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AUTHOR: 
 
 YOUNG, GEORGE 
 FREDERICK 
 
 title: e^sT and west 
 
 THROUGH FIFTEEN 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1916 
 
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 Young, George Frederick, 1846- 1919 . 
 
 East and west through fifteen centuries, being a gen-s^ 
 eral history from b. o. 44 to a, d. 1453, by Br-Genl. G. F. ^ 
 Young ... 
 London, New York [etc.] Longmans, Green and co., 1916 
 
 >4,\'^? V. fronts., plates, ports., fold, maps (in pockets) fold, plan, fold, 
 geneal. tables. '23*". 
 
 "Authorities consulted": v. 1, p. xxiv-xxv. 
 
 1. Middle ages — Hist 2. Rome — Hist. — Empire — B. c 30-A. d. 476. 
 I. TitTi. ^ 
 
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 -Ti. w O ■ «! 
 
EAST AND WEST THROUGH 
 FIFTEEN CENTURIES 
 
Found in the Villa of 
 marble, and let into the body 
 the Julian family, who traced 
 
 Augustus Caesar. 
 Statue in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 Livia, near Rome. The head is a portrait-bust, carved from a separate piece of 
 
 Utue. The Cupid by the right leg is to signify Augustus' adoption into 
 ^endary descent from Venus. 
 
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EAST AND WEST 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 FIFTEEN CENTURIES 
 
 BEING 
 
 A GENERAL HISTORY FROM B.C. 44 
 
 TO A.D. 1453 
 
 c 
 
 By 
 Br-Genl. G. F. young, C.B 
 
 ▲UTHOB OF " THE MEDICI 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES 
 
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 Mretofimg btmlp tnto tfie remote time ; emerging 
 barblp out ot ttie mps^teriouief eternitp; tfie true 
 epie poem/anl) tte unitiersal bibine iBicripture/' 
 
 CARLYLE 
 
 
 A 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THIS history relates the course of events during the fifteen 
 centuries from B.C. 44 to a.d. 1453 in that large part of 
 the world extending from Ireland on the west to Persia on the 
 east.^ It includes the birth and growth to maturity of the 
 Roman Empire ; the decline and fall of its western half ; the 
 destruction throughout the west of the civilization which that 
 empire had attained ; the gradual growth of the western 
 nations ; the meteor-like spread of the Mahomedan power ; 
 the centuries of transition (called the Middle Ages) ; the rise 
 of new nations, such as the Normans and the Sclavs ; the 
 glorious deeds and slow decay of the eastern half of the Roman 
 Empire during a thousand years after the destruction of its 
 western half ; the great struggle in the west carried on by the 
 German emperors for more than two centuries against an 
 ecclesiastical tyranny ; and lastly the beginning of the rebirth 
 of Roman civilization when at length the various nations 
 which had divided the western portion of Rome's empire be- 
 tween them became able to appreciate the principles which had 
 animated it ; the final episode being the passing away of the 
 last remnant of the old Roman Empire. 
 
 In relating the history of these fifteen centuries — ^a subject 
 whose very magnitude in itself lends it grandeur — my aim 
 throughout has been to do so in such a way as to meet the 
 needs of those who have not much time at their disposal. 
 Few in these days have leisure to study the many volimiinous 
 tomes which it is necessary to read in order to obtain a know- 
 ledge of wide tracts of history. On the other hand there are 
 very many who are fond of the subject, are mindful of the 
 
 * In the title " E8ist and West " it must be remembered that in these 
 fifteen centuries the word *' west " had a different signification from 
 that which it would now be£ir, Ireland heing then the westernmost 
 limit of the known world, America not being discovered until 1492. 
 
▼1 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 great French writer's words, " History is a perpetual recom- 
 mencement, hence to foresee the future study the past," and 
 are filled with a desire, if only time permitted, to know 
 something about the remarkable men and women who have 
 taken prominent part in the world's events, about the origin 
 of great movements whose effects are stiU at work, and about 
 momentous episodes which have left a lasting memorial in the 
 mind of Europe. 
 
 And although in a comparatively short history general 
 features rather than details must necessarily be chiefly 
 attempted, yet one compensating advantage is gained which is 
 a very real one. For in such a history a general perspective 
 is obtained, which is not possible when the events in the 
 various coimtries of Western Europe, those in what was once 
 the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and those in England,^ 
 have all to be studied in different books. 
 
 It is difficult to give the history of so long a period in a 
 condensed way without making it dull and uninteresting. I 
 have endeavoured to avoid this result (at the risk of a charge 
 of imevenness) by going from time to time into detail regarding 
 particular episodes ; while these occasional glimpses into the 
 circumstances and life of the time enable the reader to picture 
 the same in the case of other episodes which of necessity have 
 been more briefly narrated. 
 
 In one main point this history differs from others. It has 
 invariably been the custom to make a division between what 
 is called secular history and what is called Church history, 
 separate books being written on each of these supposedly 
 different kinds of history. In my opinion there could be no 
 greater mistake. It creates an arbitrary division which does 
 not exist in actual life, where the political events and those in 
 the sphere of religion take place concurrently. Moreover 
 religion has been at the root of three-fourths of the most impor- 
 tant events recorded in secular history, while similarly the 
 
 1 It is of the utmost importance that England should be included, 
 for otherwise this perspective is entirely lost, as so generally happens. 
 For instance, how seldom is it realized that the great Mahomedan 
 " whirlwind of conquest " was all over before England becctme one 
 kingdom in the time of Egbert. But it is sufiicient if the portion of 
 the history relating to Englemd is only given in outline. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 vu 
 
 political events of the time have constantly been a large 
 factor in bringing about the results which " Church history " 
 records.! The two in fact interpenetrate, and to separate 
 them not only deprives them of much of their living interest, 
 but also, by the tendency it creates to magnify each at the 
 expense of the other, produces a distorted picture. In this 
 book both these subjects are included, the battles, the laws, 
 the administrative measures, and the achievements in archi- 
 tecture, together with the contests of the Church, the Church 
 Councils, and the deeds of prominent Churchmen, all forming 
 parts of one whole, the history of the time. This both helps 
 to produce a more complete picture, and also on various occa- 
 sions causes light to be thrown upon one or other of the two 
 subjects which is wanting when they are treated in separate 
 books by different writers. 
 
 During the first 350 years, however, up to the time when 
 the Christian rehgion became universally adopted, it is neces- 
 sary to make a separation between the Pagan, or political, 
 history and the Christian history. To watch this strange 
 power-within-a-power gradually growing in the midst of con- 
 ditions wholly unfavourable to its growth, and to realize the 
 contrast between the ideals and manner of life of those on 
 the one side and those on the other, it is necessary to see the 
 two side by side. Therefore in the first twelve chapters they 
 are treated separately, in each emperor's reign the political 
 matters being first related and then the matters concerning 
 religion. But from the point where the two subjects blend, 
 owing to Christianity becoming the professed religion of the 
 Roman Empire, this arrangement ceases, and thenceforward 
 events, whether political or rehgious, are recorded in their 
 ordinary chronological sequence. 
 
 Another main point on which this history differs from 
 others has regard to the period which is to be held as the 
 zenith of the Roman Empire. One whose name justly stands 
 above all others as a historian has considered the zenith of 
 
 ^ J. R. Green has said :— " The study of what the Monophysites 
 did in Syria, and the Monothelites in Egypt, has taught me— what 
 few historians know— the intimate part religion plays in a nation's 
 history, and how closely it joins itself to a people's life " (Green's 
 Short History of the English People, Introduction, p. xii.). 
 
vm 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 the Roman Empire to be the period of the Antonine emperors 
 (Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), 
 and that its decline began from the close of that period in 
 A.D. 180 ; ^ his dictum has been followed by all subsequent 
 historians, and is that to which long usage has accustomed us. 
 The temerity of differing from such an authority on such a 
 point is great ; but this history ventures to place the zenith of 
 that empire in the period from Constantine the Great to Theo- 
 dosius the Great, and to date the beginning of its decline from 
 the close of that period in a.d. 395. Only when viewed from 
 the standpoint of a strong bias against Christianity, such as 
 Gibbon possessed, a bias sufficiently powerful to make him feel 
 that the mere fact of the empire being Pagan in the time of the 
 Antonine emperors rendered it superior to the same empire 
 become Christian, could the zenith of that empire be held to 
 be in the time of the Antonine emperors and its decline to 
 begin from a.d. 180. So far from this being the case the condi- 
 tion of the Roman Empire during the period covered by the 
 reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius 
 (roughly the 2nd century) was far surpassed, and in every 
 respect, by its condition during the period covered by the 
 reigns of Constantine, Constantius, Valentinian, Gratian, and 
 Theodosius (roughly the 4th century). Any unprejudiced 
 examination will show that it was in the 4th century that 
 the empire attained its zenith, and not in the 2nd century. * 
 Part of the 3rd century was a time of misrule and disaster, 
 but this had been more than retrieved even before the time of 
 the Christian emperors began. They in the period from Con- 
 stantine to Theodosius carried the empire to a higher point 
 than it had ever before attained, and its decline must be dated 
 from the close of that period in a.d. 395, and not from a.d. 180. 
 A third point on which this history differs occasionally 
 from others is in regard to military affairs. These appear to 
 me to have been sometimes misunderstood by the writers of 
 our histories ; and as military affairs often enter largely into 
 the events of the time any such misunderstanding leads to 
 erroneous conclusions. 
 
 1 Gibbon, Decline and FaU of the Roman Envpire, Preface and 
 Chap, ni, p. 216 (Edition 1862). 
 « See Chap. XVI, pp. 573-587. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IZ 
 
 Other points upon which this history either takes a different 
 view from that usuaUy held, or brings to notice facts seldom 
 recognized, are :— the falsehood of the picture hitherto 
 generally drawn of the emperor Tiberius ; the many points 
 of interest attaching to the ruins of the palace of Caligula in 
 Rome ; the mistake which appears to have occurred as regards 
 the date of the letters of Ignatius ; the estimate to be formed 
 of the emperor Marcus AureUus ; the phenomenon presented 
 by the general acceptance of Christianity in the time of Con- 
 stantine ; the genius displayed by Constantine in his battles ; 
 the fact that the effect of the changes made by him in the mili- 
 tary organization was exactly the contrary to what Gibbon 
 and other historians have declared it to be ; the superiority of 
 Constantino's character and deeds to the estimate hitherto 
 formed of them ; the error which has styled the retreat of the 
 Roman army from Persia in 363 a great disaster instead of a 
 glorious feat of arms ; the manner in which the character and 
 deeds of the emperor Gratian have been obscured ; the different 
 view from the one usually held as to the reason why the western 
 haK of the Roman Empire fell before the northern races, and 
 as to the lesson taught thereby ; the tracing out of the course 
 of Alaric's first campaign in Italy ; the injustice done to Theo- 
 doric the Great in the matters which occupied the last three 
 years of his life ; the opinion that Gregory the Great cannot be 
 considered the founder of the Medieval Papacy (as he is gener- 
 ally held to be), but that he deserves honour in quite another 
 direction ; the opinions contrary to those which have usually 
 been held regarding the character and deeds of the emperor 
 Heraclius, regarding the earher victories of the Mahomedans 
 over the Roman forces, and regarding the character and deeds 
 of the emperor Constans II ; and lastly the new view here put 
 forward against the time-honoured theory that upon the con- 
 quest of North Africa by theMahomedans the Christian popula- 
 tion accepted the Mohammedan religion. 
 
 Cicero in immortal words has said :— " Not to know the 
 events which happened before you were bom, that is to remain 
 always a child."i Nevertheless History has come to be 
 generaUy regarded as a dry subject. The reason why it is 
 
 1 " Nescire autem quid antea quam natus sis accident, id est semper 
 esse puer," ^ 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 looked upon with so much distaste, especially by the young, 
 is because it is taught them by means of books in which every- 
 thing has been carefully cut down to the barest facts, and all 
 human interest eradicated as superfluous ; thus studiously 
 eliminating the very thing which it is most necessary to retain. 
 For history cannot be leamt with either any pleasure, or any 
 profit, unless a distinct picture of the personality of the men 
 and women spoken of can be formed in the mind, and a human 
 interest in them be felt. It is better to omit even fairly im- 
 portant matters rather than to lose this essential quality in any 
 book which attempts to teach history. I have therefore 
 endeavoured regarding all the principal men and women 
 mentioned to give sufficient details to enable the reader to 
 attach a distinct personality to the individual concerned, and 
 have tried to make those men and women live before the mind's 
 eye, instead of being mere names. For I am convinced that 
 in this way only will what is leamt be retained. 
 
 Another point which is also, I think, very essential for giving 
 a clear grasp of History is that the writer should carefully 
 maintain the chronological sequence of events. One is often 
 tempted to treat together in a separate chapter a group of 
 matters all referring to the same general subject,^ and to dis- 
 regard the chronological sequence ; it gives a more scholarly 
 and orderly appearance to a book. Not only, however, is it 
 most confusing to the reader to be thus carried backwards 
 and forwards in regard to time, but also, what is worse, it 
 prevents his obtaining a view of the events in the manner they 
 occurred. He should be enabled to look at the history of the 
 events more or less as though he were living in the time of 
 which he reads ; and this is rendered altogether impossible if 
 in one chapter he reads of a man's death and in the next comes 
 across him as still living, chronology having been ignored in 
 order to group a certain set of matters together. The chrono- 
 logical sequence must therefore be paramount over all other 
 considerations.* 
 
 ^ E.g. The Cruscules, specied branches of civil cwiininistration, 
 movements in regard to art, literature, science, or philosophy, 
 social matters, etc. 
 
 * At the same time, to counterbalance this, the Index has been so 
 arranged that a particuleur group of matters can always be studied 
 separately when desired. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 XI 
 
 Although in relating history it is obviously necessary to 
 divide the subject into certain definite periods of time, yet in 
 reading it the continuity of all history requires to be borne in 
 mind, it being remembered that in no case was there a sudden 
 and violent change, but that the conditions of one period 
 gradually merged into those of that succeeding it, the process 
 often taking a considerable time. 
 
 A certain difficulty occurs upon a question of names. In 
 order to understand properly the fifteen centuries of which this 
 book treats it is important to realize that the Roman Empire 
 (the history of which necessarily occupies a large part of it) 
 continued without a break from Augustus Caesar to Constantine 
 Palaeologus, in other words from B.C. 28 to a.d. 1453. Hence 
 it is desirable not to obscure that continuity by changes of 
 name, except where unavoidable. From the year 406 onward 
 for seventy years that empire was continuously losing more and 
 more of its western provinces, until in 476 the last province of 
 the western haK of the empire was lost. As, therefore, after 
 the latter date one cannot continue to speak of an eastern half 
 of the empire, and as this change must be marked, some new 
 name becomes necessary. The name which least obscures 
 the fact of the continuity mentioned is that of Later Roman 
 Empire ; and this name I have therefore used from 476 to 
 1453. 
 
 I have thus not made any change in consequence of the 
 event which occurred in the year 800, when a rival empire 
 arose in the West, which though it was essentially a Teutonic 
 empire claimed to be the lawful successor to the heritage of 
 ancient Rome, and adopted the name Roman. Nor can that 
 claim be entirely ignored. For however much it may appear 
 to us a shadow and a fiction it was not so to the Middle Ages, 
 the German emperors gaining their whole importance in the 
 eyes of the men of those days as being the lawful successors of 
 Augustus. To meet the difficulty thus created Professor 
 Bury, to whom we chiefly owe it that much of the former mis- 
 conception on the subject of the Later Roman Empire has been 
 cleared away, uses that name up to the year 800, and after that 
 date adopts the name Eastern Roman Empire, in contradis- 
 tinction to the Western (Roman) Empire founded by the 
 coronation of Charles the Great in 800. But it seems to me that 
 
xu 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 this second change of name is fatal to the principle which we 
 have been taught by Professor Bury himself ; one change is 
 bad enough, though that is unavoidable, but when it is followed 
 by a second, this latter inevitably prevents the reader from 
 being able at all times to realize that he is still reading of the 
 same empire as at the first. ^ I have therefore ventured to 
 carry Professor Bury's own principle still further, by adhering 
 to the name Later Roman Empire throughout the ten centuries 
 after 476, and calling the empire founded in the West in 800 
 the Germanic Roman Empire,^ in order by avoiding the terms 
 eastern and western to retain for the original Roman Empire 
 the same name throughout these ten centuries. 
 
 In connection with names another point requires mention. 
 In the 4th century the organization of the Church was com- 
 pleted by grouping the whole of Christendom into five great 
 subdivisions, called patriarchates, and named after the leading 
 see in each, viz. Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, and 
 Constantinople ; the title thereupon given to the holders of 
 each of these five sees being, in Greek " Patriarch," in Latin 
 ** Papa," and in EngHsh " Pope." Now whereas it is entirely 
 immaterial which form of the title is used, it is highly essential 
 that the same form be used for all ; as unlimited confusion 
 and misconception are created if, e.g., we speak of a " Pope " 
 of Rome and a " Patriarch " of Constantinople, using the 
 English word in one case and the Greek word in the other, and 
 at once obscuring the fact that the office is the same in both 
 cases. The same word must be used in the case of all the five 
 patriarchal sees ; if we elect to speak of a " Patriarch " of 
 Alexandria, then we must speak of a " Patriarch " of Rome ; 
 and if we speak of a " Pope " of Rome, then we must speak of 
 a " Pope " of Antioch. I have thought it best in an English 
 book to use the English form of this title, rather than the Greek 
 or Latin form, and therefore have throughout used the form 
 " Pope " in all cases.^ That this is strictly correct is shown by 
 
 1 In fact after having used through four centuries the word " Later " 
 the only subsequent name which could be used without having the 
 effect noted would be *' Latest." 
 
 2 A name used for it by Bishop Stubbs. 
 
 3 Just as the writeir of a Greek work would use the word " Patri- 
 arch" in all cases. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 xui 
 
 the letters of Pope Gregory the Great, who uses this form of 
 the title when writing to Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, and 
 reminding him that all the five Popes are of equal rank. 
 
 A difficulty also occurs with regard to the emperor Gratian. 
 A writer whose special desire it is to hold the scales with 
 absolute evenness on all occasions in relating history, and 
 rigidly (it may even at times appear harshly) to refuse to treat 
 Christians and Pagans differently, finds himself placed in the 
 invidious position of having to appear in this case like a Chris- 
 tian apologist, owing to the attitude which has been adopted by 
 Gibbon in regard to the emperor Gratian. The historian 
 Guizot long ago remarked that Gibbon seemed to hate Christi- 
 anity as though it were a personal enemy ; and nowhere is this 
 feature more apparent than in the way he has dealt with 
 Gratian. But loyalty to History compels equal treatment 
 of all, of Christians no less than of Pagans ; and just as one 
 must be fair to the emperor Julian, unjustly stigmatized as 
 " the Apostate," and in the quarrel between the renowned 
 St. John Chrysostom and the empress Eudoxia must refuse to 
 consider that all the right was on the side of the former, so in 
 the same way one must be fair to the emperor Gratian, unfairly 
 misrepresented by Gibbon in order to damage the cause of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The general arrangement of the book is intended to accord 
 with the history. At first for a long period the Roman Empire 
 occupies the whole ground ; then the western nations begin 
 to receive a little of the space, the empire still occupying by 
 far the greater part ; then by degrees the empire slowly fades 
 away, the affairs of the western nations occupying more and 
 more of the space and the empire being scarcely seen ; 
 until at last the affairs of the western nations occupy almost the 
 whole ground. 
 
 It may be thought that there is not much that is new to be 
 said regarding the period from Augustus to Domitian (the 
 1st century), and that this period might have been excluded. 
 But the empire's gradual growth to maturity would not be 
 properly shown if the period of its birth were omitted. And 
 this is still more so as regards the gradual growth of Christi- 
 anity, for which the 1st century was a period of great import- 
 ance, and one in which it is specially valuabte to have the 
 
I' 
 
 ZIV 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 XV 
 
 I* 
 
 contemporary events, secular and reUgious, simultaneously 
 recorded ; while at no period do the two subjects throw light 
 upon each other to so marked a degree as in the 1st century.^ 
 
 I have endeavoured throughout to be sparing of comments. 
 It is better, as a rule, that the reader should be left free to draw 
 his own conclusions. Theories about the events of history, 
 though often interesting, can in nine cases out of ten be met by 
 an opposite theory tenable on no less strong grounds, and it is 
 more advantageous to the reader to think out such theories for 
 himself than have his individuality fettered by the opinion of 
 the writer. 
 
 I have as far as possible avoided enlarging to a dispro- 
 portionate degree upon military events, and have only gone 
 into detail regarding them in cases where they appear to have 
 been generally misunderstood, or where it is material to a 
 proper understanding of subsequent events that such details 
 should be clearly apprehended. I have also avoided long 
 accounts of civil and financial administration, as these appear 
 to be matters rather for the student than for the general 
 reader. Traversing so wide a field I cannot expect to have 
 avoided many errors, but I can safely say that every endeavour 
 has been used to make these as few as possible, and that 
 all mistakes which may be pointed out by reviewers will be 
 corrected should there be any future opportunity of doing 
 
 80. 
 
 Portraits of the Roman emperors and empresses have been 
 inserted, because this assists towards forming that picture of 
 the personality of the men and women referred to which I 
 have mentioned as being so necessary. But after the 4th 
 century no more such portraits are available for more than a 
 thousand years. I have not attempted to make up for this by 
 inserting representations of coins, as art was not capable during 
 this period of producing any likeness of this kind which was 
 other than a caricature of the person's appearance. 
 
 The present two volumes cover the history of 800 years up 
 to, in the East the death of the emperor Leo the Iconoclast 
 
 1 Moreover a very large amount of €kiditional information reg€u:d- 
 ing the period in question has come to light during the last twenty ye€u:s 
 through the researches of Hamack, Zahn, Hort, Lightfpot, Ramsay, 
 De Rossi, Lftuciani, I)ill Wi4 other lecwued writers. 
 
 in 740, and in the West the death of Charles Martel in the same 
 year. It is hoped to complete the history of the remaining 
 700 years in Vols. Ill and IV. 
 
 I desire in particular to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
 Dr. Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders as regards the history of 
 the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries in the West, and to Pro- 
 fessor Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire as regards 
 the same period in the East. Also to Mr. Spencer Jerome's 
 learned exposition of the methods of Tacitus in the Annals 
 regarding the emperor Tiberius, to Professor Oman's Byzantine 
 Empire, and to Professor Haverfield's Romanization of Britain, 
 My thanks are also due to Mr. A. J. Cripps for reading many of 
 my manuscript chapters and making valuable criticisms, and 
 to Mr. W. Ashbumer for much kind help and for placing at 
 my disposal his library of classical works. 
 
 G. F. Y. 
 
 Flobence, 
 \8t June, 1914 
 
SUBDIVISION OF VOLS. I AND II 
 
 Part. 
 
 ^Part I (Chaps. 
 I-VII) 
 
 Part II (Chaps. 
 
 ^ ( vin-xii) 
 
 > 
 
 Part III (Chaps. 
 
 xin-xvi) 
 
 /Part IV (Chaps. 
 XVII-XIX) 
 
 O 
 
 Part V (Chaps. 
 XX-XXIII) 
 
 Part VI (Chaps. 
 XXIV-XXVI) 
 
 Period. 
 
 Augustus to Marcus Aurelius 
 
 Commodus to Constantino . 
 
 Zenith of the Roman Empire 
 
 ( Destruction of the western half 
 \ of the Roman Empire 
 
 ) 
 
 The age of Theodoric the\ 
 Great, the Emperor Justin- 1 
 ian, Chosroes I, and Gregory I 
 the Great, and the affairs of [ 
 the western nations in the! 
 sixth century. / 
 
 'The overthrow of Persia, the\ 
 struggle against the Maho-I 
 medans, and the affairs of I 
 the western nations in the 
 seventh century. / 
 
 Dates. 
 
 I From B.C. 44 
 ( to A.D. 180 
 
 A.D. 180-314 
 
 A.D. 314-395 
 
 A.D. 395-476 
 
 A.D. 476-604 
 
 A.D. 604^740 
 
 XVU 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I 
 
 PART I. 
 
 XI. 
 
 xn. 
 
 DATS 
 A.D. 
 
 Diocletian 285-305 
 
 I 306-307' 
 
 /fCONSTANnUS 
 \ Se VEBUS 
 
 TMaximian 
 ] constantinb 
 \ ^Maxenttus 
 
 j CONSTANTINB 
 
 \Maxentius 
 
 Galebicts 
 Maximin 
 
 GALERnJS 
 LiCINIUS 
 
 Maximin 
 
 LiCINIXTS 
 
 Maximin 
 
 1 
 
 307-310 
 
 CONSTANTINE and LiCINIUS 
 
 I 310-312 
 312-314 
 
 305-314 
 
 FAOB 
 
 345 
 
 368 
 
 Augustus to Marcus Aureltus. 
 
 OHAFTEB 
 
 I. Augustus 
 
 n. Tiberius 
 
 in. Cauguia and Claudius 
 
 IV. Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius 
 
 DATE 
 
 jB c. 44 to 
 
 (A.D. 14 
 
 14- 37 
 37- 54 . 
 54- 69 . 
 
 } 
 
 V. Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Nerva 69- 98 
 
 VI. Trajan and Hadrian 
 
 98-138 
 
 ilil 
 
 vn. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius 138-180 
 
 PAGE 
 
 5 
 
 44 
 86 
 126 
 178 
 209 
 238 
 
 xin. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 
 PART m. 
 
 Zenith of the Roman Empirb. 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GrEAT . 
 
 fCONSTANTINE II, CONSTANTIUS, > 
 \ CONSTANS, JUUAN, AND JOVIAN j 
 
 VaLENTINIAN I, AND GRATIAN . 
 
 Theodosius the Great 
 
 314-337 . 
 
 . 393 
 
 337-364 . 
 
 . 450 
 
 364-383 . 
 
 . 493 
 
 383-395 . 
 
 . 556 
 
 PART II. 
 
 COMMODUS TO CONSTANTINE. 
 
 vin. CoMMODus, Pertinax, and Septimius 
 
 Severus 180-211 
 
 •nr. 
 
 X. 
 
 fCARACALLA, MaCRINUS, HeUOGABALUS,^ 
 Alexander Severus, Maximin, Gor- 
 DIAN I, GORDIAN II, GORDIAN III, AND 
 Philip the Arabian . . . ., 
 
 Decius, Gallus, ^milianus. Valerian, ^ 
 Gallienus, Claudius II, Aurelian, I 
 Tacitus, Probus, Carus, Carinus, and j 
 
 NUMERIAN. .... .J 
 
 xviii 
 
 211-249 . 
 
 249-285 . 
 
 275 
 
 301 
 
 316 
 
 il'^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PLATS J.Q y^cK PAOE 
 
 I. Augustus Caesar ..... Frontispiece 
 
 statue In the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 n. The Pantheon 10 
 
 in. Ruins of the Tempi^e of Augustus, Rome . . 16 
 IV. Julia, daughter of Augustus 22 
 
 Portralt-biist In ttke Vatican museum, Borne. 
 
 V. LiviA, WIFE OF Augustus 28 
 
 Engraved upon a sardonyx In the Hague museum. 
 
 VI. Drusus, younger son of LrviA .... 34 
 
 Poctrait-buat In the Ufflii gaUery, Florence. 
 
 ▼n. Antonia, wife of Drusus 34 
 
 Portrait-bust hi the UflOzi gaUery, Florence. 
 
 vm. LiviA, WIFE OF Augustus 36 
 
 Portrait-bust tai the UflBxi gallery, Florence. 
 
 DC. Tiberius, elder son of Livia, at the age of eighteen 48 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Lateran museum. Borne. 
 
 Z. POMPONIA ViPSANIA, WIFE OF TiBERIUS ; IN THE DRESS 
 
 OF A PRIESTESS OF ISIS ...... 49 
 
 Statue In the Naples museum. 
 
 Zl. Tiberius ......... 48 
 
 Portrait-bust hi the Ufflsi gallery, Florence. 
 
 xn. Drusus, son of Tiberius ...... 66 
 
 Portrait-bust tai the UflOzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 xm. Agreppina the elder, grand-daughter of Augustus 66 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Bome. 
 
 XIV. Caligula, son of Germanicus and Agbippina . . 90 
 
 Portrait-bust hi the Ufflil gallery, Florence. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xa 
 
 PLATE TO FACE PAGE 
 
 XV. Cryptoporticus in the Palace of the Caesars . 91 
 
 XVI. Claudius, nephew of Tiberius, and grandson of 
 
 LrviA 90 
 
 Portrait-bubt in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XVII. Domitia Lepida, granddaughter of Octavxa, the 
 
 sister of Augustus ...... 102 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Uflftzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 xviii. Valeria Messalina, wife of Claudius, and great- 
 grand-daughter of Augustus' sister Octavia . 103 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XIX. Agrippina the younger, daughter of Agreppina 
 
 the elder, and mother of Nero . . .114 
 
 statue in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 XX. Britannicus, son of Claudius and Valeria Messa- 
 lina 128 
 
 statue in the Lateran museum, Bome. 
 
 XXI. POPPAEA SaBINA, SECOND WIFE OF NeRO . . 129 
 
 Portrait-bust in theCapitol museum, Bome. 
 
 XXII. Nero 136 
 
 Portrait-biist (in basalt) in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 xxui. Portion of the upper part of the north-western 
 
 CORNER OF the PALACE OF CaLIQULA . . .140 
 
 XXIV. A section of the lower part of the Palace of 
 
 Caligula ........ 141 
 
 XXV. Galba 172 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XXVI. Oi'HO 172 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XXVII. Vespasian 180 
 
 statue in the Capitol museum, Bome. 
 
 xxvni. Titus, elder son of Vespasian . . . .180 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XXIX. Julia, daughter of Titus 186 
 
 statue in the Vatican museum, Bome. 
 
 XXX. DOMITIAN, YOUNGER SON OF VeSPASIAN . . . 192 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 XXXI. Domitia Longina, wife of Domitian . . .192 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Bome. 
 
'II 
 
 III 
 
 PLATE 
 
 xxxn. 
 
 xxxm. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 -^ -^ ^ V JLX* 
 
 XXX vm. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Nebva ..... 
 
 statue in the Vatican museum, Kome. 
 
 Tbajan .... 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Kome. 
 
 Plotina, wife of Trajan 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 Marciana, sister of Trajan 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitoi museum, Rome. 
 
 Hadrian .... 
 
 Portrait-bust In the Vatican museum, Home. 
 
 Sabina, wife of Hadrian 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 Antoninus Pius . 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 . 202 
 
 210 
 211 
 211 
 228 
 228 
 240 
 
 Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius . 240 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museimi, Rome. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflai gallery, Florence. 
 
 248 
 
 XLI. 
 
 XIJI. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 XLvn. 
 
 XLYin. 
 
 Faustina the younger, wife of Marcus Aurelius . 248 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 Bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, 
 Home 256 
 
 commodus 276 
 
 Portrait-bust In the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 Crispina, wife of Commodijs 
 
 Fcfftrait-bttst In the British Museum, London. 
 
 Septimius Severus .... 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 Caracalla . 
 
 Portrait-bust In the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 Alexander Severus .... 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 277 
 
 276 
 
 282 
 
 302 
 308 
 
 Julia Mammma, mother op Alexander Severus . 308 
 
 Portrait-bust Ui the British Museum, London. 
 
 GORDIAN I 312 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rom» 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 
 
 yi^ATS TO PACE PAGE 
 
 LI. GORDIAN III ....... 312 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 Lii. Philip the Arabian ...... 302 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 Lin. Diocletian ........ 346 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 Liv. Arch of Constantine, Rome ..... 376 
 
 LV. Constantine the Great ...... 394 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Ufflzi gallery, Florence. 
 
 LVi. Julian ^78 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 Lvii. Ruins of the Imperial Palace at Treves . . 496 
 
 Lviii. The Porta Nigra at Tr^ives .... 497 
 
I 
 
 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 
 
 XXV 
 
 •mi 
 
 I 
 
 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 
 
 Ammianus . 
 ashburner 
 Babino-Gould . 
 Bahmby . 
 Benson . 
 Bury 
 
 tt 
 
 ■" 
 
 Cassiodorub 
 
 Church . 
 Clinton . 
 
 CUTTS 
 
 Dahn 
 Dill. 
 
 DUCANGE . 
 tf • 
 
 Edmundson 
 Ferrero . 
 
 FiNLAY 
 GlBBONT 
 
 GiLMAN 
 
 Gore 
 
 VOLS. I AND II. 
 
 Res Gestae, by Ammianus Marcellinus. 
 
 The Rhodian Code, by W. Ashburner. 
 
 The Tragedy of the Caesars, by S. Baring- Gould. 
 
 Life of Gregory the Great, by J. Barmby. 
 
 Cyprian and his times, by Archbishop Benson. 
 
 The Later Roman Empire, Vols. I and II, by 
 Professor J. B. Bury. 
 
 Roman History from B.C. 27 to a.d. 180, by ditto. 
 
 The Letters of Cassiodorus, edited by Dr. Thomas 
 Hodgkin. 
 
 Early Britain, by Alfred Church. 
 
 Fasti Romani, by Henry Fynes Clinton. 
 
 Life of Constantine the Great, by E. L. Cutts. 
 
 The Kings of the Germans, by Professor Felix 
 Dahn. 
 
 Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, by 
 Professor Samuel Dill. 
 
 Constantinopolis Christiania, by Carolus du Fresne, 
 Dominus du Cange. 
 
 FamUias Byzantinas, by ditto. 
 
 The Church in Rome in the First Century (Bampton 
 Lectures, 1913), by George Edmundson. 
 
 The Women of the Caesars, by Guglielmo Ferrero. 
 History of Greece, by George Finlay. 
 
 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward 
 Gibbon. Vols. I- VI (Edition 1862). 
 
 The Saracens, by Arthur Gilman. 
 
 Life of X^eo the Great^ by Charles Gore, 
 xxiv 
 
 Grant 
 Gregory . 
 
 GWATKIN . 
 
 Helbig 
 
 HODGKIN . 
 
 Holland . 
 Haverfield 
 
 Marquardt 
 Merivale . 
 
 MiLLINGEN 
 
 MiLMAN 
 NiEBUHR 
 
 Oman 
 
 ft 
 
 Porter 
 
 Ramsay 
 
 Sergeant 
 
 Skabalonovitch 
 
 Smith 
 
 Spencer Jerome 
 
 Stahr 
 
 Thornton. 
 
 Tillemont 
 
 Tucker . 
 
 ^Tunxt Sand and Sea, by C. F. and L. Grant. 
 
 Historia Francorum, by Gregory, Bishop of Tours. 
 
 The Cambridge Medieval History, Edited by H. M. 
 Gwatkin. Vols. I and II (1911-1913). 
 
 The Classical Antiquities in Rome, by Wolfgang 
 Helbig. 
 
 Italy and her Invaders, Vols. I- VI, by Dr. Thomas 
 Hodgkin. 
 
 The Apostolic Fathers, by H. S. Holland. 
 
 Tfie Romanization of Britain, by Professor F. 
 Haverfield. 
 
 Romische StaxitsverwaUung, by Marquardt. 
 
 History of the Romans, by Dean Merivale. 
 
 Byzantine Constantinople, by Alexander Van 
 Millingen. 
 
 Byzantine Churches in Constantinople, by ditto. 
 
 Latin Christianity, by Dean Milman. 
 
 History of Rom>e, by M. B. G. Niebuhr. 
 
 The Byzantine Empire, by Professor C. W. C. 
 Oman. 
 
 The Dark Ages, a.d. 476-918, by ditto. 
 
 What Rome was huiU with, by Mary Winearls 
 Porter. 
 
 St, Paul the Traveller, by Sir William M. Bamsay. 
 
 The Franks, by Lewis Sergeant. 
 
 Vizantyskoe Gosudarstvo i Tserkvo (The Byzan- 
 tine Empire and Church), by N. Skabalono- 
 vitch. 
 
 Life of St. Basil, by R. T. Smith. 
 
 Th>e Tacitaean Tiberius, by T. Spencer Jerome. 
 
 Tiberius, by Adolf Stahr. 
 
 Life of St. Ambrose, by R. Thornton. 
 
 Histoire des Empereurs, by Sebastien Lenain de 
 Tillemont. 
 
 Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul, 
 by T, Q, Tucker. 
 
 ii 
 
APPENDICES— VOL. I 
 
 I. GENEALOGICAIi TABLE OP THE CaESABS. 
 
 n. Note on the Herods. 
 in. The method adopted by Tacitus in his Annals in regard to 
 
 THE ElIPEBOB TiBEBIUS ; AS UNMASKED BY Mb. T. SpENCEB 
 
 Jebome. 
 IV. List of incubsions of babbabian tbibes dubino the 
 
 250 YEARS FBOM DOMITIAN TO CONSTANTINE. 
 
 V. FOBEIGN WABS CONDUCTED BY THE KOMANS DUBING THE 
 240 YEABS FBOM TbAJAN TO CONSTANTINE. 
 
 VI. Decisions of the Fibst Genebal Council. 
 
 vn. Plan of Constantinoplb. 
 
 vm. Genealogical table of the family of Constantius Chlobus. 
 
 DC. Distances by the main boad from the West to the East 
 
 (FBOM TlUfcVES IN GaUL TO ClBCESIUM IN MESOPOTAMIA). 
 
 X. Countries to which the most important emperors from 
 
 TbAJAN to ThEODOSIUS BELONGED. 
 
 PART I 
 
 Augustus to Marcus Aurelius 
 
 (b.c. 44 to A.D. i8o) 
 
 XXVI 
 
 E.W 
 
 II 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 HOW to traverse the long story of fifteen centuries ! The 
 subject seems so vast, the episodes so innumerable, 
 the great moving drama so much too big for any stage. But 
 though all this is true, yet if we have the patience to do so, and 
 just enough imagination to be able to picture to ourselves the 
 scene, the characters, and the thoughts which must have been 
 in the minds of those who performed the actions so baldly 
 related by history, we shall find that the story is more inter- 
 esting than any novel, just because it is the account of what 
 real live men and women did, and thought, and suffered. 
 
 As a beginning, then, of this long drama of human action it 
 will be well to look first at the great theatre in which it was 
 performed. And this we can best do by taking a general view 
 of the Roman Empire in the middle of the reign of Augustus. 
 
 The dominions hitherto ruled by the Roman Republic had 
 at the time of the accession of Augustus as emperor practically 
 absorbed the whole known world, the last three conquests 
 being that of Syria on the east by Pompey in B.C. 62, that of 
 Gaul on the west by Julius Caesar in B.C. 68-60, and that of 
 Egypt on the south by Augustus himseK in B.C. 30, two years 
 before he became the first emperor. Rome as the result of 
 seven centuries of conquest, in which she had begim by sub- 
 duing neighbouring villages and ended by absorbing entire 
 kingdoms, had made herself the mistress of at least a hundred 
 different races, including nations of the highest civilization, 
 such as those of Greece ^ and Egypt, and tribes the most bar- 
 barous, such as those inhabiting Gaul and Spain. 
 
 The frontiers of this empire were : — ^West, the Atlantic 
 Ocean and the British Channel (Britain being afterwards 
 added to the empire) ; South, the African desert ; East, the 
 Euphrates (Mesopotamia and Arabia being afterwards added) ; 
 and North, the Rhin^ and the Danube, Dacia, beyond the 
 Danube, being afterwards included. 
 
 1 Conquered in b.o. 146. 
 3 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Throughout this wide area there had been for many 
 generations almost incessant war. It is recorded that the 
 Temple of Janus in Rome (the doors of which stood open 
 when Rome was at war and closed when she was at peace) 
 was closed on the accession of Augustus, and that this was 
 only the third time it had been so in 500 years. To secure 
 the repose which a distracted world required after being torn 
 by perpetual warfare, four things were chiefly required : — 
 viz., strong frontiers firmly held by a powerful army, a well- 
 organized system of administration, efficient lines of com- 
 munication, and an equitable method of taxation ; and these 
 four things Augustus gave the empire. 
 
 Fifteen legions guarded the northern frontier, and six 
 legions the eastern frontier, together with three legions in 
 Spain, and one in North Africa. Great paved roads, whose 
 remains are a wonder even to our age, led from Rome to aU 
 the chief towns and to the principal points on the frontier. 
 Proconsuls, or legates, responsible to the emperor, ruled the 
 various provinces. Everywhere arose splendid public build- 
 ings ; trade flourished ; Latin literature reached its highest 
 excellence ; the Roman law attained that perfection which has 
 made it the basis of the legal codes of all modem countries ; 
 and an era of prosperity and civilization dawned upon the 
 world such as it had never before known. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AUGUSTUS CAESAR 
 
 B.C. 44 to A.D. 14 
 
 Reigned as emperor, B.C. 28 to A.D. 14 (Roman date — AU.C. 726-768)1 
 
 (a) Matters other than Religion 
 
 WHEN, in B.C. 44, Julius Caesar, the foremost man in 
 the Roman Republic, was murdered, his grand- 
 nephew Octavius,2 or Octavianus (afterwards Augustus), was 
 a youth of nineteen, exceedingly handsome and of good 
 abilities, whom his grand-uncle Julius Caesar had sent to com- 
 plete his education and learn discipline at the camp at Apol- 
 lonia in Illyricum. On hearing of the assassination of his 
 grand-uncle Octavlus at once started for Italy, taking with 
 him only his friend Marcus Agrippa, and on landing at Brindisi 
 and proceeding to join his mother Atia at Naples learnt that 
 Julius Caesar had adopted him and made him his heir. The 
 dangers of claiming this inheritance in the disturbed state of 
 affairs being very great, his mother and others around him at 
 Naples endeavoured to persuade him not to accept it ; but 
 Octavius, confident in himself, declined to listen to them. 
 Proceeding to Rome, he overcame many difficulties, and at 
 length succeeded, first in making good his claim to Julius 
 Caesar's property, and then, through his popularity with the 
 troops, in defeating Marc Antony in the civil war which ensued. 
 Octavius then joined Marc Antony in a triimivirate (appointed 
 for five years, afterwards extended to ten years) formed to 
 establish a stable government, and consisting of Marc Antony, 
 Octavius, and Lepidus. They marched with an army to 
 
 ^ Anno Urbis Conditae ("In the year of the founding of the city "). 
 * His mother Atia was the daughter of JuUus Caesar's sister Julia. 
 
CMAP. 
 
 c 
 
 AUGUSTUS (Matters other than religion) 
 
 Rome, held an inquiry, and put to death 300 senators and 2000 
 knights on account of the murder of Julius Caesar. The trium- 
 virate then at the battle of Philippi (b.c. 42) defeated and 
 slew Brutus and Cassius, the two chief murderers. At this 
 battle Octavius vowed that if victorious he would erect a 
 temple in Rome to Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger), a vow 
 which he afterwards fulfilled. War then broke out between 
 the members of the triumvirate, but in B.C. 40 peace was made 
 by an arrangement allotting to Marc Antony the rule of the 
 east, to Octavius that of the west, and to Lepidus that of Africa, 
 a peace cemented by the marriage of Marc Antony to Octavius' 
 sister, Octavia. In the same year Octavius married Scribonia, 
 the sister of Lucius Scribonius, a purely political marriage 
 which did not even have the political effects hoped for from it. 
 Scribonia had been married twice before, and was at least 
 • ten years older than Octavius. Within the year Octavius, 
 alleging incompatibility of temper, divorced her, but in an 
 unusually heartless manner since she had only a few days 
 before borne him a daughter.^ 
 
 Octavius was now twenty-four, and the admired of all the 
 Roman world, not only for his exceedingly handsome appear- 
 ance and agreeable disposition, but also for his abilities. And 
 soon afterwards he made a marriage which affected all the 
 rest of his life. He had fallen deeply in love with the daugh- 
 ter of his enemy Livius Drusus Claudianus, Livia Drusilla,* 
 who was also equally enamoured of him ; she persuaded her 
 husband Tiberius Claudius, who was much older than herself, 
 to yield to the demands of Octavius and divorce her in order 
 that she might marry the latter ; and in B.C. 38 Octavius and 
 Ldvia were married, Tiberius Claudius at the ceremony taking 
 the place of Livia's dead father and himself giving away the 
 bride. Octavius was at this time twenty-five and Livia 
 twenty. Their married life lasted fifty-two years, during 
 the whole of which time Livia made a thoroughly good wife 
 to Octavius. Nevertheless the wrath of the divorced and 
 insulted Scribonia gradually created a faction which by its 
 enmity to Livia and her descendants caused many troubles 
 in after years. 
 
 1 Julia, the only child of Augustiis. 
 
 « See p. 28. 
 
 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 7 
 
 Octavius had at this time no thought of the advancement 
 which subsequently came to him, and looked forward to nothing 
 better than, when his term of office as triumvir should be con- 
 cluded, obtaining the rule of a province. The party which 
 had been headed by Brutus and Cassius were, however, not yet 
 suppressed, and in B.C. 36 Sextus Pompeius, the remaining 
 leader of that party, having defeated Lepidus and made himself 
 master of Sicily and of the seas, began cutting off Rome's 
 supplies of com, and Octavius was forced to attack him. 
 With a fleet commanded by Marcus Agrippa, Octavius suc- 
 ceeded in completely defeating Sextus Pompeius ; a victory 
 which left Octavius without an opponent in the west. During 
 the next two years (b.c. 35-33) Octavius was engaged in a 
 difficult campaign in Illyricum and Dalmatia, during which he 
 was twice wounded, but finally subdued the rebellious tribes 
 of those countries, and returned to Rome in B.C. 33. 
 
 Meanwhile Marc Antony was offending Roman feeling in 
 every way, especially by indulging in dreams of turning his 
 command of the east into a separate empire. At length in 
 B.C. 32 he openly entered on this course by proceeding to found, 
 together with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, an independent 
 eastern empire with its capital at Alexandria. This menaced 
 Rome's very existence. For such an empire would not only 
 deprive her of the whole of her eastern dominions, but also, 
 since Egypt was the granary of Italy, would be able at any 
 moment to threaten Italy with starvation. The Senate at 
 once issued a decree depriving Antony of his command, and 
 declared war against the Queen of Egypt. Antony retorted 
 by divorcing Octavia in favour of Cleopatra and assembling 
 his troops. The Roman forces, under Octavius' own com- 
 mand,^ were sent against Antony and Cleopatra, who on 
 the 2nd September b.c. 31 were totally defeated at the battle 
 of Actium. Returning to Rome for the winter, Octavius in 
 the spring of B.C. 30 set out for Alexandria, where, after a 
 feeble resistance by Antony's troops, Cleopatra and Antony 
 were defeated, and both of them committed suicide. Octa- 
 vius thereupon annexed Egypt and made it a Roman pro- 
 
 ^ Octavius' fleet was commanded by Marcus Agrippa and performed 
 the greater part of the service. 
 
8 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I] 
 
 BIRTH OF IMPERIAL ROME 
 
 9 
 
 11 : 
 
 vince, and in B.C. 28 returned to Rome absolute master at the 
 age of thirty-five of the whole civilized world. ^ He then pro- 
 posed to resign the special powers which had been given him 
 as triumvir, the period of that appointment having expired 
 and all the enemies of Rome having been subdued. But both 
 the Senate and the people were appalled at such a prospect. 
 They felt that the miseries of civil war from which they had 
 suffered so much would certainly return when the strong 
 hand of Octavius was removed, and with one voice they en- 
 treated him to retain permanently the power which had been 
 conferred for a limited term. To this Octavius acceded, and 
 thereupon assumed the rule of the Roman Empire, and was 
 given the title of Augustus,^ becoming the first emperor whom 
 the world had ever known. 
 
 Augustus had thus, by a remarkable succession of events 
 during sixteen years, been gradually led on to a more exalted 
 position than had ever before been occupied by any man in 
 history. Nor had this been due to any plan on his part, as 
 often supposed. He gradually grew both in aims and intel- 
 lectual power. At first he aimed only at gaining the property 
 of Julius Caesar, at establishing his claim by adoption to be 
 admitted into the Julian family, and at obtaining a fairly 
 secure position. Subsequently, after being forced into a con- 
 flict for self-preservation, he aspired to the government of a 
 province. Later on he was content with having been aUotted 
 for a time the rule over a third part of the Roman dominions. 
 Finally he did not desire to quarrel with Antony, but was 
 forced into opposing him by Antony's own action. Hence 
 he was led on gradually, and more through the action of others 
 than through any plan on his part of making himself sole 
 master of the Roman world, until at length when the work 
 for which special powers had been given him was accomplished 
 
 1 The daughter of Cleopatra and Antony, also named Cleopatra, 
 was brought up by Octavius* sister, the noble-minded Octavia, and 
 was subsequently given in marriage by Octavius (then Augustus) to 
 Juba, son of the last king of Nimiidia and given by Augustus the king- 
 dom of Mauretania. Their son, Ptolemy, was the last king of Maure- 
 tania. 
 
 * In honour of him the name of the month Sextilis was changed to 
 Augustus, the month which we know as August ; in the same way as 
 the month July had been given tliat name in honour of Julius Caesar. 
 
 he foimd himself pressed by the entire nation to retain per- 
 manently the position which had thus devolved upon him. 
 
 Thus was born Imperial Rome, which, mightier and more 
 widely ruling than Republican Rome, was destined to give the 
 world the greatest example ever seen of organized government 
 and far-reaching power on the whole beneficently exercised 
 during many centuries. 
 
 Augustus ^ reigned for forty-two years (b.c. 28-a.d. 14), 
 the longest reign of any emperor, and in that time gradually 
 consolidated the Roman dominions into a firm and enduring 
 empire. Some of the chief measures that he took to effect this 
 have already been mentioned.^ By his administrative capacity 
 and tact, by his unostentatious life, by carefully conforming to 
 all those forms of the State which were endeared to the Romans 
 (even though at the same time concentrating all offices in 
 himself), and by his moderation, good sense, and conciliatory 
 methods, he gradually soothed all the angry passions which 
 years of civil war had aroused, and reconciled all classes to his 
 rule. 
 
 The title " Imperator " (emperor) has however a tendency 
 to mislead in the case of the first two emperors, Augustus 
 and Tiberius.^ Technically the emperor was not an autocrat, 
 but the chief officer of a commonwealth. And by Augustus 
 
 1 Plate I (Frontispiece). This is the best statue of Augustus 
 extant. It was found in the Villa of Livia (p. 37). From the 
 reliefs on the armour, which allude to various victories of Augustus, 
 it is considered that this fine statue was executed soon after his triumph- 
 ant return from Egypt in B.C. 28. The head of the statue is a por- 
 trait-head ; it is carved from a separate piece of marble and let into 
 the statue. The figures on the armour were originally covered with 
 enamel of various hues, as is proved by various traces of colour on them. 
 The sceptre in the left hand is a restoration, and is evidently a mistake, 
 as other similar representations of Augustus show that it should be a 
 spear. The Cupid on a dolphin beside the right leg of the statue is 
 an alliision to the legendary descent of the Julian family from Venus, 
 and is intended to recall the fact that Augustus had been adopted 
 into the Julian family. The statue was foiind in 1863. 
 
 2 Introduction, p. 4. 
 
 2 Regarding how gradually the imperial dignity grew out of the 
 Republic, and the general attitude of the Roman aristocracy in con- 
 nection with this great change in the administration, see Chap. II, 
 pp. 61-52. As to the alteration in the character of the imperial dignity 
 inaugurated by the third emperor, Caligula, see Chap. Ill, p. 89. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 10 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 and Tiberius this theoretical position was outwardly scrupu- 
 lously maintained. The emperor sat in the Senate as the 
 equal of all other senators. As the commander of Rome's 
 military and naval forces he was the most important officer of 
 the State, did as he thought fit with the army and navy, was 
 the representative of the State in all provinces containing a 
 garrison, and possessed the power of declaring war or making 
 peace ; but in home affairs he would have had no power had 
 he not been invested by the Senate with the " powers of the 
 Tribune," which gave him the long-established authority of 
 the " Tribune of the people " to veto any measure which he 
 might declare to be opposed to their interests. This practic- 
 ally enabled him to control the entire administration. 
 
 One of the first acts of Augustus as emperor had long lasting 
 effects to the empire in subsequent ages. Carthage, the great 
 rival of Rome in the time of the Republic, had been destroyed 
 by Scipio Africanus in B.C. 146. In the first year of his reign 
 Augustus re-founded this great city, and from its unique 
 position on the coast of North Africa and its many commercial 
 advantages it soon became the greatest Mediterranean seaport 
 next to Alexandria. 
 
 During the first sixteen years of Augustus' reign his chief 
 minister and adviser was Marcus Agrippa, who had commanded 
 his fleet at the battle of Actium, and who in B.C. 27 was married 
 to Marcella, Augustus' niece. Agrippa, the same age as 
 Augustus, had been the latter's constant companion from his 
 earliest years, and to his genius in war and his wise counsels 
 much of the success of Augustus was due. At the time of 
 making this marriage Agrippa, in this second year of the reign 
 of Augustus, began the construction of his splendid set of Baths, 
 part of which he afterwards dedicated as a temple, the " Pan- 
 theon "• (all-divine) ; this still survives, and better represents 
 the solidity, simplicity, daring, and splendour of Roman archi- 
 tecture than any buildings which succeeded it.^ The walls 
 are 20 feet thick, and it is the only building of ancient Rome 
 which still remains in possession of its roof.^ Agrippa also 
 carried out various other useful works, including a drainage 
 
 1 Plate II, The Pantheon. 
 
 " It was largely restored by the emperor Hadrian about 150 years 
 later, having suffered from the fire in Nero's reign. 
 

 The PANTHbUN. 
 
ft \ I I II 
 
 Tin: Pan 1 Hi.oN 
 
 W^MI.I. 
 
I] 
 
 DEATH OF MARCUS AGRIPPA 
 
 11 
 
 system for the city, the drawing up of a map of the whole 
 empire, and the construction of no less than three immense 
 aqueducts for supplying water to Rome, while he also bmlt 
 the huge Roman aqueduct near Nismes, in Gaul, 180 feet 
 high, with three tiers of arches, which still survives. 
 
 In B.C. 27 Augustus visited Gaul, which he divided into four 
 sub-provinces, Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdimensis, and 
 Belgica. Thence he proceeded to Spain where arduous and 
 hard fought campaigns were being conducted against the 
 tribes of Cantabria and Asturia, but falling seriously ill at 
 Tarraco he was obliged to leave the conduct of the operations to 
 Agrippa, who as usual accompanied him. Augustus returned 
 to Rome in B.C. 24, but the war was not ended until B.C. 19, 
 when the Cantabrians and Astmians were finally subdued. 
 In B.C. 22 Augustus visited Sicily, Asia Minor, and the eastern 
 frontier, returning to Rome in B.C. 19. He paid a second visit 
 to Gaul in B.C. 16, remaining there for three years. He again 
 visited Gaul in B.C. 10, and a fourth time in B.C. 8, but after 
 that date, during the remaining twenty-one years of his reign, 
 seldom moved from Rome. 
 
 Livia was highly jealous of the influence over Augustus 
 possessed by Agrippa, and possibly owing to this cause the 
 latter at length removed from Rome ; but he was ere long re- 
 called by Augustus, made to divorce Marcella, and in B.C. 23 
 was married to Augustus' only child Julia,^ then seventeen, 
 whose first husband, her young cousin Marcellus (to whom she 
 had been married at fourteen), had lately died. Julia and 
 Agrippa were married for eleven years and had five children, 
 three sons and two daughters. 
 
 In B.C. 12 Marcus Agrippa died, whereupon Augustus 
 endeavoured by a marriage to put a stop to the feud which 
 he saw beginning to arise between the two branches of the 
 imperial family. ^ Augustus by his former marriage with Scri- 
 bonia had this one daughter JuUa, now left a widow by Agrippa's 
 death. His wife Livia by her former marriage with Tiberius 
 Claudius had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus. Accordingly 
 Augustus forced his step-son Tiberius, then thirty, to his bitter 
 grief, to divorce his young wife Pomponia Vipsania, who had 
 
 1 His daughter by Scribonia, see p. 6. 
 
 2 See Genealogical table of the Caesars, Appendix I. 
 
 M 
 
 I II 
 
12 
 
 AUGUSTUS (MaUer$ other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 just borne him a son, and to marry Livia's step-daughter 
 Julia, then twenty-eight, Augustus hoping that this marriage 
 would heal the growing animosity between the descendants 
 of Scribonia and the descendants of Livia. 
 
 Notwithstanding Augustus* desire to refrain from further 
 conquests, various other wars besides those already men- 
 tioned were waged during his reign. In B.C. 16 the plundering 
 tribes of Noricum brought about a campaign which ended in 
 that province (corresponding roughly to what is now Austria) 
 being annexed to the empire. In B.C. 15 a difficult campaign 
 in the mountains of Switzerland was necessary before the 
 tribes of Vindelicia and Rhsetia (the modem Switzerland and 
 Bavaria) were subdued. And this was followed by a four years' 
 campaign in Pannonia to bring the rebellious tribes there 
 into subjection. Meanwhile the Roman armies, crossing the 
 Rhine, had traversed all Germany up to the Elbe, and Drusus, 
 Livia 's second son, had in a series of brilliant campaigns ex- 
 tended the Roman power to the latter river, and had become 
 the first soldier of the empire. In all these campaigns Livia's 
 two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, were Rome's leading com- 
 manders, Tiberius being chiefly employed on the Danube 
 frontier and Drusus on the Rhine frontier. 
 
 In B.C. 9, while Augustus and Livia were in Gaul, Drusus, 
 while still campaigning in (jrermany, died as the result of an 
 accident, after thirty days of sujffering, at the age of twenty- 
 nine. Tiberius, four years older, who was then at Pavia, 
 was devotedly attached to his brother, and on the arrival of 
 news that Drusus had had a fall from his horse in Germany 
 and was dying, he started at once from Italy, crossed the 
 Alps and the Rhine, travelling fom* hundred miles without 
 stopping to rest, and reached his destination just in time for 
 his brother to die in his arms. Tiberius escorted his body back 
 to Rome, travelling the whole way on foot in token of his sorrow, 
 and was met at Ticinum (Pavia) by Augustus and Livia. 
 From thence to Rome, says Seneca, the procession was a 
 " mournful triumph," the people everywhere coming forth to 
 express their sorrow for the death of one who was universally 
 beloved, while in Rome this national manifestation of grief 
 was even greater, the admiration of the people for Drusus being 
 still further increased by his having died while engaged in a 
 
 THE TEUTOBURGER WALD DISASTER 13 
 
 campaign against Rome's enemies. After this death of his 
 brother, Tiberius remained alone in the position of the leading 
 general of Augustus' armies, a position which he had hitherto 
 shared with Drusus. 
 
 The kingdom of Judsea had been bestowed by Julius Caesar 
 upon Antipater of Idumea, who was succeeded by his son 
 Herod (known as Herod the Great), whose kingdom Augustus 
 considerably enlarged as a reward for the assistance given 
 by him in the war with Antony and Cleopatra. In B.C. 4, 
 in which year Augustus held a census of the whole empire, 
 Herod died, dividing his kingdom among three of his 
 many sons. But the Jews, hating the house of the Herods, 
 petitioned the emperor to abolish the Jewish kingdom, and 
 at length Augustus acceded to their wishes, and Judaea was 
 made a Roman province, Herod's sons being left with a 
 merely nominal authority. The Roman government of Judsea, 
 however, was conducted under a special system, everything 
 being done to deal tenderly with the prejudices of the Jews ; 
 coins in Judsea did not bear the emperor's head, and the Roman 
 troops in Jerusalem were ordered to leave their standards 
 behind them in Csesarea. 
 
 In A.D. 5, when Augustus was sixty-eight, a powerful com- 
 bination of the northern tribes, having its centre in Bohemia, 
 threatened to invade the Danube provinces, and had to be 
 attacked by Tiberius and dispersed. This was followed by a 
 rebellion of the tribes in' Pannonia, with a simultaneous rising 
 of those in Dalmatia. It took four long and arduous campaigns, 
 during the years a.d. 5-9, before Tiberius succeeded in sub- 
 duing both these formidable rebelUons. Then followed the 
 one great disaster of Augustus' reign. In a.d. 9, when Au- 
 gustus was seventy-two, and while Tiberius was still occupied 
 in the final campaign in Dalmatia, three entire legions in 
 Germany (representing a force of 36,000 men) under Varus, 
 were surprised in the Saltus Teuto-burgiensis (now the Teuto- 
 burger Wald)i by the Cherusci and the Chatti, under the 
 capable young leader Hermann (belonging to the Cherusci), 
 
 1 A forest-clad hilly tract between the Ems and the Weser, about 
 120 miles north-east of Cologne. The site of this important battle is 
 believed by some recent authorities to have been about 6 miles west 
 of Detmold, but Mommsen places it about 30 miles more to the north- 
 west, in the neighbourhood of Osnabruck, which seems more likely. 
 
 r 
 
 .Ml 
 
14 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 BUILDINGS OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 15 
 
 ' H 
 
 whom the Romans called Arminius, then twenty-three years 
 old, and were totally destroyed, their eagles being captured 
 and the entire force being slain.^ The grief in Rome when this 
 dreadful news became known was immense ; whUe it terribly 
 affected the aged Augustus, who in his long career had ever seen 
 the Roman arms victorious. He wandered about his palace, 
 refusing to speak to any one, and ejaculating at intervals 
 " Varus, give me back my slaughtered legions." 
 
 Tiberius, by this time fifty-two, hastened back from Dalmatia 
 to retrieve this great disaster. Taking with him his nephew 
 Germanicus and a large army, he crossed the Rhine in a.d. 10, 
 and advanced into the centre of Germany. In a two years' 
 campaign, during the years a.d. 10-12, Tiberius traversed the 
 whole of Germany up to the Elbe, repeatedly defeating the 
 Chatti and the Cherusci until he thoroughly subdued them, 
 earning the greatest distinction as a commander, and on his 
 return being awarded by the Senate the honour of a triimiph 
 for having thus satisfactorily wiped out the effect of the dis- 
 aster. The Romans, however, never again attempted to make 
 the Elbe their frontier, but withdrew to the Rhine as their 
 boundary. 
 
 One important part of the organization of the empire by 
 Augustus was the very complete system which he established 
 for the transmission of orders and reports between Rome and 
 the most distant provinces. A specially selected band of 
 centurions, called frumen arii, temporarily detached from the 
 legions to which they belonged, were employed on this service, 
 and wer?t to and fro between Rome and the armies in different 
 parts of the empire. They all belonged to legions stationed in 
 the provinces, and while in Rome resided in a camp on the 
 Coelian Hill called Castra Peregrinorum.- Horses were kept 
 ready at regular stages on aU the main lines of communication 
 for use by such messengers. The speed with which news was 
 transmitted by these means is illustrated by the fact that 
 the news of the death of Nero in a.d. 68 at Rome was conveyed 
 
 ^ Three centuries later the Chatti were to become widely known 
 tinder the celebrated name of the Franks. The name is derived from 
 the Chattcm word ''frank," signifying free ; as in the modem 
 German phrase "frank imd frei.** 
 
 * Ramsay, Su Paul the Traveller, pp. 316 and 347. 
 
 to Galba, the general commanding in Spain, in seven days, a 
 great part of the journey being performed at an average of ten 
 miles an hour.^ 
 
 Although the speech made of Augustus regarding the city 
 of Rome, that he " found it of brick and left it of marble," 
 correctly represents a fact, it is a mistake to suppose that 
 Roman luxury began with the empire. Even in the time of 
 the Republic the house of the head of the Claudian family 
 had cost £131,000, while that of Scaurus was valued at the 
 enormous sum of £885,000.2 The passion for profusion had 
 begun at least two generations before the time of Augustus, 
 and we hear of a myrrhine vase purchased for £3000, of a 
 table of citrus-wood for £4000, and of as much as £40,000 
 being spent on a rich carpet from Babylon.^ Augustus, how- 
 ever, by the many splendid buildings which he either con- 
 structed himself or induced others to construct, completely 
 transformed the appearance of Rome. Amongst these build- 
 ings were the Temple of Mars Ultor, erected in fulfilment of 
 his vow at the battle of Philippi, and the Forum of Augustus, 
 built round it, constructed by him on finding that the Forum 
 Julium (begun by Julius Caesar and completed by Augustus) 
 was insufficient for the increased business of the capital of so 
 wide an empire. The aqueducts constructed during his reign 
 provided Rome with a more plentiful supply of pure water 
 than most modem cities even yet enjoy. And it serves to show 
 what Augustus' energy in Adorning Rome must have been that 
 notwithstanding all the devastation which Rome has since 
 suffered there still exist in that city more remains of his build- 
 ings than of any of the emperors who succeeded him. 
 
 The chief of these buildings are : — Part of his Fonmi, the 
 remains of his Palace on the Palatine Hill, the remains of the 
 Temple of Mars Ultor, the remains of the Temple of the Divine 
 Augustus,* built at the foot of the north-western comer of the 
 Palatine Hill in the valley of the Velabrum, the Arch of 
 
 * Plutarch, Galba, 7. 
 
 * Lanciani, Ancient Rome, 
 
 3 Friedlander, Sittengeschichte, iii, 80-81. 
 
 * Plate III. The first temple dedicated to an emperor as divine. 
 Behind it are visible the ruins of the north-western corner of the 
 Palace of Caligula, built 25 years later. 
 
 Snj! 
 
CHAP. 
 
 le 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 
 Drusus/ the Mausoleum of Augustus (in which he and all 
 succeeding emperors down to Nerva, except Caligula and Nero, 
 were interred ),2 the Theatre of Marcellus (built by Augustus, 
 and named after his nephew, the son of his sister Octavia), the 
 Portico of Octavia (built by Augustus, and dedicated to his 
 sister), and the Pantheon, built by Marcus Agrippa. Though 
 buried amongst and encroached upon by modern structures 
 (or perhaps owing to that very reason), these buildings of 
 Augustus force upon us the contrast they bring before our 
 eyes, since even in their decay, after having stood the wear 
 and tear of nineteen centuries, they make the best works of 
 modern architecture look insignificant by comparison.^ 
 
 But the work of Augustus in adorning the capital of the 
 empire was a small matter compared with his achievements 
 in a wider field. Augustus was a born administrator, and by 
 his great talents in this respect he by degrees evolved a system 
 of administration for the Roman Empire which, being gradu- 
 ally improved by his successors, grew into one more nearly 
 perfect than any which has since been seen. This system of 
 administration continued almost unaltered for nearly three 
 himdred years after his death, and in its main features retained 
 the impress given to it by him for as long as that empire 
 endured. In all administrative matters the " maxims of 
 Augustus," laying down the general system of organization for 
 the rule of the empire, and the general principles to be observed 
 by those charged with the government of various portions of it, 
 became looked upon by after generations with almost sacred 
 reverence, and were considered as a matter of course the 
 guiding principles to be followed. The results thoroughly 
 justified the view thus entertained.* It is in fact not so 
 
 1 This arch has all the stem simplicity and dignity of the age of 
 Augustus. It was decreed by the Senate in memory of Drusus when 
 he was killed on the Rhine frontier in B.C. 9. The arch was crowned 
 by £ui equestrian statue of Drusus, euid a seated female figure repre- 
 senting Germcmy. 
 
 * Tacitus says that on the top was a mound of earth planted with 
 trees and flowers. The Mausoleum is now a circus. 
 
 * Rome was not surrounded by hills producing marble, and all the 
 msurble for these buildings was imported from Africa, Greece, or Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 * See reigns of Trajan and Hadrian (Chap. VI ]• 
 
Ruins of the Tempi. k ok Augustus, Rome. 
 
 ^^iKCJ^.I. 
 
 Al the foot of the north-west corner of the Palatine hill, with behin<l it part of the north-western end of the Palace of Caligula. The ruins show 
 the massive style of construction. The numerous holes were bored in the Micldle Ages to extract the iron clamps which held the stones together; 
 yet even without the clamps the walls still staml. 
 
f.iA¥i: rrr. 
 
 iJROf.l. 
 
 KiiNs oi TiiK Ti:mi'I.k ()1- Aifiisirs. Komi: 
 
 At till' tout <»f tli<' niirtli-vvi-;t conuT i)t tin- I'.tlatiin* hill, with hchiml it part ni tl 
 
 !<• IIKI 
 
 th-ur-tirii cii'I i>f the I'lla'i- of Ciliyiila. Thf niin^^huw 
 
 tho iiia-sivc >tvU' <>f (•l)n■^t^U(■ll<>Il I'hc niiiufnui-- h<<\v^ \v,Tf h<>u-<\ in thi' NIiiMIc A^i'> In i-xtr.K t the iimii i limp- uhn h ht-l'l the ^limci ti»t;<-th<T 
 \ct tvt'ii witliuut till" rlamp^ tlir ualU -till -taixl. 
 
I] 
 
 GOLDEN AGE OF LATIN LITERATURE 
 
 17 
 
 much in the reign of Augustus himself that his ability as an 
 administrator is to be seen, nor even a hundred years or more 
 later when his system came to be administered by such capable 
 emperors as Trajan and Hadrian ; it is when we look back 
 upon the Roman Empire fifteen hundred years afterwards, 
 after it had passed away, it is when we note the ordered system 
 of government for which it was pre-eminent throughout its 
 whole course, it is when we observe how greatly its system 
 surpassed that of all other nations even in its decline, and 
 even when its territories had dwindled to only a small portion 
 of its original dominions, that we are best able to appreciate 
 the ability of the man who founded it and inaugurated the 
 main principles of this system of government. Nay more, 
 it is when we look back upon the Roman Empire from the 
 standpoint of our own age, and realize how its general prin- 
 ciples of government have permeated our modern methods in 
 that respect, that we are able to appreciate to the fullest 
 extent the ability of Augustus as an administrator. 
 
 As regards hterature the reign of Augustus has ever been 
 memorable. In his reign the poets Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, 
 and the historian Livy all flourished, and their works and 
 those of their contemporaries have shed a lustre upon the 
 reign of Augustus which will last for all time. It has been 
 called " the golden age of Latin composition." Augustus 
 was a strong patron of literature, and personally befriended 
 both Virgil and Horace. Virgil came to Rome about B.C. 40, 
 having lost his estate in the preceding civil war. It was sub- 
 sequently restored to him by Augustus. He began to write 
 the jEneid about the year that Augustus became emperor 
 (B.C. 28), and died at Brindisi on his way back from Athens 
 in B.C. 19, at the age of fifty-one. Horace fought as a young 
 man against Augustus at the battle of Philippi in B.C. 42, but 
 was pardoned by him and taken into favour, and thenceforth 
 Hved in an honoured ease at Rome or on his much loved 
 Sabine farm, acknowledged as the greatest poet of his day 
 next to Virgil. He died in B.C. 8, at the age of fifty-seven. 
 Livy, born at Padua, came to Rome early in Augustus* reign, 
 and settled there. He was much favoured by Augustus, and 
 treated as a person of importance at the court. His great 
 History of Rome began from the landing of ^Eneas in Italy and 
 
 E.W. o 
 
 i4 
 
/ 
 
 18 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MaUera other than religian) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 THE ROMAN ARMY 
 
 19 
 
 was continued down to B.C. 9. It consisted of 142 books, but 
 of these only 35 remain, carrying the history down to B.C. 167. 
 Livy died in a.d. 11, at the age of seventy. Ovid, bom in 
 B.C. 43, was by birth entitled to be a senator. He resided in 
 Rome, writing many poems, and enjoying the friendship of 
 many distinguished men, until he was fifty, but in a.d. 9, in 
 consequence of his intrigue with Julia the younger ^ coming 
 to the knowledge of Augustus, he was banished to Tomi on the 
 Black Sea. After the death of Augustus he entreated to be 
 allowed to return, but though his appeals were backed up by 
 powerful friends Tiberius refused to cancel the order of Au- 
 gustus, and Ovid died at Tomi in a.d. 18, at the age of sixty-one. 
 
 But while Rome had been raised to this high level of culture 
 and magnificence the Romans of the time of Augustus had as 
 yet not learnt the true imperial spirit which would justify 
 their rule over so vast an empire. There still clung round 
 them much of the spirit which had animated them from the 
 days when Rome was a little city conquering its neighbours. 
 They looked upon the city of Rome with intense pride, and 
 regarded all the rest of the empire as more or less colonial, 
 and to be governed and taxed mainly for the benefit of Rome 
 and its inhabitants. We see this spirit reflected in many of 
 the writings of the literary men of the time of Augustus. It 
 was the work of a later age to teach the Romans a wider out- 
 look ; though even to the last the tjrpical Roman of Rome 
 retained much of this narrow spirit, notwithstanding the ex- 
 ample set from time to time by the great men who as emperors 
 took a wider view, and governed, not merely for the benefit 
 of Rome, but of the empire. No emperor was ever praised by 
 the Roman writers who made the empire his first thought, 
 and the city of Rome a secondary consideration. 
 
 Augustus, knowing that all this prosperity depended ab- 
 solutely upon the power of the Roman army to defend the 
 empire against the northern barbarians, brought the Roman 
 military system to a high pitch. The legion, hitherto 4500 men, 
 was increased to 6000 men, divided into 1500 " Velites " 
 (skirmishers), 1500 " Hastati " (lightly armed front rank), 
 1600 " Principes " (heavily armed second rank), and 1000 
 " Triarii " (heavily armed reserve), with 500 cavalry. Each 
 
 * See p. 22. 
 
 class was divided into ten " maniples," with a centurion, a 
 second centiuion, and two " ensigns " to each maniple. Four 
 maniples (one of each class), with a " troop " of fifty cavalry, 
 formed a " cohort " (600 men), the legion having ten cohorts, 
 or forty maniples. ^ Each legion had its standard, consisting 
 of a silver eagle mounted on the head of a staff. The men 
 were armed with the celebrated Roman pilum (spear) over 
 6 feet long, a short sword less than 3 feet long, and a dagger ; 
 for defence they were furnished with a shield made of wicker 
 work covered with leather and embossed with metal, and 
 wore over the breast and shoulders a corslet of leather 
 covered with layers of bronze, and on the head an iron helmet. 
 Their pay was about three shiUings a week. They served for 
 twenty years, after which they obtained a pension, or a grant 
 of land. The commander of a legion was generally a man of 
 senatorial rank ; the cohorts (600 men) were commanded by 
 ** knights," or " chief captains " ; and the maniples (150 men) 
 by centurions. Enlistment was volimtary. 
 
 These legions were composed of men having the rights of 
 Roman citizens, recruited from any part of the empire. Great 
 care was taken in the selection of the men, only those of good 
 character being accepted, while the splendid discipline of these 
 legions has become proverbial ; and to these two causes, and 
 especially to the latter of them, the Roman armies owed 
 their long and remarkable success in battles in which they were 
 nearly always outnumbered. No Roman anxious to enter on a 
 pubHc career was permitted to hold any office in the State 
 imtil he had first served for ten years in one of these 
 legions.2 
 
 But the legions only constituted one half of the Roman 
 army. In addition to them there were corps styled ** aux- 
 iharies," who in every Roman force equalled in numbers the 
 men forming the legions. These " auxiliaries " were corps 
 composed of men who had not yet obtained the rights of 
 Roman citizens, the men in these corps chiefly belonging to the 
 
 1 Thus 160 velites, 160 hastati, 160 principes, 100 triarii and 60 
 cavalry formed a cohort (600), and ten such cohorts a legion. 
 
 2 This rule, which shows so prominently the far-sighted wisdom 
 of Rome, was not introduced by Augustus, but existed under the 
 Republic long before his time. (See also Vol. n, p. 133, footnote). 
 
 1 
 
CHAP. 
 20 AUGUSTUS {MaUera other than rdigion) 
 
 more recently conquered provinces of the empire. In 
 training and efficiency they were practically equal to the 
 legions ; they were, however, not formed into legions, but into 
 regiments of about 1000 men.i xhe command of such a 
 regiment was one of the regular steps to the command of a 
 legion. The men served for twenty-five years, and on com- 
 pletion of their service obtained the rights of Roman citizens. 
 Each general's command consisted of an equal number of 
 these two classes of troops ; so that a legion with the auxiliary 
 corps attached to it amounted to 12,000 men.* 
 
 There were thus ' along the northern frontier of the empire 
 12,000x15=180,000 men, and along the eastern frontier 
 12,000x6=72,000 men, together with three legions in Spain 
 (36,000 men), one in Africa (12,000 men), and the twelve regi- 
 ments of Praetorian Guards, each of 1000 men (12,000). These 
 twenty-five legions maintained by Augustus were in the time of 
 the emperor Hadrian increased to thirty legions, thus bringing 
 up the total of Rome's military forces to 12,000 x 30 + 12,000 = 
 372,000 men. After Britain had been added to the empire in 
 A.D. 43 three of these thirty legions were stationed in that 
 country, eighteen legions along the Rhine and Danube frontier, 
 six legions on the eastern frontier, one in Egypt, one in Africa, 
 and one in Spain. Augustus also created an imperial fleet, 
 divided into two portions, one stationed at Ravenna and the 
 other at Misenum. The warships were of two kinds, triremes, 
 with three banks of oars, and hiremes, with two banks of oars, 
 the latter kind being more usually employed. 
 
 At the latter end of his life Augustus became depressed 
 
 1 A very large number of these " auxiliary " corps consisted entirely 
 of cavalry. 
 
 • It will be seen that this organization has been almost exactly 
 copied in our British army in India, where ecwh brigade consists of 
 two British regiments and two Native regiments, the latter exactly 
 corresponding to the Romsm *' auxiliary " corps. To make the par- 
 allel complete, however, it would be necessary to mass together the 
 six British regiments of three brigades, and separately the six Native 
 regiments of the same three brigades, when the whole would corres- 
 pond to a Roman legion accompanied by its " auxiheury " corps when 
 these were composed of inffimtry. Thus a Roman legion with its 
 auxiliary corps was about equal to a British division (3 brigades). 
 
 3 See Introduction, p. 4. 
 
 BANISHMENT OF JULIA 
 
 21 
 
 in mind by various presentiments ^ of some impending change, 
 destined to bring about the destruction of all which he had 
 created ; while to the depression thus caused was added that 
 due to various family calamities. His only child Julia, ^ of 
 whom he was very fond, and who at the age of twenty-eight 
 had been married to his step-son Tiberius, distinguished as she 
 was for her wit and abilities, became equally notorious for her 
 licentiousness. At length in a.d. 1, when she was thirty-nine, 
 the scandals thus created came to the ears of Augustus ; 
 thereupon he ordered a public enquiry, but the scandalous 
 facts revealed by this were so terrible that the enquiry was 
 stopped, Augustus expressing the wish that he had died child- 
 less,3 and Julia was banished to the desolate island of Pan- 
 dataria.* Julia's two elder sons had some twelve years before 
 been adopted by Augustus as his heirs, being given the names 
 Caius Caesar and Lucius Caesar ; their sister Julia, generally 
 called Julia the younger, had been married to iEmilius Paulus, 
 belonging to one of the greatest of the Roman families, and in 
 A.D. 2 their second sister Agrippina, Augustus' grand-daughter, 
 was married to Livia's grand-son Germanicus, the eldest son 
 of Drusus. But in this same year (a.d. 2) the younger of these 
 sons of Julia, Lucius Caesar, died at the age of twenty, his 
 death being followed eighteen months later by that of his 
 brother, Caius Caesar, at the age of twenty-three.^ 
 
 The depression caused by these family misfortunes was stUl 
 further increased by the great military disaster suffered in 
 A.D. 9. Moreover in the latter year two further family troubles 
 came upon Augustus. His last hope was Julia's third son, 
 Agrippa Postumus, by this time twenty-one. But the latter, 
 a young man stated to have looked and behaved more like a 
 
 1 See p. 43. 
 
 2 Plate IV. Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 4 
 
 3 In consequence of these revelations Phoebe, Julia's chief serv- 
 ing-woman and confidante, hung herself ; whereupon Augustus is 
 reported to have said, " Would that I were Phoebe's father." 
 
 * In A.D. 6 Augustus changed Julia's place of banishment from Panda- 
 taria to Rhegium ; but he never saw her again. 
 
 ^ At Nismes, in Gaul, a temple was erected about A.D. 4 to the 
 memory of Caius and Lucius Caesar which still exists, and is one of 
 the finest and best preserved Roman temples extant. 
 
22 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MatterB other than religion) 
 
 C5HAP. 
 
 common gladiator than one of the Julian race, showed himself 
 altogether impossible as a successor to Augustus. Velleius 
 Paterculus says, " He plunged into profligacy with such extra- 
 ordinary depravity of mind and feeling that he entirely alien- 
 ated the affection of his grandfather (Augustus)." And 
 Suetonius says, " His folly increased from day to day." He 
 refused to accept any office in the State, broke out into the 
 coarsest abuse of Augustus, and became such a discredit to the 
 whole family that at last Augustus was forced to banish him to 
 the island of Planasia, where a centurion was placed in charge 
 of him. At the same time his sister Julia the younger, 
 following the example of her mother Julia, created so much 
 scandal in Rome that Augustus was obliged to banish her to the 
 island of Trimerus, where she lived for many years, experi- 
 encing kindness only from Livia. Shortly afterwards Augustus 
 discovered a plot on the part of the faction which had been 
 created by Scribonia to liberate Julia the elder and her son 
 Agrippa Postumus from their respective prisons, and to set up 
 Agrippa Postumus in opposition to his grandfather. 
 
 All this preyed greatly on Augustus' mind, the more so 
 since he had so strongly desired to make a descendant of his 
 own his successor, but was at last obliged in a.d. 13, owing to 
 the character of his remaining grandson, to abandon the idea 
 as hopeless, and to adopt his step-son Tiberius (who had in 
 the previous year returned victorious from Germany after 
 retrieving the disaster of Varus), and to nominate him as his 
 successor, no other course being possible. Nor, except for 
 Augustus' personal disappointment in the matter, was this in 
 any way to be regretted so far as the empire was concerned. 
 For Tiberius, now fifty-six, had in a career of about forty years 
 distinguished himself in every way and become unquestionably 
 the best man in the empire to succeed Augustus, and the latter 
 by this time f dly appreciated his sterling qualities. 
 
 In the summer of a.d. 14 Augustus being considerably out 
 of health left Rome with Livia for his family residence at Nola, 
 on the coast of Dalmatia, a villa which he inherited from his 
 father, Caius Octavius. And there he died on the 23rd August 
 
 * See Appendix I. One of her lovers was the poet Ovid, who was 
 banished at the same time. 
 
PLATE IV. 
 
 [Anderson. 
 
 Julia, daughter of Augustus. 
 Pcrirait-hust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
PI.ATK I\' 
 
 AnPI RSON. 
 
 Jri.IA, DAlCiHTKR OF AUGUSTUS. 
 
 P( rtiait-lihl in the Vatimn mustum, Rome. 
 
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 23 
 
 in the Roman year a.xj.c. 768 (or our year a.d. 14), at the age 
 of seventy-seven.^ He might justly take pride in his work ; he 
 had consolidated and reorganized Rome's empire, had created 
 peace and prosperity over many lands, had transformed the 
 appearance of Rome, and had revived the ancient religion and 
 covered the city with temples. His wife Livia was with him 
 when he died, and his last words were spoken to her, saying just 
 before he died, " Livia, let the memory of our happy union 
 remain always with you ; I have loved you very dearly ; and 
 now farewell." The strong love felt throughout life for Livia 
 by Augustus, who had married her when he was twenty-five 
 and she was twenty, is specially shown in the fact that in that 
 age of easy divorce,^ and notwithstanding his intense desire 
 for a son, he never divorced Livia in order to marry a wife who 
 might give him a son to be his successor as ruler over the wide 
 empire which he had founded.^ 
 
 Immediately upon Augustus' death Julia's incapable son, 
 Agrippa Postumus, was executed in his prison by the centurion 
 in charge of him. On an enquiry being held, it appeared that 
 this was done in accordance with an order from Augustus him- 
 self. The latter whUe at Nola had again discovered a plot to 
 proclaim this worthless youth emperor as soon as he, Augustus, 
 should be dead ; he therefore gave the order that immediately 
 he died Agrippa was to be put to death, this being the only 
 way of saving the empire from those miseries of civil war 
 from which he had rescued it, and a recurrence of which would 
 undo the whole of his work of fifty years. 
 
 Augustus' daughter Julia died at Rhegium a few months 
 after her father, at the age of fifty-three, in much sadness at 
 the banishment of her daughter JuUa and this death of her 
 
 1 The adherents of Scribonia and Julia of course spread a report 
 that he had been poisoned by Livia. 
 
 2 Among the Roman upper classes divorce was so easy and fre- 
 quent that it was scarcely a matter of remark. No application to any 
 court was necessary, and no reason had to be assigned. The husband 
 had merely to sign a formally witnessed notice declaring the marriage 
 dissolved and to give back to the woman her property. The wife (or 
 her father on her behalf) had similar power to dissolve the marriage 
 at any time. 
 
 3 Augustus' will left two thirds of his fortune to Tiberius and the 
 remaining third to Livia. 
 
 i 
 
 V'' 
 
CHAP. 
 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 PALACE OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 25 
 
 last surviving son. Tacitus declares that she died in great 
 poverty, and that Tiberius " caused her to pine away gradually 
 from want," but this is quite out of accord with the rest of 
 Tiberius' conduct towards her.^ 
 
 Augustus was of a genial and sociable disposition. Though 
 he had plenty of dignity when necessary, and was stern as 
 regards any tendency towards ostentation or extravagance, 
 he disliked all formality, and being naturally good-humoured 
 was fond of indulging in witty remarks with people of all 
 classes. He hated salutations and flattery ; to a man who 
 nervously presented a petition to him while walking in 
 Rome, he said, " My good friend, one would imagine you 
 were offering a penny to an elephant." He enjoyed games, 
 and liked gambling for small sums ; after a banquet at the 
 palace he writes to his daughter Julia, " I have sent you 250 
 denarii, the sum I gave to each of my guests to play at dice 
 with during supper." He had a great-grandchild Caius,^ a 
 very bright and attractive boy of whom he was exceedingly 
 fond ; and there must have been much that was human in the 
 man who when Caius died at the age of eight, and when Livia 
 had a bust of the boy made and placed it in Augustus' bed- 
 room, used every day of his life to kiss it in memory of the dead 
 
 boy. 
 
 Various portraits of Augustus, his descendants, and his 
 successors, still exist in the portrait-busts preserved in the 
 Vatican and Capitol Museums at Rome, the Uffizi Gallery at 
 Florence, the Naples Museum, and the Louvre, and as they 
 are to be relied upon for fidelity we are left in no uncertainty 
 as to the appearance of the men and women of the imperial 
 family. In the portrait-busts of the emperors and their wives 
 we possess in fact the most reliable set of portraits in the world, 
 even the works of the portrait painters of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries being unable to compete with these 
 Roman portrait-busts in point of reliability. The Romans 
 attached the very highest importance to such portraits and to 
 their absolute fidelity. Only illustrious families had the jus 
 
 ^ See Chap. II, p. 49. 
 
 « A son of Germjtfiicus and Agrippina ; they gave the same name 
 to a later son bom to them, afterwards the emperor Cahgula. 
 
 imaginum, or right to a gallery of family portraits, and as far 
 as the male members of the family were concerned, only the 
 portraits of those who had held office in the State were 
 permitted. These portrait-busts were in fact the heraldic 
 emblems of the house, and a Roman family was as proud of 
 them as in these days a family is of its coat-of-arms. As 
 fidelity was considered of the greatest importance these por- 
 trait-busts were usually made from casts taken from the actual 
 face, and no embellishment was either permitted or desired. 
 
 Augustus built the first imperial palace on the Palatine hill, 
 which eventually formed the nucleus of that " Palace of the 
 Caesars " which in the course of two centuries gradually grew 
 until it covered the whole hill. We know more about this 
 palace of Augustus than about most of those built after it, 
 owing to the time of Augustus being the " golden age of litera- 
 ture " and to so many of the literary men of that time having 
 given descriptions of a palace which was then the chief orna- 
 ment of the city.i It occupied a large portion of the central 
 part of the hill on the southern side, overlooking the Circus 
 Maximus. It was entirely built of white marble, and was 
 crowded Avith works of the best Greek art, in gold, silver, ivory, 
 and bronze, including works by the celebrated Greek sculptors 
 Polycletus, Myron, Phidias, Praxiteles, Scopas, and Lysippus.^ 
 The renowned statues executed by Phidias and Praxiteles were 
 generally in gold or ivory, while Polycletus and Lysippus 
 usually employed bronze, this costly material being preferred 
 by the earlier sculptors to marble. 
 
 1 The common idea that the palace of Augustus was a very modest 
 dwelUng is a mistake. It is refuted by the writings of Propertius and 
 others, while their statements are found to be corroborated by the 
 excavation of this palace now being carried out. Ovid called it 
 "worthy of a god." 
 
 2 One of these was the renowned group of statues representing 
 Niobe and her seven sons and seven daughters being slain by Apollo 
 and Diana, copied by later Greek sculptors from the original group 
 by Scopas. It illustrates the scattering of ancient works of art in 
 Rome which took place in subsequent ages, for when found in the 
 sixteenth century it was imearthed, not on the Palatine hill, but out- 
 side the Porta San Paolo. On being foimd it was at once bought by 
 Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici, and with many other works of sculpture 
 collected by him in Rome is now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 
 
 !il 
 
26 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 A glowing account of the splendour of the architecture of 
 this palace and of the many works of Greek art with which it 
 was adorned is given by Propertius. On its northern side it 
 had a very extensive peristyle (or open court surrounded by a 
 colonnade) with fluted columns of yellow Numidian marble, 
 and in the centre of this peristyle Augustus built a magnificent 
 temple to Apollo. He began this as early as b.c. 36, two years 
 after his marriage to Livia, and finished it on his return to 
 Rome in B.C. 28. In this temple, which was entirely of white 
 Lima marble, was a group of three statues, representing Apollo 
 standing between Diana and Latona, the three statues being 
 the work respectively of Scopas, Timotheus, and Praxiteles ; 
 round the walls were statues of the nine Muses ; while on the 
 apex of the temple was Apollo in a four-horsed chariot, in 
 gilded bronze. In front of the steps of the temple stood an 
 altar surrounded by four oxen, the work of the celebrated 
 Myron. The doors of the temple were covered with rehefs 
 depicting the death of Niobe and her children and the defeat 
 of the Gauls at Delphi. Round the peristyle, between its 
 columns, were statues of the fifty Danaids and opposite to them 
 their fifty bridegrooms, on horseback, many fragments of 
 which statues have been found. On one side of this peristyle 
 was a large hall, in which the Senate sometimes met, in the 
 centre of which stood a colossal statue of Augustus in bronze, 
 fifty feet in height. ^ A large part of this palace of Augustus 
 was excavated in 1775, and drawings of it were published, but 
 a great part has since been destroyed ; the rest of the palace 
 has hitherto been hidden under the convent occupying the 
 Villa Mills. It is now being excavated, and in some places 
 the actual walls of the palace of Augustus have been found 
 built into the walls of the convent. 
 
 Augustus on returning from his conquest of Egypt in B.C. 28 
 brought from thence the first Egyptian obelisk erected in 
 Rome, a which he set up on the spina ^ of the Circus Maximus. 
 
 » Propertius, Tacitus, Suetonius, Juvenal, Ovid, and Livy all give 
 descriptions of this palace and its temple. 
 
 « That now in the centre of the Piazza del Popolo. Its height is 
 78 feet. * 
 
 " A wall about 6 feet high running down the centre of every such 
 circus, adorned with statues and obelisks. At each end of it were 
 the goals (metoe). 
 
 OBELISKS BROUGHT FROM EGYPT 
 
 27 
 
 Subsequently he brought over from Egypt a second, and set 
 it up in the Campus Martins.^ Pliny says : — " But the most 
 difficult enterprise of all was the transport of these obelisks 
 by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admira- 
 tion. In fact the late emperor Augustus consecrated the 
 one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting 
 memorial of this marvellous imdertaking, in the harbour of 
 Puteoli." 2 
 
 The second of these obelisks, that placed in the Campus 
 Martins, Augustus set up so as to act as a sundial, which accord- 
 ing to Pliny was a mode of measuring time not before seen, and 
 was the invention of the mathematician Facundus Novus. 
 For this purpose Augustus laid a smooth stone pavement, 
 with lines of brass inserted into the stone, a gilt ball being placed 
 on the top of the obelisk. But what puzzled Pliny was that 
 when he wrote, about 140 years afterwards, this sundial no 
 longer told the time correctly ; and in searching for the cause 
 of this he suggests that it may have been due to there having 
 been " some derangement of the heavenly system, or that the 
 earth has been displaced from its centre," or perhaps to an 
 earthquake, or owing to inundations of the Tiber having caused 
 the foundations of the obelisk to sink.^ The actual cause was 
 that the Julian calendar was in error by about eleven minutes, 
 the cumulative effect of which was already, as this shows, 
 beginning to make itself felt ; though the calendar was not 
 rectified until 1582, when this error had accumulated to as 
 much as twelve days. 
 
 LiVIA 
 
 Livia Drusilla,** bom in B.C. 58, daughter of Livius Drusus 
 Claudianus, and wife of Augustus, was a remarkable woman. 
 She belonged to the great Claudian house, the proudest 
 
 1 It is now in the Piazza Monte Citorio. Its height is 72 feet. 
 
 * Pliny, xxxvi, 16. 
 ' Pliny, xxxvi, 15. 
 
 * Plate V. Portrait on a sca-donyx, now in the Hague Museum. 
 Livia was the first Roman lady to have her portrait engraved on a 
 medalUon. 
 
28 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 family in Rome, noted for their handsome features,^ and a 
 much more aristocratic family than the Julian famUy. The 
 glory of the great Oaudian house is extolled by Suetonius, who 
 enumerates their twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, 
 seven censorships, and other triumphs. When she was fifteen 
 livia, fair-haired and unusually beautiful, was married to 
 Tiberius Claudius, a man about forty. Her father, Livius 
 Drusus Claudianus, joined Brutus and Cassius, and was killed 
 at the battle of Philippi in B.C. 42. Livia's elder son Tiberius 
 was bom a few months afterwards, when she was sixteen, in a 
 house on the Palatine hiU, the remains of which stiU exist.^ 
 Her husband, Tiberius Claudius, was, like her father, also on 
 the Republican side, and took a leading part in the civil war 
 against Antony and Octavius, having several times to fly for 
 his life ; and in all his dangers and hardships Livia accom- 
 panied him, often carrying her child in her arms as they 
 rapidly fled to escape capture, and once having her clothes 
 singed in escaping at night through a burning forest. 
 
 After the civil war was over Tiberius Claudius was pardoned 
 by Octavius and returned to Rome, where when Livia was 
 eighteen she and Octavius fell in love with each other, the 
 latter being then twenty-three, havmg lately returned fuU of 
 honours from the civil war, and being admired by all Rome. 
 Thereupon Livia added her persuasions to the demands of 
 Octavius, and succeeded in inducing Tiberius Claudius to 
 divorce her in order that she might marry the successful young 
 soldier Octavius. This was carried out by an amicable arrange- 
 ment between the latter and Tiberius Claudius ; and in B.C. 38, 
 at the age of twenty (and only three months before the birth of 
 her second son Drusus), Livia was married to Octavius, who 
 was then twenty-five. Little did Livia realize aU the troubles 
 
 1 The portraits of Livia, her sons Tiberius and Drusus, her grand- 
 sons Drusus and Claudius, and her great-grandson Britannicus (Plates 
 V VI, VIII, IX, XI, XII, XVI, and XX), as compared with those 
 of JuUa, her daughter Agrippina the elder, her grandson CaUgula and 
 grand-daughter Agrippina the younger, and her great-grandson Isero 
 (Plates IV, XIII, XIV, XIX, and XXII) show that all the good 
 looks were on the side of the Claudian branch of the family, the Juhan 
 branch having a more or less vulgar type of features, this bemg speci- 
 ally noticeable in Julia and her daughter Agrippina the elder. 
 
 a See p. 36. 
 
PLAT I : \ 
 
 m 
 
 «,T* 
 
 [Stkinmetz. 
 
 Li VI A, WIFE OF Augustus. 
 
 Engraved upon a sardonyx in The Hague museum. 
 The mrjfit authentic pf>rtrait of Livia. The first pirtrail of a lady ever engrav"' "k 
 a medallion. 
 
Ij 
 
 LIVIA'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
 
 29 
 
 which her action was to bring about. She was passionately in 
 love with Octavius, and he with her, and the future was left 
 to take care of itself. Livia, in addition to her beauty and 
 her unusual abilities, was specially noted as eclipsing all 
 other women of her day in her charming manners, and this 
 combination of attractions completely fascinated Octavius. 
 Tiberius Claudius died soon afterwards and his two little 
 sons, Tiberius and Drusus, remained with Livia and were 
 brought up by her in the palace which Octavius erected on 
 the Palatine hill. 
 
 But there were also other reasons for this marriage besides 
 mutual infatuation. Livia represented the quintessence of the 
 ancient aristocracy of Rome, in which city the old nobility 
 formed a strictly fenced order, intensely proud of its ancestry, 
 and greatly venerated by the Roman people. Octavius, on 
 the other hand, could only boast a middle-class descent, and 
 even the Julian family into which he had been adopted, wealthy 
 though they were, could not compete as regards the claims of 
 long descent with the exalted Claudian family. It was 
 therefore highly important for Octavius at this stage m his 
 career to seize the opportunity which presented itself of ally- 
 ing himself to the noblest family in Rome. It is more difficult 
 to understand the motives of the Claudian family in agreeing 
 to this marriage ; but that family were probably actuated by 
 foreseeing that Octavius was the coming man, and by a desire 
 to retrieve, through the tact and intellectual acuteness of a 
 woman, the political influence which they had lost by the 
 defeat of their party in the civil war. 
 
 And well did Livia throughout her life justify the confidence 
 thus reposed in her both by her own family and by Octavius. 
 In the exalted position to which ten years later she attained by 
 Octavius becoming emperor she gave a notable example of tact, 
 good sense, moderation, and fitting conduct in a high position, 
 and the gradual and highly successful pacification of the 
 angry passions resulting from years of civil war was to a very 
 large extent, and perhaps chiefly, due to her. The traditions 
 of the ancient Roman aristocracy taught her, even as an 
 empress, to direct personally the affairs of her household, so 
 that we read of her superintending the weaving-rooms, giving 
 out the wool to the slaves and seeing that they did not waste it. 
 
 It 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
30 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 and even sometimes taking part in this work with her own 
 hands.i In the eyes of the ancient aristocracy of Rome for a 
 lady not to know how to do such work would have been as 
 contemptible as for a general not to know how to use the 
 weapons with which his soldiers were armed ; though a newer 
 nobiUty were beginning to arise who as nouveaux riches had 
 other ideas. But while the traditions of her ancient house 
 taught Livia to act thus, those traditions also taught her to 
 share in the work of her husband. Thus Livia, unobtrusively, 
 took no small part in the politics of the time, and through her 
 influence with Octavius, combined with the fact that she 
 belonged to a family which had taken a leading part on the 
 RepubUcan side, was able to help much by her moderate 
 counsels towards aUaying the hostile feelings caUed forth by 
 the civil war. Octavius freely sought her advice, and we are 
 told would not take any important decision without consulting 
 
 The admiration with which Octavius regarded Livia's 
 character and abilities was shown when, about twenty years 
 after their marriage, he introduced several laws regarding 
 marriage and the restraint of the growing extravagance of the 
 wealthy families ; on which occasion he made in the Senate 
 a long speech in which he detailed Livia's method of manag- 
 mg her household, her mode of life, her amusements, her dress, 
 and her expenditure, and held up the conduct of this lady of 
 the most exalted descent as a model for the ladies of Rome. 
 Nor did any one consider his speech unfitting, the admiration 
 for Livia among her contemporaries being universal, personify- 
 ing as she did that which long tradition had made in the eyes 
 of the Romans the perfect type of a great lady. Speaking of 
 her, Signor Ferrero says :— '* She was assuredly one of the most 
 perfect models of that lady of high society whom the Romans 
 in all the years of their long and tempestuous history never 
 ceased to admire." * 
 
 About two years after Livia's marriage to Octavius the 
 latter had to leave Rome to carry on the war against Sextus 
 
 1 We are told that Octavius, after he became the emperor Augustus, 
 would never wear any other togas than those wliich had been woven 
 by Livia. 
 
 « Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars, pp. 67-68. 
 
 LIVIA'S SONS 
 
 31 
 
 Pompeius, followed by his two years' campaign in Ulyricum, 
 in which he was twice wounded ; he had again to leave Livia 
 in B.C. 32 for his campaign against Marc Antony, and again in 
 B.C. 31 for his expedition to Alexandria, followed by the annex- 
 ation of Egypt. But in B.C. 28, when Livia was twenty-nine, 
 he returned in triumph from Egypt as the master of the 
 whole civilized world, and Livia became an empress, the first 
 of all empresses.^ Thereupon she and Octavius proceeded to 
 occupy the palace which he had some time before begun to 
 build on the Palatine hill, and which was now enlarged in 
 design and its adornment in various ways (including the 
 collection therein of many works of Greek art) begun. And 
 it is certain that in the arrangements for this adornment of the 
 first imperial palace Livia, with her strong artistic tastes,* 
 took a very prominent part. 
 
 By this time Livia's two boys were respectively fourteen 
 and ten years old. Livia brought them up with all the tra- 
 ditional style of education customary in the Claudian family, 
 seeking to make them worthy representatives of their great 
 ancestors who had for many generations been famed for all 
 those virtues which the Romans most cherished. And the 
 two boys as they grew up promised to be fine examples of the 
 Claudian race ; the elder of them, Tiberius, quiet and reserved, 
 and even at that age beginning to have ideals as to what it 
 behoved him to be like as a descendant of the time-honoured 
 Claudian family ; the younger of them, Drusus, a boy of a 
 most engaging disposition, and a general favourite with all in 
 the palace. 
 
 But there was one bitter drop in Livia's cup of happiness. 
 During the ten years which had passed since their marriage 
 no child had been bom to her and Octavius (now Augustus), 
 a grief all the greater to Livia since it involved the mortifica- 
 tion of knowing that if she and Augustus had no children the 
 line of the Caesars would be continued by Julia, the daughter 
 of her implacable enemy the divorced Scribonia, instead of 
 by any children of her own. Moreover the party surrounding 
 
 ^ The title " Imperator,*' which we convert into " Emperor," being 
 a military one, had no feminine equivalent ; and the title which Livia, 
 and all empresses after her, bore was that of " Augusta." 
 
 2 See pp. 36-37. 
 
32 
 
 AUGUSTUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I] 
 
 LIVIA'S MORTIFICATION 
 
 33 
 
 m 
 
 Scribonia heaped unceasingly upon Livia's head virulent 
 abuse and calumny, which, though hidden, was none the 
 less hard to endure, even though she was secure in the 
 affections of Augustus and in the exalted position she had 
 attained. 
 
 Then followed five years, during which Livia, jealous of the 
 influence of Marcus Agrippa over her husband, was chiefly 
 occupied in endeavours to counteract it, and to drive Agrippa 
 from Rome. In this she at length succeeded, but only tem- 
 porarily. A year later, in B.C. 23, when Livia was thirty-five, 
 Augustus recalled Agrippa, and gave his and Scribonia's 
 daughter Julia to him in marriage. During the next ten 
 years Livia's chief aim became the advancement of her two 
 sons, Tiberius and Drusus, both of whom were given high 
 commands in the army at a very early age. 
 
 Livia's two sons grew up fine young men. They were both 
 of them thorough representatives of the Claudian family, 
 handsome, brave, and full of ability, and ere long became the 
 most prominent men among the Romans. The younger of 
 them, Drusus, with a genial, open nature, was a universal 
 favourite, and immensely popular with the people. The elder 
 of the two brothers, Tiberius, inheriting in a strong degree the 
 old Roman type of character which his ancestors had so often 
 displayed, and forming in his mind as he grew up a high ideal 
 of the principles of conduct which ought to govern a Roman 
 placed in a high position, upright, austere, and just, but proud 
 and reserved, was little understood by any one except his 
 mother, and gained none of the popularity which was showered 
 upon his brother. This however affected Tiberius little, 
 since, true to the sentiments which he had inherited, he des- 
 pised popularity. Drusus when he was twenty-two was 
 married in B.C. 16 to Antonia, then nineteen, the attractive 
 daughter of Marc Antony and Augustus' sister Octavia. An- 
 tonia, sensible, modest, and virtuous, was admired by all Rome 
 for her charming character, and this marriage was felt to be an 
 ideal one, Drusus and Antonia being to the Romans the model 
 of a devoted pair of lovers, and their affection becoming pro- 
 verbial. In B.C. 14 Tiberius, then twenty -eight, was married 
 to Pomponia Vipsania, the daughter of Marcus Agrippa by his 
 first wife, and this marriage also was an intensely happy one, 
 
 until it was forcibly and cruelly brought to an end for political 
 reasons. 
 
 In B.C. 12, when Livia was forty-six (her son Tiberius being 
 then thirty, and her son Drusus twenty-six), Marcus Agrippa, 
 her perpetual rival in Augustus' regard, died. But Livia had 
 at the same time to endure the mortification which she had all 
 along dreaded. Augustus, being by this time obliged to 
 abandon any hope of a son to succeed him, was forced to 
 adopt the sons of his daughter Julia by Agrippa, and the 
 two elder of them, Caius Agrippa and Lucius Agrippa (then 
 respectively seven and six years old), were formally adopted 
 by Augustus as his heirs, and given the names of Caius Caesar 
 and Lucius Caesar. This meant a triumph for the party of 
 Scribonia, which they did not fail to make Livia feel at every 
 turn. At the same time Augustus, to aUay this discord, very 
 cruelly forced her son Tiberius to divorce his much loved wife 
 Pomponia Vipsania and marry Julia, Agrippa's widow, i 
 Whether Augustus took this action against Livia's wishes, or at 
 her suggestion, is not apparent, but that it could have been at 
 her suggestion seems very improbable under the circmn- 
 stances. Three years later, in B.C. 9, Livia had to mourn the 
 death, at the age of twenty-nine, of her beloved younger son, 
 Drusus,2 who had covered himself with glory in his successful 
 campaigns in Germany, and whose death was a national sorrow. 
 To his young wife Antonia ^ the blow was so great that she con- 
 tinued during the whole of the remaining forty-four years of her 
 life unmarried, refusing to obey the law which required her 
 to re-marry. She was left with three children, at this time 
 respectively six years, three years, and one year old. 
 
 In A.D. 1, when Livia was fifty-eight, the scandals which 
 had long been created by Julia at last came to the knowledge 
 of Augustus, whereupon ensued much family trouble, ending 
 with the banishment of Julia to the island of Pandataria.* 
 It speaks well for Livia that though Scribonia and her 
 
 1 Page 11. 
 
 * Plate VI. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 » Plate VII. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gaUery, Florence. 
 
 * The island of Pandataria, to which so many members of the family 
 of the Caesars were at different times banished, often as a preliminary 
 to their murder, Ues in the narrow part of the Mediterranean, between 
 the coast of Tunis and the southern coast of Sicily. 
 
 E.w. 
 
 D 
 
CHAP. 
 
 34 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MaiUrs other than religion) 
 
 daughter Julia headed a faction ever showing animosity 
 towards her, she never, during all these twelve years, sought 
 to inform Augustus of Julia's misdemeanours. In the follow- 
 ing year (a.d. 2) Julia's son Lucius Caesar died at Marseilles, 
 his death being followed eighteen months later by that 
 of his elder brother Caius Caesar, who died in Lycia from a 
 wound received in battle against the Parthians, and it then 
 became evident that Livia's son Tiberius must succeed Augus- 
 tus. Five years later occurred the disaster of the destruction 
 of Varus's legions, and Livia's chief anxiety became the de- 
 pressed condition of mind which gradually came over her 
 husband at these various private and public misfortunes. 
 At length in a.d. 14, when Livia was seventy- two, Augustus 
 died while he and she were at Nola, and her son Tiberius became 
 emperor. 
 
 The remaining fifteen years of Livia's life were not happy. 
 Having so long been accustomed to exercise much valuable 
 and beneficent influence over Augustus she endeavoured to 
 do the same in the case of her son Tiberius, often protecting 
 persons who had incurred his condemnation, or whom he with 
 his stern sense of justice considered ought not to receive the 
 protection of the emperor, and disagreements between herself 
 and her son were consequently frequent. At length owing to 
 these disagreements Livia in a.d. 23, when she was eighty-one, 
 removed from the palace, and returned to live in her own small 
 house near it, where more than sixty years before she had 
 lived with Tiberius Claudius, and from which she had departed 
 to marry Octavius, in days when there was no idea of his 
 becoming the sole ruler over the Roman world. Four years 
 later Tiberius removed from Rome to Capreae, and at his 
 desire Livia, then eighty-five, returned to live in the new 
 palace which he had built. She never saw him again. After 
 Hving in the palace of Tiberius for two years, Livia, who in her 
 long life had seen such momentous changes occur as regards 
 Rome's dominions, died in a.d. 29 at the age of eighty-seven, 
 her ashes being placed beside those of Augustus in his mauso- 
 leum.* 
 
 Great as is the contrast which Augustus offers to most of his 
 
 ^ Regarding the temple erected to the memory of Augustus and 
 Livia at Vienne, in Gaul, see Chap. Ill, p. 97 (footnote). 
 
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 rr AT E VI. 
 
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 Drusus, younger son of LlVIA. 
 
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 Anton I A, wife of Drusus. 
 
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 l^Risrs, ^■^)^^(■,l■.K son of l.ixiA, 
 
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 I'''i!>iiif-int-! Ill //•<■ ('":-.' -,<(//(■/■;■, Il'itii 
 
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PLATE Vlir. 
 
 LiviA, WIFE OF Augustus. 
 Portrait-bust in the Vffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 [Alinari 
 
MAI! \ III 
 
 I i\ ! \ \\ n 1 111 \ 
 
 \ I IS \U[ 
 
 I X I r-> 
 
LIVIA'S CHARACTER 
 
 35 
 
 successors, Livia presents no less a contrast to most of the 
 subsequent empresses. In the highly corrupt society of that 
 age she lived for the whole of her long married life with Au- 
 gustus without any scandal being ever attached to her name, 
 though her various attractions must have subjected her to 
 many temptations. Her example was a standing protest 
 against the lax morality of her time. And it is a strong proof 
 of her high character that in an age when divorce was so fre- 
 quent and so lightly carried out she remained for fifty-two years 
 the wife of Augustus. When once asked how she contrived 
 so long to retain his affection she is said to have replied, " My 
 secret is very simple ; I have made it the study of my life to 
 please him, and I have never shown any indiscreet curiosity 
 with regard to his public or private affairs." She exercised 
 an influence of the best kind over him, and her wise and tem- 
 perate counsels had no small part in maintaining the peace 
 and prosperity of Augustus' reign. 
 
 But though all this has never been denied, and though this 
 character of Livia was that recognized by her contemporaries, 
 the bitter enmity nourished by the divorced Scribonia against 
 the woman for whose sake she had been cast aside eventually 
 caused a false picture to be painted of Livia long after her 
 death. An undjdng animosity was felt against Livia and her 
 sons by Scribonia and her descendants, and one of the latter, 
 Agrippina the younger, wrote long afterwards a series of 
 memoirs which blackened the character of Livia and her son 
 Tiberius in every way, and declared that Livia had caused 
 Julia's sons to be murdered ^ in order to gain the throne for 
 Tiberius. And these memoirs became, ninety years later, 
 the source of statements regarding Livia which, though now 
 shown to be false, obtained credit for many centuries.* 
 
 One prominent characteristic in Livia ^ was her generosity 
 and humane disposition. She was noted for her liberality in 
 regard to money, and at her own cost she brought up many 
 orphan children, gave dowries to girls belonging to respectable 
 families who were badly provided for and who without such 
 
 ^ Though one had died at Marseilles and the other in battle against 
 the Peirthians. 
 
 • See Chap. II, p. 47. 
 
 * Plate VIII, Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gaUery, Florence, 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 36 
 
 AUGUSTUS (MatUrS other than religion) 
 
 N 
 
 !! 
 
 dowries had no chance of an honourable marriage, and per- 
 formed many other charitable works. We constantly find her 
 exercismg her great influence with Augustus to plead on behalf 
 of this or that person, inducing him to overlook offences, and 
 urging him to moderate courses of action. Again, the causes 
 of her disagreements with her son Tiberius after he became 
 emperor were all of them in connection with her protection of 
 various persons from punishment. And it is noteworthy that 
 with her death the quality of clemency seems to disappear from 
 the occupants of the imperial throne for nearly 300 years. 
 Every evidence in fact shows Livia to have been wise, chaste, 
 humane, and charitable. She was in regard to the next three 
 centuries not only the first, but the best, of all the empresses. 
 Three buildings specially connected with Livia still remain 
 at Rome, which is not the case with any other empress. The 
 first of these is her house ^ on the Palatine hill, in which she 
 lived with her first husband, Tiberius Claudius. It is the 
 simple house of an ordinary patrician and is the only house of 
 that class in the midst of the palaces of the Caesars. It stands 
 closely penned in between the palace afterwards built by 
 Tiberius and the still later palace built by the Flavian emperors, 
 the latter adjoining the palace built by Augustus in which 
 Livia passed the whole of the forty-two years during which 
 she was empress. The preservation of the house under these 
 circumstances can apparently only have been due to Livia's 
 personal wish that it should not be destroyed. The house 
 has a small vestibule, with the remains of a mosaic floor. 
 This vestibule leads into a small atrium, into which open the 
 three principal rooms ; the walls of these rooms are decorated 
 with beautiful paintings by the best Greek artists, including 
 a group of Mercury, lo, and Argus, another of Galatea and 
 Polyhymnia, a view of a Roman house, a lady at her toilet, 
 wreaths of flowers and fruit, and similar subjects. From the 
 other side of the court opens the triclinium (or dining-room), 
 also decorated in the same way. Behind is a peristyle, into 
 which open the kitchen, bath and other rooms. The back 
 
 1 The whole of the buildings on the Palatine hill became in the 
 course of centuries buried in the m8wss of d6bris created by the de- 
 struction of all the palaces of the Caesars, and this house of Li\Ta has 
 only in recent times been excavated. 
 
 THE VILLA OF LIVIA 
 
 37 
 
 part of the house was three stories high, and divided into a 
 number of small bedrooms. The inscriptions on the leaden 
 waterpipes of the house enabled it to be recognized as that of 
 Tiberius Claudius, Livia's first husband. Here Livia's first 
 son was bom ; here she planned to persuade Tiberius Claudius 
 to give her up to Octavius ; and to this house she returned 
 for a time sixty-one years afterwards when she removed from 
 the imperial palace owing to disagreements with her son. 
 
 The second building specially connected with Livia is her 
 country villa on the Flaminian Way, situated on a small hill 
 at a distance of about six miles from Rome. It is much ruined, 
 but the small atrium remains, and this is particularly charming 
 in character. The walls are paiuted so as to give the illusion 
 that the hall is an open space in the midst of a garden, with 
 flowers of various kinds in the foreground, and, behind these, 
 rosebushes, pomegranates, and fir trees, and at the back a 
 forest glade with olive trees and poplars, while birds are flying 
 among the trees, picking at the fruit, and chasing each other. 
 All shows a highly artistic taste and strong admiration for 
 nature. From this villa and her house on the Palatine hill 
 it is evident that wherever Livia took up her abode she had her 
 rooms artistically decorated by the best Greek artists, and 
 from the remains in these two houses we may form some idea 
 of what appearance her apartments in the palace of Augustus 
 must have presented. It was in this country villa of Livia's 
 that the finest statue which exists of Augustus ^ was found, 
 kept there by her to remind her of him during his absence on 
 his campaigns, and specially interesting as being the repre- 
 sentation which was thought most like him by Livia. 
 
 The third building connected with Livia is the tomb of her 
 principal servants. Livia after becoming empress maintained 
 considerable state, as this " Tomb of the Freedmen of Livia " 
 testifies. It is situated on the Appian Way, near the bridge 
 over the Almo, and contains in six chambers the remains of no 
 less than 6000 of her servants, of whom as many as 600 were 
 her personal attendants. These included (as can be seen by 
 the inscriptions), the keeper of her armchair, the keeper of her 
 lap-dog, the caretaker of her pictures, and others charged with 
 
 * That shown in Plate I. 
 
 h 
 
CHAP. 
 
 38 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 PAGAN RELIGION REVIVED 
 
 39 
 
 !l 
 
 similar duties. Reading these inscriptions it is difficult to 
 realize that it was all 1900 years ago. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 At the time that Augustus began to reign the state of 
 things in regard to religion throughout the civilized worid was 
 peculiar, and unlike any that had preceded it. Rome, in 
 conquering Greece, had been conquered by her captive in all 
 matters relating to the intellect. In military affairs, in organiz- 
 ation, in the judicious administration of a wide dominion, in 
 law, and in the construction of great public works, the Roman 
 excelled the Greek, but in purely intellectual matters the 
 latter took the lead ; and Greek art, Greek culture, and Greek 
 ideas in philosophy and religion had been everywhere adopted 
 by the educated portion of mankind. This supremacy of 
 Greek ideas had produced the result that, omitting the Jews, 
 all the educated classes of the Roman empire had adopted, in 
 place of religion, certain systems of Greek philosophy, the 
 three chiefly in vogue being the Epicurean, the Stoic, and the 
 Platonic philosophies.* 
 
 Thus at the beginning of the reign of Augustus what is 
 ordinarily called religion had become almost non-existent. 
 
 1 The Epicurean. This system held that the highest good was 
 happiness, and that the wise man should pursue happiness in a well- 
 regulated enjoyment of all the pleasures the world affords. Its only 
 rule was to seek the highest pleasure, and not to indulge therein to 
 such excess as to blunt the keen edge of enjoyment. 
 
 The Stoic. This system was based on Pantheism. It held that all 
 existence has emanated from a universal spirit, and is absorbed into 
 it again, like waves of the sea. It held that evil and good are both 
 necessary forms of this universal life ; that the wise meui holds him- 
 self superior to all the accidents of life ; that he has the same divine 
 life as the gods ; that it is manifested in him for a little while, and then 
 re-absorbed into the whole, and given forth again in fresh individuals. 
 
 The PUUonic. This, the profoundest of the three systems, taught 
 the existence of one Supreme Spirit, the maker and ruler of the uni- 
 verse. It held that man was not a passing phantom, but a permanent 
 individual ; that there was a sp€urk of divinity in him which was purify- 
 ing him and drawing him up to a higher mode of existence. It taught a 
 belief in virtue and vice ; virtue pleasing to God, and preparing man 
 for a happy future ; vice displeasing to God, and earning for man a 
 miserable future^ 
 
 The ancient religions of the various races included in the Roman 
 empire were still followed by the uneducated, but being only 
 adhered to by this class had begun to fall into considerable 
 disrepute, while the men of business, arms, literature, and the 
 arts either troubled their heads not at all on such matters, or 
 contented themselves with endless speculations, evolving 
 theories of their own, or adopting one or other of the systems of 
 philosophy in vogue. 
 
 Augustus, with a purely political object, on becoming em- 
 peror adopted a policy which made a material change in the 
 position of the ancient religion of Rome, strengthening it 
 greatly, and leaving it at the close of his reign in the most 
 flourishing condition it ever attained. The low esteem into 
 which the ancient religion had lapsed had caused a considerable 
 decline. Many temples had fallen into decay for want of 
 support from the wealthy, the services of the temples were 
 maintained in a meagre fashion, and all the large class of 
 persons who ministered in various ways in the carrying on of 
 those services were becoming poverty-stricken. When this 
 was the case in regard to a rehgion closely bound up with the 
 long and glorious career of the Romans, it was palpable that 
 such a falling off in the estimation in which that religion was 
 held could not but have a political effect upon a race accus- 
 tomed for seven hundred years to regard all their successes 
 as the direct work of the gods of Rome, and into whose social 
 customs that religion entered at every step. 
 
 Augustus set himself vigorously to reverse all this. As a 
 part of his efforts for the consolidation of the Roman domi- 
 nions into a firm and enduring empire, it became one of his 
 chief objects to restore the reverence for the ancient religion, 
 and to place the worship of the gods of Rome on a firm political 
 basis. As one item in this process he built or rebuilt temples 
 in all directions, endowing them with funds for their support. 
 The famous " Testament of Augustus," the original of which 
 was engraved outside his mausoleum, containing a list of all 
 the great works done by him for the benefit of the empire 
 (a copy of which, carved in stone,^ was found at Ancyra, in 
 
 ^ Copies were sent to every province, but all except that at Ancyra 
 have perished. A full-sized reproduction of it has lately been placed 
 in the National Museum at Rome. 
 
 11 
 
Hi 
 
 Nil 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 40 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 Asia Minor), states that Augustus built or rebuilt as many as 
 eighty-two temples in Rome ; while Virgil declares that 300 
 temples were built in Rome during his reign. The most magni- 
 ficent of those built by Augustus himself was that erected by 
 him in the court of his own palace (p. 26) ; while the Pantheon, 
 built in the second year of his reign by his friend and minister 
 Agrippa, still remains to give evidence of the spirit mth which 
 he inspired others in this matter. 
 
 But Augustus did not confine himself merely to building and 
 endowing temples ; he placed himself at the head of the entire 
 system of national religion. The religious system connected 
 with the worship of the gods of Rome included a vast organ- 
 ization. The pantifices had the superintendence of the sacred 
 rites, and of the due performance of the religious ceremonies 
 in general. The flamines acted as the sacrificial priests of 
 particular temples, the chief of them being the Flamen Dialis, 
 or Priest of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, the temple 
 which was considered " the head of all the world," and where 
 were guarded the three sacred books of the Sibyl. The augurs 
 foretold the will of the gods from the flight of birds, lightnings, 
 plagues, and other indications. The salii were employed as 
 priestly dancers and singers. The Vestal Virgins (of whom 
 there were six) guarded the sacred Palladium,^ and were 
 charged with the care of the ever-burning fire in the temple of 
 Vesta.' At the summit of the whole system was the Pontifex 
 Maximus, the centre of all power in religious matters, and the 
 head of the great colleges of priests formed originally by King 
 Numa Pompilius (B.C. 714-672). The Pontifex Maximus held 
 his office for life, and besides his more strictly religious duties 
 was vested with the interpretation of the laws of religion 
 
 1 A figure of Pallas, supposed to have been brought from Troy by 
 Aeneas, and allowed to be seen by none but the Vestal Virgins and the 
 Pontifex Maximus. 
 
 • The Vestal Virgins stood higher in rank than any one else in the 
 State except the emperor (as Pontifex Maximus). They had numer- 
 ous and important privileges, had great influence in obtaining appoint- 
 ments to many offices, lived in a style of much splendour, were allowed 
 to drive through the streets of Rome in carriages, were preceded by a 
 lictor, and if they met a criminal on his way to execution had the power 
 of pardon. The honour of being a Vestal Virgin was eagerly sought. 
 VowB were for thirty years. If imfaithful to their vow of chastity 
 the punishment was burial alive. Such cases were very rare. 
 
 II 
 
 PONTIFEX MAXIMUS 
 
 41 
 
 (involving abnost every point connected with marriages, wills, 
 and similar family concerns), had charge of the calendar with 
 its complicated system of feast days, and supplied the Senate 
 with guidance in all those various matters where magisterial 
 duties and religious duties interpenetrated. Augustus, when 
 he had been reigning for sixteen years, himself assumed this 
 important office in which the whole religious system centred, 
 and from his time onwards it was always held by the emperors 
 up to the time of Gratian (375-383), who refused to adopt 
 it even as a title, considering it unsuitable for a Christian 
 emperor. 
 
 Augustus' own personal feeling regarding religion was differ- 
 ent from that of the majority of Romans of his day. Though 
 he bmlt so many temples, and raised the worship of the gods 
 of Rome to the highest level to which it ever attained, he does 
 not appear to have been a believer in the ancient religion. 
 But whereas most thinking men of his time adopted some form 
 of philosophy, this was not the case with Augustus ; he was 
 not an adherent of any of the philosophies of the time. Still 
 less had he any tendency towards the thoughtless kind of 
 Epicureanism which was fashionable among the lighter ele- 
 ments of Roman society when he began to reign ; so that he 
 stood very much alone in this matter of religion. The most 
 marked feature on this side of his character is his strong oppo- 
 sition to the lax morality of the day ; he was a stern foe to all 
 departure from the strait-laced discipline in morals which 
 had obtained among the ancient Romans of the earlier 
 republican times. 
 
 With Augustus began the custom of giving divine honours 
 to the emperor even during his life. Whether or not this 
 custom had its origin in any expression by him of a desire for 
 such honours, the name he had chosen certainly was calculated 
 to prompt this idea of divinity. The word " Augustus *' 
 had never before been borne as a name or title, but hitherto 
 had been an epithet applied only to the most sacred things. 
 The temples were august ; the rites of the gods were august ; 
 and the word itself had its derivation from the sacred auguries. 
 So that when during Augustus' reign the poets began to sug- 
 gest that he represented the majesty of the Roman Empire, a 
 majestic result of the favour of the gods who were themselves 
 
 
Il 
 
 M 
 
 42 
 
 AUGUSTUS {MtMtUra concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 honoured when honour was paid to their handiwork, and when 
 those poets suggested that on this account temples and altars 
 should be raised to the emperor, men saw nothing incongruous 
 in such an idea, and the custom soon took root as a mode of 
 paymg honour to the majesty of Rome. As a consequence 
 there was built one of the finest temples in the city, " the 
 Temple of the Divine Augustus," a large part of the ruins of 
 which still remain to attest its grandeur (Plate III). 
 
 In the year of the Roman era a.xj.c. 750,^ the twenty-fourth 
 year of the reign of Augustus, an event occurred in the 
 Roman province of Judaea destined to revolutionize the 
 world in religious matters. This was the birth of Christ at 
 the small town of Bethlehem.^ In that year a general census 
 of the whole empire (called in the New Testament " the tax- 
 ing ") was ordered by Augustus ; and it was due to this census 
 that Christ was born at Bethlehem in Judaea instead of at 
 Nazareth in Galilee. Herod the Great, as already noted, 
 died in this same year (see Appendix II). 
 
 Three things in the circumstances of the time appeared to 
 prepare the world for this birth of Christ, for the promulgation 
 of the fact, and for the spread later on of the Christian 
 religion : — 
 
 (i) The whole civilized world having been brought under 
 one government, this causing a cessation of inter- 
 national wars, 
 (ii) The excellent system of communications created by the 
 
 great Roman roads, 
 (iii) The Greek language having become universal ; that 
 language being also a more perfect vehicle for the 
 expression of the truths of religion than any other. 
 These three things were all in existence only at this epoch ; 
 
 * This year corresponds to B.C. 4, owing to a mistake of the early 
 chronologists which could not afterwards be rectified. 
 
 • " O little town of Bethlehem 
 
 How still we see thee lie. 
 
 Above thy deep and dreamless sleep 
 
 The silent stars go by. 
 
 Yet in thy d€urk streets shineth 
 
 The everlcisting Light." 
 
 If 
 
 1] 
 
 THE VISION OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 43 
 
 and as far as one can see the knowledge of Christianity could 
 never have been spread as it was, over so many different races, 
 had matters been otherwise. 
 
 Towards the latter end of his life Augustus became a prey 
 to serious depression, owing, we are told, to presentiments of 
 some great change impending destined to destroy all that he 
 had done, and that these had their origin in some commimi- 
 cation that he received from the oracle at Delphi. History 
 does not tell us more about this mysterious depression, 
 but in connection with it we have a curious legend, and also 
 a curious fact still existing among the buildings of Rome. 
 The legend is that when the Senate proposed to elevate him 
 to the rank of a god, Augustus, being in the Temple of Jupiter 
 on the hill of the Capitol, saw a vision of a virgin standing 
 upon an altar, holding in her arms a man-child ; that 
 he thereupon consulted the Cumsean Sibyl, who replied in 
 verse that a king should come from heaven and be born of a 
 virgin. And the curious fact referred to is that in the church 
 called the AracoeH, which stands on the site of the Temple of 
 Jupiter, there is an altar which encloses an ancient altar, 
 declared to have been erected in the Temple of Jupiter by 
 Augustus, which bears the inscription " Ara Primogeniti 
 Dei " (the altar of the first-born God) ; from the existence 
 of which altar this church has the name which it has always 
 borne of " Aracoeli," the Altar of Heaven. 
 
i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 TIBERIUS 
 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 A.D. 14—37 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THERE now follow four reigns, those of Tiberius, Caligula, 
 Claudius, and Nero (covering the years a.d. 14-68), 
 diuing which, while the empire remained practically at rest, 
 it was the very reverse in regard to the imperial family, in 
 which during almost the whole of this period a violent family 
 feud continued, creating one tragic incident after another ; 
 so that the history of the time becomes chiefly that of the 
 family of the Caesars. And in reading that history it must 
 throughout be borne in mind that these were for the most part 
 secret family affairs, which were not at the time known to the 
 outside public (though perhaps guessed at, and forming the 
 ground of innumerable rumours), and which only became public 
 property long afterwards. 
 
 In the present day the view held of the emperor Tiberius 
 has undergone a complete change from that formerly accepted. 
 This depicted the stainless, upright, and austere Tiberius as a 
 monster of iniquity who concealed his true character for fifty- 
 six years, and was based chiefly upon the writings of the 
 historian Tacitus,^ who wrote about eighty years after Tiberius' 
 death. But the whole subject has in the present day been 
 studied much more deeply than was the case in former gener- 
 ations, and the critical examination to which the methods of 
 
 1 See Note B (p. 271). 
 44 
 
 CHAP, n] 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF RHETORIC 
 
 45 
 
 Tacitus in the case of the emperor Tiberius have in recent years 
 been subjected has resulted in the Tacitsean Tiberius being 
 shown to be an entirely fancy picture, one absolutely false to 
 the real Tiberius. 
 
 Tacitus is a historian who has been highly honoured by 
 mankind, and justly so ;^ but in regard to Tiberius his accuracy 
 has been gravely impugned. In this case he had a special 
 theory to enunciate, and his favourite science of Rhetoric and 
 the principles imbibed from Cicero and Quintilian had taught 
 him to be without scruples when that was the case. As has 
 recently been pointed out by Mr. Spencer Jerome, ^ Tacitus is 
 not in this case in reality writing history at all, as we imder- 
 stand the word, but with a particular object in view is following 
 the " historiographic method " of Rhetoric as laid down by 
 such masters in that science as Cicero and Quintilian.^ Writing 
 as he did in the reign of Trajan, Tacitus seems to have felt,* 
 like his friend Pliny, that the most forcible way of showing 
 appreciation of Trajan was to denounce all his predecessors as 
 tyrants. Caligula, Claudius, and Nero sufficiently proclaimed 
 the fact by their actions ; it was otherwise in the case of the 
 stainless and upright Tiberius. Tacitus therefore employed 
 all his art to show that Tiberius also was a tyrant ; and regard- 
 less of many evidences recorded by himself which militate 
 against his theory,^ and following all the rules as laid down 
 
 * See pp. 73-74. 2 g^e Appendix III. 
 
 3 Roman education from the later times of the Republic was 
 devoted almost exclusively to the study of Rhetoric. To use beautiful 
 language effectively, regardless of the nature, value, or truth of the 
 ideas conveyed by it, became a passion wliich dominated men through- 
 out their lives. The object of this training given by the Roman edu- 
 cation was frankly avowed to be the production, not of truth, but of 
 the imitation of truth — of verisimihtude. The result naturally was 
 seriously to impair among the Romans the feeling for veracity and 
 sincerity ; as Merivale justly says, " the pernicious effects of this 
 solemn trifling seem to have perverted the moral sense of the Romans 
 more speedily than even their Uterary style." * See p. 218. 
 
 *> This also was in accordcuice with the rules of the science. It 
 laid down that it was dangerous to hide or slur over such evidences, 
 that they should be fully stated, and then their effect nuUified by a 
 sneer, or an innuendo, or a statement that the person did not mean 
 what he said. All of which methods Tacitus faithfully adopts in his 
 picture of Tiberius. 
 
 ,/" I 
 

 i 
 
 CHAF, 
 
 46 
 
 TIBERIUS {MaUera other than religioti) 
 
 for such cases by Quintilian ^ regarding the use of Lying as a 
 Fine Art, and the instructions of Cicero as to the production, 
 not of truth, but of the imitation of truth, he produces the 
 Tacitaean Tiberius. 
 
 Tacitus does this mainly by a series of skilfully contrived 
 generalizations which are glaringly out of accord with the 
 facts which he relates. ^ He follows this course unaffected by 
 the fact that the picture he was drawing of Tiberius was con- 
 tradicted by the statements of writers of every description 
 during the eighty years which had elapsed since the death of 
 that emperor. He has no hatred against Tiberius whatever ; 
 nor is he apparently misled by false information ; he is simply 
 (in his desire to evolve an elaborate compliment to Trajan) 
 following the rules of that which was the chief science of his 
 time, and of which he was an ardent devotee ; and that science 
 recommended this '* historiographic method " of treatment in 
 cases where the rhetorician desired to blacken the character 
 of some man against whom he could find nothing worthy of 
 blame.* 
 
 Nor was Tacitus without ample materials for drawing such a 
 
 ^ Nevertheless Quintilian was a great morsJ teacher according to 
 the standard of his time, giving a high example of seriousness, honour, 
 and a pure life to the young men whom he taught. He was the great- 
 est and best of all the Roman teachers, believing strongly in educa- 
 tion, moral influence, and a good environment in youth ; and it is 
 probable that his te€tching had a large share in forming the moral ideas 
 of the Antonine age. Pliny the younger was among his pupils, and is 
 loud in his praises. 
 
 * See Appendix III, in which the artful methods (so subtle that they 
 have deceived mankind for eighteen centuries) followed by Tacitus 
 in order to produce a picture of Tiberius such as would accord with 
 the theory that he was a cruel and profligate tyrant have been detailed. 
 
 ^ By this exposition of the methods of Tacitus by Mr. Spencer 
 Jerome the comment of the emperor Napoleon in regard to Tacitus 
 is shown to be much more correct than has hitherto been supposed. 
 Speaking to Cctcault, the French ambassador at Rome, regarding 
 Tacitus, Napoleon said : " Has there ever been a more unjust detrac- 
 tor of humanity ! To the simplest actions he attributes the most 
 criminal motives. He makes all the emperors seem the most pro- 
 found scoundrels, without showing in the least the wonderfiil genius 
 they possessed. His Annals are not a history of the empire, but an 
 account of the sccmdeds of Rome. And he, who talks ceaselessly of 
 informers, is the most shameless informer of them all." 
 
 I 
 
 n] 
 
 THE TACITAEAN TIBERIUS 
 
 47 
 
 picture of Tiberius if he desired to do so. In the secret records 
 of the imperial family, to which Trajan evidently gave Tacitus 
 access, was a monograph — the Memoirs of Agrippina the 
 younger — containing all that the most venompus malice of four 
 women, belonging to four successive generations, could invent 
 against the Claudian branch of the family, as represented by 
 Li via and her son Tiberius. All the animosity of the divorced 
 Scribonia against Augustus and Livia, all the malicious dislike 
 and dread felt by Scribonia's daughter Julia against Tiberius, 
 the husband of strict life who knew aU her shameful mis- 
 demeanours and scorned her in consequence, all the fierce 
 hatred nourished by Julia's daughter Agrippina the elder 
 against her step-father Tiberius, who she persisted in believ- 
 ing had poisoned her husband Germanicus,^ and all the 
 hatred felt by her daughter Agrippina the younger 2 against 
 that rival branch of the family which stood in the way of her 
 ambitious desires were piled up in these Memoirs of Agrippina 
 the younger, furnishing a mine from which Tacitus could draw 
 to any extent that he might desire. 
 
 Tacitus does not appear to have been misled by this mass 
 of vituperation. The Roman rhetorical school, taught to use 
 the most shameless scurrility, invective, and vilification with 
 absolute freedom, and instructed by Cicero that the use of such 
 language was, if well done, " facetious " and " urbane," 
 naturally attached no credit to such assertions when made 
 by others ; and Tacitus would appear to have taken this mass 
 of violent condemnation for what it was worth, looking upon 
 it as the venomous raging of a band of fiercely incensed women. 
 But nevertheless it suppHed him with an inexhaustible quarry 
 from which he could draw materials whenever he wished to 
 throw out a suspicious hint, a veiled allusion, or an innuendo 
 against Augustus, Livia, or Tiberius. And the Annals show 
 what frequent use he made in this way of the Memoirs of 
 Agrippina. The skilful manner in which Tacitus, by a series 
 of forcible and gloomy generalizations, for which he produces 
 no facts in support, and by an artful use of sneers and innuen- 
 does, has contrived to produce in the mind the general effect 
 that in regard to the reign of Tiberius one is reading the record 
 of a bloody tyranny when one is really reading nothing of the 
 
 1 Pages 64-66. * Chap. HI, pp. 104r-10a 
 
1 
 
 48 
 
 TIBERIUS {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 kind, is a masterpiece as an example of that science of Lying 
 as a Fine Art which had been taught by Qcero and Quintilian 
 under the name of Rhetoric. 
 
 Tiberius,! bom in b.c. 42, the elder son of Augustus' wife 
 Livia by her first husband Tiberius Claudius, was brought up 
 in the palace of Augustus, and from his earliest years was noted 
 for his unassuming character and reticent disposition. Through- 
 out his boyhood and youth he had to endure many slights, 
 owing to Augustus' preference for his more gay and light- 
 hearted younger brother, Drusus, and, after the latter's death, 
 for the sons of Julia ; and Tiberius, proud and diffident, slighted 
 by the court, and befriended only by his mother, became more 
 and more reserved as he grew up. From the time that he was 
 twenty until he was thirty-five he was engaged in constant 
 campaigns in every quarter of the empire, and earned great 
 distinction. When he was twenty-eight he married Pomponia 
 Vipsania,« to whom he was deeply attached, and who in the 
 following year bore him a son, to whom out of his love for his 
 brother he gave the name Drusus ; but after being married to 
 her for two years he was, in B.C. 12, forcibly divorced from her 
 to his intense grief ; and, while she was given to another hus- 
 band, Tiberius was forced by Augustus to marry the latter's 
 widowed daughter Julia, whom he had strong reason for dis- 
 liking, knowing her character as he did. In b.c. 7, when he 
 was thirty-five, two years after the death of his brother Drusus, 
 Tiberius retmned to Rome from his command on the Danube 
 frontier, but finding himself slighted at the court, and being 
 disgusted at the conduct of his wife Julia, whom he did not 
 dare either to divorce or denounce, he insisted, notwithstand- 
 ing the expostulations of Augustus and Livia, on retiring to 
 Rhodes to lead a life of literary leisure ; and there he remained 
 for eight years, until he was forty-three. 
 
 When he had been six years at Rhodes he requested per- 
 mission to return to Rome, but it was refused, presumably 
 owing to Julia's desire to keep him away from the court and 
 
 1 Plate IX. Tiberius at the age of eighteen. Portrait-bust in 
 the Lateran Museum, Rome. 
 
 • Plate X. Pomponia Vipsania, in the dress of a priestess of Isis. 
 Statue in the Naples Museum. 
 
i'^AlL. l.\. 
 
 m 
 
 Urugi. 
 
 Alinari. 
 
 Tiberius, ei-dkr son of Livia, at the age of eighteex 
 Porlrail-bust in the I.ateran museum, Rome. 
 
 Tiberius. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the L'ffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
ri A I I I \ , 
 
 Tll-.l- KH>«. 1.1 I 
 
 • Nil] Ll\ I \, A 1 i li !• A' .1 < M I 
 
 I N 
 
 II \ 1 1 1 
 
 I ! ; I 1 ■ I 
 
PLATE X. 
 
 [Brogi. 
 
 POMPONIA ViPSANIA, WIFE OF TiBERIUS ; IN THE DRESS OF A PRIESTESS OF IsiS 
 
 Statue in the Naples museum. 
 Found at Pompeii. 
 
r.'M 
 
 .\ 1 \ 
 
 \ ' r^ \ \ 1 \ \\ 
 
n] 
 
 HIS LONG SERVICES 
 
 49 
 
 to its being suggested to Augustus by her that he aimed at 
 supplanting her sons. When m a.d. 1 Julia's licentious 
 conduct at last brought upon her Augustus' condemnation and 
 her banishment, Tiberius, though divorced from her by the 
 emperor's order, interceded for her, obtained some ameHoration 
 of the conditions of her imprisonment, and insisted on giving 
 her the same allowance which he had been accustomed to 
 give her hitherto. But he never got over being torn from his 
 young wife Pomponia Vipsania when he was thirty, and after 
 he was divorced from JuHa when he was forty-three remained 
 unmarried for the ensuing thirty-six years of his life. In 
 A.D. 2 he was permitted to return from Rhodes, but the 
 influence of the JuHan party caused it to be laid down as a 
 condition that he abstained from taking part in any public 
 functions. Two years later, both of Juha's two elder sons being 
 dead, Tiberius was adopted by Augustus, who now began to 
 lean considerably upon his advice and assistance, and he was 
 shortly afterwards despatched to command the Roman armies 
 on the Danube frontier where trouble was brewing. 
 
 For the next eight years Tiberius was occupied in hard- 
 fought campaigns in Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Germany, gain- 
 ing still further distinction, especially for the way in which, 
 in A.D. 10-12, he retrieved in two successful campaigns the 
 honoiu: of Rome after the disaster to Varus' legions ; and in 
 A.D. 12, when he was fifty-four, he returned to Rome, where he 
 was awarded by the Senate the honour of a triumph. It is 
 recorded that on this occasion Tiberius for the first time 
 departed from the cruel custom that when the conqueror's 
 triumphal car reached the hill of the Capitol the principal 
 captive who had graced his triumph should be led away to 
 the prison of the TuUianum below the Capitol, and be there 
 strangled as the final act of the triumph. Tiberius rejected 
 this custom, refusing to allow Bato, the Pannonian chief, who, 
 chained to the conqueror's chariot, had followed it to this 
 point, to be thus treated, and instead sent him to live at Ra- 
 venna, bestowing various presents upon him.^ By this time 
 
 ^ Yet even Julius Caesar, during his triumph for the conquest of 
 Gaul, caused his gallant enemy Vercingetorix to be thus put to death. 
 And fifty-eight years after Tiberius' triimaph, Vespasian, in his triimiph 
 for the conquest of the Jews, similarly put to death Simon Bar Gioras, 
 the brave defender of Jerusalem. 
 
 H 
 
 E.W. 
 
 £ 
 
50 
 
 TIBERIUS {McUters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 i 
 
 Augustus had leamt Tiberius' value, and recognizing that he 
 was the only man in the family capable of succeeding him, 
 formaUy nominated him as his successor. He called him in 
 his letters " the only strength and stay of the empire/' and 
 developed a considerable affection for him notwithstanding 
 the difference in their characters, Augustus, with his easy 
 familiarity and good humour, not understanding the proud 
 reserved nature of Tiberius. Two years later Augustus died 
 at Nola, and Tiberius became emperor at the age of fifty-six. 
 
 In view of the false picture which has been drawn of Tiberius, 
 depicting him as a monster of wickedness who concealed the 
 fact from all the world for fifty-six years until he became 
 emperor, it is desirable to go into some detail regarding his 
 character and the influences which assisted in the production 
 of the fictitious picture of him which has been presented to us.^ 
 
 Tiberius was undoubtedly the best choice that any one could 
 have made as the man to rule the empire. In every depart- 
 ment in which he served before becoming emperor, and in every 
 act of his public life after that event, and notwithstanding all 
 the heavy disadvantages under which he laboured owing to the 
 strong ill-favour persistently maintained against him by the 
 adherents of the Julian party, he showed himself fitted above 
 all others to hold that office. And in the many speeches of his 
 in the Senate which even Tacitus records nothing is more 
 noticeable than the uniform dignity, fairness, good sense, 
 and ability which Tiberius displayed on all occasions, and 
 frequently in circumstances of the greatest difficulty. From 
 his youth, as already noted, he had set before himself a high 
 ideal of what a Roman in an exalted position ought to be like, 
 based upon the best tjrpes of the time of the Roman Republic. 
 To this ideal he rigidly adhered throughout his life, all his 
 actions displaying a firm desire to follow the aims which had 
 actuated the most honoured Romans of an earlier age. Abso- 
 lutely stainless in his private life, upright and scrupulously 
 just in all concerns of public life, and sternly opposed to all 
 extravagance, as well as to the servility towards the emperor 
 which was growing up, he set the Romans an example, bor- 
 
 ^ The two authorities for it are, Tewjitus, who wrote about eighty 
 years afterwards, and Suetonius, who followed Tacitus and wrote about 
 twenty years after him. 
 
 n] 
 
 DIFFICULTIES AS SECOND EMPEROR 
 
 51 
 
 rowed from the past, which only a few of them were ready to 
 adopt. And though this brought upon him unpopularity he 
 could afford to disregard it m view of his recognized ability 
 both as a commander in the field and as an administrator, 
 ability which on all occasions demonstrated him to be the 
 foremost Roman of his time. 
 
 Signor Ferrero, the well-known ItaKan historian, speaking 
 of hma, says :— '' Tiberius, the son of Livia, was a true Claudian, 
 the worthy heir of two ancient fines, an uncompromising 
 traditionafist, therefore a rigid and disdainful aristocrat, and a 
 soldier severe with others as with himself. He wished the 
 aristocracy to set the people an example of all the virtues 
 which had made Rome so great in peace and war— reUgious 
 piety, simpficity of customs, frugafity, family purity, and rigid 
 observance of aU the laws. The luxury and prodigality which 
 were becoming more and more prevalent among the young 
 nobifity had no fiercer enemy. He held that a man of high 
 lineage who spent his substance on jewels, on dress, and on 
 revels was a traitor to his country, and no one demanded with 
 stronger insistence that the important laws of the year B.C. 18, 
 the sumptuary law, and the laws on marriage and adultery,' 
 should be enforced with the greatest rigour."^ 
 
 But t^ere were four main forces arrayed against Tiberius 
 which made his task one of ahnost insuperable difficulty. In 
 the first place he was only the second of the emperors, and the 
 Romans had not yet come to regard that office in the fight 
 which afterwards became customary. Tiberius, the second 
 emperor, had in fact to meet the difficulties which under 
 ordinary circumstances would have faUen upon the first of the 
 emperors. No one wiU understand the first century of the 
 empire who fafis to realize how graduaUy the imperial dignity 
 grew out of the Repubfic, or who imagines that what Augustus 
 had done was to put an end to the Repubfic and set up in its 
 place an autocratic sovereignty similar to that held in the 
 4th century by Constantine the Great. The position of the 
 emperor was at first in many respects that of a president of 
 the Repubfic. At the same time, instead of the Senate showing, 
 as might have been expected, a disposition to watch jealously 
 
 II 
 
 4 
 
 1 Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars, p. 86. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 62 
 
 TIBERIUS {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 this growing importance of one of their number, the tendency 
 of the Senate, and stiU more of the people, was to be ever 
 exalting that position more and more into one of an autocracy, 
 significant of the majesty of Rome, and to use terms of adula- 
 tion in addressing the holder of the office. But while this 
 was the attitude of the Senate as a body, this did not prevent 
 the leading famihes of Rome from being intensely jealous of the 
 particular family which had gained this exalted position. 
 Rome had been for many centuries an aristocratic Republic, 
 in which all the families of that aristocracy considered them- 
 selves equals. These families were therefore the natural 
 enemies of one of their number which had exalted itself into 
 the dominant position now held by the family of the Caesars. 
 They revenged themselves by calumniating the members of 
 that family at every opportunity, and by subjecting to the 
 most extreme penalties any of its members who could be 
 shown to have contravened any of the severe Roman laws, 
 any case of the kind being tried by the Senate, which was 
 principally composed of members of these aristocratic families. 
 This feeling had lain more or less dormant during the time of 
 Augustus. The immense boon which the latter had conferred 
 upon the nation in putting an end to the miseries of civil war, 
 the extraordinary good fortune which had attended him, and 
 the many services which in the course of his long reign he had 
 rendered to the empire, caused Augustus during the latter 
 half of his reign to be an object of ahnost religious veneration.^ 
 But Tiberius had to maintain the imperial dignity without this 
 exceptional assistance, and to meet opposition which except 
 for this special reason would have fallen upon his predecessor ; 
 and throughout his reign the animosity of the aristocratic 
 families for the one of their number which had become thus 
 exalted over all others was a strong force arrayed against him 
 
 1 Though even Augiistus had to bow to this prevailing animosity 
 of the aristocratic famiUes on occasion. As, for instance, when his 
 daughter JnUa and her daughter of the same name were tried and 
 banished ; on both of which occasions a much more severe pimishment 
 was meted out by the Senate to these members of the imperial family 
 than in the case of other ladies of the aristocracy guilty of the same 
 offence. Had Augustus attempted to oppose these sentences it would 
 at ohce have been said that he made laws for others from which he 
 held himself and his family exempt. 
 
 n] 
 
 MYTH CREATED BY JULIAN BRANCH 53 
 
 at all times, and ready on every opportunity to create diffi- 
 culties in his path. Obviously under such circumstances 
 attempts upon his part to make the aristocracy set an example 
 of virtues which they were far from possessing were likely to 
 meet with strenuous opposition and to arouse fierce hatred 
 against him. 
 
 Secondly, Tiberius, with his high aims gathered from the 
 best traditions of Rome, was a stern foe to all oppression of 
 the people, and a rigid punisher of all who in any official 
 position offended in this respect. On the other hand many of 
 the privileges of the aristocracy tended to induce such oppres- 
 sion. This frequently brought hun into collision with them, 
 enhanced the animosity felt for him both as a reformer and 
 as the head of a family which had become unduly exalted, and 
 led the aristocracy to regard him as a tyrant whenever on 
 behalf of the people of this or that district he became an 
 opponent of cherished aristocratic privileges. 
 
 Thirdly, he belonged to the Claudian branch of the imperial 
 family, and not to the Julian branch. The Claudians and 
 Julians had been so closely connected since the marriage of 
 Augustus and Livia that they were regarded as one family. 
 But notwithstanding the far more exalted claims to distinction 
 which the Claudian family could boast as compared with 
 those possessed by the Julian family,^ a sort of myth was by 
 degrees created round the descendants of Augustus through 
 his daughter JuHa, and Tiberius not belonging to this heaven- 
 born race had the appearance, even though adopted as his 
 son and successor by Augustus (who himself was only an 
 adopted son of Julius Caesar), of being an intruder who had nd\ 
 right to the throne. This feeling was fanned on all occasions 
 by the Julian branch, who also inculcated an idea that they 
 were the upholders of the aristocracy, and that Tiberius on 
 the other hand was an opponent of the aristocratic principle 
 and favoured democratic tendencies. 
 
 Fourthly, it was his unavoidable misfortune to have as a 
 bitter enemy the vindictive Agrippina the elder,2 who, looking 
 upon herself as the representative of the Julian branch of the 
 
 ^ See Chap. I, pp. 28 and 29. 
 
 2 Tiberius' step-daughter, the daughter of his wife JuL'a by hor 
 former husband, Marcus Agrippa. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 \ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 54 
 
 TIBERIUS {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 ^ 
 
 family, and filled with malignant jealousy of him as belonging 
 to the Claudian branch, throughout his reign traduced his 
 character, misrepresented his every action, stirred up enemies 
 against him on every side, and handed on a legacy of falsehood 
 to her daughter Agrippina the younger, whose writings in the 
 next generation formed a mine from which in subsequent ages 
 those who desired to traduce Tiberius drew materials for that 
 purpose. 
 
 These four sources of antagonism made the task of Tiberius, 
 as the second of the Roman emperors, one of far greater diffi- 
 culty than had been experienced by Augustus, or than was 
 experienced by any of Tiberius' successors. With the result 
 that he who had known and loved Virgil, Horace, and Livy, 
 he who had grown up in a time when the dream of a great 
 restoration of the aristocracy (as the effect of the marriage of 
 Augustus and Livia, and of their unostentatious style of life) 
 was the favourite idea in Roman society and imbibed by him 
 from his earliest years, he who had formed the hope of bringing 
 about in his reign an actual realization of the vision pictured 
 by Livy of a great Senate, a glorious army, and a venerated 
 State, and who by his study of the best models of the past, by 
 his adoption of their principles, and by the abilities he had 
 displayed during forty years of varied service in every part 
 of the empire, was eminently capable of effecting such a real- 
 ization, was driven by these adverse conditions to abandon this 
 hope, and to be occupied throughout his long reign of twenty- 
 three years in a ceaseless and ignoble conflict the degradation 
 of which to one with such ideals was incalculable, and was 
 (as he showed) deeply felt by him. 
 
 Nevertheless Tiberius effected much. Though the writers 
 of the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, upon whom we have 
 chiefly to depend, concerned themselves almost wholly with 
 the scandals in Rome during his reign, being apparently un- 
 able to look beyond the city of Rome, they have not been able 
 to obscure the great work which Tiberius did for the empire. 
 Before coming to the throne he had proved his capacity in every 
 department of the State during a long course of years ; as a 
 general in many campaigns he was never defeated, thus giving 
 his soldiers the fullest confidence in him ; and his name was 
 respected in all the provinces where he had been employed. 
 
 n] 
 
 HIS FINANCIAL LIBERALITY 
 
 65 
 
 As emperor he increased this reputation. By a temperate 
 frontier policy he kept the empire at peace, and his reign 
 being thus free from wars he was able to give his whole attention 
 to the welfare of the people. He reduced taxation, rendering 
 the lives of the inhabitants of the empire contented and pros- 
 perous, and there is ample evidence that his reign was a period 
 of unusual happiness. Widely known to be severely strict 
 with any governors who oppressed the people, he thereby 
 preserved the latter from cruelty and injustice. His financial 
 administration was so successful that while reducing the bur- 
 dens of the people he was always able to give liberally in cases 
 of special distress, i He stedfastly maintained the adminis- 
 tration of the empire at the high level to which it had been 
 brought by Augustus. Finally, his scrupulous justice, pro- 
 tection of them from oppression, opposition to all extrava- 
 gance and ostentation, 2 and reliable character made him 
 honoured by the people of the empire at large, and though 
 he might be hated at Rome, he was loved in the provinces. 
 It was also Tiberius, proud as he was of his descent from that 
 Claudian family which was, with just right, the proudest family 
 in Rome, who yet said that a distinguished man was his own 
 ancestor.^ 
 
 His on^ defect was an impenetrable reserve. Owing partly 
 to the slights he had to endure as a boy, partly to the cruel 
 wrong he had been made to suffer when his young wife Pom- 
 ponia Vipsania was torn from him and given to another husband 
 while he was made to marry such a person as Julia, and partly 
 to his disdain for the ignoble sycophancy, falsehoods, detrac- 
 tion, and calumny which prevailed around him, the reserve 
 to which he was by nature inclined increased with his years, 
 causing him to become more and more a contrast to his pre- 
 decessor Augustus, and earning for him much unpopularity. 
 Moreover after the scandals created by his second wife Julia 
 he kept aloof as much as possible from society, especially 
 
 1 He gave a sum equal to £800,000 when certain cities in Asia were 
 ruined by an earthquake, and again gave the same sum in a.d. 36 (the 
 last year of his reign) for the reUef of the sufferers by a fire in 
 Rome. 
 
 * He would not allow temples or statues to be erected to himself. 
 ' Tacitus, AtmicUa, xi, 21. 
 
 
 I 
 
 14 
 
 
 i ! 
 
CHAP. 
 
 56 
 
 TIBERIUS {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 feminine society, often failing to take part in social functions 
 at which by custom his appearance was expected. 
 
 There was however one notable exception to this conduct 
 on Tiberius' part. Antonia, his sister-in-law/ the widow of 
 his brother Drusus, who after the latter's death, refusing to 
 re-marry, had retired to live in the palace of Augustus, occupy- 
 ing herself with bringing up her three children Germanicus, 
 Claudius, and Livia (or Livilla), was the one bright spot in 
 Tiberius' reign, the one refreshing example (after the death of 
 his mother Livia) of a personality differing widely from all 
 the ignoble individuals among whom his lot was cast. And 
 if anything further were required in order conclusively to 
 refute the description of this emperor given by Tacitus it is 
 supplied by the fact that Antonia, who has been universally 
 acknowledged by all ages as the noblest woman of her time, 
 was throughout life the close friend of Tiberius. She shared 
 all his aspirations, was the one person with whom he threw off 
 his habitual reserve, and was for over thirty years his firm 
 friend and counsellor. 
 
 With this exception however Tiberius, especially after the 
 death of his son Drusus, lived a more or less lonely life, his 
 natural reserve increasing until an unfathomable impenetra- 
 bility, which made all his thoughts a sealed book to those 
 aroimd him, became his chief characteristic, one which brought 
 upon him both dislike and suspicion. Respected and supremely 
 feared, he was never in the least imderstood ; and this strongly 
 assisted the manoeuvres of those who desired to misrepresent 
 as much as possible his actions and motives. 
 
 Nevertheless the literary works of various kinds of writers 
 during sixty years after his death fail to agree with the picture 
 of him drawn in the reign of Trajan by Tacitus, and show that 
 Tiberius was uniformly respected, both by his contemporaries 
 and by those who lived in the next generation. In fact, how 
 could it be otherwise in the case of one who had such a record, 
 and when the emperors with whom such writers had neces- 
 sarily to compare him included Caligula, Claudius, Nero, 
 Vitellius, and Domitian ? Of all the emperors who succeeded 
 him up to the time of Trajan Vespasian was the only one who 
 could be compared in any way with Tiberius, and the latter 
 
 1 See Chap. I, p. 33. 
 
 nl 
 
 DELATORS 
 
 57 
 
 both reigned more than twice as long and also could show a 
 much better record as regards justice and humanity than 
 Vespasian. ^ 
 
 Tiberius, with his stem following of ancient Roman models, 
 was immensely strict in regard to all offences against the State ; 
 and this was the part of his policy which made him most dis- 
 liked in Rome. He greatly extended the scope of the law of 
 majestas (crimes against the State), including within its scope 
 everything tending to bring the State, or himself as its repre- 
 sentative, into contempt. The Romans had grown exceed- 
 ingly lax in such matters, and to such a society this extreme 
 severity was all the more terrible. This was aggravated by 
 the encouragement he gave to delators, or informers of offences 
 against the laws. Augustus had encouraged delators by 
 rewarding those who gave information against violators of his 
 marriage laws, and Tiberius when he came to the throne 
 merely extended the practice to breaches of the law of majestas. 
 But this exceeding severity earned for Tiberius lasting dis- 
 like in Rome. Nevertheless, however severe he might be, 
 Tiberius was on all occasions scrupulously just ; and this 
 was the reason he was so highly esteemed both by the army 
 and by the people in the provinces. Moreover, being honestly 
 determined to administer justice purely, when he found how 
 much the practice of delation was being abused, he set himself 
 to check it, as tending to create injustice. And it was only 
 afterwards, at the end of his reign, when he had removed from 
 Rome and to a large extent given up control over its affairs, 
 that the practices of the delators brought so much odium upon 
 his name. 
 
 Following scrupulously as he did all the principles of Augus- 
 tus, Tiberius demonstrated in many of his actions how careful 
 he was to maintain in practice the position which he occupied 
 in theory ,2 and to avoid any tendency towards that oblitera- 
 tion of the Senate which afterwards took place. He was 
 for ever refusing to interfere with the Senate, or to act as 
 if set over it, and condemning the persistent endeavour of 
 
 1 This the execution of Simon Bar Gioras at Vespasian's triumph 
 and the construction of the great Flavian amphitheatre for gladia- 
 torial combats alone suffice to demonstrate (p. 58). 
 
 8 Chap. I, pp. 9-10. .. 
 
 H 
 
CHAP. 
 
 58 
 
 TIBERIUS {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 both Senate and people to exalt him into the position of sole 
 ruler of the empire and to address him in terms of adulation. 
 He always entered the Senate -house unattended ; and he 
 took his place among the other senators merely as one of their 
 number. He had a vast contempt for the littleness and 
 insincerity of public life, and above all things hated the com- 
 mon habit of over-weening flattery. Tacitus says that so 
 corrupt were the times in this respect that senators strove to 
 surpass one another in the fulsome extravagance of their 
 language, and that Tiberius on leaving the Senate-house 
 after Hstening to such language would exclaim, " O men, 
 fitted for slavery." He refused to be called Dominus (lord), 
 or Imperator, saying, " I am loid only over slaves, and 
 imperator only over soldiers ; I am but first among my 
 fellow-citizens." This attitude was strictly in accord with the 
 position to which he had succeeded, but it assisted the endea- 
 vours of the Julian party to represent that Tiberius was a foe 
 to the aristocratic principle. 
 
 Ill i 
 
 Tiberius ^ reigned twenty-three years (a.d. 14-37). His 
 reign, so far as the empire at large was concerned (except for 
 the deeds of Germanicus on the Rhine during the first three 
 years) was one of absolute quietude and good government. 
 Tiberius maintained with almost superstitious reverence 
 every measure inaugurated by Augustus. The one change 
 which he made was to bring the Praetorian Guards to Rome 
 and encamp them outside the walls. He gave imremitting 
 attention to the provinces, with the results already detailed. 
 He hated the cruel sports of the amphitheatre, restrained them 
 as much as he could, and would not attend them, and to 
 so great an extent did this have effect that the gladiators 
 complained that their livelihood was almost gone. 
 
 But while the history of the empire during the reign of 
 Tiberius was thus imeventful, that of the imperial family 
 was one of perpetual turmoil. Augustus' daughter had been 
 married to Livia's son, and Augustus' granddaughter to 
 Livia's grandson, but these marriages had not succeeded in 
 killing the seeds of that long tragedy of the Caesars which, 
 
 1 Plate XI (p. 48), Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 n] 
 
 AN IGNOBLE VENDETTA 
 
 59 
 
 beginning in the reign of Augustus in connection with Julia 
 and her sons, lasted for over fifty years (through the reigns 
 of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero), and was in reality 
 a vindictive and ignoble vendetta carried on from generation to 
 generation by the descendants of Augustus (the Julian branch) 
 against the descendants of Livia (the Claudian branch),^ 
 who moreover did not letaliate in like manner. It so chanced 
 that the chief representatives of the Juhan branch were nearly 
 always of the female sex 2 while those of the Claudian branch 
 were of the male sex, but even constant inter-marriages 
 between the two branches were powerless to bring this terrible 
 feud to an end so long as any of the Claudian branch remained 
 alive. 3 
 
 The family troubles of Tiberius' reign chiefly centered round 
 four persons. These were : — Tiberius' nephew Germanicus, son 
 of his brother Drusus ; Tiberius' son Drusus ; the latter's wife 
 Livilla, sister to Germanicus ; and Germanicus' wife, Agrippina 
 the elder, one of the two daughters of Julia and Marcus Agrippa. 
 Tiberius having been so much attached to his brother Drusus * 
 had a great regard for the latter's son Germanicus, who returned 
 the feehng. But Germanicus had been married to Julia's daugh- 
 
 ^ See Appendix I. 
 
 2 Except in the case of Augustus, the succession of the Julian Una 
 
 was in each generation through one of the female sex, thus : — 
 
 Julia (sister of Julius Caesar) 
 
 I 
 Atia 
 
 I 
 
 Augustus 
 
 I 
 Julia 
 
 I 
 Agrippina (1) 
 
 I 
 Agrippina (2) 
 
 I 
 Nero (the last of the family) 
 
 ' See Chap. IV, p. 147. 
 
 * No event of Tiberius' life was suffered by Agrippina to pass with- 
 out misrepresentation, and consequently we find from Tacitus that 
 she had informed her daughter Agrippina the younger that even the 
 death of Drusus in B.C. 9 (which took place when Agrippina the elder 
 was only five years old) was a murder carried out by Tiberius because 
 he was jealous of his brother. Anything more fantastically opposed 
 to the facts of Drusus' death (seep. 12) could scarcely be conceived. 
 
 I 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 60 
 
 TIBERIUS {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 I 
 
 I, 
 
 ter Agrippina the elder, a woman of powerful character, an 
 imperious and vindictive nature, an indomitable will, and a 
 most ungovernable temper, who was imbued with an un- 
 dying animosity to Tiberius, and was also determined that 
 one of her sons, and not Tiberius* son Drusus, should succeed 
 
 In the first year of Tiberius' reign a mutiny broke out among 
 the troops on the Danube frontier. Tiberius sent his son 
 Drusus,! then twenty-six, to put it down, and the latter upon 
 his arrival at the frontier showed so much firmness, tact, and 
 capacity that he was completely successful. This was followed 
 by a similar mutiny on the Rhine frontier which was treated 
 by his cousin Germanicus in a very different manner. 
 
 Germanicus, now twenty-nine, owing to his being the son 
 of Tiberius' brother Drusus had inherited among the Roman 
 people much of his father's popularity. He had been placed 
 by Augustus in command of the Rhine frontier, whither his 
 wife Agrippina accompanied him, his head-quarters being 
 at Cologne. The mutiny which now broke out among the 
 four legions on the Lower Rhine was dealt with by Germanicus 
 m such an altogether ill-advised manner that it grew into 
 formidable proportions, threatened to spread to the four 
 legions on the Upper Rhine, and ended in a cruel slaughter 
 by these troops of a large number of their comrades. 
 
 To divert attention from these proceedings Germanicus 
 entered on three successive campaigns during the years 
 A.D, 14-16 against the Cherusci and the Chatti, m which through 
 utterly bad generalship he suffered the most serious disasters. 
 In his first campaign (a.d. U) he effected little or nothing, but 
 laid waste about fifty miles of country, sparing neither age 
 nor sex, and retreated again to the Rhine without suffering 
 any defeat, while his deeds were magnified at Rome into 
 great achievements. 2 He was also fortunate enough, after the 
 campaign was over, to reap by chance, through the troubles 
 of the Cherusci, a pohtical advantage which counter-balanced 
 the want of military results. 
 
 1 Drusus had been married about six years before to his cousin 
 livilla, the sister of Germanicus. 
 
 « Tacitus, as a part of his plan regarding Tiberius, magnifies all 
 these deeds of Germanicus to an extravagant degree, and relates these 
 c€«npaigns almost after the manaer gf an Epic poem. 
 
 n] 
 
 THUSNELDA 
 
 61 
 
 Hermann (called by the Romans Arminius), the young and 
 capable leader, though not chief, of the Cherusci, had, after 
 his great victory over the legions of Varus in a.d. 9 when he 
 was twenty-three, became the hero of a tomance among the 
 Cherusci. Thusnelda, the only daughter of Segestes the chief 
 of the Cherusci, had fallen in love with him, and married him 
 against her father's wishes ; and the Cherusci were divided into 
 two parties in consequence. During the absence of Hermann, 
 Segestes by treachery gained possession of Thusnelda, several 
 of the principal adherents of Hermann, and two of the three 
 Roman eagles captured by Hermann in the battle at the 
 Teutoburger Wald, and delivered them over to Germanicus as 
 a bribe for his assistance against his son-in-law Hermann. 2 
 The return to Rome of these eagles produced among the 
 people the utmost enthusiasm, and Germanicus became the 
 idol of the Roman populace. 
 
 The second campaign of Germanicus (a.d. 15), to which 
 Tiberius consented with great reluctance (his principle being 
 to maintain an unaggressive frontier policy), was on a larger 
 scale. The treacherous action of Segestes had roused the 
 whole of the northern tribes, and they gathered in great force 
 under the command of the enraged Hermann, whose wife 
 Thusnelda was held captive by the Romans. Germanicus 
 unwisely divided his army into two portions, one imder him- 
 self and the other under Aulus Caecina, and both portions were 
 in this campaign almost annihilated. The rivers being in that 
 age the principal lines of communication (often leading through 
 miles upon miles of impenetrable forests), Germanicus em- 
 barked his force, coasted round the shores of the North Sea 
 to the mouth of the Ems, and after laying waste part of what 
 is now East Friesland without meeting with any determined 
 resistance sailed up the Ems for about 100 miles, where he 
 appears to have met the other half of his army which had 
 marched by land. He then disembarked and, rather foolishly, 
 led his troops over the groimd where the terrible slaughter 
 of Varus' legions had occurred six years before, which locality 
 
 1 Chap. I, p. 13. 
 
 * There is now in the Bavarian National Gallery at Mimich a fine 
 picture of Thusnelda, with the other captives, defiling before Germanicus 
 after being thus treacherously surrendered to him. The little boy by 
 her side is however an anachronism, as her son was not born until 
 some months after she w£is taken captive. 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
1} 
 
 62 
 
 TIBERIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 n] 
 
 DISASTER ON THE EMS 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 Tiberius in his campaign of a.d. 10-12 had wisely avoided, 
 knowing the bad effect upon soldiers of witnessing the scene 
 of such a defeat. Tacitus draws a moving picture of how 
 when Germanicus' army reached the Teutoburger Wald the 
 whole force was deeply affected at seeing the scattered debris 
 of the battle and the remains of the slaughtered troops of 
 Varus, describing how the Roman soldiers wandered about 
 the battlefield amidst the bleaching bones of their comrades, 
 torn with rage and grief. ^ Soon however they had to defend 
 themselves against a like fate. Hermann first enticed into 
 an ambuscade the portion of the army commanded by Ger- 
 manicus himself, and severely defeated it, continuing to 
 attack the defeated force from the surrounding forests as in 
 its retreat it sailed down the Ems, and this defeat being 
 made still more disastrous by the fact that in retreating along 
 the coast of what is now West Friesland, nearly half what 
 remained of the force was swept away by the sea in a storm. 
 Meanwhile Hermann, turning away from the pursuit, marched 
 to engage the other half of the army, caught it on the great 
 Roman causeway * over the Bourtanger Morass (extending 
 for some forty miles along the western bank of the Ems, 
 with a breadth of about five miles), and in a four days' fight 
 from thence to the Rhine inflicted immense losses upon that 
 portion of the army also ; while the news of its defeat created 
 a panic among the troops holding the bridge over the Rhine 
 at Castra Vetera (now Wesel) who were with difficulty pre- 
 vented from destroying the bridge,^ which would have caused 
 the annihilation of the whole force. Every effort was made 
 by Germanicus to disguise these defeats and represent them 
 at Rome as victories, but the legions in Gaul, Spain, and Italy 
 had all to be greatly depleted in order to furnish large drafts 
 to fill up the attenuated legions on the Rhine. The recovery, 
 however, of the two lost Roman eagles made the Roman 
 people ready to exalt the name of Germanicus to any extent, 
 and all else was put out of sight. 
 
 Hermann, the brave leader of the Cherusci, had thus worthily 
 earned the renown which has ever since been attached to his 
 
 * Tacitus, Annals, c. 61-62. 
 
 ' This causeway still remains, four feet below the present surface. 
 
 * See p. 80. 
 
 63 
 
 name. In the course of six years, through his remarkable 
 talents as a general, he had first defeated Varus and com- 
 pletely destroyed three entire Roman legions, and had then 
 gamed two crushing victories in succession over the armies of 
 Germanicus. 1 
 
 In Germanicus' thu-d campaign (a.d. 16), to which Tiberius 
 was forced to consent by the declaration of the people of Rome 
 that his reluctance to do so was due to jealousy of the glorious 
 achievements of Germanicus, the latter again suffered several 
 defeats, and though he succeeded in slaughtering a large 
 number of the Cherusci he eventuaUy had to retreat, and 
 embarking his whole force to sail down the Ems, on reaching 
 the mouth of that river was met by a storm in which nearly 
 his whole fleet and army were destroyed. Subsequently, 
 however, he managed to recover from the Chatti the third of 
 the lost eagles of Varus ; which enabled him to give the whole 
 affair the appearance of a victory in the eyes of the Roman 
 people, who adored Germanicus, and did not know, as Tiberius 
 did, how petty had been his successes, and how great the 
 defeats which he had suffered, and which had been dossed 
 over in his reports. 
 
 Germanicus then requested the emperor's permission to 
 make a fourth attempt to conquer the Cherusci the next 
 season. But Tiberius, notwithstanding aU his regard for him 
 as the son of Drusus, had had enough of the incapacity of 
 Germamcus. He therefore recaUed him, and Germanicus 
 m May a.d. 17, was given by the Senate the honour of a triumph' 
 at which Thusnelda with her httle son (bom soon after she 
 was made over to the Romans) was displayed as the prin- 
 cipal captive. Thusnelda received cruel treatment, for she 
 was never restored to Hermann but was kept in honourable 
 captivity for the rest of her life at Ravenna. 2 Tiberius then 
 sent his own son Drusus, who had shown so much abihty on 
 the Danube, to command on the Rhine frontier and mamtain 
 
 ^ A monument in honour of Hermann now stands upon the supposed 
 site^f his great victory in the Teutoburger Wald over the legions of 
 
 ♦i,-L^«™^'''ix^^'^ ^""^ ^^^"^ afterwards, in a.d. 21, at the age of 
 thirty.five. His name was honoured ever after by the northern tribes 
 he being justly considered as the deUverer of Germany 
 
 h 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
CHAP. 
 
 64 
 
 TIBERIUS (MaUer$ other than religion) 
 
 !l I' 
 
 III 
 
 I 
 
 III 
 
 a more temperate policy, and sent Germanicus to the eastern 
 command where he could do less harm, while Cneius Piso, the 
 governor of Syria, who had a distinguished record of more 
 than forty years, and was thirty years older than Germanicus, 
 was told privately by Tiberius to endeavour to keep him from 
 making any mistakes. 
 
 This arrangement did not work well. There ensued con- 
 stant friction between Germanicus and his subordinate Piso, 
 the governor of Syria ; and when rumours thereof pene- 
 trated to Rome the populace, taking the part of their idol 
 Germanicus, declared that the fault lay with Piso, and clam- 
 oured for his dismissal. Tiberius however was far too just 
 a man to remove in deference to such clamours a long-tried 
 and blameless public servant whom he knew to be in the 
 right, and since he refused to listen to this outcry against 
 Piso he earned the people's wrath. Soon afterwards Germani- 
 cus became seriously ill ; upon its being rumoured in Rome 
 that his life was in danger the people became plunged in 
 grief, but passed to the extremity of joy upon news being 
 received that Germanicus was better. Their joy however 
 was of short duration ; for early in a.d. 19 Germanicus died 
 at Antioch at the age of thirty-four. Thereupon heavy gloom 
 fell upon all Rome, the people passing to a depth of silent 
 sorrow greater even than had been felt when Germanicus' 
 father Drusus died. 
 
 Upon this death of Germanicus, Agrippina, who had been 
 in a condition of smouldering wrath and resentment ever 
 since Germanicus had been transferred from the Rhine to the 
 eastern command, declared that he had been poisoned by 
 Piso and his wife Plancina, and more than hinted that it 
 had been done by the orders of Tiberius. This was a mon- 
 strous insinuation, seeing that Tiberius in every act connected 
 with Germanicus had shown his regard for him, but it was one 
 which had serious results to Tiberius, the Roman people 
 being furious at the death of their favourite, Germanicus, 
 and ready, as ever, to believe the worst of the silent and 
 reserved Tiberius. Agrippina, burning with wrath, and quite 
 convinced that Germanicus had been poisoned, brought his 
 ashes to Rome and furiously demanded vengeance upon Piso 
 and Plancina. Tiberius smnmoned Piso to Rome, and ordered 
 
 n] 
 
 TRIAL OF PISO 
 
 65 
 
 a trial by the Senate. The Roman people, stirred to frenzy 
 by the denunciations of Agrippina, were in the maddest state 
 of excitement, demanding the death of Piso and Plancina, 
 and declaring that if they were acquitted they would them- 
 selves tear them in pieces. Tiberius maintained an absolute 
 neutrality, making a dignified speech ^ at the opening of the 
 trial in which he begged the Senate to remember the long 
 and honourable services of Piso for forty-three years, but 
 declining to interfere in any way with the Senate in their 
 decision. The trial was expected to last six days, but after 
 the second day, although the charge of poison had completely 
 broken down,^ Piso, seeing that all the Senate were deter- 
 mined on his condemnation and death, conmiitted suicide. 
 Thereupon it was declared that Tiberius had caused this 
 for fear of disclosures implicating himself. Tiberius' mother 
 Livia, against his judgment, gave her protection to 
 Plancina ; and this was a fresh cause of offence to those 
 who clamoured for her death. The court sentenced 
 Piso's son Marcus to banishment and confiscation of all his 
 property, but Tiberius in view of the fact that no evidence 
 whatever had been forthcoming against him, declared the 
 sentence to be monstrous and refused to allow it to be carried 
 out. 3 Thus ended the first of the two celebrated trials of 
 Tiberius' reign. Agrippina continued to nurse her wrath, 
 and scarcely took any pains to conceal the bitter resentment 
 which she nourished against her step-father. 
 
 On the death of Germanicus Tiberius took steps to obtain 
 honours for the latter's sons. He obtained the advancement 
 of the eldest son, Nero, then seventeen, to the quaestor-ship, 
 five years earlier than the age required by the law, and be- 
 
 1 Recorded even by Tacitus himself, notwithstanding the animus 
 which he shows throughout this affair against Tiberius. 
 
 • The accusers of Piso declared that the poison had been admin- 
 istered by him at a banquet to which he had been invited by Grer- 
 manicus, Piso being supposed to have poured the poison intended 
 for his host into the dishes in the presence of all the other guests with- 
 out any one having seen it done. Tacitus himself says that every 
 man thought it an absurd fable. 
 
 3 Signor Ferrero says that the whole account given by Tacitua 
 regarding this affair of the death of Germaniciis and the trial of Piso 
 " is coloured by an undisceming antipathy." 
 
 Ii 
 
 ii < 
 
 E.W. 
 
 F 
 
it 
 
 TIBERIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 vajk^m 
 
 trothed him to Julia (then a child of ten), the daughter of 
 his own son Drusus. And three years later he obtained 
 similar honours for Germanicus' second son, Drusus the 
 younger. But nothing appeased the wrath of Agrippina, 
 who still thirsted for vengeance for what she persisted in 
 believing to have been the murder of Germanicus. 
 
 While these troubles were occurring at Rome Tiberius 
 steadily continued his unceasing labours for the maintenance 
 of the peace and prosperity of the empire, imdeterred by the 
 turmoils in the political atmosphere of the capital. He also 
 added another province to the empire, subduing in a.d. 17 
 the mountainous country of Cappadocia, to the east of Asia 
 Minor. In a.d. 21, he successfully defeated a serious re- 
 bellion of the Aedui, Treveri, and other tribes in Gaul, of which 
 victory a notable monument still exists.^ And in a.d. 23 he 
 subdued the rebellious tribes in Mauretania and Numidia, 
 who under their leader Tacfarinas had carried on a desultory 
 war with Rome for seven years. 
 
 In A.D. 23, a great calamity came upon Tiberius. His 
 fine manly son Drusus, ^ married to his first cousin Livilla, 
 Tiberius' niece,' had shown himself in every way full of capa- 
 city. He had been tested in various commands during ten 
 years, and had shown his abiUty, tact, and common-sense on 
 every occasion, and Tiberius, who was now sixty-five, con- 
 sidered that the time had arrived to associate him with him- 
 self in the government. Scarcely had he done so when Drusus 
 suddenly died, at the age of thirty-five. It was a terrible blow 
 to Tiberius, who began to feel his own powers of mind and 
 body unequal to the burden of the empire, and who by this 
 death of his son * was left with no one in the imperial family 
 fitted either in age or ability to be any assistance to him. He 
 moiuned for his handsome and capable son with the deepest 
 grief, shutting himself up, Seneca says, in the inner part of 
 his palace, and refusing to see any one. Little, however, did 
 
 * See p. 78. 
 
 * Plate XII. Portrait-biist in the UfiBzi gallery, Florence. 
 ' See Appendix I. 
 
 * Drusus left two children by Livilla, a daughter, Julia, and a son, 
 Tiberius Gemellus. The latter was Tiberius' heir, but was passed 
 over by him in favour of Caligula. 
 
Drusus, son of Tiberius. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vffizi gallery, riorence. 
 
 [Brogi. 
 AgRIPPINATHE elder. GRANDDAUCillTER OF AUGUSTUS. 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rtme. 
 
I >I<1 
 
 -^ -.1 
 
 1 \ ( > j 
 
 l! 
 
 1 : 1 I ' ! ■ 1 \ \ 1 ! I 1 I I I > I I ■ ' . I 
 
 \\ I i| I \i '.III 
 
 I I . I ^ 
 
 / ■ , / ; I) 
 
h 
 
 n] 
 
 REMOVAL TO CAPREAE 
 
 67 
 
 Tiberius suspect how his son's death had been caused. Eight 
 years afterwards it suddenly came to light that Drusus had 
 been poisoned by his wife Livilla and her lover Sejanus, the 
 very man whom Tiberius now took as his chief minister. 
 
 Sejanus was one of the most despicable men of the time. 
 Exalted by Tiberius, who was quite unaware of his true char- 
 acter, into the position of his chief adviser, and given the 
 command of the Praetorian Guards, he by various artifices 
 gradually gained immense power. Sejanus deceived all 
 parties ; he deceived Agrippina, leading her to suppose he 
 was entirely on her side ; he deceived her sons Nero and 
 Drusus, playing off one against the other, and insidiously 
 instilling into both of them ideas of forcibly gaining the throne ; 
 he deceived Tiberius, urging the charms of retirement and the 
 danger of assassination in Rome, hoping that this would cause 
 the emperor to quit Rome, which would put greater power 
 into Sejanus' hands ; and he laid plans for marrying his 
 guilty accomplice Livilla, and becoming himself emperor 
 when all who stood in the way had one after another been 
 removed. 
 
 These machinations were not long in bearing fruit. In 
 A.D. 27 Tiberius, now sixty-nine years old, disgusted with 
 he intrigues around him, weary of pubHc life in which he 
 was surrounded only by baseness and treachery, sorrowing over 
 the loss of his only son, filled with bitterness at seeing the ruin 
 of his hopes of making his reign fulfil some of the high aims 
 he had formed, and sighing for a learned leisure such as he 
 had enjoyed thirty-three years before at Rhodes, removed from 
 Rome to Capreae (now Capri), where he resided during the 
 remaining eleven years of his life. As before when he went 
 to Rhodes, he took with him a few of those literary men in 
 whose society he knew he should find mental relaxation, 
 and also took with him his daughter-in-law Livilla and her 
 daughter Julia, the latter being then eighteen, and having 
 been married about two years before to Agrippina's eldest 
 son Nero. 
 
 This retirement of Tiberius from Rome gave Sejanus the 
 opportunity for which he had schemed. He accompanied 
 the emperor to Capreae, and soon became possessed of im- 
 mense power. As the chief minister with the emperor all 
 
 
68 
 
 TIBERIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 n] 
 
 correspondence passed through his hands, no access to the 
 emperor was possible except through him, and every one 
 desiring favours had to come to him. His crimes were numer- 
 ous and abominable, while all who displeased him disappeared, 
 Tiberius of course receiving the odium. By this time there 
 had developed a war to the knife between Sejanus and 
 Agrippina, and the former in this contest contrived to remove 
 one after another of the adherents of Agrippina, while each 
 side employed intrigues, calumnies, accusations, and trials 
 for contravening the law caUed the Lex de Majestate,"^ with 
 a ferocity the fierceness of which has been vividly painted 
 by Tacitus. From this scene of evil passions let loose the 
 aged Tiberius turned in disgust. Instead of the dream of his 
 early manhood of ruling a dignified State governed by the 
 loftiest principles of ancient Rome, he found himself expected 
 to take part in a degrading strife in which the combatants were 
 interested only in personal animosities, while, ignoring all 
 that he had done and was stiU doing for the safety and pros- 
 perity of the empire, they directed against himself every kind 
 of insidious calumny. The effect was to make Tiberius in 
 his old age turn more and more from pubUc affairs, except 
 such as concerned the empire at large. 
 
 In A.D. 29 Tiberius' mother Livia died at Rome. Tiberius 
 prepared to proceed thither for the funeral, but eventuaUy 
 gave it up, unable again to face the fulsome language, veiled 
 anmiosity, and domestic turmoils which a return to Rome 
 would bring upon him. Tacitus says that Livia's death 
 removed the only barrier which hitherto had protected Agrip- 
 pma and her sons from Sejanus. However this may be soon 
 afterwards Sejanus began his arrangements for swiping 
 Agrippma and her sons from his path. First he brought to 
 Tibenus a report of a conspiracy in favour of Agrippina and 
 her son Nero ; to this, however, Tiberius declined to pay any 
 attention. This was foUowed, in a.d. 30, by a more serious 
 
 rnl.^^'^-.T ^"«^^y, "^« *^ ^«^«^d the prestige of the State 
 {tnajestas), either in regard to offences against the magistrates, or 
 offences of any kind held to be treason against the State, the punish- 
 ment for which was death. But it became frequently invoked by 
 senators anxious to vent their personal hatreds, and gave rise to numer- 
 ous false accusations and unjust condemnations by the Senate 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S EYES OPENED 
 
 69 
 
 report of the same nature which could not be thus ignored. 
 Nero and Drusus were lured to their destruction by Sejanus ; 
 Agrippina required no such incentive. " Tiberius," says 
 Velleius, " was struck with shame at the conduct of his daugh- 
 ter-in-law (Agrippina) and his grandson (Nero)." Worked 
 on by Sejanus, Tiberius consented to order a trial by the 
 Senate of Agrippina and her two sons. The trial took place ; 
 with the result that Agrippina was banished by the Senate 
 to the island of Pandataria, Nero to the island of Ponza, where 
 he starved himself to death, and Drusus (who is believed to 
 have been insane) was confined in the range of rooms forming 
 the lower part of the palace of Tiberius on the Palatine hill 
 in Rome.^ 
 
 At length however, in a.d. 31, Sejanus suffered the punish- 
 ment he had for eight years deserved for his numerous crimes. 
 For spme reason unknown he proceeded to Rome, where the 
 most abject flattery was lavished on him by both Senate and 
 people, every one being anxious to obtain the favour of the 
 all-powerful minister. But Sejanus, by removing himself 
 from the side of Tiberius, opened the avenue to the latter 
 which had so long been closed, and advantage of this was 
 taken by Tiberius' sister-in-law, Antonia, the noblest woman 
 of her time. Antonia still continued to live in the palace of 
 Augustus on the Palatine hill, where she had brought up her 
 three children. She was now sixty-seven, and in her charge 
 had been placed her grandson, Agrippina's fourth son Caius 
 (or Caligula), for whom Tiberius now sent in order that he 
 might be with him in his solitude, Caligula being at this time 
 eighteen. Antonia seized the opportunity given by the 
 absence of Sejanus to open Tiberius' eyes to the character 
 of the man whom he was allowing to ruin the whole family, 
 and with Caligula sent by the hand of a trustworthy servant 
 a letter to the emperor. This letter disclosed to Tiberius 
 how Sejanus had ruined both Livilla (Tiberius' niece), and 
 also Livilla's daughter Julia (Tiberius' granddaughter), and 
 had murdered Tiberius' son Drusus ; how he had brought 
 Agrippina and her sons to destruction ; and how he had even 
 now gone to Rome, to plan a coup d'etat, by which he intended 
 
 • 
 
 1 See p. 78. 
 
 Ill 
 
 '1' 
 
70 
 
 TIBERIUS (Matten other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 to dethrone Tiberius and himself take the throne Ample 
 proofs were given of the statements made, and the emperor's 
 eyes were at last opened. 
 
 Tiberius took action at once. He invested Sertorius Macro 
 an officer of his guard, with the command of the Pretorian 
 Guards m place of Sejanus, and sent him with a letter to the 
 fcKBnate ordering the immediate arrest and trial of Sejanus 
 Ihis was promptly carried out ; the proofs of Sejanus' guHt 
 were overwhebning. he was condemned to death by the Senate 
 dragged to the TuUianum, the people ciying out with one voice 
 agamst him, and there strangled, and his body, after being 
 dragged about the city by the people, was cast into the Tiber 
 Ihe servile and cowardly Senate, who had only a few hours 
 earlier crmged before the most powerful minister that Rome 
 ever knew, anxious to clear themselves, embarked upon a 
 funous destruction of aU his family and dependants, who 
 were slaughtered indiscriminately, and Tacitus tells a pitiful 
 story of a little girl, one of the children of Sejanus, who asked 
 what harm she had done and what was wanted with her as 
 she was hurried to the Tullianum to be strangled. FinaUy 
 Apiciata, the divorced wife of Sejanus, wild at the loss of her 
 children, revealed to Tiberius the whole of the incidents con- 
 nected with the poisoning of his son Drusus by LiviUa and 
 feejanus, and the names of those whom they had employed • 
 an of whom were put to death except Livilla, who was aUowed 
 to take refuge with her mother Antonia. There LiviUa 
 unab e to bear the shame of her crime and the condemnation 
 of aU around her, starved herself to death. 
 
 The revelation which had thus come to Tiberius at the aere 
 of seventy-three increased stiU further the dark cloud of 
 affliction which had enveloped him ever since the death of 
 his son, and caused the last six years of his life to be fiUed 
 with the deepest sorrow. Without either wife, child, or near 
 relative to soothe his mental suffering, plunged in grief and 
 horror at the knowledge that had come to him of how his 
 beloved son had been done to death, and at the crime of his 
 mece Livilla, who till then had been Hving with him at Capreae, 
 disgusted at the vilification and conspiracies carried on against 
 him by his nearest relatives, and in despair at the ruin of aU 
 his family, he withdrew as much as possible from public 
 
 nl 
 
 THE CAPREAE LEGEND 
 
 71 
 
 affairs except such as affected the provinces, and lost all 
 concern as to what might be done at Rome. 
 
 Meanwhile the continued absence of the emperor greatly 
 displeased the Roman people, conditions which were made 
 use of by the Julian party to vilify Tiberius still further. 
 Notwithstanding that he was by this time seventy-four years 
 of age, the Julian party ascribed his remaining at Capreae 
 to the foulest motives, declaring that it was due to a desire 
 to lead a life of the deepest profligacy. " He slunk, it was 
 asserted, from the sight of the good and pure, to the obscurity 
 of his detestable orgies ; he was the patron of panders, the 
 sport of minions ; he was drunk with wine and drunk with 
 blood ; the details which were freely circulated of his cruelty 
 and licentiousness, were coloured from the most loathsome 
 scenes of the stews and the slave-market." i These asser- 
 tions of the Julian party (repeated in the memoirs of Agrip- 
 pina the younger) were eighty years afterwards elaborated 
 by Tacitus into statements that Tiberius while at Capreae 
 (that is from the age of sixty-nine to seventy-nine) abandoned 
 himself to a life of atrocious and revolting depravity ; and 
 it is only in recent times that the entire falsehood of this 
 Capreae legend has been immasked.^ 
 
 But the fall of Sejanus and the destruction of himself and 
 his family did not end the tragedies of the reign of Tiberius. 
 In A.D. 33, when Tiberius had been six years at Capreae, both 
 Agrippina and her son Drusus starved themselves to death 
 in their respective prisons,^ Drusus because he was insane, 
 and Agrippina in her fierce wrath because she was not liber- 
 ated after the fall of Sejanus. Meanwhile a reign of terror 
 had set in at Rome. Sejanus in his struggle with Agrippina 
 had created two factions among the aristocracy, the party of 
 
 ^ MerivaJe. 
 
 2 As regards the way in which the Capreae legend was invented, 
 allusions to public events being inserted in it to give an appearance 
 of truth, and the manner in which the anachronisms created by these 
 allusions has led to the unmasking of the entire falsehood, see Appendix 
 in, pp. 598-599. 
 
 3 Some have declared that Tiberius caused Drusus to be starved 
 to death, but there is no evidence for the assertion, while it seems 
 very improbable, and Tiberius' subsequent conduct towards Drusus' 
 brother Caligula makes it still more so. 
 
 ) 
 
 ♦II 
 
 J.I 
 
n 
 
 TIBERIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 n] 
 
 i 
 
 U 
 
 TACITUS' HIGH ROMAN IDEALS 
 
 73 
 
 Agrippina and that of their opponents ; fierce animosity pre- 
 vailed between them, and every artifice permitted by the 
 harsh Roman laws was put in force to bring about the destruc- 
 tion of those of the opposite party. Calumnies, denuncia- 
 tions, trials, and scandalous condemnations by the Senate 
 filled the atmosphere. The hateful race of "informers" 
 swarmed, and plied their trade unremittingly ; and constant 
 "delations," and disappearances of well-known faces were 
 ever taking place. 
 
 These numerous deaths were not ordered by Tiberius (though 
 they subsequently afforded to Tacitus opportunities to make 
 generalizations insinuating that they were so), but were due 
 to a pecuUarity of the Roman laws, and the removal of the 
 controlling influence of the emperor. It was one of the most 
 cherished principles of the Roman law that it was open to 
 any one at any time to lodge an accusation, however grave, 
 against even the highest official, and young men were encour- 
 aged in the practice of making such accusations as the most 
 advantageous means of gaining notoriety. If the accuser 
 proved his case he gained haH the confiscated property of the 
 accused ; if he failed he suffered punishment, either by fine, 
 imprisonment, or even, it might be, death. Emperors such 
 as Augustus and Tiberius did not dream of interfering with 
 laws which had existed for generations, but they exercised 
 a strong controlling influence, and as long as they did so such 
 accusations were kept in check. But by the withdrawal of 
 Tiberius from public affairs at Rome after the revelations con- 
 sequent on the faU of Sejanus this controlling influence was 
 removed, and the judicial disorganization in Rome aUowed 
 one person after another to suffer in this manner. Some 
 years afterwards the emperor CaUgula took it into his head 
 to read out to the Senate the names of all who had suffered 
 death in the reign of Tiberius, and to point out to the Senate 
 that it was they themselves who were guilty of these deaths 
 by allowing false accusers and false witnesses to flourish 
 unchecked, and ended by telling them that they were mad at 
 the time. 
 
 This speech of Caligula's to the Senate combmes with many 
 other evidences to show that the Romans of Tiberius' own 
 time, notwithstanding his unpopularity, did not misjudge 
 
 binri in the way that subsequent ages have been led to do 
 through the false picture drawn eighty years later by Tacitus. 
 In the writings of moralists, philosophers, publicists, and 
 satirists for eighty years after Tiberius' death we find no such 
 statements as would have been inevitable had that picture 
 been a true one ; and when finally we find a satirist like 
 Juvenal knowing nothing of any orgy of vice at Capreae carried 
 on by a man between seventy and eighty years old, and having 
 nothing more severe to say of Tiberius than a remark as to 
 his tranquil old age, these writings of men of Tiberius' own 
 time are sufficient proof that the picture afterwards drawn 
 of him by Tacitus with a special object, as a man who up to 
 the age of fifty-six had an altogether blameless record, but 
 who then suddenly became a monster of iniquity, and after 
 the age of seventy plunged into the deepest profligacy, is a 
 preposterous fiction.^ 
 
 But much as we may deplore that Tacitus in his desire to 
 compliment the emperor in whose reign he was writing should 
 have deliberately lent his great art to the drawing of a false 
 picture of Tiberius, in all other respects he compels our admir- 
 ation. He is ever penetrated with a strong and sincere esteem 
 for the old Roman ideals as to courage, fortitude, independ- 
 ence of character, nobleness of conduct, and heroic self-sacrifice 
 for the good of the commonwealth, the very same esteem 
 which animated Tiberius throughout life, causing Tacitus, 
 even though anxious to draw another picture of that emperor, 
 again and again to relate deeds and words of Tiberius which 
 appeal so strongly to his own sentiments in this respect that 
 he cannot refrain from recording them even though they con- 
 tradict the picture of Tiberius which he desires to draw.* 
 
 1 Signer Guglielmo Ferrero, the greatest living Italian historian, 
 in a recent letter speaks of the Capri legend in the history of Tiberius 
 as being " an infamous and absurd tale, invented by party hatred 
 in order to vilify the last notable upholder of the great aristocratic 
 tradition of Rome," and says that though Tacitus " committed the 
 injustice of employing the vivid colours of his palette on this gross story, 
 he has not succeeded in confusing the false and the true so completely 
 that we 8ure unable to render to Tiberius the justice so long due to him.** 
 
 ■ These are the portions of Tewjitus' narrative in regard to Tiberius 
 which have always until recently formed an insoluble problem to 
 scholars (see Appendix III, p. 596). 
 
 I 
 
74 
 
 TIBERIUS {Matters other than religum) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Animated by such sentiments, Tacitus values to the highest 
 degree the soldierly virtues, and repeatedly extols the soldier's 
 proud submission to lawful authority, his calm, stem, endur- 
 ance of cruel hardships, his brave stedfastness in the face 
 of enormous odds, and his readiness to sacrifice even life when 
 called upon by the State ; and he is never tired of contrasting 
 the conduct of the men who stood guarding the Rhine, the 
 Danube, and the Solway with that of their brethren in the 
 Senate at Rome who at the same time were purchasing safety 
 and ease by all kinds of ignoble practices. And when later 
 on he comes to deal with the age of Nero his burning contempt 
 for the cowardice, base servility, and abject self-abasement 
 which seized upon all classes at Rome bursts forth in scathing 
 words which seem to blast with fire the despicable senators 
 and knights who thus degraded their race and abandoned the 
 old Roman ideals for which Tacitus had so strong a rever- 
 ence. 
 
 Especially also does Tacitus win our admiration for the 
 masterly manner in which he makes the episodes which he 
 relates live before our eyes. He does not merely record the 
 events with which he deals, but with all the powerful art of 
 a great historian makes us almost spectators of them. The 
 mad fury of the mutinous legions of Germanicus, their mingled 
 grief and rage as they saw the bleaching bones of their com- 
 rades on the battlefield at the Teutoburger Wald, the wild 
 excitement of the Roman populace at the trial of Piso, the 
 passionate wrath of Agrippina, the furious slaughter of Sejanus 
 and his family, and many other episodes are all related by 
 Tacitus in such a way that the events seem to pass before our 
 eyes as vividly as if acted upon the stage of a theatre. And 
 this, joined to his lofty ideals and detestation of all that is 
 ignoble and base, wiD ever make Tacitus highly estimated 
 by mankind. 
 
 In A.D. 34, when Tiberius web seventy-six, he gave evidence 
 of how vigorous was still his mental ability and his careful 
 watch over the welfare of the empire. The Parthian king, 
 Artabanus, reljring upon the emperor's great age, stirred 
 up strife on the eastern frontier, and seized Armenia. But 
 Tiberius promptly gathered an army and sent Lucius Vitellius 
 to the Euphrates to oppose him ; and eventually Artabanus 
 
 n] 
 
 CHOICE OP SUCCESSOR 
 
 76 
 
 was forced to sue for peace, and to give his son Darius as a 
 hostage. 
 
 The last act of Tiberius' life is one which goes far to 
 vindicate his character and to disprove the calunmies of 
 Agrippina against him. Early in a.d. 37, being then seventy- 
 nine, he felt his end approaching, and had still to announce 
 his choice of a successor to the throne. Those open to him 
 to select from were : — his nephew Claudius, then forty-nine 
 (brother of Germanicus), Tiberius' grandson Tiberius Gemellus, 
 son of Drusus the younger and Livilla, a youth then eighteen 
 years old and of a very agreeable disposition, and lastly Caius 
 (or Caligula) then twenty-five, the fourth son of Germanicus 
 and Agrippina. Had Tiberius been all that Agrippina had 
 for years asserted, and been anxious to advance his own line, 
 the descendants of Livia, and to oust the descendants of 
 Augustus' daughter Julia, he would have chosen either his 
 grandson Tiberius Gemellus, or his nephew Claudius, the son 
 of his beloved brother Drusus, even though Claudius was rather 
 a poor creature ; for Tiberius knew that Caligula was still 
 more unfit than Claudius for such a position. But Tiberius 
 had always felt that the descendants of Julia had the prior 
 claim, and seems to have been determined to show once for 
 all to the Romans and to posterity how grossly he had been 
 calumniated by Agrippina in this matter. At the time when 
 he had proposed to leave the throne to his son Drusus the 
 yotmger matters had been different ; then the sons of Agrip- 
 pina were too young, while his own son Drusus was, in every 
 way, the man most fit for the position. But now there was 
 a son of Agrippina who was at all events of sufficient age. 
 Therefore, notwithstanding all that he had suffered from 
 Agrippina, he refused to give the preference either to his own 
 nephew or even to his own grandson, but gave it to one who, 
 as her son, was of the blood of Augustus. 
 
 Accordingly on the 16th March, becoming very ill while at 
 Misenum, Tiberius sent for Caligula and announced to him that 
 he commended the empire to his hands, earnestly adjuring him 
 to behave well to his improtected relative Tiberius Gemellus. 
 He then fainted, and all thought he was dead, whereupon 
 Caligula was saluted as emperor. Suddenly a report was 
 received that Tiberius had revived, which caused general 
 
 I!. 
 
 I 
 
76 
 
 TIBERIUS (Mattera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 consternation. Seneca says that Tiberius then sent for 
 Caligula, and while talking with him fell back dead. Tacitus 
 and Suetonius say that Caligula threw a piUow over his face 
 and, with the assistance of Macro, strangled him. 
 
 More than thirty portraits exist of Tiberius in the museums 
 of Home. They are all alike in showing a refined, sensitive 
 face, with a strain of sadness, and are all of them, without a 
 single exception, totally at variance with the description of 
 his character as related by Tacitus and Suetonius. On the 
 other hand they accord with that character which he un- 
 doubtedly possessed as a stainless and upright ruler of the 
 empire who throughout his life acted up to the high ideal 
 which he had learnt from a study of the lives of the noblest 
 Romans in the days of the Republic, an ideal to which he 
 stedfastly adhered notwithstanding that he was encom- 
 passed throughout a long life by great difficulties and the 
 severest family misfortunes. 
 
 Speaking of Tiberius, Adolf Stahr says : — " History shows 
 us no sovereign who was so imhappy in his domestic relations 
 as was Tiberius. Even as a boy he was placed in a difficult 
 position, by the separation of his parents, and by his adoption 
 into the imperial family, where he was regarded as an un- 
 welcome intruder, and was surrounded by the dislike and 
 exposed to the disrespect of the privileged members. His 
 first, happy marriage was violently broken, that a woman 
 might be forced on him who brought shame and dishonour 
 on his head. After this marriage was at an end he remained 
 from his thirty-fifth year to the end of his days unmarried 
 and alone. His only brother, whom he tenderly loved, the 
 handsome and heroic Drusus, was taken from him by death. 
 So also was his only son ; and he had to learn that the wife of 
 this son had been his murderess, and further that the daughter 
 of this son likewise betrayed her husband to Sejanus. His 
 kinsfolk of the Julian branch, Agrippina and her sons, paid 
 him with black ingratitude for all the care he took for them, 
 and the unhappy old man when considering them had good 
 cause for his speech, * Happy Priam, who survived all his 
 children.' The treachery of Sejanus finally filled up the 
 picture of measureless misfortune and sorrow which is revealed 
 to us when we consider this life, one which at moments drew 
 
 n] 
 
 A HOPE LONG UNFULFILLED 
 
 77 
 
 from the restrained heart of the great sufferer a cry of despair, 
 of doubt in gods and men. If the gloomy earnestness of his 
 temper was intensified finally into contempt for mankind, the 
 only wonder is that this took place so late. And yet one 
 hope remained to him in the midst of the general misappre- 
 hension with which he w : regarded, and that was — ^that 
 futurity would judge him aright. * He cared far less,' says 
 Tacitus, * to please the generation in which he lived, than to 
 stand well with posterity.' Indeed he spoke his hope himself : 
 * I would have posterity remember my acts. Posterity will 
 do justice to my memory.' His hope remained unfulfilled 
 for eighteen centuries." ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding that we are told so little about those 
 portions of the life of Tiberius which would best serve to 
 fulfil his desire that posterity should remember his acts and 
 do his memory justice, yet we are not left entirely without 
 information in that respect. Although Tacitus in his desu^ 
 to draw a particular picture of Tiberius omits to relate the 
 latter's long years of arduous public service, and his brilliant 
 military and civil career (portions of his life which would not 
 assist Tacitus' picture), yet even so we can see many things 
 indicating the carrying out by Tiberius of the high aims 
 which from his earliest years he had adopted. Among these 
 are, the uniform character given him for justice, the high 
 estimate held of him by the people of the provinces, his treat- 
 ment of the Pannonian chief Bato,^ his hatred of ostentation 
 and of the servile attitude of the senators,^ his whole con- 
 duct during the difficult episode of the trial of Piso,* his long 
 forbearance exercised towards Agrippina,^ the fact that, 
 from the age of twenty to that of sixty-nine, against him, 
 almost alone of all men in Rome, no word of scandal was ever 
 breathed, and his passing over both his own nephew and his 
 own grandson as his successor, in favour of one who as Agrip- 
 pina's son he considered had the best right to the throne, 
 together with many other incidents of his career. And how- 
 ever different may be the picture which was subsequently 
 drawn of him, there stands opposed to it the indisputable 
 fact that the evidence of a variety of writers shows that 
 
 n 
 
 1 
 
 1 Tiberius, by Adolph Stahr. 
 
 » Page 68. * Page 65. 
 
 2 Page 49. 
 * Pages 80-81. 
 
78 
 
 TIBERIUS (MaUera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 both in his own time and for eighty years after his death 
 the character of Tiberius was one which was honoured and 
 respected among the Romans. 
 
 The finest monument of the reign of Tiberius which remains 
 is the splendid triumphal Arch erected by him in Gaul at 
 Arausio (now Orange, near the left bank of the Rhone, about 
 twenty miles north of Avignon) to commemorate the defeat 
 in A.D. 21, of the ^Edui. It is in the same style as the Arch of 
 Severus in Rome erected 182 years later. It is the oldest 
 Roman triumphal Arch in existence except the Arch of Drusus 
 in Rome, and is much superior to the latter, and in perfect 
 preservation.^ A Roman bridge built by Tiberius in North 
 Africa is also still to be seen. It is constructed over the river 
 Beja, about seventy miles west of Carthage. It is 300 feet 
 long and 24 feet wide, and is one of the oldest Roman 
 structures in North Africa. 
 
 Tiberius built the second palace of the Caesars on the Pala- 
 tine hill in Rome, situated on the north-western side of the 
 hill, and overlooking the valley of the Velabrum. This palace 
 covered the whole of that portion of the Palatine, and had an 
 arched passage (cryptoporticus) joining it to the palace of 
 Augustus. Here Tiberius resided during the first thirteen 
 years of his reign ; here Agrippina on many occasions poured 
 forth the vials of her wrath for the death of Germanicus, 
 insulting the emperor even before his guests ; here Tiberius 
 mourned for the death of his only son Drusus, shutting himself 
 up in the inner part of this palace, away from the sight of all 
 men ; and here, after he had removed to Capreae, died his 
 aged mother Livia. This palace of Tiberius still awaits 
 excavation, being at present covered by the Famese gardens. 
 The only portions of it visible are the subterranean cells and 
 halls (on the slope towards the valley of the Velabrum) which 
 formed the prison in which Agrippina's son Drusus was con- 
 fined, with a gallery in front of it commanding a fine view. 
 
 Agrippina the Elder. 
 
 Three women played the leading parts in the long tragedy 
 of the Caesars, Augustus' daughter Julia, her daughter Agrip- 
 
 * There is also a fine Arch to the memory of Tiberius at Saintes, 
 near Bordeaux, 
 
 n] 
 
 AGRIPPINA ON THE RHINE 
 
 79 
 
 pina, and the latter*s daughter Agrippina the younger ; and 
 of these three Agrippina the elder took the most important 
 part, both by her own actions and the legacy of hatred 
 against Tiberius and his mother which she transmitted to her 
 daughter. 
 
 Agrippina the elder, ^ the hete noir of the reign of Tiberius, 
 the second of the two daughters of Julia and Marcus Agrippa, 
 was a woman of most powerful character. Together with an 
 indomitable will she possessed great ability, resolution and 
 courage, but with these qualities were combined so much 
 pride, such a vindictive spirit, and above all such an absolutely 
 uncontrollable temper, that these latter characteristics 
 neutralized all her ability. Again and again we find 
 her mind blinded by passion, and find her defeating her 
 own objects by inability to restrain her fierce and vindictive 
 anger. 
 
 Married when she was sixteen to Tiberius' nephew Ger- 
 manicus,2 the year after her mother Julia was banished, 
 Agrippina was from her earliest years deeply imbued with 
 antagonism to the Claudian line, represented by Tiberius, 
 and proud of her own descent as the granddaughter of 
 Augustus. She and Germanicus had in all nine children, and 
 Agrippina, left by the death of her three brothers and the 
 banishment of her sister Julia the sole representative of the 
 Julian line, was determined that at the first opportunity one 
 of her sons, and not the son of Tiberiiis, should succeed to the 
 throne. 
 
 On the death of Augustus in a.d. 14 when she was twenty- 
 eight (her eldest son Nero being then eleven years old), Agrip- 
 pina joined her husband at his head-quarters on the Rhine, 
 called after her Agrippina Colonia (now Cologne). There for 
 three happy years she ruled supreme, gathering around her 
 a sort of military court, and almost taking command of the 
 legions ; which caused Tiberius to gently hint to Germanicus 
 the unsuitability of her " paying visits of inspection to the 
 troops, attending the standards, distributing donations, and 
 carrying her child about the camp dressed in a soldier's accou- 
 
 1 Plate Xin (p. 66). Portrait-bust in the Vatican Museum, Rome. 
 Various other portraits of Agrippina exist. 
 
 * Germanicus was only a year older than herself. 
 
 J 
 
80 
 
 TIBERIUS (Matterg other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 trements."* Agrippina's imperious temper did not spare 
 even Germanicus ; when the mutiny on the Rhine assumed 
 a serious aspect Germanicus endeavoured to send her away, 
 but she refused to go, telling him that she was of the Julian 
 line and was not, like him, afraid of danger. In the following 
 year (not long before the birth of her daughter Agrippina) 
 her resolution and courage were forcibly displayed. When 
 during the absence of Germanicus the remnants of one half 
 of his army, retreating in confusion before Hermann, created 
 so great a panic that the troops placed to guard the bridge 
 over the Rhine at Castra Vetera were proceeding to demolish 
 it, Agrippina stationed herself at the head of the bridge, 
 furiously denounced any one who should attempt to destroy 
 it, encouraged the retreating troops, tended the wounded, 
 revived the spirits of all, and by her action saved the remnant 
 of the army from destruction. 
 
 She accompanied Germanicus in a.d. 17 to the eastern 
 command,^ feeling not a little incensed at his transfer ; and 
 when two years later he died at Antioch, Agrippina, blinded 
 by the wrath due to a long-nursed enmity against Tiberius, 
 became at once firmly convinced that the latter had caused 
 him to be poisoned. Nothing could eradicate this idea from 
 her mind ; the manner in which Tiberius out of love for his 
 brother Drusus had befriended Germanicus on all occasions 
 and screened his incapacity, the entire absence of any evidence 
 (as was shown at the trial of Piso) that Germanicus had been 
 poisoned by any one, the kindness of Tiberius to herself and 
 her sons, all were powerless to have any effect upon Agrippina's 
 view of the matter. Blind with hate, and thirsting for 
 revenge, she entered on a course in which she eventually 
 worked the ruin of her whole house. She became a perpetually 
 burning fire, which breathed out flames of wrath, hatred, and 
 slander, ever seeking by constant vilification and malignant 
 
 1 The child referred to was her fourth son, Caius, then three years 
 old, whom the soldiers made their playmate, and to whom, in conse- 
 quence of these "accoutrements," they gave the name of CaUimla 
 ("Little Boots"). 
 
 * She gave birth to her second daughter, Dnisilla, shortly after- 
 wards. Her third daughter, Julia Livilla, the last of her nine chil- 
 dren, was bom in the following year. 
 
 n] 
 
 AGRIPPINA AT A BANQUET 
 
 81 
 
 misrepresentation of every act of the emperor, and regardless 
 of the consequences, to make the Roman people see Tiberius 
 in the same light that she did. Dean Merivale ^ calls her 
 " this she-wolf," but that is surely hard measure. She honestly 
 believed the assertions she made, and her blind thirst for 
 revenge was in proportion to the faithful love she had borne 
 for Germanicus during all the fourteen years of their married 
 life. 
 
 It is plain that Tiberius pitied her, and that this was the 
 reason why for so long as eleven years he bore all her virulent 
 animosity without showing any resentment against her, not- 
 withstanding that her methods caused her to become so great 
 a political danger to him. She made no secret of her attitude ; 
 in fact for Agrippina to hide wrath was impossible. Even 
 if he had not had the evidence furnished by the violent manner 
 in which she ever strove to stir up the Roman people against 
 him, her demeanour whenever he addressed her — her knitted 
 brows, her eyes glaring with rage, and her voice quivering 
 with anger — ^told the emperor on all occasions what she felt. 
 Even as a guest at his table her attitude was the same. On 
 one occasion at a banquet in the palace of Tiberius, while the 
 emperor reclined with his mother and his step-daughter on 
 either side of him, Agrippina, sullen and glowering, refused 
 to touch anjrthing. At last Tiberius pressed upon her a 
 specially fine apple ; she took it, and ostentatiously handing 
 it over her shoulder to a slave told him to throw it away. 
 Tiberius turned to his mother and said, " What can I do with 
 one who so deliberately accuses me before all my guests of 
 being a poisoner ? " Next day a rumour was circulated 
 through Rome that the emperor had tried to poison Agrip- 
 pina at the banquet. 
 
 Nor is it possible to believe that she confined herself only 
 to words. Four years after the death of Germanicus, when 
 Agrippina was thirty-seven, occurred the death by poisoning 
 of Tiberius' only son Drusus, immediately after the emperor 
 had associated him with himself in the government. All 
 that was allowed to reach the ears of Tiberius when the plot 
 was discovered was that the poison had been prepared by a 
 physician, Eudemus, and administered by a slave, Lygdus, 
 
 * Merivale, History of the Romans, 
 E.W. © 
 
 I Ml 
 
 isa 
 
4 
 
 I ' 
 
 82 
 
 TIBERIUS (Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 under the orders of Livilla and Sejanus. And as Tacitus natur- 
 ally found no word in the memoirs of Agrippina the younger 
 implicating her mother, we are not told whether Agrippina the 
 elder had any part in this murder of Drusus. But seeing that 
 Agrippina still thirsted for revenge for the death of Ger- 
 manicus, and was determined that Drusus should not suc- 
 ceed to the throne, it is almost impossible to beUeve that she 
 who was the leading spirit in every other untoward event 
 in the imperial family at this time was not the prompter of 
 that murder. 
 
 After the death of Drusus Agrippina might seem to have 
 had no further cause for her attitude. Her eldest son, a weak 
 youth who would have been entirely ruled by her, was recog- 
 nized by Tiberius as the heir to the throne ; she had nothing 
 to do but wait quietly for him to succeed Tiberius in due 
 course. That Tiberius harboured no intention of setting aside 
 her sons was subsequently shown by his passing over his 
 own grandson to leave the throne to her fourth son, Caligula, 
 his three elder brothers being then dead. But Agrippina, 
 blinded by her animosity, continued in the same course, and 
 still breathing out wrath and defiance against Tiberius left the 
 way open to Sejanus. And for the next seven years she be- 
 came, to the ruin of her two elder sons, the centre round which 
 gathered continual plots to assassinate Tiberius and place her 
 eldest son upon the throne. 
 
 It speaks well for Tiberius that for eleven years he endured 
 Agrippina's vilification and machinations against him without 
 taking any steps to silence her. Even reports of plots against 
 his life on her part were for long ignored by him. But at last 
 he could stand it no longer. In a.d. 30, when Agrippina had 
 reached the age of forty-four, a more serious conspiracy on her 
 part than had hitherto been formed came to light ; whereupon 
 she and her two elder sons were tried by the Senate for contra- 
 vention of the law called Lex de Majestate, and, in view of 
 the ample evidence of their guilt, were banished to separate 
 prisons, Agrippina being sent first to the imperial viUa at 
 Herculaneum, where she was visited by Tiberius and poured 
 forth upon him all the torrents of her wrath, after which she 
 was sent to the place fixed upon by the Senate for her banish- 
 ment, the island of Pandataria. There three years later, 
 
 f 
 
 n] 
 
 DEATH OF AGRIPPINA 
 
 83 
 
 L 
 
 because she was not liberated after the fall of Sejanus, Agrip- 
 pina, true to her character to the last, though she knew that 
 her son Caligula would soon succeed the aged and fast failing 
 Tiberius as emperor, persisted in starving herself to death. 
 The report of her refusal to take any food being sent to Tiberius 
 he ordered that she should be made to eat. But though food 
 was forced into her mouth she refused to swallow it, and at 
 length died of starvation in a.d. 33 at the age of forty-seven. 
 Uncontrolled passion and insensate hate steadily yielded to 
 for fourteen years had made her practically mad. But un- 
 fortunately she transmitted her terrible nature to her son 
 Caligula and her daughter Agrippina, and also to the latter's 
 son Nero ; and these three persons worked almost the whole 
 of the tragedy of the Caesars, ruthlessly murdering one after 
 another the members of the Claudian branch. 
 
 Five years after her death her ashes were brought to Rome 
 by her son Caligula and deposited in the Mausoleum of Augustus. 
 The marble chest which contained them is still to be seen in the 
 museum of the Capitol at Rome, engraved with her name, the 
 inscription stating that she was the daughter of Marcus Agrippa, 
 the granddaughter of Augustus, the wife of Germanicus, and 
 the mother of the emperor Caius Caesar (Cahgula). 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 During the latter half of the reign of Tiberius, while the 
 tragic episodes which have been related were taking place in 
 Italy, events were occurring in the Roman province of Judaea 
 the results of which were destined violently to agitate the 
 Roman world two or three generations later. 
 
 In A.D. 26, while Tiberius was still at Rome mourning over 
 the death of his son Drusus, Jesus Christ began His ministry 
 through the towns and villages of Galilee. And in the same 
 year Tiberius made Pontius Pilatus procurator of Judaea. 
 
 In the spring of a.d. 29, while Tiberius was at Capreae and 
 Sejanus at the height of his power, Jesus Christ was put to 
 death at Jerusalem ^ by the procurator Pontius Pilatus on a 
 fictitious charge of treason against the emperor in proposing to 
 restore the kingdom of the Jews, but actually through fear on 
 
 1 The report to the emperor of this execution is still extant. 
 
 r 
 
 JiM 
 
o» 
 
 TIBERIUS {Mtxttera concerning religion) 
 
 C5HAP. 
 
 i 
 
 the part of Pontius Matus lest the Jews should carry out their 
 threat of reporting him to Tiberius as " not Caesar's friend." 
 It will have been seen what a powerful threat this was in the 
 case of an emperor like Tiberius, always so specially severe with 
 governors who appeared in any way to be oppressing the people 
 of a province. 
 
 A few weeks afterwards a large body of Jews, gathered from 
 all parts of the Roman empire for the Jewish feast of the Pass- 
 over, heard the Apostles preaching the Grospel message in 
 various languages. The Jews were spread all over the civilized 
 world, almost every principal city having a colony of them. 
 Those mentioned on this occasion came from all parts of the 
 Roman empire, from Rome to the Euphrates, and from the 
 Black Sea to the Nile.^ As these scattered Jews spoke the 
 language of the country in which they had settled, this explains 
 their saying that they heard the message " every man in our 
 own tongue wherein we were bom," very few Jews at this time 
 knowing Hebrew ; for which reason even their books of the 
 Old Testament had about 200 years before been translated into 
 Greek, the Septuctgint. As the result of this first preaching 
 by the Apostles we are told that some 3000 of these Jews were 
 baptized, thus beginning the Christian Church, though its 
 members were not caUed " Christians" for the next ten years. 
 These converts carried the message to all the various countries 
 to which after this event they returned. 
 
 In A.D. 33 (about the time that Agrippina starved herself to 
 death at Pandataria) there took place the mart)rrdom at 
 Jerusalem of the deacon Stephen, the first martyr, who was 
 stoned to death by the Jews.* Saul, a young Pharisee from 
 Tarsus, took part in this, and was active in dragging men and 
 women of this new religion to prison and death,^ many others 
 being hunted out of Jerusalem, and, we are told, " scattered 
 abroad." 
 
 In A.D. 35 Saul, the leading persecutor of the followers of 
 the new religion, was converted at Damascus,* becoming the 
 
 ^ See Chap. lH, p. 121. 
 
 ■ For Chronology of events in the Christian Chiirch during the 
 Ist century, see Note A (p. 203). 
 ' Acts of the Apostles, viii. 3, 
 * Ibid, ix. 20-22, 
 
 n] 
 
 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL 
 
 85 
 
 Apostle St. Paul, and remaining for nearly two years at 
 Damascus preaching the new religion, instead of persecuting its 
 adherents. 
 
 In A.D. 36 Pontius Pilatus was recalled by Tiberius from his 
 procuratorship of Judaea, owing to some complaints of op- 
 pression made against him by the Jews, and knowing the fate 
 likely to meet him at Rome as the consequence of these com- 
 plaints committed suicide on the way thither. At the same 
 time Caiaphas, the High Priest of the Jews, was removed from 
 his office by Lucius Vitellius, the proconsul of Syria. In the 
 same year, the last year of Tiberius' reign, Aretas, king of 
 Arabia, made war upon Herod Antipas, thoroughly defeated 
 him, and took Damascus. Herod appealed to the emperor 
 Tiberius, who ordered Vitellius to march against Aretas. But 
 the death of Tiberius soon afterwards caused the war to be 
 abandoned, and Caligula on coming to the throne deprived 
 Herod of his kingdom and exiled him to Lyons in Gaul. Thus 
 within eight years after the death of Christ, Pontius Pilatus, 
 Caiaphas, and Herod all suffered in various ways. 
 
 J ' ' 
 
 : .<< 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 BEIQNS OF 
 CALIGULA AND CLAUDIUS 
 
 II 
 
 ( 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 CALIGULA 
 
 A.D. 37 — 41 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 CALIGULA,* whose proper name was Caius, the youngest 
 son of Germanicus and Agrippina, was twenty-five 
 when he succeeded Tiberius. Four years earKer he had been 
 married to Junia Claudilla, daughter of the proconsul Junius 
 Silanus, but happily for her she died before CaHgula gained 
 the throne. 
 
 The Romans had at last got as emperor one of that Julian 
 branch for which a large party among them had so long 
 clamoured and schemed." They were now to experience what 
 such an one was like. He was that " Little Boots " whom the 
 soldiers in the camp at Cologne had made their pet in the days 
 when his mother Agrippina had ruled there like a queen, while 
 the people welcomed him with joy as the son of their idol 
 Germanicus. 
 
 Rome was now to pass through a long series of terrible 
 experiences. With CaUgula's four years' reign began a period 
 of thirty years which afterwards received the name of ** the 
 Terror." It is often said that CaHgula was mad. But 
 though many of his follies looked almost like madness, Caligula 
 was in reality perfectly sane (and in some of his deeds exceed- 
 ingly shrewd), and this made his conduct more atrocious. In 
 him the evil tendencies of two generations of his line were com- 
 
 * Plate XIV. Portrait-bust in the Uflfizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 • Of the four emperors of the family of the Caescurs who succeeded 
 Augustus, Caligula and Nero belonged to the Julian branch of the 
 family, Tiberius and Claudius to the Claudian branch. 
 
 86 
 
 CHAP, in] 
 
 HIS INHERITED TENDENCIES 
 
 87 
 
 ^\ 
 
 bined, the scandalous immorality of his grandmother Juha 
 and the fierce disposition of his mother Agrippina being in 
 him united and magnified, nor had even the fact of his being 
 brought up from a child by such a person as Antonia been able 
 to eradicate these strong inherited tendencies, which had 
 shown themselves even before the death of Tiberius. 
 
 The Palace of the Caesars had long been without any mis- 
 tress, and the Romans had hoped now to see installed there as 
 empress one who would be a second Livia, an embodiment of all 
 the virtues and belonging to one of the great Roman families ; 
 though the difiiculty of finding such a wife for Caligula was 
 great, since through the strife raised by Agrippina these families 
 had become divided by implacable animosities, and from 
 whichever of them the emperor took a wife he would bring 
 upon himself the enmity of all the rest. Caligula, however, 
 paid no attention to these views of the Romans, and soon after 
 becoming emperor horrified all Roman society by insisting 
 upon marrying his sister Drusilla, took her away from her 
 husband Lepidus, to whom she had not long before been mar- 
 ried, and associated her with himself on the throne ; but the 
 unfortunate girl after a few weeks died, or committed suicide. 
 
 CaHgula then plunged into a general career of crime. He 
 put to death his young cousin Tiberius Gemellus (whom he 
 had sworn to protect), since the latter belonged to the 
 Claudian branch and it was desirable to get rid of him. He 
 likewise put to death Sertorius Macro, who had often befriended 
 him with Tiberius, and also his wife and his children ; also the 
 venerable Silanus, who had been one of Caligula's best advisers. 
 Being present at the marriage of Caius Piso with Livia Ores- 
 tilla, Caligula took a fancy to the bride, and carried her off ; 
 but getting tired of her after a few days divorced her, and 
 then banished her. Hearing that Lollia, the wife of Memmius 
 Regulus, the proconsul of Macedonia, was very beautiful, he 
 ordered her to Rome, took her for his wife, soon tired of her, 
 and then divorced her. He next took for his wife Caesonia, 
 sister of the general Domitius Corbulo, a handsome and some- 
 what masculine type of woman, with several children, who 
 retained her influence over him for the rest of his short reign, 
 and bore him a daughter, Drusilla. Perhaps one of his crimes 
 which was most terrible in Roman eyes was his carrying off 
 
CHAP. 
 
 I I 
 
 ] 
 
 88 
 
 CALIGULA {Matters other than, religion) 
 
 one of the sacred Vestal Virgins. His murders were incessant, 
 and often committed wholesale, which he called " clearing his 
 accomits." He had large numbers of the senators whipped, 
 tortured for his pleasure in various ways, or decapitated by 
 torch-Hght while he looked on. DeUghting in the most horrible 
 cruelties, he turned the combats in the arena into hideous 
 spectacles of monstrous barbarities for his amusement. He 
 fed the wild beasts with the bodies of senators and knights. 
 He forced senators to witness the tortures and death of their 
 own cWldren. There was in fact no limit to his detestable 
 crimes, and the wonder is that, even protected as he was by his 
 guards, the Romans should have borne such things as long as 
 they did. Seneca says : — " He was the first to submit senators 
 to torture. But it was a small matter for Caius to put senators 
 to death like slaves.-he who daily exercised himseH in cruelties, 
 who only lived and thought to shed blood, who indeed once 
 formed a plan to massacre the whole Senate, and who expressed 
 the wish that the Roman people had but one neck that he might 
 cut it through at one blow." 
 
 Whether in his wholesale slaughter of the senators Caligula 
 found a mahcious amusement in carrying out a sort of retribu- 
 tion upon the aristocracy for their antSonism towards Tiberius, 
 or whether he was actuated by a deliberate purpose of reducing 
 into absolute subjection that aristocratic body which from 
 the accession of Augustus until now had formed a barrier to 
 autocratic power on the part of the emperor, it is impossible 
 to say. It seems however probable that Caligula, while he 
 felt no regard for Tiberius, considered that aU the troubles of 
 the latter had been caused by his far too lofty ideals (especially 
 with regard to maintaining the dignity of the Senate), felt a 
 contempt for these views as being altogether high-flown,^ and 
 was determined that he for his part would make the Senate feel 
 that he was their master, and would sweep away all ideas of the 
 emperor being merely the chief officer of a commonwealth and 
 all barriers to his wielding an absolutely autocratic power. 
 In any case that aristocracy which had made the life of Tiberius 
 
 ^ Since Caligula was brought up to the age of eighteen by Antonia, 
 it is certeUn that he was thoroughly acquainted with the ideals of 
 Tiberius, which she shared ; while his cheiracter was just of the kind 
 certain to feel contempt for such principles of action. 
 
 m] 
 
 HIS FOLLIES 
 
 89 
 
 during all the latter haK of his reign one long tribulation now 
 suffered a thorough retribution. Caligula simply trod them 
 under his heel. And from this time forth the Senate never 
 again recovered that position which they had held under the 
 first two emperors. Caligula was in fact the first of the Roman 
 emperors to exercise that untrammelled and despotic power 
 which we associate with that title. 
 
 Caligula's follies were as innumerable as his cruelties.^ He 
 constantly posed as a god, paraded the streets of Rome dressed 
 as Jupiter, Mercury, or Apollo, pretended to be talking with 
 Jupiter, and declared the moon to be his wife. He built a 
 bridge from his palace across the roofs of temples and other 
 buildings to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol so that he 
 might more easily visit his *' cousin" Jupiter. He made his 
 horse the priest of a temple, and intended to make him consul. 
 To the great damage of commerce he collected all the ships 
 employed round the coast and constructed with them an im- 
 mense bridge two miles long across the gulf of Baise, and rode 
 across it dressed as Alexander the Great, attended by a large 
 body of troops. And by many other similar follies he disgusted 
 the Romans perhaps even more than he horjrified them by his 
 atrocious cruelties. His extravagance was on a par with his 
 other follies. Draughts of melted pearls, galleys with their 
 stems ornamented with jewels and with gardens upon their 
 decks, baths of the most rare and precious scents, the entire 
 refurnishing of the palace of Tiberius in the most costly style, 
 and the construction of a new and much larger palace which 
 necessitated the extension of a hill, were some of the modes in 
 which Caligula began that tradition of fabulous extravagance 
 which was afterwards to be carried to still further lengths by 
 Nero. Suetonius says that Caligula in a single year expended 
 in reckless waste a sum equal to twenty millions sterling.* 
 And since this did not include such items as the immense cost 
 of constructing his new palace, it is not surprising that Caligula 
 was obliged largely to increase taxation to meet his inordinate 
 expenditure.^ 
 
 1 See, however, pp. 102-103. • Suetonius, Cdligvla, 37. 
 
 3 Caligula also brought another obelisk from Egypt to Rome, mak- 
 ing the third obelisk brought from Egypt. Its height was 82 feet. 
 He set it up in his Vatican gardens (see Chap. IV, p. 163). 
 
 
90 
 
 CALIGULA [Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II 
 
 Caligula's sister Agrippina the younger had been married 
 at seventeen to Domitius Ahenobarbus, and was twenty-two 
 when Caligula became emperor. She little dreamt when in 
 that same year she bore a son ^ that the child to which she gave 
 birth would twenty-two years later deprive her of life ; though 
 at his birth the child's own father made, we are told, a sinister 
 prophecy as to what was likely to be the future of a son of 
 himself and Agrippina.* Caligula's third sister, Julia Livilla, 
 then nineteen, had been married to Marcus Vinicius. In a.d. 39 
 Caligula discovered an intrigue between Agrippina (whose 
 husband Ahenobarbus had just died) and her brother-in-law 
 Lepidus (the former husband of Drusilla), together with a plot, 
 in which both his sisters were involved, to assassinate himself. 
 Saying nothing of his discovery he promptly carried off his two 
 sisters and Lepidus into Gaul, where he put Lepidus to death, 
 and then forced his sister Agrippina to carry the urn containing 
 the ashes of Lepidus in her arms the whole way to Rome, mak- 
 ing her embrace it unceasingly day and night throughout the 
 whole journey. He then banished both his sisters to the Ponza 
 islands, confiscated aU their property, and having it transported 
 all the way to Lyons sold it there at an auction which he con- 
 ducted himself. And having refurnished the palace of Tiberius 
 he sent for all the old furniture of that palace also to Gaul, and 
 sold it there by auction in the same way. He then set out 
 for an expedition to Britain ; but got no further than Boulogne. 
 Returning in a.d. 40 to Rome he proceeded to execute the 
 senators one after another on various pretexts, solely for his 
 amusement, by different modes of torture, delighting to make a 
 father dine with him at the hour that his son was being tortured 
 to death so that he might watch his face, with other similar 
 cruelties. 
 
 At last, however, an end was put to this ruthless tyrant in the 
 only way possible. Cassius Chaerea, the old tribime of his 
 guard, had spoken to others regarding the insult that they, as 
 Roman soldiers, suffered in being employed to carry out such 
 detestable atrocities. Immediately afterwards he was required 
 brutally to torture in the presence of the emperor a beautiful 
 
 ^ Luci\]s Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards named Nero, 
 ' Suetonius, Nero, 6. 
 
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 Portrait -bust in the I'ffizi gallery. Florence. 
 
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PLATE XV. 
 
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 HIS MURDER 
 
 91 
 
 actress, Quintilia, who knew of Chaerea's speech, and who 
 would, he feared, be forced to betray him under the torture. 
 The brave girl trod on his foot, and by a look conveyed to him 
 that she would not betray him. She was placed on the rack 
 and endured great agony, her joints being dislocated, but re- 
 vealed nothing, and was liberated. Then Chaerea laid his 
 plans ; and a few days afterwards, on the 24th January a.d. 41, 
 as Caligula in returning from the games traversed the 
 cfypto-porticus running along the side of his palace and the 
 palace of Tiberius ^ he was struck down by Cassius Chaerea 
 and killed by Cornelius Sabinus and others who had joined in 
 the plot. The only feeling throughout Rome was one of 
 unmitigated satisfaction. Some hours afterwards when night 
 had fallen Caesonia was found lying on the pavement of the 
 crypto-porticus clasping her husband's dead body, covered with 
 his blood, and in her grief reproaching him for not having 
 listened to her advice and desisted from his cruelties ; her baby 
 daughter lay by her side. Of Caesonia no crimes are recorded, 
 but as the soldiers carrying their torches approached her she 
 knew that she must die, as belonging to one so justly execrated ; 
 raising herself from the blood-stained corpse of the late em- 
 peror she extended her throat, and was at once killed, and also 
 her child. Caligula was twenty-nine years old when he thus 
 met the end he had long deserved. His body was burnt and his 
 ashes buried in a garden on the Esquiline hill. 
 
 Caligula built the third palace of the Caesars on the Palatine 
 hiU, that which formed the chief residence of all the succeeding 
 emperors up to Hadrian.^ It was of immense size, and was 
 peculiarly constructed, not only covering aU the north-eastern 
 brow of the Palatine hill from its northern corner for a con- 
 siderable distance eastwards, but also being built out far beyond 
 the brow of the hill, so that it extended over the slope of the 
 
 i 
 
 ^ Plate XV. The crypto-porticus, or covered passage, where Cali- 
 gula was killed. 
 
 2 Excepting during the two yeaj« a.d. 66-68 when Nero occupied 
 his new palace of the " Golden House," and three months of the year 
 A.D. 69 when Otho likewise occupied the " Grolden House." Even 
 when the Flavian palace W8is built by Domitian the palace of Caligula 
 continued to form the emperor's private apartments (see Chap. V, 
 p. 193). 
 
 mn^ 
 
92 
 
 CALIGULA (Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 m] 
 
 PALACE OF CALIGULA 
 
 93 
 
 hill, and the road called the Clivus Victoriae (the hill of Vic- 
 tory). It was practically an extension northwards of the 
 palace of Tiberius, and part of it was built on the northern 
 end of the hill adjoining the latter, but as this did not give 
 neariy enough space for all that Caligula desired, more than 
 half of the new palace was built out (over the Clivus Victoriae, 
 and as far as the line of the Via Nova, near the base of the hill) 
 on huge substructures rising up from the bottom of the valley 
 to the level of the top of the hill. No one but a man of the 
 most abnormally extravagant temperament would have formed 
 the idea of actually extending a hill for such a purpose. The 
 palace must, however, have commanded a magnificent view over 
 the whole of the valley of the Forum and up to the Temple of 
 Jupiter on the Capitol. The lofty substructures required to 
 carry out this project are most solidly constructed (see Plate 
 XXIV), as was necessary, since they had to bear the whole 
 weight of the palace above, this solidity of construction being 
 also shown by their having lasted for many centuries after the 
 whole of the palace built upon them has long ago been des- 
 troyed. The great size of this palace is commented on by 
 Pliny. It must have taken away all privacy from the House of 
 the Vestal Virgins, as the windows of all the rooms near the 
 northern comer of the palace must have looked right down into 
 the atrium of the House of the Vestal Virgins. A lofty arched 
 passage was made for the road called the Clivus Victoriae to 
 pass under the whole length of the palace. The total height 
 from the valley below up to the level of the top of the hill 
 (where the principal apartments were) being very great, there 
 were in this lower portion of the palace many smaller rooms, for 
 servants and other attendants, placed in tiers one above 
 another. 
 
 This palace was that occupied by Claudius, Nero, Galba, 
 Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan. 
 Part of it still remains, viz, its southern portion at the top 
 of the hill (now buried under the Famese gardens), and 
 the huge substructures built to support its northern portion, 
 with the mmaerous tiers of small rooms situated in the lower 
 part of the palace. Various flights of marble stairs, some 
 starting from the Clivus Victoriae and some from the Via Nova, 
 lead upwards past these small rooms towards the upper part of 
 
 the palace. These rooms and many of the smaller staircases 
 can only have been intended for the slaves. The upper rooms 
 were richly decorated with mosaics and linings of marble, but 
 of these decorations only a very small part remains. The 
 southern portion of the palace, occupying the flat space on the 
 top of the hill, like the palace of Tiberius which it adjoins, 
 still awaits excavation. Along the side of this portion and of 
 the palace of Tiberius runs the long crypto-porticus (common to 
 both palaces), and from it stairs lead up into the palace of 
 Caligula and into the palace of Tiberius. As we look at this 
 finely built covered passage it can never fail to recall that scene 
 on the night of the 24th January, a.d. 41, when under the light 
 of the torches lay there grouped together the dead bodies of the 
 cruel tyrant, of the wife who had wept over even Caligula, and 
 of the little child. 
 
 This palace of Caligula, with the immensely heavy work 
 involved in constructing the enormous substructures rising up 
 from the valley to the level of the crest of the hill, must have 
 taken a long time to complete ; nor could the principal rooms 
 be begun until these solidly built substructures were entirely 
 finished. And as Caligula only reigned three years and ten 
 months the whole palace could not have been finished at the 
 time of his death. The portion completed first was almost 
 certainly that situated on the hill itself, adjoining the palace of 
 Tiberius. So that it would seem that Caligula during his reign 
 occupied this southern portion of his new palace and the palace 
 of Tiberius, the two being thrown into one. This also accounts 
 for Caligula's being killed in the place where that event occurred. 
 For in returning from the games had the northern portion of his 
 palace been completed he would have entered it by one of the 
 staircases leading up from the Clivus Victoriae, and would 
 never have taken such a circuitous route as to ascend to the top 
 of the hill and enter the crypto-porticus ; whereas if he were 
 occupying the southern portion (the northern portion being as 
 yet imfinished) this would be the natural route. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 During the twelve years a.d. 30 to a.d. 42 the Apostles 
 remained in Jerusalem, where the mission work of the new 
 
CHAP. 
 94 CALIGULA {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 religion continued, constantly gaining more and more adherents. 
 In all that the Apostles did they were evidently following 
 instructions which had been given them by Christ, and there 
 is a very ancient and well-attested tradition that they had been 
 ordered to remain in Jerusalem proclaiming the Gospel message 
 to the Jews in Judaea for twelve years, and after that to spread 
 their work to a wider field. ^ 
 
 In the spring of a.d. 37, the first year of Caligula's reign, the 
 Jews at Damascus, furious at the change of attitude towards 
 the new religion which St. Paul was exhibiting, formed a plot 
 to kill him. 2 He escaped from Damascus and went to Jerusa- 
 lem and presented himself to the Apostles in his new role of 
 convert. It must have been a strange meeting ; for when they 
 had last seen him he had been their chief enemy, and had gone 
 to Damascus on purpose to destroy their brethren in that city.' 
 At first the Apostles and other disciples were all afraid of him 
 in consequence of his former cruelties against their community, 
 and held aloof from him, until by the action of St. Barnabas 
 they became convinced of his sincerity and were reconciled to 
 him.* Thereupon, owing to the Jews in Jerusalem persistently 
 endeavouring to kill him, St. Paul was sent away by the 
 Apostles by sea from Caesarea to his own city of Tarsus in 
 Cilicia, to remain there in seclusion. ^ 
 
 After St. Paul in a.d. 37 was sent away to Tarsus, it is stated 
 in the Acts of the Apostles that the Church at Jerusalem 
 obtained for some time a respite from the persecution they had 
 been enduring at the hands of the Jews. This was owing to one 
 of the follies of Caligula. As a tangible sign of his divinity he 
 resolved to set up a statue of himself in the Temple at Jeru- 
 salem. This proposal raised such a storm among the Jews that 
 for a time it entirely diverted their thoughts from the followers 
 of the new religion, who thus obtained the respite mentioned. 
 At this period the chief activity is displayed by St. Peter. 
 We find him during the next four years (a.d. 37-41), that is, 
 during the whole of the reign of Caligula, visiting all the com- 
 munities of converts throughout Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria, 
 
 * Edmundson, The Church in Rome in the First Century (Bampton 
 Lectures, 1913), p. 36. 
 
 « Acts of the Apostles, ix. 23-25. * Ibid, ix. 1-2. 
 
 « Ibid, ix. 26-28. » Ibid, ix. 29-30. 
 
 m] 
 
 ST. PETER AT CAESAREA 
 
 95 
 
 and eventually arriving at Lydda, where we are told of his 
 making many converts, and from thence proceeding to Joppa, 
 where also many details of his successful missionary labours are 
 related, and where he remained a long time, staying in the house 
 of Simon, the tanner. ^ 
 
 In a.d. 41, we are told of St. Peter being summoned from 
 Joppa to Caesarea, and of the conversion there, imder very 
 noticeable circumstances, of Cornelius, a centurion of the 
 portion of the Roman legion quartered at Caesarea, and others 
 (presumably Roman soldiers) with him, the whole of the cir- 
 cumstances of this conversion being very fully detailed. ^ This 
 was a greater step than the admission of Jews, or of Samaritans, 
 who were half Jews. The admission of a " Gentile " involved the 
 abandonment by those converts who were Jews by race of all 
 their accustomed religious prejudices, which made it imlawful 
 for a Jew even to associate with Gentiles. ^ It is probably on 
 account of its importance from this point of view that the 
 circumstances are so fully related, St. Peter being specially 
 commanded to lay aside all that he had hitherto held in this 
 respect, and to admit these uncircumcised Gentiles into the 
 Church. 
 
 1 Acts of the Apostles, ix. 32-43. 
 
 « Ibid, x. 1-48 and xi. 5-18. 
 
 3 Ibid, x. 11-16, 28-29, 34, 45, and xi. 2-3. 
 
90 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 in] 
 
 n 
 
 CLAUDIUS 
 
 A.D. 41 — 54 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 On the death of Caligula, Claudius,^ the second son of 
 Tiberius' brother Dnisus, was made emperor by the Praetorian 
 Guards because he was the brother of their favourite Germani- 
 cus. In the confusion which took place on the murder of 
 Caligula a number of the guards rushed into the palace and 
 began furiously plimdering its rooms, crowded as these were 
 with all kinds of costly articles collected by the extravagant 
 Caligula. In the midst of the uproar an individual was seen 
 hidden behind a curtain in a dark comer ; whereupon with 
 much violence he was dragged forth by the soldiers, who to 
 their astonishment discovered that he was the neglected and 
 despised uncle of Caligula. He threw himself on the groxmd in 
 an agony of terror and begged for his life, but the soldiers 
 instead of killing him as he expected, carried him off to their 
 camp, where he was formally proclaimed emperor, and the 
 Senate was forced to acquiesce.* 
 
 Claudius, feeble in character, lame, and unable to speak with 
 distinctness, had been as a boy despised even by his mother 
 Antonia, and his natural timidity being increased by neglect and 
 insult, by the time he was chosen emperor at the age of fifty- 
 three was looked upon by all as a nonentity. But the terrible 
 vagaries of Caligula had produced the result that almost any one 
 was preferable to the latter as emperor. The Romans had at 
 all events obtained freedom from the Julian branch with its 
 mad revel of crime, and were again under one of that Claudian 
 branch which had ever shown a desire to rule with justice, even 
 though he might be a very feeble representative of that race 
 which in times gone by had produced so many noble examples. 
 
 Moreover Claudius, though intensely feeble in character, was 
 
 1 Plate XVI (p. 90). Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gaUery, Florence. 
 * See also p. 116. 
 
 HIS PECULIAR CHARACTER 
 
 97 
 
 by no means so wanting in brains as the Romans had supposed. 
 During his thirteen years' reign he carried out various sound 
 measures, enacted laws for the protection of slaves from op- 
 pression, abolished the harsh laws regarding high treason 
 which had become an engine for prosecuting private animosities 
 and for much injustice, lightened taxation, increased the number 
 of aqueducts suppling pure water to Rome, and reduced the 
 excessive number of festivals, while his reign is notable for 
 important additions to the Roman empire by the conquest of 
 Britain and Mauretania. He was most painstaking in the work 
 of government, and laborious in personally administering 
 justice. He was fond of literature and archaeology, and 
 himself wrote several books ; but none of his writings have 
 survived. Speaking of Claudius' peculiar combination of 
 ability to consider great questions of politics, war, and finance 
 combined with contemptible pusillanimity and weakness of 
 character, Signor Ferrero says : — " He was intelligent, and he 
 looked stupid. ... He dared undertake great projects, like the 
 conquest of Britain, and he lost his head at the wildest fable 
 about conspiracy which one of his intimates told him. He had 
 mind sufficient to govern the empire as well as Augustus and 
 Tiberius had done, but he could not succeed in getting obedience 
 from four or five slaves or from his own wife."^ 
 
 Upon being made emperor Claudius set himself without 
 delay to remedy many of the evils of Caligula's demented reign. 
 Assisted by the advice of several of the best men in the Senate 
 he saved Rome from the famine which threatened it, owing to 
 all the ships being taken away for the bridge at Baiae, by 
 promptly breaking up the bridge and subsidizing additional 
 ships to bring com speedily to Rome ; he released prisoners, 
 restored exiles, and Ughtened the heavy taxation which had been 
 imposed by Caligula to provide funds for his many follies ; and 
 he recalled his nieces Agrippina and Julia Livilla from banish- 
 ment, and restored as much of their confiscated property as was 
 possible. 2 
 
 1 Ferrero, T?ie Women of the Caesars, p. 250. 
 
 * An interesting memorial of the reign of Claudius is the temple 
 erected in this same year a.d. 41 at Vienne, in Gaul, to the memory of 
 Augustus and Livia. Used as a church during the Middle Ages, it 
 still stands in the town of Vienne, and is in fair preservation. 
 
 E.w. H 
 
 ^H 
 
 it 
 
 li 
 
CHAP. 
 
 98 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other ihan rdigum) 
 
 1 
 
 Claudius added two more to the aqueducts supplying Rome 
 with pure water, the Aqiui Claudia and the Anio Ncmis, the 
 former being forty-two miles long and bringing water from the 
 vicinity of Subiaco, and the latter fifty-one miles long, and 
 starting from the sources of the Anio river. Claudius also 
 constructed a new and much needed harbour at Ostia. The 
 whole maritime trade of the capital had become seriously 
 interfered with owing to Rome's port of Ostia having become 
 choked up by the deposits of the Tiber, which had also changed 
 its course. Qaudius accordingly formed a new harbour on the 
 fresh channel of the river ; though so rapidly does the Tiber 
 silt up that this harbour of Claudius had itself to be abandoned 
 for the same reason about sixty years later. In making this 
 harbour Claudius made use of the vessel which had transported 
 Caligula's obelisk from Egypt. It was formed out of an enor- 
 mous fir tree, and Claudius sank it to form part of one side of 
 the new harbour. Pliny says :— " Nothing certainly ever ap- 
 peared on the sea more astonishing than this vessel ; 120,000 
 bushels of lentils served for its ballast ; the length of it nearly 
 equalled all the left side of the port of Ostia. The thickness of 
 the tree was as much as four men could embrace with their 
 arms."i Claudius also completed the great Roman road over 
 the Brenner Pass and through Rhsetia, called the Via Claudia 
 Augusta, connecting Italy with the upper Danube. To the 
 two obelisks which had been brought from Egypt by Augustus, 
 and that brought by Caligula, Claudius added a fourth much 
 smaller one,^ which on its arrival he set up outside the 
 mausoleum of Augustus. 
 
 But the most important event of the reign of Claudius con- 
 cerned Britain. Although Julius Caesar had in B.C. 55 invaded 
 Britain, defeated the Britons, and for a time partially subdued 
 the tribes inhabiting the southernmost part of the island, 
 Britain was not as yet part of the empire, no Roman administra- 
 tion having as yet been set up in Britain, nor any troops 
 quartered there, and the real conquest of Britain took place 
 under the emperor Claudius. In a.d. 43 Claudius ordered 
 Aulus Plautius, the Roman commander in Gaul, to invade 
 Britain, taking with him four legions, or a force of about 48,000 
 
 1 Pliny, xvi. 76. • That now in the Piazza del Quirinale. 
 
 m] 
 
 '} 
 
 INVASION OF BRITAIN 
 
 99 
 
 men. The legions ordered on this service were the Second, the 
 Ninth, the Fourteenth, and the Twentieth, and of these the 
 Second and the Twentieth remained ever afterwards quartered 
 in that country so long as the Romans held Britain.^ 
 
 The expedition was extremely distasteful to the troops thus 
 detailed for it. They declared that Britain lay beyond the 
 boimdaries of the world, and at first refused to proceed thither. 
 Gaudius sent the freedman Narcissus, his chief minister, from 
 Rome to expostulate with them, but they jeered at him as a 
 slave. Eventually however their objections were overcome, 
 and the expedition started. The transport of 48,000 men 
 across the Channel was a long and difficult operation, as may 
 well be imderstood, especially as the force included cavalry, 
 but at length the landing was effected. The Britons were led 
 by Caradoc (Caractacus), who had not long before succeeded 
 to his father Cunebelin's kingdom, and had also gained a 
 supremacy over several of the other kingdoms ; they made a 
 fierce resistance, but were soon defeated by the forces of Aulus 
 Plautius, and retired into forests and marshes behind the 
 river Medway, where they hoped the Roman troops could not 
 penetrate. But Aulus Plautius had brought with him a force 
 of Batavian cavalry, ^ and the latter, led by Vespasian (after- 
 wards emperor), by managing to swim the river, unexpectedly 
 fell upon the Britons, who retreated and took refuge behind 
 the Thames, which they hoped would prove an insurmountable 
 obstacle. But the Batavian cavalry managed to swim that 
 river also, while the rest of the troops crossed higher up, 
 apparently in the neighbourhood of London. The Britons were 
 again attacked and defeated, but the pursuit was pushed too 
 far, the Romans became entangled in the marshes of Essex, 
 suffered heavy losses, and were obliged to retire again across 
 the Thames. Aulus Plautius was thereupon forced, or pre- 
 tended to be so, to send a messenger to Rome asking for rein- 
 forcements, and for the presence of the emperor himself. 
 Claudius (displaying an energy which was certainly not in 
 
 * The Foiirteenth legion weis withdrawn by Nero, making three 
 legions the garrison of Britain, and subsequently the Ninth legion was 
 replaced by the Sixth. 
 
 2 Tcwjitus says that the Batavi inhabited the delta of the Rhine, and 
 were originally a part of the Chatti. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 100 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 ! 
 
 keeping with the character afterwards given to him by Tacitus 
 and Suetonius in their desire to belittle and traduce the em- 
 perors of the family of the Caesars) upon receiving this summons 
 started in a.d. 44 himself for Britain, taking with him forces 
 which had been held in readiness for this piuT)ose in case they 
 should be required. Extraordinary as it seems, we are told that 
 these forces included a troop of war elephants. Led by 
 capable oflBcers, and under the nominal command of the em- 
 peror, these reinforcements sailed from Ostia to Marseilles, 
 disembarked there, traversed the whole length of Gaul, probably 
 by means of navigable rivers (for there were at that time no 
 roads in Gaul and the country was for the most part covered 
 with forests), reached the shore of the Channel, again embarked 
 there, crossed the Channel, landed in Britain, and effected a 
 junction with the army of Aulus Plautius on the southern bank 
 of the Thames. To any one who possesses any knowledge of 
 military affairs and takes into consideration the size of the 
 vessels of that period, the arrangements necessary (particularly 
 as regards water and food) in the conveyance of horses on board 
 ships, the absence of roads in the countries traversed, and the 
 many other difficulties of such an operation as the transport 
 of a force of this kind from Rome to the Thames, this move- 
 ment carried out by the troops of Claudius in a.d. 44 will 
 appear little short of marvellous. No wonder that the Romans 
 made themselves the masters of the world when they could 
 perform such feats. 
 
 Suetonius declares that Gaudius upon his arrival on the 
 banks of the Thames had a bloodless victory, though Dion 
 Cassius asserts that the Britons had gathered in great force at 
 their capital Camalodunum (Colchester), imder the leadership of 
 Caractacus, and that Claudius with the combined forces crossed 
 the Thames, and fought a battle in which Caractacus was 
 defeated. In any case Colchester was taken, and the Britons 
 for the time submitted. Claudius did not stay long in Britain. 
 Leaving Aulus Plautius to carry on the conquest of other parts 
 of the island, he recrossed the Channel, spent the winter in 
 Gaul, and returned to Rome in the following spring, where he 
 celebrated a triumph, the Senate conferring on him the title of 
 Britannicus. This title was by him given as a name to his son 
 Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, then four years old, who thence- 
 
 m] 
 
 CONQUEST OF MAURETANIA 
 
 101 
 
 forward was never known by any other name than that of 
 Britannicus. 
 
 Only a small part of Britain, however, had as yet been con- 
 quered. Though Caractacus had lost Colchester, which became 
 for a long time the headquarters of the Roman forces in Britain, 
 he continued to resist, and was soon afterwards joined by 
 Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, inhabiting the territory now 
 known as Norfolk and Suffolk. Aulus Plautius marched 
 against Caractacus, who had retired westwards, and sent 
 Vespasian against Prasutagus. Vespasian was so successful 
 that Prasutagus submitted and acknowledged the supremacy of 
 the emperor. Tacitus says that Vespasian in this campaign 
 gave such evidence of his ability that to this was mainly due 
 his being selected as emperor twenty-two years later. In a.d . 47 
 Aulus Plautius was recalled to Rome, where he was treated 
 with much honour by Claudius, and was given an " ovation," or 
 lesser triumph.^ 
 
 Besides the conquest of Britain another province was also 
 added to the empire during the reign of Claudius, viz. Mam«- 
 tania, at the western end of North Africa, finally conquered 
 by the Roman forces in a.d. 42. 
 
 Unfortunately however Claudius, though anxious to govern 
 with justice, through his contemptible weakness of character 
 produced almost as many evils as the most unjust and tyranni- 
 cal emperor could have done, causing his reign to be one in 
 which numerous tragedies were enacted. His feeble character 
 placed him entirely imder the dominance of certain freedmen, 
 
 ^ Tacitus has an interesting remark about the wife of Aulus Plau- 
 tius. He says : " Pomponia Graecina, a distinguished lady, wife 
 of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation, was 
 accused of some foreign superstition and handed over to her husband's 
 judicial decision. Following ancient precedent, he heard his wife's 
 cause in the presence of relations, involving as it did her legal status 
 and character, and he reported that she was innocent. This Pomponia 
 lived a long Ufe of unbroken melancholy. After the murder of Julia, 
 Drusus' daughter, by Messalina's intrigues, for forty years she wore 
 only the attire of a mourner, with a heart ever sorrowful. For this, 
 during Claudius' reign, she escaped unpunished, and it was afterwards 
 counted a glory to her " {AnnalSy xiii, 32). It has been conjectured 
 that the " foreign superstition " spoken of was Christianity ; it could 
 not have been Judaism, since the latter, Uke most of the foreign 
 religions, was a reUgio licita, and therefore tolerated. 
 
 
 if 
 I* 
 
 11 
 
CHAP, 
 
 
 n 
 
 102 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 Pallas, Narcissus, Callistus, Felix, Polybius, Harpocrates, 
 Posides, and others, most of them Greeks of inferior extraction, 
 and mider their influence he committed many judicial murders 
 and other cruelties. He never got over the fright he had 
 sustained when seized in the palace after Caligula's murder, 
 and by working on his easily aroused terror these freedmen were 
 able to make him commit any crime. These men surrounded 
 him as sycophants and directors, and did with him as they 
 pleased, amassing great wealth meanwhile, since none could 
 hope for the removal of an adversary, or the gain of any personal 
 advantage, imless he first purchased the assistance of one or 
 other of these ignoble favourites ; ^ while any one who appeared 
 likely to interfere with the rule which they exercised over 
 the feeble emperor was quickly got rid of. In this manner 
 many of the best men in the State were put to death on false 
 charges of treason,* and Roman ladies banished on false charges 
 of immorality, and forced to commit suicide ; while the 
 degraded race of " informers " were ever ready to invent false 
 evidence against any one, man or woman, whom it was desired 
 thus to remove. 
 
 These proceedings in Rome, however, troubled the empire 
 no more than the capsizinir of a ship affects the Atlantic Ocean. 
 So sound was the aLiniftrative organization and the system 
 of government established by Augustus and carried on by 
 Tiberius, that neither inefficiency nor profligacy on the part of 
 such emperors as Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, nor frequent 
 tragedies in Rome, affected the empire at large. Nothing 
 indeed is more remarkable throughout the reigns of these three 
 emperors than the fact that while an orgy of vice and crime 
 constantly disturbed the atmosphere in Rome the empire at 
 
 ^ Pallas got his brother Felix appointed procurator of Judaea by 
 Claudius. 
 
 ^ Among these was Caecina Paetus, whose death in ▲.D. 42 was 
 chiefly notable on account of the conduct of his noble wife Arria. 
 Upon his being accused of implication in a conspiracy his wife, know> 
 ing the inevitable result, urged him not to submit to the indignity of 
 a public execution, but to conmiit suicide ; and when he hesitated 
 Arria, being determined not to survive him, £uid in order to induce him 
 to follow her advice, took the dagger and plunged it into her own breast, 
 and as she sank dying handed the dagger to him saying, " It does not 
 hurt, Paetus " (Pliny, iii, 16 ; vii, 19 ; and ix, 13). 
 
 ! 
 
PLATE XVII. 
 
 ; TiTwT^ * « r 
 
 _.\linari. 
 Portrait-bust supposed to be thai ot 
 DOMITIA LePIDA. granddaughter of OCTAVIA. THE SISTER UE AUGUSTUS. 
 
 (The inothrr of N'alrria Messalina.) 
 Portrait-bust in the Vffisi gallery, Florence. 
 
n Ai I \\ n 
 
 I'-rti.u: !•: t -nj 
 
 , 1 (., 1m- tin I "t 
 
 I>.'MMi\ l.irii>\. 
 
 1^ \\1'1> \I 
 
 ,11 1 I i; <.| < ); I.W I \, I IN 
 
 I \r< .In M 
 
 (I'll' iii"t 
 
 1„ 1 ..| \ .li' lit M' i'lM 1) 
 
 .) ,'l ,1 l'-'''l - / " '''I 
 
 lu I f'rj j<illt I y. /■/'"('" 
 
PLATE XV'Iir. 
 
 y- 
 
 7-1 
 '■'« 
 
 •'7 I 
 
 ''**9''^^V*^3«^^"^ye ^*"-^ 
 
 Valfrta !\fi-ss\! i\ \ \vn T . .T. Claudius, and grkat-grandi>augmter of Augustus' 
 
 SISTER OCTAVIA. 
 
 Portratt'bust in the Vffizi ^niUry, Flonttit. 
 
I \ 1 I \ \ ! n 
 
 \ \i I 1 ' \ \l 
 
 \ \ 
 
 I - 1 I 
 
m] 
 
 VALERIA MESSALINA 
 
 103 
 
 large felt no ill effects, and that the provinces, even under a 
 Caligula or a Nero, enjoyed greater freedom from oppression 
 than they had experienced under the Republic. 
 
 It is unfortunate that the writers on whom we have to 
 depend should have concerned themselves almost wholly with 
 the scandals in Rome, taking little interest in the concerns of 
 the empire at large, or in any deeds of these emperors which did 
 not affect the city of Rome. The few references which we 
 meet with regarding Gaul, Britain, Spain, North Africa, and 
 other provinces show that emperors such as Caligula and Nero, 
 though depicted by the writers of a generation later as entirely 
 given up to vice and crime, not only possessed genius in ruling 
 but also found time in the midst of a career of unexampled 
 licentiousness and frivolity to devote satisfactory attention to 
 public affairs, and that they were far more efficient rulers of 
 the empire than Tacitus and Suetonius have represented.^ 
 As a consequence of the attitude which these writers have 
 adopted the history of the time becomes mainly that of the 
 events taking place from time to time in the family of the 
 Caesars, and of the long domestic tragedy which eventually 
 brought that family to an end. 
 
 Claudius when he was about twenty was married to Plautia 
 Urgulanilla, whom he divorced after she had borne him two 
 children, Drusus and Claudia, who both died in their childhood. 
 He then married, when he was about thirty-five, iElia Petina, 
 who bore him a daughter, Antonia, but was in a.d. 26 likewise 
 divorced. His third marriage, made in a.d. 39, when he was 
 fifty-one, was to Valeria Messalina, the daughter of Valerius 
 Messala Barbatus and Domitia Lepida.^ Valeria,^ then sixteen, 
 was the most beautiful girl in Rome, her gold-coloured hair and 
 large deep-set eyes being specially admired. Both through 
 her father and her mother she was descended from the 
 Julian branch of the imperial family,* a fact considered both 
 by herself and others of the highest importance. But Valeria 
 
 1 See also Chap. II, p. 46 (footnote), in regard to the genius of the 
 Caesars in ruling having been hidden by Tacitus. 
 
 2 Plate XVII. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 8 Plate XVIII. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 * Her father and mother were first cousins, their respective mothers 
 being both of them daughters of Octavia, the sister of Augustus. 
 
104 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 m] 
 
 BANISHMENT OF SENECA 
 
 105 
 
 Messalina was in the bloom of youth and beauty, and with a 
 susceptible heart, while Claudius, thirty-five years older than 
 herself, was lame, uncouth in his gestures, repulsive in his mode 
 of eating, afflicted with an impediment in his speech, and 
 laughed at even by the populace. Moreover this universally 
 admired girl soon found she could make him do anything she 
 chose ; he was her abject slave, while he also stood in much 
 awe of her on account of her Julian descent. Such a marriage 
 could not bring anything but disaster. 
 
 In A.D. 40, the year after this marriage, while Caligula was 
 still reigning, Valeria Messalina bore Claudius a daughter, to 
 whom she gave the name of Octavia, after her great-grand- 
 mother, the sister of Augustus. In a.d. 41, one month after 
 aaudius became emperor, she bore him a son, given the name 
 Tiberius Claudius Grermanicus, but after the conquest of Britain 
 always known as Britannicus. 
 
 It was not long before the conflict between the rival branches 
 of the imperial family was resumed, but in a different form, 
 and to a more intensified degree, than in the previous generation. 
 For to the feelings of revenge for a supposed usurpation on the 
 part of the Qaudian branch which had inspired the rancour of 
 Agrippina the elder against Tiberius was now in this third 
 generation added that of feminine jealousy. Qaudius being a 
 nonentity, the chief antagonists were now two women, on the 
 one side Valeria Messalina, the beautiful young empress, 
 eighteen years old, the queen of Roman society, universally 
 admired, with a doting and subservient husband, and on the 
 other Agrippina the younger, twenty-six years old, niece of the 
 emperor, daughter of Agrippina the elder, and fuU of aU her 
 mother's force of character and ambition. One was the great- 
 granddaughter of Octavia, the other the great-granddaughter 
 of Augustus ; and each had a son who she intended should 
 succeed Claudius on the imperial throne. Both of them were 
 entirely unscrupulous, and on occasion destroyed lives ruth- 
 lessly to gain their objects ; but their aims were different. 
 Valeria Messalina was bent on admiration, love, and the 
 enjoyment of life, as well as upon retaining her position of 
 empress, and her domination over the feeble Claudius ; Agrip- 
 pina on the other hand was intent upon power, and determined 
 at all costs to sweep from her path all who stood in her way to 
 
 it To this was also added in Agrippina's case the most 
 malevolent jealousy of which a perfectly unscrupulous woman 
 not possessed of beauty is capable against a younger rival, one 
 admired by all the society around them both as the most 
 beautiful woman of her time.^ 
 
 Agrippina was prepared to stick at nothing in order to oust 
 her rival and her rival's son in favour of herself and her son, 
 but very soon had a lesson to walk warily and carefully conceal 
 her aims. Her sister Julia LiviUa, three years younger than 
 Agrippina, set herself to gain the favour of her uncle Claudius 
 and to undermine the influence of Valeria Messalina, to whom 
 she refused to show any deference as empress, or even common 
 courtesy. Valeria promptly whispered to Claudius information 
 regarding an intrigue between JuHa Livilla and the brilliant 
 and wealthy Lucius Annseus Seneca, then thirty-eight, who 
 was a general favourite among the inner circle of the court of 
 Claudius ; ^ whereupon Julia Livilla was again banished to the 
 Ponza islands, where she was shortly afterwards starved to 
 death, Seneca, whom Valeria knew to be also opposed to her 
 influence with Claudius, being at the same time banished at her 
 instigation to Corsica.^ Exactly the same thing took place 
 twelve months later with regard to the widow of Agrippina's 
 
 * It is noticeable that although Tacitus freely uses the Memoirs 
 written by Agrippina the younger regarding the events of the two 
 generations preceding that in which he wrote, he considers Agrippina 
 the younger herself capable of any enormity ; and also that he and 
 other writers attribute immorality to her as freely as she attributed 
 it to her rival. Pallas, the freedman, is said by him to have been one 
 of the lovers of Agrippina. 
 
 2 Seneca, whose father owned large estates in Spain, where Seneca 
 was bom and brought up, came to Rome as quite a young man about 
 the middle of the reign of Tiberius. He took up the branch of the 
 Stoic philosophy which combined that philosophy with a more or less 
 Epicurean style of Ufe, and Uved in much luxury. His works are 
 invaluable, being (except the poems of Petronius) the sole writings 
 by a contemporary which exist regarding the reigns of Claudius and 
 Nero, written moreover by one who was a member of the inner circle 
 of the court. Seneca remained in exile for eight years, until, upon 
 Valeria's death, Agrippina came into power and caused him to be 
 recalled to court. 
 
 3 Valeria worked in such matters in conjunction with the most 
 influential of the freedmen who surrounded Claudius. 
 
 i ,1 
 
CHAPa 
 
 106 
 
 CLAUDIUS (Mattera other than religion) 
 
 m] 
 
 BRITANNICUS AND TITUS 
 
 107 
 
 brother Nero, Julia, ^ who similarly attempted to midennine 
 Valeria's influence with Claudius, and perished in the same way. 
 Agrippina thereupon determined to show no sign of attempting 
 to gain influence over her uncle ; Valeria Messalina was reckless 
 and made many enemies, and Agrippina bided her time, hoping 
 that ere long her adversary would bring to pass her own 
 destruction. Meanwhile Agrippina looked about for a husband 
 powerful enough to protect her, and after having proposed 
 herself to the influential commander Galba, and been slapped 
 in the face by the mother of his wife, whom Agrippina sug- 
 gested he should divorce, she eventually induced Crispus 
 Passienus, a man much older than herself, to divorce his wife 
 Domitia and marry her instead. 
 
 For seven years (a.d. 41-48) the splendid and gorgeously 
 decorated palace which had been built by Caligula overlooking 
 the valley of the Foriun * was the scene of this covert struggle 
 unceasingly carried on between these two antagonists, the wife 
 and the niece of the emperor. But the contest between these 
 two high-bom ladies was a veiled one. Valeria Messalina, 
 the first empress since Livia, was a very different character from 
 the latter. Proud of her double line of descent from the Julian 
 family, young, acknowledged the most beautiful woman in 
 Rome, fond of amusement, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, 
 and profusely extravagant, she lived a life which was a round of 
 perpetual pleasure. The imperial palace had seen no social 
 festivities for twenty-seven years, since the death of Augustus. 
 Valeria, after first furnishing the new palace in the most lux- 
 urious style, held therein entertainment after entertainment 
 to which she gathered all the noble families of Rome. Mean- 
 while Agrippina, plain in feature, sour in temper, gnawed by a 
 bitter jealousy, consumed by ambition, and courted by few, hid 
 the feelings by which she was possessed, and in the midst of 
 these constant entertainments watched perpetually for an 
 opportimity of destroying the rival to whom she showed a 
 smiling face while feeling for her, as all knew, a deadly 
 hate. 
 
 Claudius in a.d. 44 departed for Britain, but his departure 
 
 1 Julia (3). the daughter of Tiberius' son Drusus and Livilla, see 
 Appendix 1. 
 • Pages 92-93. 
 
 
 made no difference to any one at the court, he being not by any 
 means an addition to any society, and being seldom seen at 
 the entertainments of the empress. In the spring of a.d. 45 he 
 returned, and celebrated his triumph, joining with himself 
 therein his little son Britannicus, then four years old.^ The 
 triumph must have been a grand spectacle to those who, like 
 Valeria Messalina, looked down upon it from the lofty windows 
 of the palace as it wound its way through the Forum valley 
 below. After this event the education of Britannicus was 
 taken in hand. Valeria appears to have been very fond of both 
 her daughter Octavia and her son Britannicus, and showed 
 much good sense in the manner in which she brought them up, 
 as a result of which both of them grew up notable exceptions 
 to the general character of those around them in the corrupt 
 court of Nero. Britannicus was surrounded with a band of 
 well chosen attendants and his education placed in the hands 
 of men of a high character, and in consequence grew up a 
 manly boy, who showed, we are told, much promise. 
 The general Vespasian, who had distinguished himself so greatly 
 in Britain, had a young son, Titus, who was exactly the same 
 age as Britannicus, and it was arranged that the two boys 
 should be brought up together in the imperial palace, with the 
 result that Titus and Britannicus became close friends. How- 
 ever much Valeria Messalina may have been fond of gaiety 
 and pleasure she evidently was by no means wanting in good 
 sense ; and it is noticeable that the most satisfactory part of 
 Claudius' reign was the period of seven years during which she 
 was his wife. 
 
 At length in a.d. 48 Valeria Messalina, by this time twenty- 
 five, disgusted with the imbecility and repulsiveness of Claudius, 
 and deeply in love with Caius Silius, who had been chosen 
 consul for the ensuing year, determined to bring about a 
 revolution, to marry Silius (which would give him a right to 
 the throne as the husband of one belonging on both sides to the 
 Julian family), and to cause Claudius to be put to death. 
 Circumstances favoured her purpose. For Claudius had seen 
 
 1 The Twentieth legion in Britain was at the same time given the 
 name it ever afterwards bore of *' Legio Valeria Victrix," in memory 
 of Vfideria Messalina and the victories gained in Britain while she was 
 empress. 
 
 I II 
 
 t l^i 
 
 ^ ti 
 
 't I 
 
 M ™ ! 
 

 CHAP. 
 
 108 
 
 CLAUDIUS {MaUers other than religion ) 
 
 or heard of various portents supposed to prognosticate that 
 in that year " the husband of Messalina " was destined to die, 
 which entirely upset his weak mind. Sobbing and spluttering 
 with nervous agitation, he incoherently explained to the Senate 
 the danger that menaced his life, as indicated by a number of 
 the most ridiculous portents ; after which, consumed by a 
 panic of fear, he signed a divorce, sanctioned a marriage 
 between Silius and Valeria, and gave the latter a dowry ; his 
 idea being that after the prophecy had been fulfilled by the 
 death of Silius he would then reclaim Valeria. Claudius 
 thereupon departed to Ostia, and Caius Silius and Valeria 
 Messalina were publicly married in the autumn of a.d. 48 with 
 all the usual legal ceremonies. 
 
 But this step alarmed Claudius' directors the freedmen, 
 who foresaw that Claudius would be miu-dered, and their 
 occupation be gone. The most influential of them. Narcissus, 
 therefore told Claudius that the only chance for his life was to 
 return to Rome ; on getting him there, speechless from fright, 
 Narcissus first caused him to put to death Caius Silius and other 
 knights, and then extracted from him a sort of consent that 
 Valeria Messalina should also be put to death, though imme- 
 diately afterwards Claudius said he would see her the next day. 
 Narcissus however at once sent a tribune to murder her, telling 
 him it was the emperor's order ; and she was killed with the 
 sword while l3nLng at the feet of her mother in her beautiful 
 gardens (formerly the gardens of Lucullus) on the Pincian hill. 
 The contemptible Claudius, whom nothing moved but terror 
 for his own life, when told that the young wife he had adored 
 was no more, made no remark and seemed to forget all about 
 
 her. 
 
 Valeria Messalina has almost passed into a proverb for 
 excessive immorality ; but in actual fact we know absolutely 
 nothing whatever about this side of her character. We have 
 only what Tacitus,^ some sixty years afterwards, found re- 
 corded by Agrippina in her memoirs regarding the rival for 
 whom she felt a hatred more deadly even than that which her 
 mother had felt for Tiberius, while besides this hatred on 
 
 * Together with Suetonius who followed him, embellishing the 
 record with more sensational details. 
 
 m] 
 
 CHARGE UNSUPPORTED BY SENECA 109 
 
 personal grounds she had also a special political object in 
 drawing as black a picture of that rival as possible.^ From 
 such a source on such a subject no testimony is of the slightest 
 value. Still less so as a historical record on such a point are the 
 satires of Juvenal,^ who, like Tacitus, wrote about sixty years 
 after Valeria Messalina's death, or the prurient gossip of Dion 
 Cassius,3 who wrote more than 150 years after that event. 
 Moreover it is to be noted that Seneca, a much more reliable 
 authority, a contemporary, one who had been on the most 
 intimate terms with both Valeria Messalina and Agrippina, and 
 knew all the secrets of the innermost life of the court, one also 
 whose banishment had been effected by Valeria herself, and 
 who had every reason to hate her, both on his own accoimt and 
 on that of the woman for whom he had formed an attachment, 
 banished at the same time, says nothing whatever against 
 Valeria Messalina's moral character (though he was writing 
 in the next reign, and when Agrippina was in power), refusing 
 to lend the authority of his name to accusations on the part of 
 Agrippina which he knew to be inspired by the most deadly 
 hate.* Above all there is also the fact that Agrippina had 
 watched daily for seven years with the utmost mtentness for 
 an opportunity of causing Claudius to divorce Valeria, and if a 
 tenth part of the allegations of gross immorality made against 
 the latter in these various writings had been true that would at 
 once have given Agrippina the opportunity she so much desired, 
 but never found. So that it is singularly hard in Valeria 
 
 1 See p. 111. 
 
 2 Hardly anything is known of Juvenal. His writings show that 
 he was a man of the lower grades, whose exclusion from the ranks of 
 Roman society moused in him a rancorous hatred of those more for- 
 tunate in this respect. He is supposed to have been bom about 
 A.D. 43. He apparently flourished about the beginning of the reign of 
 Trajan (98-117), and is beUeved to have died in exile. Nothing 
 else is known of him except his sixteen satires, inspired by a bitter 
 indignation, and drawing a most lurid picture of Roman society 
 in the time of Domitian and (from hear-say) in that of preceding 
 reigns. 
 
 3 See Note B (p. 271). 
 
 * It is particularly noticeable that both the children of Valeria 
 Messalina, Octavia her daughter and Britannicus her son, grew up 
 with exceptionally fine characters, their conduct being in prominent 
 contrast to that of all those aroimd them, 
 
 ^ \ 
 
 \ i 
 
 
 11 
 
 
110 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other than religum) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 m] 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF AGRIPPINA 
 
 111 
 
 Messalina's case that a charge which was the usual one made 
 in that age against nearly every woman in her position should 
 have attached itself pre-eminently to her. It may have been 
 deserved, or it may not ; we simply know nothing on the 
 subject ; while Seneca's silence under the circumstances seems 
 to show forcibly that it was not deserved. 
 
 The way was now cleared for Agrippina, whose second 
 husband, Crispus Passienus, had died two years before. She 
 promptly established an entire domination over her feeble 
 uncle, and largely assisted by her former lover, the freedman 
 Pallas, soon persuaded Claudius to marry her, a special law 
 being passed to make the marriage of an uncle with his niece 
 legal ; and early in a.d. 49, less than three months after the 
 death of Valeria Messalina, Claudius was married to Agrippina. 
 Claudius was at this time sixty, and Agrippina thirty-three, her 
 son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus being eleven, and Claudius' 
 son Britannicus eight. Agrippina at once began schemes 
 for causing her son to supplant Claudius' own son Britannicus. 
 After a time she managed to persuade Claudius to adopt 
 Lucius Domitius into the imperial family. Claudius was much 
 opposed to the step, on the ground that it might injure the 
 prospects of Britannicus as his successor to the throne, but at 
 length being persuaded that there was no danger of this gave 
 way, and Lucius Domitius was adopted by him and given 
 the names Nero Claudius Caesar. Agrippina then obtained 
 one honour after another for Nero, wWle keeping Britannicus 
 in the background. Claudius was also reminded by her on 
 all occasions that Nero was descended from Augustus, but 
 Britannicus only from Octavia.^ Agrippina had, however, one 
 powerful opponent in Claudius' chief minister Narcissus, who 
 was entirely in favour of Britannicus and fathomed her 
 schemes, and she accordingly employed every artifice to ruin 
 him, but for a long time unsuccessfully. 
 
 But Agrippina did more than this. She now brought forward 
 her Memoirs (practically the memoirs of three generations), 
 their main object being to create, in all classes, a feeling in 
 favour of herself and her son, and of antagonism both to the 
 
 1 She thus ignored altogether Nero's father Ahenobarbus; also 
 ignoring that Britannicus was not only descended from Octavia, the 
 sister of Augustus, but also from the Claudians, and showed it. 
 
 Claudian branch and to Valeria Messalina and her son. These 
 memoirs contained that legacy of hatred which Agrippina the 
 yoimger had inherited. The malice which had inspired the 
 party of Scribonia against Livia, the vituperative animosity 
 of Agrippina the elder against Tiberius and the Claudian 
 branch, and the venom of Agrippina the younger herself against 
 Valeria Messalina, the young and beautiful antagonist who had 
 for seven years stood in her way, and whose son she desired 
 to oust in favour of her own son, were all embodied in these 
 celebrated Memoirs, which after they had served the immediate 
 purpose for which they were written became subsequently the 
 chief source whence the history of three generations of the 
 imperial family was drawn ; thus destroying the fulfilment of 
 Tiberius' dying hope that posterity would do justice to his 
 memory, and handing down a false history regarding Livia, 
 Tiberius, and Valeria Messalina. In these celebrated Memoirs 
 the character of Valeria Messalina was purposely painted of an 
 extravagant blackness in order not only to gratify the venomous 
 animosity of her rival, the author of the Memoirs, but also to 
 make as strong a contrast as possible to the figure of Agrippina 
 the elder, who was depicted as the ideal Roman matron, the 
 faultless victim of a vile tyrant who with the help of his evil 
 mother had usurped the throne. 
 
 Meanwhile the further conquest of Britain had been con- 
 tinuing, and Rome was now to see a British king led in chains 
 through the Campus Martius. As successor to Aulus Plautius 
 in A.D. 47 Claudius had sent to Britain Ostorius Scapula, who 
 proved himself a capable commander. The territory which 
 had thus far been gained by the Romans covered roughly all 
 that lies to the south of a line drawn from Bath to London 
 including Colchester. Caradoc, whom the Romans called 
 Caractacus, after his previous defeat had taken refuge in his 
 own country, that of the Silures, who occupied the southern 
 part of Wales, and of which tribe he was king. In this contest 
 against Rome the Silures took the prominent part, and it is 
 worth noting that four himdred and fifty years afterwards, 
 when the Romanized Britons were battling for existence 
 against the Saxons, it was Arthur, prince of the SUures, in whom 
 the Saxons met their most stubborn opponent. Soon after 
 Ostorius reached Britain the Iceni again revolted. He marched 
 
 1 
 ^ ' 
 
 I 
 
112 
 
 CLAUDIUS {MaUera other than religum) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 m] 
 
 CARACTACUS 
 
 against them, reduced them to submission, and then marched 
 into the centre part of Wales, where during the years 48-49 he 
 gained much success, penetrating as far as Carnarvonshire with 
 apparently three out of his four Roman legions. 
 
 From thence Ostorious marched into what is now Lancashire, 
 and subdued the Brigantes ; after which he returned south- 
 wards to engage Caractacus, who, besides his own tribe of the 
 Silures, had formed an alliance with the Ordovices (occupying 
 Cheshire and the northern part of Wales), in whose territory 
 Caractacus awaited the Roman commander, taking up his 
 position on a lofty hill, which he strongly entrenched, situated 
 apparently near Leintwardine, on the Teme. Here in a.d. 50 
 Caractacus' final battle was fought. The Roman legions 
 attacked the entrenchments vigorously, and suffered heavy 
 losses, but eventually gained a complete victory. Among the 
 prisoners captured were the wife and daughter of Caractacus. 
 He himself escaped, and fled for refuge to Cartismandua, the 
 queen of the Brigantes, but was by her put in chains and de- 
 livered a prisoner to the Romans. He had held out against the 
 latter for eight years, and his fame had spread over all Britain, 
 Gaul, and even Italy. 
 
 Caractacus was ordered to be brought a prisoner to Rome, 
 and he expected to be there put to death. Claudius, however, 
 to his honour, spared the captive king's life and treated him 
 well. In the Circus Maximus (the seats round which held 
 250,000 spectators) all who could obtain places were gathered 
 together towards the middle of the year a.d. 50, to see the 
 famous British king brought a prisoner before the emperor. 
 The Praetorian Guards were drawn up along one side of the 
 vast enclosure, and in the exedra (or imperial box) sat Claudius, 
 and by his side Agrippina, dressed in their imperial robes. 
 Tacitus says that this was looked upon with disfavour by the 
 Romans, as it was felt unsuitable that a woman should take part 
 in a military display.^ As however Agrippina was now the real 
 ruler of the empire she followed her instincts in publicly 
 demonstrating the fact. Entering the Circus Maximus at 
 one end, the procession advanced towards the emperor ; in front 
 were borne collars of gold and other spoils which Caractacus 
 
 * Tacitus, Annals, xii. 37. 
 
 113 
 
 had won in his wars with other British tribes ; behind these 
 came his brothers, his daughter, and his wife ; and last of all 
 Caractacus himself in chains. Standing in front of the emperor, 
 Caractacus made a short and dignified speech, one worthy of a 
 British king, in which, according to Tacitus, i he said, " I had 
 horses, soldiers, arms, and wealth. Was it to be wondered 
 at if I was loath to part with them ? You are determined to 
 rule the whole world ; but does it foUow that all the world is to 
 welcome loss of liberty ? Had I at once surrendered to your 
 power, neither my fall nor your triumph would have gained their 
 present distinction. Put me to death, and my whole story 
 will be forgotten. Spare me, and your clemency will be 
 remembered for ever." Claudius pardoned him and his 
 family, but would not permit them to return to their own 
 country, and Caractacus retired to hve for the rest of his life 
 near Rome upon a pension. 
 
 But the Silures were not vanquished even by the loss of their 
 brave king ; they continued the contest, and inflicted upon the 
 Roman forces more than one severe defeat. At last Ostorius, 
 enraged at their stubborn resistance, declared that the very 
 name of the Silures should perish, even like that of the Sigambri 
 had perished. 2 He attacked them strenuously for several 
 months in their mountainous territory, but at length, about the 
 end of A.D. 50, worn out with difficulties and hardships, died. 
 He was succeeded by Didius GaUus, who however in the seven 
 years that he commanded in Britain (a.d. 50-57) only managed 
 to retain the territory which the Romans had thus far con- 
 quered. 3 
 
 Agrippina having prepared the ground in the manner abeady 
 noted, in a.d. 52, when Nero was fifteen, advanced another 
 step towards her project by inducing Claudius to consent that 
 
 1 Some have doubted how much of the speech belongs to Caractacus 
 and how much to Tacitus, but the speech in some of its expressions 
 has a British ring, unUke those which would have been invented by 
 a Roman ; so that it may be judged that Tacitus has reported the 
 sentiments expressed with tolerable correctness, though no doubt 
 giving them a polish of his own. 
 
 • A tribe on the Rhine frontier which had been removed bodily by 
 Augustus into Roman territory. As has been seen (p. Ill) OstoriuH 
 failed to effect his threat. 
 
 3 For the further operations in Britain, see Chap. IV, pp. 133-134. 
 
 B.W. 
 
 I r 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 Nero should be married to his and Valeria's daughter Octavia,^ 
 now twelve years old, regardless of the fact that Octavia de- 
 tested Nero even at that age. Agrippma 2 during the six years 
 that, in conjunction with the freedman Pallas, she ruled Claudius, 
 was not hampered by any scruples in regard to causing 
 the death of any whom she thought likely to interfere with her 
 objects. She obtained the death or removal of all the attend- 
 ants on Britannicus who had been chosen for him by his 
 mother ; while all persons who favoured the succession of 
 Britannicus were banished or put to death. Fearing that the 
 beautiful and wealthy Lollia Paulina, who had been proposed 
 as a wife for Claudius after the death of Valeria Messalina, might 
 gain influence over him, Agrippina caused Lollia to be tried on a 
 fictitious charge, with the result that she was banished. This 
 however did not satisfy Agrippina, who therefore sent after her 
 a tribune with orders to put Lollia to death and to bring back 
 her head, so that she might be sure that she was dead ; which 
 was done. Finding that Nero's aunt, Domitia Lepida,^ was 
 beginning to have an influence over him, Agrippina caused her 
 to be put to death. FinaUy when Nero had reached the age 
 of seventeen she obtained the banishment of Narcissus * (who 
 suspected her design against Claudius), and as soon as Narcissus 
 had left Rome Agrippina, in October, a.d. 54, poisoned Claud- 
 ius,* and proceeded to gain the throne for Nero with the help 
 of the Praetorian Guards.' Thus perished Claudius, at the 
 age of sixty-six, after a reign of thirteen years during which he 
 
 1 This was done by Agrippina because she felt the claim of Valeria 
 Messalina's children to be so much stronger than that of Nero. Seven 
 years afterwcurds when Nero proposed to divorce Octavia in order to 
 marry Poppaea, the blunt soldier Burrhus, who commanded the Praeto- 
 rian Guards, said openly that Nero had only been given the throne 
 by those troops because he was married to Octavia. And this was 
 probably the reason why Nero hesitated so long before divorcing 
 Octavia. 
 
 • Plate XIX. Statue in the Capitol museum, Kome. 
 
 ' She was the sister of Nero's father Domitius Ahenobarbus. 
 
 * Followed soon afterwards by his suicide. 
 
 ^ Tacitus, AnruUSf xii. 67. Tacitus states that it was done by means 
 of a dish of poisoned mushrooms. It is believed that Pallas assisted 
 Agrippina to carry out this murder of Claudius. 
 
 « See Chap. IV, p. 125. 
 
PLATK XIX. 
 
 Agrippina the vol'nger, daughter of Agrippina the elder, and mother oe Xero. 
 
 Slatui' in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 I Bhl>oi. 
 
M^^i^ 
 
 H^^^H 
 
 I'l A I I \ I \ 
 
 A'iKiiMMN A iii! ^(l^^(,l:l^ !'\i<,iiiik oi- Ack'H'I'Ina iki. iiiiii-;, \ni> Mniiri; • >] Ni.i' 
 
 '.p .',1. 
 
 1 1 
 
ni] 
 
 THE PALACE AT THIS TIME 
 
 115 
 
 had Uved in almost constant fear of assassination and had been 
 perpetually the puppet of those around him. 
 
 aaudius did not build a fresh palace on the Palatine hill as 
 each of his predecessors had done. Nor had he any reason to 
 do so ; for the splendid palace begun by CaUgula must, for the 
 reasons already stated/ have been completed by Claudius, and 
 been furnished and adorned by him, or, since he was a nonen- 
 tity, by Valeria Messalina during the time that she was empress 
 (a.d. 41-48). And it is with the scenes connected with Valeria 
 Messalina that the many interests attaching to the palace of 
 CaUgula begin. It was in this splendid palace, then just com- 
 pleted, that for seven years she reigned supreme as the wife 
 of an emperor who was her obedient slave ; here she gave her 
 sumptuous entertainments, and received the universal homage 
 of Roman society both as empress and as the most beautiful 
 woman in Rome ; it was here that she feU in love with Caius 
 SiUus, and carried out the marriage with him which caused her 
 destruction ; it was here that the news of her death was brought 
 to aaudius while he was at supper, and that the latter on 
 hearing that this idolized wife was no more asked no questions, 
 and merely ordered a slave to give him some more wine ;2 here 
 aaudius consumed his last fatal supper of poisoned mushrooms 
 prepared for him by Valeria's successful rival and successor, 
 Agrippina ; and it was in the banqueting hall of this palace 
 that, the year after Claudius' death, Valeria's handsome young 
 son Britannicus, on coming of age, was poisoned by the evil 
 youth who had been put in his place.^ 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 In A.D. 41, the first year of his reign, aaudius made an 
 important change as regards Judaea. Since the death of 
 Herod the Great in B.C. 4 that country had been governed by 
 a Roman procurator.* Claudius now gave the kingdom to 
 Herod Agrippa, a grandson of Herod the Great, while still 
 retaining a Roman procurator in military command of the 
 country. Herod Agrippa had been educated in Rome, and 
 was a friend of Tiberius' son Drusus, of aaudius, and of Cali- 
 
 * Page 93. 
 
 » Chap. IV, p. 128. 
 
 » Tacitus, Annals, xi. 37-38. 
 * Chap. I, p. 13. 
 
 f 
 
CHAP. 
 
 lie 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 m] 
 
 ANTIOCa 
 
 ill 
 
 gala. He was in Rome at the time of the murder of Caligula, 
 rescued his body, and arranged for its being burnt on the 
 Esquiline hill, while he also had no small share in Claudius' 
 peaceful accession to the throne. Caligula had previously 
 given Herod Agrippa the rule of Galilee and Peraea ; Claudius 
 now rewarded him by adding thereto Judaea and Samaria, thus 
 giving him a kingdom equal to that ruled by his grandfather 
 Herod the Great. 
 
 During the thirteen years of the reign of Claudius the new 
 religion, which had for twelve years been confined almost en- 
 tirely to Judaea, made a great stride forward, chiefly owing to 
 the strong position for itself which it established at the capital 
 city of Syria, Antioch ; and there it gained the name which it 
 has ever since borne. 
 
 Antioch was the third city of the Roman empire, ranking 
 next after Rome and Alexandria. It was the capital of that 
 portion of the Grecian empire which after the death of Alex- 
 ander the Great became, about b.o. 300, the kingdom ruled by 
 Seleucus and the dynasty which he founded.^ It was a most 
 magnificent city, and about 150 years after the time of Seleucus 
 had been still further enlarged and beautified by Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, the monarch who was the persecutor of the Jews. 
 It had four parts, each separately walled, whence it was called 
 ** Tetrapolis " (four cities), and in point of situation, archi- 
 tectural grandeur, and resources for pleasure, at this time far 
 surpassed Rome, under whose dominion it passed in B.C. 67 
 when Syria was conquered for Rome by Pompey. The chief 
 resort was the celebrated cypress-grove of Daphne, which had 
 existed long before the city, and was famed throughout the 
 Grecian empire for its unbounded excesses of licentiousness. 
 This grove, amidst beautiful scenery, in a secluded glen over- 
 himg by mountains, was about four miles from the city, and 
 was connected with it by a suburb of lovely villas and gardens, 
 described by the ancient writers in ecstatic terms. In the 
 grove of Daphne stood a celebrated Temple to Apollo, the 
 worship of Apollo being specially cultivated at Antioch. The 
 city was particularly praised for its streets and their covered 
 porticoes. The principal street, four miles long, running 
 right through the city from east to west, had a broad road in 
 * It was named after Antiochus, the father of Seleucus. 
 
 the centre, and two covered roads, one on either side of the 
 broad open one, the roofs of these covered roads being sup- 
 ported for their entire length of four miles by handsome 
 columns ornamented with gold. These roads were paved 
 with granite. The river Orontes flowed along one side of the 
 city, and huge aqueducts, whose ruins are still admired for 
 their great size and strength, brought a plentiful supply of pure 
 water to its inhabitants. Such was the city which was now to 
 become, as it were, the capital of the Christian religion. From 
 Antioch as a centre the whole work of converting the world 
 to Christianity was undertaken ; it has been said, " From 
 that city the Christian name sounded out into all the 
 earth." 
 
 In A.D. 41, the year that Claudius began to reign, some of 
 the followers of the new religion who had in a.d. 33 been 
 driven out of Jerusalem at the time of the martyrdom of the 
 deacon Stephen,^ after first going to Cyrene and Cyprus, pro- 
 ceeded to Antioch, the most important city in Asia, and there 
 preached the new religion to its Greek inhabitants. ^ Through 
 their preaching many converts were made at Antioch, and on 
 hearing of this the Apostles at Jerusalem sent St. Barnabas 
 thither, with the result that in a short time the number of 
 followers of the new religion at this important capital became 
 very considerable.^ 
 
 In the following year (a.d. 42) St. Barnabas, feeling the 
 need of assistance in the work at Antioch, which was growing 
 enormously, proceeded to Tarsus and sought out St. Paul. 
 The latter had remained there almost entirely in seclusion for 
 nearly six years, presimiably because his former cruelties 
 against the adherents of the new religion, combined with the 
 special hatred which the Jews felt for him as a Pharisee who 
 had become a convert, opposed formidable barriers to his 
 preaching, especially as long as the work was chiefly among 
 the Jews. In the epistle which he subsequently wrote to the 
 Galatians he relates that during these six years he first went 
 for a time to Arabia, thence returned to Damascus, and about 
 A.D. 39 paid a short visit to Jerusalem, where he only saw 
 
 1 Chap, n, p. 84. 
 
 « " To the Grecians." Acts of the Apostles, xi, 20. 
 
 » Acts of the Apostles, xi, 22-24. 
 
 ii 
 
CHAP. 
 
 m] 
 
 lid 
 
 CLAUDIUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 ST. PETER'S MOVEMENTS 
 
 119 
 
 St. Peter and St. James the Less ; ^ after which (presumably 
 by their instructions) he returned again to his own city of 
 Tarsus, and remained there in entire seclusion for the whole of 
 the next three years. St. Barnabas now sought him out and 
 brought him to Antioch, and they preached together there for a 
 whole year, converting large numbers of people. The Greek 
 population of Antioch accepted the new rehgion much more 
 readily than the Jews had done, and the Church at Antioch 
 flourished exceedingly. And at Antioch the followers of 
 the new religion were now for the first time given a name, 
 and were called by their enemies " Christiani," the followers 
 of Christ.* The name is evidently not one which the Chris- 
 tians originated themselves, and its Latin (instead of Greek) 
 form shows that it emanated from the Roman officials at 
 
 Antioch. 
 
 Meanwhile in Judaea matters had undergone a considerable 
 change, owing to the action of Herod Agrippa. In the spring 
 of A.D. 42 Herod Agrippa, who had arrived in Palestine 
 towards the end of a.d. 41, anxious to gain favour with his new 
 subjects the Jews, proceeded to carry out a persecution of such 
 of the Christian Jews in Jerusalem as he could lay hands upon. 
 It would appear that most of the Apostles had at this time 
 either removed from Jerusalem,* or contrived to remain hidden, 
 but Herod was able to seize St James (the brother of St. John), 
 and thereupon put him to death. He also seized St. Peter and 
 imprisoned him, but the latter was delivered from the prison,* 
 and, we are told, forthwith departed from Jerusalem " to 
 
 * Epistle to the Galatians, i, 17-19. 
 
 * Acts of the Apostles, xi, 26. 
 
 * They were probably in concealment outside Jerusalem. They 
 cannot have been far off or St. Peter would not have left a message 
 for them (see below). 
 
 * Acts of the Apostles, xii, 1-17. The graphic accoimt of how St. 
 Peter on being delivered from the prison went to the house of Mary, 
 the mother of Mark, after knocking for some time gained admission, 
 astonished those within, related his escape, and then after leaving a 
 message to be given to St. James and other of the Apostles, rapidly 
 departed (while it shows that the disciples were keeping themselves 
 hidden) is considered by Mr. Edmundson to have "every internal 
 m€krk of having been derived directly from the maid-servant Khoda, 
 whose name is otherwise so unnecessarily mentioned." 
 
 another place." This seems most likely to refer to some 
 place in Judaea where St. Peter would be shielded by friends 
 from Herod's observation, the name of which place there were 
 therefore special reasons for not mentioning. Or it may refer 
 to some city outside Palestine ; in which case Antioch seems 
 the most probable. It may of course refer (as some have 
 thought) to Rome, where, as in so many other cities, there 
 was by this time a small community of Jewish Christians, the 
 result of the preaching on the day of Pentecost in a.d. 29 ; 
 though in that case there seems no reason why the name of the 
 place should not have been mentioned. At all events from 
 the time that St. Peter disappeared in the dark of the night 
 from the house of St. Mark's mother in Jerusalem in the sum- 
 mer of A.D. 42 we hear little more (except in a few scattered 
 references) about this leader of the Apostles, of whose work 
 up to that time we are given such full accounts. 
 
 It is unfortunate that the subject of St. Peter's movements 
 and work from this time onwards to his death twenty-three 
 years later has been so much mixed up with religious contro- 
 versy that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at the impartial 
 view of the matter which is desired by a historian. It seems 
 best to say at once that the evidence that St. Peter was in 
 Rome on more than one occasion during his life, and that he 
 exercised great influence in the portion of the Church inhabit- 
 ing that city, is to any one who approaches the subject with an 
 unbiased mind practically conclusive. But whether he went 
 there at this time would appear to be exceedingly doubtful.^ 
 It is, however, in reality a matter of little consequence, and of 
 far less importance than has been attached to it. For if 
 St. Peter went to visit the community at Rome at this time he 
 evidently did not remain there long, nor did he carry out any 
 special work there, such as for the first time founding a Church 
 at that city or making a large number of converts ; for if he 
 had done so, anything of the kind would inevitably have been 
 mentioned in the same way as had been done in the case of his 
 
 * Mr. Edmundson in his The Church in Rome in the First Century 
 argues that the " other place " to which St. Peter departed is im- 
 doubtedly Rome, and also that St. Mark's Gospel was written at Rome 
 during this visit ; but his arguments are not considered to be very 
 convincing. 
 
 i ! 
 
 jl 
 
CHAP. 
 
 120 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matiera concerning religion) 
 
 I 
 
 deeds at Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea the year before. * And 
 shortly afterwards he and all the other Apostles were gathered 
 at the city of Antioch where the great work of distributmg the 
 future areas of missionary labour among them was now to 
 
 take place. 
 
 The efforts of the Church at Antioch, mainly carried out 
 by the preaching of St. Barnabas and St. Paxil, had had im- 
 mense results. At Antioch, the third city in the empire, 
 and a city which was both larger and for this particular pur- 
 pose more important even than Rome, the Christian Church, 
 no longer working in the confined atmosphere of Judaism, but 
 commg out as it were into the Roman world, and brought into 
 contact especially with the keen intellect of the Greek race, 
 had gained both greatly increased strength in numbers, and 
 also a much wider outlook ; and it was now ready to spread its 
 wings and carry the Gospel message far and wide through the 
 Roman Empire. It was time therefore for the Apostles to 
 settle upon their respective spheres of work. Accordingly, from 
 Antioch as its centre and capital, the Christian Church now 
 began its long campaign against Paganism, and at that city 
 about the year a.d. 44 « the distribution of the various coun- 
 tries of the world among the Apostles took place, and they 
 separated, never again all to be gathered together .« 
 
 Owing to so many more writings of St. Paul having survived 
 than is the case in regard to any of the other Apostles a false 
 estimate has been formed of the labours of the latter. Their 
 widespread activity and the immense area over which they 
 spread the knowledge of Christianity has been entirely over- 
 looked. How small a portion even of Asia Minor was ever 
 visited by St. Paul is seldom realized.* It is necessary, there- 
 fore, to remember that within a comparatively few years 
 after the work was distributed at Antioch the Gospel message 
 was spread by the Apostles and those whom they chose as 
 
 1 Pages 94-96. 
 
 « In this year Herod Agrippa died, after having reigned over the 
 Jews for three yeais. FeUx, who was one of the freedmen surround- 
 ing Claudius, was at the same time made by the latter the Roman 
 procurator of Judsea. 
 
 3 See p. 123. 
 
 ♦ This point has been brought to notice by the late Professor Bigg 
 in his Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude. 
 
 m] 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORK 
 
 121 
 
 their assistants over all the wide area extending from Antioch 
 to Scythia and Sarmatia on the north, to Persia on the east, to 
 Egypt and Ethiopia on the south, and even to the shores of 
 southern India. 
 
 We have only records regarding the respective spheres of 
 work assigned to four i of them (St. Peter, St. John, St. James 
 the Less, and St. Paul), and traditional accounts regarding 
 the others. Regarding tradition, however, it must be remem- 
 bered that in such cases it stands on a very soHd basis. Tra- 
 dition is by no means to be held as synonymous with legend. 
 And where tradition is the result of written records handed 
 down through many generations, but at length destroyed in 
 one of the various persecutions, its force in a case of this kind 
 is almost as strong as a written record. 
 
