ten days, 19 without a master. The ministers and generals still
continued to meet in council; to exercise their respective
functions; to maintain the public order; and peaceably to conduct
the army to the city of Nice in Bithynia, which was chosen for
the place of the election. 20 In a solemn assembly of the civil
and military powers of the empire, the diadem was again
unanimously offered to the præfect Sallust. He enjoyed the glory
of a second refusal: and when the virtues of the father were
alleged in favor of his son, the præfect, with the firmness of a
disinterested patriot, declared to the electors, that the feeble
age of the one, and the unexperienced youth of the other, were
equally incapable of the laborious duties of government. Several
candidates were proposed; and, after weighing the objections of
character or situation, they were successively rejected; but, as
soon as the name of Valentinian was pronounced, the merit of that
officer united the suffrages of the whole assembly, and obtained
the sincere approbation of Sallust himself. Valentinian 21 was
the son of Count Gratian, a native of Cibalis, in Pannonia, who
from an obscure condition had raised himself, by matchless
strength and dexterity, to the military commands of Africa and
Britain; from which he retired with an ample fortune and
suspicious integrity. The rank and services of Gratian
contributed, however, to smooth the first steps of the promotion
of his son; and afforded him an early opportunity of displaying
those solid and useful qualifications, which raised his character
above the ordinary level of his fellow-soldiers. The person of
Valentinian was tall, graceful, and majestic. His manly
countenance, deeply marked with the impression of sense and
spirit, inspired his friends with awe, and his enemies with fear;
and to second the efforts of his undaunted courage, the son of
Gratian had inherited the advantages of a strong and healthy
constitution. By the habits of chastity and temperance, which
restrain the appetites and invigorate the faculties, Valentinian
preserved his own and the public esteem. The avocations of a
military life had diverted his youth from the elegant pursuits of
literature; 2111 he was ignorant of the Greek language, and the
arts of rhetoric; but as the mind of the orator was never
disconcerted by timid perplexity, he was able, as often as the
occasion prompted him, to deliver his decided sentiments with
bold and ready elocution. The laws of martial discipline were the
only laws that he had studied; and he was soon distinguished by
the laborious diligence, and inflexible severity, with which he
discharged and enforced the duties of the camp. In the time of
Julian he provoked the danger of disgrace, by the contempt which
he publicly expressed for the reigning religion; 22 and it should
seem, from his subsequent conduct, that the indiscreet and
unseasonable freedom of Valentinian was the effect of military
spirit, rather than of Christian zeal. He was pardoned, however,
and still employed by a prince who esteemed his merit; 23 and in
the various events of the Persian war, he improved the reputation
which he had already acquired on the banks of the Rhine. The
celerity and success with which he executed an important
commission, recommended him to the favor of Jovian; and to the
honorable command of the second _school_, or company, of
Targetiers, of the domestic guards. In the march from Antioch, he
had reached his quarters at Ancyra, when he was unexpectedly
summoned, without guilt and without intrigue, to assume, in the
forty-third year of his age, the absolute government of the Roman
empire.
19 (return) [ Ten days appear scarcely sufficient for the march
and election. But it may be observed, 1. That the generals might
command the expeditious use of the public posts for themselves,
their attendants, and messengers. 2. That the troops, for the
ease of the cities, marched in many divisions; and that the head
of the column might arrive at Nice, when the rear halted at
Ancyra.]
20 (return) [ Ammianus, xxvi. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 198.
Philostorgius, l. viii. c. 8, and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 334.
Philostorgius, who appears to have obtained some curious and
authentic intelligence, ascribes the choice of Valentinian to the
præfect Sallust, the master-general Arintheus, Dagalaiphus count
of the domestics, and the patrician Datianus, whose pressing
recommendations from Ancyra had a weighty influence in the
election.]
21 (return) [ Ammianus (xxx. 7, 9) and the younger Victor have
furnished the portrait of Valentinian, which naturally precedes
and illustrates the history of his reign. * Note: Symmachus, in a
fragment of an oration published by M. Mai, describes Valentinian
as born among the snows of Illyria, and habituated to military
labor amid the heat and dust of Libya: genitus in frigoribus,
educatus is solibus Sym. Orat. Frag. edit. Niebuhr, p. 5.—M.]
2111 (return) [ According to Ammianus, he wrote elegantly, and
was skilled in painting and modelling. Scribens decore,
venusteque pingens et fingens. xxx. 7.—M.]
22 (return) [ At Antioch, where he was obliged to attend the
emperor to the table, he struck a priest, who had presumed to
purify him with lustral water, (Sozomen, l. vi. c. 6. Theodoret,
l. iii. c. 15.) Such public defiance might become Valentinian;
but it could leave no room for the unworthy delation of the
philosopher Maximus, which supposes some more private offence,
(Zosimus, l. iv. p. 200, 201.)]
23 (return) [ Socrates, l. iv. A previous exile to Melitene, or
Thebais (the first might be possible,) is interposed by Sozomen
(l. vi. c. 6) and Philostorgius, (l. vii. c. 7, with Godefroy’s
Dissertations, p. 293.)]
The invitation of the ministers and generals at Nice was of
little moment, unless it were confirmed by the voice of the army.
The aged Sallust, who had long observed the irregular
fluctuations of popular assemblies, proposed, under pain of
death, that none of those persons, whose rank in the service
might excite a party in their favor, should appear in public on
the day of the inauguration. Yet such was the prevalence of
ancient superstition, that a whole day was voluntarily added to
this dangerous interval, because it happened to be the
intercalation of the Bissextile. 24 At length, when the hour was
supposed to be propitious, Valentinian showed himself from a
lofty tribunal; the judicious choice was applauded; and the new
prince was solemnly invested with the diadem and the purple,
amidst the acclamation of the troops, who were disposed in
martial order round the tribunal. But when he stretched forth his
hand to address the armed multitude, a busy whisper was
accidentally started in the ranks, and insensibly swelled into a
loud and imperious clamor, that he should name, without delay, a
colleague in the empire. The intrepid calmness of Valentinian
obtained silence, and commanded respect; and he thus addressed
the assembly: “A few minutes since it was in _your_ power,
fellow-soldiers, to have left me in the obscurity of a private
station. Judging, from the testimony of my past life, that I
deserved to reign, you have placed me on the throne. It is now
_my_ duty to consult the safety and interest of the republic. The
weight of the universe is undoubtedly too great for the hands of
a feeble mortal. I am conscious of the limits of my abilities,
and the uncertainty of my life; and far from declining, I am
anxious to solicit, the assistance of a worthy colleague. But,
where discord may be fatal, the choice of a faithful friend
requires mature and serious deliberation. That deliberation shall
be _my_ care. Let _your_ conduct be dutiful and consistent.
Retire to your quarters; refresh your minds and bodies; and
expect the accustomed donative on the accession of a new
emperor.” 25 The astonished troops, with a mixture of pride, of
satisfaction, and of terror, confessed the voice of their master.
Their angry clamors subsided into silent reverence; and
Valentinian, encompassed with the eagles of the legions, and the
various banners of the cavalry and infantry, was conducted, in
warlike pomp, to the palace of Nice. As he was sensible, however,
of the importance of preventing some rash declaration of the
soldiers, he consulted the assembly of the chiefs; and their real
sentiments were concisely expressed by the generous freedom of
Dagalaiphus. “Most excellent prince,” said that officer, “if you
consider only your family, you have a brother; if you love the
republic, look round for the most deserving of the Romans.” 26
The emperor, who suppressed his displeasure, without altering his
intention, slowly proceeded from Nice to Nicomedia and
Constantinople. In one of the suburbs of that capital, 27 thirty
days after his own elevation, he bestowed the title of Augustus
on his brother Valens; 2711 and as the boldest patriots were
convinced, that their opposition, without being serviceable to
their country, would be fatal to themselves, the declaration of
his absolute will was received with silent submission. Valens was
now in the thirty-sixth year of his age; but his abilities had
never been exercised in any employment, military or civil; and
his character had not inspired the world with any sanguine
expectations. He possessed, however, one quality, which
recommended him to Valentinian, and preserved the domestic peace
of the empire; devout and grateful attachment to his benefactor,
whose superiority of genius, as well as of authority, Valens
humbly and cheerfully acknowledged in every action of his life.
28
24 (return) [ Ammianus, in a long, because unseasonable,
digression, (xxvi. l, and Valesius, ad locum,) rashly supposes
that he understands an astronomical question, of which his
readers are ignorant. It is treated with more judgment and
propriety by Censorinus (de Die Natali, c. 20) and Macrobius,
(Saturnal. i. c. 12-16.) The appellation of _Bissextile_, which
marks the inauspicious year, (Augustin. ad Januarium, Epist.
119,) is derived from the _repetition_ of the _sixth_ day of the
calends of March.]
25 (return) [ Valentinian’s first speech is in Ammianus, (xxvi.
2;) concise and sententious in Philostorgius, (l. viii. c. 8.)]
26 (return) [ Si tuos amas, Imperator optime, habes fratrem; si
Rempublicam quære quem vestias. Ammian. xxvi. 4. In the division
of the empire, Valentinian retained that sincere counsellor for
himself, (c.6.)]
27 (return) [ In suburbano, Ammian. xxvi. 4. The famous
_Hebdomon_, or field of Mars, was distant from Constantinople
either seven stadia, or seven miles. See Valesius, and his
brother, ad loc., and Ducange, Const. l. ii. p. 140, 141, 172,
173.]
2711 (return) [ Symmachus praises the liberality of Valentinian
in raising his brother at once to the rank of Augustus, not
training him through the slow and probationary degree of Cæsar.
Exigui animi vices munerum partiuntur, liberalitas desideriis
nihil reliquit. Symm. Orat. p. 7. edit. Niebuhr, 1816, reprinted
from Mai.—M.]
28 (return) [ Participem quidem legitimum potestatis; sed in
modum apparitoris morigerum, ut progrediens aperiet textus.
Ammian. xxvi. 4.]
Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.—Part II.
Before Valentinian divided the provinces, he reformed the
administration of the empire. All ranks of subjects, who had been
injured or oppressed under the reign of Julian, were invited to
support their public accusations. The silence of mankind attested
the spotless integrity of the præfect Sallust; 29 and his own
pressing solicitations, that he might be permitted to retire from
the business of the state, were rejected by Valentinian with the
most honorable expressions of friendship and esteem. But among
the favorites of the late emperor, there were many who had abused
his credulity or superstition; and who could no longer hope to be
protected either by favor or justice. 30 The greater part of the
ministers of the palace, and the governors of the provinces, were
removed from their respective stations; yet the eminent merit of
some officers was distinguished from the obnoxious crowd; and,
notwithstanding the opposite clamors of zeal and resentment, the
whole proceedings of this delicate inquiry appear to have been
conducted with a reasonable share of wisdom and moderation. 31
The festivity of a new reign received a short and suspicious
interruption from the sudden illness of the two princes; but as
soon as their health was restored, they left Constantinople in
the beginning of the spring. In the castle, or palace, of
Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn
and final division of the Roman empire. 32 Valentinian bestowed
on his brother the rich præfecture of the _East_, from the Lower
Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his
immediate government the warlike 3211 præfectures of _Illyricum,
Italy_, and _Gaul_, from the extremity of Greece to the
Caledonian rampart, and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot
of Mount Atlas. The provincial administration remained on its
former basis; but a double supply of generals and magistrates was
required for two councils, and two courts: the division was made
with a just regard to their peculiar merit and situation, and
seven master-generals were soon created, either of the cavalry or
infantry. When this important business had been amicably
transacted, Valentinian and Valens embraced for the last time.
The emperor of the West established his temporary residence at
Milan; and the emperor of the East returned to Constantinople, to
assume the dominion of fifty provinces, of whose language he was
totally ignorant. 33
29 (return) [ Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas,
and the Paschal Chronicle, M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 671) _wishes_ to disbelieve those stories, si
avantageuses à un payen.]
30 (return) [ Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the sufferings
of Maximus. (p. 82, 83;) yet he allows that the sophist or
magician, the guilty favorite of Julian, and the personal enemy
of Valentinian, was dismissed on the payment of a small fine.]
31 (return) [ The loose assertions of a general disgrace
(Zosimus, l. iv. p. 201), are detected and refuted by Tillemont,
(tom. v. p. 21.)]
32 (return) [ Ammianus, xxvi. 5.]
3211 (return) [ Ipse supra impacati Rhen semibarbaras ripas
raptim vexilla constituens * * Princeps creatus ad difficilem
militiam revertisti. Symm. Orat. 81.—M.]
33 (return) [ Ammianus says, in general terms, subagrestis
ingenii, nec bellicis nec liberalibus studiis eruditus. Ammian.
xxxi. 14. The orator Themistius, with the genuine impertinence of
a Greek, wishes for the first time to speak the Latin language,
the dialect of his sovereign. Orat. vi. p. 71.]
