 Chapter 25 Part 3 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2. But in the calmer moments of reflection, when the mind of Valens was not agitated by fear, or that of Valentinian by rage, the tyrant resumed the sentiments, or at least the conduct, of the father of his country. The dispassionate judgment of the Western Emperor could clearly perceive, and accurately peruse, his own and the public interest, and the sovereign of the East, who imitated with equal docility the various examples which he received from his elder brother, was sometimes guided by the wisdom and virtue of the prefect Sallust. Both princes invariably retained, in the purple, the chaste and temperate simplicity which had adorned their private life, and under their reign the pleasures of the court never cost the people a blush or a sigh. They gradually reformed many of the abuses of the times of Constantius, judiciously adopted, and improved the designs of Julian and his successor, and displayed a style and spirit of legislation which might inspire posterity with the most favorable opinion of their character and government. It is not from the Master of Innocence that we should expect the tender regard for the welfare of his subjects which prompted Valentinian to condemn the exposition of newborn infants and to establish fourteen skillful physicians with stipends and privileges in the fourteen quarters of Rome. The good sense of an illiterate soldier founded a useful and liberal institution for the education of youth and the support of declining science. It was his intention that the arts of rhetoric and grammar should be taught in the Greek and Latin languages, in the metropolis of every province, and as the size and dignity of the school was usually proportioned to the importance of the city, the academies of Rome and Constantinople claimed a just and singular preeminence. The fragments of the literary edicts of Valentinian imperfectly represent the school of Constantinople which was gradually improved by subsequent regulations. That school consisted of thirty-one professors in different branches of learning. One philosopher and two lawyers fies Sophists and Ten Grammarians for the Greek and Three Orators and Ten Grammarians for the Latin tongue, besides Seven Scribes or as they were styled Antiquarians whose laborious pens supplied the public library with fair and correct copies of the classic writers. The rule of conduct which was prescribed to the students is the more curious as it affords the first outlines of the form and discipline of a modern university. It was required that they should bring proper certificates from the magistrates of their native province. Their names, professions, and places of abode were regularly entered into a public register. The studious youth were severely prohibited from wasting their time in feasts or in the theatre, and the term of their education was limited to the age of twenty. The prefect of the city was empowered to chastise the idol and refractory by stripes or expulsion, and he was directed to make an annual report to the masters of the offices, that the knowledge and abilities of the scholars might be usefully applied to the public service. The institutions of Valentinian contributed to secure the benefits of peace and plenty, and the cities were guarded by the establishment of the defenders, freely elected as the tributes and advocates of the people to support their rights and to expose their grievances before the tribunals of the civil magistrates or even at the foot of the imperial throne. The finances were diligently administered by two princes, who had been so long accustomed to the rigid economy of a private fortune, but in the receipt and application of the revenue a discerning eye might observe some differences between the government of the East and of the West. Valentinians was persuaded that royal liberality can be supplied only by public oppression, and his ambition never aspired to secure by their actual distress the future strength and prosperity of his people. Instead of increasing the weight of taxes which, in the space of forty years, had gradually doubled, he reduced in the first years of his reign one fourth of the tribute of the East. Valentin appears to have been less attentive and less anxious to relieve the burden of his people. He might reform the abuses of the fiscal administration, but he exacted without scruple a very large share of the private property. He was convinced that the revenues which supported the luxury of individuals would be much more advantageously employed for the defense and improvement of the state. The subjects of the East who enjoyed the present benefit applauded the indulgence of their Prince. The solid but less splendid merit of Valentinian was felt and acknowledged by the subsequent generation. But the most honorable circumstance of the character of Valentinian is the firm and temperate impartiality which he uniformly preserved in an age of religious contention. This strong sense, unenlightened, but uncorrupted by study, declined with respectful indifference the subtle questions of theological debate. The government of the earth claimed his vigilance and satisfied his ambition, and while he remembered that he was the disciple of the church, he never forgot that he was the sovereign of the clergy. Under the reign of an apostate he had signalized his zeal for the honor of Christianity. He allowed to his subjects the privilege which he had assured for himself that they might accept with gratitude and confidence the general toleration which was granted by a Prince addicted to passion, but incapable of fear or disguise. The pagans, the Jews, and all the various sects which acknowledged the divine authority of Christ were protected by the laws from arbitrary power or popular insult. There was any mode of worship prohibited by Valentinian except those secret and criminal practices which abused the name of religion for the dark purposes of vice and disorder. The art of magic, as it was more cruelly punished, was more strictly prescribed, but the emperor admitted a formal distinction to protect the ancient methods of divination which were approved by the Senate and exercised by the Tuscan Haroupsis. He had condemned, with the consent of the most rational pagans, the license of nocturnal sacrifices, but he immediately admitted the petition of Protexotus, procounsel of Achia, who represented that the life of the Greeks would become dreary and comfortless if they were deprived of the invaluable blessings of the illusion mysteries. Philosophy alone can boast, and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy, that her gentle hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the latent and deadly principle of fanaticism. But this truce of twelve years which was enforced by the wise and vigorous government of Valentinian by suspending the repetition of mutual injuries contributed to soften the manners and abate the prejudices of the religious factions. A friend of toleration was unfortunately placed at a distance from the scene of the fiercest controversies. As soon as the Christians of the West had extradited themselves from the snares of the creed of Raminie, they happily relapsed to the slumber of orthodoxy, and the small remains of the Aryan party that still subsisted as Serminium or Milan might be considered rather as objects of contempt than of resentment. But in the provinces of the East, from Euzine to the extremities of Thebes, the strength and numbers of the hostile factions were more equally balanced, and this equality, instead of recommending the councils of peace, served only to perpetuate the horrors of religious war. The monks and bishops supported their arguments by invectives, and their invectives were sometimes followed by blows. Athanasius still reigned at Alexandria, the thrones of Constantinople and Antioch were occupied by Aryan prelates. And every Episcopal vacancy was the occasion of a popular tumult. The Homo-Ozians were fortified by the reconciliation of 59 Macedonian or Semi-Aryan bishops, but their secret reluctance to embrace the divinity of the Holy Ghost clouded the splendor of the triumph and the declaration of Valens, who, in the first years of his reign, had imitated the impartial conduct of his brother, was an important victory on the side of Aryanism. The two brothers had passed their private life in the condition of Catechumens, but the piety of Valens prompted him to solicit the sacrament of baptism, before he exposed his person to the dangers of a Gothic war. He naturally addressed himself to Eudoxus, bishop of the Imperial city, and if the ignorant monarch was instructed by that Aryan pastor in the principles of heterodox theology, his misfortune, rather than his guilt, was the inevitable consequence of his erroneous choice. Whatever had been the determination of the emperor, he must have offended a numerous party of his Christian subjects, as the leaders of both the Homoousians and of the Aryans believed that, if they were not suffered to reign, they were most cruelly injured and oppressed. After he had taken this decisive step, it was extremely difficult for him to preserve either the virtue or the reputation of impartiality. He never aspired, like Constantius, to the fame of a profound theologian, but as he received with simplicity and respect the tenets of Eudoxus, Valens resigned his conscience to the direction of his ecclesiastical guides and promoted by the influence of his authority the reunion of the Athanasian heretics to the body of the Catholic Church. At first he pitied their blindness by degrees he was provoked at their obstinacy, and he insensibly hated those sectaries to whom he was an object of hatred. The feeble mind of Valens was always swayed by the persons with whom he familially conversed, and the exile or imprisonment of a private citizen are the favors most readily granted in a despotic court. Such punishments were frequently inflicted on the leaders of the Homoousian party, and the misfortune of forescore ecclesiastics of Constantinople, who, perhaps accidentally, were burned on shipboard, was imputed to the cruel and premeditated malice of the emperor and his Aryan ministers. In every contest the Catholics, if we may anticipate that name, were obliged to pay the penalty of their own faults, and of those of their adversaries. In every election the claims of the Aryan candidate obtained the preference, and if they were opposed by the majority of the people he was usually supported by the authority of the civil magistrate, or even by the terrors of a military force. The enemies of Athanasius attempted to disrupt the last years of his venerable age, and his temporary retreat to his father's sepulchre has been celebrated as a fifth exile. But the zeal of a great people who instantly flew to arms intimidated the prefect, and the archbishop was permitted to end his life in peace and in glory after a reign of forty-seven years. The death of Athanasius was the signal of the persecution of Egypt and the pagan minister of Valens, who forcibly ceded the worthless Lucius on the archipisqual throne, purchased the favor of the reigning party by the blood and sufferings of their Christian brethren. The free toleration of the heathen and Jewish worship was bitterly lamented, as a circumstance which aggravated the misery of the Catholics and the guilt of the impious tyrant of the east. The triumph of the Orthodox party has left a deep stain of persecution on the memory of Valens, and the character of a prince who derived his virtues as well as his vices from a feeble understanding and pulsimonious temper scarcely deserves the labor of an apology, yet Candor may discover some reasons to suspect that the ecclesiastical ministers of Valens often exceeded the orders or even the intentions of their master. And the real measure of facts has been very liberally magnified by the vehement declamation and easy credulity of his antagonists. The silence of Valentinian may suggest a probable argument that the partial severities which were exercised in the name and provinces of his colleague amounted only to some obscure and inconsiderable deviations from the established system of religious toleration, and the judicious historian who has