CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY -(Oy,Ei|s|ae IBS 'IJiyiMyBAJj^. -K (\ ORIBERS IN SETS ONLY. FOR SUBSCRU-' For ONE Volume ■. '^irivlsiH imrti V'an One i- c s^or TWO VolTimea 'iNfGcH in mr»-e tfiaii Two Vc THREE Volumes ; FOUR , FIjVE ,, in charge of Messrs- W Illustrations and Maps library pe ollBTlfr BOOKSTALL— 6 Months. la Month!. Id 12 ■ .. 1 1 .(W olam of Subtcriptimi.) .. ■ 17 6 .. 1 11 6 aoufof i^^ ^^""^ of Subscription.) 13 .. 2 2 ,0 1 8 ,. 2 10 .. - 1 15 .. 3 S 3 0.. ■, 5^S .0 ' H Smith* Son's bookstalls are reguired to tetthat ate issued to and received froni the subscribers « tpe ■feet in nionberand conilinon. .-J^ DATE DUE ^*?5? t^^P%i«mi;^9 ^-^ Cornell University Library DG 319.D57 Roman society in the last century of the 3 1924 028 321 333 >7) <• n lllCkc-A'' V^'f- l^.- «> ti/ ' M .'. Av ' •;' DGr 2)57 ■/? .3/77 BOMAN SOCIETY IN THE LAST CENTUEY OF THE WESTEBN EMPIRE X tti PKEFACE A FEW words of preface seem to be necessary to explain the object of this book, and the limits within which the writer has wished to confine it. It is perhaps superfluous to say that nothing like a general history of the period has been attempted. That is a task which has been already accomplished by abler hands. The subject of this work is mainly what it professes to be, the inner life and thoughts of the last three generations in the Empire of the West. If external events are referred to, it is only because men's private fortunes and feelings cannot be severed from the fortunes of the State. The limits of the period covered by this study of Eoman society have not been arbitrarily chosen. The last hundred years of the Western Empire seem marked off both by momentous events, and, for the student of society, by the authorities at his command. The commencement of the period coincides roughly with the passage of the Gothic hordes across the Danube, the accession of Gratian and Theodosius, the termination of the long truce between paganism and the Christian Empire, and the reopening of the conflict which, within twenty years, ended in the final prohibition of heathen rites. It closes, not only with the deposition of the last shadowy Emperor of the West, but with the practical ex- tinction of Eoman power in the great prefecture of the Gauls. Perhaps even more obvious are the lines drawn by the fullest authorities for our subject. The earliest extant letters of Symmachus, which describe the relations of the last generation vi ROMAN SOCIETY of great pagan nobles, belong to the years 376—390. The literary and political activity of Ausonius coincides with the same years, and from his poems we derive an invaluable picture of a provincial society in the reigns of Gratian and Theodosius. A searching light is thrown on the same genera- tion by some of S. Jerome's letters, by the Saiurnalia of Macrobius, and by many Inscriptions. At the other end of our period we are almost equally fortunate in our information. The works of ApoUinaris Sidonius of Auvergne are a priceless revelation of the state of society, both in Eome and in Gaul, from the accession of Avitus till the final triumph of the Visigothic power. Nor is there wanting a certain bond of union among these and other scattered materials when they are closely scrutin- ised. At the beginning of the period, Eoman society is indeed sharply divided in a determined religious struggle, and the sharpness of the contrast is rendered more decided by the increasing fervour of asceticism. But at the hottest moment of the conflict there was a mass of scepticism, lukewarmness, or wavering conformity, between the confines of the opposing creeds. The influences which inspired that attitude had not spent their force at the close of the fourth century. When the terrors of the anti-pagan laws had produced an outward submission, the Christianity of many of the noble and lettered class seems to have been far from enthusiastic. The discipline of the schools was a powerful rival of the Church. Men who had had that training were steeped in the lingering sentiment of paganism, and looked with distrust, or even with contempt, on the severer form of Christian renunci- ation. One can scarcely doubt that Sidonius, in his early manhood, and some of his friends down to the faU of the Western Empire, would have been far more at home in the company of Symmachus or Flavianus than in that of S. Paulinus of Nola. It would, of course, be impossible to treat of society in PREFACE vii such a period without some reference to those who devoted themselves to the higher ideals of the Christian life. But they belong rather to the future. Our interest in these pages must be concentrated on those whose greatest pride it was to preserve and transmit the traditions of the past. The main purpose of this work is to give some account of that worldly society which, in its ideals, tone, and external fortunes, had undergone but little change between the reign of Gratian and the dethronement of Eomulus Augustulus. The period is an obscure one, and the materials are often scanty. The difficulty of arranging them in an orderly view is not slight; and the writer is painfully conscious that a critical eye may easily discover omissions and faults of treat- ment. His only claim is that he has made an honest attempt to answer a question which has often presented itself to his own mind — How were men living, and what were their thoughts and private fortunes, during that period of stirring change ? It only remains for the author to express his warmest thanks to his old pupil and friend, the Eev. Charles Plummer, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, for the kind care with which he has gone over the proof-sheets. 4/A OctiMr 1898. W B Cornell University WM Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028321333 CONTENTS BOOK I THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM CHAPTER I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY AND THE CONFUSION OF PARTIES Obstinate attachment to paganism both among the vulgar and the educated — Causes of this — Influence of Eastern cults — Philosophic monotheism — Patriotism and antiquarian sentiment — Roman feeling shocked by the ascetic spirit which turned its back on public duty — Yet the line between Christian and pagan in the fourth century was not sharply drawn — Intermixture of opposing creeds in the same family, and in general society — The latter illustrated by the circle of Q. Aur. Symmachus — Its leading members both Christian and pagan — Character of Symmachus — of Praetex- tatus — of Flavianus — Some German chiefs— S. Ambrose— Sext. Petron. Probus — Jovius — Priscus Attains .... Pages 3-22 CHAPTER II THE LAST CONFLICTS OF PAGANISM WITH THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE The long series of anti-pagan laws down to 439 — Practical toleration till the reign of Gratian — The removal of the altar of Victory and the protest of the Senate — Symmachus represents their views to the Emperor — His speech — Symmachus and Flavianus still high in imperial favour in 391 — Decided legislation of 392 — Yet apostasy was frequent — Why the pagan cause did not seem hopeless — The usurpation of Eugenius — Flavianus heads the pagan reaction — The battle on the Frigidus — Yet the Senate is still obstin- ately pagan — Legislation of Honorius — How anti-pagan laws were defeated by the negligence of governors and inferior officers — Yet this semi-pagan sentiment had a good effect in checking the destruction of temples and ROMAN SOCIETY works of art — The tolerant policy of Stilicho — Outbreak of pagan feel- ing on the appearance of Alario and Radagaesus — Christian calumnies against Stilicho — Olympius and the Catholic reaction — Brief triumph of paganism under Attains — Fate of Claudian, the poet of the pagan Senate — The poem of Rutilius Namatianus, another pagan poet — Tone of Rutilius — His hatred of Jews and monks — Magic, astrology, the theatre, and the games are the last strongholds of paganism — Tuscan diviners offer their services against Alaric — Attitude of Innocent, bishop of Rome — Legislation against the magic arts — Neoplatonism gives its countenance to them — The diviners under the government of Attains — The gladiatorial shows — They had been exhibited by the best emperors, and defended by men of high character — Their abolition in the reign of Honorius — The passion of Romans for the theatre — Character of later legislation on the subject — How the taste still lasted in the age of the invasions Pages 23-49 CHAPTER III S. AUGUSTINE A2JD OBOSIUS ON THE CAPTURE OF KOME The moral effect of the capture of Rome by Alaric on pagan and Christian minds • — Was it due to desertion of the gods of Rome ? — Why have Christians suffered in the sack of the City ? — The controversy is keenest in Africa — Doubts of Volusianus and his friends — S. Augustine's answer — The City of God begun in 413 — How S. Augustine deals with the catastrophe — The old religion did not protect its votaries — It did not give prosperity — It was impotent for good and fruitful of evil— Orosius arrives in Hippo — His historical task, to prove that past ages suffered far greater calamities than the Christian Empire had endured — Orosius' mode of dealing with history — His curious omissions and gross exaggeration — Both S. Augustine and Orosius addressed an educated class, which must have been numerous and formidable ....... 50-61 CHAPTER IV SOME CAUSES OF THE VITALITY OF THE LATER PAGANISM The character of the native religion of Rome, formal, scrupulous, uninspiring — The real living paganism was of foreign origin — Power of foreign cults in the fourth century — Evidence of the Inscriptions — Growing influence of Eastern religions under the Empire — The characteristics of the worship of Isis — The character of Mithra-worship — The mysteries of Mithra — The Taurobolium in the fourth century — Mithra the great enemy of Christianity — Moral and devotional effects of such worships — Illustration from the initiation of Lucius in the mysteries of Isis described by Apuleius — The procession to the sea — The launching of the sacred bark — The prayers in the temple — The preparation of Lucius for communion — His baptism and initiation — His prayer of thanksgiving — Plutarch's monotheism and devout CONTENTS xi feeling' — The monotheistic tendency in the later paganism — Illustrated from the Saturnalia of Macrobius — The tendency to syncretism and mono- theism — How the Romans identified foreign deities with their own — The in- fluence of the Empire, by bringing so many peoples under one rule, tended to amalgamation of worships and a vague monotheism — The creed of the pagan Maximus of Madaura in the time of S. Augustine — The influence of philosophy — Plutarch the father of the movement — Neoplatonism at Rome — Fascination of Plotinus — Degeneracy of Neoplatonism in the reign of Julian — Yet Julian's moral aims were high — Why Neoplatonism was committed to a defence of paganism, partly by traditional sentiment, partly by the instinct of philosophic freedom — How the system of Emanation lent itself to a support of paganism — The justification of myth — The Divine can only be expressed by fiction — The superstition of the later Alexandrines founded on the doctrine of daemons and of secret affinities linking all parts of the universe together — Yet even in the last age the purer influences of Neoplatonism were not extinct — Illustration of this from the commentary of Macrobius on the Dream, of Scipio — Its characteristics- — It combines physical and astronomical speculation with an ethical and devotional pur- pose — The Supreme One — The universe God's temple — The fall of man through the seven spheres — The immersion of the soul in the material world — The soul must not quit its prison in the body but await its release, and keep fresh the memory of its Divine source — Virtue the only hope of eternal felicity — The different degrees of virtue — A man may serve his country and yet seek a " citizenship which is in heaven " Pages 62-93 BOOK II SKETCHES OF WESTEEN SOCIETY EEOM SYMMACHUS TO SIDONIUS CHAPTER I THE INDICTMENT OP HEATHEN AND CHRISTIAN MORALISTS The judgment of satirists and moralists on the morality of an age must be accepted with caution — Characteristics of Roman satire, especially that of Juvenal — History proves that it was extravagant — In the last age of the Empire asceticism condemned the world en masse — It dealt as hardly with Christian as with pagan morality— The views of Ammianus Marcellinus, a pagan, on the character of his age— He is honest, but perhaps rather hard and narrow- He accuses the upper class of pride, frivolity, and luxury, rather than of gross vice — Judgment of S. Jerome — His connection with high society— His female friends- Why his censures must be accepted with reserve — His ascetic spirit and plain speaking illustrated from the xii ROMAN SOCIETY letter to Demetrias de Virginitate — He does not attack the morals of lead- ing pagans like Praetextatus, but he reveals some of the perils to virtue in Roman life — Corrupting influence of slaves — Female extravagance in dress — Danger in fashionable gatherings — Dangers of the banquet — S. Jerome's view compared with the picture in the Saturnalia of Maorbbius — S. Jerome deals most hardly with the professedly religious — Worldliness among the higher clergy — Their luxury, cupidity, and doubtful relations with women — Clerical and monkish avarice — The "Agapetarum pestis " — Painful pictures of female hypocrisy — Salvianus on the morals of Southern Gaul after the invasions — Account of his career — The theme of the Be Ouberna- tiotie Dei — -The calamities of the time due to Roman profligacy and oppres- sion of the poor by the rich — The corruption of the governing class — ^The passion for the theatre and the circus — The frenzy of debauchery in the crisis of the invasions — Aquitaine wholly abandoned to vice — Can Salvianus be believed ? — No confirmation to be found in Symmachus, Ausonius, or Sidonius — The key to his unconscious exaggei-ation — He is a preacher and ascetic enthusiast ...... Pages 97-120 CHAPTER II THE SOCIETY OF Q. AURELIUS SYMMACHUS The family of Q. Aurelius Symmachus — His position and fame as an orator — Lack of information on public aifairs in his letters — Position of the Senate ^Rome no longer the seat of government — Proud reticence of the upper class — Yet Symmachus gives glimpses of the dangerous state of the city from the failure of the corn-supply in the war with Gildo — The wealth of the senatorial class — Estimate of senatorial incomes — Profuse expenditure illustrated by the preparations for the games to be given in honour of the praetorship of the younger Symmachus — The stifl' ceremonious etiquette of life at Rome — The charms of country life felt as a relief — Passion for literature and learning in the circle of Symmachus, Praetextatus, and Flavianus — Literary affectation and ambition — Knowledge and critical study of the great authors combined with great degeneracy of style — Influ- ence of cliques — Passion for rhetorical exhibitions still strong — Mutual flattery — -Yet there was a genuine love of literature in the upper class — How letters gave a man a career — Palladius, Marinianus, Ausonius — There are glimpses of selfishness and cruelty in the society of Symmachus — But both he and Macrobius leave the impression that the life of the upper class is regular and decent — Testimony of Macrobius as to the de- crease of luxury and drunkenness — Stricter ideas about dancing and acting — Humane feeling towards slaves — Family affection of Symmachus — Change in the position of women under the Empire — Became more the intellectual companions of men, cultivated, taking a leading part in charity, etc. — Symmachus believed in the old Roman conception of woman's place — His anxiety about his children — Care of his son's education — Reads Greek with him — Symmachus' last letters — His journey to Milan while the Goths are in the valley of the Po . . . . . . 121-140 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER m THE SOCIETY OP AQUITAISE IX THE TIME OF AUSONIUS The wealth and peace of Aquitaine — The value of the poems of Ausonius — He has preserved the portraits of a provincial circle — Family loyalty of Ausonins — Portraits of his grandfather, an Aeduan astrologer, who casts his horoscope — His father, the Stoic physician — His female relatives, character- ised by a Puritsin quietude — The literary career of Ausonins — The Gallic renaissance of the fourth century — Thirty years a professor — His rise in the world — ^Yet he is always faithful to letters^-His old age at Bordeaux — Love of the country growing — Ausonius hates the town — Pleasures of country life — Visiting and correspondence — The eccentric Theo — The society of Aquitaine depicted in the Eucharisticos of Paulinns Pellaeus, the poet's grandson — Tfis account of his youth, temptations, taste for sport — His marriage — Reforms the management of his wife's estates — His love of ease and luxury — ^A " sectator deliciarum " — The ascetic movement in Gaul — Influence of S. Martin — His Life by Sulpicius — Conversion of S. Paulinus and Sulpicius Severus — How the ascetic movement was opposed even by the clergy — Influence of S. Jerome — TTig fame as a Biblical critic — ^The charm of the Holy Places drew great numbers of pilgrim a to the East — Description of a pilgrimage given by Sulpicius Severus — The visit of Postumianus, a Gallic monk, to Bethlehem and the monasteries of Egypt — S. Jerome's correspondents in Gaul — ^Hedibia — Descended from a Druidical family — Its academic members — Hedibia's questions as to the narratives of the Resurrection — Questions of Algasia — " Pray that your flight be not in the winter" ...... Pages 141-156 CHAPTER TX THE SOCIETT OF APOLLIKAKIS SrD0>'TU3 The family of ApoU. Sidonius — His career — Publication of his letters — Great changes in the interval between Ausonius and Sidonius — Yet the condition of the upper class remains unaltered — Sidonius tells little of the middle and lower classes — His interest centres in his own order — Its exclusive tastes — Minute faithfulness with which he describes his own society — ^Monotony of its life — TTis wide circle of acquaintance — The idesil of the Roman noble as sketched by Sidonius — Pride of birth — High birth considered even in episcopal elections — Imperial oflice generally sought for its external dis- tinction — ^Yet there must have been a number of men possessing high administrative capacity to fill the prefectures, etc. — Duties of the Pretorian prefect — But many Gallic nobles were becoming farmers on a large scale — Instance of Syagrius — A country squire on good terms with the Germans — Extent of senatorial estates— That of Ausonius at Bazas, about 1000 acres — The villa a little community in itself — Description of it — The arrangements of a great house — Avitacum — Great houses fortified — Roads unsafe — Mode of travelling — Country house visits — Yoroangus and Prusianum — Daily life ROMAN SOCIETY at a country house — Position of women — They are treated with great respect — Few allusions to gross immorality — Picture of the parasite excep- tional — General decency of morals — The real vices of Gallo-Roman society, cultivated selfishness, want of high public spirit, absence of ideals — These the result of bureaucratic government and of education which cultivated only rhetorical skill — The Christian movement in Gaul — Hidden saints — Picture of Vectius, the ascetic grand seigneur — Sidonius called to the episcopate — Great change in his life — The position of a bishop in the fifth century — His multifarious duties — Two classes of bishops, the monastic and the aristocratic — Why the aristocratic bishop was a necessity of the times — Two episcopal elections — Sidonius when bishop of Auvergne, aided by Ecdicius, defends its independence against the Visigoths — Bishop Patiens saves a large population from famine — Learning and eloquence of the Gallic bishops — S. Remi the apostle of the Franks — Lupus of Troyes — Faustus of Riez — His career and character — His heresies — His book on the corporeal nature of the soul — Reply by Mam. Glaudianus — Sidonius equally friendly with both — His tolerance — His reverence for the monastic ideal — Visit to L^rins — Intercourse with monks — The monk Abraham in Auvergne — The Visigothic governor stands by his deathbed . . Pages 157-186 BOOK III THE FAILUEE OF ADMINISTKATION, AND THE KUIN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, AS EEVEALED BY THE THEODOSIAN CODE CHAPTEE I THE DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE General view of the social and administrative disorganisation of the period — The government with the best intentions strove to find a remedy — The sense of responsibility expressed by the later emperors — The rhetorical tone of the later legislation — The hereditary guilds of Rome — The corporati bound to their functions, but constantly trying to evade them — Failure of the corn-supply through desertion or evasion on the part of the namcula/rii — Different modes of evasion — Wholesale desertion in 455 — Disorganisation in the army — Frequent enactments de re militaH in Stilicho's time — Failure of recruits- — Money accepted from the great proprietors instead of men — Aversion to military service — Self-mutilation to escape it — Frequency of de- sertion — Concealment of deserters heavily punished — The frontier garrisons melt away — Slaves called to arms in 406 — Disorganisation of the posting service on the great roads — Abuse of evectio — Officers bound to the service desert — The animals are not properly fed — The tyranny and corruption of the curiosi — They have to be peremptorily removed from large districts — CONTENTS XV Growth of brigandage— Character of the shepherds of S. Italy— Shepherd and brigand ahuost synonymous — Agents on remote states in collusion with the criminals — The nse of horses forbidden thronghout seven provinces of Italy — Deserters from the army become dangerous banditti — Signs of the growth of poverty — Sale of children in the famine of 450— Plunder of tombs — Decay of public buildings — Poor exiles from Africa allowed to practise in the Italian courts ...... Pages 189-203 CHAPTER II THE DECAY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE AGGRANDISEMENT OF THE AEISTOCRACT Boman wealth cMeily in land — Decay of commerce from the third century — Depressed condition of the merchant class in the later Empire — Two classes of landed proprietors, the senatorial and the curial — Senators exempt from municipal burdens — Decay of the municipalities in the fourth century — The ewria now composed of owners of at least 25 jugera of land — Enormous liabilities of the cnriales — They had to assess and coUeot the land-taxes of their district — Liable for all deficits — The curial class was being depleted without being able to recruit its numbers from below — The emperors devote great attention to the tMria — 192 enactments de Decwrionibus — The flight of the curiales — Their attempt to obtain admission to the senatorial class — Means of doing so — In the fifth century this movement was peremptorily stopped — ^Persons of curial descent re- called from places in the public service— The curial's position became a hereditary servitude — His personal freedom curtailed on every side — He could not go abroad or dispose of his property — The whole force of law exerted to prevent his escape — How he did escape — Often by placing himself under the patronage of a great landowner — As the curial class shrank in numbers, their liabilities became heavier — For the Code shows that the tax-bearing area was contracting — And there was an appreciation in gold, which, since a large proportion of the taxes had to be paid in gold, rendered the liability heavier — Tendency of the large proprietors to absorb the smaller very marked — The ruined farmer takes refuge on the senatorial estate — Growth of this form of patronage — Attempts to check it by legislation ineffectual — How the great pro- prietor got the small farmer in his grasp — Secret or fraudulent sales — The senatorial class steadily growing in power — They evade taxation, and by social influence and corruption obtain connivance at evasion in others — Their agents a corrupt class — In league with brigands — ^Mort- gage estates surreptitiously ^ — Illegitimate influence brought to bear on judges — Measures taken to protect the purity of the bench — Grievances of the province of Africa — How the great landowners evaded their burdens — Every branch of the revenue service had become corrupt — Frauds and cruel over-exaction of the susceptores and numerarii — The provincials are helpless against the tax-gatherer — The enormities of the diseussores, described in an edict of Valentinian III. — The efforts of government to check these abuses were frustrated by the power of the aristocracy and the contumacy of officials ROMAN SOCIETY — All these evils summed up in the edict of Majorian in 458 — Examples of the humane spirit of the latest imperial legislation — Remission of taxes over large areas — Governors ordered to visit the prisons — Prisoners to be brought up for trial within a year — Status protected by a term of prescription — Redeemed captives protected against the redemptor — Exposed infants of the servile class saved from servitude — Limit within which fugitive coloni could be reclaimed ...... Pages 204-234 BOOK IV THE BAEBAEIANS AND THE FUTUEE OF THE EMPIEE CHAPTEE I THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS Main subject of this book : the feeling of Romans as to the invaders and the condition of the Empire — General character of the invasions — Why the Romans were not so much startled by them as we should expect — The invasions were nothing new — Invasions of the third and fourth centuries apparently overwhelming, yet triumphantly repelled — Their effects not lasting — In the fifth century the Roman generals show no fear of the in- vaders — The barbarians were not impelled by any common purpose or by any hatred of Rome — They were ready to fight for Rome against their brethren — Barbarian troops in the Roman army for ages — Received lands on military tenure — The Laeti of Gaul — Peaceful settlement of barbarians within the frontier from the days of Augustus — Examples — German officers in the Roman army from the third century — Examples in the fourth century — Some brilliant figures among them — They have great social influence — Fashion of barbarian dress in Rome has to be restrained by law in the reign of Honorius — Immense number of barbarians settled on estates as coloni — Examples — The invasions of the fifth century not of a uniform and sweeping character — Estimated strength of the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks in Gaul — Invasions differed in character and objects — Some merely for plunder, others for regular settlement — In the latter case the chief acts as a Roman oflicial, and carries on the Roman administration— Wide differences among the barbarians in culture, religion, and moral character — Example from Noricum in the time of S. Severinus — The invasions, thus complex and various in character, produced very different impressions on different minds ....... 237-251 CHAPTEE n ROMAN FEELING ABOUT THE INVASIONS AND THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE The first terror on the approach of the Goths — Flight to places of security — The alarm did not last long — Negotiations with Alaric — The moral shock caused CONTENTS xvii by the capture of Rome — Lamentations of S. Jerome — His picture of the invasions — Flight of the guildsmen of Rome — Fate of aristocratic exiles who fled to Africa — Cruelties of Count Heraclian — Actual damage inflicted by the Goths probably not very great — The feelings of Rutilius Namatianus about Rome in 416 — His passionate love of her and confidence in her destiny — The views of Orosius — He makes light of the invasions — Hopes for a rapprochement between Roman and barbarian — Yet the Empire may pass away — Rome has given order to the world, but at a great cost to the pro- vinces — Strong provincial feeling in Orosius — What the poems Ad Vxorem, De Frovidentia Diviiia, and the Commonitorium of Orientius tell us of the invasions — Pictures of devastation and ruin — Moral effects in Gaul — Loss of faith in Providence — Growth of atheistic pessimism — Salvianus wrote to refute the same scepticism in his day — Salvianus maintains that the calamities of Rome were due to Roman vices — The barbarians were superior both in private and public virtue — Oppression made many wel- come the rule of the barbarian chief — Orosius and Salvianus compared — They alone faced the problems of the time — Roman feeling is stronger in Orosius, although he has no horror of the barbarians — Salvianus has lost faith in Roman society, which he thinks hopelessly rotten — The future belongs to the new races — Views and feelings of ApoUinaris Sidonius — He represents a different world from that of Salvianus — His advantages, through his family connections, especially with Avitus, for a study of the barbarians — Many brilliant pictures in Sidonius — The Huns — The Burgundians — The Goths, Saxons, and Franks — "Wedding procession of Sigismer — Descrip- tion of Theodorio II. and his court — This written with a political purpose — The party of Gallic independence — With the' help of the Visigoths they raise Avitus to the throne — On the fall of Avitus the party make another effort in support of Marcellinus— Triumph and clemency of Majorian — The intrigues of the prefect Arvandus with Euric— Sidonius probably not a party to them — Changed attitude of the Goths — Description of society at Rome in 467 — Deputation from Gaul on the accession of Anthemius — Journey of Sidonius described — Classical reminiscences — Ravenna — Rome after the Vandal sack, apparently little changed — The city enflte for the marriage of Rioimer — Leaders of Roman society — Avianus and Basilius— Sidonius attaches himself to Basilius, who proposes that Sidonius should celebrate the new Emperor in verse — The Panegyric on Anthemius is rewarded with the Urban prefecture — Not a word in Sidonius' letter about the dangers of the Empire — It is in the Panegyrics of Sidonius that his views on the condition of the Empire are to be found — In spite of the union of Roman and Visigoth, the Panegyric on Avitus reflects the general gloom — Humiliation of Rome — The need of a warlike prince — There is yet hope, but the hope is in Gaul^The services of Avitus — He can bring the force of the Visigoths to the help of Rome — Tone of the poem on Majorian not so pessimistic — Africa beseeches Rome for help against the Vandals — The might of Rome is only slumbering — The achievements of Majorian, and the hopes of his success — Yet the discontent of Gaul once more breaks out — She is ignored and crushed by taxation — Fate of Majorian — The appeal to Leo, who recommends Anthemius for the throne — Rioimer is to marry his daughter — Difficulties of the task of Sidonius in writing the Panegyric on Anthemius— Shock to Roman pride— Hatred of Constantinople— Expressed by Claudian fifty years before — Sidonius does not disguise the weakness of Rome — Her Eastern conquests have passed to her rival — The Empire is ii ROMAN SOCIETY finally divided — But division need not mean discord — All jealousy must be forgotten in the effort to crush the Vandal power — Kioimer has already made head against the invaders — He is hated by the Vandal king — But only an emperor can cope with the danger — Recapitulation of these various views ....... Pages 262-287 CHAPTER III KELATIONS OF BOMANS WITH THE INVADERS Subject of this chapter : the relations of Gallo-Eomans with the invaders from the first appearance of the Visigoths in Gaul till their conquest of Auvergne in 474 — The Sucharisticos of Paulinus Pellaeus — He was a grand- son of Ausonius — General character of the poem — Paulinus has little interest in public affairs, yet his poem has a great value — It is the sole authority for the temporary occupation of Bordeaux by the Visigoths in 414 — Their movements from 412 till 414 — Support Jovinus and then over- throw him — Ataulphus at Narbonne — His marriage with Placidia, the sister of Honorius — How Ataulphus came to occupy Bordeaux, and pro- claim Attains as Emperor — Paulinus obliged to accept the oflice of Count of the Largesses — The Goths leave Bordeaux — Paulinus loses everything and flies to Bazas, which is besieged by the Goths — A servile revolt breaks out in Bazas — Paulinus determines to appeal for aid to the king of the Alans, who is serving with the Goths — Strange interview — The Alan king deserts the Goths, who decamp — The subsequent fortunes of Paulinus — He thinks of becoming a monk — Falls into poverty — Fate of his sons — In his old age receives unexpectedly from an unknown Goth the price of some portion of his estates at Bordeaux — Light which the Euoharisticos throws on the attitude of the Goths to Rome — Fluctuations of Gothic policy in the life-time of Apollinaris Sidonius — They sometimes support the Empire, sometimes they are at war with it — Auvergne long left in peace — Family of Sidonius on friendly terms with Theodoric II. — Sidonius also on good terms with the Burgundians — Their settlement at Lyons — Chilperic magister militum — The Burgundians a kindly race, but their personal habits offend the taste of Sidonius — Change in the attitude of the Visigothic power on the accession of Euric — Causes of this — Roman maladministration — Euric an intolerant Arian — His encroachments — Overthrows the Breton troops in Berry — Assails Auvergne — Gallant defence made by Ecdicius, brother-in-law of Sidonius— Moral influence of Sidonius — He fortifies the courage of the people by solemn religious services — The Rogations introduced by Mam. Claudianus of Vienne — Embassy of Epiphanius to Euric — Negotiations of the four bishops — They surrender Auvergne to Euric — Indignant protest of Sidonius — How Euric treated the Catholics — Sees left vacant — Churches fall into ruins — This policy subsequently mitigated, probably through the influence of Leo, Euric's Roman minister — Count Victorius, a Catholic appointed governor of Auvergne— Sidonius banished for a time to the fortress of Livia — Leo obtains his release — His stay at Bordeaux His flattery of Euric and the queen — He is restored to his diocese — Attitude of the Gallo-Roman nobles to the Germans — Some seclude themselves and CONTENTS xix fortify their houses — Yet they had probably not much to fear except from irregular bands — Some take serrice under the German king as adminis- trators — Why they were needed — Position and character of Leo, the secretary of Euric— The tribe of delators — Their sinister arts described by Sidonius — While the Germans wished to maintain order, there are signs of suspicion and insecurity — Roads watched — Couriers liable to be stopped — Sidonius tells little of the condition of the lower classes — Dangers from brigandage — A woman carried off by the Vargi and sold into slavery — A poor squatter on episcopal lands — Raids of the Breton troops in Auvergne — Great famine after the inroad of the Visigoths — Relieved by the munificence of Bishop Patiens and Ecdicius . . Pages 288-318 BOOK V CHAEACTEEISTICS OF EOMAN EDUCATION AND CULTUEE IN THE FIFTH CENTUEY Subject of this book : the culture of pagan tradition — Attitude of the Church to the ancient literary culture — By many Churchmen in the West it was long viewed with suspicion — Hellenism hostile to Christianity — But in the fourth century the Church determines to use the ancient discipline for its own purposes — Attitude of SS. Jerome and Augustine — S. Jerome's love of learning — "Spoiling the Egyptians" — Ancient forms of literature applied to sacred subjects — Juvencus — Proba — The two ApoUinares — No hard and fast line between classical and mediaeval literature — Singular permanence of the school tradition — Example in the case of Ennodius in the time of Theodoric — His declamations on hackneyed themes — Failure of original power after the Silver Age — Singular barrenness of three centuries — Deadening effect of academic conservatism — Its pagan spirit — Opposition between Hellenism and serious Christianity — Example in the conversion of S. Paulinus — His correspondence with his old professor Ausonius shows the gulf between the ascetic and the academic spirit of the time — Influence of imperial authority and patronage in perpetuating the school system — Academic endowments under the Empire — Julian claims control over academic appointments — The stipends of professors fixed in 376^Position and emoluments of professors as described by Ausonius — Some of the rhetors men of wealth and high social standing — Profession of letters greatly honoured — Literary enthusiasm of the aristocracy, especially in Gaul — The great schools of Gaul from the earliest times — Marseilles, etc. — ^The literary renaissance of the fourth century — Its centres were Treves and the schools of Aquitaine, especially Bordeaux — Fame of Bordeaux in the Roman world — The subjects of academic study — Jurisprudence at Aries and Narbonne — Philosophy decaying in the fourth century — Platonists in the time of Sidonius— But probably little serious study of philosophy— Examples of superficial treatment of the subject in Sidonius and Mar- tianus Capella— Serious study of philosophy found only among ecclesiastics ROMAN SOCIETY — The semi-Pelagiau scliool — The controversy between Faustus and Mam. Claudianus on the nature of the soul — Claudianus shows philosophic grasp and knowledge — Academic study confined to grammar and rhetoric — Greek and Latin grammarians — But the study of Greek was evidently declining- — Meaning of grammar — What the grammarian taught — Anti- quarianism — Traces of literary appreciation — Criticism of Virgil in the Saturnalia of Macrobius — Virgil the favourite author — Next in popularity, Terence and Hoi-ace — The influence of Statins — Cicero not popular in the fifth century — Pliny a favourite model — Sallust the most admired prose writer — Opposition between literary and antiquarian modes of study — Dryasdust scholars at Bordeaux — Grammar might have developed into a systematic liberal education, but came to be far inferior to rhetoric — The rage for declamatory displays in the fourth century — The triumph of the rhetor Palladius — The character of the rhetorical training — How it had degenerated into a mere display of conventional skill in dealing with unreal subjects — The moral and intellectual results of this discipline — Abject submission to authority whether political or literary — It produces a tendency to insincere flattery — Example from the Actio Gratiarum of Ausonius — And from the Panegyrics of Sidouius on Avitus and Anthemius — The interchange of flattery in literary coteries — Its absurd exaggerations illustrated — The passion for literary fame, even in an ascetic like S. Jerome — The anxious literary ambition of Sidonius — -Yet, in spite of the idolatry of style, there was a manifest decadence of which Sidonius was fully conscious — Failure of mental energy — Dreams of history which was never written — Why Sidonius did not write the history of the invasion of Attila^ — The fifth century can only show meagre chronicles — Prosper and Idatius — Their characteristics — The poverty of imagination in poetic art vainly supplemented by mythological ornament — Examples from Sidonius— His epithalamium for the wedding of Polemius and Iberia — His prose style is as full of literary faults as his poetry — The men whom he flatters probably had the same literary vices as himself — The crowd of brilliant literary people in his time — Yet they have left no trace ....... Pages 321-376 BOOK I THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM CHAPTER I THE PAGAN ARISTOCKACY AND THE CONFUSION OF PARTIES In spite of the moral force which ensured the future to the Christian faith, its final triumph was long delayed. Eeligious conservatism is, of all forms of attachment to the past, probably the most difficult to overcome. It has its seat in the deepest and most powerful instincts of human nature, which, when they have once twined themselves around a sacred symbol of devotion, are only torn away after a long struggle. But this form of attachment is peculiarly obstinate when it is identified, as religion has so often been, with patriotic reverence for the glory of an ancient state, which in the omens of its birth, the election of its magistrates, the daily work of peaceful adminis- tration, or in the stress of war, and the exultation of conquest, has for many ages recognised the same divine sanction and help. Superstitious fancy, or the seductive charm of sacred festivals, may keep the vulgar constant to the old faith ; but the class which in high office has been specially charged with the safety of the State, and which, by a chain of real or imagined ancestry, is more closely identified with its career, is penetrated with a deeper conservatism than that of the common herd. Antiquarian and literary culture also reinforce religious sentiment, or replace it, when it has decayed. Even the sceptical epicurean, to whom all faiths are alike, will prefer that which has the refined charm of immemorial possession, and which has received an added dignity and glory from the magic touch of genius, and the reverence of heroic characters. Eor nearly a hundred years the emperors had intermittently denounced the practice of the rites of heathenism. Yet the 4 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i edict ^ which closes the long series of anti-pagan laws shows, by the fierceness of its tone, and the severity of the penalties with which it threatens the offender, that the spirit of paganism was not yet crushed. In the very years in which Theodosius was issuing the laws which were to extinguish the ancient superstition, men were reviving a prophecy that the religion of the Cross was about to reach its final ■ term,^ and the most solemn pagan rites were publicly celebrated.' At the close of the fourth century the majority of the Senate were little touched by the Christian faith,* although the wives and daughters of some of them had adopted its most ascetic form. Staunch adherents of paganism still held the Urban or Pretorian prefecture in the reign of Honorius. They still met, apparently with no thought of the imminent triumph of the Church, to hear one of their number expound the sacer- dotal lore of Eome,^ and another set forth the Stoic or Alexandrian interpretation of the myths, or the command of augural science possessed by Virgil. Their great poet, as if he were writing in the age of Augustus, could invite the Christian Emperor Honorius to survey the shrines of the gods,® which still in all their old splendour surrounded the imperial palace with a divine guardianship. Another pagan poet,''' who had been prefect of the city, a quarter of a century after the death of Theodosius, could pour contempt on the Christian profession, and rejoice at the sight of the villagers of Etruria gaily cele- brating the rites of Osiris in the springtime. Magic and divination of every form had long been under the ban of the State. Yet a prefect of Honorius proposed to employ the Tuscan sorcerers,^ who offered the aid of their arts against Alaric, and Litorius, fighting against a successor of Alaric in Gaul, consulted the pagan seers before his last battle, under the walls of Toulouse.^ In the last years of the Western Empire, the diviners of Africa were practising their arts among the nominal Christians of Aquitaine.^" Long after the external rites of heathenism had been sup- ^ Nov. Th. tit. iii. Jahrbucher der Ohr. Kirche, p. 119. ^ S. Aug. de Cw. Dei, xviii. 53. ' Maorob. Sat. See Seeck's Symmachus, oxviii. ^ Claudian, de Sex. Cmis. Son. 44. = C.I.L. vi. 512. ' Rutil. Kamat. i. 440, 375. * Seeck's Sym. Ht. ; Zos. iv. 59. ^ Zos. v. 41. For the opposite view cf. Prud. c. Sym. ' Prosp. Chron. 439. i. 566; Ambroa. Ep. 17, 10 ; Eausohen, '" Apollin. Sidon. Ep. viii. 11. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 5 pressed, the pagan tone and spirit retained its hold on men's imaginations. The obstinate, unchanging conservatism of the Eoman character never displayed itself more strikingly than in the age when Eoman institutions were tottering. That race, so tenacious of the past, yet so bold and aggressive, always strove to disguise fundamental changes, and to retain the charm of old associations under altered circumstances. In this, as in other respects, the Church carried on the tradition of pagan Eome. The prejudices and attachments of a thousand years, which might be proof against the fervid dialectic of S. Augustine, were gently trained by pious arts to turn to other objects of love and devotion.^ She followed the advice of the great pontiff, to break the idols and consecrate the churches. The cycle of the Christian year was in many points adapted to the pagan calendar. The cult of saints and martyrs was estab- lished at the very altars where incense had been burnt to Mars or Bacchus.^ At Naples, lamps burning before the image of the Virgin took the place of those before the family gods.^ The worship of the Virgin mother weaned the Sicilian peasant from the worship of a goddess of less immaculate fame. Many a literary noble of Aquitaine in the fifth century was probably as really pagan as the peasant who bowed before the old altar on Mount Eryx. His grandfather in the days of Ausonius may have conformed to Christianity; some of his friends might have sold their lands, and followed S. Paulinus to Nola or S. Jerome to Bethlehem ; but he himself was often as little of a Christian as the men who, three genera- tions before him, had pleaded with the Emperor to leave the Altar of Victory in the Senate-house. Like Ausonius, he might pay a cold and perfunctory homage to Christ,* and visit the neighbouring town for the Easter festival ; but the whole tone of his thoughts and life was inspired by the memories of the heathen past. With no belief in the old gods, he was steeped in the literary spirit and culture of paganism. The Eoman schools had moulded him far more than the teaching of the ^ For a specimen see S. Paulin. ^ Ozanam, La Civ. au V"^ siide, i. Nol. Carm. 27, 548-580 ; the principle 231. of accommodation is stated in S. Aug. -^ Maury, La Magie, p. 152. Ep. 47, § 3. ■* Auson. Ephem. ii. 15 ; Ep. 10, 17 ; Idyll. 11, 88. 6 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i. Churcbr'*~The unbroken academic tradition of eight hundred years, coming down from the age of the great sophists, was a tremendous force ; and it was a force which repelled aU novelty, and all idealism which looked to the future rather than to the past. All the literature on which he had been nourished was created in the atmosphere of paganism, and teemed with mythological allusions. His teachers were satu- rated with Hellenism, which to the end maintained a cold and distant attitude to Christian devotion. From his earliest years his gaze was turned to the great deeds of Eoman heroes who had worshipped Mars and Jupiter,^ who had read the fate of their campaigns in the flash of lightning or the flight of birds or the entrails of the victim at the altar, who had consulted the Chaldaean seer about their objects of ambition or their hour of death.^ If he could not rival the achievements of these great sons of Eome, he could still add his name to the Fasti in which theirs appeared. He could maintain the stately forms of the past, and the literary and antiquarian tradition which he regarded as the finest essence of the national life. In the final stand which paganism made against imperial edicts and the polemic of the Church, many different forces were arrayed. Sensuality and gross superstition in the degraded masses clung to the rites of magic and divination, to the excitement of the circus, and the obscenities of the theatre. And these base influences long maintained their hold. But it would be a grave mistake to suppose that the old faith rested only on ignorant superstition and sensuality, or on the hard formalism of the old Eoman mythology. For many generations the cults of Eastern origin, the worship of Isis,' of the Great Mother, and Mithra, had satisfied devotional feelings which could find little nourishment in the cold abstrac- tions of old Eoman religion, or the brilliant anthropomorphism of Greece. The inscriptions of the fourth century reveal the ^ S. Augustine had a genuine ad- himself an astrologer. Farent. iv. 17 : miration for great Romans of the early tu coeli numeros et conscia sidera fati ages, e.g. Eegulus, de. Civ. Dei, i. callebas, studium dissimulanter agens. c. zv. Cf. S. Jerome's Ep. 60, § 5, S. Aug. had consulted the books of quid memorem Romanos duces quorum astrologers (libris genethliaoorum virtutibus quasi quibusdam stellis deditus) in his youth." Conf. iv. 3. Latinae micant historiae ? ' See R^ville, Bel. unter den Sev. ' The grandfather of Ausonius was i. c. 2 and 3, pp. 52, 59, 76. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 7 enduring power of these Syrian or Egyptian worships.^ They cultivated an ecstatic devotion, and gave relief to remorse for sin. They had their mystic brotherhoods and guilds, with an initiatory baptismal rite.^ They had their rules and periods of fasting and abstinence from all the pleasures of sense. They had a priesthood set apart from the world with the tonsure and a peculiar habit. And, in initiation to their mysteries, a profound impression was made on the imagination and feelings of the novice. The baptism of blood, of which many a stone record remains, was the crowning rite of the later paganism, relieving the guilty conscience, and regarded as a new birth.^ It can hardly be doubted that, while these cults may not have supplied the moral tone and discipline, which was the great want in all heathen systems, they stimulated a devotional feeling which was unknown to the native religions of Greece and Eome. There was, more- over, in this later pagan movement, penetrated as it was by syncretism, a decided tendency to monotheistic faith.* Prae- textatus held the most prominent place among the last generation who openly worshipped Isis, Mithra, Hecate, and Magna Mater.^ Yet, in the Saturnalia, he is put forward to explain that, under the many names of the Pantheon, it is the attributes of one Great Power which are really adored.* The inner monotheism of the loftier minds in paganism was the fruit of a millennium of the freest and most dis- interested philosophic movement in history. More than five centuries before Christ, Greek speculation had lifted men's minds to the conception of a mysterious Unity behind the phantasmagoria of sense.^ In the fifth century after Christ, Macrobius, at once Pagan and Neoplatonist, holds fast to the doctrine of the Infinite One,^ from whom, by a chain of successive emanations, the Universe proceeds. If this lofty cpnception of the Divine Nature often lent itself to the 1 C.I.L. vi. 512, 749-754, 499-504. * Prudent. Pensteph. x. 1021. Cf. Eenan, M. Awrile, p. 579 ; infra, * R6ville, ii. c. 10, p. 285. p. 64. = C.I.L. vi. 1779. 2 Apul. Met. xi. c. 23 ; Tertull. de « Maorob. Sat. i. 17. Baptismo, c. 5, nam et saoris quibus- ' Arist. Met. i. 5, SeTOi^dyi;! . . . dam per lavacrum initiantur, Isidis rh tv elval (jyqaL rbv 6ebv. alicujua et Mithrae. Cf. Juv. vi. 522 ; ' Maorob. Com. in Som. Scip. i. 17, Porphyr. de Alst. iv. p. 367. 12. 8 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i support of systems wliich seemed to degrade and fritter away the central idea of pure religion, the philosophic supporter of paganism was ready with an explanation. He would have said the Infinite can neither be known nor expressed by finite powers. Yet the human spirit instinctively turns with reverence to the Father of all spirits, and, in its helplessness, can only find utterance for its yearnings in symbolism of word or act. Plato sought an image of the Infinite Good in the Sun.^ Common worshippers adore it under the names of Jupiter, Apollo, Isis, or Mithra.^ The Great Eeality can by any human soul be only dimly conceived, and expressed only in a rude fragmentary way. We see the Divine One in religious myths " as through a glass darkly." Yet, if we purge mythology of the gross fancies of rude ages, the myths may be used as a consecrated language of devotion. They are only faint shadows of the Infinite One, from which we are separated by an impassable gulf; yet they represent the collective thought and feeling of the past about God. They are only symbols, but a religious symbol is doubly sacred when it has ministered to the devotion of many genera- tions. In some such way the philosopher reconciled himself to the ancient worships. Yet although, like Longinianus,^ a correspondent of S. Augustine, he might believe that the ancient sacred rites had a real value, he believed also that the one " great, incomprehensible, and ineffable Creator " was to be approached only by the way of piety, truth, and purity in word and deed. Philosophy and the mysticism of the East had given a new life to the religion of Eome. But old Eoman patriotic feeling was perhaps the most powerful support of paganism in its final conflict with the ChurcL Men like Symmachus, Fla- vianus, and Volusianus were often sceptics at heart. They may have believed vaguely in some Divine Power, and were ready to admit that He might be approached by many ways ; but their real devotion was to Eoma Dea,* the idealised genius of the Latin race, with its twelve centuries of victorious warfare and skilful worldwide organisation. In every step ' Rep. tk. vi. p. 508 ; cf. Sellenua, Ecole d'Alexandrie, ii. pp. Ill, 112. p. 176. 3 s_ j^ug ^ 234. 2 Plut. de Is. c. 67 ; cf. Vacherot's * Claudian, de Bell. Gild. 46 ; de Bell. exposition of the creed of Porphyry, Get. 50 ; Rutil. Namat. i. 47-132. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 9 of that marvellous career, her ancient gods had been their partners. The forms of its ancestral religion were inex- tricably intertwined with the whole fabric of the State.^ Imbedded in law, language, literature, the deepest instincts of the people, her ancient worship seemed inseparable from the very identity of Eome. The true Eoman, even though his religious faith might not be very deep or warm, inherited the most ancient belief of his race that the gods of a city were sharers in all its fortunes. Apostasy from them was identified with a languid patriotism, and was regarded as the cause of public calamities.^ The complete and literal accept- ance of the Christian faith seemed to mean a refusal to perform the duties of citizen or soldier, a scornful abandon- ment of the old traditions of culture, even a loss of faith in the mission of Eome.^ In that age, as in our own, there were widely different conceptions of the meaning of the Christian profession. There can be little doubt that there was a vast mass of interested and perfunctory conformity to the religion which had become the established religion of the State. The philosophic scepticism and worldly tone of the cultivated pagan were often not much altered when he transferred his nominal allegiance from his ancestral gods to Christ. There was a worldliness and easy self-indulgence in the higher rank of nominally Christian society, which moved alike the indignation of the ascetic and the good-humoured ridicule of the pagan observer.* But a large and growing class took the claims of Christ more seriously. To carry out to the letter the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, in the midst of a society penetrated with individualism and easy-going sensuality, seemed a hope- less attempt.' The aspiration after Christian perfection could be satisfied only by a withdrawal from the contamination of the world, and a complete renunciation of the duties of ' Sym. .He/. 3, ergo Eomanae re- papae Damaso dicere : " facite me ligiones ad Bomana jura non per- Komanae eoclesiae episcopum et ero tinent ? protinus Christianus." As a comment ^ lb. 3, sacrilegio exaruit annus. on this tnot of Praetextatus read the ' Auson. Ep. XXV. 44-74. reflections on the conflict for the * Hieron. c. Johann. Rierosol. 8, papal seat in 367 in Amm. Marc. 27, miserahilis Praetextatus qui designatus 3, 14. consul est mortuus, homo sacrilegus ' S. Paulin. Nol. Carm. x. 33, etidolorum cultor, solebat ludens beato 316 ; cf. Kenan, M. Aurile, p. 627. 10 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i citizenship. This spirit has by some modern historians been made responsible for the resignation of the defence of the Empire to barbarian mercenaries, for the decay of industry and wealth, for the decline of letters and art, and the darkness of a thousand years.^ And there is some of the religious litera- ture of that period which gives a colour to part of this indictment. In the very years when the great invasions were desolating the provinces of the West, and when the hosts of Eadagaesus and Alaric were threatening the heart of the Empire, S. Paulinus wrote a remarkable letter to a soldier who felt himself drawn to the higher Christian life.^ In this epistle the ascetic ideal is expounded with a breadth and absence of qualification which shock and amaze the modern reader. The evangelical counsels of perfection are construed in the sternest and most uncompromising fashion. Christian obedience is boldly represented as incompatible with the duties of citizenship and the relations of family life. The love of father or mother, of wife or child, the desire for riches or honour, devotion to one's country, are all so many barriers to keep the soul from Christ. There is not a word to indicate that a Christian life, worthy of the name, could be made com- patible with the performance of worldly duties. The rich are condemned for ever, in the words of prophet or evangelist.^ 'H&e soldier is a mere shedder of blood,* doomed to eternal torment.^ There is no possibility of serving both Christ and Caesar. This was the way in which secular life was regarded by the voluntary exiles who followed S. Jerome, in the last years of the fourth century, to the convents at Bethlehem, or who retired to the Syrian or Egyptian deserts, the islands of the Tuscan Sea, and the hermitages in the woods of Gaul. Such a movement might well seem to an old-fashioned Eoman as a renunciation, not only of citizenship, but of all the hard-won fruits of civilisation and social life. If this was the highest form of Christian life, as its devotees proclaimed it to be, then Christianity was the foe, not only of the old religion, but of ^ Renan, M. AwrUe, pp. 595, 603, Evangelio quoque clamat . . . "vae la vie humaine est suspendue pour vobis divitibus," etc. "''l^l^S^- ,. „ * ii. § 3, mortis minister est. ^ S. Paulin. Ep. xxv. ^ lb. § 2, et iterum per prophetam ° jf5. § 1, quod si maluerimus Caesari ait, "Exterminati sunt omnes qui militare quam Christo . . . ad Gehen- exaltati fuerant auro et argento." In nam transferemur. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 11 the social and political order which Eome had given to the world. It is hardly to he wondered at that the monks were execrated alike by the mob ^ and by the cultivated pagan noble.^ Yet it would be a mistake to suppose that in general society the line between the two camps was sharply drawn. As a matter of fact, there was on either side a large wavering class, half-hearted, sceptical, or formalist. We know, on the testimony of Libanius,^ that there were many sham converts to Christianity, whose conformity was due either to fear or motives of selfish ambition. Such men were ready to return to their old faith as lightly as they had conformed to the new. Apostasy to heathenism became so frequent that Gratian and Theodosius felt bound to restrain it by severe legislation.* The upper class was for generations far more united by the old social and literary tradition than they were divided by religious belief There were friends of Sidonius living at the close of the Western Empire who were at heart as pagan as Symmachus who saw paganism finally proscribed.^ In truth, the line between Christian and pagan was long wavering and uncertain. We find adherents of the opposing creeds side by side even in the same family at the end of the fourth century. Mixed marriages (imparia matrimonia) were evidently not uncommon. Any one acc[uainted with the life of S. Jerome wiU remember Paula, the great Eoman lady, who was the leader of the aristocratic exodus to the Holy Places.® She gave up all "her vast wealth to maintain the religious houses which she founded at Bethlehem.^ Her whole soul was absorbed in the study of the. Scriptures, and in the thought of the life to come.^ Yet Paula was united in early youth to a noble named Julius Toxotius,* who boasted of his descent from Aeneas, and who refused to abandon the worship of his ancestors. Their son, the younger Toxotius, who, at any rate in his youth, was also a staunch pagan, was married ' Hieron. Sp. 39, § 5, quousque ' ApoUin. Sid. Sp. viii. 9 ; viii. 11. genus detestabile non urbe pellitur? e Hieron Ep 108 nonlapidibusobruitur? , ^j_ s'sO,' testis est Jesus, ne ^^»^^Ij!-ATl;}i'ed. Reiske, p. Xu.r'^" ''"""'^ '' " '"" <"c. TJi. xvi. tit. 7 ; cf. Godefroy's ' -f*- § 26- note to xvi. 7, 1 ; Eauschen, Jahrbiicher, ^ lb. §i; Thierry's S. JSrome, pp. p. 153. 26, 27. 12 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i to Laeta,-' another devout friend of S. Jerome, to whom he addressed a letter on the proper education for a Christian maiden. Laeta herself was the offspring of a mixed marriage. Her mother was a Christian, and her father was one of the most distinguished chiefs of the pagan aristocracy, Publilius Caeonius Albinus.^ The affectionate relations of this household seem to have been quite undisturbed by the difference of creed among its members. S. Jerome speaks of Albinus in a friendly tone as a most learned and distinguished man, and sketches a pleasant picture of the old heathen pontiff listening to his little grand-daughter singing her infant hymns to Christ.j Albinus, like many of his class in that day, was plainly tolerant in matters of religion ; yet he was a colleague of Symmachus in the pontifical college, and he figures in the Saturnalia of Macrobius as a great master of the antiquarian lore of old Eome.^ In general society the cultivated sceptic or pagan appears to have often maintained a friendly intimacy even with the most uncompromising champions of the Church. The cor- respondence of S. Augustine reveals the singular freedom and candour with which the great religious questions of the time were debated between the cultivated members of the two parties. Among the friends of the great bishop was Volusianus, brother of that Laeta to whom we have just referred.* Volu- sianus, although he is said to have been afterwards con- verted,* was at this time, if not a decided pagan, like his father the pontiff, at any rate little disposed to accept the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith! He seems to have lived in a circle which debated not only the old philosophical questions, but those tenets of the Christian creed which present the greatest obstacles to the reason. At one of these gatherings^ the difficulties of the miraculous conception of Christ, and of the Incarnation of the omnipresent Euler of the Universe in a single human form, subject to all the changes, 1 Hieron. Ep. 107, § 1. Sat. i. 2, 15 ; Hieron. Ep. 107, § 1. 2 His restoration of a rained Capitol 3 Macrob. Sat. i. iii. at Thaniuead m Numidia is com- do* u 1 on c a 1.0 memorated in an inscription of the , ?• ^"8- ^- 1^2 ; ef. Seeok s Sym. time of Valentinian and Valens, C.I.L. <^'^'^'^^- viii. 2388 ; cf. O.I.L. viii. 6975, ° Baron. Annal. Eccl. v. 728 (quoted which contains the dedication by him ™ Seeck's Sym. clxxix.). of a chapel to Mithra ; cf. Macrob. ' S. Aug. Ep. 135. CHAP. 1 THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 13 wants, and limitations of humanity, were raised. And Volu- sianus, in a letter full of deferential admiration for Augustine's character and learning, asks for some light on these puzzling questions. In another letter,^ Marcellinus, who was a friend of both, submits, on behalf of Volusianus, some other problems as to the apparent inconstancy of the Deity in abrogating the Jewish law which He had Himself given, and the possi- bility of obeying the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount in the government of a dominant state. On both sides there is an urbanity and an absegice of partisan heat, which show the strength of the ancient culture in the fierce conflict of beliefs. The same tone is conspicuous in the letters between the pagan philosopher Longinianus and Augustine.^ Their letters seem to show that the two men were on terms of friendly intercourse, and although Longinianus cannot give a satisfactory answer to the question, " What think you of Christ ? " a devout monotheism supplied some common ground with the Christian bishop, who deals in a singularly gentle tone with the philosopher's lingering and vaguely expressed attach- ment to ancient mystic rites. Augustine's letter to Lampadius on fatalist superstitions displays even more startling tolerance.* Yet Lampadius was a devotee of the pagan belief in astrology and divination. He was Pretorian prefect in the short-lived government established in 409 by the old senatorial party,* with Attains as emperor and Alaric as master of the forces, which was the last attempt of the old pagan spirit to regain the sceptre. In the circle of Symmachus, which is better known to us than any other of that time, there is a striking intermixture of pagan and Christian, with a reticent suppression of all differences on religious questions. Q. Aurelius Symmachus was the chief of the pagan aristocracy, the most gallant defender of the old religion in its last struggles for toleration. His ancestors had held the highest office since the days of Constantine,^ and he himself had added fresh lustre to the honours of his house. He was regarded as the finest product of the literary tradition of Eome,® an arbiter elegantiarum whose critical judgments were infallible, 1 S. Aug. Ep. 136. ° Auson. Idyll, x. ; Ep. xvii. ; ^ lb. 233, 234, 235. Vv^Ae^t. c. Sym. i. 632 : 3 77. OAR O linguam miro verborum fonte fluentem, JO. 24d. Romani deciis eloquii, cui cedat et ipse ^ Zos. vi. 7. TuUius ... 5 Seeck's Sym. xl. Ambros. Ep, 18, 2. 14 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i the greatest orator of the Senate. Probably, like so many of his class for ages, he was a sceptic whose inner creed was a vague monotheism. But he cherished a sentimental, or a statesmanlike, attachment to the ancient forms of the Eoman religion. The fortunes and the dignity of Eome were in his eyes inseparably linked with her guardian deities.^ The grandeur and beneficence of her career were for ever associated with the religion of the old Fabii, Decii, and Scipios. There are, indeed, but few direct references to religion in his private letters, none to Christianity or the internecine war of faiths which was raging around him. Like Claudian and Macrobius, he seems to shut his eyes to the spiritual revolution which in his closing years was sending the world of Western Europe on a new orbit. To the very end of the legal existence of paganism, he maintained the same tranquil, old-world tone about religion. He records the meetings of the Sacred College, and the recurrence of the festival of Magna Mater. He mentions in his letters terrifying prodigies,^ such as the consul suffectus being thrown from his car, somewhat in the manner of the early annals. When the Vestal Virgins, prayed for leave to erect a statue to Vettius Agorius Praetextatus,^ the man who "possessed the deepest knowledge of sacred things," probably the best and most devout pagan of that age, and a dear friend of Symmachus, he resisted the pro- posal, partly on the ground of propriety, partly as a violation of ancient usage. Personally the most kindly and humane of men, he demanded of the prefect that an erring Vestal should be surrendered to pontifical authority, to be punished in the cruel old Eoman fashion.* He once or twice laments the growing neglect of the ancient worship,^ and prays the gods to pardon it, although he cannot help feeling that it is sometimes due to an unworthy subservience to the feelings of the Court. It seems as if Symmachus was incapable of imagining that the Eoman State could ever finally disown the gods in whom the men of her great ages had believed. Yet the correspondence of Symmachus shows that he lived on terms of friendly and even affectionate intimacy, not 1 Sym. Ibd. 3. * lb. ix. 147. 2 Ep. vi. 40; i. 49; ii. 34. ' lb. i. 51, nunc aris ^ lb. ii. 36. Romanes genus est ambiendl. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 15 only with nominal Christians, but with determined foes of the old religion. In the list of his friends, indeed, almost every shade of belief or of indifference is represented ; and there is no better way of understanding the religious confusion of that time than to study some of the men with whom the great pagan noble was intimate, from Praetextatus the heathen mystic, to S. Ambrose the great champion of Catholic orthodoxy. - Praetextatus was probably the truest representative of the last generation of paganism. The inscriptions which com- memorate his virtues and distinctions are a proof of the space he filled in the eyes of contemporaries.^ He was proconsul of Achaea in the reign of JuHan,^ and, after a long retirement of fifteen years,^ he held the Pretorian prefecture in the reign of Theodosius, and was designated for the consulship in 385, when he died in his sixtieth year. Praetextatus combined all the qualities which then constituted the ideal of the Eoman noble. He was devoted to letters, had emended MSS.,* and translated Aristotle. His house is the scene of the learned conversations of the Saturnalia? As a statesman, he resisted the law of Valentinian I. against nocturnal rites,^ which seemed intolerable to his provincial subjects in Greece. When he was prefect of the city he gained universal popularity,' with- out offending any party, although he had the difficult duty of maintaining order when, in the furious struggle for the papal throne, the rival factions of Damasus and TJrsinus were slaughtering one another on the pavement of the churches.* On his death, even S. Jerome,^ who consigns him to outer darkness, agrees with Marcellinus that he received the tribute of a universal mourning from the populace of Eome. Praetex- tatus was the most learned theologian and the most enthusi- astic devotee in the ranks of the last pagan nobles. His monument describes him as augur, priest of Vesta, priest of the sun, curial of Hercules, devoted to Liber and the Eleusinian deities, neocorus, hierophant, pater patrum, cleansed by the '■ » C.I.L. vi. 1779, 2145. The latter ^ Macrob. Sat. i. 1. refers to a monument erected to him ° Zos. iv. 3. by the Vestals. ' Amm. Marc, xxvii. 9, 8. " Amm. Marc. xxii. 7, 6. * /6. xxvii. 3, 12. ^ Seeck's Sym. Ixxxviii. ' Up. 23, ad cujus interitum virbs '' Sym. Ep. i. 53 ; cf. Seeck, Izxxvii. universa commota est. 16 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i rite of the Taurobolium.^ His wife, Fabia Aconia Paulina, was his partner in all sacred things, and was famous in the Eoman world for her religious eminence. It is noteworthy that Praetextatus is almost the only one of his friends to whom the reticent Symmachus mentions the subject of religion,^ although even the pious Praetextatus seems to have sometimes forgotten his sacerdotal duties in the repose of his country-seat in Etruria.^ When, as Urban prefect, Symmachus announced his death to the Emperor,* he described Praetextatus, with the assent of the whole people, as a model of all private and public virtue. Another name among the pagan friends of Symmachus deserves special mention. Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, a member of the great Anician house,^ was son of a man who, after long obscurity, rose to prominence in the pagan reaction of Julian. Flavianus was a young man of twenty-seven when Julian came to the throne, and along with Venustus his father,^ and his cousin Symmachus, obtained a provincial governorship. For twelve years of the reign of Valentinian I. Flavianus was in retirement; but in the reign of Gratian, he, along with Symmachus, shared in the extraordinary ascendency which the circle of Ausonius enjoyed for some years. Flavianus received the vicariate of Africa, Hesperius, the poet's son, being proconsul of the province at the same time. After the manner of the pagan or indifferent governors of the age,^ Flavianus showed indulgence to the heretics of his district,^ and incurred a rebuke from the orthodox Emperor. In the reign of Theodosius he regained the favour of the Court, and was made prefect of Italy in 383, his two sons also being elevated to governorships of provinces. After a brief interval, he once more rose to favour and held the prefecture in 391.^ 1 G.I.L. vi. 1779. 8 S. Aug. Ep. 87, § 8, to a Donatist ^ Sym. Ep. i. 47, 48, 51. bishop, describes Flavianus as "partia 3 Ih. i. 45. vestrae homo." Cf. 0. Th. xvi. 6, 2, * Ih. X. 10. addressed to Flavianus in 377, ordering ^ The Symmachi also belonged to it ; him to suppress Anabaptism ; and cf. Seeck, oii., and the Stemma on p. xl. xvi. 5, 4, 378, to Hesperius, in which ^ Amm. Maro. xxiii. 1, 4, Venusto the continuance of heretical worship vicariam commiait Hispaniae. This is is attributed to ' ' dissimulatio judi- the Venustus of Macrob. i. 5, 13, cum." But the date of the law is Flavianus — mirando viro Venusto patre doubtful. Cf. Godefroy's notes and praestantior. Seeck's Sym. cxiv. ' Cf. the efforts of the Priscillianists ^ See Seeck's note, 579 ; Kauschen, to have their cause brought before a Jahri. pp. 150 and 337. Rauschen friendly governor in Spain, Sulp. Sev. controverts Seeck's view {Prol. cxvii.) Chron. ii. 49. that Flavianus was praef. praet. in 389. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 17 But his career was drawing to a disastrous close. Although he wielded such power under the Emperor who finally proscribed the heathen ritual, Flavianus was an obstinate reactionary in religion. He became the heart and soul of the brief pagan restoration under Eugenius. He obtained the restoration of the altar of Victory to the Senate-house/ and of their endow- ments to the sacred colleges. By lavish hospitality, and promises of official advancement,^ he tempted weak-kneed or indifferent Christians to desert the cause of Theodosius and the Church. All the arts of ancient divination were brought into play by the greatest living master of the science.^ And a prophetic verse was recalled or invented which foreshadowed the end of the Christian superstition three hundred and sixty- five years after the Passion.* The reckoning seemed to tally exactly with the crisis of events. But the gods proved false to their faithful champion ; the illusions of the past only led Flavianus and his party to their doom. Amid the tempest which raged over the battle on the Frigidus and gave the victory to Theodosius, Flavianus ^(yre majorum died by his own hand. He had staked all on the success of the pagan cause and lost Yet, strange to say, his memory was respected, and even honoured, by the victors. His confiscated estates were afterwards restored to his sons.° The Emperor in a message to the Senate deplored the loss to the State and to himself. Nearly forty years after the battle on the Frigidus the Emperors Valentinian and Theodosius did justice to the virtues and distinction of Flavianus in a monument which is still extant.^ A master of augural lore, a learned historian, and a philosopher, he was one of that band who, when paganism and letters were perishing, united in a single love the literature and the religion of the past.^ Several of the great German chiefs, who wielded such power in that age, were among the most intimate friends of Symmachus. Of these some boldly adhered to the religious practices of their ancestors without any hindrance to their ^ Paulin. vit. Arribros. o. viii. § 26. * De Civ. Dei, xviii. 53, 54. ' See the Garm. Paris, (a poem dia- s Sym. Ep. iv. 19. coveredattheendofaMS.ofPrudentius) e n t t „■ ttoo quoted by Seeck, cxvui. ' Sozom. vii. 22, ret iiAWovra ' Peter's G-esch. Litt. iiber die Eiim. iKpipovv XoytfiA'fi'OS inffr^fi-ri wavro- Kaiserzeit, ii. 32 ; of. i. 137 ; Seeck'3 SavTjs iMVTtlas. Sym. oxv. ; Macrob. Sat. i. 5, 13. 18 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i advancement. Others conformed to the Church, with more or less intensity of faith. With Stilicho, the autocrat of the early years of Honorius, Symmachus was naturally on the most friendly footing. We can well beheve that there would be strong bonds of sympathy between the chief of the party who claimed toleration for paganism, and the statesman who strove to find a modus vivendi between Eoman and Goth, Catholic and Pagan, and who incurred the anathemas of the bigots of both parties, of EutUius Namatianus ^ and of Orosius.^ Eichomer, another friend of Symmachus, a Frank chief of the highest character, who never abandoned his ancestral faith,^ is a remarkable example of the religious confusion of the time. He was on terms of the most friendly character with Libanius, the last of the Hellenists, and yet he rose to be consul and magister mUitum under a prince engaged in extirpating heathenism.* He was a personal friend of Arbogastes and Eugenius, the chiefs of the pagan reaction of 394 ; yet he was designated to command the cavalry of Theodosius against them when he was overtaken by death.^ Another Frank, Bauto, whatever his own religion may have been,^ took care to have his daughter, the future Empress Eudoxia, brought up a devout Catholic. Among the correspondents of Symmachus there are Christians of many shades of conviction, from the great Bishop of Milan to the trimmers who were ready to acquiesce in a pagan restoration under the shadowy authority of Attains. The Ambrosius of the letters of Symmachus is almost certainly the illustrious saint and pastor who, by the force of genius and character, wielded a greater power than any other man in the last struggle of paganism with the Christian Empire.' The man who confronted fearlessly the Arianism of Justina,* and who forced Theodosius to do penance for the massacre of Thes- salonica,® threw the whole energy of a powerful nature into ' Itin. ii. 41. participle in one of S. Ambrose's ^ Ores. vii. 38. Epistles. Cf. Rausohen, Jahrb. der ' Liban.cZe Fisto/SMa, i. p. 136, lepoisTe Christ. Kirche wnier dem K. Theod. Kal ecoU TpoiTKdfiei'os. Cf. JEp. 785, 926. p. 204, n. 4 ; S. Ambros. Sp. 57. ^ See the authorities collected in the ' Seeok's Sym. cxxviii. ; Ambros. de Prosopographia of the C. Th. ed. Ritter. Sat. Excessu, i. 32. But cf. note in ^ Zos. iv. 55. Migne's ed. ^ Seeek, Sym. exl., makes him a ^ Paulin. vita S. Amir. c. iv, § 12. Christian on the strength of a singular " lb. c. vii. § 24. CHAP. 1 THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 19 the conflict, so long wavering and doubtful, which gave the final victory to the Church before he died. When Sym- machus, as deputy of the Senate, appealed to the Emperor to restore to their house of assembly the altar of Victory, the most venerable symbol of the pagan Empire, S. Ambrose resisted the proposal with all the arts of a rhetoric, trained, like that of his opponent, in the ancient schools.^ The two men were the chosen champions of the opposing hosts, and they fought with an equal energy of sentiment or conviction. But although they were so sharply opposed in matters of religion, they were connected both by blood and culture. Sjrmmachus writes to the bishop in the tone of an assured and imruffled friendship.^ In one letter he even claims his good offices on behaK of a man who had served under the usurpation of Eugenius. S. Ambrose on his side speaks of Symmachus in a tone of respect for the sincerity of his pagan zeal, and admiration for the skill of his rhetoric.^ There are one or two other decided Christians in the list, such as that Vincentius, who, when prefect of Gaul, strove to cultivate the friendship of S. Martin.* But most of the other so-called Christian friends of Symmachus had little in common with the enthusiasm of S. Ambrose. Some of them belonged to that large class of waverers and sceptics to whom a religious profession was only a means of safety or of ambition. The most distinguished friend of Symmachus in the high official world was Sextus Petronius Probus. Descended from a long line of consuls,^ Probus was regarded as the greatest glory of the Anician house.® Proconsul of Africa in his twenty -second year, he held the Pretorian prefecture four times, in one case for a term of eight years, and was colleague of the Emperor in the consulship of 371. His rank and virtues are commemorated in many inscriptions, and in a poem of Ausonius addressed to Probus,'' when he wielded at Sirmium a power second only to that of the Emperor. His wife and his sons were devoted Christians;^ his grand-daughter 1 Paulin. mte ;». ^m&r. c. viii. § 26 ; f* Seeok's Sym. xoi. ; C.I.L. vi. Sym. Bel. 3. 1752, 1753, 1756. » Sym. Ep. iii. 33, 34. ^ Hieron. Ep. 130, § 3. 3 Ambros. Ep. 57, 2, functus est ' C.I.L. vi. 1751-6 ; Auson. Ep. ille partibus suis pro studio et cultu xvi. ; cf. Amm. Marc, xxvii. 11, 1. suo. * Prudent, c. Sym. i. 551 ; Hieron. * Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 25, 6. Ep. 130, § 3. 20 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM , book i Demetrias took the vow of virginity. Yet Probus himself was only baptized on his deathbed.^ And Ammianus Mar- cellinus more than hints that love of wealth and power was his strongest passion." Caecilianus, who bore a great part in the negotiations with Alaric, was a great friend of S. Augus- tine as well as of Symmachus.^ But he appears to have been a rather lukewarm Christian ; for the saint remonstrates with him for being content at his age to remain a catechumen. On a lower level than Probus and Caecilianus are two men, among the familiar friends of Symmachus, who had an ephemeral distinction in the years of Alaric's invasion. Their attitude to rehgion represents that of many of their contem- poraries. The Jovius of the letters of Symmachus is probably the believer in chance and the superstitions of astrology whom S. Paulinus laboured to convert from his errors.* Yet he began his public career by overturning the temples of heathenism at Carthage.^ He is praised by Symmachus for his high principle and virtue;'' but the account which the historian gives of his career seems to convict him either of fickleness or treachery. He was a personal friend of Alaric, and, on the fall of Olympius, the leader of the Catholic reaction, Jovius succeeded him,'^ and resumed the tolerant religious policy of Stilicho, along with an attempt to conciliate Alaric by conceding some of his demands. Having failed to obtain the Emperor's assent to his views, he suddenly took up an attitude of determined hostility to the Gothic chiefs Yet within a very short time we find Jovius in the office of Pretorian prefect under Attalus,' the puppet emperor whom Alaric had set up. In the breach between Attains and his patron, Jovius deserted Attalus, as he had deserted Honorius.-"' The believer in mere chance, as the ruling force in the universe, seems, on the more charitable hypothesis, to have allowed his own life to be governed by it. There is only a faint glim- mering of any higher principle in his career, when occasionally he showed a certain faith in the Gothic power. ^ C.I.L. 1756, senior donatus ^ Sym. Ep. viii. 30 ; ix. 59. munere (ihristi. 7 7oa v 46 47 ■^ Amm. Marc. xxx. 5, 4-7. , „ • ^vf ' *'' 3 Aug. Ep. 151, § 14. •"• '^- *9 ; Sozom. ix. 7. ^ S. Paulin. Nol. Ep. xvi. ' Zos. vi. 8. ^ Aug. de Civ. Dei, xviii. 54. i° Olympiod. Frag. 13. CHAP. I THE PAGAN ARISTOCRACY 21 Another great figure in the events of those puzzling years was Priscus Attains.-' He was of Asiatic origin. His father had a great literary reputation, was the friend and correspondent of Libanius, and rose to high office.^ Attains possessed the superficial literary and rhetorical arts which were then in vogue ; he could deliver elaborate orations, write pretty verses,^ and accompany them on the lyre. As to religion, he was a Hellenist, with no faith either in the old system or the new, but with a sentimental attachment to the past.* Yet his brilliant accomplishments gave him a foremost place in the senatorial ranks, and when the city was hard pressed by Alaric he was one of the envoys chosen to lay before the Emperor at Eavenna the miseries of the capital.' The mission failed ; but Attains accepted the office of count of the sacred largesses,* and shortly afterwards that of prefect of the city. When Alaric, so long mocked by the mingled weakness, perfidy, and insolence of the court at Eavenna, seized the magazines at Ostia, and ordered the Senate, as the price of their safety, to depose Honorius and elect a new chief of the State, their choice fell on Attains.'' And surely there was never a more curious spectacle than when the sceptical Hel-i lenist received baptism at the hands of an Arian bishop,^ to please his Gothic masters, while he gave his sanction to reactionary dreamers like Lampadius and TertuUus, who revived for a moment the arts of divination and the pagan ceremonies of the old Eepublic. These men, of such various shades of enthusiasm or indiffer- ence, appear to have lived together in perfect amity. The urbane senator, in whose friendship they are united for the study of the historian, seems to have found no more difficulty in his relations with Ambrose and Probus than with Plavianus or Praetextatus. They were all during the life of Symmachus united in the service of the State. Pronounced pagans held the prefecture or the consulship under Theodosius and Honorius, and were even their trusted counsellors.' It was ' For the authorities as to his career '' It. v. 44 and 46. see Seeck's Syniinaclius, clxx. ' Ih. vi. 7. ^ Amm. Marc, xxviii. 4, 3. ' Sozom. ix. 9. ' Olympiod. Frag. 24. ' Symmachus was consul in 391 ; ■* Sozom. ix. 9. Flavianus was prefect of Italy in 391 ; '' Zos. V. 44. his son was proconsul of Asia in 383 ■2-2 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i not till 416 that they were formally excluded from office.^ Many of these pagan officials had for years in their hands the enforcement of laws against superstitions or heresies with which they themselves sympathised. In the long truce between the hostile camps, the pagan, the sceptic, even the formal, lukewarm Christian, may have come to dream of a mutual toleration which would leave the ancient forms undis- turbed. But such men, living in a world of literary and antiquarian illusions, knew little of the inner forces of the new Christian movement. The chiefs of the Church were of a very different mould from the chiefs of the Senate. (Rauschen, p. 148) ; Richomer was Peter, Gesoli. Litt. i. 142. Rutilius consul in 384 (Rauschen, p. 172). Namatianus was prefect of the City in Macrobius, author of the Saturnalia, 414 {Itin. i. 167). His father, La- was probably Praef. Praet. of Spain chanius, had been Consularis Tusciae in 399, Procos. of Africa iu 410, and {ib. i. 579). Praepositus S. Cubiculi in 422 (C. ^ C. Th. xvi. 10, 21, qui profano Th. xvi. 10, 15 ; xi. 28, 6 ; vi. 8). But Pagani ritus errore seu crimine poUu- there is some doubt. Cf. Godefroyonxi. untur, nee ad militiam admittantur, 28, 6, n. 6 ; Jan, Prol. ad Macrob. v. nee Administratoris vel Judicis houore vi. ; Teuffel, Horn. Lit. ii. p. 453 ; deoorentur. CHAPTEE II THE LAST CONFLICTS OF PAGANISM "WITH THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE The sixteenth book of the Theodosian Code contains a series of twenty-five edicts^^amst tihte„pxactic.ft^„^^^^ It begins with a curt command that superstition shall cease and " the insanity of sacrifi cial rites shall be abolished." ^ It closes, more than eighty years afterwards, with denouncing the penalty of death against any who still presume to take part in " the damnable practices" so long forbidden by the State.^ It is true that in the edict of 423 the Emperor seems sanguine that heathenism is almost extinct,^ and he somewhat mitigates the penalties against those " who are still entangled in the accursed worship of daemons." There is even a curious note of toleration in the law of the same year,* which imposes a heavy fine on any person offering violence to Jews or pagans who lived in quietness and outward obedience to the law. But this clemency was probably misunderstood. In country 1 places, sometimes with the connivance of indifferent offtcials,/ the old temples were stiU frequented, and sacrifices were stiU^ offered more than fifty years after the death of the great Theo- 1 dosius. The fierce tone of the Novella of 439 proves that legislation had not yet finally conquered the obstinacy of old superstition. The closing enactment in the Code, against the obstinate and hated remnant, is the most vehement of all.^ In ^ C. Th. xvi. 10, 2, cesset su- credamus, legum jamdudum prescripta perstitio ; sacrifioiorum aboleatur in- compescant. sania. * lb. xvi. 10, 24. 2 lb. xvi. 10, 25. ' Nov. Theod. tit. 3. The law is •2 lb. xvi. 10, 22 and 23, paganos directed against Jews, Samaritans, qui supersunt,quanquain jam nuUos esse heretics, and pagans. 24 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i that strange rhetorical tone of the later Code, the infuriated Emperor, after referring to the almost ostentatious contempt of pagans for " the thousand terrors of the laws," asks " why the springtime has resigned its wonted charm, why the summer with its scanty harvests mocks the hopes of the toiling hushandman, why the rigours of winter have condemned the fruitful soil to barrenness ? " It must be the vengeance of Nature^. for continued impiety/' The violated 'majesty oTthe Heavenly Power demanded expiation and revenge. Probably the timid devotees, who still clung to their rustic altars, found the explanation of these calamities in the impiety of the Emperor. But here, so far as open pagan ritual is concerned, the conflict with the Empire closes. The final triumph over the devotional attachments of a thousand years was reserved for the dialectic or the accommodating arts of the Church. The secret of the long conflict is not to be sought ex- clusively in the obstinacy of immemorial custom, and the con- servatism of a race wedded to ancient usage. The truth is, that^ in the peri od of transitionjthe^laws were administered for the most^jgart by officials. belonging- to- the .^garT'of "wavering class. But, above aU, the imperial governments for~a'~T6ng time was only hal?-heafted in the war against the old religion of the State. The policy of Constantine and his successors, till the reign of Gratian, was, in spite of appearances, one of practical toleration to the legitimate practice of pagan worship in the West.^ It is true that Constantius, Valentinian I., and Valens made the practice of the arts of divination, astrology, and magic a pohtical crime,^ and strove to repress them with a Ruth- less determination. But from 356 to 381 there is no law in the Code directed against public heathen rites. In the interval they were either authorised or connived at. Symmachus and his colleagues still hold the meetings of the pontifical college ; the feasts of Magna Mater are still celebrated; the Vestals still guard the eternal fire. Even Gratian did not expressly -Polish the heathen worship, although on his accession, for ^ Cf. Boiasier, La Fin du Pag. ii. ^ There is a controversy as to the pp. 271, 296 ; Rausohen, Jahrbilcher der laws between 341 and 356, interdicting Christ. Kirche unier dem K. Tlieod. pagan worship. The most probable p. 127, die Opfer dagegen, auch die conclusion seems to be that, if they blutigen, blieben im Westreiche bis were issued, they were not rigorously zum Gesetz des Theodosius vom 24 enforced. Duruy, vii. 297 ; cf. Maury, Feb. 391 erlaubt ; C. Th. xvi. 10, 10. La Magie, pp. 110-114. CHAP. II ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 25 the first time, he declined to accept the pontifical robes, and withdrew from the sacred colleges their estates and endowments.^ His most serious assault on the old religion was the removal QL_the, statue and altar of Victory from the Senate-house.^ The figure of Victory, originally brought from Tarentum, was regarded as the sacred syrdhol of Eoman greatness. From the days of Augustus it had stood over the"altar at which twelve generations of senators had seen their sittings opened with sacrifice, and at which they had sworn allegiance to the chief of the State.^ The Senate which contained such attached pagans as Praetextatus, ^/^Symmachusy' and Flavianus, and which almost certainly at this time had a majority opposed to the innovation,* resolved to petition the Emperor to rescind the decrees. But the Christian party, through Damasus and iAmbros'e,\ succeeded in preventing the deputation from even getting an audience."- The events which immediately followed seemed a judgment of the gods on their enemies. Gratian was slain in battle with Maximus, and left no heirs; and a terrible famine fell on the provinces which were the granaries of Italy." The pagan party took fresh courage, and in 384 their two greatest chiefs, Praetextatus and Symmachus, were raised, the one to the prefecture of Italy, the other to that of the city.' Praetextatus signalised his tenure by obtaining a decree for the prevention of the spoliation of temples,* and to require the restitution of works of art which had been abstracted by private persons. Qnce more the Senate formally resolved to petition the Emperor to repeal . the law of Gratian. And Symmachus, as the head of the deputation, was entrusted with the task of stating their views. ' Zos. iv. 36, tQ»> oZv TTovTupUav Kara majority. But, if so, why did they t6 iivTi0e! irpoo-ayaybvToiv Fpanaixfi not prevent the appeal to the Emperor ? riiv (TToXifv aireaelaaTo rrtv atrrjo-tv. For and why were even the Christian doubts about this statement see members of the Consistorium in favour Rauschen, Jahrb. der Chr. K. p. 120, of yielding ? Cf. Kauschen, p. 119, n. 4. n. 10, who deals in a rather arbitrary ^ Sym. Ep. X. 3 ; cf. Seeck's Sym. way with the evidence ; cf. Boissier, liii. liv. ii. 315 ; Gibbon, c. 28. ^ Gregorovius, Home in tlie Middle ^ Ambros. Mp. 17, 10, misit ad me Ages, i. 67. Sanotus Damasus . . . libellum quern ■* Cf. Seeok, Sym. liv. ; cf. the Christiani senatores dederunt, etc. account of the Senate's opposition to ^ Sym. Eel. 3, secuta est hoc Theodosius in Zosimus, iv. 59 ; and on factum fames publioa. the other hand the boast of Prudentius, ' See the references to the 0. Th. in c.- Sym. i. 566. Ambros. Ep. 17 Seeck, Iv. affirms that the Christians were in a * Sym. Mel. 21. 26 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i The speech which he composed for the occasion is still extant/ and is invaluable as the last formal and public protest of the proscribed faith. It is penetrated at once by the spirit of sceptical tolerance, and the spirit of old Eoman conservatism. "Each nation," says Symmachus, "has its own gods and peculiar rites. The Great Mystery cannot be approached by one avenue alone.^ But use and.,m>nLcount fprmuc^ authority to a_ religion. Leave us the symbol on which our oaths of allegiance have been sworn for so many generations. Leave us the system which has so long given prosperity to the State. A religion should be judged by its utility to the men who hold it. Years of famine have been the punishment of sacrilege. The treasury should not be replenished by the wealth of the sacred colleges, but by the spoils of the enemy." And the venerable form of Eome is introduced, in a piece of powerful rhetoric, pleading for reverence for her many centuries of life,^ for leave to follow her immemorial customs and tradi- tions, and the faith which had kept the Gauls and Hannibal at bay. According to S. Ambrose, the oratory of Symmachus had a powerful effect even on the Christian members of the Consistory.* Nor does the great bishop disguise his own admiration for its skill and power. . But once more his arts and energy gained a victory for the Church. Yet, in spite of intervals of imperial displeasu*^, Symmachus and his kinsman Flavianus continued to hold high place. Flavianus was Pretorian prefect in 391, and in the same year Symmachus rose to the consulship. Once again Symmachus was commissioned by the Senate to ask for the restoration of the altar of Victory. But Theodosius was thoroughly mastered by the powerful will of S. Ambrose, and the chief of the pagan party was hurried from the imperial presence, and set down at the hundredth milestone from Milan.