Empire.—Part VI.
IV. The ignominious treaty, which saved the army of Jovian, had
been faithfully executed on the side of the Romans; and as they
had solemnly renounced the sovereignty and alliance of Armenia
and Iberia, those tributary kingdoms were exposed, without
protection, to the arms of the Persian monarch. 133 Sapor entered
the Armenian territories at the head of a formidable host of
cuirassiers, of archers, and of mercenary foot; but it was the
invariable practice of Sapor to mix war and negotiation, and to
consider falsehood and perjury as the most powerful instruments
of regal policy. He affected to praise the prudent and moderate
conduct of the king of Armenia; and the unsuspicious Tiranus was
persuaded, by the repeated assurances of insidious friendship, to
deliver his person into the hands of a faithless and cruel enemy.
In the midst of a splendid entertainment, he was bound in chains
of silver, as an honor due to the blood of the Arsacides; and,
after a short confinement in the Tower of Oblivion at Ecbatana,
he was released from the miseries of life, either by his own
dagger, or by that of an assassin. 13311 The kingdom of Armenia
was reduced to the state of a Persian province; the
administration was shared between a distinguished satrap and a
favorite eunuch; and Sapor marched, without delay, to subdue the
martial spirit of the Iberians. Sauromaces, who reigned in that
country by the permission of the emperors, was expelled by a
superior force; and, as an insult on the majesty of Rome, the
king of kings placed a diadem on the head of his abject vassal
Aspacuras. The city of Artogerassa 134 was the only place of
Armenia 13411 which presumed to resist the efforts of his arms.
The treasure deposited in that strong fortress tempted the
avarice of Sapor; but the danger of Olympias, the wife or widow
of the Armenian king, excited the public compassion, and animated
the desperate valor of her subjects and soldiers. 13412 The
Persians were surprised and repulsed under the walls of
Artogerassa, by a bold and well-concerted sally of the besieged.
But the forces of Sapor were continually renewed and increased;
the hopeless courage of the garrison was exhausted; the strength
of the walls yielded to the assault; and the proud conqueror,
after wasting the rebellious city with fire and sword, led away
captive an unfortunate queen; who, in a more auspicious hour, had
been the destined bride of the son of Constantine. 135 Yet if
Sapor already triumphed in the easy conquest of two dependent
kingdoms, he soon felt, that a country is unsubdued as long as
the minds of the people are actuated by a hostile and
contumacious spirit. The satraps, whom he was obliged to trust,
embraced the first opportunity of regaining the affection of
their countrymen, and of signalizing their immortal hatred to the
Persian name. Since the conversion of the Armenians and Iberians,
these nations considered the Christians as the favorites, and the
Magians as the adversaries, of the Supreme Being: the influence
of the clergy, over a superstitious people was uniformly exerted
in the cause of Rome; and as long as the successors of
Constantine disputed with those of Artaxerxes the sovereignty of
the intermediate provinces, the religious connection always threw
a decisive advantage into the scale of the empire. A numerous and
active party acknowledged Para, the son of Tiranus, as the lawful
sovereign of Armenia, and his title to the throne was deeply
rooted in the hereditary succession of five hundred years. By the
unanimous consent of the Iberians, the country was equally
divided between the rival princes; and Aspacuras, who owed his
diadem to the choice of Sapor, was obliged to declare, that his
regard for his children, who were detained as hostages by the
tyrant, was the only consideration which prevented him from
openly renouncing the alliance of Persia. The emperor Valens, who
respected the obligations of the treaty, and who was apprehensive
of involving the East in a dangerous war, ventured, with slow and
cautious measures, to support the Roman party in the kingdoms of
Iberia and Armenia. 13511 Twelve legions established the
authority of Sauromaces on the banks of the Cyrus. The Euphrates
was protected by the valor of Arintheus. A powerful army, under
the command of Count Trajan, and of Vadomair, king of the
Alemanni, fixed their camp on the confines of Armenia. But they
were strictly enjoined not to commit the first hostilities, which
might be understood as a breach of the treaty: and such was the
implicit obedience of the Roman general, that they retreated,
with exemplary patience, under a shower of Persian arrows till
