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hand of Honorius 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 the third, or to assume and exercise an absolute dominion over the mind of her grateful husband. The generous soldier, whose time had hitherto been divided between social pleasure and military service, was taught new lessons of avarice and ambition: he extorted the title of Augustus; and the servant of Honorius was associated to the empire of the west. The death of Constantius, 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. On a sudden, by some base intrigues of a steward and a nurse, this excessive 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 forced or 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 statues 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 Honorius, the consequence of a dropsy; but the important secret was not divulged, till the necessary orders had been despatched for the march of a large body of troops to the sea-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.

Elevation and While the ministers of Constantifall of the usurnople deliberated, the vacant throne of per John, A. D. 423-425. Honorius was usurped by the ambition of a stranger. The name of the rebel was John: he filled the confidential office of Primicerius, or principal secretary; and history has attributed to his character more virtues, than can easily be 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;

• Τα συνεχη κατα σομα φιλήματα, is the expression of Olympiodorus, (apud Photium, p. 197.) who means, perhaps, to describe the same caresses which Mahomet bestowed on his daughter Phatemah. Quando, (says the prophet himself,) quando subit mihi desiderium Paradisi, osculor eam, et ingero linguam meam in os ejus. But this sensual in dulgence was justified by miracle and mystery; and the anecdote has been communicated to the public by the reverend father Maracci, in his Version and Confutation of the Koran, tom. i. p. 32.

c For these revolutions of the western empire, consult Olympiodor.

but when he understood that his agents had been banished, 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 intrusted to Ardaburius, and his son Aspar, who had already signalized their valour against the Persians. It was resolved, that Ardaburius should embark with the infantry; while Aspar, at the head of the cavalry, conducted Placidia, and her son Valentinian, along the sea-coast of the Hadriatic. The march of the cavalry was performed with such active diligence, that they surprised, without resistance, the important city of Aquileia; when the hopes of Aspar 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. Ardaburius 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, Aspar. 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 Po: the gates of Ravenna, after a short struggle, were thrown open; and the defenceless tyrant was delivered to the mercy, or rather to 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 derision, 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 people from the hippodrome to the church, where he spent the remainder of the day in grateful devotion.

west,

In a monarchy, which, according Valentinian III. to various precedents, might be con- emperor of the sidered as elective, or hereditary, or A. D. 425–455. 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. moment, perhaps, his eyes were dazzled by the prospect of unbounded sway; but his indolent

For a

apud Phot. p. 192, 193. 196, 197. 200. Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 16. Socrates, 1. vii. 23, 24. Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 10, 11. and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 486. Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 3. p. 182, 183. Theophanes, in Chronograph. p. 72, 73. and the Chronicles.

d See Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, I. ii. c. 7. He has laboriously, but vainly, attempted to form a reasonable system of jurisprudence, from the various aud discordant modes of royal succession, which have been introduced by fraud or force, by time or accident.

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 difference 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 of Nobilissimus: he was promoted, before his departure from Thessalonica, to the rank and dignity of Cæsar; 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 governed the Roman world, the son of Placidia was betrothed to Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius and Athenais; and, as soon as the lover and his bride had attained the age of puberty, this honourable 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 maritime province of Dalmatia, and the dangerous sovereignty of Pannonia and Noricum, which had been filled and ravaged above twenty years by a promiscuous crowd of Huns, Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Bavarians. Theodosius and Valentinian continued to respect the obligations of their public and 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 their 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 of his mother title of Augustus, was no more than A. D. 425-450. six years of age: and his long minority was intrusted to the guardian care of a 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 Eudocia, the wise and successful policy of

Administration

Placidia,

e The original writers are not agreed (see Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. iv. p. 139.) whether Valentinian received the imperial diadem at Rome or Ravenna. In this uncertainty, I am willing to believe, that some respect was shown to the senate.

f The count de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vii. p. 292-300.) has established the reality, explained the motives, and traced the consequences, of this remarkable cession.

g See the first Novel of Theodosius, by which he ratifies and com. municates (A. D. 438.) the Theodosian Code. About forty years before that time, the unity of legislation had been proved by an exception. The Jews, who were numerous in the cities of Apulia and Calabria, produced a law of the east to justify their exemption from municipal offices; (Cod Theod. 1. xvi. tit. viii. leg. 13.) and the western emperor was obliged to invalidate, by a special edict, the law, quam constat meis partibus esse damnosam. Cod. Theod. 1. xi. tit. i. leg. 158.

