 
extraction  was  not  less  exposed  to  this  oppression  than 
the  Roman.  The  Franks  still  held  their  provincial  as- 
semblies for  the  administration  of  justice,  but  they  were 
unable  to  enforce  the  decrees  they  issued  ;  the  rich,  who 
then  first  began  to  be  styled  great,  gathered  around 
them  a  certain  number  of  retainers  called  leudes,  by 
means  of  grants  of  land,  and  with  these  followers  they 
were  enabled  to  drown  the  voice  of  justice;  to  intimidate, 
to  harass,  and  to  plunder  the  freemen,  and  thus  to  induce 
them  also  to  enlist  in  their  bands  of  leudes.  Hencefor- 
ward, the  great  alone  resorted  to  the  general  assemblies 
of  the  nation  ;  they  alone  were  known  to  the  sovereign  ; 
they  alone  were  intrusted  with  the  command  of  the  array, 
when  the  ban  was  called  out :  in  a  short  time  they  alone 
constituted  the  nation  ;  he  who  was  rich  was  sure  to 
become  more  so,  and  he  who  was  poor  was  sure  to  be 
stripped  of  the  little  he  possessed  :  in  less  than  a  century 
the  turbulent  democracy  of  the  Franks  was  transformed 
into  a  landed  aristocracy  of  the  most  oppressive  kind. 

France,  properly  so  called,  was  at  that  time  divided 
into  four  provinces,  which  bore  the  name  of  kingdoms ; 
Austrasia,  Neustria,  Burgundy,  and  Aquitaine.  The 
Franks  inhabited  only  the  two  former  of  these  districts  ; 


CHAP.  XI.  GERMANY.  245 

they  frequently  called  the  inhabitants  of  the  southern 
provinces  Romans,  although  the  nobles,  the  freemen,  and 
almost  all  who  bore  arms,  were  nearly  all  of  Burgundian 
or  Visigothic  race :  but  as  they  found  themselves  in  a 
minority  amongst  the  Gauls,  they  had  already  aban- 
doned the  Germanic  languages  and  adopted  the  Latin 
tongue.  The  assemblies  of  the  Frankic  people  were 
still  held  at  Metz,  or  Soissons,  the  capitals  of  Austrasia 
and  Neustria,  with  sufficient  frequency  to  prevent  the 
people  from  being  crushed  under  the  weight  of  oppres- 
sion. It  was  probably  to  protect  the  freemen  against 
their  more  powerful  countrymen,  that  the  office  of  mord 
dom,  or  chief  judge  of  murder,  was  instituted  about  that 
time.  This  functionary  was  the  supreme  minister  of 
justice,  and,  as  his  authority  was  superior  to  that  of  the 
tribunals,  he  was  able  to  inflict  punishment  on  such 
as  were  too  powerful  to  fall  under  the  ordinary  laws. 
The  resemblance  of  the  Teutonic  name,  mord  dom,  to 
the  Latin  major  domus,  caused  the  latter  expression  to 
be  applied  to  this  great  officer,  and  it  was  afterwards 
translated  Manor  of  the  palace,  which  confused  and 
obscured  the  true  derivation  of  the  word,  as  well  as  the 
nature  of  the  office.  The  Alord  Dom  was  chosen  by  the 
people,  not  by  the  king ;  his  duty  was  to  administer 
justice,  and  not  to  superintend  the  royal  revenues.  His 
office  was  not  perpetual,  but  he  was  nominated  when- 
ever the  people  stood  in  need  of  him,  —  in  times  of 
faction,  or  during  a  minority  ;  the  Lraci/r,  or  arm  of 
justice,  was  carried  before  him,  and  this  arm  frequently 
fell  upon  the  heads  of  criminals  of  the  highest  rank. 

Germany,  which  had  been  united  to  the  confederation 
of  the  Franks,  was  also  divided  into  four  kingdoms ; 
Franconia,  or  German  France,  Allemania,  or  Swabia, 
Bavaria,  and  Thuringia.  Christianity  was  only  begin- 
ning to  penetrate  into  these  barbarous  countries  ;  letters 
were  entirely  neglected,  and  hence  their  history  as  ■well 
as  their  institutions  are  totally  unknown.  It  appears, 
however,  that  each  of  these  great  nations  marched  under 
the  command  of  an  hereditary  duke,  and  that  the  only 
B  3 


246        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XI. 

connection  they  had  with  the  PVanks  was  that  of  making 
war  in  common.  Twice  in  the  course  of  the  reigns  of 
Chlothaire's  sons,  these  Germanic  nations  were  invited 
into  France  by  one  of  the  kings,  and  devastated  the 
country  wherever  they  passed.  The  sons  of  Chlothaire 
hated  each  other  as  cordially,  and  formed  as  many  trea- 
cherous designs  against  each  other,  as  the  sons  of  Clovis 
had  done.  They  found,  however,  the  nation  more  willing 
to  adopt  their  quarrels  as  grounds  of  civil  war. 

Of  the  four  sons  of  Chlothaire,  Charibert,  who  had 
fixed  his  residence  at  Paris,  and  who  was  the  sovereign 
of  Aquitaine,  passed  his  short  life  in  the  pursuit  of 
sensual  enjoyments,  and  in  the  grossest  debauchery, 
—  a  kind  of  vice  then  so  common  among  kings  that 
it  scarcely  excited  any  censure.  He  had  four  wives  at 
once,  two  of  whom  were  sisters ;  one  of  them,  Marco- 
vesa,  had  previously  taken  the  veil,  but  this  was  no 
obstacle  to  the  king.  Charibert  died  in  567,  and  the 
division  of  his  kingdom  of  Aquitaine  amongst  his  three 
brothers  was  one  of  the  great  causes  of  the  civil  wars  of 
tltat  century. 

Gontran,  the  second  of  these  kings,  who  survived  all 
the  others,  (his  reign  lasted  from  56l  to  503),  and 
who  had  received  Burgundy  for  his  kingdom,  and  Or- 
leans for  his  residence,  is  styled  by  Gregory  of  Tours, 
in  opposition  to  his  brothers,  "  the  good  king  Gon- 
tran."  His  morality,  indeed,  passed  for  good:  he  is  only 
known  to  have  had  two  wives  and  one  mistress,  and  he 
repudiated  the  first  before  he  married  the  second :  his 
temper  was,  moreover,  reputetl  to  be  a  kindly  one  ;  for, 
with  the  exception  of  his  wife's  physician,  who  was 
hewn  in  pieces  because  he  was  unable  to  cure  her  ;  of 
his  two  brothers-in-law,  whom  he  caused  to  be  assas- 
sinated ;  and  of  his  bastard  brother  Gondebald,  who 
was  slain  by  treachery ;  no  other  act  of  cruelty  is  re- 
corded of  him,  than  that  he  razed  the  town  of  Co- 
minges  to  the  ground,  and  massacred  all  the  inhabitants, 
men,  women,  and  children.  He  was,  however,  in  ge- 
neral, disposed  to  pardon  offences ;  and  he  displayed 


CHAP.  xr.  CHILPERIC. FREDEGUNDE.  247 

incredible  forbearance  in  favour  of  his  sister-in-law, 
Fredegunde,  who  more  than  once  attempted  his  life. 

In  opposition  to  the  good  king  Gontran,  his  third 
brother,  Chilperic,  has  been  called  the  Nero  of  France ; 
and,  indeed,  this  barbarian,  who  aspired  to  the  reputation 
of  a  poet,  a  grammarian,  and  a  theologian,  who  was  am- 
bitious of  every  kind  of  success  except  that  of  gaining  the 
affections  of  his  subjects,  may,  on  more  than  one  account, 
be  compared  to  the  Roman  tyrant.  Soissons  and  Neus- 
tria  had  fallen  to  his  share,  and  he  reigned  over  them 
from  561  to  584.  His  habits  were  more  grossly  licen- 
tious than  those  of  any  other  French  prince,  and  the 
number  of  queens  and  mistresses  he  collected  in  his  pa- 
lace was  so  great  that  they  were  never  enumerated. 
Amongst  them,  however,  was  the  infamous  Fredegunde, 
a  worthy  consort  for  such  a  monster.  She  was  of  low 
extraction,  and  had  lived  with  Chilperic  many  years  as 
his  mistress  before  he  married  her;  at  length,  however, 
she  acquired  an  absolute  ascendancy  over  him,  which  she 
employed  to  rid  herself  of  all  her  rivals.  Queen  Galsuin- 
tha  was  strangled  ;  queen  Andovera  was  executed,  after 
languishing  for  some  time  in  exile;  the  others  were  driven 
from  the  palace.  The  children  of  these  unfortunate  wo- 
men shared  the  same  fate ;  three  grown-up  sons  of  An- 
dovera perished  successively  by  the  order,  or  at  least  with 
the  consent,  of  their  father.  The  fate  of  their  sister 
was  even  more  cruel  ;  Fredegunde  abandoned  her  to  the 
brutal  lust  of  her  pages,  before  she  was  put  to  death. 

A  king  who  shed  the  blood  of  his  children  with  so 
little  remorse,  was  not  likely  to  spare  that  of  his 
people.  France  was  full  of  unhappy  victims  whose 
eyes  Chilperic  had  caused  to  be  torn  out,  or  whose  arms 
he  had  cut  off;  assassins,  hired  by  Fredegunde,  kept 
the  country  in  a  constant  state  of  alarm  ;  they  pursued 
her  enemies  beyond  her  own  territory,  and  frequently 
murdered  them  in  the  palaces  of  kings,  or  in  the 
assemblies  of  the  people.  The  young  pages  and 
priests  whom  she  brought  up  in  her  palace,  were  the 
ministers  of  her  vengeance  or  of  her  policy.  They 
R   4 


248  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  XI. 

committed  the  most  horrible  crimes  with  the  persuasion 
that  heaven  would  be  open  to  them,  if  they  succeeded 
not  upon  earth.  "  Go/'  said  she,  as  she  armed  them 
with  poisoned  knives,  "  go ;  and  if  you  return  alive, 
great  shall  be  the  honour  of  yourselves  and  all  your 
race  ;  if  you  fall,  I  will  distribute  abundant  alms  at  the 
tombs  of  the  saints  for  the  welfare  of  your  souls!" 
The  contemporary  author  who  relates  these  words,  does 
not  seem  to  doubt  the  efficacy  of  such  alms.  Chilperic 
was  assassinated  in  584;  but  Fredegunde,  who  was  left 
a  widow  with  a  child  only  four  months  old,  Chlothairell., 
succeeded  in  maintaining  that  infant  prince  on  the 
throne  of  Neustria,  and  lived  till  the  year  598  in  glory 
and  prosperity. 

The  fourth  son,  Siegbert,  to  whose  share  Austrasia 
had  fallen,  with  Metz  as  a  residence,  was  younger  than 
his  brothers  when  he  mounted  the  throne,  but  his  con- 
duct was  far  more  decorous,  as  he  never  had  any  other 
wife  than  the  celebrated  Brunechilde,  daughter  of  Atha- 
nagild,  the  king  of  the  Visigoths.  The  allegiance  of 
the  Germanic  nations  beyond  the  Rhine  was  so  uncer- 
tain, that,  without  paying  attention  to  their  number  or 
to  the  extent  of  country  which  they  occupied,  they  had 
all  been  included  in  the  share  of  this  prince,  although 
he  was  the  youngest  and  consequently  entitled  to  the 
smallest  portion.  But  Siegbert  soon  taught  the  other 
Franks  how  formidable  these  lawless  nations  really 
were.  Twice,  in  his  disputes  with  Chilperic,  he  led 
them  into  the  heart  of  France,  and  twice  the  banks  of 
the  Seine  and  the  environs  of  Paris  were  devastated 
with  inconceivable  fury :  Siegbert  already  considered 
himself  master  of  Neustria,  and  had  dismissed  his 
Teutonic  auxiliaries,  laden  with  plunder,  when,  in  575, 
he  was  assassinated  by  two  pages  of  Fredegunde.  His 
crown  passed  to  a  minor,  Childebert  II.  Nine  years 
afterwards,  as  we  have  already  observed,  the  crown  of 
Neustria  passed  to  another  minor,  Chlothaire  II.  Cha- 
ribert  had  died  without  heirs,  and  Gontran,  who  was  still 
alive,  was  also  childless;  and  as  he  was  not  allowed  to 


CHAP.  XI.  GONTRAN.  249 

be  the  guardian  of  his  nephews^  the  three  kingdoms  of 
Austrasia^  Neustria,  and  Burgundy,  began  to  be  looked 
upon,  even  by  the  Franks,  as  totally  distinct.  The  mi- 
nority of  the  kings,  and  the  implacable  hostility  of  their 
fathers,  had  enabled  the  nobility  to  usurp  the  supreme 
power.  Thenceforth  the  government  of  Austrasia  may 
be  looked  upon  as  an  aristocracy  feebly  controlled  by 
the  authority  of  the  Mord  Dom,  otherwise  called  the 
mayor  of  the  palace.  Neustria  was  approaching  the 
same  state,  but  by  slower  steps.  King  Gontran,  who 
was  indolent  and  capricious  in  his  habits,  and  who  lived, 
in  perpetual  dread  of  the  poniard,  was  unable  to  stay 
the  progress  of  aristocratical  power  even  in  Burgundy  ; 
though  he  was  not  the  guardian  of  his  nephews,  he 
still  thought  that  he  was  necessary  to  their  defence. 
One  day,  just  as  the  priest  who  was  about  to  celebrate 
mass  in  the  cathedral  at  Paris,  had  imposed  silence  on 
the  assembled  crowd,  Gontran,  who  had  come  to  that 
city  a  short  time  after  the  death  of  Chilperic,  with 
the  intention  of  restoring  peace  in  Neustria,  addressed 
them  in  the  following  language :  —  "  Men  and  wo- 
men here  assembled  !  1  conjure  you  not  to  break  the 
faith  which  you  have  plighted  to  me,  and  not  to  cause 
my  death,  as  you  have  recently  caused  that  of  my 
brothers:  I  ask  only  for  three  years;  but  three  years 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  enable  me  to  bring  up  my 
nephews,  whom  I  look  upon  as  my  adopted  children. 
Let  us  beware,  and  may  God  forbid  that  at  my  death 
you  should  perish  together  with  these  children,  since 
there  no  longer  remains  an  individual  of  my  race,  who 
is  of  an  age  to  protect  you."  Instead  of  three,  "  good 
king  Gontran"  lived  ten  years  longer,  and  died  at  length 
a  natural  death  ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  his  life 
or  his  death  were  matters  of  such  extreme  importance  to 
his  family  and  to  the  nation  as  he  supposed. 

A  natural  son  of  Chlothaire,  a  brother  whom  Gontran 
refused  to  acknowledge,  took  advantage  of  the  death  of 
almost  all  the  heads  of  his  family  to  endeavour  to  get 
himself  proclaimed  king  by  the  Franks.     During  this 


250        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XI. 

civil  war,  Gontran  summoned  the  national  assembly  to 
meet  at  Paris.  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  was  doubtless 
present  on  this  occasion,  gives  us  an  animated  descrip- 
tion of  all  that  passed  there,  which  pourtrays  the  state 
of  France  far  better  than  a  long  detail  of  the  high  feats 
performed  in  war.  With  a  view,  therefore,  to  throw 
light  on  this  period,  we  shall  borrow  his  language,  with- 
out attempting  to  restrict  ourselves  to  the  national  annals, 
or  the  chronological  order  of  events.  France  was  making 
no  foreign  conquests,  and  her  relations  with  other  nations 
were  unchanged;  but  an  insight  into  her  national  assem- 
blies enables  us  to  appreciate,  not  the  events  of  a  day, 
but  the  spirit  of  an  age. 

"  In  the  year  584,  the  kingdom  of  Austrasia,"  says 
Gregory  of  Tours,  "  deputed  to  this  assembly,  in  the 
name  of  Childebert,  Egidius  bishop  of  Rheims, 
Gontran-Boson,  and  Siegwald  (the  chief  ministers 
of  the  young  prince),  who  were  accompanied  by  a 
great  multitude  of  Austrasian  nobles.  As  soon  as  they 
had  come  in,  the  bishop  said  to  king  Gontran,  '  We 
render  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  that  after  so  many 
toils  he  both  restored  thee  to  thy  provinces,  and  to  thy 
kingdom.'  —  'It  is  indeed,'  answered  Gontran,  '  to 
him  who  is  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  that 
thanks  are  due  !  He  it  is  who  hath  done  these  things  in 
his  great  mercy,  and  not  thou,  who  by  thy  perfidious 
and  perjured  advice  causedst  the  destruction  of  my  pro- 
vinces last  year  ;  thou,  whose  plighted  faith  hath  never 
been  kept  to  any  man  ;  thou,  whose  snares  are  spread  on 
every  side,  more  befitting  an  enemy  of  this  realm,  than 
a  priest  of  God.'  The  bishop  shook  with  rage  at  this 
discourse,  but  he  made  no  answer ;  thereupon  another 
deputy  got  up,  and  said,  'Thy  nephew  Childebert  beg- 
geth  thee  to  order  the  cities  which  his  father  possessed  to 
be  restored  to  him.'  To  which  the  king  answered,  '  I 
have  already  told  you,  that  they  were  conferred  on  me 
by  treaty,  and  that  I  will  not  give  them  up.'  Another 
deputy  then  said,  '  Thy  nephew  demandeth  that  the 
wicked  Fredegunde,  who  hath  killed  so  many  kings,  be 


CHAP.  XI.        NATIONAL    ASSEMBLY    OF    PARIS.  251 

given  over  to  him,  that  he  may  avenge  the  death  of  his 
father,  of  his  uncle,  and  of  his  cousins."  Gontran  an- 
swered, '  I  have  no  power  to  deliver  her  into  his  hands, 
since  she  is  herself  the  mother  of  a  king  :  moreover  I  do 
not  believe  in  the  truth  of  your  accusations  against  her.' 

"  After  all  these,  Gontran-Boson  approached  the  king, 
as  if  he  had  something  to  say;  but  as  it  was  already  noised 
abroad  that  Gondewald  had  been  proclaimed  king,  Gon- 
tran interrupted  him,  and  said,  '  Enemy  of  this  land, 
and  of  our  realm  !  why  didst  thou  go  into  the  East  some 
years  ago  to  fetch  back  this  Ballomer  into  our  states  .'' 
(for  so  he  always  called  Gondewald,  who  pretended  to  be 
his  brother.)  Thou  art  a  traitor,  and  thou  hast  never 
kept  any  one  promise  thou  hast  made.'  Then  Gontran- 
Boson  replied.  Thou  art  our  lord  and  our  king,  seated 
upon  a  throne,  so  that  no  one  dares  answer  thy  charges  ; 
nevertheless  I  protest  that  I  am  innocent  of  all  thou 
sayest  :  and  if  any  one  of  my  own  rank  has  accused  me 
of  these  things  covertly,  let  him  come  forth  and  speak  this 
day ;  and  thou,  O  king  !  shalt  submit  this  cause  to  the 
judgment  of  God,  who  will  decide  between  us  in  open 
fight  in  one  field.' 