* Another effort, and the last, was made in 392. The Consistory again would have yielded, but the young Valentinian stood firm, although this time S. Ambrose was absent from the field. ^ Sym. ltd. 3. atque his vobisoum agere sermonibus 2 Uno itinere non potest perveniri • ■ • reveremini annos meos. . . . ad tarn grande seoretum ; of. a similar '' Ambros. E-p. 18, 2 ; de Obit. liberal tone in the letter of Maximus Valent. 19. . to S. Augustine, Ep. 16, § 4. , Prosper, de Promiss. et Fraedict ^ Romam nunc putemus adsistere Dei, iii. c. 38 ; S. Ambros. Ep. 51. CHAP, n ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 27 The law which definitely prohibited pagan worship in the^ ,(;q West was published in the year of the consulship of Sym- machus.^ Down to 391, notwithstanding the determined attitude of Gratian, the legitimate practice of the ancient rites in the Western provinces was little interfered with. But the law of Theodosius and Valentinian II. forbids absolutely the offering of sacrifices, and even the visiting of temples. Heavy fines are imposed on governors and officials of every degree who shall infringe the law, or connive at its infringement.. The law of 392 is addressed to a prefect of the East, but it is evidently intended for the whole Eoman world. It is of the most sweeping and uncompromising character.^ No one, however highly placed in respect of birth, fortune, or office, is to presume to disobey it. The most private worship of the house- hold gods, by incense, lights, or garlands, is interdicted.^ And every other mode of heathen worship is forbidden in a long and exhaustive enumeration. All governors, defensors, and curials of cities are bound under heavy penalties to see to the observ- ance of the law. Yet_the yicjtory,._Qf„th&_Churcb_jwas_np^ s^^^ as the confidejoit^ to.ae_of,. legislation mig^t _seem _ tp^proclaim. In the very year when the first of these laws was published a votary of Mithra within the walls of Eome received " the new birth to eternal life " through the cleansing rites of the Taurobolium.* Even more significant is the fact that many persons of rank and dignity were deserting the Christian fold, and lapsing into Jewish or Manichaean or pagan superstitions. There is no more remarkable chapter in the Code than that which deals with apostasy.^ Constantine and Constantius had found it necessary to threaten severe penalties against those who forsook Christianity to join the Jews or Manichaeans.^ The law of the elder Theodosius in 381 is the first in the Code directed against the tendency of nominal Christians to relapse 1 C. Th. xvi. 10, 10. * C.I.L. vi. 736, arcanis perfu- ^ lb. xvi. 10, 12, nuUus omnino, sionibus in aeternum renatus tauro- ex quolibet geuere, ordine hominum, bolium orioboliumque fecit. The names dignitatum, vel in potestate positus, of the consuls are made out to be vel honore perfunotus, etc. those of 391, Tatianus and Symmachus. ^ Vel secretiore piaoulo, Larem igne, ^ „ • j.-j. y mero Genium, Penates nidore vene- ^^' ratus, aocendat lumina, imponat tura, ^ Ih. xvi. 8, 1 and 7 ; cf, xvi. 7, serta suspendat. 3. See Godefroy's Paratitlon. 28 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i into heathenism.^ Between 381 and 396 the Code contains six enactments, denouncing in tones of increasing severity those who have profaned their baptism and betrayed the faith of Christ by a return to idolatry, and withdrawing from them the rights of bequest or inheritance.^ Apostates of rank and dignity are to be degraded and branded with perpetual infamy,^ and all hope of restoration by penitence is refused to the renegade. Thirty years later, Valentinian III. thought it necessary to repeat the previous edicts, and even to add to their emphasis.* That men should abandon the religion of the State in the face of such trenchant legislation is a proof, not only of the force of old religious associations, but also of a certain confi- dence that the cause of paganism was not yet hopeless. Nor was the confidence altogether unreasonable. The men who, in the foremost place and station, still clung obstinately to the faith of their ancestors, Symmachus, Flavianus, or Praetextatus, were born in the reign of Constantius. In their early youth they had seen the Church torn by fierce conflicts, in which Christian charity and common humanity were forgotten in a controversy about what to them seemed barren verbal subtleties. They had seen the bishops of rival sects anathematising one another, and men of lofty character driven into poverty and obscure exile for years, whUe the military and administrative force of a government, nominally Christian, lent itself to satisfy the rancour of theological hatred. They might well feel with the honest pagan Ammianus Marcellinus' that no savage beasts could equal the cruelty of Christians to one another. On the other hand, their own religion, down to 391, had, in many respects, enjoyed practical toleration. Every one was still free to worship in his own fashion. There was no interference with conscience or the expression of opinion. Seven Christian emperors had accepted the pontifical robes on their accession.® ' C Th. xvi. 7, 1. See Godefroy's Notice that this is addressed to the note on this law. Cf. Rauschen, arch-pagan prefect, Virius Nicomaohus Jahrbucher der Chr. Kirehe, p. 153. Flavianus, in the consulship of his He denies, apparently without sufficient friend Symmachus. grounds, the conclusions of Godefroy. ■• Ih. xvi. 7, 8. ^ C. Th. xvi. 7, 4, testamenti non ^ Amm. Marc. xxii. 5, nullas infestas habeant factionem ; nuUi in heredi- hominibus bestias ut sunt sibi ferales tate succedant ; a nemine scribantur plerique Christianorum expertus ; cf. heredes. xxi. 16, 18, for the historian's opinion of ' lb. xvi. 7, 5, de loco statu- the theological disputes of the time, que dejecti perpetua urantur infamia. ^ Ih. xvi. 10; Sym. Ep. x. 54. CHAP. II ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 29 In the year 356 Constantius, on his visit to Eome, had shown extraordinary interest in the religion of old Eome.^ He had allotted priesthoods, and granted funds from the treasury for the sacred ceremonies. Attended by the Senate, he had gone the round of the ancient temples, and shown a sympathetic curiosity in their legends and antiquities. The pagan revival of Julian, brief and illusory as it was, may well have encouraged hopes of a more enduring restoration. When he granted universal toleration, recalled the martyrs of the Arian persecutions, and preached peace and goodwill to an assembly of bishops, he seemed to give paganism or Hellenism for the moment a position of moral superiority. Yet Julian himself discerned keenly the real weakness of paganism in the absence of a dogmatic system and moral discipline, and he strove to supply them.^ Charity and the pastorate of souls must no longer be a monopoly of the Galileans. The priest was to instruct his people, instead of merely performing a part in theatrical ceremonies before the altar. The cruelties of the amphitheatre and the obscenities of the stage were no longer to be countenanced by true votaries of the Sun -god. A man who had lived through such a period, and who had, under Christian emperors, with impunity served as pontiff and been consecrated publicly in the Taurobolium, might well doubt whether the power, so often asserted and so constantly defied, was destined finally to triumph. The murder of Valentinian II. by the hand or machinations of Arbogastes,^ and the elevation of Eugenius to the purple, seemed for a moment to offer a chance of realising such dreams. Buried in his country seat, and professing to be satisfied with rural pleasures, Flavianus was really a man of great ambitions. In spite of his paganism, he was a favourite at the court, and rose to the highest offices. [ Yet under all his apparent epicurean indifference, or his study of imperial favour, Flavi- anus nursed, more than any of his contemporaries, the dream of restoring the religion and spirit of ancient Eome." "We cannot help imagining him a man who suppressed, under a crust of half melancholy, half contemptuous pessimism, the fire of an ' Sym. Ed. iii. ^ 2os. iv. 54 ; Soor. v. 25 ; Sozom. 2 Jul. Ep. 52 ; Fragm.Ep. in Hert- vii. 22. Of. Eauschen, Jahrhiicher der lein's ed. i. pp. 387, 389, 391. Chr. Kirche, pp. 362-363, for a discus- sion of the authorities. 30 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i energy which in earlier times might have done great service to the State. A fascinating charm, which disarmed theological antipathy, united to a burning hatred of the Christian rigime, commanding ability combined with hopeless Ulusions, are prob- ably the secret of his strange and tragic career. He threw himself into a movement which seemed for a moment to promise ■fKe chance of a real pagan reaction. Eugenius, a Christian in name, was a Hellenist in culture,^ and readily sanctioned the repeal of the anti-pagan laws. At the instance of Flavianus,^' the altar of Victory was once more restored to its place, the expenses of heathen rites were once more borne by the State, and all the curiosity of divination was allowed free play. Two years were spent in preparations for the conflict on which so much depended. On both sides the leaders strove to fortify the courage of their party by prophecy or oracle. Theodosius sent one of his eunuchs to consult a solitary of great age and famous sanctity in the depths of the Thebaid.' Flavianus was no less active in securing supernatural assurance of the success of his cause, and an oracle was circulated,^ which seemed to predict the final overthrow of the Christian faith in the very year of the impending struggle. As consul of 394, he celebrated the festivals of Isis and Magna Mater under the eyes of the usurper.^ The pagan party were full of hope and confidence. When Arbogastes and Eugenius quitted Milan to meet the army of Theodosius, they boasted that they would return to stable their horses in the Christian basilica.^ Within a few days these hopes were crushed in the battle on the Erigidus. Elavianus by a voluntary death refused to witness the victory of the cause he hated, or to accept the probable clemency of the conqueror. The triumph of Christianity seemed complete and final. Serena, the wife of StUicho,' one of the generals of Theodosius, in the presence of the last Vestal Virgin, took the necklace from the throat of the Great Mother, and placed it on her own. The sacrilege was, to pagan minds, within a few years terribly avenged.^ ^ Zos. iv. 54; cf. Seeok's Sym. ^ Rufin. Hist. Ecd.' ii. 33; Cam. cxviii. : Sozom. vii. 22, Ei;7^;'ios Si tis Paris. ; cf. Eauschen, Jahrbilcher, ovx vyi,us diaKclficvos Jrepi to oAy/ia rdv p. 368. Xpumayiiy. 6 PauUn. vit. Amhros. % 31. - Paulin. vit. Amhros. § 26. ? ■/ • ct 3 Claudian, in Sutrop. i. 312. ■^°^- i^' ^'• * Aug. de Civ. Dei, xviii. 53. ^ lb. v. 38. CHAP. II ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 31 Even yet the pagan cause evidently did not seem to its adherents to be hopelessly lost. In spite of the defeat of Eugenius, the mass of the Senate were still obstinately attached to the faith " which had kept the city unravaged for a thousand years." ^ And one of the last acts of Theodosius was to convoke the conscript fathers and appeal to them to abandon their errors, and to accept the faith which promised absolution from all sin and impiety. According to Zosimus, the homily produced no effect, and the Emperor had even to listen to arguments in favour of the ancient religion of the State.^ In the year following the victory over Eugenius, Honorius and Arcadius found it necessary to repeat their father's pro- hibition of all heathen rites.^ But- the student may easily discover in this law the cause which made such constant iteration necessary. It \is directed specially against governors of provinces and their officials, who condoned offenceg against previous edicts.*"' Neglect onTEe^part of the inferior officers to carry out the Emperor's commands is now made a capital offence.* Theodosius had shown a similar distrust of his subordinates in the law of 392.® And it appears again and again in the legislation of this period. In the province of Africa the leaders of the Church complained of the slackness of the provincial officers in giving effect to the penal laws against paganism.^ We may compare the difficulties of the Emperor in securing obedience to his laws against heathen rites with the apparently insuperable obstacles which the government had to encounter for a hundred and fifty years, in its efforts to purge the corruption of the financial service.^ In both cases, the prohibitions are repeated with wearisome frequency, and pointed by threats of the severest punishment. But the- Emperor was met by a dead weight of official resistance or negligence, which apparently rendered legislation almost nugatory. The provincial governor and his staff were often in sympathy, or in league, with the offenders. A knowledge ' Zos. iv. 59 ; but cf. Eausohen, p. 299. et his apparitio obseoundans, etc. ^ Zoa. iv. 59, /u,i;5e»6s 5^ tJ TTopaKX^ffci ^ lb. xvi. 10, 13, insuper capital! ireiaBivTm, k.t.\. supplicio judicamus offioia ooeroenda. 3 C. Th. xvi. 10, 13. ' /*. xvi. 10, 12. * lb. xvi. 10, 13, soiant autem ' Aug. Up. 91, § 8 ; cf. 97. moderatores provinciarum nostrarum ^ See book iii. of this work. 32 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i of the history and opinions of the official to whom the law is addressed will often explain the reason of the necessity for its repetition. For instance, the law of 391/ against the apostasy from the Christian faith of persons of high hirth or official rank, is addressed to Flavianus, then Pretorian prefect, the man who, within three years, was to be a leader in the great pagan reaction under Eugenius. A law of 409 ^ directed another Pretorian prefect, Jovius, to take the severest measures against those renegades who were adopting the superstition of the Heaven-worshippers. It may well be doubted whether Jovius, who, if he had any serious policy or faith, believed in the tolerant policy of Stilicho, and in astrology, was likely to display much zeal in enforcing the will of the Emperor against such heretics. On the other hand, the pagan sentiment or the taste of many officials sometimes influenced the Government to restrain the fanatical Vandalism which, both in the East and the West, was making havoc of the temples and their treasures of art. It was probably the pagan author of the Saturnalia who evoked the edict of 399,^ forbidding the destruction of such masterpieces iu Spain and Gaul. In the years which followed the death of Theodosius, there is a marked effi^rt to check the desecration of the ancient shrines by greed or fanaticism.* S. Jerome and S. Augustine exult over the ruin of the temples of the false gods. And there is no doubt that the destructive energy of men like Theophilus of Alexandria," S. Martin of Tours, and Marcellus in Syria, had many imitators. But the emperors had no wish to see the demolition of costly and beautiful buildings.^ They might still be used as places of public meeting and resort, or consecrated to Christian worship. The tumultuous gatherings, headed by monks, which wrought such deplorable havoc in the East, were prohibited by Arcadius ; ^ and there is evidence that governors 1 C. Th. xvi. 7, 5. diruta, partim olausa, etc. ; of. Gregor- 2 lb. xvi. 8, 19. On these Coeli- ovius, pp. 58-60. colae V. Godefroy's note, t. 6, p. 258. » Sulp. Sev. vit. S. Mart. c. 13 ; 3 Ih. XV. 10, 15. Sozom. vii. 15 ; of. Godefroy's note to •* Hieron. Sp. 107, § 1, auratum c. Th. xvi. 10, 16. squalet Capitolium. Fuligine et s ^ mi. • i « ■■ ^ , aranearum telis omnia Romae templa ^- ^*- ^^i- 10. 15, volumus publi- cooperta sunt ; Aug. Ep. 232, § 3, coruna operum ornamenta servari ; cf. videtis oerte simulacrorum templa ^''' 0' "'• partim sine reparatione collapsa, partim ' lb. xvi. 10, 16. CHAP. II ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 33 of taste and sentiment seconded the imperial will. The Christian poet Prudentius makes Theodosius recommend to the Senate the preservation of the temple marbles, as monu- ments of national greatness and masterpieces of art.^ In the reign of the younger Theodosius nearly 300 temples of the gods were still standing, although their ornaments and plates of gold had been torn off to swell the ransom demanded by Alaric. Many works of art were buried and forgotten, in the terrors of persecution or invasion.' But in the time of Honorius, and even in that of Justinian, immense numbers of them were still preserved, both in the open spaces of the city and in the halls of the nobles.^ From the death of Theodosius till 408, although the religious conflict was fierce, it was controlled to some extent by the moderating influence of Stilicho. It is not our purpose to disentangle the perplexed story of those puzzling and disastrous years. On the one side were the bishops, backed by some of the great nobles and the officers, Eoman or barbarian, of the elder Theodosius, the party which had already won a great, though not yet decisive victory. ^ — On the other WBjS the mass of the senatorial class, with a crowd of Arians, Jews, Manichaeans, and philosophic freethinkers, who, though divided in religious belief, were united by old patriotic associations, or by the hatred of a menacing theocracy. ' Stilicho, who was left guardian of the young emperors, was, or gave himself out to be, the depositary of the last wishes of Theodosius on th& religious problem of the time. ' He inter- preted his commission to be one of toleration,^ to hold the balance even between the opposing factions. In the year 395 an amnesty was proclaimed,^ and the brand of ignominy, attached to the party of Eugenius, was obliterated. Ancient pagan festivals in Africa received legal sanction.^ The judicial power of the episcopate was limited,^ and the Senate, which was the stronghold of pagan sentiment, was accorded an ^ Contra Sym. i. 501. Inscriptions curator statuarum was an officer under show that in 483 statues of Minerva the Praef. Urb. ; see Booking's ed. p. were restored by the Urban prefect. 201. C.I.L. 7i. 526, 1664. * Ambros. de Obit. Theod. 5. 2 Gregorovius, i. 78, n. 3. '^ 0. Th. xv. 14, 12. » In the time of Justinian, 3785 « Ih. xvi. 10, 17. Cf. Godefroy's statues remained in the city. Gregorov. note, i. 79 ; cf. Notitia Occid. c. iv. The ' lb. xvi. 11, 1 ; cf. xvi. 2, 12, 23, 41. 34 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i authority which it had not enjoyed for many ages. Yet the anti- ' pagan laws still in theory retained their force, and the crowd of pagans and heretics were, at least nominally, kept in bounds.^ Amid the fury of party feeling and fanaticism, the_cool, and probably sceptical, statesman succeeded in satisfying neither" Christian nor pagan, and was finally execrated by both alike.^ The ominous advent of Alaric and Eadagaesus stimulated -still further the war of religions. Then began that melancholy strife of sophistry, as to the eflScacy of the old gods or the new to protect and prosper their worshippers, which was only closed by the genius of S. Augustine. Every fluctuation of fortune was eagerly seized upon, and skilfully used, to discredit or to glorify Jupiter or Christ. What we are chiefly concerned to notice is the force and fervour of pagan sentiment at this time. Never in the early days of Eome was superstition apparently more rampant. At the first tidings of the coming of the Goths or Huns, all the old omens of the days of the Samnite and Carthaginian wars reappear. The terror of the time can still be felt thrilling in the verses of Claudian. Men talked of dreams, of strange flights of birds, of comets and eclipses, of showers of stones, and unearthly sounds in the silence of the night.^ They watched the settling of swarms of bees, and turned the leaves of the Sibylline books of fate.* They recalled the flight of the twelve vultures which had crossed the gaze of Eomulus, and, in defiance of chronology, abridged the years portended by their flight.^ When Eadagaesus with his host of 200,000 Huns descended from the Alps, the old pagan feeling defied all restraint, and the cries of its panic and regret reached the ears of the Bishop of Hippo.^ The most terrible invader who had ever appeared in Italy, men said, was a diligent votary of his strange northern gods ; and the sons of old Eome were deprived of the help of their ancient deities, to whom they were now forbidden to offer a grain of 1 C. Th. xvi. 5, 37, 38, 39. « Aug. de Civ. Dei, v. 23, nobis 2 Kutil. Namat. ii. 41 ; Oros. vii. apud Eartiaginem dicebatur, hoc 38 ; cf. Eauscben, Jahriiicher der credere, spargere, jactare paganos, Christ. Kirche, p. 558. quod ille diia aniicis protegentibus et ' Claud, de Bell. Get. 227-247. opitulantibus, quibus immolare cotidie * lb. 231 : ferebatur, vinei omnino nou posset ab quid carmine poscat eis, qui talia diia Romanis sacra non fatidicocustosEomanicarbasiisaevi. facerent, neo fieri a quoquam permit- ° lo. 265 : terent. ' tunc reputant annos, interceptoque volatu TulturiSj incidunt properatis saecula metis. CHAP, n ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 35 incense. Meanwhile the feeling of suspicion towards Stilicho.. was deepening into hatred on the Christian side. The clergy did not find in him the facile instrument of persecution that they desired. They exalted the piety and virtues of the weak and worthless Honorius at the expense of the man without whose guidance Honorius was a mere cipher." They circulated the myth, which was accepted also by the pagan Eutilius,^ that Stilicho had let loose the hordes of barbarism on the Empire, with the deep purpose of re-establishing the pagan religion, and that his son Eucherius was to be the Julian of another religious reaction.^ The great general and statesman was charged with slackness and perfidy in his campaigns against Alaric* The victory at PoUentia was attributed to supernatural aid, in spite of the sacrilegious violation of the holy time of Easter. "With feckless Jnconsistency the men who laud^gcl.. the Christian clemency and reverence of Alaric, vilified Stilicho's policy of conciliation as treachery and weakness.^ On the other hand, the old Eoman party still more heartily detested the man who had borne a part in the victory over Eugenius,^ and who relied on those German captains and soldiers who were now the main defence of Eome. The ignoble triumph of the motley combination which overwhelmed Stilicho has been often told, and need not be repeated here. The. hypocritical Olympius,'^ who owed his first rise to Stilicho, attained i brief ascendancy, amid the blessings and congratulations of the dignitaries of the Church.^ And the Church took an ample revenge for the interval of clemency. The last endowments of the old religion were withdrawn,^ the images of the gods were pulled down, the temples were either confiscated or destroyed, the banquets and games were prohibited. ' All enemies of the. Catholic faith were banished from the imperial service.'^" The feigned 1 Aug. Ep. ' 97 ; Hieron. Sp. 123, ' Zos. v. 32, iv S^ ry ipaivofiivy § 17, quod non vitio prinoipum, qui vel tuu Xpiffriavuiv eiXapelg. toWtiv diro- religiosissimi sunt, sed scelere semi- KpiTtruv iv iavrQ vovtipiav. — Cf. barbari acoidit proditoris ; Oros. vii. Olymgiod. § 2, luaiipbvif ical iiravBpdnr^f 37 w^ (TTrovdri 'OXv/iiriov 8v aOrds ti^ /SactXet 2 Rutil. Namat. ii. 46. irpoaipKeliaae rbv Sii. ^lipovs vTri/ieive Oros. vii. 38, § 1. ^ ,, . 8 Aug. Ep. 96, temporali yero * lb. vii. 37, 2, taoeo de Alarico felicitate ad aeterna lucra te prudenter rege cum Gothis suis saepe vioto, saepe ugurum miuime dubitamus. Written concluso semperque dimisso. i^ 408 to Olympius. 5 75. vii. 39 ; (fo Civ. Dei, i. 1. 9 C. Th. xvi. 10, 19. « Zos. iv. 57,59; Rutil. Kamatii. 41. " i5. xvi. 5, 42. Tliia misohiev- 36 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i enthusiasm of Olympius obtained for the bishops that civil jurisdiction which had been strictly limited by Stilicho.^ And, to ensure the victory, the bishops themselves were charged with the congenial duty of enforcing laws, which the milder or less conscientious lay-governor had often allowed to sleep.^ Another short-lived and impotent pagan reaction occurred in 409, when Alaric, with the approval of the Senate, set up a rival emperor to Honorius in the person of the dilettante Attalus.^ The leading members of this government belonged to the pagan party. Lampadius, the Pretorian prefect, was an avowed believer in divination and its kindred arts, and had been honoured with a letter from S. Augustine on the subject of this superstition.* Marcian, the prefect of the city, had, during the brief ascendency of Eugenius, been guilty of apostasy.^ Tertullus, the consul of 410, was a declared pagan of the old school, who did not hesitate, in addressing the Senate, to express a hope that the ancient pontificate would be revived in himself.^ The treacherous or fickle Jovius, whom Attalus raised to the prefecture,' was a free-thinker of the type common in those days of fluid convictions.* Under such patronage, the Chaldaean fortune-tellers and diviners, who had been banished by so many emperors, renewed their activity.^ For the first time since the days of Constantine, the Ldbarum disappeared from the coins.^" Attalus, in a speech of ornate rhetoric,'''^ charmed the Senate with the picture of a reunited ous enactment, whioh deprived Rome verum in executionem plenissimam of the services of some of her best effectumque deduci (C. Th. xvi. 6, 43). soldiers, is referred to in Zos. v. 46. It Stilioho's death took place 10 Eal. Sep. was issued within three months after 408 ; the laws excluding pagans from the death of Stilioho. the army, and enforcing penalties ^ C. Th. xvi. 10, 19 ; xvi. 2, 39. against heretics, are dated 18 and 17 ''■ The African bishops in October of Kal. Dec. 408. See Godefroy's note to 408 sent a deputation to demand the C. Th. xvi. 10, 19. enforcement of the laws against pagans * Zos. vi. 7. and heretics, and S. Augustine backed ^ Aug. Ep. 246. up their demands by a private letter ^ He was procos. of Africa in 394. to Olympius {Ep. 97). At the same See Carm. Paris. 78, quoted by time the pagans, on the death of Seeck, Sym. n. 588. Stilicho, clamoured for the repeal of * Oros. vii. 42. these laws, on the ground that they 7 2os. vi. 8. had emanated from Stilicho. That s Paulin. Nol. Ep. 16. they were not vigorously enforced „ „ ' ■ a j. \i durLgStilicho'sascfndencyseemsim- el'T^A^^^'fjfX '^^^^^ plied m the words: omnia quae m ,„,-,,, -^ ,, Donatistas, Maniohaeos, sive Priacil- Eckel, Dodr. Num. (quoted in lianistas, vel in Gentiles a nobis decreta Thierry s Mane, p. 413). sunt non solum manere decernimus, '^ Zos. vi. 7 ; Sozom. ix. 8 and 9. CHAP. II /TS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 3V empire of both East and West, and held out the hope of a speedy restoration of the festivals and temple services of their ancestors. It was the last attempt of the old pagan spirit to assert itself openly in the Empire of the West. It was made with the support of a German and Arian chief Attalus had, in deference to Alaric, received baptism at the hands of Sighe-Sar, an Arian bishop.^ Yet he was for the moment the head of a party, some of whom dreamed of a return to the tolerant policy of Constantine or of Valentinian I., with the support of the Gothic power; while others may have even nursed the hope that the hated faith was already doomed. Attalus was a worthy representative of such illusions. And the great chief, who had been his sole stay, was within a few months laid to rest in the secret grave in the bed of the Busentus.^ With Stilicho probably fell his friend and brilliant eulogist, the poet Claudian. He had, beyond a doubt, a high place in that society, of which he is the sole literary glory. Yet it is curious that, about the history of the last man of letters, who has something of the manner and inspiration of the great age, so little is known. He had, in his days of prosperity, assailed in a biting epigram ' the cupidity of an Egyptian compatriot, who rose high in the imperial service, and became Pretorian prefect after StiUcho's death.* We can only conjecture the fate of the poet, from an epistle addressed to this dignitary,^ imploring his mercy by an appeal to the examples of pity consecrated in Grecian legend. Claudian's great crime was that, in the words of Orosius, he was " a most obstinate pagan." What his religious convictions really were we can never know. Probably his deepest religious attachment was for Roma dea, the " mother of arts and arms," who has gathered the vanquished into her bosom, who has given her citizenship to the world, whose dominion shall have no end." Born on the banks of the NUe,'^ he was yet a Eoman of the Eomans, ^ Sozom. ix. 9. sed paganus pervicasissimus ; Aug. de 2 Jordan, d-e Seb. Get. 30. Oiv. Dei, t. 26 ; Gesner's Prol. to Claud. ^ Claud. Epigr. 30 : v. ; Rausohen, Jahrbucher der Christ. insomnia Pharius sacra, pro&na rapit. Kirche, pp. 555-9 ; cf. Claud, de Cons. * a 3%. XV. U, 13. Cf. Seeck's^yjn. Stil. iii. 136-160; de Bell. Get. 50 clxxxvi. n. 944 ; Teuffel, ii. 440, § 6. m- ^ Ep. 1. 7 Claud, ad Gennad. 3, et nostro ^ Ores. vii. 35, 21, poeta eximius cognite Nilo ; cf. Ep. 1, 56. 38 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i and had a mingled hatred and contempt for the new Eome on the Bosphorus, with its mushroom and effeminate civilisa- tion.' The verve, of Juvenal reappears in his bitter raillery of the eunuch minister of the Eastern Empire, and of the cringing servility of the Byzantine nobles.^ It is little wonder that Claudian was the favourite of the Eoman Senate,^ still pagan to the core, and profoundly jealous of the Eastern capital. His powers were lavished on the achievements of StUicho, whose policy was to humour the Senate by a politic deference to its antiquated prerogatives. Serena, Stilicho's wife, was his great friend and patroness,* and is said to have arranged a wealthy match for the poet. On all this circle he expends the tradi- tional ornament of Greek and Eoman mythology. Nor does he hesitate to do the same for the Christian princes, Theodosius and Honorius, who were pledged to the extirpation of Paganism. There is hardly a hint in Claudian that the Eoman world has officially adopted a faith hostile to ^11 his pagan dreams. He appears placidly unconscious of the great revolution, and recalls Honorius to the Penates of the Palatine,^ as if Eome was still the Eome of Augustus. A few years after the eclipse of Claudian, we have a glimpse for a moment of another pagan man of letters, who is now little known, but who is the last genuine .representative of the old pagan tone in literature. \Eutilius Namatianu5>Was one of the Gallic aristocracy who had remaihed untouched by the great Christian enthusiasm aroused by S. Martin. His father* had held high imperial office, and he himself^ had been Urban prefect in 414,^ only six years after the trenchant law had been published, which condemned to final ruin the temples and images of the old gods. He had lived in intimate friend- ship with the greatest Eoman nobles; and the fragment of his poem which we possess comes to us as a solitary revelation of their deeper feelings. It is the tale of his homeward voyage to Gaul in the year 416,^ when he was reluctantly compelled, ^ Claud, in JEkitrop. ii. 326-341. He had been consularis Tuseiae, and 2 lb. ii. 137. Praef. Urb. {C. Th. vi. 26, 8). ' See an inscription dedicated prae- ' 2b. i. 157, 473. gloriosissimo poetarum — petente Se- ^ lb. i. 157-160, 473; cf. C Th. natu, C.I.L. vi. 1710. xiii. 5, 38, which is addressed to ^ Claud. Ep. 2. Albinus, Praef. Urb. in 416. " lb. de VI" Cons. Eonor. 407. ' This is inferred from Rutil. Namat. ^ RutU. Namat. i. 595 ; of. 575 sqq. i. 136 : CHAP. II ITS LAST CONFLICTS WITH THE EMPIRE 39 by the ravages which his paternal estates had suffered from the invaders,^ to leave the city, to whose gilded fanes he looks back with religious veneration and patriotic regret. The poem has great interest from a purely literary point of view. But we are at present concerned only with the author's attitude to the opposing creeds. Brief and fragmentary as it is, it^' d iscloses more of the inner pagaii sentiment of the aristocratic class than~TEe" much more voluminous poetry of Claudian. Claudian's paganism is more purely literary ; it has the air of an unchallenged supremacy. He writes as if he belonged to the age of Virgil, as if Christianity had never existed. On the religious conflict of his time he shows the calm reticence of Symmachus or Macrobius. He is either too full of Eoman prid^,.-±a-^ecognise the new faith, or too culti- vated to hate it. !mitilius^ is a man of different mould. He lets us see plainly the working of his own mind on religious subjects, and the feelings of his class towards those who re- jected the old religion of their country. That such a poem should have been published under the Christian empire, and that its author shoiild. have held the highest office, is a start- ling proof of the persistence of the old JBgjaan practical tolCTa- tion^ofj'reedom of thought. ./ Eutilius is faithful To the old religion, but he is not its slave.^ Sometimes he wilT uphold the literal truth of a myth. Sometimes he will use the language of Euhemerism or Deism. He displays in fact that mixture of scepticism and credulity, of conformity and free thought, which characterised the culti- vated pagan for many ages before his time. But there is no hesitation in the tone in which he speaks of the enemies of Paganism. In some scathing lines,^ he gives vent to the concentrated hatred which was felt by his caste for the memory of Stilicho. The impious traitor, who burnt the Sibylline books and, for his own selfish ends, laid open the hearth and citadel of the Empire to the tribes of the North, is consigned to the lowest depths of Tartarus. Nothing could surpass the almost brutal contempt which Eutilius feels for qnamvis sedecies denis et mille peractis i Rutil. Namat. i. 25 : annus piaeterea jam tibi nonus eat praesentes laorimas tectls debemus avitis. (i.e. 1169 A.ir.C.). The capture of « jj. i. 255 ; cf. i. 73. Toulotise is mentioned in i. 496. ^ Tb. ii. 41. 40 THE TENACITY OF PAGANISM book i the Jews/ with one of whom he had an encounter in his wanderings ; for their obscene rite of initiation, for the listless sloth of their Sabbath, spent in commemoration of a God who was weary of his work of creation.^ But when he speaks of " the conquered race that crushes its conquerors," * there can be little doubt that he has in view the religion which was crushiog out his own. The islands of the Tuscan Sea, which he passed in his voyage, swarmed with monkish exiles,* who had forsaken family and public daty for a life of prayer and solitary asceticism. The monks in those days were hardly judged even by their own co-religionists. At the funeral of Blaesilla,^ the daughter of a great Eoman house, who had withdrawn from the world and was believed to have shortened her life by her austerities, the mob of Eome broke into shouts of execration against what they regarded as an inhuman fanaticism. The aversion to the ascetic life, felt by the cultivated man of the world, is expressed in more urbane form by Ausonius in his letters of expostulation to S. Paulinus. But that feeling probably never found more pointed utterance than in the lines of Eutilius on the hermits of Capraria. In the eyes of the pagan noble and Eoman patriot, they are wretches who wish to screen themselves from too observant eyes, who make themselves miserable to avoid misery, who, whUe they flee from the ills of life, are incapable of enjoying its blessings.^ Eutilius had little conception of the force and destiny of the movement whi(Sh"ire-"deTided.'-"- ' -— — In the practice of those arts which professed to control nature and to forecast the future, in the excitement or obscenity of the theatre and the circus, the heathen spirit found a shelter ^long after its public ritual had ceased. The belief in the arts of magic, divination, and astrology was probably the most living and energetic force in the pagan sentiment of the time. These practices had always been sus- - 1 Eutil. Namat. i. 384-398 : » Hieron. E-p. 39, § 5, dolet (mater) humanis animal dissociale cibis. filiam jejuniia interfectam. . . . 2 lb. : Quouaque genus deteatabile Monaoho- septimaquaeque dies turpi damnata veterno, riim non urbe pellitur ? tamquam lassati mollis imago Dei. 6 Rutil, Namat. 445 ; 3 Xh. V. 398 : quaenam perversi rabies tarn stulta cerebri, . . * ..- - i. .1. dum mala formides nee bona posse pati. victoresque suoa natio victa premit. „". " i"""»^»c= u ris rpixas ol Upeis diroTiSenTai. portaret. Kal Xii/as ^crdip-as ■ ''\- »10- nensis) an inscription was found com- ' lb. vi. 751, 762, 753, 754, 1778, memorating a taurobolium pro salute 510,500,504,511. These insor. belong Imp. M. Aurel. Commodi, C.I.L. xii. to the years 376-387; of. Hieron. Ep. 1222. A taurobolium of 245 a.d. in 107, § 2, ante paucos annos pro- Gall. Narb. was performed for the im- pinquus vester Graccus cum praefec- perial house on 30th Sept. xii. 1567 ; turam gereret urbanam nonne specum of. viii. 5524, 8263 (African Inscr.). Mithrae . . . subvertit, fregit, exoussit. * Prud. Peristeph. x. 1011. See a This refers to the year 376. But cf. sketch of the scene in Duruy, v. 743. note g in Migne's ed. col. 868. 70 THE LATER PAGANISM book i the Christian Empire was destroying his grottoes. M. Eenan has declared his belief ^ that, if the growth of Christianity had been checked by some mortal weakness, Mithraism might have become the religion of the Western world. With a true instinct, the Christian controversialists, from the second cen- tury, recognised in this cult the most dangerous spiritual foe of the Church, and ascribed its similarity to Christian ritual to the malign ingenuity of daemons.^ In its expia- tion for sins by bloody baptism, its ascetic preparation for the holy mysteries, its oblation of the consecrated bread, its symbolic teaching of the resurrection, they might well see a cunning device of the Evil One to find a false resting- place for souls who were longing for the light. Whether such worships as we have been describing aroused or satisfied a genuine devotional feeling in our modern sense, is a question which it is difficult to answer. But the thoughtful student will probably hesitate before he answers in the negative. The gulf which separates us from the world of heathen imagination is so wide, the influence of custom and old association in matters of religion is so powerful, that we may easily do injustice to the devout sentiment of paganism. Grotesque or barbarous religious symbols, even those tainted in their origin with the impurity attaching to nature-worship,^ often sloughed off their baser elements, and, with the develop- ment of a more sensitive morality,* and a higher conception of the divine, may have become the vehicles of a real religious emotion. What the worshipper will find in a worship depends greatly on what he brings. The same symbol or rite will have various meanings and effects to different minds. To the mind to which it is strange, it may seem to have no meaning at all. The mystery of the death of a divine being, his descent to the underworld, and his joyful restoration, was the central idea of many of the cults which most influenced the religious feeling ^ M. Aurile, p. 579. make one suspicious. But there is a - Prud. Peristeph. x. 1008 ; TertuU. long interval between these monsters de OoT. 0. 15 ; de Praescrip. Haeret. 40, and the apparently blameless devotees Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites of the reign of Gratian ; cf. Lamprid. suos ; celebrat et panis oblationem, et Com. c. 9 ; Elagdb. c. 3, and C.I.L. imaginem resurrectionis induoit, etc. ; vi. 1778, 1779. S. Paulin. Nol. Poem. Ult. 112-117. ^ Note the horror with which the ' The initiation of Commodus in the infamies of Elagabalus were regarded mysteries of Isis and Mithra, and the by all classes, Lamprid. El. c. 17 ; cf. devotion of Elagabalus to sun-worship Boissier, Rd. Bom. ii. pp. 419 sqq. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 71 of antiquity. The ritual in which that feeling found expression would to us now appear perhaps shocking, perhaps grotesque and absurd. The drama of the Eleusinian goddesses, if we could witness it, would probably be a poor and tasteless show, with no spiritual contents.^ Yet there is no doubt that it pro- duced a profound effect on the devotee, and Pindar gave voice to the universal sentiment of Greece when he said,^ " Happy he who has seen the spectacle : he knows the bourn of life, he knows its divine source." Even among those who hold the same central truths of the Christian faith, how hard it is for the member of one sect to join in the ritual of another. The Puritan, accustomed to express his devotion in bare and simple forms consecrated to him by the memories of early religious emotion, is imable to conceive the awe and tenderness which the Mass excites in the devout Catholic, who has witnessed its ceremonial from infancy. It is fortunate that we have preserved to us in the pages of Apuleius an invaluable description of an initiation into the mysteries of Isis, which, though the scene is laid in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, was probably often reproduced in the closing years of paganism. The people of Corinth are about to celebrate the spring festival of Isis, and the opening of the busy traffic on the Aegean, by a religious procession to the shore, and the offering of a consecrated vessel to the goddess who cares for the toilers of the sea. Lucius, who has been imprisoned by evil arts in the form of an ass, is awaked by a dazzling light, and in a fit of devotion cries to the Queen of Heaven, worshipped under many names, to deliver him from his cruel fate. In answer to his prayer, there rose from the moonlit sea a divine and awful form,' which no words could shadow forth. Her long rich tresses were crowned with flowers, and with a radiant moonlike disc upheld by arching snakes on either side. Her robe of glistening white now changed to saffron, now flushed into rose-like flame. Her mantle of deepest darkness was bordered with the bickering light of stars. " Lo, I come," the 1 Maury, Bel. de la Gh-ice, ii. p. 340 ; O.G. 1051 ; Frag. 753 ; hoh.Aglaoph.i.pT^.l'\.l,112; Gard. and ii rpis 5\/3ioi. JeTOns, Greek Antiq. p. 283. "w^^s^'Isl™''^'" *''"''''"'" "'^'' "- Find. Fi-ag. 137 (Christ) ; cf. Soph. ^ Apul. Met. xi. oc. 3-6. 72 THE LATER PAGANISM book i vision said, " in answer to thy prayers, I Nature, mother of all things, mistress of all the elements, the primal birth of all the ages, supreme divinity, Queen of the world of shades, first of the inhabitants of heaven, in whom all gods have their un- changing type. . . . One Power adored by all the world under many a name and with many rites. . . . Dry thy tears and assuage thy grief : already by my providence the dawn of a saviug day is breaking. Attend my solemn festival and await the touch of my priest which shall set thee free. Become my servant, and live in hope by constant devotion and steadfast purity to see my glory in the world to come." Lucius awoke with a strange gladness in the freshness of the morning. The birds are singing under the inspiration of the spring, hymning the mother of the stars and the ages, the mistress of the universe.-' The young foliage is rustling in the southern breeze. The sea is asleep, hardly disturbed by a ripple. The naked splendour of heaven is not veiled by a sragle cloud.^ A great procession is forming, a picturesque masquerade in various character and costume. First come the belted soldier, the hunter with short tunic and hunting spears, an effeminate figure wearing jewels and false hair, a gladiator with helmet, sword, and greaves. Another follows with the well-known mantle, beard, and sandals of the wan- dering philosopher. A bear is borne along in a matron's litter. An ass, with wings fastened to its flanks, carries a feeble old man, to represent Bellerophon and Pegasus to the laughing crowd. Women in white robes scatter flowers along the route. Then follows a mixed crowd of men and women and youths in snowy vestments, bearing torches and candles, and chanting a sacred poem to the melody of flutes. Then comes the throng of the initiated, men and women, of every age and rank, clad in white, and the priests with shaven heads carrying the sacred symbols.^ Last of all are borne the images of the great Egyptian gods, and the pix containing the holy mysteries.* On the approach of the chief ' Apiil. Met. xi. c. 7, matrem sidenim, ceres illi qui oandido linteamme cinctum parentem temponim, orbisque totius pectoralem adusque vestigia striotim dominam blando mulcentes aflFamine. injecti potentissimorum deum profere- ^ lb. , caelum autem nubilosa oaligine bant insignis exuvias. disjecta nudo sudoque luminis proprii * Ih. c. 11, ferebatur ab alio cista aplendore candebat. seoretorum capax, penitus celans operta ^ lb. , sed antistites saororum, pro- magnificae religionis. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 73 priest, Lucius was restored to humanity by a magic garland, and the miracle is made the subject of an address, in which he dwells on the power, and the goodness of the goddess.^ " Behold," he says, " ye impious doubters, and recognise your errors. Behold one who has by the grace of Isis been de- livered from his woes." And Lucius, that his future life may be shielded from the cruelty of Fortune, is exhorted to join in the holy warfare and put on the yoke of a willing service.^ The procession, with the favoured Lucius in their midst, soon reached the margin of the sea.^ There a sacred bark, re- splendent with white sails and ensigns of gold, and pictures of strange Egyptian legend, was consecrated with mystic cere- monies and solemn prayer.* Fragrant odours filled the air, libations were poured upon the waves. The holy vessel, which was to win the protection of the goddess for the sailor, was launched before a gentle breeze, and the crowd watched its voyage till it faded in the distance. Then opens another scene in the drama. The procession returns to the temple. The images and symbols of the gods are placed in the sanctuary. Then, standing on the steps, the scribe summons the sacred Guild of the Pastophori, vowed to the service of the deity, to a solemn meeting. He reads a prayer,'' for the mighty prince, the Senate, the knights, the whole people of Eome, for all upon the sea, for the wealth and prosperity of all subjects. And the congregation is dismissed with a solemn form,^ which in its Latin equivalent remains embedded in the name of the most solemn rite of the Catholic Church. Full of the thought of his former misery, and of the joy of deliverance, the neophyte is lost in devotion. He remains in constant attendance before the image of the loving power which has wrought his salvation. He makes her temple his home. Day and night without a pause are ' Apul. Met. xi. 0. 15, videant irre- ■* li. c. 16. ligiosi, et errorem suum recognoscant. ^ Ih. c. 17, indidem de sublimi . . suggestu, de libro, de litteris fausta Tota Ih., quo tibi tamen tutior sis praefatus : Prmcipi Magno, Senatuique atque mumtior, da nomen huic sanctae ^^ Equiti, totoque Romano Populo, miHtiae . . . et mmistem jugum subi nauticis, navibus, quaeque sub imperio volunterium. mundi nostratis reguntur, etc. ' I}>. c. 16, navem faberrime factam, * Aaois fi^eiris. Reville, Mel. writer pioturis miris Egyptiorum circumseous den Sev. p. 57. Cf. note in Hilde- variegatam summus sacerdos . . . deae brand's ed. p. 1051. The right reading nuncupavit dedicavitque. has probably been restored. 7-t THE LATER PAGANISM book i spent in prayer before her. He is filled with longing for the supreme joy of full communion which has been promised him, yet he cannot escape from the anxious thought that his feeble virtue may be unable to keep the law of this spiritual service.^ Another vision from the goddess quiets his distrust, and stimulates his longing. He rushes to the temple as the offices of the early morning are beginning. The white veils of the holy image are drawn aside. The holy water from the secret spring is sprinkled. The litany of the dawn is per- formed at the altars. He is more fervent than ever, and begs the pontiff to admit him to the crowning rite. But the venerable man gently moderates his too eager impatience. The goddess holds the keys of hell and of the path of salvation, and all must wait for the signal of her will.^ He who will enjoy her secret communion must die a voluntary death, that her grace may recall him from the very confines of death and life by a new birth, as it were, to run a new course of salvation. The votary must await in patient humility the signs of her will, and meanwhile prepare himself for the holy mysteries by long abstinence. At last the sign comes in the sUenee of the night. Lucius rises before the dawn and presents himself before the priest who, having laid his hands on him, leads him into the sanctuary. After the morning sacrifice, the sacred books, con- taining a liturgy in an unknown tongue and covered with hieroglyphic symbols, are brought out.' The neophyte after solemn prayer is bathed and baptized, and receives secret instructions as to his further preparation. Ten days more he spends in fasting. And then at vespers came the hour which was to crown his longings. The priest leads him clad in linen vestments into the holy place. What he saw and heard could never be fully told. All that he could tell the ^ Apul. Met. xi. 0. 19, tamen religioaa limine oonstitutos . . . numen deae formidine retraliebar, quod enim 3edulo soleat elioere et sua providentia quodam peroontaveram, diiBcile religionis obse- modo renatos ad novae reponere rursus quium, et eaerimoniarum abstinentiam aalutis curricula, satis arduam, etc. ^ Ih. c. 21, nam et inferum claustra '^ Ih. o. 22, ao matutino peracto sacri- et salutis tutelam in deae manu posita, ficio, de opertis adyti profert quosdam ipsamque traditionem ad instar volun- libros, Jitteris ignorabilibus praenotatos, tariae mortis et preoariae salutis cele- partim figuris cujuscemodi animaliuni, brari : quippe quum transaotis vitae concepti sermonis compendiosa verba temporibus jam in ipso finitae lucis suggerentes, etc. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 75 world was that he drew nigh the bounds of Death, and re- turned across the elemental spaces. " At midnight he saw the sun in his most dazzUng splendour, and came into the presence of the Powers who rule in Heaven and Hell." The following morning, Lucius, dressed in gorgeous robes embroidered with dragons and griffons, was exhibited to the eyes of an admiring multitude. Yet his own humble gratitude for the favour of the goddess was paid in prostration before her altar and constant prayer. Nor could he tear himself from the scene of these sacred emotions ^ without an agony of regret.^ His feelings, as he left the scene of his second birth, are embalmed in a prayer which throws a curious light on the inner spirit of the later paganism. " Holy one, constant saviour of the race of men, so bountiful in cherishing them, so tender in the mother's love which thou dost bestow on the wretched. Nor day nor night, nor shortest moment passes unmarked by thy benefits, without the help of thy pro- tection for men on sea and land, without thy succouring hand outstretched to ward off the storms of life. Powers above and powers below alike wait on thy will. Thou makest the world to revolve, thou givest his light to the sun, thou art ruler of the universe, thou dost tread Tartarus under thy feet. To thee are due the harmony of the spheres, the return of the seasons, the gladness of the gods, the obedience of the elements. At thy bidding the breezes blow, the clouds gather, seeds germinate and grow. Birds which pass across the sky, beasts which wander on the hills, serpents which lurk under- ground, the monsters which swim the deep, all tremble before thy majesty. But I am too feeble in mind to speak thy praise, too poor in worldly goods to pay thee sacrifice ; nor have I wealth of utterance to tell all that I feel of thy grandeur. A thousand lips, a thousand tongues, an unbroken eternity of unfailing praise would not avail. What the pious soul, though poor withal, may do, that will I perform. The features of thy holy godhead will be treasured in the thoughts of my inmost soul for ever more." This may not be the expression of a modern piety. Yet he 1 Apul. if«<. xi. 0. 24, inexplicabili TO- conspectum deae et facie mea diu luptate simulaori divini perfruebar, irre- detersis veatigiis ejus, lacrimis obortis muuerabili quippe benefioio pigneratus. singultu orebro sermonem interficiens ^ . . . provolutua denique ante . . . et verba devorans, aio. 76 THE LATER PAGANISM book i must be a hard and unsympathetic critic who does not catch in this prayer the ring of a genuine religious emotion. When we read of the passionate emotion aroused in Lucius by the Isiac rites, we begin to understand the fervour with which Aconia Paulina,^ herself a priestess of Isis, speaks, in the famous inscription on the monument of Praetextatus, of her husband's contempt for the fleeting honours of the world in comparison with his religious privileges, and records her gratitude for his having made her a partner in his religious Ufe. But there is earlier evidence than Apuleius that the worship of Isis, though unfortunately often combined with very lax morality, was the source of real devotional feeling in purer souls. Three hundred years before Aconia Paulina, the priestess of Hecate and Isis,^ breathed her last in her palace on the Esquiline,^ Plutarch devoted a long essay to the discussion of the ritual, and the physical and moral significance of the worship of Isis and Osiris. This treatise shows the same spiritual and monotheistic tendency, the same elastic variety of physical and moral interpretation applied to the ancient myths, the same rejection of impure tales of the gods by a higher moral intuition, which are characteristic of the last efforts of pagan theology. Plutarch's many allegorical inter- pretations of the Egyptian myths may seem to a modern rather wearisome. But in a passage towards the end the very spirit of the Plmecb seems to emerge. Men are disturbed, says Plutarch,* when they are told, in veiled priestly allegory, that Osiris rules over the dead, by the thought that the holy and blessed God really dwells among the bodies of those who have passed away. " But He himself is far removed from earth, pure, stainless, and unpolluted by any nature that is liable to corruption and death. The spirits of men here below, en- cumbered by bodily affections, can have no intercourse with God, save only as by philosophic thought they may faintly touch Him as in a dream. But when they are released, and have passed into the world of the unseen, the pure, the passion- less, this God shall be their guide and king, who depend on Him, and gaze with insatiable longing on that beauty which may not be spoken by the lips of man." 1 C.I.L. vi. 1779. 2 Seeck's 8ym. Ixxxvi. n. 386. 2 11. vi. 1780. " Plut. de Is. et Osir. § 78 ; ef. § 67. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 77 The higher devotional feehng which characterised the paganism of the educated class from the second century was, as we can see in this passage of Plutarch, accompanied by a decided tendency to monotheism. This movement was, as we shall discover, partly due to Platonic influences,^ partly to the chaos of religions, in which a few of the more commanding and attractive absorbed or assimilated the rest, and drew men's minds to one or two great objects of devotion. Thus in the vision seen by Lucius referred to above, Isis reveals herself as a universal Power, supreme, all-pervading, worshipped under many names.^ "The Phrygians call me the Mother of the Gods at Pessinus ; the Athenians Cecropian Minerva ; I am Paphian Venus in Cyprus ; Diana Dictynna to the archers of Crete, the Stygian Proserpine to the Sicilians ; I am the ancient Ceres at Eleusis. To some I am Juno, to others Hecate. Only the Ethiopians and Arians, illumined by the sun's dawning light, and Egypt powerful in her ancient lore, honour me with the ritual proper to me, and call me by my true name. Queen Isis." In the Saturnalia of Macrobius, a purely pagan work of the first quarter of the fifth century, there is a passage which applies the same syncretism,^ in rather a crude form, to sun- worship. " If," Praetextatus is made to say, " the sun is the ruler of the other lights of the heavens, and if these orbs control our destiny, the sun must then be the lord and author of all. The lesser deities are simply the various effects or potencies of this supreme power.* The names of the gods, whom we reverence, are only descriptions of different departments of His government, who gives life and order to the universe." And so one deity glides into another, as we find that his name or attribute is only, as it were, a ray of the light which "lighteth all men." Apollo is the great power who repels disease, and is hence called the " Healer." ^ And the identity of Apollo with the sun-god is proved by the epithets Loxius, Delius, Phoebus, Lycius, Nomius, or Pythius.^ To take one 1 Eeville, Eel. unter den Sev. p. 42. tion, de Civ. Dei, iv. 11 ; cf. Lob. 2 Apiil. Met. xi. 0. 5. Aglaoph. i. p. 698. 3 Macrob. Sat. i. 17. This method * Maorob. Sat. i. 17, 4, diyersae of dealing with the myths of course is virtutes solis nomina dis dederunt. a very old one ; cf. Cio. de Ned. Deor. » lb. i. 17, 14-16. ii. 23, 24, and S. Augustine's refuta- ^ lb. i. 17, 31 sjj. 78 THE LATER PAGANISM book i example, the epithet Pythius, which carries in itself the myth of the slaughter of the Python/ merely describes the effects of the sun's rays on the mists of earth. Hence too Apollo is called Hecebolus, the Far-darting. By the same method, he is identified with Liber or Dionysus,^ who is in the nocturnal hemisphere what Apollo is in the sphere of light. Indeed the very name Dionysus (Aio? vovi) shows his identity with the sun, who is the mms mundi. Mercury again must be another name for the sun,^ if only because, in works of art, Mercury is represented with wings, which indicate the velocity of light. So Aesculapius must be identified with Apollo,* because they have an equal claim to the sign of the serpent and to the power of divination. Hercules,^ the glory of Here, the power of the air, is the valour of the gods who crushed the impious race who denied their divinity. The myths of Venus and Adonis,^ Cybele and Attis,^ Isis and Osiris, receive the same physical interpretation. In each case the myth is the imaginative expression for the facts of the changing seasons, the sadness of the shortening days, or the gloom of winter. In each case we arrive once more at the central worship of the sun. Finally, the king of the gods,* who goes to visit the blameless Ethiopians, and on the twelfth day returns to Olympus, is plainly the sun in his diurnal course, whilst the gods who attend him are the stars who, in their rising and setting, follows the daily motion of the heavens. For more than three centuries syncretism and the tendency to monotheism were in the air. It has been said of the pagan theology of the third century that it is one colossal syncretism.^ Among the countless cults which found a centre in the Eome of the imperial period, there was no strife or repulsion. They rested on myth, the imaginative expression of men's feelings towards nature or the mystery of life and death, not on dogma. And the myths could be interpreted in many different ways. The age when each city and district had its peculiar gods, the sectarian age of heathendom, had passed away with the absorption of so many nationalities in a world-wide Empire. 1 Maorob. Sat. i. 17, 50 sqq. « lb. i. 21, 1. l^t]^]^ ;i.i.21.7.,,. '' lb. i. 20; 1-5. ' ^- i- 23, 1. ^ lb. i. 20, 10. " R^ville, Eel. unter den Sev, p. 102. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 79 Travel or conquest had made the Eomans acquainted with a host of new divinities whose attributes seemed to fill a gap in their own system, and whose ritual stimulated devotion or aesthetic sensibility. Men from the provinces flocked to Eome, bent on business, pleasure, or advancement, and prepared to reverence the gods of the imperial city. Julius Caesar found the deities of Gaul the same as those of Italy,^ and the Gauls erected altars to Jupiter and Vulcan beside those of their own Esus and Tarvus and Nemausus, or combined the names of a native and a foreign deity as in that of Apollo-Belenus.^ The Eoman soldiers were the great apostles of syncretism. Prone as they were to superstition, exposed to constant danger on the march or in distant quarters, the ingrained Eoman awe of the unknown divinity made them ready to invoke the help of the guardian gods of the regions where they found themselves, and innumerable inscriptions remain to attest the liberality of their faith or the bHndness of their devotion.' The worship of each new god who attracted the Eoman seemed another avenue of approach to that dim and awful Power, inaccessible Himself to human voice and thought, but revealed and adored in different manifestations of His will and attributes {numina). In truth, the old Eoman religious spirit, which combined the most rigorous formalism with the personification of abstractions, to which no myth or dogma of any kiad attached, lent itself better than any other to imiversal toleration. It invented genii for everything, the city, for the emperor, the guild, the camp, the legion, for every act, thought, or incident of human life.* Piety consisted in a scrupulous observance of the prescribed ceremonial,^ not in definite beliefs or elevation of feeling. Many of its objects of devotion were mere names, and the same god could be addressed under many names, or under any name which pleased him.^ 1 Be Bell. Gall. vi. 17, deum Serapis are united, viii. 2629 ; Jupiter, masime MeTOurium colunt. . . . Post Juno, Minerva, Sol, Mithras, Hercules, huDC Apollinem et Martem et Jovem Genius loci, viii. 4578. et Minervam. De his eandem fere 3 c.I.L. viii. 2623, 2639-2641 (Dis quamreliquaegenteshabentopinionem. Mauris), 9195, 8435, 8834 (lemsal is ' C.I.L. xii. 3070, Jovi et Nemauso ; a god's name). 4316, Herculi Ilunno Andose ; 3077 ; t R^yiUe, p. 41 ; Preller, p. 387 ; cf. viii. 9195, Jovi, Silvano,)Mercurio, c.I.L. vui. 2529, 6945 ; xii. 1282. Satumo, etc., Diis Mauris ;vau 4578, , ^^^ ^^ ^^^_ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Jovi, Junoni, Mmervae, Soli Mithrae, .^^ .^^^^^ adversum deos. Herculi, Marti, Mercurio, Genio loci, ^ •' . ,„ Diis Deabusque omnibus. Jupiter and ^ C.I.L. vi. 110, 111. 80 THE LATER PAGANISM book i The Empire, by drawing together so many peoples with their peculiar worships, might seem to have produced a spiritual chaos. In reality the very multitude and variety of these religions, combined with the spiritual tendencies of the age, by comparison, assimilation, identification, to lead to unity. The old gods seemed to welcome alien worships, and borrowed their symbols and the ritual of their mysteries. Altars to many deities were gathered under one roof.^ The worshipper was ready to accept from any cult what satisfied devout feeling or taste and fancy. Men made dedications to a host of deities of every clime.^ They sought initiation in all the mysteries, those of the Eleusinian goddesses, of Isis, and Mithra.^ They accumulated priesthoods in the most various cults. If different deities had similar symbols or func- tions, the tendency was to identify them, or to subordinate the less vigorous cults under one of greater popularity. The masses, by a blind instinct, sought from any quarter satisfaction for vague religious cravings, which become more and more imperious in the second and third centuries, for moral support and purification, for assurance of immortality. The cultivated and indifferent found pleasure and excitement in the splendour or novelty of foreign ritual,* as a modern sceptic may find an aesthetic pleasure in the ceremonial of the Mass. The general drift of serious minds was spiritually towards more personal relations with God, and intellectually towards a vague monotheism or pantheism. The many-coloured worships, which offered their symbolism to devotion, were, to some, clues to the Great Mystery, to others, distant and indistinct adumbrations of it. The religious attitude of many devout pagans in the third and fourth centuries is probably described in a letter of Maximus,^ a grammarian of Madaura, to S. Augustine, about the year 390. Maximus professes his sure and certain belief in one Supreme God, the great and glorious Father. His virtues, diffused throughout the universe, we ' Luo. de. Syr. Dea, 35. atque magnificum, quis tam demens, 2 G.I.L. viii. 4578, 9196, 6955. tam mente _ captus neget esse certissi- 3 jj yj 504 1779. mum. Hujus nos virtutes per munda- . T " -J A ' n "^i"! °P'^^ diffuses, multis vooabulis ^ Lamprid. Com. c. 9. invocamus. This letter seems to render ^ Aug. Ep. 16, equidem unum doubtful Dr. Bigg's denial of a real esse deum summum, sine initio, sine monotheistic tendency in the later prole naturae, ceu patrem magnum paganism (Neoplatomsm, pp. 52, 53). CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 81 adore under many names, since his proper name we know not. God belongs to all religions. And hence, while we address separate parts of Him in our various supplications, we are really worshipping the whole, under a thousand names in a harmonious discord. It was the task of the Neoplatonic philosophy to crystallise in its formulae the vague fluid instincts of the mass of men, and to try to find a secret harmony in the discord. In the three centuries between Plutarch and Macrobius, the great aim of philosophy is to reach the intellectual ground of truth underlying the crowd of worships which gave ex- pression to the religious instinct of humanity, and faith in the Unseen. The father of this movement is the pious and cultivated sage of Chaeronea,^ who is probably the highest and purest character ever produced in a heathen environment. He is in philosophy an eclectic Platonist ; but he reaUy is far more a moralist and theologian than a philosopher. He believes emphatically in one great, central Power,^ who is sometimes spoken of, in Platonic language, as the Infinite Good, some- times as the Father of all, whose wisdom and providence controls the universe. Plutarch has a horror of the supersti- tion which fears the wrath of God, and of the atheism which denies His existence.' The gods worshipped by the various races of men are to Plutarch, as they are to Celsus and Maximus of Tyre, the subordinate representatives of the Supreme Governor, called by many names, honoured in many fashions, but all pointing the pious soul to the central object of devotion. In his doctrine of daemons Plutarch found a refuge for polytheistic worship, and an explanation of oracular inspiration. He is a distant progenitor of the Neoplatonism of the fourth century. Neoplatonism was the great intellectual support of the pagan spirit in the last two centuries of the Empire. The germ of its doctrine was introduced into Eome in the time of the Antonines, and the force of that strange mixture of super- 1 Eeville, p. 112 ; Zeller, Phil, der ' But superstition, as degrading the f- Gr. 3rd part, pp. 141-182; of. Bigg's character, he regards as the worse; , Neoplcdonism, pp. 88-91. cf. Nee Posse Suav. Viv. 20, 21. On 2 De Is. et Osir. 67, 78 ; de Sera, Plutarch's belief in genii or dae- Num. Find. 5, 18 ; cf. de Pytk. Or. mons v. Griard's Morale de Plutarque, 21 ; on the evil principle in the world pp. 299-304 ; Bigg's Neoplatonism, V. de Is. 45. P- 95- 82 THE LATER PAGANISM book i stition with lofty speculation, which characterised the later Neoplatonism, was so enduring and intense that S. Augustine devoted to it some of the most powerful chapters of his City of God} The rhetor, Apuleius, of Madaura, who had been initiated in all the mysteries,^ and who posed as an apostle of Platonism, harangued great audiences both in Eome and the provinces, and fascinated them by a " Platonism half understood, mixed with fanciful Orientalism." Plotinus, the greatest of the Alex- andrians, arrived in Eome in 244.^ Crowds of senators, magistrates, and women of high rank came to listen to the obscure eloquence of the Egyptian mystic, who summoned them, in words which moved the admiration of S. Augustine, " to flee to the dear fatherland of souls, where the Father dwells." * The success of Plotinus was so great that he had a dream of obtaining a settlement from the Emperor Gallienus and founding a city in Campania, which should realise the ideal polity of Plato.^ Porphjo-y, a Syrian, the greatest of his disciples, and a declared foe of Christianity, carried on his tradition into the first years of the fourth century. With lamblichus the Neoplatonic system underwent a great change. It abandoned the detached and disinterested mysticism of its prime.^ The persecution of Diocletian revealed the inex- tinguishable force of the Christian faith, and the danger of a religious revolution. The fate of the schools was involved in that of the temples. Philosophy threw itself without reserve into the conflict. The great Alexandrines, while ready to admit a kernel of truth under the husk of mythological symbols,^ made no profession of religious faith in them. Their successors of the age of Julian sank the philosopher in the ardent devotee,^ believed in sacrifice and divination, and practised magic and the theurgic arts. The idealist must always contract some stains when he descends into the arena of practical life. And Neoplatonism, while nerving paganism for its last battle, lost much of the moral purity and ^ De Civ. Dei, viii. 14 sqq. ; cf. Ep. ^ Porph. vit. Plotin. c. 12. ^^2' J "^t 55 ^ ^^^^' ^^°P^'^°'^^'^> P- 305- » Porpii. vit. Plotin. c. 3, 7, 9. ' Cf. Plotin. Ennead, v. 8, 10 ; vi. < De Civ. Dei, ix. 17, ubi est illud 9, 9 ; v. 1, 7 ; iii. 6, 19 ; iii. 5, 8. For Plotini, ubi ait: "Fugiendum est Ws cautious view of magic u iv. 3, 11 ; igitur ad carissimam patriam, et ibi t^f- Porph. de Abst. ii. 41-43. pater, et ibi omnia." * Vacherot, l'£cole d'Alex. ii. p. 144. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 83 grandeur of Plotinus. Yet an unsympathetic critic may easily exaggerate the degradation ; winking Madonnas and miracles of Lourdes wiU. not blind a candid man to the better side of Catholicism. And we should not forget that, if Julian deluged the altars with the blood of victims,^ and - countenanced the superstitious absurdities of men like Maximus, he strove to correct vices in the pagan system infinitely worse than slavish superstition. A reactionary in one sense, he was also a daring innovator. It was no ordinary man who dreamt of regenerating the ancient worship by borrowing a dogmatic theology from Alexandria, an ecstatic devotion from Persia, a moral ideal from Galilee. Julian exerted his pontifical authority to raise the priestly character and make it a pattern to the people.^ The ministers of the gods were to be ; regular in their devotion, pure in mind and body, tender in relieving the poor and outcast. They are to avoid all tainted literature ; they must never be seen in taverns and theatres ; and they must exhort their flocks to be chaste, devout, and charit- able. The worshippers of the sun-king are to prepare them- selves for the holy mysteries by fasting and contemplation. This heroic attempt to breathe a new life into paganism was doomed to failure. But it is a narrow and hide-bound criticism which refuses to see great qualities in the defender of a bad cause, and which will not admit that superstition may some- times be united with lofty moral ideals. The effort of Neoplatonic philosophy to save polytheism in the fourth century is a curious chapter in the history of opinion. In spite of some serious metaphysical differences, there might seem to be many affinities between Neoplatonism and Christianity in their common doctrine of the unity of God, and their moral and spiritual idealism. On the other hand, there might appear at first sight an irreconcilable opposition between the Hellenic cult of nature and sense, and a system the centre of which was the doctrine of the Infinite and Unknow- able One. The explanation lies in the sympathetic attachment of religious and philosophic systems to their ancestry. Neo- platonism could no more forget its Hellenic origin than the Christian Church could forget its sources in the religion of 1 Amm. Marc. xxii. 12, 6. 385 sqq. ; Ep. 62 ; Duruy, vii. 341 ; 2 Frag. Ep. ed. Hertlein, vol. ii. p. Vacherot, ii. 165. 84 THE LATER PAGANISM book i Israel. The school of Alexandria, essentially eclectic and conservative, was bound by a continuous chain of thought and feeling to the whole past culture of Hellas, of which the greatest glory in art and letters was derived from Greek legend. Plato, their great master, while he claimed that the moral sense might correct the errors of licentious fancy, never abandoned the mythology of his race. He had used it, as he used the ancient Orphic traditions, to adorn or enforce his philosophic teaching. Moreover, any system of philosophy which deserves the name must guard its freedom. Paganism had no rigid system of dogma. Formed by the rude superstitious fancy, and endlessly varied and glorified by the genius of poetry, the legends of Hellas belong to a totally different order of thought from the definitions of Christian councils. They were food for the imagination or emotions ; they were never articles of \ faith. Prom the sixth century the greatest minds, Xenophanes,^ ' Aeschylus,^ Pindar,^ Plato,* had treated them with great freedom of interpretation and criticism, and Euripides had, year after year at a great religious festival, for more than half a century exerted with impunity all the subtlety of his art to lower the dignity and dim the splendour of the great figures of Greek legend. But the Christianity of the fourth century was a system complete, well articulated, demanding entire submission of the reason. It would not treat with philosophy even on equal terms. Its truths must be accepted in the form in which generations of controversy and the decisions of councils had finally left them. If its dogmas did not square with philosophy, philosophy must yield. A system like the Neoplatonic, with its roots in the old world, whose best thought it strove to fuse into a whole, could not come to terms with an aggressive religion which claimed the monopoly of truth. In not separating itself from paganism, while it strove to interpret \ the myths in a higher sense, the Neoplatonists were merely j treading in the footsteps of their great master. Might it not ' be possible to find a niche for each of these countless gods in the temple of the inscrutable One ? ^ Might not the popular ' Athen. xi. 462, Frag. 1. 21 ; of. ^ Find. 01. i. 45-85. Bitter and Preller, Sist. Phil. p. 82. * Eep. ii. p. 378 ; Euthyphr. c. 6. ^ Aesoh. Agam. 55, 160. See Prof. ^ See the exposition of the treatise 'ilbirta.j'sA7icientGk.Literature,-^T^.22Z, "De Mysteriis" in Vaoherot, ii. p. 121 224 ; of. Sellenica, "Aeschylus," p. 16. sqq. CHAP. IV SOURCES OF ITS VITALITY 85 religion, -without any dangerous breach with the past, be reconciled with a pure theism ? Might not a warm devotion and assiduous attention to the ancient ritual be found com- patible with the ecstatic vision of God,^ who is in Himself inaccessible to prayer or sacrifice, inconceivable by imagination or the highest effort of reason ? Neoplatonism had some advantages over Stoicism in the attempt to support or to restore the forces of paganism. Stoicism gave philosophic expression to the religious feeling of old Eome. But under the later Empire, as we have seen, the ■ old gods had fallen into the shade, and cults of Eastern origin had acquired an extraordinary power and fascination. The tendency to monotheism in some of these systems was very marked ; and the ascetic preparation for their mysteries, together with the ecstatic tone of devotion which they encouraged, had a certain attraction for the Pythagorean and Platonic schools. The Platonist Apuleius lived in an atmosphere of magic and mystery,^ and in his travels sought initiation in all sorts of strange cults, which stimulated emotion, or promised glimpses of the unseen world. The later Alexandrians of the time of Julian found in sun-worship the highest symbol of their esoteric doctrine.* But the great means of acommodation lay in the principle of emanation.* It enabled the Neoplatonist to bridge over the chasm between the one, pure abstraction,^ absolutely simple, not to be grasped by any act of thought nor described by any attribute, and the worlds of spirit and sense.^ Each unity in the scale gives birth from its inner essence to another more complex, and therefore inferior. From the purely abstract One there is a graduated scale of being,'^ unity, mind, soul, the universe of sense, each successively engendered out of the inner essence of the higher and simpler form. Into such a system it was not hard to fit the gods of mythology.^ It is ^ Vacherot, ii. p. 148. held this v. Zeller, die Phil, der , , , . , r^r ■ -i- Griech. iii. 2, pp. 451-453. 2 Apul. Apol. 55, saororum imtia '^\ ^^ ... g' ^f^^^ in Graecia participavi, multijuga sacra ^ ^^ .j." ^' ^' g^g' et plurimos ritus et varias cerimonias , jj;^^.^-^ ■ ^,;^_ 'g^- j_ ^^^ ^g, stuaiio veri et officio erga deos didici ; . ^^ ^ ^^ -^^ statement of the doctrine cf. Bigg s Moplcdonism, pp. 52 sqq. »,. piot^n^s ; of. Zeller, iii. 2, p. 453 ; ' Zeller, die Fhil. der Gr. iii. 2, Ennead, vi. 5, 4. p. 629 ; Julian, Or. iv. koX yap ei>i toO 8 gee the elaborate system of Sallust Paa-i\ius dTaSbs "HXlov. in Vacherot, ii. p. 124 ; cf. Zeller, iii. ■* For the sense in which Plotinus 2, p. 557. 86 THE LATER PAGANISM book: true that there are wide differences between the earlier and later Neoplatonists in their attitude to the popular religion. Plotinus is much more of a philosopher than a theologian/ and while he tries to find a hidden meaning in the myths,^ in an unsystematic way, he makes no allusion to theurgy, and deals rather ambiguously with the external forms of devotion.* So, too, Porphyry,* while his system enabled him to find a metaphysical content in legend, has no sympathy with the materialism of worship. He holds firmly that the Supreme cannot be approached by any avenue of sense, by sacrifice, or formal prayer. God is honoured most by reverent silence and purity of heart.'^ To become like and offer ourselves to Him is the acceptable sacrifice. But the Platonists of the fourth century are much more theologians than pure philosophers.^ The whole forces of the ancient schools were gathered up and employed to give system and a rational basis to the old religion. The fictions of mythology were justified by the example of Nature,^ who veils her secrets from the vulgar gaze. The Supreme One indeed, the fountain of being, must not be profaned by human fancy. But the lower powers may be dimly revealed to the multitude by allegory or fanciful tale.* The world itself is a great myth, which at once hides and reveals the mystery of the Divine. And the philosopher proceeds to classify the myths according to the nature of the inner truth which they contain.^ Some convey the deepest theological, or, as we should say, metaphysical truth. For example, Saturn devouring his children is intelligence returning upon itself.^" Others of these fictions are imaginative expres- sions of the facts of nature. Apollo slaying the Python is the sun drawing up the pestilential fogs of the marshes. The names of many deities are simply names of natural objects or powers.^^ Juno is the air, at once sister and wife of Jupiter, 1 Vacherot, ii. p. 108. la philosophie embrasse sans r&erye le 2 Zeller, iii. 2, p. 560 ; Ennead, v. polytheisme. 1, 4, 7 ; V. 8, 13. ' Ih. ii. p. 121. 3 Zeller, iii. pp. 562, 563; iii. 2, » Macrob. Smn. Sap. i. 2, 7-19, 563. sciunt inimicam esse naturae apertam ■• Vaoherot, ii. pp. 112-116 ; Zeller, nudamque expositionem sui, etc. Cf. iii. 2, pp. 599-601, where the doubts of the yiews of Proclua in the fifth century. Porphyry are expounded. Zeller, iii. 2, p. 744. = De Abstin. ii. 34, Sti. Si > > 17 ; of. Marquardt, 2iom. Staatsver- ' ' waltung, ii. p. 132. ^ Suet. Nero, c. 12 ; Juv. vi. 63 ; 2 Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 25 ; Sym. Prudent. Peristeph. x. 221 ; Sidon. ^. X. 14 ; C. Th. xiv. 5 (de Carin. xxiii. 281. 104 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii extent coloured by the temperament and habits of the old soldier, whose life had been passed in frontier camps. An Indian veteran, who at the present day should settle in London, after thirty years' hard service, might not be more indulgent to our own luxurious classes. And Ammianus may have been wounded by the haughty indifference of one of the most exclusive castes that the world has ever seen. Worldly society is at no time very appreciative of unostentatious merit or service. And Ammianus probably knew the great world chiefly by the vulgarity and frivolity of its least esti- mable members. Had he been admitted to the circle of the Symmachi and Albini, he would hardly have accused a class, which regarded devotion to letters as the highest distinction of their order, of never entering their libraries. A darker, if not truer picture of that society in the years when Ammianus was composing his history is given by S. Jerome. S. Jerome outlived Ammianus Marcellinus probably twenty years ; but they must have been at Eome about the same time, — in the middle of the reign of Theodosius. The saint received his education under Donatus, probably in the reign of Julian ; and, after visiting Gaul and the deserts of Syria, he returned to the capital at the time when the Church was on the eve of its final victory. He was the secretary and intimate friend of Pope Damasus,^ and for a time was one of the most influential ecclesiastics of Eome. He saw the inner life of the higher clergy, and of those great aristocratic houses, on which, since the visit of S. Athanasius, the ascetic ideal of the Christian life had cast its spell.^ Jerome became the director in study and devotion of a remarkable group of women — Paula, Lea, Asella, Marcella, and many others, who were of the very cream of the Eoman nobility, but who deliberately cut themselves off from worldly society, and in almost conventual seclusion devoted themselves to prayer and the study of the Scriptures.' Some of them were accomplished Greek and Hebrew scholars,* and, in their minute and careful study of the sacred books, they often taxed the erudition of the great scholar to reply to their curious questions.^ We hear 1 Ei^. 123, § 10 ; cf. CoUombet's S. Antony, cf. S. Aug. Conf. viii. 6. Jer. i. p. 326. ^ Hieron. Up. 127, § 7 ; cf. Sp. 24. 2 Hieron. Ep. 127, § 5 ; for the * lb. 108, §§ 26, 28. influence of S. Athanasius's Life of ^ lb. 30, 34. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 105 but little of their husbands and male relatives. The majority of the Eoman Senate, even so late as the reign of Theodosius, was clearly pagan in sentiment/ if not in belief. There can be little doubt that the husband was often a cultivated sceptic or pagan, while his wife or sister was a Christian devotee. Moving in such a circle, S. Jerome must have acquired a thorough knowledge of the tone and mwale of the upper class in that period of religious transition which has been described in the first chapter. His evidence as to the moral condition of his time would be invaluable if we could trust the coolness and fairness of his judgment as much as his knowledge. He was a tremendous and beneficent force in the cause of truth and purity, and he must always be regarded with reverence alike by the student and by the devout Christian. In his fearless determination to ascertain the precise meaning of the sacred text, he offers a splendid example of rare candour and patient industry. In his still more fearless denunciation of moral evil, even in the classes with whom he was most closely associated, and with the risk of ruin to his own reputation, he did a service to the cause of human progress of which the value can hardly be exaggerated.^ But S. Jerome is a Eoman satirist who is sometimes carried away by the love of startling effect and vivid phrase. He is also the ascetic, tortured by the consciousness of human frailty, and again almost intoxi- cated with the vision of God. The views which S. Jerome held as to the ideal of virtue, and especially of sexual virtue, are of the extreme monastic type. To him, as to so many others in that day, the world is ^ The opposite view is founded on testimonia : quasi grande sit, et non Prud. c. Sym. i. 566, and on the words vitiosissimum dooendi genus, depravare in Ambros. Ep. 17, § 9, cum majore jam sententias, et ad voluntatem suam curia Christianorum numero sit referta. Scripturam trahere repugnantem. In But, if so, why did they not attend replying to a charge of favouring the and prevent the Senate from petition- heretical views of Origen, he announces ing the Emperor? IfZosimus (v. 49) a principle which, in theological con- is to be believed, the Senate, even after troversy, is rarely obeyed : Neo bonis the defeat of Eugenius, were still adversariorum, si honestum quid obdurate. Cf. Seeck's Sym. liv. and, habuerint, detrahendum est, nee ami- for the opposite view, Rausohen, Jalir- corum laudanda sunt vitia, Ep. 83, § 2. JficAer, p. 119. For S.Jerome's defence of his character, V. Ep. 45, § 2. For the secret of the 2 Ep. 112, § 20 ; cf. Ep. 104 ; 57, bitterness with which he was assailed, § 7 ; 53, § 7, nee scire dignantur, «. Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 9, § 4, oderunt quid Prophetae, quid Apostoli sen- eum clerici, quia vitam eorum inseotatur serint : sea ad sensum incongrua aptant et crimina. 106 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii SO full of allurements, the flesh is so weak and sensual, the devil is so cunning in laying snares for the soul, that the only chance of escape lies in absolute renunciation. The Greek ideal of moral perfection as a middle state between excess and defect of passion seems to the ascetic impracticable or unworthy. Avarice can only be conquered by selling all one's possessions and giving to the poor.^ Luxury in dress and food must be replaced by sackcloth and herbs, and an avoidance of the bath.^ The pleasures of love, which are treated as merely sensual, must be utterly rejected as debasing to the elect soul. Honourable marriage ranks below the purity of intact vir- ginity, and the recovered chastity of widowhood.^ Nothing can exceed the extravagance with which S. Jerome, who was an experienced man of the world, celebrates the self-devotion of Demetrias to the virgin state. Her family, like so many others of the great Eoman houses, had been ruined by the invasion of Alaric* Eome had been given up' to fire and sword. The fairest provinces were already overrun by the Sueves and Goths. The fame of a world-wide empire and civilisation, the splendid traditions and the hopes of senatorial houses of im- memorial antiquity, were vanishing amid an agony of regret, all the more pathetic, because hardly a voice from it comes down to our ears. Yet the devotion of Demetrias to the virgin state, according to her eulogist, exalts her family to a higher pinnacle than its long line of consuls and prefects have ever reached ; it is a consolation for a Eome in ashes ; Italy puts off its mourning at the news ; the villages in the farthest provinces are beside themselves with joy. Some of this is no doubt mere rhetoric, but it is the rhetoric of a man whose own passions had been conquered only by flight to the Syrian desert, by incessant vigils, by fasting and prayer.^ And the whole letter to Eustochium, in which that well-known passage occurs, suggests other considerations which should be kept in view in reading the criticisms of ancient moralists on their own times. Probably every modern reader of that letter is 1 Ep. 108, § 19. best passage is 123, § 11, sufficit - lb. 107, §§ 9, 10 ; xxiii. § 2. tibi quod primum perdidisti virgini- ' lb. 130, §§ 3, 5. Her father is tatis gradum, et per tertium venisti felix morte sua qui non vidit patriam ad secundum, id est, per officium corruentem ; immo felicior qui . . . conjugale, ad viduitatis continentiam. nobilitatem insigniorem reddidit filiae * The letter was written ciro. 414. perpetua castitate ; cf. 22, § 19. The ^ Ep. 22, § 7. CHAP, t ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 107 lost in astonishment that it could have been possibly addressed by any man to a young woman belonging to one of the greatest families at Eome. It handles, without the slightest restraint or reserve, sins and temptations of the flesh to which we now hardly allude. It is absolutely inconceivable that any moralist or preacher of our times, however earnest or fanatical, should address a woman in such a style.^ This is not said with any intention of depreciating S. Jerome, whose character emerged unstained from the fiercest ordeal of malignant calumny in his own time, and has borne the scrutiny of fifteen centuries. He would be a daring man who would charge S. Jerome with pruriency. But we may fairly say that the writer of the letter to Eustochium is likely to let us know the very worst of his generation, and that he will not throw the veil of conventional ignorance over deeds of darkness, which our more timorous delicacy has been accus- tomed, at any rate until lately, to treat as non-existent. Whether unflinching candour or studied reserve is the best tone to adopt with regard to moral evil, is a question which need not be discussed. But that difference of tone between the ancients and ourselves should never be forgotten in studying the character of a distant past. By keeping it in mind we may be saved alilie from Pharisaism and from an ungenerous judgment of times which have made a self - revelation of which we should be incapable. "When we come to examine what S. Jerome has told us of the moral condition of his time, we are struck vrith the fact that his heaviest censure falls on those who, at least in name, had separated themselves from the world, the monks and the secular clergy of Eome. It is true that he consigns Praetextatus, the votary of Isis and Mithra, to outer darkness.^ But Praetextatus is not condemned on moral grounds, but as 1 Ep. 22, esp. §§ 7, 13. et idolorum cultor. The condemna- tion of Praetextatus is expressly on the '^ lb. 23, 3, ille quem ante paucos ground of his heathen superstition, dies dignitatum omnium oulmina The inscriptions {C.I.L. 1779), in praecedebant ... ad cujus interitum which he and his wife Aconia Fabia urbs uuiversa commota est, nunc deso- Paulina commemorate one another's latus et nudus, non in lacteo caeli virtues, reveal a religious enthusiasm palatio, lit uxor mentitur infelix, sed which explains S. Jerome's bitterness ; in sordentibus tenebris continetur ; of. Seeck's Syimnachus, Ixxxiii. on cf. c. Johann. Hiirosol. 8, miserabilis the whole career of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus . . . homo saorilegus, Praetextatus. 108 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii the enthusiastic champion of the old gods. On the other hand, the pontiff Albinus, a staunch though tolerant pagan, is treated by Jerome with marked respect.^ His unbelief is even made the subject of gentle raillery. His wife was a Christian. His daughter Laeta, who had succeeded in con- verting her young husband Toxotius, was a devotee after S. Jerome's heart. S. Jerome speaks of Albinus as " a candidate for the faith," and would have hopes that his little grand- daughter's hymns to Christ, as she sits on the old man's knees, might win him from his errors. Another great magnate, Cerealis,^ a man of the world, of great official distinction, wished to marry one of S. Jerome's ascetic friends. Nothing is said of the religious views of Cerealis, but the very silence on the subject probably shows that they were not very decided. Yet S. Jerome describes him as a man of spotless character. Olybrius, another member of the noble class, was probably a Christian, but like his father Probus, the great pre- fect, was probably not a very ardent one. Along with his brother Probinus, he was celebrated with all the pomp of pagan mythology by the poet Claudian. His virtues as a son, a husband, and a citizen are not less emphatically ex- tolled in a letter of S. Jerome.^ The saint professed to regard Eome as the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse*, from which the true followers of Christ should flee to the desert, " blossom- ing with the flowers of Christ." Yet when we look for details, we find little in S. Jerome to lead us to believe that the men of the great families, with whom Paula, Marcella, and Melania associated, fell below the moral standard of their ancestors or even below the level of worldly respectability in our own time. Christian asceticism, however, like every other great move- ment which has disturbed the routine of life, had its raison d'iire. There were serious perils to virtue in the household life of the fourth and fifth century which S. Jerome has laid bare with an unsparing frankness, though probably also with some exaggeration. Among these the system of domestic slavery was the most fruitful of corruption.^ In the days of Salvianus, as in the days of Horace, the attractive slave-girl too often was 1 Hieron. :Bp. 107, § 1. * lb. 46, § 11. 2 lb. 127, § 2. » lb. 54, §§ 5, 6 ; cf. 107, § 4 ; cf. ^ lb. 130, § 3 ; cf. Seeck's Sym. Wallon, Sist. de VEsdav. ii. pp. 325 CT. ; Claud. Cons. Prob. et Olyb. sqq. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 109 the easy prey of her master's lusts ; and amours of this kind were regarded even in Christian families with a tolerance which astonishes modern sentiment.^ Perhaps even more insidious was the influence of female slaves on their young mistresses. The attendants who surrounded the Eoman lady at her elaborate toilet, and decked her out in her silks and jewels, were often not the safest companions for inexperienced innocence. Their class had often a bitter hatred of the Christian faith,^ and spread the most malignant rumours about its professors. They flattered with the ease and familiarity of privileged favourites. The picture of the greed, lubricity, and spitefulness of this chattering crowd,^ who surrounded the lady of noble rank, was probably a much-needed revelation of one of the worst cankers at the root of Eoman society. S. Jerome, like Ammianus Marcellinus, was disgusted with the display of wealth, which seems to have become more osten- tatious and vulgar, as artistic skill and feeling decayed. But in S. Jerome's pages women are the great offenders. Their gaudy turbans and elaborate coifi'ures, their costly silks and liberally applied cosmetics, and blazing wealth of jewels, are described with a scorn which makes the minute observation of detail somewhat surprising.* The saint often warns his female disciples against the danger of appearing among the fashion- able and showy crowd.^ The danger to female innocence seemed to him so great that the only safety for a woman lay in cutting herself off absolutely from the world. It is hard to believe that the reserve and delicacy of so many generations of social culture should have grown so helpless in the face of evil. And the warm imagination of S. Jerome has probably exaggerated the peril. If we may believe him, the curled and essenced fop was almost irresistible in those days.^ A touch of his hand and a glance from his eye seem to have placed young women of rank and breeding at his mercy. There is probably better ground for the disgust with which the appear- ance of the fashionable matron in the streets is described.'^ 1 Paulinus Pellaeus, Eucli. 166, con- ^ jj. 130, § I8 ; 54, § 13 ; 107, § 7. tentus domus inlecebris famulantibus * lb. 117, § 6, dabit tibi barbatulus uti. quilibet manum, sustentabit lassam ; 2 Hieron. Ep. 54, § 5. et pressis digitis, aut tentabitur aut 3 n. 117, § 8. tentabit. Ih. 54, § 7 ; 108, § 15 ; 127, § 3. ' /5. 