The tranquility of the East was soon disturbed by rebellion; and
the throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempts of a
rival whose affinity to the emperor Julian 34 was his sole merit,
and had been his only crime. Procopius had been hastily promoted
from the obscure station of a tribune, and a notary, to the joint
command of the army of Mesopotamia; the public opinion already
named him as the successor of a prince who was destitute of
natural heirs; and a vain rumor was propagated by his friends, or
his enemies, that Julian, before the altar of the Moon at Carrhæ,
had privately invested Procopius with the Imperial purple. 35 He
endeavored, by his dutiful and submissive behavior, to disarm the
jealousy of Jovian; resigned, without a contest, his military
command; and retired, with his wife and family, to cultivate the
ample patrimony which he possessed in the province of Cappadocia.
These useful and innocent occupations were interrupted by the
appearance of an officer with a band of soldiers, who, in the
name of his new sovereigns, Valentinian and Valens, was
despatched to conduct the unfortunate Procopius either to a
perpetual prison or an ignominious death. His presence of mind
procured him a longer respite, and a more splendid fate. Without
presuming to dispute the royal mandate, he requested the
indulgence of a few moments to embrace his weeping family; and
while the vigilance of his guards was relaxed by a plentiful
entertainment, he dexterously escaped to the sea-coast of the
Euxine, from whence he passed over to the country of Bosphorus.
In that sequestered region he remained many months, exposed to
the hardships of exile, of solitude, and of want; his melancholy
temper brooding over his misfortunes, and his mind agitated by
the just apprehension, that, if any accident should discover his
name, the faithless Barbarians would violate, without much
scruple, the laws of hospitality. In a moment of impatience and
despair, Procopius embarked in a merchant vessel, which made sail
for Constantinople; and boldly aspired to the rank of a
sovereign, because he was not allowed to enjoy the security of a
subject. At first he lurked in the villages of Bithynia,
continually changing his habitation and his disguise. 36 By
degrees he ventured into the capital, trusted his life and
fortune to the fidelity of two friends, a senator and a eunuch,
and conceived some hopes of success, from the intelligence which
he obtained of the actual state of public affairs. The body of
the people was infected with a spirit of discontent: they
regretted the justice and the abilities of Sallust, who had been
imprudently dismissed from the præfecture of the East. They
despised the character of Valens, which was rude without vigor,
and feeble without mildness. They dreaded the influence of his
father-in-law, the patrician Petronius, a cruel and rapacious
minister, who rigorously exacted all the arrears of tribute that
might remain unpaid since the reign of the emperor Aurelian. The
circumstances were propitious to the designs of a usurper. The
hostile measures of the Persians required the presence of Valens
in Syria: from the Danube to the Euphrates the troops were in
motion; and the capital was occasionally filled with the soldiers
who passed or repassed the Thracian Bosphorus. Two cohorts of
Gaul were persuaded to listen to the secret proposals of the
conspirators; which were recommended by the promise of a liberal
donative; and, as they still revered the memory of Julian, they
easily consented to support the hereditary claim of his
proscribed kinsman. At the dawn of day they were drawn up near
the baths of Anastasia; and Procopius, clothed in a purple
garment, more suitable to a player than to a monarch, appeared,
as if he rose from the dead, in the midst of Constantinople. The
soldiers, who were prepared for his reception, saluted their
trembling prince with shouts of joy and vows of fidelity. Their
numbers were soon increased by a band of sturdy peasants,
collected from the adjacent country; and Procopius, shielded by
the arms of his adherents, was successively conducted to the
tribunal, the senate, and the palace. During the first moments of
his tumultuous reign, he was astonished and terrified by the
gloomy silence of the people; who were either ignorant of the
cause, or apprehensive of the event. But his military strength
was superior to any actual resistance: the malcontents flocked to
the standard of rebellion; the poor were excited by the hopes,
and the rich were intimidated by the fear, of a general pillage;
and the obstinate credulity of the multitude was once more
deceived by the promised advantages of a revolution. The
magistrates were seized; the prisons and arsenals broke open; the
gates, and the entrance of the harbor, were diligently occupied;
and, in a few hours, Procopius became the absolute, though
precarious, master of the Imperial city. 3611 The usurper
improved this unexpected success with some degree of courage and
dexterity. He artfully propagated the rumors and opinions the
most favorable to his interest; while he deluded the populace by
giving audience to the frequent, but imaginary, ambassadors of
distant nations. The large bodies of troops stationed in the
cities of Thrace and the fortresses of the Lower Danube, were
gradually involved in the guilt of rebellion: and the Gothic
princes consented to supply the sovereign of Constantinople with
the formidable strength of several thousand auxiliaries. His
generals passed the Bosphorus, and subdued, without an effort,
the unarmed, but wealthy provinces of Bithynia and Asia. After an
honorable defence, the city and island of Cyzicus yielded to his
power; the renowned legions of the Jovians and Herculeans
embraced the cause of the usurper, whom they were ordered to
crush; and, as the veterans were continually augmented with new
levies, he soon appeared at the head of an army, whose valor, as
well as numbers, were not unequal to the greatness of the
contest. The son of Hormisdas, 37 a youth of spirit and ability,
condescended to draw his sword against the lawful emperor of the
East; and the Persian prince was immediately invested with the
ancient and extraordinary powers of a Roman Proconsul. The
alliance of Faustina, the widow of the emperor Constantius, who
intrusted herself and her daughter to the hands of the usurper,
added dignity and reputation to his cause. The princess
Constantia, who was then about five years of age, accompanied, in
a litter, the march of the army. She was shown to the multitude
in the arms of her adopted father; and, as often as she passed
through the ranks, the tenderness of the soldiers was inflamed
into martial fury: 38 they recollected the glories of the house
of Constantine, and they declared, with loyal acclamation, that
they would shed the last drop of their blood in the defence of
the royal infant. 39
34 (return) [ The uncertain degree of alliance, or consanguinity,
is expressed by the words, cognatus, consobrinus, (see Valesius
ad Ammian. xxiii. 3.) The mother of Procopius might be a sister
of Basilina and Count Julian, the mother and uncle of the
Apostate. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 49.]
35 (return) [ Ammian. xxiii. 3, xxvi. 6. He mentions the report
with much hesitation: susurravit obscurior fama; nemo enim dicti
auctor exstitit verus. It serves, however, to remark, that
Procopius was a Pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have
promoted, or obstructed, his pretensions.]
36 (return) [ One of his retreats was a country-house of
Eunomius, the heretic. The master was absent, innocent, ignorant;
yet he narrowly escaped a sentence of death, and was banished
into the remote parts of Mauritania, (Philostorg. l. ix. c. 5, 8,
and Godefroy’s Dissert. p. 369-378.)]
3611 (return) [ It may be suspected, from a fragment of Eunapius,
that the heathen and philosophic party espoused the cause of
Procopius. Heraclius, the Cynic, a man who had been honored by a
philosophic controversy with Julian, striking the ground with his
staff, incited him to courage with the line of Homer Eunapius.
Mai, p. 207 or in Niebuhr’s edition, p. 73.—M.]
37 (return) [ Hormisdæ maturo juveni Hormisdæ regalis illius
filio, potestatem Proconsulis detulit; et civilia, more veterum,
et bella, recturo. Ammian. xxvi. 8. The Persian prince escaped
with honor and safety, and was afterwards (A. D. 380) restored to
the same extraordinary office of proconsul of Bithynia,
(Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 204) I am ignorant
whether the race of Sassan was propagated. I find (A. D. 514) a
pope Hormisdas; but he was a native of Frusino, in Italy, (Pagi
Brev. Pontific. tom. i. p. 247)]
38 (return) [ The infant rebel was afterwards the wife of the
emperor Gratian but she died young, and childless. See Ducange,
Fam. Byzantin. p. 48, 59.]
39 (return) [ Sequimini culminis summi prosapiam, was the
language of Procopius, who affected to despise the obscure birth,
and fortuitous election of the upstart Pannonian. Ammian. xxvi.
7.]
In the mean while Valentinian was alarmed and perplexed by the
doubtful intelligence of the revolt of the East. 3911 The
difficulties of a German war forced him to confine his immediate
care to the safety of his own dominions; and, as every channel of
communication was stopped or corrupted, he listened, with
doubtful anxiety, to the rumors which were industriously spread,
that the defeat and death of Valens had left Procopius sole
master of the Eastern provinces. Valens was not dead: but on the
news of the rebellion, which he received at Cæsarea, he basely
despaired of his life and fortune; proposed to negotiate with the
usurper, and discovered his secret inclination to abdicate the
Imperial purple. The timid monarch was saved from disgrace and
ruin by the firmness of his ministers, and their abilities soon
decided in his favor the event of the civil war. In a season of
tranquillity, Sallust had resigned without a murmur; but as soon
as the public safety was attacked, he ambitiously solicited the
preëminence of toil and danger; and the restoration of that
virtuous minister to the præfecture of the East, was the first
step which indicated the repentance of Valens, and satisfied the
minds of the people. The reign of Procopius was apparently
supported by powerful armies and obedient provinces. But many of
the principal officers, military as well as civil, had been
urged, either by motives of duty or interest, to withdraw
themselves from the guilty scene; or to watch the moment of
betraying, and deserting, the cause of the usurper. Lupicinus
advanced by hasty marches, to bring the legions of Syria to the
aid of Valens. Arintheus, who, in strength, beauty, and valor,
excelled all the heroes of the age, attacked with a small troop a
superior body of the rebels. When he beheld the faces of the
soldiers who had served under his banner, he commanded them, with
a loud voice, to seize and deliver up their pretended leader; and
such was the ascendant of his genius, that this extraordinary
order was instantly obeyed. 40 Arbetio, a respectable veteran of
the great Constantine, who had been distinguished by the honors
of the consulship, was persuaded to leave his retirement, and
once more to conduct an army into the field. In the heat of
action, calmly taking off his helmet, he showed his gray hairs
and venerable countenance: saluted the soldiers of Procopius by
the endearing names of children and companions, and exhorted them
no longer to support the desperate cause of a contemptible
tyrant; but to follow their old commander, who had so often led
them to honor and victory. In the two engagements of Thyatira 41
and Nacolia, the unfortunate Procopius was deserted by his
troops, who were seduced by the instructions and example of their
perfidious officers. After wandering some time among the woods
and mountains of Phyrgia, he was betrayed by his desponding
followers, conducted to the Imperial camp, and immediately
beheaded. He suffered the ordinary fate of an unsuccessful
usurper; but the acts of cruelty which were exercised by the
conqueror, under the forms of legal justice, excited the pity and
indignation of mankind. 42
3911 (return) [ Symmachus describes his embarrassment. “The
Germans are the common enemies of the state, Procopius the
private foe of the Emperor; his first care must be victory, his
second revenge.” Symm. Orat. p. 11.—M.]
40 (return) [ Et dedignatus hominem superare certamine
despicabilem, auctoritatis et celsi fiducia corporis ipsis
hostibus jussit, suum vincire rectorem: atque ita turmarum,
antesignanus umbratilis comprensus suorum manibus. The strength
and beauty of Arintheus, the new Hercules, are celebrated by St.
Basil, who supposed that God had created him as an inimitable
model of the human species. The painters and sculptors could not
express his figure: the historians appeared fabulous when they
related his exploits, (Ammian. xxvi. and Vales. ad loc.)]
41 (return) [ The same field of battle is placed by Ammianus in
Lycia, and by Zosimus at Thyatira, which are at the distance of
150 miles from each other. But Thyatira alluitur _Lyco_, (Plin.
Hist. Natur. v. 31, Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 79;)
and the transcribers might easily convert an obscure river into a
well-known province. * Note: Ammianus and Zosimus place the last
battle at Nacolia in _Phrygia;_ Ammianus altogether omits the
former battle near Thyatira. Procopius was on his march (iter
tendebat) towards Lycia. See Wagner’s note, in c.—M.]
42 (return) [ The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Procopius,
are related, in a regular series, by Ammianus, (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9,
10,) and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 203-210.) They often illustrate, and
seldom contradict, each other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p. 91, 92)
adds some base panegyric; and Euna pius (p. 83, 84) some
malicious satire. ——Symmachus joins with Themistius in praising
the clemency of Valens dic victoriæ moderatus est, quasi contra
se nemo pugnavit. Symm. Orat. p. 12.—M.]
Such indeed are the common and natural fruits of despotism and
rebellion. But the inquisition into the crime of magic, 4211
which, under the reign of the two brothers, was so rigorously
prosecuted both at Rome and Antioch, was interpreted as the fatal
symptom, either of the displeasure of Heaven, or of the depravity
of mankind. 43 Let us not hesitate to indulge a liberal pride,
that, in the present age, the enlightened part of Europe has
abolished 44 a cruel and odious prejudice, which reigned in every
climate of the globe, and adhered to every system of religious
opinions. 45 The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world,
admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the
reality of that infernal art, 46 which was able to control the
eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the
human mind. They dreaded the mysterious power of spells and
incantations, of potent herbs, and execrable rites; which could
extinguish or recall life, inflame the passions of the soul,
blast the works of creation, and extort from the reluctant dæmons
the secrets of futurity. They believed, with the wildest
inconsistency, that this preternatural dominion of the air, of
earth, and of hell, was exercised, from the vilest motives of
malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags and itinerant sorcerers,
who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt. 47 The
arts of magic were equally condemned by the public opinion, and
by the laws of Rome; but as they tended to gratify the most
imperious passions of the heart of man, they were continually
proscribed, and continually practised. 48 An imaginary cause was
capable of producing the most serious and mischievous effects.
