Early European History Part 46

[15] See page 54.

[16] _Soli Invicto Mithrae._ An interesting survival of Mithra worship is the date of our festival of Christmas. The 25th of December was the day of the great annual celebration in memory of the Persian deity. In 274 A.D.

the emperor Aurelian raised a gorgeous temple to the sun G.o.d in the Campus Martius, dedicating it on the 25th of December, "the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun." After the triumph of Christianity the day was still honored, but henceforth as the anniversary of the birth of Christ.

[17] The exact date of the crucifixion is unknown. It took place during the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilatus was procurator of Judea.

[18] Tertullian, _Apology_, 37.

[19] See page 199, note 1.

[20] The meeting was called _ecclesia_ from the Greek word for "popular a.s.sembly." Hence comes our word "ecclesiastical."

[21] Whence the word "priest."

[22] The word "bishop" comes from the Greek _episkopos_ and means, literally, an "overseer."

[23] It is highly doubtful, however, whether this legislation had any reference to Christianity. More probably, Constantine was only adding the day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly established in the empire (see page 229, note 1) to the other holy days of the Roman calendar.

[24] See page 146.

[25] See page 253.

[26] See page 267.

[27] See page 270.

CHAPTER XI

THE GERMANS TO 476 A.D. [1]

82. GERMANY AND THE GERMANS

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF GERMANY

The Germans were an Indo-European people, as were their neighbors, the Celts of Gaul and Britain. They had lived for many centuries in the wild districts of central Europe north of the Alps and beyond the Danube and the Rhine. This home land of the Germans in ancient times was cheerless and unhealthy. Dense forests or extensive marshes covered the ground. The atmosphere was heavy and humid; in summer clouds and mists brooded over the country; and in winter it was covered with snow and ice. In such a region everything was opposed to civilization. Hence the Germans, though a gifted race, had not advanced as rapidly as the Greek and Italian peoples.

THE GERMANS DESCRIBED BY THE ROMANS

Our earliest notice of the Germans is found in the _Commentaries_ by Julius Caesar, who twice invaded their country. About a century and a half later the Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote a little book called Germany, which gives an account of the people as they were before coming under the influence of Rome and Christianity. Tacitus describes the Germans as barbarians with many of the usual marks of barbarism. He speaks of their giant size, their fierce, blue eyes, and their blonde or ruddy hair. These physical traits made them seem especially terrible to the smaller and darker Romans. He mentions their love of warfare, the fury of their onset in battle, and the contempt which they had for wounds and even death itself. When not fighting, they pa.s.sed much of their time in the chase, and still more time in sleep and gluttonous feasts. They were hard drinkers, too, and so pa.s.sionately fond of gambling that, when a man's wealth was gone, he would even stake his liberty on a single game. In some of these respects the Germans resembled our own Indian tribes.

GERMAN MORALS

On the other hand, the Germans had certain attractive qualities not always found even among civilized peoples. They were hospitable to the stranger, they respected their sworn word, they loved liberty and hated restraint.

Their chiefs, we are told, ruled rather by persuasion than by authority.

Above all, the Germans had a pure family life. "Almost alone among barbarians," writes Tacitus, "they are content with one wife. No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor is it the fashion to corrupt and be corrupted.

Good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere." [2] The Germans, then, were strong and brave, hardy, chaste, and free.

PROGRESS OF THE GERMANS

The Germans, during the three centuries between the time of Tacitus and the beginning of the invasions, had advanced somewhat in civilization.

They were learning to live in towns instead of in rude villages, to read and write, to make better weapons and clothes, to use money, and to enjoy many Roman luxuries, such as wine, spices, and ornaments. They were likewise uniting in great confederations of tribes, ruled by kings who were able to lead them in migrations to other lands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUNIC ALPHABET The word "rune" comes from a Gothic word meaning a secret thing, a mystery. To the primitive Germans it seemed a mysterious thing that letters could be used to express thought. The art of writing with an alphabet appears to have been introduced into Germanic Europe during the first centuries of our era. Most Runic inscriptions have been found in Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula.]

REASONS FOR THE GERMANIC MIGRATIONS

During this same period, also, the Germans increased rapidly in numbers.

Consequently it was a difficult matter for them to live by hunting and fishing, or by such rude agriculture as their country allowed. They could find additional land only in the fertile and well cultivated territories of the Romans. It was this hunger for land, together with the love of fighting and the desire for booty and adventure, which led to their migrations.

