 CHAPTER XXXII. And a reasonable doubt may be entertained whether any stain of hereditary guilt could be derived from Arcadius to his successor. Eudoxia was a young and beautiful woman who indulged her passions and despised her husband. Count John enjoyed, at least, the familiar confidence of the Empress, and the public named him as the real father of Theodosius the Younger. The birth of a son was accepted, however, by the pious husband, as an event the most fortunate and honourable to himself, to his family and to the eastern world, and the royal infant, by an unprecedented favour, was invested with the titles of Caesar and Augustus. In less than four years afterwards Eudoxia, in the bloom of youth, was destroyed by the consequences of a miscarriage, and this untimely death confounded the prophecy of a holy bishop, who amidst the universal joy had ventured to foretell that she should behold the long and auspicious reign of her glorious son. The Catholics applauded the justice of heaven, which avenged the persecution of Saint Christosome, and perhaps the Emperor was the only person who sincerely bewailed the laws of the haughty and rapacious Eudoxia. Such a domestic misfortune afflicted him more deeply than the public calamities of the East, the legensis excursions from Pontus to Palenstein, of the usaurian robbers, whose impunity accused the weakness of the government, and the earthquakes, the conflagrations, the famine and the flights of locusts, which the popular discontent was equally disposed to attribute to the incapacity of the monarch. At length, in the thirty-first year of his age, after a reign, if we may abuse that word, of thirteen years, three months and fifteen days, Arcadius expired in the palace of Constantinople. It is impossible to delineate his character, since, in a period very copiously furnished with historical materials, it has not been possible to remark one action that properly belongs to the son of the great Theodosius. The historian Procopius has indeed illuminated the mind of the dying emperor with array of human prudence, or celestial wisdom. Arcadius considered, with anxious foresight, the helpless condition of his son Theodosius, who was no more than seven years of age, the dangerous factions of a minority, and the aspiring spirit of Jesdegerd, the Persian monarch. Instead of tempting the allegiance of an ambitious subject by the participation of supreme power, he boldly appealed to the magnanimity of a king, and placed by a solemn testament the scepter of the east in the hands of Jesdegerd himself. The royal guardian accepted and discharged this honorable trust with unexampled fidelity, and the infancy of the Theodosius was protected by the arms and councils of Persia. Such is the singular narrative of Procopius, and his veracity is not disputed by Agathius, while he presumes to dissent from his judgment, and to arraign the wisdom of a Christian emperor who, so rashly, though so fortunately, committed his son and his dominions to the unknown faith of a stranger, a rival, and a heathen. Not the distance of one hundred and fifty years this political question might be debated in the court of Justinian, but a prudent historian will refuse to examine the propriety till he has ascertained the truth of the testament of Arcadius. As it stands without a parallel in the history of the world we may justly require that it should be attested by the positive and unanimous evidence of contemporaries. The strange novelty of the event, which excites our distrust, must have attracted their notice, and their universal silence annihilates the vain tradition of the succeeding age. The maxims of Roman jurisprudence, if they could fairly be transferred from private property to public dominion, would have adjudged to the emperor Heronius the guardianship of his nephew, till he had attained, at least, the fourteenth year of his age. But the weakness of Honorius and the calamities of his reign disqualified him from prosecuting this natural claim, and such was the absolute separation of the two monarchies, both in interest and affection, that Constantinople would have obeyed with less reluctance the orders of the Persian than those of the Italian court. Under a prince whose weakness is disguised by the external signs of manhood and discretion, the most worthless favourites may secretly dispute the empire of the palace, and dictate to submissive provinces the commands of a master whom they direct and despise. But the ministers of a child who is incapable of arming them with the sanction of the royal name, must acquire an exercise in independent authority. The great officers of the state and army, who had been appointed before the death of Arcadius, formed an aristocracy which might have inspired them with the idea of a free republic, and the government of the Eastern Empire was fortunately assumed by the prefect Athimius, who obtained by his superior abilities a lasting ascendant over the minds of his equals. The safety of the young emperor proved the merit and integrity of Athimius, and his prudent firmness sustained the force and reputation of an infant reign. Ulden, with a formidable host of barbarians, was encamped in the heart of Thrace. He proudly rejected all terms of accommodation, and, pointing to the rising sun, declared to the Roman ambassadors that the course of the planet should alone terminate the conquest of the Huns. With the desertion of his confederates, who were privately convinced of the justice and liberality of the imperial ministers, obliged Ulden to repass the Danube. The tribe of the Skiri, which composed his rear-guard, was almost extirpated, and many thousand captives were dispersed to cultivate, with servile labor, the fields of Asia. In the midst of the public triumph Constantinople was protected by a strong enclosure of new and more extensive walls. The same vigilant care was applied to restore the fortifications of the Illyrian cities, and a plan was judiciously conceived which, in the space of seven years, would have secured the command of the Danube, by establishing on that river a perpetual fleet of two hundred and fifty armed vessels. But the Romans had so long been accustomed to the authority of a monarch that the first, even among the females of the imperial family, who displayed any courage or capacity, was permitted to ascend the vacant throne of Theodosius. His sister Pulcheria, who was only two years older than himself, received at the age of sixteen the title of Augusta, and though her favour might be sometimes clouded by caprice or intrigue, she continued to govern the Eastern Empire near forty years, during the long minority of her brother, and after his death in her own name, and in the name of Marcian, her nominal husband. From a motive either of prudence or religion she embraced a life of celibacy, and notwithstanding some aspersions on the chastity of Pulcheria, this resolution, which she communicated to her sisters Arcadia and Marina, was celebrated by the Christian world as the sublime effort of heroic piety. In the presence of the clergy and people the three daughters of Arcadias dedicated their virginity to God, and the obligation of their solemn vow was inscribed on a tablet of gold and gems, which they publicly offered in the great church of Constantinople. Their palace was converted into a monastery, and all mails, except the guides of their conscience, the saints who had forgotten the distinction of sexes, were scrupulously excluded from the holy threshold. Pulcheria, her two sisters, and a chosen train of favourite damsels, formed a religious community. They denounced the vanity of dress, interrupted by frequent fast their simple and frugal diet, allotted a portion of their time to works of embroidery, and devoted several hours of the day and night to exercises of prayer and psalmody. The piety of a Christian virgin was adorned by the zeal and liberality of an empress. Ecclesiastical history describes the splendid churches which were built at the expense of Pulcheria in all the provinces of the East, her charitable foundations for the benefit of strangers and the poor, the ample donations which she assigned for the perpetual maintenance of monastic societies, and the act of severity with which she labored to suppress the opposite heresies of Nestorius and Eutychus. Such virtues were supposed to deserve the peculiar favour of the deity. And the relics of martyrs, as well as the knowledge of future events, were communicated in visions and revelations to the imperial saint. Yet the devotion of Pulcheria never diverted her indefatagable attention from temporal affairs, and she alone, among all the descendants of the great Theodosius, appears to have inherited any share of his manly spirit and abilities. The elegant and familiar use which she had acquired both of the Greek and Latin languages was readily applied to the various occasions of speaking or writing on public business, her deliberations were maturely weighed, her actions were prompt and decisive, and while she moved without noise or ostentation the wheels of government she discreetly attributed to the genius of the emperor the long tranquility of his reign. In the last years of his peaceful life Europe was indeed afflicted by the arms of war, but the more extensive provinces of Asia still continued to enjoy a profound and permanent repose. The Edocious the Younger was never reduced to the disgraceful necessity of encountering and punishing a rebellious subject, and since we cannot applaud the vigor some praise may be due to the mildness and prosperity of the administration of Pulcheria. The Roman world was deeply interested in the education of its master. A regular course of study and exercise was judiciously instituted, of the military exercises of writing and shooting with the bow, of the liberal studies of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy, the most skillful masters of the east ambitiously solicited the attention of their royal pupil, and several noble youths were introduced into the palace to animate his diligence by the emulation of friendship. Pulcheria alone discharged the important task of instructing her brother in the arts of government, but her precepts may countenance some suspicions of the extent of her capacity or of the purity of her intentions. She taught him to maintain a grave and majestic deportment, to walk, to hold his robes, to seat himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince, to abstain from laughter, to listen with condescension, to return suitable answers, to assume by turns a serious or placid countenance, in a word to represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman emperor. But Theodosius was never excited to support the weight and glory of an illustrious name, and, instead of aspiring to support his ancestors, he degenerated, if we may presume to measure the degrees of incapacity, below the weakness of his father and his uncle. Arcadius and Anorius had been assisted by the guardian care of a parent, whose lessons were enforced by his authority and example. But the unfortunate prince, who is born in the purple, must remain a stranger to the voice of truth, and the son of Arcadius was condemned to pass his perpetual infancy, encompassed only by a servile train of women and eunuchs. The ample leisure which he acquired