"  Thereupon  every  one  was  silent,  and  the  king  re- 
joined, '  It  is  a  thing  which  ought  to  inflame  all  your 
hearts,  to  drive  this  stranger  from  our  frontiers,  whose 
father  was  nothing  better  than  the  master  of  a  mill, 
—  ay  !  his  father  held  the  comb,  and  carded  wool.' 
Now,  though  it  is  very  possible  for  one  man  to 
have  two  trades,  a  deputy  answered  the  reproaches  of 
the  king,  and  said,  '  'What,  then,  dost  thou  affirm  that 
this  man  had  two  fathers, —  one  a  miller,  and  the  other 
a  wool-comber  ?  Take  care,  C)  king !  of  what  thou 
sayest ;  for,  except  in  spiritual  matters,  we  have  never  yet 
heard  that  a  man  can  have  two  fathers  at  once.'  At 
these  words  many  of  the  deputies  laughed  aloud,  and  one 
of  them  said,  '  We  take  our  leave,  O  king  !  for  since 
thou  wilt  not  restore  the  cities  which  belong  to  thy  ne- 
phew, we  know  that  the  axe  which  laid  thy  brothers  low, 
is  not  broken,  and  will  fall  upon  thy  head  also.' 


2^2  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.   XI. 

"  In  this  scandalous  manner  the  assembly  broke  up, 
and  the  king,  irritated  by  their  language,  ordered  the 
deputies  to  be  pelted  with  horse-dung,  straw,  rotten 
hay,  and  the  mud  of  the  streets.  They  reached  their 
homes  with  clothes  begrimed  with  filth  ;  the  indignities 
and  insults  they  received  were  immense." 

The  causes  of  the  animosity  which  existed  between 
Gontran  and  the  deputies  of  Austrasia,  are  devoid  of  in- 
terest to  us,  and  its  consequences  terminated  with  the 
generation  that  witnessed  its  commencement ;  but  the 
relation  in  which  the  king  stood  to  the  nobles,  their 
mutual  threats  and  recriminations,  and  the  insulting 
vengeance  which  the  sovereign  took,  teach  us,  what  the 
titles  of  the  actors  incessantly  lead  us  to  forget,  namely, 
the  real  character  of  kings  and  nobles  at  that  time.  We 
here  discover  what  we  ought  to  understand  by  "  that 
constitution  Avhich  has  stood  unchanged  for  fourteen 
centuries,  whose  stability  is  so  often  held  up  to  our  ad- 
miration ;"  just  as  if  the  monarchy  had  not  been  mo- 
dified by  each  succeeding  generation,  and  as  if  there  was 
the  slightest  resemblance  between  the  prerogatives  of 
Gontran,  those  of  Charlemagne,  and  those  of  Lewis  XIV. 

Childebert  II.  had  arrived  at  man's  estate  before  the 
death  of  Gontran  ;  he  was  endowed  with  more  energy, 
and  perhaps  with  more  talent,  than  had  been  displayed 
for  a  long  time  by  any  of  the  race  of  Clovis,  but  he 
also  surpassed  his  predecessors  in  ferocity  and  cruelty. 
He  felt  that  he  was  coerced  on  every  side  by  the  Aus- 
trasian  aristocracy,  which  had  silently  usurped  all  the 
influence  both  of  the  people  and  of  the  crown.  The 
country  was  divided  into  vast  districts,  which  a  few  nobles 
claimed  as  their  property  ;  they  parceled  out  their  land 
amongst  such  of  their  former  companions  in  arms,  the 
Frankic  freemen,  as  consented  to  take  the  title  of  leudes, 
and  to  bind  themselves  by  special  oaths  to  second  all  the 
enterprises  of  their  lord.  With  their  assistance,  these 
chieftains  were  sure  of  always  retaining  the  government 
of  the  duchies,  although  they  were  nominally  in  the 
gift  of  the  king  or  of  the  people :  by  law,  every  office 


CHAP.  XI.    FREDEGUNDE. BHUNECHILDE.         253 

and  dignity  was  elective^  but,  in  fact_,  they  were  all  he- 
reditary. Childebert  struggled  against  this  aristocracy, 
sometimes  with  the  aid  of  his  uncle  Gontran,  but  at 
others  he  had  recourse  to  the  surer  expedients  of  the 
dagger  or  the  axe.  Those  nobles  who  thought  them- 
selves the  most  secure  of  his  friendship  were  sometimes 
murdered  by  his  side,  in  the  midst  of  the  gayest  fes- 
tivals :  we  shudder  as  we  read  of  the  ferocious  joy 
with  which  he  excited  the  boisterous  merriment  of  duke 
Magnorald  at  a  bull-fight,  whilst  the  headsman  was 
silently  advancing  behind  him  ;  in  the  midst  of  his 
laughter  his  head  was  struck  off,  and  fell  into  the 
circus.  A  great  number  of  Austrasian  nobles  perished  by 
the  orders  of  Childebert  II.  :  at  the  same  time  he  took 
possession  of  the  inheritance  of  his  uncle  Gontran,  and 
drove  the  young  Chlothaire,  who  was  still  governed  by 
his  mother  Fredegunde,  to  the  very  confines  of  Neustria. 
He  thought  that  he  was  securely  seated  upon  his  throne; 
but  this  can  never  be  the  case  with  a  monarch  who  is 
hated  by  an  entire  people.  He  escaped  a  great  many 
secret  conspiracies,  and  repressed  as  many  open  revolts  ; 
but  in  5!)()  he  perished  by  poison,  and  his  murderers 
were  sufficiently  wary  to  escape  those  enquiries  which, 
indeed,  are  not  very  active  after  the  death  of  a  man 
who  is  generally  detested. 

At  this  epoch,  exactly  a  hundred  years  after  the  con- 
version of  Clovis,  the  warlike  nation  of  the  Franks  was 
subject  to  the  government  of  three  kings  in  their  mi- 
nority, and  to  the  regency  of  two  ambitious  and  cruel 
women,  equally  hardened  in  crime.  In  Neustria,  Frede- 
gunde was  the  guardian  of  Chlothaire,  who  was  then 
scarcely  eleven  years  old.  In  Austrasia,  and  in  Bur- 
gundy, Brunechilde  was  the  guardian  of  Tlieodebert  II. 
and  of  Thierry,  her  grandsons  —  the  one  ten,  the  other 
nine,  years  old.  Brunechilde  had  probably  contributed 
to  inspire  her  son,  Childebert  II.,  with  that  hatred  of 
the  aristocracy,  and  that  ardent  desire  to  crush  it  by  the 
most  violent  means,  which  had  at  length  brought  him 
to  the  grave.     This  haughty  woman,  who  was  endowed 


254  FAIX    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.  CHAP.  XI. 

with  great  talents,  great  knowledge  of  mankind,  and 
an  invincible  firmness  of  character,  had^  at  various 
periods  of  her  life,  risen  above  calamities  which  would 
have  crushed  a  feebler  being.  She  had  been  twice 
married;  first  to  Siegbert  king  of  Austrasia,  secondly 
to  Merovaeus  (Meerwig)  the  son  of  Chilperic,  and  both 
her  husbands  had  fallen  by  the  dagger  of  assassins  com- 
missioned by  Fredegunde :  she  had  been  the  prisoner 
of  her  enemies;  and  she  lived  in  the  midst  of  powerful 
nobles,  who  had  sworn  her  ruin.  After  the  death  of 
her  son,  she  was  even  more  fiercely  threatened  by  the 
dukes  of  Austrasia,  who  Avere  angry  at  not  being  able 
to  resist  her  ascendancy,  and  indignant  at  her  endea- 
vours to  corrupt  the  morals  of  her  grandchildren,  in 
order  to  govern  longer  in  their  stead;  but  who,  spite 
of  all  their  menaces  and  reproaches,  never  failed  in 
the  end  to  acknowledge  her  remarkable  sagacity,  and 
to  yield  to  the  authority  which  she  exercised  over 
them.  She  had  long  been  possessed  of  extraordinary 
beauty ;  and  she  employed  that  beauty,  (which  is  ever 
enhanced  by  a  crown,)  to  its  latest  period,  as  a  means 
of  attaching  to  her  service  the  most  zealous  of  her 
partisans.  But  as  she  was  a  grandmother,  and  even 
a  great-grandmother,  before  her  death,  the  common 
arms  of  women  must  have  become  powerless  in  her 
hands.  "  Away  from  us,  O  woman!"  said  duke  Ursis 
to  her ;  "  away,  or  the  hoofs  of  our  steeds  shall  tread 
thee  to  earth."  But  Brunechilde  stood  her  ground ; 
she  remained  seventeen  years  in  Austrasia  after  having 
been  thus  threatened  ;  she  continued  to  govern  men 
who  refused  to  acknowledge  her  even  as  their  equal ; 
she  laid  out  the  revenues  of  the  kingdom  in  raising 
monuments  which  perpetuated  her  renown  ;  —  for  the 
roads  and  towers,  which  long  bore  her  name,  might 
have  been  taken  for  Roman  works  ;  she  vigorously  se- 
conded the  exertions  of  pope  Gregory  the  Great,  in  his 
missions  for  the  conversion  of  Britain,  which  was  then 
divided  amongst  the  Anglo-Saxons  ;  and,  if  we  may 
believe  the  letters  of  the  pope,  it  is  to  her  zealous  and 


CHAP.  Xr.  BRUNECHILDE.  255 

constant  efforts  that  England  owes  the  introduction  of 
Christianity.  The  country  which  she  governed  with  so 
much  power,  soon  displayed  signs  of  that  prosperity 
which  is  always  the  result  of  energy  united  to  talent. 

But  the  dukes  of  Austrasia  could  not  consent  to 
submit :  they  found  means  to  gain  king  Theodebert, 
who  was  almost  imbecile,  over  to  their  side,  as  well  as 
the  slave  whom  Brunechilde  had  given  him  as  a  mis- 
tress, and  whom  he  had  subsequently  married.  With 
his  consent,  they  carried  off  Brunechilde,  in  oQS,  from 
her  palace,  and  left  her  alone,  on  foot,  and  without 
money,  on  the  frontier  of  Burgundy.  The  haughty 
queen  arrived  at  the  court  of  the  youngest  of  her  grand- 
sons, Thierry  II.,  who  reigned  at  Chalons-sur-Saone,  as 
a  suppliant.  Her  ambition  was  influenced  by  an  ardent 
thirst  for  vengeance;  she  wished  to  govern  Burgundy,  but 
she  wished  it  chiefly  that  she  might  turn  its  arms  against 
Austrasia,  and  destroy  her  other  grandson.  Years  passed 
ere  she  had  acquired  the  necessary  influence  over  the 
mind  of  Thierry,  and  over  the  character  of  the  people : 
several  assassinations  were  committed,  to  rid  her  of  such 
as  might  have  crossed  her  purposes  ;  but  she  was  still 
obliged  patiently  to  submit  to  the  oj)en  resistance  of  the 
Franks  to  a  civil  war,  and  to  consent  to  temporary  ar- 
rangements which  in  her  heart  she  cursed.  After  an 
interval  of  fourteen  years,  the  wished-for  moment  of 
vengeance  arrived.  In  ()12,  Thierry  II.  declared  war 
against  his  brother,  and  defeated  him  in  two  great 
battles  ;  Theodebert  himself  fell  into  his  hands,  and  he 
was  put  to  death  by  the  pitiless  Brunechilde,  as  well  as 
his  infant  son  jMerova-us,  whose  head  was  dashed  to  pieces 
against  a  stone.  The  triumph,  however,  of  this  bar- 
barous queen  over  her  descendants,  was  shortly  followed 
by  her  own  ruin.  Chlotliaiie  II.,  the  son  of  her  mortal 
enemy,  had  grown  to  manhood  in  an  obscure  district  of 
Neustria,  to  which  he  had  been  driven  by  his  more 
powerful  cousins.  The  great  lords  of  Austrasia,  and 
amongst  them  the  ancestors  of  the  house  of  Charle- 
magne, who  began   to  distinguish  themselves  in  their 


256        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XI. 

paternal  possessions  on  the  banks  of  the  Meuse^  were 
incensed  at  the  thought  of  falling  under  the  yoke  of 
Brunechilde,  and  they  had  recourse  to  Chlothaire  II.  to 
effect  their  deliverance.  Thierry  II.  suddenly  died  in 
the  midst  of  his  victories  ;  for  the  terrible  science  of 
poisons  is  the  first  branch  of  chemistry  which  is  suc- 
cessfully cultivated  by  barbarous  nations.  The  army 
which  Brunechilde  collected  for  the  defence  of  her  four 
great-grandsonSj  to  whom  she  destined  the  crown,  al- 
ready meditated  her  destruction.  The  Austrasians, 
together  with  the  Burgundians,  met  the  Neustrians 
between  the  Marne  and  the  Aisne  in  6l3  ;  but,  at  the 
first  call  of  the  trumpet  to  battle,  the  whole  army  of 
Brunechilde  either  took  to  flight,  or  passed  over  to  the 
enemy's  side.  The  queen  herself,  with  her  grand- 
daughter and  her  great-grandsons,  was  brought  before 
Chlothaire  II.,  who  immediately  condemned  to  death  aU 
the  remaining  descendants  of  Clovis,  so  that  he  himself 
was  the  sole  survivor  of  that  race.  Brunechilde  un- 
derwent various  torments  for  three  days,  and  was  led 
about  on  a  camel  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  army. 
Clothaire  afterwards  ordered  her  to  be  tied  by  the  hair, 
by  one  leg,  and  one  arm,  to  the  tail  of  a  wild  horse, 
and  abandoned  her  to  the  kicks  of  the  frantic  animal,  so 
that  the  fields  were  strewn  with  the  lacerated  limbs  of 
the  wretched  mother  of  a  line  of  kings. 


257 


CHAP.  XII. 


OBSCURITV  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY. WANT? 

OF  HISTORICAL   SOURCES.  ESTABLISHMENT   OF  THE   LOMBARDS 

IN      ITALY.  THEIR     RAPID     CIVILISATION.  EXTENT    OF    THK 

FRANKIC  EMPIRE  UNDER  CHLOTH  AIRE  11.  ;  ITS  COMMERCIAL  PROS- 
PERITY.   DAGOBERT  ;     HIS     CHARACTER,    HIS    CRUELTIES,    HIS 

LIBERALITIES  TO  THE  MONKS ST.  ELOI  AND  ST.  OUEN. SUC- 
CESSION OF  THIRTEEN  FAINEANS  KINGS  ;  THEIR  PREMATURE 
DEATHS.  STRUGGLE     BETWEEN    THE    NOBLES   AND    THE    FREE- 

'       MEN.  EBROIN.   ST.     LEGER.   PEPIN     OF     HERISTAL.  — 

BATTLE    OF    TESTRY. CHANGE    OF    DYNASTY.   RESTORATION 

OF    GERMAN     LANGUAGE    AND    INSTITUTIONS.  THE    EAST    EX- 

.      HAUSTED    BY    RELIGIOUS    WARS  AND    PERSECUTIONS.  —  GREEK 

EMPERORS. WARS   OF  JUSTIN  II.  WITH  CHOSROES  NUSHIRVAN. 

VIRTUES  OF  TIBERIUS  II. TALENTS  OF  MAURICE. HIS  CAM- 
PAIGNS AGAINST  THE  AVARS  AND  THE  PERSIANS  ;  HIS  ASSASSIN- 
ATION.    HERACLIUS  ;    HIS  EXTRAORDINARY  CHARACTER  ;  HIS 

SUCCESSES  AGAINST  PERSIA. 

There  are  certain  periods  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
when  a  thick  veil  appears  to  overspread  the  earth ;  when 
all  authentic  documents  and  impartial  witnesses  disappear, 
and  we  are  at  a  loss  for  a  clue  by  which  to  trace  the  course 
of  events.  VVe  are  now  arrived  at  one  of  these  obscure 
periods  —  the  seventh  century  ;  when  the  historians  of 
the  Eastern  and  Western  empires  are  mute  ;  when  vast 
revolutions  are  in  preparation,  or  drawing  near  to  their 
accomplishment,  without  our  having  the  means  of  de- 
tecting their  peculiar  circumstances,  or  their  progressive 
steps.  The  night  which  shrouds  in  one  common  dark- 
ness the  history  of  the  Franks  or  Latins,  and  that  of  the 
Greeks,  lasted  till  the  moment  when  a  new  and  unex- 
pected light  broke  from  Arabia;  when  a  nation  of 
shepherds   and   robbers  appeared   as  the  depositary  of 


258        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  Xll. 

letters,  after  they  had  been  allowed  to  escape  from  the 
guardianship  of  every  civilised  people. 

The  principal  historical  luminary  of  the  West,  after 
the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  was  Gregory,  bishop  of 
Tours,  who  died  in  595.  His  ecclesiastical  history, 
carried  down  to  the  year  591,  is  the  only  source  from 
which,  notwithstanding  his  ignorance  and  intolerance, 
and  the  want  of  order  in  his  narrative,  we  derive  any 
knowledge  of  the  manners,  the  opinions,  and  the  form 
of  government  of  the  period  of  which  he  treats.  After 
him,  another  author^  far  more  barbarous,  and  more  con- 
cise, whose  name  is  beheved  to  have  been  Fredegaire^ 
continued  the  history  of  the  Franks  to  the  year  641  ; 
and  he,  like  his  predecessor,  has  shed  a  feeble  light,  not 
only  upon  Gaul,  but  upon  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain. 
After  Fredegaire,  nothing  is  to  be  found  which  deserves 
the  name  of  history,  until  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  A 
century  and  a  half  passed  away,  during  which  we  pos- 
sess nothing  concerning  the  whole  empire  of  the  West, 
except  dates  and  conjectures. 

For  the  East,  in  like  manner,  after  the  disappearance 
of  the  great  light  thrown  upon  history  by  the  two  con- 
temporaries of  Justinian,  —  Procopius  and  Agathias, 
our  only  resource  is  the  narrative  of  Theophylact  Si- 
mocatta,  which  is  diffuse  without  being  complete  ;  in- 
flated and  loaded  with  superfluous  ornaments,  while  it 
is  barren  of  facts ;  and,  as  it  ends  about  the  year  603, 
we  are  then  obliged  to  descend  to  the  chronicles  and 
abstracts  of  Theophanes  and  Nicephorus,  both  of  whom 
died  after  Charlemagne,  and  who  resemble  each  other 
in  being  occupied  solely  with  chronology,  not  with  the 
causes  or  effects  of  events. 

