Next to those are the Melanchlaenae and the Anthropophagi, who roam about upon different tracts of land and live on human flesh. And these men are so avoided on account of their horrid food that all the tribes which were their neighbors have removed to a distance from them. And in this way the whole of that region to the northeast, till you come to the Chinese, is uninhabited.

On the other side the Alani again extend to the east, near the territories of the Amazons, and are scattered among many populous and wealthy nations, stretching to the parts of Asia which, as I am told, extend up to the Ganges, a river which passes through the country of the Indians, and falls into the Southern Ocean.

Then the Alani, being thus divided among the two quarters of the globe—the various tribes which make up the whole nation it is not worth while to enumerate—although widely separated, wander, like the nomads, over enormous districts. But in the progress of time all these tribes came to be united under one generic appellation, and are called Alani.

They have no cottages, and never use the plough, but live solely on meat and plenty of milk, mounted on their wagons which they cover with a curved awning made of the bark of trees, and then drive them through their boundless deserts. And when they come to any pasture land, they pitch their wagons in a circle, and live like a herd of beasts, eating up all the forage—carrying, as it were, their cities with them in their wagons. In them the husbands sleep with their wives—in them their children are born and brought up; these wagons, in short, are their perpetual habitation, and, wherever they fix them, that place they look upon as their home.

They drive before them their flocks and herds to their pasturage; and about all other cattle, they are especially careful of their horses. The fields in that country are always green, and are interspersed with patches of fruit-trees, so that, wherever they go, there is no dearth either of food for themselves or fodder for their cattle. And this is caused by the moisture of the soil and the number of the rivers which flow through these districts.

All their old people, and especially all the weaker sex, keep close to the wagons and occupy themselves in the lighter employments. But the young men, who from their earliest childhood are trained to the use of the horses, think it beneath them to walk. They are also all trained by careful discipline of various sorts to become skilful warriors. And this is the reason why the Persians, who are originally of Scythian extraction, are very skilful in war.

Nearly all the Alani are men of great stature and beauty. Their hair is somewhat yellow, their eyes are terribly fierce; the lightness of their armor renders them rapid in their movements, and they are in every respect equal to the Huns, only more civilized in their food and their manner of life. They plunder and hunt as far as the Sea of Azov and the Cimmerian Bosporus, ravaging also Armenia and Media.

And as ease is a delightful thing to men of a quiet and placid disposition, so danger and war are a pleasure to the Alani, and among them that man is called happy who has lost his life in battle; for those who grow old, or who go out of the world from accidental sicknesses, they pursue with bitter reproaches as degenerate and cowardly. Nor is there anything of which they boast with more pride than of having killed a man; and the most glorious spoils they esteem the scalps which they have torn from the heads of those whom they have slain, which they put as trappings and ornaments on their war horses.

Nor is there any temple or shrine seen in their country, nor even any cabin thatched with straw, their only idea of religion being to plunge a naked sword into the ground with barbaric ceremonies, and they worship that with great respect, as Mars, the presiding deity of the regions over which they wander.

They presage the future in a most remarkable manner, for they collect a number of great twigs of osier, then with certain secret incantations they separate them from one another on particular days; and from them they learn clearly what is about to happen.

They have no idea of slavery, inasmuch as they themselves are all born of noble families; and those whom even now they appoint to be judges are always men of proved experience and skill in war. But now let us return to the subject which we proposed to ourselves.

The Huns, after having traversed the territories of the Alani, and especially of that tribe of them who border on the Gruthungi, and who are called Tanaitae, and having slain many of them and acquired much plunder they made a treaty of friendship and alliance with those who remained. And when they had united them to themselves, with increased boldness they made a sudden incursion into the extensive and fertile districts of Ermenrichus, a very warlike prince, and one whom his numerous gallant actions of every kind had rendered formidable to all the neighboring nations.

He was astonished at the violence of this sudden tempest, and although, like a prince whose power was well established, he long attempted to hold his ground, he was at last overpowered by a dread of the evils impending over his country, which were exaggerated by common report, till he terminated his fear of great danger by a voluntary death.

After his death Vithimiris was made king. He for some time maintained a resistance to the Alani, relying on the aid of other tribes of the Huns whom by large promises of pay he had won over to his party; but, after having suffered many losses, he was defeated by superior numbers and slain in battle. He left an infant son named Viderichus, of whom Alatheus and Saphrax undertook the guardianship, both generals of great experience and proved courage. And when they, yielding to the difficulties of the crisis, had given up all hope of being able to make an effectual resistance, they retired with caution till they came to the river Dniester, which lies between the Danube and the Dnieper, and flows through a vast extent of country.

When Athanaric, the chief magistrate of the Thuringians, had become informed of those unexpected occurrences, he prepared to maintain his ground, with a resolution to rise up in strength should he be assailed as the others had been.

At last he pitched his camp at a distance in a very favorable spot near the banks of the Dniester and the valleys of the Gruthungi, and sent Muderic, who afterward became duke of the Arabian frontier, with Lagarimanus and others of the nobles, with orders to advance for twenty miles, to reconnoitre the approach of the enemy; while in the mean time he himself, without delay, marshalled his troops in line of battle.

However, things turned out in a manner very contrary to his expectations. For the Huns—being very sagacious in conjectures—suspecting that there must be a considerable multitude farther off, contrived to pass beyond those they had seen, and arranged themselves to take their rest where there was nothing at hand to disturb them; and then, when the moon dispelled the darkness of night, they forded the river, which was the best plan which presented itself, and fearing lest the pickets at the outposts might give the alarm to the distant camp, they made all possible speed and advanced with the hope of surprising Athanaric himself.

He was stupefied at the suddenness of their onset, and, after losing many of his men, was compelled to flee for refuge to the precipitous mountains in the neighborhood, where, being wholly bewildered with the strangeness of this occurrence, and the fear of greater evils to come, he began to fortify with lofty walls all the territory between the banks of the River Pruth and the Danube, where it passes through the land of the Taifali; and he completed this line of fortification with great diligence, thinking that by this step he should secure his own personal safety.

While this important work was going on, the Huns kept pressing on his traces with great speed, and they would have overtaken and destroyed him if they had not been forced to abandon the pursuit from being impeded by the great quantity of their booty. In the mean time a report spread extensively through the other nations of the Goths, that a race of men, hitherto unknown, had suddenly descended like a whirlwind from the lofty mountains, as if they had risen from some secret recess of the earth, and were ravaging and destroying everything which came in their way. And then the greater part of the population which, because of their want of necessaries, had deserted Athanaric, resolved to flee and to seek a home remote from all knowledge of the barbarians; and after a long deliberation where to fix their abode, they resolved that a retreat into Thrace was the most suitable for these two reasons: first of all, because it is a district most fertile in grass; and also because, by the great breadth of the Danube, it is wholly separated from the barbarians, who were already exposed to the thunder-bolts of foreign warfare. And the whole population of the tribe adopted this resolution unanimously.

Accordingly, under the command of their leader Alavivus, they occupied the bank of the Danube, and having sent ambassadors to Valens, they humbly entreated to be received by him as his subjects, promising to live quietly, and to furnish a body of auxiliary troops if any necessity for such a force should arise.

While these events were passing in foreign countries, a terrible rumor arose that the tribes of the North were planning new and unprecedented attacks upon us; and that over the whole region, which extends from the country of the Marcomanni and Quadi to Pontus, a barbarian host, composed of different distant nations, which had suddenly been driven by force from their own country, was now, with all their families, wandering about in different directions on the banks of the river Danube.

At first this intelligence was lightly treated by our people, because they were not in the habit of hearing of any wars in those remote districts till they were terminated either by victory or by treaty.

But presently, as the belief in these occurrences grew stronger, being confirmed, too, by the arrival of the foreign ambassadors, who, with prayers and earnest entreaties, begged that the people thus driven from their homes and now encamped on the other side of the river might be kindly received by us, the affair seemed a cause of joy rather than of fear, according to the skilful flatterers who were always extolling and exaggerating the good fortune of the Emperor; congratulating him that an embassy had come from the farthest corners of the earth unexpectedly, offering him a large body of recruits; and that, by combining the strength of his own nation with these foreign forces, he would have an army absolutely invincible; observing further that, by the yearly payment for military reinforcements which came in every year from the provinces, a vast treasure of gold might be accumulated in his coffers.

Full of this hope, he sent forth several officers to bring this ferocious people and their wagons into our territory. And such great pains were taken to gratify this nation which was destined to overthrow the Empire of Rome, that not one was left behind, not even of those who were stricken with mortal disease. Moreover, having obtained permission of the Emperor to cross the Danube and to cultivate some districts in Thrace, they crossed the stream day and night, without ceasing, embarking in troops on board ships and rafts, and canoes made of the hollow trunks of trees, in which enterprise, as the Danube is the most difficult of all rivers to navigate, and was at that time swollen with continual rains, a great many were drowned, who, because they were too numerous for the vessels, tried to swim across, and in spite of all their exertions were swept away by the stream.