by neglecting the essential duties of his high office was filled by idle amusements and unprofitable studies. Hunting was the only act of pursuit that could tempt him beyond the limits of the palace, but he most assiduously labored, sometimes by the light of a midnight lamp, in the mechanic occupations of painting and carving, and the elegance with which he transcribed religious books entitled the Roman emperor to the singular epithet of calligraphis, or a fair writer. Separated from the world by an imprenetrable veil, Theodosius trusted the persons whom he loved. He loved those who were accustomed to amuse and flatter his indolence, and, as he never perused the papers that were presented for the royal signature, the acts of injustice the most repugnant to his character were frequently perpetrated in his name. The emperor himself was chaste, temperate, liberal, and merciful, but these qualities, which can only deserve the name of virtues when they are supported by courage and regulated by discretion, were seldom beneficial, and they sometimes proved mischievous to mankind. His mind, enervated by a royal education, was oppressed and degraded by abject superstition. He fasted, he sung psalms, he blindly accepted the miracles and doctrines with which his faith was continually nourished. Theodosius devoutly worshiped the dead and living saints of the Catholic Church, and he once refused to eat till an insolent monk, who had cast an excommunication on his sovereign, ascended to heal the spiritual wound which he had inflicted. The story of a fair and virtuous maiden, exalted from a private condition to the imperial throne, might be deemed an incredible romance, if such a romance had not been verified in the marriage of Theodosius. The celebrated Athenaeus was educated by her father, Leontius, in the religion and sciences of the Greeks, and so advantageous was the opinion which the Athenian philosopher entertained of his contemporaries that he divided his patrimony between his two sons, bequeathing to his daughter a small legacy of one hundred pieces of gold, in the lively confidence that her beauty and merit would be a sufficient portion. The jealousy and avarice of her brothers soon compelled Athenaeus to seek a refuge at Constantinople, and with some hopes, either of justice or favor, to throw herself at the feet of Pulcheria. That sagacious princess listened to her eloquent complaint, and secretly destined the daughter of the philosopher Leontius for the future wife of the emperor of the east, who had now attained the twentieth year of his age. She easily excited the curiosity of her brother by an interesting picture of the charms of Athenaeus, large eyes, a well-proportioned nose, a fair complexion, golden locks, a slender person, a graceful demeanor, and understanding improved by study, and a virtue tried by distress. The Edocious, concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his sister, was permitted to behold the Athenian Virgin. The modest youth immediately declared his pure and honorable love, and the royal nuptials were celebrated amidst the acclamations of the capital and the provinces. Athenaeus, who was easily persuaded to renounce the errors of paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name of Edocia, but the cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of Augusta, till the wife of the Edocious had approved her fruitfulness by the birth of a daughter, who espoused fifteen years afterwards the emperor of the west. The brothers of Edocia obeyed, with some anxiety, her imperial summons, but as she could easily forgive their unfortunate unkindness she indulged the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister by promoting them to the rank of consuls and prefects. In the luxury of the palace she still cultivated those ingenious arts which had contributed to her greatness, and wisely dedicated her talents to the honor of religion and of her husband. Edocia composed a poetical paraphrase of the first eight books of the Old Testament, and of the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah, a sento of the verses of Homer, applied to the life and miracles of Christ, the legend of St. Cyprian, and a panageric on the Persian victories of the Edocious, and her writings, which were applauded by a servile and superstitious age, have not been disdained by the candor of impartial criticism. The fondness of the emperor was not abated by time and possession, and Edocia, after the marriage of her daughter, was permitted to discharge her grateful vows by a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her ostentatious progress through the east may seem inconsistent with the spirit of Christian humility, she pronounced from a throne of gold and gems an eloquent oration to the senate of Antioch, declared her royal intention of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a denotive of two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths, and accepted the statues which were decreed by the gratitude of Antioch. In the Holy Land her alms and pious foundations exceeded the munificence of the great Helena, and though the public treasure might be impoverished by this excessive liberality, she enjoyed the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople with the chains of St. Peter, the right arm of St. Stephen, an undoubted picture of the Virgin, painted by St. Luke. But this pilgrimage was the fatal term of the glories of Edocia. Satiated with empty pomp, and unmindful perhaps of her obligations to Bolcheria, she ambitiously aspired to the government of the Eastern Empire. The palace was distracted by female discord, but the victory was at last decided by the superior ascendant of the sister of the Edocius. The execution of Paulinus, master of the offices, and the disgrace of Cyrus, Praetorian Prefect of the East, convinced the public that the favor of Edocia was insufficient to protect her most faithful friends, and the uncommon beauty of Paulinus encouraged the secret rumour that his guilt was that of a successful lover. As soon as the Empress perceived that the affection of the Edocius was irretrievably lost, she requested the permission of retiring to the distant solitude of Jerusalem. She obtained her request, but the jealousy of the Edocius, or the vindictive spirit of Polcheria, pursued her in her last retreat. And Saturninus, Count of the Domestix, was directed to punish with death two ecclesiastics, her most favored servants. Edocia instantly revenged them by the assassination of the Count. The furious passions which she indulged on this suspicious occasion seemed to justify the severity of the Edocius, and the Empress, ignomiously stripped of the honors of her rank, was disgraced, perhaps unjustly, in the eyes of the world. The remainder of the life of Edocia, about sixteen years, was spent in exile in devotion, and the approach of age on the death of the Edocius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a captive from Rome to Carthage, and the society of the holy monks of Palestine, insensibly confirmed the religious temper of her mind. After a full experience of the vicissitudes of human life, the daughter of the philosopher Lyonches expired at Jerusalem in the sixty-sixth year of her age, protesting with her dying breath that she had never transgressed the bonds of innocence and friendship. The gentle mind of the Edocius was never inflamed by the ambition of a conquest, or military renown, and the slight alarm of a Persian war scarcely interrupted the tranquility of the East. The motives of this war were just and honorable. In the last year of the reign of Jesdegird, the supposed guardian of the Edocius, a bishop who aspired to the crown of martyrdom, destroyed one of the fire temples of Sousa. His zeal and obstinacy were avenged on his brethren. The magi excited a cruel persecution, and the intolerant zeal of Jesdegird was imitated by his son Varanus, or Baram, who soon afterwards ascended the throne. Some Christian fugitives who escaped to the Roman frontier were solemnly demanded and generously refused, and the refusal, aggravated by commercial disputes, soon kindled a war between the rival monarchies. The mountains of Armenia and the plains of Mesopotamia were filled with hostile armies, but the operations of two successive campaigns were not productive of any decisive or memorable events. Some engagements were fought, some towns were besieged, with various and doubtful success, and if the Romans failed in their attempt to recover the long lost possessions of Nisibis, the Persians were repulsed from the walls of a Mesopotamian city by the valour of a martial bishop, who pointed his thundering engine in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. Yet the splendid victories which the incredible speed of the messenger Palladius, repeatedly announced to the palace of Constantinople, were celebrated with festivals and panagerics. From these panagerics the historians of the age might borrow their extraordinary and perhaps fabulous tales of the proud challenge of a Persian hero who is entangled by the net and dispatched by the sword of Aerobindus the Goth, of the ten thousand immortals who were slain in the attack of the Roman camp, and of the hundred thousand Arabs or Saracens who were impelled by a panicked terror to throw themselves headlong into the Euphrates. Such events may be disbelieved or disregarded, but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have dignified the saintly calendar, shall not be lost in oblivion. Boldly declaring that vases of gold and silver are useless to a God who neither eats nor drinks, the generous prelates sold the plate of the church of Amida, employing the price in the redemption of seven thousand Persian captives, supplied their wands with affectionate liberality and dismissed them to their native country to inform their king of the true spirit of the religion which he persecuted. The practice of benevolence in the midst of war must always tend to assuage the animosity of contending nations, and I wish to persuade myself that Acacius contributed to the restoration of peace. In the conference which was held on the limits of the two empires the Roman ambassadors degraded the personal character of their sovereign by a vain attempt to magnify the extent of his power when they seriously advised the Persians to prevent, by a timely accommodation, the wrath of a monarch who was yet ignorant of this distant war. A truce of one hundred years was solemnly ratified, and although the revolutions of Armenia might threaten the public tranquility, the essential conditions of this treaty were respected near four-square years by the successors of Constantine and our tax-rexies. Since the Roman and Parthian standards first encountered on the banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia was alternately oppressed by its formidable protectors, and in the course of this history several events which inclined the balance of peace and war have already been related. A disgraceful treaty had resigned Armenia to the ambition of Saper, and the scale of Persia appeared to preponderate. But the royal race of Arsaces impatiently submitted to the House of Sassan, the turbulent nobles asserted or betrayed their hereditary independence, and the nation was still attached to the Christian princes