A Manual of Ancient History Part 38

As this register was probably reviewed every fifteen years, it gave rise to the _cycle of indictions_ of fifteen years, which became the common era, beginning from September 1, 312. In this manner the tax included all those who were possessed of property. _b._ The tax on commerce; which was levied on almost every kind of trade. It was collected every four years, whence the _aurum l.u.s.trale_. _c._ The _aurum coronarium_ grew out of the custom which obtained of presenting the emperors with golden crowns on particular occasions; the value of which was at last exacted in money. Every considerable city was obliged to pay it.

10. The rapid spread of the Christian religion, the promulgation of which was enforced as a duty upon all its professors, was now accelerated by the endeavours of the court. Constantine forbade sacrifices, and shut up the temples; and the violent zeal of his successors unfortunately soon turned them into ruins.

_Histoire de Constantin-le-Grand_, _par le_ R. P. BERN. DE VARENNE.

Paris, 1778, 4to.

_Vita di Constantino il Grande dell'_ ABB. FR. GUSTA. Fuligno, 1786.

Both these works, especially the first, are written in a tone of panegyric; the latest, and by far the best, is

# _Life of Constantine the Great_, by J. C. F. MANSO. Bresl. 1817.

With several very learned appendixes, which clear up some particular points.

11. The three Caesars and sons of Constantine the Great, Constantine, 337-340; Constantius, 337-361; and Constans, 337-350; had been carefully educated, and yet resembled one another as much in their vices as they did in their names. They indeed divided the empire again upon the death of their father; but were so eager after territory, which neither of them was qualified to govern, that a series of wars followed for the next twelve years, till at last Constantius was left master of the whole; and by the murder of most of his relations secured the throne to himself.

In the part.i.tion of the empire Constantine obtained the _praefectura Galliarum_, Constans the _praefectura Italiae et Illyrici_, and Constantius the _praefectura Orientis_. But as Constantine desired to add Italy and Africa to his portion, he attacked Constans, and thereby lost his life, so that Constans came into thee possession of the western countries. In consequence, however, of his wretched misgovernment, Magnentius, a general, proclaimed himself emperor in Gaul, and Constans was slain in endeavouring to escape, 350. A war with Constantius, who was then occupied in the east, became inevitable, and broke out 351. The usurper was defeated first at Mursa in Pannonia, then retreating into Gaul he was again defeated, 353; upon which he slew himself, together with his family.

12. As Constantius, however--sunk in effeminacy and debauchery, and surrounded and governed by eunuchs--was unable to sustain the weight of government alone, he took his cousin Constantius Gallus, hitherto a state prisoner, and whose father he had formerly slain, to his a.s.sistance, created him Caesar, and sent him into the east against the Parthians. But his excessive arrogance, which was fomented by his wife Constantina, rendered him so dangerous that Constantius recalled him, and caused him, upon his return, to be put to death in Istria. His younger brother Fl. Julian, from whom the suspicious Constantius believed he had nothing to fear, was promoted in his place, created Caesar, and sent to defend the frontiers on the Rhine. Although Julian pa.s.sed suddenly from study to warfare, he not only fought against the Germans with success, but also made a deep inroad into their country. In the mean time Constantius, after his generals had been beaten by the Persians, who wished to reconquer the provinces they had ceded, was preparing an expedition against them in person, and with that view endeavoured gradually to withdraw the troops of Julian, in consequence of which the latter, suspecting his design, was induced to accept the diadem presented by his soldiers. While marching, however, along the Danube against Constantius, he received information of that prince's death in Asia.

13. Fl. Julian, (the apostate,) who reigned from his twenty-ninth to his thirty-second year, was the last and most highly gifted prince of the house of Constantine. Instructed by misfortunes and study, he yet had some faults, though certainly free from great vices. He began with reforming the luxury of the court. His abjuration of the religion now become dominant, and which he wished to annihilate by degrees, was an error in policy, which he must have discovered to his cost had his reign been prolonged. Wishing, however, to terminate the war against the Persians, he penetrated as far as the Tigris, where he lost his life in an engagement, after a reign of three years.

