Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of

Theodosius.—Part II.

The impartiality which Stilicho affected, as the common guardian

of the royal brothers, engaged him to regulate the equal division

of the arms, the jewels, and the magnificent wardrobe and

furniture of the deceased emperor. 28 But the most important

object of the inheritance consisted of the numerous legions,

cohorts, and squadrons, of Romans, or Barbarians, whom the event

of the civil war had united under the standard of Theodosius. The

various multitudes of Europe and Asia, exasperated by recent

animosities, were overawed by the authority of a single man; and

the rigid discipline of Stilicho protected the lands of the

citizens from the rapine of the licentious soldier. 29 Anxious,

however, and impatient, to relieve Italy from the presence of

this formidable host, which could be useful only on the frontiers

of the empire, he listened to the just requisition of the

minister of Arcadius, declared his intention of reconducting in

person the troops of the East, and dexterously employed the rumor

of a Gothic tumult to conceal his private designs of ambition and

revenge. 30 The guilty soul of Rufinus was alarmed by the

approach of a warrior and a rival, whose enmity he deserved; he

computed, with increasing terror, the narrow space of his life

and greatness; and, as the last hope of safety, he interposed the

authority of the emperor Arcadius. Stilicho, who appears to have

directed his march along the sea-coast of the Adriatic, was not

far distant from the city of Thessalonica, when he received a

peremptory message, to recall the troops of the East, and to

declare, that his nearer approach would be considered, by the

Byzantine court, as an act of hostility. The prompt and

unexpected obedience of the general of the West, convinced the

vulgar of his loyalty and moderation; and, as he had already

engaged the affection of the Eastern troops, he recommended to

their zeal the execution of his bloody design, which might be

accomplished in his absence, with less danger, perhaps, and with

less reproach. Stilicho left the command of the troops of the

East to Gainas, the Goth, on whose fidelity he firmly relied,

with an assurance, at least, that the hardy Barbarians would

never be diverted from his purpose by any consideration of fear

or remorse. The soldiers were easily persuaded to punish the

enemy of Stilicho and of Rome; and such was the general hatred

which Rufinus had excited, that the fatal secret, communicated to

thousands, was faithfully preserved during the long march from

Thessalonica to the gates of Constantinople. As soon as they had

resolved his death, they condescended to flatter his pride; the

ambitious præfect was seduced to believe, that those powerful

auxiliaries might be tempted to place the diadem on his head; and

the treasures which he distributed, with a tardy and reluctant

hand, were accepted by the indignant multitude as an insult,

rather than as a gift. At the distance of a mile from the

capital, in the field of Mars, before the palace of Hebdomon, the

troops halted: and the emperor, as well as his minister,

advanced, according to ancient custom, respectfully to salute the

power which supported their throne. As Rufinus passed along the

ranks, and disguised, with studied courtesy, his innate

haughtiness, the wings insensibly wheeled from the right and

left, and enclosed the devoted victim within the circle of their

arms. Before he could reflect on the danger of his situation,

Gainas gave the signal of death; a daring and forward soldier

plunged his sword into the breast of the guilty præfect, and

Rufinus fell, groaned, and expired, at the feet of the affrighted

emperor. If the agonies of a moment could expiate the crimes of a

whole life, or if the outrages inflicted on a breathless corpse

could be the object of pity, our humanity might perhaps be

affected by the horrid circumstances which accompanied the murder

of Rufinus. His mangled body was abandoned to the brutal fury of

the populace of either sex, who hastened in crowds, from every

quarter of the city, to trample on the remains of the haughty

minister, at whose frown they had so lately trembled. His right

hand was cut off, and carried through the streets of

Constantinople, in cruel mockery, to extort contributions for the

avaricious tyrant, whose head was publicly exposed, borne aloft

on the point of a long lance. 31 According to the savage maxims

of the Greek republics, his innocent family would have shared the

punishment of his crimes. The wife and daughter of Rufinus were

indebted for their safety to the influence of religion. Her

sanctuary protected them from the raging madness of the people;

and they were permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in

the exercise of Christian devotions, in the peaceful retirement

of Jerusalem. 32

28 (return) [ I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88-94. Not only the robes and

diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets,

sword-hilts, belts, rasses, &c., were enriched with pearls,

emeralds, and diamonds.]

29 (return) [—Tantoque remoto Principe, mutatas orbis non sensit

habenas. This high commendation (i. Cons. Stil. i. 149) may be

justified by the fears of the dying emperor, (de Bell. Gildon.

292-301;) and the peace and good order which were enjoyed after

his death, (i. Cons. Stil i. 150-168.)]

30 (return) [ Stilicho’s march, and the death of Rufinus, are

described by Claudian, (in Rufin. l. ii. 101-453, Zosimus, l. v.

p. 296, 297,) Sozomen (l. viii. c. 1,) Socrates, l. vi. c. 1,)

Philostorgius, (l. xi c. 3, with Godefory, p. 441,) and the

Chronicle of Marcellinus.]

31 (return) [ The dissection of Rufinus, which Claudian performs

with the savage coolness of an anatomist, (in Rufin. ii.

405-415,) is likewise specified by Zosimus and Jerom, (tom. i. p.

26.)]

32 (return) [ The Pagan Zosimus mentions their sanctuary and

pilgrimage. The sister of Rufinus, Sylvania, who passed her life

at Jerusalem, is famous in monastic history. 1. The studious

virgin had diligently, and even repeatedly, perused the

commentators on the Bible, Origen, Gregory, Basil, &c., to the

amount of five millions of lines. 2. At the age of threescore,

she could boast, that she had never washed her hands, face, or

any part of her whole body, except the tips of her fingers to

receive the communion. See the Vitae Patrum, p. 779, 977.]

The servile poet of Stilicho applauds, with ferocious joy, this

horrid deed, which, in the execution, perhaps, of justice,

violated every law of nature and society, profaned the majesty of

the prince, and renewed the dangerous examples of military

license. The contemplation of the universal order and harmony had

satisfied Claudian of the existence of the Deity; but the

prosperous impunity of vice appeared to contradict his moral

attributes; and the fate of Rufinus was the only event which

could dispel the religious doubts of the poet. 33 Such an act

might vindicate the honor of Providence, but it did not much

contribute to the happiness of the people. In less than three

months they were informed of the maxims of the new

administration, by a singular edict, which established the

exclusive right of the treasury over the spoils of Rufinus; and

silenced, under heavy penalties, the presumptuous claims of the

subjects of the Eastern empire, who had been injured by his

rapacious tyranny. 34 Even Stilicho did not derive from the

murder of his rival the fruit which he had proposed; and though

he gratified his revenge, his ambition was disappointed. Under

the name of a favorite, the weakness of Arcadius required a

master, but he naturally preferred the obsequious arts of the

eunuch Eutropius, who had obtained his domestic confidence: and

the emperor contemplated, with terror and aversion, the stern

genius of a foreign warrior. Till they were divided by the

jealousy of power, the sword of Gainas, and the charms of

Eudoxia, supported the favor of the great chamberlain of the

palace: the perfidious Goth, who was appointed master-general of

the East, betrayed, without scruple, the interest of his

benefactor; and the same troops, who had so lately massacred the

enemy of Stilicho, were engaged to support, against him, the

independence of the throne of Constantinople. The favorites of

Arcadius fomented a secret and irreconcilable war against a

formidable hero, who aspired to govern, and to defend, the two

empires of Rome, and the two sons of Theodosius. They incessantly

labored, by dark and treacherous machinations, to deprive him of

the esteem of the prince, the respect of the people, and the

friendship of the Barbarians. The life of Stilicho was repeatedly

attempted by the dagger of hired assassins; and a decree was

obtained from the senate of Constantinople, to declare him an

enemy of the republic, and to confiscate his ample possessions in

the provinces of the East. At a time when the only hope of

delaying the ruin of the Roman name depended on the firm union,

and reciprocal aid, of all the nations to whom it had been

gradually communicated, the subjects of Arcadius and Honorius

were instructed, by their respective masters, to view each other

in a foreign, and even hostile, light; to rejoice in their mutual

calamities, and to embrace, as their faithful allies, the

Barbarians, whom they excited to invade the territories of their

countrymen. 35 The natives of Italy affected to despise the

servile and effeminate Greeks of Byzantium, who presumed to

imitate the dress, and to usurp the dignity, of Roman senators;

36 and the Greeks had not yet forgot the sentiments of hatred and

contempt, which their polished ancestors had so long entertained

for the rude inhabitants of the West. The distinction of two

governments, which soon produced the separation of two nations,

will justify my design of suspending the series of the Byzantine

history, to prosecute, without interruption, the disgraceful, but

memorable, reign of Honorius.