This  long  and  almost  unknown  period  was  not, 
however,  without  importance  either  in  the  East  or  in  the 
West.  Italy,  under[the  dominion  of  the  Lombards,  whose 
first  historian,  Paul  Warnefrid,  was  contemporary  with 
Charlemagne,  slowly  recovered  from  its  calamities.  The 
Lombard  kings^  who  were  at  first  elective,  and  afterwards 


CHAP.  XII.  liOMBABDS, FRANKS.  259 

hereditary,  showed  some  respect  for  the  liberty  of  their 
subjects,  whether  of  Roman  or  Teutonic  origin.  Their 
laws,  considered  as  the  laws  of  a  barbarous  people,  were 
wise  and  equal :  their  dukes,  or  provincial  rulers,  early 
acquired  a  sentiment  of  pride  and  independence, 
which  made  them  seek  support  in  the  affection  of  their 
subjects. 

We  shall  not  here  set  forth  the  chronology  of  the  one 
and  twenty  Lombard  kings,  who  succeeded  each  other 
during  the  space  of  two  hundred  and  six  years — from  the 
conquest  of  Alboin  in  568,  to  the  renewal  of  their  mon- 
archy by  Charlemagne  in  774.  Their  names  would  soon 
escape  from  the  memory,  and  their  history  is  not  circum- 
stantial enough  for  us  to  fix  them  in  our  minds  by  reflec- 
tions suggested  by  facts.  We  only  know,  that  during 
this  period,  the  population  of  Italy  began  once  more  to  in- 
crease ;  that  the  race  of  the  conquerors  took  root  and 
throve  in  the  soil,  without  entirely  superseding  that  of 
the  conquered  natives,  whose  language  still  prevailed  ; 
that  the  rural  districts  were  cultivated  anew,  and  towns 
rebuilt — particularly  Pavia,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom, 
and  Benevento,  the  capital  of  the  most  powerful  duchy 
of  Lombardy,  extending  over  great  part  of  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  ;  —  that  those  arts  which  sweeten  life  were 
once  more  exercised  by  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  ;  and 
that  the  Lombards,  who  began  their  career  of  civilisation 
later  than  the  Franks,  outstripped  them  in  it,  and  soon 
brought  themselves  to  consider  their  neighbours  as  bar- 
barians. 

This  period  would  be  still  more  important  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Franks,  if  it  were  better  known.  Chlothaire  II., 
the  son  of  Chilperic,  and  the  great  grandchild  of  Clovis, 
had  been  proclaimed  king,  in  ()13,  by  the  whole  mon- 
archy. His  power  extended  not  only  over  all  the 
Gauls  to  the  Pyrenees,  but  was  acknowledged  throughout 
Germany,  even  by  those  Saxons  whom  (Jharlcmagne 
had  afterwards  so  much  difficulty  in  subduing.  The 
kingdom  of  the  Franks  had  become  the  boundary  of  the 
new  empire  which  the  Avars  had  established  in  Tran- 
s  2 


260  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   XII. 

sylvania  and  Hungary,  and  which,  at  Constantinople, 
threatened  the  Greeks  with  total  ruin.  During  the 
fifteen  years  of  his  reign  over  this  vast  Frankic  empire 
(a. D.  6l3 — 628),  Chlothaire  seems  to  have  been  little 
disturbed  by  foreign  war.  He  reposed  upon  his  strength, 
his  neighbours  feared  him,  and  the  Lombards  themselves 
had  consented  to  pay  him  a  tribute.  From  the  number 
of  temples  and  convents  with  which  the  piety  of  Chlo- 
thaire and  his  son  covered  the  kingdom,  and  from  the 
silk,  stuffs,  and  jewellery  with  which  these  buildings  were 
decorated,  it  appears  that  the  arts  had  made  considerable 
progress  in  Gaul.  Commerce  had  also  acquired  fresh 
activity  :  a  desire  for  the  spices  of  the  Indies,  and  the 
manufactures  of  Greece,  was  universally  felt  by  those 
magnates  among  the  Franks  whose  wants  were  not 
satisfied  by  the  natural  products  of  their  immense  do- 
mains. Some  of  these  chiefs  undertook  to  carry  on  trade 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  and  to  establish  a  communi- 
cation between  France  and  Greece  by  the  valley  of  the 
Danube.  The  merchants  set  out  from  Bavaria,  which 
was  at  the  extremity  of  the  empire  of  the  Franks,  and 
advanced  to  the  Euxine,  passing  between  the  Avars  and 
the  Bulgarians,  incessantly  threatened  with  pillage, 
but  always  ready  to  defend  with  the  sword  the  convoys 
which  they  escorted  across  those  wild  countries.  A 
Frank  merchant,  by  name  Samo,  was  conspicuous 
for  bravery  in  protecting  these  caravans :  he  rendered 
important  services  to  the  Venedi,  a  Slavonic  people,  who 
inhabited  Bohemia ;  they  rewarded  him  by  making  him 
their  king,  in  which  office  he  continued  thirty-five 
years. 

But  notwithstanding  the  vast  extent  of  the  Frankic 
empire,  the  royal  authority  was  hardly  felt  out  of  the 
presence  of  the  king.  All  the  Germanic  nations  had 
hereditary  dukes,  who  paid  an  obedience,  scarcely  more 
than  nominal,  to  Chlothaire,  and  his  successor  Dagobert. 
The  southern  provinces  of  Gaul  were  governed  by  the 
authority  of  their  dukes,  whom  the  king  undoubtedly  pos- 
«essed  the  right  of  changing,  but  whom,  in  fact,  he  rarely 


DAGOBERT. 


261 


ventured  to  dismiss.  It  was  only  in  the  two  provinces 
of  Austrasia  and  Neustria  that  he  felt  himself  completely 
king.  He  resided  in  the  latter,  generally  at  Paris  ;  and, 
to  maintain  his  authority  in  the  former,  he  sent  thither 
the  elder  of  his  sons,  Dagobert,  whom  he  created  king 
in  622,  when  this  young  prince  was  but  fifteen  years  of 
age.  Dagobert  fixed  his  residence  at  Metz,  under  the 
protection  of  Arnolf  and  Pepin,  two  of  the  most  power- 
ful lords  of  Austrasia  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  ancestors 
of  the  Carlovingian  line. 

In  628,  Chlothaire  II.  died,  and  Dagobert  succeeded 
him.  Chlothaire  allotted  the  kingdom  of  Aquitaine 
to  a  younger  son,  named  Charibert,  whom  he  had  by 
another  wife  ;  but  he  did  not  retain  it.  Dagobert  had  sole 
dominion  over  the  empire  of  the  Franks  from  628  to 
638,  and  exercised  a  degree  of  power  almost  equal  to 
that  which  Charlemagne  possessed  at  a  later  period. 

Dagobert  is  described  as  having  qualities  which  it 
is  impossible  to  reconcile :  first,  we  hear  of  his  ex- 
treme moderation,  of  his  mildness,  of  his  deference  to 
the  authority  of  Pepin  and  St.  Arnolf,  bishop  of  Metz  ; 
yet,  at  the  very  same  period,  we  find  him  causing  the 
assassination  of  Chrodoald,  one  of  the  dukes  of  Bavaria, 
who  had  been  powerfully  recommended  to  him  by  his 
father.  Mention  is  made  of  a  progress  which  he  un- 
dertook throughout  his  kingdom  on  taking  possession  of 
it,  and  of  the  manifestations  of  his  love  of  justice  and 
humanity  ;  but  let  us  attend  to  the  words  of  Fredegaire 
himself.  "  From  thence  he  took  the  road  for  Dijon 
and  St.  Jean  de  Losne,  where  he  abode  for  some  days, 
with  a  firm  resolution  to  judge  the  people  of  his  king- 
dom according  to  justice.  Full  of  this  beneficent  desire, 
he  yielded  not  his  eyes  to  sleep,  nor  did  he  satisfy  him- 
self with  food ;  having  no  other  object  of  his  thoughts, 
than  the  hope  that  all  might  retire  from  his  presence 
satisfied  after  having  obtained  justice.  The  same  day, 
when  he  was  leaving  St.  Jean  de  Losne  for  Chalons,  he 
went  into  the  bath  before  it  was  well  day  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  ordered  Brodulf,  the  uncle  of  his  brother 
s  3 


262         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XII. 

Charibert,  to  be  put  to  death."  The  same  historian  de- 
clares Brodulf  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  estimable 
men  of  his  kingdom. 

In  hke  manner,  we  are  told  of  his  wisdom,  and  the 
purity  of  his  morals ;  but  it  is  added,  that  a  great 
change  took  place  in  this  respect  within  the  first  year  of 
his  reign,  when,  according  to  Fredegaire,  "  he  gave 
himself  up  to  voluptuousness,  and  had,  like  king  Solomon, 
three  queens  and  a  great  number  of  concubines.  The 
queens  were  Nantechilde,  Wolfegonde,  and  Berchilde; 
as  for  the  names  of  the  mistresses,  as  they  were  very 
numerous,  I  have  shrunk  from  the  fatigue  of  inserting 
them  in  this  chronicle." 

Two  cruel  actions  of  Dagobert,  which  are  not  ac- 
counted for,  have  left  a  deeper  stain  upon  his  memory 
than  the  licentiousness  of  his  manners.  On  the  death  of 
his  brother,  he  caused  his  nephew,  who  was  still  a  child, 
to  be  killed,  lest  he  should  one  day  claim  his  inherit- 
ance. The  other  is  a  deed  of  still  greater  atrocity  : 
in  one  night  he  massacred  nine  thousand  Bulgarians  to 
whom  he  had  granted  hospitality,  lest  his  sheltering  them 
should  give  offence  to  the  Avars,  from  whose  sword  these 
unhappy  fugitives  had  escaped. 

Dagobert  was  the  benefactor  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis, 
and  the  founder  of  a  great  number  of  rich  convents.  Of 
course,  his  piety  has  been  celebrated  by  the  monks ; 
but  it  was  piety  according  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
seventh  century,  and  displayed  itself  in  nothing  but  in 
the  largesses  he  bestowed  on  convents.  This  piety  had 
united  Dagobert  to  two  saints  whom  France  still  venerates, 
though  little  acquainted  with  their  claims  to  canonisation. 
The  first  was  St.  Eloi,  the  king's  jeweller ;  who,  under 
his  eyes,  and  according  to  his  orders,  made  all  the  or- 
naments of  the  church  of  St.  Denis,  and  who  thought 
himself  permitted  to  commit  saintly  robbery  upon  the 
royal  treasury,  in  order  to  enrich  the  convent  of  Solignac, 
which  he  himself  had  founded.  The  second  was  St. 
Ouen,  formerly  referendary  of  the  court,  afterwards 
bishop  of  Rouen.     Dagobert  lived  alternately  with  these 


CHAP.  Xir.  FAINEANS    KINGS.  26*3 

two  holy  men,  whose  counsels  he  blindly  followed ; 
with  the  monks  of  St.  Denis,  in  whose  choir  he  sang  ; 
and  among  his  numerous  mistresses.  His  devotion  to 
St.  Denis  was  so  exclusive,  that  he  several  times  coun- 
tenanced the  pillage  of  other  churches  in  his  states,  in 
order  to  enrich  his  favourite  saint. 

At  tlie  death  of  Dagobert  begins  the  succession  of 
the  Fahieans  kings,  which  lasted  for  a  hundred  and  four- 
teen years  (a.  d.  638 — 752),  during  which  period  thir- 
teen sovereigns  reigned  successively  over  the  whole  of 
France,  or  over  a  part  of  that  monarchy;  though  only  two 
of  them  attained  to  man's  estate,  and  not  one  to  the  full 
developement  of  his  intellectual  powers.  The  great  justi- 
ciary, the  Mord  Dom,  commonly  called  the  mayor  of  the 
palace,  and  whose  office  had  been  instituted  at  a  very 
early  period  in  the  three  monarchies  of  Austrasia,  Neu- 
stria,  and  Burgundy,  could  not,  like  the  king,  be  a 
minor  or  an  idiot,  since  he  was  elected  by  the  people. 
The  increase  of  his  power  was  commensurate  to  the 
incapacity  of  his  nominal  chief.  The  minority  of  the 
two  sons  of  Dagobert  afforded  a  favourable  opportunity 
to  the  mayor  of  making  himself  known  to  the  nation, 
and  of  increasing  his  own  influence.  The  inactivity 
in  which  the  sovereign  lived,  the  corrupting  influence 
of  power,  and  the  example  of  his  predecessors,  soon  led 
him  into  the  most  shameless  excesses.  There  was 
not  a  Merovingian  king  that  was  not  a  father  before  the 
age  of  fifteen,  and  decrepit  at  thirty.  This  great  stipend- 
iary of  the  nation,  who  took  no  part  in  the  government, 
except  in  as  much  as  the  uncontrolled  disposalof  the  lands 
and  estates  of  the  crown  was  concerned,  lived  in  a  state  of 
continual  intoxication  :  he  was  known  to  his  subjects 
only  by  his  vices  ;  yet  the  rapidity  with  which  one  child 
succeeded  another  upon  the  throne,  appears  to  have  ex- 
cited no  suspicions  in  the  minds  of  the  Franks  as  to  the 
causes  of  this  constant  recurrence  of  premature  deaths. 

A  new  subject  of  discussion  began  about  this  time  to 
divide  the  Frankic  nation  :  the  small  land-owners, 
who  were  called  Arirnans,  or  freemen,  had  hitherto 
s  4 


264        FALL  OP  THE  HOMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XII. 

allowed  the  nobles  and  the  dukes  to  usurp  their  rights. 
They  had  for  a  long  while  submitted  to  be  plundered,  one 
by  one  ;  and  had  even  aided  the  cause  of  their  oppressors, 
becoming  their  leudes  or  followers,  upon  a  promise  of 
mutual  assistance.  But  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh 
century,  some  more  open  aggression  on  the  part  of  the 
nobles,  or  some  more  audacious  attempts  to  rob  the 
freemen  of  their  estates  and  of  their  rights,  drove  them 
to  combine  for  their  common  defence.  They  had 
already  given  up  the  struggle  in  Austrasia,  where  the 
family  of  Charlemagne  (which,  as  it  has  no  other 
name,  we  shall  henceforward  style  the  Carlovingian 
race)  was  at  the  head  of  the  high  aristocracy.  This 
family  had  acquired  immense  power ;  and  had  suc- 
ceeded in  rallying  the  majority  of  the  freemen  around 
its  standard,  in  the  capacity  of  leudes  :  in  Neustria,  on 
the  contrary,  the  freemen  had  preserved  their  inde- 
pendence; they  attended  the  national  assemblies,  and 
decided  the  election  of  the  ]\Iord  Dom,  who  seems  to 
have  been  appointed  for  the  express  purpose  of  protect- 
ing the  lower  orders,  and  who  was  perhaps  chosen  from 
their  ranks,  like  the  Justiza  of  Aragon.  In  65G,  they 
succeeded  in  raising  Ebroin  to  this  important  station  ;  a 
man  of  great  talents  and  energy,  and  a  determined  foe 
to  the  increasing  influence  of  the  aristocracy,  whose 
sole  object,  as  judge,  as  general,  and  as  statesman,  was  to 
weaken  the  dukes,  and  to  ruin  the  nobles. 

The  two  factions  soon  perceived  that  it  was  expedient 
to  extend  their  alliances  from  one  kingdom  to  the  other. 
The  freemen  of  Austrasia,  being  oppressed  by  the 
mayor  Wulfoad,  who  was  of  a  ducal  family,  had  re- 
course to  the  protection  of  Ebroin,  and  frequently 
joined  his  standard :  whilst  the  dukes  of  Neustria  and 
Burgundy,  and  the  leader  of  their  party,  Leger  bishop 
of  Autun,  intrigued  against  Ebroin,  and  kept  up  a  cor- 
respondence with  the  nobles  of  Austrasia.  They  turned 
their  attention  particularly  towards  young  Pepin  of 
Heristal,  maternal  grandson  of  Pepin,  the  minister  of 
Dagobert,  and  grandfather  of  Pepin  le  Bref,   king  of 


CHAP,  XII.  CHILDERIC    II.  265 

France.  The  administration  of  Ebroin  (a.  d.  656 — 
689)  was  marked  by  frequent  wars  in  both  the  king- 
doms. Several  kings  were  deposed  on  both  sides^  al- 
though, from  their  tender  age,  they  had  scarcely  taken 
any  other  part  in  passing  events  than  the  giving  them 
the  sanction  of  their  name.  The  nobility,  however,  were 
not  satisfied  with  dethroning  a  sovereign  who  was  dis- 
pleasing to  them.  Their  victories  in  Austrasia  and 
Neustria  were  followed  by  regicide.  Dagobert  II.  was 
attacked  by  the  nobles  in  Austrasia  in  678,  and  being 
condemned  by  a  council,  was  put  to  death.  St.  Wilfrid, 
who  had  offered  him  hospitality  in  his  infancy,  was 
arrested  by  the  army  of  Austrasians  who  returned  from 
accomplishing  this  revolution ;  and  a  bishop  who  re- 
cognised him,  addressed  him  thus  :  —  "  With  what 
rash  confidence  do  you  venture  to  traverse  the  land  of 
the  Franks;  you,  who  are  worthy  of  death  for  having 
contributed  to  send  back  from  his  exile  that  king,  who 
was  the  destroyer  of  our  cities,  and  the  contemner  of 
his  nobles'  counsels ;  who,  like  Rehoboam,  the  son  of 
Solomon,  oppressed  the  people  with  exactions  ;  who 
respected  not  the  churches  of  God,  nor  the  bishops.  — 
Now  he  has  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crimes  ;  he  is  slain, 
and  his  body  lies  unburied  on  the  earth." 

The  same  party,  headed  by  the  bishops  and  nobles, 
were  equally  merciless  to  Childeric  II.  At  the  period 
when  this  Neustrian  king  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  and  gave  himself  up  to  that  unbridled  love  of 
pleasure,  which  was  the  hereditary  propensity  of  his 
race,  Ebroin,  and  Leger  bishop  of  Autun,  who  were 
the  chiefs  of  the  two  parties,  were  confined  in  the 
same  convent  at  Luxeuil,  the  superior  of  which  had 
compelled  them  to  be  reconciled.  But,  within  the 
walls  of  a  cloister,  the  holy  bishop  did  not  abandon  the 
cause  of  his  party.  He  planned  a  conspiracy  of  which 
his  brother  Gaerin  was  the  leader.  Childeric  II.  was 
surprised  (in  Gj'i)  as  he  was  hunting  in  the  forest  of 
Livry,  and,  with  his  wife  and  infant  son,  put  to  death. 
This  seemed  to  confirm  the  power  of  the  aristocracy. 


266  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XII. 