In this way, through the turbulent zeal of violent people, the ruin of the Roman Empire was brought on. This, at all events, is neither obscure nor uncertain that the unhappy officers who were intrusted with the charge of conducting the multitude of the barbarians across the river, though they repeatedly endeavored to calculate their numbers, at last abandoned the attempt as hopeless; and the man who would wish to ascertain the number might as well—as the most illustrious of poets says—attempt to count the waves in the African Sea, or the grains of sand tossed about by the zephyrs.

Let, however, the ancient annals be accredited which record that the Persian host which was led into Greece was, while encamped on the shores of the Hellespont, and making a new and artificial sea, numbered in battalions at Doriscus; a computation which has been unanimously regarded by all posterity as fabulous.

But after the innumerable multitudes of different nations, diffused over all our provinces and spreading themselves over the vast expanses of our plains, who filled all the champaign country and all the mountain ranges, are considered, the credibility of the ancient accounts is confirmed by this modern instance. And first of all Tritigernus was received with Alavivus, and the Emperor assigned them a temporary provision for their immediate support, and ordered lands to be assigned them to cultivate.

At that time the defences of our provinces were much exposed, and the armies of barbarians spread over them like the lava of Mount AEtna. The imminence of our danger manifestly called for generals already illustrious for their past achievements in war; but nevertheless, as if some unpropitious deity had made the selection, the men who were sought out for the chief military appointments were of tainted character. The chief among them were Lupicinus and Maximus, the one being count of Thrace, the other a leader notoriously wicked—and both men of great ignorance and rashness.

And their treacherous covetousness was the cause of all our disasters. For—to pass over other matters in which the officers aforesaid, or others with their unblushing connivance, displayed the greatest profligacy in their injurious treatment of the foreigners dwelling in our territory, against whom no crime could be alleged—this one melancholy and unprecedented piece of conduct—which, even if they were to choose their own judges, must appear wholly unpardonable—must be mentioned:

When the barbarians who had been conducted across the river were in great distress from want of provisions, those detested generals conceived the idea of a most disgraceful traffic; and having collected hounds from all quarters with the most unsatiable rapacity, they exchanged them for an equal number of slaves, among whom were several sons of men of noble birth.

About this time also, Vitheric, the King of the Gruthungi, with Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose influence he was mainly guided, and also with Farnobius, approached the bank of the Danube and sent envoys to the Emperor to entreat that he also might be received with the same kindness that Alavivus and Fritigern had experienced.

But when, as seemed best for the interests of the State, these ambassadors had been rejected, and were in great anxiety what they should do, Athanaric, fearing similar treatment, departed, recollecting that long ago, when he was discussing a treaty with Valens, he had treated that Emperor with contempt in affirming that he was bound by a religious obligation never to set his foot on the Roman territory; and that, by this excuse, he had compelled the Emperor to conclude a peace in the middle of the war. And he, fearing that the grudge which Valens bore him for this conduct was still lasting, withdrew with all his forces to Caucalandes, a place which, from the height of its mountains and the thickness of its woods, is completely inaccessible; and from which he had lately driven out the Sarmatians.



FINAL DIVISION OF ROMAN EMPIRE: THE DISRUPTIVE INTRIGUES

A.D. 395

J. B. BURY

When Theodosius I, surnamed "the Great," was elevated to power as ruler of the East, that part of the empire was distracted in consequence of wars with the Visigoths who, flying from the Huns, had been granted a refuge in the Roman provinces of Moesia and Thrace. Ill-treatment by the Romans drove the Visigoths to revolt, and Valens, then Emperor of the East, set out with an army to punish them. In the battle of Adrianople, August 9, 378, the Roman army was defeated, and in the retreat Valens was killed. The Visigoths pressed on, ravaging the country even to the foot of the walls of Constantinople, and the doom of the empire seemed to be at hand.

At this juncture Gratian—Emperor of the West, who also upon the death of Valens succeeded him as ruler of the East—sent for Theodosius, then a Roman general living in retirement in Spain, made him his colleague in the East, and placed him, A.D., 379 at the head of an army for the suppression of the Gothic outbreaks. Theodosius enabled his soldiers to regain their lost confidence by waging a successful guerilla war with the marauding Goths; but having thus shown his mastery over their straggling bands, he did not undertake to drive them out from Roman territory, but weakened them by causing them to quarrel among themselves; then, showing himself as their friend, he gave them lands and settled them within definite limits. To the Visigoths, or West Goths, he gave Thrace, and to the Ostrogoths, or East Goths, who had also now poured into the Roman provinces, he assigned Pannonia.

By this policy Theodosius established his authority in the East and restored the empire to something of its earlier power. Except during the last four months of his life, when he was sole Emperor, his direct authority was confined to the East; but he exerted a potent influence upon the affairs of the whole empire, both temporal and spiritual. He warred steadily against paganism and heresy. He took the side of Trinitarian orthodoxy against Arianism, which had previously triumphed in the East, and restored religious unity to the empire by making the Athanasian doctrine the faith of Constantinople, as it was that of the West. This policy was ratified by the second ecumenical council, called by Theodosius, at Constantinople in 381, when the orthodoxy first promulgated by the Council of Nicaea in 325 was substantially reaffirmed. It was also largely through the influence of Theodosius, who was the friend of Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, that the Roman senate, by a great majority, voted (388) to abolish the worship of Jupiter and to adopt the worship of Christ, thus making Christianity the state religion. In the debate which preceded this transition the eloquence of Symmachus, on the pagan side, was overmatched by the arguments of Ambrose, aided by the powerful support of Theodosius in person.

In his further dealings with the Visigoths, Theodosius, following a precedent already established, enlisted in the Roman service a separate Gothic army of forty thousand soldiers; but this policy, as the event proved, was fatal to the permanency of his hitherto successful control of these alien elements, for they soon gathered strength to take the mastery into their own hands. Theodosius died in 395, after publishing a decree for partition of the empire between his two sons, Honorius to rule in the West, and Arcadius in the East. He meant, not to establish two independent jurisdictions, but that there should be one commonwealth, whose two rulers should be colleagues and coadjutors in its defence. This new disposition of the empire was followed by dissensions and intrigues against which the weak sons of Theodosius were helpless in the hands of able and unscrupulous self-seekers, the result of which was the final separation of the empire into two distinct governments and the weakening of the powers of resistance of both against those ever-increasing encroachments of the barbarians which eventually caused the fall of both empires.

One of the few men in history who have won the title of great, the emperor Theodosius I, who had by his policy, at once friendly and firm, pacified the Goths, who had confirmed the triumph of Athanasian over Arian Christianity, who had stamped out the last flames of refractory paganism represented by the tyrant Eugenius, died on the 17th of January, A.D. 395. His wishes were that his younger son, Honorius, then a boy of ten years, should reign in the West, where he had already installed him, and that his eldest son, Arcadius, whom he had left as regent in Constantinople when he set out against Eugenius, should continue to reign in the East.

But he was not willing to leave his youthful heirs—Arcadius was only eighteen—without a protector, and the most natural protector was one bound to them by ties of relationship. Accordingly on his deathbed he commended them to the care of the Vandal Stilicho, whom he had raised for his military and other talents to the rank of commander-in-chief, and, deeming him worthy of an alliance with his own family, had united to his favorite niece Serena. We can hardly doubt that it was in this capacity, as the husband of his niece and a trusted friend, not as a general, that Stilicho received Theodosius' dying wishes; it was as an elder member of the same family that the husband of their cousin could claim to exert an influence over Arcadius and Honorius, of whom, however, the latter, it would appear, was more especially committed to his care, not only as the younger, but because Stilicho, being magister militum of the armies of Italy, would come more directly into contact with him than with his brother.

Arcadius, with whom we are especially concerned, was about eighteen at the time of his father's death. He was of short stature, of dark complexion, thin and inactive, and the dulness of his wit was betrayed by his speech and by his eyes, which always seemed as if they were about to close in sleep. His smallness of intellect and his weakness of character made it inevitable that he should come under the influence, good or bad, of commanding personalities, with which he might be brought in contact. Such a potent personality was the praetorian prefect Rufinus, a native of Aquitaine, who in almost every respect presented a contrast to his sovereign. He was tall and manly, and the restless movements of his keen eyes and the readiness of his speech signified his intellectual powers. He was a strong, worldly man, ambitious of power, and sufficiently unprincipled; avaricious, too, like most ministers of the age.

He had made many enemies by acts which were perhaps somewhat more than usually unscrupulous, but we cannot justly assume that in the overthrow of certain rivals he was entirely guilty and they entirely innocent, as is sometimes represented. It is almost certain that he formed the scheme and cherished the hope of becoming joint emperor with Arcadius.

This ambition of Rufinus placed him at once in an attitude of opposition to Stilicho, who was himself not above the suspicion of entertaining similar schemes, not, however, in the interest of his own person, but for his son Eucherius. The position of the Vandal, who was connected by marriage with the imperial family, gave him an advantage over Rufinus, which was strengthened by the generally known fact that Theodosius had given him his last instructions. Stilicho, moreover, was popular with the army, and for the present the great bulk of the forces of the empire was at his disposal; for the regiments united to suppress Eugenius had not yet been sent back to their various stations. Thus a struggle was imminent between the ambitious minister who had the ear of Arcadius, and the strong general who held the command and enjoyed the favor of the army.

