John Lord
Ancient States and Empires
Final division of the empire.
The empire was now finally divided. A long succession of feeble princes reigned in the East, ruled by favorites and women, at whose courts the manners and customs of Oriental kings were introduced. The Eastern empire now assumes the character of an Eastern monarchy, and henceforth goes by the name of the Greek empire, at first, embracing those countries bounded by the Adriatic and Tigris, but gradually narrowed to the precincts of Constantinople. It lasted for one thousand years longer, before it was finally subdued by the Turks. The history of the Greek empire properly belongs to the mediæval ages. It is our object to trace the final fall of the Western empire.
Alaric. Defeat of the Goths. Stilicho.
Under Honorius, the Visigoths, ruled by Alaric, appear in history as a great and warlike people. Stilicho, the general of Honorius, encountered them unsuccessfully in two campaigns, in Macedonia and Thessaly, and the degenerate cities of Greece purchased their preservation at an enormous ransom. In the year 402, Alaric crossed the Alps, and Honorius fled to the marshes of Ravenna, where, protected by the shallow sea, the Western emperors a long time resided. Stilicho gained, however, a great victory over the Goths at Pollentia, near Turin, and arrested the march of Alaric upon Rome. The defeated Goth rose, however, superior to this defeat, celebrated by the poet Claudian, as the greatest victory which Rome had ever achieved. He escaped with the main body of his cavalry, broke through the passes of the Apennines, spread devastation on the fruitful fields of Tuscany, resolved to risk another battle for the great prize he aimed to secure, even imperial Rome. But Stilicho purchased the retreat of the Goths by a present of forty thousand pounds of gold. The departure of Alaric from Italy, which he had ravaged, was regarded by the Roman people as a complete and final deliverance, and they abandoned themselves to absurd rejoicings and gladiatoral shows.
Successive barbaric irruptions. Loss of Gaul to the empire.
But scarcely was Italy delivered from the Goths before an irruption of Vandals, Suevi, and Burgundians, under the command of Rodogast, or Rhadagast, two hundred thousand in number, issued from the coast of the Baltic, crossed the Vistula, the Alps, and the Apennines, ravaged the northern cities of Italy, and laid siege to Florence. The victor of Pollentia appeared for the rescue with the last army which the empire could raise, surrounded the enemy with strong intrenchments, and forced them to retire. Stilicho again delivered Italy, but one hundred thousand barbarians remained in arms between the Alps and the Apennines, who crossed into Gaul, then the most cultivated of the Western provinces, and completely devastated its fields, and villas, and cities. Mentz was destroyed; Worms fell, after an obstinate siege; Strasburg, Spires, Rheims, Tournay, Arras, and Amiens, all fell under the German yoke, and Gaul was finally separated from the empire. The Vandals, Sueves, and Alans, passed into Spain, while the Burgundians remained behind, masters of the mountainous regions of Eastern Gaul, to which was given the name of Burgundy, A.D. 409.
The troubles of the empire led to the final withdrawal of the legions from Britain about the time that Gaul was lost, and about forty years before the conquest of the island by the Saxons.
Italy, for a time delivered, forgot the services of Stilicho, the only man capable of defending her. The jealousy of the timid emperor he served, and the frivolous Senate which he saved, removed for ever the last hope of Rome. This able general was assassinated at Ravenna, A.D. 408.
Alaric advances to Rome.
The Gothic king, in his distant camp, beheld with joy the intrigues and factions which deprived the emperor of his best and last defender, and prepared for a new invasion of Italy. He descended like an avalanche upon the plains of Italy, and captured the cities of Aquileia, Concordia, and Cremona. He then ravaged the coasts of the Adriatic, and following the Flaminian way, crossed the Appennines, devastated Umbria, and reached, without obstruction, the city which for six hundred years had not seen a foreign enemy at her gates. Rome still contained within her walls, twenty-three miles in circuit, a vast population, but she had no warriors. She could boast of a long line of senatorial families, one thousand seven hundred and eighty palaces, and two million of people, together with the spoil of the ancient world, immense riches, and innumerable works of art; but where were her defenders? It is a sad proof of the degeneracy of the people that they were incapable of defense.
Siege of Rome. Heavy tribute imposed on Rome. Alaric master-general.