Ebroin,  however^  who  had  been  released  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  found  means  to  reassemble  an  army 
of  freemen,  and  surprised  the  nobles  at  Pont  St. 
Maxence  :  he  defeated  them  several  times,  and  took 
prisoner  almost  all  those  who  had  borne  a  part  in  the 
death  of  Childeric  II.,  which  he  avenged  by  putting 
them  to  the  torture.  St.  Leger,  after  being  exposed 
to  cruel  torments,  was  preserved  alive ;  his  biogra- 
phers assert  that  all  his  wounds  closed  instantaneously 
and  miraculously,  and  that,  when  his  lips  and  tongue 
were  slit,  he  spoke  with  greater  eloquence  than  before. 
Deprived  of  sight,  and  mutilated  in  all  his  limbs,  St 
Leger  was  already  venerated  as  a  martyr  by  the  people. 
Ebroin's  anger  redoubled,  when  he  perceived  that  all 
the  evil  he  had  inflicted  on  his  enemy  redounded  to  his 
glory.  He  resolved  to  have  St.  Leger  degraded  by  the 
bishops  of  France,  whom  he  assembled  in  council  in 
678,  and  cited  the  saint  to  confess  before  all  the  pre- 
lates that  he  was  an  accomplice  in  the  murder  of  Chil- 
deric II.  The  holy  St.  Leger  neither  chose  to  stain 
the  close  of  his  life  by  an  act  of  perjury,  nor  to  bring 
upon  himself  new  sufferings  by  avowing  his  partici- 
pation in  the  regicide ;  he,  therefore,  made  no  other 
answer  to  all  the  questions  put  to  him,  than  that  God 
alone  could  read  the  secrets  of  his  heart.  The  bishops, 
being  able  to  extort  no  other  answer  from  him,  tore 
his  tunic  from  top  to  bottom,  as  a  mark  of  degradation, 
and  delivered  him  up  to  the  count  of  the  palace,  who 
ordered  him  to  be  beheaded.  The  commemoration  of 
the  martyrdom  of  the  holy  regicide  is  kept  on  the  2d  of 
October ;  and  there  are  few  of  the  cities  of  France  in 
which  some  church  has  not  been  raised  in  honour  of 
him. 

After  the  death  of  Ebroin,  which  took  place  in  681, 
the  mayors,  who  were  appointed  his  successors  by  the 
free  party,  possessed  neither  the  same  energy  nor  the 
same  talent.  War  was  renewed  between  Austrasia  and 
Neustria.  From  the  time  of  the  murder  of  Dago- 
bert  II.,  the  former  had  been  without  a  king,  and  had 


CHAP.  XII.        PEPIN CHANGE    OF    DYNASTY.  26? 

obeyed  Pepin  of  Heristal,  who  took  the  title  of  duke, 
and  governed  with  the  assistance  of  the  nobility.  A 
great  battle  was  fought  between  the  two  nations  and  the 
two  parties  in  687,  at  Testry,  in  Vermandois.  The 
nobles  were  triumphant.  The  mayor  of  the  freemen 
was  killed,  and  their  king,  Thierry  III.,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  nobles.  Pepin,  v/ho  thought  it  still  neces- 
sary that  there  should  be  the  phantom  of  a  king,  in- 
stead of  dethroning  him,  attached  him  to  his  own  party, 
and  caused  him  to  be  acknowledged  in  Austrasia,  as  well 
as  in  Neustria,  at  the  same  time  retaining  all  authority 
in  his  own  hands.  He  elevated  his  son  to  the  dignity  of 
mayor  of  Neustria,  and  reduced  the  king  to  the  con- 
dition of  captive  of  his  own  subject. 

The  great  revolution,  which  transmitted  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  Franks  from  the  first  to  the  second  race, 
takes  its  date  from  the  battle  of  Testry.  In  the 
year  687,  the  royal  power  was  vested  in  the  se- 
cond Pepin,  although  his  grandson,  the  third  of  the 
name,  was  the  first  who  assumed  the  crown  (a.  d.  752). 
This  revolution  has  been  erroneously  considered  as  an 
usurpation  on  the  part  of  the  mayors  of  the  palace : 
it  was,  on  the  contrary,  their  defeat ;  their  old  adver- 
saries were  victorious,  and  decorated  themselves  with 
their  title.  The  Mord  Dom,  or  elective  head  of  the 
freemen,  chief  magistrate  of  Neustria,  and  represent- 
ative of  a  country  in  which  the  Franks  had  begun  to 
blend  with  the  Romans  and  adopt  their  language,  gave 
place  to  the  hereditary  duke  of  Austrasia,  captain  of  his 
leudes,  or  men  voluntarily  devoted  to  a  service  equally 
hereditary,  and  requited  by  grants  of  land.  This  duke 
was  seconded  by  all  the  other  dukes  who  fought  for 
aristocracy,  and  against  royalty  and  the  people.  His 
victory  was  signalised  by  a  second  triumph  of  the  Teu- 
tonic language  over  the  Latin  ;  by  the  re-establishment 
of  diets  or  assemblies  of  the  nation,  whicli  were,  from 
that  period,  held  in  a  far  more  regular  manner,  and 
gradually  got  possession  of  all  the  rights  of  sovereignty; 
but  in  which  the  nobles  alone  represented  the  nation  : 


26'8        FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XII. 

lastly,  by  the  almost  entire  dissolution  of  the  national 
bond.  The  dukes  who  had  seconded  Pepin  had  in  view, 
not  to  become  his  subjects,  but  to  reign  conjointly  with 
him  ;  accordingly,  all  the  nations  beyond  the  Rhine  re- 
nounced their  obedience  to  the  Franks  ;  Aquitaine,  Pro- 
vence, and  Burgundy,  governed  by  their  several  dukes, 
became,  in  some  sort,  foreign  provinces;  and  Pepin, 
satisfied  with  leaving  either  his  son  or  one  of  his  lieu- 
tenants at  Paris  to  watch  the  king,  transported  the 
actual  seat  of  government  to  his  duchy  of  Austrasia, 
and  fixed  his  residence  by  turns  at  Cologne,  and  at  He- 
ristal,  near  Liege. 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  administration  of 
Pepin  of  Heristal  that  the  Musulmans  began  to 
threaten  Western  Europe.  They  conquered  Spain,  be- 
tween the  years  711  and  7 14,  and  Pepin  died  on  the  l6th 
of  December,  714,  after  having  governed  France  twenty - 
seven  years  and  a  half,  from  the  day  of  the  battle  of 
Testry.  But,  before  we  attempt  to  trace  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  Musulman  empire ;  before  we  examine 
how  Charles  Martel,  the  son  of  Pepin,  saved  the  West 
from  their  dominion,  we  must  follow  the  obscure  revo- 
lutions of  the  Eastern  empire  up  to  the  time  when  her 
mortal  struggle  with  the  invaders  began. 

It  is  not  the  only  disadvantage  attending  the  study  of 
the  arid  period  which  now  engages  our  attention,  that 
we  are  forced  to  carry  our  eyes  over  the  whole  world, 
from  its  eastern  to  its  western  bounds,  and  to  pass  in 
review  persons  who  had  no  relation  to  each  other.  The 
brief  chronicles  to  which  we  are  reduced,  devoid  of  all 
historical  criticism  or  judgment,  heap  up  before  our 
eyes  events  of  which  we  cannot  see  the  connection,  and 
which  appear  rather  to  contradict  than  to  support  each 
other  ;  becoming,  of  course,  difficult  to  remember,  in 
proportion  to  their  barrenness  and  obscurity. 

The  history  of  the  East,  during  the  five  reigns  of 
Justin  II.,  Tiberius  II.,  Maurice,  Phocas,  and  Heraclius 
(a.  d.  567 — 642),  presents  us  rather  with  the  phantoms 
of  a  bad  dream  than  with  a  train  of  real  events.  The  three 


CHAP.   XII.  HISTORY    OF    THE    EAST.  269 

former^  it  is  true,  offer  a  contrast  to  which  we  ought  to 
be  accustomed, — that  of  sovereigns  virtuous,  or  repre- 
sented as  being  so,  and  a  miserable  people.  It  is,  in- 
deed, generally  thus  that  the  historians  of  monarchies 
have  performed  their  tasks.  But  the  tyranny  of  Phocas, 
the  defeats  and  afterwards  the  victories  of  Heraclius, 
have  no  resemblance  to  any  course  of  events  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  and  afford  no  internal  explanation. 
In  a  war,  of  which  the  details  are  wholly  unknown  to  us, 
the  Persians,  under  the  orders  of  Chosroes  II.,  conquered 
all  the  Asian  provinces  of  the  Eastern  empire.  Hera- 
clius, in  his  turn,  conquered  the  whole  of  Persia,  up  to 
the  frontiers  of  India  ;  and,  after  expeditions,  the  nar- 
ratives of  which  wear  the  air  of  fables,  the  two  empires, 
equally  exhausted,  were  unable  to  contend  with  a  new 
enemy,  whose  existence  they  had  not  even  suspected. 

Though  reduced  to  conjecture  as  to  the  origin  of 
these  sudden  revolutions,  we  can  at  least  discover  that 
a  great  cause  of  weakness  had  arisen  in  the  Eastern 
empire,  along  with  the  new  systems  of  religious 
belief,  and  the  unrelenting  persecutions  they  engen- 
dered. The  minds  of  men  became  irritated  against 
each  other,  and  ill-disposed  towards  their  government. 
The  oppressed  sects  not  only  refused  to  defend  their 
country,  they  intrigued  with  their  country's  enemies, 
and  delivered  into  their  hands  the  strongest  and  richest 
provinces  of  the  empire.  In  the  discussions  on  the 
mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith  must  be  sought  the 
key  to  the  Persian  and  Musulman  conquests. 

The  groundwork  of  the  new  revolutions  which  broke 
out  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  was  laid  in  the 
reign  of  Justinian.  The  ancient  dispute  between  the 
catholics  and  the  Arians  concerning  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ  had  been  succeeded  by  others  far  more  frivolous 
and  unintelligible,  more  foreign  to  all  human  actions, 
and  to  the  influence  of  faith  upon  conduct,  —  those  con- 
cerning the  union  of  the  two  natures  and  two  wills  in 
the  person  of  the  Saviour. 

It  was  not  without  reason  that  the  question,  whether 


270        FALI^  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XII. 

the  Redeemer  was  God,  or  whether  he  was  a  created 
being,  was  regarded  as  fundamental  in  the  Christian 
rehgion.  For,  according  to  the  explanation  given  of  this 
mystery,  one  sect  reproached  the  other  with  refusing,  if 
not  to  Deity  itself,  certainly  to  one  of  its  manifest- 
ations, the  worship  which  is  its  due  ;  while  the  opposing 
sect  accused  its  adversaries  of  violating  the  first  of  the 
commandments,  the  very  basis  of  religion,  by  adoring 
him  who  had  expressly  taught  them  to  worship  the  Father 
only,  the  King  of  kings.  But,  though  the  dogma  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ  had  prevailed  in  the  catholic  church, 
the  explanation  of  the  incomprehensible  union  of  the 
Deity  with  man  was  absolutely  null  as  to  its  consequences : 
it  might  be  enounced  in  words,  but  human  reason  was 
unable  to  grasp  it ;  still  less  could  it  have  any  effect 
in  guiding  the  actions  of  men. 

Nevertheless,  two  explanations  of  this  mystery  had 
been  brought  forward ;  the  one,  that  of  the  Monophy- 
sites,  represented  the  Deity  as  being  the  soul  which 
animated  the  human  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  According 
to  this  system,  the  soul  of  the  Saviour  possessed  but 
one  nature,  and  that  divine;  his  body,  also,  was  of 
one  nature,  and  that  human.  This  system,  which  did 
not  escape  the  charge  of  heresy,  had  been  embraced  by 
Justinian,  and,  more  warmly  still,  by  his  wife  Theodora, 
in  whom  licentiousness  and  cruelty  had  not  extinguished 
theological  zeal.  The  bishops,  the  monks,  and  the 
laity,  who  refused  to  subscribe  to  it,  were  exposed  to  a 
bloody  persecution.  The  orthodox  system,  on  the  con- 
trary, acknowledged  in  Jesus  Christ  the  union  of  two 
complete  natures  ;  that  is,  of  the  human  soul  and  human 
body  of  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary,  with  the  divine  soul  and 
divine  body  of  the  Christ,  one  of  the  three  persons  of 
the  Deity.  These  two  complete  and  distinct  beings 
were,  however,  so  intimately  united,  that  nothing  could 
be  attributed  to  the  Man,  wiiich  was  not,  at  the  same 
time,  attributed  to  the  God. 

From  this  explanation  arose  a  new  dispute  about  words. 
It  was  asked,  whether  this  twofold  Being  was  animated 


CHAP.   XII.  THEOLOGICAL    DISSENSIONS.  271 

by  a  single  will ;  the  divine  soul  prevailing  so  completely 
over  the  human,  as  undividedly  to  govern  the  actions 
of  Christ.  In  the  opinion  of  the  Monothelites  it  was  so. 
This  was  declared  heretical,  and  the  orthodox  dogma  was 
established,  that  the  human  soul  of  Jesus  had  a  full  and 
entire  will,  but  that  it  remained  in  perpetual  conformity 
to  the  full  and  entire  will  of  the  divine  soul  of  Christ. 

With  the  utmost  stretch  of  attention,  we  are  scarcely 
able  to  seize  these  subtle  distinctions,  which  aim  at  setting 
in  opposition  unknown  causes,  whose  effects  are  always 
the  same.  The  examination  of  them  fatigues  the 
reason,  and  appears  a  sort  of  blasphemy  against  that 
inscrutable  Being,  who  is  thus  submitted  to  a  kind  of 
moral  dissection.  With  more  difficulty  still  should  we 
pursue  the  different  shades  of  these  opinions,  and  all 
the  various  sects  to  which  they  gave  rise.  But  the  in- 
fluence of  these  subtle  questions  was  fatal  to  the  empire  : 
every  sect  persecuted  in  its  turn,  and  the  orthodox, — 
that  is  to  say,  the  victorious  —  abused,  more  cruelly 
than  the  others,  the  power  which  they  were  longer  able 
to  retain.  The  first  dignitaries  of  the  church  were  ex- 
pelled from  their  seats ;  many  perished  in  exile,  many 
in  prison,  many  were  even  sentenced  to  death.  Those 
who  held  the  forbidden  opinions  were  denied  the  liberty 
of  worship ;  while  the  property  of  the  condemned 
churches  was  seized,  and  thousands  of  monks,  fighting 
with  staves  and  stones,  excited  tumults  in  which  rivers 
of  blood  were  shed.  Large  towns  were  given  up  to 
pillage,  and  to  all  the  outrages  of  a  brutal  soldiery  ; 
and  all  this  as  a  punishment  for  an  attachment  to  words 
rather  than  to  ideas.  At  the  end  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, the  greater  part  of  the  empire,  especially  the 
eastern,  longed  for  a  foreign  deliverer,  —  even  for  the 
yoke  of  a  heathen  or  a  magian,  so  that  they  might 
escape  from  the  intolerance  of  tlie  orthodox  party  and 
of  the  emperors. 

The  Nestorians,  who  carried  farther  than  the  or- 
thodox themselves  tlie  separation  between  the  two 
natures ;   who  placed   in  stronger  opposition  than   the 


27^  FALL  OP  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP,  XII. 

catholics  the  Man  Jesus  and  the  God  Christ,  were  the 
first  objects  of  persecution :  they  completely  aban- 
doned the  empire,  and  several  hundred  thousands  of  the 
subjects  of  Justinian  emigrated  into  Persia,  carrying 
with  them  arts  and  manufactures,  and  a  knowledge  of 
Roman  tactics  and  engines  of  war.  The  conquests  of 
Chosroes  were  seconded  by  their  arms,  and  by  the  trea- 
chery of  their  secret  adherents,  who  deUvered  up  to  the 
enemy  several  of  the  fortresses  of  Asia. 

The  Eutychians,  the  most  zealous  of  the  Monophy- 
sites,  who,  in  order  to  maintain  the  unity  of  Christ's 
nature,  denied  that  his  divine  soul  had  been  invested 
with  a  human  body,  were  crushed  by  persecution.  They 
have  survived  only  in  Armenia,  where  their  church 
flourishes  to  this  day  :  but  this  heresy  destroyed  the 
ancient  attachment  of  the  Armenians  to  the  Greeks,  and 
produced  in  these  old  allies  of  the  empire  an  implacable 
hatred,  which  has  also  been  perpetuated.  A  modified 
sect  of  Monophysites,  the  Jacobites,  sought  refuge  in 
Persia,  in  Arabia,  and  in  Upper  Egypt.  They,  too,  united 
with  the  enemies  of  their  country.  In  the  mountains 
of  Lebanon,  the  Monothelites,  or  those  who  admit  only 
one  will  in  Christ,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  These 
are  still  known  by  the  name  of  Maronites.  The  Mono- 
physites, who  were  oppressed  and  destroyed  in  the  rest 
of  the  empire,  raised  an  invincible  resistance  in  Egypt, 
where  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  shared  their  opi- 
nions. But  these  people,  persecuted,  stripped,  and 
doomed  to  see  the  dignities  of  their  church,  their  own 
possessions,  and  all  their  civil  rights,  torn  from  them, 
gave  up  at  once  the  language  of  the  Greeks,  and  their 
adherence  to  its  church.  Then  arose  the  Coptic  sect, 
and  its  independent  church,  which  spread  over  Abys- 
sinia and  Nubia.  They  seconded  with  all  their  might 
the  arms  of  Chosroes  ;  and  when  he,  in  his  turn,  was 
conquered,  they  implored  the  aid  of  the  Musulmans. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  East,  and  such  were  the 
only  passions  which  seemed  to  agitate  the  people,  during 
the  five  reigns  which  filled  the  interval  from  the  death 


CHAP.  XII.  JUSTIN  II.  TIBERIUS.  273 

of  Justinian,  in  567,  to  the  conquests  of  the  Musul- 
mans,  in  632.  We  shall  now  give  a  succinct  account 
of  these  five  reigns,  on  which  our  scanty  materials  would 
not  permit  us  to  enlarge,  even  if  we  desired  it. 