Before the end of the year this struggle began and concluded in an extremely curious way; but we must first relate how a certain scheme of Rufinus had been checkmated by an obscurer but wilier rival nearer at hand.

It was the cherished project of Rufinus to unite Arcadius with his only daughter; once the Emperor's father-in-law, he might hope to become speedily an emperor himself. But he imprudently made a journey to Antioch, in order to execute vengeance personally on the Count of the East, who had offended him; and during his absence from Byzantium an adversary stole a march on him. This adversary was the eunuch Eutropius, the lord chamberlain, a bald old man, who with oriental craftiness had won his way up from the meanest services and employments. Determining that the future Empress should be bound to himself and not to Rufinus, he chose Eudoxia, a girl of singular beauty, the daughter of a distinguished Frank, but herself of Roman education.

Her father, Bauto, was dead, and she lived in the house of the widow and sons of one of the victims of Rufinus. Eutropius showed a picture of the Frank maiden to the Emperor and engaged his affections for her; the nuptials were arranged by the time Rufinus returned to Constantinople, and were speedily celebrated (April 27, 395). This was a blow to Rufinus, but he was still the most powerful man in the East.

The event which at length brought him into contact with Stilicho was the rising of the Visigoths, who had been settled by Theodosius in Moesia and Thrace, and were bound in return for their lands to serve in the army as foederati. They had accompanied the Emperor to Italy against Eugenius, and had returned to their habitations sooner than the rest of the army.

The causes of discontent which led to their revolt are not quite clear; but it seems that Arcadius refused to give them certain grants of money which had been allowed them by his father, and, as has been suggested, they probably expected that favor would wane and influence decrease now that the "friend of Goths" was dead, and consequently determined to make themselves heard and felt. To this must be added that their most influential chieftain, Alaric, called Baltha ("the Bold"), desired to be made a commander-in-chief, magister militum, and was offended that he had been passed over.

However this may be, the historical essence of the matter is that an immense body of restless, uncivilized Germans could not abide permanently in the centre of Roman provinces in a semi-dependent, ill-defined relation to the Roman government; the West Goths had not yet found their permanent home. Under the leadership of Alaric they raised the ensign of revolt, and spread desolation in the fields and homesteads of Macedonia, Moesia, and Thrace, even advancing close to the walls of Constantinople. They carefully spared certain estates outside the city, belonging to the prefect Rufinus, but this policy does not seem to have been adopted with the same motive that caused Archidamus to spare the lands of Pericles. Alaric may have wished not to render Rufinus suspected, but to conciliate his friendship and obtain thereby more favorable terms. Rufinus actually went to Alaric's camp, dressed as a Goth, but the interview led to nothing.

It was impossible to take the field against the Goths, because there were no forces available, as the eastern armies were still with Stilicho in the West. Arcadius therefore was obliged to summon Stilicho to send or bring them back immediately, to protect his throne. This summons gave that general the desired opportunity to interfere in the politics of Constantinople; and having with energetic celerity arranged matters on the Gallic frontier, he marched overland through Illyricum and confronted Alaric in Thessaly, whither the Goth had traced his devastating path from the Propontis.

It appears that Stilicho's behavior is quite as open to the charges of ambition and artfulness as the behavior of Rufinus, for I do not perceive how we can strictly justify his detention of the forces, which ought to have been sent back to defend the provinces of Arcadius at the very beginning of the year. Stilicho's march to Thessaly can scarcely have taken place before October, and it is hard to interpret this long delay in sending back the troops, over which he had no rightful authority, if it were not dictated by a wish to implicate the government of New Rome in difficulties and render his own intervention necessary.

We are told, too, that he selected the best soldiers from the eastern regiments and enrolled them in the western corps. If we adopted the Cassian maxim, Cui bono fuerit, we should be inclined to accuse Stilicho of having been privy to the revolt of Alaric; such a supposition would at least be far more plausible than the calumny which was circulated charging Rufinus with having stirred up the Visigoths. For such a supposition, too, we might find support in the circumstance that the estates of Rufinus were spared by the soldiers of Alaric; it would be intelligible that Stilicho suggested the plan in order to bring odium upon Rufinus. To such a conjecture, finally, certain other circumstances, soon to be related, point: but it remains nothing more than a suspicion.

It seems that before Stilicho arrived Alaric had experienced a defeat at the hands of garrison soldiers in Thessaly; at all events he shut himself up in a fortified camp and declined to engage with the Roman general. In the mean time Rufinus induced Arcadius to send a peremptory order to Stilicho to despatch the eastern troops to Constantinople and depart himself whence he had come; the Emperor resented, or pretended to resent, the presence of his cousin as an officious interference. Stilicho yielded so readily that his willingness seems almost suspicious; but we shall probably never know whether he was responsible for the events that followed. He consigned the eastern soldiers to the command of a Gothic captain, Gainas, and himself departed to Salona, allowing Alaric to proceed on his wasting way into the lands of Hellas.

Gainas and his soldiers marched by the Via Egnatia to Constantinople, and it was arranged that, according to a usual custom, the Emperor and his court should come forth from the city to meet the army in the Campus Martius, which extended on the west side of the city near the Golden Gate. We cannot trust the statement of a hostile writer that Rufinus actually expected to be created augustus on this occasion, and appeared at the Emperor's side prouder and more sumptuously arrayed than ever; we only know that he accompanied Arcadius to meet the army.

It is said that, when the Emperor had saluted the troops, Rufinus advanced and displayed a studied affability and solicitude to please toward even individual soldiers. They closed in round him as he smiled and talked, anxious to secure their good-will for his elevation to the throne, but just as he felt himself very nigh to supreme success, the swords of the nearest were drawn, and his body, pierced with wounds, fell to the ground. His head, carried through the streets, was mocked by the people, and his right hand, severed from the trunk, was presented at the doors of houses with the request: "Give to the insatiable!"

We can hardly suppose that the lynching of Rufinus was the fatal inspiration of a moment, but whether it was proposed or approved of by Stilicho, or was a plan hatched among the soldiers on their way to Constantinople, is uncertain. One might even conjecture that the whole affair was the result of a prearrangement between Stilicho and the party in Byzantium, which was adverse to Rufinus and led by the eunuch Eutropius; but there is no evidence. Our knowledge of this scene unfortunately depends on a partial and untrustworthy writer, who, moreover, wrote in verse—the poet Claudian.

He enjoyed the patronage of Stilicho, and his poems Against Rufinus, Against Eutropius, and On the Gothic War are a glorification of his patron's splendid virtues. Stilicho and Rufinus he paints as two opposite forces, the force of good and the force of evil, like the principles of the Manichaeans.

Rufinus is the terrible Pytho, the scourge of the world; Stilicho is the radiant Apollo, the deliverer of mankind. Rufinus is a power of darkness, whose tartarean wickedness surpasses even the wickedness of the Furies of hell; Stilicho is an angel of light. In the works of a poet whose leading idea was so extravagant, we can hardly expect to find much fair historical truth; it is, as a rule, only accidental references and allusions that we can accept, unless other authorities confirm his statements. Yet even modern writers, who know well how cautiously Claudian must be used, have been unconsciously prejudiced in favor of Stilicho and against Rufinus.

We must return to the movements of Alaric, who had entered the regions of classical Greece, for which he showed scant respect. The commander of the garrison at Thermopylae, and the proconsul of Achaia, offered no resistance, and the West Goths entered Boeotia, where Thebes alone escaped their devastation. They occupied the Piraeus, but Athens itself was spared, and Alaric was entertained as a guest in the city of Athene. But the great temple of the mystic goddesses Demeter and Persephone, at Eleusis, was burned down by the irreverent barbarians; Megara, the next place on their southward route, fell; then Corinth, Argos, and Sparta.

But when they reached Elis they were confronted by an unexpected opponent. Stilicho had returned from Italy, by way of Salona, which he reached by sea, to stay the hand of the invader. He blockaded him in the plain of Pholoe, but for some reason, not easily comprehensible, he did not press his advantage, and set free the hordes of the Visigothic land pirates to resume their career of devastation. He went back to Italy, and Alaric returned, plundering as he went, to Illyricum and Thrace, where he made terms with the government of New Rome, and received the desired title of magister militum per Illyricum. No one will suppose that Stilicho went all the way from Italy to the Peloponnesus, and then, although he had Alaric practically at his mercy, retreated, leaving matters just as they were, without some excellent reason.

If he had genuinely wished to deliver the distressed countries and assist the emperor Arcadius, he would not have acted in this ineffectual manner. And it is difficult to see that his conduct is explained by assuming that he was not willing, by a complete extermination of the Goths, to enable Arcadius to dispense with his help in future. In that case, what did he gain by going to the Peloponnesus at all? Or we might ask, if he wished Arcadius to summon his assistance from year to year, is it likely that he would have adopted the method of rendering no assistance whatever? But, above all, the question occurs, what pleasure would it have been to the general to look forward to being called upon again and again to take the field against the Visigoths?