of Constantinople. In the beginning of the fifth century Armenia was divided by the progress of war and faction, and the unnatural division precipitated the downfall of that ancient monarchy. Chosros, the Persian vassal, reigned over the eastern and most extensive portion of the country, while the western province acknowledged the jurisdiction of Arsaces and the supremacy of the Emperor Arcadius. After the death of Arsaces the Romans suppressed the regal government and imposed on their allies the condition of subjects. The military command was delegated to the count of the Armenian frontier, the city of Theodosiopolis was built and fortified in a strong situation on a fertile and lofty ground near the sources of the Euphrates, and the dependent territories were ruled by five satraps whose dignity was marked by a peculiar habit of gold and purple. The less fortunate nobles who lamented the loss of their king and envied the honors of their equals were provoked to negotiate their peace and pardon at Persian court, and returning with their followers to the palace of Artaxata acknowledged Chosros for their lawful sovereign. About thirty years afterwards Artaxires, the nephew and successor of Chosros, fell under the displeasure of the haughty and capricious nobles of Armenia, and they unanimously desired a Persian governor in the room of an unworthy king. The answer of the Archbishop Isaac, whose sanction they earnestly solicited, is expressive of the character of a superstitious people. He deplored the manifest and inexcusable vices of Artaxires and declared that he should not hesitate to accuse him before the tribunal of a Christian emperor, who would punish without destroying the sinner. Our king, continued Isaac, is too much addicted to Lysentius' pleasures, but he has been purified in the holy waters of baptism. He is a lover of women, but he does not adore the fire or the elements. He may deserve the reproach of lewdness, but he is an undoubtable Catholic, and his faith is pure, though his manners are flagacious. I will never consent to abandon my sheep to the rage of devouring wolves, and you would soon repent your rash exchange of the infirmities of a believer for the specious virtues of a heathen. Exasperated by the firmness of Isaac, the factious nobles accused both the king and the archbishop as the secret adherents of the emperor, and absurdly rejoiced in the sentence of condemnation, which, after a partial hearing, was solemnly pronounced by Baram himself. The descendants of the Arsacis were degraded from their royal dignity, which they had possessed above five hundred and sixty years, and the dimensions of the unfortunate Atesires, under the new and significant appellation of purse Armenia, were reduced to the form of a province. This usurpation excited the jealousy of the Roman government, but the rising disputes were soon terminated by an amicable, though unequal, partition of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, and a territorial acquisition which Augustus might have despised, reflected some luster on the declining empire of the younger Theodosius. CHAPTER XXXIII. CHAPTER XXXIII. CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY THE VANDALS. PART I. DEATH OF VONORIUS. VALENTINIAN III. EMPEROR OF THE EAST. ADMINISTRATION OF HIS MOTHER PLACITIA. HADYUS AND BONAPHUS. CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY THE VANDALS. DURING A LONG AND DISGRACEFUL RAIN OF 28 YEARS, VONORIUS, EMPEROR OF THE WEST, was separated from the friendship of his brother, and afterwards of his nephew, who reigned over the east, and Constantinople be held, with apparent indifference and secret joy, the calamities of Rome. The strange adventures of Placidia gradually renewed and cemented the alliance of the two empires. The daughter of the great Theodosius had been the captive and the queen of the Goths. She lost an affectionate husband. She was dragged and chained by his insulting assassin. She tasted the pleasure of revenge and was exchanged in the Treaty of Peace for 600,000 measures of wheat. After her return from Spain to Italy, Placidia experienced a new persecution in the bosom of her family. She was averse to a marriage which had been stipulated without her consent, and the brave Constantius, as a noble reward for the tyrants whom he had vanquished, received from the hand of Vanorius himself the struggling and reluctant hand of the widow of Adolphus. But her resistance ended with the ceremony of the Nuptials, nor did Placidia refuse to become the mother of Honoria and Valentinian III, or to assume and exercise an absolute dominion over the mind of a grateful husband. The generous soldier, whose time had hitherto been divided between social pleasure and military service, was taught new lessons of aphorist and ambition. He extorted the title of Augustus, and the servant of Vanorius was associated to the emperor of the west. In the seventh month of his reign, instead of diminishing, seemed to increase the power of Placidia, and the indecent familiarity of her brother, which might be no more than the symptoms of a childish affection, were universally attributed to incestuous love. All of a sudden, by some base intrigues of a steward and a nurse, the successive fondness was converted into an irreconcilable quarrel. The debates of the emperor and his sister were not long confined within the walls of the palace, and as the Gothic soldiers adhered to their queen, the city of Ravenna was agitated with bloody and dangerous tumults, which could only be appeased by the force of voluntary retreat of Placidia and her children. The royal exiles landed at Constantinople, soon after the marriage of Theodosius, during the festival of the Persian victories. They were treated with kindness and magnificence, but as the statutes of the emperor Constantius had been rejected by the Eastern court, the title of Augusta could not decently be allowed to his widow. Within a few months after the arrival of Placidia, a swift messenger announced the death of Vanorius, the consequence of a dropsy. But the important secret was not divulged, till the necessary orders had been dispatched for a march of a large body of troops to the coast of Dalmatia. The shops and the gates of Constantinople remained shut during seven days, and the loss of a foreign prince who could neither be esteemed nor regretted was celebrated with loud and affected demonstrations of the public grief. While the ministers of Constantinople deliberated, the vacant throne of Vanorius was usurped by the ambition of a stranger. The name of the rebel was John. He filled the confidential office of Primisarius, our principal secretary, and history has attributed his character more virtues than can be easily reconciled with the violation of the most sacred duty. Elated by the submission of Italy and the hope of an alliance with the Huns, John presumed to insult, by an embassy, the majesty of the Eastern emperor. But when he understood that his agents had been banished and imprisoned and at length chased away with deserved ignominy, John prepared to assert by arms the injustice of his claims. In such a cause, the grandson of the great Theodosius should have marched in person. But the young emperor was easily diverted by his physicians from so rash and hazardous a design. And the conduct of the Italian expedition was prudently entrusted to Artibarius and his son, Nasspar, who had already signalized their valor against the Persians. It was resolved that Artibarius should embark with the infantry, whilst Asper, at the head of the cavalry, conducted Placidian or son Valentinian along the sea coast of the Adriatic. The march of the cavalry was performed with such active diligence that they surprised, without resistance, the important city of Aquilia. When the hopes of Asper were unexpectedly confounded by the intelligence that a storm had dispersed the imperial fleet and that his father, with only two galleys, was taken and carried a prisoner into the port of Ravenna. Yet this incident, unfortunate as it might seem, facilitated the conquest of Italy. Artibarius employed or abused the courteous freedom which he was permitted to enjoy, to revive among the troops a sense of loyalty and gratitude. And as soon as the conspiracy was ripe for execution, he invited by private messages and pressed the approach of Asper. A shepherd whom the popular credulity transformed into an angel, guided the eastern cavalry by a secret and it was thought an impassable road through the morasses of the Poe. The gates of Ravenna after a short struggle were thrown open, and the defenseless tyrant was delivered to the mercy, or rather the cruelty, of the conquerors. His right hand was first cut off, and after he had been exposed, mounted on an ass to the public division, John was beheaded in the circus of Aquileia. The Emperor Theodosius, when he received the news of the victory, interrupted the horse races, and singing as he marched through the streets a suitable psalm, conducted his pupil from the hippodrome to the church, or he spent the remainder of the day in grateful devotion. In a monarchy, which according to various precedents might be considered as elective or hereditary or patrimonial, it was impossible that the intricate claims of female and collateral succession should be clearly defined, and Theodosius, by the right of consanguinity or conquest, might have reigned the sole legitimate emperor of the Romans. For a moment, perhaps, his eyes were dazzled by the prospect of unbounded sway, but this indolent temper gradually acquiesced in the dictates of sound policy. He contented himself with the possession of the east and wisely relinquished the laborious task of waging a distant and doubtful war against the barbarians beyond the Alps, or of securing the obedience of the Italians and Africans, whose minds were alienated by the irreconcilable differences of language and interest. Instead of listening to the voice of ambition, Theodosius resolved to imitate the moderation of his grandfather, and to seat his cousin Valentinian on the throne of the west. The royal infant was distinguished at Constantinople by the title Nobilisimus. He was promoted before his departure from Thessalonica to the rank and dignity of Caesar. And after the conquest of Italy, the patrician Helion, by the authority of Theodosius, and in the presence of the Senate, saluted Valentinian the third by the name of Augustus, and solemnly invested him with the diadem and the imperial purple. By the agreement of the three females who govern the Roman world, the son of Placidia was betrothed to Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius and Atheneus. And as soon as the lover and his bride had attained the age of puberty, this honorable alliance was faithfully accomplished. At the same time, as a compensation perhaps for the expenses of the war, the Western Illyricum was detached from the Italian dominions and yielded to the throne of Constantinople. The emperor of the east acquired the useful dominion of the rich and meritan province of Dalmatia and the dangerous sovereignty of Pannonia and Noricum, which had been filled and ravaged above 20 years by a promiscuous crowd of Huns, Ostergoths, Vandals, and Bavarians. Theodosius and Valentinian continued to respect the obligations of the Republican domestic