# _The Emperor Julian and his Times_, by AUGUST. NEANDER. Leipsic, 1812. An historical sketch.

14. Fl. Jovia.n.u.s, now thirty-three years of age, was immediately raised to the purple by the army. He concluded a peace with the Persians, by which he restored them all the territory that had been conquered from them since the year 297. After a short reign of eight months he was carried off by a sudden disorder; and the army proclaimed Fl.

Valentinian at Nice in his stead, Valentinian almost immediately a.s.sociated his brother Valens with himself in the government, and divided the empire by giving him the _praefectura Orientis_, and retaining the rest for himself.

15. The reign of Valentinian I. in the east, who, in the year 367, created his son Gratian Augustus with himself, is distinguished by the system of toleration which he followed with regard to the affairs of religion, though in other respects a cruel prince. Nearly the whole of his reign was taken up in almost continual struggles with the German nations, who had recovered from the losses they had suffered under Julian. His first efforts were directed against the Franks, the Saxons, and the Alemanni on the Rhine; and afterwards against the Quadi and other nations on the Danube; where he died of apoplexy at Guntz in Hungary.

16. In the mean time his brother Valens (aged 38-52 years) had to contend with a powerful insurrection which had broken out in the east. A certain Procopius had instigated the people to this, by taking advantage of the discontent occasioned by the oppression of Valens, who, having adopted the opinion of the Arians, was more disliked in the east than his brother was in the west. His war against the Persians ended with a truce. But the most important event that happened during his reign, was the entrance of the Huns into Europe, which took place towards its close. This in its turn gave rise to the great popular migration, by which the Roman empire in the west may properly be said to have been overthrown. The immediate consequence was the admission of the greater part of the Visigoths into the Roman empire, and this occasioned a war which cost Valens his life.

The Huns, a nomad people of Asia, belonged to the great Mongolian race. Having penetrated to the Don, 373, they subdued the Goths upon that river as far as the Theiss. The Goths, divided into Ostrogoths and Visigoths, were separated from one another by the Dnieper. The former, driven from their country, fell upon the Visigoths, in consequence of which the emperor Valens was requested by the latter to grant them admission into the Roman empire, and with the exception of the Vandals, who had been seated in Pannonia from the time of Constantine, they were the first barbarian nation that had been settled within the boundaries of the empire. The scandalous oppression of the Roman governor, however, drove them into rebellion; and as Valens marched against them, he was defeated near Adrianople and lost his life, 378.

17. During these events, Gratian (aged 16-24 years) succeeded his father Valentinian I. in the west, and immediately a.s.sociated his brother, Valentinian II. (aged 5-21 years) with himself in the empire; giving him, though under his own superintendence, the _praefectura Italiae et Illyrici_. Gratian set forward to the a.s.sistance of his uncle Valens against the Goths, but receiving on his march an account of his defeat and death, and fearing the east might fall a prey to the Goths, he raised Theodosius, a Spaniard, who had already distinguished himself as a warrior, to the purple, and gave him the _praefectura Orientis et Illyrici_.

18. The indolent reign of Gratian led to the rebellion of Maximus, a commander in Britain, who, crossing into Gaul, was so strongly supported by the defection of the Gallic legions, that Gratian was obliged to seek safety in flight. He was, however, overtaken and put to death at Lyons.

By this event Maximus found himself in possession of all the _praefectura Galliarum_; and by promising Theodosius not to interfere with the young Valentinian II. in Italy, he prevailed upon him to acknowledge him emperor. But having broken his promise by the invasion of Italy, he was defeated and made prisoner by Theodosius in Pannonia, and soon after executed. Upon this Valentinian II. a youth of whom great hopes were entertained, became again master of all the west. But, unfortunately, he was murdered by the offended Arbogast, his _magister militum_; who, thereupon, raised to the throne his own friend Eugenius, _magister officiorum_. Theodosius, however, so far from acknowledging, declared war against him and made him prisoner. He himself thus became master of the whole empire, but died in the following year.

19. The vigorous reign of Theodosius in the east, from his thirty-fourth to his fiftieth year, was not less devoted to politics than to religion.