33 (return) [ See the beautiful exordium of his invective against

Rufinus, which is curiously discussed by the sceptic Bayle,

Dictionnaire Critique, Rufin. Not. E.]

34 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 14,

15. The new ministers attempted, with inconsistent avarice, to

seize the spoils of their predecessor, and to provide for their

own future security.]

35 (return) [ See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich, l. i. 275, 292,

296, l. ii. 83,) and Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]

36 (return) [ Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch

Eutropius into a national reflection, (l. ii. 134):—

—-Plaudentem cerne senatum, Et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque

Quirites: O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres.

It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and

schism between old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins.]

The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to force the

inclinations of a prince, and people, who rejected his

government, wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favorites;

and his reluctance to involve the two empires in a civil war

displayed the moderation of a minister, who had so often

signalized his military spirit and abilities. But if Stilicho had

any longer endured the revolt of Africa, he would have betrayed

the security of the capital, and the majesty of the Western

emperor, to the capricious insolence of a Moorish rebel. Gildo,

37 the brother of the tyrant Firmus, had preserved and obtained,

as the reward of his apparent fidelity, the immense patrimony

which was forfeited by treason: long and meritorious service, in

the armies of Rome, raised him to the dignity of a military

count; the narrow policy of the court of Theodosius had adopted

the mischievous expedient of supporting a legal government by the

interest of a powerful family; and the brother of Firmus was

invested with the command of Africa. His ambition soon usurped

the administration of justice, and of the finances, without

account, and without control; and he maintained, during a reign

of twelve years, the possession of an office, from which it was

impossible to remove him, without the danger of a civil war.

During those twelve years, the provinces of Africa groaned under

the dominion of a tyrant, who seemed to unite the unfeeling

temper of a stranger with the partial resentments of domestic

faction. The forms of law were often superseded by the use of

poison; and if the trembling guests, who were invited to the

table of Gildo, presumed to express fears, the insolent suspicion

served only to excite his fury, and he loudly summoned the

ministers of death. Gildo alternately indulged the passions of

avarice and lust; 38 and if his days were terrible to the rich,

his nights were not less dreadful to husbands and parents. The

fairest of their wives and daughters were prostituted to the

embraces of the tyrant; and afterwards abandoned to a ferocious

troop of Barbarians and assassins, the black, or swarthy, natives

of the desert; whom Gildo considered as the only guardians of his

throne. In the civil war between Theodosius and Eugenius, the

count, or rather the sovereign, of Africa, maintained a haughty

and suspicious neutrality; refused to assist either of the

contending parties with troops or vessels, expected the

declaration of fortune, and reserved for the conqueror the vain

professions of his allegiance. Such professions would not have

satisfied the master of the Roman world; but the death of

Theodosius, and the weakness and discord of his sons, confirmed

the power of the Moor; who condescended, as a proof of his

moderation, to abstain from the use of the diadem, and to supply

Rome with the customary tribute, or rather subsidy, of corn. In

every division of the empire, the five provinces of Africa were

invariably assigned to the West; and Gildo had to govern that

extensive country in the name of Honorius, but his knowledge of

the character and designs of Stilicho soon engaged him to address

his homage to a more distant and feeble sovereign. The ministers

of Arcadius embraced the cause of a perfidious rebel; and the

delusive hope of adding the numerous cities of Africa to the

empire of the East, tempted them to assert a claim, which they

were incapable of supporting, either by reason or by arms. 39

37 (return) [ Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo;

but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the

complaints of St. Augustin, may justify the poet’s invectives.

Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 398, No. 35-56) has treated the

African rebellion with skill and learning.]

38 (return) [

Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus haeres, Virginibus raptor,

thalamis obscoenus adulter. Nulla quies: oritur praeda cessante

libido, Divitibusque dies, et nox metuenda maritis. Mauris

clarissima quaeque Fastidita datur. ——De Bello Gildonico, 165,

189.

Baronius condemns, still more severely, the licentiousness of

Gildo; as his wife, his daughter, and his sister, were examples

of perfect chastity. The adulteries of the African soldiers are

checked by one of the Imperial laws.]

39 (return) [ Inque tuam sortem numerosas transtulit urbes.

Claudian (de Bell. Gildonico, 230-324) has touched, with

political delicacy, the intrigues of the Byzantine court, which

are likewise mentioned by Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]

When Stilicho had given a firm and decisive answer to the

pretensions of the Byzantine court, he solemnly accused the

tyrant of Africa before the tribunal, which had formerly judged

the kings and nations of the earth; and the image of the republic

was revived, after a long interval, under the reign of Honorius.

The emperor transmitted an accurate and ample detail of the

complaints of the provincials, and the crimes of Gildo, to the

Roman senate; and the members of that venerable assembly were

required to pronounce the condemnation of the rebel. Their

unanimous suffrage declared him the enemy of the republic; and

the decree of the senate added a sacred and legitimate sanction

to the Roman arms. 40 A people, who still remembered that their

ancestors had been the masters of the world, would have

applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient

freedom; if they had not since been accustomed to prefer the

solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty

and greatness. The subsistence of Rome depended on the harvests

of Africa; and it was evident, that a declaration of war would be

the signal of famine. The præfect Symmachus, who presided in the

deliberations of the senate, admonished the minister of his just

apprehension, that as soon as the revengeful Moor should prohibit

the exportation of corn, tranquility and perhaps the safety, of

the capital would be threatened by the hungry rage of a turbulent

multitude. 41 The prudence of Stilicho conceived and executed,

without delay, the most effectual measure for the relief of the

Roman people. A large and seasonable supply of corn, collected in

the inland provinces of Gaul, was embarked on the rapid stream of

the Rhone, and transported, by an easy navigation, from the Rhone

to the Tyber. During the whole term of the African war, the

granaries of Rome were continually filled, her dignity was

vindicated from the humiliating dependence, and the minds of an

immense people were quieted by the calm confidence of peace and

plenty. 42

40 (return) [ Symmachus (l. iv. epist. 4) expresses the judicial

forms of the senate; and Claudian (i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 325,

&c.) seems to feel the spirit of a Roman.]

41 (return) [ Claudian finely displays these complaints of

Symmachus, in a speech of the goddess of Rome, before the throne

of Jupiter, (de Bell Gildon. 28-128.)]

42 (return) [ See Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i 401, &c. i. Cons.

Stil. l. i. 306, &c. i. Cons. Stilich. 91, &c.)]

The cause of Rome, and the conduct of the African war, were

intrusted by Stilicho to a general, active and ardent to avenge

his private injuries on the head of the tyrant. The spirit of

discord which prevailed in the house of Nabal, had excited a

deadly quarrel between two of his sons, Gildo and Mascezel. 43

The usurper pursued, with implacable rage, the life of his

younger brother, whose courage and abilities he feared; and

Mascezel, oppressed by superior power, took refuge in the court

of Milan, where he soon received the cruel intelligence that his

two innocent and helpless children had been murdered by their

inhuman uncle. The affliction of the father was suspended only by

the desire of revenge. The vigilant Stilicho already prepared to

collect the naval and military force of the Western empire; and

he had resolved, if the tyrant should be able to wage an equal

and doubtful war, to march against him in person. But as Italy

required his presence, and as it might be dangerous to weaken the

defence of the frontier, he judged it more advisable, that

Mascezel should attempt this arduous adventure at the head of a

chosen body of Gallic veterans, who had lately served under the

standard of Eugenius. These troops, who were exhorted to convince

the world that they could subvert, as well as defend the throne

of a usurper, consisted of the Jovian, the Herculian, and the

Augustan legions; of the Nervian auxiliaries; of the soldiers who

displayed in their banners the symbol of a lion, and of the

troops which were distinguished by the auspicious names of

Fortunate, and Invincible. Yet such was the smallness of their

establishments, or the difficulty of recruiting, that these seven

bands, 44 of high dignity and reputation in the service of Rome,

amounted to no more than five thousand effective men. 45 The

fleet of galleys and transports sailed in tempestuous weather

from the port of Pisa, in Tuscany, and steered their course to

the little island of Capraria; which had borrowed that name from

the wild goats, its original inhabitants, whose place was

occupied by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance. “The

whole island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is

filled, or rather defiled, by men who fly from the light. They

call themselves Monks, or solitaries, because they choose to live

alone, without any witnesses of their actions. They fear the

gifts of fortune, from the apprehension of losing them; and, lest

they should be miserable, they embrace a life of voluntary

wretchedness. How absurd is their choice! how perverse their

understanding! to dread the evils, without being able to support

the blessings, of the human condition. Either this melancholy

madness is the effect of disease, or exercise on their own bodies

the tortures which are inflicted on fugitive slaves by the hand

of justice.” 46 Such was the contempt of a profane magistrate for

the monks as the chosen servants of God. 47 Some of them were

persuaded, by his entreaties, to embark on board the fleet; and

it is observed, to the praise of the Roman general, that his days

and nights were employed in prayer, fasting, and the occupation

of singing psalms. The devout leader, who, with such a

reenforcement, appeared confident of victory, avoided the

dangerous rocks of Corsica, coasted along the eastern side of

Sardinia, and secured his ships against the violence of the south

wind, by casting anchor in the and capacious harbor of Cagliari,

at the distance of one hundred and forty miles from the African

shores. 48

43 (return) [ He was of a mature age; since he had formerly (A.D.