The  sceptre  of  Justinian  had  been  transmitted,  in 
5()7,  to  his  nephew  Justin  II.,  a  prince  of  a  mild  and 
benevolent  disposition,  but  weak  :  he  saw  the  errors  of 
his  uncle's  administration,  and  promised  to  remedy 
them ;  but  he  was  constantly  confined  to  his  palace 
by  bodily  infirmity,  and  surrounded  by  Avoraen  and 
eunuchs.  Counsellors  like  these  gave  to  his  government 
a  character  of  intrigue,  of  feebleness,  of  distrust.  Dur- 
ing his  reign,  Italy  was  lost  by  the  conquest  of  the 
Lombards.  The  Avars,  being  driven  by  the  aboriginal 
Turks  from  the  neighboui-hood  of  Thibet,  and  becoming 
conquerors  as  soon  as  they  had  passed  from  Asia  into 
Europe,  had  founded  their  empire  in  the  valley  of  the 
Danube,  nearly  on  the  same  spot  which  Attila  had  for- 
merly chosen  as  the  seat  of  his  government.  From 
thence  they  extended  their  devastations  throughout  the 
Illyrian  peninsula.  Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
the  great  Chosroes  Nushirvan,  the  Persians  carried  their 
ravages  to  the  very  outskirts  of  Antioch,  and  reduced  to 
ashes  the  city  of  Apamea.  At  the  end  of  his  reign, 
however,  Justin  II.  reahsed  the  hopes  which  he  had  ex- 
cited at  its  commencement.  He  chose  a  successor,  not 
in  his  own  family,  but  in  his  people.  Finding  in  the 
captain  of  his  guards,  Tiberius,  the  most  virtuous,  brave, 
and  humane  of  his  subjects,  he  raised  him  to  the  crown 
in  December  574,  and  resigned  to  him  the  reins  of 
government,  without  any  attempt,  during  the  four  years 
which  he  survived  tiiis  act  of  abdication,  to  recover  the 
power  he  had  resigned. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  empress  Sophia,  wife  of 
Justin  II.,  had  some  influence  upon  the  choice  of  her 
husband.  Tiberius  was  not  only  the  bravest,  but  the 
handsomest  of  the  courtiers.  It  was  not  known  that  he 
was  marrietl  ;  and  though  Justin,  as  he  placed  him  on 
the  throne,  said,  "  lleverence  the  empress  Sophia  as  your 

VOL.  I.  T 


274         FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XIl. 

mother,"  Sophia  is  thought  to  have  indulged  a  hope  that 
she  should  attach  him  to  herself  by  a  different  tie,  and 
should  bestow  her  hand,  as  well  as  a  crown,  upon  the  new 
emperor.  But  Tiberius  now  brought  forward  his  wife 
Anastatia,  whose  existence  had  been  hitherto  concealed. 
From  this  time  he  strove,  by  his  respectful  attentions  and 
filial  affection  to  the  empress,  to  make  her  forget  the 
mortification  she  had  endured.  He  found  excuses  for 
her  resentment,  and  pardoned  even  the  conspiracies  into 
which  her  irritation  led  her  ;  and  he  granted, — what  was 
then  without  example  in  the  history  of  the  empire, — a 
complete  amnesty  to  all  those  who  had  taken  up  arms 
and  proclaimed  another  emperor,  as  well  as  to  the  rival 
whom  they  had  decorated  with  the  purple.  The  reign  of 
Tiberius  is  the  first,  since  the  conversion  of  Constantine, 
■which  gives  us  an  idea  of  Christian  virtues  adorning  the 
throne: — mildness,  moderation,  patience,  charity.— 
Unhappily,  this  excellent  prince  survived  Justin  only 
four  years  :  but,  finding  himself  attacked  by  a  mortal 
disease,  he  chose,  in  the  same  way  in  which  he  had 
been  chosen,  —  not  one  of  his  family,  but  the  man  he 
thought  most  worthy,  to  inherit  the  supreme  power. 
The  successor  and  adopted  son  of  Tiberius  was  Maurice 
(a.  t>.  582 — 602),  a  general  who  had  commanded  the 
army  in  the  war  against  the  Persians.  He  was  then 
forty-three  years  of  age  ;  and,  though  his  virtue  was  less 
pure  than  that  of  his  predecessor,  and  his  character  had 
some  taint  of  pride,  of  cruelty,  of  weakness,  and  of 
avarice,  he  was  nevertheless  worthy  of  the  preference 
which  had  been  given  to  him. 

Maurice,  who  owed  his  elevation  to  his  military  cha- 
racter, and  who  had  so  deeply  studied  the  art  of  war  as 
to  write  a  treatise  upon  tactics  which  has  come  down 
to  our  own  time,  did  not  attempt  to  lead  his  armies  in 
person  ;  so  completely  had  the  effeminate  life  of  Con- 
stantinople rendered  the  profession  of  the  soldier  in- 
compatible with  the  dignity  of  the  sovereign.  He 
opposed  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  the  Lombards,  and 
was  satisfied  with  merely  strengthening  the  garrisons  in 


CHAP,  XII,  SIAURICE.  275 

the  small  number  of  towns  which  lie  still  held  in  Italy. 
His  most  formidable  enemy,  therefore,  was  Baian,  the 
Khan  of  the  Avars  (a.  d.  570 — GOO),  who  seemed  to 
have  taken  Attila  for  his  model,  and  occupied  his  coun- 
try, if  not  his  palace.  In  the  vast  plains  of  Bulgaria, 
of  ^Vallachia,  and  Pannonia,  where  he  prevented  all 
cultivation  of  the  earth,  it  Avas  almost  impossible  for  a 
regular  army  to  check  or  chastise  the  ravages  of  his 
wandering  troops  :  they  penetrated  with  impunity  into 
the  richest  provinces  of  the  empire,  and  almost  every 
year  carried  terror  to  the  walls  of  (,'onstantinople ; 
plundering  in  their  course  the  treasures  of  the  Greeks, 
and  carrying  oft'  thousands  of  cajjtives.  After  having 
insolently  bartered  peace  for  a  tribute,  and  insulted  the 
messengers  of  the  emperor  in  liis  own  country, — insulted 
Constantinople  through  the  lips  of  her  own  ambassa- 
dors,— Baian  made  it  his  sport  to  violate  the  treaties 
which  he  had  sworn  to  keep. 

The  relations  of  Maurice  with  the  Persian  empire 
were  more  advantageous.  The  great  Chosroes  Nushir- 
van  had  died  in  579>  having  lived  upwards  of  eighty 
years.  His  son  Ormouz,  who  succeeded  him  (a.  d. 
579 — 590),  rendered  himself  odious  by  every  vice  which 
could  exhaust  the  patience  even  of  Orientals.  His 
avarice  disgusted  the  troops  ;  his  caprice  degraded  the 
satraps  of  Persia,  and  his  pretended  justice  had  immo- 
lated, as  he  himself  boasted,  thirteen  thousand  victims. 
An  insurrection  broke  out  against  him  in  the  principal 
provinces  of  Persia  :  Maurice  seconded  it  by  sending 
a  Roman  army  into  Mesopotamia  and  Assyria  ;  the 
Turks  of  Tliibet  advanced  at  the  same  time  into  Klio- 
rasan  and  Bactriana  ;  and  the  monarchy  of  the  Persians 
seemed  already  on  tlie  brink  of  ruin.  Bahram,  or 
Varanes,  a  general  who  had  distinguished  himself,  under 
Nushirvan,  by  his  skill  and  valour,  saved  the  state  by 
disobeying  the  orders  of  Ormouz.  Alone,  lie  umier- 
took  the  wars  against  the  'I'urks  and  against  the  Ko- 
mans :  he  conquered  the  former,  and  although  he  was 
less  fortunate  in  his  enterprise  against  the  latter,  lie 
T  2 


276        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.    CHAP.  XII. 

still  preserved  his  influence  over  the  Persians.  Ormouz 
having  sent  him  an  insulting  message,  implying  that 
his  services  were  no  longer  wanted,  he  raised  the" 
standard  of  revolt,  took  his  sovereign  j)risoner,  and  ex- 
hibited to  Persia  the  unwonted  sight  of  a  pubHc  trial, 
at  which  the  captive  son  of  Nushirvan  pleaded  his  own 
cause  before  the  nobles  of  the  land.  The  unfortunate 
prince  was  by  their  orders  deposed,  blinded,  and  cast 
into  prison,  where  he  was  strangled  a  short  time  after- 
wards by  a  personal  enemy  (a.  t>.  590). 

One  party  among  the  Persians  wished  to  transmit 
the  crown  to  Chosroes  IL,  son  of  Ormouz  ;  but  Bah- 
ram  refused  to  recognise  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
flee  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  and  to  take  refuge  with  the 
Romans.  Maurice  received  the  fugitive  in  a  manner 
no  less  politic  than  generous,  and  spared  him  the  fatigue 
and  humiliation  of  a  journey  to  Constantinople.  He 
collected  a  considerable  army  on  the  frontiers  of  Armenia 
and  Syria,  the  command  of  which  he  entrusted  to 
Narses,  a  general  of  Persian  origin,  who  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  conqueror  of  Italy.  The  popular 
passions  of  the  Persians  were  already  kindled  for  a 
counter-revolution  ;  the  magi  had  declared  themselves 
against  Bahram  ;  an  army  of  the  partisans  of  Chosroes 
had  joined  that  of  the  Romans,  which  advanced  to  Zab  on 
the  frontiers  of  Media  ;  and  the  standards  of  the  declining 
empire  penetrated  into  regions  which  the  Roman  eagles 
had  never  beheld,  either  during  the  republic,  or  the  reign 
of  Trajan.  Bahram  was  conquered  in  two  battles,  and 
perished  in  the  eastern  extremity  of  Persia :  Chosroes 
was  seated  upon  the  throne,  and,  according  to  the  custom 
of  oriental  despots,  he  cemented  his  restoration  with 
the  blood  of  numerous  victims.  He,  however,  stiU  re- 
tained the  aimy  of  auxiliaries  which  Maurice  had  fur- 
nished him  with.  He  assumed  the  title  of  adopted 
son  of  the  Roman  emperor ;  he  restored  several  con- 
tested fortresses  to  Maurice  ;  he  granted  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  Persia  that  liberty  of  conscience  which  the 
magi  had  always  refused  them  ;  and  the  Greeks  exulted 


CHAP,   XII.  PERSIAN    WAR.  277 

in  the  part  they  hail  taken  in  this  revolution,  as  one  of 
the  most  fortunate  occurrences  in  their  history. 

They  soon  perceived,  however,  that  a  solid  alliance 
must  be  based  upon  the  friendship  of  nations,  not 
merely  on  that  of  sovereigns.  In  the  month  of 
October,  602,  Maurice  attempted  to  reduce  the  pay  of 
his  soldiers,  and  to  make  them  winter  in  the  country  of 
the  Avars  :  a  sedition  instantly  broke  out,  and  the  in- 
furiated soldiers  invested  with  the  purple  one  of  their 
centurions,  named  Phocas,  who  was  only  distinguished 
by  the  violence  of  his  imprecations  against  the  emperor. 
The  monarch  still  hoped  to  defend  himself  in  Constan- 
tinople ;  but  the  people  were  no  less  exasperated  at  his 
parsimony  than  the  army,  and  received  him  with  a 
shower  of  stones.  A  monk  ran  through  the  streets 
sword  in  hand,  denouncing  him  as  the  object  of  the 
wrath  of  God.  Maurice,  however,  was  accused  of  no 
heresy ;  and,  in  an  age  where  the  affairs  of  the  church 
were  mingled  with  those  of  the  state,  he  alone  seems  to 
have  kept  aloof  from  ecclesiastical  quarrels.  He  fled 
to  Chalcedonia,  where  he  was  soon  taken  by  the  officers 
of  Phocas,  who  had  just  entered  Constantinople  in 
triumph.  His  five  sons  were  butchei'ed  before  his  eyes  : 
he  himself  perished  the  last ;  and  the  six  heads  were 
exposed  to  the  insults  of  the  populace  in  the  Hippo- 
drome of  Constantinople.  A  few  months  afterwards, 
the  widow  of  Maurice  and  his  three  daughters  were 
slaughtered  in  the  same  manner  :  but  this  was  only  the 
prelude  to  the  execrable  tyranny  which  Phocas  was 
about  to  exercise  over  the  empire  for  eight  years 
(a.  D.  602 — ()10),  during  a  reign  not  less  remarkable 
for  atrocity  than  those  of  Nero  and  Caligula. 

Chosroes  might,  possibly,  consider  himself  bound  in 
gratitude  to  avenge  the  prince  who  had  restored  him  to 
his  throne.  ]ie  that  as  it  may,  his  policy  eagerly  seized 
this  pretext  for  declaring  war  on  the  llomans  ;  and  the 
most  opulent  cities  of  the  empire  were  laid  waste  by  the 
sword  of  the  Persians,  to  expiate  a  crime  in  which  they 
had  nowise  participated.     Chosroes  II.  employed  several 


278  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    E3IPIRE.        CHAP.   XII. 

campaigns  in  rendering  himself  master  of  the  border 
towns ;  and,  as  long  as  Phocas  reigned^  he  did  not  pass  the 
limits  of  the  Euphrates.  But  Phocas  himself  fell ;  the 
crime  which  Chosroes  affected  to  avenge  met  its  punish- 
ment :  Heraclius,  son  of  the  exarch  of  Carthage,  sailed 
with  an  African  fleets  and  was  received  in  the  port  of 
Constantinople  on  the  .'5th  of  October,  6 10,  with  the  title 
of  Augustus.  Phocas  was  given  over  to  the  most  cruel 
tortures,  and  was  afterwards  beheaded  ;  but  the  new 
emperor  in  vain  demanded  of  the  Persian  monarch  a 
restoration  of  that  peace  between  the  two  empires,  which 
he  had  now  no  just  cause  for  withholding. 

It  was  precisely  at  this  period  that  Chosroes,  leaving 
the  shores  of  the  Euphrates,  undertook  the  conquest  of 
the  Roman  empire  ;  whilst  Heraclius,  whose  long  reign 
(a.  d.  610 — 643,)  we  are  only  acquainted  with  through 
imperfect  documents,  passed  twelve  years  in  a  state  of 
inactivity  and  depression,  which  forms  a  strange  contrast 
with  the  brilliant  expeditions  by  Avhich  he  afterwards 
distinguished  himself.  In  6ll,  Chosroes  occupied  the 
most  important  cities  of  Syria,  —  Hierapolis,  Chalcis, 
Bersa,  and  Aleppo.  He  took  Antioch,  the  capital  of 
the  East :  Casarea,  the  capital  of  Cappadocia,  fell  shortly 
afterwards.  Chosroes  devoted  several  campaigns  to  the 
conquest  of  Roman  Asia  ;  but  history  does  not  furnish  us 
with  the  details  of  any  battle  offered  to  check  his  pro- 
gress, nor  of  any  obstinate  siege,  nor  with  the  name  of 
any  Roman  general,  distinguished  even  by  his  reverses. 
In  6l4,  Palestine  was  invaded  by  the  Persian  armies; 
Jerusalem  opened  its  gates ;  the  churches  were  pillaged, 
90,000  Christians  were  massacred,  and  the  fire  of  the 
magi  succeeded  to  the  worship  which  had  been  offered  on 
the  altars  of  the  true  God.  In  616,  Egypt  was  also  con- 
quered :  the  Persians  advanced  into  the  deserts  of  Libya, 
and  destroyed  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Greek  colony  of 
Cyrene,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tripoli.  During  the 
same  year  another  army  crossed  Asia  Minor,  to  Chalce- 
donia,  which  yielded  after  a  long  siege ;  and  a  Persian 
army  maintained  its  position  for  ten  years,  within  sight 


CHAP.  XII.  HERACLIUS.  279 

of  Constantinople,  on  the  Bosphorus  of  Thrace.  The 
whole  empire  seemed  to  be  reduced  within  the  walls  of 
the  capital ;  for,  about  the  same  time,  the  Avars  recom- 
menced their  ravages  with  more  ferocity  than  ever,  and 
occupied  or  laid  waste  the  whole  European  continent, 
down  to  the  long  wall,  which,  at  a  distance  of  only 
thirty  miles  from  Constantinople,  separated  that  ex- 
tremity of  Thrace  from  the  mainland.  Certain  ma- 
ritime towns,  sprinkled  at  vast  distances  over  all  the 
coasts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  still  recognised  the 
nominal  authority  of  the  emperors ;  but  their  own 
situation  was  so  precarious,  that  they  could  neither  fur- 
nish money  nor  troops  for  distant  expeditions.  The 
final  overthrow  of  the  throne  of  Herachus  seemed  only 
to  be  deferred  for  a  few  years. 

Then  it  was  that  the  man,  whose  effeminate  habits 
and  depressed  spirits  had  hitherto  inspired  nothing  but 
contempt,  all  at  once  displayed  the  vigour  of  a  young 
soldier,  the  energy  of  a  hero,  and  the  talents  of  a  con- 
queror. The  meagre  chronicles  Avhich  relate  the  annals 
of  the  reign  of  Heraclius,  neither  explain  his  successes^ 
nor  throw  light  on  his  previous  reverses  :  they  neither 
tell  us  why  he  seemed  to  slumber  for  twelve  years  upon 
a  throne  which  was  crumbUng  to  dust  beneath  him,  nor 
why  he  suddenly  awoke,  in  all  the  greatness  of  his 
energy,  to  crush  the  Persians  in  the  course  of  six  years 
(a.  d.  622 — 627)  ;  nor  how  he  came  to  relapse  into  the 
same  apathy,  and  to  lose,  by  the  arms  of  the  jMusuI- 
mans,'  during  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his  reign,  all 
that  he  had  before  regained  (a.  d.  628 — 642). 

