[403-406 A.D.] Both sides claimed the victory, but the chief advantage was undoubtedly on the side of the Romans, who in this fight freed thousands of their imprisoned countrymen and plundered the enemy's baggage. But the Goths were by no means conquered; for throughout the summer they maintained themselves in the vicinity of the Apennines, and held the city of Rome in constant fear. They only began to retire from Italy in the autumn; and Stilicho let them depart with their booty, thinking it advisable to build golden bridges for a flying enemy. Nevertheless he observed their march, and tried to induce individual tribes who served under Alaric to leave him; and delivered a second battle at Verona, which was more disastrous to the king of the Goths than the battle of Pollentia, for it was with only a small portion of his army that he reached his own country.

For a few years the Goths remained quiet; but soon after their departure, other Germans visited Italy with far worse devastations than theirs had been (406). Radagaisus, one of the German princes who had accompanied Alaric

in his first expedition to Italy, collected to the north of the upper Danube a number of private adventurers and whole tribes, whom he promised to lead to Rome itself, saying he had heard of an opportunity and a way of getting there. His expedition resembled a national migration, as women and children accompanied the army, which according to the lowest computation amounted to two hundred thousand men, and according to another and more probable one, to double that number. Stilicho did not dare to oppose this flood, but rather tried to keep it within bounds by the manner in which he divided and disposed his troops.

Watched from all sides, the barbaric hordes advanced through Lombardy and over the Apennines to the neighbourhood of Florence. Here Stilicho, who had followed the expedition, took possession of all the approaches to the mountains, threw reinforcements into the towns, had his own army supplied from the sea, and quietly awaited the result of the want which an innumerable and disorderly crowd must soon begin to feel. Hemmed in on all sides by the Roman troops, in a short time the barbarians suffered from famine, disease, and every kind of misery. Stilicho destroyed a part of this great body, but the remaining and larger portion died from want. Etruria resembled a vast grave; the leader of the unfortunate swarm in vain tried to fight his way through-he was captured and executed.

[406-407 A.D.]

Alan horsemen, Huns, Goths, and other barbarians, who were among the Roman mercenaries, here did the best service. This is especially worthy of attention, as it shows us that the inhabitants of the most beautiful of countries, whose predecessors had conquered all nations of the earth, had sunk so low that they actually called in barbarians to defend them from other barbarians. On their weakness, their love of ease and pleasure, every law of their own government was wrecked, even when the latter sought to compel them to military service by severe punishments. They even preferred to mutilate themselves, as many did at this time so as to escape from serving in war, rather than risk dangers and hardships for the sake of their country.

For the second time Stilicho had saved Italy; his merit was greater than that of a Camillus or a Marius, as he had not, like these men, to lead a warlike nation into battle, but had first to create his army. Besides this, his whole life was not only a fight of civilisation with barbarism, but at the same time the struggle of force with underhand intrigue. For this reason we can no more weigh his private character against his political merits than we can those of other Roman heroes, especially of Camillus and Marius. Much of what has been made matter of reproach against him should rather be counted to him for merit. For instance, he kept his emperor under perpetual tutelage, but immediately after Stilicho's death the advantage of depriving Honorius of a personal share in the government became apparent.

It is with still greater injustice that the ruin of the prosperity of Gaul and Spain in the period immediately following the expedition of Radagaisus has been attributed to him as a crime. Stilicho had brought the Roman troops from Gaul and kept them with him after the liberation of Italy, as he intended seeking out the Goths in Illyricum. The barbarians in Germany seized this opportunity to invade Gaul (407). The Quadi, Vandals, Suevi, Alani, Heruli, Saxons, Burgundiones, Franks, and other barbarians broke into the unfortunate country, wasting it as they advanced, whilst the Gepida, Sarmatæ, and Huns pressed into the Danubian provinces which some of these peoples had hitherto occupied, and settled there. Argentoratum (Strasburg), Noviomagus (Speier), Borbetomagus (Worms), Mogontiacum, and other towns, which until then had opposed a barrier to the barbarians, were destroyed, and like a rushing stream the invaders poured themselves over all parts of Gaul.

