were destroyed in a single day. After this event, the behaviour of the two antagonists shewed them superior to their fortune. The Vandal, instead of being elated by this accidental victory, immediately renewed his solicitations for peace. The emperor of the west, who was capable of forming great designs, and of supporting heavy disappointments, consented to a treaty, or rather to a suspension of arms; in the full assurance that, before he could restore his navy, he should be supplied with provocations to justify a second war. Majorian returned to Italy, to prosecute his labours for the public happiness; and, as he was conscious of his own integrity, he might long remain ignorant of the dark conspiracy which threatened his throne and his life. The recent misfortune of Carthagena sullied the glory which had dazzled the eyes of the multitude: almost every description of civil and military officers were exasperated against the reformer, since they all derived some advantage from the abuses which he endeavoured to suppress; and the patrician Ricimer impelled the inconstant passions of the barbarians against a prince whom he esteemed and hated. The virtues of Majorian could not protect him from the impetuous sedition, which broke out in the camp near Tortona, at the foot of the Alps. He was compelled to abdicate the imperial purple; five days after his abdication, it was reported that he died of a dysentry; and the A.D.461, humble tomb, which covered his remains, was August 7. consecrated by the respect and gratitude of succeeding generations. The private character of Majo His death, Idatius, who was safe in Gallicia from the power of Ricimer, boldly and honestly declares, Vandali per proditores admoniti, &c. He dissembles, however, the name of the traitor. h Procop. de Bell. Vandal. lib. 1. c. 8. p. 194. The testimony of Idatius is fair and impartial:"Majorianum de Galliis Romam redeuntem, et Romano imperio vel nomini res necessarias ordinantem; Richimer livore percitus, et invidorum consilio fultus, fraude interficit circumventum." Some read Suevorum, and I am unwilling to efface either of the words, as they express the different accomplices who united in the conspiracy against Majorian. See the Epigrams of Ennodius, no. 135. inter Sirmond. Opera, tom. 1. p 1903. It is flat and obscure; but Ennodius was made bishop of Pavia fifty years after the death of Majorian, and his praise deserves credit and regard. rian inspired love and respect. Malicious calumny and satire excited his indignation, or, if he himself were the object, his contempt; but he protected the freedom of wit, and in the hours which the emperor gave to the familiar society of his friends, he could indulge his taste for pleasantry, without degrading the majesty of his rank.k Ricimer der the Severus. It was not perhaps without some regret, that reigns un- Ricimer sacrificed his friend to the interest of name of his ambition; but he resolved, in a second choice, A. D.461 to avoid the imprudent preference of superior -467. virtue and merit. At his command, the obsequious senate of Rome bestowed the imperial title on Libius Severus, who ascended the throne of the west, without emerging from the obscurity of a private condition. History has scarcely deigned to notice his birth, his elevation, his character, or his death. Severus expired, as soon as his life became inconvenient to his patron; and it would be useless to discriminate his nominal reign in the vacant interval of six years, between the death of Majorian and the elevation of Anthemius. During that period, the government was in the hands of Ricimer alone; and although the modest barbarian disclaimed the name of king, he accumulated treasures, formed a separate army, negotiated private alliances, and ruled Italy with the same independent and despotic authority which was afterward exercised by Odoacer and Theodoric. But his dominions were bounded by the Alps; and two Roman generals, Marcellinus and Ægidius, maintained their allegiance to the republic, by rejecting, with disdain, the phantom which he styled * Sidonius gives a tedious account, (lib. 1. epist. 11. p. 25-31.) of a supper at Arles, to which he was invited by Majorian, a short time before his death. He had no intention of praising a deceased emperor; but a casual disinterested remark,-Subrisit Augustus; ut erat, auctoritate servatâ, cum se communioni dedisset, joci plenus," outweighs the six hundred lines of his venal panegyric. 1 Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 317.) dismisses him to heaven. Auxerat Augustus naturæ lege Severus. Divorum numerum. And an old list of the emperors, composed about the time of Justinian, praises his piety, and fixes his residence at Rome. (Sirmond Not. ad Sidon. p. 111, 112.) Revolt of nus in an emperor. Marcellinus still adhered to the Marcelli old religion; and the devout Pagans, who seDalmatia cretly disobeyed the laws of the church and state, applauded his profound skill in the science of divination. But he possessed the more valuable qualifications of learning, virtue, and courage; the study of the Latin literature had improved his taste; and his military talents had recommended him to the esteem and confidence of the great Ætius, in whose ruin he was involved. By a timely flight, Marcellinus escaped the rage of Valentinian, and boldly asserted his liberty amidst the convulsions of the western empire. His voluntary, or reluctant, submission to the authority of Majorian, was rewarded by the government of Sicily, and the command of an army, stationed in that island to oppose, or to attack, the Vandals: but his barbarian mercenaries, after the emperor's death, were tempted to revolt by the artful liberality of Ricimer. At the head of a band of faithful followers, the intrepid Marcellinus