373) served against his brother Firmus (Ammian. xxix. 5.)

Claudian, who understood the court of Milan, dwells on the

injuries, rather than the merits, of Mascezel, (de Bell. Gild.

389-414.) The Moorish war was not worthy of Honorius, or

Stilicho, &c.]

44 (return) [ Claudian, Bell. Gild. 415-423. The change of

discipline allowed him to use indifferently the names of Legio

Cohors, Manipulus. See Notitia Imperii, S. 38, 40.]

45 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 36, p. 565) qualifies this

account with an expression of doubt, (ut aiunt;) and it scarcely

coincides with Zosimus, (l. v. p. 303.) Yet Claudian, after some

declamation about Cadmus, soldiers, frankly owns that Stilicho

sent a small army lest the rebels should fly, ne timeare times,

(i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 314 &c.)]

46 (return) [ Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. i. 439-448. He

afterwards (515-526) mentions a religious madman on the Isle of

Gorgona. For such profane remarks, Rutilius and his accomplices

are styled, by his commentator, Barthius, rabiosi canes diaboli.

Tillemont (Mem. Eccles com. xii. p. 471) more calmly observes,

that the unbelieving poet praises where he means to censure.]

47 (return) [ Orosius, l. vii. c. 36, p. 564. Augustin commends

two of these savage saints of the Isle of Goats, (epist. lxxxi.

apud Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 317, and Baronius,

Annal Eccles. A.D. 398 No. 51.)]

48 (return) [ Here the first book of the Gildonic war is

terminated. The rest of Claudian’s poem has been lost; and we are

ignorant how or where the army made good their landing in Afica.]

Gildo was prepared to resist the invasion with all the forces of

Africa. By the liberality of his gifts and promises, he

endeavored to secure the doubtful allegiance of the Roman

soldiers, whilst he attracted to his standard the distant tribes

of Gaetulia and Æthiopia. He proudly reviewed an army of seventy

thousand men, and boasted, with the rash presumption which is the

forerunner of disgrace, that his numerous cavalry would trample

under their horses’ feet the troops of Mascezel, and involve, in

a cloud of burning sand, the natives of the cold regions of Gaul

and Germany. 49 But the Moor, who commanded the legions of

Honorius, was too well acquainted with the manners of his

countrymen, to entertain any serious apprehension of a naked and

disorderly host of Barbarians; whose left arm, instead of a

shield, was protected only by mantle; who were totally disarmed

as soon as they had darted their javelin from their right hand;

and whose horses had never been in combat. He fixed his camp of

five thousand veterans in the face of a superior enemy, and,

after the delay of three days, gave the signal of a general

engagement. 50 As Mascezel advanced before the front with fair

offers of peace and pardon, he encountered one of the foremost

standard-bearers of the Africans, and, on his refusal to yield,

struck him on the arm with his sword. The arm, and the standard,

sunk under the weight of the blow; and the imaginary act of

submission was hastily repeated by all the standards of the line.

At this the disaffected cohorts proclaimed the name of their

lawful sovereign; the Barbarians, astonished by the defection of

their Roman allies, dispersed, according to their custom, in

tumultuary flight; and Mascezel obtained honors the of an easy,

and almost bloodless, victory. 51 The tyrant escaped from the

field of battle to the sea-shore; and threw himself into a small

vessel, with the hope of reaching in safety some friendly port of

the empire of the East; but the obstinacy of the wind drove him

back into the harbor of Tabraca, 52 which had acknowledged, with

the rest of the province, the dominion of Honorius, and the

authority of his lieutenant. The inhabitants, as a proof of their

repentance and loyalty, seized and confined the person of Gildo

in a dungeon; and his own despair saved him from the intolerable

torture of supporting the presence of an injured and victorious

brother. 53 The captives and the spoils of Africa were laid at

the feet of the emperor; but Stilicho, whose moderation appeared

more conspicuous and more sincere, in the midst of prosperity,

still affected to consult the laws of the republic; and referred

to the senate and people of Rome the judgment of the most

illustrious criminals. 54 Their trial was public and solemn; but

the judges, in the exercise of this obsolete and precarious

jurisdiction, were impatient to punish the African magistrates,

who had intercepted the subsistence of the Roman people. The rich

and guilty province was oppressed by the Imperial ministers, who

had a visible interest to multiply the number of the accomplices

of Gildo; and if an edict of Honorius seems to check the

malicious industry of informers, a subsequent edict, at the

distance of ten years, continues and renews the prosecution of

the offences which had been committed in the time of the general

rebellion. 55 The adherents of the tyrant who escaped the first

fury of the soldiers, and the judges, might derive some

consolation from the tragic fate of his brother, who could never

obtain his pardon for the extraordinary services which he had

performed. After he had finished an important war in the space of

a single winter, Mascezel was received at the court of Milan with

loud applause, affected gratitude, and secret jealousy; 56 and

his death, which, perhaps, was the effect of passage of a bridge,

the Moorish prince, who accompanied the master-general of the

West, was suddenly thrown from his horse into the river; the

officious haste of the attendants was restrained by a cruel and

perfidious smile which they observed on the countenance of

Stilicho; and while they delayed the necessary assistance, the

unfortunate Mascezel was irrecoverably drowned. 57

49 (return) [ Orosius must be responsible for the account. The

presumption of Gildo and his various train of Barbarians is

celebrated by Claudian, Cons. Stil. l. i. 345-355.]

50 (return) [ St. Ambrose, who had been dead about a year,

revealed, in a vision, the time and place of the victory.

Mascezel afterwards related his dream to Paulinus, the original

biographer of the saint, from whom it might easily pass to

Orosius.]

51 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 303) supposes an obstinate

combat; but the narrative of Orosius appears to conceal a real

fact, under the disguise of a miracle.]

52 (return) [ Tabraca lay between the two Hippos, (Cellarius,

tom. ii. p. 112; D’Anville, tom. iii. p. 84.) Orosius has

distinctly named the field of battle, but our ignorance cannot

define the precise situation.]

53 (return) [ The death of Gildo is expressed by Claudian (i.

Cons. Stil. 357) and his best interpreters, Zosimus and Orosius.]

54 (return) [ Claudian (ii. Cons. Stilich. 99-119) describes

their trial (tremuit quos Africa nuper, cernunt rostra reos,) and

applauds the restoration of the ancient constitution. It is here

that he introduces the famous sentence, so familiar to the

friends of despotism:

—-Nunquam libertas gratior exstat, Quam sub rege pio.

But the freedom which depends on royal piety, scarcely deserves

appellation]

55 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,

tit. xl. leg. 19.]

56 (return) [ Stilicho, who claimed an equal share in all the

victories of Theodosius and his son, particularly asserts, that

Africa was recovered by the wisdom of his counsels, (see an

inscription produced by Baronius.)]

57 (return) [ I have softened the narrative of Zosimus, which, in

its crude simplicity, is almost incredible, (l. v. p. 303.)

Orosius damns the victorious general (p. 538) for violating the

right of sanctuary.]

The joy of the African triumph was happily connected with the

nuptials of the emperor Honorius, and of his cousin Maria, the

daughter of Stilicho: and this equal and honorable alliance

seemed to invest the powerful minister with the authority of a

parent over his submissive pupil. The muse of Claudian was not

silent on this propitious day; 58 he sung, in various and lively

strains, the happiness of the royal pair; and the glory of the

hero, who confirmed their union, and supported their throne. The

ancient fables of Greece, which had almost ceased to be the

object of religious faith, were saved from oblivion by the genius

of poetry. The picture of the Cyprian grove, the seat of harmony

and love; the triumphant progress of Venus over her native seas,

and the mild influence which her presence diffused in the palace

of Milan, express to every age the natural sentiments of the

heart, in the just and pleasing language of allegorical fiction.