Ileduced  as  we  are  to  a  merely  conjectural  solution 
of  this  historical  problem,  we  are  led  to  imagine  that 
the  reverses  of  the  empire  were  owing  to  the  universal 
discontent  of  its  subjects ;  to  the  prevalence  of  religious 
animosities,  and  to  a  resentment  for  unjust  persecution, 
■which  induced  the  heretics  of  every  j)rovince  to  desire  a 
bold  avenger  even  more  than  a  gootl  king.  IJut  after 
the  Monophysites,  the  Monothehtes,  the  Eutychians, 
the  Nestorians,  the  Jacobites,  and  the  Maronites,  liad 
T  4 


280        FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.   CHAP.  XII- 

gratified  their  hatred  of  the  church  and  of  the  state  by 
delivering  their  fortresses  and  tlieir  country  into  the 
hands  of  the  magi^  the  ruin  of  their  former  enemy  soon 
ceased  to  console  them  for  their  present  oppression. 
They  regretted  that  national  independence  and  that 
country  which  they  had  lost ;  they  appealed  to  that 
Heraclius  whom  they  had  betrayed.  The  emperor  had 
been  destined  by  nature  for  the  part  of  a  great  man  ; 
and^  although  the  pomp  of  royalty,  the  influence  of 
courtiers,  eunuchs,  and  women,  had  lulled  him  in  the' 
lap  of  luxury,  he  readily  perceived  the  real  weakness  of 
an  empire  whose  resources  were  weakened  by  conquest. 
He  saw  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Persian  armies, 
which  were  dispersed  over  the  immense  extent  of  the 
Roman  provinces,  to  arrive  in  time  to  succour  each 
other  ;  that  they  must  be  in  constant  dread  of  a  re- 
bellion ;  and  that  the  troops  would  not  dare  to  leave 
their  remote  quarters  to  support  the  central  forces.  In- 
stead of  attacking  the  Persian  army,  which  lay  before 
his  eyes  in  Chalcedonia,  at  the  very  gates  of  his  capital, 
he  embarked  with  all  the  soldiers  he  could  muster,  and 
landed  in  Cilicia,  at  the  angle  which  Asia  ]\Iinor  forms 
with  Syria.  Ten  years  of  magian  oppression  had  taught 
the  inhabitants  to  regret  the  sway  of  the  Eastern  em- 
pire. Heraclius  reinforced  his  army  with  such  of  the 
natives  as  had  courage  to  shake  off  the  yoke.  Instead  of 
seeking  to  meet  the  Persians,  he  attempted  to  cut  them 
off  in  their  rear  ;  and,  with  a  degree  of  skill  and  boldness 
which  deserves  to  be  better  known,  he  long  avoided 
them,  and  ravaged  the  very  countries  which  they  had 
left  behind  them.  Whilst  the  whole  empire  of  the 
East  was  occupied  by  the  Persians,  he  led  the  Roman 
armies  into  the  heart  of  Persia :  he  even  penetrated  into 
regions  of  whose  existence  the  Greeks  had  hitherto  been 
ignorant,  and  where  no  European  conqueror  had  ever 
set  foot.  After  having  laid  waste  the  shores  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  he  successively  attacked,  took,  and  burned 
the  several  capitals  of  Chosroes,  even  as  far  as  Ispahan : 
he  extinguished  the  eternal  fire  of  the  magi ;  he  loaded 


CHAP.  XII.  HERACLIUS.  281 

his  troops  with  an  enormous  booty  ;  and  he  retaliated 
on  Persia  the  same  disasters  which  Chosroes  had^  for 
ten  years,  inflicted  upon  the  empire. 

HeracHus  did  not  cease  to  offer  peace,  even  in  the 
midst  of  this  career  of  destruction ;  while  the  haughty 
m.onarch  as  constantly  rejected  it,  in  the  midst  of  his 
disasters  and  defeats.  The  Persians  at  length  refused 
to  submit  to  the  extreme  sufferings  which  were  the 
consequences  of  his  obstinacy,  and  of  his  weakness.  An 
insurrection  broke  out  against  the  king,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  628,  and  Chosroes  was  assassinated,  with 
eighteen  of  his  sons.  One  only  of  his  offspring,  Siroes, 
w^as  allowed  to  live,  and  to  occupy  his  father's  throne. 
Peace  Avas  restored  between  Constantinople  and  Persia ; 
and  the  ancient  boundaries  of  the  two  empires  on  the 
Euphrates  were  recognised  by  both  parties.  But  the 
whole  of  Asia  had  been  devastated  by  this  double  in- 
vasion ;  and  the  conqueror,  Avho,  meantime,  was  gather- 
ing strength  in  Arabia,  met  with  but  slight  resistance, 
when,  in  the  following  year  (629),  he  began  to  inundate 
the  exhausted  land  with  the  victorious  torrent  of  the 
Musulraan  armies. 

lAu-o«-V    Va.^^  .^laaJR,    £iuJ^u^ 


282  FALL    OF    THE    R03IAN    EMPIRE. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

rHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  ARABIA. TEMEN. REPUBLICS  OF  THE 

RED     SEA. —-ARAB    CHARACTER,      INSTITUTIONS,     POETRY,    AND 

RELIGION.  —WORSHIP  OF  THE   KAABA  AT  MECCA. BIRTH  OF 

MOHAMMED. HIS  MARRIAGE. HIS  RELIGIOUS  STUDIES. PUB- 
LICATION OF  THE  KORAN.  CHARACTER  OF  HIS    RELIGION.  

HIS   PUBLIC   PREACHING. HIS  EARLY  DISCIPLES. IRRITATION 

OF  THE  INHABITANTS  OF    MECCA. FLIGHT    OF  MOHAMMED   TO 

MEDINA  ;     HEGIRA,  OR   ERA    OF    THE    MUSULMAN    RELIGION.  

COMMENCEMENT    OF  HIS    REIGN. HIS     MILITARY    TALENTS. 

CONQUEST  OF  MECCA.  CONQUEST  OF  THE   REST  OF  ARABIA. 

DECLARATION  OF  WAR  WITH   THE    EMPIRE.  DECLINE  OF  MO- 

HAMMEd's  HEALTH.  —HIS  LAST  WORDS.  HIS  DEATH,     (a.  D. 

569—632.) 

The  great  peninsula  of  Arabia,  which  extends  from 
the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  from  the  frontiers 
of  Syria  to  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  forms  a 
distinct  world,  in  which  man  and  beast,  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  wear  a  peculiar  aspect,  and  are  governed  by 
peculiar  laws :  —  every  thing  recalls  the  eternal  inde- 
pendence of  an  autochthonous  people :  the  ancient  tra- 
ditions are  purely  national,  and  a  civilisation  of  a  cha- 
racter entirely  peculiar,  has  been  attained  without  any 
impulse  or  assistance  from  foreign  nations. 

The  extent  of  Arabia  is  nearly  four  times  that  of 
France ;  but  this  vast  continent,  through  which  no 
river  takes  its  course ;  in  which  no  mountain  raises  its 
head  high  enough  to  collect  the  clouds,  or  to  disperse 
them  in  rain,  or  to  garner  up  the  snows  for  the  re- 
freshment of  these  burning  plains,  is  scorched  with 
perpetual  drought.  The  very  earth  is  parched;  scan- 
tily clothed  with  a  short-lived  vegetation  during  the 
rainy  season,  it  is  reduced  to  dust  as  soon  as  the  sun 
regains  his  unclouded  power.     The  winds,  which  sweep 


CHAP.  XIII.  ARABIA.  283^ 

across  its  boundless  plains,  bear  along  mountains  of 
sand,  which  constantly  threaten  to  swallow  up  the 
works  of  man,  and  often  bury  the  traveller  in  a  living 
grave.  A  few  springs,  which  the  industry  of  man  or 
the  instinct  of  animals  has  discovered,  and  whose 
waters  have  been  carefully  collected  and  sheltered  in 
cisterns  or  deep  wells  by  that  antique  charity,  that  dis- 
interested benevolence,  which  prompts  an  individual  to 
labour  for  an  unknown  posterity,  mark,  at  long  intervals, 
the  spots  where  the  life  of  man  may  be  preserved.  They 
are  as  distant  as  the  cities  of  Europe  ;  and  in  the  itine- 
rary of  the  various  caravans,  more  than  half  the  daily 
stations  are  without  water.  Besides  these  cisterns,  how- 
ever, other  springs  which  have  escaped  the  eye  of 
man,  or  have  not  been  sheltered  by  his  labours,  pre- 
serve their  waters  for  the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert ;  for 
the  lions  and  tigers  whose  thirst  is  more  frequently 
quenched  with  blood ;  and  for  the  antelopes  which  flee 
at  their  approach. 

The  mountains,  seared  and  stripped  by  the  fervour  of 
the  sun  and  the  violence  of  the  winds,  here  and  there 
rear  tlieir  naked  heads ;  but  if  any  of  them  are  lofty 
enough  to  attract  the  clouds  and  to  draw  down  re- 
freshing showers,  or  if  any  slender  rivulet  trickles 
down  its  barren  sides  before  it  loses  itself  in  the  bound- 
less sands,  a  luxuriant  fertility  marks  its  whole  track  : 
there,  the  power  of  a  burning  sun  vivifies  what  it  else- 
where destroys  ;  an  island  of  verdure  arises  in  the  midst 
of  the  desert ;  groves  of  palms  cover  the  sacred  source  ; 
all  the  lower  animals  assemble  there,  unawed  by  man, 
whose  empire  appears  to  them  less  formidable  than  that 
of  the  desert  from  which  they  have  fled,  and  they  sub- 
mit to  his  control  with  a  readiness  unknown  in  other 
climes.  These  mountains,  these  living  springs,  these 
oases,  are  scattered  but  rarely  over  the  vast  surface  of 
Arabia ;  but  along  the  coasts  of  the  Red  Sea  some 
spots  are  marked  by  more  abundant  waters,  and  here 
flourishing  cities  have  arisen  from  the  earliest  anti- 
quity ;  whilst,  at  the  extremity  of  the  peninsula,  on  the 


284  FALL    OP    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   XIII. 

shores  of  the  ocean,  the  kingdom  of  Yemen,  and  the 
part  called  by  Europeans  Arabia  the  Happy,  are 
watered  by  copious  streams,  carefully  cultivated,  covered 
with  coffee-trees,  and  spice  and  incense  bearing  shrubs, 
whose  perfumes  are  said  to  be  wafted  out  to  sea,  and 
to  salute  the  approaching  mariner. 

The  race  of  men  who  inhabit  this  region,  so  unlike 
every  other,  are  gifted  by  nature  with  the  vigour  and 
endurance  necessary  to  triumph  over  the  obstacles  and 
the  evils  with  which  they  have  to  struggle.  Muscular, 
agile,  sober,  patient,  the  Arab,  like  his  faithful  com- 
panion the  camel,  can  endure  thirst  and  hunger ;  a  few 
dates,  or  a  little  ground  barley,  which  he  steeps  with 
water  in  his  hand,  suffice  for  his  nourishment.  Fresh  and 
pure  water  is  for  him  so  rare,  it  seems  to  him  so  great 
a  bounty  of  Heaven,  that  he  thinks  not  of  ardent  liquors. 
His  faculties  are  employed  in  becoming  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  region  he  has  to  subjugate  ;  and  the 
pathless  desert,  the  moving  columns  of  sand,  the  parch- 
ing and  poisonous  breath  of  the  Samum,  strike  him 
neither  with  amazement  nor  with  dread.  He  boldly 
traverses  the  desert  in  search  of  whatever  riches  are  to 
be  found  in  it;  he  subdues  all  the  animals  that 
dwell  in  it ;  or  rather,  he  shares  with  them,  as  friends, 
whatever  can  be  wrested  from  a  niggard  nature.  He 
guides  their  intelligence  to  collect  and  to  preserve  the 
scanty  food  which  Arabia  produces  ;  and  while  he  pro- 
fits by  their  labours,  he  preserves  the  nobleness  of  their 
character.  The  horse  lives  in  the  midst  of  his  children  ; 
his  intelligence  is  constantly  called  forth  by  the  society 
of  man,  and  he  obeys  rather  from  affection  than  from 
fear.  The  camel  lends  him  his  strength,  and  his  patience, 
and  enables  him  to  carry  on  an  active  commerce  in  a 
country  which  nature  seemed  to  have  cut  off  from  all 
communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

It  is  only  by  the  triumph  of  industry  and  of  courage 
that  man  can  exist  in  Arabia,  in  a  constant  struggle 
with  nature ;  he  could  not  exist  if  he  had  likewise 
to  struggle  against  despotism.      The  Arab  has  always 


CHAP.   XIII.  ARAB    CHARACTER.  285 

been  free,  he  will  always  be  free  ;  for,  with  him,  the  loss 
of  liberty  would  be  almost  immediately  followed  by  the 
loss  of  existence.  How  could  the  maintenance  of  kings 
or  of  armies  be  extracted  out  of  the  labour  which  scarcely 
suffices  to  supply  himself  with  the  means  of  subsistence  ? 
The  inhabitant  of  Arabia  Felix  alone  has  not  received 
from  nature  this  stern  security  for  freedom.  In  Yemen 
there  are  absolute  kings.  Indeed  this  country  has  more 
than  once  been  exposed  to  foreign  conquest;  but  the  cities 
on  the  banks  of  the  Red  Sea  are  republics,  and  the  Arab 
of  the  desert  knows  no  other  government  than  the  patri- 
archal one.  The  scheik,  the  patriarch  of  the  tribe,  is  re- 
garded as  father;  all  the  members  of  it  call  themselves  his 
children  ;  a  figure  of  speech  adopted  by  other  govern- 
ments, but  in  Arabia  alone,  little  removed  from  reality. 
The  scheik  counsels  his  children,  he  does  not  command 
them  ;  the  resolutions  of  the  tribe  are  formed  in  the  as- 
sembly of  elders ;  and  he  who  dissents  from  them, 
turns  his  horse's  head  to  the  desert,  and  goes  on  his  so- 
litary way.  It  is  but  here  and  there  that  a  spot  of 
Arabia  is  susceptible  of  cultivation.  There  alone  can 
territorial  property  exist.  Elsewhere  the  earth,  like  the 
air,  belongs  alike  to  all,  and  the  fruits  which  she  bears 
without  culture  are  common  to  all.  The  frequent  con- 
flicts of  the  Beduin,  who  acknowledges  no  territorial 
property,  with  those  who  portioned  out  fields,  enclosed 
them  and  claimed  them  as  their  own,  have  accustomed 
the  former  to  pay  little  respect  to  the  laws  of  property  in 
general.  Indeed  he  acknowledges  none  but  those  which 
govern  his  tribe ;  the  property  of  his  brother,  or  that 
for  which  his  brother  has  pledged  his  word,  is  alone 
sacred  in  his  eyes  :  all  other  he  regards  as  lawful  prey  ; 
and  he  exercises  the  profession  of  a  robber  without  in- 
jury to  his  self  respect,  or  to  his  own  sense  of  morality 
or  of  law.  He  assails  and  partitions  whatever  foreign 
property  comes  within  his  reach.  With  him  the  words 
stranger  and  enemy  are  synonymous,  unless  the  stranger 
have  acquired  the  claims  of  a  guest,  have  eaten  salt  at 
his  table,  or  have  come  to  seat  himself  with  generous 


286  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.  XIII. 

confidence  at  his  hearth.  Then  the  person  of  the 
stranger  becomes  sacred  in  his  eyes ;  he  will  share  his  last 
morsel  of  bread,  his  last  cup  of  water  with  him,  and 
will  defend  him  to  the  last  moment  of  his  own  life. 

Among  other  nations  nobility  is  only  the  transmission 
of  ancient  wealth  and  power ;  but  the  Beduin  has  none 
but  moveable  wealth,  Avhich  he  seldom  long  preserves  ; 
he  scorns  to  obey,  and  does  not  seek  to  command  ; 
if,  then,  he  respects  antiquity  of  blood,  if  he  carefully 
preserves  his  own  genealogy,  and  that  of  his  noble 
horses,  it  is  only  from  reverence  for  the  past,  from  the 
power  of  memory,  and  that  force  of  imagination  which 
is  nourished  by  long  solitude  and  leisure.  The  Arab  is^ 
of  all  mankind,  the  one  whose  mind  is  kept  in  the  most 
constant  activity.  The  history  of  his  tribe  is  the  rule 
of  his  conduct.  Thrown  by  his  wanderings  into  contact 
with  men  of  all  nations,  he  never  forgets  the  evil  or  the 
good  which  his  fathers  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
fathers  of  those  he  encounters.  In  the  total  absence  of 
all  social  power,  of  all  guarantee  for  personal  security- 
afforded  by  magistrates  or  by  laws,  gratitude  and  revenge 
become  the  fundamental  rules  of  his  conduct.  Educa- 
tion and  habit  have  conspired  to  place  them  beyond  the 
domain  of  reason,  under  the  guardianship  of  honour  and 
of  a  kind  of  religion.  His  gratitude  is  boundless  in  its 
devotion,  his  vengeance  unchecked  by  pity  ;  it  is  as  pa- 
tient and  artful  as  it  is  cruel,  because  it  is  kept  alive  by 
a  sense  of  duty  rather  than  by  passion  ;  the  study  of 
past  times,  even  the  record  of  the  genealogies  of  his 
race,  serves  as  fuel  to  these  two  sentiments. 

But  the  memory  of  the  Arab  is  enriched  by  other  re- 
collections. The  most  intense  of  all  the  national  pleasures 
is  that  of  poetry ;  a  poetry  very  different  from  ours, 
breathing  more  impetuous  desires,  more  burning  passions, 
and  uttered  in  a  language  more  figurative,  adorned  with 
an  imagination  more  unbridled.  We  are  bad  judges  of 
its  beauties  or  of  its  defects  ;  we  ought,  however,  to  ad- 
mit that  it  is  not  the  poetry  of  an  uncivilised  nation, 
but  of  a  nation  which,  following  a  road  to  civilisation 


CHAP.   XIII.  ARAB    CHARACTER.  287 

different  from  that  we  have  trod,  has  advanced  as  far 
as  climate  and  other  insurmountable  obstacles  would  per- 
mit. The  Arabic  language  has  been  constructed  and 
polished  with  care,  and  the  wanderer  of  the  desert  is 
sensible  to  the  slightest  want  of  delicacy,  of  purity,  of 
expression.  Eloquence  had  been  cultivated  as  well  as 
poetry  ;  and  before  that  of  the  expositors  of  the  law  had 
acquired  its  full  maturity  under  the  reigns  of  the  kaliphs, 
political  eloquence  had  attained  to  a  high  perfection, 
both  in  the  councils  of  the  republics  of  the  Red  Sea^ 
and  under  the  tents  of  the  desert,  where  the  chieftains 
needed  its  aid  to  persuade  those  whom  they  knew  it  to 
be  impossible  to  command. 

Religion  had  still  deeper  influence  over  the  imagin- 
ations of  the  Arabs  than  poetry  ;  this  grave  and  ardent 
people,  incessantly  struggling  with  difficulties,  having 
death  always  before  their  eyes,  often  exposed  to  those 
long  and  austere  privations  which  exalt  the  soul  of  the 
cenobite,  had,  from  all  times,  turned  their  meditations 
towards  the  remote  and  mysterious  destinies  of  man, 
and  his  connection  with  the  invisible  world.  The  eldest 
religion  of  the  earth,  Judaism,  had  its  birth  almost 
within  the  limits  of  Arabia.  Palestine  is  on  its  fron- 
tiers ;  the  Hebrews  long  inhabited  the  desert ;  one  of 
the  sacred  books  (that  of  Job)  was  written  by  an 
Arab,  in  his  native  tongue  ;  and  the  origin  of  the  Arabic 
nation,  the  descent  from  Ismael,  the  son  of  Abraham  ; 
flattered  the  national  pride.  Numerous  and  powerful 
colonies  of  Jews  were  scattered  over  Arabia,  where  they 
freely  exercised  their  religion.  Still  more  numerous 
colonies  of  (Christians  had  been  successively  introduced, 
by  the  furious  persecutions  set  on  foot  in  the  empii-e 
against  all  the  sects  which  had  successively  fallen  off 
from  orthodoxy  in  the  long  dissensions  on  the  Arian 
controversy,  and  that  of  the  two  natures.  Arabia  was 
so  completely  free,  that  absolute  toleration  necessarily 
existed  ;  and  all  these  refugee  sects,  and  all  the  prose- 
lytes they  could  make  among  the  Arabs,  were  on  a  foot- 
ing of  perfect  equality.     Finding  it  irapcssible  to  injure 


/ 

288  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.        CHAP.   XIII. 

each  other,  they  were  forced  to  hve  in  peace  ;  and  those 
who  on  the  other  side  the  frontier  were  incessantly 
occupied  in  denouncing  each  other  to  the  tribunals,  in 
reciprocally  stripping  each  other  of  the  rights  of  citizens 
and  of  men,  seemed  in  Arabia  to  be  restored  to  some 
feeling  of  charity. 