they had clearly acquired a just title to an honorable and
legitimate victory. Yet these appearances of war insensibly
subsided in a vain and tedious negotiation. The contending
parties supported their claims by mutual reproaches of perfidy
and ambition; and it should seem, that the original treaty was
expressed in very obscure terms, since they were reduced to the
necessity of making their inconclusive appeal to the partial
testimony of the generals of the two nations, who had assisted at
the negotiations. 136 The invasion of the Goths and Huns which
soon afterwards shook the foundations of the Roman empire,
exposed the provinces of Asia to the arms of Sapor. But the
declining age, and perhaps the infirmities, of the monarch
suggested new maxims of tranquillity and moderation. His death,
which happened in the full maturity of a reign of seventy years,
changed in a moment the court and councils of Persia; and their
attention was most probably engaged by domestic troubles, and the
distant efforts of a Carmanian war. 137 The remembrance of
ancient injuries was lost in the enjoyment of peace. The kingdoms
of Armenia and Iberia were permitted, by the mutual,though tacit
consent of both empires, to resume their doubtful neutrality. In
the first years of the reign of Theodosius, a Persian embassy
arrived at Constantinople, to excuse the unjustifiable measures
of the former reign; and to offer, as the tribute of friendship,
or even of respect, a splendid present of gems, of silk, and of
Indian elephants. 138
133 (return) [ The evidence of Ammianus is original and decisive,
(xxvii. 12.) Moses of Chorene, (l. iii. c. 17, p. 249, and c. 34,
p. 269,) and Procopius, (de Bell. Persico, l. i. c. 5, p. 17,
edit. Louvre,) have been consulted: but those historians who
confound distinct facts, repeat the same events, and introduce
strange stories, must be used with diffidence and caution. Note:
The statement of Ammianus is more brief and succinct, but
harmonizes with the more complicated history developed by M. St.
Martin from the Armenian writers, and from Procopius, who wrote,
as he states from Armenian authorities.—M.]
13311 (return) [ According to M. St. Martin, Sapor, though
supported by the two apostate Armenian princes, Meroujan the
Ardzronnian and Vahan the Mamigonian, was gallantly resisted by
Arsaces, and his brave though impious wife Pharandsem. His troops
were defeated by Vasag, the high constable of the kingdom. (See
M. St. Martin.) But after four years’ courageous defence of his
kingdom, Arsaces was abandoned by his nobles, and obliged to
accept the perfidious hospitality of Sapor. He was blinded and
imprisoned in the “Castle of Oblivion;” his brave general Vasag
was flayed alive; his skin stuffed and placed near the king in
his lonely prison. It was not till many years after (A.D. 371)
that he stabbed himself, according to the romantic story, (St. M.
iii. 387, 389,) in a paroxysm of excitement at his restoration to
royal honors. St. Martin, Additions to Le Beau, iii. 283,
296.—M.]
134 (return) [ Perhaps Artagera, or Ardis; under whose walls
Caius, the grandson of Augustus, was wounded. This fortress was
situate above Amida, near one of the sources of the Tigris. See
D’Anville, Geographie Ancienue, tom. ii. p. 106. * Note: St.
Martin agrees with Gibbon, that it was the same fortress with
Ardis Note, p. 373.—M.]
13411 (return) [ Artaxata, Vagharschabad, or Edchmiadzin,
Erovantaschad, and many other cities, in all of which there was a
considerable Jewish population were taken and destroyed.—M.]
13412 (return) [ Pharandsem, not Olympias, refusing the orders of
her captive husband to surrender herself to Sapor, threw herself
into Artogerassa St. Martin, iii. 293, 302. She defended herself
for fourteen months, till famine and disease had left few
survivors out of 11,000 soldiers and 6000 women who had taken
refuge in the fortress. She then threw open the gates with her
own hand. M. St. Martin adds, what even the horrors of Oriental
warfare will scarcely permit us to credit, that she was exposed
by Sapor on a public scaffold to the brutal lusts of his
soldiery, and afterwards empaled, iii. 373, &c.—M.]
135 (return) [ Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 701)
proves, from chronology, that Olympias must have been the mother
of Para. Note *: An error according to St. M. 273.—M.]
13511 (return) [ According to Themistius, quoted by St. Martin,
he once advanced to the Tigris, iii. 436.—M.]
136 (return) [ Ammianus (xxvii. 12, xix. 1. xxx. 1, 2) has
described the events, without the dates, of the Persian war.
Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. l. iii. c. 28, p. 261, c. 31, p.