 St. Peter's First Epistle, St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 
 
 and St. John's various writings give us information on the 
 
 subject as far as these three Apostles are concerned. St. 
 
 Peter, having received the command to go to the Jews, 2 took 
 
 the countries north, east, and south of Antioch, where the 
 
 majority of them were. Most of the Jews were not in Judsea, 
 
 but scattered over many eastern countries, all such being 
 
 caUed Jews "of the dispersion." Those who had been 
 
 addressed by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost 3 were the 
 
 Jews of the three principal dispersions (" diaspora "), viz. :— 
 
 (i) " Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and those of Mesopotamia "; 
 
 i.e. those to the east, the first dispersion, the descendants 
 
 of the ten tribes carried off to Media and Assyria, and of 
 
 the remnant of the two tribes left in Babylon. 
 
 (ii) " Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia " (the Roman provmce 
 
 of that name in Asia Minor) ; i.e. those to the north, 
 
 called the second dispersion. 
 
 (iii) " Egypt, Libya, and Arabia " ; i.e. those to the south, 
 
 called the third dispersion. 
 
 St. Peter therefore took these countries as his special charge ; 
 
 and during all the next ten years (a.d. 44-64) he appears to 
 
 have been engaged on this work, first for three years travelling 
 
 through the countries occupied by the first and second " dis- 
 
 1 St. Mark and St. Luke were Evangelists, not Apostles. 
 • " To the elect people of God." 
 3 Acts of the Apostles, ii, 6-14. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 122 
 
 CLAUDIUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 I 
 
 persions" (going to Mesopotamia and then to Cappadocia 
 and Pontus), and then for seven years (a.d. 47-54) establishing 
 himself at Antioch, where he organized the Church of Antioch, 
 acted as its head, and superintended from that city the mis- 
 sionary work among the Jews in the countries to the north, 
 east, and south. The fact that for seven years before going 
 elsewhere St. Peter was thus occupied in founding and ruling the 
 Church of Antioch and making that place the centre of his 
 missionary work is attested by all the early writers. ^ And in 
 A.D. 60 he despatched St. Mark, the " interpreter " and con- 
 stant companion of St. Peter, from Antioch to Egypt to carry 
 the Grospel message to the Jews of the third dispersion, and 
 St. Mark remained there eleven years (see below). 
 
 Of St. John we hear little or nothing at this period, though 
 much at a later period of his life. He appears to have re- 
 mained at Antioch assisting in the work there, and taking 
 charge of that Church during St. Peter's various absences,* 
 until (about twenty-two years later) he removed to Ephesus 
 and took up the general charge of the Churches in Asia Minor.^ 
 
 St. James the Less was assigned Jerusalem as his special 
 sphere, acted as head of the Church of Jerusalem, and was 
 eventually killed there by the Jews.* 
 
 Of the remaining Apostles, except St. Paul, we have only 
 traditional accounts. They evidently did not go to the West, 
 as had they done so we should find some mention of them sub- 
 sequently in the writings of the early Christians. St. Matthew 
 (who was still living in a.d. 62) is stated by traditional history 
 to have gone to southern Egypt, and later on to Ethiopia, to 
 have remained there twenty-three years, and to have been 
 martyred in Egypt about a.d. 67. St. Thomas is stated to 
 have gone by sea to southern India, where there are traces of 
 him, and where he founded a Christian Church. St. Andrew 
 is stated to have gone to Scythia and Sarmatia,^ subsequently 
 to have travelled to Greece, and to have been martyred at 
 Patras. St. Philip is stated to have gone to another part of 
 
 1 Kegarding the rest of St. Peter's life, see Chap. IV, pp. 149 and 
 166-162. ^ See Chap. IV, pp. 156-157. 
 
 3 See Chap. V, p. 183. * See Chap. IV, p. 153. 
 
 » St. Andrew has been made by Russia her patron saint in conse- 
 quence of his connection with these countries. 
 
 m] 
 
 ST. PAUL'S MOVEMENTS 
 
 123 
 
 Scythia, to have preached there for twenty years, and to have 
 been martyred in Phrygia. St. Bartholomew is stated to have 
 travelled to India, to have returned from thence to Armenia, 
 and to have been martyred in Cilicia, St. Simon and 
 St. Jude are stated to have preached together in Mesopotamia 
 and Persia, and to have been martyred in Persia. Lastly 
 St. Matthias is stated to have preached in Judaea, and to have 
 been martyred there by the Jews. 
 
 While of the other Apostles we have only such fragmentary 
 information, of the work of St. Paul during the next twenty- 
 three years we have very full accounts, both from his own 
 epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles. St. Paul had re- 
 ceived the command to go to the non- Jewish races. ^ And 
 this was evidently the sphere in which he was likely to have 
 most success, since the Jews hated him more than they did any 
 other Apostle ; he could not even appear among them any- 
 where without their at once raising a storm against him, and 
 wherever he went they were always his bitterest opponents. 
 In accordance with the above command we find him making 
 extended missionary tours from Antioch through various of 
 the Greek cities of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece, stay- 
 ing for lengthened periods at Ephesus and Corinth, and after- 
 wards visiting Italy and Spain. After a visit in a.d. 46 with 
 St. Barnabas to Jerusalem, we find him in the years a.d. 47-49 
 with St. Barnabas and St. Mark making a tour through Cyprus, 
 Pamphylia, and Pisidia, and returning to Antioch. At the 
 end of the year a.d. 49 there took place at Jerusalem the 
 council of the Apostles held to decide the dispute regarding the 
 circumcision of Gentile converts, ^ at which council, though all 
 the Apostles could not have been present, some of them having 
 departed to such distant spheres of work, yet apparently the 
 majority were so, including St. Peter, St. John, and St. James 
 the Less, who are mentioned by name. 
 
 After attending this council and returning to Antioch we 
 find St. Paul in the years a.d. 50-53 making a second still longer 
 tour through Cilicia, Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia, crossing 
 from Troas into Macedonia, and visiting Thessalonica, Berea, 
 Athens, and Corinth (where he stayed a year and a half), and 
 
 (( 
 
 To the Gentiles." « Acts of the Apostles, xv, 2-29. 
 
 
 n 
 
 ! 
 
(I 
 
 
 CLAUDIUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP, m] 
 
 from thence sailing to Ephesus, thence to Caesarea, visiting 
 Jerusalem, and returning to Antioch. While at Corinth he 
 wrote (some time in the year a.d. 52) the first two books of the 
 New Testament to be written, viz. his First and Second EpisUea 
 to the Thessalmians, and also later on in the same year his 
 Epistle to the Galatians. 
 
 Meanwhile St. Barnabas and St. Mark had in a.d. 50 visited 
 Cyprus, from whence the former returned to Antioch and 
 St. Mark proceeded to Egypt, where he remained for eleven 
 years (a.d. 60-61), teaching Christianity throughout northern 
 Egypt, founding the Church of Alexandria, and about a.d. 54 
 writing there the Gospel of St. Mark. In speaking of a man as 
 the founder of the Church of a particular city the early Church 
 did not signify the first gatherer of a few converts, but referred 
 to the man who, after a collection of such converts had taken 
 place, visited that city and organized them into a permanent 
 body, appointing a leader of the community, and laying down 
 rules for its guidance. It was in this manner that St. Peter 
 was the founder of the Church of Antioch, and St. Mark of the 
 Church of Alexandria. 
 
 In A.D. 53, the last year of the reign of Claudius, St. Paul 
 started again from Antioch on a third tour, proceeding through 
 Galatia and Phrygia to Ephesus. It ia strange when studying 
 these journeys of St. Paul during the years a.d. 45-54, and 
 the letters written by him to the new converts in various 
 places, to remember that this is the time when in Rome the 
 events were taking place which are connected with the names 
 of Claudius, Valeria Messalina, and Agrippina the yoimger. 
 
 I 
 
 Mi 
 
 i'"\ 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Reigns of 
 NERO, GALEA, OTHO, and VITELLIUS 
 
 NERO 
 
 A.D. 54 — 68 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THE death of Claudius was kept secret by Agrippina for 
 a day until she had first made all secure with Burrhus, 
 the commander of the Praetorian Guards. Then suddenly the 
 gates of the imperial palace were thrown open, and, while 
 Agrippina kept Britannicus with her, Nero came forth attended 
 by Burrhus, who announced to the troops that Claudius was 
 dead, and, notwithstanding that voices were raised for Britan- 
 nicus, conveyed Nero to the camp of the Praetorian Guards, 
 where after promising large rewards to the troops he was pro- 
 claimed emperor. Though it was felt that Britannicus had 
 a prior right, this decision of the troops was accepted by the 
 Senate. It is significant that the wiQ of Claudius was not read, 
 presumably because it left the throne to Britannicus. 
 
 Nero, bom in a.d. 37, the only child of Domitius Ahenobarbus 
 and Agrippina the yoimger, and adopted at twelve years 
 old by Claudius so reluctantly owing to fear that it might 
 endanger the succession of his own son Britannicus, was 
 seventeen when he thus became emperor by one of the basest 
 intrigues ever perpetrated. His appearance was not pre- 
 possessing ; just as strongly as his step- brother Britannicus 
 showed all the characteristics of high descent, so did Nero 
 display all the signs of low descent ; he had a short thick neck, 
 low brow, and protruding under lip ; he had small abilities, 
 
 125 
 
C5HAP. 
 
 126 
 
 NERO {Matters other than religion) 
 
 hated learning, and though from the age of twelve he had 
 been given the celebrated Seneca ^ as a tutor, turned even as 
 a boy to singing, dancing, and chariot-driving in preference 
 to any more solid attainments. ^^ 
 
 Once more the Romans had one of the " heaven-bom 
 JuHan branch as emperor, the great-grandson of JuUa, and 
 grandson of Agrippina the elder ; and they evidently hoped 
 that this time the result ^^ ould be better than their former 
 terrible experience under Caligula. There may, however, have 
 been some who, with a knowledge of hereditary tendencies, 
 dreaded that the "wild beast" nature manifested m 
 Agrippina the younger's brother CaUgula might agam make 
 its appearance in his nephew. Nor did Agrippina's own 
 character or the manner in which she had gained the throne 
 for him augur weU as regards the eradication of JuUan ten- 
 dencies in the blood of her son. 
 
 During Nero's fourteen years' reign (a.d. 54-68) the empire 
 at large remained, as in the case of the two previous reigns, 
 undisturbed by the terrible episodes which occurred from tune 
 to time at the capital. Except for the revolt in Britam m 
 A.D. 60,2 peace was everywhere maintained by a powerful and 
 weU-organized army, the provinces were well governed by able 
 proconsuls, and the sound system of administration devised 
 by Augustus continued to keep the condition of the people 
 satisfactory and prosperous. Hence the history of Nero's 
 reign centres chiefly in the terrible deeds enacted m the city 
 of Rome, a wild drama of magnificent pageants, assassmations, 
 music, chariot-driving, cruel pubUc torturings, banquets of 
 surpassing extravagance, terrible fires, grand theatrical dis- 
 plays, and fiendish massacres, and including in its course 
 the final phase of the long domestic tragedy of the Caesars 
 which brought that family to an end. 
 
 Seneca, Nero's tutor, had even in the latter's early years seen 
 the " wild beast nature " m his character, that terrible nature 
 which as one of the Juhan branch he inherited, and with three- 
 fold force ; » and seeing this, Seneca, we are told, had thought 
 to prevent its showing itself, or at aU events to put off the evil 
 
 » Recarding Seneca's history and writings, see Note B (p. 271). 
 . Pages 133-134. ' Chap. Ill, pp. 86-87. 
 
 TV] 
 
 ACTE 
 
 127 
 
 day of its manifestation, by smoothing away all opposition to 
 Nero's wishes, and turning a blind eye to his youthful esca- 
 pades. It does not give one a high idea of Seneca's wisdom. 
 Such a youth, if destined to be the future emperor, should 
 have been sent to one of the legions ruled by some capable 
 commander to learn discipline, as Octavius had been sent by 
 Julius Caesar. No man can rule successfully who has not 
 first learnt to obey, and in the case of a nature like Nero's such 
 a course of discipline was doubly necessary. 
 
 However, during the first year of Nero's reign Seneca's plan 
 seemed to be successful ; Nero's good temper continued, and for 
 a short time all went weU. But when at length Nero, at the 
 age of eighteen, found himself opposed by his mother's strong 
 will, the wild beast nature in him burst forth, and he entered 
 upon a career of blood and crime which eventuaUy turned him 
 into a monster. It has sometimes been argued that towards 
 the latter end of his career he was mad. But Nero was only 
 mad with the madness which any human being creates in 
 himself by systematically yielding to criminal impulses. 
 
 During the first year of Nero's reign his ambitious mother 
 Agnppina, who had at last attained that which had been her 
 aim for thirteen years, wielded the whole power. She was, 
 however, secretly opposed by Seneca and Burrhus, both of 
 whom foresaw that ere long a struggle would ensue between 
 mother and son, and desired to be on the side of the 
 emperor. 
 
 That struggle soon began. Nero at seventeen feU in love with 
 Acte, a Greek girl, a freedwoman, who was an attendant on 
 his mother Agrippina. She was beautiful, modest, and un- 
 assuming ; during the four whole years that she held entire 
 sway over Nero she never used her power to obtain the ruin of 
 any of her many enemies, and none have ever recorded any- 
 thing against her. When he was eighteen Nero declared that 
 he should divorce Octavia and marry Acte. Agrippina was 
 furious ; such a divorce would destroy the strongest ground 
 on which Nero's claim to the throne rested ; ^ a violent scene 
 took place between her and Nero, at the end of which she 
 threatened that if he carried out his intention she would take 
 Britannicus to the camp of the Praetorian Guards and cause 
 
 J Chap. Ill, p. 114 (footnote). 
 
 H 
 
 in 
 
128 
 
 NERO (Matters other than religum) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 him to be proclaimed emperor. And though she afterwards 
 tried to smooth matters over, her words sealed the fate of 
 Britamiicus; 
 
 In February a.d. 65 Nero's promising young step-brother 
 and cousin Britannicus attained his majority and was invested 
 with the toga virilis. His handsome face and figure are well 
 shown in his statue, now in the Lateran . Museum at Rome.' 
 A few days afterwards, at a banquet in the imperial palace, 
 Nero, in order to show his mother that he was not going to be 
 ruled by her, and to remove any possibility in the futiure of 
 her carrying out her threat, poisoned Britannicus. Nowhere 
 in the history of the tragic reign of Nero is the scene more 
 vividly brought before us in the glimpses given than in this 
 episode of the poisoning of Britannicus. We see the splendid 
 banqueting hall in the extravagantly decorated palace of 
 Caligula, with Nero, his mother Agrippina, his unfortunate 
 young wife Octavia, her half-sister Antonia, Britannicus, 
 his friend Titus, and others reclining on the couches round one 
 side of the curved table, loaded with gold vases, flowers, and 
 many delicacies. We see the poisoned cup given by a con- 
 fidential slave of Nero to Britannicus, and after he had drimk 
 from it see it passed by him to his friend Titus, who was just 
 about to drink also when it was whispered to him not to do 
 so ; 2 and at that moment we see Britannicus sink back dead 
 upon the couch, whereat, we are told, all looked at Nero, who 
 coolly remarked that it was only an epileptic fit, and ordered 
 the slaves to carry Britannicus out. We see the grief and 
 horror of Octavia at this awful death of her beloved brother, 
 a feeling shared by her half-sister Antonia, but both of them, 
 in fear of Nero, endeavouring to hide their sentiments of 
 horrified detestation. And we see Agrippina, full of wrath, 
 and making no attempt to conceal her horror at the crime,' 
 but at the same time inwardly appalled at the determination 
 to throw off her authority which it showed. 
 
 But Agrippina was not yet beaten. After this tragic death 
 of Britannicus * she endeavoured by taking up the cause of the 
 
 1 Plate XX. Statue in the Lateran Museum. 
 
 * Titus had a narrow escape. 3 Tacitus, Annals, xiii, 18. 
 
 * Britannicus was the last male descendant of the Claudian branch 
 of the family. 
 
PLATE XX. 
 
 
 Britannicus, son of Claudius and Valeria Messalina, 
 Statue in the Lateran museum, Rome, 
 
 t--i i\\ ■ J 1 , 
 
 lte»«fJ83y^afciSifcrwiMiMti 
 
JJkii 
 
 A \ \ 1 1 
 
 '1 ( I \l I >ir-> A\ 1 ' \".\!.1.KIA M 
 
 ■K- ••.! 
 
 I -^ \L1N A. 
 
 I ■ , I i ]} 
 
 J<'»ti 
 
PLATE XXI. 
 
 Poit'Al:.A SaBINA, SECOND WIFE OF NERO. 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol mustttm, Rome, 
 
 [Alinari.J 
 
I I A ! 1 \\I 
 
 P< 'II' \i \ S \r. I \ \. ->i I < 'M> will Ml \ I u 
 
 Al IN VM I 
 
 l'"i'iaii'f>ii<>t iH /hi <<*/'//"/ (II ic 
 
 ('"■■. /\ n : 
 
IVj 
 
 POPPAEA 
 
 129 
 
 neglected Octavia to form a party in the court to restrain Nero. 
 But the latter replied to this by removing Agrippina's per- 
 sonal guards, and requiring her to quit the palace and with- 
 draw to the palace of Augustus, where she was closely 
 watched. At the same time the haughty freedman Pallas, 
 who had been the infamous accomplice of Agrippina ever 
 since she became empress, was deprived by Nero of all his 
 offices and dismissed from Rome.^ Soon afterwards Nero 
 accused his mother of conspiring against his life, and sent 
 Seneca and Burrhus to investigate the charge. But Agrippina, 
 with just indignation, denounced the charge as an insult, 
 and successfully repelled it. After which for a time 
 matters continued with an outward appearance of peace 
 between mother and son, Agrippina meanwhile protecting 
 Octavia, whose modest and attractive character had won 
 the respect and affection of the Roman people. ^ 
 
 In A.D. 56 an interesting project was made in Gaul which if 
 Nero had taken it up A\ould have given lasting credit to 
 his name. The project was made by Lucius Vetus, the 
 Prefect of the Upper Rhine, to provide a route by water 
 through eastern Gaul from the Mediterranean to the North 
 Sea. It only required the cutting of a canal from the 
 river Saone to the Moselle, when vessels would have passed 
 up the Rhone to Lyons, thence by the Saone to the canal, 
 and thence by the latter into the Moselle, and so to the mouth 
 of the Rhine. The project did not fall through owing to any 
 engineering difficulties, but solely through the jealousy of the 
 Prefect of Belgica, who persuaded Vetus that the emperor 
 would be displeased at a proposal which did not emanate from 
 himself. 
 
 In A.D. 58 Nero, then twenty-one, being tired of Acte, fell 
 under the dominion of Poppaea Sabina,^ the wife of his gay and 
 profligate companion Otho. She was the greatest beauty of 
 her time, very wealthy, and enormously extravagant ; con- 
 temporary writers tell of her remarkable hair the colour of 
 
 ^ Pallas lived in retirement for seven years, but at length his enor- 
 mous wealth excited Nero's cupidity, whereupon Pallas was poisoned 
 and his wealth confiscated. 
 
 ' Unfortunately we have no authentic portrait of Octavia. 
 
 ' Plate XXI. Portrait-bust in the Capitol Museum, Rome. 
 
 E.W. X 
 
 [t 
 
 . i\ 
 
130 
 
 NERO {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV] 
 
 golden amber/ her mules shod with gold, and her daily bath 
 in asses' milk to provide which she maintained 500 she-asses. 
 She was quite imscrupulous, and would have nothing to say- 
 to Nero imless, sweeping away all obstacles, he would make 
 her empress. Otho, twenty-six years old, and passionately 
 enamoured of his beautiful wife, refused to divorce her ; per- 
 sisting in this refusal he was sent to govern the distant pro- 
 vince of southern Gaul, where he remained until Nero's death. 
 But to make Poppaea empress involved not only her divorce 
 from Otho, and Nero's divorce from Octavia, but also the 
 murder of Nero's mother ; for Agrippina offered a firm front 
 against any proposal to get rid of Octavia, and desired to pre- 
 vent Nero from being ruled by such a woman as Poppaea. 
 The final result was that in a.d. 59 Nero, whose birth had been 
 ushered in with the pleasant prophecy of his father to his 
 mother that her child would go far in evU, committed a crime 
 unparalleled in the world's history, by murdering his mother 
 Agrippina, who was then at her villa on the Lucrine lake near 
 Baise. To effect this he first attempted to drown her by 
 means of a small and highly decorated ship for pleasure 
 excursions which he gave her, constructed by his infamous 
 accomplice Anicetus so as to fall to pieces at a given moment ; 
 and when upon this attempt being made she escaped by swim- 
 ming to the shore, he sent Anicetus with a band of assassins 
 who murdered her at her villa by the lake. 
 
 Agrippina the younger did not inherit her mother Agrip- 
 pina the elder's stormy temperament, but being cursed with 
 an insatiable ambition, and much more imscrupulous than 
 her mother, she created for herself a no less troubled life. 
 Married at seventeen to a vicious husband ; plotting when she 
 was twenty-four to compass the murder of her brother ; 
 punished by him by being made to carry the ashes of her lover 
 the whole way from Gaul to Rome, and then banished to a prison 
 where she lived for two years in daily expectation of death ; 
 plotting for seven years to get rid of a younger rival whom she 
 secretly hated ; marrying an imbecile uncle nearly thirty years 
 older than herself in order to gratify her ambition ; scheming 
 in every way to obtain the advancement of her son in place 
 
 ^ Its colour is said to have made amber fashionable. 
 
 MURDER OF AGRIPPINA 
 
 131 
 
 of the son of her rival ; consigning to death aU who stood in 
 the way of that object ; and at length gaining the throne for 
 her son by intrigues ending in the murder of her contemptible 
 husband, she did not, even when the object of her ambition 
 was thus attained, find either happiness or peace. Forced 
 through her desire to rule, almost at once into a bitter con- 
 flict with her son ; deprived by him of aU power and banished 
 from the imperial palace ; insulted by an accusation on his 
 part that she aimed at his life ; and treated by him with harsh- 
 ness and suspicion, Agrippina's last five years of life were no 
 less troubled than the rest of her existence. And when, at the 
 age of forty.four, she saw herself condemned to die by the 
 hands of brutal assassins sent for that purpose by her only 
 son, she must have felt that the severest blow of aU was not the 
 stroke of the assassin's sword, but the fact that death was dealt 
 by the son for whose sake she had committed so many crimes 
 and struggled against so many antagonists during eighteen 
 years of a fife which had scarcely known any tranquilUty from 
 its beginning to its terrible end. 
 
 Nero after perpetrating this atrocious crime, one which 
 could not be hidden, and which he made no attempt to hide 
 added to Its enormity by pretending, in order to screen himself 
 from the odium attaching to it, that his mother had been 
 plotting agamst his life, at the same time falsely accusing 
 her of various other crimes. For this purpose Seneca, as 
 servile as all others, to his lasting shame prepared for Nero a 
 letter to the Senate in which this ignoble son solemnly accused 
 his mother of a long list of crimes (including aU the atrocities 
 of the reign of Qaudius), which letter Nero then presented 
 to the Senate. One of their number, the noble Paetus Thrasea 
 was so disgusted that as a silent protest he at once rose and 
 walked out of the Senate-house ; but the rest of the servile 
 senators greeted Nero with fulsome congratulations on his 
 Me havmg been saved from his mother's plots against it. 
 
 And then we have another strange scene in the life of this 
 son of Agrippina who had been placed by her upon the imperial 
 throne. Nero was nothing if not dramatic. And so, while a 
 public festival of thanksgiving was organized and profuse 
 offenngs to the gods for the preservation of Nero's life made in 
 aU the temples of Rome, we have the amazing spectacle of the 
 
 w\ 
 
 ■ \ 
 
HI 
 
 132 
 
 NERO {Matters other ihan religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 triumphal golden chariot of Augustus, drawn by four elephants, 
 being driven in state round the Circus Maximus in the midst 
 of its 250,000 spectators, and upon it Nero, seated high aloft 
 clad in purple robes, and receiving the acclamations and 
 congratulations of this vast crowd of Romans for the miu-der 
 of his own mother. And amidst all that community there 
 was no one sufficiently brave to raise his voice in denunciation 
 of the matricide. 
 
 But Nero did not at once after this great atrocity proceed 
 to divorce Octavia and marry Poppaea. It is possible that he 
 did not yet feel himself strong enough upon the throne to 
 abandon the claim to it which he possessed through Octavia. 
 Moreover the abominable crime which he had committed in 
 murdering her whom he had himself called " the best of 
 mothers " when she succeeded in gaining for him the throne, 
 caused him to become for many months the prey of all sorts of 
 terrible hallucinations and visions, and these, haunting him 
 day and night, produced in him a period of melancholy mad- 
 ness. This was followed by a reaction in which he plunged 
 into the wildest excesses and the most fantastic extravagances, 
 and for a time chariot-driving, lyre-playing, singing, banquet- 
 ing, and performing in various kinds of degrading theatrical 
 exhibitions before the people, occupied all his attention. 
 And so debased had all classes become that even Seneca, in 
 order to curry favour with the tyrant, assisted at these 
 enteri)ainments and led the venal applause. 
 
 This condition of things produced dire effects in the 
 wealthier class of society in Rome, among whom a perfect 
 pandemonium of evil set in. All the old Roman ideas of 
 plain living were cast aside, and a wild revel of extravagance 
 and crime took their place. The luxury was appalling ; the 
 Egyptian roses for a single banquet of Nero's cost £35,000 ; ^ 
 while even his mules were shod with silver.^ The Roman 
 race possessed solid virtues in regard to law, order, organi- 
 zation, national duty, courage, and endurance, but it was with- 
 out that spirit of refinement and artistic taste which animated 
 the Greek race. Consequently with the Roman all luxury 
 tended to coarseness. The extravagance of the constant feasts 
 
 * Suetonius, Nero, c. 27. 
 
 « Ibid., c. 30. 
 
 IV] 
 
 BOADICEA 
 
 133 
 
 was fabulous ; the whole known world was ransacked to find 
 the rarest and most unheard of delicacies ; everything was 
 gross ; no feast was complete imless at its conclusion the guests 
 were lying dead drunk on the reclining couches ; poison was so 
 common that every man of importance had his " taster *' ; 
 and every vice, natural and unnatural, of which human nature 
 is capable was rampant. Such was the condition to which the 
 greater part of Roman society had come in little more than 
 forty years from the death of the austere and plain-living 
 Augustus. 
 
 In A.D. 60 affairs in Britain assumed a serious aspect for the 
 Romans. Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, whose_^ territory, 
 besides including Norfolk and Suffolk, surrounded the small 
 Roman colony of Colchester, had left his vast wealth to his 
 two daughters. But upon his death the rapacity of the Roman 
 officials at Colchester, who had long been bent upon seizing 
 his wealth, caused them to be guilty of the greatest atrocities. 
 The palace of Prasutagus was plundered by them, his queen 
 Boadicea was cruelly scourged, his daughters were outraged, 
 the nobles were stripped of their property, and the people were 
 maltreated. The Iceni thereupon rose in revolt, led by their 
 brave and capable queen Boadicea ; Colchester was attacked 
 by her and taken, the Ninth legion under Petilius Cerialis, who 
 advanced from his camp near the Wash to the assistance of 
 Colchester, was defeated by Boadicea and ahnost destroyed ; 
 London was taken and reduced to ashes, Verulam met the 
 same fate, 70,000 persons of non-British blood were put to the 
 sword, and for a time eastern Britain was lost to Rome. Thus 
 within a space of sixteen years from the time of the endeavour 
 to conquer Britain being begun, first Caractacus, and then 
 Boadicea, had shown the Romans how formidable a race they 
 had to meet in that country, and how severe was likely to be 
 their task before they would conquer the whole of Britain. 
 
 But Boadicea's triumph over the Romans was short. She 
 had defeated and nearly destroyed a Roman legion, had taken 
 London, and had slain all the enemies of her country in eastern 
 Britain, but she still had to reckon with three other Roman 
 legions. The Roman commander in Britain at this time was 
 Suetonius Paulinus, who had been sent to that country by 
 Nero in a.d. 58, and was one of the most capable soldiers that 
 
 I ij 
 
134 
 
 NERO {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the empire possessed. Apparently he had subdued the Silures 
 during the year a.d. 59, and at the time when this disaster to 
 the Roman arms occurred was occupied in endeavouring to 
 conquer the island of Anglesey. Upon hearing of this serious 
 reverse in eastern Britain he forthwith abandoned further 
 operations in Anglesey, and started eastwards with the legion 
 which was with him, the Foiurteenth, being joined by the 
 Twentieth legion near where Chester now stands. ^ There were 
 as yet no roads in Britain ; the country was almost entirely 
 covered with thick forests often so impenetrable that a way 
 had to be found round them, and with ranges of forest-clad 
 hills, and intersected by unbridged rivers, making a march of 
 troops across Britain a long and troublesome operation. Tra- 
 versing North Wales, Paulinus with his two legions crossed 
 Britain, and towards the end of a.d. 60 advanced upon London. 
 Somewhere in the vicinity of London the decisive battle between 
 Boadicea and the Romans was fought, though the exact locality 
 is not known. Dion Cassius relates how before the battle 
 Boadicea, burning with her wrongs, addressed her troops from 
 an artificial moimd erected for tlie occasion, and speaks of her 
 great stature, her stem features, and fierce eyes ; her hair, of 
 the deepest red, fell in thick luxuriance to her hips, while she 
 was clad in a tunic of coloured tartan, with a thick cloak 
 buckled over it, wore round her neck a heavy chain of twisted 
 gold, and held a spear in her right hand. But Boadicea's 
 troops were no match for the Roman legions when commanded 
 by a general such as Suetonius Paulinus. The latter gained a 
 complete victory ; Boadicea rather than fall again into the 
 hands of her cruel enemies poisoned herself ; a general massacre 
 of the Britons followed, not only the fighting men, but the 
 women, and even the cattle which drew their wagons, being 
 indiscriminately slain ; and the insurrection was rapidly 
 crushed, Suetonius Paulinus carrying fire and sword through 
 the whole of eastern Britain. In the following year (a.d. 61) 
 
 1 The Ninth legion had apparently been allotted to eastern Britain, 
 and was practically destroyed for the time ; the Twentieth legion 
 appears to have been engaged in guarding the Lancashire and Cheshire 
 districts against the Brigantes ; the Fourteenth legion was with Paul- 
 inus, engaged in the conquest of Anglesey ; and the renuiining legion, 
 the Second, was apparently stationed in the valley of the Severn. 
 
 IV] 
 
 MURDER OF OCTAVIA 
 
 135 
 
 Suetonius Paulinus was recaUed by Nero, who about the same 
 time removed the Fouri^nth legion from Britain, leaving 
 henceforth only three legions in that country, the Second, the 
 Nmth (to which large reinforcements were sent from the Rhine) 
 and the Twentieth.^ 
 
 Early in a.d. 62, three years after he had murdered his 
 mother, Nero^ proceeded to marry Poppaea. With the 
 help of the detestable Anicetus, who to meet Nero's wishes was 
 vile enough to pretend to confess to a criminal intrigue between 
 himself and Octavia, which aU knew to be a He, Nero divorced 
 the latter, and banished her to that place of so many melan- 
 choly memories, the island of Pandataria. Thereupon Otho 
 stiB absent in Gaul, was arbitrarily divorced from Poppaea] 
 and Nero married her. Octavia, twenty-two years old, virtu- 
 ous modest, and beloved by the Roman people, on her arrival 
 at Pandataria was ordered to die by having her veins opened 
 and then bemg suflFocated in a steam bath ; after which her 
 head was cut off and sent to Nero as a testimony that she was 
 dead. It is often stated that her head was sent to Poppaea, but 
 as Poppaea was not naturaUy cruel this fact may be doubted. 
 From this time forth Nero's extravagant luxury under the 
 influence of Poppaea, and his reckless slaughter under the 
 influence of the infamous Tigellinus, both grew apace. Every- 
 one who incurred the tyrant's displeasure or offended his 
 egregious vanity was promptly deprived of life ; while the 
 temporary loss of Armenia in a.d. 63 and an earthquake at 
 Pompeu about the same time made Nero fear that the gods 
 were deserting him, and gave occasion to outbursts of wrath 
 which mvanably resulted in some one being put to death. 
 
 Nero now began to form vast building projects. For ten 
 years the imperial palace occupied by him had been the im- 
 mense palace built by CaHgula, combined with the smaUer one 
 built by Tiberius. But whether instigated by Poppaea, as 
 seems probable, or out of his own insatiable desire for grandeur 
 Nero now began to consider this palace, large as it was, to be too 
 smaU for him, and to form plans for a much more extensive 
 one, which should include within its boundaries aU kinds of 
 
 1 The Ninth legion was subsequently replaced by the Sixth. 
 Plate XXn. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 Mi^ 
 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 1S6 
 
 NERO (MatierB other than religion) 
 
 arrangements for extravagant luxury and pleasure. But no 
 ground sufficiently extensive for this purpose was available 
 unless a large part of the city in the vicinity of the Palatine 
 hill could be cleared of its existing buildings. Moreover 
 simultaneously with this project Nero had also formed ideas 
 of an entire rebuilding of the whole city of Rome on a grander 
 plan which should redoimd to his glory and manifest his 
 artistic taste. 
 
 These views could only be carried into effect by such a general 
 clearance of the existing city as would be caused by its being 
 almost entirely burnt down. And there is little doubt that the 
 immense conflagration which now occurred was arranged by 
 Nero. This conflagration, which consumed three-fourths of 
 Rome, broke out on the 19th July a.d. 64. As it began in 
 various parts of the city simultaneously it seemed evident that 
 it was pre-arranged. Nero was at the time at Antium (about 
 thirty miles from Rome), where he had a country house, but on 
 the fire breaking out returned to the city. The fire raged for 
 nine nights and eight days, at the end of which time, out of the 
 fourteen quarters of the city, only four remained imdestroyed, 
 nearly 600,000 persons being rendered homeless. As this 
 clearance was just what the emperor had desired all believed 
 that he himself had caused the fire. This brought him into 
 great odium, especially with those who had lost everything they 
 possessed. Moreover nearly all the most precious monuments 
 of the past, the most sacred trophies, and many highly hon- 
 oured temples were destroyed. It was also said that the 
 emperor had watched the conflagration from a tower on the 
 Esquiline hill, playing on his lyre and reciting the verses of 
 Virgil describing the burning of Troy. 
 
 All this made the Romans furious. Nero made strenuous 
 efforts to allay their indignation, and to regain his former 
 popularity. To house the homeless multitude he threw open 
 to the people all the public buildings which survived, and 
 constructed shelters in the open spaces of the city and even 
 in his own gardens ; he arranged for bringing to Rome large 
 supplies of com, and lowered its price ; and he caused pro- 
 pitiatory sacrifices to be offered to the gods of Rome. But 
 these efforts did not 'alter the temper of the people, more 
 especially since Nero as soon as the fire was subdued proceeded 
 
I'LATE XXII. 
 
 
 St*-,! - 
 
 Kifg 
 
 Nero. 
 
 rnrfrnif-hu^f li,, hasalt) tn the Vffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 LBrogi. 
 
 L=i£aiaiiiHia^&J'i&^i^''^f.ii BliffliW''^iiSiJiih-ift:»iifcaWiTtr(rntrr^ .-tiikgrtiiti'™--''^-^'— -■• -' 
 
I \ 1 1 \\ II 
 
 \ 
 
 I 1:0. 
 
 >H' '< ,[. 
 
 •Hill 
 
 tlu- I 
 
 r.i .(III, I 
 
 II, 
 
 II' 
 
 i< III I' 
 
IV] 
 
 BURNING OF ROME 
 
 137 
 
 to appropriate an immense portion of the devastated area 
 with a view to constructing his new palace thereon ; they 
 continued to attribute the destruction of the city to him, and 
 forcibly to resent it.i 
 
 When therefore Nero found that aU his endeavours in this 
 respect had failed, he tried another method. In order to 
 divert the popular suspicion from himself he took advantage 
 of the general odium attaching to the Christians, and in the 
 early part of a.d. 65 2 caused accusations to be preferred against 
 them of having set fire to Rome, and issued orders for their 
 being seized throughout the city and brought before the 
 tribunals. As the result of this malicious action the seizure 
 of Christians, either in their various houses or in the hiding- 
 places in which after a time they sought refuge, went on 
 throughout the months of March, April, and May a.d. 65, 
 the persecution steadily growing in intensity, a host of 
 "informers" being employed by Nero's inhuman adviser 
 Tigellinus, and the Christians being put to death in whatever 
 cruel ways the latter could devise for the amusement of the 
 populace. Finally, about the month of June, a general massa- 
 cre of all who remained took place, carried out by Nero in his 
 gardens by night in a sensational fashion, as a sort of theatrical 
 display in which he himself took part.s Nevertheless this 
 cruel massacre was after all of no effect for the purpose for 
 which it had been arranged ; for the Romans still continued 
 
 1 Tacitus says : ''But neither man's efforts, nor the munificence 
 of the ruler, nor propitiatory sacrifices to the gods, were able to re- 
 move the dishonour from Nero of its being beUeved that the conflagra- 
 tion had been ordered." 
 
 . » It has been pointed out by Mr. Edmundson that it is erroneous 
 to suppose, as has hitherto been done, that this persecution of the 
 Christians took place in August a.d. 64 ; that the fire was not sub- 
 dued until the 29th July ; that the immense task of erecting shelters 
 and providing food for some hundreds of thousands of destitute persons 
 must have taken a considerable time ; that Tacitus distinctly says 
 that Nero did not try to shift odium from himself by inflaming odium 
 agamst the Christians until he had exhausted all the means for gain- 
 ing popularity and diverting the suspicions of the populace by these 
 measures ; and that the instructions for prosecuting the Christians 
 were apparently not issued until the early part of A.D. 65 (Edmundson, 
 The Church in Rome in the First Century, p. 125). 
 
 3 See pp. 162-163. 
 
 1 1\ 
 
 1I 
 
138 
 
 N G R {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV] 
 
 indignantly to attribute the destruction of Rome to Nero, and 
 he never regained his former popularity. 
 
 The fire having given him the clearance he sought, Nero 
 set about removing the ruins and rebuilding Rome with wider 
 streets and on an improved plan, though it was many years 
 before this was completed and all the ruins cleared away. 
 At the same time he began energetically the building of his 
 new palace. The enormous size of this, the fourth palace of 
 the Caesars, caDed by Nero "The Golden House," may be 
 realized from the fact that it covered part of the Palatine hill, 
 the Velia, the site afterwards occupied by the Temple of Venus 
 and Rome, part of the Coelian hill, a large part of the Esquiline 
 hill, and the whole of the valley between these hills in which 
 the Colosseum now stands. No act of Nero's caused so much 
 indignation among the Roman people, for the new palace took 
 up a large portion of the city which before the fire had been 
 thickly populated.! This palace was one of the wonders of the 
 age. It united the palaces of Tiberius and Caligula on the 
 Palatine hill with the villa of Maecenas on the Esquiline hill, 
 while also taking in a large part of the Coelian hill for a park, 
 and the valley between for a great lake,^ round which were 
 built various pleasure houses. The Baths of the palace were 
 supphed with sea water brought in pipes all the way from Ostia; 
 and in the park an ornamental waterfall was constructed by 
 bringing the water of the Qaudian aqueduct along the Coelian 
 hill to a fall ^ down which its waters were discharged into the 
 lake. Suetonius, describing this palace, says : — . 
 
 " The entrance porch was so high that there stood in it a 
 colossal statue of Nero himself, 120 feet in height,* and the space 
 included in the palace was so immense that it had a triple 
 portico a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with 
 
 * It was chiefly on this account that the palace was destroyed by 
 Vespfisian, and the l€uid given hack to the people. 
 
 * The Colosseum occupies part of the site of this lake. 
 
 * Remains of this still exist. 
 
 * This colossal statue, in gilded bronze, the work of the Greek sculp- 
 tor Zenodorus, was afterwards removed by Hadrian by means of 
 twenty-four elephants to a spot in front of the Colosseum, and it is 
 from it that the latter obteuned its present name. The entrance to 
 the "Golden House" thus stood where is now the church of S*^ 
 Francesca Romana (see Chap. VI, pp. 232 and 233). 
 
 " THE GOLDEN HOUSE » 
 
 139 
 
 buildings that were like a city. Within its area were fields, 
 vmeyards pastures, and woods containing a vast number of 
 animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts 
 of this palace the bmldings were entirely overlaid with gold, 
 and adorned with jewels and mother-of-pearl. The supper- 
 rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, inlaid 
 with ivory, were made to revolve and scatter flowers, while they 
 also contamed pipes which showered scents upon the guests. 
 Ihe chief banqueting haU was circular, and its ceiling, adorned 
 with mutations of the celestial bodies, revolved perpetuaUy 
 mght and day. Upon the dedication of this magnificent house 
 Nero said, in approval of it, ' I have now a dwelling fit for a 
 man. ''i And Tacitus, speaking of this palace, says, " There 
 one did not so much admire the gold and precious stones, for 
 such things were a usual and common luxury, but fields and 
 lakes, and the spaces and vistas that revealed themselves 
 between the groves.'* « 
 
 This palace of Nero's was destroyed by the emperor Vespasian 
 hve years afterwards when he came to the throne, and his son 
 lltus completed its destruction by building a set of Baths on 
 the top of that part of it which occupied the slope of the 
 i^squiUne hiU. A portion of this stiU remains (underneath the 
 rums of Titus' Baths) and was excavated in the beginning 
 of the 19th century. It consists of nine haUs and a long 
 corndor, the ceilings ornamented with beautiful paintmgs 
 of bn-ds, animals, flowers and other designs. One of the 
 haUs, the Triclinarium or summer banqueting room, had at the 
 end originaUy a garden, with a fountain of which the porphyry 
 vase now in the Vatican Museum was the basin. In two of the 
 halls are alcoves for couches, and in one haU a group repre- 
 sentmg Venus attended by Cupids. In one of the smaUer 
 rooms the statue of Meleager, one of the most beautiful statues 
 m Rome (now in the Vatican museum), was found. AU the 
 pamtmgs in these halls are of the character of those at Pompeii 
 and until those in the House of Livia were unearthed were con- 
 sidered the best remains of ancient pictorial art in Rome.3 
 
 I Suetonius iVero, c, 31. a Tacitus, Anrmls, xv, 42. 
 
 in the 16th century Raphael penetrated mto the long corridor 
 and copied there the mural designs w^iich he afterwards elaborated 
 m the ornamentation of the Loggie di Raphael in the Vatican. 
 
 Ill 
 
140 
 
 N G R {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Almost as great a marvel as anything else connected with this 
 immense palace is the rapidity with which it was constructed, 
 for though the ruins left by the fire had first to be cleared away, 
 it was evidently finished, or nearly finished, when Nero returned 
 from Greece three years later, and it is astonishing that paint- 
 ings and other decorations so quickly executed should yet 
 have been so well done as to have survived for nineteen 
 centuries. 
 
 But marvellous as was the palace which Nero constructed, 
 of far greater interest is that which it superseded. Of all the 
 palaces of the Caesars none equals in interest that which up to 
 this time had been Nero's residence, the palace of Caligula, 
 inhabited by Nero for twelve years out of his fourteen years' 
 reign. ^ During the twenty-five years that it had been occupied 
 by the imperial family (a.d. 41-66) this palace was the scene of 
 events which must ever make it full of the deepest interest to 
 all who gaze upon its ruins. It had seen the murder of Caligula, 
 the riot which ended in the proclamation of Claudius as em- 
 peror, the events of the seven years' rule as empress of Valeria 
 Messalina, her brilliant social entertainments, her marriage to 
 Caius Silius, and the events of the six years' rule as empress of 
 Agrippina ; it witnessed the death of Claudius, the manoeuvres 
 by which the throne was gained for Nero, the tragic death of 
 Britannicus, the love passages with Acte, the fall of Agrippina 
 from power, the neglected and sorrowful life of Octavia, the 
 banquets and orgies, each more extravagant than the last, in 
 which Nero indulged after his mother's death, and the trial of 
 St. Paul before Nero|; and finally it had become the home of 
 the empress Poppaea. But perhaps no less interest lies in 
 the fact that it was in this palace * that those Christian 
 servants of the imperial household some of whom are mentioned 
 by St. Paul,^ and others of them known to us by their tomb on 
 the Appian way,* lived while performing their daily work of 
 
 * Plate XXin. Portion of the upper part of the north-western 
 comer of the Palace of Caligula. 
 
 « Plate XXIV. Small rooms in the lower portion of the Palace of 
 Caligula. 
 
 » Epistle to the Romans, xvi, 6-16, and Epistle to the 
 Philippians, iv, 22. 4 Page 168. 
 
n 
 
 
 
 Portion ok thi. iirhu pakt of Tiiii north-westkrn corner of the Palace of Caligula.'" ''^ 
 
m 
 
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 ( . H:\ !!,■ ( i| II 
 
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PLATE XXIV. 
 
 
 
 [Alinari. 
 
 A SECTION OF THE LOWER PART OK THE PALACE OF CaLIGUI.A. 
 
 Sh«>wiii>; a pi>rtii>n of the massive substructures, and some of the small rooms inhabited by the ser\ants of 
 the imperial household. 
 
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IV] 
 
 (( 
 
 THE TERROR" 
 
 141 
 
 attendance in various capacities upon Agrippina, Nero, 
 Britannicus, Octavia, and Poppaea, inhabiting those many 
 small rooms which are still to be seen in the lower portions of 
 this palace, and that it was from here that they were dragged 
 away to perish in the terrible tortures of the persecution of 
 A.D. 65.^ So that the ruins of this palace are replete with 
 interest, while the excavation of that portion stiQ hidden be- 
 neath the Famese gardens is much to be desired. 
 
 From the time that Caligula came to the throne a period set 
 in, lasting through the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, 
 which to the minds of Seneca and other writers who lived after 
 hipi always presented the aspect of " the Terror." And 
 this terrible condition of things, constantly becoming more 
 aggravated, reached its climax in the last half of Nero's reign, 
 the years a.d. 61-68. Seneca, whose power of moral diagnosis 
 is unrivalled, and whose writings, in their awful revelations 
 of the vices of his own age, shed a lurid light upon the pre- 
 vailing social conditions, treats even the appalling sexual 
 immorality then rampant as a secondary matter, and considers 
 that greater in its evil results than even this was the universal 
 lust for gold, the treacherous cruelty which it produced, and 
 the base servility which this engendered. To him human life 
 has become a ferocious struggle of beasts of prey, eager for 
 plunder, and heedless of those destroyed in the foul contest. ^ 
 
 Treachery reigned supreme, and dogged the steps at every 
 hour of the day, in the Forum, at the theatre, in the social 
 gathering, and even in the domestic circle, rendering necessary 
 the constant wearing of an armour of hypocrisy. A imiversal 
 dissimulation had been taught by the cunning cruelty of the 
 wild beast upon the throne. At such a court, says Seneca, it 
 is a miracle to reach old age, and the feat can only be accom- 
 plished by systematically accepting the grossest insult or in- 
 jury (either to oneself or to one's nearest and dearest) with a 
 smiling face.^ For him who fails to wear an armour of hypo- 
 crisy there is always ready the rack, the poisoned cup, or 
 the order for suicide. A chance word, an unguarded look, a 
 smile, or a failure to smile at the right moment, might cause 
 forthwith the death of the person thus off his guard. More- 
 
 1 Page 168. 2 geneca, De Ira, ii, 8. 
 
 3 Seneca, De Ira, ii, 33. 
 
142 
 
 NERO {Matters other than religion) 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 IV] 
 
 THE HAUNTING SHADOW 
 
 over, it needed a supreme watchfulness never thus to be 
 caught unawares ; for in the social circle, amidst the never- 
 ceasing battle of malicious gossip, a seeming friend might at 
 any moment be laying traps to invite a sneer or an aUusion, 
 such as might give occasion for a secret accusation resulting in 
 the victim's fortune passing partly to the seeming friend and 
 partly to the emperor, even if such accusation did not result 
 in a prompt end to the victim's life. 
 
 A sudden and violent death, by one of the cruel methods in 
 vogue, had become a matter of every day occurrence. In the 
 midst of the most luxurious siuroimdings, while reclining on 
 the couch at the gorgeous and costly banquet in a dining-hall 
 of which the walls were adorned with jewels and gold and the 
 ceilings scattered flowers and showered scents, while exchang- 
 ing banter with extravagantly dressed, beautiful, and clever 
 women, or listening to the whispered accoimt of the last highly- 
 spiced tale of dark guilt from the palace, at any moment might 
 come the summons to die ; conditions which caused even the 
 most luxurious surroimdings and the most festive gatherings 
 to be i)ervaded by an ever haunting shadow. We see this 
 effect constantly showing itself in the writings of Seneca. 
 " In reading Seneca's writings, especially those of his last 
 years, you are conscious of a horror which hardly ever takes 
 definite shape, a thick stifling air, as it were, charged with 
 lightning. Again and again you feel a dim terror closing in 
 silently and stealthily, with sudden glimpses of unutterable 
 torture, of cord and rack and flaming tunic. You seem to 
 see the sage tossing on his couch of purple under richly pan- 
 elled ceilings of gold, starting at every sound in the wainscot, 
 as he awaits the messenger of death. It is not so much that 
 Seneca fears death itself. . . . The gloom of Seneca seems 
 rather to spring from a sense of the terrible contrast between 
 wealth and state and an ignominious doom which was ever 
 ready to fall." 
 
 Seneca had had opportunities such as no other man possessed 
 of knowing all that went on behind the scenes at the imperial 
 court diuing the reigns of Claudius and Nero. He had been one 
 of the inner circle of the court from the time of the death of 
 
 1 Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelitu, p. 13. 
 
 143 
 
 Caligula, had daily seen the manoeuvres of the freedmen sur- 
 rounding Qaudius, had formed one of the briUiant company 
 at the entertainments of Valeria Messalina, had been banished 
 for an intrigue with the emperor's niece Julia, and had wit- 
 nessed the artifices of her elder sister Agrippina ; later on he 
 had been recalled from banishment by the latter, had been for 
 five years Nero's tutor, had witnessed the treacherous poison- 
 ing of Britannicus, and the murder of Agrippina by her son, 
 and lastly had become Nero's chief minister. He had endea- 
 voured for a time to restrain or mitigate the excesses of the 
 latter, stooping even perhaps to crime in order if possible to 
 save the Roman commonwealth from the results which he 
 foresaw, and finaUy had retired in a.d. 62 into seclusion when 
 his great wealth roused the cupidity of enemies who blackened 
 his character and excited the jealousy of Nero. Moreover 
 we may gather from Seneca's Letters that in his seclusion he 
 was often placed in the position of a confidential director of 
 oppressed souls, his counsel being sought by some whom the 
 conditions of the time or their own circumstances had rendered 
 desperate. Thus Seneca (to a greater degree than even the 
 confessor of Louis XI of France) carried a heavy burden of 
 knowledge of ghastly crimes, and it was no wonder that there 
 ever brooded over his spirit that dark shadow which at times 
 deepened into positive horror. 
 
 While this is the aspect which the period covered by the 
 reigns of Claudius and Nero bore to one who lived in it, Tacitus 
 shows another side of " the Terror." Tacitus had not, like 
 Seneca, Hved under its shadow, as he was only a boy of fourteen 
 when Nero died, but he was conversant with most of its aspects, 
 while he had lived during the period when it was to a certain 
 extent revived in the latter half of the reign of Domitian. And 
 in his eyes the worst of its effects was the fawning servility 
 which it engendered. Tacitus enlarges upon the repulsive 
 picture of both Senate and people vieing with each other* in 
 grovelling self-abasement and fulsome congratulations to Nero 
 after he had murdered his mother ; again upon how, after 
 Nero's discovery of the conspiracy of Piso, the poet Lucan 
 tried in vain to purchase safety by involving his own mother ; 
 and again upon how the conduct of " Epicharis, the poor 
 freedwoman of light character, who endured the accumulating 
 
 II 
 
144 
 
 NERO {Matters othtr than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV] 
 
 FAWNING SERVILITY 
 
 torture of scourge and rack and fire, and the dislocation of every 
 limb," and eventually strangled herself, rather than betray 
 others, shone in contrast with the behaviour of " high-bom 
 senators and knights who, without any compulsion of torture, 
 betrayed their relatives and friends " ; and again upon how, 
 in the general display of cowardly servility, one member of 
 that society after another, " when he heard of the murder of 
 a brother or a dear friend, would deck his house with lam^ls, 
 and falling at the emperor's feet, would cover his hand with 
 kisses." ^ Only in the army can Tacitus find any remains of 
 the manly spirit which all Romans had once possessed ; and 
 he relates with delight how an officer of the Praetorian Guards 
 told Nero to his face that he loathed him as a murderer and an 
 incendiary.* 
 
 But even in the time of Nero there were examples of purity 
 of life, courageous faithfulness, and a manly refusal to adopt 
 the fawning servility followed by the majority. Octavia, the 
 unfortunate first wife of Nero, living spotless in the midst of 
 the orgy of vice with which he surrounded both himseM and her, 
 was a conspicuous instance. So also was Antonia, her half- 
 sister, who rather than marry the bloodstained and polluted 
 Nero after Poppaea was no more, chose death. So also were 
 the slave-girls of Octavia, who when they were called upon by 
 Nero to substantiate the trumped-up charge against her which 
 had been fabricated by the vile Anicetus, chose torture and 
 death rather than thus traduce her. There were men like 
 Thrasea, who scorned to follow the sycophancy of the other 
 senators, and earned death as the result. There were tender 
 women who voluntarily shared the deaths of brothers or 
 husbands, or followed them into exile. Arria, Thrasea's wife, 
 was another instance of noble women who even under " the 
 Terror " shone out as bright and brave exceptions to the 
 majority. She was a daughter of that Arria who twenty-four 
 years earlier, in the reign of Claudius, had stabbed herself to 
 death to encourage her husband Paetus to avoid by suicide an 
 ignominious public execution.^ Arria the younger, when her 
 husband Thrasea was condemned to die, wished to follow her 
 
 1 Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus AureliuSy pp. 47-48. 
 • Tacitus, Annals, xv, 67. 8 chap. Ill, p. 102 (footnote). 
 
 145 
 
 mother's example, and was only prevented from doing so by 
 his refusal to permit it and by the earnest expostulations of 
 her fnends.i And throughout the reign of Nero there were a 
 mmority of noble Roman famiHes who held aloof from the 
 society of the court, and retaining the principles of an earUer 
 age showed examples of pure women and high-charactered 
 men. 
 
 One is inclined at times to look with contempt upon the 
 leading Romans for so long enduring such enormities as were 
 perpetrated by Nero. For eleven years the aristocracy had 
 suffered even greater degradation than when trodden under 
 the heel of CaUgula. Not only were the members of their 
 order slaughtered indiscriminately, but also aU who valued 
 their lives were forced to adopt perpetually a fulsome adulation 
 of the tyrant which brought the aristocracy to the very nadir 
 of self-abasement. Nero had never even as a boy met any 
 other human being on a level of equaHty, and consequently 
 was consumed by an egregious vanity which required that all 
 should look upon his very mediocre talents as though they were 
 the miraculous attributes of a god ; and any who failed to 
 express sentiments of this nature had an exceedingly short shrift. 
 And when to this were added the grossest insults to those 
 nearest and dearest, it seems surprising that men of any spirit 
 should so long have faHed to endeavour to remove this second 
 representative of the JuUan branch of the Caesars in the same 
 way that the first had been removed when his crimes became 
 msupportable. But we must remember that he was protected 
 by the Praetorian Guards, a force of some 12,000 men, who 
 were paid for guarding the emperor's life, and whose duty, as 
 weU as interest, it was to care only for that object. Moreover 
 Nero, strange though it be, was undoubtedly, at aU events for 
 a long time, popular with the mass of the people. Whatever 
 were the quaUties possessed by him which produced this effect, 
 of the fact itself there is no doubt. Nero was never hated by 
 the people as they had hated Caligula. 
 
 At length, however, all those of the aristocracy who still 
 nourished some portion of the spirit of former times, and felt a 
 burning indignation at the degradation of being subjected to 
 
 :ii 
 
 II' 
 
 I \ 
 
 * Tacitus, Annals, xvi, 34. 
 
 If 
 
 E.W. 
 
mtm 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 146 
 
 N £11 {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 TV] 
 
 such a rule as that of Nero, resolved to make a determined 
 effort to rid the State of this hateful yoke. Accordingly in the 
 autumn of a.d. 65, not long after the massacre of the Christians, 
 a widespread conspiracy headed by Calpumius Piso was formed 
 among all the leading Romans to remove the monster who had 
 seized the throne. Unforiiunately the plot was discovered, 
 being revealed by Scaevinus, a man of the highest rank, who 
 found that he had been betrayed. 
 
 The discovery of this conspiracy plunged Nero into the 
 wildest terror, and as a result Calpumius Piso, Foenius Rufus 
 (the Praetorian prefect), Plautius Lateranus (the consul- 
 designate), Subrius Flavins, Lucan, Paetus Thrasea,^ and later 
 on the degraded Petronius,^ with many others, including some 
 of Nero's most intimate friends, were one after another 
 put to death. Seneca himself (who had taken no part in the 
 plot) did not escape, and was removed in the usual manner. 
 For to such a pass had things come that when Nero wished 
 any one removed all that was necessary was an intimation 
 that the emperor desired he would put an end to himself. 
 All men knew it was useless to expect any clemency, so did 
 as they were ordered ; and thus departed Seneca. Soon 
 afterwards Poppaea also perished, being killed by a kick from 
 
 1 Paetus Thrasea has been called the Stoic saint, and was one of 
 the noblest Romans of the age. Reserved and highminded, he would 
 not join in intrigues against Nero, nor would he join in the base E^lula- 
 tion of one who had murdered his own mother. He therefore absented 
 himself from the Senate for about three yetirs. It was for this that 
 he was put to death, Nero in revenge causing him to be accused of 
 complicity in the conspiracy of Piso, a plot in which he had not joined. 
 When condemned, Thrasea would not allow Aurelenus Rusticus to 
 endanger his own life by interposing his veto, as Tribune of the people, 
 to the unjust sentence. 
 
 * Petronius was a man who made the pleasures of vice a fine art, 
 and his judgment was regarded as the standard of taste in all matters 
 of luxury. He was named the Arbiter, as the director of the emperor's 
 pleasures. Seeing that his fate was determined, *' having opened his 
 veins, he bade the physician bind them up again, and repeating this 
 operation at intervals, he spent his last hours at a banquet, amusing 
 his friends with wanton verses. He also composed an account of the 
 unnatural orgies of the emperor, and sent it to him imder seal. This 
 led to the banishment of a woman named Silia, whom Nero suspected 
 of having betrayed the scenes in the palace in which she had taken 
 part " (Bury). 
 
 MURDER OF ANTONIA 
 
 147 
 
 Nero when she was about to become a mother, m his rage at 
 
 Il^^lf^p'T"'*"^ t'^' ^""^ ^ *^^ *°"^^ of finding trea- 
 sm* at Carthage. Thus Poppaea never saw the new palace 
 many details of which she had probably suggested ; L sS 
 died only a few months after it had been begm 
 
 Op^^v ?w'^?*\°* ^°PP^"*' ^^'•o P^oPo^d to marry 
 Octavia s haU-s^ter Antonia, but she, displaying a spirit worth^ 
 
 sL r ^^^^^''^''^^-^ and the grandmother whose name 
 she bore boMy infused, though she must have been fuUy con 
 scious of what would be the insult ; she was accordingly p^t 
 
 IS r.K "^"^l'^ "'P^S *« *^« '^'^'- Anto^a was 
 the last of the Claudian branch, of which Agrippina and her 
 
 «>n Nero together had in turn slain four membL, aalj 
 Bntanmcus, Octavia. and Antonia, the JuUan branch having 
 thus finally disposed of the descendants of Livia. Nero then 
 cho^ SUtiha MessaUna. the wife of one of his boon co^io^^ 
 Atticus Vestinus ; a party of soldiers were sent to put Vestinu^ 
 to death, and Nero then married StatiUa 
 
 MeanwhUe Pontus, in the north of Asia Minor, had been 
 conquered and added to the dominions of the empii^ in a.d ?4 
 and this had been foUowed by the re-conquesf of ArmeJa 
 earned out by the Roman general Corbulo, and in aTTs 
 Nero summoned Tiridates, the brother of the Parthian king to 
 Rome and m a ceremony of the utmost splendour conferred on 
 him the crown of Armenia. Tiridates on his return to his king- 
 dom order^ worship to be offered to Nero as a god. Nero thel 
 left Rome for Greece, where he remained for a year and a half. 
 At this time he put to death the brothers Scribonius Rufus 
 and Scnbonius Proculus, the two commanders on the Rhine 
 
 iwftt "^ P T^^^ r' ^""^' ^°*i *1^' ^th the greatest 
 ngratitude Corbulo, who on landing in Greece, fresh frem his 
 success in Armema, was met by an order for his execution. 
 While m Greece Nero plamied a canal to be cut through t^ 
 isthmus of Corinth ; but his time was chiefly occupied! Jl'! 
 
 bv^r p"" t^ f"^ '^ "'' '^^'' ^ ^^S f «t^ and applauded 
 vLlnc? "" committing every kind of vice and eztm- 
 
 .hfr'^ t ^■''- ^^ ^^'"^ '"*"™"^ *o ^"'^' and took up his 
 abode m his new palace, the " Golden House," where his follies 
 and cnmes grew ever greater. But a disgusted world could 
 
 i 
 
 It 
 
148 
 
 NERO {Matters other thar^ religi<m) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV] 
 
 THE CAESARS DESTROYED 
 
 149 
 
 endure him no longer. The legions in Gaul, in Spain, and on 
 the Rhine all set up the standard of revolt, the veteran general 
 Galba being declared emperor by the legions under his com- 
 mand in Spain. At the same time at the capital the Romans 
 made plans for putting an end to the tyrant whose enormities 
 had become insupportable. Finding himself deserted by all, 
 Nero secretly stole away from his vast palace to the villa of 
 his freedman Phaon on the Via Nomentana, outside the city, 
 and on the approach of those who came to seize him committed 
 suicide.^ He died on the 9th June a.d. 68, at the age of 
 thirty-one. He left no children, and with him the JuHan 
 branch of the family ended ; as the Claudian branch had 
 ended when he murdered Antonia. 
 
 His statues were broken down, his name was decreed by the 
 Senate to be accursed, and his " Golden House " was two 
 years later swept away. His career of fourteen years, with its 
 fantastic revels and its terrible crimes, and the contrast between 
 its splendid opening with an adoring world at his feet and 
 its desolate close, seized upon the imagination of mankind, 
 and his name became for all time a synonym for unlimited 
 wickedness. 
 
 But even Nero found one faithful soul to mourn over him 
 and give him burial. Acte, deserted and forgotten in the 
 countless orgies of ten years' debauchery, had never turned 
 from Nero, and on his death she went to Phaon's villa, conveyed 
 Nero's body by night to the foot of the Pincian hiU, and there 
 buried it in the tomb of his father's family the Domitii. Sue- 
 tonius says, " Acte, having wrapped his remains in rich white 
 stuff embroidered with gold, deposited them in the Domitian 
 monmnent which is seen under the Hill of Gardens.* The 
 tomb was of porphyry, having an altar of Luna marble, sur- 
 rounded by a balustrade of Thasos marble." The spot was for 
 centuries considered accursed, until to put an end to this feeling 
 a Christian church was built upon it.^ 
 
 Thus had the Julian branch succeeded in destroying the 
 family of the Caesars. By their vindictive jealousy of the 
 
 ^ It is said that while hesitating Nero gave vent to the characteristic 
 speech, ** Alas, what an artist the world will lose in me." 
 
 « The Pincian hill. 3 The church of Sta. Maria del Popolo. 
 
 far nobler Claudian branch they had ended in leaving no des- 
 cendants of either branch. Agrippina the elder, pursuing an 
 insane jealousy, had led two of her sons to destruction, her 
 sister-in-law (with no little suspicion that it was at Agrippina's 
 instigation) had murdered Tiberius' son Drusus, her fourth 
 son had murdered Tiberius' grandson Tiberius Gemellus, 
 Agrippina the yoimger had miu-dered Claudius, her son Nero 
 had murdered Claudius' three children, Britannicus, Octavia, 
 and Antonia, and had woimd up by putting an end to himself. 
 It was the final act of the long domestic tragedy in which the 
 Julian branch had slain in turn six members of the Claudian 
 branch, a tragedy the seeds of which had been sown when 
 Octavius fell in love with Livia and divorced Scribonia. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 During the fourteen years of the reign of Nero many notable 
 events occiured in regard to Christianity. Throughout this 
 period that religion was being stiU further spread, both to the 
 north, east, and south of Antioch and also in Asia Minor and 
 Greece, and was beginning to meet with fierce antagonism from 
 other races besides the Jews. Towards the end of a.d. 54,^ the 
 first year of Nero's reign, we hear of St. Peter and St. Barnabas 
 working together at Corinth.^ In the early Church St. Peter 
 and St. Paul were regarded aa joint founders of the Church 
 of Corinth. Thus a letter of Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, 
 in A.D. 168 to Soter, Bishop of Rome (quoted by Eusebius), 
 says : — ." The Church, the plantation of Peter and Paul at 
 Rome and at Corinth ; for they both together here in Corinth 
 planted us and taught alike." In a.d. 55, the year that Nero 
 murdered Britannicus, St. Peter and St. Barnabas appear to 
 have travelled to Rome, and to have remained there about a 
 year. There are several references by the early writers to this 
 visit of St. Peter and St. Barnabas to Rome, and the latest 
 
 1 See Note A, Chronology of events in the Christian Church in 
 the 1st century (p. 203). 
 
 2 Considered by the latest authorities to be confirmed by the words 
 in First Epistle to the Corinthians, ix, 6, and Second Epistle xii, 11. 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 " i 
 
 ill 
 
 II 
 
 19 
 
 ll 
 
mi 
 
 t III 
 
 M 
 
 160 
 
 NERO {MaUeri concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 authorities consider these to be confirmed by various scattered 
 remarks of St. Paul in his epistles.^ 
 
 St. Paul, after arriving at Ephesus on his third missionary 
 journey, 2 spent three years there (a.d. 53-56), and from 
 thence wrote (about the end of the year a.d. 55) his First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians. In the spring of a.d. 56 there 
 occurred at Ephesus, in consequence of his preaching, the 
 serious riot in connection with the Temple of Diana.' After it 
 was over St. Paul sailed from Ephesus to Macedonia, and from 
 Philippi wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (a.d. 56). 
 After remaining some time at Philippi he travelled into Greece 
 and reached Corinth, remaining there three months. And 
 from Corinth he wrote (towards the end of the year a.d. 56) his 
 Epistle to the Romans, i.e. to the Christians in Rome. Various 
 references show * that there was by this time a considerable 
 Christian community at Rome, and that there were Christians 
 among the servants of many important men in that city, and 
 also in the imperial palace. 
 
 From Corinth St. Paul returned through Macedonia, and in 
 the spring of a.d. 57 sailed from Philippi for Judaea, stopping 
 on the way at Troas and other places, including Miletus, where 
 he sent for the elders of the Church at Ephesus and other 
 adjacent cities, and bade them a sorrowful farewell, having 
 previously told them that after visiting Jerusalem he must 
 proceed to Rome, and now telling them that they would see his 
 face no more.s From Miletus he sailed to Tyre, and thence to 
 Caesarea, and at length reached Jerusalem. There, a week or 
 two after his arrival, the Jews raised a tumult, seeking to kill 
 him, whereupon the Roman governor arrested him, and sent 
 him to Caesarea, where he was kept a prisoner for two years, 
 
 i Mr. G. Edmundson in his The Church in Rome in the First Century, 
 pp. 79-86, brings forward various proofs of this visit of St. Peter 
 and St. Barnabas to Rome in a.d. 56, and considers that the remarks 
 of St. Paul alluding to his being unable to go to Rome at this time 
 were due to this cause, as he would not " build upon another man's 
 foundation." 
 
 2 Chap, in, p. 124. « Acts of the Apostles, xix, 24-41. 
 
 * For instance, the list of salutations at the conclusion of this epistle 
 to the Romans (see p. 167). 
 
 * Acts of the Apostles, xx, 17-38. 
 
 
 ST. PAUL IN ROME 
 
 161 
 
 A.D. 57-59. Most authorities consider that the Gospel of 
 St. Luke was written at this time. Late in the year a.d. 59 
 St. Paul, having appealed to the emperor, was despatched by 
 Festus, the Roman procurator of Judaea, who had in that year 
 succeeded Felix, towards Rome, being allowed to take St. Luke 
 with him ; they were wrecked at Malta and wintered there, and 
 arrived at Rome in the spring of a.d. 60. ^ About the same time 
 St. James the Less, 2 who acted as head of the Church at 
 Jerusalem,^ and was the only Apostle then left at that city, 
 wrote the General Epistle of St. James. 
 
 St. Paul on reaching Rome was handed over by the centurion 
 Julius, who had escorted him from Caesarea, to the commander 
 of the Praetorian Guards, and was at first kept a prisoner in the 
 extensive camp of the Praetorian Guards, chained to a soldier, 
 but allowed to see his friends. After a short time, in accord- 
 ance with his appeal to the emperor, he was brought before 
 Nero. The palace in which St. Paul's examination before the 
 latter took place was that which had been built by Caligula and 
 finished and adorned by Claudius, in which palace Nero resided 
 for the first twelve years of his reign. It must have been a 
 strange interview, Nero having the year before murdered his 
 mother Agrippina, and having at this time plunged into all 
 that series of wild excesses which followed that event. This 
 first examination appears to have been a preliminary one. As 
 its result St. Paul was allowed to reside in open arrest in Rome 
 in his own hired house, pending his final trial before the emperor 
 when all the evidence against him should have been received 
 
 1 Acts of the Apostles, xxvii, 1 to xxviii, 31. 
 
 ■ St. James the Less (together with Jude and Joses) was the son 
 of Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and was thus the first cousin of Jesus 
 Christ. The term applied to him of " the Lord's brother '* has often 
 created difficulties imnecessarily. This term is the imiversal eastern 
 custom ; as for instance in India, where the term " bhai " (brother) 
 is invariably applied to first cousins as well as brothers, first cousins 
 being looked upon as the same as brothers. 
 
 3 He is often spoken of as Bishop of Jerusalem, but this does not 
 seem correct. The title of Bishop was used regarding the men whom 
 the Apostles placed as leaders of the Churches in different cities, but 
 not of an Apostle himself, even though he might act as such a leader 
 for many years, as, for instance, St. Peter at Antioch or St. James at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 i^ 
 
 .1 
 
152 
 
 NERO {MatUrs concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 f II 
 
 from Judaea, and he lived in this house ^ for the next two 
 years (a.d. 60-62). 
 
 The consideration with which St. Paul was throughout 
 treated by the Roman authorities is very marked. Though we 
 are told nothing, either by St. Paul himself or by his faithful 
 foUower St. Luke, regarding St. Paul's family and worldly 
 circumstances, it seems evident that he must have been fakly 
 well bom and have possessed a certam amount of property. 
 The mere fact that he was by birth a Roman citizen would not 
 by itself account for the degree of consideration with which we 
 constantly find him treated by the Roman officials. The 
 respect shown to him by the Roman tribune Lysias,2 the 
 attention that he received in succession from the Roman 
 procurators Felix and Festus,^ the hope nourished by the former 
 that he might receive money from St. Paul or his family,* the 
 courtesy with which he was treated throughout his journey to 
 Rome by the centurion Julius, the leniency shown to him when 
 on his first arrival at Rome he was a prisoner in the camp of 
 the Praetorian Guards,^ the favoured treatment accorded to 
 hmi in permitting him to Uve for two years at liberty in Rome 
 while stiU nominaUy a prisoner, together with the fact that for 
 some four years he was able to meet heavy expenses, show that 
 St. Paul was by no means poor, and that he was regarded by 
 the Roman officials as a person of some distinction. Nor was 
 this due to any reverence which wa^ paid him by the Christian 
 community ; for we find no such treatment accorded by the 
 Roman officials to St. Peter. 
 
 During the two years that St. Paul dwelt in his hired house 
 m Rome he wrote (a.d. 61) his Epistle to the Colossians, his 
 EpisUe to the Ephesians, and his Epistle to Phileinxm, At the 
 same time St. Luke, who was Uving with him, wrote the Acts 
 
 1 Said by Jewish tradition to have been at the comer of the Via 
 Lata, where that street joined the Via Flaminia (now the Corso) The 
 lower rooms of this house are still to be seen, lying some 16 feet below 
 the present ground-level, with the archways which opened from it 
 into the street, the former Via Flaminia. 
 
 *.-^«^o°^ ^^® Apostles, xxi, 40; xxii, 26-30; xxiii, 17-19; and 
 xxm, 23-24. 
 
 » Ibid., xxiv, 23-26 ; xxv. 12 ; and xxvi, 24-32. 
 
 * Ibid., xxiv, 26. « Ibid., xxviii, 16-17. 
 
 IV] 
 
 TRIAL OF ST. PAUL 
 
 153 
 
 of the AposUeSy containing the history of most of the events 
 which had happened in the Christian Church from its f oimdation 
 in A.D. 29 ^ up to the end of a.d. 61, with which year this book 
 ends. In the spring of a.d. 62, shortly before his final trial, 
 St. Paul appears to have been removed from his hired house to a 
 more strict confinement in the Praetorian camp, and there 
 wrote his Epistle to the Philippians, the tone of which is in 
 marked contrast to that of his three earlier epistles from Rome. 
 About this time St. James the Less was murdered at Jerusalem 
 by the Jews, who stoned him to death. Josephus says that 
 they killed him because they were enraged at St. Paul's escape 
 from them. Josephus also states that in the following year he 
 himself went to Rome to intercede for some Jewish priests who 
 had been arrested and sent to Rome, and that he obtained the 
 interest of the empress Poppaea on their behalf, and through 
 her was successful in gaining their release. 
 
 In the spring of a.d. 62 the final trial of St. Paul before the 
 emperor took place. Regarding the charges made against 
 him by the Jewish Sanhedrim of disturbing the worship of the 
 Temple and bringing an uncircumcised person into the Temple 
 courts, the Romans cared nothing, but he was also charged with 
 on several occasions creating riots, a much more serious offence. 
 Ordinary appeals to the emperor were heard by officials specially 
 appointed for that purpose, and not by the emperor himself, 
 but criminal appeals were almost invariably heard by the 
 emperor in person. And in this case the charge, that of causing 
 frequent distm-bances to the peace of the empire by being the 
 ringleader of a troublesome sect, was the most serious one 
 possible in the eyes of a Roman, being equivalent to the crime 
 of majestas, or treason against the State, the pimishment for 
 which was death. Tiberius and Claudius had been accustomed 
 to hear such cases in the Forum, but Nero reverted to the 
 custom of Augustus, hearing them in the Basilica of the im- 
 perial palace ; and here, about the month of March a.d. 62, the 
 trial of St. Paul appears to have been held. Nero on such 
 occasions took his seat on a slightly raised dais at one end of the 
 splendid hall, with on either side of him his assessors, twenty 
 senators of the highest rank, each of whom at the end of the 
 
 i 
 
 1|! 
 
 If! 
 
 
 ' C9mp. II, p. 84. 
 
154 
 
 NERO {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 :ii 
 
 trial gave his opinion in writing to the emperor. It is probable 
 that Poppaea, who had just been married to Nero, was present, 
 sitting beside the emperor ; for the trial was one which with 
 her strong Jewish tendencies she is certain to have desired to 
 watch. In the time of both Qaudius and Nero it was often 
 customary for the empress to be present at such trials, ^ seated 
 beside the emperor, and a document is extant which states that 
 it was necessary at this period to increase the width of the seat 
 of the tribunal owing to a change in the fashion of the dress of 
 the Roman ladies. 
 
 The witnesses against St. Paul were apparently the delegates 
 from the Jewish Sanhedrim in Jerusalem, together with Jewish 
 witnesses from Ephesus, Corinth, and other places where 
 disturbances had been aroused by his preaching. Nero never 
 discussed a case with his assessors, as former emperors had 
 always done, but after reading their opinions gave sentence 
 according to his pleasure, quite regardless of what might be the 
 opinions of the majority. On tMs occasion it might have been 
 expected that the sentence would inevitably be one adverse 
 to the prisoner. For Poppaea was at the height of her in- 
 fluence ; if not actually a Jewish proselyte, she was at all 
 events a strong adherent of Judaism ;» various cases are on 
 record of accused persons belonging to that race obtaining her 
 intercession on their behalf with successful results ; and the 
 Sanhedrim would certainly have spent money freely in order 
 to gain her assistance to thek cause. But for some reason 
 unknown Nero took a different view from that which might 
 have been expected. Just at this time the Jews in Jerusalem 
 had built a high waU to prevent the Temple courts being over- 
 looked from the palace ; Festus, the Roman procurator, had 
 ordered the wall to be pulled down, a riot had occurred, Jeru- 
 salem (as so often) was in a disturbed state, and the Jews 
 were out of favour in consequence. Whether this had any 
 
 1 As for instance in the case of Valeria Messalina on the occasion 
 of the trial of Valerius Asiaticus in the reign of Claudius (Tacitus, 
 Annals, xi, 2) and of Poppaea herself at the trial of the Piso conspira- 
 tors {Annals, c, 61). 
 
 * When she died three years later she was buried with Jewish rites, 
 instead of her body being burnt according to the Pagan custom (Ta- 
 citus. Annals, xvi, 6). 
 
 IV] 
 
 ST. PAUL DEPARTS TO SPAIN 
 
 155 
 
 effect in the case of the trial of St. Paul it is impossible 
 to say, but at any rate Nero took a view favourable to 
 the prisoner and unfavourable to his accusers ; and St. Paul 
 was pronoimced guiltless of the charge, and was forthwith 
 liberated. 
 
 Upon being thus set free from his captivity St. Paul at once 
 left Rome and travelled into Spain, as he had said he would do. 
 All the ancient writers, including the Muratorian Canon, Cle- 
 ment, Irenaeus, and Theodoret, mention this journey of his to 
 Spain, and speak of his reaching " the furthest bounds of the 
 West." In this same year (a.d. 62) St. Matthew in Egypt 
 wrote the Gospel of St. Matthew, chiefly for the Jews in Judaea, 
 who now by the death of St. James the Less were left without 
 any Apostle dwelling in their midst. 
 
 In the year a.d. 63 St. Peter again arrived at Rome. The 
 subject of St. Peter's having for a part of his life resided in 
 Rome and of his connection with the Church established in that 
 city, has long been a much debated question. And a generation 
 or two ago one might have said that there was no evidence 
 (other than tradition) that St. Peter ever was in Rome. Modern 
 research however has caused an entire change in this respect, 
 and the question has become one which, so far as scholars are 
 concerned, no longer admits of controversy. Not only do the 
 ancient writers constantly speak of St. Peter and St. Paul as 
 the joint founders of the Church at Rome (thus confirming 
 tradition), and write of St. Peter first founding the Church of 
 Antioch and, after ruling it for seven years, then proceeding to 
 Rome and acting as head of that Church for many years, but also 
 both modern scientific research and modem Biblical criticism 
 confirm their statements. From the archaeological point of 
 view also similar testimony is contributed ; so that we find the 
 high authority Professor Lanciani saying : — " For the ar- 
 chaeologist, the presence and execution of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul in Rome are facts established beyond a shadow of doubt by 
 purely monumental evidence." ^ 
 
 As to the particular years in which St. Peter visited Rome, the 
 point thus appears to be one of little importance. The evidence 
 is ample that he was on several occasions in that city, that he 
 
 * Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 125. 
 
 I 
 
 w 
 
156 
 
 N !E H O {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 J t 
 
 I »i 
 
 
 was regarded by the Church there as the Apostle to whom that 
 Church chiefly looked for guidance, that he was uniformly 
 spoken of by the early Christian writers as the founder of that 
 Church conjointly with St. Paul, and that the strong influence 
 which he exercised over its members is demonstrated by various 
 archaeological remains. 
 
 Whether, however, the writers of the 4th century ,i after the 
 obscurity induced by the age of the persecutions had come to an 
 end, were correct in speaking of St. Peter as having remained 
 permanently at Rome and acted as Bishop (episcopus) of the 
 Church in that city for some twenty-three years up till his death 
 may perhaps be doubted. That a man of the force of character 
 possessed by St. Peter should have remained permanently at a 
 place like Rome throughout a large part of the reign of Claudius 
 and almost the whole of the reign of Nero without ever becoming 
 known to the authorities, or receiving any mention, however 
 slight, in the writings of the time as being at Rome, seems almost 
 inconceivable. This, though it might possibly happen in the 
 case of a distant eastern city like Antioch, could scarcely 
 happen at Rome, the centre of Roman life. It seems 
 much more probable that throughout the long period men- 
 tioned St. Peter maintained a general supervision over both 
 the Church at Rome * and the Church at Antioch, visiting 
 Rome for a year or more from time to time,^ and in the 
 intervals visiting Antioch in the same way, and from both 
 places continuing to carry on the supervision of the work 
 of evangeUzing the countries of the east. The First Epistle 
 of St. Peter, now generally acknowledged to have been 
 written by him at Rome not long before his death, and 
 addressed in its opening words to the Jews of the dispersion in 
 Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, shows that 
 St. Peter had never discontinued this latter portion of his 
 
 * As, for instance, Eusebius and St. Jerome. 
 
 * Both tradition and the ancient writers mcdntain that St. Peter 
 himself appointed the first Bishop of Rome, Linus, and this is con- 
 curred with by the most modem authorities. If so, then this strongly 
 supports the view that St. Peter only visited Rome from time to time, 
 and did not remain there acting as Bishop of that Church for a long 
 number of years. 
 
 * Tradition has always mcuntained that St. Peter when in Rome 
 lived on the Aventine hill, in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. 
 
 IV] 
 
 ST. PETER'S LAST VISIT TO ROME 
 
 157 
 
 I 
 
 laboiu^ however much attention he may also have paid to 
 Church affairs at Antioch and Rome. His journeys to and fro 
 between Antioch and Rome, if undertaken in the summer, 
 would be performed by sea without difficulty. Two reasons 
 probably drew St. Peter to add this work at Rome to his 
 primary task of supervising the missionary work in the east ; 
 first, the fact that at Rome there were an abnormally large 
 number of Jews,^ and secondly, a desire to establish a strongly 
 organized Church at the capital of the Roman Empire. 
 
 But however certain it may be that St. Peter was several 
 times in Rome, that he acted as the head of the Church at that 
 city for a long number of years, and that he was uniformly 
 regarded as the founder of that Church conjointly with St. Paul, 
 all this gave no ground for the adoption by that Church of a 
 tone of superiority over others. For other Churches, notably 
 that of Corinth, claimed St. Peter in the same way as their 
 founder conjointly with some other Apostle ; while, above all, 
 the Church of Antioch, of which St. Peter was universally 
 acknowledged both as the sole founder, and as having acted as 
 its head for seven years before ever proceeding to Rome, and 
 established in the city which was the centre from whence the 
 work of evangelizing the world had been undertaken, and which 
 was therefore regarded as the capital of the Christian religion, 
 had claims in this respect which neither the Church at Rome, 
 Corinth, or any other city could dispute. Nor were they ever 
 disputed at this period, or for long afterwards, and it is not 
 until the 4th century that we find any such idea first put 
 forward.2 
 
 Whatever differences of opinion regarding former visits of 
 St. Peter to Rome may exist among the various authorities, 
 practically none exist with regard to his last visit, that in 
 A.D. 63-65, which ended with his martyrdom. Thus Mr. 
 Edmundson, the latest authority, in maintaining that St. 
 Peter arrived in Rome on the last occasion in a.d. 63, says : — 
 " That Peter visited Rome between the years 62 a.d. and 
 65 A.D. and that he was put to death there by crucifixion is 
 admitted by everyone who studies the evidence in a fair and 
 
 i In the time of Claudius and Nero the majority of the Christians 
 in Rome were Jews by race. 
 
 « In the time of Pope Damascus I (366-384). See Chap. XV, p. 537. 
 
 ( 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 i>( 
 
158 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 I ,'!' 
 
 I 
 
 NERO (Mattert concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 reasonable spirit."! St. Peter, reaching Rome the year after 
 St. Paul's departure, arrived there at a critical time. A little 
 more than a year previously Nero had been married to Poppaea 
 and was now launching out into one fabulous and preposterous 
 ejctravagance after another, while his cruelties under the in- 
 fluence of the inhuman TigelUnus were causing a state of things 
 m which no man rising from his bed in the morning could feel 
 any degree of certainty that he would live to lie down on it at 
 night ; in the foUowing July there occurred the great fire which 
 consumed three-fourths of Rome ; and this was foUowed in the 
 sprmg of A.D. 65 by consequences for the Christians which from 
 that tmie forward altered materiaUy the whole attitude of the 
 Pagan world towards them, changing what had hitherto been 
 cold dislike into fierce and vindictive enmity. 
 
 St. Peter before leaving Antioch on this occasion' had 
 appomted as Bishop there a man whose name during the next 
 fifty years became reno^vned throughout aU the east, the 
 celebrated Ignatius of Antioch, a man destined to exercise a 
 wide influence over the whole Chureh, both then and even 
 down to the present day.3 Ignatius was apparently at this time 
 about forty years old. These two appointments by St. Peter 
 that of Linus as Bishop of Rome and that of Ignatius as 
 Bishop of Antioch, not only strongly support the theory that 
 bt. Peter did not remain permanently at Rome, but exercised a 
 general supervision over both Antioch and Rome, visiting each 
 of those cities from time to time, but they also serve to throw 
 mto strong relief the remarkable difference between these two 
 Churches at this period. For great indeed is the contrast 
 between the first Bishop of Rome and the first Bishop of 
 Antioch. St. Peter in selecting a man for Bishop of the 
 commnmty at Rome naturaUy chose the man among the 
 Christian community at that city who was best fitted for the 
 post of leader ; and he of course did the same at Antioch. But 
 
 » Edmundson, The Church in the First Century (1913), p. 47 
 It 18 wuversaUy attested by the early Church that Ignatius, Bishop 
 t1^°^' '^^ ?PP°«*«d by St. Peter, and that when he died in 113 
 he had baen B«hop there for fifty years ; so that he was appointed 
 
 "ht" ^V I ?"■ . Theodoret speciaUy says that he was ap^inted 
 by bt. Peter's own hand." 
 
 » Regarding Ignatius* celebrated Letters, see Chap. VI, p. 22& 
 
 IV] 
 
 FIRST PERSECUTION BEGUN 
 
 159 
 
 among the members of the Church at Rome, largely composed 
 (so far as the men were concerned) of persons who were either 
 slaves or converted Jews, it is evident that St. Peter could find 
 no man really fitted for the office of leader, and was compelled 
 to choose a man who, whatever he may have been in other 
 respects, was without any real capacity. Thus it resulted that 
 of Linus, the first Bishop of Rome, so little is heard, not only in 
 subsequent writings but also in tradition, that it has even been 
 doubted by some whether he ever existed, and nothing has been 
 recorded of him beyond his name. On the other hand, in the 
 case of the Church at Antioch, mainly composed of individuals 
 belonging to the Greek race, and forming a much larger com- 
 mimity, one also which had for nearly thirty years received the 
 teaching of St. Peter, St. John, St. Barnabas, St. Paul, and 
 other Apostles, St. Peter found no such difficulty, and was able 
 to select a man as the first Bishop of Antioch whose after history 
 widely proved his great capacity, who became renowned 
 throughout all the Churches of Asia Minor and the east, and 
 whose letters have ever since been looked upon as second only 
 to the epistles of an Apostle. 
 
 And now the most tragic of all the acts in the terrible drama 
 of Nero's reign is unfolded before us, and there pass before our 
 eyes those wild and pathetic scenes when the first battle was 
 fought of which the Roman world was to witness so many 
 during the next 250 years, — those strange battles in which 
 absolute weakness was pitted against absolute strength, in a 
 cause which must have seemed to the onlookers so supremely 
 hopeless. 
 
 This first of these unequal conflicts began in the spring of 
 A.D. 65.1 Accused by Nero of having caused the conflagration 
 in Rome, and of being the " enemies of mankind," the Christians 
 — men and women, boys and girls — were one after another seized 
 in different parts of the city, 2 dragged before the magistrates, 
 subjected to a short examination, and upon confessing that they 
 were Christians were forthwith cast into prison, and in batches 
 delivered over to death by various cruel methods as a spectacle 
 
 1 Page 137 (footnote). 
 
 • Up to that time Christianity had not been proscribed, so that 
 many of the Christians were probably well known as such to all their 
 neighbours. 
 
 
160 
 
 NERO (Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 t 
 
 for the people in the Circus Maximus. That vast enclosure 
 which had witnessed the scene of Nero, seated in his triumphal 
 car, receiving the congratulations of thousands for the murder 
 of his mother, now saw a still more thrilling spectacle, in which 
 Christians of all ages and both sexes died in torments, some 
 being sewn up in the skins of wild animals and torn to pieces by 
 dogs, some being stripped naked and dragged like Dirce on the 
 homs of infuriated bulls, and some being crucified. ^ From 
 their answers before the magistrates the names of others who 
 had meanwhile sought hiding places were obtained ; so that there 
 continued for a month or more to be a constant series of these 
 cruel spectacles, devised by Tigellinus and enacted for the 
 amusement of the populace. But this was merely the prelude, 
 the skirmishes of the advanced-guards before the general 
 engagement ; and while this preliminary action was continuing 
 four important events occurred regarding St. Peter. 
 
 About the month of April a.d. 65, while this persecution of 
 the Christians was day by day gathering increased force, 
 St. Peter, at this time not less than seventy years old, 
 wrote in Rome the First Epistle of St. Peter, addressed to those 
 Jews of the second dispersion who had become Christians, 
 " scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 
 Bithynia."^ It was written while St. Peter from his place of 
 concealment was daily hearing of these terrible scenes in the 
 Circus Maximus, and seeing friends or neighbours dragged 
 away to prison and death. To this time belongs the beautiful 
 Quo Vadis legend, relating how that St. Peter, temporarily 
 overcome with fear at the things which were happening in 
 Rome, started to fly from thence, but about a quarter of a mile 
 outside the Appian Gate of the city 3 was met by Christ, and to 
 his question " Lord, whither goest Thou ? " (Domine, Quo Vadis) 
 received the reply, "I go to Rome, to be crucified again." 
 Whereupon St. Peter, coming to himself, and feeling how he 
 who had just written to the persecuted Christians in Pontus 
 
 1 Tacitus, AmmUy xv, 44. and Epistle of St. Clement, v. 
 
 * Most authorities are now of opinion that the First Epistle of 
 St. Peter was written by liim at Rome and that it bears internal evi- 
 dence of being written during the ewUer stages of the persecution of 
 
 A.D. 65. 
 
 * The church of Domine Quo Vadis now marks the spot. 
 
 IV] 
 
 ST. PETER IN PRISON 
 
 161 
 
 and Galatia to stand firm and endure such things,* was by this 
 flight again denying his Master, returned to the city. This 
 story is related by St. Ambrose, and is considered by most 
 authorities to point to the fact that St. Peter did at this time 
 make an attempt to fly from Rome. 
 
 A week or two after writing his First Epistle and despatching 
 it from Rome by the disciple Silvanus,^ that which had befallen 
 others befel St. Peter also, possibly through information 
 gathered at some of the examinations of Christians. He was 
 seized and thrown into prison, and knew from what he had seen 
 in the case of many others around him that it could only be a 
 matter of a few days before he too would be led forth to die. 
 Unlike St. Paul, who for the reasons already noted was always 
 treated by the Romans with a certain degree of consideration, 
 St. Peter appears to have been looked upon by the Roman 
 officials as of no more consequence than any other Christian, 
 except so far as they may have gathered that he was a leader 
 among this accursed sect, and so have made the conditions of his 
 imprisonment more severe. Apparently while thus in prison 
 he wrote during the month of May a.d. 65, the short Second 
 Epistle of St. Peter (addressed to all Christians generally) 
 which bears strong internal evidence of being written under just 
 these circumstances. It also contains an affectionate reference 
 by name to St. Paul, and is in many of its expressions singularly 
 touching as the last words of the great Apostle. Its breadth of 
 view is extraordinary, and nowhere perhaps do we see so well 
 how justly St. Peter deserved to be the leading Apostle ; his 
 thoughts soar far and wide over Christendom, embracing the 
 whole world. And to see him who had once been the rough 
 warm-hearted fisherman of the Lake of Galilee, who had in forty 
 years grown into the Apostle so revered that every collection of 
 Christians in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and 
 even to the far regions of Pontus and Mesopotamia, desired to 
 have the honour of his name attached in some way to their 
 community, yet who tradition has said could never hear a 
 cock crow without weeping, sitting on the groimd in his bare 
 and harsh Roman prison, and with the knowledge that he was 
 
 
 •) I 
 
 * 1 Peter, ii, 21 ; iii, 14 ; and iv, 16. 
 2 Ibid., v, 12. 
 
 E.W. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 NERO {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 soon to die a cruel death,^ dictating to some humble disciple 
 these last affectionate words to all Christians of every race and 
 clime, is a picture calculated to touch any heart. 
 
 It is the last glimpse that we have of St. Peter ; we know 
 nothing more of him from documentary evidence. But tradi- 
 tion has always asserted that during the last two or three days 
 of his life he was removed to the terrible prison of the Tullianum 
 (still to be seen under the hill of the Capitol in Rome), was 
 carried thence, bound, to a spot near the palace of Nero on the 
 Vatican hiU, and was there crucified, but at his own request 
 with his head downward8.2 His body was buried in a small 
 cemetery on the Vatican hill near where he was crucified ; in the 
 3rd centmy, during the persecution of Valerian, his remains 
 were removed to the Catacombs, but they were brought back 
 to their original resting-place early in the 4th century, and 
 interred where the cathedral of St. Peter's now stands, in 
 the crypt of which cathedral is his tomb. His martyrdom 
 apparently took place in the month of May, a.d. 65.3 
 
 Meanwhile the climax of this contest, in which those who fell 
 were styled some thirty years later by St. Clement as " noble 
 athletes," approached. Nero had now thought of a more 
 poignant spectacle, one which would make a grand finale to the 
 persecution, and would wipe out all the remaining Christians in 
 Rome in a manner both satisfactorily complete, and also from 
 his point of view artistically gratifying. For this purpose in 
 June, A.D. 65, assisted by the tigerish Tigellinus, he devised an 
 evening entertainment in his Vatican gardens which should be 
 altogether unique, one in which the torture of the Christians 
 should be combined with music, flowers, and chariot-driving. 
 Accordingly the Christians who had not yet suffered were 
 diligently sought out in their hiding places throughout the city, 
 
 1 Second Epistle of St. Peter, i, 14-15, " Knowing that shortly I 
 must put off this my tabernacle. . . . Moreover, I will endeavour 
 that ye may be able after my decease to have these things in remem- 
 brance.'* 
 
 * Seneca mentions that the Romans sometimes, as a more severe 
 punishment, crucified men with their heads downwards, and Eusebius 
 says that several martyrs were crucified in this fashion. 
 
 3 See p. 169 (footnote). The time-honoured theory that St. Peter 
 and St. Paul were martyred at the same time, and even on the same 
 day, is no longer accepted by scholars. 
 
 rc 
 
 IV] 
 
 THE VATICAN MASSACRE 
 
 163 
 
 and coUected in the prisons until the arrangements for this 
 evening entertainment were complete. 
 
 Nero's extensive Vatican Gardens had been made by him 
 very beautiful, and in them he had laid out a circus-ground for 
 his private chariot-driving, spread with gold-coloured sand, 
 and profusely adorned with works of art. On the spina 
 constructed down the centre of this circus there stood the 
 Egyptian obelisk which had been brought to Rome by Caligula. 
 Upon a fine night in June, a.d. 65,^ the Christians of all ages 
 and both sexes were driven in troops to these gardens. Tacitus 
 speaks of them as "an immense multitude," and describes how 
 *' in long succession troops of prisoners in chains were dragged 
 along and stood at the gates of the imperial gardens." ^ Tacitus 
 was at this time a boy of eleven years old, and his vivid language 
 gives the idea that he himseK saw this piteous spectacle ; while 
 his testimony has all the greater weight from the fact that the 
 sight stirred in him no feeling of pity, as his subsequent remarks 
 show.^ Round the whole of the circus-ground in his gardens 
 Nero had caused strong posts to be erected, and on each of these 
 a Christian man, woman, or child was now fastened a few feet 
 from the ground, with a sharp spike under his or her chin. 
 Seneca, who witnessed this tragedy, says that in some cases the 
 stake was driven right through the person's body, coming out at 
 the mouth. Those thus bound on the posts were then wrapped 
 in tow steeped in pitch, and set alight. Nero, delighted with 
 the shrieks of the victims, and mounted in an ivory chariot, 
 dressed in his green charioteer's costume, drove slowly round 
 and round the circus thus hideously illuminated, accompanied 
 by bands playing music, and troops of girls waving garlands of 
 flowers and scattering incense.* So ended the first battle of 
 the 250 years' campaign. 
 
 * Regarding this date of June, a.d. 65, instead of that formerly 
 accepted of August, a.d. 64, see footnotes to pp. 137 and 169. 
 
 2 Tacitus, Annals, xv, 68. ' See below. 
 
 * The gardens of Nero in which this cruel massacre of so many 
 innocent persons of both sexes occurred covered the site now occu- 
 pied by St. Peter's and the Vatican palace. The Egyptian obelisk 
 which stands in the centre of the piazza in front of St. Peter's is that 
 which ornamented the spina of Nero's circus at the time, and round 
 which this spectacle took place. Its exact site on the circus -ground 
 was a spot outside the present sacristy of St. Peter's, and is marked 
 by a slab placed in the pavement. 
 
 i»i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 164 
 
 NERO {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 To obtain an idea of the very different aspects which this 
 First persecution, in which the entire Christian community of 
 Rome perished, has presented to those belonging to the two 
 opposing parties in a conflict which, here begun, was to continue 
 for two and a half centuries, let us hear on the one side how a 
 great Pagan writer of the time describes it, and then on the 
 other side how a Christian writer of a later age speaks of it. 
 
 The Roman historian Tacitus, ^ relating this persecution of 
 the Christians at Rome by Nero, says :— " With this view " 
 (viz. that of diverting the popular suspicion from himself) 
 " Nero contrived that accusations should be brought against 
 those who, under the appellation of Christians, were already 
 branded with deserved infamy, and subjected them to the 
 most exquisite torments. They derived their name and origin 
 from one Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius Caesar had suffered 
 death by the sentence of the Procurator of Judsea, Pontius 
 Pilatus. For awhile this dire superstition was checked, but it 
 burst forth again, and not only spread itseK over Judaea, the 
 first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced into 
 Rome, where all things horrible and shameful collect together 
 from every quarter and are practised. Those therefore who 
 confessed 2 were first brought to trial, and afterwards by the 
 information derived from them an immense multitude were 
 also seized, and they were all condemned, not so much for the 
 crime of setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of mankind. 
 They died in torments, and their torments were embittered 
 by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses, others 
 were sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the fury 
 of dogs, others, again, were smeared over with combustible 
 materials and used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the 
 night. The gardens of Nero were chosen for the terrible 
 spectacle, which was made a public show in the circus, and 
 
 1 Tacitus was a son-in-law of the capable Julius Agricola, who was 
 the governor of Britain from a.d. 78 to 84. By profession he was a 
 lawyer. Fourteen years old when Nero died, he lived after attaining 
 man's estate through the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva 
 and Trajan, and was an eyewitness of the events at Rome in their 
 reigns. He ranks beyond dispute in the highest place among literary 
 men of all ages. (See also Note B, p. 271.) 
 
 2 He does not mean confessed to causing the fire, but confessed to 
 being^Christians. 
 
 IV] 
 
 CHRISTIANITY WHY DISLIKED 
 
 165 
 
 honoured with the presence of the emperor himself, who 
 mingled with the populace, standing in a car, in the dress of a 
 
 charioteer." ^ 
 
 Had a Christian written this account of what was endured 
 by that community to whom St. Paul had six years before 
 written his Epistle to the Romans, it would almost certainly 
 have been set dowTi as exaggerated ; but the source from which 
 this cold, bald statement emanates precludes any possibility 
 of doubt as to the sufferings borne by this band of devoted 
 people. Other things which this account by Tacitus shows 
 are :— (i) that the Christians had by this time become very 
 numerous in Rome, and (ii) that there was a strong prejudice 
 against them sufficient to make the people credit them with 
 monstrous crimes. An examination of the causes which led to 
 this feeling against them will help to explain the long series of 
 persecutions which followed. 
 
 I». There were several features in this new religion, which, as 
 soon as men began to pay attention to it, would appear to the 
 Roman world highly objectionable. First, it was not a national 
 religion. Rome recognized that Egypt worshipped Isis, Persia 
 the sun, and so on, and allowed the nations she conquered to 
 retain these national religions undisturbed. But Christianity 
 was not the religion of any country. The Roman therefore ob- 
 jected to it on that ground. Secondly, it was contrary to all the 
 Roman's idea of a religion. The Christians at first having no 
 churches and meeting in private houses, presented to the Roman 
 a spectacle of godlessness. People who had no temples or 
 statues or altars seemed to the Roman to have no god ; and in 
 fact the commonest accusation against the Christians was that 
 they were atheists— godless.^ Thirdly, their principal act of 
 worship, and the exclusion of strangers from it, gave rise to 
 accusations that they sacrificed children, were accustomed to 
 eat the flesh of their victims and drink their blood, and indulged 
 in horrible orgies. Fourthly, the ancient Pagan religious 
 ceremonies were mixed up with all the business, the amuse- 
 ments, and the social life of the people ; this forced the Chris- 
 tians to hold aloof from these. Hence they appeared to be 
 
 ^ Tacitus, Annals, xv, 44. 
 
 * There was an ancient law against private worship. Christian 
 worship (in this private manner) therefore offended also on that ground. 
 
 « 
 
166 
 
 NERO {Matters concernitig religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 morose, bad neighbours, bad citizens, hostile to the gods of 
 Rome, and " enemies of mankind " ; as Tacitus calls them. 
 Lastly, the Christians formed all over the empire an association 
 unrecognized by the law, bound by their own rules, and 
 obedient to their own leaders. They thus appeared to the 
 Roman statesman like a network of secret societies, an im- 
 perium in imperiOy than which nothing was moi-e obnoxious to 
 Rome, which acknowledged but one will and allowed no secret 
 societies. No wonder that the Roman authorities called it a 
 ** dire superstition," one to be stamped out. 
 
 Having thus seen how this slaughter of the Christians ap- 
 peared to a great Pagan writer, and what were the features in 
 this religion which seemed to him to justify the treatment they 
 received, let us turn to the other side of the shield and hear how 
 the same things are described by a Christian writer. Here 
 we find the life and ideals of the Christian community, and the 
 slaughter of that commimity by Nero, described thus : — " In 
 the midst of that luxurious corrupt city, with its cruel pleasures, 
 its lawless crimes, its base servilities, had silently arisen a band 
 of men and women, of all ranks, and peoples, and kindreds, 
 and tongues — ^Greek slaves, Roman women of the noblest 
 families, Jews and Jewesses — ^bound to each other, and 
 separated from the rest of the world, by a faith and a worship 
 which made them abandon aU other worship as a crime. . . . Ties 
 of country, even of kindred, seemed feeble compared with the 
 ties which bound them to each other. . . . Those doors so open 
 to all who would enter seemed to those who entered to shut in a 
 home of warmth and light, a world of love and hope and peace, 
 compared with which all the world outside was as a cold Hades 
 of shades and dreams. . . . Nero considered that not only would 
 the anger of the people be turned from himself, but also out of 
 the conflict with this new fanaticism might be created a drama, 
 a theatrical entertainment, more realistic, more passionate, 
 more artistic, more wildly exciting than any yet dreamt of. 
 For these Christians, while ready to die for this name which 
 was to them as a magic spell, had something which, in spite of 
 their fearlessness of death, made life and its pure affections, the 
 freedom of men, the chastity of women, not less sacred and 
 precious to them than to all beside. Depths of anguish, there- 
 fore, were possible to them in seeing each other suffer which might 
 
 ii 
 
 IV] 
 
 NAMES OF SOME OF THE SLAIN 
 
 167 
 
 make a persecution of Christians a spectacle more pathetic, 
 more tragic, more capable of exciting varied emotions than any 
 poem or drama ever conceived by Homer or Aeschylus. And so 
 the wildest horrors of the most diseased imagination were 
 perpetrated among the charred ruins of those devastated hills. 
 . . . Thus opened that Book of the Acts of the Martyrs called 
 by one who saw its grandeur without sharing its inspiration 
 * that extraordinary poem of Christian martyrdom, that epic 
 of the amphitheatre, which will last 250 years, and from which 
 will spring the ennobling of woman, and the emancipation of 
 the slave.' " ^ 
 
 Scarcely a single name has come down to us of those slain 
 in this persecution ; for since all, man, woman, and child, were 
 destroyed, none remained to give that information. Never- 
 theless we may gather the names of a few of them with tolerable 
 certainty. For in his Epistle to the Christians at Rome 
 St. Paul sent greetings to some of them.^ And since only six 
 years had meanwhile elapsed, and few of them are likely to 
 have had a chance of moving from Rome (where most of them 
 were slaves or freedmen) we may be fairly certain that all those 
 persons to whom St. Paul sent salutations formed part of the 
 " immense multitude " mentioned by Tacitus as having died in 
 this persecution. Besides these, tradition also supplies the 
 names of a few, reported subsequently by Pagan friends or 
 relations. Among these are St. Thecla, bound on the horns of 
 a bull and gored to death, and St. Faustus, clothed in the skin of 
 a wild animal and torn to pieces by dogs. 
 
 In this destruction of the Christians at Rome Nero must 
 
 1 Mrs. Rundle Charles, Martyrs and Saints of the First Twelve 
 CenturieSy pp. 16-20. 
 
 * Epistle to the Romans, xvi» 5-15. The following names are 
 
 mentioned : — 
 
 Epcenetus. 
 
 Mary, 
 
 Andronicus. 
 
 Jimia. 
 
 Amplias. 
 
 Urbane. 
 
 Stachys. 
 
 Apelles. 
 
 Herodian. 
 
 Tryphena. 
 
 Tryphosa. 
 
 Persis. 
 
 Rufus. 
 
 Asyncritus. 
 
 Olympas. 
 
 Philologus and Julia. 
 
 Nereus and his sister. 
 
 Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, 
 
 and the brethren that are with 
 
 them. 
 The household of Narcissus (i.e. the 
 
 Christian servants of that person). 
 The household of Aristobulus (i.e. the 
 
 Christian servants of that person). 
 
i' 
 
 168 
 
 NERO {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 have slaughtered not a few who were servants in his own house- 
 hold. For St. Paul, when writing from Rome his Epistle to the 
 Philippians, written not very long before this persecution began, 
 in mentioning those who send greetings to their fellow Christians 
 at Philippi, says, " Chiefly they that are of Caesar's household." ^ 
 And all such Christians, having no opportimity of seeking con- 
 cealment in various places in the city like others, would have 
 been among those first seized and so have perished in the 
 earlier stages of the persecution. Moreover we have an interest- 
 ing memorial of some of them. On the Appian Way, just 
 outside the present gate of the city, is the *' Tomb of Caesar's 
 household." It is known to be the tomb for the upper servants 
 of that household in the time of Nero ; and it was closed 
 immediately upon Nero's death three years after this massacre. 
 There are Christians among them, as can be seen at a glance. 
 The ashes of all those who were Pagans are in jars placed in 
 niches in the walls (columbaria) ; whereas those of them who 
 were Christians are buried in the walls with a full-length stone 
 slab over them, on which is inscribed the name of the person, so 
 that the two classes are distinguished at once. And among the 
 names on the stone slabs covering the remains of Christian 
 members of the household are three of those in the Hst contained 
 in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, viz. Tryphena, Tryphosa, 
 and Rufus, this tomb therefore showing us that these three 
 persons were upper servants in the imperial household. It is 
 evident that they died just at this time, since the tomb was 
 closed so soon afterwards, and it seems most probable that they 
 died in this persecution, since had any smirived one or other 
 of them would have left some record of the names of special 
 friends who perished. 
 
 In any case the testimony of this tomb, together with the 
 references in St. Paul's Epistle to the PhiHppians, shows that 
 Christianity had by this time gained a footing even in the im- 
 perial palace ; while the burial of these Christian servants of 
 the imperial household by their Pagan fellow-servants in the 
 tomb set apart for them all shows that they were well thought 
 of by them. In the case of one maidservant her Pagan 
 fellow-servants did not know her name, and instead of it they 
 have inscribed on her tomb-stone the words, " To the maid who 
 
 * Epistle to the Philippians, iv, 22. 
 
 IV] 
 
 ST. PAUL AT CRETE 
 
 169 
 
 used to take care of the little dog." Presumably she was the 
 last of the Christian servants of the household to die, as other- 
 wise they could easily have found out her name from other 
 Christians in the household. It is strange to realize that these 
 Christian servants in the imperial household, many of them weU 
 known to St. Paul, must have been brought daily into close 
 contact with all the evil which is associated with the names of 
 Agrippina, Nero, and Poppaea.^ 
 
 In the same year that this persecution of the Christians 
 occurred at Rome St. Paul returned from Spain, travelling 
 towards Jerusalem. Whether because on being liberated he 
 had been prohibited by the Roman authorities from revisiting 
 Rome, or in accordance with his principle not " to build upon 
 another man's foundation, "^ he made no attempt to visit that 
 city, and probably travelled by sea. On the way he stopped at 
 Crete, and left Titus as Bishop there. After visiting Jerusalem 
 he travelled to Philippi, and on the way sent Timothy to 
 
 1 Much obscurity must always surround the subject of the 
 actual dates of the First Epistle of St. Peter, of the death of St. Peter, 
 and of this massacre in the Vatican Gardens. Mr. Edmundson 
 places the beginning of the persecution in the spring of a.d. 65, the 
 Vatican massacre in May, 65, the writing of the First Epistle of St. 
 Peter in June, and the martyrdom of St. Peter about a month later. 
 But it is almost inconceivable, if St. Peter had been writing after 
 such a wholesale massacre of the Christians in Rome, including many 
 whose names must have been by that time well known in other 
 Christian communities, that he, writing as the sole survivor (as he 
 would in that case have been), should not have made some definite 
 allusion to this great massacre, or at all events have made mention 
 of the names of some of those who had perished in it. Moreover 
 in the epistle he sends salutations from " the Church " of the place 
 where he is writing, adding " and so doth Marcus my son." Again, 
 had not Silvanus, the bearer of the epistle, and also St. Mark, already 
 left Rome, and St. Peter been martyred, before the Vatican massacre 
 took place, all three of them would have perished in that massacre. 
 All the circumstances in fact seem to indicate that the First Epistle 
 of St. Peter was written in the spring during the earUer stages of the 
 persecution (to which a few expressions in the epistle perhaps allude), 
 that St. Peter was martyred about May, that St. Mark thereupon 
 escaped from Rome, and that the Vatican massacre followed about 
 a month later in June. 
 
 * Upon both of the only two occasions that St. Paul was in Rome 
 he was taken there as a prisoner. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 170 
 
 NERO (Matters concerning religion) 
 
 Ephesus to remain there as Bishop of that city. From Philippi 
 he proceeded to Nicopolis, where he wintered, and from thence 
 wrote, about the end of a.d. 65, his Epistle to Titus. In the 
 spring of a.d. 66 he visited Corinth, and from there wrote his 
 First Epistle to Timothy. From Corinth, leaving Erastus as 
 Bishop there, he crossed to Asia, and visited IVIiletus, leaving 
 Trophimus there ill.^ 
 
 About the autumn of a.d. 66 St. Paul was arrested, probably 
 near Miletus, for what reason we do not know, and was sent as 
 a prisoner for the second time to Rome.^ There he was treated 
 with much greater severity than on the previous occasion, and 
 was kept in close confinement for about a year, during which 
 time he wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy.^ St. Luke was 
 with him, and he also sent for St. Mark. About the same time 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, supposed to have been written by St. 
 Barnabas, was written in Asia Minor, addressed generally to the 
 Jews. And also about the same time (spring of a.d. 67) St. 
 Matthew was martyred in Egypt. 
 
 During the period a.d. 66-67 St. Paul remained shut up in 
 his prison in Rome. Nero was in Greece, Poppaea was dead, 
 while in Rome vast works were in progress, both for clearing 
 away the ruins caused by the fire, and for constructing Nero's 
 new palace " the Golden House," making the lake, and laying 
 out the immense area round it in the manner designed by Nero. 
 By this time, that is to say about two years after the Vatican 
 massacre, a few Christians had begun again to gather in Rome. 
 From the Second Epistle to Timothy it appears that Aqmla and 
 Priscilla had escaped from Rome before the persecution began 
 in the spring of a.d. 65 to Ephesus, and were still there. The 
 
 ^ Epistle to Titus and First Epistle to Timothy. 
 
 * Second Epistle to Timothy. 
 
 3 The authenticity of the epistles to Timothy and Titus has been 
 strenuously questioned. But Sir William Rameay, than whom there 
 is no higher authority, justly says : ** It is far more difficult to frame 
 any rational theory how these letters came into existence, if they are 
 not the work of St. Paul, than it is to imderstand them as composed 
 by him, and as completing our conception of his character. . . . Re- 
 garded in the proper perspective, they are historically perhaps the 
 most illuminative of all the Pauline epistles ; and this is the best and 
 the one sufficient proof that they are authentic compositions *' (Ram- 
 say, Commentary on the First Epistle to Timothy), 
 
 IV] 
 
 DEATH OF ST. PAUL 
 
 171 
 
 whole tone of that epistle shows that St. Paul, writing in Rome, 
 the city in which there had been such a large body of Christians 
 at his previous visit and which was now so bereft of them, felt 
 lonely, desolate, and depressed. Some however had returned. 
 There is no longer any mention of " those of Caesar's house- 
 hold," or of those in " the household of Narcissus " and " the 
 household of Aristobulus," or any of those whose names he had 
 mentioned on previous occasions ; all these had perished. He 
 however mentions among those who had returned to Rome four 
 persons,^ Eubulus, Pudens, Claudia, and Linus.^ But St. Paul's 
 whole soul longs for Timothy, and twice over in this epistle he 
 urges him to come to him, and says '' do thy diligence to come 
 before winter." 
 
 But before Timothy was able to respond to this appeal St. 
 Paul was no more. We are not told of any trial, or upon what 
 charge he was put to death. It could not have been simply on 
 account of his being a Christian, as other Christians such as 
 Pudens, Linus, and Claudia were unmolested and were appar- 
 ently allowed to visit him. One can only suppose that the 
 Jews at Miletus may again have stirred up animosity towards 
 him, that riots ensued, and that this being the second 
 offence the Roman authorities put him to death on that ground. 
 He was martyred towards the end of a.d. 67, about six months 
 before the end of Nero's reign, and apparently before the latter 
 retiu'ned from Greece. Supposing that St. Paul was twenty-five 
 at the time of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, he must have been 
 almost sixty years old when he was put to death. Tradition 
 states that he was led out of the city to the third milestone on 
 the road to Ostia, and there at Aquae Salviae (now Tre Fontane) 
 was beheaded, being spared from any more cruel death because 
 he was a Roman citizen. Weeping friends, presumably Pudens, 
 Linus, and Claudia, took up his body, and the Roman matron 
 Lucina, who owned a vineyard about a mile nearer Rome in 
 which there existed a very ancient cella memoriae^ inviolate by 
 Roman law, gave them a burial-place. There the Apostle's 
 body was buried ; and there about 250 years later Conbtantine 
 
 ^ Second Epistle to Timothy, iv, 9 and iv, 21. 
 
 * Although he was Bishop, LinuB had evidently escaped from 
 Rome when the persecution began, as he lived until about a.d. 
 80. 
 
172 
 
 GALEA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the Great built a small church over his grave. ^ In 389 Theodo- 
 sius the Great built in place of this a much larger church, 
 which in many centuries graduaUy grew into the magnificent 
 basilica of St. PauVs outside the Walls. 
 
 In A.D. 67, not long before St. Paul was put to death at Rome, 
 the Jews, always the most turbulent race in the empire, had 
 risen in a serious insurrection. To subdue this revolt the 
 general Vespasian with a large army was sent to Judsea, 
 accompanied by his son Titus, by this time twenty-six years old! 
 The insurrection was rapidly subdued by Vespasian so far as 
 the rest of Judsea was concerned ; but the Jews, beHeving 
 Jerusalem to be impregnable, crowded into that city ; and 
 there they were caught by the Romans as in a net. A long 
 siege foUowed in which all that had been foretold 2 came upon 
 the Jews, whose calamities were chiefly caused by so im- 
 mense a multitude, far beyond the ordinary population of the 
 city, being crowded within its waUs, in disregard of the warn- 
 ing against this very thing. Before the siege began the 
 Christians in Jerusalem, mindful of the horrors predicted, 
 removed to the small town of PeUa, in Peraea, and were the 
 only portion of the inhabitants of Jerusalem who escaped death 
 or captivity. This siege was still continuing when Nero died.^ 
 
 GALEA 
 
 A.D. 68 — 69 
 
 The news of Nero's death was at once despatched to Galba 
 m Spain. GaUoping day and night the messenger, Icelus, per- 
 formed the long journey with speed which is remarkable 
 (especiaUy when we consider that it involved the crossing of the 
 Alps), reaching Galba in seven days after leaving Rome, and 
 covering the last 332 miles (from Tarraco to Clunia) at the rate 
 of ten miles an hour. Galba at once proceeded to Rome, where 
 on his arrival the election of the troops in Spain was ratified and 
 
 » In the case of both the tomb of St. Peter and that of St. Paul 
 Constantine encased the sarcophagus in bronze and fixed upon it a 
 gold cross. '^ 
 
 rj ^^^^^f ^*' MaUhew, xxiv, 16 ; Gospel of St Mark, xiii, 14 ; and 
 Qospel of St, Luke, xix, 43-44 and xxi. 20-24. 
 ' Regarding remainder of the siege, see Chap. V, pp. 183-184. 
 
I'LATK XXV 
 
 ;Ai.inaki. 
 
 Galba. 
 
 Portrait-hust in the Vffizi ^alUry, Florence. 
 
 II \ n xxvT. 
 
 OVHO. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vffizi iiaUer\\ Florence. 
 
II Nil N N \ 
 
 \l IN \KI. 
 
 ( ". \I I -.A. 
 Pi>rtiai!->usl III Ihi' V iu:i ^iiiui\. I'!ni,i: 
 
 \i I- 
 
 ( > 1 III ). 
 
 I 
 
IV] 
 
 DEATH OF GALEA 
 
 173 
 
 he was forthwith accepted by the Senate and people as 
 
 emperor. 
 
 Galba ^ was sixty-five years old when he gained the throne. 
 He had a high reputation both as a general and as an adminis- 
 trator, and in ordinary times would probably have had a suc- 
 cessful reign. But the fourteen years' orgy of Nero had caused 
 a general demoralization, which was not to be brought to an 
 end without a severe struggle and the fall of three emperors in 
 quick succession. Galba was much esteemed by the troops he 
 commanded, and had shown himself worthy of his high reputa- 
 tion by his seven years' successful government of Spain. But 
 in Rome he was without the support of the troops who appre- 
 ciated him and had chosen him as emperor, and his strict 
 discipUne by no means pleased the Praetorian Guards, who 
 preferred Nero's lax methods and profuse bribery. At the 
 same time Galba's opposition to extravagance made him 
 unpopular with the people, accustomed for so long to Nero's 
 lavish expenditure and ostentation ; while his refusal to flatter 
 the Senate and his independent modes of action soon made him 
 equally unpopular with that body. After he had reigned for 
 seven months a conspiracy against him was formed among the 
 Praetorian Guards which was joined by Otho, and Galba was 
 killed in the Forum by a party of these Guards on the 15th 
 January, A.D. 69. 
 
 OTHO 
 
 A.D. 69 
 
 Otho,2 who had considerable abilities, had ruled well over 
 southern Gaul for ten years. When Galba was proclaimed 
 emperor in Spain, Otho, in revenge for the way in which Nero 
 had robbed him of his wife, joined Galba and accompanied 
 him to Rome. After a few months he began to hope to 
 be adopted by Galba as his successor. When, however, 
 Galba nominated Piso as his successor Otho conspired with 
 the Praetorian Guards, who slew both Galba and Piso, and 
 Otho was proclaimed emperor. It speaks well for his disposition 
 
 ^ Plate XXV. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 2 Plate XXVI.- Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 

 OTHO 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 that one of his first acts was to re-erect the statues of Poppaea, 
 which on Nero's death had been everywhere thrown down! 
 He re-instated Nero's household officials, announced his 
 intention of completing the " Golden House ", and gave 
 every indication of ruling well. 
 
 But his reign was short. Aulus Vitellius, who had risen 
 by various infamous devices during the reign of Nero, and 
 was specially noted for his gluttony, had been given the 
 command on the Rhine. Upon hearing of the death of Galba 
 he bribed the legions on the Rhine to choose him as emperor, 
 and in March 69 these legions advanced into Italy under the 
 command of their generals Caecina and Valens. Vitellius 
 himself followed in more leisurely fashion, accompanied by 
 every luxury, including, we are told, countless cooks, com- 
 edians, charioteers, and arrangements for feasting. Thereupon 
 Otho, collecting what troops he could, marched to oppose 
 the army of the Rhine, and Italy was faced with civil 
 war. 
 
 Otho's force was much inferior in numbers to that led by 
 Caecina and Valens ; but Otho's troops were devoted to him. 
 The two armies met on the banks of the Po at Bedriacum. 
 near Cremona. There a furious struggle took place ; but Otho's 
 troops were at length overpowered, the greater part of them 
 being slain. Otho was not present at the battle, but heard 
 of the result next day at Brixellum, where he had established 
 his headquarters. Upon receiving news of the defeat Otho, 
 though he was expecting considerable reinforcements, decided 
 to put an end to this civil war between Romans by taking his 
 own life. He made a dignified speech of farewell to his officers, 
 retired to his tent, slept for some hours, and at dawn stabbed 
 himself with his dagger, dying at the age of thirty-seven after 
 a reign of only three months (17th April, a.d. 69). 
 
 Nothing is more remarkable than the career of Otho. Be- 
 ginning as the abandoned associate of Nero in all the latter's 
 vicious excesses, he afterwards ruled with credit for ten years 
 over southern Gaul, then gave promise of ruling well as em- 
 peror, and finally dehberately killed himself for the welfare 
 of his country with a calm nobility which has often been held 
 to redeem the earlier part of his life. Moreover he so strongly 
 won the affections of his soldiers that when they found him 
 
 IV] 
 
 DEATH OF OTHO 
 
 176 
 
 lying dead in his tent, slain by his own hand to save further 
 butchery, his Praetorian Guards kissed his woimds, and 
 carried him with tears to biuial, many of them killing them- 
 selves over his dead body.^ 
 
 VITELLIUS 
 
 A.D 69 
 
 Vitellius had also a brief reign. After hearing on his 
 journey of the victory gained by Caecina and Valens, he 
 reached Cremona with 60,000 additional troops on the 15th 
 of May, and from there visited the scene of the battle. Tacitus 
 has related how Vitellius, gross, brutal, and cowardly, after 
 gloating over the hideous scene of carnage on the battlefield 
 of Bedriacum, strewn with the mouldering remains of dead 
 Romans, gratified still further his lust of blood by holding 
 great combats of gladiators at Cremona and Benonia. ^ Having 
 thus celebrated his victory, Vitellius early in July advanced 
 to Rome, where he allowed his troops to ravage the capital 
 of the empire as if it had been an enemy's city, Rome being 
 given up to massacre and plunder, interspersed with huge feasts 
 and gladiatorial shows, in which, Suetonius says, Vitellius 
 squandered in four months a sum equal to seven millions sterl- 
 ing .^ As an example of the style of his feasts we are told that nis 
 brother having entertained him at a banquet at which 2000 
 choice fishes and 7000 rare birds were served, Vitellius in 
 return gave a feast at which the principal dish was a com- 
 pound of the brains of peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes, 
 the livers of pheasants, and the entrails of lampreys, and 
 cost more than the whole of his brother's banquet. 
 
 Meanwhile the army of the East had in July elected as 
 emperor their commander Vespasian, then engaged in sub- 
 duing the Jews. Vespasian thereupon left his son Titus to 
 continue the contest in Judaea, proceeded himself to occupy 
 Egypt (the most important point in a war against Italy), and 
 sent forward towards Italy as many other legions as he could 
 collect under Mucianus. A month later the legions in Moesia, 
 
 1 Tacitus, History, ii, 49. 2 ibid., ii, 70-72. 
 
 3 Suetonius, Vitelline, c. 13. 
 
176 
 
 VITELLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Pannonia, and lUyricum also declared for Vespasian, and under 
 their commander Antonius Primus advanced in September 
 A.D. 69 upon Italy, Primus being joined on reaching Verona 
 by the scattered troops of Otho. Thereupon Vitellius des- 
 patched Caecina with the victorious legions of the Rhine 
 from Rome to confront the army of the Danube on the 
 banks of the Po, and on the 26th October 69, these rival 
 forces of West and East fought a second battle at Bedria- 
 cum which has been spoken of as a species of Armageddon, 
 so various were the forces engaged. On the one side were 
 troops from Italy, Spain, Gaul, the Rhine, and even from dis- 
 tant Batavia and Britain ; on the other were the legions from 
 the Danube frontier, with contingents from Syria, Egypt, the 
 Euphrates, and the Tigris. In vivid language Tacitus has 
 described the tremendous struggle between these evenly 
 matched forces, relating how the very trees were torn up, the 
 crops trampled into mire, the soil soaked with blood, and the 
 battlefield covered with the mangled bodies of men and horses. 
 Eventually the army of the Danube won, Caecina's forces re- 
 treating to the Apennines. Early in December Primus ad- 
 vanced to force the Apennines; the troops of Vitellius 
 retired to Narni, and upon Primus reaching that place on 
 the 17th December they went over in a body to the cause of 
 Vespasian. 
 
 Primus at once advanced rapidly upon Rome, where, 
 upon his army entering the city, a fierce battle ensued be- 
 tween his troops and those which Vitellius had kept for de- 
 fence of the capital. Tacitus, who as a boy of fifteen saw 
 some of the horrors of this civil war in Rome, draws a vivid 
 picture of it. The terrible conflict raged from street to 
 street, every possible crime of outrage and cruelty was 
 perpetrated, and the Romans beheld with mingled shame and 
 wrath the burning of the revered Temple of Jupiter on the 
 Capitol, set on fire in a contest between Romans. 
 
 While the struggle was proceeding the degraded Vitellius 
 looked on at the conflict, and the burning of the Temple of 
 Jupiter, from the lofty pillared terrace on the north-western 
 side of the palace of Tiberius. But upon his troops being 
 vanquished he found himself deserted even by the meanest 
 of his attendants, and knew that his end had come. Shud- 
 
 IV] 
 
 DEATH OF VITELLIUS 
 
 177 
 
 dering with fear in the vast solitude of the now deserted 
 imperial palace, he sought a hiding-place in a small room 
 where the dogs were kept, but was soon seized. With his 
 hands boimd behind him he was dragged with insults and 
 execrations to that place of summary slaughter, the Gemonian 
 Stairs, and there slain (20th Dec A.D. 69). The news was at 
 once sent to Vespasian, then at Alexandria, who forthwith 
 proceeded to Rome, and was accepted by the Senate and 
 people as emperor. And the eighteen months* anarchy 
 which followed the death of Nero was at an end. 
 
 s*w • 
 
CHAP. V] 
 
 ORDER AND SANITY RESTORED 
 
 179 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Reigns of 
 
 VESPASIAN, TITUS, DOMITIAN, 
 AND NERVA 
 
 VESPASIAN 
 
 A.D. 69 — 79 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 T ITESPASIAN,* who was born near Reate in the country 
 V of the Sabines, and whose fuU name was Titus Flavius 
 Vespasianus, founded the Flavian dynasty which held the 
 imperial throne for three reigns, those of Vespasian himself 
 and his two sons, Titus and Domitian. His wife Flavia 
 Domitilla, the first of four women of this family having that 
 name,* had died during the campaign in Judaea. 
 
 Vespasian was a man of honourable character, plain, blunt, 
 and straightforward, and was determined to re-establish order 
 and good government after the anarchy of the preceding 
 two years. He had no particular genius, but he had strength 
 of character, common-sense, and determination, just the 
 qualities which the occasion demanded. He was sixty years 
 old when he became emperor, had served with honour in all 
 parts of the empire during forty years, and had seen much 
 hard fighting in Britain at the time when the conquest of 
 that country was begun in the years a.d. 43-50. He quickly 
 reformed the army, which in the civil war of the previous 
 
 * Plate XXVII. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 • They were, (a) the wife of the emperor Vespasian, (6) the niece 
 of the emperor Vespasian, (c) his daughter, the sister of the emperors 
 Titus and Domitian, and {d) the niece of Titus and Domitian, daugh- 
 ter of {c), and married to her cousin Flavius Clemens. 
 
 173 
 
 year had become completely demoralized, and re-introduced 
 order into the government. While exercising a strict economy 
 in all other matters, he spent much on public works and on 
 restoring the appearance of Rome, which was still disfigured 
 in many places by the ruins caused by the great fire of five 
 years before, and plans were forthwith begun for a new Fonun, 
 a fresh set of public Baths, a new and much larger amphi- 
 theatre, and for rebuilding the Temple of Jupiter. 
 
 The vicious extravagance of Nero and Vitellius had thrown 
 all financial affairs into chaos. We are told that the public 
 debt on Vespasian's accession amounted to a sum equal to 
 £320,000,000 sterling. And Vespasian, who personally main- 
 tained a moderate and imostentatious style of living, was 
 forced to incur considerable unpopularity on the double 
 ground of an economy which to the Romans, after the lavish 
 style of Nero's expenditure, appeared to be niggardly parsi- 
 mony, and of the increased taxation which he was compelled 
 to impose in order again to bring order into the public finances. 
 Nevertheless, secure in the regard felt for him by the army, 
 Vespasian boldly faced this impopularity, devoting money 
 freely to those pubUc works which he considered to be needed, 
 but exercising a rigid economy in all other directions. It is 
 however noticeable that, notwithstanding this charge of par- 
 simony, Vespasian was the first emperor who gave a fixed 
 endowment to learned men, and founded a system of public 
 education for the empire. 
 
 But greater than all this was the revolution which Vespasian 
 worked in the whole moral atmosphere of Rome. This dis- 
 tinguished soldier, who had gained so much renown for the 
 way in which he had led his troops in the battles under Aulus 
 Plautius in Britain, the dashing leader of the Batavian cavalry, 
 and the conqueror of the Iceni, by his own sole strength and 
 ability rescued the Romans from the abyss in which they had 
 for more than thirty years been engulfed, put an end to " the 
 Terror," and restored sanity to the nation. It was a task at 
 which any man might have quailed, seeing that a whole 
 generation of Romans had grown up accustomed to the vicious 
 excitement, license, sensational crimes, and general demoraliz- 
 ation which had characterized the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, 
 and Nero, and were inclined to resent being made to live with- 
 
 t 
 
 'J 
 
180 
 
 VESPASIAN {Matters other ihan religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 'II 
 
 out these excitements. But Vespasian, by his strength of 
 character, firmness, honesty of purpose, and the knowledge 
 gained in forty years* military service of how to command 
 men, in a marvellously short time completely effected the task, 
 and the Pandemonium of riotous living and crime which had 
 so long reigned in Rome was swept away like an evil dream. 
 The natural result of such action was that his reign was felt 
 to be prosaic, and hence Vespasian has been little praised 
 by the literary world ; whereas he deserves to be held as 
 one of the greatest of the Roman emperors for carrying through 
 a change which few would have had the courage to attempt, 
 and fewer still the strength and force of character to effect. 
 
 In A.D. 70 took place the chief event of Vespasian's ten 
 years' reign, the conclusion of the war in Judaea by the capture 
 of Jerusalem^ by the Roman army under the emperor's son 
 Titus. The city was totally destroyed ; all the Jews who were 
 not killed were sold as slaves ; and so great was the number 
 that it is said that the slave-markets of the whole empire 
 Mere glutted with Jews. About 30,000 of them were kept 
 by Titus and sent to Rome to be employed in building the 
 immense amphitheatre which Vespasian was about to con- 
 struct. In A.D. 71 Vespasian and Titus celebrated at Rome 
 that greatest pageant of the Roman empire, a Roman triumph, 
 in honour of the victorious conclusion of the war in Judaea. 
 At this triumph Titus rode in a magnificent car to which 
 were attached captive Jews in chains, behind him were 
 borne the sacred vessels of the Jews carried off by him from 
 the Temple (p. 184), and at the conclusion of the triumph 
 the principal prisoner, Simon Bar Gioras, the brave defender 
 of Jerusalem, was put to death. The rest of Vespasian's 
 reign was uneventful, and the " peace of Vespasian " passed 
 into a proverb. 
 
 In A.D. 72 Vespasian, having destroyed Nero's palace and 
 given back to the people all the groimd covered by it, except 
 the portion of the vaUey between the Palatine, Caelian, and 
 Esquiline hills where the lake had been, began to erect on 
 that site his huge amphitheatre, known as the Flavian 
 Amphitheatre.* It was built by the captive Jews, and 
 took ten years to complete. It is formed of blocks of traver- 
 * See p. 183. a Now the Coloflseum. 
 
I'l.ATK XX vn. 
 
 I'l.ATK XXVIII. 
 
 Vespasian. 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 F >)■'' >• .1 
 
 TiTL'S, ELDKR SON OF VesPASIAN. 
 Portrait-bust in the Vff'izi gallery, Florence. 
 
riiki 
 
 11 \ I I \ \ \ I I 
 
 1 I \ 1 I 
 
 P.K...,I 
 
 O'icl! 
 
 \'r siwsiAN. 
 
 /' i!)iii:-'iii .,' / II flu f 
 
 illlilX. /-I'lti 
 
V] 
 
 PACIFICATION OF BRITAIN 
 
 1^1 
 
 tine stone, without any mortar, each block clamped to the 
 next with iron clamps. It was the largest ever built, 
 covered six acres, and could hold 90,000 spectators, while by 
 the excellent arrangement of its passages and staircases and 
 its sixty-four entrances it could be emptied in ten minutes. 
 Its eighty rows of seats were covered with cushions, the 
 spectators being protected from sun and rain by a canopy, 
 and the air refreshed by scented fountains. ^ 
 
 At Seleucia, the port of Antioch, Vespasian construtced 
 a remarkable aqueduct or channel which still exists. It is 
 cut out of the solid rock, and is nearly two miles long, with a 
 width of 22 feet ; part of it is open to the sky, with walls 
 of rock 120 feet high, and part is a tunnel 22 feet wide and 
 24 feet high. At its entrance is an inscription cut in the rock 
 sajring, " Divus Vespasianus et Divus Titus fecere." ^ 
 
 In A.D. 78, the last year of the reign of Vespasian, the latter 
 sent to command in Britain the capable Julius Agricola. He 
 was a fine soldier, a wise administrator, and a man of high 
 character. He had previously commanded the Twentieth 
 legion in Britain, had then been governor of Aquitaine in 
 Gaul, and in a.d. 77 had returned to Rome and been elected 
 Consul. During his six years' command in Britain he thor- 
 oughly pacified the country after the disturbances which had 
 followed the rebellion headed by Boadicea in Nero's reign, 
 and consolidated the Roman dominion in Britain. His char- 
 acter as an administrator is shown by his words saying, " Little 
 can be done by war unless the causes of hostile feeling are 
 rooted out." He traced those causes in Britain to the con- 
 duct of the Roman officials, and he gradually removed the 
 hostility by a stringent control over the latter. At the same 
 time Agricola did much towards beginning the Romanization 
 of Britain. He began to educate the sons of the British 
 chiefs in Latin and in the arts of civilization, and states that 
 he found these youths markedly superior in ability to those 
 of similar rank in Gaul. He also encouraged the people of 
 Britain to adopt the civilized habits of the Romans,^ and 
 
 * Vespasian also began the construction at Rome of a new forum, 
 but this is now buried beneath modem buildings. 
 
 * '* The divine Vespasian and the divine Titus made it." 
 Including, we are told, the use of the bath. 
 
 I' 
 
182 
 
 VESPASIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHA?. 
 
 their towns began to be adorned with temples and other 
 public buildings. In the same year that Agricola arrived in 
 Britain he extended the Roman dominion by subduing the 
 Ordovices, annexing North Wales, and completing the con- 
 quest of Anglesey. Agricola fixed the headquarters of the 
 three legions in Britain as follows : — Legio Augusta at 
 Caerleon-on-Usk (Isca Silurum), Legio Victrix at York, and 
 Legio Valeria Victrix at Chester. ^ 
 
 Early in a.d. 79 Vespasian died, at the age of seventy. 
 He was noted for his habit of making quietly humorous 
 speeches, and on his deathbed, referring to the deification 
 of each emperor at his death, is said to have whispered to 
 those about him, " Methinks I am becoming a god." This 
 deification of the Roman emperors had now become a carefully 
 observed custom, the Senate, on the decease of the emperor, 
 by a solemn decree placing him among the gods, and the 
 ceremonies of his funeral being often blended with those of 
 his apotheosis. Each emperor on being thus deified was 
 provided with a temple, while even during his lifetime sacrifice 
 was regularly made on his altar as to a god. Part of the temple 
 of Vespasian still remains. 
 
 The Flavian emperors began a practice which lasted per- 
 manently throughout the whole history of the Roman Empire, 
 and has even been continued down to modem times. Octavius 
 assumed the surname of Caesar as the adopted son of Julius 
 Caesar, while the name of Augustus was conferred on him 
 by the Senate as expressive of his rule. The name of Caesar 
 should properly have expired with Nero, the last of the family 
 of the Caesars. But the custom of five reigns had caused this 
 name to become associated with the office of emperor. Ves- 
 pasian and his sons therefore carried this on, and the appella- 
 tion of Caesar was uniformly continued, not only by their 
 successors, but even into the times of Charles the Great and 
 the German emperors of the Middle Ages, while it still con- 
 tinues in the forms " Kaiser " and *' Czar." After the time 
 of Hadrian, while the title of Augustus was reserved for the 
 emperor himself, the title of Caesar became generally applied 
 to his heir. 
 
 ^ Regarding the further conquests of Agricola in Britain, see 
 pp. 186 and 188. 
 
 V] 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 183 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 By the beginning of Vespasian's reign all the Apostles 
 except St. John appear to have been dead. St. James, the 
 brother of St. John, had been martyred in a.d. 42, St. James 
 the Less in a.d. 62, St. Peter in a.d. 65, and St. Matthew and 
 St. Paul in a.d. 67 ; while of the rest none appear to have 
 lived for more than twenty-five years after the separation 
 of the Apostles to their different spheres of missionary work 
 in A.D. 44.1 
 
 St. John (who was apparently only about twenty at the 
 time of the crucifixion of Christ) appears to have removed 
 from Antioch to Asia Minor about the time of St. Paul's death, 
 when St. John was about fifty-four, establishing himself at 
 Ephesus (where Timothy was Bishop), and from thence taking 
 up the general superintendence of the various churches in 
 Asia Minor which had been exercised by St. Paul. There 
 St. John appears to have remained for the next twenty-five 
 years, and we do not hear of him again until he was about 
 eighty years old.^ 
 
 The siege of Jerusalem in a.d. 69-70 was not brought to an 
 end imtil the defenders were in the last stage of misery. The 
 Jewish historian Josephus has given a powerful description of 
 the horrors suffered by the Jews during this siege. The 
 city became a prey, not only to famine and pestilence, but 
 also to civil war. And it was the profanation of the Temple 
 by the Jewish force within the city, and the atrocities com- 
 mitted by the priests and people, which eventually caused its 
 capture and destruction. The city was finally taken in 
 September a.d. 70, by the unusual method of constructing 
 a huge trench and rampart all round it. This was what had 
 been foretold ; ^ but it is noticeable that it was done against 
 Titus' intention and desire. He earnestly wished to be spared 
 the labour and delay of making such a trench and rampart, 
 but was eventually compelled to adopt that method in order 
 to bring the siege to an end. He also strongly desired to 
 spare the city and the Temple from destruction, and it was 
 with great reluctance that he was forced, by the action of its 
 
 * Chap. Ill, pp. 120-123. » Pag© 196. 3 Gospel of St. Luke, xix, 43. 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
184 
 
 TITUS (Mattera other than religion) 
 
 GHAP. 
 
 BERENICE 
 
 185 
 
 Jewish defenders, into destroying the city, while the Temple 
 was burnt in contravention of his express commands. 
 
 The war left all the cities of Judaea ruined and deserted, 
 those Jews not killed or sold as slaves having fled from the 
 country. After a time a few Jews returned and lived in huts 
 in the midst of the ruins of Jerusalem. The headquarters 
 of the Jewish religion became transferred to the city of Tiberias, 
 situated in the least desolate part of the country, and there 
 a new form of the Jewish religion grew up. The Sanhedrim, 
 the Jewish priests, and the Temple services were of course 
 all at an end ; and in their place a new school of Jewish 
 religious teaching sprang up under the " Rabbis," the new 
 leaders of the people. Out of their teaching grew the " Mishna," 
 a commentary on the Old Testament, and later on the 
 " Gemara," a commentary on the Mishna, and these two books 
 are those now commonly quoted among the Jews. 
 
 At the Roman triumph which Vespasian and Titus cele- 
 brated after the capture of Jerusalem were borne, as the prin- 
 cipal tropics of Titus' victory, the sacred vessels of the Temple, 
 the seven-branched golden candlestick, the tables of the shew- 
 bread, and the Books of the Jewish law. These aU appear, 
 depicted in stone, on the triumphal arch in Rome erected in 
 Titus' honour. What it must have been to the Jews to see 
 the sacred vessels of the Temple and their sacred books carried 
 as trophies in a Roman triumph, and to be made themselves 
 to work as slaves in erecting such a building as a Roman 
 amphitheatre, we can scarcely imagine. Even now, more 
 than eighteen centuries afterwards, no Jew wiU pass under the 
 Arch of Titus. 
 
 TITUS 
 
 A.D. 79 — 81 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 As a boy Titus,* bom in a.d. 41, was brought up in the 
 family of the emperor Claudius, being a great friend of the 
 
 » Hato XXVin (p. 180). Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gaUery 
 Jrlorence. ® ^ ' 
 
 latter*s son Britannicus, the two boys being the same age ; 
 and Titus had a narrow escape from being poisoned at the same 
 banquet as his friend. He was very handsome, had a com- 
 manding presence, and was a thorough soldier. He was 
 accomplished, spoke Greek perfectly, and was fond of music, 
 and being good-natured, with pleasing manners and much 
 commonsense, was a universal favourite. He had served in 
 the army with distinction for about twenty years, on the 
 Rhine frontier, in Britain, and under his father in Syria, before 
 being appointed to conduct the war in Judsea which he had 
 brought to such a successful conclusion. 
 
 Titus was married early in life, first to Arrecina Tertulla, and 
 afterwards to Marcia Furnilla, by whom he had a daughter, 
 Julia, ^ subsequently married to her second cousin Flavius 
 Sabinus. But during the campaign in Judaea Titus fell 
 deeply in love with the attractive Jewish princess Berenice, 
 belonging to the family of the Herods, and called by the 
 Romans Veronica ; whereupon he divorced Marcia Furnilla, 
 and brought Berenice with him to Rome. The Romans 
 however were offended at the idea of a Jewish empress, and 
 Titus after a time was forced by his father Vespasian to send 
 Berenice back to her own coimtry. He succeeded to the 
 throne at the age of thirty-eight and at once became 
 exceedingly popular, and was called " the love and delight 
 of mankind." 
 
 Titus continued his father's policy of large expenditure on 
 public works in Rome, including the construction of another 
 set of Baths. The great public Baths erected by the Roman 
 emperors were practically a sort of people's palace, containing, 
 besides the elaborate bathing arrangements, provision for 
 various kinds of amusement. Two sets of such Baths had 
 already been built, one by Marcus Agrippa in Augustus' reign, 
 and the other by Nero. Titus built a third and still more 
 splendid set of Baths, constructing it over a part of Nero's 
 palace,* on the slope of the Esquiline hill. He also began 
 the construction of the Arch of Titus, at the highest point of 
 the Via Sacra, but it was imfinished when he died and was 
 completed by his brother Domitian. 
 
 ^ Plate XXIX. Statue in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 « Chap. IV, p. 139. 
 
 I 
 
186 
 
 TITUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 The year that Titus came to the throne the Flavian Am- 
 phitheatre (the Colosseum) was completed, and was opened 
 by Titus with huge contests of gladiators, wild animals, and 
 naval combats, lasting many days. In the same year (a.d. 79), 
 also occurred the great eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed 
 Pompeii and Herculaneum. The emperor proceeded at 
 once to the desolated district, contributed largely to reliev- 
 ing the distress caused by the eruption, and showed much 
 personal sympathy with the suflFerers. In the year after this 
 disaster (a.d. 80) Julius Agricola in Britain carried the Roman 
 conquests still further, advancing into Scotland as far north 
 as the Forth. Thereupon he constructed a line of forts from 
 the Forth to the Clyde, which line he desired to make the 
 northern frontier of Britain, but it did not become so until 
 long afterwards. 
 
 Much as the Romans delighted in Titus they had consider- 
 able fears as to what would be their fate under his successor, 
 as Titus had no son, and the cruel and dissolute character 
 of his brother Domitian, who was eleven years yoimger than 
 Titus, inspired them with dread. Consequently when in 
 September a.d. 81, after a reign of only two years, Titus died 
 at Reate at the age of forty there was very general mourn- 
 ing, together with a strong suspicion that his death had been 
 caused by Domitian. On his deathbed Titus is stated to have 
 said there was only one thing which he repented ; and this 
 was taken to mean his having spared his brother Domitian, 
 who had more than once plotted against Titus' life, and whose 
 reign was certain to bring calamity upon the nation. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 About this period there began to arise various strange sects 
 which offered a strong opposition to Christianity. These, 
 under the different names of Ebionites, Docetoe, Cerinthians, 
 Nicolaitans, and the general term Gnostics, taught certain 
 systems of religion based upon the Pagan philosophy but 
 into which were interwoven some of the Christian doctrines. 
 These sects were all violently opposed to the Christians, but 
 frequently troubled the latter greatly by calling themselves 
 
rLATE XXIX. 
 
 M 
 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 *':; 
 .•*/• 
 
 ^y 
 
 
 
 Julia, daughter of Titus. 
 
 Statue in (he Vatican museum, Rome. 
 This statue shows an example_of thelordinary dress of a Roman lady. 
 
 rnfi'iaiii^ iiliiiiMrniftiMhiinf i^ltiiliiiriiMiii f 
 
\ ■ ! \ \ I \ , 
 
 I 
 
v1 
 
 THE GNOSTICS DENOUNCED 
 
 187 
 
 Christians and deceiving many of the new converts. They 
 were strongly denounced by the Apostle St. John when some 
 years later he came to write his first Epistle (p. 197). During 
 the reign of Titus was written the General EpisUe of Jude, 
 
 DOMITIAN 
 
 A.D. 81 -- 96 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 On the death of Titus, his brother Domitian/ the second 
 son of Vespasian and Flavia Domitilla, became emperor. He 
 reigned fifteen years (a.d. 81-96), and was the exact opposite 
 to his brother. He was twenty-nine when he succeeded 
 Titus, and up to that time had firmly refused either to adopt 
 a mihtary career or to take any part in pubHc affairs, pre- 
 ferring a fife of pleasure. He had no abihty, was cruel and 
 dissolute, and as emperor ere long proved himself a grievous 
 tyrant. On becoming emperor he married the beautiful daugh- 
 ter of Corbulo,2 the unhappy Domitia Longina,^ whose 
 husband Lucius iEmilianus was made to divorce her, and 
 whose life was a long misery owing to Domitian's crimes. 
 A year later he gave great scandal by his incest with his 
 niece Julia, whom he took away from her husband Flavius 
 Sabinus ; nevertheless Julia exercised a softening influence 
 over Domitian until her death in a.d. 89. 
 
 At first Domitian seemed disposed to rule well. He person- 
 ally administered justice, carefully supervised the actions of 
 the governors of the provinces, passed various sound laws 
 to advance the cause of agriculture, and, notwithstanding 
 his own glaring private vices, posed as a reformer of morals 
 and religion. He completed and richly adorned the Temple 
 of Jupiter, covering its roof with gilded bronze plates which 
 cost a simi equal to £2,400,000 sterling, built many other 
 
 i Plate XXX. Portrait-bust in the Ufifizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 * Domitia Longina erected at Gabii a monument to the memory 
 of her brave and honoured father Corbulo, who had been murdered 
 by Nero with such deep ingratitude. 
 
 • Plate XXXI. Portrait -bust in the Capitol, Rome. 
 
188 
 
 DOMITIAN {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 V] 
 
 AN IGNOMINIOUS PEACE 
 
 189 
 
 temples, and made the laws against adultery and other forms 
 of immorality more strict, and rigorously enforced them. 
 He also conducted a stringent enquiry into the conduct of the 
 Vestal Virgins, as the result of which one of them was con- 
 demned to the terrible punishment of being buried alive. ^ 
 Very rarely throughout their whole history were there any 
 cases of imchastity among the Vestal Virgins, and as the 
 evidence when such charges were brought was usually that 
 given by slaves under torture it is considered that in most 
 even of these few cases this cruel death was probably suffered 
 by an innocent Vestal. This case in the reign of Domitian 
 was specially pathetic, as Pliny, who relates it, shows that 
 the Vestal was condemned without any sufficient evidence, 
 and simply at the wish of the emperor Domitian. 
 
 During the early years of Domitian's reign the capable Julius 
 Agricola • practically completed the conquest of Britain, 
 which had caused the Romans strenuous fighting for forty 
 years. In a.d. 82 he crossed the Clyde and subdued the 
 tribes inhabiting the Mull of Cantyre. In Tacitus' remarks 
 regarding this campaign we have the earliest mention of Ire- 
 land ; he says : — " I have often heard him (Agricola) say 
 that Ireland could be conquered and held by a single legion 
 and a moderate contingent of auxiliaries, and that such a con- 
 quest would help greatly to consolidate our power in Britain." 
 In A.D. 83 Agricola crossed the Forth, as the year before he 
 had crossed the Clyde, and conducted a successful campaign 
 in the barren mountains of Scotland against the Caledonians, 
 ending with a great victory in a battle fought at Murdock 
 Moor in Perthshire. But these successes roused the jealousy 
 of Domitian, and earned for Agricola much the same fate as 
 Corbulo had received at the hands of Nero ; Agricola in the 
 midst of his victorious career was in a.d. 84 recalled to Rome 
 and sent into retirement, and a year or two later died, Tacitus 
 declares owing to poison given under the emperor's orders. 
 
 In the same year Domitian accused his wife Domitia Longina 
 of infidelity, and divorced her. But the indignation of the 
 
 1 See Chap. I, p. 40. 
 
 ■ Some authorities have said that Tacitus has unduly exaggerated 
 the achievements of his father-in-law, but even allowing for this Agri- 
 cola certainly showed much capacity during his rule over Britain. 
 
 people at the injustice of the charge was so great, and so 
 forcibly expressed, that Domitian in fear of the result was 
 compelled to revoke the sentence and recall Domitia to the 
 palace, the only case on record of such pressure being put upon 
 an emperor. Notwithstanding that both Procopius and 
 Josephus declare Domitia Longina to have been all her life 
 a virtuous woman, there were not wanting writers of the time 
 who, according to the usual custom, accused her of the deepest 
 immorality, attributing conduct to her equal to that which 
 other writers have attributed to Valeria Messalina. The 
 fullest refutation to these charges is, however, given by this 
 event ; for the Roman people would never have been roused 
 to such indignation, or have had power to bring such pressure 
 to bear, had Domitia been the kind of woman these writers 
 have asserted. 
 
 In A.D. 85 the Dacians, under their leader Decebalus, 
 crossed the Danube, defeated the Roman legions opposed 
 to them, and over-ran the province of Moesia.^ During a 
 three years' contest Domitian, in his efforts to overcome 
 them, suffered several defeats, and though in a.d. 88 the 
 Dacians were eventually driven out of Moesia the war was 
 only brought to an end by Domitian's concluding with them 
 a peace the terms of which were most ignominious for the 
 Romans, including as they did the payment of an annual 
 subsidy to Decebalus which was practically a tribute. Never- 
 theless upon his return to Rome in A.D. 89 Domitian celebrated 
 a triumph for the results of the war, and a colossal bronze 
 equestrian statue of him was set up in the Forum. 
 
 During the first six years of his reign Domitian had 
 governed with some degree of justice, though the effects of his 
 avaricious and cruel disposition made themselves felt from 
 time to time. Gradually, however, his execution of wealthy 
 Romans on fictitious charges in order that he might seize upon 
 their confiscated estates, and his various other crimes, caused 
 so strong a detestation for him to grow up that he began to 
 fear assassination. And from the time of his failure against 
 the Dacians, either owing to depression at his ill-success, or to 
 
 1 For list of the various incursions of the barbarian tribes into the 
 empire during the 250 years from Domitian to Constantine, see 
 Appendix IV. 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 190 
 
 DOMITIAN {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 a naturally suspicious disposition, he entered upon a course 
 of tyrannical cruelty almost equal to that which had been 
 pursued by Nero, aU who aroused Domitian's suspicion or 
 dislike being promptly executed, poisoned, or otherwise 
 removed. To its consternation the Roman world foimd all 
 the conditions of " the Terror " re-established ; while the 
 hateful race of ** delators " (or informers) reappeared, 
 and began again to ply their odious trade, a tribe of such 
 delators being always ready to find occasion for a charge of 
 treason, followed by rich rewards to themselves as the result 
 of the victim's death. 
 
 How exceedingly lucrative this detestable trade of informer, 
 or delator, was is exemplified by the case of Aquilius Regulus, 
 who rose to high eminence in this way during the reign of 
 Domitian, and whose career illustrates the conditions of the 
 time. By profession a lawyer, delighting in slaughter, and 
 thirsting for wealth, Regulus first flourished exceedingly 
 during Nero's reign, " lust of blood and greed for gain driving 
 him on to the wholesale destruction of innocent boys, noble 
 matrons, and men of the most illustrious race," until he 
 amassed great wealth. Keeping prudently out of sight during 
 the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, he reappeared as one of 
 the most capable and dreaded agents of " the Terror ** in 
 Domitian's reign. Though called by Pliny " the most detest- 
 able of bipeds," he not only continued to accumulate 
 increased wealth through the death of victim after victim, 
 becoming possessed of estates in Tusculum, Umbria, and 
 Etruria, but also was one of the leading lights of the Roman 
 bar, feared and fawned upon by all around him. He survived 
 his employer Domitian, and strange to say died a natural death 
 in the reign of Trajan. 
 
 Two very notable men flourished m the reign of Domitian, 
 Apollonius of Tyana and Plutarch. Apollonius, the severe 
 Pythagorean missionary and wonderful preacher, is sur- 
 rounded with an atmosphere of mystery. He travelled 
 through many lands, frequented the temples of all the gods, 
 discoursed with the priests of aU religions, and was appar- 
 ently looked upon by all as an authority. He visited Rome 
 in the time of Nero, and the temples were thronged in order 
 to hear him, though he condemned many aspects of the popular 
 
 v] 
 
 A WEIRD BANQUET 
 
 191 
 
 worship. He taught a high and pure religion, objected to 
 sacrifices, inveighed against all materialism, and urged a high 
 spiritual ideal. He addressed great crowds at Ephesus, re- 
 buking them for their luxury and effeminacy, and condemned 
 the cruel combats of the amphitheatre. Finally he again 
 visited Rome about the year a.d. 90, and fearlessly asserted 
 the cause of righteousness in the presence of the tyrant Do- 
 mitian. Plutarch, the prince of biographers, bom about 
 A.D. 46, lived most of his life at his native town of Chaeronea 
 in Boeotia, but visited Rome in the reigns of Vespasian and 
 Domitian. He was a passionate admirer of Greece and its 
 great memories of the past, enjoyed the friendship of many 
 of the most learned men of his day, and wrote many notable 
 works, the greatest of them being his parallel " Lives of illus- 
 trious Greeks and Romans," containing forty-six biographies 
 arranged in pairs, with a comparison of the two, to which 
 book, with its marvellous talent for biography, he owes his 
 fame. He is believed to have died about a.d. 120. 
 
 In A.D. 91 the Christians for some reason came under 
 Domitian's displeasure ; whereupon he began to cause them 
 to be seized and put to death wherever found. ^ This was 
 followed by the discovery of a widespread conspiracy against 
 the tyrant, causing Domitian to strike blindly in all directions ; 
 never were the delators so busy ; and as Domitian grew more 
 and more suspicious and regardless of human life, a general 
 reign of terror set in. Moreover Domitian, having a deep 
 natural love of cruelty, delighted to play with his victims. 
 Dion Cassius gives a Weird account « of a funeral banquet 
 arranged by Domitian at which the company of selected 
 guests were ushered into a banqueting hall hung entirely 
 with black ; at the head of each dining-couch stood a tomb- 
 stone with the guest's name upon it, and a lamp over his head 
 of the kind used in tombs ; a troop of naked boys, black 
 like all else, first went through a funeral dance, and then 
 brought round a meal such as was customarily offered to the 
 spirits of the departed ; while through the semi-darkness of 
 the hall the voice of the emperor was heard relating for the 
 edification of the guests gruesome tales of bloody deaths 
 similar to their own which would shortly take place. By 
 1 Pages 195-196. * Dion Cassius, 67, 4. 
 
192 
 
 BOMITIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Iff 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 such methods Domitian took pleasure in enhancing the dread 
 with which his name was spoken. All who on accomit of 
 high station or ability seemed to him in any way formidable 
 were one after another accused upon false charges and put 
 to death ; none of any eminence could feel themselves secure ; 
 and even Domitian's own wife, the unhappy Domitia Longina, 
 knew that her life was threatened. 
 
 Meanwhile Domitian was busy in the chief work of his reign, 
 the completion of his new palace (see below), and it was in 
 the midst of this general reign of terror that the profusely 
 decorated walls of that palace were raised. Nor did that 
 terror spare the emperor himself. His suspicion of all men 
 grew until he became possessed by no other thought. In 
 his new palace he caused the corridor in which he took his 
 exercise to be lined with mirrors, so that no unseen assassin 
 should strike him from behind. He lived in an atmosphere 
 of superstitious dread. Even the image of Minerva, which 
 stood by his bedside, ceased at length to give him comfort, as 
 a dream informed him that Jupiter had forbidden his daughter 
 any longer to protect her favourite. 
 
 But the more suspicious and terror-stricken Domitian grew 
 the more ruthlessly he took human lives. And when at length 
 in A.D. 96 he most cruelly and imjustly put to death his own 
 first cousin Flavins Clemens, and banished the latter's wife 
 Flavia Domitilla, Domitian's own niece, to the island of 
 Pandataria as a preliminary to her murder, matters reached 
 a climax.^ As a result Domitian was assassinated (in an 
 inner room of that portion of the Palace of the Caesars which 
 had been built by Caligula) ^ on the 18th September a.d. 96 
 by Stephanus, a freedman of Flavins Clemens, who was furious 
 at the death of his master and the cruel sentence on Domitilla ; 
 he was assisted in destroying the tyrant by Parthenius, 
 Maximus, and others who felt their lives to be in danger. 
 Domitian was forty-four when he was thus removed by the 
 only means which were possible in the case of an emperor who 
 became an insupportable tyrant. 
 
 Domitian completed the fifth palace of the Caesars, known 
 
 ^ It h€is been thought that Domitian's action was caused by discover- 
 ing that Flavius Clemens and Domitilla were both secretly Christians 
 (see p. 201). « See below. 
 
ft^A II X N \ 
 
 [Brogi. 
 
 DOMITIAN, YOUNGER SON OF VesPASIAN. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the L'ffizi (lallery, Florence. 
 
 IM.A I I-. N XXI 
 
 DoMITIA LONr.INA, WIFE OF DoMITtAN. 
 Portrait-bust in the Caf>it<>l museum, Rome. 
 
 [Brooi. 
 
l>t»Miii.\N. \(tr.\(.i 
 
 >( > 
 
 N ol \' 
 
 .K- I', I. 
 
 A:-] AN 
 
 /' 
 
 •r.'t.ii :-'<ii.'>t / ).' .'/, 
 
 I. 
 
 ./.;<M. . / 
 
 I L n 
 
 1 >' iM! I I A ! .' i\' , IN \ 
 
 \\l 1 ! « il 
 
 I >- iMI I I AN 
 
 /' 
 
 .! . .: in 
 
 h' ■m 
 
V] 
 
 THE FLAVIAN PALACE 
 
 193 
 
 as the Flavian palace, occupying the centre of the Palatine 
 hill, and adjoining on one side the palace of Augustus and on 
 the other the palaces of Tiberius and Caligula. This Flavian 
 palace consisted only of State apartments ; ^ for their private 
 apartments Domitian and his successors Nerva and Trajan 
 continued to occupy the palace of Caligula, a branch sub- 
 terranean passage (or cryptoporticus) being constructed from 
 the previously existing cryptoporticus 2 to connect the private 
 apartments in the palace of Caligula with the State apartments 
 forming the Flavian palace. 
 
 Thus from Domitian's time onwards the four palaces built 
 respectively by Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Domitian 
 formed one great imperial palace, the State apartments being 
 in the centre, with the private apartments (the palaces of 
 Tiberius and Caligula, and the palace of Augustus) on either 
 side. This ** Palace of the Caesars " must have presented a 
 magnificent appearance when thus completed by the addition 
 of Domitian's splendid group of State apartments as the central 
 block of the whole palace. 
 
 The palace built by Domitian has in recent times been laid 
 bare, enabling us to trace the size and character of these 
 State apartments of the imperial palace. They consist of the 
 Tablinum (or throne-room), the Basilica (or judgement-hall), 
 the Peristyle (or central open court), the Triclinium (or ban- 
 queting hall), the Nymphaeum (or inside garden), the Lavarium, 
 with altar and pedestal for a statue, several smaller rooms 
 opening into the Peristyle, and a wide staircase leading to 
 another range of rooms above, now destroyed. Domitian 
 decorated this palace so extravagantly that Plutarch likened 
 him to IVIidas, who wished everything to be made of gold, and 
 traces of this profuse decoration can still be discerned. The 
 entire palace, both walls and floor, was lined with rare kinds 
 of coloured marbles, such as giallo antico, rosso antico, 
 verde antico, pavonazetto, cipollino, and others. The throne- 
 room had its walls adorned with columns of pavonazetto and 
 giallo antico marble, and with niches in which were statues 
 made of porphyry. The Basilica, or judgement hall, with a 
 
 ^ The inscription upon it, "^Edes Publicae," was placed by the 
 next emperor Nerva, to show its public character. 
 ' Chap. Ill, p. 93. 
 
 E.W. 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 194 
 
 DOMITIAN {MaUers concerning religion) 
 
 W} 
 
 SECOND PERSECUTION 
 
 195 
 
 marble screen dividing off the apse, is interesting as showing 
 the shape and form of hall which the Christians afterwards 
 adopted as the plan for their churches. ^ On the side of the 
 throne-room opposite to the judgement-hall is the Lavarium, 
 with its altar, and beyond this a few remains of the grand 
 staircase which led to the upper floor. Between the throne- 
 room and the banqueting hall is the large open Peristyle, which 
 was surrounded with columns oi Oriental marble, portions 
 of which still remain The fine banqueting hall, with part 
 of its splendid pavement of red and green basalt still to be 
 seen, opens out of the Peristyle, and next to it, separated 
 from it only by large windows, is the Nymphaeum, with a 
 marble-lined fountain and recesses for plants and statues. 
 Plutarch, Statins, and other writers give glowing descriptions 
 of this palace. In 1720, as the result of extensive excavations 
 made here, an immense quantity of fragments of statues and 
 coloured marbles were discovered which had adorned the 
 palace. Among these were found in the throne-room sixteen 
 beautiful fluted columns of pavonazetto marble, fragments of 
 porphyry statues, and an immense door-sill of Pentelic marble 
 which now forms the high altar of the Pantheon. The em- 
 peror in coming from his private apartments in the palace of 
 Caligula reached the throne-room by the flight of stairs which 
 ascends from the branch of the crypto-porticus, 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 Fifty years had passed since Christianity had been first 
 preached to the Pagan world from Antioch. During that 
 time, with the exception of the massacre of the Christians at 
 Rome by Nero (which was not inspired by animosity against 
 their reUgion, but adopted as a means of diverting incon- 
 venient suspicion from himself), the Christian communities 
 in the different cities of the empire had lived unmolested. 
 Now however the Christian Chiirch was to be tried by the 
 fiery test of a long series of persecutions, occurring as a rule at 
 inS^vals of abo^t a gene.ltion. the first three 'persecutions 
 
 * The church of "St. Agnes outside the walls" at Rome is in form 
 and arrangement exactly similar to this hall. 
 
 being confined to particular cities, but the subsequent persecu- 
 tions being carried out over most of the empire. 
 
 Nero had set the fashion of the massacre of Christians when 
 political capital could be made out of it, and Domitian in the 
 tenth year of his reign, whether prompted by similar motives 
 or not, followed this example and began the Second persecu- 
 tion, which lasted for five years (a.d. 91-96), and appears to 
 have affected chiefly Rome, Corinth, and possibly Ephesus. 
 The motives which induced this action on Domitian's part 
 have never transpired. Two however seem probable. He 
 may, like Nero, have adopted this coiu'se from a desire to 
 divert from himself the increasing unpopularity caused by his 
 actions ; or again it seems not unlikely that the persecution 
 of the Christians may have been instigated by their bitter 
 foes the Gnostics,^ the suggestion commending itself to Domitian 
 as a reformer of religion. 
 
 As regards the Chiu-ch at Rome at this period, Linus, the 
 Bishop appointed by St. Peter, appears to have died about the 
 year a.d. 80, during the short reign of Titus, being succeeded 
 by Anencletus, the second Bishop, regarding whom almost 
 the only fact recorded is his having erected small monuments 
 over the burial-places of St. Peter and St. Paul to mark them. 
 Anencletus is stated to have been Bishop for twelve years, 
 dying about the year a.d. 92, and tradition asserts that he 
 was martyred in this Second persecution. Anencletus was 
 succeeded by Clement (a.d. 92-101), the writer of the well- 
 known Epistle of St. Clement. 2 Regarding the Churches at 
 other places at this time we have little or no information, 
 except that about the year a.d. 92 St. John (shortly before 
 being seized in this persecution) appointed as Bishop of the 
 Church at Smyrna Polycarp, who from his boyhood had been 
 taught by St. John himself, and was at this time about thirty 
 years old. 
 
 This Second persecution, which began the year before Cle- 
 ment became Bishop of Rome, was evidently not confined 
 like that of Nero to that city, but was carried out also in at 
 all events some of the cities in Greece and Asia Minor. For 
 not only was the Apostle St. John seized and tortured (see 
 below), but also we know from the Epistle of St. Clement that 
 
 1 Page 186. ^ gee pp. 198-200. 
 
 w 
 
 f 
 
196 
 
 DOMITIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the persecution was taking place at Corinth at the same time 
 that it was occurring at Rome. During the twenty-six years 
 that had elapsed since Nero's persecution many fresh persons 
 in Rome had become converted to Christianity, and the 
 Christians there had again become a considerable body. 
 
 As in the case of the First persecution, scarcely any names 
 of those who suffered have come down to us, not a single 
 name being recorded of those who suffered at Corinth, and 
 only five names of those who suffered at Rome. But it is 
 evident from the Epistle of St. Clement that the number who 
 perished in Rome alone must have been considerable, since 
 Clement (writing either while this persecution was taking 
 place or immediately after it ended), after saying that the 
 cause of the delay in replying to the letter from the Church at 
 Corinth has been " by reason of the sudden and successive 
 troubles and calamities which have befallen us," speaks of 
 the great number who had suffered tortures and death, includ- 
 ing " many matrons, and maidens, and slave girls." Out of 
 all who suffered only the names of five persons have been 
 preserved, viz. Nicomedes, a priest ; ^ Vitus, of whom we 
 know nothing ; two girls, Crescentia and Modesta ; and 
 lastly the Apostle St. John, then about eighty years old, the 
 latter being tortured, but not killed. Besides these, tradition 
 asserts that Flavia Domitilla was afterwards brought back 
 from Pandataria to the mainland and upon refusing to sacrifice 
 to the Pagan gods was burnt alive at Terracina, with her two 
 Christian servants, Nereus and Achilles. 
 
 Whether St. John had gone to Rome and was seized there, 
 or whether (as is most probable) he was seized at Ephesus 
 and taken to Rome to be brought before the emperor, we do 
 not know. But Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, the pupil of 
 St. John for many years, and also Irenaeus and Tertullian, 
 who both lived near enough to the time to know, all assert 
 that St. John was seized in this persecution, that outside 
 the gate of Rome leading to Latium he was thrown into a 
 caldron of boiling oil,^ but miraculously preserved, and that 
 
 * He is commemorated in the Chiirch of !^ng1and Prayerbook on 
 the 1st June. 
 
 2 Commemorated in the Church of England Prayerbook on the 6th 
 May, with the words " St. John before the Latin Gate." 
 
 v] 
 
 THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS 
 
 197 
 
 he was then banished by the emperor Domitian to the island 
 of Patmos. There, apparently about the year a.d. 95,^ 
 St. John wrote the Book of the Revelations ^ and the First Epistle 
 of St. John. And, apparently also during this time at Patmos, 
 were written his two short letters, the Second Epistle of 
 St. John (written to " the elect lady and her children ") and 
 the Third Epistle of St. John (written to " Gains, the well- 
 beloved"). 
 
 The whole question of St. John's banishment and the writing 
 of the Book of the Revelations is a matter upon which there 
 are great diversities of opinion. The record that St. John 
 was banished to Patmos by the emperor Domitian about the 
 year a.d. 92, and there wrote the Book of Revelations about 
 the year a.d. 95, is that which has been handed down for many 
 centuries, being the statement of men who lived less than 
 eighty years after the event. On the other hand in the present 
 day the most diverse opinions have been put forward on the 
 subject. One set of writers support the traditional view ; 
 another set of writers maintain that while the book was written 
 about the year a.d. 95, it was not written by the Apostle 
 St. John, but by another John ; others maintain that it was 
 neither written by the Apostle St. John nor at the traditional 
 date ; and again the most recent writer on the subject ^ holds 
 that it was written by the Apostle St. John, but that he was 
 banished to Patmos in a.d. 70, in the reign of the emperor 
 Vespasian, and wrote the Book of Revelations in the spring 
 of that year. Agreement on the subject is not likely ever 
 to be attained ; and this being so, it would seem that the 
 traditional view has much greater weight than any other, 
 being that held by men who lived so close to the time as to 
 make their opinion far outweigh that of any one living eighteen 
 centuries afterwards, and that those who support that view 
 stand upon the strongest ground. 
 
 Either in a.d. 95 while this Second persecution was still 
 
 1 See p. 198 (footnote). 
 
 * Perhaps incorporating in it some writings written about A.D. 70 ; 
 as maintained by W. R. W. Pounder in his Historical Notes on the Book 
 of Revelations (1913). 
 
 ^ Mr. G. Edmundson, in his The Church in Rome in the First Century, 
 pp. 164-178. 
 
198 
 
 DOMITIAN {Matters canceming religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 continuing, or in a.d. 96 immediately upon its being ended 
 by the death of Domitian,^ Clement, who had been Bishop of 
 the Church at Rome since a.d. 92, wrote the celebrated First 
 Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians , an epistle which in its 
 lofty sentiments and language is scarcely to be distinguished 
 from those of the Apostles, and which was looked upon by 
 the early Church as almost canonical ; so much so that it is 
 included in the New Testament in the most ancient copy of the 
 latter in the British Museum, and for many centuries used to 
 be regularly read in the various Churches in the same manner 
 as the epistles of the Apostles. 
 
 This epistle gives us an important glimpse into the con- 
 dition of the Christian Church at this time, that is to say 
 about fifty -five years after Christianity had been first preached 
 at Antioch. It is a reply to the Church at Corinth regarding 
 the dangers and difficvdties which they were experiencing 
 in the Second persecution, and about which they had solicited 
 advice from the Church at Rome. Throughout the whole 
 Epistle Clement's aim is to sink his own personality and to 
 
 1 The date of this Epistle of St. Clement, like that of the Book of 
 the Revelations, has been a matter of much controversy. But the 
 opinion of the highest authority on the subject, Bishop Lightfoot (in- 
 variably most cautious in his statements on such points), heis almost 
 placed the matter beyond further controversy, his words being : *' The 
 date of Clement's epistle is fixed with a fair degree of certainty at 
 A.D. 96 or 96, as it was written during or inunediately after the persecu- 
 tion under Domitian." "> On the other hand Mr. G. Edmimdson, in his 
 recently pubhshed The Church in Rome in the First Century, holds that 
 this epistle, and the Book of the Revelations, were both written early 
 in A.D. 70. His chief argument in favour of this date is in both cases 
 the same, viz. that Revelations xi, 1 and Clement xli contain refer- 
 ences to the Temple as still standing and the daily sacrifices as still 
 being offered. But various critics have pointed out that Mr. Edmund- 
 son throughout adopts an over-literal method of interpreting the 
 early Christian documents, and that in these two cases especially he 
 has not in their opinion at all grasped the extent to which the early 
 Church was in the habit of using language about the Temple and its 
 ritual in a manner which regarded it, not in its literal and transient 
 sense, but with a Icurger and more permanent spiritual Christian mean- 
 ing, and that to interpret Clement's words in the way Mr. Edmimdaon 
 does is to ascribe to the Church at Rome in his time a spirit quite 
 out of keeping with its Pauline traditions. 
 
 *** Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, vol. i, p. 342. 
 
 V] 
 
 EPISTLE OF ST. CLEMENT 
 
 199 
 
 write merely as the representative of the community in whose 
 name he speaks, the Church at Rome ; never once does he 
 speak in the first person singular. This epistle, written during 
 the time of Domitian's persecution, makes mention of the 
 suffering they at Rome are also enduring, and its chief interest 
 is as a letter from one Christian community to another at 
 such a time, showing the mind of the Christian Church at that 
 period, and in what spirit they endured such sufferings. 
 
 At the time the epistle was written the community as whose 
 representative Clement writes was experiencing terrible trial, 
 each member of it living in the knowledge that at any hour 
 he or she might be called away to suffer tortures and death. 
 Nevertheless they show only sentiments of love, humility, 
 calmness, and patience. At its close this letter is called the 
 " First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians," but that is 
 not the manner in which it is headed at its commencement. 
 There it begins thus :— " From the Church of God sojoi^ning 
 at Rome to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth." It 
 would have been well for the world if in after centuries all 
 communications from the Church at Rome to sister Churches 
 had ever been couched in this same tone, and if all Bishops of 
 Rome had merged their own personality in that of their 
 Church as St. Clement did. 
 
 The letter begins by explaining that the delay in sending 
 a reply is due to the persecution they at Rome have also been 
 suffering, briefly stating that many of their community have 
 suffered cruel tortures and death. It then, in order to inspire 
 the Christians at Corinth with courage, makes allusion to the 
 details of the former persecution under Nero wliich were 
 known to the Christians at Corinth, ^ mentioning the martyrdom 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul, speaking of the brave examples 
 which had been shown by " a great multitude of the elect 
 who suffered through jealousy many outrages and tortures," 
 and saying that " many women and girls, being persecuted, 
 endured terrible and monstrous outrages, and after having 
 
 1 Excepting any who may have seen these things as Pagan spectators 
 in the time of Nero, and been converted since then, none of those who 
 were Christians at Rome in Clement's time had actually seen these 
 terrible cruelties of Nero's persecution, but they were weU known to 
 all, both at Rome and Corinth. 
 
200 DOMITIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 suffered in the guise of Danaids i and Dirces,^ safely reached 
 the goal in the race of faith, and received a noble reward 
 feeble though they were in body " ; and it then says, " We are 
 in the same lists ; the same conflict engages us." 
 
 The epistle then urges, as the remedy for the troubles at 
 Corinth, calmness, obedience, love, purity, truth, humility, 
 and patience. The language is as lofty in sentiment as that 
 of the epistles of St. Paul, and very touching now and then 
 in its allusions to the "examples from among ourselves." 
 Towards the end it mounts to an intercession for the fallen, 
 the weak, the hungry, and the prisoners ; also for the governors 
 who are their persecutors. And at its close it rises into a 
 magnificent exhortation to love as the cure for all ills. 
 
 Such is the first letter that we possess written by a Chris- 
 tian Bishop,— the first written evidence of what had been 
 accompHshed by the work of the Apostles, furnished by one of 
 those whom they had taught. It demonstrates that a new 
 tone had come into the world.^ 
 
 Clement's origin has been much debated. He may of course 
 have been the Clement who is mentioned by St. Paul as his 
 " feUow labourer " ; but this is not now considered probable. 
 It is evident that he was highly educated and also rich, as 
 he fitted up a hall in his palace for use by the Christians as a 
 church (apparently the earliest church in Rome), the remains 
 of which still exist underneath the crypt of the present church 
 of St. Clement, two other churches having in succession 
 been built over Clement's original one. The name Clemens 
 (Clement) was a common one in the Flavian family, and it has 
 long been traditionaUy held that Clement the Bishop was one of 
 this family, and a connection of the emperor Domitian.* That 
 
 » Alluding to those who had been clothed in skins and torn to pieces 
 by dogs, ^ 
 
 • Alluding to those who had been stripped naked, bound on the 
 horns of wild bulls, and gored to death. 
 
 •Besides this well-known epistle various other writings are 
 attributed to St. Clement, which shows the importance attached to 
 his personahty, whether these other writings are actuaUy his or not 
 a matter greatly disputed. 
 
 * This view is also supported by Mr. Edmundson, who considers 
 that Clement was a brother of Arrecina TertuUa, the first wife of the 
 emperor Titus (Edmundson, The Christian Church in Rome in the First 
 Century, pp. 234-236). 
 
 V] 
 
 CONVERTS OF HIGH RANK 
 
 201 
 
 he remained luitouched throughout the persecution under 
 Domitian (being martyred early in the reign of Trajan) seems 
 strongly to support this view. 
 
 It is in the time of the Flavian dynasty that we first see 
 the Christian Church making converts of much higher rank 
 than those who had chiefly^ formed its members in the time 
 of St. Paul. Not to mention others, Flavia Domitilla,* the 
 niece of the emperor Vespasian, was exiled by him to the 
 island of Pontia for being a Christian and refusing to marry 
 when ordered by the emperor ; Marcus Acilius Glabrio,^ who 
 was Consul in a.d. 91, was put to death by Domitian in a.d. 95 
 upon a charge of " atheism and Jewish manners," which is 
 believed to indicate in reality his being a Christian, especially 
 as his tomb has in recent years been discovered in the 1st 
 century cemetery of Priscilla ; and Flavia Domitilla, the 
 niece of Domitian, with her husband Flavins Clemens, were 
 punished almost certainly because they were Christians. The 
 excavation in recent years of the cemeteries of Priscilla and 
 Domitilla, both of which cemeteries belong to the 1st century, 
 has also brought to light other tombs of Christians belonging 
 to the upper classes in the time of Domitian. 
 
 NERVA 
 
 A.D. 96 — 98 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 On the death of Domitian, Nerva,* a quiet, honest, and 
 dignified senator of sixty-four, who had twice been Consul, 
 was invited by the Senate to become emperor. His accession 
 put an end to the reign of terror of the previous five years. 
 
 ^ Though not entirely, as the case of Pomponia Graecina shows 
 (Chap. Ill, p. 101). 
 
 * Her tomb has been discovered in recent years by De Rossi in the 
 1st century cemetery of Domitilla, with a marble slab on which her 
 name is written, showing conclusively that she was a Christisji. 
 
 ' His tomb was discovered in 1888 by De Rossi in the cemetery of 
 Priscilla, with a marble slab over it on which his name was written ; 
 thus confirming the fskct that he was a Christian, since the bodies of 
 Pagans were burnt, not buried. 
 
 * Plate XXXII. Statue in the Vatican museimi, Rome. 
 
202 
 
 N E R V A {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. V] 
 
 He annulled Domitian's unjust sentences of banishment, rigor- 
 ously put down the evil class of " informers," lightened taxa- 
 tion, and set himself in every way to rule justly and well, 
 passing various measures for the rehef of the poorer classes. 
 But Nerva was weak, and finding himself unable to cope with 
 the Praetorian Guards, who defied his authority, he associated 
 with himself a distinguished soldier, Trajan, then commanding 
 the legions on the Rhine, and without recaUing him to Rome 
 formally adopted him as his son and colleague. 
 I Nerva completed the new Forimi which had been begun 
 by Domitian, that known as the Forum of Nerva, and soon 
 afterwards died, somewhat suddenly, in January a.d. 98. 
 He was succeeded by Trajan, who was at once accepted by 
 the whole empire with satisfaction. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 On the accession of Nerva St. John, then about eighty-five 
 years old, was liberated from his exile at Patmos, and returned 
 to Ephesus. Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Theophylact all state 
 that from that tune he lived at Ephesus, and died there in 
 the reign of Trajan. In a.d. 98 he wrote at Ephesus the 
 Gospel of St. John, the last book of the New Testament. Its 
 difference from the other Gospels is accounted for by the his- 
 torical difference in the circumstances. Nearly forty years 
 had elapsed since the other three Gospels were written, and 
 great changes had taken place. The men and women 
 converted when Christianity was first preached had now 
 been Christians for fifty years, and even their grandchildren 
 were grown up. Thus St. John addressed Christians thor- 
 oughly famihar with all that the other Apostles had taught, 
 and he could therefore take for granted that those to whom 
 he wrote could understand things not to be understood by the 
 first behevers in Christianity. 
 
t ! nATE XXXII. 
 
 It 
 
 I Lti..j'-i. 
 
 Nerva. 
 
 Statue in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 Tliis slaiue shows an example of the ordinary dress of a Roman senator. 
 
x x X n . 
 
 Nl.lUA. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Tills -l.ilU'- -ll'iVV- 
 
 iiiii'l' ' 't th' • i] 'InMrv 
 
 ■ 111 .- . .t a K' 'III, III -• nit' ■!, 
 
NOTE A 
 
 Chronology of events in the Christian Church during 
 
 THE 1st Century i 
 
 Beign. 
 
 Event. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Tiberius 
 
 Christ put to death at Jerusalem . 
 
 Spring, A.D. 29 
 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Stephen 
 
 A.D. 
 
 33 
 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul at Damascus . 
 
 A.D. 
 
 35 
 
 
 St. Paul driven out of Damascus 
 
 Spring, A.D. 37 
 
 Caligula 
 
 St. Peter's tours through Judaea, Gali- 
 lee, and Samaria, visit to Lydda, 
 
 
 
 
 and sojourn at Joppa .... 
 
 A.D. 
 
 37-41 
 
 
 Conversion by St. Peter of Cornelius, 
 
 
 
 
 the centurion, at Caesarea . 
 
 A.D. 
 
 41 
 
 Claudius 
 
 Preaching of the Christian religion at 
 
 
 
 
 Antioch begun by Jewish converts 
 
 A.D. 
 
 41 
 
 
 St. Barnabas sent from Jerusalem by 
 
 
 
 
 the Apostles to Antioch. . 
 
 A.D. 
 
 41 
 
 
 St. James (the brother of St. John) 
 
 
 
 
 put to death by Herod Agrippa at 
 
 
 
 
 Jerusalem, and St. Peter imprisoned 
 
 Spring, A.D. 42 
 
 
 St. Barnabas and St. Paul preaching 
 
 
 
 
 together at Antioch 
 
 A.D. 
 
 43 
 
 
 Distribution at Antioch of the various 
 
 
 
 
 countries of the world among the 
 
 
 
 
 Apostles, and their separation, St. 
 
 
 
 
 Peter, St. John, St. Paul, St. Barna- 
 
 
 
 
 bas, and St. Mark remaming for a 
 
 
 
 
 time at Antioch 
 
 A.D. 
 
 44 
 
 
 St. Peter undertakes a three years' 
 
 
 
 
 tour through Mesopotamia, Cappa- 
 
 
 
 
 docia, and Pontus, probably with 
 
 
 
 
 St. Mark, and then visits Jerusalem 
 
 A.D. 
 
 44-46 
 
 ^ Authorities are much divided regarding many of the dates, and 
 will probably always remain so. The chronology here given is that 
 which appears to have the most general acceptance. 
 
 203 
 
204 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 205 
 
 Reign. 
 
 Claudius 
 
 Event. 
 
 St. Barnabas and St. Paul proceed from 
 Antioch to Jerusalem, bringing alms 
 from the Christians at Antioch (Gala- 
 tians ii, 1-10) 
 
 St. Peter establishes himself at An- 
 tioch, making it the centre of his 
 missionary work, founding the 
 church of Antioch, and acting as its 
 head for seven years . . . . 
 
 St. Paul and St. Barnabas, with St. 
 Mark, starting from Antioch, pro- 
 ceed upon their first missionary jour- 
 ney through Cyprus, Pamphylia,Pi8i- 
 dia, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra, 
 and returning to Antioch . . . 
 
 Disagreement between St. Peter and 
 St. Paul at Antioch (Galatians ii, 
 11-14) 
 
 Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem 
 over the question of the circum- 
 cision of the Gentile converts . 
 
 St. Paul starts from Antioch with Silas 
 on his second missionary journey, 
 proceeding through Syria, Cilicia, 
 Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia, to 
 Troas 
 
 St. Barnabas starts from Antioch with 
 St. Mark, and visits Cyprus, whence 
 St. Barnabas returns to Antioch, 
 St. Mark proceeding to Egypt (see 
 below) 
 
 St. Paul and Silas cross the iEgean 
 Sea from Troas into Macedonia, pro- 
 ceed to Philippi, and from thence to 
 Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and 
 Corinth 
 
 St. Paul remains at Corinth for a year 
 and a half 
 
 First and Second Epistles to the Thessa- 
 lonians, and Epistle to the Galatians^ 
 written by St. Paul from Corinth. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Reign. 
 
 A.D. 46 
 
 A.D. 47-54 
 
 A.D. 47^9 
 
 A.D. 49 
 
 Nero 
 
 End of A.D. 49 
 
 A.D. 50 
 
 A.D. 50 
 
 A.D. 60-51 
 
 A.D. 61-53 
 
 Event. 
 
 A.D. 62 
 
 St. Paul sails from Corinth, visits Ephe- 
 sus, sails to Caesarea, visits Jeru- 
 salem, and returns to Antioch, from 
 whence he had been absent three 
 years 
 
 St. Paul starts from Antioch on his 
 third missionary journey, proceeding 
 through Galatia and Phrygia, and 
 from thence to Ephesus. 
 
 St. Mark remains in Egypt for eleven 
 years, founding the Church of Alex- 
 andria, acting as its head, and preach- 
 ing throughout Egypt .... 
 
 Gospel of St. Mark written by him at 
 Alexandria 
 
 St. Paul remains at Ephesus for nearly 
 three years 
 
 St. Peter and St. Barnabas working 
 together for a time at Corinth 
 
 St. Peter and St. Barnabas in Rome 
 for about a year 
 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians written 
 by St. Paul from Ephesus . 
 
 St. Paul leaves Ephesus, crosses into 
 Macedonia, and visits Philippi. 
 
 Second Epistle to the Corinthians writ- 
 ten by St. Paul from Philippi. 
 
 St. Paul from Philippi travels into 
 Greece, and reaches Corinth, stay- 
 ing there three months .... 
 
 Epistle to the Romans written by 
 St. Paul from Corinth .... 
 
 St. Paul returns to Philippi, sails from 
 thence to Troas, and thence pro- 
 ceeds via Assos, Mitylene, Miletus, 
 Rhodes, Tyre, and Caesarea, to 
 Jerusalem 
 
 St. Paul arrested at Jerusalem, sent to 
 Caesarea, and imprisoned there for 
 two vears 
 
 Gospel of St. Luke written by him while 
 with St. Paul at CaesareO' h • . 
 
 Date. 
 
 Spring, A.D. 53 
 
 A.D. 63 
 
 A.D. 50-61 
 
 A.D. 54 
 
 A.D. 53-56 
 End of A.D. 54 
 A.D. 55-56 
 End of A.D. 55 
 Spring, A.D. 56 
 A.D. 56 
 
 A.D. 56 
 
 End of A.D. 56 
 
 Spring, A.D. 57 
 
 I ' I 
 
 A.D. 57-59 
 
 A.D. 58 
 
'L/' 
 
 206 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 207 
 
 Beign. 
 
 Nero 
 
 EVBNT. 
 
 St. Paul and St. Luke sent from Cae- 
 sarea in autumn of a.d. 69 in charge 
 of an escort to Rome, and after a 
 tempestuous voyage and shipwreck 
 at Malta arrive at Rome . 
 
 General Epistle of St. James the Less 
 written by him at Jerusalem . 
 
 St. Paul kept a prisoner in Rome for 
 two years, but allowed to live in his 
 own hired house 
 
 Epistle to the Colossians, Epistle to the 
 Ephesians, Epistle to Philemon^ writ- 
 ten by St. Paul in Rome . 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles written by 
 St. Luke in Rome 
 
 St. James the Less murdered at Jeru- 
 salem by the Jews 
 
 Epistle to the Philippians written by 
 St. Paul in Rome 
 
 Trial of St. Paul, his acquittal, libera- 
 tion, and departure from Rome into 
 Spain 
 
 Gospel of St. Matthew written by him 
 in Egypt for the Jews . . . 
 
 Ignatius made Bishop of Antioch by 
 St. Peter 
 
 St. Peter in Rome 
 
 The great fire in Rome .... 
 
 Persecution of the Christians in Rome 
 begun 
 
 First Epistle of St. Peter written by 
 him in Rome 
 
 St. Peter imprisoned at Rome . 
 
 Second Epistle of St. Peter written by 
 
 him from his prison 
 
 Martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome . 
 
 General massacre of the Christians in 
 the Vatican gardens at Rome . 
 
 St. Paul returns by sea from Spain, 
 proceeding towards Jerusalem, and 
 on the way leaving Titus as Bishop 
 at Crete 
 
 Date. 
 
 Reign. 
 
 Spring, A.D. 60 
 
 A.D. 60 
 
 A.D. 60-62 
 
 A.D. 61 
 
 A.D. 61 
 
 Spring, A.D. 62 
 Spring, A.D. 62 
 
 A.D. 62 
 
 A.D. 62 
 
 A.D. 62 
 
 A.D. 63-65 
 July, A.D. 64 
 
 March, a.d. 65 
 
 April, A.D. 65 
 May, A.D. 65 
 
 May, A.D. 65 
 May, A.D. 65 
 
 June, A.D. 65 
 
 Vespasian 
 
 Titus 
 
 DOMITIAN 
 
 A.D. 65 
 
 Event. 
 
 St. Paul proceeds from Jerusalem to 
 Philippi, leaving Timothy as Bishop 
 at Ephesus, and from Philippi pro- 
 ceeds to Nicopolis, where he win- 
 ters 
 
 Epistle to Titus written by St. Paul 
 from Nicopolis 
 
 St. Paul, quitting Nicopolis, visits 
 Corinth, and from thence, leaving 
 Erastus as Bishop there, crosses to 
 Asia, and visits Miletus. 
 First Epistle to Timothy written by 
 St. Paul apparently from Corinth. 
 
 St. Paul arrested, probably near Mile- 
 tus, and sent a prisoner to Rome. 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews written, pro- 
 bably by St. Barnabas .... 
 
 St. Paul's second captivity in Rome 
 Second Epistle to Timothy written by 
 St. Paul from his prison in Rome 
 
 St. Matthew martyred in Egypt . . 
 
 St. Paul martyred at Rome . 
 
 Jerusalem destroyed by Titus, the 
 Christians in that city escaping be- 
 fore the siege to Pella .... 
 
 Anencletus becomes second Bishop of 
 Rome in succession to Linus 
 
 Epistle of St. Jvde written 
 
 Persecution of the Christians by Domi- 
 
 tian 
 
 Polycarp made Bishop of Smyrna by 
 
 St. John 
 
 Clement becomes third Bishop of Rome 
 
 in succession to Anencletus. 
 
 St. John seized, tortured at Rome, and 
 exiled to Patmos 
 
 Book of the Revelations, First Epistle 
 of St. John, Second Epistle of St. 
 John, Third Epistle of St. John, 
 written by St. John in Patmos . 
 
 Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 
 written 
 
 Date. 
 
 End of A.D. 65 
 End of A.D. 65 
 
 Spring, A.D. 66 
 
 Spring, A.D. 66 
 
 A.D. 66 
 
 End, A.D. 66 
 A.D. 66-67 
 
 A.D. 67 
 A.D. 67 
 End of A.D. 67 
 
 Sept., A.D. 70 
 
 A.D. 80 
 A.D. 80 
 
 A.D. 91-96 
 
 >i\ 
 
 A.D. 92 
 A.D. 92 
 A.D. 93 
 
 r 
 
 A.D. 94-95 
 
 A.D. 96 
 
 (I 
 
 i 
 
208 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 Beign. 
 
 Nerva 
 
 Event. 
 
 
 i 
 
 Trajan 
 
 St. John liberated from Patmos and 
 returns to Ephesus 
 
 Gospel of St. John written by him at 
 Ephesus 
 
 Death of St. John at Ephesus . . 
 
 Date^ 
 
 A.D. 97 
 
 A.D. 98 
 A.D. 100 
 
 illl 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Reigns of 
 TRAJAN AND HADRIAN 
 
 TRAJAN 
 
 A.D. 98—117 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THE Roman Empire, inaugurated by Augustus, and 
 brought to so much perfection by the principles of 
 administration laid down by him, now made a second great 
 step forward. With Trajan begins a period of eighty-two years 
 (98-180), under the four emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus 
 Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, which was more sple^did and 
 prosperous than any which the empire had yet seen. These 
 emperors demonstrated in a marked degree that capacity to 
 administer with ability the affairs of an entire world which was 
 so essentially the characteristic of the Roman race. The 
 defence and gradual civilization of a barbarous country like 
 Britain in the extreme north-west, the maintenance of Rome's 
 power, 4,000 miles from thence, on her eastern frontier in 
 Parthia, the affairs of remote colonies far to the south on the 
 borders of the African desert, the fortifications and roads 
 necessary to maintain in strength the long line of the northern 
 frontier from the mouth of the Rhine to that of the Danube, 
 the discipline and training of the army upon which the existence 
 of the empire depended, the numerous wants of the more 
 settled provinces in the centre of the empire, and in Rome 
 the various arrangements for the health, comfort, or conveni- 
 ence of the inhabitants of the capital city, all received unre- 
 mitting attention from these enlightened emperors. 
 
 Nevertheless Rome was still the primary consideration 
 even with these emperors. Their conquests were made in 
 order to add to the glory of Rome ; their chief buildings were 
 
 E.W. 209 P 
 
 1:. 
 
 » I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
210 
 
 TRAJAN {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 i 
 
 erected to increase the splendour of Rome ; the agricultural 
 needs of North Africa received attention in order that that 
 province might supply vast quantities of com to be stored in 
 Rome so that the inhabitants of that favoured city should 
 receive the daily gift of free bread ; and it seems probable that 
 a main reason for the great popularity of one of these emperors, 
 Antoninus Pius, was the fact that he never moved from Rome 
 and that his chief interests centred in that city. 
 
 TRAJAN, 1 who was forty-five when he became emperor, 
 reigned twenty years, and was the greatest military 
 emperor between Augustus and Constantine. Belonging 
 to a Roman family settled in Spain, son of the Proconsul 
 of the province of Asia, and a soldier from boyhood, he 
 had served all over the empire with distinction, and had 
 risen to be Proconsul of that part of the Rhine frontier which 
 the Romans called Upper Germany * when he was chosen to 
 be emperor. In character he was brave, just, frank, and 
 upright, qualities which made him highly popular with the 
 troops. His military ability, the close personal relations 
 which he maintained with his troops, his habit of sharing all 
 then- hardships, his strict discipline, and his invariable justice, 
 enabled him to wield an authority over the army such as no 
 emperor before him had possessed. His first act on succeeding 
 to the throne was characteristic. The Praetorian Guards had 
 gradually been becoming the masters of the throne, and had 
 openly defied the authority of Nerva. Trajan at once ordered 
 a large portion of them to the Rhine frontier and drafted them 
 into the legions there, and they did not dare to disobey him. 
 His next action showed what he considered to be the greatest 
 danger menacing the empire, and the most important matter 
 requiring his attention. For on receiving while at Cologne 
 the news of Nerva's death, before proceeding to Rome he spent 
 nearly two years in making a thorough inspection of the entire 
 line of the northern frontier, and framed an immense scheme 
 for strengthening it, including a complete reconstruction of the 
 great " Limes," or fortified rampart, between the upper courses 
 of the Rhine and the Danube. 
 
 1 Plate XXXIII. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 • Roughly, the upper course of the Rhine. 
 
I I 
 
 PLATE XXXIII. 
 
 
 [Anderson. 
 
 Trajan. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
\\\m. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 A \ 1 1 1 r s( I v . 
 
 Ti'; \ !.\N. 
 
 /'■'i!ii(/f-''iist III til I ,if'/l"l lUil^'Kiii. h'^'iih 
 
PLATE XXXIV. 
 
 PI- ATE XXXV 
 
 Plotina, wife of Trajan. 
 
 J'uttrail-hust in the Vatican muaeunt, Rome. 
 
 (Brogi. 
 
 Marciaxa, sister of Trajan. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Cafyitol mnsrum, Rome. 
 
 (Broci. 
 
 .Mjaifi«.A.rtaitft^^^*^^«--^-*.i^. 
 
I'l.AII. X\XI\- 
 
 |l!i' ,.r. 
 
 I ' • i 1 N \. v\ ! I I o| Th' \ I \ 
 
 All \X\\ 
 
 \I 
 
 |l« 
 
 k-.".i. 
 
 \l:i ! \ N \ - !-. I I !• 
 
 \ ' \ \ 
 
VI] 
 
 FOUNDING OF TIMGAD 
 
 211 
 
 The " Limes," the greater part of which is still traceable, con- 
 sisted of a wide ditch and high rampart, with forts, watch- 
 towers, and fortified camps at intervals along its course. It 
 was not meant, like Hadrian's wall subsequently built in 
 Britain, as an absolute barrier against incursions, but rather 
 to form, with the military roads leading to its chief points, a 
 Hne of observation from whence troops could easily be concen- 
 trated upon any threatened point. It extended from the 
 Rhine near Bonn to the Danube at Regina Castra, now Regens- 
 burg (Ratisbon). Regina Castra (the Royal Camp) was an 
 immense fortified camp, occupying a rectangle 585 yards long 
 by 480 yards wide. Some portions of its walls and gateways 
 still remain. 
 
 But Trajan did not only pay attention to the northern 
 frontier and the great camps of Cologne on the Rhine and 
 Regensburg on the Danube. Far away to the south, across 
 the Mediterranean, on the border of the African desert, he in 
 this same year a.d. 100 founded the great fortified camp of 
 Timgad, situated on a fertile plateau on the slope of the Aures 
 mountains, and destined to grow in the 4th century into a 
 city of great magnificence,^ and to become to the Roman 
 Empire on its southern frontier what Cologne and Regensburg 
 were to its northern frontier. 
 
 In A.D. 100 Trajan arrived at Rome, and soon became as 
 popular with the Senate and people as he already was with the 
 army. He treated the Senate with the respect which had 
 been accorded to it by Augustus and Tiberius, but which had 
 fallen into abeyance under later emperors. Disliking osten- 
 . tation, he was simple in his habits, and freely accessible to 
 all, while his wife Plotina ^ and his sister Marciana ^ were as 
 
 ^ Regarding remains of Timgad, see Vol. II, Appendix XVI. 
 
 * Plate XXXIV. Portrait-bust in the Vatican gallery, Rome. 
 
 3 Plate XXXV. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. The 
 manner in which these ladies arranged their hair, to be seen in 
 the portraits of Titus' daughter Julia, of Domitian's wife Domitia 
 Longina, of Trajan's sister Marciana, and of Hadrian's wife Sabina 
 (Plates XXIX, XXXI, XXXV, and XXXVII), is extraordinary, 
 and in much contrast to the almost modem style in wliich the ladies of 
 a more aristocratic time, that of the Caesars, wore their hair, to 
 be seen in the portraits of Livia, Antonia, Agrippina the elder, 
 Domitia Lepida, and Poppaea (Plates V, VII, XIII, XVII, and XXI). 
 
212 
 
 TRAJAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 nj 
 
 CONQUEST OF DACIA 
 
 213 
 
 agreeable to all classes and as opposed to ostentation as he 
 was himself. It is related by Dion Cassius that as Plotina 
 upon her arrival at Rome ascended the steps of the imperial 
 palace she turned and said to those with her, " As I enter this 
 palace to-day, I trust I shall leave it when the time may 
 come." To which he adds, " And she so bore herself through- 
 out the whole reign as to incur no blame." The writer Pliny 
 is loud in praises of Plotina, declaring that she was an embodi- 
 ment of all the virtues. Trajan, unostentatious as he was in his 
 own personal style of living, spent money lavishly on public 
 entertainments, especially on gladiatorial combats, which 
 were carried to their highest point in his reign ; and he especi- 
 ally pleased the people by having the imperial exedra (or royal 
 box) in the Circus Maximus removed, whereby 5,000 addi- 
 tional places were provided. 
 
 But Trajan while occupied in thus delighting the citizens 
 of Rome, had his eye fixed on the distant locality where he saw 
 that danger to the empire was brewing, and he knew that he 
 could not long remain enjojdng the easy life of the capital. 
 His tour of inspection along the Danube frontier had revealed 
 to him the dangerous results which had ensued from Domitian's 
 ignominious peace with the Dacians. That peace not only 
 agreed to the payment of an annual subsidy to Decebalus, the 
 king of the Dacians, but also undertook to provide him 
 with engineers and artificers skilled in the construction of 
 military works. As a consequence, during the ten years which 
 had since elapsed, Decebalus had organized a powerfvd army 
 equipped and trained on the Roman pattern, had erected 
 numerous fortifications, and had made Dacia a most formidable 
 enemy to the whole of the Roman provinces on the Danube 
 frontier. Trajan, convinced of the dangerous menace to the 
 empire thus created, did not wait for the Dacians to attack 
 and ravage the Roman provinces, but determined himself to 
 take the initiative. He therefore refused to continue to pay 
 the subsidy, and in March 101 left Rome for the Danube 
 frontier to prepare for war with the Dacians. ^ He first spent 
 a considerable time in making a road at the " Iron Gates " 
 
 * For the various foreign wars conducted by the Romans between 
 the time of Trajan and that of Constantine, see Appendix V. 
 
 (near Orsova), where the Danube flows between two high walls 
 of rock,^ and in collecting supplies for his force of about 60,000 
 men, and this done, he crossed the Danube by a bridge of 
 boats at Viminacium (now Kastolats), and entered on the 
 arduous campaign before him. The mountainous nature of 
 the country, the fortifications which had everywhere been 
 erected, and the excellent training which the Dacian troops 
 had received, caused Trajan to encounter in this war heavier 
 fighting than even that which Julius Caesar, 150 years before, 
 had met with in his campaigns in Gaul. Decebalus proved 
 himself an opponent not unworthy to be pitted against 
 even so able a commander as Trajan. Nevertheless after 
 desperate fighting, including a severe battle at Tapae, on the 
 Tibiscus, in which one entire legion was destroyed, and after 
 withdrawing for the winter to Pannonia, Trajan in the simimer 
 of 102 took fortress after fortress and at last reached Sarmize- 
 getusa, the capital of Decebalus, and he submitted. Trajan's 
 Mauretanian cavalry specially distinguished themselves in 
 the final victory. Decebalus was made to agree to level all 
 fortifications, to surrender all weapons and prisoners, and to 
 become merely a ruling prince subject to the suzerainty of 
 Rome. Trajan returned to Rome in 103, laden with trophies 
 of his victory, and celebrated his first Dacian triumph. 
 
 But the peace thus arranged did not last long. Decebalus, 
 unable to reconcile himself to the loss of his independence, 
 again declared war, and Trajan in 104 had once more to leave 
 Rome and enter on a still more severe campaign in Dacia. 
 This time Trajan took with him a force of 12 legions, equal 
 to about 144,000 men, and having determined to annex Dacia, 
 and in order to keep open his communications with Moesia, 
 he built a massive stone bridge across the Danube at Egeta 
 (now Turnu Severin), a wonderful engineering feat,^ by which 
 bridge he crossed into Dacia. A prolonged and desperate 
 struggle followed, the Dacians defending their mountainous 
 country with a valour and determination which won the 
 admiration even of the Romans, and the Dacian army was only 
 beaten by being almost exterminated. At length, in 106, 
 
 1 An inscription cut in the rock by Trajan at the narrowest part 
 still records his making of this difficult road. 
 
 * The architect was Apollodorus of Damascus. 
 
 .1 
 
 \_,_ 
 
 li-'|i,! 
 
 I ' 
 
^14 
 
 TRAJAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 cbap. 
 
 VI] 
 
 WIDE-SPREAD REFORMS 
 
 215 
 
 Sannizegetusa was captured and set on fire.^ Decebalus, 
 refusing to survive defeat, committed suicide ; his kingdom 
 was annexed, and made a Roman province, ^ and towards 
 the end of 107 Trajan returned to Rome with an immense 
 quantity of captured weapons, prisoners, and treasure. There 
 he celebrated a triumph which surpassed in splendour all that 
 had ever preceded it. Games were held continuously for 
 four whole months, 10,000 gladiators fought in the arena, 
 and 11,000 animals were killed in the various combats. Con- 
 gratulatory embassies came from all lands, even from India. 
 The Dacians, who had thus given the Romans the severest 
 fighting the latter had experienced, remained ever afterwards 
 loyal to the empire, and that race furnished in subsequent 
 generations a large number of Rome's best troops. 
 
 It is an error to suppose that the Roman army was com- 
 posed solely of men born in Italy, or that such an arrangement 
 would have been desirable. It would have been a mistake 
 both from a military and a political point of view to have con- 
 fined the Roman army to Italy as its sole recruiting ground ; 
 from a military point of view because Italy could not have 
 provided a sufficient number of men of the best fighting 
 material ; and from a political point of view because such a 
 course would have failed to raise a newly conquered province 
 to full equality \\ith the rest of the empire. Rome, therefore, 
 having conquered the Dacians, did not exclude them from her 
 army, and in after generations reaped the benefit of this sound 
 policy from the stout fighting qualities of her Dacian soldiers, 
 many of whom rose to the highest rank.^ 
 
 The conquest of Dacia being concluded there followed 
 seven years of peace (107-113), during which Trajan was 
 occupied in countless measures for the protection and welfare of 
 
 * A number of the Dacian nobles, when the city was about to be 
 taken, cissembled for a last banquet and together drank a poisoned 
 cup. This episode is depicted upon Trajan's column in Rome. 
 
 ' The new province of Dacia included about half of what is now 
 Hungary, and was bounded by the Theiss, the Carpathian Mountains, 
 the Sereth, and the Danube. 
 
 » See also Chap. XVI, p. 569. The same course has been taken 
 by our own government in India, more particularly with regard to 
 the Sikhs after the conquest of the Punjab, and with equally satis- 
 factory results. 
 
 his vast empire. A thorough reform of the army was carried 
 out, Trajan re-modelling the entke military organization ; 
 and so sound were the principles on which this was done that 
 the military organization as settled by him remained unchanged 
 for 200 years, until again re-modelled by Constantine. But 
 this by no means exhausted Trajan's energies ; his admini- 
 strative measures were innumerable, and being all on sound 
 principles gave universal satisfaction. He reduced taxation 
 by wise financial reforms, and protected the people from 
 oppression at the hands of provincial governors by stringent 
 regulations. To guard against famine in Rome he is recorded 
 to have kept stored in the public granaries sufficient com for 
 no less than seven years' consumption. He increased the 
 importation of articles of food by wise fiscal arrangements. 
 He augmented the internal trade of the empire by weU-con- 
 sidered regulations for the due maintenance of the great main 
 roads, as well as by laying out many additional roads. His 
 care for the welfare of the poorer classes led him to inaugurate 
 his important institution of the alimenUi, whereby means were 
 provided for rearing destitute children. He improved many 
 details in the administration of justice ; he prevented cor- 
 ruption in the election of the magistrates by introducing 
 the ballot ; and he restored many of the privileges and 
 powers of the Senate which had fallen mto abeyance. Trajan 
 also added a tenth aqueduct, called the Aqua Trajana,i to the 
 nine which already existed for supplying pure water to Rome, 
 the supply brought by Trajan's aqueduct being taken from the 
 Sabatine Lake in the mountains to the north-west of Rome. 
 By these and other similar measures Trajan earned a right to 
 no small portion of the extravagant eulogies which were 
 lavished upon him in Pliny's celebrated " Panegyric." And 
 as if to show that, while introducing measures to meet the 
 multifarious needs of a world-wide empire, no subject was too 
 smaU to engage his attention, Trajan for the benefit of the 
 public of Rome organized the " Corporation of bakers." 
 
 In the midst, however, of his many pubUc virtues we must 
 
 not put entirely out of sight that in his private life Trajan 
 
 was no paragon. He is stated to have been tainted with 
 
 the same vices as his successor Hadrian, and he was also 
 
 1 Still in use, and now called the Aqua Paola. 
 
 i'U 
 
 ri' ' 
 
 !■■! 
 
216 
 
 TRAJAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI] 
 
 undoubtedly a drunkard. Merivale speaks of him as only retain- 
 ing his self-respect owing to the bluntness of his moral sense. 
 But these were matters which to the Romans of the 2nd 
 century were mere peccadilloes, and Trajan's high sense of 
 public duty, his justice, and his firm and equable rule made 
 him universally honoured. 
 
 Trajan did not feel impeUed, like nearly aU his predecessors, 
 to add stiU further to the imperial residence on the Palatine 
 hill. The magnificent palace to which he succeeded, embrac- 
 ing as it did the palaces of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula, 
 and the group of State apartments erected by Domitian, more 
 than sufficed for all his needs. He therefore turned liis build- 
 ing energies to the construction of a magnificent Forum. Begun 
 immediately on his arrival at Rome in 100, and completed be- 
 fore his death, the Forum of Trajan, ^ his chief work in Rome, was 
 the last and most magnificent of aU the Fora of the emperors. 
 To obtain space for it he cut away a whole spur of the Quirinal 
 bill which till then had joined that hill to the Capitol. This 
 splendid Forum adjoined that of Augustus, and consisted of 
 four parts, the Forum proper, the Basilica (or haU of justice), 
 the two Libraries, one for Greek and the other for Latin books, 
 with an open court in the centre in which was his Column and 
 lastly the Temple of Trajan. The principal entrance led from 
 the Forum of Augustus, and was a triumphal Arch, decreed in 
 honour of Trajan by the Senate. This was adorned with 
 beautiful bas-reHefs representing Trajan's deeds in war; 
 and these bas-reHefs stm remain, as 200 years later the emperor 
 Constantino transferred them to his own Arch, which stiU 
 exists.2 Beyond the triumphal Arch lay the Forum proper • 
 this was 220 yards in width, with, in the centre, the great 
 equestnan statue of Trajan, in bronze. Three entrances on 
 the western side of this Forum led into the five-haUed BasiHca 
 Ulpia (called after Trajan's family name), the central haU being 
 27 yards in width, and the whole Basilica being 61 yards in 
 wadth. This, as we can see from the portion of it which has been 
 excavated, had fluted columns of yeUow marble and a rich 
 pavement of Oriental coloured marbles. Beyond this BasiHca 
 
 1 Designed by his capable architect Apollodorus of Damascus, who 
 ha^ also designed the massive stone bridge across the Danube. 
 » Chap. XII, p. 376. 
 
 FORUM OF TRAJAN 
 
 217 
 
 was an open court with, on either side, the two Libraries. 
 And beyond this court was the Temple of Trajan, completed 
 after his decease by his successor Hadrian. 
 
 In the centre of the court between the two Libraries Trajan 
 erected his celebrated marble Column, the finest monument of 
 the kind in the world. It stiU exists in perfect preservation 
 after 1800 years. It is 100 feet high, the height corresponding 
 with that of the hiU which Trajan cut away, as is recorded by 
 the inscription on the pedestal. Around the column from 
 base to summit runs a spiral band, 3 feet wide and 660 feet 
 long, covered with bas-reHefs representing Trajan's war with 
 the Dacians, and containing, besides animals and machines, as 
 many as 2500 human figures, each about two feet high at 
 the base of the column and increasing in size towards its 
 summit, so as to preserve the same proportion to the eye when 
 seen from below. At the foot of the column is a sepulchral 
 chamber, intended for receiving the ashes of the emperor ; 
 and Dion Cassius states that Trajan's ashes, enclosed in a golden 
 urn, were buried beneath the column in this chamber. 
 
 The splendid group of buildings composing this Forum of 
 Trajan, consisting of his triumphal Arch, the Forimi proper, 
 the BasiHca, the Column, the two Libraries, and the Temple, 
 was justly considered the finest of aU the many magnificent 
 buildings of Rome. And no testimony to their grandeur could 
 be more impressive than the description of the effect which 
 they produced upon Constantino the Great — himself a man of 
 vast ideas— some 200 years afterwards. Ammianus Mar- 
 ceUinus says :— " But when he entered the Forum of Trajan, 
 the most marveUous invention of human genius, he was 
 struck with admiration, and looked round in amazement, with- 
 out being able to utter a word, wondering at the gigantic 
 structures which no pen can describe, and which mankind can 
 create and see only once in the course of centmies. Having 
 consequently given up any hope of himself building anything 
 which would approach, even at a respectful distance, the 
 work of Trajan, he turned his attention to the equestrian 
 statue placed in the centre of the Forum, and said to those 
 with him that he would have one like it in Constantinople." ^ 
 But Constantino's admiration of these buildings did not pre- 
 vent him from puUing to pieces Trajan's beautiful arch and 
 
 1 Ammianus Marcellinus, xvi, 10, 
 
 il 
 
^m 
 
 218 
 
 TRAJAN (Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 T 
 
 transferring its bas-reliefs to his own arch,^ a barbarous act 
 of vandalism. Though, as Constantine's arch still exists, 
 while Trajan's arch has long since been destroyed, it is owing 
 to this same vandahsm that these beautiful bas-rehefs have 
 been preserved. 
 
 Trajan's views in regard to civil government and the res- 
 ponsibilities of the Proconsuls of provinces were as wide- 
 minded as might have been expected from such a ruler. He 
 was entirely free from the small-mindedness which always 
 ^ brinks from decentralization and expects subordinates to refer 
 nearly every matter to the decision of the supreme authority. 
 He boldly gave to the Proconsuls of provinces great freedom 
 of action, and constantly endeavoured to teach them not to 
 refer matters to him unless of the highest importance, but to 
 act on their own responsibility ; and since the best results 
 are only achieved when men are given considerable power of 
 initiative, Trajan thereby showed that he had grasped the 
 first great principle of successful government. This is markedly 
 demonstrated in his letters to Pliny. The celebrated orator 
 and writer Pliny the younger was one of Trajan's chief 
 friends, and was appointed by him as Proconsul of Bithynia 
 and Pontus. They were in constant correspondence, and the 
 emperor's replies to Pliny reveal much of Trajan's character. 
 These letters,* while they show Trajan's views on many sub- 
 jects, show also that he was continually endeavouring quietly 
 to teach Pliny that most of the matters which the latter re- 
 ferred to him should not have been so referred, but should have 
 been decided by himself. Both Pliny, one of whose chief works 
 is his Panegyric on Trajan, and his friend the renowned 
 lawyer and rhetorician Tacitus, were great admirers of 
 Trajan ; and it was in the reign of the latter that Tacitus, 
 apparently with much the same object in regard to Trajan 
 as that aimed at in his friend Pliny's " Panegyric," began to 
 write his Annals. 
 
 The desolate condition to which the Roman Campagna 
 was brought after the 6th century is in strange contrast to 
 the description of it in the time of Trajan given by Pliny. 
 
 1 See Plate LIV. (p, 376). 
 
 * The well-known letter from Pliny to Trajan regarding the 
 Christians (see p. 223), written in 112, is one of these. 
 
 VI] 
 
 CONQUESTS IN PARTHIA 
 
 219 
 
 He says : — " Such is the happy and beautiful appearance of 
 the Campagna that it seems to be the work of a rejoicing nature. 
 For truly so it appears in the vital and perennial salubrity of 
 its atmosphere, in its fertile plains, sunny hills, healthy woods, 
 thick groves, rich varieties of trees, breezy moimtains, fer- 
 tiUty in fruits, vines, and olives, its splendid flocks of sheep, 
 abundant herds of cattle, numerous lakes, and wealth of rivers 
 and streams." 
 
 At the end of the year 113 Trajan once more left Rome 
 for active operations in the field, this time on the eastern 
 frontier, where the attacks of the Parthian empire upon 
 Rome's vassal state of Armenia were insulting the majesty of 
 Rome. Trajan therefore determined to annex Armenia to 
 the Roman Empire, and thoroughly to subdue Parthia. He 
 first went to Athens, and after a short stay there proceeded 
 to Antioch, the principal city on the eastern side of the empire, 
 and the starting point of all military operations towards the 
 east. There he spent the whole of the year 114 reorganizing 
 the eastern legions and gathering reinforcements, and in the 
 spring of 115 advanced into Armenia. During the next three 
 years, in a series of brilliant campaigns, Trajan advanced 
 Rome's frontier greatly to the east ; the astonished Senate 
 were perpetually receiving news of fresh nations conquered ; 
 Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Osrhoene, and the tribes of the 
 Median and Carduchian hills, all in turn submitted to him.i 
 In 115 he took Arsamosata and declared Armenia a Roman 
 province. In the same year he conquered Mesopotamia, and 
 made it also a Roman province. After returning to Antioch 
 for the winter, during which he built a fleet on the Euphrates, 
 Trajan in 116 crossed the upper waters of the Tigris into 
 Carduene, drove back the Parthian forces, and annexed Assyria. 
 Putting the Parthian king to flight, he took Ctesiphon, the 
 Parthian capital, capturing the golden throne of the Parthian 
 empire, which he sent to Rome, and sailed in triumph 
 down the Tigris from the mountains of Armenia to the head 
 of the Persian Gulf. For these victories Trajan received the 
 title of *' Parthicus." Finding, however, that such extensive 
 conquests would be too burdensome for the empire to main- 
 tain he in 117 gave back Assyria to the Parthians, retaining 
 
 1 See Map C. 
 
220 
 
 TRAJAN (Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 only three provinces beyond the Tigris. The Roman army 
 then returned towards Syria, but on the way in besieging 
 Hatra in the Mesopotamian desert, where the want of water 
 prevented him from employing the whole of his force, Trajan, 
 then sixty-five years old, suffered a defeat for the first time 
 in his long life of warfare, had a narrow escape from being 
 killed, and was forced to retreat. At the same time the Jews 
 scattered over the various countries of the east at a given 
 signal suddenly rose in revolt in his rear, and Trajan, worn 
 out and ill, had to abandon affairs in Mesopotamia, and hasten 
 back to Antioch to deal with this formidable and widespread 
 revolt. The Jews had massacred 240,000 of the Roman and 
 Greek population in Cyprus, and 220,000 in Cyrene. The 
 Romans massacred the Jews in return, but it was some 
 time before the insurrection was put down. Then Trajan 
 prepared to return from Antioch, where Plotina had rejoined 
 him, to Mesopotamia to wipe out his defeat ; but ill health 
 compelled him to embark for Italy, and his illness increasing 
 on the way he landed at Silenus in Cilicia, and died there on 
 the 8th August, 117, at the age of sixty-five. His ashes 
 were conveyed by Plotina to Rome, and buried at the foot of 
 his column.^ 
 
 When at his death Trajan was deified an exception to the 
 usual rule was made, his name alone among all those of the 
 emperors being permitted to retain attached to it a title won 
 in the field, that of " Parthicus." He was sincerely mourned 
 by the Roman people, who knew that his wars were under- 
 taken, not for conquest, but for the security of the empire. 
 The character of his reign, and the estimation in which it was 
 held ever afterwards by the Romans, is sufficiently demon- 
 strated by the speech with which each succeeding emperor 
 was saluted on his accession, " May you be better than Trajan, 
 and more fortimate than Augustus." 
 
 As Trajan had been absent for four years at such a distance 
 from Rome, and during the last year of his life had been in- 
 volved in so many pressing anxieties, there was at first a 
 doubt as to whom he had nominated as his successor, as he 
 had left no document to indicate this. But on the empress 
 Plotina's assertion that Trajan had nominated his cousin 
 
 1 See p. 217. 
 
 ^i 
 
 VI] 
 
 DEATH OF ST. JOHN 
 
 221 
 
 Hadrian, whom he had left in charge of affairs in Mesopotamia, 
 the latter was accepted as Trajan's successor. It is perhaps 
 the only instance on record where an emperor succeeded to the 
 throne of the world upon the simple verbal testimony of a 
 woman, and the fact shows the high estimation in which 
 Trajan's wife Plotina was held by the Roman people. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 In the second year of Trajan's reign (a.d. 100) the Apostle 
 St. John died at Ephesus, being then nearly ninety years old.^ 
 Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Clement of Alexandria all state 
 that before his death some of the Bishops of the Churches of 
 Asia Elinor brought to him copies of the Grospels of St. Matthew, 
 St. Mark, and St. Luke, and that thereupon he publicly acknow- 
 ledged these three Gospels as authentic and correct. 
 
 An important change had by this time taken place in the 
 status of Christianity. That religion was no longer little 
 known, as in the time of Claudius and Nero. And as it became 
 better known, Rome had begun to realize that this new reli- 
 gion was a foe to all her most cherished institutions, her entire 
 political and social life being bound up with the worship of the 
 gods of Rome. The result was that it had now been declared 
 against the law to be a Christian. No longer, therefore, was it 
 necessary to trump up charges against Christians ; the simple 
 fact of being a Christian was enough. Any one who bore 
 a grudge of any kind against a Christian had merely to de- 
 nounce him or her to the authorities as such, and the latter were 
 bound by law to put the accused person to death, and could not 
 spare the person even if they wished to do so. This therefore 
 placed Christians in a much more perilous position than they 
 had hitherto occupied. 
 
 Soon after Trajan became emperor Clement, the Bishop of 
 the Christian community in Rome, was thus denounced to him 
 
 1 Some of the ancient writers, Eusebius in particular, say that his 
 death took place much later, Eusebius saying that St. John lived to 
 the age of 120. But Eusebius, writing in the 4th century, while 
 generally correct as to facts, is often mistaken as to dates. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 222 
 
 TRAJAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 
 I 
 
 as being a Christian. Qement had been Bishop of Rome for 
 six years, and during the first four of those years the persecution 
 under Domitian was taking place. He can apparently 
 only have escaped a similar denunciation at that time owing 
 to being a relative of the emperor Domitian, as asserted by 
 tradition, confirmed by the most recent authority. ^ But such 
 a relationship was in the time of Trajan far from being any 
 kind of protection, and Clement was therefore denounced to him 
 by some enemy of the Christians. Many among the Pagan 
 community, however, so honoured him that they wished to 
 save him, and when he was brought before the Prefect, Mauri- 
 tius, the latter found no fault with him, and interceded for him 
 with the emperor. Trajan's reply was that the law must be 
 obeyed, and that Clement must sacrifice to the gods of Rome. 
 As Clement refused to do this he was banished to the Crimea, 
 a lenient sentence. There, however, he continued to preach 
 and make converts, and was again denounced ; whereupon 
 Trajan condemned him to death, and he was tied to an anchor « 
 and thrown into the sea (a.d. 101). 
 
 This history has advanced fifty years since in the reign of 
 Nero we obtained a glimpse of the Christians from a Roman's 
 point of view. That record was written by one looking around 
 him in the capital of the empire. We now have another such 
 glimpse, giving us a view of the impression that Christianity 
 was making in a distant province of the empire, and how it 
 was regarded by another important Roman writer, the cele- 
 brated Pliny, then Proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus. We 
 have both his letter to Trajan and the latter's reply. In the 
 year 112, Pliny, having lately taken over charge of the pro- 
 vince, writes to the emperor making various enquiries as to 
 how he is to treat this sect whose doctrines he finds very 
 prevalent.^ After saying that he has " never been present 
 before at any examination of Christians," he asks for instruc- 
 tion on the following points : — " What is the usual object of 
 
 1 Page 200 (footnote). 
 
 « Churches dedicated to St. Clement have the sign of the anchor. 
 One such may be seen in the city of London. St. Clement is comme- 
 morated in the Prayer Book of the Church of England on the 23rd 
 November. 
 
 3 Pliny, LeUerSf x, 97. 
 
 il 
 
 VI] 
 
 PLINY'S LETTER 
 
 223 
 
 inquiry or punishment ? — Should any distinction be made 
 between old and young ? — Is the name itself, or the crimes 
 connected with it, the object of punishment ? " He states : — 
 " Hitherto I have ordered those who showed obstinate per- 
 severance to be executed ; for of this I had no doubt, whatever 
 was the nature of their religion, that stubbornness and 
 obstinacy ought to be punished." But he says that he finds 
 that the thing is spreading. Also that he had caused some 
 who were accused by anonymous informers to repeat after 
 him an invocation to the gods, to revile Christ, and to offer 
 worship to the emperor's statue, and those who did this he 
 had released. Also that he " found it was their custom to 
 meet before daylight, to say a hymn to Christ as to a god, 
 and to bind themselves by an oath (sacramentum) " ; that 
 he had prohibited these meetings, and had " judged it right to 
 hold an inquiry by torture upon two females who were said to 
 be deaconesses, but could elicit nothing from them but a 
 depraved superstition." He also states : — " The contagion 
 of this superstition has spread, not only through cities, but 
 even to vUlages and the country, and the temples have been 
 in some places nearly deserted." This letter shows how 
 strange and incomprehensible Christianity appeared to a 
 highly educated Roman, and also how widely it was spreading. 
 Trajan's reply is short and decisive. He says : — " These 
 people ought not to be sought after. If they are denounced 
 before you and convicted let them be executed. Yet with 
 this restriction, that if any one of them consents to worship 
 our gods let him be pardoned, even though he has been a 
 Christian formerly. But anonymous accusations ought in no 
 case to be listened to ; for it is a dangerous precedent, and 
 quite inconsistent with the principles of our age." This, 
 according to Roman ideas, was a merciful and temperate 
 
 reply. 
 
 In this, known as the Third persecution, besides Gement, 
 another great leader among the Christians was also to suffer 
 a martyr's death. Ignatius, at this time about ninety 
 years old, had been Bishop of Antioch for nearly fifty years, 
 i.e. during nearly forty years of the life of the Apostle St. John. 
 He had been about twenty years old when Christianity was 
 first preached at Antioch, had known personally St. Peter, 
 
224 
 
 TRAJAN {Mattera concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI] 
 
 THE LETTERS OF IGNATIUS 
 
 225 
 
 St. John, St. Barnabas, St. Paul, and other Apostles, had been 
 taught by St. John himself, and when he was about forty had 
 been made by St. Peter ^ Bishop of the most important of all 
 the Christian Churches, the venerated mother-Church of 
 Antioch. He was deservedly respected throughout the East, 
 and his opinion on all matters connected with the Christian 
 Church was highly valued, both on account of his being head 
 of the most important commimity of Christians, and owing 
 to his long personal acquaintance with the Apostles. In the 
 year 114 Trajan, being at Antioch making his preparations for 
 the Parthian war, was irritated at finding the Christians muster- 
 ing so strongly there, and at their failure to adopt that attitude 
 towards the majesty of Rome, in his person, which all other 
 communities demonstrated, and he ordered the venerable leader 
 of this community to be brought before him. The record of 
 the trial has been preserved. Trajan begins by the question, 
 " What impious being art thou, both to transgress our com- 
 mands and to inveigle others into the same folly, to their 
 ruin ? ** After various other questions and answers the 
 emperor's final sentence runs thus : — " This Ignatius, who says 
 that he bears about within himself Him that was crucified, 
 and is called Theophorus (the God-bearer), we command to 
 be taken, bound, by soldiers to Great Rome, there to be thrown 
 to the wild beasts for the amusement of the people." 
 
 The venerable Bishop was at once sent off in charge of a 
 military escort, and taken via Seleucis to Smyrna. There he 
 met Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (himself to suffer martyrdom 
 fifty years later), and many deputations from the Churches 
 in Asia Minor. Thence he was taken by sea to Troas, thence 
 to Neapolis, across Macedonia to Epirus, and across the 
 Adriatic to Puteoli (in the bay of Naples), and thence to Rome. 
 From several of these places he wrote letters to the different 
 Churches in Asia Minor, and these letters, containing as they do 
 much important information as to the views of the Church 
 at that time on many subjects, are highly valued. He reached 
 Rome on the last day of the games, was at once hurried into 
 the arena of the Colosseum, where two lions were let loose upon 
 him, and he was torn to pieces. A few of the larger bones only 
 were left, which the Christians in Rome collected that night, 
 
 1 Chap. IV, p. 158. 
 
 and buried beneath the altar of the church of St. Clement in 
 that city.i 
 
 Ignatius' letters, written on the above journey, which are 
 considered the most valuable evidences of the Christian Church 
 of the 1st century, have for over 300 years formed the subject 
 of much controversy, which has now been set at rest. Calvin 
 (who died in 1564) declared Ignatius' letters to be forgeries, 
 and it is true that the twelve letters known in his time laboured 
 under much suspicion of interpolation. But in 1644 a manu- 
 script was discovered at Florence which contained seven of 
 Ignatius' letters, and these seven letters of the Florentine 
 manuscript have since been subjected to the most searching 
 criticism of the German experts, with the result that the whole 
 of them are now pronounced to be undoubtedly genuine. 
 
 There appears to be a mistake in the date usually assigned 
 to the martyrdom of Ignatius, and, consequently, to that of 
 Ignatius' letters, universally held to have been written during 
 his journey as a prisoner to Rome. The martyrdom of Ignatius 
 is generally stated to have occurred in 107, and all authorities 
 have assigned this date to his letters. It is sometimes added 
 by writers that his condemnation to death by Trajan occurred 
 when the latter was passing through Antioch on his return 
 from the war in Dacia, which is evidently a complete mistake, 
 as a glance at the map will show. Trajan, laden with prisoners, 
 trophies, and treasures, and anxious to get back to Rome after 
 an arduous campaign, would never have diverged to go off 
 (without any reason) to Syria ; nor is there any record of his 
 having done so. Other writers state that this condemnation 
 of Ignatius at Antioch occurred when Trajan was passing 
 through that city on his way to the war in Parthia ; and this is 
 
 * See Chap. V, p. 200. This fact of the interment of the bones 
 of the martyred Ignatius beneath the altar of the church of St. Clement, 
 wliich had always been carefully handed do\vn by tradition, has in 
 recent years received remarkable testimony. In 1857 the lower church 
 of St. Clement was accidentally discovered beneath the present church, 
 this lower church being filled to its roof with earth, to form a firm 
 foundation when the present church was built over it in the 11th 
 century. It was carefully excavated, and, among various other 
 interesting reminiscences of the past, beneath the site of the ancient 
 altar were discovered these revered reUcs of the martyred St. Ignatius, 
 deposited there so many centuries before. 
 
 E.W. Q 
 
 ^ 
 
 Mll!^ 
 
 ^(113 
 
 I 
 
226 
 
 TRAJAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI] 
 
 227 
 
 no doubt correct. But Trajan did not arrive at Antioch on 
 his way to the war in Parthia until early in 114. This year 
 114, therefore, and not 107, must be the date of Ignatius' 
 martyrdom, and the date of his letters. 
 
 Trajan was stem and strict, but he was eminently just, and 
 devoid of all vindictiveness against any religious sect, as his 
 letter to Pliny shows. His action regarding Clement and 
 Ignatius was in both cases governed by law, and not inspired 
 by a vindictive spirit. The Christians must have appeared a 
 more or less objectionable sect in his eyes, but he would not 
 authorize any general ill-treatment of them, or any stretching 
 of the law in order to suppress them. And his stern pro- 
 hibition against seeking them out, and against listening to 
 anonymous accusations regarding them, does him honour. 
 Under an emperor of this description the Christians through- 
 out the empire lived during the twenty years of his reign in 
 far greater tranquillity than they had experienced since the 
 attitude of the Pagan world towards them was altered by 
 Nero's persecution, and we are shown by Pliny's letter how 
 largely Christianity under these conditions was at this time 
 spreading. 
 
 HADRIAN 
 
 117 — 138 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 HADRIAN,^ born at Rome, a cousin of Trajan, under 
 whom he had served throughout the severe campaigns 
 in Dacia and Parthia, was at the time of Trajan's death com- 
 manding the army on the eastern frontier. On being pro- 
 claimed as Trajan's successor he was at once accepted by the 
 army and the nation with approval. He was then forty -two 
 years old, and was undoubtedly the fittest man who could have 
 been selected. 
 
 Hadrian reigned for twenty-one years (117-138). On com- 
 ing to the throne he gave up Mesopotamia and Armenia, drew 
 back the eastern frontier again to the Euphrates, and devoted 
 himself to the strengthening and consolidation of the empire. 
 He reached Rome early in 118, but almost immediately had 
 to proceed to the Danube to deal with a Sarmatian invasion, 
 which he quickly defeated. Returning to Rome he devoted 
 the next two years to internal administration, and then in 121 
 set out upon an immense tour round the empire, in the course 
 of which he visited nearly every province. ^ He first traversed 
 the whole of the northern frontier, passing through Pannonia, 
 Noricum, and Rhaetia to the lower course of the Rhine, then 
 spent some time in Gaul,^ and from thence in 122 crossed into 
 Britain. There, after re-establishing the small Roman colony 
 at Londinium (London), he travelled by the Roman road to 
 York (then the principal settlement in Britain), and proceeding 
 to the northern frontier, designed, laid out, and saw begun 
 the huge Roman wall (constructed of stone) known by his 
 name, from the Tyne to the Solway, 73 miles long, an enor- 
 mous work which took many years to complete, and required 
 12,000 men to garrison its various forts.* 
 
 * Plate XXXVI. Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 ' See Map A. 
 
 ^ Trajan's wife Plotina died at Rome at this time, and Hadrian 
 erected a splendid mausoleum to her memory at Nismes in Gaul, where 
 he was when he heard of her death. 
 
 * See Chap. VIH, pp. 286-288. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 228 
 
 HADRIAN {Matters other than religion ) 
 
 
 ™ , 
 
 Having inaugurated this great work, Hadrian quitted Britain, ^ 
 passed through western Gaul into Spain, and thence in 123 
 crossed into Mauretania, where he drove back an incursion of 
 the Moors and repaired the towns which they had devastated. 
 He then travelled through North Africa to Cyrene, crossed from 
 thence to Asia Minor, and thence proceeded in the autumn to 
 the Euphrates, where by an interview with the Parthian 
 king he averted a war. He then in 124 travelled to the shores 
 of the Black Sea, and turning once more westwards traversed 
 Pontus and Bithynia, crossed into Thrace, passed in 125 
 through Macedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly, and in the autumn 
 reached Athens, where he stayed for some time collecting 
 various treasures of art. From Greece in 126 he sailed to 
 Sicily, and, having made the circuit of nearly the whole em- 
 pire, returned in the end of that year to Rome, where he forth- 
 with began the construction of the immense " Villa " which 
 he laid out at Tivoli. 
 
 After remaining a httle more than a year in Rome Hadrian 
 started again in 128, travelled first to Athens, where he spent 
 the winter, crossed thence in 129 to Ephesus, traversed Pisidia 
 and Cilicia, and in June reached Antioch. Thence he visited 
 Palmyra and Judaea, travelled to Arabia, apparently sailed 
 down the Red Sea as far as Aden,^ and from Arabia in 130 
 proceeded to Egypt, where he spent more than a year. After 
 visiting Alexandria, he ascended the Nile, visiting Memphis, 
 Hehopohs, Thebes, and Philae, returned down the Nile, and 
 then proceeded in 132 to Jerusalem, where he put down an 
 insurrection raised by the Jews.^ From Judaea in 133 he 
 travelled to Greece, and from there in 134 returned to Rome, 
 where he took up his abode in his vast Villa at Tivoli, which was 
 by this time sufficiently advanced to be occupied. 
 
 Thus out of his reign of twenty -one years Hadrian was for 
 nearly fourteen years almost uninterruptedly on the move, 
 visiting the various provinces, learning their needs and re- 
 sources, becoming acquainted with their inhabitants, and 
 
 ^ A coin of Hadrian's (with the name " Britannia " upon it) has 
 the traditional figure of Britannia which has ever since been adopted. 
 
 2 It was probably at this time that the splendid Roman water- 
 tanks at Aden, which are the chief sight in that desolate spot, were 
 constructed. ^ Qqq p, 229. 
 
PLATE XXXVI. 
 
 Hadrian. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican mmemn, Rome. 
 From Hadrian's time'onwards .h.- Pagan emptrori wort- beards. 
 
 PLATE XXXVU. 
 
 Sabina, wife of Hadrian. 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museutn, Rome. 
 
ri.AI!. WW I 
 
 r <n\ 
 
 11,1 li'Mii- ;iiiif'i nu i; !•• h ■ I'l.: in tiup. r. r- \\"V< 1" .if. 
 
 II \ I : N X x\ 1 1 
 
 r'-itiiiit-lni-t It: 
 
 ( iit'il"! inii-'t i:iii. I\'>]iu 
 
VI] 
 
 AN EMPEROR'S TOURS 
 
 229 
 
 inaugurating both administrative measures and public works 
 for their benefit. No emperor before or after him perhaps so 
 well understood the true task of a Roman emperor, or per- 
 formed it with such success. Peace, prosperity, and content- 
 ment followed his steps as he thus traversed province after 
 province of an empire which covered almost the whole known 
 world. He was as careful over the discipline, training, and 
 efficiency of the army as Trajan, but except in the case of 
 Mauretania and Judaea he managed to avoid having to employ 
 it. Everywhere that he went he left lasting traces of his energy. 
 He was accompanied in these tours by a body of architects 
 and artisans organized like a Roman legion, and by this means 
 was enabled to gratify his passion for building. Aqueducts, 
 bridges, fortifications, public buildings, and temples, together 
 with numerous administrative and charitable measures for the 
 benefit of the people, were the results of these immense pro- 
 gresses. And if Trajan was the greatest of the four emperors 
 who brought the Roman enipire to so high a point at this 
 period, Hadrian (except for the shadow cast over the last 
 two or three years of his life) approached Trajan closely in 
 furnishing an example of an ideal Roman emperor of the 
 Pagan epoch, though the gross immorality of his private life 
 in regard to sins which had been so forcibly denounced by 
 St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans necessarily marred his 
 record as compared with that of the emperors who lived two 
 centuries later. 
 
 In the year 132 there occurred in Judsea a final revolt of those 
 Jews who in the sixty years since the destruction of Jerusalem 
 had gradually collected again in that country. The revolt 
 was severely crushed ; every Jew was banished from the 
 country, and death was decreed as the penalty for any of that 
 race who should thenceforth enter Judaea. In order entirely 
 to blot out Jerusalem Hadrian erected a new city, inhabited 
 by a Greek population, on the ruins of the Jewish city, gave 
 it the name of iElia Capitolina, and on the site of the Jewish 
 Temple built a temple to Jupiter. 
 
 Hadrian was married not long before Trajan's death to 
 Sabina,^ the granddaughter of Trajan's sister Marciana, but 
 their marriage did not prove a happy one, though not through 
 
 * Plate XXXVII. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 i" 
 
 ^■i' 
 
 11 
 
230 
 
 HADRIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI] 
 
 THE VILLA OF HADRIAN 
 
 231 
 
 any fault on the part of Sabina. During Trajan's reign his 
 wife Plotina, his sister Marciana, and the latter's daughter 
 Matidia, Sabina's mother, formed a circle whose ideas were of 
 a very strict tjrpe, and Sabina, brought up in this atmosphere, 
 strongly resented Hadrian's gross immorality. She was cul- 
 tured and virtuous, but her intelligence was of a moderate 
 order and not such as could appreciate the vast schemes of a 
 Hadrian, and mutual dislike caused him to treat her as a 
 nonentity. 
 
 It was while Hadrian was in Egypt during the last of his 
 tours, that while sailing down the Nile he lost his favoimte 
 Antinous, who was mysteriously drowned, or drowned himself, ^ 
 in the Nile. Hadrian was inconsolable ; he gave Antinous' 
 name to a newly discovered star, cities were called after him, 
 medals struck with his effigy, statues erected to him all over 
 the empire, temples built for his worship, and festivals cele- 
 brated in his honour. A great impulse was thus given to 
 sculpture, by the endeavour to produce an ideahzed repre- 
 sentation of Antinous, and to this we owe several of the most 
 beautiful statues now in the Roman museums. 
 
 Hadrian, besides his talents as a soldier and an adminis- 
 trator, possessed others which demonstrated his versatile 
 character and wonderful mental energy. His knowledge in 
 regard to painting, sculpture, music, and philosophy, all of 
 which subjects he had studied deeply, was sufficient to make 
 him a critic to whose opinion great value was attached, and he 
 could maintain an argument successfully on any of these 
 subjects even with men who had made them the study of a 
 lifetime. He also evinced much talent as a poet. But the 
 subject on which he specially prided himself was architecture ; 
 and many of the great works built under his auspices were 
 mainly designed by himself, though in regard to others he 
 was indebted to the talents of Trajan's celebrated architect, 
 Apollodorus of Damascus. 
 
 Hadrian, after returning from his last tour in 134 spent the 
 remaining four years of his life at Rome, and there he indulged 
 his passion for building on as grand a scale as in other parts of 
 the empire. The four chief results of this were the immense 
 " Villa of Hadrian " (near Tivoli), eight miles in ckcuit, begun 
 
 1 See p. 234. 
 
 in 127 and continually added to up to the end of his reign, his 
 palace on the Palatine hill, his Temple of Venus and Rome, 
 and his Mausoleum. 
 
 The " Villa of Hadrian," covering an area of several square 
 miles on the lower slopes of the hill of Tivoli, was designed by 
 him in order to collect within its limits works of art and 
 models of everything which had specially won his admiration 
 during his wide travels through his vast empire. The magni- 
 ficence of its conception, its lovely views over the Campagna, 
 the numerous masterpieces of art which its ruins have yielded, 
 and its splendour even in decay, make us feel lost in wonder at 
 what it must have been in its perfection. Hadrian's bio- 
 grapher Spartian calls it " a marvel of architecture and land- 
 scape-gardening." In this immense ViQa Hadrian gathered 
 a collection of all the choicest works of Greek art ; and not- 
 withstanding centuries of destruction, this Villa has furnished 
 nearly a third of the works of art now in the Vatican and 
 Capitol Museums in Rome. The chief portions of the Villa 
 which can still be traced are : — ^the Stoa Poecile, a huge 
 colonnade 250 yards long and 110 yards wide, surrounding 
 an open court with a large water basin in the centre, an imi- 
 tation of the painted portico of the same name at Athens which 
 was ornamented with frescoes of the battle of Marathon ; 
 the Hundred Chambers, for the emperor's guards ; the Hall 
 of Philosophers, with niches for statues ; the (Ecus Corinthius, 
 with semi-circular recesses for fountains ; the Academy, a 
 reproduction of the celebrated grove at Athens ; the Greek 
 Theatre, with remains of the rows of seats ; the Odeum, for 
 musical performances ; the Latin Theatre, with stage and 
 rows of seats ; the Swimming Bath, with statues of Nymphs, 
 and an artificial island ornamented with columns ; the Library, 
 having beyond it a garden ; the Triclinium, or banqueting 
 hall, commanding a beautiful and extended view ; the Doric 
 Peristyle, where was found a fine mosaic floor now in the Vatican 
 Museum ; the Basilica, with thirty-six marble pillars and 
 remains of a splendid marble pavement ; the Domed Hall, 
 with semi-circular apse and a fountain ; the Lyceum, with a 
 handsome colonnade ; the Throne-room, with a raised platform 
 and exedra ; the Golden Court, surrounded with a colonnade of 
 sixty-eight columns of Oriental granite and cipollino marble 
 
232 
 
 HADRIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 cnttA#. 
 
 m 
 
 VI] 
 
 MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN 
 
 233 
 
 which were profusely decorated with gold ; the Stadium, or 
 foot-race ground ; the Cryptoporticus, with a suite of rooms 
 opening from it overlooking the Stadium ; the Hippodrome, 
 for chariot races ; the Baths, with remains of handsome decor- 
 ations ; the " VaUey of the Styx,'' 220 yards long, ending in a 
 large recess cut out of the rock ; the " VaUey of Canopus," 
 artificiaUy cut out of the rock, with a canal and temple in 
 imitation of that at Canopus in Egypt ; together with various 
 other buildings, temples, etc., aUof them imitations of notable 
 structures in Greece or Egypt. 
 
 This celebrated country residence of the emperors, fifteen 
 miles from Rome, with its beautiful gardens, Greek master- 
 pieces, and artistic buildings, remained intact for 400 years, 
 through the times of Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus,' 
 Alexander Severus, Decius, Aurelian, Diocletian, Maxentiusi 
 Constantine, Constans, Valentinian I, Theodosius I, Honorius] 
 Galla Placidia, and Theodoric the Ostrogoth, but was eventu- 
 aUy ruined by the Goths when in 547 it was used by TotUa as a 
 fortress ; while it afterwards furnished the quarry from which 
 most of the palaces and churches of the town of Tivoli have 
 been built. That nevertheless so much still remains demon- 
 strates the size and character of this notable Villa and the 
 vastness of Hadrian's conceptions. 
 
 Hadrian's palace in Rome was built on the eastern side of the 
 Palatine hill, and was a further addition to the private apart- 
 ments of the imperial palace. But the only portions of this 
 palace which now remain are the Stadium, or foot-race ground, ^ 
 the Odeum (for musical performances) opening out of the 
 Stadium, and below this three other chambers, all the rest 
 having been incorporated in the later palace built by Septimius 
 Severus. 
 
 Hadrian's huge Temple of Venus and Rome, designed by 
 himself, was a double temple with entrances on both sides 
 and a double apse in the centre, each side of this apse containing 
 an miage, on the one side of the goddess Venus and on the 
 other of the goddess Roma.a It was the most superb temple 
 
 1 Where Suetonius mentions young girls running races in presence 
 ot the emperor and the court. 
 
 « To make room for it the colossus of Nero, which had stood in the 
 entrance porch of Nero's palace, had to be moved to lower ground near 
 the Colosseum (see Chap. IV, p. 138, footnote). 
 
 in Rome, and was covered with gilded bronze tUes which were 
 removed in the 7th century to St. Peter's. The temple 
 was 120 yards long and 58 yards wide, surrounded by a colon- 
 nade 180 yards long and 110 yards wide, with 150 columns. 
 The design of this temple was adversely criticised by the 
 celebrated architect ApoUodorus (see below). It was the last 
 temple dedicated to the Pagan worship ever erected in Rome. 
 One half of it is now a Christian church.^ 
 
 Hadrian's Mausoleum was built in 136 on the opposite bank 
 of the Tiber, and was connected with the city by a bridge, built 
 at the same time, called by him the Pons iElius. We now 
 know the Mausoleum as the Castle of St. Angelo and the bridge 
 as the Ponte St. Angelo. This Mausoleum, constructed of 
 travertine, was entirely faced with white Paros marble. It 
 had three stories, the lower one encircled by Doric columns 
 with spaces between them for epitaphs of those buried within, 
 th^ second encircled by Ionic columns with between them 
 statues of gods and heroes, and the third encircled by Corin- 
 thian columns with similar statues between them ; and on the 
 summit of the Mausoleum was a colossal statue of Hadrian.^ 
 Six emperors (Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Com- 
 modus, Septimius Severus, and CaracaUa), with members of 
 their families, were buried in this Mausoleum. In the interior 
 is the Tomb Chamber, in the centre of which was Hadrian's 
 porphyry sarcophagus. The Mausoleum has suffered cruelly 
 by being used as a fortress, all traces of its marble casing, rows 
 of columns, and statues having long since disappeared. In 
 the 5th century the senate turned it into a fortress ; in the 
 6th century it was besieged by the Goths, and its beautiful 
 statues were used as missiles ; in the 12th century Hadrian's 
 sarcophagus was used as a tomb for Pope Innocent II, and 
 in the 14th century was destroyed in the fire which burnt 
 the church of the Lateran. The lid of this sarcophagus, 
 after being used for nine centuries as the tomb of^ the 
 emperor Otho II, who was buried in St. Peter's, is now the 
 font in that church. From the 10th century onwards Hadrian's 
 Mausoleum became the fortress and prison of the Popes, and as 
 
 1 The church of Sta. Francesca Romana, which thus stands on the 
 site of the entrance to Nero's "Golden House." 
 
 ^ The head of tliis statue is now in the Vatican museum. 
 
 h. 
 
 iii 
 
CHAP. 
 
 234 
 
 HADRIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 ri] 
 
 POEM TO THE SOUL 
 
 235 
 
 such has been the scene of innumerable tragedies connected 
 with the history of Rome in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Hadrian also brought from Egypt another obelisk, the fifth and 
 largest up to that time brought to Rome, 84 feet in height, and 
 erected it to the memory of Antinous in the Circus Varianus. ^ 
 
 In 136 Hadrian's wife Sabina died at the ViUa he had built 
 at Tivoli, and the remaining two years of the emperor's life 
 were a time of dread to all those around him in consequence of 
 the sullen and suspicious frame of mind into which he sank. 
 In this vast Villa, surrounded by everything that was most 
 beautiful in art or nature, Hadrian, ill in health, and moody 
 and dejected in spirit, spent the last two years of his life in a 
 state bordering on melancholy madness. He wandered through 
 his lovely gardens and temples ever mourning the loss of the 
 dead Antinous, who it was rumoured had voluntarily sur- 
 rendered up his life to satisfy an Oriental prophecy which had 
 declared that Hadrian was doomed unless the person he loved 
 best was offered as a sacrifice. The empire ruled by Hadrian 
 had been covered with works of pubUc utility erected by him, 
 the coinage of every province proclaimed the benefits which he 
 had conferred, the poorest and most miserable everywhere 
 acknowledged gratitude to him, but Hadrian's mind became 
 more and more unhinged, oscillating between suicide and 
 homicide. He put various principal men to death, and these 
 cruelties marred the lustre of the rest of his reign. It was 
 dangerous to disagree with him on any subject, as the architect 
 of Trajan's splendid Forum, Apollodorus, discovered, he being 
 promptly put to death for criticising Hadrian's design for the 
 temple of Venus and Rome.* The more politic Favorinus, 
 being drawn into an argument with the emperor over a gram- 
 matical point, yielded it, remarking afterwards that " it was 
 unwise to dispute with the master of thirty legions." At length 
 in 138, suffering greatly from dropsy, Hadrian removed to 
 Baiae, where he was only saved from suicide by the fiUal care 
 and companionship of his adopted son, Antoninus Pius, whom 
 
 1 It now stands in front of the church of Sta. Trinita de' Monti at 
 Rome. It was found cmaidst the ruins of the Circus Vswianus, ne«u: 
 the church of Sta. Croce in Genisalemme, but outside the present 
 walls of the city. 
 
 * Some writers deny that Hadrian put Apollodorus to death. 
 
 he had nominated as his successor. The beautiful little poem 
 to the soul, 
 
 " Animula, vagula, blandula, 
 Hospes comesque corporis, 
 Quae nunc abibis in loca 
 Pallidula, rigida, nudula, 
 Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos ? '* i 
 
 was written by Hadrian when dying. He died at Baiae in 
 July 138 at the age of sixty-three, his ashes being carried to 
 Rome and btuied in his Mausoleum. 
 
 A villa eight miles in circuit crowded with all the choicest 
 specimens of Greek art, a temple the most magnificent in Rome, 
 and a tomb which has for centuries been a fortress, are the 
 memorials left behind him by Hadrian in the capital city of an 
 empire of which almost every principal city possessed some 
 great work initiated by him. In every province of that 
 empire the condition of the people had been ameliorated by 
 the beneficent results of his energy. And not the least of his 
 benefits to the empire was the wise selection which he made in 
 regard to the man whom he chose as his successor. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion. 
 
 In Hadrian's reign an important change for a time took 
 place as regards the Christians. The latter were now liable 
 to prosecution as contravening the law by the mere fact of being 
 Christians ; but hostile action against them was very variable. 
 Sometimes a private enemy would endeavour to get rid of a 
 rival by reporting him to the authorities as being a Christian ; 
 or sometimes a bad harvest, an earthquake, or a military defeat 
 would cause a cry to be raised that the gods were enraged 
 against the Christians, and there would follow a popular 
 clamour for them to be put to death.^ Or at the games a man 
 
 ^ " Little soul, wandering, tender, 
 Guest and comrade of the body, 
 Into what places wilt thou now be going. 
 Pale, and stiff, and naked, 
 
 And no longer making merry, as thou art wont ? ** 
 The beauty of the Latin diminutives cannot be rendered into English. 
 * As one of them wrote : — " If the Tiber rise the cry at once is ' The 
 Christians to the lions ; ' if famine or pestilence threatens Rome * The 
 Christians to the Uons * is the invariable remedy." 
 
 n 
 
 
236 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 HADRIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 I 
 
 P 
 
 might raise a cry of " The Christians to the lions," and if it 
 swelled into a general acclamation governors felt bound to 
 defer to it. But Tertullian mentions that the governors did 
 not all act alike ; that a humane governor would often turn a 
 deaf ear to such clamours, or make a way for the accused to 
 evade the necessary sacrifice, whereas evil governors would 
 make even a slight demonstration an excuse for action against 
 the Christians, and used the power the law gave them over 
 Christians to gratify their own greed or lust. 
 
 Hadrian, however, made an important change in this respect, 
 and soon after becoming emperor issued an edict which is 
 notable in that whereas all other imperial edicts regarding the 
 Christians made the laws against them more severe, Hadrian's 
 edict is the only one which had an opposite effect, and which 
 until it was rescinded by the emperor Marcus Aurelius gave 
 the Christians a respite from persecution. Serenus Granianus, 
 Proconsul of the province of " Asia,"^ applied to the emperor 
 for instructions, somewhat as Pliny had applied to Trajan, 
 asking how he was to act when a popular cry was raised for 
 persecution of this community or when the names of Christians 
 were denounced to him. He says: — ** It seems to me im- 
 reasonable that the Christians should be put to death merely to 
 gratify the clamours of the people, without trial, and without 
 any crime proved against them," and he asks what course 
 should be taken. Hadrian replies thus : — " Men are not to 
 be disturbed without cause ; and base informers are not to be 
 encouraged in their odious practices. If the people of the 
 province will appear publicly before you and make open charges 
 against the Christians, so as to give the latter an opportunity 
 of answering for themselves, let them proceed in that manner 
 only, and not by rude demands and mere clamour. But it is 
 proper, if any person accuse them, that you should take 
 cognizance of such matters. If, then, any accuse them, and 
 show that they actually break the laws, you should determine 
 according to the nature of the crime. But, by Hercules, if the 
 charge be a mere calumny, I direct that you estimate the 
 enormity of such calumny, and punish it as it deserves." 
 
 1 The province called by the Romans " Asia " only included a 
 small portion of Asia Minor, that in the south-western part to the west 
 of the river Halys. 
 
 VI] 
 
 EDICT OF TOLERATION 
 
 237 
 
 This edict, though somewhat obscure, practically resolved 
 itself into a declaration that Christians were not to be put to 
 death merely for being Christians, nor without trial ; that if 
 they were accused it was to be, not by popular clamour, but by 
 a regular procedure in which such Christians were to be given 
 opportunity of answering for themselves ; and that the 
 practices of informers were to be sternly put down. Of course 
 the edict might be read in different ways ; but it does not 
 appear to have been so, and its effect was very marked. For 
 during the twenty-one years of Hadrian's reign there were no 
 martyrdoms, and the Christians had peace from persecution. 
 
 A general review at the end of the reign of Hadrian of the 
 position to which Christianity had attained at the close of the 
 first hundred years from the time that the followers of the new 
 religion had been first called Christians and begun to spread 
 their religion among the Greek race at Antioch gives the 
 following results. All over Asia Minor and the countries 
 formerly under the Greek empire Christian churches were 
 numerous, and also throughout Egypt and North Africa, while 
 there were churches thinly scattered over the Parthian empire, 
 Arabia, and other countries of the east. In the west, besides 
 Rome, there were churches scattered here and there in Italy, 
 in Gaul, and in Spain. Everywhere were various persons who 
 had heard the preaching of one or other of the Apostles and 
 been their disciples. Christianity was no longer confined to 
 the slaves ; various Romans high in the social world were 
 secretly adopting it ; the religion was rapidly assuming a more 
 important position, and some even of the philosophers had 
 begun to join it. Persecution had ceased under the emperor 
 Hadrian, and a more tolerant attitude towards Christians had 
 been adopted. 
 
 di 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Eeigns of 
 
 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS AURELIUS 
 
 ANTONINUS PIUS 
 
 138 — 161 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 AURELIUS FULVUS ANTONINUS, caUed Antoninus 
 Pius, belonged to a Roman family settled at Nismes in 
 Gaul. As quite a young man he filled various important public 
 offices with success, and before he was thirty-four was chosen 
 Consul. Subsequently he became Proconsul of the province 
 of Asia, where his wise and just rule greatly increased his 
 reputation, in consequence of which he was adopted by Hadrian 
 as his son, and nominated by him as his successor. During 
 the last three years of Hadrian's life Antoninus both saved 
 his adopted father from suicide and also saved many noble 
 Romans from being put to death by Hadrian, acting in every 
 way as a most faithful and affectionate son to a father ; and it 
 was his conduct in this respect which gained for him the 
 surname of Pius. 
 
 Antoninus Pius ^ was fifty-two years old when he became 
 emperor. The wisdom of Hadrian's choice was fully demon- 
 strated, for Antoninus Pius proved one of the best emperors 
 Rome ever had. Peace-loving, temperate, just, exhibiting on 
 all occasions an imperturbable equanimity, and absolutely 
 unselfish, his was an ideal character, and throughout his reign 
 he appeared to have no other thought than the good of the 
 empire and the welfare of its inhabitants. Unlike Trajan and 
 Hadrian, he passed almost the whole of his tranquil reign of 
 
 ^ Plate XXXVIIL Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 238 
 
 1 
 
 CHAP, vn] 
 
 TEMPLE OF BAALBEK 
 
 239 
 
 twenty-three years at Rome, or at his villa of Lorium, of which 
 he was exceedingly fond. He was the personification of 
 beneficence and good- will ; even conspiracies formed against 
 him were by Antoninus merely turned into opportunities for 
 showing his clemency. He was fortunate in reigning at a time 
 when no incursions of barbarians disturbed the empire, and his 
 reign was one of absolute peace, and a time of general happiness 
 and contentment to which the Romans in after ages always 
 looked back with delight. 
 
 The chief work of Antoninus Pius was done in regard to the 
 Roman system of law. With the assistance of all the leading 
 Roman legal authorities of his time he drew up an immense 
 code of the Roman law for use throughout the empire, a work 
 which occupied the greater part of his reign. In addition to this 
 he passed various new enactments, all of them exhibiting his 
 just disposition and care for the people. 
 
 It is generally stated* that Antoninus Pius never left Rome, 
 but this seems to be a mistake, as both John of Malala and the 
 rhetorician Aristides mention that he spent two years at 
 Antioch. And it must have been while there that Antoninus 
 Pius inaugurated his most lasting monument, the great temple 
 which he erected at Baalbek, near the upper course of the river 
 Leontes in Syria. Its ruins still exist, and it has always been 
 considered one of the wonders of the world. It would seem as 
 though in erecting this temple to Baal Antoninus Pius had 
 ideas of combining the religions of the east with those of the 
 west. There are in fact two temples, the larger one dedicated 
 to Baal, and the smaller one dedicated apparently to Ceres, 
 while the general arrangement is somewhat similar to that of the 
 Jewish Temple at Jerusalem destroyed by Titus. The 174 
 columns of the principal court, each 22 feet long, are of 
 Egyptian rose granite. The larger temple, inside the anterior 
 courts, is raised high on extraordinarily soHd foundations. 
 Outside it is a fine terrace composed of stones 29 feet long ; 
 and over these, supporting the coping of the terrace, are 
 the three great stones which from their immense size gave this 
 temple in the Middle Ages the name of the " Temple of the 
 Three Stones," and are the main reason for its being considered 
 one of the world's chief wonders. Each of these stones is 62 
 feet long, 14 feet high, and 11 feet broad, while a fourth similar 
 
CHAP. 
 240 ANTONINUS PIUS (Matterg oiher than religion) 
 
 stone lies in the adjacent quarry. The work of lifting these 
 stones into position must have been stupendous.^ 
 
 But the part of the empire in which Antoninus Pius chiefly 
 interested himself outside Rome was Britain. From the time 
 of the pacification of Britain by Julius Agricola in the reign 
 of Vespasian and Domitian that country settled down to a 
 condition of peace, and the chief work of the Roman forces in 
 Britain became the protection of the province from the attacks 
 of the unconquered tribes of the northern part of Scotland, this 
 protection being carried out chiefly by the construction of 
 immense walls erected across the narrow part of the island, and 
 their defence against the Scots and Picts. The work of com- 
 pleting the huge " wall " laid out by Hadrian from the Tyne to 
 the SolwaystiU continued, the ske and character of this great 
 line of defence, with the vast amoiuit of labour expended upon 
 it, showing the value which the Romans attached to the 
 province it was meant to protect. In addition to this wall An- 
 toninus Pius caused Lollius Urbicus, the commander in Britain, 
 to construct a wall joining the line of forts built by Julius 
 Agricola from the Forth to the Clyde, protecting the additional 
 territory conquered by the latter. This wall, called the " Wall 
 of Antoninus," was 27 miles long and consisted of a ram- 
 part of earth 20 feet high and 24 feet thick, with a ditch 40 feet 
 wide and 20 feet deep. The territory between this wall 
 and that of Hadrian was, however, a more or less debatable 
 tract, often in possession of the Caledonians, and Hadrian's 
 much longer and more massive fortified stone wall, further to 
 the south, remained the permanent boimdary of the Roman 
 dominions in Britain. 
 
 The wife of Antoninus Pius was Amiia Galeria Faustina, 
 known as Faustina the elder.^ A long succession of writers 
 '(taking the statement from one another) have declared Faus- 
 tina the elder to have been utterly depraved, one modem 
 writer, in speaking of her daughter, Faustina the younger, 
 
 * It has been suggested by Mr. Oscar Browning (to whom I am in- 
 debted for these detcdls regarding this temple) that Antoninus Pius 
 erected this splendid temple of Baalbek as a great centre of spiritual 
 illumination for the whole of Syria, perhaps because he disapproved 
 of Hadrian's violent meetsure in blotting out Jerusalem. 
 
 * Plate XXXIX. Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
Mi%<k%^iil-».mK*^ilT,-~X-'r M' U' *. :" 
 
 .!,v..* t,''|;,'s,-* 
 
 '>f4;.;-%,4v-^j»( ^..-Mi *;,,n>'i,-,.«J?JS(i'«j«%Kr'A!M 
 
 i'LAihl XXXV ill. 
 
 I'LAIK XXXIX. 
 
 lil 
 
 Antoninus Pius. 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Nt.itw. 
 
 Faustina the elder, wife ok Antoninus Pius. 
 
 Portrail-busI in the I'atican museum, Rome. 
 
I 'I All WWII I 
 
 An k tMM^ I'll 
 
 in till ( 
 
 '/;;. /\ i; 
 
 I i A 
 
 l-\ 
 
 1 -> II \ A III 
 
 W 
 
 '.K'K.I. 
 
 An I ( IN IMS I 'n --, 
 
 '■/( ilM llltl ^t ItlH. A' ■ I' 
 
vn] 
 
 FAUSTINA THE ELDER 
 
 241 
 
 saying that the latter " deepened the infamy which she 
 inherited from her shameless mother." It is astonishing after 
 this to find that no statement of the kind is made by any of the 
 contemporary writers regarding Faustina the elder, and that 
 the accusation comes from an anonymous writer of the 4th 
 century, who is the sole authority for it.^ To find such an 
 assertion made regarding any one upon the sole authority of an 
 anonymous writer distant by two hundred years from the time 
 of the person concerned, when none of the writers of the 
 person's own time make any such statement, gives us a measure 
 of the degree to which this kind of vilification has been carried. 
 
 We know very little about Faustina the elder, as she died 
 two years after her husband became emperor. All that we 
 know indicating her character is that when she died in 140 
 Antoninus Pius founded to her memory a charitable institution 
 for orphan girls, who were called Alifnentariae Faustinae, and 
 erected in her honour, at one side of the Forum, the only 
 temple ever erected in Rome to a woman. « After the death of 
 Antoninus Pius his son-in-law and successor Marcus Aurelius 
 re-dedicated this temple to both Antoninus and Faustina, 
 placing over the portico the inscription which it still bears, 
 ** Divo Antonino et Divae Faustinae " ; ^ an action which suffi- 
 ciently shows that Marcus Aurelius did not hold an opinion 
 regarding Faustina the elder agreeing with that given to her by 
 the anonymous writer of the 4th century. 
 
 Antoninus Pius, though he lived the whole of his twenty-three 
 years' reign in Rome, was the first emperor who added nothing 
 to the buildings of Rome, except the temple dedicated to his 
 wife Faustina. But there was in truth little need for further 
 addition to the great collection of^ magnificent buildings with 
 
 1 See Note B, p. 271. The only contemporary writer is Dion Cas- 
 sius, and the portion of his History covering the reign of Antoninus 
 Pius is lost ; so that we have no statement from him (or any of his 
 commentators) regarding Faustina the elder. Writers of the 3rd 
 and 4th centuries, such as AureUus Victor and Eutropius, also make 
 no statement against her character. The solitary exception is the 
 anonymous writer of the 4th century who adopts the name of 
 "Julius Capitolinus." 
 
 ■ Part of this temple still stands, including the portico, with ten 
 columns of cipolUno marble, 46 feet in height. 
 
 ^ " To the Divine Antoninus and the Divine Faustina." 
 
 E.W. m 
 
 !, 
 
 I»^ 
 
 L 
 
 \i >i 
 
 H 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
CHAP. 
 
 242 ANTONINUS PIUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 vn] 
 
 JUSTIN MARTYR 
 
 243 
 
 which Rome was by this time adorned ; and splendid indeed 
 must have been the appearance of the city in this reign of 
 Antoninus Pius when all the buildings which had been suc- 
 cessively erected by Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius, 
 by the Flavian emperors, by Trajan, and by Hadrian were in 
 their perfection. 
 
 The marble trade must have been prodigious. Even after 
 fifteen centuries of destruction and burning of marble into 
 lime, it has been estimated that there still remain in Rome about 
 9000 whole columns, some of them 6 feet in diameter, and 
 that the number of columns landed at Ostia in ancient times 
 reached at least 450,000. ^ Yet columns only formed a fraction 
 of the whole amount of marble employed. 
 
 Antoninus Pius presents a remarkable contrast to his two 
 predecessors. Throughout his long reign, though he evidently 
 administered the affairs of the empire with the most satis- 
 factory ability, yet all his interests appear to have centred in 
 Rome. The immense praise bestowed upon him, combined 
 with the fact that in so long a reign so few deeds are recorded 
 of him, seems to indicate that the fact of his remaining always 
 in Rome (so carefully recorded by the Roman writers) had no 
 small share in his great popularity. He died on the 7th March, 
 161, at the age of seventy -five at his villa of Lorium on the 
 Aurelian Way not far from Rome. The keynote of his life and 
 character was given in the last word he ever uttered, spoken to 
 the tribune of the night-watch who came to him to ask the 
 password for the night, and received from the djdng emperor 
 the answer " iEquanimitas." 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 The reign of Antoninus Pius shows how at this period the 
 Christians in one part of the empire might be free from molesta- 
 tion while those in another part suffered severe persecution. 
 
 At Rome the Christians remained during this reign unmo- 
 lested and were even able on at least one occasion to address 
 the emperor on the subject of their religion. About the year 
 148 a celebrated "Defence of Christianity" was sent to Antoni- 
 nus Pius by a prominent member of their community, and the 
 
 ^ Lanciani, Ancient Borne, 
 
 emperor took no action against the writer. ^ It was written 
 by a remarkable man, who after being a notable Pagan philo- 
 sopher had become a Christian. His name was Justin, after- 
 wards (in the next reign) known as Justin the Martyr, or Justin 
 Martyr. He was a Greek, born at Flavia Neapolis, a town in 
 Samaria inhabited by a Greek population. A philosopher by 
 profession, and deeply learned, he had for many years studied 
 the various systems of philosophy then in vogue before at last 
 becoming a Christian. He subsequently, in an elaborate work 
 on the controversy between the Jews and the Christians, gave a 
 detailed account of his experiences as a disciple of the various 
 systems of philosophy, and by what means he had at length 
 become convinced of the truth of Christianity. 2 He relates how, 
 being anxious to learn the true philosophy, he first became a 
 disciple of the Stoics, but left them when he found that they 
 knew no more than he did about the matter ; then how in turn 
 he sought information from the Pythagoreans and other 
 systems, and what folly he found in them all ; then how he 
 placed himself under a Platonist, and for a time thought he 
 " had found the true philosophy and had become wise," but in 
 the end discovered he was no wiser than before. Finally he 
 relates his conversion to Christianity, and that there alone he 
 discovered the true philosophy. On becoming a Christian he 
 still retained his philosopher's dress, established a school of 
 Christian philosophy at Rome, and taught Christianity there 
 for nearly forty years during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and 
 Marcus Aurelius, until at length he was martyred in the reign 
 of the latter emperor.^ 
 
 But though in this reign the Christians at Rome did not 
 
 1 This " Defence of Christianity '* was addressed conjointly to An- 
 toninus Pius and Marcus AureUus his adopted son. It was in three 
 parts. In the first, the writer, Justin, points out that it is against 
 the principles of justice to condemn the Christians, whose conduct 
 is innocent and harmless. In the second part he sets himself to prove 
 that the Christians alone teach the truth. In the third part he gives 
 a full explanation of the mysteries of Baptism and the Eucharist, which 
 the Pagans always misunderstood and distorted into abominable 
 crimes (see pp. 258-259). 
 
 * He called this work a " Dialogue with Trypho the Jew " ; his object 
 in giving it the form of a dialogue with an imaginary person being to 
 make it more readable. * Page 261. 
 
 I! 
 
 t 
 
244 ANTONINUS PIUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 suffer, a persecution occurred at Smyrna in 156, and is notable 
 owing to the renowned Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, having 
 suffered death therein. Polycarp, who had been Bishop of 
 Smyrna for sixty years, was at this time the most remarkable 
 man in the Christian Church. Like Ignatius, martyred forty- 
 two years before, he had been taught by St. John himself, up 
 to the age of |^about thirty ; he had, Irenaeus says, " been 
 intimate also with others who had seen the Lord " ; he had 
 been appointed about the year a.d. 92 Bishop of Smyrna by 
 St. John, and was apparently ** the angel of the Church at 
 Smyrna " referred to in the book of Revelations. ^ He was the 
 last link which united the Church of the 2nd century with the 
 age of the Apostles, and was at least ninety years old. The 
 whole episode of his martyrdom is minutely recorded in a letter 
 from the Church at Smyrna to the Church at Philadelphia, and 
 may be read in the words of the survivors of the Christian 
 community at Smyrna who saw the venerable Bishop die, and 
 who, the letter says, " would gladly each one of us have died 
 as he died." 
 
 During the celebration of the games at Smyrna an uproar 
 arose, and a cry was raised clamouring for the death of the 
 Christians, which as usual was quickly taken up by the mob, 
 and was acted upon by the Proconsul, who ordered the Chris- 
 tians to be seized and thrown to the wild beasts. Many 
 Christians were martyred, and then the people clamoured for 
 the death of Polycarp, the Bishop. " This is the master of 
 Asia," they scornfully cried, " the father of the Christians, the 
 enemy of our gods." The Proconsul did not desire to put to 
 death a man so highly respected, though having gone so far he 
 could not turn a deaf ear to this cry, but he acceded most reluc- 
 tantly, and did his utmost to save one so much revered. 
 
 At every stage of his trial Polycarp's dignity and gentleness 
 seem to have touched his enemies. The soldiers sent to arrest 
 him did so unwillingly ; the magistrates endeavoured to save 
 him ; the governor took him up in his chariot and tried to 
 persuade him that there could be no harm in sacrificing to the 
 emperor ; the Proconsul, Statins Quadratus, on his being 
 brought before him earnestly besought him to consider his age ; 
 " Swear," he said, " and denounce the Christ, and I will release 
 
 1 Rev. ii, 8. 
 
 vn] 
 
 DEATH OF POLYCARP 
 
 245 
 
 thee." The answer is weU known, and has rung through all 
 the ages since, " Eighty and six years have I served Him, and 
 He has never done me wrong ; how then can I blaspheme my 
 King and my Saviour ? " The Proconsul continued to urge 
 him to retract and to renounce Christianity, but without avail, 
 and he was at length condemned. A herald advanced into the 
 middle of the arena and proclaimed, " Polycarp has professed 
 himself a Christian, and therefore dies." He was at once 
 bound to a stake in the arena, a quantity of wood was quickly 
 collected, " the Jews," we are told, " as was their wont, being 
 specially zealous in the work," and he was burnt in the presence 
 of all the people. Irenaeus, his pupil, who was afterwards 
 sent from Smyrna to Gaul, and in 177 became Bishop of 
 Lyons, and who describes how he could remember the very 
 attitude in which Polycarp used to sit and teach, probably 
 saw him die. 
 
 This persecution at Smyrna in 156 was apparently an isolated 
 case, for we hear of no others in the reign of Antoninus. From 
 which it would appear that the general attitude of Antoninus 
 Pius on this question concurred with that of Hadrian. For 
 the absence of any such persecutions elsewhere throughout the 
 empire during his long reign of twenty-three years can only 
 have been due to its being generally known that this was the 
 emperor's attitude. 
 
246 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 MARCUS AURELIUS 
 
 161 — 180 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 MARCUS AURELIUS, 1 whose original name was Marcus 
 Annius Verus, had all the advantages of high birth, 
 his father being Annius Verus, the brother of the empress 
 Faustina, and his mother being Domitia Calvilla. His admir- 
 able quahties even as a boy of sixteen had attracted the 
 attention of the emperor Hadrian, who in adopting Antoninus 
 Pius as his successor did so with the proviso that Marcus should 
 succeed Antoninus Pius as emperor. Marcus, whose father 
 was dead, was accordingly adopted by Antoninus as his son 
 and successor. On being thus adopted his name was changed 
 to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. 
 
 His education was a marvellous one. He had a body of 
 tutors all of them men of the most distinguished attainments, 
 including Rusticus, Cornelius Pronto, Plutarch's nephew 
 Sextus, the orator Herodes Atticus, and the jurist Volucius 
 Marcianus, while he himself was a boy such as the world has 
 seldom produced. Before he was ten years old he began to 
 learn rhetoric and poetry ; but at the age of eleven he was 
 attracted by the Stoic philosophy and became an ardent 
 Stoic, at the same time taking up law and philosophy as his chief 
 studies. But this kind of education, excellent as it might 
 appear in the eyes of the distinguished scholars who were his 
 tutors, should have been supplemented by other training 
 more suited to the position Marcus was to occupy.^ It would 
 have been better for the empire, and have saved a large part of 
 the population whose welfare was committed to his care from 
 extremes of misery at the hands of barbarous enemies, if 
 Marcus Aurelius, since he was to succeed to the position of 
 emperor, had in addition to such studies received the kind of 
 training which Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, Trajan, and 
 
 * Plate XL. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 * Very different from this kind of education were the instructions 
 as to what a future Roman emperor must leam which were given by 
 Valentinian I to his . son Gratian when the latter was thirteen years 
 old (see Chap. XV, p. 605). 
 
 vn] 
 
 ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER 
 
 247 
 
 Hadrian had each in their youth gone through, instead of one 
 fitting him only to shine as a philosopher. 
 
 The character of Marcus Aurehus was a higlily attractive 
 one. In his writings he says that among the things he learnt 
 were, " to work hard, to deny myself, to avoid Hstening to 
 slander, to endure misfortunes, never to deviate from my pur- 
 pose, to be grave without affectation, gentle in correcting 
 others, not frequently to say to any one, nor to write in a letter, 
 that I have no leisure, nor continually to excuse the neglect of 
 ordinary duties by alleging urgent occupations." And he also 
 says, " I learnt from my mother, not only abstinence from evil 
 deeds, but even from evil thoughts." Amidst the luxury of a 
 Roman palace he slept on a plank bed ; and through all his 
 severe Stoic training as a boy and youth he preserved, we are 
 told, his natural sweetness of disposition. 
 
 From the age of seventeen Marcus Aurelius lived as his 
 adopted father's closest companion, and at eighteen was given 
 the title of Caesar, which denoted that he was to be the future 
 emperor. At twenty he was made Consul, and in 145, when he 
 was twenty-four, married Antoninus' daughter Faustina the 
 younger ^ (then nineteen), who bore him a daughter in the 
 following year. He was the constant associate and companion 
 of Antoninus Pius in all the latter's occupations and amuse- 
 ments, imtil in 161 Antoninus Pius died and Marcus Aurelius 
 became emperor at the age of forty. Hitherto all his nine 
 children had been daughters, but in the first year of his reign 
 Faustina gave birth to twins, one of whom was a son, Commo- 
 dus, who succeeded him. 
 
 Marcus Aurehus, who reigned nineteen years, has been 
 universally held to be " the best man that the Pagan world 
 ever produced," and has been described as " The crown 
 and flower of the Stoic philosophy." His chief book (the 
 only portion of his writings which remains) is his Meditations, 
 It is noticeable that it is written, not in Latin, but in 
 Greek, this having become the language of highest culture ; 
 it has been translated into nearly every modern language. 
 It is a sort of manual of practical morahty, in which wisdom, 
 gentleness, and benevolence towards mankind are blended in a 
 
 1 Plate XLI. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 ' I 
 

 CHAP. 
 248 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 very fascinating manner, while the sentiments expressed are of 
 the loftiest description. 
 
 The true reason why the age of the Antonine emperors 
 (a.d, 98-180) was so highly extolled was that it offered so great 
 a contrast to that which had preceded it. Notwithstanding 
 many vices, it was dignified by a serious effort for a moral 
 reform. The general moral standard was certainly not high, 
 as can be seen by copious examples, but it was immeasurably 
 higher than that which had previously obtained. It was an age 
 when Philosophy was enthroned, Marcus AureHus in particular 
 giving the example of a ruler animated by the loftiest principles. 
 And though the inherent defect of a bare Philosophy, unlinked 
 with any deeper motive, caused those principles to fail to touch 
 the masses, yet the example of such a ruler had its effect for a 
 time upon the upper classes. The tragedy of his reign is that 
 the lessons he desired to teach were robbed of all their effect 
 when in the end mankind saw these lofty principles cast aside 
 at the bidding of expediency. 
 
 Antoninus Pius, besides adopting Marcus Aurelius, had also 
 adopted Lucius Verus as his son, and Marcus Aurelius on 
 succeeding to the throne volimtarily associated Lucius with 
 himself in the government, and gave him his eldest daughter, 
 Lucilla (then sixteen), in marriage ; but Lucius Verus, corrupt 
 and dissolute, took little part in public affairs, and died after 
 eight years. It is typical of the character of the age that even 
 in the case of Marcus Aurelius malignant gossip did not fail 
 subsequently to assert that he brought about his adopted 
 brother's death by poison. 
 
 The reign of Marcus Aurelius bears a remarkable contrast 
 to those of his three predecessors. While their reigns were a 
 continuous record of success, that of Marcus Aurelius presents 
 an almost equally continuous record of the reverse. Many of 
 the misfortimes endured during his nineteen years' reign were 
 no fault of his ; but with a great part of them it was otherwise. 
 His training, excellent as it was from one point of view, had not 
 been of the kind which fitted him for ruling a wide empire and 
 for copmg with the sort of difficulties which came upon it in his 
 time. Though his abilities were of the highest order in many 
 respects, it is impossible not to believe that a Trajan or a 
 Hadrian would have found means to obviate most of these 
 
 

 PfT. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the L'ffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 PLATh. XL I. 
 
 ^ 
 
 n 
 
 Faustina the younger, wife of Marcus Aurelius. 
 Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
li A M \ I 
 
 M \K: r^ \i 
 
 p.k....i 
 
 1x1 I n 
 
 l*">/iji 
 
 mimmm 
 
 11 v 
 
 A I ■> I IN A III I ^ < 'IN.; j.K. Will « 
 
 Mai;' is .\r i:i i 1 1 
 
 UIH-, inn. J\''>H!t 
 
vn] 
 
 PUBLIC CALAMITIES 
 
 249 
 
 misfortunes, and in regard to the chief of them (the ravaging 
 for so long of Roman provinces) we know would most certainly 
 have done so. 
 
 His reign began with a disastrous inundation of Rome from 
 a flood in the Tiber, which destroyed a large part of the city. 
 This caused a famine in Rome ; which appears to show that 
 Trajan's great reserves of com had not been kept up. This was 
 followed by earthquakes, fires, and plagues of insects. At the 
 same time the eastern frontier was attacked by the Parthians, 
 who defeated the Roman army on that frontier, and war was 
 waged against them unsuccessfully for four years before in 
 165 they were at length driven out of the Roman dominions. 
 Unfortunately the troops who returned from this war brought 
 with them a pestilence, and this after raging severely in Rome 
 spread from thence through a large part of the empire, causing 
 the greatest distress. The war on the eastern frontier was 
 scarcely over when in 166 a revolt of the tribes in Britain began, 
 while at the same time a more serious danger occurred by the 
 first irruption ^ of the barbarian races of the north into the 
 Roman Empire, and the operations against them met with so 
 little success that it took fourteen years of devastating warfare 
 over the provinces concerned before these foes were finally 
 expelled. 
 
 This first incursion was made by the northern tribes called 
 by the Romans the Marcomanni and the Quadi. They crossed 
 the Danube, defeated the Roman forces, and swept over the 
 whole of the provinces of Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhsetia,^ 
 ravaging the whole country, carrying off enormous numbers 
 of Roman captives — the Marcomanni, it is said, 100,000, and 
 the Quadi over 60,000 — ^and threatening to invade Italy. So 
 serious was this invasion that the Romans became panic- 
 stricken, thinking that the end of the empire was about to take 
 place. In order to re-assure them Marcus AureUus, though 
 unable to give much personal assistance in opposing the 
 invaders, left Rome and established himself for three years 
 
 ^ If we except the incursion of the Dacians in Domitian's reign, 
 afterwards obliterated by Trajan's conquest of Dacia and incorpora- 
 tion of that country in the empire. 
 
 * Corresponding roughly to about half of Austria, the southern part 
 of Hungary, Bavaria, Tyrol, and Switzerland. 
 
 
 
 II 
 
CHAP. 
 260 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 at Camnntum on the Danube. In 169 peace was made for a 
 time with the Quadi, and Marcus Aurelius returned to Rome, 
 but the war continued against the Marcomanni ; the operations 
 were for a long time imsuccessful, and the Romans sustained 
 defeat after defeat, the unhappy provinces of Pannonia, 
 Noricum, and Rhsetia being brought to complete devastation, 
 but at length in 172 the Marcomanni were for a time driven out. 
 
 Upon his return to Rome Marcus Aurelius devoted himself to 
 innumerable details which show how indefatigably he laboured 
 and the kind of matters which he considered it his duty to 
 attend to as a conscientious Roman emperor. *' The registrar 
 tion of the citizens, the suppression of litigation, the elevation 
 of public morals, the care of minors, the retrenchment of the 
 public expenses, the limitation of the gladiatorial games, the 
 care of roads, the restoration of the privileges of the senators, 
 the appointment of none but worthy magistrates, even the 
 regulation of street traffic, these and numberless other similar 
 duties so completely absorbed his attention that in spite of 
 indifferent health (injured as a boy by Stoic austerities) they 
 often kept him at severe labour from early morning mitil long 
 after midnight."^ 
 
 But these labours all had reference to the city of Rome, and, 
 however exemplary, were not the matters in which Marcus 
 Aurelius should have been engaged. A Roman emperor, with 
 an empire extending from Scotland to the Euphrates, should 
 have been occupied with far different matters than local con- 
 cerns of this kind, arranging for such matters to be duly ad- 
 ministered by others. Labours such as these of course won for 
 Marcus AureUus high praise from the Roman writers, with their 
 inveterate habit of regarding the whole empire as to be main- 
 tained chiefly for the benefit of the city of Rome ; but it is an 
 error when these praises on the part of the Roman writers are 
 endorsed by English writers of the present day, belonging to a 
 race one single portion of whose dominions ^ has a population 
 greater than that of the whole Roman Empire, and presents 
 similar problems of government, a race which has been taught 
 by this experience how a wide empire should be ruled. These 
 occupations on the part of Marcus Aurelius, so highly praised by 
 the Roman writers, show forcibly how far the Antonine em- 
 * Tennemann. * The Empire of India. 
 
 vn] 
 
 **THE THUNDERING LEGION'* 
 
 251 
 
 perors were from as yet appreciating that which the growth of 
 empire had made the chief duty of the head of the Roman State, 
 and demonstrate the marked contrast between their attitude 
 and the wider outlook taken, for instance, by such an 
 emperor as Constantine the Great. ^ 
 
 But Marcus Aurelius was not left long at leisure to occupy 
 himself with the local concerns of the people of Rome. In 
 173 the Marcomanni and Quadi again crossed the Danube and 
 ravaged Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhsetia. Marcus Aurelius 
 thereupon proceeded again to Pannonia, and remained there 
 for nearly three years (173-175). Though he had himself 
 no military talents his presence inspired the troops, besides 
 enabling the necessary references from the commanders of the 
 Roman forces to the emperor to be conducted with much less 
 loss of time than if he remained at Rome. After three years 
 of war the Marcomanni were driven out (175), suffering a severe 
 defeat as they were retreating across the Danube. Soon 
 afterwards a still more decisive victory was gained over the 
 Quadi, with which is connected a celebrated episode, one 
 sufficiently notable to be commemorated by one of the sculp- 
 tures on the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome.* The 
 historians of the time relate that the TweKth legion of the 
 Roman army, pressed by an overwhelming mass of the Quadi, 
 was shut up in a defile, threatened with destruction, and re- 
 duced to great straits for want of water ; that the Christian 
 soldiers of the legion thereupon prayed for rain ; and that not 
 only did rain come which enabled the Roman troops to quench 
 their thirst, but also a fierce storm of hail, accompanied by 
 severe thunder and lightning, beat upon the enemy, and so 
 terrified the Quadi that the legion was able to gain a complete 
 victory over them. The Twelfth legion of the Roman army was 
 ever afterwards called " The Thundering Legion. "^ After this 
 victory the Quadi sued for peace. 
 
 1 Chap. XIII, pp. 396-397. * Page 256. 
 
 3 Some say that a similar episode had occurred to this legion before, 
 in the time of the emperor Augustus, and that it did not gain its name 
 on this occasion of the victory over the Quadi, but on the previous 
 occasion \inder Augustus. This, however, if the case, does not affect 
 the episode in connection with the Quadi, which was chosen as one 
 of the principal episodes to be recorded upon the Column of Marcus 
 Aurelius. 
 
 
CHAP 
 252 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matters other than religion) ' 
 
 Marcus Aurelius' wife, Faustina the younger, was thirty-five 
 when he became emperor, the last of her eleven children, the 
 twins Commodus and Galeria, being born in the same year. 
 She was married to him for twenty-nine years, throughout 
 which time he never ceased to have a strong affection for her. 
 But the same anonymous writer already referred to ^ has 
 declared her guilty of the most shameless immorality through- 
 out her whole married life, and has related regarding her a 
 whole series of scandalous tales, her name being handed down 
 as a by-word for licentiousness ; while the same wnter has 
 asserted that Marcus AureUus was fully acquainted with her 
 mode of life, made no objection to it, and promoted several of 
 her more exalted lovers to high offices. On the other hand the 
 contemporary writer Dion Cassius, who was twenty years old 
 when she died, and who eagerly records every scandal of which 
 he can hear, knows nothing of all this, and has nothing to say 
 against Faustina's moral character. Nor can this be due to 
 any fear of her son Commodus ; for Dion Cassius evidently 
 wrote after the death of the latter, and discourses freely 
 of the scandals connected with Faustina's children, Lucilla 
 and Commodus. One other writer of the 4th century, the 
 emperor Julian, though he does not go to any such lengths as 
 regards Faustina's character, speaks of her in his scurrilous 
 book The Caesars in a general way as dissolute ; but it is 
 uncertain whether he is doing more than repeating the popular 
 view of her current in his time. 
 
 How far Faustina the younger deserved the character thus 
 given her it is impossible to say. Certainly the total silence of 
 Dion Cassius, the only contemporary writer, argues strongly in 
 her favour. At the same time there are some facts which have 
 an appearance calculated to show that a part of these allegations 
 against her may be true. In any case, however, the statement 
 that Marcus Aurelius was aware of such conduct on her part is 
 beyond belief. For it is inconceivable that in that case Marcus 
 Aurelius should have spoken so highly of his wife as he did in 
 his Meditations, nor would he in such circumstances have dared 
 to erect an altar to her memory. 
 
 As regards other aspects of Faustina's character, it is evident 
 that she had no little ability, and that Marcus Aurelius relied 
 
 1 Page 241. 
 
 vn] 
 
 FAUSTINA THE YOUNGER 
 
 253 
 
 much upon her advice ; several of his and Faustina's letters are 
 extant which show that he was in the habit of consulting her 
 on public affairs. She accompanied him on most of his cam- 
 paigns, and coins prove that she gained the title of " Mother 
 of the Camps." She had to endure the loss of nearly aU her 
 children, two only of her eleven children surviving her, the 
 eldest, Lucilla, and the yoimgest, Commodus. 
 
 Scarcely had Marcus Aurelius returned to Rome a second 
 time from the war against the Marcomanni and Quadi than he 
 received news that the AUemanni ^ had invaded the provinces 
 on the lower Rhine, and he was obliged to set off thither. But 
 on his arrival there (175) he received still more serious intelli- 
 gence informing him that his ablest general, Avidius Cassius, 
 the experienced commander of the Roman army on the eastern 
 frontier, had revolted and proclaimed himself emperor. Dion 
 Cassius asserts that Faustina was in love with Avidius Cassius 
 and encouraged him in this revolt. But, curiously enough, the 
 anonymous writer of the 4th century rejects this statement, 
 and says that the reports to that effect were merely due to " a 
 wish to defame the empress." Moreover a letter to Marcus 
 Aurelius from Faustina (who had apparently been left behind 
 in Rome when he proceeded to the Rhine) in regard to this 
 rebellion urges him not to spare Avidius Cassius and his 
 accomplices, saying : — 
 
 " You see how young Commodus is, and our son-in-law 
 Pompeianus ^ is old and is away. Do not spare men who 
 have not spared you, and would not spare me and the children 
 if they won." 
 
 Marcus Aurelius had thereupon to leave the campaign on 
 the lower Rhine, and to start upon a still longer journey of 
 nearly 3000 miles to Syria to put down this rebellion. It is 
 hard for us in these days to realize what these immense journeys, 
 — ^from the Danube frontier to Rome, from Rome to the lower 
 
 1 The Allemaimi (or All -men) received their name because origin- 
 ally this tribe was a collection of barbarians from various of the 
 northern races. 
 
 2 The second husband of Lucilla, to whom she was married by 
 her father upon the death of her first husband Lucius Verus. Both 
 Faustina and Lucilla resented the latter's being married to so old a man, 
 but Marcus Aurelius was obdurate. 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
CHAP. 
 
 254 MARCUS AURELIUS {MaUers other than religion) 
 
 course of the Rhine, and from thence to Syria, — must have 
 meant in an age when all had to be accomplished either on 
 horse-back or in light vehicles on very rough roads, except 
 where, as in the case of this journey to Syria, part of the 
 journey could be performed by sea. Upon reacliing Formiae, 
 on the Gulf of Gaeta, where apparently he intended to embark 
 for Syria, Marcus Aurelius received the intelligence that Avidius 
 Cassius after ruling for three months had been assassinated. 
 A letter written from Formiae by Marcus Aurelius to Faustina, 
 apparently in reply to that in which she had urged him not 
 to spare Cassius and his adherents, states that he is not dis- 
 posed to show revenge, that he intends to spare Cassius' wife 
 and children, and to exhort the Senate to be lenient in punish- 
 ing his adherents, " because there is nothing which so much 
 commends an emperor of Rome to the nations as clemency." 
 He must at the same time have summoned Faustina to join 
 him, for they proceeded together to the East. But on the 
 voyage Faustina became ill ; they disembarked on the coast 
 of Cihcia, and at a small village near the foot of Mount Taurus 
 Faustina died, at the age of forty-nine (175). Marcus Aurelius 
 felt her death deeply, and paid various honours to her memory. 
 He named the village where she died Faustinopolis ; he 
 founded in her memory a fresh charity for orphan girls, called 
 " Puellae Faustinianae " ; he set up a special altar with a silver 
 statue of her in one of the temples in Rome, on which altar he 
 directed that girls about to marry should offer sacrifice ; and 
 whenever he attended the theatre he had a gold statue of her 
 placed on the seat by his side. 
 
 After performing the funeral obsequies of his wife and 
 ordering her ashes to be conveyed to Rome, Marcus Aurelius 
 continued his journey, and on reaching Syria acted on the 
 principles he had enunciated in his letter to Faustina from 
 Formiae. He treated those who had been concerned in the 
 revolt with great clemency, burnt without reading it the 
 correspondence of Cassius, and behaved with generosity to 
 the latter's family. Having settled the affairs of Syria, he 
 proceeded first to Greece, and from thence to Egypt, returning 
 from there in 176 to Rome, where he was given a triumph for 
 the victories of the Roman arms on the Rhine and Danube. 
 
 After his return from Egypt Marcus Aurelius remained 
 
 vn] 
 
 DEATH OF MARCUS AURELIUS 
 
 255 
 
 in Rome for about a year, during which time he issued in 177 
 his celebrated edict for a general massacre of all Christians 
 throughout the empire.^ In the same year, however, the 
 Marcomanni and Quadi for a third time invaded the Danube 
 provinces, and Marcus Aurelius proceeded to Pannonia to 
 conduct the war against them, accompanied by Commodus, 
 then sixteen, and lately given the title of Caesar. The contest 
 continued without any decisive result for three years. The 
 unhappy provinces of Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhaetia (covering 
 an extent equal to four modern countries), ^ which had almost 
 continuously for a space of fourteen years been ravaged from 
 end to end by these barbarous enemies, and devastated by 
 the contests with them, were by this time reduced to the 
 greatest misery and desolation. At length, while this war 
 was still proceeding, Marcus Aurelius, who was then residing 
 at Sirmium, was attacked by some infectious disease, and 
 removed to Vindobona (Vienna), where he died on the 17th 
 March, 180, at the age of fifty -nine. Commodus was with 
 him when he died. His death from an infectious disease was 
 of course considered by the Christians to be a direct punish- 
 ment for the ruthless crime which is the great blot on his 
 reign, the terrible three years' massacre of all Christians 
 throughout the empire which he carried out. 
 
 Besides his celebrated Meditations (which have made Marcus 
 Aurelius familiar to many who know nothing of much greater 
 emperors), he also wrote his autobiography, but it has perished. 
 His Meditations cannot but be admired by all, and are the 
 more wonderful when we consider that they were written during 
 long and troublesome jom'neys, or on the eve of battles on 
 which the fate of the empire depended, and when it might be 
 supposed that the emperor should have had his attention 
 occupied by very different matters. They are believed to have 
 been intended for the guidance of Commodus ; but if so they 
 furnish an example of how little real effect such discourses 
 are apt to have ; for Commodus, though from the age of 
 fourteen he accompanied Marcus Aurehus everywhere, and 
 must frequently have heard these views enunciated, turned 
 out the very opposite of all which the Meditations so 
 wisely inculcate. It is possible that in Commodus' eyes 
 J See p. 259. ^ pag© 249 (footnote). 
 
256 MARCUS AURELIUS (Ma«er, o^r ^n r.%^' 
 
 the edict for a wholesale massacre of many human beings of 
 both sexes deprived of any effect discourses on the duty of 
 benevolence to mankind. 
 
 Commodus transported the ashes of Marcus AureUus to 
 Rome, where the dead emperor was as usual deified and his 
 statue placed among the gods of Rome. And to his memory 
 Commodus erected the " Column of Marcus AureHus," which 
 still stands in Rome. It is in the same style as that of Trajan 
 but inferior to the latter in execution ; it is adorned with 
 rehefs commemorating the victory of the " Thundering Legion " 
 over the Quadi, and other victories claimed by the Roman 
 army over the Marcomanni and Quadi. 
 
 But the most interesting memorial in Rome to Marcus 
 Aurehus is his equestrian statue in bronze (once gilded) which 
 now stands in the centre of the square of the Capitol. ^ Hs 
 ongmal position is not known, nor when or where it was found 
 but m the Middle Ages it stood near the Lateran Palace of 
 the Popes, and owes its preservation to the fact that it was 
 supposed to be a statue of Constantine the Great, the first 
 Christian emperor. It is the only one which survives out of 
 all the many bronze equestrian statues which adorned Rome in 
 the earlier centuries. 
 
 During a period of eighty-two years the empire had been 
 governed by emperors chosen under a system by which each 
 passed on the throne to a successor speciaUy selected by him- 
 self as the fittest man in the whole empire for that position 
 Marcus Aurehus departed from this example set him by four 
 predecessors, the splendid fruits of which were before his eyes 
 and named Commodus as his successor, though the latter's 
 total unfitness for the position must have been palpable to 
 Inm Marcus AureHus had also before him the fact that all 
 the best emperors had succeeded to the imperial throne at an 
 advanced age, Augustus at 35, Tiberius at 56, Vespasian at 
 60, Trajan at 44, Hadrian at 42, Antonhms at 52, and he himself 
 at 40 and that the worst emperors had been those who suc- 
 ceeded to It at an early age, as CaHgula and Nero had done • 
 and yet he left this position of uncontrolled power to a youth 
 of mneteen, who possessed no natural abilities and who had 
 
 Rom^!^*^ ^^^' Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol. 
 
PLATE XLII. 
 
 I 
 
 Bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurei.ius. Rome. 
 
 The onlv bronze statue of ancient Rome which has survived. 
 
 [Brogi, 
 
 I 
 
 i' 
 
ri ATK XT.II, 
 
 riir ■<\\\\ \>V'U/j- ^t.iti|i 'it all" I'lit K<iiii. will. Ii 
 
 li.i- -iii\i\<- 
 
vn] 
 
 FOURTH PERSECUTION 
 
 257 
 
 already shown vicious tastes. As was to be expected, the 
 results were disastrous both to Commodus and to the State. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 In the long battle of 250 years ^ which was fought between 
 Paganism and Christianity there had up to this time only 
 been isolated local contests ; such as that which occurred in 
 A.D. 65 at Rome, in a.d. 91 at Rome, and in a.d. 156 at 
 Smyrna. Now, however, we come to the first general engage- 
 ment in this long campaign, a pitched battle fought in the 
 year 177 over the whole Roman empire. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius knew a great deal more about Christianity 
 than any previous emperor. Not only did his studies in 
 philosophy lead him to gain knowledge about the Christian 
 philosophy, but also from the time that he was sixteen that 
 religion had been regularly taught in Rome in the school of 
 Christian philosophy established by Justin, and the latter had 
 not only sent a " Defence of Christianity " to Antoninus Pius 
 in 148 (which Marcus Aurelius who was then living with the 
 latter must have read),^ but had followed this up in the next 
 reign by a second " Defence of Christianity " addressed to 
 Marcus Aurelius himself. So that probably no other man 
 who had not adopted Christianity had so thorough an ac- 
 quaintance with its tenets, the moral code it taught, and 
 the manner of life of its adherents. 
 
 Almost from the beginning of the reign of Marcus Aurelius 
 a series of great public calamities, — ^inundations, earth- 
 quakes, famine, plague, incursions of barbarians, rebellions, 
 and military defeats — had continued in one form or another 
 for sixteen years. Whether in taking the action he did Marcus 
 Aurelius was actuated by a feeling that these calamities were 
 brought upon the empire owing to the wrath of the gods of 
 Rome at the spread of Christianity, and by a desire to appease 
 that wrath, or whether he was of opinion that the whole 
 fabric of the State was so much bound up with the ancient 
 religion that it was essential that the latter should be defended 
 against a religion so hostile to it, we do not know ; for he did 
 
 1 A.D. 65 to A.D. 313. 
 
 * See also p. 243 (footnote). 
 