praised with equal temper of the elder brother has not thought himself obliged to contrast the tranquility of the west with the cruel persecution of the east. Whatever credit may be allowed to vague and distant reports, the character or at least the behavior of Valens may be most frequently seen in his personal transactions with the eloquent basal Archbishop of Cassaria who had succeeded Athanasius in the management of the Trinitarian cause. The circumstantial narrative has been composed by the friends and admirers of basal, and as soon as we have stripped away a thick coat of rhetoric and miracle we shall be astonished by the unexpected mildness of the Aryan tyrant who admired the firmness of his character, or was apprehensive if he employed violence, of a general revolt in the province of Cappadocia. The Archbishop who asserted with inflexible pride the truth of his opinions and the dignity of his rank was left in the free possession of his conscience and his throne. The Emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn service of the cathedral, and instead of a sentence of banishment, subscribed the donation of a valuable estate for the use of a hospital which basal had lately founded in the neighborhood of Cassaria. I am not able to discover that any law such as the Eidosius afterwards enacted against the Aryans was published by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries, and the edict which excited the most violent clamors may not appear so extremely reprehensible. The Emperor had observed that several of his subjects gratifying their lazy disposition under the pretense of religion had associated themselves with the monks of Egypt, and he directed the Count of the East to drag them from their solitude and to compel these deserters of society to accept the fair alternative of renouncing their temporal possessions or of discharging the public duties of men and citizens. The ministers of Valens seemed to have extended the sense of this penal statute since they claimed a right of enlisting the young and able-bodied monks in the imperial armies. A detachment of cavalry and infantry consisting of 3,000 men marched from Alexandria to the adjacent desert of Nitria, which was peopled by 5,000 monks. The soldiers were conducted by Aryan priests, and it is reported that a considerable slaughter was made in the monasteries which disobeyed the commands of their sovereign. The strict regulations which have been framed by the wisdom of modern legislators to restrain the wealth and avarice of the clergy may be originally deduced from the example of the Emperor Valentinian. His edict, addressed to Damascus, Bishop of Rome, was publicly read in the churches of the city. He admonished the ecclesiastics and monks not to frequent the houses of widows and virgins and menaced their disobedience with the animate version of the civil judge. The director was no longer permitted to receive any gift or legacy or inheritance from the liberality of his spiritual daughter. Every testament contrary to this edict was declared null and void, and the illegal donation was confiscated for the use of the treasury. By a subsequent regulation, it should seem that the same provisions were extended to nuns and bishops, and that all persons of the ecclesiastical order were rendered incapable of receiving any testamentary gifts and strictly confined to the natural and legal rights of inheritance. As the guardian of domestic happiness and virtue, Valentinian applied his severe remedy to the growing evil. In the capital of the empire, the females of noble and opulent houses possessed a very ample share of independent property, and many of those devout females had embraced the doctrines of Christianity, not only with the cold ascent of the understanding, but with the warmth of affection, and perhaps the eagerness of fashion. They sacrificed the pleasures of dress and luxury and renounced for the praise of chastity the soft endearments of conjugal society. Some ecclesiastics of real or apparent sanctity were chosen to direct their timorous conscience and to amuse the vacant tenderness of their hearts and the unbounded confidence with which they hastily bestowed was often abused by naves and enthusiasts who hastened from the extremities of the East to enjoy, on a splendid theater, the privileges of the monastic profession. By the contempt of the world, they insensibly acquired its most desirable advantages. The lively attachment perhaps of a young and beautiful woman, the delicate plenty of an opulent household, and the respectful homage of the slaves, the freedmen, and the clients of a senatorial family. The immense fortunes of the Roman ladies were gradually consumed in lavish alms and expensive pilgrimages, and the artful monk who had assigned himself the first, or possibly the sole, place in the testament of his spiritual daughter, still presumed to declare with the smooth face of hypocrisy that he was only the instrument of charity and the steward of the poor, the lucrative but disgraceful trade, which was exercised by the clergy to defraud the expectations of the natural heirs, had provoked the indignation of a superstitious age, and two of the most respectable of the Latin fathers very honestly confess that the ignominious edict of Valentinian was just and necessary, and that the Christian priests had deserved to lose a privilege which was still enjoyed by comedians, charioteers, and the ministers of idols. But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private interests, and Jerome or Ambrose might patiently acquiesce in the justice of an ineffectual or salutary law. If the ecclesiastics were checked in the pursuit of personal emollient, they would exert a more laudable industry to increase the wealth of the church and dignify their covetousness with the specious names of piety and patriotism. Damascis, Bishop of Rome, who was constrained to stigmatize the avarice of his clergy by the publication of the law of Valentinian, had the good sense or the good fortune to engage in his service the zeal and abilities of the learned Jerome, and the grateful saint has celebrated the merit and purity of a very ambitious character. But the splendid vices of the Church of Rome under the reign of Valentinian and Damascis have been curiously observed by the historian Amianus, who delivers his impartial sense in these expressive words. The prefecture of Juventius was accomplished with peace and plenty, but the tranquility of his government was soon disturbed by a bloody sedition of the distracted people. The ardor of Damascis and Ursinus to seize the Episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They contended with the rage of party that quarrel was maintained by the wounds and death of their followers, and the prefect unable to resist or appease the tumult was constrained by superior violence to retire into the suburbs. Damascis prevailed, the well disputed victory remained on the side of his faction. 137 dead bodies were found at the Basilica of Cicinius, where the Christians hold their religious assemblies. It was long before the angry minds of the people redeemed their accustomed tranquility. When I consider the splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize should inflame the desires of ambitious men and produce the fiercest and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is secure that he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons, that as soon as his dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his chariot through the streets of Rome and that the sumptuousness of the imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments provided by the taste and at the expense of the Roman potifs. How much more rationally continues the honest pagan would those potifs consult their true happiness if instead of alleging the greatness of the city as an excuse for their manners, they would imitate the exemplary life of some provincial bishops whose temperance and sobriety, whose mean apparel and downcast looks recommended their pure and modest virtue to the deity and his true worshipers. The schism of Damascus and Ersonus was extinguished by the exile of the latter and the wisdom of the prefect Pretextatus restored the tranquility of the city. Pretextatus was a philosophic pagan, a man of learning, of taste and politeness who disguised a reproach in the form of a jest when he assured Damicus that if he could obtain the bishopric of Rome he himself would immediately embrace the Christian religion. This lively picture of the wealth and luxury of the popes in the fourth century becomes the more curious as it represents the intermediate degree between the humble poverty of the apostolic fisherman and the royal state of a temporal prince whose dominions extended from the confines of Naples to the banks of the pole. End of part three. Chapter 25. Part four of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 25. Reigns of Jovian and Valentinian. Division of the Empire. Part four. When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the scepter of the Roman Empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in arms, his military skill and experience and his rigid attachment to the forms as well as spirit of ancient discipline were the principal motives of their judicious choice. The eagerness of the troops who pressed him to nominate his colleague was justified by the dangerous situation of public affairs and Valentinian himself was conscious that the abilities of the most active mind were unequal to the defense of the distant frontiers of an invaded monarchy. As soon as the death of Julian had relieved the barbarians from the terror of his name, the most sanguine hopes of repine and conquest excited the nations of the east of the north and of the south. Their inroads were often vexatious and sometimes formidable. But during the 12 years of the reign of Valentinian, his firmness and vigilance protected his own domains and his powerful genius seemed to inspire and direct the feeble counsels of his brother. Perhaps the method of annals would more forcibly express the urgent and divided cares of the two emperors. But the attention of the reader likewise would be distracted by a tedious and delitory narrative, a separate view of the five great theaters of war. One, Germany. Two, Britain. Three, Africa. Four, the east. And five, the Danube, will impress a more distinct image of the military state of the empire under the reigns of Valentinian and Valens. One, the ambassadors of the Allimani had been offended by the harsh and haughty behavior of Versaceus, master of the offices, who by an act of unseasonable parsimony had diminished the value as well as the quantity of the presence to which they were entitled, either from custom or treaty, on the ascension of a new emperor. They expressed and they communicated to their countrymen their strong sense of the national affront. The irascible minds of the chiefs were exasperated by the suspicion of contempt and the martial youth crowded to their standard. Before Valentinian could pass the Alps, the villages of Gaul were in flames. Before his general, De Galapheus, could encounter the Allimani. They had secured the captives and the spoil in the forests of Germany. In the beginning of the ensuing year, the military forces of the whole nation, in deep and solid columns, broke through the barrier of the Rhine during the severity of a northern winter. Two Roman counts were defeated and mortally wounded and the standard of the Haruli and Batavians fell into the hands of the conquerors, who displayed with insulting shouts and menaces the trophy of their victory. The standard was recovered, but the Batavians had not redeemed the shame of their disgrace and flight in the eyes of their severe judge. It was the opinion of Valentinian that his soldiers must learn to fear their commander before they could cease to fear the enemy. The troops were solemnly assembled and the trembling Batavians were enclosed within the circle of the imperial army. Valentinian then ascended his tribunal and, as if he disdained to punish cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy on the officers, whose misconduct and pulsimani were found to be the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degraded