266, c. 35, p. 271) affords some additional facts; but it is
extremely difficult to separate truth from fable.]
137 (return) [ Artaxerxes was the successor and brother (_the
cousin-german_) of the great Sapor; and the guardian of his son,
Sapor III. (Agathias, l. iv. p. 136, edit. Louvre.) See the
Universal History, vol. xi. p. 86, 161. The authors of that
unequal work have compiled the Sassanian dynasty with erudition
and diligence; but it is a preposterous arrangement to divide the
Roman and Oriental accounts into two distinct histories. * Note:
On the war of Sapor with the Bactrians, which diverted from
Armenia, see St. M. iii. 387.—M.]
138 (return) [ Pacatus in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 22, and Orosius, l.
vii. c. 34. Ictumque tum fœdus est, quo universus Oriens usque ad
num (A. D. 416) tranquillissime fruitur.]
In the general picture of the affairs of the East under the reign
of Valens, the adventures of Para form one of the most striking
and singular objects. The noble youth, by the persuasion of his
mother Olympias, had escaped through the Persian host that
besieged Artogerassa, and implored the protection of the emperor
of the East. By his timid councils, Para was alternately
supported, and recalled, and restored, and betrayed. The hopes of
the Armenians were sometimes raised by the presence of their
natural sovereign, 13811 and the ministers of Valens were
satisfied, that they preserved the integrity of the public faith,
if their vassal was not suffered to assume the diadem and title
of King. But they soon repented of their own rashness. They were
confounded by the reproaches and threats of the Persian monarch.
They found reason to distrust the cruel and inconstant temper of
Para himself; who sacrificed, to the slightest suspicions, the
lives of his most faithful servants, and held a secret and
disgraceful correspondence with the assassin of his father and
the enemy of his country. Under the specious pretence of
consulting with the emperor on the subject of their common
interest, Para was persuaded to descend from the mountains of
Armenia, where his party was in arms, and to trust his
independence and safety to the discretion of a perfidious court.
The king of Armenia, for such he appeared in his own eyes and in
those of his nation, was received with due honors by the
governors of the provinces through which he passed; but when he
arrived at Tarsus in Cilicia, his progress was stopped under
various pretences; his motions were watched with respectful
vigilance, and he gradually discovered, that he was a prisoner in
the hands of the Romans. Para suppressed his indignation,
dissembled his fears, and after secretly preparing his escape,
mounted on horseback with three hundred of his faithful
followers. The officer stationed at the door of his apartment
immediately communicated his flight to the consular of Cilicia,
who overtook him in the suburbs, and endeavored without success,
to dissuade him from prosecuting his rash and dangerous design. A
legion was ordered to pursue the royal fugitive; but the pursuit
of infantry could not be very alarming to a body of light
cavalry; and upon the first cloud of arrows that was discharged
into the air, they retreated with precipitation to the gates of
Tarsus. After an incessant march of two days and two nights, Para
and his Armenians reached the banks of the Euphrates; but the
passage of the river which they were obliged to swim, 13812 was
attended with some delay and some loss. The country was alarmed;
and the two roads, which were only separated by an interval of
three miles had been occupied by a thousand archers on horseback,
under the command of a count and a tribune. Para must have
yielded to superior force, if the accidental arrival of a
friendly traveller had not revealed the danger and the means of
escape. A dark and almost impervious path securely conveyed the
Armenian troop through the thicket; and Para had left behind him
the count and the tribune, while they patiently expected his
approach along the public highways. They returned to the Imperial
court to excuse their want of diligence or success; and seriously
alleged, that the king of Armenia, who was a skilful magician,
had transformed himself and his followers, and passed before
their eyes under a borrowed shape. 13813 After his return to his
native kingdom, Para still continued to profess himself the
friend and ally of the Romans: but the Romans had injured him too
deeply ever to forgive, and the secret sentence of his death was
signed in the council of Valens. The execution of the bloody deed
was committed to the subtle prudence of Count Trajan; and he had
the merit of insinuating himself into the confidence of the
credulous prince, that he might find an opportunity of stabbing
him to the heart Para was invited to a Roman banquet, which had
been prepared with all the pomp and sensuality of the East; the
hall resounded with cheerful music, and the company was already
heated with wine; when the count retired for an instant, drew his
sword, and gave the signal of the murder. A robust and desperate
Barbarian instantly rushed on the king of Armenia; and though he
bravely defended his life with the first weapon that chance
offered to his hand, the table of the Imperial general was
stained with the royal blood of a guest, and an ally. Such were
the weak and wicked maxims of the Roman administration, that, to
attain a doubtful object of political interest the laws of
nations, and the sacred rights of hospitality were inhumanly
violated in the face of the world. 139
13811 (return) [ On the reconquest of Armenia by Para, or rather
by Mouschegh, the Mamigonian see St. M. iii. 375, 383.—M.]