 E.W. 
 
 <atiiiiiiiifiiiitiii;i.ii»iLiii. 
 
II 
 
 CHAP. 
 258 MARCUS AURELIUS (Matters concerning religion) 
 
 not announce the reason which induced him to adopt the 
 course he did. All that we know is that he ordered a general 
 massacre of all Christians throughout the empire, and that 
 he was the first emperor to do so. 
 
 During the sixty years since the accession of Hadrian 
 Christianity had made great strides. And the more numerous 
 its adherents became, the more this religion became disliked 
 even by the most well-disposed Roman citizens. The 
 Pagan religion not only interpenetrated all public transactions, 
 ceremonies, and spectacles, but also entered into all the cus- 
 toms connected mth marriages and burials, the daily cour- 
 tesies of family life, and even the ordinary salutations between 
 friends. A Christian was therefore forced not only to absent 
 himself from all public ceremonies and festivals, and to desist 
 from many ordinary courtesies and salutations, but even had 
 to keep away from his nearest relations just at those times 
 when families gathered together, such as for a marriage, and 
 even at the last moments of those most closely connected with 
 him by blood. As a consequence even the most well-disposed 
 Roman felt a strong dislike to a religion which appeared to 
 have so morose a character. 
 
 But there was another large class of the community who felt a 
 much greater hatred towards it. The great strides which 
 Christianity had by this time made had produced a very large 
 falling off in the numbers frequenting the temples of the 
 ancient religion, and consequently in the income derived by 
 those attached thereto, and the entire priestly class, together 
 with all those who depended in any way upon the Pagan reli- 
 gious system for their livelihood, were for this reason bitterly 
 incensed against Christianity. To combat it they circulated 
 among the people the most atrocious stories of the iniquities 
 committed in the religious meetings of the Christians. Gibbon, 
 quoting from Justin Martyr, says : — " It was asserted that a 
 newborn infant, entirely covered over with flour, was presented 
 like some mystic symbol of initiation to the knife of the pro- 
 selyte, who unknowingly inflicted many a secret and mortal 
 wound on the innocent victim ; that as soon as the cruel deed 
 was perpetrated, the sectaries drank up the blood, greedily 
 tore asimder the quivering members, and pledged themselves 
 to eternal secrecy by a mutual consciousness of guilt. It waa 
 
 vn] 
 
 THE EDICT ISSUED 
 
 259 
 
 as confidently affirmed that this inhuman sacrifice was suc- 
 ceeded by a suitable entertainment, in which intemperance 
 served as a provocation to brutal lust." Nor was it only 
 among the populace that these tales obtained credence. The 
 general aspect which Christianity presented to the mind of 
 the cultured Pagan may be judged from the writings of CaeciHus, 
 who describing the Christians says : — 
 
 " Men of a desperate, lawless, reckless faction, who collect 
 together out of the lowest rabble the thoughtless portion, and cred- 
 ulous women deceived by the weakness of then- sex, and form a 
 mob of impure conspirators, of whose nocturnal assemblies, and 
 solemn fastings and unnatural food, no sacred rite, but pollution 
 IS the bond. A tribe lurking and Hght-hating, dumb for the pubUc, 
 talkative at corners, they despise our temples with scorn, spit at 
 our gods, and deride our religious forms. Pitiable themselves, 
 they pity our priests ; half -naked themselves, they despise our 
 purple. Monstrous folly! Incredible impudence! Day after 
 day their abandoned morals wind their serpentine course. Over 
 the whole world are these most hideous rites of an impious 
 association growing into shape." / 
 
 Therefore it will be seen that there were a very large number 
 of persons of all classes always ready to support an emperor 
 who might order the Christians to be destroyed, and that an 
 order of this kind was a highly popular measure. 
 
 It was in the year 1 77 that Marcus Aurelius, who was then 
 fifty-six years of age and had been sixteen years emperor, 
 issued his edict for a general massacre of the Christians, mani 
 woman, and child, throughout the Roman Empire, an action 
 so remarkable in his case that it has obtained wide notoriety. 
 In issuing this edict Marcus Aurelius ordered the most solemn 
 and costly religious ceremonies, offered numerous sacrifices 
 to the gods of Rome, repealed the edicts of Hadrian which 
 had given partial protection to Christians, and (taking the very 
 opposite course to that of his predecessors Trajan and Hadrian), 
 deliberately directed the use of informers, the edict encourag- 
 ing their operations by promising to them half the forfeited 
 goods of all Christians convicted through their assistance; 
 finally this edict for the first time directed torture to be 
 employed upon the Christians, the officials being left free to 
 use whatever tortures they might devise. No wonder that the 
 
CHAP. 
 260 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 Christians felt that the worst evils they had endured under 
 previous emperors were small in comparison. 
 
 This Fourth persecution (which continued for three years, 
 until the death of Marcus Aurelius) was far more formidable 
 than the three which had preceded it. They had been local, 
 and the result of temporary excitement ; this was universal and 
 dehberate. And although nothing but abhorrence could be 
 felt by a man with the mental training of Marcus Aurelius for 
 the actions of such men as Nero and Domitian, yet we find 
 him exceeding them in deUberate cruelty, and have here for 
 the first time a Roman emperor ordering throughout Rome's 
 vast empire countless numbers of men, women, and children 
 to be consigned to the most cruel tortures, and to death amidst 
 circumstances of utmost horror. 
 
 A general persecution throughout the empire carried out 
 under an imperial edict directing the putting all who were 
 found to be Christians to death in the cruel ways customary, 
 and amidst all the excitement and horror of furious and 
 mocking crowds of bitter enemies, was a terrible thing. All 
 the vilest passions of the scum of a Roman city were let loose, 
 and even encouraged. And devilish were the ways in which, 
 either to please the populace, or to gratify their own cruelty, 
 lust, or greed, unscrupulous governors carried out such perse- 
 cutions. Moreover to be lenient towards Christians when such 
 an imperial edict had been issued was at once to be liable to 
 suspicion of disloyalty to the emperor, and to be open to 
 accusation thereof by political enemies. So that even a 
 humanely disposed governor felt himself powerless to protect 
 those concerned. Some faint idea, therefore, may be formed 
 of the nature of a general persecution under an imperial edict. 
 It was an unrestrained Pandemonium, in which everything 
 evil worked its will to the utmost extent of its desires upon 
 those given up by authority to its cruelty, and whom none 
 dared to pity or protect. Nor was flight of any avail since 
 every country was imder the same power, and the same edict 
 in operation everywhere. 
 
 We shall never know one hundredth part of all the horrors 
 which under this edict of Marcus Aurelius were inflicted, and 
 courageously borne, in the various cities where Christians by 
 this time existed. Even of what we do know there is much 
 
 vn] 
 
 DEATH OF JUSTIN MARTYR 
 
 261 
 
 that cannot be related. Moreover in the great Tenth perse- 
 cution under Diocletian, 125 years later, nearly all the records 
 of what had been suffered in previous persecutions were of 
 set purpose sought out and destroyed. We only catch here 
 and there a glimpse of what took place ; the brief record of 
 some one martyrdom that has survived reveals like a flash of 
 lightning the scene and the actors for a moment, and then 
 all is dark again, until another flash lights up a similar scene 
 in some quite different part of the empire. We only know 
 that the number of persons who thus perished must have been 
 immense. Christians being by this time numerous everyiv^here. 
 Regarding this point Dr. Arnold in his letters says : — 
 " Gibbon has sneered at the statements on this point as 
 exaggerated. But this is a thankless labour. Divide the 
 sum total of reputed martyrdoms by twenty, — by fifty if you 
 will, — but after all you have an immense niunber of persons, 
 of all ages and both sexes, suffering cruel torments and death, 
 for conscience' sake and for Christ's name." 
 
 In this persecution of 177 perished at Rome Justin, the 
 Christian philosopher, who now earned the name by which we 
 know him, that of Justin Martyr. Possessing the acute intellect 
 of a Greek, and a philosophically trained mind, he had become 
 a most powerful defender of Christianity ; as we have seen, 
 he had twice over written and presented a " Defence of Christi- 
 anity " to two emperors in succession ; and by his many 
 attainments and his outspoken teaching of that religion he 
 had become, since the death of Polycarp, the most prominent 
 man among the Christians of the time. In the school which 
 he had established, and wearing always his philosopher's dress 
 that he had worn as a Stoic, he had preached Christianity for 
 forty years in Rome. To an emperor who was himself so 
 ardent an adherent of the Stoic philosophy, Justin who had 
 been a Stoic philosopher and was now a Christian must have 
 been specially obnoxious. Crescens, a Cynic philosopher, 
 was a bitter enemy of Justin, and on the publication of the 
 emperor's edict denounced him. Justin was thereupon seized 
 and condemned to die ; he behaved with great firmness and 
 dignity, and earned the distinctive name of " The Martyr," 
 which is always appended to his name. 
 
 Six other general persecutions succeeded this one during the 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 262 MARCUS AURELIUS (Matters concerning religion) 
 
 next 126 years. And as an example of the kind of scenes 
 which took place during these persecutions it will be well to 
 take the record of what occurred at Lyons in southern Gaul ^ 
 during this persecution ordered by Marcus Aurelius. It 
 furnishes a good example for the purpose because in this case 
 the record is so exceptionally reliable.* 
 
 The account is given in a letter from the survivors of the 
 churches of Lyons and Vienne (an adjacent Roman colony), 
 to the churches of Asia Minor, whence they owed their origin. 
 The letter is written in Greek ; it teUs its story very cir- 
 cumstantially, in simple language, and with an entire absence 
 of exaggeration. Although Mosheim says that the persecu- 
 tion to which these churches of Lyons and Vienne ^ were sub- 
 jected was so terrible that these communities were almost 
 entirely destroyed, yet in its simple fashion this letter written 
 by the survivors only mentions by name just those few persons 
 of whom it has something special to relate.* 
 
 The persecution began with the seizure of the Bishop, 
 Pothinus. He was ninety years old and very infirm. He 
 was taken before the Prefect, who reviled him, after which 
 he was unmercifully dragged about and beaten. 
 
 " Those who were near insulted him with their hands or feet, 
 and those at a distance threw at him whatever came to hand, and 
 every one looked upon himself as deficient in zeal if he did not 
 insult him in some way or other. For thus they imagined they 
 revenged the cause of their gods. At last he was thrown into 
 prison almost breathless, and after two days expired." 
 
 * There are strong grounds for believing that our ancient British 
 Church was founded by some who on this occasion escaped from 
 southern Gaul, and crossing the Channel took refuge in parts of 
 Britain not subject to the Romans. That Church was already 
 flourishing at the time of the Ninth persecution (278-285), possessing 
 several Bishops. 
 
 * Other accoimts of the occurrences elsewhere during this persecu- 
 tion are furnished by Justin, Athenagoras, Apollinaris, Melito, Bishop 
 of Scuxiis, and the Church at Smyrna. 
 
 ■ In subsequent ages the Archbishop of Vienne bore the title of 
 " Primate of Gaul " down to the 18th century. 
 
 * The letter is very long ; as much of it has been given in the original 
 words as space permits, and the rest abbreviated. 
 
 vn] 
 
 MASSACRE AT LYONS 
 
 263 
 
 Then began a general seizure of the Christians ; they were 
 assailed with shouts and blows, were dragged about by the 
 mob, and were then thrown into prison, their goods being 
 every^^here plundered. 
 
 " Being brought before the Prefect they were examined before all 
 the people as to whether they were Christians, and on their confess- 
 ing that they were, the Prefect treated them with great savageness. 
 A young Roman noble, Vettius Epagathus, was roused at this 
 perversion of justice, and demanded to be heard on behalf of the 
 Christians, saying he would prove there was nothing atheistic or 
 impious in them. Those about the tribunal shouted against him ; 
 the governor, enraged at his interference, refused to hear him, 
 and instead simply asked him if he too was a Christian ; whereupon 
 this noble young man confessed himself a Christian, and forthwith 
 he also was put among the accused. Ten of them when questioned 
 denied Christ, in fear of what was to come. Some of the Pagan 
 servants of the accused were, at the suggestion of the soldiers, tor- 
 tured until they accused the Christians of various abominable 
 crimes, such as eating human flesh, sacrificing children, and indulg- 
 ing in horrible orgies. These things being commonly reported, 
 all were incensed to madness against them ; so that if some were 
 on account of relationship or friendship previously more moderate 
 towards them, they were now transported beyond all bounds with 
 indignation." 
 
 After describing how they were dragged to the amphi- 
 theatre in batches and subjected to various tortures, the 
 account continues thus : — 
 
 " They now sustained tortiu'es which exceed the power of 
 description. The mob vehemently demanded Attalus of Perga- 
 mum,^ a man who had been ever a pillar and support of our 
 church in Gaul ; he was brought forth and led round the amphi- 
 theatre, cheerful and unmoved, with a tablet in front of him 
 on which was written ' I am Attalus, a Christian.' But being a 
 Roman citizen he was sent back again to prison until the emperor's 
 express orders regarding him should be received. But first he 
 had to see his son, Maturus, a late convert but most steadfast in 
 the faith, suffer horrible tortures. The whole fury of the multi- 
 tude, of the governor, and of the soldiers, was specially spent on 
 these four, Sanctus, a deacon of the church at Vienne, Maturus, son 
 of Attalus, Ponticus, a youth of fifteen, and Blandina, a slave-girl. 
 . . . But notwithstanding that we all feared, and among the 
 rest her mistress, who herself was one of the noble army of martyrs, 
 that she would not be able to endure because of the weakness of 
 
 ^ In Asia Minor. 
 
CHAP. 
 264 MARCUS AURELIUS {MatUra concerning religion) 
 
 her body, Blandina was endued with so much fortitude that those 
 who successively tortured her from morning till evening were quite 
 worn out with fatigue, and owned themselves conquered and that 
 their whole apparatus of torture was exhausted, and were amazed 
 to see her still breathing ; they confessed that any single one of 
 the tortures ought to have been sufficient to dispatch her, much more 
 so great a variety as had been applied. But that blessed one 
 like a brave athlete drew strength and courage from her own con- 
 fession, and there was to her an evident support and annihilation 
 of her pain in simply many times repeating, ' I am a Christian, and 
 no evil is committed among us.* Sanctus also, through long and 
 intense tortures, would neither tell his name, nor that of his nation 
 or state, or whether he was a freedman or a slave, but to every 
 interrogation only answered, ' I am a Christian.' This, he used to 
 say, was to him both name, and state, and race, and everything ; 
 and nothing else did the Pagans draw from him. ... In the 
 prison some of the younger ones died ; and many who had denied 
 Christ had nevertheless been thrown into prison. These were 
 dejected and spiritless, forlorn, and in everyway disgraced, and 
 even insulted by the Pagans as cowards. But they who had been 
 faithful did not reproach these, but only sought to encourage and 
 restore them ; which indeed they did. ... An additional day 
 having been added by the governor to the shows of the amphi- 
 theatre on account of these Christians, Maturus and Sanctus were 
 again carried thither and underwent further tortures ; they were 
 beaten with stripes, dragged and torn by wild beasts, then made 
 to sit in a red-hot iron chair, in which their bodies were roasted, 
 and at length died under the tortures. Blandina was all the time 
 suspended from a stake in the arena, but none of the wild beasts 
 at that time touched her, and at the end of the day she was again 
 thrown into prison, and reserved for another contest. . . . Regard- 
 ing the cases of Attains and others which had been referred to him, 
 the emperor sent orders that all who had confessed Christ should 
 be put to death. They were therefore again brought before the 
 governor in the presence of the people. Some of those who had 
 lapsed now withdrew their denial of Christ, and were added to the 
 list of martyrs, and died in similar torments. During this re- 
 examination a man who had lived many years in Gaul — a person 
 of great endowments, a physician by profession — stood near the 
 tribunal, and by his gestures encouraged those who were interro- 
 gated to confess the truth. The multitude seeing this clamoured 
 against him as the cause of the recovered firmness of the lapsed. 
 The governor ordered him to be placed before him and questioned 
 him, when he declared himself a Christian ; whereupon he was at 
 once condemned to the wild beasts, and the next day, he, with 
 Attains, underwent all the usual tortures of the amphitheatre, 
 and died with the other martyrs. . . . But the eyes of all were 
 specially directed to the boy Ponticus and the slave-girl Blandina, 
 
 vn] 
 
 DEEDS, NOT WORDS, THE TEST 
 
 265 
 
 who having endured unutterable tortures for days were on the 
 last day of the shows again brought in. No pity was shown to 
 the youth of the one, or the sex of the other. After they had thus 
 seen all the rest die under the tortures, these latter were aggra- 
 vated for them by all sorts of methods, and the whole round of 
 barbarities was inflicted. Ponticus, animated by her, his sister in 
 suffering, who was observed by those who tortured them to 
 strengthen and confirm him, after a glorious exertion of patience, 
 expired. And so, last of all, hke a brave mother who had inspired 
 her sons to a noble conflict, and sent them victors before her, Blan- 
 dina herself went by the same road, exulting, not as one thrown 
 to the beasts, but as a guest at a marriage feast. After she had 
 endured cruel stripes, the tearing of the beasts, and the terrible red- 
 hot iron chair, she was enclosed in a net, and thrown to a bull, and 
 having been tossed some time by the animal, she at length breathed 
 her last. Even her enemies confessed that no woman among them 
 had ever suffered such and so great things." 
 
 And so ends the record. Many similar scenes were taking 
 place at other towns in the empire during this and the next 
 three years. 
 
 While those features which Marcus Aurelius displays in his 
 Meditations must always attract mankind, yet History wiU 
 ever insist upon estimating a man, and especially a man in the 
 position of an emperor, not by his words, but by his deeds. And 
 because we admire the sentiments expressed by Marcus Aurelius 
 in his Meditations that is no reason for suffering ourselves 
 to be led by the Pagan writers to extol him as they did. The 
 statement that Marcus Aurelius was " the best man the Pagan 
 world ever produced " is perfectly true ; but how very short a 
 distance that carries us is seen as soon as this deed is examined. 
 For this deed is not of the secondary character which has been 
 given to it by his admirers. Although, for very obvious 
 reasons, it has been lightly referred to by them, and belittled as 
 much as possible, it is the one notable deed of his reign. It 
 would have been otherwise had Marcus Aurelius had other 
 achievements to show, either in war or peace ; but this is not 
 the case. The three heads under which his achievements 
 naturally group themselves are, his deeds in war, his peace 
 administration, and his action as regards the Christians. In 
 war he was a conspicuous failure, being utterly imable to pro- 
 tect three great provinces of the empire (tiU then in a highly 
 flourishing condition) from being continuously ravaged by 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 CHAP. 
 266 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matterg concerning religion) 
 
 barbarous enemies during nearly the whole of his reign. But 
 while it would not be fair to judge of Marcus Aurelius by his 
 military record, that of his peace administration is no better 
 able to raise him to a high place in general estimation. For 
 whereas in the case of each of his three predecessors we find 
 highly important measures for the benefit of the empire carried 
 out, in the case of Marcus Aurelius no important measures of 
 this kind are recorded, while his financial administration in 
 particular was exceptionally defective. His action as regards 
 the Christians thus becomes the one notable deed of his reign, 
 and we are bound therefore to judge of him principally with 
 reference to it. 
 
 Every endeavour has been made by modem writers to 
 extenuate the conduct of Marcus Aurelius in carrying out 
 this widespread and cruel massacre. The Pagan writers of 
 the 3rd and 4th centuries felt no such necessity ; to them 
 expediency was a full excuse for the act, and they have bluntly 
 declared that this was the sole reason for it. But modern 
 writers, shrinking from the idea that a man who was the writer 
 of the sentiments expressed in the Meditations should cast 
 to the winds all that he had taught as regards the duty of 
 benevolence towards mankind because expediency demanded 
 it, have sought assiduously for other grounds of exculpation. 
 They have forgotten in fact that they were dealing with an 
 emperor of the 2nd century, and have desired to estimate 
 him by the standard of their own age. But these efforts have 
 been entirely without avail. The very weakness of the excuses 
 adduced has shown the impossibility of the task, all that such 
 apologists have been able to suggest being that Marcus Aurelius 
 probably knew little about Christianity, that the edict though 
 issued in his name may possibly not have proceeded directly 
 from him, or that he may have been led into this action by 
 others. But as has been shown ^ the truth is exactly the 
 reverse in regard to each of these three suggestions. No 
 previous emperor knew so much about Christianity as Marcus 
 Aurelius, his action was entered upon with the utmost de- 
 liberation, and, above all, the fact that the action was entirely 
 his own, and not even induced by any popular clamour at the 
 time, is vouched for by all authorities. 
 
 1 Pages 243 (footnote), 267, and 259 ; also p. 264, regarding the 
 special leference made to him about some of those at Lyons, 
 
 vn] 
 
 EXPEDIENCY 
 
 267 
 
 It may be granted that Christianity was making great strides, 
 that it was a stem foe to all those many political and social 
 customs which were boimd up with the ancient religion, and that 
 Marcus Aurelius, both as a Stoic philosopher and as a Pagan 
 emperor, felt impelled to crush out its life. But to excuse his 
 action on this ground is merely in other words to bring forward 
 the excuse of expediency, and so to look at the matter through 
 Pagan spectacles. 
 
 Some hdve tried to find excuses for Marcus Aurelius by 
 arguing that we must bear in mind the general standard of the 
 age in which he lived. And this is in truth the only sound 
 ground on which to search for such excuses ; since it is a funda- 
 mental error to judge characters in history by the standard of 
 our own age, instead of by that in which they lived. ^ But 
 even this will not provide an excuse for Marcus Aurelius. For 
 his deed was one which other emperors of his own time — Trajan, 
 Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius — neither committed, nor could 
 have committed. 
 
 Since therefore the utmost endeavours of so many writers 
 have failed entirely to find any excuse for this deed, we are 
 forced to conclude that the Pagan writers of the 3rd and 
 4th centuries were right as to the motive which prompted 
 it ; and are compelled to estimate Marcus A\u*elius as he 
 appears in the light of that motive. On this occasion his 
 maxims regarding the duty of benevolence to mankind stood 
 opposed to the demands of expediency ; and when that 
 occurred we see them thrown aside. And so the great crime 
 which those who have estimated him only from his maxims have 
 endeavoured so fruitlessly to extenuate was perpetrated. With 
 the result that Marcus Aurelius, " The crown and flower of the 
 Stoic philosophy," and the writer of the lofty sentiments 
 expressed in the Meditations, carried out a three years* 
 massacre of thousands of Roman citizens — men and women, 
 boys and girls, and even little children, — with every kind of 
 horrible tortures directly ordered by himself to be inflicted, and 
 with the deliberate employment by him of that odious race of 
 
 1 Measured by the moral standard of their own age, those who were 
 in advance of it, and those who were behind it, will both be correctly 
 judged ; but neither of them will be so if the standard employed is 
 that of our own age. 
 
I 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 268 MARCUS AURELIUS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 " informers " whom both Trajan and Hadrian had indignantly 
 repudiated and prohibited. 
 
 What renders the action of Marcus Aurelius more especially 
 derogatory to him is the fact that he succeeded two emperors 
 whose procedure had been so notably the reverse, emperors 
 with whose views regarding the persecution of Christians he 
 must have been thoroughly acquainted. That a man who had 
 been selected by Hadrian and seen his strictly tolerant rule, 
 and had lived in daily and hourly association with the noble 
 Antoninus Pius, should have deliberately cast aside their 
 temperate and enlightened principles in regard to this question, 
 and in preference thereto have reverted to those of the degraded 
 tyrant Domitian, is the greatest condemnation of the character 
 and conduct of Marcus Aurelius that could be made. Moreover 
 his action did not merely affect the Romans of his own time, 
 but was grievously disastrous to subsequent generations. For 
 by being the first to order a general persecution he inaugurated 
 a system of such persecutions, and set an example which was 
 followed by other emperors during a period of 135 years, causing 
 immeasurable misery and woe to coimtless numbers of the 
 hiunan race. 
 
 In thus acting Marcus Aurelius departed for the first time 
 from a fundamental principle of the Roman Empire, that of 
 toleration of all religions by the State. The first three persecu- 
 tions had not done this ; for though it had become against the 
 law to be a Christian, yet so long as no accusation was lodged 
 Christians had remained unmolested. In the Fourth persecu- 
 tion, however, Marcus Aurelius for the first time put in force the 
 whole power of the State to stamp out a particular religion, 
 thereby embarking upon a course which departed from that 
 principle of toleration which had ever been pursued by Rome, 
 and launching the Roman State upon a disastrous course in 
 regard to religion for the next 135 years, until this line of action 
 was at last reversed by Constantine, who returned to the 
 original principle of the Roman Empire. For Constantine did 
 not " establish Christianity " in the sense of making it the only 
 religion permitted, but merely freed it from persecution,^ while 
 
 ^ See Chap. XII, p. 386. The first article of the Edict of Milan 
 promulgated in 313, which put an end to the persecution of Christians, 
 was that "all men are to be free to follow whatever religion they 
 choose." 
 
 Vll] 
 
 CHRISTIAN ROMANS 
 
 269 
 
 at the same time adopting it as the religion professed by the 
 State. 
 
 This widespread massacre, carried out with such deliberate 
 cruelty by an emperor who from the sentiments expressed in 
 his writings should have been the last man in the world to be 
 guilty of such conduct, has always been considered by thought- 
 ful men the great blot on the character and reign of Marcus 
 Aurehus. So much so that it led John Stuart MiU (who not 
 being a Christian was quite unbiased), in deploring that such 
 an action should have been committed by one whose Medita- 
 tions he had considered to be almost equal to the Sermon on 
 the Mount, to call it " one of the most tragical facts of all 
 history." 
 
 It was by conflicts such as that which has been described, 
 occurring again and again during the ensuing 135 years, that 
 this unusual kind of battle was fought. Nor is any apology 
 needed for devoting a considerable amount of attention to this 
 struggle.^ For this contest between Paganism and Chris- 
 tianity, owing to the permanent result which it brought about, 
 is the leading historical feature of the period which lies between 
 Augustus and Constantine, largely affecting as it grew more 
 intense all political events. Moreover, it is these conflicts of 
 the Christians which at this particular period supply the human 
 element. In other directions we read of the wars conducted, 
 the great public works erected, and the administrative measures 
 carried out ; but it is the Christians, in their sufferings, their 
 sympathy, and their brave endurance, who alone provide that 
 human element without which the page of history becomes but 
 a dry record. 
 
 Lastly it is to be noted that these Christians are not men and 
 women of another race than those who lead Rome's armies, 
 administer her dominions, or construct her public buildings. 
 The contest is not between Romans and Christians, but between 
 Pagan Romans and Christian Romans. Clement, Ignatius, 
 Poly carp, Justin, and Cyprian, ^ and Crescentia, Modesta, 
 Blandina, Felicitas, and Vivia Perpetua,^ are of the same race 
 as Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus 
 
 III 
 
 1 See also Chap. XII, p. 389 (footnote). 
 » Chap. X, p. 327. 
 
 » Chap. VIII, p. 296. 
 
 i' 
 
CHAP, vn] 
 
 270 MARCUS AURELIUS {MaUers concerning religion) 
 
 271 
 
 Aurelius, and as Antonia, Octavia, Plotina, Sabina, and 
 Faustina. And the powers of mind, constancy, and bravery 
 which those in the former category displayed as Christians 
 were the qualities implanted in them as Romans. And no- 
 where does the Roman character shine out with greater 
 lustre than in the deeds of so many of that race under the 
 terrible trial of these persecutions. Many are the notable 
 deeds of bravery, steadfast endurance, and self-sacrificing 
 devotion by which Roman officers and soldiers have won 
 honour in the wars of the Roman Empire. But it has not 
 been equally recognized that none of them surpass in the 
 display of exactly similar qualities, the deeds of many hun- 
 dreds of martyred Romans exemplified by such men as 
 Polycarp and Cyprian, such boys as Maturus and Ponticus, 
 and such girls and women as Blandina and Vivia Perpetua. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 Our chief authorities for the history of the first two centuries are : — 
 
 Seneca. Bom in a.d. 3 at Cordova. Went to Rome when 
 quite young, and after a time adopted a branch of the Stoic philo- 
 sophy which combined therewith a more or less Epicurean style 
 of life. Was of the inner circle of the court in the reigns of Claudius 
 and Nero. In a.d. 41 he was banished to Corsica by Claudius at 
 the instigation of Valeria Messalina on a charge of an intrigue with 
 the emperor's niece, Julia Li villa. In a.d. 49, after the death of 
 Valeria Messalina, he was recalled to Rome by Agrippina, and 
 soon afterwards was made tutor to her son Nero. He became 
 Nero's chief minister during the earlier half of the latter's reign, 
 but his wealth roused Nero's jealousy, and Seneca retired into se- 
 clusion. In A.D. 66 he was accused of complicity in the conspiracy 
 of Piso, and forced to commit suicide. His chief works comprise 
 treatises on Anger, on Providence y on Tranquillity of Mind, on the 
 Steadfastness of the Wise Man, and on Clemency (addressed to Nero). 
 Also seven books on Benefits, seven books on Investigations of Nature, 
 and twenty books of moral letters. 
 
 Pliny the elder. Bom in a.d. 23 at Como. Served with 
 distinction in the army, and was eventually in the reign of Vespa- 
 sian made governor of Spain. All his leisure was devoted to litera- 
 ture and science, but the only one of his works now existing is his 
 Natural History, which contains information on a mass of subjects 
 besides that which gives the title to his book. He perished in the 
 eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii in a.d. 79. 
 
 Tacitus. Born in a.d. 54 at Rome and was fourteen years 
 old when Nero died. Was by profession a lawyer, and an ardent 
 devotee of Rhetoric. Was first appointed to a public ofi&ce in 
 the reign of Vespasian. Was quaestor under Titus, praetor under 
 Domitian, and consul under Nerva. Married the daughter of the 
 celebrated general Julius Agricola, and wrote his life. Lived in 
 close intimacy with Pliny the younger, and obtained a high repu- 
 tation as an orator. He died about a.d. 120. His two chief works 
 are his Annals and his History. His Annals, written in the reign 
 of Trajan (a.d. 98-117), in sixteen books (of which four are lost), 
 contain an account of the principal events at Rome from the death 
 of Augustus to the death of Nero, and are coloured by much bias 
 against the Caesars. His History (of which much is lost), also 
 written in the reign of Trajan, begins in the year a.d. 69 and ends 
 with the accession of Vespasian in a.d. 70. 
 
272 
 
 NOTE B 
 
 Pliny the younger. Nephew of Pliny the elder. Bom in 
 A.D. 61 at Como. Inherited his uncle's estates and mass of notes, 
 and his love of literature. Occupied various civil offices and 
 eventually was made by Trajan governor of Bithynia and Pontus. 
 Was one of the most distinguished men of his time. His chief 
 works are his letters (in ten books) and his Panegyric on Trajan. 
 He died about 115. 
 
 Suetonius. Secretary to the emperor Hadrian. He wrote 
 (probably about 125) the Lives of the Caesars^ from Augustus to 
 Domitian, covering the period from B.C. 28 to a.d. 96. He is a 
 genial writer, and desires to be honest, but he is writing of times 
 before his own, and unlike Tacitus, is so excessively fond of 
 scandalous anecdotes that he will discard none because they are 
 improbable. It will be seen that when writing regarding, e.g. the 
 emperor Tiberius, he was writing of a time neariy a hundred years 
 before that at which he wrote. 
 
 Dion Gassius. A Greek, bom about 155, who came to Rome 
 about the year 180 and obtained the rank of a Roman senator. 
 He wrote a History of Rome, extending down to the year 229, but 
 only the latter part of it has survived. He is by no means so 
 pleasant a writer as Suetonius, being malignant in disposition 
 and still more devoted than Suetonius to the lowest kind of 
 scandalous gossip, invariably preferring it to truth. He lived 
 during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimius 
 Severus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, and Alexander Severus, dying 
 about the year 230. 
 
 The Augustan History. A general history beginning from 
 the reign of the emperor Hadrian, compiled by various writers 
 whose names are not known. 
 
 PART II 
 
 Commodus to Constantine 
 
 (a.d. 180—314) 
 
 E.W. 
 

 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BEIGNS OF 
 
 COMMODUS, PERTINAX, AND SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 
 
 COMMODUS 
 
 180 — 192 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THERE is a great dearth of reliable records during the 
 hundred years from the close of the reign of Marcus 
 AureHus (180) until we reach the reign of Diocletian (285), 
 but this is of less consequence owing to the general character 
 of that period. Except the reign of Septimius Severus the 
 greater part of it was occupied by the reigns of a number of 
 incapable emperors, followed by a time of great disasters 
 and general confusion, accompanied by frequent changes 
 of emperors.^ It therefore seems well to spend as httle 
 time as possible over this period from 180 to 285, during 
 which the events in general were not of lasting importance. 
 There is, however, one exception to this, viz. in the case of 
 the growth of Christianity. For it was during this hundred 
 years that the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth per- 
 secutions all took place ; with the result that by the end of 
 the 3rd century Christianity stood in a very different position 
 from that which it occupied at the end of the 2nd century. 
 
 Commodus,2 bom in 161, was nineteen when he became 
 
 1 Whereas previously in 240 years (from B.C. 28 to a.d. 211) the 
 average length of the reigns of sixteen emperors had been fifteen years, 
 there were between 211 and 285 twenty emperors in seventy-four years, 
 their reigns averaging less than four years each. 
 
 ■ Plate XLni. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 275 
 
276 
 
 COMMODUS {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 : 
 
 ffl 
 
 emperor. At fifteen he had been given the title of Caesar y and 
 from the age of sixteen had been associated by Marcus Aure- 
 lius with himself in the government. Shortly before leaving 
 Rome in 177 to accompany the latter to Pannonia, Commo- 
 dns, then sixteen, was married to Crispina,^ the daughter of 
 the Senator Brittius Praesens, and she accompanied Com- 
 modus to Pannonia. Upon the death of Marcus Aurelius in 
 180 at Vidobona Commodus quickly concluded a peace with 
 the Marcomanni, and hastened back with his wife Crispina 
 to Rome to enjoy the pleasures of the capitol. His sister 
 Lucilla, fifteen years older than himself, was the only one of 
 his ten sisters who was living when he became emperor. 
 
 Commodus was very handsome, with a finely proportioned 
 figure and unusual physical strength, and was fond of com- 
 paring himself to Hercules ; but he was a youth of a degraded 
 nature, being in his tastes and propensities more like the son 
 of a gladiator than the descendant of two of the most well- 
 bom Roman families. He was not only the antithesis in this 
 respect of such emperors as Antoninus Pius and Marcus 
 Aurelius, but even had a nature which seemed to emulate in 
 depravity that of the first Julia's abandoned son Agrippa 
 Postumus.2 Upon reaching Rome he ignored public affairs 
 and gave himself up to a most profligate style of life ; though for 
 a time this was kept from the public eye. His chief associates 
 were common gladiators, a class the most vicious in Rome, 
 and amongst them he spent his time in the seclusion of the 
 palace, delighting to show his strength and skill in physical 
 contests. The vast Palace of the Caesars, formed by the 
 junction of the palace of Tiberius, the palace of Caligula, the 
 palace of Domitian, and the palaces of Augustus and Hadrian, 
 by this time covered ahnost the whole of the Palatine hill. 
 And never before had this Palace of the Caesars witnessed 
 such scenes as now took place in it, Commodus abandoning 
 himself to a course of moral infamy which would have shamed 
 even Caligula, Nero, or Domitian, and enacting scenes of the 
 most monstrous and shameless vice, of which moreover he 
 even forced his sister and his wife to be witnesses. 
 
 After Commodus had carried on this kind of life for nearly 
 
 * Plate XLIV. Portrait-bust in the British Museum, London. 
 
 * Chap. I, p. 22. 
 
J'l.AJI. XLIII 
 
 COMMODUS. 
 Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 [iiKOOl. 
 
 'ij/V"* **■*<« • ^ ' -^ 
 
 i \ \ \ t . X » N. 
 
 [Alinari. 
 
 Septimius Severus. 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
>\< >'.l. 
 
 ("< tMM« >1 )1 
 
 "'>!>j!!-'nt' 
 
 I 
 
 ^iUit > 
 
 \i r V \Kr. 
 
 Si riiMM-- Si.\i.i;r^. 
 
 list in thi \'afi(Li)i iHU^tuni. I\'"iii 
 
PLATE XLIV" 
 
 Crispixa, wife of Commodus. 
 Portrait-bust in the British Museum, London. 
 
II.AII WAV 
 
 Ckisimna. Will; ol' ("mm 
 
 M VN^I I I . 
 
 MODI 
 
 r ■iih(!'-''!t>f lit tin- llntish Museum, I "lui-n. 
 
vin] 
 
 CRISPINA PUT TO DEATH 
 
 277 
 
 two years a conspiracy was organized against him in 182 by 
 his sister Lucilla, who instigated Quadratus,^ a young knight 
 who was in love with her, to assassinate him. Quadratus, 
 however, unwisely gave warning of the blow by declaring that 
 he struck in the name of the Senate, and the attempt was 
 foiled, Quadratus being killed. Thereupon Commodus exe- 
 cuted a number of the senators and leading nobles whom he 
 suspected of being involved in the plot, and banished Lucilla 
 on a general charge of immorality to Capreae, where she was 
 shortly afterwards put to death. There had been strong 
 rivalry, if not animosity, between Lucilla and her sister-m-law 
 Crispina, but nevertheless the latter did not escape a similar 
 fate. It was declared that she had been too intimate with 
 some of the young knights concerned in the plot, and 
 she also was soon afterwards banished to Capreae, and there 
 put to death. Dion Cassius makes a general charge against 
 Crispina of leading a dissolute life, but apparently only 
 because it was the customary charge. 
 
 Whether this accusation so continuously made against the 
 wives and sisters of the emperors be true or not,i it requires 
 to be remembered how little chance they had of being other- 
 wise. Married as girls in very many cases to men who can 
 only be described as monsters in depravity, and forced to 
 live daily amidst scenes in which no woman could retain 
 her purity, or even when not married to men of this kind 
 yet nevertheless surrounded by an atmosphere to breathe 
 which was pollution, and imassisted by the help which 
 Christianity afterwards supplied to women so situated, it 
 speaks well for these empresses and their sisters-in-law as a 
 body that at all events some were found who resisted the 
 poisonous atmosphere in which they were forced to dwell, 
 and that even those who failed to resist it remained 
 infinitely less evil than their brothers, husbands, and fathers ; 
 so that, for instance, it has been instinctively felt by all 
 writers to be a falsehood when Dion Cassius asserts that 
 Lucilla was as bad as her brother. 
 
 Commodus after putting to death his sister and his wife 
 continued his career of outrageous depravity. Excepting 
 the construction of the column to the memory of Marcus 
 
 ^ That it was sometimes false the case of Domitia shows (p. 189). 
 
 Ill 
 
CHAP. 
 
 278 
 
 COMMODUS {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 Aurelius, lie did no notable work, and never quitted Rome. 
 He turned the Palace of the Caesars into a huge seraglio, and 
 the record of his reign of thirteen years is simply a record of 
 his stupendous and shameless vices. He also developed, 
 after the attempt upon his life in the second year of his reign, 
 almost as cruel a disposition as Nero, and his constant mur- 
 ders of prominent men upon the slightest suspicion made him 
 universally detested. But that for which the Romans chiefly 
 hated him was his degradation of the imperial dignity by 
 appearing as a gladiator in the arena, where, carefully pro-, 
 tected from danger to himself, he killed wild animals and 
 fought with gladiators (forced to engage with him with blunted 
 weapons), calling himself the Roman Hercules. Various 
 attempts were made to murder him, but all were imsuccess- 
 ful, until at last after he had reigned thirteen years his fa- 
 vourite concubine Marcia ^ (who after the banishment and 
 death of Crispina occupied for seven years almost the position 
 of an empress), his chamberlain Eclectus, and the Prefect of 
 the Praetorian Guards, Laetus, finding their names on a list 
 of those he intended to put to death, combined to get rid of 
 him, and caused him to be strangled in his bed by a wrestler 
 in December 192, at the age of thirty-one. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 As Commodus took no interest in the destruction of Chris- 
 tianity, and as Marcia was against the slaughter of Christians,* 
 he stopped the persecution. 
 
 The most notable man in the Christian Church at this 
 period was Irengeus.* He appears to have been absent from 
 Lyons preaching Christianity in the northern part of Gaul 
 at the time of the persecution, and so escaped notice. After 
 the persecution was over he was made Bishop of Lyons in suc- 
 cession to the martyred Pothinus. He is the most celebrated 
 
 * Herodicm says that Marcia strove, even with tears, to dissuade 
 Commodus from the disgrace of appetiring in public as a gladiator ; 
 and that it was in revenge for this that he marked down her name for 
 death (Herodian i, 60). 
 
 * Marcia is stated to have given protection to varioiis Christians 
 who would have been put to death by Commodus. 
 
 3 Chap. Vn, p. 246. 
 
 vm] 
 
 IRENiEUS 
 
 279 
 
 writer of the 2nd century. Being roused to defend the faith 
 of Christianity by the spread of numerous forms of Gnosti- 
 cism,^ he set himself to expose the fallacy of these doctrines 
 in a great work of five books called " The Refutation of all 
 Heresies," which has survived, and has gained for Irenaeus 
 the title of the first theologian. In this work he details with 
 great care the obscure tenets of the Gnostics,^ and vindicates 
 the faith of the Christian Church, defining it, for the benefit 
 of both Christians and Pagans, with a clearness which no 
 earlier writer whose works have been preserved had done. 
 In view of his early date, and the fact that he had been taught 
 by Polycarp, a pupil for so long of St. John, it is important 
 to notice that the faith which Irenaeus thus defined is in all 
 essentials that which all branches of the Catholic Church still 
 profess, there being only on minor points any divergence, and 
 that with the exception of one or two of the smaller epistles 
 he accepted as geniiine all the books of what is now the Canon 
 of the New Testament. He maintains it as one of the essen- 
 tial points of the Primitive Church that all its branches should 
 keep the same ecclesiastical constitution, and he attaches 
 great value to tradition. 
 
 The immense number of persons who perished in the perse- 
 cution inaugurated by Marcus Aurelius in 177 and stopped 
 by Commodus in the second year of his reign is evidenced by 
 the long period of silence regarding Christianity which ensued. 
 The almost entire absence of any mention of the Christians, 
 in all parts of the empire north of the Mediterranean, from the 
 death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 to the accession of Alexander 
 Severus in 221, is very marked, and tends to show that such 
 a wholesale destruction of them had taken place that it was 
 not until, after forty years, another generation had grown up 
 that Christianity north of the Mediterranean came again into 
 notice. It would appear however that south of the Mediter- 
 ranean the persecution under Marcus Aurelius was not carried 
 out with the same vigour as in Europe, as twenty-two years 
 
 1 Chap. V, p. 186. 
 
 ■ In connection with this work by Irenaeus it has been pointed 
 out that in the present day the Swedenborgians, the Theosophists, 
 and the Christian Scientists do but revive the ideas of these early 
 heresies. Irenseus* book was written about the year 180. 
 
 ' k. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 280 SEPTIMIUS SEY ^ERVS {Matters oOu^r than religion) 
 
 alter the death of Marcus Aurelius the Christians in North 
 Africa attracted the attention of the Roman authorities, thus 
 bringing about the Fifth persecution.^ 
 
 PERTINAX 
 
 193 
 
 On the death of Commodus the Senate chose as emperor 
 Helvius Pertinax. He was an upright and honourable man 
 of humble extraction who had gradually risen in the public 
 service, and after being employed in Britain and Africa had 
 become Prefect of Rome. He was weak and quite unfit for 
 the position of emperor, and being imable to control the Prae- 
 torian Guards was murdered by a band of them after a reign 
 of only three months. 
 
 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS 
 
 193 — 211 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 On the death of Pertinax the Praetorian Guards with the 
 utmost effrontery declared they would give the throne to the 
 highest bidder, with the result that it was sold to Julius Didi- 
 anus. Meanwhile, however, three distinct groups of the army 
 had severally chosen their commanders as emperor, the legions 
 in Britain choosing their commander Albinus, those in Syria 
 their commander Niger, and those in Pannonia their com- 
 mander Septimius Severus. The latter in addition to his 
 own three legions obtained also the adherence of the legions 
 in Illjrricum and part of those on the Rhine, thus gaining the 
 preponderance of force. He marched to Rome, forced th© 
 Praetorian Guards to surrender, put to death their puppet 
 Didianus, and was formally accepted as emperor by the Senate. 
 His first act of power was to disband the Praetorian Guards, 
 making arrangements to replace them by an entirely new 
 
 » Page 293. 
 
 vin] 
 
 DEFEAT OP ALBINUS 
 
 281 
 
 force formed of veterans promoted from all the legions in the 
 various provinces. He then marched against his rival Niger, 
 who after a severe struggle was defeated and killed at the 
 battle of Issus (194). Severus then spent two years in 
 thoroughly subduing the partisans of Niger, after which he 
 turned westwards to engage his other rival Albinus. 
 
 Clodius Albinus, the commander in Britain, had by his 
 abilities and high character gained such a position of import- 
 ance during the reign of Commodus that the latter offered 
 him the title of Caesar, which meant succession to the imperial 
 throne as Commodus' successor. Albinus however declined 
 the offer, and subsequently lost favour with Commodus by 
 denouncing him as a tyrant. Thereupon Commodus ordered 
 him to be deprived of his command, but Albinus was so secure 
 in the estimation in which he was held by the legions in Britain 
 that he was able to disregard the order, and soon afterwards 
 the death of Commodus occurred. Septimius Severus upon 
 being recognized by the Senate as emperor again offered 
 Albinus the title of Caesar, which this time was accepted by 
 him. But Septimius Severus was only deceiving him until 
 he had overcome Niger. He first tried to get Albinus assass- 
 inated, and when this failed marched into Gaul to attack 
 him. Albinus, seeing that a contest was inevitable, had 
 crossed into Gaul taking with him part of the legions in Britain, 
 and was joined by a large part of the troops on the Rhine, 
 but his force was inferior in numbers to that of Severus. The 
 two armies, both of them composed of the most experienced 
 Roman legions, met in southern Gaul near Lyons, where in 
 February 197 the hardest fought battle since that at Philippi 
 in B.C. 42 took place. At one time it looked as though Albinus 
 would win, but Severus rallied his troops and eventually 
 gained the victory. Albinus was captured and put to death, 
 Severus carrying off his head to Rome to display to the Senate, 
 many of whom had sympathised with the much more worthy 
 Albinus. This victory left Septimius Severus, after a three 
 years* struggle, imdisputed master of the empire. 
 
 Septimius Severus ^ was an African, and showed it both 
 in his physiognomy and his speech. He had to acquire Latin 
 as a foreign language, and spoke it with a strong African 
 
 1 Plate XLV (p. 276). Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 I i 
 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
 I ' 
 
CHAP. 
 282 SEPTIMIUS S^VEB^VS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 accent. After he became emperor his sister, who had come 
 to visit him, was by him sent away from Rome because he 
 was ashanied of her abominable Latin. He was bom in 146 
 at Leptis Magna (now Tripoli) on the coast of Africa, his 
 father being in humble circumstances. As a yoimg man 
 Septimius Severus, having ambition, came to Rome to edu- 
 cate himself ; after a time he entered the army, and having 
 good abilities and much perseverance gradually rose until 
 in 179, at the age of thirty-three, he was appointed by Marcus 
 Atirelius to command a legion in Syria. In 186 he was made 
 Consul, and during the next six years was appointed^by Com- 
 modus to the rule successively of the provinces of southern 
 Gaul, Sicily, and Pannonia, which latter province he was 
 ruling when he received the news of the death of Commodus. 
 He was then forty-seven years old. 
 
 The wife of Septimius Severus was the beautiful Julia 
 Domna,^ called also Julia Pia on account of her good disposi- 
 tion and benevolent character, whose family belonged to 
 Emesa in Syria. He married her in 185 while in Syria. She 
 was a woman of great attractions, high character, and much 
 capacity, and in the reign of her son Caracalla took an able 
 part in public affairs, and often succeeded in restraining his 
 cruelties. She was a strong patroness of art and literature, 
 and in this respect also gained a considerable reputation. 
 The most important monument connected with her is the 
 four-sided Arch which after her husband's death she erected 
 to his memory at Tebessa, in North Africa. It has upon it a 
 very perfect medallion of her which agrees exactly with her 
 portrait-bust in. the Vatican Museum at Rome. 
 
 After his victory at Lyons Severus proceeded to Rome, 
 where he exhibited the severed head of Albinus, put to death 
 nearly half the total number of the senators, they having, he 
 had reason to believe, been on the side of the latter, and plainly 
 announced to the Senate his future policy by reading to them 
 a speech in which he declared that the clemency of Pompey 
 and Julius Caesar had wrought their ruin and that the severity 
 of Sulla, Marius, and Augustus had proved a safer course. 
 Though not in any way brilliant, Septimius Severus had much 
 shrewd common-sense, and he was thoroughly of opinion that 
 * Plate XL VI. Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 
 il 
 
rr ATT \i \'i 
 
 I 
 
 Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. 
 Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 Also called Julia Put, on account of her good dispt«ition. 
 
 liKM,,|. 
 
II \ 1 1 \ I \ 
 
 '. \ I I .M\ \ 
 
 W I 
 
 M !• I IM [1 - S| \| I'l 
 
vm] 
 
 POWER TAKEN FROM SENATE 
 
 283 
 
 the history of three previous dynasties had shown that the 
 Senate had caused many evils in the past, that the weak and 
 servile spirit of its members rendered them incapable of duly 
 exercising the powers they nominally possessed, and that those 
 powers ought therefore to be in stronger hands. 
 
 Septimius Severus reigned eighteen years (193-211), and 
 as emperor concentrated all power in himself, reducing the 
 Senate to little more than a registering body, and relying 
 solely upon the army, and all his measures were, without any 
 concealment, carried out upon this principle. He adopted 
 the autocratic title of dominus, abolished the distinction 
 between officials of the Senate and officials of the emperor, 
 ruled that in future the nomination to all offices should rest 
 with the latter, placed military officers in various posts hitherto 
 held by civilians, abolished many of the republican titles, and 
 openly transferred the exercise of power from the Senate- 
 house to the imperial Palace, while large civil jurisdiction 
 was given to the Prefect of the reorganized Praetorian Guards. 
 
 Having inaugurated these changes in the administration 
 Septimius Severus left Rome in 197 for the eastern frontier, 
 and for the next five years (197-202) was absent from Rome, 
 being occupied, first in war against the Parthians, and then 
 in a long visit to Egypt and North Africa. During this period 
 he allowed almost all authority to be exercised by the Prefect 
 of the new Praetorian Guards, Plautianus, who acted practic- 
 ally as his representative. The changes which Severus had 
 made in depriving the Senate of most of its authority had 
 naturally been intensely distasteful to that body, and as 
 Plautianus was left to carry out the new policy it is not sur- 
 prising that we find the heaviest charges brought against him. 
 Severus himseK was stem, cruel, and bent upon striking terror 
 into any who might think of opposing him, and it is not likely 
 that his lieutenant Plautianus would be any more scrupulous. 
 The latter is stated to have been cruel, arrogant, and corrupt, 
 and to have " caused the whole empire to groan imder his 
 exactions." At the same time it is certain that Severus thought 
 very highly of him, made no attempt to restrain his actions, 
 and presumably approved of his conduct, while he at one time 
 intended to entrust him with the guardianship of his two 
 sons, Caracalla, bom in 187, and Geta, bom in 188. 
 
 ; i 
 
 i 
 
 »:. 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 284 SEPTIMIUS SEYERTJ 8 {Matters other than religion) 
 
 In Parthia Severus was highly successful. Trajan's con- 
 quest of Mesopotamia was repeated, and that country was 
 finally made a Roman province, the eastern frontier being 
 again advanced to the Tigris. This conquest being com- 
 pleted, Severus proceeded to Egypt and made a thorough 
 investigation of everything connected with that province 
 and his own province of North Africa, enquiring into all 
 matters, whether administrative, social, or religious. The 
 contemporary writer Dion Cassius,i who knew him well, says 
 in connection with this visit that Septimius Severus was not 
 the man to leave anjrthing, human or divine, uninvestigated. 
 This, though beneficial in other directions, had grievous results 
 to one section of the community, the Christians, to whom 
 throughout Egypt and North Africa this visit was fraught 
 with dire consequences.^ 
 
 In 202 Severus returned to Rome and there celebrated a 
 Roman triumph for his conquest of Mesopotamia, this triumph 
 being commemorated by the Arch of Severus.^ At the same 
 time his elder son Caracalla, then sixteen, was married 
 to Plautilla, the daughter of Plautianus, and games on an 
 elaborate scale to celebrate the event were held in all the 
 principal cities of the empire. 
 
 During the next six years (203-208) Septimius Severus 
 remained at Rome. In the first of these years occurred the 
 fall and death of Plautianus, who fell a victim to an intrigue 
 against him set on foot by his son-in-law, the emperor's elder 
 son Caracalla. During these six years Severus completed 
 the reforms in the administration which he had begun on 
 gaining the throne. He greatly increased the efficiency of the 
 army, not only by the change he had already carried out of 
 making the Praetorian Guards a chosen corps of veterans 
 filled by promotions from all the legions in the army, but 
 also by increasing the honorary distinctions and emoluments 
 of the legions, by reducing the size of the frontier commands 
 and increasing their number, by making Italy a province and 
 ruling that the troops stationed there should be under the 
 direct command of the emperor, and by adding three addi- 
 
 1 Dion Cassius was a senator for about fifty yeeirs, throughout the 
 reigns of Commodus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, and 
 Alexander Severus. « See p. 293. 3 See p. 289. 
 
 vm] 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF BRITAIN 
 
 285 
 
 tional legions to the army. He also carried out various changes 
 in the civil administration advantageous to the provinces ; 
 the status and privileges of the district communities were 
 reorganized; retired military officers were placed in many 
 of the posts hitherto reserved for civilians of rank ; and many 
 much needed reforms simplifying the legal procedure were 
 carried out. Severus was also occupied during these years 
 in building his extensive palace on the Palatine hill, the last 
 addition made to the imperial residence in Rome.^ 
 
 In 208 Septimius Severus once more left Rome, this time 
 for Britain, where he spent the last three years of his life 
 (208-21 1). The growing importance of the province of Britain 
 in the 3rd century is very marked. A writer towards the 
 end of that century speaks of its fertile fields, rich mines, and 
 convenient harbours ; and the defence of the northern fron- 
 tier of this valuable province against the ever active Scots 
 and Picts became during the 3rd century the principal field 
 of military activity in the empire, the territory to the north 
 of the Tyne and the Solway being the scene of almost per- 
 petual military operations. No legions saw so much active 
 service, and no generals had so many opportunities of dis- 
 tinguishing themselves and of winning the confidence and 
 affection of their troops, as those stationed in Britain. That 
 country became at this time to Rome what India became to 
 Britain itself in after ages, " the nursery of Captains." As 
 a consequence the commander in Britain began to occupy 
 the position of importance which in the 1st century had apper- 
 tained to the commander on the Rhine ; York began to be of 
 more importance from a military point of view than Cologne ; 
 while the commander in Britain on several occasions in the 
 3rd and 4th centuries became a candidate for the imperial 
 throne. 
 
 On reaching Britain Septimius Severus entered upon a war 
 against the Scots and Picts which occupied him for the greater 
 part of three years. In this contest he cleared the territory 
 south of the Forth of all enemies, and then advancing north- 
 wards penetrated into the Highlands of Scotland. There he 
 endured enormous difficulties and hardships in making war 
 in such a region, lost great numbers of men from the cold and 
 
 1 Page 290. 
 
 I) 
 
 r 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 286 SEPTIMIUS SEYEBUSiMattwa other than religion) 
 
 wet, and achieved only very partial success. During this 
 period Severus rebuilt and considerably strengthened the 
 Roman " wall," originally constructed by Hadrian, from the 
 mouth of the Tyne to the mouth of the Solway, which formed 
 the permanent frontier of Britain. The work of reconstructing 
 it was periformed by the Sixth Legion.^ 
 
 It is seldom realized that we possess in England the most 
 important remaining memorial of the Roman Empire. This 
 huge Roman " wall," seventy-three miles long, drawn across 
 the northern frontier of Britain to protect that province from 
 its Caledonian foes, and forming with its Ditch, Wall, Camps, 
 military Road, and southern Rampart practically one immense 
 entrenched camp, was an enormous work. It exceeded in 
 size anjrthing of the kind constructed by the Romans else- 
 where, is still after 1700 years for the most part in good pre- 
 servation, and is the most impressive memorial of the Roman 
 occupation of Britain. As we now see it this great line of 
 defence is the joint work of Hadrian and Severus, an inscrip- 
 tion in one of the quarries from whence the stone was taken 
 being dated in the reign of the latter emperor. While this 
 waU shows many traces of the work of Hadrian, most of its 
 principal fortresses, together with the interesting remains of 
 the military posts and small towns round them, belong to the 
 time of Severus.2 
 
 This remarkable defensive work, which took about eighty 
 years to complete, consists of a massive wall built of large 
 blocks of stone, a ditch extending along its northern side, a 
 road (20 feet wide and constructed of stone) along the inner 
 side of the wall, and on the southern side of this road, at a 
 
 ^ The three legions in Britain from the end of the Ist century to 
 the beginning of the 5th century were the Second (Legio Augusta), 
 the Sixth (Legio Victrix), and the Twentieth (Legio Valeria Victrix), 
 representing with their " auxiliaries " a force of about 36,000 men. 
 The Second Legion was stationed at Caerieon-on-Usk (Isca Silunmi), 
 the Sixth Legion at York (Eburacum), and the Twentieth Legion at 
 Chester (Deva). Detachments from them held other points, includ- 
 ing various small posts along the most important roads. The Roman 
 gate of the camp at Chester (with a double gateway) is still in excellent 
 preservation. 
 
 * It is sometimes called the '* Wall of Heidrian," and sometimes the 
 " Wall of Severus." Either ncune is equally correct. 
 
 vni] 
 
 THE ROMAN WALL 
 
 287 
 
 distance of one or two hundred yards, an earthen rampart 
 with on the southern side of the latter another ditch, this ram- 
 part and ditch being apparently intended as a defence against 
 any attacks which might come from the Britons or other 
 enemies in the rear. The stone wall is 16 feet high and 8 feet 
 thick, the ditch on its northern side being 10 feet deep and 
 40 feet wide, the whole height from the bottom of the ditch 
 to the crest of the wall being thus 26 feet. At intervals of 
 about every four miles was a square walled " camp," or for- 
 tress ^ ; between these at about every mile were castles about 
 60 feet square ; and between these again were watch-towers 
 placed at intervals of about every 100 yards. So that the 
 wall was very closely guarded. To hold this seventy-three 
 miles of wall with any e£fect and garrison its numerous forts 
 and posts must have required at least an entire legion with its 
 ** auxiliaries," i.e. 12,000 men. It follows the line of the high- 
 est ground, its highest point being about 1000 feet above the 
 sea. 2 The difficulties of constructing such a work as this 
 fortified waU so far away from all the resources of civilization 
 must have been enormous. It stands, splendid in desolation, 
 and at the furthest confines of the empire, a great monument 
 to Roman energy and power. 
 
 The ruins of this great " wall," and of the small frontier 
 towns which in the course of 200 years gradually grew up 
 round each of its fortresses, may truly be called eloquent.^ 
 In front, beyond the wall, stretched as far as the eye could 
 reach barren and desolate moorlands, in winter covered for 
 long months with snow, a cheerless prospect for the Roman 
 sentries guarding the wall and watching day and night for 
 the ever active Scots and Picts ; but on the inner side of the 
 wall, in these small frontier towns round its fortresses (several 
 of which towns have in recent years been excavated), were all 
 the elements of a busy life and of Roman civilization. At 
 
 1 Herodian speaks of this wall as " the fortresses." 
 
 * At Winshields. 
 
 • As a Roman legion never changed its quarters, the locality given 
 it to defend becoming its permanent habitation, the population of these 
 towns was mainly a miUtary one, consisting of the troops, their families, 
 and the traders who dealt in articles of various kinds required by the 
 soldiers and their officers. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 288 SEPTIMIUS SEVERVS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 M 
 
 one of these towns, Borcovicus, are to be seen the remains of 
 its Forum and Pretorium, and at another, Cilumum, a street 
 of houses, the arches of the town wall, and a set of Roman 
 Baths. In one place we come upon the remains of the villa 
 of a Roman noble (possibly the commander of that portion 
 of the wall), with its baths and arrangements for heating the 
 rooms of the villa with hot air. 
 
 Many votive altars also bring vividly before us the life of 
 these Roman garrisons so far away from civilization, showing 
 many touches of human nature which link those Roman sol- 
 diers with ourselves. As we stand amidst these ruins be- 
 longing to that far distant time we find on these altars the 
 thanks offered by a party of hunters to the god Silvanus 
 for help in their sport, a memorial slab put up by them to a 
 famous boar which they had killed, an inscription in honour 
 of a recently elected emperor, the mourning of a husband 
 over a beloved wife, the regret of a master for the death of a 
 faithful slave, the thanksgiving of an officer for his safe return 
 from a dangerous service, the record put up by a tribune in 
 memory of his little twelve-year-old daughter, and other 
 memorials of a similar kind, the most pathetic of all being a 
 slab with a graceful figure of a girl knitting, and under it an 
 inscription recording that it is put up by " Basertes " in sor- 
 rowful memory of his yoimg Palmyrean wife (who perhaps 
 died from the rigour of that northern region, so different from 
 her beautifid home in far-off Palmyra), detailing her gentle 
 character and many virtues, and ending with the words, — 
 they may be either hers or his, — " Alas for Basertes ! " 
 
 The present fades. Again we hear the hoarse shouts of 
 the conflict as the Scots make an attack upon the wall ; again 
 we listen to the rough jokes and loud laughter as at night the 
 soldiers sit in groups over their wine discussing the incidents 
 of the fight ; again we see the Roman sentry as he stands at 
 his post upon the wall on a bitter winter's night, stamping his 
 feet to keep them warm, and ever watching for the restless 
 and crafty enemy ; again we witness the festivities when after 
 a long interval an emperor visits this far-away frontier 
 post ; again we mourn with the unknown soldier Basertes 
 as with a broken heart he lays in a desolate frontier grave 
 the body of his devotedly loved young Palmyrean wife. 
 
 vin] 
 
 TEMPLE OF VESTA 
 
 289 
 
 The control of the affairs of so wide an empire must have 
 been difficult when the emperor was for three years at its 
 furthest north-western corner, and that we do not hear of 
 any such difficulties serves to show how excellent the Roman 
 system of communications (with its regular organization for 
 the rapid transmission of reports and orders by means of the 
 corps of frumentarii) must have been, as well as the methods 
 of government carried on by Severus and other emperors. 
 Septimius Severus died in the imperial palace at York, the 
 capital of Roman Britain, in February 211, at the age of 
 sixty-five, after reigning eighteen years. He had taken his two 
 sons with him to Britain, and Caracalla, his elder son, who was 
 with him when he died, was suspected of having poisoned him. 
 
 The buildings in Rome connected with Septimius Severus 
 are his Arch, his palace, his temple called the " Septizonium," 
 and the Temple of Vesta. The small temple of Vesta, where 
 the sacred fire was kept burning and the sacred reUcs guarded 
 on which it was held that Rome's very existence depended, 
 and which stood outside the House of the Vestal Virgins, was 
 of course especially liable to destruction by fire. It was 
 destroyed and rebuilt four times. The original temple built 
 by Eang Numa Pompilius in B.C. 700 was destroyed by the 
 Gauls in B.C. 390 ; the temple having been rebuilt was destroyed 
 by fire in B.C. 241 ; again by fire in Nero's conflagration ; and 
 again by fire in the reign of Commodus. Septimius Severus 
 rebuilt it for the fourth time ; and the fragments of columns, 
 cornices, etc., now lying round the ruined " podium " belong 
 to this last temple built by Severus in 203. At the same 
 time the empress Julia Domna rebuilt the House of the Vestal 
 Virgins, the remains of which are still to be seen. 
 
 The Arch of Severus, which still stands, was erected by 
 Severus in 203 on his return from his Parthian victories, in 
 honour of himself and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, whose 
 names it bore.^ The arch has reliefs recording the victories 
 over the Parthians, and on the top of it at each side were 
 originally statues of Caracalla and Geta, and in the centre 
 a chariot in which stood a statue of Severus. ^ The chariot 
 
 1 Geta's name has been erased from the inscription, this being done 
 by Caracalla when he murdered him (Chap. IX, p. 301). 
 * Representations of it are found on coins. 
 E.W. u 
 
 ] 
 
 j 
 
 'I , 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 
 i 
 
 -^ f^y 
 
CHAP. 
 
 290 SEPTIMIUS SEVKRVS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 was drawn by the four bronze horses which, originally brought 
 from Corinth, first adorned an arch built by Nero, were trans- 
 ferred from thence by Trajan to his arch, and again transferred 
 by Severus to his arch. They were removed by Constantine 
 the Great to Constantinople in 328 ; thence they were carried 
 off by the Venetians to Venice in 1204 ; from Venice they 
 were carried off by Napoleon to Paris in 1797 ; and thence 
 in 1815 were returned to Venice, where they now adorn St. 
 Mark's cathedral, though as will be seen they really belong 
 to Rome. They are of gilded bronze, and are among the 
 finest ancient bronzes in existence. 
 
 Severus built the seventh and last of the imperial palaces 
 on the Palatine hill. It stood at the south-east comer of the 
 hill (where some of its ruins still remain), and absorbed a 
 great part of Hadrian's palace which it adjoined and which 
 was to a great extent destroyed in order to make room for 
 it. It was of immense height, and not only extended over 
 the south-eastern portion of the hill, but also jutted out over 
 part of the valley between the Palatine and Coelian hills, this 
 portion being supported (like Caligula's palace) on lofty arched 
 substructures. The whole height from the base of the hill 
 to several stories above its summit must have been immense, 
 and especially imposing when viewed from the slope of the 
 Coelian hill where the church of St. Gregory now stands. 
 Little now remains of it except the ruins of a very spacious 
 set of baths on the level of the top of the hill ; these baths 
 were richly decorated with marble linings and mosaics. 
 
 Adjoining this palace, and rising upwards from the foot of 
 the hill, Severus also built his celebrated temple called the 
 " Septizonium," a building of great splendour dedicated to 
 the Sun and Moon, and named from its seven stories. Besides 
 being a temple it included rooms for the priests of the worship 
 for which it was buUt. Doubts have been expressed as to 
 whether it could really have been seven stories high, but there 
 is no improbability in this when we consider the immense 
 height of the rest of the palace, reaching from the foot of the 
 hill to several stories above its summit. This building shows 
 that in regard to religion Severus chiefly adhered to that Syrian 
 Sun-worship of which his wife Julia Domna was so ardent an 
 adherent, and to which all of this family were devoted. The 
 
 vm] 
 
 HIS BUILDINGS IN AFRICA 
 
 291 
 
 whole of this dynasty, which furnished four emperors, was in 
 fact an entirely non-Roman one. Part of the Septizonium 
 existed as late as 1585, when Pope Sixtus V destroyed it 
 in order to use its marble columns and other decorations for 
 the adornment of St. Peter's. 
 
 But the buildings which Septimius Severus erected in Rome 
 represented only a small part of his energies in this respect. 
 He erected many more in his own province of North Africa, 
 though owing to the devastation which that country has 
 undergone in the course of seventeen centuries since his time 
 only a few of these now remain. An Arch erected by him 
 still exists at Thamugadi (Timgad), and another at Thugga, 
 the latter being in especially good preservation ; also at 
 Thebessa a four-sided Arch erected by his wife Julia Domna 
 in his memory, this Arch being of a superior type to the Arch 
 of Severus in Rome, and of a kind of which no example now 
 exists in Europe.^ 
 
 As regards Uterature and art no period is so barren as the 
 reign of Septimius Severus. It is noticeable that the only 
 great writers of his time are the prominent Christian writers, 
 Tertullian and Origen, and that both of them belong, not to 
 Italy, but to Africa. 
 
 \\l 
 
 M 
 
 .1 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 It is in the reign of Septimius Severus that we are for the 
 first time made to realize how far at this period the provinces 
 of North Africa and Egypt were in advance of the provinces 
 north of the Mediterranean in all matters of the intellect. In 
 Egypt Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great, and 
 inhabited by a Greek population who took pride in calling 
 themselves " Macedonians," although it was considered the 
 second city of the Roman empire, was only second by virtue 
 of Rome being the capital. Alexandria was acknowledged 
 as the first city of the empire in learning, and learned men 
 of all countries congregated there to study in the various 
 schools of philosophy. Similarly in North Africa, a province 
 then crowded with rich and populous cities, its capital Carthage 
 
 1 See Vol. II, Chap. XVIII, p. 81. 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 ^m 
 
11 
 
 Nl 
 
 CHAP. 
 292 SEPTIMIUS S^Y 'ERVSiMattera concerning religion) 
 
 was scarcely less important in the same way. And from one 
 or other of these two provinces (which together formed the 
 great granary for the supply of com to nearly all Europe) 
 most of the chief leaders of thought at this period emanated. 
 This had produced the result that Christianity had taken a 
 much firmer hold south of the Mediterranean than in the 
 countries north of that sea. Not only was the number of 
 persons who had adopted that religion much greater, but also 
 the men who were its leaders in North Africa and Egypt were 
 much more intellectually gifted. 
 
 The two schools of thought represented by Alexandria and 
 Carthage differed in an important respect ; for while that of 
 Alexandria was essentially Greek in spirit, that of Carthage 
 was as essentially Roman. The former employed the Greek 
 language, but the latter used Latin. And this difference of 
 spirit between these two great schools of thought and learning 
 reflected itself in the type of Christianity which each of them 
 produced. Christianity in North Africa had a special tone of 
 its own — severe, simple, earnest, and practical. And this tone 
 subsequently became that of the Western Chiu'ch, in contra- 
 distinction to that — ^less simple and more critical — ^which, 
 emanating originally from Alexandria, became the distinctive 
 feature of the Eastern Church. For Carthage, and not Rome, 
 was the parent of Latin Christianity ; while Alexandria was 
 the parent of Greek Christianity. 
 
 These two schools of Christian thought both produced men 
 whose names have been notable ever since. The well-known 
 writer Tertullian at this time, fifty years later Cyprian, and 
 two himdred years later Augustine, are the chief representatives 
 of the type of Christianity which was produced by North 
 Africa. Similarly Alexandria was at this time represented 
 by Clement of Alexandria ; and subsequently produced Origen, 
 Athanasius, and Cyril. 
 
 Both of these important Churches of Egypt and North Africa 
 have long since passed away, being overwhelmed by the 
 Mahomedan invasion in the 7th century, but not until they 
 had planted their knowledge and their spirit in the two portions 
 of Christendom which they respectively inspired (afterwards 
 represented by Rome and Constantinople), leaving to the 
 world a permanent treasure in the writings of the celebrated 
 
 vm] 
 
 FIFTH PERSECUTION 
 
 29^ 
 
 men they produced. It is indeed hard to realize that the 
 modern Tunis and Algiers is the country of Tertullian, Cyprian, 
 and Augustine, and that the modem Alexandria was once in 
 learning the leading city of the world. 
 
 In the year 202 when the emperor Septimius Severus visited 
 Egypt and North Africa Christianity in that region was in a 
 highly flourishing condition. In all the numerous towns were 
 large commimities of Christians, and these numbered among 
 them many of the well-bom, the wealthy, and the cultured. 
 At the head of the school of Christian philosophy in Alexandria 
 was Clement of Alexandria, a man noted everywhere, and 
 the still more celebrated Origen, " that brave, eamest, gentle 
 soul," then a youth of eighteen, was a student there ; while 
 at Carthage Tertullian, ^ the first of the leading Christian 
 writers to write in Latin, had just written his celebrated 
 " Defence of Christianity," wherein he showed in powerful 
 language the tmth of that religion, pointed out how widely 
 it had spread, and denoimced the folly of the ancient religion 
 of Rome. In it he says : — " We are a people of yesterday, 
 and yet we have fiUed every place belonging to you— cities, 
 castles, villages, assemblies, your very camps, your palace, 
 your Senate, and your Forum. We leave you only your 
 temples. We predominate in your armies ; our numbers, 
 in a single province, are greater." 
 
 Septimius Severus had no sympathy for the ancient religion 
 of Rome ; but neither had he any for Christianity, and he 
 evidently considered that its extensive growth south of the 
 Mediterranean demanded that it should be ruthlessly crushed. 
 No sooner therefore had he returned to Rome than he issued 
 in 203 an edict ordering that all persons who professed Christi- 
 anity should be put to death ; thus inaugurating the Fifth 
 persecution. The edict was applicable to the whole empire, 
 but since to the north of the Mediterranean the nimibers who 
 had survived the persecution carried out by Marcus Aurelius 
 were few,^ the chief severity of the Fifth persecution fell upon 
 
 1 Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was bom at Carthage, 
 his father being a Roman centurion. He is acknowledged as one of 
 the great writers of all time. 
 
 * Irenaeus, then Bishop of Lyons, is stated to have been among 
 those martyred there in this persecution, about the year 203. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
« 
 
 CHAP. 
 294 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS {MaUers concerning religion) 
 
 the Christians in the countries south of the Mediterranean. 
 Upon this edict being issued a terrible persecution began 
 over the whole of the districts along the Mediterranean 
 from Alexandria westwards to Mauretania, and lasted for 
 eight years (203-211). In this Fifth persecution the number 
 of those who perished in these two provinces Egypt and 
 North Africa was immense, but while we read of priests being 
 burnt and virgins shamefully tortured, we have no means of 
 knowing how many persons were destroyed. In fact it was 
 probably impossible for those in one province while suffering 
 thus to ascertain how many perished in like manner in other 
 provinces ; but Tertullian's words (quoted below ) show^ how 
 immense the number was. Among those who suffered death 
 at Alexandria was the father of Origen, Leonides, who was a 
 professor of rhetoric there. He left a widow with seven chil- 
 dren, of whom Origen was the eldest, who, besides having to 
 remain in hiding, were plunged into the greatest poverty, as 
 the property of Leonides was confiscated. At Alexandria 
 also perished Eugenia, whose father held the high position of 
 Proconsul of Egypt. She w as martyred at Alexandria in 
 203, not even her exalted station having power to save 
 her. 
 
 Tertullian when this persecution began addressed a letter 
 to the Proconsul of North Africa indignantly protesting against 
 such a crime, and saying :— " Thousands of both sexes, of 
 every rank, will crowd to martyrdom, will exhaust your fires, 
 and weary your swords. Carthage must be half depopulated ; 
 the principal persons in the city, even perhaps your own most 
 intimate friends and kindred, must be sacrificed." The letter 
 shows how numerous were those slain; for it produced 
 no effect, and sacrificed they all were. Tertullian himself 
 and Clement of Alexandria were considered by the Christians 
 too valuable to the Church to be allowed to surrender them- 
 selves as martyrs, and they were made to go away and hide 
 themselves in the desert to the south, which constantly afforded 
 a refuge to prominent men in the North African Church, when 
 such could be prevailed upon to accede to the view that their 
 lives would be more valuable to the Church than then- death. 
 But, as Tertullian had predicted, many thousands perished. 
 Of the incidents of this severe persecution in Egypt and North 
 
 vin] 
 
 CARTHAGE 
 
 295 
 
 Africa scarcely any definite information has survived ; five 
 centuries afterwards the whole of this great North African 
 Church was so completely destroyed by the Mahomedan 
 conquest that nothing of it remained. 
 
 But we have just one record of this persecution under 
 Septimius Severus. It relates to a little group of people who 
 among many others suffered at Carthage in the year 203. It 
 is the accoimt of the martyrdom of Vivia Perpetua, a young 
 Roman lady of good family, and her brother Securus, together 
 with seven servants of their father's household, Jocundus, 
 Artaxius, Quintus, two young converts, Secundulus and 
 Satiu-ninus, and two slaves, Revocatus and Felicitas. The 
 whole account is written (except of course the final scene) 
 by Vivia Perpetua herself. Regarding it Dean Milman says, 
 "Of all the histories of martyrdom there is no other which 
 is so unexaggerated in its tone and which abounds in such 
 exquisite touches of nature." ^ 
 
 Carthage, refounded by Augustus, had by this time grown 
 in two hundred years into a most splendid city. From its 
 long line of busy quays, extending for more than a mile along 
 the sea-shore, the ground sloped gradually upwards to a low 
 range of hills on which, in the centre of the city, stood the 
 Theatre, the Odeon (or covered theatre), many fine Pagan 
 temples, and other principal buildings, with in the centre the 
 Byrsa, or castle hill, occupied by the palace of the Proconsul 
 of North Africa. The city possessed various sets of Roman 
 Baths, the largest being the Baths of Antoninus Pius, erected 
 by that emperor in 145, and situated near the sea-shore. A 
 little to the north-east of these Baths were the Roman Stairs,^ 
 a splendid flight of marble steps which ascended from the quay 
 to the central square of the city, the Platea Nova ; and a 
 short distance beyond these steps was the principal prison, 
 the Career Castrensis. The magnificent Amphitheatre of 
 Carthage, the largest in North Africa, was situated outside 
 the city to the west, about half a mile from the castle hill. 
 This great Amphitheatre was the pride of the inhabitants 
 
 i: 
 
 
 1 Milman, History of Christianity, 
 
 « The marble blocks of these remarkable stairs have been used for 
 building the modem cathedral, but their foundations still remain. 
 
1 
 
 CHAP 
 
 296 SEFTIMIVS SEYKRVS {Matters concerning religion) * 
 
 of Carthage, and was decorated with great splendour. ^ Near 
 it was the immense Circus, 770 yards long by 110 yards wide, 
 its spim (round which the chariots raced) being 380 yards 
 long. 
 
 Vivia Perpetua was about twenty-two years of age, married, 
 and with a baby a few months old. Her family were wealthy, 
 and she had only lately become a Christian. Her father and 
 mother were living, and she had two brothers, of whom one 
 was also a Christian, and suffered martyrdom with her. That 
 she had good abilities is fully shown by her being able to 
 write such a record. After relating how she and the others 
 were seized, she says, " When we were in the hands of the 
 persecutors my father, in his tender affection for me, strove 
 earnestly to pervert me from the faith. But I said, * My 
 father, look at this pitcher ; can we call it anything else but 
 what it is ? ' He replied, * Certainly not.' And I said, * Nor 
 can I call myself by any other name than that of a Christian.' 
 In wrath at that word my father cast himself on me as if he 
 would have torn out my eyes, but he only hurt me a little." 
 Seeing that it would end in her death, and in grievous disgrace 
 to their family, her father did his utmost, but at length gave 
 up the effort for the time, and left her ; and they were all 
 dragged away and thrown into that terrible place a Roman 
 prison, the Career Castrensis, Perpetua being separated from 
 her baby, which was left behind. She says, " I was terrified, 
 "for I had never before seen any such total darkness. O 
 "miserable day, from the dreadful heat of the prisoners 
 " crowded together,* and the insults of the soldiers ! Moreover 
 " I was torn with anxiety for my baby. Two of our deacons, 
 " however, who ministered to us, by payment of money 
 " obtained our removal for some hours in the day to a more 
 ** open part of the prison. There each of the captives had 
 " space by themselves, and I was allowed to suckle my baby, 
 
 * This Amphitheatre remained in perfect preservation until the 
 16th century, and Edrisi, the geographer, who wrote in the 12th 
 century, has described it as one of matchless splendour. Since the 
 16th century it has been broken up for building materials, and only a 
 few portions of it now remain (see p. 299, footnote). 
 
 * This shows that there were many other such prisoners besides 
 the Httle party belonging to the household of Vivia Perpetua's father. 
 
 vm] 
 
 PERPETUA'S RECORD 
 
 297 
 
 " who was wasting away with hunger. In my anxiety I 
 " addressed my mother and tried to console her, and com- 
 " mended my child to my brother ; and I began to despond 
 " at seeing them despond on my account. And for several 
 " days I suffered this anxiety regarding my baby. At last 
 " I prevailed with those who had charge of us to allow me to 
 " have it with me in the prison, and at once I regained 
 " my strength, and being relieved from my trouble about my 
 " baby the prison became to me like a palace." Then she 
 relates a dream which she had while they were in prison which 
 showed that they were not to be released, but were all to suffer 
 martyrdom ; ** So we understood that our passion was to be, 
 and began to have no hope in this world." Then she says, — 
 " After a few days when it was rumoured that we were to be 
 " examined my father came to the prison, wasted away with 
 " anxiety, to pervert me. And he said, * Have compassion, 
 " O my daughter, on my grey hairs ; have compassion on 
 " thy father. If I have thus brought thee up to the flower of 
 ** thine age, if I have loved thee beyond all thy brothers, do 
 " not expose me to this disgrace. Have regard to thy brothers, 
 " have regard to thy mother, and thy mother's sister ; have 
 " regard to thy little son, who wiU not be able to live without 
 " thee. Lay aside thy purpose, and do not destroy us all.' 
 " Thus spake my father, kissing my hands in his fondness, 
 " and throwing himself at my feet ; and in his tears he called 
 " me, not his daughter, but his queen. And I was grieved at 
 " heart for my father, and full of pain, because he alone of 
 " all my family would not be able to rejoice at my martyrdom. 
 " And I tried to console him, saying, ' In this trial we are not 
 ** in our own power, but in that of God ; what Gk)d wiUs will 
 " take place.' And he went away very sorrowful." Then she 
 relates how the next day, while they were having their meal, 
 they were roughly seized, dragged along to the Forum, and 
 there brought before the praetor, Hilarianus. " It came to 
 " my turn to stand at the bar. And my father appeared 
 " there, carrying my child in his arms. And he drew me 
 " down from the step of the tribunal, and said in a beseeching 
 " tone, ' Have compassion on your child.' And Hilarianus, 
 " the praetor, who then, in the place of the Proconsul Minucius 
 " Timinianus, lately dead, had received the power of the 
 
 ^ II 
 
 «» 
 
CHAP. 
 298 SEPTIMIUS SEVERJJS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 " sword, said to me, * Spare the grey hairs of your father ; 
 " spare your child ; offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the 
 " emperor.' And I repUed, * I do it not.' Then Hilarianus 
 " said, ' Art thou a Christian ? ' I answered, ' I am a Chris- 
 " tian.' And as my father stood there still pressing me not 
 ** to answer thus, Hilarianus ordered him to be thrust down 
 " and smitten with a rod. And I was full of pain that this 
 ** should happen to my father, and I was as grieved for his 
 " sorrowful old age as if I had been smitten myself. Then 
 ** Hilarianus passed sentence on us all, and condemned us to 
 ** the wild beasts ; and we went back in cheerfulness to the 
 " prison." Then she tells how she was deprived of her baby, 
 which her father kept, refusing to send it to the prison ; how 
 she induced a deacon to go to him begging for it, but he refused ; 
 and of her grief thereat, both for her own sake and that of 
 the child. " And as the day of the games approached, when 
 " we were to suffer, my father entered the prison, worn out 
 " with affliction, and began to tear his beard, and to throw 
 " himself down with his face upon the ground, and to wish 
 ** that he could die, and to speak words which would have 
 " moved the heart of any living creature. And I was pained 
 ** to the heart for the sorrows of his old age." Lastly she 
 relates how in the prison the slave Felicitas gave birth to 
 a child, how she comforted and helped her, and how they two 
 prayed together. And when they were treated with great 
 severity by the governor of the prison, Perpetua boldly 
 remonstrated with him, speaking with such scorn of the 
 meanness of the insults to which they were subjected that 
 he was ashamed and desisted from them. 
 
 At length the day of the games arrived, ^ and they were taken 
 out with the rest of the prisoners to die. Their prison, the 
 Career Castrensis, being at the eastern side of Carthage, near 
 the Roman Stairs, and the Amphitheatre being outside the 
 city to the west, they had about a mile and a half to walk, 
 the first half of the (^stance being through the most crowded 
 part of the city. After they emerged from thence Perpetua 
 sang psalms on the way, and continued doing so until they 
 
 1 App€ffently on the day before, when bidding adieu, Perpetua had 
 given to her elder brother or her father the record she had written 
 while in the prison. 
 
 vni] 
 
 VIVIA PERPETUA 
 
 299 
 
 reached the Amphitheatre. Their sufferings were grievous 
 and prolonged. The men were torn by leopards and bears. 
 Perpetua and FeUcitas were stripped naked, hung up in nets, 
 and gored by a furious cow. Released from this, Perpetua 
 raised the fainting and mortally wounded Felicitas. Finally 
 they were killed by the sword of a gladiator, Perpetua guiding 
 the sword with her own hands to her throat. Her last words 
 were to encourage her brother to remain firm to the end.^ 
 
 This vivid record, told in her own simple words, shows us 
 something of what a well-bom young Roman lady of this 
 period could be like. Vivia Perpetua, brought up in a luxurious 
 home, and shrinking as any girl would from the darkness of 
 the prison, the heat, and the insults of the soldiers, but brave, 
 tender, unselfish, and steadfast, with her inability to call herself 
 what she was not, her trouble about her baby, her entire 
 absence of self-pity, her anguish of compassion for the sorrow 
 of her father, her matronly dignity and high spirit as she 
 remonstrates with the governor at the insults heaped upon 
 them, and her calm faithfulness unto death, is one of the most 
 touching and noble characters which either that or any other 
 age can show.2 
 
 It is strange to realize that none of those who suffered in 
 these persecutions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, displaying 
 such noble steadfastness, had ever seen a written Bible,^ or 
 
 *\ 
 
 II 
 
 ^ The ruins of the Amphitheatre of Carthage in which Vivia Per- 
 petua and her companions were martyred have within the last few 
 years been excavated. The arena, some of the seats for spectators, 
 the cells for wild beasts, and the passages below the arena are all now 
 visible. A portion of the prison in which she and her companions were 
 confined is also to be seen, a little to the north of the foot of the Roman 
 Stairs. Near the ruins of the large church called the Basilica Majoriun, 
 built over the grave in which the mangled bodies of Vivia Perpetua and 
 Fehcitas were buried, was recently unearthed part of a broken stone 
 tablet which bore parts of the names of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, 
 and Satuminus. 
 
 * Vivia Perpetua is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church 
 of England on the 7th March. 
 
 ^ What books should be considered inspired, and should form the 
 New Testament, was not decided until nearly two hundred years later ; 
 those books also were in manuscript, were carefully treasured, and 
 were not available to be generally seen ; while none of them were in 
 North Africa. 
 
300 SEFTIMIVS SEYERVSiMaUersconcernir^igZ^'^ 
 
 heard the preaching of an Apostle, and that aU they had learnt 
 of this new religion for which they died had been leamt from 
 the oral teaching of those who handed down the message. 
 
 No wonder that with such examples before him a great 
 writer of modem times who was not a Christian, stirred by 
 all the pathos and beauty of this battle waged by weakness 
 which, conquering by suffering, eventually won the day, caUed 
 It " that epic poem of Christian martyrdom." But that 
 victory was as yet far from won ; many other persecutions 
 lay still ahead, and many another noble life was to be laid 
 down in the same manner before the victory so steadfastly 
 and bravely fought for would be gained. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 REIGNS OP 
 
 CARACALLA, MACRINUS, ELAGABALUS, ALEXANDER 
 
 SEVERUS, MAXIMIN, GORDIAN I, GORDIAN II, 
 
 GORDIAN III, AND PHILIP the Arabian 
 
 CARACALLA 
 
 211 — 217 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THE death of the emperor Septimius Severus was followed 
 by a period of thirty-eight years during which the 
 throne was occupied by a succession of incapable emperors 
 imder whom a serious weakening of the central authority took 
 place. 
 
 Caracalla,^ the elder of the two sons of Septimius Severus 
 and Julia Domna, was twenty-four when he succeeded his 
 father as emperor. He was a cruel and blood-thirsty tyrant, 
 without human affections, and showing much of the African 
 in his nature. His portrait-bust shows a low type of head, 
 and the African blood is apparent. Before he was twenty 
 he tried to assassinate his father, and when the latter died at 
 York was suspected of having made a second attempt and 
 succeeded. Septimius Severus had left his two sons joint 
 emperors. As a result Caracalla, soon after they had both 
 returned from Britain to Rome, murdered Geta in the Palace, 
 killing him in their mother's arms with the help of several 
 soldiers, while Julia Domna in trying to protect him was 
 herself wounded in the hand in the struggle, and covered 
 with the blood of her younger son (27th Feb 212). Caracalla 
 within the next twelve months butchered about 20,000 persons 
 
 1 Plate XLVII. Portrait-bust in the Vfttican museum, Rome. 
 
 301 
 
 P 
 
302 
 
 CARACALLA {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of both sexes declared by him to have been adherents of Geta. 
 The rest of his life was spent in the maddest acts of bloodshed, 
 caused it was said by torment of conscience for the murder of 
 his brother. About a year after that event he quitted Rome, 
 to which he never returned, spending the remaining five years 
 of his life chiefly in Egypt and Asia, plundering and committing 
 atrocious crimes wherever he went. The most important act 
 of his reign was the issue of an edict granting the name and 
 privileges of Roman citizens to all the free inhabitants of the 
 empire. This was done by Caracalla in order, by means of 
 the tax levied on all who gained the honour, to raise money 
 wherewith to satisfy the army, which he pampered in every 
 way. At length in March 217, after reigning six years, his 
 minister Macrinus had him assassinated during a journey 
 from Edessa ^ to Carrhae, and the world was relieved of a 
 monster. 
 
 The chief building connected with Caracalla is his immense 
 set of Baths, which even in their decay form the largest mass 
 of ruins in Rome, and display more completely than any other 
 example what these edifices were like. These Baths are the 
 chief relic in Rome of the dynasty established by Septimius 
 Severus, being begun by Caracalla, extended by Elagabalus, 
 and completed by Alexander Severus. Their magnificence 
 was unparalleled. More than a mile in circumference, and 
 adorned with everything which could add beauty to their 
 lofty halls and porticos, they included, besides the actual baths, 
 sculpture-galleries, picture-galleries, reading-rooms, a footrace 
 course, and arrangements for many other entertainments, the 
 whole forming a gigantic public club-house, where for the 
 payment of less than sixpence a man could spend the whole 
 day surrounded by everything that could give pleasure to 
 mind and body. The baths could accommodate 1600 bathers 
 at once. In the centre was the cold water swimming bath, 
 
 1 Edessa, about twenty miles beyond the Euphrates, was the capital 
 of the little state of Osrhoene, the most fertile part of Mesopotamia. 
 Frequently conquered and relinquished by the Romans during a him- 
 dred years, Osrhoene was through the treachery of Caracalla finally 
 subdued €ind made a Roman colony in 216, Abgarus, the last king of 
 Edessa, being sent in chains tQ Bom©* The chief Roman garrison 
 in Osrhoene was at Nisibis, 
 
W^-:: 
 
 -.•,<,-, '.'■i-.VWw:4%3*'n'>A*., 3s4«-««.£f ■' 
 
 ' ,'',''i .'.'*- J '":*-*'*' "■• 'K. . ■ 
 
 
 ■■Aff^-rf'''^ 
 
 
 IT ATI XI VIT. 
 
 
 
 
 IHJI 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 ":/ ;.H -'if' ;:4r''#"-5'l1i?/t*.-'V^?0-^-^'i"' 
 
 ^.-if$^f; 
 
 Br or. I. 
 
 PLATE LII. 
 
 ^^iKuul. 
 
 Caracalla. 
 Parlrait-bust in tlw I'atican musnim, Rome. 
 
 Phii-IJ' nil-: Akaiuan. 
 Fortrait-hust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
•I A I I \f \ I I 
 
 ( AUAC Al 1 A. 
 
 I\.ititiit-bu-^t III (III Wilinin niu-^tiiin. 
 
 /\'. >n< 
 
 11 A I 1 III. 
 
 I'm I II' INI- Akai'ian. 
 
 l''->t>Lii!->'it^t in tht ( ((f'l/'il Hint lint, h'^iui 
 
IX] 
 
 BATHS OF CARACALLA 
 
 303 
 
 H 
 
 the Frigidarium ; next to it was the Tepidarium, or warm 
 bath, with at the comers four rooms for hot baths ; and beyond 
 this the circular Sudatorium, or sweating-room, the roof of 
 which was supported by bars of brass interwoven like the 
 straps of a sandal, with a circular opening in the centre of the 
 dome, and which was to the Baths of Caracalla what the Pan- 
 theon, before it was turned into a temple, was to the Baths of 
 Agrippa.^ Pavements ornamented with the finest mosaics, 
 walls of Egyptian granite encrusted with the green marble of 
 Numidia, a perpetual stream of warm water pouring into the 
 granite and basalt basins through mouths of massive silver, 
 and artistic decorations on all sides, made these Baths like 
 the halls of an emperor's palace.^ On either side of the Suda- 
 torium were the women's Baths. To right and left of the 
 Tepidarium were the sculpture-gallery, the picture-gallery, 
 and the reading-rooms. On either side of the Frigidarium 
 were anointing-rooms, shampooing-rooms, dressing-rooms, 
 and eating-rooms. And extending the entire length of the 
 building on either side was a lofty Peristyle, where athletic 
 exercises were performed, while along the third side were 
 extensive halls where philosophers declaimed and poets recited. 
 Outside were beautiful gardens and the footrace course. 
 
 It is often imagined that these great Roman Baths, built 
 at different times by Augustus, Nero, Titus, Caracalla, Diocle- 
 tian, Constantine, and other emperors, were for use by the 
 richer classes, their magnificence inducing that idea. But this 
 was not the case. The nobles had their own smaller sets 
 of Baths of a similar kind in their extensive palaces,^ and these 
 great Baths built by the emperors were for the people ; each 
 of them was in fact a People's Palace. And when we compare 
 their size and general arrangements, their costly style of 
 decoration, their libraries and art galleries, and the numerous 
 
 
 , 
 
 I 
 
 1 Chap. I, p. 10. 
 
 2 " The wall-hnings, columns, and pavements of the Baths of Cara- 
 calla were one mass of gorgeous material ; the rich Numidian yellows, 
 Phrygian purples, and deep yellows, reds, and browns of the Oriental 
 alabaster forming striking contrasts with the whites of Luni, the red 
 porphyries, green serpentines, and Egyptian granites." (Mary Winearls 
 Porter, What Rome was Built With.) 
 
 3 See Vol. II, Chap. XVIII, pp. 82 and 96. 
 
 i H B ii ii 1 I I I H I I I 1 11 , 1 1 mim ' i mmmmm'mmm 
 
304 CARACALLA {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IX] 
 
 305 
 
 masterpieces of art adorning them, with the general character 
 of any institutions of the nature of a People's Palace in the 
 present day we obtain a measure of how far in advance even 
 of the 20th century Rome was in its manner of providing for 
 such a purpose. 
 
 These Baths of Caracalla were crowded with all the best works 
 of art of the time, other than those already collected in the 
 Villa of Hadrian ; and their ruins, like those of the latter, have 
 formed a mine from whence an immense number of the choicest 
 works of art now in the Museums of Rome and Naples have 
 been obtained, having been preserved from destruction by 
 being buried in the debris of the ruined halls. The principal 
 of these works are the Famese Bull, the Famese Hercules, the 
 colossal Flora, the Venus Callipyge, the Two Gladiators, and 
 the Atreus and Thyeste, besides various beautiful mosaic 
 pavements, and innumerable bronzes, cameos, bas-reliefs, and 
 medallions. These Baths remained intact until the 6th cen- 
 tury, when they were occupied by the Goths under Witigis, 
 and in 546 were finally destroyed by Totila. In the 16th 
 century Pope Paul III carried off all the remaining marble 
 decorations for the adornment of the Famese palace. The 
 last of the pillars of the Peristyle to be removed was that which 
 now supports the figure of Justice in the Piazza Sta Trinity 
 in Florence. The urns of green basalt now in the Vatican 
 museum, and the granite basins in the Piazza Famese in Rome 
 came from these Baths. The statue of Hercules (known as 
 the Famese Hercules) which stood in these Baths of Caracalla 
 gives an example of the dispersion of all ancient fragments 
 which has taken place at Rome ; for while the torso was found 
 in these Baths, the head of the statue was discovered at the 
 bottom of a well in Trastevere, and the legs at a farm ten 
 miles from Rome. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 The persecution carried out under the edict of Septimius 
 Sevems was not continued by Caracalla. It stopped on his 
 succeeding to the throne, and the Christians had rest from 
 persecution for a generation. 
 
 MACRINUS 
 
 217 — 218 
 
 After having Caracalla assassinated, the disloyal minister 
 Macrinus procured his own election as emperor by the 
 troops in Syria, though not without some reluctance on their 
 part, as they despised his military talents and want of personal 
 courage. The members of the Senate were indignant that a 
 man of such low rank should dare to put himself into a position 
 which they considered should only be held by some distin- 
 guished man of senatorial rank. Nevertheless they confirmed 
 this election. The first act of Macrinus was to reduce the cap- 
 able empress Julia Domna to a position of such humiliating 
 dependence that she put an end to her life. At the same 
 time he banished her equally capable sister, Julia Maesa, from 
 Antioch, where the court then was, and she returned to Emesa. 
 Macrinus however very soon made himself unpopular with 
 the army, with the result that the troops at Emesa proclaimed 
 the young Elagabalus, grandson of Julia Maesa, as emperor. 
 His cause was taken up by other troops in Syria, and Macrinus 
 marching against him was defeated in a battle outside Antioch 
 and slain, after reigning only a year. 
 
 ELAGABALUS 
 
 218 — 222 
 
 The proper name of Elagabalus ^ was Bassianus Varius 
 Avitus, son of Caracalla's first cousin Julia Soaemias. JuUa 
 Domna 's sister, the ambitious Julia Maesa, had been 
 married to Marcus Avitus, by whom she had two daughters, 
 Julia Soaemias, married to Varius Marcellus, and Julia Mam- 
 maea, married to Gessius Marcianus. Each of these daughters 
 had an only son. The family came from Emesa, and thither 
 on her banishment by Macrinus, Julia Maesa retired, accom- 
 panied by her two daughters, both widows, and their two 
 sons, Bassianus Varius Avitus and Alexander Severus. The 
 former of these two grandsons of Julia Maesa, though only 
 about sixteen, was at Emesa, through her influence, ap- 
 pointed high priest of the Sjrrian sun-god Elagabalus, ^ and 
 
 ^ The form " Heliogabalus," often met with, was due to a subse- 
 quent misunderstanding of the Roman writers. 
 
 2 Worshipped at Emesa under the form of a black conical stone which 
 was said to have fallen from heaven. 
 
 E.W. X 
 
 II 
 
 f 
 
CHAP. 
 
 306 
 
 ELAGABALUS 
 
 IX] 
 
 307 
 
 took that name as his own. His exceedingly handsome appear- 
 ance and splendid ceremonials, together with the assertion 
 made by his grandmother Julia Maesa that in reality Cara- 
 calla was his father, soon made him very popular with the 
 troops in Syria, who shortly afterwards won for him the throne, 
 as already related, and he was at once accepted by the Senate, 
 though he was only seventeen. 
 
 Elagabalus, after spending about a year in Syria, reached 
 Eome in 219. He entered the city in state, and his appearance 
 amazed the Romans. He was dressed in his sacerdotal robes 
 of silk and gold, on his head was a lofty tiara, his numerous 
 collars and bracelets were covered with costly gems, his eye- 
 brows were tinged with black, and his cheeks painted with ver- 
 milion and white. The black conical stone, the emblem of the 
 god Elagabalus, set w ith precious gems, was borne before him in 
 a chariot drawn by six white horses richly caparisoned ; and 
 the streets of Rome through which the solemn procession 
 passed were strewn with gold-dust. 
 
 Elagabalus thereupon proclaimed the Syrian sun-god the 
 chief deity in Rome, and celebrated splendid ceremonies in 
 honour of the new deity, at which ceremonies he himself danced 
 in public as high priest. This offended the Romans ; and 
 they were soon also still more scandalized at the shameless 
 profligacy of Elagabalus, whose enormities surpassed even 
 those of Commodus, and shocked even a Roman public. In a 
 short time his popularity with the troops began to decline, and 
 they showed that they preferred his cousin Alexander Severus ; 
 whereupon Elagabalus made an attempt to get the latter 
 assassinated, but it was frustrated by their grandmother Julia 
 Ma3sa. A second attempt of the same kind followed, which 
 produced a mutiny among the troops, resulting in both Ela- 
 gabalus and his mother Julia Sosemias being killed in the 
 imperial palace on the Palatine hill on the 10th March, 222. 
 Elagabalus, who thus died at the age of twenty-one after a 
 reign of four years, notwithstanding his atrocious profligacy 
 and fantastic proceedings had some remarkable ideas. His 
 proposal to convert the whole Roman Empire to the worship 
 of Mithras was the first attempt to make the religion of the 
 empire homogeneous, and the first attempt towards mono- 
 theism. 
 
 ALEXANDER SEVERUS 
 
 222 — 235 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 On the death of Elagabalus, his first cousin, Alexander 
 Severus, 1 then seventeen, was proclaimed emperor by the 
 Praetorian Guards, and accepted by the Senate. He had a 
 good disposition, but was entirely under the dominion of his 
 mother, Julia Mammaea,^ who though she was a woman of 
 many virtues, and surrounded her son with wise counsellors, 
 had not the wit to see that a military empire could not be ruled 
 satisfactorily by a woman's hand, and that her son would never 
 be popular if thus kept under her control. Moreover she was 
 powerless to cope with the unsatisfactory state of the army, 
 which, owing to long Kcence under Caracalla, Macrinus, and 
 Elagabalus, had developed a spirit of insubordination which 
 was a national danger. A feeble attempt made by her son 
 to reform the grave disorders in the Praetorian Guards roused 
 them to fury, as a consequence of which Alexander Severus 
 was forced to sacrifice the life of the celebrated Ulpian, their 
 Prefect, his most able minister, and called " the friend of the 
 laws and of the people." These troops also clamoured for 
 the death of Dion Cassius, the historian, who in command of 
 the legions in Pannonia had begun to introduce a reform in 
 discipline. But in this case Alexander Severus stood firm, 
 appointed Dion Cassius consul, but advised him to retire from 
 Rome. Nevertheless, notwithstanding failure by Alexander 
 Severus to cope with the insubordinate spirit in the army, the 
 empire as a whole was well administered during his reign of 
 thirteen years, and its prosperity maintained. 
 
 For the first ten years of his reign Alexander Severus re- 
 mained ahnost entirely at Rome, inhabiting that final and 
 magnificent addition to the Palace of the Caesars which had 
 been built by Septimius Severus, and which had as its outlying 
 portion the splendid temple, the " Septizonium," for the 
 Syrian sun-worship to which all this family were devoted. A 
 temperate government, improvements in the administration, 
 
 1 Plate XL VIII. Portrait-bust in the Vatican museum, Rome. 
 * Plate XLIX. Portrait-bust in the British Museum, London. 
 
CHAP. 
 308 ALEXANDER SEYERVS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 and a virtuous emperor made the people contented with a rule 
 which was in strong contrast to the conditions which had been 
 endured by them during forty-two years. 
 
 The chief work which Alexander Severus carried out during 
 this time at Rome was the construction of yet another aqueduct 
 to supply water to the city, the water for it being taken from 
 the hills near Gabii, to the east of Rome. This, the Aqtta 
 Alexandrina, was the last aqueduct constructed, and brought 
 the total number of the aqueducts of Rome up to eleven.^ 
 It has been calculated by experts that the supply of pure 
 water thus given to Rome amounted to as much as 230 gallons 
 per head of the population daily, though a more recent esti- 
 mate reduces it to about 100 gallons per head. But even this 
 lower estimate would show an amount of pure water supplied 
 to the citizens of Rome in the time of the emperors equal to 
 five times as much as is supplied in the present day to our 
 modern cities by the most liberal municipalities. 
 
 At length after ten years' peaceful government in Rome, 
 when Alexander Severus was twenty-seven he was called away 
 in 232 to the eastern frontier to face the Persians, who, under 
 Ardishir, or Artaxerxes, the foimder of the new Sassanian 
 empire ^ (which lasted for the next four centuries), had, six 
 years before, overthrown the Parthian empire, killing its last 
 monarch, Artabanus, and were now pressing the Roman 
 frontier. Artaxerxes laid claim to all the dominions which had 
 been ruled by Cyrus, and called upon the Romans to retire 
 altogether from Asia and confine themselves to Europe. Alex- 
 
 1 The eleven aqueducts were : — 
 1. Appia \ 
 
 [•constructed in the time of the Republic. 
 
 2. Anio Vetus 
 
 3. Marcia 
 
 4. Tepula 
 
 5. Julia 
 
 6. Virgo 
 
 7. Alsietina 
 
 8. Claudia 
 
 ) 
 
 constructed by Augustus. 
 
 ^ . . y,r I constructed by Claudius. 
 
 9. Amo Novus J 
 
 10. Trajana, constructed by Trajan. 
 
 11. Alexandrina, constructed by Alexander Severus. 
 
 * The nominal capites of the Sassanian empire was Istakr, but its 
 real metropolis was Cteaiphon. 
 
PLATE XLVIII. 
 
 Alexanpkk Skvkkl's. 
 portrait-bust in the Vaticiui museum, Rome, 
 
 ri.ATl- XI. ix. 
 
 iMANsri.i.. 
 
 Jli.ia Mamm/I-.a. MornKK or Alkxanprk Skvkrus. 
 
 Portrait-hunt in the British Must-um, London. 
 
■I A I I \ f \ I I I, 
 
 Ai.i:.\.\Ni>i K Si;\i;Hr 
 
 I'oittiUt-l'if'l III i'ht I iitiniii niif^iitiii. h'ltu 
 
 ]•] SI! M 
 
 [li lA Mamm-ia, M<»III1 
 l'<ittiui!-liii>t in tilt- 
 
 H Ol .\i.i.\ANi>i-.H Si \l I' 
 Ijnlisli M iisiiim. I '•ii'J"ii. 
 
IX] 
 
 RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE 
 
 309 
 
 ander Sevenis proceeded to the east to take command in the 
 war. There are conflicting accounts of what took place ; it 
 would appear that the Roman army showed an unusual want 
 of discipline, but there seems no doubt that they did eventually 
 defeat the Persians, inflicting so much loss upon them that 
 they retreated in disorder entirely out of Mesopotamia, and 
 in 233 Alexander Severus returned to Rome and celebrated a 
 triumph for his victory. 
 
 In 234 Alexander Severus had again to leave Rome and 
 proceed to the Rhine frontier to oppose an incursion of the 
 Allemanni. He was accompanied by his mother, and in the 
 following year, chiefly in consequence of her presence, a mutiny 
 among the troops on the Rhine, instigated by their leader 
 Maximin, occurred, in which, on the 19th March 235, both 
 Alexander Severus, then thirty years old, and his mother 
 Julia Mammaea were kiUed. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 Notwithstanding the general slaughter of Christians in the 
 reign of Marcus Aurelius, by the time that Alexander Severus 
 began to reign another generation had grown up, and there was 
 again a considerable community of Christians at Rome ; while 
 under his enlightened rule Christianity began to occupy a 
 position such as it had never before attained. 
 
 Alexander Severus, though he was an adherent of the Syrian 
 sun-worship, was extremely tolerant towards all religions. 
 He paid honour equally to the gods of Rome, to the gods of 
 Egypt, ^ to the Jewish religion, and to the Christian religion. 
 In this respect he was quite unlike any other emperor who 
 ever sat on the imperial throne. He placed in his own room 
 statues of those whom he considered the great religious teachers 
 of mankind, Orpheus, Abraham, Apollonius of Tyana, and 
 Christ. 
 
 As a consequence of this attitude on the part of the emperor 
 we find the Christian religion during this reign for the first time 
 coming out, as it were, into the light of day, and find churches 
 being built, and Bishops appearing with the leaders of other 
 religions at the emperor's court. One of the churches still 
 existing in Rome, the church of Sta Maria in Trastevere (though 
 ^ He enlarged the temples of Isis and Serapia. 
 
 I 
 
 
 ,..V 
 
CHAP. 
 
 310 GORDIAN I AND GORDIAN II 
 
 largely restored in 1140), was originally erected at this time, 
 being built in 222 by Bishop Calixtus.^ 
 
 MAXIMIN 
 
 235 — 238 
 
 On the death of Alexander Severus the legions on the Rhine 
 proclaimed the successful traitor Maximin emperor, and the 
 Senate had to acquiesce. Maximin, whose father was a Groth 
 and his mother an Alan, was a barbarian shepherd of Thrace. 
 He is said to have been over eight feet in height, and his enor- 
 mous size and unusual strength had caused Septimius Severus 
 to make him a soldier in the Roman army. Caracalla pro- 
 moted him to be a centurion ; and Alexander Severus very 
 foolishly promoted him to the command of a legion. He was a 
 mere brutal common soldier of the lowest type, and was jealous 
 of all who were distinguished either by birth, accomplishments, 
 or services to the State. He never visited Italy. His three years' 
 reign was spent entirely in his camps on the Danube and the 
 Rhine, where he eventually drove back the invasion of the Alle- 
 manni. His three years of power were marked by the most 
 barbarous and incessant cruelty and oppression. At length in 238, 
 universal indignation being aroused, a revolt against him took 
 •place which was supported by the Senate. Maximin marched 
 with an army towards Italy, but whilst besieging Aquileia on 
 the way he and his son were murdered by a body of the Prae- 
 torian Guards, and their heads sent to the Senate at Rome. 
 
 GORDIAN I AND GORDIAN II 
 
 238 
 
 When the revolt against Maximin took place, the people of 
 the province of Africa forced their Proconsul, Marcus Antonius 
 Gordianus (Gordian I) ^ to become emperor, and the choice 
 was eagerly confirmed by the Senate. At last, after forty-five 
 years under non-Roman emperors, the empire had a Roman, 
 
 1 The roof is supported by twenty -two ancient columns of various 
 lengths taken from Pagan temples, and the whole of the apse is a mass 
 of early Christian mosaics. 
 
 2 Plate L. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence, 
 
 K] 
 
 DEATH OF THE GORDIANS 
 
 311 
 
 and one of the best type, as emperor. He was descended on 
 his father's side from the Gracchi, and on his mother's side 
 from Trajan, while his wife was a granddaughter of Antoninus 
 Pius. He was exceedingly wealthy, a man of high character 
 and great accomplishments, and immensely and deservedly 
 popular with the Romans. He had led a retired life at Rome 
 during the reigns of Caracalla and Elagabalus, but was made 
 by Alexander Severus Proconsul of Africa, and became as 
 popular there as he was in Rome. On being elected emperor 
 his son (Gordian II), who was no less distinguished for his 
 sterling character and accomplishments, was associated with 
 him in the office. 
 
 But while the Senate were rejoicing over this election the 
 new emperor and his son were already dead. Most of the 
 provinces had sided with the new emperors ; but Capelianus, 
 commanding in the adjacent province of Mauretania on behalf 
 of Maximin, marched against the Gordians, and in the battle 
 which took place both father and son were killed, to the great 
 grief of the Romans, after reigning only one month. 
 
 GORDIAN III 
 
 238 — 244 
 
 On the death of Gordian I and Gordian II the Senate chose 
 Maximus and Balbinus as joint emperors ; but at their inaugu- 
 ration the popular clamour for a Gordian was so great that 
 in compliance with it the Senate associated with them the 
 young grandson of Gordian I and nephew of Gordian II, 
 Antonius Gordianus Pius (Gordian III),^ though he was only 
 thirteen. But the Praetorian Guards, being determined not 
 to have emperors who would be amenable to the Senate, forth- 
 with murdered Maximus and Balbinus, leaving the boy Gor- 
 dian III sole emperor. At first he was imder the control of 
 his mother, but after a time his tutor in rhetoric, Misitheus, 
 persuaded him to throw off this control ; and soon afterwards 
 Misitheus, whose daughter Gordian married, was made the 
 Prefect of the Praetorian Guards. 
 
 It gives us an insight into Roman methods in the manage- 
 
 1 Plate LI. Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 i 
 
 !i 
 
 i-\ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 ai2 
 
 GORDIAN III 
 
 ment of the army to find Gordian III, shortly after he became 
 emperor, as a pimishment ^ transferring the Third Legion for 
 twenty-five years from Lambaesis in North Africa to Cologne 
 on the Rhine. Military work on the Rhine was arduous and 
 incessant ; it was the work of a garrison lining the walls of 
 the imperial fortress and ever in contact with formidable 
 foes, while the surroimding districts were in the 3rd century 
 poor and scantily populated, and very different from the 
 rich and populous districts of North Africa, where moreover 
 military work was exceedingly light. And as in this transfer 
 to the Rhine frontier for twenty-five years the legion had to 
 take with them then* wives and families, no doubt the move was 
 no light punishment. 
 
 In 242, when Gordian III was seventeen, the Persians in- 
 vaded Mesopotamia and Syria, and advanced as far as Antioch. 
 The young emperor, for the last time recorded in history, 
 opened the doors of the temple of Janus, and marched in 
 person to the East, accompanied by Misitheus, who proved an 
 able general. In a short campaign the Persians were com- 
 pletely defeated, and by the year 244 were driven out of the 
 Roman territories. Gordian then proposed to march upon 
 their capital by way of the Euphrates, and started to do so. 
 But on reaching the frontier and beginning to advance into 
 the Persian dominions, a traitor, Philip the Arabian, poisoned 
 Misitheus, and roused a mutiny in which Gordian III was 
 killed, at the age of nineteen (March 244). A monument to 
 his memory on the banks of the Euphrates, near where it is 
 joined by the Aboras, marks the spot where this promising 
 young emperor died. 
 
 PHILIP THE ARABIAN 
 
 244 — 249 
 
 In his early life Philip, an Arab by birth, was a robber by 
 profession. Entering the Roman army, he had contrived 
 by a mixture of boldness and artifice to rise to a position in 
 which he was able to aspire to supplanting Misitheus. After 
 having poisoned the latter he induced the young emperor to 
 
 * Possibly for having joined in the revolt against Gordian I. 
 
MMillllHIi 
 
 ll..\il. L.. 
 
 II Nil I 
 
 ki 
 
 GORDIAN T. 
 Portniit'busl in the Capitol museum, Kome. 
 
 (k)RDIAN III. 
 
 Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence, 
 
PI. ATI-: r.. 
 
 ^M 
 
 VI M \ I I 
 
 rRRor.i. 
 
 HhuI,!. 
 
 (lORniAN I. 
 
 I'luhiiit-bust ill till Ciipitol museum, home. 
 
 (ioRDIAN III. 
 
 Poytruit-hust ill the I f/ir.i <:(illtr\, i'lnreinf. 
 
IX] 
 
 ROME'S THOUSANDTH BIRTHDAY 
 
 313 
 
 give him the vacant office of Prefect of the Praetorian Guards. 
 In this position he aimed still higher, and shortly after gaining 
 it, first contrived to create an artificial scarcity of food in the 
 camp, and then when this irritated the troops, attributed it to 
 the incapacity of the young emperor, who was killed in the 
 mutiny thereby aroused. Having thus managed to destroy 
 both Gordian III and his general Misitheus, Philip succeeded 
 in getting the army in Mesopotamia to proclaim him as 
 emperor. And, strangely enough, the rest of the empire 
 acquiesced in their choice, and no rival came forward to 
 contest the throne with this unworthy occupant. 
 
 Philip the Arabian i reigned for five years (244-249). He 
 had an evil reputation, but very little is known of his reign 
 except the one great event for which in 248 he came from the 
 east to Rome, and which for the time threw all other matters 
 into the shade. For in the year 248 " Great Rome " celebrated 
 her thousandth birthday. And in proud glorification of her 
 world-wide power magnificent ceremonies were everywhere 
 held to honour this thousandth anniversary of the founding 
 of the city of Rome.2 In Syria, in Egypt, in Africa, in Spain, 
 in Gaul, in Britain, on the Rhine, on the Danube, in Italy, in 
 Greece, and in Asia Minor, all round the wide circle of Rome's 
 dominion the time-honoured " Secular Games " were held in 
 every city with unusual grandeur and numberless festivities 
 to mark an occasion which was unique in the history of the 
 world. 
 
 The " Secular Games," revived by Augustus, and supposed 
 to be held every himdred years, had been celebrated by Qau- 
 dius, by Domitian, and by Antoninus Pius. They were now 
 celebrated, for the fourth time in 265 years, with the greatest 
 splendour to mark this solemn anniversary. These time- 
 honoured festivities were in every way calculated to impress 
 the imagination. Occurring as they did at such long intervals, 
 none of the spectators had seen them before, and none could 
 expect to see them again. At Rome on these occasions the 
 Campus Martins was illuminated with innumerable lamps, and 
 resounded with music, slaves and non-Romans being excluded 
 
 1 Plate LII (p. 302). Portrait-bust in the Uffizi gallery, Florence. 
 * The year Anno Urbis Conditae 1000. 
 
 ^ ,J 
 
CHAP. 
 
 314 
 
 PHILIP THE ARABIAN 
 
 IX] 
 
 from the ceremonies ; mystic sacrifices and sacred dances were 
 performed during three successive nights by the banks of the 
 Tiber ; and a band of twenty-seven youths and twenty- 
 seven virgins, chosen from the noblest families of Rome and 
 whose parents were both alive, sang reUgious hymns imploring 
 the gods, according to the faith of the ancient oracles, to 
 continue their favour, both to the present and to the coming 
 generation, and still to maintain the power, the virtue, and 
 the happiness of the Roman people. 
 
 It is possible that this solemn festival of Rome's glory may 
 have induced men to desire to have a more worthy representa- 
 tive, and a Roman, upon the throne. At all events in the 
 following year (249) the legions in Moesia revolted from Philip 
 the Arabian and chose their capable commander Decius as 
 emperor. Decius marched into Italy, and a battle was fought 
 between him and Philip near Verona, in which Philip was 
 defeated and killed. 
 
 The death of Philip the Arabian brought to an end the 
 series of weak or incapable emperors who for more than a 
 generation had occupied the imperial throne. We must not, 
 however, be led by this state of things into regarding the history 
 of the court as that of the empire. The administration of the 
 provinces still contmued to be conducted, upon the " maxims 
 of Augustus," by governors who as a rule were just and capable, 
 and the people in the various provinces of this wide empire 
 were scarcely affected at all by the vagaries of an Elagabulus, 
 or the brutalities of a Maximin. The one and only real calamity 
 to the people of the Roman Empire, at this and all times of its 
 history, was war ; such war, that is, as took place upon an 
 incursion of any of the barbarian tribes into a province. 
 Civil Wars between rival claimants for the throne had little 
 effect in this way ; a battle here or there between such claim- 
 ants affected even the province in which it took place but 
 little, and the remainder of the empire not at all. But an 
 invasion of a province by the Parthians or the barbarous 
 tribes of the north (ending in the death of most of the male 
 inhabitants, the carrying off of the women and girls as prisoners, 
 and the destruction or pillage of all valuable property), wrought 
 more desolation and misery in a year than was suffered from 
 any number of battles between rivals for the throne, or from 
 
 INVASIONS 
 
 315 
 
 any amount of crimes or follies committed by vicious or 
 incapable emperors at Rome. 
 
 Up to this time the only real calamities of this kind had 
 been the five incursions of the Parthians, the Marcomanni, 
 the Quadi, and the Allemanni in the reign of Marcus Avirelius, 
 which had devastated the eastern frontier for four years, 
 the lower Rhine province for a year, and the provinces of 
 Noricum, Pannonia, and Rhsetia for as long as fourteen years. 
 Now, however, there was to ensue a period of sixteen years 
 during which the Danube provinces, Rhaetia, Gaul, Greece, 
 Syria, and the northern part of Italy were all to suffer these 
 calamities, and the central government for a time to be entirely 
 set at naught by a crowd of usurpers. 
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 REIGNS OF 
 
 DECITJS, GALLUS, ^MILIANUS, VALERIAN, 
 
 GALLIENUS, CLAUDIUS II, AURELIAN, TACITUS, 
 
 PROBUS, CARUS, CARINUS, AND NUMERIAN 
 
 DEGIUS 
 
 249 — 251 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 THERE now began a period of thirty-five years during 
 which the empire, though under capable emperors, ex- 
 perienced in turn the most extreme vicissitudes of fortune. Dur- 
 ing thkty years of this period, after beginning under auspices 
 which seemed to revive the times of the Antonine emperors, 
 it first suffered for fifteen years a series of the greatest disasters 
 and then experienced for fifteen years a time of great glory. 
 
 BECIUS,! a Roman by birth, whose full name was 
 Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, was fifty years old when he 
 became emperor. He was well known as an upright, 
 capable, and deservedly popular commander, and on his 
 accession there seemed every prospect of a long and pros- 
 perous reign under a just and able emperor. 
 
 His reign began with much splendour. Decius was strongly 
 bent upon ruling in accordance with the best models of the 
 past, and upon reviving the ancient virtues of the Roman 
 character ; and the grand celebration of the time-honoured 
 national festival in the previous year had made aU men ready 
 to co-operate with this desire. As a part of his measures with 
 
 1 No portrait-bust exists of any of the emperors from Decius to 
 
 Numerian. 
 
 316 
 
 CHAP. X] 
 
 GOTHS' FIRST INVASION 
 
 4 
 
 317 
 
 this object he magnified his office as Pontifex Maximus of 
 the Pagan religion, took steps to infuse a higher tone among 
 the priesthood, and carried out the duties of the office with 
 dignity and wisdom. He also revived the long obsolete 
 office of Censor of morals ; for which dignity the man most 
 universally honoured on account of his general character was 
 by custom elected by the whole empire. The man chosen 
 for this high honour by the unanimous voice of the empire 
 was Valerian, then commanding in Gaul. In all these en- 
 deavours Decius was ably assisted by his popular young son 
 Herennius, then about twenty years old. But all these bright 
 prospects were doomed to disappointment, for in less than 
 three years the reign of Decius was suddenly cut short, both 
 he and his son perishing together in a great disaster. 
 
 During the preceding twenty years the empire had had to 
 meet attacks on both its northern and its eastern frontiers. 
 Alexander Severus and Gordian III on the eastern frontier 
 had driven back the Persians, and Maximin on the northern 
 frontier had repulsed the Allemanni ; but there soon appeared 
 a new and more formidable enemy. For there now begin the 
 first contests of the Roman power with that race which was 
 destined to become during all the next 150 years its principal 
 foe, the reign of Decius witnessing the first invasion of the 
 empire by the Goths. ^ 
 
 In the reign of Alexander Severus the Goths had left their 
 original home in the Ukraine in an immense host, moving slowly 
 westwards. At length they had reached the Dneister, and 
 after resting there for a time had ravaged the eastern part of 
 Dacia, had then moved slowly southwards, and a large body 
 of them had now crossed the Danube and invaded Moesia. 
 Decius sent orders to Gallus, the Roman commander on the 
 lower Danube, to drive them back over the Danube ; and as 
 Gallus was a good general and had a large force Decius did not 
 anticipate that he would have any difficulty in doing so. 
 
 Decius himself was at this time occupied with another 
 matter which was engaging most of his attention. The uni- 
 versal festivities throughout the empire in the previous year 
 to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of Rome's glory had 
 
 1 For list of invasions of barbarians and foreign wars from the time 
 of Pomitian to that of Constantino, see Appendices IV and V, 
 
 f 
 
318 
 
 D E C I U S {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 X] 
 
 GREAT DEFEAT AT ABRICIUM 
 
 once again forced the Christians into prominence, through 
 their abstention from the Pagan rites connected with that 
 festival which had been celebrated in every city ; and the 
 festivities upon the accession of Decius, together with his 
 various measures for increasing the dignity of the Pagan 
 religion, had intensified this effect. Decius in his ardent desire 
 to revive the ancient glories of Rome seems to have considered 
 that this apotheosis of Rome's majesty would scarcely be 
 complete without a general destruction of those who were 
 commonly held to be foes to that majesty, the Christians. 
 He therefore in the second year of his reign followed the example 
 of Marcus Aurelius seventy years before, and issued an edict 
 ordering a general slaughter of the Christians throughout the 
 empire, and himself took an active part in organizing arrange- 
 ments to ensure that these orders should be effectively carried 
 out.^ 
 
 Meanwhile the invasion by the Goths had become so serious, 
 and Gallus was so unsuccessful against them, that Decius 
 was at length compelled to proceed in person to the Danube 
 provinces to oppose them. The Goths under their king 
 Cniva,* had defeated Gallus, and after ravaging the whole of 
 Moesia had begun to besiege Nicopolis. On the approach of 
 Decius they withdrew towards Thrace, and being somewhat 
 incautiously followed by him suddenly turned upon his army, 
 inflicted upon him a defeat, and put his army to flight ; after 
 which, crossing the Balkans, they besieged and took Philip- 
 popolis in Thrace, massacring 100,000 of its inhabitants. 
 
 Decius, however, was too able a commander to be dismayed 
 by a defeat which he recognized had been due to a surprise. 
 Having restored the spirit of his army and gathered further 
 reinforcements he again advanced against the Goths (who 
 had begun to retire northwards laden with captives and plimder), 
 sending orders to Gallus to attack them from one side while 
 he attacked them from the other. The Groths having suffered 
 severe losses in the siege of Philippopolis, and their line of 
 retreat being threatened by the advance of the army under 
 Gallus, offered to surrender all their captives and spoil if 
 allowed to retire unmolested. Decius, however, naturally 
 
 1 See pp. 318-32L 
 
 * D^cen^ed from the renowned Amala, the great hero of the Goths. 
 
 319 
 
 considered that this would not suffice to restore the prestige of 
 Rome, and being determined to avenge the slaughter they 
 had carried out in the Roman provinces, and to give them a 
 decisive defeat, refused their offer, and prepared to attack 
 them. The battle was fought in November 251. The Goths 
 drew up in three lines ; their first and second lines were des- 
 troyed in succession by the Romans, who then attacked the 
 third line, which was covered by a morass. The Romans 
 became entangled in the deep swamp, large numbers being 
 drowned; and partly in consequence of this and partly 
 owmg to the failure of GaUus to properly support the emperor, 
 the Roman army was totally defeated. Decius himself, his 
 brave young son, Herennius, and almost the whole army, per- 
 ished, even the emperor's body never being found. ' The 
 place where this disastrous defeat took place is not known 
 with certainty, but was evidently in the low-lying marshy 
 country near the lower course of the Danube, and probably 
 near Abricium. 
 
 Rome had not hitherto considered the Goths of any par- 
 ticular account ; but this defeat gave Rome a shock greater 
 even than that which was felt when, 242 years before, Varus 
 and his legions were destroyed on the Rhine frontier in the 
 reign of Augustus. The Goths retreated across the Danube, 
 carrying their captives and spoil triumphantly with them, and 
 having in this first struggle with Rome felt their own power. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 By the beginning of the reign of Decius the Christians had 
 had rest from persecution for more than a generation. During 
 forty years since the reign of Septimius Severus they had 
 almost forgotten what it was to be persecuted, and had in all 
 cities grown accustomed to live unmolested in the midst of 
 their Pagan neighbours. But now, after churches had every- 
 where been built, and while the existing generation of Chris- 
 tians supposed that the times of these terrible persecutions 
 were over, and that they would never be tried as then- fathers 
 and grandfathers had been, they were to find that this was not 
 so, that it had been merely a pause in a conflict which was now 
 to be resumed more fiercely than ever, and that the terrible 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 I' 
 
CHAP. 
 
 320 
 
 D E C I U S (M€Uter9 concerning religion) 
 
 m 
 
 1 1 
 
 I 
 
 I ' 
 
 If 
 
 things which they had heard old men and women speak of were 
 now to come also upon themselves. 
 
 In this, the Sixth persecution, which began in 250, the storm 
 which fell upon the Christians was the more terrible from the 
 new difficulties and trials which this imexpectedness created. 
 During the long immimity from persecution many persons had 
 become Christians who were not prepared to ending such 
 sufferings ; also many families had become mixed, Christians 
 and Pagans having intermarried ; and these new conditions 
 created numerous troubles over and above those experienced 
 in former persecutions. Thus the Decian persecution was 
 always afterwards spoken of as the most terrible of all, until it 
 was itself surpassed by the persecution under Diocletian fifty 
 years later. 
 
 It was a time of universal rejoicings throughout the whole 
 empire. The accession of Decius, an emperor anxious to revive 
 the ancient splendour of Rome, was being celebrated with 
 great festivities in every city throughout Egypt, Africa, 
 Spain, Gaul, Britain, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria. 
 But soon a rumour spread through many of these coimtries 
 that the new emperor contemplated a thorough extermination 
 of that sect who seemed opposed to Rome's greatness, and 
 at all events took no part in the festivities held to cele- 
 brate it. The rumour proved correct ; the fiat went forth ; 
 Decius followed the example set by Marcus Aurelius ; and 
 soon in every city of the empire an imperial edict issued 
 directing a thorough destruction of the Christians. Decius ap- 
 pointed special magistrates in every city to conduct a searching 
 inquisition, directing them to summon all citizens before them, 
 to require them to offer the accustomed sacrifices, and ordering 
 that all who did not comply were to suffer tortures and death. 
 Thereupon began again the dragging of Christians before the 
 tribimals, the malignant enmity of " informers," the tortures 
 of the amphitheatre, and all the former horrors. Terrible 
 things happened, the most shameful cruelties,^ and the most 
 
 * It waa in this persecution that there took place the cruel martyr- 
 dom of St. Agatha, a young Roman girl of good family noted for her 
 beauty, who, with the most atrocious tortures, weus martyred at 
 Catania in Sicily in 251. She is commemorated in the Prayerbook 
 pf the Church of England on the 5th February. 
 
 X] 
 
 SIXTH PERSECUTION 
 
 321 
 
 widespread slaughter. Moreover Pagan officials, anxious to 
 save those dear to them, offered bribes which aU were not 
 able to resist. Many also of those who had become Christians 
 without bemg prepared to endure such things now " lapsed " 
 for a time renouncing Christianity; and the problems 
 regarding such " lapsi " created many difficulties and much 
 additional tribulation. 
 
 • ^l-^^^r^J'^^ *** *^^ ^""^^ innumerable persons perished 
 m this Sixth persecution under Decius, that emperor himself 
 pereonaUy directing the fury of the persecution. A special 
 feature of this Sixth persecution was the slaughter of the 
 Bishops wherever they could be seized, though in some cases 
 the Christians forced them to go away into concealment in 
 deserts or mountains, feeUng that their Uves were too valuable 
 to the cause to be thus sacrificed. But the large number of 
 Bishops who died in this persecution gives some idea of the 
 courage it needed to be a Bishop in those days. Three suc- 
 cessive Bishops of Rome were martyred in four years at this 
 time. It was m this persecution that Fabian, Bishop of 
 Rome, was martyred. He had been Bishop of Rome for about 
 fourteen years, and was the first martyr of the Decian perse- 
 TT'u: ^^""^^^^ *o the very ancient Roman famQy of 
 the i abu, and was much loved and honoured at Rome. Fabian's 
 tomb, with an epitaph written in Greek, is to be seen in the 
 Catacomb of St. CaUxtus on the Appian way, where his remains 
 were buried. ^ 
 
 Eventually Decius, while still energeticaUy directing this 
 persecution, was called away to confront the Goths, and feU 
 m battle. But the persecution which he had inaugurated 
 did not cease with his death, but continued through the 
 reigns of GaUus and ^milianus untU the accession of Valerian 
 m 253. In this Sixth persecution, besides Fabian, martyred 
 m 250 under Decius, there also perished ComeUus, Bishop of 
 Rome, martyred in 252 under GaUus, and Lucius I, Bishop 
 of Rome, martyred in 253 under ^milianus.^ The cele- 
 brated Origen was thrown into prison and repeatedly tortured, 
 
 1 St. Fabian is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church of 
 t/ngland on the 20th January. 
 
 » The tombs and epitaphs of these two martyred Bishops are, Uke 
 J^abian s, also to be seen in the Catacomb of St. CaUxtus. 
 
 E.W. 
 
 If 
 
 jt 
 
CHAP. 
 
 322 
 
 iEMILIANUS 
 
 in consequence of which sufferings he died at Tyre in 253 a 
 few months after the persecution ceased, m the seventieth 
 year of his age. 
 
 GALLUS 
 
 252—253 
 
 On Decius bemg kiUed in the battle in Nov. 251 the army 
 on the Danube frontier elected Gallus, whose conduct at the 
 battle had been such as to cause him to be strongly suspected 
 of having aimed at this very result, regardless of the honour 
 of the Roman arms. He placed .Emilianus in charge of 
 MoBsia and Pannonia and proceeded to Rome, where he was 
 accepted as emperor by the Senate. Soon afterwards the 
 Goths again invaded the Danube provinces, but this time 
 were defeated by ^milianus, who pursued them beyond 
 the Danube. Thereupon the troops proclaimed iEmihanus 
 as emperor. GaUus advanced to Spoleto to contest the throne 
 with him, but his troops, seeing that they were weaker than 
 those of iEmilianus, murdered Gallus and his son, and 
 uEmilianus was proclaimed emperor (May, 253). 
 
 iEMILIANUS 
 
 253 
 
 Though Gallus had only reigned a year and five months 
 his successor iEmilianus, who had proved himself an able 
 commander, had a stiU shorter reign. Valerian, renowned 
 throughout the empire for his various abilities, and at this time 
 commanding the legions in Gaul, had been summoned by 
 Gallus to his assistance, but arrived too late to save the latter. 
 On his approach the troops of iEmilianus, awed by the superior 
 strength of Valerian's army, repeated their former conduct, 
 murdered iEmilianus after he had reigned only three months, 
 and proclaimed Valerian emperor (Aug. 253). 
 
 X] 
 
 323 
 
 VALERIAN 
 
 253—260 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 VALERIAN was a R<)man, of noble birth and high 
 character. He had risen through the various grades of the 
 pubhc service by talents, wisdom, and quaUties which com- 
 manded the respect alike of the army, the Senate, and the 
 people. A few years before he had been chosen for the honour- 
 able office of Censor by the unanimous voice of the Roman 
 world. He was sixty years of age when on the death of 
 i^iimhanus he was chosen emperor. 
 
 But the whole period of Valerian's seven years' reign was one 
 umnterrupted series of the direst calamities. The Franks 
 crossed the Rhine and spread devastation throughout the 
 whole of Gaul; the AUemanni invaded Noricum and 
 Rhsetia, penetrated into Italy itself, and advanced as far as 
 Ravenna; the Goths having created a fleet, crossed the 
 Black Sea, ravaged in succession Pontus and Bithynia and 
 the coasts of Mysia and Lydia, destroying at Ephesus the 
 magnificent Temple of " Diana of the Ephesians,'' one of the 
 seven wonders of the world, i and then attacked and ravaged 
 Greece ; and lastly the Persians, under Sapor I, the son of 
 Artaxerxes, conquered Armenia, defeated the Roman forces 
 on the Euphrates, took Antioch, and devastated the whole of 
 the eastern border of the empire. 
 
 Valerian did his best to meet the difficulties created by having 
 to confront so many enemies at once, but his armies did not 
 succeed in driving out the invaders, and province after pro- 
 vince became devastated by war. He sent his son GaUienus 
 whom he had associated with himself on the throne, to Gaul' 
 to oppose the Franks; but GaUienus, establishing himself 
 at Treves, gave himself up to pleasure, and though the legions 
 m Gaul were ably led by their general Postumus, that country 
 became during the whole reign the theatre of an indecisive 
 contest. At length in 258 Valerian himself proceeded to the 
 east to oppose Sapor I, while the Senate raised a mixed 
 
 i Notable in connection with the riot in the time of St. Paul. 
 
 i 
 
 j,4 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 324 VALERIAN {Mattera other tfuin religion) 
 
 force in Rome which advanced against the Allemanni and 
 forced them to retire out of Italy. But in Greece the ravages 
 of the Goths continued, and the resistance offered by the 
 inhabitants involved that country in a general conflagration. 
 Meanwhile Valerian in the east had suffered a crushing dis- 
 aster. Unfortimately he reposed confidence in a worthless min- 
 ister, Macrianus, whom he had made Prefect of the Praetorian 
 Guards ; ^ and this man now proved a traitor. Valerian, hav- 
 ing retaken Antioch, crossed the Euphrates and encountered 
 Sapor at Edessa, where a fierce battle took place. By the 
 treachery of Macrianus the Roman army was entrapped in a 
 mountainous defile where surrender was inevitable. An 
 attempt to cut thek way out was repulsed with great slaughter ; 
 whereupon Valerian in order to save the remnant of his army 
 agreed to meet Sapor at a conference, was treacherously 
 seized thereat, and was carried off a prisoner to Persia (260). 
 The Persians then crossed the Euphrates, overran Syria and 
 Cilicia, sacked and almost destroyed, first Antioch, and then 
 Caesarea in Cappadocia, and were only checked by Odenathus 
 of Palmyra, who thereby laid the foundations of his future 
 
 greatness. 
 
 The noble and unfortunate emperor Valerian, carried off to 
 Persia, was kept for five years in an ignominious captivity 
 at Persepolis. He was treated with studied insolence by the 
 Persian monarch, and it is related that he was exhibited to 
 the people in chains, clad in the imperial purple, and that 
 Sapor used the Roman emperor as a horseblock, putting his 
 foot on his neck whenever he mounted his horse, in revenge for 
 all the defeats that the Persians had suffered from Rome. 
 At length after five years of this captivity Valerian died (265). 
 The Persians in brutal mockery of imperial Rome preserved 
 his skin, stuffed it with straw into the likeness of a human 
 figure, painted it the imperial purple colour, and hung it up in 
 the chief temple of Persepolis, where it was kept for many 
 
 generations. 
 
 But the sufferings caused by these widespread disasters 
 did not complete the troubles of the reign of Valerian. The 
 
 ^ Since the changes in the status of the appointment made by 
 Septimius Sevenis the office of Prefect of the Praetorian Guards had 
 become much more a civil appointment than a military one. 
 
 X] 
 
 SEVENTH PERSECUTION 
 
 325 
 
 inevitable consequence of a state of war continuing year after 
 year over so many provinces was a long and general famine. 
 And this, as a further consequence, was followed by a furious 
 outbreak of the plague, which for almost the whole fifteen years 
 covered by the reigns of Valerian and his son Gallienus raged 
 without interruption in every province, every city, and almost 
 every family of the Roman empire. Many towns were entirely 
 depopulated, for some time 6000 persons died daily in Rome, 
 half the population of Alexandria perished, and it has been 
 estimated that from war, famine, and pestilence together 
 there perished at this period one half of the entire population of 
 Europe. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 On the accession of Valerian the Decian persecution came 
 to an end, and the Christians who had survived it had every 
 reason to congratulate themselves on the empire having now 
 passed under the sway of so just and generous an emperor. 
 Eusebius states that never was any emperor more favourable 
 to the Christians than was Valerian when he began his reign ; 
 adding, " all his house was filled with the pious, and resembled 
 a congregation of the faithful." 
 
 But about three years after Valerian began to reign he fell 
 under the influence of Macrianus, the man who became his evil 
 genius, and who eventually caused his destruction. This 
 worthless traitor was the chief ruler of the Magi,i and Valerian 
 soon made him his chief minister and Prefect of the Praetorian 
 Guards. Having attained this position Macrianus used every 
 artifice to induce Valerian to alter his attitude towards the 
 Christians and take measures for their extermination. He 
 was strongly assisted in this endeavour by the priests of the 
 ancient religion of Rome, who persistently appealed to the 
 patriotism and worked upon the superstition of the emperor, 
 pointing to the serious disasters and calamities which were 
 occurring, and declaring them to be signs of the wrath of the 
 gods of Rome at the toleration which was being accorded to 
 
 1 The priests of the Syrian sun-worship, which had gained so much 
 importance under Septimius Sevenis, Elagabalus, and Alexander 
 Severus. OriginaUy appUed to the priests of the religion of Zoroaster, 
 the term had come to be applied to the priests of any eastern religion. 
 
 m 
 
CHAP. 
 
 326 
 
 VALERIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 X] 
 
 CYPRIAN 
 
 327 
 
 « 
 
 Christianity. It was a period of innumerable public calamities, 
 for to miUtary defeats, famine, and pestilence were also added 
 earthquakes, inundations, strange meteors, and other unusual 
 portents ; and every occurrence of the kind was interpreted 
 by these advisers as plainly indicating the displeasure of the 
 gods against the emperor for his toleration of the Christians. 
 At length in 257 Valerian yielded to this pressure, and follow- 
 ing the counsel of Macrianus issued a severe edict ordering a 
 general destruction of the Christians, thus inaugurating the 
 Seventh persecution. But even this did not satisfy Macrianus, 
 and this edict was followed in the next year by one still more 
 
 stringent. 
 
 This persecution in the reign of Valerian was very thor- 
 oughly organized by Macrianus, and vigorously carried out in 
 all the provinces of the empire. Five commissioners were 
 ordered to sit in every town for the purpose, and the Pro- 
 consul of each province was ordered to visit all its towns and 
 see that this religion was thoroughly stamped out. As a 
 result of this very thorough organization the number of persons 
 martyred all over the empire was immense, ^ only those 
 Christians escaping who could find such hiding places as the 
 catacombs at Rome or the deserts of North Africa. This per- 
 secution was also notable for the hideous tortures employed, 
 the appalling scenes of the Decian persecution being sur- 
 passed in horror by those which took place, at the instigation 
 of Macrianus, as chief of the Magi, in this persecution under 
 Valerian. It was no wonder that the Christians considered the 
 captivity of Valerian which shortly afterwards ensued and his 
 sufferings at the hands of the Persians to be a direct punish- 
 ment for the many horrible cruelties perpetrated under his 
 
 authority. 
 
 Among the countless numbers who suffered in this Seventh 
 persecution six names are specially notable, viz : Cyprian, 
 Bishop of Carthage, Stephen I, Bishop of Rome, Sixtus II, 
 Bishop of Rome, Fructuosus, Bishop of Tarragona, Lawrence, 
 a deacon at Rome, and Daria, one of the six Vestal Virgins, 
 
 1 One memorial of this persecution is still to be seen at Cirta (now 
 Constantino) in North Africa, where in the gorge of the Rhumel ravine 
 near the city is an inscription ccurved on a rock in memory of those 
 martyred there in the year 259 in this Seventh persecution. 
 
 the fact of one of the sacred Vestal Virgins becoming a Christian 
 and a martyr being specially remarkable.^ 
 
 Step by step as, in the midst of all its terrible sufferings, 
 the Christian Church went on making its way in the Roman 
 world, we have one celebrated writer after another who shows 
 us from time to time what its thoughts were. Counting from 
 the death of the Apostle St. John at the end of the 1st cen- 
 tury, we have in succession, Ignatius 14 years after that event, 
 Justin Martyr 48 years after it, Irenaeus 80 years after it, 
 and Tertullian 100 years after it, each recording what Chris- 
 tians at those periods held. And now at another stage, 150 
 years after the death of St. John, we have another of these 
 great Christian writers in Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, cele- 
 brated through all the ages since as the chief leader of the 
 Christian Church in the 3rd century. 
 
 Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus, born at Carthage about the 
 year 200, was originally a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy, 
 and noted for his abihty, his wealth, and an agreeable dis- 
 position which made him highly popular in the society of 
 Carthage. He was well born, and inherited large estates, 
 including beautiful gardens by the shore of the Mediterranean 
 which were his especial dehght. When forty-six years old 
 he became converted to Christianity by. the preaching of 
 Caecilius, whose name he took at his baptism. Many of 
 his writings remain, and in them he relates in a clear and 
 forcible manner the arguments which were powerful enough 
 to cause him to become a Christian. Two years after his 
 conversion to Christianity the Bishop of Carthage died, and the 
 people by universal acclamation insisted that Cyprian should 
 be his successor. As a Bishop he became, by his noble dis- 
 position, his great abiHties, his earnest zeal, and his strong 
 force of character, not only a great leader of the North African 
 Church,^ but the most prominent man of his time in the whole 
 Christian Church. On becoming a Christian he sold his beau- 
 tiful gardens and all his estates and gave the money to the 
 poor. He had always been a man of many friends, and these 
 
 ^ On the outbreak of the persecution she was accused by Macrianus 
 of being a Christian, and acknowledged it ; whereupon she was buried 
 alive. 
 
 2 In Cyprian's time the North African Church was so large that it 
 could assemble in a conference as many as 600 Bishops. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 328 
 
 VALERIAN {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 X] 
 
 DEATH OF CYPRIAN 
 
 329 
 
 friendships were not broken off by his change of religion, all 
 men admiring him for his high-bred dignity and nobility of 
 
 character. 
 
 In 250, two years after Cyprian became Bishop, the fiery 
 test of the Decian persecution came upon the Christian Church. 
 Cyprian himself relates how under this trial thousands "lapsed," 
 even many of the Bishops and clergy. His letters show how 
 great were the difficulties of the time, from the treachery of 
 false adherents, the laxity of those who had fallen, and the 
 pride of those who had remained firm. They also show how 
 valuable was the combination of moderation and firmness 
 which he evinced, and caused the Church as a whole to adopt. 
 The Christian community in North Africa, feeling that his life 
 was too valuable to be lost, forced him to go away into hiding 
 during the Decian persecution ; and from his retreat in the 
 desert he guided the whole policy of the Church in the west 
 of Europe as weU as in North Africa. The Decian persecution 
 was scarcely over when in 253 there came the great outbreak 
 of plague which ravaged the entire western world and was 
 specially virulent at Carthage. The usual panic ensued; 
 the sick were deserted, the dying thrust out into the streets, 
 and the dead left unburied. Cyprian returned to Carthage, 
 called the survivmg Christians together, and exhorted them 
 to demonstrate the reaUty of their Christianity by showing 
 love to their enemies and to those who had just been torturing 
 them and subjecting to cruel deaths their nearest and dearest. 
 He was nobly answered ; the city was divided into districts 
 of which individual Christians took charge; the sick were 
 nursed, the dead were buried, and " confessors " ^ with the 
 scars of their tortures still upon them were to be seen risking 
 their lives in these acts of love to their enemies. 
 
 In 255 the action taken by Cyprian and the Church of 
 North Africa in a matter relating to the rite of baptism appear- 
 ing to Stephen, Bishop of Rome, to be wrong, the latter took 
 upon himself to rebuke Cyprian, and to excommunicate him 
 and his Church. This however only drew down on Stephen 
 the most severe censures from all parts of the Church for his 
 
 1 A person who had been tortured in the persecution, but had not 
 died under the torture was styled a "confessor." 
 
 *' unlawful arrogance " in attempting to dictate to another 
 Bishop. His action raised a storm of indignation from the 
 Bishops of the Churches in Asia Minor, many of them holding 
 sees far more important than that of Rome. They declared 
 that " in respect of the internal government and particular 
 custom of each diocese there is no one in the Church of God 
 who can be a Bishop of Bishops." Firmilian, the Metro- 
 politan 1 of Cappadocia, the most conspicuous man in the eastern 
 part of the Church, as Cyprian was in the western, wrote to 
 Stephen, " Thou hast excommunicated thyself ; " while in an 
 open letter to the Church at large he even compared Stephen's 
 action to that of Judas. And Stephen, finding that the 
 whole Church was against him, and that the only result of his 
 action was to excommunicate himself, was silenced. 
 
 Six years of peace followed the Decian persecution, and then 
 in 258 came the persecution under Valerian, in which both 
 Cyprian and Stephen were martyred. When the persecution 
 began Cyprian, feeling that his work was done, refused again to 
 seek safety by retirement. He was arrested, and was treated 
 with great respect by the Proconsul of North Africa ; on his 
 refusing to sacrifice to the emperor the Proconsul reluctantly 
 delivered the inevitable sentence of death, but on account 
 of his respect for him would not allow him to be tortured, 
 and ordered that he should be beheaded with the sword. He 
 was removed at once to an adjacent field, and there on the 
 13th August 258, in the sight of a crowd of spectators, the 
 sentence was carried out.^ 
 
 1 The Christian Church having by this time greatly extended, over 
 countries lying so far apart as Egypt and Britain, Spain and Asia 
 Minor, had recently widened its organization to accord with that 
 extension, and had laid down in the " Apostolic Constitutions " (a 
 work of this period) that " The Bishops of every nation should have 
 regard to the first among them and account him their head, and attempt 
 nothing outside what may concern their own particular dioceses with- 
 out him ; and he should do nothing but by consent of the rest." As 
 this leading Bishop was usually that one who was Bishop of the metro- 
 polis of the province he became styled the Metropolitan. Later on this 
 organization as regards the duties and status of Metropolitans was 
 made more definite (see Chap. XV, p. 509). 
 
 ^ St. Cyprian is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church 
 of England on the 26th September. 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 330 VALERIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 Of the two Bishops of Rome who suffered martyrdom m 
 this persecution under Valerian, Stephen I, who was Bishop 
 of Rome when in 257 the persecution began, is chiefly notable 
 on account of the above attempt by him to adopt an attitude 
 of supremacy in the Church, an attempt which was promptly 
 put down. On the outbreak of the persecution he was at once 
 killed while sitting in his episcopal chair. Sixtus II, who 
 succeeded him, was originally a Greek philosopher at Athens. 
 He became converted to Christianity, and in 257, on the 
 martyrdom of Stephen I, was chosen as then- Bishop by the 
 Church at Rome. Less than a year after becoming Bishop he 
 was seized under the orders of the minister Macrianus, and 
 refusing to sacrifice to the gods of Rome, was beheaded (258). 
 He was the fifth Bishop that the much persecuted Church 
 at Rome had seen martyred in seven years. The deacon 
 Lawrence accompanied him to the place of execution, and was 
 told by him that he himself would not survive many days, 
 which proved to be the case.^ 
 
 Fructuosus, Bishop of Tarragona, who also perished in 
 this persecution, was highly reverenced throughout all that 
 part of Spain, even by those who were Pagans, on account 
 of his noble and merciful character and charitable disposi- 
 tion. On the outbreak of the persecution he was seized 
 while in bed, thrown into prison, and six days later, after 
 being examined by the Proconsul, was burnt alive in the 
 amphitheatre at Tarragona. 
 
 Lawrence, a deacon of the Church at Rome, immediately 
 after the martyrdom of the Bishop, Sixtus II, received an 
 order from Macrianus, the emperor's chief minister, to sur- 
 render to him the valuable treasures which Macrianus had 
 heard that the Church at Rome possessed. Lawrence asked 
 for three days in which to collect them, melted down such 
 gold and silver vessels as were in his charge, gave the money 
 obtained thereby to the poorest of the Christians, and on the 
 third day presented a large body of them to Macrianus 
 as being the true treasures of the Church. Macrianus was 
 
 1 Stephen I and Sixtus H are both buried in the walls of the cata- 
 comb of St. Calixtus, with a marble slab and the word " Martyr " in 
 Greek upon their tombstones, as in the case of their three predecessors, 
 Fabian, Cornelius, and Lucius. 
 
 X] 
 
 NINETEEN USURPERS 
 
 331 
 
 furious, and at once ordered him to be roasted alive on a grid- 
 iron ; which sentence was carried out.^ 
 
 Many others were martyred in Rome through the personal 
 malignity of Macrianus, who in every case put them to death 
 by the most horrible tortures. Among the few of these 
 whose names have survived were, Hippolytus, torn to pieces 
 by wild horses, Demetrius, Sabinus, Ursinus, the actress 
 Pelagia, and the girls Valeria, Vincentia, Crispina, Anatolia, 
 and Victoria.* 
 
 GALLIENUS 
 
 260—268 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 Upon Valerian being carried off a prisoner to Persia his son 
 Gallienus assumed the throne as his representative. But 
 though not without ability, Gallienus was luxurious and 
 indolent, and for a long time neglected public affairs, even 
 though the empire appeared to be breaking up. For while 
 the Franks laid waste a large part of Gaul, and the Goths 
 ravaged Greece, sacking Corinth, Athens, and Sparta, the 
 captivity of the emperor Valerian raised up a host of usurpers, 
 most of them lieutenants of Valerian who disdained to serve 
 under his unworthy son. In the east, Macrianus, Odenathus, 
 Cyriades, and Ballista ; in Illyricum and the Danube provinces, 
 Aureolus, Regillianus, and Ingenuus ; in Gaul, Postumus^ 
 LoUianus, Marius, Tetricus, Victorinus, and his mother Victoria; 
 in Pontus, Satuminus ; in Isauria, Trebellianus ; in Thessaly, 
 Piso ; in Achaia, Valens ; in Egypt, iEmilianus ; and in 
 Africa, Celsus, all set up for the time independent kingdoms. 
 Italy and the Senate adhered to Gallienus, the rest of these 
 rulers being held to be in rebellion. One honourable excep- 
 tion was made in the case of Odenathus of Palmyra, who 
 with his celebrated wife Zenobia established a kingdom which 
 was deservedly acknowledged by GaUienus and the Senate. 
 
 Septimia Zenobia (whose Pabnyrean name was Bath Zabbai), 
 to whom Odenathus owed more than half his success, was the 
 most distinguished woman of her time. Wealthy and of good 
 
 * St. Lawrence is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church 
 of England on the 10th August. 
 
 * All of these are recorded in the Ravenna mosaic (Appendix XII). 
 
332 
 
 GALLIENUS {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CRAB. 
 
 I 
 
 birth, she was as a girl admired by all, not only on account 
 of her unusual beauty, but also for her remarkable character. 
 The writer PoUio describes her dark beauty, commenting on 
 her flashing black eyes and pearly teeth, and her attainments 
 were on a par with her beauty. She spoke four languages, 
 Syriac, Greek, Latin, and Coptic, read Homer and Plato, and 
 caused an epitome of Oriental history to be drawn up for her 
 own use. She was also a great rider, accustomed herseK to 
 endure fatigue, and was fond of taking part in the himting of 
 lions and panthers in the deserts siurounding Palmyra. At 
 length this accomplished girl gave her hand to Odenathus, 
 who from a private station had risen by the year 258, when 
 Valerian marched against Sapor I, to a position of power 
 in Palmyra. Zenobia took part with her husband both in 
 war and in the chase, appearing on horseback in a mihtary 
 uniform, or marching on foot at the head of the troops, and 
 the success of Odenathus was ascribed almost entirely to her 
 prudent advice, courage, and fortitude. Together, after the 
 defeat and captivity of Valerian, they twice gained splendid 
 victories over the Persians, pursuing Sapor to the gates of 
 Ctesiphon itself, and laying siege to that city ; and eventually 
 in 263 they overthrew the kingdom which the traitor Macrianus 
 had set up in Syria, and reconquered all the provinces of the 
 East, imtil they were supreme from Armenia to Arabia. 
 
 The Romans reverenced a ruler who had avenged their 
 captive emperor, and Gallienus and the Senate gladly conferred 
 on Odenathus the title of Augustus, with the position of a 
 colleague of the Roman emperor ; though Odenathus and 
 Zenobia looked upon themselves as independent of Rome's 
 authority. Soon afterwards, in 266, Odenathus was assassinated 
 by his nephew Maeonius, after which Zenobia governed the 
 whole of the East by herself, and increased her dominions by 
 the conquest of Egypt. ^ She made her capital Palmyra (or 
 Tadmor) the most splendid city in the East. Situated mid- 
 way between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, a fertile 
 oasis in the midst of leagues of barren deserts, Palmyra had 
 drawn to itself an immense trade and had gradually grown 
 into a vast and beautiful city, adorned with a profusion of 
 
 1 On becoming mistress of Egypt Zenobia declared that she was a 
 descendant of Cleopatra, but this may be looked upon as a poUtic fiction. 
 
 X] 
 
 ZENOBIA 
 
 333 
 
 temples and palaces whose ruins, extending for miles, still 
 excite the wonder of travellers. The splendour of this city, a 
 centre of commerce and the arts, was brought by Zenobia to 
 its zenith. Palmyra thus reaching its highest pitch of magnifi- 
 cence only six years before its entire destruction. Though 
 Zenobia had given her three sons a Roman education she did 
 not, on her husband's death, allow any one of them to reign, 
 retaining herself the throne and the diadem, with the title of 
 " Empress of the East " {Augusta). Subsequently she associ- 
 ated the name of her eldest son, Wahballath, with her own, 
 but placed her name before his on pubUc inscriptions. She 
 reigned over the whole of the East with the utmost abihty 
 for six years, until attacked by the emperor AureHan.^ 
 
 After Gallienus had been reigning on behalf of his father 
 for two years the Goths, having swept Greece almost bare, 
 advanced in 262 upon Italy. GaUienus was roused by this 
 menace at length to take the field against them. Whereupon 
 the Goths, being divided amongst themselves, submitted 
 without a battle, and agreed to a capitulation, in accordance 
 with which half of them retired to their own country beyond 
 the Danube, and the other half entered the Roman service. 
 Having attained this result GaUienus returned to his luxurious 
 and indolent life in Rome, where he was ready to show his 
 abihty in oratory, poetry, gardening, cooking, and anything 
 except war and government. His empress, Cornelia Salonina, 
 despised his frivolous mode of life, and was replaced in his 
 affections by Pipa, the daughter of Attains, the king of the 
 Marcomanni, to whom GaUienus gave a large part of Pannonia. 
 
 In 268 Aureolus, who had set up a petty kingdom in Rhaetia, 
 was proclaimed emperor by the troops on the upper Danube, 
 and crossing the Alps took Milan. GaUienus, roused from his 
 dream of pleasure, advanced against him, defeated him on the 
 banks of the Po, and drove him to take refuge in MUan, which 
 city GaUienus then besieged. But in the midst of a night 
 alarm of an attack on his camp he was mortaUy wounded 
 by an unknown hand. Before dying he nominated Claudius, 
 then commanding the legions at Pa via, as his successor. MUan 
 was forthwith taken by Claudius, and Aureolus was executed. 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 For the rest of Zenobia's history see pp. 336-337. 
 
334 
 
 CLAUDIUS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 if 
 
 I 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 Gallienus on coming to the throne at once stopped the 
 persecution of the Christians into which his father had been 
 led by the artifices of Macrianus, and rescinded the persecuting 
 edict. He restored the confiscated endowments of the churches, 
 allowed the Bishops to return to their sees, and expressly 
 granted to Christians liberty to practise their religion. Christi- 
 anity thus became for the first time a *'religio licita,'* or 
 tolerated religion. 
 
 CLAUDIUS II 
 
 268 — 270 
 There now followed four capable emperors, who in fourteen 
 years triumphed over the various foes within and without the 
 State, re-established order and discipline, and blotted out 
 the memory of fifteen years of disaster by their victories. 
 
 CLAUDIUS, bom in Illyricum,^ and promoted by 
 Decius to a high command on account of his mihtary talents, 
 was brave, popular, and able, and at once began to reduce to 
 order the confusion of the previous fifteen years. Immedi- 
 ately on becoming emperor he proceeded to restore the 
 army to a state of discipline, pointing out to them the desola- 
 tion of the provinces, the insolent triumph of the barbarians, 
 and the disgrace of the Roman name. And his influence 
 was such that he soon created a different tone in both the 
 army and the government. Before, however, he had been 
 more than a year on the throne he was again called away to 
 meet an enemy in the field. 
 
 In 269 the Goths again appeared in greater numbers than 
 ever. They sailed with an immense fleet into the iEgean 
 Sea, and proceeded to ravage Macedonia. Claudius marched 
 against them, defeated them in a decisive battle at Naissus 
 in the Balkans, in which battle 50,000 of them were slain, and 
 chased the siurvivors into the mountains, where they gradually 
 perished during the winter of famine and pestilence. But 
 the same pestilence was fatal to their conqueror, Claudius 
 dying of it early in 270 at Sirmium. On his deathbed he 
 nominated his most capable general, Aurelian, as his successor. 
 
 ^ The province of Ulyriciun corresponded roughly to the modem 
 countries of Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, and Palmatia. 
 
 X] 
 
 335 
 
 AURELIAN 
 
 270—275 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 AURELIAN, son of a peasant of Illyricum, had risen to 
 be Claudius' most trusted general, and proved one of the ablest 
 emperors Rome ever possessed. He completed what Claudius 
 had begim, drove out the barbarians from the empire, subdued 
 the domestic foes of the State, and restored the prosperity and 
 dignity of the Roman empire. When he began his reign Gaul, 
 Spain, Britain, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor were all still 
 in the hands of usurpers ; when he ended it, after less than 
 five years, he had brought all these countries again imder the 
 Roman dominion, besides driving out of the empire both the 
 Goths and the Allemanni. His success was chiefly due to his 
 unremitting attention to the discipline of the army ; his 
 punishments were terrible, but his uniform success in battle 
 reconciled the troops to his severe discipline. 
 
 He first turned his arms against the Goths, a fresh host of 
 whom had appeared on the death of Claudius. He marched 
 against them and defeated them, and then when they sued 
 for peace arranged, by a measm-e of real statesmanship, a 
 permanent treaty with them, by which, withdrawing the fron- 
 tier of the empke to its original boundary, the Danube, he 
 amicably gave Dacia to be occupied by the Visigoths ; and 
 the latter dwelt there for more than sixty years afterwards 
 in unbroken peace with Rome (270). i 
 
 Aurelian next attacked the Allemanni, who had invaded 
 Rhaetia, crossed the Alps, and penetrated into Italy, laying 
 waste that country as far south as Umbria. In three great 
 battles they were defeated and almost exterminated by 
 Aurelian (270). 
 
 Gaul, Spain, and Britain were at this time ruled nominally 
 by Tetricus, who had succeeded Victoria, but they were in the 
 
 1 Upon Dacia being given by AureUan to the Visigoths the garrisons 
 and Roman inhabitants were transported to the south of the Danube, 
 and two new provinces were carved out of Moesia, between Upper 
 Moesia and Lower Mcesia. These new provinces were called Dardania 
 and Dacia Ripensis. The capital of Dardania was Sardica (Marquardt. 
 Vol. I, 312). ^ 
 
 II 
 
 IH 
 

 III 
 
 !■ i 
 
 CHAP. 
 336 AURELIAN {Matters other ifutrh religion) 
 
 throes of a civil war. Aurelian marched into Gaul, defeated 
 the Franks, subdued Tetricus, and brought back the whole 
 of these provinces to their allegiance to Rome (271). 
 
 Having ended the Gothic war, driven out the Allemanni, 
 and recovered Gaul, Spain, and Britain, Aurelian next directed 
 his attention to the east, and in 272 set out to attack Zenobia, 
 the Empress of the East. Zenobia was not the sort of princess 
 to tamely await such an attack in her capital, and her army, 
 commanded by herself in person, met that of Aurelian at 
 Antioch, where a great battle took place in which Zenobia was 
 defeated. She collected a second army, and, again command- 
 ing in person, fought Aurelian a second time in a fiercely con- 
 tested battle at Emesa, where she was again defeated. Zenobia 
 then endeavoured to collect a third army, but finding it im- 
 possible, retired within the walls of Palmyra and prepared for 
 a vigorous defence of the city. Aurelian besieged Palmyra, 
 but for a long time was unable to take it, until at length the 
 city began to suffer from famine. Zenobia had hopes of help 
 from Sapor I, but he died just at this time. Findmg this 
 hope cut off, and famine making the defence of the city no 
 longer possible, Zenobia mounted the fleetest of her riding 
 camels and fled towards Persia ; after a sixty-mile ride from 
 Palmyra she had reached the Euphrates, and in a few moments 
 more would have been in safety, when she was overtaken by 
 a body of Aurelian's cavahry, by whom she was seized and 
 brought back a captive. Thereupon Palmyra surrendered. 
 
 Aurelian treated Zenobia with much respect, granted lenient 
 terms to the city, placed in it a Roman garrison, and set out 
 for Rome, taking Zenobia with him as a prisoner to grace his 
 triumph. He had akeady reached the Hellespont when he 
 received news that Palmyra had revolted and massacred the 
 Roman garrison. He at once turned back, and on reaching 
 Palmyra massacred the whole of its inhabitants, and entirely 
 destroyed this renowned capital of Zenobia's empire. Palmyra, 
 suffering no gradual decay, fell at one step from the zenith of 
 its splendour to a ruin (273). 
 
 Zenobia was conveyed to Rome, where in 274 Aurelian 
 celebrated the most magnificent triumph which Rome had 
 ever seen. Tetricus, the ruler of the west, and Zenobia, the 
 queen of the east, preceded Aurelian's triumphal car, which 
 
 MURDER OF AURELIAN 
 
 337 
 
 was drawn by four elephants and followed by a long train of 
 captive Goths, Vandals, Sarmatians, Allemanni, Franks, 
 Alans, Syrians, and Egyptians in a procession which took the 
 whole day to reach the Capitol. Aurelian, however, treated 
 both Tetricus and Zenobia well, and presented the latter 
 with a villa at Tivoli, where she resided for the remainder of 
 her life ; her daughters married into noble Roman families, 
 and her descendants continued to survive in Rome till the 
 6th century. 
 
 Disdaining to hold his power, in an empire which he had 
 saved by his military ability, by any other title than that of 
 the sword, Aurelian was detested by the Senate, and in the 
 end of the year 274 a formidable conspiracy was formed by 
 them against him. Its suppression cost him the lives of 7000 
 of his best soldiers, and exasperated by the ingratitude with 
 wliich the Romans had thus rewarded his great services to the 
 State he put to death a large number of the members of the 
 Senate and of the noblest families in Rome. Having subdued 
 this conspiracy Aurelian, early in 275, left Rome for the east 
 to attack the Persians. But on his way thither he was assas- 
 sinated near Byzantium by the principal officers of his army, 
 owing to a forgery executed by his secretary, Menestheus, 
 whom he had threatened with punishment, and who by this 
 means caused these officers to believe that they had been con- 
 demned to death. Believing the traitor, they attacked the 
 emperor, who fell by the hand of Mucapor, a general he had 
 always loved and trusted (March, 275). 
 
 This tragic death of Aurelian had a remarkable result. The 
 forgery was discovered a few hours afterwards ; whereupon 
 Menestheus was slain, and the army, being determined that 
 none of those concerned in the death of their admired and 
 deeply lamented emperor should reign over them, requested 
 the Senate to elect an emperor. The Senate declined, and 
 passed a decree that the election should rest with the army. 
 The legions, however, persisted in their refusal ; the offer was 
 pressed and rejected at least three times ; and it was not imtil 
 six months had elapsed that the Senate at length gave way 
 and elected one of themselves, Tacitus, who was seventy-five 
 years old, to be emperor. 
 Aurelian's chief work in Rome was to encircle the city 
 
 E.W, jg 
 
CHAP. 
 
 3^8 
 
 AURELIAN {MaUera concerning religion) 
 
 X] 
 
 il 
 
 with its present line of walls. The incursion of the Allemanni 
 so far to the south as Umbria showed him the necessity of 
 fortifying the capital, to protect it while the Roman armies 
 might be occupied at a distance. Aurelian's wall, begun by 
 him in 271 and completed by Probus in 280, was 12 miles 
 in circuit, with fourteen gates ; in some parts it is 60 feet 
 high on the outside and 40 feet high on the inside ; the greater 
 part of it still remains. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 Gallienus had in 260 stopped the persecution of Christians, 
 restored the endowments of the churches, and granted to the 
 Christians Hberty to practise their reUgion. This gave them a 
 ten years' rest from persecution. But Aurelian, in gratitude 
 for his success in war, which he attributed to the favour of the 
 gods of Rome, reversed this poUcy, and again pubUshed an 
 edict ordering the destruction of Christians ; thus inaugurating 
 the Eighth persecution (270-275). Persecuted on many 
 occasions in consequence of the defeat of Rome's arms, they 
 were now persecuted in consequence of her victories. 
 
 Of the number who suffered in this Eighth persecution we 
 have agam no record left. Great numbers were martyred in the 
 various cities of the empire, but all records of their names were 
 of set purpose destroyed by the authorities in the subsequent 
 persecution under Diocletian. Besides many whose tomb- 
 stones are to be seen in the Catacombs, ^ the following also 
 suffered at Rome in this Eighth persecution : — 
 Valentine, a priest, martyred at Rome in 270.^ 
 Prisca, a young girl of a noble Roman family, martyred at 
 Rome in 270. After being exposed to wild beasts 
 in the Colosseum and suffering other tortures she was 
 beheaded outside the Ostian gate.' 
 
 1 See p. 363. 
 
 * Valentine is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church 
 
 of England on the 14th February. 
 
 ■ Prisca is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church of 
 England on the 18th January. Great honour was paid in England 
 in ancient times to her memory. 
 
 339 
 
 TACITUS 
 
 275—276 
 
 TACITUS 1 on his election being confirmed proceeded to 
 join the army in Thrace, and thence marched against the 
 Alans, who were ravaging Pontus, Cappadocia, QHcia, and 
 Galatia. He was completely successful and deUvered the 
 Asiatic provinces from this invasion ; but the hardships of 
 campaigning were too much for a man of his age accustomed to 
 an easy life at Rome, and after a reign of only six months he 
 expired at Tyana in Cappadocia (April, 276). Thereupon his 
 brother Florianus attempted to seize the throne. But Probus 
 commanding in the east, marched against him ; whereupon 
 Flonanus was put to death by his own troops and Probus was 
 declared emperor by the legions, the choice made by the 
 army being joyfully ratified by the Senate. 
 
 PROBUS 
 
 276 — 282 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 PROBUS, born in 232 at Sirmium, in Pannonia, entered 
 the army at a very early age, and owing to his unusual ability 
 was agamst all rules, promoted by Valerian to be a tribune 
 while still almost a boy. He was forty-four when he became 
 emperor, and had served with distinction under Claudius and 
 Aurehan m all parts of the empu-e. 
 
 Probus was another of the severe school of military com- 
 manders estabHshed by Claudius and Aurelian. As emperor 
 he had a difficult task, for on the death of Aurelian enemies 
 had re-ansen on every side. But Probus, in a short reign of 
 six years, vanquished them one after another, and restored 
 peace and order to every province of the empire. He drove 
 the AUemanni out of Rhaetia, compeUed the Sarmatians to 
 submit and relinquish their prisoners and booty, attacked and 
 brought mto subjection the Isaurians, and put down with 
 vigour a formidable rebeUion in Egypt. But his most arduous 
 task was m Gaul, which province on the death of Aurelian had 
 1 He claimed descent from the celebrated historian. 
 
 hi 
 
CHAP. 
 
 340 
 
 P R B U S {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 X] 
 
 NINTH I^ERSECUTION 
 
 341 
 
 i 
 
 again been ravaged by the Franks and AUemanni. There 
 Probus recovered a large number of cities which were oppressed 
 by them, drove the invaders out of Gaul, and crossing the 
 Rhine carried his victorious arms as far as the Elbe, until the 
 German tribes, overawed by his name, sued for peace and re- 
 linquished all the captives and plunder which they had car- 
 ried off from Gaul. He then reconstructed the great " Limes " 
 between the Rhine and the Danube, building a stone waU 
 instead of an earth rampart, and strengthening it with stone 
 forts. He also carried out important measures of colonization, 
 planting 100,000 Bastamae in Thrace, a body of Franks on 
 the Danube, and a body of Vandals in Britain. 
 
 Probus, though less cruel in his methods, was as rigid a dis- 
 ciphnarian as AureUan, and it was one of his principles never 
 to permit the troops to be idle ; in pursuance of this poUcy 
 he kept them when not engaged in war constantly employed in 
 erecting bridges, improving the navigation of the Nile, planting 
 vineyards, and executing many other useful works. But Probus 
 was apt to exact such labours too harshly, and as on a very hot 
 summer's day he was severely urging on the distasteful labour 
 of draining the marshes of Sirmiimi, the troops suddenly broke 
 into open mutiny and kiUed him, though they immediately 
 afterwards repented of their violence (Aug. 282). Thereupon 
 they elected Cams, the Prefect of the Praetorian Guards, as 
 his successor. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 The persecution of Christians had by this time become 
 more or less chronic. But it was pursued intermittently, 
 and had died away during the six months' interregnum after 
 the death of Aurelian and during the reign of Tacitus. Probus, 
 however, revived the persecution, and it was carried on with 
 still greater rigour under his two successors, the cruel Cams 
 and his still more cruel son Carinus, this being known as the 
 Ninth persecution (278-285). 
 
 While the specially cruel and severe character of this 
 Ninth persecution has been recorded, all records of the 
 names of those martyred in it have, with very few exceptions, 
 perished, being purposely destroyed by the authorities in the 
 subsequent persecution under Diocletian. It was at this 
 
 time of chronic persecution during the reigns of Aurelian, 
 Probus, Carus, and Carinus in the years 270-285 that the 
 Christians at Rome made special use, to a much greater degree 
 than hitherto, of the Catacombs as hiding places, all who were 
 able to absent themselves from their ordinary avocations 
 taking refuge there. And many of the brief pathetic notices 
 of death as martyrs inscribed upon the tombs in the Catacombs 
 relate to this time. Besides those recorded in this manner 
 the following suffered martyrdom in this Ninth persecution : — 
 St. Cecilia, Valerian, and Tiburtius, martjrred at Rome in 
 280 (under Probus). 
 
 St. Alban, martyred at Verulam in Britain in 283 (under 
 Carinus). 
 
 St. Eutychianus, martyred at Rome in 283 (under Carinus). 
 
 St. Christina, martyred at Bolsena, near Rome, in 283 
 (under Carinus). 
 
 Cecilia belonged to the noble family of the Csecilii, de- 
 scended from Caecilia Tanaquil, the wife of King Tarquin. 
 Many of her ancestors were celebrated generals in the time 
 of the Republic. Her parents were Pagans, but Cecilia became 
 a Christian when quite a child. At length she was betrothed 
 to a rich young noble. Valerian. She soon converted her 
 betrothed, and also his brother Tiburtius. Their works of 
 mercy towards Christian families suffering under persecution 
 caused them to be all three arrested and tortured, but the 
 manner in which they bore their sufferings induced several 
 officers under the Prefect to become Christians. They were 
 then all three led out along the Appian way to a spot 
 beyond the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and there Valerian and 
 Tiburtius were killed, but the Prefect feeling a reverence for 
 Cecilia would not order her to be pubhcly executed, and 
 directed that she should die by suffocation in the calidarium 
 of the small private bath of her house. This method, however, 
 after being tried for a day and a night failed to cause her 
 death. Thereupon an executioner was ordered to behead her ; 
 he smote her neck three times with his sword, but only wounded 
 her neck ; more than three strokes were not lawful, so, still 
 breathing, she was left to die. She lingered for three days in 
 great pain and then died. Her body was buried by Christian 
 friends in the catacomb of St. CaHxtus on the Appian way, 
 
CHAP. 
 
 342 
 
 CARUS 
 
 beside those of her betrothed and his brother. A church was 
 afterwards built on the site of her house in Rome, which church 
 still exists, together with the bath in which the attempt was 
 made to suffocate her and in which she was eventually killed. ^ 
 Her tombstone is still to be seen in the catacomb of St. 
 Calixtus, but in the 9th century her remains were removed 
 thence to this church, where they lie under the high altar, 
 beneath a much admired marble statue representing her, 
 with wounded neck, lying dead. 
 
 Alban was a young Roman officer, bom in Britain and edu- 
 cated at Rome, who sheltered a Christian priest from his 
 pursuers, and was by him converted and baptized ; he then 
 helped the priest to escape. Alban was seized, confessed him- 
 self to be a Christian, and was beheaded. His is the first 
 recorded martyrdom in Britain.^ St. Alban was afterwards 
 adopted as the patron saint of England, and remained so 
 untU, in 1190, at the time of the Third Crusade, King Richard I 
 caused St. George to be adopted. 
 
 Eutychianus was Bishop of Rome from 276 to 283. He 
 remained unmolested, possibly in hiding in the Catacombs, 
 during the reign of Probus and the short reign of Cams, but 
 was martyred by the latter's son Carinus. His tomb, with its 
 inscription in Greek, is to be seen in the catacomb of St. Calix- 
 tus at Rome. 
 
 Christina was the .daughter of the govemor of Bolsena. She 
 was tortured by her father on his discovering that she was a 
 Christian, and was eventually martyred at Bolsena in 283. 
 
 CARUS 
 
 282 — 283 
 
 CARUS was sixty years old when on the death of Probus he 
 was elected emperor. Trained in the severe school of discipline 
 and austerity which obtained in the armies of Aurelian and 
 Probus, he was an able general, but in him austerity often 
 degenerated into the utmost cmelty. On being elected by 
 
 * St. CecUia is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church of 
 England on the 22nd November. 
 
 * St. Alban is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church of 
 England on the 17th June. 
 
 X] 
 
 CARUS KILLED BY LIGHTNING 
 
 343 
 
 the army he made no pretence of requesting the approval of 
 the Senate, but merely sent a letter coldly announcing to 
 them that he had ascended the throne. He forthwith invested 
 his two sons, Carinus and Numerian, with the rank of Caesar, 
 sent Carinus to govern the western provinces, and taking 
 Numerian with him set out to attack the Persians. 
 
 Varanes II (Bahram II), king of Persia,^ not being anxious 
 for a war with Rome, thereupon sent his ambassadors with 
 overtures to the emperor, but without success. On this 
 occasion an incident is related which shows both the severe 
 simplicity which Claudius II and his successors had restored 
 in the Roman army, and also the character of Cams. The 
 Persian ambassadors, asking on their arrival for the emperor, 
 were conducted to a soldier seated on the grass eating his 
 supper, which only consisted of a piece of stale bacon and some 
 hard peas. A coarse woollen garment, purple in colour, which 
 he wore was the only sign that this was the emperor. Upon 
 the ambassadors delivering their message Cams, taking the 
 cap from his bald head, informed them that imless their 
 master acknowledged the supremacy of Rome he would 
 make Persia as bare of trees as his head was of hair. 
 
 Having thus declined the overtures for peace. Cams crossed 
 the Euphrates, ravaged Mesopotamia, took Seleucia, crossed 
 the Tigris, captured the Persian capital, Ctesiphon, and con- 
 tinued to drive the Persians before him. But in the midst 
 of his victories he was during a storm struck dead by light- 
 ning, after reigning a little more than a year (Dec. 283). 
 
 CARINUS AND NUMERIAN 
 
 284 — 285 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 Upon the death of Cams his two sons Carinus and Numerian 
 were acknowledged as joint emperors. Carinus, cruel and 
 dissolute, hastened to Rome, where he gave himself up to the 
 vices and follies of an Elagabalus accompanied by the cruelties 
 of a Domitian. Numerian, virtuous and beloved, but in feeble 
 
 ^ For Persian kings from 226 to 380, see Note E, p. 590. 
 
344 
 
 CARINUS AND NUMERIAN 
 
 CHAP. X] 
 
 health, acceded to the demands of the army for retirement 
 from Persia, the troops being overcome with superstitious 
 dread at the manner of the death of Cams. Retreating from 
 the Tigris by very slow marches the army took eight months 
 to reach the Bosphorus, and shortly after its arrival there 
 Numerian was found dead in his tent, his death having been 
 concealed for several days by Arrius Aper, the Prefect of 
 the Praetorian Guards (Sept. 284). Aper was arrested under 
 suspicion of being his murderer by the generals of the army, 
 who then formed themselves into a tribunal, chose Diocletian, 
 the commander of the guards of the palace, as the person most 
 capable of avenging their beloved emperor, and summoned 
 Aper before them. Diocletian ascended the tribunal, made a 
 solemn affirmation of his own innocence of the murder, and 
 then suddenly declared Aper to be the murderer of Numerian, 
 and plunged his sword into his breast, giving him no time to 
 assert anything in his defence. Whereupon the legions 
 acclaimed Diocletian as emperor. A civil war ensued. Carinus 
 marched against Diocletian, the two armies meeting at Mar- 
 gus, in Moesia. The army of Diocletian was on the point of 
 being overpowered when a tribune, to avenge the honour of his 
 wife, killed Carinus, which terminated the struggle, and Dio- 
 cletian was accepted by both sides as emperor (March, 285). 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 Notwithstanding all the terrible stress of persecution which 
 the Church was at this time enduring it continued to extend 
 its area, and now advanced into a country not subject to the 
 Romans. The Roman Empire, when thirty years after this 
 time it adopted Christianity, was not the first of the kingdoms 
 of the world to accept Christianity as its national religion. 
 That honour belongs to the small kingdom of Armenia, into 
 which Christianity shortly before this time had spread, and 
 which about the year 284 adopted it as its national religion, 
 becoming the first Christian kingdom, 400 Bishops being 
 consecrated, and churches being built in all the towns. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 DIOCLETIAN 
 
 285 — 305 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 DIOCLETIAN 1 was bom at Salona, on the coast of 
 Dalmatia, in Illyricum. One of the most distinguished 
 emperors, he was one of the humblest in origin ; for both 
 his parents were lUyrian slaves in the house of a Roman sena- 
 tor. As a youth (with the name of Docles) he became a 
 soldier, and by his talents gradually rose, serving with dis- 
 tinction under the emperors Aurelian, Probus, and Carus, 
 until at length (having changed his name first to Diodes and 
 then to the more majestic Diocletianus), he became in turn 
 governor of Moesia, consul, and lastly commander of the 
 guards of the palace. He was only thirty-eight when on the 
 death of Carinus he was unanimously elected emperor. In 
 character and abilities he was wise and artful, rather than 
 brilliant. Untiring in pursuit of his ends, possessing great 
 application in business, hiding his real aims with profound 
 dissimulation under an appearance of military frankness, 
 cloaking self-interest under specious pretences of justice and 
 the public welfare, an adept at mingling severity with mildness 
 and economy with liberality, he easily dominated all the men 
 around him. He was essentially a statesman rather than a 
 soldier, always preferring to gain his objects by diplomacy, 
 rather than by the open display of force, and, working slowly 
 and artfuUy, never failed in the end to achieve his purpose. 
 Diocletian made a sweeping change in the scheme of adminis- 
 tration of the empire. Being of opinion that the task of de- 
 fending and administering so vast an empire had now grown 
 too great for one man, and also that security required that the 
 ^ Plate LIII. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 345 
 
If 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 CHAP. 
 346 DIOCLETIAN {Matters other than religion) 
 
 seat of authority should be closer to the frontiers of the empire, 
 he in 286 (little more than a year after becoming emperor) 
 associated with himself Maximian, giving him the same title 
 of AugustitSy with a position equal to his own, and deUvering 
 to his charge more particularly the western portion of the 
 empire while he himself took the eastern portion. His choice 
 of a colleague was typical of Diocletian's character and methods. 
 Maximian, by birth a peasant of Sirmium, who, in a much 
 longer course of service than Diocletian, had gradually risen 
 in the army, unable to read, careless of laws, rustic in manners, 
 and knowing no art but war, but brave, steadfast, and always 
 ready to undertake the most arduous enterprises, was exactly 
 fitted to execute any severe measures which Diocletian desired 
 to carry out, and yet to disclaim. Insensible to pity, Maxi- 
 mian was the ready instrument of every act of cruelty or 
 massacre which Diocletian might suggest ; while after it 
 was over the latter would appear in the role of mediator, 
 would gently censure his colleague's severity, and obtain 
 credit for a mildness which contrasted favourably with Maxi- 
 mian's cruelty. Maximian, rude and unlettered himself, 
 had a profound respect for Diocletian's ability, and the two 
 emperors maintained a firm friendship, in which Diocletian 
 was the brain and Maximian the arm of the imperial power. 
 In 292, after seven years during which both emperors were 
 arduously engaged in contests with usurpers and barbarians 
 in various directions, all of whom (with one exception in the 
 case of Britain) ^ they subdued, Diocletian carried this sub- 
 division of the imperial power still further, by giving to each 
 of the Augusti a lieutenant with the title of Caesar. For 
 his own lieutenant he chose Galerius, a brutal and illiterate 
 shepherd of Dacia who had risen in the army, and who was 
 in attainments, manners, and character another Maximian. 
 Diocletian made Galerius divorce his wife, and gave him his 
 own daughter Valeria in marriage. For Maximian's lieutenant 
 Diocletian selected Constantius, commonly known as Con- 
 stantius Chlorus (the sallow), from his pale complexion, who 
 in like manner was made to divorce his wife Helena and marry 
 Maximian's step-daughter Theodosia. Whereas Diocletian, 
 Maximian, and Galerius were all of the humblest extraction, 
 
 1 See below, p. 348. 
 

 PLATE LI II. 
 
 Diocletian. 
 
 Portraii-lust in the fahifnl ji.ust^uui R.,u)r 
 
 liiKUGi. 
 
 fciK-iUij^^ 
 
n \i I I III. 
 
 Di 
 
 l'.i<;: ".I. 
 
 ')( I.I-; I IAN, 
 
 /' 'ifhi/:-' ii^t in tlu: ( iifvf"! 
 
 11 ;i ^i'ltiii, !' 
 
 V HI 
 
H] 
 
 SUBDIVISION OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 347 
 
 and in the case of the two latter by no means fitted for their 
 exalted position, Constantius on the other hand was a thor- 
 oughly worthy selection, both by birth, attainments, and 
 character. His father Eutropius was an important noble of 
 Dardania, and his mother Claudia was a niece ^ of the emperor 
 Claudius II, and Constantius had distinguished himself by 
 his able and temperate rule over Dardania. Constantius 
 Chlorus has been a good deal overshadowed by his celebrated 
 son, Constantine. In high-minded character, justice, and 
 tolerant disposition he surpassed all his contemporaries. 
 
 By the above arrangement the power and responsibilities 
 of empire were satisfactorily subdivided. While nominally 
 the distribution of the government was into two portions 
 under Diocletian and Maximian, each with a Caesar under 
 him, practically the subdivision was into four portions, with 
 a general supervision by Diocletian over his three colleagues, 
 who all acknowledged him as supreme. The four portions 
 were : — 
 
 (i) Gaul, Britain, Spain and Mauretania,^ ruled by Con- 
 stantius, with capital at Tr^jves. 
 (ii) Italy, Rha^tia, Noricum, and North Africa, ruled by 
 
 Maximian, with capital at Milan. 
 (iii) Pannonia, Moesia, lUyricum, Thrace, Macedonia, and 
 Greece, ruled by Galerius, with capital at Sirmium, 
 on the Save, not far from its junction with the Danube, 
 (iv) Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, ruled by 
 Diocletian himself, with capital at Nicomedia, on the 
 eastern shore of the Bosphorus. 
 Thus, combined with a subdivision of the work of adminis- 
 tration, there was a general advance of the ruling power nearer 
 to the frontier in each portion of the empire. The two chief 
 capitals, Milan and Nicomedia, were made by Diocletian 
 splendid and prosperous cities, and soon surpassed all others 
 in the empire except Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. 
 
 The first task of Constantius Chlorus, ruling the western 
 quarter of the empire, was to recover Britain. The defence 
 of the coasts on both sides of the British Channel had in 286 
 
 1 Daughter of Crispus, the elder brother of Claudius II. 
 • Later on Mauretania became part of the province of North Africa, 
 for the different sections of which see Vol. II, p. 213. 
 
 ^i 
 
348 DIOCLETIAN- {Matters other than religion) 
 
 CRAB 
 
 XI] 
 
 THE EMPEROR SQLE AUTHORITY 
 
 349 
 
 been assigned by Maximian to Carausius, a Belgian. But 
 in 287 Carausius liad rebelled, with the assistance of the 
 Saxons and other pirates had seized Britain, and after holding 
 that country for six years had been succeeded by another 
 usurper, Allectus. In 296 Constantius crossed the Channel 
 with a considerable force, defeated and slew Allectus, and 
 regained Britain. 
 
 In 297 both Maximian and Diocletian were engaged in 
 active operations south of the Mediterranean. Maximian 
 vanquished the Moorish tribes who had invaded the province 
 of North Africa ; and Diocletian defeated the rebellious races 
 who had gained possession of Egypt, took Alexandria after a 
 siege of eight months, massacring a large number of the in- 
 habitants, and subdued Egypt. Diocletian then proceeded 
 against Narses,i the Persian monarch, summoning Galerius 
 to his assistance. But in a severe battle in Mesopotamia 
 Galerius was totally defeated, and on his return to Antioch, 
 where Diocletian had established himself, was received by 
 the latter with the utmost indignation, Diocletian making 
 Galerius follow his chariot on foot for a mile before the whole 
 court as a sign of his disgrace. 
 
 However in 298 Galerius, being again sent against Narses, 
 achieved a complete and decisive victory, surprising the 
 Persians in the night, and massacring almost their whole 
 army. Narses was himself wounded and escaped with diffi- 
 culty, while several of his wives, his sisters, and children were 
 taken prisoners. This defeat so broke the spirit of Narses that 
 he sued for peace, and agreed to resign a large part of his 
 dominions. Mesopotamia, together with five Persian districts 
 beyond the Tigris, as far to the east as the mountainous dis- 
 trict of Carduene, were ceded to the Roman Empire ; Armenia 
 was again made subject to Rome, its throne being restored to 
 Tiridates, who had been Rome's faithful ally ; and similarly 
 the nomination of the kings of Iberia was also resigned by 
 the Persian monarch to the emperors of Rome. The peace 
 thus concluded gave tranquillity to the east for forty years. 
 
 The subdivision of the imperial power carried out by Dio- 
 cletian much strengthened the empire. Under it the restora- 
 tion effected by Claudius II, Aurehan, Tacitus, and Probus 
 
 * See Note E, p. 690. 
 
 was carried still further, the barbarian races were everywhere 
 driven out, and the Roman Empire was restored to a pitch of 
 prosperity and power not only equal to, but considered by 
 historians generally to have even surpassed that which it 
 had possessed under Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and 
 Marcus Aureliu^. 
 
 But a still more important change was made by Diocletian 
 in the position of the emperor with regard to the Senate. 
 From this time forth the emperor becomes an autocrat, not 
 merely in practice, but in theory. Hitherto, though the 
 emperors might dictate what laws should be passed, those 
 laws were enacted by the Senate ; from henceforth they are 
 made by the emperor alone, and he becomes the sole legal 
 authority. Hitherto the emperors, though in the provinces 
 adopting the role of monarchs, in Rome were accustomed to 
 assume more or less the language and behaviour of the chief 
 officer of the State. Diocletian, proceeding gradually and 
 with much artffice, swept all this away. The titles of consul, 
 censor, and tribune, having republican associations, were 
 dropped, and those of " Dominus " (lord), " Basileus " (king), 
 and "Imperator" (emperor) were assumed by Diocletian 
 in their stead. Together with these titles Diocletian adopted 
 the wearing of the diadem on the head,i an ornament which 
 had always been detested by the Romans as being the insignia 
 of royalty ; he wore silken robes of the imperial purple colour ; 
 and instead of the familiar intercourse with fellow Romans 
 which had been the custom of former emperors, he introduced 
 numerous forms and ceremonies to surround with awe the 
 sacred majesty of the emperor. Finally Diocletian's artful 
 policy towards the Senate was completed by the permanent 
 removal of the court from Rome. As long as the emperor 
 had his official residence in Rome, and resided there when not 
 occupied in the field, the Senate could scarcely be entirely 
 ignored. But Diocletian never even visited Rome until he 
 had been eighteen years on the throne, and by establishing 
 his capital at Nicomedia gave the Senate its most vital wound. 
 The emperor consulted with his ministers, and no longer with 
 the Senate. The name of the Senate of Rome was still men- 
 
 1 The imperial diadem was a plain broad gold fillet set with pearls, 
 or other jewels ; see Plate LV. 
 
 fil 
 
 ! 
 
 1. 1 
 
 r; : 
 
 •» ( 
 
 ^^! 
 
CHAP. 
 360 DIOCLETIAN {MaUers other than religion) 
 
 tioned with honour, and its members were flattered with 
 honorary distinctions, but the assembly was suffered to sink 
 into oblivion, and losing all connection with the imperial 
 court and the actual constitution, became only a useless 
 monument of antiquity. 
 
 The change which Diocletian had made in subdividing the 
 imperial power not only strengthened the empire and improved 
 its administration but also strengthened the throne against 
 the machinations of would-be usurpers. His system of two 
 Augusti, with two Caesars who in their turn should rise to the 
 higher rank, was intended not only to subdivide work grown 
 too great for one man, but also to protect the empire from 
 those disastrous contests for the throne which it had so fre- 
 quently experienced ; for it would be an almost impossible 
 task, either for an aspiring general to vanquish in succession 
 four emperors, or for any one of the four to overcome in suc- 
 cession the other three, and the small hope of success in such 
 enterprises would prevent their being undertaken. The 
 armies were controlled by the four emperors, who were 
 supposed to assist each other if required ; while the imperial 
 edicts were inscribed with their joint names, and were accepted 
 in all the provinces as promulgated by their mutual counsels, 
 and as representing the undivided authority of the throne. 
 
 One disadvantage (among many advantages) Diocletian's 
 system had ; and it is one which has often, somewhat 
 thoughtlessly, been held sufficient to condemn it. It increased 
 considerably the cost of the administration, both by the 
 establishment of four imperial courts instead of one, and by the 
 multiplication of many of the expenses of government. From 
 this time forward we find constant complaints among the 
 Roman writers of the increasing burden of taxation, which 
 increased taxation was undoubtedly mainly due to the aug- 
 mented expenses of the altered form of government. But it 
 has failed to be recognized that the advantages which the 
 inhabitants of the empire reaped in greatly increased pros- 
 perity, and in immunity from the atrocities, outrages, and 
 devastation of their property by barbarian invaders which 
 had previously been so frequent, were cheaply purchased by 
 this heavier taxation, which after all was light compared with 
 that which the people of the same countries now have to bear. 
 
 xi] 
 
 DIOCLETIAN'S ABDICATION 
 
 351 
 
 Nor can four courts be considered excessive for an extent of 
 empire so immense, one in which at the present day three 
 times that number have to be maintained. 
 
 Early in 303, having in eighteen years cleared the Roman 
 dominions of their various enemies, entirely changed the 
 form of government, and brought the empire to a condition of 
 peace and prosperity greater than any which it had ever 
 enjoyed, Diocletian came to Rome, meeting Maximian there, 
 and together they celebrated a magnificent Roman triumph 
 for their victories over so many enemies. It surpassed in 
 grandeur even that of Aurehan ; Britain, Africa, the Rhine, 
 the Danube, the Nile, and Persia all contributed their trophies 
 to the splendour of this triumph. It is notable as being the 
 last Roman triumph ever celebrated by a Roman emperor, i 
 
 Immediately after this triumph Diocletian returned to 
 Nicomedia, and there, instigated chiefly by his barbarous 
 son-in-law Galerius, he pubHshed his edict inaugurating that 
 long and severe persecution of Christianity 2 which, through 
 the issues it involved and its very unexpected conclusion, has 
 become the best known act of his reign, obscuring and casting 
 into the background those great measures of reform in the 
 government which were carried out by him, though at the 
 time they seemed all-important and this other matter of 
 scarcely any importance at all. 
 
 In 304 Diocletian appears to have again visited Rome, 
 remaining there for some months. But in 305, after reigning 
 for twenty years, and while the persecution which he had 
 inaugurated was still deluging the empire with the blood of 
 another war than one against the barbarian enemies of Rome, 
 Diocletian, who had done so many things which had never 
 been done before, added yet one more by abdicating the 
 throne. He was still only fifty-eight years old, but he was 
 tired of the cares of royalty, and anxious to pass the remainder 
 of his days in honourable repose. The ceremony of his abdica- 
 tion took place on the 1st May, 305, in a great plain three 
 miles from Nicomedia, and was very impressive. The em- 
 peror, in the presence of the whole court, the troops, and a 
 
 1 For the meaningless pageant carried out by the feeble Honorius 
 in 404 was a mere imitation (Vol. II, Chap. XVII, p. 31). 
 * Pages 354-364. 
 
 I 
 
362 DIOCLETIAN {MaUera other than religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XI] 
 
 vast concourse of the people, ascended a lofty throne wear- 
 ing the diadem and clad in his imperial robes, delivered a 
 sensible and dignified address to the assembled multitude, 
 and then divested himself of the imperial insignia, entered a 
 private chariot, and at once set out on his journey to Salona 
 in Dalmatia, which he had chosen as his place of retirement. 
 He did not take his wife Prisca with him, and she remained 
 at Nicomedia with her daughter, the empress Valeria. On 
 the same day at Milan Maximian, from whom Diocletian had 
 exacted a promise when they were together at Rome two 
 years before that he would descend from the throne whenever 
 Diocletian did, very reluctantly made a similar resignation, 
 retiring to his villa in Lucania, in southern Italy. 
 
 Their places as Augusti were taken by Galerius and Con- 
 stantius, Galerius striving to obtain for himself, as son-in-law 
 to Diocletian, an acknowledgement that he was to be superior 
 to Constantius, in which attempt he failed. He succeeded 
 however in getting his own ignorant and barbarous nephew 
 Daza (afterwards called Maximin), and his incapable relative 
 Severus, appointed by Diocletian as the two new Caesars, 
 to the exclusion of Constantine, the capable and popular son 
 of Constantius, whose practical right it was to succeed his 
 father, but of whose popularity and attainments Galerius was 
 bitterly jealous. 
 
 Diocletian's reign was in every way an epoch-making one ; 
 being notable for the end of the legal power of the Senate, 
 for the last Roman triumph, for the last persecution of Christi- 
 anity, for Rome ceasing to be the capital of the empire, for 
 the subdivision of the imperial power, and for the first example 
 of an emperor's abdication. 
 
 Diocletian passed the remaining eight years of his life as 
 a private individual, content with his retreat, and occupied in 
 building his great palace near Salona, tree-planting, and garden- 
 ing. When, a few years after his abdication, his restless col- 
 league Maximian tried to induce him to resume the throne 
 Diocletian rejected the request with a smile of pity, and re- 
 plied that if he could show to Maximian the cabbages which 
 he had planted with his own hands at Salona the latter would 
 not be inclined to urge him to abandon the substance of 
 happiness for its shadow. 
 
 PALACE OF SPALATRO 
 
 353 
 
 IHocletian's chief buildings were his immense set of pubUo 
 Baths at Rome and his magnificent palace at Spalatro, four 
 miles from Salona. The Baths of Diocletian were begiLi by 
 \ma durmg his visit to Rome in 303, and completed hi 306 
 As many as 40,000 condemned Christians are said to have 
 been made to assist in this work before being martyred Thev 
 were the most extensive set of Baths in Rome, being half as 
 large agam as the Baths of CaracaUa, and covering nearly 100 
 acres. Amidst their ruins the large modern railway terminus 
 of Rome is swaUowed up as quite a small concern, and whole 
 terraces o modern houses cover other parts of the site. One 
 of the halls has been converted into the fine church of St 
 Mana degh AngeH, and the extensive National Museum of 
 Antiquities occupies another large portion of the ruins 
 
 u ,^^V^^^^^« built at different times during *1200 
 years by the Roman emperors one only still exists, that built 
 dunng the years 303-310 by Diocletian at SpaWo. It was 
 of great size, and had some important architectural features 
 especiaUy m its striking sea-front, which is still in exceUent 
 preservation. The modern town of Spalato now occuS 
 this palace^ Including the towers at the four comerThe 
 eastern and western sides are 235 yards long, the northern 
 
 "three 7 'f'',^t\''' '''^' ^^^^- ^--^-^« - etg 
 m the centre divided the palace mto four equal parts, the 
 
 SedTv it. n' ^'^f ^'^ apartments being a lofty gate still 
 called by its ongmal name of the Golden Gate. In the 7th 
 centuiy when the Avars made one of their many incursionB 
 
 pletely destroyed by them ; but the empty palace of Diocle- 
 anH iT ^^^\ J^*^^^' ^ff^^d^d an asylum to the inhabitants, 
 and so became the modern town of Spalato. The architecture 
 of this palace is pecuhar, more particularly in the fact that 
 the supportmg arches spring direct from the capitals of the 
 massive Corinthian columns. This is the fir.t known Lta^ce 
 
 Dwlr ^ u'" ^"^^^^^*"^« ^as in embryo in the brain of 
 
 Wsotr As one of the principal build- 
 
 mgs o this palace Diocletian erected his magnificent octagon 
 mausoleum, which stiU exists, i ^ 
 
 1 See Chap. XII, p. 379, 
 E.w. 
 
 AA 
 
 «' 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 354 
 
 DIOCLETIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 While everything about Diocletian is striking, his eight 
 years' retirement is perhaps as much so as all the rest of his 
 career. For when we reflect on what were the incidents of 
 those eight years ^ Diocletian's attitude is remarkable indeed. 
 He must have seen his celebrated subdivision of the empire 
 into four parts overturned ; have seen the colleague whom 
 he had forced to abdicate with himself reassume the power, 
 and then suffer defeat and banishment ; have seen a man 
 whom he had appointed as Caesar taken to Rome and put to 
 death ; have seen his own son-in-law and former lieutenant 
 repulsed and brought to disaster; and have seen universal 
 disorder and confusion introduced where he had with many 
 long labours created order and good government. And yet 
 he, who had been for twenty years the mainspring of the 
 whole empire, and was not yet old,^ watched from his great 
 palace at Spalatro all this ruin of his life's work being wrought 
 by men utterly inferior to himself in mental power, and all 
 of them accustomed to regard with the profoundest respect 
 his superior ability and to bow to his ascendancy, and never 
 made any attempt to intervene and prevent such a result. 
 It shows one of the most singular aspects of a character all 
 of whose aspects were singular.^ 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 In Diocletian's reign we come to the last and fiercest battle 
 in that long 250 years' war which began in Nero's gardens in 
 A.D. 65. We have seen how this contest between Paganism 
 and Christianity increased in intensity as it approached the 
 final struggle, the persecutions becoming ever fiercer and at 
 shorter intervals ; how every class fought in that " noble 
 army of martyrs," — ^bishops, philosophers, slaves, officers and 
 soldiers of the Roman army, young boys and girls, noble 
 ladies, and slave-girls ; how their brave and steadfast deaths 
 again and again drew others to embrace a rehgion which 
 could produce such results ; and how the object over which 
 the mortal combat between these two opposing forces raged 
 
 1 See Chapter XH, pp. 371-378. 
 
 « He was at any rate much younger than the still vigorously ewjtive 
 Maximian. 
 
 ' Regarding Diocletian's death see Chap. XII, p. 378. 
 
 Xl] 
 
 TENTH PERSECUTION 
 
 355 
 
 was nothing less than the maintenance or the overthrow of 
 the entire rehgion, social customs, moral conditions, and 
 favounte pleasures of the whole civiUzed world, a rehgion 
 customs, conditions, and pleasures to which that world had 
 been accustomed for generations, and which it was fiercelv 
 determmed should not be overthrown. 
 
 Countless numbers had faUen in the previous nine perse- 
 cutions which had taken place in these 250 years But we 
 now come to the great Tenth persecution, from 303 to 312 
 which was so terrible from its exceeding severity, its long 
 continuance, and its wide-spread area, that it was often 
 afterwards caUed ''The persecution." 
 
 The Roman world had by this time reached the deUberate 
 conclusion that it was a struggle to the death. At the first 
 this rehgion had been looked upon merely with contempt as 
 a new superstition " ; then as it became better known it 
 had been regarded with hatred, as opposing a way of hfe to 
 which mankind was wedded ; and now at last it had come to 
 be looked upon as formidably opposing the Roman power, 
 m this there was of course an error ; Christianity, while it 
 subverted the rehgion and customs of the people, had nothing 
 m It which tended to subvert the power of Rome ; Christian 
 soldiers and a Christian people involved no weakness to that 
 power, as was to be strongly demonstrated during the centurv 
 which was now beginning. But Rome failed to understand 
 this, and supposed that any one who would not sacrifice to 
 the emperor as a god was ipso facto an enemy to the power of 
 Rome. 
 
 It is quite clear that this supreme effort to destroy Christi- 
 amty expressed the united sentiment of the Roman world as 
 a whole. The superstitious veneration for a rehgion bound 
 up with the whole victorious career of Rome for over a thous- 
 and years, the detestation felt against that which would put 
 an end to favourite vices and long-estabhshed customs which 
 were greatly cherished, the self-interest of a numerous and 
 powerful Pagan priesthood, and the animosity caused by the 
 abstention of Christians from social and family gatherings aU 
 combined to make this feehng a united one ; and the emperor's 
 persecuting edict merely followed the general sentiment of 
 the people, while many incidents show that so long as that 
 
 ^ < 
 
CHAP. 
 
 356 
 
 DIOCLETIAN {Mattera concerning religion) 
 
 Xl] 
 
 ISSUE OF THE EDICT 
 
 357 
 
 sentiment lasted the emperor could not oppose it. In such 
 matters a Roman emperor, autocrat though he might be, 
 followed very closely the wishes of the mass of the people ; 
 and, seeking always popularity, he seldom failed to reflect in 
 his measures the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of 
 the empire. This persecution would neither have been begun, 
 nor have continued so long, notwithstanding many changes 
 of rulers, nor have been carried on with so much severity, 
 nor have extended over so many diverse countries, had it not 
 been in accord with the general sentiment of the inhabitants 
 of the empire. 
 
 In this Tenth persecution some new methods were added 
 to those used on previous occasions. In the earliest perse- 
 cutions the idea had been simply the wholesale slaughter of 
 those who professed this religion. Later on, when it was 
 found that this did not result in stamping it out, a new method 
 was put in force and the killing of the Bishops became the 
 special aim, under the idea that if the leaders were destroyed 
 the religion must die out. This having no better success, a 
 further method was now added. The customs and mode of 
 worship of the Christians were now well known, and taking 
 into consideration how large a part of their worship consisted 
 in the reading of their " Scriptures," and how carefully they 
 treasured their manuscripts of the Gospels, their copies of the 
 writings of celebrated " Fathers of the Church," and their 
 documents called " legenda," i.e. the accounts of the deaths 
 of martyrs, those who organized the persecution considered 
 that a vital blow would be dealt at the religion if all its written 
 records were swept away. All such records were therefore 
 ordered to be destroyed. At the same time the orders for 
 ensuring a strict carrying out of the edict by aU in authority 
 were made still more stringent, so that no governor who did 
 not wish to lose his own life would think of showing leniency 
 to Christians. Thus did imperial Rome now gather its whole 
 force for a root and branch extirpation of this religion which 
 so many efforts of previous emperors had failed to crush. 
 
 The persecution of Diocletian began after the Christians 
 had had eighteen years of tranquillity, Diocletian for the 
 first eighteen years of his reign treating them with tolerance. 
 During this period the number of Christians had greatly 
 
 increased ; so much so that Eusebius says that at this period* 
 '• their ancient churches were not large enough to accommodate 
 them, and therefore they erected more spacious churches in 
 every city." Moreover Christians were now found in the 
 very highest ranks of society and of the army ; Prisca, Dio- 
 cletian's own wife, and Valeria, his only child, were both of 
 them secretly Christians, as were also Sebastian, the captain 
 of Diocletian's guards, the grand chamberlain, the trea- 
 surer, the librarian, and others of the principal officials of the 
 imperial household. In all the larger cities there was more 
 than one church, and in Rome there were over forty churches 
 at the time when Diocletian's persecution began. And though 
 Galerius, Diocletian's lieutenant and son-in-law, was a most 
 bitter enemy of Christianity, the other three emperors, Dio- 
 cletian, Maximian, and Constantius, were all tolerant towards 
 it ; and it was not until the time of the great Roman triumph 
 in the eighteenth year of Diocletian's reign that this attitude 
 became changed. 
 
 At length in February 303 Diocletian was persuaded by 
 those inimical to Christianity, headed by Galerius, that it was 
 imperative that this religion which was permeating all ranks 
 should once for all be thoroughly stamped out. And so 
 began the most wide-spread slaughter on account of religion 
 that the world has ever seen. First there issued an edict 
 directing the seizure of all ecclesiastics, upon whom every 
 possible method of torture was directed to be employed to 
 force them to renounce Christianity, and the prisons promptly 
 became filled with a crowd of bishops, priests, deacons, and 
 readers. This was quickly followed by another edict extend- 
 ing the previous orders to the whole body of Christian people, 
 and declaring Diocletian's intention of entirely abolishing 
 the Christian name. The heaviest penalties were imposed 
 upon any one who should dare to protect a Christian, and the 
 persecution was at once begun with the utmost rigour, the 
 Christian officials of the imperial palace at Nicomedia being 
 among the earliest victims, i The persecution was carried 
 
 1 They were most cnieUy tortured, and, it is stated, in the presence 
 of Diocletian himself. The trembling empresses Prisca and Valeria 
 freed themselves from the accusation of being Christians by agreeing 
 to sacrifice to the gods of Rome. 
 
358 DIOCLETIAN (Matters eoneeming religion) 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 out all over the Roman empire, and lasted (in most parts of 
 that empire) for no less than ten years. And no one among 
 the Christians who saw the beginning of this persecution, the 
 exceeding fierceness with which it was carried on, and the 
 deep hatred for themselves and their religion which they saw 
 manifested by all around them, could have dreamt how 
 strangely all this would end only ten years later. 
 
 The celebrated edict was issued in the name of all four 
 emperors. It was promulgated at Diocletian's capital of 
 Nicomedia, where it was affixed to the door of the principal 
 church. It commanded that all who would not sacrifice to 
 the gods of Rome were to be tortured until they did so or died ; 
 that since the obstinacy of Christians under torture was well- 
 known the governors were to invent new and more poignant 
 torments ^ ; that all property of Christians was to be con- 
 fiscated ; that all churches were to be razed to the ground ; 
 and that all sacred books and Christian writings of every kind 
 were to be diligently searched for and burnt. It is to this 
 last feature of the Tenth persecution that the dearth of definite 
 records regarding the first 300 years of Christianity is due. 
 When every book or document had to be laboriously copied 
 by hand the copies of each were necessarily few. By this 
 time the copies of the Gospels and other writings of the Apostles 
 were fairly numerous, so that entire destruction in their case 
 was impossible ; but it was far otherwise as regards the 
 valuable writings of leading Bishops who had taken a promi- 
 nent part in all the life of the Christian Church during the 
 eventful 200 years through which it had passed since the 
 death of the last of the Apostles, the accounts of what had 
 taken place during that period, and the " legenda," or 
 authenticated records of the martyrdoms of prominent Chris- 
 tians. Only a few copies, sometimes only one, existed of such 
 writings, and as a result of the vigorous search which was 
 carried out most of these were destroyed. 
 
 It is curious to notice that this word ** legend " has come 
 to mean the exact opposite to its original significance. Whereas 
 
 1 In the cruelty of positively ordering the governors to invent new 
 and more horrible tortures the hand of the ferocious and brutal Galerius 
 was plainly seen. The emperor Constantine afterwards character- 
 ized the edict as " traced as if with a sword's point dipped in blood.*' 
 
 'Hi 
 
 XI] 
 
 THE WORD "LEGEND" 
 
 359 
 
 it now means an account for which there is no solid historical 
 basis, it originally meant just the reverse. Feeling how 
 important to the life of Christianity were the words, acts, 
 and manner of death of those martyred, the early Church 
 ordered these to be read in the churches on the anniversary 
 of the martyrdom ; and conscious of how necessary it was 
 that these records should be thoroughly reliable, not only for- 
 bade therem any stories of doubtful origin, but obtained from 
 the public notaries at considerable cost copies of the official 
 trial of the martyr, adding thereto the evidence of those who 
 had been eye-witnesses of his death. And only records thus 
 carefully verified and attested were permitted as " legenda " 
 (meaning, ** to be read "). These *' legenda," of each of which 
 there was as a rule only one copy, were the special treasure 
 of the Christian community in the city where the martyr had 
 lived ; and nearly all these were destroyed in the Diocletian 
 persecution. When that persecution was over efforts were 
 made to re-write the story of each martyrdom from memory ; 
 but the authenticity of the official record of the trial, the vivid 
 endence of eye-witnesses, the local colour and naturahiess, 
 were aU irretrievably lost ; and thus in place of the former 
 record there grew up that literature which we now call ''legend," 
 the old name stiU surviving, though that which it impHed ha!d 
 utterly passed away. But though words and acts had be- 
 come " legendary," the fact of the martyrdom remained. 
 
 Upon the edict being put up at day-break of the 23rd 
 February 303 on the door of the principal church of Nicomedia ^ 
 a young Roman soldier, or petty officer, 2 who was a Chris- 
 tian, filled with indignation at such an edict, and realizing 
 all the abominable things which would be done under it, 
 pulled down the hateful document and tore it to pieces. He 
 was forthwith arrested, and put to death. A similar action, 
 with a similar result, was performed by the boy Pancras at 
 Rome on the edict being put up there in the Forum.^ 
 
 ^ The principal church of Nicomedia was a particularly magnificent 
 building, standing on a height in the midst of the city in full view of 
 the imperial palace. 
 
 * St. George, see pp. 360-361. 
 
 ' The still existing church in Rome to the memory of St. Pancras 
 was erected in a.d, 500. 
 
 ^a 
 
 il 
 
9 
 
 SOO DIOCLETIAN {MaUers concerning religion) 
 
 Any attempt to describe a persecution which extended from 
 Britain on the west to Armenia on the east, and from the 
 Rhine to the deserts of Africa, would be impossible. Of the 
 number who perished there is necessarily no record, but we 
 may judge of it from the fact that wherever throughout Europe 
 we come across the names of martyrs who died in the ages of 
 persecution in three cases out of four we find the person suffered 
 in this Tenth persecution. As regards their ckcumstances 
 we have necessarily to depend almost wholly upon tradition, 
 and to sift reliable tradition from that which is unreL'able. 
 The great Ravenna mosaic ^ (an absolutely reliable me- 
 morial) records the names of a few of the most notable of 
 them ; and the burial-places in the Catacombs supply the 
 names of many more.^ 
 
 As St. George is the patron saint of England it may be well 
 
 » See Vol. II, Chap. XXII, pp. 277-280, and Appendix XII. 
 2 The Prayerbook of the Church of England commemorates a iew 
 of those martyred in this persecution, namely : — 
 St. George. A Roman petty officer. Martyred at Nicomedia 
 
 Commemorated on the 23rd April. 
 St. Vincent. A deacon, 20 years old. Martyred at Saragossa in 
 
 Spain. Conmiemorated on the 22nd January. 
 St. Crispin T Two brothers who were missionaries. Martyred at 
 
 St. Crispinian | ^^^^^^^^s ^^ ^^aul. Commemorated on the 25th 
 ^ October. 
 
 Bishop of Sebaste. Martyred at Sebaste in Armenia. 
 
 Commemorated on the 3rd February. 
 A priest. Martyred at Beauvais in Gaul. Commem- 
 orated on the 8th January. 
 A girl of sixteen. Martyred at Syracuse in Sicily. 
 
 Commemorated on the 13th December. 
 A girl of eleven. One of the martyrs at Agen in Gaul. 
 
 Commemorated on the 6th October. 
 A girl of fifteen. Martyred at Rome. Commemorated 
 
 on the 21st January. 
 The daughter of a Pagan priest. Martyred at Antioch. 
 Conmiemorated on the 20th July. 
 St. Catherine. A young Roman lady. Martyred in Egypt. Com- 
 memorated on the 26th November. 
 That places so far apart as Bithynia, Spain, Gaul, Armenia, Sicily, 
 Rome, Antioch, and Egypt should all be represented in this short list 
 merely of those whom the Church of England commemorates, shows 
 how widespread the persecution was. 
 
 St. Blasius. 
 St. Lucian. 
 St. Lucia. 
 St. Faith. 
 St. Agnes. 
 St. Margaret. 
 
 ii] 
 
 ST. GEORGE 
 
 $61 
 
 to mention what is known of his history ; especiaUy as the 
 Eastern Church, with its naturaUy fuller knowledge concern- 
 ing him, gives his name such exceptional honour, i He was 
 the young Roman petty officer who tore down the imperial 
 edict from the door of the principal church at Nicomedia in 
 indignation at its cruelty. The only other facts known about 
 him are that he was born at Diospolis about 280, that he 
 entered the army when he was about seventeen, and was 
 twenty-three when this episode occurred, that his parents 
 were Christians, and that his father was also in the army 
 under Diocletian. This is all that is known of him historicaUy 
 The legendary history of him has to do with the slaying of a 
 dragon and the rescue of a captive maiden who had been 
 dehvered over to the dragon to be devoured. It may easily 
 be an aUegory.^ Christian maidens in these persecutions 
 were constantly dehvered over to more terrible dragons than 
 any ever pamted in the pictures relating to St. George. His 
 action m regard to the edict may have been an endeavour to 
 save one such maiden in whom he was interested ; or the 
 allegory may refer to some other act of dehverance performed 
 by him before this event of the edict. 
 
 The Eastern Church honours him more than aU other martyrs, 
 and styles him " The Great Martyr." There must be some 
 special reason for this, though it is now lost. The emperor 
 Constantme bu.lt a church to his memory only ten years afteVthe 
 persecution ceased ; 3 showing that those who were St. George's 
 contemporaries felt that there was something about him 
 speciaUy worthy of commemoration. For the gi^at emperor 
 Constantme, with all the cares of a world upon him, was not 
 W^ely to single out for special honour a mere subordinate 
 Roman officer unless thei« had been something done by 
 him which was highly exceptional, and which aU then 
 
 4 
 
 !l 
 
 .hn. ^ 1- "^'"='°'" Statement that the man whom the English 
 chose for their patron saint was quite another person, who Uved fifty 
 years later and bore the vflest character (see Chap. XIV d 4791 hZ 
 since been often refuted. ^ aiv, p. 47»J, has 
 
 "T J ^f**''i^*»'^..'^ ^""^"y '^^*' '* '« '^«'<1 t° ^ by the society of 
 Les Petits BoUandistes " as the result of their researches. 
 * See Chap. XIII, p. 432. 
 
362 DIOCLETIAN (MatUrs concerning religion) 
 
 CHAP- 
 
 \i 
 
 knew.* Long may England continue to show her choice of a 
 patron saint to be appropriate by standing forth pre-eminent 
 among Christian nations for the characteristics embodied 
 in the allegorical history of St. George, the passionately de- 
 termined champion of the weak and the oppressed. 
 
 St. Sebastian's circumstances and death were very different 
 from those of St. George. He was bom at Narbonne, in Gaul, 
 and held an exalted position as captain of the imperial body- 
 guard, and Diocletian was strongly attached to him. Young, 
 handsome, rich, and popular, Sebastian was a favourite with 
 the whole court. He was secretly a Christian, and at the 
 beginning of the persecution was able through his position 
 to protect many who were in danger. At length in 304 he 
 was in consequence accused to the emperor (who was then at 
 Rome, Sebastian as usual being in attendance upon him) of 
 being a Christian, and on being questioned by Diocletian 
 acknowledged the fact. We are told that Diocletian strove 
 to save him, but found this impossible ; he therefore ordered 
 that he was to be shot with arrows in the garden of the im- 
 perial palace. The retired locality chosen, the absence of 
 any mention of torture, and the manner of death ordered 
 (instead of the usual beheading with a sword), as well as the 
 result, seem to show that Diocletian still intended to save 
 him. For notwithstanding the numerous pictures of the 
 martyrdom of St. Sebastian this was not the manner of his 
 death. He was bound to a tree and shot with arrows, but 
 he was not killed. We are told that being left wounded, bound 
 to the tree in the garden of the palace, he was at night 
 removed by Christian friends to a place of safety, and nursed 
 until he recovered ; that then, refusing to remain longer in 
 concealment, he went to the palace, and presenting himself 
 before Diocletian urged the cause of the Christians ; and that 
 finding his arguments of no avail he was led warmly to re- 
 proach the emperor on account of all the horrible cruelties 
 which were being inflicted ; whereupon Diocletian became 
 
 ' It is strange to realize that Constcmtine, who was present in attend- 
 ance upon Diocletian at Nicomedia when the persecution began, may 
 very probably himself have seen St. George put to death. At any 
 rate, from his position at the court at the time, he must have had full 
 personal knowledge of the case. 
 
 XI] 
 
 THE CATACOMBS 
 
 363 
 
 enraged, and ordered the guards to remove him, and he was 
 by them beaten to death with clubs outside the palace.^ 
 
 The persecution continued to be virulently carried on 
 throughout the years 303, 304, and 305, and Diocletian's 
 abdication in the latter year caused no cessation in it, though 
 by that time immense numbers had been slaughtered all over 
 the empire. In all countries the authorities seemed inspired 
 by the ferocious spirit of its chief author, Galerius, mani- 
 festing a ruthless determination once for all to extirpate 
 this religion. So that the Christians began to see that their 
 only chance was to seek for inaccessible hiding places, either 
 in desert retreats, or in the Catacombs.^ 
 
 The vast labyrinth of subterranean galleries known as the 
 Catacombs extend to an enormous length ; for though never 
 reaching more than three miles from Rome their total length 
 is estimated to be more than 350 miles. They average 8 feet in 
 height and from 3 to 6 feet in width, and contain six or seven 
 miUions of niches, excavated in the sandstone walls, where 
 the Christian dead are buried, each niche containing a body, 
 and being closed with a slab bearing the name of the person 
 buried there, with the letters " M " or " Mar " in the case 
 of those who had been martyred.^ At intervals these galleries 
 open out into wide chambers, with shafts for light and air 
 opening into the garden above, these chambers containing 
 similar niches, and being used for religious assemblies in times 
 of persecution. Begun in apostolic times, these catacombs 
 were used by the Christians at Rome throughout the first 
 
 1 Another notable martyr who perished at the same time, with many 
 others, at Saragossa in Spain was St. Vincent, a deacon. He was 
 subjected to terrible tortures by the Proconsul Dacianus as an example 
 to the rest, after which his body was thrown into the sea near the cape 
 which bears his name. The acts of his martyrdom were publicly read 
 in the North Africfin churches in the 4th century in the lifetime of 
 St. Augustine. 
 
 * For the remaining stages of the persecution see Chapter XII. 
 
 3 The Catacomb called after St. Sebastian, in which he was buried, 
 has in it an inscription saying that 174,000 martyred persons are 
 buried in that catacomb. It was the one chiefly used in the Tenth 
 persecution, and even if only the majority of this nimiber died in 
 that persecution, this gives some idea of the niunber of persons who 
 perished in Rome alone imder Diocletian's edict. 
 
 r 
 
 ' r 
 
d64 DIOCLETIAN {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 CttAP. 
 
 XI] 
 
 THE THIRD CENTURY 
 
 365 
 
 three centuries of Christianity, but were so used more par- 
 ticularly during the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and 
 Tenth persecutions, and were called coemeterium (sleeping 
 place), a new name of Christian origin. There were some forty 
 of these different coemeteria, and originally they all belonged 
 to private families, being dug in the gardens or lands of wealthy 
 Christians. Hence most of the different catacombs have the 
 names of those who were their original owners. At first the 
 work of making these catacombs was done openly, and their 
 entrances were not concealed ; but in the 3rd century when 
 persecutions became so frequent, the entrances to them were 
 hidden, and made as difficult as possible. Since not only 
 were the entrances difficult to find, but also the galleries them- 
 selves narrow and forming a confusing labyrinth to all except 
 the initiated, they were secure places of refuge. Here in these 
 ** dens and caves of the earth " all Christians whose avocations 
 permitted it now took refuge ; here the Christians met for 
 their religious worship ; and here as the long persecution 
 continued they buried their martyred friends and dear ones 
 and inscribed a few touching words over the rough tombs 
 in which they laid them. 
 
 The 3rd century is almost always considered as a period 
 showing a general decline of the empire, but it may be doubted 
 whether this is not too sweeping, and too much inspired by 
 the opinions of those Roman writers who looked at the empire 
 solely from the point of view of the city of Rome. Even with 
 regard to the occupants of the throne, the emperors Septimius 
 Severus, Decius, Valerian, Claudius II, AureUan, and Probus 
 fell little below the best emperors who had preceded them, 
 while the emperor Diocletian surpassed all who had preceded 
 him except Augustus. 
 
 But it is with regard to the empire as a whole, rather than 
 to the character and abilities of individual emperors, that the 
 view in question appears in particular too sweeping. King- 
 doms and empires have their fluctuations as truly as do human 
 beings. And although during the thirty-eight years 211-249 
 a succession of seven weak or vicious emperors occupied the 
 
 throne, the general administration of the empire appears to 
 have been as little affected as it was when similar conditions 
 occurred in the 1st century during the thirty-one years covered 
 by the reigns of CaHgula, Claudius, and Nero. Certainly when 
 in the middle of the 3rd century the Roman Empire cele- 
 brated with the utmost pride and magnificence its thousandth 
 birthday, and in the following year obtained as its ruler an 
 emperor (Decius) who was the equal of nearly all who had 
 preceded him, there was no feeUng on the part of any one 
 that the empire had up to that time in any way declined. 
 
 There then followed a period of fifteen years of great dis- 
 asters and confusion (253-268), though even during this 
 period large portions of the empire, such as the provinces of 
 North Africa, Britain, Spain, and Egypt were untouched by 
 these disasters. This period was succeeded by one of fifteen 
 years (268-283), during which four emperors, Claudius II., 
 AureUan, Tacitus, and Probus, brought back the empire to 
 its former state, the very name of " Restorers of the Empire " 
 given to these emperors showing that the disastrous effects 
 of the preceding fifteen years had been retrieved, while a 
 fifth emperor, Carus, gained great glory to the empire by his 
 victories over Persia and capture of the Persian capital. 
 And this was succeeded by the twenty years' reign of an 
 emperor (Diocletian) who, we are distinctly told, brought the 
 prosperity of the empire to an even higher level than it had 
 enjoyed in the 2nd century. 
 
 Moreover there are also other facts which tend to demon- 
 strate that the empire in the 3rd century showed no signs of 
 decay. First, we have the buildings erected at Rome during 
 the years 202-211 by Septimius Severus, his Arch, the Septi- 
 zonium, his reconstruction of the Temple of Vesta, and his 
 palace. Secondly, the magnificent set of Baths erected at 
 Rome during the years 211-235 by Caracalla, Elagabalus, 
 and Alexander Severus surpassed anything of the kind previ- 
 ously built, and appear alone sufficient to maintain the credit 
 of the 3rd century in this respect. Thirdly, throughout 
 North Africa are a greater number of remains of triumphal 
 arches, amphitheatres, temples, Baths, and other fine buildings 
 erected in the 3rd century than exist anywhere else, Rome 
 itself not excepted. Again, many parts of the empire which 
 
 I 
 
 *i 
 
366 
 
 THE THIRD CENTURY 
 
 CHAP. Xl] 
 
 in the 2nd century had been to a great extent covered with 
 forest, and where towns had been few, were in the 3rd century 
 becoming cleared of forest, and more thickly covered with 
 towns, while the towns were also increasing in size and import- 
 ance. Britain and Gaul in the West, and Asia Minor and 
 Syria in the East were showing everywhere signs of increased 
 prosperity ; and North Africa, untouched by any of the dis- 
 asters during the years 253-268, and the centre of an immense 
 trade in com, was prospering exceedingly. In the case of 
 Gaul especially it is to the 3rd century that historians have 
 attributed great strides forward ; while in both Britain and 
 Gaul the evidence of the coins found has been considered to 
 show that the 3rd century witnessed a great advance in both 
 these countries. 
 
 A general view over the whole empire at the end of the 3rd 
 century shows in fact that, while there had been fluctuations, 
 there was far from being any decline, that the disasters of 
 fifteen years had been thoroughly retrieved, that the empire 
 as a whole was in a condition at least fully equal to that which 
 it had enjoyed in the 2nd century, and was steadily advancing 
 to that higher degree of power, prosperity, and civilization 
 which was destined to be seen in the 4th century. 
 
 <H! 
 
 IB' 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 For the period from Commodus to Diocletian (180-284) the chief 
 authorities are : — 
 
 The Augustan History. A general history beginning from the 
 reign of the emperor Hadrian. Compiled by various writers 
 whose names are not known. 
 
 Dion Cassius. His writings supply information regarding the 
 reigns of Commodus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, 
 and Alexander Severus (see Note B, p. 272). 
 
 Herodian. Very little is known of Herodian. He wrote, in Greek, 
 a history beginning at the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, 
 at which time he was a very young man. He professes to relate 
 only what he himself saw or heard or experienced in the 
 course of public service. His history ends at the accession of 
 Gordian III in 238. 
 
 Eutropius. Wrote in the 4th century an abridgement of Roman 
 history (see Note D, Chap. XVI, p. 589). 
 
 Zosimus. Wrote in the 5th century a history covering the period 
 from 180 to 410 (see Note D, Chap. XVI, p. 588). 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 367 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 JOINT EMPERORS 305-314 
 
 r CONST ANTIUS 
 (SEVEEUS 
 
 MAXIMIAN 
 CONSTANTINE 
 .MAXENTIUS 
 
 f CONSTANTINE 
 (MAXENTIUS 
 
 CONSTANTINE 
 
 GALERIUS 
 MAXIMIN 
 
 t 
 
 305-307. 
 
 GALERIUS ) 
 LICINIUS [307-310. 
 MAXIMIN J 
 
 LICINIUS 
 
 1 
 
 310-312. 
 
 MAXIMIN 
 AND LICINIUS 312-314. 
 
 (a) Matters other than religion 
 
 DIOCLETIAN'S abdication was ere long followed by 
 intermittent struggles between rival emperors, which, 
 though they affected the people at large but little, kept the 
 empire in a state of unrest for seven years (307-314). That 
 the northern tribes during these seven years made only one 
 insignificant attempt to invade the Roman dominions, which 
 was promptly repelled, shows that the power of the empire 
 was fully maintained notwithstanding this ttruggle between 
 rival emperors. 
 
 Upon the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian and the 
 appointment of two new Caesars, Galerius, though disap- 
 pointed in his endeavour to make himself supreme, managed, 
 through the subserviency to him of his nephew Maximin and 
 his nominee Severus, practically to govern three-fourths of 
 the empire. And as the health of Constantius Chlorus had 
 long been failing, Galerius looked forward to soon becoming 
 through the latter's death the sole master of the whole empire. 
 Meanwhile Constantius took steps to call to his side hia 
 
 368 
 
 CHAP, xn] 
 
 CONSTANTINE 
 
 369 
 
 capable son Constantine and withdraw him from the dan- 
 gerous power of Galerius. 
 
 Constantine, whose full name was Flavins Valerius Aurelius 
 Constantinus,! the son of Constantius' first wife Helena 2 
 forcibly divorced in 292, was bom in 274 at Naissus (Nissa) 
 m that part of Moesia called at this time Dacia Ripensis' 
 He was eighteen when his mother was divorced and his father 
 became Caesar of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, but he was not 
 aUowed to accompany the latter, being detained at the court 
 of Diocletian at Nicomedia, probably as a pledge for his father's 
 loyalty.3 During the next thirteen years (292-305) Constan- 
 tine served with such distinction under Diocletian and Galerius 
 m the wars in Egypt and Persia that he rapidly rose to high 
 rank. In 297, when he was twenty-three, he married a girl 
 named Minervina, of whom nothing is known except that 
 she was of lowly birth. Eusebius, describing Constantine 
 as he saw him just at this time, when Constantine accom- 
 panied the emperor Diocletian as the army passed through 
 Syna on its way to the campaign in Egypt, says :-" He stood 
 at the right hand of the emperor, and commanded the admir- 
 ation of aU who beheld him by the indications he gave even 
 then of royal greatness. For no one was his equal in grace 
 and handsome appearance, or in strength and height of stature 
 He was even more notable for his mental quaUties, being 
 endowed with a sound judgement and having received a 
 hberal education."* He had taken Apollo as his tutelar 
 deity, and those who wished to flatter him pretended to see 
 in him a Hkeness to the usual representations of ApoUo as a 
 
 ^ For liis ancestry, see p. 347. 
 
 » See p. 346. Helena was of obscure origin. She was a native of 
 l^repanmn (near Nicomedia), a town which Constantine afterwards 
 called after her HelenopoHs, and is said to have been the daughter 
 of an innkeeper. As Gibbon justly remarks (with reference to doubts 
 cast on the pomt), Diocletian by insistmg on her divorce acknowledged 
 her marriage. It took place about the year 273. 
 
 o J ^"^ r^Z^^ favourite tales regarding Constantine have to be 
 abandoned. His mother Helena was not the daughter of a British 
 king ; she was rwt a Christian until after her son became emperor 
 and consequently no such influence drew Constantine towards Chris' 
 tiamty ; and Constantine was not bom and brought up in Britain 
 Dut, as noted, was bom and brought up at Naissus in Mcesia. 
 • JiiUsebius, Vita Constantini, i, xix. 
 
 E.W. 
 
 BB 
 
$' 
 
 CHAP. 
 370 JOINT EMPERORS {MatUra other than religion) 
 
 type of manly beauty and symmetry. His commanding 
 figure, courage, skill in all military exercises, and agreeable 
 disposition, made him immensely popular with the army, 
 and excited the bitter jealousy of Galerius, who both in the 
 Persian war, and at other times, again and again exposed him 
 to exceptional dangers in the hope that he would lose his life.^ 
 
 In 298 Minervina bore Constantino a son, to whom he gave 
 the name of Crispus, after his own great-grandfather, the 
 brother of the emperor Claudius II. ^ Five years later 
 Constantine, then in attendance upon Diocletian, saw at 
 Nicomedia the beginning of the terrible persecution at the 
 instigation of Galerius, and being of a tolerant disposition 
 was revolted by the cruelties he witnessed without any power 
 to oppose them. In 305 his father became one of the two 
 Augnsti, and wrote for him to join him in Gaul. But Galerius 
 for some time would not give the necessary permission, and 
 it was only after repeated letters from his colleague Con- 
 stantius that Galerius at length reluctantly gave Constantine 
 permission to depart to join his father. Constantine, know- 
 ing that Galerius intended that he should never reach Gaul, 
 defeated these designs by the extraordinary speed of his 
 journey, and leaving Nicomedia at night, posted ^ in an 
 incredibly short time through Thrace, Mcesia, Pannonia, 
 Northern Italy, and Gaul, and reached Gessoriacum (Boulogne) 
 in safety, after a ride of 2400 miles, just as his father was 
 embarking thence for Britain, whither Constantine accom- 
 panied him. 
 
 In the following year (306) Constantius Chlorus died at 
 York ; whereupon the legions in Britain at once proclaimed 
 his son Constantine, then thirty-two years old, not as Caesar, 
 but as Augustus. Galerius, after first threatening to burn the 
 messenger who brought the news, considered it prudent to 
 
 1 Among other methods, Galerius by sneers at his courage induced 
 him to engage in single combat, at one time with a Sarmatian Goth, and 
 at another with a large Hon. 
 
 * Chap. XI, p. 347 (footnote). 
 
 » The Roman service of posts was maintained with great efficiency. 
 Along all the main roads, as previously noted, were post-houses at each 
 of which were kept a number of horses, and in some cases even carriages 
 and litters, and by this means couriers and officers in the service of 
 the State could travel with great rapidity from end to end of the empire. 
 
 xn] 
 
 SEVERUS PUT TO DEATH 
 
 371 
 
 swaUow his rage, and acknowledged Constantine as one of 
 the four emperors, but giving him only the title of Caesar 
 and conferring that of Augustus upon Severus. 
 
 Soon afterwards the Franks invaded Gaul, capturing and 
 ravaging the capital, Treves ; but CJonstantine rapidly crossed 
 the channel from Britain, defeated them in two battles with 
 great slaughter, and caused the two kings of the Franks 
 Ascarich and Merogais, with a large number of their warriors' 
 to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre of 
 Treves. 1 He then added to the defences of the Rhine frontier 
 increased the troops guarding it, and kept a fleet patroUing 
 the nver; which measures successfully kept the Franks 
 in check for a time. 
 
 The vices and incapacity of Maxentius, the son of the ex- 
 emperor Maximian, had prevented his being chosen as Caesar 
 when Diocletian abdicated. When, however, Galerius exalted 
 Severus to the higher rank of Augustus, Maxentius raised a 
 revolt against the latter, and gained the assistance of his 
 father Maximian by persuading him to reassume the throne 
 Maximian marched against Severus, took him prisoner at 
 Ravenna, brought him to Rome, and put him to death (Feb 
 307). Maximian then made an aUiance with Constantine, met 
 him m Gaul, and persuaded him to divorce the lowly-born 
 Mmervma (whose only son, Crispus, was by this time nine 
 years old), and to marry his youngest daughter Fausta,2 the 
 mamage being celebrated with much magnificence at Aries 
 Galerius attempted to avenge the death of Severus, but on 
 entenng Italy was repulsed by Maximian and Maxentius and 
 forced to retreat to his own portion of the empire, where he 
 raised his fnend Licinius to the rank of Augustus in place of 
 the dead Severus, giving him the provinces of lUyricum and 
 Pannoma. There were thus now six emperors ; in the west 
 Maximian, Constantine, and Maxentius, and in the east 
 Valerius, Licinius, and Maximin. 
 
 In 308 Maxentius revolted against his father Maximian (to 
 whose abihties their joint success had been entirely due), and 
 banished him from Italy. The aged emperor took refuge 
 
 ^ The remains of this amphitheatre still exist. 
 p. 346)^ ^*"'^'^*'®'' ^^ Constantino's step-mother Theodosia (Chap. XI, 
 
 !iif 
 
CHAP. 
 372 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUers other than religion) 
 
 first in lUyricum, but Galerius soon compelled him to retire 
 from thence, and Maximian then sought an asylum with 
 Constantine at Treves. The latter treated him with respect ; 
 but in 309 while Constantine was absent from Treves, engaged 
 in repelling the Franks, who had again crossed the Rhine, the 
 restless Maximian attempted to seize his throne. Constan- 
 tine's rapid return forced Maximian to fly ; he retired to 
 Marseilles, pursued by Constantine, and on the citizens de- 
 livering him up rather than stand a siege, was compelled by 
 Constantine to resign the purple. Maximian then laid a plot 
 to assassinate Constantine in his bed m the palace at Treves. 
 But Fausta, who'had feigned to enter the plot in order to save 
 her husband, informed Constantine of it; upon which the 
 latter is said to have placed a slave in his bed, and seized 
 Maximian red-handed as he plunged his sword into the sleep- 
 ing man. Thereupon Maximian was made to commit suicide 
 (Feb. 310). He had repeatedly shown himself to be a danger 
 to any settled government, and his death, upon this second 
 attempt against Constantine's life, was, under the circum- 
 stances of that age, a practical necessity ; ^ while it is evident 
 that even his daughter was of the same opinion. It must be 
 remembered that Constantine was at this time a Pagan, and 
 governed by Pagan views on such subjects. In forgiving 
 Maximian's first ungrateful attempt to destroy him he be- 
 haved with greater leniency than for example Diocletian, 
 Trajan, or any other emperor of Pagan times would have done. 
 Constantine was not a man subject to outbursts of passion, 
 and it is certain that he would not have put his wife's father 
 to death had any other course been open to him. 
 ^' Meanwhile Galerius had become attacked by a horrible 
 disease,^ from which he suffered such continual torment that 
 in 310 it forced him to abdicate ; and in May of the following 
 year he died. As he was the chief author of the cruel perse- 
 cution of Christians, which was still proceeding, mankind saw 
 in his horrible death a just punishment for all the torture and 
 misery which he had wrought upon so many innocent persons. 
 
 1 Even Gibbon admits this, saying that Maximian deserved his fate. 
 Decline and Fall, xiv. 121. 
 
 « It was said that, like Herod, he was " eaten of worms." 
 
 xn] 
 
 MAXENTIUS PREPARES FOR WAR 
 
 373 
 
 And he himself in the last few months of his life appears to 
 have entertained a similar view ; for he tried, though ineffect- 
 ually, to stop the persecution. This death of Galerius left 
 remaining four emperors, in the west Constantine and 
 Maxentius, and in the east Licinius and Maximin. 
 
 The brutal Maxentius, who had established himself at Rome,i 
 and whose vices and general worthlessness made him totally 
 unfit to govern, had by his ungrateful treatment of his father 
 gained the sole rule of Italy and North Africa. His incapacity, 
 profligacy, and cruelty were beyond bounds, and these two 
 provinces groaned under his tyranny. It is universally ad- 
 mitted, even by the Pagan writers, that the deliverance of 
 Italy and North Africa from this detested tyrant would alone 
 have justified Constantine's invasion of Italy. 
 
 In 312 Maxentius proceeded to claim sovereignty over the 
 whole of the West, and began to collect troops to invade 
 Gaul. Constantine did not wait to be attacked. Maxentius 
 had about 200,000 men, while Constantine, obliged to leave 
 strong forces to guard his frontiers in Britain and on the 
 Rhine, could not muster half that number. But the superior 
 discipline of his troops, and their confidence in their leader, 
 did much to compensate for this disparity in numbers. Send- 
 ing a fleet from Gaul and Britain round into the Mediterranean 
 to attack some of the ports in Italy and create a diversion in 
 the enemy's rear,* Constantine assembled an army of about 
 80,000 men at Vienne, in the valley of the Rhone, for the 
 invasion of Italy. 
 
 Having completed the various arrangements for conveying 
 so large an army across the Alps, and for the government 
 of Gaul during his absence, Constantine, leaving his wife 
 
 1 Maxentius constructed outside Rome, on the Appian Way, the 
 Circus of Maxentius, which has in recent years been excavated, and 
 shows the general arrangement of such race-courses. The shape is 
 an oval, with high gates at each of the sides. Down the centre of the 
 course ran the spina, adorned with statues, and having a goal at each 
 end. On each side of the principal entrance are the barriers from 
 which the chariots started, performing the circuit of the course seven 
 times. The spectators sat on ten tiers of seats, able to accommodate 
 in this case about 18,000 persons. 
 
 * This is probably the first time in war that a fleet was used in this 
 way. 
 
CHAP. 
 S74 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUers other than religion) 
 
 Fausta ^ at Vienne, about the Ist July, 312, set his army in 
 motion to cross the Alps by the Mont Cenis pass. It was a 
 tremendous undertaking upon which he was embarking. He 
 knew that Maxentius had four armies which he would have 
 to beat in succession, the first of them to be encountered 
 immediately upon emerging from the further side of the pass. 
 Constantine was now thirty-eight ; as a young man he had 
 been in battles against the Egyptians and the Persians, and 
 later on had in northern Gaul commanded armies against 
 the Franks; but he had never yet fought against Roman 
 legions and Roman generals, and it remained to be seen what 
 success he would have in such an encounter. Moreover even 
 supposing he were victorious successively over the four armies 
 of Maxentius, and gained Italy, beyond that country there 
 were two other emperors, Licinius and Maximin, the former 
 a noted commander in war. And though for a time he might 
 make friends with Licinius, sooner or later he would be cer- 
 tain to have to meet him in battle. Ck)nstantine well knew 
 that Diocletian, upon whose personal staff he had served 
 for thirteen years, had had, as a principal object of his division 
 of the empire between four emperors, the intention of making 
 it an almost impossible task for any one of the four to over- 
 come the other three in succession. Yet here was one of them 
 about to attempt that very task ; and with an army less than 
 half the numerical strength of that which he was to meet in 
 Italy. Truly, as Constantine rode out of the gate of Vienne 
 at the head of his army, he must have wondered much what 
 was to be the end of the momentous enterprise upon which 
 he was starting, and must have possessed a more than usually 
 fearless heart to have been able to face with courage all that 
 lay before him. 
 
 The next four months saw a remarkable succession of vic- 
 tories. The difficulties of transporting an army of 80,000 
 men, including a force of cavalry, across the Alps were barely 
 at an end when, just before emerging from the mountains, 
 Constantine found himself opposed at Susa, in the valley of 
 the Dora, by the troops of Maxentius, and had to fight the 
 first of his battles in Italy, which he won. Thence he ad- 
 
 1 Fausta had as yet no children. She and Constantine were married 
 for nine yeiurs before the first of their children was bom. 
 
 xn] 
 
 \ 
 
 BATTLES OF TURIN AND VERONA 
 
 375 
 
 vanced to Turin, where he fought a second battle, and won 
 that also. On this latter occasion Constantine, weak in cavalry, 
 won the battle by drawing up his infantry in two lines with a 
 wide space between them and ordering the front line to re- 
 ceive the formidable charge of the enemy's cavalry, and, 
 opening their ranks, to allow the hostile squadrons to pass 
 through them, and then, making the line face about, enclosed 
 the cavalry as in a square, and destroyed them. It was a 
 dangerous manoeuvre, and one which, on the one hand, the 
 commander would not have attempted unless his troops were 
 trained to the very highest pitch, and which, on the other 
 hand, the troops would have failed in attempting to carry 
 out unless they had had the utmost confidence in their com- 
 mander. » 
 
 Proceeding onwards, Constantine took Milan, rested his 
 army there for two or three days, and then advanced towards 
 Verona, where a large army under the Prefect Rufus Pompei- 
 anus awaited him in a strong position covered by the river 
 Adige. A third, severely contested, battle was fought outside 
 Verona on the 1st September, in which Constantine, greatly 
 outnumbered, had dangerously to extend his front so as to 
 avoid being outflanked, and could only compensate for this 
 by throwing himself into the fight at one point of danger 
 after another, inspiring the troops by his personal bravery, i 
 The battle continued into the night, and it was only when 
 morning dawned that the victory was assured. Both sides 
 sustained heavy losses, Pompeianus being amongst the slain. 
 
 Upon winning the battle of Verona Constantine turned 
 southwards, and after a difficult march of fifty-five days,^ 
 during which he had first to cross the river Po and then to 
 traverse the Apennines, arrived on the 27th October in sight 
 of Rome, where Maxentius with a fourth army, which included 
 the Praetorian Guards and greatly outnumbered that of 
 Constantine, awaited him outside the city. The final battle 
 between them was fought at Saxa Rubra, near the Milvian 
 
 * After the battle the commanders of his legions begged him not 
 again so dangerously to risk a Hfe which was so valuable. 
 
 ' Regarding the episode which occurred on this march a few days 
 before the army reached the vicinity of Rome, and which had so great 
 an effect upon Constantine, see p. 384. 
 
CHAP. 
 376 JOINT EMPERORS {Mattera other than religion) 
 
 bridge over the Tiber, nine miles from Rome, and is one of the 
 decisive battles of the worid. Constantine drew up his much 
 smaller army with great skill, and then, conspicuous alike to 
 friend and foe in gilded armour and jewelled helmet, placed 
 himself at the head of his small force of cavalry and led them 
 in person in a brilliant charge which in its furious onset over- 
 threw the more numerous cavalry force of Maxentius, and 
 practically decided the fortune of the day. Notwithstanding 
 the firm stand of the Praetorian Guards, more than half of 
 whom were slain, the rest of Maxentius' disheartened army 
 gave way before that of Constantine and was driven into the 
 Tiber, Maxentius himseM being drowned (28th Oct. 312). And 
 Constantine entered Rome as conqueror of the whole of the 
 West, and to a large extent in a dominant position even as 
 regards the East also, for licinius feared him and was ready 
 to be his humble ally, while Maximin's incapacity rendered 
 him of no account. 
 
 On gaining this victory Constantine published an edict 
 declaring the persecution of Christians at an end and adopting 
 Christianity as the religion of the State, ^ aboUshed the Prae- 
 torian Guards (whose pride and insubordination had been 
 increased under the vicious rule of Maxentius), put to death 
 the two sons of Maxentius, ^ celebrated numerous games and 
 festivities in honour of his victory, and erected his memorial 
 Arch,3 which still stands as the monument both of his victory 
 and of the important edict which accompanied it, adorning it 
 
 1 See pp. 385-386. Practically this was carried out in three suc- 
 cessive steps — the edict pubUshed in October 312, that pubUshed at 
 Milan in March 313, and that published after Constantine became 
 virtually supreme over the whole empire in 314. 
 
 • Gibbon justly remarks that the chief adherents of Maxentius 
 must have expected to share his fate, as those of Constantine would 
 have done had the battle had an opposite result ; and also states that 
 when the Eoman people clamoured for a greater number of victims 
 Constantine firmly refused to comply. Zosimus, the bitter enemy of 
 Constantine, admits that only a very few of the friends of Maxentius 
 were put to death. 
 
 » Plate LIV. The Arch of Constantine is the last of all the 
 triumphal curches erected by the emperors. Henceforth (in regard to 
 works other than those of public utiUty) the building energies of 
 emperors were directed, no longer to the erection of triumphal arches 
 and columns, but to the erection of splendid churches. 
 
I'l^Aih: CIV. 
 
 Arch of Constantine, Rome. 
 
 i^bKOCI, 
 
 •• ,'•; 3»- 
 
I'l.A II I I \ 
 
 Akch or CoNSTAN riNK, Komi: 
 
 .u'j'.i. 
 
xn] 
 
 THE COMPACT AT MILAN 
 
 377 
 
 with bas-reliefs which by an act of vandalism he took from 
 the arch of Trajan.^ 
 
 As regards the Christians in Rome, Constantine treated 
 their leader, the Bishop of Rome, Melchiades,^ with courtesy, 
 as the head of the small community of Christians whom he 
 found still surviving there, but though often declared to have 
 done so, he did not at this time (nor for many years afterwards), 
 personally embrace Christianity. The very inscription which 
 he placed upon his Arch is alone sufficient to prove this, con- 
 taining as it does a reference to " the Deity " in terms which 
 may equally apply to Apollo, combined with Pagan emblems 
 such as the winged " Victories." Nor must we fall into a 
 second anachronism by supposing that the Church in Rome 
 at this time occupied a position of importance in the Christian 
 Church such as would command any special consideration 
 from Constantine, or that its Bishop held such a position 
 therein that Constantine could treat with him regarding 
 important matters concerning the change in the State religion 
 which he contemplated. The Churches of Asia Minor, Syria, 
 Egypt, and North Africa, owing to their number, learning, 
 wealth, and enlightenment, constituted at this time the im- 
 portant part of the Church, and during Constantine's life- 
 time these Churches altogether looked down upon the com- 
 paratively recent, rude, and unlearned Churches of the West ; 
 nor had any of the Churches of the West, including that at 
 Rome, up to this time produced a single prominent man in the 
 Christian Church, whereas many such had been produced by 
 the Churches of Asia Minor, Egypt, and North Africa.* 
 
 Meanwhile Constantine had requested Licinius to meet 
 him at Milan to cement an alliance between them. After 
 remaining about three months at Rome he departed to Milan, 
 where he met Licinius, and there in March 313 the latter was 
 married to Constantine's half-sister Constantia. At the 
 same time a second edict for the protection of Christianity, 
 called the "Edict of Milan,"* was published in the joint 
 
 1 See Chap. VI, p. 218. 
 
 2 Melchiades was not succeeded by Sylvester I until 314. 
 
 3 Nevertheless it was from a Church in the West that Constantine 
 subsequently took his chief ecclesiasticcJ adviser, Hosius, Bishop of 
 Cordova. * See u 385. 
 
 ,:l|s 
 
CfiAP 
 378 JOINT EMPERORS {MattevB other than religion) 
 
 names of Constantine and Licinius, confirming in greater 
 detail that issued by Constantine at Rome. This Edict of 
 Milan became the Magna Carta of Christianity. 
 
 From Milan, in the midst of the magnificent marriage 
 festivities of Constantia, both Constantine and Licinius were 
 suddenly called away to repel attacks upon their dominions, 
 Constantine to the Rhine, to repel another invasion of the 
 Franks, whom he defeated in a few weeks, inflicting great 
 loss upon them and driving the survivors back over the river, 
 and Licinius to the east to meet an attack upon his dominions 
 made by Maximin. During the absence of Licinius, Maximin, 
 starting from Antioch in January, and hastening by forced 
 marches through Asia Minor, had crossed the Hellespont, and 
 captured Byzantium, seizing there and imprisoning Diocletian's 
 wife, the empress Prisca, and her daughter, the empress Valeria. 
 Licinius upon receiving while at Milan news of this invasion, 
 travelled rapidly eastwards, joined his army in Moesia, and 
 in May 313 defeated Maximin in a battle fought in Thrace. 
 Maximin, whose cowardice and incapacity were the chief 
 causes of his defeat, fled from the battle so hurriedly that 
 he covered the 180 miles to Nicomedia, including the crossing 
 of the Bosphorus, in twenty-four hours. Thence, taking his 
 wife and children with him, he fled to Cappadocia. Licinius 
 entered Nicomedia, proclaimed the Edict of Milan there (in 
 the city which had ten years before seen the proclamation of 
 Diocletian's edict for the persecution), and continued his 
 advance eastwards ; and on his forcing the passes of the 
 Taurus Maximin poisoned himself at Tarsus (Aug. 313). 
 Licinius, almost as vicious and cruel a tyrant as Galerius and 
 Maximin, continuing his march, entered Antioch without 
 opposition, and put to death by torture all Maximin's chief 
 ministers, and also put to death Maximin's wife and his two 
 young children, a boy of eight and a girl of seven. The death 
 of Maximin left Constantine and Licinius the only two sur- 
 viving emperors, the former supreme in the west and the 
 latter in the east. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the issue of the Edict of Milan, 
 like the passing away of some venerable monument of another 
 age, the emperor Diocletian breathed his last at Spalatro, 
 being said to have committed suicide, the reason assigned 
 
 xn] 
 
 'v ) 
 
 WAR WITH LICINIUS 
 
 379 
 
 being the cruel treatment of his wife and daughter by Maximin, 
 and the latter's scornful refusal of the request made by Dio- 
 cletian on their behalf (page 380). His life had maintained 
 its character for striking events to the very end. For in the 
 last six months of his life he saw the long persecution which 
 he had inaugurated terminate in a manner ^^hich revolutionized 
 a world. He was buried in the mausoleima which he had 
 built as a portion of his vast palace. His mausoleum is now 
 the cathedral of the modern town of Spalato, a strange com- 
 mentary on his determination to blot out the very name of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The alliance between Constantine and Licinius only lasted 
 a year. Licinius, though he had feared to resist Constantine 
 while at Milan, was not in sympathy with Christianity, and 
 secretly girded against the measures regarding it to which 
 he was forced for political reasons to attach his name. Early 
 in 314 he found a pretext for a rupture of the alliance by 
 taking up the cause of Bassianus, brother-in-law of Constan- 
 tine 1 (against whom Bassianus had conspired), and in May 
 314 prepared for war. As before, Constantine did not wait 
 to be attacked. The task before him was sufficiently formid- 
 able ; for Licinius was no foe such as Maxentius had been, 
 and though vicious, cruel, and tyrannical, was the ablest 
 general of the day next to Constantine himself. But Con- 
 stantine in all his campaigns had one advantage over his 
 various opponents, viz. the devotion with which he inspired 
 his troops ; and this, together with his own talents in war, 
 was the main cause of his uninterrupted success. Taking 
 the initiative, he marched into Illyricum, and on the 8th 
 October, 314, the two armies, neither of them large, but led 
 by the two most capable commanders of the time, met at 
 Cibalae, in Pannonia. Constantine had 20,000 men, Licinius 
 nearly 40,000. The battle lasted all day, both sides fighting 
 with the utmost determination, until at length Constantine, 
 by his own personal valour, defeated the enemy's left wing, 
 which decided the battle. Licinius lost nearly 20,000 men 
 killed, and all his baggage, but he retreated in good order 
 towards Thrace. Constantine followed him, and a second 
 
 ^ He was also a brother-in-law of Licinius, having mcuried Con- 
 stantia's younger sister, Anastasia. 
 
 i! 
 
/--\ 
 
 CHAP 
 380 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUers other than religion) 
 
 battle between them was fought in November at Mardia in 
 Thrace, in which Constantine was again victorious ; and 
 Licinius surrendered. Constantine might if he had chosen 
 have taken the whole empire ; he, however, preferred to per- 
 mit the husband of his favourite sister to retain Asia Minor, 
 Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, contenting himself with 
 taking from Licinius the six provinces forming the European 
 portion of his dominions, and requiring him to conform to 
 his leadership in all things. Licinius little deserved this 
 leniency, for only two months later upon the wife and daughter 
 of Diocletian, the empresses Prisca and Valeria, falling into 
 his hands he put them both to death. 
 
 Diocletian's only child, the empress Valeria, had a singulariy 
 unhappy life. Secretly a Christian, she was in 292, at the age 
 of eighteen, forced by her father to marry the brutal and 
 illiterate shepherd of Dacia, Galerius, whom Diocletian had 
 chosen as his lieutenant, and who was the most bitter enemy 
 of her religion. After having during ten years been a faithful 
 and exemplary wife to the coarse and ferocious Galerius, 
 acting as a mother to his illegitimate son Candidianus, whom 
 (having no children of her own) she adopted, on the outbreak 
 of the persecution in 303, she was forced through fear of her 
 life to renounce Christianity. She had then for eight years 
 to be an unwilling spectator of her brutal husband's atrocious 
 cruelties towards the Christians (with whom she secretly 
 sympathized), the last of those years being made hideous by 
 his fury imder the torment of a loathsome disease. Two 
 years after his death, when Valeria was thirty-eight, she was 
 captured, at the taking of Byzantium, by the still more brutal 
 Maximin, who thereupon, attracted by her beauty and covet- 
 ing her possessions, proposed to divorce his wife and marry 
 Valeria. On her refusal he revenged himself by traducing 
 her reputation, put to death her most devoted friends and 
 servants, confiscated her estates, and condemned her and 
 her mother, the empress Prisca, to exile in a remote village 
 in the desert of Syria, her father Diocletian's request that she 
 might be allowed to join him at Salona being scornfully re- 
 fused by Maximin. A few months later she and her mother 
 heard of Diocletian's death, followed not long afterwards by 
 the news of the defeat and death of their oppressor Maximin. 
 
 xn] 
 
 ( 
 PRISCA AND VALERIA KILLED 
 
 't 
 
 381 
 
 Thereupon she and her mother were set at liberty by Licinius, 
 and proceeded to his court at Antioch. There Licinius at 
 first treated Valeria's adopted son Candi<^anus, who was 
 then twenty, with kindness ; but after a short time the sus- 
 picious disposition of Licinius caused him to put Candidianus 
 to death, upon which the two unfortunate empresses fled 
 from the court. They remained in hiding for about fifteen 
 months suffering various privations, but were eventually 
 seized at Thessalonica, where imder Licinius' orders Valeria, 
 then forty, was ruthlessly put to death, together with her 
 mother Prisca, their bodies being thrown into the sea. Truly 
 the only child of an emperor who ruled the whole world might 
 have expected to have a happier existence. 
 
 By the defeat of Licinius, which left Constantine in pos- 
 session of fourteen provinces out of eighteen, ^ and Licinius 
 with only the rule of four, and in an entirely subordinate 
 position, Constantine became virtually omnipotent over the 
 whole empire, Licinius being required to conform to all edicts 
 promulgated by him. Nor had this rapid rise of Constantine 
 to unlimited power in only nine years from the time that he 
 had joined his father in Britain been due to fortuitous acci- 
 dents, such as had to a large extent brought about the some- 
 what similar career of success of Augustus. Constantine's 
 advancement had throughout been won by his own unusual 
 abilities in war and by qualities of character which had made 
 him admired and trusted by all those whom he commanded. 
 Beginning at the age of eighteen as a subordinate officer in 
 the army of Diocletian, he had at the age of forty become 
 supreme over the whole of Europe and North Africa, and 
 virtually supreme over the whole empire. 
 
 (b) Matters concerning religion 
 
 When in 305 the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian 
 and the appointment of two fresh emperors in their place 
 
 1 The fourteen provinces of Augustus' time had since grown to 
 eighteen by the addition successively of Britain, Mauretania, Thrace, 
 and Mesopotamia. Dacia, added by Trajan, had been given up by 
 Aurelian. 
 
 M 
 
 [\ 
 
CHAP. 
 382 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUen concerning religion) 
 
 caused a general change of rulers in most of the provinces of 
 the empire, it might have been expected that a relaxation 
 of the persecution inaugurated by the emperors who had 
 abdicated would ensue. But it was not so. In the new 
 group of four emperors Galerius, the unrelenting enemy of 
 Christianity, took the lead, and throughout three of the four 
 sections of the empire his will was law ; while even in the 
 fourth section Constantius, though in character temperate 
 and disinclined to persecution, could not go so far as to re- 
 pudiate an edict which he himself had signed together with 
 the other three emperors. He, however, did his best to restrain 
 the fury of the populace against Christians and to protect 
 them as far as possible, and the number of martyrdoms in 
 Britain, Gaul, and Spain was far less than elsewhere.^ But 
 in the other three sections of the empire the furious destruc- 
 tion of Christians was pursued with even greater violence 
 now that Galerius had there become supreme. 
 
 Year after year the terrible persecution went on; and in 
 each community of Christians one after another was laid 
 in a martyr's grave by the sorrowing and weary-hearted 
 survivors, who saw no prospect before them but complete 
 extermination of themselves and their religion. Emperor 
 succeeded emperor ; rulers over provinces altered ; even 
 Galerius himself at length made an ineffectual attempt to stop 
 the persecution, and then died ; Caesars and Augusti changed, 
 but still the persecution continued. It was a case of the 
 general sentiment of the Roman world. 
 
 In the extreme west, however, there began after a time to 
 be a respite. There Constantine had succeeded his father, 
 and inheriting the latter's tolerant disposition, and not having 
 joined in signing any edict against the Christians, felt in no 
 way bound to persecute them, while his political antagonism 
 to Galerius made it natural for him to adopt an opposite 
 policy to that upon which Galerius was so strongly bent. 
 
 ^ That nevertheless a considerable number did tcUte place even in 
 the portion of the empire ruled by Constantius is shown by the fact 
 that whereas the Prayerbook of the Church of England only com- 
 memorates a very few out of all the martyrs in this persecution, yet 
 out of only eleven thus conmiemorated five (or neiurly one half) were 
 martyred in Gaul or Spain (see Chap. XI, p. 360, footnote). 
 
 II 
 
 ] 
 
 ST. EUPHEMIA 
 
 383 
 
 So that in Britain, Gaul, and Spain the persecution slackened. 
 But in the rest of the empire there was no respite. The con- 
 temporary writers Lactantius and Eusebius give terrible 
 pictures of the sufferings endured.^ - 
 
 " They were scourged till the bones were laid bare ; they were 
 racked ; they had molten lead poured over them ; the flesh was 
 pinched out of their bodies with iron pincers ; it was scraped off in 
 long furrows with toothed iron scrapers ; they were burnt at slow 
 fires, were cast to wild beasts, beheaded, drowned. Wild beasts, 
 and dogs, and birds scattered the human limbs in all directions, 
 and the whole city was spread with the entrails and bones of men ; 
 so that it was dreadful even to those who before had been most 
 hostile to us. These latter did not, however, lament the fate of 
 those against whom these things were done, but the nuisance to 
 themselves, and the shame caused to human nature." ^ 
 
 At the same time the destruction of churches, confiscation 
 of property, and burning of cherished records continued un- 
 ceasingly ; and it seemed as though there could never come 
 an end until, as Diocletian had said, the Christian name should 
 be entirely stamped out. 
 
 In the last year of the persecution there perished at Chalcedon 
 on the coast of Bithynia one who after the persecution was 
 over became in the eastern portion of the Church the most 
 honoured of all the martyrs next to St. George, viz. St. Euphe- 
 mia, martyred in 311, imder the emperor Licinius. She 
 was an unmarried and beautiful young Greek lady belonging 
 to Chalcedon. All the details of her martyrdom are known 
 with perfect certainty, as on her day about forty years after- 
 wards they were described in a sermon (still extant) preached 
 by Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, in Pontus. Becoming known 
 to be a Christian she was seized, shamefully beaten, struck 
 on the mouth with a wooden mallet, dragged before the 
 governor, and tortured. She was then thrown to the lions 
 in the amphitheatre of Chalcedon, and when they failed to 
 harm her was transfixed by a soldier with a sword. She was 
 so highly honoured that the name of Euphemia, Virgin and 
 Martyr, received the title of Great. And within 100 years 
 
 1 Lactantius in the time of Diocletian was a professor of rhetoric 
 at Nicomedia ; Eusebius in the time of Constantine was Bishop of 
 Caesarea in Palestine. 
 
 ■ Eusebius, Martyrs of Pdleatine, chap, ix. 
 
 
 

 CHAP- 
 384 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUers concerning religion) 
 
 after her death churches dedicated to her memory were built 
 in places as far apart as Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, 
 Milan, and Carthage ; showing that the circumstances of her 
 death were widely known to those who lived at the time. \ 
 
 At length, in the tenth year of the persecution, Constantine, 
 to forestall the attack upon him being prepared by Maxentius, 
 advanced to oppose the latter. And in each district which he 
 conquered on his way the persecution ceased ; so that though 
 Constantine was not a Christian, yet the toleration which he 
 accorded to Christianity caused the war between him and 
 Maxentius to assume the appearance of one between Chris- 
 tianity and Paganism. Crossing the Alps, and penetrating 
 further and further into Italy, gaining victory after victory, 
 Constantine's army rolled slowly southwards, advancing towards 
 the final battle outside Rome on which hung so great an issue 
 for Paganism, and Christianity, and the whole Roman world. 
 
 While on this march, a few days before the two armies met, 
 Constantine saw in the sky in broad daylight a luminous 
 cross, with above it the Greek words En touto nika (In this 
 sign conquer) ; and his troops are reported to have seen it 
 also.^ This amazing object in the sky, though it did not cause 
 Constantine's conversion to Christianity, as the ecclesiastical 
 writers afterwards asserted,* produced so powerful an effect 
 upon him that he caused the famous standard called the 
 Laharum ^ to be made, consisting of a cross and the Greek 
 
 1 Lactantius writing in 314, and Nazariiis (a Pagan) writing in 321, 
 together put the matter practically beyond any doubt ; while Eusebius 
 states that Constantine subsequently himself related this episode to him, 
 and attested it by a solemn oath (Eusebius, Vita Const, i, 28, 29, 30). 
 
 * The ecclesiasticid writers almost universally ascribe Constantino's 
 conversion to this event ; but historians are unanimous that he did 
 not personally embrace Christianity imtil much later in his life. 
 
 ^ The celebrated Laharum, or Standard of the Cross, subsequently 
 bore also the two initial letters of Christ's name. In the war with 
 licinius in 323 this consecrated banner had a great effect, inspiring 
 Constantine's troops with €ui invincible enthusiasm and producing 
 terror cvnd dismay in those of Licinius. Subsequently Christian em- 
 perors in edl their battles displayed this standard. Its safety was 
 entrusted to a permanent guard of fifty picked men, who received high 
 honours. After the emperors ceased to lecid their armies in person 
 the Labarum was kept as a venerated relic in the Imperial pcdace at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 xn] 
 
 THE EDICT OF MILAN 
 
 385 
 
 words which he had seen, which standard was carried at the 
 head of his army as it advanced against that of Maxentius, 
 and he resolved if he gained the victory to establish Christi- 
 anity instead of Paganism as the religion of the State. 
 
 A few days later the battle at the Milvian bridge was fought, 
 and Constantine entered Rome victorious, and thereupon 
 published his edict proclaiming the persecution at an end and 
 adopting Christianity as the religion of the State. The Baths 
 of Diocletian remain as the monument of the beginning of 
 the great persecution; the Arch of Constantine stands as 
 the monument of its unexpected ending. There foUowed, 
 in March 313, a further edict in greater detail called the " Edict 
 of Milan," laying down, in the joint names of the two emperors 
 of the East and West, the absolute freedom of Christianity, 
 ordering that all churches, lands, or other property which 
 had been taken from Christians were to be restored, that com- 
 pensation \^ as to be given out of the public funds to rebuild 
 churches or make good confiscated property, and exacting 
 from governors of provinces the strictest obedience in regard 
 to this restitution, and requiring them to see that it was 
 carried out thoroughly and without any delay, i 
 
 Constantine's Edict of Milan has scarcely received its just 
 credit. It is generally spoken of as the edict by which 
 Christianity was adopted as the rehgion of the Roman Empire. 
 But though this was its result, chiefly in consequence of the 
 manner in which Constantine carried out the principles it 
 laid down (while withdrawing all State support from Pagan- 
 ism), the edict itself did not enunciate any such statement, 
 
 1 The exact terms of this celebrated Edict of Milan were as follows — 
 (i) All men are granted freedom to follow whatever religion thev 
 choose. 
 
 (ii) The Christians are not to be persecuted, but given full Uberty to 
 
 follow the observances of their reKgion. 
 (iii) Their places of worship are to be restored to them. 
 (IV) If any one has bought such buildings, or received them as a 
 
 gift, they shall restore them at once to the Christians, and are 
 
 to receive compensation from the public treasury, 
 (v) The utmost diligence is to be observed in carrying out these 
 
 orders thoroughly and with promptness, 
 (vi) The terms of this edict are to be published everywhere, so that 
 
 all may know its provisions. 
 
 •■»'■ c c 
 
 H 
 
 h 
 
 1 
 
(i 
 
 CHAP. 
 386 JOINT EMPERORS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 but simply promulgated a principle of universal toleration 
 in matters of reUgion, its first clause being, " aU men are 
 granted freedom to follow whatever religion they choose.' 
 Constantine thus reversed the poHcy which had been so dis- 
 astrously adopted by Marcus AureUus/ and returned to that 
 principle of toleration in matters of reUgion which had, up 
 to the time of Marcus AureUus, been a fundamental principle 
 of the Roman Empire. Constantine's edict re-asserted this 
 principle, at the same time laying down a rule of toleration 
 more complete than had been promulgated before.* The far- 
 sightedness of his poUcy wiU be reaHzed when we reflect 
 that after the Roman Empire passed away this principle of 
 toleration laid down by Constantine did not become the rule 
 in Europe (either in Roman CathoHc or in Protestant coun- 
 tries) until no less than fourteen centuries afterwards. 
 
 Constantine during his subsequent reign fairly carried out 
 the principle he had laid down, refraining from persecution 
 of Paganism. There were however certain exceptions to 
 this ; he destroyed the temple of Venus on Mount Lebanon, 
 owing to the infamous and notorious immoraUty of those 
 who resorted to it ; and for the same reason he took similar 
 action at HeHopoUs, putting down the Ucentious worship 
 there. But these were cases in which his action will every- 
 where be considered justified, and with the exception of such 
 cases Constantine adhered to his principle as regards Pagamsm. 
 Late in his life he failed to be equaUy consistent as regards 
 Arianism after he adopted that form of beUef, employing the 
 power of the State to suppress unfairly the opposite party. 
 Upon the cessation of the long persecution the Roman 
 world, we are told, " went mad for a time." Prisons and 
 mines released their victims; forth from catacombs and 
 other hiding places came bands of those who had taken refuge 
 there ; troops of Christians were seen hastening to the ruined 
 churches ; and the streets were crowded with processions of 
 Christians of all ages singing hymns of thanksgiving. 
 
 A year later, after becoming by the defeat of Licinius in 
 314 virtually supreme over the whole empire, Constantine 
 
 1 Chap. VII, p. 268. 
 
 « Constantine characteristically asserted his reason for this action 
 to be to propitiate " whatever heavenly Deity exists.'* 
 
 xn] 
 
 GENERAL SENTIMENT REVERSED 
 
 387 
 
 issued a further edict to aU, of both East and West, in which 
 he exhorted them to embrace the Christian reUgion, but de- 
 su^d that it should be adopted by persuasion only. He 
 did not forcibly suppress the Pagan reHgion, but withdrew 
 from It aU State support, and discontinued the various sacri- 
 fices hitherto celebrated at the expense of the State And 
 Paganism rapidly dwindled away. 
 
 In this acceptance of Christianity by the Roman world 
 we have brought before us k remarkable phenomenon, one 
 which has passed unnoticed by the historians who have dealt 
 with this change in religion. For there is much more to be 
 seen m this exaltation of Christianity over Paganism than 
 the mere personal wiU of one man, even though that man 
 was the aU-powerful emperor of Rome. Roman emperors 
 m aU large questions affecting the social and religious life of 
 the people were exceedingly, and even astonishingly, careful 
 to make their edicts accord with the general prevailing senti- 
 ment ; and to Constantine it was speciaUy important at that 
 moment to do so, in order to establish firmly his newly ac- 
 quired position. Just as not even the power of Diocletian 
 could have caused so long and severe a persecution as re- 
 sulted from his edict in 303 had not that edict been in accord 
 with the general sentiment of mankind, so also, and in much 
 greater degree, not even the power of Constantine could have 
 brought about the general acceptance of Christianity ten 
 years later had this not also been in accord with the general 
 sentiment of mankind. It is quite plain that in both cases 
 both m the vehement effort to destroy Christianity and in 
 the adoption of a directly opposite course, each of these 
 two emperors in pubHshing his edict simply foUowed what 
 he knew to be the prevailing sentiment of the empire, adopt- 
 mg that course which he felt would be popular and so would 
 strengthen his position. Moreover so far as Constantine is 
 concerned this was notably the case ; i we find historians 
 unanimously asserting that Constantine's action was taken, 
 
 1 Except as regards the inhabitants of the city of Rome, for whose 
 opinion Constantine, with his wide outlook over the whole empire, cared 
 nothmg (see Chap. XIII, p. 414). ^ 
 

 CHAP 
 388 JOINT EMPERORS {Matters concerning religion) 
 
 not from any personal religious predilections of his own, but 
 entirely from motives of policy.^ 
 
 But if so this shows much. For it shows (and this is the 
 part of the matter which has not received notice from his- 
 torians) that, whereas nothing could have been more viru- 
 lent than the general hatred towards Christianity felt at the 
 time when Diocletian's edict was published, the unexpected 
 ending of his strenuous effort to destroy that religion was 
 brought about, not from any personal feelings on Constantine's 
 part, but because the general sentiment of mankind had become 
 reversed. Moreover this victory of Christianity would never 
 have remained permanent unless this had been the case. 
 
 This then is the remarkable phenomenon brought before us, 
 one truly marvellous. Religion is the one subject on which 
 rapid reversals of sentiment, embracing vast masses of mankind 
 simultaneously, never take place. The successors of Mahomed 
 were so well aware of this fact that they deliberately adopted 
 the policy of disseminating Mahomedanism by the power of 
 the sword, as the only means by which it could be rapidly, 
 and widely, spread. And yet in the case under notice we have 
 a change of sentiment so widespread as to embrace the whole 
 of the Roman Empire, and so complete as to be a direct rever- 
 sal of that which had prevailed only ten years before. It is 
 the greatest and most rapid reversal of sentiment in regard to 
 religion which the world has ever seen, and unique in history. 
 As to the cause which produced this total revolution in the 
 mental attitude of mankind, that is tolerably evident— viz. 
 the martyrdoms. There is simply no other cause to be found. 
 It was the sight, all over Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and 
 North Africa, in city after city, in every country, and in every 
 class of society, of example after example of this steadfast en- 
 durance of tortures and death that worked the final result. It 
 was this which made a dozen fresh converts spring up as the 
 result of each martyr's death ; it was this which gradually 
 
 * No reason such as that he " was attracted to Christianity by its 
 monotheism and imity," or any other reason of that kind, can have 
 prompted his action. It was undoubtedly deliberately taken because 
 he knew it would be popular. In fact, situated as he was at the time, he 
 would not have dared to take such a step had he not known that it 
 would be so. 
 
 xn] 
 
 GRANDEUR OF THE VICTORY 
 
 389 
 
 turned the most bitter hatred into reverence and affection ; 
 it was this which in ten years reversed the entire sentiment 
 of mankind. 
 
 And so the long battle of 250 years was ended. The contest 
 between absolute power and absolute weakness had terminated 
 m the victory of the latter. Nor was that greatest struggle 
 which the world has ever seen any bloodless campaign. The 
 battlefield had been aU Europe, and its soil had been drenched 
 with the blood of thousands of its bravest and noblest sons 
 and daughters. The slaughter had been all on one side ; yet 
 in the end the side which freely poured forth its blood, and 
 fought without using sword or spear, had won. 
 
 As one thinks of the long contest,— as one thinks of what 
 the power of Rome was like when the first battle took place 
 on that terrible night in June under Nero ; as one thinks of 
 aU the subsequent battles under Domitian, and Trajan and 
 Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, and Decius, and Valerian, 
 and Aurelian, and Carus, and Diocletian ; as one thinks of 
 aU the torments so bravely borne, not only by men and boys, 
 but even with greater bravery by women and girls ; as one 
 thinks of the firm confidence displayed by those who never 
 saw the final victory gained by their steadfast courage,— one 
 feels the majesty of this conflict, and the solemn grandeur of 
 the victory when at last the same city of Rome which had 
 seen the beginning of that conflict, and had witnessed so 
 many of these noble deaths, saw an emperor as powerful as 
 Nero proclaiming the once despised faith as the established 
 religion of the Roman world. ^ 
 
 1 It is the fashion in the present day to belittle and slur over the 
 persecutions of the Christians in the period from Nero to Constantino 
 a recent work deaUng with the history of this period even going so far 
 in this du-ection as to sum up the whole of these persecutions in a single 
 sentence stating that the Christians " suffered during this period some 
 shght and uregular repression." No doubt this tendency is in part 
 due to the exaggerated legendary character of much of the literature 
 on the subject ; and for that we have to thank the persecution of 
 Diocletian (see Chap. XI, p. 359). But to minimize is as unhistorical 
 as to exaggerate. In the foregoing pages the endeavour has been 
 to avoid all that is merely legendary while retaining aU that is his- 
 torical, and so to give a true picture of the case. 
 
 
CHAP, xn] 
 
 390 JOINT EMPERORS {MaUers concemirui religion) 
 
 Nevertheless Paganism must not be misjudged. It was 
 mistaken in its view that Christianity was a danger to the 
 empire ; and it was mistaken in the methods to which it 
 resorted in order to put this new religion down. But while 
 this was the case, we must not, because those methods revolt 
 us by their cruelty, do injustice to the Pagan emperors who 
 ordered these persecutions, or to the Roman governors who 
 carried them out. First, the method of force, and torture, 
 was the only one then known. Secondly, our feeling of 
 horror at such cruelties is purely modem, and one which 
 it was impossible that a population accustomed to the sights 
 of the amphitheatre could feel. Thirdly, quite as great 
 cruelties were committed, after Paganism had long passed 
 away, in the persecutions of Christians and of Jews carried 
 out by Christians during the Middle Ages, and with far less 
 excuse than the Pagan emperors had. And fourthly, the 
 Roman governors in carrying out these persecutions were 
 simply administering the law ; while during these persecutions 
 there are numerous examples of Roman governors striving to 
 the utmost of their power, not to evade the law, but to save 
 Christians from compelling them to enforce it. 
 
 These considerations will enable us to do justice to the 
 Pagan emperors and the governors under them in regard to 
 the ten terrible persecutions carried out during the 250 years 
 between the reign of Nero and that of Const antine. 
 
 PART III 
 
 Zenith of the Roman Empire 
 
 A.D.3 14-395 
 
 J 
 
 ;'( 
 
 HI 
 
CHAPTER XIH 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 314 — 337 
 
 FROM the time that in 314 Constantine the Great i became 
 supreme over fomi;een provinces, and virtually supreme 
 over the remaining four, there begins the period of the zenith 
 of the Roman empire, which now made its last and greatest 
 step forward. Founded and consolidated by Augustus, 
 gradually increased in power and prosperity by Tiberius and 
 Vespasian in the 1st century, and brought to a still higher 
 point by Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aure- 
 lius in the 2nd century, that empire after being weakened by 
 a series of incapable emperors had in the 3rd century suffered 
 fifteen years of disaster, humiliation, and confusion during 
 the time of Valerian and his son Gallienus, had then been 
 brought back again to order and dignity by Claudius II, 
 Aurelian, Tacitus, and Probus, and under Diocletian had been 
 raised to a condition of power and prosperity even surpassing 
 that of the best of the times which had preceded. It was now 
 during the 4th century to take a longer step forward than 
 ever before, reaching under Constantine, Valentinian, Gratian, 
 and Theodosius the highest point to which it ever attained. 
 As ruler over all Europe and North Africa Constantine 
 showed no relaxation of his activity. His exertions during 
 the preceding three years, — collecting a large army in Gaul, 
 bringing 80,000 men across the Alps, fighting four pitched 
 battles against the armies of Maxentius in three months, 
 publishing the Edict of Milan, and finally marching an army 
 to the East and fighting two more pitched battles against 
 
 1 Plate LV. Portrait-bust in the Uflfizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 393 
 
 r I 
 
394 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 Licinius, all in less than three years, — were enough to tax 
 the energy of any man ; but they did not exhaust that of 
 Constantine. He was perpetually on the move, inspecting 
 the frontier defences, exercising the troops, and visiting the 
 various countries under his rule to enquire into their adminis- 
 tration. Instead of occupying permanently either of his three 
 capitals, he resided during the period 314-323 successively ^ 
 at Treves, Milan, Sirmium, Aquileia, Thessalonica, and Naissus 
 (where his mother lived, and where he had been brought up 
 as a boy), and at most of these cities inaugurated the con- 
 struction of fine buildings, including several churches. ^ He 
 increased commerce by measures to protect trade, and began 
 a thorough reform of the administration on more enlightened 
 principles. The results of this unbounded energy were soon 
 apparent in the improved condition of the people of the many 
 countries under his rule. 
 
 Moreover there were now seen the first effects of the adop- 
 tion of Christianity as the religion of the State. There was 
 witnessed a legislation conceived in an entirely new spirit. 
 A long succession of edicts appeared, in the joint names of 
 Constantine and Licinius, reforming the laws by more humane 
 statutes regarding slaves, accused persons, widows, children, 
 and others upon whom the harsh laws of Pagan times had 
 pressed with great cruelty. Edict after edict poured forth, 
 abolishing the cruel punishment of crucifixion, forbidding 
 judges to inflict death unless the witnesses against the accused 
 
 * This constant change of residences must have entailed a good 
 deal of hardship upon Fausta, with a young and constantly increcis- 
 ing ffunily of small children, aM her six children being born during the 
 years 316-323. 
 
 * It was at this time (314) that in Palestine was built the fine new 
 church at Tyre (the earliest church of which we have any account), 
 some portions of which still remain. Eusebius gives a glowing 
 description of it. In front it had a large portico and beyond this an 
 atritimf from which three doors, covered with reliefs in bronze, led 
 into the nave and side aisles. Above the side aisles were galleries, 
 and the wooden bcdustrades of these were finely carved. The roof, 
 supported by granite colimms, was of cedar from Lebanon, and the 
 height of the arch in front of the apse (which still remains) is eighty 
 feet. The altar was surroimded with carved wooden railings, while 
 the portions of the pavement which remain are of many-coloured 
 marbles. 
 
PLATE LV 
 
 
 COXSTANTINE THE GrEAT. ' 
 
 Portrait-hust in the Vffizi gallery, Florence. 
 
 rev»rb'ilTS,;''r'n'',''!' ^'f.ll'"'' ""' '^'-"^^7'' «^'^ ^^'^P^^^ bv h.s predrce^,r.r Di-Kletian. The Christian emp?rors 
 rev.rt..-a to the custom of the e iip-rors of the i->t century of being clean- ihaven. 
 
 I 
 
TI.Aii: I A. 
 
 ( <)^^l.\^■ iiNi: rm. Cki.at. 
 
 J'"iti,tn-hii^t in the I'ljizi -ullnx. ib-rcmc 
 
 II' u. .11--. •■\,v hi- :,,,!■ h.iir. til.' .li.ci.iii. (ir-t .plM[.t.-.I 1). In- pn-.l,-, ,-,.,,• D,,,, !,. 
 
 -K' i',l. 
 
 "■Ill 'I'll'' Cliriiti-iij iiiiii rur-) 
 

 LEGISLATION NEW IN SPIRIT 
 
 395 
 
 are unanimous, prohibiting infanticide and the exposure of 
 children, making the private estate of the emperor liable for 
 the maintenance of all children whose fathers were shown to 
 be unable to support them,^ protecting women from insult 
 during judicial proceedings, abolishing the special taxes here- 
 tofore levied upon childless persons of both sexes, protecting 
 widows from oppression and Ultreatment, abolishing the 
 unlimited right of divorce, prohibiting the gladiatorial com- 
 bats,2 forbidding masters to torture their slaves, forbidding 
 families of slaves to be separated, giving facilities for the 
 emancipation of slaves, forbidding debtors to be tortured, 
 ordering that prisoners were no longer to be confined in the 
 dark and horrible dungeons hitherto used, but to be allowed 
 light and air, and not to be chained unless necessary for 
 security, forbidding governors to keep prisoners untried and 
 commanding all despatch to be used to bring them to trial, 
 prohibiting the imprisonment of persons without their first 
 being examined, and many other laws of a similar character ; 
 together also with edicts adopting Sunday into the public 
 life of the empire by forbidding " on that venerable day " 
 any civil act and any other work than pressing labours of 
 farming, ordering that Christian soldiers are on Sunday to have 
 leave from the parade of the rest of the troops in order that 
 they may attend the churches, forbidding private Pagan 
 ceremonies, and laying down that all Pagan ceremonies are 
 to be performed in the open day and in the recognized temples. 
 It may be realized what an immense change these altera- 
 tions in the laws, with the other results of Constantine's 
 energy, made in the condition of the people of the Roman 
 Empire, lifting them into a higher plane of civilization. The 
 prosperity of the empire as a whole, brought by Diocletian 
 to so high a pitch, had been but little affected by the battles 
 between Maximian and Severus in 307, Constantine and 
 Maxentius in 312, and Constantine and Licinius in 314, more 
 
 ^ Constantine issued this law in 316 from Naissus, his birth-place, 
 accompanied by a command that it was to be placarded in a con- 
 spicuous position in every city. One likes to think that his mother 
 Helena, who w€is with him there, may have instigated it. 
 
 2 By a special privilege the city of Rome weis exempted from this 
 law. 
 
396 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CfiA^. 
 
 xm] 
 
 HIGH IMPERIAL IDEAL 
 
 397 
 
 especially since these battles were confined to Italy and the 
 Danube provinces. And these various measures of Constantino 
 now advanced its condition far beyond that attained under 
 Diocletian. With the result that even the highly esteemed 
 state of happiness and prosperity in the times of the Antonine 
 emperors was entirely cast into the shade by that which now 
 supervened. 
 
 ' Referring to these measures, and their lasting effect upon 
 the world, Dean Stanley has said as follows : — 
 
 " Every one of these steps was a gain to the Roman Empire and 
 to mankind, such as not even the Antonines had ventured to 
 attempt, and of these benefits none has been altogether lost. Un- 
 doubtedly, if Constant iae is to be judged by the place which he 
 occupies amongst the benefactors of humanity, i he would rank, 
 not amongst the secondary characters of history, but amongst the 
 very first." 2 
 
 It is in the reign of Constantino that we at last see the 
 Roman Empire rising to the full height of the proper imperial 
 spirit,^ and find the head of the State no longer, as in the 1st 
 century, looking upon the empire as to be governed for the 
 benefit of the capital, and no longer, as even in the 2nd century, 
 looking upon it as a matter of Rome and its dependencies, 
 the welfare of the latter considered, but the city of Rome and 
 its glory still the foremost consideration. In this reign of 
 Constantino we see a higher stage reached, one which at length 
 justified the Roman Empire as worthy of the rule over so vast 
 a dominion. That rule could never be fully justified so long 
 as there was inequality, the outlying portions of the empire 
 being looked upon as inferior in any way to the capital. But 
 now at last we see the head of the State looking upon all por- 
 tions of the empire alike, governing in the spirit of " the 
 empire for the empire," and raising the whole of that great 
 empire of Rome to a higher plane by his wide and equal out- 
 look and his enlightened laws for the whole of its inhabitants, 
 and able to take into his consideration even the prisoners and 
 
 * But surely that is just the very test by which every great ruler 
 ought to be entirely judged. In any case, however, this verdict places 
 Constantine '* amongst the very first of all the benefactors of hiunan- 
 ity." 
 
 * Dean Stanley, Essay on Constantine. 
 
 « Chap. I, p. 18, and Chap. VI, p. 209. 
 
 slaves, whom no former emperor had considered worth a 
 thought. Moreover, the high imperial ideal which dignifies 
 the emperors of the period 314-395, shows that Constantine 
 planted a similar spirit in his successors.^ Thus at last after 
 three hundred years from the death of Augustus do we see 
 the Roman Empire for the first time rising to this true im- 
 perial spirit, and in doing so bringing mankind at large, not 
 in this city or in that, but everywhere, to an enlightened and 
 civilized condition such as it had never before attained. 
 
 It has previously been remarked that the leading char- 
 acteristic of the Roman race was its extraordinary power of 
 administering successfully a vast empire composed of many 
 widely different races. Its remarkable ability in this respect 
 had in the reign of Augustus been immortalized in Virgil's 
 words conveying the great command : — 
 
 " Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento." ^ 
 
 And from the time of Augustus onwards this characteristic 
 had been consistently demonstrated by a long succession of 
 emperors, until in the time of Constantine and his successors 
 in the 4th century this deservedly renowned characteristic 
 of the Roman race received its fullest demonstration. 
 
 Once only in all the centuries since then has any other race 
 demonstrated a similar power. The greatness of England is 
 never so apparent as when we observe the manner in which 
 she has grappled in her Indian empire with problems of govern- 
 ment similar to those which confronted the Roman Empire, 
 and study the results of that action in regard to a population 
 of three hundred milHons of people of widely different nation- 
 alities, results which may truly be called magnificent, and which 
 we may safely say (upon ample evidence) that no other 
 European race could have produced. And when we reflect 
 that this great empire of India is only one portion of England's 
 empire, and that in other portions of it she has been confronted 
 with problems of a totally diverse character, and has met 
 
 1 Besides the case of Constantine himself, this high ideal of their 
 duty as emperors is exempUfied also in Valentinian I, Gratian, and 
 Theodosius I (Chaps. XV and XVI). And even Constantius (Chap. 
 XIV), with all his faults in other directions, shows that he had 
 imbibed much of tliis spirit. 
 
 2 " Thou, Roman, remember to rule the nations imperially." 
 
398 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xm] 
 
 THE SARMATIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 399 
 
 them in an entirely different way, we may justly say that 
 great as was the ability of the Roman race for ruling a wide 
 empire, it has been surpassed by the abihty in that respect 
 which has been manifested by the British race. 
 
 In the first year of his reign Constantine was called upon 
 to deal with a dispute in religious matters ; and although this 
 was an entirely new sphere to him, he showed by the way in 
 which he dealt with the question the first sign of that same 
 wisdom in this respect of which eleven years later he gave 
 still stronger proof at Nicaea. The greatest schism in the 
 early Church was that of the Donatists, raised in North Africa 
 during the ages of persecution. It was not a dispute upon 
 any doctrinal question, but upon matters of Church discipline. 
 The rigid, enthusiastic spirit so common among the Christians 
 of North Africa impelled many of them into harsh and exag- 
 gerated methods and iUiberal judgments of their fellow Chris- 
 tians in times of persecution, and this eventually created an 
 extended schism. At length upon Christianity becoming a 
 religion recognized by the State the Donatists appealed to 
 Constantine to decide between them and their opponents. 
 Constantine referred the matter to a council of twenty Bishops, 
 who decided against the Donatists. But the latter, always 
 a turbulent sect, refused to accept the decision, and again 
 appealed to Constantine. Thereupon Constantine assembled 
 in 314 as many Bishops as he could gather from the countries 
 of the West to a Council at Aries, in southern Gaul, at which 
 200 Bishops were present, i This Council again decided 
 against the Donatists. The latter, being, like all sectarians, 
 determined only to accept a decision which was in favour 
 of their side in the dispute, then appealed to Constantine 
 to decide the question himself. Constantine, with much 
 patience, himself heard the whole case again, and came to the 
 same decision as the two councils of Bishops had done. But 
 the Donatists refused to accept this decision also ; after which 
 
 1 Together with Bishops from places in Gaul, Spain, Italy, and North 
 Africa, three British Bishops were present at this Council and signed 
 the proceedings, viz. Eborius, Bishop of York, Restitutus, Bishop of 
 London, and Adelphius, Bishop of Carleon-on-Usk. Regarding origin 
 of the British Church, which here first comes prominently into notice, 
 see Chap. VII, p. 262 (footnote). 
 
 refusal Constantine issued several edicts for their punishment. 
 The sect continued to exist in North Africa, condemned by 
 all the rest of the Church, but holding that the true Church 
 existed only in their own communion. It continued in North 
 Africa down to the time of St. Augustine in the 5th century, 
 always showing much turbulence, and creating much discord. 
 In the same year that this Coimcil took place at Aries, Treves, 
 the capital of the western section of the empire, was made 
 by Constantine a bishopric, its first Bishop being Agricius 
 of Antioch. 
 
 In 315 Constantine's son Crispus attained the age of seven- 
 teen, whereupon Constantine invested him with the rank of 
 Caesar y and despatched him to Treves to govern Gaul. Italy 
 was to Constantine but a secondary province ; in his eyes 
 Gaul was the principal province of the empire, being far more 
 important than Italy both from a military and a political 
 point of view. In Gaul Crispus in no long time gained much 
 credit in various encounters with the barbarian races on the 
 Rhine frontier. In the following year (316) when Crispus 
 was eighteen, the first of Fausta's children was born, a boy, 
 to whom was given the name of Constantine. 
 
 After Constantine had been for eight years occupied in the 
 various administrative labours which have earned for him 
 so much honour as a benefactor to mankind he in 322 had 
 once more for a short time to turn to the labours of war. In 
 that year the Sarmatians of Lake Mseotis ^ made an incursion 
 into lUyricum ; whereupon Constantine took the field against 
 them, and in a short but stubbornly fought campaign de- 
 cisively defeated them, and forced them to an ignominious 
 retreat and the surrender of all the prisoners and spoil which 
 they had taken. This however did not satisfy Constantine's 
 indignation at their having dared to invade the Roman Em- 
 pire. He repaired Trajan's bridge over the Danube, and 
 followed them into Dacia, penetrating into the most difficult 
 parts of the country and inflicting a severe vengeance, until 
 they abjectly implored his forgiveness. He then consented 
 to make peace on condition that they shotdd supply the Roman 
 army permanently with 40,000 men, by which he gained a 
 valuable fresh recruiting ground, while the Sarmatian Goths, 
 
 * The Sarmatians were sometimes called Sarmatian Goths. 
 
 1 
 
400 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 after they had thus felt his power, remained always strongly 
 attached to Constantine and his house. 
 
 A common view put forward by non-military historians has 
 systematically condemned the Roman emperors of this period, 
 and in particular Constantine, for taking into the Roman 
 army large numbers of men of the northern races, either from 
 within or without the borders of the empire, and has even 
 declared this action to have been one of the causes of the 
 eventual destruction of that empire.^ The idea is altogether 
 erroneous. A great empire must for the reason previously 
 noted, 2 include in its army men from all races with fighting 
 instincts which become absorbed into the empire, and also 
 must recruit its army from the best fighting material it can 
 obtain, and cannot afford to enlist inferior fighting material 
 merely to gratify the vanity of those who do not evince soldierly 
 qualities.^ And so long as its military arrangements are 
 conducted with judgement and discretion such an empire 
 can boldly obtain some of that fighting material from warlike 
 races beyond its frontier without any danger, and with much 
 advantage.* 
 
 In the following year (323) Licinius, cruel and tyrannical, 
 girding at the subordinate position assigned to him, still per- 
 sonally in sympathy with Paganism, ^ and secretly resenting 
 the changes in the laws which he was forced by Constantine 
 from time to time to promulgate in their joint names, resolved 
 again to try the fortune of war. Quitting his capital of Nico- 
 
 1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, II, xvii, 324-325. Gibbon's statements 
 in tliis respect, primarily enunciated in order to aim yet another blow 
 at Constantine, have been followed by all other wTiters, thus creating 
 a theory which has become time-honoured. 
 
 * Chap. VI, p. 214. 
 
 * The Roman contemporary writers, on whose authority Gibbon 
 relies in putting forward the view in question, belonged to just this 
 class, and naturally were loud in their condemnation of a military 
 policy which offended their vanity. But, £is noted, a great empire, 
 with formidable foes to meet from time to time in battle, cannot afford 
 to weaken its military strength in order to gratify vanity of this kind. 
 And Constantine and his successors rightly disregarded these clamours. 
 
 * In India some of our best fighting troops, e.g. the Pathans and 
 the Gurkhas, to a man come from beyond the frontier of the British 
 empire. 
 
 ^ He surreptitiously persecuted Christians in various ways. 
 
 xm] 
 
 WAR WITH LICINIUS 
 
 401 
 
 media, and crossing the Bosphorus, he encountered Con- 
 stantine on the 3rd July, 323, at Hadrianople, the latter 
 bringing into the field 130,000, and Licinius 160,000 men. 
 Licinius drew up his forces behind the river Tonzus and 
 awaited Constantine's attack. Constantine, having collected 
 materials and made a bridge over the river, took 5000 picked 
 men under his own personal command and marched up the 
 river to a ford of which he had heard. There, concealed by 
 a wooded hill, he crossed the river with this force, returned 
 by the opposite bank, and falling suddenly upon the enemy's 
 right flank drove them back, and seized a position covering 
 the bridge he had made, by which the rest of his army then 
 crossed. A severe battle ensued in which Constantine was 
 wounded, but he defeated Licinius, who, after suffering a loss 
 of 34,000 men, retreated to Byzantium, which city Constan- 
 tine then besieged ; and upon his capable eldest ^on Crispus, 
 by this time twenty-five, defeating the fleet of Licinius in the 
 Hellespont the latter retreated across the Bosphorus into 
 Bithynia. There he collected another army, but was in 
 September 323 totaUy defeated by Constantine at Chrysopolis ; 
 by which victory the rule of Licinius over the four provinces 
 which he had been allowed to retain in 314 came to an end. 
 Constantia interceded with her brother for her husband's life, 
 and Licinius was pardoned, ^ resigned the purple, and was 
 given a place of residence at Thessalonica. There, however, 
 in the following year he entered into a conspiracy against 
 Constantine, and by a decree of the Senate was sentenced to 
 death and executed in the same city where he had cruelly 
 put to death the wife and daughter of Diocletian, even his 
 wife Constantia showing no resentment at his death. 
 
 Constantine has been accused by some writers of having 
 been guilty of the basest treachery towards Licinius in this 
 matter, it being declared that after granting Licinius his life 
 he caused him to be put to death on a false charge. But later 
 authorities consider it unlikely, especially in view of Con- 
 stantine's character, that after sparing Licinius in the heat 
 of victory he should, a year afterwards, have murdered him 
 in cold blood, or that in that case Constantia, at whose re- 
 
 1 This being the second time that Constantine had forgiven his 
 attempts against him. 
 
 E.W. jj jj 
 
 Ml. 
 
 :|i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 402 
 
 constantine the great 
 
 quest Constantine had granted Licinius' life, should have 
 shown no resentment for his death, and are of opinion that 
 Licinius, whose vicious and intriguing character is well-known, 
 and whose many cruelties rendered him undeserving of any 
 further mercy, must have provoked his fate by some such 
 conspiracy as was alleged, even though the evidence proving 
 his guilt upon which the Senate passed its decree has not 
 been preserved. This seems more logical than the earlier 
 theory, which imputed to Constantine treacherous conduct 
 at variance with all the rest of his history. ^ 
 
 The final victory over Licinius closed Constantine's military 
 career. After many previous achievements against the 
 Persians, the Franks, and other barbarians, he had in eleven 
 years fought eight pitched battles, not against untrained 
 barbarians, but against Roman legions equal to his own troops 
 in discipline and training, and led by Rome's most experienced 
 commanders, and had in each of these battles been victorious, 
 most of his victories being won, against superior numbers, by 
 his own personal bravery and skill as a commander in war ; 
 and through this long series of victories he had now become, 
 actually as well as virtually, the sole ruler of the entire Roman 
 world. 
 
 Constantine the Great, after the defeat of Licinius reigned 
 as sole emperor for fourteen years. The degree of military 
 strength to which he gradually brought the empire kept the 
 
 1 The suggestion that Constantine, though he had given Licinius 
 his life, nevertheless deprived him of it " soon afterwards *' on a false 
 charge, comes, of course, from Gibbon, whom other historians have 
 followed. Gibbon is here distinctly disingenuous. Upon the bare 
 fact that while there was a decree of the Senate for the execution of 
 Licinius, there was no record of the evidence which convinced the 
 Senate of Licinius' guilt, he puts forward the suggestion against Con- 
 stantine which on his authority other writers have followed as if it 
 were a fact. To assist his point he even speaks of Licinius' death hav- 
 ing followed '* soon " after his Hfe was granted, suppressing the fact 
 that it was a year afterwards. Moreover one, at all events, of the 
 contemporary writers, Sozomen, asserts positively that Licinius fuid 
 entered into such a conspiracy, and consequently that the charge was 
 not a false one. 
 
 xin] 
 
 MILITARY STRENGTH INCREASED 403 
 
 barbarian tribes from attempting any attacks ; i while his 
 temperate exercise of authority, and a general poUcy on his 
 part far more enlightened than any which the inhabitants of 
 the Roman Empire had hitherto experienced, made his rule 
 so generaUy approved that universal tranquillity prevailed, 
 giving him leisure to inaugurate and perfect those great ad- 
 ministrative measures which have gained him even more 
 lasting renown than that due to his long succession of un- 
 wonted military achievements. Diocletian had found the 
 task of administering so vast an empire too great for one man ; 
 Constantine did not find it so, even though carrying out far- 
 reaching changes greatly surpassing any which Diocletian 
 had made. 
 