54, § 13. no SOCIETY IN THE WEST book n She takes her airing in a litter surrounded by a great troop of slaves and eunuchs, and closely attended by some foppish major-domo or favourite domestic, whose pampered air and easy familiarity sometimes cast a shade of suspicion on his mistress's fair fame. But the great danger was the banquet. Difficile inter epidas servatur pudicitia} It is hard for us now to realise that this should be true of a polished society with an ancient tradition of dignity. Yet S. Jerome, in his ardour for the ascetic life as the only path of salvation for frail humanity, places his ban on what we should regard as innocent enjoyment of a hospitable table. The description of the effects, on the hot blood of the south, of rich wines and delicate meats in many courses, with the accompaniments of voluptuous music and suggestive dancing, may represent the tone of certain circles of his age. It would be certainly true of many in the time of Cicero. But it is diflScult to believe that the high-minded, stately, and cultivated ladies, so many of whom are known to us,^ had been exposed to the contamina- tion of such grossness in their youth, or that they could not observe the limit between harmless natural enjoyment and sensual indulgence. The truth is that S. Jerome is not only a monk but an artist in words ; and his horror of evil, his vivid imagination, and his passion for literary effect occasionally carry him beyond the region of sober fact. There was much to amend in the morals of the Koman world. But we must not take the leader of a great moral reformation as a cool and dispassionate observer. About the time when this letter of S. Jerome was penned, Macrobius represents the leading members of the pagan aristo- cracy, Symmachus, Albinus, Flavianus, Praetextatus, as spend- ing the days of the Saturnalia together. The mornings were given up to learned discussions on antiquarian and literary subjects. In the evening they met for lighter and gayer conversation at dinner; and our attention is expressly drawn to the elegant moderation of that day in food and drink, and to the banish- ment of the dancing girl and the buffoon from the banquet.^ ' Hieron. Up. 117, § 6 ; 107, § 8. Compare with this S. Jerome's £p. 117, 2 Paula, Hieron. Ep. 108 ; Serena, § 6. Although Praetextatus is one of Claudian. Laus Serenae ; Fabia Aoonia the party in the Saturnalia, the scene Paulina, G.I.L. vi. 1779 ; Blaesilla, is laid in some year after his death in Hieron. Ep. 39 ; Laeta, Zos. v. 39. 385, as appears from the passage i. 3 Macrob. Sat. ii. 1, § 4 ; iii. 13. 1, § 5. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 111 The evidence of Macrobius, who is writing without any parti pris, is worth at least as much as that of S. Jerome on such a point. And if such was the tone of the pagan aristocracy, can we believe that the great Christian houses would be more lax ? But if S. Jerome deals hardly with the vices of the worldly classes, he is perhaps even more merciless to those of the pro- fessedly strict and religious ; and it is to the credit of his candour and sincerity that he lays bare with such an unsparing hand the corruption in Christian society, even in the inner circles of asceticism. In some of his descriptions of ecclesias- tical worldliness and corruption the very spirit of Juvenal is upon him.^ And his consuming zeal for a great cause probably made him less merciful to the failings of his own class than a man of the world would have been. Yet, after all allowances, * the picture is not a pleasant one. We feel that we are far away from the simple, unworldly devotion of the freedmen and obscure toilers whose existence was hardly known to the great world before the age of the Antonines,^ and who lived in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and in constant expectation of the coming of their Lord. The triumphant Church, which has brought paganism to its knees, is very different from the Church of the catacombs and the persecutions. The Bishop of Eome has become a great potentate surrounded by worldly pomp, and with a powerful voice in the councils of the State.^ In the reign of Valentinian (367) the rival factions of Damasus and Ursinus had convulsed the city in their struggles for this splendid prize, and in one day one hundred and thirty-seven corpses were left on the pavement of one of the churches.* Ammianus Marcellinus, who describes the conflict, thinks it natural that men should so contend for the chance of being enriched by the offerings of Eoman matrons, of riding in elegant apparel through the streets, and giving banquets of more than regal splendour. The pagan Praetextatus used to say jestingly to Pope Damasus, that he might be tempted to become a Christian by the prospect of being Bishop of Eome.^ ^ For tlie satiric vein in S. Jerome, ' Zos. v. 41. cf. the sketch of Grunnius, the impotent ■• Amm. Marc, xxvii. 3, 12. critic, Ep. 125, § 18 ; and the great ^ Hieron. c. Johann. Hierosol. 8, lady at S. Peter's Basilica, 22, § 32. solebat ludens beato papae Damaso ^ Renan, M. AurUe, p. 447 ; of. pp. dicere ; facite me Romanae ecclesiae 55, 56. episcopum et ero protinus Christianus. 112 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii Among all ranks of the clergy corruption prevailed. The evils of seduction and captation became so grave that, in an edict addressed to Pope Damasus,^ the Emperor Valentinian I. sternly prohibited monks and ecclesiastics from entering the houses of widows or orphan wards, and made illegal both donatio inter vivos and testamentary bequests in favour of the Church. It may be doubted whether the law was strictly obeyed. The higher clergy generally seem to have lived in very un-evan- gelical worldly state and luxury.^ They often entertained at sumptuous feasts great magistrates and prefects. The clerical epicure, brought up in a hovel and fed on milk and black bread in his boyhood,^ develops an extraordinary delicacy of taste in his later years. He has the nicest judgment in fish and game, and the provinces are distinguished by their ability to satisfy his palate. Holy Orders become the passport to social distinction and dangerous influence. The doors of great houses opened readily to the elegant priest whose toilet was managed by a skilful valet. The clerical profession, so far from imposing restraint, furnished facilities for intrigue. The priest was admitted to the intimacy of superstitious women of the world, which was pleasant and lucrative, but perilous to virtue.* The supple and accomplished ecclesiastic has a great advantage among the crowd of morning callers on the rich young matron, who repays his flattering attentions with a present of whatever his covetous eyes have lighted on.^ The passion for wealth invaded all ranks of the clergy. Many were engaged in amassing fortunes in trade.^ They will perform the most disgusting and menial offices for some heirless- lady on her deathbed.^ Even the monk in the Nitrian desert is infected with the universal contagion,^ and piles up a secret hoard which his brethren are sorely troubled to dispose of at his death. If we believe S. Jerome, numbers of these clerical and 1 C. Th. xvi. 2, 20. ex ignobili gloriosum, quasi quaadam ^ Hieron. Up. 52, § 11 ; cf. Sulp. pestem fuge. Sev. Dial. i. 21, 3. ^ lb. 52, § 6 ; ipsi apponunt ma- * Hieron. Up. 52, § 6. tulam, obsident leotum, purulentiam * lb. 52, % 5, stomachi . . . manu propria susoipiunt. ^ lb. 22, § 16, o]erioi ipsi ... ex- Pavent ad introitum medioi trementi- tenta manu, ut benedicere eos putes busque labiis an commodius habeant velle, pretia aocipiunt salutandi ; and sciscitantur . . . simulataque laetitia § 28. mens intrinsecus avara torquetur. ^ lb. 52, % 5 ; 125, § 16, nego- ^ jj. 22, § 33, centum solidos quos tiatorem clericum, et ex inopi divitem, lino texendo acquisierat dereliquit, etc. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS U3 monkish impostors became far richer than they could have been, if they had remained in the world.^ They go about asking for ahns to be distributed to the poor, but secretly enrich themselves; making a parade of their bare feet, black cloaks, and long unkempt hair, they creep into houses and " deceive silly women laden with sins." Pretending ^ to live in the greatest austerity, they spent their nights in secret feasting and sensuality. The picture which S. Jerome draws of female society is so repulsive that we would gladly believe it to be exaggerated. But if the priesthood with its enormous influence was so corrupt, it is only too probable that it debased the sex which is always most under clerical influence. That clerical concu- binage, under the pretence of the severest sanctity, was common, cannot be doubted by any one acquainted with the writers of the time. S. Jerome is perfectly explicit on the subject. Men and women, vowed to perpetual chastity, lived under the same roof,' brazening out the miserable imposture of superhuman purity under impossible conditions. There is a curious letter of S. Jerome's to a young lady of position in Gaul,* written at the instance of her brother, which is a singular illustration of the union of superstition and licence. She makes a profession of leading a Christian life, yet she has separated from her mother, and has installed, as master of her house, a " brother " who is apparently, and is regarded by the neighbourhood, as equally master of her house and of her virtue.^ On a not much higher level are those virgins of the Church,® whose peculiar dress is their only title to the name which they disgrace, and who strut about the streets, nodding and leering. In many so-called Christian circles the gay, supple " virgin " '' who would laugh at jests of doubtful freedom, and 1 Hieron. Ep. 125, § 16, non victum ^ lb. 117, § 9. et vestitum, quod Apostolus prae- 6 /J. 117, § 7 ; xxii. 13, hae sunt cipit,sedmajoraquamsaeculi homines p^j, publicum notabiliter ince- emolumenta sectantes ; Ep. 60, § 11, Ju^t; et furtivis ooulorum nutibus sint ditiores monachi quam fuerant adolesoentium greges post se trahunt. saeculares. '' lb. 22, § 28, et quasi longa jejunia, ' lb. 22, § 24 - 29, ecoe vere furtiTis noctium cibis protrahunt. anoilla Christi, dioentes, ecce tota ^ lb. 22, § 14, eadem domo, uno simplicitas. Non ut ilia horrida, cubioulo, saepe uno tenentur leotulo ; turpis, rusticana, terribilis, et quae cf. Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 8, 4 ; i. 9, 4. ideo forsitan maritum non habuit, ^ lb. 117. Ilia invenire non potuit. 114 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii who had a relish for spiteful gossip, was much more popular than the " rough and rustic " person whose religion was not a fraud. Many other sketches of female character have been left us by the pencil of S. Jerome, the sot who justifies her love of wine with a profane jest,-' the great lady puffed up by the honours of her house, and surrounded by a herd of sycophants, the great lady who passes through S. Peter's, attended by a crowd of eunuchs, doling out alms with equal parsimony and ostentation, and repulsing the importunate widow with blows.^ Such scenes and characters, like those in the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, one would gladly believe to be brilliant and imaginative pictures of an excep- tional degradation of character. If they represent anything like a general tone, it becomes easy to understand the exodus from the second Babylon, and the charm of the hermitage in the desert ^ " from which are drawn the stones whereof is builded the city of the Great King." It would seem that the Church, in conquering the citadel of the Empire, had lost the freshness and purity of its early days. It had vanquished the external power of heathenism ; it had still to subdue the forces of corruption within its own pale. It is at all times hard for mediocre character to sincerely embrace a lofty ideal, and the spectacle of grovelling world lin ess and materialism affecting the tone of an elevated spirituality is not unknown in later days. But in the fourth century there was found a remnant ready to sacrifice everything at the summons of an imperious faith. The members of the ; proudest houses sold all that they had, turned their backs upon state and luxury, in order to spend the remainder of life in works of mercy and prayer. And in reading the letters of S. Jerome we should never forget that he is of that elect company, that he regards Eoman society in the high light shining from the Cross, and that the Cross to him is not the mere symbol of a conventional creed, but an imperious power, demanding a surrender of will and eartlily passion as complete as the Great Sacrifice of all. The glory of that age is the number of those 1 Ep. 22, § 13, ubi se mero in- ^ jj. 22, § 32. gurgitaverint, ebrietati sacrilegium ^ It. 14, § 10, desertum Christi copiilantes : Absit ut ego me a Christi floribus vernans, solitudo in qua iUi sanguine abstineam ! Even worse pre- nasountur lapides de quibus oivitas cedes. magni regis extruitur. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 115 who were capable of such self-surrender; and an age should be judged by its ideals, not by the mediocrity of conventional religion masking worldly seK-indulgence. This we have always with us ; the other we have not always. More than fifty years have passed away. The cataclysm of barbarism has fallen on the West. Provinces have been ravaged, splendid cities have been desolated, and the imperial power has been shaken to its base. S. Jerome, on the news of the earliest disasters reaching him, had said, " The barbarians are strong through our vices." ^ And this is the text on which another great preacher calls the Eoman world to recognise in their calamities the righteous punishment for their sins. Salvianus, a presbyter of Marseilles, must have seen almost the close of the fifth century.^ Born probably at Cologne/ and educated in the School of Treves, he had witnessed in his early youth the horrors of the great invasion which laid the cities of the Ehineland in ashes. From these troubles he sought refuge in the south of Gaul, where he lived in intimacy with some of the great bishops of the time, — S. Eucher and S. Hilarius, and the scholarly and ascetic society which made the Isle of L^rins its home. He is a man of keen sympathies and fiery temperament, fuU of the ascetic ideals of his time. He feels a burning indignation against the selfishness of the wealthy and official class, and an equally passionate pity for the poor and oppressed, which, had he lived in the nineteenth century, would certainly have made him a Socialist of the extremest type.* The thesis of the treatise entitled de Chibernatione Dei is very simple.^ The unbelieving Epicureanism of the day saw in the calamities of Gaul only a proof of the indifference of the Deity to the ^ Ep. 60, § 17, nostris pecoatis nisi propinqiius meus esset. Barbari fortes sunt : nostris vitiis * See passim the four books ad Romanus superatur exeroitus. Ecdesiam, against avarice ; of. especi- 2 Gennad. de Scrip. Eccl. c. 67, ally iii. 49, pauper beatitudinem emit vivit usque hodie in senectute bona. mendaoitate, dives supplicium faoul- Gennadius was a contemporary of Pope tate. Gelasius, to whom he sent the work ' The work was written after 439, quoted, v. o. 100. But for doubts about for it mentions (vii. 40) the defeat of this section of. Ebert, p. 447, n. 4. Litorius at Toulouse ; and probably ' Salv. Ep. 1, adolescens quem ad before 451, for the defeat of Attila by vos misi Agrippinae captus est et de the Romans and Visigoths is not quo aliquid fortasse amplius dicerem, alluded to. 116 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii fortunes of men.^ Salvianus saw in them the clearest evidence of His providential government, punishing sin by leaving the sinner to the appropriate consequences of his misdeeds. The Eoman world has deserved its fate by its injustice and oppres- sion, its cupidity, its lack of hardy public spirit, its foul and universal licentiousness. Prefects and governors^ have been venal and cruel ; the minor officials have been even more so. The curiales, the governing order of the municipalities, have been so many tyrants, laying on and levying taxes of which the heaviest burden falls on those least able to bear them.^ If, by imperial grace, these exactions are lightened, it is not the poor, but the richest class, who feel the relief.* Even those who have devoted themselves to a strict spiritual life are tainted by the universal contagion. They wiU be guilty of the grossest oppression, when they get the chance.^ If they have wealth they are as ready as the most cynical worldling to hoard their money instead of giving it to Christ's poor, and they will actually pretend that their sacred profession exempts them from the duty of such a sacrifice. They, wearing the dress of an ostentatious asceticism, will plead that Christ has no need of their gifts " — Christ, who is the universal Sufferer, whose infinite pity makes Him sharer in all the sufferings of His servants. Christ, exclaims the preacher in a passage of rhetorical power, is the most needy in the universe, because He feels the needs of all. There can be no doubt that the hardened venality of the financial service, and the greed and rapacity of the great land- owners, were the vices which did most to undermine the fabric of Eoman society. Of this we shall furnish, in a succeeding chapter, ample proofs from the Eoman Code. But Salvianus, like some of the old Greek philosophers, regarded the love of pleasure as inevitably linked with the love of gold. The populations of the great towns, the men who were continually ' The effect of the calamities in the corruption of the curiales, see C. shaking men's faith in Providence may Th. xii. 1, 117; Sym. Ep. ix. 10; be seen in the poem de Prov. Div. also C Th. xiii. 10, 1 on the shift- (wrongly attributed to Prosper Aq. ) ing of fiscal burdens from potentes by VT. 25-85. collusion of the Tabularii. 2 De Gub. Dei, v. 25, iv. 21, vii. 91. ^ De Cfub. Dei, v. 51-56, lieita non ^ 76.'; V. 18, ubi non quot Curiales faciunt et illicita committunt ; temper- fuerint tot tyranni sunt ? ant a concubitu, non temperant a * lb. T. 35 ; cf. T. 30, decemunt rapina. potentes quod solvant pauperes. On ° Salv. ad Eccles. iv. 22. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 117 growing richer and more powerful by the impoverishment of their neighbours, were all alike sunk in the most abominable sensuality.-' The theatre and the circus had been for five centuries the great corrupters of the Eoman world. But in spite of the thunders of the Church, and the calamities of the times, these schools of cruelty and lust retained all their old fascination far into the fifth century.^ ApoUinaris Sidonius, about 460, describes, as still flourishing at Narbonne,^ that degraded pantomime, in which the foulest tales of the old mythology were represented in speaking gesture. The games of the circus were held at Aries as late as 461, in honour of Majorian.* It is true that, owing to the growing poverty of the municipalities, these exhibitions had in many places ceased to be held ; and self-complacent optimism took credit for this as a sign of a higher moral tone.^ But Salvianus ruthlessly exposes the pretence. The Eoman character, he maintains, is stUl unaltered, but it no longer has the means of gratifying its base tastes. Wherever, as at Eome or Eavenna, the public amusements can still be kept up, the people wiU flock, as in old times, to witness them. The baptismal vow to renounce " all these works of the devil " is forgotten by a nominally Christian people. The churches are emptied, the holy mysteries of the altar are contemptuously deserted for the feverish excitement of the circus. Even the apparition of the invaders could not abate the rage of the populace for its accustomed indulgence. The Christians of Cirta and Carthage were cheering rival charioteers, or revelling in the turpitudes of the theatre, when their walls were surrounded by the Vandals.® Like the plague of Athens,'^ or the plague in the Middle Ages,® the disasters and confusion of the fifth century made men reckless and prone to frantic excesses. The leading citizens ^ of Treves, a city which bore the first and fiercest onslaught of the invaders, and was four times, within ' On the corruption of Aquitaine, rSKKa ry jr6Xet M irXiov ivofilas t6 V. de Ghch. Dei, vii. 16. voirrnia. „ ^- ^'- *"■... „ 8 Introd. to Boocaooio's Decameron, ' Carm. xxm. 283 sqq. g-^ ■* Fauriel, Hist, de la Gaule Rom. i. 394 ; Chaix, ApoUin. Sid. i. 135. ' Salv. de Gub. Dei, vi. 72. Salrianus * Salv. de Gfub. Dei, vi. 49, 50. seems to have witnessed some of these ^ II. vi. 69. scenes with his own eyes (vidi ego ipse, ' Thuc. ii. 53, vpdrbv re 5/3|e koI is etc.). 118 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii a few years, given up to fire and sword, were revelling in a frenzy of drunken debauchery when the enemy were at their gates. Scenes such as these Salvianus had seen in his boy- hood. They had burnt themselves into his memory, and the recollection of them accounts for the almost ferocious energy and persistent iteration with which he denounces the self- indulgence of his time. But although we may believe that overwhelming disaster may have driven men here and there to drown their sorrow in wild and vicious excitement, it is difficult to credit the charge of universal and shameless immorality which Salvianus makes against the men of his province. That the slave-system is dangerous to the morals of the masters is the experience of all ages. But what is dangerous to some, need not be fatal to all. Yet Salvianus makes no exception in his impeachment of the morals of Southern Gaul. Every estate is a scene of prostitution.^ Aquitaine is one vast lupanar. Conjugal faith- fulness is unknown. Except in the ranks of those who had taken the vow of renunciation, Salvianus will not allow the existence of a decent virtue. It is, of course, never possible to say how a whole population has lived ; but this is equally true of the attack as of the defence of moral character. We can only form a hesitating judgment on the scanty evidence which has come down to us, and on general probability based on experience of human nature. The indictment of Salvianus cannot be reconciled with the contemporary picture of society which we have in the letters of Sidonius. And if Salvianus be accurate, the Church must have utterly failed in raising the mass of the Gallic people to a higher life. There must have been no mean between the small class who renounced fortune and family ties at the call of Christ, and the monsters of cruel rapacity and imbridled lust described by Salvianus. We know minutely the state of the society of Bordeaux^ sixty years before the de Guhernatione Dei appeared. In the cultivated circle there, there is little trace of ardent Christian ^ Salv. de Gub. Dei, vii. 16, quis Eoman Africa is described in even potentum ac diTitum non in luto libi- stronger language (vii. 70), video quasi dinisvixit:paeneunum lupanar omnium scaturientem vitiis civitatem . . . vita. The conquest of Spain by the cunctos vario luxus marcore perditos. "imbelles Vandali" is accounted for And again, vii. 75, quis in illo numero solely by the immorality of the con- tam innumero castus fuit ? quered (vii. 27). The sensuality of ^ See c. 3 of this book. CHAP. I ITS PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CENSORS 119 belief. Yet there is also little trace of shameless vice. The contemporary society of Symmachus at Eome was severely respectable, in spite of its pagan sympathies. If Aquitanian morals, in the time of Salvianus, were so thoroughly corrupt, then, in spite of the spiritual triumphs of S. Martin, in spite of the efforts of a highly organised church, ruled by many bishops of saintly character and great popular influence, the tone of provincial society must have fallen below the level of Ausonius and his friends, and of those grave and strict provincial senators who, ten generations before Ausonius, were regarded by Tacitus -^ as the salt of the Eoman world. Salvianus, like S. Jerome, judged the men of his time by a standard which might bear hardly on the most respectable societies of modern Christendom. Salvianus is essentially a preacher. But the preacher, from his vocation, and in proportion to his enthusiasm for righteousness, cannot be a dispassionate observer. His raison d'etre is to edify, not to describe or analyse with historical accuracy. He wUl seldom refer to virtues already won ; he will exaggerate faults which he wishes to eradicate ; he will blacken even his own past to exalt the grace that has saved him ; and he will be equally merciless to the sins of those whom he is striving to raise to a higher life. The society of Salvianus, while nominally Christian, was as little inclined as modern society to carry out in daily life precepts which interfere with material success. The men who did so then lost caste, and were regarded by the polished and selfish world very much as Horace Walpole ^ would have treated an aristocratic friend who had turned Methodist. On the other hand, the man who has made the .great renunciation is apt to treat the worldly class as worse than it really is. Its placid materialism, its bourgeois contempt for all ideal aims, irritate to madness the soul to whom death and the Great Judgment and the life to come are the only realities. The grosser sins of a small minority are regarded as the natural product of that absorption in the things of the perishing world which is the ^ Ann. iii. 55, aimul novi homines e provinoea, is confirmed by the picture municipiis et colouiis atque etiam pro- which Ausonius gives of his family vinciis in senatum adsumpti domes- circle in the Parentalia. ticam parsimoniam intulenmt ; cf. xvi. 5. The opinion which Tacitus ^ H. Walpole's Laters, vol. iii. p. held, as to the severity of morals in the 191 (to J. Chute). 120 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii choice or the necessity of the mass of men at all times. But the monsters of depravity in every age are probably as rare as the paragons of saintly virtue. And we need not take too literally the mot of Salvianus that " the Eoman world was laughing when it died." CHAPTEE II THE SOCIETY OF Q. AUEELIUS SYMMACHUS In the preceding chapter we have reviewed the adverse judgments of some contemporary moralists on the state of society in the fourth and fifth centuries. But we fortunately possess, in the other literary remains of that age, materials for forming an estimate independent of either Christian or pagan censors. The letters of Q. Aurelius Symmachus,^ the poems of Ausonius, and the Saturnalia of Macrobius reveal to us the life of the cultivated upper class, both in the capital and the provinces, in the yeai's immediately preceding the first shock of the great invasions. The poems and voluminous correspondence of ApoUinaris Sidonius form an invaluable storehouse of information as to the tone and habits of Gallo-Eoman society, in the years when the last shadowy emperors were appearing and disappearing like puppets in rapid succession at the beck of a German master of the forces, and when a Visigothic government had been organised in Aquitaine. Symmachus and Macrobius, although they witnessed the final triumph of the Church, belonged to the ranks of that conservative paganism which made a last stand in defence of the old system of religion, and noiuished their patriotic and aristocratic pride with the dreams of a past tliat was gone for ever. Sidonius represents a society which, though obstinately Eoman in culture and sentiment, had ^ Q. Aurel. Symmaolius was proli- (he was adolescens in the rear 449, ably bom not long after 840, and died £p. viii. 6), and was alive "three olym- not long afttn' 402 (Seook, xliv. ; of. pi.ids " after his consecration as bishop YcteT,Orfchkhtl. Litt. i. 31). Apol- of Auvergne in 472 (ife. ix. 12). linaris Sidonius was born about 430 122 SOCIETY IN THE WEST dook ii been nominally Christian for two generations, was living in close contact with the German invaders, and was becoming dimly conscious that the old order was passing away. Q. Aurelius Symmachus was a member of a family which held a foremost place in the last quarter of the fourth century, but was not equal to some others in wealth and antiquity. His grandfather was consul in the reign of Constantine.^ His father had been prefect of the city in the reign of Valentinian I., and, after holding all the high oflices, still survived in the year 382. The line was prolonged through a succession of distinguished descendants. Symmachi appear in the Fasti as consuls in 446 and 485. A female descendant of the orator was the wife of the great Boethius, and the mother of the two consuls of 522." Q. Aurelius Symmachus, the author of the letters, married a daughter of Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus, who was Urban prefect in the reign of Constantius. He was trained in speaking, as so many young Eomans of that age were, by a Gallic professor of rhetoric ; ^ and in his early youth he formed a close friendship with the poet Ausonius at the court of Valentinian on the Ehine.* His earliest efforts in oratory were panegyrics on that Emperor, and on Gratian, delivered at Treves during the campaigns against the Alemanni. The oratory of Symmachus was greatly admired by his contemporaries,'' and he was repeatedly selected to put before the Emperor the views of the Senate on questions of the day. His speech on the removal of the Altar of Victory is not unworthy of his fame, and has acquired additional interest from the replies of his kinsman Ambrose and the poet Prudentius. The inscription" dedicated by Q. Fab. Memmius Sym- machus to the memory of the great senator recites a long list of offices which he had held. He had been governor of several provinces, prefect of the city, pontiff and consul. ^ Soeck's Sym. xli. For tho career * Ih. Ep. i. 32 ; Auson. Ep. xvii., of L. Aur. Avianius Syiumaohus soo dum in oomitatu dogimiia ambo. C.I.L. vi. 1698. ° Ho was entrusted with the choice ''■ Rusticiana, the wife of Boethius, of a professor of rhetoric for Milan ; bears the name of her great - great - tho choice fell on S. Augustine. Aug. grandmother, the wife of Q. Aurelius Gonf. v. o. 13, § 23 | of. Macrob. v. 1, Symmachus ; cf. the Stemma of the 7 ; Prudent, c. Syin. i. 632, Symmachi in Seeck, xl. " C.LL. vi. 1699. ' Sym. Ep. ix. 88. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 123 He was admittedly the chief of the Senate. Yet probably no public man ever left behind him a collection of letters of so little general interest. In an age of great conflicts and great changes, it is startling to find Symmachns complaining to his correspondents of lack of matter.^ Either the government was very reticent,^ or Symmachus and his circle were very unobservant or careless of public affairs. The Senate was still treated by the emperors with ceremonious respect, and possessed many valuable privileges. But after the great reorganisation by Diocletian, it had ceased to have any share in the government. Like the consulship, it remained as one of those dignified fictions by which the Eoman disguised the vastness of the change which separated him from the days of freedom. It was indeed part of the policy of Stilicho to consult and pay deference to the Senate, and in the troubled years of Alaric's invasions that body appeared more than once to exercise some independent authority. But these were only the illusions of a moment. Occasionally the Emperor condescended to send it a despatch, the arrival of which, to men like Symmachus, was an event of the first importance. That not a moment might be lost, the august body would sometimes be summoned before dawn to hear the formal words of some despatch which may have little deserved such eager haste.^ To be chosen to read it to the assembled nobles was a coveted honour, and Symmachus, to whom the task often fell, is full of gratitude at being made the interpreter of the " divine words." * But all this was purely formal. Eome had long ceased to be the real seat of government. Not a single rescript in the time of Symmachus is dated from Eome.* When Honorius paid his triumphal visit in 403, the palace of the Caesars at Eome had been practically deserted for a hundred years. While couriers were arriving day and night at Milan or Eavenna, and the imperial council were deliberating on the latest demands of Alaric, the Eternal City, the hearth of the Eoman race, the home of its gods, in whose name the whole vast system was 1 Ef. iii. 10 ; cf. ii. 35, at olim * Sym. Ep. i. 13, nondum caelo al- parentes etiam patriae negotia, quae bente oonourrituT. nunc angustu vel nulla 3unt, in famili- ■* Ih. i. 95. He asks Syagrius to ares paginas conferebant. thank the emperors "qui humanae voci divinas Kteras orediderunt." ^ On this government monopoly of '^ Gregorovius, Bome m the Middle news V. Peter, Oesch. Litt. i. 363. Ages, i. p. 117 (Eng. Tr.). 124 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii carried on, had almost as little influence on the course of government as Tibur or Praeneste. Now and then a feeling of neglect and desertion breaks out, as in the appeal of Claudian to the Emperor to return to his true home on the Palatine.^ Occasionally the pride of the Senate is soothed, as when it was consulted about the war with Gildo.^ Its hopes were roused for a moment when the barbarian conqueror raised Attalus to the purple.* But, as a rule, a dull, gray atmosphere seems to brood over the high society of Eome, and we cannot help wondering how men like Probus,* after governing provinces larger than any kingdom of modern Europe, could be content with the frigid dignity and the emptiness of their lives in the capital. The Senate no doubt was impotent and ill-informed. Yet the calm silence of Symmachus in the face of dangers and calamities, which must have struck the most unobservant, is very puzzling. It may be the proud reserve of the member of a great race, which will not hint, even in a confidential letter, that the commonwealth is in peril. It may be also that unshaken faith in the destiny of Rome which, only a few years after her capture by Alaric, inspired the last true poet of Eome to celebrate her beneficence and clemency, and to predict for her an unending sway.^ The feeling was shared to some extent even by Christian writers like S. Augustine and Orosius.^ There is a tendency on all sides to treat the menacing troubles of the time as only a passing cloud, as necessary incidents in an imperial career, not worse than Eome had often sur- mounted in past ages. Yet, in spite of these considerations, it is startling to read a letter from Symmachus to his son in the year 402, the year of the great battles of PoUentia and Verona, which makes no allusion to the invaders.^ He confines himself to the bare announcement of the fact that, owing to the unsafe state of the roads, he has had to make a long detour in order to reach the Court at Milan. 1 De Sexto Cons. Bonm. 39, 53. 380 ; of Italy again, 383-84, and 387. 2 Sym..ffp.iv.5,oftheyear397,consulti C.I.L. vi. 1752, 1753. jgitur in senatu more majorum, ingenti * Eutil. Namat. i. 47-140. causae devotis sententiis satisfecimus. ' Orosius, ii. 2, 6. 3 Zos. vi. 6, 7. ' Sym. Ep. vii. 13 ; of. Seeck, * Sex. Petr. Probus had been procons. Ixiii. The detour was made by Ticiuum, of Africa, 357-58 ; praef. praet. of Italy, which lay on the west, to avoid the Illyria, and Africa, 368-76 ; of Gaul, enemy coming from the east. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 125 There are a good many glimpses of the state of Eome during the anxious years of the Gildonic revolt. But we learn more from Claudian than from Symmachus about the meditated transfer of the African provinces to the Eastern Empire. Symmachus is concerned chiefly with the dignity of his order and the condition of the capital. It was a proud day when Stilicho had to report the opinion of the Senate on the conduct of Gildo,^ and when more majorum the traitor was voted to be a public enemy. We have many illustrations of Claudian's complaint,^ "pascimur arbitrio Mauri." The African corn -ships ceased to reach Ostia with their wonted regularity, and the terror of famine spread among the mob of Eome.^ The masses were becoming sullen and dangerous. There were all the signs of a coming storm. Numbers of the higher families were flying to the safe seclusion of their country seats, and Symmachus prepared to send away his children from the capital.* As the chief author of the condemnation of Gildo, he had himself to withdraw for a while to one of his villas.^ The distress was temporarily relieved by an dblatio of twenty days' supplies made by the Senate.® And again Symmachus describes the delight with which, from his villa on the Tiber, he saw the corn fleet from Macedonia arrive.^ But there are few indications that he realised the grave social and economic dangers which are revealed by the Theo- dosian Code. He once casually mentions that he is debarred from the enjoyment of his country seat by the prevalence of brigandage.^ There is a slight touch of feeling in a reference to the gloomy appearance of the country which met his eyes in one of his excursions.^ Yet one would never gather from the passage that hundreds of thousands of acres in once smiling districts had returned to waste. The letters of Symmachus, if they had told us more of public events,^" might have been among the most precious documents in historical literature. As it is, their chief value lies in what they rather stintedly reveal of the life and tone of the class to which ^ Sym. Ep. iv. 5. ^ Ih. ii. 22, sed nunc intuta est ^ De Bell. GfildoTi. v. 70. latrociuiis suburbanitas. s Sym. Sp. vi. 14 ; of. vi. IS, ii. 6. « lb. r. 12. * Jb. vi. 26, 66, 21. " It should be said that he appears • lb. yi. 66. to have appended to some of his letters ' lb. vi. 12, 26. a separate bulletin, containing the news ' lb. iii. 65, 82. of the day. 126 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii Symmachus belonged. Here we see it for the last time apparently secure in the possession of enormous wealth, great administrative power, and exquisite social culture, apparently without a thought of the storm which was about to break. The senatorial order was essentially a wealthy class. It had come to include nearly all the considerable proprietors in Italy and the provinces.^ And, as we shall see in another chapter, the wealth and social power of its members were increasing as what may be called the middle class (the curiales) rapidly declined in numbers and pecuniary independ- ence. Of course there were many degrees of opulence in the ranks of the senators. That some were comparatively poor is evident from the fact that a certain number were relieved of the full weight of imperial imposts.^ But we have express testimony, apart from indirect evidence, that the wealth of others was enormous.^ A senatorial income of the highest class, exclusive of what was derived from the estates in kind, sometimes reached the sum of £180,000,* and that at a time when the ordinary rate of interest was 12 per cent. More moderate incomes, such as that of Symmachus, amounted to £60,000 a year. Symmachus had at least three great houses in Eome or the suburbs, and fifteen country seats in various districts of Italy.* He had large estates in Samnium, Apulia, and Mauretania. The tenure of a great office in the provinces gave a man the chance of acquiring such domains. Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of the estates of Sex. Petron. Probus as scattered aU over the Empire,^ and he broadly hints that that great noble had not always acquired them by the fairest means. The elder Sallustius,'' when he was vicarius of Spain 1 Zos. ii. 38 ; cf. Duruy, vii. p. 176, * Amm. Marc, xxvii. 11, 1, opum aud Godefroy's Paratitlon to 0. Th. amplitudiue oognitus orbi Romano, per vi. tit. ii. quem universum paene patrimonia 2 C. Th. vi. 2, 4, 8. sparsa possedit, juste an secus non ^ Olympiod. ap. Phot. § 44 (Miill. judicioli est nostri. Pliny (H. N. Frag. Hist. Gr. iv.). xviii. 35) alleges that half of Eoman * Marq. iJo;?i.^tt. ii. p.55; of.Duruy, Africa was owned by six persons. V. p. 598, on the fortunes of the For a description of such an estate v. earlier Empire. Pallas, the freedman Boissier, L'Afr. Rom. p. 150. of Claudius' reign, had 300,000,000 '• C.I.L. vi. 1729. The monument sesterces = £3,200,000, which, at 12 records the gratitude aud admiration per cent, would give an income of of the Spaniards. It is dated in the £384,000. consulship of Jovianus Aug. and Var- ' For the various seats of Symmachus ronianus (364). Flav. Sallustius had V. Seeck, xlvi. ; some may have come been cons. ord. in 363, and praet. praef. to him by his wife from Orfitus, it. 1. 361-3 ; cf. Amm. Marc. xxi. 8, 1. ; CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 127 about 3 64,probably acquired the property in that province which his son enjoyed a generation later, in the time of Symmachus. The wealth of Paula, who abandoned it all to accompany S. Jerome to Bethlehem, of S. Paulinus,^ and many others of the Eoman nobility, is known to us from Christian sources. The fervour of asceticism may have led S. Jerome to over- draw his picture of Eoman luxury. But there is one depart- ment of expenditure in which the letters of Symmachus reveal an almost reckless profusion. The praetorship, which every young senator of the highest class had to assume,^ was one of the heaviest burdens on the senatorial class, so heavy that some of them preferred to resign their order rather than undertake it. It had, like the consulship, long ceased to confer any power or authority. It remained as a disguised form of taxation for the pleasures of the mob of the capital. The younger Symmachus was still a mere boy in the hands of a tutor, when he was designated for this expensive honour of amusing the rabble of Eome. The games which the young praetor had to provide cost his father a sum equal to £80,000 of our money.* So far from complaining of the expense, his father is eager to seize the opportunity of gaining popularity with the crowd,* and rejects with scorn any idea of parsimony. His time and energies are devoted for several years to the preparations for the spectacle which is to usher his son into the career of public life. Symmachus, in everything a devotee of the past,' was nowhere more conservative than in his belief in the ancient games. He had put aside the con- ventional tone of servility in demanding from the reluctant Theodosius the performance of what he regarded as an imperious duty to the commonwealth." But when the occa- Sym. Ep. V. 56. The herds of horses the death of Honorius, in spite of the referred to were on the Spanish estates, enormous losses caused by the Gothic Seeck, clvi. ; cf. Sym. Ep. is. 12. invasion, is said to have expended ^ The wealth of Paulinus is alluded £54,000 on a similar occasion. Maxi- to in Aus. Ep. xxiv. 115 : mus spent £150,000. Olympiod. § 44. ne sparsjtm raptamque domum lacerataque _. ^Sym. Ep. u. / h. Cf. is. 11.6; centum il. /8. per dominos veteris Paullini regna flesmus. 6 ppj. ^n example of his conservatism His wife Therasia was enormously v. ii. 36, opposing a decision of the wealthy, r. Greg. Tur. de Glor. Conf. pontifical college to allow the Vestals 107. On the wealth of Paula i: to erect a statue to Praetestatus. Hieron. Ep. IDS, § 5. ^ lb. Eil. 6, beneficia numinis vestri 2 C. Th. vi. tit iv. with the Para- populus Romanus expectat . . . sed ea titlon. jaj'i quasi debita repetit quae aetemitas s Seeck, xlvi. Probus, shortly after Vestra sponte promisit Cf. Ed. 9. 128 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book n sion arrived he was ready to act up to his owa principles. Many of his letters are full of the coming games. He appeals to his friends in all parts of the world to assist him. Lions and crocodiles from Africa, dogs from Scotland, horses from the famous studs of Spain, are aU sought for, and the most anxious provision is made for their conveyance from these distant regions.^ The gladiatorial shows had not yet been suppressed by Christian sentiment, and Symmachus was determined to have a band of Saxons,^ to crown the suc- cess of his games. He puts as much seriousness into the business as if it affected the very existence of the State.^ His anxiety is overpowering. In spite, however, of all his care and profusion, there were many accidents and dis- appointments. Some of the animals arrived half dead from the hardships of their long journey. Many of the splendid Spanish coursers had either perished by the way, or were hopelessly disabled.* The crocodiles would not eat and had to be killed. Chariot-drivers and players, expected from Sicily, were, in spite of all searches along the coast, nowhere to be heard of.^ The most cruel blow of all was the loss of the Saxon gladiators, who, declining to make sport for the rabble of Eome, strangled one another before the hour of their humiliation in the arena arrived.^ This is the most interesting passage in the life of Sym- machus as revealed in his letters. The world he belongs to was the slave of old tradition and conventionality, and, with all its splendour, must have suffered from ennui. The great man's day, just as in Pliny's time, was filled by a round of trivial social observances, which were as engrossing and as obligatory as serious duties.'^ The crowd of morning callers and dependants had to be received as of old. All the anniversaries in the families of friends had to be duly remembered and honoured. If a friend obtained from the Emperor the distinction of one of the old republican magis- tracies, it was an imperative social duty to attend his inaugu- ' Ep. i7. 58-60, 63 ; ix. 12 ; ii. 76 ; ii. " Ih. ii. 46. 77 ; ix. 132. ' Two generations later than Sym- "^ lb ii 46 maehus, Sidonius, describing high 3 Th ■' a an society at Rome, says, utrunique 10. IT. 8, 60. quidem, si fors Laribus egrediebantur, ■* lb. V. 56. artabat clientum praevia pedisequa cir- ^ lb. vi. 42. cumfusa populositas, Sid. Ep. i. 9, 3. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 129 ration.^ The service of the Sacred Colleges was another social obligation,^ although Symmachus hints broadly that some of his colleagues in the pontifical college were inclined to flatter the Court by absenting themselves ; ^ and even Flavianus and Praetextatus, who were pagans of the pagans, sometimes ex- cused themselves by absence at their country seats or at some pleasure resort in Campania.^ In nothing were the demands of etiquette more imperious than in letter-writing. Again and again Symmachus recalls the rule of " old-fashioned manners," that the friend who goes from home should be the first to write.^ It matters not whether he has anything to say. Indeed, it is hard to see why a great many of these letters should^ have been written at all They are about as interesting as a visiting card, and seem to have had no more significance than a polite attention. The stiffness of etiquette, which was introduced into of&cial life by Diocletian, and which invaded the legal style of the imperial rescripts, reigns in the corre- spondence of the period, even between near relations. The conservatism of Symmachus, indeed, revolts against the new- fangled habit of prefixing titles to a friend's name in a familiar letter.® Still, his own son is " amabiKtas tua," '^ and his daughter " domina filia." That there were warm affections and a kindly imselfish nature behind all this artificial stiffness in the case of Symmachus we shall see afterwards. With him and his caste the habit of social observance, however compli- cated and engrossing, had become a second nature, without always freezing the springs of natural kindliness. Yet the cold dignity of the life in those palaces on the Caelian and Aventine, with its endless calls to frivolous social duties, and its monotony of busy idleness, must have grown irksome at times. It was not, perhaps, altogether the coolness of Praeneste, the gay abandon of Baiae, or the boar-hunting in the woods of Laurentiim, that tempted the fashionable world away from the attractions of Eome. Symmachus loves Eome, ^ Sym. Ep. i. 101. ° lb. vi. 60. 2 7i i 47 48 * ^^' ^^' ^'^' '**'^^ epistularum nos- ' ■ trarum simplex iisus interiit, ut paginis ^ lb. i. 51, nunc aris deesse Romanos tuis lenocmia aevi praesentis anteferas ? genus est ambiendi. redeamus quia ergo ad infacatos nomi- * lb. \. 47, 51 ; ii. 53, mihi tuum num titulos. munusinjungis: frneredeliciiscopiosis; ' lb. Tii. 6, ri. 60, 80; of. Ruric. nos mandata ourabimus. Ep. i. 6, 7, 10, 11, 13. 130 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii with all its turbulence, even in times of scarcity and tumult, and he will linger in a suburban villa ^ on the chance of being summoned to a meeting of the Senate ; but even he feels the need of repose and emancipation from the tyranny of society. At one of his country houses, he is as happy as such a stately self-contained man wiU ever show himself, looking after the making of his oil and wine, laying down a fresh mosaic, receiving a friend or two, or drinking in the quiet freshness of the Laurentine woods that overhang the sea.^ There is no trace in his letters that nature has for him ^ any of the romantic charm which it had for Ausonius and Eutilius. He was not much of a sportsman even in his youth. He loved the country for its stillness and repose, for the relief it gave from the monotonous strain of social duty which was doubly oppressive to his kind and conscientious nature. Above all, it gave him leisure for converse with the old favourites of his library. Among the best men of the pagan or semi-pagan aristocracy of that time the passion for literature or erudition was absorbing. With many of them it took the place of interest in public affairs. The company whom Macrobius brings together in his Saturnalia were the leaders of Eoman society — Praetextatus, Flavianus, two members of the great house of the Albini, Symmachus himself. They are joined by other guests of lower social rank, but equals in the literary brotherhood, Eustathius, a Greek professor of rhetoric, and Servius, the prince of Koman critics. Praetextatus, the arch-hierophant, initiated in all the cults of Syria and Egypt, is the exponent of priestly lore. Flavianus is the master of that augural art which led him to his doom when he espoused the cause of Eugenius and paganism against the Church. The Albini enlarge on the antiquarian exactness of VirgU.* There was no originality in the literary enthusiasm of these men. It was an enthusiasm which spent its force in preserving and appreciating what the ages of creation and inspiration had left behind.^ Praetextatus, besides giving much attention to the emendation 1 Ey. ii. 57, vii. 21. Idyl. x. 20, 155, 189. 2 Ih. ii. 26 ; iii. 23, nunc hie in otio ^ Macrob. 1. 17, 1 ; i. 24, 17-19. Tusticamur et multimodis autumnitate ^ On the tastes and learned labours defruimur ; vii. 31 ; vii. 15, 18 ; vi. 44. of this circle of. Peter, Gesch. LUt. ^ lb. V. 78, agri quiete delector . . . uber die Rom. Kaiserzeit, i. p. 137 ; Jan, saepe oculos pasco culturis ; of. Auson. Prol. ad Macrob, xxii. sqq. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 131 of the classics, translated the AnaXyt'ks of Aristotle.^ Flavianus was an erudite historian, and composed a volume of Annals ^ dedicated to Theodosius. His translation of the Life of ApoUoniiis of Tyana by PhUostratus was in vogue in the time of Sidonius, and fragments of his de Dogmatibvs Fhilosophorum were still read in the Middle Ages.^ Sallustius, another great person of the circle of Symmachus, is known to have emended the text of Apuleius.* A great noble in Spain, who had a famous stud, from which Symmachus drew a contribution for his son's games, seems to have combined in a rare fashion a taste for horse-breeding with a taste for literature, and begs the orator for a copy of Ms speeches.* Symmachus had many literary friends in Gaul, most of them mere names to us now. Among them were three brothers ^ who had been trained in the great school of Treves. One of them had the honour of receiving the dedication of Claudian's Bape of Proserpine} Another, Protadius, affects a great taste for sport, but is really a litterateur, with an ambition to write the history of his pro- vince. Symmachus, in his friendly way, helped him with advice and some materials from his library.^ If the history of Protadius was ever written, it shared the fate of many another work of that age of which the cruelty or contempt of time has not left even a trace. There was no doubt much vanity and love of mutual admiration under all this literary activity. But in our own day the apotheosis of self -advertising mediocrity is not altogether unheard of. What literary clique can cast the first stone ? And, after all, it is better to be vain of knowledge and literary facility than of wealth or birth. The very weakness shows a deference for ideals which rise above the level of bourgeois self-complacency, or of the stolid pride of inherited rank. Symmachus was a good man according to his lights, but he was not a very strong man. And one of his weaknesses was ^ Sym. Mp. i. 53, remissatempora. . . ^ Sid. Ep. viii. 3 ; cf. Seeck, oxv. libris veterum ruminandis libenter * Cf. the note to the Laurentian MS. expendis ; of. C.I.L. vi. 1779, d, of Apuleius quoted in Seeck, clvi. ; vel quae periti condidere carmina, Hildebrand's Prol. ad Apul. Ixi. vel quae solutis vocibus sunt edita, ^ Sym. Bp. iv. 60, 63, 64. meliora reddia quam legendo sumpseras. ^ lb. iv. 18-56. Seeck's Sym. Ixxxvii. n. 394. ' Be Saptu Proserp. ii., praef. 50. 2 C.I.L. Ti. 1783 ; of. 1782, historico » Sym. £!p. iv. 18. diseitissimo. 132 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii literary affectation. He evidently took enormous pains with these letters. He had, as he confesses, little to say, but he says it in the most elaborate and ingenious style of which he is capable. Yet he apologises more than once for his poverty of talent and phrase, and he is guilty of the amusing false- hood that his style is unstudied.^ To one of his correspondents he appeals to keep the letter for his own reading, yet in the same letter he admits that his "librarii," "per examinis ignorantiam," are preserving copies of what he writes.^ Perhaps, however, this was not all vanity and affectation. It is possible to have a modest conception of one's native talent, along with the ambition that the fruits of elaborate care and cultiva- tion should survive. The true Eoman, who reverenced the great memories of the past, had a passionate, though often a futile, desire to live in the memory of coming ages. The literary conversations in which some of the intimate friends of Symmachus take part in the Saturnalia of Macrobius (although the matter is often borrowed from Gellius and earlier writers) ^ probably give a fairly correct idea of the literary tone and interests of that circle. The subject will be dealt with at length in another chapter. For the present it is sufficient to say that the literary criticism in Macrobius is far from con- temptible. The minute antiquarianism, indeed, may seem to us sometimes rather trifling. But to a Eoman, like Praetex- tatus, who was still loyal to the faith of his ancestors and to the past, every scrap of the ancient lore of his race was precious. And in the minute and often delicate appreciation, not only of the learning, but of the literary beauties of Virgil, we are compelled to forgive and almost to forget the blindness and perversity of a generation who admired the great masters, and yet wrote in a style which they would have thought utterly barbarous. And it must be confessed that there is much to forgive. Equipped by the study of the great masterpieces and the most elaborate training, they yet came to write a style which is in many cases a mixture of imitation, affectation, and barbarism. Ingenuity took the place of originality, ''- Ep. i. 14; iv. 27, sum quidem certain negligence of style in his letters, pauper loquendi. a precept which Symmachus did not ^ lb. V. 85, quare yelim tibi ha- enforce by example, yii. 9. beas quae inoogitata proferimus. Cf. his adyice to his son to cultivate a ' Peter, Gesch. Litt. 1. p; 143. CHAP. 11 THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 133 extravagance and exaggeration of real force. Style, in fact, became a mere "jargon of experts." And the initiated were never weary of exchanging the most fulsome flattery. In a letter to his friend Ausonius ahout his poem on the Moselle, Symmachus, while he gently ridicules the minute description of the fishes of that river, yet has no hesitation in ranking his friend with Virgil.^ The poet returned the compliment by attributing to the oratory of Symmachus all the force and graces of the oratory of Isocrates, Demosthenes, and Cicero.^ In the year 378 a Greek rhetorician named Palladius arrived in Eome.^ The fashionable and cultivated world were carried away by his declamation, " his wealth of invention, his dignity and brilliance of diction." If we are inclined to despise such unreal displays, and such extravagant eulogy, it is well to remember that admiration for mental power, even when mis- applied, is better than a Philistine contempt for things of the mind. The aristocratic class in the last age of the Western Empire had many faults, but they treated talent and culture as at least the equals of wealth and rank ; and there has seldom been an age when talent and culture received higher rewards. Symmachus recommended the brilliant rhetor to the notice of Ausonius, who was then Pretorian prefect. Palladius was readily enrolled in the ranks of the imperial service, and within three or four years had risen to the great place of master of the offices.* In the same years Marinianus, another literary friend of Symmachus, who was a professor of law, rose to the dignity of vicar of the Spanish province.^ The poet Ausonius is the most brilliant example in that age of the recognition of literary eminence by the State. It has been said with some truth that the reign of Gratian was quite as much the reign of Ausonius. Originally a humble grammarian in the school of Bordeaux, he was appointed by Valentinian his son's tutor. Ausonius possessed the gifts which were then the most admired, infinite facility, the power of giving novelty and im- portance to trifles by ingenious tricks of phrase, the art of flat- ^ Ep. i. 14, ego hoc tuum carmen constitution of 383 is addressed (C libris Maronis adjungo. Th. ix. 1, 14). He is also probably ^ Anson. Ep. xvii. the "vicarius" referred to in Snip. ' Sym. i. 15, ix. 1 ; cf. Seeck, coii. Sev. Ghron. ii. 49, 3, as being preferred * C. Th. vL 27, 4 (382). by the PrisciUianist heretics to Gregory ^ Sym. Ep. iii. 23-29. Marinianus the prefect. Hence it has been con- is the governor to whom Gratian's eluded that Marinianus was a pagan. 134 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book u tering with literary grace. The young Emperor repaid the care and recognised the talents of his teacher by raising him to the quaestorship,^ the prefecture of the Gauls, and in 379 to the illustrious dignity of the consulship as the colleague of Olybrius, a scion of one of the proudest houses in the Eoman aristocracy. The relatives and friends of Ausonius shared in his advance- ment. For two or three years nearly all the great prefectures and governorships were held by members of the poet's family.^ He has also left marks of his ascendency on the Code. Auso- nius, at the height of his power and his renown, was faithful to the system of culture which had moulded him. And the famous rescript of 376,^ which provides for the payment of fixed stipends to the teachers of grammar and rhetoric, was undoubtedly suggested by the old professor of Bordeaux. There is little in the literary productions of that age which a modern reader can admire, and they are only the wreckage of a great mass of probably even less merit. Yet the literary brotherhood, of which Symmachus and Ausonius were leaders, did a service to humanity by their worship of an ideal which their own productions seldom approach. If the letters of Symmachus are to be taken as a fair picture of the moral tone of his class, we are bound, with some reservations, to form a far more favourable opinion of the state of Eoman society than that which is suggested by S. Jerome or Ammianus Marcellinus. There are, it is true, glimpses in Symmachus of the old Eoman cruelty, of contempt for slaves and the common people,^ of selfishness, and lack of public spirit. The Saxons, whom Symmachus had brought at great expense from the far north for his gladiatorial shows, killed one another or committed suicide before the day of combat in the arena arrived.^ And the usually kind-hearted Symmachus narrates the tragedy with a few words of bitter contempt. He and his friends fought hard to avoid the levy of recruits from their ' Auson. Grat. Act. pro Cons. ii. 11, this conjecture. Antonius was a corre- te ac patre principibus quaestura com- spondent of Symmaclius, Ep. i. 89-93. munis et tui tantum praefeotura bene- Cf. Seeck's Sym. cix. ficii, etc. ; cf. Schenkl, Prooem. ix. 4 „ it - o i. ^ . . .,. ^ Seeck's Sym. Ixxix. ; Schenkl, x. . ?y™- ^: ^^- 8, ut est servis famili- 3 C. Th. xiii. 3, 11. The law is aris improbitas. But this censure was addressed to Antonius, which Scaliger P?°.b^^ly deserved ; of. Salv de Cfub. thought a mistake for Ausonius. ^''' ^^^ § 26, 0. 5 ; Hieron. Ep. liv. Godefroy in his Commentary refutes ^ Sym. lb. ii. 46. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 135 estates at the crisis of the Gildonic war, and actually succeeded in arranging for a composition in money.^ They also showed what seems an unworthy timidity in the riots caused by the failure of the corn supplies from Africa. They removed their families to the country, and Symmachus has all preparations made for sending his own children away.^ The same selfish weakness is revealed a few years afterwards in the flight of the wealthy classes, when the troops of Alaric were closing round the city.' There is much, too, that is revolting or contemptible in the conduct of public men revealed in the chronicle of those fatal years. The cruelty and greed of Heraclian in his treat- ment of the refugees who landed in his province of Africa would be almost incredible if we had not the express testimony of S. Jerome.* The party, led by Olympius, who carried out the Catholic reaction against the policy of Stilicho, seem to have been at once cruel, incompetent, faithless, and corrupt. It is difficult to say whether blindness or perfidy is more conspicuous in the dealings of the Eoman government with Alaric. Honorius is probably responsible for some of this baseness and stupidity. But the great officials who lent themselves to such a policy, if they did not prompt it, cannot be acquitted. The Gothic king was as much superior to his opponents in sincerity and insight as he was in material force. Yet these vices and weaknesses in the official class should not make us unjust to that society as a whole. Salvianus says that his generation flattered itself on the purity of its morals.^ The guests in the Saturnalia of Macrobius claim that their society is free from many of the grosser forms of luxury and dissipation which prevailed among their ancestors.® The menu of the pontiff's banquet, at which Lentulus, Lepidus, J. Caesar, and the Vestal Virgins were present, is treated as disgraceful in its costly and fantastic variety.^ Peacocks' eggs are not now even in the market.^ There are no censors and consuls, like Hortensius and Lucullus, who spend 1 Ep. vi. 64. widow of Gratian, Zos. v. 39. 2 lb. vi. 12, 21, 66. =; Salv. de Gub. Dei, vi. § 44. 3 Eutil. Namat. i. 331 : * Maorob. Sat. iii. 13 ; of. iii. 17, 12. haec multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fugatos. 7 Xb^ jji^ 13^ 11-13, ipsa vero edulium * Hieron. Ep. 130, § 7. Heraclian genera quam dictu turpia ? was the assassin of Stilicho and the ^ Ih. iii. 13, 2, ova pavonum . . . friend of Olympius ; cf. the splendid quae hodie nou dicam villus sed omnino contrast of the charity of Laeta, neo veneunt. 136 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii a fortune in stocking a fish pond, and who mourn the death of a muraena as if it were a daughter.^ The insanity which ran- sacked land and sea for new dainties is now quite unknown. So far from buying them, we have forgotten their very names. You will never see a man now reeling drunk into the forum,^ surrounded by loose companions,^ nor a judge on the bench so overcome by wine that he can hardly keep his eyes open. At whose dinner party will you now ever see the dancing girl introduced ?* Still less will persons of decent breeding them- selves indulge in that rage for the dance which disgraced even the matrons of noble houses in the times of the Punic wars. There is the same improvement in the tone about the actor's profession, which even Cicero did not regard as disgraceful,* No one would nowadays associate on friendly terms with a Eoscius, as Cicero did. It is possible that this may be the picture only of a more fastidious and refined circle, and that there were great houses where the festivities were not so innocent as those described in the Saturnalia. But the testi- mony of Macrobius deserves at least to be weighed against the invective of S. Jerome. The contempt for slaves expressed by S. Jerome and Salvianus ^ is not shared by the characters of Macrobius. A certain Euangelus in the Saturnalia jeers at the notion that the gods should have any care for slaves.' He is taken to task by Praetextatus, the great pagan theologian of the party. Slaves, Praetextatus says, are men like ourselves. There is nothing in the name of slavery to excite horror and contempt. We are all the slaves of God or Fortune. The greatest in earthly state, the highest in wisdom, have had to bear the yoke. The slave is really our fellow servant, made of the same elements, subject to the same chance and change, often with the spirit of the free man in his breast.^ The real slave is the man who is in bondage to his passions. No servitude can be so shameful as that which is self-imposed.' You should treat your slave ' Macrob. Sat. iii. 15, 4. nobilium matrimonionim in oubilia ^ n. iii. 16, 14. obscena servarum; of. iv. § 14. 3 lb. iii- 16. 16, vix prae vino sua- 7 Macrob. Sat. i. 11, 1, quasi vero tinet palpebras. , .. , _ curent divina de servis. * II. 111. 14, 3-7 ; cf. u. 1, 7. . ^, ^ lb. iii. 14, 11. ' I^- '• 11> 6-8. * Hieron. Ep. 54, § 5 ; Salv. de Gui. ' lb. i. 11, 8, oerte nulla servitus Dei, iv. 26, praecipitantes fastigia turpior quam voluntaria. CHAP. II THE SOCIETY OF SVMJfACJIL'S 137 as a man, even as a frieni^ It is far better that he should love than that he should fear yon. And how often have these despised wretches shown the noblest devotion to their masters, in spite of all the cruelty and contempt with which they have been treated ? - A slave has been known to personate his master who was in hiding, and to submit to the stroke of the executioner in his place.^ The slave-girls of Eome once saved the honour of their mistresses at the peril of their own, and were commemorated for ever in the Sbiiae Capi-otinae.* It is quite true, of course, that these ideas are not peculiar to the fourth or the fifth century. They can be traced back in some form to Seneca, to Plato, to Euripides." But they are ex- pressed with a sincerity and good feeling in Macrobius which leave the impression that they are the convictions of the best and most thoughtful men of his time. There is nothing brighter and pleasanter in the Letters of Symmachus than the tenderness of his family affections. It is true that, with his ingrained conservatism, he clings to the old Soman idea of the womanly character. The Eoman matron from the earliest times had secured to her by family religion a dignified and respected position. She was to some extent the equal of her husband in the management of the household. But the sentiment of ancient Eome forbade her the lighter graces and accomplishments. She was expected to be grave, self-contained, chiefly concerned with household duties, and the nurture of a sturdy and intrepid race. In the early years of the Empire the ideal of woman's position and character underwent a profound change. The change gave rise to many misunderstandings which were the food of satire. But her status, both in law and in &ct, really rosa There can be no doubt that the Eoman lady of the better sort, without becoming less virtuous and respected, became far more accomplished and attracuve. With fewer restraints, she had greater charm and influence. She became, more and more, the equal and companion of her husband, and her influence on public affairs became more decided. The wife of the younger PUny,® 1 MacT-jOL ^rrf. i 11, 12. G£ S^ea. £p. ■ PI Z-ri€S, tI p. 777 ; EmipL lam, s~^ syrvi gnnr ithttw h irmfl f^g a-mi >^-'g. Sc-i : ^jf.Vi. 730; cL Boissier, JZrf. « Maerob. 5.it. I 11. 13, li i^^'-i- fi- p- 363 ; Wallon, iii p. 22. ' li. i. 11, 16. ^ Plin. it. 19. He says of his wife, ' Ib.i. 11, 36-40. Calpnmia, accedit lis smdiom litte- 138 SOCIETY IN THE WEST BOOK II to take a typical iBstance, is the partner ia his studies, she knows his books by heart, she shares all his thoughts. In the last age of the Western Empire there is no deterioration in the position and influence of women. In Christian families they cultivate sacred learning, and take the lead in works of charity and mercy. Furiola founded a hospital^ Laeta, the widow of Gratian, fed the starving populace of the Capitol during its siege by the forces of Alaric.^ Serena, the wife of Stnicho, was an accomplished scholar, and was regarded both by friends and enemies as a serious force in politics.^ Placidia, the mother of the younger Theodosius, after all her vicissitudes as the wife of a Gothic chief, probably wielded greater influence in her son's councils than any statesman of the time. On the pagan side, Praetextatus has left an eternal memorial of an ideal wedded union, in which the wife gives not only love, but intellectual support and sympathy to her husband.* The old-fashioned Symmachus would probably have objected to his female relatives taking a prominent part in any public movement. He stoutly resisted the proposal of the vestals to raise a monument to his bosom-friend Praetextatus.^ He praises his daughter, when she sends him a present of wool- work, for her likeness to the Eoman matron of the great age, who sat among her maids, directing them at the spindle or the loom.® But Symmachus, for all that, is the most affectionate of fathers. He never forgets a birthday.^ His daughter's Ulness gives him the most acute anxiety amid all his public anxieties. He sends her advice for the care of her health.* The nursery troubles of his little grand-daughter occupy a good many of his letters.^ But his solicitude and affection for his son are even more marked. When the boy's first tutor dies, Symmachus takes endless pains to obtain one of equal merit, if possible a man who had been trained in the Gallic rarum, quod ex mei caritate concepit. Meos libellos habet, lectitat, edisoit etiam. 1 Hieron. Ejy. 77, § 6. 2 Zos. V. 39. ' Claudian, ia«s Sermae, 147, 229; Zos. V. 38, iv {nro'pig. IXa^e rrfv ^eprp/av 7] yepovffla ola tous ^ap^dpovs Kara tt}s ir6\ew5 dyayov(rav. * G.I.L. vl 1779 : Paulina nostri pectoris consortio fomes pudoris, castitatis vincnlum. amorque paras et fides coelo sata arcana mentis cui reclusa credidi, mnnas deoruin, qui maritalem tornm nectuBt amicis et pudicis nexibos, pietate matris, conjngali gratia, nexa sororis, filiae modestia, etc. = Ep. iL 36. 6 Ih. Ti. 67. ^ ■' ' ' Ih. vi. 79, 80 ; i. 11 ; tL 48, 49. 8 /*. Ti. 58 ; cf. Ti. 4 ; V. 33. s 76. Ti. 32. CHAP. 11 THE SOCIETY OF SYMMACHUS 139 schools of rhetoric.- He sets himself to rab up his own Greek in order to help his son in his reading,- and he reluctantly declines an in"vitation to the inaugural ceremony of a friend's consulship, that the boy's studies may not be interrupted.' When he is on a mission from the Senate to the Court at M i l a n ,* at a time when the G^oths were ravaging Cisalpine Gaul, Symmachus never faf l-j on every opportunity to write to his son at Eome." There is a pathetic interest about one of these letters * which was probably written when Symmachus was trying, by a devious route, to reach Afflan without encountering the barbarian cavalry.' He was in bad health,^ and engaged on a perilous and anxious mission. The letter contains not a single reference to public or private affairs, but advises the bov to correct a too solemn sententiousness in his epistolary style, by putting into it more life and gracefal negligence The Trriter died soon afterwards,' and almost his last wish for his son was that he might be richly endowed with that literary culture which was the strongest passion of Symmachus. Symmachus may not be a very interesting character, and his letters are certainly dull reading. Yet their polished brevity and their tone of conventional etiqtiette are apt to make us unjust to the writer. Wedded to a past which was gone for ever, absorbed in the cold and stately life of a class which was doomed to political impotence, struggling to ignore the significance of a religious revolution which was already triumphant before his death, he may appear, to a careless reader, a mere fossil, a shadowy and impotent representative of an effete order. Yet the man's very Mthfolness to that order gives hiTTi a pathetic interest And this faithfulness, and that of the school to which he belonged, is the sign of a certain strength and elevation of character. .So far as the imperial despotism per- ^ Ejp. vi. 34. Symmacliiis had him- ' Vj. v. 96. STminachTis wa3 ror- self a Gallic tntor : cL Sym. Ep. ix. 8S. tared TsitJx gont and renal dii«a=e - lb. IT. 20, rep:iera3.;er'i enim nos (-n. 4, 16 : vu 73), rentmi iolore dis- jnbet pietas. Cf. Siionios reading cmcior. Menander with his son(£p. iv. 12 , and the advice addressed to his grandson c 7 ' S Farent. T. 10 : * /J. xii. 7 : . . . . -^ . unaque cura blanda sub austens imbuit imperils. nosse Denm. 2 /J ii 6 She was the mother of Magnus Arborius, Praef. Urb. 379, 380 ; G. Th. vi. 35, 2 lb. vi. 7-11 : 9 ; Sulp. Sev. Dial. ii. 10 ; of. Rausohen, foeminei sexus odium tibi semper. Jahrbiither, pp. 44, 64 ; Schenkl, Prooem. xiv. CHAP. Ill THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 145 lost his wife early, and the verses dedicated to her memory are the expression of a deep and enduring affection, and a life- long regret.^ The memory of pure love and sympathy, the long years which, as they pass over the silent house, make solitude and the pain of loss only deeper, have seldom been pictured with greater and more real affection. When we read these sketches, which bear all the marks of minute faithfulness and sincerity, we can understand the feeling of Tacitus about the gravity and severity of provincial character.^ These people seem to have had little of definite Christianity. None of them certainly were carried away by the ascetic spirit which withdrew their friend Paulinus from the world. But they are industrious and high-minded; they take life almost too seriously; they have a certain distinction of hereditary virtue. Ausonius himself, although he has a genuine admiration for the virtues of his family, and really possesses many of them,' was also the most brilliant child of that Gallic renaissance of the fourth century which extended from Constantine to Theodosius. It was a kind of " Indian summer," a long pause of tranquillity between two periods of convulsions. But it- was an age of illusions. The Empire, which seemed to have regathered its strength, was mined by incurable disease. There was a great energy of academic life, but Eoman culture had worked itself out and was living on its past accumulations. The terror of the barbarians who threatened the frontier of the Ehine seemed for a time to be laid. Yet the campaigns of Julian and Valentinian, although victorious, had revealed the unexhausted strength of the enemy. Ausonius, however, in the remote tranquillity of Aquitaine, had no thoughts of these 1 Parent, iz. 10-16 : may well say, piget Virgiliaiii carminis haec graviora faoit vulnera longa dies. dignitatem tam joculari dehones- _ , tasse materia. Yet the morality of volnus alit, quod muta domus silet et torus Valentinian seems to have been as irre- ?'8et, proachable (Amm. Marc. xxx. 9, 2) as quod mala noncmquam,non bona participo. iugo^i^g asserts that his own was: ^ Ann. iii. 55 ; xvi. 5. lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba. ' The personal character of Ausonius Cf. H. Nettleship, Lectures mid Essays, appears to have been without reproach. 2nd series, p. 39. Referring to the But he sometimes shows a lamentable coarseness of Latin satire, Mr. Nettle- pruriency, as in the " Cento nuptialis " ship says, "I should be disposed to Idyl. xiii. Ausonius lays the blame refer this fact not to the moral obliquity on Valentinian who ordered this miser- of these writers, but to the conventional able desecration of a " sacer vates." He traditions of their art. " 146 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii ominous contrasts. His early j'ears were passed in the class- rooms of some of the professors to whom his pen has given an immortality of which they never dreamed. His uncle, Arborius, a professor at Toulouse, whose brilliant rhetorical accomplish- ments were rewarded by a high place in the capital of the East, roused his ambition and predicted for him a splendid future.^ But this ambition had for more than thirty years to be satisfied with the limited opportunities of a provincial university, and perhaps a seat in the Municipal CouncU. It is needless to imagine, as some have done, that the brilliant professor chafed at the restraints and dulness of his humble sphere. Ausonius had the sanity and strength of a stubborn race. He had also early caught that passion for Graeco-Eoman culture which in receptive spirits had all the force of religion. The worship of the Boeotian Muses was in men of his type a dangerous rival to the worship of Christ.^ Ausonius was a teacher of grammar at twenty-five ; he was only a teacher of rhetoric at fifty-five.^ Yet it may be doubted whether he regarded the long interval as a period of monotonous and inglorious toil. Ausonius was not bourgeois in his tastes and ideals. In the poem addressed to his namesake and grandson,* although he shows a natural pride in the prefecture and consulship which he has won, he would have the boy face all the troubles of school life, and love his Homer and Menander, his Horace and Virgil as his grand- father had loved them. The lives of some of his professors were humble and obscure. But he retained a high opinion of the dignity of the teacher, and he looks back with pride on the hundreds of pupils to whom he had handed on the sacred fire. It should also be remembered that Ausonius, like some of his professors, lived on equal terms with the local aristocracy.* His wife, Attusia Lucana Sabina, was the daughter of one of the magnates of Aquitaine, of an old senatorial stock.^ His father, the Stoic physician, must have had weight and dignity in a society so sound and healthy as we believe that of Bordeaux to have been in his day. Even surrounded by the most ex- ^ Parent, iii. 16 ; cf. Schenkl, * Idyl. iv. 46. Prooem. viii. ^ Of. the way in which Paulinus of - Ep. xxT. ad Paulinum, v. 73. Nola speaks of him in his Poems, xi. 8, ^ See Sohenkl's Prooem. viii. ix. for x. 96. Paulinus was one of the greatest the dates in the career of Ausonius. nobles of his province. He was probably appointed tutor to " Parent, ix. 5 : Gratian between 363 and 368. nobilis a proavis et origine clara senatus. CHAP. Ill THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 147 travagant pretensions of new wealth,^ Ausonius would not have been a mere cipher. And in the Bordeaux of Ausonius wealth was not new ; birth was respected more than wealth ; and Uterary eminence perhaps more than either. The life of Ausonius in his green old age, when he had returned from the Imperial Court, to spend his remaining years among his friends, is very much the kind of life which we shall find the nobles of Aquitaine and Auvergne leading nearly a century after his death. It has been often repeated that Eoman society was to the last essentially urban in its tastes and character, and that the love of the country came in with the German invaders. Nothing could be farther from the truth.^ Down to the great invasions of the third century the Gauls were passionately fond of city life, in which they seemed to find the finest essence of Eoman civilisation. But in the fourth century there are obvious signs of a change of feeling. In the age of the Antonines the towns were open, spreading capriciously with ample spaces, liberally embellished with theatres, temples, triumphal arches, all the buildings which could satisfy taste, or minister to convenience or luxury.^ In the reign of Gratian and Valentinian many of them had become fortresses, with lofty walls built of blocks which had been often quarried out of the ruins of the theatres and basilicas of an earlier age. The space within the walls is cramped, the streets are narrow and dark. Everything is sacrificed to the necessity for military strength. Ausonius must have spent many years in Bordeaux when he was toiling as a professor. But, when he was emancipated and had attained distinction and wealth, he could barely endure the life of the town during a short visit.* He is dis- gusted with the crowds and noises and sordid life of its narrow streets, and longs for the spacious freedom of the country where you can do what you please undisturbed. This love for tranquillity and ease, for the fresh beauty of rural scenery and the abundance of a great estate, breathes through his ^ Yet the nouveaux riches were not ' C. Jullian, Ausone et Bordeaux, p. unknown then ; of. Au.son. Epigr. xxvi. : 115. ^ .. ^ , , ^ * Idyl. iii. 30 ; Ep. x. 18 sqq. The quidam superbus opibus et fastu tumens, % i- „ „„ t 4- „™j« j ^ tantumque verbis nobilis, etc. same feehng comes out again and agam m the letters 01 Symmachus ; " F. de Coulanges, La Gaule Horn. Ep. i. 3, v. 78, agri quiete deleotor, vi. pp. 207, 209. 66, vii. 31. 148 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii poems. There can be little doubt that the " life of the ch§,teau " towards the end of the fourth century has thrown the brilliant city life of the ancient world into the shade. The young noble may pass a few years at Lyons or Bordeaux to attend the lectures of the professors. In later years he may visit the neighbouring city to take part in a festival of the Church,^ or to attend a meeting of the Curia. But his heart is in the country, and there the best part of his life is' spent. As the life of the towns becomes more squalid and sombre, the life of the upper class on their rural estates becomes more attractive. There are indeed shadows on the landscape of Ausonius. Brigands are heard of now and then,^ and years of scarcity are not unknown.^ Yet in spite of an outburst of pessimism which seems to be a reminiscence of Sophocles,* the life of Aquitaine in the poet's days was apparently bright and happy, with no foreboding of the storm which was to break upon it before a generation had passed away. Skilful culture had developed the natural wealth and charm of a favoured region. Stately country seats, on which the accumu- lating wealth of generations had been expended in satisfying luxurious or artistic taste, rose everywhere along the banks of the Garonne. The cold of winter was the great plague of country life. But these houses had apartments arranged to suit the varying temperature of the seasons. They were furnished with luxurious baths and well- stocked libraries. Their granaries were stored with ample supplies against a stinted harvest.^ The richer senators had several such estates. The names and sites of two or three belonging to Ausonius have been ascertained by antiquarian care.® The great man of course had his anxieties. His vineyard and corn-land and meadow, which were the sources of his wealth, could not be left entirely to the management of the procurator.''' We ^ Ep. viii. 9 : 1225, ^t] (puvai rbv diravra vLKq. \byov instantis revocant quia nos soUennia Pascliae. k. t. X. cf. X. 16 : ' ^'^y^- "'• 27 : nos etenim primis sanctum post Pascha die- ^""1™'",^ *^''<=*''" geminum mihi semper in bus avemus agrum viseie. 6 Lucaniacus, Ep, xxii. 13 ; Pauli- 2/6. iv. 23. acus, Ep. v. 16. 2 Ih. xxii. 21, 42 ; Myl. iii. 27. ' Ep. xxii. gives a lively picture of * Idyl. XV. 48 ; cf. Soph. 0. G. one of these bailiffs. CHAP, m THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 149 hear now and then of a bad year when supplies had to be bronght np from near and far,^ and when the difficulties of transport were severely felt But the note of Ausonius is gaiety and contentment. He seems to have suffered little from the ennui of provincial life, after all the excitement and splen- doxir of his years of office. The tedium of one estate could be escaped or relieved by passing on to another, or by receiving friends and visiting in return. Travelling by river or road in Aquitaine in those days was probably easier and quicker than it was for the English squire in the last century.'^ Couriers passed to and fro, caiTjdng friendlj' letters, trifliug presents, and as trifling poetry. Here and there the teaching of S. Martin had begun to detach an accomplished and wealthy aristocrat from the worldly life of his order. But for the most part the order remained, in spite of its Christian con- formity, essentially worldly or pagan in tone and habits, enjoying wealth and the sense of irresponsible ease and freedom which wealth can give,^ and expending its energy in rural sports or business, in a roimd of social engagements, or in studying and imitating the great classics which were the strongest link with the past. Society in Aquitaine is very much the same as it was two generations afterwards, when Sidonius visited his friends at Bordeaux. Ausonius and his circle of course represent the more refined and cultivated section of that society. Just as in the times of Sidonius, there were some who fell short of the highest standard of their order. There is, for instance, an eccentric character named Theo to whom the poet addressed some of liis epistles. Theo had an estate among the sands of Medoc, looking out on the Atlantic.^ His establishment was rather mean, and he carried on a despicable trade with the peasants of his district.* His cattle were sometimes carried off by brigands ; but, like the lowland farmer in the days of Eob Eoy, Theo had little taste for extreme measures, and came to an amicable composition with the freebooters, on which Ausonius rallies him.'' Yet he is a daring sports- man, and will follow the wild boar with a reckless ardour, ' Anson. Ep. xxii. ■■ Ep. iv. 3. ^ Ih. X. \% citus Teni remo aut 5 ri, • n.; i. .. ... - ^ lb. IV. 10. rota ; ef. 10. rai. 0. s Farent. ^•iii. S : Ep. ir. 30. ^ /*. iv. iJ. 150 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii which sometimes brings him and his friends into danger of life or limb.^ At first one cannot help wondering what sympathy there could be between this eccentric and rather boorish character and the polished literary man and courtier. The link between them was a taste for poetry, although Theo seems to have been a sorry verse-writer, and somewhat of a plagiarist.^ His conversation may have been better than his verses. At any rate, Ausonius reproaches him with not having paid him a visit for three months,' and promises to forgive him a debt if he will only visit Lucaniacus. The society of Bordeaux, in the old age of Ausonius, is known to us from another source than his poems. In the year of the poet's consulship, his son Hesperius, who had been vicar of Macedonia, proconsul of Africa, and Pretorian prefect of Italy, returned to his native place. The son of Hesperius,* Paulinus Pellaeus, as he is called from the place of his birth, has left us a curious autobiographical poem written in his old age, which has a great value both as a picture of the life of a young noble of the time, and of the first appearance of the Visigoths in Gaul. Paulinus was trained in the usual way. He had Greek and Latin tutors, with whom he read the great authors.^ His youth was passed in a circle which combined the highest official experience with the highest literary culture. Yet no one would recognise in Paulinus the grandson of the tutor of Gratian, or the son of the prefect of Italy. We cannot help feeling, as we read the Uucharisticos, that, although Paulinus may be a better Christian than Ausonius, in other respects the race of the poet has degener- ated fast. Paulinus may have known Greek well, from the accident of his birth in an eastern province, but his limping hexameters, and pointless, colourless style, would have ruffled even the placid good -nature of his grandfather, if he had lived to read his verses. The gloss of humane culture has worn off, and there is revealed a rather sordid and materialised character, the product of leisure without higher interests, and ^ Ep. iv. 30. son of Thalasaius and a daughter of 2 jj_ iy_ 10, Ausonius. Brandes {Prol. p. 267) holds that the father of Paulinus was ■> lb. V. 5 sqq. Hesperius, the poet's son. Cf. Ebert, •• Thepreoiserelationshipof Paulinus Allgem. Gesch. der Lit. des Mittel- to the poet is a matter of dispute. alters, i. p. 409 ; Sehenkl, Prooem. xiv. Seeok (Ixxviii.) maintains that he was ' Euchar. v. 72, 117. CHAP, m THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 151. wealth without a sense of public duty. The descendant of Ausonius and Hesperius has hardly a word to say about literature and politics. Yet, as the revelation of the interior of a great house in the last quarter of the fourth century, the Hucharisticos has no mean value. It is perfectly frank and artless. Paulinus recalls with gratitude the anxious care of his parents to protect his youthful innocence,-' but confesses that, although he avoided scandalous amours, he yielded to the temptations which a system of household slavery always offers. His early studies were interrupted by ill-health,^ and, by his doctor's orders, he devoted himself to field sports, which his father, who had given them up, resumed, in order to bear him company. Henceforth his whole taste was for fine horses with splendid trappings, tall grooms, swift hawks and hounds, and the most foppish and fashionable dress.^ His tennis balls had to be sent for to Eome.* Some of his amusements were not quite so innocent,^ and in his twentieth year his parents arranged for him a marriage with the daughter of a noble house,^ whose estates had been impoverished by neglect. Paulinus resigned his freedom not without regret. He industriously devoted himself to reform the management of his wife's property,'^ roused up the laggards, renewed the exhausted vines, improved the culture of the fields, and paid off the fiscal debts. For the next ten years he led a life of luxurious repose. He plumes himself on being unambitious and fond of ease and quietness. He is completely satisfied with the enjoyment of his great house, with its ample and elegant rooms adapted to the varying seasons, his crowds of young and handsome slaves, his artistic plate and furniture, his crowded stables and stately carriages.^ He was, as he describes himself, a " sectator deliciarum," ' and nothing more. This seK-centred contentment with the material pleasures of life, this rather vacant existence, gliding away in ease and luxury, and a round of trivial social engagements, not the frantic debauchery described by Salvianus, is the real reproach 1 Euchar. v. 154, 166. ^ li. v. 180. 2 lb. V. 125. 7 /J. y. 194. 3 Jb. V. 143. 4 j5_ y_ 148 « /*. V. 205 sgq. 5 lb. T. 166 ^ lb. V. 216. 152 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii against the character of the upper class of that age. The luxurious repose of Paulinus and his kind was soon rudely disturbed by the apparition of the Goths of Ataulphus. The society of Ausonius seem to be calmly confident of the permanence of their ideals of culture, and hardly conscious of the great movement which was setting towards the life of prayer and renunciation. Ausonius is indeed disturbed by the retirement of Paulinus,^ his favourite pupil, from the world of refinement and social distinction ; but his feeling seems to be purely personal,^ that his friend, so richly endowed, with the promise of such a brilliant life before him, should forget his traditions and his worldly hopes, and bury his gifts in the cloister. The work of S. Martin was done when these letters were written. Yet S. Martin is never mentioned. Probably Ausonius had as little conception of the range and force of the movement as the great senator of Nero's court had of the world - wide revolution M'hich was to be the result of the preaching of S. Paul. Yet the impulse to asceticism, originally propagated from the Eastern deserts, and stimulated by the preaching and magnetic influence of S. Martin in Gaul, had gained extra- ordinary momentum in the last years of Ausonius. The tales of wonder and miracle which rapidly clustered round the name of the great preacher are the surest proof of the power with which his mission affected the popular imagination. His Life, by Sulpicius Severus, within two or three years was widely read in Gaul, Italy, Illyria, and had found its way even to the solitaries in the deserts of Egypt and Gyrene.^ S. Paulinus, who introduced the book to Eoman readers,* was one of the first-fruits of the great religious awakening. He gave up his wealth and consular rank, and the charms of his great estate on the Garonne, and, after some years of retreat in Spain, finally settled at Nola.^ His example of renunciation created ' Auson. E^. xxiv.-xxv. (Snip. Sev. mt. 8. Marl. o. 19, 3). ^ lb. XXV. 50. i'or the circumstances of his conversion ^ S. Paulin. Nol. E'p. xi. 11 ; Snip. cf. Prol. co. iv. v. in Migne, t. Ixi. Sev. Dial. i. c. 23, ii. 17 ; cf. Migne, As to the precise time of his stay at Patrol. Lot. Ixi. ; Prol. o. xxx. Barcelona, and the relation of his ^ Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. c. 23, § i. Poems x. xi. to Auson. Ep. 23, 24, ^ S. Paulinus met S. Martin once at 25, cf. Schenkl, Prooem. xi. sqq. ; Vienne [Ep. 18, § 9). S. Martin cured Rauschen, Jahrhilcher, Exc. xxiii. ; . him of some affection of the eyes Ebert, i. p. 297. CHAP, in THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 153 a profound sensation all over the West.^ It was followed by many of his order. And from one of these, Sulpicius Severus, an advocate and man of fortune, we have the fullest record of the movement. He was a dear friend of S. Paulinus, with whom from his retreat in Gaul he constantly corresponded. But Paulinus, from some cause, could never succeed in drawing Sulpicius to the monastery of Nola.^ Sulpicius makes no concealment of the forces which were arrayed against the ascetic movement. The sceptical or indifferent scoffed at the miracles of S. Martin. The polished man of the world, according to his temperament, mourned or ridiculed the blind fanaticism which could desert the ranks of culture and easy-going self-indulgence for the solitude and austerity of the hermitage.^ Even the bishops and secular clergy, who tried to ignore the great saint and missionary, looked with ill-disguised suspicion on an enthusiasm which had no respect for ecclesiastical routine.* But nothiag could check the eager passion for a spirituality unattainable in the world of culture and conventionality. Towards the end of the fourth century, great religious houses, for common studies and devotion, began to be founded in Southern Gaul, and the famous monasteries of S. Victor and L^rins date from the early years of the fifth century. Numbers buried themselves in secluded hermitages among the woods and rocks, and repro- duced in Gaul the austerity and the marvels of the anchoret life of the Thebaid. The East had sent the first call to the life of renunciation, and it was from the East that a second powerful impulse came. When S. Jerome in 386 retired to the monasteries of Bethlehem, he became famous over all the Eoman world. His great personality stood out as prominent and as attractive as even that of S. Augustine. He added to the monastic life fresh lustre by his vivid intellectual force, and his contagious enthusiasm for the study of Holy Writ. His letters on questions of casuistry or biblical interpretation flew to the 1 Aug. Ep. 31, § 5 ; Hieron. M'p. 118, ^ Snip. Sev. Dial. ii. c. 13, § 7 ; § 5 ; Sulp. Sev. Dial. iii. o. 17, § 3 ; iii. o. 5, § 4 ; S. Paulin. Ep. xi. § 3. Ambros. Bp. 58. ^ Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. c. 24, § 3, inter 2 On Sulp. Sev. and his relations clerioos dissidentes, inter episoopos sae- with S. Paulinus, of. Gennad. de vientes ; o. 26, § 3, soli ilium clerioi, soli . Scrip. Ecd. o. xix. ; Paulin. Ep. xxiv. nesciunt sacerdotes ; cf. mt. S. Mart. § 1; xi. 6 ; V. §§ 5, 13 ; i. §§ 10, 11. o. 27. 