But the amorous impatience which Claudian attributes to the young

prince, 59 must excite the smiles of the court; and his beauteous

spouse (if she deserved the praise of beauty) had not much to

fear or to hope from the passions of her lover. Honorius was only

in the fourteenth year of his age; Serena, the mother of his

bride, deferred, by art of persuasion, the consummation of the

royal nuptials; Maria died a virgin, after she had been ten years

a wife; and the chastity of the emperor was secured by the

coldness, or perhaps, the debility, of his constitution. 60 His

subjects, who attentively studied the character of their young

sovereign, discovered that Honorius was without passions, and

consequently without talents; and that his feeble and languid

disposition was alike incapable of discharging the duties of his

rank, or of enjoying the pleasures of his age. In his early youth

he made some progress in the exercises of riding and drawing the

bow: but he soon relinquished these fatiguing occupations, and

the amusement of feeding poultry became the serious and daily

care of the monarch of the West, 61 who resigned the reins of

empire to the firm and skilful hand of his guardian Stilicho. The

experience of history will countenance the suspicion that a

prince who was born in the purple, received a worse education

than the meanest peasant of his dominions; and that the ambitious

minister suffered him to attain the age of manhood, without

attempting to excite his courage, or to enlighten his

understanding. 62 The predecessors of Honorius were accustomed to

animate by their example, or at least by their presence, the

valor of the legions; and the dates of their laws attest the

perpetual activity of their motions through the provinces of the

Roman world. But the son of Theodosius passed the slumber of his

life, a captive in his palace, a stranger in his country, and the

patient, almost the indifferent, spectator of the ruin of the

Western empire, which was repeatedly attacked, and finally

subverted, by the arms of the Barbarians. In the eventful history

of a reign of twenty-eight years, it will seldom be necessary to

mention the name of the emperor Honorius.

58 (return) [ Claudian,as the poet laureate, composed a serious

and elaborate epithalamium of 340 lines; besides some gay

Fescennines, which were sung, in a more licentious tone, on the

wedding night.]

59 (return) [

Calet obvius ire Jam princeps, tardumque cupit discedere solem.

Nobilis haud aliter sonipes.

(De Nuptiis Honor. et Mariae, and more freely in the Fescennines

112-116)

Dices, O quoties,hoc mihi dulcius Quam flavos decics vincere

Sarmatas. .... Tum victor madido prosilias toro, Nocturni referens

vulnera proelii.]

60 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. v. p. 333.]

61 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 2. I have

borrowed the general practice of Honorius, without adopting the

singular, and indeed improbable tale, which is related by the

Greek historian.]

62 (return) [ The lessons of Theodosius, or rather Claudian, (iv.

Cons. Honor 214-418,) might compose a fine institution for the

future prince of a great and free nation. It was far above

Honorius, and his degenerate subjects.]

Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part I.

Revolt Of The Goths.—They Plunder Greece.—Two Great Invasions Of

Italy By Alaric And Radagaisus.—They Are Repulsed By Stilicho.—The

Germans Overrun Gaul.—Usurpation Of Constantine In The

West.—Disgrace And Death Of Stilicho.

If the subjects of Rome could be ignorant of their obligations to

the great Theodosius, they were too soon convinced, how painfully

the spirit and abilities of their deceased emperor had supported

the frail and mouldering edifice of the republic. He died in the

month of January; and before the end of the winter of the same

year, the Gothic nation was in arms. 1 The Barbarian auxiliaries

erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed the hostile

designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds.

Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of

the last treaty, to a life of tranquility and labor, deserted

their farms at the first sound of the trumpet; and eagerly

resumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The

barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of

Scythia issued from their forests; and the uncommon severity of

the winter allowed the poet to remark, “that they rolled their

ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the indignant

river.” 2 The unhappy natives of the provinces to the south of

the Danube submitted to the calamities, which, in the course of

twenty years, were almost grown familiar to their imagination;

and the various troops of Barbarians, who gloried in the Gothic

name, were irregularly spread from woody shores of Dalmatia, to

the walls of Constantinople. 3 The interruption, or at least the

diminution, of the subsidy, which the Goths had received from the

prudent liberality of Theodosius, was the specious pretence of

their revolt: the affront was imbittered by their contempt for

the unwarlike sons of Theodosius; and their resentment was

inflamed by the weakness, or treachery, of the minister of

Arcadius. The frequent visits of Rufinus to the camp of the

Barbarians whose arms and apparel he affected to imitate, were

considered as a sufficient evidence of his guilty correspondence,

and the public enemy, from a motive either of gratitude or of

policy, was attentive, amidst the general devastation, to spare

the private estates of the unpopular præfect. The Goths, instead

of being impelled by the blind and headstrong passions of their

chiefs, were now directed by the bold and artful genius of

Alaric. That renowned leader was descended from the noble race of

the Balti; 4 which yielded only to the royal dignity of the

Amali: he had solicited the command of the Roman armies; and the

Imperial court provoked him to demonstrate the folly of their

refusal, and the importance of their loss. Whatever hopes might

be entertained of the conquest of Constantinople, the judicious

general soon abandoned an impracticable enterprise. In the midst

of a divided court and a discontented people, the emperor

Arcadius was terrified by the aspect of the Gothic arms; but the

want of wisdom and valor was supplied by the strength of the

city; and the fortifications, both of the sea and land, might

securely brave the impotent and random darts of the Barbarians.

Alaric disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and

ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a

plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had

hitherto escaped the ravages of war. 5

1 (return) [ The revolt of the Goths, and the blockade of

Constantinople, are distinctly mentioned by Claudian, (in Rufin.

l. ii. 7-100,) Zosimus, (l. v. 292,) and Jornandes, (de Rebus

Geticis, c. 29.)]

2 (return) [—

Alii per toga ferocis Danubii solidata ruunt; expertaque remis

Frangunt stagna rotis.

Claudian and Ovid often amuse their fancy by interchanging the

metaphors and properties of liquid water, and solid ice. Much

false wit has been expended in this easy exercise.]

3 (return) [ Jerom, tom. i. p. 26. He endeavors to comfort his

friend Heliodorus, bishop of Altinum, for the loss of his nephew,

Nepotian, by a curious recapitulation of all the public and

private misfortunes of the times. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.

tom. xii. p. 200, &c.]

4 (return) [ Baltha or bold: origo mirifica, says Jornandes, (c.

29.) This illustrious race long continued to flourish in France,

in the Gothic province of Septimania, or Languedoc; under the

corrupted appellation of Boax; and a branch of that family

afterwards settled in the kingdom of Naples (Grotius in Prolegom.

ad Hist. Gothic. p. 53.) The lords of Baux, near Arles, and of

seventy-nine subordinate places, were independent of the counts

of Provence, (Longuerue, Description de la France, tom. i. p.

357).]

5 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 293-295) is our best guide for the

conquest of Greece: but the hints and allusion of Claudian are so

many rays of historic light.]

The character of the civil and military officers, on whom Rufinus

had devolved the government of Greece, confirmed the public

suspicion, that he had betrayed the ancient seat of freedom and

learning to the Gothic invader. The proconsul Antiochus was the

unworthy son of a respectable father; and Gerontius, who

commanded the provincial troops, was much better qualified to

execute the oppressive orders of a tyrant, than to defend, with

courage and ability, a country most remarkably fortified by the

hand of nature. Alaric had traversed, without resistance, the

plains of Macedonia and Thessaly, as far as the foot of Mount

Oeta, a steep and woody range of hills, almost impervious to his

cavalry. They stretched from east to west, to the edge of the

sea-shore; and left, between the precipice and the Malian Gulf,

an interval of three hundred feet, which, in some places, was

contracted to a road capable of admitting only a single carriage.

6 In this narrow pass of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and the

three hundred Spartans had gloriously devoted their lives, the

Goths might have been stopped, or destroyed, by a skilful

general; and perhaps the view of that sacred spot might have

kindled some sparks of military ardor in the breasts of the

degenerate Greeks. The troops which had been posted to defend the

Straits of Thermopylae, retired, as they were directed, without

attempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage of Alaric; 7

and the fertile fields of Phocis and Boeotia were instantly

covered by a deluge of Barbarians who massacred the males of an

age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful females, with the

spoil and cattle of the flaming villages. The travellers, who

visited Greece several years afterwards, could easily discover

the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths; and Thebes

was less indebted for her preservation to the strength of her

seven gates, than to the eager haste of Alaric, who advanced to

occupy the city of Athens, and the important harbor of the

Piraeus. The same impatience urged him to prevent the delay and

danger of a siege, by the offer of a capitulation; and as soon as

the Athenians heard the voice of the Gothic herald, they were

easily persuaded to deliver the greatest part of their wealth, as

the ransom of the city of Minerva and its inhabitants. The treaty

was ratified by solemn oaths, and observed with mutual fidelity.