 His first care was of course the army. Well knowing, by 
 his experience of thirty years during which he had frequently 
 met them in battle, how increasingly strong the northern 
 races were becoming, and that the higher the standard of 
 civiHzation within the empire grew the greater became the 
 necessity of protecting that civiHzation from the masses of 
 barbarian enemies ever ready to wreck it, he recognized that 
 unremitting attention must be given to maintaining and even 
 increasing the empire's military power. The same degree 
 of strength which had sufficed in former generations would 
 not now serve to protect the empire from the foes who pressed 
 with such weight upon its northern frontier, not only because 
 these latter had become so much more numerous, but also for 
 two other reasons. First, the barbarian races in their many 
 contests with the Roman army during the preceding 150 years 
 had learnt many methods in war from their Roman opponents, 
 making them much more formidable in battle than they had 
 been when first encountered in the time of Marcus Aurelius. 
 And secondly, the Franks, 2 the Allemanni, the Vandals, and 
 other northern races had since been reinforced by the Goths, 
 a nation of warriors, more brave, more skilled in war, and in 
 every way more formidable than such races as the Dacians, 
 
 1 Except on one occasion when an invasion of Mcesia by the Goths 
 was promptly defeated. 
 
 2 The Franks were the same tribe whom the Romans earUer in their 
 history had known as the Chatti, the tribe so prominent in many of 
 the earUer wars of the Romans, especially in the reign of Tiberius. 
 
 \l 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 404 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 
 the Marcomanni, and the Quadi who had formed the chief 
 opponents of the Roman army in the times of Trajan and 
 Marcus Aurelius. And these Goths during the seventy years 
 since their victory over the emperor Decius had often tested 
 their strength against the trained legions of Rome, and had 
 several times triumphed over them ; while their numbers 
 were ever being increased as fresh tribes of them migrated 
 westwards from Scythia. 
 
 Seeing clearly therefore how necessary it was, if the civiliza- 
 tion of Rome was not to be wrecked by these powerful foes, 
 to pay increasing attention to military efficiency, Constantino 
 sought in every way to improve the fighting power of the 
 army. He increased its numbers, bringing its total strength 
 up to 680,000 men.i He added to the number of forts and 
 fortified camps along the frontier until these forts reached the 
 immense total of 583. And he established a fleet of war 
 vessels which constantly patrolled the Rhine and the Danube. 
 By these measures, by insisting on the strictest discipline, and 
 by maintaining a high standard of training, Constantino 
 brought the Roman Empire to a pitch of military strength 
 such as it had never before possessed. The army 
 which could twice over inflict crushing defeats upon the 
 Franks, which could fight such a campaign as that of 322 against 
 the Sarmatians, defeating them in Illyricum, following them 
 into Dacia, and in that difficult country rapidly bringing them 
 to entire subjection, and which could so completely crush the 
 formidable invasion made by the Goths in 332, ^ was infinitely 
 superior to the armies which had striven (often so ineffectually) 
 against the Persians, the Marcomanni, and the Quadi in the 
 time of Marcus Aurelius, and even to the troops led by Claudius, 
 Aurelian, Probus, and Diocletian. Nor was this all ; towards 
 the end of his reign Constantino carried out a sweeping change ^ 
 in the entire organization of the Roman army which fully 
 doubled the fighting power it had possessed in 322. 
 
 Few men have possessed unusual abilities in so many direc- 
 tions as Constantino the Great ; but the one characteristic 
 in him which overshadows all others is far-sightedness. And 
 
 1 Instead of the 370,000 men which was its total strength in Trajan's 
 time. 
 
 » Page 429. ^ Page 427. 
 
 m^ 
 
 xm\ 
 
 SIX PRINCIPAL ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 405 
 
 during the fourteen years that he reigned as sole emperor he 
 carried into effect six principal achievements, all of them so 
 far-sighted in character that every one of them still continues 
 in operation, notwithstanding all the changes in the conditions 
 of Europe which have since taken place. These six principal 
 achievements (mentioning them in chronological order) were : — 
 
 (i) The elevation of the whole standard of civilization and 
 enlightenment of mankind to a higher plane. 
 
 (ii) The settlement of the future relations between Church 
 and State. 
 
 (iii) The assembly of the First General Council of the Church, 
 thereby bringing about a decision for all time on a 
 fundamental point vital to the permanence of the 
 Christian reUgion. 
 
 (iv) The founding of Constantinople as the capital of the 
 empire. 
 
 (v) The separation of the civil, military, and ecclesiastical 
 functions of government. 
 
 (vi) The organization of the army on new principles. 
 
 Regarding the first of these achievements, some of the ways 
 in which this great change was effected have already been 
 mentioned, together with the comment on them made by a 
 high authority, 1 and fresh edicts with the same object were 
 continually being promulgated. No one who studies the 
 legislative enactments of Constantino can fail to be struck 
 by the immense advance on the part of the State which followed 
 at once the change in the professed religion of the people. 
 The whole standard of public morality as expressed in these 
 laws has the appearance of being on an altogether higher plane 
 than it had occupied even under the best emperors of former 
 times. This new legislation, in entirely abolishing many 
 cruel laws of the Pagan epoch, in making others more humane, 
 and in giving much-needed protection to the weakest and 
 most oppressed classes, such as women, children, slaves, and 
 prisoners, taught the whole community a higher level of 
 sentiment in this respect. Nor was this great change confined 
 to Constantino's lifetime, this more humane kind of legis- 
 lation being continued by his successors. And its effect was 
 
 1 Pages 394-396. 
 
 Biihii ' n 
 \ 
 
 P 
 
 I 
 
406 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CBAP, 
 
 i 
 
 Ft 
 
 to make the whole standard of civilization and public morality 
 from this time forth so superior to any the Roman people had 
 known under even the best of the Pagan emperors that the 
 difference can only be compared to that between light and 
 darkness.^ 
 
 The second of Constantine's principal achievements related 
 to a question which presented great difficulties, the position 
 being an entirely new one. The acceptance of Christianity 
 as the religion professed by the State was but the beginning 
 of a vast piece of work. First, and before all else, arose the 
 question of what were henceforth to be the relations of the 
 State and the Church. It was a difficult problem, made all 
 the more difficult by the fact that hitherto the emperor had 
 been the head and High Priest of the State religion ; and it 
 is a proof of Constantine's statesmanlike wisdom that it was 
 solved by him on such sound lines. He adopted the prin- 
 ciple that the Church must scrupulously " render unto Caesar 
 the things that are Caesar's," and that the State must as 
 scrupulously abstain from interference in spiritual concerns. 
 And it was due to his acting during all the earlier part of his 
 reign on this principle that so immense a change was carried 
 out with so little friction. But besides this primary point 
 there were an infinite number of secondary questions of many 
 kinds involved in such a fundamental change which pressed 
 at once for settlement. Consequently we find numerous 
 instructions issued by Constantine to the provinces, either 
 in the east or west, dealing with many matters in which re- 
 ligion and civil duties intermingled, instructions which all 
 show much common-sense and breadth of view. In this 
 portion of the work Constantine showed his wisdom by taking, 
 as his adviser in all matters relating to the establishment of 
 Christianity as the State religion, Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, 
 the leading Bishop at that time in the Christian Church, and 
 universally reverenced for his character, sound sense, and long 
 experience ; and it was undoubtedly largely owing to the 
 wise advice of Hosius that this great change in religion 
 was so smoothly accomplished. 
 
 * As to the effect in only forty years, see Chap. XIV, pp. 479-480 ; 
 while as to the effect in eighty years, see Chap. XVI, pp. 581-584. 
 
 H' 
 
 xni] 
 
 FIRST GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 407 
 
 The third of these six principal achievements also had 
 reference to religion. Finding that a widespread controversy, 
 originated by Arius, a priest of Alexandria, was tearing the 
 Christian Church asunder, Constantine set himself to bring 
 it to an end. At first, not understanding, with his limited 
 knowledge of Christianity, the nature of the dissension, he 
 addressed a letter to the disputants, treating the controversy 
 as a mere difference about words, and urging all to peace and 
 unity. But when further knowledge showed him that the 
 question was not of this unimportant character, but con- 
 cerned a point of vital importance to the Christian religion, 
 Constantine with his usual long-sighted sagacity summoned 
 in 325 a general council of the Bishops (the Church by represen- 
 tation) to determine the point, fixing Nicsea, in Bithynia, 
 as the place for its meeting ; thus assembling the First General 
 Council. Constantine in summoning this Council did not 
 limit it even to the Roman Empire, but with a wide breadth 
 of view invited also Bishops from Armenia, Persia, and even 
 from among the Goths, ^ to attend it. This General Coimcil 
 being the first, and its decision having had a lasting eiffect, 
 it is more necessary to consider fully its action than is the 
 case with subsequent General Councils. 
 
 The Council met early in July 325 at Nicsea, situated at 
 the head of the long, tranquil, inland lake called the Ascanian 
 Lake, the city being built somewhat after the same plan as 
 Antioch,2 and being surrounded by sloping hills covered 
 with chestnut woods. The Council destined to be of such 
 transcendent importance in the history of the Church was 
 held in the principal basilica of Nicaea, and was attended by 
 318 Bishops.3 They were accompanied by a number of 
 priests and deacons, making up the number of the whole 
 assemblage to about 2000. Excepting only Britain and 
 Illyricum, all the eighteen provinces of the empire were repre- 
 
 1 Many of the Goths had been converted to Christianity by Chris- 
 tian captives carried back by them in their raids on the Roman Empire 
 during the time of Valerian and his successors, and a Church had been 
 organized among the Goths. 
 
 2 Chap. Ill, p. 116-117. 
 
 3 Some modem authorities put the number at about 300. The 
 point is inamaterial, the material point being that all parts of the empire 
 were represented. 
 
408 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 sented, the council being composed of Bishops from Italy, 
 Spain, Sicily, Gaul, Rhaetia, Noricum, Moesia, North Africa, 
 Egyp*'» Ethiopia, Libya, Cyprus, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, 
 Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, the Crimea, and 
 four from among the Goths beyond the Danube. Not a few 
 of these Bishops bore the scars of mutilations which they 
 had suffered in the recent persecution, one of them limping 
 from having been ham-strung, and two of them having had 
 the right eye dug out with a sword and the empty socket 
 seared with a red-hot iron. It is noticeable that neither 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, the imperial city, nor Theognis, 
 Bishop of Nicaea itself, though they were both present, was 
 chosen to preside, but Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, the most 
 revered Bishop of the time. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea,^ 
 who was present, gives a minute description of the scene, as 
 well as of Constantine's appearance, dress, and behaviour. 
 When all were seated the main door was thrown open and 
 Constantine entered, accompanied by some members of the 
 court, but without any armed guard, and advanced slowly up 
 the hall to the gold chair which had been placed for him at 
 the upper end, where he stood and prepared to address the 
 unique assembly he had called together. It wiU be interest- 
 ing to take a look for a moment at the man who in twenty 
 years had conquered the whole world ; to stand, as it were, 
 within the door of this old hall in Nicsea on that 6th July, 325, 
 and see what Constantine — ^the man who by his own abilities 
 had won the hard-fought battles of Turin, Verona, Saxa Rubra, 
 Cibalae, and Hadrianople — looked like as he stood there about 
 to open the first council of the whole Church which had ever 
 taken place. 
 
 The young and handsome soldier whom we saw standing on 
 Diocletian's right hand twenty-eight years before had now 
 at the age of fifty-one grown into a most noble-looking man. 
 The chief characteristic of his face was his large and well- 
 opened eyes, which flashed with an unusual brightness when 
 he was excited. Instead of the close-cut hair and beard of 
 
 ^ Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, has to be distinguished at this 
 period from Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, the latter a man of greater 
 importcuice as Bishop of the imperial capital, Nicomedia. 
 
 xin] 
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS OPENED 
 
 409 
 
 preceding emperors he wore his auburn-coloured ^ hair long 
 but carefully arranged, and was clean-shaven. He was tall 
 and well proportioned, and Eusebius says on this occasion 
 wore a robe of purple, embroidered all over with gold and 
 coloured flowers and sparkling with gems, and on his head a 
 light helmet, encircled by the jewelled diadem. With his 
 embroidered robes and flashing jewels in the midst of the 
 white-robed assembly of Bishops he presented a splendid 
 appearance, 2 a fitting embodiment of the power and majesty 
 of the Roman Empire.^ 
 
 Constantine, having opened the proceedings with a short 
 and dignified speech in Latin, which was translated sentence by 
 sentence into Greek, then left the assembled Bishops to decide 
 the question at issue, remaining present, however, to listen 
 to the proceedings. Arius*was repeatedly heard in defence of 
 his opinions, the chief speakers on the other side being Marcel- 
 lus. Bishop of Ancyra, and Athanasius, archdeacon of Alexan- 
 dria (then about thirty years old), who was allowed to speak 
 on behalf of his Bishop, Alexander, who was present but too 
 infirm to speak ; though Athanasius, not being a Bishop 
 
 1 It is curious to speculate whether the great Roman emperor Con- 
 stantine, the greatest of all the Roman emperors, may not himself 
 have had Gothic blood in his veins. His auburn hair raises a suspicion 
 that it may have been so. Helena, a native of a province often 
 ravaged by the Goths, may easily have been half a Goth. But we know 
 too little about her origin and circumstances to base any theory thereon. 
 
 * Eusebius says, " Uke the appearance of an angel '* ; the Byzantine 
 ideal of an angel being a figure expressing power and majesty, attired 
 in the hues of the rainbow, and adorned with jewels. 
 
 ^ Gibbon has sneered at Constantine for showing Eastern effeminacy 
 in wearing such robes. But Constantine was doing nothing more than 
 in our day, for instance, a King of England does when he opens Par- 
 hament. And Constantine was opening a parliament, a most impor- 
 tant one, and gathered, not from one country, but from almost the 
 whole known world. 
 
 * Arius was a native of Libya. He had previously joined the schism 
 of Meletius, had abandoned it, had again taken to it, and then had 
 again returned to the Church, and been given a parish in Alexandria. 
 He was exceedingly eloquent, clever, and plausible, and very subtle 
 in his argmnents. As one means of popularizing his opinions he 
 composed songs on all kinds of subjects, adapted to popular tunes, 
 introducing here and there into these songs a sentence upon the 
 nature of God which embodied his peculiar opinions. 
 
 I 
 
 ilii 
 
 ii 
 
CHAP. 
 
 410 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 xm] 
 
 THE NICENE CREED 
 
 411 
 
 had no vote. Briefly the controversy was this. Anus main- 
 tained that Christ was a created being, and not equal to God 
 the Father. He did not go so far as to say that Christ was 
 simply a man ; but he argued that, though higher than the 
 angels, He was a created being, and that there was a time, 
 though infinitely remote, when He did not exist. The 
 view put forward by Arius, containing as it did a doctrine 
 easier to grasp than the mystery of the Holy Trinity, com- 
 mended itself to the illiterate and all those incapable, through 
 lack of study of their religion, of understanding what such a 
 theory involved. On the other hand those who opposed 
 Arius pointed out that his view was inconsistent with the 
 fundamental doctrine of Christianity, the Divinity of Christ, 
 and that while Arius was at Uberty to hold what opinions he 
 chose, he was not at liberty to teach that this was the Christian 
 religion. It was to determine which of these two views was 
 the true Christian religion that the Coimcil was assembled. 
 
 After hearing all that could be advanced on either side the 
 Council proceeded to give its decision. The manner in which 
 this was arrived at was a remarkable one. At first sight it 
 might be supposed that the course adopted by such a Coimcil 
 would be to settle by argument which of the two views appeared 
 to the majority of the Council to be the true one, guided by 
 all passages in the Gospels bearing on the subject. It is the 
 method which would commend itself to every ordinary court 
 or council. Instead of this, however, the Council proceeded 
 on quite different lines, and based its decision on another 
 foundation than that of individual opinions on a deep theolo- 
 gical queston. The Bishops were not asked to be theologians ; 
 each was simply asked to reply to a plain question of fact, 
 viz. whether or not the beUef put forward by Arius was that 
 which had been held in the diocese of such Bishop " from the 
 first " (i.e. from the time of the Apostles), or whether it was 
 something new. 
 
 It is quite unknown how such a method came to be adopted, 
 or at whose suggestion ; but we can see at once how infinitely 
 superior for the purpose it was to the ordinary one. It is 
 obvious that decisions on such momentous subjects, likely 
 to affect large masses of mankind for many generations, require 
 to possess absolute certainty of correctness. Mankind needs 
 
 to feel certain that the decision, whichever way it be, gives 
 the true answer to the debated question. The individual 
 opinions of a certain number of Bishops assembled in Council 
 that a certain doctrine approved itself to them as representing 
 the true meaning of the various passages in the Gospels bearing 
 on the subject would be very far from having this certainty. 
 Subsequent ages, coming as they might suppose to fuller know- 
 ledge, would consider it quite right to set such a decision aside 
 as of no value. On the other hand the duly authenticated fact 
 that a certain doctrine had been held undeviatingly " always, 
 everywhere, and by all " from the time when the Apostles 
 preached was practically absolute proof that it was the reUgion 
 taught by them, and therefore the true one ; while the fact 
 that a doctrine was now propounded for the first time, and 
 contradicted that which had been held from the first, was 
 sufficient, in view of the circumstances, to prove that it was 
 not the true one. 
 
 The decision was given with overwhelming authority ; 
 the whole number of Bishops except four (in the end reduced 
 to two 1) gave their verdict that the doctrine put forward 
 by Arius was not that which had been held in their dioceses 
 from the first, but on the contrary was opposed to it ; where- 
 upon Arius* doctrine was declared by the General Coimcil to 
 be a " heresy ", i.e. not the Christian religion. And since the 
 Apostles' Creed did not touch the point (as was shown by \U 
 being subscribed to by Arius himself), the well-known Nicene 
 Creed (or Creed of Nicaea) was drawn up, to prevent the Arian 
 doctrine from ever again being supposed to be the Christian 
 religion,2 and as a shield to protect all unlettered or partially 
 instructed persons in the future against non-Christian, but 
 pretended Christian, teaching on the central doctrine of 
 Christianity. The value to mankind which this creed has 
 proved is beyond estimation. It gave mankind a firm stand- 
 point when again and again in the centuries that follow ed 
 arose others who like Arius propounded view s which militated 
 
 1 From the borders of the Libyan desert. 
 
 « This it does in particular by the words, " not created, being of 
 one substance with the Father.'* Round the Greek word which after 
 much argument was chosen by the Council, homo-ousion (of one sub- 
 atance), a long and severe conflict raged for two centuries afterwards. 
 
 ) i 
 
 ; '5 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 412 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 
 against the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, the Divinity 
 of Christ. But it was only after seven generations had fought 
 in its defence that all Europe was finally won over to reject 
 all deviations from the faith defined in the venerable creed 
 of Nicsea. 
 
 " The creed drawn up at Nicaea is still recited in its original 
 tongue by the peasants of Greece. Its recitation is still the 
 culminating point of the service of the Church of Russia. The great 
 bell of the Kremlin tower sounds during the whole time that its 
 words are chanted. It is repeated aloud in the presence of the 
 assembled people by the Czar at his coronation. It is worked in 
 pearls on the robes of the highest dignitaries of Moscow.^ 
 
 In this creed is used the word " Catholic," ^ a name which 
 from this time onwards becomes an important one in the 
 history of all the succeeding centuries. It was the name 
 adopted to denote those who adhere to what has been held 
 *' from the first," in opposition to aU innovations, whether 
 that of Arius, or others which made their appearance in subse- 
 quent centuries.^ 
 
 The above shows what the Council of Nicsea did in regard 
 to the question upon which it was assembled.* But to see 
 how far-reaching was the effect of Constantine's action it is 
 necessary to glance at what took place subsequently with 
 reference to this doctrine. For though the views of Arius 
 and his party were thus declared not to be the Christian 
 religion, Arianism spread largely during the next two cen- 
 turies, when it showed how fundamentally it was opposed to 
 many of the chief points of the Christian religion.^ Event- 
 ually, however, after a conflict lasting through seven genera- 
 tions, it was finally vanquished in the 6th century. Had 
 
 * Dean Sttmley, Lectures on the Eastern Church. 
 
 * In the words, " I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church.'* 
 
 » It has to be carefully distinguished from *' Roman Caihohc," a 
 name adopted in modem times to denote that body among the Catho- 
 lics who adhere to the Pope of Rome, and first used at the Coiuicil of 
 Trent in the 16th century. It is therefore illiterate to use the word 
 ** Catholic " as synonymous with *' Roman CathoUc." 
 
 * The Council also gave decisions on a number of secondary matters. 
 These will be foimd dettdled in Appendix VI. 
 
 » It was seen to overturn belief in the sinfulness of sin, the value 
 of the Atonement, the love of God to man, the exaltation of man's 
 humanity in Christ, and many other chief doctrines of Christianity. 
 
 V 
 
 xm] 
 
 CRISPUS 
 
 413 
 
 it survived universally nothing that could be called Christianity 
 would have existed in Europe by the time the 19th century 
 was born. 
 
 Constantine had been twice married. By his first wife 
 Minervina he had one son, Crispus ; and by his second wife 
 Fausta he had now three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and 
 Constans, and three daughters, Constantia, Constantina, and 
 Helena. His three half-brothers, Julius Constantius, Del- 
 matius, and Hannibalianus, were without ambition and took 
 no part in public affairs. His three half-sisters were Constan- 
 tia, the widow of Licinius, Anastasia, the widow of Bassianus, 
 and Eutropia, married to a distinguished senator, Nepotianus. ^ 
 
 Crispus, Constantino's eldest son, possessed conspicuous 
 abilities. To the reputation he had gained in Gaul he had 
 greatly added by the able assistance he had given to his father 
 during the campaign against Licinius in 323, and was highly 
 popular with the army. Being now twenty-seven, and per- 
 haps seeing some reason to fear that in time intrigues might 
 cause his young haK-brothers to supplant him in his rightful 
 position of Constantino's successor (especially as one of them, 
 Constantius, was in this year 325 given at the age of eight 
 the rank of Caesar and the nominal rule of Crispus' own pro- 
 vince of Gaul), Crispus now requested that his father would 
 raise him from the rank of Caesar to that of Augustus. But 
 such intrigues had already begun. For doubts had been 
 instilled into Constantino's mind regarding his eldest son's 
 loyalty ; and upon the latter making this request, Constantine, 
 whether justly or unjustly, was induced to believe that here 
 was a fresh proof of the charge. As a result he refused the 
 request, and kept his eldest son almost in the position of a 
 prisoner at his court. 
 
 Early in 326 Constantine left Nicomedia, and after visiting 
 Naissus, Sirmium, Aquileia, and Milan, arrived at the beginning 
 of July, at Rome, accompanied by Crispus (still under sus- 
 
 1 It is curious that Constantino's father Constantius had by his 
 first wife, Helena, one son (Constantine), and by his second wife, Theo - 
 dosia, three sons and three daughters, and that this was exactly re- 
 peated in Constantine's case, he having by his first wife, Minervina, one 
 son (Crispus), and by his second wife, Fausta, three sons and three 
 daughters. 
 
 !lf 
 
 II 
 
4U 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xm] 
 
 THE LATERAN 
 
 415 
 
 picion), and also Fausta with her six young children, and took 
 up his residence in the ancient Palace of the Caesars on the 
 Palatine hill. In Rome Constantine was regarded with much 
 hatred, that city still remaining the stronghold of Paganism, 
 and largely imbued with all those sentiments which had caused 
 the promulgation of Diocletian's edict of persecution.^ More- 
 over its inhabitants not only resented Constantine's establish- 
 ment of Christianity as the State religion, but also still more 
 the loss of many advantages which they were about to sustain 
 through the removal of the capital of the empire to " New 
 Rome " (see below), for the building of which city Constantine 
 had already begun to make arrangements. A few days after 
 his arrival at Rome occurred one of the most popular of the 
 pageants connected with the history of the Romans, the 
 procession on the anniversary of the battle of Lake Regillus 
 (in B.C. 496) of the Knights of the Equestrian Order, clad in 
 purple and crowned with olive, to the temple of Jupiter on 
 the Capitol. It was assumed as a matter of course that the 
 emperor would be present on such an occasion. But Con- 
 stantine, looking on the whole matter with contempt, not 
 only refused to appear, but also, as from the Palatine he saw 
 the procession pass through the Foriun below, made one of the 
 sarcastic sayings for which he was noted, in derision of the 
 festival. The Romans were furious, raging against " the 
 scomer of the gods," and a courtier with some trepidation 
 announced that they were throwing stones at the statue of 
 the emperor, an action which was tantamount to open rebel- 
 lion, and which former emperors would have considered a 
 serious matter. But Constantine's power, resting on a far 
 wider basis than popularity with the inhabitants of the city 
 of Rome, was much too firmly established for him to care about 
 such ebullitions of temper on their part, and he merely remarked 
 with a smile, " It is surprising, but I do not feel hurt." 
 
 During this visit to Rome in 326 Constantine confirmed 
 an important gift which he had made several years before to 
 the Bishop of Rome, Sylvester I (who had succeeded Mel- 
 chiades),* viz. the gift to him of the large palace which once 
 had belonged to the wealthy family of the Laterani, but had 
 
 1 See Chap. XI, p. 356. 
 
 « Chap. XII, p. 377. 
 
 been confiscated by Nero when Plautius Lateranus, the head 
 of the family, was put to death by him for being concerned in 
 the conspiracy of Calpumius Piso in a.d. 65.^ The Lateran 
 palace had ever since belonged to the emperors, and had been 
 given by Maximian to his daughter Fausta, becoming her 
 usual residence before her marriage to Constantine, and known 
 as the " Domus Faustae." This palace had been presented 
 by Constantine and Fausta to the Bishop of Rome with a 
 view to the largest hall being converted into a church and the 
 rest of the palace into his residence ; Constantine had given 
 funds for the purpose, and the church was now completed. 
 This church received the name of the Basilica Constantinianay 
 after its founder, 2 and in after times grew into great impor- 
 tance, becoming (as it still is) the principal church in Rome.^ 
 But the legend that Constantine was at the same time bap- 
 tized by Sylvester I is a pious, but unhistorical, fiction,* 
 Constantine not being baptized until shortly before his death, 
 eleven years later, when he was baptized at Nicomedia by 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia. The Lateran palace became 
 the residence of the Popes for nearly 1000 years, and almost 
 all the memorable events relating to the private lives of the 
 Popes during the Middle Ages happened within its walls. 
 Both the palace and the church were almost entirely destroyed 
 by fire in 1308, after which the church was rebuilt.^ 
 
 But all at once there came into this prosperous life, tragedy. 
 Tragedy so dark and terrible that its gloom never afterwards 
 passed away. The life which through twenty years had 
 swept on from success to success received a blow which must 
 for the time have made all these triumphs worthless to him 
 upon whom the blow fell ; a wound the chief bitterness of 
 
 1 Chap. IV, p. 146. 
 
 * Now known as the Lateran, or more correctly, " San Giovanni 
 in Laterano," and styled in an inscription over the principal fa9ade, 
 " The mother and head of all churches of the city and of the world." 
 
 ' "In the Lateran is the true Pontifical throne, on the platform 
 of which are written the words, Haec est papalis sedes et pontiflcalis " 
 (A. P. Stanley, Christian Institutions). 
 
 * In order to perpetuate this pious fable it has in recent yew's been 
 carved in an inscription on the base of the Egyptian obelisk standing 
 outside the Lateran. 
 
 ^ It was again burnt in 1360, and again rebuilt. 
 
 
 U\- 
 
 
416 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xrn] 
 
 THE TRAGEDY AT ROME 
 
 417 
 
 which in the retrospect was that it had been his own hand 
 that had dealt it. 
 
 From the days of Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and Domitian 
 the gloomy Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine hiU had in 
 the course of 300 years been the scene of many terrible deeds ; 
 the shadow of dire reminiscences lay ever upon its walls, 
 and around it there brooded an atmosphere of tragedy which 
 even to the last was to be maintained. For now, just when 
 it was occupied by a Roman emperor for the last time before 
 ceasing for ever to be the chief imperial palace of the empire, 
 there occurred, during this visit of the imperial family to Rome, 
 the dark domestic catastrophe which forms the one great 
 shadow on Constantine's life, throwing its gloom over all 
 his remaining years, — his putting to death his eldest son 
 Crispus, then twenty-eight, the latter's step-mother, the 
 empress Fausta, then thirty-six, and Licinianus, the twelve- 
 year-old son of Constantine's sister Constantia — a series of 
 events which according to the writers of the time revived in 
 the imperial palace at Rome the ancient Greek tragedy of 
 Hippolytus and Phaedra. 
 
 The secret history of this terrible episode in the imperial 
 family was kept with such unusual success from the knowledge 
 of all but those concerned that neither then nor since has it 
 ever transpired. All that is known is that, in consequence of 
 some discovery that Constantine made, his eldest son Crispus 
 was conveyed from Rome to the castle of Pola in Istria and 
 there executed, that Constantia 's young son Licinianus was 
 at the same time executed in Nicomedia, and that the empress 
 Fausta soon afterwards died in the palace at Rome, it being 
 stated that she was put to death by being suffocated in a hot 
 bath. And that thereupon Constantine left Rome and never 
 again entered that city, while a permanent gloom settled 
 upon him for the remaining eleven years of his life.^ At the 
 time when Fausta was thus put to death the eldest of her 
 six children was only ten years old, and the youngest, Helena, 
 only three years old. 
 
 Two theories have been held regarding this tragedy. The 
 writers of the time declared that Constantine discovered a 
 crimiual intrigue between Crispus and his step-mother Fausta, 
 
 * Though he was still only fifty-two, he never married again. 
 
 that Crispus' cousin, the boy Licinianus, was in some way 
 mixed up in it, and that this was the cause of Constantine's 
 deed, one which ever after, it was declared, tormented him 
 with remorse. Later writers have considered the true story 
 to be that the empress Fausta, anxious to remove Crispus in 
 order that one of her sons should succeed to the throne, reported 
 to Constantine a conspiracy against him on the part of his 
 son Crispus and his nephew Licinianus ; ^ that the emperor, 
 already made suspicious by his son's demand for the title of 
 Augustus, suspicions which were increased by the attitude of 
 the Romans, was induced to believe the accusation, and ordered 
 the execution of Crispus and Licinianus ; that the empress- 
 mother Helena then appeared on the scene, full of indignation 
 at the death of her grandson, denounced the empress Fausta, 
 and brought evidence to show that the accusation had been 
 false ; and that Constantine, wrought upon by the wrathful 
 upbraidings of his mother and by remorse for the death of his 
 favourite son, ordered the execution of his wife. 
 
 This latter version of the matter seems more probable. 
 The historian Niebuhr, however, considers that there can be 
 no doubt that Crispus was guilty of the conspiracy. He says : 
 — " I do not see how it can be proved that Crispus was inno- 
 cent. He had demanded the title of Augustus, which his 
 father had refused. That a father should put his son to 
 death is certainly repulsive to our feelings, but it is rash and 
 inconsiderate to assert that Crispus was innocent. It is to 
 me highly probable that Constantine himself was quite con- 
 vinced of his son's guilt." If so, then any such accusation 
 made by Fausta was true, and known by Constantine to be 
 so ; which leaves the putting to death of Fausta as great an 
 enigma as ever, if it is the fact that e he did not die a natural 
 death. And as we strive to pierce the obscurity which sur- 
 rounds this dire event in Constantine's life, and feel that 
 whether it was the favourite son or the wife of nineteen years 
 who was put to death through a misapprehension the matter 
 was equally terrible, this episode rises to the very summit of 
 the solemnity of the ancient Greek tragedy, filling us with 
 
 1 Licinianus, like Crispus, had been given the title of Caesar^ by 
 Constantine ; as had also Fausta's two elder sons, Constantine and 
 Constantius, then ten and nine years old. 
 
 !! 
 
 M 
 
 E.W. 
 
 E E 
 
418 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 an immense pity, both for the innocent victim, or victims, 
 and for the great emperor the splendour of whose reign was 
 clouded by a tragedy which darkened all his remaining years 
 with the gloom of such appalling reminiscences. 
 
 Helena, Constantine's mother, was a woman of strong char- 
 acter and considerable mental capacity, qualities which she 
 transmitted to her son.^ Divorced for political reasons after 
 nineteen years of married life with Constantius, she had con- 
 tinued to live for thirty-five years much respected at Naissus, 
 where most of her married life had also been spent, and 
 Constantine on the death of his father had made over his 
 young half-brothers and sisters to be brought up by her, and 
 had eventually given her the title of Augusta. She had, at 
 some time subsequent to the Edict of Milan in 313, adopted 
 the new religion with fervour, and shortly after the domestic 
 tragedy in 326 she set out, though then about seventy-five 
 years old, on a visit to Palestine, to investigate the holy places 
 for all traces to be discovered relating to the life and death 
 of Christ. It was an age in which superstition was beginning 
 to be bom. Eusebius relates how about this time Constantine's 
 sister, the empress Constantia, wrote to him requesting him 
 to obtain for her two paintings, of which she had heard, repre- 
 senting Christ and the Virgin Mary ; he says that he obtained 
 them, and finding they had no claim to be what they pretended, 
 destroyed them, and wrote to Constantia telling her they were 
 worthless, and warning her against the danger of superstition. 
 Helena proceeded to Jerusalem, where the emperor 
 Hadrian's city, iElia Capitolina, had risen on the ruins of 
 that destroyed by Titus, and where up to this time no such 
 investigations had been made, the later city having almost 
 obliterated the traces of the Jewish city. There with much 
 energy Helena conducted a long and vigorous search, and 
 claimed to have discovered the site of Calvary and of the 
 Holy Sepulchre ; and upon her reporting this to Constantine 
 he ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be built,^ 
 
 i See also Chap. XIV, pp. 463-464. 
 
 2 He instructed the Prefect of the province to procure the most 
 costly materials, to collect the most skilled artificers, and supply all 
 necessary funds, and directed that the ceiling should be of gold. The 
 church was completed and dedicated in 335 (see p. 441). 
 
 xm] 
 
 THE CROSS AND IVIARBLE STEPS 
 
 419 
 
 A 
 
 which remained for a thousand years afterwards the most 
 venerated place in Christendom, while its possession became 
 in the Middle Ages the chief object of the Crusades. At 
 the same time Helena inaugurated the construction at 
 Bethlehem of the Church of the Nativity, part of which still 
 remains, forming the nave of the present church of that name 
 at Bethlehem. She also claimed to have discovered the True 
 Cross, two of the nails used at the Crucifixion, and the marble 
 steps of Pilate's palace. The two nails she sent to Constan- 
 tine, one of them fashioned by her orders so as to be worn 
 round the inside of his helmet, and the other made to form 
 the two sides of a bit for his horse's bridle.^ The former of 
 these two gifts Constantine apparently caused to be inserted 
 inside his crown. ^ 
 
 One half of the True Cross Helena deposited in the custody 
 of the Bishop of Jerusalem. The other half of the Cross and 
 the steps of Pilate's palace Helena brought back with her, 
 and at her death soon afterwards they were conveyed, accom- 
 panying her funeral, in solemn state to Rome, where the 
 flight of marble steps w ere placed in a chapel ^ constructed 
 for their reception in a part of the Lateran palace, where they 
 still remain. For the reception of the portion of the Cross was 
 built the still existing and much venerated church in Rome 
 called Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme. ^ This church was con- 
 structed in a hall of the Sessorium Palace, which had become 
 Helena's palace in Rome. ^ Very soon after her return from 
 Palestine Helena died at Naissus. Constantine ordered a 
 magnificent funeral, which proceeded slowly stage by stage 
 from Naissus to Rome, Helena having wished to be buried in 
 the city hallowed by the deaths of so many renowned martyrs. 
 There her remains were laid in a splendidly carved porphyry 
 
 1 The former ornament being intended by her to guard his head 
 from harm, and the latter one to symbolize the restraint of passion. 
 
 * See Vol. II, Chap. XXIV, pp. 428-429. 
 
 » The chapel of the Scala Santa (Holy Steps), which, with the pri- 
 vate chapel of the Popes, the Sancta Sanctorum, at the top of the 
 steps, is the only part of the old Lateran palace now remaining. 
 
 * It does not now contain any portion of this relic. 
 
 * This palace was built by the father of the emperor Elagabalus, 
 Varius Marcellus. Traces of it still exist. 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 lit 
 
 420 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 sarcophagus, placed in an octagonal tomb which was after- 
 wards converted into a church. ^ 
 
 Constantine's haH-sister, the empress Constantia, whose 
 husband and only son had both been put to death by Con- 
 stantine, died while the imposing funeral procession of Helena 
 was still slowly wending its way from Naissus to Rome. She 
 cherished no resentment against Constantine, summoned 
 him to her when she was dying, and pleaded the cause of two 
 of the Bishops who after the Council of Nicaea had been 
 exiled; and Constantine, touched with sorrow for all the 
 misfortunes which he had brought upon his favourite sister, 
 promised to comply with her request, and did so, reinstating 
 the Bishop of Nicomedia and the Bishop of Nicaea for whom 
 his sister had pleaded. Constantia's body was carried to 
 Rome, and there buried in a mausoleum constructed by 
 Constantine's orders,2 being placed in a magnificent porphyry 
 sarcophagus, which, like that of her step-mother Helena, is 
 now in the Vatican museum. 
 
 No act of Constantine's more fully shows his far-sightedness 
 than the fourth of his principal achievements, one which for 
 the remaining ten years of his life engaged his chief attention, 
 the founding of a new capital for the empire. Ahnost from 
 the time that he became the sole emperor he had had it in his 
 mind to make this change. Not only would a new Rome 
 mark in visible form the radical change in the whole policy 
 of government which he had inaugurated, but also neither 
 Nicomedia, Milan, nor Rome satisfied his soldier's eye, none of 
 them occupying a strong enough position, and the experience 
 of 100 years having shown the need of the proximity of the 
 emperor to the chief point of danger, the Danube frontier. 
 
 For the site of this new capital Constantine chose the pro- 
 montory which was partially occupied by the ancient town 
 of Byzantium, on the western shore of the Bosphorus ; ^ and 
 
 1 The still existing small octagonal church of S.S. Pietro e Marcellino 
 at Pigna Pignattara. The sarcophagus (removed from the tomb in 
 1153) is now in the Vatican museum at Rome. 
 
 * Now the church of Sta. Costanza. It possesses remarkable mosaics 
 
 of the 4th century. 
 
 3 The promontory being bounded on the south by the Sea of Mar- 
 mora, on the east by the Bosphorus, and on the north by the arm of 
 the 8ea, seven miles long, caUed the Golden Horn. See plan, 
 Appendix VII. 
 
 xm] 
 
 FOUNDING OF CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 421 
 
 there he founded the city which he called " New Rome," but 
 which later ages called after himself Constantinopolis (the 
 city of Constantine). In doing so he founded a city so situated 
 that it was able to form for eight hundred years the bulwark 
 of Europe, and one which has been felt throughout all ages 
 to surpass all others in strength, strategical value, and political 
 and commercial importance. Again and again has the strength 
 of its position caused the most powerful attacks upon it to 
 end in failure. It remained secure while the whole of the 
 western half of the Roman Empire was overrun by the northern 
 nations and destroyed. It successfully withstood attack 
 after attack when the eastern half of that empire was similarly 
 invaded by the Mahomedans. And it remained for centuries 
 the safe asylum of the remnant of Roman civilization when 
 everywhere else — east, west, north, and south — ^that civiliza- 
 tion had been overwhelmed by a flood of barbarism, keeping 
 safe the seed from which a new civilization was in the fulness 
 of time to be born. 
 
 This city was with an elaborate ceremonial solemnly inau- 
 gurated by Constantine on the 11th May, 330. It had been 
 built with extraordinary rapidity in the three years 327-330. ^ 
 The ceremony of inauguration was performed exclusively 
 by Christian ecclesiastics, no Pagan ceremonies were permitted, 
 and it was expressly laid down that no Pagan temple was 
 ever to be erected within its walls, — all marking the new 
 departure in religion. 
 
 In the new capital the eastern end of the promontory was 
 occupied by the imperial Palace, with nearly all the most im- 
 portant buildings of the city collected outside it ; ^ and to 
 enrich these Constantine took from various cities of Greece their 
 most sacred masterpieces of art. Outside the wall of the 
 Palace lay the Forum, 400 yards long and 150 yards wide, 
 called by the new name of the Augusteum (or Augustaion), 
 signifying " the imperial place." Along that side of the 
 Augusteum towards the Palace were three principal buildings, 
 
 ^ The hasty construction of the city resulted in a very early decay 
 of a number of the buildings, many of which had before a century was 
 over to be rebuilt. 
 
 2 See, in so far as the buildings outside the palace are concerned. 
 Appendix XIX (Vol. II). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 422 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 the Senate-house, the Bishop's palace, and the Baths, the 
 latter called the Baths of Zeuxippus, after the architect whom 
 Constantine employed. These Baths were on a magnificent 
 scale, and were adorned by Constantine with some of the most 
 celebrated statues of Greek art, taken from the Pagan tem- 
 ples whose use had now largely passed away, including even 
 statues which had for ages been worshipped, such as the Athene 
 of Lyndus, the Amphitrite of Rhodes, and the Zeus of 
 Dodona. On the other side of the Augusteum Constantine 
 erected a lofty column of porphyry, 120 feet in height, 
 and placed upon it the celebrated statue of Apollo, by 
 Phydias, brought from Athens, and by the addition of a 
 sceptre in one hand and the orb of the world in the other 
 made to represent Constantine.^ Near this column, on the 
 spot where his tent had been pitched during the siege of 
 Byzantium in 323, Constantine placed the Milion, the golden 
 milestone from which all distances in the empire were mea- 
 sured ; it stood under a roof supported by pillars, with on 
 either side of it statues of Constantine and his mother the 
 empress Helena. 
 
 Beyond the Augusteum (instead of an amphitheatre for 
 gladiatorial combats) Constantine erected the Hippodrome, 
 for chariot-races. In length and breadth it was nearly the 
 same size as the Augusteum, and on its spina was placed the 
 most remarkable possession of the new city, the very ancient 
 Coliunn of Delphi, consisting of three twisted serpents 
 in brass their heads supporting a gold tripod. This column 
 and tripod had been dedicated to the Temple of Apollo at 
 Delphi by the Greeks in B.C. 479, in thanksgiving for their 
 victory over the Persians, and from this tripod for nearly 
 eight hundred years the Delphic oracles had been uttered.^ 
 On the spina of the Hippodrome, on either side of the Delphic 
 tripod, were also placed the Egyptian ObeHsk and the Brazen 
 
 * The lower part of this celebrated column still remains stand- 
 ing in Constantinople, degraded by the name of the Burnt 
 Pillar. 
 
 > This column still remains standing in Constantinople, though 
 no longer crowned with its golden tripod. It will be seen that it is 
 now nearly 2400 years old. 
 
 xm] 
 
 ADORNIVIENT OF THE NEW CITY 
 
 423 
 
 Column. 1 Immediately to the north of the Hippodrome 
 Constantine built the cathedral, which he dedicated to the 
 Divine Wisdom (Sta. Sophia), beyond this the Hospital, and 
 beyond the latter the church dedicated by him to Sta. Irene 
 (Peace). He also built a third church, situated in the city, 
 dedicated to Sta. Homonoia (Unity of Spirit ).2 
 
 The imperial Palace covered a large part of the site of the 
 ancient town of Byzantium. With its courts, porticoes, and 
 gardens it occupied almost aU the eastern end of the promon- 
 tory, its gardens extending down to the sea ; but in the time 
 of Constantine only part of this area was occupied, further 
 buildings being gradually added by later emperors. On the 
 ceiling of the principal hall of the Palace in Constantine's time 
 was a large cross entirely formed of precious stones, and over 
 the principal gateway a design in mosaic representing Con- 
 stantine holding the Laharum, and treading upon a dragon, 
 representing Paganism.^ 
 
 But the most splendid building which Constantine erected 
 in his new city was his church dedicated to the Twelve Apostles, 
 but which became called in particular his church, Ecclesia 
 Constantiniana. It was situated in the centre of the city, 
 nearly a mile and three-quarters north-west of the cathedral 
 of St. Sophia.* Eusebius describes it as " enormously high, 
 yet it had all its walls covered with marble, its roof inside being 
 overlaid with gold, and outside covered with gilded brass." 
 In addition to these public buildings Constantine had also 
 ordered to be constructed many private dweUings, ready for 
 the population of the new city, including palaces for wealthy 
 nobles, shops for traders, and ranges of dwellings for the 
 humbler classes of the inhabitants. 
 
 The walls of Constantinople have always been one of its 
 
 ^ Though the massive walls of the Hippodrome have long since 
 disappeared, the three chief ornaments of its spinas the Delphic Col- 
 \man, the Egyptian Obelisk, and the Brazen Column still stand. The 
 open space around them is still called by the Turks the Atmeidan (the 
 place of horses), in dim memory of its ancient use. 
 
 » See p. 445 (footnote). 
 
 3 The plan in Appendix XIX, while showing the general positi^ 
 of the buildings outside the Palace, shows those inside the Palace 
 they were after their reconstruction in the time of Justinian. 
 
 * The great Mosque of Mohammed II now stands on its site. 
 
 ki 
 
CHAP. 
 
 424 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 xm] 
 
 BEAUTY OF NEW ROME 
 
 425 
 
 Itl 
 
 special features. Added to by successive emperors, they at 
 length consisted of four adjacent lines drawn across the promon- 
 tory on the land side for about four miles, with innimierable 
 towers and castles, and at each end a strong citadel.^ To 
 each portion of the walls was attached the number of the 
 legion charged with its defence, such as " Deuteron," " Triton," 
 " Pempton," *' Hebdomon," etc. These walls still remain, 
 their various portions being still known by these names. No 
 less remarkable was the system of enormous reservoirs, capable 
 of containing sufficent water to supply a million men for 
 four months, constructed by Constantine and his successors 
 Valentinian I,^ and Theodosius I, and supplied by aqueducts 
 one of which was 120 miles long. These reservoirs also still 
 remain ; while the principal streets of the city still follow the 
 lines of those laid out by Constantine. The name of " New 
 Rome " given to the city by him is still used in the official 
 language of the Eastern Church ; while it also survives in the 
 eastern languages, wherein the Sultan of Turkey is known as 
 the Sultan of " Roum " ; and the name appears again in 
 " Roumania." The Turkish name for the city, " Istamboul," 
 is a Turkish corruption of the three Greek words, eh rrjv ttoXiv 3 
 (T/ie city), showing how it was for centuries recognized through- 
 out the east as pre-eminently the city, even where others such 
 as Antioch, Alexandria, and Nicomedia were known. By 
 the Goths it was called Miklagard (The Great City). The 
 device of the city was the Greek emblem of the crescent and 
 star ; it became the insignia of the Varangian (Anglo -Dane) 
 Body-guard of the emperor, formed in the 11th century. 
 This device was continued by the Turks when they captured 
 the city 1123 years after its foundation, and has become the 
 device of the Turkish empire. 
 
 Above all else did this new capital of the empire excel in 
 beauty, surpassing Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Nicomedia, 
 Milan, Carthage and all other existing cities of the empire in 
 that respect. Like Rome, it was built on seven hills, but these 
 
 * The immense tower which joins the land walls to the sea walls is a 
 solid mass of marble. 
 
 * The aqueduct constructed in the reign of Valentinian I, and called 
 after the name of his brother Valens, still exists. 
 
 ^ Eis teen polin. 
 
 were so situated as to give a much finer effect. Looking at it 
 from the Golden Horn, low slopes covered with fine buildings 
 descended in a gentle curve to the water's edge ; and behind 
 these the city rose tier above tier on its seven hills, each a little 
 higher than that in front of it, up to the most western ridge of 
 all, beyond which were the walls which bounded the city on 
 the land side ; the whole forming with its masses of trees and 
 numerous gardens, and with the sea washing it on three sides, 
 a superb panorama of beauty such as no other city which had 
 till then ever been seen could produce, and which even up to 
 the present day remains unrivalled. 
 
 The ceremony of inauguration was followed by games and 
 races in the Hippodrome and other festivities which lasted 
 forty days. There followed for Constantine long and heavy 
 labours in connection with the necessary arrangements for 
 making the new city the capital of the empire. In fact so 
 immense an operation as the transfer of the entire machinery 
 of the central government of so vast an empire from the old 
 Rome in Italy to the new Rome on the Bosphorus occupied 
 even Constantine for the greater part of the next five years. 
 To attract population to the new city Constantine, besides 
 providing many with dwellings according to their rank^ gave 
 great privileges, especially to the middle classes, and the 
 city speedily attracted a numerous population ; while so 
 rapidly did it increase that in about two generations it surpassed 
 Rome, both in wealth and number of inhabitants. 
 
 Constantine was essentially a founder ; and whatever he 
 inaugurated was constructed upon strong and permanent 
 
 ^ As illustrating some of Constantine's methods, a story of the time 
 declared that the emperor while building the city had sent twelve 
 nobles of Rome on an embassy to Persia, and when after a year they 
 returned and made their report to him at Constantinople, he enter- 
 tained them at dinner, and during the banquet asked them how soon 
 they proposed starting to rejoin their families in Rome. On their 
 reply that they did not propose rejoining their families in Rome for 
 some weeks, the emperor said : " You will find yourselves there this 
 evening." Each was thereupon conducted to a fine palace in New 
 Rome, built in imitation of his palace in Old Rome, foimd the rooms 
 filled with his furniture, and was received by his own family and 
 servants, all having been transported thither during the year the 
 embassy had been in Persia by the emperor, who had prepared for 
 them this surprise. 
 
 «t 
 
 5' 
 
 ■n 
 
CHAP. 
 
 426 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 xm] 
 
 REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY 
 
 427 
 
 foundations. It had been so in the case of his other four 
 principal achievements, and it was no less so in the case of the 
 fifth, the creation of an entirely new political system by the 
 separation of the civil, military, and religious functions, a 
 change which he carried out as soon as his new city was com- 
 pleted. In all civilized coimtries these three functions are 
 now kept separate, but up to Constantine's time they had 
 always been bound up together. This important and far- 
 sighted change, which gave to the whole political system a 
 different structure and increased administrative strength, 
 not only brought new life to the Roman Empire, but also 
 introduced a political system which still endures among all the 
 nations of modem Europe. 
 
 In this new constitution Constantine (leaving the Church 
 to be governed by the organization which he found already 
 existing) entirely reorganized both the civil and the military 
 administration, completely separating them. As regards the 
 civil administration he placed each of the four " Prefectures " ^ 
 under a Prefect relieved of all military functions, and divided 
 each prefecture into several " Dioceses," and each diocese into a 
 number of " Provinces." In the four Prefectures there were 
 in all 18 "dioceses" and 116 "provinces." Both dioceses ^ 
 and provinces were ruled by officers having, like the four Pre- 
 fects, no military functions, while the term " province " hence- 
 forward denoted a much smaller tract of country than hitherto 
 had been known by that name ; for example, Britain (hitherto 
 a province), became a diocese consisting of five provinces. 
 Obviously each officer by having a smaller charge could attend 
 better to its administration. In this new constitution the 
 administration of justice was made much more perfect than 
 heretofore, while stringent provisions were laid down to prevent 
 corruption among the judges. Naturally these improvements 
 in the civil administration, by giving each officer a smaller 
 area to administer, inevitably increased the cost of adminis- 
 tration, and consequently the amount to be levied in taxation ; 
 but Constantine, though thus forced somewhat to increase 
 
 ^ Those territories which under Diocleticm's constitution hfiwi each 
 been ruled by one of the four emperors. 
 
 * It will be seen that each " diocese " practically represented a 
 modem country. 
 
 taxation, enabled the people to bear it by the increased pros- 
 perity which his other measures created. The system of 
 taxation was remodelled, various unjust irregularities in its 
 incidence were abolished, and the land tax was made the chief 
 source of revenue.^ 
 
 Lastly, having thus separated the civil and military f imctions, 
 Constantine carried out the sixth of his principal achievements 
 by organizing the army on entirely new principles which have 
 been adopted in the armies of all civilized countries ever since. 
 The empire was divided into eight miUtary commands, each 
 placed under an officer styled a " Magister militum.*' Under 
 these eight superior officers were thirty-five general officers' 
 commands, the officers holding these being styled " Duces,'* 
 The imperial guards (15,000 strong) were placed under a 
 " Count of the Domestics.'* ^ The command of the cavalry was 
 separated from that of the infantry. And the management 
 of the arsenals and commissariat was made an entirely 
 separate department. All this was quite new, and by it Con- 
 stantine's military organization approached much more closely 
 to that of modern armies, while it was far in advance of any- 
 thing of which the Romans had hitherto dreamt. But the 
 most important change of all was that which Constantine made 
 in regard to the legions. While retaining the old name he 
 reduced the size of the legion from 6000 to 1500 men. Hence- 
 forward therefore a legion approximated to what would now be 
 styled a regiment, and became a much more manageable unit, 
 less cumbrous, and altogether better adapted to the style 
 of tactics which Constantine was accustomed to employ than 
 
 * In connection with this reorganization of the civil administration 
 of the empire Constantine transferred the capital of the second divi- 
 sion of North Africa from Lamboesis, where it had been located for 
 nearly three centuries, to Cirta, giving the latter city the new name 
 Constantine, which it still bears. 
 
 * The Guards were (as from the earUest times) composed chiefly of 
 Teutons, but included also Romans. Previously called the Protec- 
 tors, they were from this time onwards called the Domestics. A large 
 portion of them were charged with guarding the various imperial 
 residences throughout the empire. A special section of them, form- 
 ing a corps d*elite, was composed largely of officers' sons and young 
 members of noble families, and formed a training school for officers. 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, the historian, served for some time in this corps. 
 
 f 
 
 i i 
 
CHA?. 
 
 428 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 xm] 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE GOTHS 
 
 429 
 
 those which obtained in the days of Trajan and Hadrian. 
 These changes made by Constantine in the military organi- 
 zation have been universally condemned by historians, they 
 having followed Gibbon who strongly denounces them, and 
 especially the reduction in the size of the legion, Gibbon even 
 going the length of suggesting that this latter change was 
 prompted by a desire to gratify vanity, by giving the emperor 
 the glory of commanding 132 legions instead of 33.^ It shows 
 small knowledge of great soldiers to imagine that such a reason 
 could actuate such a man. Men who are capable of commanding 
 thousands of other men, of winning their self-sacrificing devo- 
 tion, and of leading them to success in battle after battle, are 
 not the kind of men to feel vain of commanding 132 legions 
 of 1500 men instead of 33 legions of 6000 men. The same 
 authority has declared that by thus subdividing the military 
 commands Constantine strengthened himself against the 
 chance of revolutions at the cost of weakening the empire by 
 making the army less powerful in war. 2 The argument is one 
 which could only emanate from such a source, the actual effect 
 of these changes being exactly the reverse. By organizing 
 the higher commands of the army in the manner detailed, by 
 separating the cavalry from the infantry, by establishing a 
 distinct department for the arsenals and commissariat, and 
 above all by making the legion consist of 1500 men instead of 
 6000, and thus making it a more mobile body, better suited to 
 the altered tactics of the time, Constantine immensely increased 
 the power of the army as a fighting machine. It may also be 
 remarked that the great master of war Constantine, who had 
 spent many years of his life in meeting in battle the Persians, 
 the Franks, and other northern races, and had then fought 
 eight pitched battles against Roman troops, was likely to be a 
 better judge of the organization best fitted for the tactics he 
 usually employed in battle than those who, without ever 
 having seen a shot fired in anger, have criticized in the two 
 ways mentioned an organization which more than doubled 
 the fighting power of the Roman army. 
 
 By the above improvement in the organization of the army, 
 together with the other military arrangements previously 
 
 * Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ II, xvii, 322 
 (Edition 1862). * Ibid. 
 
 mentioned, 1 Constantine gave the empire a military strength 
 at least four times as great as it had possessed in the days 
 of Trajan and Hadrian. And the generalship which he dis- 
 played at the battles of Turin, Verona, Saxa Rubra, Cibalae, 
 and Hadrianople, combined with the military genius evinced 
 in this reorganization of the army on new principles so lasting 
 that they have ever since been followed in all armies, shows 
 Constantine to have been by far the greatest commander in 
 war of all the Roman emperors. 
 
 In 332 Constantine, now fifty-eight years old, was called 
 upon to put this fighting machine which he had perfected to 
 the test of war. The Goths had for sixty years abstained from 
 attacking the Roman power. In that time, being constantly 
 reinforced by fresh tribes from Scythia, they had increased 
 greatly in numbers, while a new generation had grown up 
 anxious to measure its strength against the Romans in the 
 field. Their king at this time was the haughty Araric, who 
 was in full sympathy with this feeling on the part of his nation, 
 and confident that the immense host that he commanded could 
 defeat any army the Romans could bring against him. Under 
 his command the Goths, full of audacity in their numbers and 
 strength, crossed the Danube and proceeded to devastate 
 Moesia. But they quickly received a severe lesson. Con- 
 stantine promptly sent an army against them ; and so well did 
 he know the efficiency of the officers and troops that he had 
 trained, that he did not even take command himself. The 
 result completely justified action which might have been 
 thought somewhat venturesome. In a single battle Araric's 
 host was completely crushed, with great slaughter, and driven 
 back in flight across the Danube. Never had the Goths 
 received so prompt and decisive a defeat. 
 
 In 334 the Sarmatians, finding themselves unable any 
 longer to oppose their neighbours the Vandals, implored to be 
 taken within the empire. Constantine acceded to their request, 
 and the Sarmatians, to the number of 300,000, crossed the 
 Danube, and were given by Constantine vacant lands in Italy, 
 Pannonia, Thrace, and Macedonia, which increased their 
 feeling of loyalty towards him and his descendants. 
 
 One realizes something of the extraordinary capacity for 
 
 1 Page 404. 
 
 ^l I 
 
4ao 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xm] 
 
 CHURCHES BUILT AT ROME 
 
 431 
 
 I 
 
 ruling which the Roman emperors possessed as one thinks of 
 Constantine from his palace at Constantinople at one and the 
 same time controlling affairs in Britain and Spain, watching 
 over the eiSiciency of his fleet on the Rhine, issuing orders 
 regarding the forts on the Tigris, removing the government of a 
 portion of North Africa from far away Lamboesis to Cirta, and 
 directing the movements of a force despatched by him to 
 oppose the Groths in the neighbourhood of the Danube. And 
 all this in days when neither railways nor telegraphs existed, 
 and when therefore to communicate with these widespread 
 portions of the empire must have taken considerable time 
 however perfect was the service of posts. 
 
 But Constantine was by no means solely occupied in military 
 affairs and civil administration. He was a warm patron of 
 literature,^ wrote his own autobiography (which unfortunately 
 has perished), and took special interest in poetry, on which 
 subject he carried on a correspondence with Optatian, the 
 leading poet of the day. In regard to Art he had no such 
 opportunities. The Romans, unable themselves to produce 
 works of art, relied in this respect upon the Greeks ; and Greek 
 art, after declining steadily for five himdred years, had come 
 to an end. Even a hundred years before Greece was conquered 
 by Rome the decline in Greek art had begun ; * and ever since 
 that conquest (concluded in B.C. 146) Greek art had been 
 steadily deteriorating, until by the time of Diocletian it was 
 practically extinct. In regard to the punishment of crime 
 Constantine was said to err by being too lenient, and, Eusebius 
 says, " drew some blame on his administration on this account." 
 He was very austere with regard to morals, promulgating 
 severe edicts against immorality, as well as for the protection 
 of women from insult. He laboured unceasingly to advance 
 the civilization and progress of the empire, and its material 
 prosperity had never been so great as in the latter years of his 
 
 * The chief literary men of his time were the writers Lactantius 
 and Eumenius, the poet Optatian, and the historians Eusebius and 
 Ammianus MarcelUnus. 
 
 * The zenith of Greek art was from B.C. 480 to B.C. 250, to which 
 period belong the celebrated sculptors Phidias, Myron, Praxiteles, 
 Scopas, and Lysippus, and the painters Zeuxis and Apelles. 
 
 reign. His reputation spread far beyond the limits of the 
 Roman Empire, and envoys from many far distant countries 
 were seen in the courts of the imperial palace at Constantinople, 
 Eusebius mentioning seeing there on one occasion envoys 
 from India, Nubia, and Ethiopia. During the contests over 
 the religious question in the latter years of his reign ^ Con- 
 stantine frequently wrote letters with his own hand to the 
 principal disputants, endeavouring to bring them to peace. 
 He was fond of carrying a spear, such as he had often used in 
 earnest in the battles of his youth, but now ornamented with 
 gold ; and during one of the heated and acrimonious contests 
 in his presence between the religious parties, in order to enforce 
 a lesson in moderation, he marked out with this spear on the 
 pavement of the palace the length and breadth of a grave, 
 and said to the most bitter of the disputants, " Though thou 
 couldst obtain the whole world, thou wilt possess at last no 
 more than this little space which I have marked out, — ^if, 
 indeed, even that be thine." 
 
 Besides the churches of the Lateran and Sta. Croce at Rome, 
 and the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, Constantine 
 erected various other notable churches at important cities. 
 At Rome he bmlt the great church of St. Peter, erecting it upon 
 the ground which had formed the Circus of Nero (where Nero's 
 terrible evening entertainment had taken place) and over the 
 tomb which Anencletus had erected to mark the grave of St. 
 Peter. 2 This celebrated church, like most of those constructed 
 by Constantine and his successors, was built in the form of a 
 basilica (or hall of justice) of Roman times. It had an immense 
 nave, a chancel adorned with mosaics, double aisles, and a 
 pent roof. This church became in subsequent centuries the 
 most venerated church in Christendom, gathering round it in 
 the course of 1200 years innumerable historical associations, 
 until by an act of the utmost vandalism it was destroyed in 
 the beginning of the 16th century by Pope Julius II in order 
 to erect on its site the present St. Peter 's.^ 
 
 At Rome Constantine also built three other churches which 
 
 1 Pages 439-440. ^ chap. V, p. 195. 
 
 3 The pavement of the original church is still to be seen forming 
 that of the crypt of the present church, and lying eleven feet below 
 the floor of the latter. 
 
432 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xm] 
 
 SIGNIFICANT ACTION 
 
 433 
 
 still exist, though they have been rebuilt, dedicated respectively 
 to the memory of St. Lawrence, ^ St. Sebastian,2 and St. Agnes, 
 all three churches being erected over the places where these 
 martyrs had been buried. Agnes was a Christian girl belonging 
 to a middle-class family in Rome whose beauty at the age of 
 fifteen, during the Diocletian persecution in 304, attracted the 
 governor Sempronius. Resisting his overtures with scorn, 
 she was subjected to many cruelties, and finally was martyred 
 in the vaults of the Circus of Domitian.^ 
 
 At Antioch, the leading see in Christendom, then called 
 " the aty of God," Constantine built an enormous church, 
 which on account of the splendour of its mosaics and other 
 decorations was caUed " the Golden Church." He also built 
 finely adorned churches at Bethlehem, at Mamre, at Tyre, 
 at Nicomedia, and at HeUopoUs in Phenicia. But the most 
 notable church erected by Constantine was that built by him 
 at Thessalonica about the year 314 to the memory of St. George, 
 which still exists. It is a circular church with a dome,* and 
 entirely decorated inside with pictures in mosaic. Specially 
 remarkable are the eight pictures in the dome, in which are 
 represented " palaces resembling those painted on the walls 
 of Pompeii, columns ornamented with precious stones, pavilions 
 closed by purple ciirtains waving in the wind and upheld by 
 rods and rings, arcades without number, friezes decorated with 
 dolphins, birds, and palm trees, and modiUions supporting 
 cornices of azure and emerald." ^ StiU more notable however 
 from a historical point of view are the mosaic pictures of 
 saints, no saint of a later time than that of Constantme being 
 represented. 
 
 1 Chap. X, p. 330. * Chap. XI, p. 362. 
 
 3 " As neither temptation nor the fear of death could prevail with 
 Agnes, Sempronius thought of other means to vanquish her resist- 
 ance ; he ordered her to be carried by force to a place of infamy, and 
 exposed to the most degrading outrages. The soldiers who dragged 
 her thither stripped her of her garments ; but her long and abundant 
 hair became Uke a veil." Eventually she was martyred in one of the 
 vaults of the Circus by being stabbed in the throat {Jameson's Sacred 
 An), Hymns in her honour existed in all countries in 384. 
 
 * " The ancient church of St. George belongs to the class of circular 
 buUdings caUed tholi, most of which are supposed to have been erected 
 in the early part of the 4th century " (Bury, Later Roman Empire, II, 
 47), § Texier and Pullan, Byzantine Architecture, p. 136. 
 
 The erection of the four churches built by Constantine 
 to the memory of martyrs (namely St. Lawrence, St. Sebastian, 
 St. Greorge, and St. Agnes) is significant. For we are here 
 concerned, not with legends evolved in subsequent ages, but 
 with the age itself in which those in question actually lived. 
 When Constantine was erecting at Rome his church to the 
 memory of St. Lawrence ^ the latter had been martyred 
 only about sixty years before ; there must have been persons 
 still living in Rome who had seen him die and could testify 
 to the manner of his death ; and Constantine would not have 
 built a church to his memory unless fully satisfied by careful 
 enquiry that the manner of St. Lawrence's death was such 
 as to justify his memory being thus honoured. Still more 
 significant is the erection of the church to the memory of 
 St. Sebastian. ^ For Sebastian must have been well known 
 to Constantine himself ; they had both been on the staff of 
 Diocletian together, Sebastian being the commander of the 
 bodyguard ; and Constantine (then a Pagan) must have 
 been thoroughly cognizant of all the circimistances of Sebas- 
 tian's martyrdom. Still stronger is the case as regards 
 St. George. Constantine in thus honouring the latter was 
 not acting upon information received from others ; for as 
 he was in attendance upon Diocletian at Nicomedia when 
 St. George was martyred, he must, from his position at the 
 time, have known all about the case, even if he did not (as is 
 probable) himself see St. George put to death. Moreover 
 while Sebastian was an officer of high rank, and a companion 
 of Constantine' s, St. George was only a very subordinate 
 officer or non-commissioned officer ; and the great emperor 
 Constantine would not have been in the least likely to erect 
 the magnificent church which he built at Thessalonica, only 
 about twelve years after the event, in memory of a yoimg 
 soldier of such a subordinate position in the army unless he 
 was aware from his own knowledge that such an honour was 
 specially deserved. 
 
 * The church to the memory of St. Lawrence was erected on the 
 Via Tibertina about three-quarters of a mile from the city, over the 
 catacomb of St. Cyriaca, in which St. Lawrence's body was buried. 
 
 • The church to the memory of St. Sebastian was erected on the 
 Appian way about a mile and a half from the city, over the catacomb 
 in which his body was buried. 
 
 K.W. FF 
 
CHAP. 
 
 434 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 But mo8t significant of all is the erection of the fourth of 
 these churches, that to the memory of St. Agnes. ^ St. Lawrence 
 was a deacon of the Church, and his martyrdom had been a 
 public spectacle ; St. Sebastian was an officer of high rank ; 
 and even St. George was a soldier ; but St. Agnes was only 
 a poor and little known girl, whose martyrdom had been 
 carried out in an infamous den hidden from the public eye. 
 It is evident that Constantine in thus honouring her memory 
 was honouring one the circumstances of whose martyrdom 
 fvere well known to him and to all others round him. For 
 the ruler of the whole Roman Empire would not have erected 
 a church to the memory of an almost unknown girl (not of 
 any exalted station) who had been put to death in Rome 
 eleven or twelve years before, unless the circumstances of 
 her death, well known to him, were such as to justify this 
 special honour being done to her memory. 
 
 Constantine, owing to the various positions he had held 
 during the years 303-312, had had opportunities which were 
 unique as regards personal knowledge of the cases of a very 
 large number of those who were martyred during the perse- 
 cution of Diocletian. Owing to his having been on the staff 
 of Diocletian at Nicomedia at the time of the promulgation 
 of the edict which began the persecution, his having then 
 continued a trusted staff officer of Diocletian during all the 
 first two years of the persecution, when it was most virulent, 
 his having after Diocletian's abdication remained at the 
 court of Galerius (the chief persecutor) for the next nine 
 months, and finally his having become ruler of the western 
 division of the empire, Constantine had seen the whole course 
 of the persecution in both east and west, and had done so 
 while occupying positions in which information regarding 
 
 ^ Two churches were at different times built to the memory of 
 St. Agnes in Rome. That built by Constantine was erected over the 
 cat€K;omb in which her body was buried, on the Via Nomentana, about 
 a mile from the city. The other church to her memory (built long 
 afterwards) stands inside the city on the site of her martyrdom, being 
 erected over the side-vaults of the Circus of Domitian, the place of 
 evil reputation to which she was consigned, and in which she w€ks killed. 
 Part of these vaults form the crypt of the present church, and have 
 been made into a chapel in memory of the cruel and shameful suffer- 
 ings endured there by her. 
 
 xm] 
 
 MARTYRS CHIEFLY HONOURED 
 
 435 
 
 it necessarily came before him in one form or another almost 
 daily. Constantine had thus when he built these churches 
 a wider knowledge of the events of the Diocletian persecution 
 than any other man then living. Seeing then that he possessed 
 this extended knowledge, the churches which he erected 
 show much. Had he built many churches to the memory 
 of persons who died in the persecution, the case would have 
 been different, but he apparently considered this a special 
 honour only to be accorded to the few. Though he built 
 many churches, four only were erected by him to the memory 
 of martyrs ; ^ and of these, only three were in memory of 
 persons who had been martyred in his own life-time. Thus 
 Constantine, who had witnessed, as a tolerant Pagan spectator, 
 the whole of the ten years' persecution under Diocletian's 
 edict, and from his official position had had opportunities of 
 knowing more about its occurrences than any other man 
 then living, considered the three martyrs in that persecution 
 who above all others deserved special honour to be, St. George, 
 martyred at Nicomedia, and St. Sebastian and St. Agnes, 
 martyred at Rome. 
 
 By the construction of the above churches, by the adoption 
 of the Labarum, or Standard of the Cross, as the standard 
 of the Roman armies, and by placing the same sign on the 
 Roman coinage, Constantine gave ocular demonstration 
 to the world that the empire had adopted Christianity. 
 The city of Rome, however, remained a hotbed of Paganism, 
 and continued so for the next two generations, Paganism 
 continuing to survive in Rome long after it was completely 
 extinct everywhere else throughout the empire, its last 
 dying relics lingering there even into the next century. 
 
 Constantine also built at Rome a huge set of Baths, and 
 a splendid Basilica near the Forum. The Baths covered a 
 large part of the Quirinal hill, 2 but in the Middle Ages were 
 
 * All other churches built by him were erected to the memory of 
 Apostles, or in honour of the Holy Cross or the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 * They covered the groimd now occupied by the Royal palace (the 
 Quirinal), the Piazza del Quirinale, the Rospigliosi palace, and the 
 Colonna gardens. In the Rospigliosi palace are to be seen various 
 ancient sculptures and portions of mosaics which once adorned the 
 Baths of Constantine ; and in the Colonna gardens is a large block 
 of marble, weighing about 30 tons, which also belonged to these Baths. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 436 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 destroyed, or absorbed by buildings and gardens of the Colonna 
 family. One beautiful work of art however which appertained 
 to them is stiU preserved, viz. the two colossal marble groups 
 of the Horse Tamers, which Constantino placed on either side 
 of the principal entrance of his Baths, and which now adorn 
 the Piazza del Quirinale (formeriy Monte Cavallo). The 
 Latin inscriptions on them state that one is the work of Phidias 
 and the other of Praxiteles. These inscriptions are, however, 
 believed to have been carved by Constantino when placing 
 these marble groups at the entrance to his Baths, and it is 
 considered that these statues are more probably copies made 
 by the Greek sculptor Lysippus of originals by his predecessors, 
 Phidias and Praxiteles. They were presented to the emperor 
 Nero by Tiridates, king of Armenia. ^ They have never been 
 buried or concealed from view, and for centuries the piazza 
 in which they stand received its name (Monte Cavallo) from 
 
 them.* 
 
 Constantino's Basilica was situated to the east of the Forum 
 of Vespasian. It had been begun by Maxentius, but was 
 completed, and extended to twice the size, by Constantino. 
 It had three immense halls, the centre one 333 feet long 
 by 84 feet wide, with aisles 60 feet wide, and a transept cross- 
 ing this 227 feet long, with aisles 80 feet wide. The height 
 of the vaulting was 112 feet. Portions of this Basilica still 
 remain, and the vast span of the arches has served as a model 
 to many modem architects, as for instance to Michelangelo in 
 the case of the present church of St. Peter's, where the vaulting 
 of the nave is of the same span as these arches of the Basilica 
 of Constantino. 
 
 But perhaps the most interesting memorial of Constantino 
 in Rome is the huge Egyptian obelisk of red granite which 
 now stands outside the Lateran, whither it was brought 
 in the 16th century from its original position in the Circus 
 Maximus. Apart from its connection with Constantino it is 
 
 1 See Chap. IV, p. 147. 
 
 2 The depth of ignorance which supervened in the Middle Ages is 
 demonstrated by the fact that it was then imagined that the names 
 Phidias and Praxiteles in these inscriptions referred to philosophers 
 who in the imperial times had, it was supposed, been honoured by 
 %ke erectioi^ of these monuments in recognition of their wigdom. 
 
 3cm] 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN OBELISIt 
 
 437 
 
 interesting in itself, being the largest obelisk in existence,^ 
 and being 3512 years old, having been erected by King Thoth- 
 mes III in B.C. 1597 in front of the Temple of the Sim at Thebes. 
 Constantine removed it from thence in order to set it up in 
 Rome, and brought it down the Nile to Alexandria ; but he 
 died before getting it further, and it was eventually transported 
 to Rome by his son Constantius, and set up in the Circus 
 Maximus. 
 
 This obelisk, so interesting in itself, is still more so on account 
 of what it reveals as regards Constantine, a matter which 
 has passed entirely unnoticed. For Constantino's reasons 
 for undertaking the immense task of removing this particular 
 obelisk all the way from Thebes to Rome were evidently 
 mainly due to its special connection with Apollo. Yet this 
 action was taken years after his proclamation of Christianity 
 as the State religion of the empire, and even quite towards 
 the latter end of his life. 
 
 The contemporary historian Ammianus MarceUinus begins 
 his remarks about this obelisk by stating authoritatively that 
 the reason why Augustus, who had removed two smaller 
 obelisks 2 from Egjrpt to Rome, had not ventured to remove 
 this one was not, as was ordinarily declared, that he was 
 alarmed at the greatness of such a task, but that his reason 
 was that this obelisk was specially dedicated to the Sun-god, 
 and was the chief ornament of his temple, and therefore that 
 it would be a sacrilegious act to remove it. MarceUinus then 
 goes on to say : — 
 
 " But Constantine, differing with that opinion (i.e. that of Augus- 
 tus), and thinking rightly that he should not be offering any insult 
 to religion if he removed a splendid work from some other temple 
 to dedicate it to the gods of Rome, which is the temple of the whole 
 world, had it lowered from its erect position and laid on the ground, 
 letting it lie there for a short time while he prepared arrangements 
 for its removal. And when it had been brought down the Nile, 
 and landed at Alexandria, he caused a ship of a size hitherto un- 
 exampled, requiring three hundred rowers to propel it, to be built 
 to receive it." 
 
 « 
 
 • 
 
 h 
 
 ^ It is 105 ft. high (or with the pedestal 153 ft.), and weighs about 
 600 tons. 
 
 * In height 78 ft. and 72 ft. respectively. 
 
CHAf. 
 
 4S8 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 After stating that Constantine's death before this ship was 
 ready caused delay for a time, Marcellinus then describes 
 how the obelisk was at length put on board, conveyed across 
 the Mediterranean, brought up the Tiber to Rome, and erected 
 m the Circus Maximus. He then goes on to give some of 
 the principal words engraved on this obelisk as detailed in 
 the work of the Greek writer Hermapion. And here we 
 have revealed to us very forcibly the reason which caused 
 Constantine to be so anxious to convey this particular 
 obelisk to Rome, even though such a task involved exceptional 
 
 difficulties. 
 
 In the first line we have :—" The Sun to Ramestes the 
 King. I have given to thee to reign with joy over the whole 
 earth ; to thee whom the Sun and Apollo love ; to thee 
 the mighty truth-loving son of Heron, the god-bom ruler 
 of the habitable earth, whom the Sun has chosen above 
 all men, the valiant, warlike king Ramestes, under whose 
 power, by his valour and might, the whole world is 
 
 placed." 
 
 In the second line :— " The mighty Apollo, who takes his 
 stand upon truth, the lord of the diadem, he who has honoured 
 Egypt by becoming its master." 
 
 In the third Une :— " The mighty Apollo, the^ll-briUiant 
 son of the Sun, whom the Sim chose above all others, and 
 to whom the valiant Mars gave gifts. Thou whose good 
 fortune abideth for ever ; thou whom Ammon loves ; thou 
 who hast filled the temple of the Phoenix with good things ; 
 thou to whom the gods have given long life. Apollo, the 
 mighty son of Heron ; ^ Ramestes, the King of the world, 
 who has defended Egypt, having subdued the foreign enemy ; 
 whom the Sim loves ; to whom the gods have given long life, 
 the master of the world, the immortal Ramestes." 
 
 In the fifth line :— " I the Sun, the god, the master of 
 Heaven, have given to Ramestes the king might and authority 
 over all ; whom Apollo, the truth-lover, the master of time, 
 . . . hath chosen above all others by reason of his cour- 
 
 age. 
 
 Every word in this laudation of Ramestes could be applied 
 
 * Here the king is even identified with Apollo. 
 
 xm] 
 
 FAVOURITE OF APOLLO 
 
 439 
 
 with even greater propriety to Constantine. ^ And it is easy 
 to see how Constantine, who had from his youth believed 
 himself under the special protection of Apollo, and had of^on 
 been flattered by being identified with Apollo, would appro- 
 priate the expressions of favour in these inscriptions to himself, 
 and, exactly in the same way as he about this same time 
 erected in Constantinople a long-venerated Greek statue of 
 Apollo and by giving it a sceptre and an orb made it represent 
 himself, would take pleasure in erecting at Rome an obeUsk 
 the inscriptions on which could be taken as applying to him 
 who from his earliest years had been under the special favour 
 of Apollo, and to whom such words as " under whose power, 
 by his valour and might, the whole world is placed," were 
 more applicable than to any other before him. 
 
 The whole matter is highly interesting, in view of the time 
 in Constantine's life when the removal of this obelisk from the 
 temple of the sun-god in Thebes took place, owing to the 
 strong light it throws upon the general character of Constan- 
 tine's attitude of mind in regard to religion even up to so 
 late a period in his life.^ 
 
 About the year 334 Constantine became warmly engaged 
 in the controversy between the Arians and the CathoUcs. In 
 accordance with his sister Constantia's dying request he had 
 recalled Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia ^ (who had been 
 banished owing to his adopting the views of Arius), and ere 
 long Eusebius gained a strong influence with the emperor ; 
 with the result that at the latter end of his life Constantine, 
 whose views on religion had always (not unnaturally) been 
 rather vague, practically adopted the Arian opinions. He 
 sent for Arius to court, gave him an opportunity of explaining 
 his views to him, accepted his explanation as satisfactory, 
 
 * " I have given to thee to reign over the whole earth " — ** The 
 valiant, wsur-like King, under whose power, by his valour and might, 
 the whole world is placed " — " The lord of the diadem, he who has 
 honoured Egypt by becoming its master '* — *' To whom the valiant 
 Mars gave gifts " — " Thou whose good fortime abideth for ever " — 
 " The King of the world, who has defended Egypt, having subdued 
 the foreign enemy " — " The master of the world " — " Whom Apollo 
 . . . hath chosen above all others by reason of his courage.'* 
 
 ■ See pp. 444. and 445 (footnote). ^ g^Q p^ 408 (footnote). 
 
 i 
 
 >: 
 
 ti- 
 ll 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 440 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 and sent orders to Athanasius, who on the death of Bishop 
 Alexander had become Bishop of Alexandria, to receive Anus 
 back into the Church, threatening if he did not do so to banish 
 him. Athanasius, however, too clear-sighted to be satisfied 
 with the explanation which had satisfied the emperor, firmly 
 refused ; and Constantine, always just, even imder provoca- 
 tion, refrained from carrying out his threat. A long struggle, 
 carried on by the Arians with the most acrimonious bitterness, 
 took place during the years 334-336 between the Arian party, 
 assisted by the emperor, and the Catholics. Throughout 
 this struggle, although Constantine's authority was exerted 
 to favour the Arians and to force the Catholics to submit, 
 his endeavours to be just, even to religious opponents, are 
 frequently apparent, as also his sincere, even though mistaken, 
 efforts to bring the two parties to peace. Eventually the 
 Arians succeeded in inducing the emperor to banish, both 
 Eustathius, the Pope of Antioch,i and Athanasius, the Pope 
 of Alexandria, the latter being banished to Treves; but 
 notwithstanding great pressure brought to bear upon Constan- 
 tine by the Arians, he would not deprive Athanasius of his 
 see, and on the latter reaching Treves he was treated with 
 honour by Constantme's eldest son Constantine, who had 
 been given the rule of Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Finally, in 
 336 Arius, on the very day of his triumph, and about an 
 hour after issuing from the imperial Palace at Constantinople, 
 where he had obtained an order from the emperor to the 
 Bishop of Constantinople to receive him into communion, 
 suddenly fell down dead m the Augusteum. The Catholics 
 declared it a judgment from heaven ; the Arians that it was 
 
 due to poison. 
 
 In 335 Constantine celebrated with much solemnity the 
 thirtieth year of his reign as an emperor, a longer period than 
 any other emperor had reigned since Augustus. The chief 
 feature of this celebration was made by him the dedication 
 of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, by this 
 
 1 This title, in Latin " Papa " (Holy Father), and in Greek " Patri- 
 arch " (Chief Father) had begun to be applied to the two principal 
 Metropolitan Bishops, the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria. We 
 find it used in the decisions of the Council of Nic»a (see Appen- 
 dix VI). 
 
 xm] 
 
 HIS DEATH 
 
 441 
 
 time completed, which church he had endeavoured to make 
 in every way the most magnificent building in the empire. 
 The emperor himself was present at its consecration, together 
 with an immense concourse of Bishops from all parts of the 
 empire, Constantine placing the imperial service of posts at 
 their disposal for their journeys to and from Jerusalem. The 
 Sepulchre itself, adorned with costly marbles and precious 
 stones, had been surrounded under Constantine's orders by 
 a colonnade, the church being placed at one side of this colon- 
 nade. This dedication of the church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 was the last important act of Constantine's reign. 
 
 In 337 Sapor II of Persia, ^ then twenty-seven years old, 
 asserted a claim to the five districts east of the Tigris taken 
 from Persia by Diocletian.^ Constantine was preparing to 
 march in person against him when he was taken Ol. After a 
 short trial of the warm baths at Helenopolis,^ which only 
 increased his illness, he had himself carried in a litter to his 
 palace in Nicomedia, where he simimoned to him Eusebius, 
 the Bishop of Nicomedia, and was baptized by him.* And 
 a few days later Constantine the Great, who had made the 
 greatest change in the Roman Empire since the beginning of 
 its history, expired at Nicomedia on the 22nd May, 337, at 
 the age of sixty-three. 
 
 His body, robed in the imperial purple and crowned with 
 the diadem, was placed in a cofl&n of gold, borne by the Imperial 
 Guards to the seashore, conveyed in a funeral barge across the 
 Bosphorus, and carried to the imperial Palace in Constantinople. 
 There in the principal hall, on a high platform of many steps, 
 which was covered with purple cloth, ornamented with the 
 imperial insignia, and surrounded with burning candles in 
 golden candlesticks, the dead emperor lay in state, with the 
 jewelled cross which he had placed in the centre of the ceiling 
 shining above him like that which he had seen in the sky as 
 
 ^ Grandson of Narses. He reigned for seventy years ; see Note E, 
 p. 690. 
 
 « Chap. XI, p. 348. 
 
 « Called after his mother Helena, and situated near Nicomedia. 
 
 * Though preached against by the Bishops, this practice of persons 
 deferring their baptism imtil they were dying, making it a sort of 
 final absolution, was very common at that time. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 442 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 he marched to fight Maxentius. Thence after a day or two 
 there issued from the Palace, and passed through the streets 
 of Constantinople, a more splendid funeral than had ever 
 before been seen. The procession was headed by his son 
 Constantius, who was followed by all the chief officers of the 
 State and of the army ; behind them was carried the coffin, 
 borne by the Imperial Guards, and followed by detachments 
 from the various legions at the capital. In accordance with 
 his own orders the dead emperor was buried in his great 
 church of the Twelve Apostles. In this church he had placed 
 twelve tombs, six on each side, in honour of the Apostles, with 
 another in the centre for himself ; and there he was laid, 
 " with many tears from the assembled multitude.'* ^ While 
 as if to mark how his life had its part in both the old and the 
 new religions, at the same time that he was being buried with 
 Christian rites in Constantinople, in Rome the members of the 
 Senate were decreeing to him the usual honour of deification, 
 and ordering incense to be burnt before his statue ; the last 
 emperor to be thus honoured by the Pagan world. 
 
 The character of Constantino has not received justice, 
 either from non-Christian or Christian writers. This is owing 
 to the fact that he has always been estimated, by both parties, 
 ahnost entirely from the reUgious point of view, i.e. with 
 reference to his establishment of Christianity. The Pagan 
 writers, animated by a strong hatred for the man who abolished 
 Paganism, have traduced him in every transaction of his 
 career ; while the Christian contemporary writers have extolled 
 him with the utmost extravagance solely on account of his 
 action in regard to Christianity. 
 
 But Constantino has (for the same reason) fared no better 
 at the hands of modem writers. The historian Gibbon, 
 anxious in his enmity against Christianity to disparage as 
 much as possible the man who established that religion, has 
 found plenty of material for his purpose in the writings of 
 the Pagan writers of the 4th and 5th centuries, and quoting 
 them as his authorities has scarcely related a single action of 
 Constantino's life in a manner fair to the latter, even when 
 
 * Eusebius, Viia Conalantini, iv, 71. 
 
 
 HIS CHARACTER 
 
 443 
 
 forced to praise him doing so in terms which are equal to a 
 condemnation. As a part of this systematic endeavour to 
 disparage him. Gibbon, after first damning with faint praise 
 Constantino's character in the earlier part of his career, has 
 enunciated a theory ^ that on becoming sole master of the 
 Roman world Constantino degenerated into a " cruel and 
 dissolute tyrant," ^ pointing in support of this theory to the 
 execution of Maximian in 310, to that of Licinius in 324, and 
 to the domestic tragedy in 326. The times were stem and 
 harsh, and conduct not to be judged by the standard of our 
 times without doing the gravest injustice. The three episodes 
 mentioned have been fully dealt with in their place, ^ so that 
 here it will suffice to remark that the testimony is universal 
 that Constantino was from first to last exceptionally free from 
 all tendency to tyrannize, that on becoming sole master of 
 the Roman world he was conspicuously so, and that the fact 
 that his reign was so undisturbed by revolutionary attempts 
 has been held to be due to this very cause. 
 
 But while the above is the case with regard to non-Christian 
 modern writers, neither has Constantino received justice from 
 the Christian modern writers. The latter, looking at him 
 chiefly in regard to the religious point, appear to have expected 
 that the man who established Christianity should be capable 
 of being judged by the highest standard, and adopting the 
 term " conversion to Christianity " in regard to him in con- 
 nection with his victory over Maxentius, and ignoring the 
 fact that he remained for many years in a transition state, 
 and was only baptized as a Christian many years afterwards, 
 seem to have expected him at one bound to become incapable 
 
 » Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. II, 346-348 (Edition 
 1862). 
 
 * Gibbon here makes use of the word " dissolute " apparently in a 
 deceptive manner, since he makes no attempt to show any immorality 
 on Constantine's part, and on the preceding page had said of Con- 
 stantino, " From his earliest years to a very advanced season of life 
 he preserved the vigour of his constitution by a strict adherence to 
 the domestic virtues of chastity and temperance." But in both places 
 his language is somewhat disingenuous. There are no accusations 
 against Constantine on the score of immorality, even from the Pagan 
 writers. 
 
 3 Chap. XII, p. 372 ; and Chap. Xm, pp. 401 and 416. 
 
CHAP, 
 
 xrn] 
 
 444 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 PERIOD OF TRANSITION 
 
 445 
 
 of any act falling short, or seeming to fall short, of that high 
 standard ; while the fact of his eventually becoming an Arian 
 Christian creates a further ground of disappointment on thek 
 part. Moreover these writers, awed by the great name of 
 Gibbon, have felt boimd to accept his estimate of various 
 actions of Constantine's life, and so to believe that the latter 
 fell short of the standard by which they judge him even to a 
 greater extent than he did. 
 
 Before considering Constantine from that point of view 
 from which it is here maintained that he should be judged, 
 let us first look at him in regard to this matter of religion. In 
 the first place it seems generally forgotten that for nearly 
 forty years he was a Pagan, and during that time must be 
 judged in comparison with other Pagans around him. It 
 seems also forgotten that when he determined to make Chris- 
 tianity the religion of the State, and set himself vigorously 
 to establish that religion, he was still not personally a Christian, 
 though he had to a large extent given up Paganism, and that 
 for a long time afterwards (even though building churches, 
 attending a Church Council, and doing all he could to advance 
 Christianity) he remained for many years only half a Christian ; 
 while even to the end his Christianity was probably always of 
 a somewhat vague tyx)e. And in the second place his general 
 attitude towards religion must be borne in mind. Now one 
 very marked feature in Constantine, which shows itself both 
 in his Pagan period and in his Christian period, is that he was 
 throughout life intensely superstitious. During all the years 
 that he was a Pagan he was convinced that he was under the 
 special favour of Apollo. ^ And in the chief episode of his 
 life connected with religion (the episode popularly called his 
 " conversion "), the same characteristic shows itself. It is 
 
 * His straDge action, even qmte towards the end of his life, in set- 
 ting up in the Forum of Constcuitinople a well-known and long-wor- 
 shipped statue of Apollo, €uid by the addition of an orb and sceptre 
 converting it into a statue of himself, tends to show that much of his 
 original feeling in this respect still clung to him, and demonstrates 
 the more or less indefinite chwacter of his Christianity, at all events 
 until the last three or four yecurs of his Ufe ; and his action in regard 
 to the Theban obelisk shows the stmie. The Christians of those ages 
 looked upon the Pagan gods as devils ; nor can we imagine a Cyprian, 
 an Athanasius, or an Ambrose acting in this manner. 
 
 quite unnecessary to debate, as so many writers have done, 
 whether he really saw what he imagined he saw as he marched 
 against Maxentius. Whether having determined upon a 
 certain course from political motives he was predisposed to 
 see such a sign, or whether it was a genuine vision, matters 
 not. What is certain is that the strongest feeling in Constan- 
 tine throughout his life afterwards was that (like Cyrus) he 
 was a divinely appointed instrument chosen to set up and 
 maintain Christianity ; and this conviction was the main- 
 spring of all his actions in regard to that religion, quite irre- 
 spective of his own personal religious belief, whatever that 
 may have been.^ 
 
 Nor is it to be wondered at if Constantine's Christianity 
 was of a somewhat vague type. Occupied with long and 
 strenuous military operations in campaign after campaign, 
 burdened with countless labours relating to the affairs of a 
 whole world, and in matters of religion more concerned with 
 advancing the cause of Christianity than with studying theo- 
 logical questions, he was not the kind of man to become all 
 which modem Christian writers seem to have expected of 
 him ; while he was just the kind of man to see little difference 
 between the Catholic faith and the Arian belief, and to adopt 
 the latter (as the more easily understood of the two) when it 
 was urged upon him by one having influence with him. In- 
 stead of expecting that the man who established Christianity 
 should have become a sort of St. Louis, the wonder should 
 rather be that Constantine grew into being so good a Christian 
 as he did. While for about twenty years from the time of his 
 victory over Maxentius his personal religion might apparently 
 be described as Paganism overlaid with Christianity of a 
 vague type, 2 from the time that about three years before 
 
 1 His words in publishing the Edict of Milan, stating the reason 
 for his action to be to propitiate " whatever Deity exists," throw light 
 upon his own personal mental attitude even the year after his supposed 
 ** conversion." 
 
 * One curious outcome of this which may be called his transition 
 period is to be seen in the equivocal dedications which he gave to the 
 churches that he built in Constantinople, Sta. Sophia (the Divine Wis- 
 dom), Sta. Irene (Peace), and Sta. Homonoia (Unity of Spirit), none 
 of these being names of persons, but all of them somewhat equivocal 
 names of abstract ideas. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 446 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 his death he came under the influence of Eusebius, Bishop 
 of Nicomedia, a change is apparent. We hear no more of 
 actions wherein he identified himself with Apollo, or suggested 
 that he was the favoured of Apollo ; he displays eagerness to 
 make the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem as 
 glorious, and its consecration as notable, as possible ; and 
 he throws himself into the controversy between the 
 Arians and the Catholics almost with the ardour of a new 
 
 convert. 
 
 By some he has been condemned as being " ruthless," upon 
 the grounds put forward in support of that view by Gibbon. ^ 
 But this is to make the fatal error of judging a character in 
 history by the standard of another age to that in which the 
 person lived. * If the term ruthless as appHed to Constantino 
 has any meaning it must mean ruthless as compared with 
 other rulers of his age. Is it, then, the case that Constantino 
 was ruthless as compared with his contemporaries ; as com- 
 pared, e.g. with his predecessor Diocletian, with the latter's 
 colleague Maximian, with Galerius, with Maxentius, with 
 Licinius, or with Maximin ? The question has only to be 
 asked for the charge at once to fall dead. Moreover of the 
 three instances cited by Gibbon in support of it, one, the 
 execution of Maximian in 310, took place while Constan- 
 tino was still a Pagan, and the other two, the execu- 
 tion of Licinius in 324 and the domestic tragedy in 326, 
 took place while Constantino was in the transition period 
 between Paganism and Christianity. And if plotting against 
 the life of a king or emperor is to be held as a just ground 
 for execution (a theory which has been acted upon right 
 down to modem times) then Constantino must, in all the 
 three cases, be absolved from the charge on this ground 
 
 alone. 
 
 His abilities, and power to grasp and administer the affairs 
 of a whole world (a task which even Diocletian had found 
 beyond his powers) surpassed those of all the emperors who 
 had preceded him. As a commander in war he surpassed 
 Trajan, as can be seen by looking at his eight pitched battles, 
 and noting that he was victorious in these battles over troops 
 
 ^ Page 443. 
 
 • See Chap. VH, p. 267 (footnote). 
 
 xm] 
 
 CONTRAST TO PREDECESSORS 
 
 447 
 
 as well-trained as his own and led by Roman commanders, 
 whereas Trajan's battles were fought against imtrained bar- 
 barians. As an administrator he surpassed Augustus, for 
 he reorganized the entire administration, originated principles 
 so soimd that they have lasted down to the present day, 
 and passed laws able to raise the whole empire to a 
 higher plane and to confer permanent benefits upon man- 
 kind. Had he been only the equal of Trajan in war 
 and of Augustus in peace he would still have surpassed 
 them both, by reason of his capacity in both fields of 
 action. 
 
 To turn now to that point of view from which alone a just 
 estimate of Constantino is to be obtained. Instead of looking 
 at him principally from the point of view of religion, as has 
 so generally been done, let him be looked at as a man ; and 
 in order to avoid all questions arising from his establishment 
 of Christianity, let him be compared even while still a Pagan 
 with those who were his equals and rivals during the first 
 thirty-eight years of his life. Fearless, resolute, just, sagacious, 
 tolerant, large-minded, temperate and moral in his life, sur- 
 passing even Trajan as a general and even Augustus as an 
 administrator, and acknowledged as " among the very first 
 of all the benefactors of mankind," ^ he, with more truth 
 than Marcus Aurelius (who was certainly not a benefactor of 
 mankind) may rightly be held as " the best man that the 
 Pagan world ever produced." * Compare him in character 
 with those with whom his lot was cast during those thirty- 
 eight years, — Diocletian, Galerius, his father-in-law Maximian, 
 his brother-in-law Maxentius, his brother-in-law Licinius, 
 Severus, and Maximin, — all of them noted for monstrous 
 cruelties and most of them for monstrous immorality ; in 
 comparison with them he appears like a being of another 
 sphere. Or compare him in abilities and achievements with 
 the most able emperors who had preceded him, — ^Augustus, 
 Tiberius, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus 
 Aurelius, Aurelian, Diocletian ; he stands a head and shoulders 
 above them all, not one of them, even Augustus, being like 
 Constantino pre-eminent alike in the domain of a commander 
 
 Page 396 (footnote). 
 
 2 Chap. VII, p. 247. 
 
i' 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 448 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 
 
 in war and a far-sighted administrator in peace. Never has 
 Constantine been looked at in this manner, and it is only 
 when thus looked at that he stands out in his true colours. 
 The picture drawn of him by a historian anxious to disparage 
 him as much as possible owing to the religious question mvolved 
 in his establishment of Christianity has been copied by all 
 others • and as a result Constantine, who did many other 
 things besides estabUshing Christianity, has not been estmiated 
 
 as he deserves. • -, j i.- i. 
 
 Constantine in fact chiefly deserves honour for deeds which 
 he alone showed power to perform. His estabUshment of 
 Christianity, though it had far-reaching effects upon the world, 
 does not, so far as proof of his abiUty is concerned, represent 
 his greatest achievement. It was one which might have 
 been effected by any capable emperor,— by Augustus, by 
 Trajan, by Antoninus Pius, or by Diocletian. The same 
 also might be said regarding his great deeds in war, his reor- 
 ganization of the entire civil administration of the empire, 
 and his assembly of the first General Council of the Church. 
 But Constantine's other achievements were such as no other 
 emperor displays abihty to produce ; those deeds of a far- 
 sighted wisdom able to conceive and carry out ideas based on 
 sound principles and entirely new to the world. In this 
 category are his settlement of the future relations between 
 Church and State, his innovation of separating the three chief 
 functions of government, ^ his mnovation as to the principles 
 upon which an army should be organized, ^ his founding of 
 such a city as Constantinople,^ and, above all, his lifting the 
 whole Roman world to a higher plane of civiUzation and 
 enlightenment,* all of them achievements of which no em- 
 peror before him had dreamt, and which have demonstrated 
 
 » The civil, the mihtary, and the ecclesiastical. 
 
 • The subdivision of the entire territory into definite general's 
 commands, the separation of the cavalry from the infantry, the reduc- 
 tion of the infantry unit to a more suitable size, and the estabUsh- 
 ment of a distinct department for arsenals and commissariat. 
 
 3 Diocletian, though seeking for sites for new capitals, had passed 
 Byzantiimi by ; Constantine saw its great future possibiUties. 
 
 * Chiefly through his numerous and radical changes in the Roman 
 laws. 
 
 xm] 
 
 GREATEST OF ROMAN EMPERORS 
 
 449 
 
 their soundness by the length of time that they have 
 endured. 
 
 It is on this gromid (and entirely apart from his action in 
 regard to Christianity) that Constantine merits much greater 
 honour than has ever been accorded to him. Subsequent 
 generations gave Constantine the title of Great with more 
 justice than they were aware. He was the greatest general 
 the Roman world ever produced ; he raised the Roman 
 Empire to the highest point it ever attained ; he was an admin- 
 istrator so far-sighted that he could found institutions capable 
 of lasting sixteen hundred years. And these things make 
 him the greatest of all the Roman emperors. 
 
 p.w. 
 
 CO 
 
CHAP XTVl 
 
 MASSACRE OF COLLATERAL BRANCH 
 
 451 
 
 1'^ 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 BEIONS OF 
 
 CONSTANTINE H, CX)NSTANTnJS, CONSTANS, 
 JULIAN, AND JOVIAN 
 
 CONSTANTINE II, CONSTANTIUS, AND 
 
 CONSTANS 
 
 337 — 350 
 
 HAD Crispus survived it is possible that Constantine the 
 Great might have left him the whole empire, and 
 even had he not done so Crispus, popular and capable, would 
 very soon have taken it ; but the emperor's three sons by 
 Fausta were cast in a different mould, and he evidently con- 
 sidered that none of them were capable of so vast a charge. 
 He therefore left to the eldest, Constantine II, then twenty- 
 one, the rule of Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Mauretania, to the 
 second, Constantius, then twenty, that of Syria, Mesopotamia, 
 Egypt, and part of Asia Minor, and to the third, Constans, 
 then only seventeen, that of Italy, Rhaetia, Noricum, North 
 Africa, Pannonia, and lUyricum ; while to his nephews, Del- 
 matius and Hannibalianus ^ (the sons of his half-brother 
 Delmatius), he gave, to the elder Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia, 
 and Greece, and to the younger Pontus and Cappadocia. 
 
 But this arrangement had a very short duration. The 
 army declared at once that they would suffer none to reign 
 over them but the sons of their lamented emperor, and forth- 
 with carried out, either with or without the consent of Con- 
 
 « See genealogical table of the family of Constantius Chlonis, Ap- 
 pendix Vin. HannibaUanus had been married to Constantme's 
 daughter Constantina. 
 
 450 
 
 stantius (who alone of the three brothers was present at the 
 capital), a promiscuous massacre in which the two half-brothers 
 of Constantine the Great ,^ Hannibalianus and Julius Con- 
 stantius, the two sons of his deceased half-brother Delmatius, 
 and the three sons of Hannibalianus were slain. It is possible 
 that the troops may have known that the half-brothers of the 
 late emperor and their sons were planning to oust the sons of 
 Constantine, and so to create a civil war. But however that 
 may be, of all the nephews of the late emperor they only spared 
 the half-brothers Gallus and Julian, the two sons of Julius 
 Constantius, then respectively twelve and six years old. His- 
 torians are unable to decide how far Constantius was re- 
 sponsible for this massacre, but it is usually considered that 
 while he did not participate in it, his youth and inexperience 
 were easily prevailed over to extract his consent to it. In any 
 case h^ had no force at his disposal with which to resist the 
 determined will of the army not to permit any of the colla- 
 teral branch who were grown up to survive. 
 
 This ruthless slaughter of seven members of the imperial 
 family, while it was far surpassed by various massacres during 
 Pagan times, shows that the age had as yet by no means 
 wholly emerged from the traditions of the Pagan epoch, and 
 that twenty-four years of Christianity as the State religion 
 had still left among the majority of the Romans much of that 
 disregard for human life which had for generations been com- 
 mon among them. Nor was it to be expected that it should 
 be otherwise. A large part, perhaps half, of the population 
 were still Pagans, and even among the remainder the lessons 
 of Christianity had in twenty -four years only been very par- 
 tially assimilated. We have in fact to realize that in such a 
 matter as the working of Christianity the life even of a genera- 
 tion is a mere span. It was to take many generations before 
 the lessons of Christianity regarding the sacredness of human 
 life would so permeate the whole population as to render such 
 acts impossible. 
 
 Constantine II and Constans were at the time of this episode 
 
 * It is probable that the half-brothers of Constantine the Great 
 were not looked upon by his sons quite in the light of uncles. More- 
 over they had shown disaffection to Constantine on several occa- 
 sions. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 462 CONSTANTINE II, CONSTANTIUS, CONSTANS 
 
 absent in their respective dominions, but in May 338 the 
 three brothers met in Pannonia, and at a personal interview 
 arranged that they should be joint-emperors, Constantine 
 II (with a certain pre-eminence of rank) taking the west (with 
 Milan as his capital), Constantius the east (with Antioch as 
 his capital), and Constans the centre. Although this arrange- 
 ment gave to Constans the coveted possession of Constanti- 
 nople, Constantius seems to have acceded to this from 
 a feeling that his duty called him to the eastern frontier, 
 where for a long time he must be occupied in defending the 
 empire from the Persians.* 
 
 In 339 Constans gained a victory on the Danube over the 
 Sarmatians, which made him less inclined to brook any inter- 
 ference from his eldest brother. In 340, however, Con- 
 stantine II, who had from the first claimed a sort of authority 
 over Constans, took steps to enforce it, and suddenly assem- 
 bling an army advanced as far as Aquileia. Constans, who 
 was at Naissus, upon hearing of this attack sent forward 
 a body of troops to oppose it, intending to follow with 
 the rest of his forces ; but the first body waylaid Constantine II 
 on his march, and the latter falling into an ambuscade was 
 
 kiUed. 
 
 Meanwhile Constantius was occupied on the eastern frontier, 
 opposing the Persians. Sapor II was an able general, and 
 so formidable an invasion required to be met by the entire 
 military strength of the empire, as Constantine the Great 
 had been preparing to do. But Constantius had to meet 
 this invasion with only one-third of the forces of the empire, 
 and since he himself was without any military ability it is 
 not to be wondered at that the war lagged on year after year 
 without any decisive result, both parties avoiding a general 
 engagement. Nevertheless Constantius, though displaying 
 no military genius, successfully carried on a defensive warfare, 
 in the course of which he organized a body of mailed cavalry 
 after the Persian model, increased the fleet on the Tigris, 
 and built various fortresses, and though Sapor brought large 
 forces into the field he was unable to conquer Mesopotamia, 
 while in 344 his camp at Hileia was attacked and taken by 
 Constantius, Sapor himself being forced to fly, and the heir 
 
 » Se^ Chap. XIII, p. 441. 
 
 Xiv] 
 
 PERSIAN WAR 
 
 453 
 
 to his throne being captured and put to death. Throughout 
 these operations in Mesopotamia the fortified cities played 
 a prominent part, offering a stout resistance to Sapor, especi- 
 ally Nisibis, the great stronghold of the Roman power on the 
 eastern frontier. This strongly fortified city successfully 
 withstood three memorable sieges in the years 338, 346, and 
 350, Sapor being thrice repulsed with ignominy after suffering 
 heavy losses ; and in the latter year, after his third failure, 
 he abandoned this war, which had lasted thirteen years, and 
 made peace. 
 
 The youngest of the three brothers, Constans, had by the 
 death of Constantine II become, at the age of twenty, ruler 
 over the two western prefectures.* Young though he was, 
 he administered this wide dominion satisfactorily, and the 
 West remained during this period peacefully governed and 
 imdisturbed by any untoward events. Moreover Constans 
 was at first vigorous and energetic, travelling incessantly, 
 and making himself a terror to the barbarians. In 341 and 
 342 he drove back an incursion of the Franks, and forced 
 them to make peace. And in January 343, disregarding the 
 dangers of crossing the Channel in winter, he proceeded to 
 Britain, and drove back the Scots and Picts who had made 
 an incursion into the northern part of the Roman territory. 
 But on his return from Britain Constans, taking up his resid- 
 ence in Rome, gave himself up to a luxurious life, and gradu- 
 ally fell under the dominion of favourites whose actions by 
 degrees undermined his popularity. 
 
 In 349, however, Constans displayed a resolute energy in 
 connection with the exiled Pope of Alexandria, Athanasius. 
 The latter on the death of Constantine the Great had been 
 permitted to return from Treves to his see of Alexandria by 
 Constantine II, who in giving the permission expressed a deep 
 sense of the innocence and noble character of his honoured 
 guest. After the death of Constantine II the Arian party 
 persuaded Constantius (who in the intervals of the Persian 
 war found time to turn his attention to Church matters, and 
 was completely under the influence of the Arians), again to 
 force Athanasius to quit Alexandria, and the latter removed 
 for several years to Rome, the Arians still endeavouring to 
 
 1 Chap. XI, p. 347. 
 
 ^' f 
 
m 
 
 IH 
 
 I 
 
 S'' 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 454 CONSTANTIUS AND CONSTANS 
 
 get him deprived of his see. His cause was espoused by 
 Constans, who at last in 349 wrote to his brother Constantius 
 a short and peremptory letter, stating that unless he con- 
 sented to the unmediate restoration of Athanasms, he himself 
 with a fleet and army would seat the primate of Egypt on his 
 episcopal throne. This produced the desired effect; Con- 
 stantius, not inclined to enter on a war to please the Arians, 
 gave way; and Athanasius returned to his see joyfully 
 welcomed by the people of Alexandria. 
 
 During these thirteen years (337-350), though both Con- 
 stantius and Constans were without ability, the empure at 
 large, with the exception of the eastern frontier, continued 
 in the state of prosperity in which it had been left by Con- 
 stantine the Great. The sound system of government which 
 he had established continued to be administered by efficient 
 officers, and though the inglorious Persian war desolated Meso- 
 potamia and the districts on the Tigris, the rest of the empire 
 was unaffected by this conflict and only heard of it as taking 
 
 place at a distance. 
 
 At length, early in 350, Constans, while pursuing, near 
 Autun in Gaul, his favourite amusement of hunting, was sud- 
 denly assaned by a party of troops who had been enticed from 
 their allegiance by Magnentius, an ambitious soldier of bar- 
 barian extraction who now raised a revolt in Gaul. Constans, 
 taken entirely unawares, and attacked suddenly in a forest 
 unaccompanied by any escort of troops, and not able to get 
 back to Autun, fled southwards hoping to reach Spain, but 
 was overtaken near the Pyrenees by the troops of Magnen- 
 tius and slain. Thereupon his cousin Nepotian,i ^ho with 
 his mother, the princess Eutropia,* was Uving in Rome, fired 
 with indignation at the throne of the West being usurped 
 by a treacherous barbarian, seized the power in Rome, and 
 was saluted as Augustus by the Romans. But withm a 
 month a force in the pay of the tyrant Magnentius arrived at 
 Rome, overpowered the troops of Nepotian, and put to death 
 Nepotian, his mother Eutropia, and aU the chief persons m 
 Rome who had given their adherence to him. 
 
 » See Appendix VIII. , r>, x x- 
 
 ■ Named after her great-grandfather, the father of Constantius 
 
 Cblorus (Chap. XI, p. 347). 
 
 Xivl 
 
 A SOLEMN TRUST 456 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 350—361 
 
 The course of events had thus caused the rule of the whole 
 empire to devolve upon the one of the three sons of Constantine 
 the Great who is said to have been his father's favourite son. 
 
 The character of Constantius has not been justly depicted 
 in history. For while on the one side he has, as was to be 
 expected, received plentiful abuse from the opponents of 
 Christianity,^ on the other side he has been almost as unjustly 
 treated by Church writers, both of his own and subsequent 
 times, owing to his bigoted Arianism and his rigorous perse- 
 cution of the Catholics. 
 
 Constantius would seem to have deserved his father's 
 preference, for though his abilities were only moderate, yet 
 he undoubtedly possessed certain solid attributes commanding 
 respect, for we are specially told that one of his characteristics 
 was an indefinable quality which produced a feeling in his 
 presence of an awe-inspiring majesty. He had (as we know 
 from Ammianus Marcellinus and other contemporary writers), 
 a high ideal of his duty to the Roman empire, as a trust com- 
 mitted to him by his father, together with a firm conviction 
 that he was the chosen of God to be the representative of the 
 dynasty of Constantius Chlorus, and that as the holder of 
 such a trust he was solemnly bound to do his best for that 
 empire, and to sacrifice his own personal interests or inclina- 
 tions whenever they clashed with this sacred obligation. He 
 consistently adhered throughout life to this principle. He 
 was no soldier, and hated war ; yet for the good of the empire 
 he gave up the possession of Constantinople and the imperial 
 palace to his younger brother, and setting out for the eastern 
 frontier steadfastly conducted there in person for twelve years 
 the long and wearisome war with the Persians in defence of 
 the empire. And not only did he prominently display the 
 same characteristic during the last two years of his life,* but 
 on other occasions also he frequently took the field when he 
 would much have preferred to have remained occupied in the 
 more congenial task of eradicating the Catholic faith. His 
 
 1 In particular by Gibbon, whose picture of Constantius is most 
 unfair. ^ See pp. 470 and 473. 
 
 It 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xiv] 
 
 456 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 THE PRINCESS CONST ANTINA 
 
 457 
 
 . 
 
 ill 
 
 duty of safeguarding the empire involved a similar obligation 
 imposed upon him of safeguarding the religion which had 
 been adopted by that empire, and hence the one main interest 
 of Constantius' life became that of providing for the welfare 
 of the Christian Church and the maintenance of its doctrine, 
 as he understood it. 
 
 Nor were Constantius' faults without some amount of excuse. 
 From the time that he was sixteen he had been brought up 
 as an Arian and had been surrounded by the leading men 
 holding that belief, and to him, consequently, the Catholic 
 faith was anathema, while religious toleration was entirely 
 alien to the sentiments of that Arian party to which he be- 
 longed. Unfortunately, together with these characteristics 
 Constantius possessed two others which produced dire results. 
 Naturally inclined to lean upon others, he was easily led by 
 unscrupulous ministers ; and he also possessed an intensely 
 suspicious nature, causing him on the mere whisper of treason 
 to take lives ruthlessly, while, unlike his father in this re- 
 spect, his reserved and unsympathetic nature prevented his 
 having any warm adherents, leaving him the prey of a band 
 of counsellors who were actuated only by self-interest. Never- 
 theless Constantius' exalted view of his imperial duty, his 
 refusal ever to allow his personal inclinations to interfere 
 with that object, his steadfastness and singleness of aim as 
 regards religion, his temperance and purity of life, and the 
 qualities which made men feel an awe-inspiring majesty 
 in his presence, command our respect, however much we may 
 condemn his putting to death many innocent men who aroused 
 his suspicions, and his intolerant persecution of the Catholic 
 
 Church. 
 
 Though the death of Constans had left Constantius at the 
 age of thirty-three the only survivor of the sons of Constantino 
 the Great, he had still to overcome the tyrannical usurper 
 Magnentius, who by the financial assistance of Marcellinus, 
 Count of the sacred largesses,^ had been enabled to gain 
 the adherence of the troops of the West. Moreover Con- 
 stantius had also to meet another foe raised up against him by 
 his sister Constantina, the widow of the slain Hannibalianus.* 
 
 * The title home by the chief financial minister of the emperor. 
 
 • Page 451. 
 
 The princess Constantina, before the death of her father 
 Constantino the Great, had persuaded him on her being married 
 to her cousin Hannibalianus to grant her the title of Augusta, 
 On the death of her brother Constans, Constantina, in revenge 
 against Constantius for the slaughter in 337 of her husband 
 and the loss to herself thereby of the position to which as his 
 wife she would have succeeded under her father's will, with 
 her own hands placed the diadem of the two western pre- 
 fectures on the head of the old and experienced general Vetranio, 
 who, universally beloved, had long administered with success 
 the provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum. Vetranio was 
 greatly attached to the house of Constantino, but having 
 now to choose between the brother and sister chose the side 
 of the latter, and was saluted as emperor by the troops 
 in Illyricum. 
 
 On receiving the news of the death of Constans, the revolt 
 of Magnentius, and the action of the princess Constantina, 
 Constantius placed the conduct of affairs in the East in charge 
 of his cousin Gallus, by this time twenty-five years old,^ and 
 marched with an army towards Europe. Vetranio consented 
 to meet him at Sardica in Dardania, and there Constantius 
 (who showed both bravery and dignity in this action) addressed 
 the troops of both armies, upon which even the troops of 
 Vetranio saluted Constantius as their lawful emperor, and 
 Vetranio willingly withdrew into an honoured retirement 
 at Prusa (Dec. 350). At the same time Constantius raised 
 Gallus to the rank of Caesar, formally investing him with the 
 rule of the eastern prefecture ; and to satisfy his sister Con- 
 stantina' s ambitious spirit he married her to her cousin Gallus 
 (6th March, 351). 
 
 Constantius then gathered his forces for the inevitable 
 battle with the usurper Magnentius, who was advancing with 
 a powerful army from Gaul. After several indecisive engage- 
 ments between them in Pannonia a hard-fought battle took 
 
 1 After the murder of their father Julius Constantius in the mas- 
 sacre in 337, the two boys, Gallus and Julian, had been carried off 
 to Nicomedia, and in 344 had been transferred to the lonely imperial 
 castle of Macellum, in Cappadocia. They had been given a careful 
 education, but kept almost like prisoners, none of their friends being 
 allowed to visit them. 
 
i 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 !i 
 
 458 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 place on the 28th September, 351, at Mursa, near the junction 
 of the Drave with the Danube. The want of military abihty 
 in Constantius is exemplified by his waiting to be attacked 
 though he had more than double his enemy's force, and by 
 the position he took up, with the Danube close in his rear and 
 the Drave on his right, a position in which defeat would have 
 meant destruction. However he had 80,000 men to Mag- 
 nentius' 36,000, while this disparity was further increased 
 just before the battle by the desertion to him of Silvanus with 
 the greater part of the cavalry of Magnentius. But, notwith- 
 standing this loss, the infantry of the latter fought with the 
 most stubborn bravery, and the battle continued to rage far 
 into the night. Towards the end of the day Magnentius'^ 
 right wing, simultaneously attacked in front by Constantius' 
 infantry and in flank by his strong force of cavahy, gave way. 
 Magnentius fled, but his Gaulish legions under MarceUinus 
 continued the battle, and refusing to retire were almost all 
 slain or drowned in the Drave. The losses in this, the most 
 severely fought battle of the time, were prodigious. Con- 
 stantius out of his 80,000 men lost 30,000 ; while the loss in 
 the army of Magnentius reached the enormous proportion 
 of two-thu-ds of the whole force, Magnentius out of his 36,000 
 men losing 24,000, this being chiefly due to the brave stead- 
 fastness of his Gaulish legions. 
 
 Magnentius fled to Aquileia, where he remained during the 
 winter, hoping that Italy would remain loyal to him. But 
 the cruelties carried out at the time when Nepotian and his 
 mother Eutropia were put to death had alienated the people ; 
 the cities displayed the banners of Constantius; and in 
 the spring of 352, upon Constantius advancing across the 
 Julian Alps Magnentius fled to Gaul. Constantius, always 
 slow in his movements, advancing through Italy at length 
 reached Milan, where he remained for the winter, and in the 
 spring of 353 crossed the Alps by the Mont Cenis pass ; where- 
 upon Magnentius, seeing his cause hopeless, committed suicide 
 at Lyons. In the same year Constantius, now thirty-six, 
 whose first wife, his cousin Galla,^ had died in 350, married 
 Aurelia Eusebia, whose father was Prefect of Macedonia. 
 
 Meanwhile in the east Gallus at his capital of Antioch was 
 ^ Daughter of Julius Constanti\is and Galla. 
 
 xiv] 
 
 MISRULE BY GALLUS 
 
 459 
 
 showing himself both incapable and tyrannical. Raised from 
 a prison to a throne, he possessed none of the qualities of a 
 ruler, while he was by turns sour in temper, morose, and 
 violent. Nor was his wife Constantina of a character to 
 mitigate this disposition. Whether truly or not, she is de- 
 scribed by the writers of the time as driven by an insatiable 
 thirst for human blood, constantly urging her husband to acts 
 of cruelty and murder. As soon, therefore, as the suppression 
 of the revolt of Magnentius left Constantius free to turn his 
 attention again to the East he directed a selected officer of 
 high rank and noted ability, Domitian, to proceed to Antioch, 
 empowering him with a special commission to report to him 
 regarding the general charges of cruelty and injustice in the 
 administration of Gallus. But on arriving at Antioch and 
 beginning to make these enquiries Domitian was arrested by 
 Gallus; and upon Montius, the quaestor of the imperial 
 palace, interfering to protect Domitian, and calling upon all 
 civil and military officers to defend the representative of the 
 emperor, both Domitian and Montius were seized, their legs 
 were tied together, and after being dragged through the streets 
 of the city by the mob their mangled and lifeless bodies were 
 thrown into the Orontes. 
 
 After such an outrage the only, possible chance for Gallus 
 was to try the fortune of war. But Gallus was a compoimd 
 of violence and weakness ; and on receiving a peremptory 
 order summoning him to Milan (at which city Constantius 
 took up his residence), to answer to the emperor in person 
 for the deed, he set forth on this journey, accompanied by his 
 wife Constantina. The latter died before they reached Con- 
 stantinople, and on arriving at Poetovio, in Pannonia, Gallus 
 was arrested, taken to the castle of Pola, and there, after an 
 examination conducted by his personal enemy Eusebius, the 
 emperor's chamberlain, the results of which convinced Con- 
 stantius that his own safety was incompatible with his cousin's 
 life, was executed (Dec. 354). 
 
 Constantius by no abilities of his own, but well served by 
 officers trained under Constantme the Great (of whom Vetranio 
 was a type), had by the final defeat of Magnentius finnly 
 
 ^ 
 
 V 
 
 II 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XIV] 
 
 460 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 THE STEADFAST ATHANASIUS 
 
 461 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 II 
 
 ■n 
 
 established his power throughout the whole empire, and for 
 the remaining nine years of his life ruled without a rival. 
 Suspicious and bigoted, he was entirely under the influence of 
 a crowd of officials, the Arian party in particular establishing 
 a complete dominion over him. Religion, and matters con- 
 nected with religion, became almost the sole affairs dealt 
 with by the State ; Arianism, the form of belief held by Con- 
 stantius, his wife Eusebia, and his entire court, became the 
 fashionable religion, and the emperor now proceeded to sus- 
 tain it with the whole force of the government. The persecu- 
 tions and banishments of Catholic bishops to force them to 
 submit, and the various other measures from time to time 
 invented to crush the Catholic religion, became the prominent 
 political feature of the time, occupying all the attention of 
 Constantius and his ministers. Promises, flatteries, threats, 
 and military force were in turn brought to bear upon the 
 Bishops, who if they refused to comply were exiled, and their 
 sees filled by Arians. In no long time in all the ecclesiastical 
 dioceses not only were the Bishops Arians, but that party held 
 all the churches and were in a considerable majority, the 
 Catholics becoming a despised and persecuted minority. For 
 a long time two leading Bishops in the west held out, Hosius, 
 Bishop of Cordova, 1 and Liberius, Bishop of Rome.* After 
 resisting every kind of pressure they were at length imprisoned, 
 and then banished. At last Hosius, now 100 years old, gave 
 way, and signed the Arian creed. A few months later Liberius 
 did the same, and the triumph of Arianism was complete. 
 " The world," says Jerome,^ " groaned, and was astonished 
 to find itself Arian." 
 
 One prominent man remained facing a world in defence 
 
 * It WAS against the laws of tHe Church for a Bishop ever to be 
 " translated " from one see to another, and when once a man became 
 a Bishop he remained always the occupant of that see. 
 
 * The importsuit church of Sta. Maria Maggiore in Rome was origin- 
 ally erected by Liberius, and is often called the Liberian BEisiUca. 
 No pcirt of this original church now remains, but the church was 
 rebuilt eighty years later, and of this later church, built in 432, 
 the nave, the marble columns, and the mosaics on the chancel arch 
 Btill remain. 
 
 3 St. Jerome was at this time a young man of about twenty- 
 five. 
 
 of the Catholic religion, Athanasius, Pope ^ of Alexandria. 
 Irrespective altogether of his lifelong fight in this cause, 
 Athanasius, when Constantine the Great had passed away, 
 was the one man in the Roman empire who stood out superior 
 to all others in abilities and character. For forty-six years 
 he held the see of Alexandria, and during the whole of that 
 time maintained a perpetual combat, resisting all the efforts 
 of an Arian world to silence him. In the midst of an \m- 
 ceasing storm of persecution, ever brave, patient, wise, stead- 
 fast, and self-sacrificing, he displayed all the qualities of a 
 noble-hearted man, and won the admiration of all who looked 
 on at this conflict. Five times over he was expelled from his 
 see, and nearly half his life was passed in exile. At length 
 Constantius resolved to deprive him not only of his see, but 
 of his life, and a force of 5000 men was sent to surround the 
 cathedral of Alexandria and seize him ; a scene of tumult 
 and bloodshed followed, but in the midst of the confusion 
 Athanasius was carried away by the people and hidden in the 
 desert of the Thebaid, far to the south. Thence by his 
 exhortations and writings he kept up the fainting spirits of 
 the depressed and persecuted Catholics, it being due to this 
 solitary brave leader that the Catholic faith survived. 
 
 This steadfast defence of the true faith by one Bishop alone 
 throughout the world passed in after times into a proverb, 
 Athanasius contra mundum.^ While all Christians naturally 
 hate strife, yet in an army at war with formidable foes those 
 soldiers who will not fight are apt to be as bad for the cause 
 as those foes themselves. At such times there are always 
 those who shrink from the conflict, and in order to purchase 
 an undeserved peace will compromise in matters concerning 
 the Church's faith, practice, or constitution. But on the 
 other hand there have always been those ready to bear all 
 the odium and suffering of such a conflict, and to proclaim 
 " a truceless war " so long as the attack upon the Church's 
 faith, practice, or constitution continues. When such spirits 
 fail to arise it is a proof of deadness in religion ; and when 
 the Church fails to be attacked it is a proof that she is making 
 
 1 As already mentioned, this title was at this tiiA^ applied ^o thq 
 Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria. 
 > "Athanasius against the world," 
 
CHAP. 
 
 462 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 friends with the world. Never at any other time in the 
 Church's history was the minority ia defence of the true faith 
 reduced so low as at this period, when it was represented by 
 a single Bishop. And the forty years' fight which Athanasius 
 waged, ending at length (though long after his death), in 
 victory, has ever since caused his name to be held in highest 
 
 honour.^ 
 
 In this day of its triumph during the reign of Constantius 
 Arianism seemed anxious to show how bitter and rancorous 
 a spirit that form of belief engendered. While adopting the 
 Christian name, the Arians brought scorn upon that religion 
 by their language and conduct towards their opponents, to 
 stigmatize whom the whole vocabulary of vituperation was 
 brought into use, while the most harsh and vindictive methods 
 were employed to force them to conform to the dominant 
 beUef. Nevertheless, since it was the object of the leaders 
 of Arianism to make the difference between that form of belief 
 and the Catholic faith look as small as possible, causing them 
 to use language in their sermons and creeds which was ambigu- 
 ous and might be taken in an orthodox sense, there were 
 everywhere pious people who (either too illiterate to under- 
 stand such questions, or by temperament disinclined to give 
 attention to them) might attend the services in an Arian 
 church, hear the sermons, and recite the Arian creeds without 
 receiving any harm. *' The ears of the people, uninjured by 
 the subtle heresy, were purer than the lips of the preachers.'* 
 At this period the Church, notwithstanding all the diffi- 
 culties of its conflict with Arianism, continued to extend its 
 area. About the middle of Constantius' reign the kingdom 
 of Georgia adopted Christianity, and soon afterwards the 
 kingdom of Abyssinia did the same, the latter kingdom sending 
 to Athanasius at Alexandria for a Bishop. And the Church 
 of Abyssinia to this day still acknowledges the see of Alexan- 
 dria as its parent Church, and has more than once in recent 
 times given practical demonstration of the fact. 
 
 Constantius being of so abnormally suspicious a disposition, 
 
 1 Regarding the creed called by the name of St. Athanasius, because 
 it enunciates the faith of which he was so brave a defender for more 
 than forty years, see Vol. II» Chap. XXIV. 
 
 XIV] 
 
 EUSEBIA 
 
 463 
 
 it was not to be expected that the conduct of Gallus would 
 fail to bring many others under the emperor's suspicion as 
 possibly nourishing treasonable intentions against him, and 
 especially the half-brother of Gallus, Julian, now twenty-three 
 years old. In 351, upon GaUus being made Caesar ^ Julian 
 had been released from his confinement at MaceUum, and had 
 since resided at Nicomedia, Pergamimi, Ephesus, and other 
 places in Asia Minor, secretly digging deeply into the mysteries 
 of occult science. He was now, early in 355, escorted under 
 a strong guard to Milan, and there kept a prisoner for several 
 months, in continual dread of a similar death to that which 
 he saw almost daily inflicted upon all who were suspected 
 of having been adherents of Gallus, or who for any cause were 
 obnoxious to the band of advisers who surrounded Con- 
 stantius. And this would probably have been his fate had 
 not the empress Eusebia exerted her influence on his be- 
 half. 
 
 Eusebia, the second wife of Constantius, was the only per- 
 son among those around the latter whose character it is a 
 pleasure to contemplate. Beautiful, accomplished, and high- 
 minded in character, Eusebia, although an Arian in belief, 
 constantly opposed the bitter persecuting policy of the Arian 
 advisers who surrounded Constantius, and by her moderation 
 and gentleness exercised a counterbalancing influence over 
 the mind of her husband. Seeing plainly that Julian was 
 entirely innocent, either of any complicity in the proceedings 
 of Gallus, or of any desire to aim at the throne, she now inter- 
 ceded for him with Constantius ; thereupon Julian was ad- 
 mitted to the emperor's presence, pleaded his cause with dignity 
 and sincerity, was heard favourably, and was released from 
 his confinement and allowed to reside at Athens. It was the 
 one place where above all others he desired to live, Julian 
 being both by temperament and training a philosopher, 
 deeply interested in all questions regarding the Greek phil- 
 osophies, and in every way the exact opposite, in character, 
 abilities, and disposition, to his half-brother Gallus. 
 
 It is frequently said that a child's character and natural 
 abilities will in most cases depend more upon those of his 
 mother than of his father, and certainly the theory is remark- 
 ably borne out at least three times over in successive genera- 
 
 )ii 
 
CHAP. 
 
 464 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 xiv] 
 
 A TRUE LOVER OF GREECE 
 
 465 
 
 tions of the family of Constantius Clilorus,^ if not even four 
 times over. For while we know nothing regarding the char- 
 acter and abilities of Eutropius, the father of Constantius 
 Chloms, we at all events know that his mother came of a 
 family notable in this respect.* 
 
 But looking at the next two generations we have the theory 
 forcibly demonstrated three several times over.* Helena's 
 son by Constantius Chlorus was the great Constantine ; whereas 
 Theodosia's three sons by Constantius Chlorus were all of 
 them without any abilities or strength of character, even 
 though they had a man like Constantius Chlorus as their 
 father. Again, in the next generation Minervina's son by 
 Constantine the Great was Crispus, who in his short life showed 
 himself in every way strong in character and of exceptional 
 ability ; whereas the three sons of Fausta by Constantine 
 were aU of them wanting in that respect, even though they 
 had such a man as Constantine the Great as their father. 
 And yet again in this same generation of the family we have 
 another scarcely less striking instance ; for while Galla's 
 son by Julius Constantius was the weak and incapable Gallus, 
 Basilina's son by Julius Constantius was Julian, a man full 
 of ability and strength of character, even though his father 
 was quite without such qualities.* 
 
 Julian, bom six years after the death of Crispus, was (except 
 the latter) the only one of the descendants of Constantius 
 Chlorus entitled by abilities and character to succeed the great 
 Constantine. He possessed qualities which in any line in life 
 would have raised him to eminence ; for, in a life which only 
 lasted thirty-two years, he showed ability in war, great 
 intellectual attainments, imtiring devotion to duty, and a 
 high moral character. In the temperament which he inherited, 
 in the appeal that the finest poetry which has ever been written 
 
 * See genealogical table of the family of CJonstantius Chlorus, 
 Appendix VIII. 
 
 * Chap. XI, p. 347. 
 
 » It is curious in this connection to note that the Greek idea on the 
 contrary {aa we may see in the writings of iEschylus) was that the 
 father was the sole pcurent. 
 
 * Another no less striking instance occurred a little later in the 
 case of the two sons and the daughter of Tfeeodosius the Great (Vol, II« 
 CJhap, XVII, p. 67). 
 
 made to him, in his fervent effort to revive a glorious past, 
 in his sorrowful failure to stir others to his own enthusiasm, 
 and in the manner of his death, his history is full of pathos. 
 A thoughtful, imaginative, and lovable child, whose mother 
 Basilina died shortly after his birth, Julian inherited her 
 ardent love for Homer and the Greek poets, felt as a boy (he 
 tells us) a strange elevation of the soul in watching the sun, 
 worshipped the stars and " understood their thoughts," and 
 was thrilled through and through by the very word Hellas ^ 
 when he pronounced it. And as he grew older he became 
 devoted to secret enquiries into the Greek philosophies, gra- 
 dually developing a strong admiration for the doctrines of 
 Plato. To such a nature the bitter and rancorous spirit 
 displayed around him by the Arians in their religious disputes 
 with their opponents caused disgust, filling him with con- 
 tempt for a religion of which he only saw such aspects, and 
 making him turn with increasing ardour to the ancient religion 
 of Greece and the calm spirit of the Greek philosophies. And 
 when at the age of twenty he became his own master he in 
 secret adopted Platonism and Theurgy (or occult science), was 
 secretly initiated at Ephesus into the 'mysteries of the latter 
 science, and subsequently at Athens into the mysteries of 
 Eleusis, from which time he became permeated with the 
 greatest enthusiasm for the worship of the gods of Greece. 
 
 But in view of the mental atmosphere which pervaded 
 the court of Constantius it was obvious that Julian, who from 
 the age of six had been an object of suspicion and dislike on 
 accoimt of his birth and the possibility of his becoming a rival 
 to the throne, would be mad to create a second cause for 
 enmity against himself on the score of religion, especially in 
 a court which was a hot-bed of fanaticism. He therefore 
 wisely kept his opinions to himself. But he was secretly 
 delighted at being allowed to take up his residence at Athens, 
 where he forthwith plunged still deeper into those occult 
 studies to which his temperament drew him, though neces- 
 sarily keeping this absolutely secret from all except the 
 leaders of the Theurgists, and in public still from time to 
 time attending the worship of the Christian Church. 
 
 But Julian was not permitted to remain long enjoying 
 
 * Greece, 
 
 I 
 
 E.W. 
 
 HH 
 

 466 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 the congenial society of Athens. On both the western and 
 the eastern frontiers troubles were arising which demanded 
 the presence of the emperor, and Constantius felt the need 
 of a coadjutor who should proceed to deal with the disturb- 
 ances in Gaul while he himself went once more to the East. 
 In this dilemma the empress Eusebia showed how she possessed, 
 in addition to her other quaUties of character, insight and 
 wisdom. She persuaded Constantius to give the rank of 
 CaemrUy JuHan and send him to reduce Gaul to order, first 
 arranging that Julian should be married to his cousin Helena, 
 Constantius' sister. The event proved Eusebia's wisdom, 
 though at the time nothing could have seemed more unlikely 
 than that the student and philosopher JuUan should turn out 
 a successful general. Accordingly, in November 355, Julian, 
 after bemg six months at Athens, was summoned to Milan, 
 where he was married to his cousin Helena, invested with 
 rank of Caesar, and despatched across the Alps to govern Gaul. 
 The task before him was truly a formidable one. Constan- 
 tius, as a part of his operations against Magnentius, had, 
 it is said, ^ actually invited the Franks and AUemanni into 
 Gaul inciting them to cross the Rhine, bestowing presents 
 upon them, and giving them a grant of aU territories which 
 they might conquer from Magnentius. In any case these 
 barbarians had taken firm root in the northern part of Gaul ; 
 Cologne, Treves, Worms, Strassburg, and some forty other 
 flourishing cities had been pillaged by them ; while they not 
 only occupied the whole of the districts lying along the Rhme 
 to a distance of about forty miles from the left bank of that 
 river, but in frequent raids in search of plunder devastated 
 the whole of the northern part of Gaul. Constantius felt 
 the absolute necessity of putting an end to this state of things 
 by expelling these barbarians from Gaul. But the latter 
 having taken root there in the manner they had done it was 
 an operation more suited to one with the military quaUties 
 of a Trajan than to one with the procUvities of a Marcus 
 
 Aurelius. . , 
 
 Julian, more conversant with books than with men, and 
 
 i There is some doubt whether this was not an invention on the 
 part of JuUan and his friends in after years. 
 
 xiv] 
 
 VICTORIES IN GAUL 
 
 467 
 
 profoundly ignorant of everything concerning war, felt this 
 as much as any one. Endeavouring to master some of the 
 rudiments of the science of war, and contemplating the under- 
 taking which lay before him, he exclaimed with a sigh, " O 
 Plato, Plato, what a task for a philosopher 1 " Nevertheless 
 he set himself vigorously, with his usual application, to learn 
 something of the arts of war and government, establishing 
 himself during the winter at Vienne, and taking as his instructor 
 Sallust, an officer of long experience and much wisdom. 
 
 The events of the next four years in Gaul show to what a 
 high pitch of strength and efficiency Constantine the Great 
 had brought the Roman army ; for though Julian had evi- 
 dently much tact, courage, and common sense, yet he, an 
 inexperienced youth, totally ignorant of all the details of 
 the art of war, and more than usually unfitted by both tempera- 
 ment and training for such a matter as fighting battles, can 
 have done little more than give the inspiration, leaving the 
 actual operations to be carried out by the military commanders. 
 In the first year's campaign (356) Julian merely occupied the 
 position of the emperor's representative, but in 357 Constan- 
 tius gave him the supreme command over all the troops in 
 Gaul, sending him at the same time several experienced 
 generals. 
 
 The series of successes which the Roman army in Gaul 
 gained during these four years, 356-359, was truly remarkable. 
 For notwithstanding that the Franks and Allemanni were in 
 secure possession of so many strong cities, Julian's forces 
 in the course of four years not only drove them entirely out 
 of Gaul, but made three successful expeditions into the interior 
 of Germany. All of these battles were soldiers' battles, the 
 victories not being due to any special tactics employed, but 
 to the strength and endurance of the troops ; this was particu- 
 larly the case in a hard-fought battle at Strassburg against 
 35,000 AUemanni in August 357, fought by the Romans after 
 a long, hot march of eight hours, in which battle, after the 
 cavalry, commanded by Julian in person, had been routed, 
 the victory was won by the stubborn endurance of the Roman 
 infantry, who at length defeated the Allemanni with a loss of 
 6000 men left dead in the field, including their king, besides 
 many more who were drowned in the Rhine. Throughout 
 
CHAP. 
 
 468 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 these campaigns on the Rhine Julian's great difficulty was 
 with regard to suppUes, a difficulty, however, which he over- 
 came by constructing a new fleet, and re-establishing the 
 regular transport of com from Britain, that country being 
 at this time accustomed regularly to supply com to the 
 districts of northem Gaul. 
 
 These successes in Gaul made Julian's name renowned 
 throughout the empire. Nor was Julian content only with 
 having freed Gaul from the barbarians. Displaying a cease- 
 less energy, he rebuilt cities which had suffered from their 
 ravages, lightened the people's burdens by attention to the 
 methods of taxation, largely reduced the land-tax, displaced 
 many corrupt officials, and diffused general prosperity through- 
 out Gaul. These actions gave much offence to the band of 
 corrupt ministers who surrounded Constantius, and Ammianus 
 tells us that they persistently poured into the emperor's ear 
 a constant stream of calumnies against Julian. But Con- 
 stantius remained obstinately deaf to these calumnies, and 
 loyally supported Julian ; a course of action on Constantius' 
 part which can only have been due to the influence of the 
 
 empress Eusebia. 
 
 In May 357, while Julian was occupied in his second cam- 
 paign, Constantius paid a short visit to Rome, where he ad- 
 mired the grandeur of the Capitol, the vastness of the Baths 
 of Titus, Caracalla, Diocletian, and Constantine, the beauty 
 of the many works of art collected therein, the solemn sim- 
 plicity of the Pantheon, the massive strength of the Colosseum, 
 the marvellous collection of art in the Villa of Hadrian, the 
 architecture of the Temple of Venus and Rome and of Hadrian's 
 mausoleum, and above all the splendour of the Fomm of 
 Trajan, which had so impressed his father Constantine. During 
 the month that he stayed in Rome he arranged for the con- 
 veyance from Alexandria of the obelisk which his father had 
 brought down the Nile from Thebes, and it was now brought 
 to Rome and set up in the Circus Maximus. 
 
 Constantius was called away from Rome owing to incur- 
 sions of the Suevi in Rhsetia and of the Quadi on the Danube, 
 assisted by that part of the Sarmatians who had not become 
 settled within the empire in 334 in the time of Constantine. 
 Alter a short and successful expedition against th^ Suevi h^ 
 
 xrv] 
 
 FALL OF AMIDA 
 
 469 
 
 removed his court from Milan to Sirmium, and soon defeated 
 both the Sarmatians and the Quadi. In 358 he followed 
 this up by crossing the Danube, penetrated into their country, 
 and caused both these tribes to submit and sue for peace. 
 Thus by the year 359, (the fourth year of the operations in 
 Gaul) the whole of the northem frontier had been thoroughly 
 pacified. Unfortunately, both for Constantius and Julian, 
 the empress Eusebia, who had been so firm a friend to Julian 
 and so wise an adviser to Constantius in all his actions towards 
 the latter, died in this year 359. 
 
 Constantius had now to turn his attention to the East. 
 In 359 the Persian war was renewed by Sapor II, who crossed 
 the Tigris and laid siege to Amida. This city heroically 
 sustained a fierce siege for seventy-three days, but at length 
 on the 6th October was captured. ^ Sapor, however, in 
 gaining the city, though its garrison only numbered 6000 
 men had lost 30,000 of his best troops, which made him 
 unable to attempt any further operations ; therefore, after 
 slaughtering most of the inhabitants, and placing a garrison 
 in the captured city, he retired again to his own dominions. 
 
 The fall of Amida, and the preparations that Sapor was 
 making to renew the war in the spring, made Constantius 
 rightly feel that the forces on the Tigris must be increased. 
 Thereupon the band of ignoble ministers who had long been 
 inimical to Julian, and had from the first opposed his elevation 
 to the rank of Caesar, saw their opportunity, and insinuating 
 that the fame of Julian was tending to make him dangerous 
 to the throne, persuaded Constantius that the best course 
 was to disarm him, and to obtain the necessary increase to 
 the army in the east by ordering the flower of Julian's troops 
 from Gaul to the Persian frontier.^ 
 
 Accordingly in January 360, while Julian was at his winter 
 
 ' II 
 
 * Ammianus Marcellinus was himself one of the besieged, and has 
 given a graphic account of this heroic defence of Amida. 
 
 ' Julian here felt severely the loss of the assistance of the empress 
 Eusebia. This band of ministers, whom Ammianus calls "the buf- 
 foons of the palace," added satire to their other arguments, calling 
 Juhan " a loquacious Greek," " a soldier who had studied war in the 
 ac£bdemies of Athens," " a hairy savage," and " an ape invested with 
 the purple " (Ammianus Marcellinus, xvii, 11). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XIV] 
 
 470 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 JULIAN'S DASH FOR ILLYRICUM 
 
 471 
 
 quarters in the city which he called his " beloved Lutetia " 
 (Paris), ^ there arrived a tribune bearing an order that four 
 entire legions, the best in the army of Gaul, together with 300 
 picked men from each of the remaining legions, should set out 
 at once for the Persian frontier. But upon JuUan's regret- 
 fully publishing this distasteful order to the troops they 
 resolved to decline to obey it, and to raise Julian hunself to 
 the throne. When the above force was assembled at Paris, 
 ready to depart for the east, the troops at midnight surrounded 
 the place of the Caesar, and regardless of the serious conse- 
 quences pronounced the irrevocable words, ** Julian Augustus." « 
 In vain did Julian repeatedly refuse the honour ; the troops 
 assured him that " if he wished to live, he must consent to 
 reign " ; whereupon Julian acquiesced. Nevertheless he wished 
 to save the empire from civil war, as well as to preserve 
 his own character from a charge of ingratitude and treachery. 
 He therefore made \he troops promise that if Constantius 
 consented to divide the empire they would remam satisfied ; 
 he then wrote to Constantius informing him of what had taken 
 place, signing himself still as Caesar, but respectfully re- 
 questing a division of the empire and confirmation of his 
 
 title as Augustus, 
 
 Constantius when these proposals reached him was at 
 Caesarea, on his way from Sirmium to the eastern frontier. 
 He had to decide whether he should march forthwith against 
 Julian, or against the Persians. Following the principle by 
 which he was uniformly guided, he decided that the need of 
 the empire must have precedence over his personal quarrel, 
 and proceeded on his journey to Edessa, after despatching a 
 peremptory letter to Julian, bidding him resign the rank 
 which mutinous troops had conferred upon him. This letter 
 
 1 About this time Julian's favourite city began to be called " Lute- 
 tia Parisionim." Previously confined to the island in the Seine, the 
 city under Julian spread over the ground on the southern bank of 
 the river, possessing Baths, an amphitheatre, an imperial palace, 
 and many fine houses, and was practically founded by him. 
 
 * The greater part of the palace in which this event took place still 
 remains, including its fine central hall ; it is now caUed the Palais des 
 Thermes, and forms part of the Cluny Museum. This palace was built 
 by JuUan himself about the year 358, as his residence when m Paris. 
 It is the most ancient building in Paris. 
 
 merely aroused to a still greater degree the enthusiasm of the 
 troops in Gaul for Julian. The latter again wrote endeavour- 
 ing to come to some understanding with his cousin, but though 
 letters continued to pass between them throughout the summer 
 of 360 there was no real chance of a settlement. Julian 
 meanwhile, to keep his troops from inaction, conducted a 
 three months' expedition against the tribes on the lower 
 Rhine, after which he retired into winter quarters at Vienne, 
 where during the winter his wife Helena died. 
 
 While these negotiations had been taking place. Sapor 
 in the spring of 360 had again taken the field, but he only 
 succeeded in capturing two unimportant towns, Singara 
 and Bezabde, the latter situated on a sandy island in the 
 Tigris. Constantius, by this time forty-three, arrived on the 
 Tigris soon afterwards, but he was unsuccessful in his attempts 
 to recover Bezabde, and was compelled by the rainy season 
 to retire to Antioch for the winter, where, early in the year 361, 
 he married his young third wife, Faustina. 
 
 In the spring of 361 Julian was convinced that there was 
 no alternative but civil war, and also that his only chance 
 lay in taking the initiative. Keeping his plans secret, he 
 assembled his army at Basle, under a feint of intended opera- 
 tions against the Allemanni, and in July suddenly threw off 
 the mask and made a rapid dash for Illyricum, his ultimate 
 objective being the Pass of Succi, in the mountains to the 
 west of Thrace, through which pass the main road from 
 Constantinople to the West ran. ^ His plan was bold and 
 original. He divided his army into three portions, which he 
 ordered to march by different routes and to unite in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sirmium ; one body (under Jovinus) he directed 
 to march through northern Italy ; the second body (under 
 Nevitta) was to make its way through the Rhaetian Alps ; 
 the third body, a picked force of 3000 men, Julian commanded 
 himself, and with them plunged into the Black Forest, and 
 for many days was lost to the world. After overcoming 
 countless difficulties in its passage through an utterly imknown 
 country, crossing moimtains, traversing morasses, swimming 
 
 * The great main road to the West ran from Constantinople, through 
 Hadrianople, Philippopolis, the Succi Pass, Sardica, Naissus, Sirmium, 
 Siscia, Aquileia, Verona, to Milan, about 1360 miles (see Map C). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 472 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 xiv] 
 
 THE NEWS FROM GAUL 
 
 473 
 
 rivers, and enduring many hardships, the force under Julianas 
 personal command at length emerged east of Regina Castra, 
 and seizing the fleet maintained on the Danube, sailed 
 down that river 700 miles in eleven days, and disembarked 
 at Bononia in the vicinity of Sirmium. The latter city being 
 summoned at night to open its gates to " the Emperor " did 
 BO, discovering too late its mistake, and Julian had gained 
 the capital of Illyricum while Constantius at Edessa sup- 
 posed him to be still on the Rhine. Julian's plan has been 
 admired owing to its originality and its success ; but had 
 he been opposed by an emperor having military ability a 
 watch would have been kept on his movements, the separated 
 portions of his army would have been taken in detail and in 
 turn destroyed, and not one of his three bands would have 
 reached Sirmium. 
 
 Julian only remained a few days at Sirmium, and then, 
 being joined by the other two portions of his army, he marched 
 on towards Thrace, gained possession of the Succi Pass (about 
 395 miles from Sirmium), ^ and leaving Nevitta to hold it, 
 retired himself to Naissus, where he remained during October 
 and part of November, awaiting events. During this halt at 
 Naissus Julian showed the worst side of his character. Having 
 now thrown off the mask which he had so long worn, he poured 
 forth addresses and manifestoes to city after city of the empire, 
 announcing himself in grandiloquent language as a restorer 
 of the ancient worship, and justifying his action in assuming 
 the purple. But he need not have added to these manifestoes 
 scurrilous lampoons and scandalous calumnies in the worst 
 possible taste vilifying Constantius, to whose favour he had 
 owed all his advancement. This side of Julian's character 
 had hitherto been hidden ; it was however from this time 
 forth constantly demonstrated. Meanwhile he began to feel 
 himself in a dangerous position, for the troops at Sirmium, 
 Aquileia, and other places in his rear were making demon- 
 strations in favour of Constantius, and Julian had even to 
 send Jovinus back to seize and hold Aquileia. 
 
 During this summer of 361 Constantius had had a difficult 
 task. Moving in the spring from Antioch to Edessa, as the 
 
 * For distances by the main road from Gaul in the West to Meso- 
 potamia in the East, see Appendix IX. 
 
 most central position from whence to watch the whole frontier 
 and be in readiness to concentrate his troops on whatever 
 part of it should be attacked by Sapor, but at the same time 
 greatly disturbed in mind by the correspondence with Julian, 
 the demands put forward by the latter, and the news from 
 time to time received from Gaul, Constantius showed a fine 
 spirit. True to the guiding principle of his life, though feeling 
 that his safety demanded his forthwith marching for the West 
 to deal with his rebellious cousin, he would not withdraw troops 
 from the defence of Rome's territory while it was threatened 
 by a powerful enemy, and abandon the cities of Mesopotamia 
 to a similar fate to that which had befallen Amida two years 
 before, even to secure the safety of his own throne. He 
 remained, therefore, week after week watching for Sapor's 
 expected attack, and week after week growing more and 
 more anxious regarding the events occurring in Gaul. ^ 
 
 But Sapor's plans had been upset. Arriving on the Tigris 
 for the invasion of the Roman territory, the auspices (con- 
 sulted by him according to custom) positively forbade the 
 crossing of that river ; whereupon Sapor, after hovering 
 about the bank of the Tigris for some time, retreated again 
 to Ctesiphon. Just when Constantius learned of Sapor's 
 retreat he received the alarming intelligence of Julian's having 
 suddenly appeared at Sirmium, captured that city, and taken 
 possession of the Succi Pass. Constantius, always dilatory 
 in war, did not act as promptly as his father would have done ; 
 nevertheless, being now relieved from the Persian menace, he 
 assembled his army at Hierapolis, « harangued the troops, 
 and was received by them with enthusiasm, after which he 
 gave the order to march for Thrace, proceeded himself to 
 Antioch to settle his young wife there and arrange for the 
 government of the eastern provinces, and then followed his 
 army. He was however thrown into the greatest disturbance 
 of mind by Julian's formidable attack upon his throne, a 
 
 ^ One item in the news which reached him was the noble conduct 
 of the brave and faithful Prefect of Gaul, Nebridius, who in the midst 
 of the excited troops clamouring for Juhan as emperor, raised his soli- 
 tary voice for Constantius, remaining feiithful to the latter even though 
 his hand was struck off by a sword and his life in such danger that he 
 was only saved by Julian throwing his purple robe over him. 
 
 » Halfway between Ceurhae and Antioch. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 CONSTANTIUS 
 
 i| 
 
 474 
 
 feeUng which was daily stiU further increased by the scandalous 
 calumnies upon his character poured forth by the latter from 
 Naissus, and though he endeavoured to conceal his mental 
 distress by speaking of the expedition against Julian as a 
 hunting party, aU this preyed seriously upon him. On arrival 
 at Tarsus he caught a sUght fever, and this, combmed with 
 the agitation of mind he was suffering, a day or two later 
 caused his death. ^ He died at Mopsuene, twelve miles 
 west of Tarsus, on the 3rd November, 361, at the age of 
 forty-four. Constantius to the last had done his best for the 
 empke, for by his death at that moment it was saved from 
 
 civil war. . * . n 
 
 Throughout his life it was a cause of much gnef to Con- 
 stantius that he had no children, which he viewed as a divme 
 punishment for his share, small or great, in the massacre of 
 his relatives in 337. He left a young widow, Faustina, who 
 shortly after his death gave birth to a daughter, Constantia 
 
 Postuma. , , ,. X • 
 
 The reign of Constantius has been treated by historians 
 too much from the rehgious point of view put forward by the 
 ecclesiastical writers of the time. Although religious matters 
 absorbed almost entire attention during Constantius' eleven 
 years' reign, owmg to his lending himself to become a tool m 
 the hands of the Arian party for the suppression of the CathoUc 
 faith, it must not be supposed that the prosperity of the empu-e 
 was affected by the religious contest. That contest affected 
 individual Bishops grievously, while it was also in every way 
 harmful to the Church and to the cause of Chnstiamty, 
 bringing the Church into contempt, and making many turn 
 in disgust from a religion whose nominal adherents could act 
 in such a manner as the Arians did towards their persecuted 
 opponents. But this did not affect the prosperity of the 
 empire or the general standard of civilization, which continued 
 at the high level to which they had been raised by Constantme 
 the Great. The higher standard of civilization and pubhc 
 
 1 Gibbon and other writers say that Constantius' illness was perhaps 
 also due te the fatigues of the journey. But Constantius inherited 
 in a marked degree the strong constitution and exceptional abihty to 
 endure hardships which was a characteristic of his family, and was 
 also in the prime of life. 
 
 xiv] 
 
 FAMILY OF CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS 
 
 475 
 
 morality to which the empire had now become accustomed 
 made it impossible for even a Constantius to act as a weak 
 emperor under similar domination would have acted 100 years 
 before ; ^ thus showing how radical a change had been wrought 
 by the adoption of Christianity and by the legislative measures 
 which had flowed therefrom. 
 
 The four generations of the house of Constantius Chlorus, 
 from whatever point we may regard them and however much 
 weight we may give to defects and shortcomings, must be 
 held to have been truly a remarkable family for those times. 
 They occupied the imperial throne for fifty years, and we 
 have but to compare them with the emperors of the previous 
 fifty years to recognize how great is the contrast which they 
 present ; while it was owing to the initiative given by this 
 family that the 4th century so notably surpassed all previous 
 centuries. Constantius Chlorus, the wise, upright, and tem- 
 perate ruler over a quarter of the empire ; Constantine the 
 Great, the unequalled commander in war and far-sighted 
 administrator in peace ; Constantius, the holder of a solemn 
 trust, conscientiously endeavouring to carry out that trust 
 faithfully, even however mistaken in his religious views ; and 
 lastly, Julian, the brilliant and original genius who during 
 the short time he was emperor became the cynosure of all 
 eyes, together furnish a record such as no other family which 
 had occupied the throne could match. The change wrought 
 by this family affected the whole century, and consisted not 
 only in the introduction of their high ideal of duty as 
 emperors, an ideal copied by their successors, but also in 
 their making customary an altered moral tone in the imperial 
 family, a tone which is in marked contrast to that of all the 
 other families who during three centuries had held the imperial 
 throne. This cannot have been entirely due to Christianity, 
 for the founder of the family, Constantius Chlorus, was a 
 Pagan, and yet to him was undoubtedly due a large share 
 of the characteristics displayed by his descendants. 
 
 1: 
 
 1 ? 
 
 < * 
 
 t! 
 
 * For instance, as even an emperor like Valerian acted just a hun- 
 dred years earlier when he fell under the domination of the Magian 
 priesthood (Chap. X, pp. 326-326). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 476 
 
 THE LAST OF THE FAMILY 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 361 _ 363 
 
 On the death of Constantius Julian was universally hailed 
 as emperor. He forthwith advanced to Constantinople, 
 which city he entered on the 1 1th December ; and for the 
 rest of his short life he became the central point upon which 
 the attention of all men was exclusively fixed, the historians 
 of the time being apparently unable to regard anything else 
 but Juhan and his singular deeds. He began his reign by an 
 act of unpardonable cruelty in putting to death various par- 
 tisans of Constantius, and above all, Ursulus, the imperial 
 treasurer in Gaul, who had greatly assisted Julian when Caesar, 
 and whose only fault was that he was loyal to Constan- 
 tius and obnoxious to the troops. 
 
 The distinguishing feature of Julian's short reign is his 
 strenuous effort to re-estabUsh the Pagan religion, to which 
 he turned all his attention. He is known in history as " Julian 
 the Apostate," but this name seems scarcely a fair one. The 
 Christians naturally looked upon his action with horror and 
 indignation, and Christian writers throughout aU ages have 
 cast unlimited abuse upon his name, and given him the designa- 
 tion by which he is always known. But a historian must be 
 fair, and justice to Julian seems to require that his conduct 
 in this matter should be looked at in another light. It is true 
 no doubt that he was brought up nominally as a Christian, 
 but he was strongly attracted to the Greek philosophies from 
 his earliest years, and as soon as he was of an age to think out 
 such matters for himself he secretly adopted the ancient 
 religion, and from the moment that at the age of twenty he 
 was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries he enthusiastically 
 consecrated his life to the service of the ancient gods of Greece, 
 though for ten years after that event he was obliged to keep 
 this to himseK, and outwardly to conform to Christianity. 
 To call such a man an apostate does not seem fair ; he was in 
 reality a Pagan from the beginning. 
 
 Julian's Paganism was of the ancient Greek, rather than 
 the Roman, type. He fasted on particular days in honour 
 of Mercury, Pan, Isis, or Hecate, and his friend Libanius 
 
 xiv] 
 
 VAST POWER OF WORK 
 
 477 
 
 declares that these fasts prepared him for being honoured by 
 fanuliar visits from the celestial powers, that he lived per- 
 petually in converse with them, and that from this fre- 
 quent and familiar intercourse with the gods he was able 
 to distinguish the voice of Minerva from that of Jupiter, and 
 Hercules from Apollo. 
 
 But more remarkable than his religious views was his 
 power of work. As an author, a general, a ruler, a magistrate, 
 and a high priest he appeared able to get through as much 
 work in each of these capacities in a day as would have taken 
 any other man a week. He tired out relays of ministers and 
 secretaries, and then while they reposed devoted himself to 
 study. The Misopogon, the Caesars,^ his elaborate work 
 against the Christian religion, and several of his orations, 
 were all written during the nights of the two winters that he 
 spent at Constantinople and Antioch.^ Looking at the 
 books that he wrote, at the numerous and varied labours he 
 undertook for the restoration of the Pagan religion, and at 
 the fact that for many months he was engaged on a cam- 
 paign in Persia, it seems almost impossible to reaUze 
 that he accompUshed all this in a reign of less than a year 
 and a half.* 
 
 Julian* on becoming emperor at the age of thirty-one 
 forthwith set himself vigorously to carry out that which 
 was the passion of his life, and which he intended to be the 
 chief aim of his government, the restoration of the ancient 
 religion, but with certain additions and modifications, to make 
 
 1 The Caesars is a satirical fable, in execrable taste, in which Julian 
 sought to bespatter with abuse his uncle Constantine and the Christian 
 religion, and to exaggerate the virtues of Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and 
 other Pagan emperors in comparison. Regarding the Misopdgdn, see 
 p. 482. 
 
 * The MisopdgSriy the pamphlet on the Caesars, and more than 800 
 of Julian's letters are still extant. 
 
 ' During the winter at Constantinople Julian foiinded the great 
 library, the BasUike. Among its treasures is mentioned a complete 
 copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey written in gold letters upon the in- 
 testines, 120 feet long, of a serpent. 
 
 * Plate LVI. Portrait-bust in the Capitol museum, Rome. This 
 portrait-bust of Julian is the last likeness which we possess of any 
 !^omaa emperor, except the statue of Heraclius in the 7th century. 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 478 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 i 
 
 mi 
 
 it a stronger rival to Christianity. The religion which Julian 
 tried to force upon the empire was a mosaic of philosophy, 
 ancient Paganism, and Mithraism, moulded together to com- 
 pose, as he thought, a religion which would be more formidable 
 to Christianity than the old Paganism pure and simple. At 
 the very outset JuHan's conduct supplied a plain demonstration 
 of the superior level to which the Roman Empire had been 
 raised. For we are told that Julian was ** too enlightened," 
 notwithstanding all his deep hatred of Christianity, to enter 
 upon one of the old persecutions of Christians ; thus show- 
 ing the change which had come over the empire. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of issuing any edict of persecution, 
 Julian adopted other measures which he anticipated would be 
 no less effectual. Withdrawing all State support from the 
 Christian religion, he caused the Pagan temples to be reopened, 
 re-endowed them, celebrated the worship of the gods with 
 great splendour, sent magnificent presents to the chief places 
 of devotion in the empire, and allotted money for the repair 
 and decoration of ancient temples which had fallen into decay. 
 He offered copious rewards to Christians who would return 
 to the ancient religion, including even pardon to criminals 
 condemned to death. Erasing the monogram of Christ 
 from the military standards, he interwove into these the 
 symbols of Paganism, so that the troops in saluting the emperor 
 should seem to offer worship to the gods. He wrote at great 
 length against Christianity, ridiculing it with biting satire, 
 and harassing its adherents with legal prosecutions. He 
 refused to call Christians by that name, considering it too 
 great an honour, and substituted the less honourable one of 
 *' Galilaeans," describing them as a sect of fanatics. He 
 expelled all Christian teachers from the schools, and dismissed 
 all Christian attendants from his service, all Christian soldiers 
 from the bodyguard, and most of the Christian civil gover- 
 nors. And though Julian himseK would not openly persecute, 
 the Pagan governors whom he appointed were guilty of much 
 cruel tyranny towards Christians, even so far as torturing 
 some to death. 
 
 Cordially hating and despising all Christians, Julian reserved 
 a special hatred for Athanasius, whom he spoke of as " that 
 criminal Athanasius," writing to the governor of Egypt that 
 
PLATE I V\ 
 
 Julian. 
 Pf rtiuit-busl in the Capitol museum, Rome. 
 
 [Broci. 
 
 Th- ...-I i".i i..i.i-i.ii-.i •<! .uiv nf tho eii)pen>rs that has bM'ii found. He wears a bean! to mark the fact that 
 hi* is not a Chrihtinu. 
 
•I A I I I \ 
 
 . r ' H . i . 
 
 I'l ' \ 
 
xiv] 
 
 GEORGE OF CAPPADOCIA 
 
 479 
 
 " he must be persecuted." * In December 361, a little more 
 than a month after Julian became emperor, whHe Athanasius 
 was still in banishment, a severe riot occurred at Alexandria. 
 In that city, upon Athanasius being banished by Constantius, 
 an obscure person of vile character named George of Cappadocia, 
 who had been a meat contractor and had embraced Arianism, 
 had been installed by Constantius in the see of Athanasius. 
 The indignant people had expelled him, but the civil and 
 military authorities of the city had after a violent struggle 
 reinstated him, thereby enabling him to gratify his revenge 
 upon the people. In consequence of his crimes towards the 
 latter Julian on becoming emperor ordered him to be im- 
 prisoned ; whereupon the populace broke open the prison 
 and tore George of Cappadocia in pieces.^ Two months 
 after this tumult Athanasius returned to his see, welcomed 
 by the acclamations of the people ; whereupon Julian wrote 
 to him a most insulting letter, saying that he was surprised 
 that a repeatedly condemned criminal like himself should 
 have presumed to usurp the see of Alexandria without his 
 permission, and Athanasius had once again to fly from 
 Alexandria to a place of refuge in tjie desert. 
 
 But all Julian's efforts to revive Paganism fell perfectly 
 flat. Though only fifty years had elapsed since the Edict of 
 Milan, and only forty years since Constantine's final edict 
 on the subject in 323 (an interval not longer than the pause 
 between the persecution of Septimius Severus and that of 
 Decius)3 the temples remained empty notwithstanding the 
 splendid ceremonials organized, few except criminals accepted 
 the offered bribes, and Julian had himself at length to acknow- 
 ledge that Paganism was practically dead. The condition to 
 which it had fallen in the eyes of the people is illustrated 
 by an episode related by Julian himself. It took place at that 
 
 1 It is possible that Julian had heard of the speech in which 
 Athanasius summed up the whole matter of the attempt to revive 
 Paganism in four words, '* It will soon pass." 
 
 * This is the person who Gibbon sneeringly declared had been made 
 by the English their patron saint. It is evident that Gibbon was un- 
 aware of the now well-known church of St. George at Thessalonica, 
 which had been built by Constantine more than a generation efiirUer 
 to the memory of the real St. Greorge. (See Chap. XIII, p. 432.) 
 
 » Chap. X, p. 319. 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 XIV] 
 
 480 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 ATTEMPT TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE 481 
 
 celebrated Temple of Apollo in the Grove of Daphne, near 
 Antioch, which had been the most renowned place of Pagan 
 worship in the East.^ Julian while at Antioch proceeded 
 to this temple on the day of a great festival to honour the 
 worship of Apollo by the presence of the emperor and his 
 court. But instead of the crowds of worshippers and the 
 splendid ceremonial which he had hoped to find there, he 
 found, he says, only one poor old priest, with no better sacrifice 
 than a single goose, which the priest had himself provided. 
 
 The failure of] all Julian's efforts to revive Paganism 
 is scarcely to be accoimted for on the grounds to which it is 
 generally attributed. Ecclesiastical writers have accepted 
 the failure as due to the whole population having become 
 Christians. Undoubtedly if in the present day a similar 
 attempt were made the whole proceeding would be laughed 
 to scorn. But that it should have been so at a time when 
 many were still living who had themselves been Pagans argues 
 a greater change than is to be accounted for merely by a 
 general adoption of Christianity. For in that age, as in every 
 other age, only a minority of the population can have been 
 governed by rehgious convictions, especially when the induce- 
 ments to comply with the emperor's wishes were so great. So 
 that we must look for a more general cause. And this is to 
 be found, not in religious convictions which can only have 
 influenced a portion of the population, but in the superior 
 degree of enlightenment to which the whole population had 
 by this time advanced. This made a return to Paganism 
 seem to the people almost like a return to barbarism. 
 
 Another extraordinary enterprise which Julian undertook 
 with a view to oppose Christianity was his attempt to restore 
 the Jews to Palestine and rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem ; 
 the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the Jews 
 being looked upon then, as now, as evidence of the truth of 
 Christianity, which evidence Julian accordingly set himself to 
 destroy. He commissioned his friend Alypius of Antioch to 
 rebmid the Temple, and summoned the Jews from all parts 
 of the empire to return to Jerusalem and assist in the work. 
 The Jews responded to this invitation with the utmost en- 
 thusiasm, and flocked to Jerusalem in crowds from all the 
 
 I Chap. Ill, p. 116. 
 
 provinces of the empire. Vast quantities of materials were 
 collected, and numbers of skilled workmen provided ; at 
 the inauguration ceremony the wealthiest Jewish men and 
 women proudly took part in the work, wielding spades and 
 pickaxes of gold and silver ; everything was combined to 
 make the emperor's attempt a success. Nevertheless it failed 
 completely, and in the most strange manner. What actually 
 happened cannot be stated with certainty, but in addition to 
 an earthquake which destroyed some of the buildings, a whirl- 
 wind which scattered the materials, and lightning which killed 
 the workmen, Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary and a 
 Pagan, says : — " Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of 
 the province, urged with vigour and diligence the execution 
 of the work, horrible balls of fire, breaking out near the foun- 
 dations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the 
 place from time to time inaccessible to the scorched and half- 
 burnt workmen ; and the fire continuing in this manner, 
 obstinately and resolutely bent, as it would seem, on driving 
 them away, the undertaking was abandoned."^ Whatever 
 took place the fact is certain that something which was im- 
 usual, and which could not be coped with by all the power 
 of the emperor, occurred, and forced him after many efforts 
 to abandon the attempt. 
 
 In addition to his desire to revive Paganism, Julian was 
 also full of ambition to rival the deeds of Alexander the Great 
 and crush Persia. He would show that whereas Constantius 
 had been for years feebly contending against Persia, he would 
 overthrow that empire in a single campaign. Bent on this 
 project, he left Constantinople in the spring of 362 with a 
 large army to invade Persia ; but not reaching Antioch until 
 July he was persuaded, since the rainy season would soon 
 begin, to allow the army to rest there, and to enter on his 
 invasion of Persia in the following spring. He remained at 
 Antioch for the winter, and that city being the head-quarters 
 of the Christian Church he found there ample opportunities 
 for demonstrating his detestation of Christianity. The 
 Christians in Antioch (the " Crown of the East " as Ammianus 
 
 ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii, 1. Ammianus was not, however, 
 an eye-witness, though he was living at the time, and apparently knew 
 Alypius. 
 
 E.W, 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 , 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XIV] 
 
 482 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 ADVANCE INTO PERSIA 
 
 483 
 
 caUs it) had an equal detestation for an emperor who, not 
 content with seeking in every way to crush their religion, 
 poured biting contempt upon it. At the same time the Pagan 
 community, gay and pleasure-loving, felt wrath agamst an 
 emperor who though a Pagan was a Puritan in morals, never 
 entered a theatre, and preached to them a reform of Pagamsm 
 instead of reviving its pageants and voluptuous dehghts 
 The result was that at night the streets of the city resounded 
 with insolent songs deriding the laws, the religion, the conduct, 
 and even the heard of the emperor, whose great predecessor 
 Constantine had been clean-shaven. Julian retorted by 
 composing a bitter satke upon the effeminate manners of the 
 mhabitants of Antioch, under the title of " the Enemy of the 
 Beard." This was nailed up at the gate of the palace, and 
 the MisopSgm remains to bear witness to the wit, the hatred, 
 and the undignified behaviour of the emperor JuUan. 
 
 On the 5th March, 363, Julian, having had the whole wmter 
 to perfect his miUtary arrangements, set out from Antioch 
 for the invasion of Persia.^ His army was about 65,000 strong, 
 was accompanied by a fleet of 1100 ships ^ on the Euphrates 
 conveying suppUes, and is stated to have been the finest and 
 best-equipped army that any emperor had ever led against 
 Persia. But it lacked one thing, a knowledge of the art of 
 war on the part of the commander. Marchmg from Antioch 
 through Beroea (the modem Aleppo) and HierapoHs Juhan 
 crossed the Euphrates, and advanced to Carrhae. There he 
 made the same mistake that he had done when advancmg from 
 Gaul to gain Illyricum, though he may on this occasion have 
 been forced into this course owing to difficulties m regard 
 to supplies. In any case he did not this time enjoy the same 
 Kood fortune. He divided his army in two portions, sending 
 30 000 men under his relative Procopius to proceed via NisibiB 
 across the Tigris to Corduene, and thence down the left bank 
 of that river tqwards Ctesiphon, while he himself with the 
 remaining 36,000 men foUowed the line of the Euphrates. 
 The two portions of the army were to unite in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ctesiphon, which they were then to attack The plan 
 depended in great measure on the assistance of the king ol 
 Armenia. The route aUotted to Procopius led near the 
 1 See Map C. * Including fifty war-ships. 
 
 borders of Armenia, and Julian hoped that the king of Armenia 
 would detach a large force to join that of Procopius. But 
 Armenia was a Christian coimtry, the oldest in the world, ^ 
 and the king of Armenia had no intention of assisting such 
 an enemy of that religion as Julian. He therefore sent some 
 troops to join Procopius as a blind, but caused them after a 
 time to desert, while he persistently threw obstacles in the 
 way of Procopius which effectually delayed his march. 
 
 The portion of the army under Julian's own command was 
 at first successful. Proceeding from Carrhae southwards 
 via Callicinum to the Euphrates, Julian reached Circesium, 
 the frontier of the Roman dominions, about a month after 
 leaving Antioch. From thence, still following the Euphrates, 
 and advancing over ground which had been traversed by 
 Cyrus 763 years before, Julian took in succession Anatha, 
 Perisabor, and Maiozamalcha, and turning along the course 
 of the Naharmalcha (the canal uniting the waters of the 
 Euphrates with those of the Tigris) for some distance, halted 
 and cleared out the disused canal of Trajan, by which means 
 he brought his fleet into the Tigris above, instead of below, 
 the city of Ctesiphon. He then by a. night-attack captured 
 the left bank of the Tigris, fighting a battle which lasted 
 twelve hours with part of the Persian forces, who were 
 defeated, and fled in confusion into the city. 
 
 But Julian having now reached Ctesiphon, looked in vain 
 for any sign of the approach of the rest of the army under 
 Procopius and the expected contingent from Armenia ; while 
 Ctesiphon, with its immense fortifications, surrounded by the 
 waters of the Tigris and impassable morasses, and occupied 
 by a force as numerous as his own, was quite impregnable, 
 and too large even to be besieged by such a force as Julian 
 commanded. For some days he remained irresolute, and then 
 summoned a coimcil of war, at which his generals told him, 
 what was self-evident, that Ctesiphon could not be besieged 
 by an army of only 35,000 men. Nor could he advance up the 
 Tigris to meet Procopius, as that river was not navigable for 
 his fleet (carrying his supplies) for any long distance. So that 
 unless he was willing to retu-e again by the way he had come, 
 and to abandon his long cherished scheme of an invasion of 
 
 1 Chap. X, p. 344. 
 
 I 
 
 
 t 
 

 CHAP. 
 
 484 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 xiv] 
 
 THE RETREAT BEGUN 
 
 485 
 
 Persia, his fleet must be sacrificed.^ Yet he dared not remain 
 indefinitely outside Ct«siphon, lest he should be caught m 
 that position by Sapor, who was preparing to advance from 
 the centre of Persia to resist this invasion, and a battle mth 
 whom must have formed part of JuHan's calculations from 
 the time when he first decided on an invasion of Persia. 
 Throughout the campaign in fact JuHan's entke want of any 
 real knowledge of the military art, and his unceasing personal 
 bravery are equally apparent. 
 
 Dreams of emulating Alexander the Great, and (leavmg 
 Ctesiphon ignored behind him) of marching on an extended 
 career of conquest, fightmg Sapor perhaps in the historic 
 plains of Arbela, and penetrating even to India, mingled m 
 Julian's mind with ideas of drawing the Persians to quit their 
 impregnable waUs, and mducing them to fight in the open 
 by an advance into the interior of the country. Accordingly, 
 after waiting for some days longer hoping unavailingly for 
 the arrival of Procopius, Julian, to the consternation of his 
 troops, set fire to the whole of his fine fleet, destroyed all his 
 suppUes except sufficient for twenty days (the country into which 
 he was about to advance being rich and highly cultivated), 
 and about the 1st June, leavmg Ctesiphon behind him, set out 
 eastwards into a perfectly imknown country. 
 
 Meanwhile Sapor II (caUed in Persia '' The Great King ") 
 
 had not been idle. On learning of Julian's advance down the 
 
 Euphrates he had despatched orders far and wide throughout 
 
 his empire, even to the satraps of his most distant provinces 
 
 on the borders of India and Scythia, gathering together the 
 
 whole army of Persia. By degrees he had assembled an 
 
 immense host, mcluding Hght cavahy, heavy mailed cavaky, 
 
 archers, a great train of elephants, countless numbers of foot 
 
 soldiers, and all the most distinguished nobles of his empke, 
 
 and at length, accompanied by his own chosen bodyguard, 
 
 the Immortals (numbering 10,000 men), set out to crush the 
 
 Roman army and prevent any from surviving to recross the 
 
 Tigris. No record exists of the total number of this vast host, 
 
 but by the most moderate computation it must have out- 
 
 1 He could not send his fleet back up the Euphrates, as to propel 
 the boats upstream against the current would have withdrawn a large 
 number of men from his force, and he could not spare a single man. 
 
 numbered Julian's army by at least ten to one. Sapor had 
 also issued orders to the inhabitants of the highly cultivated 
 lands of Assyria that if the Romans approached they were to 
 destroy their crops, drive off their cattle, and take refuge in the 
 fortified towns. 
 
 For some days the Roman army advanced through a rich 
 and fertile country without experiencing any difficulties, or 
 seeing any enemy, except here and there a few mounted men 
 who merely watched from a distance and seldom ventured on 
 even a skirmish with the advanced guards. But as the army 
 penetrated further the inhabitants everywhere drove off their 
 cattle, set fire to their crops, and turned the land into a burning 
 desert, and Julian was soon reduced to the supplies he carried 
 with him. False guides also led the army out of its proper 
 route, and into by-ways which led nowhere, and at length 
 Julian, finding his suppUes rapidly diminishing, was compelled 
 on the 16th June reluctantly to give the orders for a retreat 
 back to the Tigris. 
 
 No sooner, however, did the army begin, on the 17th June, 
 to march back towards the west than behind it to the east 
 clouds of dust were seen in the distance, which the Romans 
 hoped were merely caused by the approach of some friendly 
 Arabs. At evening the army halted, fortified their camp as 
 usual for the night, and at dawn found themselves surrounded 
 by the Persian army, fresh portions of which kept coming up. 
 Then followed a retreat memorable in the history of the Roman 
 army. Sapor's clouds of the active Persian light cavalry 
 enveloped the Romans in front, rear, and on both flanks ; his 
 heavy mailed cavalry from time to time conducted charges 
 upon the columns on their march ; his archers sent showers of 
 arrows into their closed up ranks ; and his formidable train of 
 elephants, each carrying a small turret in which were five or 
 six javelin-men, moved like miniature castles about the battle- 
 field. But Julian's army possessed something more powerful 
 than all these things, viz. the noble endurance and splendid 
 discipline of the Roman legions, who had many times seen 
 battles won solely by their qualities in this respect, and never 
 demonstrated those qualities for which they had long been 
 renowned more conspicuously than they did on this occasion. 
 A better example of the power possessed by such a body of 
 
 }i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 486 
 
 JULIAN 
 
 infantry was never shown than was now given by these Roman 
 legions, before whom, ere the retreat ended, mailed cavalry, 
 trains of elephants, and overwhelming numbers, were all alike 
 destined to have to acknowledge a power greater on the field 
 of battle than was possessed by all Sapor's imposing array. 
 
 Julian's troops, exhausted by a heat more intense than any 
 to which they were accustomed, half-famishing from the 
 scarcity of supplies, and surrounded by a swarm of active 
 enemies who attacked them both by day and night, steadily 
 beat off the powerful attacks of the Persian army, for eleven 
 days fighting their way back step by step towards the Tigris. 
 Julian was ubiquitous, now rushing back to assist the sorely- 
 assailed rear-guard, now galloping forward to direct the 
 advanced-guard, and encouraging all by his presence and his 
 undaimted bravery. At last on the evening of the tenth day 
 as they approached their camp he was mortally wounded by 
 a javelin from one of the enemy's elephant turrets. He was 
 carried into a tent, manifestly dying, but even in his last 
 moments he continued to encourage those who stood in grief 
 around him,^ addressing an oration to them in which he urged 
 them not to weep for one who in a few moments would be 
 united with the stars — those stars to whose whispered thoughts 
 he had listened as a boy, and which now looked down upon 
 him in his last moments. He had seen during the last six 
 months of his life that his hope of reviving Paganism had 
 failed, and that not even all his efforts could resuscitate that 
 religion. And whether the dying speech which has been 
 recorded of him, " Galilaean, thou hast conquered," was or 
 was not actually spoken by him, it is certain that in his mind 
 he acknowledged the fact, and even if he did not say these 
 words, the report that he did so must have originated in the 
 general attitude of his mind as known to those about him. He 
 died at midnight on the day he was woimded, at the age ol 
 thirty-two (26th June, 363).» 
 
 » One o! those who stood there was the veteran general Sallust, 
 who hikd been Julian's instructor in things milit€ury at Vienne, when 
 Julian first arrived in Gaul seven years before. Valentinian, soon 
 afterwards himself to be emperor, was also present. 
 
 • With the death of Julian the house of Constantius Chlorus cam© 
 to an end. 
 
 xiv] 
 
 ARMY REACHES THE TIGRIS 
 
 487 
 
 JOVIAN 
 
 363 — 364 
 
 Upon Julian's death the principal officers of the army 
 hastily collected in the darkness of the night, and first elected 
 the veteran general Sallust to the imperial throne, but upon 
 his declining it on the score of his age, they elected Jovian, 
 the captain of Julian's bodyguard, and son of the brave 
 general Varronianus, to be emperor. Though Julian was 
 greatly beloved by his army, how little they sympathised 
 with his religious views is shown by the fact that the officer 
 whom they elected to succeed him was a Christian. This 
 election having been hurriedly made during the night, as soon 
 as it was dawn the army continued its march, carrying with it 
 the body of Juhan, embalmed according to his own directions. 
 The force was attacked with redoubled fury by the Persians, 
 who had quickly learnt of the death of Julian, and were elated 
 at it ; but the Roman army again and again repulsed them, 
 and after marching and fighting throughout a long summer's 
 day of great heat, arrived in the evening at Sumera, on the 
 Tigris. Thence, still attacked by the Persians, the army 
 marched in four days to Dura, higher up the left bank of the 
 Tigris ; and there Sapor offered terms of peace. 
 
 The terms offered were better than in the circumstances 
 the Romans might have expected. The army was in a desper- 
 ate position ; nearly a quarter of the whole force had per- 
 ished ; the survivors were surrounded by the Persians in 
 overwhelming numbers ; the supplies were exhausted ; the 
 fleet had been destroyed ; and even if boats could be obtained, 
 any attempt to cross the Tigris while attacked by the Persians 
 meant annihilation. It shows how admirable was the dis- 
 cipline and efficiency of the Roman troops that even when 
 the force was in this desperate plight Sapor did not venture 
 to drive it to extremities. Though when starting upon the 
 campaign with his great host he had cherished dreams of 
 expelling the Romans entirely from Asia, he did not now 
 demand even the cession of Mesopotamia. Jovian gave up 
 four of the five districts beyond the Tigris which had been 
 taken from Persia by Diocletian, and agreed to surrender 
 
 ij 
 
CHAP. 
 
 488 
 
 JOVIAN 
 
 xiv] 
 
 FINE EXAMPLE OF DISCIPLINE 
 
 489 
 
 Nisibis (which for generations had formed the stronghold of 
 the Romans on the eastern frontier), and to accept in exchange 
 Amida, captured by Sapor four years before, removing the 
 population of Nisibis to Amida. There was great tribulation 
 over the surrender of Nisibis, and Jovian has been severely 
 denoimced by historians, both past and present, for relin- 
 quishing it. But it has been overlooked that Sapor was in 
 a position to dictate his own terms, and that he was deter- 
 mined to have the city from which he had three times been 
 repulsed, and which had cost him so much in both money 
 and men in his attempts to take it.^ It was not Jovian, but 
 Julian, who lost Nisibis. Moreover although at the time a 
 great outcry was raised over the surrender of Nisibis, it seems 
 doubtful whether Amida, together with Dara (the fortress 
 afterwards built a few miles west of Nisibis), did not give 
 the Romans a stronger position. 
 
 Historians (whether carried away by the word retreat, or 
 governed by the outcries of contemporary writers, who in 
 all ages give vent to these sort of strictures upon an army on 
 such occasions) have one and all, from Gibbon to the present 
 day, written of this retreat of the Roman army from Persia 
 as a disastrous defeat showing how the Romans had declined 
 in military qualities, and as an affair reflecting the greatest 
 dishonour upon the Roman arms. So far from being so, this 
 retreat from Persia in June 363 is one of the finest things 
 that army ever did.* Attacked continuously for fifteen 
 successive days by overwhelming numbers both on their 
 march by day and in their bivouacks by night, opposed by 
 the most formidable army of that age (the highly trained and 
 splendidly equipped army of Persia), exhausted by the imac- 
 customed heat of Persia in June, suffering heavy losses day 
 after day, having to endure the depression always induced 
 among troops by the mere fact of retreating, cut off from the 
 
 » Page 469. 
 
 * It has not been realized that a retreat is not necesstirily a dis- 
 honour. One has only to mention as an instance the retreat to Cor- 
 unna under Sir John Moore in the Peninsular War, one of the most 
 glorious deeds of the British army. And this retreat from Persia 
 was finer than Conmna, by reason of the greater masses of the enemy, 
 and the greater strain on the troops. 
 
 hope of reaching safety in their own territory by an impassable 
 river the means of crossing which had been destroyed, half 
 famished, and losing their commander during the retreat, 
 this Roman army not only refused to be beaten, or to be cowed 
 by the dismal conditions in which it was placed, but also in 
 the end attained a result in which all the honour remained 
 on its side instead of on that of its opponents. Evidently 
 the most admirable discipline was maintained, or the force 
 would have been annihilated ; and that discipline was main- 
 tained, not merely for one day of battle, but for fifteen suc- 
 cessive days. We know also how difficult an operation it is 
 even in our times both to fight when on the march and protect 
 the baggage and supplies while driving back a superior force 
 which surrounds the army on all sides ; it may be imagined 
 therefore how infinitely more difficult such an operation 
 was when all had to be done by hand-to-hand fighting. No- 
 thing but the most splendid discipline could have achieved 
 such a result. Had Julian's troops once broken their ranks 
 under the pressure of the mass of enemies opposed to them, 
 and become panic-stricken (as men under such conditions 
 are certain to do unless thoroughly disciplined), not a man 
 of the whole force would have survived to reach the Tigris. ^ 
 Morning by morning these Roman legions, notwithstanding 
 the losses suffered during the night attacks made by the Per- 
 sians, closed up their ranks, and again marched forwards, 
 steadily beating back the fierce attacks made upon their 
 columns, and, as we know by what happened afterwards, 
 inflicting the severest losses upon their opponents. Heavily 
 overmatched as it was, and fighting under the most disad- 
 vantageous conditions, this Roman army of Julian's repulsed 
 every attack, saved itself from the annihilation to be expected, 
 never lost its baggage, resolutely forced its way to its objective 
 the Tigris, and produced such an effect upon the enemy that 
 in the end it was he, and not they, who made overtures for peace. 
 And when we turn to examine how this surprising result 
 came about we discover that it was because in those fifteen 
 days of arduous fighting Sapor had lost nearly all his most 
 faithful nobles, a very large proportion of his bravest troops, 
 
 1 The poHtical result would have been that Sapor would have taken 
 Mesopotamia, and perhaps much more of Rome's eastern dominions. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 490 
 
 JOVIAN 
 
 the greater part of his cherished bodyguard the Immortals, 
 and the whole of his highly-prized train of battle elephants,^ 
 that he, cast down at these great losses, upon the army reach- 
 ing Dura sent an embassy to Jovian with proposals for peace, 
 and was ready to accept far lighter terms than could have 
 been expected. That is no defeat. On the contrary it is a 
 result in which aU the honour remained on the side of the 
 Roman army ; and this their opponents, the Persian army, 
 must have felt, who with everything in their favour had failed 
 to destroy Julian's army, as Sapor had sworn to do when a 
 month eariier he had started upon the campaign. The Roman 
 army had been brought into the false position in which it 
 was entangled in Persia through the bad generalship of Julian, 
 but in extricating itself therefrom it covered itself with glory. 
 It is not when aU goes weU, but when all is most gloomy and 
 defeat and disaster appear imminent, that discipline shines 
 out. Therefore it is in a retreat that the quaUty of the troops 
 can best be seen. And never was any retreat a more severe 
 test than this one ; and never did any army show a finer 
 example under the test,^ 
 
 1 An elephant being, unlike a horse, a naturally timid animal, be- 
 comes panic-stricken in a battle, and in that state is a formidable 
 danger to the troops on its own side. Only highly -trained elephants 
 which have been gradually accustomed to warfare can therefore be 
 used in a battle ; which accounts for Sapor prizing his battle elephants 
 so highly, and being so cast down at their loss. 
 
 2 In estimating the courage, discipline, training, or other quahties 
 of an army or body of troops in a particular epoch or episode m his- 
 tory the writings of contemporary authorities are of Uttle value, except 
 to give information as to the circumstances under which the troops 
 fought. The contemporary writer may have been ignorant of war, 
 or inspired by bias, or not present on the occasion. Nor even if con- 
 versant with war, unbiased, and present on the occasion will it suffice 
 for the purpose. No man, even if present, can give an account of a 
 battle, still less of a campaign, sufficiently rehable for this purpose ; 
 his account will be vivid regarding the incidents which took place in 
 his vicinity, vague or inaccurate regarding other, perhaps much more 
 important, portions of the action which he did not see; and it is a 
 well-known fact that two officers, both present in a battle, will give 
 diametrically opposite accounts of it. The only sound guide as to the 
 efficiency, courage, discipUne, and training of an army at a particular 
 epoch, or of the troops who took part in a particular episode, is to look, 
 not at what contemporary writers may have said on the subject, but 
 at w?iat that army or those troops accomplished. 
 
 Xiv] 
 
 THE BURIAL OF JULIAN 
 
 491 
 
 This splendid example of what discipline can do is a lesson 
 for all time. And it is one which should be taken to heart by 
 all would-be army reformers. To get together large numbers 
 of men and imagine that by teaching them certain military 
 exercises you have created an army is a mischievous delusion 
 tending to national disaster. To teach a man to shoot is 
 very necessary ; but far more necessary is it to teach him 
 to obey, and to trust his comrades also to obey. And imtil 
 this is learnt (and it takes much longer than to learn to shoot 
 or to ride) an army, though it may look imposing enough 
 upon a parade-ground, is of no use for the operations of 
 war. 
 
 The terms noted having been agreed to by Jovian, the 
 army crossed the Tigris in boats supplied by Sapor, and 
 marched 200 miles through an almost desert country to Nisibis, 
 being joined by the belated force under Procopius about half 
 way at Thilsaphata. Upon arrival at Nisibis Jovian sur- 
 rendered that city to the officer deputed by Sapor to receive 
 charge of it, and arranged for the removal of its indignant 
 inhabitants to Amida ; ^ after which Jovian proceeded to 
 Antioch, while the army slowly marchied in fifteen days to 
 Tarsus, led by Procopius, and conveying with it the body of 
 Julian. 2 But it was strange, as on this fimeral march the 
 army carried the body of the emperor who had been so great 
 a foe to Christianity, to see again displayed at the head of 
 the legions the standard of the Cross, the Laharum of Con- 
 stantine. On reaching Tarsus Julian's body was buried there ; 
 and over his grave by the bank of the Cydnus, in the " no 
 mean city " which had been the home of the Apostle St. Paul, 
 was erected a stately tomb to the memory of the emperor who 
 had striven so hard, and with such whole-hearted devotion, 
 
 * Many openly expressed the hope that Jovian, now that the dan- 
 ger was past and the army once more at Nisibis, would evade the 
 agreement to surrender that city. But Jovian was too honourable to 
 do this, 8uid Nisibis was surrendered. Amida was situated to the 
 north of Nisibis, on the upper waters of the Tigris. 
 
 * Everything about Julian is original. One would have expected 
 that with his strong views as to reviving the past he would have ordered 
 his body to be burnt and his ashes placed either in the mausoleum 
 of Hadrian at Rome or in some temple in Greece ; yet he orders his 
 body to be embalmed and buried. 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 492 
 
 JOVIAN 
 
 CHAP. XIV] 
 
 to restore the ancient religion, and had so pathetically and 
 signally failed. 
 
 Jovian on becoming emperor at once annulled all Julian's 
 measures for the suppression of Christianity, and matters in 
 regard to religion returned to their former state, Jovian at the 
 same time issuing an edict of toleration laying down that any 
 of his subjects who wished to practise the Pagan reUgion were 
 to have perfect freedom to do so unmolested. 
 
 Jovian had a special admiration for Athanasius, and the 
 latter, now seventy years old, issuing from his retreat upon 
 Julian's death, at the emperor's invitation visited him at 
 Antioch before proceeding once more to occupy his see of 
 Alexandria . After paying the emperor a short visit, Athanasius 
 returned to Alexandria, from whence he continued for ten 
 years longer to guide with undiminished vigour the whole 
 policy of the Catholic Church, the brave and noble-minded 
 Pope of Alexandria, who had fought so long in defence of 
 the Catholic faith, being acknowledged throughout Christen- 
 dom as the leading Bishop of the Church during the rest of 
 
 his life. 
 
 Jovian only reigned eight months. After remaining a 
 short time at Antioch he set out for Constantinople, but at 
 Dadastana, a small town between Ancyra and Nicsea, after 
 partaking of a heavy supper he retired to rest, and was found 
 next morning dead in his bed, either owing to indigestion or 
 from the fumes of a charcoal fire. Neither then nor since 
 has it been considered likely that his death was due to poison 
 (17th Feb. 364). 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 EEIGNS OP 
 VALENTINIAN I AND GRATIAN 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 364 — 375 
 
 UPON Jovian's death at Dadastana the chief civil and 
 military officers of the empire assembled at Nicsea, 
 and after some discussion elected as emperor Valentinian,i 
 the capable commander of the Roman armies in Gaul and 
 Britain, at this time forty-four years old. His father, Count 
 Gratian, a native of Pannonia, had risen by the most honour- 
 able quaUties from a humble station to be the commander of 
 the legions in Britain, after which he had retired to Cibalae, 
 in Pannonia, where Valentinian was born. 2 In choosing 
 Valentinian as emperor the officers made a good selection. 
 Tall, handsome, with steel-blue eyes and a majestic presence, 
 every inch a soldier, a renowned commander in war, a success- 
 ful administrator, immaculate in his private life, and a born 
 king of men, Valentinian was in every way fitted to be a worthy 
 successor of Constantine the Great. During Julian's reign 
 he had risked disgrace by his outspoken contempt for the 
 Pagan religion, but Julian overlooked this on account of 
 Valentinian's great value as a general, and the latter during 
 the recent trjdng test of the campaign in Persia, in which he 
 took part, had added still further to his reputation. 
 
 As emperor Valentinian I proved eminently the kind of 
 man that the empire at that time needed. Strong in character, 
 
 ^ As previously noted, portrait-busts fail us after that of Julian, 
 ' Regarding the countries to which the various emperors from Trajan 
 to Theodosius belonged, see Appendix X. 
 
 493 
 
CHAP. 
 
 494 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 resolute, untiring in his labours for the good of the empire, 
 a general so careful and sagacious in war that it seemed impos- 
 sible to defeat him, an implacable enemy, a stem and inflexible 
 lover of justice, and a swom foe to all effeminacy and profligacy, 
 Valentmian I was terrible to the foreign enemies of Rome, and 
 scarcely less terrible within the empire to the luxurious and 
 depraved inhabitants of the towns, whose vices he detested 
 and punished with a rod of iron. On the other hand he knew 
 not mercy, promptly consigning to death (though not to tor- 
 ture) all who transgressed, and liable to burst into paroxysms 
 of rage against those who oppressed others, or whom he de- 
 tected in manoeuvres to deceive him. The unmanly inhabit- 
 ants of the towns hated as much as they feared him, and 
 subsequently Pagan writers traduced his character as much as 
 possible, by enlarging upon his cruelty ; ^ but all who admired 
 true manliness, and had the welfare of the empire at heart, 
 honoured him for qualities which taught the enemies of Rome 
 that not a foot of Roman soil was to be encroached upon, or 
 an inhabitant of Roman territory harmed, without prompt 
 and severe punishment ensuing, and taught the Romans 
 themselves that none who were not just, upright, and clean 
 in life might expect any mercy at his hands. And so great 
 blessings in a ruler are strength and justice that Valentinian 
 was coupled with Trajan as one of the best emperors that 
 Rome ever possessed. 
 
 Valentinian governed the empire with vigour and ability 
 for twelve years, and his reign was marked by a considerable 
 strengthening of the empire, both externally and internally. 
 He only made one mistake, and that was made out of a feeling 
 of compassion for a brother whose weakness appealed to his 
 own strong character. His brother Valens, eight years younger 
 than Valentmian, was in every way his opposite, being want- 
 ing in abilities and contemptible in character. Nevertheless 
 Valentinian seems to have felt it a sort of family duty to 
 advance him to at aU events a nominal equality with himself 
 
 1 They declared, whether truly or not it is impossible to say, that 
 he kept in the imperial palace at Treves two pet bears, whom he called 
 "Golden Darling" and "Innocence," and employed them as his 
 executioners. But the story does not seem borne out by the rest of 
 Valentinian's character. 
 
 XV] 
 
 CHARACTER OF VALENS 
 
 495 
 
 (and this even though they were of difiFerent religious beliefs, 
 Valentinian being a Catholic and Valens an Arian), and one 
 month after becoming emperor he associated Valens with 
 himself, giving him most of the eastern portion of the empire 
 whUe he himself kept the two western prefectures and also 
 Pannonia and lUyricum. But Valens, feeling his own incapac- 
 ity, leant upon him for everything, and, says Ammianus 
 Marcellinus, " attended to the wishes of his brother as if he 
 had been his orderly," and Valentinian really governed the 
 whole empire. 
 
 This exaltation of Valens was, however, a fatal error. In- 
 significant and mean in appearance, " bandy-legged, with a 
 slight cast in his eye, and somewhat pot-bellied," a compound 
 of cruelty and timidity, without any particle of ability, small- 
 minded, avaricious, suspicious, and excessively tenacious of 
 his dignity, Valens represented, both outwardly and inwardly, 
 littleness of soul. This was a type of man which, though 
 common enough in modem days, was seldom seen in a high 
 position in those times, when such men if accident forced them 
 into eminence soon perished. But Valens, unfortunately, 
 had an opportunity of furnishing an example of how terribly 
 disastrous to others such men can be if placed in power. No 
 doubt Valentinian thought that the defects in Valens would 
 not matter, since he could provide the qualities which Valens 
 so palpably lacked. But when Valentinian was dead, and the 
 small-souled and incapable Valens was left to act on his own 
 responsibility, he soon showed what damage a man of such a 
 character can do. 
 
 The portion of the empire which Valentinian had made his 
 own special charge extended from Scotland to Greece, and 
 from the Rhine and Danube to the desert of Africa. Valen- 
 tinian fixed his capital at Milan, ^ the capital of the second pre- 
 fecture, though he resided almost more often at Treves (Augusta 
 Trevirorum), the capital of the first prefecture, situated on 
 the right bank of the MoseUe. Treves at that time rivalled 
 Rome as a centre of civilized and cultured life. And while 
 there remains little in existence of the Milan of those days,^ 
 
 * Valens lived chiefly at Antioch. 
 
 ■ Except ^he church of St. Ambrose, which was the cathedral of 
 JMilan up to the 15th century. 
 
 |: 
 
 t ;■ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 496 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 in the case of Treves it is the reverse, there being still left at 
 that city finer Roman remains than at any other city north 
 of the Alps.^ The amphitheatre in which Constantine made 
 the captive Frank kings fight with Libyan Uons ; « the Basilica 
 built by Valentinian I, and forming the hall of justice of the 
 emperors ; ^ the massive walls of the imperial Palace, in which 
 Constantine the Great, Constantine 11, Valentinian I, and 
 Gratian all for long periods resided, the latter for almost the 
 whole eight years of his reign ; * another Basilica, begun by 
 Valentinian I, and finished by his son Gratian ; ^ and above 
 all the huge Porta Nigra, a fortress gateway of three stories, 
 118 ft. long, 70 ft. wide, and 95 ft. high,* built by Valentinian I, 
 are all still in existence, together with remains of the ancient 
 Baths, and of the Roman bridge of eight arches over the 
 Moselle. 
 
 Valens, suspicious and incapable, soon contrived to provoke 
 a serious revolt against himself. Julian's relative Procopius, 
 
 1 It has been called by Professor Freeman " Rome beyond the Alps." 
 
 * Chap. XII, p. 371. This amphitheatre, which has a diameter 
 of 76 yards, though much overgrown with vegetation, is still to be 
 seen, including the dens for wild beasts and the chambers for the gladi- 
 ators. It accommodated 8000 persons, being thus about half the size 
 of that at Verona. 
 
 3 This BasiUca is 225 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 98 feet high. It 
 is now a Protestant Church. 
 
 * Plate LVII. The Palace is now a picturesque group of ruins, part 
 of which is 65 feet high. The ruins contain a hall with three apses, 
 formerly lighted by two rows of arched windows, and heated by chan- 
 nels for hot air which are still to be seen. On either side of this hall 
 were two towers, one of which remains and commands a fine view of 
 the city. 
 
 * This Basilica is now the Roman Catholic cathedral. It was re- 
 stored after being pctrtly destroyed by the Franks in the 6th century, 
 and again partly destroyed by the Normans in the 1 1th century. The 
 work of the different periods is clearly distinguishable on the exterior ; 
 that of Valentinian's period consists of red sandstone. 
 
 .• Plate LVIII. The Porta Nigra, with its towers, is in thoroughly 
 good preservation. It has two gateways, 23 feet in height. It is 
 built of huge blocks of Has sandstone (now blackened with age), fas- 
 tened with iron bands, and without any mortar. It is on the line of 
 the ancient walls, a portion of which on one side of the gate has been 
 uncovered. Its Roman name was Porta Martis (the gate of Mars) ; 
 its modem name of Porta Nigra (the black gate) is owing to its dark 
 appearance as the result of age. 
 
mm 
 
 Vl.ATlC LVIf. 
 
 Ivl'INS OF TMK ImPKKIAL PaI.ACK AT TkKVKS. 
 The palace octupicil by Constantine the Grt'at, ValfntJiiiau I, and Gratian. 
 
 Frith. 
 
I I \ I 
 
 \\\ I \ - < 
 
 Mil i;i \i 
 
 \I At 
 
 Kl.\ 
 
 I 1. 1 111. 
 
 I .1. -it. \ 1 . ii! 
 
 Ui ili 
 
 1, ah 1 1,1 
 
PT ATP I.VIII. 
 
 (Frith. 
 
 The Porta Nic.ka at Tk^vf.s. 
 
 *.-!!» ^xt .« J-" -^ - ■ ^- ^-^-jg**- -t-'J - ^■^-''^iaaffiitlir''a "^-^ ■■^■*-* ■ ..*,.>-■ 
 
 S>:?.'Vy--^» 5* "'?* "'•' ' '•' *-> cv:.-^-*- !■-.» .( . 
 
I'LAtK l.VIII. 
 
 Tim PniM a Nlt.l^\ a i Tkini^. 
 
 I 1 ' 
 
 I " I li I I in I I I .1 < 1 I 
 
 I. 1 M 
 
 I. il,. (.M, I, 
 
f 
 
 XV] 
 
 CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE 
 
 497 
 
 after burying the body of JuKan at Tarsus, had retired to his 
 estates in Cappadoeia. Valens, convinced that one related 
 to Julian must be dangerous, tried to seize him. Propopius 
 escaped, remained for some months in hiding in the Crimea, 
 and, upon Valens departing from Constantinople for Syria, 
 proceeded to that city, raised the standard of revolt, and ob- 
 taining many adherents soon gained the whole of Bithynia. 
 After a time, however, the veteran Sallust marched against 
 him, and Procopius, deserted by his followers, was eventually 
 betrayed, and put to death (May 366). His death was followed 
 by a long series of executions of those considered to be impli- 
 cated, whereby Valens, timid and cruel, sought to assure his 
 own safety. During the years 367-369, Valens took part in 
 the campaign against the Gk)ths ; ^ after which he retired to 
 Antioch, occupying himself chiefly in ejecting Catholic bishops 
 from their sees, and in conducting a crusade against all who 
 practised the arts of magic, of which arts he had a most super- 
 stitious terror. 
 
 Valentinian's reputation in war, and the high state of 
 efficiency to which he had brought the portion of the army 
 commanded by him, had been the chief reason for his being 
 elected emperor. And during his twelve years' reign the 
 Roman army was caUed upon to demonstrate the high quahty 
 of its training in four different theatres of war,— on the Rhine, 
 in Britain, on the Danube, and in Africa. 
 
 The first of these campaigns took place on the Rhine, Valen- 
 tinian having been only a year on the throne when he was 
 forced to chastise the Allemanni. The latter in 365 crossed 
 the Rhine and made a serious raid into Gaul, retreating again 
 with captives and spoil before Valentinian, who was at Milan, 
 could get across the Alps. 2 The emperor proceeded to Paris, 
 reaching there in October, and made preparations to inflict 
 a severe punishment upon the Allemanni as soon as the winter 
 was over. During this journey to Paris Valentinian gave an 
 example of the spirit in which he ruled the empire. While 
 on this journey he received news of the revolt of Procopius 
 against his brother Valens. " The report gave no details— 
 
 ^ Page 601. 
 
 * It was after this experience that Valentinian made Treves his 
 principal residence. 
 
 ».W. KK 
 
 : 
 
 
 r.. 
 
 ■'M 
 
 '5 
 
 « 
 
 II 
 
 ft 
 
3 
 
 caxp. 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 xv] 
 
 498 
 
 he did not know whether Valens were aUve or dead. But 
 with that strong sense of imperial duty which dignifies the 
 characters of the 4th century emperors, he subordinated 
 utterly his personal interest U> the common weal. Pro- 
 copius is but my brother's enemy and my own. he repeated 
 to himself ; * the AUemanni are the foes of the Roman world. 
 He therefore proceeded to Paris, and prepared for a campaign 
 against these foes. Early in 366 he despatched a l^'ge a^^J 
 from Paris against the AUemanni under the general Jovmus. 
 Three successive victories followed, one at Scarpona one on 
 the Moselle, and a third at Chalons-sur-Mame ; m the last^ 
 at which Valentinian was himself present, thf AUemanm were 
 completely crushed for the time, losing 6000 lulled, including 
 
 fjliGir kins • 
 
 It is in the reign of Valentinian I that we first hear promin- 
 ently of the Sazons.« This numerous tribe- wh« were ongmaUy 
 situated in a small territory near the mouth of the Elbe, bemg 
 by nature a nautical race left land attacks upon Gaul to the 
 Franks and the AUemanni, and made the coasts of Gaul their 
 particular sphere of action. Their boats drawing httle water 
 ?hey could ascend as much as a hundred miles up the larger 
 rivers, so that the area of their raids was veiy ^de. An* 
 during the reign of Valentinian their depredation, hitherto 
 confined to the coasts of Gaul, began to be extended also to 
 the coasts of Britain. Valentinian curbed these operations 
 of the Saxons by appomting an officer, with a strong fleet, 
 SuS the " Count of the Saxon Shore." stationed at Augusto- 
 dorum on the coast of Armorica (Brittany), who was charged 
 JjZr^tecting the coaste on both sides of the British Channel 
 Zm7he rail of the Saxons. This considerably curtailed 
 the operations of the latter, as they feared to venture up 
 the ri^rs lest they should be caught m a trap by the Count 
 of the Saxon Shore seizing the mouth of the nver. At the 
 same time a system of coast defence was «'8»°?f^^°; ^"**'J^ 
 consisting of about nine forts (each garrisoned by about 500 
 men), placed along the coast of Britain from the Wash to the 
 Isle of Wight. 
 
 I Thti Cambridge Medieval Hittory, I, 222. 
 
 . S o^^er occasion in which we hear <>* «-^--,P'^ 
 is when they assisted Carausius to usurp power in Bntarn m the reign 
 of Diocletian, see Chap. XI, p. 348. 
 
 PROSPERITY OF BRITAIN 
 
 499 
 
 The province of Britain, since the time when in ^ft7 n 
 stantine had been proclaimed emperor Ty^AiZ Za^^' 
 immense advance. In no province of the emp£ t^^'Z 
 great change brought about during the 4th cPnfTLT .^ 
 more enlightened legislation inau Jated bv Onw^- ^ *^^ 
 duced ,„eh great eff^ts as in bZT H^CCZZ 
 of the contests which other provinces had witnessed fCv 
 Gatl arr '"^^ *\^ ^^' *«-*-- yeai^Tthe cent^l^ 
 
 and bounds iu'cSa^:!^, X^y. ''Z^L^^Z 
 ZT^L ':r ^ ^"*^^° ^'^''y increasf at"S period 
 
 tnne the establishment of Ch^stian^itHaustd mtnyturTe: 
 
 atlii'^tiSrtxti'rz'n' *'^ ^"^^^"*^ «^ ^"*^- 
 
 Tl.^Kl^ anoraea by the numerous countrv-houses nf 
 
 in districts which are tLrou^Uv SIh f K ''"^*'^ ^^'^P* 
 affr^^A ^ -J i. ; ^^""^ougniy settled, these eountrv-housfta 
 
 of ^an^W h f"'^^%*^- country-houses thtTelai:: 
 2id Zil ?°^^ *° ^^ P^"«d ^^^^ ^^o been found 
 so i^ atTe'^ country r^idences spread over the coun^," 
 so^atoo at the same time did the solidly constructed Rom7n 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 500 
 
 roads ; those roads which in after centuries remained the 
 only undestroyed works of Roman times m Britain. The 
 thorough Romanization of the indigenous population of 
 Britain which had by this time taken place (to a far greater 
 degree than wa^ until recently supposed), is shown by the 
 f Jt that Roman hypocausts and stuccoed walk have been 
 largely found even in humble villages and m the houses of the 
 noor ' It is also mentioned by Eumenius that m the tune of 
 Valentinian I and his son Gratian skilled artisans were more 
 numerous in Britain than even in Gaul, ^or^^^^J^.^^^^^^ 
 many were brought from thence to erect pubhc buildmgs m 
 Gaul, even so far south bs Autun. So great also was the 
 prosperity of Britain at this time that during the reigns of 
 \ Julian, Valentinian I, and Gratian large quantities of com 
 
 were regularly exported from that country to feed the troops 
 
 on the Rhine (see below). , ,, ^ ^t 
 
 In the year 367 both the northern and southern parts of 
 this prosperous province were thrown into much confusion 
 by an incursion of the Scots and Picts in the north ^ and a 
 raid of the Saxons upon the coast in the south occumng sunul- 
 taneously, Fullofaudes, the Roman general in Bntam and 
 Nectaridus, the Count of the Saxon Shore, bemg both kiUed. 
 Thereupon Valentinian, who was just recovering from a serious 
 iUness, despatched to Britain his best general, Theodosius 
 (belongmg to a Roman family settled in Spam), with a large 
 force of troops. Theodosius landed in Kent in the spring of 
 368, and was completely successful, both in the south and 
 in the north. He first defeated and suppressed the Saxon 
 pirates, and then in a brilliant campaign during the jear ^69 
 not only swept the Scots and Picts entirely out of the whole 
 country south of the WaU of Severus, but drove them far to 
 the north, forcing them right back into the northern part of 
 Scotland, and established a new province in the conquered 
 
 1 The Rcmanization of Britain, by Professor F Haverfield, p 36 
 He also mentions how even in the case of the smaU and remote village 
 S D^^gwy on the northern coast of Anglesea were found hundreds 
 upon hunSs of fragments of Roman f>ttery, Roman glc^, and 
 i^man coins, showing that even in the humblest villages this 
 thorough Romanization of the people had taken pla^e. 
 
 a It is said that the Scots and Picts had managed to pa^ the WaU 
 of Severus through the treachery of the border mihtia, the Aream, 
 
 xv] 
 
 CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE GOTHS 
 
 501 
 
 territory (roughly the southern half of Scotland), this new 
 province being called by him Valentia, which by its name 
 perpetuated the glory of the reign of Valentinian I. After 
 this victory Valentinian re-estabhshed the British Mint (which 
 had been closed by Constantine), and gave to London, at which 
 port 800 vessels were employed in the export of com, the 
 title of Londinium Augusta.^ 
 
 The Goths during more than thirty years from the time of 
 their crushing defeat by Constantine the Great in 332 2 had 
 made no further attempt against the Roman power. During 
 this period their powerful king Hermanric had extended his 
 dominions all over the wide forest-covered region from the 
 Dneister to the Baltic, and was paramount over the greater 
 part of Germany and Scythia. In 366, thinking they saw an 
 opportunity through the incapable character of Valens, 30,000 
 Goths crossed the Lower Danube and penetrated into Thrace. 
 But, chiefly owing to the skilful way in which the Roman 
 forts were arranged, the Goths soon found themselves unable 
 either to advance or retreat, and eventually the whole of them 
 were forced by hunger to surrender ; they were disarmed, 
 and were sent as captives to reside in different cities within 
 the empire. Upon this national misfortune the aged Her- 
 manric in 367 sent the Grothic leader Athanaric with a fresh 
 body of Goths to oppose the Roman army, which under the 
 generals Victor and Arintheus (the commanders respectively 
 of the cavalry and infantry), and animated by the presence 
 of Valens, had crossed the Danube by a bridge of boats, and 
 carried the war into the territory of the Goths. An indecisive 
 contest was waged for the next two years, until at length 
 Athanaric risked a pitched battle, was defeated, and sued for 
 peace. 
 
 Meanwhile in 368 the Allemanni made a third incursion 
 into Gaul. Suddenly crossing the Rhine they surprised 
 Moguntiacum (Mainz) while the people were occupied in 
 celebrating a festival, ravaged the town, and carried off a 
 large number of captives. Valentinian determined to inflict 
 a severe vengeance upon the entire nation. He assembled 
 
 * Coins issued from this Mint have lately been found, stamped with 
 Valentinian*s name and that of Londinium Augusta. 
 « Chap. XIII, p. 429. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 11 
 
 ill 
 
CHAP. 
 
 502 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 a powerful army, crossed the Rhine into their territory, devas- 
 tated a large number of their villages, and then attacked the 
 Allemanni in the position they had taken up on the almost 
 inaccessible mountain of Solicinium,^ on one side of the vaUey 
 of the Neckar. At this battle the behaviour of the Roman 
 legions, particularly in their splendid attack upon the heights 
 on which the AUemanni were posted, and this after a pre- 
 liminary repulse m which the battle had seemed to be going 
 against the Romans, was especiaUy fine, and showed that 
 the Roman army had lost nothing of its time-honoured courage 
 and endurance. They ascended the mountain on three sides, 
 stormed its summit, and having gained it, drove the Allemanm 
 down the northern slope, where another body of the army 
 intercepted their retreat and inflicted upon them immense 
 slaughter. During the battle Valentmian was nearly drowned 
 in crossing a swamp, while his chamberlain, who followed 
 him carrying the emperor's magnificent gold and jewelled 
 helmet, was drowned and the imperial helmet lost in the swamp. 
 Valentinian's young son Gratian, then nine years old, was 
 present at this battle, though being too young for the actual 
 conflict he was put in a place of safety in the rear. This vic- 
 tory entirely crushed the Allemanni for the rest of Valentinian's 
 reign. After gaining it the emperor was urged to advance 
 further and conquer the whole of Germany ; but he wisely 
 refrained, his object not being to add territories to the 
 empire, but to make the frontier thoroughly strong. 
 
 Accordingly, havmg inflicted this crushing defeat upon the 
 Allemanni for daring to ravage a Roman province and carry 
 off captives from a city of the empire, Valentinian, who had 
 a passion for fortress building, in 369 began his great work 
 of frontier defence, which formed one of the most notable 
 features of his reign. Along the whole length of the Rhine 
 frontier, from the borders of Rhaetia to the mouth of the 
 Rhine, a distance of about 600 miles, he planted countless 
 fortresses, castles, and towers to strengthen the existing 
 frontier defences ; « while his own engineering and mechanical 
 
 1 In what is now Wurtemburg. 
 
 « One of these numerous fortresses built by Valentinian which was 
 speciaUy celebrated stood where the ruined castle of Heidelberg now 
 stands. 
 
 n 
 
 XV] 
 
 DEFENCES OF TIMGAD INCREASED 
 
 603 
 
 skill was largely employed in laying out these works and 
 providing new descriptions of weapons for their arma- 
 ment.^ 
 
 But the Rhine frontier did not alone engage Valentinian's 
 attention. It is a far cry from thence to Timgad on the 
 borders of the Sahara ; but we find Valentinian at the same 
 time that he was thus occupied in strengthening the forts on 
 the Rhine carrying out a complete restoration of the great 
 fortress of Timgad, besides erecting other buildings to increase 
 the attractions of that city.^ As we stand amidst the remains 
 of any of these Roman defences of the empire we are led to 
 marvel at the power of Rome which could erect barriers of 
 this kind in northern Britain, similar defences in southern 
 Germany, others on the lower course of the Danube, others 
 along the Euphrates and Tigris, and others again on the 
 borders of the great desert of Africa, maintaining over all of 
 them unceasing supervision. 
 
 From the mountains of Caledonia to the mouth of the 
 Danube Valentinian had in five years made his name a terror 
 to the northern tribes, and during the rest of his reign was 
 little troubled by them. In 371 an army of 80,000 Burgun- 
 dians, a tribe inhabiting the banks of the Elbe, and hereditary 
 foes of the Allemanni, appeared on the banks of the Rhine, 
 and demanded certain subsidies which they declared Valen- 
 tinian had promised them if they would attack the Allemanni. 
 The emperor, however, being too wise to pay money to a for- 
 midable armed host, refused the demand, and the wrathful Bur- 
 gundians, too much afraid of the army and forts of Valentinian 
 to venture on an attack upon the Roman power, and in dread 
 of being assailed by the Allemanni from the rear, after a time 
 were forced to retire. 
 
 In North Africa the misgovemment and corruption of the 
 
 1 '* The younger Victor mentions the mechanical genius of Valen- 
 tinian " (Gibbon). . 
 
 ^ The great magnificence of the city of Timgad in the 4th century 
 has been disclosed by the excavations there in recent years, which 
 have shown, among other evidences of the splendour of this great city, 
 that it had no less than eleven Thermaey or Roman Baths ; whereas 
 Rome itself had no more than seven. See also Vol. II, Appendix XVI, 
 Timgad. 
 
 
 
 ■I 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 504 
 
 governor, Count Romanus, had for several years been causing 
 the gravest complaints to reach the emperor. At length the 
 latter sent thither two officers of high rank, Jovmus and 
 PaUadius, to hold an inquiry ; but Romanus by means of 
 bribes successfully prevented this inquiry. A second time 
 they were sent back to Africa by the emperor to make a further 
 exammation. But Romanus again managed by deception, 
 threats, and bribes to prevent any adverse report bemg made 
 to the emperor. EventuaUy Jovinus fell a victim to the 
 intrigues of Romanus, and was forced to confess that he had 
 Med ; whereupon he, with others, by the emperor's order 
 was executed. But the infamous Romanus stiU escaped, and 
 shortly afterwards by his tyranny drove the Moorish prmce, 
 Firmus, into rebelHon. Then Valentinian sent thither his 
 faithful and successful general Theodosius, as governor of 
 North Africa in supersession of Romanus, with a smaU force 
 of veteran soldiers. On examining the papers left behind 
 him by Romanus, Theodosius by chance discovered and 
 brought to light the whole of the intrigues which had been 
 carried on by the latter for eight years. Palladius committed 
 suicide, but Romanus managed to escape. For the next two 
 years (372-374), Theodosius had to conduct an arduous cam- 
 paign against Firmus, who after first attempting bribery, and 
 then trying to deceive Theodosius by a pretended submission, 
 fled to the mountains of the Atlas range. But Theodosius, 
 with a body of picked troops never exceeding 4000 men, 
 pursued him from place to place with steady perseverance, 
 even though sometimes attacked by forces numbering 20,000 
 Moors, and at length Firmus, to avoid capture, committed 
 suicide. Having thus put down the rebeUion, Theodosius 
 soon brought back the whole province to peace and order 
 
 (374). 
 Valentinian's speech to his eldest son Gratian, when m 372, 
 
 the latter, at thirteen years old,i was invested by him at 
 
 Amiens with the title of Augustus, and named as his successor, 
 
 shows much regarding Valentinian's character, and what 
 
 view he took of his duty as an emperor. Addressing the young 
 
 1 Some writers place this episode in 367, when Gratian was eight, 
 but Dr. Hodgkin thinks it more probable that it took place in 37^, 
 when Gratian was thirteen. 
 
 xv] 
 
 SPEECH TO HIS SON GRATIAN 
 
 606 
 
 boy before him, in front of the assembled troops, he said, 
 " Thou hast now, my Gratian, received these imperial robes. 
 Now therefore begin to fortify thy soul to receive a share of the 
 burden of an emperor. . . . Prepare to cross with dauntless 
 heart the Danube and the Rhine, even though ice-bound with 
 frost, and to stand firm in the battle ; to shed thy blood for 
 the defence of thy subjects ; to think nothing too great a 
 labour which tends to the safety or the welfare of the Roman 
 Empire." 
 
 During the reigns of Valentinian I and his son Gratian it 
 is specially necessary to bear in mind a point which apphes 
 to all the emperors of the period 314-395, and often tends to 
 become obscured. These emperors took a high view of their 
 duty as defenders of the empire. As a result the greater part 
 of their history is occupied with campaigns against the bar- 
 barians upon the long line of the northern frontier, campaigns 
 conducted in order that the vast empire behind them as they 
 faced these foes might have peace. And well did these 4th 
 century emperors carry out this ideal, not resting in luxurious 
 ease in Rome or elsewhere as many of their predecessors had 
 done, nor carrying on wars of conquest, but ever employed in 
 personally defending the empire. But while the history of 
 these emperors thus becomes so largely occupied with cam- 
 paign after campaign, we are apt to imagine that this period 
 of the history of the Roman Empire was taken up entirely 
 with war, and to forget that while war was thus waged upon 
 the frontier with the above object, the vast empire of Rome 
 behind that frontier was enjoying peace and progressing in 
 civilization and prosperity. 
 
 Valentinian made Treves his chief residence rather than 
 Milan because while Milan (the capital of the second prefecture) 
 was protected by the Alps, Treves (the capital of the first 
 prefecture) was adjacent to the most dangerous part of the 
 frontier, where it was subject to constant and formidable 
 attacks from the Franks and the Allemanni. Valentinian's 
 son Gratian when he became emperor adopted the same 
 course, being seldom at Milan and making Treves his chief 
 residence, both these emperors considering that the defence 
 of the empire was their chief duty, and that the post of 
 danger was their proper place. 
 
 ■r 
 
CHAP. 
 
 606 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose, as has generally been done, 
 that Valentinian was an emperor of only ordinary abilities. ^ 
 To be so sagacious and clear-sighted a commander as Valen- 
 tinian I showed himself, and to gain success in war under 
 the conditions which confronted him in most of his cam- 
 paigns, requires the highest abilities that any man can possess ; 
 but his military achievements were not Valentinian's only 
 claim to renown. During his twelve years' reign he did 
 much for the improvement of the administration of the empire 
 and the welfare of the people, thinking " nothing too great 
 a labour" which tended to that object, and never giving 
 himself any relaxation ; and the absence of any rebellions 
 throughout so wide an empire (except that produced by 
 Romanus in Africa) sufficiently shows his success and the 
 happiness and contentment of the people under his rule. 
 He reduced taxation, and visited with stringent punishment 
 governors whom he detected in oppressing the people. Dis- 
 playing a style and spirit of the best kind in his legislation, 
 he carried still further that reform in the laws which Constan- 
 tine had begun, helping still further to create a more civilized 
 atmosphere. He curtailed the opportunities of the wealthy 
 for escaping punishment by bribery, insisted upon the pub- 
 licity of all trials, and granted greater facility for appeals. 
 He prohibited with greater severity the exposure of new bom 
 infants,2 and appointed in every city DefensorSy freely 
 elected by the people, to be their advocates and supporters 
 in the tribunals, and to bring their grievances to notice. He 
 published regulations to protect and encourage the corn- 
 supply by sea, reduced the contributions in kind levied on 
 the agricultural population, and settled barbarian colonists 
 upon waste lands. He gave attention to the financial affairs 
 
 * This is owing to two reasons ; both to Gibbon, in his system- 
 atic desire to disparage all the Christitm emperors, having depreciated 
 Valentinian in this manner, and also to the ecclesiastical writers 
 having done the same in consequence of Valentinian*s determined 
 neutrality in matters of religion and his refusal to be a religious par- 
 tisan in the contest between the Arians and the CathoUcs (see p. 508). 
 
 • Valentinian I was the firet emperor who made infanticide a capital 
 offence, the Romans having formerly considered that the child was 
 the absolute property of the father, who was at liberty to decide whether 
 it should live or not. 
 
 I 
 
 XV] 
 
 HATRED OF MAGICAL ARTS 
 
 507 
 
 of the empire which had highly satisfactory results, and he 
 enacted that grammar and rhetoric were to be taught in 
 every city in both Greek and Latin. In aU these matters 
 he was faithfully foUowed by his brother Valens ; while 
 both the brothers were simple and unostentatious in their 
 private life, and irreproachable m regard to morality. Among 
 other measures for the benefit of the people, Valentinian 
 established in Rome a regular system for pubHc medical 
 assistance, appointing fourteen physicians, one in charge of 
 each of the fourteen quarters of the city. By these and 
 similar measures Valentinian increased in no small degree 
 the prosperity of the empire. * 
 
 Valentinian's character being what it was, it is not sur- 
 prising that he had a special hatred for anything of the 
 nature of sorcery or magical arts. It was an age in which, 
 not only were such practices very prevalent (especiaUy at 
 Rome and Antioch), but also an epidemic of suspicion regard- 
 ing them prevailed, while the weU-known abhorrence of the 
 emperor for all such practices caused many persons to be put 
 to death ^ by local governors upon the most absurd and 
 fantastic charges of sorcery, witchcraft, or magic. » The 
 
 1 Among many indications of the prosperous state in particular of 
 Gaul m Valentinian's reign, there is to be seen near the village of 
 Nenmg, m the valley of the MoseUe about 20 miles south of Treves 
 amidst the remains of a Roman villa of this period, a remarkably fine 
 mosaic pavement, 49 feet long by 33 feet wide (representing a combat 
 of gladiators), which is the best work of that kind known, surpassing in 
 execution even the mosaic of the Athletes in the Lateran museum at 
 Kome. 
 
 * As was the case in England when a similar epidemic of suspicion 
 regardmg witchcraft and magic at one time seized upon aU classes 
 during the 17th century. 
 
 3 The daughter of Festinus, the Proconsul of the province of Asia, 
 bemg lU of a fever, her father called in an old woman to cure her "by 
 smging a soft charm-Uke song » of which she was fond. The treatment 
 succeeded, but the poor old woman was thereupon put to death as a 
 witch by Festinus. On another occasion a young man in the pubHc 
 Baths was observed to be muttering in turn the seven vowels of the 
 Greek alphabet while at the same time pressing his fingers, first on the 
 marble of the bath, and then on his chest. His real motive was that 
 he imagined this would cure him of a stomach-ache. But he was 
 suspected of practising magic, was accused thereof to Festinus, and put 
 to death. ^ 
 
 f 
 
 « 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xv] 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 508 
 
 numerous executions thus occasioned increased Valentinian's 
 reputation for excessive cruelty. 
 
 But Valentinian's most honourable characteristic, one 
 which gained him little favour among the ecclesiastical 
 writers of later centuries, was his determined impari^iality 
 in matters of rehgion, he being the first emperor who, himself 
 a Catholic, nevertheless maintained absolute neutrality, 
 refusing to show favour to that party in opposition to the 
 Arians. He not only himself observed perfect neutrality, 
 but he also promulgated laws prohibiting alike Jews, Pagans, 
 Catholics, and Arians from attempting to oppress each other. 
 In this particular his brother Valens did not follow his example, 
 it being apparently impossible for an Arian to be tolerant, 
 and he oppressed the Catholics throughout the East. 
 
 The reign of Valentinian I, so important from a military 
 point of view, is scarcely less so in regard to the Christian 
 Church. For it was during this age from the time of Valen- 
 tinian to that of Theodosius that the constitution of the 
 Christian Church became consolidated, before the great 
 flood came fifty years later which in the West swept all else 
 away, and without which consolidation that Church could 
 scarcely have survived amidst the general wreck. 
 
 In that constitution the first fundamental principle which 
 had by this time been thoroughly established was that all 
 Bishops are of equal rank and authority. Thus St. Jerome, 
 writing at this time, says :— " Wherever a Bishop is, whether 
 at Rome or Eugubium, ^ at Constantmople or Rhegium, at 
 Alexandria or Tani, he is of the same worth. Neither the 
 power of riches, nor the humility of poveri^y, makes a Bishop 
 higher or lower ; all are successors of the Apostles." The sole 
 authority over a Bishop in ecclesiastical matters was a General 
 Council of such Bishops. 
 
 Secondly, for administrative convenience, the various 
 dioceses had for some time been grouped together under 
 " Metropolitans " (sometimes called Archbishops), the Metro- 
 politan being the Bishop of the metropolis or chief city of a 
 
 1 He purposely mentions three of the most insignificant places, by 
 way of contrast. 
 
 GROUPING OF DIOCESES 
 
 509 
 
 province. The title had long been in use without any special 
 duties being connected with it, ^ but this was now done. 
 In detaihng those duties it was carefuUy laid down that this 
 arrangement was not to be considered as giving any right of 
 interference by the MetropoUtan Bishop in the affairs of any 
 other Bishop's diocese, and that the duties of the MetropoUtan 
 were confined to presiding in the synods of his province, seeing 
 that the " canons " (laws) passed in such synods were duly 
 promulgated, supervising the consecration of new Bishops, 
 and representing his province in communications with other 
 provinces of the Church. Thus the position of an Archbishop 
 or Metropolitan towards the Bishops of his province was 
 simply that of " Primus inter pares," 2 ^nd their indepen- 
 dence remained untrammelled. 
 
 Subsequently (in the next reign) a further step of the same 
 kind was taken, by grouping the MetropoUtans under Patriarchs 
 (or Popes), 3 the duties of the latter being in the same way 
 carefully limited so as not to trench upon the principle of the 
 mdependence of Bishops, to which principle great importance 
 was attached. 
 
 Above the whole stood the General Council of Bishops, its 
 authority absolute over aU, whether Popes, Metropolitkns, 
 or Bishops. Since Bishops were chosen by the people, the 
 constitution of the Church is thus essentiaUy democratic, 
 not autocratic, the Church not being constituted like an army, 
 or even like a Republic (which has a President), but being 
 ruled by an assembly of Bishops aU of equal rank and 
 authority.* And upon this equality of Bishops great stress 
 was from the earliest times laid, and through all groupings 
 of dioceses under Archbishops, MetropoUtans, or Popes was 
 carefuUy preserved. 
 
 The most important sees at this time were :— Antioch, as 
 the city from which the reUgion had been spread, and the 
 chief city towards the east ; Alexandria, as the great seat of 
 learning, and the chief city towards the south ; Rome, as the 
 former imperial city ; Constantinople, as the imperial city, or 
 
 •» See Chap. X, p. 329. 
 8 See p. 537. 
 
 * Even the presiding Bishop at a General CouncU was not given a 
 castmg vote. 
 
 * "First among equals." 
 
 
I 
 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 510 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 I 
 
 " New Rome " ; Jerusalem, as the mother of all the Churches ; 
 and Milan, as the capital city of the western portion of the 
 empire. The title of Pope ^ had for some time been given 
 by courtesy to the MetropoUtans of two of these sees, viz., 
 Antioch and Alexandria, but this was as yet merely an honor- 
 ary title, and it was not until the next reign that it became a 
 definite title attached to five of these sees on giving them the 
 abovementioned ** patriarchal " jurisdiction. 
 
 The Arian struggle still continued ; out of the six most 
 important sees, four, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and 
 Milan 2 were all held by Arian bishops. The great Athanasius, 
 Pope of Alexandria, after being for a short time again driven 
 into exile by Valens, passed the last four years of his life in 
 peaceful possession of his see, dying in 373. A scarcely 
 less notable Bishop in Valentinian's reign was Hilary, Bishop 
 of Poictiers, the probable author of the '' Te Deum." He 
 was Bishop of Poictiers throughout the troubled years 353-364, 
 and through the Arian influence at the court of Constantius 
 was banished to Phrygia, but on Valentinian's accession 
 returned to his see. Next to Athanasius he was the greatest 
 theologian and preacher of his time. Jerome calls him " the 
 trumpet of the Western Church against the Arians," and 
 speaks of his " arrowy Rhone of eloquence." Hilary died in 
 368, leaving a widow and a daughter, Abra.^ 
 
 Still more celebrated at this period was Basil, commonly 
 called Basil the Great, who became Metropolitan of Caesarea, 
 in Cappadocia, in 370. The mantle of Athanasius, as the 
 steadfast upholder of the Catholic faith in the midst of Arian 
 persecution, fell upon him, and when Valens, rigorously perse- 
 cuting the Catholics throughout the eastern portion of the 
 empire, put Arians into every see, Basil alone among the 
 Catholics maintained his post in spite of threats of torture, 
 banishment, and death, behaving with daimtless courage. 
 At length Valens visited Caesarea to eject him in person, but 
 
 ^ Regarding whether it is best to use this word or that of Patriarch, 
 see Preface, p. xii. 
 
 a Until 374 (see p. 612). 
 
 3 St. Hilary c€«ne of an ancient and illustrioiis family, and his 
 parents were Pagans. He is commemorated in the Prayerbook of 
 the Church of England on the 13th January. 
 
 XV] 
 
 BASIL THE GREAT 
 
 511 
 
 was so overawed by Basil's dignity and courage that he gave 
 way and left him in possession of his see. It is, however as 
 the founder of monastic orders that Basil is most notable. ' In 
 a long tour he visited the monastic sohtudes of the deserts of 
 Egypt, and from the Nile carried back to Cappadocia the 
 theory of a new monasticism, and instead of the hermit ideal 
 of Egypt mstituted the community hfe, with its encourage- 
 ment of works of mercy, care of the sick, and education of the 
 young. Basil died in 379. 1 
 
 During the reign of Valentinian, as weU as during that of 
 his son Gratian, the Bishop of Rome was Damasus, who 
 succeeded Liberius in 366. ^ The see of Rome had not as yet 
 nsen to a position of any importance in the Church. Three 
 thmgs jomtly contributed to cause this : first, " the Church 
 of God sojourning at Rome » (to use the expression of 
 bt. Clement) ' had not up to this time produced any Bishop 
 of emmence since St. Clement hunself ; secondly, from the 
 political point of view the see was overshadowed by that of 
 Milan, the capital of the West, and became stiU more so 
 when m 374 MUan gained as its Bishop the man who became 
 the leading Bishop of his time (see below) ; and thirdly, Rome 
 was still the abode of a strong Pagan influence. Damasus' 
 secretary was the celebrated Jerome. * 
 
 In 374 a remarkable election took place at the capital of 
 the western portion of the empire, Milan. At this time the 
 Consul of Liguria (northern Italy) was Ambrosius. His 
 father (of the same name) had held the ahnost royal position 
 of Praetorian Prefect of Britain, Gaul, and Spain,^ under 
 
 . \u^\^^^ preceded St. Benedict, the founder of monastic orders 
 m the West, by 150 years. 
 
 « Damasus died in 384. His tomb is to be seen in the Catacombs 
 at Kome. 
 
 3 Chap. V, p. 199. 
 
 * St. Jerome subsequently removed to Palestine, where he wrote 
 his ^eat work the Latin version of the Bible, called the Vulgate, 
 which became the version used in the West, and of equal authority 
 v^th the Greek original. It is St. Jerome's principal title to fame. 
 He hved imtil 420, dying at the age of ninety. 
 
 » The. position of ruler over the whole of what are now the modem 
 countries of England, France, Belgium, Alsace-Lorraine, and Spain, 
 may well be called an ahnost royal one. 
 
 il 
 
 li 
 
 H 
 
 > 
 
CHAP. 
 
 512 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 Constantine the Great, Constantine 11, and Constans, and 
 Ambrose had been bom and brought up in his father's palace 
 at Treves. Gradually rising like his father in the public 
 service, Ambrose had, at the age of thirty, become, as Consul 
 of Liguria, the ruler over nearly all northern Italy, and with 
 no thought further from his mind than that of entering upon 
 an ecclesiastical career. In 374 Auxentius, Bishop of Milan, 
 an Arian, died. The invariable practice of the Christian 
 Church being that the Bishop of a diocese should be elected 
 by the people, and not be appointed by any superior authority,^ 
 it necessarily followed, so long as the Arian struggle continued, 
 that every election of a Bishop raised a tumult between the 
 Arians and the Catholics over the choice of a successor ; and 
 it was so in this case. Ambrose, the governor of the province, 
 being absent from Milan at the time, proceeded thither to quell 
 this disturbance. He was much liked by the people on account 
 of his justice and his upright character, being also noted for 
 his " golden eloquence " ; and while he stood, surrounded by 
 his guards, in the large hall of justice at Milan, endeavouring 
 to pacify the excited people and to persuade the two parties 
 to make peace, the voice of a child was heard in the crowd 
 crying out, *' Ambrose for Bishop, Ambrose for Bishop." 
 The people took up the cry, and shouted the same words. 
 The governor refused absolutely to become their Bishop, and 
 resorted to every expedient to quiet the people, and get them 
 to choose someone suited to the office, but to no purpose. 
 At length finding himself unable to produce any result, and 
 beset by an excited crowd wherever he went, he fled from the 
 city. But the people were not to be denied ; they followed 
 him, and by force carried him back with them, and he found 
 himself practically compelled to agree to their will. Already 
 a Catholic in belief, he was now baptized, and a week later 
 was consecrated as Bishop of Milan. He became the leading 
 
 * As long as any of the Apostles lived Bishops had been selected by 
 them, but as soon as the Apostles passed away it became the invariable 
 practice for the Bishop to be elected by the whole body of Christians 
 concerned ; and this continued the practice of the Church for many 
 centuries after this time. It is still acknowledged in theory as the 
 only proper method, and certcdn forms are kept up to preserve a 
 semblance of adherence to the theory. 
 
 XV] 
 
 THE QUADI INVADE PANNONIA 
 
 513 
 
 Bishop of the West during the whole of the next two mgns 
 and the greatest theologian of his time.» ^^' 
 
 ■ During the years 371-374 Valens from his canital af A« 
 
 SalrTn,?? I "?^^^ ^ """^''^'''^ Se'opeZolthth 
 fcapor, ku)g of Persia, was endeavouring to cairv o.,t fl<,aJ„=* 
 
 the year 374 he was thrown into great trepidation by a report 
 rnade to him that certain persons (by means of a magicTf 
 suspended over a consecrated table upon which wasTn^f i 
 
 ptrt S^Jh 'Im *Vv ^^**^" °^ ''^ alphatel^^ hrs;erou 
 fhf tW I . f ^"^ ''"''^' ' thereupon he became for 
 
 to death all who came under his suspicion in the matter £ 
 the almost entire exclusion of all other affairs ^ ' 
 
 Valentmian I was married twice. His first wife was Severa 
 
 :f^itsreii^rrLrb?'^^^ r ''- ^^ 
 
 Valentinian's second ^ ^TZ^ Z'ITJZ 
 
 theTar rwh""p f' "^^ "^'^^ "^ ValentiTan Ibout 
 
 wirof J; ! . ^^ T ^"' "'«''* y^^^« «'**• She was a 
 woman of an excitable disposition, and a strong Arian «.nH 
 
 By her Valentmian had three daughters, Justa, Grata and 
 
 f^rit:^' '^^^^'^*^^"' -^" -- '^- y-- o'^ ^* ^ 
 
 prow in""!' \\*''"*^° ^ ^^ fi**y-fi^^' ^^^orna, the 
 
 and swo?d vT .""^''^^f ***"'• ^*y^g i* ^^te ^th fire 
 
 Zv tribe «».7ri'",""'°' *'^"° ** '^'^^''' ^^ f"rio"« that 
 any tobe should dare to ravage a province of the empire 
 
 amv mi ^ ^ t>^" '°- ^" ^"^^"^y ^'^l^'^'i * large 
 army, marched to Pamionia, and, enraged by the atrocitii 
 
 • ZeT^lT '"^"^ Archbishop of Milan until his death in 397. 
 
 * Shi"^'^ Zl"^' y"" ^-™ ^^' »>-» probably in 365. 
 
 E.W. 
 
 LL 
 
 '■ 1 H 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 614 
 
 VALENTINIAN I 
 
 
 of which he heard from the inhabitants, and by the sight of 
 the devastation wrought by the Quadi, crossed the Danube 
 into the country of the latter, burning for revenge. Over- 
 bearing aU resistance, he slaughtered the Quadi in all direc- 
 tions, killing their king, and burning and destroying like a 
 consuming fire. It is stated that when after executing this 
 vengeance he repassed the Danube, he did so without having 
 lost a single Roman soldier during the expedition. If so, it is 
 a strong proof of the efficiency of his army. , 
 
 But Valentinian's vengeance was not yet sated, and intend- 
 ing to carry out a further punishment of the Quadi in the 
 spring, he went mto winter quarters at Bregotio, on the Danube. ^ 
 While* there, in November, a humble deputation from the 
 Quadi arrived to crave for pardon. They were admitted 
 to the emperor's presence, displaying, with their unsightly 
 figures, their ** breastplates of horn sewn on linen jackets, the 
 pieces overlapping like the feathers of a bird," and their crouch- 
 ing attitude, a wonderful contrast to the emperor of the Romans, 
 with his majestic appearance, his tall and well-shaped figure, 
 clad in a steel cuirass, and upon his head a helmet ornamented 
 with gold and jewels. ^ They made a humble apology for 
 the incursion into Pannonia, declaring it had been a raid 
 carried out by marauders not subject to their control. But 
 their excuse was palpably an unblushing prevarication, exactly 
 the thing which always specially roused the wrath of Valen- 
 tinian, and on hearing it the memory of all the outrages 
 which had been perpetrated upon the inhabitants of a province 
 which was, naturally, more than all others dear to him, com- 
 bined with the dishonest nature of the excuse put forward, 
 filled Valentinian with such indignation that he burst into a 
 furious passion, was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and died 
 (17th November, 375). His body was carried to Constan- 
 tinople, and was there interred in Constantine's great church 
 of the Twelve Apostles, which from this time forth became 
 the regular burial-place of the Roman emperors. 
 
 The character of Valentinian is one open as daylight. Never 
 
 » Bregotio was near the modern city of Presburg, in Hungary. 
 
 « Ammianus Marcellinus xvii, 12, 2; xxvii, 10, 11; xxix, 3, 4; and 
 XXX, 9, 6. Ammianus was evidently an eyewitness of this scene as an 
 ofijcer of the Imperial Guards, 
 
 M 
 
 XV] 
 
 HIS CHARACTER 
 
 515 
 
 •:dij,,o„„,/7Kni'rg„riLrcJ'' ,r "^ 
 
 right, and resolute, and hating all Iff °. "*'*• Capable, up- 
 he was, a. before remarked \ bom T"^ T^ P^^'g^'^y. 
 whose vices he crushed w^t « v. ^^ ""^ "^°- Those 
 
 character than the hLoriln rKK .' ^^' * '""*'^> fi°«r 
 than W historians wioT^l ^^TJZl^TJ;. ^ 
 
 t^n SHeslretS ^^ T^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 Great in h'lSg < broufhTbll T^' *** '^'>^°^«ri«' t^e 
 
 compa,.d him'" ZTtilLdl^^^"-^^ of happiness." 
 how much below his deserT h J K "T" '^°''' P'^^^ 
 his^onans We generaH^X Jo^atntil; f^'^*^^ *^^' 
 
 bufhe^^ifotrrLrri^if '-' '' ---= 
 
 seldom had cases bef o^lS^Xrl thT 1"'"^' v' ^^'^'^^ 
 have been desirable in thnnterel ^ M T^^^ ^""^^ 
 him for protection. Any opp^^S ^f th. f "^ ^'^^^^ ^ 
 at trickery or subterfuge ~dhi^ ? Fr^i"' ''" ^**"'"P*« 
 Just and straightforwarf'hZl^? I ^^^ ^^'"^'* ^^*th. 
 
 those who wei otZX TT ' ^^' ^^^^ ^^^^^^ by 
 contrived thuTto 1^^!, .'^''"P'^"^ S*'^^™"^ ^^^n 
 but when he calh ?hp^V^*°''\''°^ ''^^'^ *»»« P^^Ple ; 
 As a commLrt waThfZ,! ^ T^L*'^^'" "^^ ^*' 
 only surpassed by Constantino'^ SI Jfet^^^^L "" 
 was guarded by his militarv abilitv it. u ^""P""^ 
 
 by his untiring^attentionriL tdmitltSr Ta^'^^Z'^ 
 vengeance feU upon barbarians or ™rs Jho da.^nV"''^'^^ 
 Roman provinces or to moU ^ u- '^^ *o mvade 
 
 f 
 
 » 
 
 t' 
 
CHAP 
 
 616 
 
 THE LITTLE KNOWN EMPEROR 
 
 (J 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 375 — 383 
 
 We now come to an emperor upon whom it might have been 
 Bussed thX historians would have deUghted to dweU, on 
 "S of his successes in waging war and in -fcrng Pe-e 
 W^care for the people, handsome appearance, and ideal 
 ^LZZt but reganliSg whom, on the contrary, they have 
 s^fdl ve,7 littk that he is probably less generaUy known 
 
 ^'orS wTsTo, the elder son of Valentinian I, 
 and nlmed X the latter's father, was seventeen when he 
 ::fcrd:d to the throne. We have seen the pr-^cip^s as to 
 
 his imperial duty which had ^\'^^f'}'ZiXjC^ 
 f,nm his earUest years, and to these he faithfuUy adhered, 
 but t^ thTm led other qualities which hiB father d.d not 
 nosseTs and which Gratian must presumably have mhented 
 EThis mother Severa. Though so yo^^^g ^^^^^ ^^^ 
 t^The throne he ruled weU, at first no doubt ehjefly o^g 
 to hi three excellent advisers,-the old general Merobaudes 
 i^Frlnk who was faithful to Gratian throughout his hfe,^ 
 lu!r«s IZZ^ his tutor and now his chief minister, and 
 im3: who two years before had been the ust and wise 
 ConSof Liguria, and was now the universally reverenced 
 
 Xfii-^ writers, both Pagan and Christian ^^e 
 dowing pictures of Gratian. His manly qua ities, abd^ty 
 tXome appearance, and attractive .di^^ -^^^^^ 
 brilliant career to be confidently anticipated for this «on ^^ 
 Valentinian. The contemporary Pagan ^nt^' J^^j^f ^^j^ 
 calls him " the beautiful boy-emperor " a fair «^md m a J^ 
 body '• and says that " the rough handsomeness of Valen 
 S wa. softened and made lovable i^t^eface^ hisson^ J 
 Hepraises his justice, his constant efforts to obliterate and 
 Sak^ a^nS fir his father's cruelties, and his repayment of 
 
 : ^j^. ana -— -- - r z; ^t:z trs 
 
 ITto be 80 true that they met with ao contradiction. 
 
 xv] 
 
 PRAISE BY CONTEMPORARIES 
 
 517 
 
 sums which had been exacted by oppression in previous reigns 
 and declares that Gratian's "symmetry of soul," and hi^ 
 powers of conciliation, " fought more powerfully for Rome 
 than any number of mailed knights." 
 
 The contemporary writer, Ausonius « gives Gratian simUar 
 praises, and dehghtmg in a play upon words caUs him " the 
 gracious the grateful, the gratitude-inspiring Gratian"- 
 while all writers record his courage, ability, skiU in aU manly 
 exerci^s, hatred of dissensions, unselfishness, and purity of 
 hfe. Rare indeed is it to find such uniform praise of a char- 
 acter m history, later historians having found nothing to 
 controvert these lavish praises bestowed upon Gratian by 
 his contemporaries. But perhaps the strongest evidence of aU 
 
 Cihhir^ ^f w'f "^^'^^^ ^ *""^^^d by the historian 
 Gibbon. For the latter, unable after careful search to find any 
 flaw m a character so valuable to the cause of Christianity, 
 ^opts the astute course of saying hardly anything about him 
 Nothmg could better prove that there was no flaw to be founds 
 It IS true that the Pagan writer Ammianus Marcellinus says 
 of Gratian :-" Whde the youthful down was yet on hk 
 cheel^ he showed promise of emulating the best of the emperors 
 If he had not given his mind too much to sport; ; " and hVgoe^ 
 
 •Gibbon says that Ausonius was a Pagan. There has however 
 been a controversy about this, some writers being of opinion Zt 
 Ausomus was a Christian. His chief work is the lo.eH^fZcribS 
 the fertihty and happiness of the vaUey of the Moselle. ''«««"''«g 
 
 ThJS silence on Gibbon's part is the reason why so little is gener- 
 ally known about the emperor Gratian. The mamier in which G^bbl 
 dunng Gratian's eight years' reign, contrives to talk Ti In^W^d 
 everything rather than Gratian. obUterating his notable dZZf war 
 and peace, and the fact that he was ruUng over the clUef part of ThI 
 empire is exceedingly clever. In the httle which he Xs"^:^ ab^ut 
 hun he depicts him a« a weU-dispositioned, but weak and indolen" 
 youth, leamng upon his coUeague Theodosius, and fond of hu^2' 
 
 ^bbonf r°"" i° ""'^t""* **^* '"^ '*««' amusement S 
 Gibbon teUs us m his autobiography that he detests) was the caZ^of 
 
 n^.t, ^ ? ^r^ ^^"^ ^^^ ''^^ '•e^erse of weak and indolent 
 
 S™ Th H **"* "^ ""^^' "^ °^'y over W^e S 
 oTS th« .^ "" was possible), but also to drop entirely out 
 
 hono^hW o f""^' V^' '*°'^""' ^^^ theJ^ were lUgUy 
 honourable to Gratian, and through him to the cause of ChristiaStv 
 (Decline and FaU, HI, 356-368. Edition 1862). ^hnstiamty 
 
 fi 
 
 %\ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 618 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 on to describe how Gratian deUghted " to spend whole days 
 in those vast preserves which are caUed vivaria, slaying savage 
 beasts with his multitudinous arrows. And this at a tune 
 when even the patient earnestness of a Marcus AureUus woidd 
 have been aU too Uttle for the sad necessities of the empure. 
 But it must be remembered that Ammianus Marcellinus was 
 a Pagan, and though he is generally more free from bias than 
 other Pagan writers, he had at this time removed to Rome, 
 and was writing in the midst of aU that Pagan society at Rome 
 which was most inimical to the Christian emperors, and 
 above aU to Gratian in consequence of his particular attitude 
 in regard to religion. In any case it is evident that he is 
 referring to Gratian at an age when the latter was little more 
 than a boy, for not only does he say " while the youthful down 
 was yet on his cheeks," but also Ammianus' History ends at 
 ihe death of Valene in 378, three years after Gratian came to 
 the throne. So that it is plain that his remarks do not refer 
 to the period of Gratian's life after the latter reached manhood ; 
 a point which is important in regard to the use which has been 
 made of his words » in accounting for the causes which 
 brought about Gratian's tragic end. 
 
 In addition to the qualities which earned for him so many 
 praises from the contemporary writers, Gratian, unlike the 
 other Christian emperors who had preceded him (Constantine, 
 Constantius, Jovian, and Valentinian), showed throughout 
 his life a real sense of religion. When at the age of nmeteen 
 he was about to start on his campaign to help his incapable 
 uncle Valens against the Goths he begged Ambrose (whom he 
 greatly loved) to give him " some writing of the CathoUc faith 
 by which to strengthen my heart; for the battle " ; which caUed 
 
 » To the Pagan writers Marcus AureUus was the model emperor, 
 
 and quoted by them on all occasions. His great crime of the three 
 
 years' general massacre of Christians,— that crime which moved a 
 
 John Stuart Mill to call it " the most tragical fact of all history, — 
 
 was in their eyes no crime at all. not because they were inmucal to 
 
 C!hristians, but because to them expediency sufficiently excused such 
 
 an act. And later on we find Ammianus Marcellinus himself exem- 
 
 pUfying this Pagan attitude of mind, and in regard to a most dastardly 
 
 massacre of Gothic boy hostages, committed in his own hfetmie, 
 
 seeing no harm in it because it was in his eyes justified by expediency 
 
 /_ „ K«B\ * Page 550. 
 
 [Bee p. 5^6). ° 
 
 3tv] 
 
 MAKES TREVES HIS RESIDENCE 
 
 S19 
 
 forth Ambrose's celebrated treatise De Fide, which waa written 
 for Gratian on this occasion. And at the end of the latter's 
 We the chief cause of the unpopularity which eventually 
 brought about his ruin and death has been held by a high 
 authority i to have been his " uncompromising Christianity " 
 trratian was married, shortly before his father's death, to 
 Constantia Postuma, the daughter of Constantius and 
 Faustma^ At the desire of the army he associated with 
 himself his four-year-old half-brother, Valentinian II, and 
 with much unselfishness Gratian gave to his little half- 
 brother the nominal rule of Italy and North Africa, guided 
 by his mother Justina, suggesting that his step-mother and 
 her son should reside at the capital, Milan, while he took up 
 his residence at Treves, where a constant watch to resist the 
 northern tnbes was required. Nor, though he was a firm 
 Catholic and his step-mother an exceedingly bitter Arian, do 
 we ever hear of any failure on Gratian's part to live in 
 concord with his step-mother and his half-brother, notwith- 
 8tan(taig that the position was one which in any other hands 
 would have been certain to provoke quarrels. 
 
 There was however another direction m which Gratian's 
 abihties wer« powerless to prevent iU consequences. While he 
 ruled the larger and more important part of the empire which 
 his father had undertaken as his special charge, ^ including 
 
 5l? o^^ *^^ ^^°^^ ^^ °^ *h« f'o^t'^' from the mouth 
 of the Rhine to Singidunum (Belgrade) on the Danube, he 
 
 was heavily handicapped in having in the eastern portion of 
 the empire a coUeague who was in all points the veiy opposite 
 of himself, his uncle Valens, so incapable, and so imbued with 
 petty vanity, jealousy, and general stupidity, that if the whole 
 empu:e had been searched no more actively harmful a being 
 for such a position could have been found. And these quaU 
 ties, as soon as Valens no longer had Valentinian to guide him 
 qmckly brought about the most disastrous results, Valen^ 
 being caUed upon to meet a situation with which he was 
 totally mcompetent to deal. 
 
 " The late Dr. Hodgkin. 
 thJ ^°S- -^l^' P- *''*• ^°«*^t» narrowly escaped capture by 
 £ Sage. '°"™'^ *'"°'^'' Pannonia^towar^^Lan i^ 375 Z 
 
 h\ 
 
 li 
 
li 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 520 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 For there now began movements in the dark regions of 
 Scythia whose effects extended over the whole of northern 
 Europe, and there were heard the first rumblings of an ap- 
 proaching storm which was to burst, thirty years later, with 
 overwhelming force upon the Roman Empire. For many 
 generations the Vandals, the Alans, the Goths, and other 
 northern races had, in successive waves from Scythia, been 
 moving westwards and southwards, and pressing with ever 
 increasing force upon the long line of the northern frontier of 
 Rome's empire, a barrier which Valentinian had lately made 
 stronger than ever. And now in Gratian's reign we hear for 
 the first time of a fresh and stiU larger wave of this kind, and 
 a new and more terrible name, the Huns. This great nomadic 
 race, coming in vast hordes from the wilds of Central Asia, 
 of the Tartar type, fierce, ignorant, with strangely deformed 
 bodies, shrill voices, flat noses, small black eyes, and uncouth 
 gestures, and both hated and feared by the other northern 
 raxjes, by whom they were regarded as half -devils in appearance 
 and character, utterly detestable and terrible, began to press 
 upon the Goths and the other northern races from the rear 
 and to force them upon the Roman frontier, ^ This pressure 
 came upon the Goths first, as the most eastern of the northern 
 races along the line of the frontier ; and in 376, about a year 
 after the death of Valentinian, the Visigoths (settled since 
 Aurehan's time in Dacia), being thus hard pressed, and seeing 
 no other resource, sought the protection of the Roman Empire, 
 and implored from Valens permission to be aUowed to pass 
 within it and be given some place of settlement. They saw no 
 safety except in placing the broad stream of the Danube 
 between them and these inhuman foes, on whom even the 
 Goths could justly bestow the name of barbarians. 
 
 Valens, for the first time thrown upon his own resources, 
 was utterly incapable of dealing with such a situation, and 
 accordingly adopted a course which included every possible 
 disadvantage and carefully excluded every possible advantage. 
 Not having the strength of character to refuse such a request, 
 
 » The great Hennanric died just about the time that this pressure 
 began. He was murdered by a chief of the Roxolani who had deserted 
 the standard of Hermanric, and whose innocent wife Hermannc m 
 revenge had caused to be torn asunder by wild horses. 
 
 XV] 
 
 THE BLUNDERS OP VALENS 
 
 521 
 
 he granted it ; thereby committing a great strategical error. 
 For since Rome's whole military force was practically massed 
 upon her frontier, this action placed a large body of her most 
 powerful enemies in a position which took that whole line in 
 flank, thus nullifying to a large extent the long line of defences 
 upon the strengthening of which so many emperors had ex- 
 pended so much time and money. The Roman armies guard- 
 ing it, and facing their enemies towards the north, would, when 
 the time came, find themselves attacked by a portion of their foes 
 from the right rear. Even the numerous strong fortresses built 
 to strengthen the northern frontier by Valentinian were by this 
 action of his stupid brother deprived of much of their value. 
 Valens having settled upon this ill-advised course, proceeded 
 to carry it out exactly in the manner bound to make it most 
 harmful, by converting the Goths from aUies, grateful for 
 protection in their time of need, into bitter and maddened 
 enemies. First he took away all the grace of compliance with 
 their request by attaching to that compKance two of the hardest 
 and most ignominious conditions, requiring that the Goths 
 should deliver up their arms, and should agree that all the 
 boys not old enough for military service should be given up as 
 hostages and dispersed among various distant provinces of 
 the eastern part of the empire. And secondly, without troub- 
 ling himself at all about the details, he left a matter which, 
 for any remote chance of success, required tactful, and above 
 aU ^nst, handling, to be carried out by a band of the most 
 detestable officials, headed by Lupicinus and Maximinus, 
 who treated the Goths worse than if they had been prisoners 
 of war. These officials first roused the Goths to fury by 
 atrocious insults to their women and girls, and then by their 
 rapacity and extortions in regard to supplies of food still 
 further maddened them by famine. It would be difficult to 
 find anywhere else so many blunders combined in a single 
 transaction. 
 
 The transportation across the Danube of this vast host, 
 with their women and children, wagons and property, took 
 days. Their number was computed by the Roman officers 
 superintending the immigration at 200,000 fighting men, and 
 the whole population at a million. They were allowed to 
 settle in Moesia. Shortly afterwards another vast host, the 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 fl 
 
 ? 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 622 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 •If 
 
 i 
 
 ! 
 
 Ostrogoths,^ appeared upon the Danube, and sought the 
 same protection. They were at first refused, but neverthqless 
 crossed the Danube, and after some discussion they also were 
 allowed to settle in Moesia. Troubles soon arose. The Goths 
 were a noble race, much more so than any of the other northern 
 nations, and they only required decent treatment to become 
 the firm friends of the Romans. But the shameful ill-treatment 
 to which they were subjected by the Roman officials of Valens 
 continued ; a dishonourable massacre of some of the Goths at 
 Marcianople * roused the whole nation to fury ; and rising 
 in rebellion they carried fire and sword through Thrace, while 
 an indecisive battle at Ad Salices in the autumn of 377 left 
 them unsubdued. Valens, at Antioch, now felt that the 
 matter had become serious. He wrote to his nephew Gratian 
 asking for his assistance, and in April 378 marched with a 
 large army from Antioch to bring the Goths to submission. 
 Meanwhile Gratian during the years 376 and 377 had been 
 winning much distinction in Tyrol and on the Rhine, over- 
 coming exceptional difficulties in a campaign in the Black 
 Forest against the Lentienses, whom he had beaten and 
 brought to submission, and showing much personal bravery 
 and aptitude for war by the successful manner in which on 
 several occasions he had led his troops in person. And in 
 May 378 he gained a great victory over the Allemanni. The 
 latter had crossed the Rhine near Strassburg, bent on ravaging 
 the adjacent country. Gratian, who had been just about to 
 start for the east to help his imcle, marched against them, 
 encountered them at Colmar, about thirty miles south of 
 Strassburg, and completely defeated them. The Romans 
 were greatly outnumbered, and the victory is ascribed by the 
 contemporary writers to the splendid training of the Roman 
 
 * It has recently become the fashion to style the Ostrogoths the 
 "East Goths and the Visigoths the West Groths, but it seems preferable 
 for clearness to £idhere to the names by which these races have been 
 known for centuries. One scarcely recognizes, e.g. the Visigoths 
 under the name of the West Goths, though that is a correct transla- 
 tion of their name. Moreover when the Goths came to be settled 
 within the empire the Visigoths were settled to the east of the Ostro- 
 goths (see p. 533), so that these new names become all the more un- 
 desirable in their tendency to confuse the reader. 
 
 * Founded by Trajan, and named by him after his sister Meirciana. 
 
 xv] 
 
 BATTLE OF HADRIANOPLE 
 
 523 
 
 legions and to the personal valour of Gratian. The Allemanni 
 long mamtained their ground, and were slaughtered in immense 
 numbers, and when at length they gave way were driven into 
 the nver, m which many were drowned ; their king was killed 
 and It IS stated that only 5000 out of 70,000 survived to repass 
 the Rhme. Having gained this victory Gratian set out with 
 his army for the east, but on the way turned aside, crossed 
 the Rhme, and traversing the country of the AUemanni and 
 the Lentienses, forced them both to entire submission, thereby 
 securmg the peace of Gaul during his absence. He then pro- 
 ceeded on his march to the east. 
 
 Valens, reaching Constantinople at the end of May, remained 
 there for some time to gather further reinforcements, and 
 towards the end of June having coUected an army of about 
 50,000 men, proceeded against the Goths, who, under their 
 chief Fritigem, were coUected near Bercea, on the south side 
 of the Balkans. Valens first advanced to the Maritza pass, 
 but hearmg that a portion of the enemy had been despatched 
 to mtercept his communications with Constantinople, retired 
 again towards Hadrianople, Fritigem at the same time moving 
 towards Nike. Had Valens waited a few days for the arrival 
 of Gratian's army, composed of troops inured to war in various 
 successful campaigns upon the Rhine, and elated by their 
 recent victory over the AUemanni at Cohnar, the Romans, 
 instead of the great disaster they now experienced, would 
 almost certainly have inflicted upon the Goths a crushing 
 defeat. And Gratian wrote strongly urging this course upon 
 his uncle. But the news of his briUiant nephew's victory at 
 Colmar was bitterly gaUing to the smaU-souled Valens, who 
 accordingly determined to attack the Goths before Gratian 
 could arrive. The Goths had been reinforced by contingents 
 of Alans and Huns, and enormously outnumbered the Roman 
 army, but by a climax of stupidity Valens beUeved them only 
 to number about 20,000 men, when they were probably more 
 like 200,000. Two days before the battle Count Richomer 
 amved brmging a second letter from Gratian, saying that he 
 was advancing by rapid marches, and earnestly beseeching 
 that no such dangerous course might be taken as to attack 
 the Goths untU the junction of the two armies should ensure 
 success. But though some of Valens' generals urged him 
 
 I 
 
 y 
 
 »-' 
 
CHA^. 
 
 524 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 
 strongly to wait for this, Valens, jealous of his nephew, rejected 
 this advice and early on the 9th August 378 started to advance 
 against the Goths. 
 
 After a march of some hours Valens arrived at noon in front 
 of their position, and drew up his line of battle, making, as a 
 final mistake, the serious error of placing his cavalry in front 
 of his infantry. Fritigem deceived him for a short time with 
 pretended negotiations until his own cavalry, who were absent 
 at a distance foraging, should come up, and then on their arrival 
 sent his cavalry against the much smaller force of Roman 
 cavalry, and having put them to flight, attacked the main 
 body. ** Immediately," says Ammianus Marcellinus, "the 
 Goths swept down upon the Roman army like a thunderbolt," 
 surrounding it in front and on both flanks. On the part of 
 the Romans the whole affair was without generalship of any 
 kind. Instead of the extremely open order in which Constan- 
 tine had always made his infantry fight, the latter on this 
 occasion, placed in too close order originally, and forced still 
 closer by the pressure of the Goths on both flanks, were, 
 Ammianus says, " so tightly jammed together that they could 
 scarcely raise a hand or draw a sword, while their spears were 
 broken by the swaymg of their own immanageable mass." 
 They stood raging but helpless, an easy mark for the missiles 
 of the Goths, which mowed them down from a distance. 
 Fiercely cursing the ineptitude which had brought them 
 into such a position, they died by himdreds. To see such 
 mishandling of brave and well-disciplined troops rouses 
 indignation against the incapacity responsible for it. At 
 length after the Roman troops had been slaughtered for hours 
 without being able to damage their opponents, what was left 
 of the army gave way, and fled in confusion.^ Valens was 
 
 » Gibbon is completely wrong in what he imagines to have been 
 the reason of the defeat. He attributes the loss of the battle to the 
 infeuitry losing the protection of the cavalry, when the latter were put 
 to flight by the superior force of Gothic cavalry. Had he lived after 
 the days of the Peninsular war and Waterloo he could scarcely have 
 made such an error. Valens* cavalry by being placed in front of the 
 infantry, instecul of being an assistance became a deinger, obstructing 
 the inf€kntry and tending by their own defeat to unsteady the latter, 
 bringing upon them a strain which only the stoutest infantry can 
 stand ; though the Roman infantry did so on this occasion until they 
 were necurly all killed. 
 
 XV] 
 
 CAUSES OF THE DEFEAT 
 
 625 
 
 burnt in a hut in which he took refuge. The emperor, forty 
 officers of highest rank, and two-thirds of the whole army of 
 Valens, perished. It was a disaster which almost rivalled 
 that which befel the army of Decius at Abricium 127 years 
 before.^ 
 
 One consolation however the Romans had, viz. that the 
 incapable and small-minded Valens, the sole cause of both 
 the defeat and the circumstances which led to the contest, was 
 slain. One feels that it was a deliverance which made even 
 such a defeat almost worth enduring. In the three years that 
 he had been left without the guidance of Valentinian he had 
 contrived to do about as much harm as any single individual 
 could achieve. 
 
 Regarding this battle at Hadrianople the cause of the 
 defeat is plain. The accoimts of the battle show that the 
 defeat did not occur through any flaw in the quality, discipline, 
 or training of the troops, but solely through the most complete 
 want of generalship, (i) in not waiting for the army which was 
 being brought up by Gratian, (ii) in drawing up the infantry 
 in the absurdly close order in which they were expected to 
 fight, (iii) in placing the cavalry in front of the infantry, and 
 (iv) in the absence of orders when the enemy's attack was 
 developed. 
 
 This defeat, great as it was, is often given an importance 
 greater than military considerations justify. In the first 
 place only one half of the Roman army was defeated, the 
 second, and stronger, half under Gratian being still intact. 
 In the second place one defeat amidst a long list of victories 
 has not the same importance as when the latter do not exist. 
 The Roman army could point to some twenty victories in that 
 same century, some of them gained shortly before and some 
 shortly after this defeat, and one of them (Colmar) in the 
 very same year. And in the third place a defeat of this kind 
 is crushing if not retrieved, but of little permanent importance 
 if retrieved by subsequent victory. And this defeat was 
 fully retrieved by the successive victories over these same 
 Groths by Theodosius and Gratian separately during the next 
 two years. 
 
 But the noxious influence of Valens was not at once removed 
 
 1 Chap. X, p. 319. 
 
 U, 
 
CHAP. 
 
 526 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 even by his death. For on receiving news of it his master- 
 general of the troops of the east, Julius, trained in the motives 
 of action which had governed Valens, and fearful of what 
 might be the effect upon the Gothic boys distributed as hos- 
 tages among various cities of the east on hearing of such a 
 victory gained by their nation, arranged and carried out a 
 wholesale massacre of all of them except those of quite tender 
 years ; a dastardly crime which was calculated to prevent 
 the Goths from ever again making friends with the Romans, 
 and would have had this result had any one but Gratian had 
 to deal with them.^ It indicates how Pagan sentiments still 
 in many cases lingered that in regard to this atrocious massacre 
 of the boy hostages we find the contemporary Pagan historian 
 Ammianus Marcellinus (a man who everywhere shows a deep 
 hatred of oppression) approving of this cowardly and treacher- 
 ous massacre of the Gothic boys on the same groimd that he 
 and all Pagan writers excused the crime of Marcus Aurelius, 
 viz. expediency, approving of it as being necessary for the 
 public safety. 
 
 Gratian, advancing rapidly to join his imcle, was met as he 
 traversed the western part of Moesia by fugitives from the 
 battle bringing news of the great disaster which had occurred, 
 and found himself, at the age of twenty, confronted by a grave 
 crisis to the empire. He at once gave evidence of his ability. 
 The Goths, elated at their immense victory, after threatening 
 first Hadrianople and then Constantinople, and being repulsed, 
 were spreading devastation over Thrace, Dardania, and the 
 eastern part of Ulyricum. Posting himself with his army at 
 Sirmium, at the eastern comer of Pannonia, Gratian protected 
 that province both from the victorious Goths and from a 
 threatened attack by other tribes north of the Danube, and 
 proceeded to make arrangements for retrieving the disaster 
 which had occurred. As a part of those arrangements he had 
 to consider the appointment of a colleague to take the place 
 of Valens and become the ruler of the eastern portion of the 
 empire, as it was absolutely necessary that he himself should 
 return ere long to the West, and especially to the defence of 
 the Rhine frontier. The choice that he made was a thoroughly 
 sound one ; and five months after the disaster at Hadrianople 
 
 » See pp. 532-633, 
 
 XV] 
 
 DEATH OF THEODOSIUS THE ELDER 527 
 
 Gratian on the 19th January, 379, proclaimed at Sirmium as 
 his coUeague Theodosius, a tried soldier whom he Md sum- 
 moned from Spain, the son of Valentinian's trusted general 
 of the same name, and gave him the rule of the eastern portion 
 of the empire In no act of his life did Gratian more signaUy 
 show his wisdom than in the choice he thus made. Gratian 
 retained, hke his father, the larger and more important part 
 ot t^e empire, the two western prefectures and half the third 
 prefecture,^ Theodosius receiving, like Valens, half the third 
 prefecture and the fourth prefecture 
 
 Theodosius' father had, about two months after the death 
 of Valentmian, been treated with the most shameful ingrati- 
 tude. Amongst the other disastrous pecuHarities of Valens 
 was a constant suspicion that all men were plotting to deprive 
 him of a position for which he was so mifit. The year before 
 Valentmian s death it was reported to Valens that some persons 
 at Antioch had (unlawfully) consulted "the diviners '^ as to 
 the name of his successor, and that the answer given bv the 
 magic rmg 2 which was used showed that the name began with 
 the four Greek letters OEOA (Theod). This threw Valens into 
 a paroxysm of suspicious fear ; a reign of terror set in through- 
 
 wl? M *\' P'^"^^'"' '"^^^ ^y ^' ^ *h« course of 
 
 which Maximus, who had been Julian's instructor in occult 
 
 science, Eutropius, the historian, and a large number of inno- 
 cent men whose names began with the fatal letters (such as 
 Theodorus, Theodotus, Theodosius, Theodolus, etc.), were 
 put to death m the eastern portion of the empire. Valen- 
 tmian s successful general, then governing North Africa, was 
 of course about the first person on whom the suspicions of 
 Valens would rest, but so long as Valentinian lived he was 
 
 T A J"^"!: T""^'' ^ *^^ ^^"^^"g y^^^' Valentinian was 
 dead and when the empress Justina had been given, nominally 
 at aU events, the rule of Africa by Gratian, the opportmiity 
 occurred, Justma being, hke Valens, an Arian. In the most 
 mystenous way and without any cause being assigned, the 
 capable and highly honourable Theodosius, against whom no 
 smgle accusation of disloyalty had ever been breathed, was 
 suddenly shortly after Valentinian's death, ordered to ascend 
 a scaffold at Carthage, and executed, no one having to this 
 ' Chap- XI, p. 347, a Page 513, 
 
CHAP. 
 
 628 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 XV] 
 
 day ever been able to discover by whose order. It is however 
 considered by most writers to be probable that the cause of 
 an execution which has always puzzled mankind was that 
 here mentioned, and that the influence of Valens was exerted 
 to put to death the most prominent man of the objectionable 
 name, who though not under Valens* authority, was under 
 that of his excitable Arian sister-in-law. In any case it is 
 abimdantly evident from the conduct of the younger Theo- 
 dosius towards Gratian, both then and afterwards, that the 
 latter had nothing whatever to do, either directly or indirectly, 
 with the elder Theodosius' death.^ 
 
 Theodosius the younger, bom in 346, and thirteen years 
 older than Gratian, had served in Britain under his father, 
 and subsequently, when the latter went to Africa in 372, 
 had been employed by Valentinian upon the Danube frontier, 
 and at the time of his father's death had risen to the high 
 office of governor of Moesia. Upon the mysterious execution 
 of his father in 376 he had resigned the public service in silent 
 indignation, and had retired to live on his estates in Spain. 
 When summoned thence by Gratian to Sirmium, and made 
 by h\m his colleague, he was thirty-three years old. Gratian's 
 wisdom in this selection was fully attested by the result. For 
 Theodosius proved one of the wisest and most able emperors 
 that Rome ever had. But how great must, in the circum- 
 stances, have been the nobility of character of both these 
 men for such a transaction to have been possible ; that of 
 Gratian in being ready, without a shadow of suspicious fear, 
 to place perfect confidence in a man who had received such a 
 cruel injury from his house, and in being willing to raise him 
 
 1 Gibbon's view is that the death of the elder Theodosius " may 
 justly be imputed to the cuts of ministers who abused the confidence 
 and deceived the inexperienced youth of Valentini6«i*s sons " {Decline 
 and FaUy III, 276). Since one of the two sons was a child of four 
 the remark is evidently £umed at the other, i.e. Gratian. Seventy 
 pages further on in his history Gibbon goes further, and, taking this 
 which he had '* assumed " as though it were a fact which had been 
 proved, speaks of Gratian as one who had been guilty of " the murder 
 of his (Theodosius') father " {Decline and FaU, III, 346). As noted 
 in the text, the whole conduct of the younger Theodosius towards 
 Gratian fully refutes both the innuendo and the cissertion thus imfairly 
 based upon it. 
 
 THE GOTHS DEFEATED 
 
 529 
 
 to a position of equality with himself ; and that of Theodosius 
 mbemg ready to overlook a grievous wrong which he had 
 felt so bitterly, to accept the position of coUeague to one whose 
 nearest relatives had so crueUy rewarded his father's life-long 
 and faithful services to the empire, and to give to Gratian, 
 as he did the most thorough loyalty throughout the rest of 
 the latter s life. 
 
 Having established Theodosius in the rule of the east 
 Orratian. feebng quite certain that the Roman army of the 
 east was fuUy able to cope with the Goths now that it had 
 an able soldier as its commander, marched his own army 
 
 «^ V ?? 7'*' ^^^^^ ^ ^^^''''^ ""^ "««ded, the Franli 
 and Vandals having crossed the Rhine. In a short campaign 
 he completely defeated them, after which he returned to 
 Treves Meanwhile in the eastern provinces it was soon 
 shown how capable and vigorous waa his new colleague 
 ±ixmg his headquarters at Thessalonica in Macedonia 
 IZf^T ,f * *°g^f ^^ ^ fr««h army, quickly eflFected that 
 most difficult thmg for any commander, the restoring to con- 
 fidence troops demoralized by a crushing defeat, and then, 
 leading his army against the Goths, in a single campaign 
 entirely defeated them, and by the end of the year 379 had 
 
 .,w f t ^ u1"T *^"" *'''* °^ T^*^«- His success showed 
 unmistakeably that the defeat at Hadrianople was not due 
 
 iLT^f^^ f ^ ^^^ "^^^^^ 'l'^^""^ «f the troops, and 
 that aU that the Roman army required was a commander 
 who understood his business, instead of an incapable ruler 
 Valens common-sense or knowledge of war, like 
 
 The defeat of the Romans at Hadrianople in August 378 
 has generaUy been spoken of as the beginning of the faU of 
 the Roman Empire, and as an irreparable disaster. It was 
 nothmg of the Idnd. In the first place the Goths, as always 
 the case with them, did not know how to foUow up their 
 victo^ and therefore failed to make it as crushing a* would 
 have been the case had a Constantine, a Licinius, or a Valen- 
 tmian commanded the victorious army. In the second place, 
 the Romans had suffered an even greater disaster when Decius 
 aiid his whole army perished in 251, and had afterwards 
 retrieved that disaster, though owing to its magnitude that 
 
 E.W. 
 
 M M 
 
CHAP. 
 
 530 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 XV] 
 
 retrieval had taken fifteen years ; and in this case m 378 the 
 Romans similariy retrieved the disaster at Hadrianople, and 
 did so, not after fifteen years, but in only one year. In the 
 thkd place, this disaster, suffered at one part of the frontier 
 from the Goths, was to a large extent balanced by the almost 
 equaUy crushing defeat inflicted by the Romans at Cohnar 
 upon the Allemanni at the other part of the frontier. And 
 in the fourth place it has been too much the custom of his- 
 torians to fix the eye solely upon these miUtary affairs on the 
 frontier, aUowing to sHp out of sight the fact that aU the rest 
 of the empire remained in its normal state of prosperity, un- 
 disturbed by these events of the years 376-379 on the frontier. 
 Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, North Africa, Italy, Spain, Gaul, 
 and Britam heard of a great defeat having occurred in Thrace, 
 but were not otherwise affected by it. When the fall of the 
 Roman Empire really did begin it was far otherwise ; defeats 
 were not retrieved ; one defeat succeeded another ; enemy 
 after enemy appeared ; and country after country was over- 
 run and destroyed. Whereas in this case within the space 
 of two years not only were the Goths entirely defeated and 
 brought to sue for peace, but a peace in every way satisfactory, 
 grounded on a firm basis of personal friendship, was estab- 
 lished. ^ Moreover there was yet to intervene, before either 
 the decline or the faU of the Roman Empire began, the long 
 reign, over the whole undivided empire, of an emperor who 
 has been looked upon by some as almost equal to Constantino 
 the Great, and his reign as the most prosperous in the whole 
 course of Rome's history next to that of Constantine. 
 
 What no doubt historians have meant in speaking of this 
 matter as they have is that as a consequence the Goths became 
 permanently placed south of the Danube and within the 
 boundary of the empire. And that in the first instance was 
 a strategical error. But it was one which just and generous 
 dealing was able to convert into no error at all. Rome had 
 on previous occasions in her history proved herself able satis- 
 factorily to absorb and assimilate races (e.g. the Gauls) no 
 less warlike, and far less gifted with noble qualities, than the 
 Goths, and there was no reason why she should not do the 
 same again in this case. And in fact she began to do so, and 
 
 1 Pages 532-533, 
 
 TRIUMPHANT STATESMANSHIP 
 
 531 
 during the next twenty years this assimilation was taking 
 
 tt gLT ""^ '"'^ "^'"' "'^^ '^^ ^^^^^ «^ Theodosiuf 
 the Great, mismanagement and incapacity stopped the nro 
 
 ensued. Such absorption of a warlike race by a great empire 
 
 TlX Vr?. ^" ^^ ^^ '''' ^^- ^y rexperTeC 
 m India not less than two, and more often three generations 
 
 and durmg the whole of that time the ruling race Just£ouk 
 
 a long succession of officials, evmce tact, good tempe , justict 
 
 kmdlmess, and generosity. Instead, however, of tl^ee Lnera 
 
 tions of such treatment the Goths had less than on^ ^conse- 
 
 rf '^^'"''^^"T^- ^"* *^^- -- - -h-eni reason 
 or such a resu^ , and had the original policy been continued 
 that result would not have occurred. 
 
 Ha^drLoT'^^ }^f- Theodosius retrieved the disaster at 
 Hadrianople, and driven the defeated Goths out of Thrace 
 
 TZ.T^ "^"^If *^" ^'^' ^'^ ^^ ^^" dangerously iU at 
 
 Thessalonica, and for many months was entirely unable to 
 attend to pubhc affairs, whUe he very nearly died Thei^! 
 upon the Goths retumed in force, the Ostr^oths Ja^g 
 Pamioma, and the Visigoths Thessaly and Epirus. In S 
 emergency Gratian, once more leaving the Rhine frontie^ 
 came again to the rescue, and while his coUeague lay insensible 
 and apparently dying at Thessalonica, achieved a great sTes 
 both m war and diplomacy. success, 
 
 nn!?^i^!?^n^^^ headquarters at Sirmium, Gratian himself 
 opposed the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, whHe he sent his generlls 
 Bauto and Arboga^t against the Visigoths in Thessaly and 
 Epirus. In both cases he was entirely successful ; during 
 the summer of 380 the Visigoths were driven out of Thessaly 
 Sot h ^fT' I 'l^ ^^^rogoths defeated in Pannonia, and 
 both of them brought to sue for peace. Then Gratian showed 
 
 the Goths m the field proceeded to bring into play those powers 
 of conciliation m which he so exceUed. Here he was lo l2 
 successful, by his wise and gracious treatment comj^eity 
 vanquishmg the justly exasperated Goths, bmning with aU 
 the wrongs they had suffered at the hands of the Romans in 
 the four years smce they crossed the Danube. He put before 
 
CHAP. 
 
 632 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 them that the lands to the north of the Danube which they 
 had quitted had now been occupied by the Huns and other 
 races%herefore they could not return thither ; hat to deva^ 
 tate provinces as they had been doing only left them less ^ 
 eat afterwards ; that, as they had themselves «een ^f^^y ^^^ 
 never take the waUed cities of such provmces, while, as they 
 had also seen, the Roman armies could always beat them m 
 the end. Was it not, then, much better to settle down on 
 lands which he was ready to give them, to be held on a mihtary 
 tenure reviving an ancient custom of the Roman repubhc, 
 whereby they would become " fcederati," contributmga 
 fixed contingent to the army for the defence of the emp^e 
 in return for the lands given them, acknowledgmg the sover- 
 eignty of the emperor, and no longer possessing a kmg, but 
 retaining their own form of government, and not subjected 
 
 to the code of laws of Rome. xi. n ^i, v. 
 
 When these considerations were placed before the Goths by 
 him who had beaten them in the field, and were urged with 
 all the charm of manner which was natural to Gratian, and 
 which, as Themisteus says, always "so fascinated the bar- 
 barians," fascinating them because they saw that the kindly 
 expressions were real and not assumed for reasons of diplom- 
 acy, Gratian's terms were soon accepted They who had 
 been so maddened with fury and undying hatred agamst the 
 Romans owing to the iniquitous treatment they had received 
 from Valens and his officials (including the massacre of the 
 boy hostages and many other wrongs) were completely won 
 over by this gracious young emperor of twenty-one, whom 
 they felt instinctively they could trust when he assured them 
 that neither from himself nor his colleague should they ever 
 experience such ill-treatment again. Demonstrating loudly 
 inVheir own language their admiration for ^^^^'^^^^.^^^^^ 
 agreed to become " f oederati " of the empu-e. With the re- 
 sult (as we are told by the Gothic historian, Jordanes) that 
 when at the end of the autumn Theodosius ^f ^*^/^"^^ ^^ ^fj' 
 bed he found a peaceful settlement concluded with the Goths 
 on such a sound basis " that he gladly concurred therewith 
 and accepted the fact with very grateful mind/' This peacefid 
 settlement of a great difficulty has been held by aU modem 
 historians to show " a wise statesmanship, though owmg 
 
 xv] 
 
 SETTLEMENT OP THE GOTHS 
 
 633 
 
 to Gibbon's silence on the point they have all avoided stating 
 who effected it.i 
 
 This important new departure was a magnificent triumph 
 for Gratian's powers. Always successftd in war, he was no 
 less successful in making friends afterwards; so that the 
 statement of the contemporary writer Themisteus that he 
 Av as " equal in value to any number of mailed knights " was 
 no exaggeration. Its truth in this case was fully proved by 
 the result. Obviously the future success of such a settlement 
 depended entirely upon the degree of tact and judgment with 
 which the details were carried out. Both the emperors did 
 their part with equal abihty in this respect. The Ostrogoths 
 were given lands in Pannonia and Upper Mcesia and the 
 Visigoths in Lower Moesia ; Gratian's promise that they should 
 receive just and friendly treatment was fully observed ; their 
 immediate wants were supplied by free gifts of corn and cattle ; 
 their industry was encouraged by an exemption from taxation 
 for a given term ; they were left free to administer their own 
 form of government ; the military contingent to be supplied 
 by them was fixed at 40,000 men ; and so long as Gratian and 
 Theodosius lived the Goths gave no further trouble. 
 
 In November 380, Theodosius, on recovering from his long 
 illness at Thessalonica, removed for the first time to his capital, 
 Constantinople. Two months afterwards, in January 381, 
 the now somewhat aged Gothic chief, Athanaric,^ who had 
 taken no part in the struggle of the preceding five years, 
 returned to the Danube from the north-west, crossed that river, 
 and came to Constantinople. He was hospitably received 
 
 ^ Ammianus Marcellinus had ended his history two years before 
 this, but Zosimus, the contemporary Roman historian, Jordanes, the 
 Gothic historian, and various ecclesiastical writers of the time all 
 plainly record this long and serious illness of Theodosius during which 
 he was quite unable to attend to any pubUc affairs and was beheved to 
 be dying. Yet modem historians, foUowing Gibbon (who to discredit 
 Gratian has purposely wrapped up the matter in a fog), have ignored 
 this period during which Theodosius was hors-de-combat, and have 
 spoken of the final subjection of the Goths, and the important settle- 
 ment made with them, as though it was the work of Theodosius, mak- 
 ing no mention of Gratian in the matter. The whole affair has been 
 extricated from the confusion in which Gibbon had involved it by 
 Dr. Hodgkin in his Italy and her Invaders, Vol. I. 
 2 Page 501. 
 
 h 
 
 t 
 
CHAP. 
 
 534 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 XV] 
 
 ARIANISM PUT DOWN 
 
 by TheodoBius, and the amazement and admiration of the 
 barbarian chief at the beauty, strength, and commerce of 
 Constantinople, and at the arms, discipline, and training of 
 the Roman troops, are vividly recorded by the Gothic his- 
 torian Jordanes. Athanaric died a fortnight afterwards at 
 Constantinople, whereupon Theodosius accorded him a stately 
 funeral, and erected a fine monument to his memory, and all 
 his followers, won over by this treatment, enlisted under the 
 standard of the Roman Empire. 
 
 As ruler of the eastern portion of the empire Theodosius 
 soon showed his value, the most advantageous part of his 
 work being performed in imdoing the mistakes of Valens. He 
 quickly removed the grave stigma which had attached to the 
 administration of the eastern part of the empire through the 
 iniquitous conduct of its officials, such as that displayed by 
 Lupicinus and Maximinus towards the Goths. The incapacity 
 and mal-administration of Valens had everywhere produced 
 immense evils ; during the comparatively few years of the 
 latter's rule corruption and tyranny had become rife in every 
 direction m his portion of the empire, and reqmred to be put 
 down with a strong hand. Theodosius applied himself vigor- 
 ously to the task, rapidly swept out the Augean stable, and 
 restored the administration to a sound condition. The wis- 
 dom of his action on all occasions, with the encouragement 
 that he gave to all who were upright and honest in character, 
 soon made him highly popular, and the best results followed 
 throughout the eastern provinces. 
 
 Religious matters still continued to occupy a prominent 
 place in public affairs. Gratian's first step on being left re- 
 sponsible for the whole empire by the death of Valens had been, 
 during the five months that intervened before his appointment 
 of a colleague, to publish an edict proclaiming religious liberty 
 throughout the eastern portion of the empire, in consequence 
 of which proclamation many of the exiled Catholic bishops 
 were able to resume their sees. Following this step ensued 
 in January 379 the appointment of Theodosius as Gratian's 
 colleague in place of the Arian Valens. By this appointment 
 the empire came under the rule of two emperors both of 
 whom were Catholics, and before Gratian and Theodosius 
 
 535 
 
 separated at Sirmium they had agreed that, this being the 
 case, Arianism should now be put down. For a time the 
 arduous military operations of the year 379 against the Goths 
 necessarily absorbed all attention, but early in 380 an imperial 
 edict was issued in the joint names of Gratian and Theodosius 
 embodying the resolution they had agreed upon at Sirmium 
 and declaring that it was the will of the emperors that thei^ 
 subjects should embrace the Catholic faith, and abandon 
 Arianism. This of course more largely affected the eastern 
 portion of the empire, where Arianism was dominant, than it 
 did the western portion, where the two parties were more 
 evenly balanced. 
 
 In November 380, upon recovering from his iUness and mak- 
 ing his first entry into his capital, Constantinople, Theodosius, 
 m accordance with the edict issued eight months before, 
 forthwith caUed upon Demophilus, the Archbishop of Con- 
 stantmople, either to subscribe to the creed of Nicaea or 
 resign his office, i Demophilus resigned, the afterwards 
 celebrated Gregory of Nazianzus was appointed in his place, 
 and Theodosius thereupon placed CathoHcs in charge of aU 
 the churches in Constantinople, and proceeded to do the same 
 throughout the eastern portion of the empire. The harsh- 
 ness and cruelty of the Arians during the fifty years they 
 had been in power had to a large extent alienated the people, 
 and they were willing enough to abandon Arianism when the 
 pressure of Court influence in favour of it was withdrawn. 
 Henceforth Arianism made its home among the Goths and 
 other northern barbarians, thereby afterwards becoming the 
 dominant faith throughout Europe when the latter conquered 
 the different portions of the western half of the empire. » 
 
 Six months later the two emperors followed this up by 
 issuing an order in their joint names to the Bishops of both 
 
 ^ A further corroboration of the fact that it was Gratian and not 
 Iheodosius who made the satisfactory peace with the Goths in the 
 summer of 380 is scarcely required after the definite words of Jordanes 
 but one is here afforded by the fact that this action in regard to Arian ' 
 ism, taken so promptly by Theodosius as soon as he was well enough 
 to attend to pubUc affairs, was not taken until November 380 • the 
 reason bemg that since the publication of the edict on the subject 
 early m that year he had been entirely hora-de-combat 
 ■ Vol. II, Chaps XVn to XIX. 
 
 » 
 
 f 
 
CHAP. 
 
 536 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 XV] 
 
 SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 West and East assembling the Second General Council, Fifty- 
 six years had passed since the assembly of the First General 
 Council, and another such council was now required in order 
 to pronounce a decision in regard to two new forms of belief 
 which had sprung up, and were becoming largely adopted ; 
 viz. that originated by Macedonius, a former Archbishop 
 of Constantinople, and that started by Apollinarius, Bishop 
 of Laodicea. The Macedonians (often called the Semi-Arians) 
 denied the co-equal Godhead of the Holy Spirit ; the Apolli- 
 narians denied that Christ had a human soul as well as a human 
 body, whereas the Catholics maintained that the Incarnation 
 implied a human soul as well as a human body. The Council 
 met at Constantinople on the 2nd of May, 381. It sat, we are 
 told, in the ** great and ancient " church of St. Irene. It was 
 attended by 186 Bishops, and presided over by Meletius, 
 Pope of Antioch. It decided that neither the Macedonian 
 belief nor the Apollinarian belief had been held " from the 
 first," and declared them both to be " heresies," and not 
 the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Also in order to pre- 
 vent the Macedonian, or Semi-Arian, error from adoption in 
 future, this Council added to the Nicene creed the clauses ^ 
 which refer to the Holy Spirit. ^ 
 
 This Second General Council also completed the organiza- 
 tion of the Church. In the same way that the various dioceses 
 had previously been grouped together under Metropolitans, 
 so now a further step of the same kind was taken by grouping 
 together the Metropolitans' under Patriarchs, or Popes,^ the 
 term which had hitherto been a courtesy title applied to the 
 MetropoHtans of Antioch and Alexandria,* being now employed 
 for this new purpose, and definitely attached to the Metro- 
 
 1 The clauses containing the words, *' And I believe in the Holy 
 Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Ufe, Who proceedeth from the Father 
 and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped 
 and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets." (But regarding the words 
 "and the Son," see Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 353.) 
 
 « The other of the two errors, that of Apollinarius, is barred by the 
 sentence in the Athanasian creed translated, with some difficulty, into 
 the EngUsh words, " of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.*' 
 
 3 Qaa Preface D. xii. 
 
 « Sometimes also in other cases. For in a.d. 250 the clergy of 
 Rome, writing after the death of their Bishop, Fabian, to Cypriao, 
 address h^^ as Pope of Carthage. 
 
 637 
 
 politan Bishop of the principal city of each of the five " patri- 
 archates " under which the whole of the dioceses of Christen- 
 dom were now grouped. 
 
 These five great patriarchates, which together embraced 
 all Christendom, 1 were :— (i) Antioch, as the original capital 
 of Christianity, and the most important city to the east ; 
 (ii) Alexandria, as the centre of learning, and the most impor- 
 tant city to the south ; (iii) Rome, as being the former capital 
 of the empire ; (iv) Constantinople, as being " New Rome," 
 and the capital of the empire ; and (v) Jerusalem, honoris 
 causa, as the mother of all the Churches. In giving to Rome 
 the dignity of a " patriarchal see " the Council made no men- 
 tion of any religious reason (such as any special connection, 
 for instance, with St. Peter), but gave that dignity solely 
 on the political ground stated ; a point on which some genera- 
 tions later much controversy took place between Rome and 
 Constantinople. The jurisdiction of these five Popes was, 
 as in the case of the Metropolitans,2 carefully limited so as 
 not to trench upon the independence of Bishops, it being 
 strictly laid down that the holders of the new office were 
 not to interfere in the affairs of any other Metropolitan's 
 province, and that the duties of the office were confined to 
 presiding on any occasion of a synod or council of the Bishops 
 of the patriarchate, seeing that the canons passed by General 
 Councils were duly promulgated, and representing the patri- 
 archate in communications with other patriarchates. The 
 five Popes, as a mark of their office, wore round the neck a 
 scarf made of the wool of a lamb, called the pallium. 
 
 Upon the publication of the decree of the Council, Damasus, 
 the first Bishop of Rome to be given the new title of Pope, 
 with a view to enhance the dignity of his see sought to 
 maintain that the honour given it of being one of the five 
 patriarchal sees was wrongly based upon the political ground 
 stated by the Council, and wrote a document enunciating a 
 theory of a Petrine hierarchy with its " first seat " at Rome, 
 its ** second seat " at Alexandria, and its " third seat " at 
 Antioch ; but no one paid any attention to this theory, which 
 
 * Excepting Armenia, Georgia, and Abyssinia, these countries being 
 outside the Roman empire. 2 p^ge 509. 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 538 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 entirely ignored the whole history of the Church, while Antioch 
 and Alexandria naturally treated Damasus* theory with 
 supreme contempt and indifference.^ The city of Rome had 
 for so many centuries been associated in men's minds with 
 the centre of all authority that even its ceasing to be any 
 longer the imperial capital still left the name of that city 
 a power to conjure with. And Damasus was disingenuously 
 endeavouring to use this power while at the same time re- 
 pudiating the very fact upon which it was solely based, that 
 of Rome having been formerly the imperial city. On the 
 other hand the General Council correctly measured the influ- 
 ence still attaching to the name of Rome in giving the see of 
 that city (even though it occupied so much less important 
 a position in the Church) an equal honour with the sees 
 of Antioch and Alexandria on the political ground stated 
 in its decree. 
 
 Ever since the First General Council had taken place it 
 had become recognized that the supreme authority in " the 
 Church of God " (as it was called) was a General Council of 
 Bishops, summoned from time to time as occasion arose from 
 as many different parts of the empire as possible. So long 
 as the Bishops attending it fairly represented the majority 
 of the countries over which the Church had spread, the Council 
 was accepted as being " (Ecumenical " (i.e. General). Its 
 decisions were absolute. Obviously, therefore, in order that 
 such a Council should be given this unquestioned obedience 
 as the unanimous voice of the whole Church, it was essential 
 that the Bishops composing it should be perfectly independent. 
 Hence the great stress laid upon that which is a fundamental 
 principle of the Catholic Church, viz. the axiom that all 
 Bishops are equal.' 
 
 The weight of authority which a General Council wielded, 
 by reason of the immense body of opinion which it repre- 
 sented, was enormous, and far exceeded that which has ever 
 been possessed by any parliament or other representative 
 body. An assembly of men, all distinguished either for 
 learning or character, each of whom had been elected by the 
 » Chap. Xn, p. 377. * Page 608. 
 
 xv] 
 
 GENERAL COUNCILS 
 
 539 
 
 people of some diocese as the most fit man in that diocese 
 for the oifice of Bishop, and gathered from countries inhabited 
 by so many different races subject to an infinite variety of 
 conditions, possessed such a weight of authority that its 
 decisions were felt rightly to command the obedience of aU 
 men. 
 
 In one particular a General Council differed from all other 
 Councils, ParUaments, or legal assembhes throughout the 
 worid, in aU ages. A General CouncH, though it was (and is) 
 the supreme authority in the Church, like any other council 
 could not assemble of its own motion ; it had always to be 
 assembled by some reigning emperor, or empress. But 
 whereas in the case of all other courts or legal assembhes the 
 convening authority invariably has jurisdiction to confirm 
 (or refuse to confirm) the laws or decisions drawn up by the 
 court, parliament, or legal assembly which he has convened, 
 this is not the case in regard to a General Council of the Church! 
 Its rulings (or canons) are absolute, and subject to no con- 
 firming authority. In this matter, as in so many others, the 
 sagacity of Constantine the Great laid a foundation which 
 was adhered to throughout all subsequent ages. He had 
 convened the First General Council, and having done so had 
 stood aside and left the Council to decide upon the matters 
 submitted to it, and to promulgate its rulings thereon, without 
 any further reference to himself, which would have destroyed 
 the absolute supremacy in the Church of a General Council. 
 And the course he took became the law for all time.^ 
 
 General Councils only assembled at long intervals ; there 
 were only six in the whole 355 years from 325 to 680. Each 
 was convened by some emperor ; 2 and each was assembled 
 in consequence of disputes upon some vital question of doctrine 
 which were threatening to divide the Church. But having 
 ^ven its decision on that point each General Council con- 
 sidered also many other matters brought before it, and gave 
 » Nevertheless there is a certain kind of confirming authority. For 
 the decision of a General CouncU was not considered absolute until 
 ratified by being accepted by the general body of the Church at large. 
 Hence the common phrase stating that such and such a decision was 
 passed by a certain General CouncU "and accepted by the whole 
 Church." 
 
 * Or empress (Chap. XVIII). 
 
 f 
 
 !| 
 
OHAF. 
 
 
 540 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 XV] 
 
 RECORD OF SIX YEARS 
 
 541 
 
 decisions also upon these. ^ The last General Council took 
 place in 680, after which time the circumstances of Europe 
 for many centuries rendered such an assembly impossible. 
 Fortunately before this took place all points of importance 
 had been submitted to one or other of the General Councils 
 which had been assembled during these 355 years, so that 
 there remained no primary point undecided. " 
 
 Local Coimcils, composed of Bishops from some particular 
 part of the Church, also assembled from time to time to settle 
 matters affecting only that part of the Church. Such a Local 
 Council could neither contravene a decision of a General Coun- 
 cil, nor encroach upon the sphere of a General Council by 
 formulating decisions on matters affecting the whole Church. 
 A Local Council might be a small gathering, composed of 
 Bishops from merely two or three provinces, called together 
 to settle Church matters concerning only these provinces, 
 or it might be a large gathering of the Bishops of many pro- 
 vinces ; but small or large it still remained solely a Local 
 Council, with no power to trench upon the sphere of a General 
 Council. An example of such a Local Council is the Council 
 of Aries, assembled m 314.8 This council has sometimes 
 been called " a General Council of the Western Church,'' but 
 that is an error. There was no " Western Church " ; while 
 
 * While a Parliament calls its decisions laws, the Church uses the 
 more ancient (Eastern) word canon ; but the two mean the same. 
 Examples of these canons, or decisions, on lesser points than the main 
 one on which a Council assembled, are to be seen in Appendix VI. 
 
 • These General Councils have an important living interest to all 
 members of the Church of England. For while the Church of England 
 requires (in a canon of 1671) that all disputes as to her doctrine or 
 practice shall be decided by whether the disputed doctrine or practice 
 was or was not held or followed by the Church during the first six cen- 
 turies of Christianity, the Parliament of England has supported this 
 by an Act of the legislature, laying down that in any disputes which 
 may come before the law courts as to whether a doctrine is or is not 
 that held by the Church of England, the question is to be decided by 
 reference to the decisions of these General Councils. The Act is the 
 first of Queen EUzabeth's reign (Act I of EUzabeth), the particular 
 words being : " the first four General Councils, or any of them, or any 
 other General Coimcil by which the same errors have been declared 
 heresy." The latter clause includes the Fifth and Sixth General 
 Councils, which were supplementary to the Fourth (Chaps. XXII and 
 XXV). * Chap. Xin, p. 398. 
 
 nothing could make a Local Council into a General Council ; 
 their respective spheres, and powers, are quite distinct ; and 
 the decisions of a Local Council could never have the' same 
 authority as those of a General Council.^ 
 
 Gratian had now (381) been six years emperor. During 
 the first two of those years he had twice crossed the Rhine, 
 and overcoming many obstacles amidst trackless mountains 
 and impenetrable forests, had in 376 and 377 engaged in 
 successful contests with the Lentienses and other barbarian 
 tribes of that region, contests in which he had won much per- 
 sonal renown. He had then in May 378 won an important 
 victory over the AUemanni at Cohnar, and had subsequently 
 hastened eastwards with an army to help his uncle. Arriving 
 a few days after the disaster at Hadrianople in August, 
 he had protected Pannonia from the victorious Goths, and 
 in January 379 had made a most wise selection of a colleague, 
 and had installed him as joint emperor with himself. He had 
 then returned to the West, and in the summer of 379 had 
 opposed the Franks and Vandals on the Rhine and com- 
 pletely defeated them. In January 380, upon his coUeague 
 becoming hors-de-combat through severe iUness, he had re- 
 turned again to the East, and had during the summer of 380 
 opposed and defeated both the Ostrogoths in Pannonia and 
 the Visigoths in Epirus, and caused both of them to sue for 
 peace. He had then, while his coUeague lay apparently 
 dying, gained a consummate diplomatic success, inducing the 
 Goths to abandon their just wrath at the succession of cruel 
 injuries they had received, and had arranged a peaceful settle- 
 ment with them on a sound and enduring basis. And finally, 
 having previously, in conjunction with his coUeague, issued 
 an important edict in regard to Arianism, he had, on that 
 
 ^ It so happens that this is very clearly demonstrated in the case 
 of the Council of Aries. For though it was composed of Bishops from 
 almost the whole of the West, including Britain itself, yet it will be 
 observed that it is not taken, in the Act of the ParUament of England 
 quoted on the previous page, as one of the authorities whose decisions 
 are to be referred to in disputed questions. Showing that its de- 
 cisions were not considered to have the same weight, even in a country 
 represented at it, as those of the General Councils, 
 
542 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 colleague recovering from his illness, joined with him in assem- 
 bling early in 381 the Second General Council. All this 
 Gratian had accomplished before he was twenty-two years 
 old. 
 