The dark predictions of the death of an emperor, or the success
of a conspiracy, were calculated only to stimulate the hopes of
ambition, and to dissolve the ties of fidelity; and the
intentional guilt of magic was aggravated by the actual crimes of
treason and sacrilege. 49 Such vain terrors disturbed the peace
of society, and the happiness of individuals; and the harmless
flame which insensibly melted a waxen image, might derive a
powerful and pernicious energy from the affrighted fancy of the
person whom it was maliciously designed to represent. 50 From the
infusion of those herbs, which were supposed to possess a
supernatural influence, it was an easy step to the use of more
substantial poison; and the folly of mankind sometimes became the
instrument, and the mask, of the most atrocious crimes. As soon
as the zeal of informers was encouraged by the ministers of
Valens and Valentinian, they could not refuse to listen to
another charge, too frequently mingled in the scenes of domestic
guilt; a charge of a softer and less malignant nature, for which
the pious, though excessive, rigor of Constantine had recently
decreed the punishment of death. 51 This deadly and incoherent
mixture of treason and magic, of poison and adultery, afforded
infinite gradations of guilt and innocence, of excuse and
aggravation, which in these proceedings appear to have been
confounded by the angry or corrupt passions of the judges. They
easily discovered that the degree of their industry and
discernment was estimated, by the Imperial court, according to
the number of executions that were furnished from the respective
tribunals. It was not without extreme reluctance that they
pronounced a sentence of acquittal; but they eagerly admitted
such evidence as was stained with perjury, or procured by
torture, to prove the most improbable charges against the most
respectable characters. The progress of the inquiry continually
opened new subjects of criminal prosecution; the audacious
informer, whose falsehood was detected, retired with impunity;
but the wretched victim, who discovered his real or pretended
accomplices, were seldom permitted to receive the price of his
infamy. From the extremity of Italy and Asia, the young, and the
aged, were dragged in chains to the tribunals of Rome and
Antioch. Senators, matrons, and philosophers, expired in
ignominious and cruel tortures. The soldiers, who were appointed
to guard the prisons, declared, with a murmur of pity and
indignation, that their numbers were insufficient to oppose the
flight, or resistance, of the multitude of captives. The
wealthiest families were ruined by fines and confiscations; the
most innocent citizens trembled for their safety; and we may form
some notion of the magnitude of the evil, from the extravagant
assertion of an ancient writer, that, in the obnoxious provinces,
the prisoners, the exiles, and the fugitives, formed the greatest
part of the inhabitants. 52
4211 (return) [ This infamous inquisition into sorcery and
witchcraft has been of greater influence on human affairs than is
commonly supposed. The persecutions against philosophers and
their libraries was carried on with so much fury, that from this
time (A. D. 374) the names of the Gentile philosophers became
almost extinct; and the Christian philosophy and religion,
particularly in the East, established their ascendency. I am
surprised that Gibbon has not made this observation. Heyne, Note
on Zosimus, l. iv. 14, p. 637. Besides vast heaps of manuscripts
publicly destroyed throughout the East, men of letters burned
their whole libraries, lest some fatal volume should expose them
to the malice of the informers and the extreme penalty of the
law. Amm. Marc. xxix. 11.—M.]
43 (return) [ Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. ix. p. 158,
159. The sophist deplores the public frenzy, but he does not
(after their deaths) impeach the justice of the emperors.]
44 (return) [ The French and English lawyers, of the present age,
allow the _theory_, and deny the _practice_, of witchcraft,
(Denisart, Recueil de Decisions de Jurisprudence, au mot
_Sorciers_, tom. iv. p. 553. Blackstone’s Commentaries, vol. iv.
p. 60.) As private reason always prevents, or outstrips, public
wisdom, the president Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 5,
6) rejects the _existence_ of magic.]
45 (return) [ See Œuvres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589. The
sceptic of Rotterdam exhibits, according to his custom, a strange
medley of loose knowledge and lively wit.]
46 (return) [ The Pagans distinguished between good and bad
magic, the Theurgic and the Goetic, (Hist. de l’Académie, &c.,
tom. vii. p. 25.) But they could not have defended this obscure
distinction against the acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and
Christian system, _all_ dæmons are infernal spirits; and _all_
commerce with them is idolatry, apostasy &c., which deserves
death and damnation.]
47 (return) [ The Canidia of Horace (Carm. l. v. Od. 5, with
Dacier’s and Sanadon’s illustrations) is a vulgar witch. The
Erictho of Lucan (Pharsal. vi. 430-830) is tedious, disgusting,
but sometimes sublime. She chides the delay of the Furies, and
threatens, with tremendous obscurity, to pronounce their real
names; to reveal the true infernal countenance of Hecate; to
invoke the secret powers that lie below hell, &c.]
48 (return) [ Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus
fallax, quod in civitate nostrâ et vetabitur semper et
retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i. 22. See Augustin. de Civitate Dei,
l. viii. c. 19, and the Theodosian Code l. ix. tit. xvi., with
Godefroy’s Commentary.]
49 (return) [ The persecution of Antioch was occasioned by a
criminal consultation. The twenty-four letters of the alphabet
were arranged round a magic tripod: and a dancing ring, which had
been placed in the centre, pointed to the four first letters in
the name of the future emperor, O. E. O Triangle. Theodorus
(perhaps with many others, who owned the fatal syllables) was
executed. Theodosius succeeded. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies,
vol. iv. p. 353-372) has copiously and fairly examined this dark
transaction of the reign of Valens.]
50 (return) [
Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit Uno eodemque
igni—Virgil. Bucolic. viii. 80.
Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea figit. —Ovid. in Epist. Hypsil.
ad Jason 91.
Such vain incantations could affect the mind, and increase the
disease of Germanicus. Tacit. Annal. ii. 69.]
51 (return) [ See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman. tom. ii.
p. 353, &c. Cod. Theodosian. l. ix. tit. 7, with Godefroy’s
Commentary.]
52 (return) [ The cruel persecution of Rome and Antioch is
described, and most probably exaggerated, by Ammianus (xxvii. 1.
xxix. 1, 2) and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 216-218.) The philosopher
Maximus, with some justice, was involved in the charge of magic,
(Eunapius in Vit. Sophist. p. 88, 89;) and young Chrysostom, who
had accidentally found one of the proscribed books, gave himself
up for lost, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 340.)]
When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and illustrious
Romans, who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the first Cæsars,
the art of the historian, or the merit of the sufferers, excites
in our breast the most lively sensations of terror, of
admiration, and of pity. The coarse and undistinguishing pencil
of Ammianus has delineated his bloody figures with tedious and
disgusting accuracy. But as our attention is no longer engaged by
the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent greatness and of
actual misery, we should turn with horror from the frequent
executions, which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch, the reign
of the two brothers. 53 Valens was of a timid, 54 and Valentinian
of a choleric, disposition. 55 An anxious regard to his personal
safety was the ruling principle of the administration of Valens.
In the condition of a subject, he had kissed, with trembling awe,
the hand of the oppressor; and when he ascended the throne, he
reasonably expected, that the same fears, which had subdued his
own mind, would secure the patient submission of his people. The
favorites of Valens obtained, by the privilege of rapine and
confiscation, the wealth which his economy would have refused. 56
They urged, with persuasive eloquence, _that_, in all cases of
treason, suspicion is equivalent to proof; _that_ the power
supposes the intention, of mischief; _that_ the intention is not
less criminal than the act; and _that_ a subject no longer
deserves to live, if his life may threaten the safety, or disturb
the repose, of his sovereign. The judgment of Valentinian was
sometimes deceived, and his confidence abused; but he would have
silenced the informers with a contemptuous smile, had they
presumed to alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger. They
praised his inflexible love of justice; and, in the pursuit of
justice, the emperor was easily tempted to consider clemency as a
weakness, and passion as a virtue. As long as he wrestled with
his equals, in the bold competition of an active and ambitious
life, Valentinian was seldom injured, and never insulted, with
impunity: if his prudence was arraigned, his spirit was
applauded; and the proudest and most powerful generals were
apprehensive of provoking the resentment of a fearless soldier.
After he became master of the world, he unfortunately forgot,
that where no resistance can be made, no courage can be exerted;
and instead of consulting the dictates of reason and magnanimity,
he indulged the furious emotions of his temper, at a time when
they were disgraceful to himself, and fatal to the defenceless
objects of his displeasure. In the government of his household,
or of his empire, slight, or even imaginary, offences—a hasty
word, a casual omission, an involuntary delay—were chastised by a
sentence of immediate death. The expressions which issued the
most readily from the mouth of the emperor of the West were,
“Strike off his head;” “Burn him alive;” “Let him be beaten with
clubs till he expires;” 57 and his most favored ministers soon
understood, that, by a rash attempt to dispute, or suspend, the
execution of his sanguinary commands, they might involve
themselves in the guilt and punishment of disobedience. The
repeated gratification of this savage justice hardened the mind
of Valentinian against pity and remorse; and the sallies of
passion were confirmed by the habits of cruelty. 58 He could
behold with calm satisfaction the convulsive agonies of torture
and death; he reserved his friendship for those faithful servants
whose temper was the most congenial to his own. The merit of
Maximin, who had slaughtered the noblest families of Rome, was
rewarded with the royal approbation, and the præfecture of Gaul.
Two fierce and enormous bears, distinguished by the appellations
of _Innocence_, and _Mica Aurea_, could alone deserve to share
the favor of Maximin. The cages of those trusty guards were
always placed near the bed-chamber of Valentinian, who frequently
amused his eyes with the grateful spectacle of seeing them tear
and devour the bleeding limbs of the malefactors who were
abandoned to their rage. Their diet and exercises were carefully
inspected by the Roman emperor; and when _Innocence_ had earned
her discharge, by a long course of meritorious service, the
faithful animal was again restored to the freedom of her native
woods. 59
53 (return) [ Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and more
particularly the portraits of the two royal brothers, (xxx. 8, 9,
xxxi. 14.) Tillemont has collected (tom. v. p. 12-18, p. 127-133)
from all antiquity their virtues and vices.]
54 (return) [ The younger Victor asserts, that he was valde
timidus: yet he behaved, as almost every man would do, with
decent resolution at the _head_ of an army. The same historian
attempts to prove that his anger was harmless. Ammianus observes,
with more candor and judgment, incidentia crimina ad contemptam
vel læsam principis amplitudinem trahens, in sanguinem sæviebat.]
55 (return) [ Cum esset ad acerbitatem naturæ calore propensior.
.. pœnas perignes augebat et gladios. Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii.
7]
56 (return) [ I have transferred the reproach of avarice from
Valens to his servant. Avarice more properly belongs to ministers
than to kings; in whom that passion is commonly extinguished by
absolute possession.]
57 (return) [ He sometimes expressed a sentence of death with a
tone of pleasantry: “Abi, Comes, et muta ei caput, qui sibi
mutari provinciam cupit.” A boy, who had slipped too hastily a
Spartan bound; an armorer, who had made a polished cuirass that
wanted some grains of the legitimate weight, &c., were the
victims of his fury.]
58 (return) [ The innocents of Milan were an agent and three
apparitors, whom Valentinian condemned for signifying a legal
summons. Ammianus (xxvii. 7) strangely supposes, that all who had
been unjustly executed were worshipped as martyrs by the
Christians. His impartial silence does not allow us to believe,
that the great chamberlain Rhodanus was burnt alive for an act of
oppression, (Chron. Paschal. p. 392.) * Note: Ammianus does not
say that they were worshipped as _martyrs_. Quorum memoriam apud
Mediolanum colentes nunc usque Christiani loculos ubi sepulti
sunt, _ad innocentes_ appellant. Wagner’s note in loco. Yet if
the next paragraph refers to that transaction, which is not quite
clear. Gibbon is right.—M.]
59 (return) [ Ut bene meritam in sylvas jussit abire _Innoxiam_.
Ammian. xxix. and Valesius ad locum.]
Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.—Part III.
But in the calmer moments of reflection, when the mind of Valens
was not agitated by fear, or that of Valentinian by rage, the
tyrant resumed the sentiments, or at least the conduct, of the
father of his country. The dispassionate judgment of the Western
emperor could clearly perceive, and accurately pursue, his own
and the public interest; and the sovereign of the East, who
imitated with equal docility the various examples which he
received from his elder brother, was sometimes guided by the
wisdom and virtue of the præfect Sallust. Both princes invariably
retained, in the purple, the chaste and temperate simplicity
which had adorned their private life; and, under their reign, the
pleasures of the court never cost the people a blush or a sigh.