13812 (return) [ On planks floated by bladders.—M.]
13813 (return) [ It is curious enough that the Armenian
historian, Faustus of Byzandum, represents Para as a magician.
His impious mother Pharandac had devoted him to the demons on his
birth. St. M. iv. 23.—M.]
139 (return) [ See in Ammianus (xxx. 1) the adventures of Para.
Moses of Chorene calls him Tiridates; and tells a long, and not
improbable story of his son Gnelus, who afterwards made himself
popular in Armenia, and provoked the jealousy of the reigning
king, (l. iii. c 21, &c., p. 253, &c.) * Note: This note is a
tissue of mistakes. Tiridates and Para are two totally different
persons. Tiridates was the father of Gnel first husband of
Pharandsem, the mother of Para. St. Martin, iv. 27—M.]
V. During a peaceful interval of thirty years, the Romans secured
their frontiers, and the Goths extended their dominions. The
victories of the great Hermanric, 140 king of the Ostrogoths, and
the most noble of the race of the Amali, have been compared, by
the enthusiasm of his countrymen, to the exploits of Alexander;
with this singular, and almost incredible, difference, that the
martial spirit of the Gothic hero, instead of being supported by
the vigor of youth, was displayed with glory and success in the
extreme period of human life, between the age of fourscore and
one hundred and ten years. The independent tribes were persuaded,
or compelled, to acknowledge the king of the Ostrogoths as the
sovereign of the Gothic nation: the chiefs of the Visigoths, or
Thervingi, renounced the royal title, and assumed the more humble
appellation of _Judges;_ and, among those judges, Athanaric,
Fritigern, and Alavivus, were the most illustrious, by their
personal merit, as well as by their vicinity to the Roman
provinces. These domestic conquests, which increased the military
power of Hermanric, enlarged his ambitious designs. He invaded
the adjacent countries of the North; and twelve considerable
nations, whose names and limits cannot be accurately defined,
successively yielded to the superiority of the Gothic arms. 141
The Heruli, who inhabited the marshy lands near the lake Mæotis,
were renowned for their strength and agility; and the assistance
of their light infantry was eagerly solicited, and highly
esteemed, in all the wars of the Barbarians. But the active
spirit of the Heruli was subdued by the slow and steady
perseverance of the Goths; and, after a bloody action, in which
the king was slain, the remains of that warlike tribe became a
useful accession to the camp of Hermanric.
He then marched against the Venedi; unskilled in the use of arms,
and formidable only by their numbers, which filled the wide
extent of the plains of modern Poland. The victorious Goths, who
were not inferior in numbers, prevailed in the contest, by the
decisive advantages of exercise and discipline. After the
submission of the Venedi, the conqueror advanced, without
resistance, as far as the confines of the Æstii; 142 an ancient
people, whose name is still preserved in the province of
Esthonia. Those distant inhabitants of the Baltic coast were
supported by the labors of agriculture, enriched by the trade of
amber, and consecrated by the peculiar worship of the Mother of
the Gods. But the scarcity of iron obliged the Æstian warriors to
content themselves with wooden clubs; and the reduction of that
wealthy country is ascribed to the prudence, rather than to the
arms, of Hermanric. His dominions, which extended from the Danube
to the Baltic, included the native seats, and the recent
acquisitions, of the Goths; and he reigned over the greatest part
of Germany and Scythia with the authority of a conqueror, and
sometimes with the cruelty of a tyrant. But he reigned over a
part of the globe incapable of perpetuating and adorning the
glory of its heroes. The name of Hermanric is almost buried in
oblivion; his exploits are imperfectly known; and the Romans
themselves appeared unconscious of the progress of an aspiring
power which threatened the liberty of the North, and the peace of
the empire. 143
140 (return) [ The concise account of the reign and conquests of
Hermanric seems to be one of the valuable fragments which
Jornandes (c 28) borrowed from the Gothic histories of Ablavius,
or Cassiodorus.]
