of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to the courts of Arcadius and Honorius; till he declared and executed his resolution of invading the dominions of the west. The provinces of Europe which belonged to the eastern emperor, were already exhausted; those of Asia were inaccessible; and the strength of Constantinople had resisted his attack. But he was tempted by the fame, the beauty, the wealth of Italy, which he had twice visited; and he secretly aspired to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs.b

He invades Italy, The scarcity of facts, and the uncerA. D. 400-403. tainty of dates, oppose our attempts to describe the circumstances of the first invasion of Italy by the arms of Alaric. His march, perhaps from Thessalonica, through the warlike and hostile country of Pannonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; his passage of those mountains, which were strongly guarded by troops and intrenchments; the siege of Aquileia, and the conquest of the provinces of Istria and Venetia, appear to have employed a considerable time. Unless his operations were extremely cautious and slow, the length of the interval would suggest a probable suspicion, that the Gothic king retreated towards the banks of the Danube, and reinforced his army with fresh swarms of barbarians, before he again attempted to penetrate into the heart of Italy. Since the public and important events escape the diligence of the historian, he may amuse himself with contemplating, for a moment, the influence of the arms of Alaric on the fortunes of two obscure individuals, a presbyter of Aquileia, and a husbandman of Verona. The learned Rufinus, who was summoned by his enemies to appear before a Roman synod, wisely preferred the dangers of a besieged city; and the barbarians, who furiously shook the walls of Aquileia, might save him from the cruel sentence of another heretic, who, at the request of the same bishops, was severely whipped, and condemned to perpetual exile on a desert island. The old man, who had passed his simple and innocent life in the neighbourhood of Verona, was a stranger to the quarrels both

-Discors odiisque anceps civilibus Orbis Non sua vis tutata diu, dum fœdera fallax Ludit, et alternæ perjuria venditat aulæ.

e

Claudian de Bell. Get. 565.

b Alpibus Italiæ ruptis penetrabis ad Urbem. This authentic prediction was announced by Alaric, or at least by Claudian, (de Bell. Getico, 547.) seven years before the event. But as it was not accomplished within the term which has been rashly fixed, the interpreters escaped through an ambiguous meaning.

c Our best materials are 970 verses of Claudian, in the poem on the Getic war, and the beginning of that which celebrates the sixth consulship of Honorius. Zosimus is totally silent; and we are reduced to such scraps, or rather crumbs, as we can pick from Orosius and the Chronicles.

d Notwithstanding the gross errors of Jornandes, who confounds the Italian wars of Alaric, (c. 29.) his date of the cousulship of Stilicho and Aurelian (A. D. 400) is firm and respectable. It is certain from Claudian, (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 804.) that the battle of Pollentia was fought, A. D. 403; but we cannot easily fill the interval.

e Tantum Romanæ urbis judicium fugis, ut magis obsidionem barbaricam, quam pacatæ urbis judicium velis sustinere. Jerom. tom. ii. p. 239. Rufinus understood his own danger; the peaceful city was inflamed by the beldam Marcella, and the rest of Jerom's faction. f Jovinian, the enemy of fasts and of celibacy, who was persecuted and insulted by the furious Jerom. (Jortin's Remarks, vol. iv. p. 104,

of kings and of bishops; his pleasures, his desires, his knowledge, were confined within the little circle of his paternal farm; and a staff supported his aged steps, on the same ground where he had sported in his infancy. Yet even this humble and rustic felicity (which Claudian describes with so much truth and feeling) was still exposed to the undistinguishing rage of war. His trees, his old contemporary trees," must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country; a detachment of Gothic cavalry might sweep away his cottage and his family; and the power of Alaric could destroy this happiness, which he was not able either to taste, or to bestow. "Fame," says the poet, " encircling with terror her gloomy wings, proclaimed the march of the barbarian army, and filled Italy with consternation :" the apprehensions of each individual were increased in just proportion to the measure of his fortune: and the most timid, who had already embarked their valuable effects, meditated their escape to the island of Sicily, or the African coast. The public distress was aggravated by the fears and reproaches of superstition. Every hour produced some horrid tale of strange and portentous accidents: the pagans deplored the neglect of omens, and the interruption of sacrifices; but the christians still derived some comfort from the powerful intercession of the saints and martyrs.