The dexterity with which he at first broke the power of the victorious Goths (though they still preserved their quarters in the provinces on the Danube), procured him considerable influence, which the strength and activity of his character enabled him easily to maintain. The blind zeal, however, with which he persecuted Arianism, now the prevailing creed in the east, and restored the orthodox belief, as well as the persecutions which he directed against the pagans and the destruction of their temples, occasioned the most dreadful convulsions. His efforts to preserve the boundaries of the empire, not a province of which was lost before his death, required an increase of taxes; and however oppressive this might be, we cannot impute it to the ruler as a crime. In an empire so enfeebled in itself, and which, nevertheless, had powerful foes on every side to contend with, it followed that every active reign would be oppressive. Yet never before had the internal depopulation of the empire made it necessary to take so many barbarians into Roman pay, as under this reign; whence naturally followed a change in the arms and tactics of the Roman armies.

P. ERASM. MULLER, _de genio saeculi Theodosiani_. Havniae, 1798, 2 vols.

A very learned and in every respect excellent description of the deeply-decayed Roman world as it now stood.

20. Theodosius left two sons, between whom the empire was divided. Both parts, however, were certainly considered as forming but one empire--an opinion which afterwards prevailed, and even till late in the middle ages had important consequences--yet never since this period have they been reunited under one ruler. The eastern empire, comprising the _praefectura Orientis et Illyrici_, was allotted to the eldest son, Arcadius (aged 18-31) under the guardianship of Rufinus the Gaul. The western, or the _praefectura Galliarum et Italiae_, to the younger, Honorius, aged 11-39, under the guardianship of the Vandal Stilico.

21. The western empire, to the history of which we shall now confine ourselves, suffered such violent shocks during the reign of Honorius, as made its approaching fall plainly visible. The intrigues of Stilico to procure himself the government of the whole empire, opened a way for the Goths into its interior, just at a time when they were doubly formidable, fortune having given them a leader greatly superior to any they had hitherto had. Alaric king of the Visigoths established himself and his people in the Roman empire, became master of Rome, and mounted the throne: it was the mere effect of chance that he did not overthrow it altogether.

Both Honorius and Arcadius, especially the latter, belonged to that cla.s.s of men who never come to years of maturity; their favourites and ministers therefore governed according to their own inclination.

Stilico, who made Honorius his son-in-law, was not deficient, indeed, in abilities for governing; and his endeavour to obtain the management of the whole empire, arose, perhaps, from the conviction that it was necessary he should have it. He could not, however, gain his object by intrigue; for after the murder of Rufinus; 395, he found a still more powerful opponent in the eunuch Eutropius, his successor in the east.

Under the regency of Stilico, Gaul, in consequence of its troops being withdrawn to oppose Alaric, 400, was inundated by German tribes--by Vandals, Alani, and Suevi--who from thence penetrated even into Spain.

Nevertheless, he preserved Italy from their attacks by the victory which he gained, 403, over Alaric at Verona; and again over Radagaisus, 405, who had advanced with other German hordes as far as Florence. But Stilico, having entered into a secret alliance with Alaric, for the purpose of wresting eastern Illyrica from the empire of the east, was overreached by the intrigues of the new favourite Olympius, whose cabal knew how to take advantage of the weakness of Honorius, and of the jealousy of the Roman and foreign soldiers.

Stilico was accused of aspiring to the throne, and was executed August 23, 408. Rome lost in him the only general that was left to defend her. Alaric invaded Italy the same year, 408, and the besieged Rome was obliged to purchase peace; the conditions, however, not being fulfilled, he was again, 409, before Rome, became master of the city, and created Attalus, the praefect of the city, emperor instead of Honorius, who had shut himself up in Ravenna. In 410 he a.s.sumed the diadem; and, making himself master of the city by force, gave it up to be plundered by his troops. Soon afterwards, while projecting the capture of Sicily and Africa, he died in lower Italy. His brother-in-law and successor, Adolphus, together with his Goths, left Italy, now completely exhausted, 412, went into Gaul, and from thence proceeding into Spain, founded there the empire of the Visigoths: he carried with him, however, Placidia the sister of Honorius, either as prisoner or as hostage, and married her in Gaul. During these events an usurper arose in Britain and Gaul named Constantine, 407: he was vanquished, and put to death, 411, by Constantius, one of Honorius's generals. This latter prince not only gave Constantius his sister Placidia, who had become a widow and was restored in 417, in marriage, but also named him Augustus in 421. He died, however, a few months after, so that Placidia henceforward had a considerable share in the government. She went nevertheless, 423, to Constantinople, where she remained until the death of Honorius.

