and is succeeded by August 25. Pulcheria, whose authority had been controuled both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs by the pernicious influence of the eunuchs, was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East; and the Romans, for the first time, submitted to a female reign. No sooner had Pulcheria ascended the throne, than she indulged her own and the public resentment, by an act of popular justice. Without any legal trial, the eunuch Chrysaphius was executed before the gates of the city; and the immense riches which had been accumulated by the rapacious favourite, served only to hasten and to justify his punishment (51). Amidst the general acclamations of the clergy and people, the empress did not forget the prejudice and disadvantage to which her sex was exposed; and she wisely resolved to prevent their murmurs by the choice of a colleague, who would always respect the superior rank and virgin chastity of his wife. She gave Marcian, her hand to Marcian, a senator, about sixty years of age; and the nominal husband of Pulcheria was solemnly invested with the Imperial purple. The zeal which he displayed for the orthodox creed, as it was established by the council of Chalcedon, would alone have inspired the grateful eloquence of the Catholics. But the behaviour of Marcian in a private life, and afterwards on the throne, may support a more rational belief, that he was qualified to restore and invigorate an empire, which had been almost dissolved by the suc➡ cessive weakness of two hereditary monarchs. He was born in Thrace, and educated to the profession of arms; but Marcian's youth had been severely exercised by poverty and misfortune, since his only resource, when he first arrived at Constantinople, consisted in two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed of a friend. He passed nineteen years in the domestic and military service of Aspar, and his son Ardaburius: followed those powerful generals to the Persian and African wars; and obtained, by their influence, the honourable rank of tribune and senator. His mild disposi→ tion, and useful talents, without alarming the jealousy, recommended Marcian to the esteem and favour, of his patrons; he had seen, perhaps he had felt, the abuses of a venal and oppressive administration; and his own example gave weight and energy to the laws, which he promulgated for the reformation of manners (52). mention the fall, without specifying the injury: but the consequence was so likely to happen, and so unlikely to be invented, that we may safely give credit to Nicephorus Callistus, a Greek of the fourteenth century. (51) Pulcher nutu ( says count Marcellinus) sua cum avaritia interemptus est. She abandoned the eunuch to the pious revenge of a son, whose father had suffered at his instigation.* (52) Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. I. i. c. 4. Evagrius, 1. ii. c. 1. Theophanes, p. 90, 91. Novell. ad Calcem Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 30. The praises which St. Leo and the Catholics have bestowed on Marcian, are diligently transcribed by Baronius, as an encouragement for future princes. *Might not the execution of Chrysaphius have assassination the eunuch had attempted to conbeen a sacrifice to avert the anger of Attila, whose trive?-M. Ir was the opinion of Marcian, that war should be avoided, as long as it is possible to preserve a secure and honourable peace; but it was likewise his opinion, that peace cannot be honourable or secure, if the sovereign betrays a pusillanimous aversion to war. This temperate courage dictated his reply to the demands of Attila, who insolently pressed the payment of the annual tribute. The emperor signified to the Barbarians, that they must no longer insult the majesty of Rome by the mention of a tribute; that he was disposed to reward, with becoming liberality, the faithful friendship of his allies; but that, if they presumed to violate the public peace, they should feel that he possessed troops, and arms, and resolution, to repel their attacks. The same language, even in the camp of the Huns, was used by his ambassador Apollonius, whose bold refusal to deliver the presents, till he had been admitted to a personal nterview, displayed a sense of dignity, and a contempt of danger, which Attila was not prepared to expect from the degenerate Romans (1). He threatened to chastise the rash successor of Theodosius; but, he hesitated, whether he should first direct his invincible arms against the Eastern or the Western empire. While mankind awaited his decision with awful suspense, he sent an equal defiance to the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople; and his ministers saluted the two emperors with the same haughty declaration." "At"tila, my lord, and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace "for his immediate reception (2)." But as the Barbarian despised, or affected to despise, the Romans of the East, whom he had so often vanquished, he soon declared his resolution of suspending the easy conquest, till he had achieved a more glorious and important enterprise. In the memorable invasions of Gaul and Italy, the Huns were naturally attracted by the wealth and fertility of those provinces; but the particular motives and provocations of Attila, can only be explained by the state of the Western empire under the reign of Valentinian, or, to speak more correctly, under the administration of Aetius (3). (1) See Priscus, p. 39. 