But  though  Arabia  had  received  within  her  bosom 
Jews,  Christians  of  all  sects.  Magi,  and  Sabseans,  she 
had  also  a  national  religion,  a  polytheism  peculiar  to 
herself.  Its  principal  temple  was  the  Kaaba  at  Mecca, 
where  a  black  stone  which  had  fallen  from  heaven  was 
the  object  of  veneration  to  the  faithful,  and  the  temple 
in  which  it  was  deposited  was  likewise  adorned  with 
three  hundred  and  sixty  idols.  The  guardianship  of 
the  Kaaba  was  entrusted  to  the  family  of  the  Korei- 
shites,  the  most  ancient  and  most  illustrious  race  of  the 
republic  of  Mecca;  and  this  sacerdotal  dignity  confer- 
red on  the  head  of  the  family  the  presidency  over  the 
councils  of  the  republic.  Pilgrims  from  all  parts  of 
Arabia  devoutly  repaired  to  Mecca  to  adore  the  sacred 
stone,  and  to  deposit  their  offerings  in  the  Kaaba  ;  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Mecca,  whose  city,  deprived  of  water 
and  surrounded  by  a  sterile  region,  had  owed  its  pro- 
sperity to  superstition  rather  than  to  commerce,  were 
attached  to  the  national  faith  with  a  zeal  heightened  by 
personal  interest. 

In  the  year  .569  of  our  era,  was  born,  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  families  of  Arabia,  a  man  who  com- 
bined all  the  qualities  which  characterise  his  nation. 
Mohammed,  the  son  of  Abdallah,  was  of  the  race  of  the 
Koreishites,  and  of  the  particular  branch  of  Hussein, 
to  which  the  guardianship  of  the  Kaaba  and  the  presi- 
dency of  the  republic  of  Mecca  were  attached.  Abd-al- 
Motalleb,  the  grandfather  of  Mohammed,  had  held  these 
high  dignities  ;  but  he,  as  well  as  his  son  Abdallah, 
died  before  Mohammed  arrived  at  man's  estate.  The 
presidency  of  Mecca  passed  to  Abu  Taleb,  the  eldest  of 
his  sons ;  and  Mohammed's  portion  of  the  paternal  in- 
heritance was  reduced  to  five  camels  and  a  single  slave. 


CHAP.  xril.  MOHAMMED.  289 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  engaged  in  the  service  of 
a  rich  and  noble  widow,  named  Khadijah,  for  whose  com- 
mercial interests  he  made  two  journeys  into  Syria. 
His  zeal  and  intelligence  were  soon  rewarded  with  the 
hand  of  Khadijah.  His  wife  was  no  longer  young;  and 
Mohammed,  who  was  reputed  the  handsomest  of  the 
Koreishite  race,  and  who  had  a  passion  for  women 
which  Arab  morality  does  not  condenm,  and  which 
polygamy,  established  by  law,  has  sanctioned,  proved 
the  sincerity  and  tenderness  of  his  gratitude,  by  his 
fidelity  during  a  union  of  twenty-four  years.  As  long 
as  she  lived,  he  gave  her  no  rival. 

Restored  by  his  marriage  to  opulence  and  repose, 
Mohammed,  whose  character  was  austere,  whose  im- 
agination was  ardent,  and  whom  his  extreme  sobriety, 
exceeding  that  of  most  anchorets,  disposed  to  religious 
meditations  and  lofty  reveries,  had  now  no  other  thought, 
no  other  occupation,  than  to  fix  his  own  belief,  to  dis- 
engage it  from  the  grosser  superstitions  of  his  country, 
and  to  elevate  his  mind  to  the  knowledge  of  God. 
Grandson  and  nephew  of  the  high  priest  of  an  idol, 
powerful  and  revered  for  his  connection  with  the 
temple  of  the  black  stone,  Mohammed  beheld  the 
divinity  neither  in  this  rude  emblem  nor  in  the  idols 
m^de  by  the  hand  of  man  which  surrounded  it.  He 
sought  it  in  his  soul ;  he  recognised  its  existence  as  an 
eternal  spirit,  omnipresent,  beneficent,  and  incapable  of 
being  represented  by  any  corporeal  image.  After  brood- 
ing over  this  sublime  idea  for  fifteen  years  in  solitude, 
after  ripening  it  by  meditation,  after  perhaps  exalting 
his  imagination  by  reveries,  at  the  age  of  forty  he  re- 
solved to  become  the  reformer  of  his  nation  ;  he  be- 
lieved himself — so,  at  least,  he  affirmed — called  to  this 
work  by  a  special  mission  of  the  divinity. 

It  would  be  an  act  of  extreme  injustice  to  persist  in 
regarding  as  a  mere  impostor,  and  not  as  a  reformer,  the 
man  who  urged  a  whole  nation  onwards  in  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  steps  ill  tlie  knowledge  of  truth  ;  who  led 
it    from    an    absurd    and    degrading   idolatry,   from    a 

VOL.  I.  V 


2Q0  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.   XIII, 

priestly  slavery  which  compromised  morality  and  opened 
a  market  for  the  redemption  of  every  vice  by  expiations, 
to  the  knowledge  of  an  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  and 
supremely  good  Being  ;  —  of  the  true  God,  in  short ;  for 
since  his  attributes  are  the  same,  and  he  is  acknow- 
ledged the  sole  object  of  worship,  the  God  of  the 
Musulmans  is  the  God  of  the  Christians.  The  pro- 
fession of  faith  which  Mohammed  taught  to  his  disciples, 
and  which  has  been  preserved  unaltered  to  this  day,  is, 
that  there  is  but  one  God,  and  that  Mohammed  is  his 
prophet.  Was  he  an  impostor  because  he  called  himself 
a  prophet  ? 

Even  on  this  head,  a  melancholy  experience  of  human 
weakness  —  of  that  mixture  of  enthusiasm  and  artifice 
which  in  all  ages  has  characterised  leaders  of  sects,  and 
which  we  might  perhaps  find  in  our  own  times,  and  at 
no  great  distance  from  us,  in  men  whose  persuasion  is 
undoubtedly  sincere  and  whose  zeal  ardent,  yet  who 
assert  or  insinuate  a  claim  to  supernatural  gifts  which 
they  do  not  possess  —  ought  to  teach  us  indulgence.  An 
intense  persuasion  is  easily  confounded  with  an  internal 
revelation ;  the  dreams  of  an  excited  imagination  become 
sensible  appearances  ;  faith  in  a  future  event  seems  to 
us  like  a  prophecy ;  we  hesitate  to  remove  an  error 
which  has  ai'isen  spontaneously  within  the  mind  of  a 
true  believer,  when  we  think  it  favourable  to  his  sal- 
vation ;  after  sparing  his  illusions,  the  next  thing  is  to 
encourage  them,  and  thus  we  arrive  at  pious  frauds, 
which  we  fancy  justified  by  their  end,  and  by  their 
effect.  We  easily  persuade  ourselves  of  what  we  have 
persuaded  others  ;  and  we  believe  in  ourselves  when  those 
we  love  believe  in  us.  Mohammed  never  pretended  to 
the  gift  of  miracles;  we  need  not  go  far  to  find  preachers 
of  our  own  days,  who  have  founded  no  empires  and 
yet  are  not  so  modest. 

But  the  most  perfect  probity  aflfbrds  no  security 
against  the  dangers  of  fanaticism,  the  intolerance  which 
it  engenders,  nor  the  cruelty  to  which  it  leads.  Mo- 
hammed was  the  reformer  of  the  Arabs;  he  taught  them. 


CHAP.  XIII.  THE    KORAN.  Spi 

and  he  wished  to  teach  them,  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
God.  Nevertheless,  from  the  time  he  adopted  the  new 
character  of  prophet,  his  life  lost  its  purity,  his  temper 
its  mildness  ;  policy  entered  into  his  religion,  fraud 
mingled  more  and  more  with  his  conduct;  and,  at  the 
close  of  his  career,  we  can  hardly  explain  to  ourselves 
how  he  could  be  in  good  faith  with  himself. 

Mohammed  could  not  read  ;  letters  were  not  essential 
in  Arabia  to  a  good  education  :  but  his  memory  was 
adorned  with  all  the  most  brilliant  poetry  of  his  native 
tongue,  his  style  was  pure  and  elegant,  and  his  elo- 
quence forcible  and  seductive.  The  Koran,  which  he 
dictated,  is  esteemed  the  masterpiece  of  Arabian  lite- 
rature ;  and  the  sublimity  of  the  language  affords  to 
Musulmans  sufficient  evidence  of  the  inspired  character 
of  its  author,  though,  to  readers  of  another  faith,  the 
traces  of  inspiration  are  not  manifest.  An  admiration 
acquired  in  the  earliest  infancy  for  a  work  constantly 
present  to  the  memory,  constantly  recalled  by  all  the 
allusions  of  national  literature,  soon  creates  the  very 
beauty  it  seems  to  find.  The  rarity  of  literary  edu- 
cation seems  to  have  inspired  Mohammed  with  a  sort  of 
rehgious  reverence  for  every  book  which  pretended  to 
inspiration.  The  authority  of  The  Book,  the  authority 
of  every  thing  written,  is  always  great  among  semi- 
barbarous  people  ;  it  is  peculiarly  so  among  the  JMusul- 
mans.  The  books  of  the  Jews,  of  the  Christians,  even 
of  the  Magi,  raise  those  who  make  them  the  rule  of 
their  faith,  above  the  rank  of  infidels  in  the  eyes  of  the 
followers  of  Mohammed ;  and  he  himself,  while  he 
claimed  the  character  of  the  greatest  ])rophet  of  God, 
the  Paraclete  promised  in  Holy  Writ,  admitted  six 
successive  divine  revelations  —  those  of  Adam,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Moses,  and  Christ,  and,  as  the  final  accom- 
plishment of  all,  his  own. 

The  religion  of  Mohammed  does  not  consist  in  belief 

in  dogmas  alone,  but  in   the  practice  of  morality  —  in 

justice  and  charity.      He  has,  it  is  true,  shared  the  fate 

of  other  legislators  who  have  tried  to  subject  the  vir- 

u  2 


2,92  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN     EMPIRE.      CHAP.   XIII. 

tues  of  the  heart  to  positive  rules  ;  — the  form  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  substance.  Of  all  acts  of  religious  le- 
gislation, the  Koran  is  the  one  which  has  erected 
almsgiving  into  the  most  rigorous  duty,  and  has  given 
to  it  the  most  precise  limits :  it  exacts  from  a  tenth  to 
a  fifth  of  the  income  of  every  true  believer,  for  works 
of  charity.  But  the  rule  has  been  substituted  for  the 
sentiment ;  the  charity  of  the  Musulman  is  an  affair 
of  personal  calculation,  directed  entirely  to  his  own  sal- 
vation ;  and  the  man  who  has  scrupulously  performed 
the  duty  of  almsgiving,  is  not  the  less  hard  and  cruel 
to  his  fellow-men. 

Outward  observances  were  especially  necessary  in  a 
religion  which,  admitting  no  religious  ceremonies,  and 
even  no  order  of  priesthood  except  the  guardians  of  the 
laws,  seemed  peculiarly  exposed  to  danger  from  coldness 
and  indifference.  Preacliing  was  the  social  observance ; 
prayer,  ablution,  fast,  the  individual  observances,  en- 
joined on  Musulmans.  To  the  very  end  of  his  life, 
Mohammed  constantly  preached  to  his  people,  either  on 
Friday,  the  day  he  had  specially  set  apart  for  religious 
worship,  or  on  solemn  occasions,  —  in  all  moments  of 
danger,  in  all  moments  of  inspiration.  His  inspiring 
and  seductive  eloquence  contributed  to  increase  the 
number  of  his  followers,  and  to  animate  their  zeal. 
After  him,  the  early  kaliphs,  and  all  who  enjoyed  any 
authority  among  the  faithful,  continued  these  preach- 
ings or  exhortations,  often  at  the  head  of  armies  whose 
martial  ardour  they  heightened  by  the  aid  of  religious 
enthusiasm.  Five  times  a  day  the  Musulman  is  bound 
10  utter  a  short  and  fervent  prayer,  expressed  in  words 
of  his  own,  unfettered  by  any  form  or  liturgy.  As  a 
means  of  fixing  his  attention,  he  is  commanded  to  turn 
his  face  towards  Mecca  while  he  prays — towards  that 
very  temple  of  the  Kaaba  which  was  consecrated  to 
idols,  but  which  Mohammed,  after  having  purified  and 
hallowed  it  to  the  true  God,  regarded  with  the  vener- 
ation it  had  so  long  commanded  from  his  nation  and 
his  family.     Personal   cleanliness  was  prescribed  as  a 


CHAP.   XIII.         MORALITY    OF    THE     KORAN.  29" 

duty  to  the  true  believer  who  was  about  to  present 
himself  as  a  supplicant  before  God ;  and  ablution  of  the 
face  and  hands  was  the  necessary  preparation  for  every 
prayer.  Yet^  as  Islamism  was  first  proclaimed  to  a 
nation  which  dwelt  in  deserts  where  water  was  not  to 
be  found,  the  Koran  permits  tlie  faithful,  in  case  of 
extreme  need,  to  substitute  ablutions  with  sand.  The 
fasts  were  very  rigid,  and  admitted  of  no  exception ; 
they  bore  the  character  of  the  sober  and  austere  man 
who  imposed  them  on  his  disciples.  At  all  times  and 
in  all  places,  he  forbade  them  the  use  of  wine  and  of 
every  sort  of  fermented  liquor ;  and  during  one  month 
of  the  year,  the  Ramadan,  which,  according  to  the  lunar 
calendar,  falls  in  every  month  in  succession,  the  Musul- 
mans,  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  may  neither  eat  nor 
drink,  neither  enjoy  the  luxury  of  the  bath  nor  of  per- 
fumes, nor,  in  short,  any  gratification  of  the  senses.  Ne- 
vertheless, Mohammed,  who  imposed  so  rigid  a  penance 
on  his  disciples,  was  no  advocate  for  an  ascetic  life  ;  he 
did  not  permit  his  companions  to  bind  themselves  by 
vows,  nor  would  he  suffer  any  monks  in  his  religion : 
it  was  not  till  three  hundred  years  after  his  death,  that 
fakirs  and  derricks  arose,  and  this  is  one  of  the  most 
important  changes  Islamism  has  undergone. 

But  the  kind  of  abstinence  on  which  Christian  doc- 
tors have  insisted  the  most,  was  that  to  whicli  JNIoham- 
med  was  indifferent,  or  which  he  regarded  with  the 
greatest  indulgence.  Before  his  time  the  Arabs  had 
enjoyed  unbounded  licence  in  love  and  marriage.  Mo- 
hammed forbade  incestuous  unions  ;  he  punished  adul- 
tery and  dissoluteness,  and  diminished  the  facility  of 
divorce ;  but  he  permitted  every  jMusulman  to  have 
four  wives  or  concubines,  whose  rights  and  privileges 
he  defined  by  law.  Raising  himself  alone,  above  the 
laws  he  had  imposed  on  others,  after  the  death  of 
his  first  wife  Khadijah,  he  married  fifteen,  or,  accord- 
ing to  other  writers,  seventeen  \vives  in  succession, 
all  widows,  with  the  exception  of  Ayesha,  daughter 
of  Abubekr.  A  fresh  chapter  of  the  Koran  was 
u  3 


294  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  XIII- 

brought  him  by  an  angel  to  dispense  him  from  sub- 
mission to  a  law  which^  to  us^  seems  so  little  severe. 

His  indulgence  for  this  burning  passion  of  the  Ara- 
bian temperament,  which  he  shared  with  his  country- 
men, further  displayed  itself  in  the  nature  of  the  future 
rewards  he  proclaimed  as  the  sanctions  of  his  religion. 
He  described  the  forms  of  the  judgment  to  come ;  in 
which  the  body,  uniting  itself  anew  to  the  soul,  the 
sins  and  the  good  works  of  all  who  believed  in  God 
would  be  weighed,  and  rewarded  or  punished.  With 
a  tolerance  rare  in  the  leader  of  a  sect,  he  declared,  or 
at  least  he  did  not  deny,  that  the  followers  of  every 
religion  might  be  saved,  provided  their  actions  were 
virtuous.  But  to  the  Musulman  he  promised,  that 
whatever  might  have  been  his  conduct,  he  would  finally 
be  received  into  paradise,  after  expiating  his  sins  or  his 
crimes  in  a  state  of  purgatory,  which  would  not  exceed 
seven  thousand  years.  The  picture  which  he  drew  of  pur- 
gatory and  of  hell  differed  little  from  those  which  other 
religions  have  presented  to  the  terror  of  mankind.  But 
his  paradise  was  painted  by  an  Arab  imagination : 
groves,  rivulets,  flowers ;  perfumes  under  the  shade  of 
fresh  and  verdant  groves  ;  seventy  black-eyed  houris, 
gifted  with  immortal  youth  and  dazzling  beauty,  solely 
occupied  in'  administering  to  the  enjoyments  of  each 
true  believer  ;  —  such  were  the  rewards  promised  to  the 
faithful.  Although  some  of  Mohammed's  most  zealous 
disciples  had  been  women,  he  abstained  from  declaring 
what  sort  of  paradise  was  in  store  for  them. 

Among  the  articles  of  faith  which  Mohammed  strove 
to  inculcate  on  the  minds  of  his  followers,  was  one  which 
acquired  greater  importance  when  he  united  the  character 
of  conqueror  to  that  of  prophet.  In  his  endeavours  to  re- 
concile the  inscrutable  union  of  divine  prescience  with 
human  hberty,  he  had  leaned  towards  fatalism  ;  but  he 
never  denied  the  influence  of  human  will  on  human 
actions  :  he  only  taught  his  soldiers  that  the  hour  of 
death  was  determined  aforehand,  and  that  he  who 
sought  to  escape  it  on  the  field  of  battle,  would  meet 


CHAP.   XIII.        PROGRESS    OF    MOHAMMEDANISM.  295 

it  in  his  bed.  But  disjoining  this  idea  from  all  others, 
by  insisting  little  on  any  other  kind  of  constraint  imposed 
by  divine  prescience  on  the  freewill  of  man,  and  incul- 
cating this  single  position  with  undivided  force  (though 
fatalism  to  be  rational  ought  to  extend  to  every  action 
of  our  lives),  he  inspired  the  Musulmans  with  an  in- 
difference to  danger,  he  gave  a  security  to  their  bra- 
very, which  we  should  seek  in  vain  among  soldiers, 
animated  only  by  the  nobler  sentiments  of  honour  and 
patriotism. 