It seems evident that Stilicho and Alaric made at Pholoe some secret and definite arrangement, which conditioned Stilicho's departure, and that this arrangement was conducive to the interests of Stilicho, who was in the position of advantage, and at the same time not contrary to the interests of Alaric, for otherwise Stilicho could not have been sure that the agreement would be carried out. What this secret compact was can only be a matter of conjecture; but I would suggest that Stilicho had already formed the plan of creating his son Eucherius emperor, and that he designed the Balkan peninsula to be the dominion over which Eucherius should hold sway. His conduct becomes perfectly explicable if we assume that by a secret agreement he secured Alaric's assistance for the execution of this scheme, which the preponderance of Gothic power in Illyricum and Thrace would facilitate.

It was not only the European parts of Arcadius' dominions that were ravaged in 395, by the fire and sword of barbarians. In the same year hordes of trans-Caucasian Huns poured through the Caspian gates, and, rushing southward through the provinces of Mesopotamia, carried desolation into Syria. St. Jerome was in Palestine at this time, and in two of his letters we have the account of an eye-witness: "As I was searching for an abode worthy of such a lady (Fabiola, his friend), behold, suddenly messengers rush hither and thither, and the whole East trembles with the news that from the far Maeotis, from the land of the ice-bound Don and the savage Massagetae, where the strong works of Alexander on the Caucasian cliffs keep back the wild nations, swarms of Huns had burst forth, and, flying hither and thither, were scattering slaughter and terror everywhere. The Roman army was at that time, absent in consequence of the civil wars in Italy.... May Jesus protect the Roman world in future from such beasts! They were everywhere, when they were least expected, and their speed outstripped the rumor of their approach; they spared neither religion nor dignity nor age; they showed no pity to the cry of infancy.

"Babes, who had not yet begun to live, were forced to die; and, ignorant of the evil that was upon them, as they were held in the hands and threatened by the swords of the enemy, there was a smile upon their lips. There was a consistent and universal report that Jerusalem was the goal of the foes, and that on account of their insatiable lust for gold they were hastening to this city. The walls, neglected by the carelessness of peace, were repaired. Antioch was enduring a blockade. Tyre, fain to break off from the dry land, sought its ancient island. Then we too were constrained to provide ships, to stay on the sea-shore, to take precautions against the arrival of the enemy, and, though the winds were wild, to fear a shipwreck less than the barbarians—making provision not for our own safety so much as for the chastity of our virgins." In another letter, speaking of these "wolves of the north," he says: "How many monasteries were captured? The waters of how many rivers were stained with human gore? Antioch was besieged and the other cities, past which the Halys, the Cydnus, the Orontes, the Euphrates flow. Herds of captives were dragged away; Arabia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt, were led captive by fear."

The Huns, however, were not the only depredators at whose hands the provinces of Asia Minor and Syria suffered. There were other enemies within, whose ravages were constant, while the expedition of the Huns from without occurred only once. These enemies were the freebooters who dwelt in the Isaurian mountains, wild and untamed in their secure fastnesses. Ammianus Marcellinus describes picturesquely the habits of these sturdy robbers. They used to descend from the difficult mountain slopes like a whirlwind to places on the sea-shore, where in hidden ways and glens they lurked till the fall of night, and in the light of the crescent moon watched until the mariners riding at anchor slept; then they boarded the vessels, killed and plundered the crews. Thus the coast of Isauria was like a deadly shore of Sciron; it was avoided by sailors, who made a practice of putting in at the safer ports of Cyprus.

The Isaurians did not always confine their land expeditions to the surrounding provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia; they penetrated, in A.D. 403, northward to Cappadocia and Pontus, or southward to Syria and Palestine; and the whole range of the Taurus, as far as the confines of Syria, seems to have been their spacious habitation. An officer named Arbacazius was intrusted by Arcadius with an office similar in object to that which, four and a half centuries ago, had been assigned to Pompeius; but, though he quelled the spirits of the freebooters for a moment, Arbacazius did not succeed in eradicating the lawless element, in the same way as Pompeius had succeeded in exterminating the piracy which in his day infested the same regions. In the years 404 and 405 Cappadocia was overrun by the robber bands.

Meanwhile, after the death of Rufinus, the weak emperor Arcadius passed under the influence of the eunuch Eutropius, who, in unscrupulous greed of money, resembled Rufinus and many other officials of the time, and, like Rufinus, has been painted far blacker than he really was. All the evil things that were said by his enemies of Rufinus were said of Eutropius by his enemies; but in reading of the enormities of the latter we must make great allowance for the general prejudice existing against a person with Eutropius' physical disqualifications.

Eutropius naturally looked on the praetorian prefects, the most powerful men in the administration next to the Emperor, with jealousy and suspicion, as dangerous rivals. It was his interest to reduce their power and to raise the dignity of his own office to an equality with theirs. To his influence, then, we are probably justified in ascribing two innovations which were made by Arcadius. The administration of the cursus publicus, or office of postmaster-general, was transferred from the praetorian prefects to the master of offices, and the same transferrence was made in regard to the manufactories of arms. On the other hand, the grand chamberlain, praepositus sacri cubiculi, was made an illustris, equal in rank to the praetorian prefects. Both these innovations were afterward altered.

The general historical import of the position of Eutropius is that the empire was falling into a danger, by which it had been threatened from the outset, and which it had been ever trying to avoid. We may say that there were two dangers which constantly impended over the Roman Empire from its inauguration by Augustus to its redintegration by Diocletian—a Scylla and Charybdis, between which it had to steer. The one was a cabinet of imperial freedmen, the other was a military despotism. The former danger called forth, and was counteracted by, the creation of a civil service system, to which Hadrian perhaps made the most important contributions, and which was finally elaborated by Diocletian, who at the same time averted the other danger by separating the military and civil administrations. But both dangers revived in a new form. The danger from the army became danger from the Germans, who preponderated in it; and the institution of court ceremonial tended to create a cabinet of chamberlains and imperial dependents.

This oriental ceremonial, so marked a feature of late "Byzantinism," involved, as one of its principles, difficulty of access to the Emperor, who, living in the retirement of his palace, was tempted to trust less to his eyes than his ears, and saw too little of public affairs. Diocletian appreciated this disadvantage himself, and remarked that the sovereign, shut up in his palace, cannot know the truth, but must rely on what his attendants and officers tell him. We may also remark that absolute monarchy, by its very nature, tends in this direction; for absolute monarchy naturally tends to a dynasty, and a dynasty implies that there must sooner or later come to the throne weak men, inexperienced in public affairs, reared up in an atmosphere of flattery and illusion, easily guided by intriguing chamberlains and eunuchs. Under such conditions, then, aulic cabals and chamber cabinets are sure to become dominant sometimes. Diocletian, whose political insight and ingenuity were remarkable, tried to avoid the dangers of a dynasty by his artificial system, but artifice could not contend with success against nature.

The greatest blot on the ministry of Eutropius—for, as he was the most trusted adviser of the Emperor, we may use the word ministry—was the sale of offices, of which Claudian gives a vivid and exaggerated account. This was a blot, however, that stained other men of those days as well as Eutropius, and we must view it rather as a feature of the times than as a personal enormity. Of course, the eunuch's spies were ubiquitous; of course, informers of all sorts were encouraged and rewarded. All the usual stratagems for grasping and plundering were put into practice.

The strong measures that a determined minister was ready to take for the mere sake of vengeance may be exemplified by a treatment which the whole Lycian province received at the hands of Rufinus. On account of a single individual, Tatian, who had offended that minister, all the provincials were excluded from public offices. After the death of Rufinus, the Lycians were relieved from these disabilities; but the fact that the edict of emancipation expressly enjoins "that no one henceforward venture to wound a Lycian citizen with a name of scorn" shows what a serious misfortune their degradation was.

The eunuch won considerable odium in the first year of his power (396) by bringing about the fall of two men of distinction—Abundantius, to whose patronage he owed his rise in the world, and Timasius, who had been the commander-general in the East. An account of the manner in which the ruin of the latter was wrought will illustrate the sort of intrigues that were spun at the Byzantine court.

Timasius had brought with him from Sardis a Syrian sausage-seller, named Bargus, who, with native address, had insinuated himself into his good graces and obtained a subordinate command in the army. The prying omniscience of Eutropius discovered that, years before, this same Bargus had been forbidden to enter Constantinople for some misdemeanor, and by means of this knowledge he gained an ascendency over the Syrian, and compelled him to accuse his benefactor, Timasius, of a treasonable conspiracy, supporting the charge by forgeries. The accused was tried, condemned, and banished to the Lybian oasis, a punishment equivalent to death; he was never heard of more. Eutropius, foreseeing that the continued existence of Bargus might at some time compromise himself, suborned his wife to lodge very serious charges against her husband, in consequence of which he was put to death. Whether Eutropius then got rid of the wife we are not informed.

Among the adherents of Eutropius, who were equally numerous and insincere, two were of especial importance—Osius, who had risen from the post of a cook to be count of the sacred largesses, and finally master of the offices, and Leo, a soldier, corpulent and good-humored, who was known by the sobriquet of Ajax, a man of great body and little mind, fond of boasting, fond of eating, fond of drinking, and fond of women.