 And the strange thing is that in all these varied transactions 
 during an exceptionally difficult time, transactions in which 
 he had to deal with Pagans and Christians, Goths maddened 
 by ill treatment, fraudulent and culpable Roman officials, 
 and bitter religious sectarians, including a jealous and excit- 
 able step-mother, we hear no word of enmity from any of these 
 against him. Writers bitter against all others are not so in 
 speaking of Gratian. He seems to disarm enmity, and to 
 move amidst these elements of discord as if clad in some im- 
 palpable armour, passing scatheless through circumstances in 
 which other men could not avoid rousing animosity from some 
 side ; so that the lavish encomiums of the contemporary 
 writers seem no flattery, but borne out by the facts, while 
 " brilliant," " gallant," " peace-loving," " gracious," " gener- 
 ous," and " unselfish," are the only epithets heard. It is a 
 strange feature, one seldom met with in history. 
 
 During six years, in which he had fought against the Len- 
 tienses, the Allemanni, the Franks, the Vandals, and the 
 Goths, Gratian had been almost continuously engaged in war. 
 But meanwhile at Treves in the intervals of these campaigns 
 he had done much to ameliorate the condition of the people 
 in the western part of the empire. We hear of his causing 
 the registers of arrears of taxation to be burnt in every town 
 throughout the provinces over which he ruled, because he 
 considered that they pressed too hardly upon the people, of 
 his reducing taxation so largely that he left the treasury almost 
 empty, and of various acts of UberaUty and kindness of heart, 
 many of them done with the object of amending the conse- 
 quences of his father's harshness. The Pagan (or semi-Pagan) 
 Ausonius, speaking (evidently with a feeling that it was a 
 novelty) of " the young emperor who from his boyhood has 
 never begun the day without a prayer to the Almighty God," 
 praises his thoughtfulness for others, his courtesy when yield- 
 ing to what others desired, his manly appearance when re- 
 viewing the troops, his temperance as regards food and wine, 
 and his chastity. He describes how he had often seen Gratian, 
 
 XV] 
 
 HIS AMUSEMENTS 
 
 543 
 
 "if any misfortune had taken place on a campaign, going 
 round the tents of a whole legion, askmg each man how he 
 fared, examining the soldiers' wounds, and speaking words 
 giving comfort and courage " ; he details various unusual 
 ways in which he had frequently seen Gratian helping his sick 
 or convalescent soldiers, adding that he " gave up everything 
 to the sick ; " and he says that Gratian " gave easy access to 
 all who invoked his help, and never even complained of the 
 interruption." However much of this praise we may ascribe 
 to the flattery of one who had received many benefits from 
 Gratian, there must have been a solid substratum of truth 
 underlying these statements. ^ 
 
 There is no doubt that m all this the early teaching of the 
 great Bishop of Milan, Ambrose, was much concerned. Un- 
 doubtedly Ambrose had had a very large share in moulding 
 the character of Gratian. And though in these later years 
 they seldom met, Gratian being always at Treves or absent 
 on his various campaigns, yet we know from the writings of 
 Ambrose that it rejoiced him to see that what Gratian had 
 learnt as a boy he was carrying out. « 
 
 Gratian's amusements (though his fully occupied life left 
 but little time for such things) were of a very different char- 
 acter from those which had occupied other young emperors 
 of the same age in Pagan times, a Nero, a Commodus, or an 
 Elagabalus. Gibbon has asserted that Gratian was effemin- 
 ate 2 ; but while the latter's deeds in war alone are sufficient 
 to refute such a charge, even his amusements were of a manly 
 kind. His chief recreation was sport; and sport in those 
 days meant a very different thing from that which now goes 
 
 » As regards the idea (suggested by Gibbon) that Gratian leant upon 
 Theodosius, it is only necessary to remark that it could only have 
 occurred during the last two years of Gratian's Ufe (381-383), after 
 Theodosius recovered from his severe illness, and that there is not a 
 particle of evidence that in Gratian's acts during those two years (his 
 deeds in administration, the four episodes in regard to Paganism in 
 382, and the contest with Maximus in 383) Theodosius took any part. 
 Moreover, aU the matters for which Gratian's conduct chiefly received 
 praise from his contemporaries were essentially matters depending 
 upon his own personal character. 
 
 * See p. 648. He draws his authority from Pagan writers who 
 preferred even the antics of an Elagabalus to the rule of a Christian 
 emperor. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 644 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 by that name. It did not mean the comparatively safe fand 
 of sport which consists in shooting wild animals with a nfle, 
 galloping after hounds, or shooting pheasants, but mearit 
 the dangerous amusement of spearing wild boars, or the stiU 
 more dangerous shooting of lions and bears with arrows. 
 Gratian laid out vast preserves near Treves for this purpose. 
 He had many men in his bodyguard belonging to the northern 
 races, especially Alans, who were accustomed to the huntmg 
 of savage animals. These men he took with him in his spear- 
 ing of boars and shooting of lions and bears, and delighted 
 to spend whole days in this pursuit when he could get the 
 time No better training for the dangers and hardships of 
 war both for himself and his men, could have been devised ; 
 and this has plainly failed to be understood by those who in 
 modem times have made this occupation of his a ground of 
 complaint against Gratian. i Since the combats in the amphi- 
 theatre had been abandoned practice in the use of the bow 
 and the spear against savage foes could only be obtamed m 
 this manner. Such practice could not be obtained by mere 
 shooting at a target ; though Gibbon, in his contempt for 
 such matters, evidently imagines that this would have 
 
 sufficed. . . i i J 
 
 For six years Gratian's career had been an unmterrupted 
 record of success, triumph over difficulties, and popularity ; 
 in everything he had attempted, whether in war, diplomacy, 
 or administration, he had succeeded ; and his constant endea- 
 vours to reUeve the people's burdens had earned hun weU- 
 deserved gratitude from aU the humbler classes. And then, 
 in 382, when he was twenty-three, all Gratian's bright career 
 clouded over ; almost in a moment brilliant summer changed 
 to gloomiest winter. He came in contact with a matter in 
 which if he was to be true to those principles which he had 
 steadfastly embraced unpopularity, fierce disapproval, and 
 bitter enmity were inevitable. Gratian did not shrink. He 
 might have avoided the unpopularity which came upon him 
 if he would ; he had not to do anythmg, but only to " let 
 deeping dogs lie," to act as previous emperors, Chnstian m 
 name like himself, had acted, as his own father had acted 
 But those emperors had not had in their boyhood the kmd of 
 
 1 See p. 560. / 
 
 XV] 
 
 REMOVAL OF ALTAR OF VICTORY 
 
 545 
 
 teaching given by a St. Ambrose, while Gratian had ; and so 
 he could not act as they had done. 
 
 Several separate instances all combined about this time to 
 call forth that " uncompromising Christianity " which has 
 been declared to have ultimately caused Gratian's ruin and 
 death. Gratian had always declined to wear the robes of a 
 Pontifex Maximus (or High Priest of the Romans), or to allow 
 himself to be addressed by that essentially Pagan title. At 
 length the College of Pontifices at Rome determined to make 
 a personal effort to overcome this reluctance. They therefore 
 in 382 travelled from Rome to Treves, bringing with them 
 a new robe, and besought Gratian that he would accept it, 
 and would appear before the people dressed as theu- Pontifex 
 Maximus, as every Roman emperor before him had done. 
 Gratian absolutely refused, sajdng that it was unlawful for 
 him as a Christian to wear the dress of such an office, or to be 
 called by such a title. There is no doubt that he was abso- 
 lutely right ; his refusal was only that which such a request 
 would meet with from any king or emperor in these days ; 
 but that refusal gave dire offence. The unpopularity which 
 this action on his part aroused was immense, and was not 
 even entirely confined to Pagans. All previous emperors, it 
 was said, whether Christians or not, had borne this time- 
 honoured title, therefore why should Gratian refuse to do so ? 
 
 About the same time still greater offence was given by 
 Gratian in regard to the altar of Victory m the Senate-house 
 at Rome. On this altar for many hundred years the senators 
 had been accustomed to bum incense to the statue of Victory 
 before beginning then- deliberations. The altar had been 
 removed by Constantius, but replaced soon afterwards by 
 Julian. Gratian now ordered this worship to cease, since 
 Christianity, and not Paganism, had been adopted as the 
 religion of the empire, and ordered the statue and the altar 
 to be removed. Intense indignation was the consequence 
 among all the senators and nobles of Rome, a large number 
 of whom still clung more or less to the ancient religion. 
 
 In this same year (382) Gratian gave a third offence to the 
 Pagan party by building at Milan that city's most celebrated 
 church, that which remained as the cathedral of Milan for 
 1000 years, and is now known as the church of St. Ambrose. 
 
 E.W. jj ^ 
 
 » 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 
/ 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 546 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 It was built on the site of a previously existing Pagan temple 
 dedicated to Bacchus, and the porphyry columns of the latter 
 were used to support the canopy over the altar, where they 
 still remain. Though the temple was entirely disused and 
 in ruins, this action increased still further the wrath of the 
 Pagan party against Gratian. 
 
 Also in this same year (382) Gratian issued an edict for- 
 bidding contributions to be any longer levied from the people 
 for defraying the expenses of the Pagan sacrifices in the temples 
 at Rome and for the support of the Vestal Virgins, and also 
 confiscating to the State the rich revenues appropriated to 
 the numerous Pagan temples in Rome, which though unused 
 by the people had still attached to them a large body of priests. 
 This edict has sometimes been styled a harsh one, but on the 
 contrary it was absolutely just and right, and such as an 
 emperor responsible for protecting the people from oppression 
 was bound in justice to issue. It was in every way unjust 
 that the people of Rome should be forced to pay contributions 
 to keep up Pagan sacrifices which were no longer attended by 
 them, or to maintain the Vestal Virgins. It was also no less 
 unjust that the people shpuld be heavily taxed to fill the 
 imperial treasury while rich revenues, given in former times 
 for the support of the temples, and no longer required for that 
 object, were allowed to remain alienated in order to maintain 
 a body' of Pagan priests in idleness. Nevertheless not only 
 was there a loud outcry on the part of the Pagan priests at 
 this " spoliation of the temples," but also many of the ancient 
 nobility of Rome sided with them in denouncing this measure. 
 An important deputation of the nobles of Rome travelled 
 from thence to Treves to protest against this edict, and Gra- 
 tian's firm refusal to alter his order caused burning anger to 
 be felt against him by all the priestly class and the nobility 
 
 of Rome. 
 
 These four episodes,^ all occurring in one year, caused a 
 
 1 Gratian is sometimes spoken of as though he ruled over only 
 Britain, Gaul, and Spain, but these four episodes show conclusively 
 that though he gave his step-mother Justina and his little half-brother 
 Valentinian II the nominal rule of Italy and North Africa, and allowed 
 them to reside at his proper capital Milan, Gratian in regard to all 
 important questions ruled the whole of the western portion of the 
 empire. 
 
 xv] 
 
 ABUSE FROM PAGAN PARTY 
 
 547 
 
 strong tide of unpopularity to rise against Gratian among all 
 the large class who stiU sympathized with Paganism even if 
 they did not openly profess that rehgion, and especiaUy the 
 nobiHty, who Uved chiefly in Rome. Notwithstanding the 
 edicts of Constantino and his successors on the subject of 
 Christianity they had practicaUy always aUowed an exception 
 m the case of Rome, whose Paganism they had had to leave 
 to die slowly away in the course of time, and Paganism was 
 m reality the State religion of the city of Rome down to 382, 
 when Gratian thus gave it its death blow. Forthwith ready 
 pens, especiaUy in Rome, flew to vilify this too-Christian 
 emperor. It was an art in which writers of that age were 
 adepts. The principles taught by the artful science of Rhe- 
 tonc 1 were still as much in favour as ever. It was declared 
 by these writers that Gratian's deeds were the work of others 
 who easily led one having a soft and tractable disposition, that 
 he was a tool in the hands of bigoted Bishops who procured 
 imperial edicts to punish failures in regard to theology, that 
 he indolently neglected public affairs to consume his time in 
 the chase, and, worst offence of aU, that he preferred " bar- 
 barians " to Romans.2 This voluble abuse from that Pagan 
 party whose animosity became more malevolent the more 
 Paganism declined, would have had little importance for 
 subsequent ages had it not furnished a mine from whence 
 later opponents of Christianity could draw materials to dis- 
 parage and disgrace the first Christian emperor who refused 
 to make any compromise with Paganism, and to whom the 
 Christian world would naturally point with pride. 
 
 Unfortunately for Gratian the unpopularity called forth by 
 these four episodes in regard to Paganism was supplemented 
 by discontent which from another cause grew up at the same 
 time in the army. This discontent was occasioned by the 
 faUing off in those special irregular donations which the troops 
 had grown accustomed from time to time to receive over and 
 above their pay, Gratian's large reductions of taxation having 
 so reduced his treasury that he found it impossible to give 
 
 ^ Chap. II, p. 45 (footnote) and Appendix HI. 
 
 « These diatribes of the Pagan party are chiefly contained in the 
 Hutoria MtsceUa, a miscellaneous history written by various anony- 
 mous Pagan writers. 
 
I 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 548 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 such lavish extra donations to the troops, and would not tax 
 the people in order to do so. At the same time we know, on 
 the best possible authority, ^ that even this would not have 
 caused the army to revolt from Gratian had it not been for the 
 false information given to the troops by the usurper Maximus 
 as to the mental attitude of Gratian's colleague Theodosius. 
 
 It has been asserted that one of the chief causes for the dis- 
 content in the army was Gratian's forming his bodyguard 
 principally of Alans. ^ But this, while it was one of the vari- 
 ous assertions by which the Pagan party, as already noted, 
 endeavoured to pile up charges against Gratian, can have 
 had no real basis of truth. For in the case of every emperor, 
 even as far back as Augustus, it had been the invariable custom 
 for the emperor's bodyguard to be composed almost entirely 
 of northern barbarians, and Gratian in enlisting Alans into 
 his bodyguard was therefore doing nothing unusual. 
 
 The picture which the historian Gibbon has drawn of the 
 emperor Gratian, and which on his authority has become the 
 accepted one, is so exceedingly different from that here repre- 
 sented that it becomes necessary to refer to his statements 
 and the groimds on which they are based.^ It has already 
 been noted that, seeing that the Christian world would natur- 
 ally point with pride to the character of this emperor, and 
 being imable to find any flaw therein. Gibbon has adopted 
 the course of saying as little as possible about him ; and his 
 pictiu^ of Gratian * as " a gentle youth " dominated by others, 
 " the tool of bigoted Bishops," and whose " soft and tractable 
 disposition," when it lost the guidance of skilful counsellors, 
 " descended to the level of his natural genius," while he amused 
 himself " with the most frivolous gratifications," ^ and without 
 a single hint, in this estimate of Gratian's character and occu- 
 pations, regarding the latter's deeds in war, or his achievements 
 in peace, is almost ludicrous when we think of Gratian's five 
 
 * That of the usurper Maximus himself, the author of the lie which 
 deceived the troops. 
 
 * Gibbon, Decline and FaU, III, 368. 
 3 See Preface, p. xiii. 
 
 * Gibbon, Decline and FaU, IH, 366-357. 
 
 * It is evident from what follows that Gibbon in this expression 
 refers to the occupations of sport* 
 
 xv] 
 
 GIBBON'S ACCOUNT 
 
 54d 
 
 campaigns in five successive years against the Lentienses, 
 the Allemanni, the Franks, and the Ostrogoths, all of them 
 ending in victories, campaigns which allowed little or no time 
 for the ** frivolous gratifications " to which Gibbon alludes. 
 It has also been noted that his suggestion that Gratian leant 
 upon Theodosius is refuted by the fact that Gratian's career 
 was nearly over before this could have taken place. ^ 
 
 But it is with reference to the events of the last year of 
 Gratian's life, and to the causes of the latter's downfall and 
 death, that Gibbon's attitude in the matter becomes most 
 notable. Anxious to avoid having to admit that any emperor 
 suffered ruin and death through his steadfast Christianity, 
 Gibbon has first eagerly seized upon the diatribes of the 
 enraged Pagan party, and magnifying what were ah-eady 
 mendacious fabrications has put forward these as the causes 
 of Gratian's becoming unpopular,^ even carefully suppressing 
 the real reasons for this feeling among the Pagan party, viz. 
 the four successive episodes in the year 382, not one of which 
 he mentions. In view of the fact that these four episodes 
 brought out so clearly Gratian's character, and the reasons 
 why the influential Pagan party at Rome were so incensed 
 against him, this four times repeated omission on Gibbon's 
 part is very marked. 
 
 Having thus accounted for Gratian's unpopularity with 
 the Pagan party without mentioning episodes which would 
 have redounded to Gratian's credit, Gibbon next in regard 
 to the discontent of the army leads away attention from the 
 true cause of that discontent (the falling off in the donations), 
 since this, being due to Gratian's reductions of taxation, would 
 also bring credit to him, and instead of it attributes the dis- 
 content of the army to two causes, both of them so exceedingly 
 weak as reasons for such discontent that they can only have 
 been chosen in order to hide the true cause, and attributes the 
 discontent in the army to Gratian's fondness for sport and his 
 forming the bodyguard chiefly of Alans (which it has ah-eady 
 been shown was nothing unusual), at the same time suppress- 
 ing all mention of the lie told to the troops by the usurper 
 
 * Page 543 (footnote). 
 
 * Gibbon, Decline and Fall, III, 357. 
 
If 
 
 
 II 
 
 550 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Maximus which the latter afterwards declared had been a 
 principal means by which he had induced the troops to revolt. 
 Gibbon in his autobiography informs us that he himself never 
 had anything but a detestation for the " frivolous amusement " 
 of hunting and sport, in which he says he never took part, 
 lavishing much contempt upon it. And being unable to find 
 any other flaw in Gratian, he finds one at last, he considers, 
 in the words of Ammianus Marcellinus regarding Gratian's 
 fondness for the chase, ignoring the fact that these words 
 were written by a Pagan authority anxious, as the passage 
 shows, ^ to draw a comparison to the advantage of Paganism, 
 and also the fact that in any case they only refer to Gratian 
 in his youth, since Ammianus' History ends when Gratian 
 was nineteen. 
 
 Gibbon declares that this was the chief cause of Gratian's 
 ruin, 2 and that the army revolted from Gratian because he 
 spent his time in sport, and " prostituted to the viler purposes 
 of hunting " his skill with the bow and spear, while at the 
 same time taking Alans into his bodyguard and employing 
 them to assist him in this " vile amusement." But troops 
 who would revolt from a brave, just, and capable young 
 emperor, who had always led them to victory, because of his 
 fondness for sport have never yet been seen anywhere in the 
 world. Moreover Gratian's history has merely to be glanced 
 at to see that it could not be true that he spent all his time, 
 or even much of it, in this way, since his five campaigns and 
 the other events of his life left little time for such pursuits. 
 Nevertheless this preposterous absurdity as to the army 
 having revolted from Gratian owing to his fondness for sport 
 (a statement which shows such an ignorance alike of soldiers, 
 of the sport referred to, and of the conditions of war) has 
 been uniformly handed down on Gibbon's authority as the 
 cause of the downfall and death of Gratian. 
 
 The resentment felt at Gratian's action in the four episodes 
 regarding Paganism aU within one year, combined with the 
 simultaneous discontent in the army at the falling off in the 
 Bpecial donations, created a feeling of disaffection which wa« 
 
 * See p. 618. 
 
 « Gibbon, Decline and FaU, HI, 368. 
 
 Xv] 
 
 REVOLT OF MAXBIUS 
 
 551 
 
 steadily rising all through the year 382. This was soon taken 
 advantage of by one who proposed to raise himself by the very 
 method which Gratian had felt forced to a large extent to 
 give up. Early in 383, Maximus, an officer bom and brought 
 up in Spain, who was stationed in Britain, saw an opportunity 
 in this state of things to conspire against Gratian. Maximus 
 had no abilities, but he was very rich, and he proposed to 
 elevate himself to the throne by profuse bribes to the troops. 
 He was merely one of that class of ignorant and brutal usurpers 
 who having gained the throne in this fashion, had invariably 
 proved vicious and murderous tyrants, a class of emperors 
 who had been forgotten under such rulers as the empire during 
 seventy years had possessed. Throughout the four years 
 that this usurper held Gaul he proved himself to be a blood- 
 thirsty tyrant of just this type, being described by the con- 
 temporary writers as " a raging beast," " glutting his cruelty 
 with the blood of the innocent," " ever greedily seeking for 
 gold," and " murdering indiscriminately in order to squeeze 
 gold and ever more gold out of an unhappy people with which 
 to retain the favour of the army ; " while his only idea of 
 military strategy was the profuse bribery of his opponent's 
 troops. 
 
 Maximus, by magnifjring and misrepresenting the unpopu- 
 larity of Gratian, and e pecially by giving out that Theodosius 
 would be glad to see the downfall of the house of Valentinian 
 in revenge for his father's death (a lie which Maximus after- 
 wards confessed when taxed with it by Theodosius,^ stating 
 at the same time that without it he would never have been 
 able to persuade the troops to rebel against Gratian), raised 
 a mutiny in Britain, and crossed over into Gaul with a large 
 body of troops, which he steadUy augmented by bribery. 
 Gratian at the time was again occupied in a campaign against 
 the Allemanni near Heidelberg. Returning as quickly as 
 possible to Treves, he found on arrival there that many of his 
 troops, profusely bribed by Maximus, had already gone over 
 to the latter. However he still had a considerable force, 
 while his faithful generals Merobaudes and Count Vallio 
 remained loyal to him, and with as little delay as possible 
 Gratian marched against the usurper. The two armies met 
 
 » Chap. XVI, p. 664. 
 
552 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 near Paris ; but Gratian's treasury, always much reduced in 
 consequence of his remissions of taxation, was at a specially 
 low ebb at the moment owing to the expenses of the expedi- 
 tion against the Allemanni, and he was quite unable to wage 
 the monetary kind of warfare which Maximus prosecuted. 
 During five days the latter avoided a battle, maintaining only 
 indecisive skirmishes, and during the whole time Maximus 
 and the commander of his cavalry, Andragathius, were tamper- 
 ing with the fidelity of Gratian's troops. The latter melted 
 rapidly away, entire squadrons going over to the enemy, 
 making a battle impossible, and when at length Gratian saw 
 his Mauretanian cavaby crossmg the plain to join Maximus 
 he knew there was nothing left to him but flight. The treacher- 
 0U4 Andragathius pursued him with a picked body of cavalry, 
 but did not capture him at once, only doing so in the end by 
 a peculiarly cruel artifice. 
 
 Gratian fled southwards through Gaul towards the Mont 
 Cenis pass, hoping to reach Milan, his own proper capital, 
 where his step-mother Justina and his young step-brother 
 were,* all cities in Gaul being afraid to shelter him from the 
 successful Maximus. Regarding this hard-pressed ride of 
 about three hundred miles by Gratian from Paris to Lyons, 
 pursued by the cavalry of Andragathius, the events of which 
 some of those who accompanied Gratian afterwards related 
 to Ambrose, the latter in his writings gives us a pathetic pic- 
 ture. Deserted by all except a faithful little band of troopers, 
 and with no other friend accompanying him, finding city after 
 city closed against him, enduring extreme hardships of hunger 
 and thirst, riding continuously onwards with both horses and 
 men worn out with fatigue, able only to snatch a brief rest at 
 long intervals by reason of the knowledge of the pursuing 
 cavalry, Gratian had ever on his lips the name of Ambrose, 
 the thought of whose grief for him made his own grief (Ambrose 
 says) more bitter ; while he drew comfort and support on 
 his desolate journey from some of the things that Ambrose 
 had taught him. " Truly," said he, " my soul waiteth still 
 upon God ; my enemies can slay my body, but they cannot 
 extinguish the life of my soul." 
 
 * Gratian's little half-brother, yalentinian II, was twelve years 
 old at the time of Gratian's death. 
 
 XV] 
 
 ASSASSINATED AT LYONS 
 
 553 
 
 At length as, wearied out with the long and rapid ride, they 
 approached Lyons,* Gratian saw on the opposite bank of the 
 Rhone, a closed litter being borne along the bank of the river, 
 and it was reported to him that it contained his newly-wedded 
 wife, Laeta.2 Leaving his little band of troopers where they 
 were, Gratian crossed the river to embrace his wife and tell 
 her of his misfortune, when forth from the litter there stepped, 
 not the form of his wife, but the traitor Andragathius, whose 
 retainers at once seized Gratian, and carried him a prisoner 
 into Lyons. A solemn oath was sworn to him by Andragathius 
 that no harm should happen to him ; he was entertained at 
 a splendid banquet ; and in the midst of the banquet he was 
 stabbed to death by the traitor Andragathius, calling with 
 his last breath on the name of Ambrose (25th August 383). 
 And the latter relates his death in a commentary on the 62nd 
 psalm, which psabn begins with the words that Gratian had 
 quoted durmg his flight. Maximus even refused to surrender 
 his body to his relatives, while he also put to death Gratian's 
 two faithful generals, Merobaudes and Count Vallio. Gibbon 
 asserts that Merobaudes was unfaithful to Gratian, and the 
 chief cause of the latter's ruin. But Dr. Hodgkin and other 
 authorities are of the opinion that this assertion is untrue.^ 
 Moreover if it were true then there seems no reason why Maxi- 
 mus should have put Merobaudes to death. 
 
 So ended the life, at the age of twenty-four, of the brave, 
 unselfish, and true-hearted Gratian, whose character, in its 
 inherent nobleness from first to last, makes him one of the 
 most attractive of all the Roman emperors. He became 
 emperor at the same age as Nero, Commodus, Elagabalus, 
 and Carinus ; yet how different was the result. Like Cara- 
 
 1 The city of Grenoble (originaUy Gratianopolis), about 80 miles to 
 the south-east of Lyons, near where the route over the Mont Cenis 
 pass issued into Gaul, derives its name from Gratian, who founded 
 its bishopric. Had Gratian reached it he would probably have been 
 safe. 
 
 « His second wife. His first wife, Constantia Postuma, had died 
 some ye€irs before. 
 
 3 Regarding Merobaudes, Dr. Hodgkin says :— " Notwithstanding a 
 passage in one of the chroniclers which throws a doubt upon his fidelity, 
 there is reason to believe that the old general remained true to the 
 house of Valentinian to the end, and perished because of that fidelity." 
 
C5HAP. 
 
 554 
 
 GRATIAN 
 
 I Hi 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 caJIa, Gratian also had a brother who might prove a rival, 
 one who had been acclaimed as emperor by an influential 
 party ; yet how different was the conduct of Gratian towards 
 the boy Valentinian II from that of Caracalla towards his 
 brother Geta. It is in fact in Gratian that we for the first 
 time see a really Christian emperor ; those emperors who 
 had preceded him during the sixty years since the establish- 
 ment of Christianity had been Christians by profession ; in 
 Gratian for the first time we have the reality. Many are the 
 examples which history shows of the fact that uncontrolled 
 power like that wielded by a Roman emperor produces such 
 great temptations that human nature can seldom stand against 
 them ; Gratian not only furnished one of the very rare excep- 
 tions, but showed the world a new thing. 
 
 For though he had only eight short years in which to show 
 it, and these also in the volatile period of life between the 
 ages of seventeen and twenty-four, yet Gratian taught all 
 those who might sit on thrones after him that to be a great 
 monarch, and at the same time to be true to what Christianity 
 taught (even though surrounded by flatterers, and with none 
 near him who would oppose his sfightest wish), were two 
 things not incompatible ; that it could be done. And it was 
 so done by Gratian that when the assassin's dagger called him 
 to a sudden and violent death he had nothing to look back 
 upon that was to be regretted, as is acknowledged by the whole 
 of the contemporary authorities ; while even those Pagan 
 writers who were most inimical to him acknowledged the same 
 when they were compelled to fall back upon a charge of over- 
 fondness for sport as the only fault they could find in this 
 emperor. 
 
 Some may be led to imagine that the character of Gratian 
 as here drawn depends largely upon laudatory statements 
 of contemporary writers which may be merely court flatteries. 
 But it is not so. We may eliminate aU such statements and 
 the same result wiU remain in the bare facts of Gratian' s life. 
 For, eliminating the whole of what his contemporary admirers 
 have said of this nature, we have, first, his distinguished deeds 
 in war during the five years 376-380, and his admirable 
 winning over of the Goths to friendship by his generous treat- 
 ment in the year 380. Secondly, we have the fact that 
 
 xv] 
 
 HONOUR WHICH IS SPECIALLY HIS 555 
 
 in a crisis universaUy held the greatest which ever came 
 upon the Roman Empire he, at the age of twenty, admittedly 
 displayed unexampled coohiess, wisdom, and fortitude. 
 Ibirdly, we have the sagacity and nobility of character which 
 he showed five months later in his selection of a coUeague 
 Fourthly, we have his deeds in the administrative sphere 
 his burmng the registers of arrears of taxation, his constant 
 care for the people, his reducing taxation so largely that he 
 senously hampered himself, his liberahty and kindness of 
 heart to those who had suffered from his father's harshness 
 and his care for his sick and wounded soldiers, a thing previ- 
 ously unknown. And fifthly, we have his refusal to adopt the 
 title of Pontifex Maximus, his removal of the altar of Victory 
 from the Senate-house, and his refusal to aUow the people to 
 be unjustly taxed in order to support the Pagan priests at 
 Rome, aU of which deeds he knew must bring upon him fierce 
 enmity, and might, if he would, have left undone. How forcibly 
 these various deeds of Gratian's life refute the falsehoods 
 enunciated by the enraged Pagan party, and contradict the 
 picture of him which upon the authority of Gibbon has been 
 that hitherto accepted, is self-evident. 
 
 The abilities demonstrated by^Gratian both in war and 
 peace durmghis eight years' reign, combined with the attract- 
 ive qualities of disposition which were felt by aU who came 
 m contact with him, made up a character which was a new 
 experience to the world. Few indeed are the cases which 
 history has to show of individuals such as Gratian seated upon 
 a throne ; and few as they are they aU belong to the later 
 ages. The honour due to him is peculiarly his own ; that of 
 bemg the first who showed the world what it meant to be a 
 Christian emperor. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 383 — 395 
 
 I 
 
 THE last emperor who ruled over the whole Roman Empire. 
 Strong, wise, just, and courageous, Theodosius has 
 even been thought by some (especially by ecclesiastical ad- 
 mirers) almost equal to Constantine the Great ; but no such 
 comparison can in fact be made. Theodosius was not only 
 entirely wanting in the tremendous energy displayed through- 
 out life by Constantine, but also in Theodosius neither brilliant 
 victories showing prof oimd military genius, nor great reorganiz- 
 ations of the entire public service of the empire, and still less, 
 the lifting a whole world to a higher plane of civilization 
 and enlightenment, or far-sighted achievements capable of 
 lasting sixteen hundred years, are to be found. Nevertheless, 
 though he cannot be compared to Constantine, and though 
 the name of Great was in the first instance only applied to 
 Theodosius by the Church (on account of his thorough sup- 
 pression of Arianism), historians have by degrees concurred 
 with the Church in according this honour to his name, on 
 account of the firmness and justice of his rule and the state 
 of prosperity to which he thereby brought the empire. Be- 
 sides wisdom, justice, and courage, one of the most marked 
 features in his character was a peculiar mixture of indolence 
 and irascibility ; sometimes he is found for long periods 
 carrying out nothing worthy of record, and at others suddenly 
 roused to great wrath, and under its influence committing 
 some violent act which in his cooler moments he sincerely 
 repented. 
 
 But the chief characteristic in Theodosius the Great was an 
 overweening caution. In war he made victory practically 
 
 556 
 
 CHAP. XVI] 
 
 HIS CHARACTER 
 
 667 
 
 certain before he would consent to strike. But this valuable 
 quality he carried to an excess. Never would he risk any- 
 thing. And since in order to reach the highest results risks 
 must at times be taken, no brilliant deed either in war or 
 peace is ever found done by him. The result is to make 
 him the least interesting of all the emperors of this period 
 of the empire's zenith, and he never rouses our admiration 
 as Constantine, Julian, Valentinian, and Gratian all do on 
 occasion. His character was in fact more or less commonplace 
 and wanting in originality, and this trait in his character, 
 when combined with his fits of indolence, his slow and cau- 
 tious movements where a nobler nature would have been fired 
 at once to avenge the death of a colleague to whom he owed 
 much, or to march to the relief of the oppressed, and his out- 
 bursts of unmeasured fury, tends to make us feel that the 
 renown given to Theodosius (chiefly through the advocacy of 
 the Church) has been to some extent excessive. At the same 
 time he did much to earn men's gratitude ; he put down 
 with a firm hand the unrest in matters of religion which had 
 long troubled the eastern half of the empire, he displayed 
 much wisdom and common-sense in his administration, he 
 governed on the whole with justice, and by a firm and equable 
 rule he brought the empire to a high state of prosperity. He 
 was the first emperor after Constantine the Great who made 
 Constantinople his usual residence, and he added consider- 
 ably to the imperial palace and to the adornment of the 
 city. 
 
 The death of Gratian left Theodosius, who up to that time 
 had possessed only half the third prefecture and the fourth 
 prefecture, the rightful ruler over the whole empire. It might 
 have been expected that he would forthwith march to the West 
 to avenge the murder of the colleague who had raised him from 
 obscurity to the imperial throne, and to suppress the usurper 
 who had seized Gaul and was exercising the greatest tyranny 
 upon its inhabitants. But at this crisis Theodosius' extreme 
 caution at once made itself apparent. He knew that the troops 
 in Gaul, the most formidable portion of the army, had been to 
 a man gained over by the lavish bribes of Maximus, and were 
 being kept contented by an unceasing stream of donations. 
 At the same timo the portion of his own 9(rmy that would form 
 
 
 
 I 
 
558 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 XVI] 
 
 THE EMPRESS- WIDOW JUSTINA 
 
 559 
 
 the best counterpoise to the legions of Gaul, the Goths, had 
 been too short a time enrolled as fcederati for him to be sure 
 of them in a contest, while they were at present occupied 
 in getting their new lands into order. The stream of gold 
 wrung from the cruelly oppressed inhabitants of Gaul would 
 in time run dry ; while the Goths would become each year 
 more reliable as soldiers of his army. Consequently he would 
 wait. He therefore temporized. How deeply the lie against 
 himself in regard to Gratian by which m large degree Maximus 
 had gained his ends rankled in Theodosius' mind is clearly 
 shown by the first question he put, five years afterwards, to 
 Maximus when the latter was brought a prisoner before him ; 
 while Theodosius* choleric temper must have specially prompted 
 him to immediate action in revenge. But nevertheless his 
 supreme caution caused him for the time being to stifle his 
 resentment ; he even consented to receive an embassy from 
 the usurper, and agreed to his remaining in possession of 
 Gaul, Spain, and Britain. He would risk no conflict with 
 Maximus until he was absolutely certain of winning, which 
 was not the case at present. It was not a dignified position 
 for an emperor such as Theodosius to take up ; while every 
 sentiment of honour and gratitude should have made him 
 eager to avenge the murder of Gratian, to whom he owed 
 everything, and to refuse to make any terms with his mur- 
 derer ; but he knew his troops and the conditions of the 
 case better than we do ; and he was the quintessence of 
 wariness. 
 
 The above procedure on the part of Theodosius left the 
 empress Justina and her twelve-year-old son Valentinian II 
 to cope as best they might with the usurper Maximus ; and 
 the latter was already casting an avaricious eye upon Italy. 
 It was evidently of no use at present to look for any assistance 
 from Theodosius, upon whom one of his periodical seasons 
 of indolence appeared to have supervened, causing him to 
 show no disposition to march to the West to protect Italy. 
 In these circumstances Justina, though hitherto the 
 bitter enemy of Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, feeling that 
 he was the only strong man among those around her, besought 
 him to become the protector and support of her young son, 
 and to take measures to protect his dominions from the designs 
 
 of Maximus. Thus solicited, Ambrose in the winter of 383- 
 384, crossed the Alps and proceeded to Treves, where Maximus 
 had established his court, and entered into negotiations which 
 at first produced no result, Maximus demanding that the boy 
 Valentinian II and his mother should come to him in person ; 
 but after a long delay Ambrose extracted a promise from 
 Maximus that he would not attack Italy. In the meantime 
 Justina's general. Count Bauto, with such troops as could 
 be collected, had occupied the passes of the Alps in strength, 
 and Italy was for the time safe. Maximus afterwards declared 
 that he had been foiled in his intentions by Ambrose and 
 Bauto together. 
 
 The empress Justina, however, did not long remain grateful 
 to Ambrose for the valuable assistance he had given. In 385 
 she began to demand that one of the churches of Milan should 
 be made over to the Arian worship. In an age such as the 
 present it would not have been an imreasonable request ; but 
 in the existing state of affairs in regard to Arianism it was one 
 which it was impossible to grant. It would have revived again 
 all the fierce controversy which had been brought to an end 
 by the edict of Gratian and Theodosius in 380. Ambrose 
 therefore refused, on the ground that the Catholic religion 
 having been established by the imperial edict, and Arianism 
 prohibited, it was unlawful for him as a Bishop to do anything 
 of the kind.i The contest between empress and archbishop 
 over this matter raged furiously, the whole population of 
 Milan becoming involved in it. Ambrose was twice sum- 
 moned before the council and told that he must yield to the 
 Imperial will. Nevertheless he still refused. At length he 
 was ordered to quit the city, and troops were sent to enforce 
 the order. But the people siurounded him as a guard, and 
 defended him in the cathedral church ; and in the end Ambrose's 
 firmness prevailed. 
 
 During the years 384-387 Theodosius in the east was mainly 
 
 * Gibbon expends much indignation over this refusal, sneering at 
 Ambrose, and speciously putting forward arguments such as would 
 apply at the present day. But the conditions of the time were al- 
 together different, and statesmanship, as well as faithfulness to 
 his position as a Bishop, required that Ambrose should act as he 
 did. • 
 
 ':i 
 
 if 
 
 4 
 
II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 560 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 occupied in long and difficult negotiations with Sapor ITT of 
 Persia regarding Armenia, negotiations which finally resulted 
 in a partition of Armenia between Rome and Persia. In 386 
 a large body of Ostrogoths who had hitherto remained in 
 their original locality north of the Danube, and had been 
 conquered by the Huns, appeared on the Danube and requested 
 to be admitted within the empire, in the same manner as the 
 rest of their nation. Theodosius refused the request, where- 
 upon they attempted to cross the river, making a night attack 
 upon the Roman forces guarding it, but were defeated with 
 great loss. After this defeat, however, the survivors were 
 allowed to settle within the empire, like the rest of their nation, 
 as foederati. 
 
 Tn February 387, in consequence of a special tax imposed 
 by Theodosius upon Antioch, a serious riot occurred at that 
 city, and in connection with it we first hear of a very notable 
 man. The infuriated mob attacked the palace of the governor, 
 plundered the public Baths, and finally threw down the statues 
 of the emperor and his recently deceased empress, Flaccilla,! 
 and dragged them through the streets with insults. The 
 riot was soon suppressed by the governor, the ringleaders were 
 put to death, and a courier was despatched to Constantinople 
 bearing a report of what had occurred ; but the people having 
 come to their senses, were dismayed at what would be their 
 fate when the emperor came to hear of what had taken place. 
 When the news reached Theodosius he was seized with fury, 
 and in the heat of his anger gave orders for the entire destruc- 
 tion of the proud city of Antioch, " the Crown of the East," 
 and the massacre of aU its inhabitants. On the 22nd March 
 the imperial commissioners, Caesarius and HeUebicus, reached 
 Antioch with the emperor's sentence upon the city. This 
 was more temperate than that which he had at first enimciated. 
 Antioch, the metropolis of the East, was to be stripped of its 
 privileges, lands, and revenue, and degraded to the rank of 
 a "village " ; baths, circus, and theatres were to be closed ; 
 the public distribution of com to the inhabitants was aboHshed ; 
 
 ^ FlacciUa, married to Theodosius before he was selected by Gratian 
 as his colleague, was not a strong character, and took no part in public 
 affairs. It is however recorded of her that she was accustomed to 
 visit the hospitals cmd nurse the sick. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 CHRYSOSTOM 
 
 561 
 
 and a strict enquiry was to take place to elicit the 
 names, not only of all who had perpetrated, but also of all 
 who had failed to prevent, the insults to the sacred 
 statues. 
 
 The people were panic-stricken. The aged Bishop, Flavian, 
 Pope of Antioch, braving the hardships of a rapid journey 
 of 800 miles, set forth for Constantinople to plead with the 
 emperor for a reversal or mitigation of the terrible sentence. 
 Meanwhile many of the principal inhabitants were arrested, 
 and examined with torture, while the rest waited in terrified 
 suspense to learn their doom, cheered only by the calming 
 influence of one man. John Chrysostom, born at Antioch 
 in 347, the son of a military officer of high rank, had studied 
 under the noted Pagan rhetorician Libanius, and had in 386 
 been ordained a deacon and appointed by Flavian as the chief 
 preacher in the cathedral of Antioch, where his extraordinary 
 eloquence had won him the name by which he is always known.^ 
 While the city awaited in terror the result of the commis- 
 sioners' enquiry, and of Flavian's intercession at Constantin- 
 ople, Chrysostom preached every day in the crowded cathe- 
 dral of Antioch, exhorting the people in impassioned language 
 to exercise fortitude and calmness, to repent of their sins, and 
 to prepare on the one hand for death should the emperor's 
 sentence be executed, and on the other hand for a reformed 
 life should the emperor's heart be touched by the intercession 
 made to him, and the city be spared. Meanwhile the im- 
 perial commissioners continued their examination, but they 
 were touched by the repentance of the city, and having con- 
 cluded their enquiry, reserved judgement until their report 
 had been placed before the emperor. Caesarius, taking the 
 report with him, and travelling day and night, managed to 
 cover the whole distance to Constantinople in only six 
 
 ^ " Chrysos-stomos," golden -mouthed. " St. Chrysostom's sermons 
 have been said to be the finest ever uttered by any uninspired man. A 
 great number, taken down as they were preached, still remain, and 
 fully justify his reputation as the Church's greatest preacher. They 
 are distinguished by much good sense, abundant and apt illustrations, 
 and a clear and flowing style of language. He is always making 
 practical applications, and appeals to his hearers with a deep know- 
 ledge of the human heart " (Canon Robertson). 
 
 I 
 
 E.W. 
 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 662 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 days/ and on arrival joined his intercession with that of 
 Flavian. Theodosius' anger had already been calmed by 
 Flavian's intercession, and the city was pardoned, the 
 joyful news being received on Easter Day. 
 
 On this same Easter Day 387, while Antioch was transported 
 with joy at its relief from the miseries it had been anticipatmg, 
 there took place more than 2000 miles away in the West, at 
 Milan, an event fraught with important consequences (more 
 especially to the English race) which have lasted to the present 
 day, viz. the baptism in the cathedral of Milan by St. Ambrose 
 of a man who was destined to become more celebrated even 
 than the latter, Augustine of Thagaste, better known as 
 Augustine of Hippo, the city of which he was subsequently 
 Bishop for thirty-five years. Bom in 354 at the little town 
 of Thagaste in Numidia, his father a Pagan, and his mother 
 the tender-hearted Christian, Monica, at the age of seventeen 
 Augustine was sent to Carthage to study rhetoric, and in 383 
 (the year of Gratian's death) was appomted professor of 
 rhetoric at Milan. There, three years later, at the age of 
 thirty-two, he became converted to Christianity, and on 
 Easter Day 387 was baptized by St. Ambrose. His mother 
 Monica died a few months later at Ostia, as she and he were 
 preparing to embark for Africa, her last words being to bid 
 this son, for whose conversion she had wept and prayed for 
 many years, always to pray for her at the time of the Holy 
 Sacrifice. He returned to Thagaste, in 390 was ordained a 
 priest at Hippo, and in 395 was chosen as Bishop of Hippo 
 (the modem Bona). His reputation does not rest upon his 
 learning ; Jerome was in this age the great ecclesiastical 
 scholar, Ambrose the great ecclesiastical statesman, and 
 
 1 The rapidity with which journeys were accomplished in the Roman 
 Empire by means of the excellent roads is shown in the case of this 
 episode. The riot at Antioch occurred on the 26th Feb. Between 
 that date and the 22nd March (24 days) the riot was suppressed, the 
 governor wrote his report of it, a courier conveyed the report to Con- 
 stantinople (800 miles), the emperor's orders were issued to Caesarius 
 and Hellebicus to proceed to Antioch, cmd these officers travelled 
 thither. From which it would appectf that both the courier and the 
 imperial commissioners must have covered at \eaat 100 miles each 
 day ; while in the case of the return journey of Caesarius to Con- 
 8t€uitinople the latter covered 133 miles each [day. 
 
 XVI] 
 
 BATTLES OP SISCIA AND PCETOVIO 663 
 
 Chrysostom the great preacher ; but Augustine was the great 
 thinker of the age, taking aU the learning of the ancient world 
 and making it the raw material of his theology. And it has 
 often been said that the theology of St. Augustine has more 
 deeply permeated the religious thought of the EngUsh race 
 and of the Church of England than the theology of any other 
 teacher of religion since the Apostles. 
 
 In August 387 Maximus, notwithstanding the engagement 
 he had given, invaded Italy. The empress Justina, with her 
 three daughters and her son Valentinian II (by this time 
 sixteen), fled to Aquileia, and thence by sea to Thessalonica, 
 to the protection of Theodosius. The latter proceeded from 
 Constantinople to Thessalonica, promptly fell in love with one 
 of the three daughters of Valentinian I and Justina, the 
 beautiful princess GaUa, and married her, at the same time 
 promising at her request to reinstate her young brother. 
 
 Theodosius now prepared for war with the usurper Maximus, 
 and as usual, made arrangements which rendered the result 
 a foregone conclusion. The whole of the East, from the 
 Euphrates to the Adriatic, and from the Nile to the Caucasus, 
 resounded with his military and naval preparations. Theo- 
 dosius, always deliberate, and not inclined at once to leave 
 his newly-married bride, occupied the whole winter in these 
 extensive preparations, but in May 388, he set out from Con- 
 stantinople to dispose of Maximus. The latter, after march- 
 mg through northern Italy and establishing himself at AquHeia, 
 had advanced to Siscia on the Save. Theodosius, not content 
 with a large army under his own command, which included 
 a numerous force of cavaby, with squadrons of Goths and 
 Alans formed into mounted archers, had also despatched a 
 powerful fleet to make a diversion upon the coasts of Italy, 
 and a separate force, under his best general Arbogast, to ad' 
 vance by the Danube route through Rhaetia. 
 
 The main army, by a rapid march, reached Siscia towards 
 the beginning of July, crossed the Save, and promptly routed 
 the enemy, the traitor Andragathius being kiUed. A second 
 victory was won about a week later at Poetovio on the Drave, 
 Maximus flying for safety to Aquileia. Theodosius, rapidly 
 following him, and passing through iEmona, which had stood 
 a long siege, gave Maximus no time to prepare to defend 
 
CHAP. 
 
 564 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 Aquileia, and the latter finding himself surrounded, was 
 forced to surrender. Three miles outside the city Theodosius 
 pitched his camp, and there the trembling tyrant, with his 
 hands tied behind him, was brought before him. "Is it 
 true," said the emperor, " that it was with my concurrence 
 that you usurped the throne from Gratian, and murdered 
 him ? " To which Maximus replied, " It is not true, but 
 without that pretext I could never have persuaded the troops 
 to revolt from Gratian." Theodosius looked at him for a 
 moment in contemptuous pity, but regard for public justice, 
 and the memory of Gratian, forbade his being spared, and 
 Maximus was forthwith removed by the guards and beheaded 
 (28th July, 388). 
 
 Theodosius then advanced to Milan, proclaimed a general 
 amnesty to all who had sided with Maximus, sent Arbogast 
 to rule in Gaul, restored Justina and her son Valentinian II 
 to their former position, and at last rescued Gratian's body, 
 having it brought back from Gaul, and buried at Milan. The 
 empress Justina died immediately after reaching Milan. 
 Theodosius, to his honour, supported the aged mother, and 
 educated the orphan daughters, of Maximus.^ 
 
 For the next three years Theodosius fixed his residence at 
 Milan, gradually bringing back the West to the same state 
 of order and good government to which he had brought the 
 East. The essential feature of his rule was soimd and solid 
 administration, carried out cautiously and without any start- 
 ling innovations. His legislation shows a steadfast aim at 
 removing injustice and improving the social condition of the 
 people. Thus we find, among others, laws enacted by him 
 directing that provision is to be made for the children of 
 criminals, that farmers are not to be compelled to sell com 
 to the State at less than its market value, that special officers 
 are to be appointed to see that robbers and highwaymen do 
 not go unpunished, that men robbed on the highways are to be 
 permitted to slay the robber, that an accused person shall 
 not be at once thrown into prison, but be given time to put 
 his affairs in order, that the whole of a criminal's property 
 is not to be confiscated, but a portion of it to go to his chil- 
 dren, that tax-gatherers are to use fixed weights and measures, 
 1 Ambrose, Tome ii. Epist xl, p. 965, 
 
 XVI] 
 
 VISIT TO ROME 
 
 565 
 
 and that men are not to be forced to undertake high offices 
 involving costly expenditure by which they may be ruined. 
 Laws of this kind showed much personal knowledge of the 
 life of the people and the directions in which they were apt 
 to suffer injustice. And by many similar enactments Theo- 
 dosius probably did more to increase the general prosperity 
 of the empire and the happiness and contentment of the people 
 than might have resulted from more showy legislation. 
 
 In June 389 Theodosius paid a visit to Rome, accompanied 
 by his niece Serena, the second of his two sons (the five-year- 
 old Honorius), and the young Valentinian II, remaining 
 there about three months. At Rome he effected various 
 local reforms (several of which tended stiU further to hasten 
 the end of the dying remnants of Paganism), attended the 
 public games, mixed freely with aU classes, and by his genial 
 temperament gained much popularity with the Romans. 
 During this visit Theodosius founded at Rome the church 
 dedicated to the memory of St. Paul, which afterwards be- 
 came the fifth of that city's five principal churches, situated 
 outside the walls a little more than a mile from the Ostian 
 Gate. Though now standing in a locahty uninhabitable owing 
 to the malaria induced 150 years later by the cutting of the 
 aqueducts, it was at that time surrounded by a populous 
 suburb and many country residences of the nobles, and eventu- 
 ally became the finest church in Rome. Damasus had died 
 in 384, and had been succeeded as Bishop of Rome and Pope 
 of the western patriarchate by Siricius (384-398), who during 
 the emperor's visit also began building the church of St. 
 Pudenziana, which stiU exists. While the court was at Rome 
 Theodosius' niece Serena, visiting the temple of Rhea, and 
 seeing a costly necklace round the neck of the goddess, took 
 it off, in the presence of the last of the Vestal Virgins, and 
 placed it roimd her own neck, thereby giving great offence, 
 which had serious results to herself nineteen years later. In 
 September Theodosius returned to Milan. 
 
 In the spring of 390 Theodosius was thrown into another 
 of his furious gusts of rage at news received from Thessalonica, 
 where, in consequence of the deserved imprisonment of a 
 favourite charioteer of bad character, the people at the games 
 had raised a serious riot in which they had murdered the 
 
 l< 
 
566 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 cha^< 
 
 commander of the troops, Botherieh, and some of his guards. 
 On hearing of this outrage the emperor, transported with rage, 
 issued orders for a summary retribution. The people of 
 Thessalonica, gathered in the circus watching the races, were 
 suddenly surrounded and attacked by the troops, who exe- 
 cuted an indiscriminate massacre of men, women, and chil- 
 dren, lasting three hours, in which 7000 persons were slain. 
 Atrocious as it was, this massacre was, of course, not so atro- 
 cious as the deUberate, widespread, and cruel massacres 
 of perfectly innocent persons, which had been carried out by 
 Marcus Aurelius in 177-180, by Septimius Severus in 203-211, 
 by Decius in 250-251, by Valerian in 257-260, and by Diocle- 
 tian in 303-305 ; but nevertheless Theodosius, when his first 
 burst of anger had cooled, was thoroughly ashamed of his 
 order, and despatched an urgent command reversing it, but 
 it was too late, the messenger only reaching Thessalonica 
 after the massacre had taken place. ^ 
 
 Thereupon Ambrose, the Archbishop of Milan, wrote to the 
 emperor expressing his horror at such a crime, and, appealing 
 to Theodosius' nobiHty of character, pointed out that it was 
 impossible that he could be admitted to the Holy Communion 
 until he had, like David, shown repentance for such an act. 
 The emperor by this time felt great remorse for his deed ; 
 nevertheless on the following Sunday he came in state to the 
 cathedral as usual, and was about to enter it when the brave 
 Archbishop ordered the large western door to be closed, met 
 the emperor in the atrium in front of the church, and told 
 him he could not be admitted. Theodosius spoke of his con- 
 trition, but Ambrose replied that so public a crime demanded 
 an equally public contrition. Whereupon the emperor with- 
 drew. And it demonstrates how truly great was Theodosius' 
 character that he admitted Ambrose to be right, and volun- 
 tarily imderwent the humiliation of a public acknowledgement 
 of his crime before the whole people. Laying aside his im- 
 
 * We obt€un at once a measure of the superior standard in all such 
 matters in the period from Constcmtine to Theodosius as compcu'ed 
 with that of the Antonine emperors, or of any period before 312, by our 
 own instinctive feeUng that such conduct is less excusable in an emperor 
 belonging to the 4th century than in an emperor belonging to tho 
 2iid or 3rd century. 
 
 xvi] 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF MILAN 
 
 567 
 
 perial ornaments, he remained for eight months in seclusion, 
 and then, on Christmas Day 390, was formally and publicly 
 re-admitted to the communion of the Church, while at the same 
 time he issued a law, to guard against such terrible episodes 
 in the future, enacting that an interval of thirty days was 
 to elapse between a capital sentence and its execution. 
 
 The church where this celebrated episode occurred, formerly 
 the cathedral of Milan, built by Gratian in the last year of his 
 reign, and now called the church of St. Ambrose, is still to be 
 seen in Milan, with its characteristic atrium (or forecourt) in 
 which this interview took place, and the large western door 
 opening into it which was closed in the face of Theodosius. 
 St. Ambrose's plain marble episcopal chair is still to be seen 
 in the apse behind the choir, and in the crypt the large marble 
 sarcophagus containing his remains. The porphyry pillars 
 of the ruined Pagan temple of Bacchus on the site of which 
 this church was built still support the canopy over the high 
 altar, and remain as an interesting memorial of the construc- 
 tion of this church having helped to cause the death of its 
 founder, Gratian. In this chiurch was kept for eight centuries 
 the small gold diadem studded with precious stones, having 
 round the inside of it a thin strip of iron said to be a nail of 
 the True Cross. ^ 
 
 In 391 Theodosius left Milan again for the East. Before 
 his departure he committed to Valentinian II, who was now 
 twenty, but weak in character, the nominal rule of the West, 
 commending him to the guidance of Ambrose. Theodosius 
 on reaching Constantinople entered that city by " the Golden 
 Gate," erected by his orders to commemorate his victory over 
 Maximus, in a chariot drawn by elephants. In the following 
 year he issued an edict to extinguish the dying embers of 
 Paganism, prohibiting in all cities any further Pagan sacrifices, 
 and forbidding the people even to enter the Pagan temples, 
 which thereupon in many cases were pulled down by the 
 people themselves ; Theodosius thus finally completing what 
 Constantino had begun. 
 
 The unfortunate young Valentinian II did not long survive 
 
 ^ Regeirding this celebrated crown and its connection with Con- 
 stantine, see Vol. II, Chap. XXIV, pp. 426-430. It is now kept in the 
 cathedral of Monza. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 568 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 when Theodosius* personal protection was removed. His 
 chief general, Arbogast, ruling in Gaul, absorbed all power, 
 and, though ready to acknowledge the authority of Theodosius, 
 treated Valentinian with contempt, and the latter, who had 
 moved to Vienne, near Lyons, found himself almost a prisoner 
 in his palace. Foreseeing that he was likely soon to fall a 
 victim to the designs of Arbogast, he, early in May 392, sent 
 an urgent message to Milan imploring Ambrose to come to 
 his assistance. But though the latter started at once, halfway 
 to Vienne, as he was crossing the Alps, the news met him that 
 Valentinian was dead, murdered in the palace at Vienne ^ 
 by the orders of Arbogast (15th May, 392), who thereupon 
 set up in his place a puppet emperor, a rhetorician named 
 Eugenius. Valentinian's body was carried to Milan, and 
 wept over by his two sisters (for whose sake he had refrained 
 from marrying), and was buried in a huge porphyry sarcoph- 
 agus at Milan. 
 
 The empress Galla ceaselessly adjured Theodosius to avenge 
 her brother. But, as on the previous occasion when Gratian 
 was murdered, Theodosius, under the combined effects of 
 caution and indolence, did not do so for two whole years. 
 He knew that this was no case of meeting a commander of 
 so little ability as Maximus ; that Arbogast, who had served 
 under himself, was the best general in the empire ; and that 
 the struggle would be a severe one. He therefore made 
 long and very thorough preparations for the contest. All 
 through the year 393 these preparations went on, troops 
 being summoned from the most distant parts of the empire, 
 ships being built to increase the naval strength in the Adriatic, 
 the arsenals being kept hard at work, and the troops brought 
 to the highest pitch of training. 
 
 At last in June 394 Theodosius started, with a large and 
 well-equipped army. But the beautiful empress Galla, she 
 for whom the whole campaign had been undertaken, died 
 
 * His body was found strangled in a room in the palace. The 
 pckTtisans of Arbogast declared that he had committed suicide, but 
 this is rendered specially improbable by the fact that he had requested 
 Ambrose to come and administer to him the rite of baptism, deferred 
 until now that he feared the loss of his Ufe. Moreover both the empress 
 Galla and Theodosius evidently knew that he had been murdered 
 by Arbogast. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 DEATH OF THE EMPRESS GALLA 
 
 669 
 
 in giving birth to a daughter ^ as the army was leaving Con- 
 stantinople, and Theodosius marched westwards with a heavy 
 heart. 
 
 It shows how successfully and with what wisdom the pro- 
 cess of absorbing the Goths into the empire was being carried 
 out, when we find that this army marching against Arbogast 
 included among its best troops nearly 40,000 Goths, the con- 
 tingent from the Ostrogoths being conmianded by Gainas, 
 and that from the Visigoths by their chief Alaric (belonging 
 to the royal race of the Balti),2 then about thirty years old, 
 and about to obtain his first view of Italy. It is good to see 
 how at this period several of the most distinguished officers 
 in the Roman army belonged to the northern races,^ and 
 instead of being an error (as almost invariably held by his- 
 torians on the authority of the narrow-minded Roman writers), 
 it shows how well Rome tmderstood the way to rule a great 
 empire. It has once before been noted * as highly important, 
 that when a race had been included in such an empire it should 
 at no long interval be raised to full equality with the rest of 
 the empire by allowing it to contribute a portion of the mili- 
 tary strength. The large-minded policy is thus to act ; the 
 small-minded one is, from fear of trusting the recently con- 
 quered race, to exclude it from the army of the empire, thereby 
 keeping it in the position of a subject race. Rome had in turn 
 absorbed the Gauls, the warlike races of Spain, and the warlike 
 races of Illyricum, Pannonia, and Rhsetia, and had in each 
 case raised the conquered race to full equality in the manner 
 mentioned, and even some of her best emperors had come from 
 these races. She was now adopting the same course in the 
 case of the Goths. And had the latter continued to be treated 
 
 * The afterwards celebrated Galla Placidia. 
 
 2 Among the Groths the Amals, the royal race of the Ostrogoths, 
 took precedence of all ; but the royal race of the Visigoths, the 
 Balti (or Baltha), came only second to the Amals. The name appears 
 in our English names Theobald and Ethelbald, in the German Willibald, 
 and in the Italian Garibaldi. 
 
 3 As, for instance, Stilicho, a Vandal, then 34 years old, and married 
 to the emperor's niece, Serena ; Bauto, a Frank, whose daughter was 
 a year or two later married to Theodosius* son Arc€tdius ; Saul, an 
 Alan ; and the brave and loyal Armenian, Bacurius, who was killed 
 in the ensuing battle. * Chap. VI. p. 214. 
 
670 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 as they were by Gratian and Theodosius, the result would 
 undoubtedly have been as satisfactory as it had been in that 
 of other warlike races which had been incorporated within 
 the empire. Moreover the change in the feelings of the Goths 
 which subsequently turned them from a race forming part 
 of the empire once more into enemies of Rome is directly to 
 be traced to the mismanagement of the successors of Theo- 
 dosius, which caused the Goths to feel themselves treated as 
 a subject race, a position which they refused to endure. 
 
 Theodosius had a march of 1100 miles to take before reach- 
 ing the pass over the Julian Alps, where he expected to have 
 to fight Arbogast, who, with his puppet Eugenius, had ad- 
 vanced to Aquileia. The Roman road from Sirmium to 
 Aquileia crosses the Julian Alps at the " Pear Tree " pass 
 (now the Bimbaumer Wald), a plateau not more than 2000 feet 
 high. Arbogast had for some reason not occupied the plateau 
 itself (probably owing to the fury of the celebrated Bora, an 
 icy wind which blows fiercely over this plateau),^ but was 
 encamped in the valley below the western end of the pass, 
 on the bank of the river Frigidus (now the Wipbach),^ and 
 there a two days battle took place on the 5th and 6th Sep- 
 tember (probably near the present town of Heiligen Kreuz), 
 known as the battle of the Frigidus. 
 
 We know nothing about the tactics employed, but it 
 appears that Arbogast adopted the role of the defence and 
 Theodosius that of the attack, which as the latter had the 
 preponderance of numbers was natural. The attack was 
 led by the Gothic troops of Theodosius' army, and these 
 troops suffered enormously. A long and severe struggle 
 throughout the whole of the first day ended most unsuc- 
 cessfully for Theodosius ; of the Goths nearly half their 
 total number are said to have been killed, and the rest of 
 them retired, though not in disorder, from the field. 
 
 ^ Nothing c€m stand against it, and heavy laden wagons have been 
 overturned by it. 
 
 ■ This river derived its name from its peculiar character. Icy cold 
 even in simmier, it suddenly bursts forth from the foot of the cliffs 
 neckr the town of Wipbach, not a mere mountain stream, but a river as 
 Uurge as the Aar at Thun ; and countless Roman soldiers in crossing the 
 Julian Alps, on their hot marches between the east and west of the 
 empire, have refreshed themselves with its cletur ice-cold water. 
 
 acvi] 
 
 BATTLE OF THE FRIGIDUS 
 
 671 
 
 When night fell Arbogast thought he had gained the 
 victory. Theodosius was advised by his generals to retreat 
 during the night, but he would not, and seeking out a solitary 
 place in the hills, spent the night in earnest prayer. On 
 the morning of the 6th September he renewed the battle ; 
 before long the dreaded Bora began to blow down from the 
 pass from behind his troops into the faces of the enemy, blind- 
 ing them with clouds of dust, tearing their shields from their 
 hands, and carrying back their missiles upon themselves, and 
 Arbogast's army, unable to fight under these conditions, was 
 completely routed. Eugenius was seized and slain; Arbo- 
 gast fled into the mountains, and after wandering there for 
 two days committed suicide. This hardfought victory having 
 been gained, Theodosius advanced through northern Italy 
 to Milan, where he granted a general pardon to all who had 
 taken the part of Arbogast, even the latter's ministers only 
 losing their rank and titles for a year. The poet Claudian, 
 the last of the Roman poets, and a Pagan, who flourished in 
 the reign of Theodosius and his son Honorius, wrote a long 
 poem on the battle of the Frigidus, glorifying the emperor 
 in grandiloquent language. 
 
 It had been predicted to Theodosius before leavmg Con- 
 stantinople that he would win the battle, but would not long 
 survive it. Though he was only forty-eight, his constitution 
 had never recovered the shock it sustained by his long and 
 dangerous iUness in the year 380, and soon after establishing 
 himself again at Milan he felt that his end was approaching. 
 Thereupon he sent to Constantinople for his younger son 
 Honorius (now eleven), to come to him, in charge of his niece 
 Serena, the wife of his capable general Stilicho. He had left 
 his elder son Arcadius (now eighteen) in charge of affairs in 
 the East when he started from Constantinople. 
 
 Theodosius only survived his beloved empress Galla seven 
 months, and died at Milan on the 17th January, 395. On 
 his deathbed he left the eastern half of the empire to his son 
 Arcadius, and the western half to his son Honorius, a division 
 of the empire which neither Theodosius nor any one else at 
 that time contemplated being permanent, but which eventu- 
 ally became so, the two portions never again being united. 
 It was decided that tJie dead emperor must be buried like 
 
572 
 
 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 
 
 GHAP. 
 
 his predecessors in Constantine's church of the Twelve Apostles 
 at Constantinople ; but before the cortege started from Milan 
 a solemn funeral service was held in the cathedral of Milan, 
 where the scene of his penance had taken place. The funeral 
 oration was spoken by Ambrose, the Archbishop, who at the 
 same time comforted the little Honorius, who sat cr3dng 
 bitterly at not being allowed to accompany his father's body 
 back to Constantinople which had been his home. On reach- 
 ing Constantinople the body of the dead emperor was received 
 by his son Arcadius, and buried by him in the church of the 
 Twelve Apostles. 
 
 A crushing disaster rapidly retrieved ; two powerful re- 
 bellions successively defeated ; the fifty years' discord in 
 religious matters made to cease ; a coimterfeit of the true 
 religion suppressed ; the lingering remains of Paganism 
 extinguished ; peace and good government everywhere estab- 
 lished throughout that wide dominion, these are the achieve- 
 ments of Theodosius the Great. It is the last view that we 
 have of Rome's great empire as a whole ; henceforth its history 
 becomes that of two separated portions, and then of many 
 separate countries. And it is Theodosius who has made that 
 last view one of an empire flourishing in peace and prosperity. 
 
 At the end of the reign of Theodosius (or possibly during 
 the first year of the reigns of his two sons) was published 
 the important Noiitia Dignitatum,^ a complete Official Direc- 
 tory and Army List of the whole Roman empire, both East 
 and West, in ninety chapters. It contains the names of each 
 principal official and of his subordinates, with a description 
 of his office, and a list of the secretaries, notaries, registrars, 
 and other classes of persons belonging to it. This voluminous 
 Directory furnishes an invaluable mine of information on 
 many subjects, while it helps to demonstrate the prosperous 
 
 ^ Its full title is, Notitia dignitatum omnium, tam civilium quam mili- 
 tarium, in partibus Orientis et Occidents ("The official list of all 
 ranks, both civil and military, in both Ecwt and West "). Regarding one 
 principal copy, German characteristics have been somewhat amusingly 
 exemplified. In 1839 the German editor Booking, with national 
 undue assumption of superiority, wrote, " In what comer of that great 
 chaos of manuscripts and books called England this codex may now be 
 lying I am unable to conjecture." And all the time it was S€ifely housed 
 and duly catalogued in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 €€ 
 
 CANON OF HOLY SCRIPTURE" 
 
 573 
 
 and efficient condition of the empire at the close of the reign 
 of Theodosius. The variety of subjects upon which it is able 
 to supply information is infinite ; for instance, the whole 
 identification of the existing ruins along the Une of the WaU 
 of Severus in Britain has been educed from the mention in 
 the Notitia Dignitatum of the names of the cohorts occupjdng 
 the different stations. 
 
 This year of Theodosius' death (395) is notable as being 
 that in which the Christian Church decided upon what writings 
 (among the many which advanced a similar claim) should 
 be accepted as inspired and form the New Testament ; thus 
 deciding upon what is called " The Canon of Holy Scripture." 
 It is strange to realize that not less than twelve generations 
 of Christians had lived and died before such a point as what 
 was " the Bible " (so far as the New Testament was concerned) 
 was finally determined. 
 
 From Augustus to Theodosius there had been 56 emperors. 
 Of these 16 reigned too short a time to be justly reckoned 
 either good or bad ; but of the remaining 40 emperors who 
 during the 423 years from B.C. 28 to a.d, 395 governed the 
 Roman Empire, 24 had been good emperors and 16 bad. And 
 perhaps the greatest monument ever raised to the qualities 
 and abilities of the military profession is constituted by the 
 fact that out of the 24 good emperors who at different times 
 ruled so ably this vast empire of Rome, no less than 18 were 
 soldiers ; ^ while out of the 16 bad emperors two only were 
 soldiers. 
 
 At the beginning of this history it was asserted 2 that the 
 zenith of the Roman Empire is not the period of eighty-two 
 years (98-180) under the emperors from Trajan to Marcus 
 Aurelius, but is the period of eighty-one years (31^395), 
 under the emperors from Constantine to Theodosius, and that 
 the condition of that empire under this latter group of emperors 
 surpassed, from every point of view, its condition under the 
 earlier group. It now remains to consider how far this asser- 
 tion is correct. 
 
 * A list comprising such names as Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, 
 Trajan, Hadrian, AureUan, Constantine the Great, Valentinian I, 
 and Theodosius the Great, « Preface, p. vixi. 
 
574 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 MILITARY STRENGTH 
 
 ! 
 
 In determining such a question there is one kind of evidence 
 which is superior to all others. It is an important axiom 
 (one too little regarded) never to rely upon the evidence of 
 authorities when there is better evidence available. And this 
 is the case here. The statements of contemporary authorities 
 may mislead us on such a point owing to half-a-dozen different 
 causes, even supposing that the writers in question were free 
 from bias, which was seldom the case, as most of these authori- 
 ties were Pagans anxious to prove that the condition of the 
 empire in its best Pagan period (the 2nd century), surpassed 
 that in its Christian period (the 4th century), and that Christi- 
 anity had brought nothing but a decline. On the other hand 
 the evidence furnished by the empire itself cannot lie. This 
 kind of evidence is therefore infinitely superior to that of the 
 writings of any "authorities," no matter who they may be.* 
 For that reason this more reliable kind of evidence has through- 
 out alone been here employed in determining the question 
 of whether the 2nd century (hitherto held to have been the 
 zenith of the Roman empire) was surpassed or not by the 4th 
 century, and to what degree. The chief factors in such a 
 question may be assimied to be military strength, splendour 
 of cities, prosperity of the people, and general standard of 
 enlightenment, civilization, and public and private morality. 
 
 (i) Military strength. The contemporary writers tell us 
 little or nothing regarding the interior economy, personnel, 
 training, and efl&ciency of the army at this period. This, 
 however, is perhaps after all no loss, since instead of contem- 
 porary writings which might be in error either through ignor- 
 ance of military affairs or through bias on the part of the 
 writers, it leaves us in regard to the efficiency of the army 
 at this time to the surer guide of the records which inform 
 us what that army accomplished. As before remarked,^ the 
 strength and efficiency of an army or body of troops is not to 
 be measured by what this or that contemporary writer may 
 say of it, but by what that army or body of troops has shown 
 that it could do. 
 
 Every evidence shows that the military strength of the 
 
 * For the chief authorities regarding the period from Constantine 
 to Theodosius, see Note D, p. 588. 
 
 * Chap. XIV, p. 490 (footnote). 
 
 575 
 
 empire at this period (the 4th century), had advanced enor- 
 mously since the time of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. Not 
 only were the frontier defences far more perfect, and the army 
 nearly double in numbers, but the military genius of Con- 
 stantine in for the first time dividing the army into definite 
 general officers' commands, reducing the size of the legion to 
 one better suited to the tactics of the tim^, separating the 
 command of the cavalry from that of the infantry, and forming 
 a distinct department for the arsenals and commissariat, had 
 quadrupled its fighting power.^ And although its foes had 
 grown much more formidable, by reason of their increased 
 numbers, their improved skill in war, and the more warlike 
 character of the Goths, the Franks, and the Persians, in com- 
 parison with the Dacians, the Quadi, the Marcomanni, and 
 the Parthians,2 nevertheless the training and efficiency of 
 the Roman army had in the intervening 134 years increased 
 in still greater proportion, as is proved by its deeds. Never 
 once was it defeated when commanded by a real soldier ; only 
 twice in these eighty-one years was it defeated at all', once 
 in the Persian campaign in 363, when its retreat reflected as 
 much glory upon it as any of its victories, and once under 
 Valens at Hadrianople in 378, when its defeat was in no way 
 due to imperfection in the troops, and was quickly retrieved.^ 
 And against these two defeats it could set a long list of vic- 
 tories, a list of mihtary achievements with which those of 
 the period 98-180 (even including the victories under Trajan) 
 could not compare for an instant. Nor was it likely that 
 troops who could fight against Romans in the manner shown at 
 the battles of Turin and Verona in 312, at the battle of Cibalae 
 in 314, at the battle of Hadrianople in 323, and at the battle 
 of Mursa in 351, would find much difficulty in disposing of 
 barbarian foes, and the Goths, the Franks, the Allemanni, 
 and the Quadi all suffered crushing defeats from them in the 
 years 332, 356-359, 366, 368, 375, 378, and 380.* 
 1 Chap. XIII, pp. 427-428. 
 
 • It must be remembered that the Parthians were in the 3rd century 
 succeeded by the much more warlike Persian empire imder the dynasty 
 of the Sassanidse. 
 
 » Chap. XV, p. 629. 
 
 * Chap. Xin, p. 429 ; Chap. XIV, p. 467'; and Chap. XV, pp. 
 498, 602, 614, 522, and 631. ' ^^ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 J 
 
 676 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 Speaking of the Roman army during this 4th century the 
 historian Gibbon has asserted, " Not a vestige was left of that 
 severe simplicity which m the ages of freedom and victory 
 had distinguished the line of battle of a Roman army from the 
 confused host of an Asiatic monarch." ^ The whole of the 
 battles fought by Constantine (more especially those at Turin, 
 Verona, Saxa Rubra, abalae, and Hadrianople, and the 
 thorough defeat of the Gothic host in 332), the hard-fought 
 battle of Mursa under Constantius in 351, the splendid series 
 of victories under Julian over the Franks and Allemanni 
 in 356-359, the no less splendid conduct of the Roman army 
 in the retreat from Persia in 363, the victories of that army 
 under Valentmian on the Rhine, in Britain, and in Africa, 
 including in particular its behaviour at the battle of Soli- 
 ciniumin368, the victory of Colmar under Gratian in 378, the 
 victories of Theodosius and Gratian over the Goths in 379 
 and 380, and the victories at Siscia and Poetovio under Theo- 
 dosius in 388, give an overwhelming refutation to the assertion. 
 Moreover Ammianus Marcellinus, who had himself taken 
 part in several of these battles during the 4th century, dis- 
 tinctly states that the discipline of the Roman troops was so 
 excellent that they could always beat the barbarian forces, 
 even though the latter were much more numerous, contrasting 
 the " impetuous fury of the barbarians " with " the steady 
 discipline and coohiess " of the Roman troops.' The evidence 
 furnished by the long list of battles which have been quoted, 
 fought between 312 and 388, supported as it is by the state- 
 ment of such a witness, shows conclusively that never in the 
 whole course of its history was the Roman army at so high 
 a pitch of discipline, training, and efficiency, or the military 
 strength of the empire so great, as it was in the period from 
 Constantine to Theodosius. 
 
 1 Gibbon. Decline and FaU, H, 322. The statement is 
 aimed at Constantine. Plenty of authorities for any statement 
 against the man who abolished Paganism as the State reUgion could of 
 course always be found amongst his persistent revilers, the Pagan 
 writers of the time, and Gibbon has used them freely. But while in 
 other matters to refute such imtruths is more difficult, in military 
 matters the hard facts of the battlefield are able to do so ; as in this 
 ^jase, * Ammianus Marcellinus, xvi, 12, 47. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 SPLENDOUR OF CITIES 
 
 577 
 
 To what a degree the period 98-180, from Trajan ^ to Marcus 
 Aurelius, was surpassed in this respect is easily shown by two 
 examples out of many. In the period between 166 to 180 three 
 great provinces, the size of modern kingdoms, Pannonia, 
 Noricum, and Rhsetia, were ravaged by the Marcomanni and 
 the Quadi for no less than fourteen years, the whole power 
 of the Roman army being unable to expel them. On the 
 other hand in the year 332, upon the Goths advancing in 
 immense strength under their king Araric into Moesia, the 
 Roman army in a single battle promptly and completely 
 crushed them, and drove the survivors back in flight across 
 the Danube. Again in the year 375, when the Quadi dared 
 to invade Pannonia as they had done in the 2nd century, the 
 Roman army in a single short campaign crossed the Danube 
 into their country, devastated it from end to end, slaughtered 
 them in immense numbers, killed their king, and brought the 
 Quadi to their knees. To any one who has sufficient military 
 knowledge to realize what a general want of effectiveness for 
 war is shown by the instance quoted in connection with the 
 years 166-180, and on the other hand what great efficiency 
 in numberless details, all combining to produce the result, is 
 shown by the mstances quoted in connection with the years 
 332 and 375, the difference in the military strength demon- 
 strated will at once be apparent. And when we take note 
 of the whole of the examples which have been quoted in con- 
 nection with Constantine, Julian, Valentinian, Gratian, and 
 Theodosius the idea that the military strength of the empire 
 in the time of the Antonine emperors was equal to that which 
 it possessed in the period from 314 to 395 becomes altogether, 
 and even absurdly, untenable. 
 
 (ii) Splendour of cities. In regard to whether the splendour 
 of the cities of the empire in the 2nd century was siu^assed 
 or not in the 4th century, the point is particularly plain. For 
 the empire in the age from Constantine to Theodosius pos- 
 sessed iminjured every one of the splendid buildings erected 
 at Rome and elsewhere up to the time of Commodus (at the 
 
 ^ Trajan's victories, though great, were not gained over such warlike 
 races as the Roman army had to meet in the 4th century, the DcKiians 
 being a much less warlike race than the Groths, the Franks, and the 
 Allemanni, and the Parthicms thein the Persians. 
 
 E.W. P P 
 
CHAP. 
 
 678 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 xvi] 
 
 PROSPERITY OF THE PEOPLE 
 
 579 
 
 end of the 2nd century), and in addition possessed also the 
 buildings which had since then been erected in Rome, in 
 North Africa,* and in other parts of the empire by Septimius 
 Sevenis, Caracalla, Alexander Severus, Diocletian, Constan- 
 tine, Valentinian I, and Theodosius, including not only the 
 many splendid buildings erected after the 2nd century at 
 Rome, and in North Africa, but also the four new capitals 
 of Treves, Milan, Sirmium, and Nicomedia, and, above all, 
 the new city of Constantinople. To these may be added the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre built by Constantine at Jeru- 
 salem and called " the Great Church," the church built by 
 him at Antioch and called " the Golden Church," the magnifi- 
 cent church of the Holy Apostles built by him at Constantin- 
 ople, the five important churches built by him at Rome, the 
 other notable churches built by him at Thessalonica, Nico- 
 media, Bethlehem, Mamre, Tyre, and HeliopoHs, and the 
 churches of St. Paul and St. Pudenziana built at Rome in 
 the reign of Theodosius the Great, the most splendid feature 
 of all these churches being their mosaic decoration. Thus 
 as regards this point (ii) there had in the 4th century been 
 nothing but additions to what was possessed in the 2nd cen- 
 tury, and therefore, so far from any " decline," a great and 
 tangible increase in the splendour of the cities of the empire. 
 
 (iii) Prosperity of the people. The evidence that the general 
 prosperity, so far from declining, had in the 4th century im- 
 mensely increased as compared with the 2nd century, is also 
 superabundant. To the Roman of Rome, accustomed to 
 look at everything solely from the standpoint of that city, 
 and disgusted at the erection of four other capitals which 
 vied with it, at the removal of the emperor and the court and 
 all that city's former glory as the centre of the life of the 
 empire, and most of all at the erection of Constantinople, 
 there was nothing to be seen but a decline ; but to every one 
 else the evidence against this theory of a decline was immense. 
 
 The contemporary Roman writers universally condemn 
 the burden of taxation during the period from Constantine 
 to Theodosius as being crushingly heavy. But judging by 
 
 * Regarding the evidence furnished by the ruined cities of North 
 Africa as to the numerous splendid biiildings erected in those cities 
 during the 3rd and 4th centuries, see Vol. H, Chap. XVUI, pp. 80-81. 
 
 the tangible evidence of a universal and constantly increasing 
 prosperity in aU directions, it would appear that very little 
 weight should be attached to these statements. Improved 
 civil administration, improved commimications, improved 
 municipal arrangements to increase the comfort of the inhabit- 
 ants of towns, improved water supplies, and increased measures 
 for defence all cost money, and this cost must usually be met 
 by additional taxation, which therefore ever tends to increase 
 in a country which is progressing. No one likes taxation, 
 and consequently in the period in question (as in all other 
 periods of progress in every age) we find loud complaints 
 of the ever-rising taxation, and declarations that it is due 
 to this or that extravagance on the part of the rulers. But 
 the point is not whether a man pays more in this way than 
 he did at a previous time, but whether he pays a larger pro- 
 portion of his income ; and details on this point are never 
 forthcoming. Again the condition of the poorest classes in 
 the period in question makes it very doubtful whether the 
 burden of taxation was so heavy as contemporary writers 
 assert ; wherever we come across any details showing the 
 condition of those classes in this 4th century the people do not 
 present the appearance of being in nearly so great poverty 
 as is the case with thousands of the poorest classes in the 
 cities of the same countries in the present day. It is of course 
 very difficult to ascertain the correct state of affairs on such 
 a point, but the general facts (see below) are indisputable ; 
 and these show with tolerable certainty that the taxation 
 cannot have been as crushing as contemporary writers would 
 have us believe.* 
 For when we turn to look at the empire itself in this 4th 
 
 * It is to be noted that this same complaint of crushing taxation is 
 foimd made even in the 2nd century, under the Antonine emperors. 
 And as the empire went on progressing the complaints, as usual, became 
 louder. At the same time there is nothing to be said in favour of the 
 Roman methods of taxation. Throughout her whole history Rome 
 failed to evince in her fiscal policy a wisdom as enlightened as she dis- 
 played in her military arrangements, and most of her methods of 
 taxation were beneath contempt in their short-sightedness, eis well as 
 in their tendency to open the door to every kind of corruption. Never- 
 theless, in spite of this, commercial prosperity steadily advanced owing 
 to the good effects of her rule in other respects.. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 h 
 
 580 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 century, and to compare it with the conditions existing in the 
 2nd century, we are met by evidences on every hand of greatly 
 increased prosperity, and of an immense change which can- 
 not be gainsaid to be seen in this respect all over the empire. 
 Two hundred years of Roman rule had changed half -barbarous 
 countries into civilized provinces covered with busy cities 
 and luxurious country residences. Places such as Paris had 
 grown from obscure villages into important cities furnished 
 with a Forum, Baths, an Amphitheatre, and many fine private 
 residences ; settlements which in the time of the Antonine 
 emperors had been merely military camps had become busy 
 and populous towns ; countries such as Gaul and Britain 
 which in the 2nd century had been for the most part forest- 
 covered tracts were now in the 4th century overspread with 
 thriving cities joined by numerous roads. We hear for in- 
 stance at this time of eighty flourishing cities in northern 
 Gaul alone ; and in Britain we have all those evidences of an 
 immense advance in the 4th century which have already been 
 described,^ including a great increase in the number of towns, 
 many churches (all ascribed to the 4th century), and the 
 numerous large and luxurious country-houses ^ remains of 
 which have been discovered in Kent, Hampshire, Sussex, 
 Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Lincolnshire, and shown by 
 the evidence of coins to have all been built during this 4th 
 century ; while the mosaic pavements of these Roman villas 
 show a high state of culture and civilization. The 4th cen- 
 tury has often been called " the golden age of Roman Britain ; " 
 while it also sheds a flood of light upon the condition of that 
 country at this time to find it regularly exporting large quan- 
 tities of com, a British Mint established in London, and skilled 
 artisans stated to be more numerous in Britain than even in 
 Gaul. In fact the theory of the Pagan writers that the 2nd 
 century surpassed all later centuries could be refuted in a 
 single sentence by saying, " Look at Gaul and Britain in the 
 2nd century, and look at Gaul and Britain in the 4th century." 
 It is the same in whatever direction we turn, whether to 
 
 » Chap. XV, pp. 499-600. 
 
 « Such as the Roman villas at Chedworth, at Stourton, at Frampton, 
 at Littlecote Park, Ramsbury, and others, all belonging to the middle 
 of the 4th century. 
 
 Xvi] 
 
 STANDARD OF CIVILIZATION 
 
 581 
 
 Gaul, to Britain, to North Africa, ^ or elsewhere ; everywhere 
 the 4th century immeasurably surpasses the 2nd century .« 
 All this, while showing the great advance which had taken 
 place, also helps to refute the cry that the people were crushed 
 by heavy taxation. Cities do not grow up in all directions if 
 the people are not prospering. If commerce were declining 
 we should find abandoned harbours, fewer ships engaged in 
 trade, and stagnating cities ; instead of which we find at this 
 period more harbours, more ships employed in commerce, 
 and fresh cities rising into importance on account of their 
 trade. In every direction in fact the evidence furnished by 
 the empire itself shows that, so far from a " decline," there 
 had been in the 4th century as compared with the 2nd century 
 an immense advance in general prosperity. 
 
 (iv) General standard of enlightenment and civilization. But 
 in the period from Constantine to Theodosius most of all is 
 the great advance in the general standard of enlightenment, 
 civilization, and morahty (both public and private) apparent. 
 This need scarcely be enlarged upon, being so palpable. The 
 whole standard of the time is on a higher plane than that of 
 
 1 Regarding mosaic pictures showing details of country life in 
 North Africa in the 4th century, see Vol. II, Chap. XVIII, p. 82. 
 
 2 Minor works of art belonging to the 4th century give the same 
 testimony. Among the most notable of these may be mentioned : — 
 
 (i) The two splendid porphyry sarcophagi of the empress Helena 
 and Constantine's sister Constantia, with sculptures in high 
 reUef ; now in the Vatican museum at Rome. 
 
 (ii) The well known ivory diptych, of beautiful design and workman- 
 ship, inscribed Symmachorum, made in the 4th century on the 
 occasion of the marriage of the daughter of Quintus Aurehus 
 Symmachus, and considered the most perfect existing example 
 of a marriage diptych ; now in the South Kensington Museimi, 
 London. 
 
 (iii) The various fine ivory panels and other exquisite works in 
 
 ivory, all belonging to the 4th century ; now in the British 
 
 Museum, London, 
 (iv) The many beautiful specimens of " Gilt Glasses " at the South 
 
 Kensington Museum, British Museum, and other places, all 
 
 belonging to the 4th century, 
 (v) The celebrated bowl of glazed ware belonging to the early part 
 
 of the 4th century, having on it the heads of Constantine and 
 
 his wife Fausta, made for Constantine himself, and now in the 
 
 British Museum, London. 
 
 \ 
 
I 
 
 r. i 
 
 582 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 CSA?. 
 
 
 the 2nd century in these respects. Whether we look at the 
 character of the men most respected in this period,^ at the 
 marked advance in the standard of morality in public affairs, 
 at the equally marked advance in the standard of private 
 morality expected in the case of emperors, * at the altered 
 treatment of women, slaves, and prisoners, at the abolition 
 of many cruel and inhuman laws in force in the 2nd century, 
 at the more humane character of the age generally, or at the 
 more civilized conditions in which the inhabitants of the 
 empire lived, the difference as compared with the age of the 
 Antonine emperors is so great that, as before remarked, it 
 can only be likened to that between light and darkness. 
 
 The laws appertaining to the period 314-395 (as contained 
 in the Theodosian Code), when compared with the laws in 
 force in the period 98-180, give some measure of the wide 
 chasm which exists in this respect between the 4th century 
 and the 2nd century, affording conclusive evidence of the 
 great advance in the whole conditions of social, political, and 
 domestic life in the 4th century. One change which is typical 
 is in regard to executions ; imder the emperors of the 2nd 
 century torture was almost the invariable accompaniment 
 of every execution ; imder the emperors of the 4th century 
 the person condemned to be executed is beheaded, but not 
 tortured. Again, the emperors of the 2nd century saw no 
 harm in issuing an edict ordering a general slaughter of Chris- 
 tians, accompanied by cruel tortures ; Constantine and his 
 successors would have considered themselves indeed disgraced 
 if they could have published such an edict as regards Pagans. 
 And so great is the change in the 4th century that even a 
 Pagan emperor belonging to that century, hating Christianity 
 
 * Such as, for instance, St. Ambrose or St. Basil, men who had held 
 high positions in the world before they became honoured upon religious 
 grounds, and were respected by all, from the lowest class to the very 
 highest. 
 
 ■ In instituting a comparison between the 4th century and the 2nd 
 century in regard to morality the 4th century stands at an unfair 
 disadv£uitage from the fact that the vices of the 2nd century (even in 
 the case of some of the leading emperors) were in great p€«t such as 
 cannot be mentioned. H.ad Const€mtine, Constantius, Juhan, Valen- 
 tinian, Gratian, or Theodosius been guilty of similar vices their chM- 
 acters would have been altogether blackened, which at once shows 
 the higher plane of the 4th century. 
 
 c ■ 
 
 xvi] 
 
 A HIGHER PLANE 
 
 583 
 
 and anxious to blot it out, will not order such a slaughter of 
 its adherents. This one fact is ajone sufficient to demonstrate 
 the altogether higher plane of enlightenment and civilization 
 reached by the empire in the 4th century. 
 
 It is probably impossible for any person in these days, 
 when the effects of Christianity have permeated every part 
 of the whole life of Europe, to realize what a change that 
 religion brought about, and how within eighty years from the 
 date of Constantine's final edict on the subject of the adoption 
 of Christianity that religion and the kind of legislation induced 
 by it changed the whole aspect of society. During the re- 
 mainder of the 4th century, after that edict, this change was 
 gradually taking place ; but many of the high officials were still 
 Pagans, the system of government was still arranged upon 
 the old lines though the emperor personally was Christian, 
 and Paganism still had many adherents. It also takes a 
 long time before a change in so vast a body of people as is 
 represented by the population of the whole of the Roman 
 Empire is able to make itself generally apparent. It is there- 
 fore not imtil the beginning of the 5th century (by which 
 time Paganism had no longer any effective force) that the full 
 effect brought about by the adoption of Christianity as the 
 religion of the empire can be fully discerned. 
 
 Then indeed an immense change is apparent. And it is 
 one which the 5th century, often justly condemned on account 
 of much frivoHty, luxury, and superstition in the portion of 
 the Roman Empire which remained, can best exemplify. For 
 the evils which were lashed by the moralists of the 5th century 
 —the use of cosmetics and dyes by fashionable ladies, the 
 luxury displayed in the houses and carriages of the rich, the 
 immoral tendencies of the theatre, the superstition of the 
 monks, and the excessive attraction of large classes to horse- 
 racing and gambling— while they were no greater than could 
 be paralleled in the 20th century, were practically as nothing 
 compared to the dark evils universally rampant in the 1st, 
 2nd, and 3rd centuries. In a comparison between the moral 
 standard of the 5th century with that of the 2nd century 
 writers have pointed out, not only that heavy punishments 
 were in the 5th century meted out for crimes which had been 
 the open practice even of emperors in the 2nd century, but 
 
OHAP. 
 
 584 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 also that " With all their faults the monks and hermits of 
 the 6th century are a good substitute for the priests of Cybele 
 and Mithras of the 2nd ; and it was something that the govern- 
 ment and the public opinion of the day had concurred to sweep 
 away the orgies of Daphne and Canopus.*' * 
 
 These various particidars demonstrate to what a high point 
 the empire had attained in the age from Constantine to Theo- 
 dosius. No doubt there were many flaws in administration, 
 many cases of impunished oppression, many evils as regards 
 taxation to be found throughout so wide an empire ; but 
 looking at the empire as a whole it may safely be said that 
 never since the world began had it witnessed so high a state 
 of general prosperity, contentment, civilization, and enlighten- 
 ment among so large a portion of the human race as it did in 
 the eighty-one years from Constantine the Great to Theo- 
 dosius the Great. The Roman writers, with their eyes ever 
 on Rome, and blind to all the rest of the empire, cared nothing 
 as to whether other cities or provinces were prospering, and 
 saw only that all the glory which once had centred in 
 Rome as the capital had departed from that city ; while those 
 who were Pagans declared that Christianity had brought 
 nothing but deterioration, and continued to extol the age of 
 the Antonine emperors when the city of Rome had been the 
 centre of the life and glory of the empire. And the neglect of 
 Rome by the emperors dming the whole of the 4th century 
 added its quota to the resentment felt by these writers. Con- 
 stantine only visited Rome once after becoming supreme over 
 the whole empire. Constantius only visited Rome once for 
 a short time of less than a month. Neither Julian nor Jovian 
 ever visited it at all ; nor did Valentinian I ; nor did Gratian ; 
 and Theodosius only once for a short visit.* 
 
 All these emperors were occupied in advancing the welfare 
 and prosperity of the empire as a whole, and in increasing the 
 dignity and splendour of other cities, such as Treves, Milan, 
 and Constantinople. The Roman writers resented this as 
 tending still further to reduce the glory of Rome, and ignored 
 
 * Oman, The Byzantine Empire, xi, 164. 
 
 ■ In seventy-eight yettfs edter Constantine^s visit in 326 Rome 
 was only twice visited by an emperor, by Constantius in 357, and by 
 Theodosius in 389. 
 
 XVl] 
 
 COMPARISON OF EMPERORS 
 
 585 
 
 it as far as possible in their writings. But the most cursory 
 glance at such provinces as Gaul, Spain, North Africa, and 
 Britain utterly refutes their contention that in the 2nd century 
 the empire was in a more exalted condition than it was in 
 the 4th century ; from every side come overwhelming proofs 
 that the truth was the very reverse ; and the Roman remains 
 belonging to the 4th century still existing in the present day 
 in various countries, and coming more and more to light 
 through numerous researches, conclusively substantiate the 
 fact. 
 
 Moreover even were the question one of comparison between 
 the emperors of the 4th century and those of the 2nd century 
 the case would be the same. For Constantine the Great in 
 every way, as a commander in war, as an administrator, and 
 as a far-sighted founder of great principles of government, 
 immeasurably surpassed Trajan ; Valentinian I, not only as 
 a commander in war, and an inflexible lover of justice, but 
 also as a stem crusader against vice, as well as in the morality 
 of his private life, surpassed Hadrian ; Theodosius the Great, 
 both in military and in administrative achievements, surpassed 
 Antoninus Pius ; while Gratian presents a remarkable con- 
 trast to Marcus Aurelius ; for while Marcus Aurelius through 
 want of military ability was unable to prevent a large portion 
 of the empire from being continuously ravaged by the bar- 
 barians during the greater part of his reign, Gratian on the 
 other hand gained an uninterrupted succession of victories 
 over the barbarians, defeated one race after another, and 
 protected the empire from being ravaged by them ; and 
 again, while Marcus Aurelius for the sake of expediency aban- 
 doned his repeatedly enunciated principles of benevolence 
 to mankind and consigned countless numbers of his subjects 
 to torture and massacre, Gratian on the other hand endured 
 odium in order to protect his subjects from injustice, and 
 rather than abandon his principles for the sake of expediency 
 suffered unpopularity, disaster, and death. So that a com- 
 parison between the emperors of the 4th century and those 
 of the 2nd century shows the same result as one referring to 
 the general condition of the empire. 
 
 The considerations successively detailed in regard to the 
 
586 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 four factors of military strength, splendour of the cities, pros- 
 perity of the people, and general standard of civilization, 
 enlightenment, and morality in the 4th century as compared 
 with the 2nd century appear to show indisputably that the 
 Roman empire of the period from Trajan to Marcus Aurelius 
 (98-180) was immeasurably surpassed by that of the period 
 from Constantine to Theodosius (314-395), that the latter 
 period and not the former was its zenith, and that its decline 
 did not begin until after the death of Theodosius the Great. 
 That this has not hitherto been recognized is due entirely 
 to the way in which the historian Gibbon, with that hatred 
 of Christianity which he possessed, ^ has treated this period, 
 taking as his authorities those Pagan writers who had desired 
 to show that Christianity had brought nothing but a decline.* 
 By systematically belittling and misrepresenting Constantine, 
 drawing an altogether unfair picture of Constantius, disparag- 
 ing Valentinian I, obscuring almost entirely the character 
 and deeds of Gratian, and damning with faint praise Theo- 
 dosius, Gibbon has contrived to diminish to an immense 
 extent the glory of the empire during the reigns of the Chris- 
 tian emperors, thus preventing the period from being recog- 
 nized to be, as it was, the zenith of the empire. But the 
 moment that, turning from the statements of bitterly biased 
 authorities, we look at the facts of the empire itself all need 
 for further argument to prove that the 4th century altogether 
 surpassed the 2nd century becomes xmnecessary. 
 
 Magnificent indeed is the spectacle of Rome's majestic 
 empire as we view it at the end of the reign of the last emperor 
 who ruled over the whole of it, and, turning away from the 
 local contests on its northern frontier which have for some time 
 occupied a disproportionate amount of our attention, look 
 at the whole vast empire which had been created by Augustus 
 and brought to its zenith by Constantine and his successors. 
 
 From the far regions of Caledonia in the west to the river 
 Tigris in the east, and from the long line of the Rhine, the 
 Danube, and the southern shores of the Black Sea in the north 
 to the deserts of the Sahara and Arabia in the south, mankind 
 
 xvi] 
 
 ROME'S MAJESTIC EMPIRE 
 
 587 
 
 had been brought to a pitch of civilization and enlightenment 
 higher far than the world had ever known before. This 
 empire's eighteen great provinces were ruled on behalf of the 
 emperor by ofl&cers themselves holding an almost royal posi- 
 tion. In every province were to be seen splendid cities whose 
 architecture, commercial life, and degree of civilization were a 
 marvel to the barbarian dwellers in regions outside the empire. 
 Roads from city to city traversed the empire, and along them 
 an organized service of posts made commimication easy even 
 between countries as far apart as Gaul and Mesopotamia. 
 Round every coast were harbours filled with shipping which 
 conveyed a busy commerce throughout all the shores of the 
 Mediterranean. Moreover the inhabitants of this empire 
 lived under a uniform and regular system of laws which had 
 gradually been perfected during more than 400 years, and 
 which, when discovered again after an oblivion of eight cen- 
 turies in the West, were destined to form the basis of the laws 
 of all modem countries. And as at the end of the reign of 
 Theodosius the Great we take the last look at this vast do- 
 minion of Rome before the decline and fall of one half of it 
 begin, we have before us an empire which had been brought 
 to such a pitch that when its western half passed away the 
 countries comprised therein would take more than nine hun- 
 dred years before they reached again a similar degree of order 
 and civilization. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 ^ Preface, p. xiii. 
 
 ' See Note D« Zosimus. 
 
NOTE D 
 
 589 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 For the period from Constantine to Theodosius (the 4th century) 
 the chief authorities are : — 
 
 (i) Eusehius, Bishop of Caesarea. He knew Constantine well, and 
 his chief works are his Ecclesiastical History ^ and his Life 
 of Constantine. He died in 340 (Christian.) 
 
 (ii) Lactantius. A teacher of rhetoric at Nicomedia, who became a 
 Christian, and in consequence of his high reputation was 
 invited by Constantine to Gaul and made by him tutor to 
 his son (iispus. He wrote various works, the chief being 
 his Institutiones Divince and his Deaths of the PersecrUors. 
 He died at Treves about 325 (Christian.) 
 
 (iii) Ammianus Marcellinus. An officer of the Imperial Guards 
 in the reigns of Constantine, Constantius, Julian, and Valen- 
 tinian. Retired from the army in 376 after more than forty 
 years* service. Wrote (about 378) a history from 98 to 
 378 in thirty-one books, but the first thirteen are lost. The 
 eighteen which survive deal with the period 353-378, de- 
 scribing events often witnessed by himself . Though a Pagan 
 he writes without any bitterness towards Christianity, and 
 although he occasionally shows Pagan bias against the 
 Christian emperors, is more free from it than any other 
 writer. He displays much admiration for Constantine, as 
 well as for all honest men, great power of describing char- 
 acter, and a desire to tell the truth as far as he knew it. 
 He died apparently in 378 (Pagan.) 
 
 (iv) Zosimus. A Pagan official of the Treasury at Constantinople. 
 Exceedingly bitter against the whole of the Christian em- 
 perors, and especially against Constantine. Wrote (about 
 425) a history the main object of which was to exalt the 
 period of the Antonine emperors as compared with that of 
 the Christian emperors. He dates the beginning of the 
 decline of the Roman empire from the close of the period 
 of the Antonine emperors, commencing his history at the 
 reign of Commodus and carrying it down to the capture of 
 Rome by the Goths in 410. He delights in traducing Con- 
 stantine and Theodosius, and finds nothing good in any 
 Christian emperor. To Zosimus the zenith of the Roman 
 empire was the age of the Antonine emperors and its nadir 
 that of the Christian emperors. His style is exceedingly 
 
 588 
 
 obscure and confused, his history being interspersed with 
 marvellous tales of heathen m5rthology intermingled with 
 bitter abuse of the Christian emperors. He has been largely 
 used by Gibbon, who it will be seeij has followed his theory 
 as to the period from which the decline of the Roman Empire 
 is to be dated. Zosimus' history must have been kept 
 hidden during his life (and for many centuries afterwards), 
 or its bitter spirit against Christianity, and numerous 
 falsifications of the truth, would assuredly have caused it to 
 be destroyed (Pagan.) 
 
 (v) Eutropius. A senator. Wrote (about 370) an abridgement 
 of Roman history. Put to death by Valens in 374 for 
 being concerned in the affair of the magic ring at Antioch 
 (Chap. XV, p. 527) (Pagan.) 
 
 (vi) Eunapius. A Pagan writer very bitter against both Con- 
 stantine and Theodosius. Wrote (about 410) a history 
 from 270 to 404, the chief object of which (as he himself 
 states) was to glorify the emperor Julian in comparison with 
 the Christian emperors (Pagan.) 
 
 (vii) Ausonius. Selected by Valentinian I as tutor to Gratian, 
 and was afterwards the latter's minister. He wrote various 
 poems of which the most important is the MoseUa. 
 
 (It is disputed whether he was a Pagan or a Christian.) 
 
 (viii) Themisteus. An orator. Thirty-three of his speeches are 
 extant. Lived chiefly in Constantinople. . . . (Pagan.) 
 
 (ix) The Notitia Dignitatum. Drawn up between 395 and 405. 
 A complete Official Directory and Army List for the whole 
 empire (see Chap, xvi, p. 572). 
 
 (x) The Theodosian Code. Codifying the whole legislation of the 
 period from 312 to 437. Begun in 429 and completed and 
 promulgated in 438. 
 
 The chief authorities of more modem times for the same 
 period are : — 
 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (published 
 
 1768-1788). 
 Tillemont's Histoire des Empereurs (published 1701-1738). 
 Clinton's Fasti Romani (published 1845). 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 500 
 
 NOTE E 
 Persian Kings of the dynasty of the SASSANiDiE, 
 
 FROM 226 TO 380. 
 
 [This dyruuty held the Persian throne for 400 years.) 
 
 Artaxerxes (Ardishir) 226-240 
 
 (Founder of the Persian empire.) 
 
 Sapor I, son of Artaxerxes 240-273 
 
 (Captured the emperor Valerian.) 
 
 Hormizdas I, son of Sapor I 274 
 
 Varanes I (Bahram I), son of Hormizdas I . . 274-277 
 
 Varanes 11 (Bahram II), son of Varanes I . . 277-294 
 
 (Defeated by Oirus.) 
 
 Varanes III (Bahram III), son of Varanes II . . 294 
 
 Narses, brother of Varanes III 294-303 
 
 (Defeated by Diocletian.) 
 
 Hormizdas 11, son of Narses 303-310 
 
 Sapor n, son of Hormizdas 11 . . . . . 310-380 
 (Bom in 310 after his father's death, and crowned 
 by the Magi even before his birth. Reigned 
 seventy years. Called "The Great King.") 
 
 For continuation of the Sassanian dynasty, see Vol. II, p. 323, 
 NoteK 
 
 j^ 
 
 Appendices 
 
 
REDUCTION 
 
 RATIO 
 
 CHANGE(S) 
 
 WITHIN 
 TITLE 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 GENEALOGY OF THE CAESARS. 
 
 SHOWING THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE FAMttY. 
 
 (i) Scribonias: Auflfustuft ={n) Livia 
 grandson of 
 Julius Caesar's 
 sister Julia, 
 b. B.C. 63 ; d. A.D. 14 
 
 (i) Marcus Agrippa= Julia =(ii) Tiberius 
 
 (i) Tiberius Claudius = Livia, =(u} AuffUStut 
 
 daughter of 
 Livius Drusus 
 Claudianus. 
 b. B.C. 58 ; d. A.D. 29 
 
 b. B.C.63: d. B.0.12 
 
 Caius 
 b. B.O. 10 
 d.Aj>.i 
 
 Lucius 
 
 b. B.C. 18 
 
 d. AJ>.2 
 
 Julia (2) 
 
 b. B.C. 16 
 d. A.D. 25 
 
 ^ .1. 
 
 Agnppina 
 the emer 
 
 b. B.O. 14 
 d.AJ>. 33 
 
 b. B.O. 39 
 d. A.D. 14 
 
 (i) Fomponia 
 Vipsania 
 
 =Tiberius= 
 
 b. B.C. 42 
 d. A.D. 37 
 
 =Qennanicua 
 
 Nero 
 
 b. A.D. s 
 
 d. A.D. so 
 = Julia (3) 
 
 Caius 
 
 b. A.D. 4 
 
 d. AJ>. 12 
 
 I 
 
 Drusus (3) 
 
 b. A.D. 6 
 d.AJ>.38 
 
 Caius 
 CCaliffuia) 
 
 b. A.D. 12 
 d. A.O. 41 
 
 — I — 
 
 Agrippma 
 
 the younger 
 
 b. AJ>. 15 
 
 <LAJ>.69 
 
 Agrippa 
 Postumus 
 b. B.C. 12 
 d. A.1). 14 
 
 J (ii) Julia, daughter 
 I of Augustus 
 
 Drusus (1) 
 b. B.C. 38 
 d. B.C. 9 
 
 Antonia, daughter of 
 Augustus' sister Octavia 
 and Marc Antony 
 b. B.C. 35: d. A.D. 39 
 
 Drusus (2) = Li villa 
 
 b. B.C. 12 
 d. A.D. 23 
 
 Gennanicus 
 b. B.C. 15 
 d. A.D. 19 
 
 =Agrippina 
 the elder 
 
 (i) Plautia 
 Urgulanillaj 
 
 t =Ciaudius= ( (ii) ^Eha ) 
 \ Petinaj 
 
 = (i) Domitius 
 Ahenobarbus 
 (ii) Crispus 
 Passientis 
 
 (iii) Oiaudius 
 
 Drusilla 
 
 b. A.D. 17 
 d. A.D. 37 
 
 =Lepidua 
 
 Julia 
 Li villa 
 
 b. A.D. 18 
 d. AJ>. 42 
 
 = Marcus 
 Vinidus 
 
 Two others 
 who died in 
 childhood 
 
 Julia (3) 
 
 b. A.D. 9 
 d. A.D. 43 
 
 1 
 
 Tiberius 
 Gemellus 
 
 b. A.D. 19 
 d. A.D. 38 
 
 I 
 
 Drusus 
 (died as 
 a child) 
 
 b. B.C. 
 d. A.D, 
 
 12 
 54 
 
 Claudia 
 (died as 
 a child) 
 
 /iii) Valeria MessalinaA 
 d. of Valerius Messala | 
 Be^batus, and great- 1 
 grand - daughter of I 
 Octavia, sister of Au- f 
 gustus, through both 
 father and mother 
 b.A.D. 23; d. A.D. 48 
 
 _ tix) Agrippina 
 j the 
 
 ^ yoimger 
 
 Li villa 
 b. B.C. 10 
 d. A.D. 31 , 
 
 = Drusus (2J 
 
 Antonia 
 b. A.D. 25 
 d. A.D. 65 
 
 I . 
 
 Octavia 
 b. A.D. 40 
 d. A.D. 62 
 
 =Nsro 
 
 Britannicus 
 
 b. A.D. 41 
 d. A.D. 55 
 
 (i) Octavia = Nero = (u) Poppaea Sabma = (iii) Statilia MessaUna 
 b. A.]>. 87 d. A.D. 65 
 
 d. A.I>. «8 
 
 
 ! !l 
 
 I i 
 

 APPENDIX n 
 ' Note on the Herods. 
 
 Herod the Great. His father, Antipater of Idumea, was given 
 the kingdom of Judoea by Julius Caesar. Upon Antipater's death 
 his son Herod after many struggles gained the kingdom. In 
 B.C. 30 he was confirmed in it by Octavius (afterwards Augustus), 
 his kingdom being enlarged in recompense for the assistance 
 he gave in the war against Antony and Cleopatra. Thereupon 
 Herod put to death all the members of the Sanhedrim except 
 two. He married the beautiful Mariamne, a princess of the for- 
 meriy reigning Asmonean house. Eventually, in one of the mad 
 storms of rage to which he was subject, he put her to death. He 
 was hated by the Jews, his policy being gradually to do away with 
 the Jewish theocracy. After many years of dark intrigues and 
 domestic tragedies he put to death his two handsome and accom- 
 plished sons by Mariamne. His name is repulsive in history 
 on account of his constant murders of his nearest kindred 
 in his mad rage. On his death-bed he ordered his eldest son 
 Antipater to be executed. A few months before this he had mas- 
 sacred all the children in Bethlehem, as recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment. He died in the same year, viz. a.u.c. 750 of the Roman 
 era (b.c. 4), the year of Augustus' census. His dominions he 
 l^vided among three of his sons : — 
 
 (i) Archelaus, who had as his share Judoea, Samaria, and Idumea. 
 He was given by Augustus the title of ^^^TMircA. In a.d. 7 
 he was deposed by Augustus, and banished to Vienne in 
 Gaul. 
 
 (ii) Herod Antipas. A full brother of Archelaus. Had as 
 
 his share Galilee and Peroea, with the title of Tetrarch, 
 
 He is erroneously called a king in St. Mark vi. 14. He 
 
 married first a daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, but 
 
 divorced her in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his 
 
 half-brother Philip (not Herod Philip, the Tetrarch). In 
 
 A.D. 26 he put to death St. John the Baptist, and it was to 
 
 him that Christ was sent by Pilate. In a.d. 36 Aretas 
 
 ^ made war upon him, and completely defeated him. In 
 
 ' A.D. 38 he was deprived of his dominions by Caligula, and 
 
 banished with Herodias to Lyons in Gaul. 
 
 (iii) Herod Philip. A half-brother of (i) and (ii), but a 
 
 different^ person from the Phihp who was the husband of 
 
 Herodias. He had, as his share of his father's kingdom, 
 
 ^ Batanea and other districts east of the Jordan, with the 
 
 title of Tetrarch. He married Salome, the daughter of 
 
 Herodias. 
 
 JC.W. 595 Q Q 
 
 9 
 
 » 
 
APPENDIX in 
 
 The method adopted by Tacitus in his '* Annah " in 
 regard to the Emperor Tiberius ; as unmasked 
 by Mr. T. Spencer Jerome. 
 
 The truer picture of the emperor Tiberius has recently been 
 forcibly substantiated by the scholarly examination of the portion 
 of Tacitus' Annah dealing with Tiberius, carried out by Mr. T. 
 Spencer Jerome, who unmasks as has never before been done the 
 subtle processes of the science in which Tacitus had been trained.* 
 After mentioning how the writing of history (so-called) in Tacitus' 
 time was considered to be a branch of rhetoric and oratory, Mr. 
 Jerome shows how cleverly Tacitus has followed the rules of that 
 science, and thereby produced a picture of Tiberius which is entirely 
 false. 
 
 After saying that the sketch of Tiberius given by Tacitus in the 
 Annals is considered to a considerable extent untrustworthy by 
 most scholars of to-day whose familiarity with the subject entitles 
 their opinion to respect, Mr. Jerome first points out how constant 
 and glaring in the Annals is the want of harmony between the 
 facts which Tacitus narrates and his generalizations, the latter 
 being completely out of accord with the former ; ^ as, for instance, 
 his constantly speaking of a " bloody tyranny " while the facts 
 which he relates in connection therewith show on the contrary 
 that it was safer to libel the " tyrant " than to bring accusations 
 against his enemies. Nor is it possible, as sometimes suggested, 
 that Tacitus in his picture of Tiberius was merely following an 
 established tradition. For the contemporary evidence is\ uni- 
 formly favourable to Tiberius, all sorts of writers for eighty years 
 after that emperor's death — moralists, philosophers, publicists, 
 satirists, and poets— aU making statements about Tiberius indi- 
 cating quite an opposite established tradition to that which Ta- 
 citus' theory requires. " Can we suppose," says Mr. Jerome, 
 " that Juvenal, if he had heard such stories as appear in Tacitus, 
 would have found no tarter phrase to apply to Tiberius than a 
 reference to his tranquil old age ? " 
 
 Mr. Jerome then points out that Roman education was de- 
 voted almost exclusively to rhetoric, that the object of this train- 
 ing was frankly avowed to be the production, not of truth, but of 
 
 * The Tacitean Tiberius^ a study in the historiographic methodf by Mr. T. 
 Spenoer Jerome ; published in ** Classical Philology,*' July, 1912. Also 
 Tiberitu at Capri, by Mr. T. Spencer Jerome ; a paper read at the Inter- 
 national (Congress of Historical Studies in London, April, 1913. 
 
 ' Mr. Jerome notes how this has always formed an insoluble problem to 
 ■oholars. 
 
 596 
 
 APPENDIX III 
 
 597 
 
 the imitation of truth, and that the natural result was seriously 
 to impair among the Romans the feeling for veracity.^ "Per- 
 fectly shameless mendacity characterized nearly all of them. 
 Cicero, who was no doubt above the average in character, was an 
 inveterate liar. Quintilian, also a virtuous man, makes his Insti- 
 tutes of Oratory in great part a treatise on Lying as a Pine Art. 
 .... It is evident that persons whose education was mainly 
 devoted to rhetoric, and who remained all their lives vastly ena- 
 moured of beautiful language, and furthermore were frankly and 
 freely mendacious— though regarding a good reputation as a 
 
 valuable asset on occasions when one wishes to deceive 2 it is 
 
 evident that such persons will approach the writing of history 
 with somewhat different ideas from those which we regard as 
 suitable." 
 
 After giving various instances showing that the writers of the 
 time, — though they often asserted their own veracity,— had no 
 belief in the veracity of others, Mr. Jerome says :— " By the time 
 of Tacitus the labours of many generations of rhetoricians had 
 reduced that art to a science, a kind of applied psychology, at 
 which the modems should not sneer, since it has deluded most of 
 them." He then details the maxims of this science as laid down 
 by its two great masters, Cicero and Quintilian, and shows how 
 carefully Tacitus has followed them, producing as a result the 
 Tacitaean Tiberius.3 The first of these maxims was the selection 
 of some particular " colour," or type, such as the miser, the lover, 
 the hero, or the coward. Among these types one which had long 
 been in high favour with rhetoricians was that of the " Tyrant " ; 
 not a tyrant over the people, but over the aristocracy, the word 
 meaning one who deprived the aristocracy of their special privi- 
 leges. So that Tacitus in adopting this type was following a 
 custom of his school which was highly in fashion. 
 
 Another maxim of this science was that in attacking a person 
 who stands well in public estimation it is safer, says Cicero, to 
 conceal your intentions and subtly to undermine him. Irrelevant 
 things may be brought in if they will arouse prejudice, and you 
 may refer to his relatives, or to the circumstances of his past life. 
 
 1 Since the Pagan writers represented the Pagan gods as frequently prac- 
 tising mendacity it was not to be expected that they should look upon 
 veracity as in any way essentiaL 
 
 « Quintilian, XH, 1, 12. 
 
 * Mr. Jerome's careful analysis of Tacitus' method, and of the way in 
 which he has followed the precepts of this subtle science, is highly instruc- 
 tive. It is supported by copious references to the Annals^ and should be 
 read in extenao. 
 
598 
 
 APPENDIX III 
 
 If it cannot be shown that he has committed any wrong, or even 
 been suspected thereof, it is well to suggest that he formerly con- 
 cealed his wickedness, or that he had no opportimity to manifest 
 his evil disposition, or had some reason to refrain from evil acts. 
 "This passage from the great model of Roman literary men,'* 
 says Mr. Jerome, " might be taken to be a summary of the intro- 
 duction of Tiberius to the reader of the AnnaU." He shows how 
 Tacitus follows these astute instructions to the letter, and that 
 the whole of his representations of Augustus as craftily founding 
 a despotism on the ruins of liberty, his various other insinuations 
 against Augustus, his hints against Livia in connection with the 
 deaths of JuUa's sons, and his still worse hint that Livia poisoned 
 Augustus, 1 are all intended as an introduction to lead up to the 
 picture of Tiberius, and to create an atmosphere, as inculcated 
 by Cicero. The instructions of the latter as to stating in full facts 
 which militate against the theory propounded, because it is dan- 
 gerous to exclude them, but to nullify their effect by skilful sneers, 
 hints, or innuendoes, are also followed by Tacitus throughout. 
 ** In all parts of the work," says Mr. Jerome, " we have Cicero's 
 precepts on this head followed ad nauseam. -At the same time the 
 stainless and austere private life of Tiberius, his long years of 
 arduous public service, and his briUiant military and civil career 
 are not mentioned." 
 
 Another important maxim was that it is sometimes advan- 
 tageous to insert false episodes, either to stir up the passioAs of 
 those whom it is desired to persuade, or to complete the unity of 
 the character drawn ; for according to the canons of the science 
 such a picture must possess the imity which should mark a work of 
 art. Cicero says that in introducing such episodes the truth of 
 the matter is of no importance, provided an air of verisimilitude 
 is obtained and that they be done with boldness, so as to catch the 
 attention ; while Quintilian lays down that such episodes must 
 be fabricated carefully, so as to seem probable, and should if pos- 
 sible be connected with something that is true. By long established 
 convention unity in the case of the character of the " Tyrant " 
 required the elements of Cruelty, Injustice, Suspiciousness, Crafti- 
 ness, and SensuaUty, from which foUowed naturally Anguish of Soul. 
 The strictness and rigour of Tiberius' treatment of aristocratic 
 misconduct, and his quick shrewdness and complete understand- 
 ing and destruction of the schemes of the aristocracy, could by 
 skilful distortion be made to appear as supporting generalizations 
 
 1 In these hints and innuendoes Tacitus palpably makes use of the Memoirs 
 of Agrippina the younger. 
 
 APPENDIX III 
 
 699 
 
 of Cruelty, Injustice, Suspiciousness, and Craftiness ; but there 
 were no facts which could be twisted into supporting even gener- 
 alizations of Sensuality and Anguish of Soul. So the Capri legend 
 was fabricated to serve the purpose as regards Sensuality ; and 
 later on a garbled letter to the Senate was hastily interjected into 
 an obviously unsuitable place,i to supply the remaining char- 
 acteristic of Anguish of Soul. 
 
 Mr. Jerome brings a mass of evidence taken from the Annals 
 which shows that the eleven years' orgy at Capri is one of these 
 products of the rhetorician's art, inserted solely so as to catch the 
 attention, and to supply the wanting element of Sensuality ; to- 
 gether with plentiful evidence that the story was not believed by 
 Tacitus himself. Following the maxim of his teachers to connect 
 the fabrication with something which is true, Tacitus inserted in 
 the story allusions to events of public history ; but these events 
 when examined are found not to have occurred at that time at aU, 
 but some thirty years earlier. And this, through being subsequently 
 more clumsily imitated by Suetonius, has led to the disclosure 
 of the falsehood of the whole story of the orgies said to have been 
 perpetrated by Tiberius at Capri.2 
 
 Mr. Jerome shows that up to the date of the publication of the 
 Annals — as late, that is, as a.d. 117 — there is not a hint of this 
 Capri legend regarding Tiberius in any of the eleven writers who 
 during the intervening eighty years had more or less to say about 
 this emperor, all of whom depict him as decent and serious. There 
 were scandalous stories invented by Julia and her lovers at the 
 time when, thirty years earlier, Tiberius was at Rhodes, stories 
 invented in order to prevent Augustus from recalling Tiberius to 
 Rome. These stories had long been forgotten in view of Tiberius* 
 unassailable private life, until eighty years afterwards Tacitus 
 dug them up, transferred them as to time and place, and inserted 
 them in the Annals as having occurred at Capri at the latter end 
 of Tiberius' life. " Thus," says Mr. Jerome, " a great literary 
 creation was made which the world has mistaken for history, and 
 the austere, stainless, and upright Tiberius was delivered over to 
 the world's scorn." 
 
 Finally, as an instructive general example of the way in which 
 Tacitus manages his narrative, Mr. Jerome takes the first few chap- 
 ters of the sixth book of the Annals, the bloodiest period of the 
 supposed furious tyranny. He shows how Tacitus first indulges 
 
 1 AnndUy VI, 6. 
 
 ^ For fuller details regarding the insertion of the Capri legend, and the 
 way in which its source has been thus detected by Mr. Jerome, see his paper, 
 Tiberius at Capri, 
 
606 
 
 Appendix hi 
 
 in a series of generalizations in which he gloomily refers to savage 
 mandates, incessant accusations, the ruin of the innocent, the 
 continual destruction of citizens, the glut of blood, trivial charges 
 punished as heinous crimes, and a remorseless tyrant lurkiilg about 
 the suburbs of Rome i to gaze upon the torrent of blood. Yet 
 when we come to the facts given in detail in connection with these 
 remarks they are found to be quite at variance with these general- 
 izations. Forming about one-sixth of the accusations set forth 
 by Tacitus for the whole reign, they resolve themselves upon exam- 
 ination into twenty cases, in nine of which the result was acquittal 
 or quashing of the proceedings ; in a tenth case a Senator was 
 exiled ; in seven cases there were convictions, but no indication 
 of any sentence ; in two cases there were convictions of men who 
 were odious as " delators," and two years afterwards one of them 
 was executed, these two condemnations seeming to Tacitus fully 
 merited ; and in the twentieth case a satirist for his scurrilous 
 writings was forbidden the emperor's table. No claim is made 
 that any innocent person was convicted ; and in most of these 
 cases the moderating influence proceeded from the " bloody ty- 
 rant." " Yet," says Mr. Jerome, " by the author's skilful use of 
 about a dozen invented passages, innuendoes, and declarations of 
 secret thoughts made according to the rules of rhetoric, the general 
 effect on ordinary readers, and on some scholars, is to make them 
 forget the tame facts and remember the striking embellishments ; 
 and the impression produced is that one is reading the record of 
 a bloody tyranny. The mastery of unscrupulous persuasion 
 developed in ancient writers by a sedulous and almost exclusive 
 devotion to rhetorical studies, based on a sound empiric psychology, 
 has during all the succeeding centuries filled the world with a mass 
 of distorted, contradictory, and impossible stories in all branches 
 of human thought. When even to-day so justly eminent a scholar 
 as Dr. Rhodes thinks that he finds in Tcwitus ' diligence, accuracy, 
 love of truth, impartiality, truthfulness and fairness in the narra- 
 tive,* we cannot sneer at rhetoric. It may seem poor enough stuff 
 when analysed, but it did its work to the confusion of historical 
 knowledge, and in popular opinion has probably damned Tiberius 
 beyond rescue." 
 
 In the present day, however, our object is the exact opposite 
 of that which inspired the rhetorical school of the 1st and 2nd 
 centuries, the modem scientific spirit demanding, not a cleverly 
 fabricated work of art, nor amusement or comfort from the pleas- 
 ing lie, but demanding one point alone — veracity. 
 
 * Yet as a fewjt Tiberius never visited Rome during these last eleven years 
 of his life, though he once made arrangements to do so and went part of the 
 way thither. 
 
 APPENDIX IV 
 
 Incursions of the barbarian tribes during the 250 years 
 from Domitian to Gonstantine. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Beign. 
 
 Race. 
 
 Result. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 
 
 87-90 
 
 Domitian 
 
 Dacians 
 
 Overran Moesia. An ignomini- 
 ous peace made by Domitian. 
 
 161-166 
 
 Marcus Aurelius 
 
 Parthians 
 
 Invaded the eastern frontier ; 
 defeated the Romcui army ; 
 war for four years, at end of 
 which Romans victorious. 
 
 166-172 
 
 Do. 
 
 Marcomanni 
 
 Swept over Pannonia, Noricum, 
 and Rhsetia ; ravaged the 
 whole country for six years, 
 and carried off 160,000 cap- 
 tives. Romans suffered many 
 defeats, but at length in 172 
 drove them out. 
 
 173-176 
 
 Do. 
 
 Marcomanni 
 
 Again swept over and ravaged 
 
 
 
 and Quadi 
 
 Pannonia, Noricum, and 
 Rhsetia. Eventually after 
 three years of war were driven 
 out. 
 
 176-176 
 
 Do. 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Overran the Rhine provinces. 
 After a year's war were driven 
 out. 
 
 177-180 
 
 Do. 
 
 Marcomanni 
 
 Again overran Pannonia, Nori- 
 cum, and Rhsetia, ravaging 
 those provinces. Contest con- 
 tinued without result for 
 three years, and was still 
 proceeding when Marcus Aur- 
 elius died. Peace hastily con- 
 cluded by Conmiodus. 
 
 232-233 
 
 Alexander Sev- 
 
 Persians 
 
 Indecisive war, but Mesopo- 
 
 
 erus 
 
 
 tamia preserved, and peace 
 eventually made. 
 
 234-235 
 
 Maximin 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Invaded the Rhine frontier, but 
 driven back over the Rhine 
 by Maximin. 
 
 242-244 
 
 Gordian III 
 
 Persians 
 
 Invaded the eastern frontier ; 
 defeated and driven back 
 across the Euphrates by 
 Gordian III. 
 
 250-251 
 
 Decius 
 
 Goths. 
 
 Overran Moesia and Thrace. 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 Great defeat of the Roman 
 army under Decius at Abri- 
 cium. 
 
 262 
 
 Galliis 
 
 Goths 
 
 Invaded the Danube provinces. 
 Driven out by ^milianus. 
 
 601 
 
602 
 
 APPENDIX IV 
 
 Ye«n. 
 
 Ileign. 
 
 Bace. 
 
 Result. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 254-260 
 
 Valerian 
 
 Franks 
 
 Crossed the Rhine and devas- 
 tated the whole of Gaul. 
 
 257 
 
 Do. 
 
 Persians 
 
 Reconquered Meeopoteunia and 
 Armenia, and ravaged tho 
 eastern frontier. 
 
 258-260 
 
 Do. 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Ravaged Rhsetia and Noricum 
 and penetrated into Italy as 
 far as Ravenna. Driven out 
 by a force collected by the 
 Senate. 
 
 268-260 
 
 Do. 
 
 Goths 
 
 Ravaged Pontus, Bithjmia, 
 Mysia, and Greece. 
 
 268 
 
 Do. 
 
 Persians 
 
 Defeated the Roman army, 
 carried off Valerian a 
 prisoner to Persia, and 
 ravaged Syria and Cilicia. 
 
 260-262 
 
 Gallienufl 
 
 Goths 
 
 Ravaged Greece and advanced 
 into Italy, but retired before 
 Gallienus. 
 
 26d 
 
 Claudius II 
 
 Goths 
 
 Ravaged Macedonia. Defeated 
 by Claudius, and destroyed. 
 
 270 
 
 Aurellan 
 
 Goths 
 
 Invaded Danube provinces, but 
 driven out by Aurelian. 
 
 270 
 
 Do. 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Invaded Rhsetia, and Italy as 
 far as Umbria, but crush- 
 ingly defeated by Aurelian. 
 
 276 
 
 Tacitus 
 
 AlAllB 
 
 Ravaged Pontus, Galacia, Cap- 
 podocia, and Cilicia. Driven 
 out by Tacitus. 
 
 277 
 
 Probus 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Invaded RhsBtia, but driven 
 out by Probus. 
 
 278 
 
 Do. 
 
 Sarmatians 
 
 Invaded Pontus, Galacia, and 
 Cappadocia, but driven out 
 by Probus. 
 
 880-281 
 
 Do. 
 
 Franks and 
 
 Invaded Gaul. Driven out by 
 
 
 
 Allemanni 
 
 Probus, pursued to the Elbe, 
 and made to sue for peace. 
 
 306 
 
 Constantine 
 
 Franks 
 
 Invaded Gaul and captured 
 
 
 
 
 Trdves. Defeated in two 
 battles by Const€uitine, and 
 driven out, their two kings 
 being put to death. 
 
 322 
 
 Do. 
 
 Sarmatians 
 
 Invaded IU3nricum. Defeated, 
 pursued into Dacia, and sub- 
 dued. 
 
 332 
 
 Do. 
 
 Goths 
 
 Invaded Mcesia. Defeated and 
 driven out by Constantine. 
 
 APPENDIX V 
 
 Foreign wars conducted by the Romans during the 
 240 years from Trajan to Constantine. 
 
 Year, 
 
 101 
 
 106 
 
 113 
 
 197 
 
 208 
 
 272 
 
 283 
 
 207 
 
 298 
 
 314 
 
 to 
 
 337 
 
 } 
 
 Reign. 
 
 Trajan 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Septimius 
 Severus 
 
 Bace. 
 
 Dacians 
 
 Daoians 
 
 Do. 
 
 Aurelian 
 
 Cams 
 
 Parthians 
 
 Parthians 
 
 Caledonians 
 Palmyra 
 
 Persians 
 
 For how 
 long. 
 
 101-103 
 106-106 
 
 113-116 
 197-200 
 
 Diocletian 
 
 Do. 
 
 Constantine 
 
 Persians 
 
 Persians 
 
 208-211 
 272-273 
 
 283 
 
 297 
 
 298 
 
 Aesult. 
 
 First campaign against the 
 Dacians. The latter de- 
 feated and subdued. 
 Second ceunpaign ageunst the 
 Dfikcians. The latter con- 
 quered, and Dacia incorpor- 
 ated in the Roman empire. 
 Colchis, Iberia, Osrhoene, 
 Armenia, Mesopotamia, and 
 Assyria conquered. 
 Parthicms defeated. Mesopo- 
 tamia (given up by Hadrian) 
 reconquered, and the fron- 
 tier again advanced to the 
 Tigris. 
 Only partially successful. Wall 
 
 of Severus built. 
 Zenobia defeated and taken 
 captive, and Palmyra de- 
 stroyed. 
 Ctesiphon and Seleucia taken, 
 the Persians thoroughly de- 
 feated, and pursued far to 
 the east. 
 The Persians attewjked by the 
 Romans under Galerius, 
 who was severely defeated. 
 The Persians again attacked, 
 completely defeated, and 
 five provinces beyond the 
 Tigris ceded to Rome. 
 No foreign wars. 
 
 603 
 
r3 
 
 APPENDIX VI 
 
 Decisions of the First General Council besides that 
 regarding the opinions of Arius, 6 July, A.D. 325. 
 
 1. " The festival of Easter to be kept everywhere on the same 
 day, and the Pope of Alexandria ^ to notify, as heretofore, to the 
 other churches on what day Easter will fall in the following year." 
 
 2. A man self-mutilated not to be ordained priest. 
 
 3. No one to be baptized, ordained priest, or consecrated bishop, 
 without due time for instruction and probation. 
 
 4. Priests not to have female inmates in their houses, except 
 near relations. 
 
 6. A bishop to be consecrated, if possible, by all the bishops 
 of the province, or at least by three, with the consent of the rest ; 
 the consecration to be confirmed by the Metropolitan. 
 
 6. Excommunications to be examined by the next metropolitan 
 synod, and if confirmed, then to be accepted generally. 
 
 7. The customary jurisdictions of the Metropolitan bishops of 
 Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome over all churches in those pro- 
 vinces to be maintained. 
 
 8. "As custom and ancient tradition show that the Bishop of 
 Jerusalem ought to be honoured in a special manner, he should 
 have precedence ; without prejudice, however, to the dignity which 
 belongs to the Metropolitan (i.e. of Csesarea)." 
 
 9. " The Cathari (Puritans), if they wish to enter the Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church, must submit to the imposition of hands. 
 They are not to be re-baptized." 
 
 10. " The ordination of men afterwards found to have committed 
 crimes is invalid, for the Catholic Church requires men who are 
 blameless." 
 
 11. " Lapsi " to be excluded from the ministry. 
 
 12. " Lapsi " to do penance among the " hearers " for three 
 years, and for two years more to take part with the faithful, but 
 without admission to the Holy Eucharist. 
 
 13. Those who have laid aside their belts (in the persecution), 
 and afterwards returned to military service, to do penance for three 
 years. 
 
 14. No one dying to be refused the viaticum (Holy Communion). 
 
 1 Regarding this title, see Chap. Xm, p. 440 (footnote). It had long 
 been the custom for the Pope of Alexandria to settle the date of Easter, and 
 to notify the same to all other Bishops throughout Christendom. 
 
 604 
 
 APPENDIX VI 
 
 605 
 
 15. Catechumens who have lapsed to be " hearers " for three 
 years. 
 
 16. Bishops and priests not to be translated to other dioceses 
 and parishes. 
 
 17. Priests and deacons leaving their own Church to be sent 
 back to it ; and no Bishop to steal, as it were, a person belonging 
 to another diocese and ordain him for his own Church. 
 
 18. Clergy not to take usury or any sort of scandalous gain. 
 
 19. Deacons acting as assistants not to administer the Holy 
 Eucharist to priests, it being contrary to custom that it should be 
 administered to those who offer the sacrifice by those who cannot 
 offer it. 
 
 20. Followers of Paul of Samosata wishing to return to the 
 Catholic Church to be re-baptized. 
 
 21. "As some kneel on the Lord's day and on the days of Pente- 
 cost, the holy Synod (i.e. the Council) has decided that, for the 
 observance of a general rule, all shall offer their prayers to God 
 standing on those days as on other days." 
 
 N.B. — An attempt was made at the Council to pass a Canon 
 directing the celibacy of the clergy, but it was thrown out, chiefly 
 through the opposition of Paphnutius (himself a celibate), who 
 declared that too heavy a yoke ought not to be laid on the clergy, 
 and that marriage is honourable in all. 
 
Appendix. vti 
 
 Skeleton f>l^.n of 
 * Constej^nhnople 
 
 %t.ait 
 
 
 L 
 
 one fryi 
 
 It 
 
 1. St. Sophia. 
 
 2. Augusteum (or Forum). 
 
 3. St. Irene. 
 
 4. Hippodrome. 
 
 6. Column of Aroadius. 
 
 6. Blachemae Palaoe. 
 
 7. The Qolden Gat«. 
 
 8. The seven towers. 
 
 9. Lighthouse. 
 
 The length of the Golden 
 Horn is seven miles. 
 
 N.B.— For fuller detculs of the 
 Imperial PaUoe and the build- 
 ings surrounding it, see Appendix 
 XIX (Vol. II). 
 
REDUCTION 
 
 RATIO 
 
 CHANGE(S) 
 
 WITHIN 
 TITLE 
 
APPENDIX Vlll 
 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS. 
 
 (1) Miiierviiia=Oonstantin«=(2) Fauata, 
 
 the Great 
 
 b.274; d.S37 
 
 OrmpoB 
 
 k«96;d.3M 
 
 dau. of 
 
 Maximian. 
 
 b.290; d.S2« 
 
 Oonstantine II 
 
 b. 316 ; d. 340 
 
 Oonstantius 
 
 b. 317 ; d. 361 
 x= (1) GaUa 
 b. 320 ; d. 350 
 
 s=(2) Eixsebia 
 
 b. 330 ; d. 359 
 
 *b(3) Faustina 
 
 (1) Helena = Oonstantlus Ohiorus 
 
 b. 262 (?) ; d. 327 I b. 246 (?)i d. 300 
 
 : (2) Theodosia, 
 step -daughter of Maximian 
 
 1 
 
 Delmatius 
 b. 293 
 
 Hannibalianus 
 b. 295 ; d. 337 
 
 CoDStantia 
 
 b. 318 
 
 Constantina 
 b. 319 ; d. 354 
 
 ■b(I) Hannibal- 
 
 ianuB 
 »(2) GaUua 
 
 (three sons) 
 
 Oonstans 
 
 b.320: d.350 
 
 Helena 
 b. 824 ; d. 360 
 
 = Julian 
 
 Delmatius 
 b.S16; d.337 
 
 (1) Galla = 
 
 Haimibalianus 
 
 b. 817 ; d. 337 
 = Constantina 
 
 illv 
 
 Gallus 
 b. 325 ; d. 354 
 —Constantina 
 
 Julius Constantitis 
 b. 297 ; d. 337 
 
 Galla 
 
 b. 320 ; d. 350 
 
 ^Constan- 
 tlus 
 
 (2) Basilina, 
 d. of Anicius 
 Jvdianus. 
 d. 332 
 
 Constantia 
 b.294; d.327 
 
 = Licinius 
 
 Anastasia 
 
 b. 300 
 =Ba8sianus 
 
 Eutropia 
 b. 302 ; d. 360 
 
 =Nepotianua 
 
 Jul an 
 
 b. 332 ; d. 363 
 ^Helena 
 
 Licinianus 
 b. 314 ; d. 326 
 
 Nepotianufl 
 d.350 
 
 Gonatantma Postumft 
 
 b. S61 ; d. 381 
 
 -^Qratlan 
 
APPENDIX IX 
 Distances by the main road from the West to the East. 
 
 (From Treves in Gaul to the Roman frontier 
 at Circesium in Mesopotamia.) 
 
 PUCM. 
 
 Inter- 
 
 mediate 
 
 (L) 
 
 Treves to Lyons 
 Lyons to Turin 
 Turin to Milan . 
 
 miles. 
 
 350 
 
 290 
 
 100 
 
 Milan to Verona 
 Verona to Aquileia 
 Aquileia to .^Emona 
 Mmona, to Siscia 
 Siscia to Sinnium . 
 
 Sinnium to Naissus 
 Naissus to Sardica .... 
 Sardica to Philippopolis . 
 Philippopolis to Hadrianople . 
 Hadrianople to Constantinople 
 
 Constantinople to Csesarea 
 Csesarea to Edessa ♦ 
 Edessa to Carrhse . 
 CarrhsB to Besaina 
 Resaina to Circesium . 
 
 From Circesium onwards to 
 Ctesiphon, 320 miles. 
 
 miles. 
 
 740 
 
 100 
 130 
 80 
 160 
 200 
 
 220 
 110 
 110 
 100 
 160 
 
 Inter- 
 mediate 
 
 miles. 
 
 670 
 
 690 
 
 360 
 
 210 
 
 40 
 
 70 
 
 170 
 
 Inter- 
 mediate 
 (ili.) 
 
 miles. 
 
 1410 
 
 TotaL 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 690 
 
 850 
 
 2100 
 
 850 
 
 850 
 
 TotcJ from Treves to the 
 at Circesium 
 
 Roman frontier) 
 
 Cross Alps, by the 
 MontCenis Pass. 
 
 Cross Julian Alps, 
 by "Pear Tree** 
 Pass. 
 
 I Sardica to the Succi 
 Pass, 65. 
 Succi Pass to Phil- 
 ippopolis, 45. 
 Milan to Constanti- 
 nople, 1,360. 
 
 Cross the Bosphorus. 
 
 fCarrhse to Nisibis, 
 140. 
 Nisibis tothe Tigris 
 at Bezabde, 70. 
 
 2950 
 
 * NB. From Antioch to Edessa is 170 miles. 
 
 611 
 
APPENDIX X 
 
 Countries to which the most important emperors 
 from Trajan to Theodosius belonged. 
 
 Emperor. 
 
 Coantry. 
 
 Birthplace. 
 
 Trajan .... 
 
 Belonged to a Roman family 
 settled in Spain. 
 
 
 Hadrian .... 
 
 Rome. 
 
 
 Antoninus Pfus . 
 
 Belonged to a Roman family 
 settled in GauL 
 
 
 Marcus Aurelius . 
 
 Rome. 
 
 
 Septimius Severus 
 
 North Africa. 
 
 r Leptis Magna (th 
 \ modem Tripoli) 
 
 
 
 Beoius .... 
 
 Rome. 
 
 
 Valerian .... 
 
 Rome. 
 
 
 Claudius II . . . 
 
 Ulyricum. 
 
 Aurelian .... 
 
 Dlyrioum. 
 
 
 Tacitus .... 
 
 Rome. 
 
 
 Probus .... 
 
 Pfiumonia. 
 
 Sirmium. 
 
 Diocletian . . . 
 
 Ulyricum. 
 
 Salona, near Spalato. 
 
 Constantine . . . 
 
 Daitlania (a new province 
 formed out of a part of 
 McBsia). 
 
 Naissus. 
 
 Valentinian I . . 
 
 Pannonia. 
 
 Cibalse. 
 
 Theododus . . . 
 
 Belonged to a Roman family 
 
 
 
 settled in Spain. 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 B«kr & 
 
 Fi 
 612 
 
 and Loodoft 
 
/ 
 
 
 ^SI^ISP^ UNIVERSITY 
 
 ■HP 
 
 I" I. 
 
 ■■■M 
 
w- 
 
 
 .iift 
 
 i'^* 
 
 ^; 
 
 -4s>.s 
 
 %- 
 
 * ^-- :•.-.">;».<, 
 
 -•J 
 
 KTijAvj 
 
 s%w ';-j 
 
 .'■j 
 
 -*ti. 
 
 
 t»n* 4 
 
 ^i. "„ 
 
 ^f?l£^^3B«Ba*:**s.. 
 
 "if'c: 
 
m 
 
 J^^'-^-m 
 
 ■^Ki»S»«^, 
 
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 »■*-. 
 
 Cobimbia ®itf btMftp 
 
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 JfatlfatiW (Bttrrtrr JTntii 
 
 tor tl^ 
 
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 This book is due two weeks from the last date stamped 
 below, and if not returned at or before that time a fine of 
 five cents a day will be incurred. 
 
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 AUG B n ^Q2: f 
 
 *'*N 2 e m \i 
 
 V 
 
EAST AND WEST THROUGH 
 FIFTEEN CENTURIES 
 
Tomb of Stii.icho. 
 
 PUurd under tho pulpit in the cathedral of Milan, now the church of St. Aiiibrt>it'. 
 
 (Rrhgi. 
 
'r*»Mi: 
 
 IM' Mil K 111 
 
 '"'■'■ •••'' '!!■) i' ' '*" Pn'f''' "■ '''I-' «'4tll».;'ltMi "I \|il I 
 
 t!,!;' I ijuj-it.li 111 Si. a 
 
 trit>r. 
 
EAST AND WEST 
 THROUGH 
 FIFTEEN CENTURIES 
 
 BEING 
 
 A GENERAL HISTORY FROM B.C. 44 
 
 TO A.D. 1453 
 
 By 
 Br-Genl. G. F. young, C.B 
 
 AUTHOR OP " THE MEDICI 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. II 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 FOUBTH AVENUE & 30th 8TEBET, NEW YORK 
 
 BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 
 
 I916 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. II 
 
 PART IV 
 
 Destruction of the western half of the Roman Empire. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 Beginning of the break up. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 v . 7- 
 
 General view o break up of western half of the empke. 3-The wreck of a world. 4- 
 «^7 »i«^»in8 to bear burdens necessary for self-defence, S-Swiftness of the iver- 
 A^Z Q T^ ""^TTl^' «-^'-<'adiu8 and Honorius two nonentities. 7-StiUcho, 8- 
 t^^' r^^'^'i. °'u'^' Visigoths, ll-Marriage of Arcadius. ll-Vlsigoths attack 
 I^v h^ .'h^^^;:?'*!^ of Ruflnus, 13-Arcadius and Eudoxia. 15-First invasiorof 
 tS pf P^ Visigoths, 17-Simultaneou8 attack by Radagaisus, 19-AIaric's opera- 
 
 frn^Vir.o*^'^ ''"*.* *^^ '^''"'^ °^ ^''^"' 22-Withdrawal of the Twentieth legion 
 from Britoin 23-Visigoth3 urge Alaric to abandon his enterprise, 24-Battle of Pollen- 
 Ua, -6-Birth of Theodosius II, 27-Eudoxla's contest with Chrysostom, 29-Removal 
 of western capital to Ravenna, 31 -Second invasion by Radagaisus, 32-It8 defeat. 
 33-Animo«ity agamst Stilicho. 34-VandaU, Alans and Suevi invade Gaul. 35-The 
 usurper Constantine withdraws the two remaining legions from Britain. 35— Death of 
 Arcadius 36-Cabal to destroy Stilicho. SS-Massacre of eight high officials at Pavla. 
 39— Murder of StiUcho. 40— Massacre of the families of the Teuton auxiliaries 42— 
 The pen versus the sword. 43-Alaric'8 second invasion of Italy. 45-Innocent I, 48— 
 Rapid disappearance of the Roman army in the West, 49— Fall of Rome 51— Death 
 of Alaric, 52-The De Civitate Dei, 53 pageg ^64 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 The stobm at its height. 
 
 410-450 The Vandals, Alans, and Suevi seixe Spain, 55— The Franks, Allemanni, and BuTfun- 
 dians seize Gaul, 55— Destruction of Roman Britain, 56— The princess Galla Placidia, 
 57— Ataulf, 58— •• Gothia " and " Romania," 59— Marriage of Ataulf and Galla Pla- 
 cidia, 61— Death of Ataulf, 62— Theodosian Wall, 64— Pulcherla made empress, 64— 
 Hypatia, 65— Galla Placidia married to Ctonstantius, 66— Eudocia, 67— Death of 
 Honorius, 68— Galla Placidia regent, 69— Ravenna in the 5th century, 70— AeUus and 
 Boniface, 71— Vandals invade North Africa, 72— Death of St. Augustine, 72— Devasta- 
 tion of North Africa, 73— Pulcheria inaugurates Theodosian Code, 74— Nestorian heresy, 
 75— Third General CouncU, 76— Conquest of North Africa by the Vandals completed, 
 79— Its prosperity when thus lost by Rome, 80— Roman remains and mosaics, 81— 
 The Huns, 84— Attila, 85— Honoria, 85— Valentinian III, 86— PubUcation of Theodosian 
 Code, 86— The Hungeld, 88— Attila Invades Greece. 88— Eutychian heresy, 89— The 
 Latrocinium, 90— Death of Theodosius II, 91— Pulcheria proclaimed empress hi her 
 own right, 92— Galla Placidia's building operations, 94— The Flamlnian Way in fifth 
 century, 95— Luxury of the Roman nobles at this time, 96— Death of Galla Placidia, 
 96 — Her mausoleum, 97 . Pages 55-98 
 
▼1 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 The dying empibe in the West. 
 
 AJ>. 
 
 461-476 The Huns Invade Gaul, 99— Great battle of the Mauriac PUin, 101— Fourth General 
 Council, 103— Its decision Incorporated in the Athanasian Creed, 104— Importance in 
 the Church not dependent upon the gee held, 106 — Question of precedence between 
 Koine and Constantinople, 107— Leo the Great, 108— Hilary of Aries, 110— Huns 
 Invade Italy, 111— Destruction of cities of northern Italy, 112— Meeting of Leo and 
 AttUa, 114— Death of Attila, 116— Impression produced by exploits of Attila, 116— 
 The Nibelungen Lied, 117— Death of the empress Pulcheria, 117— Her character, 119 
 —Death of Valentinian III, 120— Rome captured by the Vandals, 121— The emperor 
 Leo I, 123— Great Armada sent agahist the Vandals, 124— Murder of Aspar, 125— 
 Eight puppet emperors in the West, 125— The Visigoths, 126— The Vandals, 127— 
 Romulus Augustulus, 127— End of western half of the empire, 128— Terrible result to 
 countries concerned, 129— Britain " the island of ghosts," 130— The agony of regret, 
 131— Need not have occurred, 131— The military position, 132— A nation in arms, 138 
 —Declining birthrate, 134— Seeds of decay how planted, 135- Damnhig fact as to 
 nobles of Rome, 136— The lesson, 137 Pages 99-140 
 
 PART V 
 
 The age of Theodoric the Great, the Emperor Justinian, 
 Chosroes I, AND Gregory the Great, and the affairs of 
 
 the western NATIONS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Theodoric the Great. 
 
 47»-52« Odoacer, 143— Revolt In I^^oricum, 145— The emperor Zeno, 146— Verlna, 147— The 
 Ostrogoths, 148— Theodoric, 149— Ostrogoths Invade Italy, 150— Battle of the Isonao, 
 151— Battles of Verona and the Adda, 152— Anastasius I chosen emperor, 152— Capture of 
 Ravenna, 153— Murder of Odoacer, 153— The Franks, 154— Clovis, 164— Clotilda, 155— 
 Conversion of the Franks, 156— Conquests of Clovis. 156— Battle of Vouill6, 156— The 
 Later Roman Empire, 157— Wise rule of Anastasius I, 158— Expulsion of the Isaurians 
 158— Persian War, 159— Kobad, 159— The Long WaU, 159— Reorganisation of the army] 
 160— Successful finance, 161— Justin I, 162— Saxons. Jutes and Angles invade Britain! 
 162— King Arthur, 163— Shrine of Avallon, 163— Change wrought in the Romanized 
 Britons, 164— Theodoric's enlightened rule over Itely, 165— His principles of govern- 
 ment, 167— The Anonymut Vaierii, 168— Artemidorus, 169— Tulum, 169— Boethius, 
 170— Distortion of Gothic names derived from Thiuda, 171— Theodoric's matrimonial 
 alliances, 172— His conquests, 173— Troubles of last three years of his reign, 173— 
 Trial and execution of Boethius, 175— Difficulties created by attitude of the Romans, 
 178— Embassy sent to Constantinople, 179— Execution of Symmachus, 180— Death 
 of Pope John I, 181— Death of Theodoric, 182— False colour given by Roman writers 
 to these events, 183— Injustice consequentiy done to Theodoric, 184— His character, 
 186— His equestrian statue, 187— His mausoleum, 187— Unworthy treatment of his 
 remains by the Romans, 188— The church built by him, 189 . . Pages 141-190 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Vll 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Justinian (first seventeen years of his reign). 
 
 l.D. 
 
 627-544 Justinian, 191-Marriage, 192-Elu8lve character, 192-The Secret History 193- 
 fjf f^^'T '*^*^°°'' 195-Theodora, 196-Picture8 of Justinian and Theodora. 
 197-Ju8tinian 8 Code, 198-Per8ian War, 200-" Nika " insurrection, 201-Theodora'; 
 spc^h, 203-Army in Justinian's time, 205-Expedition agahist Nortti Africa, 206- 
 Battie of Ad Decimum, 207-Carthago. 209-Battie of Tricameron, 210-GeJimer 
 brought a prisoner to^Tonstantinople, 212— Change in Justinian's position after " Nika " 
 Insurrection, 214-Amala8untha, 215-Thiudahad, 216-Murder of Amalasuntha, 217- 
 Expe(Ution agamst Itely 21 7-" Romans." 218-BeUsarius' study of his profession, 
 wft^f 991 ^ y^^ "^^J^f • -^^-" G^^ekUngs," 220-Capture of Naples, 220- 
 Witigls 221— Last view of Imperial Rome, 222-Pir8t siege of Rome, 224-ViffIlius 
 r^,l, ^^', ^' .^°™' ^l Theodora, 227-Ostrogoths abandon siege of Rome, 229- 
 
 oZn 9.9 p i^rVK^^V^,"*" **^"" ^y ^^' ^^^'^^^ 231-Sieges of Flesile and 
 Oslmo. 232-Raid by the Franks, 233-Beli8arius takes Ravenna, 234-Urged by the 
 
 nalLT'/n^^p*"? *»»^*^, i!j«' 238-Building of St. Sophia, 239-R;buUdtogTimpe^I 
 palace 240-Palace of Theodora, 241-Vast scheme of fortifications, 242-lchosroe8 I 
 Fab'iiior^'' ^T^ 244-Reception of captive Ostrogoths, 245-P;rsian War, SJ- 
 
 Pan orrn^Tr ^^^^ ^.^ ^Jf/*^"^ ^^'^' 247-^ampaign in Mesopotamia 248- 
 Fall of John of Cappadocia, 249-Defeat of Chosroes I, 251-The plague 251-Iltoess 
 of Justinian 252-Beli^rius disgraced, 252-Theodora's letter to h m,^3-Gr evo^ 
 L?7 SJ *?^.^^o.'l' ^5-Totila, 256-His victories, 257-Gains n^riy^l Sy 
 to r^fonaueTS So"''*''' ^^^^eries homes of learning. 259-BelLrius seni 
 Huci *wiiy, ^ou p^gg 191-262 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 JUSTINLAN (LAST TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF HIS REIGN). 
 644-565 ^»«;<^«^tory state of the war in Italy, 263-Bell8ariu8- letter to the emperor 264- 
 
 any innabltant, 267— Recaptured by Belisarius, 267— A thh-d time besieced 2m 
 ?aZl o^Tf^""^ ""'o,';' 268-Artebanes, 268-kavenna in time of Ju^tS mZ 
 2?6 M^f. nr^' 2^f-^i"^«h of St. Vitelis, 274-^hurch of St. ApoUiS^e Nuovo 
 In ^sT^f r^^Jfr °^^',277-It8 importance. 279-Church of St Apo^S 
 Deat^of'Se;;;ior9T"?T*^ *^ '^^''^ Chapters," 282-Justhiian's edlcr^^- 
 Sws 2l5-HS^Siitfl7^' ".^^T*"'' ^*-^" *^"^ ^'"^ i^ t^o o' JustlWn's 
 »Kain Desieged, ^7— Life m Constantinop e, 288— The Franks 289— Diviainn of fho 
 c'^nfured^JrVJaS'^^^' ^!?-^-^- Of Chlodomfr-r^hi'lZ, s'So-Br/und; 
 lTl~YM^ot^7r^Z^v^^^^^ I '^"^^^ ^he Frank kingdom. 
 
 909 ,V» ^ ^^ ^ ^^^ ^y ^^^ ^'^''^^' 292-Athanagild, 292-Ob8curity in Britata 
 
 Cofchian rar29r'rn%f '~/f"V"^" *'"^*^" of Theodora's 7^1^293-'^^ 
 naWH r;*'^' 294-Gepid» and Lombards, 294-Bulgarian8 and Sclavs 295-Pfiru. 
 
 297 To? U'«' ^"*^'; 295-Deatii of Oermanus. 296-Force sent to Itefy Jnder nL^ 
 ilrl 1 . fJ*" ""^ campaign. 299-Battie of Helvillum. 301-Death of TotlL Jor* 
 
 ^iT^V^'Z^::^''-^^^-^!''!^ '^' ^"^- 304-jUnian Wo?d^eS"!rC^ 
 ^ ^m ThTJ^F^ ' 305-His deep theological studies, 306-Legend regaMlM 
 
 S^n^fi^to itly 3^f ^^^^^ f l-f "^ «--'^' CO'^-^'"' 309-Raid l?^e? 
 
 ^-Ri^o^run- ;», r^^ ^^"°'' *^*^''''* ^P*»"' 313-The Turks, 313-The Avars 
 Hlsl^?i^3^ Fonrn^'' Constantinople. 314-Unju8t treatment o Belisarius. sl?- 
 
 ' Pages 263-328 
 
▼Ill 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 The age of Greooby the Great. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 665-604 Jtwtin U, 324--Emba88y of the Avars, 324— Destruction of the Gepldas, 325— Embassy 
 of the Turks, 326 — Conquest of Italy by the Lombards, 327— Trampled under foot, 
 328— Tenacity of the Latin race, 32»— Birth of Venice, 32»— Rosamund, 331— Death 
 of Alboln, 331— Ten years' anarchy in Italy, 332— Insanity of Justin n, 333— War 
 with Persia, 334— Suicide of 2,000 girls, 335— Invasion of Carduene, 336— Tiberius II, 
 336— His new policy, 337— Death of Chosroes I, 338— Wide dominion of the Avars, 
 33a— The emperor Maurice, 33»— Attitude in religion, 341— Successful conclusion of 
 Persian war, 842— Incursions of Avars and Sclavs, 343 — The Franks, 344 — Gregory of 
 Tours, 344— Death of Chlotochar I, 345 — Long tragedy of Bruiihllda and Fredegonda, 
 345— Tragic death of Brunhilda, 34»— Enlightened character of her rule, 34»— The 
 Visigoths, 350— Leovigild, 350— Ingundis, princess of Austrasla, 351— Brings about 
 conversion of the Visigoths. 352— Reccared I, 353— Synod of Toledo, 353— The flUoque 
 clause in the creed, 353— Britain, 354— Battles of Saxons and Angles against the Britons, 
 354— iEthelfrith, King of Northumbria, 355— The Lombards, 355— Marriage of Autharls 
 to Thiudallnda, 357— Agllulf, 357— Change wrought In the Lombards by Thludallnda, 
 358— Final triumph of the Catholic faith, 360— Gregory the Great, 361— Extent of his 
 authority, 363— His letters, 365— His difficult position, 367— Rome in his time a city 
 of ruins, 369 — His wide Influence. 370— His mLsslon to Britain, 371— Revolution in 
 Constantinople, 375— Murder of the Emperor Maurice, 376— Phocas, 377— Disgraceful 
 conduct of Gregory the Great, 378 — Apparent cause of his action, 379 — His death, 380 
 —Usually praised on mistaken grounds. 381— Chief claim to honour, 382— His letters 
 to Popes of Constantinople and Alexandria, 383— Denunciation of title " Universal 
 Btehop," 385 — Strenuous opposition to imperialism in the Church, 386 — Wrongly called 
 founder of the Medieval Papacy, 387— His real claim to greatness, 389— Interest of 
 the 5th and 6th centuries, 390 Pages 324-390 
 
 PART VI 
 
 The overthrow of Persia, the struggle against the Mahome- 
 dans, and the affairs of the western nations in the 
 seventh century. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 The EMPEROR Heraclius. 
 
 604-641 Phocas, 393— Devastation of the empire, 394 — Column of Phocas, 395 — Heraclius, 396 — 
 Coronation, 398 — Reorganization of public affairs, 399 — Appearance and character, 402 
 — The quality of gimiHttia, 402 — Comparison between Heraclius and Justinian, 402 — 
 Persian Invasion of Syria. Asia Minor, and Egypt, 403 — Project to remove the capital, 
 404 — Insulting letter of Chosroes II, 405 — Dismay at proposal to remove capital, 406 — 
 Attempt by Avars to capture Heraclius, 407 — Attack by the Persians at Chaicedon, 
 408 — War against Persia, 409 — Power and splendour of Chosroes II, 410 — Six cam- 
 paigns of Heraclius, 411 — First campaign, 412 — Second campaign, 413 — Third cam- 
 paign, 413 — Fourth campaign, 415 — Fifth campaign, 417 — Siege of Constantinople, 
 418 — Sixth campaign, 419 — Destruction of Persian empire, 420 — Burning of Dastagherd, 
 421 — Triumphal return of Heraclius, 422 — The Lombards, 423 — Death of Thiudallnda, 
 425— Reverence by the Lombards for her memory, 425 — Relics of her at Monza, 425— 
 The " Iron Crown," 426 — Suggestion that it Is Constantine's crown. 428 — Laws of 
 Rotharis, 430— The Franks, 431— Chlotochar II, 432— Dagobert. I, 432— Britain, 432— 
 Fierce struggle between Paganism and Christianity in Britain, 433 — Baptism of Edwin, 
 King of Northumbria, 433 — His defeat and death, 434 — Aldan sent to Northumbria, 
 435 — Lindlsfarae, 435 — " lona's saints," 435 — Mahomed, 435—" Whirlwind sweep " 
 of the Mahomedans, 436 — Spirit In which they fought, 437 — Unfair estimate formed 
 of the Romans In this contest, 438 — Battle of Ajnadein, 441 — Capture of Damascus, 
 442 — Battle of the Yermuk, 443— Illness of Heraclius, 443 — Capture of Jerusalem, 444 
 — Mahomedan conquest of Mesopotamia, 444 — ^The Monothelite Controversy, 446 — The 
 EdUketia, 448 — The Sclavs become feudatories of the empire, 448 — Latin versus Greek, 
 448 — Mahomedan conquest of Persia, 449 — Four days' battle of Kadesia, 450 — Capture 
 of Ctesiphon, 450 — Immense spoil taken, 450 — Battles of Yalulah and Nehavend, 450 — 
 Mahomedan conquest of Egj'pt, 451 — Alexandria besieged, 451 — Death of Heraclius, 
 452 — Mistaken view which has been held regarding him, 452 — The power of enthusiasm, 
 453 — Deserves honour as one of the greatest emperors . Pages 391-454 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 IX 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CONSTANTINE III, CONSTANS II, CONSTANTINE IV, AND 
 
 Justinian II. 
 
 A.]>. 
 
 641-711 Gradual shrinking of the empire, 465— Constantinople the fortress of Europe, 456— 
 ConstanUne III, 456— Martina banished, 457— Her ability, 457— Fall of Alexandria, 
 458— Foundation of Cairo, 459— First invasion of North Africa, 459— Battle of Sufetula, 
 460— Constans II, 460— His self-reliant character, 461— Non-partisan attitude in rcUgion] 
 462— His edict the Type, 463— IndignaUon which It aroused, 465— Affairs in Britain,' 
 465— Penda, King of Mercia, 465— Oswald, King of Northumbria, killed, 466— Defeat 
 and death of Penda, 466— Foundation of Peterborough, 467— Depressed state of the 
 Roman See, 468— Pope Martin I banished, 469— The Mahomedan advance arrested, 
 472— Naval battle at Phoenix, 472— Death of the Khalif Othman, 472— AU and Mua- 
 wiyah, 473— Sunnis and Shlahs, 473— Murder of All, 473— Changed Mahomedan policy, 
 474— Expedition of Constans against the Sclavs, 474— Division of empire into Themes] 
 ♦75— Bavarian line of Lombard Kings, 477— Departure of Constans to Italy, 478— 
 
 His successes over the Lombards, 479— Retakes Carthage from the Saracens, 481 
 
 Death of Constans II, 482— His interesting character, 483— Affairs in Britain, 486— 
 Conference of Whitby, 487— Theodore of Tarsus, 487— ConstanUne IV, 488— Raids of 
 the Saracens, 489— Recovered prosperity of North Africa, 490— Its "Byzantine" 
 fortresses, 491— Foundation of Kairowan, 492— Five years' siege of Constantinople, 493— 
 "Romaic Are," 493— Great victory, 494— Crushing effect upon the Saracens, 495— 
 Birthday of the Church of England, 496— Important effect upon the English race, 497— 
 Kingdom of Bulgaria founded, 498— Great increase of the Sclavs, 499— Expedition of 
 Hosein to Kufa, 500— Tragedy of Kerbela, 501— Sixth General Council, 501— Four 
 Popes declared heretics, 504— Okba's raid In North Africa, 508— Death of Constantine 
 IV, 510— Justinian II, 510— His successes agamst the Saracens, 511— Campaign against 
 the Bulgarians, 611— Quinisext Council, 512— Defeat at Sebastopolis, 512— Justinian 
 mutilated and banished, 613— The Franks, 514— " Rois fahi^ants," 614— Pepin of 
 Heristal, 614— England, 615— Loss by Northumbria of the supremacy, 516— Ina, King 
 of Wessex, 515— Glastonbury, the great link, 517— Leontius, 618— Destruction of 
 Carthage, 618— Apsimar, 618— The Saracens driven back into Egypt, 619— Justhiian's 
 vicissitudes, 520— Regains his throne, 522— His vengeance, 523— His death, 525— End 
 of dynasty of Heraclius, 526— Saracens again advance against North Africa, 526— 
 Its prosperous condition, 527— Roman character of its population, 628— Constanthiople 
 unable to assist, 531— The conquest wrapped in obscurity, 632— Musa's advance, 533 — 
 Cities in turn taken, 534— Fate of the Roman population, 637— Impossibility that they 
 can have become Mahomedans, 639— Testimony of race, 539— Testimony of the land, 
 640— North Africa left a ruin, 642 Pages 465-542 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 The EMPEROR Leo III. 
 
 711-740 PhlUppicuB, 543— Anastasius II, 544— Military character of the Themes, 544— Theodoslus 
 III, 646— Saracens conquer Spain, 546— Their victories in India, 549— Leo III, 550— 
 Great siege of Constanthiople, 550— Effect of the defeat upon the Omeyyad dynasty, 
 562— Leo's regeneration of the empire, 653— His reforms, 564— Iconoclasm, 555— 
 Stages In the growth of superstition, 557— Iconoclastic war begun, 559— Opposition 
 of Gregory II, 561— Resignation of Germanus, Pope of Constantinople, 562— The Lom- 
 bards, 563— Liutprand, 663— His laws, 564— Triangular duel in Italy, 564— The Franks, 
 566 — Charles Martel, 567— Saracen invasion of France, 667— Great battle of Poictlers, 
 569— Charles Martel ruler of France, 570— His death, 670— England, 671— ^Ethelbald, 
 King of Mercia, 571— English missions to Germany, 571— Royal pilgrimages, 673 — 
 Abdication of Ina, King of Wessex, 570— The Venerable Bede, 574— Aldhelm, Csedmon, 
 and Isidore of Seville, 674— Fleet sent to seize Gregory III, 575— Dioceses of southern 
 Italy transferred to eastern patriarchate, 676— Papal writers^of 9th and 10th centuries 
 unreliable regarding 7th and 8th centuries, 677— The HodegHria, 679— Its remarkable 
 history, 580— Battle of Acroinon, 681— The Edoga, 582— Its three subsidiary codes, 
 583— Commerce and wealth of the empire, 585— The gold byzant, 585— Order, justice, 
 and moral tone, 586— The army, 686— General estimate of the Later Roman Empire, 
 688— Social life in Later Roman Empire in 8th century, 688— Education, manners, 
 and customs, 588— Splendour of the imperial court, 589— Ladles' titles, 590— Men 
 who defended the empire, 590— Death of Leo III, 591— His character and acliievements, 
 591— Character of the emperors from 395 to 740, 593— General view over East and West 
 in the middle of the 8th century, 593 Pages 543-595 
 
 / 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 PLATB 
 UX. 
 
 LX. 
 
 LXI. 
 LXII. 
 
 ULIII. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 LXV. 
 UCVI. 
 
 Lxvn. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 IJLIX. 
 
 JJLX, 
 
 TO fACS PAOB 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Tomb op Stilicho 
 
 Interior of Gaiajl Placidia's Mausoleum at Ravenna 98 
 
 * 
 
 Mausoleum of Theodoric the Great at Ravenna . 188 
 
 Justinian and his chief officers . 
 
 Mosaic in the church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna. 
 
 Theodora and her ladies in waitino . 
 
 Mosaic in the church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna. 
 
 198 
 
 199 
 
 272 
 
 276 
 277 
 
 The Palace op Ravenna .... 
 
 Mosaic hi the church of St. ApoUinare Nuovo,' Ravenna. 
 
 Interior of the church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna 
 
 Part of the procession of female martyrs . 
 Mosaic hi the church of St. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. 
 
 Interior op the church op St. Apollinare in Classe, 
 Ravenna ........ 282 
 
 Bronze statue of the emperor Heraclius . .410 
 
 Thiudalinda's gold hen and seven chickens . . 426 
 
 The " Iron Crown " 427 
 
 APPENDICES— VOL. II 
 
 XI. Emperors of the Later Roman Empire, from Zeno to . 
 Leo III. 
 
 XII. List op the martyrs shown in the Ravenna mosaic. 
 
 xm. Genealogy of the Frank Kings prom Chlotochar I to 
 Dagobert I. 
 
 XIV. Approximate distances traversed by Heraclius in his 
 six campaigns in the years 622-628. 
 
 XV. Genealogy of the house op Heraclius. 
 
 XVI. List of Principal ruined cities in North Africa having 
 " Byzantine " walls, showing that they were occupied 
 
 AT TIME OF THE SaRACEN INVASION. 
 
 xvn. Relative value of money in the period from the 5th to 
 
 THE 8th century AS COMPARED ^ITH OUR PRESENT MONEY. 
 
 xvm. List op the Mahomedan IChalifs from 632 to 740. 
 
 xrx. Plan showing the Imperial Palace and buildings sur- 
 rounding it, forming the heart of Constantinople. 
 
 XX. The six General Councils. 
 
MAPS 
 
 VOLS. I AND II 
 
 (A) The Roman Empibb (4th Centuby). 
 
 (B) Western Half of the Roman Empire. 
 
 (C) Eastern half of the Roman Empire. In Vol n. 
 
 =. h" 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 PART IV 
 
 Destruction of the western half of the 
 
 Roman Empire 
 
 (a.d. 395-476) 
 
 
 Note.— In this second volume a change in the subject from East to West. 
 «K^1.!!r^ ^ ordinarily marked by a line drawn across part of the page 
 while further to assist clearness headings to paragraphs areintroduced. 
 
 E.W.~II g 
 
 U. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 395 — 410 
 
 " Long and dark the story of her wrong." — Virgil, 
 
 THE Roman Empire had done its work.i In the 4th 
 century it had not only reached the summit of its 
 strength, splendour, and commercial and industrial prosperity, 
 but had also raised mankind to a higher level of civilization 
 and enlightenment than the world had ever before known. 
 We are now to see in the 5th century the swift and appalling 
 overthrow of the most important half of the splendid edifice 
 which in the course of 1150 years Roman energy and genius 
 had erected. The western half of the empire, having to bear 
 almost the whole force of the barbarian flood which in wave 
 after wave now burst upon Rome's wide dominions, went 
 down under the inimdation, being in the course of one genera- 
 tion to a large extent broken up, and in little more than two 
 generations after the death of Theodosius the Great coming 
 to an absolute end. The eastern half of the empire, chiefly 
 owing to the unique strength of its capital city, which enabled 
 it to divert this barbarian flood to the westward, survived ; 
 but being cut oflE by the destruction of the western half from 
 the source from which most of its energy had been derived, 
 suffered severely for a time. 
 
 The wreck of a world. It is a hard thing to realize. All 
 its conditions of civilization, — its learning in many branches 
 of human knowledge; its great system of law; its time- 
 honoured principles of order and administration; its rich 
 
 ^ The rest was to be done by one half of that empire three centuries 
 later as the protector of Europe from a devastating foe (Chap. XXV). 
 
 8 
 
 '■wt mnmn iii ^ ii H Mimi iw ii n iiiiii w iii- 
 
CHAP. 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 EMPIRE ABLE TO PREVENT RESULT 
 
 stores of classical literature; its splendid achievements in 
 architecture ; its things of beauty, statues, pamtings, decora- 
 tions of palaces, artistic vases and works of art of all kinds 
 (things not again to be seen in Europe for eleven long cen- 
 turies) ; its splendid Baths, with their libraries, sculpture- 
 galleries, and race-courses; its music, and brightness, and 
 enjoyment, and all that makes up the life of a highly civilized 
 people,— all were about to be destroyed by a raging sea of 
 barbarism which neither cared for these things nor knew their 
 use. And together with these things were also to be destroyed 
 all those who had the power of creating them afresh. Over 
 all Europe and North Africa swept during the next eighty 
 years ^ universal devastation. 
 
 Such was the ruin which in the 6th century came upon the 
 western half of the Roman Empire, and in most parts of it 
 during the life of only one generation ; a destruction such as 
 the world has only seen once in the course of all its long history. 
 It is often stated that this destruction came about because 
 the Roman army had become enervated by luxury ; but all 
 the evidence refutes such a contention. The Roman army 
 was as brave, as well trained, and as well led as it had ever 
 been ; nor was it ever defeated when opposed by equal num- 
 bers. But it was simply overwhelmed and submerged by 
 the enormous masses of foes that came against it. 
 
 That the army maintained by Rome was far too small for 
 the defence of so wide a dominion is evident at a glance if the 
 extent of that dominion is examined, and if the requirements, 
 both along its northern and its eastern frontier, are considered. 
 The organization of the Roman Empire is often praised by 
 civilian writers on the ground that (instead of the millions of 
 armed men now maintained in Europe) Rome contrived to 
 defend and police her vast empire with so comparatively small 
 a force. But that is just what Rome did not contrive to do. 
 She long managed, through the bravery and self-sacrifice of 
 her soldiers (who again and again suffered heavy losses through 
 being pitted against superior numbers), to defend her empire 
 with a force far too small for the purpose. But the ignoble 
 
 ^ Except in Italy, where this devastation was deferred until ahout 
 sixty years later, taking place in that country in the middle of the 
 6th century. 
 
 policy which would sacrifice brave men's lives in order to 
 exempt from military service those who wished to live at home 
 at ease received at last its just reward, and Rome's endeavour 
 to defend her empire with such a comparatively small force 
 as she maintained proved the most conspicuous failure on 
 record. Her brave troops were overwhelmed and swept 
 away ; when they were gone there were no others to take 
 their place ; and her empire, so far as its western half was 
 concerned, was involved in complete destruction. 
 
 The Roman Empire was perfectly weU able to prevent this 
 result. Possessing much greater military knowledge, and the 
 infinitely superior resources of so wide a dominion, it would, 
 had it called forth those resources, undoubtedly have defeated 
 the Goths and the other northern races who attacked it. But 
 such things can only be done if the whole population are 
 ready to bear the burdens necessary for an effective defence. 
 If they are unwilling to bear them they are only fit for slavery, 
 and must submit to be conquered by races willing to bear 
 such burdens. 
 
 The great prosperity of the Roman Empire at the close of 
 the 4th century, and the manner in which the provinces had 
 become overspread in all directions with prosperous cities,^ 
 had brought it about that the Romans had by this time become 
 almost entirely town-dweUers. A city population in the mass 
 can never equal a country population in qualities of manliness 
 and bravery, even under the best conditions, ^ and invariably 
 gives proof of the fact by its avoidance of the risks of military 
 service. And when the conditions, instead of being the best, 
 are the worst, by the city population giving itself up to amuse- 
 ment and as much luxury as it can obtain, its determination 
 to avoid the risks and hardships of military service becomes 
 more inveterate. Hence the Romans, far from being ready 
 to bear the burdens necessary for an effectual defence against 
 the dangers which threatened them, were ready to do any- 
 thing rather than bear those burdens, and in their determina- 
 tion to avoid them refused to believe that such dangers im- 
 pended, and assured themselves that in aU cases the emperor, 
 the troops, and the difficulties of the country would bring to 
 
 1 Vol. I. Chap. XVI, pp. 578-581. 
 
 ' Though naturally it will never confess this. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 6 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 naught any attacks that might be made ; as had been the 
 case in previous times. 
 
 The swiftness with which, in some countries of the empire, 
 this destruction supervened made it the more appalling. While 
 in Italy there was a more lingering death, in Gaul, for instance, 
 the country passed in a single year (407) from the highest 
 state of prosperity and civilization which it had ever known 
 to one which saw the destruction of every principal city from 
 Mainz to Bordeaux, agricultural lands everywhere completely 
 devastated, and men, women, and children slaughtered or 
 made slaves by thousands. Similarly in Spain, a country 
 which had not seen a blow struck in war for a period as long 
 as in England from the reign of Henry VIII to the present 
 time, and which was, like Gaul, covered with prosperous 
 cities, a single year (410) saw its whole population plunged 
 into the same destruction. Its inhabitants had lived so long 
 at ease that they had altogether forgotten what war was like. 
 Not even the oldest inhabitant had ever experienced it, nor 
 his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather. They imagined 
 that to be conquered might mean loss of money or property ; 
 they little realized that it would mean death or miseries worse 
 than death. One cannot pity the male population of those 
 countries, for they had brought these things upon themselves 
 by their long ignoble shrinking from the risks and hardships 
 of military service ; but great indeed must be our pity for 
 the unhappy women and children whom they thereby delivered 
 up to so terrible a fate. 
 
 One thing was destined to siu^ive amidst this general 
 wreck of all things, the Christian Church. The Roman Em- 
 pire, by maintaining a strong and stable government through- 
 out so many countries, and by bringing mankind to a state 
 of civilization in which they were capable of appreciating the 
 lessons of Christianity, had provided the conditions under 
 which alone the Christian Church could grow and become 
 strong. That Church was now firmly rooted, its organization 
 settled, and its ancient enemy , Paganism destroyed ; it no 
 longer needed the conditions which had been necessary to its 
 infancy. It had changed the Greeks from spinners of nebulous 
 philosophies, and the Romans from delighted spectators of 
 the cruel carnage of the amphitheatre, to races producing 
 
 xvn] 
 
 TWO NONENTITIES 
 
 men of the type of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose 
 and St. Augustine; it had changed the Roman emperors 
 from the type of Nero to that of Gratian ; it was now ready 
 by its civilizing influence gradually to change the cruel and 
 barbarous Saxons, Franks, Northmen, Allemanni, Visigoths, 
 and Lombards, into the civilized English, French, Normans, 
 Germans, Spaniards, and Italians. 
 
 Stilicho. 
 
 An^dius and Arcadius was eighteen when his father died and he 
 Honorius. gucceedcd to the rule of the eastern half of the 
 empire. The two sons of Theodosius the Great between whom 
 the empire was now divided ^ were both of them incapable 
 nonentities. Theodosius had left Rufinus as the minister 
 of Arcadius and the much greater Stilicho as the guide of 
 Honorius, and these two men were the real rulers. Theo- 
 dosius had also complicated matters a good deal, for having 
 no intention that the empire should be permanently divided, 
 he had left Stilicho as commander-in-chief of the whole army, 
 both of East and West, and had also when dying adjured 
 him to be a faithful guardian to both his sons. 
 
 In all the history of the decline and fall of the 
 western half of the empire, upon which we now 
 enter, there is no more noble figure than the commander of 
 the Roman army, Stilicho. By birth a Vandal, but a Roman 
 of Romans in his character and deeds, if all had been like him 
 the western haK of the empire would never have fallen before 
 its barbarian foes. By the ignoble set of courtiers who gradu- 
 ally gathered roimd the feeble Honorius Stilicho was detested, 
 both as being brave while they were cowardly, and as being 
 honest and loyal while they were crafty and self-seeking. 
 The eventual result was that a " Roman " party grew up, 
 antagonistic to all " barbarians." The Roman chroniclers 
 subsequently became the mouth-pieces of this " Roman " 
 party, traducing in every way the character of Stilicho, and 
 by them he has been represented to us as seK-seeking and dis- 
 
 ^ The division was roughly a line from Vindobona to Pola, thence 
 along the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and thence down the 20th 
 parallel of longitude to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Syrtis, the 
 boundary between the provinces of North Africa and Egypt. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 s 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 honest. But StiKcho's actions do not tally with this picture ; 
 while it may also be remarked that had he been a man of this 
 character so clear-sighted a ruler as Theodosius would never 
 have placed him in a position of uncontrolled power, and have 
 made him the guardian of his two young sons to whom he was 
 leaving the rule of the empire. 
 
 His father was a Vandal chief who had entered the Roman 
 army as the commander of a body of cavalry " auxiliaries " 
 in the time of the emperor Valens, and had been always strongly 
 loyal to the empire.^ Stilicho, bom about 360, entered the 
 army when quite young, his tall figure and stately presence 
 causing even the people in the streets of Constantinople to 
 predict his future advancement, though he was then only a 
 private soldier. He rapidly rose in the army, and when he 
 was only about twenty-four was sent by Theodosius the Great 
 on an embassy to Persia, and on his return thence to Con- 
 stantinople was married, about 385, to the emperor's niece 
 Serena.2 During the next ten years Stilicho rose to high 
 rank in the army, distingukhing himself in various campaigns, 
 and shortly before Theodosius' death was made commander- 
 in-chief of the whole army. Of his great abihties both as a 
 general and an administrator there has never been any ques- 
 tion. The Pagan historian Zosimus, uniformly hostile to aU 
 connected with the Christian emperors, naturally accuses 
 him on all occasions of treachery and corruption, but 
 mankind in general has declared the very reverse, Stilicho's 
 
 * The contemporary poet Claudian says that there are no particular 
 deeds recorded of Stilicho's father, adding in his grandiloquent style 
 that it was sufficient honour for any m€ui to be the father of Stilicho. 
 Claudian, who has been called ** the last of the Roman poets,'* though 
 he was the most gifted writer of the age, and though he writes upon 
 all the political events pctssing around him, only here and there sup- 
 plies us with any valuable information. He uses the most exaggerated 
 language, assumes the very extreme of poetical licence, is splendidly 
 indifferent as to dates and places, suid is an extravagant admirer of 
 StiUcho, whose virtues he belauds in unmectsured terms. It is there- 
 fore only in accidental references and allusions that his statements 
 are of value. 
 
 * Stilicho was a Christian, but whether he was an Arian Christian 
 or a Catholic is not clear. His marriage to the niece of Theodosius, 
 together with one or two other events of his life, make it appear 
 that he was, nominally at all events, a Catholic. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 ALARIC 
 
 9 
 
 Alaric. 
 
 justice, patience, integrity, freedom from avarice, and 
 unwearying faithfulness to a most imdeserving emperor, 
 having received the highest praise, except from those who 
 have been too ready to accept the statements of the " Roman " 
 party. He was thirty-five years old when he was left by 
 Theodosius the practical ruler of the western half of the 
 empire during the minority of the eleven-year-old Honorius, 
 and, as commander-in-chief, the defender of the whole 
 empire against its enemies, internal or external. 
 
 Over against Stilicho stands his no less noble 
 antagonist, Alaric, the Visigoth,^ about four years 
 younger than Stilicho. He was bom in the island of Peuke,^ 
 in the delta of the Danube, about 364. When he was twelve 
 years old his nation were driven out by the Huns from their 
 forest homes, and sought the protection of the Roman power, 
 and Alaric formed one of the host which in 376 crossed the 
 Danube,^ witnessed as a boy aU the atrocious treatment that 
 his nation received from the officials of Valens, and was one 
 of the boy hostages given up to the Romans. Apparently 
 owing to his belonging to the royal family of the Visigoths, 
 the Balti, he was treated differently from the others, being 
 sent to Constantinople and brought up there imder the cegis 
 of the imperial court, and so was fortunate enough to escape 
 the cruel slaughter which when he was fourteen fell upon the 
 rest of the boy hostages of the Visigoths in other cities.* It 
 is extraordinary to think how different would have been the 
 after history of the Roman Empire ^ had Alaric shared in 
 this destruction of so many of his boy companions. When 
 he was sixteen, and while he was still being brought up at 
 Constantinople, his nation, under the arrangement made by 
 the emperor Gratian, became foederati of the empire, 
 agreeing to give up acknowledging a king of their own. And 
 it is possible that from his earliest years Alaric, belonging to 
 the royal family of the Visigoths, felt dispossessed of his rights 
 
 * Ala-Beiks, the all-ruler. The same word appears in the Ostro- 
 goth Theoderic, the Vandal Graiseric, the Frank Chilperic, the Spanish 
 Roderic, and the English Leofric. 
 
 * So called from the forests of pine (ttcvki;) with which it was covered. 
 8 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 621. 
 
 * Ibid,, p. 626. • See p. 62. 
 
CHAP 
 
 10 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 EUDOXIA 
 
 11 
 
 in this respect. From the age of eighteen he served for about 
 twelve years, under the emperor Theodosius, in the contingent 
 furnished by his nation to the Roman army, fighting in various 
 campaigns, and when he 'was thirty commanded the contin- 
 gent of Visigoths at the battle of the Frigidus, after which 
 battle he accompanied Theodosius to Milan. 
 
 Alaric was no " barbarian " ; in religion he was an Arian 
 Christian, he was as well educated as the ordinary Roman 
 noble of his time, and he had had plenty of experience of 
 the life of the court, which he justly despised. He had a 
 sovereign contempt for the degenerate and effeminate inhabi- 
 tants of the cities ; but on various occasions in his contests 
 with the Romans he displayed nobility of character, modera- 
 tion in victory, a regard for humanity and justice, and also 
 care as far as possible to avoid destroying artistic treasures 
 and glorious moniunents of the past. Probably it would not 
 be incorrect to picture Alaric, and his successors the Visigoth 
 kings, as much resembling many of our early English kings 
 of the 8th and 9th centuries. Alaric and Stilicho were almost 
 exactly contemporaries, Alaric, bom four years after Stilicho, 
 dying two years after the latter. 
 
 The position occupied by Stilicho and Rufinus, as the re- 
 spective ministers of two incapable and colourless youths, 
 inevitably created dissensions, which were aggravated by the 
 fact that Stilicho commanded the army both of East and 
 West. Moreover, since Stihcho was a brave and capable 
 soldier and administrator, while Rufinus was merely a corrupt 
 and intriguing palace official of more or less contemptible 
 character, there were all the elements for strong discord between 
 the rival courts of Milan and Constantinople. The intrigues 
 and disagreements were incessant. Rufinus declared that 
 Stihcho only sent the worst of the troops for the eastern gar- 
 risons ; it may very possibly have been true, as Stilicho had 
 in the West to confront the warlike Franks and Allemanni, 
 and could not afford to send the best of the troops to the 
 eastern half of the empire. He however sent back from 
 the West the Grothic contingent, so that the eastern half 
 of the^empire could not justly complain that its army had 
 no stiffening of troops composed of the most warlike 
 material. 
 
 Revolt of But mismanagement, jealousy, and small-minded- 
 Aiaric. j^^gg yery soon changed these same Groths from a 
 support into a serious national danger. The grounds of com- 
 plaint were various, but the combined result was that a spirit 
 of discontent and revolt quickly spread among the Goths, 
 who declared that they would no longer be treated by the 
 Romans as a subject race. In addition Alaric, chief of the 
 Visigoths, had a personal grievance of his oWn. He had been 
 promised by Theodosius (or considered that he had) a high 
 command in the eastern portion of the army, which would 
 have given him the right to command, not merely his own 
 Visigoths (who were " auxiliary " troops), but also the Roman 
 legions in the centre of the line of battle ; and this promise 
 had not been fulfilled. Accordingly in Illyricum, in the spring 
 of 395, the Visigoths raised Alaric aloft, standing upon a shield, 
 according to their ancient custom, with loud shouts of Thiudans 
 (the King), an act equivalent to revolt from the authority of 
 the emperor. 
 
 Marriage About thc samc time Rufinus at Constantinople 
 ofArcadius. suffered a severe disappointment to his schemes. 
 He had planned to marry his daughter to Arcadius, and then 
 to make the latter raise him to be co-emperor, and three 
 months after the death of Theodosius the Great had made all 
 arrangements for this marriage. Shortly before the time 
 fixed for the marriage, however, Rufinus went on a brief visit 
 to Antioch, in order personally to execute vengeance upon 
 Lucian, the commander of the eastern border, ^ who had 
 shown a disposition to ignore his authority, and whom he 
 caused to be beaten to death with .whips loaded with lead.^ 
 He was soon punished for this crime. During his absence 
 from Constantinople upon this journey to Antioch the cham- 
 berlain Eutropius, who was his enemy, showed to Arcadius 
 a picture of Eudoxia, then seventeen, the beautiful daughter 
 of the deceased Count Bauto, the Frank general who had 
 long faithfully served the empire ; she was at that time in 
 Constantinople, living in the house of the widow and sons of 
 one of the victims of Rufinus. She was brought to the palace, 
 the heart of Arcadius was at once captivated by her beauty 
 and cleverness, and on the day which Rufinus had fixed for 
 
 1 Comes Orientis (Count .of the East). * Zosimus, v, 2. 
 
12 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 DEATH OF ST. AMBROSE 
 
 13 
 
 the marriage of his daughter, and while he and she awaited 
 Arcadius at the splendid villa of Rufinus outside the city, 
 Arcadius, starting from the palace in a magnificent procession 
 ostensibly to proceed thither, to the surprise of the crowd 
 stopped the procession at a house in the city, where Arcadius 
 was promptly married to Eudoxia instead of to the daughter 
 of Rufinus (27th April, 395). She immediately established 
 entire sway over Arcadius to the disgust and discomfiture of 
 Rufinus. 
 
 ^ „. . , In the summer of 395 Alaric, in response to 
 
 The Visigotbs •*■ 
 
 attack Mace- thc Spirit pcrvading the Visigoths, led them on 
 ^^' a plundering expedition southwards into Mace- 
 donia and Thessaly. Rufinus, jealous of Stilicho, seems to 
 have made no effort to oppose them, and, conscious of his 
 unpopularity with all classes, appears to have conceived the 
 idea of playing ofif Alaric against Stilicho.^ Upon receiv- 
 ing news of this incursion Stilicho gathered a large army, 
 drawn from both West and East, and including the contin- 
 gent of the Ostrogoths (who had not taken part with the 
 Visigoths), under their chief Gainas. But when Stilicho had 
 at length brought the Visigoths to bay, and just as a decisive 
 battle was expected, he received letters from Constantinople 
 signed by Arcadius prohibiting the engagement, and order- 
 ing him to take back the legions of the West thither, and to 
 send the Eastern portion of the army direct to Constantinople, 
 this senseless order having been extracted from Arcadius 
 by the artifices of Rufinus. It is a strong proof of the loyalty 
 of Stilicho to the sons of Theodosius, and of his upright re- 
 solve at all costs to protect the empire from civil war, that 
 though importuned by the troops to disregard this distaste- 
 ful and ill-advised order, he nevertheless promptly obeyed 
 it. Accordingly the legions of the West set ofE for Italy, 
 under command of Stilicho, those of the East being ordered 
 by him to march for Constantinople under the command of 
 Gainas. Alaric, being thus left undisturbed, pushed on into 
 
 * Von Wietereheim urges in partial extenuation of Rufinus' conduct 
 that he was placed in a position of much difficulty owing to the union 
 of both the fkistem and Western armies under Stilicho ; which no 
 doubt was to some extent the case. 
 
 Greece, capturing Athens, Corinth, and Sparta, without how- 
 ever doing harm to their buildings and art treasures. 
 Death of But Rufinus had over-reached himself. The 
 Rufinus. deeply disgusted troops of the eastern portion of 
 the army marched through Thessaly and Macedonia planning 
 revenge, but keeping their scheme an army secret.^ On its 
 arrival at Constantinople the army was reviewed by Arca- 
 dius and Rufinus, but to the dismay of the latter the troops 
 slowly encompassed the platform upon which the feeble 
 emperor and his minister stood to watch the review, and 
 enclosing it in a gradually narrowing circle, seized Rufinus, 
 and hacked his body to pieces, and sowed the dismembered 
 limbs over the adjacent fields (27th Nov. 395). Thereupon 
 Gainas was appointed commander-in-chief of the eastern 
 portion of the army, and thenceforward shared with Eutropius 
 and the empress Eudoxia the chief sway over Arcadius. A 
 peace was patched up with Alaric, and he was given various 
 empty titles and the rule over Ulyricum, whither he led the 
 Visigoths, and ruled that province peacefully for the next 
 four years (396-400), administering Roman law, controlling 
 Roman methods of taxation, and exercising the authority of 
 a Roman governor of a province. 
 
 Death of On the 4th April 397 the great Archbishop of 
 St. Ambrose. ]y[iian, Ambrosc, who had so long been the leading 
 Bishop in the Church, died, at the age of fifty-seven. Shortly 
 before his death, Stilicho, anxious that so valuable a life 
 might be spared, summoned the most valued of Ambrose's 
 friends and sent them to his bedside to urge him to pray that 
 he might live, but Ambrose told them he did not fear to die. 
 During the previous year he had received a remarkable depu- 
 tation from Bohemia, from the queen of the Marcomanni, 
 Fritigil, who had become a Christian, and having heard of 
 the great name of Ambrose wrote entreating him to give her 
 further instruction. Ambrose wrote out for her a catechism, 
 and sent it to her. On hearing in the following year that he 
 was dying, Fritigil travelled all the way from Bohemia to 
 Milan in the hope of speaking to him before he died, but she 
 arrived at Milan too late, and could only kneel weeping at 
 his tomb. He was buried in the crypt of his cathedral (now 
 * " Et fuit arcanum populo," Claudian, In Ruf. ii, 90. 
 
II t 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 TWO PICTURES 
 
 16 
 
 Eudoxia. 
 
 the church of St. Ambrose), where his tomb is still to be seen.^ 
 In the same year that he died Chrysostom, after being twelve 
 years the chief preacher at Antioch,^ was made Pope of Con- 
 stantinople. 
 Troubles in Stilicho upon rctuming to the West had in 397 
 North Africa. ^ ^g^j ^^jj troublcs in North Africa, where Gildo 
 
 the Moor had raised a serious revolt which threatened to 
 bring a famine upon Italy through the cutting off of the com 
 supply from North Africa, while Gildo had also put to death 
 the sons of his brother Mascezel, who came to Milan to im- 
 plore help. StiHcho with characteristic ability soon put 
 down this revolt. He averted the danger of famine by pro- 
 curing com in large quantities from Spain and Gaul, and he 
 prepared a smaU but well-equipped force which he despatched 
 from Pisa with Mascezel to Africa, and which in a few months 
 defeated and slew Gildo and pacified Africa. At the same 
 time Honorius, then fourteen, was married in 398 to Stilicho*s 
 daughter Maria, who was still a child. 
 
 At Constantinople in April 398 the empress 
 Eudoxia, then twenty, gave birth to the first of 
 her children, a daughter, Pulcheria, destined to be afterwards 
 very celebrated. Eudoxia, young, handsome, pleasure- 
 loving, and extravagant, was not without good points, though 
 after her quarrel later on with Chrysostom ^ (a quarrel in 
 which he was the assailant) the ecclesiastical writers would 
 not admit that she possessed any. She had good abilities 
 and firmness of character, was high-spirited, generous to the 
 poor and to the Church, and though surrounded by much 
 immorality was faithful to her apathetic and weak-charactered 
 husband Arcadius. 
 
 The life in the imperial palace at Constantinople at this 
 time was very different from what it had been in the days 
 when Constantine the Great had lived there, engaged per- 
 petually in vast measures for the re-organization of the mili- 
 tary and administrative affairs of an entire world. The 
 p€klace built by him had by this time grown almost into a 
 marble city, occupying, together with its gardens sloping 
 
 ^ St. Ambrose is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church 
 of England on the 4th April, the day of his death. 
 
 * Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 561. » Pages 28-31. 
 
 down to the sea, the whole of the eastern end of the promon- 
 tory,^ and Arcadius and Eudoxia were seldom seen outside 
 it, except when the latter, who had much zeal for the Church, 
 took part in some religious fimction. Arcadius, torpid and 
 apathetic, lived generally in a sort of slumber ; his court 
 was given up to frivolity, while the most extravagant magni- 
 ficence in the adornment and arrangements of the imperial 
 palace, as well as in dress and ceremonial, had become the 
 custom. Contemporary writers have given us two pictures of 
 this strangely assorted pair, the son of Theodosius the Great 
 and the daughter of the brave Count Bauto, on some of the 
 rare occasions when they were seen by the populace. The 
 first is that of Arcadius, taking part in a procession through 
 the crowded streets of Constantinople, sitting aloft in a chariot 
 of gold studded with precious stones, drawn by white mules 
 equipped with harness profusely adorned with gold, his figure 
 clothed in robes of purple silk embroidered with golden dragons, 
 a crowned nonentity. ^ The other picture is of Eudoxia, 
 beautiful, proud, high-spirited, and spoilt, but generous to the 
 poor, and liked by the people, walking humbly with down- 
 cast eyes by the side of St. Chrysostom in a religious function 
 in 398, dressed in costly robes of purple silk and with a mag- 
 nificent diadem of precious stones upon her head. 
 Extortions of But Eudoxia had troubles enough of her own 
 Eutropius. ^ encoimter. The crafty Eutropius, having been 
 instrumental in causing her to become empress, soon forced 
 her to promote his advancement to the position of Arcadius' 
 chief minister, and to obtain for him titles and wealth, and 
 the high-spirited Eudoxia chafed more and more under this 
 bondage. The avarice, luxury, and insolent arrogance of 
 Eutropius daily increased ; he seized the property of the 
 citizens, put many of them to death upon unlawful charges, 
 erected statues to himself in all directions, and made Eudoxia 
 obtain for him one exalted title after another, while the people 
 
 * Regarding the Imperial Palace at Constantinople and the principal 
 buildings surroimding it, see Vol. I, Chap. XIII, pp. 421-423, and 
 Vol. II. Appendix XIX. 
 
 2 The style in which the nonentity Arcadius mentions the nonentity 
 Honorius in one of the laws promulgated by the former is, " The Lord 
 Honorius Augustus, Brother of my Eternity." 
 
CMAF. 
 
 16 
 
 AKCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 <( 
 
 PENETRABIS AD URBEM '' 
 
 17 
 
 groaned under his extortions and tyranny. In the spring 
 of 399 Eudoxia gave birth to a second daughter, Marina,^ 
 and soon afterwards, upon Eudoxia's refusing to comply 
 with some further demand, Eutropius, exceeding all bounds 
 in his arrogance, threatened to expel her from the palace. 
 Thereupon Eudoxia, feeling this slavery insupportable, tak- 
 ing her two baby girls in her arms, fled in tears to Arcadius. 
 The latter, roused for once from his apathy by the only thing 
 which throughout life ever moved him, his love for Eudoxia, 
 and, as Philostorgius says, "becoming an emperor for a 
 moment,'* first banished Eutropius, who was execrated by 
 every soul in Constantinople, and subsequently, upon the 
 necessity for Eutropius' death being insisted upon by Gainas, 
 signed the warrant for his execution, which was promptly 
 carried out. 
 
 Beginning of Had any prophet arisen at this time announc- 
 ^i^t^^'haS* ^g ^^^ impending ruin of one half of the empire 
 oftheEmpire.it would have been the eastern half which would 
 have been expected thus to fall. The western half had seen 
 no such harrying of its provinces as had recently taken place 
 in Macedonia and Greece, and it possessed the strongest por- 
 tion of that army which had in the previous thirty-five years 
 BO often gained splendid victories over the northern races. 
 It was however to be the western half of the empire upon 
 which that ruin was to come. Beyond the strong boundary 
 of its long northern frontier (which stretched for 1300 miles) 
 were the Franks, the Allemanni, the Saxons, the Burgim- 
 dians, the Suevi, the Marcomanni, the Alans, and the Vandals, 
 and these great nations of barbarians were now to burst the 
 barrier which had for so many generations held them back, 
 and, together with the Goths from within the frontier at its 
 eastern end, were during the next forty years to sweep over 
 the whole of the western half of the empire from the Rhine 
 to North Africa. 
 
 In the summer of the year 400 the Roman army 
 
 Pint invasion -m • t ti 
 
 of Italy by the facing this immcusc collection of warliKe races on 
 
 Visigoths. ^^^ j^j^g frontier from the mouth of the Rhine to 
 
 Belgrade on the Danube was assailed by two great invasions 
 
 ^ Called also Flaccilla. 
 
 r 
 
 from different directions simultaneously, one from the front, 
 aimed at Rhaetia, and the other from the right flank, aimed 
 at Venetia. The latter invasion made itself felt first. About 
 the end of July 400 Alaric, having at last determmed to 
 play the great game upon which his mind had for four years 
 been secretly fixed, set out from Singidunum (Belgrade) 
 with a host which was not merely an army, but a nation, to 
 invade Italy. He was then about thirty-six years old. Being 
 determined to return no more to the East, the Visigoths 
 advanced with all their families and property, including the 
 rich spoils they had collected in Macedonia and Greece. The 
 veteran warriors of the nation, fearing the great name of 
 Rome, whose power the Visigoths had felt for generations, 
 had endeavoured to dissuade Alaric from this enterprise, 
 prophesying that it would end in the complete destruction 
 of the Visigothic nation. But Alaric, not to be daunted even 
 by the elders of his nation, was determined upon nothing 
 less than an advance upon the city of Rome itself. He de- 
 clared that he had heard a mysterious voice saying to him, 
 " Penetrabis ad Urbem." i The Visigoths, notwithstand- 
 ing all their victories, were aghast at his temerity, but his 
 gallant spirit carried all before it ; they said, " Rightly is 
 he called Balta (Bold), for he is indeed the boldest of man- 
 kind." 
 
 To gauge Alaric's character it is necessary to glance at this 
 enterprise from the point of view of a Visigoth at that time. 
 It is to us almost impossible to realize the powerful influence 
 which the very name of Rome exercised upon the imagina- 
 tion of the world of that age, and even among those w ho were 
 Romans by birth. The city from which the whole of that 
 vast empire had grown ; the city which to the world of that 
 time represented London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Peters- 
 burg all rolled into one ; the city which the great majority of 
 those who bore the Roman name had never seen, but whose 
 power was felt to the utmost limits of the known world ; the city 
 whose name had for centuries been spoken by the world with 
 a sort of awe, being felt to be the source of the inspiration 
 of all which had made the Roman Empire what it was. Such 
 considerations caused the name of Rome to be uttered by 
 
 ^ "Thou shalt penetrate to the City." 
 E.W.— 11. ^ 
 
CHAF. 
 
 18 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 mankind in a tone which has never been used in the case of 
 any other city. As to the idea that Rome could ever be 
 taken by a hostile army it was to mankind at large unthink- 
 able. The outlying provinces of the empire might no doubt 
 be invaded ; such things had happened from time to tune ; 
 even Italy itseK might perhaps be penetrated ; but that the - 
 great Roman power, which had subdued so many powerful 
 rivals, even powers such as Carthage, Greece, and Egypt, 
 and left no rival remaining, could ever be so beaten to its 
 knees that an enemy could attack Rome itself, was to every 
 one in those days unimaginable. 
 
 And if this was the appearance which the matter presented 
 to a Roman, far more was it the case as regards the bar- 
 barian races. To the latter that distant and unseen capital 
 of the great empire by which they had for generations been 
 confronted, and whose name they had always heard spoken 
 in this tone, had about it everything that to then- minds 
 was mysterious and awe-mspirmg. We can thus realize 
 something of what were the feelings of the Visigoths when 
 they learnt that their leader was bent upon marchmg upon 
 Rome, and also of what must have been Alaric's undaunted 
 spirit, as, spurred on by his own daring alone, he set before 
 himself this determination. 
 
 Regardmg the number of the host which he commanded 
 there is no record. But seeing that when in 376 the Visi- 
 goths crossed the Danube into Moesia ^ then- number was 
 computed at 200,000 fighting men and the whole number of 
 persons at a miUion, and that in the intervening twenty-four 
 years they had almost certainly considerably increased, we 
 may assume that number as the mmimum to which Alanc's 
 
 force amounted. 
 
 To transport such a multitude, including women, children, 
 wagons, and property of aU kinds, from Singidunum over 
 the JuHan Alps was no light undertaking. Alaric had about 
 600 miles to travel before reaching Italy, and marched by 
 the same road which he had trodden six years before with 
 Theodosius, but encumbered as he was he can only have 
 advanced very slowly. GraduaUy ascending the vaUey of 
 the Save, and passing by Siscia and .Emona (Laibach), he 
 
 I Vol, I, Chap. XV, p. 621. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 TWO SIMULTANEOUS ATTACKS 
 
 19 
 
 at length on the 18th November, 400, ^ reached the memor- 
 able " Pear Tree " pass, conveyed his immense host over it, 
 descended into the vaUey of the Frigidus, and traversing the 
 ground where the battle had been fought in which the Goths 
 had suffered so severely, arrived, towards the end of Novem- 
 ber, within sight of Aquileia, the Metz of the eastern comer 
 of Italy. 
 
 Attack by But this invasiou by the Visigoths on the eastern 
 Radagaisus. gj^^ ^f j^^^jy ^^^g ^^^ ^^iQ Qiily ouc which the Romans 
 
 had to confront. Simultaneously with it, from the north, 
 a great mixed host, composed chiefly of Vandals, Alans, and 
 Quadi,2 under Radagaisus,^ advancing from the upper course 
 of the Danube, burst upon Rhaetia. We know nothing about 
 its total strength, but may judge of it from the fact that 
 Stilicho considered it the more formidable of the two inva- 
 sions, going in person to oppose it, and devoting to it the 
 larger portion of the troops at his disposal. Alaric was act- 
 ing in concert with Radagaisus, and it shows something of 
 Alaric's generalship that he had arranged with Radagaisus 
 for this attack upon the Romans from two sides at once, the 
 north and the east, instead of making one joint attack, for 
 it placed Stilicho in a difficult position. Moreover Rada- 
 gaisus had attacked the weakest part of the frontier line, the 
 chief strength of the Roman army being maintained further 
 to the west, along that portion of the line which faced the 
 Franks and the Allemanni. 
 
 stiUcho's To meet these two formidable invasions the 
 
 dispositions, force ^hich the Roman army of the West could 
 
 put in the field was small indeed in comparison. The Notitia 
 
 Dignitatum shows that the total strength in the West on paper 
 
 ^ See p. 26 (footnote). 
 
 * About this time the Quadi become known as the Suevi, by which 
 name they are always spoken of henceforth. 
 
 ^ The contemporary writers call him " Radagaisus the Goth," 
 but it is hard to fix his nationality ; he was certainly not a Visigoth, 
 and it seems almost equally unlikely that he was an Ostrogoth. Pos- 
 sibly the contemporary writers may just at that time have called all 
 invaders Goths. Gibbon insists strongly that he was not a Goth. 
 Dr. Hodgkin thinks he may possibly have been one of the band of 
 Ostrogoths who had remained in their original home near the Black 
 Sea. 
 
I 
 
 \ 
 
 GHAF. 
 
 20 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 did not amount to more than 250,000 men, and it wiU pro- 
 bably be safer to compute it in actual fact at about 200 000. 
 Out of this total three legions (amounting with their auxiliary 
 troops to 36,000 men) were in Britain, required to defend 
 the northern frontier against the Scots and the southern 
 coa.st against the Saxons ; most of the remammg legions 
 had to be kept on the Rhine, confronting the Franks and 
 the Allemanni ; and besides the legion required m Africa a 
 special force had lately been sent to that country It would 
 seem therefore that the force available to defend Italy can- 
 not have amounted to more than at most 100,000 men, 
 of which a part (perhaps 40,000) were aUotted to garrison 
 Milan and a few other cities and to oppose Alanc, and the 
 remaining 60,000 to oppose Radagaisus. But, worst of aU, 
 there was no second line of troops or reserves ; and this 
 was the most serious weakness of the whole position. 
 
 The movements of the campaign which ensued dunng the 
 years 400-402 are wrapped in the deepest obscunty, the 
 accounts being to the last degree meagre, as weU as contra- 
 dictory ; but the f oUowing appears to be the general course 
 of this first invasion of Italy by Alaric.i 
 
 Stilicho gave his chief attention to the attack of Rada- 
 gaisus, evidently considering it the more formidable of the 
 two invasions. Possibly this may have been due to his feel- 
 ing that the Visigoths, encumbered as they were with women 
 and children, wagons and property, were to a large extent 
 neutralized as a fighting force. He, however, concentrated 
 a force (which may perhaps have amounted to 25,000 men) 
 at Aquileia, to engage the Visigoths upon theu: emergmg 
 from the pass, and appears to have distributed a few troops 
 at other points in Lombardy. Having done this he would 
 seem to have turned aU his attention to the arrangements 
 necessary on the northern side of the Alps in Rhaetia for 
 opposing the operations of Radagaisus, and to makmg Milan 
 as strong as possible for the protection of the emperor and 
 the court during his own absence m Rhsetia. 
 
 Alaric on emergmg from the difficulties of the 
 
 ^J^^^^ pass over the Julian Alps found himself opposed 
 
 '***y- by the force which Stilicho had placed at Aquileia, 
 
 I See p. 26 (footnote). 
 
 xvn] 
 
 THE RIVERS OP LOMBARDY 
 
 21 
 
 and a battle took place, towards the end of November, i near 
 the banks of the Timavus, a few miles east of Aquileia, in 
 which battle the Romans were beaten, ^ which was not sur- 
 prising seeing that they were outnumbered by about ten to 
 one. They probably retreated into Aquileia. Alaric, feel- 
 ing that Aqmleia was too strong for him to attack, passed 
 it by, and moved forward slowly westwards into Venetia. 
 The long time occupied by Alaric after the battle near Aquileia 
 has been a source of diflficulty to historians ; but in addition 
 to the fact that a host numbering a million persons, accom- 
 panied by wagons and impedimenta of aU kinds, can only 
 advance at a very slow rate of march, there were two other 
 reasons for this slow advance. The first was that Alaric 
 was acting in concert with Radagaisus, and was probably 
 anxious to hear that the latter had actually crossed the Alps 
 and descended into Italy before he himself turned south- 
 wards towards Rome. The second reason was the nature of 
 the ground Alaric had to traverse. The whole of the drainage 
 of the southern side of the Alps, from the mountains of Dau- 
 phine on the west (where the Po rises) to the Juhan Alps on 
 the east, discharges itself into the Adriatic through this part 
 of Italy, and between Aquileia and Ravenna (the next point 
 where he is heard of) Alaric had to convey his cumbrous host 
 over not less than thirty-two unbridged rivers, including 
 such large rivers as the Piave, the Brenta, the Adige, and the 
 Po. And the generalship of Stilicho, in disregarding Alaric 
 for a time and devoting his chief attention to Radagaisus, 
 even though the Visigoth invasion appeared at first sight the 
 more alarming, is fully shown; for owing to his effective 
 operations against Radagaisus the latter never in this cam- 
 paign got across the Alps, and the whole of Alaric's plans 
 were thereby upset. 
 The distance from Aquileia to Ravenna is 200 mUes, the 
 
 ^ From the Theodosian Code it appears that Honorius paid a short 
 visit to Ravenna about August. This he would not have dared to 
 do at any time after the Visigoths crossed the Pear Tree pass ; which 
 helps to corroborate the date of Alaric 's reaching there as being Novem- 
 ber, as stated by Prosper Tiro. 
 
 2 In Claudian's poem De Bello Qetico Stilicho urges his soldiers 
 to avenge the defeat by the Timavus (Claudian, De Bello Qetico, 
 662-563). 
 
 \ 
 
II 'i 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 11* 
 
 H 
 
 ARCABIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 il 
 
 22 
 
 route turning to the south about haHway at Padua, which 
 in the reign of Augustus was the wealthiest city m northern 
 Italy By the time that Alaric, having crossed about fifteen 
 large rivers, reached Padua, probably towards the end of 
 January 401, there was still no news of Radagaisus havmg 
 got across the Alps. Alaric therefore gave up waitmg for 
 him and after plundering Padua, turned southwards towards 
 Ravenna, evidently intending to march by the coast road 
 from Ravenna to Ancona and to cross the Apennmes by 
 FoHgno and Temi to Rome. Taking into consideration the 
 crossing of seventeen more rivers (each of which would take 
 such a host several days to cross), including the Adige and the 
 Po 1 he probably did not reach the vicinity of Ravenna (pro- 
 tected by a perfect labyrinth of marshes and streams) until 
 April 401 Here he got as far as the bridge of Candidianus,^ 
 about three miles from the city, but there his journey south- 
 wards ended. 
 
 Great was the consternation at the court of Milan when it 
 was learnt that the Visigoths had defeated the Roman force 
 at Aquileia, and were actuaUy in Italy, and advancing through 
 Venetia, and that another huge host was coming over the 
 Alps upon Milan from the north of Rhsetia. Honorius (by 
 this time sixteen) and the whole of the nobles of the court 
 made the wildest proposals, chiefly concerned with their own 
 safety, urging that the emperor and the court should fly to 
 Gaul or to Corsica. One man alone kept his head. Stilicho 
 harangued the panic-stricken court, told them not to fear, 
 that Italy had withstood inroads of barbarians before, that 
 he had made Milan strong enough to resist any attack by the 
 Visigoths and had placed troops in other cities around, that 
 the rivers of Lombardy were proving immense obstacles to 
 the Visigoths, and would continue to do so, that he was col- 
 lecting a strong army north of the Alps to oppose Radagaisus 
 and was about to take command of it himself, and that he 
 would drive back Radagaisus and would then return to dis- 
 pose of Alaric, ending by reminding them that he was leaving 
 
 1 Stilicho'8 speech in Claudian's poem specially mentions the diffi- 
 culties which the rivers of Lombardy were proving to Alaric. 
 
 « Jordanes says that he reached the bridge of Candidianus (Jor- 
 danes, De Rebus Geticia, xxix). 
 
 DEFEAT OF RADAGAISUS 
 
 23 
 
 his own wife and child at Milan, and assuring them that there 
 was nothing to be feared while he was absent. 
 
 Having thus calmed their fears as far as he could and com- 
 pleted all arrangements for the security of Milan, Stilicho, 
 about the end of December, 400, departed to cross the Alps 
 and drive back the invasion of Radagaisus. He sailed in a 
 small boat up the lake of Como, and in the depth of the winter 
 of 400-401 forced his way over the Alps, apparently in the 
 direction of the Splugen pass.^ Claudian, in his ornate lan- 
 guage, gives a graphic description of this journey of Stilicho's, 
 describing the height of the moimtains, the fathomless abysses, 
 the terrible frost, the avalanches, and the hardships of the 
 journey. 2 To oppose the invasion from the north Stilicho 
 had gathered in Rhaetia every available man. He had col- 
 lected there various legions from the Rhine, risking for a 
 time the danger of denuding the Rhine frontier, had similarly 
 withdrawn from Britain the Twentieth Legion,^ which for 
 centuries had been stationed in that country, sending it to 
 Rhaetia, and had also raised in the trans- Alpine provinces a 
 number of fresh troops. We have not a single detail regard- 
 ing the course of this campaign north of the Alps (which appar- 
 ently occupied about eleven months, from February 401 to 
 January 402), beyond the one fact that Stilicho entirely 
 defeated the host of Radagaisus and drove them right back 
 across the Danube. This done, he marched back, arriving 
 in March 402 at Milan, bringing with him the greater part 
 of his victorious troops, and fuUy deserved the applause which 
 he received for having, as Claudian says, " in those Alpine 
 huts redeemed thee, Rome." 
 
 Meanwhile Alaric had been experiencing many difficulties, 
 and had made a complete change in his plans. From the first 
 the veterans of the Visigoths had prophesied disaster ; and 
 by the time that Alaric reached the vicinity of Ravenna, about 
 April 401, the immense difficulties of the preceding four 
 
 ^ There is no question of this journey over the Alps having been 
 made in the depth of the winter, but it has been held to be the winter 
 of 401-402. I have given my reasons for thinking it was the winter 
 of 400-401 (Note F, p. 54). 
 
 2 Claudian, De Bello QeticOy 348-362. 
 
 ^ Corroborated by Hinde's History of Northumberland, p. 19. The 
 other two legions were not at this time withdrawn from Britain. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 1: \ 
 
 at 
 
 u 
 
 months in conveying the host over the numerous rivers of 
 Lombardy had apparently made this feeling burst out more 
 strongly than ever. The chiefs of the nation assembled and 
 urged Alaric to desist from his enterprise, and to quit Italy, 
 declaring that Rome was protected by the immortal gods. 
 Alaric, burning with wrath, and mentioning the voice which 
 he had heard promising him that he should " penetrate to 
 the City," spoke of how the Alps and the Po had been over- 
 come, and refused to depart from Italy, saying, " In this 
 land I will reign as a conqueror, or be buried after defeat." ^ 
 But whether in consequence of this harangue on the part of 
 the elders of the Visigoths, or owing to Alaric's having by 
 this time realized that it was impossible to convey such a host 
 over the difficult passes of the Apennines, together with food 
 for them during the operation, and that he would never be 
 able to take Rome while thus encumbered with a host of non- 
 combatants, or through his hearing that the dreaded StiHcho 
 had departed from Milan and thinking therefore to capture 
 the emperor, Alaric about the month of April 401 turned 
 back from Ravenna westwards towards Milan, which as the 
 actual capital and the residence of the emperor would if he 
 could capture it be more valuable for his purpose than Rome. 
 To reach Milan he had again to cross numerous rivers, 
 
 1 Claudian, De Bello Getico, 544-547. aaudian makes this harangue 
 of the Visigoth veterans take place a year later, on the morning of the 
 battle of PoUentia ; but Claudian is perfectly regardless of dates and 
 places, claiming a very full poetical licence in such matters, and it is 
 certain that these divided counsels took place long before that, and 
 were probably to a large extent the cause of the change of plans at 
 Ravenna. Moreover there would have been no sense in the veterans 
 thus haranguing Alaric at the moment when such a battle was about 
 to begin. Nor was Alaric at the time of the battle of PoUentia direct- 
 ing his course towards Rome, so that there would be no meaning in 
 
 arguments against it. * ai • » 
 
 It is to be noticed that when recording this speech of Alaric s 
 as to reigning in Italy as a conqueror Claudian is not speaking poetically 
 after the event. On the contrary he had no idea that such a conquest 
 would ever take place, and is taunting Alaric (after the defeat of Pol- 
 lentia) with the entire failure of all his dreams of taking Rome. 
 Nevertheless six years after Claudian's poem was written (404) Alaric 
 did take Rome, and did " reign as a conqueror " in Italy, and was buried 
 in that land. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 DEFEAT OF ALARIC 
 
 25 
 
 Battle of 
 PoUentia. 
 
 including a second crossing of the Po ; and whether he moved 
 by the north or south of the Po he would have to encounter 
 various strong cities, and such troops as Stilicho had allotted 
 for the defence of northern Italy, perhaps including part of 
 the force which had been beaten, but not destroyed, at Aqui- 
 leia. We have no details of Alaric 's movements during the 
 next twelve months, except that there was desultory warfare, 
 unsuccessful attempts to take several cities, and for a time 
 a futile siege of Milan, followed by a move towards Turin. 
 Apparently after various desultory contests, and much plun- 
 dering of the smaller towns, he reached Milan some time in 
 the autumn, endeavoured fruitlessly for some months to 
 besiege that city, and at length on hearing that Radagaisus 
 had been driven back to the Danube, and that Stilicho was 
 returning, abandoned the siege and moved westwards to- 
 wards Turin, and thence, crossing the Po for the third time, 
 moved southwards to PoUentia on the Tanaro, about 25 miles 
 south of Turin. 
 
 Stilicho upon his return from the north wasted 
 no time at Milan. Starting from thence with the 
 victorious troops brought with him from Rhaetia, and march- 
 ing in pursuit of the Visigoths, he on the 6th April 402 at- 
 tacked Alaric at PoUentia, though with a much inferior force. 
 The battle lasted tiU nightfaU when the Visigoths retreated, 
 the Romans being left in possession of the field, and capturing 
 much valuable spoU and numerous prisoners, including Alaric's 
 own wife and chUdren. On the capacious Gothic wagons 
 captured were heaped piles of valuable plunder carried off 
 by the Visigoths from Greece, massive gold and sUver bowls, 
 Grecian women's ornaments, and trinkets of various kinds, 
 whUe as the result of the victory there were at the same time 
 set free numbers of Greek captives. The Visigoths retreated 
 in good order, and StiUcho wisely, with his inferior force, 
 refrained from driving them to extremities. A treaty was 
 thereupon concluded between StiUcho and Alaric, the latter 
 agreeing to evacuate Italy and receiving back his wife and 
 children. The Visigoths slowly retreated through Venetia, 
 but in passing Verona attempted to seize and plunder that 
 city, whereupon they were again attacked by StiUcho and 
 defeated, after which, about the month of July 402, they re- 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 an 
 
 li H 
 
 \ 
 
 m 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 xvn] 
 
 26 
 
 crossed the JuHan Alps into lUyricum. And so ended Alaric's 
 first invasion of Italy. ^ 
 
 The Visigoths, as they laboriously conveyed their great 
 wagons, women, children, and what was left of then- property 
 over the difficulties of the Julian Alps and descended again 
 into lUyricum, which they had left thinking never to see it 
 again, must have felt a considerable sense of shame at their 
 defeat. For as the result of two years of incessant hardships 
 they had achieved nothing, and had suffered the loss of all 
 the captives and plunder which they had brought with them 
 from Greece. And this notwithstanding that Stilicho had 
 never during the whole campaign had half their number of 
 fightmg men. Had the Visigoths been a more excitable race 
 they would almost certainly have murdered Alaric, or at all 
 events deposed him, as a consequence of this complete failure 
 after his refusal to listen when they had urged him not to 
 make the attempt to conquer Italy. That they did not take 
 any action of the kind, but stiU trusted Alaric, speaks weU 
 both for him and for them. As in these days, in travelling 
 from Milan to Bologna or Bologna to Padua, one traverses in 
 aU the comfort of a modem railway carriage mile after mile 
 of the great plain of Lombardy, it is impossible not to think 
 of Alaric's marches and countermarches over this same ground 
 during many months, encumbered with his great wagons 
 and host of non-combatants, making each of the rivers so 
 quickly crossed by us an obstacle involving countless diffi- 
 culties and vexatious delays to him ; and the thought enables 
 us to gain some idea of the lofty spirit possessed by this first 
 great Teutonic invader of Italy, who in the midst of so many 
 difficulties, and with all around him discouraging his project, 
 never lost heart, and in the end gained the reward of his stead- 
 fast courage, and became the first conqueror of Rome. 
 
 "BORN IN THE PURPLE'* 
 
 27 
 
 Afiairsat While thcsc important events had been taking 
 Constantinople, pjacc in the Wcst, the court at Constantinople had 
 
 1 For the chronology of Alaric's first campaign in Italy the authori- 
 ties (with diverse opinions) are Gibbon, Tillemont, Clinton, Pallmann, 
 von Wietersheim, Prof. Bury, and Dr. Hodgkin. I have however 
 ventured to differ from the whole of these authorities as to the 
 chronology of this campaign for the reasons given in Note F, p. 54. 
 
 been mainly occupied with minor troubles. The death of 
 Eutropius in November 399 left Arcadius to the guidance of 
 Gainas and Eudoxia. But a conflict soon arose between them. 
 On the 3rd April 400 Eudoxia bore a third daughter, Arcadia, 
 and soon afterwards Gainas, in order to make his authority 
 supreme, substituted Ostrogoths for the Roman troops through- 
 out the city, and at the same time demanded that a church 
 should be given over to them for the Arian form of worship. 
 Under Eudoxia's influence this was refused ; hostility was 
 aroused, the people (sympathizmg with Eudoxia) believed 
 the Goths were about to attack the palace, and in July, during 
 the absence of Gainas from Constantinople, the populace in a 
 sudden panic, set upon the Goths and massacred them through- 
 out the city. Gainas being thereupon declared a public enemy, 
 attempted to take some of the cities in Thrace, but was defeated 
 and driven across the Danube, where ia December 400 he 
 was attacked and killed by Uldin the Hun, which left Eudoxia 
 the sole power in the State. 
 
 Birth of On the 30th October 401 Eudoxia, now twenty- 
 Theodosius II. three, to the great joy of the whole of Constantinople, 
 gave birth to a son, who was named Theodosius, while the 
 occasion was celebrated with great festivities. Marcus, a 
 deacon who just at this time accompanied Porphirius, the 
 Bishop of Gaza, on a journey to Constantinople to present a 
 petition to the emperor, gives an interesting account of their 
 reception on the 20th October by the empress Eudoxia, who 
 received them reclining upon a golden sofa, and to whom they 
 presented their petition, while she in return asked for their 
 prayers in her approaching confinement, and he describes the 
 general delight when ten days afterwards she gave birth to 
 a son, and says that because this boy was '* born in the pur- 
 ple " ^ he was proclaimed emperor at his birth. He also 
 relates how at their next visit to the palace, seven days later, 
 the empress came forth from the private apartments bearing 
 
 * Meaning a son born after his father became emperor. The phrase 
 was given still more emphasis by the apartment in the imperial palace, 
 its walls lined with porphyry and entirely hung with purple, to which 
 it was customary that the empresses should retire for their accouche- 
 ment. Arcadius himself had not been " born in the purple," being 
 born before his father Theodosius became emperor, and hence the special 
 joy on this occasion, and the imusual honours accorded to this boy. 
 
hi 
 
 ■ 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP« 
 
 28 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 the chad in her arms to be blessed by the Bishop, and told 
 them, in order to secure the grant of their petition, to be present 
 at the cathedral when the boy was baptized and to place then: 
 petition in the baby's hands ; this being Eudoxia's ruse for 
 securing success for them in a matter to which Arcadius was 
 likely to be opposed ; that they did as she had directed them, 
 and were successful. He describes how profusely the city 
 was adorned on the day of the baptism, the houses bemg hung 
 with silken cloths and garlands of flowers, and the populace 
 being aU dressed m white for the occasion. He also relates 
 that Eudoxia was generally known to be favourable to the 
 Church which emboldened them to make their petition to 
 her, rather than to the emperor ; he mentions the uniform 
 kindness which they received from her ; and finally when, 
 after remaining in Constantinople until Easter 402, they 
 visited her to take their leave on the 12th April 402, how she 
 gave the Bishop a sum of money equal to £8200 to build a 
 church at Gaza, and to each of their party a sum equal to £57, 
 besides other gifts, and in bidding them adieu said, ' Remem- 
 ber always me and my child." ^ ^ , . xi. ^ ^i, 
 Eudoxia and But it was dccidcdly hard for Eudoxia that the 
 chrysostom. ^irth of cach of her children was accompanied by 
 a fresh conflict for her, and no sooner was her son bom than 
 she was drawn into a contest which became the principal event 
 of the colourless reign of Arcadius. UntU now Eudoxia had 
 lived upon good terms with the st«m Pope of Constantmople 
 John Chrysostom. Things however which the 2nd and 
 3rd centuries regarded with unconcern were not looked upon 
 in the same light in the 5th century. Chrysostom, from the 
 time that he arrived at Constantinople five years before, had 
 with justice severely attacked the luxurious ways of society,* 
 1 lAfe of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, by Mark the Deacon, translated 
 and annotated by G. F. Hill (1913), pp. 49-65. 
 
 « The nobUity in Constantinople at this time lived in greater luxury 
 than even ten centuries later the nobiUty in western Europe at- 
 tained. Their palaces had marble walls, doors of ivory, ceilmgs mlaid 
 with gold, floors inlaid with mosaic, rich carpets and hangings on the 
 floors and windows, beds of solid silver or plated with gold or silver, 
 tables of gold or silver, and chairs often of ivory. Their dresses were 
 embroidered with gold, their carriages and harness were adorned with 
 gold, and even then- servants wore gold ornaments. (Bury, Later 
 BoTnan Empire, I, 198.) 
 
 xvn] 
 
 FRIVOLITY DENOUNCED 
 
 29 
 
 constantly preaching on the subject in the cathedral of 
 St. Sophia, and Eudoxia, who always showed considerable 
 rehgious zeal, had not allowed this line of action on his part 
 to cause any rupture in the friendly relations between him 
 and herself. But shortly before the time that Eudoxia's son 
 was bom Chrysostom began to denounce more strenuously 
 the luxury and frivoUty of the court and of the wealthy ladies 
 of Constantinople, and in particular three rich young widows, 
 Marsa, Castricia, and Eugraphia, who were all friends of 
 Eudoxia. 1 These ladies appealed to the empress, and their 
 representations gained stiU greater weight when in a short 
 time the trenchant sermons of Chrysostom (often preached 
 in Eudoxia's presence as she sat in a prominent place in the 
 gallery) contained severe allusions to Eudoxia herself among 
 others. Whether Eudoxia took any action in support of her 
 friends we are not informed, but it seems probable, as from 
 this time forth a rupture between her and Chrysostom took 
 place, and his language against her no longer took the form 
 of allusions, but changed to violent denunciations of her 
 conduct. 
 
 In this well known contest between St. Chrysostom and 
 the empress Eudoxia the whole matter has always been related 
 from the point of view of the Church, which has scouted the 
 idea that the sainted Chrysostom could be in error on any 
 occasion, and has belauded him highly for bemg ready to defy 
 an emperor, not on a question of doctrine (as others in his 
 position rightly did on some occasions), but over such a matter 
 as the luxury and frivolity of the empress and the court. But 
 that is not the view which will be taken by any man who has 
 had to do with State affairs and matters into which the 
 question of the relative functions of Church and State enter. 
 We must not in this affair be led away by the strong partisan- 
 ship of the Church writers in favour of the noble, earnest, 
 and fiery-hearted Chrysostom, writers who seem to have for- 
 gotten that the State is also a divine institution and that 
 
 * One thing against which Chrysostom specially inveighed was 
 the ladies* fringes, a new fashion adopted by the fast set at the court 
 in place of the previous custom of wearing a veil entirely hiding the 
 hair. He also denounced Eugraphia's using rouge, on the ground 
 that the money which it cost should be given to the poor. 
 
i!i 
 
 litit 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 30 
 
 " the powers that be are ordained of God." Chrysostom was 
 certainly entirely in the right in denouncing powerfuUy the 
 extravagance, luxury, and frivoHty of the court ; but he was 
 just as certainly entirely in the wrong (in view of the positions 
 which he and she respectively held) in publicly usmg the lan- 
 guage that he did towards Eudoxia, who was the reigning 
 authority in the State. Chrysostom's noble character gains 
 nothing by endeavouring to defend his speaking of the empress 
 publicly in his sermons as " Jezebel " and " Herodias," a 
 mode of action whereby he made it impossible that he should 
 continue to occupy the position he did if Arcadius was to con- 
 tinue emperor. Chrysostom's fiery temperament led him to 
 exceed all due bounds, and to use language in his sermons 
 which in cooler moments his owti wisdom and sense of what 
 was fittmg must have caused him to see was an error both m 
 charity and in judgment. 
 
 It has been held, Eudoxia having been always a strong 
 supporter of the Church, that Chrysostom was impeUed to 
 use the violent language that he did through feeling " a bitter 
 disiUusion." Whether this be the case or not, it is plam that 
 Eudoxia had also much cause for bitterness. Chrysostom's 
 lancniage was altogether unmeasured, and no woman m the 
 position of an empress could be expected to endure being com- 
 pared before the people she ruled to " Herodias " and to 
 "Jezebel," terms moreover which implied charges agamst 
 Eudoxia's moral character which were untrue, and not to be 
 tolerated by her either as an empress or as a woman. Added 
 to this, since in Constantinople no quarrel was ever long mth- 
 out having theological questions imported into it, a petty 
 rehgious dispute after a time added its quota to the bitterness 
 on either side, owing to Eudoxia taking up the cause of certain 
 bishops in Asia Minor whom Chrysostom had deposed without 
 giving them a fak hearmg, acting in the matter as accuser, 
 
 witness, and judge. , , x- a 
 
 Nevertheless Eudoxia showed considerable patience ana 
 forbearance. For she bore with this constant pubUc denun- 
 ciation of herself for two whole years. At last, however, m 
 July 403 she took the step which was inevitable from the 
 first if Arcadius and she were to continue to be the rulers of 
 the empke, and made Arcadius banish Chrysostom from Con- 
 
 xvn] 
 
 THE SILVER STATUE 
 
 31 
 
 stantinople. After a time, however, she relented, and Chry- 
 sostom was recalled to his see. But a few months later, in 
 June 404, a handsome silver statue of Eudoxia ^ was erected 
 in her honour by Simplicius, the Prefect of the city, in the 
 Augusteum, the open space between St. Sophia and the im- 
 perial palace, and on this occasion certain bygone ceremonies 
 customary in Pagan times at the erection of statues, accom- 
 panied by various festivities and merriment, caused so much 
 noise as to interrupt the services in the cathedral. This 
 roused the hot indignation of Chrysostom, and drew forth a 
 violent sermon from him in which Eudoxia was once more 
 stigmatized as ** Jezebel", and alluded to with the words, 
 " Agaia Herodias dances " ; whereupon Chrysostom was a 
 second time banished. Whether by accident or design on 
 the night that he left Constantinople the cathedral of St. Sophia 
 caught fire, and was entirely burnt. Less than four months 
 later, on the 6th October 404, Eudoxia died at the age of 
 twenty-six in giving birth to a dead child. Arcadius was 
 inconsolable, and mourned her loss deeply. Thenceforth he 
 passed into the hands of the capable Anthemius, who became 
 his minister and wielded the whole power. 
 
 Removal of Having defeated and driven out of Italy both 
 western capital Radagaisus and Alaric, Stilicho in December 402 
 ^' removed the emperor Honorius and the court of 
 the West from Milan to the safer situation of Ravenna, which 
 city, surrounded on all sides by almost impassable marshes, 
 was secure from any attack except by sea. And Ravenna 
 thenceforth became for the next 350 years the capital of Italy. 
 This removal to Ravenna occupied the chief attention during 
 403, and in 404 Honorius (by this time twenty), with his young 
 wife Maria, Stilicho, and the latter's wife Serena, Honorius' 
 cousin, paid a visit to Rome, where there took place great 
 festivities in honour of Honorius for the defeat of Rome's 
 enemies. The ancient games were revived, together with a 
 combat of gladiators in the Colosseum, the last which ever 
 
 * This silver statue was placed upon a lofty pedestal of porphyry, 
 and was much admired . Part of the porphyry pedestal was discovered 
 in 1848 in making some excavations near the spot, and is now preserved 
 in Constantinople. 
 
OHAP. 
 
 i» 
 
 S2 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 took place. In the midst of it a monk from North Africa 
 Telemachus, who had travelled from thence with this special 
 intention, strode into the arena, and denounced the combat 
 as un-Christian and against the edict of Constantme. Me 
 was then and there stoned to death by the enraged populace. . 
 He died, but not in vain. For this terrible scene caused it to 
 be thereupon ruled that Constantine's edict, prohibiting 
 gladiatorial combats, should in future be applicable to Rome 
 no less than other cities. And they never took place agam 
 But these festivities at Rome, in triumph at the defeat of 
 Rome's enemies, were premature. Under many mfluences, 
 but chiefly under that of having upon the throne a useless 
 and effeminate nonentity, and of the example thereby given 
 to aU whose nature prompted them to shirk the hardships of 
 war, the might of Rome had considerably declmed. Only 
 thirty years had elapsed since Valentinian, when the Quadi 
 dared to ravage a Roman province, had marched mto theu: 
 country, devastated it from end to end, slam immense numbers 
 of them, and brought the Quadi to absolute submission ; and 
 only twenty-six years since Gratian, when the Allemanni 
 ventured to cross the Rhme and plunder the adjacent distnct, 
 had driven them back over the river, slain their king and three- 
 fourths of their force, and marched as a conqueror through 
 thek country. But ten years of effeminacy in high places 
 had wrought a great change in aU this, as Stilicho knew, and 
 as aU men were soon to be taught in the sternest fashion 
 And these festivities at Rome in 404 were the last of this kmd 
 which that city was to see for many long centuries. 
 
 In the spring of 405 another great invasion of 
 ^T' barbarians, again led by Radagaisus, and composed 
 Radagaisus. ^^ ^ ^^^^^^ j^^g^ ^f Vaudals, Alans, Suevi, and other 
 tribes, amounting according to some accounts to 400,000 
 men, burst over the northern frontier of Italy like some huge 
 tidal wave, overwhehning and sweeping away the Roman 
 troops guarding it, who appear to have been completely swal- 
 lowed up by the advancing flood, for we hear of no battle m 
 defence of the passes over the Alps. Radagaisus is said to 
 have been by far the most savage of aU the enemies of Rome ; 
 he was fanaticaUy devoted to the heathen gods of his ancestors, 
 wid swore to propitiate them with the blood of aU who bore 
 
 xvn] 
 
 INVADING HOST DESTROYED 
 
 33 
 
 the Roman name. Pouring down into Lombardy, through 
 which they marched in several divisions, and ignoring on the 
 one hand Stilicho, who was collecting troops at Pavia, and 
 on the other hand the timid court at Ravenna, shut up behind 
 its marshes, this great host swept on towards Florence, bound 
 for Rome, and committing terrible atrocities on their way. 
 
 Honorius, now twenty-two, showed himself in this crisis 
 truly a notable contrast to all his predecessors since the time 
 of Constantine the Great. Not to mention great soldiers like 
 Constantine, Valentinian I, or his own father Theodosius I, 
 at his age his predecessors Gratian, Julian, and the sons of 
 Constantine had been leading armies against such barbarians, 
 and winning victories over them. But Honorius, when he 
 should at such a time have been at the head of his army, 
 helping to defend his throne and empire (if only by the en- 
 couragement of his presence), remained carefully shut up 
 behind the walls of Ravenna, and occupied with the only 
 matter in which throughout life he is recorded to have taken 
 any interest — the rearing of chickens. His example was 
 contagious, and around him there naturally gathered courtiers 
 of a like effeminate and pusillanimous spirit. 
 
 Radagaisus' host reached further than the Visigoths had 
 done, but were brought to bay in the Apennines. Animated 
 by a leader named Ambrose, Florence, then occupying the 
 height of Fiesole, and covering the passage over the Amo, 
 blocked their way, and caused them to halt for a short time, 
 thus giving Stilicho an opportunity to come up with the troops 
 that he had collected. Stilicho, having too weak a force to 
 fight such a host, managed, assisted by the hilly nature of the 
 country, while avoiding a battle to construct with much strate- 
 gical skill a system of entrenchments around them, gradually 
 enclosing them in the mountains, and by cutting off their 
 supplies at last forced them by famine to surrender. Rada- 
 gaisus tried to steal away, but was caught, and put to death ; 
 those of his followers who had not died of starvation were 
 sold as slaves ; and thus the great invading host melted away, 
 and again Rome was saved. StiUcho obtained greater honour 
 than ever, being almost worshipped by the people, who 
 recognized in him their sole preserver from intolerable 
 miseries. 
 
 E.W.~II. n 
 
:i .ai 
 
 i 
 
 liT" 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 CHAF. 
 
 34 
 
 Meanwhae, however, Stilicho, now at the height 
 
 ^' "'• . STtory was beginning to suffer the usual troubles 
 
 nKBity agamst ol HIS giory, w«» " B tmiiMpB from which even 
 
 to bring »pon >"» *•, """Sbfe L cow.rily .pint, who 
 
 T-A*^ n^im ■ all the ignoble souls who, afraid of military 
 tried to calm , au tne ig Ravenna 
 
 SIS :iTL"r a.r.«^hh., wMch «,., 
 
 SdeviB. U, »d.»l.. -"rrer" the' »Sro,'^nd 
 riifii nonentity was a charge easily brought They 
 
 in regard to Aianc, »uu ^ engagements 
 
 Thev who had not been present at any 01 ^^^ J^^\ 
 
 reason to hope would in time destroy Stihcho. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 GAUL SUBMERGED 
 
 35 
 
 Invasion of In the ruin which was befalling the western half 
 v^SsI'a^^ of t^e empire there had thus far been no actual 
 
 andSuevL dismembcrment. The empire had sustained three 
 formidable invasions in five years (400-405), but though sujffer- 
 ing grievous ravages had successfully driven out the invaders. 
 Now, however, there was to come the disruption of various 
 provinces. Towards the end of the year 406 another still 
 greater invasion, which was a migration of whole nations, 
 took place, this time coming upon Gaul, Constantine's model 
 province. The Vandals, the Alans, and the Suevi, accom- 
 panied by all their families, crossed the Rhine in a vast host 
 near Mainz, and, again Hke a huge tidal wave, overwhelmed, 
 engulfed, and swallowed up the Roman legions on the Rhine 
 frontier, of whom no more is heard, and poured over the whole 
 of Gaul, destroying during the year 407 Treves (the capital 
 of the western prefecture), Mainz, Rheims, Toumay, Arras, 
 Amiens, Chalons, Troyes, Paris, Orleans, Tours, Poictiers, 
 Limoges, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Narbonne, and numerous 
 smaller cities. Almost simultaneously there occurred a simi- 
 lar migration of the Allemanni, who, crossing the Rhine higher 
 up, spread over the districts east of the Moselle, destroying 
 Worms, Spiers, Strassburg, and other cities. Limenius, the 
 Prefect of Gaul, and Chariobaudes, the commander-in-chief, 
 escaped with their lives to Italy. And thereupon Gaul, the 
 most flourishing and civilized province of the empire, passes 
 out of view, remainmg henceforth in barbarian hands. ^ 
 The devastation wrought, and the atrocities committed, were 
 terrible ; none had ever seen anything similar ; but there 
 survived few to chronicle them, and a dark cloud settled down 
 over Gaul. At the same time a usurper named Constantine 
 seized the rule in Britain, and taking with him the two legions 
 quartered there crossed into Gaul to increase the miseries of 
 that imhappy country by endeavouring to seize a portion of 
 it for himself. 2 After various contests with the barbarians, 
 and a defeat in southern Gaul from the general Sarus, he 
 attempted to penetrate into Spain, but failing in that endeavour 
 
 Though part of it was recovered for a time during the years 428- 
 437 (see Chap. XVIII, pp. 73 and 85). 
 
 This is the real abandonment of Britain. It left that country 
 without any regular troops to oppose the Scots io, th^ agrth aftd thQ 
 Saxons in the south. 
 
 ii 
 
 www 
 
i 
 
 i!ll 
 
 ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 PLOTS AGAINST STILICHO 
 
 37 
 
 ^ired again to Gaul and established himself for a time at 
 
 Arles.i ^^^ ^^ ^ — 
 
 In the eastern haH of the empire Arcadius from 
 Dea.ho, the time of Eudoxia'8 death in 404, remam^i even 
 ''^- more of a nonentity than ever. The banished Chry- 
 
 «^„ wJn^ot recaUed. - .as it iu^ly *« ^ X^^, 
 Arcadius weak and colourksstho^^^^^^^ ^.^ ^^ 
 
 solitary eharactenst^ a more jort^^^^^^ ^^ h„„„,. 
 
 :.tt-.^;Stp^^^^^ 
 
 for three years, at the end ol ^'^'*'^' ^ cUmate of the 
 
 treatment of his g^^ J^^^t.^ «! in Pontus in 
 mountams of the Caucasus, ne m 
 
 September 407, at the age «* ^f ^-^^^ '^ ^o^had remaLd 
 Alaric, who since bemg driven out of Italy m4U- 
 
 fK« vminffest his son Theodosius, aged seven. ±ii« 
 
 S c^dThi father with the title of The^^-- "'^^^^^^ 
 
 affairs continuing to be conducted for some years by 
 
 Xt;^^rdrmenrconnected with the last years of 
 
 1 Xt wm tHus be s.n that ^^^^^^ X^C^^^^^^i 
 withdrew its legions from Britain « '"^°"^ ^ summoned the 
 opinion that Britain could spare one '«8L°":^jtia leaving the other 
 
 Twentieth legion to him ff^^'^""?'^ '"it^th^heir\"-'>i'^ 
 two legions, the Second and the Sixth repr^mtmg^wit ^^^^ 
 
 about 24,000 men), to garrison Bntam. Th^e tw° leg^ ^^ ^^ 
 withdrawn by the -P^^^^.^^f^Ser who desired to seize a portion 
 S-SaSr^Letrndl-r^^'^ed and partially defeat^ by 
 an imperial general. 
 
 Arcadius have been brought to light by Cardinal Baronius. 
 From his place of banishment during the years 404-407 Chry- 
 sostom addressed a letter in triplicate to the three most im- 
 portant Bishops of the West at that time, the Bishop of Rome, 
 the Bishop of Milan, and the Bishop of Aquileia, describing 
 the manner in which he had been driven from his see of Con- 
 stantinople, and entreating them to bring their influence to 
 bear upon the two emperors, Arcadius and Honorius, to obtain 
 the assembly of a General Council to enquire into the whole 
 affair. The original letters in Greek are addressed to these 
 three Bishops ; but the copy addressed to the Bishop of Rome 
 has been tampered with, apparently during the Middle Ages, 
 the singular being everywhere substituted for the plural, so 
 as to make it appear that the appeal was solely addressed to 
 the Bishop of Rome. In response to this application nothing 
 appears to have taken place. But a second document, drawn 
 up in Latin, exists, which contains a regular act of excom- 
 munication of the emperor Arcadius for his treatment of 
 Chrysostom. This on being examined has been shown to be 
 a forgery of the Middle Ages, the language being of that period 
 and not of the 5th century ; in this forgery the Empress Eu- 
 doxia is included in the excommunication, through ignorance 
 on the part of the Medieval forger that at the time when the 
 document purports to be written she was dead. 
 
 Cabal to de- In 408 the despicable court nobles at Ravenna, 
 troy stiiicho. ^j^q jf ^j^^y j^^^j ^^ ^nd^^ f ^j, fighting to dcfcud their 
 
 country could nevertheless destroy a brave man, at length 
 succeeded in their schemes to put an end to the only general 
 that the empire possessed, one who had three times saved 
 Rome, even though so heavily handicapped by the character 
 and example of its emperor. Honorius, now twenty-four, 
 whose child-wife Maria had died in 406, had lately been mar- 
 ried to Stilicho's second daughter Thermantia ; but even this 
 did not protect Stiiicho, whose enemies at the court now suc- 
 ceeded in gaining an assistant exactly suited to their purpose. 
 Olympius, a cunning Greek, had, through Stilicho's patronage, 
 obtained an appointment at the court, and by judicious syco- 
 phancy and much unctuous pretence of religion, had ere long 
 
Ill 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 as HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 wonned himself into the position of chanceUor to Honorius. 
 Even Zosimus says of him that " under an appearance of 
 Christian piety he concealed a great deal of rascaUty ." Allying 
 himself with the treacherous court nobles, and also with a 
 party among the clergy who disapproved of the marriage of 
 the sister of the late empress to Honorius, and who had also 
 imbibed a notion that StiHcho's son Eucherius was at heart 
 a Pagan and anxious to reintroduce that religion, Olympms 
 entered upon a course of steadily whispering away the character 
 of his benefactor Stilicho. In addition to the former accusa- 
 tions 1 it was now insinuated to Honorius that StUicho was 
 conducting a fresh series of negotiations with Alaric, theur 
 object being, whUe sending Alaric to retake Gaul, himself to 
 take possession of the eastern half of the empire as the nommal 
 guardian of the boy Theodosius II. It was also declared that 
 StUicho meditated at the same time placing his son Euchenus 
 upon the throne of the west in place of Honorius. Besides 
 the jealous court nobles and the ecclesiastics who had allied 
 themselves with Olympius, a third party who were also inimical 
 to Stilicho and his wife Serena were the Pagans in Rome, to 
 whom Stilicho was obnoxious in consequence of his having 
 stripped off the massive gold plates from the doors of the 
 temple of Jupiter CapitoUnus to provide pay for the troops, 
 and Serena m consequence of her taking the necklace from the 
 statue of the goddess Rhea in 389.2 
 
 It is exceedingly difficult to trace out the truth in the midst 
 of this labyrinth of falsehoods employed for the undermining 
 of Stilicho, because almost our only authorities are Zosimus, 
 who is the mouthpiece of the bitterly antagonistic Pagan 
 party, and Orosius, an excessively narrow-minded and ignorant 
 Spanish ecclesiastic to whom StUicho is odious, and who repre- 
 sents the clerical party who had adopted the insane idea that 
 Eucherius was to become the means of reintroducing Paganism. 
 Hence the only course is to look at Stilicho's acknowledged 
 deeds. The charge that he was meditating treachery against 
 Honorius is belied by every act of his life, and was singularly 
 base when made against one who by a mere push of one hand 
 could at any time after the death of Theodosius the Great 
 have taken the throne of the western half of the empke from 
 » Page 34. " Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 565. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 THE MASSACRE AT PAVIA 
 
 39 
 
 its feeble and effeminate occupant, and have ruled that empire 
 well, and possibly have saved it from destruction. If Stilicho 
 had any fault it was of a very different nature, and was that 
 of a too great faithfulness to one whose occupation of the throne 
 at such a time was a calamity to the empire, and whom Stilicho 
 must for at least eight years, from the time of Alaric's first 
 advance in 400, have been daily tempted to eject. As regards 
 the charges in connection with Alaric aU that one can see is 
 that Stilicho had the respect for Alaric which a strong man in 
 the midst of a crowd of incapable men feels for the only other 
 strong man in his vicinity. Whether Stilicho had contem- 
 plated making friends with Alaric and assisting him to be the 
 power behind the throne in the East as he himself was in the 
 West (or vice versa), one cannot say, but it seems possible ; 
 and if so was probably the best way in which he could carry 
 out his promise to Theodosius. For the only chance for the 
 empire was that a strong man should be either on the throne 
 or practically on the throne. The charge that Stilicho con- 
 templated putting his son Eucherius on the throne, or that 
 the latter desired to re-establish Paganism, was never anything 
 more than an absurdity. 
 
 Murder t -^^^^^^ ^^® gcucral avoidancc of military service 
 Pavia of eight by thc town-dwcUing and degenerate Romans of 
 
 ig o cias. j^gjy gtijicho had been forced to enlist brave men 
 wherever he could get them, and consequently to draw recruits 
 largely from the barbarian races along the northern frontier, 
 enrolling all such men, as usual, in " auxiliary " corps. But 
 his action in this respect gave the usual umbrage to the Roman 
 legionaries, who found themselves often outstripped in the 
 race for promotion by their Teuton fellow-soldiers. Moreover 
 the four successive invasions in six years, and the example of 
 Honorius and his court, had considerably demoralized the 
 army, while Stilicho's strict discipline was an additional cause 
 of discontent. In the spring of 408, while Honorius and 
 Stilicho were at Rome, consulting with the Senate on the 
 serious state of affairs, a mutiny took place among the troops 
 at Ravenna and Bologna. Stilicho, leaving his wife Serena 
 at Rome, proceeded to Ravenna to calm the mutiny there, 
 while Honorius proceeded to Bologna, whither he soon sum- 
 moned Stilicho to his assistance. Stilicho on reaching Bologna 
 
II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 40 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 pacified the agitation among the troops and recommended 
 the ringleaders to mercy. From thence Honorius proceeded 
 to Pavia, where the legions were thoroughly disaffected against 
 Stilicho, who remained at Bologna. Honorius took with him 
 to Pavia Olympius, who seized the opportunity to spread 
 a calumnious report that Stilicho intended to kill the boy 
 Theodosius II and to put his own son Eucherius on the 
 eastern throne. By this and similar artifices the mutinous 
 troops at Pavia were roused by Olympius to frenzy. They 
 rushed through the city eager to put to death all whom Olym- 
 pius pointed out to them as friends of Stilicho, and, thus 
 directed, promptly murdered Limenius, the fugitive Prefect of 
 Gaul, Chariobaudes, who had been commander-in-chief in 
 Gaul, Naemorius, the commander of the emperor's guards, 
 Petronius, the Minister of Finance, Salvius, the Quaestor, and 
 even Longinianus, the Prefect of Italy, with two other officers 
 of high rank, the whole of these eight victims belonging to the 
 very highest class of imperial Officers of State, several of them 
 being killed in Honorius' own presence and while imploring 
 him vainly for mercy. Shouting for vengeance upon all friends 
 of Stilicho the excited troops at the same time massacred a 
 large number of the private citizens of Pavia. 
 Murder of Thc bcst cvidcncc of Stilicho's loyalty is given 
 stuicho. ^jy jjjg conduct when the news of this massacre of 
 his friends, instigated by Olympius and authorized by Honorius, 
 reached him at Bologna. He forthwith summoned all the 
 generals of Teutonic race, commanding the various corps of 
 barbarian " auxiliaries," and all strongly devoted to him. 
 They m-ged that he should at once march at their head against 
 the mutinous legions at Pavia. But Stilicho would not do 
 this, even to avenge the death of his friends and to save him- 
 self, because the emperor being in the hands of those legions 
 this would be tantamount to civil war. Upon his remaining 
 firm to this resolution all the Teuton generals separated them- 
 selves from him. Thereupon Stilicho rode off at once to 
 Ravenna, where shortly after his arrival came a letter signed 
 by Honorius imder pressure from Olympius ordering Stilicho's 
 arrest. He took refuge in a church, but surrendered on receiv- 
 ing a solemn promise that the emperor's orders were that his 
 life should not be touched. No sooner had he surrendered 
 
 xvii] 
 
 MURDER OF STILICHO 
 
 41 
 
 than a second letter arrived ordering his execution. The 
 
 Teuton troops, who were devoted to him, and stiU surrounded 
 
 him, miplored him to aUow them to resist the order, in which 
 
 case his life would have been saved, as they were too strong 
 
 to have been overcome by the legions at Pavia. But this he 
 
 utterly forbade, being determined to preserve the empke from 
 
 civil war, and without making any resistance offered his neck 
 
 to the sword of the executioner, who struck off his head (23rd 
 
 August 408). Thus did Honorius, at a time when the empire 
 
 sorely needed aU its military strength, take the life of the only 
 
 general that Rome possessed. Needless to say, the religious 
 
 pamphleteer Orosius praises this murder of StiUcho as having 
 
 deHvered the Church from dangers which only existed in his 
 
 own diseased imagination. Even Zosimus says, " So died the 
 
 man who was more moderate than any others who bore rule 
 
 at that tune." Others, especially those who in modem times 
 
 have looked at the immediate results of Stilicho's death, have 
 
 said, " This man remained faithful to his emperor, and was 
 
 the great defence of Rome." i 
 
 Milan, the former capital, where his revered sovereign 
 Theodosius, to whose dying request Stilicho had been so faith- 
 ful, had died, and where this brave champion of Rome had put 
 courage mto the trembling court and protected it against the 
 hosts of Radagaisus, was obviously the only fitting place for 
 btUicho to be buried. For Ravenna represented all which 
 had been most evilly disposed towards him. Honorius seems 
 to have had at aU events sufficient decency of feeling to respect 
 btihcho s remams. His body was borne by faithful adherents 
 to Milan, and was there buried in the cathedral (now the 
 church of St. Ambrose), where his handsome tomb is still to 
 be seen, occupying a square enclosure underneath the pulpit ^ 
 Vandal by birth, but " the noblest Roman of them aU," he 
 weU deserved the finest tomb in the cathedral, and around it 
 might weU be inscribed the words, " The faithful defender of 
 Rome. 
 
 ' Hodgkin, Invaders of Italy, Vol. I. p. 329 (Brst edition). 
 ♦K f.u ^!-^* (^'•""twpiece). The work on the tomb is either of 
 the 6th or the 6th century. The tomb may have been erected by 
 Jus daughter Thermantia, but was most probably erected at the 
 imperial restoration in the 6th century. 
 

 1 
 
 'I * 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 42 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 But Olympius had not yet filled up the cup of 
 i^ZTL his iniquities. The chamberlain Deuterius and the 
 Teuton troops, g^j^^tary Pctcr, friends of Stilicho, were beaten to 
 death because they refused to make any revelations against 
 him Cruel tortures were inflicted by Olympius' orders, m 
 the name of Honorius, on all Stilicho's servants and survivmg 
 friends, but faUed to elicit from them in a single case the con- 
 fession so much desired by Olympius that Stilicho had nourished 
 treasonable designs. Nevertheless an edict was promulgated 
 that aU who had held any office under him should forfeit the 
 whole of their property. Stilicho's son Eucherius was put to 
 death ; his daughter the empress Thermantia was sent back 
 to her mother Serena at Rome ; his brother-in-law Bathanarius, 
 general of the forces in Libya, was executed, his office bemg 
 given to HeracHan, the executioner who had struck off Stilicho's 
 head, and finally the Roman legionaries were despatched to 
 execute a truly noble revenge for StiHcho's policy of enhsting 
 Teuton auxiliaries. The wives and children of the latter 
 were, under an arrangement made by StiHcho, Hving in various 
 cities of northern Italy, as hostages for the fideUty of these 
 troops. The Roman legionaries proceeded to every city 
 where these wives and children of the Teuton auxiliaries were 
 living, and suddenly rushing in, massacred them all. The 
 natural consequence was that these auxiliaries, to the number 
 of 30,000 men, at once went off, mad for revenge, to Alaric, 
 who was at iEmona beyond the Julian Alps, and implored 
 him to lead them to Italy to destroy all of Roman blood. 
 
 History is ever showing that no evil in a ruler is so great 
 as weakness, and that it produces greater miseries upon those 
 over whom he is set than even the harshest tyranny or the 
 greatest immorality ; and the widespread miseries which were 
 brought upon the population of so many countries through 
 the weak incapacity of Honorius are only another example of 
 the fact. But even if it were possible to forgive the despicable 
 Honorius for aU the evils which he wrought by his weakness, 
 his cowardice, and his pernicious example, greater in baseness 
 than aU these was his ungrateful turning against and taking 
 the life of the man who had from first to last been a conspicuous 
 example of faithfuhiess to him, and surrendering himself 
 to the whispered calumnies of such vermin as Olympius, and 
 
 xvn] 
 
 FIFTH CENTURY WRITERS 
 
 43 
 
 his employers the cowardly and jealous courtiers of Rome 
 and Ravenna. They ere long received a just reward. 
 Operations of Throughout thc history of the 5th and the first 
 ^'^thT^w^" ^""^^^^ ^^ *^® ^*^ century, there is one point upon 
 which we have ever to be on our guard in groping 
 our way through a period in which we have no first-class, 
 or even second-class, historian among the few contemporary 
 writers. It is a point which confronts us in the case of all 
 such characters as Stihcho, Alaric, AtauH, and Theodoric, 
 as weU as in connection with the deeds of the northern races 
 in general during this period. The northern races were the 
 conquerors, but could not write ; the Romans were the con- 
 quered, but could wield the pen. It was an age when the 
 feelings of the conquered were rabidly bitter against those 
 who had conquered them, and when the pen was their only 
 weapon against the sword. The subtlety of a race of writers 
 who for generations had studied the mendacious science of 
 Rhetoric enabled most of these Roman writers of the 5th 
 and 6th centuries to describe aU matters much to the dis- 
 advantage of the " barbarians." Nor has their subtlety even 
 yet lost its effect ; for modern writers, belonging to northern 
 races unversed in such artifices, have in many cases taken 
 these writings in good faith, and thus often done injustice to 
 those of northern race in cases where the two parties, the 
 Roman and the "barbarian," were brought into coUision. 
 We require therefore during this period in the West ^ to be 
 contmuaUy on our guard (to a much greater extent than 
 modem writers have usuaUy been) against surrendering our- 
 selves blindly to these Roman authorities of the time, and 
 whenever men of northern race are in question must judge 
 those concerned as far as possible by their deeds rather than 
 by the colour given to them by the Roman writers of the 
 5th and 6th centuries. 
 The first occasion where we meet with this difficulty 2 is 
 * And to some extent also in the East, 
 r. l^^ ^^^ ^* occasion reUgious animosity only contributed a small 
 part to the bitterness mentioned, but in the subsequent occasions 
 Where we meet with the same difficulty the bitterness of the conquered 
 fiT ^^'ii ^^^^^ increased by reUgious animosity due to the fact that 
 tne northern conquerors were Arians while the Roman writers were either 
 tathohcs or Pagans. 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 44 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 in the case of the character and deeds of Stilicho, the Vandal. 
 As one of northern race, and one moreover who enlisted others 
 of northern race in considerable numbers into the army, 
 he was obnoxious to the Roman writers. We find therefore 
 numerous charges against him of auning at the throne, of 
 intriguing with Alaric, of wrongly, and without any right, 
 keeping the majority of the forces in the West,^ of interfering 
 in unauthorized ways in the affairs of the eastern portion 
 of the empire, and so on. We may, of course, accept the picture 
 of Stilicho drawn by these writers, and judge him accordingly. 
 On the other hand we may decline to be thus led, and may 
 look instead at his deeds, deeds which go far to contradict 
 every one of these accusations. Above all as regards the chief 
 of them, viz. the category of various statements all made 
 with the object of showing that he treacherously aimed at 
 the imperial throne, we may prefer to regard the fact that 
 Stilicho, to whom all the strongest and most manly portion 
 of the army were devoted, and the only general of the time, 
 needed not to enter upon any intrigues to gain the throne, 
 but could, as has been said, at any moment between 395 and 
 408, with a mere push of one hand, have taken the throne 
 from its feeble occupant and his effeminate crew of supporters, 
 and yet never did so ; and also to regard his conduct when 
 in the summer of 408 a large body of his friends were most 
 treacherously massacred at Pavia, and he was strongly im- 
 portuned by the whole of the generals of Teutonic race to 
 march at their head agamst the cowardly troops who had 
 perpetrated this massacre and the no less cowardly emperor 
 who had encouraged them in the act, on which occasion Stilicho 
 in refusing to do so practically surrendered his life in order 
 to adhere to the principles of loyalty which had guided all 
 his actions during these thirteen years. 
 
 Upon hearing of Stilicho's death Alaric at the 
 ""^^iTn of head of the Visigoths forthwith advanced upon 
 ^^^' Italy from iEmona, now sure that he would at last 
 " penetrate to the Qty.'' Profiting by his experience of six 
 years before he advanced this time with only fighting men, 
 leaving the famiUes of the Visigoths in Dlyricum. He crossed 
 
 » These writers ignoring the fact that he was Commander-in-chief 
 over the whole of the forces both of East and West. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 ALARIC BEFORE ROME 
 
 45 
 
 the " Pear Tree " pass, and passing Aquileia, marched west- 
 wards unopposed to Cremona, laying waste the country and 
 plundering the smaller towns and villages, but paying no 
 attention to the walled cities. Crossing the Po at Cremona, 
 he turned south-east towards Rimini, passing contemptu- 
 ously by Ravenna, where the emperor and the court lay 
 shivering with fear at the approach of the dreaded Goths. 
 There was no Stilicho now to organize any resistance to the 
 invasion ; the city populations everywhere copied their 
 emperor's example and cowered behind their walls, too selfish 
 and short-sighted to realize that their own turn would follow. 
 From Rimini the Visigoths, still unopposed, crossed the 
 Apennines into the valley of the Tiber, and following the 
 course of that river emerged into the Campagna, and stood 
 at last with " Great Rome " before them (October 408). It 
 must have been a wonderful moment, but there was no chroni- 
 cler to record for us what they felt. Their march had been 
 singularly rapid; within two months after the murder of 
 Stilicho the Goths stood before Rome; it was a prompt 
 reply to that dastardly crime. 
 
 Within the city were many persons of high rank, including 
 the princess Galla Placidia, the emperor's sister, now fourteen, » 
 Serena, the widow of Stilicho, Laeta, the widow of Gratian,'* 
 the members of the Senate, Pompeianus, the Prefect of Rome, 
 Innocent I, the Pope of the western patriarchate,-^ and many 
 others, but a guiding head was nowhere to be found, and all 
 was terror and helplessness. The splendid buildings erected 
 by Augustus, Vespasian, Trajan, and Hadrian, untouched as 
 yet by any spoiler's hand, looked down on a degenerate and 
 panic-stricken crowd who had lost every particle of the manly 
 spu-it of their ancestors. Coward hearts when in fear take 
 refuge m cruel deeds, and the only method which the helpless 
 Senate could devise to cause Alaric to desist from blockading 
 the city was to put to death Stilicho's widow, Serena, who 
 
 * Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 569. 
 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 553. During the miseries of the siege Laeta' 
 and her mother behaved in the most noblehearted manner, giving 
 away all that they possessed to reUeve the distress of the poorer citizens. 
 
 Innocent I had succeeded Anaste^?i\is, the successor of Siricius. 
 in 402. 
 
i 
 
 i 
 
 ■ HHf I i 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 46 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 it was suggested might treacherously open the gates of the 
 city, and by whose death the ancient gods might be propi- 
 tiated, since she had offended them by taking the necklace 
 from the neck of the statue of Rhea, the mother of the gods, 
 nineteen years before.^ She was therefore strangled as a 
 specially appropriate method of execution ; but, as even the 
 Pagan Zosimus sarcastically remarks, this did not cause Alaric 
 to desist. Moreover within the city were about 40,000 slaves, 
 of both sexes, of Gothic or other barbarian race, who, captured 
 at various times, had been made slaves by the Romans, and 
 Alaric's heart burnt within him at the thought of these cap- 
 tives belonging to his own or other northern races thus degraded 
 by the degenerate dwellers in Rome, as also at the remem- 
 brance of the recently slaughtered wives and children of the 
 Teuton auxiliaries, and neither he nor those auxiliaries were 
 disposed to show Rome any mercy. 
 
 But the terrible sack of the city which its inhabitants dreaded, 
 and upon which Alaric's troops were bent, was postponed 
 for yet a little longer. Alaric stopped all supplies from enter- 
 ing Rome, and ere long famine and pestilence did their usual 
 work. When the city had become ** one vast sepulchre, its 
 streets and open spaces covered with decaying corpses," and 
 when its million inhabitants had nothing left to subsist upon, 
 the Senate despatched envoys to treat for terms. They 
 came riding out to Alaric's camp with an assumption of much 
 dignity and importance. Alaric knew their unmanly and 
 crafty type well, one which he had often seen in Constantinople 
 and Milan ; and he evidently took pleasure in thinking how 
 with a few plain words he would quickly bring down their 
 pompous assumption of the offended majesty of Rome. Being 
 conducted to his presence they adopted a very lofty tone. 
 " The Roman people were prepared to make peace on moderate 
 terms, but were yet more prepared for war. The defenders 
 of the city were numerous. They had arms in their hands, 
 and from long practice in their use had no reason to dread 
 the result of battle." Such a speech made to Alaric, who 
 
 1 Zosimus says that the Senate obtained the concurrence of the 
 princess Galla Placidia to this cruel and unjust execution of her first 
 cousin and guardifiua Serena ; but it is not believable, especially as 
 Galla Placidia was at this time a girl Qi o^ily fourteen. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 THICK GRASS EASIER MOWN 
 
 47 
 
 knew what the Roman people's " practice in the use of arms " 
 was like, merely provoked from him a loud laugh, and his 
 reply was short, " The thicker the grass the easier mown." 
 The effect upon the ambassadors was like that upon a bladder 
 full of air when suddenly pricked; they almost shrivelled 
 up, and abandoning aU talk about fighting, proceeded to 
 enquire as to the " moderate terms " which would be demanded. 
 But the answer made them feel considerably worse, " AU 
 your gold, aU your silver, aU your property, and all your 
 slaves of barbarian race." In terror they said, " But what 
 then wiU you leave to us ? " " Your Uves," grimly replied 
 Alaric. The ambassadors departed in despair, a crestfallen 
 cavalcade, to return to the city and impart this grievous 
 news to the Senate. Subsequently, however, Alaric agreed 
 to accept a somewhat less heavy ransom, i and on its being 
 paid, he for this time spared the city, to the disgust, and almost 
 mutmy, of the Visigoths. Though the ransom involved 
 stripping aU the precious metals from the temples of the 
 gods, 2 the melting down of all statues composed of gold or 
 sHver, and the impoverishment of aU the wealthy citizens 
 the amount was paid ; the 40,000 barbarian captives wer^ 
 surrendered ; a treaty was drawn up constituting Alaric " the 
 permanent champion of Rome " ; and aU being concluded 
 Alaric withdrew his army into Tuscany, thus ending the first 
 of his three sieges of Rome. 
 
 Innocent I. ^^occnt I (402-417), who was at this time Pope 
 
 of Rome,3 was the first holder of this new title 
 
 (created twenty-one years before he gained it by the Second 
 
 General Council in 381) who adopted that tone of exaltation 
 
 caIx^^ accepted a ransom amounting in our present money to about 
 £400,000, together with various commodities, and the release of aU 
 captives of northern race. 
 
 \ The very thing which when Stilicho had done it to provide for 
 their defence had so enraged the Romans (p. 38) they now had to do 
 m order to buy off a stern foe. It was the kind of lesson that a people 
 unaccustomed to war invariably need, and which they always receive, 
 though mne times out of ten too late. 
 
 ' ^® ^«^ ^^^ fourth Bishop of Rome who bore the title of Pope, 
 the three Bishops preceding him since that title was created having 
 been Damasus I (died 384), Siricius (died 398) and Anastasius I (died 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 48 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 of his office which was afterwards carried to greater lengths 
 by Leo the Great.^ The death m 397 of the great Archbishop 
 of Milan, St. Ambrose, felt by all men to be the leading Bishop 
 of his time in the Church, had created a gap which Innocent 
 endeavoured to fill; though his efforts resolved themselves 
 into writing in a lofty and imperious tone which, however 
 much it has impressed later ages with an idea of his import- 
 ance, does not appear, unsupported as it was by any theo- 
 logical or administrative capacity, to have had much weight 
 with his contemporaries. How much part he had taken in 
 the intrigues against Stihcho, in which an influential section 
 of the ecclesiastical party had joined, it is impossible to say, 
 but he can scarcely have altogether set his face against them. 
 The utter incapacity of the court of Ravenna assisted 
 Innocent I in his adoption of a tone in writing which attributed 
 to his office a more exalted position than he was justified in 
 assuming, and he appears to have ignored as far as he could 
 the fact that when creating this new office the Second General 
 Coimcil had carefully hedged it round with provisions intended 
 to prevent anything of this nature.* In one of his letters he 
 declares that all the churches of the West owe obedience to 
 the see of Rome, " which has been planted by St. Peter and 
 his successors," and are bound to follow its usages. And in 
 writing to Bishops. in Gaul and Spain he adopts an imperious 
 style and a lofty tone of condescension intended to inculcate 
 the same idea. Of course there was nothing absolutely irre- 
 gular in this attitude so long as he did not attempt overtly 
 to interfere with the independence of the Bishops concerned, 
 and any one of the five Popes might without irregularity 
 have adopted a similar style of language towards the dioceses 
 within their respective patriarchates to that which Innocent 
 used towards those in his patriarchate. But such a style 
 and tone had not been usual, and it is easy to see that if con- 
 stantly adopted it would tend towards the unpardonable 
 offence of breaking down that independence of Bishops which 
 had ever been held as an inviolable axiom of the Church's 
 constitution, and which had been reiterated only twenty-one 
 years before by the Second General Council at the very time 
 
 1 Chap. XIX, pp. 108-110. « Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 DISAPPEARANCE OF THE ARMY 
 
 537. 
 
 49 
 
 that it gave to the see of Rome a patriarchal jurisdiction 
 Much of this language however on Innocent's part was simply 
 an ordinary Italian device for gaining higher consideration 
 than custom awards, i There was Httle in such language 
 agamst which those concerned could protest, and they there- 
 fore met it in the only way possible, viz. by passing it by in 
 silence. 
 
 While however Innocent I adopts this imperious tone in 
 his correspondence, we find no deeds recorded of him during 
 the fifteen years (402-417) that he held the office of Pope of 
 Rome which manifest any ability. The time was a hiehly 
 eventful one in Italy, yet he made no mark in the public affaire 
 of those eventful years. He was not noted in any way as a 
 theologian, and he can scarcely have been a man of any 
 abibty m other respects ; for if he had possessed even a particle 
 of the capacity of such a man as St. Ambrose (first the capable 
 Prefect of Liguria and then the no less capable Archbishop 
 of Milan) he would assuredly have managed to breathe some 
 degree of virility into the feeble authorities at Rome and 
 Kavenna in his time. 
 
 amiyinthe ^^^7 "1 the Wcst disappears. After the opera- 
 w«t. tions in Tuscany in 405 and those in southern 
 uaul m 406 no more is heard of it. When in 408 the Visi- 
 goths for the second time advance through Italy to attack 
 Rome no army bars their way. In the thirteen years from 
 
 <Z ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ *** Theodosius the Great an army of 
 ^50,000 men, comprising the best fighting troops of the whole 
 empire and many notable Roman legions with long and 
 glorious traditions who could inscribe on their standards a 
 iong hst of victories, many of them gained only a few years 
 before simply vanishes. There is no longer a field army 
 Henceforth the Goths make their attacks against the cities 
 but of the army, which from the mouth of the Rhine to Belgrade 
 had stood m defence of the Roman dominions, and which had 
 It stiU existed would have opposed these foes in the field, no 
 
 ^nL^u "^ °* !°'*^ *"^™' *^^ assumption of exalted claims to defer- 
 Zth^V^^'°\°^ an extravagant style of address, and similar 
 ^tjhods have ever been a favourite device in Italy employed with this 
 
 E.W.— II. 
 
 £ 
 
li, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 50 
 
 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 vestige remains. * It had been wiped out of existence by the 
 mass of enemies which came against it. 
 
 The treaty made by the Senate with Alaric had 
 Ssic'^s given temporary relief to Rome. But the incapable 
 
 of Rome. Houorius, uuable to recognize any danger which did 
 not touch his sacred person, declined to ratify the treaty. 
 Thereupon Alaric in 409 again invested Rome. Hadrian's 
 mausoleum was made by the Senate into a fortress, and 
 an embassy was sent to Ravenna imploring Honorius to 
 realize the miserable condition of Rome, and agree to Alaric's 
 terms. By this time a cabal among the nobles had treated 
 Olympius in the same way that he had treated Stilicho, and 
 he had fled for his hfe,2 being succeeded by a similar character, 
 named Jovius. Eventually a treaty was arranged with Jovius 
 by Alaric at Rimini, and the latter for a second time withdrew 
 his army from Rome. 
 
 But with a stupidity almost sublime Honorius declined to 
 ratify this treaty also, and objected to any military rank » 
 being given to Alaric (who was king of the Visigoths and had 
 for four years administered a Roman province) as being a 
 " barbarian." Still Alaric, though duped and insulted, held 
 off his Visigoths, and even reduced his terms, causing all men 
 to wonder at his moderation. Honorius sent to Dalmatia, 
 where there was a-body of 6000 troops, ordering them to come 
 to the deliverance of Rome. They were attacked on their 
 march by Alaric, and all but one himdred of them were slain. 
 A second embassy was sent by the citizens of Rome to Hono- 
 rius, the Pope of Rome, Innocent I, accompanying it. But 
 the incapable court at Ravenna would agree to nothing. At 
 length Alaric, " pale with rage,*' broke off all further negotia- 
 tions, and for the third time besieged Rome. But yet again 
 the city escaped. Disgusted with Honorius, the Senate, in 
 combination with Alaric, set up a puppet emperor, Attains, 
 who concluded the desired treaty ; and again Alaric with- 
 
 1 Except a few scattered remnants in Italy, such as the troops who 
 mutinied at Pavia, and the small body sent for from Dalmatia ; but 
 in Britain, Gaul, Rhsetia, Noricum, and Spain not even such rem- 
 nants of the army are to be seen. 
 
 « Eventually Olympius was seized in Dalmatia, his ears were cut 
 off, and he was then beaten to death with clubs. * Page 47. 
 
 xvn] 
 
 ROME TAKEN BY ALARIC 
 
 51 
 
 drew his army. Finding, however, after a short time that 
 Attains was quite useless, Alaric sent for him to Rimini, 
 deposed him, and again requested from Honorius a solid and 
 durable treaty. Being again refused, Alaric, eariy in August 
 410, once more marched southwards, this time determined in 
 deadly earnest to take Rome by assault. And the doomed 
 city no longer escaped. 
 
 Fauof There was no more sitting down before the city 
 Rome. to reduce it by famine. The Goths proceeded at 
 once to the assault, and Rome was taken on the 24th August 
 410. The Goths broke into the city near the Salarian gate' 
 at the eastern end of the Pincian hiU, close to the gardens of 
 Sallust. We need not delay over the horrors that ensued • 
 the slaughter of the wives and children of the 30,000 Teuton 
 auxiliaries two years before was f uUy avenged ; ' before the 
 assault Alaric had given strict orders that the churches should 
 be left unmjured and the right of asylum in them be respected 
 and these orders were obeyed ; but with this exception all 
 the pandemonium of evil which a city taken by assault has 
 ever suffered the inhabitants of Rome suffered. After this 
 had raged for six days and nights the Goths departed, laden 
 with captives and spoU. They did little harm to the ancient 
 buildings of Rome, their time being occupied in seeking for 
 plunder ; destruction of that kind was left to be carried out 
 by later conquerors. 
 
 Death of Alaric 's great achievement was over He had 
 Alaric taken Rome at last. That which aU men had said 
 he would never be able to do, and had ridiculed him for attempt- 
 mg, he had accomplished in the face of aU difficulties The 
 dream of so many years, the work of so many campaigns, the 
 Object of so many plans, since the time that he was a young 
 and capable soldier on the staff of Theodosius the Great at 
 Constantmople, had at last been achieved. It was, though 
 he knew It not, his life's work. He did not survive the faU of 
 Kome three months. Marching stiU further south into Cala- 
 iZ' i^J^u^t^ .collecting ships at Reggio, intending to cross 
 mto North Afnca. The first of the barbarian conquerors of 
 Kome, he had swept from the Black Sea to the Straits of 
 Messma but there his course was ended, and the further move- 
 ments of the Visigoths were to be under another leader. A 
 
m 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 52 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 storm wrecked his fleet, and while waiting to collect another 
 he was attacked by fever, and after a few days' iUness " Ala- 
 Reiks," the all-ruler, the ruthless, but not ungenerous, foe of 
 the empire, who would have spared Rome even at the very 
 last if he had been fairly treated, was dead (Nov. 410). He 
 died at Cosenza in Calabria, on the river Busento, about ninety 
 mUes north of Reggio. He was then only forty-six ; yet he 
 had broken the power of Rome, and as a great changer of the 
 course of the world's history he has been held to be equalled 
 only by three other men, Mahomed, Columbus, and Napoleon. 
 The Visigoths, in their wandering existence, could not erect 
 over Alaric a great column like that of Trajan, or a mausoleum 
 like that of Hadrian, but they were determined that never- 
 theless he should have a unique tomb, and one which no ignoble 
 Roman hand should afterwards desecrate when they had 
 moved to other lands. They therefore set their Roman cap- 
 tives to work to turn the course of the river Busento from its 
 channel, and m the dry bed of the river they dug Alaric's 
 grave. There they buried him, and with him his share of the 
 most costly spoils of Rome. Then they made their Roman 
 captives turn back the river to its original channel ; and this 
 having been done, and all traces removed, they ensured that 
 the secret of Alaric's grave should be kept by putting all the 
 captives to death. And there, with the silent waters of the 
 Busento flowing over him, sleeps Alaric, the Visigoth's king, 
 the conqueror of Rome. 
 
 ^« , , It is impossible to depict what the news of the 
 
 the news fall of Romc was to mankind at large. Rome, 
 
 upon mankind. ,, ^^^^ Romc," the ccntrc of the universe, captured 
 
 by barbarians, — sacked, — ^plundered. It seemed a wreck which 
 involved the wreck of aU else. Two great writers of the time 
 have left us a record of the impression it produced upon them. 
 St. Jerome, hearing the appalling news in Palestine, says he 
 " sat long silent, filled with a terrible grief," and was " filled 
 with so great a consternation that I well-nigh forgot my own 
 name." He writes, " The frame of the world is falling in 
 ruins. That renowned city, the head of the Roman world, 
 is destroyed. What can be safe if Rome can f all ? " 
 St. Augustine, hearing the news in North Africa, writes, " The 
 great city of Rome has been overthrown with the crash of 
 
 xvn] 
 
 EFFECT UPON MANKIND 
 
 53 
 
 a mighty slaughter." And it inspired him to write one of 
 the great books of the world, his celebrated De Civitate Dei 
 (The aty of God), the fuU title of which is, " Though the 
 greatest city of the world has fallen, the City of God abideth 
 for ever " ; while the thought running through it is that of 
 a grand unseen Qty of God slowly rising, stone by stone, out 
 of the wrecks of kingdoms and empires. But to mankmd at 
 large the fall of Rome produced a shivering horror, as though 
 at the desecration of something infinitely sacred, and a feeling 
 that nothing mattered now that that which had ever been 
 the centre of all things was destroyed. 
 
 But in the midst of this general horror felt by a whole world 
 one person remained unmoved. Of the feeble and ignoble 
 son of Theodosius the Great who occupied the throne of the 
 West it is related that when an excited chamberlain rushed 
 mto the imperial apartments of the palace at Ravenna an- 
 nouncing that Rome had perished, Honorius was seized with 
 the greatest consternation, saying that it was not an hour 
 since she was feeding out of his hand, but recovered when it 
 was explained to him that it was not his favourite hen named 
 "Rome," but merely the city of Rome, which had been 
 destroyed. Even if the story be not true, its mere invention 
 shows the popular estimate of his character. 
 
 ■ 'y 
 
KOTE P 
 CJhkonolooy of Alaric's first campaign in Italy 
 
 The chronology of the operations during the years 400-402 is 
 most obscure and conflicting. Gibbon, Tiilemont, and Clinton 
 place the date of the battle of Pollentia as 6th April, 403 ; but 
 PaUmann, von Wietersheim, Prof. Bury, and Dr. Hodgkin place 
 it as 6th April, 402. I have followed these latter authorities in 
 placing this battle on the 6th April, 402, but I have differed from 
 all of them in regard to Stilicho's crossing of the Alps to oppose 
 Radagaisus, and have placed it in the winter of 400-401, and not 
 in that of 401-402, as stated by all these authorities. For it 
 seems to me plainly impossible that the whole of Stilicho's cam- 
 paign in Rhaetia, including his journey thither, raising of special 
 corps, contest with Radagaisus, driving the latter back to the 
 Danube, return with his troops to Milan, and march thence to Pol- 
 lentia could all have taken place in so short a time as the three 
 months between December 401 and 6th April 402. 
 
 Again it would appear that Alaric's crossing of the " Pear Tree " 
 pass cannot have been on 18th November 401 (as held by von 
 Wietersheim and Prof. Bury), but must have been on 18th Novem- 
 ber 400, the date given by the almost contemporary writer Pros- 
 per. This latter date gives time for the subsequent operations 
 of Alaric, which the date 18th November 401 does not. For it 
 is impossible that Alaric's battle by the Timavus, march through 
 Venetia and thence to Ravenna (crossing all the rivers of Lom- 
 bardy), march thence to Milan (again crossing the Po and other 
 rivers), siege of that city, and march thence to Pollentia could 
 all have taken place, especially in the case of a host numbering 
 a million persons, in the period of four and a half months between 
 18th November 401 and 6th April 402. Again since Alaric 
 started from Singidunum about July 400, had only some 600 miles 
 to traverse to the " Pear Tree " pass, and was unopposed en route, 
 this operation could not have occupied sixteen months, as is im- 
 pUed by the date 18th November 401 ; whereas the date 18th 
 November 400 given by Prosper would correctly allow about 
 four months for this march. Moreover Alaric was ah-eady in 
 Italy, and the rivers were proving obstacles to him, when Stilicho 
 addressed the court at Milan before starting for the north. Von 
 Wietersheim and others apparently followed the Anonymus Cus- 
 piniani ^ which gives the date in question as 18th November 401 ; 
 but the time necessary for Alaric's subsequent operations up to 
 the battle of Pollentia shows that the date given by Prosper (18th 
 Nov. 400) is the correct one. 
 
 1 See Note G, p. 139. 
 54 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 HONORIUS, GALLA PLACIDIA, 
 
 VALENTINIAN III, THEODOSIUS II, 
 
 AND PULCHERIA 
 
 410 — 450 
 
 WHILE the Visigoths had been occupied in the manner 
 detailed in the preceding chapter, the Vandals, the 
 Vandals, Alans, Alans, and the Suevi, having in the three years 
 uTvade Spain, 406-409 destroyed or eaten up nearly everything 
 AUel^nS:?nd "^ ^*^' ^^^^^ "^ ^^^ P^uTed over the Pyrenees into 
 ^S'ca^r *^^ flourishing province of Spain, in almost the 
 seize au . ^jj^j^ ^f which country unbroken peace had reigned 
 for nearly 400 years, ravaging it in a similar way, and rich 
 and prosperous Spain is stated to have thereupon become 
 " the prey of four plagues— the sword, and famine, and pesti- 
 lence, and the noisome beast." And in the next year (411) 
 another great wave, consisting of the Franks, the Allemanni, 
 and the Burgundians, followed them into Gaul, sweeping over 
 all the northern portion of that afflicted country, while its 
 southern portion was the prey of various petty usurpers who 
 fought together incessantly. To the Romans there only 
 remained Aries (regained in 411 from the usurper Constan- 
 tine) with the surrounding district at the lower end of the 
 Rhone valley. 
 
 Saxons and ^^* ^^^g ^^^^ ^^^ Franks, AUemanni, and Bur- 
 ^"firit^^* gundians seized upon northern Gaul the Saxons 
 and Jutes began a similar destruction in Britain, 
 though in this case that destruction was more prolonged! 
 Britain had, like Gaul, been thoroughly Romanized. Though 
 there was in 407 a departure of the two remaining legions 
 who had for so long been quartered in that country, there was 
 no " departure of the Romans from Britain " in the sense 
 usuaUy supposed. As a result of 400 years' occupation of 
 

 I' 'I 
 1 1 I J 
 
 m 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 66 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 the country by the Roman power its population, though they 
 might be styled " Britons/' were in the beginning of the 6th 
 century Roman citizens as civilized as those in any other part 
 of the empire,^ and the inhabitants of its towns were as luxu- 
 rious (and as little ready to defend themselves) as those of 
 Cologne, Paris, Orieans, or Bordeaux. It is a population 
 such as this which speaks in the probably legendary document 
 called the " Groans of the Britons," *— a non-military Roman 
 population bereft of the military protection to which it had 
 been accustomed. But in Britain the towns were less numer- 
 ous than in Gaul, and the country population still retained 
 a considerable proportion of those manly qualities for which 
 they had always been noted, and they made a long and stubborn 
 fight for several generations, though continually forced further 
 and further to the west. Owing to this cause, and to Britain 
 being an island, the destruction took longer than in Gaul, 
 the operations of the Saxons and Jutes (followed later on 
 by the Angles) being carried out by successive invasions 
 extending over many years.^ But the result was the same, 
 and the devastation wrought was even greater than that 
 wrought in Gaul. Roman Britain practically vanished. The 
 towns and villages were burnt ; their inhabitants were 
 slaughtered or carried off into an abhorred slavery ; country 
 houses and farms disappeared ; wild birds built their nests 
 where formerly had been prosperous cities ; forests quickly 
 overspread the country ; and except for the solid Roman 
 roads there was nothing left but " the scattered debris of a 
 
 ruined world." 
 
 In Italy the Visigoths upon Alaric's death raised 
 ^*u^ north- upon the shield as their king his brother-in-law 
 Ataulf. He abandoned the idea of conveying the 
 
 xvin] 
 
 wards. 
 
 1 See Vol. I. Chaps. XV. pp. 499-500, and XVI. p. 580. 
 
 • Sent, it is said, to the Roman general Aetius at Aries, in 446. 
 
 • From the fact that the evidence of coins shows that the town of 
 Silchester (near Reading) was destroyed or abandoned about 420, and 
 that in 441 a Gaulish chronicler notes that "the Britons, hitherto 
 suffering from various disasters and vicissitudes, have succumbed to 
 the Saxons," it would appear that the first invasion of Saxons took 
 place about 415, and that by 440 they had conquered all the south- 
 eastern part of the island. But the struggle continued in the rest of 
 the island for at least two generations longer (see Chap, XX, p. 162). 
 
 GALLA PLACIDIA 
 
 51 
 
 Visigoths from the south of Italy across the sea to North 
 Africa, and led them back again from Calabria northwards, 
 with the ultimate intention of penetrating westwards into 
 Gaul and Spain. But for two years (410-412) he loitered still 
 in Italy, devastating that coimtry, and showing himself in no 
 hurry to depart westwards, owing to a reason which throughout 
 the next five years had a strong influence over the policy 
 and movements of the Visigoths. 
 
 The princess For there now comes upon the scene one who 
 Gaiia piacidia. played the cMcf part in the history of the western 
 portion of the empire for the next forty years, the capable 
 daughter of Theodosius the Great, Galla Piacidia, who in 410 
 reached the age of sixteen, and who presents such a remark- 
 able contrast to her two feeble and incapable half-brothers, 
 Arcadius and Honorius. It has once before been noticed how 
 often character and ability depend upon the mother rather 
 than upon the father ; i and of this Galla Piacidia and her 
 two half-brothers furnish yet another example. The two sons 
 of the capable Theodosius the Great by his first wife, the 
 colourless Flaccilla, were both of them incapable nonentities. 
 Whereas his daughter by his second wife, Galla, was as full of 
 strength of character, energy, and ability as her two half- 
 brothers were lacking in those qualities. 
 
 Galla Piacidia, the daughter of an emperor, the sister of 
 an emperor, the wife of an emperor, the mother of an 
 emperor, and for one year the queen of the Visigoths, had an 
 eventful life. Brought up as a child by her father's niece 
 Serena, she was captured at the age of sixteen by Alaric at 
 his third siege of Rome, as a part of the terms under which 
 he spared the city and agreed to Attains being set up as a 
 puppet emperor ; and thenceforth for five years she followed 
 the fortunes of the Visigoths, by whom she was treated with 
 the deference and courtesy due to the emperor's sister, but 
 was carried about in their wanderings as a valuable hostage, 
 whereby to extract terms from the undecided and incapable 
 Honorius as the price of her surrender. 
 
 Ataulf. ^^* ^^* ^^^S ^^^^ Ataulf became king of the 
 
 Visigoths a less strong desire began to be manifested 
 
 to restore Galla Piacidia, on any terms, to her brother the 
 
 ^ Vol. I, Chap. XIV, pp. 46a-464. 
 
i 
 
 ffml 
 
 111 *« 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 68 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 emperor. Ataulf, like Alaric, was no ignorant and uncouth 
 barbarian. He was as well educated as a Roman noble, and 
 his handsome figure, ability, and courteous manners made 
 him conspicuous among the Visigoths. He had fallen in love 
 with the beautiful and highborn girl who was his captive, and 
 she with him, and henceforth Ataulf's endeavour was to bring 
 such pressure to bear as to induce the emperor to consent to 
 his marriage with his sister, Galla Placidia. With this hope 
 Ataulf kept the Visigoths lingering in Italy, while prosecuting 
 interminable negotiations. But all his efforts were fruitless, 
 Honorius treating with contempt so preposterous an idea as 
 that the daughter of the Caesars should be married to a bar- 
 barian prince, even though he were king of the Visigoths. 
 Moreover Ataulf had a powerful rival at court. Honorius 
 had now passed imder the dominion of a new adviser, Con- 
 stantius, and the latter was also a suitor for the hand of the 
 emperor's sister. Constantius, though rough and unpre- 
 possessing, was a good soldier who had served in various 
 campaigns imder Theodosius the Great, and had in 41 1 attacked 
 and taken prisoner the usurper Constantine at Aries, and sent 
 him to Italy, where -he was put to death. Constantius is 
 described by the contemporary writer Olympiodorus as slouch- 
 ing and clumsy in his movements, with a broad head set upon 
 a thick neck, and eyes having a downcast, scowling look, 
 and a glance betokening him to be a gloomy tyrant, but jovial 
 on occasion, and making himself agreeable at his banquets. 
 With none of the charms of character and person possessed 
 by Ataulf, he had nevertheless set his heart on gaining Galla 
 Placidia for his wife, and she dreaded above all things being 
 forced into such a marriage. 
 
 The Visigoths Hence whenever the envoys on either side met 
 leave Italy, ^q discuss terms of pcacc between Rome and 
 the Visigoths, the point chiefly insisted upon by the envoys 
 of Honorius, and as carefully evaded by the envoys of Ataulf, 
 was the restitution of GaUa Placidia. At length after two 
 years had been thus consumed, whether because GaUa Placidia, 
 who was by this time eighteen, dreaded that some turn in the 
 political wheel might cause her to be captured by Constantius 
 and therefore desired to be removed further from his orbit, 
 or because Ataulf saw opportunities in Gaul for doing services 
 
 r 
 
 Xvffi] 
 
 THE DREAM OF ATAULF 
 
 59 
 
 to Honorius which might win the desired consent, or because 
 Ataulf was unable to induce the Visigoths to delay their 
 westward march any longer, in 412 the Visigoths departed 
 from Italy and crossed the moimtains into Gaul, never again 
 to return over the Alps. They carried with them Galla 
 Placidia, delighted to put the Alps between herself and the 
 dreaded Constantius, and to be still the captive of her handsome 
 and courteous Visigoth lover. 
 
 Ataulf's policy In 413 HcracHan, the governor of Africa, the 
 "G^JhS'SS^ executioner of Stilicho, revolted, landed in Italy 
 Romania, ^th a large force, and advanced as far as Umbria, 
 but was defeated by Constantius, fled back to Africa, and was 
 seized and put to death at Carthage. Meanwhile Ataulf in 
 Gaul was endeavouring to attain his object by entering into 
 engagements to conduct operations against various petty 
 usurpers on behalf of the emperor, in accordance with which 
 he attacked and slew several of them. But Honorius failed 
 to keep his side of the engagement in regard to the supplies 
 he had promised, while also showing no more inclination than 
 heretofore to consent to Ataulf's marriage with his sister, 
 and Ataulf at length felt that to rely upon Honorius in that 
 or any other matter was hopeless. Throughout these years 
 411-413 Ataulf strove long and earnestly to be friends with 
 Rome. A speech often on his lips was : — " I have found by 
 experience that my Goths are too savage to render any obedi- 
 ence to laws, but I have also found that without laws a State 
 can never be a State ; I have therefore chosen the glory of 
 seeking to restore and to increase by Gothic strength the 
 name of Rome. Wherefore I avoid war and strive for peace." 
 His idea was in fact to merge Gothia into Romania^ to the 
 benefit of both. He was fully ready to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of the emperor, and sought only to be accepted as 
 a Patrician of Rome. But Honorius, blind to the fact that 
 such an infusion of northern blood was just what the effete 
 empire needed, was imbued only with one idea (originally 
 implanted by Olympius, and encouraged by Constantius) — 
 that of refusing to admit "barbarians" within the sacred 
 Roman precincts. And he opposed a stolid wall of stupidity 
 to all Ataulf's endeavours to attain a modus vivendi on the 
 principle enunciated in his speech. 
 
ill 
 
 ■I 
 
 1 9 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 60 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 Ataulf in thus reasoning had arrived from his point of view 
 at the same result which those who were wisest among the 
 Romans had in former times reached from the Roman point 
 of view. In the beginning of the 5th century there were two 
 policies open to Rome. One was that of merging the Goths, 
 together with any other individuals of northern race who so 
 desired,^ into the Roman nation. The other policy was to 
 adopt a theory of " Rome for the Romans," to look upon all 
 northerners as " barbarians,*' and to refuse to admit them 
 within the charmed circle of Roman citizens. This latter 
 course almost invariably commended itself to the Roman 
 literary men ; and through them has been to a large extent 
 admired by modem writers and historians, who constantly 
 deplore any departure from it in favour of the opposite course. 
 But the former of these two policies was in reality (though 
 none saw this) simply a carrying out of the same policy which 
 had made Rome great. Had Rome remained always confined 
 to the petty State which comprised her dominion in the time 
 of King Tarquin,^ looking upon all outside its limits as ** bar- 
 barians," and declining to accept them on terms of equality, 
 she would never havfe become " great Rome." But she was 
 for many centuries ruled by men fitted to direct a great State, 
 and under their guidance she was wise enough to adopt a 
 different course, and to absorb race after race into " Romans," 
 instilling into them her principles of law, order, and civiliza- 
 tion, and in return gathering their strength into herself.* 
 But each step in this process required large-mindedness. This 
 ancient policy of Rome had again begim to be pursued as 
 regards the Groths by Gratian and Theodosius,* but after the 
 time of the latter it was brought to an abrupt end by stupidity, 
 and was altogether departed from by the circle of incapable 
 advisers who obtained the ear of the feeble Honorius. These 
 
 1 Such men for instance, as Merobaudes, a Frank, Stilicho, a Vandal, 
 Bauto, a Frank, Saul, an Alfiui, and others. 
 
 « B.C. 535. 
 
 » Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 669. 
 
 * It is very noticeable how much more civilized the Visigoths were 
 than any of the other barbarian enemies of Rome. Which shows 
 that this close contact with Rome as foederati had already begun to 
 produce an effect, and that the process of absorption had proceeded 
 to some extent when it was abruptly stopped. 
 
 xvm] 
 
 MARRIAGE AT NARBONNE 
 
 61 
 
 
 advisers adopted the opposite policy, refused to treat Alario 
 and the Visigoths on any terms of equality, declined to admit 
 " barbarians," even as auxiliary troops, into the army, called 
 that line of action by the name (invented by Olympius) of 
 " Stilichonism," and, rigidly adhering to this narrow-minded 
 course, completed the ruin of the western half of the 
 empire. 
 
 At length at the end of the year 413 Ataulf, finding aU his 
 endeavours useless, and exasperated by similar treatment 
 to that which had exasperated Alaric, abandoned any further 
 attempt to become reconciled with Honorius, declared war, 
 captured Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Narbonne, and in January 
 414 married Galla Placidia (by this time twenty) at Narbonne, 
 without troubling himself any further about the consent of 
 the emperor. He must have felt bitterly the wasted four 
 years consumed in useless negotiations, and would have done 
 so still more had he known that he was only to live a year and 
 a half longer to enjoy happiness with his beautiful young 
 bride. 
 
 Marriage of "^^^ marriage at Narbonne was carried out with 
 GalL' pL^c^. ^®^* ceremony. In the principal hall of the palace 
 a throne was set up, upon which Galla Placidia 
 sat, dressed in royal robes. Ataulf entered, no longer clad 
 in furs and armed with the Gothic battle-axe as a king of the 
 Visigoths, but dressed in a white woollen timic as a patrician 
 of Rome in order to do honour to the bride. The ceremony 
 was apparently performed by the Arian Bishop of the Visi- 
 goths, Sigesarius, and Galla Placidia ceased to be Ataulf's 
 captive, and became the honoured queen of the Visigoths. 
 The most gorgeous presents were bestowed by Ataulf upon 
 his bride. Fifty youths, henceforth to be her slaves, dressed 
 in costliest garments of silk from Asia, knelt before her, each 
 holding two very large plates, one filled with priceless jewels 
 and the other with gold. These presents were part of the 
 spoils captured in Rome, but probably GaUa Placidia did not 
 value them any the less on that accoimt. Thus was the 
 daughter of the Caesars united to the Thiudans of the Visigoth 
 nation. And rejected though the theory might be in the 
 poUtical sphere, in this case at all events Gothia was merged 
 in Romania, 
 
II 
 
 iiii 
 
 I 
 
 ill 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 02 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 As a consequence of this action on Ataulf 's part Constantius 
 advanced against him, invaded southern Gaul, blockaded its 
 ports with a fleet, and cutting off all supplies, after a time 
 made Narbonne untenable, whereupon Ataulf resolved to 
 retire into Spain. Evacuating southern Gaul, after terrible 
 devastation, he in the winter of 414-415 crossed the Pyrenees 
 and took possession of the province of Tarraconensis, eariy 
 in 415 establishing his capital at Barcelona, where immedi- 
 ately afterwards Galla Placidia gave birth to a son. They 
 named the child Theodosius after Galla Placidia's father. The 
 birth of this child made Ataulf and Galla Placidia more anxious 
 than ever to make peace with Honorius, with a view to the 
 boy being recognized by his childless imcle as the rightful 
 heir to the imperial throne of the West. But Constantius 
 opposed the whole weight of his influence against this just 
 request of Galla Placidia made to her brother. And soon 
 afterwards, to the great grief of Ataulf and Galla Placidia, 
 the child Theodosius died. He was buried at Barcelona in 
 a silver coffin with great lamentations. 
 