They gradually reformed many of the abuses of the times of
Constantius; judiciously adopted and improved the designs of
Julian and his successor; and displayed a style and spirit of
legislation which might inspire posterity with the most favorable
opinion of their character and government. It is not from the
master of _Innocence_, that we should expect the tender regard
for the welfare of his subjects, which prompted Valentinian to
condemn the exposition of new-born infants; 60 and to establish
fourteen skilful physicians, with stipends and privileges, in the
fourteen quarters of Rome. The good sense of an illiterate
soldier founded a useful and liberal institution for the
education of youth, and the support of declining science. 61 It
was his intention, that the arts of rhetoric and grammar should
be taught in the Greek and Latin languages, in the metropolis of
every province; and as the size and dignity of the school was
usually proportioned to the importance of the city, the academies
of Rome and Constantinople claimed a just and singular
preëminence. The fragments of the literary edicts of Valentinian
imperfectly represent the school of Constantinople, which was
gradually improved by subsequent regulations. That school
consisted of thirty-one professors in different branches of
learning. One philosopher, and two lawyers; five sophists, and
ten grammarians for the Greek, and three orators, and ten
grammarians for the Latin tongue; besides seven scribes, or, as
they were then styled, antiquarians, whose laborious pens
supplied the public library with fair and correct copies of the
classic writers. The rule of conduct, which was prescribed to the
students, is the more curious, as it affords the first outlines
of the form and discipline of a modern university. It was
required, that they should bring proper certificates from the
magistrates of their native province. Their names, professions,
and places of abode, were regularly entered in a public register.
60 (return) [ See the Code of Justinian, l. viii. tit. lii. leg.
2. Unusquisque sabolem suam nutriat. Quod si exponendam putaverit
animadversioni quæ constituta est subjacebit. For the present I
shall not interfere in the dispute between Noodt and Binkershoek;
how far, or how long this unnatural practice had been condemned
or abolished by law philosophy, and the more civilized state of
society.]
61 (return) [ These salutary institutions are explained in the
Theodosian Code, l. xiii. tit. iii. _De Professoribus et
Medicis_, and l. xiv. tit. ix. _De Studiis liberalibus Urbis
Romæ_. Besides our usual guide, (Godefroy,) we may consult
Giannone, (Istoria di Napoli, tom. i. p. 105-111,) who has
treated the interesting subject with the zeal and curiosity of a
man of latters who studies his domestic history.]
The studious youth were severely prohibited from wasting their
time in feasts, or in the theatre; and the term of their
education was limited to the age of twenty. The præfect of the
city was empowered to chastise the idle and refractory by stripes
or expulsion; and he was directed to make an annual report to the
master of the offices, that the knowledge and abilities of the
scholars might be usefully applied to the public service. The
institutions of Valentinian contributed to secure the benefits of
peace and plenty; and the cities were guarded by the
establishment of the _Defensors;_ 62 freely elected as the
tribunes and advocates of the people, to support their rights,
and to expose their grievances, before the tribunals of the civil
magistrates, or even at the foot of the Imperial throne. The
finances were diligently administered by two princes, who had
been so long accustomed to the rigid economy of a private
fortune; but in the receipt and application of the revenue, a
discerning eye might observe some difference between the
government of the East and of the West. Valens was persuaded,
that royal liberality can be supplied only by public oppression,
and his ambition never aspired to secure, by their actual
distress, the future strength and prosperity of his people.
Instead of increasing the weight of taxes, which, in the space of
forty years, had been gradually doubled, he reduced, in the first
years of his reign, one fourth of the tribute of the East. 63
Valentinian appears to have been less attentive and less anxious
to relieve the burdens of his people. He might reform the abuses
of the fiscal administration; but he exacted, without scruple, a
very large share of the private property; as he was convinced,
that the revenues, which supported the luxury of individuals,
would be much more advantageously employed for the defence and
improvement of the state. The subjects of the East, who enjoyed
the present benefit, applauded the indulgence of their prince.
The solid but less splendid, merit of Valentinian was felt and
acknowledged by the subsequent generation. 64
62 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. i. tit. xi. with Godefroy’s
_Paratitlon_, which diligently gleans from the rest of the code.]
63 (return) [ Three lines of Ammianus (xxxi. 14) countenance a
whole oration of Themistius, (viii. p. 101-120,) full of
adulation, pedantry, and common-place morality. The eloquent M.
Thomas (tom. i. p. 366-396) has amused himself with celebrating
the virtues and genius of Themistius, who was not unworthy of the
age in which he lived.]
64 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 202. Ammian. xxx. 9. His
reformation of costly abuses might entitle him to the praise of,
in provinciales admodum parcus, tributorum ubique molliens
sarcinas. By some his frugality was styled avarice, (Jerom.
Chron. p. 186)]
But the most honorable circumstance of the character of
Valentinian, is the firm and temperate impartiality which he
uniformly preserved in an age of religious contention. His strong
sense, unenlightened, but uncorrupted, by study, declined, with
respectful indifference, the subtle questions of theological
debate. The government of the _Earth_ claimed his vigilance, and
satisfied his ambition; and while he remembered that he was the
disciple of the church, he never forgot that he was the sovereign
of the clergy. Under the reign of an apostate, he had signalized
his zeal for the honor of Christianity: he allowed to his
subjects the privilege which he had assumed for himself; and they
might accept, with gratitude and confidence, the general
toleration which was granted by a prince addicted to passion, but
incapable of fear or of disguise. 65 The Pagans, the Jews, and
all the various sects which acknowledged the divine authority of
Christ, were protected by the laws from arbitrary power or
popular insult; nor was any mode of worship prohibited by
Valentinian, except those secret and criminal practices, which
abused the name of religion for the dark purposes of vice and
disorder. The art of magic, as it was more cruelly punished, was
more strictly proscribed: but the emperor admitted a formal
distinction to protect the ancient methods of divination, which
were approved by the senate, and exercised by the Tuscan
haruspices. He had condemned, with the consent of the most
rational Pagans, the license of nocturnal sacrifices; but he
immediately admitted the petition of Prætextatus, proconsul of
Achaia, who represented, that the life of the Greeks would become
dreary and comfortless, if they were deprived of the invaluable
blessing of the Eleusinian mysteries. Philosophy alone can boast,
(and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy,) that
her gentle hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the
latent and deadly principle of fanaticism. But this truce of
twelve years, which was enforced by the wise and vigorous
government of Valentinian, by suspending the repetition of mutual
injuries, contributed to soften the manners, and abate the
prejudices, of the religious factions.
65 (return) [ Testes sunt leges a me in exordio Imperii mei datæ;
quibus unicuique quod animo imbibisset colendi libera facultas
tributa est. Cod. Theodos. l. ix. tit. xvi. leg. 9. To this
declaration of Valentinian, we may add the various testimonies of
Ammianus, (xxx. 9,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 204,) and Sozomen, (l.
vi. c. 7, 21.) Baronius would naturally blame such rational
toleration, (Annal. Eccles A. D. 370, No. 129-132, A. D. 376, No.
3, 4.) ——Comme il s’était prescrit pour règle de ne point se
mêler de disputes de religion, son histoire est presque
entièrement dégagée des affaires ecclésiastiques. Le Beau. iii.
214.—M.]
The friend of toleration was unfortunately placed at a distance
from the scene of the fiercest controversies. As soon as the
Christians of the West had extricated themselves from the snares
of the creed of Rimini, they happily relapsed into the slumber of
orthodoxy; and the small remains of the Arian party, that still
subsisted at Sirmium or Milan, might be considered rather as
objects of contempt than of resentment. But in the provinces of
the East, from the Euxine to the extremity of Thebais, the
strength and numbers of the hostile factions were more equally
balanced; and this equality, instead of recommending the counsels
of peace, served only to perpetuate the horrors of religious war.
The monks and bishops supported their arguments by invectives;
and their invectives were sometimes followed by blows. Athanasius
still reigned at Alexandria; the thrones of Constantinople and
Antioch were occupied by Arian prelates, and every episcopal
vacancy was the occasion of a popular tumult. The Homoousians
were fortified by the reconciliation of fifty-nine Macelonian, or
Semi-Arian, bishops; but their secret reluctance to embrace the
divinity of the Holy Ghost, clouded the splendor of the triumph;
and the declaration of Valens, who, in the first years of his
reign, had imitated the impartial conduct of his brother, was an
important victory on the side of Arianism. The two brothers had
passed their private life in the condition of catechumens; but
the piety of Valens prompted him to solicit the sacrament of
baptism, before he exposed his person to the dangers of a Gothic
war. He naturally addressed himself to Eudoxus, 66 6611 bishop of
the Imperial city; and if the ignorant monarch was instructed by
that Arian pastor in the principles of heterodox theology, his
misfortune, rather than his guilt, was the inevitable consequence
of his erroneous choice. Whatever had been the determination of
the emperor, he must have offended a numerous party of his
Christian subjects; as the leaders both of the Homoousians and of
the Arians believed, that, if they were not suffered to reign,
they were most cruelly injured and oppressed. After he had taken
this decisive step, it was extremely difficult for him to
preserve either the virtue, or the reputation of impartiality. He
never aspired, like Constantius, to the fame of a profound
theologian; but as he had received with simplicity and respect
the tenets of Euxodus, Valens resigned his conscience to the
direction of his ecclesiastical guides, and promoted, by the
influence of his authority, the reunion of the _Athanasian
heretics_ to the body of the Catholic church. At first, he pitied
their blindness; by degrees he was provoked at their obstinacy;
and he insensibly hated those sectaries to whom he was an object
of hatred. 67 The feeble mind of Valens was always swayed by the
persons with whom he familiarly conversed; and the exile or
imprisonment of a private citizen are the favors the most readily
granted in a despotic court. Such punishments were frequently
inflicted on the leaders of the Homoousian party; and the
misfortune of fourscore ecclesiastics of Constantinople, who,
perhaps accidentally, were burned on shipboard, was imputed to
the cruel and premeditated malice of the emperor, and his Arian
ministers. In every contest, the Catholics (if we may anticipate
that name) were obliged to pay the penalty of their own faults,
and of those of their adversaries. In every election, the claims
of the Arian candidate obtained the preference; and if they were
opposed by the majority of the people, he was usually supported
by the authority of the civil magistrate, or even by the terrors
of a military force. The enemies of Athanasius attempted to
disturb the last years of his venerable age; and his temporary
retreat to his father’s sepulchre has been celebrated as a fifth
exile. But the zeal of a great people, who instantly flew to
arms, intimidated the præfect: and the archbishop was permitted
to end his life in peace and in glory, after a reign of
forty-seven years. The death of Athanasius was the signal of the
persecution of Egypt; and the Pagan minister of Valens, who
forcibly seated the worthless Lucius on the archiepiscopal
throne, purchased the favor of the reigning party, by the blood
and sufferings of their Christian brethren. The free toleration
of the heathen and Jewish worship was bitterly lamented, as a
circumstance which aggravated the misery of the Catholics, and
the guilt of the impious tyrant of the East. 68
66 (return) [ Eudoxus was of a mild and timid disposition. When
he baptized Valens, (A. D. 367,) he must have been extremely old;
since he had studied theology fifty-five years before, under
Lucian, a learned and pious martyr. Philostorg. l. ii. c. 14-16,
l. iv. c. 4, with Godefroy, p 82, 206, and Tillemont, Mém.
Eccles. tom. v. p. 471-480, &c.]
6611 (return) [ Through the influence of his wife say the
ecclesiastical writers.—M.]
67 (return) [ Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxv. p. 432) insults the
persecuting spirit of the Arians, as an infallible symptom of
error and heresy.]
68 (return) [ This sketch of the ecclesiastical government of
Valens is drawn from Socrates, (l. iv.,) Sozomen, (l. vi.,)
Theodoret, (l. iv.,) and the immense compilations of Tillemont,
(particularly tom. vi. viii. and ix.)]
The triumph of the orthodox party has left a deep stain of
persecution on the memory of Valens; and the character of a
prince who derived his virtues, as well as his vices, from a
feeble understanding and a pusillanimous temper, scarcely
deserves the labor of an apology. Yet candor may discover some
reasons to suspect that the ecclesiastical ministers of Valens
often exceeded the orders, or even the intentions, of their
master; and that the real measure of facts has been very
liberally magnified by the vehement declamation and easy
credulity of his antagonists. 69 1. The silence of Valentinian
may suggest a probable argument that the partial severities,
which were exercised in the name and provinces of his colleague,
amounted only to some obscure and inconsiderable deviations from
the established system of religious toleration: and the judicious
historian, who has praised the equal temper of the elder brother,
has not thought himself obliged to contrast the tranquillity of
the West with the cruel persecution of the East. 70 2. Whatever
credit may be allowed to vague and distant reports, the
character, or at least the behavior, of Valens, may be most
distinctly seen in his personal transactions with the eloquent
Basil, archbishop of Cæsarea, who had succeeded Athanasius in the
management of the Trinitarian cause. 71 The circumstantial
narrative has been composed by the friends and admirers of Basil;
and as soon as we have stripped away a thick coat of rhetoric and
miracle, we shall be astonished by the unexpected mildness of the
Arian tyrant, who admired the firmness of his character, or was
apprehensive, if he employed violence, of a general revolt in the
province of Cappadocia. The archbishop, who asserted, with
inflexible pride, 72 the truth of his opinions, and the dignity
of his rank, was left in the free possession of his conscience
and his throne. The emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn
service of the cathedral; and, instead of a sentence of
banishment, subscribed the donation of a valuable estate for the
use of a hospital, which Basil had lately founded in the
neighborhood of Cæsarea. 73 3. I am not able to discover, that
any law (such as Theodosius afterwards enacted against the
Arians) was published by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries;
and the edict which excited the most violent clamors, may not
appear so extremely reprehensible. The emperor had observed, that
several of his subjects, gratifying their lazy disposition under
the pretence of religion, had associated themselves with the
monks of Egypt; and he directed the count of the East to drag
them from their solitude; and to compel these deserters of
society to accept the fair alternative of renouncing their
temporal possessions, or of discharging the public duties of men
and citizens. 74 The ministers of Valens seem to have extended
the sense of this penal statute, since they claimed a right of
enlisting the young and ablebodied monks in the Imperial armies.