On the other hand, Eutropius had many enemies, and enemies in two different quarters. Romans of the stamp of Timasius and Aurelian were naturally opposed to the supremacy of an emasculated chamberlain; while, as we shall see subsequently, the German element in the empire, represented by Gainas, was also inimical. It seems certain that a serious confederacy was formed in the year 397, aiming at the overthrow of Eutropius. Though this is not stated by any writer, it seems an inevitable conclusion from the law which was passed in the autumn of that year, assessing the penalty of death to anyone who had conspired "with soldiers or private persons, including barbarians," against the lives "of illustres who belong to our consistory or assist at our counsels," or other senators, such a conspiracy being considered equivalent to treason. Intent was to be regarded as equivalent to crime, and not only did the individual concerned incur capital punishment, but his descendants were visited with disfranchisement.

It is generally recognized that this law was an express palladium for chamberlains; but surely it must have been suggested by some actually formed conspiracy, of which Eutropius discovered the threads before it was carried out. The particular mention of soldiers and barbarians points to a particular danger, and we may suspect that Gainas, who afterward brought about the fall of Eutropius, had some connection with it.

While the eunuch was sailing in the full current of success at Byzantium, the Vandal Stilicho was enjoying an uninterrupted course of prosperity in the somewhat less stifling air of Italy. The poet Claudian, who acted as a sort of poet-laureate to Honorius, was really an apologist for Stilicho, who patronized and paid him. Almost every public poem he produced is an extravagant panegyric on that general, and we cannot but suspect that many of his utterances were direct manifestoes suggested by his patron. In the panegyric in honor of the third consulate of Honorius (396), which, composed soon after the death of Rufinus, breathes a spirit of concord between East and West, the writer calls upon Stilicho "to protect with his right hand the two brothers" (geminos dextra tu protege fratres).

Such lines as this are written to put a certain significance on Stilicho's policy. In the panegyric in honor of the fourth consulate of Honorius (398) he gives an absolutely false and misleading account of Stilicho's expedition to Greece two years before, an account which no allowance for poetical exaggeration can defend. At the same time he extols Honorius with the most absurd eulogiums, and overwhelms him with the most extravagant adulations, making out the boy of fourteen to be greater than his father and grandfather. If Claudian were not a poet, we should say that he was a most outrageous liar. We are therefore unable to accord him the smallest credit when he boasts that the subjects in the western provinces are not oppressed by heavy taxes and that the treasury is not replenished by extortion.

Stilicho and Eutropius had shaken hands over the death of Rufinus, but the good understanding was not destined to last longer than the song of triumph. We cannot justly blame Eutropius for this. No minister of Arcadius could regard with good-will or indifference the desire of Stilicho to interfere in the affairs of New Rome; for this desire cannot be denied, even if one do not accept the theory that the scheme of detaching Illyricum from Arcadius' dominion was entertained by him at as early a date as 396. His position as master of soldier in Italy gave him no power in other parts of the empire; and the attitude which he assumed as an elderly relative, solicitously concerned for the welfare of his wife's young cousin, in obedience to the wishes of that cousin's father, was untenable, when it led him to exceed the acts of a strictly private friendship.

We can then well understand the indignation felt at New Rome, not only by Eutropius, but probably also by men of a quite different faction, when the news arrived that Stilicho purposed to visit Constantinople to set things in order and arrange matters for Arcadius. Such officiousness was intolerable, and it was plain that the strongest protest must be made against it. The senate accordingly passed a resolution declaring Stilicho a public enemy. This action of the senate is very remarkable, and its signification is not generally perceived. If the act had been altogether due to Eutropius, it would surely have taken the form of an imperial decree. Eutropius would not have resorted to the troublesome method of bribing or threatening the whole senate even if he had been able to do so. We must conclude then that the general feeling against Stilicho was strong, and we must confess naturally strong.

The situation was now complicated by a revolt in Africa, which eventually proved highly fortunate for the glory and influence of Stilicho.

Eighteen years before, the Moor Firmus had made an attempt to create a kingdom for himself in the African provinces (A.D. 379), and had been quelled by the arms of Theodosius, who received important assistance from Gildo, the brother and enemy of Firmus. Gildo was duly rewarded. He was finally military commander, or Count, of Africa, and his daughter Salvina was united in marriage to a nephew of the empress AElia Flaccilla. But the faith of the Moors was as the faith of Carthaginians. Gildo refused to send aid to Theodosius in his expedition against Eugenius.

After Theodosius' death he prepared to take a more positive attitude, and he engaged numerous African nomad tribes to support him in his revolt. The strained relations between Old and New Rome, which did not escape his notice, suggested to him that his rebellion might assume the form of a transition from the sovereignty of Honorius to the sovereignty of Arcadius. He knew that if he were dependent only on New Rome he would be practically independent. He entered accordingly into communication with the government of Arcadius, but the negotiations came to nothing. It appears that Gildo demanded that Lybia should be consigned to his rule, and he certainly took possession of it. It also appears that embassies on the subject passed between Italy and Constantinople, and that Symmachus the orator was one of the ambassadors. But it is certain that Arcadius did not in any way assist Gildo, and the comparatively slight and moderate references which the hostile Claudius makes to the hesitating attitude of New Rome indicate that the government of Alexandrius did not behave very badly after all.

We need not go into the details of the Gildonic war, through which Stilicho won well-deserved laurels, although he did not take the field himself. What made the revolt of the Count of Africa of such great moment was the fact that the African provinces were the granary of Old Rome, as Egypt was the granary of New Rome. By stopping the supplies of corn, Gildo might hope to starve out Italy. The prompt action and efficient management of Stilicho, however, prevented any catastrophe; for ships from Gaul and from Spain, laden with corn, appeared in the Tiber, and Rome was supplied during the winter months. Early in 398 a fleet sailed against the tyrant, whose hideous cruelties and oppressions were worthy of his Moorish blood; and it is a curious fact that this fleet was under the command of Mascezel, Gildo's brother, who was now playing the same part toward Gildo that Gildo had played toward his brother Firmus. The undisciplined nomadic army of the rebel was scattered without labor at Ardalio, and Africa was delivered from the Moor's reign of ruin and terror, to which Roman rule, with all its fiscal sternness, was peace and prosperity.

This subjugation of the man whom the senate of Old Rome had pronounced a public enemy redounded far and wide to the glory of the man whom the senate of New Rome had proclaimed a public enemy. And in the mean time Stilicho's position had become still more splendid and secure by the marriage of his daughter Maria with the emperor Honorius (398), for which an epithalamium was written by Claudian, who, as we might expect, celebrates the father-in-law as expressly as the bridal pair. The Gildonic war also supplied, we need hardly remark, a grateful material for his favorite theme; and the year 400, to which Stilicho gave his name of consul, inspired an enthusiastic effusion.

It may seem strange that now, almost at the zenith of his fame, the father-in-law of the Emperor and the hero of the Gildonic war did not make some attempt to carry out his favorite project of interfering with the government of the eastern provinces. But there are two considerations which may help to explain this.

In the first place Stilicho himself was not the man of indomitable will who forms a project and carries it through; he was a man rather of that ambitious but hesitating character which Mommsen attributes to Pompey. He was half a Roman and half a barbarian; he was half strong and half weak; he was half patriotic and half selfish. His intentions were unscrupulous, but he was almost afraid of them. Besides this, his wife, Serena, probably endeavored to check his policy of discord and maintain unity in the Theodosian house. In the second place, it is sufficiently probable that he was in constant communication with Gainas, the German general of the eastern armies and chief representative of the German interests in the realm of Arcadius, and that Gainas was awaiting his time for an outbreak, by which Stilicho hoped to profit and execute his designs. He had no excuse for interference, and he was willing to wait. His inactive policy of the next two years must not be taken to indicate that he cherished no ambitious projects.

The Germans looked up to Stilicho as the most important German in the empire; their natural protector and friend, while there was a large Roman faction opposed to him as a foreigner. But as yet this faction was not strong enough to overpower him. It is remarkable that his fall was finally brought about by the influence of a palace official (A.D. 408), while the fall of his rival Eutropius, which occurred far sooner (A.D. 399), was brought about by the compulsion of a German general. These facts indicate that the two dangers to which I have already called attention—the preponderating influence of chamberlains and eunuchs—were mutually checks on each other.



CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY

EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME

A.D. 13-409

JOHN RUDD, LL. D.



CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY

EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME

A.D. 13-409

JOHN RUDD, LL.D.

Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals following give volume and page.

Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page references showing where the several events are fully treated.

* Denotes date uncertain.

A.D.

13. A fifth ten-year term of imperial rule is voted to Augustus at Rome.

Roman invasion of Germany under Germanicus. See "GERMANICUS IN GERMANY," iii, 1.

14. Death of Augustus; succeeded by his adopted son, Tiberius, as emperor of Rome.

16. Germanicus successful in his campaign against Arminius. He is recalled to Rome by Tiberius. See "GERMANICUS IN GERMANY," iii, 1.

17. Ephesus, Magnesia, and other cities in Asia destroyed by an earthquake.

Germanicus feted in Rome.

18. Herod the Tetrarch builds the city of Tiberias in Galilee.

Wealthy women of Jerusalem provide wine medicated with opiates for crucified malefactors. See "THE CRUCIFIXION," iii, 23.