 ^^.. , But less than a month later Galla Placidia, in 
 
 Death of ' 
 
 Auuii. September* 415, had to suffer a much greater grief. 
 Going round his stables one morning Ataulf, for love of whom 
 she had suffered so much, was stabbed in the back by a treach- 
 erous groom. Being carried into the palace in a dying state 
 he had only time to whisper with his last breath to his brother, 
 " If possible live in friendship with Rome, and restore Placidia 
 to the emperor." Then he died. But instead of Ataulf 's 
 brother, the man chosen as his successor was Sigerich, who 
 had instigated the murder of Ataulf probably with that object. 
 He savagely tore the two sons of Ataulf by a previous mar- 
 riage out of the arms of the Bishop, and killed them. He 
 dared not kill Galla Placidia, but he subjected her to numerous 
 insults, and took pleasure in -making this daughter of an 
 emperor walk in front of his horse from the gate of Barcelona 
 for twelve miles. But Galla Placidia was too deeply plunged 
 in grief to care what indignities he made her suffer ; she had 
 truly and deeply loved Ataulf, whose manly character and 
 courteous behaviour to her during all the four years of their 
 wanderings in Italy and Gaul, while he was endeavouring to 
 obtain sanction to their marriage, she had greatly admired ; 
 
 xvm] 
 
 GALLA PLACIDIA RESTORED 
 
 63 
 
 and she endured all the insults of his murderer with a brave 
 and defiant spirit which nothing could subdue. 
 Gaua Placidia ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^c murdcr of Ataulf his murderer 
 
 tl7TX. f^^^™^ ^^^ ^'"^^^^ ^^^^' The Visigoths being 
 then m great straits for want of food, his successor, 
 Wallia, agreed to sell Galla Placidia to the emperor for 600,000 
 measures of wheat, which in the devastated condition of 
 Spain, ravaged in succession by Vandals, Suevi, Alans, and 
 Visigoths, were worth the price even of an emperor's sister. 
 Galla Placidia, callous as she felt in consequence of the two 
 bereavements she had suffered within the space of a month 
 to all that might happen around her, nevertheless could not 
 but dread the fate which might be in store for her in being 
 thus surrendered to the charge of her feeble brother. But 
 she was a prisoner, and with no friend now that Ataulf was 
 gone, and she had to submit. Thus ended GaUa Placidia's 
 five years' connection with the Visigoths, whose fortunes hence- 
 forth lay far apart from that of her who had for one happy 
 year and a half been their queen. She was conveyed to the 
 northern side of the Pyrenees, where she was surrendered, 
 and whither to her disgust came Constantius with much pomp 
 to receive her and escort her back to Italy. She must have 
 performed the journey with a more than usuaUy heavy heart, 
 bereaved at the age of twenty-one of her baby son, bereaved 
 of her beloved AtauK, and foreseeing that every kind of force 
 would be employed to compel her to marry the coarse and 
 brutal tyrant whom she had always detested, and to whose 
 opposition she owed the refusal to acknowledge her child as 
 his uncle's heir, but who was now with unconcealed triumph 
 escorting her back to Ravenna, gloating over her beauty, and 
 confident that he would soon make her his wife. 
 
 Administration In the eastcm half of the empire since the death 
 ofAnthemius-of Arcadius in 408 matters had been pursuing a 
 tranquil course under the government of the capable and 
 upright minister Anthemius in the name of the seven-year- 
 old boy Theodosius II. Anthemius ruled for six years (408- 
 414) with' great success. The best relations were maintained 
 with Persia, a satisfactory commercial treaty with that country 
 
CHAF, 
 
 HI 
 
 ! 
 
 If 
 
 64 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 was executed, military affairs were placed upon a sound 
 footing, the raids made by the Isaurians upon the surrounding 
 districts were put down, an incursion of the tribes on the 
 Danube was repelled, the fleet on that river was increased, 
 the fortifications of the cities of Illyricum were restored, and 
 the corn-supply of Constantinople was reorganized. But the 
 chief work for which Anthemius has obtamed renown was 
 the construction at Constantinople of the great outer wall 
 (the Theodosian Wall) to enclose the portion of the city which 
 had grown up outside the wall of Constantine. It was finished 
 in 413 (when the boy Theodosius was twelve years old), and 
 still exists, the monument of the genius and energy of Anthe- 
 mius. The latter also deserves high honour in two respects. 
 He made no attempt to seize the throne for himself, though 
 the feeble character of the boy in his charge gave him every 
 opportunity of doing so ; and he did his duty to the empire 
 in bringing up the young Theodosius to be an honest and 
 well-dispositioned man, instead of allowing him to grow up 
 like another Commodus. Unfortunately Theodosius possessed 
 neither abilities nor force of character, and after the death of 
 Anthemius when Theodosius was thirteen the government 
 during the whole of the next twenty years of the latter's reign 
 was administered in his name by his sister Pulcheria, three 
 years older than himself, who, besides the high spirit of her 
 mother Eudoxia, inherited much of the ability of her grand- 
 father Theodosius the Great. 
 
 In the year 414, upon the death of Anthemius, 
 empress at Pulchcria, thcu sixtccu, was invested by the Senate 
 sixteen. ^^^ ^^^^ title and authority of Augusta, and began 
 to reign over the eastern half of the empire as the guardian 
 of her feeble brother. She at once set herself to reform the 
 corruption and frivolity of the court, for inveighing against 
 which Chrysostom had been banished from the see of Con- 
 stantinople. She must have had a very strong character, for 
 there were no half -measures, and a complete revolution in 
 the atmosphere of the court took place. Those who cordially 
 disliked the change from the former pleasant state of affairs 
 at the court which had prevailed dining the time of Arcadius 
 and Eudoxia declared that Pulcheria ** led the life of an 
 imperial nun," and with her two sisters, Marina and Arcadia, 
 
 ii 
 
 xvm] 
 
 MURDER OF HYPATIA 
 
 65 
 
 " turned the Imperial palace into a kind of convent " i How- 
 ever this may be, frequent religious services, visiting the 
 sick and poor and other works of charity occupied a large 
 part of theu- hfe. Nevertheless Pulcheria found time to ad- 
 minister efficiently the affairs of the empire, nor do we hear 
 of any one who obtained a dominant influence over her or 
 upon whose advice in particular she leaned 
 
 and murder aunt (jalla Wacidia at Barcelona was rejoicing at 
 orHyp^tia. the birth of a son who she hoped would eventuaUy 
 succeed to the throne of the West, Pulcheria had her first 
 experience of the difficulties of a ruler, being called upon to 
 deal with a serious conflict at Alexandria. After various riots 
 between the Christians and the Jews at that city, Cyril the 
 Pope of Alexandria, instigated his foUowers to expel the Jews. 
 1 he Prefect Orestes, intervened, was attacked by the fanatical 
 monks and stoned. One of the monks wa« seized and put 
 to death, whereupon Cyril treated him as a martyr. The 
 monks believed that Orestes was influenced by the talented 
 Hypatia, the celebrated mathematician and lecturer on phUo- 
 sophy ; they attacked her in the street, pulled her out of her 
 chariot dragged her into the chm-ch of the Caesarium, stripped 
 her, and tore her to pieces or scraped her to death (March 415) » 
 This cruel outrage is not, perhaps, to be laid directly to Cyril's 
 charge, but he was indirectly responsible in having orig4uv 
 roused the conflict, and in failing to exercise control over the 
 fanatical monks After the perpetration of this crime both 
 parties appealed to Constantinople. It was a difficult case 
 tor a girl of seventeen, especiaUy one who held strong views 
 on Church matters, and who also did not wish to increase the 
 antagonism always ready to burst forth between the rival 
 patnarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria. Pulcheria 
 md not mflict any personal punishment upon individuals, 
 which perhaps m the circumstances was impossible, but 
 she issued stringent orders curtailing the independence of the 
 monks, prohibited them from appearing at public spectacles 
 
 written in!?" "'"*^^'' *7° '^*"™ *°°'' * ^°^ °^ chastity, which was 
 wntten m diamonds and gold on the wall of the cathedral. 
 
 auy toid in Charles Kingsley's weU-known book H2/««io ^ ^ ^ 
 E.W.— U. ^'^ 
 
t 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 V' 
 
 \^ 
 
 III! 
 
 66 
 
 HONORIUS AND THEODOSIUS II 
 
 or in the law-courts, and brought them to a large extent under 
 the control of the Prefect ; and Cyril's arrogance received a 
 rebuff. 
 
 Galla Placidia on retummg to the imperial court 
 ""^^dlf of the West at Ravenna found her position as 
 constantius. intolerable as she had anticipated. Her brother 
 Honorius soon began to press her by every means in his power 
 to marry Constantius, and repulsive as the latter was to her 
 she found it increasmgly difficult to withstand the pressure 
 brought to bear upon her. For a long time she held out, but 
 at length was forced to give a reluctant consent, and m January 
 417, at the age of twenty-three, was with the utmost unwil- 
 lingness married to Constantius at Ravenna, with very magni- 
 ficent ceremonies. In the foUowing year she bore a daughter, 
 Honoria, and in 419 a son, Valentinian. 
 successes of McanwhUe in Spam, the Visigoths had been gain- 
 the Visigoths, ing important successes. During the years 416-419 
 they gradually drove the Vandals and the Suevi into the 
 southern and western parts of Spain, and so thoroughly 
 defeated the Alans that the remnants of that race merged 
 themselves into the Vandals. And in 419 the Visigoths 
 gained increased power through the formal grant to them by 
 the emperor (besides their territory in Spain) of the south- 
 western part of Gaul, whence they then ejected vanous petty 
 usurpers, making Toulouse their capital. Thus after many 
 wanderings the Visigoths had at last obtained a fixed country, 
 being the first of the northern races to do so, and this settle- 
 ment of the Visigoths marks the beginning of a compromise 
 between the empire and the Teuton races. A constitution 
 was granted by the emperor to the provinces of southern 
 Gaul, their representatives bemg ordered to assemble once a 
 year at Aries. Representative government, however, did not 
 find favour among those concerned and the constitution 
 
 became a dead letter. 
 
 In 421, when the empress Pukheria was twenty- 
 
 ma^^eT^ three and her brother Theodosius II twenty, Pul- 
 
 ^"^°'^- cheria thought it time he was married, and began 
 
 to look for a suitable wife for him. She did not desire one 
 
 with 9, masterful disposition who would be likely to cause 
 
 xvin] 
 
 A FAMILY GATHERING 
 
 67 
 
 dissensions by endeavouring to establish a rival power to her 
 own ; but neither did she want him to have a frivolous or 
 foohsh wife. After a time she found just the kind of girl she 
 sought m Athenais, the daughter of the Athenian sophist 
 Leontius. Athenais, golden-haired and a great beauty, had 
 a sweet and docile disposition, and was also highly cultured 
 and endowed with much Hterary abiUty. She became a 
 Christian, at her baptism (at which Pulcheria stood her sponsor) 
 took the name of Eudocia, and in June was married to Theo- 
 dosius. She was seven years older than Theodosius, and 
 four years older than Pulcheria, but she did not attempt to 
 mterfere with the rule of the latter, nor to instigate Theodosius 
 to do so. 
 
 In the West in the same year (421) Constantius, who had 
 ruled Hononus for ten years, was raised by the latter to the 
 dignity of Augustus, and GaUa Placidia to that of Augusta • 
 and a few months later Constantius died. Honorius then 
 becommg, first ridiculously affectionate towards his sister 
 and then ridiculously jealous of her, she in 422 departed from' 
 Ravenna with her two children to Constantinople, to the 
 court of her nephew Theodosius. There were thus gathered 
 in the imperial palace which had been built by Constantine 
 the Great, and had since been greatly enlarged, three empresses 
 an emperor, and his two other sisters, aU of them stiU quit^ 
 young, GaUa Placidia and Eudocia being both twenty-eight 
 Pulcheria twenty-four, Marina twenty-three, Arcadia twenty- 
 two, and Theodosius twenty-one. But Galla Placidia, who 
 at sixteen had seen the siege of Rome and become the captive 
 of Alaric, at eighteen had been carried away into Gaul at 
 twenty had been married to Ataulf, become the queen of 'the 
 Visigoths, and accompanied them into Spain, at twenty-one 
 had lost her baby-son, seen her husband murdered, and been 
 crueUy treated by his successor, at twenty-three had been 
 married at Ravenna to Constantius, and had now with her 
 two little chUdren traveUed to the eastern capital, had had 
 wide experiences indeed as compared with those of the five 
 others m this group of young people who at this time formed 
 the imperial family. Hostihties had in the previous year 
 broken out with the Persians, but towards the end of 422 
 were brought to an end by a victory gained by the Romau 
 
 I 
 
. 'fl 
 
 68 THEODOSroS H AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ill 
 
 It 
 
 army in Mesopotamia, and a peace for a hundred years was 
 made between the empire and Persia ; whereupon the talented 
 empress Eudocia wrote in Greek an epic poem celebrating this 
 victory and its result. Her feeble-minded young husband 
 Theodosius, though taking little part in public affairs, took 
 much interest in games and sport, and about this time intro- 
 duced at Constantmople the Tartar game of polo (learnt from 
 the Huns, by whom it was called tzukan), and laid out a polo- 
 ground near the palace. 
 Death of The year after Galla Placidia thus took refuge 
 Honorius. a^^ Constantinople her weak and incapable half- 
 brother Honorius died at Ravenna on the 15th August 423, 
 at the age of thirty-nine. It shows how great originally was 
 the power and stability of the empke which largely through 
 his incapacity had been brought to ruin, that even twenty-eight 
 years of the rule of a Honorius did not suffice to end it, and 
 that we find the barbarian races established in Gaul and 
 Spain, although in reality entkely independent, still nominally 
 recognizing the supremacy of the emperor. 
 
 By the death of Honorius Galla Placidia's son, 
 ^^)ress"in* Valentinian III, succeeded to the throne of the 
 '^*^''*- western portion of the empire. Upon Honorius' 
 death his minister, Joannes, unlawfully supported by the 
 general Aetius, seized the throne at Ravenna, and established 
 himself at Aquileia. Aetius, who in his youth ha:l been a 
 hostage among the Huns and had acquired much influence 
 with them, departed to raise a force of Huns to assist the 
 usurper. But Galla Placidia arrived with an army lent to 
 her by Pulcheria and commanded by the capable Aspar, 
 and by the promptness of her action and the ability of her 
 general was completely successful, Aetius coming up with 
 a large force, composed of Huns and other barbarians, just 
 three days too late, to find that Joannes had been defeated 
 and put to death at Aquileia, and that Galla Placidia w as in 
 possession of Ravenna. Valentinian IIIv being a child of four 
 years old his mother, who already had the title of Augusta, 
 was invested with the rule as regent, and for the rest of her 
 life she governed the western portion of the empire. Thus 
 at this period both the eastern and western portions of the 
 empire were ruled by women, Pulcheria in the East, and 
 
 xvin] 
 
 GALLA PLACIDIA REGENT 
 
 69 
 
 Galla Placidia in the West, and in both cases with much 
 ability. ^ 
 
 Galla Placidia was now twenty-nine, and she reigned over 
 the western portion of the empire for twenty-seven years 
 (423-450), for the first seventeen years as regent, and for the 
 last ten years of her life, with no less power, as the representa- 
 . tive of an indolent and incapable son, who only inherited the 
 throne in right of his relationship to her. The task which 
 had devolved upon her was one in which no amount of ability 
 could do more than stave off for a time the inevitable end. 
 Galla Placidia's reign is practically almost the end of the dying 
 western empire, which was now slowly bleeding to death, 
 and past recovery. Britain, Gaul, Spain, Rhsetia, Noricum, 
 and all the other territories north of the Alps were gone. There 
 remained only Italy, with North Africa, its great granary, 
 and the districts in the south-eastern corner of Gaul surrounding 
 Aries and Narbonne. The city of Rome had recovered the 
 effects of Alaric's three sieges, and its population was even 
 increasing ; but Ravenna remained the capital. 
 
 It says much regarding the character of Galla Placidia, a 
 young widow of twenty-nine, noted for her beauty, that in a 
 profiigate age she lived throughout all the years that followed 
 without any scandal being ever attached to her name. It is 
 strange that, with a still considerable dominion to administer, 
 and two children to bring up, she did not marry again. But 
 it is evident that the tragic loss of AtauK, her faithful lover 
 for four years and husband for only one, followed by the hated 
 marriage with his detested rival into which she was cruelly 
 forced, had given her a distaste for any further marriage. 
 
 ^ It is growing the fashion to enunciate a theory that in regard 
 to this period liistorians have unduly magnified the importance of 
 women in the conduct of pubhc affairs, to ascribe this to a so-called 
 *' feminism " on the part of the contemporary historians, and, in pur- 
 suance of this theory, to speak of Theodosius II and Valentinian III 
 M the authors of the measures taken, and to drop Pulcheria and Galla 
 Placidia out of sight. Not only, however, do various impossibiUties 
 result from this course (as, for instance, when important measures 
 are attributed to a boy of four years old), but also it would appear that 
 we have no right on a point of this nature to throw over en bloc the 
 whole of the contemporary historians in pursuit of a purely modern 
 theory which is entirely unsupported by any facts. 
 
 1 
 
jli 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 70 THEODOSroS H AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 xvm] 
 
 Ravenna. 
 
 She had known a real man in her youth in the ease of her first 
 husband Ataulf, and had seen other real men during her five 
 years with the Visigoths, and after that experience she was 
 not likely to be attracted by the feeble specimens of mankind 
 around her, the degenerate nobles of Ravenna and Rome. 
 Instead, she turned her chief energies to adorning and benefiting 
 Ravenna. And with Ravenna the name of Galla Placidia will 
 ever be bound up. It was her residence during the whole of 
 her reign ; some of its principal churches were erected, and 
 some of its finest mosaics put up, by her ; and it also possesses 
 the gorgeously decorated mausoleum which she built, and 
 which contains her tomb. 
 
 Nowhere in all the world is the spirit and mental 
 atmosphere of the long-past 5th century to be felt 
 except in Ravenna. In all other cities the memorials of the 
 Middle Ages, or of the Renaissance period, have overlaid those 
 of that distant time. But Ravenna has no history after the 
 6th century ; while as the tide of the world's great events 
 flowed away from that city it left, written in Ravenna's im- 
 perishable mosaics, memorials all of which are either of the 
 time of Galla Placidia in the 5th century, or of Theodoric and 
 Justinian in the 6th century. Entering this long ago capital 
 of the dying western empire we seem to step straight back 
 into the age of Galla Placidia. As we tread its half-deserted 
 streets, and realize that this was the city which at the beginning 
 of the reign of Honorius was the capital of an empire extending 
 from Scotland to Dalmatia, the city which in the life of one 
 generation saw that empire gradually shrink and shrink, its 
 boundaries ever becoming less distant, imtil there was nothing 
 left, the city which saw the execution of Stilicho, trembled at 
 the thunder of the march of the Visigoths, stood aghast at the 
 fall of Rome, gazed at Galla Placidia brought back from Spain 
 a sorrowing young widow, looked on at her magnificent mar- 
 riage to Constantius, and witnessed her troubled reign, Ra- 
 venna, with its vivid memorials of a time so distant, ^ produces 
 an impression such as no other city can produce. And as we 
 
 * Including biiildings six hundred years older than the oldest parts 
 of Westminster Abbey, their walls covered with mosaic pictures which 
 have not been touched since they were placed there by hands that 
 have been dead for fourteen himdred yecurs. 
 
 BONIFACE 
 
 71 
 
 stand in the midst of these memorials, with the stiff and 
 solemn mosaic figures of the men and women of the 5th and 
 6th centuries, and of the saints they desired to honour, gazing 
 down upon us from their walls in calm aloofness, we can with 
 little difficulty bridge over the long centuries, and stand again 
 in that Ravenna which Galla Placidia knew. 
 
 Aetius, Cralla Placidia's difficulties in ruling what remained 
 Boniface, of the wcstcm haK of the empire were increased 
 ^° ^ * by the fierce rivalry between the three chief men 
 whom she had to employ in carrying on her government, Aetius, 
 Boniface, and Felix. Aetius had taken part against her at 
 the time of Honorius' death, but was pardoned by her, and 
 sent to conduct affairs in the south-eastern corner of Gaul. 
 Boniface, the heroic, loyal-hearted soldier, and the strong 
 friend of St. Augustine, was her governor in North Africa ; 
 he had been her steadfast supporter at the time of the death 
 of Honorius, and was the most reliable of her officers. Her 
 minister Felix was a mere intriguing court official. 
 
 In 427 Felix contrived to drive Boniface into rebellion. 
 
 By lying to the empress regarding Boniface, and to the latter 
 
 regarding the empress, he succeeded in causing Boniface to be 
 
 summoned to Ravenna to reply to certain charges invented 
 
 against him, and in inducing him to refuse to obey the order. 
 
 A force was then sent against Boniface, and a civil war began, 
 
 in the course of which in 428 both parties invited the Vandals 
 
 from Spain to their assistance.^ 
 
 The Vandals Twcuty ycars had now passed since Spain had 
 
 invade North been iuvaded by the barbarians, and during that 
 
 tune the struggles between the Visigoths, the Suevi, 
 
 and the Vandals had rendered that country utterly desolate. 
 
 The Vandals were therefore only too eager to leave it for the 
 
 rich and fertile province of North Africa,^ the most wealthy 
 
 and civilized portion of the Roman dominions, crowded with 
 
 * Procopius and Jordanes state that the Vandals were invited into 
 North Africa by Boniface. But the contemporary writer. Prosper 
 Tiro, says distinctly that the aid of the Vandals was invoked by both 
 sides in the conflict. 
 
 * The province of North Africa extended from Tingis (Tcuigiers) on 
 the west to the eastern end of the Gulf of Syrtis, being separated 
 from the province of Egypt by the Libyan desert. 
 
 \\M ^ 
 
I 
 
 } ■ ^'f 
 
 i 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 n THEODOSroS II AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 prosperous cities, splendid Roman buildings, and all the results 
 of both commercial and agricultiu-al prosperity during 450 
 years of Roman rule. Accordingly on being thus invited, 
 the Vandals, leaving Spain to the Visigoths and the Suevi, 
 finally quitted that country, and in the spring of 429, under 
 their king Gaiseric, crossed the straits into North Africa, and 
 proceeded to devastate its western portion, Mauretania. 
 
 Meanwhile some friends of Boniface at Rome, feeling sure, 
 from what they knew of his character and his conduct in the 
 past, that he had been in some way deceived, visited him at 
 Carthage, and were shown the letters he had received, and in 
 the explanation that followed the whole of Felix's treachery 
 was unmasked. Boniface upon this being disclosed to him 
 promptly stopped the civil war, and appealed in the greatest 
 distress of mind to Galla Placidia, and she forgave him. He 
 then endeavoured to bribe the Vandals to depart from Africa, 
 but the latter, revelling in the plunder and devastation of so 
 rich a coimtry, had no intention of quitting it, and laughed at 
 his proposals. Boniface then attacked them in Mauretania, 
 but was defeated; whereupon the Vandals overran almost 
 all the rest of North Africa. 
 Death of St. Bouifacc, driveu back before this avalanche of 
 Augustine, barbarism, was in 430 besieged in Hippo, which 
 endured a long and severe siege. There the great Augustine, 
 who had been that city's Bishop for thirty-five years, and 
 since the death of Ambrose had been looked upon as the leading 
 Bishop in the whole Church, lay dying ; ^ and in the third 
 month of the siege, while the Vandal hosts surrounded the 
 city and while its inhabitants were suffering the greatest 
 misery, he breathed his last at the age of seventy-six (28th 
 August 430).* Soon afterwards at Ravenna Felix was mur- 
 
 * He had the seven penitential psalms copied out and affixed to 
 the wall of his room so that he could see them as he lay, and for ten 
 days before his death ordered that except when the doctor visited him 
 or his meals were brought no one should enter his room, in order that 
 all his thoughts might be given to prayer. 
 
 * The chief matter which engaged the later years of St. Augustine 
 was the controversy raised by Pelagius, a native of Britain, a man 
 of much learning and of strict Ufe, but who, preaching novel doctrines 
 regarding original sin, raised a considerable controversy in the West, 
 and especially in North Africa, where his views were strenuously 
 opposed by St. Augustine. See p. 77 (footnote). 
 
 xvm] 
 
 VANDALS IN NORTH AJUICA 
 
 73 
 
 dered in a military revolt apparently caused by Aetius. The 
 latter, though not so noble a character as Boniface, was a 
 more successful soldier. During the years 428-430, while 
 matters had been proceeding so disastrously in Africa, he had 
 gained considerable successes in Gaul, driving the Franks 
 northwards and reconquering a large part of the centre of 
 Gaul, and in 430 had conducted a successful campaign against 
 the Allemanni in Rhsetia. In consequence of these successes 
 Aetius had attained a position of great importance at the 
 western court. 
 
 Devastation of Mcauwhile the devastation which the Vandals were 
 North Africa, creating in North Africa was appalling ; by the 
 end of the year 430, out of all the numerous flourishing 
 cities of North Africa, i there remained only three that had 
 not been sacked and were still held by the Romans, Hippo, 
 Constantine (Cirta), and Carthage. It is all one vast record 
 of burnings, massacres, and ravaging, of cities and churches 
 destroyed, fruit trees torn up, and the whole country laid 
 waste, five million persons being said to have perished. But 
 this destruction of the cities of North Africa was looked upon 
 by some as not wholly disastrous. The universal avoidance 
 by their inhabitants of the risks and hardships of military 
 service had worked its usual results of luxury and profligacy, 
 this latter in particular having grown to such an extent that 
 many of the deepest thinkers of the time considered that the 
 astounding vices of these cities could be purged in no other 
 way, and that from this point of view even the terrible slaughter 
 and destruction wrought by the Vandals was scarcely to be 
 deplored. 
 
 Inauguration While iu the West Galla Placidia was endeavouring 
 d!>^Sdte' ^^ carry on as satisfactorily as the circimistances 
 permitted the government of the remnant of an 
 empire in which no vitality remained, and to cope with the 
 storm in North Africa, in the East her niece Pulcheria was 
 laying the foundations of much subsequent renown by the 
 wise manner in which she continued to guide the affairs of the 
 eastern portion of the empire in the name of her incapable 
 brother Theodosius II. And in the year 429 Pulcheria, now 
 
 ^ See pp. 80-82. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 74 THEODOSroS H AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 thirty-one, inaugurated a work which has obtained lasting 
 celebrity, by deputing a selected body of legal experts 
 to codify the whole of the laws which had been enacted since 
 the beginning of the reign of Constantme the Great (in other 
 words, the laws of the Roman Empire since its adoption 
 of Christianity), a compilation which when published received 
 the name of the Theodosian Code. This immense code, con- 
 taining in a shorter form all the laws enacted from the time 
 of the establishment of Christianity up to Pulcheria's own 
 time, is an invaluable mine from which the chief portion of 
 our knowledge regarding the social and political condition of 
 the empire during the period from Constantine the Great to 
 Theodosius II is derived. It was drawn up with great care, 
 and took nine years to complete.^ 
 
 Need for But a matter more pressing than codes of law 
 another j^^ bcsim to uivolvc the castem portion of the 
 
 General o ^ ^ e J'£t 4. 
 
 councu. empire in a struggle which, though of a dinerent 
 nature, rivalled that in which the western portion of the empire 
 was engaged in North Africa. Fifty years had passed since 
 Gratian and Theodosius I had assembled the Second General 
 Council, and another had now become urgently required. 
 The necessity for the assembly of these General Councils is 
 not always imderstood. During the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 
 7th centuries the Church was going through a long conflict 
 in defence of that Catholic faith which had been enun- 
 ciated at Nic«a ; during that period she was being contmually 
 attacked from one side or another, and thus was forced to 
 meet foe after foe in defence of her ancient faith. It was 
 an attack of this kind which the Church had now to 
 meet, the controversy which it had occasioned threatening 
 to tear the Church in two. Both Galla Placidia and Pulcheria 
 were strong Catholics, and by the latter especially all matters 
 which might cause disunion in the Church were very closely 
 watched. Though the empire had become divided this did 
 not cause any similar division in the Catholic Church, which 
 remained governed by the same constitution as heretofore, 
 though the slaughter carried out in many coimtries of the 
 West had caused the death of many Bishops, especially in 
 
 1 See p. 86. 
 
 Xvm] 
 
 NESTORIUS 
 
 76 
 
 those countries seized by Pagan enemies.^ 
 The Nestorian This ucw attack camc from a very high quarter, 
 heresy. namely, from no less a person than the Pope of 
 Constantinople himself, Nestorius. And it must have required 
 great courage on Pulcheria's part to take the action she did 
 in those circumstances. Nestorius is reported to have been 
 a man of blameless life, great learning, and much eloquence, 
 but (as in the case of Arius) " full of vanity and love of popu- 
 larity." He had been called from his monastery and made 
 Pope of Constantinople in 428. He was a bitter persecutor 
 of Arianism, but this led him into an opposite error to that of 
 Arius. Whereas Arius had denied Christ's Divinity, the 
 heresy of Nestorius taught that in Christ there were two dis- 
 tinct persons, the Person of God and the person of a man, the 
 former being united some time after birth to the latter. The 
 Catholics pointed out that this was opposed to the doctrine 
 taught " from the first " that in Christ there is but one Person, 
 that of God, and that this Divine Person took the manhood 
 into God. In the severe controversy which the view pro- 
 pounded by Nestorius raised the highest dignitaries in the 
 Church were ranged on opposite sides. The see of Jerusalem 
 was at this time vacant ; but of the remaining four Popes, 
 two, Constantinople and Antioch, were ranged on one side, 
 and two, Alexandria and Rome, were ranged (in opposition to 
 Nestorius) on the other side. Clearly a General Council was 
 required. 2 
 
 Pulcheria's difficulties were considerably increased by the 
 attitude in matters of religion of her brother Theodosius II, 
 now thirty years old, and nominally ruling the empire. Theo- 
 dosius, Hke his father Arcadius, was a religious man and took 
 much interest in the affairs of the Church, and though he was 
 only slightly less incapable than his father, from time to time 
 took up strong opinions in matters of religion. But while 
 Pulcheria was a strong Catholic, her brother Theodosius was, 
 
 ^ The Visigoths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians were 
 Arian Christians, but the Franks, the Allemanni, and the Saxons were 
 Pagans. 
 
 * Some writers state that Nestorius himself desired it ; though his 
 conduct when it was assembled appears somewhat to disagree with 
 this statement. 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 76 THEODOSroS n AND VALENTINIAN IH 
 
 xvin] 
 
 THIRD GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 77 
 
 as might be expected, vague and heterodox m his religious 
 opinions, and always ready to embrace vehemently any new 
 theories which might be put forward. At this time he had 
 taken up the views of Nestorius, and had become a strong 
 partisan in his favour, and an ardent Nestorian. However 
 this did not daunt Pulcheria, and early in 431, when she was 
 thirty-three, in view of the dimensions to which this contro- 
 versy had grown she issued the necessary orders ^ for the assem- 
 bly of the Third General Council, It was characteristic of 
 Theodosius II that subsequently when that Council con- 
 demned the Nestorian opinions he changed for a time to the 
 CathoHc side, until a new heresy arose, that of Eutyches,^ 
 when he became as ardent an Eutychian as he had previously 
 been an ardent Nestorian. 
 
 Thiid General Pulchcria appointed Ephesus as the city where 
 ^^*^*=**- the Council was to assemble. That city, situated 
 at the eastern end of a beautiful valley watered by the river 
 Cayster, had at that time a population of about six hundred 
 thousand inhabitants, was crowded with splendid buildings, 
 and was the centre of the trade of Asia Minor .« The Council 
 assembled on the 22nd June 431, and was attended by about 
 200 Bishops. It sat in the church which tradition declared 
 to be that where the Blessed Virgin Mary had been buried. 
 Cyril, Pope of Alexandria, presided. Though the distressed 
 circumstances of the western portion of the empire caused 
 the number of Bishops from the West to be greatly exceeded 
 by those from the East, a sufficient nimiber of the former were 
 present to make the Council fairly representative. Augustine 
 of Hippo had been summoned as one of them, news of his 
 death in the previous August during the Vandal invasion of 
 North Africa not having been received when the orders for 
 the assembly of the Council were issued. Hippo being still 
 closely besieged. His absence from this Council was a great 
 loss ; as, with the most exalted dignitaries in the Church 
 ranged on opposite sides, feeling ran very high, and Augustine, 
 reverenced as he was by the whole Church, would imdoubtedly 
 
 * In the joint names of her brother and Valentinian HI. 
 « Page 89. 
 
 3 It is now, after centuries of Turkish rule, a mere collection of mud 
 huts. 
 
 have been able greatly to moderate the angry passions of the 
 rival parties. 
 
 Nestorius, though holding so high an office, was not allowed 
 a seat among the Bishops forming the Coimcil, but was allotted 
 a place in the body of the Church, as one whose opinions were 
 to be discussed. In these circumstances he refused to 
 appear, and beat the messengers who came to teU him that 
 the Council was waiting for his arrival. The deliberations 
 only lasted one whole day. The Council, without a single 
 dissentient voice, condemned the teaching of Nestorius as a 
 heresy and not the faith which had been held " from the first,'* 
 and a sentence deposing Nestorius from his office of Pope of 
 Constantinople was pronounced. ^ The result when announced 
 late in the evening of the 22nd June to the multitude who had 
 waited anxiously for hours outside was received with loud 
 acclamations, torches and incense were burnt in front of the 
 Bishops as they proceeded to their respective lodgings, and 
 the whole city of Ephesus was promptly illuminated. ^ 
 
 Nevertheless the party of Nestorius, knowing they had the 
 countenance of Theodosius II, raised violent tumults through- 
 out the East. A large body of the adherents of Nestorius 
 under the leadership of John, Pope of Antioch (who was in- 
 volved in the same condemnation), arrived at Ephesus, ob- 
 tained the assistance of some of the imperial troops, and 
 attacked the churches, which had to be fortified against them. 
 At first Theodosius II, being wholly on the side of Nestorius, 
 refused to acknowledge the deposition of the latter, and the 
 
 * This Third General Council formally applied to the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary the title of Theotokoa, not with a view to any special honour to 
 her more than had always been given, but as a special safeguard against 
 the error of Nestorianism. Bishop Westcott considers the term a valu- 
 able one if used in the full sense of the Greek word as employed by 
 the Council (signifying " Mother of Him who in the unity of His Person 
 was Grod"), but misleading if translated, as in the Latin, "Mother 
 of God." Canon Bright says, " The importance of the title consists 
 in this that it is a condensed expression of the Personal Divinity of 
 Christ." Tliis helps to demonstrate the higher value of the Greek 
 language as compared with Latin. In regard to the special honour 
 afterwards paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary, this did not begin until 
 the 9th century. 
 
 * The Third General Council also rejected as erroneous the teaching 
 of Pelagius (p. 72). 
 
 !l 
 
 :i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 78 THEODOSIUS H AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 conflict being extended to Constantinople continued for about 
 four months, when Theodosius abandoned the cause of Nes- 
 torius, banished him to Antioch, and allowed Maximian, who 
 had been chosen by the Catholics as his successor, to be in- 
 stalled. Nestorianism in subsequent centuries, though it 
 gradually died away within the empire, became widely adopted 
 in Persia, and spread from thence over all the eastern countries 
 from the Euphrates as far as China and from Tartary to Ceylon, 
 and is said to have had in the 11th century as many adher- 
 ents as all the other denominations of Christians put together. 
 It has however now almost entirely died out, though this 
 form of Christianity still lingers in some parts of Persia.^ 
 
 , ,». In the West the contest in North Africa still con- 
 course of the * 1 •! 1 /->• 1 
 
 war in North tiuucd, aud in thc summer of 431, while the (jreneral 
 dMth of Council regarding Nestorianism was being assembled, 
 Boniface. Pujcheria, in response to an appeal from Galla 
 Placidia, despatched a force from Constantinople under Aspar 
 to assist the western, portion of the empire in its conflict in 
 Africa. The Vandals, after besieging Hippo for fourteen 
 months, and having by their devastation of the whole sur- 
 rounding country turned it into a desert, were in the autumn 
 of 431 forced by famine to raise the siege. Thereupon Boni- 
 face, reinforced by the troops sent from Constantinople, again 
 fought the Vandals, but was once more defeated, with the 
 
 * Professor Loofs of Halle in a recent course of learned lectures on 
 Nestorius given at the University of London maintains that the con- 
 demnation of the opinions of Nestorius was mainly due to enmity on 
 the part of Cyril, that the newer light thrown by the recently discovered 
 writings of Nestorius shows that he was misunderstood, and that his 
 only fault was a lack of knowledge and a failure to express himself 
 clearly. But these writings, though they may be new to oiu* age, 
 were laid before the Third General Council, and therefore have no new 
 light to give, since it was upon them that the Third General Council 
 ruled that this teaching was a heresy ; and that decision is final and 
 conclusive. To re-open the discussion of each heresy of the 4th and 
 6th centuries and decide afresh would not only be a stupendous task, 
 but also the decision when arrived at would not have the weight of 
 one given by a General Council formed of men who were living at the 
 time, and who had infinitely more information on the subject under 
 discussion than any one couldl li.ave in these days. 
 
 xvin] 
 
 NORTH AFRICA LOST 
 
 79 
 
 result that two of the remaining cities. Hippo and Cirta, were 
 captured by them ; and finally in 432 the Romans practically 
 abandoned the struggle, though they still retained Carthage. 
 Boniface proceeded to Italy, where on his arrival Galla Pla- 
 cidia confirmed her forgiveness and treated him with much 
 honour, thereby arousing the jealous wrath of Aetius. The 
 latter took to arms, and a battle ensued between the two great 
 rivals near Rimini, in which Boniface was victorious, but 
 was wounded, and to Galla Placidia's deep regret died from 
 the effects three months later (432). Galla Placidia banished 
 Aetius for a time, but in 433 he returned, and as he was the 
 only able man about her she was forced to reinstate him, and 
 thenceforth he remained her chief minister, being for the next 
 twenty years the main prop and stay of the western portion 
 of the empire, though to a proud woman like Galla Placidia 
 his domineering spirit must have been a perpetual source of 
 irritation. 
 The Vandal lu 435 Gaiscric concluded a peace with Rome, 
 NorthTfricI ^^^ only kept it temporarily ; in 437 he ravaged 
 completed, the coasts of Sicily, and in 439 advanced upon 
 Carthage and took it, thereby completing his conquest of 
 North Africa, the last province of the western half of the 
 empire (except Italy and the portion of Gaul recovered by 
 Aetius) being thus lost to Rome. In Africa the Vandals, 
 though committing, enormous destruction, did not blot out 
 the Roman inhabitants, but made them a subject population 
 as tillers of the soil, and required them to bear the whole burden 
 of the taxation, which brought them to a condition of the 
 utmost degradation ; while the fact that their Vandal masters 
 were Arians, and added religious persecution to tyranny, 
 made the lot of the despised Romans still more grievous. 
 Wealth and Thc wcalth and prosperity to which North Africa, 
 North AMcI *^® ^^^^ province torn from Rome by her barbarian 
 when lost by focs, had attained at the time that it was thus con- 
 quered by the Vandals has imtil recently been little 
 realized. Some idea however of the prosperity of North 
 Africa in the 4th century and beginning of the 5th century 
 may be obtained by looking at the traces of that prosperity 
 which still exist even after so many centuries of destruction, 
 not only in the 5th century by th€ Vandals, but also to an 
 
 m 
 
 I! 
 
CHAP. 
 
 S0 THEODOSroS n AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 infinitely greater extent in the 8th and subsequent centuries 
 by the Mahomedans. For North Africa may almost be des- 
 cribed as strewn with the ruins of Roman cities, both in the 
 valleys, and also upon the high and once fertile plateaux. In 
 a single day's drive the traveller may pass through twenty 
 such ruined cities. ^ The soil being rich and the climate 
 warm the only requirement for f ert;ility was water ; and during 
 three centuries the Romans had by degrees constructed an 
 elaborate system to meet this want. Every stream that 
 descended from the mountains (and now runs to waste in the 
 sands) was made to distribute water far and wide by means 
 of aqueducts and water-channels, and it is chiefly the ruin 
 of these, after North Africa was conquered by the Mahome- 
 dans m the beginning of the 8th century, which has changed 
 the most fertile province of the Roman empire into a treeless 
 waste. North Africa after providing for all its own wants 
 exported in the 4th century sufficient corn to feed the whole 
 of Italy, and the com grown on these lands was so luxuriant 
 that there is on record an ear of com sent to the emperor which 
 contained 400 grains. 
 
 The splendour of these cities of North Africa at the time 
 when that province was invaded by the Vandals is remarkably 
 demonstrated by their still existing remains ; everywhere 
 are to be seen the ruins of temples, churches, theatres, Baths, 
 triumphal Arches, amphitheatres, race-courses, aqueducts, 
 and reservoirs. The time when North Africa made its chief 
 advance in prosperity was in the 3rd and 4th centuries, especi- 
 ally during the reign in the 3rd century of the emperor Septi- 
 mius Sevems, who belonged to this province. Among the 
 most notable of these remains are the following. At Thysdrus 
 (now El Djem) is an amphitheatre nearly as large as that at 
 Verona and in excellent preservation. Thysdrus in the 
 4th century was an important city with a population of 100,000 
 people ; it has now entirely disappeared, nothing remaining 
 except its amphitheatre. The amphitheatre at Carthage was 
 still larger, and was two stories higher than the Colosseum at 
 Rome. Besides these two, the remains of at least twelve 
 
 * The buildings constructed in the 3rd and 4th centuries are easily- 
 distinguished from those built in the 6th and 7th centuries by their 
 entirely different character fmd mode of construction, 
 
 xvm] 
 
 ROMAN REMAINS IN NORTH AFRICA 81 
 
 other amphitheatres still exist in North Africa. ^ Timgad 
 (now Thamugadi), which might almost be called an African 
 Pompeii, situated on a plateau 3500 ft. high, possesses, 
 besides the ruins of eleven sets of Baths, an Arch of Septimius 
 Severus (the most perfect of all the numerous triumphal arches 
 in North Africa), a Basilica, a Capitol (with columns 44 ft. high), 
 a Theatre (one of the most complete in North Africa), and a 
 temple of the Lares, while the mosaics on walls and pavements 
 rival in number and splendour even those at Ravenna. 
 
 Again at Lamboesis there is the most perfect existing ex- 
 ample of a great Roman " camp " of the first class, 550 yards 
 long by 450 yards broad, with on one side of it a splendid 
 triumphal arch, the gateway of the Pretorium. Thugga pos- 
 sesses ruins of the beautiful temple of Dea Coelestis, a Capitol, 
 a Forum, a Theatre, an Arch of Septimius Severus, the temple 
 called " the Rose of the Winds," and several other temples, 
 together with various ruined houses with beautiful mosaic 
 floors. At Tipasa are the ruins of a fine Cathedral of the 
 4th century (with nave and triple aisles and numerous sar- 
 cophagi), of another church with the sarcophagi of nine Bishops, 
 and of the interesting " BasiHca of St. Salsa," the Pagan 
 patron saint of the town. At Tebessa, besides the interesting 
 BasUica (the most remarkable early Christian ruin in North 
 Africa, covering an area of 2 13' yards by 115 yards), and the 
 no less interesting temple of Minerva, there is a speciaUy rare 
 form of triumphal Arch, with entrances on all four sides. 
 No example of such a four-sided arch, the most costly kind of 
 triumphal arch, now remains in Europe, but two remain in 
 North Africa, the other being at TripoH. That at Tebessa 
 was built by the empress Julia Domna 2 in memory of her 
 husband Septimius Severus in 214; it is a vaulted arch, 
 with a graceful Httle shrine on the top of it, and with inscrip- 
 tions to Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, and CaracaUa. 
 
 ^ When we consider the great labour and expense of erecting an 
 amphitheatre, and that (unlike a triumphal arch or a temple) its erec- 
 tion involved a general effort of the whole community, such bmldings 
 are especially strong evidence of the wealth of the community con- 
 cemed. The amphitheatres, triumphal arches, and temples were mostly 
 constructed in the 3rd century, the churches and mosaics mostly in 
 the 4th century. 
 
 ^ Vol. I. Chap. VIII, p. 282. 
 
 E.W.— II. ^ 
 
 1 1 
 
 i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 82 THEODOSIUS H AND VALENTINIAN HI 
 
 But the signs of great wealth are not confined to the cities. 
 In aU directions are to be traced the remains of extensive 
 country-houses, and though these themselves have dis- 
 appeared, their sit^s can be traced, with the remams of 
 thek fountains, marble stands for flowers in the courtyards, 
 and, above all, the mosaics which decorated their waUs and 
 floore. At Oudna are the rums of the Palace of the Labern, 
 a fine example of a nobleman's house in the 4th century, with 
 a large peristyle in the centre, and numerous mosaics. North 
 Africa could be called the land of mosaics, and many of these 
 are remarkable. One mosaic pavement from a country-house 
 at Hadrumetum (Susa), representing the Triumph of Neptune, 
 is superior to that from the Baths of Caracalla now m the 
 Lateran Museum at Rome. It measures 70 ft. by 54 ft., 
 showing that the halls in these country-houses were of con- 
 siderable size. At Oued Athmenia, thirty-eight miles west of 
 Constantine, was discovered in 1878 a very large set of Baths, 
 which at first from their size were supposed to be those of 
 a smaU town, but proved to belong to an immense country- 
 house, the viUa of Pompeianus. These Baths on bemg ex- 
 cavated were found to be adorned inside with very fine 
 mosaics,! giving a highly interestmg picture of the country 
 life of a Roman noble family in the 4th century. Most of 
 
 » The mosaics in this set of Baths show first a picture of the house 
 itself, with the owner's name, Pompeianus, written over it, the house 
 having the character of an Elizabethan mansion, two stones high, 
 with a lofty tower and projecting wings, and at the sides porches open- 
 ing into a garden behind ; also a picture of the walled-in garden, with 
 stiffly laid.out flowerbeds ; and in another picture the stables, with 
 the owner's six favourite horses, the name of each horse being written 
 over it and also a few words of affection which show that some of 
 these horses were used for racing and others as hunters. Another 
 compartment shows a more elaborate garden, with three summer- 
 houses, and a palm-tree with a lady sitting under it in an armchair 
 holding a fan, and by her side an attendant holding a parasol over 
 her head, and her pet dog attached by a string. Another compart- 
 ment of these mosaics shows the park belonging to the house (with 
 an inscription over it to that effect), and three deer bemg chased 
 by two dogs, the park being surrounded with a high deer-fence. 
 Finally another compartment shows the owner, Pompeianus, pro- 
 ceeding to start for a hunting party, with huntsmen, horses, and hounds, 
 the names, not only of each huntsman, but of each horse and each 
 dog, being written over them. 
 
 xvin] 
 
 MOSAICS IN COUNTRY-HOUSES 
 
 83 
 
 the mosaics of these country-houses depict outdoor life, 
 hunting scenes, bathing, fishing, and farming, and show 
 vividly the life of the people.^ 
 
 These numerous and widespread remains show to what a 
 high degree of prosperity the province of North Africa had 
 attained at the time when it was overthrown by the Vandals 
 early in the 5th century. And however much the Roman 
 writers of the 4th century may complain of a crushing taxation, 
 and however much the laws of the Theodosian Code may show 
 as to the existence of a severe fiscal bondage pressing personally 
 upon the curiales,^ the great opulence of the numerous cities 
 seized by the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi in Gaul in 407, in 
 Spain in 410, and in North Africa in 430, with the evidence 
 as to the prosperous condition of the people furnished by the 
 numerous ruins of temples, theatres, Baths, race-courses, 
 amphitheatres, and aqueducts, and by the details of the life 
 of the people shown in mosaic pictures of the time, affords 
 tangible proof of the high state of prosperity which had been 
 attained at the close of the 4th century, and that the general 
 taxation cannot have been of so crushing a character as 
 contemporary writers have maintained. 
 
 The Huns. ^^™g ^ ^pacc of thirty years one formidable foe 
 after another had come with overwhelming force 
 upon the Roman Empire. But there now began to menace 
 that empire an enemy more to be dreaded than even the most 
 formidable of those which had hitherto attacked it, the terrible 
 Huns. Hideous, looked upon as half-demons, cruel with a 
 
 ^ One large mosaic, from a coimtry-house at Tabarka, shows the 
 house itself, standing in a rose-garden, with oHve trees beneath which 
 pheasants, partridges, and pigeons are feeding, and below it a lake 
 with swans, geese, and ducks swimming about ; in another compart- 
 ment are shown the stables, with horses tied up, and aroimd the out- 
 side oUve trees, vines, and sheep feeding. A mosaic found at Capsa 
 shows a race-course, the chariots racing, and the rows of spectators. 
 Another found at Thugga shows a victorious charioteer and his horses, 
 the names of the horses being written over their heads. Another 
 represents the racing stables of a wealthy nobleman. 
 
 Hereditary members of the civic corporations. The laws in ques- 
 tion inflicted upon them a personal monetary liability which was most 
 unfair and crushing to this particular class of the community. 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 li 
 
 84 THEODOSroS H AND VALENTINIAN IH 
 
 cruelty which made aU other barbarian races seem humane 
 by comparison, the Huns had hung Uke a huge thunder-cloud 
 over the northern frontier for a generation. FoUowing m the 
 track of the migration from Central Asia of the Vandals, Goths, 
 and other Aryan races, and far exceeding them both m num- 
 bers and ferocity, the Huns had in half a century driven all 
 these other races before them until they had made themselves 
 omnipotent from the borders of China to the Baltic. Differmg 
 from the Aryan races in their atrocious character, this Turanian 
 race differed from them no less in appearance, and there could 
 not be a greater contrast than that between the tall, handsome, 
 fairhaired, long-bearded Goth or Vandal, and the short, mis- 
 shapen, dark-skinned, and repulsive Hun. Ammianus Mar- 
 cellinus in the previous century, describing the Huns, repre- 
 sents them as never inhabitmg houses, and as ahnost hving 
 upon horseback, stating that their shoes were so clumsy that 
 they could not walk comfortably. He says:— On this 
 account the Huns are not well adapted for fighting on foot ; 
 but on the other hand they are almost welded to their horses, 
 which are smaU and 'hardy, though of ugly shape. ... On 
 horseback every man of that nation Hves night and day ; on 
 horseback he buys and sells ; on horseback he takes his food 
 and drink ; and when night comes he leans forward upon 
 the narrow neck of his horse, and there faUs asleep." ^ 
 
 In 433 Rua, king of the Huns, died, and was succeeded 
 by his two nephews, Attila and Bleda, as joint rulers of the 
 Huns, though from the first Bleda was obUterated by Attila. 
 In the same year Attila demanded from Theodosius II the 
 surrender of two children of the royal family of the Huns who 
 had fled and taken refuge in the Roman dommions. Upon 
 their being given up to him he at once crucified them. Their 
 only crime had been flight from his authority. 
 
 The extent of Attila's dominion was enormous ; 
 
 ""'^"^ besides his own race of the Huns, all the northern 
 
 races along the Danube and the Rhme acknowledged his 
 
 sway ; on his left his dominions touched China, on his right 
 
 I The historian Priscus, who as a young man accompanied an 
 embassy to AttUa in 433, relates that as the envoys of Attila remained 
 sitting upon their horses the members of the Roman embassy did the 
 game, so as not to occupy a position of inferiority. 
 
 xvm] 
 
 ATTILA 
 
 85 
 
 he held Denmark, in his front he threatenel every country 
 from Persia to Gaul. In appearance Attila was of the usual 
 Tartar type, short, broad-shouldered, with a flat nose and 
 smaU beadlike eyes ; he walked with a haughty step, darting 
 his fierce glances from side to side, and seeking always to in- 
 spire fear. He made no attempt to call forth sentiments of 
 loyalty or affection, but ruled by fear alone ; when in wrath 
 he was hke an embodied volcano, his eyes becoming like points 
 of fire. No one in all history has imbued millions of mankind 
 with such an amount of terror as this hideous little Tartar. 
 The amount of vital force and sheer animal magnetism which 
 he must have possessed is amazing ; for he had no mental 
 attainments with which to supplement his qualities of character. 
 All attempts to escape from his sovereignty he punished with 
 the most cruel kinds of death, and demands for the surrender 
 of fugitives for punishment at first formed the chief part of his 
 negotiations with the Roman power ; and these demands, 
 with the haughty terms in which they were couched, soon 
 became a source of constant difficulty to the court at Con- 
 stantinople, where the name of Attila began to be spoken with 
 ever increasing awe and apprehension. 
 
 Honoria. 
 
 In the western portion of the empire during the 
 last fifteen years of Galla Placidia's life events 
 were few. With the loss of Africa Italy settled down into a 
 condition of impotence which was only very partially relieved 
 by several successes gained in Gaul by Aetius, who in the 
 years 435-437 defeated an attack of the Burgundians upon 
 central Gaul and drove back the Visigoths from Narbonne. 
 Two years after the loss of Africa Galla Placidia was much 
 troubled in regard to her daughter Gratia Justa Honoria, 
 who in 434, at the age of sixteen, was discovered by her in 
 an intrigue with a court chamberlain. Galla Placidia there- 
 upon sent her away to the charge of Pulcheria at Constantin- 
 ople, where Honoria, having disgraced her family, was kept 
 by Pulcheria in a sort of semi-conventual seclusion and austerity 
 which she greatly resented. After about a year she endea- 
 voured to extricate herself from this bondage in a remarkable 
 manner. Taking advantage of one of Attila's embassies to 
 Constantinople regarding the surrender of fugitives, and 
 
CHAP. 
 
 m THEODOSIUS II AND VALENTINIAN III 
 
 despairing of getting free from her incarceration in any other 
 . way, Honoria contrived to send a letter and a rmg to the 
 young king of the dreaded Huns, offering herself and her 
 dowry to him if he would make her his wife. Attila had no 
 objection to placing her name among those of his countless 
 wives, but for a long time took no further action m the matter 
 and some thirteen years passed before he made a formal demand 
 
 for her.i . , , , ^ 
 
 But Galla Placidia, disappointed m her daughter, 
 vaientinian HI. ^^ ^^ j^^^ disappoiutcd iu hcr SOU. Shc had the 
 
 mortification of seeing Vaientinian III as he grew out of boy- 
 hood displaying a disposition which he evidently inherited 
 from his father, the coarse and brutal Constantius. He grew 
 up brutal and vicious, and without any ability. In 437 when 
 he was eighteen she sent him to Constantinople, where he 
 was married to his cousin Eudoxia, and brought her to Raven- 
 na ; and in 440, at the age of twenty-one, he was invested 
 with the rule of the State, his mother resigning her regency. 
 But Valentmian, being indolent as weU as vicious, left aU 
 matters still to be managed by his mother. 
 
 Completion lu thc castem portion of the empke Pulcheria 
 of the ' 435 ^f^QY having for twenty years controlled all 
 
 Theodosxan "*"> o ,..• j. a.' 
 
 Code. affairs, was driven by a palace mtngue to retu-e 
 from the court, and her place as guide to Theodosius II was 
 taken by a minister named Cyrus, chosen through the in- 
 fluence of the empress Eudocia, who herself cared little for 
 conductmg public affairs. In 437 Theodosius and Eudocia 
 gave their only child Eudoxia in marriage to Vaientinian III. 
 And in 438 the celebrated Theodosxan Code ^ was at length 
 completed and published, containing all the Roman laws 
 enacted from 312 to 437. It was promulgated on the 15th 
 February 438 with a long and magniloquent preamble m 
 
 1 This episode of Honoria's appeal to Attila is rejected by those 
 modem writers who enunciate the theory of " feminism " (p. 69), but 
 the fact is distinctly asserted by all the contemporary authorities, 
 and there appear to be no grounds for rejecting their testimony. More- 
 over Attila subsequently based upon it a demand to be given half 
 the territories of Vaientinian III as Honoria's dowry (Chap. XIX, 
 p. 99). * Page 74. 
 
 xvin] 
 
 EVILS WROUGHT BY CHRYSAPHIUS 
 
 87 
 
 the names of both Theodosius II and Vaientinian III, detailing 
 its objects and the benefits it conferred upon the inhabitants 
 of the empire, stated that it was appUcable to both East and 
 West, and gave the names of its chief compilers.^ 
 Incapacity of The retirement of Pulcheria from the control 
 Theodosius II. q£ public affairs produced the results which were 
 to be expected in the case of one so incapable as Theodosius, 
 and began a period of fifteen years (435-450) marked by ever 
 increasing misgovemment, corruption, ignominy, and civil 
 and religious discord, for the first six years imder the minis- 
 ter Cyrus and then for nine years (441-450) under his infam- 
 ous successor the eunuch Chrysaphius. Theodosius, entirely 
 ruled by one or other of these advisers, gave greater and 
 greater examples of his incapacity, the administration sinking 
 to a lower depth than it had attained even in the reign 
 of Arcadius. In 443 the empress Eudocia, who prided herself 
 upon her Greek descent and culture, and whose literary talents 
 were of a high order, ^ finding the atmosphere of the court so 
 uncongenial to her, or possibly in consequence of some intrigue 
 of Chrysaphius to get rid of her, retired to Jerusalem, where 
 she spent the remaining eighteen years of her life, occupied 
 in literary pursuits, and taking part occasionally in the burning 
 religious controversies of the time. Soon afterwards Pulcheria 
 returned to the court, but her sway over her feeble brother 
 had waned, and the latter for the remaining years of his life 
 was entirely under the dominion of the eunuch Chrysaphius, 
 for whom no depth of baseness was too great, and whose 
 incapacity, flagrant corruption, and unscrupulous methods 
 brought increasing trouble upon the empire. 
 
 _. , It was not long before Attila discovered the 
 
 Hungeid. wcakuess and incapacity of Theodosius II and 
 
 his ministers, and proceeded to work upon it. From the 
 
 ^ These it stated to be the Prefect Antiochus, the Quaestor Maximin, 
 and Martyrius, Sperantius, Apollodorus, Theodorus, Epigenes, and 
 Procopius. 
 
 * On one occasion she delighted the citizens of Antioch by deliver- 
 ing an oration to the Senate in the purest Greek and in the most admir- 
 able manner. Besides the epic poem written by her in 422 to celebrate 
 the victory over the Persians, she wrote various other poems and a 
 poetical paraphrase of part of the Old Testament, which are still 
 extant. 
 
gg THEOBOSIUS 11 AND VALENTINIAN III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 lit 
 
 year 435 to demands for the surrender of fugitives he began 
 to add demands on various pretexts for the payment of money, 
 and finding on each occasion the timidity and incompetence 
 of the administration at Constantinople more clearly dis- 
 played, the tone of his communications became more and 
 more insolent. His demands for money became during the 
 years 435-441 increasmgly frequent, and in 442, declaring 
 that his just claims had not been fully satisfied, he proceeded 
 to ravage Thrace and Illyricum. Theodosius and Chrysaphius, 
 to whom no humiliation brought any shame, thereupon induced 
 Attila to retire by an agreement, made in 443, to pay him an 
 annual tribute (euphemistically called a subsidy), fixed at 
 2100 lbs. of gold,^ and called the Hu7igeld. This igno- 
 minious tribute naturally helped to increase Attila's power 
 and arrogance, as well as his utter contempt for Theodosius II 
 and Chrysaphius, but for the next two years he made no 
 further attack. In 445, how ever, Attila murdered his brother 
 Bleda, becoming sole kmg of the Huns, and thereupon began 
 to prepare for a more extended invasion of the Roman domin- 
 ions, which he saw were, under their existmg ruler, completely 
 at his mercy. 
 
 Attfla invades Accordiugly in 447 Attila proceeded to make a 
 Greece. regular invasion of the eastern half of the empire. 
 Chrysaphius and Theodosius II thought only of their own 
 safety, and no arrangements, were made to oppose the advance 
 of this demoniac horde of savagery. The Huns in their terrible 
 course swept over Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, 
 advancing as far south as Thermopylae, devastating, ravaging, 
 and destroying. Seventy cities in turn were sacked, most 
 of their inhabitants being slaughtered, except the younger 
 women who were carried off into an abhorred slavery. The 
 horror of the Greek women and girls at becoming the property 
 of the demoniac Huns caused many to commit suicide. Then 
 the Hims retired back again to the Danube, laden with captives 
 and spoil. This was followed by embassy after embassy 
 sent by Attila to Constantinople, each making some further 
 humiliating demand. At length in 449 Chrysaphius, whose 
 only idea for the defence of the empire was the assassination 
 of Attila, laid a scheme for this purpose. But the plot was 
 
 1 Equal to £86,100 sterling. 
 
 xvm] 
 
 EUTYCHES 
 
 89 
 
 revealed to Attila, who thereupon sent a most insulting message 
 to the emperor, demanding the prompt surrender to his ven- 
 geance of the author of the plot, his minister Chrysaphius. 
 This demand was staved off by a further profuse payment of 
 money, accompanied by abject lying on the part of Chrysaphius 
 with the view of exculpating himself in Attila's eyes, and for 
 the time Attila pretended to be pacified. 
 TheEutychian Mcauwhilc during these years 447-449 Theo- 
 
 heiesy. dosius II had bccn led by Chrysaphius into serious 
 troubles and disgraceful contests on the score of religion. 
 In the year 447 a fresh controversy was aroused by Eutyches, 
 the abbot of a monastery near Ephesus, revered for his holy 
 life, but as Leo the Great said of him " very imprudent and 
 exceedingly unskilled in theology." Eutyches, opposing the 
 heresy of Nestorius,i fell into the opposite error, and (fail- 
 ing to see that the tenet of two " natures " did not imply 
 that of two " persons ") taught that in Christ there was only 
 one nature, that the Godhead and the manhood were not 
 distinct, but were united in one nature neither wholly God 
 nor wholly man. The Catholics pointed out that this over- 
 turned the belief taught "from the first" that Christ was 
 perfect God and perfect man, and a heated controversy ensued. 
 Chrysaphius (to be allied with whom was sufficient to bring 
 dishonour upon any party) adopted the tenets of Eutyches, 
 and warmly took up his cause, and Theodosius II did the 
 same, forthwith becoming as strong a Eutychian as he had 
 previously been a Nestorian. And wherever Chrysaphius was 
 concerned discreditable methods were a certainty. 
 
 The justly venerated Flavian, who in 447 had become 
 Pope of Constantinople, strove hard to prevent this new dis- 
 sension, urging a friend of Eutyches to visit him, and " by 
 kind and gentle persuasion to show him the way of truth," 
 and endeavouring in every way to allay the stormy passions 
 which were being aroused. But his efforts were fruitless, and 
 at length he was forced to excommunicate Eutyches and all 
 the monks of his monastery. Eutyches appealed to Theo- 
 dosius II and Chrysaphius, but their advocacy of this unsound 
 teaching only increased the turmoil. The conflict spread 
 throughout the East, the cause of Eutyches, backed by Chrysa- 
 
 1 Page 75. 
 
THEODOSIUS n AND VALENTINIAN IH 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
 phius in various unscrupulous ways, being also warmly taken 
 up by Dioscurus, Pope of Alexandria, a personal enemy of 
 
 ""^ At length in August 449 a local Council was held 
 Latrocinium. q^ the subjcct at Ephcsus, which CouncU has 
 obtained in history the name of the " Latrocinium " (the 
 den of robbers). The doors of the church were surrounded 
 by Chrysaphius with armed soldiers, only the adherents of 
 Eutyches were allowed a hearing, the proceedings were m 
 the highest degree irregular and tumultuous (cries of i5um 
 him " '' Stab him," and " Cut him in two," resounding on 
 all sides), and finally at a preconcerted signal from the tyranni- 
 cal Dioscurus the armed guards rushed in, the fierce Egyptian 
 monks in their lawless fanaticism proceeded to deeds of violence 
 and a disgraceful scene ensued. The Bishops who had dared 
 to side with Flavian were knocked down, beaten with clubs, 
 and amidst a storm of curses were loaded with fetters. The 
 deservedly revered Flavian, who throughout three years 
 had shown a noble example to all men in the midst of such 
 a controversy, was knocked down, and beaten, while as he 
 lay on the floor of the church some kicked him, others trampled 
 upon him, and the abbot Barsumas standing over him cried 
 "Stab him " ; after which he was removed as a prisoner to a 
 smaU adjacent viUage, where three days afterwards he died 
 from the injuries he had received. When the proceedings 
 at this so-called council were told in Rome by a deacon who 
 escaped from it to Pope Leo the Great he exclaimed, It was 
 no council ; it was a Latrocinium, a den of robbers, and 
 posterity has recognized the justness of the name. 
 
 Death of ^The Eutychians having thus tnumphed, and 
 Theodosius II. Yyeing supported by Theodosius II and Chrysaphius, 
 assumed the whole power in the Church, deposing the Catholic 
 Bishops, 1 and excommunicating all who refused to adopt 
 Eutychianism ; while imperial decrees issued by Theodosius II 
 and Chrysaphius placed the deposed Bishops under the 
 ban of the empire, commanding that no one should assist 
 
 1 Among these was the celebrated Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who had 
 been Bishop of that see for twenty-six years, and who upon being thus 
 deposed wrote that in the whole 800 parishes of his diocese no one 
 had anything to say against him. Cyrrhus was situated between 
 Antioch and the Euphrates. 
 
 xvin] 
 
 NATIONAL DEGRADATION 
 
 91 
 
 them or supply them with food, and ordering that their writings 
 should be burnt. These arbitrary proceedings had their 
 natural consequence in producing a state of the greatest tur- 
 moil and confusion in the Church. But this humiliating 
 reign of Eutychianism only lasted for a year. Happily both 
 for the empire and the Church in July 450 Theodosius II, 
 who during the nine years that he had been under the guidance 
 of Chrysaphius had shown a degree of incapacity scarcely 
 less, and more noxious, than that of his father Arcadius, and 
 had brought down both the State and the Church to the lowest 
 depths of humiliation, was killed by a fall from his horse while 
 himting, and the reign of confusion and misrule ended. 
 
 Theodosius II, with no inclinations towards crime or immor- 
 ality, and with uniform good intentions, by his feeble character 
 and entire want of even the most ordinary common-sense, 
 had by the time that he died produced a condition of things 
 in both State and Church which was intolerable. National 
 humiliation in regard to foreign affairs, the utmost degree of 
 corruption and oppression in the administration, and universal 
 turmoil in the Church made the condition of the empire de- 
 plorable. Theodosius was by turns a Nestorian, a Catholic, 
 and a Eutychian, and in each case was as ardent a partisan 
 as though he occupied a private position. And it was his 
 fluctuations in regard to religion, and his mischievous partisan- 
 ship now of one side and now of another, which were the 
 main cause of the tumultuous state of the empire at this time 
 in matters of religion.^ 
 
 ^ The incapable Theodosius II has given his name to no less than 
 two works of great importance, the " Theodosian Wall " and the 
 "Theodosian Code." Some have argued that "the builder of the 
 Theodosian Wall and the promulgator of the Theodosian Code " can- 
 not have been the weakling that Theodosius has always been repre- 
 sented. But the Theodosian Wall was not built by him, but by the 
 minister Anthemius when Theodosius was only seven years old ; and 
 the credit for the Theodosian Code is due, not to the person in whose 
 name (conjointly with that of another emperor) it was promulgated, 
 but to the person who instituted the drawing up of this important 
 code of law, viz. the empress Pulcheria, who inaugurated this great 
 work in 429. The results to the government of the country after 
 Theodosius II in 435 was deprived, or deprived himself, of the guidance 
 of his sister amply prove the correctness of all which historians have 
 said regarding his incapacity. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xvm] 
 
 n VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 Puichem pro- Upon the death of Theodosius II his sister Pul- 
 claimed em- cheiia, bv this time fifty-two, was at once chosen 
 
 press in her » ./ "^ i • J 
 
 own right, by the Senate as his successor and proclaimea 
 empress in her own right. Pulcheria ^ had only three more 
 years to live, but in those three years she brought back both 
 the State and the Church from the corrupt and degraded 
 condition into which they had been sunk, and established 
 both of them upon a sound footing which was permanently 
 maintained after her death. Her first act showed her wisdom. 
 Though she had akeady had twenty years' experience in 
 ruling during the years 414 to 434, and though she had in her 
 early years vowed not to marry, she knew that the rule of a 
 woman in her own sole name would not be agreeable to the 
 people. Therefore for the good of the State, and notwith- 
 standing her vow of thirty-five years before, she went through 
 a form of marriage with Marcian, a brave and honest soldier 
 who commanded her troops, gave him the title of emperor, 
 and crowned him with her own hands. He continued to 
 command the army, while she administered all other affairs ; 
 and this arrangement proved in every way satisfactory. 
 
 The strength of the new government was proved at once. 
 For Attila, on demanding the usual payment of the Hungeld, 
 to his astonishment and wrath was met by a firm refusal on 
 the part of Pulcheria and Marcian to pay any longer this 
 humiliating tribute. Attila's rage was immense, but Con- 
 stantinople was too strong to be attacked, military arrange- 
 ments had been made to defend the provmces, and even if he 
 overcame all opposition the Balkan provinces, swept bare by 
 his recent invasion, offered small temptation to the Huns. 
 Attila therefore, nourishing his vengeance, turned his attention 
 
 to the West.* 
 
 Pulcheria inaugurated her reign by beginning at once a 
 complete reform in the administration. The detestable 
 Chrysaphius, who by his misrule, corruption, and general 
 villainy had in nine years imdone all the good effects of Pul- 
 cheria's rule from 414 to 434, and brought down the eastern 
 portion of the empire to complete degradation, was banished 
 
 » Fulcheria's sister Arcadia had died in 444, and her sister Marina 
 
 in 449. 
 
 « Chap. XIX, p. 99. 
 
 GOOD GOVERNMENT RESTORED 
 
 93 
 
 to a distant island, where some time afterwards he was put 
 to death, a just punishment for his many crimes. The sale 
 of offices was stopped ; all the other corrupt methods of Chry- 
 saphius were abolished ; taxation was reduced, and arrears of 
 taxation were remitted, while the owners of lands who by 
 bribery had obtained exemption from taxation were made to 
 pay their due share ; the universal corruption in the adminis- 
 tration of justice was put down, and various other reforms were 
 carried out, the general effect of all these reforms being to 
 make the new government immensely popular. Lastly Pul- 
 cheria also took in hand the question of the injustice and strife 
 taking place in the Church under the domination of the Euty- 
 chians and in consequence of the still unsettled Eutychian 
 controversy, and issued orders for the assembly in the following 
 autumn of the Fourth General Council, appointing Nicsea as the 
 place for its assembly, afterwards changed to Chalcedon on 
 the eastern shore of the Bosphorus.^ 
 
 Last years of Galla Placidia was forty-six when in 440 she 
 Gaiia Placidia. resigned the regency of the western portion of the 
 empire, though still left by her son to conduct public affairs 
 on his behalf. Disheartened at the ruin to Italy caused by 
 the loss of Africa, as well as at the treachery through which 
 that loss had been brought about, disappointed in the char- 
 acters of her son and her daughter, and with no man among 
 those around her whose character she could fail to despise as 
 she compared it with that of Ataulf who had so deservedly 
 won her admiration in her earlier years, or with that of Boniface 
 who had perished just when she had hoped for his support, 
 she left public affairs more and more in the hands of the minister 
 Aetius, and devoted her chief energies during the remaining 
 ten years of her life to religious matters. During these ten 
 years (440-450) the disturbances both in Church and State 
 continually taking place in the eastern portion of the empire, 
 through the errors into which her nephew Theodosius II 
 was led by Chrysaphius, naturally caused unrest also in 
 rehgious matters in Italy. The echoes of the conflict over 
 Nestorianism had scarcely died away ; there had succeeded 
 the ravaging of Thrace and Llyricum by Attila in 442, the 
 
 1 Chap. XIX, p. 103 
 
 i 
 
■r 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 94 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 payment of the shameful tribute of the Hungeld, and the 
 ravaging of Macedonia and Greece in 447 ; and there followed 
 in the latter year the new conflict raised by the heresy of 
 Eutyches, warmly supported by the Pope of Alexandria, and 
 culminating in 449 with the disgraceful episode of the Latro- 
 cinium, through which for a short time Eutychianism became 
 
 dominant. 
 
 Galla Placidia, always a strong Catholic, and never varying 
 from that faith in the midst of these controversies of the time, 
 set herself in these later years of her life to build churches and 
 assist the Church generally. At Rome she rebuilt the 
 church of St. Lawrence (founded by Constantine) which had 
 fallen into ruin, and she also greatly enlarged and adorned 
 the church of St. Paul, which had been founded by her father 
 Theodosius the Great. ^ In Pagan tunes triumphal Arches 
 had been the principal mode in which the Pagan emperors 
 recorded their renown. And when in the 5th century fine 
 churches came to be built, a Christian imitation of that practice 
 (though not with a view to giving renown to individuals) 
 grew into fashion, a splendidly decorated Arch between the 
 nave and the transept being made a prominent feature in 
 those churches, while the origin of the idea is shown by the 
 name " triumphal arch " being given in such cases. Galla 
 Placidia in enlarging the church built by her father followed 
 this practice, and the grand triiunphal Arch built by her in 
 440, and covered with mosaics, forms the chief feature of this 
 church of St. Paul, and is the finest example of one of these 
 5th century triumphal arches.* 
 
 At Ravenna Galla Placidia built, near her palace, the church 
 of the Holy Cross ; also the church of St. John the Evangelist, 
 which commemorates by a bas-relief an escape from shipwreck 
 
 » Vol. I, Chap. IV, p. 172, and Chap. XVI, p. 565. 
 
 • The whole of the rest of this church was destroyed by fire in 1823, 
 but Galla Placidia's triumphal Arch, with its splendid 6th century 
 mosfdcs, was the one portion saved, and forms the chief feature 
 of the present church. It separates the nave from the transept ; on 
 the side towards the nave it is adorned with mosaics representing the 
 scene spoken of in the Book of Revelations of Christ being adored by 
 the four-and-twenty elders and the four allegorical beasts ; and on 
 the side towards the transept with mosaics representing Christ between 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 xvm] 
 
 SCENES ON A GREAT ROAD 
 
 96 
 
 which she had on her voyage when retmning from Constantin- 
 ople to Ravenna ; also the church of St. John the Baptist, 
 the church of St. Agatha, and her own mausoleum. She also 
 promulgated various enactments on religious matters, in- 
 cluding laws for the suppression of heresy, of astrologers, and 
 of necromancy, for the banishment of all heretics from 
 Ravenna, and for the better discipline of the clergy, and was 
 likewise active in works of charity. Galla Placidia also built 
 at Ravenna the palace of the Laurelwood (Lauretum), ^ but 
 no trace of this palace now remains. 
 
 The Fiaminkn Buriug the time of Galla Placidia, as also during 
 ^^y- that of her brother Honorius and her son Valen- 
 tinian III, Italy had practically two capitals, Ravenna and 
 Rome. The two cities were only 230 miles apart ; they were 
 joined by the great road from Rome to the north, the celebrated 
 Flaminian Way,^ the most used and the best kept of all the 
 Roman roads ; and during the time of Honorius, Galla Placidia, 
 and Valentinian III there was constant intercourse, political, 
 military, and social between these two cities. Along the 
 Flaminian Way (from Rome through Narni, Spoleto, Foligno, 
 Nucera, Fano, and Rimini to Ravenna) there passed at this 
 period an unceasing stream of travellers of all classes. Bodies 
 of cavalry or infantry, military officers employed at the court, 
 ministers of state on political afifairs, officials occupied on 
 various duties, senators going to interview the emperor, mer- 
 chants proceeding on business to one or other of the two 
 capitals, ladies going to enjoy for a season the festivities of 
 the court or returning from thence, and numberless other 
 persons whom business or pleasure called for a time either 
 to Rome or Ravenna, thronged this great road on all occasions. 
 And when at times the emperor and the court moved from 
 one to the other of these two capitals this concourse was largely 
 augmented, while on such occasions its varied character was 
 increased by magnificent equipages, including the gold car- 
 riages and gold riding saddles used by the ladies of the court 
 which five years after Galla Placidia's death were captured 
 in Rome by the Vandals.* 
 
 » Chap. XX, p. 153. 
 
 ' Constructed by the Consul Flaminius in the time of the Romeui 
 I^pubUc. 8 Chap. XIX, p. 121. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 iil 
 ni 
 
 96 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 Death At this period the city of Rome had recovered 
 Gaiia pucidia. most of its formcr grandeur and prosperity. No 
 permanent harm had been done to the city through 
 its capture in 410 by Alaric, all the splendid buildings which 
 had been erected by Augustus, Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan, 
 Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Diocletian, Constantine, and other 
 emperors were still intact, and it is interesting to realize that 
 Hadrian's magnificent Villa at Tivoli, where all that was most 
 beautiful in art or nature was gathered together, was un- 
 doubtedly often the residence of GaUa Placidia in the summer 
 during her visits to Rome. The invasion of North Africa 
 by the Vandals in 429 had contributed to this increase in the 
 prosperity of Rome, as upon that invasion taking place many 
 of the wealthiest citizens in that country had promptly removed 
 from thence to Rome. The contemporary writer Olympio- 
 dorus speaks of the great luxury and splendour in which at 
 this period many of the nobles in Rome lived, stating that 
 their palaces were " almost like towns and contained temples, 
 baths, fountains, and even race-courses," that many of these 
 nobles received revenues equal to £160,000 a year, besides 
 com, wine, and other produce, and that even those of the 
 second rank enjoyed revenues equal to £60,000 a year. Thus 
 Rome could boast of quite as many attractions as Ravenna, 
 and during the last few years of her life Galla Placidia and 
 her son and daughter-in-law often resided in the Palace of 
 the Caesars on the Palatine hill for many months at a time. 
 And there on the 27th November 450 Galla Placidia at length 
 died, at the age of fifty-six, four months after her nephew 
 Theodosius II. Her body was embalmed and carried to 
 Ravenna to be buried in accordance with her own directions 
 in the magnificent mausoleum which she had built. 
 
 Her This mausoleum ^ is outwardly a plain brick 
 mausoleum, buildiug in the shape of a cross ; all its decoration 
 is reserved for the inside, which is a mass of mosaic orna- 
 mentation, both walls and roof being entirely covered with 
 pictures in mosaic. The roof of the dome represents a sky 
 of deepest blue, spangled with golden stars, with in the centre 
 a jewelled cross. In the arches and round the walls are the 
 figures of Apostles and Prophets, Christ as the Good Shepherd, 
 
 * Plate LX. 
 
 xvin] 
 
 THREE NOTABLE SARCOPHAGI 
 
 97 
 
 the burning of the heretical books of the Nestorians,^ stags 
 drinking at a pool in a forest, and various other representations. 
 The subjects were certainly chosen by Galla Placidia herself, 
 who no doubt frequently inspected the work while it was in 
 progress, while these mosaic pictures are as fresh as when placed 
 there under her eyes. 
 
 The mausoleum contains three sarcophagi, all three being 
 of considerable height, the person being buried therein sitting 
 in state, not lying down. On either side are those of her 
 brother Honorius and of her second husband Constantius 
 (her son Valentinian III being afterwards buried in the same 
 sarcophagus), and in the centre, under the eastern wall of the 
 mausoleum, is the sarcophagus of Galla Placidia herself.^ 
 These three sarcophagi are the only tombs of any of the long 
 line of Roman emperors, either in East or West, which stiQ 
 remain in existence. Of Augustus and his successors of the 
 JuHan family no tomb survives ; of Trajan we have only 
 his column, and of Hadrian only a mausoleum long since 
 despoiled of all its contents and turned into a fortress ; of 
 Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Heraclius, Leo III, and 
 their successors, all interred in the last resting-place of the 
 emperors, the great church of the Twelve Apostles built by 
 Constantine in New Rome, not a vestige either of their tombs 
 or of the church in which they were placed remains, all having 
 been destroyed by the Turkish Sultans. But Ravenna, thanks 
 to Galla Placidia, still keeps the tombs of the last three em- 
 perors of the western half of the Roman Empire, the son, the 
 daughter, and the grandson of Theodosius the Great. 
 
 It is remarkable how much difference, as regards bringing 
 before us a personality, a building erected by the person 
 sometimes makes compared with cases where there is no such 
 memorial. We seem to know GaUa Placidia so much better 
 than her capable niece Pulcheria just because we can stand 
 in the mausoleum which she built, can look at the sarcophagi 
 of her brother and her husband resting in the places where 
 she put them, can gaze at the interesting mosaic pictures which 
 
 ^ The sect recently condemned by the Third General Council, 
 and rigorously ejected by Galla Placidia from Ravenna. 
 
 * GaUa Placidia's imhappy daughter Honoria is also buried in this 
 mausoleum. 
 
 
 E.W.— H. 
 
 
 
^ 
 
 CHAP, xvin] 
 
 98 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 she planned, and can see the tomb in which her body was 
 placed in the special manner she had ordered, even though 
 we can no longer see her sitting therein clad in her imperial 
 robes, as she sat for many centuries. 
 
 Her sarcophagus is the largest of the three in the mauso- 
 leum. It is made of semi-transparent alabaster, and the top 
 was origmally covered with plates of silver. In this sarco- 
 phagus Galla Placidia's body after being embalmed was 
 placed as ordered by her, sittmg upright in a chair of cypress- 
 wood, and arrayed in her imperial robes, just as she had sat in 
 the hall of the palace at Narbonne on the day of her marriage 
 to Ataulf when she was twenty. And there it remained 
 undisturbed for eleven centuries, and was one of the sights 
 of Ravenna, being visible through a small hole covered with 
 thin alabaster at the back of the sarcophagus, until in 1577 
 some children, playing one day in the mausoleum, thrust a 
 lighted candle through the hole in order to see her better ; 
 with the result that they set fire to the robes of the dead 
 empress, and in a few moments all that remained of Galla 
 Placidia was reduced to ashes. 
 
 ! 
 
Vi 
 
 ri.ATli LX. 
 
 t '#**yfe.^ 
 
 l.lJ.J.'.AUi. 
 
 TnTKRIuK Ul- CiALLA PlACIUIAS MAUSOLEUM AT KAVENNA. 
 Showmn hrr saro-uln^u-. and the nuisaic decoration o( the walk and roof. The swircopha«us b of Uiis umiMial shape in or.ler that she 
 ight be biiricd m it sitting in her thairuf stale, clad m her imperial robes, it I* tiiade of semi transparent alabaster. Her bo<Jy remained Ihus 
 
 sitting in iLs chair for 1127 years. 
 
I \ I I I 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WEST— VALENTINIAN III, AND END OF WESTERN 
 HALF OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
 
 EAST— PULCHERIA, MARCIAN, AND LEO I 
 
 451 — 476 
 
 THE year 451, the year after Galla Placidia died, was 
 one of terrible importance to Europe. Attila, on 
 being refused further payment of the Hungeld,^ and having 
 resolved to exact retribution in the West, began by demand- 
 ing the surrender of his " wife," ^ the princess Honoria, from 
 her brother Valentinian III, together with half the western 
 portion of the empire as her dowry, and upon this being 
 refused prepared for war. He did not however, as yet, attack 
 Italy, but aimed his attack further to the west, at Gaul. That 
 country was at this time divided between seven races. North- 
 em Gaul, down to a line drawn roughly from Amiens to Strass- 
 burg, was held by the Franks ; the Allemanni occupied the 
 districts on the upper Rhine ; the Romans, as the result of 
 the conquests of Aetius, held Provence and a large part of 
 central Gaul ; the Burgundians occupied what is now Savoy ; 
 the territory west of Paris was held by the Saxons, and that 
 to the south of them down to the Loire by the Armoricans ; 
 and lastly, from the Loire to the Pyrenees was the territory 
 of the Visigoths, their eastern boimdary being a line running 
 roughly from near Orleans to Toulouse. The cities sacked 
 by the Vandals, Suevi, Alans, and Burgundians forty-five 
 years before had more or less recovered, and were again 
 populous. 
 
 » Chap. XVin, p. 92. 
 
 » Chap. XVin, p. 86. 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 100 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 Early in 451 Attila's huge host, variously esti- 
 
 ^G^'rby* mated at from half a million to a million fighting 
 
 the Huns. ^^^^ ^^j^ ^^j^g fj.^^^ g^j^e of the Teutonic tribes 
 
 subject to him, began to roll westwards from their headquarters 
 in Dacia. Sweeping across northern Europe, they crossed 
 the Rhine, and fell like an avalanche upon Gaul. The awful 
 horrors and widespread destruction endured by Gaul in this 
 invasion by the Huns defy description ; they far surpassed all 
 former experiences of the kind, and were never forgotten 
 through all the subsequent ages : no human voice comes out 
 of the chaos to relate the sufferings endured, but the terrible 
 impression permanently made, and handed down for genera- 
 tions afterwards, is eloquent. City after city was, we are 
 told, " effracta " (broken to pieces) ; Strassburg, Mainz, 
 Cologne,! Metz, Treves, Tongres, Arras, Toumay, Cambray, 
 Amiens, Beauvais, and Rheims were, one after another, first 
 sacked and then destroyed. At length the devastating flood 
 was arrested at Orleans. 
 
 Aetius, though now over sixty, had made strenuous efforts 
 to collect an army capable of opposing the Huns, and had 
 by this time succeeded in inducing the Visigoths, under their 
 brave king Theodoric, together with a few contingents from 
 some of the other races in Gaul, to unite with the empire for 
 this object, and the combined forces of the allies occupied 
 Orleans just in time before the Huns reached it. Attila there- 
 upon retired towards Troyes, followed by the allied army, 
 and took up a position a few miles from that city. And on 
 the Mauriac Plain, near Troyes,* was fought another of the 
 decisive battles of the world, the great battle which decided 
 
 * It is to this invasion that the story of the massacre of St. Ursula 
 and the 11,000 virgins at Cologne belongs. 
 
 « It is almost impossible to locate the battlefield exactly, from the 
 fact that owing tt) the immense numbers engaged the battle spread 
 over a great extent of country. Apparently it was fought over a wide 
 tract extending south-west, west, and north-west of Troyes, from the 
 road between Sens and Troyes round to as far north as the river Aube, 
 or even further. In fact so far did the battle extend that in former 
 times it was even called the battle of Chalons, though it evidently took 
 place nearer Troyes, and is now called the battle of the Mauriac 
 Plain. 
 
 xix] 
 
 ATTILA'S GREAT BATTLE 
 
 101 
 
 whether Europe was for the future to be Teuton or Tartar, 
 Aryan or Turanian.^ 
 
 Though the Huns had the preponderance of 
 of the numbers, the forces on both sides were immense. 
 
 Maunac Plain, q^ ^j^^ ^^^ ^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ j^^^^ ^£ ^^^ HuUS, 
 
 with the tribes held subject by them ; on the other was the 
 Roman army (largely recruited from southern Gaul), with 
 the Visigoths, and contingents from several of the races of 
 northern Gaul, these latter being furious at the atrocities 
 which had been perpetrated by the inhuman Huns. Most 
 of the Roman portion of the allied army, imder Aetius, occu- 
 pied rising ground, but the Visigoths, under their king Theo- 
 doric, were in the open plain. The Huns, living as a race 
 perpetually on horseback and specially famous as archers, 
 never fought on foot except when taking cities, and almost 
 the whole of Attila's host were mounted. On the other hand 
 the Visigoths, and the greater part of the Roman army, fought 
 on foot. 2 It was a very different kind of battle from those 
 of CJonstantine's time ; no tactics were employed on either 
 side, and it was simply a case of sheer sledge-hammer fighting 
 throughout a long day. Through the mists of time the fierce 
 struggle between Hun and Goth on that tremendous battle- 
 field has always occupied pre-eminence for its ferocity and 
 determination. Neither side would give way. Attila, like 
 a burning flame, with blazing eyes and hoarse guttural shouts 
 
 ^ This is the opinion which has always been held. It is, however, 
 now sometimes declared that even had the Huns been victorious it 
 would not have subjected Europe to the Tartar race, that the invasion 
 of the Huns was a mere passing phase, and consequently that the 
 battle of the Mauriac Plain had not the importance which all previous 
 generations have believed. It would probably be necessary to actually 
 see the Hunnish host, and also the districts of Gaul and Italy after 
 they were quitted by them, before a really reliable opinion on the 
 point could be formed. But failing this, the older view appears to 
 have the greater weight ; especially as the newer one fails to indicate 
 from whence any further defenders of Europe were Ukely to arise (see 
 also pp. 116-117). Professor Bury is of opinion that it was "the 
 cause of chaos against cosmos,*' and that if the Huns had won this 
 great battle " western Europe might have been converted into a 
 spiritual waste unspeakably more lost and degraded than Turkey at 
 the present day." 
 
 2 Tho Saxons and Franks always fought on foot, the Goths some- 
 times on horseback, but not on this occasion. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 102 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 f! 
 
 it 
 
 of command, hurled his Huns in furious charges time after 
 time upon the allies, and especially upon the Visigoths, who 
 were without any advantage of position. From the vivid 
 pictures of the Huns given by writers of that century we can 
 almost see the rush of that terrible cavalry ; demoniac horse- 
 men with flattened noses and small fierce eyes, who appeared 
 as if horse and man were one, and whose ferocity had 
 filled all the world with dread. But in the end the battle 
 showed that the Hun was no match for the Goth. Modem 
 battles have in some cases seen as great numbers engaged, 
 but not that fierce hand-to-hand fighting which produced 
 such immense losses ; at the end of the long day of desperate 
 combat the number of the slain in the two armies reached 
 the enormous total of 340,000 men. At nightfall the Huns, 
 their strength exhausted, drew off from the wide battle- 
 field strewn with acres upon acres of slain Romans, Goths, 
 and Huns.^ But the victors were in too shattered a condi- 
 tion to pursue ; -while the Visigoths, upon whom the heaviest 
 portion of the fighting had fallen, had also to mourn the loss 
 of their king, the brave warrior Theodoric. Attila with his 
 beaten, but not destroyed, army, sullenly retired northwards, 
 and recrossed the Rhine. The power of the Huns was broken, 
 and Europe was saved from the horrible fate which would 
 have been its lot if the victory had been the opposite way. 
 But Gaul as far south as Orleans was left like a city of the dead.* 
 
 This same year 451, which in the spring witnessed 
 
 GeneJ^ this dcclsive victory of the races of Aryan origin 
 
 councu, ^^^j, their Turanian foes, in the autumn witnessed 
 
 another decisive action, no less important to posterity, in 
 
 1 For many generations afterwards legends in that part of the coun- 
 try declared that the spirits of the fallen warriors were to be seen and 
 heard continuing to battle in the air. 
 
 ■ In 1842 there w£ks unearthed on the site of one part of the battle 
 of the Mauriac Plain a skeleton having a collar of gold round the neck, 
 a gold armlet, gold clasps, a richly ornamented sword, a similarly orna- 
 mented dagger, and a gold signet ring, the inscription on which in its 
 touch of nature links our modem age at once with the dead warrior, 
 since it bore the Gothic word H E V A (wife), which skeleton is be- 
 lieved by Professor Peign6 Delacourt to be that of Theodoric, king 
 of the Visigoths, who is known to have been buried on the battlefield. 
 It is now in the museum at Troyes. 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 xix] 
 
 FOURTH GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 103 
 
 a different field, viz. the final victory in the long contest 
 which had been fought for four generations by the Catholics 
 in defence of the faith laid down at Nicaea. 
 
 On the 1st September 451 the Fourth General Council, 
 in accordance with the orders which had been issued,^ gathered 
 at Nicsea. But as it was particularly desired by the majority 
 of the Bishops that the emperor Marcian should be present 
 to restrain the violence of the Eutychians, and as Marcian 
 wrote that urgent affairs of State compelled him to remain 
 at the capital, the place of assembly was changed at his re- 
 quest to Chalcedon, on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, 
 in order that he might be present ; and there on the 8th 
 October 451 the Council assembled. This Council was the 
 largest of aU the Greneral Councils, and, except that of Nicaea, 
 the most important. It was attended by 630 Bishops, and 
 was presided over by Anatolius, Pope of Constantinople, who 
 had succeeded the murdered Flavian. The Council sat in 
 the church of St. Euphemia the martyr, ^ situated outside 
 the city of Chalcedon, upon a height overlooking the sea ^ ; 
 behind rose mountains clothed with forests, and in front, 
 across the narrow waters of the Bosphorus, was the splendid 
 panorama of the city of Constantinople. 
 
 After all, the emperor Marcian was only able to be present 
 at the final sitting of the Council, but he sent several ofl&cers 
 as his representatives who maintained order. Dioscurus, 
 Pope of Alexandria, and the abbot Barsumas, owing to their 
 conduct at the Latrocinium, were made to sit in the body of 
 the church, as persons whose deeds were under trial. A fuU 
 enquiry was first made into the atrocious proceedings at the 
 Latrocinium, which were severely condemned ; Dioscurus 
 was proved guilty, not only of the most outrageous and t3rran- 
 nical conduct on that occasion, but also of flagrant crimes at 
 Alexandria ; he was condemned by the Council to be deprived 
 of all his ofl&ces, and was banished by the emperor to Gangra 
 in Paphlagonia, the abbot Barsumas (looked upon as prac- 
 tically the murderer of Flavian) being also banished. 
 
 » Chap. XVIII, p. 93. • Vol. I., Chap. XII, p. 383. 
 
 * The church was entered through a large atrium (or court) sur- 
 rounded by a colonnade. Under the dome of the church was the 
 highly venerated tomb of the martyred St. Euphemia, enclosed in a 
 silver shrine, near which was a large mosaic picture of her martyrdom. 
 
 4 
 
 ill; 
 
\ 
 
 104 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 The Council then proceeded to consider the main point 
 brought before it, viz. the doctrine taught by Eutyches. 
 On this point there was never any doubt, now that the voice 
 of the whole Church could be heard. The Council ruled that 
 the doctrine propounded by Eutyches was not that which 
 had been held and taught " from the first," and therefore 
 condemned it as a heresy, defining the Catholic faith on the 
 point to be that in Christ there were two whole and perfect 
 natures combined in one Person. And to guard all in the 
 future against such teaching as that of Eutyches the Council 
 drew up an important definition of the Catholic faith on the 
 subject, which stated that faith to be :— " That Christ is per- 
 fect alike in Godhead and in manhood ; very God and very 
 man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting ; of 
 one essence with the Father as touching His Godhead, and 
 of one essence with us as touching His manhood ; ... to be 
 acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, change, 
 division, or separation, the difference of natures being in no 
 wise taken away by reason of their union, but rather the pro- 
 perties of each nature being preserved and concurring in one 
 Person ; . . . not separated into two persons, but one and 
 the same Son and only begotten, God the Word." This 
 definition met equally the Nestorian heresy on the one hand 
 and the Eutychian ^ heresy on the other. The statement 
 of the true faith on this deep mystery, as thus carefully de- 
 fined by the Fourth General Council, has remained from that 
 day to this the authoritative utterance of the whole Church 
 upon this long-controverted question.* 
 
 The CathoHcs had thus withstood successfully four grand 
 attacks in 126 years upon the faith taught " from the first." ^ 
 
 » The Eutychian heresy is often called by the name Monophysite 
 (signifying "one nature"). 
 
 • It will be noticed that the definition laid down by this Council to 
 protect posterity against errors on this deep mystery was incorpor- 
 ated in the ** Athanasian Creed." That creed was not written by Athan- 
 asius, but was fitly called by his name, he having been the most 
 renowned defender of this beUef in defence of which the Catholics 
 had struggled for four generations imtil thus at length victorious. 
 
 » At Nicsea in 326 (Arian attcwjk), at Constantinople in 381 (Appol- 
 linjtfian), at Epheeus in 431 (Nestorian), and at Chalcedon in 461 (Euty- 
 chian). 
 
 xix] 
 
 <( 
 
 THE TOME'* 
 
 106 
 
 But though the faith which they had so long and strenuously 
 defended had now been finally victorious over the various 
 attacks made upon it, another 150 years were to pass before 
 it would be accepted throughout the whole of the nations of 
 Europe. For twenty-five years after the assembly of this 
 General Council, through the conquest by the Goths of the 
 last country belonging to the western portion of the empire, 
 the Arian religion professed by them became dominant 
 throughout the West ; while in the East the Eutychian (or 
 Monophysite) heresy for several generations flourished widely, 
 especially in Syria, Armenia, ^ Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Abys- 
 sinia, ia some of which countries it stiQ survives. The Nes- 
 torian and Eutychian heresies, however, were on a very dif- 
 ferent plane from Arianism. For they merely partially 
 differed from the Catholic faith ; whereas Arianism struck 
 at the very foundation of Christianity, the Divinity of Christ. ^ 
 The four General Councils in which these successive attacks 
 had been met and overcome are the four principal General 
 Councils, the Fifth and Sixth (both of them subsidiary to the 
 Fourth) being of less importance from a doctrinal point of 
 view, though of much importance historically. And of these 
 four principal General Councils, while one was convened by 
 Constantine, and one by Gratian and Theodosius, two were 
 convened by the latter's capable granddaughter Pulcheria, the 
 only sovereign who ever convened two General Councils. 
 
 Importance in The Fourth General Council, in drawing up its 
 de'pe?den?u"n important definition of the true faith which for 
 
 the see held, evcr closcd this long controversy, was very largely 
 assisted by the sound and clear theology contained in 
 the comprehensive letter (called " the Tome ") which was 
 written to the Council on the subject by Leo, Bishop of 
 Rome, and Pope of the western patriarchate. Up to this time 
 the see of Rome had not taken a leading part in the history 
 
 * The case of Armenia is very peculiar, having been caused through 
 the paucity of the Armenian language. The Armenian Church re- 
 fused to accept the decision of the Fourth General Coimcil, £ind (re- 
 maining Eutychian) separated from the CathoUc Church, owing to a 
 misimderstanding caused by their language having only one word 
 for *' nature ** and *' person.*' 
 
 « See Vol, L Chap. XIII, p. 412 (footnote). 
 
CHAP 
 
 106 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 of the Church. During all the first five centuries, since Bishops 
 were never ** translated " from one see to another, each of the 
 Bishops who in turn had been universally acknowledged at 
 different times as the leading Bishop in the Church did not 
 hold this position by reason of the see he occupied, but solely 
 by reason of his own personal character and ability. Thus 
 at one time it is Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, who holds this 
 position ; at another time it is Hosius, Bishop of Cordova ; 
 at another, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria ; at another, 
 Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers ; at another, Ambrose, Bishop of 
 Milan; and at another, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. ^ In 
 all these cases it was the man himself, not his see, which gave 
 him the importance accorded to him by the Church. And 
 this helped to emphasize the axiom as to the equality of all 
 sees in rank. 
 
 It had so happened that up to this time none of the men 
 who possessed characters of this leading description had held 
 the see of Rome. The result had been that that see had not 
 played a leading part in the Councils of the Church ; while 
 in the 5th century, owing to the conquests of the Goths and 
 other northern races, the area in the West which still professed 
 the Catholic religion had shrunk to such small dimensions 
 that the patriarchal see of the West necessarily came to occupy 
 a very subordinate position in the Church as compared with 
 
 * The c€^es of Ambrose and Augiistine are particularly noticeable, 
 because both of them lived after the time when in 381 the Second 
 General Council had given the title and status of Pope to the Bishops 
 holding the sees of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, and Con- 
 stantinople, while both of them belonged to the western patriarchate, 
 that of Rome. Ambrose died in 397, and during all the last thirteen 
 years of his life, while he was making so great a name as the leading 
 Bishop of the Church, the Bishop who held the see of Rome and the 
 new title of Pope of the western patri€u*chate W£ks a man of so little 
 weight in the Church that his very name is almost unknown, Siricius. 
 The case of Augustine is still more marked. Dying in 430 he had for 
 thirty -three years (from the time of the death of Ambrose) been every- 
 where acknowledged as the leading Bishop of the Church, while the 
 five Bishops who during that period held the see of Rome and the 
 title of Pope of the western patriarchate — Anastasius I, Innocent I, 
 Zosimus, Boniface I, and Coelestine I — were men of no weight in the 
 Church, and with the exception of Innocent I their names are almost 
 imknown. 
 
 Xix] 
 
 THE QUESTION OE PRECEDENCE 
 
 107 
 
 great and important ApostoUc sees such as Antioch, Alex- 
 andria and Ephesus, or such as that of the imperial capital 
 Constantinople, all of which, in importance, weight, and the 
 number of dioceses represented by them, so very largely 
 exceeded that of Rome. But at the time when the Fourth 
 General Council was held this became changed ; the see of 
 Rome was now held by one who was a conspicuously able 
 man, and who on this occasion gave the first prominent evi- 
 dence of his ability ; with the result that the Council in draw- 
 ing up its definition of the Catholic faith followed to a large 
 extent the clear theology which he enunciated. 
 Precedence ^^t the Fourth General Council while accepting 
 delSTnot ^^'^ ^®ws ^^ theology declined altogether to 
 on reugious acccpt his vicws ou auothcr subject. That General 
 
 grounds. n 'i • 
 
 Council, among various other matters brought 
 before it, was called upon to give a decision on the same 
 point which had been before the Second General Council, 
 viz. the relative precedence of the sees of Constantinople and 
 Rome. In regard to this the Council decided, and laid down 
 in its twenty-eighth canon, that precedence should be given 
 to Rome over Constantmople, but stated the reason still more 
 explicitly than even the Second General Council had done,i 
 the words being, " because it is the elder Imperial city.'' Leo, 
 with a desire to magnify his see, objected to this canon, and 
 maintained that the precedence of Rome over Constantinople 
 should be declared to be because the see of Rome had been 
 founded by St. Peter. But he failed entirely to carry his 
 point. Antioch and Alexandria, both claiming on far more 
 assured grounds to have been founded by St. Peter, and Ephesus 
 claiming to have been founded by St. John, all repudiated 
 Leo's assumption; their view was adopted by the whole 
 Church, which stood by the canon passed by the General 
 Council, and declined to admit that Rome had any claim to 
 honour on the ground of any special connection with St. Peter. 
 And Leo had to submit, at all events outwardly, since to do 
 otherwise would not only be to disobey the deliberate decision 
 of a General Council, but would at once have had the result 
 of cutting oflF both himself and his see from the whole of 
 the rest of the Church. 
 
 * Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 537. 
 
 L 
 
 4 
 
108 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 if 
 
 Leo Leo, justly called the Great, a man who in any age 
 the Great, ^^^jj^j have been conspicuous, was by far the most able 
 man of this time when the western portion of the empire was 
 approaching its end, and when no other virile character among 
 the Romans was to be seen. We know absolutely nothing 
 about his birth or education. Bom about 395, he was in 430 
 Archdeacon of the Church at Rome, and in 440 at the age of 
 forty-five was chosen as Bishop of Rome and Pope of the 
 western patriarchate by the unanimous voice of the people 
 of Rome. It is remarkable, especially in the case of a man 
 of such pronounced character, that though he must often 
 have come in contact with the empress Galla Placidia during 
 the years 440-450 we hear nothing whatever about him in 
 connection with her during all those ten years. 
 
 Leo was an example of the Roman character at its best, 
 having all the virtues of that race, and none of its vices. Lofty 
 in sentiment, pure in life, learned, practical, stem, and of un- 
 bending will, Leo, though perhaps wanting in sympathy and 
 forbearance, was essentially a type of that Roman race which 
 was bom to rule the world. What Augustus, Constantine, 
 and Valentinian I had been in their sphere, Leo, more exalted 
 in character and more deeply learned, was in his, and like 
 them typified in himself that Roman spirit summed up in 
 Virgil's words regarding the special mission of the Roman 
 race.i His chief fame was gained as a theologian, in which 
 respect he showed invariably the plain, strong, practical 
 theology of the western mind, free from all subtleties. But 
 his character as a man, and as a leader of men, was no less 
 deserving of honour ; and in the year which followed Attila's 
 invasion of Gaul he gave a conspicuous proof of his qualities 
 in this latter respect. 
 
 But although Leo was all this, yet he, by giving way to the 
 temptation natural to a man of his character imduly to exalt 
 his see, laid the seeds of lasting harm to the Christian Church, 
 seeds destined in time to produce a disunion which he would 
 have been the last to desire. Other equally great, or greater, 
 Bishops before him (such as Cyprian, Hosius, Athanasius, 
 Hilary of Poictiers, Ambrose, and Augustine) had resisted a 
 temptation which comes to all men of dominant character and 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIII. p. 397. 
 
 XIX ] 
 
 LEO'S UNLAWFUL METHODS 
 
 109 
 
 ability. Leo succumbed to it. And he found a weapon 
 ready to his hand through the destruction of the western half 
 of the empire, which left the great name of Rome (carrying 
 with it the idea of a supremacy) available to be utilized in 
 Church matters in a manner similar to that in which it had 
 heretofore been used in secular matters. 
 
 Not that Leo was himself able to formulate a claim on 
 behalf of the see of Rome to supremacy in the Church. The 
 other four patriarchates, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, 
 and Jerusalem, and especially the first three with their much 
 greater power and importance in the Church than the de- 
 pressed western patriarchate, whose area had now been re- 
 duced to only Italy and a part of Gaul, would have treated 
 such a claim with contempt, and with a resistance which would 
 at once have forced him to withdraw it. Nevertheless Leo 
 undoubtedly had formed the idea of converting his position 
 as Pope of the western patriarchate into a dominance of some 
 kind altogether opposed to the exprcvss ruling of the Second 
 General Council when it created this office of Pope. His 
 conduct towards Hilary, Metropolitan of Arles,^ was a glar- 
 ing example of his efforts in this direction. Moreover, adopt- 
 ing a favourite Italian device, he would in letters and docu- 
 ments speak as though such a position of supremacy was his, 
 and was accorded to him by others, even though it was not 
 accorded at aU, but would do so in such a way as made it 
 difficult for an objector to lay hold of anjrthing sufficiently 
 definite to which to raise objection ; while subsequent ages 
 reading his assumptions would take them as being generally 
 acknowledged. 
 
 It seems possible that these methods on Leo's part may 
 have had much to do with his having been treated with such 
 marked coldness by the empress Galla Placidia ; especially 
 as the Metropolitan see of Ravenna looked with extreme 
 suspicion upon anything indicating a tendency on the part 
 of the see of Rome to exalt itseM over that of Ravenna, the 
 capital. As noted, we hear nothing at all about him in con- 
 nection with her, though at the time of her death he had been 
 Bishop of Rome and head (at all events nominally) of the 
 
 I 
 
 * See p. 110. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 110 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 western patriarchate of the Church ^ for ten years. And 
 this is rendered all the more remarkable because Galla Pla- 
 cidia was at that period almost entirely occupied in matters 
 concerning the Church, was oft^n in Rome at this time, and 
 was so particulariy strong in her religious opinions, and strenu- 
 ously engaged at this very time in promulgating enactments 
 to suppress heresy and to reform abuses among the clergy.* 
 It would certainly appear that Leo kept himself and his 
 pretensions on behalf of his see very much in the back- 
 ground until the empress Galla Placidia was dead, knowing 
 that he would find in her too formidable an opponent to 
 such pretensions. 
 Haary of Auothcr man at this period very notable was the 
 Aries. saintly Hilary, Metropolitan Bishop of Aries.* 
 He and Leo were recognized as the two greatest men in the 
 western portion of the Church at this time. But they were 
 very opposite characters ; for Hilary was beloved, whereas 
 Leo was only admired. Hilary, who was about six years 
 younger than Leo, had in every way an attractive character ; 
 he was a powerful preacher, a beautiful writer, a man of very 
 simple life, and one who was beloved for his nobility of dis- 
 position, his hatred of oppression, and his fearlessness in 
 rebuking it. He belonged to a noble family, and had been 
 Bishop of Aries for eleven years when Leo became Bishop of 
 Rome. In 444 Leo, in his desire to aggrandise his see, treated 
 Hilary disgracefully. He intervened on behalf of a priest 
 who had been deposed by a local Council presided over 
 by Hilary, and, quite unlawfully, sent an order that he was 
 to be reinstated. Hilary, anxious to avoid a controversy, 
 thereupon travelled personally to Rome, and in very tem- 
 perate terms pointed out to Leo that he was exceeding his 
 jurisdiction, referring him to the canons of the Second General 
 Council which had carefully laid down that the Metropolitan 
 who held the office of Pope was expressly prohibited from 
 interfering in the affairs of the provinces of other Metro- 
 
 * Shrunken though that patriarchate had become through the con- 
 quests of the barbarian races, all either Arians or Pagans. 
 
 « Chap. XVIII, pp. 9 'r 95. 
 
 * St. Hilary of Aries was on account of his character elected to that 
 importcmt see when he was only twenty-nine years old. 
 
 Xix] 
 
 ATTILA IN ITALY 
 
 111 
 
 politans.i But Leo would not listen to him, and when Hilary, 
 after protesting before a local Council at Rome against this 
 uncanonical procedure, left Rome (eluding the guards whom 
 Leo had most unrighteously placed over him), Leo issued 
 an order depriving him of his Metropolitan jurisdiction over 
 the see of Vienne, one of the sees of Hilary's province of Aries. 
 Hilary returned to Aries, and Leo's order being manifestly 
 ultra vires became a dead letter, Hilary's manful assertion 
 of the independence of Metropolitans being thus vindicated. 
 And when some years later Hilary died, Leo himself spoke 
 of him as ** a man of holy memory." 
 Invasion of ^^ *^® Spring of 452 Attila, breathing vengeance, 
 Italy by the aud bcut upou wipiug out his defeat at the Mauriac 
 ^*' Plain, started from Pannonia, where he had spent 
 the winter, intent this time upon invading Italy and teach- 
 ing these haughty and luxurious Romans a lesson ; the Huns 
 (clothed in dirty rags and living always in the open) by level- 
 ling every city with the ground should teach the luxurious 
 populations of Europe to live as the Huns did. Crossing 
 the Pear Tree pass the human torrent poured down the valley 
 of the Frigidus, and surrounding Aquileia proceeded to be- 
 siege the Metz of Italy. Aquileia (the city of the North 
 Wind) stood at the head of the Adriatic, being distant four 
 miles from the sea, with which it was joined by the navigable 
 river Aquilo. On account of both its strategic and commer- 
 cial importance it was the rival of Milan and Ravenna, while 
 in ecclesiastical affairs its Metropolitan held sway over the 
 whole of Venetia and the greater part of Illyricum. In the 
 whole 600 years of its history, though often attacked, it had 
 never been taken by assault, and successive emperors had 
 continually increased the fortifications of this " Virgin for- 
 tress of Italy." 
 
 Aetius had placed all the troops at his disposal to defend 
 this great frontier city, and the rest of Italy was necessarily 
 left to defend itself as best it might. A long siege followed, 
 Aquileia making a stubborn defence ; but Attila was deter- 
 mined to take it, and also to terrorize all Italy by the fate 
 he would inflict upon it. When at last all hope was gone 
 those women who were wise, after first killing their children* 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 537. 
 
C5HAP. 
 
 112 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 committed suicide, like the noble lady Digna.^ At length 
 the city fell, and the fate of its inhabitants, given up to all 
 the passions of a horde of half -demon Tartars, struck terror 
 into mankind. Not a building or a living thing was left; 
 and so complete was the destruction that Jordanes, writing 
 a century later, states that in his time scarcely a vestige of 
 this great city remained. 
 ^ , ,, , This done, the Huns poured over Venetia and Lom- 
 
 Destruction o^ , , , 
 
 the cities of bardy, blotting out city after city in like manner, the 
 
 northern Italy, t »a' t j.-l. 'a* /i« a At t -i 
 
 fugitives from these cities flying to the lagoons and 
 islands where 120 years later Venice was to be bom.^ The 
 flourishing city of Concordia, built by Augustus, thirty-one 
 miles from Aquileia, suffered a like fate ; so did Altinum ; 
 so did Patavium (in after ages to rise from its ashes as Padua) ; 
 the Huns, knowing no other art, were masters in the art of 
 destruction, and the thoroughness with which they carried 
 out the extinction of Aquileia, Concordia, Altinum, and Pata- 
 vium is remarkably evidenced by the almost entire absence 
 of any Roman remains of these cities. Vicenza, Verona, 
 Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, and Milan, though their buildings 
 were not destroyed, each suffered aU the horrors of a sack. 
 The writer Suidas relates that in the principal hall of the 
 imperial palace at Milan, the palace where Constantine the 
 Great had signed hb edict for the establishment of Chris- 
 tianity, and where Theodosius the Great had died, Attila saw 
 a large picture covering part of the wall of the hall, entitled 
 ** The Triumph of Rome over the Barbarians," representing 
 the two emperors of East and West, seated on their gold 
 thrones while vanquished Scythians crouched in submission 
 before them ; and that, in grim humour, he thereupon ordered 
 
 ^ Digna, a lady of high birth noted for her beauty and virtue, had 
 a house situated upon the walls of the city, with near it a high tower 
 which overlooked the waters of the Natiso. When she saw that the 
 city wfiks about to be captured by these " filthiest of foes '* (sordidis- 
 simis hostibus), she ascended her tower, and covering her head in the 
 old Roman fashion, plunged into the stre£bm below {Hiatoria MisceUa, 
 Bk. XIV). 
 
 ■ Tradition has always asserted that it was the fugitives from this 
 invasion by Attila who formed the first settlements in the islands of 
 the lagunes which were the origin of Venice, although that origin can- 
 not be traced back further than the Lombaird invasion in 668 (Chap^ 
 XXII), 
 
 XIX] 
 
 TERROR IN ROME 
 
 113 
 
 a rival picture to be painted on the opposite wall, entitled 
 "The Triumph of Attila over the Romans," representing 
 himself sitting upon a throne while the emperors Theodosius 
 II and Valentinian III, carrying sacks filled with gold, bowed 
 low before him and poured out the gold pieces at his feet. 
 Paralysis in Meauwhilc in Rome, where Valentinian III had 
 ^°™^- established himself in preference to Ravenna, 
 paralysis seemed to have supervened. The awful name of 
 Attila struck terror into every heart, and the knowledge that 
 the latter's next move would be upon Rome, to repeat there 
 the story of Aquileia, made all think only of flight. Aetius, 
 now sixty-two years old, having no more troops to put in the 
 field, and paralysed by the news of the destruction wrought 
 upon northern Italy, seems to have lost all courage. He 
 remained in Rome, meditating flight from Italy and urging 
 Valentinian III to accompany him. In this crisis one man 
 alone showed any fortitude. Leo, Bishop of Rome, Metro- 
 politan of the Roman ecclesiastical province, and Pope of 
 the western patriarchate, undeterred by the fate which had 
 befallen the Metropolitan of Aquileia at Attfla's hands, volun- 
 teered to conduct an embassy to the dreaded tyrant to induce 
 him to spare Rome. His offer was readily accepted; and 
 Leo set out upon his journey northwards to face the terri- 
 ble Tartar conqueror at whose name all Italy trembled. Seeing 
 that he was accompanied by men all of whom grew pale at 
 the thought of what lay before them, it was an enterprise 
 which must have required much courage. 
 
 Having carried terror and destruction through northern 
 Italy and finished slaughtering the inhabitants of Milan, Attila 
 quitted that city and started southwards towards Rome, 
 with the avowed intention of treating the imperial city in 
 the ? ame way that he had treated Aquileia. But that same 
 strange awe which the Visigoths had felt at the name of 
 Rome now appeared to seize even upon Attila, and on 
 reaching the Mincio he became for the first time irresolute. 
 Savage and ruthless, he was yet superstitious, and he remem- 
 bered Alaric's death so soon after taking Rome. And while 
 he thus hesitated there appeared before him, at the crossing 
 of the Mincio, near Govemolo, an opponent unlike any 
 whom he had met with in any of his campaigns. 
 
 E.W.— II. J 
 
, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 114 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 Strange indeed is the contrast between the two 
 5 TtTii men who thus met by the banks of the Mineio. 
 and Leo. j^^^^q^^ Mdeous in appearance, without educa- 
 tion, uncouth, blood-stained and terrible, abjectly feared 
 even by his followers, a barbarian of barbarians ; and Leo, 
 noble in appearance, highly cultured, full of intellectual power, 
 calm, dignified, and resolute, a Roman of the Romans. Two 
 personalities more opposed there could not be ; they had but one 
 quality in common — courage. Raphael, in a great picture 
 on the walls of the Vatican, has depicted for us his conception 
 of this meeting between these two antagonists so signally 
 different ; and his view of it is not likely to be improved 
 upon. What took place at the interview, or what arguments 
 Leo used, we do not know. But the result we know. To 
 the amazement of his followers, Attila, the fierce and indomit- 
 able, yielded, and instead of advancing upon Rome, promised 
 to quit ItsCly and return to Pannonia. The contemporary 
 writer Prosper Tiro says that Attila " insisted still on this 
 point above all, that Honoria, the sister of the emperor, and 
 daughter of the Augusta Placidia, should be sent to him with 
 the portion of the royal wealth which was her due ; and he 
 threatened that unless this was done he would lay upon Italy 
 a far heavier punishment than any which it had yet borne." 
 Possibly this was mere braggadocio on Attila's part, but in 
 any case Attila died in the following year without Honoria 
 having been delivered up to him.^ 
 
 Prosper Tiro * (who was living in Rome at the time) says 
 quite simply and naturally that this repulse of Attila was 
 due to the influence of Leo's powerful personality. But the 
 ecclesiastical writers of a later age improved upon this by 
 adding the legend of an apparition of St. Peter and St. Paul 
 in the sky threatening Attila not to dare to advance upon 
 Rome, with other similar matter intended to enhance the 
 glory of the Church ; and this legend is incorporated in Raphael's 
 picture. On the other hand modem historians, revolting 
 from the legendary halo which has been hung round this 
 
 * This is the last that we hear of Honoria. Of her ultimate fate 
 nothing is known, except that she died at Ravenna and is buried there 
 in the mausoleum of her mother Galla Placidia. 
 
 « See Note G, p. 139. 
 
 XIX] 
 
 A POWERFUL PERSONALITY 
 
 116 
 
 episode and the general character which has been given to 
 it in Church literature, have sought to deny that Attila's 
 turning back had any connection with Leo ; they have said 
 that the heathen Attila is not likely " to have been impressed 
 by the thunders of the Church," and have suggested that 
 Attila probably retreated owing to sickness among the Hims, 
 or to failure of supplies, or through fear that the eastern em- 
 peror Marcian might send troops to assist Italy. ^ 
 
 But there is not the slightest reason to adopt so untenable 
 a position. Attila, who had so recently swept all before him 
 from Moesia to Thermopylae without finding any army which 
 dared to oppose him, would have laughed at the idea that he 
 need fear any troops likely to be sent against him from Con- 
 stantinople ; and still less have we any authority to attribute 
 his retirement to sickness, or to famine. Nor is there any 
 need in a revolt from the subsequent accretions to the history 
 to reject the history itself. Leo the Great was too sensible, 
 and too much a man of the world, to have ever thought of 
 making an impression upon Attila by employing *' the thunders 
 of the Church"; Attila, the profound heathen, would not 
 even have understood to what he was alluding. Leo conquered 
 Attila through the power which a strongTpersonality is able 
 to exert. He no doubt detected at once that Attila, notwith- 
 standing all his fierce terrorism and brutality, had a nature 
 intensely subject to superstition, and worked upon this. 
 The superstitious awe which would be called forth in such a 
 nature when Leo in impressive tones, and with all the dignity 
 which he was able to assume, bade him " Remember Alaric " 
 and how the result of the latter's attacking Rome had been 
 that he died within three months, was quite sufficient to pro- 
 duce the result that Attila inwardly quailed, and though 
 blustering outwardly gave up the project of advancing upon 
 Rome and ordered his host to turn again northwards. And 
 there is in fact no need even for the testimony of Prosper Tiro 
 to prove that the view hitherto held is the correct one. The 
 circumstances of the case, and the entire absence of any other 
 cause sufficient to account for Attila's action, amply prove 
 that Attila's retreat was due to one sole cause, viz. the 
 powerful influence of Leo's force of character. 
 
 1 The Cambridge Medieval History, I, 417. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 116 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 11 
 
 ill 
 
 I 
 
 Death of The two Strangely matched antagonists parted, 
 '^"'^^* and Attila led back his invading host, through the 
 desolated Venetia, over the Pear Tree pass, and back to his 
 temporary home in Pannonia. And there in the following 
 year (453) Attila, the scourge of Europe, died. Having taken 
 a beautiful girl, Ildico, to add to his many wives, he drank 
 deep at the wedding feast, and in the morning was found 
 dead on his nuptial couch (placed high at one end of his ban- 
 queting hall), with blood flowing from his mouth, and by 
 his side Ildico, frightened, and silently weeping under her 
 veil. Jordanes says there was no foul play, and that Attila 
 died a drunkard's death. The Huns erected a lofty tent in 
 the midst of the Hungarian plain, and laid his body in it, and 
 round it a chosen band of horsemen circled and manoeuvred 
 for hours chanting a wild dirge. There followed the funeral 
 feast (Strava), and the burial. Attila's body was enclosed in 
 three coffins; the first of gold, the second of silver, and the 
 third of iron, and was buried in a grave dug by captives, the 
 place of burial being unknown to this day, being kept secret 
 by the slaughter of all those who had dug the grave. His 
 vast empire thereupon broke up, his numerous sons fighting 
 together over it ; and in these contests, happily for Europe, 
 the Huns exterminated themselves. The few survivors drifted 
 back into Scythia, the Ostrogoths, long held subject by the 
 Huns, remaining in Pannonia. 
 Impression Thc cxploits of Attila 1 havc made an indelible 
 produced impression upon three great races of mankind ; 
 
 by exploits jt ^ o 
 
 of Attila. which also helps to show that the menace of the 
 Huns to Europe was plainly no mere passing phase. To 
 the Latin race Attila the Hun became in the Middle Ages the 
 source of innumerable legends, which represented him as the 
 great scourge of the 5th century, the terror of the world, and 
 even traced his descent from Nimrod. To the Scandinavian 
 race Attila became the principal hero of their favourite 
 sagas, being reproduced in Atli, who plots and slays to obtain 
 the buried treasure of Sigurd (typifying that dowry of Honoria's 
 
 ^ Attila's great name was gained by his personal magnetism, cruelty, 
 and power of inspiring terror, not by any special military ability. 
 He was defeated on the only occasion when he met with anjrthing 
 like eq\ial numbers. 
 
 Xix] 
 
 THE NIBELUNGEN LIED 
 
 117 
 
 which Attila struggled so hard to gain), and who finally dis- 
 cusses with the wife who has murdered him (Ildico) the reason 
 of her crime. But above all to the Teutonic race Attila has 
 furnished a mine of inspiration in the Nibelungen Lied ; though 
 after six centuries the real Attila had become metamorphosed 
 into a genial and hospitable reveller. Ildico (a diminutive 
 of the name Hilde) lives again in Kriemhilde, the young widow 
 of Siegfried, the Burgundian princess at whose request Attila 
 invites her kindred, the Nibelungs, to Hunland. In his hall 
 the Hims fight the Nibelungs until the floor is deep in the 
 blood of slaughtered heroes, while Kriemhilde " reaps the 
 reward of hoarded vengeance " for the murder of her girl- 
 hood's love, Siegfried. 1 Nor has the impression made by 
 Attila been confined to those Latin, Scandinavian, and Teutonic 
 races who during his lifetime lived in awe of his name. The 
 Magyars, when in the 9th century they established themselves 
 in Dacia and gave that country its modern name of Hungary, 
 fashioned for themselves a pedigree by which they traced 
 their descent from Attila, the scourge of Europe, not at that 
 time foreseeing that their own noble deeds would thereafter 
 make such a pedigree quite unnecessary. 
 
 Death of ^^ *^® s^^® y®3,r (453) that the death of Attila oc- 
 'puiZS^ curred the empress Pulcheria died at Constantinople 
 at the age of fifty-five, having been the leading 
 spii'it in the eastern portion of the empire for forty years. 
 She left all her property to the poor, a bequest which was 
 faithfully carried out by her husband Marcian. After her 
 death Marcian continued to reign in his own right for four 
 years until his death, adhering to the methods of government 
 which had been so ably inaugurated by her ,2 and had been 
 carried on by them both conjointly. 
 
 The theory that the contemporary authorities of the 6th 
 century were imbued with a so-called " feminism," and have 
 
 1 In Wagner's Nibelungen Ring Siegfried appears, but not Kriem- 
 hilde, as Wagner in the Nibelungen Ring wove together the Nibelungen- 
 lied and the still more original northern saga the Edda^ taking from 
 the Nibelungenlied the saga of the Nibelungenring (the Tre€ksure in the 
 Rhine), and from the Edda the prophetic mention of the Gotterdamme- 
 rung (the Twilight of the Gods). « Chap. XVIII, p. 93. 
 
 t 
 
 II 
 
i 
 
 
 n 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 118 VALENTINIAN III AND PULCHERIA 
 
 unduly magnified the part in public affairs taken by women 
 in that century ,i is one which would appear singularly diffi- 
 cult to maintain in the case of Pulcheria. For in opposition 
 to that theory in her case there are the imdoubted facts, 
 (i) that in 414 she, a girl of sixteen, was deliberately created 
 Augusta and invested with the rule of the eastern portion 
 of the empire on behalf of a brother who was only three 
 years younger than herself, (ii) that she thereupon carried out 
 a remarkable reform in the court, no minister's name being 
 mentioned as urging this step upon her, (iii) that during the 
 years 414 to 422, at a time when her brother was between 
 the ages of thirteen and twenty-one, large reforms in the ad- 
 ministration were carried out of which her brother was quite 
 incapable of being the author, while no one else but Pulcheria 
 has ever been named as the author of those reforms, (iv) that 
 during the years 422 to 434 while she was at her brother's 
 right hand ' the administration was maintained at a high 
 level, (v) that during the next fifteen years (435-450) while 
 she remained out of power the condition of the empire and its 
 administration sank to the lowest depth of national humilia- 
 tion and misrule, and (vi) that upon her becoming empress 
 in her own right in 450 a second and wholly satisfactory reform 
 took place, raising the empire from the condition to which it 
 had sunk, and restoring the administration Jo complete effi- 
 ciency. These facts thoroughly support the assertions of the 
 6th century writers which depict Pulcheria as during twenty 
 years the de facto ruler of the empire, and contradict the theory 
 in question as far as she is concerned. 
 
 The empress Pulcheria, whether owing to prejudice against 
 her on accoimt of her strict religious views, or from whatever 
 cause, has received little or no honour from historians. Yet 
 her record is a remarkable one. Invested as an orphan at 
 the age of sixteen with the rule of an empire without any 
 
 » Chap. XVIII, p. 69 (footnote). 
 
 * There is no record apparently of Theodosius II upon attaining 
 the age of twenty or twenty-one taking over the nominal rule of the 
 eastern portion of the empire from his sister, as there is in the corre- 
 sponding case in the West of Valentinian III and his mother. Whether 
 this indicates that Pulcheria was so thoroughly recognized as the de 
 jacto ruler that this was not thought necess£ury it is impossible to say, 
 but it would appear that this was the case. 
 
 Xix] 
 
 PULCHERIA'S RECORD 
 
 119 
 
 relations to guide her, and at once carrying out a complete 
 reform in the social atmosphere of the court ; for the next 
 twenty years by her own personal ability controlling all affairs 
 BO satisfactorily that the administration under her guidance 
 presented a marked contrast to its effete and corrupt condition 
 in the reign of her father Arcadius ; during that time inaugur- 
 ating the Theodosian Code and assembling the Third General 
 Council ; then for fifteen years forced to remain without 
 control over the government, while in other hands misrule 
 brought the empire to the most deplorable condition ; and 
 then returning to power as empress in her own right, assembling 
 the Fourth General CouncU, and again raising the adminis- 
 tration to such a state of efficiency that it was recalled 
 forty years afterwards on account of its satisfactory character,^ 
 Pulcheria demonstrated powers which few women have sur- 
 passed. Moreover her private character corresponded with 
 her ability. She was not only notable as a strong adherent 
 of the Catholic cause, and as the only one of all the rulers of 
 the Roman Empire who ever had the distinction of assembling 
 more than one General Council of the Church, but she was 
 also no less notable in presenting the rare spectacle in that 
 age of a woman in her position who sincerely acted up to the 
 religion she professed. Though she lived in a scandal-loving 
 age, and surrounded by political intrigues, she yet occupied 
 an exalted position for forty years without any scandal, crime, 
 or oppression being ever attributed to her. These consider- 
 ations show how much Pulcheria accomplished between the 
 age of sixteen when she was invested with the rule of the empire 
 and that of fifty-five when she died universally honoured as 
 its deliverer from a state of intolerable oppression and mis- 
 government. In view therefore of what she achieved in 
 public affairs, and of her own private character, Pulcheria 
 certainly deserves a high place among the rulers of the Roman 
 Empire. 
 
 Death of -^^ September 454 the worthless Valentinian III, 
 
 Agtius and of who had taken no part in the defence of his throne 
 
 either during the struggle in Gaul or that in Italy, 
 
 being suddenly enraged by the domineering spirit of Aetius 
 
 1 See Chap. XX, p. 153. 
 
 vll 
 
CHAP. 
 
 120 
 
 MAXIMUS 
 
 while they were seated together in the palace at Rome, drew 
 his sword and killed him. Six months later, in March 455, 
 the death of Aetius was avenged, Valentinian being himself 
 murdered by two of the followers of Aetius in the Campus 
 Martins at Rome as he stood watching the games. He died 
 at the age of thirty-six, leaving two daughters, but no son, 
 and with him the line of Theodosius the Great ended. 
 
 The dying western half of the empire was now in its last 
 throes. The sixty years covered by the reigns of Honorius 
 and Valentinian HI had seen it reduced from an empire cover- 
 ing nearly all Europe and North Africa to little more than 
 Italy alone, and its final end was now very near.^ 
 ^ , , Upon the death of Valentinian III, Maximus, a 
 
 Capture of ^^ ' ' 
 
 Rome by the scnator of sixty who had held various offices, was 
 chosen emperor by the Senate. His character being 
 a compoimd of feebleness and harshness, he in a short reign 
 of two months effectually disgusted the citizens of Rome. 
 The widowed empress Eudoxia, now thirty-four, the daughter 
 of Theodosius II and Eudocia, had sincerely loved Valentinian, 
 but regardless of her grief at his death, Maximus forced her 
 to marry him within a week or two of Valentinian's death, 
 at the same time compelling the elder of her two daughters 
 to marry his son. Eudoxia, horrified and enraged at this 
 treatment, and knowing that no help could be expected from 
 Constantinople now that her aunt Pulcheria was dead, ap- 
 pealed to Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, imploring him to 
 come from Africa and take Rome, and Gaiseric, eager for the 
 plunder of Rome, and glad to have such a pretext, at once 
 promised his aid.* Fitting out a fleet he landed at Ostia at 
 the end of May. As soon as it was heard in Rome that the 
 Vandals had entered the Tiber the troops and people together 
 burst into the imperial Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine 
 hiU, where Maximus sat trembling with fear, meditating 
 
 » Page 127. 
 
 » Those writers of the present day who maintain the theory of 
 " feminism " reject the idea that Eudoxia sent this invitation to 
 Gaiseric. But the fact is asserted by all the contemporary writers, 
 not only Roman but Byzantine, and we have no right to throw over 
 their testimony on such a point in order to establish a modern theory 
 which has no historical basis. 
 
 xrx] 
 
 THE VANDALS TAKE ROME 
 
 121 
 
 flight, and tore him to pieces, after an ignominious reign 
 of seventy days (31st May 455). 
 
 As the Vandals approached the city Leo the Great went 
 out to intercede with Gaiseric, as he had with Attila ; but 
 he only gained a promise that there should be no slaughter 
 of the people and no destruction of the buildings. The Vandals 
 entered Rome on the 2nd June, and for fomi)een days carried 
 out a ruthless plunder of everything valuable, loading aU at 
 their leisure in their galleys, which they brought up the Tiber 
 for this purpose. They carried off all the gold and silver 
 from the imperial palace, the ornaments and plate from the 
 churches, the gilded bronze plates from the roof of the Temple 
 of Jupiter (gilded by the emperor Domitian at a cost stated 
 at £2,400,000), all the statues they could find, the gold 
 vessels taken by Titus from the Temple at Jerusalem, and 
 "coimtless other treasures, including golden saddles, golden 
 carriages for the ladies of the court, hundreds of thousands 
 of talents of sflver, and all kinds of ornaments inlaid with 
 precious stones," aU of which were foimd by the general Beli- 
 sarius at his capture of Carthage, the Vandal capital, eighty 
 years later. And with this booty the Vandals also carried 
 off as captives to Carthage all the nobles and wealthiest 
 Romans, numbering many thousands, together with the 
 sorrowful empress Eudoxia and her two daughters. 
 
 The sufferings of this mass of captives were very great ; 
 many of them, accustomed to the luxiu:ies of a Roman palace, 
 and transferred from thence to the miseries, first of a Vandal 
 slave-ship and then of a Vandal prison, died in consequence 
 of the treatment they received. The Bishop of Carthage, 
 Deogratias, himself an object of persecution from the Arian 
 Vandals, did his utmost to alleviate these sufferings, turning 
 churches into hospitals, and selling the vessels of the churches 
 to provide money wherewith to protect families from being 
 broken up in the sale of these captives as slaves. But the 
 number that he could thus protect was very small, while he 
 himself soon afterwards died. These Romans of the noblest 
 families were sold in thousands, wives being torn from hus- 
 bands, and children from parents, and distributed throughout 
 North Africa as slaves either to Vandals or to rich Moors; 
 
 1 Chap. XXI, p. 208. 
 
 « 
 
 ti 
 
I 
 
 
 122 
 
 MARCIAN 
 
 
 and many a Kabyle robber of the Atlas mountains at the 
 present day may have in his veins the blood of the Fabii, 
 the Anicii, the Camilli, or others of the noblest Roman families. 
 Gaiseric forced the empress Eudoxia to give her elder daughter, 
 Eudoxia, to his son Huneric in marriage, but kept the empress 
 and her younger daughter, Placidia, as prisoners. 
 
 It is often considered imjust that the name of Vandal, rather 
 than that of any other of the barbarian races, should have 
 become used as typical of ruthless destruction, especially in 
 view of the fact that the Vandals spared the buildings of 
 Rome. But those who first singled out the name of this race 
 in particular and applied it in this way do not appear to 
 have done so incorrectly. For the Vandals led the van in 
 the destruction of Europe, being the first ravagers in Gaul, 
 the first in Spain, the first in North Africa, and the first to really 
 pillage Rome.i And seeing that this race was thus the first 
 to lay a destroying hand upon three such flourishing countries 
 in succession, it is evident that they must have gained the 
 giant's share of the spoil from the Rhine to Carthage. The 
 amount of plimder which the Vandals captured between their 
 first entry into Gaul at the end of 406 and their pillage of 
 Rome in 455 must have far exceeded the booty ever seized 
 by any other race of conquerors. 
 
 Death of Meanwhile in the eastern portion of the empire 
 the emperor Marcian had abstained from rendering 
 any assistance to the western portion against the Vandals in 
 consequence it is said of a promise made to the latter by him 
 some twenty-four years before as a private soldier when 
 taken prisoner by them in North Africa. ^ He contented him- 
 self with asking Gaiseric to refrain from war against Italy 
 and to release the empress Eudoxia, to which request 
 Gaiseric paid no attention. Marcian died in 457, at the 
 age of sixty-five; whereupon Leo, an able officer of the 
 army,* was chosen emperor by the Senate, chiefly through 
 
 * The Vandals having their ships were able to plunder Rome on a 
 scale far in excess of anything that was possible to the Visigoths under 
 Alaric in 410 ; and Rome never recovered from this pillage. 
 
 * Chap. XVIII, p. 79. 
 
 3 His family came originally from Dacia, and were settled in Thrace. 
 
 
 TEUTONS EJECTED FROM ARMY 
 
 123 
 
 the influence of the general Aspar, who as a barbarian and 
 an Arian was himself ineligible. And since no member of 
 the imperial family remained to perform the ceremony, Leo 
 was crowned by the Pope of Constantinople, Anatolius. This 
 was the first occasion on which an emperor was crowned 
 by an ecclesiastical authority, instead of by a preceding em- 
 peror or some member of the imperial family, and the practice 
 thus instituted became a precedent henceforth followed when- 
 ever an emperor had not been raised to that rank by a pre- 
 decessor before his death, and when no member of the imperial 
 family (male or female) existed to perform the ceremony. 
 The emperor L^o I, who rcigucd for Seventeen years, proved an 
 ^^ ^' able and energetic emperor, but he was for a long 
 time prevented from opposing the increasing power of the 
 Vandals by the influence of Aspar (then about seventy years 
 old), to whom he owed his throne, and who steadily withstood 
 any hostile measures being taken against them. However, 
 in 461 Leo I obtained the release of the empress Eudoxia 
 and her younger daughter by payment of a large ransom to 
 Gaiseric, and upon being liberated they took refuge in Con- 
 stantinople. Leo I's chief work was the change which he 
 inaugurated in the constitution of the army, a change which, 
 begun by him and carried on by his successors, gradually 
 abolished a serious danger which threatened the State through- 
 out the 5th century. This was owing to the fact that the 
 bulk and flower of the army had come to consist almost entirely 
 of Teutons, a condition of things which besides being a per- 
 manent menace to the throne, enhanced greatly the imdue 
 influence which at this time had been gained by the Alan 
 general, Aspar. Leo I determined to change this by recruiting 
 a large portion of the troops from the subjects of the empire, 
 and for this piupose chose the hardy race of Isaurian moun- 
 taineers, who occupied the wild regions of Mount Taurus, 
 and lived almost like an independent people. Leo steadily 
 pursued this course, displaying the utmost firmness and coiurage 
 in carrying it out, notwithstanding that it involved him in a 
 perpetual contest with the " Kingmaker " Aspar who had 
 placed him upon the throne.^ 
 
 ^ Professor Bury considers that Leo I merits the title " Great " for 
 this work, performed in the face of such difficulty. 
 
 1 
 
124 
 
 THE EMPEROR LEO I 
 
 OHAF. 
 
 
 
 Great Armada ^* length in 468 Leo I felt himself strong enough 
 sent against to cope with the Vandals, who devastated all the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean. He assembled a 
 huge Armada, consisting of 100,000 men and a fleet of 1100 
 vessels, and placed it under command of Basiliscus, the brother 
 of his wife Verina. The plan formed was to attack the Vandals 
 from three directions, the main body being directed upon 
 Carthage, another portion, consisting of the whole of the 
 cavalry and forming nearly half the army, advancing over- 
 land through Palestine and Egypt, and the fleet attacking 
 the Vandal fleet in the Mediterranean. This Armada was 
 equipped on a grand scale, and high hopes were entertained 
 of its success. But the portion of the army sent by land to 
 reach North Africa through Palestine and Egypt failed to 
 effect a junction with the rest. This (though ascribed to 
 treachery on the part of Basiliscus) was not surprising in the 
 case of an operation so exceptionally difficult, and in days 
 when no means of commimication between widely separated 
 portions of an army existed. And owing to this and other 
 misfortunes, and especially to one half of the fleet being sur- 
 prised by night at Cape Bon and destroyed by fire, the ex- 
 pedition ended in failure, and Leo I was compelled to make 
 peace once more with Gaiseric. An immense amount of money 
 had been spent upon this expedition, and its failure produced 
 a state of bankruptcy in the imperial treasury which lasted 
 for the next ten years. 
 
 Murder of ^^ ^ ^^^ experiencing at this time much trouble 
 Aiparandhis in Carrying out his endeavour to reduce the Teu- 
 ^' tonic influence at the capital, headed by Aspar. 
 Having no son, but only two daughters, Ariadne and Leontia, 
 in order to counteract the dominating Teuton influence Leo 
 in 468 married his daughter Ariadne to the Isaurian chief 
 Tarasicodissa, who took the name of Zeno. Rightly or wrongly 
 the failure of the expedition against the Vandals was attri- 
 buted to Aspar, the Vandals' friend, it being declared that 
 he had induced Basiliscus, the commander of the expedition, 
 to betray his country. There followed a three years' struggle 
 between Aspar and Zeno for the supreme power, during which 
 Aspar made an attempt, which very nearly succeeded, to 
 have Zeno assassinated. At length in 471 matters came to 
 
 xix] 
 
 COUNT RICIMER 
 
 125 
 
 a climax by Aspar attempting to remove from the emperor 
 the support of the Isaurians by tampering with the Isaurian 
 troops in Constantinople. The plot was revealed to Zeno, 
 and by him to the emperor, who resolved once for all to end 
 the Teuton supremacy, and accordingly Aspar (then about 
 eighty-five years old) and his two elder sons were treacher- 
 ously murdered in the imperial palace.^ It was a crime of 
 great ingratitude on the part of Leo I, but Aspar brought 
 it upon himself by making Leo's position impossible, and 
 Aspar' s death a necessity if an end was to be put to what 
 was practically a state of civil war. 
 
 ^ ^ , Leo I reiterated more stronsly the law which 
 
 Death of i i ^-^ • i 
 
 Leo I. had previously been passed by Constantme, by 
 Theodosius, and by Arcadius prohibiting aU spectacles in the 
 theatre, amphitheatre, or circus on Sundays. One of his last 
 acts was to surrender amicably to the Arab chief Amru the 
 island of Jotaba at the northern end of the Red Sea. Leo I 
 died on the 3rd February, 474, at the age of sixty-three, 
 and was succeeded by his son-in-law Zeno, nominally on 
 behalf of his and Ariadne's son Leo II, a child of five, who 
 however died soon afterwards. 
 
 The western portion of the empire received its 
 
 Eight puppet ^ t -n • J 1- 
 
 emperors in dcath-blow by the capturc of Rome m 455 and the 
 ^ ' carrying off by the Vandals of the whole of the 
 Roman nobility to North Africa. There followed twenty 
 years of a dying agony, during most of which time the real 
 authority was wielded by Count Ricimer, a Sueve,^ who 
 put up and pulled down one puppet emperor after another 
 until his own death in 472. Eight puppet emperors in suc- 
 cession occupied the throne, of whom it will suffice to mention 
 their names, viz. Avitus (455) ; Marjorian (457) ; Severus (461) ; 
 Anthemius (467) ; Olybrius (472) ; Glycerins (472) ; Nepos (472) ; 
 and Romulus Augustulus (475). During this period of the 
 last years of the western half of the empire Leo the Great, 
 after being for twenty-one years Bishop of Rome and Pope 
 
 * The life of the youngest son, Hermanric, was saved by Zeno, who 
 warned him not to be present. 
 
 2 See Chap. XX, p. 148 (footnote). 
 
 I 
 
m 
 
 CHAP 
 
 126 THE EMPIRE'S LAST YEARS IN THE WEST 
 
 of a patriarchate which was rapidly dwindling to scarcely 
 more than the city of Rome, one portion of his patriarchate 
 after another being taken by the Arian barbarians, died 
 at Rome in 461. He had been the only man of firstrate 
 ability and intellect in an age when, except for himself, all 
 greatness had vanished, and this natm-ally much enhanced 
 his reputation. Besides the prominent part which he took 
 in connection with the Fourth General Council,^ one special 
 memorial of the practical character of his theology remains 
 in the Prayer-book of the Church of England. For the large 
 majority of the Collects in that Prayer-book were written by 
 him. This is the more interesting because the Collect is a 
 purely Western feature; the concise language which puts 
 so much into so few words, the seeking always to make the 
 belief held produce a practical outcome in the life, and the 
 absence of all ornate phrases, being all in strong contrast to 
 the Eastern style of prayers. And the Church of England 
 owes a debt of gratitude to Leo the Great for these models 
 of short prayers, full of deepest meaning, yet such as can be 
 understood by every child. 
 
 ^^ While the remnant of the western half of Rome's 
 Visigoths, empire was thus dying away the Visigoths had 
 strengthened themselves greatly in southern Gaul and Spain. 
 After the death of their king Theodoric at the battle of the 
 Mauriac Plain in 461, his three sons fought together. In 453 
 his eldest son Thorismund, who succeeded him, was slain 
 by his brother Theodoric II. He in 456 took nearly all the 
 rest of Spain from the Suevi, driving them into Portugal, but 
 in 466 was in his turn slain by his brother Euric. The latter 
 reigned over the Visigoths for eighteen years with vigour 
 and wisdom, publishing a regular code of laws for his domin- 
 ions, and making himself the most powerful sovereign west 
 of the Alps. In 476, upon the western portion of the Roman 
 Empire coming to an end, he seized Aries and the rest of the 
 Roman possessions in the south-eastern comer of Gaul, and 
 died at Aries in 484. 
 
 The The capture of Rome in 465, with so much valu- 
 
 vandais. able plimdcr and so many important prisoners, 
 
 added to the Vandals' previous conquests, made them the 
 
 ^ Page 106. 
 
 XIX] 
 
 RAVENNA TAKEN 
 
 127 
 
 leading power in the Mediterranean. The Vandal fleet ruled 
 all the coasts of that sea, captured Sicily from the feeble occu- 
 pant of the throne of Ravenna, and cutting off all supplies 
 from Italy speedily created a famine in that country. The 
 Vandals were the first of the northern races to appreciate 
 and develope sea power, and they may justly be recognized 
 as the earliest of all the maritime powers of western Europe. 
 Gaiseric died in 477, leaving the nation that he had so ably 
 led for nearly fifty years the most prosperous and powerful 
 of all the races who had helped to destroy the western half 
 of Rome's empire. 
 
 Romulus The last of the eight puppet emperors, Romulus 
 Augustuius. Augustulus, was a boy of fourteen, placed on the 
 throne in 475. The remarkable coincidence that this last 
 emperor of Rome should have borne the same name as the 
 city's first founder was a pure accident. His name of Romu- 
 lus was given him after that of his mother's father, a count 
 in Noricum ; while his surname of Augustulus was probably 
 a term of endearment given him by the troops. In 476, after 
 Romulus Augustulus had been about nine months on the 
 throne, Odoacer, a barbarian, belonging either to the Gothic 
 tribe of the Rugii, or of the Sciri, was chosen as their king 
 by the portions of those Gothic tribes which had established 
 themselves in northern Italy, and who now demanded to be 
 given one-third of that country, a request which was refused. 
 Odoacer forthwith sacked and burnt Pavia and Piacenza, 
 and then advanced on Ravenna. He took it on the 4th Sept- 
 ember, 476, and in the imperial palace found the handsome 
 purple-clad boy-emperor, who pleaded for the lives of himself 
 and his mother. Odoacer, pitying his youth and attracted 
 by his demeanour, spared his life, and sent him to live on a 
 pension in a villa near Naples. Thereupon the Senate of 
 Rome submitted to Odoacer, signified to the court of Con- 
 stantinople that there was no longer an emperor of the West, 
 and sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople. 
 
 Thus ended the western half of the Roman Empire ; not 
 ending by a great dramatic event such as that which a thou- 
 sand years later brought the eastern half of that empire to 
 its close, but falling like the gentle fluttering to the ground of 
 some last leaf of autumn, as the result of a decay which had 
 
CHAP. 
 
 128 END OF WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 been steadily progressing ever since, eighty years before, the 
 emperor Theodosius the Great had breathed his last. It 
 had been a gradual process, not a single overwhelming con- 
 quest. Gaul had been lost in 407, Spain in 410, Britain about 
 415, Rhsetia and Noricum in 420, North Africa in 432, and 
 finally Italy in 476. 
 
 Nor must the continuity of aU history be forgotten. These 
 invasions were separate, not animated by a united purpose. 
 So that each as it occurred may have seemed to the country 
 concerned not different from others which had taken place 
 in former times, and so perhaps likely to be only temporary. 
 Moreover the world did not in a moment abandon ideas which 
 had been rooted for centuries. The fiction that the empire 
 was indivisible, and therefore that on the final disappearance 
 of an emperor of the West all who ruled in Gaul, Spain, Italy, 
 or Africa did so as lieutenants of the emperor at Constantin- 
 ople, was riot only maintained by the latter, but was also 
 to some extent felt by those rulers themselves. Euric in 
 Spain, Gaiseric in Africa, and Odoacer in Italy could not see 
 into the future and realize the birth of sovereign nations in 
 a new order of things of which they were themselves a part. 
 But nevertheless the truth was expressed by Count Marcellinus ^ 
 in his words : — " The western empire of the Roman race 
 with this Augustulus perished ; henceforth it was held by 
 the kings of the Goths." 
 
 And so the most important half of the great empire created 
 and maintained by Roman ability, courage, and energy during 
 forty generations is no more. And over its whole extent 
 now sweeps that mighty ocean which has submerged it. The 
 Franks take Gaul ; the Saxons, Britain ; the Visigoths, 
 Spain ; the Vandals, North Africa ; the Burgundians, Bur- 
 gundy ; the Allemanni, Rugians, Heruli, and other tribes, 
 Rhaetia and Noricum ; and the Ostrogoths (succeeding Odoa- 
 cer) Italy. And all these countries, which in the reign of 
 Theodosius the Great had been flourishing at the very height 
 of civilization and prosperity, sank into barbarism and degra- 
 dation, though in Italy the process was not finally completed 
 
 » See Note G, p. 139. 
 
 xix] 
 
 ROMAN LIFE GONE FOR EVER 
 
 129 
 
 until that country passed under the sway of the Lombards. 
 And terrible indeed to all these countries was the result. 
 Law and order, learning and literature, palaces and villas, 
 libraries and sculpture-galleries. Baths, theatres, and race- 
 courses, the achievements of architecture and the triumphs 
 of art were blended in one vast destruction. It was not merely 
 that all that tends to the beauty, enjoyment, and refinement 
 of life was destroyed ; it was that all that makes the higher 
 life of man, the life of the intellect, was swept away. The 
 barbarian races despised reading and writing, ^ knew nothing 
 of the uses of law, and cared nothing for the achievements of 
 architecture or art except for the pleasure of destroying them. 
 Henceforth, also, with the universal destruction of the Roman 
 Baths, hitherto a prominent feature of every town,^ all the 
 West became a territory of the great unwashed ; and to the 
 cleanly Romans this failure of their conquerors to make use of 
 the bath added its quota to the indignity of this barbarian con- 
 quest. Over all Europe and North Africa life as the Roman 
 world understood it,— the life of the Forum, the Baths, and 
 the Circus, — was gone for ever. The Roman, if he sm^vived 
 at all, did so henceforth only upon the sufferance of his Teuton 
 master, and his life was a grinding and unintellectual servitude. 
 Had the Atlantic Ocean gradually risen and swept over Europe 
 and North Africa it would not have created a greater des- 
 truction of all to which the Roman world, not in one country, 
 but in every country, had for centuries been accustomed. 
 Some meagre vestiges of it remained for a time in Italy under 
 the rule of the Ostrogoths, but when the latter were succeeded 
 by the Lombards there also the last remnant of Roman life 
 finally passed away. 
 
 While life as the Roman world imderstood it thus became 
 extinct, a certain degree of fusion between conquerors and 
 
 * Their views on the subject were of the kind shown by the couplet 
 expressing the sentiments of one of their Medieval descendants : — 
 " Thanks to St. Bothan, son of mine 
 Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line." 
 2 After the general destruction in the 5th century the Roman Baths 
 were never resuscitated. Before that destruction the very smallest 
 town had its set of finely built Baths, while great cities had several, 
 the most remarkable instance being that of Timgad in North Africa, 
 which had no less than eleven. 
 
 E.W.— II. V 
 
CHAP. 
 
 130 END OF WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 conquered after a time took place in Gaul and Spain, but 
 not in Britain, Rhsetia, Noricum, Italy, or North Africa. In 
 Gaul and Spain (chiefly owing to the long contact of the Visi- 
 goths with the Roman Empire) a certain fusion between the 
 Teuton and the Roman by degrees occurred, thus at length 
 partly realizing the bygone dream of Ataulf.^ But it was a 
 fusion in which the Roman was reduced to a position of com- 
 plete degradation ; while in Britain, Rhaetia, Noricum, Italy, 
 and North Africa no such fusion occurred. 
 
 We know now that out of all this ruin would in the end 
 arise a better Europe. But for the time the process was awful 
 in its widespread reign of terror, agony, and despak. Those 
 selfish and eflteminate inhabitants of the cities, who had thought 
 to leave their defence to others, now bitterly expiated their 
 error in a general reign of bloodshed and outrage, destruction 
 and death; while Italy, which suffered least at the first, 
 suffered worst of aU at the last. A night of horror settled 
 down over Europe from end to end. The only employment 
 that the conquerors cared for was fighting, and then- only 
 enjoyments were those of man in his animal state. ** To the 
 life of civilization succeeded the feasting of hogs." 
 
 No description could give any idea of the destruction. 
 Throughout entire districts the former population completely 
 disappeared. Whole tracts of country lapsed back into 
 primeval forest. Britain became caUed * ' The island of ghosts." 
 As for the sufferings endured, there were none left to record 
 them. But the wreck of aU things was sufficiently explicit, 
 and told its own tale. All in the West, from Britain to the 
 Adriatic and from the Rhine to the African desert, became 
 one great ruin. And in the devastated lands, traversed and 
 re-traversed by Vandal and Visigoth, Frank and Hun, Alan 
 and Sueve, Burgundian and Lombard, both conquerors and 
 conquered were often in sore straits for food. Procopius, 
 writing about sixty years later of that which in the 4th 
 century had been the flourishing Roman province of Britain 
 (with luxurious country-houses, busy towns, a large export 
 trade in corn, a British mint, and every accessory of 
 civilization), calls it, "a serpent-haunted wilderness, the 
 country of the dead." 
 
 I Chap, XVIII, p. 69. 
 
 xix] 
 
 ROME'S AGONY 
 
 131 
 
 4 M 
 
 As to what was felt by the generation upon whom this doom 
 feU we only obtain the most dim glimpses. The Roman 
 world sank into its grave in a silence which is fuU of pathos. 
 Its sufferings were too deep for words. The " agony of regret " 
 felt by those who looked back upon Rome's mighty past 
 and now viewed this hideous scene of imiversal destruction, 
 ignominy, and death found little opportunity for expression. 
 The descendants of the great Roman aristocracy — ^families 
 with splendid traditions and of immemorial antiquity — were 
 for the most part slaves to the Vandals in Africa, or ground 
 under the heel of some other northern race. Those few of 
 them who in one way or another had contrived to avoid such 
 a fate, purchasing by flattery the favour of some barbarian 
 king, suffered in mute silence, turning away from thoughts 
 of the past of their country as too full of pain. On every 
 side were to be seen the ruins of great works raised by Roman 
 hands in the past as memorials of glorious deeds, and on 
 every side perpetual reminders of the present misery. The 
 two or three voices which come to us from that generation 
 speak only of suffering and terror. The country is described 
 as ** smoking like one great funeral pyre." Its fairest cities 
 ** have been given up to fire and sword." No place is safe 
 from the fury of the barbarians, *' castles on apparently in- 
 accessible rocks, lonely hermitages buried in woods, churches 
 guarded by sacred relics," are alike subject to their violence. 
 Into slavery have been driven '* the priest with his people, 
 the mother with her child, and the master with his servants." 
 On all sides is nothing but war, devastation, and misery, and 
 peace seems departed from the world for ever. 
 
 This great overthrow of civilization by barbarism need not 
 have taken place. The male population of the Roman empire 
 was more numerous, and the wealth and other military re- 
 sources of that empire infinitely greater, than those of the 
 barbarian races, while it possessed also the prestige of cen- 
 tmies of conquest, and the military knowledge gained in 
 numberless campaigns in every variety of country and circum- 
 stances. But there was one fact which in its operation was 
 sufficient to overbalance all this. Nor can any one study 
 the military position of the empire, and tbQ existing condition^ 
 
 
 \m 
 
CHAP. 
 
 132 END OF WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 in the case of each of the attacks which came upon it between 
 the years 400 and 455, without seeing that the true cause of 
 this overthrow was not that which has always been main- 
 tained, viz. degeneracy of the Roman army, but that its cause 
 is to be found in quite another direction. 
 
 First let us glance at the military position. For centuries 
 the chief object of dread had been Persia; consequently a 
 large force had always to be maintained upon the eastern 
 frontier. Obviously therefore the eastern portion of the 
 army, having to defend two important frontiers, that towards 
 Persia, and that along the lower course of the Danube, could 
 spare no men to assist the western half of the empire, and 
 the latter must depend upon its own resources. The numeri- 
 cal strength, on paper, of the western portion of the army at 
 the beginning of the 5th century was, as previously noted, 
 250,000 men.^ An error constantly made by the civil govern- 
 ment of a country which has had a long and glorious career 
 is to expect that its troops shall on all occasions be able to 
 overcome enemies far more numerous than themselves. But 
 it is a stupid, a selfish, and a shortsighted view. When the 
 enemy is as brave, as well armed, as inured to war, and as 
 well commanded, there is no reason whatever why 100,000 
 men, because they bear the name of Romans or any other 
 name, should be able to vanquish 150,000 men opposed to 
 them, and still less why they should be able to vanquish an 
 enemy quadruple their own number. Yet a glance at the 
 Roman forces and their enemies in these invasions will show 
 that the former were on every occasion outnumbered by some- 
 thing like ten to one, their enemies also being as brave, as 
 well armed, and as inured to war as themselves. 
 
 Moreover the whole force of the Romans, owing to this 
 paucity in numbers, was massed on its front line ; there was 
 no second line of troops, no reserves, no arrangements for 
 filling up the losses in a great engagement. Hence when this 
 line was overwhelmed the enemy were at liberty to spread 
 unopposed over the provinces behind it, as they did in Gaul, 
 in Spain, in Italy, and in Africa. There is no evidence that 
 the Roman troops were less courageous, less well trained, or 
 less well commanded, than heretofore ; they did not fly before 
 
 1 Chap, XVII, pp, 19-20, 
 
 xix] 
 
 A NATION IN ARMS 
 
 133 
 
 the immense mass of enemies which came agaiust them ; 
 they were not beaten, they were overwhelmed, submerged, 
 and blotted out.^ It was not (as generally supposed) any 
 defect in the Roman army, as such, which produced the over- 
 throw, but its utter paucity in numbers for the task assigned 
 to it. We have therefore to seek elsewhere for the reason of 
 an unpreparedness to meet a long-threatened invasion which ap- 
 pears at first sight unpardonable, and the more so since it must 
 have been palpable to every man with any military knowledge. 
 
 Apart from a supposed degeneracy in the army, other reasons 
 which have been adduced by different modem writers for this 
 fall of the western half of the empire before its foes are the 
 effects of slavery, 2 crushing taxation, and pauperization of 
 the people. But these, though possibly each may have con- 
 tributed a certaiQ share, were only secondary causes ; the 
 real cause lay deeper. When a nation in arms, as the Goths, 
 the Vandals, the Franks, the Allemanni, and all the other 
 barbarian races were, threatens to attack another nation, 
 the latter must also become a nation in arms, or go under. 
 There is no alternative. It was not necessary that every 
 man should be withdrawn from civil occupations and become 
 a soldier ; but it was necessary that every man from the 
 age of 18 to 30 and physically fit should do so, leaving civil 
 occupations to be performed by the men over the latter age, 
 who should also have been enrolled as a reserve in case of the 
 last extremity .3 Had the Romans (with a total population 
 
 ^ Chap. XVII, pp. 32, 35 and 49. 
 
 2 The number of slaves maintained by the wealthy Roman families 
 was enormous. Some families are said to have possessed as many 
 as 10,000, mostly employed upon their country estates. Gibbon 
 makes a rough guess that in the 1st century the total number through- 
 out the empire was probably sixty miUions. It requires to be remem- 
 bered that these slaves were not men and women of an inferior race, 
 and bore no analogy to the negro slaves of later times. They were in 
 many c€kses of as good blood as those who owned them, being either 
 prisoners captured in war or the descendants of such prisoners, or 
 Romans who, owing to poverty, had sold themselves into slavery. 
 The parents of the emperor Diocletian were both of them slaves. 
 
 * In the early days of the Roman RepubUc every well-to-do citizen 
 between the ages of 17 and 45 was liable to military service in the 
 legions ; but this had become a dead letter even before the time of 
 Augustus, and been succeeded by voluntary enlistment. 
 
f HAP. 
 
 134 END OF WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 throughout Britain, Gaul, Spain, Rhsetia, Noricum, Italy, 
 Sicily, and North Africa more numerous than that of their 
 enemies) ^ adopted this course, they would not only never 
 have been defeated by the barbarians, but also the vices (bred 
 of luxury, idleness, and a city life) which rendered such a 
 cleansing of Europe necessary would have been annihilated, 
 while at the same time the steady diminution in population 
 which was taking place as the result of those vices would 
 have been stopped. 
 
 For there was another evil which had its part in this failure 
 to meet the enemies of the empire in sufficient force. Not 
 only must a nation thus threatened become a nation in 
 arms, but it must also carefully keep its cradles filled.* It 
 has been calculated by experts that with anything less than 
 an average of four children per adult man a race will gradually 
 die out. Any number less than this will not suffice to meet 
 the ordinary losses by disease or accident and to carry on 
 the race. Owing to the well-known effects of luxury, idleness, 
 and a city life the Roman Empire had long been displaying 
 a steady diminution in its birthrate.'* And this had its part 
 in the matter, combining with the general distaste for military 
 service to prevent the empire from being in a state of prepared- 
 ness to meet this long-threatened invasion. 
 
 It has previously been remarked that a city population in 
 the mass can never equal a country population in qualities 
 of manliness and bravery, and invariably gives proof of the 
 fact by its avoidance of the risks of military service. Such 
 effects take long to permeate a whole race, but slowly and 
 
 ^ It may be computed that, exclusive of slaves, the Roman inhabi- 
 tants of the western half of the empire at the end of the 4th century 
 numbered not less than 20,000,000 men, besides women and children. 
 
 * Any nation can do this which really tries. Liberal assistance 
 from the State for each child born (illegitimate children included), 
 the bearing by the State of the cost of maintaining and educating all 
 children wherever it is necessary, and above all the strict removal of 
 any slur upon illegitimacy on the part of the State, will always pro- 
 duce the desired effect if the nation is in earnest on the subject. 
 
 • Pliny in his writings speaks of " the hideous class who preferred 
 the rewards of childlessness.'* Emperors had endeavoured to cope 
 with the matter, but had only done so in a half-hearted way, not pro- 
 viding proper inducements to overcome the evil. 
 
 Xtt] 
 
 SEEDS OF DECAY HOW PLANTED 
 
 135 
 
 surely do so in time. The constant erection of Baths, 
 Fora, aqueducts, amphitheatres, and race-courses, the special 
 privileges accorded to the dwellers in many of the towns, ^ 
 the regular provision for the city populace in several of the 
 chief cities of " Panem et Circenses," ^ and various legislative 
 measures all tending to increase the attractions of the cities, 
 produced the result that the city populations tended ever 
 to increase and the agricultural population to decrease, this 
 tendency operating to such a degree that in course of time 
 large tracts of land fell out of cultivation. Thus the seeds 
 of the decay which took place after the death of Theodosius 
 the Great were planted long before in the fact that the Romans 
 had given themselves up more and more to a city life, with 
 its result of an inveterate avoidance of military service. With 
 this constant increase taking place in the proportion of the 
 nation imbued with dislike to military service it was no wonder 
 that the Romans stood in a defenceless condition before the 
 powerful foes who came upon them. 
 
 To meet such an enemy as attacked the western half of 
 the empire at the beginning of the 5th century, not a mere 
 250,000 men, but at least three millions of men were necessary ; 
 a force not excessive for the western half of the empire to 
 provide, embracing as it did the extent of eight modem king- 
 doms, and having a total male population of certainly not 
 less than twenty millions. Had Rome, in view of the great 
 danger which menaced the empire, abolished at a stroke the 
 whole list of laws (filling the longest chapter in the Theodosian 
 Code) which piled a grinding fiscal oppression upon the curiales ^ 
 (laws which even directly forbade the latter to enlist as soldiers 
 to escape this bondage), had she stopped the free distribution 
 of bread in the chief cities, had she removed from her laws 
 all the other special inducements given to a man not to be a 
 soldier, and had she, instead of such laws, called out every 
 available man of suitable age, she would have been able easily 
 to provide properly for her military defence, supposing always 
 
 1 See Vol. I, p. 660, as to the punishment proposed to be meted 
 out in 387 to Antioch, by taking away its privileges and ** reducing 
 it to the rank of a village.'* 
 
 2 Bread and games. 
 
 » See Chap. XVIII, p. 83. 
 
 ?l 
 
 ' I 
 
 15 
 
CHAP. 
 
 136 END OF WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 that the bulk of her citizens still possessed the manliness of 
 spirit to be ready to endure the risks of military service. 
 
 But that spirit was not there. In the first place how was 
 it possible for measures of this kind to be taken with a being 
 like Honorius upon the throne ? And in the second place, 
 whereas in the days when the Romans had gained their exalted 
 name it had been an honour to be a Roman soldier, and Rome's 
 nobility had commanded Rome's armies, that spirit had wholly 
 fled ; for several, perhaps many, generations the Romans 
 had been occupied in killing it. Crowding into the cities, 
 and giving themselves up, from the highest to the lowest, to 
 as much pleasure and luxury as each could obtain for himself, 
 the Roman race so determinedly shrank from military service 
 that more than half of even the comparatively limited number 
 of troops that were maintained had to be recruited from races 
 keyond Rome's frontiers. Nor was this spirit confined to any 
 one class. * Out of the whole body of Roman nobles, in a space 
 of fifty-five years (400-455), at a time when the empire was being 
 assailed on every side, not a single one of these nobles is found as a 
 general or a commander of a body of troops in any of the contests 
 with Rome's enemies during the whole of that long period. No 
 fact could be more damning, or could show more clearly the 
 disease from which the nation suffered. While their country 
 was engaged in a life and death struggle the descendants of 
 the Fabii, the Camilli, the Anicii, the Comelii, and other families 
 with glorious traditions, preferred their luxiu-ious palaces in 
 Ravenna or Rome, 1 with their private race-courses, baths, and 
 other amusements, to the kind of hardships and risks such 
 as in the past a long line of noble Romans had been accus- 
 tomed to endure in defence of Rome's dominions, and such 
 as scarcely more than one generation back a young emperor 
 like Gratian had been brought up to endure. * Spending their 
 days in luxurious amusement, and in helping to form part 
 of such a court as that which gathered round Honorius, they 
 left the command of the brigades and divisions of the army 
 to non-Romans. And as were the leaders of Roman society, 
 80, naturally, were those of lower degree ; no Roman at this 
 period imdertook military service who could possibly obtain 
 a subsistence in any other way. 
 
 i Chap. XVin, p. 96. ■ Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 606. 
 
 xix] 
 
 THE LESSON 
 
 137 
 
 When at length the long-threatened invasion burst upon 
 the empire the Roman army did as much as any army could 
 do ; for practically that army as a whole died in defence of 
 the frontier which it was ordered to defend. Behind it there 
 then remained only the city populations. The latter, cowardly, 
 untrained to arms, and undesirous of being trained, upon 
 the victorious barbarians spreading over the provinces shut 
 themselves up in the fortified cities, trusting that they would 
 be secure behind their walls. And the barbarians at their 
 leisure devoured them. In whole provinces the very name 
 of Roman disappeared ; where any survived they were made 
 slaves by the conquerors. And though in one province, Italy, 
 this result was partially deferred for a time, owing to the 
 magnanimous treatment of the Romans by the Ostrogoths, it 
 supervened there also when that country was finally conquered 
 by the Lombards. 
 
 The lesson therefore which this great overthrow of civili- 
 zation by barbarism has to teach is that a wide empire sur- 
 rounded by powerful neighbours who train all their male 
 population to arms has neither any chance of existing, nor 
 any right to exist, imless all its citizens are ready to be trained 
 to arms in its defence. And that if they deliberately evade 
 the natural duty of every man to defend his home, his wife, 
 and his children, and adopt the ignoble policy of maintaining 
 a certain number of men to fight for the remainder, that course 
 works in time effects which recoil upon its authors, and they 
 reap in the end a terrible pimishment.^ 
 
 It must have seemed, and we know did seem, as if the whole 
 civilization of the western world was utterly and finally des- 
 troyed. But it was only buried, not destroyed. And in the 
 fulness of time, when nine long centuries had passed, there 
 was to spring up, out of the very grave of that old Rome,* 
 
 ^ The remarks in pp. 133-137 were written more than a year before 
 the war now raging in Europe began. The strong parallel to the case 
 of England in many particulars (except as regards the conduct of the 
 Roman nobles) is self-evident. 
 
 2 The Renaissance, or re-birth, was in every case — ^in that of law, of 
 literature, of architecture, of sculpture, and of painting — brought 
 about by a discovery of the old Roman ideas on that subject, and 
 their re-issue in a new dress. 
 
 I 
 
 ' 
 
 : 
 
CHAP. XIX] 
 
 138 END OP WESTERN HALF OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 like some rare and beautiful flower sprouting up from a heap 
 of ruins, a new and better civilization, reborn out of that of 
 the past, and gathering all its strength from the civilization 
 and culture of that Roman empire which was overthrown 
 by the Goths, the Vandals, the Alans, the AUemanni, the 
 Saxons, and the Franks. 
 
 I 
 
 NOTE G. 
 
 For the period from the death of Theodosius the Great (395) 
 to the fall of the western half of the Roman empire (476) the chief 
 authorities are : — 
 
 The Theodosian Code (see Note D, Vol. I, p. 589). 
 
 Prisons. A Roman, bom in Thrace about 400. Accompanied 
 one of the embassies to Attila. Wrote a history of the events 
 from 433 to 474, chiefly in connection with Attila. Only a 
 few portions cf his history remain, the most important being 
 his account of Attila and his court and the reception of the 
 Roman embassy. 
 
 Prosper Tiro. A native of Aquitaine, and an ecclesiastic of the 
 Church at Rome. Lived from about 400 to about 460, aiid 
 wrote a series of chronicles of the events of the time which 
 contain many valuable details. 
 
 Apollinaris Sidonius. A nobleman of Lyons, subsequently created 
 a bishop. Lived from 430 to 488. His copious letters and 
 poems give various details regarding the social life of the time. 
 
 Anonymus Cuspiniani. A valuable chronicle by an anonymous 
 writer which relates passing events and their dates between 
 the years 378-403 and 455-493, the portion between 403 and 
 455 being lost. 
 
 Victor Vitensis. A Bishop in North Africa. Wrote in 479 a his- 
 tory of the religious persecution carried out by the Vandals 
 in the 5th century in North Africa. 
 
 ^, . , cContemporary chroniclers of the 5th century. 
 
 Olympiodorus Lj^^^gj^ their works have perished abstracts of 
 
 fhilostorgius l^i^j^gj^^ jnade ^y photius in the 9th century, remain. 
 
 Anonymus Valesii. A chronicle written in the 6th century by 
 an anonymous Roman writer, the chief source of our infor- 
 mation regarding Theodoric the Great. It displays strong 
 bias against Theodoric, and is apparently written by an eccle- 
 siastic in Ravenna in the reign of Justinian, generally sup- 
 posed to have been Maximianus, Archbishop of Ravenna in 
 Justinian's reign. 
 
 Jordanes. An Ostrogoth monk, said to have become a Bishop. 
 Wrote, about 552, a history entitled De Rebus Geticis (Con- 
 cerning the affairs of the Goths), describing the events of the 
 5th century from the Gothic point of view. In writing this 
 history Jordanes epitomized the, now lost, history written 
 by Cassiodorus, the minister of Theodoric the Great. 
 
 Marcellinus, Count of Illyricum. One of ihe ministers of the 
 emperor Justinian. Wrote a chronicle of the events from 
 the accession of Theodosius the Great down to 634. 
 
 139 
 
uo 
 
 NOTE G 
 
 Procopius. The celebrated historian of the wars and other deeds 
 of Justinian's reign. Counsellor and legal adviser of the 
 general Belisarius. Lived from 600 to 565. His chief books 
 are the history of the Persian war, the history of the Vandal 
 war, the history of the Italian war, and his book The Edifices 
 recording the various buildings erected by Justinian. While 
 these books all refer to the 6th century, the first seven chap- 
 ters of his book on the Vandal war relate events of the 5th 
 century connected with the Vandals. 
 
 PART V 
 
 The age of Theodoric the Great, the Emperor 
 Justinian, Chosroes I, and Gregory the 
 Great, and the affairs of the western 
 nations in the sixth century, 
 
 A.D. 476 — 604 
 
 I': 
 
 i 
 

 CHAPTER XX 
 
 WEST-ODOACER, THE FRANKS, BRITAIN, THE 
 OSTROGOTHS, AND THEODORIC THE 
 GREAT 
 
 EAST-THE EMPERORS ZENO, ANASTASIUS I, 
 
 AND JUSTIN I 
 
 476—526. 
 
 "The tumult of the time disconsolate 
 To inarticulate murmurs dies away, 
 While the eternal ages watch and wait." 
 
 INHERE now ensues over western Europe for more than 
 two and a half centuries a period of darkness and 
 turmoil, the battling between the northern races over the 
 territories they had wrested from the Roman power. During 
 this period we have only the most obscure records, the general 
 confusion hiding from us all but the main outlines, and this 
 paucity of records itself showing how little opportunity the 
 conditions of the time gave for the writing of history, most 
 of those who could have written it having either been killed 
 or else being prevented from literary labours by the harsh 
 conditions of their life. 
 
 As regards Britain, Gaul, and Spain all is dark for 
 a time, and our attention becomes turned chiefly 
 to Italy. There Odoacer,i chosen as their king by the Heru- 
 lians, Scyri, Rugians and other portions of Gothic tribes in 
 Italy, set up a firm kingdom, making Ravenna his capital, 
 and on the whole governing well. In Italy the Roman popu- 
 lation for a generation or two fared better than in other parts 
 
 1 This is the form of his name which has been in use for centuries. 
 And though " Odovacar " is more correct, nevertheless the nanae 
 appears as " Odoacer " in many of the documents of the time, and it 
 seems best to adhere to this the best known f onn of his name. 
 
 143 
 
 [ " I 
 
 V 
 
 Odoacer. 
 
 ; ' 
 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 If 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 144 
 
 ODOACER 
 
 of what had been the western half of Rome's empire, for a 
 long time not being reduced to that condition of slavery to 
 which they were subjected in other countries. The Goths 
 were the dominant race, a third of the lands of Italy were 
 apportioned to them, they paid no taxes, and they alone were 
 allowed to carry arms ; the Romans had to accustom them- 
 selves to the position of a subject race, to bear the whole 
 burden of the cost of government, and to endure numerous 
 humiliations. But Odoacer employed Romans in various 
 offices of the State to manage affairs with which the Goths, 
 with their scorn for writing, were unable to deal ; and 
 though he put to death Count Bracila, Jordanes says, " in 
 order to strike terror into the Romans " (in other words to 
 make them realize that they were now a conquered race), and 
 though the Roman writers naturally accuse Odoacer of tyranny, 
 this accusation does not appear to have had any further basis 
 than the general fact that the Romans in Italy were made 
 to feel that they were now sei-vants and not masters, and 
 had to bear all that such a position involved. In any case 
 their lot was far preferable to that of Romans in any other 
 coimtry of the West, and also far preferable to that of the 
 Roman nobles, nearly aU of whom were pining away then- 
 lives as slaves in Africa. Above all, central and southern 
 Italy never had to experience any of those awful scenes of 
 wholesale slaughter, outrage, and destruction of cities which 
 had been the lot of Britain, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and northern 
 Italy at the hands of their barbarian conquerors. And the 
 generally temperate character of Odoacer's rule of Italy is to 
 be inferred from the undisturbed state of that country during 
 the thirteen years that he reigned over it. 
 
 We need not foUow the various academical discussions which 
 have been pm^ued as to what was Odoacer' s correct title and 
 position. The plain fact was that he was the absolute ruler 
 of Italy. It was an age of transition, and the northern races 
 had not as yet any knowledge of the great future which was 
 before them as sovereign nations who were to found a now 
 order of things in Europe. The world took a long time before 
 it imleamt the lesson of so many centuries, and ceased to 
 regard the Roman Empire as the sole source of all power ; 
 and Odoacer, though entirely independent, felt this as others 
 
 1 
 
 KING OF THE GOTHIC PEOPLE 
 
 145 
 
 did. By the court at Constantinople the fiction was main- 
 tained that the Roman Empire still existed in the West, 
 and that all who ruled in Gaul, Spain, or Italy were merely 
 the lieutenants of the emperor Zeno, to whom the govern- 
 ment of the whole empire had reverted upon the abdication 
 of Romulus Augustulus. The emperor therefore styled 
 Odoacer as " Patrician," but his own Goths, having no belief 
 in fictions, called him plainly " King " ; and such he un- 
 doubtedly was, ruling Italy as an entirely independent sover- 
 eign. He did not caU himself King of Italy, which was not a 
 form of title in use among the Teutonic races until long after- 
 wards ; their king was king of themselves, not of any parti- 
 cular land ; and just as Alaric was King of the Visigoths, 
 Gaiseric, King of the Vandals, Theodoric, King of the Ostro- 
 goths, and Clovis, King of the Franks, so did Odoacer call 
 himself " King of the Gothic people," meaning those Goths 
 who had established themselves in Italy. 
 
 Although the above fiction was maintained for a 
 Roman Empire time by thc cmpcrors ruling at Constantinople, it 
 * °^* ' wiU obviously no longer be correct to speak of 
 an eastern half of the Roman Empire (the western haK of that 
 empire having disappeared), and it therefore becomes neces- 
 sary, from the time of the emperor Zeno onwards, to use the 
 name Later Roman Empire ^ to designate that which had been 
 the eastern half of Constantine's empire. 
 Revolt in I^ 487, after Odoacer had reigned uneventfully 
 Noricum. QyQj. Italy and its two dependencies Rhsetia and 
 Noricum ^ for eleven years, the emperor Zeno stirred up an 
 insurrection against him in the latter country. Odoacer 
 defeated his opponents in Noricum, but soon afterwards there 
 came against him the formidable invasion of the Ostrogoths, 
 involving him in a four years war (489-493), which ended in 
 the loss of his kingdom and his life. 
 
 * See Preface, pp. xi— xiL 
 
 ^ Noricum, extending from the Danube to the Venetian Alps and 
 from Salzburg to Vienna, in later ages the Archduchy of Austria, 
 was a province which from the 2nd to the 5th century was more often 
 harried and reduced to desolation and misery by barbarous foes than 
 perhaps any other part of the empire. 
 
 E.W. — ^n. L 
 
 |i| 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 146 
 
 ZENO 
 
 Zeno. 
 
 Meanwhile in the east the emperor Zeno, who 
 had come to the throne in 474/ had proved a very 
 unsatisfactory successor to his father-in-law, the capable 
 Leo 1.2 He was not brave, he was an Isaurian, he was un- 
 orthodox in matters of religion, and he attempted to please 
 both the religious parties, with the usual result ; for which 
 reasons he has found no favour with the ecclesiastical writers 
 of his day, who have declared him to have been suspicious, 
 incapable, and tyrannical. Two and a half centuries later 
 Isauria was to furnish one of the greatest emperors who ever 
 sat on the throne of Constantinople ; but matters were far 
 otherwise in the case of Zeno. There is no doubt that he 
 was, whether justly or unjustly, highly unpopular. As a 
 consequence he was the sport of constant rebellions, these 
 being in most cases stirred up by Leo's widow, Verina. 
 
 The empress Verina, who during the lifetime of her husband 
 Leo I had remained for about seventeen years in almost com- 
 plete obscurity, after his death, when she was apparently 
 about forty-six, showed during the next ten years a strong 
 personality, much intelligence, and a masterful disposition. 
 Verina had viewed with extreme disfavour the marriage of 
 her daughter Ariadne to the Isaurian Zeno, and his exaltation 
 to the throne ; and this feeling on her part was in accord 
 with that of the majority of the people of Constantmople. 
 Moreover Verina now had a lover, Patricius, and desired to 
 set him upon the throne in place of the man whom her late 
 husband had chosen as his successor. She therefore stirred 
 up a revolution, with the result that before Zeno had been 
 two years emperor he was forced to fly to Isauria. The Senate 
 thereupon, to Verina's intense mortification, gave the throne 
 to her brother Basiliscus, who shortly afterwards caused 
 Patricius to be assassinated. The enraged empress promptly 
 employed her great wealth to buy back the allegiance of all 
 to Zeno. Civil war followed for about eighteen months, to- 
 gether with riots in Constantinople, in the course of which 
 one of the many conflagrations in that city took place, which 
 occasioned an irreparable national loss through the entire 
 
 1 Chap. XIX, p. 126. 
 
 « For list of the emperors from Arcadius onwards, and dates of their 
 respective reigns, see Appendix XI. 
 
 xx] 
 
 VERINA 
 
 147 
 
 destruction of the great library, the Basilike, founded by the 
 emperor Julian, which contained 120,000 invaluable books. ^ 
 It was a loss which had far-reaching results in reducing culture 
 for a long period, and its effect in that direction is noticeable 
 during at least a century. 
 
 In 477 Zeno, largely through Verina's assistance, regained 
 his throne. But ere long Zeno discovered, or thought he 
 discovered, a plot against him on her part ; Verina had to 
 fly for her life to St. Sophia ; and Basiliscus and his wife 
 Zenonis were seized and banished. ^ But Zeno's defects of 
 character, and his endeavours to please both parties in religion 
 (chiefly by means of a creed which he promulgated called the 
 Henotikon? which only added to the religious conflict), caused 
 him to be soon occupied in coping with further rebellions. 
 Suspecting, perhaps imjustly, that his restless mother-in-law 
 Verina, whose influence with the people and clergy was very 
 great, was the real cause of these troubles, Zeno by a ruse 
 contrived to place her in confinement in a castle in Isauria. 
 There Verina, driven by this treatment again into rebellion, 
 in 484 intrigued with Illus, the commander-in-chief, and his 
 confederate the patrician Leontius, and eventually herself 
 crowned Leontius as emperor. Zeno, however, despatched an 
 army against them, and Verina, Ulus, and Leontius fled to 
 the Papirian castle in Isauria. There the last scene in Verina's 
 adventurous ten years of widowhood took place. The castle 
 stood a long siege of nearly four years ; Verina died, at the 
 age of fifty-six, before the siege was over ; and upon the 
 castle being taken in 488 Illus and Leontius were put to death. 
 
 Zeno, weak and suspicious, but not naturally tjrrannical, has 
 probably been more severely condemned by the ecclesiastical 
 chroniclers of his day than he deserves. He at all events, 
 in the face of many difficulties, did one good work for the 
 empire by continuing the poHcy of Leo I, and gradually creat- 
 
 1 See Vol. I, Chap. XIV, p. 477. 
 
 * One report states that they were sent to Cappadocia and there 
 shut up in a tower and starved to death. 
 
 * The Henotikon, composed by Zeno assisted by Acacius, Pope of 
 CJonstantinople, pretended to concur with the doctrine enunciated by 
 the Fourth General Council while diligently avoiding the word " na- 
 ture," in order to pleekse the Monophysites. It turned both the religious 
 parties against Zeno. 
 
I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 148 
 
 THE OSTROGOTHS 
 
 ing an army composed of troops drawn from races subject to 
 the emperor in place of the Teutons, who were mercenaries 
 and a constant source of danger. This policy, however, led to 
 frequent contests between the Isaurians and the Teutons 
 (chiefly represented by the Ostrogoths), contests in which 
 Thrace was repeatedly ravaged. At length in 488, in order to 
 bring these contests to an end by getting rid of the Ostrogoths 
 altogether, Zeno instigated their king, Theodoric, to march 
 against Italy and attack Odoacer. 
 
 The The Ostrogoths had had a very different career 
 Ostrogoths. fj^QT^ their cousins the Visigoths. Long held sub- 
 ject by the Huns, and even forced by the latter to fight against 
 the Visigoths at the battle of the Mauriac Plain in 451, they 
 had broken free from this yoke when the great dispersal of 
 the Huns* took place after Attila's death, and had remained 
 in Pannonia (nominally as foederati of the Roman Empire), 
 under three brothers belonging to the royal race, the Amals, 
 Walamir, Widimir, and Thiudamir. The latter's son Theo- 
 doric, bom in 454, the year after Attila's death, had been 
 brought up from the age of seven to that of seventeen at the 
 court of Constantinople, as a hostage for his father's loyalty. 
 During these years the Ostrogoths were chiefly engaged in 
 warring with the remnant of the Suevi,^ or Suavi (who have 
 given their name to Suabia), contests in which the Ostrogoths 
 were in the end victorious. The two elder brothers were killed 
 in these wars, Theodoric's father Thiudamir becoming sole 
 king of the Ostrogoths. In 471, the young Theodoric was 
 allowed by the emperor Leo I to rejoin his father, and in 474, 
 when Theodoric was twenty, his father Thiudamir died, and 
 Theodoric succeeded him as king of the Ostrogoths ; shortly 
 after which the Ostrogoths, for some reason unknown, but 
 probably in search of a country better able to afford them a 
 subsistence, migrated from Pannonia to the lower course 
 of the Danube and the district now known as the Dobrudscha. 
 
 * Only one half of the Suevi, or Suavi, accompanied the Vandals into 
 Gaul and from thence into Spain, eventually settling in Portugal. 
 The other half remained in their eincestral home in the Black Forest, 
 afterwards Suabia, destined to be made memorable in the Middle 
 Agee as the home of the great family of the Hohenstauf en emperors. 
 
 xx] 
 
 AN AMAL'S DIFFICULTIES 
 
 149 
 
 Theodoric, brought up in Constantinople, but proud 
 of his Amal blood, was for long torn between two 
 conflicting aims. At one time he would feel a desire for the 
 prizes which his ten years' residence at the capital as a youth 
 had made him value — ^a high place in the State, the command 
 of the gorgeously dressed household troops, the title of Illustris, 
 and to stand beside the emperor when embassies from far 
 countries bowed before him. At other times he would re- 
 member that he was an Amal, sprung from the gods, the 
 descendant of a long line of kings, the ruler of a race with a 
 glorious history, a race who were suffering from perpetual 
 hunger and could find no land which had not been swept 
 almost bare by former invasions, a noble race who adored 
 him as the descendant of their beloved Amals, and looked 
 to him to relieve their many grievances, and who much dis- 
 liked his tendency to hanker after the life of the capital ; and 
 he wot^d feel at times that to be king of such a race was worth 
 more than all the honours which the emperor could confer. 
 Theodoric, twenty years old, handsome, brave, already noted 
 in arms, and admired at the court, loved the empire and the 
 life of Constantinople ; but how to combine this latter with 
 his kingship over a race who hated the life of cities, and whose 
 only amusement was fighting, was a problem which appeared 
 insoluble, and he for a long time vacillated between these two 
 conflicting aims. 
 
 From the time that upon the death of his father he became 
 king of the Ostrogoths Theodoric for fourteen years, during 
 the reign of the emperor Zeno, lived a life of the strangest 
 alternations ; sometimes endeavouring to obtain a subsistence 
 for his half starving people by leading them in raids upon 
 provinces already often ravaged before ; sometimes assisting 
 the emperor against insurgents, residing at court, and receiving 
 high Roman titles ; sometimes engaged in contests with a 
 rival of the same name, then joining the latter in war against 
 the emperor, again received into favour, made commander 
 of the household troops, and wearing the dress of Consul; 
 and finally in 486 again in revolt, ravaging Thrace and Mace- 
 donia, in 487 threatening to attack Constantinople and march- 
 ing up to its gates, and in 488 once more reconciled to the 
 emperor. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XX] 
 
 150 
 
 THE OSTROGOTHS 
 
 CONQUEST OF ITALY 
 
 151 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 At last in the autumn of the year 488, when he was thirty- 
 four, the vacillations which had so long marked his course 
 were ended. Theodoric, to his honour, abandoned for ever 
 the life of the capital, threw in his lot with his yellow-haired 
 barbarians, and prepared to march at their head to conquer 
 Italy, there to set up a kingdom of his own in a land where 
 they should no longer feel the pangs of hunger. The emperor 
 Zeno was only too ready to agree, even if he had not himself 
 suggested the scheme, as Procopius asserts ; ^ in any case 
 it is certain that Zeno was glad to get rid of the Ostrogoths, 
 and Theodoric was able to declare that it was with the em- 
 peror's approval that he advanced upon Italy to overthrow 
 Odoacer. 
 ^ r^. .t- Like the first invasion of Italy by Alaric this one 
 
 The Ostrogoths • e 
 
 advance by Thcodoric was also a migration of an entu*e 
 against ** y. ^g^^j^jj^ fQj. ^^^q Ostrogoths wcrc going to return no 
 
 more to the east. And though their number was not more 
 than a quarter that of the host which Alaric had led, Theo- 
 doric's difficulties were sufficiently great. The great wagons 
 of the Ostrogoths, filled with women, children, and every 
 kind of property, were, says a contemporary writer, " like 
 houses '* ; and Theodoric had 800 miles to traverse before 
 even reaching the Pear Tree pass. Moreover Pannonia (through 
 which he must march) had been occupied when the Ostrogoths 
 quitted it fourteen years before by the Gepidae, and their 
 attitude was hostUe. Theodoric started with his host from 
 Sistova, in Lower Moesia, about October 488, but after tra- 
 versing 300 miles of his route was confronted near Singidunum 
 (Belgrade) by the Gepidae, who barred his progress. A furious 
 battle ensued, which Theodoric won, while he was also fortunate 
 enough to capture the store-wagons of the Gepidae, which 
 provided the Ostrogoths with sorely needed supplies. Ap- 
 parently this battle was followed by other combats with the 
 Gepidae, and whether owing to this cause, or because the season 
 was too far advanced to attempt the passage over the pass, 
 making it necessary to halt in Pannonia until the winter was 
 over, a long delay ensued. About May 489 Theodoric started 
 again, and slowly advancing up the valley of the Save, by 
 
 ^ Jordanes says that it was Theodoric's own proposal, and that the 
 emperor merely agreed to it. 
 
 the road by which Theodosius, Alaric, Attila, and so many 
 others had marched, reached the Pear Tree pass and conveyed 
 his cumbrous host over it, and in August 489 descended into the 
 valley of the Frigidus. 
 Battle of the Mcauwhilc Odoaccr, now fifty-six years old, had 
 isonxo. not been idle. He had collected a large army, 
 perhaps not inferior in numbers to that of Theodoric, ^ com- 
 posed of various nationaUties, and had strongly entrenched 
 himself on the Isonzo where that river is joined by the Frigidus. 
 He had every advantage over Theodoric, encumbered as the 
 latter was with his long line of wagons, containing his supplies 
 and his host of non-combatants requiring to be protected 
 during the battle, those non-combatants mcluding Theodoric's 
 own sister, and mother. But age had duUed Odoacer's energy, 
 and neither on this occasion nor in the subsequent contests 
 did he show the same qualities of vigour and resolution by 
 which, he had won his throne. One advantage Theodoric had 
 which must have been no smaU one ; the Ostrogoths fought 
 in the presence of their women, and moreover for the sake of 
 the latter they dared not be beaten ; circumstances which were 
 calculated to inspire them with the most desperate courage. 
 And just as Theodoric's sister Amalafrida and his mother 
 Erelieva came to him before the battle to encourage him, and 
 to read, they said, in his beloved face the omens of victory, 
 so was it no doubt in the case of many of his followers. Of 
 the battle itseH, fought on the 28th August 489, we have no 
 details, further than that the Ostrogoths carried aU before 
 them by their tremendous dash; they forded the Isonzo, 
 stormed the entrenchments, and entkely overthrew their 
 opponents, gaining a complete victory. 
 
 Odoacer fled to Verona, where he again entrenched 
 veroll^'and hlmsclf. Thcodorlc advanced through Venetia, 
 the Adda. ^^^ ^ second battle was fought at Verona on the 
 30th September. Theodoric agam won, and Odoacer fled to 
 Ravenna. Theodoric then advanced to Milan, which opened 
 its gates, and a body of Odoacer's troops which garrisoned it, 
 with their commander. Tufa, deserted to the cause of Theodoric. 
 
 1 Theodoric had not more than 50,000 fighting men, some author- 
 ities say only 40,000, the total number of the Ostrogoths being about 
 250,000 men, women and children. 
 
i 
 
 II 
 
 152 
 
 ANASTASIUS I 
 
 OHAP. 
 
 But Tufa was a double-dyed traitor. Theodoric, reposing 
 entire confidence in him, despatched him with some of 
 the chiefs of the Ostrogoths to besiege Ravenna ; but on 
 arrival before Ravenna Tufa again changed sides, rejoined 
 Odoacer, and with the utmost baseness betrayed into his 
 hands the Ostrogoth chiefs who were with him ; whereupon 
 the latter were slain by Odoacer. This cowardly murder of 
 his friends greatly enraged Theodoric, who three years later 
 took a no less cowardly vengeance. Theodoric then moved 
 to Pavia, where he placed all his non-combatants, as being a 
 more secure place than Milan, Pavia being protected by the 
 Po and the Ticino, and there he spent the winter. Early in 
 490 he fought a third battle with Odoacer on the river Adda, 
 ten miles east of Milan, and again Theodoric won. Odoacer 
 then retired to Ravenna, and there fought a stubbornly 
 contested siege for three years. 
 
 Anastasiusi ^^^^ ^ *^® ^^^^ Thcodoric was thus fighting to 
 gain Italy, in the east the emperor Zeno, after an 
 inglorious reign of seventeen years, died in 491, at the age of 
 sixty. He had desired to leave the throne to his brother 
 Longinus, a man of infamous character, and though he had 
 not dared to appoint Longinus as his successor by giving him 
 the title of Caesar, had made him commander-in-chief, in the 
 hope that the political power of the Isaurians, backed by the 
 large body of Isaurian troops in the capital, would secure 
 the succession to Longinus. But it is evident that these views 
 were not shared by the empress Ariadne, at this time forty- 
 five years of age, who had much of her father Leo I's abUity. 
 Upon Zeno's death Longinus attempted to seize the throne, 
 and his Isaurian troops, who had long been prepared for this 
 event, raised a riot and set fire to the city. But the attempt 
 was put down by the empress Ariadne and the minister Urbi- 
 cius, and the precedent acted upon in the case of Pulcheria 
 in 460 was followed, Ariadne being called upon to choose a 
 successor to the throne. She chose Anastasius, a tall, good- 
 looking ofl&cer of the Imperial Bodyguard, sixty-one years 
 old, and of noble character, crowned him herself, and married 
 him. It was a thoroughly good choice. Anastasius was 
 greeted by the populace on his accession with the words " Reign 
 
 xx] 
 
 OSTROGOTHS TAKE RAVENNA 
 
 153 
 
 as you have lived," and " Reign like Marcian," and in his 
 subsequent reign of twenty-seven years, did not disappoint 
 these aspirations. Longinus was exiled to the Thebaid, where 
 eight years later he died.^ 
 
 Capture of Theodoric foimd the siege of Ravenna exceedingly 
 ^rZd^r difficult. After a time he took Rimini, built a 
 of Odoacer. fleet thcrc, and attacked Ravenna from the sea. 
 Odoacer made a desperate sortie by night and attacked the 
 camp of the Ostrogoths at the pine forest (the Pineta) on the 
 sea-coast, but was defeated and driven back into Ravenna. 
 At last in 493, after enduring a siege of three years, and when 
 all the inhabitants of the city were dying of famine, Ravenna 
 surrendered. Theodoric entered Classis (its port), and there 
 met Odoacer, and a formal treaty was drawn up between 
 them, the Archbishop of Ravenna acting as mediator, by which 
 treaty not only was Odoacer's life to be safe, but he was even 
 to hav6 a portion of Italy. After ten days had been spent in 
 frequent interviews regarding the terms of the treaty, Theo- 
 doric as a conclusion to the compact invited his fallen rival 
 to a banquet at the " Palace of the Laurel-grove " (built by 
 the empress Galla Placidia), at the south-east comer of the 
 city. Suddenly in the midst of the banquet Odoacer, now 
 sixty years old, was treacherously attacked ; two of Theo- 
 doric's followers in pretended friendship seized his hands, and 
 while he cried " Where is God," Theodoric raising his sword 
 clove his body at one stroke down to the waist, saying " This 
 is what thou didst to my friends," thus killing with his own 
 hands his defenceless guest. This dastardly assassination of 
 Odoacer is the great blot on the otherwise noble character of 
 Theodoric. 
 
 The Franks in northern Gaul after the terrible 
 
 devastation of their territory by Attila in 451, 
 
 which left few surviving, had gradually regained their strength 
 
 1 The story that Longinus with his family were shut up in a tower 
 and starved to death is considered by historians to be a fiction. And 
 as regards his family, at all events, it is known that his wife Valeria 
 and his daughter Longina retired to Bithynia, and lived there upon 
 charity. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 154 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 xx] 
 
 CLOVIS 
 
 155 
 
 I 
 
 n 
 
 by fresh additions from those of their nation east of the Rhine, 
 and in 476 when Odoacer gained Italy occupied the whole 
 of northern Gaul, their principal neighbours being the Visi- 
 goths to the south-west and the Burgundians to the south-east. 
 The Franks in northern Gaul were at this time divided into 
 several sections, the two chief of which were the Salian Franks 
 and the Ripuarian Franks, the former occupying the north- 
 western part of Gaul and the latter the districts bordering 
 on the Rhine. Merovech,i king of the Salian Franks, fixed 
 his capital at Toumai. 
 
 In 481 Childeric,* who had succeeded his father Merovech 
 as king of the Salian Franks, died, and was succeeded by his 
 son Clovis (or Clodwig) ' then sixteen. Clovis soon began a 
 career of conquest, and in 486, when he was twenty-one, 
 extended his dominions by the overthrow of the neighbouring 
 Frank kingdom of Soissons. A fierce and blood-thirsty 
 butcher, he slaughtered without mercy all of his own kinsmen 
 who might be dangerous to his rule, and largely by this means 
 gradually subdued the Ripuarian Franks, and brought all 
 the sections of the Franks in northern Gaul under his authority, 
 while in 492 he severely defeated the Allemanni. In 493 
 (the year when Theodoric conquered Italy) Clovis, then twenty- 
 eight, married Clotilda, the orphan daughter of Hilparik, the 
 late king of the Burgundians, a marriage destined to have 
 notable consequences. The Burgundians (unlike the Franks) 
 were Christians, though like the Vandals, Visigoths, and Ostro- 
 goths they were of the Arian faith. But Caretene, the mother 
 
 1 Merovech gave his name to the Merovingian dynasty, founded by 
 his grandson Clovis, which reigned for 260 years. He fought against 
 Attila at the battle of the Mauriac^Plain. A special custom of the 
 Merovingian family was carefully arranged long hair descending to 
 the shoulders. It was considered a mark of the royal race, and they 
 only were permitted to adopt it. 
 
 « In 1663 Childeric's tomb was discovered at Toumai. The Franks 
 were accustomed to bury their dead warriors wearing all their arms 
 and ornaments as if for a military review ; and in this tomb, besides a 
 gold ring bearing the name " Childerici Regis,*' with upon it the figure 
 of a long-haired warrior, were found arms, jewels, gold coins of the 
 reign of the emperor Zeno, and the remains of a purple robe orna- 
 mented with gold bees. 
 
 • In old German, Clodwig ; in modem German, Ludwig ; in modem 
 French, Louis. 
 
 of Clotilda, was a Catholic, and Qotilda, though brought up 
 in an Arian Court, was of her mother's religion. 
 
 For 170 years the Catholics had had to wage a long 
 of Catholic conflict with successive foes in defence of the faith 
 **^**'* pronounced at Nicsea. It had triumphed for a 
 short time at the end of the 4th century, in the reign of Gratian 
 and Theodosius,! but in the West had soon been again brought 
 under the domination of its chief enemy through the con- 
 quests of the northern races who (except the Pagan Franks 
 and Saxons), were all of them Arians, and who from the 
 beginning of the 5th century had been steadily overspreading 
 the West. These conquests had the result that by the end 
 of the 5th century throughout Europe and North Africa 
 Arianism had become the dominant faith; the Catholics, 
 where they existed at all, were in subjection to their Arian 
 masters, the monarch and the court (except where they were 
 Pagans) being everywhere Arians.* At the same time in the 
 East the Catholics were in a scarcely less depressed condition, 
 being vigorously persecuted by an emperor who had adopted 
 Eutychianism ^ and was endeavouring in every way to stamp 
 out the Catholic faith. Thus at the end of the 5th century 
 that faith was at its lowest ebb. Now, however, the tide 
 at last turned, that turn of the tide being originated by this 
 marriage of Clovis to Clotilda, from whence there followed three 
 years later the conversion from Paganism to Christianity of 
 Clovis, king of the Franks, an event which had widespread 
 and lasting results to western Europe, though at the time 
 it must have appeared a matter of comparatively small 
 importance. 
 
 convereion of Wc are not told anything about the character of 
 Clovis and his ^otilda, but it is evident that she must have had a 
 
 knlgots to ' 1..1.1 
 
 Christianity, sinccrc bclicf in her religion, and qualities which 
 gave her a strong influence with her fierce young husband. 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 635. 
 
 * The Cathohcs were differently treated in different coimtries ; 
 under the Pagan Franks and Saxons they had small chance of life ; 
 by the Vandals they were cruelly persecuted, many suffering martyr- 
 dom ; by the Visigoths they were tolerated, but had to endure many 
 himiiliations, their churches being shut up, and their churchyards 
 desecrated ; by the Ostrogoths they were well treated. 
 
 3 See p. 161. 
 
CHAF. 
 
 xx] 
 
 156 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 " GIBBON-AND-WATER " 
 
 167 
 
 m 
 
 For in 496, three years after this marriage, Qovis being en- 
 gaged in a fiercely contested battle with the Allemanni at 
 Tolbiaciun, near Strassburg, and his defeat being imminent, 
 appealed to ** the God of Clotilda " to deliver him from his 
 predicament, vowing that if he was saved from defeat he 
 would adopt ** the religion of Clotilda.'* He won the battle, 
 and kept his vow, at the same time ordering all his knights to 
 follow his example ; and on Christmas Day 496 Clovis, with 
 3000 of his knights, was baptized in the cathedral at Rheims 
 into the Catholic faith. He was at that time the only Catholic 
 sovereign in the world, either in the west or east, the Franks 
 thus becoming the one nation throughout Europe professing 
 the Catholic faith in the midst of the prevailing Arianism. 
 Ra id exten '^^^ evcut had large results subsequently ; for the 
 ttonofthe Franks increased rapidly in power and influence. 
 "^ *' Clovis kept on extending his dominions ; in 600 he 
 severely defeated the Burgundians ; between 602 and 604 he 
 drove the Allemanni out of their territory by the Main and the 
 Neckar into Rhaetia, annexing the district known afterwards 
 in the Middle Ages £is Franconia ; in 607 he attacked the 
 Visigoths, totally defeated them at the battle of Vouille, near 
 Poictiers, with his own hand killing their king Alaric II, took 
 the whole of their territory of Aquitaine, and left them only a 
 narrow strip of the southern part of Gaul on the northern side 
 of the Pyrenees, and by the time that he died in 61 1 the Franks 
 had gained nearly the whole of Gaul except Burgimdy, and 
 had become the leading nation in the West. It is in conse- 
 quence of the above event in 496, and its results in the next 
 generation,^ that from thenceforward, right down to modem 
 times, the French kings were always addressed by the titles 
 of " Most Christian King ** and " Eldest son of the Church." 
 Clovis was the maker of " France," and was the founder 
 of its first dynasty, the Merovingian dynasty ; while from 
 his reign also dates the ancient code of France, the Salic Law. 
 He had four sons, Thiudaric, Chlodomir, Childebert, and 
 Chlotochar, and numerous grandsons, so that the dynasty 
 became firmly established. Clovis died at Paris in 611 at the 
 age of forty-five, and was buried there in the Basilica of the 
 
 1 Chap. XXnX, pp. 369-360. 
 
 Holy Apostles, which had been built by him and Clotflda, who 
 survived him for many years. 
 
 ^.^^ Until comparatively recent years it was customary 
 formerly held to imagine that from the time of the death of the 
 iS^Roman cmpcror Theodosius the Great the eastern half of 
 Empire, ^j^^ empire was subject to a steady decay for cen- 
 turies until, long after the western half, it also came eventually 
 to an end. But in recent years this misconception has been 
 gradually dispelled,^ and it has been shown that the eastern 
 half of the empire ^ (though at a low ebb during the earlier 
 part of the 5th century) had many most glorious periods during 
 the centuries which follow, its decay not beginning until about 
 eight centuries after the western half of the empire ended. 
 The misconception noted was largely caused by the depre- 
 ciatory way in which it was customary in the last genera- 
 tion to write and speak of the Later Roman Empire, even 
 applymg to it the term " Lower Empire," and freely attribut- 
 ing to its rulers and people cowardice and a want of all the 
 elements of greatness.^ This view, however obtained, certainly 
 cannot have been gathered from any knowledge of the history 
 of the Later Roman Empire. Cowardice, in particular, was 
 certainly not the chief characteristic of an age which produced 
 emperors such as Leo I, Justin I, Tiberius II, Maurice, Hera- 
 clius, Constans II, Constantine IV, and Leo III, not to mention 
 many others of equal courage and manliness who succeeded 
 them ; while as regards the people whom they ruled Professor 
 Oman has well remarked : — " If military virtue was wanting 
 
 1 Chiefly through the writings of Finlay and Professors Freeman, 
 Bryce, Oman, and Bury. 
 
 * Which we must now call the Later Roman Empire, see p. 145. 
 
 3 Thus Mr. Lecky, in his History of European Morals, speaking 
 of this empire, calls it "the most base and despicable form that 
 civihzation ever assumed," saying that "there has been no other 
 enduring civilization so absolutely destitute of all the elements of 
 greatness." Regarding which picture of the Later Roman Empire 
 Prof. Oman, after saying that it cannot have been arrived at from a 
 study of the evidence bearing on the life of the persons thus accused, 
 and that it is hard to see whence such a view can have been derived, 
 remarks that it " soimds like a cheap echo of the second-hand histor- 
 ians of fifty years ago, whose staple commodity was Gibbon-and- 
 water/* 
 
158 
 
 ANASTASIUS I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 to the East Roman armies, how came the Ostrogoth and Vandal 
 to be conquered, the Persian and the Hun to be driven off ; 
 how, above all, was the desperate struggle against the fanatical 
 Saracen protracted for four hundred years, till at last the 
 Caliphate broke up ? " ^ 
 
 The above misconception regarding the Later Roman Em- 
 pire was no doubt much assisted by the feeble characters and 
 degenerate reigns, during the first half of the 5th century, 
 of the first two successors of Theodosius the Great, Arcadius 
 and his son Theodosius II ; but even during the 6th century 
 the reigns of Marcian and Leo I afforded a coimterpoise to 
 them, while there now began at the end of that century the 
 twenty-seven years' reign of an emperor who was worthy to 
 be compared with some of the best emperors of the preceding 
 centuries. 
 
 . , Anastasius I upon his accession in 491 as the succes- 
 
 Anastasius 1. . 
 
 sor of Zeno ^ at once gave evidence of his fitness 
 for the position by remissions of taxation, by putting 
 down informers, by abolishing the sale of offices, and by 
 other reforms which were greatly needed after the unscrupu- 
 lous methods of Zeno. Called by some " the tender-hearted 
 Anastasius," he has been deservedly praised for his good dis- 
 position, high character, and wise administration, though at 
 times his dislike of severity rendered him unable to cope fully 
 with the stormy elements by which he was surrounded. The 
 two chief difficulties which confronted him on his accession 
 were the powerful position in all political affairs which under 
 Zeno had been gained by the more or less barbarous Isaiirians, 
 and the religious difficulties caused by Anastasius having 
 adopted the Eutychian form of belief. 
 Ex isionof ^P^^ coming to the throne, as the only means by 
 the isaurian wMch peaco could bo Obtained, Anastasius expelled 
 the Isaurians from Constantinople ; * whereupon 
 they raised a revolt, headed by Longinines, Coimt of Isauria, 
 Longinus of Cardala, Athenodorus, and others of the high 
 officials who being Isaurians had been expelled, and difficult 
 
 ^ Oman, The Byzantine Empire, Chap. XI, p. 164. 
 • Page 152. 
 
 ' Largely by the able assistance of his brother-in-law Secundinus, 
 the husband of Anastasius* sister Caesaria. 
 
 XX] 
 
 THE LONG WALL 
 
 159 
 
 operations were necessary in their mountainous country lasting 
 nearly five years (492-497) before the Isaurians, after severe 
 losses and the death of most of their leaders, were finally sub- 
 dued. Upon their submission Anastasius settled a large 
 proportion of this tribe in Thrace, and thenceforth this hardy 
 race of mountaineers, their day of political power over, be- 
 came the backbone of the army, supplying its best material. 
 Recovery of I^ 498 bauds of Saraccus and Arabs invaded the 
 jouba. eastern provinces. They were defeated by Romanus, 
 the Count of Palestine, and the operations were crowned by 
 the recovery of the island of Jotaba in the Red Sea, given 
 up by Leo I, which island had special importance from being 
 the centre of the Red Sea trade. 
 
 Attack upon Thc departure of the Ostrogoths from Illyricum in 
 luyricum. 4gg i^ad left that province more or less open to the 
 attacks of the savage Bulgarians, and in 499 these foes in- 
 flicted a serious defeat at the Tzurta upon the Roman army 
 stationed in Illyricum, commanded by Aristus, but were even- 
 tually driven out. 
 War with In 502 a war began with Persia, the Persian king, 
 Persia. Kobad, (or Kawad) ^ being moved to attack the 
 empire, thereby breaking the hundred years' peace made in 
 422 which had for eighty years been kept by various Persian 
 monarchs.2 The war continued with varying success for four 
 years, but at length the empire was victorious, and Kobad 
 in 506 again made peace. Anastasius granted large remissions 
 of taxation throughout Mesopotamia, which had suffered 
 most from the war, and restored its fortifications. 
 
 The But Anastasius' chief work of this kind was the 
 Longwau. celebrated Long Wall, constructed in 507, a wall 
 
 1 Kobad succeeded to the Persian throne in 487. His reign is 
 notable for the earliest teaching of socialism. It was put forward 
 by a reformer named Mazdak, who taught that all men were by 
 nature equal ; that the existing conditions were therefore contrary 
 to nature and unjustifiable ; that acts to overthrow this unnatural 
 and unjustifiable condition of things were lawful; and that com- 
 munity of property and of wives was a necessary deduction. Kobad 
 took up these doctrines, and as a result the people turned him ofE his 
 throne, and imprisoned him. After a tune he was restored, and in 
 502 determined upon war with the Roman Empire. 
 
 2 For Persian kings of the Sassanian dynasty from 380 to 628, 
 see Note K, p. 323. 
 
160 
 
 ANASTASIUS I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 and a canal 50 miles long, from the Sea of Marmora to the 
 Black Sea, at a distance of 35 miles from the capital, making 
 Constantinople practically into an island. This great work 
 became an important feature in the defence of Constantinople 
 in later ages. 
 Reorganiza- ^nastaslus I also Carried out a sound reorganization 
 tionofthe of the army. He completed the scheme inaugur- 
 *™^* ated by Leo I of making the empire, instead of 
 trusting to Teutons for its military strength, rely upon an 
 army mainly recruited from men who were " Romans." It 
 must be borne in mind that throughout all the 977 years which 
 followed the ending of the western half of the empire that 
 which had been the eastern half of the empire (henceforth 
 known as the Later Roman Empire) insisted strongly on its 
 just claim to represent and carry on the traditions of the 
 Roman Empire. Constantinople, the capital of the empire, 
 was still (as named by Constantine) " New Rome," its em- 
 peror was still the Roman emperor, and the inhabitants of 
 this Later Roman Empire throughout their documents and in- 
 scriptions habitually, and justly, called themselves " Romans," 
 even though those documents and inscriptions might be written 
 in the Greek language. Because the empire had lost its west- 
 em provinces this could not deprive its capital and its eastern 
 provinces of the name they had always possessed. For his 
 chief recruiting grounds within the empire Anastasius chose, 
 as his predecessors Leo I and Zeno had done, the mountainous 
 districts of southern Asia Minor, inhabited for the most part 
 by the Isaurians, and also Armenia and other adjacent dis- 
 tricts on the eastern frontier ; but he increased the proportion 
 of troops thus recruited from races belonging to the empire 
 to about three-fifths of the army, reducing the barbarian 
 ** auxiliary " troops (chiefly composed of Huns, Heruli, Gepi- 
 dae, and other tribes beyond the Danube) to not more than 
 two-fifths of the total strength. The troops recruited within 
 the empire were chiefly infantry, the " auxiliary " troops being 
 entirely cavalry. 
 
 Disturbances ^ regard to the religious question Anastasius was 
 
 on account of not cqually successful. Though by nature tolerant 
 
 and opposed to conflicts, the intolerant atmosphere 
 
 by which he was surrounded gradually forced him into being 
 
 xx] 
 
 RESULTS OF HIS REIGN 
 
 161 
 
 a partisan, and becoming as he grew older increasingly bigoted 
 in his Eutychianism, he involved himself in frequent disturb- 
 ances through his persecution of the Catholic religion. Serious 
 riots due to this cause again and again took place, in the course 
 of which he unjustly deposed and exiled the Pope of Con- 
 stantinople, Macedonius, and acted in a similar manner at 
 Antioch, while the discontent aroused by these proceedings 
 at length culminated in 513 in an armed rebellion, headed 
 by the ambitious Vitalianus, which lasted for three years 
 (613-515), and was only put down after several battles had 
 been fought. 
 GcneraUy In othcr rcspccts, howcvcr, Anastasius ruled with 
 character of gTcat succcss. His reorganization of the army, his 
 his reign. aboHtiou of thc political power of the uncultured 
 Isaurians, who were highly distasteful to the rest of the popu- 
 lation, his recovery of the important Red Sea trading centre 
 of Jotaba, his construction of the Long Wall to provide greater 
 safety for the capital, and his successful conclusion of the 
 war with Persia, brought him much popularity, and this was 
 increased by his highly successful administration of civil affairs. 
 He abolished the harsh and unpopular tax called the chry- 
 sargyron, (a tax on receipts, which fell heavily on the poor), 
 burning all the documents relating to it so that it could not 
 be renewed, and substituted a land tax ; he annulled the 
 unfair system by which the curiales had been made responsible 
 for the municipal taxes ; he prohibited fights in the arena 
 between men and wild beasts ; and he administered financial 
 affairs so successfully that while he considerably lightened 
 the burdens of the people he left at his death an immense sum 
 in the Treasury. 
 
 Death of In 515 the empress Ariadne, who had taken an im- 
 Anastasius I. portaut part in imperial affairs for more than forty 
 years, died at the age of seventy. Anastasius I did not long 
 survive her. In 518 he also died, at the age of eighty-eight, 
 after a successful reign of twenty-seven years. From every 
 point the results attained by him were equally satisfactory. 
 He left to his successor a sum in the Treasury equal to four- 
 teen millions sterling, an efficient army of more than 200,000 
 men, a contented people, and an unbroken frontier from 
 Singidunum on the Danube to Circesium oa tbQ Euphrates, 
 
 EW,— n. 
 
 M 
 
 ■m 
 
CHAP. 
 
 162 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 xx] 
 
 KING ARTHUR 
 
 163 
 
 Upon the death of Anastasius I, Justin, commander 
 ■^"'**"^' of the Imperial Guards, who had gained the final 
 victory over the rebellion in 616, was chosen emperor by the 
 Senate and the troops. His chief recommendation perhaps 
 in the eyes of the people was that he was a Catholic. He 
 forthwith proscribed all Eutychian and Nestorian tendencies, 
 thereby putting an end to the religious conflicts which had 
 disturbed the empire during the later years of Anastasius I. 
 Originally a peasant of Macedonia, ^ Justin was an able 
 soldier, but he had no aptitude for the affairs of government, 
 while he was nearly seventy years old, and during his reign 
 of nine years (518-627) he left the chief power to be exer- 
 cised by his capable nephew Justinian. 
 
 Britain. 
 
 While the Franks had been making themselves 
 'masters of Gaul, the Vandals establishing their 
 rule in North Africa, the VL'^igoths settling down in Spain, 
 and the Ostrogoths setting up their kingdom in Italy, thick 
 mists for a long time obscure Britain. All that we can gather 
 is that in that country much more vigorous struggles took 
 place than in any of the other countries of the West, lasting 
 for nearly a hundred years, between the thoroughly Roman- 
 ized population of Britain and their various barbarian assail- 
 ants, the former being Christians, and the latter all of them 
 Pagans. Between the years 440 and 500 the Jutes under 
 Hengist and Horsa, the Saxons under iElle, the Saxons again 
 under Cedric, and about the year 500 the Angles, all coming 
 from the countries situated near the mouths of the Rhine and 
 the Elbe, in successive waves and in considerable strength 
 invaded Britain, slaughtering its inhabitants, destroying 
 villas, towns, churches, and all evidences of Roman civilization, 
 and driving the scattered survivors further and further west- 
 ward.* By the beginning of the sixth century the Jutes had 
 
 ^ He was of Latin race. 
 
 • It was shortly before this destruction began in Britain that St. 
 Patrick, a Christian noble belonging to Valentinian I's province of 
 Valentia (the district between the Solway and the Clyde), after being 
 seized by pirates and carried to Gaul, was sent in 432 to Ireland, where 
 after a time he converted the king of Leinster, and became Ireland's 
 fint Bishop, establishing his see at Armagh. 
 
 Arthur. 
 
 established themselves in Kent (the only county of England 
 which has retained its British name), the Saxons had pushed 
 on and occupied all the central and southern part of Britain, 
 and the Angles had taken possession of its eastern coast from 
 the mouth of the Forth to that of the Thames, the survivors 
 of Roman Britain having been driven back into Somerset, 
 Devonshire, Cornwall, and Wales, whence they still main- 
 tained an unending struggle with these foes. 
 
 It is to this period (that is to say, a time contempor- 
 aneous with the rule of Theodoric the Great in 
 Italy), that the history of the noble king Arthur, prince of the 
 Silures, in southern Wales, and elected king of the Britons, 
 belongs, and regarding whom we have only the vaguest records. 
 He is described as a civilized Christian king fighting against 
 savage Pagan enemies, and is said to have defeated in twelve 
 successive battles the Angles to the east and the Saxons to 
 the south, and in 520 at the battle of Mount Badon to have 
 so thoroughly beaten the latter that Wales, Somerset, Devon- 
 shire, and Cornwall (these three counties being called by the 
 Saxons West Wales) were protected from further molestation 
 by these foes for many years, Arthur thus preserving the 
 most revered shrine and church in Britain, Avallon (Glaston- 
 bury), from the destruction which fell upon all the other 
 churches in Britain to the east of Somersetshire. The name 
 Glastonbury ^ is of much more recent origin, being merely the 
 name given to it by the Saxons, when about 200 years later 
 they gained possession of it. Its proper, British, name is 
 Avallon, meaning the Island of Apples (called in Latin by the 
 Romanized Britons, Avalonia), water-channels and marshes 
 then extending from the Bristol Channel up to this island. 
 And there according to tradition Arthur, killed in his last great 
 battle in the west, was buried. * For six hundred years after- 
 
 * Signifying the town of the Glaestings. 
 
 * The long established tradition that King Arthur was buried at 
 the shrine of Glastonbury was in the 12th century corroborated. The 
 Abbot Henry de Blois, according to Giraldus Cambrensis and 
 others, causing search to be made, discovered at a depth of 16 feet a 
 massive oak coffin with the inscription, ** Hie jacet sepultus inclitus 
 rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia " (Here lies buried the renowned 
 king Arthur in the island of Avallon). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 164 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 wards the exploits of Arthur were preserved by the Welsh 
 bards, though owing to the hostility of the Saxons, whose 
 territory intervened, those exploits remained unknown to 
 the rest of the world until, in the Uth century, the Norman 
 conquerors of Britain eagerly sought out and embellished 
 the memory of a prince who had triumphed over their Saxon 
 antagonists. 
 Division of The Britons being Christians, and two out of their 
 dioceses, thrcc ccclcsiastical dioceses, York and London, 
 being destroyed (together with every living Christian in the 
 east, south, and centre of Britain), upon being thus driven 
 into the West by their Pagan enemies divided their remaining 
 diocese of Caerleon-on-Usk (Isca Silurum),^ the western diocese, 
 into five dioceses, Llandaff, Bangor, St. David's, St. Asaph, 
 and the diocese of ComwaU, the latter absorbed in the 11th 
 centmy into that of Exeter. The four of these dioceses which 
 still remain, the four Welsh dioceses, all date from the first 
 half of the sixth century, and are the four oldest of all the 
 dioceses of the Church of England, those of York and London 
 only dating from the time when they were re-established 
 about a century later when the Saxons, Jutes, and Angles 
 became gradually converted to Christianity. 
 Chan in the "^"^ ^^^8 *^^ unsucccssful Struggle wrought a 
 Romanixed great chauge in the Romanized Britons. Driven 
 Britons. ^^^ ^j ^^^ lowlands, and thereby losing their 
 
 towns and all the conditions of town-life, forced to occupy 
 a hill coimtry where Roman civilization had never taken root, 
 and occupying a region where the Celtic element had never 
 become altogether extinct, and was now perhaps augmented 
 by fresh immigrations from Ireland, they gradually lost their 
 Roman customs, speech, and manners, and became merged 
 with the Celts, though still retaining their Christianity, their 
 Church organization, and their customs in matters of religion, 
 and were in this condition when at the end of the 6th century 
 they were brought in contact with the Christian mission 
 sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to convert 
 their Pagan foes the Jutes.* 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIII, p. 398 (footnote), 
 I Chap, X;?CIII, p. 372, 
 
 xx] 
 
 THE OSTROGOTH KINGDOM 
 
 165 
 
 Theodoric's "^^ kingdom of the Ostrogoths, which Theodoric 
 enlightened at thc agc of thirty-nine, upon taking Ravenna 
 in 493, set up in Italy (comprising at the first Italy, 
 Rhaetia, and Noricum), lasted for forty-two years, of which 
 Theodoric reigned for the first thirty-three (493-526). His 
 capital was Ravenna, but he also resided at times in Rome, 
 and also for long periods at Verona, from whence to watch 
 affairs in Rhaetia and Noricum, and thus has obtained in 
 the Northern sagas the name Dietrich of Bern (Verona), under 
 which name he appears in the Nibelungen Lied. 
 
 Theodoric's rule over this kingdom was by far the most 
 enlightened of all which the northern races established over 
 the different portions of the Roman Empire which were seized 
 by them. In his administration he showed a sense of justice 
 and toleration very unusual among the races which had des- 
 troyed the western half of the empire ; he did not because he 
 was a Goth- think it necessary to enslave and trample upon 
 the Romans, or because he was an Arian in religion feel it in- 
 cumbent upon him to persecute the Catholics. He ruled with 
 even-handed justice, protecting the Roman population from 
 destruction, endeavouring to treat Goths and Romans alike 
 so far as the circumstances permitted, and doing the same in 
 matters of religion as regards Arians and Catholics. It is 
 true that before his time Roman emperors, such as Constantino 
 the Great and Valentinian I in regard to religion, and in poli- 
 tical matters Theodosius the Great in his treatment of the 
 Goths themselves, had exhibited a similar spirit ; but Theo- 
 doric was the only ruler among the northern races of his time 
 who did so. Undoubtedly this attitude on Theodoric's part 
 was largely due to his previous history ; half his life had been 
 spent amidst associations and surroundings very different 
 from those of a barbarian ruler ; the years during which he 
 had taken part in the life of the capital and of the court had 
 taught him much, while also causing him to admire many of 
 the methods and customs of the Romans, and to desire to 
 carry out some of them in his new kingdom. At the same time 
 he had to exercise discretion, to avoid carrying such views to 
 an extreme which would disgust his> Ostrogoths and alienate 
 them from himself, and to maintain a wise equipoise between 
 these two points of view, the Gothic and the Roman ; though 
 
 * >; 
 
r 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 166 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 1 
 
 OSTROGOTHS AND ROMANS 
 
 167 
 
 whether he always did full justice to the Ostrogoths in the 
 matter is doubtful. 
 
 When we hear that Theodoric could neither read nor write, 
 and made his signature by placing on the paper a gold plate 
 with the first five letters of his name cut in it and inking over 
 these apertures, we are apt to imagine that he was an ignorant 
 and uncivilized barbarian. But that would be an entire mis- 
 take, one due to the change which has taken place in ourselves 
 during the course of fourteen hundred years. The Ostro- 
 goths, and all the other Teutonic races in Theodoric's time, con- 
 sidered the art of reading and writing one unfit for a warrior, 
 and only suitable to monks and clergy, or to races inferior to 
 themselves in courage and manliness. For an Ostrogoth, 
 and above all an Amal, to be able to read and write would 
 have been an indignity in the eyes of every Ostrogoth. And 
 in view of the fact that Theodoric had been brought up as a 
 boy from £he age of seven at the imperial court, had shared 
 in all the life of the capital during many years, had commanded 
 the household troops, and had even held the ofl&ce of Consul, 
 it is quite evident that his not being able to read or write was 
 not due to want of ability or indolence, but that he deliber- 
 ately declined to leam these accomplishments in order to be 
 in accord with the sentiment of his nation. 
 
 But there were other directions in which Theodoric took a 
 different line, and would seem not to have sufficiently regarded 
 the feelings of the Ostrogoths. For he departed altogether 
 from the Gothic ideal, not only in his system of government, 
 but also in his personal arrangements. The Gothic ideal 
 of a king was that of one freely elected to that office by his 
 comrades and equals, and accustomed to be always accessible 
 to them, and to meet them from time to time in the F demote ^ 
 or council of the nation, there to receive their approval, or 
 disapproval, of his actions. But instead of this, Theodoric 
 adopted at Ravenna the style and customs of the imperial 
 court ; his laws were published as edicts after the manner of 
 the Roman emperors ; no meeting of the Folcmote of the 
 OBtrogoths was ever called ; silentiarii guarded the doors of 
 the presence chamber ; and Theodoric wore the diadem and 
 the purple robes of an emperor, and only summoned his warriors 
 to his presence on stated occasions. That the Ostrogoths 
 
 should have endured conduct of this kind, which must have 
 given them constant offence, shows how much they must have 
 valued Theodoric for his qualities in other respects. 
 His principles But their Amal king had qualities far beyond those 
 of govenunent. which his faithful Ostrogoths could appreciate. 
 For Theodoric set before himself the aim of achieving that 
 which had been the dream of Ataulf , the merging of Oothia into 
 Bomania to the benefit of both, of instilling into the Goths 
 the Roman principles of law, order, and civilization, Rome 
 in return becoming invigorated by their strength. And this 
 ideal of Ataulf 's Theodoric, during the thirty-three years that 
 he reigned in Italy, made to some extent a reality, so far as 
 that could be done in one generation. He did not seek to 
 fuse the Romans and Goths together, but he made such a 
 fusion possible in after generations, publishing separate laws 
 for each of them, treating both races with equal justice, and 
 showing that he would not permit the victorious Goths to 
 tyrannize over the defeated Romans. Such principles were 
 a new departure, and had they been continued in subsequent 
 generations Italy would have been spared long centuries of 
 misery. Even as it was, the short-lived kingdom of the Ostro- 
 goths gave Italy a respite before her final ruin. 
 
 Theodoric from the first carried out these principles in his 
 scheme of government ; the Goths retained their own rights, 
 their own laws, and their own officials, and provided the 
 fighting element ; the Romans continued to be governed as 
 they had been in the past, and numerous Roman officials 
 assisted Theodoric in the civil administration. But from a 
 Gothic point of view both the court and the administration 
 were altogether far too Roman in character; Faustus, 
 the Prsetorian Prefect, Liberius, Theodoric's chief minister 
 for seven years, Cassiodorus, the successor of Liberius, Sen- 
 arius, Agapatus, and Eugenetes, were all prominent Romans 
 who were entrusted with high offices by Theodoric, while the 
 latter's court was entirely Roman, and here Theodoric did 
 not maintain the equipoise which the Goths certainly had a 
 right to expect from their king. It is evident that the Goths 
 did not always fail to evince dissatisfaction, for on one occasion 
 we hear of a conspiracy among them against him. About the 
 year 500 Theodoric promulgated the celebrated ** Edict of 
 
if 
 
 > , 
 
 .' 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 168 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 Theodoric," containing in 154 sections his principal laws, all of 
 them very sound but all entirely Roman in character, and 
 without a trace in them of Gothic ideas on the subjects con- 
 cerned. It seems probable that it was the publication of this 
 Romanizing edict which caused the conspiracy among the 
 Goths headed by Coimt Odoin. The Roman writers give us 
 no details about this conspiracy, except that it was discovered 
 (apparently while Theodoric was at Rome in 500), and 
 that CJount Odoin was beheaded in the Sessorian Palace at 
 Rome. 
 
 Our information regarding details of Theodoric's reign, ex- 
 cept what may be gathered from the writings of Jordanes,^ is 
 both meagre and one-sided, coming almost entirely either 
 from the curt record by an anonymous writer whose work is 
 styled the Anonymus Valesii, who looks at all matters in Italy 
 from the Byzantine point of view and shows a strong bias 
 against Theodoric,* or from the twelve books of copious letters 
 of the minister Cassiodorus, who wraps up everything in 
 clouds of ornate language, hypocritical sentiment, and fulsome 
 flattery, avoiding all unpleasant subjects. It was one un- 
 fortunate result of Theodoric's inability to read or write that 
 we obtain our whole picture of him and his mental attitude 
 from Roman pens accustomed to clothe the simplest matter 
 in masses of courtly verbiage. As a consequence of the ruler 
 not being able to read the document which he signed, the brief 
 commands and rough strong sentences of the Ostrogothic 
 king are converted by the flowery Cassiodorus into edicts, or 
 letters to foreign rulers, couched in the grandiloquent language, 
 and conveying the bombastic sentiments which commended 
 themselves to Cassiodorus, thereby completely hiding from 
 OS the real Theodoric. 
 
 Much, however, may be learnt of a man's character 
 by looking at the kind of men who are his closest 
 friends. Theodoric's two chief friends were Artemidorus, a 
 Greek nobleman, and Tulum, an Ostrogoth. Artemidorus, 
 one of the nobles of Constantinople, distantly related to the 
 
 * See Note G, p. 139. 
 
 * He writes as cm ecclesiastic and an inhabitant of Ravenna, 8knd 
 is generally supposed to have been Mayimianus, Archbishop of Ra* 
 veona in the reign of Justinian. 
 
 Artemidoras. 
 
 1 
 
 ARTEMIDORUS 
 
 169 
 
 imperial family, and about the same age as Theodoric, was 
 strongly attracted by the latter when they were both young 
 men at the imperial court, the first occasion when they met 
 being upon Artemidorus being sent by the emperor on an 
 embassy to Theodoric, then in rebellion against him, to per- 
 suade him to return to his allegiance. It might almost be 
 said that from the first moment that Artemidorus' eyes rested 
 upon the young Ostrogoth king he loved him, and a friendship 
 between them began which lasted unbroken throughout life. 
 For Theodoric's sake Artemidorus abandoned all the splendid 
 career which was open to him at the imperial court, accom- 
 panied him through aU his campaigns, and throughout all the 
 years that followed was ever his closest friend at Ravenna, 
 or Verona, or Pavia, or wherever Theodoric might be residing. 
 Artemidorus desired no exalted office, and had no wish to be 
 burdened with the cares of State ; all he desired was to be 
 near Theodoric. He had the artistic, pleasure-loving, Greek 
 temperament, and found sufficient occupation in managing 
 the great chariot-races at Ravenna. At length after he had 
 been sixteen years at Ravenna, Theodoric in 609 persuaded 
 him to become Prefect of that city. Subsequently (possibly 
 when the first symptoms of the seditious feeling in Rome be- 
 gan to appear) Theodoric induced him for his sake to become 
 Prefect of Rome, where Artemidorus, while discharging effi- 
 ciently the duties of that office, maintained a watch over the 
 Senate. And there is no doubt that by having on the spot 
 this one absolutely reliable friend who was devoted to him, 
 Theodoric obtained full information of the feeling in Rome, 
 and was enabled to feel the pulse of the Romans.^ 
 
 Theodoric's other chief friend. Count Tulum, belong- 
 ing to one of the noblest Gothic families, as a youth 
 began his career as a private soldier, being one of those selected 
 to guard Theodoric's antechamber in the palace at Ravenna, 
 and soon developed a sort of hero-worship for him. After a 
 
 ^ A good example of Cassiodorus' style, and of the way in which it 
 obscures the real Theodoric, is given in his " Varise,'* III, 22, in which 
 Cassiodorus' letter represents Theodoric sis inviting Artemidorus back 
 to his side " in order that you who have spent a large portion of your 
 life with Us may be satisfied by the sweetness of Our presence " ; 
 words calculated to kill even the most devoted attachment. 
 
 Tulum. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 170 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 , 
 
 time he was promoted, and in 604 was sent on the campaign 
 imdertaken in that year against the Gepidse in Pannonia. 
 There he showed so many military qualities, and such a genius 
 for the art of war, that he was advanced to high rank, and 
 ere long became Theodoric's chief military adviser. Tulum 
 gained further renown in 510 in the campaign in Gaul, where 
 he was several times wounded, and in 523 he commanded 
 the army sent against the Burgundians, again winning much 
 honour. He was married to a princess of the Amals, and 
 became as intimate a personal friend of Theodoric as Artemi- 
 dorus. Unlike the sycophantic Romans at the court, Tulum 
 would often strenuously uphold against Theodoric a policy 
 which he felt was best for the latter *s interests, and Theodoric 
 had the greatest regard for him and valued him exceedingly. 
 It is also an indication of Theodoric's character that he inspired 
 much devotion among not a few Romans,^ men who in the 
 stormy time during the last three years of his reign, when 
 Romans and Groths were arrayed on opposite sides, remained 
 faithful to him though they were Romans, and knowing that 
 there were other Romans who were acting treacherously to- 
 wards their Gothic king, stood firmly by him and denounced 
 them. 
 
 Another man who, though not a close personal 
 friend like Artemidorus and Tulum, was on terms 
 of great intimacy with Theodoric was Anicius Manlius Boethius, 
 scholar, philosopher, poet, statesman, mathematician, mechani- 
 cian, the greatest genius of his time, and the last learned man 
 among the Romans. He translated Pythagoras for the theory 
 of music, Ptolemy for astronomy, Nichomachus for arithmetic, 
 Euclid for geometry, and was specially noted for his commen- 
 taries on the treatises of Aristotle.* On all occasions when 
 Theodoric desired advice on any mechanical, mathematical, 
 or artistic subject, whether to test the fineness of the coinage, 
 to construct a water-clock, or to select a skilfid musician, it 
 was to Boethius that he applied, and the latter stood high 
 in his favour. Boethius married Rusticiana, the daughter of 
 Symmachus, the head of the Senate, was chosen Consul at the 
 
 * Such as Cyprian, hiB brother Opilio, the young Roman noble 
 Decoratus, and others. 
 
 * See also p. 175. 
 
 Boethius. 
 
 1 
 
 THE WORD "THIUDA** 
 
 171 
 
 age of thirty in 510, and about the year 522 was advanced 
 by Theodoric to the important and confidential post of Master 
 of the Ofl&ces. 
 
 Distortion of Thcodoric's namc of " Thiuda-Reik '' (people-ruler) 
 Gothic names, j^g^g ^jecn comiptcd by the Greek writers of the 
 period into the form ** Theodoric," thus turning it into one 
 similar to such Greek names as Theodorus, Theodotus, Theo- 
 dosius, Theodoret, and Theodora, which all have their root 
 in the Greek word " Theos " (God) ; whereas Theodoric's 
 name is properly Thiudaric, similar to such other Gothic 
 names as Thiudamir, Thiudahad, Thiudabert, Thiudabald, 
 Thiudamund, Thiudagotha, and Thiudalinda, which all 
 have their root in the Gothic word " Thiuda " (people), 
 and have all been distorted to the form " Theo " by the 
 Greek writers. In the case of Theodoric it seems best to use 
 the form by which he has so long been known in history, 
 but in the case of the other names quoted to use their more 
 correct form ; especially as such distortions as Theudebert 
 and Theudebald are neither Greek nor Gothic, and lose their 
 interesting Gothic derivation without any reason. A curious 
 fact in connection with this subject is that the title of the 
 Goths for their king should be Thiudans, which being likewise 
 derived from Thiuda seems like the anticipation of a time 
 when these northern races would learn to speak of the sover- 
 eignty of the people. It accords with the general sentiment 
 of a race who looked upon their king as one of themselves, 
 and expected him to assemble them from time to time to give 
 their approval of his actions. 
 
 There is also a further reason why it is desirable to preserve 
 the Grothic form of all these names. For the interest which at- 
 taches to the Gothic word "Thiuda" (the people) is enhanced by 
 the fact that the present name of the German race, " Deutsch," 
 is itself only the modem form of "Thiuda." Gradually 
 this latter word changed into the general name adopted by 
 the German races from the time of Theodoric to the 10th 
 century, viz. " Teutonen " (Teutons) ; but about the begin- 
 ning of the 10th century the form " Deutsch " came into 
 use as more correct, both words being derived from " Thi- 
 uda." Ludwig I, king of Bavaria in the early part of the 
 19th century, was so anxious that the origin of the 
 
CHAP. 
 
 i 
 
 1 ; 
 
 I, 
 
 172 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 name should not be forgotten that he always wrote it 
 " Teutsch," instead of " Deutsch." ^ 
 ^ ^ . , While Theodorie's rival Clovis was snirounded 
 
 Theodonc's ^ 
 
 matrimonial with sons and gTandsons, Theodoric had no son. 
 
 alliances. ^~g. , -. ■. fj^**i 
 
 He however arranged a scheme of matrimonial 
 alliances through his sisters and daughters which was ex- 
 ceedingly widespread. He gave his widowed sister Amala- 
 frida in marriage to Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, and 
 his other sister Amalaberga to Hermanfred, king of the Thur- 
 ingians, while he himself about the year 500 married as his 
 second wife Audefleda, the sister of Clovis, king of the Franks ; 
 he also gave his eldest daughter Arevagni, to Alaric II, king 
 of the Visigoths, who was killed at the battle of VouiUe in 
 607, and his second daughter, Thiudagotha, to ^gismund, 
 the eldest son of Gundobad, king of the Burgundians. Theo- 
 doric thu^ aUied himself with the Franks, the Visigoths, the 
 Vandals, the Burgundians, and the Thuringians, leaving no 
 important nation in any part of the West with which he was 
 not connected. Upon the influence of his sister Amalafrida 
 he specially relied for maintaining good relations with the 
 powerful kingdom of the Vandals ; when in 500 she was married 
 to Thrasamund she came to Carthage with a retinue of 1000 
 distinguished Goths as her body-guard and 5000 slaves capable 
 of bearing arms. Finally Theodoric determined that his third 
 and favourite daughter, Amalasuntha, his only child by Aude- 
 fleda, shoidd marry an Amal, to be his successor as king of 
 the Ostrogoths ; and accordingly when she grew up she was 
 married about the year 515 to Eutharic, a direct descendant 
 of the great Hermanric* 
 
 Though the emperor still affected to regard himself as the 
 sovereign lord over Italy, and Theodoric merely as his lieutenant, 
 the latter maintained peace with the emperor Anastasius I 
 throughout almost the whole of the latter's reign, this attitude 
 between them being broken on only one occasion. In 508 
 Munlo, a captain of robbers, being attacked by the Roman 
 army in lUyricum, obtained the assistance of an Ostrogothic 
 force, and at Horrea Margi gained a victory over the Romans. 
 
 ^ This form " Teutsch " is that used in the great national monu- 
 ment, the '* Befreiungshalle " (Hall of Liberation), erected in 1842 
 at Kelheim. * Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 501. 
 
 xx] 
 
 CONQUESTS 
 
 173 
 
 In retaliation Anastasius sent the fleet to raid the coasts of 
 Italy, which hindered Theodoric from supporting the Visigoths 
 against the Franks. Shortly afterwards Theodoric again 
 made peace with the emperor. 
 
 His Theodoric continually added to his dominions. 
 dominions, jjj 594 j^g attacked his old enemies the Gepidae, and 
 took Pannonia. When Clovis after driving the Allemanni 
 out of Gaul proposed to pursue and annihilate them, Theodoric 
 intervened on their behalf, warned Clovis to desist, and took 
 the Allemanni imder his protection. In 510 his general, Count 
 Ibbas, defeated the Franks and Burgundians at Aries and 
 took Provence. And in 523, in alliance with the Franks, 
 Theodoric took a large part of Dauphine from the Burgundians. 
 At the end of his reign his dominions included Italy, Sicily, 
 Rhsetia, Noricum, Pannonia, a great part of Illyricum, Pro- 
 vence, part of Dauphine, and a portion of Germany as far 
 north as Ulm, while the Burgundians, the Allemanni, and 
 the Visigoths aU looked to him as their strong protector from 
 the Franks. 
 Troubles of But Thcodoric's Sim, which had shone with such 
 ^^eaJl'o/ splendour for thirty years, was destined to set in 
 his reign, dccpcst gloom. During the last three years of his 
 reign he was forced, by circumstances which were in no way 
 his fault, into a position in which it was impossible for him 
 to continue to act upon the principles which had formed the 
 chief glory of his reign, and was compelled by the Romans 
 themselves to side with the Ostrogoths against the Romans. 
 As so often the case, it was religion which brought about 
 these grave political results. 
 
 During the long reign of the emperor Anastasius I the 
 relations between Theodoric and the emperor had remained 
 almost uninterruptedly peaceful. But the accession of Justin I 
 as emperor in 518 created a change in matters connected 
 with religion which soon began to have political effects, and 
 seriously to affect Theodoric' s position with regard to his 
 own subjects. Justin as a strong Catholic began cordial rela- 
 tions with the Roman Church, by whom his zeal for Catholi- 
 cism, and his suppression of Eutychianism, Nestorianism, 
 and other heresies in the east, was much applauded. But 
 the closer Justin I dr^w to the Catbohcs in Italy the worse 
 
174 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xx] 
 
 THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY 175 
 
 r t 
 
 grew his relations with Italy's Arian king, and an antagonistic 
 feeling began to grow up between the Arians and the Catholics 
 in Italy. 
 
 While matters were in this state in regard to religion, it 
 came to Theodoric's knowledge that a treasonable corre- 
 spondence was taking place between certain members of the 
 Senate of Rome and the emperor Justin I. The details of 
 this affair, the most important of Theodoric's reign, are wrapped 
 in the greatest obscurity, being carefully hidden from us by 
 the Roman writers, who say as little as possible about it, 
 and suppressing all else relate only those aspects of it un- 
 favourable to Theodoric. As far as can be gathered it appears 
 that towards the middle of the year 523, while the court was 
 at Verona, the senator Albinus was openly denounced before 
 Theodoric in the Council by Cyprian, Reporter of the High 
 Court of Justice,^ and was declared by him to be carrying 
 on treasonable intrigues with Constantinople ; and that there- 
 upon Boethius, the Master of the Offices, took the part of 
 Albinus, declared the accusation to be false, and said *' If 
 Albinus has written to Constantinople he has done so with 
 my concurrence and that of the whole Senate.'* Apparently 
 Boethius, who, capable as he was in other respects, was a 
 passionate and unwise man in public affairs, considered that 
 he stood so high in position that it would be sufficient to clear 
 Albinus if he threw his shield over him, and that none would 
 venture to assert that he himself could be guilty in a similar 
 
 * Cyprian, who was forced by his integrity to Theodoric to become 
 the accuser of Albinus and Boethius, was a Roman of high birth. In 
 his capacity of Reporter to the High Court of Justice he had the duty 
 of stating the ce^es of Utigants, first from that of one side and then 
 from that of the other. The fedmess with which he did this, bringing 
 out the strong points of either side in turn, was often applauded by 
 the suitors themselves. Theodoric, when tired of sitting in his court, 
 would often mount his horse, and, bidding Cyprian accompany him, 
 ride through the vast pine-wood of Ravenna, and as they rode Cyprian 
 would make even the dullest case interesting by the manner in which 
 he related it. He appeeurs to have been absolutely faithful to Theo- 
 doric, and so well known to be so that after the latter*s death he was 
 on this account promoted to still higher office by Theodoric's daughter 
 Amalasuntha ; and instead of being, 8^ the Anonymus Valesii states, 
 "urged by cupidity," was specially praised as being "devoid of 
 cupidity.'* 
 
 way. Nevertheless Cyprian was not daunted, and appears to 
 have responded by declaring that Boethius himself was equally 
 guilty. A short enquiry into the charge was held, the result 
 of which was that Theodoric consigned both Albinus and 
 Boethius to prison at Pavia, pending the result of a full trial 
 by the Senate. About two months after they had been thus 
 imprisoned the Pope of Rome, Hormisdas, died on the 5th 
 August 523, and as his successor John I was elected Bishop 
 of Rome and Pope of the western patriarchate. 
 
 Trial of The fate of Boethius has attained special notoriety 
 Boethius. owing to the high estimation in which his literary 
 works ^ were held in the Middle Ages. During his imprison- 
 ment he added to them by writing his world-renowned book 
 The Consolation of Philosophy, the most popular work on 
 philosophy in the Middle Ages ; * a large part of it is taken up 
 with an endeavour (by very unconvincing arguments) to prove 
 his innocence, and with virulent traducing of the characters 
 of all his accusers. Shortly before the denunciation at Verona 
 took place Boethius published a work against Arianism, en- 
 titled De Trinitate ; and though the religious question hah no 
 direct reference to this trial upon a charge of treason, it is easy 
 to see that this book was an unwise one for a high official of 
 Theodoric to bring out in the circumstances of the time. 
 While, however, the case was not one of Arian versus Catholic, 
 neither could it be called one of Goth versus Roman. All the 
 accusers of Boethius were Romans. Moreover although the 
 Roman writers have made it appear as though Boethius was 
 put to death by an arbitrary order of Theodoric, and upon 
 the evidence of a few false witnesses,^ it was by the Senate that 
 Boethius was condemned to death, and after a full trial of the 
 
 1 Page 170. 
 
 2 It was translated into English by King Alfred in the 9th century, 
 and again by Chaucer in the 14th century, and the list of the various 
 editions and translations of it fills fifty pages of the catalogue of the 
 Library of the British Museum. 
 
 ' Thus the Anonymus Valesii (writing of the event about twenty 
 years afterwards, when Ravenna had come imder the rule of a 
 Catholic emperor) says : " But the King laid snares for the Romans, 
 and sought how he might slay them ; he put more confidence in the 
 false witnesses than in the Senators ** ; every word of which sentence 
 is directly contradicted by Theodoric's various actions in this matter. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 176 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 ir' 
 
 ' I 
 
 case ; a Senate no doubt who trembled before the king's frown, . 
 and were almost as subservient to his will in such matters as 
 the Parliament of England were to the commands of a Henry 
 Vni ; but a Senate nevertheless who in this case must have 
 felt an almost insuperable reluctance to condemn to death one 
 of their own number for an offence in which they themselves 
 had joined. It would seem that they can only have passed 
 sentence of death against Boethius (himself a senator, a 
 Patrician, and the son-in-law of the leading member of their 
 body) because the evidence against him was too overwhelming 
 
 to be ignored. 
 
 Nor does Boethius' own defence of his conduct as given in 
 his work, The Consolation of Philosophy, induce in us a con- 
 viction of his innocence of the treason with which he was 
 charged. After loading with often manifestly unjust abuse 
 the Romans who were his accusers, he with supreme want of 
 logic first states that they were *' thirsting for the blood of 
 the Senate," ^ then accuses the whole Senate of being guilty 
 of the same offence with which he is charged, and then while 
 declaring his innocence claims the protection of the Senate 
 on the ground that to screen them he had suppressed docu- 
 ments which would have proved them guilty. Dr. Hodgkin, 
 in the exhaustive analysis that he has made of this notable 
 State trial, 2 sums up the character of Boethius, so far as it can 
 be judged from his own writings and those of contemporaries, 
 thus : — " Brilliant as a man of letters, unrivalled as a man of 
 science, irreproachable as long as he remained in the seclusion 
 of his library ; but utterly unfit for affairs ; passionate and 
 ungenerous ; incapable of recognising the fact that there 
 might be other points of view besides his own ; persuaded 
 that every one who wounded his vanity must be a scoundrel, 
 or at best a buffoon :— in short, an impracticable colleague, 
 and with all his honourable aspirations, an unscrupulous 
 
 enemy." 
 
 Theodoric evidently observed the maxim which had been 
 laid down by Theodosius the Great ^ as to allowing a long time 
 to elapse between a sentence and its execution, in order to 
 
 1 Yet they were Senators themselves. 
 
 « Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, Vol. Ill, pp. 517-653 (Editiou 
 1885). * Vol, I. Clwkp. XVI. p. 667, 
 
 xx] 
 
 EXECUTION OF BOETHIUS 
 
 177 
 
 avoid executions in the heat of passion. The Anonymus 
 Valesii ^ (the chief source of information in regard to this 
 affair) relates the matter in such a way as to give the idea that 
 Boethius was put to death (i) without due trial, (ii) by Theo- 
 doric's sole fiat, and (iii) forthwith, saying " Then were Albinus 
 and Boethius taken into custody at the baptistery of the 
 church at Ticinum (Pavia). But the king called for Eusebius, 
 Prefect of the City of Ticinum, and passed sentence against 
 Boethius unheard ; and soon after sent and ordered him to be 
 killed on the Calventian property." Whereas, instead of any 
 such summary proceeding, the case was tried by the Senate, 
 the sentence was passed by them, and Boethius was in prison 
 for nearly a whole year ^ while the f uUest enquiry was 
 being made, and during which time he wrote his important 
 book The Consolation of Philosophy. This gives a measure 
 of the degree of reliability to be placed upon the Anonymiis 
 Valesii. Eventually the sentence of death was carried out, 
 and Boethius was executed either at Pavia or Calvenzano 
 about the middle of 524. The Anonymus Valesii says that 
 he was put to death with great barbarity ; but as it adds 
 various episodes such as that thereupon a woman gave 
 birth to four dragons which promptly flew away into the sea, 
 we may consider the story of torture not proved. Regarding 
 the fate of Albinus we are told nothing ; and as the anxiety 
 of the Roman writers to magnify everything in the affair 
 which wiU teU against Theodoric is manifest in every line, 
 we may be certain that if Albinus, as well as Boethius, had 
 been put to death they would have mentioned it. It would 
 therefore appear that Theodoric pardoned Albinus, possibly 
 as being the less important offender of the two. 
 Religious Meanwhile, however, the emperor Justin I had 
 animosity. ^^^^^^ ^ g^^p ^^ich largely increased Theodoric's 
 
 difficulties. While the Ostrogoth king's natural wrath was 
 
 ^ If the Anonymus Valesii was written, as generally supposed, by 
 Maximianus, Archbishop of Ravenna, then it was written from twenty 
 to thirty years after these events, and at a time when Italy had been 
 reconquered by the emperor Justinian ; which accounts for its strong 
 bias in favour of the Catholic, and Byasantine, view of the whole of 
 the events of 523-526. 
 
 2 From the middle of 523, to the middle of 524. 
 
 E.W.— II. » 
 
178 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ] 
 
 POPE JOHN I 
 
 179 
 
 rising at the revelations which the enquiry into the conduct 
 of Albinus and Boethius had brought out as regards the treason- 
 able attitude of many members of the Senate, and while he 
 was feeling natural indignation at the ingratitude of that 
 body after his thirty years' magnanimous treatment of the con- 
 quered Romans, Justin I, who had hitherto left the Arians in his 
 dominions alone, in the spring of 524 extended his proscription 
 of heretics also to them, deprived them of their churches, 
 and began persecuting them in every way. With this course 
 Pope John I and the Roman senators sympathised as Catholics, 
 thus increasing the antagonistic feeling between the Arians 
 and the Catholics in Italy. Theodoric was placed in a difficult 
 position. It had been his chief glory to have made no dis- 
 tinction between Ostrogoths and Romans, Arians and Catho- 
 lics ; but the action of Justin I, while highly insulting to 
 Theodoric as ruler of Italy, threatened to increase still further 
 the hostile feeling in Rome by adding religious animosity 
 to political sedition. His wrath also was roused at this un- 
 grateful return for his impartial tolerance ; the Visigoths 
 had persecuted the Catholics in Spain and Gaul ; the Vandals 
 had torn out the tongues of Catholic bishops and tortured 
 Catholics to death throughout North Africa ; he alone had 
 protected them and treated them with absolute equality. 
 And yet all seemed of no avail ; his subjects were being taught 
 to despise the religion of their ruler ; his faithful Goths were 
 being treated with contempt by those whom they had con- 
 quered ; and he saw a chasm beginning to yawn between 
 Romans and Goths over this question which threatened to 
 undo his whole life-work. 
 
 By this time the knowledge which he had gained of the 
 treasonable attitude of the senators of Rome and the Catholic 
 party generally, joined to his indignation at the way in which 
 his co-religionists were being treated by Justin I, and his 
 own subjects incited to revolt from his authority and to despise 
 his religion, had caused Theodoric to become thoroughly 
 incensed, and he determined to send an embassy to Justin I 
 to speak in his name with great plainness, and to threaten 
 that unless the emperor restored their churches to the Arians 
 throughout his dominions "the sword of Theodoric should 
 ravage the whole of Italy," 
 
 Embassy to I* was a difficult embassy to select ; if he sent 
 Justin I. Arians with such a message their lives would scarcely 
 be safe, while if he sent Catholics there was small hope of 
 any satisfactory result. Theodoric chose four men, all of 
 them Romans of high rank, three of whom had held the office 
 of Consul, Theodorus, Importunus, and Agapetus, while the 
 fourth, a second Agapetus, held the rank of patrician. But 
 with a man such as Justin I this alone would not be likely to 
 attain the desired object, and Theodoric judged that nothing 
 short of the embassy being led by the head of the Catholic 
 community in Italy would suffice. He therefore sent for 
 Pope John I to Ravenna and told him that it was his wish 
 that he should proceed on this mission. The Pope, old and 
 infirm, implored the king not to send him on such an embassy, 
 saying that he would not be able to speak in this manner to 
 the emperor. But Theodoric was obdurate. He has been 
 loudly condemned for this ; his action has been declared by 
 the Roman writers to have been only due to " anger," and 
 he has been represented (not only by the Roman contemporary 
 writers but also by modem historians) as both tyrannical 
 and foolish in insisting that the Pope should proceed on this 
 mission.^ But apparently he has been judged quite unjustly. 
 He no doubt felt that the only thing likely to move Justin I 
 would be an appeal to him on behalf of the Catholics in Italy 
 to save them from the vengeance which would certainly come 
 upon them unless Theodoric's demand were acceded to, and 
 that such an appeal would only have weight with Justin I 
 if made by the Pope of Rome himself. ^ 
 
 Accordingly a ship was prepared, and in the spring of 525 
 the mission was despatched to Constantinople. There Pope 
 John I was highly honoured by the emperor, the Roman 
 writers telling us fabulous stories of the reverence paid to 
 him. The mission remained many months at Constanti- 
 nople, and the Anonymus Valesii says that the emperor 
 
 ^ Even Dr. Hodgkin takes this view. 
 
 * On every other ground than this Theodoric's sending the Pope 
 of Rome on such an errand would have been an act as f ooHsh and 
 incomprehensible as this proceeding has often been declared. But 
 Theodoric was no fool ; this is the only reason he can have had, and 
 from this point of view his action becomes thoroughly comprehensible. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 180 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 I- 
 
 
 "promised the Pope that he would comply with all his 
 demands, except that converts who had embraced the 
 Catholic faith could by no means be restored to the Arians " ; 
 which of course no one would expect, nor can the Pope ever 
 have asked it. Certain modem historians, such as Baronius, 
 anxious to clear the Pope from the stain of advocating religious 
 toleration, have denied this result of the mission, saying, 
 *' Why then the rage of Theodoric on the Pope's return if he 
 had done, with one unimportant exception, all that he was 
 ordered to do ? " But it is palpable that Theodoric's anger 
 was due to quite another reason, viz. that during the ten or 
 twelve months that the mission remained at Constantinople 
 its members threw out hints to the emperor, and entered into 
 negotiations with him, which were inconsistent with their 
 duty as loyal subjects of Theodoric ; a risk which Theodoric 
 had been- obliged to run since he could not send Ostrogoths 
 and Arians. 
 
 Treason of the Having dcspatchcd this mission to Constantinople 
 Senate, and Thcodoric thcu took up the qucstiou of what was 
 symmachus. to bc doue regarding the Senate, which body had 
 been clearly shown by the revelations brought out by 
 the trial of Boethius, together with the further information 
 since received, to be largely permeated with the same treason- 
 able sentiments, merely watching for an opportunity to give 
 them practical effect, and probably secretly awaiting the 
 result of any private negotiations which might take place 
 between the members of the mission and the emperor Justin I. 
 Theodoric evidently knew that there was much sedition of 
 this kind going on, but it was difficult to decide what 
 action to take to suppress it. In a somewhat similar case 
 the emperor Septimius Severus had put to death nearly half 
 the Senate,* but Theodoric would not act thus. He appears 
 at length to have determined that, short of executing a number 
 of the members, the only course was to strike fear into the 
 Senate by singling out for execution the head of that body, 
 Symmachus, which would not be unjust, since the trial of 
 Boethius had furnished ample proofs that Symmachus 
 was at least as guilty of treasonable correspondence with 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. Vni, p. 282. Aurelian had done the same. 
 
 xx] 
 
 EXECUTION OF SYMMACHUS 
 
 181 
 
 Constantinople as aU the rest, while he was a strong Catholic, 
 and the chief upholder of that cause among the laity of Rome . 
 This course Theodoric carried out. About the middle of 525 
 Symmachus was summoned to Ravenna, and after an enquiry 
 before the council was consigned to prison, and shortly after- 
 wards executed. 
 
 Death of In the spring of 526 the mission returned from 
 Pope John I. Constantinople. Theodoric, then seventy-two, 
 broken in health, and disgusted at the treasonable intrigues 
 of the senators and the Catholic party in Rome, and feeling 
 that all that he had striven after for so many years had been 
 ruined by their ungrateful conduct towards him, was in no 
 mood to receive the mission in a friendly spirit. Though 
 informed by them that the emperor had promised to accede 
 to the demands made as regards the restoration of their churches 
 to the Arians,^ Theodoric evidently knew that treasonable 
 negotiations with the emperor had been carried on, not merely 
 by the Pope, but by the whole of the members of the mission 
 while in Constantinople. For upon their arrival he at once 
 consigned Pope John I, Theodorus, Importunus, and Agape- 
 tus 2 to prison, where on the 25th May 526 Pope John I, worn 
 out through age and the hardships of the journey, died. He 
 at once became a martyr in the eyes of every Catholic. We 
 do not hear that the other members of the mission suffered 
 death, and as had they done so the fact would certainly have 
 been made use of by the Roman party still further to blacken 
 Theodoric's name, we may presume that they were merely 
 kept in prison. 
 
 Death of This death of the Pope in prison, in the circum- 
 Theodoric. gtanccs, intensified the seditious feeling against 
 Theodoric among the Catholic party at Rome. Whether 
 the emperor Justin I merely gave the promise to the mission 
 as a blind we do not know, the Roman writers carefully avoid- 
 ing any mention of this point, but it appears by the sequel 
 that it must have been so, as he failed altogether to carry it 
 out. Theodoric had sworn that if the emperor did not restore 
 their churches to the Arians he would ravage the whole of 
 
 A promise which though many months had elapsed the emperor 
 had not yet carried out. 
 
 * Agapetus the patrician had died on the journey to Constantinople. 
 
182 
 
 THEOBORIC THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ] 
 
 STORY OF THE FISH'S HEAD 
 
 183 
 
 
 Italy ; he did not carry out this threat, but after a time, 
 seeing that he had been tricked by an empty promise, he 
 determined to let the CathoUcs in Italy see that he was m 
 earnest, and make them realize that the Ostrogoths had con- 
 quered Italy, and that if the Catholics would not Hve at peace 
 with then- Arian conquerors they must suffer results similar 
 to those which they were making the co-religionists of the 
 Ostrogoths suffer in the east. Accordingly he issued an 
 edict ordering that on the 26th August all the CathoHcs in 
 Italy were to be ejected from their churches. But on the 
 day fixed for this edict to be carried out Theodoric was sud- 
 denly seized in the midst of a banquet by fever and a violent 
 shivering fit, was carried to his bed, and four days later 
 expired at the age of seventy-two (30th August 526). His son- 
 in-law Eutharic being akeady dead, Theodoric was succeeded 
 by his capable daughter Amalasuntha,i as regent for her 
 
 young son Athalaric. 
 
 It requires to be borne in mind that regarding these 
 ^tweTT events of the last three years of Theodoric' s life 
 wrifeST aU our information comes from Roman sources 
 these events, ^j^jch arc strougly biased against him, and chiefly 
 from the Anonymus Valesii,^ which in many of the details 
 is manifestly unjust to Theodoric, and often contradictory 
 and illogical. We have therefore to be on our guard against 
 acceptmg too implicitly the colour which the Roman writers 
 have given to these events, more especially in regard to state- 
 ments of want of evidence against the accused, of failure to 
 give the case a proper trial, of having " laid snares for the 
 Romans and sought how he might slay them, putting con- 
 fidence in false witnesses," and hmts at subsequent remorse 
 
 1 Chap. XXI, p. 215. . , • rru 
 
 « From Cassiodonis we get no information on this subject. The 
 general character of Cassiodorus' writings may be judged from the 
 fact that in aU his copious letters this courtly chronicler avoids making 
 any mention of the deaths of Boethius and Symmachus at all. This 
 does not seem to be from any such motive as a desire to avoid alluding 
 to anything which might teU against Theodoric, but rather from his 
 inveterate determination to paint everything in glowing colours, and 
 a disinclination to refer to events which would show that the excellent 
 relations between the two races hitherto maintained had not been 
 preserved to the end. 
 
 on Theodoric's part.^ It is certain that Artemidorus or 
 Count Tulum could have told a very different story about 
 the events of these three years. Throughout the events of 
 the years 523-526 it is constantly evident that Theodoric 
 had much more information than is allowed by the writers 
 to transpire, and it is highly probable that such friends as 
 Artemidorus and Tulum ^ supplied him with proofs which 
 were overwhelming as to the sedition which was taking place ; 
 and anything which such men as Artemidorus or Tulum re- 
 ported Theodoric would know that he could trust. Lastly, 
 the Roman writers have depicted the deaths of Boethius and 
 Symmachus, and the imprisonment of the Pope, as though 
 Theodoric's actions were all one wild burst of Gothic berserker 
 rage, frequently inserting the words, " being angry," " in a 
 fury," and " in his wrath," suppressing all dates, and speaking 
 as though these events took place in quick succession ; whereas 
 a whole year elapsed between the death of Boethius and that 
 of Symmachus, and another year between the death of the 
 latter and that of the Pope. 
 
 Injustice In consequence of this colour which has been given 
 consequently ^q ^j^g cvcuts of thesc thrcc ycars by the Roman 
 Theodoric. writers of the time an extraordinary amount of 
 injustice has uniformly been done by historians to Theodoric 
 the Great. While full credit has been given to him for his 
 impartial and tolerant rule over Italy for thirty years, he 
 has been spoken of in a tone of constant apology for the actions 
 of the last three years of his life,^ and held to have largely 
 marred his otherwise brilliant record by his conduct during 
 
 1 To this latter category belongs the story related by Procopius 
 that Theodoric became ill through having had placed before him at 
 the banquet a large fish's head which assimied the appearance of the 
 head of Symmachus, and curled its lips and rolled its eyes fiercely at 
 Theodoric ; that the latter on his death-bed related this to his phy- 
 sician : and that he bewailed with tears his inj\istice in putting to 
 death Boethius and Symmachus. This is the kind of story invariably 
 related in those times where it is desired to prove that injustice has 
 
 been done. 
 
 * We have no record when Artemidorus died ; Tulimi survived 
 
 Theodoric. 
 
 3 This is the case even in regard to Dr. Hodgkin in his Italy and her 
 Invaders where dealing with these events. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 184 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 those years, developing tyranny, intolerance, and injustice. 
 This is entirely due to the matter having been looked at through 
 Roman spectacles. 
 
 If however, freeing ourselves from the bias of the Catholic 
 and Roman writers, we look simply at the circumstances and 
 at Theodoric's action therein, we shall see that he acted through- 
 out these years not only as no other sovereign of that age 
 would have done, but also in a way which fully maintained 
 the same character which he had demonstrated during all the 
 rest of his reign. After having for thirty years treated the 
 Arian Goths and the Catholic Romans with uniform impar- 
 tiality, both as regards religion and poUtics, he found the 
 Senate of Rome, in conjunction with the Pope and the Catholic 
 party, ignobly intriguing against him with the Catholic em- 
 peror at Constantinople. Faced with these conditions, instead 
 of bringing a large number of the Romans to execution for 
 the treason of which they were guilty (as evidently he might 
 justly have done), he scorned to put to death the lesser men, 
 and contented himself with bringing to trial and execution 
 the two chief men implicated, Boethius, the Master of the 
 Offices, and Symmachus, the head of the Senate. He then, 
 instead of making the Romans feel the power of the Gothic 
 sword, sent an embassy to the emperor, endeavouring to 
 obtain a remedy for the antagonistic state of affairs in religion 
 by peaceful means. The members of this embassy having 
 made use of their opportunity to carry on the same treason- 
 able intrigues, it was no tyrannical measure on his part that 
 on their return (instead of putting any of them to death) he 
 consigned them to prison. Lastly, when all other attempts 
 failed, and when the same state of things was continued in 
 matters of religion, it was not an injustice to order that the 
 Catholics should be deprived of their churches, and to make 
 them feel that either they must consent to live at peace with 
 the Arians, or else must suffer the same treatment as they 
 were dealing out to the Arians in the eastern empire. It 
 was imperative that Theodoric should make them feel that 
 he, and not they, ruled the country ; and to deprive them 
 of their churches was better than carrying fire and sword 
 through Italy. 
 
 It is hard to see what more temperate measures Theodoric 
 
 xx] 
 
 HIS TEMPERATE ACTION 
 
 185 
 
 could have adopted than he did if he intended to retain his 
 throne ; for if the treasonable intrigues of the Senate and 
 the Catholic party with Constantinople were not checked 
 he might expect in no long time to find an army from Con- 
 stantinople entering Italy to attack him. It may safely be 
 said that any sovereign in the Middle Ages placed in the same 
 circumstances would have brought a large number of men to 
 the block. Theodoric took the course which we should have 
 expected from his whole previous history. He endeavoured 
 to overawe the seditious members of the Senate by putting 
 to death the two leading men ; and he endeavoured to put 
 an end to the rising antagonism in rehgion by trying to get 
 the emperor to exercise the same tolerance towards the Arians 
 that he himself was exercising towards the Catholics. It is 
 of course arguable that the mission headed by the Pope was a 
 mistake, and that it could never have succeeded in attaining 
 the object in view ; but if it was a mistake it was a noble 
 one, for it was an endeavour to use peaceful means, even by 
 a course which presented little hope of success, rather than 
 wield the power of the sword. For the only other alternative 
 would have been to return to the position which existed at 
 the moment when the Ostrogoths conquered Italy, to put 
 to death all the senators who had been guilty of treason, 
 and to treat the Romans in the same way as they had been 
 treated in every other country, reducing them to the position 
 of a conquered race, depriving the Catholics of their churches, 
 and ejecting the Pope from Rome and the other Bishops 
 from their sees. And the Romans would have had no just 
 ground of complaint had Theodoric acted thus when he found 
 that after all his tolerant treatment of them for thirty years 
 they were entering into negotiations against both his authority 
 and his religion. That Theodoric did not adopt this course, 
 even when roused to anger by the manner in which he and 
 the Ostrogoths were being treated by the race whom they had 
 conquered, redounds greatly to his honour. Yet no word 
 of praise to him for this has ever been uttered, and this is 
 not the view which has been taken of his conduct. 
 
 The Romans showed themselves in fact not fitted for Theo- 
 doric's enlightened policy of toleration. The Senate acted 
 a mean and ignoble part all through ; they should have felt 
 
CHAP. 
 
 186 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 xx] 
 
 A GOTHIC MAUSOLEUM 
 
 187 
 
 W 
 
 I 
 
 that the manner in which Theodoric upon conquering the 
 country had treated the Romans bound them to be strictly 
 loyal to him ; instead of which they took the first opportunity 
 of intriguing with a foreign power against one who from first 
 to last had treated their race in a way that no other con- 
 queror of the age would have dreamt of doing. Its only 
 result was to induce them to forget that the Ostrogoths had 
 conquered Italy, and that it was solely due to Theodoric's 
 magnanimity that they were not occupying the same position 
 of subjection to which their race had been reduced everywhere 
 else ; and they failed entirely to show any of that gratitude 
 to him which such exceptional treatment would have called 
 forth in a nobler race. And in thus failing they showed their 
 degeneracy as plainly as they had previously shown it in 
 the shrinking from military service which had caused them 
 to be conquered. 
 Character Thcodoric thc Great was a man far in advance of 
 of Theodoric. j^jg time. A successful warrior in the field, he was 
 no less successful as an administrator in a new and untried 
 position, and from every point of view was the most remarkable 
 man that the Teutonic races in that age produced. That a 
 man who throughout his life could never read a book or docu- 
 ment, and all whose information had to be gathered by word 
 of mouth and by observation of mankind, should have been 
 capable of being all that Theodoric was is wonderful. For 
 it was not even as though he had others before him to imitate. 
 Those who had preceded him as kings of various northern 
 races— Hermanric, Alaric, Ataulf, Wallia, Gaiseric, Euric, 
 Clovis, and others— had possessed no such power to evolve 
 and put in practice broad-minded principles of government 
 which only later ages learnt to appreciate. And the highest 
 honour is due to the first king of Teutonic race who learnt 
 that the art of ruling is something more than successfiilly 
 wielding the sword, and who carried out in a tolerant spirit 
 an even-handed justice which gave many blessings to the 
 country he had conquered. 
 
 Upon the roof of the Palace of Ravenna^ Theodoric 
 o^^f of erected a remarkable group of statuary, visible, to 
 the palace. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ consistiug of an equestrian statue 
 
 * Regarding the Palace of Ravenna, see Chap. XXII, pp. 272-273, 
 
 of himself, wearing a coat of mail and armed with shield and 
 spear, sitting upon a horse of gilded bronze, with two female 
 figures standing beside him representing Rome and Ravenna. 
 We have evidence that this group remained intact until the 
 year 800, when the statues of Theodoric and his horse were 
 removed from the roof of the Palace by Charles the Great (best 
 known as Charlemagne), who carried them off to Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, declaring that he had seen nothing like them in his 
 whole realm. 
 
 We are not left entirely without visible memorials of Theo- 
 doric the Great. Whereas none of the other northern races 
 of his time— the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, 
 the Allemanni, the Saxons, or the Franks, — have left any 
 architectural memorials of themselves, there still exist at 
 Ravenna two buildings ^ erected by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, 
 namely, his Mausoleum, and the church of St. Apollinare 
 
 Nuovo. 
 
 His The Mausoleum of Theodoric ^ was built by himself. 
 Mausoleum, j^ ,^^ ^g g^gn ^i^^t it is the earliest Gothic building 
 in Europe, and Theodoric's interment in a permanent tomb, 
 instead of with a burial such as that given to Alaric, to Attila, 
 and to Theodoric the Visigoth, serves to mark the change 
 in ideas which had come over the wandering Goths. The 
 mausoleum (situated about half a mile outside the northern 
 wall of the city) is a circular building, placed upon a ten-sided 
 substructure with arches, and crowned with a flat dome con- 
 sisting of a huge single block of Istrian rock, 36 feet in dia- 
 meter, and said to weigh 470 tons ; and how this could have 
 been placed in its position with the engineering appliances 
 then available is a problem. In its style this mausoleum 
 accords with the main feature of Theodoric's rule, blending 
 Gothia with Romania; Gothic in its rough strength and 
 massiveness, Roman, both in the fact that it should be built 
 at aU, and in its striving to copy to some extent the mausoleum 
 of Hadrian, it stands a fitting memorial to Theodoric the 
 Great. Here the Ostrogothic king of Italy who had taught 
 all mankind the spirit in which to rule two races of rival 
 
 1 See Chap. XXII, p. 273, footnote (2). 
 
 2 Plate LXI. 
 
■ ,K 
 
 188 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Unworthy 
 
 treatment 
 
 of his 
 
 remains. 
 
 religious opinions was laid to rest in a porphyry sarcophagus, 
 clad in golden armour and with his jewelled sword by his 
 side, by his daughter Amalasuntha, the sarcophagus, sup- 
 ported by four marble columns, being placed upon the roof 
 of the dome, surrounded by brazen statues of the twelve 
 Apostles. 
 
 But the mausoleum which he had hoped should 
 receive the bones of a long dynasty became simply 
 his own tomb, and then ceased even to contain 
 bis own remains. Fourteen years after Theodoric's death 
 Ravenna passed again under the sway of the empire, Italy 
 became ruled by a Catholic sovereign, and to the dishonour 
 of the Catholics the remains of the great Arian king who 
 had ruled the Romans with such magnanimous impartiality 
 were cast forth with ignominy from their tomb.^ Not a spark 
 of his own magnanimity was displayed by his ignoble subjects 
 the Romans ; and the Catholic Church, casting forth his 
 body from its tomb, pursued his memory for centuries with 
 a bitterness which has survived even to later times, ^ not 
 seeing that this treatment of the memory of a man whom 
 every noble sentiment should have caused them to honour 
 for his laudable toleration of their religion in an age when 
 toleration was unknown anywhere else displayed their own 
 degenerate and ignoble spirit. 
 
 The disposal of the remains of the great Ostrogoth king, 
 (carefully hidden by those who had perpetrated this revenge 
 because they were conscious of its despicable character) 
 
 ^ At what time this occurred is not known, further than that when 
 300 years later Agnellus wrote his history of the Bishops of Ravenna 
 the tomb had long been empty, Agnellus stating that the body had 
 been cast forth from it, though where it had been deposited remained 
 a mystery. All that we know is that it must have taken place while 
 Ravenna was held by the CathoHcs (540-760), for their successors the 
 Lombards would have honoured Theodoric*s remains. 
 
 * Pope Gregory the Great, in his Dialogues^ gives credit to a state- 
 ment that in a vision an ItaUan monk had been witness to the damna- 
 tion of Theodoric, Ms soul being carried off by demons and plunged 
 into the volcano of Lipcuri, then believed to be one of the mouths of 
 hell. It may well be that it was upon the, firmly believed, report of 
 this vision that the body of Theodoric was cast forth from its tomb. 
 Cardinal Baronius also endorses the statement of this fabulous vision. 
 
Pr-ATE LXI. 
 
 I - >J.^,!i»l 
 
 Mausoleum or Thkodokic the Great at Ravenna. 
 
 The sarcophagus was placed upon the roof, under a stone canopy. 
 
 I^AttMAKi. 
 
fi A M. I \r. 
 
 rii. 
 
 11 1- ii i\ t 
 
 I. 1 J UpuU the iL>"t, llll'li I 1 t.jlli;' t-lliup\, 
 
XX] 
 
 SKELETON m GOLD ARMOUR 
 
 189 
 
 continued for thirteen centuries a mystery. But in the year 
 1854 a party of workmen excavating a canal about a hundred 
 yards from the mausoleum of Theodoric came upon a skeleton 
 in gold armour, with a gold helmet adorned with large jewels, 
 and with a sword the gold hilt of which was also ornamented 
 with large jewels ; and there can be little doubt that this was 
 the missing body of Theodoric the Great. ^ 
 
 Church ^^^ church which Theodoric erected at Ravenna,* 
 built by now knowu as St. ApoUinare Nuovo, was built 
 as the Arian cathedral, and was dedicated to 
 St. Martin.^ Up to the 9th century it bore an inscription 
 under the windows of the apse stating that it was built 
 from its foundations by Theodoric. But only a portion of 
 the church as it now exists was constructed by Theodoric. 
 Fourteen years after his death Ravenna was taken by the 
 emperor Justinian's general Belisarius ; soon afterwards 
 the church was converted into a Catholic church ; and it 
 is on account of the remains which it possesses of that 
 period of the 6th century that it is chiefly interesting.* 
 In the 9th century large alterations were made to it, its 
 name at the same time being changed to that of St. 
 
 * Unfortunately the workmen who discovered it had time to steal 
 the whole of this treasure, and only some parts of the armour were 
 subsequently recovered, which are now in the museum at Ravenna. 
 
 * Two other churches which still exist in Ravenna were also built 
 in Theodoric's time. One of these was the Arian Baptistery ; it is 
 now the church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin ; its original pavement now 
 lies 7 feet below the present pavement. The other church is that of 
 S^' Spirito, stated to have been built for the Arian bishop. Neither 
 of these churches preserves more than very scanty remains of the 
 original structure. 
 
 ^ St. Martin was the favourite saint of the Franks, and apparently, 
 also of Theodoric the Great, perhaps on account of his wife Audefleda, 
 the Frank princess. St. Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who, aban- 
 doning the world, originated monastic institutions in Gaul by found- 
 ing monasteries at Poictiers and Tours, lived about 360. He earned 
 the title of " the Apostle of Gaul," and his name became highly vener- 
 ated in that country. An interesting corroboration of the fact that 
 Christianity was planted in Britain from Gaul is shown by St. Martin, 
 highly reverenced as " the Apostle of Gaul," being also highly rever- 
 enced in Britain. He is commemorated in the Prayerbook of the 
 Church of England on the 11th November. 
 
 * See Chap. XXII, pp. 277-280. 
 
190 
 
 THEODORIC THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. XX] 
 
 ApoUinare Nuovo. It is one of the finest and most 
 notable churches in Ravenna, and among many other 
 interesting features still possesses its round 6th century 
 bell-tower. Its chief glory is its magnificent series of 
 mosaics ; as however these were not put up by the Arians, 
 but by the Catholics on its becoming a Catholic church, 
 it will be best to leave these mosaics, the most remarkable 
 in Ravenna, to be described when we reach the time to 
 which they belong in the reign of the emperor Justinian, 
 upon whom the attention of nearly the whole world now 
 became concentrated. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 (FIRST SEVENTEEN YEARS OF HIS REIGN.) 
 
 527 -- 544 
 
 THE long and in many respects glorious reign of the 
 emperor Justinian (527-566), crowded with events 
 demanding attention by their number, variety, and import- 
 ance, has been extolled by the writers of many centuries. 
 And though Justinian might have achieved fame more justly 
 had he restrained his tendency to prefer that which was showy 
 to that which was sound and solid, nevertheless he effected 
 certain things possessing this latter character, and for the 
 sake of which his name will always rightly be renowned. He 
 drew up a Code of the Roman law which has ever since been 
 celebrated, and has become the basis of the legal systems of 
 Europe ; he built a cathedral which was the wonder of the 
 age, and has lasted for more than thirteen centuries ; and he 
 regained North Africa and Italy for the empire, though from 
 want of sound administration he failed to give these conquests 
 permanency. 
 
 Justinian, bom like his uncle in Macedonia, at the 
 village of Tauresium, and belonging to the Latin 
 race, was perhaps the most remarkable man who ever reigned 
 over the Later Roman Empire. He was forty-four when 
 in 527 he succeeded his uncle Justin I, having practically 
 controlled most of the affairs of that empire during the greater 
 part of his uncle's nine years' reign. Wise, studious, abste- 
 mious and plain in life, a great legislator, fond of theology, 
 philosophy, architecture, and music, and a giant in capacity 
 for work, Justinian was in many respects fitted for the position, 
 but he was conspicuously wanting in any talent for sound 
 financial administration, as well as in the military qualities 
 which had distinguished so many of his greatest predecessors. 
 Some have thought it strange that he has escaped being 
 
 191 
 
 Justinian. 
 
192 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 C5HAP. 
 
 xxi] 
 
 "THE BASEST WORK IN LITERATXmE " 193 
 
 accorded the title of " Great," but the instinct of mankind 
 was undoubtedly right in feeling that, notwithstanding his 
 achievements, there was that in Justinian's character which 
 made him fall short of greatness.^ 
 
 His His first act was a startling one. Some three years 
 marriage, bcforc Justin I died, Justinian, then forty-one, the 
 grave student and scholar, who Gibbon says, ** never was 
 young," fell in love with the famous public dancer Theodora, 
 then about twenty-two years old, and to the astonishment 
 and scandal of the whole court, and to the positive horror 
 of his aunt, the empress Euphemia, announced his intention 
 of marrying Theodora. The empress Euphemia for a time 
 successfully opposed his doing so, but upon her death a year 
 later Justinian forced his aged uncle Justin I to annul the laws 
 which preyented a senator from making such a marriage, 
 and not only married Theodora, but upon his uncle's death 
 associated her with himseK in the government of the empire, 
 and gave her an authority equal to his own. 
 His elusive Justiuian is a somewhat elusive character. We 
 character, jj^g^j. much about his achievements, we see the 
 largeness of his ideas revealed in his works, and we are shown 
 by his selection of Tribonian as his adviser in matters of law, 
 of BeHsarius and Narses as his generals, and of Anthemius 
 of Tralles as his chief architect, that he must have been a strong 
 judge of character, but of the man himself we find it difficult 
 to form a clear idea.^ Not only however do his actions show 
 
 * The chief authority for the events of the reign of Justinian is 
 Procopius of Caesarea, for many years the secretary, legal adviser, and 
 friend of Belisarius, and his companion in his wars. Procopius as a 
 writer occupies a position almost imique. After a long period of 
 inferior authorities we have in him a regular historian. He may be 
 compared with Ammianus Marcellinus of two centuries earlier. More- 
 over Procopius is a remekrkably well-balanced writer, manly, straight- 
 forwtkrd, and deservedly praised for his freedom on the one hand from 
 sycophancy, and on the other from malevolent detretction, except in 
 his book De ^dificiis, in which he descends to much revolting adula^ 
 tion of the emperor. His principal works are his three histories 
 of the Persian war, the Vandal war, and the Gothic w€tr, and his 
 De ^dificiis on the numerous buildings erected by Justinian through- 
 out the empire. 
 
 * Regarding one chief rectson for this, see comparison between hiir^ 
 and the emperor HeracUus, Chap. XXIV, p. 402, footnote. 
 
 us much, but also we can gain much light as to his character 
 by studying that of Theodora, the beautiful woman with 
 whom he is indissolubly associated, and whom he thus married 
 to the disgust of the whole imperial family and court. 
 
 This prominent action of Justinian's life has afforded material 
 for sneers at him on the part of some writers, who ridicule 
 a man who at his age could become " infatuated " by a woman 
 of such antecedents, while it has been a cause of universal 
 wonder even among those writers who do not take this tone. 
 But apparently there is no real ground for such wonder. The 
 more one reads about Theodora, both before and after her 
 marriage, the more it is borne in upon one that however much 
 in love with her Justinian may have been, this cannot have 
 been the reason for his marrying her ; and that he was 
 actuated by another reason, and was determined to have her 
 for his wife because he perceived her unusual mental gifts 
 and force of character. If so, Theodora in her subsequent 
 life fully justified his choice on that ground ; thus affording 
 yet another proof of Justinian's gift in judging character. 
 
 The Secret ^ui vicw of the charactcrs and deeds of Justinian 
 History, ^j^^ Thcodora will chiefly depend upon the esti- 
 mation in which we may hold the book entitled the Secret 
 History (Arcana Historia), also called The Anecdotes. This 
 foul and venomous book was discovered in the 17th century 
 in the Vatican by Alemannus, who edited it with a commentary, 
 and believed it to have been written by the celebrated historian 
 Procopius. Professor Bmy, however, after a thorough and 
 scholarly examination of it sums up against its being the 
 work of Procopius ; ^ thus agreeing with Ranke, who held 
 that Procopius was not its author, but that the writer of it 
 had obtained a diary of events perhaps written by Procopius, 
 and had incorporated into it all the calumnies he could invent 
 about the emperor and the empress. It may also be noted 
 that *if it were proved to be the work of Procopius it would 
 not only stultify much of his other writings, but also would 
 deprive him of aU the honour which he has received as an 
 unusually temperate and well-balanced writer, remarkably 
 free both from the sycophancy and the virulent animosity 
 
 ^ Bury, ^he Later ^ormn Empire^ Vol, I, pp, 359-364. 
 5:,W— «, O 
 
 i| 
 
194 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 common in his age. Alemannus, Dahn, and Gibbon ac- 
 cepted the book as veracious, and the work of Procopius, 
 while Gibbon's picture of the empress Theodora ^ (which 
 through him has become the conventional one) was drawn 
 entirely from this source. But the more scholarly examination 
 to which the Secret History 2 has in later years been subjected 
 by M. Debidour, Mr. Mallet, Professor Bury and others has 
 caused it to be completely discredited, chiefly owing to its 
 internal discrepancies. 
 
 Regarding these discrepancies Mr. Mallet, after mentioning 
 others, says : — " But the most striking inconsistency of all 
 is to be found in the account of Theodora's elevation. If the 
 judgement of The Anecdotes is to count for anything, we must 
 believe that at the time of her marriage to Justinian, Theodora 
 was, by common consent, the most profligate woman of her 
 age. The Anecdotes inform us that Justinian was equally 
 remarkable for the self-restraint and the austerity of his life. 
 The time of his marriage was a time when he was bent upon 
 conciliating all parties, so as to secure the succession to the 
 throne. He had reached an age when he might well be sup- 
 posed to have outgrown the passions of youth. His ambitious, 
 calculating temperament would be the least likely to imperil 
 substantial advantages by an act of the grossest imprudence. 
 And yet the writer of The Anecdotes tells us that Justinian 
 chose this time to deliberately select for his bride the most 
 infamous woman in Constantinople." ' On the same point 
 
 1 Gibbon, Decline and FaU, V, 42-47 (Edition 1862). 
 
 * Mihnan calls it ** the basest and most disgraceful work in litera- 
 ture." It pcunts Justinian as a combination between a demon and an 
 ass ; while in its foul and malignant statements and narratives re- 
 garding Theodora, the wife of Justinian, and Antonina, the wife of 
 Belisarius, it could sccurcely be surpckssed by anything which would 
 nowadays be written in the lowest slums of Paris or London. It was 
 evidently written by a violent enemy of both Justinian and Theodora, 
 who to guard his own life was forced to remain secret, and with that 
 object gave it as far as he could an appearance of being written by 
 Procopius, the chief historian of the day, but who was so little 
 possessed of the talents of that writer that he could not preserve the 
 falsehoods he was relating from glaring inconsistencies. 
 
 » Mallet, The Empre^a Theoiarat Essay in the English Historical 
 ik>view, Jan, 1^97 
 
 xxi] 
 
 BLUE AND GREEN 
 
 196 
 
 of its inconsistencies Professor Bury says : — " Throughout 
 the work Justinian is spoken of as deceased, a King of a past 
 age ; in the last words of the last chapter his death is referred 
 to as an event in the future." ^ And speaking of the book 
 generally he says that in contradistinction to the general high 
 praise which the reign of Justinian has received from mankind, 
 the writer of the Secret History paints everything in the blackest 
 colours, declaring that all was fraud and oppression, imder 
 " the demon Justinian.'* 
 
 Notwithstanding the credit which has hitherto been given 
 to the Secret History by various authorities, the general sense 
 of mankind has always refused to treat it (except to a very 
 small extent) as a veracious record so far as Justinian was 
 concerned ; ^ but it has, illogically, not done the same as 
 regards Theodora. Now, however, that the veracity of the 
 Secret History has become thus completely repudiated, the 
 characters and deeds of both Justinian and Theodora must 
 be regarded solely according to what may be demonstrated 
 by other evidence, excepting only where true facts have evi- 
 dently formed the foundation upon which the writer of the 
 Secret History has built his venomous fabrications.^ 
 Blue and Green Thcodora's cxtractiou was of the lowest description, 
 
 factions, jjgj. father (who at his death left his three young 
 daughters and their mother destitute) having been the keeper 
 of the wild beasts of the amphitheatre for the Green faction. 
 At this time the Blue and Green factions of the circus had 
 come to occupy a most important place in political affairs.* 
 Every citizen belonged in politics to one or other of these two 
 factions, and throughout the empire the Blues and the Greens 
 
 ^ Bury, The Later Roman Empire^ I, 360. 
 
 ■ See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, V, 248-249, where even Gibbon 
 gives a very different character to Justinian from that given by the 
 Secret History. 
 
 * Ranke long ago pointed out that imderlying the statements of 
 the Secret History there are here and there true facts which its writer 
 has used, adding and interweaving into them *' fabrications revealing 
 the most acrid venom and the grossest superstition.'* 
 
 * Originally (in the times of CaUgula and Nero) there had been four 
 parties in the circus, distinguished by the colours red, white, green, 
 and blue, but the red and white had since become merged respectively 
 in the green and blue. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 196 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 xxi] 
 
 THEODORA 
 
 197 
 
 Theodora. 
 
 carried on the bitterest rivalry, often ending in pitched battles. 
 Moreover to political rivalry there had in the time of Justinian 
 been added religious animosity, the Blues having become 
 identified with orthodoxy in reUgion, and the Greens with 
 unorthodoxy, and it was of the highest importance to an 
 orthodox emperor like Justinian to have the support of the 
 Blue faction. Theodora bemg an Eutychian in religion, the 
 Greens looked upon her as belonging to their faction, though 
 after her marriage she often supported the Blues. 
 
 The empress Theodora, who was a highly popular 
 dancer on the stage at Constantinople,^ and whom 
 Justinian on beginning his reign raised to so high an emmence, 
 is one of the most remarkable women in history. As regards 
 her appearance, she is admitted even by the writer of the 
 Secret History to have been most beautiful, while Procopius 
 declares it impossible to describe her comeliness in words or 
 to depict it by art. She is said to have had a delicate red- 
 and-white complexion, with brightly glancing eyes which 
 betokened her keen intellect, the only fault in her appearance 
 being that she was rather small in stature. Whatever she had 
 been before her marriage she gave no opportunity for scandal 
 during the twenty-two years of her life which followed it. 
 She became at once omnipotent. All classes — dignitaries of 
 the Church, ministers of State, officers of the army, consuls, 
 senators, and officials of every description— bowed before 
 the haughty Augusta, who maintained a degree of ceremony 
 far exceeding that customary with Justinian. In fact 
 Theodora seemed to take a deHght in offering m every way a 
 contrast to her husband ; he was a Catholic in religion, she 
 a Monophysite ; « he was austere in his habits, she carried 
 
 * She is stated to have been a dancer from her ecu'liest years at 
 Cyrene, Alexandria, and other principal cities of the East, with every- 
 where a most immoral record. It must, however, be remembered 
 that we know nothing about Theodora's previous life except through 
 the statements of the Secret History, a record avowedly written 
 by an enemy. Still, of the fact of her being a dancer there is 
 no doubt ; and that in those days implied, ipso facto, a life of im- 
 morality. 
 
 * I.e. Eutychian. By this time the term " Monophysite " had 
 become more generally used for the form of belief put forward by 
 Uutychee ftud. condemned by the fp^h General CguncU, 
 
 luxury to the highest point ; he seldom slept more than f our 
 hours, she prolonged her sleep till late in the day and then 
 spent hours over her toilet ; he was easy of access, she sur- 
 rounded herself with every circumstance of imapproachable 
 magnificence. 
 
 Nevertheless on more than one occasion Theodora saved 
 her husband's throne by her courage and strength of character ; 
 she was noted for her charities, for her endeavours to reclaim 
 abandoned women, and for her sympathy with all who were 
 oppressed (which is in marked contrast to the picture drawn 
 of her in the Secret History as a tigress, thirsting for human 
 blood) ; and it is probable that her chief iniquity in the eyes 
 of those who have abused her most virulently was the fact 
 that she was a Monophysite, and that had she belonged to 
 the orthodox party in religion we should never have heard 
 one word of all the accusations made against her character 
 as a girl. The contemporary writer John the Lydian, who 
 as an official in the department of the Praetorian Prefect had 
 daily opportimities of observing her, speaks of her in the 
 highest terms,! and says that she was " superior in intelligence, 
 and always awake in sympathy for the oppressed " ; while 
 the temperate and imsycophantic writer Procopius, who also 
 knew her well, says that she " could not withstand the 
 supplications of the unhappy.'* 
 
 Pictures Two most interesting representations of Justinian 
 ^^''^Tnd'^" and Theodora are given us in two large mosaics 
 Theodora, jn the church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna, put up 
 during the reign of Justinian, the figures being life-size, with 
 a gold back-ground. It is, of course, only in the present day 
 that it has become possible to produce a real likeness of a 
 person's face in mosaic ; so that these Ravenna mosaics can 
 scarcely be spoken of as portraits. But though, therefore, 
 these mosaics give us no real likeness of the beautiful Theodora 
 or of the manly features of Justinian, still they give us a 
 highly valuable picture of the general appearance of this 
 notable emperor and his no less notable empress. Justinian * 
 stands surrounded by officials representing the three estates 
 
 1 Especially when he describes how she informed Justinian of the 
 misdeeds of his minister John of Cappadocia. 
 
 2 Plate LXII. 
 
196 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of the empire, — ^the civil government, the Church, and the 
 army, — ^the Church being represented by Maximianus, the 
 Archbishop of Ravenna (whose name is written over his head), 
 with two other ecclesiastics, one holding the book of the 
 Gospels and the other a censer ; the figures representing the 
 army bear in front of them a large shield emblazoned with 
 Constantine's celebrated " Labarum." It is noticeable that 
 in Justinian's time the imperial crown, which in Constantine's 
 time had been a single fillet of gold adorned with precious 
 stones, had grown into a double crown. Theodora, ^ sur- 
 rounded by her ladies in waiting, with her chamberlain and 
 another domestic, is about to enter a church (symbolized by 
 a cleansing fountain in front of the door), and carries in her 
 hands the offering she is going to present. Her crown is 
 loftier and more magnificent than Justinian's ; her hair, her 
 neck, and her shoulders are entirely covered with jewels ; and 
 on the lower part of her dress is an embroidered design, repre- 
 senting the Magi bringing their gifts to the infant Christ, the 
 same subject which is introduced into the large mosaic in the 
 church of St. ApoUinare Nuovo, and the treatment of it being 
 similar. It is evident that Theodora was sensitive regarding 
 her one defect, her small stature. For the artist, knowing 
 this, has made her taller than her ladies, and even than the 
 man beside her. Except the ruined mosaic showing Constan- 
 tino IV and his brothers, ^ these are the only pictures now 
 existing anywhere in the world of any of the emperors or 
 empresses of the Later Roman Empire.^ 
 
 The Code, J^stinian was above all else a law-giver, and his 
 PMidects. and first great work, begun by him in the first year of his 
 reign, was the codifying of the whole system of 
 Roman law, for which purpose he appointed a commission 
 of nine officials under the celebrated lawyer Tribonian. The 
 work was completed with extraordinary rapidity, Justinian 
 himself taking part in it, and resulted (629) in the great Code 
 of Justinian, in twelve books, which has remained celebrated 
 ever since. But this work by no means exhausted Justinian's 
 
 1 Plate LXni. 
 « Chap. XXII, p. 282. 
 
 * "Unless we include the picture in Florence of the last emperor but 
 one, John Paleologus, at his visit to that city in 1439. 
 
PLATE LXII. 
 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 fSlEfW^'^WBfWWW 
 
 
 Justinian and his chief officers. 
 
 Mosaic hi Ihv church of St. Vilalis, Ravenna. 
 The picture shows that by his liriu: thi* sitHpte diadem worn by Cnnstantine had grown into a crnwn. 
 
 Al.lNARt. 
 
1/ \ I I I \ I I 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 :<«>■■:« •;^'*{*^i-»^ff 
 
 .U<',s(7/V /;; llw church nf >'/. I'iUili-., Jucctuia. 
 Tilt' pi( tun- -Imu-^ th.it In his lime the >iriiplc di.i<lciii \si>iii li\ ( ■ 'M t nitiiu- ha<l lThum into a < piuii. 
 
PLATE LXIII. 
 
 ■3^^" 
 
 iiiE!M(MF. 
 
 Theodora and her i a dies in waiting. 
 
 ^f^& v^^ T^^ ' 1* /^' 1 ''^ 
 iAt.lNAKi. 
 
 afi4iis^i!iM^^ifa^M|j|ligjSi!iaHu^|iS^ 
 
PI A 1 1. I x[fr. 
 
 
 i^^'dR-'^^ESE^OESK 
 
 lii 
 
 I Ml 
 
 \ w ; ' II I k I \i 'I I ■-. I \ \\ \i I I \( 
 
xxi] 
 
 GREAT WORKS ON LAW 
 
 199 
 
 legal energy. It was followed by one still more immense, the 
 Digest of Common Law (533), generally known as the Pandects, 
 which extended to fifty books and was destined to have a 
 powerful effect upon Europe in the 12th century. There 
 followed yet a third great work, the far-famed Institutes of 
 Justinian (534), containing in four books the general prin- 
 ciples of law, regarding which it has been said, " The far- 
 reaching relations in time of such a book as this are vividly 
 apprehended when we remember that it is upon this treatise 
 that our own eighteenth century Blackstone rests." ^ 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the boon which this great 
 work, represented by the Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes, 
 conferred upon mankind. The Roman law was the produc- 
 tion of many generations of a race trained to government. 
 But at a time when the whole of the West had sunk into 
 barbarism a highly complicated system of law might in the 
 centuries to follow have become buried in oblivion had not 
 Justinian thus stripped it of antiquated complexity and 
 thereby made it capable of continued life, without any breach 
 of connection with the past. The result was that when, six 
 centuries later, the western nations had grown able to appre- 
 ciate a sound system of law, a copy of Justinian's Pandects 
 captured at the taking of Amalfi created almost a revolution 
 in the manners of the West, and had a large share in bring- 
 ing about the Renaissance.^ 
 
 The above labours in the domain of law, carried on by 
 Justinian simultaneously with many other activities, truly 
 represented an immense tale of work produced in the seven 
 years 527-534. While thus occupied, Justinian in 529 finally 
 closed the moribund imiversity of Athens, the last home of 
 that Greek philosophy from the bosom of which in Pagan times 
 had come many prominent leaders of Christianity. 
 Latin declared "^^^ Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes were all 
 the official written in Latin, which Justinian in promulgatinff 
 
 lanerua^e. "^ jt o o 
 
 them declared to be the proper official language of 
 the Roman government, its senate, and its tribunals, and of 
 the imperial court. Nevertheless the Later Roman Empire 
 found it difficult to adhere to this principle. Even in Justinian's 
 
 I 
 
 ^^r' 
 
 I 
 
 Hodgkin. 
 
 « Vol. IV, Chap. XXXVIII. 
 
 ' > 
 
200 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 time, though Latin remained the official language and that 
 affected by the court, while Greek was merely the language of 
 the people, Greek was more commonly in use, even at the 
 court, than Latin, that language not bemg understood by 
 the subordinate officials and soldiers. And within fifty years 
 after Justinian's death Greek had graduaUy ousted Latin 
 altogether.^ 
 
 Attention not ^moug all the many matters to which Justinian 
 given^o the devoted his immcusc energy— law, administration, 
 architecture, theology, art, and music— the one 
 thmg in which he took no interest was the affairs of the army. 
 And yet he had formed vast plans of reconquering the countries 
 of the West which had been lost, a project which would require 
 a powerful army, thoroughly equipped, well trained, recruited 
 from the best material, and backed up by sound arrange- 
 ments for replacing heavy losses. Only by unremitting 
 attention to these matters by the emperor himself could 
 such a project be expected to be carried out successfully. 
 Fiist exploits Almost simultaneously with the beginning of 
 of Beiisarius. Justiniau's reign the Persian monarch, the restless, 
 though now aged, Kobad,^ once more attacked the empire, 
 and a fresh Persian war began. To this war was sent, as 
 commandant of the fortress of Dara, a young officer, Beiisarius, 
 bom in Thrace and at this time twenty-two, who was to become 
 the greatest general of his age. By some he has been compared 
 to Napoleon, and he possessed many qualities justifying the 
 comparison; and had Beiisarius been in the independent 
 position which Napoleon occupied he would probably have 
 gained as great successes in war. While at Dara Beiisarius 
 appointed as his secretary and legal adviser the man who for 
 many years was his constant friend and companion in all 
 his campaigns, Procopius of Csesarea, who became the cele- 
 brated historian. During three years the operations on the 
 Persian frontier were indecisive, but in 530 the Persians 
 suddenly attacked Dara with an army of 40,000 men. Beiisarius 
 had only about half that number, but nevertheless in a two 
 days' battle which ensued he, by his skilful tactics and the 
 discipline which he taught his half-trained troops to observe, 
 
 * See Chap. XXIV, p. 448. 
 
 * Chap. XX, p. 169. 
 
 XXl] 
 
 THE "NIKA*' 
 
 201 
 
 gained a complete victory.^ In the campaign of the following 
 year (531) Beiisarius, though he suffered a defeat at Callinicum 
 (through no fault on his part), by his able tactics with a much 
 inferior force caused the Persians, who were advancing with 
 the intention of attacking Antioch, to retreat from Syria, 
 still further increasing his reputation ; and soon afterwards 
 upon the death of Kobad a satisfactory peace was made. 
 Meanwhile Justinian, much impressed with the military talents 
 displayed by Beiisarius, had recalled him to Constantinople, 
 with a view to placing him in command of an expedition 
 against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa. But the scheme 
 was suddenly interrupted by a formidable insurrection at 
 Constantinople, which for a time threw all other matters into 
 the shade. 
 
 TheNika The " Nika " insurrection, which arose in. January 
 insurrection. 533^ ^nd vcry nearly brought Justinian's reign 
 to an end in its sixth year, began by a quarrel between the 
 Greens and Blues at the races in the Hippodrome, but soon 
 assumed a more serious aspect owing to the two factions, 
 though mortal enemies, fraternizing against the Quaestor, 
 Tribonian, and the Praetorian Prefect, John of Cappadocia, 
 the latter a man of iron will with a vicious disposition, who 
 was Justinian's chief instrument for the collection of the taxes, 
 and was abhorred by the people. The insurgents adopted 
 as their party cry the word " Nika " (victory), and it has 
 given the name to this insm'rection, which raged for six days, 
 and destroyed a large portion of Constantinople. 
 
 Justinian at first tried to pacify the people by appointing 
 two other ministers in place of those to whom they objected ; 
 but without avail. When other endeavours had failed the 
 troops were called out, but their efforts only increased the 
 fury of the insurgents. Deaf to all remonstrances they set 
 fire to one important building after another, the flames spread 
 to the churches, and for five days fire raged over all the centre 
 part of the city. The palace of the Praetorian Prefect, the 
 Senate-house, the Baths of Zeuxippus,^ the Baths of Alexander, 
 
 ^ Procopius was an eye-witness of this battle of Dara, and gives a 
 full account of it. 
 