141 (return) [ M. d. Buat. (Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom.
vi. p. 311-329) investigates, with more industry than success,
the nations subdued by the arms of Hermanric. He denies the
existence of the _Vasinobroncæ_, on account of the immoderate
length of their name. Yet the French envoy to Ratisbon, or
Dresden, must have traversed the country of the _Mediomatrici_.]
142 (return) [ The edition of Grotius (Jornandes, p. 642)
exhibits the name of _Æstri_. But reason and the Ambrosian MS.
have restored the _Æstii_, whose manners and situation are
expressed by the pencil of Tacitus, (Germania, c. 45.)]
143 (return) [ Ammianus (xxxi. 3) observes, in general terms,
Ermenrichi.... nobilissimi Regis, et per multa variaque fortiter
facta, vicinigentibus formidati, &c.]
The Goths had contracted an hereditary attachment for the
Imperial house of Constantine, of whose power and liberality they
had received so many signal proofs. They respected the public
peace; and if a hostile band sometimes presumed to pass the Roman
limit, their irregular conduct was candidly ascribed to the
ungovernable spirit of the Barbarian youth. Their contempt for
two new and obscure princes, who had been raised to the throne by
a popular election, inspired the Goths with bolder hopes; and,
while they agitated some design of marching their confederate
force under the national standard, 144 they were easily tempted
to embrace the party of Procopius; and to foment, by their
dangerous aid, the civil discord of the Romans. The public treaty
might stipulate no more than ten thousand auxiliaries; but the
design was so zealously adopted by the chiefs of the Visigoths,
that the army which passed the Danube amounted to the number of
thirty thousand men. 145 They marched with the proud confidence,
that their invincible valor would decide the fate of the Roman
empire; and the provinces of Thrace groaned under the weight of
the Barbarians, who displayed the insolence of masters and the
licentiousness of enemies. But the intemperance which gratified
their appetites, retarded their progress; and before the Goths
could receive any certain intelligence of the defeat and death of
Procopius, they perceived, by the hostile state of the country,
that the civil and military powers were resumed by his successful
rival. A chain of posts and fortifications, skilfully disposed by
Valens, or the generals of Valens, resisted their march,
prevented their retreat, and intercepted their subsistence. The
fierceness of the Barbarians was tamed and suspended by hunger;
they indignantly threw down their arms at the feet of the
conqueror, who offered them food and chains: the numerous
captives were distributed in all the cities of the East; and the
provincials, who were soon familiarized with their savage
appearance, ventured, by degrees, to measure their own strength
with these formidable adversaries, whose name had so long been
the object of their terror. The king of Scythia (and Hermanric
alone could deserve so lofty a title) was grieved and exasperated
by this national calamity. His ambassadors loudly complained, at
the court of Valens, of the infraction of the ancient and solemn
alliance, which had so long subsisted between the Romans and the
Goths. They alleged, that they had fulfilled the duty of allies,
by assisting the kinsman and successor of the emperor Julian;
they required the immediate restitution of the noble captives;
and they urged a very singular claim, that the Gothic generals
marching in arms, and in hostile array, were entitled to the
sacred character and privileges of ambassadors. The decent, but
peremptory, refusal of these extravagant demands, was signified
to the Barbarians by Victor, master-general of the cavalry; who
expressed, with force and dignity, the just complaints of the
emperor of the East. 146 The negotiation was interrupted; and the
manly exhortations of Valentinian encouraged his timid brother to
vindicate the insulted majesty of the empire. 147
144 (return) [ Valens. ... docetur relationibus Ducum, gentem
Gothorum, ea tempestate intactam ideoque sævissimam, conspirantem
in unum, ad pervadenda parari collimitia Thraciarum. Ammian. xxi.
6.]
145 (return) [ M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom.
vi. p. 332) has curiously ascertained the real number of these
auxiliaries. The 3000 of Ammianus, and the 10,000 of Zosimus,
were only the first divisions of the Gothic army. * Note: M. St.
Martin (iii. 246) denies that there is any authority for these
numbers.—M.]
146 (return) [ The march, and subsequent negotiation, are
described in the Fragments of Eunapius, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 18,
edit. Louvre.) The provincials who afterwards became familiar
with the Barbarians, found that their strength was more apparent
than real. They were tall of stature; but their legs were clumsy,
and their shoulders were narrow.]