The Gothic prince, with a small and select train, was admitted

within the walls; he indulged himself in the refreshment of the

bath, accepted a splendid banquet, which was provided by the

magistrate, and affected to show that he was not ignorant of the

manners of civilized nations. 8 But the whole territory of

Attica, from the promontory of Sunium to the town of Megara, was

blasted by his baleful presence; and, if we may use the

comparison of a contemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled

the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim. The distance

between Megara and Corinth could not much exceed thirty miles;

but the bad road, an expressive name, which it still bears among

the Greeks, was, or might easily have been made, impassable for

the march of an enemy. The thick and gloomy woods of Mount

Cithaeron covered the inland country; the Scironian rocks

approached the water’s edge, and hung over the narrow and winding

path, which was confined above six miles along the sea-shore. 9

The passage of those rocks, so infamous in every age, was

terminated by the Isthmus of Corinth; and a small a body of firm

and intrepid soldiers might have successfully defended a

temporary intrenchment of five or six miles from the Ionian to

the Aegean Sea. The confidence of the cities of Peloponnesus in

their natural rampart, had tempted them to neglect the care of

their antique walls; and the avarice of the Roman governors had

exhausted and betrayed the unhappy province. 10 Corinth, Argos,

Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths; and

the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from

beholding the slavery of their families and the conflagration of

their cities. 11 The vases and statues were distributed among the

Barbarians, with more regard to the value of the materials, than

to the elegance of the workmanship; the female captives submitted

to the laws of war; the enjoyment of beauty was the reward of

valor; and the Greeks could not reasonably complain of an abuse

which was justified by the example of the heroic times. 12 The

descendants of that extraordinary people, who had considered

valor and discipline as the walls of Sparta, no longer remembered

the generous reply of their ancestors to an invader more

formidable than Alaric. “If thou art a god, thou wilt not hurt

those who have never injured thee; if thou art a man,

advance:—and thou wilt find men equal to thyself.” 13 From

Thermopylae to Sparta, the leader of the Goths pursued his

victorious march without encountering any mortal antagonists: but

one of the advocates of expiring Paganism has confidently

asserted, that the walls of Athens were guarded by the goddess

Minerva, with her formidable Aegis, and by the angry phantom of

Achilles; 14 and that the conqueror was dismayed by the presence

of the hostile deities of Greece. In an age of miracles, it would

perhaps be unjust to dispute the claim of the historian Zosimus

to the common benefit: yet it cannot be dissembled, that the mind

of Alaric was ill prepared to receive, either in sleeping or

waking visions, the impressions of Greek superstition. The songs

of Homer, and the fame of Achilles, had probably never reached

the ear of the illiterate Barbarian; and the Christian faith,

which he had devoutly embraced, taught him to despise the

imaginary deities of Rome and Athens. The invasion of the Goths,

instead of vindicating the honor, contributed, at least

accidentally, to extirpate the last remains of Paganism: and the

mysteries of Ceres, which had subsisted eighteen hundred years,

did not survive the destruction of Eleusis, and the calamities of

Greece. 15

6 (return) [ Compare Herodotus (l. vii. c. 176) and Livy, (xxxvi.

15.) The narrow entrance of Greece was probably enlarged by each

successive ravisher.]

7 (return) [ He passed, says Eunapius, (in Vit. Philosoph. p. 93,

edit. Commelin, 1596,) through the straits, of Thermopylae.]

8 (return) [ In obedience to Jerom and Claudian, (in Rufin. l.

ii. 191,) I have mixed some darker colors in the mild

representation of Zosimus, who wished to soften the calamities of

Athens.

Nec fera Cecropias traxissent vincula matres.

Synesius (Epist. clvi. p. 272, edit. Petav.) observes, that

Athens, whose sufferings he imputes to the proconsul’s avarice,

was at that time less famous for her schools of philosophy than

for her trade of honey.]

9 (return) [—

Vallata mari Scironia rupes, Et duo continuo connectens aequora

muro Isthmos. —Claudian de Bel. Getico, 188.

The Scironian rocks are described by Pausanias, (l. i. c. 44, p.

107, edit. Kuhn,) and our modern travellers, Wheeler (p. 436) and

Chandler, (p. 298.) Hadrian made the road passable for two

carriages.]

10 (return) [ Claudian (in Rufin. l. ii. 186, and de Bello

Getico, 611, &c.) vaguely, though forcibly, delineates the scene

of rapine and destruction.]

11 (return) [ These generous lines of Homer (Odyss. l. v. 306)

were transcribed by one of the captive youths of Corinth: and the

tears of Mummius may prove that the rude conqueror, though he was

ignorant of the value of an original picture, possessed the

purest source of good taste, a benevolent heart, (Plutarch,

Symposiac. l. ix. tom. ii. p. 737, edit. Wechel.)]

12 (return) [ Homer perpetually describes the exemplary patience

of those female captives, who gave their charms, and even their

hearts, to the murderers of their fathers, brothers, &c. Such a

passion (of Eriphile for Achilles) is touched with admirable

delicacy by Racine.]

13 (return) [ Plutarch (in Pyrrho, tom. ii. p. 474, edit. Brian)

gives the genuine answer in the Laconic dialect. Pyrrhus attacked

Sparta with 25,000 foot, 2000 horse, and 24 elephants, and the

defence of that open town is a fine comment on the laws of

Lycurgus, even in the last stage of decay.]

14 (return) [ Such, perhaps, as Homer (Iliad, xx. 164) had so

nobly painted him.]

15 (return) [ Eunapius (in Vit. Philosoph. p. 90-93) intimates

that a troop of monks betrayed Greece, and followed the Gothic

camp. * Note: The expression is curious: Vit. Max. t. i. p. 53,

edit. Boissonade.—M.]

The last hope of a people who could no longer depend on their

arms, their gods, or their sovereign, was placed in the powerful

assistance of the general of the West; and Stilicho, who had not

been permitted to repulse, advanced to chastise, the invaders of

Greece. 16 A numerous fleet was equipped in the ports of Italy;

and the troops, after a short and prosperous navigation over the

Ionian Sea, were safely disembarked on the isthmus, near the

ruins of Corinth. The woody and mountainous country of Arcadia,

the fabulous residence of Pan and the Dryads, became the scene of

a long and doubtful conflict between the two generals not

unworthy of each other. The skill and perseverance of the Roman

at length prevailed; and the Goths, after sustaining a

considerable loss from disease and desertion, gradually retreated

to the lofty mountain of Pholoe, near the sources of the Peneus,

and on the frontiers of Elis; a sacred country, which had

formerly been exempted from the calamities of war. 17 The camp of

the Barbarians was immediately besieged; the waters of the river

18 were diverted into another channel; and while they labored

under the intolerable pressure of thirst and hunger, a strong

line of circumvallation was formed to prevent their escape. After

these precautions, Stilicho, too confident of victory, retired to

enjoy his triumph, in the theatrical games, and lascivious

dances, of the Greeks; his soldiers, deserting their standards,

spread themselves over the country of their allies, which they

stripped of all that had been saved from the rapacious hands of

the enemy. Alaric appears to have seized the favorable moment to

execute one of those hardy enterprises, in which the abilities of

a general are displayed with more genuine lustre, than in the

tumult of a day of battle. To extricate himself from the prison

of Peloponnesus, it was necessary that he should pierce the

intrenchments which surrounded his camp; that he should perform a

difficult and dangerous march of thirty miles, as far as the Gulf

of Corinth; and that he should transport his troops, his

captives, and his spoil, over an arm of the sea, which, in the

narrow interval between Rhium and the opposite shore, is at least

half a mile in breadth. 19 The operations of Alaric must have

been secret, prudent, and rapid; since the Roman general was

confounded by the intelligence, that the Goths, who had eluded

his efforts, were in full possession of the important province of

Epirus. This unfortunate delay allowed Alaric sufficient time to

conclude the treaty, which he secretly negotiated, with the

ministers of Constantinople. The apprehension of a civil war

compelled Stilicho to retire, at the haughty mandate of his

rivals, from the dominions of Arcadius; and he respected, in the

enemy of Rome, the honorable character of the ally and servant of

the emperor of the East.

16 (return) [ For Stilicho’s Greek war, compare the honest

narrative of Zosimus (l. v. p. 295, 296) with the curious

circumstantial flattery of Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich. l. i.