from their rank, stripped of their arms and condemned to be sold for slaves to the highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence, the troops fell prostate on the ground, deprecated the indignation of their sovereign and protested that, if he should indulge them in another trial, they would approve themselves not unworthy of the name of Romans and of his soldiers. Valentinian, with affected reluctance, yielded to their entreaties. The Batavians resumed their arms, and with their arms the invincible resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the Alemani. The principal command was declined by Daghallaifus and that experienced general who had represented, perhaps with too much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking had the mortification before the end of the campaign of seeing his rival, Jovenius, convert those difficulties into a decisive advantage over the scattered forces of the Barbarians. At the head of a well-disciplined army of cavalry, infantry, and like troops, Jovenius advanced with cautious and rapid steps to Scarpona. In the territory of Metz, where he surprised a large division of the Alemani before they had time to run to their arms and flushed his soldiers with the confidence of an easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or rather, army of the enemy after the cruel and wanton devastation of the adjacent country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle. Jovenius, who had viewed the ground with the eye of a general, made a silent approach through a deep and woody veil till he could distinctly perceive the indolent security of the Germans. Some were bathing their huge limbs in the river. Others were combing their long and flaxen hair. Others, again, were swallowing large drafts of rich and delicious wine. On a sudden they heard the sound of a Roman trumpet. They saw the enemy in their camp. Astonishment produced disorder. Disorder was followed by flight and dismay. And the confused multitude of the bravest warriors was pierced by the swords and javelins of the legionaries and auxiliaries. The fugitives escaped to the third and most considerable camp in the Catalonian plains near Challens in Champagne. The straggling detachments were hastily recalled to their standard and the barbarian chiefs, alarmed and admonished by the fate of their companions, prepared to encounter in a decisive battle the victorious forces of the lieutenant of Valentinian. The bloody and obstinate conflict lasted a whole summer's day with equal valor and with alternate success. The Romans at length prevailed with the loss of about 1200 men, 6,000 of the Alemanians were slain, 4,000 were wounded and the brave Jovinius after chasing the flying remnant of their host as far as the banks of the Rhine, returned to Paris to receive the applause of his sovereign and the ensigns of the consulship for the ensuing year. The triumph of the Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king whom they hung on a gibbet without the knowledge of their indignant general. This disgraceful act of cruelty, which might be imputed to the fury of the troops, was followed by the deliberate murder of Withicob, the son of Vladimir, a German prince of a weak and sickly constitution, but of a daring and formidable spirit. The domestic assassin was instigated and protected by the Romans and the violation of the laws of humanity and justice betrayed their secret apprehension of the weakness of the declining empire. The use of the dagger is seldom adopted in public councils as long as there remain any confidence in the power of the sword. While the Alemani appeared to be humbled by their recent calamities, the pride of Valentinian was mortified by the unexpected surprise of Mugantiassem, or Mintz, the principal city of the upper Germany. In the unsuspicious moment of a Christian festival, Rando, a bold and artful chieftain who had long mediated his attempt, suddenly passed the Rhine, entered the defenseless town and retired with a multitude of captives of either sex. Valentinian resolved to execute severe vengeance on the whole body of the nation. Count Sebastian, with the bands of Italy and Illyricum, was ordered to invade their country, most probably on the side of Raitia. The emperor in person, accompanied by his son, Gratian, passed the Rhine at the head of a formidable army which was supported on both flanks by Jovenesis and Severus, the two masters general of the cavalry and infantry of the West. The Alemani, unable to prevent the devastation of their villages, fixed their camp on a lofty and almost inaccessible mountain in the modern duchy of Wittenberg and resolutely expected the approach of the Romans. The life of Valentinian was exposed to imminent danger by the intrepid curiosity with which he persisted to explore some secret and unguarded path. A troop of barbarians suddenly rose from their ambush gate and the emperor, who vigorously spurred his horse down a steep and slippery descent, was obliged to leave behind him, his armor-bearer and his helmet, magnificently enriched with gold and precious stones. At the signal of a general assault, the Roman troops encompassed and ascended the mountains of Solicinium on three different sides. Every step they gained increased their ardor and abated the resistance of the enemy. And after their united forces had occupied the summit of the hill, they impetuously urged the barbarians down the northern descent, where Count Sebastian was posted to intercept their retreat. After his signal of victory, Valentinian returned to his winter quarters at Trevers where he indulged the public joy by the exhibition of splendid and triumphal games. But the wise monarch, instead of aspiring to the conquest of Germany, confined his attention to the important and laborious defense of the Gallic frontier, against an enemy whose strength was renewed by a stream of daring volunteers which incessantly flowed from the most distant tribes of the north. The banks of the Rhine from its source to the straits of the ocean were closely planted with strong castles and convenient towers. New works and new arms were invented by the ingenuity of a prince who was skilled in the mechanical arts. And his numerous levies of Roman and barbarian youth were severely trained in all the exercises of war. The progress of the work, which was sometimes opposed by modest representations and sometimes by hostile attempts secured the tranquility of Gaul during the nine subsequent years of the administration of Valentinian. That prudent emperor, who diligently practiced the wise maxims of the Euclidean, was studious to formant and excite the intestine divisions of the tribes of Germany. About the middle of the fourth century, the countries, perhaps of Lucene and Thuringia, on either side of the Elbe, were occupied by the vague dominion of the Burgundians, a warlike and numerous people of the Vandal race, whose obscure name insensibly swelled into a powerful kingdom and was finally settled on a flourishing province. The most remarkable circumstance in the ancient manners of the Burgundians appears to have been the difference of their civil and ecclesiastical constitution. The appellation of Hedonos was given to the king or general and the title of Sassistus to the high priest of the nation. The person of the priest was sacred and his dignity perpetual, but the temporal government was held by a very precarious tenure. If the events of war accuses the courage or conduct of the king, he was immediately deposed and the injustice of his subjects made him responsible for the fertility of the earth and the regularity of the seasons, which seemed to fall more properly within the saccharidonal department. The disputed possession of some salt pits engaged the Alemani and the Burgundians in frequent contests. The latter were easily tempted by the secret solicitations and liberal offers of the emperor and their fabulous descent from the Roman soldiers who had formerly been left to garrison the fortress of Drusus was admitted with mutual credulity as it was conductive to mutual interest. An army of four score thousand Burgundians soon appeared on the banks of the Rhine and impatiently required the support and subsidies which Valentinian had promised, but they were amused with excuses and delays till at length after a fruitless expectation they were compelled to retire. The arms and fortifications of the Gallic frontier checked the fury of their best resentment and their massacre of the captives served to embitter the hereditary feud of the Burgundians and the Alemani. The inconsistency of a wise prince may, perhaps, be explained by some alteration of circumstances, and perhaps it was the original design of Valentinian to intimidate rather than to destroy as the balance of power would have been equally overturned by the extirpation of either of the German nations. Among the princes of the Alemani, Macriannis, who, with a Roman name, had assumed the arts of a soldier and statesman, deserved his hatred and esteem. The emperor himself, with a light and unencumbered band, condescended to pass the Rhine, marched fifty miles into the country, and would infallibly have seized the object of his pursuit if his judicious measures had not been defeated by the impatience of the troops. Marciannis was afterwards admitted to the honor of a personal conference with the emperor, and the favors which he received fixed him till the hour of his death, a steady and sincere friend of the republic. The land was covered by the fortifications of Valentinian, but the sea coast of Gaul and Britain was exposed to the depredations of the Saxons. That celebrated name in which we have dear and domestic interest, escaped the notice of Tacitus and the maps of Ptolemy. It fairly marks the narrow neck of the Simbrick Peninsula and three small islands toward the mouth of the Elbe. This contracted territory, the present duchy of Schleswig, or perhaps Holstein, was incapable of pouring forth the inexhaustible swarms of Saxons who reigned over the ocean, who filled the British island with their language, their laws, and their colonies, and who so long defended the liberty of the north against the arms of Charlemagne. The solution of this difficulty is easily derived from the similar manners and loose constitution of the tribes of Germany, which were blended with each other by the slightest accidents of war or friendship. The situation of the native Saxons disposed them to embrace the hazardous professions of fishermen and pirates, and the success of their first adventures would naturally excite the emulation of their bravest countrymen who were impatient of the gloomy solitude of their woods and mountains. Every tide might float down the Elbe, whole fleets of canoes filled with hardy and intrepid associates who aspired to behold the unbounded prospect of the ocean and to taste the wealth and luxury of unknown worlds. It should seem possible, however, that the most numerous auxiliaries of the Saxons were furnished by the nations who dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. They possessed arms and ships, the art of navigation, and the habits of naval war, but the difficulty of issuing through the northern columns of Hercules, which during several months of the year are obstructed with ice, confined their skills and courage within the limits of a spacious lake. The rumor of the successful armaments which sailed from the mouth of the Elbe would soon provoke them to cross the narrow isthmus of Sleswig and to launch their vessels on the Great Sea. The various troops of pirates and adventurers who fought under the same standard were insensibly united in a permanent society at first of repine and afterwards of government. A military confederation was gradually molded into a national body by the gentle operation of marriage and consequently, and the adjacent tribes who solicited the alliance accepted an aim and laws of the Saxons. If the fact were not established by the most unquestionable evidence, we should appear to abuse the credulity of our readers by the description of the vessels in which the Saxon pirates ventured to sport in the waves of the German Ocean, the British Channel, and the Bay of Biscay. The keel of their large flat-bottom