GROWING WEAKNESS OF ROME

The German inroads were neither sudden, nor unexpected, nor new. Since the days of Marius and of Julius Caesar not a century had pa.s.sed without witnessing some dangerous movement of the northern barbarians. Until the close of the fourth century Rome had always held their swarming hordes at bay. Nor were the invasions which at length destroyed the empire much more formidable than those which had been repulsed many times before. Rome fell because she could no longer resist with her earlier power. If the barbarians were not growing stronger, the Romans themselves were steadily growing weaker. The form of the empire was still the same, but it had lost its vigor and its vitality. [3]

83. BREAKING OF THE DANUBE BARRIER

THE GOTHS

North of the Danube lived, near the close of the fourth century, a German people called Visigoths, or West Goths. Their kinsmen, the Ostrogoths, or East Goths, held the land north of the Black Sea between the Danube and the Don. These two nations had been among the most dangerous enemies of Rome. In the third century they made so many expeditions against the eastern territories of the empire that Aurelian at last surrendered to the Visigoths the great province of Dacia. [4] The barbarians now came in contact with Roman civilization and began to lead more settled lives. Some of them even accepted Christianity from Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic tongue.

THE VISIGOTHS CROSS THE DANUBE, 376 A.D.

The peaceful fusion of Goth and Roman might have gone on indefinitely but for the sudden appearance in Europe of the Huns. They were a nomadic people from central Asia. Entering Europe north of the Caspian Sea, the Huns quickly subdued the Ostrogoths and compelled them to unite in an attack upon their German kinsmen. Then the entire nation of Visigoths crowded the banks of the Danube and begged the Roman authorities to allow them to cross that river and place its broad waters between them and their terrible foes. In an evil hour for Rome their prayer was granted. At length two hundred thousand Gothic warriors, with their wives and children, found a home on Roman soil.

BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE, 378 A.D.

The settlement of such a host of barbarians within the frontier of the empire was in itself a dangerous thing. The danger was increased by the ill treatment which the immigrants received. The Roman officials robbed them of their possessions, withheld the promised supplies of food, and even tried to murder their leaders at a banquet. Finally, the Germans broke out in open revolt. The emperor Valens misjudged their strength and rashly gave them battle near Adrianople in Thrace. The once invincible legions fell an easy prey to their foes, and the emperor himself perished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PAGE OF THE GOTHIC GOSPELS (REDUCED) A ma.n.u.script of Ulfilas's translation of the Bible forms one of the treasures of the library of the university of Upsala, Sweden. It is beautifully written in letters of gold and silver on parchment of a rich purple dye. In making his version Ulfilas, who was himself a converted Visigoth, generally indicated the Gothic sounds by means of the Greek alphabet. He added, however, a few signs from the Runic alphabet, with which the Germans were familiar.]

RESULTS OF THE BATTLE

The defeat at Adrianople is considered one of the few really decisive battles in the world's history. It showed the barbarians that they could face the Romans in open fight and beat them. And it broke, once for all, the Danube barrier. Swarms of fighting men, Ostrogoths as well as Visigoths, overran the provinces south of the Danube. The great ruler, Theodosius, [5] saved the empire for a time by granting lands to the Germans and by enrolling them in the army under the high-sounding t.i.tle of "allies." Until his death the Goths remained quiet--but it was only the lull before the storm.

ALARIC THE VISIGOTH

Theodosius, "the friend of the Goths," died in 395 A.D., leaving the defense of the Roman world to his weakling sons, Arcadius and Honorius. In the same year the Visigoths raised one of their young n.o.bles, named Alaric, upon a shield and with joyful shouts acclaimed him as their king.

The Visigothic leader despised the service of Rome. His people, he thought, should be masters, not servants. Alaric determined to lead them into the very heart of the empire, where they might find fertile lands and settle once for all.

ALARIC IN GREECE AND ITALY

Alaric at first fixed his attention on Constantinople. Realizing, at length, how hopeless would be the siege of that great city, he turned toward the west and descended upon Greece. The Germans marched unopposed through the pa.s.s of Thermopylae and devastated central Greece, as the Persians had done nearly nine centuries before. [6] Then the barbarians entered the Peloponnesus, but were soon driven out by Stilicho, a German chieftain who had risen to the command of the army of Honorius. Alaric gave up Greece only to invade Italy. Before long the Goths crossed the Julian Alps and entered the rich and defenseless valley of the Po. To meet the crisis the legions were hastily called in, even from the distant frontiers. Stilicho formed them into a powerful army, beat back the enemy, and captured the Visigothic camp, filled with the spoil of Greek cities.

In the eyes of the Romans Stilicho seemed a second Marius, who had arisen in an hour of peril to save Italy from its barbarian foes. [7]

THE VISIGOTHS BEFORE ROME