# _Fl. Stilico, or the Wallenstein of Antiquity_, by CHR. FR. SCHULZE, 1805. Not written by way of comparison.

22. In this manner was a great part of Spain, and part of Gaul, cut off from the Roman empire during the reign of Honorius. After his death the secretary John usurped the government, but was defeated by the eastern emperor Theodosius II. The nephew of Honorius, Valentinian III. a minor (aged 6-36), was then raised to the throne, under the guardian care of his mother Placidia (! 450). Under his miserable reign the western empire was stripped of almost all her provinces with the exception of Italy. Yet the government of his mother, and afterwards his own incapacity, were as much the cause as the stormy migration of barbarous tribes, which now convulsed all Europe.

Britain had been voluntarily left by the Romans since 427. In Africa, the governor Boniface having been driven into rebellion by the intrigues of the Roman general aetius, who possessed the ear of Placidia, invited the Vandals from Spain, under the command of Genseric, to come to his a.s.sistance. The latter then obtained possession of the country, 429-439; indeed, even as early as 435, Valentinian was obliged to make a formal cession of it to them.

Valentinian's wife Eudoxia, a Grecian princess, was purchased by the cession of western Illyric.u.m (Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Noric.u.m); so that of all the countries south of the Danube there now only remained those which belonged to the praefecture of Italy: Rhaetia and Vindelicia. On the south-east of Gaul was formed, 435, the kingdom of the Burgundians, which, besides the south-east part of France, comprised also Switzerland and Savoy. The south-west was under the dominion of the Visigoths. There remained only the territory north of the Loire which still submitted to the Roman governors; the last of whom, Syagrius, survived the fall of the empire itself; holding out till the year 486, when he was defeated near Soissons by Clodovicus, or Clovis, king of the Franks.

23. But while the western empire seemed thus of itself almost to fall to pieces, another impetuous rush of nations took place, which threatened the whole of western Europe. The victorious hordes of Huns who now occupied the territory formerly the seat of the Goths, between the Don and the Theiss, and even as far as the Volga, had united themselves, since the year 444, under one common chief, Attila; who, by this union and his own superior talents as a warrior and ruler, became the most powerful prince of his time. The eastern empire having bought a peace by paying him a yearly tribute, he fell with a mighty army upon the western provinces. The united forces, however, of the Romans under aetius and the Visigoths, obliged him near Chalons (_in campis Catalaunicis_) to retreat. Nevertheless, the following year he again invaded Italy, where he had a secret understanding with the licentious Honoria, Valentinian's sister. The cause of his second retreat, which was soon followed by his death, is unknown. The miserable Valentinian soon after deprived the Roman empire of its best general, being led by his suspicions to put aetius to death. He himself, however, was soon doomed to undergo the punishment of his debaucheries, being murdered in a conspiracy formed by Petronius Maximus, whose wife he had dishonoured, and some friends of aetius, whom he had executed.

24. The twenty years which intervened between the a.s.sa.s.sination of Valentinian, and the final destruction of the Roman empire in the west, was nearly one continued series of intestine revolutions. No less than nine sovereigns rapidly succeeded one another. These changes, indeed, were but of little importance in this troublesome period, compared to the terror with which Genseric king of the Vandals filled the Roman empire: he by his naval power having become master of the Mediterranean and Sicily, could ravage the coasts of the defenceless Italy at his pleasure, and even capture Rome itself. While in Italy, the German Ricimer, general of the foreign troops in Roman pay, permitted a series of emperors to reign in his name. It would have been his lot to put an end to this series of Augusti, but for mere accident, which reserved that glory for his son and successor, Odoacer, four years after his father's death.

After the death of Valentinian, Maximus was proclaimed emperor; but as he wished to compel Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, to marry him, she called over Genseric from Africa, who took and pillaged Rome, and Maximus perished after a reign of three months, 455. He was succeeded by M. Avitus, who ascended the throne at Arles; and he again was soon deposed by Ricimer, 456, who, just before, had defeated the fleet of the Vandals. Ricimer now placed upon the throne, first Julia.n.u.s Majoria.n.u.s, April 1, 457; but he, having distinguished himself in the wars against the Vandals, 461, was set aside, and Libius Severus put in his place, who, however, died in 465, probably of poison. His death was followed by an interregnum of two years, during which Ricimer ruled, though without the t.i.tle of emperor. At length the patrician Anthemius, then at Constantinople (where they never gave up their pretensions to the right of naming or confirming the sovereigns of the west), was, though not without the consent of the powerful Ricimer, named emperor of the west, April 12, 467, by the emperor Leo.