Alaric made no effort to storm the city, but quietly sat down, and inclosed the wretched inhabitants with a cordon through which nothing could force its way. He cut off all communication with the country and the sea, and commanded the gates. Famine, added to pestilence, did the work of soldiers. Despair seized the haughty and effeminate citizens, who invoked the clemency of the barbarians. He derided the ambassadors, and insulted them with rude and sarcastic jokes. “The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed,” replied he, when warned not to drive the people to despair. He condescended to spare the lives of the people on condition that they gave up all their gold and silver, all their precious movables, and all their slaves of barbaric birth. More moderate terms were afterward granted, but the victor did not retreat until he had loaded his wagons with precious spoil. He retired to the fertile fields of Tuscany, to make negotiations with Honorius, intrenched at Ravenna; and it was only on the condition of being appointed master-general of the imperial army, with an annual subsidy of corn and money, the free possession of Dalmatia, Noricum, and Venetia, that he consented to peace with the emperor. These terms were disregarded, and the indignant barbarian once again turned his face to the city he had spared. He took possession of Ostia, and Rome was at his mercy, since her magazines were in his hands. Again the Senate, fearful of famine, consented to the demands of the conqueror. He nominated Atticus, prefect of the city, as emperor, and from him received the commission of master-general of the armies of the West.
Sack of Rome.
Atticus, after a brief reign, was degraded, and negotiations were opened with Honorius. Repelled by fresh insults, which can not be comprehended other than from that infatuation which is sent upon the doomed, Alaric, vindictive and indignant, once more set out for Rome, resolved on plunder and revenge. In vain did the nobles organize a defense. Cowardice or treachery opened the Salarian gate. In the dead of night the Goths entered the city, which now was the prey of soldiers. For five days and five nights the “Eternal City” was exposed to every barbarity and license, and only the treasures accumulated and deposited in the churches of St. Paul and St. Peter were saved. A cruel slaughter of the citizens added to the miseries of a sack. Forty thousand slaves were let loose upon the people. The matrons and women of Rome were exposed to every indignity. The city was given up to pillage. The daughters and wives of senatorial families were made slaves. Italian fugitives thronged the shores of Africa and Syria, begging daily bread. The whole world was filled with consternation. The news of the capture of Rome made the tongue of St. Jerome cleave to the roof of his mouth, in his cell at Bethlehem. Sorrow, misery, desolation, and despair, were everywhere. The end of the world was supposed to be at hand, and the great churchmen of the age found consolation only in the doctrine of the second coming of our Lord amid the clouds of heaven, A.D. 410.
Evacuation of Rome.
After six days the Goths evacuated the city, and advanced on the Appian way, to the southern provinces of Italy, destroying ruthlessly all who opposed their march, and laden with the spoil of Rome. The beautiful villas of the Campanian coast, where the masters of the world had luxuriated for centuries, were destroyed or plundered, and the rude Goths gave themselves up to all the license of barbaric soldiers.
Death of Alaric.
At length, gorged with wine and plunder, they prepared to invade Sicily, when Alaric sickened and died in Bruttium, and was buried beneath the bed of a river, that the place of his sepulchre should never be found out. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Adolphus, with whom Honorius concluded peace, and whom he created a general of his armies. As such, he led his forces into Gaul, and the southern part of the country became the seat of their permanent settlement, with Toulouse for a capital. The Visigoths extended their conquests on both sides of the Pyrenees; Vandalusia was conquered by his son, Wallia, A.D. 418, on whom the emperor bestowed Aquitania. His son, Theodoric, was the first king of the Goths.
Kingdom of the Franks. Discords between Boniface and Aetius.
The same year that saw the establishment of this new Gothic kingdom, also witnessed the foundation of the kingdom of the Franks, by Pharamund, and the final loss of Britain. Thus province after province was wrested away from the emperor, who died, A.D. 423, and was succeeded by Constantius, who had married his sister. He died the same year, leaving an infant, called Valentinian. The chief secretary of the late emperor, John, was proclaimed emperor; but he was dethroned two years after, and Valentinian III. six years of age, reigned in his stead, favored by the services of two able generals, Boniface and Aetius, who arrested by their talents the incursions of the barbarians, But they quarreled, and their discord led to the loss of Africa, invaded by the Vandals.
The Vandals.
These barbarians also belonged to the great Teutonic race, and their settlements were on the Elbe and the Vistula. In the time of Marcus Aurelius they had invaded the empire, but were signally defeated. One hundred years later, they settled in Pannonia, where they had a bitter contest with the Goths. Defeated by them, they sought the protection of Rome, and enlisted in her armies. In 406 they invaded Gaul, and advanced to the Pyrenees, inflicting every atrocity. They then crossed into Spain, and settled in Andalusia, A.D. 409, and resumed the agricultural life they had led in Pannonia. The Roman governor of Spain intrigued with their old enemies, the Goths, then settled in Gaul, to make an attack upon them, under Wallia. Worried and incensed, the Vandals turned against the Romans, and routed them, and got possession of the peninsula.