172-186, iv. Cons. Hon. 459-487.) As the event was not glorious,

it is artfully thrown into the shade.]

17 (return) [ The troops who marched through Elis delivered up

their arms. This security enriched the Eleans, who were lovers of

a rural life. Riches begat pride: they disdained their privilege,

and they suffered. Polybius advises them to retire once more

within their magic circle. See a learned and judicious discourse

on the Olympic games, which Mr. West has prefixed to his

translation of Pindar.]

18 (return) [ Claudian (in iv. Cons. Hon. 480) alludes to the

fact without naming the river; perhaps the Alpheus, (i. Cons.

Stil. l. i. 185.)

—-Et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis Tardior ad Siculos etiamnum

pergit amores.

Yet I should prefer the Peneus, a shallow stream in a wide and

deep bed, which runs through Elis, and falls into the sea below

Cyllene. It had been joined with the Alpheus to cleanse the

Augean stable. (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 760. Chandler’s Travels, p.

286.)]

19 (return) [ Strabo, l. viii. p. 517. Plin. Hist. Natur. iv. 3.

Wheeler, p. 308. Chandler, p. 275. They measured from different

points the distance between the two lands.]

A Grecian philosopher, 20 who visited Constantinople soon after

the death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions

concerning the duties of kings, and the state of the Roman

republic. Synesius observes, and deplores, the fatal abuse, which

the imprudent bounty of the late emperor had introduced into the

military service. The citizens and subjects had purchased an

exemption from the indispensable duty of defending their country;

which was supported by the arms of Barbarian mercenaries. The

fugitives of Scythia were permitted to disgrace the illustrious

dignities of the empire; their ferocious youth, who disdained the

salutary restraint of laws, were more anxious to acquire the

riches, than to imitate the arts, of a people, the object of

their contempt and hatred; and the power of the Goths was the

stone of Tantalus, perpetually suspended over the peace and

safety of the devoted state. The measures which Synesius

recommends, are the dictates of a bold and generous patriot. He

exhorts the emperor to revive the courage of his subjects, by the

example of manly virtue; to banish luxury from the court and from

the camp; to substitute, in the place of the Barbarian

mercenaries, an army of men, interested in the defence of their

laws and of their property; to force, in such a moment of public

danger, the mechanic from his shop, and the philosopher from his

school; to rouse the indolent citizen from his dream of pleasure,

and to arm, for the protection of agriculture, the hands of the

laborious husbandman. At the head of such troops, who might

deserve the name, and would display the spirit, of Romans, he

animates the son of Theodosius to encounter a race of Barbarians,

who were destitute of any real courage; and never to lay down his

arms, till he had chased them far away into the solitudes of

Scythia; or had reduced them to the state of ignominious

servitude, which the Lacedaemonians formerly imposed on the

captive Helots. 21 The court of Arcadius indulged the zeal,

applauded the eloquence, and neglected the advice, of Synesius.

Perhaps the philosopher who addresses the emperor of the East in

the language of reason and virtue, which he might have used to a

Spartan king, had not condescended to form a practicable scheme,

consistent with the temper, and circumstances, of a degenerate

age. Perhaps the pride of the ministers, whose business was

seldom interrupted by reflection, might reject, as wild and

visionary, every proposal, which exceeded the measure of their

capacity, and deviated from the forms and precedents of office.

While the oration of Synesius, and the downfall of the

Barbarians, were the topics of popular conversation, an edict was

published at Constantinople, which declared the promotion of

Alaric to the rank of master-general of the Eastern Illyricum.

The Roman provincials, and the allies, who had respected the

faith of treaties, were justly indignant, that the ruin of Greece

and Epirus should be so liberally rewarded. The Gothic conqueror

was received as a lawful magistrate, in the cities which he had

so lately besieged. The fathers, whose sons he had massacred, the

husbands, whose wives he had violated, were subject to his

authority; and the success of his rebellion encouraged the

ambition of every leader of the foreign mercenaries. The use to

which Alaric applied his new command, distinguishes the firm and

judicious character of his policy. He issued his orders to the

four magazines and manufactures of offensive and defensive arms,

Margus, Ratiaria, Naissus, and Thessalonica, to provide his

troops with an extraordinary supply of shields, helmets, swords,

and spears; the unhappy provincials were compelled to forge the

instruments of their own destruction; and the Barbarians removed

the only defect which had sometimes disappointed the efforts of

their courage. 22 The birth of Alaric, the glory of his past

exploits, and the confidence in his future designs, insensibly

united the body of the nation under his victorious standard; and,

with the unanimous consent of the Barbarian chieftains, the

master-general of Illyricum was elevated, according to ancient

custom, on a shield, and solemnly proclaimed king of the

Visigoths. 23 Armed with this double power, seated on the verge

of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to

the courts of Arcadius and Honorius; till he declared and

executed his resolution of invading the dominions of the West.

The provinces of Europe which belonged to the Eastern emperor,

were already exhausted; those of Asia were inaccessible; and the

strength of Constantinople had resisted his attack. But he was

tempted by the fame, the beauty, the wealth of Italy, which he

had twice visited; and he secretly aspired to plant the Gothic

standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the

accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs. 25

20 (return) [ Synesius passed three years (A.D. 397-400) at

Constantinople, as deputy from Cyrene to the emperor Arcadius. He

presented him with a crown of gold, and pronounced before him the

instructive oration de Regno, (p. 1-32, edit. Petav. Paris,

1612.) The philosopher was made bishop of Ptolemais, A.D. 410,

and died about 430. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 490,

554, 683-685.]

21 (return) [ Synesius de Regno, p. 21-26.]

22 (return) [—qui foedera rumpit

Ditatur: qui servat, eget: vastator Achivae Gentis, et Epirum

nuper populatus inultam, Praesidet Illyrico: jam, quos obsedit,

amicos Ingreditur muros; illis responsa daturus, Quorum

conjugibus potitur, natosque peremit.

Claudian in Eutrop. l. ii. 212. Alaric applauds his own policy

(de Bell Getic. 533-543) in the use which he had made of this

Illyrian jurisdiction.]

23 (return) [ Jornandes, c. 29, p. 651. The Gothic historian

adds, with unusual spirit, Cum suis deliberans suasit suo labore

quaerere regna, quam alienis per otium subjacere.

Discors odiisque anceps civilibus orbis, Non sua vis tutata diu,

dum foedera fallax Ludit, et alternae perjuria venditat aulae.

—-Claudian de Bell. Get. 565]

25 (return) [ Alpibus Italiae ruptis penetrabis ad Urbem. This

authentic prediction was announced by Alaric, or at least by

Claudian, (de Bell. Getico, 547,) seven years before the event.

But as it was not accomplished within the term which has been

rashly fixed the interpreters escaped through an ambiguous

meaning.]

The scarcity of facts, 26 and the uncertainty of dates, 27 oppose

our attempts to describe the circumstances of the first invasion

of Italy by the arms of Alaric. His march, perhaps from

Thessalonica, through the warlike and hostile country of

Pannonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; his passage of

those mountains, which were strongly guarded by troops and

intrenchments; the siege of Aquileia, and the conquest of the

provinces of Istria and Venetia, appear to have employed a

considerable time. Unless his operations were extremely cautious

and slow, the length of the interval would suggest a probable

suspicion, that the Gothic king retreated towards the banks of

the Danube; and reenforced his army with fresh swarms of

Barbarians, before he again attempted to penetrate into the heart

of Italy. Since the public and important events escape the

diligence of the historian, he may amuse himself with

contemplating, for a moment, the influence of the arms of Alaric

on the fortunes of two obscure individuals, a presbyter of

Aquileia and a husbandman of Verona. The learned Rufinus, who was

summoned by his enemies to appear before a Roman synod, 28 wisely

preferred the dangers of a besieged city; and the Barbarians, who

furiously shook the walls of Aquileia, might save him from the

cruel sentence of another heretic, who, at the request of the

same bishops, was severely whipped, and condemned to perpetual

exile on a desert island. 29 The old man, 30 who had passed his

simple and innocent life in the neighborhood of Verona, was a

stranger to the quarrels both of kings and of bishops; his

pleasures, his desires, his knowledge, were confined within the

little circle of his paternal farm; and a staff supported his

aged steps, on the same ground where he had sported in his

infancy. Yet even this humble and rustic felicity (which Claudian

describes with so much truth and feeling) was still exposed to

the undistinguishing rage of war. His trees, his old contemporary

trees, 31 must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country; a

detachment of Gothic cavalry might sweep away his cottage and his

family; and the power of Alaric could destroy this happiness,

which he was not able either to taste or to bestow. “Fame,” says

the poet, “encircling with terror her gloomy wings, proclaimed

the march of the Barbarian army, and filled Italy with

consternation:” the apprehensions of each individual were

increased in just proportion to the measure of his fortune: and

the most timid, who had already embarked their valuable effects,

meditated their escape to the Island of Sicily, or the African

coast. The public distress was aggravated by the fears and

reproaches of superstition. 32 Every hour produced some horrid

tale of strange and portentous accidents; the Pagans deplored the

neglect of omens, and the interruption of sacrifices; but the

Christians still derived some comfort from the powerful

intercession of the saints and martyrs. 33

26 (return) [ Our best materials are 970 verses of Claudian in

the poem on the Getic war, and the beginning of that which

celebrates the sixth consulship of Honorius. Zosimus is totally

silent; and we are reduced to such scraps, or rather crumbs, as

we can pick from Orosius and the Chronicles.]

