His expedition A. D. 456. the republic (21). The exploits of Theodoric soon convinced the into Spain, World, that he had not degenerated from the warlike virtues of his ancestors. After the establishment of the Goths in Aquitain, and the passage of the Vandals into Africa, the Suevi, who had fixed their kingdom in Gallicia, aspired to the conquest of Spain, and threatened to extinguish the feeble remains of the Roman dominion. The provincials of Carthagena and Tarragona, afflicted by an hostile invasion, represented their injuries and their apprehensions. Count Fronto was dispatched, in the name of the emperor Avitus, with advantageous offers of peace and alliance; and Theodoric interposed his weighty mediation, to declare, that, unless his brother-in-law, the king of the Suevi, immediately retired, he should be obliged to arm in the cause of justice and of Rome. "Tell him," replied the haughty Rechiarius, "that I despise his friendship and his arms; "but that I shall soon try, whether he will dare to expect my arrival “under the walls of Toulouse." Such a challenge urged Theodoric to prevent the bold designs of his enemy: he passed the Pyrenees at the head of the Visigoths: the Franks and Burgundians served under his standard; and though he professed himself the dutiful servant of Avitus, he privately stipulated, for himself and his successors, the absolute possession of the Spanish conquests. The two armies, or rather the two nations, encountered each other on the banks of the river Urbicus, about twelve miles from Astorga; and the decisive victory of the Goths appeared for a while to have extirpated the name and kingdom of the Suevi. From the field of battle Theodoric advanced to Braga, their metropolis, which still retained the splendid vestiges of its ancient commerce and dignity (22). His entrance was not polluted with blood; and the Goths respected the chastity of their female captives, more especially of the consecrated virgins: but the greatest part of the clergy and people were made slaves, and even the churches and altars were confounded in the universal pillage. The unfortunate king of the Suevi had escaped to one of the ports of the ocean; but the obstinacy of the winds opposed his flight: he was delivered to his implacable rival; and Rechiarius, who neither desired nor expected mercy, received, with manly constancy, the death which he would probably have inflicted. After this bloody sacrifice to policy or resentment, Theodoric carried his victorious arms as far as Merida, the principal town (21) Theodoric himself had given a solemn and voluntary promise of fidelity, which was understood both in Gaul and Spain. Auson. de Claris Urbibus, p. 245. Quæque sinu pelagi jactat se Bracara dives. From the design of the king of the Suevi, it is evident that the navigation from the ports of Gallicia to the Mediterranean was known and practised. The ships of Bracara, or Braga, cautiously steered along the coast, without daring to lose themselves in the Atlantic. of Lusitania, without meeting any resistance, except from the miraculous powers of St. Eulalia; but he was stopped in the full career of success, and recalled from Spain, before he could provide for the security of his conquests. In his retreat towards the Pyrenees, he revenged his disappointment on the country through which he passed; and, in the sack of Pollentia and Astorga, he shewed himself a faithless ally, as well as a cruel enemy. Whilst the king of the Visigoths fought and vanquished in the name of Avitus, the reign of Avitus had expired; and both the honour and the interest of Theodoric were deeply wounded by the disgrace of a friend, whom he had seated on the throne of the Western empire (23) . The pressing solicitations of the senate and people, persuaded the emperor Avitus to fix his residence at Rome, and to accept the consulship for the ensuing year. On the first day of January, his son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinaris, celebrated his praises in a panegyric of six hundred verses; but this composition, though it was rewarded with a brass statue (24), seems to contain a very moderate proportion, either of genius or of truth. The poet, if we may degrade that sacred name, exaggerates the merit of a sovereign and a father; and his prophecy of a long and glorious reign was soon contradicted by the event. Avitus, at a time when the Imperial dignity was reduced to a pre-eminence of toil and danger, indulged himself in the pleasures of Italian luxury: age had not extinguished his amorous inclinations; and he is accused of insulting, with indiscreet and ungenerous raillery, the husbands whose wives he had seduced or violated (25). But the Romans were not inclined, either to excuse his faults, or to acknowledge his virtues. The several parts of the empire became every day more alienated from each other; and the stranger of Gaul was the object of popular hatred and contempt. The senate asserted their legitimate claim in the election of an emperor; and their authority, which had been originally derived from the old constitution, was again fortified by the actual weakness of a declining monarchy. Yet even such a monarchy might have resisted the votes of an unarmed senate, if their discontent had not been supported, or perhaps inflamed, by the count Ricimer, one of the principal commanders of the Barbarian troops, who formed the military defence of Italy. The daughter of Wallia, king of the Visigoths, was the mother of Ricimer; but he was descended, on the father's side, from the nation of the Suevi (26) : (23) This Suevic war is the most authentic part of the Chronicle of Idatins, who, as bishop of Iria Flavia, was himself a spectator and a sufferer. Jornandes (c. 44. p. 675, 676, 677.) has expatiated with pleasure on the Gothic victory. (24) In one of the porticoes or galleries belonging to Trajan's library, among the statues of famous writers and orators. Sidon. Apoll. 