Boniface.

Pulcheria. The mother of Valentinian was jealous of the power which she was incapable of exercising: she reigned twenty-five years, in the name of her son; and the character of that unworthy emperor gradually countenanced the suspicion, that Placidia had enervated his youth by a dissolute education, and studiously diverted his attention from every manly and honourable pursuit. Amidst the decay of military spirit, her armies were commanded by two generals, Ætius and Her two geneBoniface, who may be deservedly rals, Etius and 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 Ætius; and though time has thrown a shade over the exploits of his rival, the defence of Marseilles, and the deliverance of Africa, attest the military talents of count Boniface. In the field of battle, in partial encounters, in single combats, he was still the terror of the barbarians: the clergy, and particularly his friend Augustin, 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 assignation, mounted his horse, rode ten 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 Ætius and Boniface might have been usefully employed against the public enemies, in separate and important commands; but the experience of their past conduct should have decided the real favour and confidence of the empress Placidia. In the melancholy season of her exile and distress, Boniface alone had maintained her cause with unshaken fidelity; and the troops and treasures of Africa had essentially contributed to extinguish the rebellion. The same rebellion had been supported by the zeal and activity of Ætius, who brought an army of sixty thousand Huns from the Danube to the confines of Italy, for the service of the usurper. The untimely death of John compelled him to accept an advan

h Cassiodorius (Varior. 1. xi. Epist. i. p. 238.) has compared the regencies of Placidia and Amalasuntha. He arraigns the weakness of the mother of Valentinian, and praises the virtues of his royal mistress. On this occasion, flattery seems to have spoken the language of truth. i Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 12. and Godefroy's Dissertat. p. 493, &c.; and Renatus Frigeridus, apud Gregor. Turon. I. ii. c. 8. in tom. ii. p. 163. The father of Etius was Gaudentius, an illustrious citizen of the province of Scythia, and master-general of the cavalry: his mother was a rich and noble Italian. From his earliest youth, tius, as a soldier and a hostage, had conversed with the barbarians.

For the character of Boniface, see Olympiodorus, apud Phot. p. 196; and St. Augustin, apud Tillemont, Memoires Eccles, t. xiii. p. 712-715. 886. The bishop of Hippo at length deplored the fall of his friend, who after a solemn vow of chastity, had married a second wife of the Arian sect, and who was suspected of keeping several concubines in his house.

Africa,

A. D. 427.

tageous treaty; but he still continued, the subject | numerous army of Romans and Goths. Vanquished and the soldier of Valentinian, 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 Ætius possessed an advantage of singular moment in a female reign: he was present: he besieged, | with artful and assiduous flattery, the palace of Ravenna; disguised his 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. He secretly Error and revolt persuaded1 Placidia to recall Boniface of Boniface in 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 death; to the other, he stated the refusal as a signal of revolt; and when the credulous and unsuspectful count had armed the province in his defence, Ætius applauded his sagacity in 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 and to the republic; but the arts of Ætius still continued to betray and to inflame, and the count was urged, by persecution, to embrace the most desperate counsels. The success with which he eluded or repelled the first attacks, could not inspire a vain confidence, that, 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 it was impossible for him to despise. After some hesitation, the last struggles of prudence and loyalty, Boniface despatched a trusty friend to the court, or rather to the camp, of Gonderic, king of the Vandals, with the proposal of a strict alliance, and the offer of an advantageous and perpetual settlement.

He invites the
Vandals,
A. D. 428.