boats was framed of light timber, but the sides and upper works consisted only of wicker with a covering of strong hides. In the course of their slow and distant navigations they must always have been exposed to the danger and very frequently to the misfortune of shipwreck. And the naval annals of the Saxons were undoubtedly filled with the accounts of the losses which they sustained on the coasts of Britain and Gaul. But the daring spirit of the pirates braved the perils both of the sea and of the shore. Their skill was confirmed by the habits of enterprise. The meanest of their mariners was alike capable of handling an ore, of rearing a sail, or of conducting a vessel, and the Saxons rejoiced in the appearance of a tempest which concealed their design and dispersed the fleets of the enemy. After they had acquired an accurate knowledge of the maritime provinces of the West, they extended the scene of their deportation and the most sequestered places had no reason to presume on their security. The Saxon boats drew so little water that they could easily proceed forescore or a hundred miles up the great rivers. Their weight was so inconsiderable that they were transported on wagons from one river to another and the pirates who entered the mouth of the Sain or of the Rhine might descend with the rapid stream of the Rhine into the Mediterranean. Onto the Rhine of Valentinian, the maritime provinces of Gaul were afflicted by the Saxons. A military count was stationed for the defense of the Sea Coast or Amarican Limit and that officer who found his strength or his abilities unequal to the task implored the assistance of Severus, master general of the infantry. The Saxons, surrounded and outnumbered were forced to relinquish their spoil and to yield a select band of their tall and robust youth to serve in the Imperial armies. They stipulated only a safe and honorable retreat and the condition was readily granted by the Roman general, who mediated an act of perfidy imprudent as it was inhuman while a Saxon remained alive and in arms to revenge the fate of their countrymen. The premature eagerness of the infantry who were secretly posted in a deep valley betrayed the ambuscade and they would perhaps have fallen the victims of their own treachery if a large body of Curiciers alarmed by the noise of the combat had not hastily advanced to extricate their companions and to overwhelm the undaunted valour of the Saxons. Some of the prisoners were saved from the edge of the sword to shed their blood in the amphitheater and the orator, Sommacious, complains that twenty-nine of those desperate savages by strangling themselves with their own hands had disappointed the amusement of the public. Yet the polite and philosophic citizens of Rome were impressed with the deepest honour when they were informed that the Saxons consecrated to the gods the tithe of their human spoil and they ascertained by lot the objects of the barbarous sacrifice. Two, the fabulous colonies of the Egyptians and Trojans of Scandinavians and Spaniards which flattered the pride and amused the credulity of our rude ancestors have insensibly vanished in the light of science and philosophy. The present age is satisfied with the simple and rational opinion that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland were gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of Gaul from the coast of Kent to the extremity of Caethisness and Ulster. The memory of a Celtic origin was distinctly preserved in the perpetual resemblance of language, of religion and of manners and the peculiar characters of the British tribes might be naturally ascribed to the influence of accidental and local circumstances. The Roman province was reduced to the state of civilized and peaceful servitude. The rights of savage freedom were contracted to the narrow limits of Caledonia. The inhabitants of that northern region were divided as early as the reign of Constantine between two great tribes of the Scots and of the Picts who have since experienced a very different fortune. The power and almost the memory of the Picts have been extinguished by their successful rivals, the Scots, after maintaining for ages the dignity of an independent kingdom have multiplied by an equal and voluntary union the honors of the English name. The hand of nature had contributed to mark the ancient distinctions of the Scots and Picts, the former with the men of the hills, the latter, those of the plain. The eastern coast of Caledonia may be considered as a level and fertile country which even with a rude state of tillage was capable of producing a considerable quantity of corn and the epithet of Kruitschnik or wheat eaters expressed the contempt or envy of the carnivorous Highlander. The cultivation of the earth might introduce a more accurate separation of property and the habits of a sedentary life but the love of arms and repine was still a ruling passion of the Picts and their warriors who stripped themselves for a day of battle were distinguished in the eyes of Romans by the strange fashion of painting their naked bodies with gaudy colors and fantastic figures. The western part of Caledonia it regularly rises into wild and barren hills which scarcely repay the toil of the husband men and are most profitably used for the pasture of cattle. The Highlanders are condemned to the occupations of shepherds and hunters and as they seldom are fixed to any permanent habitation they acquired the expressive name of Scots which in the Celtic tongue is said to be equivalent to that of wanderers or vagrants. The inhabitants of a barren land were urged to seek a fresh supply of food in the waters. The deep lakes and bays which intersect their country are plentifully supplied with fish and they gradually ventured to cast their nets in the waves of the ocean. The vicinity of the Hebrides so profusely scattered along the western coast of Scotland tempted their curiosity and improved their skill and they acquired by slow degrees the art or rather the habit of managing their boats in a tempestuous sea and of stirring their nocturnal course by the light of the well-known stars. The two bold headlands of Caledonia almost touched the shores of a spacious island which obtained from its luxuriant vegetation the epithet of green and has preserved with a slight alteration the name of Aaron or Irena or Ireland. It is probable that in some remote period of antiquity the fertile plains of Ulster received a colony of hungry Scots and that the strangers of the north who had dared to encounter the arms of the legions spread their conquests over the savage and unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It is certain that in the declining age of the Roman Empire Caledonia, Ireland and the Isle of Man were inhabited by the Scots and that the kindred tribes who were often associated with military enterprise were deeply affected by the various accidents of their mutual fortunes. They long cherished a lively tradition of their common name and origin and the missionaries of the Isle of Saints who diffused the light of Christianity over northern Britain established the vain opinion that their Irish countrymen were the natural as well as spiritual fathers of the Scottish race. The loose and obscure tradition has been preserved by the venerable bead who scattered some rays of light over the darkness of the eighth century. On this slight foundation a huge superstructure of fable has gradually reared by the bards and the monks and two orders of men who equally abused the privilege of fiction. The Scottish nation with mistaken pride adopted their Irish genealogy and the annals of a long line of imaginary kings have been adorned by the fancy of Boethys and the classic elegance of Buchanan. End of Part 51 Chapter 25 Part 5 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 25 Reigns of Jovian and Valentinian Division of the Empire Part 5 Six years after the death of Constantine the destructive inroads of the Scots and Picts required the presence of his youngest son who reigned in the Western Empire. Constans visited his British dominions but we may form some estimate of the importance of his achievements by the language of Panjiric which celebrates only his triumph over the elements or, in other words, the good fortune of a safe and easy passage from the port of Balone to the harbor of Sandwich. The calamities which the afflicted provincials continued to experience from foreign war and domestic tyranny were aggravated by the feeble and corrupt administration of the Unix of Constantinus and the transient relief which they might obtain from the virtues of Julian was soon lost by the absence and death of their benefactor. The sums of gold and silver which had been painfully collected or liberally transmitted for the payment of the troops were intercepted by the avarice of the commanders. Discharges or at least exemptions from the military service were publicly sold. The distress of the soldiers who were injuriously deprived of their legal and scanty subsistence provoked them to frequent desertion. The nerves of discipline were relaxed and the highways were infested with robbers. The oppression of the good and the impunity of the wicked equally contributed to diffuse through the island a spirit of discontent and revolt and every ambitious subject, every desperate exile might entertain a reasonable hope of subverting the weak and distracting the government of Britain. The hostile tribes of the North who detested the pride and power of the king of the world suspended their domestic feuds. And the barbarians of the land and sea, the Scots, the Picts, and the Saxons spread themselves with rapid and irresistible fury from the wall of Antoninus to the shores of Kent. Every production of art and nature, every object of convenience and luxury, which they were incapable of creating by labor or procuring by trade, was accumulated in the rich and fruitful province of Britain. A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess that the desire of spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest. From the age of Constantine to the Plantagenits, this rapacious spirit continued to instigate the poor and hardy Caledonians. But the same people whose generous humanity seems to inspire the songs of Ocean was disgraced by a savage ignorance of the virtues of peace and the laws of war. Their southern neighbors have felt, and perhaps exaggerated, the cruel deprotations of the Scots and Picts. An valiant tribe of Caledonia, the Atacoti, the enemies, and afterwards the soldiers of Valentinian, are accused by an eyewitness of delighting in the taste of human flesh when they hunted the woods for prey. It is said that they attacked the shepherd rather than his flock, and that they curiously selected the most delicate and brawny parts, both of males and females, which they prepared for their horrid repasts. If in the neighborhood of the commercial and literary town of Glasgow a race of cannibals has really existed, we may contemplate in the period of the Scottish history the opposite extremes of savage and civilized life. Such reflections tend to enlarge the circle of our ideas and to encourage the pleasing hope that New Zealand may produce, in some future age, the hum of the southern hemisphere. Every messenger who escaped across the British Channel conveyed the most melancholy and alarming tidings to the ears of Valentinian, and the emperor was soon informed that the two military commanders of the province had been surprised and cut off by the barbarians. Severus, Count of the Domestics, was hastily dispatched and, as suddenly recalled by the Court of Trevis, the representations of Jovius served only to indicate the greatness of the evil. And after a long and serious consultation, the defense, or rather the recovery, of Britain was entrusted to the abilities of the brave Theodosius. The exploits of that general, the father of a line of emperors, have been celebrated with peculiar complacency by the writers of the age, but his real merit deserves their applause, and his nomination was received by the army and province as a sure press age of approaching victory. He seized the favorable moment of navigation and securely landed the numerous and veteran bands of the Heruli and