occupied the province of Dalmatia, assumed the title of patrician of the west, secured the love of his subjects by a mild and equitable reign, built a fleet, which claimed the dominion of the Hadriatic, and alternately alarmed the coasts of Italy and of Africa." Ægidius, the masterEgidius general of Gaul, who equalled, or at least who imitated, the heroes of ancient Rome, proclaimed his immortal resentment against the assassins of his beloved master. A brave and numerous army was attached to his standard; and, though he was prevented by the arts of Ricimer, and the arms of the Visigoths, from marching to the gates of Rome, he maintained his and of in Gaul. m Tillemont, who is always scandalized by the virtues of infidels, attributes this advantageous portrait of Marcellinus (which Suidas has preserved) to the partial zeal of some Pagan historian. (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. 6. p. 330.) 11 Procopius de Bell. Vandal. lib. 1. c. 6. p. 191. In various circumstances of the life of Marcellinus, it is not easy to reconcile the Greek historian with the Latin Chronicles of the times. • I must apply to Egidius the praises which Sidonius (Panegyr. Majorian, 553.) bestows on a nameless master-general, who commanded the rear guard of Majorian. Idatius, from public report, commends his Christian piety; and Priscus mentions (p. 42.) his military virtues. independent sovereignty beyond the Alps, and rendered the name of Ægidius respectable both in peace and war. The Franks, who had punished with exile the youthful follies of Childeric, elected the Roman general for their king; his vanity, rather than his ambition, was gratified by that singular honour; and when the nation, at the end of four years, repented of the injury which they had offered to the Merovingian family, he patiently acquiesced in the restoration of the lawful prince. The authority of Ægidius ended only with his life; and the suspicions of poison and secret violence, which derived some countenance from the character of Ricimer, were eagerly entertained by the passionate credulity of the Gauls.P Naval war of the Vandals. -467. The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the western empire was gradually reduced, was afA. D. 461 flicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. In the spring of each year they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His designs were concealed with impenetrable secrecy, till the moment that he hoisted sail. When he was asked by his pilot, what course he should steer; Leave the determination to the P Greg. Turon. lib. 2. p. 12. in tom. 2. p. 168. The Pére Daniel, whose ideas were superficial and modern, has started some objections against the story of Childeric, (Hist. de France, tom. 1. Preface Historique, p. 78, &c.) but they have been fairly satisfied by Dubos; (Hist. Critique, tom. 1. p. 460-510.) and by two authors, who disputed the prize of the Academy of Soissons. (p. 131-177. 310-339.) With regard to the term of Childeric's exile, it is necessary either to prolong the life of Ægidius beyond the date assigned by the Chronicle of Idatius, or to correct the text of Gregory, by reading quarto anno, instead of octavo. The naval war of Genseric is described by Priscus, (Excerpta Legation. p. 42.) Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. lib. 1. c. 5. p. 189, 190. and c. 22. p. 228.) Victor Vitensis, (de Persecut. Vandal. lib. 1. c. 17. and Ruinart, p. 467-481.) and in the three panegyrics of Sidonius, whose chronological order is absurdly transposed in the editions both of Savaron and Sirmon. (Avit. Carm. 7. 441-451.) Majorian, Carm. 5. 327-350. 385. 440. Anthem. Carm. 2. 348. 386.) In one passage the poet seems inspired by his subject, and expresses a strong idea, by a lively image: Hinc Vandalus hostis Urget; et in nostrum numerosâ classe quotannis winds, replied the barbarian, with pious arrogance; they will transport us to the guilty coast, whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice. But if Genseric himself deigned to issue more precise orders, he judged the most wealthy to be the most criminal. The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily: they were tempted to subdue the island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the centre of the Mediterranean; and their arms spread desolation, or terror, from the columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. As they were more ambitious of spoil than of glory, they seldom attacked any fortified cities, or engaged any regular troops in the open field. But the celerity of their motions enabled them, almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most distant objects, which attracted their desires; and as they always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner landed, than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light valry. Yet, notwithstanding the example of their king, the native Vandals and Alani insensibly declined this toilsome and perilous warfare; the hardy generation of the first conquerors was almost extinguished, and their sons, who were born in Africa, enjoyed the delicious baths and gardens which had been acquired by the valour of their fathers. Their place was readily supplied by a various multitude of Moors and Romans, of captives and outlaws; and those desperate wretches, who had already violated the laws of their country, were the most eager to promote the atrocious acts which disgrace the victories of Genseric. In the treatment of his unhappy prisoners, he sometimes consulted his avarice, and sometimes indulged his cruelty; and the massacre of five hundred noble citizens of Zant, or Zacynthus, whose mangled bodies he cast into the Ionian sea, was imputed, by the public indignation, to his latest posterity. |