147 (return) [ Valens enim, ut consulto placuerat fratri, cujus
regebatur arbitrio, arma concussit in Gothos ratione justâ
permotus. Ammianus (xxvii. 4) then proceeds to describe, not the
country of the Goths, but the peaceful and obedient province of
Thrace, which was not affected by the war.]
The splendor and magnitude of this Gothic war are celebrated by a
contemporary historian: 148 but the events scarcely deserve the
attention of posterity, except as the preliminary steps of the
approaching decline and fall of the empire. Instead of leading
the nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the Danube, or
even to the gates of Constantinople, the aged monarch of the
Goths resigned to the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a
defensive war, against an enemy, who wielded with a feeble hand
the powers of a mighty state. A bridge of boats was established
upon the Danube; the presence of Valens animated his troops; and
his ignorance of the art of war was compensated by personal
bravery, and a wise deference to the advice of Victor and
Arintheus, his masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. The
operations of the campaign were conducted by their skill and
experience; but they found it impossible to drive the Visigoths
from their strong posts in the mountains; and the devastation of
the plains obliged the Romans themselves to repass the Danube on
the approach of winter. The incessant rains, which swelled the
waters of the river, produced a tacit suspension of arms, and
confined the emperor Valens, during the whole course of the
ensuing summer, to his camp of Marcianopolis. The third year of
the war was more favorable to the Romans, and more pernicious to
the Goths. The interruption of trade deprived the Barbarians of
the objects of luxury, which they already confounded with the
necessaries of life; and the desolation of a very extensive tract
of country threatened them with the horrors of famine. Athanaric
was provoked, or compelled, to risk a battle, which he lost, in
the plains; and the pursuit was rendered more bloody by the cruel
precaution of the victorious generals, who had promised a large
reward for the head of every Goth that was brought into the
Imperial camp. The submission of the Barbarians appeased the
resentment of Valens and his council: the emperor listened with
satisfaction to the flattering and eloquent remonstrance of the
senate of Constantinople, which assumed, for the first time, a
share in the public deliberations; and the same generals, Victor
and Arintheus, who had successfully directed the conduct of the
war, were empowered to regulate the conditions of peace. The
freedom of trade, which the Goths had hitherto enjoyed, was
restricted to two cities on the Danube; the rashness of their
leaders was severely punished by the suppression of their
pensions and subsidies; and the exception, which was stipulated
in favor of Athanaric alone, was more advantageous than honorable
to the Judge of the Visigoths. Athanaric, who, on this occasion,
appears to have consulted his private interest, without expecting
the orders of his sovereign, supported his own dignity, and that
of his tribe, in the personal interview which was proposed by the
ministers of Valens. He persisted in his declaration, that it was
impossible for him, without incurring the guilt of perjury, ever
to set his foot on the territory of the empire; and it is more
than probable, that his regard for the sanctity of an oath was
confirmed by the recent and fatal examples of Roman treachery.
The Danube, which separated the dominions of the two independent
nations, was chosen for the scene of the conference. The emperor
of the East, and the Judge of the Visigoths, accompanied by an
equal number of armed followers, advanced in their respective
barges to the middle of the stream. After the ratification of the
treaty, and the delivery of hostages, Valens returned in triumph
to Constantinople; and the Goths remained in a state of
tranquillity about six years; till they were violently impelled
against the Roman empire by an innumerable host of Scythians, who
appeared to issue from the frozen regions of the North. 149
148 (return) [ Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 18, 19. The Greek
sophist must have considered as _one_ and the _same_ war, the
whole series of Gothic history till the victories and peace of
Theodosius.]
149 (return) [ The Gothic war is described by Ammianus, (xxvii.
6,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 211-214,) and Themistius, (Orat. x. p.
129-141.) The orator Themistius was sent from the senate of
Constantinople to congratulate the victorious emperor; and his
servile eloquence compares Valens on the Danube to Achilles in
the Scamander. Jornandes forgets a war peculiar to the
_Visi_-Goths, and inglorious to the Gothic name, (Mascon’s Hist.
of the Germans, vii. 3.)]
The emperor of the West, who had resigned to his brother the
command of the Lower Danube, reserved for his immediate care the
defence of the Rhætian and Illyrian provinces, which spread so
many hundred miles along the greatest of the European rivers. The
active policy of Valentinian was continually employed in adding
new fortifications to the security of the frontier: but the abuse
of this policy provoked the just resentment of the Barbarians.