alliance, but the unity of the Roman government was finally dissolved. By a positive declaration, the validity of all future laws was limited to the dominions of the peculiar author, unless he should think proper to communicate them, subscribed with his own hand for the approbation of his independent colleague. Valentinian, when he received the title of Augustus, was no more than six years of age, and his long minority was entrusted to the guardian care of the mother, who might assert a female claim to the succession of the Western Empire. Placidia envied, but she could not equal the reputation and virtues of the wife and sister of Theodosius, the elegant genius of Eudoxia, the wise and successful policy of Polkaria. The mother of Valentinian was jealous of the power, which she was incapable of exercising. She reigned 25 years in the name of her son, and the character of that unworthy emperor gradually countenanced the suspicion that Placidia had innervated his youth by a disillet education, and studiously diverted his attention from every manly and honorable pursuit. Amidst the decay of military spirit, her armies were commanded by two generals, Aedius and Boniface, who may be deservedly named as the last of the Romans. Their union might have supported a sinking empire. Their discord was the fatal and immediate cause of the loss of Africa. The invasion and defeat of Attila have immortalized the fame of Aedius, and though time is thrown a shade over the exploits of his rival, the defense of Marseille and the deliverance of Africa attest to the military talents of Count Boniface. In the field of battle, and partial encounters, and single combats, he was still the terror of the barbarians. The clergy, and particularly his friend Augustine, were edified by the Christian piety, which had once tempted him to retire from the world. The people applauded his spotless integrity. The army dreaded his equal and inexorable justice, which may be displayed in a very singular example. A peasant, who complained of the criminal intimacy between his wife and a Gothic soldier, was directed to attend his tribunal the following day. In the evening, the Count, who had diligently informed himself of the time and place of the Assygnation, mounted his horse, rode 10 miles into the country, surprised the guilty couple, punished the soldier with instant death, and silenced the complaints of the husband by presenting him the next morning with the head of the adulterer. The abilities of Adios and Boniface might have been usefully employed against their public enemies, in separate and important commands. But the experience of their past conduct should have decided the real favor and confidence of the imprisplocidia. In the melancholy season of her exile in distress, Boniface alone had maintained her cause with unshaken fidelity, and the troops and treasure treasures of Africa had essentially contributed to extinguished the rebellion. The same rebellion had been supported by the zeal and activity of Adios, who brought an army of 60,000 hunts from the Danube to the confines of Italy for the service of the usurper. The untimely death of John compelled him to accept an advantageous treaty, but he still continued, the subject and the soldier of Valentinium, to entertain a secret, perhaps a treasonable correspondence with his barbarian allies, whose retreat had been purchased by liberal gifts and more liberal promises. But Adios possessed an advantage of singular moment in a female ring. He was present, he besieged with artful and assiduous flattery the palace of Ravenna, disguised as dark designs with the mask of loyalty and friendship, and at length deceived both his mistress and his absent rival by a subtle conspiracy, which a weak woman and a brave man could not easily suspect. It secretly persuaded Placidia to recall Boniface from the government of Africa. He secretly advised Boniface to disobey the imperial summons. To the one, he represented the order as a sentence of debt. To the other, he stated the refusal as a signal of revolt. And when the couldulous and unsuspectful Count had armed the province in his defense, Adios applauded his sujocity and foreseeing the rebellion, which his own perfidy had excited. A temperate inquiry into the real motives of Boniface would have restored a faithful servant to his duty into the Republic. But the arts of Adios still continued to betray and to inflame, and the Count was urged by persecution to embrace the most desperate councils. The success with which he alluded or repelled the first attacks could not inspire a vain confidence. But at the head of some loose disorderly Africans, he should be able to withstand the regular forces of the West, commanded by a rival, whose military character was impossible for him to despise. After some hesitation, the last struggles of prudence and loyalty, Boniface dispatched a trusty friend to the court, or rather the camp of Ganderic, king of the Vandals, with the proposal of strict alliance and the offer of an advantageous and perpetual settlement. After the retreat of the Goths, the authority of Honorius had obtained a precarious establishment in Spain, except only in the province of Galicia, where the Suave and the Vandals had fortified their camps and mutual discord and hostile independence. The Vandals prevailed and their adversaries were besieged in the Nervacian hills between Lyon and Avieta. Till the approach of Canisterius compelled, or rather provoked, the victorious barbarians to remove the scene of the war to the plains of Bitka. The rapid progress of the Vandals soon acquired a more effectual opposition, and the master general Castanus marched against them with a numerous army of Romans and Goths. Vanquished in battle by an inferior army, Castanus fed with dishonor to Taragona. In this memorable defeat, which has been represented as the punishment, was most probably the effect of his rash presumption. Civilian Cartagena became the reward, or rather the prey, of the ferocious conquerors. And the vessels which they found in the harbor of Cartagena might easily transport them to the Isles of Mallorca or Mallorca, where the Spanish fugitives, as in secure recess, had vainly concealed their families and their fortunes. The experience of navigation, and perhaps the prospects of Africa, encouraged the Vandals to accept the invitation which they received from Count Boniface, and the death of Ganderic served only to forward and animate the bold enterprise. In the room of a prince not conspicuous for any superior powers of the mind or body, they acquired his bastard brother, the terrible Gensaric, a name which, in the destruction of the Roman Empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of Allaric or Andotilla. The king of the Vandals is described to have been of a middle stature, with a lameness of one leg, which he had contracted by an accidental fall from his horse. His slow and cautious speech seldom declared the deep purposes of his soul. He disdained to imitate the luxury of the vanquished, but he indulged the sterner passions of anger and revenge. The ambition of Gensaric was without bounds and without scruples, and the warrior could dexteriously employ the dark engines of policy to solicit the allies who might be useful to his success, or to scatter among his enemies the seeds of hatred and contention. Almost in the moment of his departure, he was informed that Hermannric, king of the Suevi, had presumed to ravage the Spanish territories, which he was resolved to abandon. In patient of the insult, Gensaric pursued the hastier retreat of the Suevi as far as Merida, precipitated the king and his army into the river Ennis, and calmly returned to the seashore to embark his victorious troops. The vessels which transported the vandals over the modern streets of Gibraltar, a channel only 12 miles in breadth, were furnished by the Spaniards, who anxiously wished their departure, and by the African General, who had implored their formidable assistance. Our fancy, so long accustomed to exaggerate and multiply the martial swarms of barbarians that seemed to issue from the north, will perhaps be surprised by the account of the army which Gensaric mustered on the coast of Mauritania. The vandals, who in 20 years had penetrated from the Elba to Mount Atlas, were united under the command of their war-like king, and he reigned with equal authority over the Allani, who had passed, with the term of human life, from the cold of Skidia to the excessive heat of an African climate. The hopes of the bold enterprise had excited many brave adventurers of the Gothic nation, and many desperate provincials were tempted to repair their fortunes by the same means which had occasioned their ruin. This various multitude amounted only to 50,000 effective men, and Logus Sinric artfully magnified his apparent strength. By appointing 80 Killiarchs, or commanders of thousands, the fallacious increase of old men, of children, and of slaves would scursely have swelled his army to the number of four score a thousand person, but his own dexterity and the discontents of Africa soon fortified the vandal powers by the accession of numerous and active allies. The parts of Mauritania which bordered on the great desert in the Atlantic Ocean were filled with the fierce and untraceable race of men whose savage temper had been exasperated, rather than reclaimed by their dread of the merriment arm. The wandering Moors, as they gradually ventured to approach the seashore and the camp of the vandals, must have viewed with terror and astonishment the dress, the armor, the martial pride and discipline of the unknown strangers who had landed on their coast and the fair complexions of the blue-eyed warriors of Germany formed a very singular contrast with the swarthy and olive hue which is derived from the neighborhood of the torrid zone. After the first difficulties had in some measure been removed, which arose from mutual ignorance of their respective language, the Moors regardless of any future consequence, embraced the alliance of their enemies of Rome and a crowd of naked savages rushed from the woods in the valleys of Mount Atlas to satiate their revenge on the polished tyrants who had injuriously expelled them from the native sovereignty of the land. The persecution of the Donatists was an event not less favorable to the designs of Genslerich. Seventeen years before he landed in Africa, a public conference was held at Carthage by the order of the magistrate. The Catholics were satisfied that after the invincible reasons which they had alleged, the obscenity of the schismatics must be inexcusable and voluntary and the Emperor Honorius was persuaded to inflict the most rigorous penalties on a faction which had so long abused his patient's clemency. Three hundred bishops with many thousands of the inferior clergy were torn from their churches, stripped of their ecclesiastical possessions, banished to the islands and prescribed by the laws if they presumed to conceal themselves in the provinces of Africa. Their numerous congregations, both in the cities and in the country, were deprived of the rights of citizens and of the exercise of religious worship, a regular scale of fines from 10 to 200 pounds of silver was curiously ascertained according to the distinction of rank and fortune to punish the