CHA P. The taxes were multiplied with the public diftrefs; œconoXXXV. my was neglected in proportion as it became neceffary; and ~ the injuftice of the rich fhifted the unequal burden from themselves to the people, whom they defrauded of the indulgencies that might fometimes have alleviated their mifery. The fevere inquifition, which confifcated their goods, and tortured their perfons, compelled the fubjects of Valentinian to prefer the more fimple tyranny of the Barbarians, to fly to the woods and mountains, or to embrace the vile and abject condition of mercenary fervants. They abjured and abhorred the name of Roman citizens, which had formerly excited the ambition of mankind. The Armorican provinces of Gaul, and the greatest part of Spain, were thrown into a state of disorderly independence, by the confederations of the Bagaude; and the Imperial minifters pursued with profcriptive laws, and ineffectual arms, the rebels whom they had made (78). If all the Barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the fame hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the Weft: and if Rome ftill furvived, fhe furvived the lofs of freedom, of virtue, and of honour. vehement invectives. His immoderate freedom ferves to prove the weak- (78) The Bagaudæ of Spain, who fought pitched battles with the Ro- .... CHA P. XXXVI. Sack of Rome by Genferic, King of the Vandals.-His naval HE lofs or defolation of the provinces, from the CHA P. To ocean to the Alps, impaired the glory and greatness XXXVI. of Rome: her internal profperity was irretrievably deftroyed Naval pow by the separation of Africa. The rapacious Vandals confif- er of the cated the patrimonial estates of the fenators, and intercepted Vandals, the regular fubfidies, which relieved the poverty, and en- A. D. 439 couraged the idleness, of the plebeians. The diftrefs of-455the Romans was foon aggravated by an unexpected attack; and the province, fo long cultivated for their use by induftrious and obedient fubjects, was armed against them by an ambitious Barbarian. The Vandals and Alani, who followed the fuccefsful ftandard of Genferic, had acquired a rich and fertile territory, which ftretched along the coaft. above ninety days journey from Tangier to Tripoli; but their narrow limits were preffed and confined, on either fide, by the fandy defert and the Mediterranean. The difcovery and conqueft of the Black nations, that might dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not tempt the rational ambition of Genferic; but he caft his eyes towards the fea; he refolved to create a naval power, and his bold refolution was executed with steady and active perfeverance. The woods of mount Atlas afforded an inexhaustible nursery of timber; his new fubjects were skilled in the arts of navigation and fhip-building; he animated his daring Vandals to embrace a mode of warfare which would render every maritime coun try acceffible to their arms; the Moors and Africans were allured by the hopes of plunder; and, after an interval of fix centuries, the fleets that iffyed from the port of Carthage Bb 2 again CHAP. again claimed the empire of the Mediterranean. The fucXXXVI. cefs of the Vandals, the conqueft of Sicily, the fack of Palermo, and the frequent defcents on the coast of Lucania, awakened and alarmed the mother of Valentinian, and the fifter of Theodofius. Alliances were formed; and armaments, expenfive and ineffectual, were prepared, for the deftruction of the common enemy; who referved his courage to encounter thofe dangers which his policy could not prevent or elude. The defigns of the Roman government were repeatedly baffled by his artful delays, ambiguous promifes, and apparent conceffions; and the interpofition of his formidable confederate the king of the Huns, recalled the emperors from the conqueft of Africa to the care of their domeftic fafety. The revolutions of the palace, which left the Western empire without a defender, and without a lawful prince, difpelled the apprehenfions, and ftimulated the avarice, of Genferic. He immediately equipped a numerous fleet of Vandals and Moors, and caft anchor at the mouth of the Tyber, about three months after the death of Valentinian, and the elevation of Maximus to the Imperial throne. The charac ror Maxi mus, A. D. 455, The private life of the fenator Petronius Maximus (1), ter and reign was often alledged as a rare example of human felicity. His of the empe- birth was noble and illuftrious, fince he defcended from the Anician family; his dignity was fupported by an adequate patrimony in land and money; and thefe advantages of fortune were accompanied with liberal arts, and decent manners, which adorn or imitate the ineftimable gifts of genius and virtue. The luxury of his palace and table was hofpitable and elegant. Whenever Maximus appeared in public, he was furrounded by a train of grateful and obfequious clients (2); and it is poffible that among these clients, he might deserve and poffefs fome real friends. His merit was rewarded by the favour of the prince and fenate: he thrice exercised the office of Prætorian præfect of Italy; he was twice invested with the confulship, and he obtained the rank of (1) Sidonius Apollinaris compofed the thirteenth epistle of the fecond book, to refute the paradox of his friend Serranus, who entertained a fingular, though generous, enthusiasm for the deceased emperor. This epistle, with fome indulgence, may claim the praise of an elegant composition; and it throws much light on the character of Maximus. (2) Clientum, prævia, pediffequa, circumfufa, populofitas, is the train. which Sidonius himself (I. i. epift. 