19. Death of Germanicus.

Jews and Egyptians expelled from Rome; four thousand of them colonize in Sardinia.

21. The theatre of Pompey, at Rome, destroyed by fire.

23. Birth of Pliny the Elder.

26. Tiberius leaves Rome to the government of Sejanus.

27. The Roman Pantheon completed.

30 (29-33). Death of Jesus. See "THE CRUCIFIXION," iii, 23.

31. Downfall and execution of Sejanus.

33. Great impetus of Christianity. See "THE RISE AND SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY," iii, 40.

37. Caius, called Caligula, succeeds Tiberius as emperor of Rome.

41. Emperor Caligula murdered; Claudius elevated to the throne.

The Herodian kingdom of Judea restored under Herod Agrippa.

43. Beginning of the Roman conquest of Britain under Aulus Plautius and Claudius.

44. Plautius is appointed the first Roman governor of Britain.

Death of Herod Agrippa; end of the kingdom of Judea.

51. Caractacus, King of the Trinobantes in Britain, captured by Ostorius and sent in chains to Rome.

52. Aqueducts of the Aqua Claudia in Rome, begun in A.D. 38, completed.

54. Agrippina poisons Claudius; Nero, her son, becomes emperor.

55.* Birth of Tacitus.

59. Agrippina murdered at Nero's order.

61. Boadicea in Britain revolts against the Romans; the uprising quelled by Suetonius Paulinus.

62.* Birth of Pliny the Younger.

64. The burning of Rome. See "BURNING OF ROME UNDER NERO," iii, 108.

First persecution of Christians. See "PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS UNDER NERO," iii, 134.

65. The conspiracy of Piso against Nero. Execution of Lucan and Seneca by command of Nero.

66. Revolt of the Jews against the Roman government.

67. Victorious campaigns of Vespasian against the rebellious Jews.

68. Rise of the Roman commanders against Nero. Galba's march upon Rome. Suicide of Emperor Nero; accession of Galba.

69. Galba murdered. Otho becomes emperor; vanquished by Vitellius, who ascends the throne. Vespasian overthrows Vitellius and succeeds him.

Uprising of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis.

70. The Roman Capitol rebuilt by Vespasian.

Jerusalem besieged and destroyed by Titus. See "THE GREAT JEWISH REVOLT," iii, 150.

76. Birth of the emperor Hadrian.

78. Agricola succeeds Julius Frontinus in Britain; extends the Roman dominion to the Tyne and introduces the useful arts.

79. Death of Vespasian; Titus on the throne.

Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii by an eruption of Vesuvius; Pliny the Elder, writer of the Studiosus, loses his life. See "DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII," iii, 207.

80. The Roman Empire swept by pestilence.

The Colosseum, the work of Vespasian, dedicated by Titus.

81. Death of Titus; Domitian, his brother, becomes emperor.

Agricola extends Roman dominion in Britain.

84. Successful campaigns of Agricola against the Caledonians under Galgacus. Agricola builds a wall of defence between the Clyde and the Forth, and sails around the north of Scotland for the first time.

85. Agricola recalled to Rome through jealousy of Domitian, who appoints Sallustius in his stead.

86. Successful onslaught of the Dacians, under the Decebalus, against the Romans.

Capitoline games instituted by Domitian at Rome.

87. Dacian wars led Rome to agree to pay tribute and provoked the cruelties of Domitian.

88. Celebration of the secular games at Rome.

Tacitus appointed praetor.

91. Domitian concludes a peace with the Dacians.

94. Domitian's wholesale slaughter of his subjects appalls Rome.

95. Jews and Christians refusing to pay taxes to rebuild the temple of Jupiter at Rome are severely punished. These cruelties are sometimes called the "second persecution."

96. The tyrannies of Domitian finally provoke a conspiracy which accomplishes his death. Nerva succeeds him as emperor. Exiles recalled and the unjustly imprisoned freed.

97. Tacitus, the historian, becomes consul at Rome. Nerva adopts Trajan.

98. Nerva dies and is succeeded by Trajan; Pliny and Plutarch are highly distinguished by him.

99. Julius Servius becomes governor of Britain.

101. Trajan discontinues the annual payment to the Dacians; they invade the Roman provinces; Trajan attacks and drives them over the Danube.

102. Rome continues the war in Dacia. Trajan's Empress, Plotina Pompeia, and his sister, Marciana, by their example reform the manners and character of the Roman women.

103. Trajan dictates a treaty of peace to Decebalus, the Dacian leader.

104. Rome renews the Dacian war; Trajan again in command; Hadrian serves under him.

Pliny writes his famous letter to the Roman Emperor in regard to the Christians.

105. Trajan's bridge over the Danube constructed.

Plutarch is governor of Illyricum.

106. Decebalus falling in battle, the Dacian war ends; Dacia becomes a Roman province beyond the Danube.

107. Trajan drains the Pontine marshes and constructs a road through them; he erects a school for poor children and performs other meritorious works.

Great discontent is aroused by the progress of Christianity among the numerous classes of those whose livelihood is derived from the services and ceremonies of the heathen temples. The third persecution of Christians begins.

114. Trajan's Column erected; it was made of twenty-four huge blocks of marble so closely united that they seem like one piece; it is still in existence, although Trajan's statue, surmounting it, was replaced by one of St. Peter.

115. War of Rome with Parthia; Trajan adds Armenia and Mesopotamia to the Roman domains. Rome attains its greatest extension.

Great earthquake at Antioch.

116. Great revolt of the Jews in Cyrene, Cyprus, and Egypt; they slaughter many thousands of Greeks and Romans.

117. Death of Trajan, who is succeeded by Hadrian; the Asiatic conquests are relinquished by him.

118. Hadrian, who was with Trajan at the time of his death, returns to Rome; a plot against him is discovered and four conspiring senators are put to death. Hadrian conciliates the people with large gifts. He enters upon his campaign in Moecia.

119. Hadrian begins a personal survey of his dominions; he visits Campania, Gaul, and Britain.

121. Birth of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

131. Birth of Galen, long the supreme authority in medical science.

132. Insurrection of the Jews under Bar Cocheba; their final dispersion follows. See "THE JEWS' LAST STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM: THEIR FINAL DISPERSION," iii, 222.

138. Death of Hadrian and succession of Antoninus Pius.

155.* About this time Polycarp and Justin suffer martyrdom. See "MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP AND JUSTIN MARTYR," iii, 231.

161. Death of Antoninus Pius; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus succeeds to the Roman throne and makes Lucius Verus his associate in the Empire.

Roman war with Parthia begins.

162. Volagases, with a Parthian army, invades Syria and defeats the Romans.

163. Verus, the Roman Emperor, enjoys himself at Antioch and Daphne while his generals reap successes in Armenia and Media.

165. Seleucia and Ctesiphon are captured by the Romans; end of the Parthian war; Rome acquires Mesopotamia.

166.* Great plague throughout the Roman Empire.

War begins between Rome and the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi, which had invaded Roman territories.

168. The Marcomanni retire into their own country, but M. Aurelius pursues his preparations against them, in order to safeguard Italy.

169. Sudden death of Verus, while in his chariot, on his journey to Rome.

174. Aurelius makes a short visit to Rome; when he rejoins the army the German tribes are signally defeated; this gives rise to the fable of the "Thundering Legion."

177. Persecution of the Christians in Gaul begins; Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, suffers martyrdom. See "PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS IN GAUL," iii, 246.

180. Death of Marcus Aurelius; his son, Commodus, succeeds him on the Roman throne. See "BEGINNING OF ROME'S DECLINE: COMMODUS," iii, 263.

183. Lucilla, the sister of Commodus, having conspired against her brother, is exiled from Rome; Commodus vents his rage on the senators.

184. The Caledonians break through the wall on the northern borders of Britain; they are driven back by Ulpius Marcellus.

185. Marcia, the favorite of Commodus, protects the Christians.

Birth of Origen, one of the early Church fathers, at Alexandria.

186. Many prominent Roman citizens are put to death, by order of Commodus.

187. Commodus degrades himself by acting as a gladiator and slaying wild beasts in the Circus at Rome. See "BEGINNING OF ROME'S DECLINE: COMMODUS," iii, 263.

188. Lightning strikes the Capitol at Rome; the library and many adjacent buildings are burned.

189. Revolt of Maternus in Spain and Gaul subdued by Pescennius Niger.

Famine and pestilence in Rome; popular commotions; the guards are overcome and Commodus is driven to Lanuvium; the populace is appeased by the sacrifice of Cleander. See "BEGINNING OF ROME'S DECLINE: COMMODUS," iii, 263.

191. Great fire at Rome; the temples of Vesta and of Peace are burned; many valuable libraries destroyed, in which some works of Galen's are lost.

192. Murder of Commodus.

193. Pertinax elected emperor by the Roman senate; he is later assassinated by the praetorians. The Imperial dignity is purchased by Didius Julianus; he is slain the same year. Albinus in Britain, Niger in Syria, and Septimus Severus in Pannonia are proclaimed emperors by their respective legions. Fall of Didius Julianus and accession of Severus.