 2 With all their invaluable time-honoured masterpieces of Greek 
 art (Vol. I, p. 422), 
 
 1 1 
 
 '1: 
 
 I 
 
Ml 
 
 i 
 
 202 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the cathedral of St. Sophia, the church of St. Irene, i the church 
 
 of St. Theodore, and others, the library called the Octagon, 
 
 and the hospital for the sick and aged poor, 2 were all reduced 
 
 to ashes. On the fifth day Justinian endeavoured to allay 
 
 the tumult by a humiliating surrender, and ascending by the 
 
 winding stair (cochlias) which led from the Palace to his seat 
 
 in the Hippodrome (the Kathisma 3), from thence appealed 
 
 to the populace to desist, saying that the fault had been 
 
 entirely his own, and promising a general amnesty. But 
 
 he was only greeted with, " ass, thou art swearing falsely." 
 
 Finding his efforts useless, Justinian returned to the Palace, 
 
 where most of the nobles were assembled, and angrily ordered 
 
 Hypatius and Pompeius, the two nephews of the emperor 
 
 Anastasius I, to quit the Palace, which they did. 
 
 On the following morning, the 19th January, the mob 
 swarmed around the house of Hypatius, and notwithstanding 
 the impassioned tears of his wife Mary (a woman of noble 
 character), who entreated them not to lead her husband to 
 certain death, carried the unwilling Hypatius to the Augusteum, 
 and there proclaimed him emperor, crowning him with his 
 wife's necklace. Had his adherents at once forced their way 
 into the Palace, Justinian's reign would probably have promptly 
 ended, they, however, flocked into the Hippodrome, there 
 to debate what should be their next step. 
 
 Upon hearing of this final action of the insurgents Justinian's 
 spirit gave way. A councH of all his ministers was hastily 
 assembled in the Palace, and their united opinion was that, 
 every means having been tried to quell the insurrection without 
 avail, and a rival emperor having been proclaimed by the 
 
 ^ The church of St. Irene, 'rj /xcyoAiy Kai -iraXaia (the great and an- 
 cient), built by Constantino the Great, and the largest of the churches 
 in Constantinople except St. Sophia, was the Court church. When the 
 first church of St. Sophia was burnt down in 404 St. Irene was used 
 as the cathedral for eleven years while the second St. Sophia was being 
 built. The church of St. Irene again rose from its ashes after the Nika 
 riot, and was for long centuries the scene of many grand pageants, 
 and of many fierce struggles. This church, so rich in historical interest! 
 is now a Turkish armoury. 
 
 • This is probably the earhest hospital on record. Its poor and 
 feeble occupcuits aXL perished in the flames. 
 
 » See Appendix XIX. 
 
 xxr] 
 
 THEODORA'S SPEECH 
 
 203 
 
 insurgents, who held the whole city in their hands, the only 
 course was flight. John of Cappadocia, Justinian's principal 
 minister, and even Belisarius, agreed with this view, and 
 Justinian was beginning to give orders for departure by the 
 sea-gate, where the ships were moored, when a sudden inter- 
 ruption changed the whole course of events. The empress 
 Theodora (at this time twenty-eight), suddenly rising, violently 
 disagreed with the proposed flight. Raising her voice, and 
 speaking in a most impressive manner, she said : — ^ 
 
 " The present occasion is, I think, too grave to have regard to 
 the principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. 
 Those whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger 
 are justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. In 
 my opinion in the present circumstances nature is an undesirable 
 tutor, even if its guidance bring us safety. It is impossible for a 
 man, when he has come into the world, not to die ; but for one 
 who has reigned, to live as a royal fugitive is an intolerable thought. 
 Never may I exist without this purple robe ; and never may I 
 live to see the day when those who meet me shall not address me 
 as ' Empress.' 2 if you wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there 
 is no difficulty. There behold the sea; here behold the ships. 
 But reflect whether, when once you have escaped to a place of 
 seciu*ity, you will not every day wish you were dead. For myself 
 I agree with the ancient saying, ' The imperial pvuple is a fair 
 winding-sheet.' " ^ 
 
 The effect of such a speech, in such an assembly, from the 
 lips of her whom a French writer has called " that devilry of 
 genius," and with all the power of diction and gesture which 
 long acquaintance with the stage had given Theodora, may 
 perhaps be imagined. Her courage and resolution prevailed. 
 The idea of flight was abandoned, and Belisarius was ordered 
 to attack with all his force the rebellious mob which had set 
 up a rival emperor, while the Grand Chamberlain, the eunuch 
 
 ^ This speech is recorded by Procopius. Regarding it Profr. Bury 
 says : *' I have no doubt that these words were spoken by Theodora, 
 and that Procopius, if he was not present himself, heard them from 
 Belisarius." 
 
 * " Despoina." The emperor was addressed as " Despota" 
 
 * This speech may have been delivered either in the smaller Council 
 Hall or in the Banqueting Hall (see plan, Appendix XIX). From 
 either of them Theodora would have been able to see the ships and 
 the sea as she spoke. 
 
 
204 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 1 , 
 
 
 Narses, was sent out into the city with a large sum of money, 
 to endeavour to bribe the leaders of the Blue faction to return 
 to their allegiance to Justinian. 
 
 Belisarius, on receiving orders again to attack the insurgents, 
 and hearing that they were all gathered in the Hippodrome, 
 saw at once his only chance of victory. Bringing the troops 
 rapidly out of the Palace by a back-entrance, he seized all the 
 four gates of the Hippodrome, into which his troops instantly 
 rushed, slaughtering every one before them ; panic seized the 
 mob, a general massacre ensued of all, whether high or low, 
 Blue or Green, who chanced to be in the Hippodrome, and 
 the insurrection was at an end. Hjrpatius and Pompeius were 
 put to death, and their property was confiscated ; but when 
 a day or two later Justinian learnt of the unwilling part which 
 Hypatius had played in the matter, he restored their property 
 to their relatives. 
 
 It is estimated that not less than 35,000 persons, from 
 first to last, perished in this serious insurrection. But though 
 the victory had been achieved by a ruthless and indiscri- 
 minate sacrifice of life, the State gained largely in stability. 
 Such insurrections had been frequent during the reigns of 
 Zeno and Anastasius I, but after this terrible lesson it was 
 many years before Constantinople was again plunged into 
 such tumults. Justinian at once set about rebuilding the 
 destroyed churches and public buildings, thereby giving 
 employment to an immense number of the poorest of the 
 people, and at the same time much increasing the beauty of 
 the city. 
 
 This insurrection having been subdued, and repair 
 
 Proposal to»,, J. *^ ' *^ 
 
 attack the 01 tuc aestructiou caused by it having been in- 
 kil^dtm. augurated, Justinian returned to his scheme of 
 attacking the Vandal kingdom, to the throne of 
 which Gelimer, a great-grandson of Gaiseric, had lately suc- 
 ceeded. To make an attack upon so powerful a kingdom 
 would naturally require a great effort, and in regard to this 
 point Justinian had before him the experience of the attempt 
 made sixty-four years earlier by the emperor Leo I. Never- 
 theless Justinian seems to have formed the project without 
 any idea of the conditions involved, though it was one likely 
 to tax the military resources of the empire to the utmost. 
 
 xxi] 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 
 
 205 
 
 The imperial army in the time of Justinian, as 
 
 ^f'^^kT organized by Anastasius I, had a total strength 
 
 time of Qf about 200,000 men. It was composed of the 
 
 Justinian. t i i i i i 
 
 heavily armed infantry who had taken the place 
 of the Roman legions of former days, of " auxiliary " 
 mounted corps recruited from districts within the empire, and 
 of other " auxiliary " moimted troops belonging to various 
 nationalities not included within the empire. Speaking 
 roughly it may be said that in Justinian's time, as in that 
 of Anastasius I, about three-fifths of the army was 
 composed of troops recruited within the empire and two- 
 fifths of troops from beyond its borders. Cavalry had by 
 this time come to be considered the most important arm, and 
 at least two-thirds of the army were mounted troops, and 
 of excellent quality. Specially noted were the heavy regi- 
 ments of mailed cavalry, or cuirassiers (cataphracii), armed 
 with lance, sword, and bow and arrows, ^ a class of troops 
 whose armament was originally copied by the empire from 
 the Persians in the time of Constantius. 
 Unpopularity Thc proposcd war was universally unpopular, both 
 of the war. ^^jj^ civilians and with the army, the disastrous 
 failure of Leo I's great Armada in 468, and the immense loss of 
 men, money, and ships then experienced, causing all to look 
 with dread upon another attempt of the kind. Even Jus- 
 tinian's chief minister, John of Cappadocia, was of the 
 same opinion, and did his utmost to dissuade him from 
 the attempt, warning the emperor that failure would involve 
 the ruin of the empire, while success would bring no gain, 
 since even if he conquered North Africa he would never be 
 able to hold it so long as the Ostrogoths possessed Italy and 
 Sicily. But Justinian was determined upon the enterprise ; 
 he appointed Belisarius to the command, and proceeded to 
 collect troops and ships for the invasion of North Africa. 
 strength of ^^t Justiniau's preparations were on a very dif- 
 the force, fereut scale to those of the emperor Leo I. The 
 latter was a soldier, and having himself seen war, and know- 
 ing what such an enterprise as this involved, had despatched 
 against the Vandals an army of lOO^QOO meu and a fleet of 
 
 1^' 
 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 » See p. 219. 
 
206 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 1100 ships. 1 Justinian on the other hand, having no such 
 knowledge, expected Belisarius to conquer the most powerful 
 kingdom of the West with a force of only 8000 infantry and 
 5000 cavaby, conveyed in 500 ships, most of them small, 
 while all the arrangements were mismanaged, being left to his 
 minister, John of Cappadocia, whose chief aim in the matter 
 was to enrich himself. And it shows how great was Beli- 
 sarius' loyalty to Justinian, and how strong his courage and 
 confidence in himself, that with all men around him taking 
 the most gloomy view of the attempt, he was willing to under- 
 take such a task with so totally inadequate a force. 
 Departure of The expedition sailed from Constantinople about 
 expedition, ^j^^ glst Juuc 533, its departure being witnessed 
 from the gardens of the Palace by the emperor and the whole 
 court. Belisarius, at this time twenty-seven, while in Con- 
 stantinople had married Antonina, a widow twenty-two 
 years * older than himself, with two grown-up children, and 
 noted for her wisdom and common-sense. Belisarius relied 
 much upon her judgment, and she accompanied him on this 
 expedition, as did also his coimsellor and friend Procopius, 
 whose account of this campaign is the best of his books, and 
 who tells us that he, like all others, had great dread as to 
 the probable fate of the enterprise. Their first point was 
 Sicily, where a resting-place was promised to the expedition 
 by the Ostrogoth queen, Amalasuntha. 
 Force badly No attempt had been made by Justinian and his 
 *^^PP***- ministers to make up for paucity in numbers by 
 perfection in other respects, and the expedition was in every 
 way badly equipped. John of Cappadocia had stolen the 
 money allotted for supplying the ships with biscuit, and had 
 supplied instead a cheaper kind of bread which proved rotten 
 and produced much sickness ; the supply of water was in- 
 sufficient,' the troops suffering greatly from thirst ; the ships 
 
 ^ On that occasion the cavalry, consisting of nearly half the force, 
 had been sent by Icwid ; but that plan W£is not one to be repeated (see 
 Chap. XIX, p. 124.) 
 
 * So stated by Procopius. Some writers think he may have ex- 
 aggerated her age by a year or two. 
 
 • Except on the general's ship, where Antonina, foreseeing such a 
 result as probable, had hidden a private supply for their party in water* 
 jars which she had sealed ^nd covered over with sand. 
 
 XXI] 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE VANDALS 
 
 207 
 
 were iU-found, and took two months to reach Sicily ; while 
 no arrangements had been made to supply Belisarius with 
 any information as to the best places for landing in Africa, 
 the disposition and approximate strength of the Vandal 
 army, or the situation of the powerful Vandal fleet. We are 
 given no information as to how one detail, the conveyance of 
 6000 horses on the ships, was managed. With ships such 
 as those of the 6th century the conveyance of so many horses 
 must have been the most difficult part of the whole opera- 
 tion ; and especially in view of the large amount of water 
 required for them during a two months' voyage, and the 
 fact that on this occasion the supply of water was so scanty.^ 
 But the genius of Belisarius overcame aU difficulties, while 
 it was his good fortune that he arrived in North Africa at a 
 time when the Vandal fleet was absent on an expedition sent 
 to subdue a rebellion in Sardinia ; and about the beginning 
 of September Belisarius landed his army in safety on 
 the coast of Africa at Caputvada,^ about 130 miles from 
 Carthage. 
 
 Battle of The campaign which followed was short and de- 
 AdDecimum. cisivc. GrcHmer was even unaware that such an 
 attack was imminent, and was entirely unprepared for it. 
 Belisarius wisely gave him as little time as possible, and 
 marched at once upon Carthage. The first battle between 
 them was fought on the 13th September at Ad Decimum, 
 amidst hilly ground about ten miles from Carthage. Gelimer, 
 with at least four times the force, had divided his army 
 into three divisions, of which one, imder his brother Ammatas, 
 was to attack Belisarius' army in front while on its march, 
 the second, under his nephew Gibamund, to move through 
 the hills and attack it in flank, and the third, under Gelimer 
 himself, to make a wide detour and fall upon its rear. The 
 plan was formidable enough, but its success depended entirely 
 upon the three attacks being delivered simultaneously ; and 
 this in an age before watches were invented was difficult 
 to secure. As usual, the two turning movements took longer 
 to carry out than had been expected, and Ammatas delivered 
 
 ^ Nevertheless we do not hear of any great loss of horses during the 
 voyage, and Belisarius ma^e large use of his cavalry within a week of 
 landing in Africa, * ]^ow Ras Kapoodia, 
 
 ' Iri 
 
208 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 |i 
 
 1; 
 
 
 till! 
 
 If 
 
 II 
 
 his attack before either of the other two divisions had reached 
 their stations. The result was that the three attacks were 
 beaten in detail, Ammatas being killed, and the Vandals 
 being completely defeated, chiefly owing to Belisarius' general- 
 ship in having arranged a large part of his cavahy as a screen, 
 which gave him timely information of all the enemy's move- 
 ments. GeUmer fled to Bulla Regia, where the immense 
 treasures of the Vandal kingdom, collected during a hundred 
 years' rule over the rich province of North Africa, were kept, 
 and began collecting there a fresh army, while he despatched 
 orders to his brother Tzazo, commanding the expedition 
 sent to Sardinia, to return at once, to bring him the needed 
 reinforcement. 
 
 Occupation of On thc 15th September Belisarius entered Car- 
 ^^^^«^' thage, and installed himself in the luxurious palace 
 of the Vandal kings, finding there the greater part of the rich 
 spoil carried off from Rome in 455, of which Procopius gives 
 full details.! Belisarius had previously warned his army 
 on pain of death that they were scrupulously to respect the 
 lives and property of the citizens of Carthage *' whom they 
 had come to deliver from the yoke of the barbarians," and 
 his orders were strictly obeyed. Procopius says that never 
 did a victorious army march into a captured city in such an 
 orderly manner, that all classes pursued their ordinary avo- 
 cations, and that it was difficult to imagine that they were 
 in a conquered city. The Arians were ejected from the cathe- 
 dral of Carthage, which was once more restored to Catholic 
 worship ; and Belisarius entertained all his officers at a great 
 banquet in the palace, the viands being served in the gold 
 and silver plate of the Vandal kings. 
 
 Carthage, ^^^thage, which from this time forth for the next 
 165 years was destined to play a prominent part 
 in the history of the Later Roman Empire, had enjoyed, from 
 the time that it was re-founded by Augustus in the first year 
 of his reign, a highly prosperous existence for five and a half 
 centuries, its capture by Gaiseric in 439, when it became the 
 capital of the Vandal kingdom, not having caused any serious 
 (Jamage to th^ city. It occupied a splendid site, being placed 
 
 * Chap. XIX, p. 121, 
 
 xxi] 
 
 CARTHAGE IN SIXTH CENTURY 
 
 209 
 
 on a low range of hills sloping down to the seashore, with a 
 fine harbour, and in close proximity to two of the most fertile 
 valleys in North Africa. The city was supplied with water 
 by an aqueduct sixty miles long which brought an immense 
 volume of water from the south-western hills to a large 
 series of reservoirs,^ from whence it was distributed through 
 the whole city by leaden pipes. The imperial palace (occu- 
 pied by the emperor's representative, the Prefect *), which 
 had been made by Gaiseric the palace of the Vandal kings, 
 stood on the Byrsa (or castle hill) in the centre of the city, 
 about 700 yards from the seashore, and commanded a splendid 
 view over the whole city, harbour, and sea. A little further 
 along the low range, north-east of the castle hill, stood the 
 Roman Theatre, with beyond it the Odeon (or covered theatre), 
 and close beyond this were the city walls. The principal 
 Baths stood at the foot of the line of hills, near the sea-shore, 
 being supplied with water by a subterranean conduit from 
 the reservoirs on the slope of the hills to the west of the city, 
 near the Amphitheatre. Near these Baths was one of the 
 chief features of Carthage, the splendid " Roman Stairs," a 
 set of marble steps ascending from the quays to the principal 
 square, the Platea Nova. A little to the north of these Stairs 
 was the Career Castrensis, the prison in which Vivia Perpetua 
 and those martyred with her in 203 were confined. One 
 great change however had come over Carthage since Vivia 
 Perpetua's day. Carthage had become a Christian city. 
 The great Amphitheatre in which she and many others had 
 been martyred, still standing outside the city walls to the 
 west, was no longer used. The many Pagan temples had 
 disappeared, and their place had been taken by various fine 
 churches. The cathedral (dedicated to St. Cyprian, martyred 
 in this same city 55 years after Vivia Perpetua) stood just 
 outside the northern walls, being in length 71 yards and in 
 
 ^ Many miles of this aqueduct are still to be seen, stretching across 
 the undulating plain ne€ir Tunis. The reservoirs are very extensive ; 
 one set of them has 17 compartments, each 100 feet long, opening into 
 one another to allow the sediment to sink, and with sluice-gates for 
 cleaning purposes, the whole building being 147 yards by 44 yards. 
 
 * His title was not changed to the Greek form Exarch until fifty 
 yefiurs after this time. 
 
 E.W. — II, p 
 
 '►'< 
 
 h 
 
 r 
 
 ^i 
 
 *i 
 
Ilii 
 
 ill 
 
 I 
 
 210 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 tJH A V» 
 
 xxi] 
 
 breadth 60 yards, and having ten aisles. ^ About 600 yards 
 to the north of it was another very large church, the Basilica 
 Majorum, built over the grave in which, according to an 
 existing inscription, the remains of Vivia Perpetua and Felicitas 
 were buried, which church during the Vandal period was the 
 Arian cathedral.* The general magnificence of the buildings 
 of the city is shown by the fact that after it was destroyed 
 in 698 it formed a quarry for centuries, its splendid columns 
 of differently coloured marbles being sufficiently valuable 
 to be transported to Kairowan, to Cordova in Spain, to Palermo 
 in Sicily, and to Amalfi and Pisa in Italy. There is no city 
 in the present day which if destroyed would furnish a similar 
 quarry for costly building materials. 
 
 Battle of But though Bclisarius had captured Carthage he 
 Tricamcron. j^^^^j j^y j^q mcaus yct couqucrcd North Africa, 
 
 the greater part of the Vandal army not having yet been 
 encountered. Why Belisarius remained at this jimcture for 
 three months at Carthage, busied in repairing its ruined walls, 
 is not apparent. During this time Tzazo with the force from 
 Sardinia rejoined Gelimer, whose army now enormously 
 outnumbered that of Belisarius.' Thus reinforced Gelimer 
 advanced and encamped at Tricameron, about 20 miles from 
 Carthage, and in the middle of December 633 Belisarius 
 marched out to attack him. Gelimer had placed all the 
 Vandal women in the centre of his camp, in order that their 
 cries might instigate his troops to fight more fiercely in their 
 defence ; but this only made the eventual defeat more crush- 
 ing. In this battle of Tricameron Belisarius gained the 
 victory chiefly through the splendid charges made by his 
 cavalry ; twice they were beaten back, but on the third 
 
 ^ The site of the cathedral of Carthage, a cathedral which saw so 
 many remarkable episodes from the 4th to the 7th century, until it 
 was destroyed by the Mahomedans in 698, has in recent years been 
 excavated. The whole €«'ea covered by it, including both its older 
 and its later portions, is inmiense. At one side of it cure the remains of 
 a fine circular baptistery, built of mcurble. 
 
 * The site of this church was excavated in 1907, when in the Cori' 
 fessio was found the inscription noted. In the cemetery surroimding 
 the church mcuiy Bishops* tombs have been discovered. 
 
 * Qelimer in his speech to his army said it was *' ten times larger," 
 but he may have been exaggerating. 
 
 THE VANDALS CONQUERED 
 
 211 
 
 occasion, in the midst of a fierce hand-to-hand contest, Tzazo 
 was killed, which appeared to strike panic into the Vandals. 
 Gelimer in grief at his brother's death fled precipitately from 
 the field, and the Vandals forthwith scattered in all directions, 
 leaving their camp, treasure, wives and children to become 
 the property of the victors. 
 Surrender of The capturc of this splcudid prize utterly demoral- 
 G*^^^' ized the troops of Belisarius, who, in marked con- 
 trast to their behaviour at the taking of Carthage, promptly 
 dissolved into a disorderly and barbarous mob. Finding 
 themselves suddenly the captors of treasure, jewels, gold 
 ornaments, the gold armour worn by the Vandal officers, and 
 crowds of handsome Vandal women and girls, they had no 
 thought but to convey their spoil as quickly as possible back 
 into Carthage, and the army as an army practically for the 
 time broke up, thronging back into Carthage laden with their 
 captives and plunder. Next morning Belisarius managed 
 to win back to obedience a few of his own bodyguard, and 
 through them at length regained control over the rest of the 
 army. He then sent officers to Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic 
 islands, Septem, and other towns in North Africa, and soon 
 brought all the territory of the Vandals to obedience to the 
 emperor. Gelimer, with his nephews, cousins, and some of 
 the Vandal nobles, had fled to the mountains of Mauretania, 
 where after miserably enduring the hardships of such an 
 existence for three months, they finally surrendered in March 
 634, and were brought as prisoners to Carthage, pending their 
 being shipped to Constantinople. Thus in nine months after 
 leaving the capital had Belisarius with his scanty and ill- 
 equipped force triimiphed over all difficulties and re-con- 
 quered for the empire the richest province of its former 
 dominions. 
 
 But Belisarius had to experience the usual trouble of a 
 successful general, viz. the envious machinations of those less 
 capable than himself and jealous of his glory. Some of those 
 under his command contrived to send messages to Justinian 
 that Belisarius was puffed up by his conquest and aimed at 
 making himself emperor ; and Justinian, not possessing the 
 nobility of character which would have refused to credit such 
 a charge against a man who he should have known was in- 
 
I: 
 
 
 III 
 
 i: 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 212 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 capable of such conduct, was ready to believe the charge. 
 Belisarius was fortunate enough to hear of the accusation 
 which had been made, and even to obtain a copy of one of the 
 letters written to the emperor ; ^ so that when he received 
 a letter from Justinian saying, " The Vandal captives are to 
 be sent to Constantinople : choose whether you will accom- 
 pany them or remain at Carthage," he knew that his only 
 course was to accompany the captives to the capital, and 
 thereby show that the charge had no foundation. He accord- 
 ingly returned to Constantinople about the month of June 
 634, bringing with him the Vandal king Grelimer and other 
 prisoners, and the spoil taken from Rome by Gaiseric eighty 
 years previously. 
 
 Roman triumph ^P^^ *^® arrival of Bclisarius at Constantinople 
 accorded to Justiuiau saw that his suspicions against him had 
 been undeserved, and the conqueror of North Africa 
 was accorded a Roman triumph (the first ever seen in Con- 
 stantinople), an honour which for many hundred years had 
 not been granted to any but an emperor, and was great indeed 
 when conferred upon a commander who was still only twenty- 
 eight years old. The long procession included the gold car- 
 riages, gold saddles, gold and silver plate, and other rich spoils 
 carried off by the Vandals from Rome, and troops of the noble- 
 looking Vandal captives, while in front of Belisarius marched 
 the Vandal king and his nephews, the last representatives of 
 the proud Asding race. Gelimer was granted a large estate 
 in Galatia, and retired to pass there the rest of his days in 
 peace. The Vandal warriors captured were enrolled in five 
 regiments of cavaby, receiving the name of "Justinian's 
 Vandals," and were sent to garrison various cities in Syria. 
 Causes of The causcs of this rapid overthrow of the powerful 
 oi^hro^of Vandal kingdom have often been debated, but in 
 the Vandals, reality that defeat was entirely due to two causes. 
 The first of these was the extremely fortunate circumstance 
 of the fleet (with a considerable portion of the army) of the 
 Vandals chancing to be absent at the time when Belisarius 
 made his invasion. Not only was the Vandal fleet, which 
 had been the chief agent in the defeat of the Armada of Leo I, 
 
 ^ He appecirs to have made no effort to punish the writer of it, 
 which, if the caae, redounds still further to his honour. 
 
 !■■; 
 
 xxi] 
 
 RULE OF NORTH AFRICA 
 
 213 
 
 altogether superior to the puny fleet of Belisarius (which only 
 included about ninety war vessels, mostly of small size), but 
 also to such an extent was it dreaded by the troops of Beli- 
 sarius that they openly told him during the halt in Sicily that 
 if they were attacked by the Vandal fleet they would seek 
 safety in flight. The second, and ultimate, cause of the over- 
 throw of the Vandals was the great luxury into which they 
 had fallen since their occupation of North Africa. Gaining 
 possession of that exceedingly rich country, surrounded on 
 all sides by evidences of the luxury of their predecessors, 
 having a subject population to work for them, no longer called 
 upon to fight against any of the other northern races, and 
 possessing the lion's share of the spoil of Europe, they had 
 degenerated into a degree of luxury scarcely less than that 
 of the Romans in the time of Honorius. It was no wonder 
 therefore that when pitted against a commander like Belisarius, 
 who wielded a strict discipline and was able to mould even 
 the most indifferent fighting material into efficient soldiers, 
 the indolent and pleasure-loving Vandals were easily 
 overcome, and that the Vandal kingdom, originally so 
 powerful, collapsed in only three months before an enemy 
 greatly inferior both in number and resources. 
 Arrangements Upou this couqucst being Completed the govem- 
 ^""^t^^ ment of North Africa was vested in a Prefect (fifty 
 
 of Nortn ,_ _. T\i 
 
 Africa, years later changed to the Greek title Ji^xarcn),^ 
 who resided at Carthage, with under him, as rulers of the 
 different sections of the province, six dukes (duces). The 
 province was divided into six sub-provinces, viz. Leptis 
 Magna (capital Tripoli), Byzacena (capital Capsa), Mauretania 
 Sitifensis (Constantine), Mauretania Caesariensis (Caesarea), 
 Mauretania Tingitana (Septem), and Sardinia (Coralis). 
 Special forces were enrolled and placed imder these officers 
 for the defence of the province, and the erection of innumer- 
 able fortresses was begun. 2 The Prefect of North Africa was 
 an official of the highest class, with the title of excellentissimus, 
 and received an annual salary equal to £4,500. 
 
 In Justinian's career nothing is more remarkable 
 justS^ than the change wrought in his position by the 
 ^'^''' suppression of the " Nika '' insurrection. The 
 1 Chap. XXin, p. 356 (footnote). * Page 242. 
 
 If 
 
S14 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 C5HAP. 
 
 manner in which that insurrection ended, owing to Theo- 
 dora's resolute courage, vastly strengthened Justinian's posi- 
 tion. From that time forward his authority became absolute. 
 Justinian was in fact a much more despotic sovereign than 
 even Constantine had been. Agathias ^ says : "Of those 
 who reigned at Byzantium he was the first absolute sovereign 
 (avTOKpartvp) in deed as well as in name," * and he has been 
 considered by historians the most perfect representative of 
 absolute power that the world has known. He not only looked 
 upon himself, but was looked upon by all, as the supreme 
 head of all things, in the army, in the civil government, in 
 legal affairs, and in the Church. No Pope or Patriarch dared 
 to dream of asserting an equal authority in the Church to that 
 of the emperor. Nor would such a theory as Pope Leo the 
 Great perhaps had entertained,^ regarding a supremacy on 
 the part of the (exceedingly depressed) see of Rome over other 
 portions of the Church, have been listened to for an instant 
 by the strongly Catholic emperor Justinian. This effect upon 
 Justinian's position wrought by the victory over the " Nika " 
 insurrection has been considered so important that some 
 histori£^ns have even proposed to make that victory an era, 
 as the dividing line between " Roman " and " Byzantine " 
 history, considering it as having begun that absolutism on 
 the part of the emperor by which " Byzantine history " is 
 generally characterized. 
 
 * The historian Agathias (536-578) was a lawyer in Constantinople, 
 who the year after Justinian's death began a history in continuation of 
 that of Procopins, but owing to his death at the age of 42 only car- 
 ried it as f €«• £ks the year 659. Notwithstanding an affected style he by 
 no means deserves the sneer which Gibbon has cast at him, as he writes 
 with resolve to record the truth without partiality, and has received 
 high praise from Niebuhr who considers him a much more reliable 
 writer than even Procopius. Agathias complains of being unable to 
 devote his whole time to history, being obliged to pursue law for his 
 daily bread, saying : *' Writing history is the greatest and noblest of 
 all achievements, but with me it has to be a mere side-pursuit and 
 accessory of my life." From Agathias we learn that in his time the 
 suburb of Pera (now forming the busiest portion of Constantinople) 
 was a quiet coimtry retreat, to which he retired from time to time to 
 enjoy the beauty of the woods and listen to the songs of the goldfinches. 
 
 ■ Agathias V, 14. s chap. XIX, p. 109. 
 
 XXi] 
 
 TROUBLES OF AMALASUNTHA 
 
 215 
 
 During the seven years (527-634) that Justinian 
 ^°**''^^*' had been thus growing in power Amalasuntha,! 
 the brave and capable daughter of Theodoric the Great, who 
 at his death had succeeded to the rule over the kingdom of 
 the Ostrogoths on behalf of her ten-year-old son Athalaric, 
 had been experiencing various troubles. Amalasuntha was 
 a woman of great strength of character, with rare intel- 
 lectual gifts, and besides her own Gothic language could 
 speak both Latin and Greek fluently. Pure in life, with a 
 high spirit, and a remarkable power of appreciating Roman 
 culture, she had grown up in the palace of Ravenna almost 
 like an inhabitant of another world from that in which those 
 of her nation lived. Her strength of character and her un- 
 doubted ability fitted her to rule, but her intellectual attain- 
 ments and love of culture made her obnoxious to the Goths, 
 who not only resented being governed by a woman, but also 
 her endeavours to bring up her son, the young king, with 
 some degree of education. The Goths objected to her teach- 
 mg him to read and write, which they considered unfitted him 
 to be a warrior, and urged that his time ought to be spent in 
 practising the use of arms. 
 
 At length matters came to a climax upon Amalasuntha 
 whipping her son Athalaric for some act of meanness or dis- 
 obedience. A deputation of the Gothic chiefs thereupon 
 waited upon Amalasuntha, complained that her son was 
 being brought up on entirely wrong principles for one who 
 was to be king of the Ostrogoths, and soon afterwards 
 carried off Athalaric from her control, and surrounded him 
 with a band of young companions who were supposed to 
 make a man of him and teach him manly exercises, but who 
 instead taught him to drink and lead a licentious life ; and 
 by the time he was sixteen his health was ruined. 
 
 Meanwhile the disaffection of the Goths towards 
 
 Thiudahad. ^^alasuntha continued, while her troubles were 
 increased by the constant complaints brought to her of the 
 actions of her avaricious and cowardly cousin, the hated 
 Thiudahad, 2 the son of her aunt Amalafrida, and the nearest 
 
 1 Chap. XX, p. 182. ^ , ^ r. .w 
 
 2 Usually styled Theodahad, the Greek corruption of the Uotmc 
 
 form of his name (see Chap. XX, p. 171). 
 
 
 I 
 
216 
 
 AMALASUNTHA 
 
 GSA^. 
 
 id 
 
 I ■!' 
 
 male heir to Theodoric after Athalaric. Thiudahad in the 
 time of Theodoric had been granted large estates in Tuscany, 
 and by a continued course of ousting the proprietors of adja- 
 cent lands (though twice punished by Theodoric for this con- 
 duct) had gradually extended his patrimony over the greater 
 part of Tuscany and even into the Roman Campagna. He 
 was both hated and despised by the people, and complaints 
 against his proceedings were incessant. Amalasuntha forced 
 him to restore some of the lands he had stolen from the people, 
 and as a consequence he nourished against her the bitterest 
 resentment, and was ever ready to combine with those of the 
 Goths who were most disaffected towards her. Placed in 
 the midst of these various troubles Amalasuntha, feeling that 
 eventually she might probably be driven from Italy, opened 
 negotiations with the emperor Justinian, ^ and he expressed 
 willingness in such an event to offer her an asylum. 
 
 In 534 Athalaric, at the age of eighteen, died from drunken- 
 ness and evil living. Thereby Amalasuntha's position, 
 hitherto that of Regent, became seriously altered, her only 
 other child being a daughter, Matasuntha, and the only 
 male relative of Theodoric now being Thiudahad. Appar- 
 ently, however, the Goths, much as they disliked Amala- 
 suntha, both disliked and despised Thiudahad so intensely 
 that they elected Amalasuntha as queen in her own right, 
 Thiudahad being only allowed to be nominally associated 
 with her in the kingship.* In accordance with the terms of 
 this arrangement Thiudahad bound himself by a most solemn 
 oath to leave Amalasuntha in possession of the whole power, 
 he himself remaining only nominally king, though in official 
 documents the two appeared as joint sovereigns. 
 Murder of But whether urged on by his ambitious wife Gude- 
 Amaiasuntha. ji^a, or by somc of the Gothic nobles who disagreed 
 with the compact, Thiudahad soon proved a traitor. In 
 April 535 a revolt against Amalasuntha instigated by him 
 
 * Her action in 533, in allowing the expedition against the Vandals 
 to rest in Sicily, was a pckrt of this policy. 
 
 * This is the view taken by Dahn. Other authorities take various 
 views regarding this somewhat obscure transaction, but agree that, 
 whether Amalasuntha was elected to the position or assumed it, she 
 and Thiudahad were recognized as joint sovereigns. 
 
 XXl] 
 
 "TRUCELESS WAR" PROCLAIMED 
 
 217 
 
 took place in the palace of Ravenna, her principal adherents 
 were slain, and she was seized and hurried away to the un- 
 inhabited little islet of Marta in the lake of Bolsena, where 
 she was imprisoned. As soon as the news reached the emperor 
 he despatched a letter to her (which he made as public as 
 possible) by his ambassador Peter, assuring her that he would 
 protect her. But Amalasuntha was already no more. The 
 cowardly nature of Thiudahad was easily worked upon by 
 those who had taken part in the revolt to believe that his own 
 safety demanded her death, and within a month after her 
 incarceration Thiudahad despatched assassins from Ravenna 
 to the lake of Bolsena, who crossed to the island, and mur- 
 dered the unhappy daughter of Theodoric in her bath. So 
 perished the unfortunate queen of the Ostrogoths, Amala- 
 suntha, a woman in every way in advance of her time, who 
 was placed in a false position by being caUed upon to rule a 
 race who would obey none but a warrior. 
 Expedition This dastardly crime sealed the fate, not only of 
 against Italy, ^jjg kingdom of the Ostrogoths, but also of the 
 Ostrogoths as a nation ; for in the eighteen years' war which 
 followed that race was exterminated. Justinian, perhaps 
 mindful of the words of John of Cappadocia,^ had ever since 
 gaining North Africa been looking out for an opportunity of 
 intervening in the affairs of Italy ; and this murder of Amala- 
 suntha gave him the pretext he desired. A " truceless war " 
 was declared against the Ostrogoths, and Belisarius received 
 orders to take command of an expedition to avenge the 
 murder of the emperor's " ally," and to conquer Italy, 
 arrangements being forthwith made to prepare an expedition 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The expedition for the conquest of Italy was on an even 
 more inadequate scale than that sent against North Africa. 
 Irrespective of a small force which was despatched by land 
 against the Goths in Dalmatia, and effected nothing, the 
 Roman army sent to conquer Italy consisted of less than 9000 
 men. Its composition is of importance. It included 3000 
 regular infantry (the Roman legionaries), 3000 Isaurians 
 (the best fighting material in the empire), 2000 " foederati " 
 (irregulars, of various nationalities not subject to, but acknow- 
 
 1 Page 205. 
 
 'I 
 
 i 
 
 l»! 
 
 ! 
 
218 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 ledging the supremacy of, the emperor), and 500 mercenary 
 troops, consisting of 200 Huns and 300 Moors, making a 
 total of 8500 men. As the ** foederati," the Huns, and the 
 Moors were ahnost entirely mounted troops, we may say 
 that Belisarius' army consisted roughly of 6000 infantry and 
 2500 cavalry. 
 
 It has previously been noted ^ that the Roman Empire 
 was right in enrolling in its army as " Romans " men of all 
 nationalities which from time to time became a part of the 
 empire, and the Later Roman Empire was evidently still 
 pursuing the same course. So that it is a mistake to con- 
 sider, e.g. the Isaurians, as non-Romans. The races inhabit- 
 ing the provinces of lUyricum, Dacia south of the Danube, 
 Moesia, Thrace, and Isauria were the best fighting blood in 
 the empire, and therefore we should expect in the case of a 
 government so sensible as that of the Roman Empire to find 
 men of these races forming the bulk of the Roman army, and 
 rightly called Roman soldiers.* The Roman literary men 
 having no military instincts affected (as they had always 
 done) to look down contemptuously upon all men of a different 
 race fnom themselves, and so in their writings are always 
 found speaking of any officers or men of the army who be- 
 longed to these races by terms such as " the Isaurian," ** the 
 Goth," and so on, as though to imply that they were of some 
 meaner origin than Romans. But we shall be altogether in 
 error if (as is generally done) we follow the Roman literary 
 men in this particular, and fail to consider all men as Roman 
 soldiers who were inhabitants of Roman provinces, were 
 subject to the Roman government, and were enlisted in the 
 Roman army.^ 
 Beiisarius* ^^^^sarius was in the habit of relying much upon 
 study of his his cavalry, which had done splendid service for 
 proession. j^^ ^ North Africa. And Procopius informs us 
 that when after the series of victories which Belisarius gained 
 against the Ostrogoths in Italy wonder was expressed at the 
 
 * Vol. I, Chap. Xni, p. 400. 
 
 * Just as in the British army we do not fail to consider as British 
 soldiers the men of our Highland regiments, even though their em- 
 cestors formerly fought against Engletnd. 
 
 » See also Chap. XXIV, p. 448-449. 
 
 XXl] 
 
 CAVALRY AS ARCHERS 
 
 219 
 
 means by which such results were achieved with so small a 
 force, Belisarius explained that at the beginning of the war 
 he studied what were the differences between the two armies, 
 m order that later on he might not see his small army over- 
 whelmed by the superior numbers of their opponents ; that 
 he noted the chief difference to be that the Romans and their 
 Hunnish allies were all good archers on horseback, whereas 
 the archers of the Goths were infantry and their cavaby fought 
 only with javelins and swords ; that he made full use of this 
 difference by avoiding as far as possible a hand-to-hand 
 encounter with the enemy's cavaky, with the result that the 
 latter, being unable to reply to a discharge of arrows from 
 a distance, were soon thrown into confusion, and cut to pieces, 
 after which the Gothic infantry, though able to reply to a 
 volley of arrows from a distance, could be overthrown by the 
 charges of his cavalry ; ^ and that he attributed his victories 
 to having noted this difference in the first engagement and 
 ever afterwards thus made use of what he had observed. 
 Belisarius in giving this explanation showed his modesty ; for 
 it was his own intrepidity, tactful common-sense, equanimity, 
 and marvellous resourcefulness, which chiefly gained his 
 victories ; never did a war depend so entirely upon one man. 
 But perhaps nothing better demonstrates what a fine soldier 
 Belisarius was than his deliberately settmg himself at the 
 beginning of the war to study the two armies in order to see 
 on what points they differed, and then detecting how to make 
 use of what his observation had taught him. Such methods 
 were rare in the 6th century, even if they are not so still. « 
 
 The expedition sailed from Constantinople about 
 f^rSto August 535, Belisarius being accompanied as before 
 North Africa, ^y ^^ ^^^ Antonina and his secretary and adviser 
 
 Procopius. He first attacked SicHy. Town after town opened 
 its gates without a struggle, Palermo alone making any resist- 
 
 1 One might almost imagine that Belisarius had studied some highly 
 up-to-date work of these days upon the employment of fire by cavalry. 
 It is also to be noted that Belisarius nevertheless did not turn his 
 cavaby into mounted infantry. The whole matter demonstrates his 
 great genius as a commander. 
 
 2 Belisarius' procedure is a lesson that, instead of slavishly copying 
 tactics which have been successful in the case of other armies, tactics 
 should be £kdapted to the nationality of the troops. 
 
 
 i 
 
 i\ 
 
220 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 lii ^: 
 
 i it 
 
 ance. After a short siege Belisarius took it, and by December 
 635 the whole island was subject to the emperor. But just 
 as Belisarius was preparing to cross the straits into Italy, 
 he suddenly received news of a serious revolt in North Africa. 
 Embarking at once at Syracuse with only 100 men of his 
 bodyguard in the ship which had brought the news, he landed 
 at Carthage, round which city the mutineers were encamped, 
 managed to get through their lines diuing the night into the 
 city, gained over about 2000 men to his authority, with them 
 pursued the mutineers (who at once upon the news of his 
 arrival had fled) for about fifty miles to the river Bagradas, 
 and there completely defeated them, taking a quantity of 
 spoil. He then installed Antonina's son-in-law Udiger tempo- 
 rarily as governor at Carthage, re-embarked, and returned 
 promptly to Syracuse, arriving there in April 536. Thence 
 he transported his army across from Messina to Reggio, and 
 in May 636 stood at last on Italian soil ready to enter upon 
 the war against the Ostrogoths, who in contemptuous derision 
 at his small force said of it, *' They are but a few Greeklings.'' ^ 
 Capture of Belisarius advanced without encoimtering any 
 Napte*, opposition until he reached Naples, where he had 
 to enter upon the first of his many sieges in Italy. Thiudahad, 
 always a coward, left Naples to its fate, and occupied himself 
 in sending proposals to Justinian to seU his kingdom for a 
 sum of money upon which he might retire to live as a private 
 individual. But though left without assistance from him the 
 garrison and citizens of Naples made a stout defence, and 
 after nearly two months had been consumed in fruitless assaults 
 in which he had lost many men, Belisarius towards the end 
 of July was about to raise the siege, when by the fortimate 
 discovery of a way through a ruined aqueduct he was able 
 by night to introduce a force into the city, and Naples was 
 captured. Belisarius, remaining only a short time at Naples, 
 proceeded to advance towards Rome ; whereupon the Ostro- 
 
 * Whence we may see how erroneous it is to call Belissurius* army 
 " Greeks," as is often done. The Goths used that name as the most 
 opprobrious one they could apply ; and nothing ctroused the indigna- 
 tion of the subjects of the Later Romcui Empire more than to call 
 them Greeks, in view of the fact that they claimed (and with justice) 
 that they, and they alone, had a right to the name of Romans. 
 
 xxi] 
 
 ADVANCE THROUGH SOUTH ITALY 
 
 221 
 
 goths assembled a " Folcmote " outside Rome, deposed and 
 slew Thiudahad for his proposals to sell the kingdom, and 
 elected Witigis, an elderly warrior of some renown, as their 
 
 king (Aug. 536). 
 
 Witigis was a man utterly destitute of genius, and 
 
 ^''^' at once showed his incapacity by retiring from 
 Rome (leavmg a garrison of only 4000 men to defend it), and 
 removing his large army, which immensely outnumbered 
 that of Belisarius, to Ravenna, declaring that he would from 
 thence be better able to cope with the Franks, who were 
 attacking the Ostrogoths' dominions in Provence. On arrival 
 at Ravenna Witigis divorced his wife (of about his own age), 
 and forced the young daughter of Amalasuntha, Matasuntha, 
 then seventeen, to marry him, though she made no secret of 
 her detestation of such a marriage. Witigis' next step was 
 to buy off the opposition of the Franks by ceding to them the 
 Ostrogothic territories in Gaul, and paying them a sum of 
 133,000 aurei (£80,000). Meanwhile Belisarius was slowly 
 advancing northwards by the Latin Way, receiving as he did 
 so the submission of all the chief towns of southern Italy. ^ 
 And shortly afterwards any anticipations of difficulty in taking 
 Rome which Belisarius may have had were set at rest by the 
 arrival of a deputation from Pope Silverius and the citizens 
 of Rome informing him that the city desired again to be subject 
 to the emperor. 
 
 Rome In the depressed condition into which the western 
 
 occupied, patriarchate of the Church had fallen owing to the 
 dominance of Arianism, the Church at Rome had since the 
 death of Leo the Great, seventy-five years before, produced 
 no man of the smallest note, its Bishops being installed or 
 removed according to the (generally venal) authority of who- 
 ever wielded power in Rome at the time. Following John I 
 (who brought himself into conflict with Theodoric) there had 
 been a succession of Bishops of Rome of this character, and 
 Silverius had six months before been appointed by the mere 
 will of an Arian king, Thiudahad, on receipt by the latter of 
 
 1 Passing halfway to Rome the height of Monte Cassino, where at 
 this time Benedict of Nursia, regardless of war's timaults, was occupied 
 in foimding the far-famed monastery destined to become the leader 
 of all the monasteries of th© West, 
 
 'i 
 
 pi 
 
 I 
 
 • r. 
 
 :t 
 
 II 
 
I 
 
 222 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 a bribe, and was himself deposed in the following year by 
 Belisarius. He appears to have been a man of gentle char- 
 acter who was bullied and coerced by the rougher natures 
 around him according to their will. Nevertheless he was, 
 by virtue of his office, Pope of the western patriarchate, even 
 though his jurisdiction was practically bounded by the city 
 of Rome. The citizens, hoping that the dominion of the 
 Ostrogoths was at an end, besought him to convey a message 
 from them to Belisarius inviting the latter to enter the city, 
 and Belisarius lost no time in complying. He entered Rome 
 unopposed on the 10th December 536, the Gothic force 
 marching out by the Flaminian Gate on the north as the 
 imperial army, scarcely larger in numbers, entered by the 
 Asinarian Gate on the south. ^ Belisarius (whose force, owing 
 to the losses at Naples, and the garrisons which he had been 
 obliged to leave in several of the cities of southern Italy, now 
 numbered only about 5000 men) took up his abode on the 
 Pincian hill, and at once set about preparing for that defence 
 of Rome during possibly a long siege which he knew lay before 
 him, repairing the walls built with so much skill 260 years 
 earlier -by Aurelian,* and collecting from the surrounding 
 country and from Sicily a great store of com. 
 j^^ . It was the last time that Imperial Rome — the old 
 of Imperial imperial Rome of Italy as distinguished from the 
 *^*' new imperial Rome by the Bosphorus, the Rome 
 created by Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Vespasian, Domi- 
 tian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Severus, and Caracalla 
 — ^was to be seen by mankind. Up to this time the city 
 had practically suffered no damage by the vicissitudes 
 through which it had passed since the reign of Theodosius 
 the Great. Rome when it was entered by Belisarius was the 
 Rome that mankind had known for centuries. The Forum, 
 the Tabularium, the Fora built by Augustus, Vespasian, 
 
 ^ This gate, sitiiated close to the Lateran Palace, then occupied by 
 the Popes of Rome, still stands. 
 
 * It has been pointed out by Dr. Hodgkin that Aurelian in con- 
 structing these walls, with their remarkable covered way carried all 
 along the inside of the wall €md their towers at every 100 to 300 feet, 
 must have contemplated a defence of the city by an entire army, and 
 not merely by a comp€ffatively small garrison of a few thousand men 
 {Italy and her Invaders, IV, 103). 
 
 XXl] 
 
 THE PASSING OF IMPERIAL ROME 223 
 
 and Nerva, the Pantheon and Baths of Agrippa, the temples 
 of Jupiter, Minerva, Vesta, Saturn, Concord, Mars Ultor, 
 Vespasian, and Antoninus and Faustina, the Arch of Drusus, 
 the Theatre of MarceUus, the Portico of Octavia, the Mausoleum 
 of Augustus, the Arch of Claudius, the eleven Aqueducts, 
 the Colosseum, the Baths of Nero, the Baths of Titus, the 
 Arch of Titus, the splendid group of buildings erected by 
 Trajan (mcluding his Forum, Basilica, Temple, Column, and 
 Libraries), the temple of Venus and Rome, the Mausoleum 
 of Hadrian, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Arch of 
 Septimius Severus (though without its bronze horses and 
 chariot), the Septizonium, the Baths of Caracalla, and on 
 the Palatine hill the great group of palaces built by Tiberius, 
 Caligula, Domitian, Hadrian, and Septimius Severus, together 
 with the huge Baths of Diocletian (twice the size even of the 
 immense Baths of Caracalla), the Arch, Basilica, and Baths 
 of Constantine, all these were still intact and uninjured. And 
 in the Baths of Agrippa, of Nero, of Titus, of Diocletian, 
 of Constantine, and above all in the magnificent Baths of 
 Caracalla, with their collections of priceless works of art, 
 their reading-rooms, race-courses, pavements of fine mosaics, 
 halls of many-coloured marbles, and luxurious bathing arrange- 
 ments, the citizens of Rome led much the same kind of life 
 which they had always led. But this Rome was to be seen 
 no more. When eighteen years later the Gothic war was 
 ended a battered ruin was all that remained ; classical Rome 
 had passed away for ever, to be succeeded after a time by the 
 squalid and miserable city which is the Rome of the Middle 
 Ages.i Except the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Septizonium, 
 
 1 The Palatine hill became a heap of stones, under which the floors 
 and a few feet of the walls of the palaces of the Caesars lay buried ; 
 the Baths of Caracalla were a vast ruin, and of all their priceless works 
 of art none remained except such as lay hidden under many feet of 
 rubbish, the wreck of the ruined halls ; and in the vaUey where had 
 stood the Forum, the Fora of the emperors, and many of the temples, 
 the debris formed by the destruction of these buildings reached in the 
 Middle Ages a depth of 30 feet, much of which is even still unexca- 
 vated. The internal conflicts in Rome during the Middle Ages in- 
 creased the general ruin ; and so long did that city continue in this 
 miserable state that even as late as the middle of the 15th century 
 writers constantly deplore its condition, and the contrast it presented 
 to e.g. Florence, 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 ;.■ 
 
 r \ 
 
 I- 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 !^ 
 
 !!' 
 
 >t' 
 
 Jt4^ 
 
it 
 
 IP * 
 
 224 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the Column of Trajan, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, and 
 the battered and defaced Arches of Titus, Septimius Severus, 
 and Constantine, there survived unruined only the churches, 
 viz., the five great " patriarchal churches " of St. John Lateran,' 
 St. Peter's, the Liberian Basilica, i St. Paul's, and St. Lawrence, 
 with the churches of St. Clement, St. Cecilia, St. Agnes,' 
 St. Pudenziana, Sta. Croce, Aracoeli, St. Sabina, and the 
 church now called Sta. Maria in Trastevere ; and even some 
 of these had suffered severely. 
 First siege Early in March 637 Witigis advanced with an 
 of Rome. ^^.^^^^ which Procopius asserts to have numbered 
 160,000 men, and which must at any rate have numbered 
 more than 100,000 men,^ to attack Rome. The Ostrogoths 
 established themselves in seven large entrenched camps,' 
 each situated in front of one of the principal gates, at a distance 
 of from 600 to 800 yards from the walls. Their first pro- 
 ceeding was to cut all the aqueducts which supplied Rome 
 with water,*^those aqueducts whose ruined arches, stretching 
 for miles across the Campagna, and seventeen centuries ago 
 providing a supply of pure water far exceeding that supplied 
 to any modem city, stand like witnesses to attest the greatness 
 of Rome. This deed, one which Alaric in all his three sieges 
 of Rome had shrunk from committing, had far-reaching 
 consequences irrespective of its forcing the city to depend 
 upon the muddy stream of the Tiber for drinking water. 5 
 For this act destroyed at a blow one great heritage of the civil- 
 ization which the Roman race had given to mankind, and 
 altered all the social life of the Romans. There was an end 
 at once to all that system which the Baths represented, 
 
 ^ Now known as Sta. Maria Maggiore. 
 
 * TotUa in his addresses to his Ostrogoths some ten years later 
 more than once stated that when Belisarius landed in Italy the Ostro- 
 goths nimibered 200,000 warriors. So that Witigis may easily have 
 had 160,000 before Rome as stated by Procopius. 
 
 • The remains of several of these can still be traced. 
 
 See Vol. I, Chap. IX p. 308. Procopius mentions the number 
 thus destroyed as fourteen, but as the total number of these aque- 
 ducts was only eleven it is evident that he must have included three 
 which were only branches of others. 
 
 » In recent times three of the eleven a<|ueducts have been repaired 
 wad now suppljr the city. 
 
 XXI] 
 
 CUTTING OF THE AQUEDUCTS 
 
 225 
 
 and which was within the means even of the poorest.^ The 
 great Baths of Augustus, Nero, Titus, Caracalla, Diocletian, 
 and Constantine remained with all their channels dry ; and 
 they were never revived. Henceforth the Romans became, 
 like the rest of the inhabitants of the West, an unwashed 
 people. At the same time the water pouring forth from all 
 these broken aqueducts, and only here and there carried ofif 
 by river beds, turned a great part of the then flourishing 
 Campagna into a swamp, making it the permanent home of 
 malaria, and no longer habitable. 
 
 The twelve months' siege which followed,* the first of the 
 five sieges of Rome in this war, is rendered for ever memorable 
 by the marvellous talents, energy, and resource displayed 
 by Belisarius. The commander who had won battles in 
 Persia by the manner in which he handled infantry, and in 
 Africa by his handling of cavalry, now displayed still greater 
 abilities as an engineer and the defender of a beleaguered 
 city. When the cutting of the aqueduct of Trajan left all 
 the commills without motive power, Belisarius improvised 
 floating commills on the Tiber, which system, invented by 
 him, continued until modem times ; when the Roman citizens, 
 disheartened at the hardships they had to endure, and the 
 overwhelming number of the enemy, showed serious dis- 
 content, he treated them with so much tact and kindliness 
 that when to this was added the sight of his daily prowess in 
 the field, he was soon almost adored by them ; when the 
 paucity of his small force for such a defence became only too 
 apparent, he enrolled all the able-bodied citizens into a National 
 Guard which manned the walls and left his troops free to fight 
 outside ; when the pressure of famine began to be felt he 
 turned all the non-combatants out of the city, managed to 
 escort them unharmed through the carelessly guarded line 
 occupied by the enemy, and distributed them in safety amongst 
 various cities of southern Italy. He armed each tower along 
 the walls with a Ballista,^ and each gate with a double port- 
 cullis ; he caused the outside of the walls to be patrolled 
 
 1 See Vol. I, Chap. IX, pp. 302-304. 
 * March 637 to March 638. 
 
 3 A huge bow, worked by machinery, which shot a short thick bolt 
 with such force as to break even trees or rocks. 
 
 E.W. — II. Q 
 
 n 
 
 It 
 
«'■ 
 
 226 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 throughout the night by parties of picked men accompanied 
 by trained dogs ; to guard against treachery he changed the 
 locks and keys of the gates every fortnight, and frequently 
 changed the officers in charge of different parts of the walls ; 
 and by numerous other methods he made up as far as possible 
 for the paucity of his force, while there seemed no end to his 
 personal activity, watchfulness, courage, and resource. 
 
 After several minor combats the first grand assault was 
 made by Witigis on the 2l8t March, and lasted a whole day. 
 The Ostrogoths advanced, conveying with them huge battering 
 rams to force the gates, and wooden towers, as high as the 
 walls, filled with men, and drawn by oxen. Belisariiis, re- 
 straining the frantic importunity of his troops (who in their 
 eager desire to assail their opponents even accused him of 
 cowardice), waited until the enemy had reached the further 
 edge of the moat, and then with the fire of his archers slew 
 all the oxen, leaving all these engines of war stranded and an 
 encumbrance to the besiegers, and when evening fell he set 
 them on fire. While he was occupied in meeting this assault 
 on one side of the city a long and determined attack was 
 made upon the other side against the fortress formed by the 
 Mausoleum of Hadrian. At last the troops defending the 
 Mausoleum, unable to wound their enemies with their arrows 
 or their hallistce owing to the Ostrogoths being so close under 
 the walls, tore down from the three stories of marble terraces 
 the numerous statues placed there, ^ and breaking them in 
 pieces hurled the bodies, heads, legs, and arms of the statues 
 upon the shields of the attacking force, and those of them 
 who were not slain by this avalanche of marble fled in a panic. « 
 By the evening the various attempts upon different parts of 
 the walls had all failed, and the Ostrogoths retired unsuccessful, 
 acknowledging a loss, Procopius says, of 30,000 men. 
 
 After the repulse of this attack Belisarius sent a letter to 
 Justinian, pointing out that his force was only 5000 men and 
 that of the enemy 160,000, and urgently asking for reinforce- 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. VI, p. 233. 
 
 * The statue of the Dancing Faun, now in the Uffizi Gallery at 
 Florence, was unearthed from the ditch formerly suiroimding the 
 Mausoleum of Hadrian, and was probably one of the statues thrown 
 down upon the Goths on this occtision. 
 
 XXI] 
 
 THEODORA DEPOSES A POPE 
 
 227 
 
 ments. Soon afterwards he received a reinforcement of 1600 
 men who had been landed in southern Italy, and to the delight 
 of Belisarius these were mostly cavalry. He then began a 
 course of incessant sallies by small bodies of about 300 mounted 
 archers, who approaching the vicinity of the Gothic camps, 
 killed many of the enemy by their fire, and then rapidly 
 retired under the shelter of the walls of the city. But when 
 the unintelligent Witigis tried to copy these tactics with a 
 body of 500 men, Belisarius surrounded the troop with 1500 
 men, and cut them to pieces. The light Moorish horsemen 
 also were a special terror to the Goths, prowling about at all 
 times outside their camps, and picking up any stray Ostrogoths 
 whom they might come across. 
 
 At length in June Belisarius against his will agreed to a 
 pitched battle, and suffered a serious defeat, chiefly through 
 his allowing himself, at the urgent request of his Isaurian 
 infantry, to be diverted from his original intention of making 
 it almost entirely a cavalry battle. After this repulse there- 
 fore he returned again to his former tactics. In July famine 
 began to be severely felt, followed by pestilence. Belisarius 
 sent away Antonina to Naples, both for her own safety and 
 in order that she might help to urge on relief operations. At 
 the same time he sent Procopius also to southern Italy to see 
 what garrisons could be reduced, and to send to Rome any 
 men who could be spared, while at the same time endeavouring 
 to collect supplies of food, and Procopius succeeded in sending 
 him 500 men. The Ostrogoths at this time began to suffer 
 terribly from the malaria in the Campagna, while a body of 
 Huns which Belisarius had sent to occupy the church of 
 St. Paul, outside the walls, on the Ostian Way, suffered 
 so severely from the same cause that they had to be recalled 
 to the city. 
 Theodora Early in November, soon after Antonina had 
 deposes Pope retumcd from Naples to Rome, Belisarius received 
 
 Silvenus and '^ 
 
 appoints an ordcr from the empress Theodora, commanding 
 
 Vigilius as Pope. i«j.j -r» cci* i ' i • i • 
 
 huD. to depose Pope Silvenus and appomt m his 
 place the bearer of the letter, Vigilius. The latter was a 
 man of the most imscrupulous character, a disappointed 
 candidate for the office, who upon failing to obtain it when 
 Silverius was appointed by Thiudahad, had gone to Constan- 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
X!HAP. 
 
 228 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 1 I 
 
 tinople, and in the course of two years, by profuse promises 
 of money and various underhand artifices (including a promise 
 to the empress to befriend the Monophysites), had wormed 
 his way into the favour of Theodora with this object. 
 Belisarius did not like the task imposed upon him, but was 
 urged by Antonina not to incur the wrath of the all-powerful 
 empress. A forged letter was produced by Vigilius purporting 
 to be an offer made by Silverius to Witigis to open by night 
 the Asinarian Gate (close to. the Papal palace), and admit 
 the Ostrogoths. No one seems to have believed the letter to 
 be other than a forgery, and even the names of its forgers 
 are given by one contemporary historian.^ Belisarius sum- 
 moned Silverius, and advised him to avert his ruin and 
 resign in favour of Vigilius, as ordered by the empress. ^ 
 Upon Silverius refusing he was deported to Patara in Lycia, 
 and Vigilius was installed as Pope. From Patara Silverius 
 appealed to the emperor, who ordered that he was to be taken 
 back to Rome, and there tried. Upon his arrival at Rome 
 it is asserted that Vigilius, terrified at the return of the ex-Pope, 
 sent an urgent message to Belisarius saying, " I pray thee 
 hand over to me Silverius ; otherwise I cannot pay the price 
 I promised for the popedom.'* Whether this speech is true 
 or another forgery, Silverius was handed over to some of the 
 bodyguard of Vigilius, by whom he was transported to the 
 island of Palmaria. There he was half -starved, and shortly 
 after the termination of the siege died.^ 
 
 In December 537 Belisarius received a further 
 reinforcement of 2500 men, under command of 
 John the Thracian,* accompanied by a large convoy 
 of com. Belisarius managed skilfully to divert the attention 
 of the Ostrogoths by a sortie, thus enabling the detach- 
 ment and its heavy train of wagons to get safely into the 
 
 ^ Liberatus. 
 
 * Some authorities state that Belisarius advised Silverius to pro- 
 pitiate the empress and avert his own ruin by accepting the Mono- 
 physite form of beUef ; but it does not appear that the imperial man- 
 date gave this option. 
 
 3 In June 538. 
 
 * He was of Grothic descent, his father and his imcle Vitalian (the 
 leader of the rebellion against the emperor Anastasius I) having be- 
 longed to the Grothic fcederati of Thrace. 
 
 Ostrogoths 
 
 abandon 
 
 siege of Rome. 
 
 XXT] 
 
 THE SIEGE RAISED 
 
 229 
 
 city. At the same time another detachment of 3000 Isaurians 
 was landed at Naples, and together with more supplies 
 was sent by sea to Ostia, and sailing up the Tiber almost 
 under the noses of the Ostrogoths reached Rome in safety. 
 The apathy and incapacity of Witigis in these operations 
 is even more marked than usual. Strengthened by these 
 reinforcements Belisarius so harried the Ostrogoths that 
 after a time they proposed a truce for three months. It was, 
 however, only kept by them for a short time, and upon their 
 making another assault early in 538 Belisarius sent John 
 the Thracian with a force of 2000 men to carry fire and sword 
 through the Gothic territories along the eastern coast. John 
 advanced burning, plundering, and desolating the country, 
 and eventually reached Rimini, which he captured. This 
 seizure of Rimini, a port so near Ravenna, alarmed Witigis 
 for the safety of his capital, and accordingly in March 538 
 the Ostrogoths raised the siege, and marched away northwards 
 to endeavour to regain Rimini, Belisarius inflicting a severe 
 defeat upon their rear-guard at the Milvian bridge as they 
 crossed the Tiber. 
 
 Thus ended the first siege of Rome in this war. It had 
 in reality dug the grave of the Ostrogothic kingdom. For 
 the sluggish incapacity of Witigis, who had shown himseK 
 equally ignorant of how to assault, how to blockade, or how 
 to conduct any single operation of war, had resulted in the 
 loss of all the flower of the Gothic army, while the remainder 
 were thoroughly disheartened. And had Belisarius been 
 properly supported at this time there is little doubt that the 
 war would soon have been ended, and aU the devastation of 
 Italy which afterwards took place have been avoided. 
 Trouble created But the suspicious uaturc of Justiuiau now again 
 for Belisarius. began to crcatc trouble for Belisarius, and to delay 
 the reconquest of Italy. It was one of the results of Justinian's 
 not being a soldier. Unable himself to be in command of his 
 army in Italy, and having to send constant reinforcements 
 to it, he began to fear that Belisarius, in command of so large 
 an army and winning so much renown, might prove dangerous 
 to his throne. He therefore appears to have hinted to the 
 generals who accompanied these reinforcements that it would 
 not be displeasing to him if they thwarted Belisarius, and 
 
 
 * 
 
 ■ I 
 
230 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 this they proceeded to do. Throughout the operations of the 
 next twelve months (538-539) we see this influence prevailing, 
 and hampering all Belisarius' movements, John the Thracian 
 and other commanders not scrupling from time to time to 
 refuse to obey his orders. Witigis on arriving before Rimini 
 proceeded to besiege it, and John the Thracian and his 
 garrison were soon in sore straits. But reinforcements of 
 7000 men to the imperial army landed at Ancona, Belisarius 
 himself proceeded to the east coast, most of the Gothic strong- 
 holds in central Italy (including Todi, Chiusi, Orvieto, Urbino, 
 and Imola) were one by one taken, and at length by a combined 
 movement of a fleet and the army the Ostrogoths besieging 
 Rimini were put to flight and that city relieved. 
 
 Death of But with this last reinforcement Justinian had 
 constantine. g^j^^ j^jg q^.^^^ Chamberlain, Narses ; and upon 
 
 his arrival the insubordinate conduct of various commanders 
 towards Belisarius increased, until in a short time the army 
 practically resolved itself into two parties, that of Belisarius 
 and that of Narses, and soon into two separate armies under 
 these two leaders. It was during this period of insubordina- 
 tion that Belisarius was led to put to death his general 
 Constantine, then governor of Spoleto. A loyal Roman, i 
 Presidius, had been forcibly robbed by Constantine of two 
 jewelled daggers, and Presidius appealed to Belisarius to give 
 him the protection of the Roman laws. Belisarius, always 
 a very strict disciplinarian on behalf of the conquered people, 
 and enraged at such an act against one of them, summoned 
 a council, and ordered Constantine instantly to return the 
 daggers, but receiving an insolent reply, called hastily for his 
 guards. Whereupon Constantine drew his sword and rushed 
 upon his general, but was disarmed, dragged outside, and 
 killed by the guards at the command of Belisarius. For this 
 hasty act of violence Belisarius has been justly condemned ; 
 at the same time it must be remembered that insubordination 
 was rife, that Constantine had behaved with unpardonable 
 tyranny towards one of the people of the country, that such 
 acts always roused extreme anger in Belisarius, and that when 
 to this was added Constantine's attempt upon his superior 
 
 * The Romani (Romans of Italy) did not look with any friendly eye 
 upon the Romaioi (Romans of Constantinople). 
 
 XXl] 
 
 MILAN ALMOST DESTROYED 
 
 231 
 
 f 
 
 officer's life it was no wonder that Belisarius' wrath carried 
 
 him beyond all bounds. ^ 
 
 Meanwhile at the urgent request of the Archbishop 
 by the Goths of Milan, who had himself travelled to Rome to 
 and Franks. ^^^^ .^^ BcUsarius had sent a force which had 
 
 recovered Milan for the emperor. But Witigis, who had 
 retired to Ravenna, now despatched a large army to retake 
 Milan, and also begged the help of the Franks, and Milan was 
 ere long besieged by both the Ostrogoths and the Franks. 
 Belisarius sent a force to relieve it, but this force was imable 
 to cope with the masses of the enemy ; he then ordered the 
 commanders of two other portions of the army to march at 
 once towards Milan and assist ; but they refused, saying they 
 were under the orders of Narses. Belisarius then wrote to 
 Narses, pointing out the serious dangers which his insub- 
 ordinate course of action was creating, and Narses at length 
 relented, and in the spring of 539 issued the necessary orders 
 for sending assistance to the hard pressed garrison of Milan. 
 But six months had been wasted in these discussions, and it 
 was too late. Milan fell ; its male inhabitants, to the number, 
 Procopius says, of 300,000 were all slain ; the women were 
 made over by the Ostrogoths to the Franks as payment for 
 their assistance ; almost the whole of Milan was razed to the 
 ground excepting the cathedral and other principal churches ; 
 and the Franks with their captives and plunder withdrew from 
 Italy. Belisarius announced this great disaster to the emperor, 
 and the latter, seeing by this time the evil effect of his ill- 
 advised action, tardily took the step he should have taken long 
 before, recalled Narses to Constantinople, and formally pro- 
 claimed Belisarius as commander-in-chief of all the imperial 
 
 forces in Italy. 
 
 Step by step Belisarius had taken one fortress 
 pSernd after another from the Ostrogoths until in central 
 ^^°* Italy there now remained to them only two, Fiesole 
 in Tuscany, and Osimo, ten miles south of Ancona ; and these 
 two in May 639 he proceeded to besiege. The ancient 
 Etruscan city of Fiesole (now the well-known suburb of 
 Florence) was at this time one of Italy's strongest fortresses. 
 
 1 In the Secret History this event, like every event in Belisarius' life, 
 is attributed to scandal connected with Antonina. 
 
 
 
232 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 We can still see remains of the massive walls by which the 
 city, standing nearly a thousand feet above the valley of the 
 Amo, was then surrounded ; sitting on the stone seats of its 
 ruined Theatre, overlooking the valleys and hills to the north, 
 we have before us the ground where in 405 the vast host of 
 Radagaisus was surrounded and exterminated by Stilicho ; ^ 
 while if we ascend the western summit of the hill, now occupied 
 by the Franciscan monastery, we stand on the site of the 
 city's Arx (or citadel), looking down from whence we may 
 see in the valley below the road by which the troops of 
 Belisarius must have approached. This western height is 
 however ascended in these days with another object, namely 
 for the sake of the glorious view from thence of the city of 
 Florence and the beautiful valley of the Arno. But it was on 
 a very different prospect that the defenders of Fiesole in 539 
 looked down. War was not then as now, and northern and 
 central Italy lay waste. For two years no crop had been 
 sown, and all was desolation. The inhabitants of Tuscany 
 had fled to the mountains to live upon acorns and chestnuts, 
 pestilence had followed upon famine, and the valley of the 
 Amo lay an uninhabited desert.* While bad as matters were 
 in Tuscany, they were still worse north of the Apennines in 
 Lombardy, which outside a few principal cities was almost 
 depopulated. 
 
 Incursion of ^^^^ Ficsolc and Osimo stubbornly resisted all 
 the Franks thc cfforts of Bclisarius, Witigis meanwhile remain- 
 
 mto Italy. . . , .11. v.*^***** 
 
 mg supmely with his whole army at Ravenna, 
 afraid to venture to attack the forces which were besieging 
 his two principal strongholds in central Italy; and while 
 these two sieges were proceeding a terrible devastation fell 
 upon a large part of northern Italy. The Franks, a far more 
 
 1 Chap. XVn, p. 33. 
 
 • Florence (Florentia), in the valley of the Arno below Fiesole, was 
 a fine town as early as b.c. 62, with Forum, Baths, and an Amphi- 
 theatre ; Tacitus mentions a deputation from it in the time of the 
 emperor Tiberius (a.d. 14-37) ; and it had a Bishop in 313. But in 
 this contest during the years 536-639 Florence, indefensible in posi- 
 tion, became deserted, and in 641 was entirely destroyed by Totila 
 after the battle in the valley of the Mugello (see below). Two cen- 
 turies later Florence rose from its ashes under the Lombards, but in 
 the position of a commercial suburb of Fiesole, the fortress. 
 
 XXl] 
 
 RAID BY THE FRANKS 
 
 233 
 
 ferocious race than the Ostrogoths, their appetite whetted 
 by their recent plunder of Milan, determined, regardless of 
 aU treaties, to seize what spoil they could during the contests 
 between the Ostrogoths and the Romans. They poured 
 over the Alps to the number of 100,000 under their king 
 Thiudabert,! and pretending to come as the friends of the 
 Ostrogoths, marched without doing any harm until they 
 reached Pavia, where, having gained the passage of the Po, 
 they threw off the mask and sacked Pavia, slaughtering its 
 garrison of Ostrogoths, and even slaying the women and 
 children, and throwing their bodies into the Po. They then 
 marched southward towards Tortona (then being besieged 
 by a force sent agamst it by Belisarius), met on the way a 
 Gothic army, routed it and put it to flight, the Ostrogoths in 
 their panic flying right through the camp of the Romans 
 besieging Tortona. The latter, seeing this panic-stricken 
 flight of the Ostrogoths, imagined that BeHsarius must be 
 pursuing them, advanced to meet him, were met by the Franks, 
 and in their surprise were easily routed in their turn, and fled 
 across the Apennines, part to join the force besieging Fiesole, 
 and part to join Belisarius before Osimo. The Franks then 
 sacked Tortona, and marching southwards carried devastation 
 down to Genoa, which city they also sacked. Then beginning 
 to suffer from scarcity of food, owing to the devastation 
 they had caused, and from sickness as the result, the Franks 
 vanished again over the Alps as rapidly as they had come, 
 leaving all Liguria down to Genoa a ravaged waste. 
 
 Soon afterwards Fiesole, having made a brave 
 "^pSfanV^esistance for seven months, in December 539 
 ^^°- capitulated, and Osimo foUowed suit, BeHsarius 
 thus completing the conquest of central Italy. In four years, 
 with troops greatly inferior in physique, and vastly inferior 
 in numbers, he had steadily driven the Ostrogoths out of aU 
 southern and central Italy. And he had done this while never 
 having sufficient troops to be able to fight the Ostrogoths on 
 fakly equal terms in a pitched battle. Some victories are 
 won through the bravery of the troops, others through the 
 ability of the commander and the bravery of the troops com- 
 bmed, but in the case of Belisarius his success was aU due to 
 
 1 Chap. XXII, p. 291. 
 
 m 
 
 r; 
 
 l! 
 
 I • 
 
234 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 his own sole ability. Moulding troops of originaUy indifferent 
 fighting capacity into a formidable fighting machme, and 
 inspiring them with his own courage, he had graduaUy given 
 them such confidence in him that they had come to feel that 
 wherever he led victory was certain ; while at the same time 
 he had inspired the Ostrogoths with such a terror of his name 
 that they, formerly the bold invaders of Italy, cowered every- 
 where behind waUs at his approach, and were haH beaten before 
 the fight began. He was now free to enter upon the siege of 
 Ravenna, where the sluggish and incapable Witigis had 
 remained inert while central Italy was being graduaUy taken 
 from him, as southern Italy previously had been. 
 Capture of ^^® ^^^8® ^f Ravcmia, begun early in 540, did not 
 ^Sriu'' ^^^* ^'''^^' Witigis, never good at fighting, turned 
 to negotiations both with the Franks and with the 
 emperor, the latter of whom, being threatened at this time 
 with an invasion on the north from the barbarians along the 
 Danube frontier, and with a still more serious invasion on the 
 eastern frontier from Chosroes I, king of Persia, was urgently 
 anxious to conclude peace in Italy, and to get back from thence 
 some of his troops there, and above aU his only general. 
 Belisarius, paying little regard to such negotiations, steadUy 
 contmued to draw his investment of the city closer, destroyed 
 the flotilla of the Ostrogoths on the Po, defeated an attempt 
 made by the brave Uraias, nephew of Witigis, to relieve 
 Ravenna, and cut off every chance of food reaching the city, 
 which upon its large com magazines being accidentaUy des- 
 troyed by a fire soon began to feel the pinch of scarcity. But 
 just when in April 640 Belisarius was in anticipation of 
 receiving from Witigis offers of an unconditional surrender, 
 there arrived an embassy from Justinian offering proposals 
 for peace and unexpectedly favourable terms to the Ostrogoths • 
 by which on condition that Witigis gave up to the emperor 
 aU Italy south of the Po he should be aUowed to retain the 
 title of King and aU territories to the north of that river. It 
 was also ordered that upon these terms being accepted 
 Behsarius and a large part of the army were to return to 
 Constantinople. 
 
 But Belisarius, knowing that a much greater success was 
 imminent, refused to sign these terms. Whereupon Witigis 
 
 i 
 
 xxi] 
 
 BELISARIUS OFFERED THE CROWN 235 
 
 in despair, the city being now sore pressed by famine, and the 
 Ostrogoths in frenzy at the idea of their kingdom being brought 
 to an end, made a remarkable proposal, offering to Belisarius 
 himself the crowii of Italy, urging him to cut himself adrift 
 from the emperor, and become king of the Ostrogoths, and in 
 time, perhaps, emperor of the West. It was a tempting 
 proposal to one with the abilities of Belisarius, in command 
 at the age of thirty-five of an army which was devoted to him, 
 and feeling, as he well might, that with troops from the Ostro- 
 goths added to that army, and with himself as their leader, 
 there was no limit to his possible conquests in the future. 
 But Belisarius, saysProcopius, " hated the name of an usurper," 
 and he put from him the tempting proposal and remained 
 loyal to Justinian. Nevertheless he saw in it a means by 
 which to obtain a peaceful surrender of Italy to the emperor, 
 seeming not to have perceived the dishonour of deceiving the 
 unfortimate Ostrogoths if he could thereby serve his master, 
 that master who had so little of Belisarius' own generous spirit, 
 and had already twice over been ready to nourish undeserved 
 suspicions against his loyalty. He therefore pretended to 
 accept the proposal, received the proffered submission, marched 
 his army into the city, and only when in possession of it gradu- 
 ally allowed the Ostrogoths to see, while he distributed among 
 them the corn which he had ordered his fleet to bring to the 
 city, that he had no intention of being then- king, and was 
 still only the general of Justinian. 
 
 This entry of the Roman army into that almost impregnable 
 capital, which it had taken even Theodoric a three years' 
 siege to gain, must have been a wonderful sight. The streets 
 were crowded with the tall and martial looking Ostrogoths, 
 in numbers far surpassing their conquerors, the troops of 
 Belisarius, who as they marched through them seemed in 
 comparison both small in stature and insignificant in appear- 
 ance. And when the women of the Ostrogoths, seeing this 
 sight, and exasperated at the contrast between these puny- 
 looking conquerors of Italy and their own splendidly-made 
 men, spat in the faces of the latter and reviled them for having 
 been vanquished by such foes, it was a final tribute to the 
 military ability of the commander who had with such materials 
 conquered so fine a race. At the same time there is no doubt 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
 , 
 
 if 
 
 
236 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxi]. 
 
 RAVENNA AGAIN ROMAN 
 
 237 
 
 that Belisarius was as fortunate in the fact that the Ostrogoths 
 were commanded by Witigis as he had been in the absence 
 of the Vandal fleet when he invaded North Africa. Throughout 
 the whole nation a more incapable leader than Witigis probably 
 could not have been found. When Belisarius advanced from 
 Naples with his little force of 5000 men the total army of the 
 Ostrogoths cannot have been less than 200,000 men, and was in 
 possession of all the strong places throughout the country. 
 Witigis not only abandoned Rome to him, and then with an 
 army of at least 100,000 men failed even to blockade that 
 city effectually, but even after this, while in possession of so 
 eminently defensible a country as Tuscany, and with an army 
 vastly outnumbering that of BeUsarius, supinely allowed that 
 country to be graduaUy taken from him, and himself and his 
 army to be shut up in Ravenna and starved into surrender 
 by a force which at no time can have exceeded 20,000 men. 
 Had the martial race of the Ostrogoths had as a commander 
 any man of the most ordinary energy and military capacity 
 it is inconceivable that even Belisarius could have conquered 
 them. 
 
 The action of Belisarius, in accepting their submission and 
 then when in possession of their capital refusing to be their 
 kmg, was to the Ostrogoths a cruel and bitter disappointment. 
 Under the terms which they had offered, and which BeHsarius 
 had accepted, they had looked forward to preserving the 
 Ostrogothic kingdom and to exchanging as their leader and 
 king the incapable Witigis, to whose lack of ability they justly 
 attributed all their defeats, for one whom they admired as 
 the greatest master of war they had ever seen. Instead of 
 which they found their kingdom gone, and themselves prisoners 
 of war. And Belisarius must have had a wonderful gift in 
 conciHating opponents to have been able to cause them to 
 accept these altered conditions peaceably, instead of breaking 
 out into open violence when they learnt how they had been 
 deceived, and massacring the force which they so much out- 
 numbered. But BeHsarius, though he had deceived them in 
 this particular, kept the other portions of the agreement which 
 he had made. Always strict in discipUne, he aUowed no 
 plundering of the private property of the Ostrogoths, and no 
 molestation of their women. Witigis, however, and his chief 
 
 nobles were kept in a state of friendly captivity, pending that 
 permanent exile frpm their beloved Italy, and removal to the 
 distant and unknoWn Constantinople, which they had dreaded 
 so much, and had Striven so desperately to avoid. 
 
 Thus did the capital of Italy once more pass under the 
 sovereignty of the Roman emperor, whose stronghold in Italy 
 it remained for the next two centuries, until taken by the 
 Lombards.! The other chief cities of northern Italy, except 
 Pavia, held by Uraias, nephew of Witigis, and Verona, held 
 by Ildibad,2 nephew of the king of the Visigoths, surrendered 
 upon hearmg of the faU of Ravenna. AU the Ostrogoths who 
 dwelt south of the Po were directed to return to their own 
 lands, none of thom being allowed to remain in Ravenna. 
 The great royal hoard of the Ostrogoths, accumulated by 
 Theodoric the Great, Amalasuntha, and the avaricious 
 Thiudahad, and stored in the palace of Ravenna, was placed 
 on board ship for despatch to Constantinople, there to be 
 deposited in the secret treasure-vaults of the Later Roman 
 Empire, where it lay for many centuries.' 
 
 Justinian's suspicious nature caused him to order that on 
 the departure of Belisarius no officer was to be left in supreme 
 command in Italy, the various generals being left each to 
 exercise his own command independently, with equal authority. 
 Anything showing a greater ignorance of military affairs than 
 this fatuous order could not be conceived. Its result was 
 that Italy had ere long to be entirely reconquered in twelve 
 years of ruinous war, a war which devastated the country, 
 drained Justinian's treasury, and cost innumerable lives. 
 Belisarius had no option but to obey the order, though he 
 must have known that it would involve the whole of his work 
 being done over again later on. Of the eleven officers thus 
 left in charge of different parts of the country the most im- 
 portant were John the Thracian, another John caUed John 
 the Glutton, Bessas, Constantian, and Vitalius, Constantian 
 being left in charge of Ravenna, and Bessas of Rome. 
 
 1 Vol. Ill, Chap. XXVII. . 
 
 2 His children had been captured by Belisarius, and were carried 
 
 off to Constantinople as hostages. 
 
 3 Possibly unta the seizure of Constantinople by the Franks and 
 
 Venetians in 1204. 
 
 !i| 
 
 •f 
 
 
 « 
 
238 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ofTe*S' ^t'^^ concluded these arrangements, Belisarius, 
 
 ^^ Uh??r when about to depart, received a last urgent appeal 
 Belisarius. from the Ostrogoths entreating him to alter his 
 decision and be their king, to which both Uraias and Ildibad 
 were ready to agree. The Ostrogoths in their desire to 
 obtam him as their ruler even taunted him with preferring 
 *^ X. '«r^^ "^^""^ ""^ Justinian, rather than reign as Emperor 
 of the West over brave warriors." But Belisarius could not 
 endure the thought of disloyalty to Justinian (little as the 
 latter had deserved such sentiments), and he again declmed 
 though it must have been difficult to refuse such a request 
 from such a nation. With the character he was by this time 
 widely known to possess, not only the Ostrogoths, but also 
 naen of aU the best fighting races— the Isaurians, the Illyrians 
 the remnant of the Vandals, the Moors, and others-would 
 have flocked to his standard ; and with an army thus com- 
 posed, and having for its backbone 100,000 Ostrogoths a 
 leader with the mUitary genius of Belisarius would almost 
 certainly have beaten the Franks and brought the whole of 
 the West under his authority, and not improbably the East 
 also. But while BeHsarius in remaining steadfast to Justi- 
 man rmned his career, as after events proved, greater than 
 aU the honour he has gained a^ a commander was his 
 conduct on this occasion. Having refused this last appeal 
 of the sorrowful Ostrogoths, BeHsarius towards the end of 
 May 540 taldng with him Witigis and his principal nobles, 
 embarked at Classis, and sailed for Constantinople 
 
 St. Sophia. ^"™g the eight years that Belisarius had been 
 engaged upon the wars in Africa and Italy Justinian's 
 chief energies had been devoted to building operations. Among 
 aU the many churches buHt by Justinian one in particular 
 has obtamed lasting fame, the cathedral of St. Sophia (the 
 Divine Wisdom). As soon as the Nika insurrection was ended 
 Justiman set to work to rebuild this great church upon a 
 far grander scale than before, i The architect chosen was 
 
 Jf^y fi"t church of St. Sophia, built by Constantine, was burnt 
 
 bu^t inT ^IT '"^^ ^^ ^*- ^^««^^^ ^ 404 ; the second was that 
 burnt m the Nika insurrectign ; Justwau'a was the third. 
 
 xxi] 
 
 THE BUILDING OF ST. SOPHIA 
 
 239 
 
 Anthemius of Tralles, who controlled 10,000 workmen. The 
 cathedral was finished in December 537 (while Belisarius 
 was conducting his defence of Rome), being completed in just 
 a month short of six years. It had cost a sum equal to one 
 million sterling. The shape of the building is that of a Greek 
 cross, in length each way about 240 feet. Its dome was the 
 first ever constructed since that of the Pantheon at Rome in 
 the time of Augustus. Its height in the centre is 180 feet, and 
 its diameter 115 feet,i the curve of the dome being remarkably 
 low. From the outside the building has a disproportionate 
 appearance, but from the inside the bold span of the arches 
 and of the dome, and the mass of varied decoration with many- 
 coloured marbles and mosaics produces a magnificent effect. 
 To add to its splendour various ancient temples were plundered 
 of their finest columns ; these include eight columns of por- 
 phyry from the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, eight of 
 green marble from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and 
 others from the temples at Athens, Delos, Baalbec, and Cyzicus. 
 The walls were lined with the most costly marbles, ten dif- 
 ferently-coloured kinds having been counted, ^ while the 
 interior of the dome and parts of the walls were covered with 
 mosaics. The altar was entirely of gold, supported by pillars 
 of gold, with over it a cihorium (canopy) of silver. In the 
 apse were four columns composed of solid silver. At the 
 conclusion of the ceremony of consecration the emperor 
 exclaimed, " Glory be to God, who hath thought me worthy 
 to accomplish so great a work." Then with an outburst of 
 vanity he added, " I have vanquished thee, Solomon." 
 Seeing that the cathedral of St. Sophia was built 700 years 
 before any of its rivals of the 13th century in the West, and 
 975 years before the present church of St. Peter's at Rome, 
 Justinian's pride was pardonable. Anthemius of Tralles had 
 
 1 The diameter of the dome of the Pantheon is 142 feet ; that of 
 the cathedral of Florence is ISSJ feet ; and that of St. Peter's at Rome 
 137^ feet, both of these two latter domes being also much more lofty 
 than that of St. Sophia. In all four cases the interior measurements 
 
 are taken. 
 
 * Red, rose colour, purple, yellow, green, saffron-colour, white and 
 red, white with black edges, cream-colovu* with black veins, and black 
 with white veins. 
 
 :« 
 
 It 
 
 f 
 
240 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 i^ 
 
 a right to feel at least equal pride.^ 
 
 . At the same time Justinian after the Nika insurrec- 
 
 Reconstniction . 
 
 of the imperial tion began au almost entire reconstruction with 
 great magnificence of the imperial Palace, a portion 
 of which near the main gate had been destroyed during the 
 insurrection ; and the Palace as reconstructed by him retained 
 the main features which he gave it during all the succeeding 
 nine centuries.* The high waU, nearly a mile and a half long, 
 shutting off the Palace from the city, was pierced by six gates, 
 the principal of these, the Royal Gate, being situated a short 
 distance behind the southern comer of St. Sophia. It was 
 a lofty double gate, the inner pair of doors being of bronze. 
 Inside this gate Justinian bmlt the celebrated hall called the 
 Chalice (brazen), so called because it was surmounted by a 
 dome of brass, supported by immense pillars ; its pavement 
 and walls were adorned with many-coloured marbles, and its 
 walls were also ornamented with mosaic pictures representing 
 the victories of Justinian's armies in North Africa and Italy. 
 Behind and on both sides of this hall were the extensive 
 quarters of the imperial Guards, numbering 3500 men, and 
 divided into three classes, the highest of these being the 
 Excubitors. After passing through several courts and halls 
 in these palatial barracks the way led up a flight of marble 
 steps into the Hall of the Excubitors. Behind this was the 
 Consistorium (or Throne-room), a large hall, its walls lined 
 with costly marbles, and its doors covered with ivory, and 
 draped with curtains of purple silk. At one side of the Throne- 
 room was an open-air terrace adorned with statues, with at 
 one end of it the royal chapel, called the Chapel of the Saviour ; 
 and beyond this terrace was the Triclinium (or Banqueting 
 hall), with bronze doors, and its roof lined inside with gold. 
 To the north-west of the Banqueting hall was the CoimcU 
 hall, with to the west of it the quarters of the Prefect of the 
 Palace, or Grand Chamberlain. From the Throne-room a 
 flight of marble steps led down to Daphne, the Private Palace, 
 
 ^ Anthemius of Tralles vra& one of five brothers who were all cele- 
 brated, one of them being distinguished in law, two as physicians, one 
 in philology, and one in architecture. Agathias congratulated their 
 mother upon ** having brought into the world a progeny replete with 
 such various learning.'* 
 
 * See plan, Appendix XIX. 
 
 '!i 
 
 XXI] 
 
 THE PALACE OF THEODORA 
 
 241 
 
 and to the south-west of this were other blocks of private 
 apartments. From the private palace the gardens sloped 
 down to the sea, with at one point on the shore the emperor's 
 private landing stage. The Baths, the Senate house, the 
 Patriarch's palace, the Augusteum, and the Hippodrome were 
 all close outside the walls of the Palace.^ A broad winding 
 stair, covered from view, called the CochliaSy^ led up from the 
 Palace to the emperor's box (the Kathisma) in the Hippo- 
 drome ; and another covered way led from the small church 
 of the Chalkoprateia (outside the Gate of Meletius) to the 
 emperor's gallery in the cathedral of St. Sophia. This palace 
 remained the imperial residence for the next six centuries,'* 
 during which time it was the scene of many tragic events. 
 
 But the building of St. Sophia and the reconstruc- 
 
 Justinian s . . . •. 
 
 general buUding tiou of thc imperial Palacc by no means exhausted 
 operations, j^g^inja^'g encrgics in this respect. He now began 
 
 those immense building operations in all parts of his empire 
 which have formed such a feature of his reign, and are the 
 subject of one of the chief works of Procopius, The Edifices,^ 
 Twenty-five new churches erected in Constantinople, followed 
 by others in every part of the empire, especially in North 
 Africa, until the total number is said to have reached a thou- 
 sand, attested Justinian's reHgious zeal. Almost every city 
 in the empire saw aqueducts, hospitals, and bridges provided 
 by his lavish energy.^ For Theodora, his able and energetic 
 colleague in every enterprise, he built, at enormous cost, on 
 the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, immediately opposite to 
 
 ^ For the details of these buildings outside the Palace, see Vol. I, 
 Chap. XIII, pp. 421-423. 
 
 * In Latin Cochlea ; the name signifying a snail. 
 
 ^ After the 12th century it was little used, being superseded by the 
 Blachernae Palace, situated on the higher part of the city, adjoining the 
 Une of walls at the north-west comer, overlooking the Golden Horn. 
 
 * Of the six books of The Edifices, written in 555, the first relates to 
 the buildings erected in Constantinople, the second to those built in 
 Mesopotamia and Syria, the third to those built in Armenia and the 
 Crimea, the fourth to those built in the European provinces, the fifth 
 to those built in Asia Minor and Palestine, and the sixth to those built 
 in Egypt and North Africa. 
 
 * Justinian's reign is also notable for his introduction of the manu- 
 facture of silk into Europe. Hitherto all silk heid been manufactured 
 in China. 
 
 E.W. — II, R 
 
 i 
 
 \r 
 
 I 
 
242 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 i); 
 
 Constantinople, near Chalcedon, the beautiful palace and 
 gardens of the Herseum, called, from her always in the sum- 
 mer residing there, the Palace of Theodora, upon which 
 the poets of the time have lavished their praises for its com- 
 bination of nature and art, for the beauty of its halls, its 
 gardens, and its fountains, and the harmony of the whole 
 with the plash of the waves. 
 
 But most of all were Justinian's vast ideas in regard to 
 building exhibited in works of defence. Fortifications were 
 spread over the empire by him in every direction ; a chain 
 of eighty forts along the Danube, 214 others throughout 
 Epirus, Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly disposed in four 
 successive lines, huge walls to defend the Hellespont, others 
 to defend the Crimea, forts to defend the distant north- 
 eastern frontier in Lazica and Iberia, the fortification of 
 TheodosiopoHs in Armenia and of Palmyra in Syria, additional 
 walls round the cities of Amida,^ Dara, and Edessa, and 
 innumerable forts along the Euphrates frontier, the Egyptian 
 frontier, and above all in North Africa, seemed to show that 
 there ^vas no part of the empire, however remote, which was 
 not under the protecting eye of Justinian. 
 
 But the two chief qualities in which Justinian was wanting 
 were military knowledge and financial ability, and these two 
 defects were united in his operations in regard to fortifications. 
 Ignoring the fact that the construction of fortifications must 
 be carried out with some regard to the number of troops 
 available to man them, and that their situation must be in 
 accordance with strategical principles, he wasted the resources 
 of the empire upon innumerable fortifications which either 
 from being placed in wrong positions, or from a paucity of 
 troops with which to garrison them, failed almost entirely to 
 be of any value as obstacles, his chains of fortifications being 
 easily passed through both by the Persians on the east and 
 the barbarians on the north whenever they desired. And 
 when one notes the extent of Justinian's gigantic building 
 operations all over the empire one feels that it was no wonder 
 that the fourteen millions sterling left by Anastasius I quickly 
 
 * The walls built by Jiistinisui roiind Amida (the modem Diabekir) 
 still survive, and are magnificent. They are of black basalt, about 
 60 feet high, and of enormous thickness. 
 
 XXI] 
 
 THE "KING OF KINGS" 
 
 243 
 
 Chosroes I. 
 
 disappeared, and that by the end of Justinian's reign the 
 countries of his empire were reduced to a state of complete 
 exhaustion through having to provide funds to meet this 
 enormous expenditure. 
 
 Justinian's earnest desire to set Belisarius back 
 
 Threatened •, t ^ ^ ' e ii a ■, 
 
 danger from from Italy was not only due to his fear that the 
 Persia, ja^^gj. ^q^q bccomiug too powerful there, but also 
 
 because he urgently needed a military commander who might 
 cope with the danger which now threatened him on the eastern 
 frontier from Chosroes I, king of Persia, whom Justinian had 
 for several years with difficulty kept at bay by profuse gifts 
 and honeyed words, but whose conduct showed by immistake- 
 able signs that it would soon be impossible to restrain him 
 any longer by such methods from attacking the empire. 
 
 Chosroes I, the " King of Kings " (better known 
 in the east by his name of Noshirvan), who ruled 
 over the wide Persian empire for forty-eight years (531-579), 
 has obtained as great a reputation in all eastern countries 
 as even that accorded to the emperor Justinian himself in 
 lands further to the west. He was the finest sovereign of the 
 long dynasty of the Sassanidse, and his reign is the most 
 glorious in the history of Persia. During his long reign he 
 entirely reorganized the Persian system of government, intro- 
 duced a new system of land tenure (which was adopted 
 unaltered a century later by the Saracen khalifs), largely 
 increased the fertility of Persia by numerous irrigation works, 
 and greatly improved the discipline and efficiency of the 
 Persian army. But Chosroes I did more than this. He was 
 a notable patron of literature, read and studied the religious 
 books of all creeds, and caused the celebrated Persian history, 
 the Shahnamah (or " Annals of the Kings "), still renowned 
 throughout all eastern countries, to be drawn up ; he founded 
 an academy of poetry and philosophy, caused the classical 
 writings of Greece and India to be translated into the beautiful 
 Persian language (which remains to the present day the lan- 
 guage of diplomacy and culture throughout the east), and 
 introduced into Persia from India the game of chess. ^ Such 
 
 ^ Even in " far Kashmir " copies of his book, the Shahnamah (adorned 
 with elaborate illuminations in the Persian style), are still studied, and 
 Persian poems sung in honour of the mighty Noshirvan, 
 
 > ! 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 244 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 li 
 
 was the monarch who for forty-eight years was the constant 
 opponent of the Romans. Possessing a much wider recruiting 
 ground than the Roman Empire after being deprived in the 
 6th century of its western provinces could command, and 
 being himself a capable soldier and unceasing in his attention 
 to the training and efficiency of the Persian army, Chosroes I 
 was a formidable antagonist to the Later Roman Empire 
 throughout the whole reign of Justinian ; and it says much 
 for the generals of the latter (including Belisarius in particular), 
 and for the troops that they commanded, that Chosroes was 
 able to gain so little ultimate success. 
 
 Chosroes, the favourite son of the erratic Kobad, succeeded 
 his father in 531, at the age of twenty-two, and began his reign 
 by promptly putting to death his two elder brothers and 
 many of their supporters. For some years, though looking 
 with no friendly eye upon the Romans, he was occupied in 
 establishing himself firmly upon the throne and in carrying 
 out various reforms in the administration, but about the year 
 637, jealous of the successes gained by the Roman arms in 
 Africa and Italy, he began to adopt a threatening tone towards 
 the Later Roman Empire. This attitude on Chosroes' part 
 was met by Justinian for a long time with the diplomatic 
 methods noted, but it was plain that soon an attack from 
 Persia was to be expected. At length in the spring of 540, 
 while the final arrangements were being made by Belisarius 
 at Ravenna, Chosroes, then thirty-one, suddenly invaded the 
 empire, and, avoiding all Justinian's fortresses in Mesopotamia, 
 ascended the western bank of the Euphrates,^ took in rapid 
 succession Hierapolis, Bercea, and Chalcis, and in Jime 640 
 assaulted and took Antioch, burning a great part of the city, 
 and carrying off from thence, together with most of its in- 
 habitants, all its statues, pictures, and marbles to adorn a 
 new city which he thereupon founded near Ctesiphon, calling 
 it Chosro-antiocheia. 
 
 Shortly after the news of this great disaster was 
 
 Reception of "^ *^ . 
 
 the captive rcccived, the ships conveying Belisarius, the captive 
 Ostrogoths. Qgi^pQgQjjhg^ and the spoils taken from Ravenna 
 
 arrived at Constantinople. Justinian, fearing the results of 
 the universal popularity of Belisarius, avoided according him 
 
 » See Map C, 
 
 xxi] 
 
 BELISARIUS 
 
 245 
 
 any regular triumph, such as had been accorded when the 
 captive Vandals had been similarly brought as prisoners to 
 Constantinople, and instead of it he received the captive Ostro- 
 goths in state in the imperial Palace. Through the great 
 bronze doors of the Royal Gate, and traversing the brilliant 
 domed hall of the Chalke, the court of the Bodyguard, and 
 the Hall of the Excubitors, these noble foes of the empire, led 
 by their king, were conducted between a double line of gor- 
 geously arrayed Imperial Guards, whose golden shields, gold 
 lances, and gold helmets with red aigrettes were calculated 
 to impress them with the magnificence of Justinian, up to 
 the splendid Hall of the Consistorium. There Justinian and 
 Theodora sat on their thrones, surrounded by all the high 
 officers of State, while Witigis with his young wife Matasuntha 
 (granddaughter of Theodoric, and the last descendant of 
 the Amals), together with a long procession of the noble- 
 looking Ostrogoth chiefs, the children of Ildibad, and soldiers 
 bearing the treasures of the royal hoard of the Ostrogoths, 
 defiled before them, bowing low before the great Roman em- 
 peror. Witigis was treated with honour by Justinian, and 
 remained living at Constantinople as the emperor's friend, 
 but died after two years. Matasuntha, admitted into the 
 social life of the court and the friendship of Theodora, thor- 
 oughly enjoyed, we are told, her life at Constantinople, feeling 
 no desire ever to return to Ravenna, and about ten years later 
 she married Germanus, the nephew of Justinian. 
 
 But what of the man who had brought all this glory 
 
 ^m'l^hods of to the throne of Justinian ? Belisarius, no longer 
 
 Belisarius. ^^^ ^^^j. ^£ ^^jj ^^^ ^ j^^ YiSid bccu iu Italy, treated 
 
 with coolness by Justinian, quite overshadowed by the all- 
 powerful Praetorian Prefect, John of Cappadocia (who in his 
 arrogance even wore a purple cloak only differing from that 
 of the emperor in being shorter and ornamented with narrower 
 lace), and pushed into the shade by the gorgeously dressed 
 commanders of the various bodies of household troops, seemed 
 in no way to mind these things, or even to resent not being 
 given the well-deserved triumph. He received in fact a daily 
 one from the populace whenever he appeared in the streets. 
 His defence of Rome was in all mouths ; he had brought two 
 kings captive to Constantinople; he had subdued the two 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 N! 
 
 1 
 
 tMl 
 
CHAP. 
 
 246 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 races of greatest renown in war, the Vandals and the Ostro- 
 goths ; and the people were never tired of showing their ad- 
 miration for him. His own private body-guard, paid by 
 himself and numbering nearly 7000 men, was composed of 
 men of the races he had conquered — ^Moors, Vandals, and Ostro- 
 goths, — men who were devoted to their conqueror. The 
 astonished people said : " One household alone has destroyed 
 the kingdom of Theodoric." 
 
 Belisarius at this time was thirty-five, a year younger than 
 Napoleon was when he won the battle of Austerlitz. In 
 appearance Belisarius was tall, well-proportioned, and good- 
 looking ; while the reason why he was so popular, not only 
 with his soldiers, but with the races whom he conquered, is 
 very easily seen. Procopius tells us repeatedly of his justice, 
 of his care over the private soldier, especially when wounded, 
 and of the praises universally bestowed upon him for his con- 
 stant desire to mitigate the sufferings of war for the people 
 of the invaded lands, speaking also of how his soldiers were 
 never aUowed to straggle from the road and tread down growing 
 crops, or to gather fruit growing in private gardens, or to 
 plunder villages. He punished with stern severity all outrages 
 upon the conquered people, was known to all as thoroughly 
 chaste in his private life, and " no man ever saw Belisarius 
 intoxicated," says Procopius. Such a commander was in 
 truth a rarity in the 6th century ; and looking at the genius 
 in war which Belisarius possessed, the devotion which he 
 inspired among those whom he conquered, and the steadfast 
 loyalty which he displayed, notwithstanding the most dis- 
 graceful treatment, towards an emperor who by always nour- 
 ishing suspicions against him ruined Belisarius' military career, 
 we cannot but feel that he was one of the noblest characters 
 to be met with in history. 
 The Persian The disastcr which had fallen upon Antioch could 
 ^^' not be immediately retrieved. Preparations to do 
 so were made, but after the rainy season begins, about July, 
 military operations are for many months impracticable in 
 Mesopotamia, so that Justinian had to postpone these for 
 about six months until it became possible to send an army 
 against Persia. Early in 541, however, Belisarius (no doubt 
 delighted to get away from the scandalous atmosphere of the 
 
 l| 
 
 xxi] 
 
 FABLES OF THE SECRET HISTORY 247 
 
 capital and breathe again the more robust environment of 
 camps) started for the eastern frontier, with orders to make 
 war upon Chosroes and avenge the disaster at Antioch, his 
 wife Antonina remaining for a time at Constantinople. As 
 we are no longer required to put any faith in the now dis- 
 credited Secret History, we may disregard the fables which 
 that scurrilous chronicle has interwoven into the history of 
 the next three years (a record which has passed for the history 
 of the years 541-543), attributing various infidelities to An- 
 tonina (by this time nearly sixty years old), declaring that 
 Photius, Antonina's son by her first marriage, laid before 
 Belisarius scandalous proof of his mother's guilt, that Belisarius 
 departed for the east disturbed in mind at these infidelities 
 of a wife to whom he was throughout life sincerely attached, 
 that his military operations were rendered unsuccessful owing 
 to this troubled state of mind, that he for a time imprisoned 
 his wife, who appealed to the empress Theodora, that he was 
 forthwith summoned before the latter, threatened by her with 
 death, and only pardoned on account of his wife, whose for- 
 giveness for having suspected her he was directed to obtain, 
 and that he thereupon " fell prostrate before his wife, kissing 
 her feet, declaring her his saviour, and devoutly promising 
 thenceforth to live the grateful and submissive slave of An- 
 tonina." ^ Being thus set free from these fantastic absurdities 
 we are enabled to regard Belisarius as a more ordinary mortal 
 than these narratives have made him out to be.* 
 Operations in Although Justiuiau was pouring out money like 
 Mesopotamia, ^atcr upou churchcs and fortifications, he had none 
 to spare for his army, and Belisarius on arriving in Mesopo- 
 tamia found himself in command of an army which was not 
 only far too small for the purpose, but also was months in 
 arrears of pay, and as a natural consequence was in a high 
 state of insubordination. Nevertheless, with his marvellous 
 
 1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, V, 162 (Edition 1862). Gibbon, 
 accepting the Secret History as veracious, considers that Belisarius' 
 conduct was " either below or above the character of a man.'* 
 
 * How it could ever have been supposed for a moment that a man 
 with such a nature as this tale implies could have been admired and 
 almost worshipped by his soldiers and by the manly warriors of the 
 Goths and Vandals, as Belisarius was, is marvellous, and seems to 
 show small knowledge of soldiers. 
 
 II 
 
248 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 l/Ii Af « 
 
 powers of commanding men and of fashioning even the most 
 unpromising material into an efficient and disciplined force, 
 he in a short time was able to advance into the territories of 
 Chosroes, who at the moment was pursuing his ambitious 
 designs far to the north, attacking the Roman dominions 
 on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, while to force Chosroes 
 to abandon this attack, and return from thence was a main 
 object of Belisarius' operations. 
 
 Justinian, and in fact the people of Constantinople also, 
 imagining that Belisarius was able to perform miracles, ex- 
 pected of him nothing less than that he should capture Ctesi- 
 phon, and deliver the captive inhabitants of Antioch. But 
 Belisarius knew that with so small an army such an 
 attempt would be absurd, and he confined himself to more 
 sane operations. He besieged and took the Persian fortress 
 of Sisaurane, and sent its governor with 800 captured cavalry 
 soldiers to serve the emperor in Italy. He then despatched a 
 force of Arabs under Aretas, supported by Roman troops, 
 with orders to cross the Tigris and ravage the harvests of 
 Assyria. But Aretas upset his plans by neither returning to 
 join Belisarius nor sending any intelligence of his movements. 
 Waiting for his return consumed the remainder of the short 
 season during which operations on the Persian frontier 
 were practicable ; Belisarius' European troops began to suffer 
 severely from fever induced by the heat of Mesopotamia in 
 June ; and after a time he was forced to desist from further 
 operations until the next campaigning season. He had, how- 
 ever, succeeded in his main object, Chosroes being forced by 
 hearing that Belisarius was ravaging Assyria to abandon his 
 designs on the north-eastern frontier and return in haste. 
 The ungrateful Justinian, ignoring the fact that war could 
 scarcely be made, especially in such a region, without large 
 supplies of money and an army less inadequate for such a 
 task as meeting the powerful army of Persia, and disappointed 
 that Ctesiphon had not been taken and Chosroes himibled, 
 recalled Belisarius at the end of the campaigning season to 
 Constantinople. But Justinian soon saw he had been under a 
 misapprehension, that the army was too small and too ill- 
 provided to enter upon operations of the kind he had contem- 
 plated, his confidence in Belisarius was restored, and it was 
 
 xxi] 
 
 THE TYRANT OVERTHROWN 
 
 249 
 
 decided that the latter should enter upon a fresh series of 
 operations in the next campaigning season with a better 
 equipped force. 
 Fauof John Mcanwhilc in the spring of 541, not long after 
 of cappadocia. BcUsarius had departed for Mesopotamia, the great 
 minister who had for eleven years been the evil genius of 
 Justinian, the universally detested John of Cappadocia, had 
 at last been brought to grief by Theodora. Innumerable are 
 the accounts ^ of the rapacity, gluttony, sensuality, oppression, 
 and odious cruelties of the Praetorian Prefect, John of Cappa- 
 docia, hatred of whom had been the chief cause of the Nika 
 insurrection. Coarse, brutal, and relentless, but able and 
 possessed of an iron will, he was invaluable to Justinian, whose 
 own character as a man of books imfitted him for the violent 
 and cruel deeds perpetrated by his ruthless minister, but by 
 which Justinian profited without compTmction,^ and without 
 realizing that he was used as a pliable instrument by his strong- 
 willed minister. But there was one at the side of the emperor 
 who was not to be thus ruled. Theodora's strong character 
 refused to be under the dominion of one whose arrogance 
 offended her imperious spirit, whose coarse profligacy revolted 
 her artistic temperament, and whose cruelties filled her with 
 disgust. From the first she had been the Prefect's declared 
 enemy, and during the Nika insurrection had urged, and 
 obtained, his dismissal, but only for a short period. The 
 whole of the succeeding eight years had been one long struggle 
 between them, and in the spring of 541 Theodora conquered. 
 The details of the manner in which Theodora effected the 
 ruin of John of Cappadocia are (very naturally) obscure. But 
 cleared of various unreliable and contradictory embellish- 
 ments, this much appears plain ; that John of Cappadocia 
 had heard a prophecy that he should become emperor, an 
 aim he had long secretly cherished ; that Theodora obtained 
 knowledge of this, and laid a scheme to outwit him ; that she 
 
 1 Authenticated by both Procopius and John the Lydian. 
 
 * Among many other exactions was the " aerial tribute " (without 
 a name, a law, or a definite object, and extorted with many cruelties), 
 an annual gift of £120,000 which the emperor accepted from his Prae- 
 torian Prefect, the means of raising the money being left to the latter's 
 discretion. 
 
 I! 
 
 f 
 
 ¥ 
 
250 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 enlisted the help of Antonina, got the latter to pretend that 
 she and Belisarius felt a strong grudge against the emperor 
 for his ingratitude towards Belisarius, and would be willing 
 to assist towards Justinian's assassination, and caused words 
 to that effect to be privately repeated to John of Cappadocia ; 
 that the latter fell at once into the trap, and arranged a secret 
 meeting by night with Antonina (then about to depart to join 
 her husband) in the garden of a country-house belonging to 
 Belisarius which was to be the first stage of her journey, with 
 the object of discussing with her proposals for assassinating 
 Justinian with the help of Belisarius ; and that Theodora 
 thereupon caused Narses the grand chamberlain, and Marcellus, 
 the commander of the bodyguard, with some soldiers, to be 
 concealed at the place appointed for this meeting, who when 
 they had heard from the lips of John of Cappadocia his treason- 
 able proposals suddenly came forward and attempted to seize 
 him. John of Cappadocia escaped and took refuge in a church, 
 thereby leaving the field open to Theodora, who going at 
 once to Justinian proclaimed his guilt, and produced Narses 
 and Marcellus as witnesses. He was seized, degraded from 
 all his offices, transported to Cyzicus, and there forced to 
 become a priest. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, upon his enemy the Bishop of Cyzicus 
 being murdered, John of Cappadocia was accused of the crime, 
 apparently unjustly ; and, says Gibbon, " John of Cappadocia, 
 whose actions had deserved a thousand deaths, was at last 
 condemned for a crime of which he was innocent." The great 
 minister, at whose name all men had trembled, and who had 
 committed so many cruel atrocities, was himseK stripped 
 naked, grievously scourged, compelled to recite before the 
 people all the misdeeds of his past life, and then, a rough 
 cloak being thrown over him, was transported to Antinopolis 
 in Upper Egypt, and there left to beg his bread. He 
 remained there in exile for seven years, until the death of 
 Theodora, when he was allowed to return to Constantinople, 
 where he performed humble offices in connection with a church, 
 and died in obscurity. John of Cappadocia might be called 
 the last of the Praetorian Prefects,^ for after his fall Justinian, 
 
 ^ The office which in its later form was created by the emperor 
 Septimius Sevems (Vol. I, Chap. VIH, p. 283). 
 
 XXi] 
 
 A BLOODLESS VICTORY 
 
 261 
 
 taught by experience, so reduced the powers and emoluments 
 of that office that it became practically abolished.^ 
 The Persian Whcu in the Spring of 542 the campaigning season 
 War. in Mesopotamia arrived it was Chosroes who took the 
 initiative. Eluding the fortresses as before, he rapidly advanced 
 with an army of about 100,000 men, crossed the Euphrates, 
 and proceeded to invade Syria. Belisarius was hastily des- 
 patched from Constantinople with aU the speed of posthorses, 
 and almost alone, to repel this invasion. He found the Roman 
 generals shut up in fear behind the fortifications of Hierapolis, 
 and promptly ordered them to f oUow him to Europus where 
 he intended to coUect his forces. Chosroes, hearing of his 
 arrival, sent ambassadors (reaUy spies) before whom Belisarius 
 made so skilful a display of his troops of many nations— 
 Thracians, Isaurians, Heruli, Goths, Vandals, and Moors— 
 that the report brought back to Chosroes caused him to halt 
 and deliberate. Knowing the great skill in war of BeUsarius, 
 and ignorant of the amount of his force, he was afraid to risk 
 a battle, and, though his army enormously outnumbered 
 that of Belisarius, he began after a time slowly to retire. 
 Belisarius with the utmost skill pressed this retreat, without 
 ever allowing Chosroes to discover how comparatively small 
 was the army opposed to him ; the Persian army recrossed 
 the Euphrates, and, thus steadily pressed by BeUsarius, re- 
 tired out of the Roman dominions, and Syria was saved. 
 Perhaps nothing in the career of Belisarius displayed to a 
 higher degree his talents as a general than this bloodless victory. 
 Having gained this success, Belisarius returned at the con- 
 clusion of the campaign to Constantinople. 
 
 Illness of But now a visitation more terrible than war spread 
 Justinian. Qy^j, ^u the countrics of the east, putting an end for 
 a time to all military operations on either side. The plague, 
 said to have begun in Upper Egypt, gradually spread over 
 Persia, India, Syria, North Africa, and Europe. At length it 
 reached Constantinople, and in a short time paralyzed all 
 other matters. No record has survived of the total number 
 who perished, but it is stated that during four months of that 
 
 1 Regarding the possibility that John of Cappadocia may have 
 been the unknown author of the foul and malignant Secret History, see 
 Note H, p. 262. 
 
252 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 H 
 
 Iff 
 
 
 summer (542), first five thousand, and at last ten thousand, 
 persons died daily in Constantinople, and the work of burying 
 the dead became so great that the emperor was forced to employ 
 the whole of the household troops for the purpose. Finally 
 Justinian himself was attacked, became delirious, and soon 
 a rumour spread that he was dead, and that the empress was 
 concealing the fact. 
 
 While Theodora, amidst the lovely gardens of her beautiful 
 palace of the Heraeum, where her husband lay apparently 
 dying, contemplated in anxious alarm her fate if Justinian 
 died,i the generals of the army in Mesopotamia secretly dis- 
 cussed at a military council the q^uestion of a new emperor, 
 the names of Belisarius (then at Constantinople), John the 
 Glutton (then in Italy), and Buzes (an officer holding a high 
 command in Mesopotamia) being mentioned. 
 
 Beusarius Suddenly however, to the astonishment of all, 
 disgraced. Justinian recovered. Theodora had heard of the 
 action of the generals while he lay unconscious and apparently 
 at death's door, and she now informed him of this treasonable 
 council, as she called it. The generals who had assisted at 
 it were summoned to Constantinople, and a searching enquiry 
 was held, with the result that Buzes was consigned to prison, 
 where he languished for three years. Had not Belisarius 
 been so popular with the people, and so necessary to the em- 
 peror, it is probable that he would have shared the same 
 fate, on the same grounds. But though not imprisoned, 
 Belisarius was disgraced ; the command of the army in the 
 east was taken from him, the greater part of his property was 
 confiscated, and all his military household was broken up 
 and divided among other generals. Men wondered, it is said, 
 to see Belisarius, stripped of aU his glory, walking about the 
 streets of Constantinople, almost alone, in deep sadness, and 
 even feeling that at any moment he might meet death at the 
 hands of an assassin. 
 
 ^ Justinian and Theodora had either no children, or only one daugh- 
 ter whose name is not recorded. A " grandson " of Theodora, named 
 Anastasius, is mentioned as at one time being engaged to Joannina, 
 the only daughter of Belisarius and Antonina, but it is thought more 
 probable that Anastasius was Theodora's nephew, the son of her sister 
 Anastasia or of her sister Comito, who were both married. 
 
 I 
 
 xxi] 
 
 A LETTER FROM THEODORA 
 
 253 
 
 Nevertheless it does not seem quite fair to upbraid Justinian 
 to the extent often done in this matter. Without impugning 
 for a moment BeHsarius' loyalty, of which there is no question, 
 it was not unreasonable that an emperor, especially under the 
 conditions of that age, should object to a general who was 
 overwhelmingly popular with the people maintaining a military 
 body-guard of 7000 men absolutely devoted to him, and 
 should take measures to put an end to Belisarius' position 
 in that respect, even though some of those measures are 
 
 indefensible. 
 
 The Secret History (in virulent language, and with many 
 venomous embellishments) relates the whole of this action 
 in regard to summoning the generals, conducting an enquiry 
 into their conduct, imprisoning Buzes, and disgracing Beli- 
 sarius, as being done by Theodora alone. But it is impossible 
 to believe that, if Justinian was emperor in any sense, his 
 generals could be imprisoned and his commander-in-chief 
 disgraced without his authority. It is therefore more reason- 
 able to suppose that the action was a joint one of Justinian 
 and Theodora (who in all matters throughout their married 
 life acted as one), though that action was very probably 
 prompted by Theodora, who had suffered much mental dis- 
 tress and anxiety while Justinian lay at the point of death 
 and the generals of the army were discussing who should 
 
 be his successor. 
 
 After a time, however, Theodora relented. She had 
 ?e^r°S'' presumably by that time got over the state of men- 
 ®^^"'''' tal perturbation into which she had been thrown, 
 and could regard the matter more calmly. She was as well 
 aware as anyone that Belisarius was too valuable to the 
 empu« to be permanently placed on the shelf ; while she also 
 saw an opportunity for repaying her debt of gratitude to 
 Antonina for the assistance given her by the latter the year 
 before in helping to compass the fall of John of Cappadocia. 
 As a result, while Belisarius, late in the evening, sat in his 
 deserted palace in great dejection, a messenger from the 
 empress was announced. Expecting to find the communica- 
 tion to be an order for his arrest and execution, he opened 
 and read the following remarkable letter, one throwing a 
 good deal of light upon the character of Theodora. 
 
 ■'' . 'I 
 
 I" 
 
 \b 
 
 
 11 
 
254 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 " Theodora Augusta to the Patrician BelisariTis." ^ 
 " What you have done to us, noble Su*, you know very well. 
 But I, on account of my obligations to your wife, have resolved 
 to cancel these charges against you for her sake, and to make her 
 a present of your life. Henceforward, therefore, you may rest 
 satisfied as to the safety of your life and property. ^ Let your 
 gratitude be displayed where it is due, not in words, but in your 
 future conduct." 
 
 Nevertheless though Belisarius earnestly petitioned to be 
 sent again to lead the army against Chosroes (the campaigning 
 season of 543 having now arrived) he was not suffered to do so, 
 but was given the office of " Count of the Sacred Stable," 
 which kept him in Constantinople. The Secret History would 
 have us believe that this refusal was at the request of Antonina,^ 
 but it is more likely that it was the outcome of suspicions still 
 entertained by Justinian that if Belisarius found himself again 
 with the army he might revolt, especially after the manner 
 in which he had been treated. In any case Justinian soon 
 suffered a deserved punishment for this refusal to reinstate 
 Belisarius in command of the army in Mesopotamia, events 
 quickly demonstrating how great was the latter's value. For 
 the army, not less than 30,000 strong, under fifteen generals 
 with divided authority,* was most ignominiously routed and 
 completely put to flight by a force of only 4000 Persians, 
 Dara and Edessa being besieged ; but the ravages of 
 the plague amongst both besiegers and besieged put a stop 
 to further operations, and in 544 Justinian was forced to 
 patch up a peace with Chosroes. 
 
 * In this letter, £U3 in others of hers, we feel that Theodora herself 
 penned the words. There is in it none of the long-winded milk-and- 
 water phraseology beloved of the secretary class. 
 
 * This does not refer, however, to a sum of £135,000 which the em- 
 peror had appropriated out of the confiscated property, and which 
 was not restored, but only t6 the remainder of Belisarius' property. 
 
 ^ The reason alleged being that Mesopotamia w€ts the country where, 
 says the Secret History, she had been imprisoned by Belisarius, and 
 did not wish to go again where she had suffered this indignity. At 
 what place this apocryphal imprisonment took place is not stated. 
 
 * Justini€ui seems to have been fond of this arrangement of a num- 
 ber of generals with no commander-in-chief, as we hear of it both in 
 Italy and in Mesopotamia, with similar results in both cases. 
 
 s 
 
 xxi] 
 
 THE LOQOTHETM 
 
 255 
 
 Disorder in Meanwhils during the four years 540-544, a most 
 Italy, disastrous change had come over affairs in Italy. 
 Upon the departure of Belisarius in May 540 after having 
 satisfactorily brought almost the whole country under the 
 emperor's rule the iU-advised arrangement made by Justinian 
 was not long in producing baleful effects. Each of the 
 eleven generals left to rule in different parts of the coimtry 
 with equal authority set to work to plunder as much as he 
 could, and under such conditions the army rapidly became 
 demoralized. Moreover Justinian, always hopelessly incapable 
 in financial matters, and always in need of money for his 
 many building operations, now extended to Italy the various 
 forms of financial oppression habitually employed by him, 
 which had already haK-ruined North Africa since its recon- 
 quest, and under which the various other parts of his empire 
 groaned. The hated Logothetce,^ Justinian's tax-collectors, 
 who by a most vicious system received as their salaries one- 
 twelfth of all that they could extract by any devices from 
 the people, arrived in Italy, and proceeded, according to their 
 universal practice, to ruin its population while they themselves 
 amassed wealth. Nor were their operations confined to the 
 people of the country ; these Logothetae soon devised innu- 
 merable ways of taking heavy fines from the soldiers, one- 
 tweffth of each fine going to the Logothetes concerned. They 
 also devised a system of stopping promotion and keeping 
 vacancies in what we should call the non-commissioned ranks 
 of the army, in order to save the salaries belonging thereto ; 
 thus further impoverishing the army, and destroying both 
 its efficiency and its discipline. Having thus filled both the 
 conquered population and the soldiers of the army with fierce 
 indignation, the Logothetae turned their attention to the 
 Ostrogoths, and devised a system of charges of embezzlement 
 against many of the former officials of the Ostrogothic kings 
 for various past offences (so-called) during the years preceding 
 the reconquest of Italy. All these vicious and stupid contriv- 
 ances for extracting money are stated to have been sanctioned 
 by Justinian, and indeed must almost necessarily have been so. 
 These arrangements soon_bore their natural fruit. Upon 
 Belisarius refusing to be their king, the Ostrogoths had offered 
 ^ Singular, Logothetes ; plural, Logothetae. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
256 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXI] 
 
 TOTILA 
 
 267 
 
 I 
 
 
 Totila. 
 
 the crown to Uraias, who declined it in favour of Ildibad ; * 
 the latter, though he had accepted it, in doing so had notified 
 his willingness to resign the crown if Belisarius would take 
 it. When Belisarius left Italy Ildibad was in possession of 
 only one city, Pavia, and had a force of about 1000 men. 
 But before the Logothetae had been at work a year all Italy 
 north of the Po acknowledged the sovereignty of Ildibad, he 
 had fought and won a battle at Treviso against the imperial 
 general Vitalius, and his army (largely composed of men 
 driven from the imperial army by the operations of the Logo- 
 thetae) had swelled to not far short of 10,000 men. Soon 
 afterwards Ildibad caused Uraias to be assassinated, and in 
 May 541 suffered the same fate himself. After an interval of 
 five months under the lethargic Euraric, the Ostrogoths slew 
 the latter, and in November 541 elected as their king Hdibad's 
 nephew Baduila, better known as TotUa, then about twenty-six 
 years old, who at once proceeded to carry on the war begim 
 by Ildibad. 
 
 Of aU belonging to the Teutonic races at this period 
 none, not even Theodoric the Great, was so noble a 
 character as Totila. Brave in war, just and wise in adminis- 
 trative affairs, generous in disposition, and courteous and 
 gentle towards women, he displays many of those knightly 
 characteristics which became honoured in later ages, and we 
 Beem to see in him a forenmner of the Bayard of ten centuries 
 later. He was destined to reign over the Ostrogoths for 
 eleven years, to regain nearly all Italy, except its capital 
 Ravenna, from the emperor, and to die in defence of the land 
 he had, by the most laudable methods, made devoted to him. 
 Defeats at Justiniau's arrangement of an army commanded 
 Fa^?aiid ^y * number of generals all independent of each 
 thcMugeiio. other proved as disastrous in Italy as it did in 
 Mesopotamia. The imperial army, thus peculiarly com- 
 manded, advanced about January 542 against Verona, but 
 the generals, all differing as to the plan of action, were carrying 
 on their dissensions even during the battle, and the army 
 consequently suffered a complete repulse, which was followed 
 soon afterwards by another and stiU more crushing defeat at 
 
 * Professor Bury considers that the more probable form of his name 
 was Ildibald. 
 
 Faenza, and finally in April 542 by a headlong rout in the 
 valley of the Mugello near Florence, which rout entirely dis- 
 persed the army, and gave Totila the possession of Tuscany. 
 Having thus gained central Italy, Totila, after destroying 
 Florence, pushed on southwards, avoiding Rome ; everywhere 
 the oppression of the Logothetae caused crowds to flock to his 
 standard ; he regained city after city, including Cumae (where 
 he captured the wives and daughters of the senators of Rome, 
 treated them with every courtesy, and sent them back to 
 theu- husbands and fathers, an act which deeply impressed 
 the Romans), and was soon in possession of all southern Italy 
 except Naples, which he proceeded to besiege. The Roman 
 generals remained shut up, each in his own city, Constantian 
 at Ravenna, John the Thracian at Rome, Bessas at Spoleto, 
 Cyprian at Perugia, Justin at Fiesole, and the rest in other 
 strongholds, which remained like islands in the general sea 
 
 of Gothic Italy. 
 
 By the end of 542 Justinian, seeing by this time 
 over nearly how' badly his arrangement had worked, but still 
 *""^^' determined not to employ Belisarius (who was 
 being kept inactive in Constantinople), despatched an officer 
 named Maximin as Praetorian Prefect in Italy. Inexperienced 
 in war, he was also sluggish and cowardly, and while he de- 
 layed at Syracuse, Naples, in May 543, surrendered to the 
 Gothic king. Totila allowed no outrages, put the garrison 
 on ships to be taken to any port they wished, supplied every 
 house of the starving citizens with food, and when a peasant 
 complamed that a soldier of the Gothic king's body-guard 
 had outraged his daughter, and when his nobles implored 
 him not to take the life of a brave soldier on such an account, 
 Totila told them that it was only by showing a contrast to 
 the vicious and corrupt government of the emperor that the 
 Gothic kingdom would be raised again from the dust, and 
 bade them choose which they would prefer, the safety of the 
 whole Gothic state or the life of this man ; whereupon with 
 their concurrence the soldier was executed, his property being 
 given by Totila to the girl. By conduct such as this Totila 
 soon gained the confidence of the entire country ; his justice 
 became a proverb ; and the emperor's cause sank ever lower 
 in Italy. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 258 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 diet '^^^^ ** *^^ time there passed away, at the age of 
 sixty-three, in the monastery which he had founded 
 at Monte Cassino (halfway between Rome and Naples), a 
 man whose name was to become a power throughout all 
 Europe for the next seven centuries, and to be known and 
 reverenced in lands where the name of the emperor Justinian 
 had never been heard, Benedict of Nursia. From the sixth 
 century to the thirteenth (when St. Francis and St. Dominic 
 arose) the monastic rules which St. Benedict established were 
 those observed by all monasteries in the West, while through- 
 out the Middle Ages he fiuTiished, both by his teaching and 
 his life, the ideal for what was held, among all classes, 
 throughout those ages as the highest tj^e of human 
 character. 
 
 Benedict from his boyhood showed a disposition which 
 attracted all who knew him. Bom in 480, and sent when he 
 was twelve to school at Rome, when he was fourteen he took 
 to a hermit's life in a cave at Subiaco, and by the time that 
 he was twenty-five had established so great a reputation that 
 many persons of high rank sent their sons to be trained under 
 him. By means of this influence he during Theodoric's 
 reign built twelve monasteries in different places ; but in 
 
 628 he left Subiaco and established himself at Monte Cassino, 
 where he soon afterwards, at the age of forty-nine, began to 
 construct a monastery which was subsequently famed in all 
 western coimtries. Having seen during his earlier years the 
 evils arising from rules of too great strictness, which he saw 
 led to open disregard of them in the case of some and to hypo- 
 critical pretence in that of others, he drew up for his new 
 monastery a set of rules mUder and more reasonable in character 
 than those which obtained in the Eastern countries of the 
 empire and had hitherto been adopted in Italy. And this 
 " Rule of St. Benedict '* became in course of time that followed 
 everywhere in the West. 
 
 Founding his monastery of Monte Cassino in the year 
 
 629 while the Ostrogoths under Amalasuntha held Italy, 
 St. Benedict and those who through admiration of his charac- 
 ter quickly gathered round him ere long found themselves sur- 
 rounded by aU the miseries of war. Before the new monastery 
 had been established five years the disturbances among the 
 
 xxi] 
 
 MONTE CASSINO 
 
 259 
 
 Ostrogoths of the years 534-535 ^ took place, and in 536 were 
 followed by the landing in Italy of the Roman army imder 
 Belisarius, and the beginning of the war with the Ostrogoths ; 
 and for the whole of the next twenty years the community 
 gathered on the height of Monte Cassino saw perpetually the 
 marching and fighting of bands of Ostrogoths, Romans, Franks, 
 and Allemanni, the district round Monte Cassino passing 
 again and again into the possession of one or the other of these 
 foes, while at the time that St. Benedict died in the spring 
 of 543 Italy had fallen into a state of the greatest ruin and 
 misery, harried from end to end by war and disorders of every 
 kind. When in some old Italian gallery we see portrayed 
 in picture after picture the attractive faces of St. Benedict 
 and his beloved pupils, the noble-born and noble-hearted 
 Maurus and Placidus, with their expression of calm peace 
 of mind and tranquillity, it is difficult to realize that they 
 lived surrounded by every kind of disorder and wrong, and 
 were daily brought in contact with the results of strife and 
 warfare, famine and pestilence. 
 
 But St. Benedict did more for posterity than establish 
 a more reasonable monastic system than had previously been 
 customary. In his monastery of Monte Cassino he set his 
 monks to work to supply the need which many centuries 
 later was to be provided for by the art of printing, keeping 
 them constantly at work in copying ancient manuscript books, 
 while he began the collection of the valuable library for which 
 Monte Cassino was afterwards so renowned, being the first 
 abbot of a monastery who established the connection between 
 monks and books. By the time that he died the Benedictine 
 Order had begun to make its way from Italy into France, 
 Spain, and Sicily. The monasteries became the only homes 
 of learning throughout long periods when all around there 
 was spread the desolation of war and the ruin wrought by 
 barbarism, and in them proceeded perpetually the collection 
 of great libraries, the copying of ancient books, and the writing 
 of the chronicles of the time. Without these labours the 
 great deeds and thoughts of Greece and Rome would have 
 been to a large extent for ever lost to the world, while our debt 
 to these homes of learning is also great for preserving 
 
 1 Pages 216-217. 
 
 I 
 
 J' 
 
260 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 C3HAP. 
 
 M 
 
 however rough a record of the events of their own times re- 
 garding which we should otherwise know little or nothing. ^ 
 Desperate state Meanwhile the imperial generals in Italy, shut up 
 of Italy, jj^ ^jjgjj respective strongholds, plundered and 
 ravaged the adjacent lands to the utmost, and at length the 
 state of the country became so terrible that early in 544 
 Constantian, commanding at Ravenna, wrote to the emperor 
 that it was no longer possible to defend his cause in Italy. 
 Soon afterwards Totila proceeded to besiege Otranto, the 
 port at which a force coming to operate in southern Italy 
 would have to land. 
 
 Bciisarius again Justiuiau uow saw that uo othcr course remained 
 sent to Italy. |jq y^j^^ ^ ^le wishcd to retain Italy, but to send 
 
 Belisarius thither to repair all the blunders committed during 
 the four years since he had left that country. But Justinian, 
 in sending Belisarius to reconquer Italy, coupled with this 
 command one regarding which one does not know whether 
 to be more amazed at its meanness, or at its total want of 
 any military knowledge, or even of ordinary common-sense. 
 Justinian, still obsessed with the idea that Belisarius if in 
 command of a large army might revolt, and not content with 
 having already appropriated nearly half Belisarius' property, 
 devised a method by which gradually to deprive him of the 
 remainder, and while sending him to recover Italy at the 
 same time to prevent his becoming the commander of a large 
 army. Belisarius was therefore told that he must reconquer 
 Italy at his own expense, a promise being exacted from him 
 that he would make no demands upon the imperial treasury. 
 Nor was this action of Justinian's due to want of money ; 
 for he was at the time lavishing expenditure upon the building 
 and adorning of churches in every direction. No man with 
 the most remote knowledge of what such a task as the re- 
 conquest of Italy meant, especially against such a foe as Totila 
 (assisted as the latter was by the imiversal hatred for the 
 emperor's government engendered by the operations of the 
 Logothetae, to whose enormities Totila was continually in 
 the habit of pointing) could have issued such an order. And 
 no man with the smallest nobility of character could have 
 
 ^ St. Benedict is commemorated in the Prayeibook of tl^e Church 
 Qi England 0^ the 2let Margh. 
 
 xxi] 
 
 A "MISERABLE SQUAD" 
 
 261 
 
 dreamt of thus treating a man regarding whom he had three 
 times in succession had to acknowledge that the suspicions 
 against him which he had entertained were undeserved. 
 
 Belisarius, glad to escape from the hotbed of intrigue and 
 slander, Constantinople, and to exchange at any price the 
 degrading duties of " Coimt of the Sacred Stable " for his 
 own proper work of commanding an army in the field, made 
 no demur, and in May 544 departed to Thrace to endeavour 
 to raise troops to take with him. But men had begun by 
 this time to learn that to be a soldier in the army of Justinian 
 meant receiving little or no pay, and having to leave their 
 families destitute while at the same time seeing every sub- 
 ordinate underling in Justinian's tax-collecting department 
 amassing wealth. Even the great name of Belisarius could 
 not induce men to accept service under such conditions. So 
 that it is not surprising that Belisarius could only get to- 
 gether about 4000 men, most of them of inferior fighting 
 quaUty, and described by Belisarius himself as a " miserable 
 squad." With these he crossed the Adriatic, raised the siege 
 of Otranto, and then proceeded by sea to Ravenna. 
 
 
 t 
 
 ! )| 
 
 '1 
 
 < 'I 
 
 !■; 
 
NOTE H. 
 
 John of Cappadocia and the Secret History. 
 
 Though it has apparently not hitherto been made by historians, 
 a suggestion may (except perhaps for one fact) be hazarded 
 that the unknown author of the Secret History (see footnote to 
 p. 194) is to be found in John of Cappadocia. Here was a man 
 who more than all other men had reason after his fall to hate, with 
 the fiercest hatred, Theodora, Antonina, and Justinian ; a man 
 who was able, absolutely unscrupulous, cognizant of all the life 
 of the court for eleven years, ferocious, sensual, cruel, and from 
 the abominable character of his private life likely to take a plea- 
 sure in fabricating, rather than to shrmk from relating, even the 
 worst of the anecdotes of the Secret History. Those who have 
 attributed this book to Procopius, as formerly done, have 
 known no motive why a writer who in his authentic works belauds 
 Justinian to the utmost should have thus contradicted himself, 
 and therefore in his case such motives have had to be im- 
 agined. In the case of John of Cappadocia it is the very reverse ; 
 no man had such reason to hate the three persons vilified in this' 
 book as had John of Cappadocia ; and few men were so well able 
 to hate. The only fact which stands in the way of the theory here 
 hazarded is that the Secret History relates much against John of 
 Cappadocia himself. But since the book is almost certainly not 
 all the work of one hand, it seems possible that a later writer, feel- 
 ing the same hatred agamst John of Cappadocia which the latter 
 felt against Theodora, Antonina, and Justinian, may have added 
 these portions to the book. 
 
 262 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 EAST— JUSTINIAN (LAST TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF HIS 
 
 REIGN) 
 
 WEST-THE OSTROGOTHS, THE FRANKS, THE 
 VISIGOTHS, AND BRITAIN 
 
 544 — 565 
 
 THE history of the next four years of the war 
 in Italy (544-548) is that of a few brave men 
 the war in Italy. ^^^^^ a biavc and Capable commander struggling 
 to carry out a task made impossible for them by an emperor 
 who wanted war made, but having no personal knowledge of 
 it had no conception of its exigencies. Belisarius did all that 
 any commander so situated could do, and showed no less 
 ability than formerly, but the result was naturally small. 
 Little bands of 500 or 600 men were sent against this or that 
 stronghold held by the Ostrogoths, and sometimes captured 
 it and sometimes failed, but a pitched battle with Totila was 
 impossible for want of the necessary troops, and without battles 
 such a country as Italy could not be won. Moreover there 
 was always the chronic question of the large arrears of pay 
 due to the troops (in some cases as much as a year in arrears), 
 causing constant desertions, even among the Illyrians and 
 Isaurians, the best soldiers in the army. Soon after reaching 
 Ravenna Belisarius sent a force, mostly composed of Illyrian 
 troops, which regained Bologna. But that city was abnost 
 immediately afterwards abandoned by the Illyrian troops 
 who had captured it, who marched straight out of Italy back 
 to their homes in Dlyricum, and sent a message to the emperor 
 that they had done so because they had served for years in 
 Italy without receiving their pay, and because a body of 
 Huns was laying waste their homes and carrying off their 
 wives and children into slavery. And two successive sieges 
 
 263 
 
 : ( 
 
 
264 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 of Rome by the Ostrogoths ended by gates being opened to 
 Totila by the Isaurian soldiers guarding them because their 
 pay was months in arrears, whereas his soldiers were properly 
 paid and fed. And yet Justinian allowed this state of things 
 to go on year after year, though repeatedly implored to send 
 some sufficient body of troops for the war and the pay due 
 to those already engaged therein. 
 
 It is often supposed that Justinian's armies were so palpably 
 nsufficient in numbers for the task assigned to them because 
 there was a lack of men for soldiers. It is a complete fallacy ; 
 and one has but to look at the wide extent of his empire, and 
 the numerous races, many of them of first-rate fighting capacity, 
 over which he ruled to see that it is so. Moreover other 
 emperors succeeded him who found no such difficulty. ^ Jus- 
 tinian could not get soldiers, first because he did not know 
 how to do so, and secondly because he would not pay those 
 he did get, and spent all his available funds upon churches 
 and other building operations while he starved his armies. 
 Men Jbiew that service in his forces meant that their pay 
 would be for months in arrears, that even when obtained a 
 great part of it would be stolen from them under various pre- 
 texts by vicious financial officials, and that they would never 
 have a fair chance in war, but would always be subjected to 
 defeats by being pitted against far larger forces ; and it was 
 not surprising that under these conditions Justinian could 
 not get soldiers. 
 
 After a year had been consumed in this unsatisfactory kind 
 of warfare, during which time Totila had taken Tivoli, massa- 
 cred its inhabitants, and begun from thence to cut ofE the 
 supplies of Rome, which was held by Bessas with a small 
 force of imperial troops, Belisarius disregarded his promise, 
 and in May 646 wrote to the emperor saying that he had 
 expended the whole of his own private resources ; that it 
 was impossible to make Italy provide the funds necessary to 
 carry on the war, because most of that country was in the 
 hands of the enemy; that it was necessary plainly to tell 
 him that owing to the long overdue arrears of pay the larger 
 part of Justinian's nominal soldiers were now serving under 
 the banners of Totila ; and that if the emperor desired to 
 
 1 E.g. Heraclius (see Chap. XXIV). 
 
 xxn] 
 
 THEODORA'S WAY WITH A POPE 
 
 266 
 
 overcome the Ostrogoths he must send a large force of troops 
 and also money with which to pay them. But this manly 
 letter produced no result. A few driblets of men arrived 
 from time to time, but not even enough to make up for the 
 ordinary losses in war.^ 
 
 po vi uius -^^ November 545 the troubles of Vigilius, Pope 
 deported by of Romc, bcgau. The empress Theodora, wielding 
 a joint authority with Justinian, and always labour- 
 ing on behalf of her co-religionists,* had in 537 appointed 
 Vigilius to that office in consequence of an engagement by 
 him that he would assist the Monophysites.^ But in eight 
 years Vigilius had shown no disposition to carry out this 
 engagement (one quite incompatible with his position), and 
 he now suffered Theodora's vengeance. Early in November 
 545, Anthemius, an imperial notary, received a letter from 
 the empress ordering him to go to Rome and seize Vigilius, 
 the letter saying, " If you shall find Vigilius in the Lateran, 
 or in the Palace adjoining it, or in any church, at once put 
 him on ship-board and bring him hither to Us. If you do not 
 do this, by Him who liveth for ever I will have you flayed 
 alive." * In accordance with this forcible mandate Anthemius 
 proceeded to Rome, and finding Vigilius in the church of St. 
 Cecilia on the 22nd November 545, arrested him, and placed 
 him on board ship, the people throwing sticks and stones at 
 Vigilius and pouring forth curses upon him as the vessel bore 
 him away. In accordance, however, with a subsequent order 
 he was not at this time taken to Constantinople, but to Sicily, 
 
 i\ 
 
 \\^ 
 
 R 
 
 * No doubt part of the reeison why Justinian sent so few men to 
 Italy was the necessity of resisting the operations of Chosroes, forcing 
 Justinian to send every available man to the east, instead of to the 
 west. But this will not apply in the C€tse of these years 645 to 648, 
 for during that period there was peace with Chosroes. 
 
 * One of the strangest things in the joint rule of Justinian and 
 Theodora is that though he was an ardent Catholic and she an curdent 
 Monophysite we never find this a cause of discord, and he appears to 
 acquiesce in all orders given by her of the kind which she gave in 
 regard to the appointment, and the arrest, of Vigilius. 
 
 3 Chap. XXI, p. 228. 
 
 * The genuine ring about Theodora's letters which makes us feel 
 quite sure that she penned them herself is here again appsj*ent. No 
 courtly Cassiodorus was allowed to polish, and spoil, her sentences. 
 
 II' 
 
266 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 where he was kept in custody, but not imprisoned. And 
 there he remained for the next sixteen months. ^ 
 Second siege Meanwhile Rome was in sore straits. The force 
 of Rome, ^^jj wMch Bcssas was expected to hold the twelve 
 miles of walls which Aurelian had constructed for the defence 
 of Rome, did not amount to more than about 3000 men. 
 And Bessas had none of the ability which Belisarius had dis- 
 played nine years before under similar circumstances. Early 
 in 546 Totila, having taken in succession Fermo, Spoleto, 
 Assisi, Placentia and most of the other strongholds in which 
 the various imperial generals had shut themselves up, advanced 
 against Rome, and began a strict blockade of the city. After 
 a time Belisarius made a most heroic attempt to assist Bessas 
 and to relieve Rome. He seized Portus, at the mouth of 
 the Tiber, placed Antonina there, and endeavoured to force 
 his way up the Tiber by destroying the chain and fortified 
 bridge which Totila had constructed about twelve miles below 
 Rome. Being however unsupported by Bessas the attempt 
 failed^ and Belisarius being driven back was forced to retire 
 to Portus through fear for the safety of Antonina and lest he 
 should lose this his only port on the western coast ; and at 
 Portus he was laid up with severe fever for several months. 
 While he lay ill the garrison in Rome, reduced to the last 
 straits by famine, and enraged at the peculations of Bessas, 
 became demoralized ; and in December 546 this second siege 
 of Rome ended by the Asinarian Gate, close to the Lateran 
 Palace (the residence of the Popes of Rome), being opened 
 by the Isaurian soldiers guarding it, the rest of the force under 
 Bessas escaping by the Flaminian Gate on the other side of 
 the city. 
 
 Rome left '^^*'^* ^^ ^^^^ capturiug Romc declared his intention 
 empty, of making Rome a pasture for cattle. He gave 
 
 reoccupied, ., .. . mi i -i i tT 
 
 and a thiid thc City up to pillage, destroyed the great Baths 
 time besieged. ^^ QaracaUa at the southern side of the city, de- 
 molished about a third of the walls, and made preparations 
 to destroy all the finest buildings of ancient times ; but a 
 firm and temperate remonstrance from Belisarius (still lying 
 ill at Portus) against sullying his fame by such an act caused 
 him to desist. Totila only remained about a fortnight in 
 
 1 See p. 283. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 xxn] 
 
 VILLA OP HADRIAN DESTROYED 
 
 267 
 
 Rome, and then marched away towards Apulia, taking with 
 him the senators,^ and sending the few remaining citizens 
 into exile, and for six weeks the city of Rome — the " Great 
 Rome " of Trajan — ^was left without a single inhabitant and 
 abandoned to wild animals. Then in February 547 Belisarius, 
 being determined not to allow Rome to be left desolate, taking 
 with him 1000 men, drove back the small force of Ostrogoths 
 who opposed him, visited Rome, and resolving to re-occupy it 
 summoned to him the rest of his force. He then attracted 
 many of the former inhabitants to return by offers of food 
 and employment, by unceasing exertions roughly repaired 
 the breaches in the walls, placed obstacles in the gateways 
 until new gates could be made, stationing his bravest troops 
 there, and in less than a month was prepared for any attack. 
 Totila, enraged at hearing that Belisarius had re-occupied 
 Rome, returned by rapid marches from Apulia, and furiously 
 attacked the city ; the Ostrogoths were three times repulsed 
 in three general assaults in the space of a week, and lost heavily ; 
 and after the third assault Totila gave up the attempt to 
 retake Rome, and retired to Tivoli, where he accommodated 
 his army in the vast palace called the '* Villa of Hadrian," * 
 whose many beautiful buildings the Ostrogoths wantonly 
 set about destroying, amusing themselves by using its choicest 
 works of art as targets. 
 
 Misgovemment While Italy, as the result of a succession of blunders 
 of North Africa, (j^jy^gggygj^ years, had been reduced to this miser- 
 able condition, affairs in Justinian's other newly conquered 
 province were not in a much better state. Upon Belisarius' 
 conquest of North Africa that country had for a year or two 
 settled down peaceably. But soon there had descended upon 
 the province the usual swarm of Justinian's Logothetse, with 
 the vicious system under which they were entitled to one- 
 twelfth of everything which they could by any device extort 
 from high or low. Moreover many officers and soldiers of 
 
 ^ This is the Isist that is heard of the Senate of Rome, whose place 
 had long been taken by the Senate of Constantinople. When eight 
 years later Italy was at length regained by Justinian the Senate of 
 Rome was not ageiin set up. Being an imperial body, and Italy being 
 thenceforth governed from Constantinople, there was no longer any 
 place in the scheme of government for a Senate of Rome 
 
 " Vol. I, Chap. VI, pp. 231-232. 
 
 t ; 
 
 • 'I 
 
268 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the army which had conquered North Africa had married 
 the widows of the slain Vandals, each such wife bringing 
 with her as a marriage dowry the estate which had been hers 
 while living with her Vandal husband. But the LogothetsB 
 upon their arrival claimed that aU such lands belonged by 
 right of conquest to the State, and aU those who had married 
 Vandal widows found themselves and their wives ejected from 
 their estates, or forced to live upon them as poverty-stricken 
 tenants at a rack-rent under the Logothetae. 
 
 These operations of the Logothetae, together with the 
 standing grievance of the pay of the troops being in arrears, 
 at length induced the formidable revolt subdued by 
 Belisarius in 536, which had been headed by Stutza, a soldier 
 of the body-guard ; and the same causes continued to produce 
 like effects, though for a time tempered by the conciliatory 
 rule as Prefect of Justinian's nephew, the humane and sensible 
 Germanus, and his successor Solomon. In 544, however, a 
 revolt due to the rapacity of the Logothetae and the grievances 
 of the army again broke out ; the Prefect Solomon was killed, 
 and Stutza reappeared, and was soon joined by large numbers 
 of the troops. In 545 Areobindus, who had married Justin- 
 ian's fascinating niece Praejecta, was sent to Africa as Prefect, 
 with orders to subdue Stutza ; a battle was fought at Sicca 
 Venerea,^ Stutza was killed, and the insurrection put down. 
 Soon afterwards, however, Areobindus was murdered by a 
 usurper, Gontharis, the rebel governor of Numidia, who 
 seized Praejecta, but was himself after a month stabbed by 
 the Armenian prince Artabanes, who had risen high in the 
 imperial service, and was in love with Praejecta. Artabanes 
 thereupon became Prefect of North Africa, but after ruling 
 for a short time was in 546 recalled to Constantinople to 
 meet a charge preferred to the empress Theodora against 
 him. 
 
 Artabanes. -^^^^^^^^> highly bom, tall, dignified, reserved, 
 and a prince in his own country, had rendered con- 
 spicuous services to the empire, and was in deserved favour 
 with the emperor. In return for those services Justinian 
 was ready to grant him high honours, but Artabanes only 
 desired one reward, the hand in marriage of Praejecta, whom 
 
 ^ The modem Ke£L 
 
 xxn] 
 
 HUMAN LOCUSTS 
 
 269 
 
 he had both rescued and avenged by slaying the hated Gon- 
 tharis ; while she was equally anxious thus to reward him. 
 There was however a serious obstacle in the fact that Arta- 
 banes had a wife in Armenia, whom he had long discarded. 
 Artabanes' wife now appealed to the empress Theodora to 
 right her wrongs, and the latter, ** unable," says Procopius, 
 ** to turn a deaf ear to a woman in distress," insisted upon 
 Artabanes taking back his discarded wife, and gave Praejecta 
 to another husband. But Artabanes never forgave Justinian 
 and Theodora for thus separating him from the woman he 
 loved, and though promoted to be Commander of the house- 
 hold troops. General of the fosderati, and Consul, brooded over 
 this injury. To North Africa as his successor was sent as 
 Prefect John the Thracian, married to Justinian's grand-niece 
 Justma. In a two years' war (546-548) he finally subdued 
 the native tribes of North Africa, the Berbers, and under the 
 temperate rule established by him. North Africa remained 
 henceforth imdisturbed. But the province which had been 
 so flourishing when conquered from the Vandals continued 
 to decline in prosperity, not devastated by war like Italy, 
 but crushed by the tyrannical rapacity of the Logothetae, 
 who, ever seeking to enrich themselves, invented every imagin- 
 able device for extorting money, spreading over North Africa 
 like a swarm of locusts. Procopius asserts (though perhaps 
 with some degree of exaggeration) that, whereas when he first 
 landed in North Africa in 533 with Belisarius, he admired 
 the populous condition of the cities and the great prosperity 
 of the country throughout the district round Carthage, in 
 less than twenty years (without suffering from any severe war) 
 the greater part of this prosperous country had been converted 
 into a silent solitude. 
 
 Desultory war- The rcoccupatiou of Rome by Belisarius had little 
 fare in Italy, practical cffcct ou the coursc of the war, he having 
 no force with which to follow up his success and attack 
 Totila. There followed during the rest of the year 547 a long 
 period of desultory combats here and there in southern Italy, 
 in the course of which Otranto w as at length retaken, and 
 a reinforcement of about 2000 men arrived under Valerian ; 
 but the latter being entirely lacking in courage, shut himself 
 up in Ancona and did nothing. In Maj^ 54§ Belisarius wa^ 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
 fii 
 
270 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 RAVENNA 
 
 271 
 
 ra 
 
 driven out of Crotona, and forced to take refuge at Messina 
 in Sicily, while Roscianum, which he had been trying to relieve, 
 surrendered to Totila. Thus at the end of four years of war, 
 instead of regaining Italy from the Ostrogoths, Belisarius, 
 though as full of ability and courage as ever, " had wandered 
 like a fugitive," says Procopius, " from one point of the coast 
 to another,'* and had effected nothing, being left without the 
 means with which to obtain any real results, while the whole 
 country was reduced, after twelve years of destructive warfare, 
 to a condition of appalling devastation. 
 
 This war of Justinian's in Italy (which lasted altogether 
 for eighteen years) is an example of what a terrible thing is a 
 war carried on by a ruling authority ignorant of military affairs, 
 and even though the most capable commanders may be em- 
 ployed. Less than a hundred years later a military emperor, 
 Heraclius, took ten years in preparing his army before launch- 
 ing upon a great war ; Justinian on the other hand entered 
 upon war without any preparation for it at all, and from the 
 very outset showed an entire misconception of the nature of 
 the task and of the arrangements necessary for success. He 
 started by sending 9000 men to meet 150,000 men, and all his 
 arrangements were of a similar character. He never gave 
 any personal attention to military affairs, and never from 
 first to last had a properly trained army. From time to 
 time when he could spare attention from matters which to 
 him were more important he collected small bodies of troops 
 and sent them in little driblets to the war, but he gave no atten- 
 tion even to their being properly equipped, and he did not 
 even see to it that their pay was regularly forthcoming, while 
 all other matters connected with a successful prosecution of 
 the war were by him entirely disregarded. ^ Had a military 
 emperor — a Trajan, an Aurelian, a Constantine, or a Valen- 
 tinian I — ^waged this war it is plain from what occurred that 
 it would have been most effectually concluded within two 
 years from the time that Belisarius' force landed in the country, 
 and thereupon Italy would have settled down to a condition 
 of peace and prosperity. Instead of which, by this long dragging 
 war, directly caused by complete ignorance on the part of 
 the ruling authority of how war should be waged, and of 
 
 ^ Sqq pp. 28a Qa(i ^93. 
 
 the efforts and attention to many details necessary in order 
 to wage it successfully, Italy was so utterly devastated that 
 it never for centuries afterwards recovered the effects, its 
 great architectural and artistic treasures (such as the Villa 
 of Hadrian, the Baths of Caracalla, the Forum of Trajan, 
 and the many other splendid buildings in Rome erected by 
 so many emperors) were aU irretrievably destroyed, and the 
 country was brought to such a condition of impoverishment 
 and weakness that it lay helpless when a few years later it was 
 invaded by the Lombards. 
 
 Ravenna. 
 
 Amidst all the havoc and ruin of Italy during the 
 
 years 540-548 one spot alone remained undisturbed 
 by these struggles, and presented a striking contrast to the 
 desolation which prevailed throughout all the rest of that 
 country. Ravenna, which had first been the imperial capital 
 of the western half of the empire during the times of Honorius 
 and Galla Placidia, and then the capital of the kingdom of 
 the Ostrogoths during the times of Theodoric the Great and 
 Amalasuntha, had siace the year 540 again become the im- 
 perial capital in the West, the emperor's permanent strong- 
 hold in Italy, ond the seat of his representative, the Prefect. 
 And Ravenna, protected on the land side by an almost im- 
 passable labyrinth of marshes, and having free communication 
 by sea ^ with the opposite coast of the Adriatic, as well as 
 with Constantinople, was safe from any attack by Totila, 
 and remained in so peaceful and prosperous a condition amidst 
 the turmoils of this war in Italy that it seemed scarcely to 
 have any connection with the rest of that desolated country. 
 While therefore everywhere else only destruction was taking 
 place, in Ravenna it was the reverse, and these years 540-548 
 saw added to the buildings of Ravenna some of that city's 
 most notable possessions, especially in regard to the construo- 
 
 ^ Through its port of Classis (signifying, the station of the fleet), 
 three miles from the city. This port, Ravenna's back door, was also 
 its most vulnerable point. Towards the front (to the west, north, and 
 south) Ravenna was almost impregnable, but it was otherwise a^ 
 regards its sea-port to the east ; and all captures of Ravenna took 
 place through Classis bein^ taken* 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 272 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 It 
 
 tion and adornment of its churches. For Justinian, whatever 
 might be the case in other directions, had always funds to 
 provide lavishly for this purpose. Four churches which 
 still exist, and the Palace of Ravenna, of which we have only 
 a picture, have all much interest in connection with this 
 period. 
 The Palace of The Palace of Ravenna, after being for more than 
 
 Ravenna, forty years occupicd by the Ostrogothic kings, 
 by the reconquest of Ravenna in 640 had again become the 
 imperial palace, and the official residence of the emperor's 
 representative the Prefect of Italy. It is often called " the 
 Palace of Theodoric " ; but there is no evidence that Theodoric 
 buUt at Ravenna a fresh royal palace, which would have 
 been a quite unnecessary expense, for the imperial Palace of 
 the emperors of the West was available for his use and was 
 certainly not likely to be wanting either in size or grandeur 
 for the ruler of the Ostrogothic kingdom. Moreover this 
 Palace of Ravenna was undoubtedly situated near the Mauso- 
 leum* of Galla Placidia and the church of St. Vitalis, which 
 was built by Amalasuntha as the court church ; in the mosaic 
 picture of the palace which we possess ^ this is corroborated, 
 the church of St. Vitalis being shown standing close behind 
 the palace ; and in this mosaic picture, which shows the 
 front of the Palace, it is called simply " Palatium " (the Palace), 
 without any words connecting it specially with Theodoric. 
 It had been " The Palace " before his time, in his time, and 
 after his time, and was still so when in the reign of Justinian 
 this mosaic was put up. 
 
 The general appearance of this interesting Palace of Ravenna, 
 where Honorius fed his chickens, where Galla Placidia spent 
 most of her life, where the boy Romulus Augustulus resigned 
 the last shreds of the empire of the West, where Theodoric 
 held his court smrounded by a degree of ceremony very un- 
 palatable to his rough Ostrogoths, where Amalasuntha studied 
 ancient literature, tried to civilize the Ostrogoths, and whipped 
 her little son, and where lastly, Belisarius informed the aged 
 Witigis that his kingdom was at an end, and told the crest- 
 fallen Ostrogoths that he declined to be their king, is shown 
 ns in one of the mosaics still to be seen in the churgh of St. 
 
 * See below, 
 
PLATE LXIV. 
 
 
 
 The 1'alace of Ravenna. 
 
 Mosaic in the church of St. ApoUinare Suovo, Ravenna. 
 The church of St. Vitalis is visible close behind the palace, and at a little distance the walU of the city ; thus showing the locality of this palace. 
 
 1.ALINARI 
 
I 'I A I I I \ I \ 
 
 Amnaki. 
 
 rili: 1'aI A( I ol' KWI NN A. 
 
 Il'' ' Mil'. 
 
 Si \'it, 
 
 b. :;ni 
 
 :lil IV. 
 
 . / S / 
 
 'lUUi \ 
 
 I 
 
 \ii: I luui. 
 
 I' 1 1 I 
 
 liltl- li-! 
 
 til' will-'.! tlK- I 11'. ; tlill-, -ll'.VVlli^ till; 1' 
 
 ihi- |. 
 
xxn] 
 
 AN ART ISLAND 
 
 273 
 
 Apollinare Nuovo.^ In the centre of the front of the Palace 
 four lofty Corinthian columns support arches forming the 
 main entrance, and above these a pediment on which is written 
 the word PALATIUM. On either side of this main entrance 
 is a long colonnade, with an upper storey above it, while 
 between the pillars hang looped-up curtains with large square 
 patches of imperial purple.^ 
 
 Much of the interest which Ravenna possesses is 
 
 Unique interest ^ . i i • i Tk 
 
 possessed by due to its cxccptioual histoiy. Kavenna was 
 Ravenna, j^^^ ^^ ^^ island bctwcen two great floods of 
 
 barbarism (from one of which even Rome did not escape), 
 the barbarian flood which during the 6th and 6th centuries 
 overspread all the countries of the West, and the Mahomedan 
 flood which during the 7th and subsequent centuries over- 
 spread all the countries of the East and South. The result 
 has been that Ravenna, besides its unique remains belonging 
 to the 5th century, possesses also almost the only remains 
 of the art of the age of Justinian.^ 
 
 1 Plate LXIV. It is curious that in this picture of the Palace of 
 Ravenna there is no sign of the large equestrian group which was 
 placed by Theodoric upon its roof. As this mosaic picture undoubt- 
 edly shows the Palace as it was in the time of Justinian (when these 
 mosaics were put up), it seems as though Justinian must have refused 
 to have this statue of Theodoric upon the roof of the imperial palace, 
 and removed (without destroying) this equestrian group ; and that 
 it was afterwards re-erected by the Lombards when in 760 Ravenna 
 became theirs. For the group was certainly again upon the roof of 
 the Palace in 800 when Charles the Great visited Ravenna, since he 
 removed it from thence (Chap. XX, p. 187). 
 
 2 In the eastern quarter of the city (in the present Via Alberoni) 
 a single high wall, crowned with an upper storey, and having a simple 
 doorway below, has been called by tradition the " palace of Theo- 
 doric.** This may have been owing to a desire on the part of the Lom- 
 bards to connect everything with Theodoric, the ideal figure among 
 the northern races, but in any case this is not the palace shown in the 
 mosaic picture in St. Apollinare Nuovo. For this latter not only 
 shows the church of St. Vitalis (which is in the north-western quarter 
 of the city) standing behind the palace, but also shows the walls of the 
 city close behind the palace, which they would not have been in the 
 case of the site in the Via Alberoni. 
 
 ^ Except St. Sophia at Constantinople, the cathedral at Thessa- 
 lonica, and the cathedral at Parenzo, near Pola. The churches of St. 
 George and St. Demetrius at Thessalonica are much older than the 
 time oi Justinian, though much of their interioi mosaic decoration 
 belongs to his time. 
 
 E.W.— n. T 
 
 I 
 
 i' 
 
274 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 lIH A 1 » 
 
 In the time of Justinian art had chiefly resolved itself into 
 architecture and pictures in mosaic ; ^ and in the work belong- 
 ing to his age remaining at Ravenna we have examples of 
 both these lines in art, all of them apparently executed during 
 the years 540-548. The chief of these works are, (i) the church 
 of St. Vitalis, with its mosaics, (ii) the mosaics of the church 
 of St. Apollinare Nuovo, (iii) the mosaics of the chapel in 
 the Archbishop's palace, and (iv) the church of St. Apollinare 
 in Gasse. During the whole of these eight years Constantian 
 seems to have continued the commandant of Ravenna, while 
 its Archbishop was the celebrated Maximianus ; ^ and the 
 latter was almost certainly the chief agent in carrying out 
 the works constructed at this time in Ravenna, though 
 the funds for them must have been provided by Jus- 
 tinian.^ 
 
 The church of It is uot generally recognized that the founder of 
 St. Vitalis. both the church of St. VitaHs and the church of 
 St. Apollinare in Qasse was Amalasuntha,* though the style 
 in which these two churches were eventually completed and 
 adorned is due to Justinian. Immediately after the death 
 of her father Theodoric, Amalasuntha, possibly in memory 
 of him, began, at the end of the year 526, to build an octagonal 
 church, which she placed on the site where tradition said 
 that St. Vitalis had suffered martyrdom in a.d. 66, and dedi- 
 cated it to the latter, the church being intended by her to be 
 the court church. It was however only about half finished 
 
 * We still hear of psuntings in Jiistinian's time, but none of these 
 have survived, with however one notable exception. There still 
 exists in the cathedral of Kossano, in ItfiJy, a magnificent manuscript 
 of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, written in leurge silver 
 letters upon pages of purple vellum, and this is adorned with twelve 
 large miniatures of exquisite design, executed in the reign of Justinian. 
 This manuscript is known as the Codex Rossanensis (Lenormant, La 
 Orande-Orice, I, 347). 
 
 * Considered to be probably the writer of the important chronicle 
 called the Anonymus VcUesii (see Chap. XX, p. 177). 
 
 * These Ravenna mosaics have a special interest for members of 
 the Church of England ; because that Church stands upon the basis 
 of her appeal at the Reformation to the first six centuries of Chris- 
 tianity, and these mosaics, all put up during the 5th and 6th centuries, 
 have much to show as to what was held at that time. 
 
 * See page 281 (footnote). 
 
 xxn] 
 
 CHURCH OF ST. VITALIS 
 
 275 
 
 when Amalasuntha was murdered in 635, and was still in 
 the same state when Belisarius took Ravenna in 540 and 
 that city came once more under a Catholic sovereign. The 
 church, begim as an Arian one, was then completed, and its 
 interior elaborately decorated by the orders of Justinian, 
 apparently under the superintendence of Archbishop Maxi- 
 mianus, by whom it was consecrated as a Catholic church 
 
 in 547.1 
 
 This church of St. Vitalis « furnishes notable examples of 
 both the two chief lines in art of the age of Justinian, 
 and in regard to its architecture was taken by Charles the 
 Great as a model for his cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The 
 beautiful pillars which support its dome have elaborately 
 carved capitals of a new form, and the walls were originally 
 covered with very rare marbles, some portions of which remain. 
 But its chief interest lies in the fine mosaics which cover 
 the whole of the walls of the choir, though in execution they 
 are perhaps not equal to those put up about a hundred years 
 earlier in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, or those of still 
 earlier date in the Baptistery of the Cathedral. On these walls 
 of the choir, in addition to the mosaics on Biblical subjects, 
 there are also the two large mosaic pictures previously men- 
 tioned, representing Justinian and Theodora,^ which were 
 almost certainly designed by Maximianus himself, and the 
 design approved by the emperor and the empress. And 
 since Theodora died in 548, while Ravenna only came under 
 the sovereignty of Justinian in 540, these two mosaics must 
 have been put up during the years 540-548.* 
 St. Apollinare Whcu Thcodoric sct up Ms kingdom in 493 the 
 Nuovo. cathedral of Ravenna (built about the time that 
 Honorius made that city the capital), together with its finely 
 decorated Baptistery, had been standing for nearly a hundred 
 
 1 Outside the church on the north side is a monument to the Exarch 
 Isaac, who died in 641. The sarcophagus belonging to it, with an 
 inscription in Greek stating that the monument was erected by his 
 wife Susanna, is now in the museum at Ravenna. 
 
 2 Plate LXV, showing part of the interior. 
 
 3 Chap. XXI, pp. 197-198. 
 
 * They are considered to have been probably put up in the year 
 
 540. 
 
 r 
 
CHAP. 
 
 276 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 years.i Theodoric, acting very differently in this respect from 
 all other sovereigns of his age, did not convert the cathedral 
 into an Arian one, but determined to build a separate Arian 
 cathedral. He therefore built a church for that purpose, 
 dedicating it to St. Martin. When in 540 the Arian Ostrogoths 
 were driven out of Ravenna by Belisarius and the city in a 
 short time had only a Catholic population under a Catholic 
 emperor, Justinian caused this Arian cathedral to be con- 
 verted into a Catholic church, and its interior to be re-decorated. 
 And in the 9th century, when in the struggles of the time 
 Classis became in danger, the treasured relics of St. Apollinaris, 
 Ravenna's first bishop,* were removed from St. Apollinare 
 in Classe to this church of St. Martin inside Ravenna, and 
 it received its present name of St. ApoUinare Nuovo. 
 
 Though its former atrium,* and its apse, have been removed 
 this church affords a well-preserved example, highly valuable 
 because so rare, of the general appearance and interior decor- 
 ation of a church of the 6th century. The twenty-four marble 
 columns of the nave were sent by Justinian from Constantinople 
 at the time when he caused the interior of the church to be 
 re-decorated. The chief glory, however, of this church is 
 its magnificent series of mosaics, which cover the whole of 
 the waJls of the architrave, and are partly of the church's 
 Arian and partly of its Catholic period. These mosaics are 
 in three rows. In the upper row, above the windows of the 
 nave, are scenes from the life of Christ, on the left side the 
 miracles of Christ, and on the right side the history of the 
 Passion ; the omission of the Crucifixion shows the early date 
 of these mosaics, when representations of that subject were 
 always avoided. In the second row, between the windows, 
 are large figures of the Apostles and Prophets, executed in a 
 more pleasing and less stiff manner than became customary 
 in Byzantine work of a later period. These two upper rows 
 
 ^ The cupola of the Baptistery is decorated with mosaics which 
 are the finest and the oldest in Ravenna, representing the Baptism of 
 Christ, figures of the Apostles and Prophets, and four altars with the 
 open books of the four Grospels. 
 
 * Said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch, and on their 
 reaching Italy to have been sent by him to be Bishop of Ravenna, and 
 to have been martyred there in a.d. 79, the last year of the reign of 
 Vespasian, ^ Q^ter court, 
 
> 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 - J. 
 
 ^ J. 
 
 
 V. 
 
 > 
 
 r^ I ■, 
 
 / 
 
PLATE LXVI. 
 
 M» ^>A4.^d.^ tMt^^.^m .^•.AA. ^ M^.^^ ^ ^ 
 
 
 Part ok the procession ok kemali: makivks. 
 Mosaic in the church of St. ApoUinare Suow, Ravnma. 
 The plate only shows aUnit oi.e-qaarter ..f r»„. wl,..!- proce^.,.- The figures are about lifi- size- whr.i l.x-ked at Irom the floor of thi- church. 
 
PL ATI-: Lxvr. 
 
 A<itA; 
 
 Pakt oi nil-: I'Koci-.ssioN oi i i;mai.i: mariaks. 
 Mo-^iiii in flu chunh ni St. A f^nllniari- \h,,v,,, RavcnHit. 
 The plat.- only .huvv, ..l.mt .„>,• .,.,..rt,T -., tl,- who!,, pn,.-,..,,.,,. Th,. U^nu: ...v ,,l,..ut i,l,- ,,/,■ wlnn l.„k..,I ,,t ln„n th- flo„r ,.f ,1,,. chnrrh. 
 
 AllNAKl. 
 
xxn] 
 
 ST. APOLLINARE NUOVO 
 
 277 
 
 of mosaics may both perhaps belong to the Arian period of 
 the church. 
 
 Picture of the Bclow thcsc, howevcr, are the mosaics which have 
 ^maiTiny made this church celebrated, and these undoubtedly 
 female martyrs, belong to thc CathoHc pcriod of the chuTch.^ Ex- 
 tending along the whole length above the arches of the nave, 
 from the western door up to the chancel arch, are two long 
 processions of notable martyrs, male and female, the figures 
 being about seven feet in height, so as to appear from the 
 floor of the church about life size. On the right-hand side 
 of the nave there issues from a side door of the palace of Ra- 
 venna a long procession of twenty-two male martyrs, clothed 
 in white, each carrying his palm and crown, and each having 
 his name written in Latin over his head upon the gold back- 
 ground of the picture, this procession advancing towards a 
 representation of Christ, seated in glory, attended by four 
 angels. On the left-hand side of the nave there issues from 
 the gate of the town of Classis a similar procession of twenty- 
 one female martyrs, each dressed in royal robes of a dark blue 
 colour profusely (ornamented, and with a white scarf, each 
 bearing in one hand her palm and in the other her crown of 
 martyrdom, and with her name written in Latin over her head 
 upon the gold backgroimd,^ this procession (now) advancing 
 towards a representation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seated 
 with the infant Christ upon her lap, surrounded by four angels, 
 and with the Magi presenting their gifts. With reference to 
 what has been said as to Ravenna showing what was held in 
 the 6th century, it is necessary to remark that this latter 
 portion of this mosaic has been added in recent years, and 
 creates an anachronism. The procession of female martyrs 
 undoubtedly originally advanced, like that of the male martyrs, 
 towards a figure of Christ their Saviour, with whose name 
 on their Ups they had died. But in recent years (apparently 
 for controversial purposes) this end portion of the procession 
 of the female martyrs has been altered,® and the procession 
 
 1 See p. 280. 
 
 * Plate LXVI. Showing about one-quarter of the whole length 
 of the procession of female martyrs. 
 
 * In 1846. The new portion, though cleverly blended, can plainly 
 be distinguished, owing to the discoloration of the older mosaic-work. 
 
 iJ 1 
 
278 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 now advances towards a figure of the Blessed Virgin. It is 
 almost unnecessary to state that the 6th century, though it 
 reverenced, paid no adoration to the Blessed Virgin. More- 
 over the 6th century would never have perpetrated such an 
 inartistic unreality in its picture ; the female martyrs did 
 not die with the name of the Blessed Virgin on their lips. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the stiffness of mosaic, the solemn 
 peace and dignity of the male martyrs, and the beauty, grace, 
 and radiant joy of the female martyrs, are beautifully ex- 
 pressed ; while these pictures, nearly fourteen hundred years 
 old, arouse a human interest in those concerned such as no 
 mere list of their names would evoke. Here are Vivia Per- 
 petua and Felicitas of Carthage, Cecilia and Agnes of Rome, 
 Euphemia of Chalcedon, Agatha of Catania, Eugenia of Alex- 
 andria, Lucia of Syracuse, Eulalia of Merida, Daria the Vestal 
 Virgin, Pelagia the actress, the boy Pancras, the Roman 
 officers Sebastian and Vitalis, the Bishops Clement, Ignatius, 
 Polycarp, and Cyprian, the deacons Lawrence and Vincent, 
 and others of the most celebrated of those who had suf- 
 fered in the terrible days of Diocletian only 230 years 
 before. And these pictures, put up by those who lived so soon 
 afterwards, cannot but have had an immense effect in causing 
 a strong human interest in these martyred men and women 
 to be felt by many belonging to the successive generations 
 who during fourteen hundred years have worshipped in this 
 church. 
 
 These two mosaic pictures on the right and left of the nave 
 are also highly valuable as affording the only pictures in exist- 
 ence of the city of Ravenna of the 6th century. Not only 
 do they show us the Palace of Ravenna,^ connected with so 
 much of the history of the 6th and 6th centuries, but also 
 the no longer existing town of Classis. On that coast the 
 sea has been for centuries receding ; Ravenna, which in the 
 time of Augustus was the station of his navy, in the time of 
 Justinian was three miles from the sea, and Classis had become 
 its port ; while Ravenna is now six miles from the sea, and 
 Classis has disappeared. In this mosaic we have a picture 
 of this sea-port of Ravenna, Classis, where Theodoric met 
 
 1 The picture shown in Plate LXIV is a reproduction from this 
 mosaic. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 EARLIEST LIST OF MARTYRS 
 
 279 
 
 the defeated Odoacer at the end of the three years' siege, and 
 where Belisarius embarked, carrying away with him Witigis 
 and Malasuntha and the royal hoard of the kingdom, while 
 the Ostrogoths, gathered upon the quays, sorrowfully watched 
 their departure. Classis (of which no vestige now remains, 
 except a single church surrounded by fields) is represented 
 in the picture as a walled town, with important buildings, 
 a lighthouse, and ships entering its harbour. 
 
 But far beyond all other interests which these two 
 
 Great import- ^ . • xu x J i. 
 
 ance of this great mosaic pictures possess is that due to 
 mosaic, ^j^^ £^^^ ^j^^^ these two processions of male and 
 
 female martyrs, each with his or her name written, supply the 
 earliest list of martyrs which exists,^ and one quite unim- 
 peachable in authority. It does not pretend of course to 
 include even half the number of the most noted martyrs,* 
 which would have been impossible for want of space, but 
 merely those who for one cause or another were chiefly hon- 
 oured in Ravenna. Its importance, however, as a list of 
 notable martyrs put up so soon after the last persecution 
 cannot be over-rated. Those who put up this mosaic lived 
 not longer after the persecution of Diocletian (in which nearly 
 all of these martyrs suffered) than we are removed from the 
 reign of William III in England, living therefore sufl&ciently 
 near in time to the events to make their record absolutely 
 reliable ; they were not likely to include among their figures 
 of martyred men and women any but those the fact of whose 
 martyrdom was well known to all men at that time. Thus 
 among them we find no cases where (as in subsequent centuries) 
 
 ^ Except of course the records in the Catacombs. As the list is long 
 it is given in Appendix XII, the names being arranged according to the 
 dates ot martyrdom. In the mosaic picture they are arranged in the 
 procession apparently according to the degree of honour given to 
 each in Ravenna. St. Clement heads the procession of male martyrs, 
 and St. Euphemia the procession of female martyrs. 
 
 * For instance such noted martyrs as Fabian, Lucius I, Stephen I, 
 Sixtus II, and Eutychianus, all of them Bishops of Rome, Pothinus, 
 Bishop of Lyons, Blasius, Bishop of Sebaste, St. Nicomede, St. Val- 
 entine, St. Crispin, St. Lucian, St. Alban, St. George, St. Blandina, 
 St. Prisca, St. Faith, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine, some of whom 
 are even conunemorated in the Prayerbook of the Church of England, 
 are absent from this mosaic, with many others of those whose names 
 have been mentioned in Chaps. V to XI. 
 
 vM 
 
280 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CfiAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 ST. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE 
 
 281 
 
 ir 
 
 I! 
 
 abstract ideas of fortitude, purity, and faith have become 
 crystallized into legendary saints, but find only actual his- 
 torical persons who for their steadfast deaths as martyrs 
 were honoured by their contemporaries. 
 
 This list of martyrs chiefly honoured at Ravenna in the 
 time of Justinian is no less interesting from its including 
 many of whom all record has now been lost, and not including 
 others most highly honoured at other places or in other times, 
 the most curious of such cases being that of St. George, highly 
 honoured in the time of Constantine in the 4th century, and 
 in the 9th century the most honoured by the Eastern Church 
 of all the martyrs, and yet in the 6th century not included 
 in Ravenna's roll of honour. It will be seen that the list is 
 extremely cosmopolitan ; i there is no such spirit shown as 
 would be indicated by its including only martyrs belonging 
 to Italy ; Asia Minor, Syria, Greece, Italy, North Africa, 
 Egypt, Sicily, and Spain are all represented, showing the com- 
 plete oneness of the Catholic Church at this time. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this mosaic was put up, not in 
 the time of Theodoric (as often supposed), but after the church 
 became a Catholic church in the time of Justinian. Not only 
 does Agnellus, in his history of the Bishops of Ravenna, written 
 early in the 9th century, state as much,* but also the work is 
 plainly that of Greek artists of the time of Justinian. Nor 
 would any Arian Ostrogoth have taken sufficient interest in 
 the martyrdoms of these Roman men and women, martyred 
 before the Goths became generally converted to Christianity, to 
 put up such a record of them, nor have had such a knowledge 
 of them as would enable him to do so. 
 
 Chapel of '^^^ square vaulted chapel in the palace of the 
 Archbishop's Archbishops of Ravenna was built in the time of 
 the empress Galla Placidia. In 547 it was adorned 
 by Archbishop Maximianus with specially fine mosaics. In 
 the centre on the groining of the roof, are large figures of four 
 angels holding the monogram of Christ ; imder these are the 
 symbols of the four Evangelists ; and in the centre of the 
 arch is a figure of Christ, represented in youth and without 
 
 * See Appendix XII. 
 
 • Agnelliis says that the church was embellished by Justinian " with 
 mosaics of the martyrs and virgins walking." 
 
 a beard. The figures of the four angels on the groining 
 of the roof have been taken as models for those in the mo- 
 saics recently put up to adorn the dome of St. Paul's cathe- 
 dral in London. 
 
 St. Apoiiinare This Splendid church, the largest at Ravenna, 
 inoasse. ercctcd in what was then Ravenna's populous 
 suburb, Classis, on the site of a temple of Apollo where tra- 
 dition declared that St. Apollinaris had been martyred, was 
 begun, like that of St. Vitalis, by Amalasuntha.^ Begun in 
 634, but delayed by her death in the following year, and by 
 the troubles of the Ostrogothic kingdom in the years 536-540, 
 its construction had not advanced far when Ravenna was 
 taken by Belisarius in 540. The building of the church was 
 then continued by Justinian, being completed in 548, and 
 it was consecrated as a Catholic church by Archbishop Maxi- 
 mianus in 549. Whereas it then stood in the centre of a 
 busy seaport (gradually destroyed in the wars of the next 
 four centuries), it now stands in the midst of fields, without 
 another building of any sort within sight, all vestige of Classis 
 having disappeared, while the sea is now three miles away 
 from it. 2 Though its spacious interior now presents necessarily 
 a bare appearance, this church ^ is one of the most important 
 basilicas in existence, being one of the finest examples of the 
 architecture of the age of Justinian, while it also has much 
 historical interest. The twenty-four fine columns, of the 
 beautiful cipollino marble, with basket-shaped capitals adorned 
 with carved acanthus, which support the roof of the immense 
 nave were sent by Justinian for it from Egypt. Round the 
 walls is an unbroken series of portraits in mosaic of 129 Bishops 
 and Archbishops of Ravenna, from St. ApoUinaris to the 
 present time. In the aisles are the marble sarcophagi of eight 
 Archbishops of Ravenna, and in the left aisle an inscription 
 recording a penance performed in this church by the emperor 
 Otho III (983-1002). The east end, called the Tribuna, is 
 raised above a half-sunken crypt, in which once reposed the 
 remains of St. Apollinaris, the Tribuna being covered with a 
 
 ^ It is often stated to have been begun by " Julianus Argentarius," 
 but he was simply her treasurer. 
 
 * It is kept locked up, but a service is held in it once a year. 
 8 Plate LXVII. 
 
 n 
 
CHAP. 
 
 If 
 
 I 
 
 282 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 dome which is adorned with fine mosaics of the time of Jus- 
 tinian, dealing with Biblical subjects, while on the waU below 
 is a mosaic (much damaged) belonging to the latter end of 
 the 7th century, showing the emperor Constantino IV and 
 his two brothers.^ Archbishop Maximianus died in 552, three 
 years after consecrating this church. His sarcophagus is to 
 be seen in the cathedr«d, and also his ivory throne, the latter 
 profusely ornamented with fine bas-reliefs. 
 
 These various works at Ravenna remain as almost the sole 
 examples of Justinian's countless works of this kind throughout 
 his wide empire. Over all the rest of that empire the Maho- 
 medan flood has swept, destroying all his other buildings, 
 except St. Sophia, and the two churches at Thessalonica and 
 Parenzo. Ravenna, however, the capital of the imperial 
 power in Italy, still preserves memorials able to give us some 
 faint idea of Justinian's boundless energy in the building 
 and adorning of churches. 
 
 , , . . Meanwhile Justinian had been displaying his talents 
 
 Justinian's i • • i i 
 
 theological in a ncw field, that of an ecclesiastical lawyer, 
 campaign, ^.j^^j^^jy arousiug the controversy known as that 
 
 of ** the Three Chapters," an obscure war of words into which 
 Justinian plunged with avidity, giving his chief attention 
 during ten years of his reign (643-653) to this unreal and 
 interminable discussion, which dragged on year after year 
 until men loathed its very name. Briefly it arose thus. A 
 hundred years before, three Bishops, Theodore of Mopsuestia, 
 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa, had been ejected 
 from their sees by the Monophysites when the latter were 
 in power,* for holding Nestorian opinions, or opinions which 
 might be so construed ; but subsequently two of these Bishops 
 had modified those opinions and had been reinstated by the 
 Fourth General Council in 451. The Monophysites, backed 
 by Theodora, now desired that this action of their party 
 should be upheld by the opinions of these three Bishops 
 (called the ** Three Chapters ") being formally condemned. 
 And Justinian, as fond of theology as he was of law, and 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 610. 
 
 « Chap. XVin, p. 
 
 90. 
 
i'l-ATK LXVJI. 
 
 
 Interior of the church of St. Apollinake in Classe, Kavenna. 
 
 Showing the mosaics of tlie apso and thf general style of the architecture. 
 
 AlINARI. 
 
II \ I I I \ \ 1 1. 
 
 I.\Ti:ivi('i< oi' nil-. (.iUK't H 
 
 ( ) 
 
 1 s 
 
 .\l'< )I I.lNAl-Ji: IN CiAssi:, K'.WI-.aNA. 
 
 M 1 ■ \ / 
 
 >h"\viiu ill'' !iM '-.111 - "r til' ir«' 11 
 
 M,. .,,.1, 
 
 ■iMi -l\\<' ')! th'- .Hi Inti'i tiii'i 
 
xxn] 
 
 A THEOLOGICAL EDICT 
 
 283 
 
 anxious to display his legal acumen as a theologian, as well 
 as to please Theodora, set about arrangements to effect this 
 result. 
 
 But Justinian, looking upon himself as the supreme ruler 
 and lawgiver of the Church, scorned such a method as the 
 assembly of a General Council to give a decision on the point. 
 He considered himself to be as much entitled to be the deciding 
 authority upon a point of theology as upon one of law. Ac- 
 cordingly after long study of the subject, to put an end to 
 the controversy which had been aroused, he in 544 issued an 
 immense edict from himself ^ to the whole CathoHc and ApostoHc 
 Church, laying down the correct doctrine on the question, 
 voluminously re-stating the true doctrine of that Church as 
 laid down in the creed drawn up at Nicaea, detailing the 
 various heresies since that time, and ending by condemning 
 the opinions of the three Bishops, and requirmg all to accept 
 his decision. But mankind felt that he was interfering in 
 matters beyond his scope ; writings continued to pour forth 
 like a river, discussing the obscure question from every pomt 
 of view ; and as most of these recalcitrant opinions emanated 
 from the western patriarchate, and as the controversy had 
 by that time lasted for five or six years without any indication 
 that it might not continue to the end of time, Justinian early 
 in 547 ordered VigHius, the Pope of Rome, to come to Con- 
 stantinople, and answer for the failure of the western patri- 
 archate to obey his edict in the matter. Accordingly Vigilius 
 sailed from Sicily, and in the spring of 547 arrived at Con- 
 stantinople, where he was to spend seven years in frequent 
 and humiliating vacillations over this question. 
 
 In 548 Belisarius, seeing that to continue the war in Italy 
 with only the troops that he possessed was hopeless, whilst 
 appeals by letter to Justinian (immersed in theological ques- 
 tions) had proved of no avail, determined to despatch Antonina 
 to Constantinople to lay the whole case before the empress 
 Theodora, and endeavour to obtain from her a proper army 
 
 * Justinian was not sparing in high-sounding titles ; in this edict 
 he styles himself as " Imperator Caesar Philochristus, JUSTINIANUS, 
 Alamannicus, Gotthicus, Francicus, Germanicus, Anticus, Alanicus,' 
 Vandalicus, Africanus, the pious, the fortunate, the renowned, the 
 victorious, the triumphant, the ever-venerable, the august," 
 
 f 
 
 r^ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XXIl] 
 
 284 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 THEODORA AS A LAW-GIVER 
 
 285 
 
 for the defeat of Totila and reconquest of Italy. Accordingly 
 in June 548 Antonina, leaving Belisarius in Sicily, sailed for 
 Constantinople on this mission. 
 Death of For twenty-one years Theodora had been the firm 
 Theodora, help-mate of Justinian, his able colleague in all 
 affairs, and the chief strength of his government. But during 
 the whole of the year 547 she had been suffering from that 
 terrible disease, cancer. She was now sinking rapidly, and 
 on the Ist July 548, at the age of forty-five, the beautiful, 
 resolute, and indomitable Theodora, who had begun life in 
 the most degraded of all positions and had ended it as the joint 
 nder of an empire during perhaps the most important reign 
 in that empire's history, passed away, apparently at her 
 favourite seaside palace of the Heraeum, her invariable 
 summer residence. 
 
 Her The indications of Theodora's character given us 
 character, ^y the fact of Justinian's marrying her, by his 
 faithfulness to her throughout the twenty-two years of their 
 married life,^ and by his formally making her his colleague 
 with an authority equal to his own, are corroborated by the 
 episodes in which her own actions are recorded. Her boldness, 
 courage, and resolution at the crisis of the Nika insurrection, 
 and in her long struggle against and eventual overthrow of 
 John of Cappadocia (for which she receives great praise in 
 the writings of the contemporary John the Lydian), her letter 
 to Belisarius in 542, her deportation of Pope Vigilius from 
 Rome in 545, her conduct in regard to the wife of the Armenian 
 prince Artabanes, her active support of the Monophysite 
 party in religion notwithstanding that her husband was a 
 bigoted Catholic, her charitable efforts in various directions, 
 and her artistic temperament, combined with the palpable 
 loss which the rule of the empire sustained in her death,* and 
 with the statements of John the Lydian and Procopius that 
 she was " always awake in sympathy for the oppressed," 
 and " could not withstand the supplications of the unhappy," 
 show a character of remarkable strength which possessed 
 not a few fine points. 
 
 ^ Justinian was fond of calling her " his sweetest charm." 
 « See p. 293. 
 
 Her hand to be Theodora's hand is plainly to be seen in several 
 
 seen in two of - , , . . . "^ 
 
 Justinian's 01 the laws 01 Justuiian, and especially in two of 
 ^*'^*' them. The first of these, enacted in 534,^ made 
 it unlawful for any person to compel a woman, even a slave, 
 to take up the profession of an actress against her will ; it 
 also gave an actress power to withdraw from this (at that time) 
 degrading and immoral life at any moment she pleased, no 
 matter what engagement she had entered into, making it 
 illegal for the manager of a theatre to prevent her, and even 
 prohibiting him from demanding from her or her securities 
 money lodged as a pledge to fulfil such engagement. Should 
 the civil governors fail to enforce this law, the Bishops were 
 directed to see that it was obeyed. * The second law, en- 
 acted in 535, has a strangely modem ring in view of recent 
 legislation on the same subject. In it the emperor deals with 
 the practice of enticing away girls for immoral purposes, 
 more particularly in Constantinople, stating that he has " lately 
 been informed of the iniquities of this kind which are being 
 perpetrated in this great city " ; that he has discovered that 
 many persons " live and maintain themselves in this out- 
 rageous manner, making accursed gain by abominable means " ; 
 that they " travel about many countries and districts, and 
 entice poor young girls by promising them shoes and clothes, 
 and thus entrapping them, carry them off to this fortunate 
 city, where they keep them shut up in their dens " ; that they 
 even " draw up bonds by which girls bind themselves to this 
 occupation for a specified time " ; that ** acts so iniquitous 
 and illegal are perpetrated in our times that some persons, 
 pitying the girls, have desired to deliver them from this occupa- 
 tion, but their proprietors did not permit it " ; and that *' some 
 of these men are so vile as to corrupt young girls imder ten 
 years old, and large sums of money have been given to buy 
 off these unfortunate children and arrange for them a re- 
 spectable marriage." This law states that the emperor is 
 
 * Eight years after Theodora's marriage to Justinian. 
 
 2 This law looks very much as though Theodora at the age of 
 twelve after her father's death had suffered from such compulsion 
 against her will, and also as though it had been made impossible fpr 
 her to withdraw from that mode of Ufe, 
 
 \ 
 
 c 
 
CELAF. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 286 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 PLOT OF ARSACES 
 
 287 
 
 641 
 
 •* determined to deliver the city from this pollution," and 
 enacts the heaviest penalties for this offence. ^ 
 
 Theodora's intelligence in the art of ruling was 
 "the*art?f undoubtcdly greater than that of Justinian. While 
 ™^' he was vacillating, she was prompt and resolute ; 
 where he theorized, she saw the practical issue. She brushed 
 aside theory in theological discussions, and looked only at 
 the political problems underlying them. Like all the most 
 successful Roman emperors, she saw the necessity for a wide 
 toleration, and carried the imperial policy along this course 
 as long as she lived, though this was reversed after her death. 
 Hence it has even been considered by historians that had the 
 policy which she advised, and for a time carried out, been 
 continued after her death it might have changed the course 
 of history itself by making the Later Roman Empire stronger 
 and more durable. * And now that we are no longer required 
 to put any faith in the venomous diatribes of the Secret History, 
 we are justified in considering that Theodora well deserved , 
 the position to which she was raised, and in view of the depth 
 from which that exaltation took place that she was perhaps 
 the most remarkable woman recorded in history. 
 Beiisarius Antouina upon arriving at Constantinople to make 
 T^^at wT ^^^ appeal was met by the news of the death of 
 own request, the emprcss Theodora. This altered everything; 
 for Antonina knew that it would be of no use to make any 
 such application to Justinian. Whether Beiisarius had directed 
 her in the event of that appeal being fruitless to request that 
 he might be recalled we do not know, but it seems very pro- 
 bable. For this was the request which Antonina now made 
 to the emperor. Her petition was granted, and Beiisarius 
 in September 548 received orders recalling him to Constan- 
 tinople. 
 
 Plot to murder Meanwhile a plot had been hatched against the life 
 Justinian, ^f Justinian by an Armenian named Arsaces who 
 had suffered a deserved punishment for intriguing with the 
 Persian monarch. Arsaces drew into the plot among others 
 the Armenian prince Artabanes, who still brooded over the 
 
 * This second law was evidently a peurt of Theodora's efforts, 
 previously mentioned, to rescue and protect girls from an immoral life. 
 
 * The Cambridge Medieval History, 11, 27. 
 
 loss of the woman he loved. The conspirators planned to 
 murder Justinian as he sat night after night in his library 
 poring over abstruse questions of theology. But they felt 
 that Beiisarius was so firmly loyal to Justinian that he would 
 be certain to avenge the emperor's death, and that it would 
 therefore be necessary to murder Beiisarius at the same time. 
 They therefore waited for his arrival ; and during this delay 
 the plot leaked out. Artabanes, Arsaces, and the other con- 
 spirators were tortured, and confessed their guilt ; but Jus- 
 tinian showed a conspicuous and highly honourable clemency. 
 Artabanes was deprived of his ofl&ce, and the other conspir- 
 ators were merely kept for a time in confinement in the Palace ; 
 while in the following year Artabanes was pardoned, and 
 given the command of the troops in SicUy. In October 548, 
 a few days after this plot had been discovered, Beiisarius 
 reached Constantinople. He was received with honour by 
 Justinian, was made Commander of the household troops, 
 and was given precedence over all other Patricians ; but he 
 was not sent to command on the Persian frontier, though 
 Chosroes I was again making preparations to attack the 
 empire. 
 
 Rome for the '^^''^y ^ ^^^ TotUa askcd from one of the sons of 
 fourth time Clovis,^ who wcrc joint kings of the Franks, the 
 ^^^ ' hand of his daughter in marriage. He received a 
 refusal, given on the ground that he was unworthy to be con- 
 sidered king of Italy since he had abandoned Rome. Stung 
 by this taunt Totila in June 549 advanced to begin the fourth 
 siege of Rome, the 3000 men garrisoning it being now com- 
 manded by Diogenes, one of the former military household of 
 Beiisarius. He had sown com in all the waste spaces in Rome, 
 and ripening corn-fields now waved over the Palatine hill and 
 most of the interior of the city, which presented more the 
 aspect of a farm than of imperial Rome. For some time 
 Totila, though he took Portus and established a rigorous 
 blockade, met with a vigorous resistance, the citizens assisting 
 the troops in the defence. But the old question of the arrears 
 of pay fought for Totila. The Isaurian soldiers, seeing their 
 comrades who had taken service with Totila enjoying wealth 
 while they were in poverty, declared that they would stand 
 
 ^ It is believed probably Chlotochar. 
 
 c 
 
CBJLPt 
 
 288 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 II 
 
 no longer the withholding of their pay, which they said was 
 years in arrears, and on a dark night opened the gate of St. 
 Paul to Totila's forces. Most of the garrison were killed, 
 but Mindes the Isaurian and Paul of Cilicia with about seven 
 hundred men were taken prisoners. Neariy all accepted 
 service under Totila ; a few, including these two commanders, 
 appealed to Totila's well known generosity and asked him 
 to send them back to Constantinople ; which he did. Diogenes 
 escaped to ttvita Vecchia, which, however, was taken by Totila 
 shortly afterwards, together with Reggio, Tarentum, and 
 Rimini, and by the end of the year 549 there remained to 
 Justinian in Italy only Ravenna, with the coast towns of 
 Ancona and Crotona. Thereupon Totila, breathing ven- 
 geance against Sicily, which he declared had been the first 
 cause of the overthrow of the Ostrogothic kmgdom by its 
 prompt surrender to Belisarius, crossed into that island, and 
 during the year 550 thoroughly ravaged it, returning to Italy 
 in 551 laden with plunder, leaving garrisons in the four chief 
 fortresses of Sicily. He then sent an ambassador to Jus- 
 tinian to propose peace, but it is stated that the latter was 
 too much occupied with the theological controversy re- 
 garding the " Three Chapters " even to receive the 
 
 ambassador. 
 
 ufcia One effect of this long contest in Italy was much 
 Constantinople, ^q ^j^g advantage of Constantinople. As year after 
 year this devastating war continued, and as Italy became 
 more and more a country where only those who were soldiers 
 could exist, and where any kind of cultured life was impossible, 
 all who were rich and cultivated, or who desired ease or amuse- 
 ment, betook themselves to Constantinople, thus increasing 
 considerably the well-to-do class in the capital of the empire. 
 There, while war and desolation spread over Italy, civilized 
 life flowed on as usual, and the citizens of Constantinople 
 (the population of which in Justmian's time has been calcu- 
 lated at about one million) troubled themselves but little 
 about the woes of distant Italy, continuing to pursue a mode 
 of life mto which amusements largely entered. The principal 
 public amusements at this time were horse-races, theatrical 
 performances and ballets, and combats of men with wild 
 animals, and even so serious an emperor as Justinian not 
 
 b^ 
 
 xxn] 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 289 
 
 only from time to time was present, but also on certain occasions 
 himself drew up the programmes for such amusements.^ 
 To those who thus fled thither the beauty of Constantinople, 
 after the desolated condition of Rome and the other cities of 
 Italy, must have been all the more attractive. One chief 
 beauty of that city was of course the view of the sea in so 
 many directions, and it is evident that this was fully appre- 
 ciated. For among the laws relating to the city it is laid down 
 in regard to the houses built upon the slopes of its seven hills 
 that in building a house lower down the hill and in front of 
 one already existing the view of the sea from the latter is not 
 to be obscured. 
 
 _ „ , Over Gaul, Spain, and Britain at this period thick 
 
 The Franks ■*■ .ywii.-i 
 
 after Clevis* darkucss rcigus, though less so m Gaul than m the 
 
 other two countries. Clovis at his death in 511 
 
 divided his kingdom (the north-eastern portion of which by 
 
 that time extended considerably beyond the Rhine) between 
 
 his four sons thus : — 
 
 1. Thiudaric.2 The north-eastern portion of the king- 
 
 dom (from the Meuse eastwards), 
 subsequently called Austrasia, with 
 part of Aquitaine (capital Metz.) 
 
 2. Chlodomir. The provinces south of the Loire (capital 
 
 Orleans). 
 
 3. Childebert. The kingdom of Paris, with the rest of 
 
 Aquitaine (capital Paris). 
 
 4. Chlotochar I. The north-western portion of the king- 
 
 dom, subsequently called Neustria, 
 including the former kingdom of the 
 Salian Franks (capital Soissons). 
 
 ^ The programme drawn up by Justinian himself for the consular 
 games nms as follows : " First day, investment of the new consul ; 
 second day, horse-races ; third day, combat with wild animals ; fourth 
 day, be€kst baiting ; fifth day, dramatic performances at the theatre 
 called Voprai * ; sixth day, horse-races ; seventh day, former consul 
 lays down his office." 
 
 2 Generally spelt Theuderic (see Chap. XX, p. 171). He was a» 
 half-brother of the other three, and not a son of Clotilda, 
 
 E.w,~n, « 
 
 ( 
 
 :i| 
 
CHAP 
 
 290 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 XXIl] 
 
 THE VISIGOTHS 
 
 291 
 
 Each of the four brothers had his capital, not in the 
 centre of his kingdom, but towards that part of its boun- 
 dary nearest the centre of France, as though anxious to 
 watch his brothers as carefully as possible. 
 
 In the perpetual contests which followed between these 
 four kingdoms, Austrasia and Neustria grew to be the most 
 important, and a large part of the history of the Franks during 
 the next 200 years (the period of the Merovingian dynasty) ^ 
 is that of the contests between these eastern and western 
 portions of the Frank kingdom. 
 
 In 623 Chlodomir, Childebert, and Chlotochar ^ invaded 
 Burgundy, defeated its king Sigismund, and took him prisoner. 
 He with his wife and children were taken charge of by Chlo- 
 domir, who on arrival at his capital of Orleans caused them 
 all to be thrown into a well and drowned. In 524 Chlodomir 
 was killed in battle with the Burgundians, led by their king 
 Godomar, the brother of Sigismund, and Chlodomir 's death 
 was followed by another atrocious crime. Though Clotilda 
 had brought the Franks to Christianity they were not as yet 
 much changed by it, and her sons inherited all the fierce nature 
 of their father Clovis. She had now to witness a crime which 
 brought bitter grief to her closing years. Her son Chlotochar, 
 persuading his weaker brother Childebert to join with him, 
 seized the little children of Chlodomir, and sent a message 
 to Clotilda, the children's grandmother, then about forty- 
 eight years old, asking (in irony at her religious views) whether 
 she would prefer that these boys should be made priests, 
 and when she in agony replied " I would rather see them 
 killed than that their royal locks should be shorn," Chlotochar 
 and Childebert pretended to take this as authorizing their 
 crime, and killed the boys with their own hands, ^ dividing 
 Chlodomir 's kingdom of Orleans. Clotilda bitterly mourned 
 their death. Gregory of Tours states that she laid the two 
 little bodies side by side on a bier and followed them in 
 a solemn procession to the church of St. Peter in Paris, 
 
 ^ The dynasty of Clovis, called after his grandfather Merovech. 
 
 • Called variously Chlotochar, Clothar, and Lothair. 
 
 • Except one boy, Clovis, who was absent elsewhere, and being 
 thrust into a monastery became known when he grew up as St. Clod- 
 wig or St. Cloud, giving his name to the well-known suburb of P«uis. 
 
 where they were buried in one grave. This scene is the last 
 view that we have of the true-hearted woman Clotilda. 
 
 In 531 Thiudaric, the eldest son of Clovis, extended his 
 kingdom of Austrasia still further to the east by conquering 
 Thuringia, but died in 534, when he was succeeded by his 
 capable son Thiudabert. And in the same year Thiuda- 
 bert, with his imcles Childebert and Chlotochar, finally con- 
 quered Burgundy and divided it between them. Thiudabert, 
 besides his raid into Italy in 539,^ carried further the wars of 
 conquest east of the Rhine begun by his father, gradually 
 absorbing the territories of the Allemanni and Bavaria, and 
 at his death in 548 his kingdom of Austrasia included a large 
 part of Germany. He was succeeded by his son Thiudabald, 
 then a child of ten, who died in 555 at the age of seventeen, 
 whereupon Chlotochar married his young widow Vuldetrada, 
 and took possession of his kingdom of Austrasia. And in 
 558 Chlotochar, upon the death of his brother Childebert, 
 took his kingdom of Paris also, ruling the whole Frank 
 kingdom for the last three years of his life. In 560 his son 
 Chramnus rebelled, whereupon Chlotochar marched against 
 him, and having defeated him shut him up with his wife and 
 children in a hut, and had it set on fire. After this final crime 
 Chlotochar only lived a year ; he died in 561, and was buried 
 with great pomp at Soissons. 
 
 The Of Spain at this period we know much less than of 
 Visigoths. Qg^^ rpj^g Visigoths, who when they first settled 
 
 down west of the Alps, in the time of Ataulf and Wallia, were 
 considerably superior in manners and enlightenment to all 
 others of the northern races, still retained this result of their 
 long connection with the Roman Empire, ^ and were altogether 
 superior in this respect to the rougher and more barbarous 
 Franks. But after the great defeat suffered from the latter 
 at the disastrous battle of Vouille in 507 ^ the Visigoths, from 
 having been the leading race in the West, declined before 
 the rising power of the Franks. Driven steadily backwards 
 out of their possessions in southern Gaul, except for a narrow 
 strip of territory north of the Pyrenees, and retaining only 
 
 1 Chap. XXI, p. 233. 
 9 Chap. XX, p. 156. 
 
 « Chap. XVm, p. 60 (footnote), 
 
 c 
 
CHAP. 
 
 292 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 xxn] 
 
 JUSTINIAN^S LOSS 
 
 293 
 
 i|^' 
 
 i 
 
 their territories in Spain, the Visigoths became less and less 
 able to cope with the Franks. For some fifty years after the 
 death of Alaric II at the battle of Vouille his successors main- 
 tained an unceasing contest with the Franks for the Visigoth 
 territory north of the Pyrenees, but success remained always 
 on the side of the Franks, assisted as the latter were by internal 
 dissensions among the Visigoths. These dissensions however 
 were at length brought to an end by Athanagild (554-567), 
 who in 554 reunited the whole of the Visigoths under his 
 authority. 
 
 Britain. 
 
 In Britain the darkness enveloping the countries 
 of the West is greatest of all. It is strange to 
 realize that at a time when all the glories of the reign of Jus- 
 tinian were taking place — when the Code, Institutes, and 
 Pandects were being promulgated, when St. Sophia was being 
 built, when the kings of the Vandals and of the Ostrogoths 
 were being brought in triumph as prisoners to Constantinople, 
 when churches, hospitals, fortresses, roads, and bridges were 
 being constructed all over the empire, and when Ravenna 
 was being adorned with mosaics which are still admired by 
 the world — in Britain, once so notable and enlightened a 
 part of the Roman dominions, chaos and barbarism reigned 
 supreme. Even the conflicts of the time are almost entirely 
 unrecorded, and obscurity enwraps the whole island. 
 
 In 547, twenty-seven years after the Saxons had 
 kingdoms of suffcrcd their crushing defeat at Mount Badon,^ 
 Bntam. ^ fresh wave of Angles in great strength invaded 
 the east coast of Britain under Ida, who in that year founded 
 his kingdom of Northumbria and built his castle and town 
 of Bamborough, subsequently very celebrated. After this 
 last invasion by the Angles, and as the result of long contests 
 between the successive invaders of the island, Britain (with 
 the exception of Wales, Somerset, Devonshire, and Cornwall, 
 held by the descendants of the Romanized Britons) is foimd 
 about the middle of this 6th century divided between the 
 Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles into seven kingdoms, viz., 
 Kent (occupied by the Jutes), Sussex (or South Saxons), 
 Wessex (or West Saxons), Essex (or East Saxons, and including 
 
 I ghap, XX, p. 1^5, 
 
 Middlesex), Northumbria (or North Anglia), East Anglia 
 (Norfolk and Suffolk), and Mercia (or Middle Anglia), the 
 latter being the largest of these kingdoms, and occupying all 
 the centre part of Britain. It was owing to the fact that the 
 Angles occupied a larger portion of the country than the 
 Saxons that it eventually obtained the name of England. 
 These seven kingdoms fought incessantly, large parts of the 
 island lapsed back into thick forests, and the Jutes, Angles, and 
 Saxons being Pagans there was little or no intercourse 
 between Britain and the continent of Europe. 
 
 Theodora, bold, strenuous, and resolute, had sup- 
 of Theodora's plied just that element which Justinian lacked, 
 ^^^^^' and from the time that he lost her there is to be 
 observed a very marked decline in the firnmess and strength 
 of Justinian's rule, weak coimsels and vacillation taking their 
 place. This effect made itself apparent at once in the year 
 following Theodora's death. After the return of Belisarius 
 to Constantinople Justinian in January 549 appointed 
 Liberius, an elderly Patrician, to command the forces in Italy. 
 But before Liberius had time to start this appointment was 
 cancelled. After a few months Justinian again appointed . 
 Liberius, and the latter this time actually sailed for Syracuse, 
 which he relieved, and was on his way from thence to Palermo 
 when he learnt that his appointment had again been cancelled, 
 and Artabanes appointed. The latter in 550 sailed for Sicily, 
 but was wrecked at Malta ; whereupon Justinian (without 
 cancelling the appointment of Artabanes) proposed to send 
 his nephew (^rmanus to Italy with a large army. The net 
 result of these various changes of plans was that for two years 
 after the recall of Belisarius nothing was done to check the 
 course of Totila in Sicily,^ or to succour the garrisons of the 
 places still loyal to Justinian in Italy. Men declared that 
 the emperor was too deeply immersed in theology to attend 
 to the affairs of Italy. 
 
 Thecoichian Justiuiau, uow sixty-scveu, was also at this time 
 
 '^^' much disturbed by the operations of Chosroes I, 
 
 who had transferred his attacks to the eastern shore of the 
 
 1 Page 288. 
 
 I 
 
 ( 
 
CHAP. 
 
 294 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 and 
 Lombards. 
 
 Black Sea. In this region he waged a war from 649 to 556, 
 known as the Colchian (or Lazic) war, with varying success, 
 but with final victory to the empire. In 553 the Persian army 
 engaged in this war suffered a severe defeat at Phasis, in con- 
 sequence of which Chosroes flayed alive his defeated general 
 Nachoragan ; after which the efforts of the Persians slackened. 
 The war languished on until 556, when Chosroes saw that he 
 was at a disadvantage, as while the Roman troops could 
 reach the theatre of war by sea, his own troops had to make 
 a long and difficult journey through a desert region. A 
 provisional treaty was made in 556, and this was ratified 
 by a more permanent one made in 562 for fifty years. The 
 importance of this war lies in the fact that it was an 
 attempt by Persia to gain access to the Black Sea, which 
 attempt the Romans after a long struggle successfully 
 defeated,' and that sea remained in sole possession of the 
 empire.* 
 
 ^ .^ More serious were the invasions carried out along 
 the Danube frontier by the Gepidse, the Bulgarians, 
 and the Sclavs. These tribes during the years 
 549-556 made frequent and terrible incursions into the Danube 
 provinces, notwithstanding Justinian's chains of forts. » At 
 length Justinian, to control the Gepidse, invited their enemies, 
 the fierce race of the Lombards ^ (who now make their first 
 appearance in history), under their king Audoin, to cross the 
 Danube and occupy Noricum and Pannonia, the southern 
 portion of the kingdom of the Gepidae. The Lombards were 
 
 * For a full account of the operations of Chosroes I during the years 
 540-544, and in the long drawn out Lazic (or Colchian) war during the 
 years 549-556, see Bury's Later Roman Empire, Vol. I, Book IV, 
 Chaps. VIII and IX. 
 
 * Against the Antse, a Sclavonian tribe, Justinian erected a chain 
 of fortifications along the lower course of the Danube which partially 
 controlled their incursions, giving Justinian the opportunity to add 
 to his many titles that of " Anticus." 
 
 * The Lombards are stated to have come originally from a locality 
 between the EUbe and the Oder, in what is now Magdeburg. It is 
 erroneous to suppose their name to be due to the length of their beards. 
 It is generally considered that their name is derived from the district 
 they inhabited on the banks of the Elbe, where " Borde " still signifies 
 *' a fertile plain by the side of a river," and where a district near Magde- 
 burg is still called the Lange Borde. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 THE SCLAVS 
 
 295 
 
 noted for their ferocity,^ and they forthwith entered upon a 
 war of extermination against the Gepidse (carried on through- 
 out the rest of Justinian's reign), in which war they eventually 
 exterminated that race. 2 In these contests Alboin, the young 
 son of Audoin, gained a name for the fiercest courage. 
 Bulgarians Still morc terrible, however, to the inhabitants of 
 and Sclavs, ^^q empire were the Bulgarians and the Sclavs. 
 The Bulgarians, ruled by a Chagan or Khan, were a Tartar 
 race, settled to the north of the lower course of the Danube, 
 who derived their descent from the Hims, or from a stock 
 similar to that of the Huns. Their neighbours the Sclavs, on 
 the other hand, were an Aryan race, the most eastern of all 
 the Aryan races of Europe. They had no king, chiefs, or 
 central government, but lived in separate village commimities. 
 They were far behind the Teutonic races in civilization, had 
 the rudest arms, used for boats trees hollowed out by fire, and 
 were too backward and wanting in energy to be formidable 
 to trained troops, but they were savage foes to the unarmed 
 inhabitants of the lands into which they made incursions, 
 while they excelled in forming ambuscades and in surprising 
 imwary troops. One of their artifices was to lie imder the 
 water in rivers or lakes for hours, breathing through reeds, 
 so that a thousand men might be hidden in this way and 
 nothing be visible but a bed of rushes.^ Three peculiarities 
 about the Sclavs as a race were, first, that being cruel, rather 
 than courageous, they were always in subjection to some 
 other nation, in the position of vassals ; secondly, that they 
 tended gradually to " Sclavise " the dominant race to whom 
 they were subject ; * and thirdly, that they increased enor- 
 mously, rapidly becoming the most numerous of all the races 
 bordering the empire, though the least warlike. Upon the 
 advance of the Huns in the 5th century the Sclavs, flying before 
 them from their settlements on the Lower Danube, migrated 
 
 1 They themselves declared that they drank the blood of their 
 enemies. And their king's daughter (Alboin's sister), in revenge for 
 some words of insult, caused a royal guest to be promptly slaughtered 
 in her presence. 
 
 * Chap. XXIII, p. 325. 
 
 3 This would scarcely be credible had we not several instances in 
 which it was practised, and with a successful result. 
 
 * Chap. XXV, p. 499. 
 
296 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 OHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 northwards almost up to the Baltic, but on the fall of the 
 empire of the Huns, the Sclavs, driven south again by the 
 Teutonic tribes (who detested them), returned to the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Danube, where ere long they became vassals 
 of the Bulgarians, whom they considerably outnumbered. 
 
 These two races, the Bulgarians and the Sclavs, during the 
 years 549-556 became the terror of Mcesia, lUyricum, and 
 Thrace.^ Their captives, regardless of rank, age, or sex, 
 were flayed alive, suspended between four posts and beaten with 
 clubs till they expired, or slain by the terrible death of im- 
 palement ; and it has been declared that in a single incursion 
 they destroyed 200,000 inhabitants of the empire. Eluding 
 Justinian's fortresses, they year after year ravaged the country, 
 torturing the inhabitants, and retiring again across the Danube 
 driving before them long processions of weeping women and 
 children. • 
 
 Early in 550 Justinian's nephew Germanus, then 
 fifty years old, upon the death of his first wife, 
 married the Amal princess Matasimtha (by this time about 
 thirty), the widow of Witigis. And soon afterwards Justinian 
 determined to send Germanus to Italy to conquer Totila. 
 The preparations were in marked contrast to those made in 
 the case of Belisarius. Troops from every direction were 
 assembled at Sardica (now Sofia), besides contingents of Huns, 
 Heruli, and Lombards, while further levies were to be raised 
 in Thrace and lUyricum, and above all Germanus was copiously 
 supplied with money. Before starting he was ordered to 
 drive back an incursion of the Sclavs ; this he did, and was 
 then on the point of starting with his army for Italy when 
 in the autunm of 550 he was suddenly taken ill, and after a 
 few days died.* 
 
 Erpediuonto ^P^'^ *^® death of Germauus Justinian resolved 
 
 Italy under to make a supreme effort to overthrow Totila, 
 
 increasing the size of the army to be sent to Italy, 
 
 and appointing in command of it the Grand Chamberlain, 
 
 ^ Until in 668 Justinicui sent against them the Avars by whom they 
 were thoroughly subjugated (see p. 314). 
 
 • After his death Matctsuntha bore him a son, who was named 
 Germanus Postumus, and took a prominent part in affairs during 
 the reign of the tyrant Phocas. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 ^ 
 
 ARMY SENT AGAINST TOTILA 
 
 297 
 
 the eunuch Narses. It proved to be another of Justinian's 
 wise selections. And all the more so because Narses was also 
 the imperial Treasurer, and hence the one chief impediment 
 in all the former operations in Italy was now at last removed, 
 Narses having entire control over the public purse. He had 
 been for some ten years, since the fall of John of Cappadocia, 
 practically Justinian's prime-minister, and being known as 
 such could command the unhesitating obedience of the whole 
 official hierarchy. The small, shrivelled, dried-up old man, 
 though he was now seventy-five years old, was still in full 
 vigour ; ^ he had gained much experience in numerous em- 
 bassies ; though not a soldier by profession, he had evinced 
 military talent in his former campaign in Italy, and had also 
 as his right hand in military affairs his ardent friend John the 
 Thracian ; and lastly he was widely known as a man habitually 
 liberal in regard to money, so that every soldier of fortune 
 throughout the empire was anxious to serve under him. 
 
 Justinian, so niggardly in the case of Belisarius, was now 
 lavish, and Narses was given carte blanche to provide what- 
 ever he thought necessary. Supplies and munitions of war 
 were collected, the long-standing arrears of pay were dis- 
 charged, and liberal offers were made in all directions to attract 
 contingents of various nationalities to supplement the regular 
 forces of the empire. As a result, in addition to the imperial 
 troops, contingents including 2500 Lombards sent by Audoin, 
 king of the Lombards, 3000 Heruli under their chief Philemuth, 
 and a large body of Huns under Dagistheus, came to swell 
 the army of Narses, which cannot have amounted to less 
 than 60,000 men.2 It was the first time that a proper force 
 had been despatched to conquer Italy, and against such an 
 army the remnant of the Ostrogoths had no chance, even under 
 such a leader as the gallant Totila. 
 
 Early in 551 Narses, after brushing aside at Philoppopolis 
 an incursion of the Kotrigur Huns,^ set his army in motion 
 
 * Narses lived to the age of ninety-three. 
 
 * The numbers given by Procopius at the subsequent battle of 
 Helvillum (Sigillo) make a total of about 60,000, and some must have 
 been lost before that. 
 
 ^ The Kotrigur Huns were a remnant of the Huns who established 
 themselves along the northern shore of the Black Sea, between the 
 mouth of the Dneiper and the mouth of the Don. 
 
 i 
 
 ( 
 
298 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXII] 
 
 TOTILA'S PLAN 
 
 299 
 
 III 
 
 III 
 
 for the west and led it across Macedonia to Salona, on the coast 
 of the Adriatic, where he remained for a long time. From 
 Salona Narses despatched about fifty vessels to relieve Ancona, 
 then being besieged by Totila ; a sea-fight took place with a 
 small portion of Totila's fleet in which the Ostrogoths were 
 defeated and Ancona relieved. 
 
 The movements of Narses were very slow ; though not 
 hampered by want of money, he took more than a year to 
 reach the borders of Italy, and a year and a half before fighting 
 a battle with Totila, who thus gained much time to prepare 
 for the conflict. Evidently Narses had hoped to be able to 
 convey his army across the Adriatic from Salona, or he would 
 not (especially as he had the Lombards for friends) have in- 
 flicted upon himself the difficult march from thence to Aquileia, 
 instead of advancing from Thrace by the regular road over 
 the Pear. Tree pass. He found, however, that vessels sufficient 
 to convey such an immense number of men and horses across 
 the Adriatic were unobtainable, while he also had reason to 
 dread that such an operation might be interfered with by 
 Totila's fleet ; he was therefore forced slowly to advance up 
 the coast by a difficult road and get round the head of the 
 Gulf of Tergeste (now Trieste). While Narses was thus en- 
 gaged, Artabanes, reinforced after his shipwreck in the previous 
 year at Malta, landed in Sicily, and showing both courage 
 and capacity attacked in succession the Ostrogothic garrisons, 
 and soon recovered Sicily for the emperor. 
 Totila's just Por eleven years Totila, now thirty-seven, had 
 ™**' shown to all men a noble example of a Teuton king. 
 Not only valiant in war, and winning all hearts by a generosity 
 towards enemies and a courteousness towards women which 
 were new to his age and an astonishment to the Roman popula- 
 tion, ^ he had also shown himself capable of ruling with a justice 
 and moderation which were in marked contrast to the tyranny 
 and oppression carried on by the agents of Justinian. To 
 this cause entirely had been due his rapid and widespread 
 success, city after city eagerly accepting such a man as its 
 
 * It has to be remembered that most of what we know of TotUa 
 comes from one of his enemies, Procopius, the friend of Totila's 
 antagonist BeUsarius. So that we may well believe that Totila was all, 
 and more than all, that has been recorded. 
 
 ruler ; and a kingdom based upon such sentiments on the 
 part of the people rested upon a secure foundation. Moreover 
 Totila, while abolishing the oppressive extortions of the Logo- 
 thetae, had by light forms of taxation which were easily borne 
 managed to get money enough to support a powerful fleet of 
 some 300 war vessels which made his name feared along all 
 the coasts of Greece and Dalmatia. 
 
 Totua's plan But the Romau population of Italy could scarcely 
 of campaign, ^q expcctcd, much as they preferred Totila's rule, 
 to fight against the emperor when at last Italy was invaded 
 by a powerful imperial army ; so that to oppose Narses Totila 
 had to rely solely upon his Ostrogoths. And instead of the 
 200,000 warriors who had formed the army of Witigis, the 
 remnant of the Ostrogoths probably did not amount to more 
 than about a fourth of that number. With these, however, 
 during the many months that Narses was occupied in conveying 
 his army from Salona round the coast of the Adriatic to Raven- 
 na, Totila made every preparation for a determined resistance. 
 Placing garrisons in Verona, Pavia, Rome, Rimini, Tarentum, 
 and Acherontia, and guarding his chief hoard of treasure at 
 Cumae with a strong force under Aligem, the brother of his 
 trusted lieutenant Teias, he gathered together all the rest of 
 the Ostrogoths in the neighbourhood of Rome, and sent Teias 
 with a strong force northwards, giving him instructions to 
 make all the district lying between Ravenna and the former 
 site of Aquileia (the district which Alaric had found so difficult 
 to traverse) ^ as far as possible impassable ; for which work 
 there was ample time while Narses was laboriously conveying 
 his army northwards from Salona towards the Isonzo. Lastly 
 Totila made a compact with the Franks, then holding the 
 greater part of Lombardy and Venetia, except the cities of 
 Pavia and Verona, to assist in preventing the imperial army 
 and its allies the Lombards (the natural foes of the Franks) 
 from passing through Venetia. 
 
 Totila's plan was not a bad one. It included three lines of 
 defence. First, a tract nearly 200 miles broad, traversed by 
 
 1 Chap. XVII, p. 21-22. This part of Italy in the time of Augustus 
 was an impenetrable tract covered with woods, lakes, and morasses. 
 So that Teias had merely to cut breaches in the various dykes, and 
 destroy such bridges as existed, to bring it back again into some- 
 what the same condition. 
 
 \ 
 
 ( 
 
300 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 DEFEAT OF TOTILA 
 
 301 
 
 K 
 
 II 
 
 ''!i 
 
 ill! 
 
 I 
 
 countless rivers, always a difficult region to pass, and now 
 to be made still more so by inimdations and other obstacles, 
 and with Teias and the Franks threatening the right flank 
 of the imperial army all the time that it was endeavouring 
 to negotiate these obstacles. Second, a defence of the crossing 
 of the Apennines, always difficult for a large army to traverse. 
 Third, if Narses succeeded in forcing his way over the Apen- 
 nines, then a defence of Rome and the various strong places 
 held by Totila in southern Italy. 
 Difficulties ^^^^ after many difficulties reached the mouth 
 encountered of the Isonzo, at the head of the Adriatic, apparently 
 about February 552. There he suffered a check, 
 his way being barred by the Franks, who refused a passage 
 to the army through Venetia, while he also found that Teias, 
 then at Verona, by making inundations, breaking down bridges, 
 and felling woods, had rendered the whole country from the 
 Isonzo almost as far as Ravenna impassable by an army. In 
 this dilemma John the Thracian suggested that the army 
 should march cautiously along the sea-shore, where the country 
 on the right flank of the army as it advanced, intersected by 
 many rivers and now rendered still more impassable by the 
 obstacles created by Teias, would give the Franks no oppor- 
 tunity for hostile action, and that the small fleet of ships 
 which Narses possessed should move along the coast with 
 the army and form bridges of boats over the rivers and marshes 
 as these were successively encountered. This difficult oper- 
 ation was gradually carried out, taking Narses three or four 
 months, and towards the end of May 552 he reached Ravenna, 
 where he halted for nine days. He then, after attacking and 
 taking Rimini, advanced down the coast by the Flaminian 
 Way, but instead of turning along that portion of it which 
 leads up to the incised rock at Petra Pertusa, proceeded further, 
 and turning up the valley of the Cesano, re-entered the Fla- 
 minian Way at Cagli, and from there about the end of June 
 gained the pass at Ad Ensem (the modem Scheggia), where 
 the Flaminian Way crosses the crest of the Apennines. He 
 thus completely turned the fortified position at Petra Pertusa, 
 the chief obstacle on this route.^ 
 
 * This he was enabled to do through the valuable advice of John 
 the Thracian, who having commanded for a long time at Rimini had 
 a complete knowledge of this pcurt of the Apennines. 
 
 Battle of Totila on learning at Rome that Narses, having 
 Heiviiium. gyadcd the Franks and the obstacles created by 
 Teias, had made his way along the coast and reached Ravenna, 
 summoned Teias to join him with all his troops, and on their 
 arrival marched northwards along the Flaminian Way, in- 
 tending to take up his position upon the pass of Ad Ensem. 
 But relying on Narses being stopped at the almost impregnable 
 position at Petra Pertusa he had waited a little too long for 
 the troops of Teias, and thus only reached the small town 
 of Tadinum (now Gualdo Tadino), in the valley below the 
 pass of Ad Ensem and about fifteen miles south of it, at the 
 same time that the army of Narses gained possession of the 
 crest of the pass. While it was not unnatural that Totila 
 should have imagined that so large an army could only advance 
 by the Flaminian Way (via Petra Pertusa), his mistake was in 
 failing to guard all the passes, and to keep a careful watch 
 over his assailant's movements. The result was that Totila, 
 for whose smaller force it was of the first importance to fight 
 in a position where the larger army of Narses could not bring 
 its whole force to bear,^ was compelled to fight in the open 
 valley north of Tadinum, where Narses was able to draw up 
 his whole army in battle array. 
 
 The battle which decided the fate of Italy was fought, about 
 the middle of July 552, in the valley below the pass of Ad 
 Ensem, at or near Helvillum (now Sigillo), halfway between 
 Tadinum and the crest of the pass. Narses had about 60,000 
 men, Totila not more than two-thirds of that number. Narses 
 drew up his troops in two lines, the front line being composed 
 entirely of archers (on foot), and the second, or main line, 
 being composed of the Roman regular troops, placed on the 
 two wings, with the less trustworthy Lombards and Herulians 
 in the centre. His cavalry were placed at an angle on one 
 flank. Totila, brave as he was in war, was not a general, 
 and this was his first pitched battle, while he was much out- 
 numbered. He drew up his army in two lines (overlapped 
 on each flank by the superior force of the enemy), placing his 
 cavalry in the front line and his infantry in the second line, 
 thus making the same mistake which had contributed to the 
 
 1 It would have been unable to do so in the case of any position^ 
 that Totila had chosen to defend in the mountains. 
 
ilii' 
 
 302 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Ill 
 
 loss of the battle of Hadrianople in 378. And he also allowed 
 Narses to entice him into making the attack. His cavalry, 
 after fighting with much bravery, were defeated and fell back 
 in confusion upon the infantry, throwing them into irretrievable 
 disorder, and though the Ostrogoths (both on foot and mounted) 
 fought with desperate energy, the whole army was completely 
 routed and put to flight. No quarter was given, and few 
 escaped. 
 
 Death of Totila, wouudcd by an arrow, fled from the battle- 
 Totiia. field at nightfall with four or five followers, closely 
 pursued by some of the enemy. As one of the latter, who 
 did not know who he was, prepared to transfix him with his 
 spear a young Ostrogoth of Totila's bodyguard who was with 
 him cried out, " Dog, would you kill the king ? " but without 
 avail. Totila, pierced by the spear, and mortally woimded, 
 was carried by his followers to the little village of Caprara, 
 where in a few minutes he breathed his last and was buried by 
 his followers in a hastily made grave. Thus ended the noble 
 Teutonic hero Totila, more correctly Baduila,^ who in eleven 
 short years had raised the Ostrogothic nation again from the 
 dust, and had ruled the people of Italy with sympathy and 
 justice. The small number of Ostrogoths who escaped from 
 the battle, among whom was Teias, made their way across the 
 Apennines to Pavia, where many of the wives and children 
 of the Ostrogoths were, and there they elected Teias as their 
 king. 
 
 The Lombaid '^^ ^^* *^* ^^ Narscs aftcF the battle of HelviUum 
 contingent shows the general character of the race who sixteen 
 years later were to become the possessors of Italy. 
 The atrocities of the Lombards upon the people of the country 
 while the army was on its march to Ad Ensem had been mon- 
 strous*; reducing viUages to ashes, committing outrages of 
 every description, and having as Pagans no respect even for 
 the sanctity of the churches in which the horrified women 
 and girls had thought to find a refuge, they were regarded by 
 all with abhorrence, and Narses felt that much as he needed 
 
 » The imme which he uses himself on all his coins is Baduila. Never- 
 theless the Gothic historian Jordanes generally uses the name TotUa 
 (the only form of his name known among the subjects of Justinian) 
 and this form of it became afterwards the accepted one. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 END OF THE OSTROGOTHS 
 
 303 
 
 their assistance he could not take them with him any further. 
 As soon therefore as the battle was over Narses dismissed 
 the whole of the Lombard contingent back to their own country, 
 escorted as far as the Julian Alps by a body of troops under 
 his trusted general Valerian, with strict orders to see that 
 these Pagan barbarians committed no more such outrages 
 on the way. 
 Last stand of Narscs thcu advauccd southwards, taking in succes- 
 the Ostrogoths. gJQj^ the devastated city of Rome, besieged for the 
 fifth time,^ and the various strongholds held by the Gothic 
 garrisons in southern Italy, and, in a war of extermination, 
 slaughtering the Ostrogoths wherever encountered. The 
 last stand of the unfortunate Ostrogoths was made at the 
 northern end of the peninsula of Sorrento. It was a valiant 
 fight which better deserved a saga than many other deeds 
 of the northern races which have been so recorded ; for the 
 Ostrogoths fought bravely to the last, like the noble race 
 they were ; but in their case no bard remained to sing of 
 their glorious end. In the fortress of Cumae Aligem still 
 guarded the royal hoard of Totila, besieged by a portion of 
 the imperial army, and thither to his assistance came at length, 
 after a long and hazardous march from Pavia, his brother 
 Teias and all that remained of the Ostrogoths. Thereupon 
 Narses summoned all his generals to join in one combined 
 movement to annihilate the last remnant of that race. Teias, 
 after one or two unimportant engagements with portions 
 of the imperial forces, moved to the foot of Monte St. Angelo 
 on the peninsula of Sorrento ; and though surrounded by 
 the greater part of the imperial army stood at bay for two 
 whole months. At length, driven desperate by starvation, 
 the Ostrogoths shifted their position to the lower spurs of 
 Monte Lettere, near the present town of Angri,^ and there in 
 January 553 the Ostrogoths fought their last battle. It was 
 
 ^ The greater part of Rome had become a wildemess of ruins. 
 Totila's garrison occupied a small portion, walled off from the rest, 
 round the Tomb of Hadrian. 
 
 2 Less than a mile to the west of Angri, just at the foot of Monte 
 Lettere, is the Pozzo dei Goti (Well of the Goths), a large covered-in 
 and bricked-up well, which local tradition (even though it knows 
 nothing about the battle) declares wcks once filled with the bones of 
 the Groths. 
 
 
 i 
 
s'i'i 
 
 304 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 THE THEOLOGICAL CAMPAIGN 
 
 306 
 
 i 
 
 long and desperate, lasting two days ; Procopius calls it " a 
 giants' battle," fierce, and implacable, the Ostrogoths being 
 determined to die rather than submit to the emperor. Teias, 
 their king, fought in the front rank, and won strong admiration 
 even from his enemies. In the evening of the first day Teias 
 was killed, but the Ostrogoths still fought on till night, and 
 renewed the fight next day. On the evening of the second 
 day those who remained offered to surrender provided they 
 were allowed to leave Italy, and to take with them their wives 
 and property. These terms Narses accepted. Aligem sur- 
 rendered Cumae, and took service under the emperor. One 
 thousand of the Ostrogoths escaped, succeeded in reaching 
 Pavia, and are no more heard of, making their way over 
 the Alps, and becoming merged in other barbarian races. ^ 
 And the Ostrogoths, the noblest of all the Teuton enemies of 
 Rome, as a race were ended. For them the result of the 
 ** truceless war " had been extermination. Amalasuntha 
 was indeed avenged. 
 
 The failure of the Ostrogoths to effect that which 
 Ostrogoths' other northern races effected, and to establish a 
 ^^^' permanent dominion in the land they had con- 
 quered, appears to have been due to two causes. First, the 
 Ostrogoths were evidently too few in numbers 2 to establish 
 a permanent kingdom in Italy unless they amalgamated with 
 the Roman population. Theodoric saw this, and did his best 
 to pave the way to such an amalgamation ; and so also did 
 his capable daughter Amalasuntha, who endeavoured to 
 bring up her son in a manner which would render him fit to 
 rule on similar principles. There was, however, one absolute 
 bar, the difference in religion ; and the Ostrogoths never 
 possessed a Thiudalinda.' The second cause is truly pathetic 
 in the case of such a race. It is plain that in reality the Ostro- 
 
 * Buat declcures they went to his favourite Bavaria ; Mascou 
 maintains that they drifted b€u;k to their native isle of Gothland ; 
 others depict them as settling down in the moimtains of Uri in 
 Switzerland (Gibbon). 
 
 • Originally the Ostrogoths had been as numerous as the Visigoths ; 
 but they had suffered severely from the Huns and in other contests 
 in the East. So that by the time they conquered Italy their number^ 
 were only about one-fourth that of the Visigoths, 
 
 5 Sw Chap. XXni, pp. 358-359. 
 
 goths suffered owing to their magnanimity towards the con- 
 quered race. For only fifteen years after they came to their 
 end they were succeeded in Italy by another northern race, 
 one altogether inferior to the Ostrogoths, the Lombards ; 
 yet this savage and degraded race effected what the far nobler 
 Ostrogoths had faUed to effect, establishing a permanent 
 dominion in Italy. But the Lombards (taking exactly the 
 opposite course to that adopted by the Ostrogoths) achieved 
 this result by a practical extermination of the Roman race, 
 slaughtering large numbers of them, sending many others to 
 be sold as slaves in Gaul,^ driving many more to seek refuge 
 in North Africa, and reducing those who remained to a position 
 of absolutely grinding slavery under their Lombard masters, 
 one so low that the very name of Roman makes no appearance 
 in the Lombard records. Of all the northern races who con- 
 quered portions of what had been the western half of the 
 Roman Empire the Ostrogoths were the noblest, and the only 
 one who treated the conquered race with magnanimity. 
 Yet while savage races like the Franks and the Lombards 
 endured, the Ostrogoths, who by their conduct in Italy had 
 deserved a better fate, suffered complete extinction. 
 
 Conflict of Justinian's energy in one field alone remained 
 the "Three uuabatcd. In the ten years' contest which he 
 waged over the theological question of the " Three 
 Chapters " he had lost his strong and courageous partner 
 Theodora half-way through the battle ; but that loss did 
 not in this field, as it did in others, diminish Justinian's 
 ardour. Finding that his first edict in 544 had not attained 
 the result he sought, and being still determined to make the 
 Church acknowledge in him the supreme ecclesiastical law- 
 giver, superior not only to the Popes of the five patriarchates, 
 but even to Greneral Coimcils, he in 551 issued a second edict 
 of the same character, an edict which in its lofty tone of calm 
 superiority, as it reviewed not only this question, but aU the 
 heresies which had arisen since the First General Council in 
 the time of Constantine, demonstrated that Justinian deemed 
 
 * See Chap. XXIII, p. 368. 
 
 E.W.— n. 
 
Kill 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 306 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 xxn] 
 
 FOUR POPES CONCUR 
 
 307 
 
 I'l 
 
 i|li 
 
 that his authoritative fiat settled for ever all the controversies 
 of the Church. 
 
 Far into the night and even until early dawn would 
 
 Justinian s " , - . . j 
 
 nocturnal Justuiiau puTsue this to him most fascmatmg study 
 studies. ^^ ^^^ exact character of the union of the Divine 
 and human natures in Christ. And it may give pause to 
 some of the superficial minds in the present day who, without 
 power of deep study of any subject, imagine it to be a sign 
 of intellect to regard Christianity as a " myth " and the exist- 
 ence of God as a " fable," to reflect that the great author 
 of the Code, the Institutes, and the Pandects, possessing one 
 of the most acute legal intellects ever owned by man, would 
 have considered such a mental attitude as theirs to show the 
 very reverse of intellect, and have looked upon it with contempt. 
 This habit of Justinian's of doing with little sleep ^ added 
 still further to the awe with which the populace had come to 
 regard him whom in the riot of the " Nika " in the early part 
 of his reign they had treated with so little respect ; and a 
 legend grew up that in the dead of night, when all others in 
 the imperial palace were sound asleep, a watchful silentiarius ^ 
 had beheld the emperor traversing the silent corridors of 
 the palace with his head carried under his arm.^ 
 T^^ ,. V u But Justinian's second edict had no more effect 
 
 Difficulty which 
 
 prolonged the than the previous one, and the controversy over 
 controversy. ^^^ ,, ^j^^^ Chapters," and as to whether the opin- 
 ions of those referred to under that name were to be condemned 
 or approved, continued to rage with unreduced vigour. What 
 appears to have troubled men's minds, and to have prolonged 
 the controversy, was an idea that they were placed in such 
 a position that if they failed to condemn the " Three Chapters " 
 they were siding with Nestorianism, whereas if they condemned 
 them they were siding with Eutychianism.* But this was a 
 
 1 Chap. XXI, p. 197. 
 
 * The ailentiarii were that portion of the body-guard who were 
 charged with the special duty of guarding the doors of the imperial 
 bedchamber. In those days of possible assassination they were the 
 most c€urefully selected and most trusted of all the body-guard. The 
 emperor Anastasius I before being chosen to occupy the throne was 
 a silentiarius. 
 
 * This story assisted the allegation of the scurrilous Secret History 
 that Justinian was a demon in the form of a man. 
 
 * The sfuoae mistake has been made by most modem historians. 
 
 mistaken view, though one craftily urged by the Eutychians 
 (or Monophysites). Those concerned failed to recognize that 
 where there are three parties to a suit the matter is otherwise. 
 That the Catholics should condemn doctrines which the Euty- 
 chians also condemned did not in the least involve the Catholics 
 in a concurrence with the Eutychians on the quite separate 
 point which formed the particular heresy of the latter. 
 
 At length, being pressed by Justinian, the Pope of Con- 
 stantinople, the Pope of Antioch, the Pope of Alexandria, 
 and the Pope of Jerusalem signed a document signifying their 
 concurrence with the emperor's edict in its condemnation of 
 the doctrines of the " Three Chapters." It is stated i that 
 they did so with reluctance ; though why they should have 
 felt any reluctance in the matter is not apparent, since the 
 doctrines in question were undoubtedly contrary to those 
 laid down by the Fourth General Council, being impregnated 
 (either openly, or covertly) with Nestorian views. But this 
 did not suffice for Justinian's purpose, which required that 
 all the five Popes should sign this document, as well as Datius, 
 Archbishop of Milan, who was then in Constantinople.* 
 But Datius absolutely refused to do anything of the kind, 
 and departed back to his see in order to show his determined 
 refusal ; while as for Vigilius, the Pope of Rome, it seemed 
 impossible to get him to adhere to anything. 
 ThevaciUations It is unncccssary to pursue the vacillations of VigUius 
 ofviguius. during the seven years (547-554) that he was 
 detained by Justinian at Constantinople, occupied with 
 
 ^ By the Medieval Papal historians (see below, p. 308). 
 
 * It is constantly noticeable that however much the Church may 
 stand upon its axiom that all Bishops are equal, increased import- 
 ance in the Church practically always attaches to the see of the capital 
 city. We notice the same thing in our own day in regard to the see 
 of London. And at this period the sees of Ravenna and Milan (one 
 the existing, and the other the former, capital of Italy and of the 
 western portion of the empire) were for this reason looked upon as, 
 though not theoretically, yet practically, of equal importance to the 
 see of Rome, which in the desolation of Italy through the long war 
 and in the almost deserted state of the city of Rome itself, was in the 
 most destitute condition. Maximianus, Archbishop of Ravenna, had 
 just died (562), and his successor was not yet appointed ; but Datius, 
 Archbishop of Milan, was at Constantinople, and was endeavouring 
 to instil some fimmess into the vacillating Vigilius. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 308 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 xxn] 
 
 FIFTH GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 309 
 
 m 
 
 II 
 
 mi'i 
 
 i 
 
 endeavours to please all parties, and falling from one error 
 to another in regard to this question. He first (548) assented 
 to the condemnation of the " Three Chapters " ; ^ then (550) 
 withdrew his assent and concurred with their opinions ; then 
 (551) again assented to their condemnation ; and then (553) 
 again withdrew his assent, and wrote a treatise defending 
 their opinions. He was bullied in every way by Justinian, 
 and exasperated the latter in every way by his tergiversation 
 and crafty attempts to deceive him, as well as by taking upon 
 himself to pronounce sentences of excommunication against 
 other Popes who differed from him, an action to which they 
 retorted by pronouncing similar sentences of excommunication 
 against him. Nor did Vigilius meet with sympathy even in 
 the West. By far the most important portion of the Church 
 in the West at this time was the Church of North Africa. And 
 in 549 *a large local Council of the North African Church was 
 held which excommunicated Vigilius. Justinian's wrath against 
 him continued to increase during the years 550-551, until it 
 grew so great that on one occasion Vigilius, fearing for his 
 life, took refuge in a church, to the altar of which he clung 
 desperately while the Praetor and five or six soldiers seized 
 his tall and portly form by the legs to drag him from the altar, 
 which was broken in the undignified scuffle, while it is stated 
 in the Liber Pantificalis that one of the bystanders slapped 
 Vigilius in the face and openly accused him of having mur- 
 dered his predecessor Silverius. 
 
 It is very difficult to determine what Justinian's conduct 
 towards Vigilius really was. Because all our information on 
 this subject comes from the Papal historians (so-called) be- 
 longing to the Middle Ages, who in recounting these transactions 
 at Constantinople show an intense desire, first, to make out 
 that Vigilius was looked upon, both by Justinian and others, 
 as occupying a more exalted position than any of the other 
 four Popes (certainly the very last idea entertained by anybody 
 at Constantinople in the middle of the 6th century), and 
 secondly, to demonstrate that this highly honoured dignitary 
 was most cruelly and disgracefully treated by the emperor; 
 
 * Possibly to please Theodora, who was then alive, though near 
 her end. 
 
 while in pursuit of these two objects they are ready to proceed 
 to any lengths.^ 
 
 Allowing, however, for much exaggeration and fabrication 
 in these records, it seems clear that Justinian did treat Vigilius 
 in an exceedingly harsh, if not shameful, manner, though it 
 is also clear that Vigilius brought it upon himself by his 
 exasperating conduct. Nor, even however much he endured, 
 can we feel for him any pity. For he was absolutely unscrupu- 
 lous, entirely without any convictions, and desirous only to 
 obtain advantages for himself. In the treatment which he 
 received he suffered a deserved punishment for his crafty 
 and unscrupulous conduct in practically purchasing the Papacy 
 by a promise which he knew he could not fulfil, and for his 
 disgraceful conduct towards, if not murder of, his predecessor 
 Silverius. 
 
 The Fifth Meanwhile Justinian was much exercised to find 
 General counca.|^jjg^^ cvcu his sccoud cdict had failed to make the 
 controversy regarding the *' Three Chapters " subside. And 
 at length in 553, after ten years during which this theological 
 question had absorbed almost his whole time and attention, 
 it apparently began to dawn upon him that he had (as men had 
 from the first secretly whispered) been going beyond his 
 province in attempting to be the doctrinal law-giver of the 
 Church, and that there was one body whose authority the 
 Church would at once obey, though his own edicts failed to 
 secure that obedience. Accordingly in May 553 he assembled 
 at Constantinople the Fifth General Council, to settle the 
 question of the correctness or incorrectness of the opinions 
 collectively known as those of the " Three Chapters " ; and 
 at once the entire question was settled. 
 
 The Council, attended by 165 Bishops, was presided over 
 
 * For instance, in describing the contest in the year 551 when Vigilius 
 took refuge in a chiu'ch, the record, after stating that he was dragged 
 from thence in the manner already related, asserts that the empress 
 Theodora then caused a rope to be put round his neck and had him 
 dragged through the whole city until the evening. The Medieval 
 Papal historian, in fabricating this piquant addition to the woes of 
 Vigilius in order to blacken the Monophysite Theodora and tlie tyran- 
 nical Justinian, did not know that Theodora had at this time been dead 
 for three years. 
 
SIO 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 ITALY RAVAGED 
 
 311 
 
 i 
 
 by Eutychius, Pope of Constantinople,^ and assembled in the 
 midst of all the splendour of Justinian's new cathedral of St. 
 Sophia, then the most magnificent cathedral which had ever 
 been seen. The deliberations of the Coimcil were short and 
 conclusive. It re-afifirmed the decrees of the four earlier 
 Councils, gave its decision that the doctrines propounded 
 by the " Three Chapters " were not in accordance with the 
 faith laid down at Nicsea, condemned them and those who 
 had propounded them, and formally condemned Vigilius, Pope 
 of Rome, as guilty of heresy for having concurred with them, 
 and excommunicated him ; whereupon he was banished to 
 the island of Proconnesus in the Sea of Marmora. 
 
 This decision of the Fifth General Council put an end to 
 a wearisome and unreal controversy which might have been 
 ended ten years earlier if the emperor, instead of wishing to 
 pose as an ecclesiastical legislator, able to issue edicts upon 
 doctrinal questions, had adopted the simple course which 
 Constantine had done, of referring the point to the body which 
 the constitution of the Church had provided for the settlement 
 of such questions. The acute and pedantic mind of the emperor, 
 however, experienced satisfaction in feeling that he had dis- 
 covered a point on which the work of the Fourth General 
 Council required to be supplemented,* and he felt that he had 
 gained credit as a theologian by the decision of the Council. 
 The whole controversy naturally did much harm to the Church ; 
 while badly as Vigilius comes out of it, Justinian can scarcely 
 be held to come out much better. The plain, rough soldier 
 
 ^ The Papal Medieval historians would have us believe that Jus- 
 tinian was anxious that Vigilius should preside at the Council, that he 
 sent Belisarius to endeavour to persuade him to do so, and that Euty- 
 chius, the Pope of Constantinople, offered to " concede the first place ** 
 to Vigilius. But it is practicfdly impossible that such a strictly legal 
 mind as that of Justinian should have either desired, or permitted, a 
 person to preside at any court or council at which that person's own 
 conduct and opinions were to form one of the principal points upon 
 which the assembly w£is to give a decision. 
 
 * The Fifth General Council is always looked upon as merely 
 supplementetry to the Fourth (see Vol. I, p. 640, footnote), its decision 
 being on a point in regard to which the work of the Fourth Greneral 
 Council required, or appeared to precise legal minds to require, to be 
 supplemented. 
 
 Constantine did better for the Church in this respect than the 
 brilliant theological law-giver Justinian. 
 
 But the tergiversations of Vigilius were not even yet at 
 an end. Four times he had swung from one pole to the other, 
 but he now repeated the process a fifth time. In December 
 653, after six months of banishment, he addressed a letter 
 to the Pope of Constantinople retracting his previous defence 
 of the " Three Chapters," and two months later, in February 
 554, drew up a more formal document condemning those 
 doctrines. After this fifth change of opinion there was no 
 longer any reason for his excommunication or banishment, 
 and he was accordingly allowed by the emperor to return to 
 Italy ; but he reached no further than Sicily, and died there 
 in January 555. 
 
 Affairs in Narscs had scarcely finished disposing of the Ostro- 
 itaiy. goths and returned to Ravenna when in the sum- 
 mer of 553 he had to confront a raid into Italy by a combined 
 force of Franks and Allemanni,^ led by two brothers, Lothaire 
 and Bucelin, who descended with 75,000 men into Lombardy. 
 Narses, his forces by this time considerably reduced, had at 
 first to bow to the storm and content himself with holding the 
 fortified cities. The Franks and Allemanni defeated a Roman 
 force imder Fulcaris at Parma, and though some 2000 of them 
 were destroyed near Rimini by Narses, swept on into southern 
 Italy, where for six months they plundered and ravaged the 
 whole of Campania, Lucania, Apulia, and Calabria. After 
 which Lothaire with half their number departed for the Brenner 
 pass across the Alps laden with spoil, but died between Verona 
 and Trent, leaving Bucelin in southern Italy with about 
 30,000 men. In the spring of 554 Narses assembled his forces, 
 attacked Bucelin at Casilinum, near Capua, and totally de- 
 feated him, the whole force of Allemanni being destroyed, 
 and Italy being finally delivered from their ravages. 
 
 Italy (with the exception of its two dependencies, Rhaetia and 
 Noricum, which were not regained) had at last after eighteen 
 years' warfare been recovered by the empire, and after this 
 
 1 The Allemanni had been absorbed into the Frank kingdom about 
 ten years before by Thiudabert (p. 291), 
 
I 
 
 ilii 
 
 312 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CSAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 destruction of the Allemanni settled down in peace for a time 
 under the rule of Narses. But it was the peace of a desert. 
 The condition of the country after eighteen years of this des- 
 tructive warfare was deplorable beyond description. Except 
 Ravenna, there was not a city which had not been again and 
 again plundered and ravaged. The country outside the cities 
 was a desolate waste. Everywhere the ruins were to be seen 
 of the beautiful buildings which for more than five centuries, 
 from the time of Augustus to that of Amalasuntha, had been 
 the pride of every Roman. The city of Rome, five times 
 attacked, defended, and captured by hostile armies, was a 
 mere shell, a circuit of frequently defended walls surrounding 
 heaps of ruins amidst which the few battered remnants of 
 the city's past glory stood as sad reminders of what Rome 
 once had been. The Villa of Hadrian was a vast solitary 
 wreck, -the abode of wild animals, who made their lair 
 amidst the broken remnants of the triumphs of Greek 
 sculpture ; while in the ruined Baths of Caracalla the only 
 relics of their countless artistic treasures which survived were 
 those which lay buried under the debris of the shattered 
 halls. 
 
 For the remaining eleven years of Justinian's reign Narses 
 ruled Italy as his representative, with the title of Prefect. 
 Fixing his residence at Ravenna, Narses did his best to restore 
 the country to some semblance of prosperity, or at the least 
 of ordered existence. But there were two obstacles to this. 
 The soldiers of his army, their many hardships and dangers 
 being over, gave themselves up to pleasure, and, says the 
 contemporary writer Agathias, " nothing remained but to ex- 
 change their shields and helmets for the soft lute and the 
 capacious hogshead." After a time Narses appealed to his 
 army to abandon such conduct, pointing how it endangered 
 the safety of the country, and his appeal was not in vain. 
 Discipline was restored ; fortifications were repaired ; a Duke 
 was appointed to the rule of each province ; and the laws 
 of Justinian were introduced into the tribunals. But the 
 second obstacle to any prosperity Narses was unable to avoid. 
 The system of taxation which the Logothetae of Justinian 
 represented again flourished in Italy, and, as ever, crushed 
 the people under a burden which prevented any return of 
 
 THE TURKS AND AVARS 
 
 313 
 
 the country to prosperous conditions, and also caused its 
 population steadily to diminish. 
 Expedition Haviug at last regained Italy, Justinian turned his 
 against Spain, ^rms agaiust Spain. An expedition under the 
 patrician Liberius was despatched in 554 from North Africa, 
 crossed the straits, and subdued various places on the coast 
 of Spain, and took Malaga, Carthagena, and Cordova. But 
 the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild (554-567), after 
 a time successfully opposed the invasion, and the Romans 
 were obliged to content themselves with retaining a strip of 
 the coast including Malaga and Carthagena. 
 
 The Turks. 
 
 It is in the reign of Justinian that we first hear of 
 
 the Turks. The name is a collective one which 
 was applied to a vast number of tribes extending from the 
 borders of China to the Black Sea, and there is little doubt 
 that the Huns originally came from this same Turkish stock. 
 One of these tribes, inhabiting the region of the Altai Moim- 
 tains,^ and called by the Chinese Thu-kiu, became in the 
 6th century very powerful under their leader Tumere, who 
 united under his sway all the Turkish tribes of central and 
 northern Asia, and in 546 assumed the title of Chagan, or 
 Khan. He computed his cavalry (including both men and 
 horses) by millions, and one of his armies is mentioned as 
 numbering 400,000 men. After many contests with the 
 Chinese the Turks began to push their way westwards, and 
 were first heard of by the subjects of Justinian through another 
 race whom they drove before them. 
 
 In 558 a remarkable embassy appeared at Con- 
 stantinople. The Avars, a Mongolian race (possibly 
 originally a section of the Huns), driven before the Turks, 
 had temporarily settled down at the foot of the Caucasus. 
 There they heard of the splendour and reported weakness of 
 the Roman Empire, and in order to see how far what they 
 had heard was true, sent an embassy to Justinian, which by 
 the assistance of the governor of Lazica was transported from 
 the eastern shore of the Black Sea to Constantinople. The 
 
 ^ They lived a nomad life ; the royal encampment was seldom out 
 of sight of the Altai Mountains. 
 
 The Avars. 
 

 ill! 
 
 [\\m 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 
 lit! 
 
 nil 
 
 314 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CEULP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 whole city turned out to look with curiosity and fear at these 
 strange representatives of a fierce and wild people. Their 
 long hair hanging down their backs was tied with ribands, 
 but in the rest of their costume they imitated the Huns. They 
 addressed the emperor in a very lofty tone, describing their 
 nation as " the invincible and irresistible Avars " (ignoring 
 the fact that they had fled before the Turks), and offering 
 their services to the emperor to vanquish and destroy all his 
 enemies, in retium for which they would expect " precious 
 gifts, annual subsidies, and fruitful possessions." Justinian, 
 now seventy-five, feared by a refusal to turn them from in- 
 convenient and dangerous allies into still more dangerous foes. 
 He therefore made them a long speech, accepted the proffered 
 alliance and their offers to exterminate the Bulgarians and 
 Sclavs, and sent the ambassadors away clothed in silken 
 garments and adorned with chains and collars of gold. The 
 Avars gladly took up the congenial task thus given them, and 
 during the next ten years overran most of the countries north 
 of the Danube, blotting out a large portion of the Bulgarians 
 and Sclavs, and making vassals of the remainder, affecting 
 to be the allies of the emperor. 
 „ , _, In 659 Belisarius, now fifty-four, was once more 
 attack on Called upou to dcfcud the empire. In the winter 
 nstantmope.^l that year the Danube was firmly frozen. The 
 Bulgarians in great force, under their chief Zaburgan, crossed 
 the frozen river, and spread over Macedonia and Thrace, 
 devastating the whole country, and passing through the Long 
 Wall of Anastasius I,^ in which a recent earthquake had made 
 breaches, advanced even to within twenty mUes of Con- 
 stantinople. The forces of the empire were mainly absent in 
 Italy, Africa, and on the Persian frontier, and Constantinople 
 was only defended by some 5000 men of the city guards, who 
 according to Agathias were mostly composed of lazy citizens 
 who had purchased exemption from other duties by this easy 
 form of service, shrank from the dangers of warlike operations, 
 and in this crisis dared not issue beyond the city gates. True 
 and terrible tales of the inhuman atrocities committed by 
 the ferocious Bulgarians were told by fugitives from the villages 
 who flocked into the city, and a general panic seized the capital. 
 
 * Chap. XX, p. 159, 
 
 ZABURGAN DEFEATED 
 
 315 
 
 Justinian, by this time seventy-six years old and somewhat 
 feeble, shared the universal alarm, and only able to think 
 of the churches ordered the gold and silver vessels of all 
 those in the suburbs to be removed into the city, while 
 the gaily dressed crowd of courtiers thronging the palace 
 had no thought but their own safety. With one voice the 
 trembling sovereign and trembling people implored Belisarius 
 to save them, and once again he was expected without soldiers 
 by his very name to put to flight a formidable enemy. He 
 must have sighed for his splendid military household of 7000 
 picked warriors which had been broken up. 
 
 But Belisarius had wonderful gifts for producing results 
 without tools, and he nobly responded to the appeal made to 
 him by both emperor and people. The horses of the imperial 
 stables, of the citizens, and even of the circus were collected ; 
 the mere magic of his name inspired old and young with 
 emulation to serve under him ; in a short time he had got 
 together a small force of cavalry volimteers with a nucleus of 
 300 veteran soldiers ; and saUying forth with these he boldly 
 encamped the first night within sight of the tents of Zaburgan. 
 With the help of a crowd of villagers he surrounded his camp 
 with a large ditch and rampart ; and by raising clouds of dust 
 and lighting innumerable fires made the Bulgarians suppose 
 that they were confronted by a large army. Next morning 
 the Bulgarian cavalry advanced to the attack. But Belisarius 
 now employed his villagers, hidden from view, to shout as 
 though they represented a great force of additional troops 
 coming up on the fiank of the Bulgarians ; and the latter, 
 met in front by Belisarius himself and his force, and attacked 
 by a party of troops which he had placed in ambush on one 
 flank of the attack, and believing from the shouting that 
 more troops were coming on, gave way and fled in a headlong 
 rout. And though they only lost 400 men, the impression 
 which was produced upon Zaburgan of the might of Belisarius 
 was so great that he broke up his camp, retired back into a 
 distant part of Thrace, and Constantinople was saved. 
 
 One would have supposed that no honours could have been 
 thought too great to lavish upon such a man. And so thought 
 the people of Constantinople, who on Belisarius' return to 
 the city accompanied him to the imperial palace with shouts 
 
 
\\\m 
 
 ii' 
 
 'lit 
 
 Nil 
 
 316 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of joy and gratitude. But envy and malice had had time 
 to do their ignoble work among the crowd of timid courtiers 
 surrounding the aged Justinian, and now ashamed of their 
 former state of panic. The acclamations of the people to 
 the victorious general were imputed as a misdemeanour on 
 his part ; the courtiers regarded him in silence ; and Justinian 
 after cold and formal thanks for his services dismissed him. 
 The Bulgarians, after ravaging part of Thrace, and failing 
 during the summer in an attempt upon Greece, were alarmed 
 by a report that a fleet of double-prowed vessels was being 
 prepared on the Danube to cut off their retreat, and hastily 
 retired again north of that river ; and the danger which had 
 menaced Constantinople was forgotten. 
 Last years of Ih 561, two ycars after this last victory of Beli- 
 justinian. garius, a slight illness of Justinian was magnified, 
 a report of his death spread, and a tumult became imminent 
 in Constantinople. Upon news being received of the em- 
 peror's recovery the ferment to a great extent subsided, but 
 frequent fires, a mutiny of the city guards, and battles be- 
 tween the Blues and the Greens, followed by arbitrary punish- 
 ments, tended to keep the minds of the people in a disturbed 
 state, to indicate a general discontent, and to increase the 
 belief that the emperor's strength and energy were failing. 
 This feeling culminated in 563 in a conspiracy formed by two 
 courtiers, Marcellus and Sergius, to assassinate Justinian, 
 then eighty years old. The plot was discovered, whereupon 
 Marcellus committed suicide, but Sergius, in the hope of sav- 
 ing his life, accused Belisarius of complicity in the plot. The 
 charge, instead of being dismissed as preposterous, was enter- 
 tained, and Belisarius was ordered to clear himself of it. He 
 who had refused a kingdom when it was pressed upon him 
 was basely suspected of attempting the life of a sovereign 
 to whom he had shown loyalty in every act of his life. His 
 followers m-ged him to fly, but Belisarius scorned to do so, 
 and appeared before the Council without fear, but full of 
 just indignation. The emperor, who had prejudged him as 
 guilty, was graciously pleased to spare his life, but all his 
 property was confiscated, and he was guarded as a prisoner 
 in his own palace. This continued for seven months. But 
 in July 564 Justinian became convinced of his innocence; 
 
 xxn] 
 
 DEATH OF BELISARIUS 
 
 317 
 
 his honours and his property were restored ; and for the last 
 eight months of his life Belisarius enjoyed the favour of the 
 sovereign whom he had for more than thirty-five years so 
 faithfully served. He died in March 565, at the age of sixty, 
 leaving behind him an imperishable name, both as a great 
 commander in war, and as one of the most conspicuous ex- 
 amples ever seen of loyalty to a sovereign under the most 
 trying conditions. Antonina survived him, and spent the 
 last few years of her life in a convent which she founded. ^ 
 
 As far as one can gather, Justinian's imgracious 
 of Justinian's treatment of Belisarius throughout the latter s 
 tSenTof life, though at first sight somewhat incompre- 
 Beiisarius. j^^j^gibje^ ^ag (j^c to causcs simple enough. Beli- 
 sarius hated courts, did not come of any exalted parentage, 
 and was not connected by marriage in any way with the 
 imperial family. Other soldiers, such as Germanus, the 
 emperor's nephew, or John the Thracian, married to the 
 emperor's grand-niece, were at all times looked upon with 
 favoiu-; but Belisarius, the plain, straightforward general 
 unconnected with the imperial family, though he would have 
 stood high in favour with emperors such as Valentinian I, 
 Theodosius the Great, or Leo I, had nothing to recommend 
 him in the eyes of the scholarly student Justinian, and hav- 
 ing no sympathy with the life of the court, or with the crowd 
 of sycophantic courtiers who surroimded the emperor and 
 empress, was not a persona grata in the imperial palace. The 
 courtiers therefore, aware of his contempt for them, found 
 little difficulty in again and again poisoning Justinian's mind 
 against him when once the enthusiasm created by Belisarius' 
 first victorious campaign against the Vandals had worn off. 
 Consequently when at court he received the cold shoulder, 
 
 ^ The popular story that so great was the ingratitude of Justinian 
 that Belisarius in his old age was deprived of his eyes, and reduced to 
 sit begging at the gate of Constantinople, is a pure invention of later 
 times, first originated in the 12th century, and made popular by Mar- 
 montel in his romance Belisaire. It was originated in some political 
 verses written in the 12th century by John Tzetzes, who Gibbon says 
 was a monk. It was imported into Italy in the 15th century when 
 the rage for Greek writings took place, and was there repeated by 
 Crinitus, Pontanus, and Volterranus. But Tzetzes himself knew that 
 Belisarius did not lose his sight and recovered his property and honours. 
 
318 
 
 if 
 
 i 
 
 
 ;!!! 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxn] 
 
 and when absent upon his campaigns could never feel that 
 he was looked upon with cordiality. That he nevertheless 
 served Justmian so long and so faithf uUy redounds much to 
 his honour. 
 
 Foundation In this samc year 565, the last year of Justinian's 
 ofiona. ]j£q Christianity was extended from Ireland to 
 Scotland. In that year St. Columba, brought up in the Chris- 
 tian community in Ireland founded in 432 by St. Patrick, i 
 landed at the island of lona on the west coast of Scotland 
 and there founded a monastery from whence Scotland received 
 its first knowledge of Christianity. Subsequently the kmgs 
 of Scotland were for many centuries crowned at lona, on the 
 stone which now forms part of the coronation chair in West- 
 minster Abbey. 
 
 Death of Justinian only outlived his great general by eight 
 justuuan. mouths, and died m November 565, at the age of 
 eighty-two. He was buried in a golden tomb in Constan- 
 tme's great church of the Twelve Apostles, the regular burial- 
 place of aU the emperors. In the great square of the Augus- 
 teum, where also stood the statue of Constantine, and the 
 silver statue of Eudoxia, the silver pillar of Theodosius the 
 Great in front of the cathedral of St. Sophia was removed, « 
 and in its place, raised upon a pedestal of brass, was erected 
 the colossal bronze statue of Justinian on horseback, looking 
 towards Persia, clad in armour, and about to march against 
 the Persians. And there, in front of the great cathedral he 
 had built, Justinian's statue remained for nine centuries, 
 until Constantinople was taken by the Turks, the empire 
 brought to an end, and the statue melted down and made 
 into cannon. 
 
 His character J^stinian's character, so far as it is to be gathered 
 
 "ttftf '* ^^^ ^^ actions,' is not a pleasing one. He dis- 
 
 plays none of the nobility of character which was 
 
 possessed by many of the men around him. His power of 
 
 * Chap. XX, p. 162 (footnote). 
 
 • It weighed 7400 pounds of silver. 
 
 » It has been pointed out by Gibbon that Justinian is not the most 
 conspicuous object of his own time {Decline and FaU, Vol. V, p. 248). 
 Theodora, Tribonian, Belisarius, Narees, and Anthemius of Tulles are 
 all of them more conspicuous than Justinian himself. 
 
 LOOKS TO PAST AND FUTURE 
 
 319 
 
 judging men's characters and abilities enabled him to choose 
 first-rate men to carry out his plans, and all whom he thus 
 chose served him well. But his cold and calculating dis- 
 position seemed to use them merely as instruments, and he 
 never shows a spark of generous gratitude to those whose 
 achievements made his glory. Worst of all was his conduct 
 towards Belisarius, while in this case to ingratitude there 
 was added an ever-recurring suspicion, which was little short 
 of disgraceful when harboured against such a man and in the 
 face of its being repeatedly shown to be undeserved. On the 
 other hand there must be set down to the credit of Justinian's 
 character his temperate life, his laborious energy, his unswerv- 
 ing faithfulness to Theodora throughout the whole of their 
 married life, and his marked clemency in the case of conspir- 
 acies formed to assassinate him. In strength of character 
 he was not wanting, though it is certain that he possessed 
 much less than Theodora, leant upon her greatly, and showed 
 a marked diminution in firmness and resolution when deprived 
 of this support. 
 
 Justinian looks both towards the past and the future. 
 As regards the past he strenuously endeavoured to restore the 
 empire to somewhat of its aspect in Constantine's time by 
 bringing the West again under his authority ; he was particu- 
 lar in observing ancient ceremonies, such as the consular 
 games, and in maintaining ancient titles, such as that of 
 prcetor ; he revived in his great works on the Roman law much 
 of the spirit of ancient Rome ; and he laid down authorita- 
 tively that Latin was the proper ofl&cial language of the empire, 
 and adhered to this as far as he was able. On the other hand 
 as regards the future he was the author of various innova- 
 tions ; in the early part of his reign he closed the ancient 
 philosophical schools of Athens, and in the later part of his 
 reign abolished the time-honoured office of consul ; and he 
 established a position of absolutism on the part of the emperor 
 such as had never been occupied by any emperor before him. 
 By these and other changes he inaugurated that new spirit 
 which we associate with the term " Byzantine," and which 
 after his time became more and more the characteristic of 
 the Later Roman Empire. 
 
 His reign is usually called glorious, but it can only be con- 
 
 l\ 
 
 ! ^ 
 
Mt 
 
 >l| 
 
 m 
 
 320 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 sidered so to a partial degree. With the exception of two, 
 his achievements (unlike the solid and permanent achieve- 
 ments of Constantine, to which they offer so strong a con- 
 trast) were misubstantial, and therefore transient. Jus- 
 tinian's chief claim to glory outside the domains of law and 
 architecture is the fact that, partly by arms and partly by 
 diplomacy, he successfully defended the eastern frontier of 
 the empire ^ during thirty-five years against the most capable 
 monarch who ever sat on the throne of Persia, Noshirvan, 
 commonly known as Chosroes I.« Justinian's reconquest of 
 North Africa and Italy was carried out by others and almost 
 in spite of Justinian (so hampering to the operations were 
 his errors in military arrangements), and any glory which 
 those conquests might have given him was entirely marred 
 by the ruin which he brought upon those countries. 
 
 His conduct of military affairs was deplorable. By send- 
 ing absurdly inadequate and ill-equipped forces to meet 
 powerful foes in distant countries, by often placing his troops 
 under a number of generals all independent of each other, 
 by allowing his soldiers to be attracted in shoals to the ser- 
 vice of the enemy because they were left for months without 
 pay while he poured forth money like water upon building 
 and adorning churches and upon useless fortifications, and 
 by starving the military operations in every way, he caused 
 his armies always to fight at the greatest possible disadvan- 
 tage, induced serious defeats, and ruined Italy by a long and 
 devastating war entirely brought about by these imwise 
 methods. On the one occasion when he adopted a different 
 course ^ his army was at once victorious, which only empha- 
 sizes the magnitude of the error in all his previous conduct 
 of the war, and forces one to reflect upon how many thou- 
 sands of lives might have been saved, and how much misery 
 and ruin to Italy avoided, if he had adopted the same course 
 from the first. 
 
 ^ The total length of the eastern frontier of the empire, from the 
 Caucasus to the southern comer of Palestine, was roughly about 
 1200 miles. The att€w;ks mckde by Chosroes I extended over about 
 700 miles of this frontier. 
 
 * It has been pointed out by Professor Bury that writers have gener- 
 ally lost sight of this point in the achievements of Justinian. 
 
 ' The expedition imder Narses, 
 
 xxn] 
 
 MAGNIFICENT CONCEPTIONS 
 
 321 
 
 But bad as was Justinian's military administration, still 
 worse was his financial administration. Not only did he 
 waste money profusely while the people were being over- 
 taxed, but he employed a fiscal system which was nothing 
 short of execrable, since by paying his fiscal officials by 
 means of a percentage upon what they could extract, a direct 
 incentive was given them to devise every possible method 
 in order to rob the people under the form of law, and amass 
 wealth themselves while the people starved. That a man 
 should be able to continue for thirty-eight years without ever 
 seeing that the system carried on by the Logothetae was one 
 bound to ruin any country, however rich, destroying both 
 its agriculture and its commerce and sucking out all its 
 strength, shows a want of financial ability which in a man so 
 able in many other directions is astonishing. ^ 
 
 In nearly all parts of Justinian's wort^we see magnificent 
 conceptions brought to naught jihrough faulty execution. 
 The genius of his brilliant diploitnacy, by which for a time 
 he made numerous barbarian races around his frojitiers readily 
 become his vassals, became nullified by his faulty military 
 organization ; for his diplomacy lacked the force necessary 
 to support it, and when those same barbarian races dis- 
 covered his military weakness they soon invaded the Roman 
 dominions making insolent demands for lands and money. 
 As Procopius wrote, " There is no other way of compelling 
 barbarians to keep faith with Rome except by the fear of the 
 imperial army." Again, Justinian's conception of restoring 
 the Roman Empire to its pristine glory by recovering the lost 
 provinces of the West was a grand one ; but it was ruined both 
 by the want of wisdom in despatching altogether insufficient 
 forces for that purpose, and by his faulty fiscal procedure ; 
 so that John the Lydian wrote, " The tax-gatherers could find 
 no more money to take to the emperor because there were 
 no people left to pay the taxes." Again, the conception of 
 surrounding the empire with chains of fortresses was also a 
 grand one ; but Justinian failed to realize the cost of such 
 
 * It is probable that the ill-success of Justinian in administrative 
 affairs was in its origin largely due to the absence in him of that quality 
 of aimpatia (a sympathetic temperament) the want of which is so marked 
 a feature of his character (se^ Qhap. XXIV, p. 405^ fqotnote). 
 
 III 
 
'Pi! 
 
 I ! 
 
 'I 
 
 "I 
 
 
 322 
 
 JUSTINIAN 
 
 CHAP. XXIl] 
 
 an undertaking, as well as the fact that fortresses without 
 garrisons were of little use ; the want of troops to hold them 
 causing Agathias to say sarcastically regarding them, " Even 
 the barking of a watch-dog was not to be heard." Again, 
 Justinian himself calculated that not more than one-third of 
 the taxes imposed reached the Treasury ; yet he allowed the 
 vicious system under which this was possible to continue, 
 so that it was said that " a foreign invasion seemed less 
 formidable to the people than the arrival of the fiscal ofl&cials." 
 Again, the nominal strength of his army was 645,000 men ; 
 but Justinian, entirely through his want of knowledge of how 
 to treat soldiers, could not get more than 150,000. His 
 endeavour to institute a thorough reform in all branches 
 of the administration was another fine conception ; but here 
 again he failed to carry this out owing to the faulty methods he 
 adopted* 
 
 The one glaring defect in Justinian was a perpetual seeking 
 after showy, in preference to sound, and less glittering, achieve- 
 ments. Owing to this characteristic of his administration 
 most of what he effected crumbled away upon his death. 
 The world has been caught by the glitter of his achievements 
 and the splendour of his conceptions, and has thereby been 
 led perhaps to give him a higher place among rulers than he 
 deserves. Nevertheless Justinian was a great sovereign and 
 justly to be highly esteemed in comparison with all who had 
 preceded him during 130 years, and with many of those who 
 followed him ; while his monumental Code, Pandects, and 
 Institutes in the domain of law, and his building of the cathe- 
 dral of St. Sophia in that of architecture, will always give 
 him deserved renown, and it is upon these two achievements 
 that his fame will ever rest established. 
 
 NOTE K 
 
 Persian Kings of the dynasty of the Sassanid^ from 
 
 380 TO 628 
 
 {In continuation of Note E i sJiowir,^ the dynasty of the Sassanidce from 226 to 
 
 380) 
 
 Artaxerxes II, half-brother of Sapor II . . . 
 (An old man, son of Hormizdas II by another wife) 
 
 Sapor III, son of Sapor II 
 
 Varanes IV (Bahram IV), half-brother of Sapor III . 
 Yezdegerd I, son of Sapor III 
 
 Varanes V (Bahram V), surnamed Gor, i.e. WUd Ass, son of 
 Yezdegerd I . 
 (The favourite hero of Persian romances) 
 
 Yezdegerd II, son of Varanes V 
 
 • • • • 
 
 Hormizdas III, son of Yezdegerd II . 
 Peroz, son of Yezdegerd II by another wife 
 
 Balash, brother of Peroz 
 
 Kobad I, son of Peroz 
 
 Chosroes I (Noshirvan), caUed " The Just," son of Kobad I 
 
 Hormizdas IV, son of Chosroes I 
 
 • • # • 
 
 Chosroes II, son of Hormizdas IV ... . 
 (Conquered by the emperor Heraclius, and his empire 
 destroyed) 
 
 * Vol. I, p. 590. 
 
 381-384 
 
 385-389 
 389-^99 
 399-420 
 
 420-439 
 
 439-457 
 
 457 
 457-484 
 485-489 
 489-531 
 531-579 
 579-590 
 590-628 
 
 323 
 
I 
 
 Hi. 
 
 IH|i" 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WEST-THE LOMBARD INVASION OF ITALY, THE 
 BIRTH OF VENICE, THE FRANKS, THE 
 VISIGOTHS, BRITAIN, AND GREGORY 
 THE GREAT. 
 
 EAST-l^THE EMPERORS JUSTIN II, TIBERIUS II, 
 AND MAURICE. 
 
 565 — 604 
 
 THE emperor Justinian had a brother and a sister, and 
 of his brother's three sons the only one of any capacity, 
 Germanus, was dead. The Senate therefore chose as Jus- 
 tinian's successor the son of his sister Vigilantia, his nephew 
 Justin. He was a brother of the fascinating Prsejecta, and 
 was abeady married to a niece of the empress Theodora, 
 Sophia. He at once gained popularity by summoning aU 
 creditors of his uncle Justinian to the Hippodrome, where 
 a train of porters laden with bags of gold appeared, and aU 
 
 debts were satisfied. 
 
 Seven days after the accession in November 565 
 'TheAvm. ^^ j^gtin II (565-678), an embassy arrived from 
 the Avars, whose conquests since their embassy to Justinian 
 in 558 1 had greatly inflated their pretensions ; the embassy 
 pompously offered Justin the friendship and assistance of 
 the Chagan of the Avars, with threats of hostilities if it should 
 be refused. But Justin bade them depart, saying that the 
 empire was quite able to protect itself, and moreover that 
 their conquerors the Turks soHcited its alliance. This reply 
 Qveraw^ Baiftn, the Chagan of the Avars, who instead oX 
 
 % Chap. XXn, p. 313, 
 
 m 
 
 CHAf . Xxin] 
 
 THE GEPID^ BESTROYEB 
 
 325 
 
 attacking the empire turned his arms against Thuringia, 
 the most north-eastern portion of the kingdom of the Franks ; 
 but he met with no success, and was glad to accept an alliance 
 opportunely offered him by the Lombards. 
 
 ^ _,^ , Alboin had succeeded his father Audoin as king 
 
 Overthrow of ^ 
 
 the Gepida by of thc Lombards in 561. During the years 561- 
 
 the Lombards. ->^_, . ■, •!•/» i a 'i_i 
 
 567 he was mamly occupied m fierce contests with 
 the powerful Gepidae. Before his father's death Alboin had 
 killed in battle the son of Turisund, king of the Grepidae. His 
 father Audoin dared him to visit the court of Turisund and 
 make the latter give him the arms of his dead son. Alboin, 
 taking with him forty companions, visited the court of Turi- 
 sund, claimed the laws of hospitality, and was entertained 
 at a banquet by his enemy, the aged Turisimd, who though 
 plunged in grief felt forced to accede to this demand for his 
 son's arms, and to suffer Alboin to depart in safety. Alboin, 
 whose wife, Chlotosinda, a grand-daughter of Clovis, had lately 
 died, at this visit greatly admired Rosamund, the daughter 
 of Cunimund, who soon afterwards succeeded Turisund as 
 king of the Gepidae. Her beauty was very great, and not- 
 withstanding her hatred of him, Alboin was determined if 
 possible to carry her off. As soon as he became king of the 
 Lombards he made every endeavour to obtain her, but his 
 offers of marriage were rejected with scorn. At length in 
 564 by a combination of stratagem and force he succeeded 
 in carrying her off ; but fierce war was the immediate result, 
 both Cunimund and the Gepidae being furious at the insult. 
 Their onslaught upon the Lombards was so violent that the 
 latter, unable to withstand it, called in the Avars to their 
 fibssistance ; the Avars attacked the Gepidae from the north- 
 east while the Lombards attacked them from the north-west, 
 and the two together in the course of two years destroyed 
 the Gepidae. At the final battle, fought in 567, Cunimund 
 in despair rushed upon the hated Lombards, and perished 
 with 40,000 of his nation. His skull was made into a drink- 
 ing cup by his savage young conqueror Alboin, who took as 
 his share of the spoil Rosamund and the territories of the 
 Gepidae south of the Danube (Noricum and Pannonia), while 
 
 ': -i 
 
i>l 
 
 326 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 if f I 
 
 The Turks. 
 
 their territories north of that river * became the property 
 of the Avars. Six years later Rosamund took her revenge. 
 This overthrow by the Lombards of the kingdom of the 
 Gepidae had effects upon all the adjacent countries, and even 
 as far as Italy. There Narses had begun to experience trouble. 
 His government was impopular ; whether justly or not he 
 was accused of both avarice and oppression, and in 567 the 
 Romans of Italy sent to Justin II demanding his removal, 
 failing which they would invite the Lombards to rule in Italy. 
 Justin, fearful of a revolt, appointed Longinus as Prefect of 
 Italy, and Narses retired to Naples ; but subsequently the 
 Romans, repenting of their action, invited him to reside at 
 Rome, where he died in 568. 
 
 In this same year 568 a new nation, whose name 
 was in after centuries to become highly prominent 
 in the history of the east, made their first appearance. Up 
 to this time the Turks had only been heard of, but not seen. 
 Now however at the end of the year 568 they sent an embassy 
 to Justin II to request that he would not espouse the cause 
 of rebels and fugitives (the Avars), whom they had vanquished 
 and pursued to the Jaik, the Volga, the Caucasus moun- 
 tains, and the Black Sea, and offering him instead an alliance 
 with themselves. This embassy presented a very different 
 appearance from that of the savage Avars. Their splendid 
 dresses, their rich presents, and the letters they brought from 
 the great Turkish Khan, Disabul, whose dominions extended 
 along the whole northern boundary of Persia, made a favour- 
 able impression, and Justin II, glad of such a counterpoise 
 to the power of Persia, accepted the alliance, and a year or 
 two later sent an embassy in return to the court of Disabul 
 at the base of the Altai mountains. 
 Conquest of '^^^ dcstructiou of SO powerful a kingdom as that 
 ^i^^t^* of the Gepidae greatly increased both the fame 
 and the strength of Alboin, and he now, at the age 
 of twenty-eight, determined to conquer Italy from the 
 empire. No sooner was this intention known than volun- 
 teers from many other tribes in Germany flocked to join him, 
 including a contingent of 20,000 Saxons from Thuringia 
 
 * Comprising the modern coimtries of Wallachia, Moldavia, Tran- 
 sylvania, and the portion of Hungary north of the Danube. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 ITALY AN EASY PREY 
 
 327 
 
 who came in response to his invitation ; though we are told 
 that so great was the host which he commanded that this 
 contingent made little difference. We do not know the total 
 number of Alboin's host, but it would appear from the manner 
 in which the Lombards on gaining Italy at once overspread 
 that country that it must have been even larger than that 
 of the Visigoths led by Alaric 168 years earlier. 
 
 Italy lay defenceless. The martial race of the Ostrogoths 
 had been exterminated ; the eighteen years of a mismanaged 
 war had brought the country to ruin ; Belisarius and Narses 
 were no more ; and there was nothing to oppose Alboin's 
 conquest of the country except isolated garrisons without a 
 leader. Alboin, therefore, being confident of the success of 
 his enterprise, upon his departure from Pannonia and Nori- 
 cimi made over those territories to the Avars. Taking with 
 them their families and all their property the Lombards set 
 forth for the Julian Alps, which they crossed by the Predil 
 pass without meeting any opposition, Alboin from the summit 
 of the mountain ever since called " the royal mountain " 
 gazing in delight at the enchanting view of Italy ; and about 
 the month of June 568 the Lombards descended into those 
 fertile plains of northern Italy to which they were henceforth 
 .to give their name of Lomhardy. ** The Visigoth, the Him, 
 the Vandal, and the Ostrogoth failed to connect their names 
 with even a single province or a single city of the imperial 
 land. What these mighty nations failed to effect an obscure 
 and savage horde from Hungary successfully accomplished." ^ 
 
 The Lombards when they furnished a contingent to accom- 
 pany Narses into Italy in 551 had been Pagans ; but appar- 
 ently between the years 551-568 they had been partially 
 converted to Arian Christianity, Alboin himself at all events 
 being nominally an Arian Christian. The majority of the 
 Lombards, however, appear to have been still Pagans when 
 they arrived in Italy, being in the habit of sacrificing, some- 
 times a she-goat, and sometimes a captive, to their ancient 
 gods. In any case such Christianity as they may have imbibed 
 made little or no difference in their general character, which 
 is described as " fiercer than even the ordinary fierceness of 
 barbarians." 
 
 Hodgkin. 
 
 Ill 
 
 A' 
 
328 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 BIRTH OP VENICE 
 
 329 
 
 
 Alboin's success was rapid and complete. The atrocities 
 of these barbarous foes caused terror to precede their march ; 
 the people, escaping to inaccessible morasses, lakes, or moun- 
 tains, left the country a solitude ; city after city opened its 
 gates, and was plundered and ravaged ; while the Prefect 
 of Italy, being without the necessary troops to resist such an 
 invasion, shut himself up in Ravenna, and contented him- 
 self with announcing to the emperor the loss of nearly all 
 Italy. ^ The Lombards quickly spread over northern Italy, 
 meeting with no resistance except at Pavia, where a brave 
 commander and a brave garrison held out during a three 
 years* siege, hoping for succour which never came. Mean- 
 while, spreading southwards, the Lombards during the years 
 669-572 overran and took possession of the rest of Italy ; so 
 that by the latter year, without a single battle, or a single 
 siege except that of Pavia, there remained nothing in Italy 
 to the empire except the territory round Ravenna, including 
 the coast from Padua to Ancona, Rome with a small district 
 round it, Perugia, Genoa and the coast adjacent to it, and 
 Naples with Salerno and Paestum. At first Alboin (who 
 personally did not proceed further south than northern Italy) 
 made Verona his capital, but upon the fall of Pavia in 572 
 that city became the Lombard capital, and remained so 
 throughout the 200 years of their dominion in Italy. 
 
 To describe the scene of widespread outrage, horror, and 
 degradation produced in Italy by this inundation of bar- 
 barism, which was not merely a raid, but a conquest, would 
 be impossible. Nor even if it were possible could modern 
 ears endure it. The Lombards had come as conquerors, and 
 treated the Romans as they treated all conquered races. 
 Italy now suffered what the other portions of the western 
 half of Rome's empire had suffered in the previous century, 
 but to a worse degree. The total want of regard even for 
 things which other barbarous races usually spared is shown 
 by the fact that even Monte Cassino, the highly revered mon- 
 astery of St. Benedict, was sacked. Italy, — ^the Italy of 
 Virgil and Horace, of Ovid and Pliny, of Hadrian and An- 
 toninus Pius, of Constantine. Valentinian, and Galla Placidia, 
 
 * From the time of Alboin*s invasion in 568 never again was the 
 whole of Italy united under one government until the year 1870. 
 
 the Italy which from the time of Augustus to that of Amala- 
 suntha had for 600 years known so high a degree of civiliza- 
 tion, — was now seized and trampled under foot by a barbarous 
 horde in comparison with whom the Goth and the Vandal 
 were polished gentlemen. Italy's condition was reduced to 
 that of some fair garden which has been turned into a cattle- 
 yard. 
 
 Thus was finally completed throughout the West 
 tZ^il^i^ce.'^^^^ treading down of the Latin race by its 
 Teutonic conquerors which had begun when in 407 
 the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi swept over Gaul.^ Neverthe- 
 less, although the Latin race was thus trampled down through- 
 out so many countries, and although for a time it seemed 
 almost entirely to disappear, 2 it subsequently showed its 
 remarkable tenacity. For in three of the eight provinces 
 thus submerged by the barbarian flood ^ the Latin race in 
 course of time to a large extent absorbed its conquerors, 
 and even handed on its own language to them * ; with the 
 result that eventually in Italy, in that part of Gaul which 
 we know as France, and to almost an equal extent also in 
 Spain, the inhabitants of those countries, through the gradual 
 merging of conquerors and conquered, and through the influence 
 of Latin customs and language, became in time more or less 
 a Latin race. And though this Latinization of the con- 
 querors did not occur in the countries conquered by the Saxons, 
 the Allemanni, the Franks east of the Rhine, and the Vandals, 
 that it should have taken place even in three of the provinces 
 where the Latin race had been so severely crushed demon- 
 strates the remarkable tenacity of that race. 
 
 Birth of ^^® notable consequence of this invasion of Italy 
 
 Venice, by the Lombards in 568 was the birth of Venice. 
 
 Tradition has attributed this to a gathering of fugitives from 
 
 Aquileia, Concordia, Padua, and adjacent cities at the time 
 
 of Attila's invasion in 452. And that there was at all events 
 
 1 Chap. XVII, p. 36. « See Chap. XXIV, p. 431. 
 
 3 Britain, Gaul, Spain, Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Italy, and 
 North Africa. 
 
 * Largely because those conquerors, despising reading and writing, 
 had no written language. Even the Lombard laws drawn up in 636 
 were written in Latin, though Latin of a rough description. 
 

 ( 
 
 330 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 in Theodoric's time a scattered population upon some of the 
 many islands along the coast of Venetia ^ we have evidence 
 in one of the letters of Cassiodorus, written in 537.2 But 
 Cassiodorus is evidently writing regarding a poor and scat- 
 tered fishing population inhabiting some of the innumerable 
 islands along the coast from the former site of Aquileia round 
 to near Ravenna, and there is no evidence in his letter that 
 he is referring to any collection of people upon the present 
 site of Venice. When, however, the invasion imder Alboin 
 in 668 occurred a definite founding of Venice took place. 
 As the Lombards burst into Venetia the terrified inhabitants 
 of the towns near the coast, knowing the character of these 
 ruthless invaders, hurriedly packed their families and goods 
 into any boats they could obtain, and fled to the islands of 
 Rialto and Malamocco, remote from the haunts of men and 
 where nothing existed to excite the greed of the barbarians. 
 These fugitives, imlike the poverty-stricken fishing popula- 
 tion of whom Cassiodorus had spoken, were a people of refine- 
 ment and culture, who also carried with them a certain amount 
 of their property. And there, surrounded only by the sea 
 and the sky, they began the gradual building up of that 
 majestic city of Venice which in after times was to take so 
 great a place in history. 
 
 Death of R^t Alboin had not long to enjoy his victory. In 
 Alboin. jyjay 572 he held in his palace at Verona a great 
 banquet to all his principal chiefs to celebrate the completion 
 of his conquest of Italy ; not a banquet such as the Romans 
 in their Pagan days had held (where whatever else was in- 
 cluded there was at least artistic culture), but a banquet such 
 as delighted the Lombards, wherein the sole enjoyment was 
 
 * It is to be noted that the province of Venetia does not take its 
 name from the city of Venice, but vice versa. 
 
 * Cassiodorus, Vartaey Book XII, Letter 24. He writes to the 
 ** Tribunes of the Maritime population," and orders that this popula- 
 tion upon the islands, ** who possess numerous boats,*' are to assist 
 Istria in forwfirding wine and oil to Ravenna for the King's use. He 
 speaks of their ** scattered homes amid the wide expanse of waters,'* 
 and of how by " a twisted and knotted osierwork these people make 
 a fragile bulwark against the waves of the sea," and mentions how 
 they live upon fish, engage in making salt, and inhabit mear. and 
 humble huts. 
 
 ROSAMUND 
 
 331 
 
 a hoggish drunkenness. In the midst of the feast Alboin, 
 after draining many bowls of wine, and being half intoxi- 
 cated, called for the most precious ornament of his palace, 
 the skull of Cunimimd, the token of his destruction of the 
 Gepidae, and amidst shouts of applause " the cup of victory '* 
 formed from the skull of their dead enemy, was filled with 
 wine and drunk from by Alboin and the Lombard chiefs. * 
 But this was not enough ; Rosamimd was summoned. " Fill 
 the cup of victory again,'' cried the inhuman conqueror, 
 " fill it to the brim, and bear this goblet to the queen, request- 
 ing in my name that she will rejoice with her father." Rosa- 
 mund, all whose relations and friends had been slaughtered, 
 and her nation destroyed, in the victory she was called upon 
 by her hated ravisher to applaud, and now commanded in 
 insulting terms to drink from her father's skull, in an agony 
 of grief, horror, and rage was speechless, having only strength 
 to utter in a low voice, " The will of my lord shall be obeyed " ; 
 but as she touched the cup with her lips she registered a silent 
 vow that this crowning insult, and all the wrongs of herself 
 and her coimtry, should be avenged in the blood of Alboin. « 
 A beautiful woman can always gain adherents, and Rosa- 
 mund obtained the assistance of Helmichis, the king's armour- 
 bearer, and Peredeus one of the bravest young chiefs of the 
 Lombards ; ^ and a few nights afterwards she admitted them 
 to the room in which Alboin lay asleep, where they mur- 
 dered him, Rosamund rejoicing in the deed and looking upon 
 it as a just retribution for all her own and her country's 
 wrongs. In after times the Bavarians, the Saxons, and other 
 Teutonic races repeated songs applauding the valour and 
 virtues of Alboin, the conqueror of Italy, but he was simply 
 
 1 Apparently the Lombards held much the same ideas as the Saxons, 
 by whom it was believed that those who fell in battle were at once 
 admitted to the Hall of Woden, there to drink ale for ever out of the 
 skulls of their enemies. 
 
 * Some have argued that Alboin in calling upon Rosamund to drink 
 from the "cup of victory" was doing her an honour. She, at all 
 events, did not look upon the matter in that light. 
 
 ' It is said that Rosamimd obtained the assistance of Helmichis 
 by promising to marry him and obtain for him the crown. Other 
 accounts assert that both Hehnichis and Peredeus were lovers of Rosa- 
 mund. 
 
Chap. 
 
 dzi 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 i 
 
 a bloodthirsty and barbarous tyrant who deserved no better 
 fate than he received. 
 
 The fury of the Lombards at the death of their great hero 
 Alboin was immense, and Rosamund (who had at once mar- 
 ried Hebnichis) was forced to fly from Verona. With her 
 step-daughter Albsuinda, a child of seven years old, and 
 accompanied by Helmichis and Peredeus, she embarked in 
 a small boat, sailed down the Adige, from thence reached the 
 Po, and took refuge at Ravenna. There Longinus, the 
 imperial Prefect, fell a victim to her charms ; and there 
 Rosamund shortly afterwards died. Whether true or not, 
 the story is that Longinus urged her to become " Lady of 
 Ravenna " by getting rid of Helmichis and marrying him- 
 self, that she thereupon offered a poisoned draught to Hel- 
 michis, and that the latter upon drinking half of it and noticing 
 its tas'te, pointed his dagger to her breast, and forced her to 
 drink the remainder. Peredeus was sent, with the little 
 daughter of Alboin, to Constantinople, where after a few 
 months he was executed by the emperor Justin II. 
 
 . Upon the death of Alboin the Lombard chiefs 
 
 Ten years ^ ^ i • 
 
 anarchy in asscmblcd at Pavia and chose Clepho, one of theu: 
 ^' nimiber, as king. But in 574 Clepho was stabbed 
 by a Roman slave, and there ensued ten years of anarchy 
 during the minority of his son Autharis, throughout which 
 period Italy, divided between thirty savage Lombard 
 tyrants, calling themselves " dukes," groaned under intoler- 
 able oppression.^ We are told that the results were worse 
 even than the invasion of the Huns, these various Lombard 
 tyrants establishing themselves in different parts of the 
 country, destroying, outraging, and spreading around them 
 universal misery and despair. All who were sufficiently well 
 off to be able to do so migrated to North Africa. We have 
 an indication of the general state of affairs in the fact that 
 after the death of Pope John III in 574 more than ten months 
 elapsed before his successor could be chosen, owing to Rome 
 being surroimded by swarms of Lombards ; while again in 
 679 when Pelagius II (the predecessor of Gregory the Great) 
 
 ^ During this period, about the year 580, Farwald, duke of Spoleto, 
 attckcked and took Classis, the port of Ravenna, and held it for about 
 eight years, when it was recaptured by the troops of the empire. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 DANGERS TO THE EMPIRE 
 
 333 
 
 was elected, Rome was cut off from aU communication with 
 the outer world, being besieged by the Lombards, who were 
 ravaging the adjacent districts up to the walls of the city. 
 To such a terrible degree did Italy suffer that the awful miseries 
 endured during the sixteen years (568^584) following the in- 
 vasion of Alboin produced the prevailing belief, often ex- 
 pressed, for instance, in the writings of Gregory the Great, 
 that these were the things foretold in the Book of Revelations 
 as preceding the end of the world. And when we realize, 
 that in Britain, in Gaul, in Spain, in North Africa, in Rhsetia, 
 in Noricum, in Pannonia, and in all other countries south of 
 the Rhine and the northern course of the Danube similar 
 miseries had been suffered by the populations of those coun- 
 tries during the greater part of 150 years, we obtain some idea 
 of what the destruction of the western half of the Roman 
 empire meant for Europe. 
 
 Justin II. 
 
 The alliance which Justin II had made with the 
 Turks in 568 ' was a political step of the greatest 
 value to the empire in its never-ending contest with Persia, 
 and with its powerful monarch Chosroes I. Henceforth the 
 Persians could not ignore theu* northern frontier and bring 
 all their strength to bear upon the empire, but in contend- 
 ing with the Romans on the west knew that the latter had a 
 powerful ally who threatened Persia along its whole northern 
 frontier, and must be watched and guarded against. 
 
 Justin II's chief anxieties, however, upon coming to the 
 throne in 565 were concerned with affairs in the opposite 
 direction to that of Persia. The Gepidae, the Avars, and the 
 Sclavs were a perpetual source of disquiet to him, while it 
 seems probable that even from the first the beginning of 
 mental disease is to be seen in the degree to which anxiety 
 on this account weighed upon his mind. It is stated in the 
 poem Johannis, by Corippus, that to cheer this mental d.epres- 
 sion the empress Sophia ordered a splendid embroidered 
 curtain to be made on which were represented in gold and 
 colours the whole of the labours of Justinian, with a figure 
 Qi the latter in the centre placmg his foot upon the neck of ^ 
 
 1 Page 326, 
 
 
334 
 
 JUSTIN II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 barbarian king. Soon however a considerable relief to these 
 anxieties was caused by the destruction of the Gepidse in 
 567 by the Lombards ; and though the Avars upon succeed- 
 ing to the kingdom of the Gepidae became much emboldened, 
 and during the next two years constantly demanded the ces- 
 sion to them of Sirmium, this important fortress was securely 
 held, and the Avars were unable to take it. 
 
 But the strongest indication that Justin II's mental disease 
 was even as early as 568 creeping upon him (though it was 
 probably for a long time kept hidden from the public eye by 
 the empress Sophia) is to be found in his attitude as regards 
 Italy. Though disturbed in mind by these lesser anxieties, 
 Justin II seems to have remained quite untroubled by the 
 much more serious invasion of Italy by the Lombards. He was 
 not at that time engaged in war with Persia, yet he abandoned 
 Italy to its fate, left it to be defended by the Prefect Longinus 
 as best he might, and during the years 568-572 saw Italy 
 overrun and wrested from the empire without making any 
 effort to prevent it. 
 
 War with In 572 the peace with Chosroes I, made ten years 
 '^^'^ before by Justmian for fifty years, was broken 
 (chiefly owing to the ill-treatment of Armenia by Chosroes), 
 and a fresh Persian war began. Marcian, commanding the 
 Roman army in Mesopotamia, gained in 573 an important 
 victory over the Persians at Sargathon, but failed to take 
 Nisibis, and while he was besieging it was deprived of his com- 
 mand, in consequence of which his army, disgusted with his 
 successor, mutinied, and Chosroes seizing the opportunity 
 laid siege to Dara. At the same time another large force of 
 Persians, assisted by the Arabian Saracens from Ghassan 
 (on the eastern border of Palestine), invaded Syria, and cap- 
 tur^ Antioch, Apamea, and other cities, carrying off to Persia 
 an immense crowd of captives, declared to have numbered 
 more than two hundred thousand persons. From these cap- 
 tives Chosroes selected 2,000 beautiful virgins, and despatched 
 them, escorted by a body of troops, and adorned as brides, 
 as a present to the great Khan of the Turks, to conciliate 
 him for the rejection of his offer of an alliance and murder 
 of his ambassadors a year or two earHer. But these unhappy 
 Christian girls declared among themselves that they would 
 
 xxm] 
 
 THE EMPRESS SOPHIA 
 
 335 
 
 die rather than suffer such a fate, and on arriving at a large 
 river about fifty miles from the Turkish frontier asked leave 
 to bathe out of sight of their escort. Permission being granted, 
 the whole of them rushed suddenly into a deep part of the 
 river, and were all drowned, the Persian escort (which had 
 at their request removed to a distance to allow them to bathe) 
 only becoming aware of what had happened by seeing their 
 dead bodies floating down the river. These 2000 girls gave 
 the first example of that overpowering dread and horror of 
 the Turk which was to last from that time right down to the 
 present day among all of the feminine sex who were Chris- 
 tians. ^ In November 573 Dara, which was considered 
 impregnable, and had been made by the inhabitants of that 
 region the storehouse for all their most valuable property, 
 was taken by Chosroes, a disaster so great that it caused 
 Justin to order all shops to be closed in Constantinople, while 
 this misfortune ever after preyed upon his mind. 
 
 Tiberius These disasters were partly due to the emperor's 
 appointed mcutal dcrangcmcnt having by this time become very 
 pronounced, and at length the empress Sophia, who 
 throughout the year 574 carried on the government, being 
 embarrassed by simultaneous hostilities on the Danube from 
 the Avars and Sclavs, despatched a large sum of money to 
 Chosroes, and obtained from him a truce for a year, after- 
 wards extended (by a further payment of money) to three 
 years. And in December 574 she persuaded Justin II to 
 appoint Tiberius, an able general, to be Caesar, and to 
 make over the government to him. 
 
 But Sophia had no intention of resigning her own sove- 
 reignty as Augusta, and Tiberius was only given authority 
 conjointly with her. Nor would she consent to another 
 empress being permitted in the imperial palace, so that Ino, the 
 wife of Tiberius, was made to live elsewhere ; and when Sophia 
 was pressed by Justin to alter this arrangement she showed 
 
 * And very naturally, in view of the inferior place assigned to women 
 by Islam, which faith the Turks within the next seventy years adopted. 
 The assertion that the Mahomedan religion teaches that women have 
 no souls is usually denied by apologists for that religion ; at the same 
 time the point remains exceedingly vague, since the Mahomedan Para- 
 dise finds no place for women who have had a human existence. 
 
u 
 
 336 
 
 TIBERIUS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 much of the spirit of her aunt Theodora, saying, " As long as 
 I live I will never give my kingdom to another." After a 
 time the wives of the senators waited upon her to ask whether 
 they Might visit Ino ; but all the reply they received from the 
 empress* was, " Go and be quiet ; it is no business of yours." 
 Invasion of Tibeiius ou being made Caesar appointed Maurice, 
 cardueneby Que of the uoblcs of Cappadocia, and descended 
 from the old aristocracy of Rome, as commander- 
 in-chief on the eastern frontier. It was an excellent appoint- 
 ment. Maurice had much capacity, and in a short time 
 greatly improved and increased the army in the east, gather- 
 ing recruits from his own province of Cappadocia, as well as 
 from Iberia and Syria. And in 578, upon the conclusion of the 
 three years' truce, Maurice inflicted a severe blow upon 
 Chosroes I by invading the province of Carduene, which no 
 Roman army had entered since the days of Jovian, the force 
 returning from thence laden with spoil, and bringing back, 
 not only a large number of important Persian prisoners, but 
 also 10,000 liberated Christian captives. 
 