Batavians, the Jovians and the victors. In his march from Sandwich to London, Theodosius defeated several parties of the barbarians, released a multitude of captives, and, after distributing to his soldiers a small portion of the spoil, established the fame of disinterested justice by restitution of the remainder to the rightful proprietors. The citizens of London who had almost disbared of their safety threw open their gates, and as soon as Theodosius had obtained from the court of trevours the important aid of a military lieutenant and a civil governor, he executed with wisdom and vigor the laborious task of the deliverance of Britain. The vagrant soldiers were recalled to their standard, an edict of amnesty dispelled the public apprehensions, and his cheerful example alleviated the rigor of martial discipline. The scattered and dulsatory warfare of the barbarians, who infested the land and sea, deprived him of the glory of a signal victory, but the prudent spirit and consummate art of the Roman general were displayed in the operations of two campaigns which successively rescued every part of the province from the hands of a cruel and rapacious enemy. The splendor of the cities and the security of the fortifications were diligently restored by the paternal care of Theodosius, who with a strong hand confined the trembling Caledonians to the northern angle of the island and perpetuated by the name and settlement of the new province of Valentina, the glories of the reign of Valentin. The voice of poetry and pangeric may add, perhaps with some degree of truth, that the unknown regions of Tule were stained with the blood of the Picts, that ores of Theodosius dashed the waves of the hyperborean ocean, and that the distant Orkneys were the scene of his naval victory over the Saxon pirates. He left the province with a fair as well as splendid reputation and was immediately promoted to the rank of master general of the cavalry by a prince who could applaud without envy the merit of his servants in the important station of the upper Danube. The conqueror of Britain checked and defeated the armies of the Almani before he was chosen to suppress the revolt of Africa. Three, the prince who refuses to be the judge instructs the people to consider him as the accomplice of his ministers. The military command of Africa had been long exercised by Count Romanus, and his abilities were not inadequate to this station, but, as sordid interest was the sole motive of his conduct, he acted on most occasions as if he had been the enemy of the province and the friend of the barbarians of the desert. The three flourishing cities of Oia, Leptis, and Sabrata, which, under the name of Tripoli, had long constituted a federal union or obliged for the first time to shut their gates against a hostile invasion. Several of their most honorable citizens were surprised and massacred the villages and even the suburbs were pillaged and the vines and fruit trees of that rich territory were extirpated the malicious savages of Gatulia. The unhappy provincials implored the production of Romanus, but they soon found that their military governor was not less cruel and rapacious than the barbarians, as they were incapable of furnishing the 4,000 camels and the exorbitant present which he required before he would march to the assistance of Tripoli. His demand was equivalent to a refusal and he might justly be accused as the author of the public calamity. In the annual assembly of the three cities they nominated two deputies to lay at the feet of Valentinian the customary offering of a gold victory and to accompany this tribute of duty rather than of gratitude with their humble complaint that they were ruined by the enemy and betrayed by their governor. If the severity of Valtilian had been rightly directed it would have fallen on the guilty head of Romanus. But the count, long exercised in the art of corruption, had dispatched a swift and trusty messenger to secure the venial friendship of Remigius, master of the offices. The wisdom of the imperial council was deceived by Artifice and the honest indignation was cooled by delay. At length, when the repetition of complaint had been justified by the repetition of public misfortunes the notary Palladius was sent from the court of Trevis to examine the state of Africa and the conduct of Romanus. The rigid impartiality of Palladius was easily disarmed. He was tempted to reserve for himself a part of the public treasure which he brought with him for the payment of the troops and from the moment that he was conscious of his own guilt he could no longer refuse to attest the innocence and merit of the count. The charge of the Tripolians was declared to be false and frivolous and Palladius himself was sent back from Trevis to Africa with a special commission to discover and prosecute the authors of this imperious conspiracy against the representatives of the sovereign. His inquiries were managed with so much dexterity and success that he compelled the citizens of Leptis who had sustained a recent siege of eight days to contradict the truth of their own decrees and to censor the behavior of their own deputies. A bloody sentence was pronounced without hesitation by the rash and headstrong cruelty of Valentinian. The president of Tripoli, who had presumed to pity the distress of the province, was publicly executed at Utica. Four distinguished citizens were put to death as the accomplices of the imaginary fraud and the tongues of two others were cut out by the express order of the emperor. Romanus, elated by impunity and irritated by resistance, was still continued in the military command till the Africans were provoked by his avarice to join the rebellious standard of Firmus the Moor. His father, Nabal, was one of the richest and most powerful of the Moorish princes who acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. But as he left either by his wives or concubines of very numerous posterity, the wealthy inheritance was eagerly disputed and Zama, one of his sons, was slain in a domestic quarrel by his brother Firmus. The implacable zeal with which Romanus prosecuted the legal revenge of this murder could be ascribed only to a motive of avarice or personal hatred. But on this occasion his claims were just. The influence was weighty and Firmus clearly understood that he must either present his neck to the executioner or appeal from the sentence of the imperial consistory to his sword and to the people. He was received as the deliverer of his country and as soon as it appeared that Romanus was formidable only to a submissive province, the tyrant of Africa became the object of universal contempt. The ruin of Cassaria, which was plundered and burnt by the licentious barbarians, convinced the refractory cities of the danger of resistance. The power of Firmus was established, at least in the provinces of Mauritania and Numidia, and it seemed to be his only doubt whether he should assume the diadem of a Moorish king or the purple of a Roman emperor. But the imprudent and unhappy Africans soon discovered that, in this rash insurrection they had not sufficiently consulted their own strength or the abilities of their leader, before he could procure any certain intelligence, that the emperor of the west had fixed the choice of a general or that a fleet of transports was collected at the mouth of the Rhon, he was suddenly informed that the great Theodosius, with a small band of veterans, had landed near Egylligus, or Giggari, on the African coast, and the timid usurper sunk under the assent of virtue and military genius. Though Firmus possessed arms and treasures, his despair of victory immediately reduced him to the use of those arts which, in the same country, and in a similar situation, had formally been practiced by the crafty Jurgurtha. He attempted to deceive, by an apparent submission, the vigilance of the Roman general, to seduce the fidelity of his troops and to protract the duration of the war by successively engaging the independent tribes of Africa to espouse his quarrel or to protect his flight. Theodosius imitated the example and obtained the success of his predecessor, Medelius, when Firmus, in the character of a supplicant, accused his own rashness, and humbly solicited the clemency of the emperor. The lieutenant of Valentinian received and dismissed him with a friendly embrace, but he diligently required the useful and substantial pledges of a sincere repentance. Nor could he be persuaded, by the assurances of peace, to suspend for an instant the operations of an active war. A dark conspiracy was detected by the penetration of Theodosius, and he satisfied, without much reluctance, the public indignation which he secretly excited. Several of the guilty accomplices of Firmus were abandoned, according to ancient custom, the tumult of a military execution, many more by the amputation of both their hands. Continued to exhibit an instructive spectacle of horror, the hatred of the rebels was accompanied with fear, and the fear of the Roman soldiers was mingled with respectful admiration. Amidst the boundless plains of Gertulia and the innumerable valleys of Mount Atlas, it was impossible to prevent the escape of Firmus, and if the usurper could have tried the patience of his antagonists, he would have secured his person in the depth of some remote solitude, and expected the hopes of a future revolution. He was subdued by the perseverance of Theodosius, who had formed an inflexible determination that the war should end only by the death of the tyrant, and that every nation of Africa, which presumed to support his cause, should be involved in his ruin. At the head of a small body of troops, which seldom exceeded 3,500 men, the Roman general advanced with a steady prudence, devoid of rashness or of fear, into the heart of a country where he was sometimes attacked by armies of 20,000 mores. The boldness of his charge dismayed the irregular barbarians. They were disconcerted by his seasonable and orderly retreats. They were continually baffled by the unknown resources of the military art, and they felt and confessed the just superiority, which was assumed by the leader of a civilized nation. When Theodosius entered the exclusive domain of Igmasian, king of the Isophelecis, the haughty savage required in words of defiance his name and the object of his expedition. I am, replied the stern and disdainful count, I am the general of Valentinian, the lord of the world, who has sent me hither to pursue and punish a desperate robber, deliver him instantly into my hands, and be assured that if thou dost not obey the commands of my invincible sovereign, thou and the people over whom thou reignest shall be utterly extirpated. As soon as Igmasian was satisfied, that his enemy had strength and resolution to execute the fatal menace, he consented to purchase a nechissary peace by the sacrifice of a guilty fugitive. The guards that were placed to secure the person of firmness deprived him of the hopes of escape, and the Moorish tyrant, after wine had extinguished the sense of danger, disappointed the insulting triumph of the Romans by strangling himself in the night. His dead body, the only present which Igmasian could offer to the conqueror, was carelessly thrown upon a camel, and Theodosius, leading back his victorious troops to Scytithy, was saluted by the warmest acclamations of joy and loyalty. Africa had been lost by the vices of Romanus, it was restored by the virtues of Theodosius, and our curiosity may be usefully directed to the inquiry of the respective treatment which the two generals received from the imperial court. The authority of Count Romanus had been suspended by the master general of the cavalry, and he was committed to safe and honorable custody till the end of the war. His crimes were proved by the most authentic evidence, and the public expected with some impatience the decree of severe justice. But the partial and powerful favor of Melobotus encouraged him to challenge his legal judges to obtain repeated delays for the purpose of procuring a crowd of friendly witnesses, and finally to cover his guilty conduct by the additional guilt of fraud and forgery. About the same time, the restorer of Britain and Africa on a vague suspicion that