72. (2) The Alexandrian or Paschal Chronicle, which introduces this haughty message, during the lifetime of Theodosius, may have anticipated the date; but the dull annalist was incapable of inventing the original and genuine style of Attila. (3) The second book of the Histoire Critique de l'Établissement de la Monarchie Françoise, tom. i. p. 189-424. throws great light on the state of Gaul, when it was invaded by Attila; but the ingenious author, the Abbé Dubos, too often bewilders himself in system and conjecture. Attila threatens both empires, and prepares to invade Gaul, A. D. 450.. Character and administration of Aetius, A. D. 433-454. After the death of his rival Boniface, Aetius had prudently retired to the tents of the Huns; and he was indebted to their alliance for his safety and his restoration. Instead of the suppliant language of a guilty exile, he solicited his pardon at the head of sixty thousand Barbarians; and the empress Placidia confessed, by a feeble resistance, that the condescension, which might have been ascribed to clemency, was the effect of weakness or fear. She delivered herself, her son Valentinian, and the Western empire, into the hands of an insolent subject; nor could Placidia protect the son-in-law of Boniface, the virtuous and faithful Sebastian (4), from the implacable persecution, which urged him from one kingdom to another, till he miserably perished in the service of the Vandals. The fortunate Aetius, who was immediately promoted to the rank of patrician, and thrice invested with the honours of the consulship, assumed, with the title of master of the cavalry and infantry, the whole military power of the state; and he is sometimes styled, by contemporary writers, the duke, or general, of the Romans of the West. His prudence, rather than his virtue, engaged him to leave the grandson of Theodosius in the possession of the purple; and Valentinian was permitted to enjoy the peace and luxury of Italy, while the patrician appeared in the glorious light of a hero and a patriot, who supported near twenty years the ruins of the Western empire. The Gothic historian ingenuously confesses, that Aetius was born for the salvation of the Roman republic (5); and the following portrait, though it is drawn in the fairest colours, must be allowed to contain a much larger proportion of truth than of flattery.* "His mother was a wealthy and noble Italian, and his father Gau"dentius, who held a distinguished rank in the province of Scythia, "gradually rose from the station of a military domestic, to the dignity of master of the cavalry. Their son, who was enrolled 66 (4) Victor Vitensis (de Persecut. Vandal. 1. i. c. 6. p. 8. edit. Ruinart) calls him, acer consilio et strenuus in bello: but his courage, when he became unfortunate, was censured as desperate rashness; and Sebastian deserved, or obtained, the epithet of præceps (Sidon. Apollinar. Carmen ix. 181.). His adventures at Constantinople, in Sicily, Gaul, Spain, and Africa, are faintly marked in the Chronicles of Marcellinus and Idatius. In his distress, he was always followed by a pñerous train; since he could ravage the Hellespont and Propontis, and seize the city of Barcelona. (5) Reipublicæ Romanæ singulariter natus, qui superbiam Suevorum, Francorumque barbariem immensis cædibus servire Imperio Romano coegisset. Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 34. p. 660. "almost in his infancy in the guards, was given as a hostage, first "to Alaric, and afterwards to the Huns; and he successively ob"tained the civil and military honours of the palace, for which he "was equally qualified by superior merit. The graceful figure of "Aetius was not above the middle stature; but his manly limbs "were admirably formed for strength, beauty, and agility; and he "excelled in the martial exercises of managing a horse, drawing "the bow, and darting the javelin. He could patiently endure the "want of food or of sleep; and his mind and body were alike ca"pable of the most laborious efforts. He possessed the genuine "courage, that can despise not only dangers, but injuries; and it "was impossible either to corrupt, or deceive, or intimidate the "firm integrity of his soul (6)." The Barbarians, who had seated themselves in the Western provinces, were insensibly taught to respect the faith and valour of the patrician Aetius. He soothed their passions, consulted their prejudices, balanced their interests, and