154 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii remotest parts of the Empire. The charm which his descrip- tions threw around the Holy Places drew numbers of pilgrims, even from the British Isles, to visit the scene of the Nativity,^ where the greatest doctor of the Church was with vast labour striving to make clear to himself and to posterity the real meaning of the sacred text. Before the end of the fourth century, the resources of the monastery at Bethlehem could hardly cope with the numbers who thronged thither from the farthest "West. And each pilgrim on his return, by the tales of what he had seen and heard, roused the ardour of others to make the same journey. We have the description of such a scene in the Dialogues of Sulpicius Severus. In a hermitage in Southern Gaul,^ a monk named Postumianus gives an animated account of his pilgrimage to the East to eager bystanders. He had crossed the sea in five days to Carthage,^ spent a week among the sands of Gyrene with a hermit who had erected in the waste a tiny chapel roofed with boughs.* In Egypt he found a conflict on the orthodoxy of Origen raging between the bishops and the monks,^ and the sympathies of Postumianus seem to be with the suspected father. A journey of sixteen stages brought him to the cell of Jerome at Bethlehem.^ Postumianus has the greatest admiration for the prodigious learning and industry of the saint, but the brother to whom he is telling his adventures has a grudge against Jerome for his attacks on the monastic character. S. Jerome's writings had already a wide circulation in Gaul, and his pictures of monkish avarice, vanity, gluttony, not to speak of graver faults, have offended all the more deeply because they seem to be true.'^ Postumianus on his return visited Egypt, the land where the ascetic ideal was highest, and where solitary perfection had worked its greatest wonders. The Nile was lined with monastic retreats ; ^ as many as 3000 monks were 1 Ep. 66, § 14; 46, § 10, divisua Gennad. de Scrip. Eccl. xix., Mo in ab orbe nostro Britannus . . . quaerit senectute sua a Pelagianis deceptus. locum fama sibi tantum et Scriptu- * Ih. i. o. 8. rarum relatione cognitum ; of. 68, § 4. ' Ih. i. c. 8, 9 ; ii. 7, 8. Cf. S. 2 a i„ c!„„ n»„7 ; „ i Jerome's tale of the monk who had ' Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. c. 1. j^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ . ^^_ 32, § 33 ; of. Ep. ■'*• 1- <=• 3. 125, § 16 ; 52, § 3. ^ lb- i. 0. 5. 8 sjiip_ gey. Dial, {, 0. 10, 17, ad ^ Jb, i. 0. 6. Sulpicius himself was Nilum ilumen regressus, oujus ripas hardly orthodox. His sympathies in frequentibus monasteriis consertas his old age were Pelagian ; of. utraque ex parte lustravi. CHAP. Ill THE SOCIETY OF AUSONIUS 155 gathered in one community. There the natural waywardness of the human will was crushed in a terrible novitiate, in which unquestioning faith was often rewarded by miracle. One novice had passed through a furnace unhurt.^ Another had been ordered for three years to bear the water of the Nile two miles distant, to irrigate a dead stick till it broke into leaf^ Others had tamed the beasts of the wilderness till they acquired the feelings and sympathies of man, including even remorse for sin ! ^ Tales like these, falling on ears eager for marvels of the power of sanctity, drew many another wanderer from Gaul to the mysterious East. These pilgrimages, however, served a more useful purpose than that of satisfying a love of marvels. The traveller to or from the holy places was often charged with letters of inquiry or instruction on questions of Christian conduct or belief. S. Jerome had many correspondents in Gaul who communicated with him in this way, and some of his most interesting letters were written in reply to them. In the early years of the iifth century a young priest named Apodemius was setting out to visit the Holy Places, and a Gallic lady named Hedibia* seized the opportunity of sending S. Jerome a list of questions on theological or practical difficulties. Hedibia belonged to the same family as Euchrotia and Procula,' who imperilled their fair fame by allowing themselves to be carried away by the arts or the enthusiasm of the sectary Priscillian. She was of an ancient Druidic house, which had been connected by hereditary ties with the temple of Belen at Bayeux.® The Celtic god was discovered by the accommodating theology of Eome to be the counterpart of the Phoebus Apollo of Greek legend, and the double name Apollo-Belenus figures on many inscriptions of the imperial times. The names Phoebicius, Delphidius, and Patera, borne by male members of the house, have a hieratic meaning or association. When the Druid superstitions were dying away, the family devoted itself to the arts of poetry and eloquence connected with the name of their divine patron. One member rose to eminence as a teacher of rhetoric at Eome in the reign of Constantine.^ Two others had a 1 Sulp. Sev. mal. i. o. 18, § 4. ^ Sulp. Sev. Ghram. ii. 48, § 3. 2 Ih. i. 0. 19, § 3. ^ Auson. Prof. Burdig. iv. 9. 3 Ih. i. 0. 14, § 5. ' Hieron. Ep. 120, praef. ; Auson. * Hieron. Ep. 120 Prof. iv. v. ; ef. Thieny's S. Jerome, 412. 156 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii provincial reputation about the same time in the school of Bordeaux. Another, in the following generation, named Delphidius, after a troubled career in the reigns of Constantius and Julian, ended his life in the same university, and has a place among the Professors of Ausonius. Hedibia had the mental energy of her race, without any of that tendency to a merely emotional religion which wrecked the peace and tarnished the character of her Priscillianist relatives. The bent of her mind was evidently towards a careful and honest exegesis of the Bible. She begins with the practical inquiry, How can perfection be attained, and how should a widow left childless devote herself to God ? But the majority of Hedibia's questions relate to apparent discrepancies in the Gospels, especially in the narratives of the Eesurrection, and to difficulties in the inter- pretation of some passages in S. Paul's Epistles. Apodemius was also the bearer of a letter of the same kind from a lady named Algasia,^ who seems to have lived in the diocese of Cahors.^ Algasia asks. Why did John the Baptist send his disciples to ask " Art thou He which should come ? " when he had previously said of Jesus " Behold the Lamb of God " ? What is the meaning of the text " If any will come after me, let him deny himself " ? Who is the steward of unrighteousness commended by the Lord ? But in her list of difficulties there is one which has a pathetic human interest, because it seems to refer to the rumours, growing more and more distinct in the year ia which the letter was written, of barbarian movements in the north. The writer asks S. Jerome for an interpretation of the ominous saying reported by S. Matthew, "Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days " ; and " Pray that your flight be not in the winter,nor on the Sabbath." S. Jerome of course interprets the words as referring to the coming of Antichrist ^ and the cruelties of persecution. But Algasia's appeal seems to thrill with the shuddering anxiety of a mother who had heard the tidings that the Sueves and Vandals had passed the Ehine.* 1 Hieron. Ep. 121. ^ Ep. 121, o. iv. ^ Ih. 121, habes istic sanctum virum Alethium Presbyterum qui . . . posset ■■ According to Prosp. C}vron. the solvere quae requiris. He is probably Vandals crossed the Rhine in the last the Alethius, bishop of Oahors, addressed days of 406. On the date of the by S. Paulin. Nol. Ep. xxxiii. ; v. Greg. letter to Algasia v. Praef. in Migne, Tur. Hist. Franc, ii. 13. t. l.xxxvi. CHAPTER IV THE SOCIETY OF APOLLINAEIS SIDONIUS Foe more than a generation after the period described in the Uucharisticos the condition and tone of Eoman society in the West lies in obscurity. But when we reach the middle of the fifth century we suddenly emerge into daylight again, under the guidance of ApoUinaris Sidonius. There is no relic of that age so precious to the historian of society as the works of the bishop and grand seigneur of Auvergne. He does for the social history of the second half of the fifth century what Symmachus and Ausonius do for the closing years of the fourth. Caius SoUius ApoUinaris Sidonius was probably born at Lyons in the year 431, and belonged to one of the most influential and distinguished families in Gaul.^ His ancestors for generations had held the highest offices in the imperial hierarchy.^ His grandfather, distinguished both as a jurist and a soldier, had been prefect of the Gauls under the usurper Constantine.^ His father held the same office under Valen- tinian III.* His mother belonged to the family of Avitus,^ and PapianUla his wife was a daughter of that great noble ^ For his proper name see Carm. ix. Get. 65, Theodoricus jam adole- 1 ; Fertig, i. p. 5 n. For his birth- scentiae annos contingens . . . oetavum place, Chaix, S. Sid. Apoll. i. p. 10 ; Sid. deeimum peragens annum. See Fertig, iv. 25 (caput oivitati nostrae per saoer- i. p. 6. dotium) ; Garm. xiii. 23. See also - Ep. i. 3, cui pater, sooer, avus, pro- Germain's Apoll. Sid. Exc. i. For the avus praefeoturis urbanis, praetorianis- date of his birth, v. Ep. viii. 6, in que, etc., micuerunt. which he was adolescens in the consul- ^ /J. v. 9 ; iii. 12. ship of Asturius (449 Idat. Chron.). * lb. viii. 6 ; r. 9 ; in the consulship The meaning of adolescens for that of Asturius, 449. age may be inferred from Jordanes, * lb. iii. 1. 158 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii who was one of the last emperors of the West. Sidonius was educated at the school of Lyons,^ which still in his time retained some of its old celebrity. During his years of academic life, he formed a lifelong friendship with many young men of the leading families of the province.^ The elevation of his father-in-law Avitus to the imperial throne, in 455, introduced Sidonius at an early age to the society of the capital. His Panegyrics on that emperor, and on Majorian and Anthemius, gave him a great reputation as a poet and a man of letters, and for the last he was specially rewarded with the prefecture of the city. Five years afterwards, he was chosen bishop of Auvergne, at the time when it was making a last stand against the Visigoths. He lived probably about fifteen years longer,^ and passed away amid the passionate grief of his flock, to whom he had been a friend and protector in aU their troubles. The letters of Sidonius were published at intervals, towards the close of his life. They are in all 147, divided into nine books, according to ancient models ; * but there were many more which he could not recover.^ Sidonius intended his letters to be read by posterity,® and he retouched and elaborated his style,'' especially in the earlier letters,^ with a view to publica- tion. It is hardly conceivable that, in their' present form, many of them should have been addressed to private friends. They were probably given to the world between 477 and 483. In the three generations between the consulship of Ausonius and the episcopate of ApoUinaris Sidonius, we shall find that the upper class of Gallo-Eoman society has changed but little in its ideals and aspirations, or even, in spite of great public calamities, in its external fortune. Yet in that interval events ^ Carm. ix. 310. Hoenius was his ea tempestate qua Leo et Zeno Romanis teacher in rhetoric and poetry, imperabant. But this does not give Eusebius in philosophy, Jip. iv. 1. any certain clue to the year of his _ ... , death. See Germ. Sid. Apoll. Exo. ii. 2 Avitus the younger Ep_. m. 1 ; 4 £^. j^. 1. PHny left ten books, Probus, Carm. xxiv. 90 ; Faustmus, ^^^ ^.j^g ^^^^^ j^ addressed exclusively Ep. IV. 4. See Chaix, Sid. Apoll. i. ^ Ti-a,jan. Symmachus left nine books p. 23 ; Fertig, i. p. 7. of private letters ; another contains ^ The date of his death is doubtful. Relationes to the Emperors. In Ep. ix. 12 he says that he had been » lb. vii. 18. bishop for "three olympiads," which ^ lb. viii. 2. would show that he was living in 482 ' lb. i. 1. He also urged his friends (or 484). The other authority is Gen- to do the same. Cf. viii. 16 ; viii. 1. nadius, de Scrip. Eccl. xcii. : floruit ^ lb. vii. 18. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 159 of great historic moment had occurred. The fabric of the Western Empire had been shaken to its base. Ausonius had seen the Alemanni hurled across the Ehine by Valentinian,^ and chased into the recesses of their forests. In the poems of his tranquil old age the names of the barbarians are hardly ever mentioned. Before the birth of Sidonius they had swept from the Ehine to the Pillars of Hercules. In his early youth Visigoth and Eoman had met on many a field in Aquitaine,^ and as allies they had rolled back the horde of Attila on the plains of Chalons. In his later manhood, the Western provinces were practically lost to the Empire. The Franks had occupied the lower Ehine. The Visigoths were masters of nearly all Western Gaul south of the Loire. The Burgundians were securely seated on the upper Ehine and the Ehone. Eoman dominion in Spain had been reduced by the Sueve and Vandal inroads to a mere corner in the north-east of that great province. The Vandals in North Africa had almost crushed the Eoman administration and the Catholic faith, had captured Eome itself, and commanded the Mediter- ranean with their fleets. The bishop of Auvergne lived to see his diocese, almost the last patch of territory in Gaul left under imperial sway, ceded to the Visigoths, and the last emperor of the AVest replaced by a German king of Italy. The Theodosian Code reveals the progress of an internal decay which was even more serious than the onslaughts of the invaders. Every branch of the imperial service was becoming disorganised. Corruption was everywhere rampant, and authority was paralysed. The weight of taxation was growing heavier, while the municipal taxpayer was becoming impoverished, and seeking any refuge from a system which oppressed the poor and was defied by the rich. Yet, in spite of these great changes and this collapse of authority, the simi- larity between the world of Ausonius and that of Sidonius is very remarkable. Even in their material condition, the Gallic aristocracy seem to have suffered little from the general dis- organisation. Within a period of thirty yeai's j^arbonne had been at least twice besieged by the Goths.* Yet in the 1 Auson. Idyl. x. ilosella ; v. 422 ; and Idat. ; of. Sidon. Carm. xsiii. 60 : ct. Amm. Marc, xxrii. 10. sed per semiratas snpertus arces - Prosp. C%roH. a. 436, 439 4?1. ostendens veteris deciis daelli, ^ ^ ' ' quassatos eeris ictibxis molai«s, ■■ In 436 and 4&2. Prosp. Chron. laudandis pretiosior ruinis. 160 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book n letters of Sidonius there is no sign that the tranquil and luxurious lives of his friends there have been disturbed. The villa of Consentius, in the neighbourhood of the town, still raised its elegant and lofty pile among vines and olives/ with equal charms for the student and the lover of nature. Its master enjoyed his old wealth and luxury, and dispensed hospitality to troops of guests. Even in districts occupied by the Germans, the wealth and status of the upper classes appear to be unimpaired. Namatius, a Gallo-Eoman, who was one of the admirals of Euric, with the special charge of warding off the Saxon pirates from the coast of Aquitaine, when he is not on duty, leads the placid life of the country gentleman,^ occupied with building, hunting, and literature. In the terri- tory of the Burgundians the fortunes of the upper class seem to have been as little altered. Bishop Patiens and Ecdicius, the brother-in-law of Sidonius, must have drawn the great part of their revenues from that district. Yet we shall see Ecdicius able to provide subsistence for 4000 starving people in a season of famine.^ And the good bishop, who was a man of private fortune, in a period of similar distress,* organised, at his own expense, a system of wholesale relief, not only for the population along the Khone and the Saone, but also for places far beyond the limits of his diocese. There is no sign that the great Eoman proprietor, so far as the material conditions of his life were concerned, was worse off under the German chief than under the imperial prefect. That the lower and middle classes suffered cruelly is toler- ably certain, but on their condition and feelings Sidonius has little to tell us in his letters. As a bishop, he courageously stood by his people in the hour of danger, defended their rights, and was full of pity for their sufferings. His princely charity was long a tradition in Gaul.^ But as the great noble, composing elaborate letters to his friends, which he intended for the eyes of posterity, he is almost entirely occu- pied with the daUy life, the peculiar tastes and ambitions of ' Sid. Carm. xxiii. 37 ; Ep. viii. 4, ■• Sid. Ep. vi. 12, post Gothioam ad hoc agris aquisque, vinetis atque depopulationem, post segetes inoendio olivetis, vestibulo oampo calle amoe- absumptas, peouliari sumptu inopiae nissimus. oommuni . . . gratuitafrumentamisisti, 2 „ ••■ K 6to. ; cf. Chaix, ApoU. Sidon. i. p. = Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc, ii. 2i. ^ Greg. Tur. ii. o. 22. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 161 his own order. Only here and there do we meet with a slight reference to the burden of the taxpayer, the flight of a colonus, the obscure hardships of the petty trader.-" All the suffering and reverses of fortune in the classes beneath him, which must have resulted from a great economic revolution, from the oppression of the treasury official, or from the inva- sions, seem to have had but little interest for one in whose eyes the men who were descended from prefects and consuls, and who had read Homer and Menander, Virgil and Pliny together at Lyons or Bordeaux, were the only interesting part of the Eoman world.^ This class, separated from the masses by pride of birth and privilege and riches, was even more cut off from them by its monopoly of culture. An aristocrat, however long his pedigree, however broad his acres, would have hardly found himself at home in the circle of Sidonius if he could not turn off pretty vers de sociiti, or letters fashioned in that euphuistic style which centuries of rhetorical discipline had elaborated. The members of that class were bound to one another by the tradition of ancestral friendships, by common interests and pursuits, but not least by academic companionship,^ and the pursuit of that ideal of culture which more and more came to be regarded as the truest title to the name of Eoman, the real stamp of rank. How often does Sidonius remind a friend of the days when they had threaded the mazes of Aristotelian dialectic,* or mastered the technique of Latin rhetoric under the same professor at Lyons. For the stability of the material fortunes of his order he betrays no anxiety. If he has a dim con- sciousness of decadence, it is of a literary decadence,^ a failure of industry in the noble and lettered class, a failure in devo- tion to the ancient models, and in the fastidiousness of the literary sense. The crowd who had no tincture of that lore, who knew not the esoteric language of the initiated, were not perhaps despised by such a perfect gentleman, but they were regarded with that blank uninterested gaze which sees in the ^ Sid. Ep. ii. 1 ; V. 19 ; vi. 4 ; vi. 8. best illustration, perhaps, of aristo- ^ Syimnaohus speaks of the Senate oratic brotherhood is in the letter to as "melior pars generis humani." Aquilinus, v. 9 ; cf. Chaix, i. 23. 3 Sid. Ep. iii. 1 ; v. 9. * Ep. viii. 8 ; ii. 14 ; iv. 17, gran- * lb. iv. 1, tu sub Eusebio nostro diter laetor saltim in inlustri peotore inter Aristotelicas oategorias artifex tuo vanescentium litterarum reman- dialeotious attioissabas ; cf. iii. 1. The sisse vestigia ; cf. ii. 10. M 162 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii vulgar only a dim and colourless mass. Sidonius feels a certain disgust even for the best of his German neighbours.^ They are coarse in their habits, they are ignorant and brutish, and have nothing of that elasticity of mind and delicacy of taste which, even at its worst, the training of the Roman schools imparted. We shall hardly be wrong in supposing that his comparative silence about the lower orders of his own countrymen covers a like repugnance. The ferocious punishment which he dealt out to the boors, who were quite innocently trenching over the soil of his ancestor's grave,^ displays all the contempt of the mediaeval baron for his serfs. The letters of Sidonius describe the life and feelings of only a single class of Eoman society, but they describe that class with a faithfulness which leaves little to be desired. He professed himself an imitator of Symmachus,' but in his delineation of the men with whom he lived, and of the scenery and background of their lives, Sidonius far surpasses Symmachiis in minuteness of drawing and in depth of colour. Symmachus cultivates brevity and reserve as a matter of taste and etiquette. He seems almost determined not to be satisfy- ing and interesting. The faults of Sidonius are all on the other side. With perhaps no great powers of reflection, with no abundant stock of ideas, he is yet a minute observer, and has a positive delight in amplifying all the results of observa- tion by means of an enormous, and often barbarous, vocabulary, and by all the arts of a perverted rhetoric, which often puts a strain on language that it will not bear. Let any one read the description of the appearance and habits of Theodoric,^ of the means by which the parvenu Paeonius raised himself to the prefecture before the accession of Majorian,^ of the para- site of Lyons,^ of the delators who surrounded Chilperic,^ of Vectius the ascetic country gentleman,* and, while he will find much to offend a sensitive taste, he will not complain of any lack of vividness and colour. If such a critic should, in other sketches of Eoman society in Gaul, discover a certain • Ef. iv. 1, 'bestialium rigidarumque ditatem . . . inseouturus. nationum corda cornea fibraeque gla- ■• 76. i. 2. ciales. Of. vii. 14, barbaros vitas, quia ^ Ih. i. 11. mali putentur ; ego etiamsi boni, * 76. iii. 13. 2 76. iii. 12. ' 76. v. 7. ^ 75. i. 1, Quinti Symmaohi rotun- * 76. iv. 9. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 163 sameness and lack of power to seize the imagination, it would be well for him to reflect what he himself could have done with similar materials. The life of a rich, secure, and highly conventional society does not lend itself to descriptions which enthral the imagination, and satisfy the love of the various and the picturesque. When the Gallo-Eoman noble had com- pleted his brief career of imperial " honours," the years of an unruffled and stately life fleeted away in a colourless and monotonous flow. The cold, calm dignity of those great houses, with endless calls to frivolous social duties, and a routine of busy idleness, must surely have made the nobler spirits sometimes long for the more strenuous and stormy life of their ancestors. As we turn the pages of Sidonius, we seem to feel the still, languid oppressiveness of a hot, vacant noontide in one of those vUlas in Aquitaine or Auvergne. The master may be looking after his wine and oil, or laying a fresh mosaic, or reading Terence or Menander in some shady grotto ; his guests are playing tennis, or rattling the dice-box, or tracking the antiquarian lore of Virgil to its sources. The scene is one of tranquil content, or even gaiety. But over all, to our eyes, broods the shadow which haunts the life that is nourished only by memories, and to which the future sends no call and offers no promise. It may be doubted, however, whether Sidonius regarded his society in any such way. He may have noticed and lamented in his later years a failure of literary energy,^ a less delicate sense for what he regarded as purity of Latin style ; but for the greater part of his life the circle of nobles to which he belonged were enjoying undisturbed the plenty and elegance of their country seats, and were as devoted as himself to the literary art. And his circle was very wide. If we include his letters to bishops and churchmen,^ it may almost be said to have embraced the greater part of Gaul, from Soissons to Marseilles. If we confine our attention to his secular friends, it certainly covered all Gaul south of the Loire.^ The energy with which he cultivated his friendships or acquaintanceships is truly ad- mirable. Indeed the best thing about Sidonius is his genius 1 Ep. V. 10, pauoi stadia nunc enumerates seventeen bishops with honorant ; of. viii. 6, ii. 10, iv. 3 whom Sidonius corresponded. ad fin. ' The Syagrius of v. 5 lived near 2 Germ. ApoU. Sid. p. 136. He Soissons ; of. Greg. Tur. ii. 18, 27. 164 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii for friendship. His letters range in all directions, to Bourges, to Bordeaux, to Marseilles, to Narbonne, to Lyons, and to many an estate or bishop's house beyond or within that circle. In the last of his poems,^ he sends the volume forth to travel along a winding path to Narbonne, each stage being marked by some great house where he, on a similar journey, had spent pleasant days. The book on its first stage is to brave the criticism of Domitius, the grammarian of Auvergne. Further on in its journey it is to visit the seat of Ferreolus, father of Tonantius Ferreolus, a great prefect of Gaul and ancestral friend of the poet. It is next to cross the Tarn, and present itself at Voroangus, the seat of ApoUinaris, who had sat on the same benches with Sidonius at the school of Lyons. Linger- ing awhile among the gardens and grottoes on the Garden, it passes on, from one friend to another, till it reaches the stately home of Magnus at Narbonne, whose son was linked to Sidonius alike by ties of marriage and by memories of college life. It would be a wearisome and fruitless task to carry the reader in detail through the long list of the friends of Sidonius.^ They are now mere shadows. The circle in Narbonne and its neighbourhood was specially brilliant in the eyes of contem- poraries. Sidonius in one of his poems ^ has described this crowd of prefects, consuls, jurisconsults, adepts in every branch of literature, even rivals of the great masters ; yet not a name in the long list is known to us from other sources. But although the individual may seem insignificant and uninteresting, the class whom he represents deserves study ; and the features of the senatorial class were strongly marked. In more than one of his letters * Sidonius sums up his ideal of the Eoman noble, the ideal which he would like his son, as he says, " with the help of Christ, " to attain. He should, as an almost religious duty, repay the debt of noble birth by adding to the list of family " honours " some great magistracy ^ Carm. xxiv. to the patriciate. Note the words : ^ The task has been piously per- qua de re propitio dec Christo ampliatos formed by the Abb6 Chaiz, t. i. 1. 6. prosapiae tuae titulos ego festinus ^ Carin. xxiii. 435 ; cf. Ep. viii. 4 ; gratatoriis apicibus inscripsi ; cf. iii. Chaix, A'poll. Sid. i. p. 241. 6, vii. 12, viii. 7, and Carm. vii. 158, * Ep. V. 16. He writes to tell quos quippe curules et praefeoturas Papianilla of her brother's elevation constat debere nepoti. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 165 in the imperial service. He should, without reducing himself to the level of a bailiff or a money-grubber, attend to the management of his estates.^ Some of his superfluous wealth may be spent in additions to his country seat, or redecorating his baths and saloons with fresh frescoes and marbles. He will be a keen sportsman,^ after the manner of his Celtic ancestors. But these pursuits should not absorb all his energy. The noble class, the salt of Eoman society, is a great brotherhood, bound together by the traditions of hereditary friendship and a common culture of priceless value. The true descendant of a great race will train his son in the same arts and accom- plishments which moulded his ancestors and himself.^ He will also, by scrupulous attention to correspondence and social duties, keep warm the feelings of friendship and interest in common studies. Sidonius, at any rate towards the end of his Hfe, was a devout and pious churchman. But to the last, the ascetic ideals of men like S. Jerome and S. Paulinus seem never in his mind to have obscured the ideal of the wealthy and studious country gentleman, with a wholesome weU- balanced nature, fond of sport and farming, proud of his family, devoted to his friends, and above all penetrated with a sense of the obligation to carry on the tradition of culture. To be false to letters was to be false to family honour and to Eome. Pride of birth was one of the strongest feelings in the Gallo-Roman aristocrat. Nor was this much abated by the profession of a severe Christianity. On a remarkable occasion Sidonius was asked by the people of Bourges to nominate a bishop. He delivered an address to justify his choice, and in recommending a certain Simplicius for their suffrages, he lays the greatest stress on his high descent.'' So in the lives of the saints and great churchmen of that age,^ the biographer ^ Ep. viii. 8. * lb. vii. 9. Sidonius gives the 2 lb. iii. 3, flumina natatu, venatu address in full which lie delivered on the nemora fregisti . . . accipiter canis, occasion : Parentes ipsius aut cathedris eqnus arcusludo fuere ; cf. Carm. vii. aut tribunalibus praesederunt . . . Uxor 183, -where the exploits of Avitus in iUi de Palladiorum stirpe descendit. the chase are idealised. 3 lb. iv. 12 gives a pleasant picture * Greg. Tur. S. Juliwn, prosapia of the bishop reading Terence and quidem illustris ; mt. Pairum, c. 7, Menander with his son: legebamus, sanctusGregoriusexsenatoribusprimis; pariter laudabamus jocabamurque ; cf. Hist. Fr. vi. 39, est enim (Sulpicius) the care of Ausonius for his grandson's vir valde nobilis, de primis senatoribus education, Idyl, iv., and Sym. Ep. v. 5. GaUiarum ; mt. Patrum, c. 8, 16, 20. 166 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii never fails to record the fact of their being of senatorial birth. This class, since the time of Constantine, included all the large landed proprietors of the provinces. It had become in fact, though not by force of enactment, chiefly hereditary. But admission to its ranks was from time to time obtained by the favour of the Emperor,^ or by the tenure of some of the offices in the Palatine service. The rank which the founder of a family had won by official service, his descendants strove to dignify by attaining still higher place in the imperial hierarchy.^ With the mass of the senatorial class, the ambition of office sprang rather from personal or family vanity than from the desire of real power. The prefect of the Gauls was a great potentate,^ wielding a far greater power than the monarch of the largest modern European state. Yet the consulship, which had for many ages been a purely ornamental dignity, ranked, ia virtue of its ancient glories, far above the greatest prefecture ; and the son of a prefect thought that he was at once honouring and surpassing his father, by gaining the shadowy dignity of the consulship.* Yet it may be doubted whether the assertion is absolutely true that all capacity for government in the upper class had died out.^ We know little of the actual influence on government exercised even by the great prefects of the fifth century. But we can form some conception of the range and nature of their duties from the Imperial Code. The prefect of the Gauls had the financial and judicial administration of three great countries in his hands," and the control of a numerous body of officials. Although, from the time of Constantine, the prefect had no military command, he had to provide for the ' G. Th. vi. 2, 2, si quis sena- utramque familiam nostram praefec- torium consecutus nostra largitate toriam nancti etiam patriciam red- fastigium vel generis felicitate. Cf. didimus, ita ipsi quam suscipiunt Godefroy's Paratitlon to vi. 2. In vi. patriciam faciant consularem. 3, 2 and 3, the distinction is sharply r, t\ rt ■\ tit n drawn between senatorial and cnrial „ ° ^f Coulanges, L Inv. Oerm p. estates. Of. F. de Coulanges, La, GauU 220, la classe s^natonale elle-meme Bom. p. 180 ; Dumy, vii. p. 176. '"''"1"« ^^ 1 «=P"* ^^ gouvemement. ^ Ep. i. 3 ; iii. 6. ° On the powers of the Pretorian pre- ' It should be remembered that this feet see Godefroy's ed. of C. Th. vol. vi. prefecture included Britain and Spain pt. ii. ad init. "Notitia Praefectorum" ; as well as Gaul proper. cf. Notitia Dig. ed. Booking, t. ii. 13, * G. Th. vi. 6, 1, diversa culmina 14, and 166, where the Formula Praef. dignitatum consulatui cedere . . . de- Praet. is given ; Fauriel, Hist, de la cemimus ; cf. Auson. Act. Grat. ad fin. ; GavXe Mirid. i. p. 351 ; Duruy, vii. p. Sidon. Bp. v. 16, § 4, ut sicut nos 157. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 167 commissariat of the legions quartered in his province. He had also the superintendence of the great roads and the postal service. He had to advise subordinate magistrates on questions of difficulty, and to hear appeals from their decisions. Above all he exercised enormous powers over the levying of taxes and the whole financial service. It was his duty at once to secure full and regular collection, and to check venality or oppression. It was also his business to give due publicity to all edicts of the Emperor, and in the framing of these edicts there is no doubt that the suggestions and advice of a governor had great weight. The vast machine had to be kept running, and any defect in its working had to be brought to the notice of the Emperor. In the fifth century the limits of the great pre- fecture of the West were steadily retreating from the Atlantic towards the Mediterranean. Yet the anxieties of its ruler must have increased as the times grew darker. In the career of Tonantius Ferreolus, one of the friends of Sidonius, we have an example of a public -spirited noble, and a benevolent and vigorous governor. Along with Avitus, he bore a foremost part in organising the united resistance of Goth and Eoman to the Hun invasion in 451. And he signalised his tenure of office in 453 by lightening the burden of taxation in those disastrous years.^ The later Eoman Code bears witness to the strenuous efforts of many high-minded prefects to check the growing disorganisation of society. There can be little doubt, however, that in the interval between Ausonius and Sidonius the love of country life had increased, and public spirit or ambition was declining. Many of the highest class were becoming mere farmers on a large scale, and cared for little else than their flocks and vineyards. Sidonius, who had an almost religious faith in his order, and who regarded himself as the guardian of Latin culture in an age of decadence, was revolted by this return to the rude and solitary rusticity of an earlier time. He was also alarmed by the passion for money-making which often accompanied such tastes. Several of his letters are written to recall such degenerate nobles to their true life and vocation.^ And one in particular deserves notice from the birth and rank of the 1 Ep. vii. 12 ; Carm. vii. 315 ; Fauriel, Hist, de la Gaule M&id. i. p. 227. 2 Ep. il. 14 ; vii. 15 ; i. 6. 168 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii person to whom it is addressed.^ Syagrius belonged to one of those Gallic families in which high office was practically hereditary. He was great-grandson of that Syagrius who was consul in 381, who was a correspondent of Symmachus,^ and from whose daughter Tonantius Ferreolus,* the greatest of Gallic nobles, was descended. The Syagrii were connected with the district of Lyons, and their family estate lay some- where near Autun, in the neighbourhood of the Burgundians. The Syagrius of the time of Sidonius had fallen away from the example of his ancestors, and from that ideal of aristocratic life which we have attempted to describe. Trained in all the literary arts of the Gallic schools, he had stooped to learn the language of the conquerors, in which he had acquired a facility which moves the sarcasm of Sidonius. But he had sunk even lower than this. He had forgotten the long line of his ancestral dignities and his duty to his country, and buried himself in his rural property, with no ambition beyond that of growing fine crops and increasing his income. Syagrius may have been a degenerate noble, but it is also possible that he was a shrewd, sensible man, who saw the hoUowness of the so-called ambition of his class, who rated cheap the " honours " of a power no longer able to defend its citizens, and who thought that his energy might be more usefully expended in cultivating the friendship of his German neighbours, and in the manage- ment of a great estate, with its crowd of serfs and dependants, than in playing ball and dice, exchanging repartees, or applauding with grotesque exaggeration a literary neighbour's feeble imitations of a Statins or Lucan. It would be unfair, however, to Sidonius to represent him as indifferent to the commonplace duties of a great landholder. Indeed, the mlla or senatorial estate must have demanded some attention from any prudent owner. The villicus or procurator was often a man of servile origin, and the ' £p.viii.8. The estate of Taionnaous the letters as addressed to the same may have been in the neighbourhood person, the son of Egidius. On Flav. of Soissons. From v. 5 it appears that Afranius Syagrius, cos. 381, cf. Amm. Syagrius was a master of German. Marc, xxviii. 2, 9 ; Seeck's Sym. ^ In the Index to Luetjohann's ed. ex. ; Rauschen, Jahrb. p. 85 ; Sid. of Sidonius, the Syagrius of v. 5 is Ep. v. 17, conditorium Syagrii con- said to be father of the Syagrius in sulis. viii. 8. But Migne and Chaix (i. 178, ^ Sid. Ep. i. 7, Afranii Syagrii 189) are probably right in treating consulis e filia nepos ; ii. 9 ; vii. 12. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 169 Theodosian Code leaves the impression that these agents had to he carefully watched.^ Although the senatorial estates in Gaul were probably never equal in extent to those vast latifuTidia which were the ruin of Italian husbandry,^ yet they were ordinarily of considerable acreage. Ausonius had a patrimonial estate near Bazas, which he describes in modest terms as a villula or herediolum? Yet it consisted of more than 1000 acres, of which 200 were arable land, 100 vineyard, 50 meadow, the rest being woodland. The estates of the friends of Sidonius were probably of far larger extent than that of the poet of Bordeaux. The nearest approach to any indication of their size is contained in a letter describing the domains of ApoUinaris and Ferreolus.* They adjoin one another, and the distance between the two mansions is rather long for a walk, but rather short for a ride on horseback. The great noble, both in Gaul and Italy, often possessed many of these estates in different districts, or even in different provinces. The lands of S. Paulinus, which Ausonius describes as " realms," were widely scattered, and when, on his adoption of the ascetic life, they were sold, " they would pass," according to Ausonius, " into the hands of a hundred masters." ^ It is characteristic of Sidonius that, while he has left us several pictures of great mansions, he never gives even a glimpse of the organisation of an estate. Yet the population of these domains formed in itself a complete and almost self - sufficing community.^ The great house had in its immediate neighbourhood villages which were occupied by dependants of various grades — slaves or freedmen, coloni and free tenants, some of them ordinary labourers, others paying for their holdings both in money and a stipulated amount of labour. The buildings for the slaves, the stables, and granaries, the mill, the oUve and wine-presses, with the workshops, must have formed, on an estate of any magnitude, a little town, demanding a good deal of management and careful superintendence. The superfluous income of the rich man could, in those days, find investment only in loans on mortgage, or in the purchase of 1 C. Th. ix. 30, 2 ; ii. 30, 2. jecta gestatio peditem lassat neque 2 F. de Coiilanges, V Alien, p. 35. sufficit equitaturo. » Anson. Idyl. iii. 10. = Auson. Ep. 24, 115. * Ep. ii. 9, praediorum his jura con- ^ F. de Coulanges, L' Allen, pp. 87, termina, domioilia vicina, quibus inter- 88. 170 SOCIETY IN THE IVEST book ii other properties, or in additions to the residence of the family.^ Building was one of the passions of the Eoman aristocrat." The stern, utilitarian architecture of the fortified town, its noise and squalor, repelled him. On his own lands he gave a free rein to his taste for beauty or luxury. The sites of these ancient country houses seem to have heen generally chosen for some natural beauty, on the wooded banks of a river or a lake dotted with islands, or at the foot of a sloping hUl, with a prospect of forest, meadow, or rich cultivated plain. Sidonius, imitating one of his favourite models, has left us elaborate word-pictures of some of these great houses, in Auvergne, on the Gardon, or at Narbonne, or in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. His own house, which came to him by his marriage with the daughter of the Emperor Avitus, is delineated with a minute care which reveals in every line a passionate love of the delights of rural life and scenery.' Domitius, a professor in the neighbouring college of Auvergne, is incited to leave the hot class-room and the narrow streets. Even in umbrageous Auvergne, " the world is on fire " ; the ground is seamed and scarred with gaping fissures, the mud is hardening in the bed of the river, whose failing, languid stream hardly di-ags itself along. But in the retreat of Avitacum there is the spreading coolness which the builder's and the gardener's arts can win from nature even in the dog-days. The mansion has a broad frontage both to the north and the south. A glen, flanked by two lines of hills, opens on the southern lawn before the vestibule. At the south-western corner are the baths close under a woodclad height, from which the felled timber drops at the very mouth of the furnaces. The heated water is carried along the walls by leaden pipes. There are all the apartments for luxurious bathing, brilliantly lighted, with walls of gleam- ing whiteness and domed roofs resting on graceful columns, ending in the piscina, where, through curiously-sculptured heads of lions, the cold water from the hillside rushes tumultu- ^ The law discouraged trading in Godefroy's note, and Sid. Ep. iv. 24). the senatorial class, C. Tli. xiii. 1, 5, Cf. C. Th. ii. 33, i, limiting the rate of cum potiorum quisque aut miscere interest which senators could exact, se negotiationi non debeat, aut pensi- ' Ep. v. 11. Building with dis- tationem {i.e. lustralis coUatio) quod cretion is one of the laudable ocoupa- lionestas postulat primus agnoscere. tions of the noble. Cf. xiii. 1, 8, in which feneratores are ' Sid. Ep. ii. 2. Cf. Plin. Ep. ii. brought under the lustralis coUatio {v. 17. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 171 ously. On these walls no tale of wantonness is figured, although you may see some epigram " neither good enough to make you read it again, nor so bad as to disgust you with the reading." Hard by are the ladies' room and the spinning-room of the maids. After these you find yourself in a long colonpade looking out on the lake, which lies on the eastern side, em- bosomed in woods. Passing through a long gallery on the south you would reach the winter dining-room, with a cheerful blaze in the vaulted chimney. And from that you may enter a smaller saloon, with a broad staircase leading up to a verandah which overhangs the lake, where the guest, as he cools his thirst, may watch the fisherman buoying his nets. Or you may take a siesta in a chamber screened from the southern heats, where the cicala in the hot noontide, or the nightingale on summer evenings, will lull you to sleep, while the sheep- bell and shepherd's pipe sound from the hillside. Sidonius, with all his conventionality, cannot repress a natural delight in this fairyland of woodland, lake, and bosky islet : it is so green and cool, a paradise of idyllic tranquillity. And yet he describes it in a euphuism, probably the most curiously artificial, in which genuine feeling was ever encased. The master of that domain, of which he sees the inmost charm, sits in his verandah above the lake, coining phrases which he intended to excite the admiration of posterity, but which would have moved the ridicule or disgust of the masters he adored. One of these country seats was very much like another. They all have apartments for summer and winter, baths, galleries, libraries. Sometimes, as in the case of the Burgus of Leontius,^ they are strongly fortified with all the art of the engineer. It is clear, from the arrangement of these houses, as well as from the general tone of the literary remains of the period, that their owners passed their lives chiefly in the country. But their solitude was broken by constant corre- spondence, and by frequent visits. Even in the troubled ^ Sid. Cam. xxii. 117 : tine {v. JuUian's AiisoTie, p. 128), was . . . non illos maohina muros, the builder. He was probably the non sries, non alta strues vel projdmus agger, father of S. Paulinus of Nola, who nop quae stridentestorquetcatapultamolares, -^ -^^ ^jjg name of Pontius: of. sed neo testudo nee vmea nee rota cui-rens , it nj -ino ii«- n. » / Auson. Ep. 24, 103 ; Migne, Prol. t. jam positis scalls nnquam quassare valebunt. Ixi. c. 1, § 3 ; Chaix, Apoll. Sid. i. 222 ; Pontius Paulinus, who had been Pre- Luetjohann's ed. of Sidon. Ind. Pers. torian prefect in the reign of Constan- s.v. 172 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii years which followed the accession of Euric,^ although the roads were not always safe for couriers and travellers,'' who were liable to be stopped and questioned, communication among the members of the Gallo-Eoman aristocracy was never completely interrupted. The great roads, which opened up the country from the iirst century, could be traversed rapidly by carriages. But the grand seigneur of the time generally preferred to travel on horseback with a numerous suite. Starting in the cool of the morning, he would halt at noon in some shady spot beside a stream where his servants, sent on in advance, had pitched his tent and prepared the mid-day meal.' The inns were probably few, and, according to Sidonius, they were bad;* but the aristocratic traveller could easily arrange, as a rule, to break his journey at nightfall at the house of some friend. The imagined route of the bishop's poems from Auvergne to Narbonne,^ following a wavering line of country seats, probably represents many a tour of visits made by the author. On one of these excursions Sidonius found him- self once in the neighbourhood of the two great villas of Voroangus and Prusianum on the banks of the Garden, near Nimes. Their owners, Tonantius Ferreolus and ApolHnaris, were among his dearest friends. The estates adjoined one another, at the distance of a short ride." ApoUinaris and Ferreolus detained their friend for a week, and had an amicable conflict each day for his company. It was difficult to decide between the attractions of these two princely seats. The gardens of ApoUinaris were of almost fabulous beauty, and might have rivalled the most delicious scenes in the world of legend or romance.'^ The gardener's skill had trained the foliage into enchanting bowers, where you might dream away the hot hours of noon. On the other hand, the home of Ferreolus offered powerful attractions of a higher kind.^ Its ^ He succeeded Theodorio II. in 466, ' Carm. xxiv. and lived till 483, or 485. Cf. Fauriel, * Ep. ii. 9 ; Chaix, i. 210 sqq. i. 347 ; Luetjohann's Sidon. p. 418. ' JEp. ii. 9, Aracynthum et Nysam, ' ^p iii 4 ■ ix 5 ■ V 12 celebrata poetarum carminibus juga, » Such a day's travelling is described "^""^^"■^J .C"''™. ^^i^- 54-74 : ^. iv 8. For travelling.by river see lZ!^tf^^: ^^Z^l^Lur. vm. 12; CI. Auson. ip. vm. 5. nativam dare portioum laboran8 * lb. viii. 11, ne si destituor domo non luoum arboribus faoit, sed antrum, negata moerens ad madidas earn taber- ^ Ep. i. 7, Tonantius Ferreolus was nas, etc. Pretorian prefect in 453. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 1V3 owner, the descendant of the great Syagrius, and admittedly by birth and official rank the foremost of Gallic nobles, combined re- markable political experience with wide culture. Though now withdrawn from the great world, he had borne a splendid part in repelling the Hun invasion. He had earned the re- putation of being a humane and enlightened prefect, and he was chosen to represent his province at the famous prosecu- tion of the corrupt governor Arvandus.^ His library was amply stocked with all the literature of pagan antiquity, along with the newer literature of the Church ; and he was not one of those senators, described by Ammianus, who entered their libraries as seldom as their family vaults. The daily life at Prusianum, as depicted by Sidonius, shows us the charm and also the weakness of aristocratic society in the fifth century.^ It is very pleasant, but it seems some- what self-indulgent and frivolous. When Sidonius arrives in the morning, some of the guests are in the tennis-court, others are eagerly engaged in a game of dice, the more sedate are reading Horace or Varro in the library,^ or discuss- ing the theology of Origen. The dijeuner at eleven o'clock was, " after the senatorial fashion," a short but ample meal ; and the guests, as they sat over their wine, were amused by the recitation of lively tales. The hours of the afternoon were spent on horseback or in the bath. The baths of Ferreolus seem to have been then in the builder's hands, and the com- pany extemporised a bath by the side of a rivulet. A trench was dug along the bank and roofed over with hair -cloth stretched on a framework of branches. Heated stones were flung into the hollow, and a jet of cold water turned on the glowing heap ; and the bathers, having enjoyed the vapour for a time, braced themselves by a plunge in the cool stream. The evening closed with a luxurious banquet. In this pleasant life one hears little of the women of the household, and this silence has been interpreted as a sign that they were ignored and had a humble place in the family. Yet it is hardly probable that, in the full light of Christianity, the 1 Arvandus was Pretorian prefect of ^ Cf. the day at the villa of Consen- Gaul in 469 and impeached at Kome tins, Sid. Cterm. xxii. 487. for treacherous communications with ^ On libraries in the country see Sid. Euric. Sid. Ep. i. 7. Ep. v. 15 ; viii. 11 ; viii. 4. 174 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii position of women was lower than it was in the days of the pagan Pliny or of the semi-pagan Ausonius.-' The references to women in Sidonius are indeed scanty, but they show that the ideal of female virtue and culture was high. In a letter to a friend about to be married,^ he points out, by a long series of ancient examples, how women may help to sustain the literary ambition of their husbands. In the family of Magnus of Narbonne the ladies were both pious and accomplished, and EulaHa, a cousin of Sidonius, who was married to a son of the house, is described as a very Minerva.^ In the library of Prusianum there were shelves stocked with religious literature which are intended for the women of the household.* In another letter Sidonius sends a friend an elegy on the virtues of a young matron of Lyons,^ whose early death was a! public event, and mourned with every demonstra- tion of grief by the whole community. There is hardly a trace in the works of Sidonius of that looseness of morals with which Salvianus charges his contem- poraries in that very province to which so many of the friends of Sidonius belonged. There is indeed one letter,^ the tone of which rather startles us in a bishop. It refers to the irregular connection of a young noble with a slave girl. The mistress is treated with loathing and contempt, but the young man is absolved rather easily on the score of morals, and commended for having thrown the girl over, and so consulted his reputa- tion and fortune. His marriage with a lady of noble birth seems, in the eyes of the bishop, to atone for his " error." Such rare glimpses of self-indulgence in the members of a rich, idle, and luxurious caste, with hardly any public interests, and surrounded by crowds of slaves, do not excite much surprise. But the picture of abnormal and universal debauchery given by Salvianus is absolutely unconfirmed by anything in the pages of Sidonius. In the description of the debauched parasite in Sidonius,^ 1 Plin. E;p. Calpwrniae, vi. 26 ; vii. * Ep. ii. 9, sic tamen quod qui inter 5 ; Auson. Parent, xii. 5 ; cf. F. de matronarum oathedras codices erant, Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. p. 212. stilus his religiosus inveniebatur, etc. 2 Sid. Ep. ii. 10. ° {*■ V- \ , .-. ■ ., g . _ ° 76. IX. 6 ; cr. the passage m the Carm. xxiv. 95 : Eucharisticos, where Paulinus speaks hie saepe Bulaliae meae legeris, of a similar error of his youth in the cujus Cecrop^e pares Minervae tone, V. 165. mores et ngidi senes et ipse 7 q'J p ■■■ iq quondam purpureus Bocer timebant. ^lu. £jp. lU. lo. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 175 we have indeed a specimen of physical and moral degradation which excites horror and disgust. If the bishop ever gave his flock in the cathedral of Auvergne a sermon in the same style, it must have had a powerful effect. It is composed with the object of warning a young relative of the horrors of the abyss into which his life might plunge, if he neglected the old rules of conduct. Yet in reading the piece, one cannot help feeling that the literary spirit, the spirit of Juvenal and the school rhetoric, has possessed the writer. It is in some respects a powerful piece, but the power is that of a master of words and phrases, who exults in his command of them. There is no light and shade ; the whole is black with the smoke of the infernal streams.^ There may have been, there probably were, degenerate Komans who, in an age of violent and sudden change, lost all sense of self-respect, all feeling of Eoman dignity and Christian duty, and who determined to make the best, in a sensual way, of an age of convulsion, to sell their compatriots, to flatter their new masters, and to purchase gross pleasure with the wages of their treachery. AU this is prob- able. Yet we may well doubt whether, even in the most disorganised society, such specimens of utter moral and physical wreck were often seen as the loathsome wretch whom Sidonius has described for edification and warning. The love of word-paiuting is too evident ; the strain and staring con- trast of verbal antithesis are too marked to give one confidence in the fidelity of the portrait. The body, deformed in every line and feature by vice, bloated with luxury, and enervated by excess, is described with disgusting and exaggerated emphasis as the fit dwelling of a fouler and uglier soul. The whispered slander, the gross innuendo, the affectation of vivacity without wit, of importance without dignity, the hungry eager- ness for a hospitable invitation, combined with feigned shyness in accepting, the gross and bestial indulgence, the ravenous throat and the venomous tongue — all this, with many traits we have suppressed, is a picture which we may hope had few counterparts in real life. Such characters rarely meet us in the pages of Sidonius. 1 Ep. iii. 13, lumina gerit faoies ita pallida veluti per boras lumine carentia quae Stygiae vice uinbris maestificata larvalibus. paludis volvunt laorimas per tenebras 176 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii His world -was probably quite as Christian in sentiment and conduct as our own. It inherited also, as a social and literary tradition, a profound veneration for the virtues of the old Eoman character. It was, above all, a society dominated by pride, respect for class-feeling, and imperious good taste. If to the pride and fastidiousness of the polished noble you add the restraints of a collective Christian sentiment, you have a social tone which is not likely in general to be prone to gross indulgence. There is no trace of lubricity on the walls of the mansions, or in the entertainments described in these letters.^ Like the guests in the Saturnalia of Macrobius," Sidonius congratulates his generation on being more decent than their ancestors. No wanton frescoes, no suggestive dances and songs, would be tolerated. The friends of Sidonius, Ferreolus, Ecdicius, Consentius, Lampridius, Apollinaris, and a host of others, seem to be, on the whole, as regards private virtue, perfectly regular and unexceptionable in their lives. It is possible that class feeling or the reticence of good nature or good taste may have led Sidonius sometimes to cast a veil over the faults of the dear and pleasant friends of his youth. Yet one cannot help having the impression that his silence about evil is due to its absence, at least in any gross form, among the people with whom he associated. The real canker at the root of that society was not gross vice, but class-pride, want of public spirit, absorption in the vanities of a sterile culture, cultivated selfishness. It is difficult for a modern man to conceive the bounded view of society taken by people like Symmachus and Sidonius, the cold, stately self-content, the absence of sympathy for the masses lying outside the charmed circle of senatorial rank, the placid faith in the permanence of privilege and wealth, the apparent inability to conceive, even in the presence of tremendous forces of disruption, that society should ever cease to move along the ancient lines. The bureaucratic system of government stifled all interest in public affairs in the natural governing class. Masters of vast domains, yet excluded, as an order, from real political power, the great mass of the senatorial ^ Ep. ii. 2, nou hie per nudam ornat artem devenustat artificem. piotorum corporum pulchritudinem turpis prostat Mstoria, quae sicut '^ Saturn, ii. 1, 6. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 17V class were condemned to a sterile life of fantastic luxury, literary trifling, or sullen reserve. They had little care for any but their own caste and family, as the representatives of Graeco-Eoman culture.^ With what was regarded as a laudable ambition to add to the "honours" of the family, and a strenuous devotion to the study and imitation of the great authors, there seemed to the stately noble no reason why the calm ceremonious senatorial life should not go on for ever. The aim of all true Eomans was to reproduce in successive generations the forms and ideas of the great past, undisturbed by any hope or ambition of ever excelling it. To such a condition of death-like repose or immobility had the imperial system reduced the most intelligent class in the Eoman world. Faith in Eome had killed all faith in a wider future for humanity. Society had been elaborately and deliberately stereotyped. As a rule, whatever a man's energy or ambition, be was doomed to work out his life on the precise Unes which his ancestors had followed. All ideas of improvement were nipped in the bud, blasted by the stifling atmosphere of a despotism which, with whatever good intentions, received no guidance or inspiration from the thoughts or needs of the masses, and spent all its strength in maintaining unchanged the lines of an ancient system, instead of finding openings for fresh development. The same immobility reigned in the education of the privileged class. They felt no material need to stimulate invention and practical energy, and their academic training only deepened and intensified the deadening conservatism of unassailable wealth and rank. Their training was exclusively literary ; its sole aim was to make masters of phrase, rhetoricians, skilled and successful imitators of the great masters of the literary art. Mere style, apart from real knowledge or ideas, was its great ' aim. It persistently kept before the pupil's gaze the mytho- logical fancies and literary finesse of the great ages. As the material force of the Empire slowly waned, the loftier spirits clung aU the more tenaciously to the literary heritage from the past of Greece and Eome, as to a standard of unapproach- ' Sidon. Ep. viii. 2, nam jam re- quisque disoerni, solum erit posthac motis gradibus dignitatum, per quas nobilitatis indicium litteras nosae. solebat ultimo a quoque summus N 178 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book u able perfection. There was no curiosity, no love of scientific inquiry, no hope of further advance. All that was best in the possible achievements of the human spirit lay behind, steeped in the golden haze of a heroic age. In front stretched a gray, flat prospect of cultivated mediocrity. It is hardly too much to say that the despotism of the school tradition was as stifling and fatal to progress as the bureaucratic despotism of Diocletian. In the time of Ausonius we have caught some glimpses of the ascetic and the intellectual side of the Christian life in Gaul, revealing a spiritual movement in striking contrast to the polished worldly society of the senatorial order, in which class-pride had taken the place of high public spirit, and a dilettante culture had frozen the springs of moral enthusiasm and energy. The majority of this class, two generations after Ausonius was in his grave, resembled him rather than S. Paulinus. Yet here and there in the letters of Sidonius we meet with a man who remained in the world, yet was not of it, who, without acting literally on the command to forsake all things for Christ, strove to live in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount. The character of one of these hidden saints,^ a certain Vectius, might have been drawn by the author of the Serious Call. He was a man of illustrious rank and great fortune, but he had learnt the secret of " using the world as not abusing it." He has all the spirit of an anchoret under the soldier's cloak, and regards his position as a trust rather than a property.^ The spirit of their master had spread among his serfs and clients. They are as obedient and dutiful as he is gentle and considerate. He has still all the tastes of the noble of his time ; he wears the proper dress of his rank ; he has a pride in horse and falcon and hound, and the stately serenity of wealth. He maintains a severe but clement dignity. He joins the hunt, but he does not eat the game. His hours are often spent in reading the Scriptures and chanting the Psalms. An only daughter, whom he tends with a mother's tenderness, consoles him in his widowhood. Sidonius adds that, with all deference to his own order, if he 1 Sid. Ep. iv. 9. Cf. Law's Serious ^ Sid. Ep, iv. 9, putea eum propriam Gall e. 8. domum non possidere, sed potius ad- ministrare. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 179 could find such graces in his friends, he would prefer the priestly character to the priest. Sidonius, although he did not withhold his admiration from the monastic life, and wrote an elegy on Abraham, the Eastern solitary who settled in Auvergne, was, after all, one of that class of prelates who, having been trained in worldly society, believed in a Christianity which kept in touch with the world, to renovate it and to govern it. Apollinaris Sidonius had reached his forty-second year^ when, by the popular voice, he was called to undertake the episcopal oversight of the diocese of Auvergne.^ He had been till then the most typical representative of the aristocratic caste. Christian in profession, but pagan in sentiment and training. He had considered it his mission to deepen the pride of rank and the pride of culture. He became suddenly one of the most devoted pastors and spiritual governors, sharing the dangers and miseries of his flock in the Visigothic invasion, imprisoned by Euric for his devotion, passionately lamented by his people after his death. There is no record of the cir- cumstances of this great change.^ Yet the contrast between the life of the worldly aristocrat and the Christian bishop is very marked. We have seen the pictures of daily life at the great senator's country seat. Ear different was the life of the chiefs of the Church.* The bishop lived in the chief town of his diocese, with doors always open. In the early morning hours he received all comers, heard complaints, composed differences, performed many of the duties of a civil magistrate.^ He celebrated Mass, preached and taught the people in church. He had important functions in connection with the municipal council If his episcopal seat lay near the court of a German priace, the bishop had the task of conciliating the new barbarian power,® and of maintaining good relations between it and the ^ The year 472 or 471 for the com- est ; iii. 1 ; vi, 7. menoement of his episcopate is inferred " v. Fertig, ApoU. Sid. Abth. ii. 6. from a passage in lip. vi. 1, to Lupus * Guizot, Civ. en France, i. 102. of Troyes ; the letter, written evidently ^ F. de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. 36, soon after the ordination of Sidonius, 38 ; Fauriel, i. 376 ; of. Nov. Maj. speaks of Lupus as having completed tit. lii. ; C. Th. xvi. 10, 19, xv. 8, 2. novem quinquennia ... in apostolica For multifarious business brought sede. Lupus became bishop in 427. before bishops cf. Sid. ^.vi. 2, 4, 9, 10. Cf. Luetjohann's ed. of Sid. Ind. Pers. ; * Ep. vi. 12, the Burgundian king Germain's Apoll. Sid. p. 19 n. ; Ghaix, used to praise the dinners of Bishop i. 439. Patiens ; cf. Ampke, Hist. Lit. ii. 202 ^ ^. V. 3, utpote cui indignissimo on the relations of S. Avitus with the tantae professionis pondus impaotum Burgundians. & 180 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii Gallo-Eoman population. He had to superintend the cultiva- tion of the lands of his see, and sometimes he even worked on them with his own hands. The narrow space left by these active occupations would, if he were a scholar and a thinker, be devoted to the theological or philosophical discussions of the time, and he might, in that age of controversy, have to define his position in some treatise on free-will and grace, or on the nature of the soul.^ The real leader of the municipal community in the fifth century, alike in temporal and in spiritual things, was often the great Churchman. The power of the senatorial class, with all their broad lands and culture, did not extend usually beyond the serfs of their estates. There were two distinct classes of bishops in the Gallic Church of the fifth century, the monastic and the aristocratic, and the special qualities of both were needed by the cir- cumstances of the time. The monasteries of Southern Gaul were not only devoted to an ascetic religious life, but to learning and theological inquiry. They were the real centres of the intellectual movements of the age ; and the great house of L^rins ^ had a special fame not only for its sanctity but for its dialectic. Its atmosphere seems to have been favourable to freedom of thought on the great questions which then agitated Western Christendom. It was the home of a Pelagian or semi-Pelagian school of thought which long repelled the extreme Augustinian views on the relation of Divine grace to human wUl. And it gave many eminent prelates to the Gallic church, Faustus ^ of Eiez, Lupus * of Troyes, Eucherius ^ of Lyons, and Hilary ^ of Aries. But the aristocratic bishop was perhaps even more needed at that time of social and political disorganisation. He was often very imperfectly equipped with theological learning. But he had other qualifications which the people of a diocese in the path of the invaders might naturally consider more valuable. He had wealth for sacred or charitable objects, to ' Cf. Ep. of Faustus of Eiez, printed ^ Krusoh. Praef. in Faustum, p. lir. ; before the de Statu An. of Claud. Sidon. Carm. xvi.; Gennad. de Scrip, Mamert. Eecl. 85. '^ For an account of Lerina and its * Sid. Carm. xvi. Ill ; Ep. vi. 1. foundation, cf. Fertig, ApolV Sid. ^ Carm. xvi. 115 ; Gennad. de Scrip. ii. 46, 47 ; Guizot, Civ. en France, i. Ecd. 63. 121, 165 ; Chaix, Apoll. Sid. i. 419 ; * Carm. xvi. 115 ; Gennad. de Scrip. Fauriel, i. 403. Ecel. 69. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOIUNARIS SIDONIUS 181 build or renovate churches,^ to redeem the captive among the barbarians, to relieve the miseries of the lower classes who were suffering from the disorder and insecurity caused by the invasions. He had also the authority derived from rank, and the social tact which made him able to defend his flock against the violence of the German chiefs, or the not less dreaded oppression of the Eoman officials. Sometimes a high-minded aristocrat might accept the office from a sense of duty to the population among whom he lived. Sometimes it was forced upon him by their clamour.^ But the correspondence of Sidonius leaves no doubt that the episcopal chair was often an object of ambition and intrigue of the lowest kind. At an election to the vacant see of Ch§,lons in 470, there were three candidates supported by rival factions.^ One was a man of no character, but of ancient lineage. Another was an Apicius who had bought the support of a party by the skill of his cook. A third had promised his supporters, in case of his election, their reward out of the estates of the see. Although the election of a bishop in those days was stUl in theory by the popular voice, the presiding bishops of the province exercised a preponderant influence ; and in this case, to the confusion of the rival partisans, Patiens and his episcopal colleagues braved all clamour, and laid their hands on the Archdeacon John, a modest man, who had no support, except from his own blame- less character. At another election, to the see of Bourges, Sidonius himself presided.* He found a great number of rival candidates, among whose claims the people were hopelessly divided, and one of whom had actually used bribery to gain support. At their request he undertook to nominate a person for the sacred office, and he justified his choice in a harangue which is a very valuable relic of the times. Sidonius, putting aside all the popular candidates, gave his voice for a certain Simplicius, who was not then in Holy Orders, but a soldier, and a man of great official rank and wealth, whose character was highly respected, and who had proved his devotion by 1 As Fattens of Lyons did, Sid. Ep. ^ Sid. Ejp. iv. 25. ii. 10 ; cf. Fertig, iii. p. 36, and Per- petuus of Tours, Sid. Ep. iv. 18 ; cf. * lb. vii. 9. Note the words : neque Greg. Tut. ii. 14. The latter gives the enim valuissemus aUquid in commune dimensions of the Basilica minutely. consulere, nisi judieii sui faoiens plebs 2 Cf. Sid. Ep. iv. 24 ; Life of S. lenita jaeturam, sacerdotali se potius Ambrose by Paulinus, c. iii. judicio subdidisset. 182 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii munificence in the cause of the Church.^ The nominee of Sidonius was accepted apparently without a murmur. The aristocratic bishop may not have been a learned theologian, but he often showed himself the man for the times, by great qualities of leadership and by princely generosity. Sidonius himself, as bishop of Auvergne, more than atoned by his courage and devotion for the literary vanity and frivolity of his early life. The Gothic power had closed round his native district, which proudly maintained a hopeless resistance.^ Ecdicius, a son of Avitus, and brother-in-law of the bishop, raised and equipped an armed force at his own expense, and performed prodigies of valour against the Goths. But the attacks were renewed again and again. The walls of Auvergne were crumbling, and famine was threatening the defenders.^ While Ecdicius headed the sorties against the enemy, Sidonius by his high spirit and his eloquence sustained and animated the courage of his flock. As a Catholic, no doubt he was fighting to ward off the encroachments of intolerant Arianism.* But the indignant tone in which he upbraids the bishop who finally surrendered the liberties of Auvergne to Euric, reveals the passionate patriotism of the Celt and the pride of the Eoman noble.' His generosity was equal to his courage. Gregory of Tours had heard a tale of the good bishop selling his silver plate to relieve the necessities of his flock.* Another bishop, Patiens of Lyons, was famous in his time throughout all Gaul for his princely liberality. When the crops in his diocese had been burnt up in the ravages of the Goths,'^ he sent supplies, at his own cost, among the famishing population. His waggons, laden with grain, crowded ' Sid. Ep. vii. 9, hie vobis ecclesiam sit ob virium merita terribilis, non tarn juvenis miles . . . extruxit. Romanis moenibus quam legibus Chria- ^ Ii. iii. 3 ; the character of tianis insidiaturum pavesco ; Greg. Ecdicius is one of the noblest of his Tur. H. Fr. ii. 25. class. He had not only a high military ^ Ep. vii. 7, to Graecus, bishop of spirit which was rare among the nobles Marseilles. This letter shows Sidonius of the period, but he was a man of at his best, both in spirit and in style ; lavish generosity. Like Bishop of. Fertig, Sid. ii. p. 11. Patiens he fed the starving people of ^ Hist. Franc, ii. 22. Burgundy at his own expense ; 1). Greg. 'Sid. Ep. vi. 12; cf. Greg. Tur. Tur. ii. 24. Bist. Fr. ii. 24. Fertig (ii. 25) points ^ Ep. vii. 7, maori jejuniis prae- out that Gibbon notices the charity of liatores. Ecdicius in this famine, but makes no ■• For the massacre or expulsion of mention of the similar generosity of Catholic bishops by Euric see Sid. Ep. Patiens the bishop. Gregory gives a vii. 6, regem Gothorum quamquam larger place to Ecdicius. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 183 all the roads, and his barges were seen everywhere along the Saone and the Ehone.^ Aries and Eiez, Avignon and Orange, Viviers and Valence, were supported by his bounty. He was also, like Perpetuus of Tours, a great church builder and restorer.^ Sidonius has celebrated the splendour of marbles and gold which he lavished on his new basilica at Lyons.^ The Gallic bishops of that day were not less distinguished for learning and eloquence than for munificence and power of leadership. The pulpit ia the fifth century was a great force, and the great prelates were generally great preachers. Not the least celebrated orator of his time was S. Eemi, the apostle of the Franks, whose style Sidonius praises in language of ingenious and alliterative exaggeration, and whose declama- tions were eagerly read and transcribed in Auvergne.* The rhetoric of the great bishop of Eheims is known to us only by the words of his famous appeal to Clovis at his baptism.^ A similar fate has befallen the writings of Euphronius of Autun, who had a great reputation for theological learning, and was the author of a memoir on the prodigies of the terrible year of Attila's invasion.^ No prelate of that age rendered more various and splendid service than Lupus of Troyes,^ in his episcopate extending over half a century. He rose to be abbot of Ldrins in his early manhood. In the first years of his episcopate he accompanied S. Germanus on a mission against the Pelagian heresy in Britain.^ It was believed that his sanctity and dignity had saved Troyes from the fury of Attila. He was also a student with a fine library, and Sidonius had a great respect for his literary judgment. His eloquence seemed to his contemporaries to ^ Sid. Ep. vi. 12, vidimus angustas a visit to the north had managed to tuis frugibua vias. bring a copy of S. Eemi'a Declamaiions '^ lb. ii. 10. On Perpetuus of. iv. 18. back from Rheims, and presented it to ' See also the verses composed by his bishop, who read it aloud to an Sidonius on the new basilica at Tours, admiring circle. built by Perpetuus, Sp. iv. 18 ; and e (jreg. Tur. ii. 31, adora quod its description, Greg. Tur. u. 14. It incendisti ; incende quod adorasti. IS uncertam to whom Patiens dedicated Gregory notices the rhetoric, his church at Lyon^. Cf. Chaix, , ^ ^ j ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ Apoll SvL 1. 32 ; Migne s note to f^ ^ ^ ' u. 10. Patiens built churches in /' ' ' .. ,„ ... ,. many other places, Sid. Ep. vi. 12, ' Sid. Bp. vu. 13 ; viii. 11. omitto per te plurimis locis basUicarum ' Acta S. Jul. quoted in Index Pers. fundamenta consurgere. to Mommsen's ed. of Sidonius, p. 429 ; * Sid. Ep. ix. 7. An Avernian on cf. Prosp. Chron. ad a. 429. 184 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii recall the golden age of Gallic rhetoric.^ Faustus of Riez was the greatest and the most daring thinker among the Church- men of his time. Like Pelagius, he was a native of Britain.^ From his early youth he was devoted to the study of philosophy, nor did he abandon it when he became a monk of L^rins. After being head of that community, he suc- ceeded Maximus, his predecessor in the abbacy at L^rins, as bishop of Eiez. He was a man of the most saintly Kfe, and in his days of fame and power he never relaxed the abstinence and austerity of the monastic discipline.^ His sermon, at the consecration of the new basilica at Lyons, carried away his audience. Yet he was the great heretic of the day, and the recognised leader of the powerful semi-Pelagian school in Southern Gaul. His work on Free Grace was assailed with ferocious clamour, and was condemned by Pope Gelasius.* But his aberrations from the strict line of orthodoxy were even more serious. He maintained, in a work published anony- mously,^ that the soul was a corporeal substance, and that to attribute an immaterial nature to it was to invest it with a quality which belongs only to God. This heresy was indeed not a novelty. It had been expounded by Tertullian ; ^ it had found support from S. Jerome^ and Cassian,^ and it seemed to S. Augustine to demand a serious and elaborate refutation.* The treatise of Faustus drew forth a reply from Mamertus Claudianus, which, in its subtlety and formal elaboration of proof, has the tone and atmosphere of the scholastic theology of the Middle Ages. Claudian's treatise de Statu Animae was dedicated to Sidonius, and the honour was acknowledged in a letter ^° which leaves a grave doubt whether the good bishop understood the question at issue. He has a genuine admiration for Mam. Claudianus, although it is expressed in ' Sid. Ep. viii. 11, § 2. de Statu An. ; Up. xx. in the collected ^ lb. ix. 9, legi volumina tua quae JSp. of Faustus. Riochatus . . . Britannis tuis pro te ^ TertuU. de An. c. 5, 7. reportat ; v. Krusch. Praef. liv. ; cf. ' Hieron. Com. in Libr. Job, 25. Gennad. de Scrip. Eed. 85. ^ Cassian, Collat. vii. 13, licet enim ^ Sid. Ep. ix. 3, cum novae dignitatis pronuntiemus nonnullas esse spiritales obtentu rigorem veteris disciplinae non naturas, ut sunt angeli etc., ipsa quoque relaxaveris. anima nostra vel carta aer iste subtills, * Krusch. Praef. lix. For specimens tamen incorporeae nuUatenus aestiman- of his preaching, v. Sermones ad dae sunt. Monachos, Migne, t. Iviii., esp. ii. ' Nourrisson, La Philosophie de S. and ir. Augustin, t. i. p. 170. ' V. Ep. prefixed to Mam. Claudian. " Sid. Ep. iv. 3. CHAP. IV SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 185 language of absurd extravagance. But there is not a hint in his letters that he regarded Faustus with any feeling but that of the greatest esteem and affection. It must be said to the honour of Sidonius, that he chose and loved his friends for their character, quite apart from their opinions ; and he seems to have had an impartial regard for both the combatants in this controversy. The great value of Sidonius to the historical student is that he is so broad and tolerant, and that his charity embraces so many men of various character and ideals. He has even a good word for the Jews, as men and apart from their faith.^ His own disposition would naturally incline him to admire the prince bishop, with noble ancestry and a taste for letters. But he has a profound reverence for the ascetic fervour of those who withdrew from the world to the monastic life, or to the greater loneliness of the hermitage in the forest. He had visited Faustus at L^rins,^ and seen with admiration the spirit and discipline of that great society. In one of his poems he celebrates the lona of the Mediterranean, as we may call it, whose arid sands had been the home of Honoratus, Eucher, and Hilary, all great luminaries of the Church of Gaul in his early youth.' He sends an accovmt of an episcopal election to Domnulus,* who had retired to one of the monasteries in the Jura. In another letter he acknowledges the affectionate sympathy of an abbot named Chariobaudus,^ and sends him a cowl to protect him against the chills of the midnight service. Close to his own episcopal town of Auvergne, a solitary from the East had settled in a hermitage.® He had suffered persecu- tion in his native country on the Euphrates; thence he had passed into Egypt, and lived among the hermits of the Thebaid. He was a man of superhuman sanctity, and men believed that he had superhuman powers. He could put demons to flight, give sight to the blind, heal marvellously inveterate disease. ^ Sid. Ef. iii. 4, Gozolas natione Ju- te remittunt jam monasteria, in quae daens, cujus Tnihi quoque esset persona solitus escendere jam oaelestibus snper- cordi, si non esset seeta despectui. nisque praeludis habitaculis, etc ; of. Gozolas carried his letters : cf. iv. 5. Greg. Tur. x-it. Patriim, L For the - 2b. ix. 3 ; v. Germain's Sid. ApoU. monasteries in the Jura, cf. Chaix, ii. p. US, n. 5. 21S. ' Carro. xvi. 91. Honoratus and 5 £g_ yji_ ig_ Hilary became bishops of Aries, and Eucher, bishop of Lyons. ^ lb. Tii. 17; Greg. Tur. Hist. * Ep. It. 25, nunc ergo Jurensia si Ft. ii. 21, and vit. Fatriim, iii. 186 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book ii His powerful personality drew others like-minded to him. A monastery was built which became the centre of high religious feeling in Auvergne. Thither came the bishop for calm and meditation in the tempest of the Gothic invasion. When Auvergne had yielded to the Goth, thither came Euric's governor, the Count Victorius, and on high festivals the monastery offered its modest hospitality to the great nobles and officials of the district.^ But the good abbot was at length worn out with care and austerity, and when he was on his dying bed, Victorius the governor bent over him weeping, to close his eyes. His bishop wrote his elegy, in which, through all the pedantry, we catch the tones of a real reverence and affection for a saintly life. This is not a history of the religious life of the time. Our main theme is rather the manners and tone of the caste who thought far more of Virgil and Statins than of S, John or S. ' Paul. Yet it would be a very maimed and misleading view of the age of Sidonius which confined itself to the gay country- ; house life of Avitacum or Prusianum, and ignored the great spiritual movements, the fearless quest of truth, the world- forgetting piety, which, when society seemed sinking into the abyss, were the promise of a new and better time. In Sidonius the old and the new order meet. He thought himself a Eoman of the Eomans, the last champion of an immemorial culture threatened by the rising tide of barbarism.^ He ended his life as a devoted Christian pastor who still clung to the great traditions of ancient Eome, but had learned to believe in the grander mission of the Christian Church. ^ Greg. Tui'. wi.Pfliintm, iii. Gregory paucissimi quique meram Latiaris narrates how, on one of these occasions, linguae proprietatem de triyialium the guests were miraculously supplied barbarismorum rubigine vindicaveritis, with wine. earn brevi abolitam defleamus interi- tamque ; sic omnes nobilium sermonum ^ Sid. Ep. ii. 10, tantum increbuit purpurae per incuriam vulgi decolo- multitudo desidiosorum, ut, nisi vel rabuntur. BOOK m THE FAILUKE OF ADMINISTEATION, AND THE RUIN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, AS RE- VEALED BY THE THEODOSIAN CODE CHAPTER I THE DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE We have hitherto been occupied with the condition of Eoman society in the West as it is revealed to us in its literary remains. But Symmachus, Ausonius, Sidonius and their class throw little light on the condition of other classes than their own, or on the deep-seated and inveterate diseases which for generations had heen undermining the strength of the imperial system. The general tendency of modern inquiry has been to discover in the fall of that august and magnificent organisation, not a cataclysm, precipitated by the impact of barbarous forces, but a process slowly prepared and evolved by internal and economic causes. It is probable that the barbarian invasions of the fifth century were not more formidable than those of the third, which were triumphantly repelled by the lUyrian Caesars, or than those of the fourth, which were rolled back by the genius of Julian and the ferocious energy of Valentinian. The question why the invasions of the fifth century succeeded, while the earlier failed, is best answered by an appeal to the Imperial Code. In the voluminous enactments issued from Constantine to Majorian, the student has before him a melan- choly diagnosis of the maladies which, by a slow and inevitable process of decay, were exhausting the strength of Eoman society. He will see municipal liberty and self-government dying out, the upper class cut off from the masses by sharp distinctions of wealth and privilege, yet forbidden to bear arms,^ ' Aurel. Vict, de Cues. c. 33, Gal- transferretur, senatnm militia vetuit, lienus : primus ipse, metu saoordiae etiam adire exercitum ; C. Th. xv. suae, ne imperium ad optimos nobilium 15, 1. 190 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi and deprived of all practical interest in public affairs. He will find that not only has an Oriental monarchy taken the place of the principate of Augustus, but that an almost Oriental system of caste has made every social grade and every occupation practically hereditary, from the senator to the water- man on the Tiber, or the sentinel at a frontier post ; and that human nature is having its revenge in wholesale flight from a cruel servitude and the chaos of administration. It will be seen that in a society in which poverty is almost branded with infamy,^ poverty is steadily increasing and wealth becoming more insolent and aggressive ; that the disinherited, in the face of an omnipotent government, are carrying brigandage even up to the gates of Eome ; that parents are selling their children into slavery ; that public buildings are falling into decay ; that the service on the great post roads is becoming disorganised. At a time when every frontier was threatened, it will be found that the frontier posts are being abandoned, that there is whole- sale desertion from the ranks of the army ; while in the failure of free recruits, the slaves have to be called to arms. But the unscientific and inefficient financial system will chiefly attract the notice of the historical inquirer. The collection of imposts in kind opened the door to every species of corruption. Still more fatal to pure administration was the system which left to the municipal class the assessment and collection of the revenue in their district. That doomed order are at once branded as the worst oppressors, and invested with the melancholy glory of being the martyrs of a ruinous system of finance.^ Their lingering fate, recorded in 192 edicts,^ a tragedy prolonged through more than five generations, is one of the most curious examples of obstinate and purblind legis- lation, contending hopelessly with inexorable laws of society and human nature. In that contest the middle or bourgeois class was almost extinguished, Eoman financial administration was paralysed, and at its close the real victors and survivors ^ See M. Duruy's Memoire on Ho- trats munioipaux. Yet of. de, Oub. nestiores and Humiliores in the later Dei, iv. 21, quid est aliud quorundam, Empire, in Hist. Eom. vi. 643. quos taceo, praefeotura quam praeda ? 2 Salv. de Gfub. Dei, v. 18 ; of. v. 25, quibus enim aliis rebus iii. 50. M. F. de Coulanges {L'Inv. Bacaudae facti sunt nisi . . . impro- Qerm. p. 58, n. 1) says : On remar- bitatibus judicum, etc. quera que Salvien accuse moins les fonctionnaires impfriaux que les magis- ' C. Th. xii. tit. i. CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 191 were the great landholders, surrounded by their serfs and dependants. A volume might be written on the corruption and cruel oppression of the officials of the treasury, servile to the great, tyrannical to the poor, and calmly defying all the menaces of the emperor in their unchecked career of rapacity. The last and deepest impression which the inquirer will carry with him, as he rises from a study of the Theodosian Code, is that fraud and greed are everywhere triumphant, that the rich are growing richer and more powerful, while the poor are becoming poorer and more helpless, and that the imperial government, inspired with the best intentions, has lost all control of the vast machine. Yet amid all the perverse errors of legislation and the hopeless corruption of the financial service, the candid reader of the Code cannot help feeling that the central authority was keenly alive to its duties, and almost overwhelmed by its responsibilities. It is a superficial view of the time which dwells on the weakness of a Honorius, a Valentinian, or an Anthemius. The Emperor was, indeed, in theory omnipotent ; but as a matter of fact he had to depend on his officials, both to advise his decisions and to carry them out. He was assisted by a council of experienced men of high official rank,^ some of whom had probably governed great provinces, and who knew the Eoman world, if any men did. Moreover, it is plain, from the very wording of many of the rescripts,^ that they were suggested by the prefect or governor to whom they are addressed ; and one can hardly be wrong in believing that in many of these last efforts of Eoman statesmanship, so sympathetic, so strangely rhetorical, so full at times of honest indignation, we may have the report of a conscientious governor returned to him in the imperative form of an edict. The minute and circumstantial description of oppression and wrong could hardly have come from any one who had not heard the tale from the sufferers themselves.^ Occasionally, 1 The Council was called consis- '^ We frequently meet such phrases as torium, the members prooeres, consili- Sublimis Excellentiae tuae saluberri- arii, comites consistoriani. Constan- mam suggestionem secuti ; cf. Nov. Th. tine organised this body and increased 45, 47. its numbers ; cf. Amm. Marc. xv. 5, ^ Cf. several of the Novellae ad- 12; xxxi. 12, 10; C. Jvst. xii. 10, 1; dressed to Albinus, e.g. iVou. TA. 22, and G. Th. vi. 12; cf. F. de Coulanges, thedescriptionof the fraud and violence L'Inv. Germ. p. 13 ; Duruy, vi. 574. of the discussores, Nm. Valent. 7. 192 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi though seldom it is to be feared, such complaints came directly to the ears of the Emperor. The mass of legislation for the relief of the province of Africa in the reign of Honorius was the result of at least two deputations commissioned to repre- sent its grievances ; ^ and so determined was the Emperor to remedy the abuses complained of, that he appointed two of the most experienced and illustrious ex-prefects with full powers to deal with the disorders of the province.^ The Eoman world had for ages regarded the Emperor as an earthly Providence ; ^ and to the end such was the concep- tion of their oflice which was entertained even by the weakest emperors. Valentinian proclaims that it is his business to " provide for the peace and tranquillity of the provinces " ; * Anthemius says that he is called " to face the storms of over- whelming calamities." ^ " It is our care," says the Emperor Martian,^ " to provide for the welfare of the human race." Yet there are in the later edicts many signs of conscious weak- ness. Their tone is frequently argumentative and rhetorical. There is an absence of the trenchant brevity with which Constantine or the elder Valentinian were wont to declare their will. It is singular to find an edict against Jews, Samaritans, and pagans opening with an argument for the being of a God.'' Elsewhere we meet with philosophical re- flections on the innate criminal tendencies of human nature,^ the hopeless selfishness of the rich," or on the functions of government. The Emperor Majorian in one law describes, with great vividness and passionate force, as if for posterity, the crushing weight of taxation and the hopeless position of 1 The emperors Gratian and Valen- * Nov. Valent. tit. viii. ad init. tinian permitted the provinces, after ' Leg. Anthem, tit. i. due deliberation, to send three dele- * Nov. Mart, ii., curae nobis est gates to represent their case to the utilitati humani generis providere : government, 0. Th. xii. 12, 7. The nam id die ac nocte prospioimus ut Curiales and Defensores sometimes universi qui sub nostro imperio vivunt tried to prevent the appeal of the et armarum praesidio ab hostili impetu provincials, xi. 8, 3 ; ix. 26, 2, with muniantur, ao in pace libero otio ao Godefroy's note. The deputation from seeuritate potiantur. Africa is mentioned, xii. 1, 166. Cf. '' Nov. Th. iii., quis enim tammente xii. 6, 27 ; Sym. Ep. iv. p. 46, captus, etc. recommending a similar deputation ° Nov. Valent. v., noxiae mentes from Campania, in 395 ; C. Th. xi. caeco semper in faoinus furore rapi- 28, 2. untur. ^ Ii. vii. 4, 33. ' Nov. Th. xxi., domesticis tan turn '^ See F. de Coulanges, La Gaule compendiis obsequentes bonum com- Hom. pp. 177 sqq. mune destituunt. CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 193 the farmer.^ Many of these edicts betray the style of the school rhetorician, and yet there is in many of them the ring of genuine sympathy for misery, which the imperial author more than half confesses that he is impotent to relieve. It is impossible to read some of these laws in which the Emperor describes " the agitations and anxieties of his serene mind," ^ without a feeling that he is probably the man most to be pitied in the Empire. Of all departments of administration, probably none caused the Emperor greater anxiety than that concerned with the food-supplies of the capital. To provide corn, pork, wine, and oil for the populace had for ages been one of the first tasks of the government.^ How dangerous any failure in this depart- ment might be to the peace of the city, and the safety of the upper classes, we can see clearly in the letters of Symmachus.* While the Goths were marching through Samnium and Brut- tium, or Gildo or Heraclian were stopping the corn-fleets, or the Vandals were occupying the ports of Africa, the govern- ment had to provide the daily subsistence of a great population. An army of public servants incorporated in hereditary guilds, Navicularii, Pistores, Suarii, Pecuarii, were charged with the duty of bringing up supplies and preparing them for consumption.^ It is evident, from the legislation of Honorius,® that the stress on this department was very severe in the early part of his reign, owing to the troubles of the Gildonic revolt in Africa, and again from the famine of 410. But the difficulty reappears more than once in the laws of subsequent years.^ One of the hardest tasks of the govern- ment was to prevent the members of these guilds from deserting or evading their hereditary obligations. It is well ' Nov. Maj. tit. iv. tantae urbis onera sustineri. Hie lanati ' Nov. Th. and VaZewt. 51, quae ergo pecoris invector est, ille ad victiim his angustils remedia providenda sunt populi oogit armentum, hos suillae mens nostrae Serenitatis exaestuat. carnis tenet ftinctio, pars urenda ^ Marq. Bom. Staaismrwaltung, ii. lavaoris ligna conportat, etc. Cf. 133. The chief authorities for the Paratitl. of Godefroy to 0. Th. xiv. tit. distribution of oil, wine, and flesh- 2 and 4 ; Wallon, Hist, de I'Esclavage, meat are Aug. Hist. vU. Sep. Sev. 23, iii. 173. Alex. Sev. 22, 26, Aurelian. 