The like misfortune overtook the province of Britain, whence Stilicho had just recalled the Roman forces. In 407 the troops of this country, amongst whom there were only a few Roman soldiers, finding themselves thus abandoned to their fate, proclaimed one of their number, Constantine, emperor, and under his leadership crossed over into Gaul. Here Constantine was universally acknowledged as ruler by the inhabitants, who stood in much need of help. An army under the general Sarus, whom Honorius sent against him, was beaten, and Constantine also fought the barbarians successfully. As, owing to the gravity of the situation in Italy and Gaul, Honorius and his ministers could not for the moment concern themselves with Spain, Constantine considered the moment propitious to subject that country also. The religious dissensions by which Spain as well as Africa was then rent, and the persecutions which the Donatists and Arians had to suffer from the orthodox Honorius and his court ecclesiastics, facilitated Constantine's undertaking. The Roman troops and militia were vanquished by him and almost the whole land conquered. Unfortunately Constantine replaced the brave national militia of the mountaineers, who until then had defended the passes of the Pyrenees, by mercenaries of all nations, and these

[407-411 A.D.]

shortly after made common cause with the barbarians who wandered across the mountains from Gaul, and became their companions and guides.c

Zosimus & has said of Stilicho that, during the twenty-three years that he commanded the army, never had he used the funds for his own profit, nor did he resort to any dishonest means to advance the interests of his only son. This son, however, was only twenty years old, and, although Stilicho was faithful under Theodosius and during the first part of the reign of Honorius, he might have later allowed himself to be corrupted in his official capacity. Several writers have accused him of having thought to elevate his son to the throne at the sacrifice of Honorius, his prince, his pupil, and his sonin-law, and with this point in view to have brought about the invasion of the barbarians which resulted in such evil to the Romans. Olympiodorus e and Zosimus, both pagans, defend him on this point: this they did because perhaps they would have been content to see Eucher usurp the empire and re-establish paganism.

Zosimus does not hesitate to say that as his trust made him minister of justice it was necessary to buy it from him either with money or with favour; that "all the best and richest lands in the empire fell into his hands either through fear of incurring his disfavour or in the desire to lean upon his reputation to pillage the people; that he acquired immense riches by despoiling the most illustrious families and ruining the provinces." One reads the same thing, and written in a more odious manner, in Suidas, who seems to have taken it from Eunape, a pagan historian of that time. Zosimus also accuses Stilicho of amusing himself "by pleasures unworthy of him and even criminal, just at the time when he had most need to husband all his time." h

Whilst these events were taking place, Italy was also a prey to the barbarians. Stilicho had induced the Gothic king Alaric to quit the service of the Greek Empire for that of the Latin, and had come to some secret understanding with him, about which we are completely in the dark. According to a highly improbable report, Stilicho wished to employ Alaric's Goths against his own master; according to another, which is just as unreliable, he intended marching with the Goths against Constantinople, and placing his son on the Greek throne. Whatever the facts may have been, Stilicho and Alaric had come to some agreement; for just as the former was marching against Constantine with his army, Alaric suddenly appeared on the frontiers of Italy, complained that he had been deceived, and demanded an indemnity. The Roman senate, which was intrusted with the management of the affair, was extremely unwilling to grant this shameful tribute and only consented at Stilicho's urgent request.

The minister's enemies seized this opportunity to bring about his fall, and the weak Honorius listened to the miserable persons who in their jealousy of Stilicho worked on the emperor's timidity to make him suspicious of the only man who could save the empire.c

Four days after the emperor had arrived at Pavia the soldiers, incited by Olympius, revolted. Zosimus exaggerates this sedition as much as possible. Sozomen, in speaking of it, says that all those were killed who were believed to be accomplices of Stilicho.