his name and services were superior to the rank of a subject was ignominiously beheaded at Carthage. Valentinian no longer reigned, and the death of Theodosius, as well as the impunity of Romanus, may justly be imputed to the arts of the ministers who abused the confidence and deceived the inexperienced youth of his sons. If the geographical accuracy of Aminaeus had been fortunately bestowed on the British exploits of Theodosius, we should have traced, with eager curiosity, the distinct and domestic footprints of his march. But the tedious enumeration of the unknown and uninteresting tribes of Africa may be reduced to the general remark that they were all of the swarthy race of the Moors, that they inhabited the back settlements of the Mauritanian and Numidian province, the country as they have since been termed by the Arabs of dates and of locusts, and that as the Roman power declined in Africa, the boundary of civilized manners and cultivated land was insensibly contracted. Beyond the utmost limits of the Moors, the vast and inhospitable desert of the South extends above 1,000 miles to the banks of the Niger. The ancients, who had a very faint and imperfect knowledge of the great peninsula of Africa, were sometimes tempted to believe that the torrid zone must ever remain destitute of inhabitants, and they sometimes amused their fancy by filling the vacant space with headless men, or rather monsters, with horned and cloven-footed saders, with fabulous centaurs, and with human pygmies who waged a bold and doubtful warfare against the cranes. Carthage would have trembled at the strange intelligence that the countries on either side of the equator were filled with innumerable nations, who differed only in their color from the ordinary appearance of the human species, and the subjects of the Roman Empire might have anxiously expected that the swarms of barbarians, which issued from the North, would soon be encountered from the South by new swarms of barbarians, equally fierce and equally formidable. These gloomy terrors would indeed have been dispelled by a more intimate acquaintance with the character of their African enemies. The inaction of the Negroes does not seem to be the effect either of their virtue or of their pusillanimity. They indulged, like the rest of mankind, their passions and appetites, and the adjacent tribes were engaged in frequent acts of hostility. But their rude ignorance has never invented any effectual weapons of defense or of destruction. They appear incapable of forming any extensive plans of government or conquest, and the obvious inferiority of their mental facilities has been discovered and abused by the nations of the temperate zone. 60,000 blacks are annually embarked from the coast of Guinea, never to return to their native country, but they are embarked in chains and this constant emigration, which, in the space of two centuries, might have furnished armies to overrun the globe, accuses the guilt of Europe and the weakness of Africa. End of Part 5. Chapter 25, Part 6 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 25, Reigns of Jovian and Valentinian, Division of the Empire. Part 6. 4. The ignominious treaty, which saved the army of Jovian, had been faithfully executed on the side of the Romans and as they had solemnly renounced the sovereignty and alliance of Armenia and Iberia. Those tributary kingdoms were exposed without protection to the arms of the Persian monarch. Sapor entered the Armenian territories at the head of a formidable host of curseers, of archers, and of mercenary foot. But it was the invariable practice of Sapor to mix war with negotiation and to consider falsehood and perjury as the most powerful instruments of regal policy. He affected to praise the prudent and moderate conduct of the King of Armenia, and the unsuspicious tyrannous was persuaded by the repeated assurances of insidious friendship to deliver his person to the hands of a faithless and cruel enemy. In the midst of a splendid entertainment he was bound in chains of silver as an honor due to the blood of Arsacides and, after a short confinement in the Tower of Oblivion at Ekbatana, he was released from the miseries of life, either by his own dagger or by that of an assassin. The Kingdom of Armenia was reduced to the state of a Persian province. The administration was shared between a distinguished satrap and a favorite eunuch, and Sapor marched without delay to subdue the martial spirit of the Iberians. Sauron Macy's, who reigned in that country by the permission of the emperors, was expelled by a superior force and, as an insult to the Majesty of Rome, the King of Kings placed a diadem on the head of his abject vassal, Aspacurus. The city of Atagarasa was the only place of Armenia which presumed to resist the efforts of his arms. The treasure deposited in that strong fortress tempted the avarice of Sapor, but the danger of Olympias, the wife or widow of the Armenian king, excited the public compassion and animated the desperate valor of her subjects and soldiers. The Persians were surprised and repulsed under the walls of Atagarasa by a bold and well-concerted sally of the besieged. But the forces of Sapor were continually renewed and increased. The hopeless courage of the garrison was exhausted. The strength of the walls yielded to the assault and the proud conqueror, after wasting the rebellious city with fire and sword, let away captive and unfortunate queen, who, in a more auspicious hour, had been the destined bride of the son of Constantine. Yet if Sapor already triumphed in the easy conquest of two dependent kingdoms, he soon felt that a country is unsubdued as long as the minds of the people are actuated by a hostile, cotomacious spirit, the sat-raps whom he was obliged to trust, embraced the first opportunity of regaining the affection of their countrymen and of signalizing their immortal hatred to the Persian name. Since the conversion of the Armenians and Iberians, those nations considered the Christians as the favorites and the magicians as the adversaries of the supreme being. The influence of the clergy over a superstitious people was uniformly exerted in the cause of Rome. And as long as the successors of Constantine disputed with those of our taxerzies, the sovereignty of the intermediate provinces, the religious connection always drew a decisive advantage into the scale of the empire. A numerous and active party acknowledged Para, the son of Tyrannus, as the lawful sovereign of Armenia, and his title to the throne was deeply rooted in the hereditary succession of 500 years. By the unanimous consent of the Iberians, the country was equally divided between the rival princes and Aspercruces, who owned his diadem to the choice of Sappor, was obliged to declare that his regard for his children, who were detained as hostages by the tyrant, was the only consideration which prevented him from openly renouncing the alliance of Persia. The emperor Valens, who respected the obligations of the treaty and who was apprehensive of involving the East in a dangerous war, ventured with slow and cautious measures to support the Roman party in the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia. 12 legions established the authority of Sauromasius on the banks of the Cyrus. The Euphrates was protected by the valor of Aranthesis, a powerful army under the command of Count Trajan and of Vladimir, king of the Alemany. Fixed their camp on the confines of Armenia, but they were strictly enjoined not to commit the first hostilities, which might be understood as a breach of the treaty, and such was the implicit obedience of the Roman general that they retreated with exemplary patience under a shower of Persian arrows until they had clearly acquired a just title to an honorable and legitimate victory. Yet these appearances of war insensibly subsided in a vain and judicious negotiation. The contending parties supported their claims by mutual reproaches of perfidy and ambition, and it should seem that the original treaty was expressed in very obscure terms, since they were reduced to the necessity of making their inconclusive appeal to the partial testimony of the generals of the two nations who had assisted in the negotiations. The invasion of the Goths and Huns, which soon afterward shook the foundations of the Roman Empire, exposed the provinces of Asia to the arms of Saper. But the declining age and perhaps the infirmities of the monarch suggested new maxims of tranquility and moderation. His death, which happened in the full maturity of a reign of 70 years, changed in a moment the court and councils of Persia, and their attention was most probably engaged by domestic troubles and the distant efforts of a Carmanian war. The remembrance of ancient injuries was lost in the enjoyment of peace. The kingdoms of Armenia and Iberia were permitted by the mutual, though tacit consent of both empires, to resume their doubtful neutrality. In the first years of the reign of Theodosius, a Persian embassy arrived at Constantinople to excuse the unjustifiable measures of the former reign and to offer, as the tribute of friendship or even of respect, a splendid present of gems, of silk, and of Indian elephants. In the general picture of affairs of the East under the reign of Valens, the adventures of Para form one of the most striking and singular objects. The noble youth, by the persuasion of his mother Olympius, had escaped through the Persian host that besieged Artogorossa and implored the protection of the Emperor of the East. By his timid councils, Para was alternatively supported and recalled and restored and betrayed. The hopes of the Armenians were sometimes raised by the presence of their natural sovereign and the ministers of Valens were satisfied that they preserved the integrity of the public faith if their vassal was not suffered to assume the diadem and title of king. But they soon repented of their own rashness. They were confounded by the reproaches and threats of the Persian monarch. They found reason to distrust the cruel and inconsistent temper of Para himself who sacrificed to the slightest suspicions the lives of his most faithful servants and held a secret and disgraceful correspondence with the assassin of his father and the enemy of his country. Under the species pretense of consulting with the Emperor on the subject of their common interest, Para was persuaded to descend from the mountains of Armenia where his party was in arms and to trust his independence and safety to the discretion of a proliferous court. The king of Armenia, for such he appeared in his own eyes and in those of his nation, was received with due honors by the governors of the provinces through which he passed. But when he arrived at Taurus in Silicia, the progress was stopped under various pretenses. His motions were watched with respectful vigilance and he gradually discovered that he was a prisoner in the hands of the Romans. Para suppressed his indignation, dissembled his fears, and after secretly preparing his escape, mounted on horseback with 300 of his faithful followers. The officer stationed at the door of his apartment immediately communicated his flight to the counselor of Silicia who overtook him in the suburbs and endeavored without success to dissuade him from prosecuting his rash and dangerous design. Allegiant was ordered to pursue the royal fugitive but the pursuit of infantry could not be very alarming to a body of light cavalry and upon the first cloud of arrows that was discharged into the air they retreated with precipitation to the gates of Taurus. After an incessant march of two days and two nights Para and his Armenians reached the banks of the Euphrates but the passage of the river which they were obliged to swim was attended with some delay and some loss. The country was alarmed and the two roads which were only separated by an interval of three miles had been occupied by three thousand archers on horseback under the command of a count and a tribune. Para must have yielded to superior force if the accidental arrival of a friendly traveler had not revealed the danger and the means of escape. A dark and almost impervious path securely conveyed the Armenian troop through the thicket and Para had left behind him the count