A detachment of cavalry and infantry, consisting of three
thousand men, marched from Alexandria into the adjacent desert of
Nitria, 75 which was peopled by five thousand monks. The soldiers
were conducted by Arian priests; and it is reported, that a
considerable slaughter was made in the monasteries which
disobeyed the commands of their sovereign. 76
69 (return) [ Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol.
iv. p. 78) has already conceived and intimated the same
suspicion.]
70 (return) [ This reflection is so obvious and forcible, that
Orosius (l. vii. c. 32, 33,) delays the persecution till after
the death of Valentinian. Socrates, on the other hand, supposes,
(l. iii. c. 32,) that it was appeased by a philosophical oration,
which Themistius pronounced in the year 374, (Orat. xii. p. 154,
in Latin only.) Such contradictions diminish the evidence, and
reduce the term, of the persecution of Valens.]
71 (return) [ Tillemont, whom I follow and abridge, has extracted
(Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 153-167) the most authentic
circumstances from the Panegyrics of the two Gregories; the
brother, and the friend, of Basil. The letters of Basil himself
(Dupin, Bibliothèque, Ecclesiastique, tom. ii. p. 155-180) do not
present the image of a very lively persecution.]
72 (return) [ Basilius Cæsariensis episcopus Cappadociæ clarus
habetur... qui multa continentiæ et ingenii bona uno superbiæ
malo perdidit. This irreverent passage is perfectly in the style
and character of St. Jerom. It does not appear in Scaliger’s
edition of his Chronicle; but Isaac Vossius found it in some old
Mss. which had not been reformed by the monks.]
73 (return) [ This noble and charitable foundation (almost a new
city) surpassed in merit, if not in greatness, the pyramids, or
the walls of Babylon. It was principally intended for the
reception of lepers, (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. xx. p. 439.)]
74 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xii. tit. i. leg. 63. Godefroy
(tom. iv. p. 409-413) performs the duty of a commentator and
advocate. Tillemont (Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 808) _supposes_ a
second law to excuse his orthodox friends, who had misrepresented
the edict of Valens, and suppressed the liberty of choice.]
75 (return) [ See D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p. 74.
Hereafter I shall consider the monastic institutions.]
76 (return) [ Socrates, l. iv. c. 24, 25. Orosius, l. vii. c. 33.
Jerom. in Chron. p. 189, and tom. ii. p. 212. The monks of Egypt
performed many miracles, which prove the truth of their faith.
Right, says Jortin, (Remarks, vol iv. p. 79,) but what proves the
truth of those miracles.]
The strict regulations which have been framed by the wisdom of
modern legislators to restrain the wealth and avarice of the
clergy, may be originally deduced from the example of the emperor
Valentinian. His edict, 77 addressed to Damasus, bishop of Rome,
was publicly read in the churches of the city. He admonished the
ecclesiastics and monks not to frequent the houses of widows and
virgins; and menaced their disobedience with the animadversion of
the civil judge. The director was no longer permitted to receive
any gift, or legacy, or inheritance, from the liberality of his
spiritual-daughter: every testament contrary to this edict was
declared null and void; and the illegal donation was confiscated
for the use of the treasury. By a subsequent regulation, it
should seem, that the same provisions were extended to nuns and
bishops; and that all persons of the ecclesiastical order were
rendered incapable of receiving any testamentary gifts, and
strictly confined to the natural and legal rights of inheritance.
As the guardian of domestic happiness and virtue, Valentinian
applied this severe remedy to the growing evil. In the capital of
the empire, the females of noble and opulent houses possessed a
very ample share of independent property: and many of those
devout females had embraced the doctrines of Christianity, not
only with the cold assent of the understanding, but with the
warmth of affection, and perhaps with the eagerness of fashion.
They sacrificed the pleasures of dress and luxury; and renounced,
for the praise of chastity, the soft endearments of conjugal
society. Some ecclesiastic, of real or apparent sanctity, was
chosen to direct their timorous conscience, and to amuse the
vacant tenderness of their heart: and the unbounded confidence,
which they hastily bestowed, was often abused by knaves and
enthusiasts; who hastened from the extremities of the East, to
enjoy, on a splendid theatre, the privileges of the monastic
profession. By their contempt of the world, they insensibly
acquired its most desirable advantages; the lively attachment,
perhaps of a young and beautiful woman, the delicate plenty of an
opulent household, and the respectful homage of the slaves, the
freedmen, and the clients of a senatorial family. The immense
fortunes of the Roman ladies were gradually consumed in lavish
alms and expensive pilgrimages; and the artful monk, who had
assigned himself the first, or possibly the sole place, in the
testament of his spiritual daughter, still presumed to declare,
with the smooth face of hypocrisy, that _he_ was only the
instrument of charity, and the steward of the poor. The
lucrative, but disgraceful, trade, 78 which was exercised by the
clergy to defraud the expectations of the natural heirs, had
provoked the indignation of a superstitious age: and two of the
most respectable of the Latin fathers very honestly confess, that
the ignominious edict of Valentinian was just and necessary; and
that the Christian priests had deserved to lose a privilege,
which was still enjoyed by comedians, charioteers, and the
ministers of idols. But the wisdom and authority of the
legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant
dexterity of private interest; and Jerom, or Ambrose, might
patiently acquiesce in the justice of an ineffectual or salutary
law. If the ecclesiastics were checked in the pursuit of personal
emolument, they would exert a more laudable industry to increase
the wealth of the church; and dignify their covetousness with the
specious names of piety and patriotism. 79
77 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 20. Godefroy,
(tom. vi. p. 49,) after the example of Baronius, impartially
collects all that the fathers have said on the subject of this
important law; whose spirit was long afterwards revived by the
emperor Frederic II., Edward I. of England, and other Christian
princes who reigned after the twelfth century.]
78 (return) [ The expressions which I have used are temperate and
feeble, if compared with the vehement invectives of Jerom, (tom.
i. p. 13, 45, 144, &c.) In _his_ turn he was reproached with the
guilt which he imputed to his brother monks; and the
_Sceleratus_, the _Versipellis_, was publicly accused as the
lover of the widow Paula, (tom. ii. p. 363.) He undoubtedly
possessed the affection, both of the mother and the daughter; but
he declares that he never abused his influence to any selfish or
sensual purpose.]
79 (return) [ Pudet dicere, sacerdotes idolorum, mimi et aurigæ,
et scorta, hæreditates capiunt: solis _clericis_ ac _monachis_
hac lege prohibetur. Et non prohibetur a persecutoribus, sed a
principibus Christianis. Nec de lege queror; sed doleo cur
_meruerimus_ hanc legem. Jerom (tom. i. p. 13) discreetly
insinuates the secret policy of his patron Damasus.]
Damasus, bishop of Rome, who was constrained to stigmatize the
avarice of his clergy by the publication of the law of
Valentinian, had the good sense, or the good fortune, to engage
in his service the zeal and abilities of the learned Jerom; and
the grateful saint has celebrated the merit and purity of a very
ambiguous character. 80 But the splendid vices of the church of
Rome, under the reign of Valentinian and Damasus, have been
curiously observed by the historian Ammianus, who delivers his
impartial sense in these expressive words: “The præfecture of
Juventius was accompanied with peace and plenty, but the
tranquillity of his government was soon disturbed by a bloody
sedition of the distracted people. The ardor of Damasus and
Ursinus, to seize the episcopal seat, surpassed the ordinary
measure of human ambition. They contended with the rage of party;
the quarrel was maintained by the wounds and death of their
followers; and the præfect, unable to resist or appease the
tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire into the
suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained on
the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies
81 were found in the _Basilica_ of Sicininus, 82 where the
Christians hold their religious assemblies; and it was long
before the angry minds of the people resumed their accustomed
tranquillity. When I consider the splendor of the capital, I am
not astonished that so valuable a prize should inflame the
desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest and most
obstinate contests. The successful candidate is secure, that he
will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; 83 that, as soon as
his dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may
proceed, in his chariot, through the streets of Rome; 84 and that
the sumptuousness of the Imperial table will not equal the
profuse and delicate entertainments provided by the taste, and at
the expense, of the Roman pontiffs. How much more rationally
(continues the honest Pagan) would those pontiffs consult their
true happiness, if, instead of alleging the greatness of the city
as an excuse for their manners, they would imitate the exemplary
life of some provincial bishops, whose temperance and sobriety,
whose mean apparel and downcast looks, recommend their pure and
modest virtue to the Deity and his true worshippers!” 85 The
schism of Damasus and Ursinus was extinguished by the exile of
the latter; and the wisdom of the præfect Prætextatus 86 restored
the tranquillity of the city. Prætextatus was a philosophic
Pagan, a man of learning, of taste, and politeness; who disguised
a reproach in the form of a jest, when he assured Damasus, that
if he could obtain the bishopric of Rome, he himself would
immediately embrace the Christian religion. 87 This lively
picture of the wealth and luxury of the popes in the fourth
century becomes the more curious, as it represents the
intermediate degree between the humble poverty of the apostolic
fishermen, and the royal state of a temporal prince, whose
dominions extend from the confines of Naples to the banks of the
Po.
80 (return) [ Three words of Jerom, _sanctæ memoriæ Damasus_
(tom. ii. p. 109,) wash away all his stains, and blind the devout
eyes of Tillemont. (Mem Eccles. tom. viii. p. 386-424.)]
81 (return) [ Jerom himself is forced to allow, crudelissimæ
interfectiones diversi sexûs perpetratæ, (in Chron. p. 186.) But
an original _libel_, or petition of two presbyters of the adverse
party, has unaccountably escaped. They affirm that the doors of
the Basilica were burnt, and that the roof was untiled; that
Damasus marched at the head of his own clergy, grave-diggers,
charioteers, and hired gladiators; that none of _his_ party were
killed, but that one hundred and sixty dead bodies were found.
This petition is published by the P. Sirmond, in the first volume
of his work.]
82 (return) [ The _Basilica_ of Sicininus, or Liberius, is
probably the church of Sancta Maria Maggiore, on the Esquiline
hill. Baronius, A. D. 367 No. 3; and Donatus, Roma Antiqua et
Nova, l. iv. c. 3, p. 462.]
83 (return) [ The enemies of Damasus styled him _Auriscalpius
Matronarum_ the ladies’ ear-scratcher.]
84 (return) [ Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxxii. p. 526) describes
the pride and luxury of the prelates who reigned in the Imperial
cities; their gilt car, fiery steeds, numerous train, &c. The
crowd gave way as to a wild beast.]
85 (return) [ Ammian. xxvii. 3. Perpetuo Numini, _verisque_ ejus
cultoribus. The incomparable pliancy of a polytheist!]
86 (return) [ Ammianus, who makes a fair report of his præfecture
(xxvii. 9) styles him præclaræ indolis, gravitatisque senator,
(xxii. 7, and Vales. ad loc.) A curious inscription (Grutor MCII.
No. 2) records, in two columns, his religious and civil honors.
In one line he was Pontiff of the Sun, and of Vesta, Augur,
Quindecemvir, Hierophant, &c., &c. In the other, 1. Quæstor
candidatus, more probably titular. 2. Prætor. 3. Corrector of
Tuscany and Umbria. 4. Consular of Lusitania. 5. Proconsul of
Achaia. 6. Præfect of Rome. 7. Prætorian præfect of Italy. 8. Of
Illyricum. 9. Consul elect; but he died before the beginning of
the year 385. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom v. p. 241,
736.]
87 (return) [ Facite me Romanæ urbis episcopum; et ero protinus
Christianus (Jerom, tom. ii. p. 165.) It is more than probable
that Damasus would not have purchased his conversion at such a
price.]
Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.—Part IV.
When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the
sceptre of the Roman empire to the hands of Valentinian, his
reputation in arms, his military skill and experience, and his
rigid attachment to the forms, as well as spirit, of ancient
discipline, were the principal motives of their judicious choice.