crime of assisting at a schismatic conventical. And if the fine had been levied five times without subduing the obscenity of the offender, his future punishment was referred to the discretion of the Imperial Court by these severities which obtained the warmest approbation of St. Augustine. Great numbers of donestists were reconciled to the Catholic Church but the fanatics who still preserved in their opposition were provoked to madness and despair. The distracted country was filled with tumult and bloodshed. The armed troops of Circumcilians alternatively pointed their rage against themselves or against their adversaries and the calendar of martyrs received on both sides a considerable augmentation. Under these circumstances, Gensaric, a Christian but an enemy of the Orthodox Communion showed himself to the donestist as a powerful deliverer from whom they might reasonably expect the repeal of the odious and oppressive edicts of the Roman emperors. The conquest of Africa was facilitated by the act of zeal or the secret favor of a domestic faction. The wanton outrages against the church and the clergy of which the vandals are accused may be fairly imputed to the fanaticism of their allies and the intolerance spirit which disgrace the triumph of Christianity contributed to the loss of the most important province of the West. The court and the people were astonished by the strange intelligence that a virtuous hero after so many favors and so many services had renounced his allegiance and invited the barbarians to destroy the province entrusted to his command. The friends of Boniface who still believe that his criminal behavior might be excused by some honorable motive solicited during the absence of Aedius a free conference with the count of Africa and Darius an officer of high distinction was named for the important embassy. In their first interview at Carthage the imaginary provocations were mutually explained. The opposite letters of Aedius were produced and compared and the fraud was easily detected. Placidian Boniface lamented their fatal error and the count had sufficient magnanimity to confide in the forgiveness of this sovereign or to expose his head to her future resentment. His repentance was fervent and sincere but he soon discovered that it was no longer in his power to restore the edifice which he had shaken to its foundations. Carthage and the Roman garrisons returned with their general to the allegiance of the Valentinian but the rest of Africa was still distracted with war and faction and the inexorable king of the vandals disdaining all terms of accommodations sternly refused to relinquish the possession of his prey. The band of veterans who marched under the standard of Boniface and his hasty levies of provincial troops were defeated with considerable loss. The victorious barbarians insulted the open country. Carthage, Certa and Hipporegius were the only cities that appeared to rise above the general inundation. The long and narrow tract of the African coast was filled with frequent monuments of Roman art and magnificence and the respective degrees of improvement might be accurately measured by the distance from Carthage in the Mediterranean. A simple reflection will impress every thinking mind with the clearest idea of fertility and cultivation. The country was extremely populace. The inhabitants reserved a liberal substance for their own use. And the annual exploitation particularly of wheat was so regular and plentiful that Africa deserved the name of the common granary of Rome and of mankind. When a sudden the seven fruitful provinces from Tangier to Tripoli were overwhelmed by the invasion of the vandals, whose destructive rage had perhaps been exaggerated by popular animosity, religious zeal, and extravagant declamation. War and its fairest form implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice and the hostility of the barbarians are flamed by the fierce and lawless spirit which incessantly disturbs their peaceful and domestic society. The vandals where they found resistance seldom gave quarter and the deaths of their valiant countrymen were expiated by the ruin of cities under whose walls they had fallen. Careless of the distinctions of age or sex or rank they employed every species of indignity and torture to force from the captives a discovery of their hidden wealth. The stern policy of Gensaric justified his frequent examples of military execution. It was not always the master of his own passions or of those of his followers and the calamities of war were aggravated by the licentiousness of the Moors and the fanaticism of the Dynatis, yet I shall not easily be persuaded that it was the common practice of the vandals to extirpate the olives and other fruit trees of a country where they intended to settle. Nor can I believe that it was an unusual strategy to slaughter great numbers of their prisoners before the walls of a besieged city for the sole purpose of infecting the air and producing a pestilence of which they themselves must have been the first victims. The generous mind of Count Boniface was tortured by the exquisite distress of beholding the ruin she had occasioned and whose rapid progress he was unable to check. After the loss of a battle he retired to Hippo Regius where he was immediately besieged by an enemy who considered him as the real bulwark of Africa. The maritime colony of Hippo about 200 miles westward of Carthage had formerly acquired the distinguishing epithet of Regius from the residents of Numidian kings and some remains of trade and populistness still adhere to a modern city which is known in Europe by the corrupted name of Bona. The military labors and anxious reflections of Count Boniface were alleviated by the edifying conversation of his friend Saint Augustine. To that bishop the light and pillar of the Catholic Church was gently released in the third month of the siege and in the 76th year of his age from the actual and impending calamities of his country the youth of Augustine had been stained by the vices and errors which he so ingeniously confesses but from the moment of his conversion to that of his death the manners of the bishop of Hippo were pure and austere and the most conspicuous of his virtues was an ardent zeal against the heretics of every denomination. The Manichaeans, the Donatists and the Pelagians against whom he waged a perpetual controversy. When the city some months after his death was burnt by the vandals the library was fortunately saved which contained his voluminous writings 232 separate books are treatises on theological subject besides a complete exposition of the Psalter and the Gospel and a copious magazine of epistles and homilies according to the judgment of the most impartial critics the superficial learning of Augustine was confined to the latin language in his style though sometimes animated by the eloquence of passion is usually clouded by false and affected rhetoric but he possessed a strong capacious argumentative mind he boldly sounded the dark abyss of grace predestination free will and original sin and the rigid system of Christianity which he framed or restored has been entertained with public applause and secret reluctance by the latin church end of chapter 33 part 1 chapter 33 part 2 of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 3 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas Illich chapter 33 conquest of Africa by the vandals part 2 by the skill of Boniface and perhaps by the ignorance of the vandals the siege of hippo was protracted above 14 months the sea was continually open when the adjacent country had been exhausted by a regular wrapping the beseeches themselves were compelled by famine to relinquish their enterprise the importance and danger of Africa were deeply felt by the regent of the west Placidia employed the assistance of her eastern ally and the Italian fleet and army were reinforced by asper who sailed from Constantinople with a powerful armament as soon as the force of the two empires were united under the command of Boniface he boldly marched against the vandals and the loss of the second battle irretrievably decided the fate of Africa he embarked with the precipitation of despair and the people of hippo were permitted with their families and effects to occupy the vacant place of the soldiers the greatest part of whom were either slain or made prisoners by the vandals the count whose fatal credulity had wounded the vitals of the republic might enter the palace of revenge with some anxiety which was soon removed by the smiles of Placidia Boniface attempted with gratitude the rank of patrician and the dignity of master general of the roman armies but he must have blushed at the side of those medals in which he was represented with the name and attributes of victory the discovery of his fraud the displeasure of the empress and the distinguished favor of his rival exasperated the haughty and perfidious soul of atheists he hastily returned from Gaul to Italy with a retinue or rather with an army of barbarian followers and such was the weakness of the government that the two generals decided the private quarrel and a bloody battle Boniface was successful but he received in the conflict a mortal wound from the spear of his adversary of which he expired within a few days in such christian and charitable sentiments that he exhorted his wife a rich heiress of spain to accept atheists for her second husband but atheists could not derive any immediate advantage from the generosity of his dying enemy he was proclaimed a rebel by the justice of Placidia and though he attempted to defend some strong fortresses erected on his patrimonial estate the imperial power soon compelled him to retire into Pinonia to the tents of his faithful huns the republic was deprived by their mutual discord of the service of her two most illustrious champions it might naturally be expected after the retreat of Boniface that the vandals would achieve without resistance or delay the conquest of Africa eight years however elapsed from the evacuation of Hippo to the reduction of Carthage in the midst of that interval the ambitious ginseric in the full tide of apparent prosperity negotiated a treaty of peace by which he gave his son Huneric for hostage and consented to leave the western emperor in the undisturbed possession of the three martinias this moderation which cannot be imputed to the justice might be ascribed to the policy of the conqueror his throne was encompassed with domestic enemies who accused the baseness of his birth and asserted the legitimate claims of his nephews the sons of Gundaric these nephews indeed he sacrificed to his safety and their mother the widow of the deceased king was precipitated by his order into the river Epsaga but the public discontent burst forth in dangerous and frequent conspiracies and the warlike tyrant is supposed to have shed more vandal blood by the hand of the executioner than in the field of battle the convulsions of Africa which had favored his attack opposed the firm establishment of his power and the various seditions of the Moors and Germans the Donatist and Catholics continually disturbed or threatened the unsettled reign of the conqueror as he advanced towards Carthage he was forced to withdraw his troops from the western provinces the sea coast was exposed