and the tribune while they patiently expected his approach along the public highways. They returned to the imperial court to excuse their want of diligence or success and seriously alleged that the king of Armenia who was a skillful magician had transformed himself and his followers and passed before their eyes under a borrowed shape. After his return to his native kingdom Para still continued to profess himself the friend and ally of the Romans but the Romans had injured him too deeply ever to forgive and the secret sentence of his death was signed in the Council of Valens. The execution of the bloody deed was committed to the subtle prudence of Count Trajan and he had the merit of insinuating himself into the confidence of the credulous prince that he might find an opportunity of stabbing him into the heart Para was invited to a Roman banquet which had been prepared with the prompt and sensibility of the east. The hall resounded with cheerful music. The company was already heated with wine when the Count retired for an instant, drew his sword and gave the signal of the murder. A robust and desperate barbarian instantly rushed on the king of Armenia and though he bravely defended his life with the first weapon that Chance offered to his hand the table of the imperial general was stained with the royal blood of a guest and an ally. Such were the weak and wicked maxims of the Roman administration that to attain a doubtful object of political interest the laws of nations and the sacred rights of hospitality were inhumanely violated in the face of the world. Five, during a peaceful interval of 30 years the Romans secured their frontiers and the Goths extended their dominions. The victories of the great Hermannric, king of the Ostegoths and the most noble of the races of the MLA have been compared by the enthusiasm of his countrymen to the exploits of Alexander with this singular and almost incredible difference that the martial spirits of the Gothic hero instead of being supported by the vigor of youth was displayed with glory and success in the extreme period of human life between the age of four score and 110 years. The independent tribes were persuaded or compelled to acknowledge the king of the Ostegoths as the sovereign of the Gothic nation. The chiefs of the Visigoths or Thirvingi renounced the royal title and assumed the more humble appellation of judges and among those judges, Athanaric, Fratigrin and Alavisus were the most illustrious by their personal merit as well as by their vicinity to the Roman provinces. These domestic conquests, which increased the military power of Hermannric enlarged his ambitious designs. He invaded the adjacent countries of the North and 12 considerable nations whose names and limits cannot be accurately defined, successively yielded to the superiority of the Gothic arms. The Haruli who inhabited the marshy lands near the lake Mayatus were renowned for their strength and agility and the assistance of their light infantry was eagerly solicited and highly esteemed in the wars of the barbarians. But the active spirit of the Haruli was subdued by the slow and steady perseverance of the Goths and after a bloody action in which the king was slain the remains of that warlike tribe became a useful accession to the camp of Hermannric. He then marched against the Veneti, unskilled in the use of arms, and formidable only by their numbers which filled the wide extent of the plains of modern Poland. The victorious Goths, who were not inferior in numbers, prevailed in the contest by the decisive advantages of exercise and discipline. After the submission of the Veneti, the conqueror advanced without resistance as far as the confines of S.D.E., an ancient people whose name is still preserved in the province of Estonia. Those distant inhabitants of the Baltic coast were supported by the labors of agriculture, enriched by the trade of amber, and consecrated by the peculiar worship of the mother of the Goths. But the scarcity of iron obliged the Estinian warriors to content themselves with wooden clubs and the reduction of that wealthy country is ascribed to the prudence rather than to the arms of Hermannric. His dominions which extended from the Danube to the Baltic included the native seats and the recent acquisitions of the Goths. And he reigned over the greatest part of Germany and Scythia with the authority of a conqueror, and sometimes with the cruelty of a tyrant. But he reigned over a part of the globe incapable of perpetuating and adoring the glory of its heroes. The name Hermannric is almost buried in oblivion. His exploits are imperfectly known and the Romans themselves appeared unconscious of the progress of an aspiring power which threatened the liberty of the North and the peace of the Empire. The Goths had contracted an hereditary attachment for the imperial house of Constantine of whose power and liberality they had received so many signal proofs. They respected the public peace and if a hostile band sometimes presumed past the Roman limit, their irregular conduct was candidly ascribed to the ungovernable spirit of the barbarian youth. The contempt for two new and obscure princes who had been raised to the throne by a popular election inspired the Goths with bolder hopes and while they agitated some design of marching their Confederate forces under the national standard, they were easily tempted to embrace the party of Procopius and to Fumant by their dangerous aid, the civil discord of the Romans. The public treaty might stipulate no more than 10,000 auxiliaries but the design was so zealously adopted by the chiefs of the Visigoth that the army which passed the Dadube amounted to a number of 30,000 men. They marched with the proud confidence that their invincible valor would decide the fate of the Roman Empire and the provinces of Thrace groaned under the weight of the barbarians who displayed the insolence of masters and the licentiousness of enemies. But the intemperance which gratified their appetites retarded their progress and before the Goths could receive any certain intelligence of the defeat and death of Procopius, they perceived by the hostile state of the country that the civil and military powers were resumed by his successful rival, a chain of posts and fortifications skillfully deposed by Valens or the generals of Valens, resisted their march, prevented their retreat and intercepted their subsistence. The fierceness of the barbarians was tamed and suspended by hunger. They diligently threw down their arms at the feet of the conqueror who offered them food and chains. The numerous captives were distributed in all the cities of the east and the provincials who were soon familiarized with their savage appearance ventured by degrees to measure their own strength with these formidable adversaries whose name had so long been the object of their terror. The king of Scythia and Hermann Rik alone could deserve so lofty a title was grieved and exasperated by this national calamity. His ambassadors loudly complained at the court of Valens of the infraction of the ancient and solemn alliance which had so long subsisted between the Romans and the Goths. They alleged that they had fulfilled the duty of allies by assisting the kinsmen and successor of the emperor Julian. They required the immediate restitution of the noble captives and they urged a very singular claim that the Gothic generals marching in arms and in hostile array were entitled to the sacred character and privileges of ambassadors. The decent but preemptory refusal of these extravagant demands was signified to the barbarians by Victor, master general of the cavalry who expressed with force and dignity the just complaints of the emperor of the east. The negotiation was interrupted and the manly exhortations of Valentinian encouraged his timid brother to vindicate the insulted majesty of the empire. The splendor and magnitude of this Gothic war was celebrated by a contemporary historian but the events scarcely deserved the attention of posterity except as the preliminary steps of the approaching decline and fall of the empire. Instead of leading the nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the Danube or even to the gates of Constantinople the aged monarch of the Goths resigned to the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a defensive war against an enemy who wielded with a feeble hand the powers of a mighty state. A bridge of boats was established upon the Danube the presence of Valens animated his troops and his ignorance of the art of war was compensated by personal bravery and a wise deference to the advice of Victor and Arantheus his master general of the cavalry and infantry. The operations of the campaign were conducted by their skill and experience but they found it impossible to drive the Visigoths from their strong posts in the mountains and the devastation of the plains obliged the Romans themselves to repass the Danube on the approach of winter. The incessant rains which swelled the waters of the river produced a tacit suspension of arms and confined the emperor of Valens during the whole course of the ensuing summer to his camp of Marcianopolis. The third year of the war was more favorable to the Romans and more pernicious to the Goths. The interruption of trade deprived the barbarians of the objects of luxury which they already confounded with the necessities of life and the dissolution of a very extensive tract of country threatened them with the horrors of famine. Athanaric was provoked or compelled to risk a battle which he lost in the plains and the pursuit was rendered more bloody by the cruel precaution of the victorious generals who had promised a large reward for the head of every Goth that was brought into the imperial camp. The submission of the barbarians appeased the resentment of Valens and his council. The emperor listened with satisfaction to the flattering and eloquent remonstrance of the Senate of Constantinople which assumed for the first time a share in the public deliberations and the same generals Victor and Arantheus who had successfully directed the conduct of the war were empowered to regulate the conditions of the peace. The freedom of trade which the Goths had hitherto enjoyed was restricted to two cities on the Danube. The rashness of their leaders was severely punished by the suspension of their pensions and subsidies and the exception which was stipulated in the favor of Athanaric alone was more advantageous than honorable to the judge of the Visigoths. Athanaric who on this occasion appears to have consulted his private interest without expecting the orders of his sovereign supported his own dignity and that of his tribe in the personal interview which was proposed by the ministers of Valens. He persisted in his declaration that it was impossible for him without incurring the guilt of perjury ever to set his foot on the territory of the empire and it is more than probable that his regard for the sanctity of an oath was confirmed by the recent and fatal examples of Roman treachery. The Danube which separated the dominions of the two independent nations was chosen for the scene of the conference. The emperor of the east and the judge of the Visigoths accompanied by an equal number of armed followers advanced in their respective barges to the middle of the stream. After the ratification of the treaty and delivery of hostages Valens returned in triumph to Constantinople and the Goths remained in a state of tranquility about six years till they were violently impelled against the Roman empire by an innumerable host of Scythians who appeared to issue from the frozen regions of the north. The emperor of the west who had resigned to his brother the command of the Lord Danube reserved for his immediate care the defense of the Ritean and Illyrian provinces which spread so many hundred miles along the greatest of the European rivers. The active policy of Valentinian was continually employed in adding new fortifications to the security of the frontier but the abuse of this policy provoked the just resentment of the barbarians. Aquati complained that the ground for an intended fortress had been marked out on their territories and their complaints were urged with so much reason and moderation