k

Honorius flies

A. D. 403.

The emperor Honorius was distinguished, above his subjects, by the from Milan, pre-eminence of fear, as well as of rank. The pride and luxury in which he was educated, had not allowed him to suspect, that there existed on the earth any power presumptuous enough to invade the repose of the successor of Augustus. The arts of flattery concealed the impending danger, till Alaric approached the palace of Milan. But when the sound of war had awakened the young emperor, instead of flying to arms with the spirit, or even the rashness, of his age, he eagerly listened to those timid counsellors, who proposed to convey his sacred person, and his faithful attendants, to some secure and distant station in the provinces of Gaul. Stilicho alone had courage and authority to resist this disgraceful measure, which

&c.) See the original edict of banishment in the Theodosian Code, 1. xvi. tit. v. leg. 43.

g This epigram (de Sene Veronensi qui suburbium nusquam egres. sus est) is one of the earliest and most pleasing compositions of Claudian. Cowley's imitation (Hurd's edition, vol. ii. p. 241.) has some natural and happy strokes: but it is much inferior to the original portrait, which is evidently drawn from the life.

h Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum
Equævumque videt consenuisse nemus.

A neighbouring wood born with himself he sees,
And loves his old contemporary trees.

In this passage, Cowley is perhaps superior to his original; and the English poet, who was a good botanist, has concealed the oaks, under a more general expression.

i Claudian de Bell, Get. 192-266. He may seem prolix: but fear and superstition occupied as large a space in the minds of the Italians. k From the passages of Paulinus, which Baronius has produced, (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 403. No. 51.) it is manifest, that the general alarm had pervaded all Italy, as far as Nola in Campania, where that famous penitent had fixed his abode

1 Solus erat Stilicho, &c. is the exclusive commendation which Claudian bestows, (de Bell. Get. 267.) without condescending to except the emperor. How insignificant must Honorius have appeared in his own court!

The

would have abandoned Rome and Italy to the barbarians; but as the troops of the palace had been lately detached to the Rhætian frontier, and as the resource of new levies was slow and precarious, the general of the west could only promise, that, if the court of Milan would maintain their ground during his absence, he would soon return with an army equal to the encounter of the Gothic king. Without losing a moment, (while each moment was so important to the public safety,) Stilicho hastily embarked on the Larian lake, ascended the mountains of ice and snow, amidst the severity of an Alpine winter, and suddenly repressed, by his unexpected presence, the enemy, who had disturbed the tranquillity of Rhætia." The barbarians, perhaps some tribes of the Alemanni, respected the firmness of a chief, who still assumed the language of command; and the choice which he condescended to make, of a select number of their bravest youth, was considered as a mark of his esteem and favour. cohorts, who were delivered from the neighbouring foe, diligently repaired to the imperial standard; and Stilicho issued his orders to the most remote troops of the west, to advance, by rapid marches, to the defence of Honorius and of Italy. The fortresses of the Rhine were abandoned; and the safety of Gaul was protected only by the faith of the Germans, and the ancient terror of the Roman name. Even the legion, which had been stationed to guard the wall of Britain against the Caledonians of the north, was hastily recalled;" and a numerous body of the cavalry of the Alani was persuaded to engage in the service of the emperor, who anxiously expected the return of his general. The prudence and vigour of Stilicho were conspicuous on this occasion, which revealed, at the same time, the weakness of the falling empire. The legions of Rome, which had long since languished in the gradual decay of discipline and courage, were exterminated by the Gothic and civil wars; and it was found impossible, without exhausting and exposing the provinces, to assemble an army for the defence of Italy. He is pursued When Stilicho seemed to abandon and besieged by his sovereign in the unguarded palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might retard their march. He principally depended on the rivers of Italy, the Adige, the Mincius, the Oglio, and the Addua; which, in the winter or spring, by the fall of rains, or by the melting of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous torrents.° But the season happened to be remarkably dry; and m The face of the country, and the hardiness of Stilicho, are finely described, (de Bell. Get. 340-363.)