27 (return) [ Notwithstanding the gross errors of Jornandes, who

confounds the Italian wars of Alaric, (c. 29,) his date of the

consulship of Stilicho and Aurelian (A.D. 400) is firm and

respectable. It is certain from Claudian (Tillemont, Hist. des

Emp. tom. v. p. 804) that the battle of Polentia was fought A.D.

403; but we cannot easily fill the interval.]

28 (return) [ Tantum Romanae urbis judicium fugis, ut magis

obsidionem barbaricam, quam pacatoe urbis judicium velis

sustinere. Jerom, tom. ii. p. 239. Rufinus understood his own

danger; the peaceful city was inflamed by the beldam Marcella,

and the rest of Jerom’s faction.]

29 (return) [ Jovinian, the enemy of fasts and of celibacy, who

was persecuted and insulted by the furious Jerom, (Jortin’s

Remarks, vol. iv. p. 104, &c.) See the original edict of

banishment in the Theodosian Code, xvi. tit. v. leg. 43.]

30 (return) [ This epigram (de Sene Veronensi qui suburbium

nusquam egres sus est) is one of the earliest and most pleasing

compositions of Claudian. Cowley’s imitation (Hurd’s edition,

vol. ii. p. 241) has some natural and happy strokes: but it is

much inferior to the original portrait, which is evidently drawn

from the life.]

31 (return) [

Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum Aequaevumque videt

consenuisse nemus.

A neighboring wood born with himself he sees, And loves his old

contemporary trees.

In this passage, Cowley is perhaps superior to his original; and

the English poet, who was a good botanist, has concealed the oaks

under a more general expression.]

32 (return) [ Claudian de Bell. Get. 199-266. He may seem prolix:

but fear and superstition occupied as large a space in the minds

of the Italians.]

33 (return) [ From the passages of Paulinus, which Baronius has

produced, (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 403, No. 51,) it is manifest that

the general alarm had pervaded all Italy, as far as Nola in

Campania, where that famous penitent had fixed his abode.]

Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part II.

The emperor Honorius was distinguished, above his subjects, by

the preeminence of fear, as well as of rank. The pride and luxury

in which he was educated, had not allowed him to suspect, that

there existed on the earth any power presumptuous enough to

invade the repose of the successor of Augustus. The arts of

flattery concealed the impending danger, till Alaric approached

the palace of Milan. But when the sound of war had awakened the

young emperor, instead of flying to arms with the spirit, or even

the rashness, of his age, he eagerly listened to those timid

counsellors, who proposed to convey his sacred person, and his

faithful attendants, to some secure and distant station in the

provinces of Gaul. Stilicho alone 34 had courage and authority to

resist his disgraceful measure, which would have abandoned Rome

and Italy to the Barbarians; but as the troops of the palace had

been lately detached to the Rhaetian frontier, and as the

resource of new levies was slow and precarious, the general of

the West could only promise, that if the court of Milan would

maintain their ground during his absence, he would soon return

with an army equal to the encounter of the Gothic king. Without

losing a moment, (while each moment was so important to the

public safety,) Stilicho hastily embarked on the Larian Lake,

ascended the mountains of ice and snow, amidst the severity of an

Alpine winter, and suddenly repressed, by his unexpected

presence, the enemy, who had disturbed the tranquillity of

Rhaetia. 35 The Barbarians, perhaps some tribes of the Alemanni,

respected the firmness of a chief, who still assumed the language

of command; and the choice which he condescended to make, of a

select number of their bravest youth, was considered as a mark of

his esteem and favor. The cohorts, who were delivered from the

neighboring foe, diligently repaired to the Imperial standard;

and Stilicho issued his orders to the most remote troops of the

West, to advance, by rapid marches, to the defence of Honorius

and of Italy. The fortresses of the Rhine were abandoned; and the

safety of Gaul was protected only by the faith of the Germans,

and the ancient terror of the Roman name. Even the legion, which

had been stationed to guard the wall of Britain against the

Caledonians of the North, was hastily recalled; 36 and a numerous

body of the cavalry of the Alani was persuaded to engage in the

service of the emperor, who anxiously expected the return of his

general. The prudence and vigor of Stilicho were conspicuous on

this occasion, which revealed, at the same time, the weakness of

the falling empire. The legions of Rome, which had long since

languished in the gradual decay of discipline and courage, were

exterminated by the Gothic and civil wars; and it was found

impossible, without exhausting and exposing the provinces, to

assemble an army for the defence of Italy.

34 (return) [ Solus erat Stilicho, &c., is the exclusive

commendation which Claudian bestows, (del Bell. Get. 267,)

without condescending to except the emperor. How insignificant

must Honorius have appeared in his own court.]

35 (return) [ The face of the country, and the hardiness of

Stilicho, are finely described, (de Bell. Get. 340-363.)]

36 (return) [

Venit et extremis legio praetenta Britannis, Quae Scoto dat frena

truci. —-De Bell. Get. 416.

Yet the most rapid march from Edinburgh, or Newcastle, to Milan,

must have required a longer space of time than Claudian seems

willing to allow for the duration of the Gothic war.]

Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part III.

When Stilicho seemed to abandon his sovereign in the unguarded

palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his

absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might

retard their march. He principally depended on the rivers of

Italy, the Adige, the Mincius, the Oglio, and the Addua, which,

in the winter or spring, by the fall of rains, or by the melting

of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous

torrents. 37 But the season happened to be remarkably dry: and

the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony

beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow

stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a

strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached

the walls, or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud

satisfaction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him.

Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs,

hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his

person in the city of Arles, which had often been the royal

residence of his predecessors. 3711 But Honorius 38 had scarcely

passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic

cavalry; 39 since the urgency of the danger compelled him to seek

a temporary shelter within the fortifications of Asta, a town of

Liguria or Piemont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus. 40 The

siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and

seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and

indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold

declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his

breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably

obtain much credit, even in his own court. 41 In the last, and

almost hopeless extremity, after the Barbarians had already

proposed the indignity of a capitulation, the Imperial captive

was suddenly relieved by the fame, the approach, and at length

the presence, of the hero, whom he had so long expected. At the

head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho swam the stream

of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost in the

attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of

much less hazard and difficulty; and the successful action, in

which he cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of

Asta, revived the hopes, and vindicated the honor, of Rome.

Instead of grasping the fruit of his victory, the Barbarian was

gradually invested, on every side, by the troops of the West, who

successively issued through all the passes of the Alps; his

quarters were straitened; his convoys were intercepted; and the

vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain of

fortifications, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A

military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the

Gothic nation; of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in

furs, and whose stern countenances were marked with honorable

wounds. They weighed the glory of persisting in their attempt

against the advantage of securing their plunder; and they

recommended the prudent measure of a seasonable retreat. In this

important debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the conqueror of

Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their

achievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating

speech by the solemn and positive assurance that he was resolved

to find in Italy either a kingdom or a grave. 42

37 (return) [ Every traveller must recollect the face of

Lombardy, (see Fonvenelle, tom. v. p. 279,) which is often

tormented by the capricious and irregular abundance of waters.

The Austrians, before Genoa, were encamped in the dry bed of the

Polcevera. “Ne sarebbe” (says Muratori) “mai passato per mente a

que’ buoni Alemanni, che quel picciolo torrente potesse, per cosi

dire, in un instante cangiarsi in un terribil gigante.” (Annali

d’Italia, tom. xvi. p. 443, Milan, 1752, 8vo edit.)]

3711 (return) [ According to Le Beau and his commentator M. St.

Martin, Honorius did not attempt to fly. Settlements were offered

to the Goths in Lombardy, and they advanced from the Po towards

the Alps to take possession of them. But it was a treacherous

stratagem of Stilicho, who surprised them while they were

reposing on the faith of this treaty. Le Beau, v. x.]