Zosimus narrates at length the sorrow of Stilicho when he heard of this revolt, the news of which reached him at Boulogne, and how he withdrew to Ravenna where Honorius sent two separate orders; the one for his arrest, the other for his death. When the officer who carried them handed in the first, Stilicho took refuge in the church. The next day he came forth and

[408 A.D.]

delivered himself into the hands of the soldiers, after they had taken an oath, in the presence of the bishop, that they had orders only to hold him as a prisoner. The officer however having given the second order, he was beheaded the 23rd of August, according to Zosimus. In which statement he is upheld by history.

Eucher, sometime before the death of his father, had retired to Rome, where he also had sought refuge in a church, and, although orders had been given to kill him wherever he was found, respect for the place prevented the officers from using violence until a special order arrived from the emperor commanding them to drag him forth. He was conducted out of Rome, probably to the emperor, who condemned him to death, whereupon he was sent back to Rome to be executed. He was almost rescued on the way by the troops of Alaric, who, as we shall see, overran all Italy. Eucher was finally executed before the first siege of Rome. "Thus," says Orosius,g "was the emperor Honorius and the church also (which had everything to fear from Eucher) delivered from a great peril and avenged with scarcely any noise and by the chastisement of but a few people." Olympius, who took the place of the fallen minister, from the first used his power to ruin the empire. He filled the positions in the army and state with his creatures, put to death all Stilicho's family, friends, and clients, on whom he could lay hands, tried in every way to gratify the ecclesiastics' greed of power, and went so far in his hypocritical piety that when Alaric threatened Rome he appointed not the bravest and most experienced, but the most pious men as commanders.

At a time when unity was of the first necessity, he prevailed upon the emperor to make a number of intolerant decrees. It was not only ordained that no Arian was to fill a public office, but the persecution of heretics on behalf of the state was made a duty binding upon all magistrates; more than this, Honorius even gave the investigation of heresies into the hands of the clergy, and set up a special inquisitorial tribunal for the purpose. The Arian Goths in the Roman army were reduced to despair by these measures, and as, after the murder of Stilicho, the wives and children of barbarian soldiers whom the Romans held as security for their fidelity had been put to death, many thousands of Goths, Alans, and other foreigners belonging to the Roman army fled to Alaric, and offered themselves to him as combatants and guides that they might take vengeance on the Romans.c

THE incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appearance and produce the effects of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius. The king of the Goths would have conspired, perhaps with some reluctance, to destroy the formidable adversary by whose arms, in Italy as well as in Greece, he had been twice overthrown. Their active and interested hatred laboriously accomplished the disgrace and ruin of the great Stilicho. The valour of Šarus, his fame in arms, and his personal or hereditary influence over the confederate barbarians could recommend him only to the friends of their country, who despised or detested the worthless characters of Turpilio, Varanes, and Vigilantius. By the pressing instances of the new favourites, these generals, unworthy as they had shown themselves of the name of soldiers, were promoted to the command of the cavalry, of the infantry, and of the domestic troops. The Gothic prince would have subscribed with pleasure the edict which the fanaticism of Olympius dictated to the simple and devout emperor.

Honorius excluded all persons adverse to the Catholic church from holding any office in the state; obstinately rejected the service of all those who dissented from his religion; and rashly disqualified many of his bravest and most skilful officers, who adhered to the pagan worship or who had imbibed the opinions of Arianism. These measures, so advantageous to an enemy, Alaric would have approved, and might perhaps have suggested; but it may seem doubtful whether the barbarian would have promoted his interest at the expense of the inhuman and absurd cruelty which was perpetrated by the direction or at least with the connivance of the imperial ministers. The foreign auxiliaries who had been attached to the person of Stilicho lamented his death; but the desire of revenge was checked by a natural apprehension for the safety of their wives and children, who were detained as hostages in the strong cities of Italy, where they had likewise deposited their most valuable effects. At the same hour, and as if by a common signal, the cities of Italy were polluted by the same horrid scenes of universal massacre and pillage, which involved in promiscuous destruction the families and fortunes of the barbarians. Exasperated by such an injury, which might have awakened the tamest and most servile spirit, they cast a look of indignation and hope towards the camp of Alaric, and unanimously swore to pursue with just and implacable war the perfidious nation that had so basely violated the laws of hospitality. By the imprudent conduct of the ministers