the Goths.

n Venit et extremis legio prætenta Britannis Quæ Scoto dat frena truci. De Bell, Get. 416. Yet the most rapid march from Edinburgh, or Newcastle, to Milan, must have required a longer space of time than Claudian seems willing to allow for the duration of the Gothic war.

o Every traveller must recollect the face of Lombardy, (see Fonte. nelle, tom. v. p. 279.) which is often tormented by the capricious and irregular abundance of waters. The Austrians, before Genoa, were encamped in the dry bed of the Polcevera. "Ne sarebbe" (says Muratori) "mai passato per mente a que buoni Alemanni, che quel picciolo torrente potesse, per cosi dire in un instante cangiarsi in un terribil gigante." (Annal. d'Italia, tom. xvi. p. 443. Milan, 1753, 8vo. edit.)

the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached the walls, or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud satisfaction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him. Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs, hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his person in the city of Arles, which had often been the royal residence of his predecessors. But Honorius P had scarcely passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic cavalry; since the urgency of the danger compelled him to seek a temporary shelter within the fortification of Asta, a town of Liguria or Piedmont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus." The siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably obtain much credit, even in his own court. In the last and almost hopeless extremity, after the barbarians had already proposed the indignity of a capitulation, the imperial captive was suddenly relieved by the fame, the approach, and at length the presence, of the hero, whom he had so long expected. At the head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho swam the stream of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost in the attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of much less hazard and difficulty; and the successful action, in which he cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of Asta, revived the hopes, and vindicated the honour, of Rome. Instead of grasping the fruit of his victory, the barbarian was gradually invested, on every side, by the troops of the west, who successively issued through all the passes of the Alps; his quarters were straitened; his convoys were intercepted; and the vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain of fortifications, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the Gothic nation; of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in furs, and whose stern countenances were marked with honourable wounds. They weighed the glory of persisting in their attempt against the advantage of securing their

p Claudian does not clearly answer our question, Where was Honorius himself! Yet the flight is marked by the pursuit; and my idea of the Gothic war is justified by the Italian critics, Sigonius (tom. i. P. ii. p. 369. de Imp. Occident, I. x.) and Muratori. (Annali d'Italia, tom. iv. p. 45.)

q One of the roads may be traced in the Itineraries, (p. 98. 288. 294. with Wesseling's Notes.). Asta lay some miles on the right hand. r Asta, or Asti, a Roman colony, is now the capital of a pleasant country, which, in the sixteenth century, devolved to the dukes of Savoy, (Leandro Alberti Descrizzione d'Italia, p. 382.)

s Nec me timor impulit ullus. He might hold this proud language the next year at Rome, five hundred miles from the scene of danger. (vi Cons. Hon. 449.)

plunder; and they recommended the prudent measure of a seasonable retreat. In this important debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the conqueror of Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their achievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating speech, by the solemn and positive assurance, that he was resolved to find, in Italy, either a kingdom or a grave.t

Battle of Pol-
lentia,
A. D. 403.
March 29.

The loose discipline of the barbarians always exposed them to the danger of a surprise; but, instead of choosing the dissolute hours of riot and intemperance, Stilicho resolved to attack the christian Goths, whilst they were devoutly employed in celebrating the festival of Easter." The execution of the stratagem, or, as it was termed by the clergy, of the sacrilege, was intrusted to Saul, a barbarian and a pagan, who had served, however, with distinguished reputation among the veteran generals of Theodosius. The camp of the Goths, which Alaric had pitched in the neighbourhood of Pollentia, was thrown into confusion by the sudden and impetuous charge of the imperial cavalry; but, in a few moments, the undaunted genius of their leader gave them an order, and a field, of battle; and, as soon as they had recovered from their astonishment, the pious confidence, that the God of the christians would assert their cause, added new strength to their native valour. In this engagement, which was long maintained with equal courage and success, the chief of the Alani, whose diminutive and savage form concealed a magnanimous soul, approved his suspected loyalty, by the zeal with which he fought, and fell, in the service of the republic; and the fame of this gallant barbarian has been imperfectly preserved in the verses of Claudian, since the poet, who celebrates his virtue, has omitted the mention of his name. His death was followed by the flight and dismay of the squadrons which he commanded; and the defeat of the wing of cavalry might have decided the victory of Alaric, if Stilicho had not immediately led the Roman and barbarian infantry to the attack. The skill of the general, and the bravery of the soldiers, surmounted every obstacle. In the evening of the bloody day, the Goths retreated from the field of battle; the entrenchments of their camp were forced, and the scene of rapine and slaughter made some atonement for the calamities which they had

Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo
Victus, humum

The speeches (de Bell. Get. 479-549.) of the Gothic Nestor, and Achilles, are strong, characteristic, adapted to the circumstances, and possibly not less genuine than those of Livy.

u Orosius (1. vii. c. 37.) is shocked at the impiety of the Romans, who attacked, on Easter Sunday, such pious christians. Yet, at the same time, public prayers were offered at the shrine of St. Thomas of Edessa, for the destruction of the Arian robber. See Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 529) who quotes an homily, which has been erroneously ascribed to St. Chrysostom.

x The vestiges of Pollentia are twenty-five miles to the south-east of Turin. Urbs, in the same neighbourhood, was a royal chace of the kings of Lombardy, and a small river, which excused the prediction, penetrabis ad urbem." (Cluver. Ital. Antiq. tom. i. p. 83-85.) y Orosius wishes, in doubtful words, to insinuate the defeat of the Romans. "Pugnantes vicimus, victores victi sumus.' Prosper (in Chiron.) makes it an equal and bloody battle; but the Gothic writers, Cassiodorius (in Chron.) and Jornandes, (de Reb. Get. c. 29.) claim a decisive victory.

inflicted on the subjects of the empire. The magnificent spoils of Corinth and Argos enriched the veterans of the west; the captive wife of Alaric, who had impatiently claimed his promise of Roman jewels and patrician handmaids,' was reduced to implore the mercy of the insulting foe; and many thousand prisoners, released from the Gothic chains, dispersed through the provinces of Italy the praises of their heroic deliverer. The triumph of Stilicho was compared by the poet, and perhaps by the public, to that of Marius; who, in the same part of Italy, had encountered and destroyed another army of northern barbarians. The huge bones, and the empty helmets, of the Cimbri and of the Goths, would easily be confounded by succeeding generations; and posterity might erect a common trophy to the memory of the two most illustrious generals, who had vanquished, on the same memorable ground, the two most formidable enemies of Rome.

The cloquence of Claudian has Boldness and recelebrated, with lavish applause, the treat of Alaric. victory of Pollentia, one of the most glorious days in the life of his patron; but his reluctant and partial muse bestows more genuine praise on the character of the Gothic king. His name is, indeed, branded with the reproachful epithets of pirate and robber, to which the conquerors of every age are so justly entitled; but the poet of Stilicho is compelled to acknowledge, that Alaric possessed the invincible temper of mind, which rises superior to every misfortune, and derives new resources from adversity. After the total defeat of his infantry, he escaped, or rather withdrew, from the field of battle, with the greatest part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Without wasting a moment to lament the irreparable loss of so many brave companions, he left his victorious enemy to bind in chains the captive images of a Gothic king ;a and boldly resolved to break through the unguarded passes of the Apennine, to spread desolation over the fruitful face of Tuscany, and to conquer or die before the gates of Rome. The capital was saved by the active and incessant diligence of Stilicho; but he respected the despair of his enemy; and, instead of committing the fate of the republic to the chance of another battle, he proposed to purchase the absence of the barbarians. The spirit of Alaric would have rejected such terms, the permission of a retreat, and the offer of a pension, with contempt

z Demens Ausonedum gemmata monilia matrum,
Romanasque altâ famulas cervice petebat.