48, C. Th. ^ C. Th. xiii. 5, 34, 35 ; Zos. yi. 11, xiv. 24, 1, with Godefroy's notes ; describes the effect of the closing of G. Th. xiv. 4, 3. the African ports by Heraclian, Xi/ids * Sym. Ep. vi. 18, 26, 12. iviffiaixjie -rg irifKa xaXoriircfio! toO ' Id. Bel. 14, noverat (Aeternitas Tporipov. vestra) horum corporum ministerio ' Nov. Th. 39, 40. 194 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi known that the tendency of the later Empire was to stereotype society, by compelling men to follow the occupation of their fathers, and preventing a free circulation among different callings and grades of life. The man who brought the grain of Africa to the public stores at Ostia, the baker who made it into loaves for distribution, the butchers who brought pigs from Samnium, Lucania, or Bruttium, the purveyors of wine and oil, the men who fed the furnaces of the public baths, were bound to their callings from one generation to another.^ It was the principle of rural serfdom applied to social functions. Every avenue of escape was closed. A man was bound to his calling not only by his father's but by his mother's condition.^ Men were not permitted to marry out of their guild.^ If the daughter of one of the baker caste married a man not belongiug to it, her husband was bound to her father's calling.* Not even a dispensation obtained by some means from the imperial chancery,^ not even the power of the Church^ could avail to break the chain of servitude. The corporati, it is true, had certain privileges,'^ exemptions, and allowances, and the heads of some of the guilds might be raised to the rank of " Count." But their property, like their persons, was at the mercy of the State.* If they parted with an estate, it remained liable for the service with which the vendor was charged. To maintain such a system, and to counteract the endless attempts at evasion and corruption to which its galling restraints gave rise, required constant vigilance, which was as constantly defeated. The navicularii seem to have exceeded the very liberal allowance of time for their voyage, which was, under special circumstances, extended to two years.^ While the city was on the verge of famine, or when supplies were urgently ^ Wallon, iii. p. 174. C. Th. xiii. oooultis vel ambitiosia hoc preeibus 5, 35, universos quos naviculariae con- eliouerit, etc.; of. 1. 21, etiamsi nostra ditioni obnoxios invenit antiquitas, elicita fuerint aliqua subreptione re- praedictae function! conveniet famu- scripta ; cf. xiv. 3, 4. ^^""l- ™ . , „ , . ^ I'b. xiv. 3, 11 ; of. Nov. Th. 26. ^ 0. Th. XIV. 4, 8, ad munus pns- , -, . ' ' ^.^, tinum revocentur, tarn qui paterno ' -^*- ^Z' ^ ' "■ P"**'*!""' quam materno genere inveniuntur -^*- xiii. 6, 6 ; cf. 1. 9, which recalls obnoxii. ^ navicular property to the function, 3 7j,_ xiy_ 3 21. &Y&n when the sale took place twenty * lb. xiv! 3' 14. years before. ^ lb. xiv. 3, 20, si quo oasu, vel ^ lb. xiii. 6, 26 ; cf. 1. 21, CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 195 needed for the army in Gaul, the captains often lingered in port on any pretext,^ or made circuitous voyages in pursuit of their own profit.^ And the government was obliged to order greater despatch, and to prohibit the practice of private trading in which captains engaged, to the disorganisation of the service. Sometimes the captains entered their ships under another name, probably that of some person of influence, in order to escape their responsibilities.^ The functionaries, whose duty it was to expedite transport, were bribed to wink at malversation or neglect. Estates liable for the function were withdrawn from it by fraudulent sales.* In the year 450 ^ the guild of navicularii had been so reduced in numbers by the desertion of its members to other callings that the Emperor was obliged to order the restoration of all persons and estates to the function from which they had been withdrawn. Another edict of 455 orders the return to their various guilds of all corporati who have deserted their proper duties, in order to enter the army or the church.^ A similar command had been issued in 412 to all governors of provinces to compel the return of all guildsmen of the city of Eome who had migrated from Italy.^ This law, however, refers not to the stealthy evasion of onerous functions, but to the wholesale flight of all ranks, which had taken place during the invasion of Alaric, and of which we have such vivid accounts from S. Jerome and Eutilius Namatianus.^ The effects of the Gothic invasion of Italy in the early years of the fifth century have left many deep traces on the Code. We can almost hear the distant sound of the advancing hordes in some of the enactments issued during the years of Stilicho's ascendency. There are laws relating to every part of the military system, and every part is revealing weaknesses. During the period of the later Empire, landed proprietors had 1 C. Th. xiii. 5, 34, a. 410. ^ U. 26. 2 n. xiii. 5, 33. The penalty was '' G. Th. xiv. 2, 4 ; cf. xiv. 7, 2, of death. the same year, ordering the return of ' lb. xiii. 7, 2, multi naves suas the nemesiaci, signiferi, cantabrarii, diversorum (Potentum) nominibus et guilds connected with amusements or titulis tuentur. pagan rites and processions. See * lb. xiii. 6, 1. Godefroy's note. * Nov. Th. 38. The navicularii ^ Hierou. Ef. cxxviii. § 4, cxxx. amnici referred to were the boatmen § 4 ; Rut. Nam. It. i. 331 ; Claudian. who conveyed the supplies up the Tiber. de Bell. Oet. 217. 196 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book in to furnish recruits iu proportion to the size of their estates.^ These must have been drawn from the class of coloni, since the strictly servile class was excluded from the Eoman army.^ The Code in these years shows that recruits were urgently needed, not even the Emperor's own estates being exempted from the levy.^ Yet we know that, at the time of the Gildonic war, the senators exerted their whole strength as a body to resist the call of the Emperor.* And the result of their efforts is seen in the enactments of 397, which gave them the option of paying twenty-five solidi for each recruit for whom they were liable.^ The exclusion of senators from the army, and the prohibition of ordinary citizens to carry arms, had pro- duced their inevitable result. The military spirit had almost died out among Eomans. The army was swelled by corps of barbarian mercenaries, and the highest military commands were held by Germans. Ever since the third century the military profession had been declining in the public esteem.^ Eecruits were branded on entering the service, as if they were slaves in an ergastulum.^ The aversion to military service appears to have been growing. Towards the end of the fourth century the practice of self-mutilation to escape service had become so common that it had to be checked by the most cruel punishments.^ In the years between 396 and 412, Honorius issued nine edicts on desertion and the concealment of deserters.^ The crime seems to have prevailed in all parts of the Empire, but to have been specially rampant in Gaul and Africa. The agents of great ^ F. de Coul. L'livo. Germ. p. 145 ; The pretium fixed in the edict of 410, C. Th. vii. 13, 7, of the year 375. calling for recruits from the offioiales 2 C. Th. vii. 13, 8. They are judicum of Africa, is thirty ; G. Th. coupled in this exclusion ■with oau- vii. 13, 20. ponae, coqui, pistores, and persons 6 Duruy, vii. p. 203. employed in famosae tahernae. r Godefroy's" Paratitlon to C. Th. 3 76. vii. 13, 12, ideoque ne ^j; ^_ g, p. 254. patnmonium quidem nostrum a prae- statione {i.e. tironum) immune esse C*- Th. vii. 13, 4 and 5. That the patimur. proprietor from whose estate the recruit •* Sym. Ep. vi. 62, legati ordinis came was sometimes a party to the ex usu aotis omnibus reverterunt. crime is implied in the words, dominus Nam et tironum oonquievit indictio et ejus qui non prohibet gravi condemna- argenti nobis facta gratia est ; cf. Ep. tione feriatur. vi. 64. " lb. vii. 18, 9-17. For deserters ' C. Th. vii. 13, 13. In the law of in Gaul at an earlier period cf. Spart. Valens and Gratian of 375 the pretium mt. Pesc. Nig. c. 3, desertores qui tironis was fixed at thirty-six solidi. tunc innumeri Gallias vexabant, etc. CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 197 proprietors and the smaller farmers were evidently glad, even in the face of very severe penalties, to shelter the absconding soldier on their estates for the sake of his labour.^ Honorius does not, like his predecessors in 382, threaten to burn the offender alive.^ But the increasing emphasis of his laws, together with the organised search which he instituted, indicates the magnitude and inveteracy of the evil.' Apparently pro- prietors or their agents were not deterred even by the danger of confiscation from disobeying laws so often repeated. For in 440, when the growth of the Vandal power in Africa urgently demanded an increase of the army, Theodosius and Valentinian III. were compelled to make the offence of concealing recruits or deserters by agents or coloni punishable by death.* Along all the frontiers of the Empire forts and castles had for centuries been erected, which were garrisoned by troops called burgarii,^ who, like the guilds of the capital, were held in a species of hereditary servitude. Towards the end of the fourth century these frontier sentinels, especially in Gaul and Spain where their services were soon to be urgently needed, began to melt away. It is difficult to discover the influences which led to their dispersion. But in the year 409 an enactment of Theodosius and Honorius discloses in a startling way the denuded state of the frontier.^ In ordinary times slaves, along with tavern keepers, cooks, bakers, and persons following certain infamous callings, were excluded from the army.^ It must have been a dire extremity which forced the Emperor, contra Jiostiles impetus, to call the slaves to arms by the offer of a bounty and the promise of emancipation.® In the same year the free provincials every- where are appealed to, by their pride in liberty and love of country, to take arms.^ It was the year in which Eadagaesus 1 C. Th. Tii. 18, 12, actorem con- vit. Alex. Sev. c. 58 ; 0. Th. vii. 16, 1 ; soium severe supplicio damnandum esse Marq. Bom. Staatsverwaltung, ii. 691. censemus. « C. Tli. vii. 15, 1. ' lb. vii. 13, 8. ^ lb. vii. 18, 6, flammis seelera ^ lb. vii. 13, 16. This belongs puniantm-. to the year 406, as the names of the ^ lb. vii. 18, 13. Coss. Arcadius and Probus shovr. On ■• Xoi: Th. 44. the date of the invasion of Eadagaesus * On the fortification of the limes of. Godefroy on C. Th. vii. 13, 16 ; of. vit. Hadrian, c. 12 ; on the defence Gibbon, c. 30 ; Prosp. OhrOTi. ; Zos. v. 26. of the Gallic frontier by Valentinian, " C. Th. vii. 13, 17. They are pro- Amm. Marc. siviiL 2, 1 ; on the mised ten solidi pacatis rebus. The Limitanei Milites, with lands granted bounty offered to slaves in 1. 16 is two on condition of military service, solidi. 198 SOCIETY IiV THE WEST book hi with his Scythian army of 200,000 men swept down from the Alps on Lomhardy and Tuscany. Only once before had Eome been driven to put arms in the hands of her slaves, to repel the advance of Hannibal after the battle of Cannae.^ The urgency of the crisis is also seen in a law of 404, peremptorily requiring all possessores to contribute their share to the preparation and transport of supplies for the army, under a penalty of four times the amount due by them, without any exemption even for the Emperor's own estates.^ At a time when the rapid movement of troops and govern- ment officials was a matter of the first importance, the great roads and the posting service seem to have been getting into a bad state.^ There are more than ten edicts of Honorius on this subject from 395.* In another passage of the Code the Emperor says that the ruinous condition, into which the high- ways of the Italian prefecture have fallen, demands the exer- tions of all classes for their repair,* and he withdraws the immunity from this burden which former laws had conferred on the officials of " illustrious " rank. The regulations for the use of the imperial post had received close attention from Julian and Theodosius.'' A special corps of imperial officers called mtriosi were charged with the duty of seeing that these rules were not infringed.'^ But successive edicts show the difficulty of enforcing them. Honorius had once more to prohibit the abuse of the service. Even officers of illustrious rank had the privilege of using the cursus publicum withdrawn from them,^ unless they were specially summoned by the Emperor. The magistri militum are warned that without special leave they will usurp the pri%dlege at their peril.^ The prefect of the city who has done so is told not to repeat his offence.^" The use of imperial post-horses on cross roads is ^ Liv. xxii. 57. ' lb. xv. 3, 4, propter immensas ^ C Th. vii. 5, 2, in excoctioiie vastitates vianim, certatim studia buoellati (soldier's bread), in transia- cunctorum ad reparationem publioi tione etiam anuonae nuUiiis exoipiatur aggeris volumus festinare ; a. 399. persona, videlicet utne nostra quideni e j^ yjjj^ g^ 12-16 ; viii. 5, 46 sqq. Domus ab his habeatur immunis ; a. ? ^j ^.j ^jj. gg 404. . , ■ .'.. ■ 3 Yet Apollinaris Sidonius travelled ^ ■'''• ™?- ^' °^- easily by the public service in the year -'*■ '^™- 5, 56. 455 ; Sp. i. 5, publious cursus usui fuit ^'' lb. viii. 5, 55. Florentinus was utpote saoris apicibus accito. one of the friends of Symmaohus ; Ep. * a Th. viii. 5, 53-65. iv. 50, 50 ; Seeok, oxli. CHAP. 1 DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 199 prohibited under a heavy fine.^ From the words of the law of 401, this was evidently becoming a grievous abuse, and a heavy burden to the provincials, who had to provide additional horses to meet the strain.^ One can well imagine that, in those troubled years, persons hurrying to remote districts, to look after their private affairs, would by bribes, or by the illegitimate influence of rank, obtain from the officials of the post facilities of travel- ling which were fatal to the regularity of the government service, and onerous to the provincials. At the same time there are indications that the efficiency of the service was declining. An edict of 404 implies that there was a failure in the supply of servants and officials on the great roads.^ In Gaul and Spain the muleteers were being stealthily withdrawn * or liberated by the higher officials from the function to which they were bound.^ The animals in the public stables were not being properly fed, owing to the dishonesty of those in charge.* Corruption had crept into every grade of the service, and in one law the heads of the department are ordered to cease from their exactions and conform to the rules of the ancient discipline.'' The body of civil servants styled curiosi, as we have said, had as their chief function the superintendence of the posting service on the great roads,^ specially with the object of preventing the abuse of the privilege of evedio. In addition to this, they were expected to visit remote districts, and keep the government informed of any suspicious movements among the population. It is evident that a police of this kind in times of confusion was open to dangerous abuse. As a matter of fact these officers became so venal and oppressive that they had to be removed at one stroke from the province of Africa in 414.« The withdrawal of the curiosi from Dalmatia and the ^ G. Th. viii. 5, 59. * Ih. viii. 5, 58, ideoque Judex qui '^ lb. viii. 5, 63, quoniam multo3 sibi hoc vindicaverit, ut servum publi- perspeximus inlicita praesumptione cum liberet, unam lib. auri per homines paraveredos vel parangarias postulare, singulos, offlcium quoque ejus, si legem etc. supprimendo consenserit, simili poena ' lb. viii. 5, 65. The mancipes multetur. cursuspublioijby alawofGratian,could 6 /j_ yiii_ 5^ gg. be absent from their station only for 7 /j yj 29 9 thirty days in the year vui. 5 36 ; , " ^_ ^g, 6, in which their func- cr. 1. 51. Iney were servi publici, . , n j viii. 5 58. tions are denned. *'lb. viii. 5, 50, 58. ' Ih. vi. 29, 11. 200 SOCIETY IN THE JVEST book in adjoining regions in 415^ throws an interesting light on the state of the country and the public service. During the stormy years of Alaric's incursions, numbers of people in the districts through which he passed were driven from their homes. Some fled to less disturbed parts of the province, and put themselves under the protection of the great proprietors, by whom they were often detained in a species of servitude.^ Others took refuge in the islands which dot the upper part of the Adriatic. In the year 410^ the Emperor Theodosius, probably in pursuance of a compact with Honorius, ordered a strict watch to be kept in all the ports of Dalmatia, to prevent any person not provided with letters from the Eoman government from entering his dominions. This measure was taken expressly on account of the usurpations of Attalus and Constantine, and the occupation of the Western provinces by the barbarians.* To make this embargo effectual, Honorius distributed curiosi along the various points of com- munication between East and West, and these officers grossly abused their power by preventing people from seeking places of greater security, or by extorting bribes for permission to do so. The evil became so intolerable that by an order of 415 the curiosi were peremptorily removed from the districts which were plagued with such dangerous surveillance.^ Brigandage had long been a menacing evil in the Western world. Even in the middle of the fourth century the country districts of Italy had become so unsafe that through- out seven provinces the use of horses was forbidden,* not only to coloni and shepherds, but to proprietors, with specified exceptions, and their agents. At all times the shepherds of Samnium, Picenum, and Apulia were a wild and lawless race,^ and easily passed into the ranks of the banditti who pillaged the remote sheep - farms or infested the high roads leading to the capital. And the bailiffs ' C. Th. vi. 29, 12. On the import- ■> II. vi. 29, 12 ; v. Godefroy's note, ance of Dalmatia at this time see an * lb. ix. 30, 1 and 2, a. 364. excellent note of . Godefroy's on this Brigandage existed in Aquitaine in the law. ' timeof Ausonius(-^. iv. 23). Cf. Sym. 2 Cf. ib. V. 5 2. ii. 22, sed nunc intuta est latrooiniis sub- ■< ri ■• i« n urbanitas. n. vii. 16, 2. 7 Cf. a Th. ix. 31, 1, si vero . . . * Ib. vii. 16, 2, hoc enim et quisquam nutriendos pastoribus (filios tyrannici furoris et barbaricae feritatis auos), societatem latronum videbitur occasio persuadet ; v. Godefroy. confiteri. CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 201 of the great estates appear to have been often in league with the brigands, whose spoils they shared, and to whom they gave facilities for concealment. A law of 383 threatens them with " flammae ultrices " for this crime.^ In 391 the right of using arms, which by earlier laws was denied to civilians, was granted to all persons against brigands.^ In a letter of Symmachus about this time,^ he tells a friend that his usual migration to his country seat in Campania was prevented by the prevalence of brigandage in the neighbour- hood of Eome. In an edict of 3 9 9 * Honorius refuses the right of using horses, so necessary to their occupation, to the shepherds of Valeria and Picenum, The feeling about this temptation of the shepherd's life is curiously illustrated by a law of 409,° which warns all curiales, plebeians, and possessores against sending their sons to be nursed among shepherds. The terms of the edict imply that shepherd and brigand had come to be almost synonymous. But the bands of outlaws were recruited in Italy and Gaul from another class, of whom something has already been said. The country districts seem to have been infested by men who had deserted from the standards, and who, in hiding from the officers of the law, betook themselves to plunder for support. Full power to crush these dangerous criminals is given to the provincials in a law of 403,^ which classes deserters with lairones ; and the edict of 406^ orders the Pretorian prefect to inflict capital punishment on fugitive soldiers who have betaken themselves to this life of crime. Prom some later parts of the Code, which are supported by other authorities, there can be no doubt that the barbarian invasions let loose a great mass of desperadoes on the countries through which the invaders passed. Poor men who had lost everything were almost forced to join the gangs of marauders who swept over the country.^ To open a way for such persons to return to an 1 C. Th. ix. 29, 2. indultum. This law is a great con- ^ Jb, ix. 14, 2. fession of weakness in the government, 3 JEp. ii. 22. of. ix. 14, 2. * G. Th. ix. 30, 5 ; v. Godefroy on ' lb. vii. 18, 15. this law. * Of. Salv. de Gfub. Dei, v. § 24, e. 6 ; 6 76. ix. 31, 1. of. Apoll. Sid. Ep. vi. 4, where a woman ^ Tb. vii. 18, 14, cuncti etenim ad- has been carried off by the Vargi. For versus latrones publioos desertoresque brigandage in Gaul in 369 of. Amm. militiae jus sibi sciant pro quiete Marc, xxviii. 2, 10 ; and Oros. vii. 25, communi exeroendae publicae ultionis 2. On the Soamarae in Norioum cf. 202 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi orderly life, the Emperor in 4 1 6 ^ proclaimed a general amnesty for all this class of offences, for which he finds an excuse in the overwhelming calamities of the time. In general the signs of growing impoverishment become more and more frequent, and the tone of the later edicts shows how deeply the Eoman statesmen were impressed by the misery of the lower classes. A terrible famine, which raged throughout Italy in 450, had actually driven many of the poor to sell their children into slavery. An edict, issued on the suggestion of Aetius,^ cancelled all such contracts, on re- payment to the purchaser of the price which the parents had accepted, with an addition of 20 per cent. The plunder of tombs for the sake of the costly marbles they contained seems to have become a common offence.* The edict of Valentinian III. on this subject is full of old Eoman sentiment about the dead, and strangely resembles in tone that of Julian in which he deals with the same crime.* Its enormity, and perhaps its frequency, are indicated by the heavy penalties which were imposed, torture, death, or confiscation, according to the social grade of the criminal. Other indications of failing resources may be seen in the laws relating to public works and buildings.^ Already in the reign of Constantine, the Emperor complains of the neglect' which was allowing them in many places to fall into decay. The authorities are required by Gratian and Theodosius to repair ancient buildings before undertaking the erection of new ones.'^ Honorius forbids the alienation, on any pretext, of municipal funds which have been long allocated to the restoration or decoration of pubhc edifices.^ In another edict,^ the repair of ancient buildings, fallen into a ruinous state, is provided for out of the income of the public lands. It Eugipp. mt. S. Sev. c. x. 2. The ^ JS'ov. Valent. .h, quisquis e.x his Bagaudae in Gaul and Spain had rather quaelibet marmora aut saxa sustulerit a different character and origin. The paenae niox habeatur obnoxiua. The authorities are given in De Coulanges, clergy were the greatest offenders ; of. L'Inv. Germ. p. 102, n. 1 ; cf. Fauriel, Gregorovius, Hist, of City of Rome, i. i. 186 ; Arnold, Prov. Administration,^. 226. 163 ; Idat. Chron. ad a. 441, 443, 449. ■• C. Tli. ix. 17, 5. There are seven ^ 0. Th. XV. 14, 14. enactments on this subject in the ''■ Nov. Valent. 11, notum est fourth century, obscenissimam famem per totam ^ lb. xv. tit. 1. Italiam desaevisse coactosque homines ^ Ih. xv. 1, 2. filios et parentes vendere, ut disorimen ' lb. 1. 21. instantis mortis effugerent. Cf. 0. Tli. ' Ih. 1. 48. iii. 3, 1. ' lb. 1. 32 ; of. 34, 35. CHAP. I DISORGANISATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 203 would appear that the municipalities found an increasing difficulty in meeting such expenditure. The appropriation by private persons of public spaces' and edifices is dealt with in several laws of the same period.^ The public officials became very lax or corrupt in permitting the demolition of structures which were often interesting from ancient associa- tions or artistic beauty. The Emperor Majorian, in his too brief reign, exerted himself to check this vandalism and greed. He denounces, with genuine indignation, the criminal negligence which had long permitted the beauty of the venerable city to be defaced in order to provide cheap materials for mean private buildings.^ Any magistrate for the future conniving at an infringement of this law is to be punished by a fine of fifty pounds of gold, and any subordinate official similarly guilty is to be flogged and have both his hands cut off. Here and there we get a glimpse of the ruin which the confusion of the time brought suddenly on a once prosperous class. In the reign of Valentinian III., among the crowds who were driven from their homes in Africa by the Vandal invasion there were many men of rank and education who found their way to Italy, and some of them applied in their distress for leave to practise as advocates in the Italian courts. The Emperor granted their request in a rescript repealing the constitution of 442, which limited the number of those who were allowed to plead before the provincial magistrates.^ The later pages of the Code will often suggest similar pictures of many an obscure tragedy to the imagination of the sympathetic student. Famine and invasion took their usual tale of victims. But their worst ravages are usually soon obliterated or repaired by the kindly forces of Nature. The overwhelming tragedy of that age was the result not of violent and sudden calamities ; it was prepared by the slow, merciless action of social and economic laws, and deepened by the perverse energy of government, and the cupidity and cruelty of the rich and highly-placed. In the following chapter we shall try to realise its magnitude and to discover its causes. ^ C Th. XT. 11. 40, 41. parvum aliquid reparetur magna ^ Nov. Maj. 6, antiquarum aedium diruuntur. dissipatur speoiosa constructio et ut ' N(m. Th. 50 ; of. 34. CHAPTER II THE DECAY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE AGGEANDISEMENT OF THE ARISTOCRACY The evidence adduced in the previous chapter as to the dis- organisation of important branches of the public service, and the spread of poverty and lawlessness, is sufficiently ominous. Such disorders strike the eye at once and impress the imagination. Yet grave as they are, they are not so serious as other and less patent maladies, which had been long eating out the strength of Eoman society. In this chapter we shall try to discover the more deep-seated causes which, far more than the violent intrusion of the German invaders, produced the collapse of society which is known as the fall of the Empire of the West. A careful study of the Code will correct many a popular and antiquated misconception of that great event. It will reveal the fact that, long before the invasions of the reign of Honorius, the fabric of Eoman society and administration was honeycombed by moral and economic vices, which made the belief in the eternity of Eome a vain delusion. The municipal system, once the great glory of Eoman organising power, had in the fourth century fallen almost into ruin. The governing class of the municipalities, called curiales, on whom the burdens of the Empire had been accumulated, were diminishing in number, and in the ability to bear an ever-increasing load of obligations. At the same time, the upper class were in- creasing in wealth and power, partly from natural economic causes, partly from a determined effort to evade their proper share of the imperial imposts, and to absorb and CHAP. 11 THE DECAY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 205 reduce to dependence their unfortunate neighbours. In this selfish policy they were aided by the tyranny and venality of the officials of the treasury, whose exactions, chicanery, and corrupt favouritism seem to have become more shameless and cruel in proportion to the weakness of their victims and the difficulties of the times. And while the aristocratic class were becoming more selfish, and the civil service more oppressive and corrupt, the central government was growing feebler. It saw the evils which were imperilling the stability of society, and making provincial administration a synonym for organised brigandage. Its enactments abound with full and accurate descriptions of these disorders, and fierce threats of punishment against the criminals. But the endless repetition of commands, which were constantly disobeyed, was the surest sign of impotence. The decay of the middle class, the aggrandisement of the aristocracy, and the defiant tyranny and venality of the tax-gatherer — -these are the ominous facts to which almost every page of the later Code bears witness. Any one who wishes to understand the meaning of the great social catastrophe of the fifth century must fix his atten- tion on the condition and distribution of landed property, and on the classes who possessed it. The fruits of agricultural industry were at all times the great source of Eoman wealth; they were pre-eminently so in the period with which we are concerned. It is curious to notice how small a part of the Theodosian Code is devoted to the subject of trade and commerce, unless we comprehend under that head the laws relating to the many hereditary guilds which, under the surveillance of the State, were engaged in the production and distribution of commodities.^ There is indeed a section dealing with the special tax on traders (coUatio lustralis). But the commercial class (negotiatores) were, in the fifth century, probably on a much lower social level than the humblest landed proprietor. The senatorial order were forbidden to engage in trade.^ The curiales, who formed the governing body of the municipalities, although some of their members may have been traders also,^ were essentially a class of landed 1 C. Th. xiv. tit. 1. 6. Bk. xiii. tit. mrwaltung, ii. 230. i. deals with the special tax (luatralia * Cf. C. Th. t. 5, p. 11, Eitter's collatio) imposed on traders ; v. a good ed., and xiii. 1, 21. summary in Marquardt, iJiwi. Staats- ^ 2b- xiii. 1, 4 ; d. Godefroy's note. 206 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi proprietors, whose position in the eye of the State was fixed by their acreage.^ If fortunes were accumulated in commerce, they have left few traces in the pages of the Code. Sidonius, in the second half of the fifth century, gives an account of the trading venture of a merchant at Narbonne. The man has, on the credit of his good character, borrowed a little money from his friends without other security, and is going to invest it in purchasing some of the cargo of a vessel which has come into port. It appears from the description that the pursuit was not very profitable nor respected.^ In one of the later edicts we find merchants retiring from the greater centres of commerce to remote places, with the object of escaping the special, tax on their calling. It follows either that the impost was very heavy, or else that the profits of trade were very small. It has often been pointed out that the wars and social confusion of the latter part of the third century gave a shock to commerce from which it never recovered.^ In that disastrous time the vast destruction of wealth, the interruption of free circulation on the great routes, the loss of confidence, and the portentous depreciation ia the currency,* must have operated with crush- ing effect on the trading class. Nor was the fifth century a period more favourable to their pursuits. The invasion of Italy by Alaric and Eadagaesus, the invasion of Gaul and Spain by the Sueves and Vandals, the inroads of the Huns under AttUa, the raids of Saxon pirates on the shores of the Atlantic, and the presence of the fleets of Genseric in the Mediterranean, must have made the trader's life one of great danger and anxiety, and probably curtailed the volume of commerce to an enormous extent. Law, sentiment, the course of events, were hostile to the development of a great commercial class. The wealth both of the middle and of the upper class was almost entirely in the soil and its fruits, and, in the absence of free industrial development, there was Little ^ C. Tk. xii. 1, 33, ut quiomnque nomini negotiatio aleret vix possent a ultra Tigintiquinque jugera privato famis periculo vindicari. dominio possidens, etc. Curiali con- ' Duruy, Hist. Bom. vi. 378 ; cf. v. sortio vindicetur. p. 498 for the state of trade in the ^ Sid. JEp. vi. 8, Apicum oblator Antonine period. For the shock to pauperem vitam sola mercandi actione commerce in the third century v. De sustentat. Notice the contempt for Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. pp. 102, 103. this pursuit expressed in Nov. Th. 61, * Duruy, vi. 381 ; cf. Arnold, Prm. quos nisi indigna et pudenda armato Administration, p. 173 ; Marq. ii. 28. CHAP. 11 THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 207 capital outside the landed class available for the improve- ment of agriculture, or for the relief of the farmer who had got into difficulties. Of the three great classes into which Eoman society was divided, the plebeian class, composed of traders, free artisans, etc., who possessed no property in land, may, for our present purpose, be left out of consideration. The other two classes must, from their ownership of the land, and from their relations to one another and to the treasury, engage our sole attention. Of the tone and character of the highest class in the social hierarchy we have attempted to give some account in a previous chapter. They have left us literary materials which enable us to form a toler- ably clear idea of their spirit and manner of life ; but they seldom speak of their material fortunes or of the classes beneath them, and on these subjects our information must be drawn chiefly from the Code. The senatorial class in the provinces had, since the reign of Constantine, grown to enormous dimensions, partly owing to the policy of the emperors,^ partly from the efforts of a large class to gain an entrance into the official world, by which they secured at once rank and consideration, and exemption from many onerous burdens and obligations.^ The order had long ceased to have any connection with the exercise of senatorial fimctions. Hosts of its members had never even set foot in Eome.^ The title of senator became merely a social badge, implying generally the possession of considerable landed property, or the tenure of some office or dignity, which was often purely honorary and ornamental, The more ambitious and distinguished families valued themselves quite as much on these official distinctions as on their wealth, and their sons were trained to make it a point of honour to carry 1 Zosimus, ii. 38, dTreypdyj/aro 8^ rks municipal taxes ; (2) exemption from Twv 'KaiJ.irpoT&Tuiv oiirlas, t4\os iTndds (J torture ; (3) trial by a special court of Tivi ipdWiy oiVJs iiridriKey bvofm. The five taken by lot, C. Th. ii. 2 ; (4) peculiar charges of the senator's exemption from the aurum coronarium, position were : (1) the foUis glebalis, which was an impost on the curiales ; a land-tax ; (2) aurum oblatitium, a (5) exemption from the onus metatl ; gift made on certain anniversaries ; (6) exemption from coUatio ad opera (3) the expenses of the games on the publica. young senator being nominated to the ' C. Th. vi. i, 3 and 4. Constantius praetorship ; cf. Godefroy's Paratitlon, ordered senators to come to Rome on C. Th. vi. tit. 2. the occasion of their games when they 2 The special privileges of the received the oflBce of praetor ; u. Duruy, senator were : (1) exemption from vii. 179. 208 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi on the tradition of official service, and to win, if possible, a higher place than their ancestors had held. But the great mass of the senatorial class were merely landowners on a considerable scale, subject to certain imposts peculiar to their order, but, on the other hand, enjoying certain privileges and exemptions. Of these exemptions the most important was that which relieved senators from municipal burdens.^ The municipality, in spite of designations which might suggest other conclusions, was not confined to the walls of a town ; ^ it included, besides the town, a wide area of rural district extending round it, often for many miles. From the end of the second century the municipal constitution, as it is described in the Digest and many inscriptions,^ had under- gone serious changes. In the century following the reign of Constantine, it had fallen into irreparable decay.* The cen- tralisation of government and the multiplication of imperial functionaries had extinguished the free civic life, which was in an earlier period the greatest glory of Eoman administration. The popular assemblies lost their right of electing to the municipal magistracies ; ^ the local senate, or curia, was no longer composed of men who had held these offices,^ but of the landholders who possessed more than twenty-five jugera.' At the same time, the curia became less concerned with the local interests of its municipality, and more and more burdened with duties to the imperial government. Their responsibilities, indeed, as the governing body of their community, were heavy enough. They had the management of its finances,* and full liability for its debts and deficits. They had the charge of the police, and of all roads, bridges, and public buildings. They had certain duties in connection with the corn supply and the relief of the poor. When they rose to the higher local magistracies, they had to bear heavy, and sometimes ruinous, expenses for the amusements of the populace, prescribed by ' C. Th. vi. 3, 2, senatoriae Rom. Provincial Administration, pp. functionis curiaeque sit nulla con- 225-237. junctio ; 1. 3 is even clearer — a * Marquardt, i. 510. curialibua terria senatoria gleba dis- ^ lb. i. 468, 469. creta sit. ^ lb. i. 503. 2 F. de Coulanges, La Gaule Eom. ' C. Th. xii. 1, 33. p. 228. ^ F. de Coulanges, La Gaule Rom. 3 Wallon, L'Esclav. iii. 179 ; see 244, 251 ; Duruy, Hist. Rom. v. 379, Marquardt, i. 464, on the Inscriptions n. 1 ; C. Th. xv. 1, 33 ("De Op. of Malaga and Salpensa ; of. Arnold's Publ."). CHAP. II THE DECAY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 209 opinion and custom, if not by law.^ But far heavier and more crushing than these were their obKgations to the State. It was the practice of the Eoman government to devolve the collection, and even the apportionment of a tax, on the class who paid it.^ When the imperial authorities issued their precept for a certain impost payable by the landholders of a district in money or in kind, the members of the local curia had not only to fix the assessment on the proprietors in proportion to their holdings, but they had, through some of their members, the even more invidious task of collecting the amount payable by each.' In addition to all this, and it was a portentous addition in those times, the curiales were liable personally for the whole amount, and had to make good any deficiency in the collection. They had also onerous liabilities for the military commissariat, and the maintenance of the posting service on the great roads.* In the assessment and collection of the imperial taxes there was room for injustice, venality, and cruelty. And there can be little doubt that the curiales sometimes abused their trust, so that Salvianus ^ could ask " ubi non quot fuerint Curiales tot tyranni sunt ? " But fraudulent gains can have done little to alleviate the weight of a charge which, as time went on, became more and more crushing. Moreover, the curial class which had to bear it was chiefly hereditary,^ as every other class and caUing, from the highest to the lowest,'^ tended to become. Men with the required minimum of landed property were, from time to time, compelled to enter it.* But the plebeian class, composed of the various corporations of free labourers, artisans, and petty traders, fenced in and ' C. Th.; F. de Coulanges, La GauU ^ De Gub. Dei, v. 18. Rom. p. 252 ; Fauriel, i. 372 ; Wallon, " The class as a whole is described L'Esclav. iii. 181. often in C. Th. xii. 1 as originalis, 2 C. Th. xi. 7, 12 ; of. Godefroy's ex genere Curiali, familia Curiali orti, Paratitlon to xi. 1 ("De Aunona et sanguine C. obstricti, etc. Cf. Gode- Tributis ") ; cf. xiii. 1, 17. froy's Paratitlon to xii. 1, t. 4, p. 3 Ih. xii. 1, 117. The prin- 353. cipalea are threatened with torture for ' 0. Th. x. 20, 15, where even female embezzlement, fraudulent assessments, descent binds the children to a cor- and excessive exactions ; of. 1. 54. The poration. The Burgarii, or guards of curia chose collectors of revenue the frontier forts, were practically from among its members, and was public slaves, like the muleteers, etc., collectively liable for their fraud or of the cursus publicus. Cf. vii. negligence. Of. xii. 6, 9 ; Fauriel, i. 14, 1 ; vii. 15, 1, with Godefroy's 362 notes ; WaUon, L'Esclav. iii. 176. ^'C. Th. viii. 5, 26, 64. « 0. Th. xu. 1, 33 ; cf. 1. 63. 210 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi hampered in all directions by imperial legislation, could not furnish many recruits to fill the gaps in the curia. The later legislation seems to actually discourage the merchant from investing his gains in land,-' and so becoming a member of the municipal corporation. We have seen reason to believe that trade in the fourth and fifth centuries was not prosperous, and the ruinous condition of municipal finance might well deter any one who had been exceptionally fortunate in commerce from making an investment which entailed such personal risk and such incalculable obligations. The emperors were fully aware of the importance of a class on which had been laid such a weight of responsibility. No fewer than 192 enactments in the Theodosian Code, together with some of the Novellae, deal with the position and duties of the curiales. The curiales are described by Majorian as the " nervi reipublicae ac viscera civitatum," ^ although successive emperors from Constantine to Majorian had to lament that these " sinews of the commonwealth " were daily growing weaker.^ Conventional language or policy indeed kept up the fiction that the position of the curialis was an enviable and dignified one. The municipal body is described in terms which were originally applied to the Senate of the capital,* and which may have had a certain justification in the days of free municipal life, when a seat in the local Senate was reserved for citizens who had filled the higher magistracies by the choice of the burghers. When the curiales were deserting their functions, abandoning their ruined estates, and trying to hide themselves among serfs, they were loftily reminded by the imperial legislator of the stain which they were attaching to their splendid origin.' Doubtless the estimate of social rank is relative, and depends greatly on associations, imagination, and the extent of a man's horizon. At one time the member of the curia in a flourishing municipality may have found his ambition 1 0. Th. xii. 1, 72. According to reote appellavit antiquitas minorem Godefroy's commentary the merchant Senatum. investing in land became doubly liable, ^ 0. Th. xii. 1, 6. It is a curious as negotiator and as curialis. commentary on these fine phrases to 2 ^g^ jff^j I find in O. Th. ix. 36, 2, that curiales, „ ^ ■ .'. ■ ,„ . „ . not of the highest order, could be 3 0. Th. xu. 1, 13, quoniam Curias igj^ed by plumbatarum ictus, i.e. desolari cognovimus rhis is a law of ^^^^^ „f ^ ^j^j j^^^^^ ^.^-^ 'j^^^_ Constantine, dated 326. These punishments were forbidden by * Nov. Maj. 1, quorum coetum Theodosius, xii. 1, 80. CHAP. II THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 211 satisfied by local distinctions, and thought he had attained an enviable place when he rose to be flamen of his native town,^ or provided games for his fellow-citizens as aedile or duumvir.^ But the growth of the imperial despotism since Diocletian altered the whole character of municipal life. It was a very different thing to be a decurio in the second century and in the fourth or the fifth. Prom Constantine to Honorius the emperors were vainly struggling to stop a movement which had begun long before Constantine, and which threatened the curial body with utter depletion. The " flight of the curiales " was quite as menacing a danger of the later Empire as the inroads of the barbarians. The curiales fled in all directions, and sought a refuge from their perils and ruinous obligations in every calling. Some of the more wealthy and ambitious managed to get themselves enrolled on the lists of the Senate by diplomas (codicilli) surreptitiously or corruptly obtained.^ Numbers procured admission to some office in the vast Palatine service.* Others enlisted in the army,^ or took Holy Orders. Many of the humbler sort were willing to exchange their position for the practical servitude of corporations,^ such as the corn-importers or the armourers. Many more, in sheer despair, took refuge on some great estate in a dependence almost amounting to serfdom,' and sank even to the degrada- tion of marriage with a woman of the servile class. The motives which prompted men to forsake their munici- pality were very various, and undoubtedly ambition to rise in the world was one frequent cause of the desertion. Although the position of " decurio " is described by the emperors as one of " dignity " and " splendour," it was vastly inferior to that of the senatorial class. The difference between the two orders was much wider than that between a member of Parliament and a member of a provincial town-council in our days. The senatorial class had not only the prestige of wealth ; the greater families had also a practical monopoly of the highest ^ C. Th. xii. 1, 77. ad diversas militias confugiant ; of. U. 2 lb. xii. 1, 169. 31, 38, 11, 13, 147 ; of. Arnold's Prov. ^ lb. xii. 1, 180, 183, neminem Administration, p. 174. obnoxium Curiae ad inoongruam sibi s g^ y^_ xij, i^ 50^ and many others, fortunam deineeps aspirare eHcitis ^ jj. ^j;. 1, 149 (navicularii), 62 ""ermittat Magnitude tuae ^^^^^^^^^ fabrorum). * lb. xii. i. 22, cum Deouriones ' Nov. Maj. i. 212 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi prefectures and offices of state.^ They were often the descend- ants of men who had held such ofi&ces from time immemorial. They became almost as a matter of course governors, Pretorian prefects, and consuls. Their sons were trained to foUow them in the same " career of honours," and had often completed their term of public life and governed provinces larger than most modern European kingdoms at an age when a man of ambition in our days is only getting his foot on the ladder.^ The years of later life were passed in dignified tranquillity, and the enjoyment of that cultivated society, so stately and so exclusive, but so charming, which has been described in another chapter. It is little wonder that the ambitious bourgeois of the curial class should have struggled at any cost, by intrigue or by bribery, to raise himself and his children even to the outskirts of such a rank, from the rather sordid and limited ambitions and the wearing anxieties of his original position. If he remained in it, his highest hope could only be to reach the duumvirate, and pass into the select class of the principales,^ after com- pleting the whole round of duties and charges incumbent on his order. But before attaining that not very lofty eminence, he might find his patrimony eaten away by the claims of his own community, and the inexorable and insatiable demands of the imperial treasury. The numerous constitutions dealing with the migration of curiales into the senatorial class are the clearest proof, at once of the force of the tendency, and of the difficulty of restraining it. In the earlier part of the fourth century, the emperors appear not to have opposed insuperable obstacles to such ambition, provided the finances of the muni- cipality concerned did not suffer.* But in the beginning of ^ Sidon. Ep. v. 9. in some places ten in number, elected ^ Sextus Petr. Probus, born cin. 334, by the curia, after a regular ascent became proconsul of Africa in 356, and through all the duties and honours of Pretorian prefect of Italy, Africa and their order, and bound to remain in Illyricumin368(ac<.34);i;.Seeck'S)S2/m. the performance of their functions for cii. Symmaohus, born circ. 340, held his fifteen years, C. Th. xii. 1, 75, 171, first office in 366 (Seeck,xliv.). Olybrius 189. They were exempt from cruel and Probinus were consuls when mere punishments, xii. 1, 61. Cf. F. de youths. Cf. Hieron. ^jp. 130, 3; Claud. Coulanges, X'/tm;. ©erm. p. 37. in Gons. Olybr. el Prob. 63. Sidonius was prefect of Rome in his thirty- ■* C. Th. xii. 1, 57. A law of eighth year. (Mommsen, Praef. in Valens (xii. 1, 69) allows curiales Sidon. xlviii.) who have become senators prema- ' The principales (also optimates, turely (ante expleta munera) to retain Sym. Ep. x. 41 ; summi municipum the higher position provided they proceres, Auson. Mosell. 402) were perform curial duties. CHAP. II THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 213 the fifth century, the rapid depletion of the curiae and the complaints which reached him caused the Emperor to assume a sterner tone. The curiales were hluntly warned not to aspire to senatorial rank.-' The grant of coclicilli clarissimatus, often ob- tained, as we have seen, by underhand means, was peremptorily prohibited; and no one, bound to municipal functions, was henceforth to be raised to senatorial rank until he had passed through all the grades of his original order, and performed all the duties which were laid upon it. Honorius, in a rescript addressed to the prefect of the Gauls in 409,^ prohibits the principales, who formed the highest class of the curial body, from beiDg released from their functions until they had com- pleted a term of fifteen years in their grade. About the same time an persons of curial descent in the ranks of the army or the Palatine service^ were ordered back to their native cities, and any one of this class is forbidden henceforth to evade his hereditary obligations by entering either the military or the civil branch of the government service. It is well to remind ourselves that, at the time when these laws were promulgated, a considerable part of Gaul had been overrun by the Germans, and we may very well believe that the duties and burdens of the governing class of the munici- palities in those regions were becoming more harassing and onerous. To be sent back to the prison-house of curial slavery from some promising career at Eome, and to see every opening closed to himself and to his sons for the future, may well have driven many a man of the doomed order to despair. In truth, the curial's position had become one of those forms of hereditary servitude by which the society of the Lower Empire was reduced almost to a system of castes. In- troduced into the corporation at eighteen years of age, he could not, by any effort, legally divest himself of his in- 1 C. Th. xii. 1, 183, neminem ob- ^ lb. xii. 1, 171. Dardanus, to noxium Curiae ad incongruam sibi whom it is addressed, was Pretorian fortunam deinceps aspirare, elieitis prefect again in 413. codicillis clarissimatus, Magnitudo tuae ^ lb. xii. 1, 147. This law in- permittat ; of. 1. 180. Still more eludes all curiales who had entered the trenchant is Novella 8 of Theodosius : army, the Palatine civil service, the lege itaque perpetuo valitura decer- bureau of the Pretorian prefect, and nimus, nullum posthacCurialemsibimet all other similar occupations; cf. 11. dignitatis senatoriae infulas usurpare. 38, 40 44. 214 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi herited position until he had gone the whole round of official duty. The law did not absolutely prohibit a curial from rising to another grade in society, but it made his progress so slow and difficult that escape by legal means was possible to very few. Even when a man had surmounted all barriers, and become an imperial functionary or a senator,^ his children, born before his elevation, were retained in their original rank, and his property remained liable for the municipal charges of his class. If a man attempted to hasten his rise, or his deliverance, by overleaping some of the stages of duty, he was sent back to the original starting-point. The most splendid dignities conferred by the Emperor himself, which would in other cases raise a man to the Senate, would not avail for those of curial origin ; they are to remain in the bosom of their native place, " as it were dedicated with sacred fillets and guarding the eternal mystery, which they cannot abandon without impiety." ^ The curial's personal freedom was curtailed on every side. If he travelled abroad, that was an injury to his city; and if he absented himself for five years, his property was confiscated.^ Even for a limited time, and for a public object, as for example to present himself before the Emperor, he could not go from home without the formal permission of the governor of the province.* He was forbidden absolutely to reside in the country.® It is almost needless to say that he had no power to dispose of his pro- perty as he pleased, since the State regarded his property as security for the full discharge of all his financial obligations. He could not sell his estate without the permission of the governor of the province.^ He could not enter into any con- tract or business relation which might conceivably weaken the hold of the State upon his possessions. He was forbidden, for example, to accept the agency of an estate,^ or to rent public ' G. Th. six. 1, 69. prefect, and they may refer to the ^ Ih. xii. 1, 122, maneant in sinu monks and hermits ; cf. xii. 1, 63, patriae et , veluti dicati infulis, mys- which treats them with great con- terium perenne custodiant ; sit illis tempt. piaculum inde discedere. ^ Ih. xii. 3, 1 and 2 ; Nov. Maj. ^ lb. xii. 1, 143, 144, ne diu in 1, nunquam sine interpositione decreti fraudem civitatum municipes eva- Curiales alienent. gentur, etc. ' C. Th. xii. 1, 92. The curial is * lb. xii. 1, 9. branded with disgrace for engaging in ^ lb. xii. 18, 1 and 2. These a servile occupation, and renders him- aws are addressed to the Egyptian self liable to banishment. CHAP, n THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 215 lands, or to farm the taxes.^ The curial who had no children could dispose of only one-fourth of his estate by will, the remainder being taken by the municipal treasury.^ The municipality became the sole heir of an intestate curial.' If his natural heirs were not citizens of the place,* or if his daughter or widow married a stranger, they had to resign one- fourth of the property to the curia. He could not take Holy Orders without leaving his curial property in the hands of a proper substitute,^ or absolutely abandoning it to the service of the community. We have not by any means exhausted the melancholy list of the disabilities and hardships which were heaped upon this wretched class, but enough has been said to show the causes of its depletion. Indeed, the emperors them- selves, while they occasionally apply to it honorific terms, which to us now sound like grim mockery, had really no illusions as to its hopeless condition. It is often described in phrases {nevus, mancipatio) which seem to reduce it to a species of slavery. The curial in one law is denied the asylum of the church, along with insolvent debtors and fugitive slaves." When he is recalled from some refuge to which he has escaped, his worst punishment for disobedience to the law is to be replaced in his original rank. Nor could the legislator at one time find a woi-se fate for certain malefactors than to be relegated to the curia.'' The curia had in truth become an erffostulum, and all the ingenuity of lawyers, all the energy of imperial officers, were occupied for generations in trying to prevent the escape of the slaves of the curia.^ But the cruelty of their position made them reckless. Many fled to the solitude and hard fare of the hermitage." Others pre- 1 C. Th. xii. 1, 97 ; x. 3, 2, curia- " lb. sii. 1, 66 and 108. These libus omnibus oonducendoium Eei- laivs of A'alentinian I. and Theodosius publicae praediorum ac saltuum inhi- prohibit the consignment to the curia beatur faoultas. as a punishment-, but the prohibition ^ See note 3 in "VYallon, L'Esdav. iii. proves the existence of the practice, jgg ^ lb. ix. 45, 3, vigore et soUertia s'r Tl, V o 1 onp Ronis De- judicantum ad pristinam sortem Telut 0. 111. T. -, 1, ua Bonis ue manu injecta revocentur. cunonum^ ... 9 it xii. 1, 63, quidam ignaviae Cf. Wallon, 111. 1S6, n. 4. sectatores, desertis civitatum muneri- ° C. Th. xii. 1, 59, qui pai-tes eccle- bus, captant solitudinem ao secreta, et siae eligit, aut in propiuquum bona specie religionis cum coetibus Mona- piopria oonfercndo eum pro se faciat zonton congregantnr. The law men- Cunalem aut facultatibus Curiae cedat tjons Eg.Tpt and the East as the quam reliquit (cf. 11. 91 and 9S). regions to which it applies (v. Gode- ^ lb. ix. 45, 3. fro.v's note, iv. p. 434). 216 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi ferred the servitude of one of the lower corporations of artisans to the service of the commune ; ^ they hid themselves even among miners and lime -burners. Still more placed themselves under the protection of a great proprietor/ and were only too glad to bury themselves among the crowd of his cottiers and serfs, where their children, by some slave mother, would at least be delivered by the ignominy of their birth from their father's hereditary curse.^ While the numbers of the curial class were thus steadily shrinking, in spite of the cruel determination of the legislator, the burdens on those who remained were as steadily increas- ing in severity. The curiales were responsible for the collec- tion of taxes on landed property, and if the assessments in their district were not fully paid, they had to make good the deficit to the treasury. Now there is ample evidence that the tax-bearing acreage in the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth was rapidly contracting. In Campania alone, once the garden of Italy, more than 500,000 jugera had gone out of cultivation.* Symmachus, who was a large landowner, complains that agriculture was becoming a very expensive luxury.^ The later edicts frankly admit that over large areas the resources of the landed taxpayer were ex- hausted. And the admission is not confined to words. For in 408,* in 413, and again in 418, relief from the land-tax was granted to large districts in Italy, in one case to as many as seven provinces. A similar indulgence was shown to the landholders of Africa in 410,^ in 423, and, in consequence ' C. Th. xii. 1, 62, 149, 162. aegro animo praestet indutias. " lb. xii. 1, 76 ; cf. 146, multos = Sym. Bp. i. 5, namque hie usus in animadvertimus, ut debita praesta- nostram venit aetatem, ut rus, quod tione patriam defraudarent, sub umbra solebat alere, nunc alatur. Potentium latitare. . . . Omnes igitur " C. Th. xi. 28, 4, 7, 12. The relief quos tegunt expellant, ne dementia in 408 was given immediately after Nostra ab contumacia dissimulan- Stilicho's death, and was demanded tium in majorem indignation em exur- by the devastations of the armies of gat; 11. 155, 162, 179, 189, occultator Radagaesus and Alaric. The sena- detur flammis ultricibus. torial follis glebalis was included in " Nov. Maj. 1 ad init. the remission. * C. Th. xi. 28, 2. The lands had '' lb. xi. 28, 6, 13, and Nov. Valent. been first inspected by peraequatores, 7 ad fin. The remission in 410 and ancient documents consulted {v. "ob Africae devotionem " refers to Godefroy's note). Referred to in Sym. the resistance of Africa under Hera- Ep. iv. 46 ; cf. v. 12, frustra speravi clian to the attempts of Attains, the de peregrinatione solacium, cum om- Emperor set up by Alaric ; cf. Zos. nium locorum maesta facies nuUas vi. 7. CHAP. II THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 217 of the Vandal invasion, in 451. In the meantime the expense of government was probably growing. And, owing to the absence of floating capital, the government could not, as in modern times, throw part of its burdens on posterity by creating a public debt.^ It is likely that the necessities of the public administration, as the taxable area went on shrinking, must have caused a more and more exhausting drain on the resources of those provinces which still remained solvent. Even in the absence of statistics and explicit state- ments on the subject, there is an overwhelming probability in favour of the theory that the demands of the imperial exchequer on the curial class were increasing in proportion to the failure of former sources of revenue." We hear more and more of the land - inspectors ^ (jperaequatores) whose function it was to deal with the ownership of waste lands, and the apportionment or remission of the land-tax. They appear to have been infected with the general venality,* and their peculiar duties gave them opportunities, or offered temp- tations, to favour the more powerful proprietors,^ and to enrich themselves at the same time. Nor should it be for- gotten, in forming an estimate of the curial's economic position, that in the fourth and fifth centuries there was a steady and serious appreciation in gold, and that taxes had to be paid in gold, as well as in kind.® In the reign of Valentinian I. the ratio of silver to gold was 14|^ to 1.'' In the reign of ' The government met cases of ^ lb. xiii. 11, 4, ut quid remis- financial emergency by superindictions. sum gratia, quid interceptum fuerit Cf. C. TJi. xi. tit. 16, with Godefroy's fraude, convincant . . . Paratitlon to xi. tit. 6 ; cf. Paratitlon ^ lb. xi. 21, 3 ; cf. xiii. 6, 13 ; to xi. tit 1, and Duruy, vii. 167 n. Duruy, vii. 166. - F. de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. ' The calculation is based on a com- p. 51, disputes this ; but cf. c. 17 of parison of C. Th. xiii. 2, 1, with viii. the Decline and Fall, and ApoU. Sid. 4, 27. In the former (a.d. 397) 1 libra Carm. xiii. 19 addressed to Majorian. of silver is equal to 5 soUdi of gold ; in For an earlier time see Zos. ii. 38. the latter 1 libra of silver is equal to 3 On the duties of peraequatores, as 4 soUdi. Cf. Godefroy's notes to both defined in the Code, see Godefroy's laws. He sums up with the remark : Paratitlon to xiii. 11 ; cf. C. Th. xiii. adeo indies auri pretium iacrevit. 11, 14, 15, 16, with Godefroy's note on Cf. Sym. Sel xxix., paulatim auri 1. 16. These laws show at once the enormitate crescente. The yield of fairness of the government, and the the gold-mines seems, from the follow- opportunities for fraud open to the ing laws, to have been diminishing: peraequatores. C. TJu x. 19, 3 (365), for the encourage- ■> C. Th. xiii. 11, 10. The corrupt ment of gold-mining ; x. 19, 5, 6, peraequatores are heavily fined in 7, 9 (to keep the aurOeguli to their xiii. 11, 7. calling). Cf. Marq. ii. 43. 218 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi the younger Theodosius the proportion was 18 to 1.^ That is, in less than a quarter of a century the value of gold had risen by more than a fifth. This appreciation involved a correspond- ing increase of taxes payable in gold. And while the demands of the exchequer were increasing, the landowner was probably getting less and less for his agricultural products. And here we touch what was the chief economic cause of the ruin of the curiales. He was, as we have seen, liable personally for any deficit in the taxes payable by his district. The returns ■were almost certainly diminishing ; the government was in- exorable. The mass of the curiales were themselves small landholders who were unable to compete with the owners of great estates cultivated by the labour of slaves and coloni.'^ The land was, as a rule, their only source of income. As the land became less productive, while the burdens of their posi- tion became heavier, the weaker curialis must either fly from his municipality, as so many actually did, or else he must obtain temporary relief, on whatever terms, from the only capitalist to whom he could apply, the neighbouring large proprietor. This absorption of the smaller by the greater landowners, and the growing power of the latter, is by far the most interesting and important feature in the transition of society from the despotism of the Lower Empire to the regime of the feudal lords. The senatorial estate was a community by itself, supplying its own wants, and furnishing supplies for the neighbouring markets or for the government service. Part of it was cultivated directly for the lord by slaves ; and the building and carpenter work, the spinning and weaving, were also carried on by slaves. Another part of the estate was cultivated by a class designated by many names, and occupying different grades of dependence.' Some of them were strictly serfs, ascripti glebae, who, on the sale of an estate, passed to the new owner. Some were in the position of metayers, ' C Th. viii. i, 27. question of the origin and nature of ^ Of. Arnold, Provindal Adminis- the status of the coloni is no part of tration, p. 161. the purpose of this chapter. For a ^ C. Th. ix. 10, 3. Cf. the Paratitlon review of some of the different theories of Godefroy to v. 9, "De Fugitivis see AVallon, L'Esclav. iii., chap, on Colonis"; "Wallon, L'Esclav. iii. p. " Travail de Campagne. " Cf. Arnold, 252 ; De Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. Provincial Administration, pp. 161, pp. 93, 139. To discuss the vexed 162. CHAP, u THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 219 paying their lord a certain proportion of the produce which they raised. In other cases they were men who had become indebted to the lord and, being unable to pay their debt, had given up their land, remaining on it to cultivate it on certain terms.^ Sometimes they were broken men, who had deserted their farms from various causes, poverty, oppression of government officials or powerful neighbours, or the wish to escape the heavy burdens imposed on the curial class," and who put themselves under the protection of some great pro- prietor. There is no social phenomenon of the time which deserves closer attention, for many reasons, than the position of these free settlers on the great estates. It is an indication at once of the breakdown of the middle class, and of the growing power of the aristocracy. For nearly a hundred years the Code gives evidence of the determination of the emperors to check the tendency towards this form of patronage.' Those who sheltered the fugitive curialis are threatened with punishments of increasing severity, fines, confiscation, infamy, till the law of Honorius in 415 * orders the agent or bailiff who connives at the offence to be given to the " avenging flames." But all the vigour of the government could not make head against an irresistible tendency of the times. In the reign of Valentinian III. and in the reign of Majorian, the authorities have to combat the evil once more.° The edicts of these emperors describe the condition of such dependants in a manner which singularly harmonises with the contemporary picture given by Salvianus. The injustice of governors and the ' Salv. de Criib. Dei, v. 39-44. He evade the lustralis ooUatio. By xi. distinguishes two classes : (1) defen- 24, 2 the pationus is fined 25 pounds soribus suis omuem fere suhstantiam of gold for each case. In 399 the fine suam prius quam defendantur addi- is raised to 40. In 1. 5 the offender's cuut ; (2) cum agellos suos perdunt whole property is confiscated. On the . . . aut deserunt, fundos majorum evasion of tribute in Gaul by potentes, expetunt et coloui divitum fiunt v. xi. 1, 26. . . . jugo 38 iuquilinae abjectionis ^ Tb. xii. 1, 179. addiount. ° X^cn\ Valent. 9, advenae plerum- 2 C. Th. xii. 1, 76, 146 ; Xov. que tenues abjectaeque fortunae quo- ilaj. 1. On the origin of this form rundam se obsequiis jungunt. Nov. of patronage r. TN'allon, iii. p. 271. Maj. 1 ad init., illud quoque sibi ' C. Th. xi. 24, " De Patrociniis dedecoris addentes, ut dum uti volunt Vicornm." The subject is included in patrociniis potentum colonarum se this book xi. which deals with taxa- anoillarumque conjunctione poUuerint. tion, because patronage was e.xercised Farther on the Emperor says : ven- to defeat the claims of the treasury ; dunt defugas Curiales et obnoxios cf xiii. 1, 21, which shows that oorporatos cum eos occulta depredatione negotiatores used this influence to concusserint, • 220 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book in venality of tax-gatherers have driven many to quit their native cities, and, " forgetful of the splendour of their birth " (it is thus the perilous rank of the curialis is described), to place themselves under the protection of some powerful patron. We need not believe, as Salvianus does, that the rich proprietor deliberately set himself to reduce his clients to serfdom; but it is only too probable that such prot^gds would inevitably sink to the position of coloni. It was, however, through direct indebtedness to the great proprietors that the smaller generally lost their independence. As we have seen, there was little capital in that age derived from any other source than land. If a farmer got into diffi- culties from bad seasons, or under the pressure of taxation and municipal burdens, his readiest resource was to borrow from some rich neighbour.^ There were many ways by which the great man could lay his hands on his debtor's land, and the Code leaves no doubt that the most unblushing oppression and chicanery were often employed to dispossess him.^ The accumulation of arrears of interest led to forced sales or donations to escape from an intolerable burden. If a small estate were put up for sale, the great man had few competitors, for there was little capital seeking such investment, and the government actually seemed to discourage a merchant from purchasing land by holding him liable not only for the land- tax, but for the lustralis coUatio, for which, as a trader, he was liable before the purchase.^ The terms of one law of Honorius make it probable that mere terrorism exercised by great nobles or officials, without any legal rights whatever, often compelled the small farmer to part with his land by pretended sale or gift.* The secret sale of property by curiales flying from their municipality was also a growing practice. In spite of all the obstacles which the law interposed to prevent the alienation of such estates, there is clear evidence* 1 See an example in Sid. Ep. iv. 24. donationes, transactiones quae per po- The needy debtor is paying interest at a tentiam extortae sunt, praeoipimus ratewhiohwill double the capitallent in infirmari ; of. ii. 9, 4, pacta quidem ten years ; of. Chaix, (SirfoK.ii. 236. Per- per vim et metum apud omnes satis mission to senators to lend at 6 per cent constat cassata viribus, respuenda. is given in 0. Th. ii. 33, 4 {v. Godefroy). , ^ lb. xii. 1, 72 ; of. xiii. 1, 4. C. Th. ii. 33, 3 allowed senators who ^ Ih. iii. 1, 8. were minors to lend money at interest. ° Nov. VaUnt. 10, notum est post ^ C. Th. iii. 1, 8 prohibits secret fatalem hostium ruinam qua Italia sales by fugitive curiales : venditiones, laboravit, etc. CHAP, u THE DEC A Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 221 that, from the time of Alaric's invasion, many sales had taken place without the formalities prescribed when a curialis parted with his estate. The law of Valentinian III., which deals with such cases, shows a tenderness and consideration for the difficulties of an unfortunate class, very unlike the spirit of earlier legislation on the subject. It maintains the validity of all such sales,^ when effected under the pressure of extreme necessity. But a heavy condemnation is passed on men of official rank who have abused their power by violence,^ or by refusing payment of the purchase money, to inflict injustice on a needy vendor. The culprit is compelled not only to pay the full price, but to reinstate the unwUling vendor in posses- sion. It is clear that the class of small proprietors had little chance of holding their own in such a time as these laws describe to us. The Code frankly admits the overwhelming nature of the burdens which the State imposed upon them. Every year they sank deeper into debt, and every year they were less and less able to meet their liabilities.* They could borrow only from the very men who were hungering for their land, and who desired their extinction. The means of com- passing their ruin lay ready to the hand of a great proprietor, who, if not in office himself, was connected by social free- masonry with the official class, who could prejudice the judge on the bench, or bribe the meaner officers of the law. It seems clear, then, that the smaller landed proprietors were, from the various causes which we have described, be- coming steadily poorer and less numerous. But whUe this change, fraught with momentous consequences to Eoman society, was in progress, another, in the opposite direction, is equally observable. The upper or senatorial class was growing not only in wealth, but in power. Its affluence can be easily estimated from the letters of Symmachus, from the declamation of Salvi- anus, and from the picture of Gallic society which ApoUinaris Sidonius has left us. Its growing power is written on many a page of the Code. In spite of the vast and complicated 1 Nm. VaU-nt. 10, imquum est, tam ditori solidorum numerum inferat justds praeoedentibus causis, confectae qui tabulis continetur, possessionem venditioni ob boo solum, quia decreti nihUominus perditm-us, ut ad domi- interpositio defuit, adimi firmitatem. nmn redeat cui taliter probatur ablata. 2 76. 10, quod si emptor officio et ^ lb. 10, usuris in majorem cumu- administi-atione perfunotus, etc., ven- lum cresoentibus. 222 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi machinery which had been elaborated by successive emperors for the administration of the proviaces, the task of governing them with purity, economy, and fairness to all classes became more and more difficult. The greatest vigilance and energy were exerted by the central authority to secure the independ- ence of the provincial governors,^ and to repress the tendency to corruption and oppression among the collectors of taxes and the inferior officers of the law.^ But the very number of edicts directed to these ends discloses the impotence of the emperor. Heavy fines, banishment, torture, death, are all ineffectual to cheek the inevitable corruption of a bureaucratic government, operating over an area probably the widest which has ever been ruled directly from a single centre. The distance of the seat of government was undoubtedly the greatest difficulty, and it was a difficulty fuUy recognised by the imperial legis- lator. With all the facilities of the Eoman posting service, it was in many cases only after a long interval that the com- plaints of the aggrieved provincials could reach the government. The sense of remoteness must have inspired corrupt and un- principled officials with an audacity which they would not have shown if their conduct had been liable to more iustant exposure. But beyond a doubt, the most serious obstacle in the way of pure and honest administration was the power of the provincial aristocracy. In the middle of the fourth century the patronage which enabled the smaller proprietors to evade their share of the taxes was severely dealt with by Valens.^ At the close of the century the threat of still heavier penalties reveals the fact that the mischief is still rampant.* The patronage was probably paid for in a fashion which still further increased the influence of the patron. The upper class or potentes, as they are called, ^ C Th. i. 8, 1. Honorati are for- beoame intestabilis, required to restore bidden to sit with judges on the fourfold the amount of his illicit gains bench ; cf. the whole of tit. 7, " De (which could be recovered from his Officio Eectoris Proviuciae." heirs), and prohibited from holding the '■^ lb. ix. 26 and 27, esp. 27, 2, hi same office for a second term, (See qui in Kepublica versati sinisterius ix. 27, 1, 3, 4, and ix. 26, 2, with sunt, perpetuo sibi omnes dignitates, Godefroy's note. ) vel legitimas vel honorarias, sciant ^ Ih. xi. 24, 2, abstineant patro- esse praeclusas. Cf. i. 7, 1, cessent ciniis agricolae, etc. Cf. Amm. Marc, jam rapaces officialiummanus, cessent, xxxi. 14 for the character of Valens inquam ; nam si moniti non cessaverint as an administrator, praecidentxir. Note that this is a law ■* 0. Th. xi. 24, 5, exoellentia tua of Constantine, a.d. 331. The guilty . . . severiorem poenam nos addidisse official was degraded to plebeian rank, cognoscat. CHAP, n THE DEC A Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 223 not only engaged in trade themselves/ but secured the exemp- tion of the regular trader from the tax imposed upon his calling. Creditors with usurious or fraudulent claims ^ induced great lords to give their names to the suit,' with the object, no doubt often attained, of over-awing or influencing the judge. It is needless to say that the rich were equally energetic in their own interests. We learn, both from Salvianus * and from the Code,^ that the wealthier class in Gaul contrived to shift their share of the land-tax on their poorer neighbours. And in a law of the very next year we find that the practice of delaying payment of taxes ® had become so general that Honorius was compelled to impose a fine of fourfold the amount on the morator. But, without any open defiance of the government, the upper class had many means of cheating the treasury. If, for example, an inspector came down to revise the land assessment,^ and to settle the liability for waste lands, it was not difficult for a great proprietor to see that the settlement was in his favour. If he did not himself appear upon the scene, his agent could refuse information about the rating, or otherwise impede the inquiry. And unfortun- ately the inspectors, like so many of the officials of this period, were easily accessible to bribes or other forms of corrupt influence. The procuratores of the great estates, who, as a class, were very corrupt and unprincipled, doubtless did many things of which their masters might have disapproved. They were generally men of low or even servile origin,^ wield- ing almost uncontrolled power ia the absence of the proprietor. The government repeatedly shows its distrust of them.^ In ^ C. Th. xiii. 1, 21 ; cf. siii. 1, ' lb. xiii. 11, 2, si Peraequatore 5, which discouraged trading among misso, aliquis ant Procui'atoreni suum potentes. retraxerit, aut oolonum ad contumaciam ^ i?). ii. 18 1 • cf. xiii. 1 15. retractationis aj-maverit, etc. Cf. 1. 7 3 n>' '■ 1 ' '11 ' " ' ' ' °^ *^^ corruption of peraequa tores. xo. XI. 1, -x. s ^ ^jj j^ go. In prohibiting Be trub. Bet, V. 2!5, lUud mdig- ^ curialis to become procurator, the nms ac poenalius, quod omnmm onus Emperor uses these words : ille vero non omnes sustineut, immo quod ^j immemor libertatis et generis iu- pauperculos homines tributa divitiun ^missimam suseipiens ^•iUtatem, ex- premunt, et mfirmiores ferunt sai-cmas istimationem suam servili obsecunda- fortiorum. tione damnaverit, deportationis iucom- is C. Th. xi. 1, 26, nullum gratia modo subjugetur. relevet ; nullum iniquae partitionis 9 j; g_ ^j_ j, j^ 7^ moderatores vexet incommodum sed pari omnes Provinciae curam gerere jubemus ne sorte teneantur. ouid Potentium Procuratores perperam " lb. xi. 1, 2". illiciteve committaut. 224 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi the time of the invasions they gave shelter to fugitives with the object of retaining them as slaves.^ They were in league with brigands/ and harboured them on the estates of which they had the management. So lawless had they become that the procurators in several provinces were specially for- bidden the use of horses,^ and they were coupled in the pro- hibition with those wild herdsmen of Samnium and Apulia who so easily passed into the ranks of professional robbers. They are also associated in several edicts with the crime of concealing deserters from the army.* In fact the agent of a remote estate must have often involved his master in the meshes of the law. The procurator seems to have sometimes gone so far as to hypothecate an estate without his master's knowledge,^ and more than one law deals with this practice, in order to protect at once the owner and the hona fide mortgagee. Eor the procurator who engaged in such transactions was a man who was probably accumulating a fortune of his own, and this peculium,^ subject to any prior claim of the master, was made liable for the repayment of unauthorised loans. It may be readily believed that such a class as this, often under no control or supervision, would exercise their power more un- scrupulously and oppressively than even the most tyrannical aristocrat. The most serious danger, however, to the small landowner from the great lords lay in the facilities which the latter possessed for corrupting the sources of justice. The governor, who had to hear a case between a wealthy man and a poor man, belonged to the senatorial class, in many cases was a member of the aristocracy of the province in which the case arose.'' The litigant of his own rank could easily bring private pressure to bear on him to influence his decisions. Even an upright man like Symmachus had no scruple in writing to his official friends about cases which were to come before them.^ It is to the credit of the emperors that they 1 0. Th. V. 5, 2. The aotores and ^^ lb. ii. 30, 2, "De Pignoribus." proouratores who disobeyed this law 6 /j_ ji_ 32 \ were to be sent to the mines. _„_, ■r._.. rj-r ^ lb. ix. 29, 2, si vero Actor sive _ ' ^tFf'^^f^' ^^'fj?'' ^'f i i°i Procurator latronem domino ignorante ^.^^1' ^°9' 4/|> the grandfather of Apoll. occultaTerit...flammisultricibuscon- Sidonius (Ep. m 12), Tonantius cremetur lerreolus, etc. These are not men- ' ii ix 30 2 tioned, however, as instances of corrupt ^ lb. vii. li 5 and 12. The offending administration, procurator is to be capitally punished. ^ Sym. Ep. Vf. 68 ; ii. 41 ; ii. 87. CHAP. II THE DEC A Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 225 took the severest measures to secure judicial purity. The regulation against governors having a second term of office in the same province ^ was intended to check the growth of con- nections and influences which might prove too strong for the virtue even of a well-meaning ruler. The danger is still more clearly recognised in the rules which forbade the admission of any one, rich or poor, to an interview with a governor after his court had closed at midday,^ and which enjoined him in his progresses to refuse invitations to " the luxurious quarters " which his wealthy friends were ready to place at his disposal.^ Very explicitly, in the year 408, Honorius forbids Honorati to sit on the bench with a judge ; * all causes are to be heard in open court with the fullest publicity.^ A volume might be written on the subject of financial corruption in the last century of the Western Empire. When one wanders through the maze of enactments dealing with fiscal oppression, malversation, and evasion, one knows not whether more to pity the weakness of the government, or to wonder at the hardened cupidity and audacity of the classes which were leagued together in plundering both the treasury and the taxpayer. In the early part of the fifth century, the proviuce of Africa, so essential to the very existence of the capital, yet held by so precarious a tenure, appealed by de- putation to the Emperor for relief from its miseries.^ The complaints relate almost entirely to oppression and injustice in the collection of the various branches of the revenue. The upper classes secured immunity from their proper burdens, or succeeded by unfair assessment in shifting them on to the class less able to bear them. The soldiers and officials grossly abused the right of free quarters in moving through the province.^ The various grades of public servants whose business it was to collect the revenue,^ or to press for 1 C Th. ix. 26, 4, si quis Procon- = lb. i. 7, 2. sularem aut Ticariam potestatem, etc., e jj. xii. 1, 166 ; xii. 6, 27 ; vii. 4, 33. iterare temptaverit, fisco ejus onme 7 jj_ yjj_ 3^ j^q. For a good patrimoniuin sociari decemimus. summary of the 'sufferings of Africa at ^ rb. i. 7, 6. this time from corrupt officials see 3 lb. i. 7, 4, non deverticula deliciosa Godefroy's note to vi. 29, 11, the law sectetUT. Any diversorium lent to a which orders the cnriosi to he expelled judex in the face of this law is to be from the province. confiscated. s gusceptores, ib. xii. tit. 6 ; cf. * Ib. i. 8, 1. Fauriel, i. 362. 226 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi payment,^ or to keep the revenue accounts,^ were all guilty of the grossest fraud, in collusion with each other, or of out- rageous terrorism and violence. Alike in Africa and Gaul, the great landowners at this time, taking advantage of the evident weakness and difficulties of the government, either evaded or delayed their payments.^ In many cases their agents, Kving in remote independence,* offered a stolid resist- ance to the demands of the treasury, and that at a time when the utmost despatch was needed to prepare for the storm which was ready to burst both upon Gaul and Italy, and when the government had on its hands a troublesome war in Africa. Not content with this, they shielded by their patronage weaker men who had perhaps more excuse for falling into arrears.^ When corn was urgently needed to save the city from famine, or to provision the troops for Gaul, they allowed vessels bound to the transport service to be entered in their names.^ They bribed the officers of the census to make false entries of property liable to taxation, and land- inspectors to relieve them of the burden of unproductive estates.'' If they purchased an estate from a man in diffi- culties they would often, by a surreptitious contract,^ shift the burden of the capitation-tax, payable on the coloni of the estate, to the shoulders of the needy vendor. By influence or bribes ^ they induced the book-keepers (tabularii) to cook their accounts in favour of themselves or their chents. It is difficult to conceive a powerful and wealthy class, many of whose members must have known the responsibilities of govern- ' Compulsores, 0. Th. xi. 1, 34, with ^ C. Th. xiii. 7, 2, multi naves suas Godefroy's note ; cf. Amm. Marc. xxii. diversorum nominibus et titulis tu- 6. entur ; cf. xiii. 5, 26, 37. 2 Numerarii, aotuarli, C. Th. viii. ^ Deserta praedia added by tie in- tit. 1. See Godefroy's Paratitlon, and speotors to a productive estate were cf. 1. 4, vorax et fraudulentum nume- exempted from the senatorial land-tax rariorum propositum ; 1. 6, numerarii by vi. 2, 13 ; of. xiii. 11, 8 and 12. qui publicas civitatum rationes versu- The process of im§o\-fi or adaequatio is tis fraudibus lacerare dedicerunt, sub- explained in Godefroy's notes to these jaceant tortori. laws. Of. xiii. 11, 10, and Godefroy's ' Ih. xi. 1, 25, 26, 27. These laws notes on xiii. 11, 16. were issued in 398 and 399. s 71 • i n/. ^01 n * Sym. V. 87, ix. 6, Actores absen- „' ^^- ^^; h ^V cf. Salv. v. c. 7 , tium,quibusreslonginquacommittitur, J^iarquarat, 11. Jdi. tanquam soluti legibus vivunt. ' C. Th. xiii. 10, 1 and 8, quoniam ^ 0. Th. xi. 24, 4, qui fraudandorum Tabularii per collusionem potentiorum tributorum causa ad patrocinia solita sarcinam ad inferiores transferunt . . . fraude confugerint ; cf. Salv. de Chib. Tabulariis erit flamma supplicium ; cf. Dei, V. 38. Sym. Ep. ix. 10. CHAP. 11 THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 227 ment, and all of whom might have known the overwhelming difficulties of the time, so lost to all sense of public duty. If such was the public morality of the senatorial class, the tone of the lower grades of treasury officials was not likely to be marked by greater probity or a higher sense of honour. It would be difficult, without writing a treatise on the subject, to give an exact idea of the various devices by which the army of treasury officials, through all its many grades, contrived to defraud either the government or the taxpayer, or both to- gether. It would seem that persons of the lowest origin were finding their way into the ranks of the service by surrep- titious means.^ They are plainly accused of looking to plunder for the means of buying themselves advancement to higher places." Their character is painted in the blackest colours.' They are threatened with every mode and degree of penalty, heavy fines or wholesale restitution of illicit gains, degradation to plebeian rank, death by the sword, by torture, by the " avenging flames." * They are prohibited from seeking any renewal of their term of office,^ in language which an honest service would have resented as an intolerable insult. Yet no expedient seems to have been of any avail to check the headlong cupidity of the time. The evil, so far as we can judge from the Code, is as rampant in the reign of Majorian ^ as in the reign of Constantine. The allurements or the pro- tection of the great, the coUusion of comrades equally bent on plunder, remoteness from the seat of empire, the dumb patience of the rustic folk who could not defend themselves, and whose natural protectors were often in league with their plunderers — all these things produced a sense of impunity which the distant sound of imperial menaces seems to have hardly disturbed for a moment. ^ C. Th. vi. 27, 18, ad scliolam Agen- non aooipere soiimt agentes in rebus, turn in rebus passim plurimi velut See the terms of opprobrium collected ad quoddam asylum convolaverunt, in Godefroy, Paratitlon to C Th. viii. quos vita culpabUes et origo habet tit. 1. ignobiles, et ex servili faece prorupisse * C Th ix 27 1 • xiii 10 S. demonstrat ; of. vi. 27, 4 for rules of e ri • « o ' ' ' admission to the service. -^ *■ '^' 26, 2. ■^ Ih. vi. 29, 11, qui ex ooUeota pro- ^ X'ov. Maj. 1, oompulsor nihil viuoialium praeda ad majores militias amplius a Curiali noverit exigen- festinant. (It need hfa-dly be said that dum quam quod ipse a possessore sus- militia. is appUed to Palatine service ceperit . . . omnis concussionum generally. ) occasio removeatm' ; cf. the law of 3 Cf. Anim. Maio. xvi. 5, §11, rapere Constantine in 315, C. Th. viii. 10, 1. 228 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi The susceptores, who were often taken from the curial class, had many opportunities for fraud and oppression.^ Their business was chiefly to receive the tribute paid in kind for the support of the troops and government service.^ Sometimes they did not give receipts at once,^ or they gave them in invalid form, without the particulars prescribed by law. Sometimes they used false weights and measures,* so that the unfortunate farmer had to furnish more than his proper quota. Or, again, they would lend themselves to tactics by which the validity of a receipt was disputed, and the payment levied a second time.^ The accountants of the army stores (numerarii, actuarii) were audacious offenders. They are plainly charged with falsifying accounts and drawing larger supplies than the corps were entitled to.° The actuarii seem to have been a particularly troublesome class, and are ordered away from the capital by a law of Arcadius in 398.'^ But it was at the hands of the various officials charged with the duty of enforcing payment and collecting arrears that the provincials suffered the worst cruelties. There was apparently no possible means of restraining them. Their insolence is described most vividly and punished most fiercely in some of the latest laws in the Code.^ By demanding receipts which had been lost,® by over -exaction,^" by fraudulent meddling with the lists of the census,^^ by mere terrorism and brute force, they caused such misery and discontent that the Emperor ^^ had more than once, at all costs to the revenue, to order their removal from a whole province. Their exactions and super- exactions had reached such a point in 440 ^' that Theodosius and Valentinian issued a rescript which gave the governors of provinces the power of punishing them without any fear of • V. Godefroy's Paratitlon to 0. Tli. '' lb. viii. 1, 14. xii. 6. 8 2Voy. Valent. 7 ; Maj. i ; Mart. ^ Susceptores specierum, C Th. xii. 2 (cf. Amm. Marc. xxx. c. 5). 6. 9- 8 c. Th. xi. 26, 2. 3 Ih. xii. 6, 27. 10 7J xi 8 2 *Ib.xi.8,Z. art •-.r. .; in = lb. xii. 6, 26 ; cf. xii. 1, 185, " ^^- ^"i" ^^' ^ ^""^ ^'^■ semel securitatem de refusione mu- /6. viii. 10, 4, universa compulsorum nerum emissam ab alio Proconsule non genera ex Africanis provinciis consti- liceat refricari. tuimus pellenda, 412 ; vi. 29, 11, * lb. viii. 1, 15. In the reign curiosos praecepimiis removeri, 414. of Constantine ' their frauds were so This also relates to Africa ; cf. the enormous that the Emperor threatens removal of curiosi from Dalmatia. them with torture for their offences. " Nov. Th. 45 (1) and (2). CHAP. II THE DECA Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 229 the Counts of the treasury. But the effect on the collection of the revenue, and, not least, the slur on the " illustrious " officers, whose powers were thus curtailed,^ or whose gains were diminished, compelled the Emperor two years afterwards to rescind the former law. It is only too evident that the Emperor's zeal for honest administration met with deaden- ing opposition in the highest as well as the lowest ranks of the service. The " defensores " ^ of cities had, as one of their most important duties, to protect the taxpayers from over- exaction. Yet one can see, from a law of 409,^ that the protection was often not to be relied upon. The defrauded provincial is directed, in the first instance, to appeal to the defensor, the curia, and the magistrates. If they refuse to accept his appeal, he is, as a last resort, in the presence, and with the cognisance, of the public clerks and minor officials, to post up his complaint in the more public places of the muni- cipality. There surely never was a more startling confession of impotence made by the heads of a great administrative system. Perhaps even stronger proof of the inability of the govern- ment to control its servants is to be found in the enormities of the discussores,* as they are described to us in some of the later constitutions. These officials, whose business it was to discover, and call up, all arrears of tribute, were appointed on a regular system ; and, in ordinary times, men were not very willing to undertake a function so invidious. For the arrears were probably quite as often due by the great pro- prietors as by the small. But in the last years of the Empire men seem to have thrust themselves into the office without any regular authority.^ Their object, of course, was mere plunder, 1 Nov. Th. 45 (2), cum pietas nostra ab omni improborum insolentia et te- . . . censuerat ut illustres viri sacri ac meritate tueantur. Cf. G. Th. xii. 6, privati aerarii Comites faoultatem con- 23 ; Nov. Maj. 5 ; Marquardt, i. demnandorum Judicum non haberent. 522 ; De Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. p. In i. 7, 5 the provincial governors are 39. De Coulanges takes a different ordered to go about and exert them- view of the defensor's ofiioe from most selves to bring to light frauds of tax- authorities. Cf. Godefroy's Paratitlon collectors. But the counts of the to 0. Th. i. 11 ; Fauriel, i. 375. largesses in 452, on the pretext that ^ 0. Th. xi. 8, 3. the financial service was interfered ^ See Paratitlon of Godefroy to C. with, actually succeeded in terrorising Th. xi. tit. 26, and the notes to Nov. the governors. Valent. 1. 2 The powers of the defensor are ^ The discussores of the reign of defined in the law of 392, C. Th. i. Honorius were quite as corrupt, 0. 11, 2, plebem tantum vel Decuriones Th. xi. 26, 2. 230 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi and they had endless opportunities of enriching themselves. Many proprietors were deeply in debt, not only to private creditors, but to the treasury. Estates were frequently chang- ing hands, and, in the confusion of a time of invasion and panic, documents would be lost or purchases would be made without full knowledge of the liabilities of the vendor. The discusser, who had obtained his office by intrigue,^ came down with a powerful retinue, obtained doubtless in the same way, demand- ing old receipts,^ presenting a mass of cooked accounts, which no one could check, least of all the simple farmer. What followed, as described by the Emperor,^ resembles the worst scenes in Turkish provincial government, outrage, torture, imprisonment, murder; and all these enormities were counten- anced, and actively supported, by officers of the palace and the praetorium, with the aid of the soldiers of the neighbouring garrison.