checked their ambition. A seasonable treaty, which he concluded with Genseric, protected Italy from the depredations of the Vandals; the independent Britons implored and acknowledged his salutary aid; the Imperial authority was restored and maintained in Gaul and Spain; and he compelled the Franks and the Suevi, whom he had vanquished in the field, to become the useful confederates of the republic. From a principle of interest, as well as gratitude, Aetius assiduously cultivated the alliance of the Huns. While he resided in their tents as a hostage, or an exile, he had familiarly conversed with Attila himself, the nephew of his benefactor; and the two famous antagonists appeared to have been connected by a personal and military friendship, which they afterwards confirmed by mutual gifts, frequent embassies, and the education of Carpilio, the son of Aetius, in the camp of Attila. By the specious professions of gratitude and voluntary attachment, the patrician might disguise his apprehensions of the Scythian conqueror, who pressed the two empires with his innumerable armies. His demands were obeyed (6) This portrait is drawn by Renatus Profutures Frigeridus, a contemporary historian, known only by some extracts, which are preserved by Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 8. in tom. ii. p. 163. ). It was probably the duty, or at least the interest, of Renatis, to magnify the virtues of Ætius; but he would have shewn more dexterity, if he had not insisted on his patient, forgiving disposition. * cum Scythicis succumberet ensibus orbis, Oblitus quod noster erat. Proh nescia regis Merobaudes, Panegyr. p. 15.-M. His connection with the Huns and Alani. The Visigoths n Gaul under or eluded. When he claimed the spoils of a vanquished city, some vases of gold, which had been fraudulently embezzled, the civil and military governors of Noricum were immediately dispatched to satisfy his complaints (7); and it is evident, from their conversation with Maximin and Priscus, in the royal village, that the valour and prudence of Aetius had not saved the Western Romans from the common ignominy of tribute. Yet his dexterous policy prolonged the advantages of a salutary peace; and a numerous army of Huns and Alani, whom he had attached to his person, was employed in the defence of Gaul. Two colonies of these Barbarians were judiciously fixed in the territories of Valence and Orleans (8); and their active cavalry secured the important passages of the Rhône and of the Loire. These savage allies were not indeed less formidable to the subjects than to the enemies of Rome. Their original settlement was enforced with the licentious violence of conquest; and the province through which they marched was exposed to all the calamities of an hostile invasion (9). Strangers to the emperor or the republic, the Alani of Gaul were devoted to the ambition of Aetius; and though he might suspect, that, in a contest with Attila himself, they would revolt to the standard of their national king, the patrician laboured to restrain, rather than to excite, their zeal and resentment against the Goths, the Burgundians, and the Franks. The kingdom established by the Visigoths in the southern prohe reign of vinces of Gaul, gradually acquired strength and maturity; and the Theodoric, conduct of those ambitious Barbarians, either in peace or war, en19-451. gaged the perpetual vigilance of Aetius. After the death of Wallia, A. D. the Gothic sceptre devolved to Theodoric, the son of the great Alaric (10); and his prosperous reign of more than thirty years, over (7) The embassy consisted of count Romulus; of Promotus, president of Noricum; and of Romanus, the military duke. They were accompanied by Tatullus, an illustrious citizen of Petovio, in the same province, and father of Orestes, who had married the daughter of count Romulus. See Priscus, p. 57. 65. Cassiodorius (Variar. i. 4.) mentions another embassy, which was executed by his father and Carpilio, the son of Aetius; and, as Attila was no more, he could safely boast of their manly intrepid behaviour in his presence. (8) Deserta Valentinæ urbis rura Alanis partienda traduntur. Prosper. Tyronis Chron, in Historiens de France, tom. i. p. 639. A few lines afterwards, Prosper observes, that lands in the ulterior Gaul were assigned to the Alani. Without admitting the correction of Dubos (tom. i. p. 300.), the reasonable supposition of two colonies or garrisons of Alani, will confirm his arguments, and remove his objections. (9) See Prosper. Tyro, p. 639. Sidonius (Panegyr. Avit. 246.) complains, in the name of Auvergne, his native country, Litorius Scythicos equites tunc forte subacto Another poet, Paulinus of Perigord, confirms the complaint: Nam socium vix ferre queas, qui durior hoste. See Dubos, tom. i. p. 330. (10) Theodoric II. the son of Theodoric I., declares to Avitus his resolution of repairing, or expiating, the faults which his grandfather had committed. |