to the naval enterprises of the Romans of Spain and Italy and in the heart of new media the strong inland city of Corda still persisted in obstinate independence these difficulties were gradually subdued by the spirit the perseverance and the cruelty of Gundaric who alternately applied the arts of peace and war to the establishment of his African kingdom he subscribed to solemn treaty with the hope of deriving some advantage from the term of its continuance and the moment of its violation the vigilance of his enemies was relaxed by the protestations of friendship which concealed his hostile approach and Carthage was at length surprised by the vandals 585 years after the destruction of the city and republic by the younger Scipio a new city had arisen from its ruins with the title of a colony and though Carthage might yield the royal prerogatives of Constantinople and perhaps to the trade of Alexandria or the splendor of Antioch she still maintained the second rank in the west as the Rome if we may use the style of contemporaries of the African world that wealthy and opulent metropolis displayed in a dependent condition the image of a flourishing republic Carthage contained the manufacturers the arms and the treasures of the six provinces a regular subordination of civil honors gradually ascended from the procurators of the streets and quarters of the city to the tribunal of the supreme magistrate who with the title of proconsul represented the state indignity of a consul of ancient Rome schools and gymnasia were instituted for the education of the African youth and the liberal arts and manners grammar rhetoric and philosophy were publicly taught in the greek and latin languages the buildings of Carthage were uniform and magnificent a shady grove was planted in the midst of the capital the new port, a secure and capacious harbor was subservient to the commercial industry of citizens and strangers and the splendid games of the circus at theater were exhibited almost in the presence of the barbarians the reputation of the Carthaginians was not equal to that of their country and the reproach of punic faith still adhered to their subtol and faithless character the habits of trade and abuse of luxury had corrupted their manners but their impious contempt of monks and the shameless practice of a natural lust are the two abominations which excite the pious vehemence of salvion the preacher of the age the king of the vandals severely reformed the vices of a voluptuous people and the ancient noble ingenious freedom of Carthage these expressions of victor are not without energy was reduced by Gensaric into a state of ignominous servitude after he had permitted his licentious troops to satiate their rage and avarice he instituted a more regular system of raping and oppression and edict was promulgated which enjoined all persons without fraud or delay to deliver their gold, silver, jewels and valuable furniture or apparel to the royal officers and the attempt to secrete any part of their patrimony was inexorably punished with death and torture as an act of treason against the state the lands of the proconsular province which formed the immediate districts of Carthage were accurately measured and divided among the barbarians in the Conqueror Reserve first peculiar domain the fertile territory of Vizectium and the adjacent plains of Numidia and Getulia it was natural enough that Gensaric should hate those whom he had injured the nobility and the senators of Carthage were exposed to his jealousy and resentment and all those who refused the ignominious terms which their honor and religion forbade them to accept were compelled by the Aryan tyrant to embrace the condition of perpetual banishment Rome, Italy and the provinces of the east were filled with a crowd of exiles of fugitives and of ingenuous captives who solicited the public compassion and the benevolent epistles of Theodore still preserved the names and misfortunes of Celestian and Maria the Syrian bishop deploys the misfortune of Celestian who from the state of a noble and opulent senator of Carthage was reduced with his wife and family and servants to beg his bread in a foreign country but he applauds the resignation of the Christian exile and the philosophic temper which under the pressure of such calamity could enjoy more real happiness than was the ordinary life of wealth and prosperity the story of Maria the daughter of the magnificent student is singular and interesting in the sack of Carthage she was purchased from the vandals by some merchants of Syria who afterward sold her as a slave in their native country a female attendant transported in the same ship and sold in the same family still continued to respect the mistress whom fortune had reduced to the common level of servitude and the daughter of Edaman received from her grateful affection the domestic services which she had once required from her obedience this remarkable behavior divulged the real condition of Maria who in the absence of the bishop of Cirrus was redeemed from slavery by the generosity of some soldiers of the garrison the liberality of Theodore provided for her decent maintenance and she passed 10 months among the deaconesses of the church till she was unexpectedly informed that her father who had escaped from the ruin of Carthage exercised an honorable office in one of the western provinces her filial impatience was seconded by the pious bishop Theodore and the letter still extant recommends Maria to the bishop of Aegee a maritime city of Cilicia which was frequented during the annual fair by the vessels of the west most earnestly requesting that his colleague would use the maiden with a tenderness suitable to her birth and that he would entrust her to the care of such faithful merchants as would esteem it a sufficient gain if they restored a daughter lost beyond all human hope to the arms of a afflicted parent among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history I am tempted to distinguish the memorable fate of the seven sleepers whose imaginary date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius in the conquest of Africa by the vandals when the emperor Decius persecuted the Christians seven noble use of Ephesus concealed themselves in a spacious cavern in the side of an adjacent mountain where they were doomed to perish by the tyrant who gave orders that the entrance should be firmly secured by a pile of huge stones they immediately fell into a deep slumber which was miraculously prolonged without injuring the powers of life during a period of 187 years at the end of that time the slaves of Adelaus to whom the inheritance of the mountain had descended removed the stones to supply materials for some rustic edifice the light of the sun darted into the cavern and the seven sleepers were permitted to awake after a slumber as they thought of a few hours they were pressed by the calls of hunger and resolved that Jemblicus one of their number should secretly return to the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions the youth, if we may still employ that appellation could no longer recognize the once familiar aspect of his native country and his surprise was increased by the appearance of a large cross triumphantly erected over the principal gate of Ephesus his singular dress and obsolete language confounded the baker to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin of the empire and Jemblicus on the suspicion of a secret treasure was dragged before the judge their mutual inquiries produced the amazing discovery that two centuries were almost elapsed since Jemblicus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a pagan tyrant the bishop of Ephesus the clergy the magistrates the people and it is said the emperor Theodosius himself hastened to visit the cavern of the seven sleepers who bestowed their benediction elated their story and at the same instant peaceably expired the origin of this marvelous fable cannot be ascribed to the pious fraud and credulity of the modern Greeks since the authentic tradition may be traced within a half a century of the supposed miracle James of Sorg Assyrian bishop who was born only two years after the death of the younger Theodosius had devoted one of his 230 homilies to the praise of the young men of Ephesus their legend before the end of the sixth century was translated from the Syriac into the Latin language by the care of Gregory of Tours the hostile communions of the east preserved their memory with equal reverence and their names are honorably inscribed in the Roman, the Abyssinian and the Russian calendar nor has their reputation been confined to the Christian world this popular tale which Muhammad might learn when he drove his camels to the fares of Syria is introduced as a divine revelation into the Quran the story of the seven sleepers has been adopted and endorsed by the nations from Bengal to Africa who profess the Muhammadian religion and some vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the remote extremities of Scandinavia this easy and universal belief so expressive of the sense of mankind may be ascribed to the genuine merit of the fable itself we imperceivably advance from youth to age without observing the gradual but incessant change of human affairs and even in our larger experience of history the imagination is accustomed by a perpetual series of causes and effects to unite the most distant revolutions but if the interval between two memorable areas could be instantly annihilated if it were possible after a momentary slumber of 200 years to display the new world to the eyes of the spectator who still retained a lively and recent impression of the old his surprise and his reflections would furnish the pleasing subject of a philosophical romance the scene could not be more advantageously placed then in the two centuries which elapsed between the reigns of Desius and Theodosius the Younger during this period the seat of government had been transported from Rome to a new city on the banks of the Thracian Bosporus and the abuse of military spirit had been suppressed by an artificial system of tame and ceremonious servitude the throne of the persecuting Desius was filled by a secession of Christian and Orthodox princes who had extirpated the fabulous gods of antiquity and the public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Deanna and Hercules the union of the Roman Empire was dissolved its genius was humbled into the dust and armies of unknown barbarians issuing from frozen regions of the north had established the victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa end of chapter 33 part 2 chapter 34 part 1 of the D-Line and Fall of the Roman Empire volume 3 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Monsbrew Helsingfors Finland chapter 34 Attila part 1 the character conquests and court of Attila king of the Huns death of Theodosius the Younger elevation of Marcian to the empire of the east the western world was suppressed by the gods and vandals who fled before the Huns but the achievements of the Huns themselves were not adequate to their power and prosperity their victorious hordes had spread from the Volga to the Danube but the public force was exhausted by the discord of independent chieftains their valor was idly consumed in obscure and predatory excursions