* Who can wonder that people exposed to such brutality, in the name of civilised government, should wel- come the rude justice of the Gothic chief ? ^ Yet it would be unhistorical and unfair to hold the imperial government responsible for all these horrors. Almost every page of the Code bears witness to the indignant energy with which the Emperor and his Council strove to check the anarchy of the provincial administration. But, with a high sense of duty and the appearance of omnipotence, the central authority had lost control of the vast system. The govern- ment was growiug weaker as the power of the aristocracy increased, and, as we have already seen, the power of the aristocracy was being actually exerted to hamper and defeat the imperial administration. The same paralysis is seen in each prefecture and in each province. For generations there had been many governors slow or negligent in executing the wiU of the Emperor. Eepeated edicts and a rising scale of penalties are a sufficient proof of this. But the prefect or the governor himself, however earnest and determined, was liable to be thwarted by his subordinates or by the intrigues of the ' Nm. Valent. 7, disoussores ad ^ Jb. 7, innumerae deinde oaedes, provinciam non electi, siout oomperi- saeva custodia, suspendiorum crudelitas mus, sed ambientes ire dicuntur, etc. et universa tormenta, etc. ' lb. 7, securitates expetunt annorum * lb. 7, coUega furtorum Palatinus serie et vetustate consumptas, quas ser- hortatur, instat apparitio turbulenta, Tare nescit simplioitas et fiduoia nihil urget immitis executio militaris. debentis. ^ Salv. de Ghtb. Dei, v. 36, 37, c. 8. CHAP. II THE DEC A Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 231 Potentes. There are few traces in the fifth century of the grosser forms of corruption or oppression among the higher officials, but there are many proofs of their failure to carry out the intentions of the Emperor. This was no doubt some- times due to want of a high sense of duty, or of energy, or to illegitimate influence brought to bear upon them. But prob- ably the most potent cause was the contumacy of the lower members of the service, who had their own ends to gain in maintaining abuses. It is certainly significant that in so many laws, while the governor is to be fined for disobedience, his staff are laid under far heavier penalties,^ some of them of a kind which we should describe as savage. The last edict which deals with the miseries inflicted by the tax-gatherer sums up, as it were, the imperial legislation on this subject for generations, and in its candid pessimism sounds the death-knell of provincial administration in the West. Its author was the last prince of high purpose and capacity who addressed himself to the hopeless task of reform- ing a vast service which was honeycombed with corruption. The last Eoman Emperor of the West from whom, as states- man or soldier, great things were expected,^ was foiled in his efforts, both in war and statecraft. And he found his own nobles and civil servants as dangerous enemies of the State as the Vandals. Any one who wishes, at first hand, to know the secret of the disease which was undermining the strength of the imperial system in the West, should read the law of Majorian issued in 458.^ The fortunes of the provincials are still being eaten away by extortionate and repeated exac- tions. The municipalities are being deserted by the citizens who have to bear their burdens, but who prefer to abandon everything rather than endure the ingenious chicanery or trucu- lent cruelty of the officers of the treasury. While the smaller proprietors are being bled to death, the agents of the great landowner, in the security of a remote estate, placidly ignore the demands of the collector. The provincial governors seem personally not to be distrusted by the Emperor ; indeed they are charged with the task of reforming the fiscal system of ' N(ni. Maj. 6, ut Judex qui quoque amissione truncandos. hoc fieri statuerit 20 librarum auri , ^ j^ gj^^^ ^.^^^ ^ ggg illatione fenatur, appantores vero ... ^ fustuario supplicio subditos, manumn ^ Kov. Maj. tit. i. 232 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book hi their districts. But even they are apt to be misled or cajoled by their subordinate officers, who possess a minute knowledge of the localities, and whose audacity is stimulated by the prospect of enormous gains and the experience of long impunity. The picture of his times left by Majorian is infinitely sad, and yet, as we said at the beginning of this chapter, it is impossible to ignore the high sense of duty, and the almost effusive sympathy for the suffering masses, which mark the last utterances of the imperial jurisprudence. Just as paganism on the eve of its proscription by the State attained for a moment an elevation and purity higher than it ever reached in the ages of its unchallenged supremacy, so the imperial government was probably never so anxious to check abuses of administration, or so compassionate for the desolate and the suffering, as in the years when its forces were being paralysed. It is easy for the cool economist to criticise some of these measures of alleviation as more characterised by sympathy than statesmanship. It has been said that the indulgence to debtors to the imperial treasury, which was so often granted, merely threw a heavier load on those taxpayers who were still able to meet their obligations.'' But in one of the later constitutions it is expressly stated that, if the treasury insisted in all cases on its full rights, it would ruin the tax- payer, without benefiting the State.^ Between 396 and 423, Honorius remitted the taxes over wide districts in ten different edicts.^ Similar measures of the most sweeping character are to be found among the enactments of later reigns.* But in most of these cases, it is not difficult to find a justification for the remission in the public calamities or the cruel super-exactions of the agents of the fisc. Nor did the Emperor spare the private creditor in emergencies, any more than his own exchequer. In 443, so desperate had the 1 F. de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. TUtlia. Cf. Seeok, Sym. clxxix. He p. 59. was a son of Volusianus who oorre- ^ Nov. Th. 51, si a possessore sponded witli S. Augustine, and suc- super alia, quae praestat has expensas, ceeded Rutilius Namatianus as prefect requirat, ultimas tenuesque ejus vires of the city, Eutil. Namat. i. 466. He compulsio talis extinguet. was P. P. of Gaul in 440 ; P. P. of Italy, ' C. Th. xi. 28, 2 sqq. 443-448 ; consul, 444 ; patrician, 446. ^ Nov. Th. 22. The Albinus to TheNovellaeseemtoshowhim the great whom this was addressed was probably statesman of the time, Nov. Valent, grandson of the Albinus of the Satur- 1, 2, 4, 5 ; Nov. Th. 22, 23, 35, 50. CHAP. II THE DEC A Y OF THE MIDDLE CLASS 233 condition of Africa become, that the government felt it necessary to suspend for a time the right of recovery for private debts.^ In a number of minor measures scattered over the Code the growing spirit of humanity may be observed. The governors of provinces are called upon to exercise the utmost vigilance to check the oppression of the poor by the agents of the great, and to bring to light the misdeeds of the tax-gatherer.^ It is their duty, along with the bishops, to visit prisons on the Lord's Day, to receive any complaints from the prisoners as to their treatment, and to see that they are sufficiently supplied with food.^ Stringent enactments require that persons charged with crime shall be brought up for trial within a year, and that prisoners shall not be subjected to unnecessary harshness.* By a strict term of prescription, the law strove to restrain that noxious class who made a trade of assailing titles to property,* or the status of persons who had succeeded in escaping from a servile or dependent condition. The evidence of the freedman against his patron was discredited,® and also that of the accused person who, while confessing his own guilt, attempted to incriminate another. There are three or four other measures to which we may refer, as illustrative at once of the misery of the times, and the humanitarian spirit of the central government. In the terror caused by the move- ments of the Goths at the beginning of the fifth century many persons, particularly in the province of Illyricum, had fled to districts which offered greater security. Some had been carried into captivity and redeemed. In many cases they had come under obligations which were sometimes enforced in a hard and selfish spirit. Where the fugitive owes nothing but the gift of food and clothing from his host, the Emperor dismisses the claim for compensation.'^ But where he has been bought back from the hands of the enemy, his redemptor, whose motive was sometimes that of acquiring a useful serf, is ordered to be content with the repayment of the ransom, or, as an alternative, with five years' service. In those same ' Nov. Th. 22. ' Nov. Valent. 8 ; cf. Godefroy's ^ C. Th. i. 7, 5, 7. elaborate Commentary on C. Th. iv. « Ih. ix. 3, 7. tit. U. * lb. ix. 36, 1 and 2 ; cf. ix. 3, 1, <> C. Th. iv. 11, 2 ; ix. 1, 19 ; ix. 6, 4. sqq. ' /J. V. 5, 2 ; v. Godefroy's Com. 234 SOCIETY AV THE WEST book hi calamitous years there was a great famine in Italy, and it appears probable that some masters were tempted to limit the number of mouths on their estates by exposing the infants of their female slaves. The exposed child was sometimes found and treated with kindly human feeling ; and the legislator interposed to prevent the cruel master from re- claiming to servitude the creature whom he had consigned to death.^ The flight of serfs from one estate to another was evidently very common. The law of 419 fixes the limit of thirty years, after which the fugitive colonus, who had found another master, and had probably formed family ties, could not be recalled to the servitude from which he had fled." In the case of a female serf, the limit is twenty years. And if, before that term, she has married, in order to prevent the break-up of a home the law enacts that her second master shall provide a vicaria, presumably unmarried, who shall satisfy the claim of her former master. These are a few examples of the efforts of government to alleviate that mass of misery and social injustice which it was impotent to cure. To a sympathetic mind, there is no more painful reading than the Theodosian Code of the fifth century. The authors of these laws are generally loaded with the double opprobrium of weakness and corruption. Les ■malheure2(x ont toujours tort. The system of bureaucratic despotism, elaborated finally by Diocletian and Constantine, produced a tragedy in the truest sense, such as history has seldom exhibited; in which, by an inexorable fate, the claims of fancied omnipotence ended in a humiliating paralysis of administration; in which determined effort to remedy social evils only aggravated them till they became unendurable ; in which the best intentions of the central power were, generation after generation, mocked and defeated alike by irresistible laws of human nature, and by hopeless perfidy and corruption in the servants of government. 1 C. Th. V. 7, 2. Cn the famine of. Zos. vi. U, Olympiod. § 4, Sozom. ix. 8. - C Th. V. 10. BOOK IV THE BARBARIANS AND THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE CHAPTER I THE GENEEAL CHAEACTER OF THE INVASIONS No part of the inner life of the fifth century should, in the mind of an intelligent student, excite greater curiosity than the attitude of the Eomans of the West to the invaders, and their ideas as to the future of Eome. As he reads the meagre chronicles of the times, he can hardly help asking himself. What did these men think about the real meaning of the sack of Eome by Alaric and by Genseric ; of the devasta- tion of the provinces; of the settlement of Visigoths, Bur- gundians, Sueves, and Vandals in regions which, in spite of temporary incursions, had for centuries enjoyed the Eoman peace ? Was the end indeed come, the end of so much effort, of so many glories, of that great history of civil and military virtue which had given uniform law and culture to the realms of Alexander as well as to the countries bordering on the inland and the western seas ? Or, were the calamities of the time, crushing and calamitous as they were to individual citizens, only temporary and limited in their range, such as the Empire had often before suffered, without serious and lasting effects on the general organisation of society ? And as to the causes of the calamity, were they the decline of Eoman virtue and skill in statecraft, or were they the anger of the old gods of Eome for the desertion of their altars, or the punishments sent by the Christian's God for luxury and oppression of the weak ? Finally, what was to be the relation of the Empire, if it was to continue, to these strange immigrants into her territory, and how were they 238 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv going to behave to the power which had so long kept them at bay ? We propose to collect, from the literary remains of the period, various answers to these questions. But before doing so, there are some general considerations as to the character of the invasions of the barbarians in the fifth century, and their settle- ment in the provinces, which it will be well to bear in mind in the review which we propose to make. The modern, who has only the popular conception of the events of that time, is apt to think that the Western Empire succumbed to an over- powering advance of whole tribes and peoples, animated by hatred of Eome, sweeping away the remains of an effete civilisation, and replacing it, in a sudden and cataclysmal change, by a spirit and by institutions of a perfectly different order. Yet, if such were a true account of the fall of the Eoman Empire, the tone and behaviour of many of the Eomans of that time would be inexplicable. Here and there there are cries of horror at the havoc and slaughter which were caused by some violent incursion. And, undoubtedly, the capture of the city gave for the moment a terrible shock to the ancient faith in the strength and stability of Eome. But this was only a transitory feeling. Confidence soon returned. The cities and regions, which are said to have been desolated and ravaged, reappear with apparently few traces of any catastrophe. The government betrays no sign of confusion or despair. Individual observers may have their doubts and questionings about the course of events, but few seem absolutely dismayed, and some display a confidence and hopefulness which would be quite astonishing, if the old popular conception of the barbarian onslaughts were the true one. A very cursory glance at the history of the Empire reveals the secret of this insouciance. The invasions of the fifth century were nothing new, nor was there anything very startling in the settlement of Germans on Eoman soil. From the times of Marius not a century had passed without some violent inroad of German hosts. The myriads annihilated on the field of Aquae Sextiae were but the advance guard of a mighty movement, which was always pressing on to the West or South. JuKus, Augustus, Tiberius, had all to throw back successive attacks on the frontier of the Ehine. Marcus CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 239 Aurelius spent eight campaigns in a struggle with a vast confederacy on the Danube.^ In the third century almost every province, and even Italy itself, iivas ravaged, and the Goths,^ a comparatively new horde, who had worked their way from Scandinavia to the Ukraine, swept the Euxine in thousands of vessels,^ and harried the towns of Asia Miuor and Greece. In the reign of Probus, the Germans captured and pillaged sixty towns in Gaul, and overran the whole province.* Another formidable irruption took place in the middle of the fourth century. Enormous numbers of Franks, Alemanni, and Saxons passed the Ehine. A great part of Gaul was overrun, and forty towns along the Ehine were sacked.^ Once more the invaders were driven back with enormous loss. The invasions of the third and fourth centuries, in respect of the numbers and impetuosity of the assailants, seem to us now to have been almost overwhelming. The Gothic host of the reign of Claudius is said to have numbered 320,000 men. The Germans who spread over the whole of Gaul in the reign of Probus must have been even more numerous, if that emperor slaughtered 400,000 of them, as he is said to have done.® Yet it does not appear that, at crises so appalling, the Eomans ever despaired of the safety of the State. The letter of Probus to the Senate, to which we have referred, rather expresses an almost exuberant confidence.^ The invaders, how- ever numerous, are invariably driven back, and in a short time there are few traces left of their ravages. The truth seems to be that, however terrible the plundering bands might be to the unarmed population, yet in a regular battle the Germans were immensely inferior to the Eoman troops. Ammianus, who had borne a part in many of these engagements, says that, in spite of the courage of the Germans, their impetuous fury was no 1 JuL CapitoL vit. M. Anton, c. 22, = Zos. Hi. 1, 3 ; Amm. Marc. xvi. gentes onmes ab lUyrici limite usque 12. in Galliam conspiraverant. 6 Treb. Poll. vit. Claud, c. 8 ; Flav. 2 Treb. Poll. vit. Gallien. c. 6, 13 ; yop. vit. Proh. c. 15. But on the vU. Clavd. c. 6 ; Zos. i. 30, 31. Cf. credibility of Topisons v. Peter, Gesch. PaUmann, die Gesch. der Folkerwand. j^Ut. Ober die Siim. Kaiserzcit, i. 150 ; i. pp. 49 sqq. ; Jordan. Get. 17. ^nd ii. 281 on the carelessness of s Zos. L 42, varnnrpiaiii^oL wXola historians in dealing with numbers. dio Kal TptaKov-a /iupidSes : vit. Claud. ^ Vit. Proh. c. 15, omnes penitus g 5 g. GaUiae liberatae . . . arantur GaUicana ' Flav. Top. Proi. e. 13, cum per rura barbaris bubus . . . uos eorum omnes Gallias securi vagarentur. omnia possidemus. 240 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv match for the steady discipline and coolness of troops under Eoman officers.^ The result of this moral superiority, founded on a long tradition, was that the Eoman soldier in the third and fourth centuries was ready to face almost any odds. In 356 an immense multitude of the Alemanni inundated Eastern Gaul.^ Julian, the future Emperor, who was then a mere youth, with no previous training in the art of war, was in command of only 13,000 men, of whom few were veteran troops.' Yet in a very short time not an enemy was left in Gaul, and the victors were carrying the war far into the heart of Germany.* There must undoubtedly have been much loss of life and property in some of these raids.^ Yet a very few years after the ravages which were checked by Julian, the valley of the Moselle is described to us by Ausonius as a paradise which shows no trace of the hand of the spoiler.'' Comfortable granges and luxurious villas look down from every height. The vineyards rise in terraces along the banks, and the yellow corn-lands can vie even with the fertility of the poet's native Aquitaine. The population are prosperous and happy. There is even an air of rustic jollity and gaiety over the scene from which all thoughts of past suffering or coming danger seem to be banished.'^ Of the same character were the great invasions of the open- ing years of the fifth century. A great army under Eadagaesus, which, according to the lowest estimate, numbered 200,000 men, crossed the Alps and penetrated into Etruria.^ That the government regarded the danger as serious, may be inferred from the edict which called the slaves to arms.' Yet Stilicho, with a force of only 30,000 regular troops, and some Hun and Alan auxiliaries,^" signally defeated that great host, and the prisoners taken were so many that they were sold for a single aureus apiece.-'^ In the beginning of the year ' Amm. Maro. xti. 12, 47, Ale- on the Moselle was composed arc. 370 ; manni robusti et celsiores, milites usu v. Sohenkl, Proem, xv. nimio deciles ; illi feri et turbidi, hi ^ Auson. Idyl. x. v. 165. quieti et cauti. _ 8 Oros. vii. 37, § 13, secundum eos 2 Zos. 111. 3, TrXjjflos 6.irupov iirepMudri ^^j paroissime referunt, ducenta milia pap^dpuv. . .„ ^ „ , homiuum. Cf. Zos. v. 26; Marcell. •* Amm. Marc. xvi. 12, 2 ; /os. I.e. Ckron. * Zos. iii. 4, fixpi rCiv 'EpKvvlwp g ^' ^ ^.. ^ lb. iii. 1. " Zos. V. 26. « Auson. Idyl. x. v. 156. The poem " Oros. Tii. 37, § 16. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 241 406 ^ a horde of Alans, Sueves, and Vandals crossed the Ehine, from which the garrisons had been withdrawn to meet the danger in Italy.^ The invaders caused great consterna- tion, and undoubtedly inflicted much damage and suffering in their passage through Gaul.^ But the districts and cities, which they are said to have plundered and destroyed, within a generation are found to be once more flourishing and prosperous.* In the fragmentary annals of the fifth century there is no sign that the generals of the Empire felt any fear of an over- whelming superiority on the side of the invaders. In 426 the city of Aries was attacked by a powerful force of Goths ; but they were compelled by Aetius to retire with heavy loss.* Two years later, the same great general recovered the Hhineland from the Franks.^ In 435 he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Burgundians, and compelled them to sue for peace.' In the foUowiag year Litorius, the lieutenant of Aetius, by a rapid movement, relieved the town of Narbonne, when it was hard pressed by famine and the Gothic army. And although Litorius soon afterwards was taken captive by the hands of the Goths, the annalist expressly says that it was the result of reckless ambition and superstitious credulity, not of any inferiority of force.^ The invasion of Attila in 451 was probably the most appalling danger, in respect to the numbers of his motley host, which the Eomans had had to face for ages.^ Aetius had only a handful of troops under his command,^" and although he was able to rally to his support Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, and Saxons, yet the credit of defeating that fierce and crafty power, which had reduced all central Europe to vassalage, must be awarded to Eoman daring and ^ Prosp. Chrmi., Arcadio vL et Probo Ep. i. 5. Coss. ; Oro3. vii. 38 and 40. ^ Prosp. Ohron. Theodos. xii. and 2 Claud, de Bdl. Get. 421 : Valent. Coss. tutumque remotis ^ lb. Felice et Dionysio Coss. excubiis Ehenum solo terrore relinquiont. 7 lb. Theod. XV. and Valent. iv. Coss. ^ Carm. de Prov. Div. v. 25, periere ^ /6. ada. 439, utnisiinoonsideranter tot urbes (v. 34), Vandalicis gladiis proelians in captivitatem incidisset, stemimur et Geticis . . . ultima per- dubitandum foret cui potius parti tulimus ; Eutil. Namat. i. 27 - 30 ; victoria ascriberetur. Hieron. Ep. 123, § 16. » ApoU. Sid. Carm. vii. 320 ; cf. ■* This appears to be tlie case in Prosp. Chron. ad a. Bordeaux, Paulin. Pell. Mich. 240 ; of. " Sid. Carm. vii. 329, tenue et rarum 284. Compare the state of Rome after sine mUite ducens Robur in auxiliis ; cf. the sack by the Vandals, ApoU. Sid. Fauriel, i. p. 226. 242 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv organisation. In the last days of the independence of Auvergne and of the Western Empire, a mere handful of troops under the gallant Ecdicius/ and raised by his own resources, kept the Visigothic army for months at bay, and the Roman showed in this final struggle an almost contemptuous reck- lessness. The Germans then were not superior to the Eomans in military skill and courage. Nor were they animated by any common purpose or hatred of Eome. So far from having any common purpose, they were hopelessly divided among them- selves, and were as often found lighting for the Empire as against it. The Franks on the Ehine were champions of Eome when they were overwhelmed by the invaders of 406.^ Stilicho had Alan and Hun auxiliaries in his great battle with Eadagaesus.^ It was with Hun cavalry that Aetius and Litorius strove to check the advance of the Visigoths in Southern Gaul.* It was with the aid of Visigoths, Franks, Saxons, and Burgundians that Aetius defeated the army of Attila on the Catalaunian plains. Again and again the Visigoths of Toulouse lent their forces to support the Eoman power in Spain against the Sueves.*' The Eomans of Auvergne, when they were deserted in its weakness by the imperial government, received help and encouragement in their last struggles against Euric from the Burgundians.^ It is clear from these facts that the Empire was not an object of hatred to the barbarians. Indeed they were often eager to be taken into her service ; and many of their chiefs, like Alaric or Ataulphus, had no higher ambition than to be appointed to high military command. On the other hand, there was a corresponding readiness on the Eoman side to employ bar- barian forces in war. From the earliest days of the Empire these auxiliaries appear on the army lists. Germans are found in the bodyguard of Augustus.^ They fought under Vitellius in the foremost ranks at the battle of Cremona.* ^ Sid. Ep. iii. 3, taceo deinoeps col- '' Prosp. Cliron. a. 437, 439. legiase te privatis viribus publici ° Idat. Chron., mox Hispanias rex exercitus speoiem, etc. ; of. Greg. Tur. Gothorum Theodorious cum ingenti Hist. Fr. ii. 24, multitudinem Got- exeroitu, et cum voluntate et ordina- thorum cum decern viris fugasse per- tione Aviti Imperatoris ingreditur. scribitur. ^ Sid. JEp. iii. 4. The help, how- - Oros. vii. 40, § 3, multaeque cum ever, was of doubtful yalue, Chaix, his aliae (gentes) Francos proterunt. Sid. ii. 164. Fauriel, i. 47. ' Suet. Odav. 49. 2 Zos. V. 26. 8 Tac. ffist. i. 61. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 243 Vespasian had special confidence in the loyalty of the Sueves, and had two of their chiefs in his service.^ Marcus AureHus formed some corps of Germans for his war with their country- men on the Danube.^ In the third century, the tendency becomes even more marked. Valerian, in a despatch to Aurelian, describes an army which included troops from Ituraea, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, and officers bearing such unmistak- able German names as Hariomundus, Hildomundus, and Haldagates.^ Claudius II., after the great defeat which he inflicted on the Goths,* enrolled a large number of them under his standards. Probus recruited the frontier garrisons with 16,000 from the wreck of the great host which had devastated Gaul.^ The army of Constantino, in the battle of the Milvian Bridge, was chiefly composed of Germans and Celts and Britons.^ Of similar composition was the army with which Theodosius defeated Eugenius at the Frigidus.^ Some of these barbarian troops took service voluntarily under an express agreement, stating the conditions on which they served. Others were compelled to join the standards as the result of defeat in battle.^ Some of them received regular pay and rations ; others received grants of land, which were held on condition of military service, and which passed to their sons on the same condition.* A page of the Notitia contains a list of more than twenty corps of these military colonists, under the name Sarmatae Gentiles, who were settled at various places from Bruttium to the Alps.^" Similar German corps, under the name of Laeti, had lands assigned to them in almost every part of Gaul. The GaUo-Eoman population had been long accustomed to the residence of these bands on their soil. Batavi are found at Arras ; Franks at Eennes ; Sueves at Coutances, Mans, Bayeux, and Auvergne; Sarmatians at 1 Tao. Hist. iii. 5. ' lb. iv. 56. 2 Jul. Capitol, mt. M. Anton, c. 21, » y. q, j%. vii. 13, 16 ; Godefroy's emit et Germanorum auxilia contra note on tlie Foederati and Dedititii. Germanos. ' It. vii. 20, 12, witli Godefroy's 2 Flav. Vop. Aitrel. c. 11. note ; xiii. 11, 9 ; Amm. Marc. xx. * Zos. i. 46, Sffoi 5^ Siea-ili0Tja-av, fl 8, 13 ; Paneg. Constant, c. 21; Zos. ii. Tayixaai 'Vtiifiaiiov (TVVTjpidfjiTjaav, k.t.X, 54. Of. Treb. Poll. vit. Claud, c. 8. " Notit. Dig. ed. Bocking, p. 121 ^ Flav. Vop. Prob. c. 14, accepit (c. xl.). Of. the grants of terrae limi- praeterea sedecim milia tyronum, quos taneae made to veterans and their sons omnes per diversas proviucias sparsit, on military tenure, Lamprid. Alex. Sev. etc. c. 58, § 4 ; Flav. Vop. Prob. c, 14 ; « Zos. ii. 15. C. Th. vii. 15, 1. 244 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv Paris, Poitiers, and Amiens.^ Occasionally the Laeti proved to be dangerous neighbours. Thus we learn from Ammianus Marcellinus that a body of Laeti, in the troubled year 357, attempted to capture the city of Lyons, and plundered the surrounding country.^ Here we have an anticipation in the fourth century of what happened more frequently in the fifth, when Burgundians and Visigoths had obtained a permanent settlement in Gaul. We shall see, in a subsequent chapter, that the establish- ment of the Germans in the south and east of Gaul dis- turbed and alarmed the Eomans of the province far less than we should have expected. In a short time the intruders were accepted as more or less friendly neighbours. Here again the past history of the Empire will be found to have prepared men's minds for what, taken by themselves, would have seemed stupendous changes. Just as there were countless incursions for plunder before the Sueve and Vandal irruption of 406, so there were many cases of barbarians seeking and obtaining a peaceful settlement within the frontier before the Visigoths settled on the Garonne, and the Burgundians on the Upper Ehine and the Ehone. Augustus, on receiving the submission of the Ubii and Sicambri, assigned them lands on the left bank of the Ehine.^ Tiberius transported 40,000 Germans into the same region.* The Germans seem to have been seldom unwilling to enter the circle of the pax Eomana. For instance the Batavians, driven from their own country by civil war, crossed the frontier and settled down as subjects of Eome, and for ages the Batavian cavalry had a brilliant reputation in the Eoman army.^ In the third century Probus is said to have Germanised the provinces.® He gave a settlement in Thrace to 100,000 Bastarnae, who, we are told, proved themselves loyal subjects of the Empire. A similar experiment, in the case of the Vandals and Gepidae, seems to have been less successful. A body of Franks, who had obtained from the Emperor a settlement somewhere in the eastern 1 Notit. Big. pp. 119, 120 ; of. notes, ^ Sueton. Oct. c. 21. pp. 1044-1080. On the Gentiles, not to 4 jj|_ yj-j,_ ^_ 9^ be confounded with Laeti^^^. pp 1080 , .._ g sqg.; of. Eum. PaTieg. Const, c. 21; , j, . ' ' Amm. Marc. xvi. 11, 4 ; Zos. ii. 64 ; F. -^™™- *-'^'^°- ^^^- 1^' ^^■ de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. p. 389. " Duruy, Hist. Bom. vi. p. 513 ; Flav. ^ Amm. Marc. xvi. 11, 4. Vop. Prdb. 0. 15 ; Zos. i. 71. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 245 Mediterranean, proved even less worthy of his generosity.-^ They got a fleet together, spread havoc and confusion through the whole of Greece, wrought great slaughter in an attack on Syracuse, and finally, having been repelled from the walls of Carthage, returned to their home. The Salian Franks, who had been driven from their old seats and had occupied the region between the Scheldt and the Meuse, were, after some hard fighting, recognised as Eoman subjects by Julian.^ The most striking example of the eagerness of the Germans to be received on Eoman territory was the famous petition of the Goths to the Emperor Valens in 376,' to be allowed to place the broad waters of the Danube between them and the terrible Huns, who were then advancing from the East.* Probably a million of men, women, and children were transported across the swollen river. They came not as conquerors, but as suppliants for food and shelter, under the protection of Eome. No reader of Gibbon needs to be told the tragic tale of what followed that great migration. It was a turning-point in history. Among the Gotliic chiefs who are seen in the pages of Ammianus Marcellinus making a last stand against the Huns was one named Munderich.^ Some years afterwards this chief is found in the position of duke on the frontiers of Arabia. Munderich is only one of many of his race who rose under the Empire to high military command and office. This was a necessary result of the policy which, from the time of Gallienus, practically excluded the senatorial order from military service. We have seen German officers commanding corps under Valerian in the third century.® Magnentius, who rose to be Emperor on the murder of Constans, was of barbarian origin, and had once belonged to a corps of Laeti in Gaul.'' Arbogastes, who raised Eugenius to the throne, was a Frank,^ who, by mUitary ability and commanding power,^ obtained the post of master of the forces under Valentinian. Theodosius ^'' > Zos. i. 71. ^ Ih. iv. 33. 2 Amm. Marc. xvii. 8, 3. ' -f*- i^- 53. _ 3 jj jj^jxi 3 '" li- IV. 56, S.iia TV Tapa\a.petv . r,' ■ „«' T, » „, rhv fioffiXcioc GeoSio-ior BapBdpovs rwhs (MiJl. Frag. Hist. iv. ) ; Gibbon, o. 26. ^X7ri(«^ airois Kal dwpeaU liXXais Ti/x,)(ra!, " Amm. Marc. xxxi. 3, 5. elxf 5^ «»' f*' 9epawelf TiffTj Kal rois ^ Flav. Vop. Aurel. c. 11. iKaarris 0uX^s Tiyov/Jiiyovs Kal rpair^fj/s ' Zos. ii. 42 ; ii. 54. ^f/ou Koivij!. 246 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv cultivated the intimacy of many of these barbarian chiefs, and one of his principal lieutenants, Modares,^ who rose to be magister militum, was of Scythian descent. Another barbarian ofBcer, who bore a great part in the events of that period, was Eichomer.^ His career, of which we possess fuU details, is a good illustration of the great position which men of his nationality could attain under the later emperors. Eichomer was a Frank of high birth, and first appears as count of the domestics in the reign of G-ratian. He was sent into Thrace during the troubles with the Goths to support the Emperor Valens, and shortly afterwards was raised to the post of magister militum. After a period of service in the East, during which he formed a close friendship with Libanius, he was employed by Theodosius in high command in the cam- paign against Maximus. He had great influence in the imperial counsels, and lived on terms of intimacy with Symmachus and his circle. Another Erank chief, Bauto,^ the father of the Empress Eudoxia, is said to have wielded an almost regal power under the younger Valentinian, and his elevation to the consulship in the same year with the Emperor Arcadius was celebrated in a panegyric by S. Augustine.* We have taken a few of the more striking examples of the rise of barbarians to commanding positions. Other names, such as Fravitta, Gainas, Merobaudes, Stilicho, will occur readily to any person moderately weU read in the history of the Lower Empire. How many more may have disguised their nation- ality under Eoman names no one can tell.^ But German chiefs not only obtained the great military commands, they also rose to the consulship, the highest civil honour which the Emperor had to bestow. Dagelaephus "^ and Merobaudes'' were colleagues of Gratian in this great of&ce. In the reign of Theodosius, Merobaudes, Eichomer, and Bauto were consuls in successive years, and at least five more German names appear ■^ Zos. iv. 25. cf. Seeck, Sym. cxli. ; Rausohen, pp. 2 Amm. Marc. xxxi. 7, 4 ; Zos. iv. 59, 65, 203. 54, 55 ; cf. Seeck's Sym. cxxxv. ; ^ Conf. vi. 6. Godefroy's note to G. Th. vii. 1, 13 ; " Like Julius Floras and Julius Kausohen, Jahrbuche,r, pp. 18, 22, Saorovir (the latter only partially), Tac. 172. Ann. iii. 40, and Julius (or Claudius) ^ Zos. iv. 33, 53 ; Ambros. Mj). i. 24. Civilis, a Batavian, Tao. Hist. i. 59. The question of his religion depends ^ Amm. Marc. xxvi. 9, 1, a. 366. on the use of the singular participle ' a. 377. Cf. Rauschen, Jahrluch. inserviens in Ambros. Up. i. 57, 3 ; pp. 147, 271. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 247 in the reigns of the last emperors of the West. When an office, which the Emperor himself was proud to hold, was given so freely to men of barbarian origin, it is plain that the old exclusiveness had disappeared, and that the Germans had stolen their way into the very citadel of the Empire long before its distant outworks were stormed.-' Many of these German officers were men of brilliant talents, fascinating address, and noble bearing. To military skiU they often added the charm of Eoman culture and a social tact which gave them admission even to the inner circle of the Eoman aristocracy. Symmachus writes to Eichomer as to one of his most valued friends. He extols his many virtues, and has only one grudge against him, that he cannot help monopolising all that is best in Eoman society.^ The friend- ship of Bauto Symmachus regards as one of his treasures.^ Men like these, great soldiers, and polished men of the world, must naturally have had great social influence. And, indeed, there are signs that even in smaller things, such as toUet and dress, Germans, at the beginning of the fifth century, were setting the fashion. Three edicts of Honorius, between 397 and 416, forbid the wearing of trousers, long hair, and fur coats of the barbarian style within the precincts of the city.* The tone of the law of 416 leaves no doubt that the rage for German fashions was widespread, and that the previous edicts had been disregarded. In yet another capacity crowds of Germans had been in- troduced into Eoman territory. Synesius, bishop of Cyrene, towards the close of the fourth century complains that every wealthy household is full of Gothic or Scythian slaves, serving as stewards, butlers, bakers, and personal attendants of every grade.^ We know also that from the first century enormous numbers of Germans were planted as coloni on estates over all the provinces. Crowds of Marcomanni were so distributed throughout Italy by Marcus Aurelius.^ The great emperors of the third century took untold numbers of prisoners,^ and ^ Rutil. Namat. ii. 50. ^ Quoted by De Coulanges, L'Inv. 2 Ep. iii. 58, ad te migravit quidquid Germ. p. 377. Eomae optimum fuit. ^ Jul. Capitol, c. 22, aocepitque in ' Ih. iv. 15, 16. deditionem Marcomannos, plurimis in * C. Th. xiv. 2, 3, 4 ; cf. Claud, in Italiam traductis. Buf. ii. 78 ; Rutil. Namat. ii. 49. ' Treb. Poll. vit. Claud, o. 8, § 6. 248 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv flooded the country districts with new tillers of the soil.^ In the words of Probus, the barbarians were ploughing and sowing for Eoman masters." The victories of Julian, Gratian, Theodosius, and Stilicho, all gained within a period of fifty years, recruited still further the ranks of rural labour.' It appears then that there was nothing new in the hostile raids or peaceful settlement of the barbarians on Eoman territory in the fifth century. For more than five hundred years the Empire had been resisting the pressure of barbarism, occasion- ally suffering heavily for a time, but always in the end triumphant over mere force. Yet each successive victory had admitted in increasing numbers the barbarian element into the frontier posts, the armies, or the fields and households of Eome. The highest military commands had for generations been held by German soldiers of fortune, who served the State loyally even against their kinsmen. A Eoman, who had in his youth seen the Alemanni driven across the Ehine, and thousands of Germans serving under the eagles in Italy, who had found in Eichomer, Bauto, or Stilicho his most charming and dis- tinguished friends, and had seen Frank masters of the cavalry sharing the honours of the consulship with the Emperor, might, even after the scenes of 410, have smiled at the suggestion that the Empire was in any serious danger from the Germans. Nor were the invasions of the first decade of the fifth cen- tury of such a uniform and sweeping character as to suggest, even to those who witnessed and suffered from them, a single overwhelming movement, animated by one spirit and advancing to one end. The numbers of the invaders do not appear to have approached the mighty hosts who were defeated by Claudius and Probus in the third century.* The forces of Ataulphus ■ may have hardly exceeded 20,000 or 30,000 men.^ The Burgundian invaders of Gaul were reckoned at 80,000.® The entire Vandal horde, young and old, slaves and free, only amounted to the same number.' The Frank warriors, under 1 Treb. Poll. mt. Clavd. c. 9, § 4, hostium oaesa sunt, impletae barbaris servis . . . Romanae ^ De Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. p. 437. provinciae, etc. ^ Oros. vii. 32, § 11 ; Fauriel, i. 120, ^ Flav. Vop. Proh, c. 15. tbinks tbis mucb exaggerated. ^ Oros. vii. 37, 16. ' Vict. Vitens. i., qui reperti sunt * Treb. Poll. Claud, c. 6 ; Flav. senes, juvenes, parvuli, servi vel domini, Vop. Prob. c. 15, quadringenta milia ootoginta millia numerati. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 249 Clovis, did not number more than 6000 men. Moreover, as was pointed out long ago by a great authority, the so- called invasions were events essentially partial, local, tem- porary.^ We may add that there was a great variety in their purpose and character. Sometimes a band of no great numbers, bent wholly on plunder,^ will come down on a countryside and carry off the cattle and peasants from the fields, or effect a stealthy entrance into an unguarded town.^ Sometimes in greater masses, swelling perhaps to tens of thousands, they will sweep across a whole province, capturing cities, and plundering and burning the farms and country houses. Or, again, in the form of a regular army, claiming to be federated soldiers of the Empire, they will quarter themselves on a province, and draw from its revenues the rations and pay which were assigned to the regular soldiers of Eome. Or, once more, they come with the express permission and sanction of the Emperor, as permanent settlers on Eoman soil,* their chief deeming himself, at first, a military official of the Eoman govern- ment, and, as the Eoman administration falls to pieces, taking into his hands also the control of the civil power, collecting the taxes, dealing out justice, appointing officials,^ combining, in fact, the offices of prefect and master of the military forces. To all these varieties of relation with Eome must be added the widest differences of religious belief among the invaders. Some, like the Franks, the Saxons, or the Huns, on their first appearance, were still pagan.^ A number of tribes, such as the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Visigoths, or the Eugi, were Arians ; ^ and among these there were various degrees of bigotry, some, like the Burgundians,^ being comparatively tolerant, while others were inspired with a determined hostility to the 1 Guizot, Civ. en France, i. 237. torium ducem super septem civitates - Eugipp. wit. S. Sev. c. iv. praeposuit. Cf. Sid. JSp. vii. 17. ^ lb. c. xxiv., qua noote Heruli ^ Sal v. de Gub. Dei, iv. 67, 81. insperate protinus inruentes. ' Eugipp. vit. S. Sev. c. iv. ad fin. * Oros. vii. 43, § 3 ; Prosp. Chron. ^ Oros. vii. 32 (in 418) speaks of the a. 419, Oonstantius pacem firmat cum Burgundians as bound to the Romans in Wallia, data ei ad habitandum secunda the Catholic faith. And Bishop Patiens Aquitauia; Idat. Chron. a. 419, per is said to be in favour with Chilperic and Constantium ad Gallias revocati, sedes his queen, Sid. Sp. vi. 12, § 3. But in in Aquitanioa . . . aoceperunt. the time of Avitus it is clear that mem- " Sid. Up. V. 6, where the Burgun- bers of the royal family were Arian {v. dian Chilperic is described as magister Ampke, Hist. Lit. ii. 202), and the militum ; Greg. Tur. H. Fr. ii. 20, people were probably divided. Greg. Eurichus autem Gotthorum rex Vic- Tur. ii. 32 describes the people as Arian. 250 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv Catholic faith.-' There is another, and perhaps more important, difference to be observed. Some of the invading tribes had only recently come into contact with Eoman civilisation. They had perhaps received Eoman envoys, and they knew well by report the peace and prosperity which the provinces enjoyed under the Eoman sway. But they were untouched by its discipline and tone. Others there were whom the culture of the South had already more than half converted into Eomans. Their chiefs may have held high command under the emperors, and been in friendly intercourse with the leaders of the Eoman nobility. Many of the rank and file had fought under the eagles, and acquired to some extent the discipline and habits of the Eoman army. In their moral and physical characteristics also the tribes or bands, known under the names of Goths, Alans, Vandals, or Alemanni, were, according to Eoman writers of this period, widely different. Salvianus^ tells us that the Vandals were the weakest and least formidable race ; the Goths chaste but faithless ; the Alans were less treacherous, but licentious and rapacious ; the Burgundians were of a mild and gentle disposition, and inclined to be on friendly terms with the Eomans in the territories which they occupied. The Saxons, the Franks, and the Heruli retained their heathen superstitions,^ offered human sacrifices, and their raids were marked by acts of fierce and wanton cruelty, especially towards the Christian clergy and the inmates of monastic houses.* In the picture of N'oricum in the life of S. Severinus, we may observe nearly all these various types in close juxtaposition and startling contrast, from the Christian and half-civilised Ostrogoth, cantoned in Pannonia, in federal relations with the Empire, to the fierce pagan Herulian. One of these tribes is on the point of moving on to seek a permanent home on Italian soil.^ The Eugi, whose chief has come under the magnetic spell of a monk of extraordinary saintliness and heroic energy,® are curbed for a time, and seem to abate some- 1 Vict. Vitens. i. 5, 17. ^ Jordan. Get. Ivii. ; cf. Pallmann, ^ Be Guh. Dei, vii. 64 ; cf. iv. 67. Gesch. der Volkerwand. ii. 419. ^ Thierry, Vern. Temps de I'Emp. " Eugipp. vit. S. Sev. c. v., where p. 166. '' Eugipp. mt. S. Sev. o. xxiv. , Heruli suits Severinus about his fears of the . . . plurimos duxere oaptivos, presby terum patibulo suspendentes ; Carm, deProv. Div. 45 ; Hieron. Ep. 123, § 16, Flaccitheus, the Rugian king, con- Goths, then in Pannonia ; cf. Pall- mann's scepticism about the Life, ii. 390. CHAP. I GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INVASIONS 251 what of their old taste for rapine and violence, and even to offer a fitful protection to the harassed provincials.^ But the province was constantly overrun by other bands under various names,^ Alemanni, Heruli, Thoringi, scouring the country in search of plunder, and seizing their prey more often by stratagem and surprise than by open force. Here one sees, as it were in miniature, and on a confined scene, many of those varieties of tribal character, and many of those different impulses and modes of attack, which may be observed in the wider field of the whole Western world. It follows from these considerations that the period of the invasions presents a mass of complex phenomena, to which no single comprehensive formula will apply. We may expect also to find a great variety of feeling and opinion among contemporary observers as to the character of the invasions, the fate of the Empire, and its future relations to the barbarian intruders. The man who has lost everything in the sack of his town, and whose relatives have been carried into slavery by the raiders, will take a very different view of the invasion from the great noble, the walls of whose castle protect him from wandering bands, and who lives on good terms with the neighbouring chief. The Churchman, in whom Koman pride and patriotism have been weakened by enthusiastic devotion to the ascetic ideal, vrill not entertain the faith in the mission and destiny of imperial Eome which is an ineradicable instinct of the noble, saturated with the historic spirit of that great organisation, and still pagan in sentiment, if not in outward profession. We shall now make an attempt to ascertain the feelings of some of those who witnessed the great calamities and changes of that time. ^ Eugipp. mt. S. Sev. xxii. xxxi. Feletheus promises to protect the Romans against the raids of the Alemanni and Thoringi. " lb. xxiv. iv. ix. xi. xix. CHAPTEE II EOMAN FEELING ABOUT THE INVASIONS AND THE FUTUEE OF THE EMPIKE In the early years of the fifth century the rumours of the movements of Alaric and Eadagaesus created the liveliest alarm in Italy. Even in the noble poem in which Claudian cele- brates the triumph of Stilicho, full as it is of the poet's faith in Eome, we seem to feel the thrill of terror which unnerved aU but the bravest in the previous year. The repair of the walls of the city by StiHcho,^ commemorated in inscriptions which are extant, was the signal for an outbreak of super- stitious terror which carries us back to the early days of the Eepublic. All the old omens which portended disaster were reported^ — dreams, eclipses, causeless conflagrations, showers of stones, a comet shooting from the eastern heavens to the quarter from which the Gothic hordes had issued. Such was the terror that doubts even arose whether Eome had not reached her fated term. The augural explanation of the twelve vultures which Eomulus had seen at her foundation ^ was recalled, and the fears of many blinded them to the fact that, of the twelve centuries prefigured by the birds, the last had only half run its course.* Many of the wealthy class sought places of security, in Corsica, Sardinia, and the islands off the Etruscan coast. '^ Nay, if Claudian may be 1 G.I.L. vi. 1188-1190. Stilicho's '^ Jb. 217 : name is erased from the Inscr. 1190. jam, jam consoendere puppes, " ni A J J} 11 n I nni Sardoosque habitore simis, et inhospita Cynii ■ UlaUQ. ae Jbell. Get. Ill sqq. saxa parant, vitamque freto spumante tueri. ' Liv. i. 7. Rutil. Namat. i. 327. S. Jerome, writ- •* Claud, de Bell. Get. 265 : i°g "bout this time {Ep. 128, § 4), says, tunc reputant annos, interceptoque volatu n"|la ^^t regio quae non exules Komanos vulturis, mcidunt properatis saecula metis. habeat. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 253 believed,^ there were even thoughts of removing the seat of government from Italy to Gaul. Many an edict of these years ^ confirms the testimony of the poet that the Vandal adventurer, who had risen to be captain of the Eoman armies, set an example of high courage and steadfastness to the de- generate nobles, who were ready to abandon without a struggle the venerable seat of order and civilisation at ' the first sign of danger. Yet it would appear that the panic did not last long. The behaviour of all parties in the fruitless negotiations which preceded the final rupture with Alaric and the sack of Eome show a remarkable confidence either in the strength of the Empire, or in the moderation of the Gothic chief. On the one hand, the government at Eavenna rejected his successive offers of friendship and support.* On the other hand, the Eoman Senate acquiesced in his tenure of the office of magister militum under Attains, the Emperor whom by his orders they created.* Both the scornful rejection and the easy acceptance of his claims show that, after the first moments of alarm, Alaric was not regarded as a half-savage invader, the foe of the Eoman name and of civilisation. He was after all a Christian.^ He had served as an officer of Theodosius in the campaign against Eugenius.® It is true that the marshes of Eavenna, to which in the first alarm the seat of government had been removed from Milan, was a secure refuge for Honorius and his court. And it is also true that the Senate may have felt it safer to come to terms with the man who had the supplies of Eome at his mercy. Still, on neither side are there the signs of that paralysis of terror which seized the upper classes on the first news of the approach of the Goths. But in 410, when, after the failure of all negotiations, the city had at last fallen a prey to the army of Alaric, everything was changed. Eight hundred years had passed since Eome had been violated by the Gauls of Brennus. In spite of aU troubles on the frontiers, in spite of the alarms of the great invasions of the second, third, and fourth centuries, the sacred centre of 1 Claud, de Bell. Get. 296 and 315 : re 'AXaplxv ''»' OidXenn irapiSwKev. migrantisqne fugam compesouit aulae. ^ Oros. vii. 39, § 1 ; Aug. de Civ. Dei, 2 C. Th. vii. 20, 12 ; vii. 13, 18. i. vi. ' Zos. V. 36. ^ Zo9. V. 5 ; Socr. vii. 10, 'AXApixos * Ih. vi. 6, 7, ^ yepovcrta. . . . iraffLV . , , r^ ^aaiXet Qeodoaitji els rbv Kara MSaxeii ots 'AKdpi-xos iKi\eva-ev . . . 'Eiyevlov toO Tvpdvvov TrSKefiov avp-p-a- Tas di Tuv Swdiieuv (TTparriylas aircf X'?"''"; k.t.\. 254 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv government had never realised the possibility that her own stately security would ever be disturbed.^ Not only had all true sons of Eome a religious faith in her mission and destiny, but they had good reason to rely on the awe which she in- spired in the barbarous races who ranged around her frontiers.^ There seemed an almost infinite distance between the plunder of provinces, which was so constantly and so rapidly avenged, and the violation of the heart and seat of Eoman power. But now the spell was broken; the mystery and awe which surrounded the great city had been pierced and set at nought. The moral force, so much more important in government than the material, had been weakened and desecrated. The shock given by this great catastrophe to old Eoman confidence and pride must, for the time, have been overwhelming. Yet from all that proud aristocracy, men of letters and affairs, hardly a word has come down to tell us what they felt in the wreck of material fortune and patriotic illusions.^ "We can only conjecture their feelings on the events of the time from the words of S. Jerome, penned in his cell at Bethlehem in the year 411. Although he had fled from the world, he was still a Eoman at heart, steeped in her literary culture, and proud of her great history. When the rumour of the fall of Eome reached him, he broke off his Commentary on Ezekiel ; * his voice was choked with sobs as he thought of the capture of the great city " which had taken captive all the world." In an earlier letter, referring to the invasion of the eastern provinces,^ he says his soul shudders to recite the ruin of his time. For twenty years all the lands from Constantinople to the Julian Alps are daily drenched with Eoman blood. The provinces are a prey to Alans, Huns, Vandals, and Marcomanni. Matrons, virgins devoted to God," the noble and the priest, are made the sport ^ Yet after the victory of PoUentia ^ S. Augustine complains in one of his Claudian utters the prayer, which letters that no one had sent him a full sounds like a prophecy : and authentic account of the calamities procul arceat altus in Italy, probably referring to Alaric's Jupiter, ut delubra Numae, sedemque Quirini, first siege : T. Ep. 99, §1. barbaries oculis saltern temerare profanls 4 Hipr-nn Vm 19fi 197 linprpt vmr possit, et arca,num tanti deprendere regni. ^ meron. .e^. i/6, J.^/, naeret vox et singultus interoipmnt verba dictantis : \;ff Of. the words put into the mouth Capitur urbs quae totum oepit orbem. of the old Gothic warrior in Claud, de. » Ih. 60 ; 123, § 16. Bdl. Oa. 508 : 6 cf. Carm. de Prov. Div. 45 : nee numina sedem quare templa Dei licuit popularier igni? destituunt. Jactata procul dicuntur in hostem cur violata sacri vasa ministerii ? fulmina, dirinique volant pro moenibus ignes : non honor innuptas devotae virginitatis, seu coelum, seu Roma tonat. neo texit viduas religionis amor. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 255 of these monsters. The churches are demolished, the bones of the martyrs are dug up, horses are stabled at the altars of Christ. " The Eoman world is sinking into ruin, and still we hold our heads erect. . . . Happy Nepotianus who does not see such things, who does not hear of them. Miserable are we who have to suffer them, or see our brethren suffering. And yet we wish to live, and think that those who have been taken from such a scene are to be mourned rather than deemed happy in their fate. ... It is through our sins that the barbarians are strong ; it is owing to our vices that the Eoman armies are conquered." And in a letter to a Gallic lady, he speaks with horror of the countless hordes who have swept from the Ehine to the Pyrenees. Great cities, like Mainz, Eheims, Nantes have been wiped out; the provinces of Aquitaine, Lyons, and Narbonne have been desolated ; thousands have been butchered even in the churches ; and famine has completed the work of the sword. There was perhaps exaggeration in the rumours which found their way to the distant monastery at Bethlehem. And the warm imagination and vehement rhetoric of S. Jerome have probably deepened the colours of the tragic tales of massacre and sacrilege which reached him. The interest of his words for us lies in the passionate regret felt by the true Eoman, and the lesson drawn by the Christian ascetic. The same lesson we shall find taught with even greater emphasis by another Christian moralist who had himself witnessed the invasion of Gaul.^ S. Jerome's description of the disasters of the time may seem exaggerated in the light of the sixty or seventy years which followed. Yet there can be no doubt that the moral effect of the capture was for the moment overwhelming. Immense numbers of the various corporations ^ who were bound to certain crafts and functions fled from the city. This must have caused a great dislocation of the social life of the capital. And in the year 412 an edict of the Emperor orders all governors of provinces to compel the return of these fugitives to their proper functions.^ There 1 Salv. Ae, Guh. Dei, vii. § 108, sola thei-marum ; v. Godefroy's Paratitlon, nos morum nostrorum vitia vieerunt. C Th. xiv. 2. '^ The oorporati included the pistores, ^ G. Th. xiv. 2, 4 ; cf. xiy. 7, 2, and cataholenses, suarii, peouarii, manoipes Nov. Th. 26. 256 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv was also a second exodus of many of the upper class, who fled to Africa and the East. One case of which we possess the details will help us to realise the fate of these nohle exiles. The Demetrias, whose ascetic devotion drew forth the extravagant laudations of S. Jerome, was a member of one of the noblest and wealthiest houses among the Eoman aristocracy. The Anicii appear in the consular lists for many years. One of her ancestors was proconsul of Africa in the reign of Valerian, another was colleague of Aurelian in the consulship, and a third held the same great of&ce in the early years of the reign of Constantine.^ Her grandfather. Sex. Petronius Probus, had filled more important offices than any man of his time.^ The father and uncle of Demetrias, who were the consuls of 395, have been immortalised in a poem of Claudian. Demetrias and her grandmother, Faltonia Proba, having ransomed themselves from the Goths, and having hired a vessel at one of the Italian ports, effected their escape, amid great hardships, to Africa.^ But when they landed there, they had, in the words of S. Jerome, to encounter a monster more cruel than any in the legends of the Western seas. Count Heraclian was then governor of the province,* a man with an insatiable thirst for wine and for gold. He was the assassin of Stilicho, and the successor of Olympius in the leadership of the Catholic party. But his religious principles were com- patible with the grossest and most heartless cruelty to women and to fellow-Christians. He had mustered a crowd of Syrian slave-dealers in the African ports, who were ready to purchase the hapless refugees ; and many a Eoman lady of noble birth was consigned by this ruffian to the ignominy of an Eastern harem. Proba and her grand -daughter were compelled to purchase their freedom, or save their honour, by an enormous ransom.' Others of their class found their way to S. Jerome's ^ See Seeck's Sym. xci., with the mari frnnantem viderat patriam, et Stemina of the family. fragili cymbae salutem suam suommque ^ Cf. Au3. Ep. xri. 19, Probo P.P. : commiserat, crudeliora inyenit AMcae dico hunc Senati praesulem, . „* o.. tt j praefectum eundem et eonsalem, Zos. v. 3/. He was made governor (nam consul aetemum cluet) of Africa as his reward for the murder collegam August! consulis, of Stilicho. Cf. Oros. vii. 42, § 10. columencurulisBomulae. 5 p^^j,^ returned to Eome, having See the epitaph of Probus in O.l.L. vL recovered some part of her property. 1756. See the inscriptions to her memory in ^ Hieron. JJp. 130, § 7, quae de medio C./.i. vi. 1754. CHAP.n ROMAS VIE'.VS OF THE IXVASIOXS 2.57 monasteiy a: Bethlehem in a stare of the greatest iestinitioa. TLe number of these visitors was 5: great tiat the saint; althongh kis hospitality was boundless, s-jmetiiaes found his stodions lab-jtiis sailv dismrtei-" In the meantime, the recoTerr of confidence and equanimity at Eoiae itself seems to have been rapid. It is probable that the slaughter ani material liamage inflicted by Aiaric have been exaggerate! The ancient autiiorities give verr different accounts of the matter. According to some, there was wholesale massacre,* and senators were tortored and put ro death in large numbers : ' the city ^ras ravaged wili Sre.- and most of the great works of art were iestroTe- ' Sc'-jT. Si^. Eixl. TiL 10. ponunu etc *■ Hiercm. Ep. 125, nrfas inclvti ... ^ IM Ci^. Dei, iii. c 25, Got&i teto tmo \2ast3. est inceniiict. tarn mnltis Sesatoribins pep^rc-fTLiiir ' Socr. Biit. Eeel. vii. 10, xoVXa -'-j -as. ziagi= mir-Lm si: -TZfA ali^ti-j- • Oroe. Tii -3?. * Pro?, ck BeU. Vnid. L 2: 258 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv reverence/ sees only the crowded monuments of her glory, and has his eyes dazzled by the radiance of her glittering fanes.^ The remains of Eutilius are of great value, because he is almost the only man of the last pagan generation from whom we can learn something of the feelings of his class about the future of the Empire in the face of its perils. He was a pagan of the pagans, imbued, as we have seen,^ with a mingled hatred and contempt for the new ascetic spirit which had peopled the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea with men " who are as much afraid to enjoy the gifts of fortune as to face its reverses." * His paternal estates in Gaul had been ravaged by the invaders.^ The ruins of his home, the streams and groves of his desolated lands, he feels, are calling him to repair the waste. Yet he betrays no symptom of despair. Three years after the siege he had held the of&ce of prefect of the city.^ He may have actually seen the Goths within the walls. But there is hardly a hint that any serious event has occurred.'^ The temples of the gods are still standing in their dazzling radiance under the serene Italian sky.^ The cheers of the spectators in the circus reach his ears as his ship stm lingers in the Tiber.^ He feels a passionate regret at quitting " this fair queen of the world," so mighty, so merci- ful,^" so bounteous, whose visible splendour is only the faint symbol of her worldwide and godlike sway. Certainly there is here no querulous and faint-hearted lamentation over a crushing and appalling disaster. The troubles of the time, referred to in a few vague phrases, are treated as merely vicissitudes of fortune, such as Eome has known before, and from which she has always risen with renewed vitaHty.^^ The enemies of Eome have always repented their success. " Victoris Brenni non distulit AUia poenam." This faith in the star of Eome, expressed with such genuine enthusiasm, seems in Eutilius not to be founded on the consciousness of material strength. It is rather a religious feeling springing from a clear ' Rutil. Namat. i. 47. several offices, among others that of ^ n. i. 93 : oonsularis Tusciae, G. Th. ii. 4, 6, confundimtque vagos delubra mieantia visus. ' Kutil. Namat. ii. 50 : ' lb. i. 440. 6' captiva prius quam caperetur erat ; * lb. i. 445 : of. i. 39. quaenam perversi rabies tarn stulti cerebri, lb. i. 197. duin mala formides, nee bona posse pati. 9 JJ. i, 201, 5 lb. i. 25. " lb. i. 69 : ' lb, i. 157-160 ; of. Seeck's Sym. mitigat armatas viotrlx dementia vires, clxxx. His father Lachanius had held " lb. i. 119 3C[q. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 269 perception of the true mission of Eome and the nature of her services to humanity : " Quod regnas minus est quam quod regnare mereris." -^ The triumphs of Eome have been triumphs of law and equal justice for the vanquished. The child of Mars and Venus,^ she has united love and tenderness to warlike might; and so has she made of the earth with its divers peoples a single country.^ Here Orosius and Eutilius, the Christian and the pagan, join hands. "Eome," says Orosius * in effect, "has stripped exile of its terrors. Wherever I go, I find my fatherland, I come as a Eoman among Eomans." But the pagan noble has a greater faith than the Christian priest in the future of the Eoman sway. Eising superior to all the vicissitudes of fortune, she is to receive the submission of the trembling Goth ; ^ the pacified nations are stOl to pay her tribute and pour their wealth into her bosom ; she may, with no term set to her dominion, extend her laws over the coming ages,^ and have no fear of the distaff of the Fates. Such were the hopes or beliefs of one who may have seen the Goth in possession of Eome, and who was returning to find the same Gothic host settled in his native Aquitaine. What secret misgivings Eutihus may have had we can never know, or how he fared when he found himself once more on his ravaged estate. His life, which is known to us only for a moment, is, like his poem, a mere fragment, a bit of wreckage as it were appearing for an instant on the waves and then lost to sight for ever. His is the almost solitary voice which reaches us directly from that generation of the high aristocracy of Eome, which, from whatever cause, pride, grief, confidence in the stability of a great civilisation, or from the cruelty of time in engulfing all record of its feelings, is now as sUent as if it had never been. In the very year in which Eutilius Kamatianus was returning from his prefecture to Gaul, Orosius, the young Spanish disciple of S. Augustine, was composing his historical answer to the pagan cry that Eome had perished in the ' Eutil. Namat. i. 91. Christianos et Romanos Romanus et ^ 76 i 67 Christianus accedo. ,„'.■' 5 Rutii_ Namat. i. 142. * Oros. V. 2, 1, ubique. patria, ubique porrige victuras Romana in saecula leges, lex et reHgio mea est . . . q^uia ad solaque fktales non vereare colos. 260 ROME AXD THE BARBARIANS book iv Christian times. This work has been already referred to in an account of the last open conflict between Christian and pagan in the West. It was composed primarily to confute the open accusations of the heathen remnant, and to quiet the uneasiness of doubters on the Christian side. Orosius employed a limited erudition and a boundless license of assertion to prove that the pre-Christian ages had been scourged with every form of calamity in a degree unknown to his contemporaries, and to deepen every shadow in the history of the past. But worthless as his work is for its main purpose, it has a great value for the light which it throws on the possible future attitude of the Church to the barbarians. A necessary complement of the view which Orosius took of past history was his determined resolve to minimise the con- vulsions and the sufferings of his own time. He had suffered personally in the Yandal invasion of Spain ; -^ he must have witnessed some of the horrors described in the Chronicle of Idatius.^ Yet he can speak of the capture of Eome as a single act of brigandage in a world enjoying general tranquillity.' The Goths, in their first onset, might be fierce and rapacious, but they were after all fellow-Christians. Their chief had kept inviolate the Christian churches ; ^ the soldiers, in the midst of their piUage, had formed a singular procession to escort the sacred vessels to the basilica of S. Peter, singing hymns as they went. They had no hatred of Eome, no wish to overthrow her empire. Eather their great chiefs, Alaric and Ataulphus, had a singular reverence for Eome.* Their strongest wish was to be admitted to any settlement which Eome might assign to them," and they were ready, in return for the boon, to protect her and to restore her power. In his native country Orosius had seen the Germans turning from brigandage and slaughter to the cultivation of the fields. They were beginning to live on terms of amity and good- feUowship with their Eoman neighbours, many of whom pre- ferred the rule of the barbarians to the crushing exactions of ^ Oros. iii. 20, 5. His native region ' Oros. ui. 20, 9. was probably Tarraconensis ; cf. vii. 22, * lb. vii. 39. nos quoque in Hispania Tarraconem ^ lb. vii. 43. nostram . . . ostendimus. * lb. i. 16, 3, esiguae habitationis ^ Idat. Chron., debacohantibus per sedem non ex sua electione sed ex Hispanias barbaris, etc. nostro judicio rogant. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 261 the Eoman treasury.^ Salvianus tells us the same thing. But Salvianus wrote more than a generation after Orosius. And it is creditable to the insight and candour of Orosius that he should so soon and so clearly have perceived the more hope- ful side of the barbarian invasions, and the promise of a rapprochement between the Eomans and their invaders. He shows far more discernment and detachment from prejudice than the statesmen of Eavenna who rejected the overtures of Alaric, and compassed the death of Stihcho. In Orosius we see the Church already adapting herself to altered conditions, and willing to come to terms with the new forces. If we ask what Orosius thinks of the condition and future destiny of Eome, we obtain a somewhat uncertain reply. On the one hand, in spite of aU her disasters, Eome still retains her imperial sway intact ; ^ on the other, the mighty mass of the once omnipotent Eoman commonwealth is beginning to feel the decrepitude of age.^ Eome will have her term, like the empires of the past, like all things human. Her power was founded on force, and won by bloody conquests, which caused far greater misery over vast spaces of the world than any inflicted by the Gothic inroads.* And yet her rule has given a period of extraordinary tranquillity, order, and prosperity to the nations whom she conquered.* If you have to fly from one province, you can find a home, a country, everywhere — " ubique patria, ubique lex, et religio mea est." ® The Eoman peace, the Eoman culture, Eomania, is greater than Eome and will survive her. And along with this cosmopolitan feeling, there is here and there a curious emergence of provincial patriotism, the faint dawn, as it were, of modem nationality. More than once, by a sort of patriotic irrelevance, Orosius enlarges on the stubborn resistance which the Spaniards ^ Oros. viL 41, 7, barbari execrati ^ Oros. ii. 3, opibus spoUata non gladios suos ad aratra converai sunt regno, manet adhuc et regnat incolmnis. residuosque Eomanos ut socios modo et ^ lb. ii. 6, 14, iDae quondam amicos fovent nt inveniantur jam inter Romanae reipubUcae moles none magis eos quidam Romani qui maUnt inter imbeciUitate propriae senectutis quam barbaros pauperem libertatem quam alienisconcussaeviribus contremescunt. inter Eomanos tributariam soUicitndi- * lb. v. 1, 4. nem sustinere. Compare with tbis ^ lb. v.'l, 12, inquietude beUorum de Chib. Dei, v. 26, ac sic actum est qua illi attriti sunt nobis ignota est ut latrociniis judicum strangulati ... in otio nos nascimur et senescimus. homines et necati inciperent esse quasi An eztraordinaiy statement to be made barbari, quia non permittebantur esse in the seconddecadeofthe fifth century! Romani. " lb. v. 2, 1. 262 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv offered to the Eoman generals/ and the sufferings from famine and slaughter endured by his countrjTnen during the stru^les of two hundred yeaxs. WhUe recognising the peace and happiness which the Eoman Empire had given the world since the coming of Christ, he is hardly so ready as S. Augustine to do justice to the manly virtue by which the Empire was won.^ His sympathy is rather for the conq^uered races. Eome subdued the world to gratify her love of dominion, her lust for gold and luxury. The blessings which her rule has diffused are due to the Divine wOl which has guided the course of history. Between Orosius at the beginning of the century, and Salvianus and Sidonius who wrote towards its close, we have little to tell us how the Eomans regarded the course of events. The great lettered and noble class is absolutely silent. The sons and grandsons of the generation of Symmachus, the immediate ancestors of the generation of Sidonius, though they witnessed the conquest of Eoman Africa by the Vandals, the invasion of Gaul by Attila, the settlement of the Visigoths in Aquitaine, have not left even a fragment to inform us as to their fortunes, their hopes, or their fears. The only message we have from that generation comes in three poems, composed by Christians and ascetics who had seen with their own eyes the great invasion of Gaul at the beginning of the century. And it is curious to contrast with the hopeful optimism of Orosius the horror and grief of these writers at what seems to them to be the death-agony of the Eoman world. The poems entitled Ad Uxorem and Be Providentia Divina^ which used to be wrongly attributed to S. Prosper,* and the Commonitorium ^ of S. Orientius are, as it were, the solitary voices which come to us from the dim mass of the ^ Oros. V. 4, the victories of Yiria- was a natire of Southern Gaul and had thus ; V. 7, the war with Numantia ; seen the invasion of the Vandals and V. 19, Sertorius ; vii. 34, Trajan and Goths, v. 34. The poem was probably Theodosius of Spanish origin ; of. composed about 415 ; v. Ebert, 317, Mbrner, pp. 37, 38 ; Ebert, Lit. des n. 4. Mittelalters, p. 344. ■* It has a taint of Pelagianism (v. ' De Civ. Dei, ii. 2 ; ii. 29, indoles 233, 240, 585) of which S. Prosper was Somana laudabilis, progenies Kegu- a prominent opponent ; v. Migne's ed. lorum, Scaevolarum, Scipionum, Fab- col. 615 ; Ebert, i. 319. riciorum, haec potius concupisce ; cf. Ep. ' The Cominmxitoriwm was probably 138, § 17, rempublicam quam primi composed in the second decade of the Romani constituerunt auxeruntque rir- iifth century, Ebert, i. 410 ; cf. Ellis, tutibus. Pref. to his ed. (Corp. Scrip. £cci.)of the ^ The author of the Dc Proi: Div. Commonitorium, p. 194. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 263 generation who witnessed the Suevic and Vandal invasions. In phrases, often almost identical, they describe the suffering and terror of the time. The country is smoking like one great funeral pyre.^ Its strongest and fairest cities have been given up to fire and sword. Nothing has escaped the violence of the invaders, castles on apparently inaccessible rocks,^ the lonely hermitage buried in the woods,^ churches guarded by the relics of saints and martyrs * — no place, however strong or remote or sacred, was safe from their attacks. The aged priest has been driven into slavery with his iiock,^ the mother with her child,^ the master with his servants. On all sides there is nothing but war, confusion, and the treachery of fellow-citizens.'^ Peace seems to have quitted the world for ever, and the end of all things is at hand. It is probable, as has often been pointed out, that there may be a good deal of exaggeration in these descriptions, and a good deal of sacred rhetoric with a religious purpose. Yet we are bound to take account of the impression made at the time on a certain class of minds. The trouble is not by them regarded, as Orosius regarded it, as almost trivial compared with the slaughter and rapine and pestilence of former ages. It is not local and temporary. The fabric of the civilised world is tottering. Men are abandoning hope in its permanence and seem to feel themselves on the edge of the abyss. The poem on the Providence of God dwells specially on the fact that many were losing faith in the government of the world by a righteous God. The spectacle of wholesale and indiscriminate ruin,* of the virtuous and the wicked overtaken by the same doom, drove them back to the conception of an iron fate, or of an epicurean deity sitting aloof from the world, powerless over its destiny, coldly pitiless of its woes.^ And along with the atheistic ^ CoTrnnonit. ii. 184 : ' Ad Xlxorem, 26 : uno fumavit Gallia tota rogo. undique bella fremunt ... pax abut terns, ultima quaeque vides. Ga/rm. de Prov. Dim. 17 : Cf. Gommonit. ii. 174 : aDlmum patriae subiit fumantis imago. multis causa fuit mortis civica proditio ; 2 Gommonit. ii. 169 ; Carm. de Prov. sioTOTi. Ep. 118, § 2 ; 123, § 4, referring "*^' ^°* to the same events. ' Gommonit. ii. 170, 8 Carm. de Prov. Div. 52 : . „ , _ n . . r idem turbo bonos sustulit atque malos. * Gourm. de Prov. Bw. 45. 9 „ »,, . ^ lb. 59. scrutatis igitur stellarum motibus, hoc est artis opus, totam subvertere relligionem ; ^ GoTHTTWnit. ii. 177. dum nullum curare Deummortaliasuadet, etc. 264 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv philosophies of the past returned also its pagan superstitions. Refusing to believe in a controlling Providence, men once more began to interrogate the stars ^ as to the meaning of the sudden arrest of civilisation, or as to their own personal fortunes in the misery and chaos of the time. Many years afterwards we shall find that Salvianus has still to contend against the same spirit of unbelief. Orosius wrote to refute the cavils of the last generation of pagans, who found in the misfortunes of the Empire an argument against the adoption of Christianity as the national faith. Salvianus, separated from Orosius by more than a generation, had an equally controversial purpose ; but his work is aimed at the scepticism of professed Christians,^ who were disturbed by the calamities, the imminent overthrow, of a society which had definitely placed itself under the protection of the Cross. Orosius had to oppose the convictions of men who thought the world was suffering from the abandonment of an old faith, under the protection of which it had prospered. Salvianus had to deal with the doubts of the votaries of the new faith, under which the world had suffered what were thought unexampled disasters. The treatise Be, Chihernatione Dei was probably written before 451 and after 439.^ It is perhaps fortunate for its controversial purpose that it was composed before the victory of the Roman arms at ChMons. In spite of all the faults of Orosius as a historian, it may well be questioned whether his treatise is not of greater historical value than that of Salvianus. The object of Orosius is to show that Rome had suffered even worse calamities when ^ This was forbidden by a long series deusdiciturutpotenec bonos custodians of laws. In the year 409, Honorius neo coercens males, orders the expulsion of mathematici, ^ Ebert, i. 469, n. 5. He mentions C. Th. ix. 16, 12. But they are found the defeat of Litorius in 439 (vii. 40, in Rome again in 410, when Attains Prosp. Chron. ad a.), and he is silent consulted them (Zos. vi. 7). Sidonius about the defeat of AttUa in 451. represents the wife of Aetius as con- Teuffel says the latter event was un- sulting the stars, Carm. v. 259 ; cf. known to him. But the defeat of Sid. Ep. viii. 11. Lampridius of Bor- Attila may have been ignored by a deaux believed in astrology. Not writer whose thesis is the superiority without reason S. Aug. de Civ. Dei, of barbarian virtue. The reference in viii. 19, attacks this superstition. Cf. vi. 67 (obsessa est urbs) is to Alario's, Maury's La Magie, c. vi. not to Genseric's capture of Rome. Salvianus lived possibly tiU 495 2 See the opening words of the de (Gennad. Serip. III. 67, vivit usque Oub. Dei, incuriosus a quibusdam et hodie ; v. Teufifel, § 462 n. 4 ; cf. Ebert, quasi neglegens huraanorum actuum i. 448 n.). CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 265 she worshipped her ancient gods than she did in Christian times. And he is prohahly not wrong at least when he maintains that the invasions of the reign of Gallienus caused quite as much misery and terror as the invasions of the reign of Honorius.-^ Only once or twice does he strike the dominant note of Salvianus, that it was the theatre, the sensual pleasures of the Eoman world, which had drawn down the judgments of heaven.^ The great object of Salvianus is to heighten the horror of the catastrophe that he may make the moral more impressive. He promises (though the promise is unfulfilled) to prove, as S. Augustine held, that the ancient Eomans won and enjoyed their rrde by a manly, natural virtue.^ But the Eomans of his day have lost their dominion, and suffered in person and estate, because they are sunk in sensual pleasure, because they have exchanged the sober and strenuous energy of their ancestors for a soft, luxurious, and frivolous temper, without nerve to cope with danger, without even enough of imagination to realise it.* " The Eoman world goes laughing to its death." The invasions are the proper penalty for heinous guilt and thorough corruption of character. The invaders may be Arians,^. they may be heathens, they have their vices ; but in spite of blindness to spiritual truth, the result of faulty teaching or early association, in spite of cruelty and treachery, they are morally far superior to the Eoman population. Although they have been denied the full light of the Catholic faith, yet they have never sunk to the level of the Christians of Aquitaine, where every estate is a scene of wholesale debauchery.* The Vandals may be a weak and cowardly people,'^ yet they have overthrown the stately Eoman civilisation of Africa, and, with its power, they have swept away its abominations of nameless 1 Oros. vii. 22, 7. = Ih. iv. 61, 62. He divides ^ lb. iv. 21, 5, theatra inousanda them into heretics and pagans, the non tempora. latter including the Saxons, Franks, ^ Salv. de Gfub. Dei, vii. 2, si deus Gepidae, and Huns ; of. iv. 81. On the annuit cum ad eam negotii partem ac- heretic Goths and Vandals cf. v, 14. ceaserimus, ut de veteribus Romanis e yj yii_ 14 5„„ aliqua dieantvir, evidenter divine munere adprobabimustamjuatumtuncergaillos ' Ih. vii. 27, sed ideo ills infirmis- fuisse domini favorem quam nunc erga simis hostibus cuncta tradidit, ut nosjustamseveritatem; cf.Ebert,i.463. ostenderet scilicet non vires valere, ^ De Gub. Dei, vi. 80, ita cunctos cri- sed causam, etc. ; cf. Oros. vii. 38, 1, mina sua presserant, ut nee metuerent Stilico, Vandalorum imbellis, avarae, periculum simm ; praenoscebatur cap- perfidae, et dolosae gentis genere tivitas nee formidabatur ; cf. vi. 72. editus. 266 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv vice.^ A righteous God has given them that great heritage, to punish the enormous corruption of the Christian and Eoman world. Nor does Salvianus find the contrast less marked between the Eomans and the Germans as political rulers. The oppression and peculation of the imperial officials, and the insolent and fraudulent devices of the upper class to evade their share of the public burdens and to crush their poorer neighbours, are probably better grounded accusations than the charge of universal sensuality. For as to the fiscal and economic chaos, the rhetoric of Salvianus is only too amply supported by the repeated, but apparently disregarded, edicts of a long line of emperors. It is here that the priest of Marseilles throws a searching light on the actual condition of ' Eoman society, and on the feeling of the oppressed towards the new barbarian powers. In the passionate declamation of Salvianus against the selfish individualism of the privileged class, and his equally passionate sympathy with the needy and friendless, we seem to hear the tones of modern democratic statesmanship. Even the curiales, the middling proprietors, whose position seems to a modern inquirer the most hopeless in the Eoman social system, are treated by Salvianus as cruel oppressors of those beneath them.^ All his pity is reserved for the poor peasant, who, exposed to the fraudulent arts or high-handed oppression of the tax-gatherer and the rich proprietor, has only two courses open to him : either he must place himself under the patronage and protection of some wealthy neighbour, forfeiting probably both the poor remnant of his property and his freedom; or he must leave all behind, and settle in a district under the sway of a Gothic chief' To many the latter alternative seemed preferable. There is nothing in the work of Salvianus more remarkable than the frank admission that, in humanity and justice, the Goth far excelled the Eoman,* and that many Eomans of that day preferred the government of the Goth. We are trying to get a conception of the thoughts of the 1 De Glib. Dei,-ni. 63 sgq., ita enim ^ lb. v. 18, quae enim sunt . . . generale in eis malum impuritatis est, urbes ubi non quot curiales fuerint tot ut quicumque ex eis impudious esse tyranni sunt, desierit, Afer non esse videatur ; of. * lb. v. 37. vii. 84-87. " /*. v. 15. CHAP. 11 ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 267 Eomans of the fifth century about the barbarians and the fate of the Empire. Orosius and Salvianus are the men from whom we can gather most to satisfy our curiosity. They wrote, it is true, with a controversial pr didactic purpose. They are not cahn scientific observers and reasoners ; but they are the only writers of that century known to us who faced the problems raised by the German invasions, and who tried to find an answer to the questions which must have forced themselves on thoughtful minds. When we compare them with one another, it is not difficult to perceive that in the thirty years which separate the two works, men's ideas as to the meaning of the invasions have undergone a change. Orosius makes light of the barbarian conquests, and, though with some reserve, he does not despair of the future of Eome. He admits that the Germans can be self -restrained in the hour of victory, and that they are willing to come to terms with their Eoman neighbours. But he does not dwell, like Salvianus, on the ; virtues of the conquerors or the vices of those whom they have defeated. After all, he seems to think, the Eoman world is civilised and Christian, and it may tame and' absorb its assailants. He feels profoundly what Eome has done for the world, by the diffusion of peace and law and culture over so many countries, and he thinks the barbarians may submit to the marvellous influence which, since the coming of Christ, had made of so many peoples one commonwealth. But Salvianus had seen many things which Orosius did not live to see. In the interval between them, the Vandals had shaken Eoman civilisation in Africa to its base. The Gothic power had securely established itself in Southern Gaul. The Eoman authority in Spain was confined to a corner in the north-east. The Burgundians were steadily advancing from the middle Ehine towards the valleys of the Ehone and Is^re.^ In the meantime the imperial power was growing daily weaker, and its administration more oppressive and corrupt. And the upper class were taking advantage of the paralysis 1 From the Panegyric on Majorian time ; but it must have become theirs by Sidonius, Carm. v. 575-76, soon afterwards. The arguments of De Lugdunumquo tuam, dum praeteris, aspice Coulanges to prove that there is no con- victor, tinuity between the settlement of 413 written 458 (Mommsen, Praef. li. ; (Prosp. C7i7-ok. ad a. ) and later Burgun- cf. Gourm. xiii.), it is clear that Lyons dian history are perhaps more ingenious was not in Burgundian hands at that than convincing {L'Inv. pp. 446 a??.). 268 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv of the government and of the economic chaos to aggrandise themselves, unrestrained by any public spirit or feelings of pity for the distressed. Can we wonder, then, that to the eye of Salvianus the Empire seems almost in its last throes, while the Germans, in their victorious strength, seem to hold the future in their grasp ? Salvianus, as we have seen, has probably exaggerated the sensual excesses of his countrymen, as he has probably idealised the purity of German morality ; but he discerned the real weaknesses of Eome, the crushing taxation, the cruelty of the official class, the selfish rapacity of the rich, which made many Eomans welcome the humaner rule of the Gothic chief. In an age of fierce intolerance, it is singular to find a Catholic extolling the superior virtue of men who denied the deity of Christ. He praises not only their chastity, but their justice, their kindliness to one another, even their tolerance towards those who anathematised them as heretics.^ The invasions were terrible in their inevitable slaughter and rapine. But they were not nearly so terrible as the riot of gross vice and shameless oppression of which they were the deserved punishment. Salvianus has no faith in the stability of Eoman government, or in the future of Eoman society. The ancient Eepublic, he says,^ was strong and wealthy because its citizens despised wealth and luxury, and were ready to sacrifice everything for the State. But in his own time the public treasury is empty, while the rich are growing daily richer and more rapacious. Christianity has failed to regenerate the Eoman world. The future belongs to the barbarians. The last authority to whom we shall refer on the subject of this chapter is Apollinaris Sidonius of Auvergne. His works have been already used for the light which they throw on the life of that wealthy and noble class which Salvianus overwhelms with his anathemas. We turn to them once more to discover what were the views and feelings of a great aristocrat, regarded also as the foremost literary man of his age, about the new barbarian powers, under whose shadow 1 De, Gub. Dei, vii. 39, cum . . . illi Fabriciis, Cinoinnatis, grave fuisse etiam in alienis (Oatholicis) Episcopis existimamus, quod pauperes erant deum honorarent . . . qui divites esse nolebant, cum omnia ^ IK i. 10 sqq., nisi forte antiquis scilicet studia ... ad communia illis priscae virtutis viris, Fabiis, emolumenta oonferrent, etc. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 269 his life was passed, and about that imperial power three of whose last holders he celebrated on their accession. Yet, in spite of his great advantages as an observer, we must not promise ourselves too much help from Sidonius in our present inquiry. He has not the historian's or statesman's breadth of view. He has not the detachment of men like Orosius and Salvianus. Sidonius belongs to a different world from that of Orosius and Salvianus. He has not their consuming earnestness and seriousness of purpose. He was a good patriot, and in his later years a devoted bishop ; yet he never ceased to be the grand seigneur, believing in his own order with implicit faith, sharing to the full all its love of stateliness and splendour, and its passion for high place and distinction. Above all, he is essentially a literary man, of the stamp which that age of decadence most admired. He is a stylist, not a thinker or inquirer. There is little doubt that he valued his own compositions not for their substance, but for those character- istics of style which we now think most worthless or even repulsive in them, the childish conceits, the meaningless an- titheses, the torture applied to language so as to give an air of interest and distinction to the trivial commonplace of a colourless and monotonous existence, the crowding reminis- cences of history and mythology applied to characters and situations remote from any world of miracle or romance. Yet, in spite of all its vices, this minute word-painting has some value to the historian. It enables him to revive the picture of GaUo-Eoman life in the evening light before darkness finally settles on the West. It also gives us a vivid glimpse of the society of the capital in the years which followed its capture by the Vandals. Above all, though Sidonius has no very great insight into the real meaning of events, he has left us a series of pictures of the Germans, the minute faithfulness and realistic truth of which can hardly be exaggerated. The early life and associations of Sidonius gave him peculiar advantages for the study of the barbarians. Eleven years before his birth the Visigoths had obtained a settlement in Aquitaine.^ During his boyhood and youth they were 1 Prosp. Chron. ad a. 419, Con- TVallia, data ei ad habitandum se- stantius patricius paoem firmat cum cunda Aquitania. 270 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv making constant efforts to extend their territory to the south and east. He must have heard many a tale of the relief of Narbonne, in 436/ by Litorius with his cavalry, and of the defeat and captivity of the same gallant, but over-adventurous, soldier in 439 at Toulouse.^ He probably heard from the Hps of Avitus, whose daughter he married, the story of that en- counter under the walls of Auvergne,^ so like a tale of the Middle Ages, in which Avitus challenged and overthrew in single combat one of the Hun troopers of Litorius, who were ravaging in their passage the lands which they were engaged to defend. Avitus was one of the lieutenants of Aetius who, for thirty years, till he fell by the hand of Valentinian III., was the foremost general of Eome, and the great stay of her power in the province of Gaul. Franks and Burgundians were pressiug down from the Ehine, and the Goths, with intervals of peace, were striving to extend their power from the West. Auvergne alone was left in quiet. But her foremost noble, the future Emperor, was in all those years foremost in the struggles and diplomacy of the time. When the Hun invasion of 451 broke on Gaul, Avitus bore a prominent part in secur- ing the help of the Visigoths against the invader. He was a power at the Gothic court,* and he helped to give a tincture of Eoman culture to the sons of the Gothic chief who fell fighting for Eome on the plains of Chllons.^ Five years after the great battle he was raised by the united voice of Goths and Eomans to the imperial throne. Accustomed from his earliest youth to associate with men who, like Avitus, made it a cardinal principle of their policy to maintain friendly relations with the Goths, Sidonius is justly regarded as a unique authority on the relations of Gallo-Eomans and barbarians. No one can read the many graphic sketches which Sidonius gives of the various peoples then sweeping across the Eoman Empire, without perceiving that the author had studied them close at hand. Salvianus is incessantly declaiming about the virtues of the barbarians, but we could well spare some of the declamation for a little lifelike colouring. Sidonius, on the 1 Prosp. Chron. ad a. 419, Isidoro imprudenter conseruit. et Senators Coss. ^ Apoll. Sid. Carm. vii. 246. ^ lb., Litorius . . . dum aru- * lb. vii. 342 : spicum responsis et daemonum signi- et populis Qetiois sola est tua gratia limes, fioationibus fidit, puguam oum Gothis ' lb. vii. 497 ; Jordan. Get. xl. xli. ; CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 271 other hand, is an artist in words, although his art is very perverse and corrupt ; and he pleases himself with microscopic fidelity of detail in rendering the minutest physical traits, the dress and hahits of these races towards whom he felt at once curi- osity and fastidious dislike. If he did not witness the great struggle with the army of Attila in 451, he had probably often seen the Hun troopers, with whose aid Aetius and Litorius,^ in many a battle from the Ehine to the Garonne, kept the barbarians at bay for years ; and, in the Panegyric on An- themius,^ we can almost hear the rush of that terrible cavalry, with their flattened noses and cavernous, yet piercing, eyes, lean-flanked and broad of chest, bestriding their horses as if horse and man were one. There is not a tribe which crossed the Ehine or harried the coasts of Gaul in those years,' whose features or equipment is not flashed on us in some vivid phrase. The Burgundians, who established themselves in his native Lyons, were on the whole friendly neighbours. But they had habits which offended the taste and senses of the Eoman gentle- man. They greased their hair with rancid butter,* they sus- tained their gigantic bulk by ravenous feeding on the most unsavoury messes, and they deafened their guest with the harshness and loudness of their voices. The fierce Herulian, unrivalled for speed in running, has his cheeks tattooed a bluish green, like the colour of the waves.