The Vandals in Africa.
It was then that Aetius, the general of Valentinian III., persuaded the emperor,—or rather his mother, Placidia, the real ruler,—to recall Boniface from the government of Africa. He refused the summons, revolted, and called to his aid the Vandals, who had possession of Spain. They were commanded by Genseric, one of those hideous monsters, who combined great military talents with every vice. He responded to the call of Boniface, and invaded Africa, rich in farms and cities, whose capital, Carthage, was once more the rival of Rome, and had even outgrown Alexandria as a commercial city. With fifty thousand warriors, Genseric devastated the country, and Boniface, too late repenting of his error, turned against the common foe, but was defeated, and obliged to cede to the barbarians three important provinces, A.D. 432.
Fall of Carthage.
Peace was not of long duration, and the Vandals renewed the war, on the retreat of Boniface to Italy, where he was killed in a duel, by Aetius. All Africa was overrun, and Carthage was taken and plundered, and met a doom as awful as Tyre and Jerusalem, for her iniquities were flagrant, and called to heaven for vengeance. In the sack of the city, the writings of Augustine, bishop of Hippo, were fortunately preserved as a thesaurus of Christian theological literature, the influence of which can hardly be overrated in the dark period which succeeded, A.D. 439.
Vandals in Italy. Sack of Rome by the Vandals.
The Vandals then turned their eyes to Rome, and landed on the Italian coast. The last hope of the imperial city, now threatened by an overwhelming force, was her Christian bishop—the great Leo, who hastened to the barbarians' camp, and in his pontifical robes, sought the mercy of the unrelenting and savage foe. But he could secure no better terms, than that the unresisting should be spared, the buildings protected from fire, and the captives from torture. But this promise was only partially fulfilled. The pillage lasted fourteen days and fourteen nights, and all that the Goths had spared was transported to the ships of Genseric. The statues of the old pagan gods, which adorned the capitol, the holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which Titus had brought from Jerusalem, the shrines and altars of the Christian churches, the costly ornaments of the imperial palace, the sideboards of massive silver from senatorial mansions,—the gold, the silver, the brass, the precious marbles,—were all transported to the ships. The Empress Eudoxia, herself, stripped of her jewels, was carried away captive, with her two daughters, the sole survivors of the family of Theodosius.
The fall of Rome.
Such was the doom of Rome, A.D. 455, forty-five years after the Gothic invasion. The haughty city met the fate which she had inflicted on her rivals, and nothing remained but desolation and recollections.
The Huns.
While the Vandals were plundering Rome, the Huns—a Sclavonic race, hideous and revolting barbarians, under Attila, called the scourge of God, were ravaging the remaining provinces of the empire. Never since the days of Xerxes was there such a gathering of nations as now inundated the Roman world—some five hundred thousand warriors, chiefly Asiatic, armed with long quivers and heavy lances, cuirasses of plaited hair, scythes, round bucklers, and short swords. This host, composed of Huns, Alans, Gepidæ, and other tribes, German as well as Asiatic, from the plains of Sarmatia, and the banks of the Vistula and Niemen, extended from Bash to the mouth of the Rhine. The great object of attack was Orleans—an important strategic position.
Battle of Chalons.
The leader of the imperial forces was Aetius, banished for the death of Boniface, composed of Britains, Franks, Burgundians, Sueves, Saxons, and Visigoths. It was not now the Romans against barbarians, but Europe against Asia. The contending forces met on the plains of Champagne, and at Chalons was fought the decisive battle by which Europe was delivered from Asia, and the Gothic nations from the Mongol races, A.D. 451. Attila was beaten, and Gaul was saved from Sclavonic invaders. It is said that three hundred thousand of the barbarians, on both sides, were slain.
The discomfited king of the Huns led back his forces to the Rhine, ravaging the country through which he passed. The following year he invaded Italy.
Attila in Italy.
Aetius had won one of the greatest victories of ancient times, and alone remained to stem the barbaric hosts. But he was mistrusted by the emperor at Ravenna, whose daughter he had solicited in marriage for his son, and was left without sufficient force. Aquileia, the most important city in Northern Italy, fell into the hands of Attila. He then resolved to cross the Apennines and give a last blow to Rome. Leo, the intrepid bishop, sought his camp, as he had once before entreated Genseric. The Hun consented to leave Italy for an annual tribute, and the hand of the princess Honoria, sister of the Emperor Valentinian. He retired to the Danube by the passes of the Alps, and spent the winter in bacchanalian orgies, but was cut off in his career by the poisoned dagger of a Burgundian princess, whose relations he had slain.