The Quadi complained, that the ground for an intended fortress
had been marked out on their territories; and their complaints
were urged with so much reason and moderation, that Equitius,
master-general of Illyricum, consented to suspend the prosecution
of the work, till he should be more clearly informed of the will
of his sovereign. This fair occasion of injuring a rival, and of
advancing the fortune of his son, was eagerly embraced by the
inhuman Maximin, the præfect, or rather tyrant, of Gaul. The
passions of Valentinian were impatient of control; and he
credulously listened to the assurances of his favorite, that if
the government of Valeria, and the direction of the work, were
intrusted to the zeal of his son Marcellinus, the emperor should
no longer be importuned with the audacious remonstrances of the
Barbarians. The subjects of Rome, and the natives of Germany,
were insulted by the arrogance of a young and worthless minister,
who considered his rapid elevation as the proof and reward of his
superior merit. He affected, however, to receive the modest
application of Gabinius, king of the Quadi, with some attention
and regard: but this artful civility concealed a dark and bloody
design, and the credulous prince was persuaded to accept the
pressing invitation of Marcellinus. I am at a loss how to vary
the narrative of similar crimes; or how to relate, that, in the
course of the same year, but in remote parts of the empire, the
inhospitable table of two Imperial generals was stained with the
royal blood of two guests and allies, inhumanly murdered by their
order, and in their presence. The fate of Gabinius, and of Para,
was the same: but the cruel death of their sovereign was resented
in a very different manner by the servile temper of the
Armenians, and the free and daring spirit of the Germans. The
Quadi were much declined from that formidable power, which, in
the time of Marcus Antoninus, had spread terror to the gates of
Rome. But they still possessed arms and courage; their courage
was animated by despair, and they obtained the usual
reenforcement of the cavalry of their Sarmatian allies. So
improvident was the assassin Marcellinus, that he chose the
moment when the bravest veterans had been drawn away, to suppress
the revolt of Firmus; and the whole province was exposed, with a
very feeble defence, to the rage of the exasperated Barbarians.
They invaded Pannonia in the season of harvest; unmercifully
destroyed every object of plunder which they could not easily
transport; and either disregarded, or demolished, the empty
fortifications. The princess Constantia, the daughter of the
emperor Constantius, and the granddaughter of the great
Constantine, very narrowly escaped. That royal maid, who had
innocently supported the revolt of Procopius, was now the
destined wife of the heir of the Western empire. She traversed
the peaceful province with a splendid and unarmed train. Her
person was saved from danger, and the republic from disgrace, by
the active zeal of Messala, governor of the provinces. As soon as
he was informed that the village, where she stopped only to dine,
was almost encompassed by the Barbarians, he hastily placed her
in his own chariot, and drove full speed till he reached the
gates of Sirmium, which were at the distance of six-and-twenty
miles. Even Sirmium might not have been secure, if the Quadi and
Sarmatians had diligently advanced during the general
consternation of the magistrates and people. Their delay allowed
Probus, the Prætorian præfect, sufficient time to recover his own
spirits, and to revive the courage of the citizens. He skilfully
directed their strenuous efforts to repair and strengthen the
decayed fortifications; and procured the seasonable and effectual
assistance of a company of archers, to protect the capital of the
Illyrian provinces. Disappointed in their attempts against the
walls of Sirmium, the indignant Barbarians turned their arms
against the master general of the frontier, to whom they unjustly
attributed the murder of their king. Equitius could bring into
the field no more than two legions; but they contained the
veteran strength of the Mæsian and Pannonian bands. The obstinacy
with which they disputed the vain honors of rank and precedency,
was the cause of their destruction; and while they acted with
separate forces and divided councils, they were surprised and
slaughtered by the active vigor of the Sarmatian horse. The
success of this invasion provoked the emulation of the bordering
tribes; and the province of Mæsia would infallibly have been
lost, if young Theodosius, the duke, or military commander, of
the frontier, had not signalized, in the defeat of the public
enemy, an intrepid genius, worthy of his illustrious father, and
of his future greatness. 150
150 (return) [ Ammianus (xxix. 6) and Zosimus (I. iv. p. 219,
220) carefully mark the origin and progress of the Quadic and
Sarmatian war.]