194. In the East, Severus triumphs over his rival, Niger. Byzantium resists Severus.

196. Byzantium falls before Severus.

197. Albinus in Gaul is crushed by Severus.

198. Septimus Severus proceeds against the Parthians; he besieges and captures Ctesiphon.

208. Successful campaign of Severus against the Caledonians in Britain and Caledonia.

211. Death of Septimus Severus at York; his sons Caracalla and Geta succeed him.

212. Caracalla slays his brother Geta.

213. Caracalla, universally detested for his cruelties, goes into Gaul and assumes the surname of Germanicus. He leads the first attack of the Romans against the Alemanni.

215. Having proceeded through Dacia, Thrace, and Antioch to Alexandria, Caracalla orders a massacre of the Egyptians.

216. By a delusive offer of marriage with the daughter of Artabanus, Caracalla decoys the Parthians into his camp, where he treacherously attacks and slays a great number of them.

217. Caracalla is assassinated; Macrinus is proclaimed emperor; he purchases peace with the Parthians. Julia Domna, the mother of Caracalla and Geta, being banished to Antioch, starves herself to death.

218. Macrinus is overthrown by Elagabalus, who succeeds him as emperor of Rome. This was accomplished by Moesa, sister of Julia Domna, bribing a portion of the army to espouse the cause of her grandson Elagabalus.

219. Elagabalus arrives at Rome; he brings with him his Syrian idol, which he places in a stately temple.

220. The highest offices of the State are filled by Elagabalus with his vilest associates.

222. Alexander Severus (Alexianus) succeeds Elagabalus, who is slain by the praetorians; his mother, Sooemias, is killed with him.

223. All persecution of the Christians ceases in Rome.

Alexander Severus guided by his mother, Marnaea, who is created augusta.

224. The Persians, under Ardashir (known by the Greeks as Artaxerxes), revolt against the Parthians.

225. Marriage of Alexander Severus to Sulpitia Memmia.

226. Ardashir overthrows the Parthian kingdom; he founds the new Persian kingdom of the Sassanidae.

228. Ulpian, praetorian prefect, endeavors to restrain the licentiousness of the guards; a mutiny ensues and he is put to death.

229. Dion Cassius having, as governor of Dalmatia and Pannonia, offended the army by his strictness, the Emperor testifies his approbation by making him his colleague in the consulship.

230. Artaxerxes, now at the head of a powerful empire and great army, lays claim to all the former territories of Persia.

231. Alexander Severus, at Antioch, prepares to resist the Persian demands by arms.

232. After a campaign in Mesopotamia without decisive results, but in which the Romans claim the victory, Alexander returns to Antioch.

233. Close of the Persian war.

234. Alexander musters his forces in Gaul to repel the German tribes that had invaded the province.

235. Alexander Severus and his mother, Mamaea, are murdered in a mutiny of the army, near Mainz (or Mentz).

Maximin is proclaimed emperor.

Ambrosius assists the labors of Origen by paying clerks to copy for him.

236. Maximin defeats the Germans and drives them across the Rhine.

237. Maximin proceeds to Sirmium, with the design of attacking the Sarmatians. His ferocious tyranny excites universal horror.

238. A rebellion against Maximin in Africa; Gordian, the proconsul, and his son are proclaimed emperors; they are overthrown by Capelianus and slain, Maximus and Balbinus are elected by the senate as joint emperors; they are murdered by the praetorians. On his march to Rome, Maximin is assassinated by his soldiers; his son is also slain. The Third Gordian is associated with Maximus and Capelianus in the empire. The two latter are slain, and Gordian becomes ruler of the Roman domain.

239. The young emperor of Rome, at first deceived by the eunuchs of the palace, is extricated from their pernicious influence by Misitheus.

240. Various tribes of Germany confederate under the name of Franks. This is the first time they are mentioned in history.

241. Victorious advance of Sapor I against the Roman dominions. See "EVENTFUL REIGN OF SAPOR I, KING OF PERSIA," iii, 277.

242. The Persians are defeated by Gordian; Misitheus, his general, recovers Mesopotamia. Plotinus accompanies the Roman army, in the hope of reaching India.

244. Gordian, aged nineteen, is murdered, near Circesium (Carchemish); a lofty mound is there raised to his memory.

Philip the Arabian becomes emperor of Rome; he makes peace with Sapor.

249. The Roman legions revolt in several provinces; some proclaim Jotapianus, and others Marinus, both of whom are killed by their own men. Decius, who is sent to appease the mutineers, is compelled by them to assume the purple and lead them into Italy. Battle of Verona. Philip is defeated and slain, and his son murdered at Rome. Decius is emperor.

250. Decius orders the persecution of the Christians.

The Goths cross the Danube, enter the Roman dominions as far as Thrace, and capture Philippopolis.

251. Victory of the Goths; Decius, at the head of the Romans, is defeated and slain. Gallus ascends the throne.

253. Barbarians invade Moesia and Pannonia; they are defeated by AEmilianus, who is hailed as emperor by his army; he marches against Gallus, who, with his son, is assassinated by his soldiers. On the approach of Valerian, at the head of the Gallic legions, AEmilianus is slain, near Spoleto. Valerian becomes emperor.

254. Franks invade the northern provinces of Gaul.

An eruption of Mount AEtna.

Persecution of the Christians recommences.

256. The Roman Empire is assailed on all sides. The Franks pass through Gaul and sack Tarraco in Spain; the Alemanni attack Italy; the Sarmatians and Quadi force their way into Pannonia; Macedon and Greece are ravaged by the Goths; Persians invade Syria and Mesopotamia.

Cyprian, one of the early fathers of the Church, assembles another council at Carthage, which provokes angry disputes.

258. Valerian goes into the East against the Persians. The invaders of Gaul are checked by Postumus. The Goths capture Trebizond.

260. Roman war with Persia; defeat and capture of Valerian by Sapor. Outbreaks continue throughout the provinces. Gallienus ascends the throne.

261. Manes originates the Manichaean heresy, which taught among other things that there were two souls or spirits in man, one good and the other evil; also that the soul at death went first to the moon and then to the sun, and thence to God.

267. Various Gothic bands, called by some Scythians, ravage Greece and Asia. One section is driven out of Asia by Odenathus; later he is assassinated by his nephew, Maeonius. His widow, Zenobia, avenges his death and fills with glory his vacant throne of Palmyra.

268. Murder of the emperor Gallienus; accession of Claudius II.

269. Claudius signally defeats the Goths at Naissus, Moesia.

Zenobia rules in Egypt in the name of Claudius.

270. The Goths are again defeated by Claudius; shortly after, he dies of the plague at Sirmium. His brother assumes the purple, but dies by his own hand seventeen days later. Aurelian is universally acknowledged as emperor; he makes peace with the Goths, and relinquishes Dacia to them, transferring that name to another province south of the Danube.

271. The Alemanni who had invaded Italy are overwhelmed by Aurelian.

272. Aurelian attacks Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra; he captures Tyana, Emesa, and Antioch.

273. Palmyra surrenders to Aurelian, and Queen Zenobia is made prisoner.

274. Aurelian, having reunited the Roman Empire, celebrates a splendid triumph at Rome. Queen Zenobia is treated generously and passes her life in peace and affluence.

275. On his march to attack Persia, Aurelian is assassinated; Tacitus is elected by the senate.

276. Aurelian's murderers are punished by Tacitus; he dies while leading an expedition against the Goths, who had invaded Asia. Florian, his brother, succeeds him; he is slain. Probus is proclaimed emperor by the army; the senate confirms it.

277. Probus drives out the Franks, Burgundians, and other German tribes that had overrun Gaul. A number of his prisoners, removed to Pontus, seize a fleet in the Euxine, escape through the Bosporus, plunder many cities on the shores of the Mediterranean, and reach Germany again.

278. Probus repairs the fortified line from the Rhine to the Danube, expels the Goths from Thrace, represses the Isaurian robbers, and arrives in Syria, where he arranges terms of peace with Persia.

282. Probus, successful since 276 against the enemies of Rome, is killed in a mutiny of the army at Sirmium.

Accession of Carus; he gives the title of caesar to each of his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus.

283. Carus wages a successful campaign against Persia; he dies mysteriously in his tent, near Ctesiphon, during a violent storm. Carinus and Numerianus become joint emperors of Rome.

284. Murder of Numerianus; Diocletian proclaimed emperor.

285. Carinus is murdered.

286. Maximian made Imperial colleague of Diocletian.

287. The Bagauds revolt in Gaul.

288. Carausius, in command of the Roman fleet at Gessoriacum, revolts and establishes an independent sovereignty in Britain.

292. Constantius Chlorus and Galerius are appointed caesars by Diocletian and Maximian; the Roman Empire is divided among the four.

293. Carausius is treacherously murdered by Allectus, who assumes the government of Britain.

296. Athanasius, the "Father of Orthodoxy," born.*

297. Achillius having revolted in Egypt, Diocletian in person suppresses the insurrection; Alexandria is captured and the inhabitants slaughtered.