that Equitius, master general of Illyriacum consented to suspend the prosecution of the work till he should be more clearly informed of the will of his sovereign. This fair occasion of injuring a rival and of advancing the fortune of his son was eagerly embraced by the inhuman Maximinin. The prefect or rather tyrant of Gaul. The passions of Valentinian were impatient of control and he credulously listened to the assurances of his favorite that if the government of Valeria and the direction of the work were entrusted to the zeal of his son, Marcellaneous the emperor would no longer be importuned with the audacious remonstrances of the barbarians. The subjects of Rome and the natives of Germany were insulted by the arrogance of a young and worthless minister who considered his rapid elevation as proof and reward of his superior merit. He effected, however, to receive the modest application of Gabinius king of the Quadi with some attention and regard, but this artful civility concealed a dark and brooding design and the credulous prince was persuaded to accept the pressing invitation of Marcellaneous. I am at a loss how to vary the narrative of similar crimes or how to relate that in the course of the same year but in remote parts of the empire, the inhospitable table of two imperial generals was stained with the royal blood of two guests and allies and humanly murdered by their order and in their presence. The fate of Gabinius and of Para was the same but the cruel death of their sovereign was resented in a very different manner by the servile temper of the Armenians and the free and daring spirit of the Germans. The Quadi were much declined from that formidable power which, in the time of Marcus Antonius, had spread terror to the gates of Rome but they still possessed arms and courage. Their courage was animated by despair and they obtained the usual reinforcement of the cavalry of their Samatrian allies so improvident was the assassin Marcellaneous that he chose the moment when the bravest veterans had been drawn away to suppress the revolt of Fremus and the whole province was exposed with a very feeble defense to the rage of the exasperated barbarians. They invaded Panonia in the season of harvest unmercifully destroying every object of plunder which they could not easily transport and either disregarded or demolished the empty fortifications. The Princess Constantia, the daughter of the Emperor Constantius and the granddaughter of the great Constantine very narrowly escaped. That royal maid who had innocently supported the revolt of Procopius was now the destined wife of the heir of the Western Empire. She traversed the peaceful province with a splendid and unarmed train. Her person was saved from danger and the Republic from disgrace by the active zeal of Mesala, the governor of the provinces. As soon as he was informed that the village where she stopped only to dine was almost encompassed by the barbarians, he hastily placed her in his own chariot and drove full speed till he reached the gates of Sermenium which were at the distance of six and 20 miles. Even Sermenium might not have been secure if the Quadi and Sametians had diligently advanced during the general consternation of the magistrates and people. Their delay allowed Probus, the Praetorian Prefect, sufficient time to recover his own spirits and to revive the courage of the citizens. He skillfully directed their strenuous efforts to repair and strengthen the decayed fortifications and procured the seasonable and effectual assistance of a company of archers to protect the capital of the Aurelian provinces. Disappointed in their attempts against the walls of Sermenium, the indignant barbarians turned their arms against the master general of the frontier to whom they unjustly attributed the murder of their king. Aquarius could bring into the field no more than two legions, but they contained the veteran strengths of the Maasayan and Panonean bands. The obstinacy with which they disputed the vain honors of rank and precedency was the cause of their destruction and while they acted with separate forces and divided councils, they were surprised and slaughtered by the active vigor of the Sametian horse. The success of this invasion provoked the emulation of the bordering tribes and the province of Messia would infallibly have been lost if young Theodosius, the duke, or military commander of the frontier had not signalized in the defeat of the public enemy and Intrepid Genius, worthy of his illustrious father and of his future greatness. CHAPTER 25 RAINS OF JOVIAN AND VALENTINIAN DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE PART VII The mind of Valentinian, who then resided at Trevor's, was deeply affected by the calamities of Ilaricum, but the lateness of the season suspended the execution of his designs till the ensuing spring. He marched in person with a considerable part of the forces of Gaul from the banks of the Moselle and to the suppliant ambassadors of the Sametians, who met him on the way, he returned a doubtful answer that as soon as he reached the scene of action he should examine and pronounce. When he arrived at Cerminium, he gave audience to the deputies of the Ilarian provinces, who loudly congratulated their own felicity under the auspicious government of Probus, his Praetorian Prefect. Valentinian, who was flattered by these demonstrations of their loyalty and gratitude, imprutantly asked the deputy of Epirus, a cynic philosopher of Intrepid sincerity, whether he was freely sent by the wishes of the province. Quote, with tears and groans am I sent, end quote, replied, epicallys, quote, by a reluctant people, end quote. The emperor paused, but the impunity of his ministers established the pernicious maxim that they might oppress his subjects without injuring his service. A strict inquiry into their conduct would have revealed the public discontent. The severe condemnation of the murder of Gabonises was the only measure which could restore the confidence of the Germans and vindicate the honor of the Roman name, but the haughty monarch was incapable of the magnanimity which dares to acknowledge a fault. He forgot the provocation, remembered only the injury, and advanced into the country of the Quate with an insatiate thirst of blood and revenge. The extreme devastation and promiscuous massacre of a savage war were justified in the eyes of the emperor and perhaps in those of the world by the cruel equity of retaliation. And such was the discipline of the Romans and the consternation of the enemy that Valentinian repass the Danube without the loss of a single man. And as he resolved to complete the destruction of the Quate by a second campaign, he fixed his winter quarters at Brigito on the Danube near the Hungarian city of Pressburg while the operations of the war were suspended by the severity of the weather. The Quate made a humble attempt to depreciate the wrath of their conqueror and at the earnest persuasion of Equitius their ambassadors were introduced into the imperial council. They approached the throne with bended bodies and dejected contenances and without daring to complain of the murder of their king, they affirmed with solemn oaths that the late invasion was the crime of some irregular robbers which the public council of the nation condemned and abhorred. The answer of the emperor left them but little to hope from his clemency or compassion. He reviled in the most intemperate language their baseness, their ingratitude, their insolence. His eyes, his voice, his color, his gestures expressed the violence of his ungoverned fury and while his whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion a large blood vessel suddenly burst in his body and Valentinian fell speechless into the arms of his attendants. Their pious care immediately concealed his situation from the crowd but in a few minutes the emperor of the west expired in an agony of pain retaining his senses till the last and struggling without success to declare his intentions to the generals and ministers who surrounded the royal couch. Valentinian was about fifty-four years of age and he wanted only one hundred days to accomplish the twelve years of his reign. The polygamy of Valentinian is seriously attested by an ecclesiastical historian. The empress, Severa, I relate the fable, admitted into her family society the lovely Justina, the daughter of an Italian governor. The admiration of those naked charms which she had often seen in the bath was expressed with such lavish and imprudent praise that the emperor was tempted to introduce a second wife into his bed and his public edict extended to all the subjects of the empire the same domestic privilege which he had assumed for himself. But we may be assured from the evidence of reason as well as history that the two marriages of Valentinian with Severa and with Justina were successively contracted and that he used the ancient permission of divorce which was still allowed by the laws though it was condemned by the church. Severina was the mother of Gratian who seemed to unite every claim which could entitle him to the undoubted succession of the western empire. He was the eldest son of a monarch whose glorious reign had confirmed the free and honorable choice of his fellow soldiers. Before he had attained the ninth year of his age the royal youth received from the hands of his indulgent father the purple robe and diadem with the title of Augustus. The election was solemnly ratified by the consent and applause of the armies of Gaul and the name Gratian was added to the names of Valentinian and Valens in all the legal transactions of the Roman government. By his marriage with the granddaughter of Constantine the son of Valentinian acquired all the hereditary rights of the Flavian family which in a series of three imperial generations were sanctified by time, religion, and the reverence of the people. At the death of his father the royal youth was in the 17th year of his age and his virtues already justified the favorable opinion of the army and the people. But Gratian resided without apprehension in the palace of Trevor's wilts at the distance of many hundred miles Valentinian suddenly expired in the camp of Brigitteau. The passions which had been so long suppressed by the presence of a master immediately revived in the imperial council and the ambitious design of reigning in the name of an infant was artfully executed by Milo Bahais and Equitas who commanded the attachment of the Illarian and Italian bands. They contrived the most honorable pretenses to remove the popular leaders and the troops of Gaul who might have asserted that claims of the lawful successor they suggested the necessity of extinguishing the hopes of foreign and domestic enemies by a bold and decisive measure. The emperor's Justina who had been left in the palace about 100 miles from Brigitteau was respectfully invited to appear in the camp with the son of the deceased emperor. On the sixth day after the death of Valentinian the infant prince of the same name who was only four years old was shown in the arms of his mother to the legions and solemnly invested by military acclamation with the titles and incidents of supreme power. The impending dangers of a civil war were seasonably prevented by the wise and moderate conduct of the emperor Gratian. He cheerfully accepted the choice of the army, declared that he should always consider the son of Justin as a brother, not as a rival, and advised the empress with her son Valentinian to fix their residence at Milan in the fair and peaceful province of Italy while he assumed the more arduous command of the countries beyond the Alps. Gratian disassembled his resentment till he could safely punish or disgrace the authors of the conspiracy. And though he uniformly behaved with tenderness and regard to his infant colleague he gradually confounded in the administration of the Western Empire, the office of a guardian with the authority of a sovereign. The government of the Roman world was exercised in the United Names of Valens and his two nephews, but the feeble emperor of the East who succeeded to the rank of his elder brother never obtained any weight or influence in the councils of the West. End of part seven. End of chapter.