Retreat of the Huns. The last emperors.
The retreat of the Huns did not deliver the wasted provinces of a now fallen empire from renewed ravages. For twenty years longer, Italy was subject to incessant depredations. Valentinian, the last emperor of the family of Theodosius, was assassinated A.D. 455, at the instigation of Maximus—a senator of the Anician family, whose wife had been violated by the emperor. The successive reigns of Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerins, Nepos,and Augustulus—nine emperors in twenty-one years, suggest nothing but ignominy and misfortune. They were shut up in their palaces, within the walls of Ravenna, and were unable to arrest the ruin. Again, during this period, was Rome sacked by the Vandals. The great men of the period were Theodoric—king of the Ostrogoths, who ruled both sides of the Alps, and supported the crumbling empire, and Count Ricimer, a Sueve, and generalissimo of the Roman armies. It was at this disastrous epoch that fugitives from the Venetian territory sought a refuge among the islands which skirt the northern coast of the Adriatic—the haunts of fishermen and sea-birds. There Venice was born—to revive the glory of the West, and write her history upon the waves for one thousand years.
Odoacer. Theodoric.
The last emperor was the son of Orestes—a Pannonian, who was christened Romulus. When elevated by the soldiers upon a shield and saluted Augustus, he was too small to wear the purple robe, and they called him Augustulus!—a bitter mockery, recalling the foundation and the imperial greatness of Rome. This prince, feeble and powerless, was dethroned by Odoacer—chief of the Heruli, and one of the unscrupulous mercenaries whose aid the last emperor had invoked. The throne of the Cæsars was now hopelessly subverted, and Odoacer portioned out the lands of Italy among his greedy followers, but allowed Augustulus to live as a pensioner in a Campanian villa, which had once belonged to Sulla, A.D. 476. Odoacer, however, reigned but fourteen years, and was supplanted by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, A.D. 490. The barbarians were now fairly settled in the lands they had invaded, and the Western empire was completely dismembered.
Gothic kingdom of Italy. Division of the empire among barbarians.
In Italy were the Ostrogoths, who established a powerful kingdom, afterward assailed by Belisarius and Narses, the generals of Justinian, the Eastern emperor, and also by the Lombards, under Alboin, who secured a footing in the north of Italy. Gaul was divided among the Franks, Burgundians, and Visigoths, among whom were perpetual wars. Britain was possessed by the Saxons. Spain became the inheritance of Vandals, Suevi, and Visigoths. The Vandals retained Africa. The Eastern empire, with the exception of Constantinople, finally fell into the hands of the Saracens.
Reflections on the fall of the empire.
It would be interesting to trace the various fortunes of the Teutonic nations in their new settlements, but this belongs to mediæval history. The real drama of the fall of Rome was ended when Alaric gained possession of the imperial city. “The empire fell,” says Guizot, “because no one would belong to it.” At the period of barbaric invasion it had lost all real vigor, and was kept together by mechanism—the mechanism of government which had been one thousand years perfecting. It was energy, patriotism, patience, and a genius for government which built up the empire. But prosperity led to luxury, self-exaggeration, and enervating vices. Society was steeped in sensuality, frivolity, and selfishness. The empire was rotten to the core, and must become the prey of barbarians, who had courage and vitality. Three centuries earlier, the empire might have withstood the shock of external enemies, and the barbarians might have been annihilated. But they invaded the provinces when central power was weak, when public virtue had fled, when the middle classes were extinct, when slavery, demoralizing pleasures, and disproportionate fortunes destroyed elevation of sentiment, and all manly energies. A noble line of martial emperors for a time arrested ruin, but ruin was inevitable. Natural law asserted its dignity. The penalty of sin must be paid. Nothing could save the empire. No conservative influences were sufficiently strong—neither literature, nor art, nor science, nor philosophy, nor even Christianity. Society retrograded as the new religion triumphed, a mysterious fact, but easily understood when we remember that vices were universal before a remedy could be applied. The victories of Christianity came not too late for the human race, but too late for the salvation of a worn-out empire.
The barbarians were advancing when Constantine was converted. The salvation of the race was through these barbarians themselves, for, though they desolated, they reconstructed; and, when converted to the new faith, established new institutions on a better basis. The glimmering life-sparks of a declining and miserable world disappeared, but new ideas, new passions, new interests arose, and on the ruins of the pagan civilization new Christian empires were founded, which have been gaining power for one thousand five hundred years, and which may not pass away till civilization itself shall be pronounced a failure in the present dispensations of the Moral Governor of the World.