298. Rome makes a victorious peace with Persia; extension of the Roman Empire.

300. From this date paganism declines. See "CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE," iii, 289.

303. Diocletian persecutes the Christians; the fiercest and most systematic persecution which they had yet suffered.

304. Severe illness of Diocletian, imputed to his long journey in the winter, but attributable rather to his vexation at the disorders caused by his change of policy toward the Christians, and to his finding it impossible to extirpate their religion. See "CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE," iii, 289.

305. The dilemma in which Diocletian is placed by the rash counsels of Galerius determines him to abdicate. He resigns the purple at Nicomedia, and persuades Maximian to follow his example on the same day at Milan. Constantius and Galerius take the title of augustus, and that of caesar is given to Severus and Maximian.

306. Death of Constantius Chlorus; Constantine the Great, his son, is made caesar; Severus becomes augustus; Maxentius, son of Maximian, assumes the purple. Maximian resumes the rank of augustus. Civil war begins between Constantine and his rivals. The Salian Franks are defeated by Constantine.

307. Licinius is made augustus on the fall of Severus.

308. There are five emperors actually ruling in the Roman Empire, with Maximian, as a sixth, holding nominal power in the court of his son-in-law, Constantine.

310. Maximian is slain by order of Constantine.

311. Galerius issues an order to stop the persecution of the Christians; his death occurs soon afterward.

312. Constantine vanquishes Maxentius in Italy, and becomes sole ruler of the Western Roman Empire. See "CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE," iii, 289.

313. Constantine and Licinius proclaim toleration for the Christians.

Maximian is overthrown by Licinius, who unites the Roman Empire of the East under his rule.

314. Constantine and Licinius have their first war; the latter is vanquished. See "CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE," iii, 289.

315. Constantine issues an edict against infanticide; another edict condemns to be burned alive any Jews who persecute or ill-treat converts from their sect to Christianity.

318. Beginning of the Arian controversy.

321. Constantine makes an edict ordering the Aruspices to be consulted in certain cases, according to the ancient form. Two others prescribe the observance of Sunday.

323. Licinius is overcome by Constantine, who becomes sole master of the Roman Empire. See "CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE," iii, 289.

324. Constantine, who had promised his sister not to injure Licinius, orders Licinius to be strangled.

325. Council of Nice, the first general council of the Church; the followers of Athanasius pronounce the condemnation of the Arians. See "FIRST NICENE COUNCIL," iii, 299.

326. Helena, saint and Empress, visits Palestine and founds churches there.

329. Frumentius preaches Christianity to the Abyssinians.

330. Removal of the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium. See "FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE," iii, 320.

331. Birth of Hieronymus (St. Jerome).

333. The title of caesar given by Constantine to his youngest son, Constans.

An edict of Constantine's exempts medical men and professors of literature from military service. This confirmed the procedure of certain former emperors.

337. Death of Constantine, soon after his baptism by Eusebius, an Arian bishop. Partition of the Roman Empire between his sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius.

340. Constantine II makes war upon Constans; the former is slain, and Constans becomes ruler of the greater part of the Roman Empire. Constantius rules in the East.

341. Gaul is invaded by the Franks, who resist Constans.

Ulfilas becomes bishop of the Goths.*

Violent earthquakes in Syria. The Synod of Antioch assents to an Arian creed, deposes Athanasius, and appoints Gregory bishop of Alexandria.

347. A general council is held at Sardica. The majority approves the Nicene faith; the deposition of Arian bishops voted, and the restoration of Athanasius and Marcellus to episcopal honors. The minority secede to Philippopolis and annul their acts; the two bodies mutually excommunicate each other.

348. Sapor, at the head of the Persians, defeats the Romans at Singara.

350. Magentius proclaims himself emperor; Constans flees into Spain, where he is assassinated.

351. Constantius defeats Magentius at the battle of Mursa.

352. Italy declares against Magentius, who gains a useless victory at Pavia.

353. Constantius sole emperor, Magentius being overthrown by him.

Constantius convokes the Council of Arles, which condemns Arianism.

354. Birth of St. Augustine.

355. Julian, being appointed caesar, takes command of the Roman troops in Gaul.

Athanasius is deposed by the Council of Milan.

356. Julian is successful against the Alemanni and Franks in Gaul.

357. Constantius visits Rome; he presents an obelisk from Egypt to the city.

Julian has a great victory at Strasburg.

358. Julian winters in Paris, after which he resumes his campaign and defeats the Franks.

359. Again the Rhine is crossed by Julian, who conquers all before him.

360. The Cathedral of St. Sophia is dedicated at Constantinople.

Julian is elected emperor in Gaul. See "JULIAN THE APOSTATE BECOMES EMPEROR OF ROME," iii, 333.

361. Death of Constantius while on his way to oppose Julian.

A revival of paganism.

362. Julian proclaims universal toleration and recalls the exiled bishops to their sees.

363. Expedition of Julian against the Persians, under Sapor II; Julian retreats and is slain; Jovian succeeds him in the purple; he purchases peace of Sapor by allotting him the Roman frontiers.

Christianity again in the ascendant.

364. Death of Emperor Jovian; Valentinian succeeds him in the West, and Valens in the East.

365. Great earthquake in the Roman dominions.

Gaul is harassed by the Alemanni; Britain by the Picts, Scots, and Saxons.

367. First campaign of Theodosius against the Picts and Scots in Britain.

368. The Alemanni repulsed from Gaul.

369. Theodosius, having subdued a revolt in Britain, returns to Gaul.

370. Saxons infest the coast of Gaul; they are driven back to their ships by Severus.

374. Huns cross the Volga and proceed westward, overpowering the Alani. See "THE HUNS AND THEIR WESTERN MIGRATION," iii, 352.

St. Ambrose is elected bishop of Milan.

375. Death of Valentinian I; he is succeeded by his son Gratian and Valentinian II, his infant brother.

376. Driven by the Huns, the Visigoths are admitted into the Roman Empire south of the Danube.

378. Death of Emperor Valens in an encounter with the Visigoths at Adrianople.

Gaul is invaded by the Alemanni; they are repulsed by Gratian.

379. Theodosius is recalled from his retirement in Spain and awarded the sovereignty of the East by Gratian.

380. Theodosius is baptized by the Bishop of Thessalonica.

381. Second general council, held at Constantinople.

382. Theodosius makes a treaty with the Visigoths; their final settlement in Thrace and Moesia.

383. Rebellion of Maximus in Britain; he lands in Gaul, where he is joined by the forces there; he overthrows Gratian.

387. Maximus invades Italy. Valentinian flees with his mother and sister, Galla, to Thessalonica; Theodosius meets them, marries Galla, and prepares to meet Maximus.

388. Maximus is defeated and slain.

A formal vote of the senate establishes Christianity in the Roman Empire.

389. Theodosius visits Rome; he commands the destruction of the heathen temples. Valentinian becomes sole ruler of the West.

390. Sedition at Thessalonica, and massacre of its inhabitants, by order of Theodosius.

392. Paganism in the Roman Empire is finally suppressed by law.

Murder of Valentinian II by Arbogast; Eugenius usurps the throne in the West.

394. Eugenius and Arbogast are vanquished by Theodosius the Great, who unites the whole Roman Empire under his sceptre.

395. Death of Theodosius the Great; final division of the Empire. See "FINAL DIVISION OF ROMAN EMPIRE," iii, 364.

399. The Ostrogoths, under Tribigild, revolt and ravage Phrygia.

Stilicho sends additional forces into Britain, and fortifies the coast against the Saxons.

402. Alaric advances in Italy, and Stilicho prepares to resist him.

403. Honorius, on the approach of Alaric, flees from Milan.

Alaric, King of the Visigoths, encounters Stilicho, Honorius' general, at Pollentia; the Romans claim the victory, but Alaric continues his advance toward Rome. Stilicho defeats and drives him back, near Verona; Alaric retires from Italy.*

404. Triumph of Honorius and Stilicho at Rome. Combats of gladiators exhibited for the last time.

The capital of the Western Empire is removed from Rome to Ravenna.*

Chrysostom, the patriarch, is banished Constantinople; the Church of St. Sophia, probably kindled by the angry adherents of Chrysostom, burned to the ground.

405. Radagaisus collects a great horde of Ostrogoths, Vandals, Suevi, and other Barbarians, and leads them into Italy. He is defeated by Stilicho near Florence, and surrenders on condition of having his life spared. He is, however, treacherously put to death.

St. Jerome completes his Latin translation of the Bible.*

406. German tribes break down the Rhine barrier and establish themselves in Gaul.

Vigilantius, a presbyter of Barcelona, condemns celibacy, the worship of relics, etc.; St. Jerome attacks him in a furious epistle, saying that he ought to be put to death.

407. Constantine usurps authority in Britain and Gaul.

408. Arcadius is succeeded by his son Theodosius II in the Byzantine empire.

Honorius orders Stilicho to be put to death, accusing him of treacherously treating with Alaric, who is besieging Rome.

409. Alaric receives a large ransom from the citizens of Rome and withdraws into Tuscany. Deceived in his negotiations with Honorius, he again lays siege to Rome, which is again spared on condition of Attalus being made emperor.

Owing to the passes of the Pyrenees being left unguarded, the Vandals, Suevi, and Alani enter Spain.

END OF VOLUME III