The eagerness of the troops, who pressed him to nominate his
colleague, was justified by the dangerous situation of public
affairs; and Valentinian himself was conscious, that the
abilities of the most active mind were unequal to the defence of
the distant frontiers of an invaded monarchy. As soon as the
death of Julian had relieved the Barbarians from the terror of
his name, the most sanguine hopes of rapine and conquest excited
the nations of the East, of the North, and of the South. Their
inroads were often vexatious, and sometimes formidable; but,
during the twelve years of the reign of Valentinian, his firmness
and vigilance protected his own dominions; and his powerful
genius seemed to inspire and direct the feeble counsels of his
brother. Perhaps the method of annals would more forcibly express
the urgent and divided cares of the two emperors; but the
attention of the reader, likewise, would be distracted by a
tedious and desultory narrative. A separate view of the five
great theatres of war; I. Germany; II. Britain; III. Africa; IV.
The East; and, V. The Danube; will impress a more distinct image
of the military state of the empire under the reigns of
Valentinian and Valens.
I. The ambassadors of the Alemanni had been offended by the harsh
and haughty behavior of Ursacius, master of the offices; 88 who
by an act of unseasonable parsimony, had diminished the value, as
well as the quantity, of the presents to which they were
entitled, either from custom or treaty, on the accession of a new
emperor. They expressed, and they communicated to their
countrymen, their strong sense of the national affront. The
irascible minds of the chiefs were exasperated by the suspicion
of contempt; and the martial youth crowded to their standard.
Before Valentinian could pass the Alps, the villages of Gaul were
in flames; before his general Degalaiphus could encounter the
Alemanni, they had secured the captives and the spoil in the
forests of Germany. In the beginning of the ensuing year, the
military force of the whole nation, in deep and solid columns,
broke through the barrier of the Rhine, during the severity of a
northern winter. Two Roman counts were defeated and mortally
wounded; and the standard of the Heruli and Batavians fell into
the hands of the conquerors, who displayed, with insulting shouts
and menaces, the trophy of their victory. The standard was
recovered; but the Batavians had not redeemed the shame of their
disgrace and flight in the eyes of their severe judge. It was the
opinion of Valentinian, that his soldiers must learn to fear
their commander, before they could cease to fear the enemy. The
troops were solemnly assembled; and the trembling Batavians were
enclosed within the circle of the Imperial army. Valentinian then
ascended his tribunal; and, as if he disdained to punish
cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy
on the officers, whose misconduct and pusillanimity were found to
be the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degraded
from their rank, stripped of their arms, and condemned to be sold
for slaves to the highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence,
the troops fell prostrate on the ground, deprecated the
indignation of their sovereign, and protested, that, if he would
indulge them in another trial, they would approve themselves not
unworthy of the name of Romans, and of his soldiers. Valentinian,
with affected reluctance, yielded to their entreaties; the
Batavians resumed their arms, and with their arms, the invincible
resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the
Alemanni. 89 The principal command was declined by Dagalaiphus;
and that experienced general, who had represented, perhaps with
too much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking,
had the mortification, before the end of the campaign, of seeing
his rival Jovinus convert those difficulties into a decisive
advantage over the scattered forces of the Barbarians. At the
head of a well-disciplined army of cavalry, infantry, and light
troops, Jovinus advanced, with cautious and rapid steps, to
Scarponna, 90 9011 in the territory of Metz, where he surprised a
large division of the Alemanni, before they had time to run to
their arms; and flushed his soldiers with the confidence of an
easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or rather army, of
the enemy, after the cruel and wanton devastation of the adjacent
country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle.
Jovinus, who had viewed the ground with the eye of a general,
made a silent approach through a deep and woody vale, till he
could distinctly perceive the indolent security of the Germans.
Some were bathing their huge limbs in the river; others were
combing their long and flaxen hair; others again were swallowing
large draughts of rich and delicious wine. On a sudden they heard
the sound of the Roman trumpet; they saw the enemy in their camp.
Astonishment produced disorder; disorder was followed by flight
and dismay; and the confused multitude of the bravest warriors
was pierced by the swords and javelins of the legionaries and
auxiliaries. The fugitives escaped to the third, and most
considerable, camp, in the Catalonian plains, near Châlons in
Champagne: the straggling detachments were hastily recalled to
their standard; and the Barbarian chiefs, alarmed and admonished
by the fate of their companions, prepared to encounter, in a
decisive battle, the victorious forces of the lieutenant of
Valentinian. The bloody and obstinate conflict lasted a whole
summer’s day, with equal valor, and with alternate success. The
Romans at length prevailed, with the loss of about twelve hundred
men. Six thousand of the Alemanni were slain, four thousand were
wounded; and the brave Jovinus, after chasing the flying remnant
of their host as far as the banks of the Rhine, returned to
Paris, to receive the applause of his sovereign, and the ensigns
of the consulship for the ensuing year. 91 The triumph of the
Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king,
whom they hung on a gibbet, without the knowledge of their
indignant general. This disgraceful act of cruelty, which might
be imputed to the fury of the troops, was followed by the
deliberate murder of Withicab, the son of Vadomair; a German
prince, of a weak and sickly constitution, but of a daring and
formidable spirit. The domestic assassin was instigated and
protected by the Romans; 92 and the violation of the laws of
humanity and justice betrayed their secret apprehension of the
weakness of the declining empire. The use of the dagger is seldom
adopted in public councils, as long as they retain any confidence
in the power of the sword.
88 (return) [ Ammian, xxvi. 5. Valesius adds a long and good note
on the master of the offices.]
89 (return) [ Ammian. xxvii. 1. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 208. The
disgrace of the Batavians is suppressed by the contemporary
soldier, from a regard for military honor, which could not affect
a Greek rhetorician of the succeeding age.]
90 (return) [ See D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 587.
The name of the Moselle, which is not specified by Ammianus, is
clearly understood by Mascou, (Hist. of the Ancient Germans, vii.
2)]
9011 (return) [ Charpeigne on the Moselle. Mannert—M.]
91 (return) [ The battles are described by Ammianus, (xxvii. 2,)
and by Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 209,) who supposes Valentinian to have
been present.]
92 (return) [ Studio solicitante nostrorum, occubuit. Ammian
xxvii. 10.]
While the Alemanni appeared to be humbled by their recent
calamities, the pride of Valentinian was mortified by the
unexpected surprisal of Moguntiacum, or Mentz, the principal city
of the Upper Germany. In the unsuspicious moment of a Christian
festival, 9211 Rando, a bold and artful chieftain, who had long
meditated his attempt, suddenly passed the Rhine; entered the
defenceless town, and retired with a multitude of captives of
either sex. Valentinian resolved to execute severe vengeance on
the whole body of the nation. Count Sebastian, with the bands of
Italy and Illyricum, was ordered to invade their country, most
probably on the side of Rhætia. The emperor in person,
accompanied by his son Gratian, passed the Rhine at the head of a
formidable army, which was supported on both flanks by Jovinus
and Severus, the two masters-general of the cavalry and infantry
of the West. The Alemanni, unable to prevent the devastation of
their villages, fixed their camp on a lofty, and almost
inaccessible, mountain, in the modern duchy of Wirtemberg, and
resolutely expected the approach of the Romans. The life of
Valentinian was exposed to imminent danger by the intrepid
curiosity with which he persisted to explore some secret and
unguarded path. A troop of Barbarians suddenly rose from their
ambuscade: and the emperor, who vigorously spurred his horse down
a steep and slippery descent, was obliged to leave behind him his
armor-bearer, and his helmet, magnificently enriched with gold
and precious stones. At the signal of the general assault, the
Roman troops encompassed and ascended the mountain of Solicinium
on three different sides. 9212 Every step which they gained,
increased their ardor, and abated the resistance of the enemy:
and after their united forces had occupied the summit of the
hill, they impetuously urged the Barbarians down the northern
descent, where Count Sebastian was posted to intercept their
retreat. After this signal victory, Valentinian returned to his
winter quarters at Treves; where he indulged the public joy by
the exhibition of splendid and triumphal games. 93 But the wise
monarch, instead of aspiring to the conquest of Germany, confined
his attention to the important and laborious defence of the
Gallic frontier, against an enemy whose strength was renewed by a
stream of daring volunteers, which incessantly flowed from the
most distant tribes of the North. 94 The banks of the Rhine 9411
from its source to the straits of the ocean, were closely planted
with strong castles and convenient towers; new works, and new
arms, were invented by the ingenuity of a prince who was skilled
in the mechanical arts; and his numerous levies of Roman and
Barbarian youth were severely trained in all the exercises of
war. The progress of the work, which was sometimes opposed by
modest representations, and sometimes by hostile attempts,
secured the tranquillity of Gaul during the nine subsequent years
of the administration of Valentinian. 95
9211 (return) [ Probably Easter. Wagner.—M.]
9212 (return) [ Mannert is unable to fix the position of
Solicinium. Haefelin (in Comm Acad Elect. Palat. v. 14)
conjectures Schwetzingen, near Heidelberg. See Wagner’s note. St.
Martin, Sultz in Wirtemberg, near the sources of the Neckar St.
Martin, iii. 339.—M.]
93 (return) [ The expedition of Valentinian is related by
Ammianus, (xxvii. 10;) and celebrated by Ausonius, (Mosell. 421,
&c.,) who foolishly supposes, that the Romans were ignorant of
the sources of the Danube.]
94 (return) [ Immanis enim natio, jam inde ab incunabulis primis
varietate casuum imminuta; ita sæpius adolescit, ut fuisse longis
sæculis æstimetur intacta. Ammianus, xxviii. 5. The Count de Buat
(Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom. vi. p. 370) ascribes the
fecundity of the Alemanni to their easy adoption of strangers.
——Note: “This explanation,” says Mr. Malthus, “only removes the
difficulty a little farther off. It makes the earth rest upon the
tortoise, but does not tell us on what the tortoise rests. We may
still ask what northern reservoir supplied this incessant stream
of daring adventurers. Montesquieu’s solution of the problem
will, I think, hardly be admitted, (Grandeur et Décadence des
Romains, c. 16, p. 187.) * * * The whole difficulty, however, is
at once removed, if we apply to the German nations, at that time,
a fact which is so generally known to have occurred in America,
and suppose that, when not checked by wars and famine, they
increased at a rate that would double their numbers in
twenty-five or thirty years. The propriety, and even the
necessity, of applying this rate of increase to the inhabitants
of ancient Germany, will strikingly appear from that most
valuable picture of their manners which has been left us by
Tacitus, (Tac. de Mor. Germ. 16 to 20.) * * * With these manners,
and a habit of enterprise and emigration, which would naturally
remove all fears about providing for a family, it is difficult to
conceive a society with a stronger principle of increase in it,
and we see at once that prolific source of armies and colonies
against which the force of the Roman empire so long struggled
with difficulty, and under which it ultimately sunk. It is not
probable that, for two periods together, or even for one, the
population within the confines of Germany ever doubled itself in
twenty-five years. Their perpetual wars, the rude state of
agriculture, and particularly the very strange custom adopted by
most of the tribes of marking their barriers by extensive
deserts, would prevent any very great actual increase of numbers.
At no one period could the country be called well peopled, though
it was often redundant in population. * * * Instead of clearing
their forests, draining their swamps, and rendering their soil
fit to support an extended population, they found it more
congenial to their martial habits and impatient dispositions to
go in quest of food, of plunder, or of glory, into other
countries.” Malthus on Population, i. p. 128.—G.]
9411 (return) [ The course of the Neckar was likewise strongly
guarded. The hyperbolical eulogy of Symmachus asserts that the
Neckar first became known to the Romans by the conquests and
fortifications of Valentinian. Nunc primum victoriis tuis
externus fluvius publicatur. Gaudeat servitute, captivus
innotuit. Symm. Orat. p. 22.—M.]
95 (return) [ Ammian. xxviii. 2. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 214. The
younger Victor mentions the mechanical genius of Valentinian,
nova arma meditari fingere terra seu limo simulacra.]