It  was  in  the  year  60Q,  when  Mohammed  was  already 
forty,  that  he  began  to  preach  his  new  doctrine  at 
Mecca.  He  sought  his  first  proselytes  in  his  own 
family,  and  the  influence  he  obtained  over  their  minds 
affords  sufficient  evidence  of  the  excellence  of  his 
domestic  character.  Khadij ah  was  his  first  convert;  then 
Seid,  his  slave  ;  Ali,  the  son  of  Abu  Taleb,  his  cousin  ; 
and  Abubekr,  one  of  the  most  considerable  citizens  of 
Mecca.  Ten  years  were  employed  by  Mohammed  in 
slowly  disseminating  the  new  doctrine  among  his  coun- 
trymen. Ali  who  adopted  it  became  inflamed  with  the 
ardent  faith  of  new  converts.  The  prophet  —  that  was 
the  only  name  by  which  Mohammed  was  known  among 
his  disciples  —  seemed  to  them  to  speak  the  immediate 
word  of  the  Divinity  ;  he  left  not  a  doubt  on  their  minds 
either  as  to  the  truths  he  revealed,  or  as  to  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  promises. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  his  declared  mission  he 
appointed  his  cousin  Ali,  then  not  more  than  four- 
teen years  old,  his  vizir ;  the  empire  he  had  to  go- 
vern did  not  then  extend  over  more  than  twenty 
followers. 

Mohammed  did  not  address  himself  to  the  citizens  of 
Mecca  alone.  He  waited  at  the  Kaaba  for  the  pilgrims 
who  resorted  thither  from  all  parts  of  Arabia;  he 
represented  to  them  the  incoherence  and  the  grossness 
of  the  religious  rites  they  came  to  practise  ;  he  ap- 
pealed to  their  reason,  and  implored  them  to  acknow- 
ledge the  one  God,  invisible,  all  good,  all  powerful, — the 
u  4 


296  PALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  XIII. 

ruler  of  the  universe, — instead  of  the  black  stone  or  the 
lifeless  idols  before  which  they  prostrated  themselves. 
The  eloquence  of  Mohammed  gained  him  proselytes  ; 
but  the  citizens  of  Mecca  were  indignant  at  this  attack 
on  the  sanctity  of  their  peculiar  temple;  this  blow  at 
the  prosperity  of  their  city,  no  less  than  at  the  authority 
of  their  religion,  by  the  gi-andson  of  their  high  priest, 
the  nephew  of  their  chief  magistrate.  They  called 
upon  Abu  Taleb  to  put  an  end  to  this  scandal.  Mo- 
hammed's uncle,  at  the  same  time  that  he  opposed 
every  possible  resistance  to  the  spread  of  his  nephew's 
doctrine,  would  not  suffer  his  life  or  his  hberty  to  be 
attacked.  Mohammed,  supported  by  the  family  of 
Hashem  against  the  remaining  Koreishites,  refused  to 
submit  to  a  decree  of  excommunication  pronounced 
against  him  and  fixed  up  in  the  temple.  Aided  by  his 
disciples,  he  sustained  a  siege  in  his  own  house,  re- 
pulsed the  assailants,  and  kept  his  ground  at  Mecca  till 
the  death  of  Abu  Taleb  and  of  Khadijah.  But  when 
Abu  Sophyan,  of  the  branch  of  the  Omraaiades,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  dignities  of  head  of  the  republic  and  of 
religion,  Mohammed  clearly  saw  that  flight  was  his 
only  resource  ;  for  already  his  enemies  had  agreed 
that  he  should  be  struck  at  the  same  instant  by  the 
sword  of  one  member  of  every  tribe,  so  that  none 
might  be  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  vengeance  of  the 
Hashemites. 

A  refuge,  however,  was  already  prepared  for  Mo- 
hammed. His  religion  had  made  some  progress  in  the 
rest  of  Arabia  ;  and  the  city  of  Medina,  sixty  miles  to 
the  north  of  Mecca,  on  the  Arabian  Gulf,  had  declared 
itself  ready  to  receive  him,  and  to  acknowledge  him  as 
prophet  and  sovereign.  But  the  flight  was  difficult  — 
that  celebrated  flight  called  the  Hegira,  and  which  forms 
the  grand  era  of  the  Musulman  religion.  The  Ko- 
reishites watched  Mohammed  with  the  utmost  vigilance; 
they  were,  however,  deceived  by  the  brave  and  faithful 
Ali.  In  the  full  conviction  that  he  was  devoting  him- 
self to  the  poniards  of  the  implacable  foes  of  his  leader 


CHAP.  XIII.  THE    HEGIRA.  297 

and  friend,  he  placed  himself  in  Mohammed's  bed. 
Mohammed  and  Abubekr  fled  alone.  In  the  deserts  of 
Arabia,  where  there  are  few  objects  to  break  the  mo- 
notonous line  of  the  horizon,  it  is  not  easy  to  escape 
the  eye  of  enemies  well  mounted  and  eager  in  pursuit. 
The  two  fugitives  were  on  the  point  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Koreishites,  when  they  found  an  asylum 
in  the  cavern  of  Thor,  where  they  passed  three  days. 
Their  pursuers  advanced  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave ;  but 
seeing  the  web  of  a  spider  hanging  unbroken  across 
it,  they  concluded  that  no  human  being  could  have 
entered,  and  passed  on.  It  was  not  till  the  heat  of 
the  pursuit  had  subsided,  that  Mohammed  and  Abubekr, 
mounted  on  tivo  dromedaries  which  their  partisans  had 
procured,  and  accompanied  by  a  chosen  band  of  fugitives 
from  Mecca,  made  their  entry  into  Medina,  on  the  10th 
of  October,  a.  d.  622,  sixteen  days  after  they  had  quitted 
the  former  city. 

From  this  time  Mohammed,  who  was  now  fifty-three 
years  of  age,  was  regarded  not  only  as  a  i)rophet,  but 
as  a  military  sovereign.  His  religion  assumed  a  dif- 
ferent spirit  ;  he  no  longer  contented  himself  with  the 
arts  of  persuasion,  he  assumed  a  tone  of  command. 
He  declared  that  the  season  of  long-suffering  and  pa- 
tience  was  over  ;  and  that  his  mission,  and  that  of  every 
true  believer,  was  to  extend  the  empire  of  his  religion 
by  the  sword,  to  destroy  the  temples  of  infidels,  to 
obliterate  all  the  monuments  of  idolatry,  and  to  pursue 
unbelievers  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  without  resting 
from  so  holy  a  work  even  on  the  days  specially  conse- 
crated to  religion. 

"  The  sword,"  said  he,  "  is  the  key  of  heaven  and 
of  hell ;  a  drop  of  blood  shed  in  the  cause  of  («od,  a 
night  passed  under  arms  on  his  behalf,  will  be  of  more 
avail  hereafter  to  the  faithful,  than  two  months  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer.  To  whomsoever  falls  in  battle,  his  sins 
shall  be  pardoned  ;  at  the  day  of  judgment  his  wounds 
will  shine  with  the  splendour  of  vermilion  ;  they  will 
emit  the  fragrance  of  musk  and  of  ambergris  ;  and  the 


298  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.      CHAP.  XIIK 

wings  of  angels  and  of  the  cherubim  shall  be  the  sub- 
stitutes for  the  limbs  he  may  have  lost." 

Nor  were  the  glories  of  heaven  the  only  rewards 
offered  to  the  valour  of  the  Musulraans :  the  riches  of 
earth  were  also  to  be  divided  among  them  ;  and  Mo- 
hammed from  that  time  began  to  lead  them  on  to  the 
attack  of  the  rich  caravans  which  crossed  the  desert. 
His  rehgion  thus  attracted  the  wandering  Beduin,  less 
from  the  sublime  dogmas  of  the  unity  and  spirituality 
of  God,  which  it  promulgated,  than  from  the  sanction 
it  gave  to  pillage,  and  the  rights  it  conferred  on  con- 
querors, not  only  over  the  wealth,  but  over  the  women 
and  slaves  of  the  conquered. 

Yet  at  the  very  time  that  Mohammed  shared  the 
treasures  won  by  the  combined  force  of  the  beUevers, 
in  his  own  person  he  did  not  depart  from  the  antique 
simplicity  of  his  hfe.  His  house  and  his  mosque  at 
Medina  were  wholly  devoid  of  ornament ;  his  garments 
were  coarse  ;  his  food  consisted  of  a  few  dates  and  a 
little  barley  bread;  and  he  preached  to  the  people  every 
Friday,  leaning  on  the  trunk  of  a  palm  tree.  It  was 
not  till  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  that  he  allowed 
himself  the  luxury  of  a  wooden  chair. 

Mohammed's  first  battle  was  fought  in  623,  against 
the  Koreishites  in  the  valley  of  Bedr.  He  had  tried 
to  get  possession  of  a  rich  caravan,  headed  by  Abu 
Sophyan  ;  the  inhabitants  of  Alecca  had  assembled  in  a 
number  greatly  superior  to  that  he  commanded,  with  a 
view  to  deliver  it :  350  Musulmans  were  opposed  to 
850  Koreishite  infantry,  seconded  by  100  horse. 

Such  were  the  feeble  means  with  which  a  war  was 
carried  on,  which  was  soon  to  decide  the  fate  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  globe.  The  fanatical  ardour  of  the 
Musulmans  triumphed  over  the  numerical  superiority  of 
their  enemies.  They  believed  that  the  succour  of  three 
thousand  angels,  led  by  the  archangel  Gabriel,  had  decided 
the  fate  of  the  battle.  But  Mohammed  had  not  made 
the  faith  of  his  people  dependent  on  success ;  the  same 
year  he  was  beaten  at  Ohud,   six  miles  from  Medina, 


CHAP.  XIII.  CONQUKST    OF    MECCA.  299 

and  himself  wounded.  In  a  public  discourse  he  an- 
nounced his  defeat,  and  the  death  of  seventy  martyrs, 
who,  he  declared,  had  already  entered  into  the  joys  of 
paradise. 

Mohammed  was  indebted  to  the  Jews  for  a  part  of 
his  knowledge  and  of  his  religion,  yet  he  entertained 
that  hatred  of  them  which  seems  to  become  more  bitter 
between  religious  sects,  in  proportion  as  their  differences 
are  few,  and  their  points  of  agreement  many.  Powerful 
colonies  of  that  nation,  rich,  commercial,  and  utterly 
devoid  of  all  the  warlike  virtues,  had  established  them- 
selves in  Arabia,  at  a  Uttle  distance  from  Medina : 
Mohammed  attacked  them  in  succession,  from  the  year 
6'23  to  627.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  partitioning 
their  property,  he  gave  up  almost  all  the  conquered  to 
tortures  which,  in  his  other  wars,  rarely  sullied  the  lustre 
of  his  arms. 

But  the  object  of  Mohammed's  most  ardent  desires 
was  the  conquest  of  Mecca.  This  city  was,  in  his  eyes, 
both  the  future  seat  of  his  religion,  and  his  true  country. 
There  it  was  that  he  wished  to  restore  the  glory  of  his 
ancestors,  and  to  surpass  it  by  that  which  he  had  won 
for  himself.  His  first  attempts  had  little  success,  but 
every  year  added  to  the  number  of  his  proselytes : 
Omar,  Khaled,  Amru,  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  the  ranks  of  his  enemies,  successively  went 
over  to  his  banner  ;  1 0,000  Arabs  of  the  desert  swelled 
his  ranks  ;  and,  in  629,  Abu  Sophyan  was  compelled  to 
surrender  to  him  the  keys  of  the  city.  Eleven  men 
and  six  women,  who  had  been  conspicuous  among  his 
ancient  foes,  were  proscribed  by  Mohammed.  This 
was  little  for  the  vengeance  of  an  Arab.  The  Koreish- 
ites  threw  themselves  at  his  feet.  "  What  mercy  can 
you  expect,"  said  he,  "  from  a  man  whom  you  have  so 
deeply  offended  ?"  —  "  We  trust,"  replied  they,  "  to 
the  generosity  of  our  kinsman."  —  "  And  you  shall  not 
trust  in  vain,"  said  he  ;  "  you  are  free."  The  Kaaba 
was  purified  by  his  orders ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca 
embraced   the   religion  of  the  Koran  ;  and  a  perpetual 


300  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.     CHAP.  XIII. 

law  prohibited  any  unbeliever  from  setting  foot  within 
the  holy  city. 

Every  step  gained  by  the  victor-prophet  rendered  the 
succeeding  one  less  difficult ;  and  after  the  conquest  of 
Mecca,  that  of  the  rest  of  Arabia  cost  him  only  three 
years  (from  629  to  0"32).  It  was  marked  by  the  great 
victory  of  Hunain,  and  by  the  siege  and  the  reduction 
of  Tayef,  His  lieutenants  advanced  from  the  shores  of 
the  Red  Sea  to  those  of  the  ocean  and  of  the  Persian 
Gulf ;  and  at  the  period  of  Mohammed's  last  pilgrim- 
age to  the  Kaaba,  in  632,  a  hundred  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand Musulmans  marched  under  his  banner. 

During  the  six  years  of  his  reign,  Mohammed  fought 
in  person  at  nine  sieges  or  battles,  and  his  lieutenants 
led  on  the  army  of  the  faithful  in  fifteen  military  ex- 
peditions. Almost  all  these  were  confined  within  the 
limits  of  Arabia  ;  but,  in  629  or  630,  Seid  marched  at 
the  head  of  a  Musulman  army  into  Palestine ;  and 
Heraclius,  at  the  moment  of  his  return  from  his  bril- 
liant campaigns,  was  attacked  by  an  unknown  enemy. 
The  following  year  Mohammed  advanced  in  person,  at 
the  head  of  20,000  foot  and  10,000  horse,  on  the  road 
to  Damascus,  and  formally  declared  war  upon  the  Ro- 
man empire.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any 
battle  was  fought ;  and  perhaps  his  declining  health 
induced  him  to  tlisband  his  army. 

Mohammed  had  now  reached  his  sixty-third  year : 
for  four  years  the  vigour  of  body  which  he  had  for- 
merly displayed  had  seemed  to  desert  him,  yet  he 
continued  to  discharge  all  the  functions  of  a  king,  a  ge- 
neral, and  a  prophet.  A  fever,  which  lasted  a  fortnight, 
accompanied  with  occasional  delirium,  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  his  death.  As  he  felt  his  danger,  he  recom- 
mended himself  to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful,  and  to 
the  forgiveness  of  all  whom  he  might  have  offended. 
"  If,"  said  he,  in  his  last  public  discourse,  "  there  be 
any  one  here  whom  I  have  struck  unjustly,  I  submit 
myself  to  be  struck  by  him  in  return ;  if  I  have  in- 
jured the  reputation  of  any  Musulman,  let  him  in  his 


CHAP.  Xin.      DEATH  OF  MOHAMMED.  301 

turn  disclose  all  my  sins ;  if  I  have  despoiled  any  one, 
behold  I  am  ready  to  satisfy  his  claims." —  "  Yes,"  re- 
plied a  voice  from  the  crowd,  "  thou  owest  me  three 
drachms  of  silver,  which  have  never  been  repaid  me." 
Mohammed  examined  the  debt,  discharged  it,  and 
thanked  his  creditor  for  demanding  it  in  this  world, 
rather  than  at  the  tribunal  of  God.  -  lie  tlien  enfran- 
chised his  slaves,  gave  minute  directions  for  his  burial, 
calmed  the  lamentations  of  his  friends,  and  pronounced 
a  benediction  upon  them.  Till  within  three  days  of 
his  death  he  continued  to  perform  his  devotions  in  the 
mosque.  A\'hen,  at  length,  he  was  too  feeble,  he  charged 
Abubekr  with  this  duty  ;  and  it  was  thought  that  he 
thus  intended  to  point  out  his  old  friend  as  his  successor. 
But  he  expressed  no  opinion,  no  desire,  on  this  subject, 
and  seemed  to  leave  it  entirely  to  the  decision  of  the 
assembly  of  the  faithful.  lie  contemplated  the  ap- 
proach of  death  with  perfect  calmness  ;  but  mingling  to 
the  last  the  doubtful  j)retensions  of  a  prophet  with  the 
lively  faith  of  an  enthusiast,  he  repeated  the  words 
which  he  declared  he  heard  from  the  archangel  tiabriel, 
who  visited  the  earth  for  the  last  time  on  his  behalf. 
He  repeated  what  he  had  before  affirmed  —  that  the 
angel  of  death  would  not  bear  away  his  soul  without 
first  solemnly  asking  his  permission  ;  and  this  permis- 
sion he  granted  aloud.  Extended  on  a  carpet  which 
covered  the  floor,  his  head  during  his  last  agony  rested 
on  the  bosom  of  Ayesha,  the  best  beloved  of  his  wives. 
He  fainted  from  excess  of  pain  ;  but  on  recovering  his 
senses,  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  ceiling,  and  distinctly 
pronounced  these  his  last  words :  —  "  Oh  God,  pardon 
my  sins  !  I  come  to  rejoin  my  brethren  in  heaven." 
He  expired  on  the  2.5th  of  May,  or,  according  to  an- 
other calculation,  the  3d  of  June,  ()32. 

Despair  filled  the  breasts  of  liis  disciples  throughout 
the  city  of  Medina,  where  he  breathed  liis  last,  i'iio 
fiery  Omar,  drawing  his  sword,  declared  that  he  would 
strike  off  the  head  of  the  infidel  who  should  dare  to 
assert  that  the  prophet  was  no  more.    l?ut  Abubekr,  the 


302  FALL    OF    THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE.       CHAP.   XIII. 

faithful  friend  and  the  earliest  disciple  of  Mohammed, 
addressing  himself  to  Omar,  and  to  the  multitude,  said, 
"  Is  it  Mohammed,  or  the  God  of  Mohammed,  that  we 
worship  ?  The  God  of  Mohammed  lives  for  ever  :  but 
his  prophetwas  a  mortal  like  ourselves  ;  and,  as  he  had 
predicted  to  us,  he  has  undergone  the  common  lot  of 
humanity." 

By  these  words  the  tumult  was  appeased ;  and  Mo- 
hammed was  buried  by  his  kindred  and  by  his  cousin 
and  son-in-law  Ali,  in  the  very  spot  where  he  expired. 


END    OF    THK    FIRST    VOLUME. 


London  : 

Printed  by  A.  Spottiswoode, 

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