9.) affigns to another fenator of confular rank. of patrician. These civil honours were not incompatible c H AP. with the enjoyment of leisure and tranquillity; his hours, XXXVI. according to the demands of pleasure or reason, were accurately distributed by a water-clock; and this avarice of time may be allowed to prove the sense which Maximus entertained of his own happiness. The injury which he received from the emperor Valentinian, appears to excufe the most bloody revenge. Yet a philofopher might have reflected, that, if the refiftance of his wife had been fincere, her chaftity was ftill inviolate, and that it could never be reftored if she had consented to the will of the adulterer. A patriot would have hesitated, before he plunged himself and his country into thofe inevitable calamities, which muft follow the extinction of the royal houfe of Theodofius. The imprudent Maximus difregarded thefe falutary confiderations: he gratified his refentment and ambition; he faw the bleeding corpfe of Valentinian at his feet; and he heard himself saluted emperor by the unanimous voice of the senate and people. But the day of his inauguration was the laft day of his happiness. He was imprisoned (fuch is the lively expreffion of Sidonius) in the palace; and after paffing a fleepless night he fighed that he had attained the fummit of his wifhes, and afpired only to defcend from the dangerous elevation. Oppreffed by the weight of the diadem, he com- · municated his anxious thoughts to his friend and quæftor Fulgentius; and when he looked back with unavailing regret on the secure pleafures of his former life, the emperor exclaimed, "O fortunate Damocles (3), thy reign began and "ended with the fame dinner" a well-known allufion, which Fulgentius afterwards repeated as an inftructive leffon for princes and fubjects. The reign of Maximus continued about three months. His death, His hours, of which he had lost the command, were disturb- A. D. 455. ed by remorse, or guilt, or terror, and his throne was June 12. thaken by the feditions of the foldiers, the people, and the confederate (3) Districtus enfis cui fuper impiâ Horat. Carm, iii, 1. Sidonius concludes his letter with the ftory of Damocles, which Cicero Tusculan, v. 2 0, 2 1.) had fo inimitably told, CHA P. Confederate Barbarians. The marriage of his fon Palladius XXXVI. with the eldest daughter of the late emperor, might tend to establish the hereditary fucceffion of his family; but the violence which he offered to the emprefs Eudoxia, could proceed only from the blind impulfe of luft or revenge. His own wife, the cause of these tragic events, had been season, ably removed by death; and the widow of Valentinian was compelled to violate her decent mourning, perhaps her real grief, and to fubmit to the embraces of a prefumptuous ufurper, whom the fufpected as the affaffin of her deceased hufband. Thefe fufpicions were foon juftified by the indif creet confeffion of Maximus himfelf; and he wantonly provoked the hatred of his reluctant bride, who was ftill confcious that the defcended from a line of emperors. From the Eaft, however, Eudoxia could not hope to obtain any effectual affiftance: her father and her aunt Pulcheria were dead; her mother languished at Jerufalem in disgrace and exile; and the fceptre of Conftantinople was in the hands of a ftranger. She directed her eyes towards Carthage; fecretly implored the aid of the king of the Vandals; and perfuaded Genferic to improve the fair opportunity of disguifing his rapacious defigns by the fpecious names of honour, justice, and compaffion (4). Whatever abilities Maximus might have fhewn in a fubordinate station, he was found incapable of adminiftering an empire; and though he might easily have been informed of the naval preparations, which were made on the oppofite fhores of Africa, he expected with supine indifference the approach of the enemy, without adopting any measures of defence, of negociation, or of a timely retreat. When the Vandals difembarked at the mouth of the Tyber, the emperor was fuddenly roufed from his lethargy by the clamours of a trembling and exafperated multitude. The only hope which prefented itself to his aftonifhed mind was that of a precipitate flight, and he exhorted the fenators to imitate the example of their prince. But no fooner did Maximus appear in the streets, than he was affaulted by a shower of ftones: a Roman, or a Burgundian, foldier claim, ed (4) Notwithstanding the evidence of Procopius, Evagrius, Idatius, Marcellinus, &c. the learned Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. iv. p. 249.) doubts the reality of this invitation, and obferves, with great truth, Non si può dir quanto fia facile il popolo a fognaree spacci ar voci false." But his argument, from the interval of time and place, is extremely feeble. The figs which grew near Carthage were produced to the fenate of Rome on the third day. |