That prudent emperor, who diligently practised the wise maxims of
Diocletian, was studious to foment and excite the intestine
divisions of the tribes of Germany. About the middle of the
fourth century, the countries, perhaps of Lusace and Thuringia,
on either side of the Elbe, were occupied by the vague dominion
of the Burgundians; a warlike and numerous people, 9511 of the
Vandal race, 96 whose obscure name insensibly swelled into a
powerful kingdom, and has finally settled on a flourishing
province. The most remarkable circumstance in the ancient manners
of the Burgundians appears to have been the difference of their
civil and ecclesiastical constitution. The appellation of
_Hendinos_ was given to the king or general, and the title of
_Sinistus_ to the high priest, of the nation. The person of the
priest was sacred, and his dignity perpetual; but the temporal
government was held by a very precarious tenure. If the events of
war accuses the courage or conduct of the king, he was
immediately deposed; and the injustice of his subjects made him
responsible for the fertility of the earth, and the regularity of
the seasons, which seemed to fall more properly within the
sacerdotal department. 97 The disputed possession of some
salt-pits 98 engaged the Alemanni and the Burgundians in frequent
contests: the latter were easily tempted, by the secret
solicitations and liberal offers of the emperor; and their
fabulous descent from the Roman soldiers, who had formerly been
left to garrison the fortresses of Drusus, was admitted with
mutual credulity, as it was conducive to mutual interest. 99 An
army of fourscore thousand Burgundians soon appeared on the banks
of the Rhine; and impatiently required the support and subsidies
which Valentinian had promised: but they were amused with excuses
and delays, till at length, after a fruitless expectation, they
were compelled to retire. The arms and fortifications of the
Gallic frontier checked the fury of their just resentment; and
their massacre of the captives served to imbitter the hereditary
feud of the Burgundians and the Alemanni. The inconstancy of a
wise prince may, perhaps, be explained by some alteration of
circumstances; and perhaps it was the original design of
Valentinian to intimidate, rather than to destroy; as the balance
of power would have been equally overturned by the extirpation of
either of the German nations. Among the princes of the Alemanni,
Macrianus, who, with a Roman name, had assumed the arts of a
soldier and a statesman, deserved his hatred and esteem. The
emperor himself, with a light and unencumbered band, condescended
to pass the Rhine, marched fifty miles into the country, and
would infallibly have seized the object of his pursuit, if his
judicious measures had not been defeated by the impatience of the
troops. Macrianus was afterwards admitted to the honor of a
personal conference with the emperor; and the favors which he
received, fixed him, till the hour of his death, a steady and
sincere friend of the republic. 100
9511 (return) [ According to the general opinion, the Burgundians
formed a Gothic o Vandalic tribe, who, from the banks of the
Lower Vistula, made incursions, on one side towards Transylvania,
on the other towards the centre of Germany. All that remains of
the Burgundian language is Gothic. * * * Nothing in their customs
indicates a different origin. Malte Brun, Geog. tom. i. p. 396.
(edit. 1831.)—M.]
96 (return) [ Bellicosos et pubis immensæ viribus affluentes; et
ideo metuendos finitimis universis. Ammian. xxviii. 5.]
97 (return) [ I am always apt to suspect historians and
travellers of improving extraordinary facts into general laws.
Ammianus ascribes a similar custom to Egypt; and the Chinese have
imputed it to the Ta-tsin, or Roman empire, (De Guignes, Hist.
des Huns, tom. ii. part. 79.)]
98 (return) [ Salinarum finiumque causa Alemannis sæpe jurgabant.
Ammian xxviii. 5. Possibly they disputed the possession of the
_Sala_, a river which produced salt, and which had been the
object of ancient contention. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 57, and Lipsius
ad loc.]
99 (return) [ Jam inde temporibus priscis sobolem se esse Romanam
Burgundii sciunt: and the vague tradition gradually assumed a
more regular form, (Oros. l. vii. c. 32.) It is annihilated by
the decisive authority of Pliny, who composed the History of
Drusus, and served in Germany, (Plin. Secund. Epist. iii. 5,)
within sixty years after the death of that hero. _Germanorum
genera_ quinque; Vindili, quorum pars _Burgundiones_, &c., (Hist.
Natur. iv. 28.)]
100 (return) [ The wars and negotiations relative to the
Burgundians and Alemanni, are distinctly related by Ammianus
Marcellinus, (xxviii. 5, xxix 4, xxx. 3.) Orosius, (l. vii. c.
32,) and the Chronicles of Jerom and Cassiodorus, fix some dates,
and add some circumstances.]
The land was covered by the fortifications of Valentinian; but
the sea-coast of Gaul and Britain was exposed to the depredations
of the Saxons. That celebrated name, in which we have a dear and
domestic interest, escaped the notice of Tacitus; and in the maps
of Ptolemy, it faintly marks the narrow neck of the Cimbric
peninsula, and three small islands towards the mouth of the Elbe.
101 This contracted territory, the present duchy of Sleswig, or
perhaps of Holstein, was incapable of pouring forth the
inexhaustible swarms of Saxons who reigned over the ocean, who
filled the British island with their language, their laws, and
their colonies; and who so long defended the liberty of the North
against the arms of Charlemagne. 102 The solution of this
difficulty is easily derived from the similar manners, and loose
constitution, of the tribes of Germany; which were blended with
each other by the slightest accidents of war or friendship. The
situation of the native Saxons disposed them to embrace the
hazardous professions of fishermen and pirates; and the success
of their first adventures would naturally excite the emulation of
their bravest countrymen, who were impatient of the gloomy
solitude of their woods and mountains. Every tide might float
down the Elbe whole fleets of canoes, filled with hardy and
intrepid associates, who aspired to behold the unbounded prospect
of the ocean, and to taste the wealth and luxury of unknown
worlds. It should seem probable, however, that the most numerous
auxiliaries of the Saxons were furnished by the nations who dwelt
along the shores of the Baltic. They possessed arms and ships,
the art of navigation, and the habits of naval war; but the
difficulty of issuing through the northern columns of Hercules
103 (which, during several months of the year, are obstructed
with ice) confined their skill and courage within the limits of a
spacious lake. The rumor of the successful armaments which sailed
from the mouth of the Elbe, would soon provoke them to cross the
narrow isthmus of Sleswig, and to launch their vessels on the
great sea. The various troops of pirates and adventurers, who
fought under the same standard, were insensibly united in a
permanent society, at first of rapine, and afterwards of
government. A military confederation was gradually moulded into a
national body, by the gentle operation of marriage and
consanguinity; and the adjacent tribes, who solicited the
alliance, accepted the name and laws, of the Saxons. If the fact
were not established by the most unquestionable evidence, we
should appear to abuse the credulity of our readers, by the
description of the vessels in which the Saxon pirates ventured to
sport in the waves of the German Ocean, the British Channel, and
the Bay of Biscay. The keel of their large flat-bottomed boats
were framed of light timber, but the sides and upper works
consisted only of wicker, with a covering of strong hides. 104 In
the course of their slow and distant navigations, they must
always have been exposed to the danger, and very frequently to
the misfortune, of shipwreck; and the naval annals of the Saxons
were undoubtedly filled with the accounts of the losses which
they sustained on the coasts of Britain and Gaul. But the daring
spirit of the pirates braved the perils both of the sea and of
the shore: their skill was confirmed by the habits of enterprise;
the meanest of their mariners was alike capable of handling an
oar, of rearing a sail, or of conducting a vessel, and the Saxons
rejoiced in the appearance of a tempest, which concealed their
design, and dispersed the fleets of the enemy. 105 After they had
acquired an accurate knowledge of the maritime provinces of the
West, they extended the scene of their depredations, and the most
sequestered places had no reason to presume on their security.
The Saxon boats drew so little water that they could easily
proceed fourscore or a hundred miles up the great rivers; their
weight was so inconsiderable, that they were transported on
wagons from one river to another; and the pirates who had entered
the mouth of the Seine, or of the Rhine, might descend, with the
rapid stream of the Rhone, into the Mediterranean. Under the
reign of Valentinian, the maritime provinces of Gaul were
afflicted by the Saxons: a military count was stationed for the
defence of the sea-coast, or Armorican limit; and that officer,
who found his strength, or his abilities, unequal to the task,
implored the assistance of Severus, master-general of the
infantry. The Saxons, surrounded and outnumbered, were forced to
relinquish their spoil, and to yield a select band of their tall
and robust youth to serve in the Imperial armies. They stipulated
only a safe and honorable retreat; and the condition was readily
granted by the Roman general, who meditated an act of perfidy,
106 imprudent as it was inhuman, while a Saxon remained alive,
and in arms, to revenge the fate of their countrymen. The
premature eagerness of the infantry, who were secretly posted in
a deep valley, betrayed the ambuscade; and they would perhaps
have fallen the victims of their own treachery, if a large body
of cuirassiers, alarmed by the noise of the combat, had not
hastily advanced to extricate their companions, and to overwhelm
the undaunted valor of the Saxons. Some of the prisoners were
saved from the edge of the sword, to shed their blood in the
amphitheatre; and the orator Symmachus complains, that
twenty-nine of those desperate savages, by strangling themselves
with their own hands, had disappointed the amusement of the
public. Yet the polite and philosophic citizens of Rome were
impressed with the deepest horror, when they were informed, that
the Saxons consecrated to the gods the tithe of their _human_
spoil; and that they ascertained by lot the objects of the
barbarous sacrifice. 107
101 (return) [ At the northern extremity of the peninsula, (the
Cimbric promontory of Pliny, iv. 27,) Ptolemy fixes the remnant
of the _Cimbri_. He fills the interval between the _Saxons_ and
the Cimbri with six obscure tribes, who were united, as early as
the sixth century, under the national appellation of _Danes_. See
Cluver. German. Antiq. l. iii. c. 21, 22, 23.]
102 (return) [ M. D’Anville (Establissement des Etats de
l’Europe, &c., p. 19-26) has marked the extensive limits of the
Saxony of Charlemagne.]
103 (return) [ The fleet of Drusus had failed in their attempt to
pass, or even to approach, the _Sound_, (styled, from an obvious
resemblance, the columns of Hercules,) and the naval enterprise
was never resumed, (Tacit. de Moribus German. c. 34.) The
knowledge which the Romans acquired of the naval powers of the
Baltic, (c. 44, 45) was obtained by their land journeys in search
of amber.]
104 (return) [ Quin et Aremoricus piratam _Saxona_ tractus
Sperabat; cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum
Ludus; et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo.
Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 369.
The genius of Cæsar imitated, for a particular service, these
rude, but light vessels, which were likewise used by the natives
of Britain. (Comment. de Bell. Civil. i. 51, and Guichardt,
Nouveaux Mémoires Militaires, tom. ii. p. 41, 42.) The British
vessels would now astonish the genius of Cæsar.]
105 (return) [ The best original account of the Saxon pirates may
be found in Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. viii. epist. 6, p. 223,
edit. Sirmond,) and the best commentary in the Abbé du Bos,
(Hist. Critique de la Monarchie Françoise, &c. tom. i. l. i. c.
16, p. 148-155. See likewise p. 77, 78.)]
106 (return) [ Ammian. (xxviii. 5) justifies this breach of faith
to pirates and robbers; and Orosius (l. vii. c. 32) more clearly
expresses their real guilt; virtute atque agilitate terribeles.]
107 (return) [ Symmachus (l. ii. epist. 46) still presumes to
mention the sacred name of Socrates and philosophy. Sidonius,
bishop of Clermont, might condemn, (l. viii. epist. 6,) with
_less_ inconsistency, the human sacrifices of the Saxons.]
II. The fabulous colonies of Egyptians and Trojans, of
Scandinavians and Spaniards, which flattered the pride, and
amused the credulity, of our rude ancestors, have insensibly
vanished in the light of science and philosophy. 108 The present
age is satisfied with the simple and rational opinion, that the
islands of Great Britain and Ireland were gradually peopled from
the adjacent continent of Gaul. From the coast of Kent, to the
extremity of Caithness and Ulster, the memory of a Celtic origin
was distinctly preserved, in the perpetual resemblance of
language, of religion, and of manners; and the peculiar
characters of the British tribes might be naturally ascribed to
the influence of accidental and local circumstances. 109 The
Roman Province was reduced to the state of civilized and peaceful
servitude; the rights of savage freedom were contracted to the
narrow limits of Caledonia. The inhabitants of that northern
region were divided, as early as the reign of Constantine,
between the two great tribes of the Scots and of the Picts, 110
who have since experienced a very different fortune. The power,
and almost the memory, of the Picts have been extinguished by
their successful rivals; and the Scots, after maintaining for
ages the dignity of an independent kingdom, have multiplied, by
an equal and voluntary union, the honors of the English name. The
hand of nature had contributed to mark the ancient distinctions
of the Scots and Picts. The former were the men of the hills, and
the latter those of the plain. The eastern coast of Caledonia may
be considered as a level and fertile country, which, even in a
rude state of tillage, was capable of producing a considerable
quantity of corn; and the epithet of _cruitnich_, or
wheat-eaters, expressed the contempt or envy of the carnivorous
highlander. The cultivation of the earth might introduce a more
accurate separation of property, and the habits of a sedentary
life; but the love of arms and rapine was still the ruling
passion of the Picts; and their warriors, who stripped themselves
for a day of battle, were distinguished, in the eyes of the
Romans, by the strange fashion of painting their naked bodies
with gaudy colors and fantastic figures. The western part of
Caledonia irregularly rises into wild and barren hills, which
scarcely repay the toil of the husbandman, and are most
profitably used for the pasture of cattle. The highlanders were
condemned to the occupations of shepherds and hunters; and, as
they seldom were fixed to any permanent habitation, they acquired
the expressive name of Scots, which, in the Celtic tongue, is
said to be equivalent to that of _wanderers_, or _vagrants_. The
inhabitants of a barren land were urged to seek a fresh supply of
food in the waters. The deep lakes and bays which intersect their
country, are plentifully supplied with fish; and they gradually
ventured to cast their nets in the waves of the ocean. The
vicinity of the Hebrides, so profusely scattered along the
western coast of Scotland, tempted their curiosity, and improved
their skill; and they acquired, by slow degrees, the art, or
rather the habit, of managing their boats in a tempestuous sea,
and of steering their nocturnal course by the light of the
well-known stars. The two bold headlands of Caledonia almost
touch the shores of a spacious island, which obtained, from its
luxuriant vegetation, the epithet of _Green;_ and has preserved,
with a slight alteration, the name of Erin, or Ierne, or Ireland.
It is _probable_, that in some remote period of antiquity, the
fertile plains of Ulster received a colony of hungry Scots; and
that the strangers of the North, who had dared to encounter the
arms of the legions, spread their conquests over the savage and
unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It is _certain_, that, in
the declining age of the Roman empire, Caledonia, Ireland, and
the Isle of Man, were inhabited by the Scots, and that the
kindred tribes, who were often associated in military enterprise,
were deeply affected by the various accidents of their mutual
fortunes. They long cherished the lively tradition of their
common name and origin; and the missionaries of the Isle of
Saints, who diffused the light of Christianity over North
Britain, established the vain opinion, that their Irish
countrymen were the natural, as well as spiritual, fathers of the
Scottish race. The loose and obscure tradition has been preserved
by the venerable Bede, who scattered some rays of light over the
darkness of the eighth century. On this slight foundation, a huge
superstructure of fable was gradually reared, by the bards and
the monks; two orders of men, who equally abused the privilege of
fiction. The Scottish nation, with mistaken pride, adopted their
Irish genealogy; and the annals of a long line of imaginary kings
have been adorned by the fancy of Boethius, and the classic
elegance of Buchanan. 111
108 (return) [ In the beginning of the last century, the learned
Camden was obliged to undermine, with respectful scepticism, the
romance of _Brutus_, the Trojan; who is now buried in silent
oblivion with _Scota_, the daughter of Pharaoh, and her numerous
progeny. Yet I am informed, that some champions of the _Milesian
colony_ may still be found among the original natives of Ireland.
A people dissatisfied with their present condition, grasp at any
visions of their past or future glory.]
109 (return) [ Tacitus, or rather his father-in-law, Agricola,
might remark the German or Spanish complexion of some British
tribes. But it was their sober, deliberate opinion: “In universum
tamen æstimanti Gallos cicinum solum occupâsse credibile est.
Eorum sacra deprehendas.... ermo haud multum diversus,” (in Vit.
Agricol. c. xi.) Cæsar had observed their common religion,
(Comment. de Bello Gallico, vi. 13;) and in his time the
emigration from the Belgic Gaul was a recent, or at least an
historical event, (v. 10.) Camden, the British Strabo, has
modestly ascertained our genuine antiquities, (Britannia, vol. i.
Introduction, p. ii.—xxxi.)]
110 (return) [ In the dark and doubtful paths of Caledonian
antiquity, I have chosen for my guides two learned and ingenious
Highlanders, whom their birth and education had peculiarly
qualified for that office. See Critical Dissertations on the
Origin and Antiquities, &c., of the Caledonians, by Dr. John
Macpherson, London 1768, in 4to.; and Introduction to the History
of Great Britain and Ireland, by James Macpherson, Esq., London
1773, in 4to., third edit. Dr. Macpherson was a minister in the
Isle of Sky: and it is a circumstance honorable for the present
age, that a work, replete with erudition and criticism, should
have been composed in the most remote of the Hebrides.]
111 (return) [ The Irish descent of the Scots has been revived in
the last moments of its decay, and strenuously supported, by the
Rev. Mr. Whitaker, (Hist. of Manchester, vol. i. p. 430, 431; and
Genuine History of the Britons asserted, &c., p. 154-293) Yet he
acknowledges, 1. _That_ the Scots of Ammianus Marcellinus (A.D.
340) were already settled in Caledonia; and that the Roman
authors do not afford any hints of their emigration from another
country. 2. _That_ all the accounts of such emigrations, which
have been asserted or received, by Irish bards, Scotch
historians, or English antiquaries, (Buchanan, Camden, Usher,
Stillingfleet, &c.,) are totally fabulous. 3. _That_ three of the
Irish tribes, which are mentioned by Ptolemy, (A.D. 150,) were of
Caledonian extraction. 4. _That_ a younger branch of Caledonian
princes, of the house of Fingal, acquired and possessed the
monarchy of Ireland. After these concessions, the remaining
difference between Mr. Whitaker and his adversaries is minute and
obscure. The _genuine history_, which he produces, of a Fergus,
the cousin of Ossian, who was transplanted (A.D. 320) from
Ireland to Caledonia, is built on a conjectural supplement to the
Erse poetry, and the feeble evidence of Richard of Cirencester, a
monk of the fourteenth century. The lively spirit of the learned
and ingenious antiquarian has tempted him to forget the nature of
a question, which he so _vehemently_ debates, and so _absolutely_
decides. * Note: This controversy has not slumbered since the
days of Gibbon. We have strenuous advocates of the Phœnician
origin of the Irish, and each of the old theories, with several
new ones, maintains its partisans. It would require several pages
fairly to bring down the dispute to our own days, and perhaps we
should be no nearer to any satisfactory theory than Gibbon
was.—M.]
Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.—Part V.
Six years after the death of Constantine, the destructive inroads
of the Scots and Picts required the presence of his youngest son,
who reigned in the Western empire. Constans visited his British
dominions: but we may form some estimate of the importance of his
achievements, by the language of panegyric, which celebrates only
his triumph over the elements or, in other words, the good
fortune of a safe and easy passage from the port of Boulogne to
the harbor of Sandwich. 112 The calamities which the afflicted
provincials continued to experience, from foreign war and
domestic tyranny, were aggravated by the feeble and corrupt
administration of the eunuchs of Constantius; and the transient
relief which they might obtain from the virtues of Julian, was
soon lost by the absence and death of their benefactor. The sums
of gold and silver, which had been painfully collected, or
liberally transmitted, for the payment of the troops, were
intercepted by the avarice of the commanders; discharges, or, at
least, exemptions, from the military service, were publicly sold;
the distress of the soldiers, who were injuriously deprived of
their legal and scanty subsistence, provoked them to frequent
desertion; the nerves of discipline were relaxed, and the
highways were infested with robbers. 113 The oppression of the
good, and the impunity of the wicked, equally contributed to
diffuse through the island a spirit of discontent and revolt; and
every ambitious subject, every desperate exile, might entertain a
reasonable hope of subverting the weak and distracted government
of Britain. The hostile tribes of the North, who detested the
pride and power of the King of the World, suspended their
domestic feuds; and the Barbarians of the land and sea, the
Scots, the Picts, and the Saxons, spread themselves with rapid
and irresistible fury, from the wall of Antoninus to the shores
of Kent. Every production of art and nature, every object of
convenience and luxury, which they were incapable of creating by
labor or procuring by trade, was accumulated in the rich and
fruitful province of Britain. 114 A philosopher may deplore the
eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the
desire of spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of
conquest. From the age of Constantine to the Plantagenets, this
rapacious spirit continued to instigate the poor and hardy
Caledonians; but the same people, whose generous humanity seems
to inspire the songs of Ossian, was disgraced by a savage
ignorance of the virtues of peace, and of the laws of war. Their
southern neighbors have felt, and perhaps exaggerated, the cruel
depredations of the Scots and Picts; 115 and a valiant tribe of
Caledonia, the Attacotti, 116 the enemies, and afterwards the
soldiers, of Valentinian, are accused, by an eye-witness, of
delighting in the taste of human flesh. When they hunted the
woods for prey, it is said, that they attacked the shepherd
rather than his flock; and that they curiously selected the most
delicate and brawny parts, both of males and females, which they
prepared for their horrid repasts. 117 If, in the neighborhood of
the commercial and literary town of Glasgow, a race of cannibals
has really existed, we may contemplate, in the period of the
Scottish history, the opposite extremes of savage and civilized
life. Such reflections tend to enlarge the circle of our ideas;
and to encourage the pleasing hope, that New Zealand may produce,
in some future age, the Hume of the Southern Hemisphere.
112 (return) [ Hyeme tumentes ac sævientes undas calcâstis Oceani
sub remis vestris;... insperatam imperatoris faciem Britannus
expavit. Julius Fermicus Maternus de Errore Profan. Relig. p.
464. edit. Gronov. ad calcem Minuc. Fæl. See Tillemont, (Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 336.)]
113 (return) [ Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. xxxix. p. 264. This
curious passage has escaped the diligence of our British
antiquaries.]
114 (return) [ The Caledonians praised and coveted the gold, the
steeds, the lights, &c., of the _stranger_. See Dr. Blair’s
Dissertation on Ossian, vol ii. p. 343; and Mr. Macpherson’s
Introduction, p. 242-286.]
115 (return) [ Lord Lyttelton has circumstantially related,
(History of Henry II. vol. i. p. 182,) and Sir David Dalrymple
has slightly mentioned, (Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 69,) a
barbarous inroad of the Scots, at a time (A.D. 1137) when law,
religion, and society must have softened their primitive
manners.]
116 (return) [ Attacotti bellicosa hominum natio. Ammian. xxvii.
8. Camden (Introduct. p. clii.) has restored their true name in
the text of Jerom. The bands of Attacotti, which Jerom had seen
in Gaul, were afterwards stationed in Italy and Illyricum,
(Notitia, S. viii. xxxix. xl.)]
117 (return) [ Cum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia viderim
Attacottos (or Scotos) gentem Britannicam humanis vesci carnibus;
et cum per silvas porcorum greges, et armentorum percudumque
reperiant, pastorum _nates_ et feminarum _papillas_ solere
abscindere; et has solas ciborum delicias arbitrari. Such is the
evidence of Jerom, (tom. ii. p. 75,) whose veracity I find no
reason to question. * Note: See Dr. Parr’s works, iii. 93, where
he questions the propriety of Gibbon’s translation of this
passage. The learned doctor approves of the version proposed by a
Mr. Gaches, who would make out that it was the delicate parts of
the swine and the cattle, which were eaten by these ancestors of
the Scotch nation. I confess that even to acquit them of this
charge. I cannot agree to the new version, which, in my opinion,
is directly contrary both to the meaning of the words, and the
general sense of the passage. But I would suggest, did Jerom, as
a boy, accompany these savages in any of their hunting
expeditions? If he did not, how could he be an eye-witness of
this practice? The Attacotti in Gaul must have been in the
service of Rome. Were they permitted to indulge these cannibal
propensities at the expense, not of the flocks, but of the
shepherds of the provinces? These sanguinary trophies of plunder
would scarce’y have been publicly exhibited in a Roman city or a
Roman camp. I must leave the hereditary pride of our northern
neighbors at issue with the veracity of St. Jerom.—M.]
Every messenger who escaped across the British Channel, conveyed
the most melancholy and alarming tidings to the ears of
Valentinian; and the emperor was soon informed that the two
military commanders of the province had been surprised and cut
off by the Barbarians. Severus, count of the domestics, was
hastily despatched, and as suddenly recalled, by the court of
Treves. The representations of Jovinus served only to indicate
the greatness of the evil; and, after a long and serious
consultation, the defence, or rather the recovery, of Britain was
intrusted to the abilities of the brave Theodosius. The exploits
of that general, the father of a line of emperors, have been
celebrated, with peculiar complacency, by the writers of the age:
but his real merit deserved their applause; and his nomination
was received, by the army and province, as a sure presage of
approaching victory. He seized the favorable moment of
navigation, and securely landed the numerous and veteran bands of
the Heruli and Batavians, the Jovians and the Victors. In his
march from Sandwich to London, Theodosius defeated several
parties of the Barbarians, released a multitude of captives, and,
after distributing to his soldiers a small portion of the spoil,
established the fame of disinterested justice, by the restitution
of the remainder to the rightful proprietors. The citizens of
London, who had almost despaired of their safety, threw open
their gates; and as soon as Theodosius had obtained from the
court of Treves the important aid of a military lieutenant, and a
civil governor, he executed, with wisdom and vigor, the laborious
task of the deliverance of Britain. The vagrant soldiers were
recalled to their standard; an edict of amnesty dispelled the
public apprehensions; and his cheerful example alleviated the
rigor of martial discipline. The scattered and desultory warfare
of the Barbarians, who infested the land and sea, deprived him of
the glory of a signal victory; but the prudent spirit, and
consummate art, of the Roman general, were displayed in the
operations of two campaigns, which successively rescued every
part of the province from the hands of a cruel and rapacious
enemy. The splendor of the cities, and the security of the
fortifications, were diligently restored, by the paternal care of
Theodosius; who with a strong hand confined the trembling
Caledonians to the northern angle of the island; and perpetuated,
by the name and settlement of the new province of _Valentia_, the
glories of the reign of Valentinian. 118 The voice of poetry and
panegyric may add, perhaps with some degree of truth, that the
unknown regions of Thule were stained with the blood of the
Picts; that the oars of Theodosius dashed the waves of the
Hyperborean ocean; and that the distant Orkneys were the scene of
his naval victory over the Saxon pirates. 119 He left the
province with a fair, as well as splendid, reputation; and was
immediately promoted to the rank of master-general of the
cavalry, by a prince who could applaud, without envy, the merit
of his servants. In the important station of the Upper Danube,
the conqueror of Britain checked and defeated the armies of the
Alemanni, before he was chosen to suppress the revolt of Africa.
118 (return) [ Ammianus has concisely represented (xx. l. xxvi.
4, xxvii. 8 xxviii. 3) the whole series of the British war.]