38 (return) [ Claudian does not clearly answer our question,

Where was Honorius himself? Yet the flight is marked by the

pursuit; and my idea of the Gothic was is justified by the

Italian critics, Sigonius (tom. P, ii. p. 369, de Imp. Occident.

l. x.) and Muratori, (Annali d’Italia. tom. iv. p. 45.)]

39 (return) [ One of the roads may be traced in the Itineraries,

(p. 98, 288, 294, with Wesseling’s Notes.) Asta lay some miles on

the right hand.]

40 (return) [ Asta, or Asti, a Roman colony, is now the capital

of a pleasant country, which, in the sixteenth century, devolved

to the dukes of Savoy, (Leandro Alberti Descrizzione d’Italia, p.

382.)]

41 (return) [ Nec me timor impulit ullus. He might hold this

proud language the next year at Rome, five hundred miles from the

scene of danger (vi. Cons. Hon. 449.)]

42 (return) [ Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo Victus,

humum.——The speeches (de Bell. Get. 479-549) of the Gothic

Nestor, and Achilles, are strong, characteristic, adapted to the

circumstances; and possibly not less genuine than those of Livy.]

The loose discipline of the Barbarians always exposed them to the

danger of a surprise; but, instead of choosing the dissolute

hours of riot and intemperance, Stilicho resolved to attack the

Christian Goths, whilst they were devoutly employed in

celebrating the festival of Easter. 43 The execution of the

stratagem, or, as it was termed by the clergy of the sacrilege,

was intrusted to Saul, a Barbarian and a Pagan, who had served,

however, with distinguished reputation among the veteran generals

of Theodosius. The camp of the Goths, which Alaric had pitched in

the neighborhood of Pollentia, 44 was thrown into confusion by

the sudden and impetuous charge of the Imperial cavalry; but, in

a few moments, the undaunted genius of their leader gave them an

order, and a field of battle; and, as soon as they had recovered

from their astonishment, the pious confidence, that the God of

the Christians would assert their cause, added new strength to

their native valor. In this engagement, which was long maintained

with equal courage and success, the chief of the Alani, whose

diminutive and savage form concealed a magnanimous soul approved

his suspected loyalty, by the zeal with which he fought, and

fell, in the service of the republic; and the fame of this

gallant Barbarian has been imperfectly preserved in the verses of

Claudian, since the poet, who celebrates his virtue, has omitted

the mention of his name. His death was followed by the flight and

dismay of the squadrons which he commanded; and the defeat of the

wing of cavalry might have decided the victory of Alaric, if

Stilicho had not immediately led the Roman and Barbarian infantry

to the attack. The skill of the general, and the bravery of the

soldiers, surmounted every obstacle. In the evening of the bloody

day, the Goths retreated from the field of battle; the

intrenchments of their camp were forced, and the scene of rapine

and slaughter made some atonement for the calamities which they

had inflicted on the subjects of the empire. 45 The magnificent

spoils of Corinth and Argos enriched the veterans of the West;

the captive wife of Alaric, who had impatiently claimed his

promise of Roman jewels and Patrician handmaids, 46 was reduced

to implore the mercy of the insulting foe; and many thousand

prisoners, released from the Gothic chains, dispersed through the

provinces of Italy the praises of their heroic deliverer. The

triumph of Stilicho 47 was compared by the poet, and perhaps by

the public, to that of Marius; who, in the same part of Italy,

had encountered and destroyed another army of Northern

Barbarians. The huge bones, and the empty helmets, of the Cimbri

and of the Goths, would easily be confounded by succeeding

generations; and posterity might erect a common trophy to the

memory of the two most illustrious generals, who had vanquished,

on the same memorable ground, the two most formidable enemies of

Rome. 48

43 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 37) is shocked at the impiety

of the Romans, who attacked, on Easter Sunday, such pious

Christians. Yet, at the same time, public prayers were offered at

the shrine of St. Thomas of Edessa, for the destruction of the

Arian robber. See Tillemont (Hist des Emp. tom. v. p. 529) who

quotes a homily, which has been erroneously ascribed to St.

Chrysostom.]

44 (return) [ The vestiges of Pollentia are twenty-five miles to

the south-east of Turin. Urbs, in the same neighborhood, was a

royal chase of the kings of Lombardy, and a small river, which

excused the prediction, “penetrabis ad urbem,” (Cluver. Ital.

Antiq tom. i. p. 83-85.)]

45 (return) [ Orosius wishes, in doubtful words, to insinuate the

defeat of the Romans. “Pugnantes vicimus, victores victi sumus.”

Prosper (in Chron.) makes it an equal and bloody battle, but the

Gothic writers Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Jornandes (de Reb.

Get. c. 29) claim a decisive victory.]

46 (return) [ Demens Ausonidum gemmata monilia matrum, Romanasque

alta famulas cervice petebat. De Bell. Get. 627.]

47 (return) [ Claudian (de Bell. Get. 580-647) and Prudentius (in

Symmach. n. 694-719) celebrate, without ambiguity, the Roman

victory of Pollentia. They are poetical and party writers; yet

some credit is due to the most suspicious witnesses, who are

checked by the recent notoriety of facts.]

48 (return) [ Claudian’s peroration is strong and elegant; but

the identity of the Cimbric and Gothic fields must be understood

(like Virgil’s Philippi, Georgic i. 490) according to the loose

geography of a poet. Verselle and Pollentia are sixty miles from

each other; and the latitude is still greater, if the Cimbri were

defeated in the wide and barren plain of Verona, (Maffei, Verona

Illustrata, P. i. p. 54-62.)]

The eloquence of Claudian 49 has celebrated, with lavish

applause, the victory of Pollentia, one of the most glorious days

in the life of his patron; but his reluctant and partial muse

bestows more genuine praise on the character of the Gothic king.

His name is, indeed, branded with the reproachful epithets of

pirate and robber, to which the conquerors of every age are so

justly entitled; but the poet of Stilicho is compelled to

acknowledge that Alaric possessed the invincible temper of mind,

which rises superior to every misfortune, and derives new

resources from adversity. After the total defeat of his infantry,

he escaped, or rather withdrew, from the field of battle, with

the greatest part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Without

wasting a moment to lament the irreparable loss of so many brave

companions, he left his victorious enemy to bind in chains the

captive images of a Gothic king; 50 and boldly resolved to break

through the unguarded passes of the Apennine, to spread

desolation over the fruitful face of Tuscany, and to conquer or

die before the gates of Rome. The capital was saved by the active

and incessant diligence of Stilicho; but he respected the despair

of his enemy; and, instead of committing the fate of the republic

to the chance of another battle, he proposed to purchase the

absence of the Barbarians. The spirit of Alaric would have

rejected such terms, the permission of a retreat, and the offer

of a pension, with contempt and indignation; but he exercised a

limited and precarious authority over the independent chieftains

who had raised him, for their service, above the rank of his

equals; they were still less disposed to follow an unsuccessful

general, and many of them were tempted to consult their interest

by a private negotiation with the minister of Honorius. The king

submitted to the voice of his people, ratified the treaty with

the empire of the West, and repassed the Po with the remains of

the flourishing army which he had led into Italy. A considerable

part of the Roman forces still continued to attend his motions;

and Stilicho, who maintained a secret correspondence with some of

the Barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprised of the designs that

were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the

Goths, ambitious to signalize his retreat by some splendid

achievement, had resolved to occupy the important city of Verona,

which commands the principal passage of the Rhaetian Alps; and,

directing his march through the territories of those German

tribes, whose alliance would restore his exhausted strength, to

invade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and unsuspecting

provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason which had already

betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards

the passes of the mountains, already possessed by the Imperial

troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a

general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In

this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona,

the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had

sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who

escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been

slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had

not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric

secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and

prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege

against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on

all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of

hunger and disease; nor was it possible for him to check the

continual desertion of his impatient and capricious Barbarians.

In this extremity he still found resources in his own courage, or

in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic

king was considered as the deliverance of Italy. 51 Yet the

people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational

judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign

the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often

surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the

republic. The first momen of the public safety is devoted to

gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy

and calumny. 52

49 (return) [ Claudian and Prudentius must be strictly examined,

to reduce the figures, and extort the historic sense, of those

poets.]

50 (return) [

Et gravant en airain ses freles avantages De mes etats conquis

enchainer les images.

The practice of exposing in triumph the images of kings and

provinces was familiar to the Romans. The bust of Mithridates

himself was twelve feet high, of massy gold, (Freinshem.

Supplement. Livian. ciii. 47.)]