But differences having arisen between him and Ricimer, the latter retired to Milan, 469, and commenced a war, in which he took and pillaged Rome, and Anthemius was slain. Ricimer himself followed soon after, ! Aug. 18, 472. Upon this, Anicius Olybrius, son-in-law of Valentinian III. was proclaimed Augustus, but dying in three months, Oct. 472, Glycerius a.s.sumed the purple at Ravenna, without, however, being acknowledged at Constantinople, where they in preference named Julius Nepos Augustus. The latter, in 474, having expelled Glycerius, became also in his turn expelled by his own general Orestes, 475, who gave the diadem to his son Romulus Momyllus, who, as the last in the succession of Augusti, acquired the surname of Augustulus. In 476, however, Odoacer, the leader of the Germans in the Roman pay at Rome, sent him, after the execution of Orestes, into captivity, and allowed him a pension. Odoacer now remained master of Italy till the year 492, when the Ostrogoths, under their king Theodoric, founded there a new empire.

25. Thus fell the Roman empire of the west, while that of the east, pressed on every side, and in a situation almost similar, endured a thousand years, notwithstanding its intestine broils, which would alone have sufficed to destroy any other, and the hosts of barbarians who attacked it during the middle ages. The impregnable situation of its capital, which usually decides the fate of such kingdoms, joined to its despotism, which is not unfrequently the main support of a kingdom in its decline, can alone, in some measure, explain a phenomenon which has no equal in the history of the world.

APPENDIX.

CHRONOLOGY OF HERODOTUS TO THE TIME OF CYRUS, EXTRACTED FROM THE RESEARCHES OF M. VOLNEY. See Preface.

Although Herodotus did not write his work in chronological order, yet we cannot doubt that he had some general plan of computing time. By carefully selecting and comparing the separate data scattered through his work, this plan to a certain extent may be traced out, and early history, with regard to settled chronology, must necessarily gain a good deal. The following essay is founded upon a procedure of this kind; it is drawn entirely from Herodotus, and only from data which he has precisely determined, the pa.s.sages of his work being always referred to.

The year B. C. 561, in which the fall of Astyages and the Median empire took place, as may be proved from Herodotus himself, is a fixed point of time from which we may ascend into higher antiquity. This point of time may be determined by the chronological data respecting the battle of Marathon, four years before the death of Darius (Herodotus VII. 1. 4.) agreeing with the general data of the Greeks, who fix it in the third year of the 72nd Olymp. B. C. 490. By adding to this the thirty-two years of Darius's reign that had already elapsed (Herodotus, ibid.), the eight months of Smerdis (Herodotus, III. 68.), the seven years and five months of Cambyses (Herodotus III. 66.), and the twenty-nine years of Cyrus (Herodotus, I. 214.), we obtain the year 560 as the first year of Cyrus.

I. CHRONOLOGY OF THE MEDIAN EMPIRE.

B. C.

End of the Median empire 561.

Duration of the Median empire one hundred and fifty-six years (Herodotus, I, 130.) The beginning of it, therefore, after their separation from the a.s.syrians, would be 717.

In this period, at first, six years of anarchy[a] 716-710.

Reign of Deioces fifty-three years (Herodotus, I. 102.) 710-657.

Reign of Phraortes, twenty-two years (ibid.) 657-635.

Cyaxares, forty years (I. 106.) 635-595.

Irruption and dominion of the Scythians, twenty-eight years (I. 203. 106.) 625-598.

Conquest of Nineveh (I. 106.) 597.

Astyages reigned thirty-five years (I. 130.) 595-561.

The succession of Median kings given by Ctesias, which entirely differs from this, the author thinks might be explained by a duplication; see # _Gott. Gel. Anz._ 1810, p. 4.

[a] These are certainly not determined from Herodotus; but they remain after subtracting the one hundred and fifty years'

reign of the four Median kings.