1. ix. epist. 16. p. 284. Carm. viii. p. 350. (25) Luxuriose agere volens a senatoribus projectus est, is the concise expression of Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. xi. in tom. ii. p. 168.) An old Chronicle (in tom. ii. p. 649.) mentions an indecent jest of Avitus, which seems more applicable to Rome than to Treves. (26) Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 302, &c.) praises the royal birth of Ricimer, the lawful heir, as he chuses to insinuate, both of the Gothic and Suevic kingdoms. Avitus is deposed, A.D. 456: Oct. 16. his pride, or patriotism, might be exasperated by the misfortunes of his countrymen; and he obeyed, with reluctance, an emperor in whose elevation he had not been consulted. His faithful and important services against the common enemy rendered him still more formidable (27); and, after destroying, on the coast of Corsica, a fleet of Vandals, which consisted of sixty galleys, Ricimer returned in triumph with the appellation of the Deliverer of Italy. He chose that moment to signify to Avitus, that his reign was at an end; and the feeble emperor, at a distance from his Gothic allies, was compelled, after a short and unavailing struggle, to abdicate the purple. By the clemency, however, or the contempt, of Ricimer (28), he was permitted to descend from the throne, to the more desirable station of bishop of Placentia: but the resentment of the senate was still unsatisfied; and their inflexible severity pronounced the sentence of his death. He fled towards the Alps, with the humble hope, not of arming the Visigoths in his cause, but of securing his person and treasures in the sanctuary of Julian, one of the tutelar saints of Auvergne (29). Disease, or the hand of the executioner, arrested him on the road; yet his remains were decently transported to Brivas, or Brioude, in his native province, and he reposed at the feet of his holy patron (30). Avitus left only one daughter, the wife of Sidonius Apollinaris, who inherited the patrimony of his father-inlaw; lamenting, at the same time, the disappointment of his public and private expectations. His resentment prompted him to join, or at least to countenance, the measures of a rebellious faction in Gaul; and the poet had contracted some guilt, which it was incumbent on him to expiate, by a new tribute of flattery to the succeeding emperor (31). The successor of Avitus presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise in a degenerate (27) See the Chronicle of Idatius. Jornandes (c. xlv. p. 678.) styles him, with some truth, virum egregium, et pene tunc in Italia ad exercitum singularem. (28) Parcens innocentiæ Aviti, is the compassionate, but contemptuous, language of Victor Tunnunensis (in Chion. apud Scaliger Euseb.). In another place, he calls him, vir totius simplicitatis. This commendation is more humble, but it is more solid and sincere, than the praises of Sidonius. (29) He suffered, as it is supposed, in the persecution of Diocletian (Tillemont, Mém. Ecclés. tom. v. p. 279. 696.). Gregory of Tours, his peculiar votary, has dedicated to the glory of Julian the Martyr, an entire book (de Gloria Martyrum, 1. ii. in Max. Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xi. p. 861-871.), in which he relates about fifty foolish miracles performed by his relics. (30) Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. xi. p. 168.) is concise, but correct, in the reign of his countryman. The words of Idatius, "caret imperio, caret et vita," seem to imply, that the death of Avitus was violent; but it must have been secret, since Evagrius (1. ii. c. 7.) could suppose, that he died of the plague. (31) After a modest appeal to the examples of his brethren, Virgil and Horace, Sidonius honestly confesses the debt, and promises payment. Sic mihi diverso nuper sub Marte cadenti See Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 448, &c. Sidon. Apoll. Carm. iv. p. 308. and elevation age, to vindicate the honour of the human species. The emperor Character Majorian has deserved the praises of his contemporaries, and of of Majorian, posterity; and these praises may be strongly expressed in the words A. D. 457. of a judicious and disinterested historian: "That he was gentle to "his subjects; that he was terrible to his enemies; and that he "excelled in every virtue, all his predecessors who had reigned "over the Romans (32)." Such a testimony may justify at least the panegyric of Sidonius; and we may acquiesce in the assurance, that, although the obsequious orator would have flattered, with equal zeal, the most worthless of princes, the extraordinary merit of his object confined him, on this occasion, within the bounds of truth (33). Majorian derived his name from his maternal grandfather, who, in the reign of the great Theodosius, had commanded the troops of the Illyrian frontier. He gave his daughter in marriage to the father of Majorian, a respectable officer, who administered the revenues of Gaul with skill and integrity; and generously preferred the friendship of Aetius, to the tempting offers of an insidious court. His son, the future emperor, who was educated in the profession of arms, displayed, from his early