^ You see the Gothic elders trooping to the council in garments of wild beasts' skins, falling scarcely to the knee.® Fiercest and most daring of all is the Saxon ranging along the Breton coasts in his coracle of hides, with his blue fearless eyes, ever appear- ing when least expected, vanishing as suddenly as he came, for whom shipwreck has no terrors, to whom the sea is a familiar companion, who butchers his captives to gratify his gods.'' The Frank stands out on the canvas,^ with his blue-gray eyes and yellow hair, his clean-shaved face, and his tight, short tunic. Sidonius had probably seen with his own eyes that picturesque wedding procession,^ in which the princely young 1 Prosp. Chrm. ad a. 425, 435, 436, * Carm. vii. 455. Of. Claud, de 437, 439. Bell. Get. 481. 2 Sid. Carm. ii. 243. '' Sid. Carm. vii. 369 ; Ep. viii. 6, ' Of. ib. V. 476 ; vii. 234, 320. § 15. * Ib. xii. 6. ' Carm. vii. 236. 5 Ep. viii. 9 ; Carm. vii. 236. ' Ep. iv. 20. 272 ROME A.XD THE BARBARIAiXS book iv Sigismer strode along behind his horses glittering with jewel- studded trappings, himself ablaze with scarlet and gold ; and followed by the young warriors of his staff in their short green tunics, edged with purple, and armed with lances and battle- axes. The description of Theodoric 11.,^ his person, his habits, and his court, is known to most readers of history. It is from the pen of a man who had sat at Theodoric's table and played at dice with him. The smallest details of the king's personal appearance are noted, his bushy eyebrows, his sweeping eye- lashes, the delicate lines of the nose and Ups, the clean-shaved face, the enormous muscles of back and leg, the combination in the whole physique of refinement and strength, of the liigli- bred, self-contained ruler of men with the hunter and the warrior. His religious observance is regular, but more a matter of habit and self-discipline than of devotion. His day is that of a man who allows not a moment to idleness. In affairs of state he listens intently, and says little. He is a keen sports- man, like his ancestors, and seldom misses his aim. At his table the dishes are distinguished by deKcate cookery rather than by costliness ; and his plate not so much by its weight as by elegance of design. At the gaming-table he is eager to win, but he bears his losses with a smile, and he takes his lucky throws in calm silence. He lays aside for the time the dignity of the prince, encourages free and easy intercourse, and fears nothing so much as to be feared. Yet, in spite of the vividness of these sketches of barbarian life, the student who expects to find in Sidonius clear and definite judgments on the relations of the Western Empire to its new guests or invaders, or forecasts of its future, will, for the most part, be doomed to disappointment. There are indeed in the Panegjrrics, as we shall see presently, occasional flashes of political insight. But the letters are singularly barren of reflection or information on the great perils and problems of the time. Men like Sidonius were far more interested in their friendships, their social pleasures, and their literary pursuits, than in public affairs. They have far more ambition to win admiration for their very perverse literary efforts than to satisfy the curiosity of the historical inquirer of a later age. Yet the letter of Sidonius on the Court of ■ Ep. i. 2. Theodoric reigned from 453 to 466. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 273 Theodoric, apparently written only to gratify curiosity, or to exhibit tricks of ingenious and vivid phrase, had in all prob- ability a serious political purpose. There is little doubt that, in his early manhood, Sidonius had taken part iu a movement, the aim of which was to found a strong Gallic party ^ which, with the aid of the Visi- goths, should exercise a powerful influence on the Empire, or perhaps restore the quasi-independence of the days of Post- umus and Victorinus.^ The spectacle of the weakness of the central government was humiliating. It could not protect its subjects, whilst its fiscal oppression was every day growing more cruel. We have only a glimpse of the intrigues and secret diplomacy of this party of Gallic independence ; but we can discern that Avitus and his family were deeply in- volved in them. Avitus himself, who with Tonantius Fer- reolus had secured the support of the first Theodoric against Attila, was on the most friendly terms with Theodoric II. Sidonius too was received at the Gothic court, and the descrip- tion of the king's character and habits, to which we have referred, was sent to Agricola, one of the sons of Avitus. The letter was probably not intended merely for Agricola's eyes, who must have heard often from his father the tales of his inter- course with the Gothic royal family. It is not an improbable surmise that Sidonius knew that the letter would be handed about, and that he wished to give a favourable impression of Theodoric to the younger members of the party who were working for the GaUo-Gothic alliance. That alliance bore fruit in the elevation of Avitus to the throne by the united voice of the mixed Eoman and Gothic assembly at the castle of Ugernum.* And the Panegyric on his father-in-law, which we shall presently review, is at once the history of the move- ment, and the fullest and clearest exposition which Sidonius has left of his views on the problems of the time. The hopes of Sidonius and his party were dashed for the time by the fall of Avitus. Yet we can discover traces of one more efibrt to set up an imperial representative of the united Eoman and Gothic races in opposition to Majorian. The centre of the movement was Lyons, and once more the 1 Chaix, Apoll. Sidan. i. p. 79. = Treb. PoU. Tyr. Trig. 6. ' Apoll. Sidon. Carm. Tii. 572. T 274 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv Gallo-Eomans had Gothic, and possibly Burgundian, support. That Sidonius ■was deeply involved in the resistance to Majorian appears from the Panegyric on that Emperor/ in ■which, as he frankly confesses, the poet made a return for the clemency with ■which he •was treated by the conqueror. The traces of the struggle are faint and few. But the Chronicles teU us of a peace concluded between Majorian and Theodoric after a battle in which the Goths were defeated,^ and we learn from Sidonius that Lyons and the surrounding country suffered heavily by the exhaustion following on siege and pillage. The blow was a crushing one, and the good- nature of the conqueror to the party which had opposed him made the ■victory complete.* Henceforth Sidonius abandoned all dreams of using the Goths in the interests of Gallo-Eoman ambition. The accession of Euric, who was at once more rapacious and more intolerant than his predecessor, clouded all hopes of coming to terms with the invaders, at least in the mind of a man like Sidonius. The attempt of the reck- less prefect Arvandus to do so implied a severance of Gaul from the empire of Anthemius,* and a partition of the province between the Goths and Burgundians. Sidonius was, strange to say, the personal friend of Arvandus, and, although he was prefect of Eome, when Arvandus was tried for treason, he gave the traitor his official countenance and support.^ This is undoubtedly a blot on the character of Sidonius, and it is hard to account for his conduct, especially when we remember that Tonantius Eerreolus, a close friend of Sidonius, was the leading prosecutor of the culprit. But the theory that the poet was involved in the intrigues of Arvandus is justly discredited by those who know most of that obscure period. The later years of Sidonius were troubled by the repeated assaults of the Visigoths on the independence of Auvergne. He was now 1 Carm. v. 574 ; Praef. 1. 13 : given by Majorian at Aries after tlie serviat ergo tibi servati lingua poetae games, to wliioh some of the leaders atque meae vitae laus tua sit pretivun ; in the hostile movement were invited. Ep. i. 11 ; of. Chaix, Apoll. Sid. i. 104 ; Sid. Ep. i. 11 ; of. Chaix, i. 137. Fertig, Sid. i. 9. * Sid. Ep. i. 7, § 5, pacem cum Graeco 2 Idat. Chron., legati . . . veniunt imperatore {i.e. Anthemio) dissuadens, ad Gallaecios nuntiantes Majorianum . . . cum Burgundionibus Gallias et Theudorioum regem finnissima inter dividi debere oonfirmans ; cf. Chaix, se pacis jura saxisse, Gothis in quodam i. 300. certamine superatis. ^ Sid. Ep. i. 7, § 5 ; of. Fertig, i. 5 See the description of the banquet 18. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 275 bishop of the district, and had thrown upon him the double duty of defending both the liberty and the faith of his people. He suffered personally for his patriotism by imprisonment for a time in the fortress of Livia. And his last recorded utterance on political subjects ^ is the pathetic and powerful denunciation of the weakness and treachery which abandoned Auvergne to the Visigoths. Yet in spite of the high official standing of Sidonius, and his experience of the great world, his letters tell us far less about the general course of government and the fortunes of the Empire than we should have expected. This is specially marked in those letters, otherwise very interesting, in which he describes his second visit to Eome in 467.^ As soon as it was known in Gaul that Anthemius had been raised to the throne of the West, the leaders determined to send a deputa- tion to lay before the new Emperor the condition of the province, threatened by the quiet advance of the Burgundians, and more openly harassed and assailed by the ambitious and intolerant king of the Visigoths. The maladministration of the Eoman officials had also reached a height which had become almost unendurable. Sidonius, one of the deputies, received an imperial summons to Eome,^ a document which enabled him to command the facilities of the posting service on the great roads and rivers on his journey. We see that that service,* in spite of all the disorganisation described in the Code,^ was still uninterrupted between Lyons and Eome. There is not a hint in the letter of any trace of the effect of the invasions and troubles of the time. The vraiter's mind is occupied with mythological and historical reminiscences, or the charm of stream and woodland. As he shoots on a swift barge down the Po,^ he thinks of the sisters of Phaethon dropping tears of amber, or of the Tityrus of Virgil's Eclogues. He is charmed with the concert of birds, whose sounds float to him from sedge and brake ; but he seems never to have had thought of the legions who, sixty years before, mustered ' E'p, vii. 7. non veredorum paucitas sed amicorum - 76. i. 5, 6, and 7 ; Mommsen, multitude faciebat. Praef. xlviii. ; Chaix, i. 265. ° C. Th. viii. 5 passim ; v. supra, p. ' Ep. i. 5, . . . publicus oursus usui 199. fuit saoris apioibus acoito. ^ Ep, i. 5, Ticini oursoriam esoendi, * lb. i. 5, ubi sane moram vianti etc. 276 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv on those river banks under Stiliclio to oppose the hordes of barbarism. When he comes to Eavenna, he can describe, "with the vividness of wanton antithesis/ its bad water and endless canals, its trading monks, its burglars and sleepy magistrates, but there is not a word of Eavenna when it was the seat of empire and the shelter of the Emperor, not a word about the tragic death of the great statesman and warrior, who fell a victim to the bUnd hatred of the races and faiths which he wished to reconcile, and was lured to his doom from his asylum at the altar of Christ.^ When Sidonius arrived at Eome, Anthemius was about to assume the consulship, and the marriage of his daughter with Eicimer, the German master of the army, was about to be celebrated. It was only twelve years since the city had been sacked by the Vandals and Berbers. For fourteen days it had been given up to fire and sword.^ Although the actual damage to public build- ings and monuments was hardly such as to justify the reproach immortalised in the word "Vandalism," yet the loss and destruction of movable wealth must have been enormous. Gold and silver plate from the senatorial palaces, ancient statues of incalculable artistic value, the sacred vessels of the Jewish temple, which had been undisturbed since the time of Titus, along with crowds of noble captives, were carried back to Africa. Yet in this letter of Sidonius there is not a hint of all this recent ruin. The social system of Eome appears to be unshaken and unchanged. The scenes of public resort and amusement, the theatres and markets, the temples and forums, have the air of ancient peace. The great city is en fete. The law-courts have suspended their sittings,* all business is at a standstill, the whole population seem to be bent on making holiday. Sidonius is received by an ancient prefect named Paulus, who, like his guest, cared more for elaborate verse-making and turns of phrase than for public ^ Ep. i. 8, in qua palude . . . Get. c. 45 ; cf. Gregorovius, Hist, of rerum omnium lege perversa muri Rome in Middle Ages, i. 210. cadunt aquae stant, turres fluunt nares * Sid. Ep. i. 5, quippe oum hoc ipso sedent, algent balnea domicilia con- tempore . . . vix per omnia theatra, flagrant, sitiunt vivi natant sepulti, macella, praetoria, fora, gymnasia etc. etc. Thalassio Fescenninus explioaretur. 2 7 04 • • • atque etiam nunc e contrario °^" ^' ■ studia sileant, judicia contioescant, ^ Prosp. Chron. ad a. 455 ; Jordan. etc. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 277 affairs.^ By him he is introduced to the senatorial world of Eome and its two great leaders, men of consular rank — Avienus, who had been one of the embassy with Leo to AttHa in 452,^ and Basilius, to whom, as Pretorian prefect, several of the rescripts of Majorian were addressed.^ The influence of one or other of these great magnates it was necessary to gain. "When we read the description of the crowds of clients who thronged their morning receptions,* we might fancy ourselves back in the days of Cicero. Sidonius balanced the relative influence of the two social potentates and their willingness to serve a protdg^, and resolved to devote himself to Basilius. He and his patron seem to have given little thought to the serious objects of the Gallic embassy. They are rather intent on turning the young poet's literary talent to account on such a unique occasion. Why should not the ready verse-maker attract the notice of the new imperial consul by one of those florid and conventional displays of literary skill which, in those days, received greater honour than substantial service to the State? Basilius backed up his friend loyally, the Panegyric on Anthemius was recited amid great applause, and " by the help of Christ," ^ a light use of the sacred name from which the future bishop does not shrink, Sidonius obtained the prefecture of the city. When he had gained the object of his ambition, and was installed in his office, he had to face that constant bugbear of the Urban prefect, the failure of supplies for the mob of Eome. Africa, the great granary of the city, was now in the hands of the Vandals, and the Vandals naturally did not facilitate the passage of the corn- ships to Ostia. Sidonius probably exerted himself to avert the^ danger. But in his accoimt of the crisis he seems more anxious about his own reputation than about the sufferings of a population threatened by famine.^ He dreads the curses 1 Sid. Ep. i. 9, deus bone, quae ille praevia, pedissequa, circumfusa popu- positionibus aenigmata, sententiis lositas ... schemata, versibus oommata, digitis ' 76. i. 9, igitur cum ad prae- mechanemata facit ! fecturam, sub ope Christi, styli oooa- ^ Proap. Chron. ad a. 452, suscepit sione pervenerim . . . ; of. a like hoc negotium cum viro oonsulavi Avieno U3e of the Divine name on a similarly . . . beatissimus papa Leo auxilio trivial occasion in v. 16. Dei fretus. Avienus was cos. with ^ Ih. i. 10, vereor autem ne famem Valentinian in 450. Populi Romani theatralis caveae fragor 3 Nov. Maj. 1, 8 ; Nov. Severi, 1. insonet et infortunio meo pnbUca •* Sid. JSp. i. 9, arctabat clientium deputetur esui'ies. 278 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv of the theatre on the unsuccessful minister. In all this gossip of high society there is little reference to the straits of Auvergne, not a hint of the dangers and weakness which were bringing the Western Empire to the verge of the abyss. It is only in the Panegyrics of Sidonius that we find anything like a broad and comprehensive view of the position of the Western Empire, and its relation to the barbarians and the East. These poems are disfigured by the most extravagant and tasteless adulation, rendered even more ridiculous and offensive by pinchbeck mythological ornament, which was in that age the one resource of the sterile imagination. They mark probably the utmost extreme of indurated conventionality that literary art has ever reached. Yet, here and there, there is the ring of truth and sincerity in their tone. And, in spite of all its exaggeration, the poem on the accession of Avitus is of great value to the historian. It shows a certain insight into the real state of the Eoman world, although the sceptical reader might be inclined to attribute this rather to the early associations of Sidonius than to his own powers of reflection. It discloses at once a profound sense of weakness in the central power, and of the respect, and even awe, felt for it by the Goths. It is also a revelation of the force of provincial or national feeling in Gaul. A few years before its composition the army of the Huns had penetrated into the very heart of Gaul, and had been turned back by the energy of Aetius, with the aid of the Visigothic power. The cities of Northern Italy had been ravaged by the same terrible invaders,^ and Eome itself had been threatened. Within the space of twelve months Aetius, the bulwark for thirty years of the Eoman power, had fallen by the treachery of Valentinian III.,^ and that Emperor himself by the vengeance of Maximus, who succeeded him, and met the same violent death just before the Vandal fleet anchored in the Tiber. . For fourteen days the city had been at the mercy of the army of Genseric. It was under the shadow of such disasters and tragedies that ^ Prosp. Ohron. ad a. 452. There Aquileia oivitas ab Attila Hunnorum ■were thoughts even of the Emperor rege excisa eat. abandoning Italy ; of. Idat. Chron. ^ Marcell. Chron. ad a. 455 ; cf. the Hunni qui Italiam praedabantur, reiiections of Sidonius on the death of aliquantis etiam civitatibus irruptis, Maximus after two months only of etc. ; and Maroell. Chron. ad a. 452, imperial power, Ep. ii. 13, § 3. CHAP.u ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 279 Avitus mounted the throne, and that his son-in-law and pane- gyrist had to perform his difficult task. The poem reflects the general gloom. The flight of the twelve vultures/ which for many ages had been thought by the Eoman to fix the limits of imperial sway, has now a terribly real significance. The many triumphs of Eome, when the world seemed all too small for her victorious energy,^ cast a lurid light on a frontier ever shrinking towards the centre. The old feud between Carthage and Eome * is revived in the Vandal invasion, but with what difierent issue ! Eome is now a captive, and with her the world is captive in the snares of the unwarlike Vandal. But before that humiliation, she, once queen of the world,* has become the mere thrall of the Caesars. There is need for some warlike prince of the mould of Trajan,* and only Gaul, only Auvergne, the unconquered, with its memories of Gergovia,'' of resistance to the greatest Caesar, can furnish such a captain. Yet Eome is but subject to the fate of all things lofty ; '' she has endured as much before at the hands of a Porsenna, a Brennus, and a Hannibal ; and as she rose victorious over their assaults, so may she, gathering her ancient spirit, and choosing her leader aright, even now prevail over her foes. But the hope is not in the worn-out race of Eome,^ but in the vigour of Gaul, which is so neglected and despised. Her foremost son,* the lieutenant of Aetius, has helped to keep the Huns, the Saxons, the Alemanni at bay for thirty years. He has made the Visigoths willing friends and com- panions in arms of the Eomans,^" and trained the Gothic princes to admire the laws and literature of Eome,^^ and has 1 Sid. Carm. vii. 55 : ''lb. -rii. 124 : quid, rogo, bis seno mihi vulture Tuscus s^*' celsa laborant aruspex semper , . . portendit?__ 8 jj^ yii, 52 and 540 : xO. YU. ab : portavimus umbram cumque prius strict! quererer de cardxne imperii, generis contenti ferre vetuati mundi et vitia ac solitam vestiri murice gentem uec limes nunc ipsa mihi . . . more magis quam jure pati. 3 lb, vii. 444 : ^ Ib.y^, 232 : in bella iterum quartosque labores nji sine te gessit, cum pluriraa tute sine illo. perfida Elisseae crudescunt classica Byrsae. -» n. vii. 102 : 10 lb. vii. 511 : , . . . , . Romae sum te dues amicus sum tota in pnncipe, tota principe te mUes . . . principia, et flo lacerum de Caesare regnum. ,., j 4.4. -i. 4. j j. rrv j • \ 6 T"/) nfi- (the words attributed to Tneodoric). Trajanum nescio si quis -tO. Vli. 497 : aequiparet, ni fors iterum tu, Gallia, mittas parvumque ediscere jussit qui vincat ... ad tua verba pater, docili quo prisca Maronis 6 Xb, vii. 150. carmine moUiretScytbicos mihi pagina mores. 280 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv united Goth and Gallo-Eoman in a common effort to save the Empire at once from its own weakness and from the Vandal.^ The skin-clad squadrons, under his leadership, will once more follow the trumpets of Eome, as they did on the Catalaunian plains.^ There is doubtless ludicrous exaggeration in the words in which the Gothic king expresses his wish to wipe out the blot on his ancestor's fame in having violated the sacred city.^ Yet Sidonius has, after all, only put in rhetorical form the admiration for Rome,^ and the wish to serve her, expressed by Ataulphus to his Roman host of Narbonne, according to the tale narrated by Orosius.^ In spite of all their ravages, the Goths did recognise the supe- riority and suzerainty of Rome. They had fought for her against Sueve and Vandal in Spain. They had saved Gaul for her from Attila. Under a Gallic prince they were ready once more to lend their swords to rescue her from the ruin which seemed to be impending. The chronicler is right in saying that Avitus was raised to the imperial throne by the united voice of the Goths and the honorati of Roman Gaul.* And it is the confession of the weakness of Rome, and the revelation of this union of feeling between provincial and barbarian, which gives its historical value to the Panegyric on Avitus. The speedy fall of Avitus, who proved so unworthy of the eulogies of his son-in-law, disappointed the ambitious or patriotic hopes of Sidonius and the Gallic party. They made an abortive attempt, with the aid of the Goths and Burgundians, to set up another emperor in the person of Marcellinus,'^ a brilliant soldier, who had fought by the side of Aetius,* and on his death, like Aegidius in Northern Gaul, established an almost independent principality in Dalmatia. Lyons was the centre of the new Gallic movement, and suffered severely in the struggle which followed the accession 1 Sid. Carm. vii. 441. anno in Galliia Avitus Gallus civis ab ^ 7J. vii. 349 : exercitu Gallicano et ab bonoratis, ibant pellitae post classica Eomula turmae. primum Tolosae, debino apud Arelatum, 3 xb. vii. 506 : Augustus appellatus . . . .,.. . sed di si vota secundant 7 gij. Ep. i. 11, oumque de capes- exoidn vetens crimen purgare valebit j j- j^ 1 j.j., _v/^^iw .^v i. ultio praesentis ... sendo diaaemate conjuratio Maroelliana 4 Ti .- ,„, coqueretur. Cf. Fertig, i. p. 9 ; Cbaix, « Oros. vii. 43, § 4. '• P" ^''*- * Idat. Chron. ad a. 455, ipso * Procop. Bell. Varid, i. 6. CHAP. II ROMAN VIEWS OF THE INVASIONS 281 of Majorian.^ That great soldier and far-sighted statesman was diverted for the moment from his supreme task of crushing the Vandal power. He crossed the Alps in 458, defeated the Goths, and inflicted a heavy chastisement on Lyons.^ Its territory was ravaged, and the community had to bear a heavy fine in the shape of increased tribute, which, however, the clemency of the victor afterwards remitted. Sidonius atoned for his share in these events by a Panegyric on the new Emperor before a great concourse at Lyons, when the district had returned to its wonted tranquillity. The piece has not the tone of pessimism about the Empire which characterises the Panegyric on Avitus. Eome, the warrior queen of the earth, is seated on her throne, clad in purple robes, but armed as weU.^ On her helmet rises a diadem of towers ; her left arm bears a shield blazoned with the legends of her infancy, her right uplifts a lance of ivory that has drunk the blood of men. All her provinces from the remotest East are pouring their peculiar treasures at her feet. Before her Africa flings herself in suppli- cation* — ^Africa, now the prey of a brigand,' the son of a slave-girl, whose violence is only softened by unaccustomed luxury.® She mourns her old fated quarrel with Eome,^ and begs to be delivered from her oppressor. The energy of Latium is slumbering, but Eome has always been grandest in adversity. Her fortune keeps sleepless watch even without a soldier.^ Eome has now a warrior whom the ages summon as fittest for the task. Of a warlike stock,^ he has been the rival of Aetius in many a dim combat on the rivers of the north against the chivalry of the Franks.^" He has already swept the Vandals and the Moors from the shores of Campania,^^ 1 Sid. Cann. v. 575. <= iS. v. 331 : ^rm-'^j. i-ui- iin1- On th^? Tiriticinle congrua prima meo mediocria desideranti, ourarum onera SUM. un tms principle proxima deliciis et ob ambitione remota, etc. Melania is praised tor neglecting ner ,. , . J » . •. child, Ep. xxix. § 9, nemini parvuluni 2 The most startling kmd of spirit- ^^^^ ^^^-^^^ ^ jj^,; ^^-^iX, alendum, ual selfishness is to be found m the erudiendum, tuendum mandare dig- letters of S. Paulinus NoL, e.g. Ep. nata est. XXV. §7, neeessitudinesnostraecarnales, '^ mti^K 232- quanto cariores nobis sunt, tanto nos ^ ' ■ \^ ■ , >■ • J. 4. f 4.: J. . „f vj. -rrMn tiaiisacta acvi post tiiiia deceniiia nostii . . . discruciant et fatigant ; cf. %h. , volo, ^,0,^^,^^ i^j^^^ Uo^^i ;„ ^^^^^ „g„i. mquit, vos sine sollicitudme esse, noc est, ut nihil praeter Deum et salutem ^ lb. 283, 284. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 291 The occupation of Bordeaux by the Visigoths under Ataulphus is known to us only from the Eucharisticos, but it is one of the most interesting glimpses of the history of that age. When Ataulphus entered Gaul in 412, carrying the princess Placidia with him in an honoured captivity, it would appear, both from the authorities and the probabilities of the case, that he came as an ally or lieutenant of Honorius.-^ But his relations with the imperial government were fluctuating and precarious. On the one hand, certain promises had been made to him of supplies for his troops.^ On the other hand, his requisitions were met by demands for the restoration of the Emperor's sister, whom Constantius, the general of Honorius, claimed for his bride. Sometimes the Gothic king seems to be acting as a faithful servant of Honorius, and again he is in open hostility to him. When he first arrived in Gaul, Ataulphus proceeded to check the ravages of the Franks and Burgundians who were pillaging the province.^ Then, when Jovinus was proclaimed Emperor at Mainz by Goar the Alan and the Burgundians, it is said that, at the instigation of the ex-Emperor Attains, the Goths supported the movement.* But within a year they turned their arms against Jovinus, besieged him in Valentia, and handed him over to Honorius.* Once more Ataulphus demanded his promised supplies, and once more the Eoman officials, who were quite unable to furnish them, renewed their demand for the surrender of Placidia. The Goths, probably to open communication with the sea, attempted to surprise the great port of Marseilles ; " but they were foiled by the energy of Count Boniface, who seems to have had a personal encounter with Ataulphus, in which the Gothic chief was wounded. By whatever means, the Goths had established themselves at Narbonne, which was ^ Joxian. de Set. Get. c. 31, Honori- 'ASdovX^os " dTaiToifievos Il\(iKi.dlav, umque auguatutn quamvis opibus ivTairiJTei rbv opiirBivTa cXtov. exhaustum, tamen jam quasi oognatum s Jordan. Get. c. 31. gratoanimoderelinquenSjGaUiastendit. 4 Olympiod. Fragm. § 17, dfri 'Io/3?- Ubi cum advenisset, vicinae gentes vq^ iv MovvSiaK^ rijs er^pas Tepixavlas perterritae in suis se coeperunt finibus kb™ (tttovStii' Vakp toC 'A\a.vov Kal continere ; Oros. vii. 43, 8, satis studi- Tvyrapiov, 8s (piXapxa ixp-niJ^Ti^e t&v ose seotator pacis militare fideliter 'Rovpyomnbvav, ripavvo^ aveyopeijSri irpis Honorio imperatori ac pro defendenda ^p impayeviaBai "ArraXos 'ASdouX^o;' Romana republica impendere vires Trapaivei. Gotborum praeoptavit. s /j_ g x9. 2 Olympiod. Fragm. % 21, ed. Miiller, ^ lb. § 21, 292 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv then a great port and flourishing centre of trade/ although the changes of nature have now cut it off from the sea. It was the home of a wealthy and lettered aristocracy,^ and again and again, in the generation following Ataulphus, it was assailed by the Goths.* In Narbonne Ataulphus for a time seems to have quartered himself, and there he won the hand of Placidia, and wedded her solemnly according to old Eoman rites. The wedding took place in the house of Ingenius, the foremost citizen of Narbonne.* Ataulphus, arrayed in gorgeous Eoman dress, presented to his bride fifty youths laden with gold and gems, the spoils of Eome in the sack of 410. Eomans and Goths united in rejoicing over the event, and Attalus, the ex-Emperor, bore a leading part in the singiog of the epithalamium. In wedding the daughter of Theodosius and the sister of Honorius, the Gothic king was working for political ends, as well as gratifying private affection. His marriage was the symbol of that union of Eoman and German in the cause of civilisation which was the dream of his life. And in those days at Narbonne probably took place that famous conversation between Ataulphus and his Eoman host,^ a report of which Orosius had heard in the cell of S. Jerome at Bethlehem. Ataulphus said that he had once in his youth dreamed of overthrowing the power of Eome ; but experience had taught him that the Eoman rule was the rule of law and order and peace. In maturer years, his great object was to unite the two races, and to support the civilising influence of Eome by the swords of the Goths. But Eome did not quite trust or appreciate her champion. Constantius, who controlled the Gallic policy of Honorius," had been the rival of Ataulphus for the hand of Placidia, and he was not likely to grow more accommodating after the wedding at Narbonne. Probably, almost certainly, the dearest wish of Ataulphus was to obtain a recognised position for himself under the Eoman government, ^ Narbonne was then a great port of waa of Illyrian origin. He was mag. departure for Africa ; of. Sulp. Sev. mil. in 412, consul with Constans in Dial. 1. 3, 1 ; Auson. Noh. Urb. 13, 18. 414, patrician in 416. He held the '^ Cf. Sid. Carm. xxiii. 37. consulship twice afterwards, and was * Prosp. Ohron. ad a. 436. finally joint emperor in 421. He ■* The scene is fully described in married Placidia in 417, and became Olympiod. Fragm. § 24. by her father of Valentinian III. See ° Oros. vii. 43, 5. the personal description of him in « V. 0. Th. XV. 14, 14. Constantius Olympiod. § 23. CH. in RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 293 and a settlement for his troops on the Eoman soil in Gaul. If these things were not freely granted him, he must take them by force. Thus it comes about that in the poem of Paulinus we find Ataulphus in possession of Bordeaux, his soldiers being quar- tered as " guests " on the Eoman inhabitants. But he would not openly break with Eome, though he might quarrel with an emperor. To make his position legitimate, he raised Attalus once more to the purple, as Avitus forty years afterwards was raised by the united voice of the nobles of Gaul and the Goths of Theodoric II. It is at this point that the fortunes of Paulinus become involved in the wanderings of the Goths. His position as a great noble saved him from the intrusion of Goths as compulsory guests.-^ But it also marked him out as a fitting holder of high office under Attalus, the Gothic Emperor.^ Paulinus, who had no very heroic im- pulses, and valued ease and tranquillity above anything else, quietly acquiesced in the Gothic rule, disguised by the show of imperial legitimacy, and reluctantly accepted the shadowy office of " count of the private largesses " to a phantom emperor, an office probably as formal as it was brief. He was, as he tells us, only one of many who deemed it politic to accept the Gothic peace,^ and who found it quite as real and effective as the Eoman peace under a Eoman prefect of the fifth century, like Arvandus or Seronatus. Suddenly the Goths prepared to leave Bordeaux. What were the precise influences or motives which led them for a time to abandon their attempted settlement in Gaul, and to cross the Pyrenees, must for ever remain a mystery. According to one authority, Constantius compelled them to pass into Spain by interrupting their communications with the sea.* If we believe Jordanes, the Gothic king was moved by the sufferings of the Spaniards, and determined to relieve the country from the ravages of the Vandals.^ At any rate, he ^ Paulin. Pell. Sack. 285. Ataulphus occupied or tried to seize, ^ R. 295 ; Prosp. Ghrmi. ad a. 414. Narbonne Marseilles, Bordeaux, were ' -^ great ports and centres oi trade. ' &Kh. 302. 5 Jordan, de Beh. Get. c. 31, confir- * Oros. vii. 43, 1, Gothos a Narbona mato ergo Gothus regno {i.e. tlie expulit atque abire in Hispaniam coegit Roman power) in Gallis, Spanorum interdicto praecipue atque intercluso casu coepit dolere, etc. Of. Idat. omni commeatu navium et peregri- Chron. ad a. 409-415. Wallia, on the norum usu commeroiorum. It is note- death of Ataulphus at Barcelona, worthy that the three towns which waged a fierce war with the Vandals. 294 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv gave the order for the evacuation of Bordeaux. But the Goths did not quit the town as peacefully and innocently as they had entered it. It was given up to fire and pUlage.^ Paulinus, in spite of his official rank, was stripped of all his possessions. Indeed, he seems to have suffered all the more from the very favour which had been previously shown to him. In other cases the Gothic " guest " quartered on a family might shield it from rapine. But Paulinus had no such protector. His only consolation was that the honour of the female members of his household was severely respected.^ He fled with his family to Bazas, where he probably had some property, and where other and even more startling adventures awaited him.^ There is no more curious and instructive episode in the history of the invasions than the tale of the siege of Bazas as it is described by Paulinus. The Goths, compelled by the policy or strategy of Constantius to retire from Southern Gaul, gave the reins to old instincts, and felt themselves entitled to plunder where they were not to be allowed to settle peacefully. Outside the town of Bazas was a mingled host of Goths and Alans. Within, a servile revolt had broken out, supported by some of the free-born youth, who had made a plot to assassinate the leading nobles. Paulinus himself nar- rowly escaped, and his would-be murderer met his punishment at the hands of another.^ But Paulinus confesses that his nerves were shaken.^ He longed to be released, with his household and friends, at once from the perils which beset him within the walls, and from the hardships of a prolonged siege. As count of the largesses to Attains, he had been on friendly terms with the leaders of the Goths and their auxiliaries. And he particularly remembered that he had an old friend in the chief of the Alans, who was reluctantly supporting the Goths in their assaults on the Eoman towns.^ This chief was probably the Alan Goar who, in the year in which Ataulphus ^ Euch. 314. Ausonius, was a native of Bazas ; cf. 2 7J. 323 : Alison. Idyl. ii. 4. cunctarumque tamen comituni simul et * Euch. 340. famularum, " lb. 345 : eventum fuerant nostrum quaecumque sed mihi tarn subiti concusso sorte ^ericli, secutae, quo me inti-a m-bem percelli posse \^de^em illaeso penitus nuUo adtemptante pudore. subrepsit, fateor, nimium trepido no^s error. 3 lb. 332 : 6 7J_ 345 352 ; patriamaoorumetipsameorum. quod scirem impe™ gentis cogente Gothorum His grandfatner, the father of invitum regem populis inoumbere nostris. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 295 entered Gaul, joined with the Burgundians in raising Jovinus to the imperial purple at Mainz.-' In doing so, he deemed himself to be acting in the service of Eome, at a time when the rest of his people were, with the Sueves and Vandals, plundering and burning the cities of Gaul, and marching on to a final settlement in Spain.^ How Goar came to join the Goths we do not know; but when Jovinus and his brother fell, Goar and his Alans may have felt constrained to join the power which seemed likely to have a future in the great province of the West. Paulinus found little difficulty in making his way to the quarters of the Alan king.' But Goar declared that he could neither give him protection in the be- sieger's lines nor a safe conduct back into the town, and that he could only help him by being himself admitted into Bazas.* In truth, the Alan chief was eager to escape from his enforced alliance with the Goths and Attains, their shadowy Emperor. He had served one emperor who had fallen, he was connected with another who seemed likely to have the same fate ; and he probably thought it safer to take the side of Honorius. He gave the Eomans his son and his wife as hostages,^ and speedily the crowds upon the walls of Bazas saw themselves fenced in by the waggons and armed warriors of the Alans,* who were now ready to defend the place which they had just been helping to capture. The Goths seem to have felt the desertion of their allies as a crushing blow, and they abandoned the siege.' They marched away, to reappear shortly in the same regions for a longer stay. But Goar and his Alans, who stand out for a moment in such vivid light in the dim and confused annals of those years, vanish as suddenly, and we hear of them no more. The fortunes of Paulinus for the remaining forty-five years of his life are not particularly interesting, except as an example of what numbers of his class, in Italy, Gaul, and, above all, in Africa, must have suffered in those times. On the departure of the Goths, he thought at first of betaking himself to his ^ Olympiod. § 17, Fragm. ' Huch. 354, ad regem intrepidus ^ Prosp. Chron. ad a. 406 ; Oros. miUo obsistente tetendi. vii. 38, § 3. Prosper and Orosius * lb. 358-361. mention Alans along with Vandals ° lb. 379. in the passage of the Rhine and in the ° lb. 386. devastation of Gaul and Spain. ' lb. 390. 296 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv maternal estates in Greece and Epirus, which were very- extensive.^ But he seems to have been prevented from doing so by the timidity of his wife, or by her love for her native Gaul.° On the other hand, his property at Bordeaux, which had descended to him from Ausonius, had suffered by the Gothic occupation, and from the unscrupulous conduct of fellow-Eomans, among whom he seems to include some of his own family.' At any rate he regarded a return to his old home as impossible. He was surrounded by a large number of relatives, exiles like himself, and a crowd of female slaves, dependant on him.* Yet he would have given up the struggle, and taken refuge in the cloister, if the holy men, whom he consulted, had not advised him to repent of his sins and cultivate a severer life, without quitting the world.^ Having given himself to religious study, he was for a time carried away by the semi -Pelagian views which at that time had many adherents in Southern Gaul.® In his forty-fifth year, at Eastertide, he definitely returned to the church of his baptism by receiving the Eucharist.'^ He was meanwhile sinking into poverty. His female relations dropped off one after another. His sons left him, one taking Holy Orders, another returning to Bordeaux, where he succeeded in recovering some of the family property with a Goth as neighbour.^ For by this time, it must be remembered, the Goths had returned to settle permanently in Aquitaine. The fate of this second son is obscurely told. But he appears to have been for a time in favour with the Gothic court, and then to have suffered from its displeasure.^ As for Paulinus, he spent his old age in cultivating a small patch of ground in the outskirts of Marseilles, which was stiU under imperial rule.-"* His fortunes were at a low ebb when, to his surprise, he received one day from an unknown Goth the purchase money of a portion of his ancestral estate at Bordeaux, which the conscientious German would not appropriate without compensation." It is a startling and pleasant incident in the history of ^ Euch. 410. ^ lb. 494. Brandes (p. 275) is right in referring * lb. 424. ^ lb. 459. this to the Eucharist, and not to = lb. 456. * lb. 471. Baptism ; of. Ebert, i. 408. ' lb. 475 : '' McJi. 498. ad tua, Ohriste Deus, altaria sacra reversus ' lb. 514. te mzserante tua gaudens sacramenta recepi 10 y^^ 520, ante hos ter decies super et bis quattuor j^ j^ e^p.' annns ^^* .0/0. CH. in RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 297 that stormy time, a time apparently so full of violence and injustice, but really, as we believe, less unjust and violent than a superficial glance might lead us to think. There had been sweeping and desolating invasions of Gaul and Spain. But the Visigoths came not as mere lawless plunderers, but as soldiers of the Empire, and finally as permanent settlers, seeking a home after their wanderings, amid the wealth and peace of a Eoman province. In moments of irritation or un- certainty, when the great imperial power seemed to be now haughty or faithless, now weak and shrinking, and unworthy of its place, the Goths, forgetting the associations of years and their ancient awe of imperial power, would resume their old fierceness and pride. But we can have little doubt that, when they settled in a Eoman province, their strongest desire was to have a share of the peace and prosperity which Eome had given to the world, and to maintain order and justice between man and man. The Gothic or Burgundian chief comes not as an enemy of the Empire ; his strongest ambition is to be its appointed champion, and if he receives his com- mission, he will draw his sword even against his German compatriots. He may, when his advances are slighted, quarrel with an emperor ; but he has no quarrel with Eome. If he does not obtain the recognition which he seeks, he never dreams of imperial power for himself ; he sets up, by the voice of his army, a rival emperor, as Eoman armies had often done before ; and with such an emperor in his camp he tries to maintain his allegiance to Eome in her own despite. This is the clue to the puzzling narrative of the Visigothic movements in the early part of the fifth century. Sometimes the Goths are besieging Eoman towns, sometimes they are fighting in Spain against Sueves and "Vandals on behalf of Eome. The weakness of the Empire, the faithlessness or folly of imperial functionaries, the pride and capricious passions of his following, the mere necessity of finding subsistence for his wandering tribe — all these influences might often deflect the policy of a German chief from the line which his instinct and ambition would have followed. But in the greater leaders the longing for repose from incessant migrations and tribal blood-feuds, and the reverence for Eome as the great source of peaceful order, fruitful industry, and culture, never died out. And just in 298 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv proportion to their greatness, they realised the greatness of Eome. When Apollinaris Sidonius was born, the Visigoths were firmly established in Aquitaine by Eoman authority.^ But his native Lyons was not the residence of Burgundian princes for more than thirty years afterwards,^ and it was only in the very last years of the Western Empire that Auvergne was abandoned to the Visigoths. For the best part of lus Ufe, therefore, Sidonius knew the Germans rather as neighbours than as masters. He saw four successive princes of the Visigoths, and between the reigns of Theodoric I. and of Euric, the relations of the Visigothic power to Eome passed through many phases. Wallia, the founder of the Visigothic power in Gaul, obtained a settlement by a definite agreement with the Empire, although we have no information as to its terms and conditions. The Goths were foederati, in a certain sense subjects, although, within the territory assigned to them, their princes had extensive powers. It was no new relation that was created by the pact with Wallia. And it was sometimes broken and interrupted, as similar ties between Eome and her foederati had often been before. Sometimes German auxiliaries had been known even to pillage the lands of Eoman towns.^ In 422 the Goths were serving under Castinus, the Eoman magister militum, against the Vandals in Spain.'' Three years later a strong Gothic force was defeated by Aetius in an attempt to capture Arles.^ Then there is a time of quiet, in which peaceful relations are restored. But once more, in 436, the Goths made an attempt on Narbonne, which was relieved in a daring movement by the cavalry of Litorius.^ There were several battles between them and the Eoman generals in those years, in one of which eight thousand Gothic warriors were left on the field.'^ Then came the defeat of 1 Idat. Chron. 419, per Constantiiim ' Amm. Marc. ivi. 11, 4, laeti barbari ad Gallias revocati, sedes in Aquitauioa ad tempestiTa furta sollertes invasere a Tolosa usque ad Oceanum acoeperunt ; Lugdunum inoautam, etc. of. Prosp. Ohron., data ei (Walliae) ad 4 ijat. Chron., Castinus Mag. Mil. habitandum seouuda Aqmtama ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^t ^^i^uiis Qoth- J^ Lyons was eridently under tie ^^^^^ bellum in Baetiea Wandalis direct power of the Emperor when infert Sidonius delivered the Panegyric on , • Ma orian in 4.69. Carm. v. .576 : ■"°^P- *"'"""■• ^^ "*■ *"""• Majorian in 459. Carm. v. 576 Lugdunumque tuam . . . aspice victor. ^ lb. ad a. 436. Cf. Chaix, ApoU. Sid. i. p. 110. ' Idat. ad a. CH. in RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 299 Litorius at Toulouse in 439, followed by a renewal of the former peace.-' For many years this calm was undisturbed, and in 451 Theodoric loyally and gallantly supported the imperial generals in the great battle of Ch§,lons.^ The son and immediate successor of Theodoric broke the long peace by another attempt on Aries, which was frustrated by the personal charm and diplomatic skill of Tonantius Ferreolus.^ The reign of Theodoric II., with which the early manhood of Sidonius coincided, was on the whole friendly to the Empire. Theodoric fought in several campaigns for Eome against the Sueves and the Bagaudae in Spain.* He helped the Gallic party to raise Avitus to the throne,^ and he lent the support of his arms to the party at Lyons which, on the fall of Avitus, strove once more to assert the power of Gaul.® Yet we find him in 462 in possession of Narbonne,'' which had been surrendered to him by the Count Agrippinus, to secure the aid of the Goths in his conflict with Aegidius. During all these years, the district in which Sidonius lived suffered nothing from any hostilities with the Goths. "We have seen, on the contrary, that he belonged to a circle which cultivated friendly relations with the Gothic kings, and the aim of whose policy was to maintain an alliance with them which might influence the fortunes of the Empire or secure the peace and independence of Gaul. Sidonius had been received at the court of Theodoric II., and had formed on the whole a very favourable opinion of his character, which he hastened to communicate to his friends.^ There was probably a political purpose underlying his friendly picture of Theodoric ; but Sidonius evidently feels also a curious interest in that strange scene, stimulating the minute and careful observation which makes his descriptions of the barbarian invaders of Gaul precious to the historian. There is no trace of the disgust which the genial Burgundians sometimes aroused in the mind 1 Idat. and Proap. ^ Sid. Ep. i. 11 ; cf. Fauriel, i. 2 Prosp. and Sid. Garm. vii. 349. 258 ; Chaix, Apoll. Sid. i. 105. ' Idtt'^d Ihhi- Jordan Get xliy • ' "^*- ^'■'^- ^^ ^- ^^^' ^g"PPi°'is Idat. ad ^■J'^J> ' •> o^dan. i^et. xliv. , ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ Aegldio comiti , ~.'Y^® ' ~ ■ .. ..w viro insigni inimicus, ut Gothorum " Sidon. Carm. vu. 511 : mereretnr auxilia, Narbonam tradidit Romae sum te duce amicus, m, i ,*„„ Principe te miles. Theudorico. Cf. Fauriel, i. 244. « Sid. Ep. i. 2. 300 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv of the fastidious Eoman gentleman. There is no trace of any fear or suspicion of the Gothic power. Sidonius had family connections with Lyons, and he visited that district shortly after it had been occupied, in some fashion or under some title, by the Burgundians. In the year 456 the Burgundians had served in the army of Theodoric II. against the Sueves in Spain.^ Seven years afterwards it appears from a letter of Pope Hilary^ that one of their leaders in that expedition, Gundioc, is installed at Vienne, with the title of magister militum, and also exercising some control over episcopal elections. The Burgundian power was firmly established at Lyons before 474. There is no sign that they gained the territory on the Ehone by a violent conquest. The royal family were connected by marriage with Eicimer. They were in federal relations with the imperial power,^ and their chief was probably allowed to occupy these new territories as a soldier of the Empire. Just as the corps of Bretons under Eiothamus was engaged by Anthemius to guard the frontiers of Berry,* so the Burgundians were to be a bulwark on the east against the advance of the Visigoths. At the time of the visit of Sidonius, Chilperic, son of Gundioc, having expelled his brother Gundobald, was governing the region about Lyons and Vienne, with the title of magister militum.^ Chilperic and his queen seem to have abandoned the Arianism of their family. The king endowed liberally the monks of Lupicinus.® The bishop Patiens, by his bound- less charity and lofty character, commanded the admiration of the queen. The only danger to Eomans seems to have been from the intrigue and calumny of some of their own race, who strove to poison the king's mind.^ But Sidonius speaks of him with the highest respect as a soldier and a man. There is nothing to show that the provincials are suffering from the effects of violent conquest or oppressive rule. Their worst foes are those of their own household. 1 Jordan. Od. c. 44. gentem . . . in eo tempore fooderatam. 2 Hil. Ep. ix. ad Leontium, epi- <" /6.xlv.,quodconperien3 Anthemius soopum Arelat. Gundioc had appar- Brittonum solaoia postulavit, etc. ently appealed to Hilary against some , j^j j ^^^ episcopal eneroachments of Mamertus. P ^ ^ p^^^f_ ^^ The letter is dated in the consulship . _, „ • t, ■ c of Basilius, i.e. 463. CJ^^g- Tur. mt. Patrum, c. i. 5. ' Jordan. Oet. xlv., Burgundzonum ' Sid. .Ep. v. 7. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 301 But although Sidonius has no serious charge to make against the Burgundians as rulers, his fastidious taste cannot reconcile itself to their society, especially on festive occasions.^ When a friend wrote to ask him for a wedding-song, the poet finds composition amid such surroundings quite impossible. How could one think of a decent verse among these hirsute giants of seven feet, whose German songs you have to applaud in the middle of coarse festivity which offends every sense ? This is the worst Sidonius has to say of the Burgundians. They were a jovial, kindly people, rather fond of good fare, unrefined in their habits, but anxious to be on good terms with the Eomans,^ and even willing to give them material help against the attacks of the Goths, although occasionally, like more modern allies, they were not always to be trusted. Down to the accession of Euric to the chieftainship of the Visigoths in 466, the Eomans of the circle of Sidonius had suffered but little from the presence of the Germans in Gaul. But, with the appearance of Euric on the scene, there was an ominous change. This was partly due to the growing weakness of the Empire, which could no longer make its power respected, as Aetius and Boniface had done in the earlier days of the Gothic settlement in Gaul. It was also the result of the oppression and treachery of Eoman governors. A prefect like Arvandus not only plundered the people of his province, and shocked and insulted them by his excesses and caprice, but he encouraged the Gothic king to make an open rupture with Eome.^ A governor like Seronatus, a monster and enigma of opposite vices,* at once ridiculous from his weaknesses, and dreaded for his cruelty and greed, drove numbers to the woods to escape his clutches, and he actually established the Gothic law in place of the Theodosian Code iu his province.^ But in addition to these causes must be reckoned the personal temperament of Euric. Although he may have conscientiously believed that it was his mission to fill the void which was being left by the collapse of the Eoman administration, there is no 1 Sid. Carm. xii. ^ Sid. J^. i. 7. ^ See the very favourable character ^ lb. ii. 1. of this people given by Orosius, vii. 32, ^ lb. ii. 1, leges Theodoaianas caleans §13. For the fairness with which they Theodorioianasqueproponens. "Written treated the Romans in their territory in Euric's reign, the word Theodorici- see iejr. Burgund. {Mon. Germ. Bist.) anas being used probably for parono- cap. xxxi. liv. masia. 302 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv doubt that he was by nature despotic, ambitious, and, above all, fiercely bigoted and intolerant. He had a sincere hatred of the Catholic faith, a hatred so intense that, to use the words of Sidonius,^ he seemed not so much the ruler of a people as the head of a sect. Jordanes relates that Euric, perceiving the frequent changes of Eoman emperors, determined to make himself master of the Gauls in his own right.^ The historian of the Goths seems by the words suo jure to mark a new departure in policy. And the history of Euric's reign confirms the statement. He began by a campaign in Spain, which left the Empire hardly a corner of that great province. He next turned his arms against the Breton troops under Eiothamus, who guarded Berry for the Empire.^ The Bretons were defeated, and fled into the territory of the Burgundians. Auvergne remained the solitary district left under the direct sway of Eome. Its people, as Sidonius proudly recalls,* claimed to be kinsmen of the Eomans, and had again and again fought stubbornly for their independence. Placed between the Burgundians and the Visigoths, they might now seem to be in desperate straits. Yet it would appear that their leaders felt no overmastering fear of the Visigothic power, and that they had even dreams of founding an in- dependent state in the heart of Gaul, which, if the Empire could no longer protect it, might protect itself. After all, the Germans were not very numerous.^ The Visigoths who occupied Aquitaine under Wallia, after all their losses from 1 Sid. ^. vii. 6, ut ambigas ampliusne 11, puts the BTirgundians at 80,000 suae gentis an suae sectae teneat in the fourth century. But this is principatum. probably exaggerated, and gives no ^ Jordan Get c 45 '^^^ *° their numbers in the fifth, 5J6. o.'44,"45. 'This event is f-^l ^° many vicissitudes ; cf. De probably referred to by Greg. Tur. Coulanges, p. 444. The losses of the ii. 18, Britanni de Biturica a Gothis Visigoths may be estimated from such expulk sunt. There is a letter of P^^^f ,^ ^= ^'°'- ^"- *3. H- But any Sidon. to Eiothamus, iii. 9, in which cal^lataoi^s on such a subject are he complains that the Bretons have f^^'/^^'l T^^? untrustworthy by the carried off a poor farmer's slaves. ^t'* wi '"^"^ZTn M^ f ^''' /""? ,_,., „'^ .. „ ,, , constantly swelled (1) by fragments of Sid. ^ TU. 7, audebant se ^^.^^^ ^^^-^ wandering bands, (2) by quondam fratres Latio dicere ; cf. fugitive slaves, (3) by free Romans Fertig, 11. 11. flying fj.ojji over - taxation, etc.; cf. * Fauriel, Hist, de la Oaule Miridi- Salv. de Guh. Dei, v. § 36. Cf. (male, i. 114 ; cf. F. de Coulanges, Paulin. Pell. Ev/:h. on a revolt of L'Inv. Germ. 438. Oros. vii. 32, slaves at Bazas, v. 334. CH. in RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 303 battle and disease, could not have been more than 30,000 strong. That they were not invincible had been proved again and again by the armies of Aetius. And they did not in the end make an easy capture of Auvergne. The order of events in the conflict with Euric is difficult to determine. Sidonius persuaded a relative, of great hereditary influence with the Goths,^ to attempt by diplomatic means to check their advance towards the Ehone. But the effort, if it was made, was fruitless. The Gothic army closed round Auvergne. Ecdicius seems to have been absent at the commencement of the siege, being probably occupied in trying to gain the support of the Burgundians, with whose princes he was on intimate terms.2 Suddenly he was seen by the watchers on the half- ruined walls approaching with a small troop of cavalry.^ He charged and routed the enemy with great slaughter, and was welcomed by the Avernians with extravagant demonstrations of joy. Although he was nominally magister militum, he had no imperial troops at his command, and, at his own expense, he raised a small force,* with which he punished the enemy's devastations in repeated sorties. In one of these engagements the Goths lost so many men that they determined, when they retreated, to decapitate the slain, so that the extent of their loss might remain uncertain.^ Then in a fit of repentance at leaving so many of their comrades unburied, they returned and consumed their remains in the flames of some burning houses. The energy of the famishing garrison was stimulated by the great personal influence of the bishop, who, while Ecdicius was harassing the besiegers, used all the aids of religion to keep up the courage of his flock. Yet it seemed a hopeless struggle. Dissensions broke out among the inhabitants;^ some were ready to surrender, some actually left the town, probably to join the Goths. Sidonius summoned to his aid Constantius, an aged priest of Lyons, who combined the influence of high birth with a singular piety and purity of character. The old man ' Sid. Ejp. iii. 1 ad fin., vestra * lb. iii. 3, taceo deinceps collegisse tamen auctoritas pro dignitate senten- te privatis viribus publici exercitus tiae sic partem utramque moderabitur, speciem. etc. Avitus, to whom the letter was 5 ^j jjj_ §_ ■nritten, was connected through his mother with Sidonius. " lb. iu. 2, cum inveneris oivi- 2 Jb, iii. 3. tatem non minus civica simultate 3 jb, iii. 3. (juam barbarica incursione evacuatam. 304 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv undertook the long journey, involving great hardships and danger, in midwinter.-' His presence seems to have had a great effect in silencing cabals and divisions, and in restoring a calmer courage. Sidonius had also some hope from the arrival from Eome of the quaestor, Licinianus.^ But, beyond bringing the title of patrician to Ecdicius, it does not appear that the mission of Licinianus had any effect.^ Licinianus probably had to report demands from the Gothic king, the concession of which would have involved, not only the surrender of Auvergne, but of the last remaining strip of Eoman territory surrounding the seat of the prefecture at Aries.* But the bishop of Auvergne still offered a bold front to the dangers which threatened to submerge his diocese. He had heard of the wonders which the Eogations, established by Mamertus Claudianus of Vienne,^ had worked on a populatioa maddened with superstitious terrors, and he determined to introduce the solemn rites among his people. With proces- sions and prayer he strove to fortify their spirits for a final struggle ; while at the same time he summoned Ecdicius from Lyons once more to head the resistance. Meanwhile fresh negotiations were going on between Euric and the Emperor. The attitude of the Goths was so threatening that it was determined at a council held at Milan to send Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, to treat with the Gothic king.^ The tale of the bishop's journey to Toulouse is told with suspicious rhetoric by Ennodius. Euric professed himself disarmed by the words of the holy man, and promised to be at peace with the Empire. But apparently he said nothing of the conditions of the peace. As the result of this embassy, the negotiations were placed in the hands of four bishops, including Graecus of Marseilles and Faustus of Eiez. Euric was a per- secutor of the Church as well as an enemy of the imperial authority in Gaul. We can only infer what were the influences which led the bishops to agree to the cession of the valiant Auvergne. But the bitterly reproachful letter, addressed by 1 Sid.^.iii. 2. HeistheConstantius such distinctions by the senatorial to whom Sid. dedicated the Letters, class. Ep. i. 1 ; vii. 18 ; viii. 16. ■■ Chaix, Apoll. Sid. ii. 164-173 ; 2 lb. iii. 7. of. Fertig, ii. 14. ' lb. V. 16. "Written at such a = Sid. Ep. v. 14 ; cf. vii. 1. time, this letter is a curious illustra- ' Ennod. mt. S. Epiphani, pp. 351 tion of the inordinate value set upon sgg. (Gorp. Scrip. Eccl. Vindob,). CH. HI RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 305 Sidonius to his brother bishop of Marseilles, leaves little doubt that personal and ecclesiastical interests had a cer- tain influence in the arrangement which finally handed over Auvergne to the Goths.^ Churchman as he was, Sidonius in this letter shows that he was stOI quite as much the proud Avernian noble, the proud Eoman senator, holding fast to the memories of his Celtic ancestors and to the privilege of Eoman citizenship. In the passionate earnestness of this protest, and its tone of lofty public spirit, one forgets the literary vanity and frivolous ambition which were the only faults of Sidonius. Patriotism was perhaps an even stronger feeling in Sidonius than devotion to the Church. But his efiforts to save Auvergne from Euric were stimulated by dread for the future of Cathol- icism in his diocese, if it fell under the power of an Arian ruler. Ever since his accession, the Gothic king had shown a pitiless temper to the orthodox faith. Some bishops and priests had been actually put to death ; ^ others had been driven into exile. Sidonius enumerates nine sees in Aquitaine or Novempopulana which were kept without a chief pastor.* The sacraments ceased to be regularly administered, and the churches every- where fell into ruinous decay. The doors dropped from their hinges, the entrance was grown up with briars, and cattle browsed round the very altar.* Even in the towns, meetings of the Christian people for worship became less and less frequent. The bishop was deeply concerned for the effects on faith and discipline of this violent interruption of the channels of the Divine grace. Yet he uttered no harsh or uncharitable word about the persecuting king whom he seems to regard as a sincere bigot. Of the terms and conditions of the treaty by which, with the assent of the four bishops, Auvergne was resigned to the Goths, we know nothing definitely. It is possible that the episcopal negotiators, while abandoning the rights of the Empire, ^ Sid. Ep. vii. 7, pamm in commune Vict. Vitens. i. 5, 17 ; ii. 7 ; esp. the consulitis ; et cum in concilium con- edict of Huneric, iv. 2, ut nullam Tenitis, non tam curae est publicis ordinandi haberent lioentiam sive mederi perioulis quam privatis studere episoopos, sive presbyteros. fortunis. a q., -rr, '-a 2 Greg. Tur. Hist. Fr. ii. 25, sacer- *'''*• ^- ^^ '^• dotes vero, alios dabat exsilio, alios * /J. vii. 6, videas armenta . . . gladio trncidabat ; Fertig, ii. 18. For etiam herboaa viridantium altarium similar persecution in Africa cf. latera depasci. 306 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv may have secured concessions to the Church. It may be that Euric's fanaticism was not altogether uncontrolled by policy, and that after all he set the peaceful government of a province before its conversion to his own faith. At any rate his subse- quent organisation of Auvergne was the work of a statesman and not of a sectary. Leo, his Catholic minister of state, probably had a potent voice in this settlement. A Catholic Gallo - Eoman, Count Victorius, was appointed governor, who, if his morals are impeached by Gregory of Tours,^ seems to have been on friendly terms with Sidonius, and the bishop has given a much more favourable account of his character than we receive from the historian of the Franks. But the resistance of Auvergne headed by its bishop had been obstinate, and might be revived. Some of the leaders, and among them the chivalrous Ecdicius,^ had to fly beyond the reach of Euric's arm. His treatment of Sidonius was not so harsh as we might have expected. The bishop indeed was relegated for a time to a fortress named Livia,^ near the Spanish frontier ; but his worst hardship was having to listen to the rough accent of his Gothic guards and the drunken squabbles of two old Gothic crones who disturbed his rest.* His correspondence was not stopped, although, from some phrases, we can see that it was watched, and that political references had to be very guarded. One of his correspondents was Euric's secretary of state, the accomplished Leo, at whose request Sidonius occupied his leisure in translating, or tran- scribing, the Life of ApoUonius of Tyana by Philostratus,* and who used his influence to mitigate and shorten the bishop's captivity.® In a well-known letter, which may possibly have come under the eyes of Euric, Sidonius flatters, in his most ' Greg. Tut. Hist. Fr. ii. 20 ; cf. Sid. ably somewhere between Karbonne Ep. vii. 17, giving a description of the and Carcassonne ; v. note in Migne, revercncewithwbichVictoriusattended and the Ind. Loc. in Momma, ed. ; the death-bed of the monk Abraham. Sirm. p. 82. On the extent of his jurisdiction * Ep. viii. 3. Sirmond points out that in Gregory's ^ li. viii. 3 ; v. Sirmond's note, which time, Dux, the title he gives to Vic- makes it probable that Sidonius sent torius, was governor of several towns, Leo a carefully transcribed copy of the Comes of one, Sirm. Sid. p. 79. original work ; cf. Ep. v. 15, where he ^Jordan. Get. xlv., Ecdioius diu sends Euric a carefully emended copy of certans cum Vesegothis neo valens the Heptateuch. Sym. Ep. ix. 13 ; cf. antestare, relicta patria ... ad tutiora Fertig, ii. 22. se loca coUegit. ' Ep. viii. 3, cujus incommodi finem * Sid. Ep. viii. 3. Livia was prob- post opem Christi tibi debeo. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 307 elaborate style, the literary skill of his friend Leo, and the far- reaching power of the king, the terror of whose name overawes the Franks on the Ehine and the Vandals beyond the sea. Leo had probably little difficulty in obtaining the release of the bishop, who soon afterwards betook himself to Bordeaux. The causes of his residence at Bordeaux are left rather obscure. It is conjectured that it was a sort of exile, a mild extension of his imprisonment at Livia.-' Sidonius had been the soul of the Avernian resistance to Euric. His in- fluence, both as a bishop and a great noble, was formidable, and he had close relations with the Burgundians, who had lent their support to Auvergne during the siege. We can hardly wonder if Euric thought it prudent to keep Sidonius away from his diocese for a while. But Sidonius had also probably reasons of his own for being at Bordeaux.^ It would appear from a letter written at this time that he was trying to recover an estate, which came to him by his marriage with the daughter of Avitus.^ His friend is a lucky Tityrus who has recovered his lands, and can now tune his lyre among his planes and myrtles. Probably during the bishop's confinement at Livia some one had taken advantage of the confusion of the times to appropriate the charming woods and meadows of Avitacum. Whatever the true account may be, his stay at Bordeaux was somewhat prolonged. While he was at Bordeaux, he used his literary facility to propitiate the Gothic court. A complimentary inscription for a present which a friend of Sidonius was making to Queen Eagnahilda,* in those days when women were beginning to exercise the influence which culminated in the chivalrous cult of their sex, may have had its intended effect. But a poem addressed to Lampridius,^ one of the crowd of facile versifiers, whose conventional art then obtained such a strange vogue, probably did more than weightier compositions to 1 Mommsen, Fraef. in Sid. xlviii. * ^. iv. 8. The verses were com- 2 See Fertig, ii. 23. posed to be inscribed on the edges of a ' Ep. viii. 9, uecdum enim quicquam cup which Eradius wished to present dehereditatesocrualivelinusumtertiae to the queen of Euric. Evadius is by sub pretio medietatis obtinui. On the some thought to have been the successor appropriation of conquered lands by of Victorius in the governorship of the Germans see Fauriel, Hist, de la Auvergne ; cf Chaix, Apoll. Sid. ii. QauU Mir. i. 142 ; Chaix, Apoll. Sid. 290. ii. p. 205 ; F. de Coulanges, L'l-nm. Germ. 538 ; cf. Leg. Burgund. cap. liv. * ^. viii. 9. 308 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv relieve the stress on Auvergne, and to restore Sidonius to his flock. The letter in which the poem is forwarded to the prosperous courtier has a tone of depression and melancholy, as if this pompous and overcharged flattery of Euric had been wrung from Sidonius by the necessities and distresses of his position. He is an exile from his beloved Auvergne, hanging on the outskirts of the Gothic court, unable to obtain the restitution of his estate. But the poem is also evidently intended for the ear or eye of the Gothic king. Sidonius has only once within the space of two months had a sight of the monarch who is occupied with worldwide cares. The complaint of the neglected suitor is relieved by the grossest flattery of the new barbarian power to which all the peoples of the world, from the wild Saxon pirate to the princes of Susa, are bending submissively and bringing their tribute.^ Burgundian and Ostrogoth recognise his supremacy. And even the Eoman, hard pressed by the Scythian hordes, entreats the potentate of the Garonne to succour the weakness of the Tiber. So low had sunk the pride of the great noble, who in his earlier days celebrated before the ^lite of Eome the triumph of imperial prestige and diplomacy over Gothic force ; so low had fallen the faith of Eomans in the future of Eome. The Panegyric on the power of Euric, however, had its reward. The bishop was restored to his diocese, and his later years are not marked by any incident connected with our present subject.^ They belong to ecclesiastical history. Sidonius submitted to the inevitable triumph of Visigothic power, and devoted himself henceforth to the duties of his see and to a diligent correspondence with his episcopal brethren. It is probable that he was also engaged during these last years in collecting and polishing his letters for the eyes of posterity.' He has secured the immortality he longed for, but it is for merits very different from those on which he hoped to rest his fame.* His works will live for ever as a precious monument of an obscure period, in spite of the tricks and affectations of a style elaborated with an extraordinary perversity of art. Yet, ' E'p. viii. 9. ' Germain's Ajioll. Sid. pp. 73 sqq. ; ^ For the pathetic story of his death of. Mommseu's Praef. 1. cf. Greg. Tur. Hist. Fr. ii. 23. * Ep. i. 1. CH. Ill RELA TIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 309 notwithstanding the pathetic failure of his efforts to charm as a master of style, the devotion of the man to a literary ideal, however false and distorted, is one of his most admirable traits. His faith in letters in a time of decadence covers a multitude of literary sins. To the class whom Sidonius represents, culture became more precious as the external grandeur of the Empire waned and faded ; we may also say that it became more precious as it showed signs of its decay. That it was decaying Sidonius clearly saw.^ He praises a friend for beiug one of the few in whom still lingered the traces of a vanishing literary sense. The mass even of the educated were too sluggish to maintain the strenuous pursuit of literary purity which was the great pride of the schools of Gaul.^ They have not the energy to resist the incursions of barbarous and vulgar idiom. Yet there never was a time when the higher class were more bound, if only as a duty to their order, to hold fast to their literary heritage. For, as the career of political ambition was closed, the only brand of nobility left was that of literary distinction.^ The military and the civil power alike were passing into the hands of barbarians. Sidonius may have had a real admiration for the character and bearing of Theodoric II. ; he may have been overawed by the vivid energy and commanding power of Euric ; but, apart from their military and political success, the Germans were, to the lettered bishop, the representatives of mere brute force,* ignorant, cramped, and uncultivated, with none of the polish and elasticity of intellect, which only generations of social and academic discipline can give. They were the spreading darkness before which the borders of the light were slowly receding. The feelings of Sidonius for the Germans were probably those of most of his class, and they found a vent in pungent ' Ep. iv. 17, senuonis pompa Ko- earn brevi abolitamdefleamus interemp- mani, si qua adhuc uspiam est, Bel- tamque. gicis olim sive Rhenanis abolita terria 3 75. yiij. o nam jam remotis gradi- m te resedit. There is a letter of Aus- ^us dignitatum, per quas solebat picius to Arboga^tes in which the latter ^^:^^^ ^ summns quisque dis- is styled Comes Trevirornm. ^.g^^i goliin erlt posthao nobilitatis ,/*• J "• J -^Pj- ^°*™ mcrebuit indicium litteras nosse. multitudo desidiosorum ut nisi vel paucissimi quique meram linguae La- "* Ih. iv. 1, bestialium rigidarumque tiaris proprietatem de trivialium bar- nationmn corda cornea fibraeque barismorum robigine vindicaveritis, 310 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv satire/ which did not spare even the court of the Burgundian king. Many of the great nobles probably held aloof from all intercourse with the Germans, and secluded themselves in the solitude of their great estates, where they maintained among their numerous following a sort of independence, and were probably not often troubled, so long as they quietly accepted the new rigime. There were others who fortified themselves in strong castles,^ built in lonely valleys, or on unassailable sites among the mountains, where the feudal life of the middle age, in its main features, had already begun.^ One at least of these strongholds, in Haute Provence, has been identified.* It is situated in a deep and lonely glen fenced in by precipitous rocks, among which can still be seen the traces of the engineer's art. The place was fortified, as an inscription tells, by Dar- danus, prefect of the Gauls, between 409 and 413, the years when the army of the Visigoths was seeking a home in Southern Gaul. It is probable, too, that many of the vUlae in the more open country about this time were strengthened with towers and fortifications which provided security without interfering with the amenity and comfort of the country seat. There is such a fortress described in one of the poems of Sidonius,^ the Burgus of Leontius, at the confluence of the Dor- dogne with the Garonne. The house had the charms and con- veniences of the ordinary country house, the vestibules, colon- nades, the summer and winter apartments. But over all rose a lofty keep, with soaring towers, and of a fabric so soHd that no engine known to ancient warfare could shake or undermine it.^ Yet it is probable that the Gallo-Eoman nobles had little to fear from any open assault of German forces in regular war. ^ E-p. V. 8, tu tamen nihilo segnins hand. He was a friend of SS. Jerome operam saltern facetis satirarum colo- and Augustine ; of. Olympiod. § 19 ; ribus intrepidus impende, nam tua Aug. Ep. 187 ; Hieron. Ep. 129. scripta nostronim vitiis profioieuti- Sidon. Ep. v. 9 blackens the character bus tyrannopolitarum locupletabuntur. of Dardanus. But this opinion may he Sirmond, p. 57, refers the words to a accounted for by the fact that Auvergne satire of Secundinus on the Burgundian had supported Jovinus, and that some princes. of its magnates had been put to death . ^ lb. V. li ad init. for their share in the movement. ' F. de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. pp. Greg. Tur. ii. 9. 199, 540 ; L'Alhu, p. 93. 5 „ ^ See the inscription in C.I.L. xii. <^«'-™- =^^"- 1524 ; cf. Fauriel, i. 660. Dardanus ^ lb. xxii. 120 : was P.P. in 409 ; cf. C. Th. xii. 1, 171. non illos machina muros He induced Ataulphus to desert Jov- non aries . . . inus, and slew that usurper with his own quassare valebant. CH. HI RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 311 The real danger was from irregular bands or from gangs of brigands, which were as often recruited from the wreck of Eoman society as from the iavaders. But all the evidence goes to show that the great Eoman families suffered little in the invasions either from violence or from confiscation.^ Sal- vianus, writing at least a generation after the occupation of Aquitaine by the Visigoths, describes the life of the nobles as wealthy and luxurious even to excess.^ We have found in Sidonius the picture of a society, tranquil and opulent, which has suffered nothing, and which fears nothing. The chroniclers of the following age, such as Gregory of Tours, in many a gene- alogy, leave the clear impression that in the middle of the sixth century many of the old senatorial families were in secure possession of the lands and rank of their ancestors. But, while probably the majority of the GaUo-Eomans secluded themselves from contact with the new masters of their province, there were evidently a considerable number who, from necessity or policy, were willing to place their services at the disposal of the conquerors, some in honourable employment as high ofi&cials, others in less reputable ways. Both at Lyons and Bordeaux, the assistance of the skilled ad- ministrator or diplomatist who could bring tact and know- ledge of traditional methods to the tasks of government, or who could conduct skilfully the voluminous correspondence with Eoman and barbarian powers, was in much request. Latin was, of course, the language of the civilised world. The dialects of the German tribes were many and various, and pro- vided no available and predominant medium of communication. The Visigothic princes are said to have acquired from Eoman courtiers a taste for Virgil.' But they must have needed the assistance of lawyers, learned in Eoman jurisprudence, and secretaries trained in the use of the approved and elaborate idiom in which the Eomans of that day expressed themselves. Eurie is said, on the doubtful authority of Ennodius, to have needed an interpreter in his interview with Epiphanius.* It is hard to believe that so able and energetic a prince, face ^ F. de Coulanges, L'Inv. Germ. p. vitiis ; cf. § 50. 540. ^ Sid. Carm. vii. 496. 3 Salv. ad Ecdes. iii. § 87 ; d« Gut. * Ennod. mt. S. Epiphani, p. 354 Dei, vii. § 12, in onmibus quippe (ed. Vindob.), taliter tamen fertur ad Galiiis, siout divitiis primi fuere, sic interpretem rex locutus. 312 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv to face with the problem of governing a Eoman population, should not have learned enough Latin to carry on an ordinary conversation. But, with all the ramifications of his power and influence, he could not dispense with men who were able both to advise him on matters of policy and express his views in diplomatic language. Just as Rome had for generations em- ployed barbarian chiefs in her armies, so the barbarian kings had to employ the knowledge and technical skill of Eoman lawyers and rhetors in their chanceries. There is no more striking figure among this class than that of Leo, the minister of Euric, during the last years of the independence of Auvergne. He was one of the cultivated upper class of Narbonne, and descended from the great orator Fronto.^ His reputation, both as a jurist and a literary man, stood very high.^ Leo appears to have combined the fervour of a true Catholic with the old- fashioned Eoman virtues. His influence with Euric was power- ful, and to it we may probably attribute the restoration of Sidonius to his diocese, and the tolerant administration of Auvergne under a Catholic and Eoman governor. It is certainly a curious fact that a sincere Catholic like Leo should have shared the counsels and influenced the policy of a bigoted Arian like Euric. Another Gallo-Eoman of this time, Syagrius, belonging to a consular family at Lyons, was secretary to the Burgundian king.^ He was occupied, according to Sidonius, in translating Latin despatches into German, and Sidonius, with much exaggeration, describes how the polished scholar, nourished on Cicero and Virgil, had so mastered the German idiom that the barbarians dreaded to perpetrate a barbarism in his presence.* The ascendency of such men was due to their knowledge of affairs, their legal learning, or their literary skiU. But, if we may judge by the case of S. Avitus, some of them did not shrink from fortifying their influence by a flattery and address ' Sid. E'p. viii. 3, suapende perorandi Ausonius (Seeck's Sym. oix. ). His illud celeberrimum flumen quod in tomb near Lyons was still shown in tuum pectus per suooiduas aetates ab the middle of the fifth century (Sid. atavo Frontone transfunditur. Ef. v. 17). The family was probably 2 Sid. Cwrm.. xxiii. 446. " °^ <^*"*° ^'^''\ . '^'^^'■\ f ***^' T^ have been near Soissons (of. Greg. Tur. ' Sid. Ep. V. fi. This Syagrius was Hist. Fr. ii. 18). Sirmond, Sid. p. 54. great-grandson of the Flavins Afranius * Ep. v. 5, quod te praesente formidet Syagrius who was consul in 381, and linguae suae facere barbarus barbaris- who was a friend of Symmachus and mum. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 313 not always creditable to the courtier's principles. S. Avitus, a Eoman of high rank, was bishop of Vienna in the reign of Gundobald, and wrote some despatches, still extant, on his behalf to the Eastern emperor. The Burgundian prince was an Arian,^ but Avitus affects to believe that he is a sound Catholic at heart, and styles him the protector of the Catholic faith. Gundobald had compassed the death of his two brothers, Chilperic and Gundemar, and that of Chilperic's queen ; ^ yet the bishop does not hesitate to say that Gundo- bald had shed pious tears for their fate, and congratulates him on the good fortune which had reduced the number of the royal family and yet preserved to the world aU that sufficed for the Empire. The probability that the object of S. Avitus was to make a powerful convert will hardly be allowed to excuse such a flagrant disregard of truth and decency. But arts like these seem innocent when we turn to another class of Eomans who flourished at the German courts by means of the most shameless treachery and corruption. They are described in a letter to a man, whose brother ApoUinaris had been secretly accused to King Chilperic of striving by his intrigues to secure the accession of Vaisons to the new Emperor, Julius Nepos.^ ApoUinaris was thus threatened with ruin by one of those wretches of his own race, who saw the chance of gain in the general unrest and insecurity. This tribe of delators are depicted by Sidonius with a grotesque elaboration of antithesis, which might create a suspicion of his truthfulness if it were not for the tone of genuine contempt, the " saeva indignatio," which runs through the whole description. Versed in the intricacies of the law, they use their knowledge to pervert the course of justice by every species of chicanery, calumny, and corruption. They are ready to attack every right and sell every concession. Every class in the community is made to feel that it is at the mercy of their spite or their ^ Greg. Tut. Rist. Fr. n. 32. partibus novi princlpis applicari. , Sirmond, p. 55, says " novTis princeps " T " 9n'! ^' ' -^^P^™' -^"'- is a Roman emperor, but, in the rapid Lit. 11. 203. succession of emperors, it is not clear ' Sid. Ep. V. 6 and 7, namque confir- who is referred to. In Luetjohann's mat magistro militum Chilperico, relatu edition of ApoU. Sid. (p. 423) the venenato quorumpiam sceleratorum reference is said to be to Julius Nepos, fuisse secreto insusurratum tuo prae- who succeeded Glycerins, the nominee oipue machinatu oppidum Vasionense of Gundobald. ' 314 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv cupidity. Mere vulgar adventurers, they are " intoxicated by their new wealth" and filled with envy of the noble order whose birth and breeding overshadow them. It is very characteristic of the class and period to which Sidonius belongs that the delator's ignorance of social usage and his errors in dress are lashed with almost as great severity as his crimes ; and it is a welcome gleam of sunshine in this scene of vulgar rapacity to learn that Sidonius' friend, Apollinaris, was saved from his peril by the kindly and womanly arts of the pious queen of Chilperic.^ The German governments, which succeeded to the Eoman administration, undoubtedly were as anxious as their prede- cessors to prevent plunder and violence in their territories.^ But in the period of transition which we are describing, bound- aries were fluctuating and uncertain, social bonds were relaxed, and authority was weakened. There are indications that the roads were not always safe, and that couriers might have their despatch bags examined.* Some of the letters of Sidonius are written with an obvious reserve, as if they might come under the eyes of persons who would use the contents to the prejudice of the writer. In one written in Burgundian territory, Chilperic and his queen are veiled under the names of Lucumo and Tanaquil.* At another time of some anxiety, the bishop employed a friendly Jew to convey a letter to Narbonne.^ We are accustomed to think of the German kings as wielding an overwhelming power over a crushed and conquered popula- tion. But the Eoman population far outnumbered the invaders, and the Eoman nobility were wealthy, powerful, and, above all, bound together by the closest ties of tradition and culture. That the Germans inspired fear is certain ; but it is equally certain that they were very sensitive to the good or evil opinions held about them by their Eoman neighbours, and especially to the opinion of an exclusive and fastidious caste. ^ Ep. V. 7, temperat Luoumonem ^ Leg. Burgiind. [Mon. Germ. Hist.) nostrum Tanaquil sua. She had a cap. ix. xi. xxv. xxvii. xlvii. great reverence for Bishop Patiens, Ep. 3 gi^. Ep. ix. 5, apices nostri in- vi. 12, omitto te tali semper agere oipient commeare, quoniam ceasant esse temperamento, sic semper numanum, sugpecti • cf. v. 3 iii. 4. sic abstemium judicari, ut constet in- ' ,' ' ' desinenter regem (Chilpericum) prae- ■'°- '''■ ' • sentem prandia tua, reginam laudare "■ lb. iii. 4, Gozalas nations Judaeus jejunia. For her tragic end v. Greg. . . . defert literas meas quos granditer Tur. Hist. Fr. ii. 28. anxius exarari. CH. in RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 315 Sidonius, unfortunately, does not tell as much as we could wish of the fortunes of the " dim silent masses " who sufier most in great social convulsions. Yet, with the some- what bounded vision of the Eoman aristocrat of the Lower Empire, Sidonius in his later years displays a genuine Christian sympathy with suffering, which he strove to alleviate by charity and episcopal influence.^ The agony of grief and desolation into which his orphaned flock were thrown by the death of their bishop seems still to throb in the pages of Gregory of Tours ; ^ and he has left here and there sketches which reveal, as if by a sudden flash, the vicissitudes of fortune to which the humbler class in those days had to submit. The country districts suffered more from brigands than even from German bands on the warpath or from German spies. We have seen that in the last century of the Western Empire brigandage was one of the most menacing evils of the times. The ranks of the robber class were swelled or supported by the agents and shepherds on lonely estates, by deserters from the army, by bankrupt farmers and broken men, who, flying from a society which had crushed and defrauded them, rose up fiercely against it, and gratified the instincts at once of greed and of revenge.^ The great noble in his strong house, surrounded by troops of clients and serfs, could protect himself against the attacks of these desperadoes ; but the sufferings of the meaner sort may be inferred from a single incident recorded in a letter of Sidonius. A poor woman of the lower class had been carried off by the robber bands known in Gaul by the name of Vargi.* She had been taken to Troyes and thence to other places. Her relatives for a long time followed her traces in vain. At last they tracked her to Auvergne, where she had been sold in the public market, a certain Prudens of Troyes having involved himself in the transaction by signing the contract. She passed fortunately into the hands of an ^ See the tale in Gregory of Tours nos quasi orphanos derelinquis ? about his giving his plate in charity, ' Salv. de Ghib. Dei, v. §§ 24, 25, on nesoiente uxore, Hist. Fr. ii. 22. the Bagaudae ; of. Eugipp. vit. S. " Greg. Tur. Hist. Fr. ii. 23, cumque Severin.c.x., latrones . . . quosvulgus illuc (i.e. in eoclesiam) illatus esset, scameras appellabat ; Fauriel, i. 57 ; conveniebat ad eum multitndo virorum Zos. vi. 2 ; Sirmond, ed. ApoU. Sid. ac mulierum, simulque etiam et infau- p. 65. tium plangentium atque dicentium : * Sid. Fp. vi. 4 ; of. ed. ApoU. Sid. Cur nos deseris, pastor bone, vel cui in Mon. Germ. Hist. p. 447. 316 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv agent of Sidonius, and her friends appealed to the bishop for redress. He found that blood had been shed in effecting her capture, and that her relatives were determined to have satisfaction from the offenders at all costs. And he writes to Lupus of Troyes to secure the help of his great authority in arranging an amicable settlement of what threatened to be a dangerous feud. In another letter we have the tale of a man in deacon's orders, who, with his family, " had fled from the whirlwind of the Gothic ravages," and had settled on some church lands of the diocese of Auxerre.^ The squatter had sown the ground hastily for the next harvest, and Sidonius pleads with the episcopal owner that the refugee may be excused by his poverty from paying the rent for which he was •liable. Another incident of obscure misfortune shows that the Eomans had often as much to fear from their allies as from their enemies. Anthemius had engaged a corps of 12,000 Bretons, who were quartered under a chief Eiothamus on the Loire, to check the advance of the Visigoths to the north.^ The Bretons were defeated by Euric at D6ols, and fled into the territory of the Burgundians, then on friendly terms with the Eomans.^ But they were dangerous neighbours for the people of Auvergne, and supplemented by raids the precarious pay of the Empire. In one of these they carried off the slaves of a poor farmer, who appealed to his bishop for redress.* Sidonius wrote to the Breton chief explaining the man's grievance, but he seems to have had some doubt about the reception which his humble client would meet with among these lawless warriors. Alike in Gaul and in Spain, the horrors of pestilence and famine haunted the track of the invaders.^ In the invasion ' Sid. Ep. vi. 10, hie cum familia u Fauriel, i. 302 ; Jordan. Qd. c. xlv. sua depraedationis Gothicae turbinem saysthey came to Berry by sea: quorum vitans in territorium tuum delatus rex Riotimus cum duodecim milia (t.1. est. milibus) veniens in Beturi^as civitate ''■ Jordan. Oct. c. xlv. The name of ( v.l. civitatem) Oeeano e nayibua egresso the chief is variously spelled, Riotimus, susceptus est. Riothimus, Riutimud, Rotimus, but * Sid. j^. iii. 9. there is little doubt he is the same as ° Idat. Chron. ad a. 409, fames the Riothamus of Sid. Ep. iii. 9. dira grassatur, adeo ut humanae carnes ' Greg. Tur. Hist, Fr. ii. o. 18, ab humano genere vi famis fuerint Britanni de Biturica a Gotthis expulsi devoratae, etc. ; Sid. j^. vii. 7, maori sunt, multis apud Dolensem vioum jejuniis praeliatores . . . avulsas peremptis. As to whether this corps muralibus rimis herbae in cibum were insular Britons or Armorican, traximus. CH. Ill RELATIONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS 317 of Auvergne the Visigoths burnt the standing grain.^ The country people whose crops were destroyed were often far from markets and depots of supplies, and must have been reduced to terrible straits for food. This was the condition in the later years of Sidonius, both of his own diocese and of a wide stretch of country along the Ehone. Two men, who in spite of their rank in their own age would otherwise be hardly known to us, have had their names perpetuated for merciful munificence in their efforts to relieve the miseries of a famishing population. One is Ecdicius,^ the son of Avitus, and the chivalrous defender of Auvergne in its last struggles with the Visigothic power ; the other is Patiens,^ the saintly and princely bishop of Lyons, whose sanctity cast a spell on the fierce temper of the Burgundian kings. Yet the student of Sidonius will find the notices of violence and wide -spread calamity faint and infrequent. There is nothing in the fortunes of Gaul in his days to match the social chaos and penury and suffering of Noricum, which were relieved for a time by the heroic efforts of S. Severinus.* There is a wide interval between the first wild cries of terror or actual suffering which rose as the Sueves and Vandals swept over Gaul, and the more or less willing acquiescence in the rule of the Burgundians and Visigoths. In the early years of Euric's reign, while the fate of Auvergne was still undecided, there must undoubtedly have been much suffering, especially among the lower classes of the Gallo-Eoman popu- lation, and there must have been a general sense of insecurity and an interruption of intercourse and business. Tet the impression left by the letters of Sidonius is that men of his class suffered more in their hopes and sentiments than in their material fortune. Their abandonment by the Empire, their final severance from the great imperial system, caused a shock of grief and indignation which finds voice in that passionate letter which sounds like the epitaph on Avernian freedom. They seemed to be losing their heritage in the long tradition of Eoman culture. It is not fear of the 1 Sid. j^. vi. 12, post segetes inoeadio ' Sid. ^. vi. 12. absumpta3 peculiar! sumptu, inopiae * For the distress and disorganisa- communi per desolatas Gallias gratuita tion in Noricum of. Eugipp. vii. S. frumenta misisti. Severin. c. iii. iv. x. ; for the measures 2 Greg. Tur. Eist. Fr. ii. c. 24. of relief taken by Severinus cf. c. xvii. 318 ROME AND THE BARBARIANS book iv Germans, nor even fastidious dislike for their rude and un- polished ways, that wrung from the Eoman noble his indignant lament for the betrayal of Avernian liberties and citizenship by brother churchmen in conclave with the ministers of the Visigothic king. He could force himself to accept the rude hospitality of the Gothic or Burgundian court; he had proved that he did not fear to face the Germans in battle ; but the illusions of his youth about the great centre of order and culture were vanishing, and he watched with anxious foreboding the darkness which was descending on the West. BOOK V CHAEACTERISTICS OF EOMAN EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN TEE FIFTH CENTURY CHAPTEK I OHAEACTERISTICS OF CULTURE IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES The purpose of this chapter, as indeed of this book as a whole, is to describe the tone of that society which, even when nominally Christian, drew its intellectual life from pagan literature. We shall have to do with the culture of con- ventionality and tradition, slowly but surely fading from lack of fresh impulse and inspiration, not with the newer and purely Christian culture, which strove to employ the forms of ancient literature in the service of the dogma and spiritual ideals which were destined to mould the future of the West. It was not, indeed, without long hesitation that the Church brought itseK to assimilate what was best, and best fitted to her purpose, in the literary tradition of paganism. And in this long process of accommodation the West was slower and more reluctant than the East.