After the retreat of the Goths, the authority of Honorius had obtained a precarious establishment in Spain; except only in the province of Gallicia, where the Suevi and the Vandals had fortified their camps, in mutual discord, and hostile independence. The Vandals prevailed; and their adversaries were besieged in the Nervasian hills, between Leon and Oviedo, till the approach of count Asterius compelled, or rather provoked, the victorious barbarians to remove the scene of the war to the plains of Boetica. The rapid progress of the Vandals soon required a more effectual opposition; and the master-general Castinus marched against them with a

1 Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 3, 4. p. 182-186.) relates the fraud of tius, the revolt of Boniface, and the loss of Africa. This anecdote, which is supported by some collateral testimony, (see Ruinart Hist. Persecut. Vandal. p. 420, 421.) seems agreeable to the practice of ancient and modern courts, and would be naturally revealed by the repentance of Boniface.

m See the Chronicles of Prosper and Idatius. Salvian (de Gubernat. Dei, 1. vii. p. 246. Paris, 1608.) ascribes the victory of the Vandals to their superior piety. They fasted, they prayed, they carried a Bible in the front of the host, with the design, perhaps, of reproaching the perfidy and sacrilege of their enemies.

in battle by an inferior enemy, Castinus fled with
dishonour to Tarragona; and this memorable de-
feat, which has been represented as the punish-
ment, was most probably the effect, of his rash
presumption. Seville and Carthagena became the
reward, or rather the prey, of the ferocious con-
querors; and the vessels which they found in the
harbour of Carthagena, might easily transport them
to the isles of Majorca and Minorca, where the
Spanish fugitives, as in a secure recess, had vain-
ly concealed their families and their fortunes.
The experience of navigation, and perhaps the
prospect of Africa, encouraged the Vandals to
accept the invitation which they received from
count Boniface; and the death of Gonderic 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 Gen- Genseric, king
seric; a name, which, in the destruc- of the Vandals.
tion of the Roman empire, has deserved an equal
rank with the names of Alaric and Attila. The
king of the Vandals is described to have been of a
middle stature, with a lameness in one leg, which
he had contracted by an accidental fall from his
horse. His slow and cautious speech seldom de-
clared 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 Genseric was without bounds, and
without scruples; and the warrior could dexter-
ously 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 Hermanric, king of the Suevi,
had presumed to ravage the Spanish territories,
which he was resolved to abandon. Impatient of
the insult, Genseric pursued the hasty retreat of
the Suevi as far as Merida; precipitated the king
and his army into the river Anas, and calmly re-
turned to the sea-shore, to embark his victorious
troops. The vessels which transported He lands in
the Vandals over the modern Straits
of Gibraltar, a channel only twelve
miles in breadth, were furnished by the Spaniards,
who anxiously wished their departure; and by the
African general, who had implored their formidable
assistance."

Africa, A. D. 429, May;

and reviews his
army,
A. D. 429.

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

n Gizericus (his name is variously expressed) staturâ mediocris et equi casû claudicans, animo profundus, sermone rarus, luxuriæ contemptor, irâ turbidus, habendi cupidus, ad solicitandas gentes providentissimus, semina contentionum jacere, odia miscere paratus. Jornandes, de Rebus Geticis, c. 33. p. 657. This portrait, which is drawn with some skill and a strong likeness, must have been copied from the Gothic history of Cassiodoríus.

o See the Chronicle of Idatius. That bishop, a Spaniard and a contemporary, places the passage of the Vandals in the month of May, of the year of Abraham (which commences in October) 2444. This date, which coincides with A. D. 429, is confirmed by Isidore, another

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 obstinacy 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 patience and 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 proscribed by the laws, if they presumed to conceal themselves in the provinces of Africa. Their numerous congregations, both in cities and in the country, were deprived of the rights of the citiand of the exercise of religious worship. A regular scale of fines, from ten to two hundred pounds of silver, was curiously ascertained, accord

zens,

the account of the army which Genseric mustered on the coast of Mauritania. The Vandals, who in twenty years had penetrated from the Elbe to mount Atlas, were united under the command of their warlike king; and he reigned with equal authority over the Alani, who had passed, within the term of human life, from the cold of Scythia 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. Yet this various multitude amounted only to fifty thousand effective men; and though Genseric artfully magnified his apparent strength, by appointing eighty chiliarchs, or commanders of thousands, the fallacious increase of old men, of children, and of slaves, would scarcely have swelled his army to the number of fourscore thousand persons. But his own dex-ing to the distinctions of rank and fortune, to punish terity, and the discontents of Africa, soon fortified the Vandal powers, by the accession of numerous and active allies. The parts of Mauritania, which border on the great desert, and the Atlantic ocean, were filled with a fierce and untractable race of men, whose savage temper had been exasperated, rather than reclaimed, by their dread of the Roman arms. The wandering Moors, as they gradually ventured to approach the sea-shore, and the camp of the Vandals, must have viewed with terror and astonishment the dress, the armour, 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 or olive hue, which is derived from the neighbourhood of the torrid zone. After the first difficulties had in some measure been removed, which arose from the mutual ignorance of their respective language, the Moors, regardless of any future consequence, embraced the alliance of the enemies of Rome; and a crowd of naked savages rushed from the woods and 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 Moors.