and they often degraded their national dignity by condescending for the hopes of spoil to enlist under the banners of their fugitive enemies in the reign of Attila the Huns again became the terror of the world and I shall now describe the character and actions of that formidable barbarian who alternately insulted and invaded the east and the west and urged the rapid downfall of the roman empire in the tide of emigration which impetuously rolled from the confines of china to those of germany the most powerful and populous tribes may commonly be found on the verge of the roman provinces the accumulated weight was sustained for a while by artificial barriers and the easy condescension of their emperors invited without satisfying the insolent demands of the barbarians who had acquired an eager appetite for the luxuries of civilized life the hungarians who ambitiously injured the name of Attila among their native kings may affirm with truth that the hordes which were subject to his uncle Roas or Ruggilas had formed their encampments within the limits of modern Hungary in a fertile country which liberally supplied the wants of a nation of hunters and shepherds in this advantageous situation Ruggilas and his valiant brothers who continually added to their power and reputation commanded the alternative of peace or war with the two empires his alliance with the romans of the west was cemented by his personal friendship for the great Aetius who was always secure of finding in the barbarian camp a hospital reception and a powerful support at his solicitation and in the name of john the usurper 60 000 huns advanced to the confines of italy the march and the retreat were alike expensive to the state and the grateful policy of Aetius abandoned the possession of panonia to his faithful confederates the romans of the east were not less apprehensive of the arms of Ruggilas which threatened the provinces or even the capital some ecclesiastic historians have destroyed the barbarians with lightning and pestilence but the odosius was reduced to the more humble expedient of stipulating an annual payment of 350 pounds of gold and of disguising this dishonorable tribute by the title of general which the king of the huns condescended to accept the public tranquility was frequently interrupted by the fears and patience of the barbarians and the perfidious intrigues of the Byzantine court for dependent nations among whom we may distinguish the barbarians this claimed the sovereignty of the huns and their revolt was encouraged and protected by a roman alliance till the just claims and formidable power of Ruggilas were effectually urged by the voice of Eslav his ambassador peace was the unanimous wish of the senate their decree was ratified by the emperor and two ambassadors were named Plimthus a general of scutian extraction but of consular rank and the questor epigenis a wise and experienced statesman who was recommended to that office by his ambitious colleague the death of Ruggilas suspended the progress of the treaty his two nephews Attila and Bleda who succeeded to throne of their uncle consented to a personal interview with the ambassadors of Constantinople but as they proudly refused to dismount the business was transacted on horseback in a spacious plain near the city of Margus in the upper messia the kings of the huns assumed the solid benefits as well as the main honors of the negotiation they dictated the conditions of peace and each condition was an insult to the majesty of the empire besides the freedom of a safe and plentiful market on the banks of the Danube they required that the annual contribution should be augmented from 350 to 700 pounds of gold that a fine or ransom of eight pieces of gold should be paid for every roman captive who had escaped from his barbarian master that the emperor should renounce all treaties and engagements with the enemies of the huns and that all the fugitives were taken refuge in the court or provinces of Teodosius should be delivered to the justice of their offended sovereign this justice was rigorously inflicted on some unfortunate youths of a royal race they were crucified on the territories of the empire by the command of Attila and as soon as the king of the huns had impressed the Romans with the terror of his name he indulged them in a short and arbitrary respite whilst he subdued the rebellious or independent nations of Scythia and Germany Attila the son of Moonstook deduced his noble perhaps his regal descent from the ancient huns were formally contended with the monarchs of china his features according to the observation of a gothic historian were the stamp of his national origin and the port of the Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern kalamuk a large head a swarthy complexion small deep seated eyes a flat nose a few hairs in the place of a beard broad shoulders and a short square body or nervous strength though of a disproportioned form the haughtiest epandemic of the king of the huns expressed the consciousness of his superiority above the rest of mankind and he had a custom of fiercely rolling his eyes as if he wished to enjoy the terror which he inspired yet this savage hero was not inaccessible to pity his sublime enemies might confide in the assurance of peace or pardon and Attila was considered by his subjects as a just and indulgent master he delighted him more but after he had descended the throne in a mature age his head rather than his hand achieved the conquest of the north and the fame of an adventurous soldier was usually exchanged for that of a prudent and successful general the effects of personal valor are so inconsiderable except in poetry or romance that victory even among barbarians must depend on the degree of skill with which the passions of the multitude are combined and guided for the servants of a single man the skeetian conquerors attilan jingis surpassed their rude countrymen in art rather than in courage and it may be observed that the monarchies both of the huns and of the moguls were erected by their founders on the basis of popular superstition the miraculous conception which fraud and credulity ascribed to the virgin mother of jingis raised him above the level of human nature the naked prophet who in the name of the deity invested him with the empire of the earth pointed to the valor of the moguls with irresistible enthusiasm the religious arts of attila were not less skillfully adapted to the character of his age and country it was natural enough that the skeetians should had all with peculiar devotion to god of war but as they were incapable of forming either an abstract idea or a corporal representation they worshiped their tutelor deity under the symbol of an iron cimetre one of the shepherds of the huns perceived that the heifer who was grazing had wounded herself in the foot and curiously following the track of the blood till he discovered among the long grass the point of an ancient sword which he dug out of the ground and presented to attila that magnanimous or rather that artful prince accepted with pious gratitude this celestial favor and as the right possessor of the sword of mars asserted his divine and indefensible claim to the dominion of the earth if the rights of skeetia were practiced on this solemn occasion a lofty altar or rather pile of faggots 300 yards in length and in breadth was raised in a spacious plane and the sword of mars was placed direct on the summit of this rustic altar which was annually consecrated by the blood of sheep horses and of the hundred captive whether human sacrifices formed any part of the worship of attila or whether he propitiated the god of war with the victims which he continually offered in the field of battle the favoritomars soon acquired a sacred character which rendered his conquests more easy and more permanent and the barbarian princes confessed in the language of devotion or flattery that they could not presume to gaze with the steady eye on the divine majesty of the king of the huns his brother bleda who reigned over a considerable part of the nation was compelled to resign his captor and his life yet even this cruel act was attributed to a supernatural impulse and the vigor with which attila wielded the sword of mars convinced the world that it had been reserved alone for his invincible arm but the extent of his empire affords the only remaining evidence of the number and importance of his victories and skeetia and monarch however ignorant of the value of science and philosophy might perhaps lament that his illiterate subjects were destitute to the art which could perpetuate the memory of his exploits if a line of separation were drawn between the civilized and the savage climates of the globe between the inhabitants of cities who cultivated the earth and the hunters and shepherds who dwelt in tents attila might aspire to the title of supreme and sole monarch or the barbarians he alone among the conquerors of ancient and modern times united the two mighty kingdoms of germany and skeetia and those vague appellations when they are applied to this reign may be understood with an ample latitude touring gear which stretched beyond its actual limits as far as the danu was in the number of his provinces he interposed with the weight of a powerful neighbor in the domestic affairs of the francs and one of his lieutenants chastised and almost exterminated the burgundians of the Rhine his abdued the islands of the ocean the kingdoms of Scandinavia and compassed and divided by the waters of the Baltic and the huns might derive a tribute of firsts from that northern region which has been protected from all other conquerors by the severity of the climate and the courage of the natives towards the east it is difficult to circumscribe the dominion of attila over the skeetian deserts yet we may be assured that he reigned on the banks of the volga that the king of the huns was dreaded not only as a warrior but as a magician that he insulted and vanquished the Khan of the formidable gilgen and that he sent ambassadors to negotiate an equal alliance with the empire of china in the proud review of the nations who acknowledged the sovereignty of attila and who never entertained during his lifetime the thought of a revolt the gepidae and the ostrogots were distinguished by the numbers the bravery and the personal merits of their chiefs the renowned ardaric king of the gepidae was the faithful and sagacious consular of the monarch who esteemed his intrepid genius whilst he loved the mild and discreet virtues of the noble valdamir king of the ostrogots the crowd of vulgar kings the leaders of so many marginal tribes who served under the standard of attila were arranged in the submissive order of guards and domestic around the person of their master they watched his nod they trembled at his frown and at the first signal of his will they executed without murmur or hesitation his stern and absolute commands in time of peace the dependent princes with their national troops attended the royal camp in regular succession but when attila collected his military force he was able to bring into the field an army of five or according to another account of 700 000 barbarians the ambassadors of the hunts might awaken the attention of theodosius by reminding him that they were his neighbors both in europe and