^ While S. Clement of Alexandria was ready to admit that for the Greek world philosophy " was a schoolmaster to bring it to Christ," TertuUian denounced the teaching of the literature of mythology, and strove to deepen the gulf between Athens and Jerusalem, between the pagan academy and the Church.^ Nor was the suspicion of pagan literature entertained by the great doctors of the West 1 Ozanam, Civ. lav Autun) viribus m sexcenis miUibus ^a/jeXfli;/ Kal viav Trpoaratriav ^7X«/"- nummum aooipere jusserunt. a-drivaL i,fi.av. 3 0. Th. xiii. 3, 5. *' Herodes Atticus was so empowered ^ For the evidence on this point v. by M. Aurelius, Philostr. vit. Soph. ii. Godefroy on C. Th. xiii. 3, 5. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 335 to their decision/ but there can be no doubt that his real motive was to prevent the election of Christians to these posts ; for, although the municipal bodies might be bad or niggardly pajrmasters, there is no reason to beUeve that, as a rule, they "were less competent to make proper appointments to academic chairs than the imperial advisers at Eome. Among the members of the local curia there would generally be, not only a certain number who had received an academic training, but also professors or ex- professors, who, though by the law of Constantine^ not liable for the charges of the curia, were freely admitted to its ranks. Ausonius and some of his professional friends probably sat in the curia of Bordeaux. And they were, to say the least, as competent to select a professor as the men who surrounded the Emperor in the Consistorium. The proper remuneration of the teaching staff probably exercised the vigilance of the emperors to a much greater degree than the mode of its appointment. From the beginning of the fourth century, and probably earUer, the financial pressure on the curiales was becoming more and more severe. Educa- tion is generally the first department in which the ordinary man will begin to retrench. "We might safely believe, even if we had not the express testimony of Libanius,^ that an impoverished municipality would cut down the salaries of its professors, or pay them very irregularly. The famous law of Gratian, issued in 376, is perhaps the most striking illustra- tion of the anxiety of the emperors for the worthy main- tenance of academic studies. The edict was issued just two years before Ausonius, who had been the Emperor's tutor, was raised to the prefecture of the Gauls, and three years before his consulship. It is reasonable to suppose that the old professor of Bordeaux, who was so loyal to his colleagues and his profession, had suggested to the Emperor the expediency of improving their position. It may be inferred from the Code that the payments to professors from the municipal funds had become less liberal and less regular. Gratian, while he ' C. Th. xiii. 3, 5, hoc enim de- ' Boissier, La Fin du Pag. i. 197 ; cretum (Curialium) ad me titiotaiiduin Sym. Ep. i. 79, v. 35, which show referetur ut altiore quodam honore that professors' incomes were precarious nostrojudioiostudiisCivitatumaccedat. at the end of the fourth century. 2 lb. xiii. 3, 1. 336 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v leaves the great towns free to elect their teachers, strictly prescribes the stipends which the various grades of professors shall receive.^ The rhetors are to have a salary of 24 annonae;^ the grammarians, both Greek and Latin, are to be paid half the salary of the rhetors. But in Treves, which was the great seat of Eoman power at the time, a higher scale of salaries is fixed. The teacher of rhetoric is to have 30 annonae, the Latin grammarian 20, and the Greek gram- marian, "if a competent person can be found," has to be content with the salary appointed for other localities. The poems of Ausonius furnish indications of a greater difference in the incomes of professors than any established by this edict. Some of the grammarians of Bordeaux were evidently living in obscure poverty.^ On the other hand, several professors of rhetoric enjoyed comparative wealth,* kept a good table, and lived on equal terms with the local aristocracy. In that day the exemption from taxes and pubHc burdens which they enjoyed was of great pecuniary value. In addition to their regular stipends, they had also the fees paid by their pupils. There can be no doubt that the classes of some professors were large, although how large we can hardly pretend to say definitely.^ Ausonius speaks of the one or two thousand who were trained by Minervius for the bar and for senatorial rank." A liberal education was not only a social necessity, a badge of rank; it was also, for the ambitious youth, the surest passport to a place in the imperial service. The profession of arms and the pursuits of commerce were alike practically closed to Eomans of the upper and middle ranks. The heir to a great estate was required, by the opinion of his class, to qualify himself for his position by acquiring that ' 0. Th. xiii. 3, 11, ut singulis ^ Auson. Frof. Burd. vii. 10 : urbibus quae Metropoleis nunoupantur litteris tantum titulum adseoutus, nobiliumProfessorumelectiocelebretur. quautus exili satis est cathedrae, etc. Metropoleis must be interpreted with Cf. viii. 6, x. 40. Godefroy : non illae quae primae * lb. xvi. 9 : omnium erant, verum omnes frequen- nobilis et dotata uxor, doinus et schola, .. . ' ^ cultae tissimae. principum ainioitiae oontigerunt juveni. ^ For similar allowances by annona j^j^, 5 ; (i.e. diarium unius hominis) cf. Amm. opulensque senectus. Marc. xxii. 4, 9. When Julian once b The attempt is made in JuUian's asked his gorgeously dressed barber, Ausone et Bordeaux, p. 72. quid haberet ex arte compendii, vioenas s prqf. Biord. i. 9 : diurnas respondit (tonsor) annonas, miUe fore dedithaecjuvenes, bis milleSenatus etc. Lamprid. Alex. Scv. 0. 42. adjecit numero purpureisque togis. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 337 culture whicli had distinguished his ancestors for generations, and which marked oif the Eoman noble from the barbarian chief; the youth of humbler fortune might hope by means of his education to find a place in that great army of function- aries who surrounded the Emperor and the great provincial governors.^ A popular and successful teacher had therefore probably large classes, and his ordinary fees were swelled by presents from some of his wealthier pupils.^ A rhetor was often a rich man, living in the best society, and married to an heiress of some wealthy family.^ The aim of the imperial legislation, expressed in several edicts, was to leave the professor of the liberal arts free and unimpeded in his studies.* But the profession of letters in the Lower Empire was also one of increasing worldly honour and consideration.^ The senatorial class, as we have seen, prided themselves on their culture quite as much as on their birth and opulence. And they held in corresponding estimation the class whose business it was to maintain the hterary tradition. Symmachus, at the beginning of the century, and Sidonius towards its close, were aristocrats to their finger-tips, valuing even to excess hereditary rank. Both of them were absorbed in the interests of their order, the melior pars generis humani, as they regarded it. Yet both Symmachus and Sidonius admitted freely to their inner circle men who owed their position solely to literary skill and dexterity of the kind then admired. They lived on terms of fraternal intimacy with men whose days were spent in the drudgery of the class-room. In one of his letters® Sidonius describes the charms of Avitacum to a grammarian of the school of Auvergne in order ^ Cf. Seeck's Sym. oxli. for the ^ Herodes Atticus made a present to career of Minervius, Florentinus, and his teacher of 15 talents ; but this^ of Protadius, three young Gauls from course, was exceptional. Capes, Univ. Treves. Mallius Theodorus was of Life in Ancient Athens, p. 60. humble origin, and began his public ^ Citharius, a Greek grammarian of career as magister epistularum under Bordeaux, Gratian (Seeck, cxlix. ). Neoterius, who conjugimn nactus cito nobilis et locu- became prefect and consul, began his pletis, etc., career as notarius in the service of Prof. Burd. xiii. 9. Cf. xxiii. 5. Valentinian (Amm. Marc. xxv. 5, 14). * C. Th. xiii. 3, 3, 4, and 18. Men of high birth also entered the ' See the four laws of Theodosius and service. Sex. Petronius Maximus was Honorius between 414 and 428, C. Th. tribune of the Sacred Consistory and xiii. 3, 16-19, which confirm and en- notarius in his nineteenth year. See force the laws of Constantine, xm. 3, the inscription to him set up by the 1, 2, 3. emperors m 421 {C.I.L. vi. 1749). ° Sidon. Ep. ii. 2. 338 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v to tempt him to spend the dogdays in its shades. Symmachus took the greatest interest in the worldly advancement of his literary friends,' and regarded the liberal endowment of academic studies as a "mark of a flourishing commonwealth." He hailed especially the elevation of Ausonius and his family to high rank and ofBce as a worthy recognition of the dignity of letters.^ And, indeed, mere academic merit has seldom in history led to such power and worldly distinction. For several years it may be said with truth that the government of the West was in the hands of the family of Ausonius, who held all the great prefectures.® The poet himself added to the prefecture of the Gauls the ancient honours of the consul- ship. His commanding influence can be traced in not a few of the imperial constitutions. It has, indeed, been plausibly suggested that the ex-professor's administrative capacity was not equal to his poetic art,^ and that during his prefecture the government of Gaul was combined with that of Italy in the hands of his son Hesperius. It is certainly noteworthy that the edicts relating to the "Western provinces are, during Ausonius' year of of&ce, with one exception, addressed to his son.^ If this be so, it merely shows how determined the Emperor was, even at the cost of some disturbance of the official routine, to permit his old tutor to enjoy the highest honours which the Empire had to bestow. It is not a mere empty boast, prompted by national vanity, that the tradition of Graeco-Eoman culture, in the last century of the Western Empire, was maintained most vigorously in Gaul. So far as secular literature was concerned, Italy, Spain, and Africa had spent their force. The schools of Gaul in the fifth century, although literary studies were showing unmistak- able signs of decadence, were still generally prosperous ; and it is from them chiefly that we must draw our conceptions 1 Sym. Ep. i. 79, Priscianus frater * Seeok's Sym. Ixxx., sed poeta meusoumprimisphilosophorumlittera- noster grammaticus quam adminis- tura et honestate censendua senatu trator melior fuisse videtur. . . . auctoresalariiemolumentaconsequitur. Itaque nova ratio exoogitata est qua ^ 76 i 20 nomen praefeoti Ausonio remaneret, totum autemmagistratus onus Heaperio ^ The authoritiea ■will be found in inoumberet, et Galliae cum Italia con- Seeok's Sym. Ixxix. Ixxx., omnes junctae aunt, etc. Rausohen, p. 28. summi per Occidentem magistratua ° Q. Th. viii. 5, 35, de numero uniua familiae quaei patrimonium veredorum quae uno die ex uno loco erat. moveri posaunt. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 339 of the character of Roman culture iu the last years of the Empire of the West. There was something in the Celtic nature which seemed to respond with peculiar energy to the stimulus of the rhetorical training.^ The eloquence of the Gauls was celebrated before the Eoman occupation. In the ancient Greek colony of Marseilles the training of the Hellenic schools had been early established,^ and Marseilles was at one time a favourite resort of students from Italy, and, according to Strabo, threw even Athens into the shade. In the reign of Tiberius, the school of Autun, established soon after the Eoman conquest, was thronged with the youth of the noblest families.^ Marseilles lost somewhat of its former academic renown, but the schools of the east and centre of Gaul appear to have maintained a vigorous existence even through the troubles of the third century, and the fame of the florid Gallic eloquence reached its height in the Panegjn^ists.* Yet it was only in the fourth century that the Eoman language and literature were completely naturalised on Gallic soil. Traces of the ancient dialects still lingered even among the educated class. The father of Ausonius, who was of an old Gallic stock, spoke Latin badly.^ A member of the same family, Paulinus of Pella, tells us that he was much more at home in Greek than in Latin.^ In the beginning of the fifth century Sulpicius Severus represents a Gallic monk as apologising for the ' Juv. i. 44 ; XV. Ill, Gallia oau- where Massilia is mentioned as the sidicos doouit facunda Britannos. M. retreat of a studious exile. Antonius Gnipho, a Gallic rhetor, was 3 Tae. Ann. iii. 43, Augustodunum tutor of J. Caesar and Cicero : M. Ant. Sacrovir ocoupaverat et nobilissimam Gnipho, ingenuus in Gallia natus. . . Qalliarum subolem, liberaUbus studiis Docuit primum in Dm Julii domo, j^^j operatam, etc. pueri adnuo . . . (Suet, de III. Oram,. c. vu.); DomitiusAfer, famous in the ' Hieron, Ep. tltlx^w. 3, sermo reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero oompositusetGallioanocothurno tluens. (Tac. Ann. xiv. 19), was from Ntmes It is worth noting that this letter is a (Hieron. Ohron. ad a. 46 a.d., Domitius criticism of a work by Rheticius, bishop Afer Nemausensis olarus orator ha- of Autun, on the Song of Songs, of the betur). Caligula established oratorical value of which S. Jerome has evidently contests at Lyons (Suet. Calig. c. a poor opinion. XX.). _ 6 ^uson. Idyl. ii. 9 : ^ Strabo, iv. 5 (181), irdi'T-es 7&p al sermone impromptus Latio, verum Attica Xapt^cres irpds t6 Xe7etJ' rpeirovTat. Kal lingua ■ Sv ibaff i, ir6\« /uupby /ih suffecit culti vocibns eloquii. irplyrepov rots ^ap^dpoLS AveTro TraiSeu- ^ Much. 75 : T^ptov . . . iy S^ ri^ irapbvTi Kal roi>s protinus ad libros etiam transire Maronis ■yvupiiuardTovs 'Pojfmluv iriireiKev avrl vix bene comperto jubeor sermone Latino. T^s ek 'Ae^vas iiroSri/ilas ^/ceib-e tfioirav But it should be said that Paulinus ^iXo/mSeTs ivra!. Cf. Tac. Ann. iv. 44, was bom in a Greek-speaking province. 340 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v barbarism of his rustic idiom.^ But the literary renaissance of the fourth century completed the Eomanisation of the great province of the West, and made it the last stronghold of Eoman culture. In this movement the more ancient schools of the South-East failed to maintain their old prestige. The school of Marseilles is little heard of in the fourth century. Autun, after its momentary revival under Eumenius, also sank into obscurity. The really prosperous and vigorous seats of academic life in this period were Treves on the north-eastern frontier, and the schools of Aquitaine in the West. Treves for some years was the seat of empire and the favourite residence of the emperors/ and Gratian, as we have seen, tried to attract to its schools the foremost talent by specially high stipends. But the attempt was, from the circumstances of the time, foredoomed to jfailure. Treves was essentially a great military position, confronting the menacing tide of barbarian invasion. Within little more than a generation from the date of the law which was to endow it with an academic primacy, Treves was four times given up to fire and sword by the Germans.^ Magnifi- cent ruins still remain to attest the favour and magnificence of the Caesars. But the school of Treves vanished without leaving a trace. It was in rich and fertile Aquitaine, far removed from the more sudden and desolating inroads of the Germans, that academic life was destined to linger longest, and to show the most enduring vitality. There were, indeed, still a number of academic centres elsewhere, at Lyons,* Arles,^ Auvergne, Vienne,® which still maintained a certain 1 Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 27, vereor ne 378 in the Chronologia of the C. 2%. t. i. offendat veatras nimium urbanas aures Cf. Auson. Ordo Nob. Urb. iv. : sermo rusticior. It is absurd, how- pacis ut in mediae gremio aecura, quiescit, ever, as De Coulanges (La Gaule Bom. imperii vires.quod alit, quod vestit et armat. p. 128) points out, to infer, from the 3 gaiy. de Gub. Dei, vL 39, 75, ex- following words, Geltice aut si mavis pugnata est quater urbs Gallorum Gallice loquere, that the monk Gallus, opulentissima who apologises for his rusticior sermo , j. ^^^ ^^^^ ^ reputation when spoke one of the old dialects of Gaul gy„ J^^ ^^^ ^.^ ^^.^^^^ ^^^^^^.^ tj,, (of Fauriel, 1. 434). The passage in j^^^^^^^ ^^ j,^^^j,j^^ ^j^^^ _g j^^ 1 Sidon ^jp 111 3, tuaeque personae ^^^ ^jjj_ f^^^. j 1^^^ gid. i. quondam debitum quod sermonis 002 Celtici squamam depositura nobilitas ' j. j, , ,. r j.„™ nunc oratorio stylo . . . imbuebatur, ^ ' Aries, as the seat of the prefecture need not mean that the nobles actuaUy ^°°^ the place of Treves m the fifth spoke Celtic in the youth of Ecdicius, century, and legal studies flourished i e circ 430 there. See the letters to the jurist ■ 2 See" the 'number of constitutions Petronius, Sid. ^. ii. 5, v. 1. dated from Treviri between 368 and ' Chaix, Apollin. Sid. i. 207. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 341 activity in the fifth century, under teachers of some mark. But "Palladian" Toulouse,^ Narbonne, and, above all, Bor- deaux, had by far the greatest reputation. The city on the Garonne in the days of Ausonius was recognised as the fore- most school of rhetoric in the Eoman world, and its fame attracted even Italian scholars. Symmachus, the leader of the Senate, and the most accomplished man of letters in Italy, acknowledged the debt which he owed to the rhetorical train- ing of Aquitaine.^ Minervius, of the time of Ausonius, had a brilliant career at Eome and Constantinople.^ Narbonne, Poitiers, and Toulouse filled their chairs with brilliant teachers from Bordeaux. On the other hand, Bordeaux seldom needed to import her professors. Of the twenty-five who are com- memorated by Ausonius, only five were of alien origin.* Even the most famous universities of the Empire seem, from a modern point of view, to have been only moderately equipped, A few of the greater cities, such as Eome or Constantinople, had professors of the four faculties, as we may call them, of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and jurisprudence.^ But prob- ably only the first two of these departments were represented on the staff of most provincial schools. Even a school so famous as Bordeaux seems to have had no professor of phil- osophy or jurisprudence.® The great legal universities were Eome, Constantinople, and Berytus; yet we cannot suppose that young men preparing for the bar of the prefectorian courts in Gaul had to go for their training to these distant schools. It is clear that legal studies were vigorously carried on at Axles, Narbonne, and in Southern Gaul generally.^ Sidonius eulogises, with his wonted intemperance of language, the legal learning of some of his friends.* One of them, the ^ Sid. Carm. vii. 436 ; xxiii. Cf. Constantinople (Auson. Parent, iii. 16). Auson. Parent, iii. 11. ■* Jullian's Attsone, p. 69. 2 Sym. Ep. ix. 88, Gallicanae faoun- ^ C. Th. vi. 21, 1. THs law confers diae lianstus require ; non quod his the title of Comes primi ordinis on septem montibus eloquentia Latiaris three grammarians, two sophists, and excessit, sed quia praecepta rhetoricae one jurist by name. Teachers in pectori meo senex olim Garumnae alum- general who have discharged their nus immulsit est inihi cum scholis duties for twenty years with efficiency vestris per doctorem justa cognatio. are to be raised to the same rank. Cf. i. 9. ^ Ausonius, Prof. Bitrd., speaks only ' Auson. Prof. Burd. i. 4 ; Hieron. of grammatici and rhetores. Chrm. ad a. 358, Minervius Burdiga- ' Fauriel, i. 407. lensis rhetor, Romaeflorentissimedocet * Sidon. Carm. xxiii. 446, 465; cf. So Arborius was called from Toulouse to Ep. ii. 5, v. 1. 342 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v accomplished Leo, who came to fill the difficult post of secretary to Euric/ is described as a jurist worthy to rank with the greatest of antiquity. In philosophy there was probably little real training in those days except at Athens ; but even at Athens philosophy had sadly degenerated, and "the golden chain of the Platonic succession" was within a few years to be broken by the edict of Justinian. S. Jerome says that in his time philosophical study had ceased to form a part of a liberal education.^ And there are few traces of a genuine interest in philosophy to be found in the purely literary remains of the fifth century. It is true that Sidonius has several friends who are devoted to Plato,^ and from one passage in his letters we might even infer the existence of a Platonic school in Southern Gaul. He reminds Probus, a member of an accomplished family at Narbonne, of their common Aristotelian studies in the class-room of Eusebius at Lyons.* Another friend united in a very singular way a devotion to the tenets of Plotinus with an ardent love of farming.^ For the wedding of another young Platonist Sidonius wrote an epithalamium,® which is probably the most curious composition that was ever produced for such an occasion. In keeping with the sober tastes of the bridegroom, Minerva, instead of Venus, is the leading figure in the scene. She repairs to the land of Erechtheus, where in a gorgeous temple are seated all the sages and philosophers of Greece, only Epicurus, in the interests of sound morality, being excluded. They are all characterised in some way, but with either a banality or a grotesqueness which almost excludes the possi- bility of any thorough or serious conception of their systems. If the philosophic bridegroom was the accomplished Platonist he is represented to have been, he must have shuddered at the lines which sum up his great master's teaching. The climax of absurd bad taste is reached when, under the very eyes of the virgin goddess, Lais is depicted in the act of ^ Sid. Ep. iv. 22, ootidie namque nomen ? Vix in angulis otiosi eo3 per potentissimi oonsilia regis totius senes recolunt. soUicitiia orbis pariter negotia et jura, ' Ey. iv. 11. foedera et bella . . . cognoscis. '' Ih. iv. 1, sio jam tu sub Eusebio nostra inter Aristotelicas categorias ^ Ep. Gal. lib. iii. c. 5, quotus- artifex dialeoticus atticissabas. quisque nunc Aristotelem legit ? ^ /J. i. 6 ; iii. 6. Quanti Platonis vel libros novere, vel * Carm. xv. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 343 clipping tlie rough beard of a cynic philosopher with perfumed scissors ! ^ In the eulogy on the Emperor Anthemius, among his many qualifications for the throne there is an enumeration of the philosophers he had studied.^ It is a mere string of names, with here and there some purely anecdotic and external trait, added for literary effect. The philosophic study of that age probably concerned itself chiefly, as Anthemius is said to have done, with learning quidquid laudavit Scythicis Anacharsis in arvis, quidquid Pythagoras, Democritus, Heraclitusque deflevit, risit, tacuit ; quodcunque Platonia ingenium, quod in arce fuit, docet ordine terno, etc. One cannot help thinking, in reading such lines, that, in the circle of Sidonius, Greek philosophy was only a hunting- ground for lively or picturesque allusion, and not a subject of genuine scientific interest. It is probably not uncharitable to believe that most of these men had only vague and scrappy notions of Thales and Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato, caught up from the lectures of the grammarian on some school classic. The impression as to the conventional and superficial character of philosophic study in the secular schools of the fifth century will be confirmed by reference to the handbook of the liberal arts compiled by Martianus Capella, a rhetor of Africa.^ This book had an extraordinary popularity in the Middle Ages.* It formed the basis of academic training for centuries. In the eleventh century it was translated into German. It is found in the catalogue of the great monastic libraries, and was commented on by great schoolmen. It is difficult to conceive the state of culture when this mixture of dry traditional school learning and tasteless and extravagant mythological ornament, applied to the most incongruous 1 A reminiscence of tales of the Praef. c. 1). The only thing at all amorous propensities of Diogenes such as certain seems to be that he must have are found in Lucian, Sist. Ver. ii. 18 ; written before the Vandal invasion of Athen. xiii. 54 (588), ^s /coi fipa Kal Africa (Eyssenh. pp. vii. viii.). Ari/ioa-eiyns b ^-^rup, ^.i-oyh-qt re 6 * Ozanam, i. 355 ; Ehert, Lit. des iciav. MittelalUrs, i. 483. Greg. Tur. H. Fr. " Sid. Oarm. ii. 156. x. ad fin. refers to Oapella as the ' The date of Martianus Capella is regular handbook in the liberal arts uncertain, some placing him at the end in his age. For the great number of the fifth century, others in the of MSS. v. Eyssenhardt's Praef. xx. middle of the third {v. Eyssenhardt's sqq. 344 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v material, with an absolutely bizarre effect, could have been applauded as a sweetener of the toils of learning. Its fanciful setting might seem to a modern reader a deliberate attempt to burlesque the delicate handling of myth by the author of the Phaednis and the Bepuhlic. Yet there is no doubt that Capella was a serious and practical teacher, and his book represents thoroughly both the spirit and the system of the academic discipline of his age. The first two books are given up entirely to fable, in prose and verse. Mercury, the god of eloquence, is to espouse Philology. The destined bride must be elevated to the divine estate of her lover,^ but she is first compelled to discharge, m rather disgusting fashion, her load of erudition,^ in the shape of parchment rolls, blackened and mouldy with age, or covered with hieroglyphic symbols and figures of geometry. She is borne, amid the songs of the Muses ^ through the starry spheres and along the Milky Way, to the palace of the king of heaven.* There, before an august council of gods and godlike sages, at the request of the bride's mother, her dowry is fixed ; the marriage contract and the lex Papia Poppaea are formally recited. The Seven Sister Arts are assigned as her attendants. One of these is Dialectic, but she represents something very different from the sublime science which Plato meant by that name.^ The book on Dialectic is really a treatise on formal logic, in which we meet once more all the old plagues of our youth, Accidens and Proprium,* Aequivocum and Univocum, Substantia Prima and Substantia Secunda. There is hardly a reference to the great vivifying thoughts of Greek philosophy. And when we survey the ranks of the celestial Senate, although the names of illus- trious philosophers are there, you feel that they are only brought in to swell a pageant marshalled by mere school rhetoric. Homer,^ Virgil, and Orpheus sound the lute beside Archimedes and Plato, who are turning spheres of gold. Heraclitus is aglow, Thales is moist, Democritus is involved in a cloud of atoms. While Pythagoras is threading the labyrinth of certain celestial numbers, Aristotle is in anxious 1 Mart. Cap. i. 40, ipsamque nup- ^ lb. ii. 117. turam deo convenire non posse nisi ■• lb. ii. 208. si per senatus consultum mortalis esse ' PI. Bep. vii. pp. 532, 535. desineret. " Mart. Cap. iv. 355, 365, 347. '^ lb. ii. 135, 136. ' lb. ii. 212. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 345 quest of Entelechia among the heights of heaven. The strain is only relieved by Epicurus coming upon the scene with a pile of roses and violets. In such feeble reminiscence and tasteless frivolity do the glories of the Lyceum and the Academy reach an ignominious close. We are dealing in this chapter with secular and semi- pagan culture which lived on the ancient tradition. But it is well to remind ourselves that within the pale of the Church there has seldom been a freer and more vigorous intellectual life than there was in the fifth century. We have already referred to the great semi-Pelagian school which had its home and centre in the religious house of Lerins, and which numbered among its adherents some of the greatest and saintliest of the Gallic ecclesiastics of that age. But there was another controversy going on at the same time, which, though conducted by churchmen and inspired by theological motives, followed the lines, and to some extent the spirit, of the ancient philosophy. Faustus of Eiez, a former abbot of L^rins,^ had revived the theory held by some of the early fathers, that the nature of the soul is corporeal.^ We are not concerned here with the arguments used to maintain this thesis ; but it was a theory which lent a support to orthodox views of future punishment, and it appears to have been widely accepted and freely discussed. Mamertus Claudianus,* the accomplished and able priest of Vienne, composed an elaborate treatise in answer to the views of Faustus. He starts from certain theological premises ; but his method of proof is essentially of the antique pattern. And in his second book he supports his argument by copious references to the Greek and Eoman philosophers.* In these the ecclesiastical attitude to philosophy stands in marked con- 1 Gennad. die Scrip. Ecd. 85. The luminous, and aeriform in substance, letter is usually printed along with If it were not material, it could not be Mam. Claudianus, de Statu Animae. acted upon by the body, nor would it Cf. Engelbrecht's ed. Corp. Scrip. Ecd. be capable of suffering." Loi- 3 Gennad. 83. His character is 2 E.g. Tertull. de Aniitia, c. 5, 7, delineated by ApoU. Sid. Ep. iv. 11. dolet apud inferos anima cujusdam, et punitur in flamma, et cruciatur in ^ In the de Statu Animae reference lingua . . . per quod punitur ... is made in detail to Thales, Pythago- hoe est corpus. Cf. tjberweg, ffist. ras, Epicurus, Philolaus of Tarentum, Phil. i. 305, "The soul has the same Archytas, Hippo of Metapontum, Zeno, form as the body, and is delicate, Plato, Porphyry, etc. 346 SOC/ETV IX THE UEST book v trast to the merely traditional aud academic, Sidonius ivters to but one dialogue of Plato by name, the Fhanio} and thou only to the Latin translation of it by Apuleius. Claudianus seems to know his Plato, and gives copious translations fivm the dialogues.- The treatise has faults of method and science ; but it is a serious attempt, by an acute and well equipped man, to deal with a difficult subject in a philosophic spirit. It was dedicated to the bishop of Auver'gne in the most com- plimentary terms, and tlie bisliop of cotirse acknowledged the honour done to him. He employs every adjective in his vocabulary, and every name in his meauory of litcratui-c, to describe the almost iri-econcilalilo excellences of tlie style of Claudianus ; but he never once approaches the subject of the book.^ There is not a hint to show that he had grappled with the problem of Claudianus' treatise, or that he had formed any opinion as to the authors success, except as a mere manipulator of phi-ase. It appeal's, then, that in the secular academic discipline of the fifth century nothing deserving the name of serious philosophic inquiry found a place. Xor was tliere anything of real science, imless we dignify by tliat name the strange jumble of inaccin-ate geography, mystical matJiematics, and tra- ditional astronomy, which is to be found in the media eviil hand- book of Oapella. It was on the two kindred sttidics of grammar and rhetoric that the energy of imivereity teaching expended itself, as it had done for centuries. The energy was givat : the method was thorough and elaborated by ages of critical experience. Tlie eftect on the pupil's mind and character was probably more profound tlian any system of education has ever produced. "Whether it was entirely salutary is another question. But no one can properly appreciate the literary, and even the moral, tone of that age. without a comprehen- sion of the spirit in which the pix)fessors of rhetoric and grammar performed their task, and the limits within which they moved. Even in provincial colleges there were at all times both ^ Ep. ii. 9 ; Ciinii. ii. 1"S. did not wish to declare lumsolf against ' T? ™ ■>. CI, I., (.. ;; - F,^ustvis. who wti.^i a poi-sonul fViond. * But I doubt whether Sidonms had ai\.v ^ Fertig, C. S. Jik'H. Si\l. iind f<-uh- taste oronpi>oity forswious philosophio 2fit. iii. p. 11, suggests that Sidouius thought. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 347 Greek and Latin grammarians among the professors.^ The schools of the West never forgot the source from which their tradition was derived, and the revival of letters in the West in the fourth century was also a revival of Hellenism. Eumenius, the famous professor of Autun, who was a fore- runner of the movement in Gaul, was of Attic descent,^ and Greek studies for a time occupied a prominent place. Boys seem to have begun Greek early. The father of Ausonius knew it well, although he was a poor Latin scholar.' The same is true of Paulinus of Pella, who was made to read Homer and Plato in his fifth year.^ Ausonius would have his grandson begin his literary studies with Homer and Menander.'^ Far on in the fifth century, some of the friends of Sidonius appear to have continued their Greek studies in mature life. Lampridius declaimed with equal facility in Greek and Latin.** There was a passion for Greek poetry in the cultivated circle of Narbonne,^ and Sidonius does not scruple to compare their verses with those of the great classics. Yet, in spite of all this, we are compelled, from various indications, to conclude that in the fifth century the study of Greek in the West was declining. It is well known that S. Augustine, with all his learning, was an indifferent Greek scholar.^ Ausonius did not apply himself to the study in his youth, and laments his negligence." The Latin grammarians held a higher position and received higher pay than the Greek.^" In the famous edict of 376 for the establishment of chairs in Gaul, provision is made for one Greek grammarian ' C. Th. xiii.3, 11 (at Ti'Sves) ; of. vi. « Sid. Ep. ix. 13 : 21, 1 (Constantinople). Auson. Prof. declamans gemini pondere sub atili Bv,rA. viii. xiii. xxi. ; Paulin. Pell. coram dlscipulis Burdlgalensibus. Em%. 117. 7 Sid. Carm. xxiii. 100 sqq. 17, quamvis enim ante mgressum pue- ^^.^^ ^J ^^^ q^^^^.^^ Utt^^^^g ^^ ntiae moae intermissa fuent eorum .^^^^ puerulua imbuebar, ne nunc oxeroendis studua frequentatio, tamen ^^i^em Vhi satis exploratum est. illio avum q^uondam raeum doouisse Teuffel ii i47 audio, hominem Athenis ortum, ' Komae diu oelebrem. " Prof. Burd. viii. 14 : " Auson. Idyl. ii. 10. neque diaoiplinis J „ , -„ appulit Qraeois puerilis aevi JitUC/l. /^ : noxius error, neo aero oxaoto primi mox tempore lustri ,„ „ ™, ...„,, . . ,. ~ dogmata Sooratla et bellica plaamata Homori i" G. Th. xm. 3, 11, vi^nti Gram- orroroaque legena oognoaoere oogor Ulixis. matioo Latino, Graeoo etiam, si qui ° Idyl. iv. 45. Sidonius reads dignus reperiri potuerit, duodeoim Monander with his son, Ep. iv. 12. praebeantur annonao. 348 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v at Treves ; but the Emperor seems to have some doubt whether a competent professor can be found. The lectures of the grammarian were for many ages con- ducted on the system of reading, interpreting, and comment- ing on the standard works of antiquity.^ In the earlier stages, the teaching was not above that of a low form in one of our grammar schools.^ In its more ambitious efforts it would, in a very unmethodical, and perhaps superficial way, correspond in some degree to the liberal studies of our universities. Among the grammarians of Bordeaux, there were men of slender parts and learning.^ But, taken in its highest range, the profession demanded a wide, if not a very profound knowledge of many subjects, not at all akin to one another. Great stress was laid on good reading, with proper atten- tion to accent and expression.* As we might expect, the grammarian very much preferred the poets to the prose writers as a field for exposition, and great attention was given to prosody and metre with a view to imitation. After gram- matical analysis came attempts at literary appreciation. Difficult passages were discussed and paraphrased, and the pupil's atten- tion was drawn to striking metaphors or delicacy of artistic expression. But when all this was done, the grammarian's task was not finished. He had then to attack the subject matter, and to make the text the occasion- for communicating a multifarious mass of information. This was the field of the higher learning of the age; and a grammarian of the first rank required a certain mastery of many branches of knowledge — etymology, history, jurisprudence, pontifical lore, geometry, music, astronomy. The notes of Servius on Virgil, or the Saturnalia of Macrobius, or the third book of Capella, probably give a fairly accurate notion of the lectures of the grammarians. At one time the pupil's attention will be called ' In C. Th. vi. 21, 1, the quali- " Quintil. Inst. Or. i. o. 8, su- fications of the good professor are perSst lectio ; in qua puer ut soiat, ubi enumerated : blameless character, skill suspendere spiritum debeat, quo loco in teaching, fluency, delicacy in in- versum distinguere, ubi claudatur terpretation, and copiousness of dis- sensus, unde incipiat, . . . demon- quisition. strari nisi in opere ipso non potest. Cf. ^ Auson. Frof. Burd. xxi. 5 : Ausou. Idyl. iv. 47, "Ad Nepotem" ; elementorum prima docebas tu flexu et acumine vocis signa novorum. innumeros numeros doctis accentibus eifer, ' 76 ix 2 • affectusque impone legens, etc. nomen Giammatici nee mernisse putant. Aug. De Ord. ii. 14. Cf. Idyl. v. 3, 4. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 349 to the physical formation of the letter sounds or to differ- ences of archaic usage ; ^ at another to the etymology of AprUis, or Janus, Idus, or Artemis, consul or classis.^ Or the text may call for an interpretation of the myths of Saturn,' or the epithets Lycius or Pythius given to Apollo. Or the erudition of Virgil will be illustrated by a disquisition on pontifical law as to the washing of sheep on dies festi^ or on the epithets which he applies to the Penates, or on his know- ledge of the ritual of the Apolline worship at Delos. And in some of these discussions it is interesting to notice that the Greek grammarian has but a slight esteem for the competence of his Latin colleague to track the subtle allusions of a curious learning.^ The minute antiquarianism of such books as the Saturnalia may seem often to degenerate into trifling. The etymologies current in the Roman schools are of course hopelessly arbitrary and unscientific* Yet the literary judgment and taste are not by any means so feeble as the general character of that age might lead one to expect. The teacher who confined himseK to mere superficial explanation of the text, without any attempt at a deeper appreciation of his author, was regarded as a sorry master of his craft.' A very interesting part of the Saturnalia is that which is devoted to an exhaustive criticism of Virgil. And this probably shows us the grammarian of the fourth century at his best. Of course he inherited much from many generations of forgotten critics, like the Oxford lecturer on Plato and Aristotle in our own day. But it is pleasant to see that these dilettanti, who were accustomed to award every dull poetaster among their friends a place among the immortals, profoundly admired Virgil, and can give reasons for their admiration. They can see both his unapproachable beauties and his defects. They know their Homer well, and they see aU the debt that Virgil owes to Homer. Here and there Eustathius, who leads in this exposition, notices that 1 Mart. Cap. iii. 261, e.g. D appulsu ^ Macrob. Sat. i. 17, 50, 36. linguae circa superiores dentes innasoi- t /j iii. g, 2 ; iii. 4, 10 ; iii. 3, 11. tur.Plabris spiritu erumpit E spiri- , ^j_ ;^_ litteratores turn Imgua cnspante conraditur etc. ^^^^.^j ^^^ obsourui putant . . . quasi Cf. Qumtil Inst Or i. 4 9 i 7, 4 ^^^^^^ j^^^j^^j^ ^^^^^^^_ 2 Macrob. Sat. i. 12, 12 ; i. 8, 6 ; i. e w „ i T7 t . ,• o q 15 6 • i. 15, 20 ; of. Quintil. Inst. Or. ^-S- i- 17, 7 ; i. 9, 9, i. 6, 33. ' 1^- i- 24, 12. 350 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v the later has improved upon the older poet.^ But it is admitted also that Homer has a " bright speed " and sure- ness, which Virgil never approached.^ And, with all his rapid power, Homer often gives graphic details which Virgil slurs over or omits.* In one passage of the Acncid it is pointed out that only "a lifeless corpse" remains in the Latin imitation.* It is also noted that Virgil has copied even the faults of his model, and that where he has not Homer's guidance he is sometimes weak. But, on the other hand, ample justice is done to Virgil's peculiar power and charm. His range of learning is illustrated with great minuteness; especially his command of sacerdotal lore*^ calls forth the admiration of men who have made it the study of their lives. There are reminiscences of the schools, but also some true criticism, in the eulogy of the poet's rhetorical skill, which is so various and yet so apparently obedient to the rules of traditional art.'' The critic in Macrobius shows that Virgil is as much orator as poet, and that his dramatic sympathy has exhausted every variety of oratorical style.^ His strange pathos,* which is stirred by the weakness of age or infancy, by the memory of a distant home in the warrior's death-agony, the sacredness of ancestral altars, the imagined feeling of dumb inanimate things, the sentiment that consecrates stream or grove, is traced to its many sources with a sincerity which makes us forgive the touches of pedantry. The great poet is " an organ of many stops." He has all the variety of Nature, his great teacher." And though he borrows freely, he always makes good his title to the loan by an added felicity, which often more than atones for the original theft.'" In the schools of the fourth and fifth centuries Virgil, among Latin poets, holds the foremost place. There is hardly any author to whom S. Augustine so frequently refers in the City of God. He has a boundless admiration for the 1 Maorob. Sat. v. 11, 1-5. of bk. iii. contains nmny proofs of 2 lb. V. 13, 2. tW^. ' lb. V. 13, 17, 18. , \'^- ^- ^> ^■ « Virg. Am. xi. 751, 756 ; Maorob. ■;"• "■ ^' '■ Sat. V. 13, 28-30. ■'''■ ''■ ^■ » Macrob. Sat. iii. 9, 16, videturne " !>>■ v. 1, 18. vobis probatum sine divini et huraani '" lb. v. 3, 16, hio opportune in juris soientia non posse profunditatem opus suum quae prior vatos dixerat Maronis intellegi? The previous part transforendo fecit ut sua ease oredantur. CHAP. I CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 351 " noblest of all poets," ^ whose charm has sunk so deep in the minds of Eoman youth that nothing can efface its influence. Tully and Maro are the most dangerous rivals of the Hebrew Scriptures in the studies of S. Jerome.^ Virgil is one of the literary idols of Ausonius. To ApoUinaris Sidonius he is the prince of poets, worthy of a place beside Horner.^ The poets who came next in popularity were Horace and Terence. The imitations and reminiscences of the former in Sidonius are only less numerous than those of Virgil.* Terence was a favourite author in Auvergne in the fifth century ; '" Sidonius makes frequent reference to him, and read the Hecyra with his son. Among the older Latin poets, Lucretius and Catullus seem to have been least studied and imitated.^ The copious- ness, elegance, and skilful technique of Statins made him a special favourite with Ausonius, Claudian, and Sidonius,^ and many phrases and turns of expression in the descriptive poems of the bishop can be traced to the SUvae and the Thebais. Not less marked is the influence of Claudian in shaping the Panegyrics of Sidonius.^ But the imitator has little of the genuine power, the dignity, and chiselled classical purity of his model. Among Latin prose writers the influence of Cicero, which in the fourth century was very marked on writers like Lactantius, seems to have been feeble in the fifth. The younger Pliny was one of the most approved models in prose.^ Symmachus studied his style closely. Sidonius professes to follow in the footsteps of Symmachus and Pliny.^" Pliny's cultivation of epistolary style accounts for his prominence in an age when that species of composition was so much admired ' De Civ. Dei, i. c. 3. ' Geisler, pp. 42, 43 ; of. Index • 2 Com. ad Gal. lib. iii. c. 5, nostis Auctorum in Schenkl's ed. of Ausonius. enim et ipsae quod plus quam quin- ' The influence of Statius on Sidonius deoim anni sunt, ex quo in manus meas is profusely illustrated by Bitschofsky, numquam Tullius, numquam Maro, de G. Sollii Apoll. Sid. Stud. Statianis. SffrctrfscS ''""""" '^"' ' (>-!-. P- 28 ; of. Fertig, ui. 15. 3 Si(j. _^. V. 13 : " Maorob. Sat. v. 1, 7. For the princeps poetarum Publius Mantuanus ; favourite authors of Symmachus see cf. V. 17. Geisler, de Apoll. Sidon. Seeok's Sym. xlv. Stvdiis, has collected all the passages i" Ep. i. 1, 1 ; cf. iv. 22 : in which Sidonius has quoted or ego Plinio ut disoipulus assurgo ; imitated Virgil, pp. 5-9. jy. 3. For the extent and character * Geisler, pp. 11-19. of Pliny's influence on Sidonius, cf. » Sid. Ep. ii. 2, iv. 12 ; cf. Fertig, Geisler, pp. 55 sqq. ; Fertig, iii. p. i. 6 ; Geisler, p. 41. 21. 352 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v as it was in the fifth century; but there are verbal tricks in Pliny's style which caught the impure taste of one of the most tasteless writers who ever lived. Down to the close of the Western Empire, as in the time of the Antonines, Sallust was perhaps the most generally admired writer of prose, and the greatest favourite in the class-room.-' His terse brevity, his archaisms and philosophical reflections, above all his excessive fondness for antithesis, recommended him to writers who were always seeking for striking effects in style. The opposition between the purely literary and the anti- quarian and historical interest in the study of the classics seems to have been as marked in that age as it has been since the Eenaissance.^ Beside the idolaters of form and phrase, there were students devoted to the worm-eaten volumes which few ever opened. Some of these black-letter scholars figure in the portraits of the Bordeaux school. One of them, a young assistant professor,' had a passion for these untrodden ways of obscure research in pontifical science, and the origins of Eoman institutions. Another was said to be master of all the lore in the six hundred volumes of Varro.* If we may judge by the use made of Varro by Macrobius and Martianus Capella,^ that great savant was the source from which most of the gram- marian's learning, required for class-room purposes, was drawn. Some of the great minds in the later times of the Eepublic and under the Early Empire had floating before them the vision of a liberal propaedeutic,® which should embrace a • ApoU. Sid. Carm. ii. 190, qua * II. xx. 10 : Crispus brevitate placet ; xziii. 162 ; omnis dootrinae ratio tibi cognita, quantam Macrob. Sat. v. 1, 7, breve in quo condit sexcentis Varro voluminibus. SaUustius regnat. For Ms influence ^^^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ j^ ^^^ ^j^^ ^^ on Sulpioiu3Severus^.Bemay3 quoted g.^^^.^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^J^I^'^i'^r. It ^\ P' fL'nl; nobis iUud' loquendi tetricum genus Ebert,x. 330; and thedefenceof Sallust ^ ^antiquum? Unde ilia saliaru against his detractors mAuLGell. IV. ^gj^ gibyllina vel Sabinis abusque the French humanists, pp. 508-510 ; 6, 41. cf. Jebb's Bentley, p. 220. s ggg Eysaenhardt's Praef. ad Mart. 3 Auson. Prof. Burd. xxii.: Capella, c. 3. ignoratis *ta legens, major, quara promtis cura tibi in studiis, etc. »fi ^r. oU, assidue in libris, nee nisi operta legens, e qjc, ^ Qt. i. 6, ii. 30 : Tac. Dial. exesas tmeis, Opicasque evolvere chartas ' ' CHAP. 1 CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY 353 thorough study of history, jurisprudence, philosophy, all the sciences which are required to form the perfect orator. Such a course of study would have corresponded to our conception of a liberal education, aiming rather at the thorough discip- line of the mind than at a narrow, special training,^ limited by ^ that crass and purblind utilitarianism, which, in our own day, threatens to obscure the fundamental ideas of education. The Grammar of the Eoman schools might conceivably have been enlarged and developed into such a bracing discipline, based on real knowledge, and inspired by an ideal of progress ; but unfortunately it was in practice inseparably associated with the reading and interpretation of a certain number of authors, who had been canonised by the judgment of time. Knowledge was not pursued or imparted for its own sake, but as a means of illustrating the sacred texts. The pupil's gaze was perpetually turned backwards to the master- pieces of ancient wisdom, to whose divine excellence all the treasures of erudition and science were offered as a sacrificial tribute. The teacher might indulge occasionally in divaga- tions and irrelevant disquisitions, but he was really chained to the author whom it was his business to interpret. It can hardly be wondered at that the function of the grammarian, besides having a sterilising effect on the teacher's mind, sank in repute, and became a mere drill preparatory to the briUiant exercises of the rhetorical school.^ It is true indeed that teachers of rhetoric had often served an apprenticeship as grammarians ; but the rise was regarded as a great improve- ment in their position, and that not merely in income, but in social rank. On the day on which Ausonius introduced his imperial pupil to the study of rhetoric, he received the honour of a Count of the Empire.^ Probably far more thorough knowledge was needed to make a good grammarian than to make a popular rhetorician. Nor can it be said that less 1 Subacto mihi ingenio opus est, ut matici in Macrobius ; cf. Sat. v. 22, 12. agro non semel arato, sed novate et But Suet, de Bl. Gram. iv. says : iterate . . . Subactio autem est usus, veteres grammatici et rhetoricam doce- anditio, lectio, litterae ; Cic. de Or. bant. And in Quintilian's time the ii 30. Cf. QuintO. hist. Or. i. grammarian was encroaoMng on the 10, 7, quae (artes) etiam cum se non province of the rhetor ; cf. I-nsl. Or. ostendunt in dicendo nee proferunt, ii. 1, 5. vim tamen ocoultam suggerunt et ' Auson. Grai. Ad. 2, 11, tot gradus tacitae quoque sentiuntur. nomine comitis propter tua incrementa ^ There are several sneers at gram- congesti. 2a 354 SOCIETY IN THE WEST book v ability is required to interpret properly a chorus of Aeschylus, or to track the delicate allusions of Virgil, than to dress up the pompous banalities which are the stock-in-trade of the popular speaker of all ages. It is only the Philistine who will depreciate the sympathetic tact which is necessary to elucidate the often mysterious utterances of an original genius, belonging to an age removed from our own by time and countless associations. Yet, in actual fact, that profession or study will always be better paid, and held in higher honour, which acts directly on men, and produces results which the mass of men can feel and see for themselves. The poor grammarian of Bordeaux may have often been the more gifted and learned man, but it was the rhetor who was summoned to the Court and made prefect of a province. It is difficult for an age nurtured on exact history and science, and vividly interested in public affairs, to understand the almost hysterical excitement which the itinerant professor of rhetoric could excite in the second or in the fourth century. If he was a man of reputation in his art, people rushed to hear him declaim, as they will do in our times to hear a great singer, or actor, or popular preacher.^ Provincial governors, on a progress through their province, would relieve the tedium of official duties by commanding a display of word-fence or declamation by such a master as Proaeresius, reward him with the most ecstatic applause, and conduct him home in state after the performance. A man like Libanius associated on equal terms with the highest civic dignitaries. In the last years of the fourth century, at a time of great events and momentous changes, Symmachus, when writing to Ausonius,^ finds the only interesting subject at hand to be a rhetorical display which a rhetorician named Palladius had just given at a fashionable gathering; and words almost fail to express the admiration of that ordinarily calm and dignified senator for the performance. It is singular that a man, who could himself speak with great effect on a serious occasion in the Senate, or before the Emperor, should be so carried away by an unreal exhibition of school rhetoric. But the fact remains ^ Eunap. Proaeres. 145, 146, Bois- to bear iii the cause of justice, instead jof, in the cause of fads. I need' say nothing more regarding'/Appendix I. ; it is a mine of knowledge concerning a highly, developed set of natives of the : true Negro stem, particularly valuable because, during recent years, we have been singularly badly off for information on the true Negro. It would not be too much to say that, with the exception of the important series of works by the late Sir A. B. Ellis, and a few others, so few that you can count them on the fingers of one hand,^ and Df. Freeman's Ashand and Jaman, published this year, we. have practically had no reliable information on these, the most important of the races of Africa, since the eighteenth century. ... I am, there- fore, very proud at being permitted by M. le Comte de Gardi to publish his statements on true Negroes; and I need not say I have in tio way- altered them, and tKat he is in no way responsible fonany errors that there may be in the portions of this book written by nie. ' Mr. John Harford; the man Who first opened up that still little- knOwri Qua Ibo river, another Region of Negroes,; also requires no apology! I am confident that the quite unconscious picture of a West Coast trader's life given by him in Appendix II. will do much to remove the fantastic liotionS held concerning West Coast traidefs and the maimer of life they lead out there ; and I am convinced that if the English public had' more of this sort of material it would irecognise, as I, from a fairly extensive knowledge of West Coast traders, have been forced to recognise, that they are the class of whit© men out there who can be trusted. to manage West Africa. ■ ■* ■ # -' « .* ' ■ . I now turn to the explanation and apology for this book, briefly. ... In my previous book I misst carefully confined myselfi to facts and arranged those facts oil as thin a line of connecting opinion as possible. I was anxious to see what manner of opinion they would- give rise to in the minds of the educated' experts up here ; not from a mere feminine curiosity, but. from a distrust in my own .ability to construct theories. On the whole this method has worked Chapter IV.— The Totems. „ V. — The Churinga or Bull-Roarers of the Arunta and other Tribes. „ VI. — Intichiuma fceremonies. „ VII. — Initiation ceremonies. „ VIII. — Initiation ceremonies (continued). The Engwura ceremony. „ IX. — The Engwura ceremony (coiieluded). „ X. — Traditions dealing with the origin of the Alcheringa ancestors of the Arunta Tribe, and with particular customs. ,, XI. ^-Traditions dealing with the origin of the Alcheringa ancestors of the Arunta Tribe, and with particular customs (continued). The Udnirringita Totem. „ XII. — Customs concerned with knocking out of teeth ; nose-boring ; growth of breasts ; blood, blood-letting, blood-giving, blood- drinking ; hair ; childbirth ; food restric- tions; cannibalism. Knocking out of teeth. ,, XIII. — The customs of Kurdaitcha and Illapurinja and the avenging party or Atninga. ,, XIV. — Customs relating to burial and mourning. „ XV. — The Iruntarinia and Arumburinga, or spirit individuals. ,, XVI. — The making and the powers of medicine men ; various forms of magic!. ,, XVII. — Methods of obtaining wives. „ XVIII. — Myths relating to sun, moon, eclipses, etc. „ XIX. — Clothing, weapons, implements, decorative art, etc. Appendix A. — The names of t^e natives. „ B. — The Wilyaru Ceremony of the Urabunna Tribe, together with references to Mr. Gason's account of the Diefi (Dieyerie) Tribe. „ C MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON Nearly Ready. 8vo. Price 21s. net IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH AND ON THE COAST OF THE CORAL SEA BEING THE EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS OF A NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA, NEW GUINEA ' AND THE MOLUCCAS ' RICHARD SEMON "' - PROFESSOR IN: JENA WITH EIGHTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS AND FOUR MARS 3Lonl>on MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY i8g8 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION In offering the English Editfon of my work to the British pubhc I wish to mention that it was written under my own superintendence, but that its contents do not differ in any importknt point from the German edition. ' At the same time, I am deeply indebted to Prof. G. B. Howes, who was so good as to see my work through the' press, improving it, in so doing, in various directions, particularly by some scientific alterations which were made necessary by the progress of science since the commence- ment of this book. RICHARD SEMON. 73 CONTENTS Chapter I. — From Jena.to Queeiisland. II.— Off to the Burnett. III. — First Carriping Experience. IV. — The Auburn Camp. V. — The Departure of the Blacks. VI.— The Flood. VII. — My. Excursion to the Upper Burnett. VIII.— My Return to the Burnett. IX. — In the Main Camp on the Boyne. X. — The Original Popi;latio,n of Australia. XL — The North-East Coast of Australia from Brisbane to Cape York. XII.^Thursday Island and Torres Straits. XIII. — New Guinea from Yule Island to the South Cape. XIV.- — New Guinea : Frbm the South Cipe to the East Cape XV.— Java. XVI.— ^From Java to Ambon by Celebes and the Northern Moluccas. XVII. — Amboyna. XVIII. — From Ambon to Banda and Journey Home. ; Appendix. MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON [8 Now Ready. 8vo. Price los. net THE VALLEY OF LIGHT STUDIES WITH PEN AND PENCIL IN THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS OF PIEDMONT W. BASIL WORSFOLD AUTHOR OF 'THE PRINCIPLES OF CRITICISM* Hontien MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 a: CONTENTS Chapter I. — The Principle of Contrast^ II. — Lx'x LucET IN Ten-Ebris. III. — Torre Pellice. IV. — San Giovanni. V. — The Year of the Massacres^ VI. LUSERNA. VII. — The Valley of Angrogna. VIII. — Pra del Torno. IX. — The School of the.Barbes., X. BOBBIO. XI. — The Eternal Hills. XII. — The Valley ,of San Martino, XIIL— The B.-\lsille. XIV. — Fenestrelle and Mount ALBERoiArr, XV. — The Valley of Rora. XVI. — The Emancipation Jubilee. MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON" Now Ready. With Numerous Illustrations. Medium 8vo. Price 15s. net THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND THEIR PEOPLE A RECORD OF PERSONAL OBSERVATION AND EXPERIENCE, WITH A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE MORE IMPORTANT FACTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO DEAN C. WORCESTER ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3LffntJ0n MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 All rights reserved U] CONTENTS Chapter I. — The Philippine Islands in History ,, II. — Manila „ III. — General Description of the Archipelago ,, IV. — First Visit to Palawan ,, V. — Second Visit to Palawan „ VI. — Balabac, Cagayan Sulu, Mindanao, and Basilan ,, VII. — Second Visit to Mindanao — The Moros „ VIII.— Sulu IX.— Tawi Taw I „ X. — Panay and Guimaras „ XI. — Negros ,, XII. — SiauijoR „ XIII.— Cebu ,, XIV. — Samar „ XV. — Masbate and Marindusue ,, XVI. — First Visit to Mindoro „ XVII. — Second and Third Visits to Mindoro „ XVIII.— Luzon „ XIX. — ROMBLON TaBLAS, AND SiBUYAN „ XX. — Cdlion AND Busuanga APPENDIX OPINIONS OF THE PRESS PALL MALL GAZETTE. — "This book is a result of two American scientific expeditions to the Philippines in which its author took part. In the first (1887-8) he, with two other former students of Dr. J. B. Steere, accompanied the Doctor ; the second (1890-2) was undertaken and carried through by two of these four, Mr. Worcester and Dr. Bourns, financed by the generosity of Mr. Louis F. Menage of Minneapolis. They visited Luzon, Palawan, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Masbate — but what is the use of continuing the list ? It was only worth while to begin it that its meaninglessness to almost every reader might forcibly suggest how little is generally known about America's new acquisition. Spanish contentions that America, in claiming the Sulu Archipelago, was asking for something quite new over and above the Philippines have probably produced a general impression that the Sulu Islands are far away among the Carolines or [12 somewhere. From all such mistakes the invaluable map here included will in future save the reader ; while no Philippine names will ever be meaningless again after a perusal of this splendid book, as full of entertainment as of information. It was with a view to bird-skins and science gene'rally that these Americans explored the islands ; they never dreamt that within a few years circumstances would call for a book from one of their number of universal interest and of great value to their Government. But that is what has happened, and henceforth this volume and Foreman's admirable work will be the two indispensable com- plementary authorities on the Philippines. The illustrations, we may add, are numerous and good. . . . With two or three columns at our disposal, we could fill them with first-rate scissorings of the humours, discomforts, and dangers of these travels, which are quite up to the best standard." ACADEMY. — " We heartily regret that the mysterious law- under which books of great value are published neck-and-neck in the early winter makes it impossible for us to follow Mr. Worcester through pages which are often of enthralling interest. The hunting experiences of his party are sometimes sheer romance, and the whole narrative is gay and illuminative. As for the Spanish rule, its character is deliciously indicated in Mr. Worcester's account of the trouble which he and his party had to get their baggage passed through the customs-house." GLASGOW HERALD. — "The volume will be read with intense interest in America, where it is of special value at the present moment. But it is certain to attract a large amount of attention in thfs country also, since it opens up a field of research which has hitherto been left almost untouched. The book is handsomely printed and has an immense number of excellent illustrations." THE TIMES. — "A very reliable contribution to our slender stock of knowledge of the great archipelago which the American people have undertaken to reclaim from the cumulative effects of centuries of misrule. ... A pleasanter and more readable volume of travels we have seldom met with. Amidst all the hardships %b^ and dangers he encountered Professor Worcester's American sense of humour seems never to have forsaken him. He is a shrewd and careful and withal kindly observer. . . . The illustrations, from photographs taken often under conditions of considerable difficulty and danger, are excellent." DAILY NEWS.— " As a guide to the comprehension of the Philippines question, Mr. Worcester's book is interesting and valuable, just because its material was originally put together without any possible reference to the war which has just opened a new chapter in the history of the East and West Indies. . Mr. Worcester's book is provided with a good map, and a large number of illustrations. It is a well-written, well-informed, timely publication." MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON. 13] Now Ready. 8vo. Price 12s, 6d. net NINE YEARS AT THE GOLD COAST BY THE REV. DENNIS KEMP L-\TE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT WESLEYAN MISSION'S GOLD COAST DISTRICT " * WITH A MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS ILontnon MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 All rights resewtd CONTENTS CHAPTER I Offer of services for the Gold Coast Mission— Particulars as to outfit, Ac- Notes of introduction to friends in Africa. CHAPTER II Furnishes brief information respecting the various tribes of the Gold Coast — Our early relations with them, and the value of their country com- mercially — Concluding vi^ith remarks respecting the Fetish religion. CHAPTER III Contains a revelation to the Author, the study of vi^hich proves that the Missionary's preconceived ideas respecting his vocation did not harmonise with his actual experience^Suggestions are also respectfully offered to the aspiring West African resident in reference to the preservation of health, and the reader is introduced to an invaluable colleague. CHAPTER IV JDeals with the difficulties in introducing Christian ideas respecting marriage — Reflections concerning the character of the native, and references to our school at Gape Coast. CHAPTER V Gives an account of a journey into the " Bush," with glimpses of forest scenery, and an introduction' to the rural members of the Church. CHAPTER VI Relates circumstances which will summon an immense concourse of people — a funeral, a fire, or a festival — And has a reference to Elmina Castle and its connection with the Ashanti War of 1873 — And concludes^ with remarks respecting personal associates. CHAPTER VII ■The arrival of the Roman Catholic Missionaries at Cape Coast— Theological differences do not affect personal friendships— The Reverend T; J. Price and his difficulties with the vernacular— His Excellency Sir W. Brandford Griffith, K.C.M.G.— Happy relations with Anglican Clergy. CHAPTER VIII Records a memorable journey through Aburah and Assin— And furnishes illustrations of the Fetish priestcraft. CHAPTER IX The first serious break in the European Staff— A journey to the gold mines- Extracts from Reports— Peacemaking between converts— Advantages of African workers among Africans — The arrival of the Reverend A. W. Hall— Industrial training— Commercial interests in West Africa- not essentially selfish. CHAPTER X The Missionary is joined by his wife— The urgent need ol lady workers in Africa — Suggestions respecting the. sanitation of the Colony — A journey to the Aburi sanatorium, and an account of the Croboe heathen customs. CHAPTER XI The Drink Traffic— Our attitude as a Church towards the question- Suggestions to the Government— Reckless travellmg— His Excellency the Governor and the' Colonial Secretary testify to the value of Mission work— Proposal to establish Giris' Boarding School at Aburi— Practical support of the Home Government. CHAPTER XII The steamship Calabar— Adva.nce in shipping accommodation— Difficulties in negotiatitig:iand questions with the unsophistiQate4 ^African— A plague 10] of locusts — "Liberty, Fraternity, Equality" — The Gold Coast Board of Education— Difficulties in building — The transport question — Kru boys to the rescue. CHAPTER XIII Improved locomotion in our journeying— The arrival of Miss A. I. Jackman, and her lamented death — Miss Mary H. Klngsley — Missionary methods and Missionary converts and their critics — The devotion of Basle Missionaries — An illustration of the power of the Gospel. CHAPTER XIV The British occupation of Ashanti — A respectful tribute to the British Army and Navy as agents that make for justice and mercy — An account of a journey to Kumasi. CHAPTER XV The last voyage to the Coast, in company with kindred spirits — A brief summary of Mission work, and references to three " Missionary-made men." PRESS OPINIONS NATURE. — "We will take Nine Years at the Gold Coa Ji first, both on account of its exceptional charm, and of its being the longest record of experience there which has been published since Cruickshank's great book. ' ' All who know West Africa know that the Rev. Dennis Kemp is one of the great African missionaries, the man who by the power of his personality and his skill in organisation has made the Wesleyan Mission at the Gold Coast one of the most thriving and successful missions in Africa. It is necessary to mention this, because you get nb hint of the fact directly from Mr. Kemp. " Mr. Kemp's book also contains an interesting description of the Ashantee country and of many journeys made into the bush, and to the many towns of the Gold Coast, and it abounds with anecdotes of personal experience. All these together go to give us a vivid picture of life in that region, making the book at once interesting to those who need not go there, and highly useful to those who must." SOUTH AFRICA. — "A highly interesting report of the experiences of the author. . . . The book is interesting alike to the philanthropist and the commercial man." GLOBE. — " His book makes very good reading, and contains an abundance of useful information, from which may be gleaned much that is of value to those whose labour may differ in character from his own." ACADEMY. — "The reader will find a number of interesting things in this volume, and some excellent illustrations." METHODIST TIMES.—" One reader at least has failed to find a dull sentence in this fresh and fascinating book. ... A book which must be read by all who want to understand West Africa, or to render it any service Mr. Kemp's bright and beautifully-illustrated book may be taken as a trust- worthy guide on all these problems of missionary life, and everyone may be confidently encouraged to read it through from beginning to end." DAILY MAIL. — "An interesting and useful record. . . . There is much in this frank and simple account of life in West Africa which will be of help to future workers in the same field." PALL MALL GAZETTE. — " A story of quiet, unconscious heroism, sad- dened by its tale of suffering and death, brightened by humour and invincible optimism — a story that none can read without feeling drawn towards its writer.' GLASGOW HERALD.—" Of very great interest." SHEFFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH.—" Entertaining as well as instruc- tive. Hearty praise must also be given to the illustrations." MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON tie Now Ready. Second Edition. 8vo. Price 14s. THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE BY H. FIELDING ' For to see things in their beauty is to see them in their truth,' Matthew Arnold ILoitlion MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 EXTRACT FROM PREFACE In most of the quotations from Burmese books con- taining the life of the Buddha I am indebted, if not for the exact words, yet for the sense, to Bishop Bigandet's translation. The story of Ma Pa Da has appeared often before, but my version is taken entirely from the - Burmese song. It is, as I have said, known to nearly every Burman. I wanted to write only what the Burmese them- selves thought ; whether I have succeeded or not, the reader can judge. PRESS OPINIONS ATHEN^UM. — " This is in several ways a noteworthy book. It is all too uncommon to find a European official displaying appreciative, even admirable, sympathy with the religious belief and life of an Oriental people whom he has had to govern. Moreover, though of late books on the Theory of Buddism have been more numerous than original, it is a welcome novelty to find the creed illustrated and adorned by the practices of its' followers of to-day." ACADEMY. — "An exceedingly interesting book, by one who has spent his official existence among the Burmese, and has learned to love and understand them as one loves and understands a charming family with whom one has been long domesticated. Mr, Ftelding regards the Burmese religion as the basis of the Burmese character ; and he opens his book with a chapter on Buddhism. It is not, however, a mere recapitulation of the scientific studies of Buddhism which the reader can find for himself in many works. It is an attempt to put together a synopsis of Buddhism as the writer has actually observed it among the Burmese ; to give an account of Buddhism as a working creed. He declares that he has omitted all merely official teachings, and has confined himself to those features which he found actually embodied in the lives and vital belief of the people. Mr. Fielding's position is peculiar, and renders his account of peculiar value. His sympathy for the people seems to have led him into sympathy for their creed. So far as one can judge, he would appear to have adopted a certain practical Buddhism as the most satisfactory theory of existence. . . , We wish we had space to quote the abundant instructive and fascinating information contained in this charming book. Seldom has a people been studied with such loving intimacy by a foreigner. Let the reader consult the book at first hand, and he will probably, for the rest of his life, be ha.unted by the desire to spend a year or so as a naturalised Burman in a village of the Burmese jungle." MORNING POST.— "The book sets one thinking; every chapter is [18 instructive, and Mr. Fielding has assumed the right attitude in endeavouring -to see things from within rather than from without, and has entered as far, perhaps, as it is possible for an outsider to enter into the soul of the people." GUARDIAN. — "Whatever the other merits, or demerits of this volume, it must at all events be admitted that the author has succeeded in producing a very entertaining story. ... A very fascinating book. . . . Without a dull -page from start to finish." CALCUTTA ENGLFSHMAN.—''Tke book is a fascinating one." REVIEW OF REVIEWS.— ■' Anotable book. It possesses qualities which make it of permanent value, and which should ensure for it a large and .continuous sale. It is inspired by 'ptofound and' earnest thought; it is the result of keen and patient observation ; and it is written in a style which has a charm rarely met with in these days of hurried book-making. To describe .a strange people from the outside as they appear to a foreigner is a difficult task, demanding special gifts of the observer. To understand a people from their own standpoint in life, to discoveir their soul, and translate it in such a fashion that it conveys a clear and intelligible impression to those whose ideas of life differ fundamentally, is a task of immense difficulty. Mr. Fielding has attempted it, and has succeeded in a very remarkable manner. For ten years he has lived amongst the Burmese, and has studied theirlife and belief with a sympathy which has unlocked many- secrets hidden to most men. Mr. Fielding has not studied. Buddhism in the writings and customs in which it is petrified. He has done better. He' has turned to the daily lives of .a nation and inquired of them what it is they believe... . . The picture -which he draws is one of absorbing interest, and is traced with a sympathetic touch which adds greatly to its fasdnation." i/GHT.^" We have just been reading and immensely enjoying The Soul .of a People, by H. Fielding. It may -seem -like excessive praise, to say that we can scarcely remenibef a book whose style, for its charm of simple beauty, can be- Compared with it. The writer of it is or was a British .official who had serious work to do in Burma, before, during, and after the late war. During this time, he became deeply interested iii the people, and learned to admire them and their thoughts and ways in many respects : and he ■ dedicates his book to them, having written of them 'as a friend does of .a friend.' And he writes likte a friend,— tenderly, admiringly, and with .a certain undertone of pathos, suggesting loving pity and longing. We hardly know what to call the book, — whether story, appreciation, analysis, or history. It weaves in everything,— religion, government, business, polities', social life, .character pictures, ethics; but the end of all is to take lus behind all, and make us feel what The So.ul of a People is. The result is simply a fascinating .study of character and life; and, while we are charmed with it, we cannot keep back the hot blush- of shame as we think of our treatment of a people we were too ignorant to understand and too masterful to consider : and we rather ■think that the gentle note of wistful pathos all through the book is the outward . and visible sign of the writer's knowledge of this, The closing chapters on ' All life is one,' ' Death, the deliverer,' ' Tlie Potter's wheel,' ' "The forest of time,'' and •' Conclusion,' give curious and toUchingglimpses of Burmese beliefs .concerning life and death and the unseen. Here we should like to quote, but .-dare not begin. It is all exquisite and very human.", - . : - ■ ; - 19] [Specimen Page] 192 THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE course, work at field labour. They usually learn to read and write at home, and they weave, and many will dra-w water. For to draw water is to go to the well, and the well is the great meeting-place of the village. As they fill their jars they lean over the curb and talk, and it is here that is told the latest news, the latest flirtation, the little scandal of the place. Very few men or boys come for water ; carrying is not their duty, and there is a proper place for flirtation. So the girls have the well almost to themselves. Almost every girl can weave. In many houses there are looms where the girls weave their dresses and those of their parents ; and many girls have stalls in the bazaar. Of this I will speak later. Other duties are the husking of rice and the making of cheroots. Of course, in richer households there will be servants to do all this ; but even in them the daughter will frequently weave either for herself or her parents. Almost every girl will do something, if only to pass the time. You see, they have no accomplishments. They do not sing, nor play, nor paint. It must never be for- gotten that their civilization is relatively a thousand years behind ours. Accomplishments are part of the polish that a civilization gives, and this they have not yet reached. Accomplishments are also the means to fill up time otherwise unoccupied ; but very few Burmese girls have any time on their hands. There is no leisured class, and there are very few MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON [20 Now ready. With Portraits. 4 Volimies. Demy Svo. Fart I, 2 Vols, price 25s net. Part II, 2 Vols, price 25s net MEMORIALS PART I. FAMILY AND PERSONAL 1766-1865 PART IL PERSONAL AND POLITICAL 1865-1895 BY ROUNDELL PALMER EARL OF SELBORNE ILontioin MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 NOTICE These Memorials are a Trust ; and therefore it has been my aim, however imperfectly carried out, simply to fulfil my Father's intention regarding them, to the best of my knowledge and judgment. Sophia M. Palmer. 21] PBESS OPINIONS OF PABT I. TIMES. — " In these early memorials the curious and persevering reader will find vivid and intimate sketches of a notable family, of a happy boyhood, of schoolboy days divided between Bugby and Winchester, of a brilliant academical career, .and of an early manhood marked by serious aims and high purposes to be in the sequel abundaptVy and conscientipusly fulfilled Full of varied interest; and, if space permitted, we should find it easy and pleasant to make copious extracts. ' During the five years,' as he says, ' of my service as one of the law officers, the most important part of our duties- was to advise the Government upon international questions arising out of the American Civil War.' Lord Selborne's comments on these topics are no- insignificant contribution to the political and international history of the time. The case of the Alabama is, of course, the most famous and the most impor- tant; but several others are full of interest, and Lord Selborne treats their ■ history with -conspicuous candour and impartiality They abound in sources of general and personal ipteres);. , In literary execution, moreover, their merit is considerable. . . '. We shall await the sequel of these two volumes with no little interest. In the meanwhile we may say that not the least skilfully wrought and attractive of Lord Selborne's pages are those in which he estimates the characteristics of some of his leading political and professional contemporaries." MORNING. POST.—'-' It exhibits from the inner side a singularly steadfast, industrious, and upright life, that cannot fail to command admiration. . . . She is to be congratulated on having so far accomplished her laborious task in a manner that is evidently in accordance with Lord Selborne's wishes. ' ' STANDARD.—" In all that Lord Selborne recalls of his Oxford life and of the great religious controversies which were just then beginning, there is a fresh and a living personal elenient,; which distinguishes these volumes very favourably from many others of the same kind. " DAILY NEWS. — "Lord Selborne's descrijption of "his grandfather and Ills uncles is full of interest, and gives us curious side glimpses into the actual history of each succeeding year, and some of these were the years of the great French Eevolution, and of the career of Napoleon Buonaparte and the Restoration of the Monarchy. . . . All that relates to Lord Selborne's family story must be read with the deepest interest. . . . One goes through these volumes as if he were passing through a stately portrait gallery. We are glad that there are other voiunie^ to come — another portrait gallery to be opened." ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.^" Lady Sophia Palmer has done the work of preparing these memorials for the press with conscientious care." SPEAKER. — " It has a very high historical value a^ well as a biographical interest— ^the latter interest including some graphic fketches of eminent contemporaries— and on certain historical points it promises to be an authority of the highest importance." [22 PALL MALL GAZETTE.—" The Victprian era is , peculiarly rich in reminiscenoes of this class, but few are more varied or judicial. As we go on the interest grows, and the utterances become more weighty. It is only natural to expect that the process will be continued inPari II., which will be eagerly expected." PRESS OPINIONS OF PABT II. TIMES.— "k whole picture gallery of sketches of public characters, generally kindly arid, niagnanjmpus, ind not without artistic merit. . } The- record of a life of Singular puritj^, ho&lityi and dignity. . '. A worthy record-' of a life of which Englishmen may be proud ; a life to be studied, and, so far as possible, to be imitated by many far removed from Palmer's avocations ; a life less remarkable for display of original genius than of what is no less rare, a'lofty ethical chaTacter." ■ ■ , DAILY TELEGRAPH.-" A perfect treasure-house of facts and in- formation is here laid open as regards aU the momentous years from 1865 to 1895, and many of the most famous men and women of that period. A new and strong light is thrown upon many an obscure passage of recent history, and there are judgments and decisions here recorded with all the weighty reasons of Selborne's strong intellect behind them which will modify more than one general view and alter the accepted outlines of more than one prominent character." MORNING POST.— "A permanent contribution to the history of the Beign . . . These volumes will always have an attraction for the student, and the reader will feel grateful for the care and judgment with which Lady Sophia Palmer has given them to the world." DAILY NEWS.— " These two further volumes of Lord Selborne's Autobiography will amply satisfy the eager expectation with which most of his surviving contemporaries have awaited them . . . Lady Sophia Palmer has edited it with the same sparing but sufficient annotation and addition of elucidatory letters and papers which distinguished the first two volumes, and has added a touching chapter which continues the story of a noble life to the end." STANDARD. — " Those who demand a spice of scandal or a seasoning of spite in their reading will find nothing in these volumes to hit their taste. But for that other class of readers who wish to think well of humanity— who would fain hold that behind and above all the inevitable acrimonies and pettinesses of party polemics a high conscientiousness and an abiding solicitude for the public good are constant elements in the constitution of a statesman — the picture presented is full of encouragement." MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON 23] Now Ready. Demy Evo. Price los. net THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF HENRY CECIL RAIKES HER MAJESTY'S POSTMASTER-GENERAL BY HENRY ST. JOHN RAIKES 3L n 1 n MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 [24 PRESS OPINIONS DAILY CHRONICLE. — " A connected and entertaining sketch of a man who played an important part in public life and deserved a higher place in his party than he received. The numerous letters quoted are the best revelation of what Mr. Eaikes was. Itis a pleasantly told story of an active life." - ■ i:''" ^ :'■• J ; ,' ■, ' ■ -■ ■ \}>\{ ■ : SCOTSMAN. — " The story of an active, busy, and useful career has been well and judiciously told by Mr. Raikes's son." GLASGOW HERALD. — " It secures the reader's sympathy, from the first, and retains it throughout... .... Even the most serious and solidiiparts are relieved by reminiscences and anecdotes, which are aptly introduced and skilfully told." ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.—" The task of selecting from what was apparently a large and heterogeneous mass of material has been carried out by Mr. Raikes's son with conspicuous tact and good taste, and the volume will take its place as a judicious and agreeable contribution to the records of official life under Queen Victoria." DAILY TELEGRAPH.— ■•Mi. Henry St. John Raikes has done well to write this biography of his father, which contains a good many anecdotes of political interest, and presents us with a carefully-drawn portrait of one who was a typically English politician." SATURDA Y REVIEW.—- The record is written with good taste and good temper, and with no more partiality than is graceful when a son undertakes to •estimate a father's career." ' WORLD. — " Many interesting and instructive glimpses of the inner life of politics during the Gladstone and Beaconsfield regimes and the first and second Salisbury Governments are to be obtained in The Life and Letters of Henry Cecil Raikes, in which Mr. Henry St. John Raikes has provided an acceptable memoir of an able politician and administrator, who in his day did excellent service to the State and to the Conservative party. . . . Gladstone, Disraeli, and the meteoric ' Randolph ' — of whose characteristic attitude towards his colleagues and followers the volume contains some amusing suggestions — are chief among the historic figures who people these attractive pages." WEEKLY SUN. — "A valuable record of a Minister who did important work in connection with the Post Office. . . . The biography has been written judiciously by his son, and the selection from his letters add to its value. There are also interesting stories of well-known political men." YORKSHIRE DAILY POST".— " This fife is capably written, is marked by discretion, and conveys a vivid picture not only of its, subject, but of the Parliamentary life of his day." ISIACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON. Now Ready. In 2 Vols. 8vo. Price 21*. net THE MEDIEVAL EMPIRE BY HERBERT FISHER JEI.LOW AND TUTOR OF KEW COLLEGE, OXIORD ILonbon MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 All rights reserved CONTENTS CHAPTEE I.— THE SUEVIVAL OF THE IMPERIAL IDEA. II.— THE EACES OF GERMANY. III.— THE GERMAN MONARCHY AND THE GEEMAN EACES. IV.— LEGISLATION IN GERMANY. v.— THE IMPEEIAL COURT AND THE LAW OF INHERI- TANCE. VI.— IMPEEIAL FINANCE. VII— THE EMPIEE AND THE GERMAN NOBILITY. VIII.— THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY IN THE NORTH- EAST. IX.— THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY IN THE SOUTH- EAST. X.— THE CHURCH IN GERMANY. XI.— IMPERIAL LEGISLATION IN ITALY. XII.— THE EMPERORS AND THE CITY OF ROME. XIII.— IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATION IN ITALY. XIV.— THE EMPIRE AND CULTURE. XV.— CONCLUSION. PRESS OPINIONS TIMES. — " He has set about his task very thoroughly, consulting the original authorities as well as the recent writers. . . , Eeaclers possessing a fair acquaintance with the facts of the period will find its legislation and its finance excellently summarised in Mr. Fisher's chapters." SCOrSMiJf.— "Learned and valuable . . . Deserves the attention of all who are interested in its subject . . . All serious researches into the matters of which the book treats must be materially lightened by Mr. Fisher's erudition, and by his clear, able, and interesting statement of results. The work reflects a high credit upon its author's learning and on his skill in marshalling a multitude of facts into good order. It forms a valuable contribution to historical literature, and cannot but be read with profit by everyone concerned to have an intimate knowledge of medieval institutions." MACMILLANAND CO., Ltd., LONDON Now Ready. Demy 8vo. Price 12*. net ROMAN SOCIETY IN THE LAST CENTURY OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE BY SAMUEL DILL, M.A. TEOFESSOE OP GKEEK IN QUEEN'S OOtLEGE, BELFAST SOMETIME FELLOW AND TUTOR OF COKPUS CHRlSTI COLLEGE, OXFORD ILontJon MAOMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YOBK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1898 -4^ rights reserved " Jir. Beyce writing to the publishers says : " Nothing better in the way of -a study of social and intellectual life ia the remote past, nothing more careful in its analysis or more- discriminating in its., judgments, seems to me to have appeared for a long time." [80 EXTRACTS FROM PREFACE A few words of preface seem to be liecessary to explain the object of this book, and the limits within which the writer has wished to confine it. It ' is perfiaps superfluous to say that nothing like a ^general history of- the period has been attempted. That is a task which has been already accomplished by abler hands. The subject of this work is mainly *hat it professes to be, the inner life and thoughts of the last . three generatioas in the Empire of the West If external events arp referred to, it is only because men's private. fortunes and feelings cannot be severed from the fortunes of the State. The limits of the period covered by this sinidy of Roman society have not been arbitrarily chosen. The last hundred years of the Western Empire seem marked off both by momentous events, and, for the student of, society, by the authorities at his command. The commencement of the period coincides -roughly with the passage of the Gothic hordes across the Danube, the accession of Gratian and Tljeodpsins,, the termination of the long truce between paganism arid the Christian Empire, and the reopening of the conflict which, within twenty' years, ended in the final prohibition of heathen rites. It closes,vnot only. with the deposition of the last shadowy. Emperor of the West, but with the practical extinction of Roman power in the great prefecture of the Gauls. ■ , ,, , * ■ ' * * * * ' At the begkming of the period, Roman society is sharply ■divided in a determined religions struggle, and the sharpness of the contrast is rendered more decided by the increasing fervour of asceticism. But at the hottest moment of the conflict there was a mass of scepticism, lukewarmness, or wavering conformity, between the confines of the opposing creeds. The influences which inspired that attitude had not spent their force at the close of the fourth century. When the terrors of the anti-pagan laws had produced an outward submission, the Christianity of many of the noble and lettered class ' seems to have been far from enthusiastic. The discipline of the schools was a powerful rival of the Church. ' Men ^ho: had had that training were steeped in the lingering sentiment of paganism, and looked with distrust, or even with contempt, on the severer form of Christian renunciation. One can scarcely doubt that Sidonius, in his early manhood, and some of his friends down to the fall of the Western Empire, would have been far more at home in the company of Symmachus or Elavianns than in that of S. Paulinus of Nolai. It would, of, course, be impossible to treat of society in such a period without some reference to those who devoted themselves to the higher ideals of the Christian life. But they belong rather to the future. Our interest in these pages must be concentrated on those whose greatest pride it was to preserve and transmit the traditions of the past. The main purjsose of this work is to give some account of that worldly society, which, in its ideals, tone, and external fortunes, had undergone ;bnt little change between the reign of Gratian and the dethronement of Romulus Augustulus. 31] CONTENTS BOOK I THE TENACITY OP PAGANISM Chapter I. — the pagan ^istookaoy and the coNFnsioN or parties „ II. — the last conflicts of paganism with the christian empire ,, III. S. AUGUSTINE AND OROSIUS ON THE CAPTURE OF ROME „ IV.— SOilE CAUSES OF THE VITALITY OF THE LATER PAGANISM BOOK 11 SKETCHES OF WESTERN SOCIETY FROM SYMMACHUS TO SIDONIUS Chapter , I. — the indictment of heathen and christian moralists „ II. — THE society of Q. AURELIUS SYMMACHUS ,, III. — THE society of AQUITAINE IN THE TIME OF AUSONIUS ,, IV.— THE SOCIETY OF APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS BOOK III THE FAILURE OP ADMINISTRATION AND THE RUINS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, AS REVEALED BY THE THEODOSIAN CODE Chapter I. — the disorganisation of the public service „ II. THE decay of the MIDDLE CLASS AND THE AGGRANDISEMENT OF THE ARISTOCRACY BOOK lY THE BAEBAEIANS AND THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE Chapter I. — the general character of the invasions ,, II. — ROMAN FEELING ABOUT THE INVASIONS AND THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE „ III.^-RELATiONS OF ROMANS WITH THE INVADERS BOOK Y CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMAN EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY PRESS OPINIONS ACADEMY. — " Mr. Dill's work is well worthy, to stand beside M. Boissier's La Fin du Paganisme, and higher praise we have not to give. His erudition does not cumber him: his style is lucid and attractive, his judgment is impartial and sympathetic, he gives life and reality to a most crowded, various, puzzling passage of time." LITERATURE. — "And we now welcome an important book on the Empire of the West ; a special study of social life in the fifth centnry. . . . The book is thoroughly satisfactory, and is likely to be regarded in future as indispensable for the student of this period." , MAOMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON