HUNGARY BEFORE THE OCCUPATION BY THE MAGYARS.
The historic period of Hungary begins, properly speaking, with the
first century before our era, when Pannonia, comprising the regions
watered by the Danube and Drave, was conquered by the victorious arms
of Rome. Prehistoric traces, however, may be met with in abundance,
which, with the aid of archæological inquiry, indicate that the soil
of Hungary was already inhabited in the neolithic age and in that
of bronze by populations who, judged by the mementoes left behind
them, which were unearthed by the present generation, must have stood
on the same level of civilization as the rest of Europe at those
periods. Certain articles dating from the age of bronze show even
such marked national peculiarities as to lead to the supposition that
the heterogeneous tribes were all under the influence of one kind of
culture. The Pannonians, after a protracted struggle, were subjugated
by Tiberius, the stepson of the emperor Augustus. One of the art gems
of antiquity, the so-called _Apotheosis of Augustus_, to be seen in the
museum of antiquities at Vienna, commemorates the triumph of Tiberius.
The conquering general is represented as stepping from his chariot to
do homage to Augustus and Livia, who are seated on a throne in godlike
forms. Below, Roman soldiers are raising trophies, whilst the conquered
leader is sitting on the ground with his arms tied behind his back. The
reduction of the Dacians, to whose realm Transylvania belonged, took
place under Trajan, a century later. To this day stands in Rome the
pillar of Trajan, erected in memory of his successful campaign in Dacia.
[Illustration: ROMAN AND DACIANS, FROM TRAJAN’S COLUMN.]
In Trajan’s time already Pannonia differed in no wise from the other
Roman provinces. Under a Roman administration the language of Rome
soon gained ground, although the legions placed there were by no means
Roman or even Italian, but consisted for the most part of Romanized
Spaniards, Belgians, Britons, and inhabitants of the Alpine provinces.
The towns became municipalities and colonies, and their inhabitants
enjoyed the privilege of self-government conceded to every Roman
citizen. Dacia, too, became, under that name, a Roman province, and
the Romanizing process was no less rapid there than it had been in
Pannonia. The blessings of Roman civilization followed, as usual,
in the train of Roman conquests. Cities soon sprang up in the newly
organized provinces, and were connected with each other as well as
with Rome by fine highways, traces of which may be met with here and
there to this day. The cultivation of the vine was introduced under
Roman rule, and the regular working of the gold and salt mines of
Transylvania began at that period. The life in the provinces was
modelled after the Roman pattern, for the Roman brought with him his
customs, institutions, language, and mode of life. The newly built
cities boasted of public places, of amphitheatres, of public baths,
the resort of pleasure-seekers and idlers; nor was the forum with its
statues wanting. The border towns had their _castrum_, giving them a
peculiar character of their own.
[Illustration: A ROMAN TEMPLE.]
For four centuries these provinces shared the destinies of the Roman
empire. The enemies of Rome were their enemies, too, and when, under
the emperor Marcus Aurelius, in the latter part of the second century
of our era, the German nations combined in an attack on the Romans,
the Marcomanni, who were renowned for their savage bravery, made a
successful inroad into Pannonia, and crossing the Danube devastated
the whole land. Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, was satisfied
to maintain only the integrity of the vast possessions he inherited,
and was averse to new conquests in the direction of the Carpathians.
His policy was to protect and defend the natural boundary line formed
by the Danube, a policy which gave the legions located there an undue
prominence. From this time forth Rome had to be defended in Pannonia,
for already at that period the mighty revolution, called the migration
of nations—the pressing forward of populations from the North and East
toward the civilized West and South—began to be felt. It was quite
natural that the Pannonian legions should, under the circumstances,
become aware of the importance of their position, and undertake to
direct the destinies of Rome from that distant province. Roman history
records that it was by the proclamation of these legions that Septimius
Severus, Maximin, and Aurelian became emperors. The emperors Claudius
II., Probus, and Valentinian I. were of Pannonian origin. The infant
son of the latter, Valentinian II., was brought by the widowed empress
Justina into the camp, and there the legions swore allegiance to him.
The time was now approaching when the waning power of the Roman empire
became more and more unequal to the task of defending her provinces.
Aurelian already had withdrawn the Roman legions from Dacia and allowed
the Goths to settle there, and Probus had introduced the Goths into
Lower Pannonia. Roman influence and Roman protection began to be of
little value; the great empire, weakened by internal dissensions, by
the internecine wars waged against each other by imperial pretenders,
torn by religious disputes, and finally divided, hastened to its
downfall.
At this period a new people made its appearance in Europe on the
shores of the Black Sea and along the banks of the Danube, namely,
the Huns, who were pushing before them the Goths towards the West.
They differed in race from the Germans, Slavs, and Romans, and they
had in Attila a leader capable of uniting under his sway the most
discordant ethnical elements. Ostrogoths, Gepidæ, Vandals, Alans,
Rugians, mostly Germanic populations, followed the banners of the
foreign leader, trusting in his good fortune and awed and magnetized by
his great personal qualities. He pushed forward with an immense number
of followers, gathering strength as he advanced by the accession of
the barbarous nations, bearing down and destroying every thing before
him. Theodosius II., Emperor of the East, agreed to pay tribute to
the king of the Huns; but in order to disguise to his subjects the
disgraceful transaction, he appointed Attila a general of the empire,
so that the tribute should have the appearance of official pay. But
Attila was not satisfied with this, and broke the peace, overran the
Balkan peninsula, pillaged the Byzantine provinces, and destroyed
the cities until he obtained his own terms. Priscus Rhetor, who was
one of the embassy sent by Theodosius II. to the court of Attila,
describes the wooden structure in which the king of the Huns dwelt on
the banks of the Theiss, somewhere in the vicinity of Szeged, and the
feasting there. Kings sat at the table, lords sang Attila’s heroic
deeds, and the guests drank each other’s health from vessels of gold.
Heathen and Christian, Roman citizens and Asiatic barbarians, as
well as the representatives of the Germanic tribes, mixed with each
other and thronged his court. It was during one of those feasts, in
453, as he was celebrating his nuptials, that the mighty king of the
Huns was carried off by a fit of apoplexy. Whilst the sons of Attila
were contending with each other for the possession of the empire, the
Germanic populations fell upon the divided Huns and drove them back to
the Black Sea.
The Gepidæ remained now the masters of the country east of the Danube,
whilst the Ostrogoths occupied the ancient Roman province. The latter,
however, under the lead of their king Theodoric, migrated in a body
to Italy, crossing the Alps, and founded there, on the ruins of the
Roman empire, a Gothic kingdom. The Gepidæ remained in consequence the
sole ruling people in Hungary; but as they proved dangerous neighbors
to the Eastern empire, Justinian invited the Longobards to settle in
Pannonia, and gave to the Avars, who now made their first appearance in
Europe and had asked him for land to settle on, the left bank of the
lower Danube. About this time, too, Slavic populations came into the
country, crossing the Carpathian mountains and peopling the deserted
land. Gepidæ, Longobards, and Avars could not dwell long in peace
together, and the first collision took place between the Longobards and
the Gepidæ on the banks of the Danube. This was followed by another
hostile outbreak, in which the Longobards obtained the alliance of
the Avars against the Gepidæ, resulting in the total overthrow of the
latter. Shortly afterwards the Longobards, following an invitation from
Italy, emigrated thither. Thus the Avars were left in sole possession
of the country, ruling over populations chiefly Slavic. The empire they
founded lasted two centuries and a half. The Avars were partly remnants
of those Huns who had been the terror of Europe, and their numbers were
in part swelled by new recruits coming from Asia.
Baján was the first and most dreaded prince of the Avars. During his
reign of thirty-two years the Byzantine emperor was compelled to
conciliate the warlike humor of the Avar prince by an annual tribute
of splendid presents, which, however, did not prevent the latter from
undertaking pillaging expeditions, on more than one occasion, into
Thrace, Mœsia, and Macedonia. Although a warlike people the Avars
seemed to lack the necessary skill and experience for besieging and
capturing fortified places. Their rule was characterized by cruelty,
want of faith, and destructive propensities. In course of time they
became more inclined to peace; wealth, indulgence in wine, and commerce
having rendered them effeminate and less formidable. They were finally
conquered, towards the end of the eighth century, by Charlemagne and
his Franks, who carried on against them for seven years one of the
most cruel and desolating wars known to history. Charlemagne’s own
historiographer tells us that one might have travelled through the
entire land for months, after the termination of the war, without
meeting with a single house—so utter and terrible were the ruin and
destruction. The downfall of the Avars was irretrievable.
The rule of the Romans had lasted four hundred years in Pannonia;
the Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepidæ, and Longobards enjoyed a span of power
of a little over a century taking them altogether, whilst the Avars
maintained their supremacy for two hundred and fifty years.
A century after their downfall appeared on the scene the Magyars, who
founded an empire which still endures, having survived the storms of a
thousand years.
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