De Bell. Get. 627.

a Claudian (de Bell. Get. 580-647.) and Prudentius (in Symmach. 1. ii. 694-719.) celebrate, without ambiguity, the Roman victory of Pollentia. They are poetical and party writers; yet some credit is due to the most suspicious witnesses, who are checked by the recent notoriety of facts.

b Claudian's peroration is strong and elegant; but the identity of the Cimbric and Gothic fields, must be understood (like Virgil's Philippi, Georgic i. 490.) according to the loose geography of a poet. Vercellæ and Pollentia are sixty miles from each other; and the latitude is still greater, if the Cimbri were defeated in the wide and barren plain of Verona. (Maffei, Verona Illustrata, P. i. p. 54-62.)

e Claudian and Prudentius must be strictly examined, to reduce the figures, and extort the historic sense, of those poets. d Et gravant en airain ses frêles avantages De mes etats conquis enchainer les images. The practice of exposing in triumph the images of kings and provinces was familiar to the Romans. The bust of Mithridates himself

and indignation; but he exercised a limited and precarious authority over the independent chieftains, who had raised him, for their service, above the rank of his equals; they were still less disposed to follow an unsuccessful general, and many of them were tempted to consult their interest by a private negociation with the minister of Honorius. The king submitted to the voice of his people, ratified the treaty with the empire of the west, and repassed the Po, with the remains of the flourishing army which he had led into Italy. A considerable part of the Roman forces still continued to attend his motions ; and Stilicho, who maintained a secret correspondence with some of the barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprized of the designs that were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the Goths, ambitious to signalize his retreat by some splendid achievement, had resolved to occupy the important city of Verona, which commands the principal passage of the Rhætian Alps; and, directing his march through the territories of those German tribes, whose alliance would restore his exhausted strength, to invade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and unsuspecting provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason, which had already betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards the passes of the mountains, already | possessed by the imperial troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona, the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of hunger and disease; nor was it possible for him to check the continual desertion of his impatient and capricious barbarians. In this extremity he still found resources in his own courage, or in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic king was considered as the deliverance of Italy. Yet the people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed, the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is was twelve feet high, of massy gold. (Frienshem. Supplement. Livian. ciii. 47.)

e The Getic war and the sixth consulship of Honorius obscurely connect the events of Alaric's retreat and losses.

f Taceo de Alarico. . . sæpe victo, sæpe concluso, semperque dimisso. Orosins, 1. vii. c. 37. p. 567. Cláudian (vi Cons. Hon. 320.) drops the curtain with a fine image.

g The remainder of Claudián's poem on the sixth consulship of Honorius, describes the journey, the triumph, and the games, (330G60.)

A. D. 404.

devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny. The citizens of Rome had been as- The triumph of tonished by the approach of Alaric; Honorius at Rome, and the diligence with which they laboured to restore the walls of the capital, confessed their own fears, and the decline of the empire. After the retreat of the barbarians, Honorius was directed to accept the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to celebrate in the imperial city the auspicious æra of the Gothic victory, and of his sixth consulship. The suburbs and the streets, from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of an hundred years, had only thrice been honoured with the presence of their sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where Stilicho was deservedly seated by the side of his royal pupil, they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like that of Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been purposely erected: but in less than seven years, the Gothic conquerors of Rome might read, if they were able to read, the superb inscription of that monument, which attested the total defeat and destruction of their nation." The emperor resided several months in the capital, and every part of his behaviour was regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy, the senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his frequent visits, and liberal gifts, to the shrines of the apostles. The senate, who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused from the humiliating ceremony of preceding on foot the imperial chariot, was treated with the decent reverence which Stilicho always affected for that assembly. The people were repeatedly gratified by the attention and courtesy of Honorius in the public games, which were celebrated on that occasion with a magnificence not unworthy of the spectator. As soon as the appointed number of chariot-races was concluded, the decoration of the circus was suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded a various and splendid entertainment; and the chace was succeeded by a military dance, which seems, in the lively description of Claudian, to present the image of a modern tournament. In these games of Honorius, the in- The gladiators human combats of gladiatorsi polluted, for the last time, the amphitheatre of Rome. The first christian emperor may claim the honour of the first edict, which condemned the art and amusement of shedding human blood, but this benevolent law expressed the wishes of the prince, without reforming an inveterate abuse, which degraded a

abolished.

ators.