youth, intrepid courage, premature wisdom, and unbounded liberality in a scanty fortune. He followed the standard of Aetius, contributed to his success, shared, and sometimes eclipsed, his glory, and at last excited the jealousy of the patrician, or rather of his wife, who forced him to retire from the service (34). Majorian, after the death of Aetius, was recalled and promoted; and his intimate connection with count Ricimer was the immediate step by which he ascended the throne of the Western empire. During the vacancy that succeeded the abdication of Avitus, the ambitious Barbarian, whose birth excluded him from the Imperial dignity, governed Italy, with the title of Patrician; resigned, to his friend, the conspicuous station of master-general of the cavalry and infantry; and, after an interval of some months, consented to the unanimous wish of the Romans, whose favour Majorian had solicited by a recent victory over the Alemanni (35). He was invested (32) The words of Procopius deserve to be transcribed, οὗτος γὰρ ὁ Μαϊορῖνος ξύμπαντας τοὺς πώποτέ Ρωμαίων βεβασιλευκότας ὑπεραίρων ἀρετῆ πάσῃ; and afterwards, ἀνὴρ τὰ μὲν εἰς τοὺς ὑπηκόους μέτριος γεγονώς, φοβερὸς δὲ τὰ ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 7. p. 194.); a concise but comprehensive definition of royal virtue. (33) The Panegyric was pronounced at Lyons before the end of the year 458, while the emperor was still consul. It has more art than genius, and more labour than art. The ornaments are false or trivial; the expression is feeble and prolix: and Sidonius wants the skill to exhibit the principal figure in a strong and distinct light. The private life of Majorian occupies about two hundred lines, 107-305. (34) She pressed his immediate death, and was scarcely satisfied with his disgrace. It should seem that Aetius, like Belisarius and Marlborough, was governed by his wife; whose fervent piety, though it might work miracles (Gregor. Turon. 1. ii. c. 7. p. 162.), was not incompatible with base and sanguinary counsels. (35) The Alemanni had passed the Rhætian Alps, and were defeated in the Campi Canini, or Valley of Bellinzone, through which the Tesin flows, in its descent from Mount Adula, to the Lago Maggiore (Cluver. Italia Antiq. tom. i. p. 100, 101.). This boasted victory over nine hundred Barbarians (Panegyr. Majorian. 373, &c.) betrays the extreme weakness of Italy. with the purple at Ravenna; and the epistle which he addressed to the senate, will best describe his situation and his sentiments. "Your election, Conscript Fathers! and the ordinance of the most "valiant army, have made me your emperor (36). May the pro"pitious Deity direct and prosper the counsels and events of my "administration, to your advantage, and to the public welfare! For 66 my own part, I did not aspire, I have submitted, to reign; nor "should I have discharged the obligations of a citizen, if I had re“fused, with base and selfish ingratitude, to support the weight of "those labours, which were imposed by the republic. Assist, "therefore, the prince whom you have made; partake the duties “which you have enjoined; and may our common endeavours "promote the happiness of an empire, which I have accepted from 66 your hands. Be assured, that, in our times, justice shall resume "her ancient vigour, and that virtue shall become not only in"nocent, but meritorious. Let none, except the authors them"selves, be apprehensive of delations (37), which, as a subject, I "have always condemned, and, as a prince, will severely punish. "Our own vigilance, and that of our father, the patrician Ricimer, "shall regulate all military affairs, and provide for the safety of the "Roman world, which we have saved from foreign and domestic "enemies (38). You now understand the maxims of my govern"ment: you may confide in the faithful love and sincere assurances "of a prince, who has formerly been the companion of your life "and dangers; who still glories in the name of senator, and who "is anxious, that you should never repent of the judgment which "you have pronounced in his favour." The emperor, who, amidst the ruins of the Roman world, revived the ancient language of law and liberty, which Trajan would not have disclaimed, must have derived those generous sentiments from his own heart; since they were not suggested to his imitation by the customs of his age, or the example of his predecessors (39). The private and public actions of Majorian are very imperfectly (36) Imperatorem me factum, P. C. electionis vestræ arbitrio, et fortissimi exercitus ordinatione agnoscite (Novell. Majorian, tit. iii. p. 34. ad Calcem Cod. Theodos.). Sidonius proclaims the unanimous voice of the empire: This language is ancient and constitutional; and we may observe, that the clergy were not yet considered as a distinct order of the state. (37) Either dilationes, or delationes, would afford a tolerable reading; but there is much more sense and spirit in the latter, to which I have therefore given the preference. (38) Ab externo hoste et a domestica clade liberavimus: by the latter, Majorian must understand the tyranny of Avitus; whose death he consequently avowed as a meritorious act. On this occasion, Sidonius is fearful and obscure; he describes the twelve Cæsars, the nations of Africa, &c. that he may escape the dangerous name of Avitus (305-369.). (39) See the whole edict or epistle of Majorian to the senate (Novell. tit. iv. p. 34.). Yet the expression, regnum nostrum, bears some taint of the age, and does not mix kindly with the word rest publica, which he frequently repeats. |