The Donatists.

The persecution of the Donatists," was an event not less favourable to the designs of Genseric. Seventeen years before he

Spanish bishop, and is justly preferred to the opinion of those writers, who have marked for that event, one of the two preceding years. See Pagi Critica, tom. ii. p. 205, &c.

P Compare Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 5. p. 190.) and Victor Vetensis, (de Persecutione Vandal. 1. i. c. 1. p. 3. edit. Ruinart.) We are assured by Idatius, that Genseric evacuated Spain, cum Vandalis omnibus eorumque familiis; and Possidius (in Vit. Augustin. c. 28. apud Ruinart, p. 427.) describes his army as manus ingens immanium gentium Vandalorum et Alanorum, commixtam secum habens Gothorum gentem, aliarumque diversarum personas.

q For the manners of the Moors, see Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. ii. c. 6. p. 249.) for their figure and complexion, M. de Buffon. (Histoire Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 430.) Procopius says in general, that the Moors had joined the Vandals before the death of Valentinian, (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 5. p. 190.) and it is probable, that the independent tribes did not embrace any uniform system of policy.

r See Tillemont, Memoires Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 516-558. and the whole series of the persecution, in the original monuments, published by Dupin at the end of Optatus, p. 323-515.

The Donatist bishops, at the conference of Carthage, amounted to 279; and they asserted, that their whole number was not less than 400. The Catholics had 286 present, 120 absent, besides sixty-four vacant bishoprics.

the crime of assisting at a schismatic conventicle; and if the fine had been levied five times, without subduing the obstinacy 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. Augustin," great numbers of Donatists were reconciled to the catholic church: but the fanatics, who still persevered in their opposition, were provoked to madness and despair; the distracted country was filled with tumult and bloodshed; the armed troops of Circumcellions alternately pointed their rage against themselves, or against their adversaries; and the calendar of martyrs received on both sides a considerable augmentation.* Under these circumstances, Genseric, a christian, but an enemy of the orthodox communion, showed himself to the Donatists 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 active zeal, or the secret favour, of a domestic faction; the wanton outrages against the churches and the clergy, of which the Vandals are accused, may be fairly imputed to the fanaticism of their allies; and the intolerant spirit, which disgraced the triumph of christianity, contributed to the loss of the most important province of the west."

The fifth title of the sixteenth book of the Theodosian Code exhibits a series of the imperial laws against the Donatists, from the year 400 to the year 428. Of these the 54th law, promulgated by Honorius, A. D. 414, is the most severe and effectual.

St. Augustin altered his opinion with regard to the proper treatment of heretics. His pathetic declaration of pity and indulgence for the Manichæans, has been inserted by Mr. Locke, (vol. iii. p. 469.) among the choice of specimens of his common-place book. Another philosopher, the celebrated Bayle, (tom. ii. p. 445-496.) has refuted, with superfluous diligence and ingenuity, the arguments, by which the bishop of Hippo justified, in his old age, the persecution of the Donatists.

x See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 586-592. 806. The Donatists boasted of thousands of these voluntary martyrs. Augustin asserts, and probably with truth, that these numbers were much exag gerated; but he sternly maintains, that it was better that some should burn themselves in this world, than that all should burn in hell flames. y According to St. Augustin and Theodoret, the Donatists were inclined to the principles, or at least to the party, of the Arians, which Genseric supported. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 68.

See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A. D. 428. No. 7. A. D. 439. No. 35. The cardinal, though more inclined to seek the cause of great events in heaven than on the earth, has observed the apparent connexion of

A. D. 430.

The court and the people were astoTardy repentance of Boniface, nished by the strange intelligence, that a virtuous hero, after so many favours, and so many services, had renounced his allegiance, and invited the barbarians to destroy the province intrusted to his command. The friends of Boniface, who still believed that his criminal behaviour might be excused by some honourable motive, solicited, during the absence of Ætius, 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 Etius were produced and compared ; and the fraud was easily detected. Placidia and Boniface lamented their fatal error; and the count had sufficient magnanimity to confide in the forgiveness of his 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 Valentinian; but the rest of Africa was still distracted with war and faction; and the inexorable king of the Vandals, disdaining all terms of accommodation, 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; and Carthage, Cirta, and Hippo Regius, were the only cities that appeared to rise above the general inundation.

Desolation of

The long and narrow tract of the Africa. 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 and the Mediterranean. A simple reflection will impress every thinking mind with the clearest idea of fertility and cultivation: the country was extremely populous; the inhabitants reserved a liberal subsistence for their own use; and the annual exportation, particularly of wheat, was so regular and plentiful, that Africa deserved the name of the common granary of Rome and of mankind. On a sudden, the seven fruitful provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by the invasion of the Vandals; whose destructive rage has perhaps been exaggerated by popular animosity, religious zeal,

the Vandals and the Donatists. Under the reign of the barbarians, the schismatics of Africa enjoyed an obscure peace of one hundred years; at the end of which, we may again trace them by the light of the im perial persecutions. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 192, &c. a In a confidential letter to count Boniface, St. Augustin, without examining the grounds of the quarrel, piously exhorts him to discharge the duties of a christian and a subject; to extricate himself without de. lay from his dangerous and guilty situation; and even, if he could ob. tain the consent of his wife, to embrace a life of celibacy and penance. (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 890.) The bishop was intimately connected with Darius, the minister of peace. (ld. tom. xiii. p. 928.) b The original complaints of the desolation of Africa are contained, 1. In a letter from Capreolus, bishop of Carthage, to excuse his absence from the council of Ephesus, (ap. Ruinart, p. 429.) 2. In the life of St. Augustin, by his friend and colleague Possidius, (ap. Ruinart, p. 427.) 3. In the history of the Vandalic Persecution, by Victor Vitensis. (I. i. c.

and extravagant declamation. War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice; and the hostilities of barbarians are inflamed 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 the 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 Genseric justified his frequent examples of military execution: he 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 Donatists. Yet I shall not easily be persuaded, that it was the common practice of the Vandals to extirpate the olives, and other fruittrees, of a country where they intended to settle: nor can I believe that it was a usual stratagem 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.b

The generous mind of count Boni- Siege of Hippo, face was tortured by the exquisite dis- A. D. 430. May. tress of beholding the ruin which he had occasioned, and whose rapid progress he was unable to check. After the loss of a battle, he retired into Hippo Regius; where he was immediately besieged by an enemy, who considered him as the real bulwark of Africa. The maritime colony of Hippo,c about two hundred miles westward of Carthage, had formerly acquired the distinguishing epithet of Regius, from the residence of Numidian kings; and some remains of trade and populousness still adhere to the modern city, which is known in Europe by the corrupted name of Bona. The military labours and anxious reflections, of count Boniface, were alleviated by the edifying conversation of his friend St. Augustin; till that bishop, the light and pillar of the catholic church, was gently re- Death of St. Auleased, in the third month of the siege, gustin, A. D. 430, and in the seventy-sixth year of his Aug. 28. age, from the actual and the impending calamities of his country. The youth of Augustin had been stained by the vices and errors which he so ingenuously confesses; but from the moment of his con

1, 2, 3. edit. Ruinart.) The last picture, which was drawn sixty years after the event, is more expressive of the author's passions than of the truth of facts.

c See Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part. ii. p. 112. Leo African. in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 70. L'Afrique de Marmol, tom. ii. p. 434. 437. Shaw's Travels, p. 46, 47. The old Hippo Regius was finally destroyed by the Arabs in the seventh century; but a new town at the distance of two miles, was built with the materials; and it contained, in the sixteenth century, about three hundred families of industrious but turbulent manufacturers. The adjacent territory is renowned for a pure air, a fertile soil, and plenty of exquisite fruits.

d The life of St. Augustin, by Tillemont, fills a quarto volume (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii.) of more than one thousand pages; and the diligence of that learned Jansenist was excited, on this occasion, by factious and devout zeal for the founder of his sect.

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