asia since they touched the danube on one hand and reached with the other as far as the tanaiz in the reign of his father arcadius a band of adventurers hunts had ravaged the provinces of the east from whence they brought to a rich spoils and innumerable captives they advanced by a secret path along the shores of the caspian sea traversed the snowy mountains of aminia past the tigris the euphrates and the hullies recruited their weary cavalry with the generous breed of capped parochian horses occupied the hilly country of silicae and disturbed the festal songs and dances of the citizens of antioch egypt trembled at their approach and the monks and pilgrims of the holy land prepared to escape the fury by a speedy embarkation the memory of this invasion was still recent in the minds of the orientals the subjects of attila might execute with superior forces the design which these adventurers had so boldly attempted and it soon became the subject of anxious conjecture whether the tempest would fall on the dominions of roam or of persia some of the great vassals of the king of the hunts who were themselves in the rank of powerful princes had been sent to ratify an alliance and society of arms with the emperor or rather with the general of the west they related during their residence at roam the circumstances of an expedition which they had lately made into the east after passing a desert and the moras supported by the romans to be the lake mauatis they penetrated through the mountains and arrived at the end of a 15 days march on the confines of media where they advanced as far as the unknown cities of basik and kursik they encountered a persian army in the plains of media and the air according to their own expression was darkened by a cloud of arrows but the hunts were obliged to retire before the numbers of the enemy their laborious retreat was affected by a different road they lost the greatest part of their booty and at length returned to the royal camp with some knowledge of the country and an impatient desire of revenge in the free conversation of the imperial ambassadors we discussed at the court vattila the character and designs of the formidable enemy the ministers of constantinople expressed their hope that his strength might be diverted and employed in a long and doubtful contest with the princes of the house of sassan the more sagacious italians admonished their eastern brethren of the folly and danger of such a hope and convinced them that the maids and persians were incapable of resisting the arms of the hunts and that the easy and important acquisition would exalt the pride as well as power of the conqueror instead of contending himself with the moderate contribution and the military title would equaled him only to the generals of teodosius attila would proceed to impose a disgraceful and intolerable yoke on the necks of the prostrate and captive romans who would then be encompassed on all sides by the empire of the hunts while the powers of europe and asia were solicitous to avert the impending danger the alliance of attila maintained the vandals in the possession of africa an enterprise had been concerted between the courts of ravina and constantinople for the recovery of that valuable province and the ports of sicily were already filled with the military and naval forces of teodosius but the subtle genseric who spread his negotiations around the world prevented their designs by exciting the king of the hunts to invade the eastern empire and the trifling incident soon became the motive or pretense of a destructive war under the fate of the treaty of margus a free market was held on the northern side of the danube which was protected by a roman fortress surnamed constantia a troop of barbarians violated the commercial security killed or dispersed the unsuspecting traders and leveled the fortress with the ground the hunts justified this outrage as an act of reprisal and alleged that the bishop of margus had entered their territories to discover and steal a secret treasure of their king and sternly demanded the guilty prelet the sacrilegious spoil and the fugitive subjects were escaped from the justice of attila the refusal of the Byzantine court was the signal of war and the messians had first applauded generous firmness of their sovereign but they were soon intimidated by the destruction of viminiacum and the agitation towns and the people was persuaded to adopt the convenient maxim that the private citizen however innocent or respectable may be justly sacrificed to the safety of his country the bishop of margus who did not possess the spirit of a martyr resolved to prevent the designs which he suspected he boldly treated with the princes of the hunts secured by solemn oaths his pardon and reward posted in a merrious detachment of barbarians in silent ambush on the banks of the danube and at the appointed hour opened with his own hands the gates of his episcopal city disadvantage which had been obtained by treachery served as a prelude to more honorable and decisive victories the illyrian frontier was covered by a line of castles and fortresses and though the greatest part of them consisted only of a single tower with a small garrison they were commonly sufficient to repel or to intercept the inroads of an enemy who was ignorant of the art and the patience of the delay of a regular siege but these slight obstacles were instantly swept away by the inundation of the hunts they destroyed with fire and sword the populous cities of syrmium and singedinum of rataria and marcianopolis of naisu san sadhika where every circumstance of the discipline of the people and the construction of the buildings had been gradually adapted to the sole purpose of defense the whole breadth of europe as it extends about 500 miles from the yuk scene to the hadriatic was at once invaded and occupied and desolated by the myriads of barbarians whom atila led into the field the public danger and distress could not however provoke theodosius to interrupt his amusements and devotion or to appear in person at the head of the roman legions but the troops which had been sent against gensirik were hastily recalled from sicily the garrisons on the side of persia were exhausted and the military force was collected in europe formidable by their arms and numbers if the generals had understood the science of command and the soldiers the duty of obedience the armies of the eastern empire were vanquished in three successive engagements and the process of atila may be traced by the fields of battle the two former on the banks of the utus and under the walls of marcianopolis were fought in the extensive planes between the danube and mount haemus as the romans were pressed by a victorious enemy they gradually and unskillfully retired towards the carconeus of drake and that narrow peninsula the last extremity of the land was marked by their third and irreparable defeat by the destruction of this army atila acquired the indisputable possession of the field from the helispant to thermopylae and the suburbs of constantinople he ravaged without resistance and without mercy the provinces of drake and mcadonia heraclea and hadrianople might perhaps escape this dreadful eruption of the hunts but the words the most expressive of total extopation and erasure are applied to the calamities which they inflicted on 70 cities of the eastern empire theodosius his court and the unwarlike people were protected by the walls of constantinople but those walls had been shaken by a recent earthquake and the fall of 58 towers had opened a large and tremendous breach the damage indeed was speedily repaired but this accident was aggravated by superstitious fear that heaven itself had delivered the imperial city to the shepherds of skeetia which strangers to the laws the language and the religion of the romans in all their invasions of the civilized empires of the south the skeetian shepherds have been uniformly activated by a savage and destructive spirit the laws of war that restrain the exercise of national rapine and murder are founded on two principles of substantial interest the knowledge of the permanent benefits which may be obtained by moderate use of conquest and the just apprehension lest the desolation which we inflict on the enemy's country may be retaliated on our own but these considerations of hope and fear are almost unknown in the pastoral state of nations the hands of attila may without injustice be compared to the moguls and tartars before their primitive manners were changed by religion and luxury and the evidence of oriental history may reflect some light on the short and imperfect annals of rome after the moguls had subdued the northern provinces of china it was seriously proposed not in the hour of victory and passion but in calm deliberate counsel to exterminate all the inhabitants of that populous country that the vacant land might be converted to the pastoral cattle the firmness of a chinese mandarin who insinuated some principles of rational policy into the minds of jinnis diverted him from the execution of this horrid design but in the cities of asia which yielded to the moguls the inhuman abuse of the rights of war was exercised with the regular form of discipline which may with equal reason though not with equal authority be imputed to the victorious huns the inhabitants who had submitted to their discretion were ordered to evacuate their houses and to assemble in some plain adjacent to the city where a division was made of the vanquished into three parts the first class consisted of the soldiers of the garrison and the young men capable of bearing arms and their fate was instantly decided they were either enlisted among the moguls or they were massacred on the spot by the troops who with pointed spears and bended bows had formed the circle around the captive multitude the second class composed of the young and beautiful women of the artificers of every rank and profession and of the more wealthy or honorable citizens from whom private ransom might be expected was distributed in equal or proportionate lots the remainder whose life or death was alike useless to the conquerors were permitted to return to the city which in the meanwhile had been stripped of its valuable furniture and the tax was imposed on those retched inhabitants for the indulgence of breeding their native air such was the behavior of the moguls when they were not conscious of any extraordinary rigor but the most casual provocation the slightest motive of caprice or convenience often provoked them to involve the whole people in an indiscriminate massacre and the ruin of some flourishing cities was executed with such unrelenting perseverance that according to their own expression horses might run without stumbling over the ground where they had once stood the three great capitals of kurasan maru nasabor and herat were destroyed by the armies of jingis and the exact account which was taken of the slain amounted to four million three hundred and forty seven thousand percent timur or tamerlane was educated in a less barbarous age and in the profession of the mahumatan religion yet if atila equaled the hostile ravages of tamerlane either the daughter of the hunt might deserve the epitode of the scourge of god end of chapter 34 part one recording by moansbrew helsing force finland