 Death of Justin's malady steadily increased, and he became 
 Justin II by degrees a dangerous lunatic. At length in 
 September 678, during a lucid interval, he himself crowned 
 Tiberius as emperor, and died eight days afterwards. There- 
 upon, to the annoyance of the masterful Sophia, Tiberius in- 
 stalled his wife in the imperial palace as empress, and she 
 took the name of Anastasia. 
 
 Newpoucy Tibcrius 11 (578-582) was bom in Thrace, and was 
 inaugurated of Romau dcsccut, and though he only reigned 
 
 b> Tibenus II. - . ' i . i. / 
 
 four years, maugiu^ated a new policy for the empire. 
 He wisely considered that, since Greek influence was every- 
 where increasing,^ the empire must in future place its chief 
 reliance upon its Greek-speaking provinces, rather than upon 
 those more western provinces to which he himself belonged. 
 Even in these latter provinces Greek was more commonly 
 spoken than any other language, and it was the language 
 
 ^ In the 4th century the use of Latin was so universal that Ammianus 
 Marcellinus, though a Greek by birth, wrote in Latin ; whereas in 
 the 6th century even a writer like Procopius did not know X^tin, and 
 wrote in Greek, 
 
 xxm] 
 
 GREEK IDEAS INCORPORATED 
 
 337 
 
 which was spoken by Tiberius II himself, i And he rightly 
 saw that if this policy was to be carried out effectively the 
 empire must adopt in regard to religion a more tolerant atti- 
 tude towards the Monophysites and other non-Cath(*c sects 
 than had been the practice hitherto. Also that, as a part of 
 the same policy, it was desirable to give greater prommence 
 to Greek ideas, by placing the empire on a somewhat more 
 democratic basis, reducing its aristocratic tendencies and 
 showing more sympathy with classes who had hitherto been 
 shut out from public affairs. As a result of this new policy 
 inaugurated by him of advancing the interests, and sympa- 
 thising with the ideas, of the Greek-speaking provinces of 
 the empire, Tiberius II has been called by some the first of 
 the Greek emperors, and his accession has thus been con- 
 sidered as more or less an era in the history of the Later Roman 
 Empire. 
 
 All that was best in Greek principles and ideas was thus 
 incorporated in the empire by Tiberius II, and there is no 
 doubt that the Later Roman Empire gained much by this 
 new policy. At the same time, though using the Greek lan- 
 guage and incorporating some of the best of the Greek prin- 
 ciples of government, the Later Roman Empire must not be 
 looked upon as in any way a Greek empire, nor its emperors 
 as Greek emperors. That empire remained essentiaUy Roman, 
 —in its principles, its methods, and its spirit,— and its inhabi- 
 tant» rightly objected to being called " Greeks," and justly 
 clung steadfastly to their name of " Romaioi." 
 
 Tiberius also bestowed much praiseworthy attention upon 
 the army, notwithstanding failing health, improving its dis- 
 cipline and efficiency, and spending large sums upon increas- 
 ing its numbers. He is also specially notable as being the 
 originator of the celebrated Varangian Bodyguard (renowned 
 throughout the whole of the subsequent 870 years that the 
 empire lasted), which grew out of the new body of 15,000 
 foederati of northern race which he organized. 
 
 His chief mistake was a most laviish and unwise liberality ; 
 not content with the just measure of reducing the taxation 
 by one fourth, he lavished donations upon almost every 
 
 * Justinian I was the last emperor who spoke Latin as his mother 
 tongue. 
 
 E.W.— n. 
 
ft 
 
 % 
 
 II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 338 
 
 TIBERIUS II 
 
 profession — ^lawyers, doctors, scholars, bankers, and silver- 
 smiths — and by the end of the first year of his reign had spent 
 nearly all the money in the Treasury. This course of action, 
 for which he has been loudly praised by the contemporary 
 writers, was possibly a part of the democratic policy which 
 he had adopted, but it left the State nearly bankrupt at his 
 death, and created many difficulties for his successor. 
 
 Death of In 579 an end to the war with Persia seemed likely 
 
 chosrocs I. ^* occur through the death in that year, at the 
 age of seventy, of the Persian monarch Chosroes I, who had 
 been the great antagonist of the Romans for forty-eight years. 
 His death however did not stop the war, which was con- 
 tinued by his son and successor Hormizdas, over whom in 681 
 Maurice gained an important victory at the battle of Con- 
 stantina. 
 The Avars and But Tibcrius II had not only to confront the Persians. 
 
 the sciavs. Qj^g effcct of the Persian war was that, all available 
 troops having to be withdrawn to the eastern frontier, the 
 northern frontier was left with few troops and much exposed 
 to incursions by the Avars and their vassals the Sclavs. In 
 the first year of the reign of Tiberius a large body of Sclavs 
 poured into Dalmatia, and finding themselves unopposed 
 by any trained troops established themselves there perman- 
 ently. But while the Sclavs were not a formidable foe to 
 trained troops or fortresses it was otherwise in the case of the 
 Avars. This Tartar race, having reduced the Bulgarians 
 and the Sclavs to a state of vassalage, had gradually established 
 their rule over a wide territory north of the Black Sea, and 
 their dominions (since in 568 they gained Noricum and Pan- 
 nonia) ^ now stretched from near Lake Constance on the 
 west to the banks of the Don on the east. Their acquisition 
 of Pannonia had brought them into much closer contact with 
 the empire than previously, and they eagerly seized the oppor- 
 tunity given by the Persian war to attack the empire on its 
 north-western frontier. 
 
 Lo88 of The chief object of the Avars at this time continued 
 
 sinnium. f^ \yQ ^q g^in posscssiou of Sirmium, the old capital 
 of the third division of Diocletian's empire, situated on the 
 
 Page 327. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 MARRIAGE OF CONSTANTINA 
 
 339 
 
 Save, on the south-eastern border of Pannonia, and Sirmium 
 was besieged by Baian, the Chagan of the Avars, throughout 
 the years 579-581. Tiberius made various efforts to relieve 
 it, but the commander was incompetent, the troops which 
 could be spared were insufficient for the task, and all efforts 
 to relieve Sirmium failed, and at last, after the city had endured 
 great hardships during a two years' siege, Tiberius was com- 
 pelled early in 582 most reluctantly to surrender it to the 
 Avars. The loss of Sirmium was a severe blow, as it was the 
 chief fortress possessed by the empire for the defence of the 
 north-western part of the Danube provinces. 
 Death of Soon aftcrwards, in July 582, Tiberius, feeling 
 Tiberius II. ^jja^^ jjjg Q^^ ^^g approaching, summoned Maurice 
 
 from the Persian war, appointed him his successor, and be- 
 trothed him to his elder daughter Constantina. On the 
 13th August Tiberius crowned Maurice with his own hands, 
 and died on the following day. In the eight years during 
 which he held the government of the empire Tiberius II dis- 
 played many of the best qualities in a ruler, and a contem- 
 porary chronicler says of him, " Men were not worthy of so 
 good an emperor." The marriage of Maurice and Constantina 
 was celebrated almost immediately after the funeral of the 
 late emperor was over, the marriage ceremonies being unusually 
 splendid, and the new emperor appearing thereat in a dress 
 of great magnificence, embroidered all over with gold, trimmed 
 with the imperial purple, and ornamented with many precious 
 jewels. Still more magnificent however was Constantina's 
 dress. She is said to have worn a tight-fitting tunic of cloth 
 of gold, edged with the imperial purple, and sprinkled all over 
 with diamonds, and upon her head the remarkable crown 
 worn by the empresses. From this time forwards the imperial 
 crown of the empresses became notable, being adorned with 
 cascades of diamonds and pearls, which gave it a most resplen- 
 dent appearance. 
 
 Maurice. 
 
 Maurice (582-602) was forty-three when he became 
 emperor. Tiberius II when dying had said to him, 
 *' Make your rule my fairest epitaph," and could not have made 
 a better choice than he did in selecting him as the fittest man 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 xxni] 
 
 840 
 
 MAURICE 
 
 MODERATION IN RELIGION 
 
 341 
 
 J', 
 
 i 
 
 to rule the empire. Maurice was capable, highly cultivated,^ 
 a good general, and a high-principled and noble-hearted man, 
 and he showed throughout his reign his determination to rule 
 with honour and justice. He bestowed much attention on 
 the training of the army, and himself wrote a celebrated 
 treatise (in twelve books) on military science called the Strate- 
 gikoUy which was followed for three hundred years afterwards 
 as a text-book of military instruction. His chief fault would 
 seem to have been a tendency to do the right things in the 
 wrong way, of which he gave several instances during his 
 twenty years' reign, the last of them bringing about his death. 
 His In two directions Maurice's course was rendered 
 
 difficulties, difficult. First, he was grievously handicapped by 
 the results of the extravagant liberality of Tiberius II, which 
 by leaving the State bankrupt forced Maurice to employ the 
 most rigid economies. This both much hampered his military 
 arrangements, and also made him unpopular with the army, 
 to which these economies had often to be applied. Secondly, 
 his endeavour loyally to carry out the policy in religious matters 
 which Tiberius had inaugurated made him disliked by the 
 orthodox party in religion, who looked upon all toleration 
 shown to their opponents as an offence against themselves. 
 These two causes have made Maurice out of favour with most 
 of the writers of his time. Nevertheless Maurice reigned with 
 vigour and uprightness, and was greatly appreciated by the 
 mass of the people. 
 
 Two years after Maurice's accession the empress Constantina 
 bore him a son, an event which was hailed with acclamations 
 because the latter was " bom in the purple." * In memory 
 of the last emperor bom in the purple (Theodosius II) the 
 boy was named Theodosius. He was the first of six sons 
 bom to Maurice. 
 
 Attitude in ^ ^®^ important point in connection with Maurice's 
 religious history, accounting for much which occurred sub- 
 sequently, is his attitude in religious matters. 
 Maurice, as was to be expected from his general character 
 and temperament, was " moderate " in matters of religion, 
 
 ^ Both Meimnder and Theophylactus speak of his fondness for 
 literature, notwithstanding his active militeuy life, 
 > See Chap. XVII, p. 27, 
 
 while as a far-sighted ruler he saw, as Tiberius 11 had seen, 
 that if the empire was to put forth its full strength a policy 
 of toleration towards the Monophysites and other sects was 
 absolutely necessary. Hitherto, up to the time of his im- 
 mediate predecessor, schismatics had been uniformly perse- 
 cuted. Maurice to his high honour, and that of John,^ Pope 
 of Constantinople (upon whose advice in such matters he much 
 relied), refused to adopt such a policy, and passed a law that 
 schismatics were not to be compelled to conform to the ortho- 
 dox faith. This of course brought upon Maurice the hostility 
 of all those to whom such moderation was anathema,* and 
 especially of the see of Rome, always vehemently opposed 
 to anything like toleration, and also always bitterly jealous 
 of " New Rome " and aU its works, a legacy handed down ever 
 since the days when the latter had become the imperial city 
 instead of " Old Rome." This hostile feeling towards Maurice 
 on the part of the see of Rome subsequently bore fruit at the 
 latter end of his life. It had also a more far-reaching effect ; 
 for it is from the time of Maurice, and his adviser in religious 
 matters, John, that we may date the beginning of the long 
 struggle of four centuries between the see of Rome and that 
 of Constantinople. 
 The Persian For thc first tcn ycars of Maurice's reign the Persian 
 W"- war continued, and for a long time without decisive 
 results. In 586 the Romans gained an important victory at 
 Solachon,^ and invaded the Persian province of Arzanene, 
 but in 587 sustained a reverse near Aphoumon and had to 
 retire again across the Tigris. In 588 Maurice, being forced 
 to carry out economies, issued an order that the pay of the 
 troops was to be reduced by one-fourth. This produced a 
 mutiny, the army in Mesopotamia going so far as to elect 
 their commander Grermanus, against his will, as emperor ; 
 the Persians seized the opportunity and besieged Constantina ; 
 
 ^ Called by his contemporaries, owing to his austere mode of life, 
 John Nesteutes (John the Faster). 
 
 * An additional cause of complaint was the fact that Maurice had 
 issued an order preventing soldiers from deserting in order to become 
 monks. 
 
 ^ Chiefly through the steadfast courage and ability of HeracUus, 
 commanding the centre of the Roman army, the father of the future 
 emperor of the same name. 
 
d42 
 
 MAURICE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 and it was nearly a year before the troops were pacified, where- 
 upon Grermanus relieved CJonstantina, and gained a signal 
 victory over the Persians at Martyropolis, capturing that city 
 with many Persian nobles of high rank. In 590 the Persians 
 contrived to recapture Martyropolis by treachery, but were 
 soon afterwards defeated by the general Heraclius in a brilliant 
 victory, their camp being captured. 
 End of the During the year 589 an insurrection had occurred in 
 peraian War. Persia, the Persian monarch Hormizdas was assassin- 
 ated, and his son Chosroes II was driven out of the country 
 and forced to take refuge in Mesopotamia among the Romans. 
 He appealed to the emperor's protection, and for assistance 
 to recover his throne, offering to restore Martyropolis and 
 Dara, together with the provinces of Armenia which had been 
 taken by his grandfather Chosroes I. The Senate of Constan- 
 tinople were opposed to the empire taking up his cause, but 
 Maurice dissented from them and determined to do so, seeing 
 in this course an opportunity of ending the war and relieving 
 the empire of the strain upon its resources thus produced. 
 His bold and sagacious action had most successful results. 
 Chosroes II was supplied with troops and money, in 591 by 
 this assistance regained his throne, according to his word 
 restored Persarmenia and eastern Mesopotamia to the empire 
 with Martyropolis and Dara, and remained for the rest of 
 Maurice's life the firm ally of Rome. It was a great triumph 
 for Maurice. Thus this war, which had lasted for twenty years, 
 and was the second long war engaged in with Persia during 
 fifty years, ended in complete success to the Romans. These 
 two wars, in the course of which neither side gained any great 
 victory, were not without results to the empire. On the part 
 of Rome they were defensive wars, Persia having been the 
 assailant, and their net result was that all the grand designs 
 of conquest nourished by Chosroes I had been brought to 
 naught, and that the empire had repelled two long and for- 
 midable attacks without loss of territory. 
 Incursions of ^^ *^® Dauubc frouticr Maurice in opposing the 
 the Avars and Avars aud thc Sclavs was less successful, and for a 
 
 Sclavs. 
 
 long time experienced the same difficulties as had 
 confronted Tiberius II, owing to the fact that all available 
 troops were required for the Persian war. The provinces 
 
 xxm] 
 
 AVARS AND SCLAVS CURBED 
 
 34S 
 
 which suffered most from the Avars and the Sclavs were 
 Mcesia, Illyricum, and Thrace, the two latter provinces being 
 inhabited by a population of whom the majority still spoke 
 Latin and preserved the old Roman character and customs.^ 
 The Avars, though far more powerful than the Sclavs, were 
 less permanently dangerous to the empire ; for the Avars 
 invaded the empire in order to make raids, but the Sclavs, 
 in their endeavom* to escape from the yoke of the Avars, came 
 in vast numbers into the Roman provinces in order to settle 
 there. They not only seized the lands of the inhabitants 
 by force when they could, but they were also adepts in the 
 art of encroaching, contriving little by little (like squatters) 
 to spread further and further into the Roman provinces 
 whenever a close watch over them was removed. 
 
 The Avars having gained possession of Sirmium in the last 
 year of the reign of Tiberius II, in 583 seized several places 
 in its vicinity on the Danube in Mcesia, and also made incursions 
 into Thrace, and Maurice had to buy them off. In the follow- 
 ing year, however, Maurice arranged to station a force in 
 Thrace under Comentiolus, and when in 585 the Sclavs, in- 
 stigated by the Avars, advanced from Dalmatia into Thrace 
 they were defeated, and driven out of Thrace, and the captives 
 they had taken were rescued. In 586 the Avars again advanced 
 and took several towns on the Danube, and in 587 besieged 
 Hadrianople and several other cities in Thrace ; but they 
 were unsuccessful, and being eventually routed at Hadrianople, 
 were driven out of the country, which had peace for the next 
 three years, when the conclusion of the Persian war in 591 
 enabled the emperor to withdraw the greater part of the army 
 from the Persian frontier and employ it in defending the Balkan 
 provinces. He appointed Priscus to the command, and the 
 latter performed many gallant exploits in protecting Moesia 
 and Thrace from further incursions. 
 
 Passing from the bright light in the East into the darkness 
 and gloom which during this latter half of the 6th century 
 contmues over all in the West, and leaving Italy sinking 
 into the night of despair which other countries had previously 
 
 * Their descendants in the present day are the Albfiuiians (Oman). 
 
344 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 A MORTAL COMBAT 
 
 345 
 
 passed through, we may glance for a time at Gaul, Spain, 
 and Britain, so far as the obscurity there permits us to 
 see anything. And that very obscurity itself tells much; 
 for it shows how completely aU cultured existence was rendered 
 impossible by the constant fighting, with the result that the 
 written records are few, scanty, and iUiterate. 
 The Franks, ^^^^g ^^^^^ three couutries Gaul is that in which 
 we are better able to pierce the gloom than else- 
 where, chiefly through the writings of Gregory, Bishop of 
 Tours, who was Bishop of that city from 573 to 594, and who 
 gives us in his Uistoria Francorum most of the information 
 that we possess about the history and condition of the Pranks 
 at this time. His history gives a vivid picture of the ideas 
 and mode of life of the time. Though a Roman by race and 
 well bom, his father having been for forty years Count of 
 Autun and then Bishop of Langres, he writes in the roughest 
 kind of Latin, his ignorance is great, ^ and his credulity amazing, 
 his history being interspersed with the most miraculous and 
 fabulous episodes, aU of which he treats as undoubted his- 
 torical facts. But from his writings, together with the rough 
 laws published from time to time by the Frankish kings, we 
 are able to gather a fair idea of the conditions of life in Gaul 
 under the immediate descendants of Clovis. And bad as 
 those conditions were, and barbarous as the Franks remained 
 even after their conversion to Christianity, they were never- 
 theless indisputably the leading race in the West, especiaUy 
 as to the north and east of their dominions they had for neigh- 
 bours the Saxons, the Thuringians, the Allemanni, and the 
 Bavarians, who were aU of them stiU Pagans, and infinitely 
 more barbarous than even the Franks. 
 
 In Gaul at this period we find the two chief portions of 
 aovis' kingdom locked in a deadly combat. It shows in 
 how barbarous a state the Franks still were that Chlotochar I « 
 married simultaneously two sisters, Ingundis and Aregundis, 
 and of his four sons three, Charibert, Guntram, and Sigibert! 
 were the sons of Ingundis, while Chilperic, the second son, 
 
 ^ He had, for instance, never heard of the great legal Code of Jus- 
 tinian, published more than forty years before, and though he some- 
 times quotes Virgil, ho ev-idently understands him very little. 
 
 « Chap. XXII, pp. 290-291. 
 
 was the son of Aregundis ; and there was no love lost between 
 Chilperic and his brothers. Chlotochar I at his death in 561 
 again, like Clovis, divided the Frank kingdom between his 
 four sons thus -} 
 
 1. Charibert. 
 
 2. Chilperic. 
 
 3. Guntram. 
 
 4. Sigibert. 
 
 The kingdom of Paris (capital Paris). 
 
 Neustria, roughly including the Nether- 
 lands, Normandy, Picardy, Maine, and 
 the northern part of Aquitaine (capi- 
 tal Soissons). 
 
 Burgundy, the southern part of Aquitaine, 
 and part of Provence (capital Orleans). 
 
 Austrasia, from the Meuse eastw ards, includ- 
 ing Thuringia and Bavaria, with the re- 
 maining part of Provence (capital Metz). 
 
 Between these four portions of the Frank kingdom there 
 prevailed almost perpetual war ; while these grandsons of 
 Clovis and their descendants became noted for their long cata- 
 logue of dark domestic crimes. The greater part of these 
 occurred in the course of the fierce struggle during the latter 
 half of the 6th century between two rival queens, BrunhUda, 
 queen of Austrasia, and Fredegonda, queen of Neustria ; a 
 struggle which, continued by the son of one of these queens 
 after she herself was dead, raged for forty-seven years, and 
 is like some terrible Greek tragedy in its appalling murders 
 of the nearest relatives — brothers, sons, and wives — surpassing 
 even the older tragedy in the family of the Caesars. 
 
 Sigibert, the youngest, most capable, and least vicious of 
 the four sons of Chlotochar, revolting from the profligacy of 
 his brothers, married in 566 Brunhilda, a young Visigoth 
 princess, the daughter of Athanagild, king of the Visigoths. 
 Brunhilda (bom in 546), belonging to a more enlightened race 
 than the Franks, had received a Roman education, inherited 
 a strong character and a high spirit, and possessed much 
 ability.* She was for the next forty-seven years the most 
 
 1 For genealogical table of the Frank kings from Chlotochar I to 
 Dagobert I, see Appendix XIII. 
 
 • During the middle of her life she maintained constant political 
 relations with the empire, and also conducted a correspondence with 
 Pope Gregory the Great. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 346 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 prominent figure in the history of the Franks. When at 
 the age of twenty she married Sigibert she had a good dis- 
 position, and there is every indication that during the ten 
 years of their married life she and Sigibert sincerely loved 
 each other. But the dastardly murder, first of her ill-used 
 younger sister, and then of her heroic husband, both of whom 
 she loved, changed her nature into that of a fury, and her 
 name became in course of time one of dread. 
 
 This marriage of Sigibert caused his elder brother Chilperic, 
 the most vicious of the brothers, to determine that, altering 
 his ways, he also would have a princess for his wife. Chilperic, 
 Charibert, and Guntram changed their wives so constantly 
 that it is impossible to say how many previous wives Chilperic 
 had had, and his proposals of marriage were looked at askance 
 at the Visigoth court ; but he promised amendment, and 
 obtained from Athanagild the hand of Galswintha, the yoimger 
 sister of Brunhilda. The unfortunate girl, knowing the char- 
 acter of Chilperic and his court, implored not to be given to 
 him, but she was made to obey, and was escorted across the 
 Pyrenees to Rouen, where in the spring of 567 she was married 
 to Chilperic. 
 
 But there was one at the court of Soissons who looked 
 upon this marriage with extreme disfavour. Fredegonda, 
 the fair-haired Frankish slave-girl, several years older than 
 Galswintha, had no intention of allowing herself to be set 
 aside. While in the service of a previous wife of Chilperic, 
 Audovera, Fredegonda's unusual beauty had captivated the 
 king. She had contrived by artifice to get Audovera divorced, 
 but without the result which she desired of herself becoming 
 queen. Fredegonda (bom in 543), the greatest beauty of 
 her time, and troubled with no scruples, was one of those 
 attractive women who have an abnormal power of fascination, 
 and she was throughout her life always able to obtain ready 
 agents to remove from her path a rival, a troublesome brother- 
 in-law, or an inconvenient step-son, for the sake of a smile 
 from her. With such a rival in attendance upon her Gals- 
 wintha's life was not likely to be a long one. The latter soon 
 found her position intolerable ; but she had not to endure it 
 long. Before the year 567 was ended Fredegonda caused the 
 murder of Galswintha, who was f oimd in her bed strangled ; 
 
 xxin] 
 
 BRUNHILDA AND FREDEGONDA 
 
 347 
 
 whereupon Fredeg6nda, then twenty-four, was married a 
 few days afterwards to Chilperic. This crime began a fierce 
 blood-feud of thirty years between the dark Spanish beauty 
 Brimhilda, the princess, and the fair Frankish beauty Frede- 
 gonda, the slave-girl, life after life being sacrificed in the deadly 
 combat between these rival opponents seated respectively at 
 Metz and Soissons. 
 
 Upon this atrocious murder of her young sister, Brunhilda, 
 then twenty-one, whose father Athanagild had lately died, 
 and who had just given birth to the eldest of her children, her 
 daughter Ingundis, felt that upon her devolved the exaction 
 of vengeance on behalf of her family. Burning to avenge 
 Galswintha, she stirred up her husband Sigibert to make war 
 upon his vicious and cowardly brother Chilperic, a war which 
 was carried on with all the fierceness invariably found in 
 such internecine conflicts. In 568 Charibert, the eldest of 
 the brothers, died or was murdered, and Chilperic took his 
 dominions. And in 575, in the midst of a victorious campaign 
 in which the Austrasian army had taken Paris and Rouen 
 and compelled Chilperic to fly to Toumai, Fredegonda found 
 means to have Brimhilda's husband, the gallant Sigibert, 
 assassinated near Arras by two slaves with poisoned daggers, 
 at the very moment that he was being raised upon the shield 
 as the conqueror of Chilperic 's kingdom, Brunhilda being at 
 the same time captured in Paris with her three daughters, 
 of ages ranging from eight to four years. 
 
 But this great sorrow and misfortune did not cow Brun- 
 hilda's spirit. AU her Visigoth blood was roused to exact 
 stiU greater vengeance. From the moment that her heroic 
 husband Sigibert was murdered Brunhilda (like Kriemhild 
 after the death of Siegfried in the great epic of the Nihelungen) 
 lived but to avenge his death. Still only twenty-nine, and 
 at the height of her beauty, she without much difficulty in- 
 duced Merovech,^ one of Chilperic 's many sons, to marry her,* 
 by his help effected her escape, got back to her kingdom of 
 Austrasia, and assumed its rule on behalf of her seven-year-old 
 son Childebert. Meanwhile Merovech suffered the wrath of 
 his father Chilperic and the rage of Fredegonda ; he was seized, 
 
 ^ Named after his ancestor, the grandfather of Clovis. 
 * Notwithstanding that he was her nephew by marriage. 
 
 tl 
 
OHAF. 
 
 348 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 his long hair was shorn, and after being forced to become 
 a priest, he wa»s at length assassinated by an emissary of 
 Fredegonda. 
 
 There followed a series of crimes on both sides, each death 
 causing cruel wrongs to cry to heaven for vengeance, and em- 
 bittering more deeply the survivors in the conflict. One by 
 one Chilperic's sons by former marriages as they reached 
 manhood were slain either by Brunhilda or by their jealous 
 step-mother Fredegonda (who at the same time suffered punish- 
 ment by seeing several of her own sons die in infancy), until 
 it seemed that Chilperic, who had originally had so many 
 children, would leave no descendant ; and at length in 584 
 Brunhilda compassed the death of Chilperic himself, he being 
 stabbed at Chelles by an unknown hand as he dismounted from 
 his horse on his return one evening from hunting. He left 
 as his* sole surviving descendant Fredegonda's latest bom 
 child, a boy of three years old named Chlotochar. Fredegonda, 
 fearing for her own and her child's life, fled to the court of 
 Guntram at Orleans, but after a time succeeded in getting 
 her child proclaimed king of Neustria and recovered her former 
 position. In 593 Brunhilda's son Childebert II, by the death 
 of his uncle, the childless Guntram, succeeded to the throne 
 of Burgundy as well as Austrasia ; in 596 Childebert died at 
 the age of twenty-eight, leaving two sons, Thiudabert and 
 Thiudaric, boys of ten and nine ; he left Austrasia to Thiuda- 
 bert and Burgimdy to Thiudaric, Bnmhilda continuing to 
 reign as regent over both Austrasia and Burgundy on their 
 behalf. And in 597 Brujihilda's enemy Fredegonda herself 
 at last died at the age of fifty-four. 
 
 But Fredegonda's death did not end the struggle, or assuage 
 the vengeance of Bnmhilda. She ruled Austrasia and Bur- 
 gundy well, endowed many churches and religious institutions, 
 and corresponded from time to time with the emperor Maurice 
 and with Gregory the Great, but so long as any of the seed of 
 Chilperic and Fredegonda survived that vengeance slept not. 
 The contest was continued by her against Fredegonda's son 
 Chlotochar 11, who lost a large part of his territories, but 
 at length triumphed over Brunhilda in truly Merovingian 
 fashion. The two young kings, Thiudabert and Thiudaric, 
 as they grew up developed all the intensely profligate ten- 
 
 xxm] 
 
 TRAGIC DEATH OF BRUNHILDA 
 
 349 
 
 dencies of the Merovingian race, as well as a mutual enmity, 
 and in 612 in the war between them Thiudaric captured his 
 brother Thiudabert and put him to death with his infant son, 
 but a few months later himself also died, leaving four little 
 sons, whose lives were at once in danger from Chlotochar II. 
 Brunhilda, then sixty-seven, fighting in defence of her four 
 little great-grandsons, was through the treason of some of the 
 Austrasian nobles captured in 613 on the shores of the Lake 
 of Neuchatel by Chlotochar, and being declared by him to 
 have slain no less than ten kings or princes of his family, ended 
 her stormy life in the most stormy scene of all, and in the 
 midst of a fierce and excited crowd all raging against her was 
 tied to two wild horses, and torn in pieces. In vengeance 
 for the deaths of Galswintha and Sigebert she had destroyed 
 almost the whole house of Chilperic, and had ended with 
 giving her own life. This closed a tragedy as long and at least 
 as terrible as the tragedy of the Caesars at Rome in the 1st cen- 
 tury ; while from its beginning to its end, throughout its 
 course of forty-seven years, one single individual bore the 
 principal part, Brunhilda, the Visigoth princess.^ 
 
 Nevertheless Brunhilda is by no means to be put on the same 
 footing as her rival Fredegonda. She displayed many of 
 the attributes of a great ruler. During her long reign of 
 power in Austrasia of thirty-eight years she did much towards 
 restoring to northern Gaul some semblance of the principles 
 and methods of ordered government which it had known under 
 the Roman Empire, principles which she had imbibed as a 
 girl at the court of her father Athanagild. She was more 
 highly educated than any of those around her in Austrasia; 
 and since such principles and methods were as yet repugnant 
 to the fierce and barbarous Franks, they were perhaps her 
 chief crime in the eyes of those nobles of Austrasia who through- 
 out her life so often violently opposed her. She gave valuable 
 assistance to the mission which Gregory the Great despatched 
 under Augustine to Britain, and which would never have 
 reached that country had it not been for her ; she founded 
 many churches and monasteries, monasteries which were 
 schools of learning ; and in judicial and fiscal matters she 
 
 ^ It will be seen that this long struggle took place during the time 
 of the emperors Justin II, Tiberius II, Maurice, and Phocas, 
 
 r 
 
 m 
 
360 
 
 THE VISIGOTHS 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 xxm] 
 
 INGUNDIS 
 
 351 
 
 endeavoured in some degree to follow Roman lines. And 
 the strong impression which she made upon northern Gaul 
 is proved by the manner in which the people for centuries 
 afterwards attached the name of the famous queen of Aus- 
 trasia to various monuments of Roman times. So that to 
 this day fragments of the Roman roads in Belgium and the 
 north of France are called the " roads of Brunhilda," while 
 near Bourges is shown a " castle of Brunhilda/' at Etampes 
 a " tower of Brunhilda," near Toumai a " stone of Brun- 
 hilda," and near Cahors a " fort of Brunhilda." ^ 
 
 The As regards Spain during this latter half of the 
 Visigoths. Q^i^ century records are more scanty. The strong 
 and able Athanagild, who had gained the throne in 554,2 
 died in 667 soon after giving his daughter Galswintha in mar- 
 riage to Chilperic, leaving no son. He was succeeded by 
 Leovigild (567-686), the greatest of the Visigoth kings of this 
 epoch. Leovigild ("the lion hearted") regained from the 
 empire Malaga, Assidonia, and Cordova in south-eastern Spain, 
 but against the Franks he was less successful, and eventually 
 he abandoned Toulouse as the Visigoth capital, and removed 
 the capital to Toledo. The fierceness of the contest so long 
 maintained between the Visigoths and the Franks was greatly 
 increased by the fact that the latter, with all the ardour of 
 new converts, and proud of their Catholic faith, not only at- 
 tacked the Visigoths as being in possession of territory which 
 they coveted, but also as being Arians. This naturally in- 
 censed the Visigoths, who had been Arian Christians for at 
 least 200 years before the Franks were Christians at all. Leovi- 
 gild, having a fiery nature, accordingly developed a fierce 
 hatred against the Catholic religion, and towards the end of 
 his reign became in consequence involved in a contest which 
 had two remarkable results, first, the overthrow of the Catholic 
 kingdom of the Suevi (Lusitania and Gallicia) and its incor- 
 poration in the Visigoth kingdom, and secondly, the overthrow 
 of Arianism among the Visigoths. 
 In the year 680 Leovigild arranged that his eldest son Her- 
 
 ^ Michelet, Histoire de France, I, 241. 
 « Chap. XXII, p. 292. 
 
 menigild should marry Ingundis, the eldest daughter of Sigibert 
 and Brunhilda of Austrasia, then nearly fourteen. Ingundis, 
 scarcely more than a child, travelled to the Visigoth court 
 at Toledo, and was married to Hermenigild, none of those 
 who looked on at the ceremony guessing how steadfast a spirit 
 this little daughter of Brunhilda possessed, or that she would 
 cause within seven years a great change in their nation. 
 
 Her mother Brunhilda, daughter of Athanagild, and brought 
 up as an Arian, upon being married to the Frank king Sigibert 
 had found herself expected to accept the Catholic religion 
 professed by the Franks, and after a short time had done so. 
 When her daughter Ingundis arrived at Toledo to be married 
 to Hermenigild, the Visigoths, not realizing what Arianism 
 appeared to a Catholic, or how impossible it was for one who 
 had been taught Catholicism to descend, as it were, to this 
 lower level, considered that just as Brunhilda had changed 
 her religion upon marrying a Frank king, so in return Ingundis 
 should change hers upon marrying the eldest son of the Visigoth 
 king. The Visigoths clung resolutely to Arianism as a part 
 of their national tradition ; while they were still more fiercely 
 determined on the subject owing to their enemies the Franks 
 having adopted Catholicism. 
 
 But none of all the formidable personages by whom she 
 was surrounded at the court of Leovigild could persuade or 
 terrify the quiet little Frank princess of fourteen to renounce 
 her Catholic faith and accept Arianism. Arguments, threats, 
 and harsh treatment all proved equally fruitless. The greatest 
 pressure was put upon her, first by her fierce mother-in-law 
 Goisvintha, and then by the whole court. The aged queen 
 Goisvintha was a violent and bitter Arian, and never for a 
 moment supposed it to be possible that a young girl like In- 
 gundis would dream of opposing her will. But when she told 
 Ingundis that she must change her religion and received a 
 quiet but determined refusal, all her wrath was roused. Gre- 
 gory of Tours states that she seized Ingundis by the hair, 
 dashed her to the ground, trampled her under foot, beat her 
 until the blood spirted forth, and then had her stripped naked 
 and thrown into a pond. But nothing conquered the spirit 
 of the young Frank princess. She prevailed upon her father- 
 in-law Leovigild to suffer Hermenigild and herself to have 
 
352 
 
 THE VISIGOTHS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 ARIANISM ABANDONED 
 
 353 
 
 Seville as their residence, and thither Hermenigild and Ingundis 
 retired. 
 
 At Seville Ingundis after a short time succeeded in converting 
 Hermenigild to the Catholic faith. This roused a storm from 
 Leovigild against his eldest son, and he peremptorily summoned 
 him to his court. Hermenigild was at first afraid to trust 
 himself in his father's power, but his younger brother Reccared 
 interceded for him, and upon Hermenigild's presenting himself 
 before his father he was at first kindly received. Reccared's 
 action in this matter shows that his character was a fine one ; 
 for most younger brothers in that age would have striven to 
 widen the breach as much as possible, so as to secure Hermeni- 
 gild's exclusion from all chance of succeeding to the throne. 
 When, however, Leovigild found that Hermenigild refused to 
 renounce the religion he had adopted the latter was deprived 
 of all his retinue and sent into exile. Hermenigild thereupon 
 appealed in 682 to the Suevi (converted to the Catholic faith 
 about twenty-three years previously by a mission from Ireland), 
 and also to the generals of the emperor Maurice commanding 
 the imperial troops in Spain, to protect him from his father's 
 wrath, and a two years' war followed, Seville being at length 
 besieged. The king of the Suevi put forth the whole strength 
 of his kingdom in Hermenigild's cause, and was eventually 
 himself killed in endeavouring to raise the siege of Seville. 
 Finally in 584 the war ended with the overthrow of the kingdom 
 of the Suevi (which was annexed by Leovigild), and the capture 
 of Hermenigild. He was imprisoned, managed to escape, 
 was again captured, and thereupon was put to death (585). 
 Ingimdis, by this time nineteen, with her infant son, fled by 
 sea to Constantinople, but died on the way in Sicily (586). * 
 
 But though she died thus early her work did not die. Very 
 few girls dying at nineteen have wrought so great a work as 
 Ingundis by simple steadfastness had done. A few months 
 after her death her father-in-law Leovigild also died, and was 
 succeeded by Reccared I (586-601), Hermenigild's younger 
 brother. It is plain that the steadfast stand made by In- 
 gundis on behalf of her religion, and also by Hermenigild when 
 he was converted to it by her, had made a great impression 
 
 * Her child Athanagild was taken to Constantinople, and was 
 brought up by the emperor Maurice with his own sons. 
 
 upon Reccared, and also upon many of the most powerful 
 chiefs of the Visigoths, hitherto such determined enemies of 
 the Catholic religion. For Reccared immediately upon gaining 
 the throne adopted the Catholic faith, and in the following 
 year (587) assembled a Synod of the Church of Spain at Toledo, 
 at which Synod the Visigoth nation renounced Arianism and 
 formally adopted the Catholic faith. Thus in only seven 
 years from the time that Ingundis came, a solitary little girl 
 of fourteen, to the Visigoth court, then bitterly Arian, the 
 religion she so steadfastly refused to abandon had triumphed 
 and become that of the whole Visigoth nation. 
 Synod of Toledo A vcry pcculiar circumstance is connected with 
 
 "^fiitoque *^is Synod of the Spanish Church at Toledo in 587. 
 
 clause." This Syuod when adopting the Nicene creed in 
 place of its former Arian creed, in reciting the words of the 
 new creed made a mistake which afterwards had world-wide 
 effects. In the portion of the creed which refers to the Holy 
 Ghost this Sjmod, after the words "proceeding from the 
 Father " inserted the word *' filioque " (and the Son).i How 
 this came to be inserted, or who suggested that a mere local 
 Synod of a national Church just changing its belief, and im- 
 perfectly acquainted with that which it was adopting, could 
 alter the ancient creed of the whole Catholic Church, is not 
 known, and it seems probable that it was a simple mistake. 
 For several generations the fact that the Spanish Church 
 recited the creed differently from other parts of Christendom, 
 did not become known. Subsequently Charlemagne adopted 
 the addition of the " Filioque clause," and irregularly got 
 it accepted by a local Council of the Bishops in Gaul in 794. 
 Then he tried to get Pope Leo III to adopt it, but the latter 
 refused, and to prevent the innovation from spreading had 
 the true form of the ancient creed engraved upon two silver 
 plates and hung up in St. Peter's at Rome. Nevertheless 
 the alteration spread ; and at length after some two centuries 
 had passed, without any formal act of the Church, and it is 
 said at the suggestion of the emperor Henry II (1002-1024), 
 the change was quietly adopted by the Popes of Rome, and 
 spread from thence over the whole of the West, causing a 
 division on the point between the Churches of the East and 
 ^ The alteration is therefore known as the " Filioque clause." 
 
CHAP 
 
 354 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 West, which still continues. ^ It is a strange result to have 
 emanated from the obscure local Synod at which the Visigoths 
 abjured Arianism and adopted the Catholic faith. 
 
 Britain. 
 
 In Britain in the latter half of the 6th century 
 records are even still more scanty. While in the 
 East the great reign of Justinian was ending, follo^^ ed by the 
 reigns of Justin II, Tiberius II, and Maurice, in France the 
 fierce struggle between Brunhilda and Fredegonda taking place, 
 in Spain the reign of the fiery Leovigild being succeeded by 
 that of Reccared I and the renunciation of Arianism, and 
 while in Italy the Lombards were crushing the Latin race 
 into the mire, in Britain the struggle between the (Christian) 
 descendants of the Romanized Britons and the seven (Pagan) 
 kingdoms of the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles is shown to be still 
 continuing. For we have the Saxon record of a battle with 
 the Britons in 552 near Salisbury, of another in 556 near 
 Swindon, and of another in 577 at Djn'ham in Gloucestershire, 
 in all of which battles the Britons were defeated. ^ In religion 
 these Pagan kingdoms of Britain followed the Scandinavian 
 theism, their chief deities being Woden, Thor, Tiw, and Friga 
 (all of which deities have given their names to days of the 
 week), together with a belief in valkyries, elves, and other 
 supernatural beings of the Scandinavian mythology. Towards 
 the end of the 6th century iEthelbert, king of Kent, married 
 Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, and great-grand- 
 daughter of Clovis, and she being a Christian this marriage 
 led not long afterward^^ to the coming to Kent (instead of 
 Northumbria) of the mission sent to Britain from Rome by 
 
 1 The eastern Church declines to accept the alteration on the ground 
 (strictly correct) that no change in the words of the creed can be made 
 by any other authority than a General Council. Apparently that 
 Church has no specific objection to the clause in itself (or would at any 
 rate be ready to accept one saying *'by the Son "), but declines to 
 adopt any alteration until the latter is authoritatively made by a 
 General Coimcil ; €uid no one can complain of this attitude. Mean- 
 while as long as the Catholic Church remains divided a General Council 
 cannot assemble (see p. 388). 
 
 • As all our scanty records come from the Saxon or Anglian chroni- 
 clera w© only hear of battles in whjiQii the Britons were defeated. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 iETHELFRITH 
 
 355 
 
 Gregory the Great, ^ and to the conversion of Kent to Chris- 
 tianity, more than thirty-five years before any of the other 
 kingdoms of Britain permanently accepted that religion. 
 yEtheifrith -^^^ *^® most important of the seven kingdoms of 
 king of ' Britain at this period was Northumbria, stretching 
 from the Humber to the Forth. Its king was 
 iEthelfrith, who reigned for twenty-six years (591-617), during 
 the time that the throne of the Later Roman Empire was 
 occupied by the emperors Maurice, Phocas, and Heraclius, 
 of none of whom he probably ever heard. iEtheKrith brought 
 Northumbria to a high degree of power, surpassing Kent, 
 which until then had been the leading kingdom, and gained 
 the title of Brettvalda,^ while he is stated to have harried the 
 Christian Britons more than any other king of his time, and 
 in particular to have carried out in 615 a great massacre of 
 them at Deva (Chester). iEthelfrith greatly increased the 
 size and importance of his capital of Bamborough, and at this 
 time Bamborough, and not London,^ appeared likely to become 
 the future capital of England. 
 
 . , . , Meanwhile in Italy important events had been 
 
 Authans made */ ir 
 
 king of the taking place. In 584 the ten years of anarchy 
 °™ ** among the Lombards * came to an end, and Autharis, 
 the son of Clepho, having reached the age of twenty, was 
 installed as king, most of the thirty " dukes " resigning a large 
 portion of their territories to him. Among the Lombards 
 the kingly office was by no means so autocratic or so strictly 
 hereditary as among the Franks. The Lombard dukes,^ 
 each reigning over a territory of his own, were at all times 
 inclined to assert a semi-independence, and upon the death 
 of the king one of these dukes was usually chosen as his suc- 
 cessor. The most important of these Lombard duchies were 
 
 1 Page 372. 
 
 * A title from time to time given to the king of whichever of the 
 seven kingdoms became the leading one. 
 
 3 The capital of Britain in the time of the Romans was York. 
 
 * Page 332. 
 
 * This is the title (dux) used by the contemporary chroniclers, all 
 of whom of course wrote in Latin. We have no means of knowing 
 what word the Lombards used for it in their own language. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 356 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 Beneventum (comprising most of southern Italy), ^ Spoleto 
 (comprising central Italy east of the Flaminian Way), Friuli 
 (the north-eastem comer of Italy), Trent (the valley of the 
 Adige as far north as Brixen),* and Turin (the north-westem 
 comer of Italy). Pavia, with all the central part of Lombardy, 
 was looked upon as the royal duchy, being administered 
 directly by the king himself. 
 
 Attacks on Soou aftcF the accession of the emperor Maurice 
 '^'madTb^^ in 582 Brunhilda, queen of Austrasia, in her conflict 
 
 Austrasia. with ChUperic and Fredegonda, sought assistance 
 from the emperor. He sent her large sums of money and 
 in return for it obtained from her a promise to attack the 
 Lombards, Maurice (unable to spare troops owing to the war 
 with Persia) hoping by this means to eject these hated con- 
 querors of Italy from the imperial land. There Smaragdus 
 had been appointed by Maiuice, in succession to Longinus, 
 as Exarch ^ of Italy, though the title was an empty one, since 
 except Ravenna, Rome, Perugia, Genoa, and Naples, with a 
 small district round each, the Lombards possessed all Italy, 
 and Smaragdus is therefore more correctly known as Exarch 
 of Ravenna. In 584, the year that Chilperic was slain and 
 Fredegonda forced to fly, Brunhilda, being for the time re- 
 lieved of anxiety as regards Neustria, redeemed her promise 
 to the emperor and sent a large force against the Lombards. 
 Her son Childebert was by this time sixteen, and between 
 the years 584 and 590 Childebert, urged on and assisted with 
 money by the emperor, led four separate expeditions against 
 Italy, but was on each occasion defeated by the Lombards, 
 and effected nothing. 
 
 „ . , In 586 Childebert, after his second failure, made 
 
 Mamage of ' ' 
 
 Autharisto peace for a time with Autharis, and promised him 
 his sister Chlotosuinda in marriage. But in the 
 
 ^ Except Naples, Rhegium, and Bnindisium, still held by the empire, 
 and subject to the authority of the Exarch of Italy at Ravenna. 
 
 * North of Brixen began the territory of Bavaria. 
 
 * This Greek form of the title, instead of the Latin form Prefect, 
 is now first met with, being first used in 584, and the change being 
 made by the emperor Maurice in accordance with the new policy 
 inaugurated by his predecessor, Tiberius II (p. 337). It is used in 
 regard to both Italy and North Africa. An exarch had the honour 
 of b^ing styled pcftricius^ a cUstinctiQA noX usually given to a prefecti 
 
 xxm] 
 
 THIUDALINDA 
 
 357 
 
 following year Chlotosuinda was betrothed to Reccared I, 
 king of the Visigoths, and Autharis sought a bride in another 
 direction, with results which altered all the subsequent history 
 of the Lombards. The Franks had in the reign of Thiudabert 
 gained possession of Bavaria, and Autharis, hearing that Gari- 
 bald, the Frankish duke of Bavaria, had a daughter, Thiuda- 
 linda, who was far-famed for her beauty, wisdom, and accom- 
 plishments, determined to see for himself how far she deserved 
 this renown. Accordingly in 588, after having in a severely 
 fought battle defeated Childebert's third expedition against 
 Italy, Autharis despatched an embassy on some pretext to 
 the Bavarian duke, and a few days after its departure started 
 himself secretly from Verona, crossed the Brenner pass, caught 
 up the embassy, and travelled to the Bavarian court disguised 
 as one of the members of the embassy. There he saw Thiuda- 
 linda, and falling deeply in love with her contrived to woo 
 her without disclosing who he was, and after secretly gaining 
 a promise from her, departed with the embassy back to his 
 kingdom. A few months afterwards Thiudalinda, accom- 
 panied by her young brother, fled from the court of Bavaria, 
 and crossing the Alps was received by Autharis with much 
 honour on the shore of Lake Garda. Thence Autharis con- 
 ducted her to Verona, where they were married on the 15th 
 May 589, with great festivities, which were repeated upon 
 their arrival at Autharis' capital of Pavia. It was a most 
 auspicious marriage, for Thiudalinda was destined to show 
 in a long career of forty years that she deserved all that had 
 been reported of her. 
 
 Agiiuif But she had first to endure sorrow. For in 590, 
 becomes king, after ouly ouc year of marriage, her young husband 
 Autharis fell ill and died at Pavia. Thiudalinda was in great 
 grief, and for some time it was doubtful who was to be the 
 next king, there being no heirs, and the Lombards requiring 
 a warrior to rule over them. But the Lombards must even 
 in only a year have already become much impressed by Thiu- 
 dalinda 's character and wisdom ; for instead of choosing a 
 king in their usual fashion, they placed in her hands the choice 
 of a new king. She chose Agilulf, duke of Turin, and we are 
 told " on his kissing her hand, told him it was not fitting that 
 one should kiss her hand who might kiss her lips/' and married 
 
CHAP. 
 
 358 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 him. Agilulf was devoted to her, and under her influence 
 the entire condition of Italy gradually became changed. 
 
 Change in Thludaliuda, the beautiful and sagacious, was the 
 ^^^uS^b"^* 8^^^ genius of the Lombard nation, coming from 
 Thiudaiinda. Bavaoa like a gleam of sunshine to bring light and 
 a large measure of civilization to this pre-eminently savage 
 race ; and in doing so ameliorating greatly the sufferings 
 of down- trodden Italy. Before she had been five years married 
 to Agilulf she in 595 temporarily brought some degree of peace 
 to that distracted land, by arranging, through her influence 
 with Pope Gregory the Great, ^ a truce between the Lombards 
 and the imperial authorities at Ravenna, and did the same 
 again in the year 600 ; and she continued throughout her 
 life to control largely all the politics of the Lombards. But 
 Thiudaiinda did much more than this. By her softening 
 influence (employed with the utmost tact) during the forty 
 years that she exercised sway over the Lombard kingdom, first 
 through a husband who adored her, and after his death as 
 regent for her son, the most extraordinary change was worked 
 in the Lombards, who from having been the roughest and 
 most savage of aU the Teuton races — -barbarous, drunken, 
 passionate, hideously cruel, and commonly spoken of in the 
 records of the time as " the imspeakable Lombard " {nefandus 
 Lomhardus)y — became in less than two generations so changed 
 that they are said to have looked with horror on the portraits 
 of their grandfathers who had accompanied Alboin into Italy 
 which hung in the royal palace at Monza. 
 The change But the greatest change of all which Thiudaiinda 
 bybCTin worked among the Lombards was in reUgion. She 
 religion, ^as a fervent Catholic, and ere long her strong 
 influence with Agilulf caused him to abandon Arianism, or 
 if not himself to do so at all events to make no opposition 
 to his subjects doing so,^ and by degrees the Catholic faith 
 began to be tolerated. This condition of things continued 
 
 1 Page 371. 
 
 * It is considered by some authorities to be doubtful whether Agilult 
 himself actually adopted the Catholic faith, though some contemporary 
 statements imply that he did. But not to mention the fact of his 
 allowing his infant son to be baptized as a CathoUc, the words inscribed 
 round his crown (see Chap. XXIV, p. 426) seem to make it conclusive 
 that he did so. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 THIUDALINDA BEARS A SON 
 
 369 
 
 for some ten years, the Lombards steadily growing less anta- 
 gonistic to the religion professed by the queen whom they so 
 much admired ; and then in 602 Thiudaiinda brought an 
 almost irresistible influence to bear upon them. She and 
 Agilulf were specially fond of Monza (about eight miles from 
 Milan), where they usually spent a considerable part of each 
 year, and where Thiudaiinda had in the year 600 built a royal 
 palace, which she adorned with paintings depicting the victories 
 of the Lombards. And at Monza, towards the end of the year 
 602, Thiudaiinda, who had been twelve years married to 
 Agilulf without having any children, at length gave birth to a 
 son, the first of her two children.^ The Lombards were wild 
 with joy at the birth of this son ; nothing was in their eyes 
 too good to do for Thiudaiinda ; and Agilulf at such a time 
 could refuse her nothing. Hitherto the Lombard laws had 
 severely prohibited under heavy penalties the son of any 
 Lombard noble being baptized as a Catholic. This was now 
 changed, and on Easter Sunday in April 603, amidst general 
 rejoicings, Agilulf 's son was baptized at Milan by the Catholic 
 rite, and given the name Adalwald. This action as regards 
 the heir to the throne, with the alteration in the laws mentioned, 
 meant the gradual abandonment of Arianism, and this latter 
 religion slowly died away, the nation as a whole during the 
 following years by degrees becoming entirely converted to 
 the Catholic faith. This change in religion had no small 
 share in the alteration in the nature and manners of the Lom- 
 bards, Arianism being essentially the creed of an ignorant 
 and savage people. 
 
 Final triumph Wc are thus able to see what important effects to 
 faith^over*" Europe were produced by the conversion of Clovis 
 Arianism. and thc Franks to the Catholic faith in 496. Owing 
 to the preponderating influence which the Franks kept on 
 gaining in the West that faith steadily drove out the Arian 
 belief till then prevailing among all the Teuton conquerors 
 of Europe who were not Pagans. Following the acceptance 
 of the Catholic faith by the Franks in 496, the Burgundians, 
 under their king Sigismund, owing to Frankish influence, 
 
 ^ Her second child was a daughter, Gundiperga, bom in 603. 
 
h 
 
 I: 
 
 m 
 
 r 
 
 m TRIUMPH OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH ^"^^^ 
 
 renounced Arianism in 617. Then the Suevi, under their 
 king Carrarich, did the same in 559. Then the Visigoths, i 
 under Reccared I, foUowed suit in 587. Then the Jutes' ^^ 
 in Britain (and subsequently the Saxons) were converted 
 from Paganism to the Catholic faith through the mission 
 sent by Gregory the Great in 597.^ And last of aU the Lom- 
 bards began the abandonment of Arianism in 603. « The 
 manner in which Arianism, when it was triumphant throughout 
 the whole of Europe, died away, and in only about one hundred 
 and fifty years became extinct, is very remarkable. The 
 Catholic faith, after having had to struggle for its existence 
 for many generations, and after having, ever since the fall 
 of the western half of the Roman Empire, been nearly sub- 
 merged in western Europe, was now finaUy left the sole 
 occupant of the field.^ 
 
 The Catholic faith which had now at last triumphed had 
 thus been compelled to endure, first a battle of 250 years 
 agamst Paganism, and secondly a scarcely less strenuous 
 contest of 280 years against Arianism and the other heresies 
 which grew out of it. The battle against Paganism required 
 unshakable faith and courage of the highest order ; the battle 
 agamst Arianism required a no less firm faith, an almost 
 equal courage at times, and an unwearied power of patient 
 endurance, together with in many cases readiness to suffer 
 the loss of all that the world holds dear rather than conform 
 to the dominant creed, which was backed by aU the power 
 of the State. In the first of these two periods the chief 
 agents in the victory had been '' the noble army of martyrs " 
 
 1 Chiefly owing to the action of Ingundis, the Frank bride of 
 Hermemgild. 
 
 « Chiefly owing to the support of Bertha, the Frank bride of 
 -^thelbert, king of Kent. 3 p^gg 372 
 
 * Owing to the efforts of Thiudalinda. The process among* the 
 Lombards was gradual ; Arianism, beginning its decline in 603, finally 
 died out among them not long after Thiudalinda's death. 
 
 Bntam is the only land which never saw Arianism ; for Gaul had 
 expenence of it while occupied by the Vandals, and later on by the 
 Visigoths It will also be seen that the Franks and the Saxons never 
 had an Anan period ; that the Burgundians, Suevi, Visigoths, and 
 Lombards all had an Arian period before changing to the Catholic 
 faith ; and that the only two races which remained always Arian were 
 the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, who were both destroyed. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 NAMES WORTHY OF HONOUR 
 
 361 
 
 of whom Hilary sang ; in the second the chief agents were :- 
 
 Athanasina 
 
 . 295-373. 
 
 Hilary 
 
 Basil the Great. 
 
 . 308-368. 
 . 329-379. 
 
 Ambrose . 
 
 . 340-397. 
 
 Chrysostom 
 Augustine (of Hippo) . 
 
 Pulcheria . 
 
 . 347^07. 
 
 . 354-430. 
 
 431" ) 
 . ■ .-p (Roman princess.) 
 
 Clotilda 
 Ingundis . 
 Bertha 
 Thiudalinda 
 
 . 496* (Burgundian princess) 
 . 582* (Frank princess). 
 . 597* (Frank princess). 
 . 603' (Frank princess). 
 
 And greatly to be honoured as are the six men who have 
 thus made their names immortal, high honour is also due to 
 the five women who contributed so much to the final victory ; 
 especially those Frank princesses who, alone, young in 3-ears, 
 far removed from their homes, and surrounded in a foreign 
 court by an alien race fiercely antagonistic to their religion, 
 adhered firmly to their faith, and by their steadfastness 
 eventually caused whole nations to change their religion. 
 Gregory the In 590, thc ycar that Thiudalinda married Agilulf , 
 Great. g^ ^^^^ bccamc Bishop of Rome who was destined 
 to make his influence felt through all the countries of western 
 Europe, Gregory the Great. Born about 540, he was carefully 
 brought up by his father Gordianus and his mother Silvia (the 
 latter a saintly character), and at the age of thirty was appointed 
 by the emperor Justin II to be Prcetor of the city of Rome, 
 at which time he is spoken of by Gregory of Tours as dressing 
 in silken garments and a purple-striped robe ornamented 
 with gems. But upon his father's death a year or two later 
 Gregory resigned this office, gave up nearly all the large patri- 
 mony to which he succeeded, and devoted it to founding 
 monasteries in Sicily and elsewhere, including one on the site 
 of the house that he inherited from his father on the Coelian 
 
 • The Third General Council convened, suppressing Nestorianism. 
 
 * The Fourth General Council convened, suppressing Eutychianism. 
 
 • Conversion of the Franks. 
 
 ' Conversion of the Visigoths begim. 
 
 * Conversion of the Jutes and Saxons. 
 ' Conversion of the Lombards. 
 
 P 
 
 \ ' 
 
 m 
 
3d2 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 Chap. 
 
 hill in Rome (where the church of the monastery, San Gregorio, 
 still stands), in which monastery he became a monk. A few 
 years afterwards he was sent, in the reign of Tiberius II, by 
 Pope Pelagius II to Constantinople to act as the latter's 
 representative at the imperial court, a duty which was very 
 distasteful to him. He remained there thus employed for 
 six years, during the remainder of the reign of Tiberius II 
 and part of that of Maurice, the latter of whom took a dislike 
 to him, which was not unnatural in view of Maurice's tolerant 
 views, Gregory's temperament being intolerant, especia]ly 
 at this time in his life.i 
 
 Becomes Pope I^ 585 Grcgory was recalled to Rome, and for the 
 of Rome. ^^^^ ^y^ years was abbot of his monastery and 
 also employed as the Pope's secretary. It was during this 
 time that he took that well-known walk one day through the 
 Forum, and saw there exposed for sale those fair-haired English 
 boys whose appearance so roused his sympathies, and implanted 
 in him a desire to conduct a mission to their race, the Angles, 
 in the distant island of Britain, a desire which remained 
 w ith him all his life. In 690 Pope Pelagius II died, and the 
 Praetor, clergy, and people of Rome all insisted that no one 
 else would be suitable as his successor but Gregory. The 
 latter, longing for the quiet life of the monastery, refused the 
 oflSce again and again, and even wrote to the emperor Maurice 
 begging him to annul the election and name some one else, 
 but the emperor refused to do so, and Gregory had to accept 
 it.^ He was then fifty years of age. On being placed in the 
 position he so little coveted he threw himself with the utmost 
 energy into the work thus given him to do. 
 Extent of his The authority of the Pope of Rome at the time 
 authority, i^ijat Gregory held that office was of three kinds, 
 differing in extent. As Bishop, his diocese included simply the 
 
 * It is strange that Gregory lived for six years at Constantinople, 
 employed in the duties of an envoy at the court, without ever learning 
 Greek. It seems possible that this may have contributed its quota 
 to the emperor's dislike of him. 
 
 * With reference to the struggles in the Middle Ages between the 
 Popes and the Emperors this conclusive evidence that in the 6th 
 century the Emperor's right to annul the election of a Pope w£« fully 
 accepted is noteworthy. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 EXTENT OF HIS AUTHORITY 
 
 S63 
 
 city of Rome and the adjacent villages. As Metropolitan, he 
 had the oversight of the seven dioceses comprised in the small 
 territory round Rome which still remained to the empire. 
 As Patriarch, his control only extended over Sicily, Sardinia, 
 Corsica, and those few parts of Italy not subject to the Arian 
 Lombards. 1 In Gaul the Frankish Bishops were in no way 
 under his authority ; in Spain, where the Vi5>igoths had 
 embraced the Catholic faith the year before he became Pope 
 of Rome, the case during aU the time that he held that office 
 was the same ; and in Britain the Saxons and Angles were 
 Pagans, 2 while the ancient British Church in the west of the 
 island did not even know of his existence.^ 
 
 The testimony of the contemporary chroniclers is quite 
 definite that in the time of Gregory the Great, as well as for 
 more than a century after his time, the Pope of Rome possessed 
 no authority of any kind over the Bishops in either Gaul or 
 Spain. Indications of such authority had it existed might 
 be expected most of all to be found among the Franks, that 
 race having for more than a hundred years been converted 
 to the Catholic faith. Nevertheless we find from the con- 
 temporary writers that in Gregory's time, while the Frankish 
 Church honoured the Pope of Rome, there was no idea, on 
 either side, of his possessing any authority whatever over that 
 Church. We see this very plainly shown in the History of 
 the Franks, written by Gregory of Tours, himself a Bishop. 
 We do not find the Pope of Rome playing any part in the 
 narrative. The Bishops are appointed without any reference 
 to him, and they govern their dioceses without entering into 
 any relations with him. Gregory the Great also in his own 
 letters gives plentiful evidence of the same point ; his influence 
 is brought to bear, not upon the bishops, but upon the kings ; 
 he seeks to tender advice to them as to the course they should 
 take in Church matters ; he attempts no interference with 
 the bishops of the countries they govern, but in all cases urges 
 action upon the king ; he gives advice in Church matters to 
 Brunhilda, the ruling queen of Austrasia, but he urges the 
 
 1 Page 328. 
 
 * They remained so throughout his lifetime, only the Jutes, hold- 
 ing the kingdom of Kent, being converted by the mission sent by him. 
 
 * See pp. 373-374. 
 
364 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 queen to act. And after his death for more than a century 
 there are not more than one or two instances of any relations 
 at all between the Pope of Rome and the Franks, even in the 
 case of their kings. Similarly in the case of Spain, Gregory 
 writes on Church matters to Reccared I, king of the Visigoths, 
 but he makes no attempt to claim any authority over the 
 Bishops of the Spanish Church. 
 
 In writing to other Metropolitan Bishops in Italy, Sicily, 
 Sardinia, Corsica, or North Africa Gregory often ignored the 
 ruling of the Second General Council prohibiting him from 
 attempting to exercise authority over other Metropolitans 
 of his province,^ and as one might expect, not infrequently 
 makes use of the favourite Italian device ^ of writing in a 
 tone which assumes a quasi authority where in reality none 
 is possessed ; so that in regard to this point of the extent of 
 his authority it is not the letters written by him, but the 
 replies thereto, or the results which followed therefrom, which 
 give the most reliable evidence on the point. Many instances 
 show that his advice or expostulations were more often than 
 not courteously ignored, being received politely, but no atten- 
 tion being paid to them. And his overt actions in the same 
 direction often met with a definite repulse. When on one 
 occasion he endeavoured to claim authority over the Metro- 
 politan of Aquileia the emperor promptly commanded him to 
 desist, and Gregory had reluctantly to obey. Again, when he 
 endeavoured to assume an authority over certain Bishops in 
 North Africa, in which country the Church at Rome had 
 become possessed of considerable estates, and (forgetting the 
 celebrated defeat of Stephen, Bishop of Rome, on the same 
 point in the 3rd century in regard to Cyprian^) wrote that 
 ** Rome is the mother church of Africa and her authority 
 must be respected," his action met with a violent protest 
 from Adeodatus, the Primate of North Africa, and Dominicus, 
 Bishop of Carthage. Again, Gregory strove hard to create a 
 papal vicar in the province of Aries, but he failed to get the 
 Frankish Church to endorse his wishes, and Aries never became 
 a papal vicariate. 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 637. 
 » Vol. I, Chap. X, p. 329. 
 
 a Chap. XIX, p. 109. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 IMMENSE CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 365 
 
 His letters. 
 
 But though Gregory's authority was thus circum- 
 scribed, his influence was wider than his authority. 
 Felt by the kings of the rough northern races in Italy, Gaul, 
 and Spain, to be their superior in learning, ability, and purity 
 of life, he exercised an influence far beyond that belonging to 
 his ofl&ce. He used this influence to the utmost, constantly 
 writing to such rulers to urge them to live less un-Christian 
 lives, or to press them to force the Bishops under their authority 
 to adopt less unworthy courses of conduct. And though the 
 silence or want of result which his communications frequently 
 met with from these kings show that they often regarded him 
 in the light of a troublesome busybody intermeddliag in matters 
 which were not his concern, yet in a large number of cases 
 his representations of this kind had much effect. One point 
 noticeable in his correspondence brings out the wide difference 
 between his position and that of the Popes of Rome after the 
 10th century. We see in all his letters that he is a subject, 
 not an independent ruler, and he even carries to excess his 
 adulation of royal personages. His correspondence was 
 immense, and 838 of his letters still remain ; they are addressed 
 to kings and queens. Bishops and clergy of his province, 
 stewards of Church lands in North Africa or elsewhere, and 
 various private persons ; and they deal with diplomacy, 
 doctrine. Church discipline, missionary work, management of 
 property, works of charity, guidance of individuals in matters 
 of duty or conscience, and many other subjects, showing how 
 various were the matters to which he devoted his unbounded 
 energy.^ 
 Character ^® posscss morc intimate information about Gregory 
 and attain- thc Great than about any other man up to that 
 date, our information coming from the most reliable 
 source of all, his own letters. He v^ as not like Leo the Great 
 a deep theologian, and he did not even know Greek ; but ho 
 was a man pre-eminent for a sound practical religion. He often 
 shows a wide-minded liberality as regards forms and usages, 
 saying " Where there is one faith, difference of usage does no 
 
 ^ Besides his many letters Gregory also wrote a " Sacrament ary " 
 (or order for the administration of the Holy Conrmiunion), several 
 hymns, and the chief part of th^ Litany contained in the Prayerbook 
 of the Church of England, 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 366 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 f I 
 
 harm to the Church." He writes to kings exhorting them to 
 humUity, chastity, and mercy. He fears for himself *^lest 
 the worldly glory which I had cast away might creep on me 
 again under the cover of ecclesiastical government." He 
 knew no language but his own, had no knowledge of the clas- 
 sical literature of his race, was not an original thinker, and in 
 the higher intellectual sphere he did not shine like Leo the 
 Great ; while he was altogether behind the latter by showing a 
 strong tendency to time-serving and insincerity, and by stoop- 
 ing to adulation of those in power. He was in fact not nearly 
 so great a man as Leo, not so strong a character, and not so 
 ** straight." On the other hand he made himself the champion 
 of oppressed Italy, and when neither exarch nor emperor 
 seemed able to effect anything, used his influence as a Bishop 
 to obtain mitigations from time to time of that country's down- 
 trodden condition. When he applies to the Exarch of Italy 
 for help for Rome against the Lombards the Exarch replies 
 that it is as much as he can do to defend the territory round 
 Ravenna ; and when he applies to the emperor he receives 
 either no reply, or refusals, or sharp rebukes, rebukes which 
 we can see Gregory often deserved, but which he of course 
 failed to realize as deserved, and much resented. 
 Credulity a In all times an illiterate age is a fruitful soil for 
 s^t^oVhfs *^® growth of superstition ; and one effect of a 
 «««• number of races unable to read or write having 
 succeeded to the rule of the whole of Europe is to be noticed 
 in the astonishing degree of superstition and credulity which 
 had by this time become universal among all classes throughout 
 the countries of the West. Instead of finding, as in the 4th 
 century, a Bishop warning an empress who merely desired 
 to possess a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary to avoid even 
 the beginnings of a tendency to superstition,^ we find through- 
 out the West in this age of Gregory a universal growth of the 
 very rankest superstition and the most childish credulity, as 
 a direct result of the illiterate character of the age, and find 
 Bishops as much infected with it as aU other classes of the 
 community. Gregory, owing to this universal spirit of his 
 time (and being himself also wanting in general learning), 
 was as much imbued with this disease as all others at that 
 
 1 Vol, I, Chap. XIII, p. 418, 
 
 i 
 
 xxin] 
 
 MISERY OF ITALY 
 
 367 
 
 epoch, and he frequently shows in his letters the most childish 
 credulity, being always ready to confirm the truths of religion 
 by adducing the evidence of ghosts, miracles, and super- 
 natural appearances. For this he has been condemned by 
 some writers in a manner which is unjust. He was a large- 
 hearted man, of wide sympathies, and very much in harmony 
 with his generation, and to sneer at him in this manner merely 
 shows an inability to appreciate the spirit of the age in which 
 Gregory lived. 
 His difficult Gregory's position was most diflGicult. In the 
 position, continual warfare between the Lombards and the 
 emperor's representative in Italy, and in the desperate condition 
 to which the country had been reduced, he either had to be 
 by turns a Bishop, a political officer, and even a general, or 
 took upon himself to be so. We find him telling the Bishop 
 of Cagliari to cause his city to be strongly fortified, urging 
 the military officers at Rome to persevere in their efforts, 
 suggesting plans of strategy, and directing the troops to 
 maintain their discipline ; while he several times manages 
 to arrange a truce, so as at all events for a time to bring a 
 respite to the tormented land. The Exarch at Ravenna (the 
 exceedingly incapable Smaragdus)^ nominally ruled also over 
 Rome, but he scarcely dared to venture outside Ravenna 
 for fear of the Lombards, and practically left Rome to be ruled 
 by its Bishop, while the state of almost constant warfare made 
 communication between Rome and Ravenna often impossible. 
 Sometimes the Exarch would fail to observe treaties made 
 with the Lombard king and would make a raid into the territory 
 of the Lombards ; the king would retaliate by laying waste 
 the country almost up to the walls of Rome, and threaten to 
 attack the city ; whereupon Gregory had to become a general 
 for a time and occupy himself with measures for its defence. 
 The state of Italy is described by him thus : " Everywhere 
 we see sorrows, everywhere we hear groans. Cities are des- 
 troyed, castles ruined, fields laid waste, the land reduced to 
 solitude. In the country is no inhabitant, scarcely any remain 
 in the cities ; yet even these small remnants of the human 
 race are still daily and incessantly smitten. Some we see led 
 away into captivity, others maimed, others killed." And 
 
 ^ P^e 356, 
 
 V 
 
i| 
 
 iili 
 
 •til 
 
 
 V 
 
 Ii 
 
 I 
 
 368 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 in a letter to the emperor Maurice, in enumerating the griev- 
 ances of Italy, he speaks of " the sight of Romans being led 
 away like dogs, with ropes about their necks, to be sold in 
 Gaul as slaves." 
 
 Gregory's difficulties were undeniably very great ; but he 
 was not always wise in his action when he undertook to deal 
 with political affairs. When in 692, acting in a manner which 
 was entirely unauthorized, he took upon himself to conclude 
 a peace with the Lombard duke of Spoleto, who ruled all 
 central Italy, ^ the emperor Maurice, in justly rebuking him 
 for an action which was altogether ultra vires and inexcusable 
 (quite apart from whether the peace itself was judicious or 
 otherwise), wrote to him that the peace which he had made 
 in the name of the imperial authorities was an altogether 
 injudicious one, and that his action in this case had been 
 ** fatuous." The emperor, having to consider the needs of 
 the empire as a whole, had opportunities of seeing further 
 than Gregory, who had a more limited sphere to regard, could 
 do. On another occasion Gregory took upon himself to nomi- 
 nate a governor for Naples, (instead of leaving the appointment 
 to be made by the Exarch), a most unjustifiable failure to keep 
 to his own proper province, and an altogether unwarrantable 
 intrusion upon that of the emperor. 
 
 But besides the duties of a Bishop and of a political officer, 
 Gregory had also to carry out the duties of an administrator 
 of large estates. In the general slaughter and dispersal of 
 the landed proprietors the Church of Italy had by this time 
 come to own considerable landed possessions, both in Italy 
 and North Africa, These Gregory had to administer ; and 
 there is every evidence that he did so with much ability. The 
 income from these lands provided him with large funds, which 
 he used in supplying the necessities of the poverty-stricken 
 population of Rome, in ransoming captives, and in constructing 
 defences to the city. This gave Gregory many financial 
 labours to add to those which belonged more particularly 
 to his office of Bishop of Rome. 
 
 ^ Dr. Hodgkin speaks of this action as about as irregular as would 
 have been that of an Archbishop of Canterbury who had unauthor- 
 izedly concluded a peace with Napoleon I at the time that the latter 
 was mediti^tin^ an invasion of England (Italy and her Invaders^ V, 366), 
 
 
 xxm] 
 
 A CITY OF RUmS 
 
 369 
 
 Gregorian Ih addition to these various activities Gregory's 
 music. ^YiiQi interest was Church music. He founded a 
 " song-school ", in which he personally instructed the boys, 
 inaugurating an important reform in Church music. Up 
 to that time the style of music used in churches had been 
 the "Ambrosian," introduced by St. Ambrose. Before the 
 latter gave his attention to the subject it was largely mono- 
 polized by the Arians, who were accustomed to taunt the 
 Catholics with the dullness and solemnness of the music used 
 in their churches. To remedy this St. Ambrose introduced 
 the Ambrosian music, which was of a peculiarly melodious and 
 attractive style, and was considered by some to be almost 
 theatrical. So much so, that St. Augustine says that though 
 it charmed him he often wondered whether it was suitable to 
 have music of that style in the services of the Church. Gregory's 
 reform was intended to banish all that was trivial and thea- 
 trical from Church music, and to return to a more severe 
 style. At the same time he breathed into its slowly rolling 
 melody a solemn and majestic grandeur which is all his own, 
 causing his Church music when properly rendered to be very 
 impressive. 
 Rome in his ^ooking back through the mists of centuries, with 
 tune a city the knowlcdgc of the fame which in subsequent 
 generations gathered round Gregory's name, it is 
 strange to realize upon what he looked forth as he sat inditing 
 his many letters in his half-ruined palace of the Lateran. 
 Close behind his palace was the Asinarian Gate, through which 
 twice over the barbarian Goths had burst into the city, as a 
 prelude to scenes of destruction and horror ; and in front 
 were the battered walls so often and so arduously attacked 
 and defended during twenty years. Within the city, on which- 
 ever side he looked, were ruins piled upon ruins, gigantic heaps 
 of the debris of the buildings of classical Rome, with here and 
 there in the spaces between them a few scattered fields or land 
 lying waste, upon which the only uninjured building, the long 
 unused Colosseum, looked down in desolate grandeur. And 
 beyond the battered walls of the city the eye ranged over an 
 often-ravaged land, where a roving band of Lombards was 
 at any time possible, and where all was, as he himseK says, 
 " sorrow and groaning." As a cultured man, of an ancient 
 E.W.— n. 3 B 
 
CHAP. 
 
 370 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 ' .1! 
 
 y 
 
 Roman family, Gregory must have felt deep sorrow in seeing 
 Rome thus " sit desolate." We do not know who were his 
 friends ; he speaks of none ; and in fact all who were cultured 
 had long since fled to Constantinople. Nevertheless Gregory 
 did work which helped largely to bring about a better state of 
 things in the centuries to come ; the walls of the Civitas Dei 
 of which St. Augustine had written 170 years before ^ could 
 now be plainly seen slowly rising above their foundations even 
 in the midst of all the destruction of Europe ; and Gregory 
 himself took no small part in helping to build them. 
 
 It is curious to notice the wide difference at this 
 
 nis , 
 
 ciretjmstances time, both in character and cu"cumstances, between 
 John. Pope of the Pope of Constantinople, John Nesteutes, and 
 coastantinopie. ^jj^ Popc of Romc, Grcgory the Great. John, 
 
 Pope- of Constantinople, was in every way as remarkable 
 a man, as highly gifted, as energetic, as frugal and austere in 
 life, and as exemplary in conduct as Gregory the Great. But 
 their characters differed materially ; for while John was 
 tolerant and on friendly terms with the emperor, Gregory was 
 the reverse in both respects, a difference which caused a 
 feeling between Gregory and John which was certainly not 
 that of affection. Still more widely, however, did their circum- 
 stances differ. The one was Pope of the splendid imperial 
 city, which in addition to its natiu'al advantages had been 
 made by the various buildings erected by Justinian the most 
 superb city the world had ever seen ; he had the gorgeous 
 church of St. Sophia for his cathedral ; he was surrounded 
 by all the magnificence of the court and capital of a wide 
 empire ; and the ecclesiastical province of which he was Metro- 
 politan contained numberless Bishops of important and 
 prosperous cities. The other was Pope of a city of ruins, 
 with nothing surrounding him except that which spoke of 
 poverty and misery, while the attenuated province of which 
 he was Metropolitan possessed only seven Bishops, and these 
 often under the necessity of seeking refuge in concealment. 
 But Gregory had an opportunity which was denied to John 
 in the circumstances of the rough races who had occupied the 
 various countries of the West ; and he used it to the full, 
 seizing all opportunities for bringing influence to bear in reli- 
 
 1 Chap. XVII, p. 53. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 APPEAL TO THIUDALINDA 
 
 371 
 
 gious matters upon the kings of the Franks, Burgundians, and 
 Visigoths, encoiu'aging Thiudalinda in her efforts to convert 
 the Lombards, and sending a special mission to Britain to 
 convert the Jutes and Saxons. And it is to this work of his 
 that Gregory owes his fame, whereas his rival and contemporary 
 John is almost unknown. 
 
 About four vears after he became Bishop of Rome 
 
 Correspondence *^ • t 
 
 with Gregory, having by this time learnt something of 
 the remarkable character of the queen of his coun- 
 try's enemy the king of the Lombards, and knowing also 
 that she was a Catholic, addressed a letter to her, urging her 
 in courtly terms to continue her efforts to bring her husband 
 from Arianism to the Catholic faith, and imploring her gracious 
 assistance towards bringing about a truce in the desolating 
 war between the Lombards and the empire. Thiudalinda in 
 response to this appeal brought about in 595 the desired truce 
 for a year (doing the same again on a subsequent occasion), 
 and in return solicited Gregory's advice and assistance in 
 religious matters. This was the beginning of a correspondence 
 between them which continued at intervals during all the 
 remaining years of Gregory's life, though apparently they never 
 met. And it was largely due to the encouragement and advice 
 which she received from Gregory that Thiudalinda gradually 
 succeeded in bringing the Lombards to abandon Arianism. 
 
 ^ 
 
 piantin of "^^^ couvcrsiou of thc Auglcs to Christianity had 
 Christianity bccu a projcct upou which Grcgory had set his 
 ^ *" ■ heart ever since he had seen the f airhaired boys 
 in the Forum who seemed to him " Non Angli, sed Angeli." 
 That incident made so deep an impression on his mind that 
 when he was abbot of his monastery he obtained permission 
 from Pope Pelagius to undertake a mission to Northumbria 
 himself, started upon this mission, and had got three days' 
 journey from Rome when the clamours of the people of Rome 
 caused his recall. Nevertheless he never laid aside this 
 favourite scheme, and though on becoming Pope he had to 
 give up going personally, he resolved to send a substitute. 
 For some time circumstances in Gaul were unfavourable, but 
 in 597 Gregory prepared a mission of forty monks from his 
 
CHAP. 
 
 372 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 xxm] 
 
 MISSION TO KENT 
 
 373 
 
 lili 
 
 11 
 
 own monastery on the Coelian hill, placed the mission under 
 charge of one of them, Augustine, and sent them off to Britain 
 with many prayers for their success. We can well imagine 
 the feelings with which Gregory watched from the steps of 
 San Gregorio the departure of this little band of carefully 
 selected men whom he had chosen for this venture upon which 
 he had so long set his heart, and the difficulties of which he 
 well knew. Instead, however, of going to the Angles in North- 
 umbria Gregory directed the mission to proceed to Kent, 
 both because it was easier to reach, and also because its king, 
 iEthelbert, had lately married a Christian princess, Bertha, 
 from whom assistance might be hoped. It shows how entirely 
 cut off from Europe the west of England was at this time 
 owing to Pagan races occupying all the rest of Britain, 
 that neither Gregory nor his lieutenant Augustine knew of 
 the existence of the ancient British Church in Somerset, 
 Devonshire, Cornwall, and Wales, ^ and only came to know of 
 it after the mission had established itself in Kent. 
 
 Every race has always felt that it owed deep gratitude 
 to whoever first brought to it the knowledge of Christianity, 
 and England has ever felt that gratitude towards Gregory, 
 whose warm heart for so many years imwaveringly yearned 
 over the distant English race which he never saw. No other 
 of the northern races was brought to the knowledge of Christi- 
 anity in this manner ; no other involved travelling through 
 dangerous countries and crossing the sea to reach them, or 
 promised to be so fiercely antagonistic when reached. It was 
 a most difficult task to send a mission, first to traverse the 
 territory of the hostile Lombards, then to pass through Gaul, 
 divided between four fiercely warring kingdoms, and then 
 to cross the sea to land amidst a race of exceptionally savage 
 Pagans. No wonder that Augustine and his party were 
 daunted when they got half-way, and sent back in despair to 
 Gregory saying it was impossible to get further. But nothing 
 daunted Gregory ; through his personal energy the favourable 
 assistance of Brunhilda, queen of Austrasia, was obtained, 
 and eventually the taisk was accomplished, and the mission 
 at last landed safely in Kent. There owing to the influence 
 of Bertha it was well received by ^Ethelbert, and through 
 
 I Chap. XX, pp, 163-164. 
 
 her it was enabled successfully to plant Christianity among the 
 savage conquerors of Britain, the kingdom of Kent accepting 
 Christianity in the same year (597). And though it was a 
 long time before all the other six kingdoms followed its example 
 and were converted to Christianity, one by one they all were 
 so eventually. 1 The English race has demonstrated its debt 
 of gratitude to Gregory in a marked manner ; for he is the 
 only Pope of Rome who is commemorated in the Prayerbook 
 of the Church of England. ^ 
 
 It was however unfortunate that Augustine, owing to a 
 harsh and unsympathetic disposition very different from 
 that of Gregory, failed to establish satisfactory relations with 
 the ancient British Church in the west when he came to know 
 of it. Through the good offices of king ^thelbert in com- 
 munication with the king of Wessex a conference between 
 Augustine and the British bishops on the banks of the Severn 
 was arranged about the year 602. But the British Church 
 kept Easter on a different date from the Roman Church, holding 
 the old western rule which had been laid down at the Coimcil 
 of Aries in 314,^ and observed various other customs all showing 
 the ancient origin of this Church and the manner in which it 
 had remained cut off from the rest of Christendom for several 
 centuries ; and the British bishops were not inclined to change 
 any of these ancient customs, especially when treated by 
 Augustine in a dictatorial tone. A second and larger meeting, 
 attended by seven British bishops followed, but with no better 
 result. When the latter were asked by Augustine whether 
 they would acknowledge obedience to the Pope of Rome the 
 British bishops explained that although they owed brotherly 
 love to the Church of God, and to the Bishop of Rome, they 
 owed no obedience to the latter, as their Metropolitan was the 
 Bishop of Caerleon-on-Usk, nor were they familiar with the 
 
 ^ Essex accepted Christianity in 603, but Christianity was again 
 driven out of Essex in 6 1 6. Regarding the gradual conversion of the six 
 kingdoms, see Chap. XXIV, pp. 433-435, and Chap. XXV, pp. 465-467. 
 
 * While several of the early Bishops of Rome are so, Gregory is the 
 only one thus commemorated who held that see subsequently to the 
 time when, by the five patriarchates being established, the title of 
 Pope became attached to it. Gregory the Great is commemorated in 
 the Prayerbook of the Church of England on the 12th March. 
 
 » VoU I, Chap. XIII, p. 398. 
 
374 
 
 MAURICE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 FLIGHT FROM CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 375 
 
 title of " Pope " which Augustine used ; this reply showing 
 how completely the British Church had remained cut oflf since 
 the time when the title of Metropolitan was the highest in 
 the Church. When asked by Augustine whether they would 
 help him to evangelize the Saxons the significant answer they 
 gave was, " We do not think it worthy to preach to that 
 cruel people who have treacherously slain our ancestors and 
 robbed us of our lawful property." Thereupon Augustine 
 became enraged, and threatened them saying that if they 
 would not join in evangelizing their enemies they would in the 
 future receive war from the latter, and the conference was 
 dissolved. But the attitude of the British bishops in warning 
 Augustine against trusting the barbarous nature of the Saxons 
 was a few years afterwards vindicated when the members of 
 the mission which he established were nearly all massacred. 
 In after years, however, the British (or Celtic) missions played 
 a large part in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, a 
 larger one than did the mission in Kent. 
 
 Maurices '^^^ empcror Maurice, Hhough he had been greatly 
 general hampered by the exhausted state of the Treasm-v, 
 
 success. *■ V J 1 
 
 had achieved considerable success in his military 
 operations, largely owing to the constant attention that he 
 paid to the needs of the army. He was ever on the watch for 
 new methods by which to maintain efficient bodies of troops 
 economically, and is said to have been the first emperor who 
 fully realized the advantage of Armenia as a recruiting ground.* 
 He had thoroughly beaten the Persians, bringing the war 
 against them to a highly successful termination in 591, and 
 had put a check, to some extent at all events, upon the in- 
 cursions of the Avars. But in the impoverished state of 
 the Treasury it was impossible for him to supply any troops 
 
 1 Pages 340-343. 
 
 * It has been authoritatively remarked that the story that on one 
 occasion, through refusing to pay their ransom, he dehvered over to 
 death several thousands of his soldiers who were held as captives by 
 the Chagan of the Avars, is not to be credited in the case of an emperor 
 who was at great cost bringing men from Armenia to the defence of 
 the Danube provinces {Cambridge Medieval History , II. 283). 
 
 for Italy, and his efforts in regard to that country had 
 been almost entirely limited to inducing the Frank king 
 of Austrasia, Childebert, to attack the Lombards, while 
 all Childebert's expeditions against them had ended in 
 failure. 
 
 ^^^^ In the last year of his reign Maurice, who was now 
 on the sixty-three, incurred serious unpopularity with 
 his army in a manner which had fatal consequences. 
 It appears to have originated in his tendency already men- 
 tioned to do the right things in the wrong way. In the autumn 
 of 602 Maurice, with a view to economy, ordered that the 
 army, which had for several months been operating successfully 
 against the Avars and Sclavs to the north of the Danube, 
 should winter there, supporting themselves from the enemy's 
 country. But the order was an iU- timed one ; the troops 
 were worn out with long operations in a barbarous locality, 
 they needed rest, they were looking forward to returning to 
 civilized life for the winter, and the emperor's order, received 
 at such a time, was in the highest degree distasteful. On 
 receipt of the order they mutinied, recrossed the Danube, 
 drove away their officers, and after a time chose an ignorant 
 and brutal centurion named Phocas as their leader, and gave 
 him the title of Prefect. 
 Revolution ^^^^ cpisodc cost Mauricc his life. In October 602 
 the mutinous army set out under the command of 
 Phocas to march to Constantinople to enforce re- 
 dress of their grievances. On their approaching the capital 
 a number of the citizens, led by the Green faction (which was 
 nearly twice as numerous as the Blue faction), raised a riot, 
 and offered the throne to Maurice's eldest son, Theodosius, 
 then eighteen, and when he refused it, to his father-in-law 
 Grermanus. The latter, feeling he was suspected of treason, 
 took refuge in St. Sophia, the uproar increased, houses began 
 to be burnt, and at length on the 22nd November, Maurice 
 (forgetting the shrewd counsels of Theodora on a similar 
 occasion) decided to quit the city, and embarking by night 
 with the empress Constantina, his three daughters, and his 
 six sons, the youngest an infant in the arms of his nurse, on a 
 vessel moored at the sea gate of the palace, took refuge, much 
 crippled with gout, at Chalcedon. 
 
 in 
 Constantinople 
 
 II 
 
 / 
 
 * 
 
376 
 
 MAURICE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Munjerof ^ *^® following day (23rd Nov.) Phocas reached 
 Maurice and the outskirts of the capital, the Green faction in 
 
 his SIX sons. ^ ■•■m 
 
 an excited state swarmed out of the city to meet 
 
 him, and the brutal and ruffianly Phocas was promptly crowned 
 
 as emperor by the populace and the troops, and entered the 
 
 city in state next day, his wife Leontia being afterwards 
 
 crowned as empress. Being an utterly ruthless barbarian he 
 
 forthwith determined that Maurice and all his six sons must 
 
 die, and two days later he despatched an officer with a party 
 
 of soldiers to Chalcedon for this purpose ; the emperor was 
 
 dragged from his sanctuary, his five younger sons ^ were 
 
 successively slaughtered before their father's eyes, Maurice 
 
 at each cruel murder finding strength to say, " Thou art just, 
 
 O Lord, and Thy judgments are righteous," and when the 
 
 last of them, a boy of a year old, had been despatched, the 
 
 noble-looking Maurice had his eyes torn out and was then 
 
 hacked in pieces (26th Nov. 602). The eldest son, Theodosius, 
 
 had been hurriedly sent off by Maurice from Chalcedon to 
 
 solicit help from Chosroes II, who under similar circumstances 
 
 twelve years before had* been befriended by Maurice, but 
 
 Theodosius was pursued by the officers of Phocas, seized at 
 
 Nicaea, and put to death. The empress Constantina and 
 
 her three daughters were imprisoned, Maurice's brother Peter, 
 
 together with the Prefect of the city, Constantine, and the 
 
 general Comentiolus were slain, Germanus was seized and 
 
 forced to become a priest, and Phocas, the late centurion, was 
 
 master of the capital. 
 
 Indignation ^^^^ * bciug as Phocas had never before sat upon 
 ^^i^*" the imperial throne at Constantinople ; and what 
 it must have been to the courtly officials trained 
 in the school of Justmian, Justin II, Tiberius II, and Maurice 
 to see such an one installed in the place these emperors had 
 occupied, and to have to obey his commands, can scarcely be 
 imagined. The empire at large, however, promptly displayed 
 in no uncertain manner its disgust at what had taken place, 
 and there could be no better evidence of the satisfactory 
 
 1 The noble-hearted nurse of the youngest, in her devotion to the 
 emperor, substituted her own infant son to be slain in place of the 
 youngest child, but Maurice would not allow it, and revealed to the 
 soldiers the well-meant fraud. 
 
 Xxm] 
 
 A RUFFIAN ENTHRONED 
 
 377 
 
 nature of Maurice's rule, and of the high esteem in which 
 he was held by the people of the empire, than the storm of 
 indignation which burst forth when the news of his murder 
 was received. On every side the people rose in rebellion, 
 and in a few weeks civil war was raging simultaneously in 
 Illyricum, in Greece, in Palestine, in Anatolia, in Cilicia, and 
 in various other parts of Asia Minor. 
 ^ . But the citizens had vet to learn the full character 
 
 The tunes •' 
 
 of Domitian of the ruffiau whom in their excitement they had 
 "'^^ ■ installed as emperor in place of the high-charactered 
 Maurice ; they were not left long in doubt. Phocas had not 
 been chosen by the army as a whole ; even the troops on the 
 Danube had not originally any thought of making him more 
 than their leader to obtain for them redress ; and even they 
 would scarcely have selected such a person as emperor. Recog- 
 nizing how insecure was his position Phocas was therefore 
 suspicious ; and he had only one method for all who aroused 
 his fears, namely prompt slaughter, accompanied with torture 
 to extract the names of others. Undersized and misshapen, 
 with shaggy eyebrows growing close together, red hair, beard- 
 less chin, and one cheek discoloured by a large scar, Phocas 
 was probably the most unpleasant-looking individual who 
 ever sat upon a throne. " Ignorant of letters, of laws, and 
 even of arms, he indulged in the supreme rank a more ample 
 privilege of lust and drunkenness, and his brutal pleasures 
 were either injurious to his subjects or disgraceful to himself." ^ 
 Even in a Nero some palliating grace may be found, but his- 
 torians are unanimous that in Phocas there was none. He 
 quickly revived the times of Domitian and Caracalla. 
 
 Gre o 's Gregory the Great would have been fortunate so 
 conduct far as his reputation is concerned if he had died 
 murder of bcforc the cmpcror Maurice, instead of two years 
 Maunce. Q,tteT him. Whcrcas a general outburst of indigna- 
 tion at such a crime was the prevailing sentiment with which 
 the news was received throughout so many provinces, Gregory 
 Upon hearing of the murder of Maurice and his six young 
 sons (one of them an infant of a year old, and the eldest only 
 
 1 Gibbon. 
 
CHAP, 
 
 378 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 eighteen), and of the exaltation of the ruthless tyrant Phocas 
 to be emperor, gave vent to sentiments which if we had not 
 the words from his own pen we might have supposed were 
 the invention of an enemy anxious to blacken Gregory in the 
 eyes of posterity. He writes to the blood-stained murderer 
 Phocas in a strain of jubilation and lofty religious commen- 
 dation which when the nature of the deed, the character of its 
 perpetrator, and the office held by the writer of this eulogy 
 are conjointly borne in mind, is little short of an infamy. 
 Loading Phocas with fulsome and servile adulation, Gregory, 
 instead of speaking in the tone in which for instance 
 St. Ambrose had spoken to Theodosius the Great, ^ makes 
 no mention of the guilt of blood, but on the contrary applauds 
 the deed with the most preposterous, and even sacrilegious, 
 exuberance, saying that in gladness at it *' both heaven and 
 earth rejoice," and that " in heaven choirs of angels will sing 
 a Gloria to the Creator " ; adding that *' your piety and 
 benignity have been raised by the Almighty to the imperial 
 throne," and praying that the hands of Phocas may be 
 strengthened against aU his enemies. 
 
 Every effort has been made to palliate Gregory's conduct 
 in this matter, but the results of those: efforts only serve to show 
 how futile is such an endeavour. It has been urged that he 
 was suffering much from gout at the time ; but gout, however 
 severe, will not make a man write in regard to such a crime 
 in a strain like this. It has also been urged that Gregory 
 may not have known the character of Phocas, or the circum- 
 stances of the case. This is impossible. Gregory's letters 
 show that he had innumerable means of knowing all that went 
 on at various barbarian courts, and still more must this have 
 been the case in regard to the capital of the empire, and to 
 such an event as a revolution and the murder of the emperor. 
 It is possible, though not probable, that he did not know all 
 the details, but he certainly knew that Maurice and his six 
 sons (one of whom Gregory had himself baptized) had been 
 murdered by Phocas. And if so, that is sufficient.* 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 566. 
 
 • Professor Bury considers that Gregory ** undoubtedly was aware 
 that the feet of Phocas, as he ascended the throne, were stained with 
 innocent blood" {Later Roman Empire, II, 155). 
 
 xxm] 
 
 THE GREAT BLOT 
 
 379 
 
 This strange action on Gregory's part has always been held 
 to form the great blot upon his reputation, and various sug- 
 gestions have been made to account for it ; but none of them 
 appear to do so satisfactorily. It is no doubt true that the 
 natures of Maurice and Gregory were antipathetic ; it is also 
 true that Maurice's policy of " moderation," including his 
 law that schismatics should not be compelled to conform, was 
 opposed to the less tolerant sentiments of Gregory ; it is true 
 again that in political matters they several times came into 
 collision ; and above all it is true that Gregory felt that Maurice, 
 while not in sympathy with him, was in sympathy with his 
 rivals, John, Pope of Constantinople,^ and the latter's successor 
 Cyriacus, and did nothing when appealed to by Gregory to 
 restrain what he called their pride. ^ But none of these causes, 
 nor the whole of them together, are sufficient to account for 
 the sudden outburst of pent-up rancour and hatred which 
 reveal themselves in Gregory's paean of joy and applause 
 when he hears of the murder of Maurice and his sons. Even 
 had the emperor Maurice been a Monophysite, an Arian, or 
 even a Pagan, Gregory's action would have been in every 
 way despicable ; it was stiQ more so under the circumstances 
 of the case. 
 
 The true Apparently the true cause of this action is to be 
 cause found ui a different direction, viz. in connection 
 oTcregory^ with thc thrcc-fold position which Gregory from 
 **^**°°' time to time occupied in Rome. He failed to 
 realize that whereas when he acted as a Bishop he was only 
 under the authority of a General Council, the moment that 
 he proceeded to act in a political capacity or as a general, he 
 came imder aU the conditions belonging to that position, 
 including the first of them, the necessity of being subject to 
 discipline. Whenever he acted in any political or military 
 capacity the emperor was his superior officer, and Maurice 
 had a perfect right to order procedure contrary to Gregory's 
 views, or to disapprove of action which he had taken, and 
 Gregory had no atom of right to resent such orders or such 
 disapproval. It made no difference whether the emperor's 
 view on such occasions was correct or mistaken; he, the superior 
 officer, and not Gregory, the subordinate, was the sole judge 
 
 1 John died in 596. ^ gg© p. 385. 
 
CHAP, 
 
 380 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 xxm] 
 
 JUST CLAIM TO HONOUR 
 
 381 
 
 in all such cases. Yet on every occasion upon which the 
 emperor decided that some request of Gregory's for troops 
 could not be granted, or gave orders contrary to the latter's 
 views, or disapproved of political action which he had taken, 
 Gregory, as his letters manifest, resented this, and being with- 
 out a notion of discipline felt his dignity hurt on all these 
 occasions ; and not only felt resentment, but stored it up. 
 As a result when Maurice was killed the pent-up torrent of 
 this resentment burst forth, and Gregory gave an exhibi- 
 tion of petty spite and rancour, accompanied by adulation 
 of a blood-stained ruffian, which is without a parallel as 
 emanating from a Bishop of the Church. 
 
 Death of E^^ly ^ ^^^ Gregory addressed his last letter to 
 Gregory the Thiudaliuda. She had written to him during the 
 ' ' summer of 603 informing him of the birth of her 
 son Adalwald, and of the important event of his having been 
 baptized as a Catholic, and had at the same time requested 
 Gregory for her guidance to answer a book that had been 
 written against the condemnation of the " Three Chapters." ^ 
 Gregory had apparently been too ill to reply earlier, but he 
 now writes congratulating her in an elaborate style upon the 
 birth of her son and the auspicious event of his being baptized 
 as a Catholic, sends for the child various relics, and for his 
 sister * three rings, and sends greetings to her husband Agilulf , 
 with expressions of gratitude to him for the peace which had 
 recently been concluded. Upon the theological point he tells 
 Thiudalinda that he is too ill at the time to do as she wishes, 
 promising to do so at some future time should he recover, 
 but sends her the decision of the Fifth General Council on the 
 subject. Gregory died soon afterwards, on the 12th March 
 604, at the age of sixty-four, and was buried in St. Peters, 
 where his tomb is still to be seen, in the crypt of the present 
 church. It is curious to note that the Romans, to whom 
 he had devoted his life, do not appear to have been much moved 
 
 » Chap. XXn. p. 282. 
 
 « This shows that Thiudalinda's second child, her daughter Giindi- 
 perga, had been born towards the end of the year 603, between the 
 time of Thiudalinda's writing to announce the birth of her son (then 
 six months old) and Gregory's reply. 
 
 by his death, and forthwith plundered his palace, honour 
 to his memory being left for a later age to evince. 
 
 usuauy Grcgory the Great has always been held in the 
 ^^TakeT highest estimation by those who have desired to 
 grounds, glorify the Roman see, owing to his having so 
 widely extended the influence of that see ; and this has by 
 many been considered his chief claim to honour. Undoubtedly 
 he deserves unstinted praise for his unwearying endeavours 
 to assist the cause of the Catholic faith, for his constant labours 
 to induce the kings of the barbarous nations around him to 
 live a less un-Christian kind of life and to cause those whom 
 they ruled to do the same, for his steadfast determination to 
 plant Christianity in Britain, for his energetic efforts to mitigate 
 the sufferings of his depressed country, and for his charitable 
 assistance to the poverty-stricken people of Rome. But at 
 the same time the qualities which he displays of time-serving 
 and adulation of those in power, with the defects of character 
 shown in his shameful paean of joy upon the emperor Maurice 
 being murdered, cannot be ignored ; and if it were the case 
 that Gregory's chief claim to honour was his wide extension 
 of the influence of the Roman see, then these defects of character 
 could not but place him below all those bearing the title of 
 Great who had preceded him. 
 Chief claim But Grcgory's chief claim to honour does not lie 
 to honour, ^g^ qq oftcu supposcd) in Ms extension of the in- 
 fluence of the Roman see, but lies in the powerful struggle 
 which, unsupported by any around him, he carried out,^ and 
 for the time successfully, against a serious evil in the Church 
 which he saw to be impending, and against which he protested 
 with all the vehemence of his energetic nature. In this sphere 
 he merits the highest honour that the world can accord him 
 for his strenuous endeavour to preserve the Christian Church 
 from formidable disasters which he foresaw would result if it 
 departed from principles hitherto always held. 
 
 Gregory's principal importance in this and every 
 
 miw^ance ^^j^^^, rcspcct is owing to the date at which he 
 
 witness. ]iyQ^ (yiz. the closing years of the 6th century), 
 
 and the weighty evidence which so able and prominent a 
 
 witness is able to afford as to what the Catholic Church held 
 
 1 See below, pp. 384-387. 
 
382 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 REMARKABLE EVIDENCE 
 
 383 
 
 upon fundamental points at that date. And this has special 
 importance for the Church of England. For to the latter, 
 as a branch of the Catholic Church which knows no difference 
 from the rest of that Church up to the end of the 6th century, 
 the evidence of such a witness as to what that Church held just 
 at the close of the 6th century is necessarily highly important. 
 
 Victory has its dangers for a Church as much as for a nation. 
 The Catholic Church having, the year before Gregory died, 
 finally triumphed in a struggle of nearly 280 years against 
 Arianism and other heresies, was not long before it suffered 
 in the usual way from the absence of any antagonist, viz. 
 by a gradual beginning of retrogression from its former ideals. 
 From the 7th to the 16th century the whole of the Catholic 
 Church throughout the West ^ (including the Church of Eng- 
 land), gradually became permeated with numerous beliefs, 
 methods, and customs which were subsequently seen to be 
 additions to what had been held and practised throughout 
 the first six centuries. Accordingly in the 16th century, 
 when this was at length seen, the Church of England (acting 
 differently from any other portion of the Church in Europe) 
 reformed herself by reverting to what she had held in this 
 earlier period and declaring that henceforth she accepted that, 
 and only that, which had been held during the first six centuries, 
 and that she rejected all the innovations which had since then 
 been added.* To the Church of England therefore, standing 
 ever since her reformation based upon this appeal to the first 
 six centuries, any evidence from a witness such as Gregory the 
 Great as to what was held during the closing years of the 6th 
 century is of special concern. 
 
 Not that the issue itself is affected by the views held by 
 Gregory the Great. Obviously the opinion of no individual, 
 however highly placed, could have that effect, the only opinion 
 which could affect the issue being that of the governing body 
 
 1 But not throughout the East. The eastern half of the Catholic 
 Church (now generally known by the name of the Orthodox Greek 
 Chiu-ch) remained unpermeated by the accretions noted, and eventually 
 seceded from the western half of that Church on this very ground. 
 
 * Thereby bringing herself into line with the eastern half of the 
 Catholic Church (the Orthodox Greek Church) which has never needed 
 this reformation. 
 
 of the Church, a General Council. But standing as Gregory 
 does just upon the boundary line of the period chosen by the 
 Church of England at her reformation, he acts as a prominent 
 landmark. Nor again would it affect the issue if that evidence 
 were to show that in the 6th century, not merely Gregory, 
 but the Catholic Church as a whole, had already adopted 
 some of the accretions referred to. For this w ould only result 
 in forcing the Church of England to draw the line at the first 
 five, instead of the first six, centuries. 
 
 Letters to Thc cvidcnce afforded by the writings of Gregory 
 (S'nstanSi'opie ^hc Great as to what was universally held at the 
 and Alexandria, close of thc 6th ccutury is remarkably clear. As 
 regards (i) doctrine, he shows himself entirely free from the 
 accretions which afterwards supervened, and in agreement in 
 all points with the doctrine which had been held up to that 
 time ; while as regards (ii) Church government, he not only 
 shows himself in entire agreement with the decrees of the first 
 four General Councils on the subject, but he also denounces 
 in the strongest terms any Bishop who shall teach any other 
 view. The evidence on this point supplied by his letters is 
 unusually definite. It is mainly contained in two corre- 
 spondences which took place, the first in 595 with John, Pope 
 of Constantinople, and the second in 596 with Eulogius, Pope 
 of Alexandria, in both of which Gregory denounces in un- 
 measured terms any Bishop who shall set up a claim to suprem- 
 acy in the Church, and thereby depart from the fimdamental 
 axiom of the Church's constitution, maintained by the rulings 
 of the First, Second, and Third General Councils, that all 
 Bishops are of equal rank and authority, an Archbishop, 
 Metropolitan, or Pope having only the position in regard to 
 other Bishops of a " Primus inter pares." ^ 
 His letter to "^^^ ^^^^ ^^ thcsc two corrcspondenccs (that in 595) 
 John, Pope of was Called forth by an apparently innocent action 
 op e. ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ John, Pope of Constantinople, though 
 
 Gregory saw in it the possibility of grave evil to the Church. 
 In the love of high sounding phrases and extravagant language 
 prevalent in all ages throughout the east, flatterers had long 
 been in the habit from time to time of addressing the Pope 
 of Constantinople as ''Universal Bishop." Subsequently, 
 
 ^ First among equals. 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 384 
 
 GREGOKY THE GREAT 
 
 xxm] 
 
 AN OBNOXIOUS TITLE 
 
 386 
 
 before Gregory's time, this title had been definitely conferred 
 on the Popes of Constantinople by both the emperor Leo I 
 and the emperor Justinian, these emperors thus ignoring 
 entirely the constitution of the Church, Justinian especially 
 being at aU times prone to consider himself as the sole authority 
 in the Church. And this title had been recently confirmed 
 in the case of John, Pope of Constantinople, by a local Church 
 Council held at Constantinople in 688. In 595, in a document 
 sent to Gregory, the Pope of Constantinople was repeatedly 
 referred to by this title, which thereupon called forth Gregory's 
 indignation. It would not be fair to Gregory in this case to 
 attribute his wrath on the subject to jealousy or wounded 
 pride. It is plain from the correspondence that he considered 
 a great principle to be at stake, that of the freedom of bishops, 
 which would be menaced by a claim on the part of any Bishop 
 to a supremacy, creating imperialism in the Church. 
 
 His protest has the greater weight for two reasons. First, 
 because Gregory was at times highly autocratic towards those 
 under his authority, either as Metropolitan of the Roman 
 province or as Pope of the western patriarchate, even more 
 autocratic than the Church had authorized him to be.^ And 
 secondly, because Gregory was strongly imbued with the 
 feeling (a time-honoured one in the Roman see ever since Con- 
 stantinople had been founded) that Rome should take pre- 
 cedence of Constantinople in rank, a precedence which 
 though accorded by two General Councils had not been so 
 upon the grounds that Gregory would have liked it to be 
 granted.* But Gregory's clear and practical mind drew a 
 sharp line between precedence and supremacy, recognizing 
 that the chasm between a " Primus inter pares " and a Com- 
 mander-in-chief is immense and fundamental. And he not 
 only drew this sharp line, but he let all men know, in the 
 plainest and most forcible language, that he did so. Not even 
 for the see of Rome will he claim a title implying a supremacy 
 in the Church, but repudiates it, by whomsoever assumed, as 
 trenching upon the rights of Bishops in general, opposed to 
 the constitution of the Church, and certain to produce the 
 gravest disasters. 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 537. 
 « Chap. XIX, p. 107, 
 
 Denounces Addrcssiug Johu, and while using expressions of 
 .. Ji^ve^ courtesy and regard towards him personally, Gregory 
 Bishop." dwells upon the imlawfulness of any claim on the 
 part of a Bishop to be a " Bishop of Bishops," as he considers 
 the title " Universal Bishop " implied. He denounces this in 
 the strongest terms, calling it " foolish," " proud," " pesti- 
 ferous," " a diabolical usiirpation," " profane," and " wicked " ; 
 he says that he takes it to mean the subjection of all Bishops 
 to one ; he compares the pride of any one who assumes it to 
 that of " Lucifer," and calls such an one " Spawn of Satan " ; 
 and finally he says, " Let me ask your Holiness, supposing 
 the whole Church had depended on one, and that one the 
 Patriarch, then what would have become of it when Patriarchs 
 themselves went astray, or even became the founders of here- 
 sies ? " ^ In a subsequent letter on the same subject he says, 
 " I confidently assert that whoever calls himself universal 
 bishop, or desires in his pride to be called so, is the forerunner 
 of Antichrist." 
 
 Not content with writing to John on the subject Gregory 
 also wrote to the emperor Maurice, and to the empress Con- 
 stantina, in the same strain, imploring the emperor to restrain 
 this great evil by the exertion of his authority, and to require 
 John to renounce the title which he had " impiously assumed." 
 Maurice appears to have looked upon the matter with some 
 contempt, or perhaps considered it one for the Church, and 
 not the emperor, to decide, and in any case did nothing ; 
 thereby still further increasing the sum of Gregory's stored 
 up resentment against him. 
 
 Letter to Finding his letters to the emperor produced no 
 
 ^p^^r* effect, Gregory then wrote to Anastasius, Pope of 
 
 Antioch. Antioch, and to Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, 
 
 urging them also to protest ; but they seem to have considered 
 
 the title merely one of honour and that Gregory was assigning 
 
 undue importance to the matter. This naturally did not 
 
 please Gregory, who saw further than his colleagues, and saw 
 
 (as his question in his letter to John shows) that that against 
 
 which he was protesting contained the germs of great disasters 
 
 to the Church. And when Anastasius wrote to him gently 
 
 disapproving of his persistence over a matter of such small 
 
 * As for instsuice K^torius (Chap. XVHI,. p. 75). 
 
 E.w. — n. c c 
 
C5HAP. 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT 
 
 386 
 
 consequence, and of his thereby giving occasion for the creation 
 of scandal in the Church, Gregory, feeling this bitterly, in 
 irony replies, ** I perceive that your Holiness, by the words 
 of sweetness at the beginning of your letter and by what 
 follows afterwards, has wished it to be like a bee that carries 
 both honey and a sting, satiating me with the honey and then 
 piercing me with the stmg. I am thus led to meditate on the 
 words of Solomon, * Better are the wounds given by a friend 
 than the kisses given by an enemy.' *' 
 
 It enlists all our sympathies (knowing as we do from the 
 subsequent events of thirteen centuries how correct was his 
 foreboding) to witness this strong and lonely defender stead- 
 fastly battling to preserve the Church from disasters which 
 only he was able to foresee, unable to make any around him 
 understand the danger, and gently chided by coUeagues for 
 making " much ado about nothing," and moved in bitter- 
 ness to speak of the wounds given by a friend. 
 
 But the second correspondence, that in 596, ad- 
 Eui^"rPope dressed to Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, furnishes 
 of Alexandria. ^^^^ gtrouger cvidencc. For m the first corre- 
 spondence Gregory had denounced the title m question when 
 assumed by another ; in the second he repudiates it when 
 applied to himself. Eulogius, wishing to compliment him, 
 or perhaps to pacify him, had in a letter to him applied to 
 Gregory himself the title of " Universal Pope." Thereupon 
 Gregory with the utmost vehemence again denounces that 
 title, points out that the sees of Antioch and Alexandria have 
 an equal dignity with his own, and in a remarkably fine passage 
 concludes by saying, " I have said that neither to me, nor 
 to any one else, ought your Holiness to write anything of 
 the kind ; and yet, behold, in the preface of your letter you 
 apply to me, who protested against it, that title full of pride, 
 viz. * Universal Pope.' Which thing I beg your most sweet 
 Holiness to do no more, and especially because what is given 
 to others beyond what reason permits is subtracted from 
 yourself. I do not esteem that an honour which causes my 
 brethren to lose their honour ; my honour is that of the Uni- 
 versal Church. 1 I am then truly honoured when each and 
 
 1 The manner in which Gregory contrasts the term " Universal 
 Pope " with " Universal Church '* is particularly ane. 
 
 xxm] 
 
 THE MEDIEVAL PAPACY 
 
 387 
 
 all are allowed the honour that is due to them. For if your 
 Holiness calls me Universal Pope you deny yourself to be 
 that which you call me universally. But no more of this ; 
 away with words which inflate pride and wound charity.'* ^ 
 This letter is quite the finest that Gregory ever wrote, and all 
 defects in his character in other directions may well be held 
 to be counterbalanced by his noble words, " I do not esteem 
 that an honour which causes my brethren to lose their honour ; 
 my honour is that of the Universal Church.'* 
 
 While thus repudiating a title and position of supremacy 
 which he saw would lead to great disasters in the Church, 
 Gregory is no less definite in insisting that within its own 
 patriarchate each patriarchal see has a primacy, that posi- 
 tion of ** Primus inter pares " which in the Church of England 
 is held by the Archbishop of Canterbury (the " Primate "), 
 and in the Church of Scotland by the Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews (the " Primus "). 
 Gregory the Grrcgory the Great is often called "the founder 
 Great not the of the Mcdicval Papacy," and historians have 
 Medieval generally considered his chief importance in history 
 Papacy. ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^j^-g g^^^j^^j g^^ g^^j^ ^ dcsiguatiou 
 
 appears a complete misnomer in view of the fact that Gregory 
 expended the most abundant energy in thus persistently 
 fighting against that which is the very essence and special 
 characteristic of the Medieval Papacy, viz. the introduction of 
 imperialism into the Church by a claim to supremacy on the 
 part of the Popes of Rome.^ Again, still less is Gregory's con- 
 spicuous deference to all reigning sovereigns in agreement with 
 that further claim to a supremacy, not only over the Church, 
 but also over all kings and temporal rulers, which is a second 
 characteristic of the Medieval Papacy. So that in regard to 
 both of the two distinguishing marks of the Medieval Papacy 
 Gregory, so far from being a founder of that institution, is seen 
 to be as strongly in opposition to it as any man could be. 
 
 ^ It is noticeable that in these letters Gregory specifically says that 
 the other Popes are equal in dignity to himself ; whUe the same point 
 is shown in his words to Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, " If your Holi- 
 ness calls me Universal Pope you deny yoiu-self to be that which you 
 call me universally.'* 
 
 * Including adoption by them of this very title " Universal Bishop." 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xxin] 
 
 388 
 
 GREGORYTHE GREAT 
 
 REAL CLAIM TO GREATNESS 
 
 389 
 
 Undoubtedly Gregory's large extension of the influence of 
 the Roman see, when combined with the altered circumstances 
 of the 8th century, assisted the Medieval Popes of Rome to 
 put forward and maintain that claim to a supremacy in the 
 Church which he had denounced. When by the conquests 
 of the Mahomedans in the 7th century three out of the five 
 Popes had been wiped out of existence, and the area of the 
 patriarchate of the fourth immensely curtailed, the wide 
 extent of the territory over which the fifth (the Pope of the 
 western patriarchate) exercised influence and authority natur- 
 ally greatly assisted the claim to a supremacy in the Church 
 put forward by the Medieval Popes of Rome. But Gregory 
 never guessed that such conditions as those wrought by the 
 Mahomedans would arise to make his work assist the 
 introduction of the very thing he had so strongly vitu- 
 perated. 
 
 Nor would it in any way add to Gregory's glory if he had 
 Teally been, as often supposed, the founder of the Medieval 
 Papacy. For that imperialism in the Church which he had 
 so forcibly denounced, correctly diagnosing it as ** the subjection 
 of all Bishops to one," and stigmatising it as "a diabolical 
 usurpation," produced when it was introduced by the Medieval 
 Popes of Rome dire evils, as he had foreseen would be its 
 inevitable result. He did not of course foresee what particular 
 shape the evil would take ; no man could do that ; but the 
 point is that he saw plainly that grievous harm would ensue 
 if the Church departed from its ancient fundamental principle 
 by the introduction of a " Bishop of bishops." And his acute 
 and pertinent query, " If the whole Church had depended on 
 one, and that one the Patriarch, then what would have become 
 of it when Patriarchs themselves went astray " has received 
 a full answer in the centuries since he wrote it. That claim 
 to a supremacy on the part of one see first destroyed the 
 Church's constitution by rendering its governing body, a 
 General Council of independent Bishops, no longer possible ; 
 then split the Catholic Church in two, the Eastern half of 
 that Church steadfastly refusing to admit the claim ; and 
 then caused the Western half of that Church to split into a 
 number of fragments, one fragment continuing to maintain 
 the claim in question, and the rest, one after another, repu- 
 
 diating the claim, and becoming separate bodies, thus pro- 
 ducing a divided Christendom. 
 
 Gregory the Great has not had justice done to him. He has 
 been called the founder of the Medieval Papacy when he was 
 a greater opponent of everything which that institution repre- 
 sented, and of the whole basis upon which it rested, than any 
 other man in Europe. And at the same time he has received 
 no honour for that which is his greatest glory. Leo the 
 Great has been accorded deserved honour for guiding the 
 Church in regard to doctrine at a most critical time, and by 
 his celebrated document " the Tome " helping it to the decision 
 which put an end for ever to a dispute which had for generations 
 been tearing it asunder. But Gregory the Great's two corre- 
 spondences in 595 and 596 represented collectively a document 
 as important to the Church as Leo the Great's " Tome," and 
 for the same reason. The one kept the Church from splitting 
 into a number of fragments over the subject of doctrine ; the 
 other would (had it not subsequently been disregarded by a 
 portion of the Church) have preserved it from similar disin- 
 tegration over the subject of Church government ; and neither 
 was more important to the Church than the other, as the 
 experience of eleven centuries has shown. Gregory the Great 
 therefore deserves equal honour with Leo the Great, and 
 upon the same grounds ; each of them in their respective 
 spheres having striven, the one successfully, the other in the 
 end imsuccessfully, to preserve the Church from that dis- 
 memberment which would inevitably prove an insuperable 
 obstacle to the conversion of the world to Christianity, and 
 from that great evil of a divided Christendom which, not only 
 in Europe and America, but still more in Asia and Africa, 
 blocks the advance of Christianity. 
 
 Thus Gregory's just claim to greatness lies in his steadfast 
 and vehement effort, in the face of rebuffs from every side, 
 to protect the Church from the grave calamities which he 
 foresaw would result from the introduction into it of imperialism 
 through a claim to supremacy ; a sagacious prescience which 
 none of his contemporaries shared, but which has been proved 
 correct by the disastrous consequences which have ensued as 
 the result of the disregard of his powerful protest. 
 
390 
 
 CHAP, xxin] 
 
 THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES 
 
 I 
 
 I terest of ^h^"®® great conquerors — Alaric, the noble king 
 sthand6th of the Visigoths, Attila, the terrible leader of the 
 centuries. ^^^^ ^^^ Thcodoric, the deservedly honoured 
 
 king of the Ostrogoths — ^fill the greater part of the stage in 
 the 6th century ; while beside them we have Stilicho, the 
 brave defender of Rome, the brilliant empress Galla Placidia, 
 her capable niece the empress Pulcheria, and Pope Leo the 
 Great. In the 6th century there follow Amalasuntha, the 
 queen of the Ostrogoths who was in advance of her time, 
 Belisarius, the Napoleon of the 6th century, the empress Theo- 
 dora, most wonderful of women, Totila, the chivalrous enemy 
 of Rome, Alboin, the ferocious second conqueror of Italy, 
 Clovis, the founder of a new power in Gaul, the fiery Visigoth 
 princess Brunhilda and her seductive rival Fredegonda, the 
 great Lombard queen Thiudalinda, and Pope Gregory the 
 Great. Never let it be said that the 6th and 6th centuries 
 are dull and uninteresting while figures such as these pass 
 across the stage, making us feel as we contemplate their re- 
 markable characters and the vivid circumstances of their 
 lives how strenuous and many-coloured was the age in which 
 they lived. 
 
 PART VI 
 
 The overthrow of Persia, the struggle against 
 the Mahomedans, and the affairs of the 
 western nations in the seventh century 
 
 (a.d. 604—740) 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 If 
 
 EAST— THE EMPEROR HERACLIUS ; DESTRUC- 
 TION OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE; AND 
 THE '* WHIRLWIND SWEEP " OF THE 
 MAHOMED ANS OVER SYRIA, MESOPO- 
 TAMIA, PERSIA, AND EGYPT. 
 
 WEST — THE LOMBARDS, THE 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 604 — 641 
 
 FRANKS, AND 
 
 ■•T 
 
 Phocas. 
 
 IN the 7th century, upon which we now enter, the darkness 
 in the West becomes still deeper, there being few or no 
 records, nor deeds worthy of being recorded,^ the characters 
 of the rulers in the western countries being almost every- 
 where debased. But while the West remains thus wrapped 
 in gloom it is otherwise with the East, where two great move- 
 ments fill almost the whole of this century, and cause all our 
 interest to be concentrated upon them. 
 
 Phocas, having installed himself as emperor in the 
 manner noted, reigned for eight years (602-610). 
 Called by the contemporary writers " the new Gorgon," 
 and described as "a remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, 
 and pitiless ruffian," he surpassed the worst emperors of 
 Pagan times. To call him " a reincarnation of Maximin " 
 does even the latter an injustice. The empress Constantina, 
 having a lofty spirit, and mindful of her father, her husband, 
 and her sons, refused to endure the rule of such a monster, 
 and after three years contrived to escape from her imprison- 
 
 ^ With one notable exception in the case of queen Thiudalinda*s 
 work amongst the Lombards. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 394 
 
 PHOCAS 
 
 THE IMMORTAL SMARAGDUS 
 
 395 
 
 
 ment to the cathedral of St. Sophia, and tried to rouse the 
 people against the tyrant ; but she was seized, and perhaps 
 for the first time in history a noble woman, the daughter of 
 an emperor, and herself an empress, was deliberately tortured 
 like a common malefactor, and then with her three perfectly 
 innocent young daughters, Anastasia, Theocteste, and Cleo- 
 patra, was slain at Chalcedon on the same ground which had 
 been stained by the blood of her husband and her five young 
 sons. There followed a general slaughter of all supposedly 
 disaffected persons, accompanied by every refinement of 
 cruelty, " a simple speedy death being a mercy none could 
 obtain,'* while Phocas took a delight in adorning the Hippo- 
 drome, the pleasure-ground of Constantinople, with their 
 heads, limbs, and mangled bodies. Amongst other crimes 
 Phocas burnt alive the able general Narses, a punishment 
 which had never been heard of since the empire had become 
 Christian, and was looked upon as a horrible enormity 
 belonging only to Pagan times.^ 
 Devastation Thc Hilc of a bloodthirsty, ignorant, and incapable 
 of the empire, ruffian of this kind produced the natural conse- 
 quences. Upon hearing what had occurred at Constantinople 
 Chosroes II prepared to advance, declaring himself the avenger 
 of Maurice to whom he owed his throne. Phocas despatched 
 an ambassador to his court, but the ambassador was bound 
 in chains and thrown into prison by Chosroes, who thereupon 
 declared war on Rome. Early in 604 he advanced and took 
 Edessa, and in 606 gained a great victory over the troops of 
 Phocas at Arxamon, which was followed by the capture of 
 Dara. At the same time the Avars, crossing the Danube, 
 ravaged the Balkan provinces ; while the Sclavs, following 
 in their wake, established themselves in scattered communities 
 over a large part of Moesia ; with the result that after a time 
 the Roman population of that province, being left without 
 any troops, fell back to the Balkans, leaving Justinian's chain 
 
 ^ It is a cause for much shame that this cruel mode of death, the 
 employment of which was universally condemned and rejected with 
 horror by the Later Roman Empire, should have been eagerly and 
 universally employed in the West (by both sides) as much as nine 
 centuries later, in the times of the Reformation, and to such an extent 
 that the burning of condemned persons became an everyday occurrence. 
 
 of frontier fortresses protecting only a devastated region 
 inhabited by scattered settlements of Sclavs. This was fol- 
 lowed by further successes of the Persians, who in 606 overran 
 Mesopotamia, in 607 invaded Syria and Palestine, carrying 
 off immense numbers of captives, in 608 occupied in succession 
 Armenia, Cappadocia, and Galatia, showing no mercy either 
 to age or sex, and at length passed into Bithynia and encamped 
 at Chalcedon, on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus to 
 Constantinople. 
 
 Nevertheless Smaragdus, the Exarch of Ravenna, chose this 
 latter year in which to give an example to the world of how 
 far abject sycophancy could go. Unknown on account of 
 any other deeds, Smaragdus has immortalized his name by 
 erecting in 608 in the centre of the ruined Forum at Rome 
 a column in honour of Phocas, placing round the pedestal an 
 inscription (discovered twelve centuries afterwards) stating 
 that the column was erected by him to the glory of Phocas 
 ** on account of the liberty, peace, and innumerable benefits 
 of his piety." ^ 
 
 Meanwhile the disorder in the empire grew from bad to 
 worse. In 609 a persecution by Phocas of the Jews in Syria 
 caused a revolt which was put down by a wholesale massacre 
 of that race throughout Syria. General anarchy ensued over 
 the whole of Syria and Egypt, in the course of which Eulogius, 
 the Pope of Alexandria, was killed, and Anastasius, the Pope 
 of Antioch, crueUy tortured, while in Constantinople Phocas 
 was insulted even by his own party, the Greens, who told him 
 openly at the games that he was ** again drunk." Thereupon 
 he ordered a general massacre of the offenders which produced 
 a riot in which many buildings were burnt and much damage 
 done to the capital. 
 
 * In the time of the poet Byron (the Foriun at Rome being still 
 buried some thirty feet deep in debris) this column stood up in the 
 midst of what was then known as *' the cattle -pasture,'* no one know- 
 ing what the column was, and it being called by Byron *' the name- 
 less colmnn with a buried base." But in 1816 the Duchess of Devon- 
 shire had the base of the coliunn excavated, with the result that the 
 inscription round the pedestal waa discovered, Smaragdus thereby 
 *' earning, by this abject homage to exceptional baseness, the con- 
 temptuous ridicule of all succeeding ages." 1 
 
CHAP. 
 
 |i 9i 
 
 396 
 
 PHOCAS 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 THE GORGON SLAIN 
 
 397 
 
 Expedition While this state of anarchy prevailed over all the 
 ^^^^^ rest of the empire, Heraclius,i who after his dis- 
 the elder, tiiiguished services in the Persian war in 686-690 
 had been appointed by Maurice to be Exarch of North Africa, 
 the largest and most important province of the empire, kept 
 his province quiescent, biding his time. His able and beneficent 
 rule of North Africa had greatly increased the wealth and 
 resources of that province, and had made all men feel con- 
 fidence in him, while he was so popular that Phocas had not 
 dared to depose him from his office. At length in 608 
 Heraclius considered that the time had come to make an 
 effort to destroy the incapable miscreant who had seized the 
 throne and murdered the emperor Maurice. Raising a number 
 of additional troops, including a large force of Moorish cavalry, 
 and feeling too old to lead the army himself, he entrusted 
 the command of the expedition to his son Heraclius, assisted 
 by Nicetas, the son of his chief military officer, Gregory. The 
 plan made by Heraclius the elder (whose wife Epiphania, with 
 Eudocia, the betrothed of his son, were seized at Constan- 
 tinople and cast into prison by Phocas upon his hearing of 
 these preparations) was that his son, as leader of the expedition, 
 should command the fleet, should sail from Carthage to Thes- 
 salonica and establish himself there in force, and from thence 
 should attack Constantinople, while Nicetas, with a force 
 consisting largely of cavalry, starting before the fleet, should 
 invade Egypt, and capture Alexandria, afterwards assisting 
 the fleet in case it received a repulse. 
 
 Death of It was a difficult plan to carry out, but was entirely 
 Phocas. successful, the arrangements being carefully thought 
 out. Nicetas, starting towards the end of 608, succeeded in 
 capturing Alexandria ; he then sustained a defeat from Bono- 
 sus, whom Phocas had sent to defend Egypt, but subsequently, 
 about the end of 609, gained a complete victory over Bonosus, 
 with the result that the latter fled back to Constantinople, and 
 Egypt submitted. Meanwhile Heraclius the younger had 
 sailed from Carthage, and in a short time established himself 
 at Thessalonica, gaining many additional adherents from the 
 coast towns and islands on his way. From thence, towards 
 
 1 Chap. XXIII, p. 342. He is usually called Heraclius the elder, 
 to distinguish him from his son of the same name, the future emperor. 
 
 the end of September 610, he sailed for Constantinople, reached 
 there on the 3rd October, defeated Phocas' fleet in the Bos- 
 phorus, and forthwith, without leaving his ship, summoned 
 Constantinople to surrender. Phocas was seized by his own 
 ministers, dragged on board the ship bearing Heraclius, and 
 after being received by him with the speech " Is it thus, wretch, , 
 that you have governed the State ? ", was promptly hewn 
 in pieces (5th Oct. 610).^ The Senate at once proclaimed 
 Heraclius emperor, and he was crowned in St. Sophia by Sergius, 
 the Pope of Constantinople. 
 Heraclius the Hcraclius, who was thirty-six when he became 
 younger, emperor,^ and reigned thirty-one years (610-641), 
 has scarcely received the full honour that he certainly de- 
 serves. His great feat, one worthy of Constantine the Great, 
 the entire overthrow of that Persian empire which had been 
 for 400 years the dreaded foe of Rome, and against which 
 almost every emperor had waged war without any permanent 
 success, has been to a large extent obscured. This has been 
 owing to two reasons, both caused by want of acquaintance 
 with war ; first, to a theory that he evinced lethargy, because 
 after gaining the throne he spent ten years before attacking 
 the Persians ; and secondly to its being assumed that the 
 loss of large portions of the empire to a new foe at the latter 
 end of his reign was due to similar lethargy on his part, though 
 he was then over sixty years of age, in failing health owing 
 to the special hardships he had undergone in six years' strenu- 
 ous campaigning, and quite unfit again to take the field in 
 person, while the foe to be met was one who fought in a way 
 entirely new to the Romans, employing a mode of fighting 
 with which even modem armies have not always been able 
 to cope. 
 
 All this underrates Heraclius, who in first raising the empire 
 from a state of the utmost weakness and degradation, and 
 
 1 Prof. Bury felicitously likens Heraclius to a knight -errant who slays 
 the giant and delivers the captive who had pined for eight years in 
 the dungeons of his castle. 
 
 * His father Heraclius the elder, Exarch of Africa, when despatch- 
 ing his son with a force to Constantinople had done so with the express 
 intention that the latter, and not himself, should become emperor, 
 feeling himself to be too old. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 398 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAOS RESTORED TO ORDER 
 
 399 
 
 ■ 
 
 then after long preparation sallying forth with a powerful army 
 and fleet under his own personal command, and in six splendid 
 campaigns, in which he showed the highest genius, finally 
 overthrowing the great military empire which for four centuries 
 had shown itself a match for Rome, deserves honour second 
 to none of the successors of Constantine the Great. 
 
 Hi, Having released Epiphania and Eudocia from their 
 coronation, imprisonment Heraclius celebrated his coronation, 
 and his marriage to Eudocia on the same day. The coronation 
 of the emperors of the Later Roman Empire, owing to the 
 long historical associations attaching to the ceremony, the 
 grandeur of the surroundings in which it took place, ^ the 
 solemn character of the ceremonial observed, and the splendour 
 of the. dresses worn by all who took part in it, was the most 
 imposing spectacle of the kind which has ever been witnessed. 
 Sitting in a chariot entirely of gold, dressed in the gold-em- 
 broidered imperial purple robes, and escorted by the splendid 
 Imperial Guards, whose uniform, equipment, and titles of 
 rank recalled in many of their details the days of Trajan and 
 Aurelian, the new emperor passed in a stately procession 
 through the beautiful city of Constantinople to the cathedral 
 of St. Sophia. There, in the midst of a gorgeously dressed 
 assembly, with on every side walls gleaming with many-coloured 
 marbles and mosaics which glittered like jewels, while the 
 air was filled with the strains of majestic Church music, he 
 knelt before the golden altar, received the Holy Communion, 
 and was then crowned amidst acclamations of " Long live 
 the emperor, long live the successor of Constantine." He 
 then took the long coronation oath, in which the feature which 
 is most notable is the great importance attached to the em- 
 peror's belonging to the orthodox Catholic faith, and under- 
 taking to defend that faith against all heretical forms of belief. 
 For while the new emperor swore " to rule with truth and 
 justice, to abstain from bloodshed, and to be humane to all," 
 by far the larger part of the oath consisted of, first, the recitation 
 of the Nicene Creed, and then an affirmation that the emperor 
 accepted the decrees of the five ' General Councils, and " the 
 
 1 See Plan (Appendix XIX). 
 
 ■ Five in the time of Heraclius, six after the time of his great-grand- 
 son Constantine IV, in whose reign the sixth took place. 
 
 privileges and usages of the most Holy Great Church of God," 
 accepted the doctrines canonically laid down by the Fathers, 
 and undertook to be a defender and champion of the Church, 
 concluding with the words, " And whatsoever things the Holy 
 Fathers rejected and anathematised, I do myself also reject 
 and anathematise." Having taken this oath he signed it as 
 ** the Roman Emperor and Sovereign faithful in Christ," 
 and dated it, even the hour being entered. 
 
 ^^^^^ As noted, it has commonly been held that during 
 
 accused of thc first tcu ycars of his reign Heraclius displays 
 
 ethargy. ig^jjg^j.gy^ ^jjjg yj[g^ being apparently based, partly 
 
 on the absence of definite accoimts of work done by him in 
 this period, and partly on the Persian invasions of Syria in 
 613-615 and Egypt in 619 having been but feebly opposed. 
 And a French historian, M. Drapeyron, in explanation of 
 this supposed lethargy, has argued that while in the perfect 
 man will, intellect, and *' sensibility " should all be in equili- 
 brium, in Heraclius " sensibility was more powerful than 
 intellect, and intellect more powerful than will." ^ But it 
 would seem that Heraclius displayed no such lethargy, and 
 that when the conditions confronting him on gaining the throne 
 and the military arrangements necessary before he could 
 dream of meeting Persia in battle are considered this will 
 be apparent. 
 
 Conditions Haviug coucludcd his coronation and marriage 
 facing him jjeraclius set himself to bring order out of chaos 
 
 on gaining <-' 
 
 the throne, in the cmpirc. His first task was to cleanse the 
 Augean stable in the imperial palace, and clear out the crowd 
 of parasites, sycophants, and panderers to the pleasures of 
 the evil Phocas who had gathered round the latter during 
 his eight years* orgy. This done, Heraclius had to carry out 
 an entire reorganization of the administration, aU honest 
 men employed under Maurice having been slain. Everything 
 was in confusion ; Syria and Egypt were in a state of anarchy ; 
 the Balkan provinces were overrun by the Avars ; the Persians 
 had occupied Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, 
 thus driving a Persian wedge right through the whole length 
 of Asia Minor ; there was practically no army (except the 
 comparatively small force which Heraclius had brought with 
 1 M. Drapeyron, VEmpereuT U^racliua et V empire Byzantin. 
 
it 
 
 j 
 
 * iiH nJt m 
 
 400 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 him), a fact which, while it had enabled Heraclius so easily 
 to seize the throne, left a long and difficult task before him, 
 since none knew better than he that the creation of a fleet 
 and an army capable of coping with the power of Persia must 
 be the work of years ; and lastly the treasury was empty, 
 while with enemies occupying so large a part of the empire 
 there were but small means of filling it. Worse still was 
 the state of affairs in the civil administration, where misrule, 
 corruption, and rascality reigned supreme. And here it was 
 necessary to go slowly, since violent changes, especially with 
 little force to back his authority, would produce a catastrophe. 
 To cope with such a mass of difficulties required a man of 
 strong wiU and steadfastness of purpose. And that Heraclius 
 successfully coped with these difficulties, and by degrees 
 brought order out of chaos, appears to show that he cannot 
 have been wanting in strength of character ; while it was a 
 work which necessarily took a long time. 
 
 Again the military point seems scarcely to have received 
 proper consideration. Heraclius, as a soldier, and the son 
 of a soldier, knew better than to make the mistake that Jus- 
 tinian had made, and to attack a powerful enemy with in- 
 adequate forces. He knew, probably better than any around 
 him (and certainly infinitely better than those modem writers 
 who have adversely criticized him), how immense was the 
 task which lay before him if he were going, first to drive the 
 Persians out of a large part of the Roman dominions, and 
 then to follow them into Persia and destroy their empire, as 
 he hoped to do, and as he eventually did do. He cannot have 
 forgotten that the best equipped army which had ever been 
 put in the field agamst Persia, ^ commanded by an emperor 
 who had won considerable successes in war, after advancing 
 only a short distance into that country had been surrounded 
 by an immense host and compelled to fight its way back to 
 the Tigris. He must expect to meet armies of 100,000 or 
 200,000 men, fuUy trained and well-equipped, and commanded 
 by generals who had throughout the previous reign been 
 constantly victorious over the Romans. It was therefore 
 plain that to create, not merely an army, but an army capable 
 of vanquishing such a power as this, and at the same time 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIV, p. 482. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 LONG PREPARATIONS 
 
 401 
 
 to create a fleet able to defend Constantinople from any attacks 
 during his absence, must be a work requiring much time, 
 attention to innumerable details, and inexhaustible patience. 
 For such a work ten years was not a long time, while to hurry 
 such a process would merely mean that he would become yet 
 another of the many emperors who had measured swords 
 with Persia imsuccessfuUy. We know from contemporary 
 writings how carefully Heraclius before entering upon this 
 contest studied the conditions to be met, the strength of the 
 enemy, the nature of the country, and the strategy to be 
 employed. It is not likely that such a man, determined 
 not to fail as so many before him had done, would dream of 
 entering upon such an enterprise without taking full time 
 to complete properly the preparations for it. 
 
 Lastly Heraclius had no great general like Belisarius. There- 
 fore, though no Roman emperor for more than 200 years had 
 commanded personally in the field, Heraclius must break 
 through this custom, and be his own commander-in-chief. 
 Hence before he could venture to quit the capital, and take 
 personal command in a war certain to be a strenuous one 
 lasting probably for five or six years, he must place the civil 
 administration on so sound a footing that there would be no 
 danger of maladministration or revolution during his absence. 
 And to bring the administration to this degree of stability, 
 after such an eight years' reign as that of Phocas, was a matter 
 for which ten years was not at all a long period. 
 
 These various considerations of the reformation necessary 
 throughout the public service, the creation of forces suffi- 
 ciently powerful for such an enterprise, and the bringing the 
 administration to such stability that Heraclius could be absent 
 from the capital for several years without risk of a revolution, 
 appear fully to explain his making no prominent move 
 for ten years after gaining the throne,^ and thoroughly to 
 exonerate him in regard to that accusation of lethargy which 
 has been made against him in regard to those years. 
 
 ^ ^^ Heraclius' appearance is described by Cedrenus 
 thus : — " He was of middle height, strongly built, 
 and broad-chested ; his eyes were fine, rather grey 
 
 ^ Except his unsuccessful endeavours to defend Syria in 613, and 
 Egypt in 619 (see below). 
 
 E.W. — U. 
 
 and 
 character. 
 
 ;l 
 
 D D 
 
CHAP 
 
 402 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 ! 
 
 in colour ; his hair was yellow, and his skin white. When he 
 became emperor he shaved his long bushy beard, and remained 
 thenceforth clean-shaven." As regards his character, without 
 admitting that in Heraclius the equilibrium referred to by 
 M. Drapeyron was not preserved, it is clear from the writings 
 of George of Pisidia, Heraclius' intimate friend, that the latter 
 possessed a full share of that due amount of " sensibility " 
 which is to be desired in the perfect man. Moreover it was 
 to this very quality of an impressionable temperament (sum- 
 patheia), with which George of Pisidia credits him, that Her- 
 aclius' main achievements were largely due, inspired as these 
 were by its outcome, a strong enthusiasm ; while to this same 
 temperament is also due much of the interest of his character. ^ 
 This capacity for enthusiasm shows itself throughout Hera- 
 clius' career. It prevented him from being overwhelmed by 
 the difficulties before him at the beginning of his reign ; it 
 carried him in a meteor-like course of victory from Constan- 
 tinople to Nineveh ; it enabled him to inspire others with a 
 similar enthusiasm ; and it also showed itself in Heraclius 
 in regard to matters of religion. For he was throughout life 
 fully as ready to be impressed by portents and signs as Con- 
 stantine the Great ; while we also hear from George of Pisidia 
 of an image of the Virgin Mary " not made with hands " by 
 which Heraclius set great store, carrying it with him when 
 
 1 It is interesting to notice what a large part this quality of aim- 
 patia (in Greek sumpatheia), upon which all the southern races of 
 Europe set a high value, and for which we have no English equivalent 
 (it being much more than is expressed by our English sympathy), plays 
 in regard to our interest or the reverse in characters in history. This 
 is well seen by comparing the emperors Justinian and Heraclius. 
 Owing to the entire absence of this quality in Justinian, and notwith- 
 standing that he was surrounded by litersury men who could have des- 
 cribed him to us, we seem to know nothing of his personality. The 
 historian Procopius writes six great books upon the works of Justinian, 
 and yet in a single line conveys to us more information regarding the 
 character and personality of Theodora than he does regarding that of 
 Justinian in the whole of his books. Justinian*s works arouse our 
 interest, but he himself, a cold abstraction, fails to do so. On the 
 other hand because Heraclixis possessed this gift of a *' sympathetic " 
 temperament, able to be stirred by enthusiasm, we seem to know him 
 almost like a personal acquaintance, and are drawn to feel an interest 
 in him and his deeds which is quite impossible in the case of 
 Justinian. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 PERSIANS REACH CHALCEDON 
 
 403 
 
 he sailed from Carthage against Phocas, and again also through- 
 out his campaigns against Persia. 
 
 g^^j Prisons, who had married the daughter of Phocas, 
 marriage of QU HcracUus bccomiug emperor had professed 
 
 ^^ ^' loyalty to him, and was sent into Cappadocia to 
 endeavour to retake Csesarea from the Persians, in which he 
 was eventually successful. But soon afterwards he showed 
 plainly his disaffection, and on coming to Constantinople 
 in 612 was charged by Heraclius with treason, deprived of 
 his command, and forced to become a monk. In the same 
 year Heraclius' wife Eudocia, who had borne him two children, 
 a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Constantine, died ; and 
 in 613 Heraclius married his niece Martina, a marriage which 
 gave general offence, being looked upon as incestuous. Mar- 
 tina was a woman of considerable ability, and it is evident 
 that Heraclius made this marriage chiefly because he valued 
 her strong force of character. 
 
 „ . Had Heraclius been left undisturbed he would still 
 
 Persian 
 
 invasion of havc rcquircd a long time before he could be in a 
 MtoOT, jmd position to embark upon such an enterprise as 
 ^^^^' endeavouring to vanquish the power of Persia. 
 But before he had been three years upon the throne a series 
 of events began which greatly retarded his preparations. 
 In 613 Syria, only just recovering from a state of anarchy, 
 was invaded by the Persians. Heraclius endeavoured to 
 stop their advance, but his troops were insufficient, and first 
 Antioch and then Damascus were taken. In 614 the Persians 
 invaded Palestine, captured Jerusalem, carried off the Pope 
 of Jerusalem, Zacharias, a captive to Persia, and also carried 
 away into Persia the most precious relic of Christendom, the 
 portion of the True Cross which the empress Helena had left 
 there. ^ In 615 the Persians advanced through Cflicia.. and 
 eventually even up to Chalcedon, opposite to Constantinople, 
 and the citizens could see across the waters of the Bosphorus 
 the terrifying spectacle of blazing villages set on fire by them.* 
 Lastly in 619 the Persians invaded Egypt, defeated the troops 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIII, p. 419. 
 
 • The distance across the straits between Constantinople and Chalce- 
 don (now Scutekri) is only about a mile. 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 404 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 CHOSROES* "KINDLY GLANCE'' 
 
 405 
 
 I 
 
 under Nicetas, and took Alexandria, making themselves masters 
 
 of Egypt. 
 
 The chief reason why Heraclius was unable to oppose 
 these operations of the Persians was want of money, combined 
 with the fact that with the Balkan provinces occupied by 
 the Avars, and Armenia occupied by the Persians, most of 
 the best recruiting-grounds of the empire were in the hands 
 of its enemies. Succeeding to a completely empty treasury, 
 with large portions of the Roman dominions either occupied 
 by the Persians or in a state of anarchy, and with a civil ad- 
 ministration having to be gradually brought out of a con- 
 dition of corruption and rascality, he had not had time as 
 yet to obtain a revenue sufficient to create forces in any large 
 number, and he was therefore compelled for a time to bow 
 
 to the storm. 
 
 Moreover lust at this time Heraclius was contem- 
 
 Pioicct to __ 
 
 remove the plating a remarkable project. Feeling that the 
 *^^***** atmosphere of Constantinople was not one in 
 which such a task as he was anxious to carry out could best 
 be performed, he was projecting a removal of the capital to 
 Carthage. Whereas for such an enterprise as a determined 
 war against Persia (a power which by this time utterly despised 
 the Roman empire) it was necessary that the whole attention 
 of the State should be given to military affairs, in Constantinople, 
 through the effects of 220 years of luxurious life, everything 
 militated against this. The inhabitants of that luxurious city 
 had merely heard of war at a distance, had no knowledge of its 
 conditions, and were not disposed to submit to any sacrifices 
 in connection with it ; they expected the emperor to be a 
 constant source of pleasure to them, providing them with 
 pageants, games, and gorgeous spectacles, and supplying 
 them with the customary dole of bread given free without 
 labour. At the same time the elaborate ceremonial of an 
 extravagant court took up time and attention which was 
 required to be devoted to military matters ; and the costly 
 crowd of palace officials of many grades consumed funds needed 
 for carrying on a strenuous war. It was no wonder therefore 
 that Heraclius, bent upon turning all his energy to one object, 
 yearned after the freer atmosphere of Africa, where he would 
 b^ surrounded by races inured to war ready to filj th^ 
 
 ranks of his army, where he could establish a simpler and more 
 economical court, and where he could devote all time and 
 money to the one object necessary to deliver the empire from 
 the destruction by which it was threatened. 
 
 insuitin ^^^ dcgrcc of coutcmpt with which the Roman 
 
 letter of empire, through the effects of eight years' disorganiz- 
 
 ^"^^^^ ' ation under Phocas, was at this time regarded by the 
 
 Persians is demonstrated by the letter written to Heraclius 
 
 in 618 by the Persian monarch, Chosroes II, the grandson 
 
 of the great Noshirvan. It ran as follows : — 
 
 " Chosroes, the noblest of the gods, the king and master of 
 the whole earth, the son of the great Oromazes, to Heraclius 
 his vile and insensate slave. 
 
 " Refusing to submit to our rule, you call yourself lord and 
 sovereign. You detain and disperse our treasures, and deceive 
 our servants. Having gathered together a troop of brigands, you 
 ceaselessly annoy us. Have I not then destroyed the Greeks ? 
 You say you have trust in God ; why then has he not delivered 
 out of my hand Caesarea, Jerusalem, Alexandria ? Are you then 
 ignorant that I have subdued land and sea to my laws ? And could 
 I not also destroy Constantinople ? But not so. I will pardon 
 all your faults if you will come hither with your wife and children. 
 I will give you lands, vines, and olive groves, which will supply you 
 with the necessaries of life ; I will look upon you with a kindly 
 glance. Do not deceive yourself with a vain hope in that Christ 
 who was not able to save himself from the Jews, who kUled Him 
 by nailing Him to a cross. If you descend to the depths of the 
 sea I will stretch out my hand and will seize you, and you shall 
 then see me unwillingly." ^ 
 
 Before ten years were over the " vile and insensate slave " 
 stood watching the burning of Chosroes' vast palace of Dastag- 
 herd, which he had given to the flames after having beaten 
 in succession seven great Persian armies and destroyed for 
 ever the power of Persia. 
 
 Dismay at The projcct of rcmovuig the imperial capital to 
 rem^the Carthage was kept secret by Heraclius as long as 
 capital, possible, loiowing as he did the immense opposition 
 it would meet with from all classes in Constantinople. But 
 when he at length in 618 despatched in several vessels to 
 Africa the treasures of the imperial palace his plan became 
 known. Great was the consternation throughout all Con- 
 
 ^ Sepeos, as quoted by Prof' Bury, Later Roman Empire, II, 220. 
 
CfiAP. 
 
 406 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 CHURCH HELPS STATE 
 
 407 
 
 i 
 
 stantinople. "The possibility of losing the emperor, of 
 no longer being the privileged imperial city, brought suddenly 
 home to Constantinople the realities of the situation, and 
 awakened it from the false dream of a spoiled child." ^ It 
 shows how popular Heraclius had by this time become that 
 under these circumstances, instead of any conspiracies to 
 assassinate him being set on foot by the Byzantmes upon learn- 
 ing of such a proposal, the entire community earnestly en- 
 treated him to abandon his project. And they were successful. 
 Heraclius, moved it is said by their representations, gave 
 way, promised not to desert Constantinople, and at the in- 
 stance of Sergius, Pope of Constantinople, publicly made 
 a solemn vow in St. Sophia " that he would never abandon 
 
 the queen of cities." " 
 
 The motive adduced, viz. the representations of the Byzan- 
 tines, seems scarcely sufficient to account for this change of 
 purpose on the part of Heraclius, and for the abandonment 
 of a project upon which after long consideration he had fully 
 determmed, and after he had got so far as to dispatch to Africa 
 the treasures of the imperial palace. And it would appear 
 that a stronger inducement which swayed HeracUus was 
 the portent conveyed in the fact that one of the vessels con> 
 veying a large part of the treasures of the imperial palace 
 was wrecked on the southern coast of Italy in a storm, all 
 of the treasures it was conveying being lost in the sea. The 
 solemn vow made by HeracUus in St. Sophia shows that he 
 was more deeply moved than is to be accounted for merely 
 by the representations made to him by the Byzantines, and 
 his temperament being what it was such a portent would be 
 certain to affect him strongly. Nor is this all. One is led 
 to wonder whether it was on this occasion that the splendid 
 bronze statue of Heraclius now preserved at Barletta ^ found 
 its way to the bottom of the sea. It seems very probable ; 
 especially as we hear of no other occasion when it would have 
 been likely to be on board a ship. And if HeracUus' own 
 statue met this fate on its way to Africa the portent would 
 have been still more forcible, and would fuUy account for 
 his solemn vow made in St. Sophia. 
 
 1 Bury. * Nicephorus, 'Icrropta cruvro/xo?, p. 12. 
 
 8 Page 409. 
 
 However this may be, it was weU that HeracUus relinquished 
 his project, natural though it was for him to have formed it. 
 For Constantinople was ere long, when it came to have practical 
 experience of war, destined to demonstrate its immense military 
 strength, and to become, through many generations, the great 
 bulwark of Christendom. 
 Change in ^^^ though HcracUus abandoned this proposal 
 tone of the his having formed it had great results. A marked 
 yzan es. ^YiSi,nge in the general tone of the Byzantines fol- 
 lowed. Earnestness took the place of frivoUty. Heraclius, 
 full of enthusiasm, was now able to impart some of his own 
 zeal to a people hitherto too frivolous to feel in earnest about 
 anything but amusements. So changed was the temper of 
 the people that after a short time Heraclius was able to abolish 
 the distribution of free bread, thereby gaining much-needed 
 funds for his miUtary preparations, while the discontinuance 
 of this incentive to idleness sent many recruits into the 
 army. Heraclius, fired with a desire to rescue the True 
 Cross from the sacrilegious hands of the Fire-worshippers, 
 and to recover Jerusalem from them, imparted this enthusiasm 
 to the people, and his war against Persia assumed the character 
 of a crusade. The result was a close alUance between Church 
 and State ; Church treasures of gold and silver were melted 
 down and turned into money for military purposes ; the 
 Church also lent to the State a large sum of money to be re- 
 paid at the end of the war ; and Sergius, the strong and capable 
 Pope of Constantinople, became the right hand of Heraclius. 
 So that by the end of the year 619 HeracUus at last began to 
 feel that he would soon be in a position to adopt a different 
 tone towards Persia, and to make the insolent Chosroes II 
 feel the power of the Roman arms. 
 Attempt of But bcforo this could be done it was necessary to 
 to*capt^ make peace with the Avars. In 618 the Chagan 
 HeracUus. of tho Avars had made a determined attempt to 
 capture HeracUus. Making pretended overtures for peace he 
 proposed a conference between himself and the emperor at 
 Heraclea, which HeracUus eagerly accepted, and a grand 
 ceremony was arranged for the occasion. But the Chagan 
 had proposed the conference solely with the intention of 
 capturing HeracUus at it, and this he very nearly accomplished, 
 
 1 1 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 408 
 
 Heraclius only just succeeding in escaping. Throwing away 
 his purple robe, and with his crown under his arm, he fled at a 
 irallop,^ being pursued by the troops of the treacherous Chagan 
 right up to the " Golden Gate " of the city,^ while the Avars 
 plundered the suburbs, burnt several churches, and though 
 eventually driven away carried off thousands of men and 
 women as prisoners. Subsequently, however, Herachus recog- 
 nizinc that before he could venture to quit Constantmople 
 upon a long war with Persia it was necessary to come to some 
 terms with the Avars, in order to secure safety for the capital 
 from the west while he withdrew the bulk of his forces to 
 the east, was compeUed to overlook this outrage, and m bZi) 
 a peace was concluded with the Chagan of the Avars. 
 
 Nevertheless Herachus could not even yet start 
 "l^rlnrr upon his campaign, for early in 621 by the orders 
 chaicedon. ^^ chosrocs II thc Pcrsiau forces at Chalcedon 
 attacked Constantinople. But Heraclius was well prepared 
 for them. His new fleet utterly routed the enemy s fleet, 
 and the Persians lost all their ships and 4000 men. Thus 
 by the end of the year 621 Heraclius was at last ready for 
 his great enterprise ; peace had been made with the Avars ; 
 Constantinople had a fleet to protect it from the Persians at 
 Chalcedon ; a great army had been raised and [^7 ^^^^^^'^ 
 and owing largely to the assistance given by the Church he 
 had ample funds for the war. Heraclius spent the wmter 
 of 621 in retkement, preparing himseK in every way for the 
 work before him, and studying carefully works on strategy, 
 the nature of the countries in which he intended to operate, 
 and the various problems of the task he was about to un- 
 dertake, the great difficulties of which, though he could not 
 admit them to others, he himself well knew. It was no or- 
 dinary occasion ; since Theodosius the Great xio emperor 
 had commanded in person in a war ; and the Byzantines 
 were impressed by this fact, and by the solemmty of the 
 
 1 The distance to Constantinople was about 60 miles. 
 
 « The " Golden Gate," built by Theodosius the Great, and so oftwi 
 mentioned in the history of Constantinople, was at t^e ^outh-westem 
 Trner of the city. All grand processions entered t^.^f ^^^ ^^^^^^^ 
 Though now walled up, its battered remains can still be seen formmg 
 part of the line of walls. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE ARMY 
 
 409 
 
 long preparation, as well as by at last realizing that this 
 was to be a life and death struggle between Christendom 
 and the Fire- worshippers. 
 
 The war Ou the day after Easter Sunday 622 Heraclius,^ 
 against Persia. jjQ^ forty-cight, after appointing his ten-year-old 
 son Constantino nominally regent in his absence, and placing 
 the actual administration of affairs in the hands of Sergius, 
 the Pope of Constantinople, and Bonus, a capable Patrician, 
 sailed from the imperial city with a great fleet and army, 
 everything being done which could give solemnity to the 
 occasion. The departure of this remarkable expedition, so 
 long prepared for, upon which so much hung, and commanded 
 by the emperor in person, must have been an imposing sight. 
 A considerable party in Constantinople had opposed Heraclius' 
 proceeding himself upon the campaign, on the ground that 
 no emperor had done so for 228 years, that it was unsuitable 
 to his exalted dignity, and that it risked the occurrence of 
 grave evils to the State in case of his death either in battle 
 or from the hardships of the campaign ; but Heraclius had 
 refused to listen to these arguments. 
 Want of a Nowhcrc do wc feel so sorely the want of a Pro- 
 historian. copius, or of any man who could wield the pen 
 in the simplest fashion, as we do in the case of the six 
 campaigns of Heraclius which followed. But no such chroni- 
 cler accompanied the latter, and he himself was far too strenu- 
 ously engaged during the six years in question to be able 
 to imitate Julius Caesar in this respect. We are told by 
 chroniclers who were not there of the various battles won, 
 but not a word regarding the means by which these great 
 results were achieved. We are left to realize as best we may 
 from the conditions of the case, — ^from the immense forces 
 brought against him, the wide extent of country traversed, 
 its difficult character, the absence of roads, the mountains 
 and unbridged rivers crossed, and similar circumstances, — 
 how great was the genius, the resource, and the tactical skill 
 
 ^ Plate LXVin. Fine bronze statue of Heraclius (of immense size) 
 found in the sea off the coast of southern Italy by fishermen, and now 
 standing in the market-place of Barletta. Its height, exclusive of the 
 pedestal, is 19 feet, by actual measurement taken recently for this book. 
 
410 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 of Heraclius, and how well he deserved the gratitude and 
 honour which he won among his contemporaries as the de- 
 liverer and saviour of the Roman Empire. 
 
 Commanders such as Heraclius suffer very greatly at the 
 hands of historians when unaccompanied in their campaigns 
 by a man like Procopius. In these easy times, when countless 
 numbers of people pass their whole lives without ever having 
 seen war, and when railways, telegraph lines, and other in- 
 ventions of science have, in many countries, robbed even war 
 itself of many of its former difficulties, historians write glibly 
 of a commander having marched here, or fought a battle 
 there, as though such operations were as easy as an ordinary 
 journey in these days from London to St. Petersburg. The 
 result- is that the mind loses all power of appreciating the 
 enormous efforts, both of mind and body, required in carrying 
 out such operations. This effect, to be noted in regard to all 
 commanders, is specially notable in regard to Herachus, whose 
 operations were on a grand scale, while the information re- 
 garding them is of the scantiest. 
 Power and Regarding the power and splendour of his antagonist, 
 ciS^'iL ^^os'^^s II, we have numerous accounts. His 
 empire (including the recent conquests from the 
 Romans) extended from Tripoli and Chalcedon on the west 
 to the Indus and the borders of Thibet on the east, and there 
 was practically no limit to his military resources. His army, 
 as the result of 400 years of warfare with the Roman army,' 
 was as well trained and as experienced in war as the latter ; 
 and his rule was the iron rule of an eastern despot. His 
 favourite residence was Dastagherd, on the river Arba, about 
 70 miles north of the capital, Ctesiphon. The splendour of 
 his range of palaces at Dastagherd was fabulous. We are 
 told of its forty thousand columns of silver, marble, and carved 
 wood supporting the roofs of its various halls, of its dome 
 with a thousand globes of gold to imitate the motion of the 
 planets, and of its thirty thousand rich hangings adorning 
 the walls of its many chambers. Six thousand guards mounted 
 daily before the palace gate, and twelve thousand slaves per- 
 formed the service of the palace. In the vicinity were his 
 other palaces of Dezeridan, Rusa, Vevdarch, the " Paradise " 
 of Yesdem, and his great park at Veklal, in which were wild 
 
PLATE LXVIII. 
 
 Bronze statue of the emperor Heraclius. 
 
 [Alinari. 
 
 Found in the sea, and now standing in the market place of Barletta, Its immense size can be seen by com- 
 parison with the doors of the church. By actual measurement specially taken recently its height, exclusive 
 of the pedestal, proves to be 19 feet. 
 
 '■' -'^'^'■■'-■■■''iSib^^BSI^lihi^l^lkai^ 
 
 al^^aew^^l^^^ 
 
}■] ATI I Will 
 
 r>l.'<»\/I si A in. ol Mi!. I..MI'I.R(iK' I I l.K'A( 1 i( s. 
 
 \ I I ■■ \ K I . 
 
 T'-iiiii'l iti '1' 
 
 .III': ii'>u 
 
 -tHi) liiij III til' 1 1 1. 'irk' t pl.i' <■ "t l).trl'i!.r It - i!iiiu'-n~'- -i/.'- ' .iii In -■■< ii |i\' < '<u 
 
 r.)n-.ii witli tli. ,i....i...t 111.- . liMi. h. H\ !< in.ii iri< .i-ur- iip'iit -i".|,i|K t 
 "I ill' y h M.tl, ;t-\' - f- 1" Py f. . t. 
 
 l.iiiv tak' M iii<i!tl\- M- li'U'hi. '\ilu~|\i 
 
t 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 SPLENDOUR OF DASTAGHERD 
 
 411 
 
 boar, roebuck, ostriches, peacocks, and pheasants, and where 
 lions and tigers were at times turned loose for purposes of 
 sport. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were kept for the 
 use of the Great King ; in the royal stables were six thousand 
 horses and mules ; whUe his tents and baggage were carried 
 on the march by twelve thousand camels and eight thousand 
 dromedaries. Chosroes' favourite wife Scherin, so celebrated 
 in the romances of the East on account of her beauty, wit, 
 and musical talents, was a Roman and a Christian. Chosroes 
 married her when, during the civil war in Persia after his 
 father's death, he for a time took refuge with the Romans in 
 Mesopotamia. ^ 
 
 The six great lu thc six great campaigns ^ conducted by Heraclius 
 'Sir against the power of Persia during the years 622-628, 
 Persia. Campaigns carried on by him under the ever pre- 
 vailing disadvantage of having to meet a powerful enemy 
 with greatly inferior numbers, but which ended in winning 
 back all that had been lost, and in carrying him victorious 
 into the heart of Persia, the generalship, untiring patience, 
 and never failing courage of Heraclius, and the splendid dis- 
 cipline of his troops, were strongly demonstrated. His first 
 move was somewhat of a surprise. Instead of sailing up 
 the Black Sea and attacking Persia in Armenia, as had been 
 expected, he sailed down the Hellespont, coasted along the 
 southern shores of Asia Minor, and landed his army in Cilicia, 
 probably at the mouth of the river Sarus, south of Tarsus. 
 The wisdom of this course was at once apparent, as no sooner 
 did he land in Cilicia than numbers of Roman subjects, both 
 from the adjacent provinces and from the northern part of 
 Syria, escaping from the tyrannical rule of Chosroes, flocked 
 to his standard, and he thereby gained a large increase to 
 his forces. 
 
 How carefully Heraclius prepared his army for the task 
 before it is seen by what took place upon his landing in Cilicia. 
 Notwithstanding his long previous preparation, after effecting 
 a landing in Cilicia he spent several months before marching 
 northwards in drilling his troops ; not merely, that is, in 
 
 ^ The love of Chosroes and Scherin is almost as favourite a subject 
 in Persian romance as that of Mejnoun and Leila, and sung of to this 
 day in many a Persian poem. ^ See Map C. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 412 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 t( 
 
 THE LAND OF FIRE" 
 
 413 
 
 teaching them how to perform certain manoeuvres, but in 
 teaching them that far more important matter, discipline. 
 He was about to enter upon a war which he hoped would 
 eventually lead him into the far regions of Persia ; he well 
 knew what an example of the value of discipline had been 
 shown in the case of the last Roman army which had pene- 
 trated into those regions ; ^ and therefore, though time must 
 have been precious, before advancing further upon his enter- 
 prise he spent several months in gradually teaching his troops 
 (and especially the new recruits whom he had gained on land- 
 ing) that spirit of unswerving discipline which had again and 
 again in Roman history won victories against the heaviest 
 odds, a discipline which was a tradition in the Roman army, 
 and which in this struggle with Persia Heraclius knew would 
 be put to as severe a test as it had ever endured. 
 
 Pi„t From Cilicia Heraclius slowly advanced in the 
 
 campaign, autumu of 622 into the mountains of Cappadocia. 
 Chosroes sent orders to Shah Barz, his best general, who was 
 commanding the Persian forces at Chalcedon, to move east- 
 wards and attack him. But Heraclius first completely baffled 
 Shah Barz by a series of brilliant manoeuvres, and then when 
 he had at last gained an advantageous position fought a general 
 engagement and gained a complete victory, the Persian army 
 flying in the utmost confusion, " hunted like goats through 
 the mountains," and suffering a heavy loss. After this action, 
 which was fought on the borders of Cappadocia and Galatia, 
 Heraclius advanced into Pontus, where he spent the rest of 
 the winter and where Martina joined him. 
 
 Second In the campaign of 623 Heraclius, having secured 
 
 campaign. ^^ Minor by this decisive victory, advanced in 
 April from Pontus * eastwards, swept roimd the northern 
 boundary of Armenia, and crossing the Araxes ^ and the 
 mountains south of that river, invaded the fertile district 
 of Azerbiyan (" the land of fire "), lying between the western 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIV, p. 489. 
 
 * Regarding the distances traversed in these six campaigns of 
 Heraclius, see Appendix XIV. 
 
 ^ The Araxes rises in the centre of Armenia, has a course of 
 about 700 miles to the Caspian Sea, and is a river of considerable 
 size. 
 
 shore of the Caspian Sea and Lake Urumiya, and the chief 
 seat of the Zoroastrian fire-worship. : Destroying the cities 
 and temples Heraclius advanced upon Ganzaca, the royal 
 capital of Azerbiyan, where Chosroes in person awaited him 
 with a large army, having also ordered two other armies, one 
 under Shah Barz from the west, and another under Sahin 
 from Persia, to converge upon Azerbiyan, and assist to 
 drive this hated invader out of the sacred province. Before 
 they arrived, however, Heraclius defeated the royal guards, 
 which caused Chosroes to abandon Ganzaca and retreat south- 
 westwards towards Nineveh. Heraclius thereupon took 
 Ganzaca, and destroyed all its temples and the magnificent 
 royal palace ; he then destroyed Thebarmes, the birthplace 
 of Zoroaster ^ (a city looked upon by the Persians much as 
 the Christians did upon Bethlehem), after which as winter 
 was approaching he retired northwards into Albania, on the 
 western shore of the Caspian Sea, where he obtained additions 
 to his army from various tribes of the Colchian and Iberian 
 hiUs. 
 
 Third In the campaign of 624, in Albania and Armenia, 
 campaign. HeracHus was attacked by three Persian armies. 
 He was first opposed on one side by a large army imder Shah 
 Barz, and on the other side by an equally large army under 
 Sarablagas, the latter force including several of Chosroes* 
 most highly prized regiments called after different Persian 
 sovereigns.^ Heraclius manoeuvred to separate these two 
 armies in order to fight them in succession, but just when 
 he thought he had achieved this they effected a junction, and 
 Heraclius being in a disadvantageous position retired during 
 the night until he found a more favourable position near the 
 Araxes. The combined armies of Shah Barz and Sarablagas, 
 
 ^ Zoroaster's date is a point on which ancient writers differ greatly. 
 Hermippus places him 500 years before the Trojan war» and Xanthus 
 and Aristotle give him similar antiquity. Gutschmit thought he 
 might be a contemporary of Moses. Duncker places him about 
 B.C. 1000. At any rate he must have lived before Cyrus. Agathias says 
 that whatever may have been his date he was the instructor of the 
 Persians in the Magian religion (the Fire-worship). Plato calls him 
 distinctly the founder of the doctrine of the Magi and the son of 
 Oromazes. 
 
 ^ §uch as " Chosroes' own " and ** Perozes* own," 
 
414 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 THREE ARMIES BEATEN 
 
 415 
 
 thinking he was in flight, and anxious to catch and destroy 
 him before the third Persian army mider Sahin should come 
 up to share in the victory, pressed on after him, and came 
 suddenly upon Heraclius' army drawn up to receive them. 
 The Roman army was enormously outnumbered, but never 
 did discipline shine out more brightly than on this occasion. 
 Heraclius briefly addressed his troops saying, '' Be not dis- 
 mayed by the number of the enemy, for by God's grace one 
 Roman shall put to flight a thousand Persians. For the safety 
 of our brethren let us sacrifice our own lives unto God, winning 
 thereby the martyr's crown and the praises of future gener- 
 ations." ^ The Persian masses were hurled upon the Roman 
 line without effect, neither the picked regiments of Sarablagas 
 nor the mailed cavalry of Shah Barz being able to shake the 
 firm stand of the Romans, and eventually the Persians suffered 
 an overwhelming defeat, Sarablagas being killed, and the 
 two combined armies being thoroughly routed. This victory 
 on the Araxes was as complete as that in the first campaign 
 on the northern border of Cappadocia. 
 
 But the day was not even yet ended. Scarcely was the 
 battle over and the victors enjoying a well-earned rest when 
 a third Persian army came up, that imder Sahin for whom 
 Sarablagas and Shah Barz had declined to wait. The army 
 of Sahin was wearied by a long march, and depressed by 
 news of the defeat of the other two armies. It was at once 
 attacked by Heraclius with his victorious troops, and was 
 quickly put to flight, its baggage also being captured. Nothing 
 better shows the discipline of Heraclius' army than the fact 
 that after gaining such a victory as that over Sarablagas and 
 Shah Barz his troops were not demoralized or scattered and 
 out of hand. Many have been the occasions in history when 
 a second army coming up in this way, finding its enemy's 
 troops thus scattered and demoralized by a previous success, 
 has turned the tables, the day ending with a defeat of the 
 army which at first had thought it had gained a victory. That 
 it was not so in this case was solely due to the perfect discipline 
 of Heraclius' troops. His long and careful training received 
 
 ^ The feeling that those who fell in fighting the Fire-worshippers 
 would be martyrs in the Christian cause obtained in the army of 
 Heraclius. 
 
 on this day its reward, and as the result he gained a unique 
 success. It has fallen to the lot of few commanders in one 
 day to beat three armies and gain two separate victories. 
 After this great success Heraclius retired westwards towards 
 Armenia, winter having abeady begun. The surviving troops 
 of Shah Barz had been so scattered by this defeat that he 
 could do nothing for the time until in the spring a fresh army 
 could be collected. He therefore retired for the winter to 
 Salban (now Van). Sahin however, fearing the fate which 
 generally overtook the unsuccessful generals of Chosroes,i 
 coUected his scattered troops and made an endeavour to 
 follow Heraclius, but his force became entangled m difficult 
 morasses and he had to abandon the attempt. Heraclius 
 hearing on reaching Armenia that Shah Barz was at the fortress 
 of Salban, made a long and laborious march by night, surprised 
 and took the fortress, and compelled Shah Barz to fly in haste 
 for his life, Heraclius capturing his golden armour, and a large 
 number of the Persian nobles with their wives and children. 
 After which Heraclius wintered at Salban. 
 
 Fourth In the campaign of 625 Heraclius (perhaps owing 
 campaign. ^Q having heard of possible hostflities by the Avars) 
 returned again towards the west. Crossing the mountains to 
 the south-west of Lake Van, he marched through Arzanene, 
 recovering from the Persians the Roman cities of Martyropolis 
 and Amida, and advanced to the Euphrates, where Shah 
 Barz with a fresh army, having destroyed the bridge, awaited 
 hmi on the opposite bank. But Heraclius contrived to elude 
 Shah Barz, crossed the Euphrates by a ford near Samosata, 
 and continuing to advance westwards crossed the Taurus a 
 second time, and entering Cilicia reached the river Sarus, 
 where Shah Barz overtook him. There a hard-fought battle 
 took place in which the Roman army, through rash impetu- 
 osity, nearly suffered a defeat, but this was changed into a 
 victory solely through the ability and courage of Heraclius, 
 whose deeds of personal valour on this day aroused the aston- 
 ishment of Shah Barz. The defeated Persian army, feeling 
 it impossible to contend with such an antagonist, retreated 
 crestfaUen towards Mesopotamia, and HeracUus marched 
 on through Cilicia and Cappadocia to Pontus, establishing 
 
 ^ They were usually flayed alive. 
 
 '1 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 416 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 himself for the winter on the shore of the Black Sea, probably 
 at Trapezus (Trebizond). 
 
 These successive defeats of six armies in four years, led 
 by his best generals, now roused Chosroes II to put forth the 
 whole power of his empke in 626 in a supreme effort to destroy 
 an adversary who appeared to be invincible by ordinary means. 
 For this purpose he summoned troops from far and wide through 
 Persia, and formed two fresh armies composed of his most 
 valued troops. One of these he placed imder command of 
 Shah Barz with orders to march to Chalcedon and form part 
 of a combined attack upon Constantinople (see below). The 
 other and larger army, consisting of all his most experienced 
 troops, together with a number of new levies, and including 
 a special corps of 50,000 men whom he called the *' Golden 
 Spears,*' Chosroes placed under command of Sahin, with orders 
 to advance through Mesopotamia and hunt and destroy Hera- 
 cUus wherever he might meet with him, adding a promise that 
 if Sahin failed to crush Heraclius he should suffer an igno- 
 minious death. Not content with this, Chosroes adopted the 
 unusual course of forming an alliance with the Chagan of the 
 Avars upon the Danube, and the latter accordingly prepared 
 a huge expedition to attack Constantinople from the west while 
 the army of Shah Barz attacked it from the side of Chalcedon 
 on the east. 
 
 Never before had the Roman Empire had to face such a 
 dangerous combination. It had often had to contend against 
 enemies on the eastern frontier and also in the Danube pro- 
 vinces, but never before had these enemies formed an alli- 
 ance and carried out a combined plan of operations. But 
 Heraclius was not daunted by this formidable array of forces 
 against him. He must have felt great confidence in his fleet, 
 in the garrison he had left to defend Constantinople, and in 
 Bonus ; for he never appears to have thought of abandoning 
 his conquests in order to proceed himself to the defence of 
 the capital. His army must by this time have been very large, 
 for he was able to divide it into three portions, with widely 
 separated spheres of action. One portion he retained imder 
 his own command to operate in Armenia, and from thence if 
 possible to invade Persia ; the second he placed imder his 
 brother Theodorus with orders to screen his (Heraclius') 
 
 xxrv] 
 
 THE "GOLDEN SPEARS" DEFEATED 417 
 
 movements by opposing Sahin on his march through Mesopo- 
 tamia ; the third portion consisted of those of his soldiers 
 who from age or from the effects of four years' campaigning 
 were less fit to endure the hardships of a fresh series of oper- 
 ations in the east,^ and these he sent to reinforce the garrison 
 of Constantinople, together with very carefully detailed orders 
 regarding the manner in which the defence of the city was to 
 be carried out. 
 
 pjitjj In the campaign of 626 we have no details re- 
 
 campaign. gardiug the operations of two of these forces, those 
 under Heraclius and Theodorus, beyond the result. Having 
 completed the above arrangements, Heraclius, quitting Pontus, 
 passed into Armenia, and from thence again advanced into 
 Azerbiyan. There he met with the Turkish tribe of the 
 Khazars returning from a plundering expedition, and made 
 an alliance with their chief, Ziebil, who gave him a contingent 
 of 40,000 Khazars. Thus reinforced, Heraclius for a second 
 time laid waste the sacred district of Azerbiyan, apparently 
 unopposed. 
 
 The force under Theodorus proceeded to Mesopotamia as 
 directed, where it encountered the army of Sahin, and fought 
 a pitched battle with him, probably in the neighbourhood 
 of Amida. But agaiu Roman discipline overcame immense 
 odds, the battle resulting in the entire defeat of the Persians, 
 owing largely it is said to a hailstorm which beat in the faces 
 of the latter. This is one of the most extraordinary battles 
 of the war; for the army of Sahin must have enormously 
 outnumbered the force of Theodorus, since that force only 
 
 ^ The contemporary writers speak as though Heraclius placed in 
 this third portion all the veterans of his army. But that must be the 
 mistake of writers who were not soldiers. No doubt this third por- 
 tion contained many veterans, but it was not on that account that 
 such were included in it, but because they were men physically unfit 
 to undergo a further series of severe hardships. Heraclius would never 
 have made so egregious an error as to send back all the most valuable 
 portion of his troops, his veteran soldiers, and to take for the struggle 
 which lay before him in Persia an army entirely composed of yoimg 
 soldiers. What he evidently did was to weed his army, sending back 
 to Constantinople all those who, whether veterans or otherwise, were 
 not fit to stand a further series of hardships in the difficult countries 
 to which he was again about to return. 
 
 E.W. — ^n. I K 
 
CHAP. 
 
 418 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 consisted of one-third of Heraclius' army, while the army 
 commanded by Sahin not only included all the most ex- 
 perienced Persian troops (p. 416), but also the picked force, 
 50,000 strong, called the " Golden Spears." Moreover the 
 Roman army had no assistance on this occasion from the tacti- 
 cal skill of Heraclius, since he was not present. Even allowing 
 to the fullest extent for the effect of the hailstorm, it is evident 
 that the Roman troops must have fought with the most deter- 
 mined courage and maintained the strictest discipline, other- 
 wise they could never have defeated the much larger army 
 of Sahin. It also shows the great confidence which Heraclius 
 by this time had in his troops that he should have ventured 
 to send the force under Theodorus to oppose an army by which 
 he must have known they would be greatly outnumbered, 
 while the result showed that his confidence was justified. The 
 unfortunate Sahin, in dread of the promised vengeance of 
 Chosroes, suffered such torment of mind that in a few days 
 he died, Chosroes venting his wrath by flogging his dead body. 
 Siege of Meanwhile the Avars had begun their advance. 
 Constantinople. Pqj, f^^j. ygaj-g^ gygj. ginco Hcraclius had left the 
 
 capital, the Chagan, regardless of his treaty, had been making 
 vast preparations for the captm^ of Constantinople, seeking 
 for allies among all the surrounding tribes, and preparing engines 
 of war of many descriptions. He now advanced with a huge 
 host, which included not only the Avars themselves, but also 
 countless numbers from the Sclavs and other subject tribes, 
 and in June 626 invested the city all round its land side. 
 On the 29th June the attack began. The Avars burnt the 
 suburbs, including many churches, but were repulsed in every 
 attack upon the city itself. The siege lasted for more than 
 a month, various attacks being made upon the walls with all 
 kinds of ingenious machines, but without result. Towards 
 the end of July a formidable assault was made under the 
 Chagan's personal command, but was successfully repulsed. 
 
 While the Avars were thus employed on the land side of the 
 city, the Persian army imder Shah Barz were unable to cross 
 the straits to attack the city from the side towards the sea 
 through fear of the fleet. At length on the night of the 3rd 
 August a grand attack both by sea and land was prepared. 
 But the Roman fleet first destroyed the rafts which had been 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 MEDIA PENETRATED 
 
 419 
 
 got ready to convey the Persians, and then enclosed as in a 
 trap the Sclavonic allies of the Avars in their boats upon the 
 Golden Horn ; whereupon the Avars being seized with a panic 
 abandoned the siege, the Chagan burning all his engines of 
 war and retreating to his own kingdom north of the Danube. 
 Thus ended the first of many sieges of Constantinople. 
 
 How long it was before Heraclius received news of the victory 
 gained by Theodorus in Mesopotamia and of the repulse of 
 the attack upon Constantinople we do not know, but towards 
 the end of the year he quitted Azerbiyan and advanced for 
 some 300 miles into Media. Soon afterwards, however, upon 
 the death of Ziebil in December the Khazar contingent returned 
 to their own country, and Heraclius, his forces thus reduced, 
 retraced his course to Azerbiyan and spent the rest of the 
 winter at Ganzaca. Martina accompanied her husband 
 through the greater part of these campaigns, apparently 
 staying at Ganzaca, Salban, and other places while he was 
 occupied in fighting his battles, and two or three of her nine 
 children were born in these countries in which Heraclius 
 carried out his campaigns during the years 622-628. 
 
 Sixth III the spring of 627 Heraclius starting from Ganzaca 
 
 campaign, again advauccd into Media, destroying the temples 
 and laying waste the country, penetrating according to some 
 writers as far as Ispahan. Roused by this formidable danger 
 to his empire, Chosroes II, notwithstanding the failure of 
 his great effort of the previous year, prepared another huge 
 army to destroy Heraclius. The Oriental writers describe 
 Media and Assyria as covered with Chosroes' fighting men, 
 horses, and elephants, and magnify the size of the army 
 collected to 500,000 men. Possibly it may have num- 
 bered 150,000. This army Chosroes placed under a fresh 
 general, Razates, the fourth Persian general sent against 
 Heraclius, and in bidding him depart said, " If you cannot 
 conquer, you can die." Heraclius traversed Media from end 
 to end, and apparently Razates for a long time hovered around 
 his course without venturing on a general engagement, until 
 at length in the autumn he received a peremptory order from 
 Chosroes to fight a decisive battle. By this time Heraclius 
 had passed into Assyria, and there, on the 12th December 
 627, between Nineveh and the historic plain of Arbela, the 
 
420 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 battle was fought which decided the fate of the Persian empire. 
 Again we are given no details of the tactics employed, the 
 numbers on either side, the positions relatively occupied, or 
 the course of the contest, but only the incident seized upon 
 by the romantic chroniclers of the age, stating that in the 
 midst of the battle Razates challenged Heraclius to single 
 combat, that the latter, riding his favourite charger " Dorkon," 
 accepted the challenge, and that Razates was slain in the en- 
 counter. This however did not end the battle, the Persians 
 fighting with the utmost determination. The action, which 
 had begun at dawn, lasted till nightfall, and the Romans 
 suffered heavy losses, but the contest ended in an overwhelming 
 victory for Heraclius, the Persian army being practically 
 destrpyed. 
 
 After gaining this great victory Heraclius slowly moved 
 southwards along the eastern bank of the Tigris, taking one 
 after another the luxurious palaces and pleasure-grounds 
 of Chosroes, and after spending Christmas in the ** Paradise '* 
 of Yesdem, advanced, through a succession of beautiful scenes, 
 upon the royal domain of Dastagherd, whence upon his ap- 
 proach Chosroes, taking with him his favourite wife Scherin, 
 fled first to Ctesiphon, and thence down the Tigris to the 
 district of Susiana, near the head of the Persian Gulf. A 
 day or two later Heraclius stood in the vast and luxurious 
 palace of Dastagherd, surrounded by all its countless splendours. 
 We are not told that as he did so he displayed any feeling of 
 pride in all that he had accomplished, but if he did it was 
 certainly pardonable. For his achievement was one greater 
 than had been attained by any emperor before him except 
 Constantine the Great. Heraclius had surpassed the deeds 
 of Trajan, and had led the Roman armies further east than 
 any commander had previously penetrated. To take over 
 as he had done an empire in such a condition of degradation 
 and weakness, to gradually bring it to order, in ten long years 
 of patient preparation to make it able to enter upon the task 
 of destroying a foe which for four centuries had been its for- 
 midable antagonist, with inferior forces and operating in a 
 previously unknown country to beat in succession seven great 
 Persian armies under four successive generals all of them 
 notable commanders, and to stand at last in the vast palace 
 
 l!i 
 
 |ii 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 THE BURNING OP DASTAGHERD 
 
 421 
 
 adorned with all the riches of Persia which the monarch who 
 had called himself " the king and master of the whole earth " 
 had created, while that monarch, who had written to him 
 in such insulting terms, was flying in dishonour to a distant 
 refuge, the power of his empire for ever at an end, were certainly 
 achievements of which any man might be proud. 
 Burning of But Hcraclius could not keep Dastagherd. It was 
 Dastagherd. therefore first despoiled of all its notable riches 
 (Heraclius dividing among his troops greater plunder than 
 had ever before been heard of), and then set on fire, and all 
 its forty thousand colunms of silver and marble, its vast halls 
 and courts, its beautiful dome, and its numberless highly 
 decorated chambers were consumed in one mighty confla- 
 gration. To us this seems a great act of Vandalism, but 
 Heraclius could scarcely have adopted any other course. He 
 could not keep Dastagherd for himself, as he had determined 
 not to take any of Persia's territories, but only those provinces 
 which had formerly belonged to Rome. And to leave Dastag- 
 herd to be re-occupied by Chosroes after Heraclius had with- 
 drawn from Persia would have assisted the Persian monarch 
 to re-erect his power. In a few short years the defeat would 
 be forgotten, and aU the decisiveness of Heraclius' conquest 
 would be lost. On the other hand to leave this vast royal 
 domain a heap of blackened ruins provided an ocular demon- 
 stration to the Persians of how completely the power of Rome 
 had been asserted, a demonstration all the more needed since 
 the Roman Empire was not going to retain any portion of 
 their territory. 
 
 End of the Erom the time of taking Dastagherd in January 
 Persian empire. ^28 Hcraclius, who from theucc marched back to 
 Ganzaca, had merely to stand as a spectator, watching the 
 dying throes of the Persian empire. The country revolted 
 from Chosroes, who in March, shortly after Heraclius reached 
 Ganzaca, was imprisoned and starved to death by his inhuman 
 son Siroes. The latter agreed to Heraclius' terms for peace, 
 which were remarkably moderate, the main conditions being 
 the restoration of all the Roman provinces, the surrender 
 of all Roman captives, and the restitution of the True Cross, 
 which had not been found in any of the places captured by 
 Heraclius. Shah Barz revolted from Siroes, refused to ac- 
 
Il 
 
 N 
 
 422 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 knowledge the treaty, and clung for a time to Chaleedon, but 
 ere long decided himself to seize the throne, and marching to 
 Persia defeated and killed Siroes, who had only reigned eight 
 months, and seized the throne, but after reigning one month was 
 himself also killed. Thereupon Persia dissolved into anarchy, 
 a condition of affairs which continued for the next twelve 
 years, when that country was taken by a new conqueror.^ 
 Trium hai Having thus put an end to the great power which 
 return of for 80 many generations had been Rome's formid- 
 able enemy, and having concluded the terms by 
 which all that had been lost was regained, Heraclius, about 
 May 628, set forth from Ganzaca to return to Constantinople. 
 His journey back, through Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, 
 and * Bithynia, was a prolonged triumph. At length about 
 July he reached Chaleedon (recently evacuated by Shah Barz), 
 and there received a perfect ovation, the Senate, the clergy, 
 and almost the whole population of Constantinople crossing 
 the Bosphorus to do him honour, and receiving him with 
 processions carrying branches of olives and at night " innu- 
 merable lamps." Heraclius waited at Chaleedon with Martina 
 and their children for about two months, as he would not 
 enter his capital until the Cross should be received back, but 
 upon the arrival of this precious relic, ^ escorted by his brother 
 Theodorus, in September, Heraclius crossed the Bosphorus, 
 and made his public entry into Constantinople in a triumphal 
 procession which must have been the most imposing that 
 the Roman Empire had ever seen ; imposing, not by reason 
 of its magnificence, but by reason of the contrast between 
 the circumstances when Heraclius had sailed upon his enter- 
 prise and those which he had created when he thus returned. 
 Then not only had the Persian monarch been in possession 
 of nearly half the provinces of the empire, but the citizens 
 of Constantinople had lived in daily dread, with a Persian 
 army encamped within sight across the narrow waters of 
 the Bosphorus, and feasting its eyes upon the rich city which 
 
 ^ Page 449. 
 
 • The seals of the locked silver case in which the Cross was enclosed, 
 and from which it was never removed except upon the most solemn 
 occasions, were foimd not to have been broken, and the preservation 
 of this honoured relic is stated to have been due to queen Scherin. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 "HOLY CROSS BAY" 
 
 423 
 
 it hoped ere long to plunder. Instead of these deplorable 
 conditions the citizens now saw this redoubtable emperor return 
 after having regained all that had been lost, and after having 
 permanently destroyed the power which had so long terrorized 
 the empire. 
 
 Entry into Hcraclius cntcrcd the city on the 14th September 
 Constantinople, j^y ^YiB Goldcn Gate, in a chariot drawn by four 
 elephants, as Theodosius the Great had done, the procession 
 moving slowly through the streets amidst the acclamations 
 of the dense crowd anxious to honour in every way the de- 
 liverer of the empire. At Rome in former times a Roman 
 triumph had always ended its course at the Capitol ; this 
 one at Constantinople concluded at the cathedral of St. Sophia, 
 where Heraclius was received by Sergius, and where an im- 
 posing ceremony took place, the chief feature of which was 
 the solemn "uplifting" of the True Cross. ^ The fact that 
 in this new form of a Roman triumph this concluding ceremony 
 at St. Sophia took the place of that in former times at the 
 Capitol helped still further to show that the war which had 
 been brought to an end was in one aspect a crusade, the first 
 of all crusades. In the spring of 629 Heraclius himseK es- 
 corted the Cross back to Jerusalem, where amidst scenes of 
 great enthusiasm he solemnly replaced it in the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 The The Lombards during the reign of Phocas did not 
 
 Lombards, f^jj ^q profit, like othcr races, by the general misrule 
 
 of the empire, Agilulf ^ in 603 taking all that remained to 
 
 the empire in the valley of the Po, and reducing the imperial 
 
 dominions in Italy to Ravenna, Rome, Genoa, and Naples.^ 
 
 ^ It is curious to note that this occasion was considered so notable 
 that a day in the calendar of the Church was set apart to commemorate 
 it, this "Holy Cross Day" being commemorated on the 14th Sep- 
 tember, and that it is still so conunemorated in the Prayerbook of the 
 Church of England. ^ chap. XXIII, p. 359. 
 
 ' Under the Lombards there was no difficulty in raising a force 
 sufficient for any operation required. Military service was based upon 
 the land tenure, and at the king's command every man who possessed 
 a fixed amount of land had to join his standard with a horse, a coat 
 of mail, and complete equipment. 
 
424 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 THIUDALINDA HONOURED 
 
 425 
 
 The rest of Agilulf' s reign was uneventful, except for one 
 terrible episode in 610, when the Avars, the former close friends 
 of the Lombards, perhaps thinking the latter were becoming 
 too civilized, suddenly dashed across the Julian Alps and 
 attacked Friuli,^ defeated its duke Gisulf,^ slew him, his wife 
 Romilda, and two of his four sons, carried off his four daughters 
 as slaves, plimdered and burnt Friuli, and massacred most 
 of the inhabitants with true Scythian cruelty, retreating 
 again to Pannonia apparently without giving Agilulf time 
 to come to the assistance of Friuli.^ Agilulf died in 616, 
 having reigned for twenty-five years. 
 Re enc of ^P*^^ AgUulf 's death Thiudalinda became regent 
 Thiudaiinda, ou bchalf of hcr son Adalwald, then thirteen. And 
 *° '^^ ** ' about three years later her daughter Gundiperga 
 was married to Arivald, duke of Turin. Thiudalinda's son 
 Adalwald, after taking over the government in 622, became 
 very unpopular with the Lombards. Though Sisebut, king 
 of the Visigoths, wrote to him urging him to trample out 
 the dying embers of Arianism, and saying that " so renowned 
 a nation as the Lombards, so wise, so elegant, and so dignified, 
 should not sit down contented under the yoke of a dead and 
 buried heresy," Thiudalinda, with her usual wisdom, appears 
 to have dissuaded her son from such a course, fervent Catholic 
 though she was, and Adalwald's unpopularity does not seem 
 to have been due to any action of this kind, but to mental 
 disease, which caused him to put to death one after another 
 some ten or twelve of the chief nobles of the kingdom. As 
 a result Adalwald in 626, at the age of twenty-four, was poi- 
 soned. The Lombards being resolved to retain the benefit 
 of Thiudalinda's influence as long as possible, chose as his 
 
 * Now Cividale. 
 
 * A grand-nephew of Alboin, who gave the dukedom of Friuli to 
 his nephew Gisulf, the father of the Gisulf slain on this occasion. 
 
 * In national aagaa a disaster of this kind is never admitted to be 
 due to any want of martial valour, but invariably attributed to treachery 
 on the part of some one ; and the Lombard aagasy from which the 
 details of this terrible event have to be gathered, attribute this dis- 
 aster to treachery on the part of Romilda, whether truly or falsely it 
 is impossible to say. In any cose she suffered a terrible fate, being 
 impaled with hideous cruelty by the detestable yoimg Chagan of the 
 Avars, the inhuman son of Baian, who had died about four years before. 
 
 successor her daughter Gundiperga's husband, Ariwald. Two 
 years later, on the 22nd February 628, the great queen of 
 the Lombards passed away at Monza, just forty years after 
 her flight from Bavaria to her young lover Autharis, during 
 the whole of which time she had been the good genius of the 
 Lombard race. 
 
 Reverence of Thc cxtcut to which the Lombards recognized this 
 the Lombards jattcr f act, and honoured Thiudalinda in consequence 
 
 Thiudalinda. is vcry remarkable. Their leaving the choice of 
 their king to her when her flrst husband Autharis died, after 
 they had only known her for one year, and their choice of 
 her daughter's husband Ariwald as their king when in 626 
 Thiudalinda's son Adalwald died, were followed by other 
 acts of the same kind. For when ten years later Ariwald 
 died they left the choice of a king to Thiudalinda's daughter 
 Gundiperga in the same way ; and when Rotharis, the king 
 whom she chose and married, died sixteen years later, they 
 chose as king, not one of their own race, but Thiudalinda's 
 nephew Aripert, and for a long number of years always in- 
 sisted on having as their king one of her family.^ 
 
 But not only thus did the Lombards show their reverence 
 for Thiudalinda. So highly did they honour her memory 
 that for centuries afterwards, through all their subsequent 
 vicissitudes, they treasured every relic of her that they could 
 preserve ; with the result that even at the present day, nearly 
 thirteen centuries after her death, there still remain certain 
 most interesting relics of her preserved by them. These 
 are now all to be seen kept at Monza, the town which was 
 Thiudalinda's favourite residence. The church which she 
 built there is now the cathedral of Monza, and a chapel to 
 the right of the choir contains her sarcophagus, and frescoes 
 showing scenes in her life. In the sacristy of this church are 
 preserved Thiudalinda's crown, her fan, her gold-handled 
 comb, the cross which was placed on the breast of her husband, 
 her son, and her son-in-law at the time of their coronation, 
 a richly ornamented book-cover with Thiudalinda's inscription,' 
 and most notable of all a hen with seven chickens made of 
 
 1 See Chap. XXV, p. 477. 
 
 * Thiudalinda's signature is to be seen in the highly valued ancient 
 Codex of the four Gospels preserved in the museum of Cividale. 
 
t ^1 
 
 42C 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 m 
 
 gold, representing the Lombard kingdom and its seven pro- 
 vmces, executed by order of Thiudalinda, and supposed to 
 have served as a centrepiece for her banqueting table.» This 
 latter work, executed at the end of the 6th century, has by 
 no means received the attention that it deserves For it 
 has passed without notice that it is (even by several centuries) 
 the first work of art executed by any of the northern nations^ 
 And this honour gained by the Lombards, originally the most 
 backward of all those nations, is also due to Thiudalinda 
 Her husband Agilulf 's crown was also preserved in the same 
 place until 1800, when it was carried off by Napoleon to Paris 
 where m 1804 it was stolen, and melted down by the thief » 
 Over the door of the church is a curious relief representing 
 que«n Thiudalinda amidst her treasures. In view of the 
 many centuries that these memorials of Thiudalinda have 
 been thus preserved it is evident that the impression she 
 produced upon those of her time must have been very 
 great. •' 
 
 Th^" i™ But the most important of aU Thiudalinda's treasures 
 
 « nc" ^^^ "°^ '^^P* ^^^ ^^^ '^^^ °^ **»®8e in the cathedral 
 of Monza) is the so-caUed " Iron Crown," * which is first heard 
 of m history m connection with her, and with which from 
 her time onwards the Lombard kings were invariably crowned 
 at Milan. As previously noted,' it is a gold diadem, with, 
 running round the inside, a thin strip of iron, said to be a 
 nail of the True Cross, and from which this crown has gained 
 Its name. It is studded with 22 emeralds and pearis, 26 
 golden roses, and 24 enamels ; but the roses and the enamels 
 were added in the twelfth century. 
 
 The origin of this celebrated crown is full of mystery No 
 one knows when, or for whom, it was made. It suddenly 
 
 • Plate LXIX. 
 
 « Unless we include the mausoleum of Theodoric the Great, which 
 though remarkable is scarcely a work of art. 
 
 ArJn "^ '^°"'«l^^th fig"^ of Christ, two angels, and the twelve 
 
 l>h if' T '!*"'^f '" ""^ ""^ °' '»""'' ^"^e^- »°d ^^ studded 
 with 65 carbuncles and emeralds and 158 pearls. Round the bottom 
 
 n^l?^ " "ascription stating that " Agilulf, the glorious man, by 
 Divme grace kmg of the whole of Italy, offered this crown to St. John 
 the Baptist m the church of Monza." 
 
 * Plate LXX. • Vol. I, Chap. XVI, p. 567. 
 
PI-ATK t-XI>C. 
 
 Thrtdai.inda's gold hen antj seven chickens. 
 
 [BlANCIil. 
 
 kepnsoiitiiiK the Lurnbanl kinntluin atifl it^ srvon provinces. Kxfcutctl at the end of the 6th century, and ihoreforo now more 
 than I v>*T voars old. Thr hen and chickens are about hfc size. (Cathedral, Monza.) 
 
I ■! \ I I I -> 
 
 ; I \ -. ' n r , 
 
 Til I ri ' \i iM> A 
 
 ,m1 !• II I.N A 
 
 \-| \ ( lil< KI N 
 
 K. 
 
 tluiii 1 
 
 -lilt iiu 111' I.' iiiit'.ir 1 kiiiu 
 
 I i ; I i i- -1 \ I 
 
 II . \ I .11- 
 
 !i. n .iipi 1 hii ki ii- all' all. ,iit 
 
 i^^■ III ill 
 Ml.:,/, 
 
PLATi: I.XX. 
 
 TiiK " Ikon rKovvx." 
 
 llilANClit. 
 
 A sin.ill u<>\<\ 'li.KUin. al....it tw.. imhr-s hiKh. stu.Mi-.! with j«-w«ls. with th.- s.irml u-hv ..f thi- strip of in.ii in^rt<-.l r.niml thf iiisi,!,- 
 I'lii. 111. i,'.i.l roNt-, .,11-1 ..thcT .|.-...r..ti..i,> w..,, .,,|,|,..| ,,, ,|„. ,_.,j, ,,.,,,„rv. <( .iHi.-.lr.il Moii.'.i , 
 
 rtniiaim iiiilTf iiiliaf'nf Wiiifti-tlfifani liff i 
 
i'LAI I I XX 
 
 II I 
 
 i\ < l'< i\\ \ 
 
 ■I X\i III. 
 
xxiv] 
 
 i 
 
 THE "IRON CROWN'* 
 
 427 
 
 appears at Milan in the 6th century among Thiudalinda's 
 treasures, greatly revered by her for the sacred relic which 
 it enclosed. Its subsequent history has been notable. Follow- 
 ing the Lombard kings, the Grerman emperors of the Middle 
 Ages were also crowned with this crown as kings of Lombardy 
 in the cathedral of Milan,^ where the crown was kept until 
 1162, when the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, as a part of 
 his punishment to Milan for its revolt against him, removed 
 this highly revered crown to Monza. The emperor Charles V 
 was crowned with it in the 16th century ; and in the 
 19th century the emperor Napoleon (observing the ancient 
 custom by which from the 7th to the 12th century the 
 crowning with this crown had taken place at Milan) had 
 it brought thither from Monza, and in May 1805 crowned 
 himself with this ancient and highly honoured crown in the 
 cathedral at Milan. In 1859, after two Austrian emperors 
 had in the meantime been crowned with it, this crown was 
 removed to Venice, but in 1866 was returned to Monza. 
 
 Tons of paper have been consumed in learned writings 
 over the question of whether the " Iron Crown " does actually 
 contain a sacred nail of the Cross ; while in connection with 
 this point it has been declared that this crown was given to 
 Thiudalinda by Gregory the Great. The latter however could 
 neither have had it in his possession, ^ nor if he had, could 
 have had the power of giving such an emblem of Imperial 
 sovereignty to any one, and least of all to a queen of the Lom- 
 bards, the foes of the empire, who were looked upon as un- 
 lawfully occupying the Imperial country, Italy. Moreover 
 whereas the presentation of such a valuable and honoured 
 relic would certainly have received elaborate mention from 
 Gregory the Great in his letters, we find no mention of this 
 gift in any of his 838 letters. Yet when he sends a small gift 
 of three rings to Thiudalinda we find the fact made the subject 
 of a letter. Again, the reception by Thiudalinda of a relic so 
 highly revered by her as this crown would undoubtedly have 
 been made the occasion of an impressive ceremony, and she 
 would certainly have written a letter of grateful thanks for 
 such a gift ; yet we hear of no such ceremony, nor of any 
 
 ^ Now the church of St. Ambrose, Milan. 
 * See (ii) below. 
 
 1 ) 
 
 -5i 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
428 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 letter written by her to Gregory to convey thanks for this 
 valuable present. 
 
 ^^ To leave, however, on one side the question of whether the 
 Iron Crown " does or does not contain a sacred nail of the 
 Crc^s, and the impossible theory that the crown was given 
 to Thiudahnda by Gregory, a subject of more practical interest 
 IS whether this celebrated crown is Constantine's crown The 
 authenticity or otherwise of the discoveries made by the more 
 or less credulous Helena at Jerusalem stands outside this 
 question. We know that Constantine did receive a nail from 
 Helena, which, whether or not it was what she supposed it 
 to be, she had beaten into a thin strip of iron to be inserted 
 in his helmet, and which he apparently caused to be in- 
 8erted.m his crown. When subsequently he died at Constan- 
 tinople his empire was divided between his three sons, and the 
 eldest of these, Constantine II (to whom a certain degree of 
 pre-emmence was by mutual consent aUotted), is much more 
 lii^ely to have taken possession of this crown of his father's 
 to which he had the best right, than either of his brothers! 
 Constantius and Constans ; and Constantine II had for his 
 capital Milan, where this crown (so peculiarly constructed) 
 IS hrst heard of, kept as one of the treasures of the cathedral 
 of Milan. 
 
 The considerations which appear to show, both that this 
 crown IS Constantine's crown and that it never moved from 
 Milan up to the time when it is first heard of, are :— 
 
 (1) Had it been taken to Ravenna when Honorius removed 
 the capital thither from Milan in 403, it could never 
 have come into the possession of the Lombards. It 
 would have come into the possession of the Ostrogoths, 
 and when their royal treasures were captured at 
 Ravenna in 540 would have been sent with the rest 
 of those treasures to Constantinople, 
 (ii) Had it been taken to Rome (instead of Ravenna) it 
 could also never have come into the possession of the 
 Lombards. It would have come into the possession 
 of the Vandals, would have been carried off by them 
 to North Africa in 465 with the other imperial treasures 
 earned away by them, and would have been captured 
 with the rest of those treasures at Carthage in 533 and 
 
 IS IT CONSTANTINE'S ? 
 
 429 
 
 sent to Constantinople. Even had it escaped being 
 thus captured by the Vandals it would never have 
 survived the five captures of Rome during the war of 
 637-655, including a period of six weeks when Rome 
 was without any inhabitant. So that in no case 
 could it have been in possession of Gregory the Great, 
 Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604. 
 (iii) We know that the chm-ch of St. Ambrose in Milan 
 (the former cathedral) was not destroyed in the 
 general sack of the city by the Franks in 539, since 
 that church still exists, much of it dating from the 
 4th century. The crown would probably have been 
 safe from the Franks in any case, owing to the super- 
 stitious veneration with which it would be regarded by 
 this Catholic race in consequence of the nail enclosed 
 in it ; * but if further precautions were necessary it 
 could have been, and probably was, buried in the crypt, 
 (iv) No one else after Constantine's time would have had 
 any reason for constructing a crown in this unique 
 fashion, viz. with a beaten-out nail inserted in it. It 
 was certainly not made by Thiudalinda, in whose pos- 
 session it first comes to light, and in whose eyes its 
 value was not its connection with Constantine (for 
 whom the northern nations naturally felt no regard), 
 but as a casket enclosing a revered relic, 
 (v) The form of the crown is not such as later sovereigns 
 wore, while it is that which we know Diocletian and 
 Constantine wore, viz. a simple gold diadem, studded 
 with precious stones. The " Iron Crown " exactly ac- 
 cords with this, being a gold diadem, rather less than two 
 inches high and six inches in diameter. Moreover Con- 
 stantine's portrait-bust shows him wearing just such a 
 diadem ^ (see Plate LV). 
 From the whole of the foregoing considerations it appears 
 most probable that this celebrated crown is actually the 
 crown of Constantine the Great ; that from the time of his 
 son Constantine II to that of Agilulf it remained always at 
 
 ^ Even as late as the 16th century the most abandoned thieves 
 would not carry off jewels, etc., considered in any way sacred. 
 • Except of cowsQ for th|9 gqldt rosea added in the 12th century. 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
430 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Milan, carefully kept as one of the chief treasures of the cathe- 
 dral, treasured at first perhaps (during the 4th century) because 
 it was Constantine's crown, but afterwards undoubtedly solely 
 because of the sacred relic it contained ; and that it came 
 into possession of the Lombard kings with their conquest of 
 Lombardy, though it is very likely that (kept where it was) 
 the Arian kings, Alboin and Autharis, were not allowed by 
 the persecuted Catholics to know of the existence of this 
 revered relic, and that it was kept hidden until Thiudalinda's 
 second husband Agilulf accepted the Catholic faith. ^ For 
 it is only in his time that we first hear of this crown, and yet 
 we know that he did not have it made. 
 Rothari,and ^^* ^^^^ *^® trcasurcs preserved as memorials of 
 ^^''la^.^^ Thiudalinda are not so forcible an evidence of the 
 impression which she produced upon the Lombards, 
 and of the great work which she accomplished in regard to 
 that race during the forty years that she was their honoured 
 queen, as is the code of laws drawn up by her son-in-law 
 Rotharis. That a race so lawless, savage, and barbarous as 
 were the Lombards at the time that she married Autharis 
 in 689 should only forty-seven years afterwards be drawing 
 up a regular code of laws of this kind is evidence of a change 
 more rapid than has probably ever been seen in any other 
 race. And both the Lombards themselves and writers in 
 subsequent ages have acknowledged that this change in theu- 
 race was due to the forty years' influence of Thiudalinda. 
 Gundiperga's first husband Ariwald died in 636 after reign- 
 ing uneventfully for ten years ; upon his death the choice of 
 a successor to the throne was left to Gundiperga ; she chose 
 Rotharis, duke of Brescia, and married him ; and the chief 
 act of Rotharis, who reigned from 636 to 652, was the draw- 
 ing up of a regular code of laws which in future he required 
 the Lombards to observe. 
 
 In the preamble of this code of laws, promulgated from his 
 palace at Pavia, Rotharis states that in it he has embodied 
 such usages as from ancient times had been customary among 
 the Lombards, amending and adding to them as required by 
 existing conditions. This code of laws, by the subjects with 
 which it deals, conveys much information regarding the 
 * In alter years giving his own crown as a present to a Catholic church. 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 THE LOMBARD LAWS 
 
 431 
 
 Lombards, while also showing what an advance in civilization 
 they had made. It is contained in 388 chapters, and includes 
 laws regarding offences against the king, offences on the king's 
 highway, offences against freedmen, half-freedmen, and 
 slaves; laws regarding burglary, murder, sacrilege, poison- 
 ing, theft, forgery, coining, incendiarism, witchcraft, and 
 crimes of immorality ; laws on such subjects as judicial pro- 
 cedure, the collection of taxes, the laws of inheritance, mar- 
 riage laws, manumission of slaves, treatment of debtors, 
 lunacy, compensation in the case of accidents to workmen,' 
 accidental damage to property, and scale of compensation 
 to be paid for bodily injuries inflicted ; laws regarding ven- 
 dors and purchasers, succession to property, guardianship of 
 women, and power of women to own property; and laws 
 regarding rural life, including damages to fences, cattle, horses, 
 ploughs, harness, water-mills or vines, game laws, grazing 
 rights, and many other similar matters. 
 
 But perhaps the most remarkable feature of these Lom- 
 bard laws is the testimony they give to the entire oblitera- 
 tion of the Roman race in Italy, except in those few small 
 portions of that country still belonging to the empire. Here 
 is a code of laws dealing with aU the ordinary concerns of life, 
 and in a country which for a thousand years had given the 
 law to mankind. Yet not only is there not a single reference 
 from beginning to end to the great system of law codified 
 by the emperor Justmian,i but there is not a sign that such 
 a race as the Romans any longer exists, except in the case 
 of one law which only makes the downtrodden condition 
 of that race more marked, since it provides that the compen- 
 sation to be paid for an injury done to a Roman female slave 
 shall be half that payable in the case of a female slave of 
 Teutonic race. 
 
 The Franks. ^^^^^ ^^^ Frauks duriug this period (the first 
 half of the 7th century) there is little worth record- 
 ing. After Chlotochar II in 613 had slain his uncle's widow 
 
 1 The Lombard code of law had no affinity with the Roman system 
 of law, but had likeness to Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian 
 aw. It has been described as the best codification of barbarian law 
 known. 
 
 ^i\^ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 432 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 I ( 
 
 Brunhilda,* regent over Austrasia and Burgundy, he followed 
 this up by putting to death the four little boys, her great- 
 grandsons, in whose defence she had been fighting ; and 
 haying destroyed all inconvenient members of his family as 
 ruthlessly as his grandfather Chlotochar I had done, became 
 sole ruler over the whole Frank kingdom.^ 
 
 Chlotochar 11 (613-629) reigned for sixteen years, show- 
 ing the usual profligacy and bloodthirsty cruelty of the Mero- 
 vingian race, and carrying on a constant struggle with the 
 nobles of Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, and died in 
 629 at the age of forty-eight, leaving the Frank kingdom to 
 his son Dagobert I (629-639). The latter, coming to the 
 throne at the age of twenty-eight, had a more or less brilliant 
 reign of ten years. He made an alliance with the emperor 
 Heraclius, and in accordance therewith attacked both the 
 Avars and the Sclavs, and gained much glory by his successes 
 against them. Exceeding even the usual degree of Mero- 
 vingian profligacy he is said to have rivalled Solomon in his 
 matrimonial arrangements, and died in 639 at the age of 
 thirty-eight. Thenceforth for more than a century the kings 
 of the Franks became puppet kings (** rois faineants "), the 
 power being exercised by rival " Mayors of the Palace," the 
 constant contests between whom kept the Frank kingdom 
 for a long period in a state of general chaos. 
 
 straggle ^^ Britain ^ at this period the struggle between 
 between Paganism and Christianity was being fiercely waged. 
 ctoS^in This long struggle in Britain between Paganism 
 Britain. ^^^ Christianity, which lasted nearly seventy years, 
 has no parallel in any other country. In 604 the East Saxons 
 renounced Paganism and accepted Christianity, and Mellitus 
 was appointed as their Bishop. London, their chief city, 
 was at that time a stronghold of Paganism, where not only 
 the Scandinavian gods, but also Diana and Apollo were wor- 
 shipped, in temples erected where St. Paul's and Westminster 
 
 1 Chap. XXIII, p. 349. * See Appendix XIII. 
 
 • Throughout this history, with reference to what has been said 
 in the Preface (p. ii), the portion relating to England is only sketched 
 in outline, no attempt being made to give details regarding individual 
 characters as is done in the case of other countries. 
 
 EDWIN 
 
 ill! 
 
 433 
 
 Abbey now stand, and upon Christianity being adopted these 
 temples were made over to Mellitus, and used for Christian 
 worship. But in 616 the East Saxons, on the death of their 
 king, Sebert, reverted to Paganism, and Mellitus, Bishop of 
 London, had to fly for his life to France. At the same time 
 the new king of Kent, Eadbald, separated himself from the 
 Christians, forcing the Bishop of Rochester also to fly to France, 
 but Laurentius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, stood his 
 ground, and the greater part of Kent remained Christian, 
 being thus the only portion of Britain which at this time 
 was not Pagan. 
 
 Baptism But in 627 (the same year that in the East the 
 **Khit^?' emperor Heraclius finally destroyed the power of 
 Northumbna. Persia), Northumbria, the largest and most im- 
 portant of the seven kingdoms,^ inaugurated a change which 
 was destined at length to destroy Paganism in Britain. Upon 
 the death in 617 of .Ethelfrith,^ Edwin, son of Ella of Deira, 
 had regained his father's kingdom, and had become king of 
 Northumbria. He was Bretwalda of Britain, and is con- 
 sidered by Bede the greatest of all the Bretwaldas. Regard- 
 ing Edwin 3 Bede says, "In his days a woman with a babe 
 at her breast might have travelled through the whole kingdom 
 without suffering any harm." But he declined to accept 
 Christianity, notwithstanding all the appeals of his Christian 
 wife Ethelburga, a daughter of ^Ethelbert and Bertha of Kent. 
 In 627, however, he at length gave way to her persuasions, 
 assisted as they were by the preaching of Paulinus, the first 
 Bishop of York, and accepted Christianity, being baptized at 
 York. Edwin had built there for the occasion a little wooden 
 church, and this church he a year or two afterwards rebuilt 
 of stone. Arid there, in the centre of the city where Sep- 
 timius Severus and Constantius Chlorus had died, and from 
 whence Constantine the Great had started to conquer a world 
 and to revolutionize the Roman Empire in regard to religion, 
 
 The kingdom of Northumbria extended from the Wash to the 
 Forth, divided into Deira and Bernicia. 
 
 • Chap. XXIII, p. 356. 
 
 ^ His name is preserved in that of the most northern of his two capi. 
 tals, Edinburgh (Eadwinesburh), 
 
 H 
 
 /if 
 
 «.w. 
 
 FF 
 
434 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 rose Edwin's little church, afterwards to form the nucleus of 
 the great York Minster.^ 
 
 Defeat and This acceptauce of Christianity by Northumbria 
 death of Edwin. ^^8 foUowcd fouT ycars later by East Anglia, which 
 in 631 was converted to Christianity by Felix, * a Burgundian 
 Bishop who came from Burgundy at the invitation of Sigberet, 
 king of East Anglia. But in 633 the fierce Penda, king of 
 powerful Mercia, and a violent opponent of Christianity,* 
 being determined to crush that religion, attacked Northum- 
 bria, killed its king, Edwin, in a battle near Doncaster, with 
 many adherents of the new religion, took York, and drove 
 Christianity out of Northumbria, the Bishop, Paulinus, with 
 the Northumbrian queen Ethelburga and her children, flying 
 to Kent. In 634, however, Wessex followed the example of 
 East Anglia, being converted to Christianity by Beiinus, a 
 monk belonging to Milan, who at his own request was conse- 
 crated as a missionary Bishop for this purpose by the Arch- 
 bishop of Milan. 
 
 Thus up to this time only three of the seven king- 
 doms in Britain had been converted to Christianity, 
 viz. Kent in 597 from Rome, East Anglia in 631 from Bur- 
 gundy, and Wessex in 634 from Milan. But there was 
 now to begin a new movement by which the remaining 
 four kingdoms, comprising more than half England, were 
 to owe their conversion from Paganism, not to missions from 
 Italy or Burgundy, but to that celebrated island of lona on 
 the west coast of Scotland where in 666 St. Columba had 
 planted his community and had begun preaching Christianity 
 to the Scots.* 
 
 Aidanscntto When in Westminster Abbey we see enclosed in 
 Northumbria. ^he Corouatiou Chair the stone brought in the 13th 
 century by Edward I from Scone (whither it had been trans- 
 ferred from lona) it is a reminder, not only of the fact that 
 the king of England is king of Scotland as well, but also of 
 the fact that the greater part of England owes its conversion 
 
 ^ The remains of Edwin's church are still to he seen in the crypt . 
 ' In Norfolk €uid Suffolk he is often called " the Apostle of East 
 Anglia," and has given his name to Felixstowe. 
 
 ' Penda claimed to be twelfth in descent from the god Woden. 
 * Chap. XXII, p. 318. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 LINDISPARNE 
 
 435 
 
 ^J^^tl^fy to that far-off little island of lona which in 
 
 resnLt '?^,^^ '^ ^'^' ^ ^^rk, and won such deserved 
 respect In the year 635 Aidan (afterwards caUed the 
 Apostle of the North -) was sent from lona to re-convert 
 Northumbna, and establish there a community similar to that 
 0.lZ t TIt^* ^^^ invitation of Edwin's successor, 
 ?ua£' .7k ,^^^^^^^bri^'^ who years before when a 
 fugit ve had been treated hospitably at lona. He now gave 
 
 Lfw ^ l community the smaU island of Lindisfame 
 (afterwards known as the "Holy Isle"), on the north-east 
 coast, near the mouth of the Tweed. « There a church and 
 monastery were built, with schools for the training of mis- 
 sionaries who could speak the EngUsh (i.e. Anglian) language 
 
 Z7:^J^"\^^ "^' ^^" ''' ^^ ^-^ Lindilfanfe, the 
 n?.n Z/'"''^; Z^'T"''^^^' ^^* ^^ Northumbria, and then 
 foof J T. ^f EngW not yet converted to Christianity, 
 
 'S^rl^'lZ ^^^''f^' H^^^^l^"« had returned in triumph 
 .1. A x?"^ campaign against Persia a little 
 
 cloud arose m the east which was destined to develope in a 
 few short years mto a mighty tempest, with appalling results 
 
 LT^ f'^^.'^Tu"^^'^^^ ^^ '^' y^^' ^32 occurred 
 hnl ill . t^ ^^^'^"^ P'^P^^* Mahomed.3 The latter, 
 born m 571 at Mecca, at the age of forty propounded a new 
 rehgion styled Islam (signifying, entire submission to the 
 decrees of God), its formula of faith being " There is no God 
 
 th:S^P^^^^^^ and regained 
 
 2 " And when, subjected to a common doom 
 Of mutability, those far-famed Piles 
 Shall disappear from both the sister Isles 
 lona's saints, forgetting not past days, 
 Garlands shaU wear of amaranthine bloom, 
 While heaven's vast sea of voices chant their praise." 
 3 T%,^ ^ , (Words ( orth.) 
 
 Muh2^T./°r ^ '"'°" ^ ^ohs^ed. or more correctly 
 MiAammad. but .t seems better to adhere to the form which is besi 
 
 Hf 
 
 m 
 
 < I 
 
 iH 
 
436 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Ill 
 
 but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." In Mecca he 
 gained at first few adherents, and in 622 (the year that Hera- 
 clius began his war against Persia) was compelled to fly for 
 his life from Mecca to Medina. ^ At Medina Mahomed gained 
 many adherents among the Saracens, and thenceforth resolved 
 to spread his religion by force of arms. After several battles 
 he in 630 took Mecca, and established himself there as prince 
 and prophet. « Further contests followed, and the greater 
 part of Arabia was being rapidly subdued when in 632 Ma- 
 homed died at Medina. 
 
 His death was the signal for the advance of that Maho- 
 medan "whirlwind of conquest" which in its irresistible 
 course was to spread in only one hundred years from Arabia 
 over -Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, North 
 Africa, and Spain, and sweeping round both ends of the 
 Mediterranean, to penetrate on one side to the Bosphorus 
 and on the other into the heart of France.^ Inspired by a 
 fervent faith, animated by a determined purpose, and offering 
 to each race conquered only two alternatives, viz. death or 
 conversion to Islam, and thus constantly recruited by fresh 
 adherents, in its first onset it swept along like a tornado, 
 blotting out of existence all who would not accept this religion 
 of the sword, and all traces of Christianity in the countries 
 thus subdued. 
 
 Mahomed among his many wives had married Ayesha, the 
 daughter of Abu Bekr, and when the Prophet died leaving 
 no son, but only a daughter, Fatima,* Abu Bekr was chosen 
 
 * This date forma the Mahomedan era, the episode being called by 
 them the Hegira (the flight). 
 
 ■ At Mecca he abolished the idols of the Kaaba (the black stone 
 long worshipped as having been miraculously brought from heaven), 
 but incorporated in his new religion reverence for the stone itself by 
 his sacred touch, and it still attracts crowds of Mahomedan pilgrims 
 to Mecca. 
 
 * The Mahomedans conquered S5rria in 636, Palestine in 637, Meso- 
 potamia in 639. Egypt in 640, Persia in 641, North Africa in 704-709, 
 Spain in 711, and penetrated into the centre of France in 732. 
 
 * Married to Ali, who as the Prophet's son-in-law was considered 
 by a large party to have the best right to succeed, rather than the 
 Prophet*s father-in-law. Regarding the permanent division which 
 this subsequently caused among the Mahomedans, jpee Chap XXV, 
 p. 473^ 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 if! 
 
 THE BLACK-EYED GIRLS" 
 
 437 
 
 to succeed him, and became the first Khalif (successor). Abu 
 Bekr inaugurated a fresh policy, and resolved that the new 
 reUgion must be spread, not by petty conflicts in Arabia, 
 but by foreign conquest. Accordingly in 633 the redoubt- 
 able Khalid was sent against Persia, and four other generals 
 against Syria. -, 
 
 in wwS'the ^®^^^^^® ^^^ ^^^ regarded these Arabian invaders 
 MahomedL^ ^^ formidable, and though he moved to Edessa 
 fought to be nearer the point of danger had anticipated 
 that the Saracens of the Syrian deserts lying between Syria 
 and Arabia would probably be able to repel them. But the 
 Saracens on the borders of Syria were of the same stock and 
 ere long threw in their lot with the Arabian Saracens and 
 accepted the rehgion of Islam. FoUowing the invariable cus- 
 tom of the Mahomedans these fresh adherents were sent 
 to prove their faith in battle, and attacked the Roman forces 
 m Syria with aU the fierce enthusiasm of new converts who 
 fought with the joys of Paradise before their eyes, urged on 
 by the customary exhortation of the Mahomedan generals 
 " Paradise is before you, heU is behind you," and desiring 
 nothmg so much as death in the conflict, i The spirit in which 
 they fought is shown by the words 2 heard shouted out by a 
 youth, a cousin of the heroic Khalid, while fighting under the 
 walls of Emesa : — 
 
 " I see the black-eyed girls 3 looking down upon me • 
 Any one of whom, if she appeared in this world, ' 
 All mankmd would die for love of her. 
 I see one of them holding towards me in her hand 
 A scarf of green silk * and a cap adorned with jewels • 
 And she beckons to me crying, 
 * Come hither quickly, for I love thee.' " 
 
 elS^te ^^*?^^' through non-acquaintance with such 
 
 formed of fightmg, havo inadvertently done much injustice 
 
 the Romans, to thc Romans in regard to the contest which now 
 
 came upon the empire. For the adverse results of that 
 
 contest have been universaUy looked upon as showing that 
 
 ^ See Khalid's speech to the Persian king Yezdegerd (p. 449) 
 
 onlv h. T^f ""fT ^"''"''^ *^^ Mahomedans ; in this world worn 
 worn by is descendants of the Prophet, but in Paradise to be 
 
436 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." In Mecca he 
 gained at first few adherents, and in 622 (the year that Hera- 
 clius began his war against Persia) was compelled to fly for 
 his life from Mecca to Medina. ^ At Medina Mahomed gained 
 many adherents among the Saracens, and thenceforth resolved 
 to spread his religion by force of arms. After several battles 
 he in 630 took Mecca, and established himself there as prince 
 and prophet. 2 Further contests followed, and the greater 
 part of Arabia was being rapidly subdued when in 632 Ma- 
 homed died at Medina. 
 
 His death was the signal for the advance of that Maho- 
 medan " whirlwind of conquest " which in its irresistible 
 course was to spread in only one hundred years from Arabia 
 over Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, North 
 Africa, and Spain, and sweeping round both ends of the 
 Mediterranean, to penetrate on one side to the Bosphorus 
 and on the other into the heart of France. ^ Inspked by a 
 fervent faith, animated by a determined purpose, and offering 
 to each race conquered only two alternatives, viz. death or 
 conversion to Islam, and thus constantly recruited by fresh 
 adherents, in its first onset it swept along like a tornado, 
 blotting out of existence all who would not accept this religion 
 of the sword, and all traces of Christianity in the countries 
 thus subdued. 
 
 Mahomed among his many wives had married Ayesha, the 
 daughter of Abu Bekr, and when the Prophet died leaving 
 no son, but only a daughter, Fatima,* Abu Bekr was chosen 
 
 1 This date forms the Mahomedan era, the episode being called by 
 them the Hegira (the flight). 
 
 * At Mecca he abolished the idols of the Kaaha (the black stone 
 long worshipped as having been miraculously brought from heaven), 
 but incorporated in his new religion reverence for the stone itself by 
 his sacred touch, and it still attracts crowds of Mahomedan pilgrims 
 to Mecca. 
 
 3 The Mahomedans conquered Syria in 635, Palestine in 637, Meso- 
 potamia in 639, Egypt in 640, Persia in 641, North Africa in 704-709, 
 Spain in 711, and penetrated into the centre of France in 732. 
 
 * Married to Ali, who as the Prophet's son-in-law was considered 
 by a large party to have the best right to succeed, rather than the 
 Prophet's father-in-law. Regarding the permanent division which 
 this subsequently caused among the Mahomedans, see Chap XXV, 
 p. 473, 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 **THE BLACK-EYED GIRLS'' 
 
 437 
 
 to succeed him, and became the first Khalif (successor). Abu 
 Bekr inaugurated a fresh policy, and resolved that the new 
 religion must be spread, not by petty conflicts in Arabia, 
 but by foreign conquest. Accordingly in 633 the redoubt- 
 able Khalid was sent against Persia, and four other generals 
 against Syria. 
 
 Spirit Heraclius had not regarded these Arabian invaders 
 in which the g^g formidable, and though he moved to Edessa 
 
 Mahomedans ' ^ 
 
 fought, to be nearer the point of danger had anticipated 
 that the Saracens of the Syrian deserts lying between Syria 
 and Arabia would probably be able to repel them. But the 
 Saracens on the borders of Syria were of the same stock, and 
 ere long threw in their lot with the Arabian Saracens and 
 accepted the religion of Islam. Following the invariable cus- 
 tom of the Mahomedans these fresh adherents were sent 
 to prove their faith in battle, and attacked the Roman forces 
 in Syria with all the fierce enthusiasm of new converts who 
 fought with the joys of Paradise before their eyes, urged on 
 by the customary exhortation of the Mahomedan generals, 
 " Paradise is before you, hell is behind you," and desiring 
 nothing so much as death in the conflict. ^ The spirit in which 
 they fought is shown by the words ^ heard shouted out by a 
 youth, a cousin of the heroic Khalid, while fighting under the 
 walls of Emesa : — 
 
 " I see the black-eyed girls ^ looking down upon me ; 
 Any one of whom, if she appeared in this world. 
 All mankind would die for love of her. 
 I see one of them holding towards me in her hand 
 A scarf of green silk * and a cap adorned with jewels ; 
 And she beckons to me crying, 
 * Come hither quickly, for I love thee.' " 
 
 Unfair Hlstorians, through non-acquaintance with such 
 
 fom^^of fig^tuigj have inadvertently done much injustice 
 
 the Romans. ^Q thc Romans in regard to the contest which now 
 
 came upon the empire. For the adverse results of that 
 
 contest have been universally looked upon as showing that 
 
 ^ See Khalid's speech to the Persian king Yezdegerd (p. 449). 
 ^ Reported by Al Wakidi. ^ In Persian, fiouri, 
 
 * The sacred colour among the Mahomedans ; in this world worn 
 
 only by the lineal descendants of the Prophet, but in Paradise to be 
 
 worn by all. 
 
 w 
 
438 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 !l 
 
 '^*l 
 
 the Romans had greatly deteriorated in military qualities, 
 and no longer possessed their ancient prowess in war. But 
 we as a race have had opportunities denied to other nations 
 for forming a more just estimate in this matter. During 
 the last thirty-five years we English have had more know- 
 ledge than any other nation of what it means to fight this 
 kind of foe, and both in Afghanistan and in the Soudan have 
 again and again had to face these same enemies whose wild 
 and fanatical onslaught was such a new experience to the 
 Roman troops ; though in these days the vehemence of that 
 onslaught (great as it still is) i has lost much of the fiery 
 impetuosity that it possessed in those years when the hosts 
 of Islam first issued from the burning deserts of Arabia to 
 spread like a torrent of lava over all the fairest lands of the 
 East. Therefore we have less excuse for such misjudgments 
 than other nations, such as e.g. the Germans, who have been 
 without our long and varied war experience. And we who 
 have had to meet a less vehement attack than came against 
 the Romans, and have been able to meet it with the increased 
 power which fire-arms give, and who have yet seen once or 
 twice during those thirty-five years even a British force 
 overwhelmed by such a foe, should be the last to disparage 
 the Romans in consequence of such a result. 
 
 The wild charge of a large body of men every one of whom 
 is determmed to die is like nothing else in its irresistible force, 
 and troops who have not experienced it have not known the 
 severest test of war. If men fight with the object of victory 
 they can be beaten ; but if they fight with the object of death 
 the matter becomes altogether different. The civilized man, 
 uninspired by a similar fanaticism, stands at a great disad- 
 vantage in such a fight ; and therefore wins all the more 
 honour when through an imshakable courage he conquers. 
 But to gain victory in such cases every smgle man of the 
 charging enemy must be killed outright ; there is no putting 
 
 1 In the battles in Afghanistan in 1878-80 the Ghazis (signifying, 
 devoted to death) clothed themselves from head to foot in white in 
 order to be more conspicuous, and even when being shelled by artillery 
 refused to take cover. At the battle of Alimed Khel a charge of such 
 Ghazis dealt great havoc upon the British force before they were 
 destroyed. 
 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 'THOSE WHO LOVE DEATH" 
 
 439 
 
 them to flight. 1 And while this complete extermination is 
 now possible by troops who are thoroughly steady and well 
 disciplined, in the days before fire-arms were employed (when 
 victory depended almost entirely upon hand-to-hand fighting) 
 this complete extermination was not possible unless the 
 force thus attacked was in great numerical superiority, no 
 amount of bravery making up here for paucity in numbers, 
 since no bravery can exceed that of foes whose one desire is 
 death. So far, however, from the Romans possessing this 
 necessary superiority of force, the numerical superiority in 
 these battles was entirely on the side of the Mahomedans, 
 who poured forth from Arabia in ever increasing numbers, 
 while additional adherents were gained at every mile of fresh 
 territory conquered. 
 
 It is quite plain that this method of fighting (then new to 
 the world), and not any failure in military qualities on the 
 part of the Romans, is the true cause accounting for the long 
 succession of victories gained by the Mahomedans at this time. 
 When the blood-stained Khalid spoke of his followers as those 
 " who love death as thou lovest life," he was in fact announcing 
 a new kind of warfare. It was different when a hun- 
 dred years later the Mahomedans met the Franks in Gaul. 
 By that time the effects upon the former of luxury and wealth 
 had to some extent dimmed their earlier fervour. But when 
 they first advanced from Arabia in the 7th century their 
 attack, carried out in the manner which has been described, 
 was practically irresistible, unless met with superior forces. 
 Out of some thirty battles fought with this foe during the 
 seven years 634-641, in Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and 
 Egypt the Romans never gained one single victory. Yet these 
 were in great part the troops who had only eight years before 
 fought with such splendid valour and discipline in six cam- 
 paigns, and against immensely superior numbers had won 
 the victory in Cappadocia, the double victory on the Araxes, 
 the victory at the river Sarus, the victory in Mesopotamia 
 under Theodorus, and the crowning victory of Nineveh, and 
 had never once been beaten by the Persians, who were far 
 
 ^ Even when lying on the ground mortally woimded they will kill 
 any one who, after the fight is over, approaches to give them succour ; 
 and many English officers have lost their lives through this cause. 
 
 ^i|: 
 
 I 
 
 ^'~ 
 
'I 
 
 IIP 
 
 ill 
 
 440 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 better trained and more skilled in war than the Mahomedans. 
 It is impossible that troops with such a record should in so 
 short a time have become wanting in valour and efficiency. 
 
 Again, in these battles most of the generals, the com- 
 manders of the various corps, and the subordinate officers 
 must have been the same who had gone through the cam- 
 paigns in Cappadocia, Armenia, Media, and Assyria with 
 such credit to themselves, and had learnt valuable lessons 
 therefrom. In this case also, as in that of the troops, it is 
 impossible that in so short a time these officers should one 
 and all have become helpless and incapable. On the other 
 hand the Mahomedans when they began this contest were 
 practically an untrained mob, full of desperate courage and 
 fanaticism, but with no other military qualities ; while they 
 were led by men who had no military experience or tactical 
 knowledge such as the Roman generals possessed. Lastly, 
 it is not only the Roman race which is concerned. The Ma- 
 homedans turned their arms against another race, and here 
 again the same thing is seen. The Persians had had long 
 experience of war ; their troops were thoroughly trained 
 and proud of their military history ; they were as brave in 
 battle as any men ever were ; they were commanded by good 
 generals possessing the highest tactical skill ; and their archers 
 were renowned. Yet in their case also defeat followed upon 
 defeat, and not one single victory was gained. And yet in 
 at least one of these battles, the battle of Kadesia, the Per- 
 sians had a numerical superiority of two to one. 
 
 It is therefore evident that the sole cause of this succes- 
 sion of victories was that which has been stated, viz. that 
 where the foe consisted of men aU bent upon earning death 
 and the joys of Paradise, the force thus attacked must, in 
 the days before fire-arms were employed, inevitably be beaten 
 (however brave and well led) unless it had a numerical super- 
 iority of at least three to one.^ In none of these battles had 
 the Romans that superiority ; so far from this being the case, 
 a preponderance of force was almost invariably possessed 
 by their opponents. It was no wonder therefore that the 
 
 ^ The case of the battle of Kadesia appears to show that this 
 is the lowest proportion which was necessary in order to avoid 
 defeat. 
 
 ^ I 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 BATTLE OF AJNADEIN 
 
 441 
 
 Romans, who we are able to see fought stoutly, ^ were beaten 
 in battle after battle, or that the Mahomedans swept along 
 in the uninterrupted career of conquest which has amazed 
 the world ; while to disparage the Romans for this result (as 
 has been done universally) shows an entire want of acquaint- 
 ance with the whole conditions of the case, and is highly 
 unjust to them. 
 Mahomedan The Roman forces in Syria upon being thus attacked 
 conquest of ofEcrcd a resistance which caused the four Mahome- 
 p^tfrTe. dan generals to combine their forces, and in July 
 634 the first important battle of the struggle with this new 
 foe was fought at Ajnadein, south of Jerusalem, the Roman 
 army being commanded by Heraclius' brother Theodorus 
 who had so distinguished himseK in the campaigns against 
 Persia, especiaUy in that of the year 626,2 and the Arab forces 
 being led by the fierce Khalid, sumamed "the Sword of 
 God," who had gained a great reputation in three recent 
 battles against the Persians.=^ The battle appears to have 
 been decided in a single furious charge, the Romans being 
 swept away and overthrown with great slaughter. Shortly 
 after this battle was fought the first Khalif, Abu Bekr, died, 
 and was succeeded as Khalif by his strong supporter the great 
 Omar, a stem religious enthusiast, who was bent upon con- 
 quering Palestine and taking Jerusalem, an attempt, how- 
 ever, which was not made for several years. 
 
 Heraclius now saw that this Arabian enemy was more 
 formidable than he had supposed, and he summoned troops 
 from all the adjacent provinces to form a fresh army, recalled 
 his brother Theodorus, and gave the command to the Ar- 
 menian general Baanes. No doubt had he been younger 
 he would at this jimcture have again broken the custom that 
 the emperor should not himself lead his army in the field ; 
 but Heraclius was now sixty-one, and his health was seriously 
 impaked. Unable therefore to take command in person in 
 a new campaign, he collected 60,000 men and sent them to 
 join Baanes, who concentrated his force at Pella, south of 
 the lake of Gennesaret, where in January 635 he was attacked 
 
 tr 
 
 ^ See p. 451. 
 
 3 See pp. 449-450. 
 
 2 Page 418. 
 
442 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 tl 
 
 by Khalid and defeated, i Falling back northwards towards 
 Damascus Baanes fought another battle at MarjasufFar in 
 February 635, but was again defeated, and driven back to 
 Damascus. The Khalif Omar now selected one of his most 
 esteemed companions, Abu Ubeida, to command in Syria, 
 Khalid acting as his second-in-command. 
 Capture of Haviug in the beginning of the year 635 gained 
 ^^^°^'^"^- these two victories, the Saracens advanced upon 
 Damascus, which was besieged, but was bravely defended 
 for seven months, the garrison having lately been strengthened 
 by a reinforcement of 5000 men. Upon Damascus being 
 besieged Heraclius rapidly collected another force and des- 
 patched it to attack the besieging army, but the latter was 
 in great strength and easily defeated the relieving force, and 
 in September 635 Damascus, after an heroic defence, capi- 
 tulated to Ubeida. Khalid, who had forced an entrance in 
 an opposite quarter of the city, and begun a general slaughter, 
 was furious that any terms should be made. " No quarter,'' 
 he cried, " no quarter to the enemies of God ; the unbelievers 
 shall all perish by the sword." But Ubeida threw himself 
 between the trembling citizens and the furious troops of 
 Khalid, and adjured the latter in the name of God to respect 
 his promised word ; and for a time he was obeyed. A large 
 number of the citizens, including many priests, women, and 
 children, preferring exile to the acceptance of Mahomedan- 
 ism, obtained permission from Ubeida to leave the city, and 
 set out with the intention of reaching the coast and sailing 
 towards Antioch. But the ruthless Khalid, four days after 
 they had departed, declared they had received sufficient 
 clemency, pursued them with 4000 cavalry, and overtaking 
 them massacred them all. 
 
 Battle of the Duriug the wintor of 635 Heraclius by great 
 vermuk. efforts raiscd another army, and placed it under 
 Theodorus Trithurius, with Baanes as his second-in-command. 
 The Saracens had meanwhile spread over the northern part 
 of Syria, and taken in succession Emesa, Chalcis, Beroea, and 
 Antioch. But on the advance of the Roman army, Ubeida 
 and Khalid, feeling that then* forces were too scattered, 
 retired towards Palestine, and concentrated their army near 
 the gorge of Wacusa, on the river Yermuk, which flows into 
 
 1 See Map C. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 xxrv^] 
 
 BATTLE OF THE YERMUK 
 
 443 
 
 It 
 
 the Jordan some miles south of the lake of Tiberias. There 
 on the 20th August 636 the battle was fought which decided the 
 fate of Syria. It was a fiercely contested battle. The Sara- 
 cens were led by the redoubtable Khalid ; and the character 
 of their attack is indicated by the fact that the com- 
 mander of the army, Abu Ubeida, posted himself in the rear 
 to urge his forces on to the charge, giving the command 
 of the actual attack to his second-in-command, the fierce 
 Khalid. Nevertheless the issue was for a long time doubtful, 
 the Saracens being again and again mown down as they charged 
 by the terrible fire of the Armenian archers. By the evening, 
 however, the quivers of the latter were empty ; Ubeida had 
 been waiting for this, and another furious charge decided the 
 day, the greater part of the Roman army being destroyed 
 in the Wacusa gorge, where immense slaughter took place. 
 After gaining this victory the Saracens took Tiberias and 
 various towns on the coast, and prepared to advance upon 
 Csesarea and Jerusalem. 
 
 Serious illness Mcanwhilc Heraclius, now sixty-two years old, 
 ofHeracUus. finding it hopeless under existing conditions to 
 stop this Mahomedan whirlwind, which had entirely des- 
 troyed three of his armies in succession, determined to return 
 to Constantinople,^ and raise a larger army to be placed 
 under his son Constantino, who had reached the age of twenty- 
 five. But before leaving Syria, being determined that the 
 sacred relic of the True Cross should not again fall into the 
 hands of unbelievers, he made a rapid journey from Edessa 
 to Jerusalem (notwithstanding that the Saracens were in the 
 neighbourhood), 2 carried away the Cross with him, and tra- 
 velling from thence to Chalcedon arrived there in a most 
 peculiar state. We are told that so shattered in health was 
 he that he had developed a disease almost like a sort of hydro- 
 phobia, having so great a fear of the sight of water that he 
 was afraid to venture upon even such a short voyage as the 
 crossing of the Bosphorus. At length this difficulty was over- 
 come by making a wide bridge of boats, which was covered 
 
 ^ He was probably strongly pressed to do so by Martina, who was 
 with him, and was much disturbed about his health. 
 
 ^ How he managed to evade the Saracens is not clear ; he may 
 have gone part of the way by sea, if the peculiar illness which shortly 
 afterwards seized him at Chalcedon had not as yet been developed. 
 
I 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 
 § 
 
 ! 
 
 444 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 with earth, and hedged with thick branches, making it Hke 
 a lane from which the water was invisible ; along this the 
 emperor rode, and in this manner crossed the Bosphorus. 
 Upon reaching Constantinople, he deposited the Cross with 
 much solemnity in the cathedral of St. Sophia, where thence- 
 forth it remained. 
 
 Capture of Jerusalem was invested by the Saracens shortly 
 Jerusalem, ^f^^j, HeracHus left it, and stood a long siege, but 
 in 638 was forced to surrender. As the Mahomedan religion 
 not only honoured the Jewish prophets, but also Christ (as 
 the greatest of the prophets prior to Mahomed), the Khalif 
 Omar came in person from Medina to take possession of the 
 city, knelt at the shrine in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 and inaugurated the erection of a great mosque, the Mosque 
 of Omar, on the site where the Jewish Temple had stood. 
 He treated the Christians of Jerusalem mercifully, did not 
 compel them to renounce their religion, and required only 
 that they should pay an annual tribute. Sophronius, the 
 Pope of Jerusalem, was kindly treated by Omar, and con- 
 ducted the latter through the holy places of the city, though 
 the sight of Omar kneeling in his rough campaigning garb 
 ("a much- worn coat of skins ") at the shrine of the Holy 
 Sepulchre caused Sophronius to exclaim in the Greek lan- 
 guage not understood by Omar, '' Behold the abomination of 
 desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet is come into the 
 holy place." Sophronius died soon after this capture of 
 Jerusalem by the Mahomedans. 
 Mahomedan Mcanwhilc Hcraclius had been collecting another 
 MeTouml ?^^^® ^^^^' ordering it to assemble at Amida, and 
 in 638 he sent his son Constantino to take com- 
 mand of it, and to endeavour to recover Syria. Constantine 
 advanced westwards into Syria, and laid siege to Emesa. Khalid 
 hurried with an army from the north and Ubeida from the 
 south to oppose him, and a battle against their imited forces 
 was fought by Constantine near Emesa in which the Romans 
 were totally defeated. The Saracens having now finally 
 gained Syria, in 639 invaded Mesopotamia ; one after another 
 Edessa, Constantina, Dara, and other cities were taken by 
 them ; and by the end of the year 639 the conquest of Meso- 
 potamia was practically complete. What the loss of Meso- 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 STRAIN OF SUCH CAMPAIGNS 
 
 445 
 
 potamia was to the Later Roman Empire may be judged 
 from the fact that it is on record that at the time of its con- 
 quest by the Mahomedans it produced annually ten million 
 tons of wheat and supported a population of six millions. ^ 
 In the following year (640) Caesarea, the last stronghold of 
 the Romans in Palestine, which had stood a siege of several 
 years, was also forced to capitulate. 
 
 ^j.^^ Historians have unanimously expressed surprise 
 unjustly that Heraclius who had previously won so much 
 judge . jjjilitary glory failed so entirely to withstand this 
 Mahomedan invasion, and did not himseK take command in 
 the field against it. And they have attributed this to a 
 lethargy similar to that supposed to have occurred in the 
 earlier years of his reign. ^ But in the adverse judgment 
 which they have thus formed regarding him they have failed 
 to realize what such work as Heraclius was engaged upon in 
 the years 622-628 is like, and its effects upon a man of his 
 age. Heraclius was forty-eight when he started upon his 
 first campaign against Persia, and he was fifty-four when he 
 returned from the last of those campaigns. To a man of that 
 age one campaign in the rough countries of Asia such as those 
 where Heraclius was engaged is enough (unless he is a man 
 of very exceptionally strong constitution) to age him severely f 
 and HeracHus had been through, not one, but six such cam- 
 paigns in succession. After the fourth of them he had in- 
 valided those of his soldiers who could stand no more of these 
 hardships, but he himseK had continued to the end. And 
 that it had told severely upon him there is ample evidence 
 in the years that followed. He must have had a very strong 
 constitution originally to have been able to go through the 
 whole of these six campaigns at his age without breaking 
 
 ^ Under the blighting influence of Mahomedan rule it now supports 
 only one million inhabitants. ^ Page 397. 
 
 ^ Upon men over forty years of age the effect of a campaign in the 
 rough countries of Asia such as those in which Heraclius was engaged 
 is very severe. After only two years' campaigning in Afghanistan in 
 the years 1878-1880 all the officers holding the higher commands in 
 the army thus employed looked at least ten years older than they had 
 done before the campaign began (many having become grey -haired), 
 not to mention those who during that time had had to be inyalicjed. 
 Yet Heraclius was still older thap t^hjis, 
 
 1^ 
 

 i, 
 
 i 
 
 446 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 down ; but he was no longer strong at any time after he 
 reached the age of fifty-four, and when the Mahomedan in- 
 vasion came upon Syria he was sixty-one, and also seriously 
 out of health, far too seriously, as the shattered state in which 
 he eventually arrived at Chalcedon shows, to have been able 
 to dream of commanding an army in war. 
 
 It is therefore not in any way surprising that HeracHus 
 did not take command of his army in person, while the view 
 that this was due to lethargy is highly unjust to one who at 
 a yoimger age and when in possession of health had shown 
 himself so capable in war. Moreover he certainly displayed 
 the very reverse of lethargy in the exertions which he made 
 during the years 634-638 to raise one army after another to 
 oppose the Mahomedans. Nor is it in the least likely that 
 even had Herachus been able to take command personally 
 in this campaign in Syria he could have changed defeat into 
 victory in view of the character of these Mahomedan attacks, 
 against which neither bravery on the part of the troops nor 
 tactical skill on the part of the commander could have availed 
 unless the numbers on the Roman side had been treble those 
 of their adversary, a condition which the numbers of the 
 latter made practically impossible. 
 
 ^^^ But military affairs were not the only affairs which 
 Monotheiite at this pcriod claimed the attention of HeracHus. 
 Not long before the Mahomedan invasion took place 
 another great controversy in religion had begun which was 
 at its height during the years 628-638, becoming a cause of 
 serious difficulties. It was the last phase of the discussion 
 which had continued through so many generations as to the 
 union of the Divine and human natures in Christ, and grew 
 out of that Eutychian heresy which had been condemned by 
 the Fourth General Council.^ This new controversy had 
 been going on all the time that Heraclius was prosecuting 
 his war against Persia, and was originated by Sergius, the 
 capable and energetic Pope of Constantinople. Whereas the 
 Fourth General Council had laid it down to be the Catholic 
 faith that there were in Christ two whole and perfect natures 
 (a Divine nature and a human nature), imited in the one 
 Person of Christ as " Perfect God and perfect man," Sergius 
 
 - C?hap. XVni, p. 89, 
 
 4[i 
 
 XXTV] 
 
 FIRM STAND OF SOPHRONIUS 
 
 447 
 
 propounded a theory that there were not both a Divine and 
 a human will in Christ, but only one will, the Divine will, 
 which used the humanity of Christ as its agent. The Catho- 
 lics pointed out that this was tantamount to re-opening the 
 whole controversy closed by the decision of the Fourth General 
 Council, since Christ's human nature would be imperfect 
 without a human wiU, which is a free will ; that the whole 
 teaching of Christ's life was in fact the voluntary surrender 
 of this human will to the will of the Father ; and that two 
 whole and perfect natures implied both a Divine and a human 
 will ; a mystery of course, but one which was an integral 
 part of the mystery taught " from the first," and laid down 
 at the First General CouncU as being the Catholic faith, namely, 
 that Christ was both perfect God and perfect man. 
 
 Nevertheless Heraclius supported the views of his friend 
 and adviser Sergius, and the erroneous theory of the Pope 
 of Constantinople was during the years 628-634 taken up 
 also by Athanasius, the Pope of Antioch,^ Cyrus, the Pope 
 of Alexandria, 2 and Honorius I, the Pope of Rome, while the 
 document in which the latter replied when interrogated by 
 Sergius as to his views on the question continued for a cen- 
 tury after Honorius' death in 640 to be the main support of 
 this error, called the " Monotheiite " (one will) belief. Thus 
 four out of the five Popes had surrendered themselves to a 
 doctrine which was in reality entirely opposed to the funda- 
 mental basis of the Catholic faith. One of the five only, 
 Sophronius, the Pope of Jerusalem,^ " stood, like another 
 Athanasius, alone against the world," firmly refusing to give 
 his adhesion to this new doctrine. To oppose it he in 635 
 wrote his celebrated " Synodical letter," * which pointed 
 out that this doctrme of Monothelitism was contrary to the 
 Catholic faith as defined by the Fourth General Coimcil, and 
 steadfastly adhered to this up to his death in 637 soon after 
 Jerusalem was taken by the Mahomedans. 
 
 ^ The last Pope of Antioch, that city being taken by the Mahome- 
 dans two years later, in 636. 
 
 ^ The last Pope of Alexandria, that city being taken by the Mahome- 
 dans five years later, in 639. 
 
 ^ The last Pope of Jerusalem, that city being taken by the Mahome- 
 dans in 037. * Epistola synodica. 
 
448 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 BATTLE OF THE CHAINS 
 
 449 
 
 The Whether Heraclius thought, like Justinian, that 
 an imperial edict on the subject would be as effec- 
 tive as the decision of a General Council it is impossible to 
 say, for the circumstances of the time, with the Mahomedans 
 rapidly spreading over the countries of the East, made the 
 assembly of a General Council impossible at this period. To 
 set the question at rest he in 638, shortly before the death of 
 Sergius, drew up with the assistance of the latter (who appears 
 to have written nearly the whole of it) an edict called the 
 Echthesis, in which Heraclius laid down that the doctrine of 
 one will in Christ was the correct one, and ordered it to be 
 observed.^ As might have been Imown, this had no more 
 effect than Justinian's edict had had, and the Monothelite 
 controversy continued to rage for the whole of the next forty- 
 two years, until set at rest by the decision of a General 
 Council.^ 
 The Sclavs About the year 638 Heraclius made an important 
 
 feuStorilof agreement with the Sclavs. After the repulse of 
 the empire, tho attack by the Avars upon Constantinople in 
 626 the Avar monarchy began to decline in power, whereupon 
 the Sclavs shook off the state of subjection in which they had 
 been held by the Avars, and entered into relations with the 
 emperor. Heraclius, accepting the existing position in the 
 Danube provinces,^ concurred in the occupation by the Sclavs 
 of Dalmatia, Lower Pannonia, and the greater part of Moesia, 
 and in return the Sclavs agreed to become feudatories of the 
 empire, and to pay tribute. 
 
 Latin vereus By the time of Heraclius the silent revolution as 
 ^hTt^m^ regards Latin versus Greek as the distinguishing 
 
 " Byzantine." noto of thc Later Roman Empire * had been com- 
 pleted. It had been assisted to a large extent by the change 
 of policy 5 inaugurated by Tiberius II in 578-582; though 
 that change was itself caused by the steady spread of Greek 
 influence. In the time of Justinian Latin had been declared 
 by him to be the proper official language ; and in the mosaic 
 picture in San Vitale at Ravenna Justinian and his officials 
 
 * Technically speaking it was not an edict, but rather a creed pro- 
 nounced by authority. 
 
 2 Chap. XXV,''p.* 604. » Page 394. 
 
 * Chap. XXI, Vp^ 199-200. » Chap. XXIH, pp. 336-337. 
 
 and Theodora and her ladies wear the style of dress customary 
 in Rome. But by the time of Heraclius Greek had gradually 
 ousted Latin even as the official language ; while in mosaic 
 representations after his time the emperors are depicted in 
 the Greek style of dress. Nevertheless the inhabitants of 
 the Later Roman Empire (the Romoioi) indignantly rejected 
 in all ages the appellation of " Greeks." And to the very 
 last day of the existence of Constantinople as a Christian 
 city they steadfastly and successfully maintained their right 
 to the appellation of Romans, to which they asserted that 
 they alone had a just right. As therefore it appears incorrect 
 to use the term " Greek " regarding them, it seems best after 
 the time of Heraclius, in any cases where the term " Roman" 
 would create confusion, or be otherwise inconvenient, to use 
 the term *' Byzantine " ; though always with the proviso 
 that the Byzantines and the Byzantine army had none the 
 less a just right to be called Romans and the Roman army, 
 since they belonged to that portion of the empire of Constan- 
 tine which alone survived, and which had its capital at " New 
 Rome." 
 
 Mahomedan ^hilo tho Mahomcdaus had been carrying on their 
 ^'''pS °* ^^^^^^^ against the Later Roman Empire in Syria 
 and Palestine they had also simultaneously attacked 
 Persia. In the spring of 633 they advanced towards the former 
 site of Babylon, led by the bloodthirsty Khalid. The Persians 
 rapidly suspended their dissensions and placed the crown 
 upon the head of Yezdegerd, the grandson of Chosroes II. 
 Khalid sent him a haughty message, saying, " Accept the 
 faith of Islam, or thou wilt rue it ; for a people come against 
 thee who love death as thou lovest life." A fierce battle was 
 fought near Hira (a few miles from the future Kufa) which 
 received the name of the " Battle of the Chains," because the 
 Persians used chains to increase the solidity of their entrench- 
 ments, and even bound themselves together with ropes so 
 that they could not be put to flight, being determined to 
 perish rather than be vanquished. They were however de- 
 feated with great slaughter. This was followed in May 633 
 by the '' Battle of the River of Blood," at which 70,000 Per- 
 
 • 
 
 sians are said to have been slain. In January 634 there 
 
 E.W.— II. 
 
 GG 
 
 ♦•'I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 450 
 
 PERSIA 
 
 xxiv] 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR EGYPT 
 
 451 
 
 took place another great struggle at the battle of Firdah, on 
 the eastern bank of the Euphrates near the borders of Meso- 
 potamia, at which Khalid won a third victory, the number 
 of Persians slain being declared to have been 100,000. ^ KhaUd 
 then proceeded to Syria to lead the Mahomedan forces in that 
 country, the command in Persia being taken by Motanna, 
 almost the equal of Khalid for ruthless fanaticism and des- 
 perate courage, and in October 635 was fought the important 
 battle of Boweib (near Kufa), at which for a fourth time the 
 Persians were defeated. In May 637 there followed the 
 important four days' battle of Kadesia, under the personal 
 command of the KhaUf's newly appointed vicegerent, Sayad 
 Abi Wakkas. The accounts differ widely as to the numbers 
 on each side at this battle, which gave the Saracens the pos- 
 session of the Persian capital, Ctesiphon, some accounts plac- 
 ing the number on the side of the Saracens at 60,000 men, 
 others placing it as low as 5000. But on one point all are 
 agreed, viz. that the Persians numbered at least double the 
 Saracens. Nevertheless the latter again won a complete 
 victory, with the result that they captured, plundered, and 
 ' then destroyed Ctesiphon, Yezdegerd and his nobles flying 
 to the mountains of Iran. The spoil taken was immense, 
 and each of the soldiers of Abi Wakkas received as his share 
 a sum equal to £312 sterling, a forcible incentive to more 
 adherents to join the cause of Islam. 
 
 This succession of victories gained by the Saracens 
 vkt™of over the Persians at the same time that they were 
 Nehavend. g^jj^i^g similar victorics in severely contested 
 battles against the Romans in Syria and Palestine show what 
 an immense power of attack they developed during these years 
 of their first setting out upon their long path of conquest. 
 In July 638 another victory, at the battle of Yalulah, gave 
 the Saracens all the western half of Persia ; and finally m 
 641 the crowning victory of Nehavend (" the victory of vic- 
 tories ") made the whole of Persia theirs, the Persians bemg 
 made on pain of death to accept Mahomedanism. A small 
 number of the Fire-worshippers « escaped down the Persian 
 
 1 The Arabian records of these battles magnify them to the utmost, 
 while the accounts supplied by Byzantine writers err in the opposite 
 direction, seeking to minimize the deeds of the Arabs. 
 
 2 Whom the Mahomedans called Guebree (infidels). 
 
 Gulf to the island which is now Bombay, where they still exist 
 under the name of Parsees. On the opposite bank of the 
 Tigris to Ctesiphon was built the Mahomedan capital of Kufa 
 (Bagdad) ; ^ and subsequently on the united stream of the 
 Tigris and Euphrates, near the head of the Persian Gulf, they 
 erected their other important city of Basra (or Bussora), 
 which ere long became a great centre of commerce. Omar 
 after founding Bussora despatched an army into Scinde, the 
 westernmost province of India, and in a short time subdued 
 the greater part of Scinde. 
 Mahomedan P^o^^ises of Paradisc if slain, and spoils such as 
 conquest of thosc capturcd at Ctesiphon for those who survived, 
 
 Ecvpt. 
 
 brought ever increasing numbers to the standard 
 of Islam, Arabia, like a volcano in eruption, continuing to 
 pour forth armies eager for similar victories, and in December 
 639 the general Amru led from thence another large army 
 against Egypt. He was opposed by the Roman forces first 
 at Pelusuim, in January 640, then at Bilbeis, and a third 
 time at Danin, but the Saracens were victorious on all three 
 occasions. Amru then besieged Babylon, 2 which was taken 
 after a few months' siege. From thence the Roman forces 
 fell back towards Alexandria, fighting four battles on the way, 
 in all of which they were again defeated. Finally Alexandria 
 was reached, and in October 640 its siege was begun. 
 Efforts to Meanwhile Heraclius was not idle, and made every 
 save Egypt, ^g^j.^ |.q gg^^^ Egypt, thc great granary of Con- 
 stantinople. He sent in succession four generals to Egypt 
 with reuiforcements, and the steadfastness with which they 
 fought the Mahomedans is shown both by seven successive 
 battles having been fought in a year, and by the fact 
 that of these four generals, John and Marianus were both in 
 turn killed in battle, Marinus fought a severe battle and only 
 just escaped with his life, while Manuel, the fourth general, 
 defended Alexandria for fourteen months. Heraclius was 
 now in his sixty-seventh year, and was grievously afflicted 
 with a disease which was slowly killing him,^ but had he lived 
 
 ^ This was done in accordance with the special orders of the Khalif 
 Omar that the new Mahomedan capital for Persia was not to be set 
 up on the ruins of the Persian capital, but to be erected on a new site, 
 
 2 Also called Misr, near Cairo. 3 Dropsy. 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
452 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXIV] 
 
 CHARACTER AND TEMPERAMENT 
 
 453 
 
 longer Alexandria might perhaps have been saved, as during 
 the last two months of his life he was actively occupied in 
 making preparations to send a large force for its relief ; the 
 disturbances however which ensued upon his death prevented 
 the force from being sent. 
 
 Death of Heraclius died on the 10th February 641 at the age 
 Heracuus. ^f sixty-scvcn, leaving three sons, Constantine by 
 his first marriage, and Heraclonas and David by his second 
 marriage. On the following day he was buried with 
 much solemnity in the church of the Twelve Apostles, 
 like so many of his predecessors. And in the great church 
 which Constantine had built, with its twelve tombs in honour 
 of the Apostles ^ and its gorgeous mosaic decorations, and 
 which in three hundred years had become illustrious as the 
 burial-place of so many emperors, by the side of Constantine 
 the Great, Valentinian I, and Theodosius the Great, Arcadius 
 the nonentity, and Justinian the law-giver, was laid the em- 
 peror who was honoured by all the people as the saviour of 
 the empire from the yoke of Persia. 
 Character of I^ regard to the character which has generally been 
 Heraclius. attributed to him Heraclius has suffered a good 
 deal owing to the style of writers from whom our knowledge 
 of him has to be drawn, viz. poets 2 and ecclesiastics,^ whose 
 one idea of praise for a man whom all his contemporaries 
 admired was to credit him with that kind of mystic exaltation 
 which commended itself to them as the highest type of char- 
 acter. This has led historians to depict Heraclius as a man 
 wanting in strength of character and mental power, a man 
 in fact of the type described by M. Drapeyron.^* But the 
 portion of Heraclius' life of which we know most is that covered 
 by the years 622-628, during which he was engaged in cam- 
 paigns in Cappadocia, Armenia, Albania, Azerbiyan, Media, 
 and Assyria ; and no man who has himself been through 
 a campaign in any of the rough countries of Asia of similar 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. Xni, p. 423. On its site now stands the Mosquo 
 of Mahomed II, "the conqueror." 
 
 2 E.g. George of Pisidia, the writer of the Heracliad. 
 
 3 E.g. Theophanes and Nicephorus. They did not even Uve in the 
 time of Heraclius, but wrote about the year 800 ; Nicephorus was 
 Pope of Constantinople, and Theophanes a monk, noted for his austere 
 mysticism. * Page 399. 
 
 character will believe for an instant that Heraclius was a 
 man of the type thus described, or that he was not fully 
 endowed with strength of character and mental power. Only, 
 however, through such an experience is it possible to enter 
 into all which tested the abilities of Heraclius during those 
 eventful years of his life, to realize the difficulties which he 
 encountered, the ability and strength of will necessary in 
 order to overcome them, the military genius necessary in 
 order to win the battles which he won, and the fortitude 
 necessary in order to endure, not only the hardships, but the 
 frequent depressing circumstances inseparable from a long 
 series of severe campaigns in countries of this nature. Far 
 from being wanting in strength of character, Heraclius shows 
 himself as a man endowed with the fullest strength of char- 
 acter and ability, and also with a strong power of enthusiasm, 
 without which qualities deeds such as he accomplished are 
 not to be performed. His descendants for four generations 
 sat on the imperial throne, ^ and three of them at least dis- 
 played this same quality of strength of character to a very 
 marked degree. 
 
 The power of Morcover it was the very quality which has been 
 enthusiasm, gupposcd by hlstoriaus to be more or less a defect 
 in Heraclius' character which was in reality one of the chief 
 causes of his success. An impressionable temperament gave 
 him the power of enthusiasm ; and this enabled him, as such 
 a nature always does, 2 to call forth in his soldiers a devotion 
 to him which made them willing to endure sacrifices under 
 his leadership such as no commander of a less sympathetic 
 temperament could have obtained from them. Under any 
 leader of the latter kind such experiences as the troops of 
 Heraclius had to undergo during the years 622-628, in la- 
 borious campaigns in difficult countries, subjected to excep- 
 tional hardships, and constantly having to fight battles in 
 which they were always overmatched, would in time have 
 
 ^ For genealogical table of the house of Heraclius see Appendix XV. 
 
 2 This is in reality the most valuable gift that any man who aspires 
 to command men can possess. Those commanders who have had it 
 have always surpassed those who have been without it. Belisarius 
 and Napoleon are examples of men who possessed it, and Wellington 
 of one who lacked it, the latter suffering much through the want of it. 
 
454 
 
 HERACLIUS 
 
 CHAP. XXIV] 
 
 caused feelings of discontent and disaffection amongst the 
 troops. Instead of this Heraclius' troops were devoted to 
 him, both then and at all times. 
 
 His ability and But the strongcst evidencc of the great ability of 
 popularity. Hcraclius, as well as of the value of the sympathetic 
 temperament which he possessed, lies in the fact that, whereas 
 even an emperor like Justinian did not escape revolts and 
 plots against his life, with Heraclius it was the reverse, and 
 he remained during the whole of a thirty-one years' reign 
 immensely popular, both with the people and with the army. 
 That this should have continued the case even when towards 
 the end of his reign serious defeats and large losses of territory 
 were for six years taking place is truly remarkable, and shows 
 upon what a firm foundation Heraclius' popularity rested. 
 His reign of thirty-one years was almost entirely occupied, 
 first in raising the empire from a state of the utmost maladmin- 
 istration and degradation, then in delivering it by his own 
 personal courage and ability from the grasp of a formidable 
 enemy, and then, notwithstanding failing health, in struggling 
 manfully to defend it under conditions which for the time 
 made success practically impossible. Throughout his long 
 reign he displayed the finest qualities that a ruler can possess, 
 qualities which were thoroughly appreciated by the people, 
 and he deserves to be honoured as one of the greatest of the 
 successors of Constantino. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 EAST— THE EMPERORS CONSTANTINE III, 
 CONSTANS II, CONSTANTINE IV, AND 
 JUSTINIAN II. 
 
 WEST— THE FRANKS ; BRITAIN ; BIRTHDAY OF 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ; MAHO- 
 MEDAN CONQUEST OF NORTH AFRICA. 
 
 641 — 711 
 
 FROM the time of the death of Heraclius the history of 
 the Later Roman Empire is that of a long struggle of 
 800 years against this new Mahomedan power which had 
 suddenly arisen, ^ that empire steadily shrinking in territory 
 and strength, but bravely maintaining, often with glorious 
 episodes, a struggle in which it was greatly overmatched, and 
 dying at last in a blaze of glory. 
 
 In this long contest Constantinople was the fortress, not 
 only of the Later Roman Empire, but of Europe, standing as 
 the impregnable bulwark of Christendom against a foe deter- 
 mined to subdue all Europe to the religion of Islam, and 
 steadily confronting this eastern attack during centuries 
 when the western nations were feeble in strength, and when 
 had it not been for the protection thus afforded that 
 Mahomedan deluge would inevitably have poured over all 
 Europe from the Bosphorus to the Irish Channel. Again and 
 again the Mahomedan waves dashed themselves against this 
 great fortress which the genius of Constantino had created, 
 each fresh army eager to win that blessing said to have been 
 promised by the Prophet, " All the sins of the first army that 
 takes Constantinople are forgiven.'' But century after century 
 
 ^ As well as from time to time against other foes from the north. 
 
 455 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
456 
 
 CONSTANTINE III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 MARTINA 
 
 457 
 
 the golden cross still shone upon the dome of St. Sophia (Uke 
 the standard waving over a beleaguered citadel), and each 
 attack in turn was repulsed by generation after generation of 
 those " Byzantines " upon whom scorn is often thrown for 
 then- elaborate ceremonial and luxury, and whose culture and 
 refinement appeared contemptible to the uncultured nations 
 of the West, but who, whatever their shortcomings in other 
 directions have deserved for this long and steadfast fight the 
 gratitude of Europe. 
 
 Nor is this the only ground upon which they have deserved 
 that gratitude. All literature, culture, and art had been 
 destroyed throughout the West by the flood of barbarism which 
 in the 5th and 6th centuries had swept over Europe, even 
 the little oasis of Ravenna preserving only a tiny remnant of 
 it, which also was ere long almost submerged. And now 
 a similar destruction had begun in the East, and as this Maho- 
 medan torrent engulfed one after another of the eastern 
 countries, Constantinople as the centuries went on became 
 more and more the only abode of literature, culture, and art, 
 and the solitary storehouse of all those products of civiliza- 
 tion which, first the Greeks and then the Romans, had created. 
 And the Byzantines by preserving these things through cen- 
 turies when the western nations were unable to appreciate 
 them, until the time came when they were able to do so, have 
 on that ground also deserved the gratitude of Europe. 
 
 constantineni. '^^^^8 the latter half of the 7th century darkness 
 still continues to reign in the West,i and our atten- 
 tion therefore remains still drawn chiefly to the East where 
 so much of importance was at this time taking place. Upon 
 the death of Heraclius his eldest son, Constantine III, succeeded 
 to the throne. But disturbances at once began in consequence 
 of HeracUus having in his will desired that two of his four 
 sons by Martina, HeracUus (or Heraclonas) and David, who 
 took the name Tiberius, should have equal rights with 
 Constantine, the supreme authority being exercised by the 
 
 ^ The great dearth of any authorities in the West is at its height 
 throughout the 7th century, which was the most ilhterate of all the 
 centuries. 
 
 empress Martina. The latter was however opposed both 
 by the people and the Senate (which body at this time mani- 
 fested much strength), and while this disturbed state of affairs 
 was continuing Constantine III, who was suffering from 
 consumption, removed to his palace at Chalcedon, where in a 
 short time he died, at the age of thirty, after a reign of only 
 three months (May 641). Martina was accused of having 
 poisoned him in order that her own sons might reign, but 
 there is believed to be no truth in the charge. 
 Martina and ^^^i^^ ^^^ Ordered the army of Thrace to the 
 her sons capital to dcfcud her cause ; but the people refused 
 to be ruled by a woman, and the general Valentine 
 brought the army of Asia Minor to Chalcedon to oppose 
 her. To prevent civil war Heraclonas thereupon brought 
 forward his nephew Heraclius, the eleven-year-old son of 
 Constantine III, and crowned him as joint-emperor with 
 himself and Tiberius, Heraclius on being crowned as joint- 
 emperor taking the name of Constans II (Sept. 641). But 
 a few months later, as Martina continued to be the centre of 
 disturbances, the Senate, assisted by Valentine and his army, 
 banished Martina and her sons to Rhodes, Martina suffering 
 the cruel operation of having her tongue mutilated and her 
 sons having their noses slit ; the first instance of such a piui- 
 ishment being inflicted upon any member of the imperial 
 family. Whereupon Constans, then twelve years old, was 
 installed by the Senate and the troops as sole emperor (Aug. 
 642). 1 
 
 The empress Martlua's crucl fato was undoubtedly chiefly caused 
 Martina, through thc ficrcc enmity borne against her through- 
 out her life by the Church. Though her marriage was 
 recognized by the law of the State, the Church refused to 
 acknowledge that she was a lawful wife, or that her children 
 were legitimate, and opposed her on every occasion. All that 
 we know about her is related by her bitter enemies, the ecclesi- 
 astics of the time, and it is not likely that we have been given 
 the true picture. She was a thoroughly good wife to HeracHus 
 throughout the twenty-eight years of their married fife, and a 
 strong assistant to him in all difficulties, while it is evident 
 
 ^ The accounts of these events during 641-642 which succeeded 
 the death of the emperor Heraclius are very obscure and contradic- 
 tory. 
 
458 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 from his will that he considered she was the one person in the 
 family able to rule the empire after his death. Confronted 
 with unusual difficulties when that event occurred she yet 
 made a brave fight, and it is no dishonour to her abilities that 
 she was imable to overcome the combined force of the strong 
 enmity of the Church and the resolute determination of the 
 people not to be governed by a woman, while the cruel manner 
 in which she was eventually treated shows the vindictive spirit 
 of those whom she had to oppose. Her brave endurance of 
 countless hardships in accompanying her husband throughout 
 his arduous campaigns, the strong support which she gave 
 him during twenty-eight years, the ability which she displayed, 
 and her unswerving faithfulness show that she was a woman 
 who deserves an honoured place among the empresses of the 
 Later Roman Empire. 
 
 Fall of Meanwhile Alexandria, after heroically sustain- 
 Aiexandria. jj^g g^ strcnuous sicgc of fourtccu mouths, in 
 December 641 had been forced to surrender, the troops and 
 the wealthiest of the inhabitants being withdrawn by sea. 
 This loss of the capital of Egypt, the second city in the empire, 
 caused chiefly by the disorganized state of affairs prevailing 
 at Constantinople throughout the year 641, was a great blow. 
 Upon the Mahomedans taking Alexandria the great Alex- 
 andrian Library, the largest and most celebrated of all the 
 ancient collections of books, founded by the Ptolemies in the 
 3rd century before Christ, and said to have contained 700,000 
 volumes, was burnt by the orders of the austere Khalif Omar, 
 who said that if these writings agreed with the Koran they were 
 useless, and if they disagreed they were pernicious. ^ Omar 
 
 * It has been much debated whether this destruction of the Alex- 
 andrian Library, narrated by the learned Abulpharagius, really took 
 place. Gibbon related it, but felt doubtful as to its truth. Dr. W. 
 Smith, however, in his edition of Gibbon's History, remarks : " Since 
 the time of Gibbon several new Mahomedan authorities have been 
 adduced to support the authority of Abulpharagius respecting the 
 burning of the Alexandrian library. . . . Among Oriental scholars, 
 Professor White, M. St. Martin, Von Hammer, and Silv. de Sacy con- 
 sider the fact of the burning of the library, by the command of Omar, 
 beyond question " (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, IV, 338, footnote). 
 
 xxv] 
 
 FOUNDATION OF CAIRO 
 
 459 
 
 would not allow Amru to make Alexandria his capital,^ and 
 under his orders a new capital for Egypt was founded at Cairo 
 {*' the city of Victory "), where the mosque of Amru still com- 
 memorates the latter's conquest of Egypt. In 644 Omar was 
 assassinated, and was succeeded as Khalif by Othman, the 
 husband of two of the Prophet's daughters, a man of less 
 austere temperament than Omar, but of less strength of char- 
 acter. In 646 a strong endeavour was made by the empire 
 to recover Alexandria, a considerable force and a fleet of 500 
 ships being sent from Constantinople under command of 
 Manuel, Alexandria's heroic defender during the siege. A 
 battle was fought close outside the city, but the Romans as 
 usual were defeated, and the Mahomedans then razed all the 
 fortifications of Alexandria to the ground. In the same year 
 a strong force was despatched from Constantinople against 
 Muawiyah, the Mahomedan general in Syria, but it likewise 
 was defeated, and the Mahomedans overran part of Asia Minor. 
 At the same time Muawiyah, with a view to future operations 
 by sea as well as by land, began the creation of a fleet. 
 First invasion ^^YV^ bciug now couqucred, the Mahomedans, who 
 of North in fourteen years, besides their conquest of Persia, 
 had gained Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and 
 Egypt, in 647 proceeded to invade the great province of 
 North Africa, the conquest of which, instead of the rapid pro- 
 gress they had made hitherto, was to take them sixty years 
 to accomplish. The two provinces of Egypt and North Africa 
 were entirely separated by the intervening Libyan desert, 
 stretching westwards from Egypt for some 800 miles, and all 
 communication between Egypt and North Africa was by the 
 Romans performed by sea. But the desert had no terrors 
 for these children of Arabia, who, mounted upon their camels, 
 and marching from oasis to oasis, traversed it without difficulty. 
 This first invasion of North Africa was led by Abdallah, the 
 foster-brother of the Khalif Othman, Abdallah being renowned 
 as the bravest and most expert horseman of Arabia. Crossing 
 the deserts of Libya and Barca with an army of between 
 40,000 and 60,000 men, he laid siege to Tripoli. The Exarch 
 
 ^ Possibly because he feared the imperial fleets. The Mahomedans 
 appear for this reason always to have avoided choosing cities upon the 
 sea coast for their capitals. 
 
460 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of North Africa, Gregory, advanced against him with an army 
 which besides regular troops included a large number of Moorish 
 auxiliaries, and is said to have reached a total of 120,000 men. 
 Abdallah, abandoning the siege of Tripoli, advanced to meet 
 him, and the armies met in the neighbourhood of Sufetula 
 (now Sbeitla) about 150 miles south of Carthage. Gregory 
 rejected with indignation a summons from Abdallah to accept 
 the faith of Islam, and for a day or two indecisive combats 
 took place. There followed a general engagement, Gregory's 
 capable daughter, who had been trained to arms from her 
 earliest years, fighting, richly dressed, by her father's side. 
 But Gregory's army, notwithstanding its superior numbers, 
 met with the usual fate ; his troops were unable to withstand 
 the fiery charges of the Saracens, the Roman army was defeated, 
 Gregory himself being killed, and his daughter in the division 
 of the booty became the spoil of an Arab of Medina, and to 
 escape such a fate committed suicide by throwing herself 
 from her camel as she was being conveyed across the desert. 
 As a result of this defeat Sufetula and several adjacent towns 
 fell into the hands of the Saracens, who after plundering them 
 and destroying Sufetula retired again to Egypt laden with spoil, 
 making no further attack upon North Africa for the next 
 fourteen years. ^ 
 
 In 647, when he was seventeen, Constans took over the 
 government and began to reign independently. And 
 his very first act was a remarkable one. Constans II (641-668) 
 is one of the most highly interesting characters among aU 
 the emperors of the Later Roman Empire, partly because 
 of his independence of character and originality, partly because 
 he stood so alone throughout his reign of twenty-seven years, 
 and partly because of the clouds which surroimd him. Left 
 an orphan at eleven years old, unassisted as he grew up by any 
 advisers, at war with the Church in a matter (refusal to be 
 dominated by the Church) wherein he was, according to our 
 modem ideas, altogether in the right, hated by both sides in 
 a religious controversy because he persisted in holding aloof 
 from it and exercised his authority to suppress the strife, strong 
 and inflexible, bravely holding an independent course on 
 
 1 Page 478. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 A SELF-RELIANT BOY 
 
 461 
 
 principles foreign to his age but in accord with our own, 
 abstemious and blameless as regards the morality of his private 
 life, and treading his way alone through life, he interests us 
 all the more because we are permitted so few glimpses of his 
 character and actions. 
 
 Even as a boy of eleven, when first made emperor by the 
 Senate during a time of domestic turmoil, Constans, brought 
 up amidst intrigues and danger, had shown that he was a boy 
 of an unusually self-reliant character ^ ; and as he grew up 
 he showed himself a strong ruler, possessing much ability, 
 and remarkably free from the rehgious bigotry which prevailed 
 among all around him. By the ecclesiastical writers of that 
 and subsequent ages he has been represented as a cruel and 
 odious tyrant, but this is now thought not to be a true picture 
 of his character, and to be due to the deep offence which he 
 gave by the line he took in matters of religion. The only 
 writers of his time were ecclesiastics, and these writers markedly 
 avoid giving us information regarding any actions of Constans' 
 life except those which they can make use of in some way 
 to blacken his character. Nevertheless we are able to see 
 much in him which tells against the view of him which they 
 desire us to accept. In fact we have to gather our opinion 
 of Constans II, not only by what they relate, but also by what 
 they avoid relating. It is noticeable, for instance, that though 
 so much hated by them there is no single suggestion made 
 against him of immorality in his private life ; a remarkable 
 fact in times when this accusation was almost invariably made 
 against all who were obnoxious in matters of religion if there 
 was the slightest pretext for such a charge. 
 Bold course ^^ Constantinople in the 7th century religious 
 taken by mattcrs occupicd the forefront in all politics to an 
 even greater degree than they had done in the 
 6th century, every man being labelled in political matters 
 
 ^ Even his change of name is an indication of his self-reliant dis- 
 position, showing his determination to stand upon his own merits, 
 and not to gain any assistance from possessing the same name as his 
 popular grandfather. His mother was Gregoria, the daughter of 
 Nicetas, the cousin of Heraclius who had so ably assisted the latter 
 to gain his throne, and it is unfortunate that we do not know any more 
 about her ; for presimiably she must have had a strong character. 
 She was evidently dead yvhen Constans was eleven years old. 
 
462 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 according to whether he belonged to the orthodox or unor- 
 thodox party in religion, and virulent animosity existing 
 between the rival parties. The orthodox party, ever since 
 the time of Justin I, had held the complete ascendancy, i and 
 any emperor who did not favour that side was likely to have 
 but a troubled reign. Moreover this position of affairs had 
 gradually brought it about that the Church, instead of the 
 position it occupied a hundred years earlier under the auto- 
 cratic Justinian I, had begun to look upon itseK as one of twin 
 powers, the State and the Church, and was growing more and 
 more to become the chief of these two powers and to exert a 
 kind of domination over the emperor. The independent 
 character of Constans revolted against this ; and immediately 
 upon taking over the government at seventeen he astonished 
 all men by refusing to be thus dominated, and taking up a 
 severely non-partisan position in the contest between the 
 orthodox and unorthodox parties in religion. 
 
 This action was taken in connection with the controversy 
 over the Monothelite doctrine, put forward in the reign of his 
 grandfather Heraclius. Thirty-three years after Constans 
 took this action that doctrine was authoritatively declared 
 by a General Council to be a heresy. But it had not yet been 
 declared so ; on the contrary it had, as has been seen,^ been 
 adopted by a majority of those occupying the highest positions 
 in the Church, and had been declared by the edict of Heraclius 
 to be the correct behef. Those who had taken a prominent 
 part in the question during the reign of Heraclius were all dead, 
 but the controversy, by no means settled by the latter's edict, 
 continued as vigorously as ever. Paul, the Pope of Con- 
 stantinople, was a strong adherent of Monothelitism, and the 
 majority of the eastern portion of the Church followed him 
 in the matter.^ On the other hand in the West that doctrine 
 
 1 Excepting during the eight years' orgy of Phoc€is, who had been 
 placed on the throne by the Green faction (the unorthodox party in 
 religion), and as a rule endeavoured to ingratiate himself with that side. 
 
 2 Chap. XXIV, pp. 447-448. 
 
 ^ This fact throws a flood of light upon the whole political history 
 of the reign of Constans II, and fully accounts for the odium in which 
 the latter was held in Constantinople, and for the distorted record of 
 his character and actions which has come down to us, a record regard- 
 ing which, as noted, historians have begun to feel doubt as to 
 whether it may not have misrepresented Constans. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 THE TYPE 
 
 463 
 
 found little favour, and in 646 the Church of North Africa 
 (which at this period was by far the most numerous and 
 important part of the western portion of the Church) held a 
 local Council which drew up a strong manifesto against the 
 Monothelite doctrine. 
 
 His edict Coustaus was not, like his grandfather Heraclius, 
 The Type ^j^ adherent of the Monothelite doctrine ; on the 
 other hand he was bent upon suppressing controversy, which 
 he saw was harmful to the State. He therefore took action 
 in regard to it which showed his independence of character, 
 and also, unfortunately for his popularity, showed all men 
 that the State, rather than the Church, was his first considera- 
 tion. In 647, as soon as he assumed the government, he to 
 suppress this controversy drew up and promulgated his cele- 
 brated edict known as the Type, which became the cause of 
 all the troubles of his reign. This ordered, under severe 
 penalties, that none should speak of either one will or two wills 
 in Christ, that the whole controversy should be buried, and 
 that the doctrine existing before the strife arose should be 
 maintained as if no such dispute had occurred.^ 
 
 This action was a remarkable one in a youth of only seven- 
 teen, while it was evidently solely due to Constans himself ; 
 for not only do we hear of no one as having been his adviser, 
 but also all those around him were ardent adherents of one 
 
 ^ The edict took a thoroughly soimd and sensible tone, and ran as 
 follows : " Inspired by Almighty God, we have determined to extin- 
 guish the flame of this controversy, and will not allow it any longer 
 to prey upon the souls of men. The Sacred Scriptures, the works 
 of the Fathers, and the decrees of the Five General Councils are enough 
 for us ; why should men seek to define beyond these ? Therefore 
 no one shall henceforth be allowed to speak of one will and one opera- 
 tion, or of two wills and two operations in the Person of Christ. Any- 
 one transgressing this command shall, if a bishop, be deposed from 
 his see ; if a priest, from his clerical office ; if a monk, shall be ban- 
 ished from his monastery and imprisoned. If he holds any dignity or 
 office, civil or military, he shall be deprived of it. If he is a noble- 
 man, all his property shall be confiscated ; if not noble, he shall not 
 only be beaten with stripes but further pimished by perpetual banish- 
 ment ; in order that all men being restrained by the fear of God, and 
 dreading the condign punishments with which we thus threaten them, 
 may keep unmoved and untroubled the peace of the holy Churches 
 of God." 
 
464 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 side or the other, and would not have assisted him to pro- 
 duce a measure so disliked by both sides. It was a bold, 
 honest, and statesmanlike endeavour to put an end to a con- 
 troversy which was doing no good to mankind and was injuring 
 the State ; and it was an endeavour which only a strong and 
 capable ruler would have conceived. ^ Supposing that the 
 circumstances of the time, owing to the operations of the 
 Mahomedans, rendered the assembly of a General Council of 
 the Church impracticable, no better means could have been 
 devised for bringing to an end a baneful discussion. Moreover 
 Constans' religious attitude (expressed in his words, " The 
 Sacred Scriptures, the works of the Fathers, and the decrees 
 of the Five General Councils are enough for us ; why should 
 men seek to define beyond these ? ") was in accord with that 
 moderate standard which commends itself to our modem 
 ideas on the subject. 
 
 But edicts or laws of temporal rulers or parliaments upon 
 questions of religion have the inherent flaw that a temporal 
 power is thereby endeavouring to deal with a spiritual matter ; 2 
 and though the edict of Constans did not express an opinion 
 upon any point of doctrine it gave as much offence as if it 
 had done so. His edict violently offended both parties in the 
 strife. The Catholics declared that it implied that the one 
 doctrine was as good as the other ; which was not true, since 
 the edict carefully abstained from any opinion on that point. 
 They also declared that in drawing it up Constans had been 
 guided by the Monothelite Pope of Constantinople, Paul. 
 The Monothelites were no better pleased, asserting that by 
 ordering a return to the position before the Monothehte doc- 
 
 * The very terms of the edict show that it must have been entirely 
 Constans' own work, for no ecclesiastical adviser of that period (either 
 Catholic or Monothelite) would have assisted liim to draw up such 
 a document. 
 
 2 A great modem statesman once said : " Of all invasions into the 
 domain of conscience, invasions on the part of the State are among 
 the most dangerous and the most destructive " (W. E. Gladstone). 
 
 ^ Some modem authorities, following these assertions of the Catholic 
 party, have been led to make the same statement that Constans was 
 guided by Paul, the Pope of Constantinople. But this cannot have 
 been the case ; for if the terms of the edict are read it will be seen that 
 it could not have been drawn up by a Monothelite. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 PENDA, KING OF MERCIA 
 
 465 
 
 trine arose the edict favoured the Catholics. But the real 
 gravamen of the offence in the eyes of both was the prohibition 
 of controversy ; for to the men of that age controversy upon 
 matters of doctrine was as the breath of life, and to be com- 
 pelled to exist without it an unbearable deprivation. The 
 edict was felt by them to be such as might have been promul- 
 gated by a Trajan or a Hadrian ; such an attitude on the part 
 of a Christian emperor was held to be intolerable ; Constans 
 was stigmatized as " worldly-minded," and his edict was 
 declared to be ** impious." And since Constans, self-reliant 
 and inflexible notwithstanding his youth, was not to be shaken 
 by the odium which he thus earned, and steadfastly adhered 
 to this attitude, forcing men if they engaged in controversy 
 to do so secretly, he was throughout his reign detested by the 
 whole ecclesiastical class and their adherents, and was looked 
 upon by both parties in the controversy as an enemy ; with 
 the result that his character and deeds have been uniformly 
 -condemned by the writers of his own and subsequent ages, 
 Constans being declared to have been a cruel, impious, and 
 hateful tyrant. 
 
 Attacks by ^^ ^^0 Wcst at tMs time neither in Italy, Spain, or 
 
 SAngUa. ^^^^^®' ^^^ ^h^re any events of importance, and 
 Northumbria, our attcutiou bccomcs drawn chiefly to Britain. 
 essex. j^ ^ remarkable how in the latter half of the 
 7th century languor, inertness, and feebleness seem to 
 pervade alike the Lombards in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain, 
 and the Franks in France and Germany, whereas in Britain 
 the Anglo-Saxons never went through any such phase, and this 
 latter half of the 7th century was one of their most vigorous 
 periods. There the four kingdoms which had been converted 
 to Christianity i were suffering many things from the three 
 Pagan kingdoms, but chiefly from Penda, king of Mercia, whose 
 kmgdom stretched across Britain from the Wash to Chester, 2 
 and who still continued fiercely his war against the new religion. 
 The year 642 in Britain was afterwards called the " unhappy 
 year," owing to the victories gained by Paganism, the Christian 
 Kingdoms all suffering heavy blows. In that year (the same 
 
 ^ Chap. XXIV, pp. 434-435. 2 jtg capital was at Tamworth. 
 
 E.W.— II. 
 
 HH 
 
466 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 PETERBOROUGH 
 
 467 
 
 which saw Egypt and Persia conquered by the Mahomedans), 
 Penda marched into East Anglia, defeated and killed its king, 
 Sigebert, and then marched against Northumbria. Oswald, 
 king of Northumbria, who on account of his fine character 
 was greatly reverenced, opposed Penda at Maserfield in 
 Shropshu-e (afterwards in memory of Oswald called Oswestry), 
 and in the battle Oswald was killed, with his last breath 
 exclaiming " Lord, have mercy upon the souls of my people." i 
 Penda refused his body burial, and caused it to be exposed on 
 stakes until it rotted. Penda then turned his arms against 
 Wessex, inflicted a severe defeat upon that kingdom, and 
 forced its king to renounce Christianity. 
 
 Defeat and Oswald was succccdcd by his brother Oswy,^ the 
 
 death of Penda. ig^s^ of ^j^g Northumbrian Breiwaldas. For several 
 
 years he suffered constant enmity from Penda, and after a 
 
 time in order to put an end to the strife he, about the year 650, 
 
 gave his daughter Alchfleda in marriage to Penda's eldest 
 
 son, Peada. This, however, had little effect at the moment ; 
 
 Penda, refusing to renounce his long-standing enmity to 
 
 Christianity, in 654 again attacked East Anglia and killed 
 
 its king, Anna ; and m 655 (though then eighty years old) 
 
 he again attacked Northumbria, refusing the terms that Oswy 
 
 offered, and declaring that nothing would satisfy him but the 
 
 extinction of the whole nation. The battle between him and 
 
 Oswy was fought between Doncaster and Ledstone, and was 
 
 long and furious. Penda was totally defeated, and when at 
 
 length he was driven into the river Aire and drowned, that 
 
 river was said to have avenged five kings whom in succession 
 
 he had slain in his war against Christianity. He v\ as Lucceedecl 
 
 by his son Peada, Oswy as the result of his victory annexing 
 
 a large part of Mercia. Peada, through the influence of his 
 
 wife Alchfleda, in a short time accepted Christianity, and allowed 
 
 a community from Lindisfarne to be established in Mercia, 
 
 1 Owing to his having fought and died for the cause of Christianity, 
 and to his much admired character, Oswald was canonized and is 
 known as St. Oswald. 
 
 2 Oswy married Eanfied, the daughter of Edwin and Ethelburga, 
 who was born in the year that Edwin embraced Christianity (627), 
 Oswy and Eanfled thus uniting the two houses who had so long con- 
 tested the throne of Northumbria, 
 
 by which that kingdom was gradually converted; and to 
 celebrate this event there was founded in 657 the monastery 
 and church of Peterborough. The cathedral of Peterborough 
 thus stands as a record of the conclusion of this prolonged and 
 desperate conflict, of the conversion to Christianity of that 
 powerful kingdom of Mercia which occupied all the central 
 part of England, and of the honour due from all of English race 
 to Northumbria for its long and steadfast fight to uphold the 
 cause of Christianity. 
 
 Christianity Mcauwhilc Sigbcrct, king of the East Saxons, visit- 
 ''among'thf ^^g ^^wy in Northumbria and seeing the work at 
 
 East Saxons. Liudisfame, had asked for a simHar community 
 to be established in his kingdom, and in 653 a mission under 
 Cedd was re-established at London, he being appointed Bishop 
 of that city in 654, and the East Saxons accepting Christianity. 
 Thus by the year 657 six out of the seven kingdoms had at 
 last become Christian, only the kingdom of the South Saxons 
 still remaining Pagan. 
 
 Altered ^hc Mahomcdan whirlwind which had swept over 
 Jhechurch! ^^ *^® south-eastern countries during the ten 
 years 634-644 had made an immense change in the 
 condition of the Church. Out of the five patriarchates, three, 
 Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, with all the dioceses 
 subject to them, had been destroyed. Palestine, Syria, 
 Mesopotamia, and Egypt were all now Mahomedan countries! 
 There remained only two patriarchates, Constantinople and 
 Rome. The condition of these differed widely. The patri- 
 archate of Constantinople, now the sole Eastern patriarchate, 
 remained as heretofore, embracing aU provinces and dioceses 
 east of the Adriatic as far as Armenia ; but the patriarchate 
 of Rome, the Western patriarchate, had been reduced by the 
 circumstances of the time to Ravenna, i Rome, Genoa, and 
 Naples, with Sicily and Sardinia. Neither the Church of the 
 Visigoths in Spain, nor the Church of the Franks in Gaul 
 acknowledged any other authority than that of their kings, 
 and to a still greater degree was this the case as regards the 
 
 Even Ravenna a few years later was separated from the juris- 
 diction of the Roman patriarchate (p. 481). 
 
 i 
 
 I' 
 
468 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 THE EDICT DEFIED 
 
 469 
 
 Lombards in Italy. North Africa also belonged nominally 
 to the western patriarchate, but when fifty years earlier 
 Gregory the Great had attempted to exercise a jurisdiction 
 over it exceeding his due authority/ the North African 
 Church had violently repudiated that jurisdiction, and since 
 then no successor had attempted to assert the same. 
 
 Although, however, the western patriarchate had 
 s?afe?nhe bccome thus reduced, it had been demonstrated by 
 Roman see. q^^^^^^ ^j^^ Q^^at that it was still possiblc for the 
 holder of the office of Pope of Rome to exercise considerable 
 influence with the kings of the western nations in his vicinity. 
 But during the intervening forty-five years since the death 
 of Gregory the Great no man had held that office who possessed 
 a character such as enabled him to exercise any influence of 
 this kind. So that the Popes of Rome, with jurisdiction 
 dwindled to such small proportions, and without any supple- 
 mentary influence of the kind that Gregory had wielded, saw 
 themselves ever more and more circumscribed in authority 
 and prestige. But however reduced might be the condition 
 of the Roman see, one thing remained quite undiminished, 
 viz. its intense jealousy of Constantinople and all its works. 2 
 The outlook from the time-worn palace of the Lateran might 
 be truly desolate; but the lower the Roman see sank in 
 condition the fiercer grew its jealousy of its prosperous rival. 
 Rome as a city might be little more than a heap of ruins in the 
 midst of a desolate waste ravaged by prowHng Lombards, 
 while Constantinople as a city grew ever more magnificent ; 
 Rome as a patriarchal see might wield authority only over a 
 few half-depopulated towns, while the patriarchal see of Con- 
 stantinople ruled over unnumbered flourishing cities ; but the 
 greater the contrast grew, the more fixed grew the determina- 
 tion of the Roman see to exert a vehement opposition to 
 everything that emanated from Constantinople. 
 Action of Pope In 649, when Constans was nineteen Martin I 
 Martini, ^^g elcctcd as Popo of Romc. He was evidently 
 a man full of more than an ordinary amount of Roman self- 
 esteem, and also he evidently altogether failed to appre- 
 ciate the resolute character of the youth of nineteen who 
 occupied the imperial throne. Martin I, shortly after 
 I Chap. XXIII, p. 364. ^ Chap. XXIII, p. 341. 
 
 his election, ignoring entirely the emperor's edict prohibiting 
 discussion of the subject, proceeded to put forward views in 
 opposition to those which had been enunciated by his pre- 
 decessor Honorius I,^ condemned the Monothelite doctrine, 
 and convened a local Synod at the palace of the Lateran, which 
 thereupon anathematized Sergius, Pope of Constantinople, 
 Cyrus, Pope of Alexandria, Athanasius, Pope of Antioch, the 
 Echthesis of the emperor Heraclius, and the Type of the emperor 
 Constans, " together with all receivers and defenders of the 
 same." It is very significant that we here find the law which 
 condemned controversy held in equal detestation with that 
 which enunciated a doctrine to which those concerned objected. 
 The cool effrontery of a mere local assembly of ecclesiastics, 
 gathered from two or three towns entirely dependent upon 
 the protection of the emperor's troops to preserve them from 
 being absorbed by the Lombards, in anathematizing opinions 
 promulgated by much higher authorities in the Church, also 
 the edict of the emperor's grandfather, and also the edict of 
 the reigning emperor forbidding them to discuss the question, 
 shows the height to which the Roman see was ready to go in 
 self-complacent assumption. An additional aggravation of 
 the offence was that Martin was considered to be uncanon- 
 ically Pope, his election not having been confirmed by the 
 emperor, an indispensable part of every valid election of a 
 Pope in the 7th century.^ 
 
 Constans, who was about to start on the first of his cam- 
 paigns against the Mahomedans, was placed in a difficult 
 position by this action of Martin I. He could scarcely 
 pass by, not only the re-opening of a controversy which 
 he had sternly prohibited from being re-opened, but also 
 the deliberate defiance of his authority in this insolent 
 condemnation of his edict. On the other hand if he 
 took action to bring Martin I to punishment for so 
 flagrant a disobedience of a law purposely devised to keep 
 the peace between the antagonists he would incur the 
 hatred of every Catholic in his empire. The difficulty 
 was all the greater in that the doctrine maintained by 
 
 ^ Martin I was not the immediate successor of Honorius I, but was 
 the third in succession to the latter. 
 2 See also Chap. XXIII, p. 362. 
 
 I 
 
 i' 
 
I 
 
 470 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Martin I and the synod at Rome was that with which Constans 
 himseK concurred. 
 
 Trial and Ncverthelcss Constans was too strong a ruler to 
 
 banishment of permit Ms authority to be defied in this manner. 
 
 ope artm . ^^^j^Qj-^jj^giy ^j^g Exarch of Ravcnua was ordered 
 
 to arrest Martin I and send him to Constantinople to be tried. 
 There were various delays, the Exarch having to proceed to 
 Sicily to repel an attack of the Saracens and dying there, and 
 a new Exarch having to be appointed, but eventually in 653 
 Martin I was arrested and sent to Constantinople for trial, 
 where after various delays on the way he arrived in 654. He 
 was not tried (as the Catholic writers have endeavoured to 
 make it believed) for promulgating a particular doctrine, but 
 was tried on a charge of conspiring against the emperor's 
 authority. He was declared guilty, and was sentenced to 
 death, but the sentence was commuted by Constans to banish- 
 ment to the Crimea (the punishment which the edict had 
 pronounced in the case of those who should re-open the con- 
 troversy), and there in 655 the hardships and the rigours of 
 the climate caused Martin's death. The Catholics of course 
 looked upon him as a martyr,^ and to support this view the 
 ecclesiastical writers have embellished the account of his 
 arrest, journey, imprisonment, and trial with various details 
 intended to show that he was cruelly treated, but when these 
 are examined and stripped of their palpable exaggerations 
 it does not appear that he was treated with exceptional 
 harshness. 
 
 With the same object these writers have maintained that 
 he was punished for enunciating the orthodox doctrine that 
 there were both a Divine and a human will in Christ. But 
 this view of Martin's arrest and punishment is not in accord- 
 ance with the facts. Constans had no quarrel with that 
 doctrine (which he himself held) ; but he had promulgated 
 a law that the question should not be discussed, from either 
 side ; this law Martin I had not only deliberately contravened 
 but also had done so in a manner which was a flagrant defiance 
 of the emperor's authority ; and it was for this that he was 
 
 ^ He has in later years been canonized in the Roman Church as 
 St. Martin I. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 MARTINIS OFFENCE 
 
 471 
 
 arrested and banished.^ It was impossible that Martin I or 
 any one else could be permitted to assemble councils to publish 
 decisions calling down curses upon laws promulgated by the 
 ruling authority of the empire. Constans' error was not in 
 arresting and banishing Martin I, but in thinking by an edict 
 to keep the men of that age from controversy. Having once 
 published such an edict he was right to insist on its being 
 obeyed ; and when it was disobeyed in the manner that it 
 was on this occasion (not even by a letter or document put 
 forward by Martin I, but by the public assembly of a synod 
 and the publication of such a decision), Constans could do 
 no less than he did unless he intended to abdicate. The 
 whole matter, however, of course still further increased the 
 odium with which Constans was regarded by the entire eccle- 
 siastical class. ^ 
 Constans* Coustaus' rigidly non-partisan attitude has had 
 non-partisan a pccuHar rcsult. While his command that all 
 should return to the status quo before the Mono- 
 thelite doctrine arose amounted (as the Monothelites had said) 
 to a prohibition of Monothelitism, and while the Catholics 
 declared that his edict implied that the one form of faith 
 was as good as the other, and condemned him accordingly, 
 and still more bitterly after his punishment of Martin I for 
 action which was in reality rebellion, the fact that the only 
 authorities who supply records of Constans' reign were ecclesi- 
 astics and gave expression to all the hatred of him felt by 
 the Catholics on the above grounds, has caused most modem 
 historians to write of him as being a Monothelite, and to 
 represent all his actions as those of a mere partisan. But a 
 study of the edict which caused all the troubles of his reign 
 completely refutes this idea ; for no Monothelite could have 
 
 
 ^ Even modern historians have been led by the ecclesiastical writers 
 to look upon Martin I as having suffered for maintaining the orthodox 
 doctrine and condemning what was afterwards declared a heresy. 
 This however obscures the plain issue, which is as has been stated. 
 
 2 It is difficult to determine how far the people agreed with the 
 detestation in which Constans was held by the ecclesiastical class, the 
 latter being the only writers of the time. The total absence of any 
 rebelUons against Constans looks as though the people did not regard 
 him in the manner in which the ecclesiastics did. 
 
472 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 drawn up that edict. Everything shows that the true view 
 of the conduct of Constans II is that it was dictated by a rigid 
 refusal to be a partisan in matters of religion, a principle 
 which was new to the world, and which being altogether ob- 
 noxious to the men of that age caused him to be virulently 
 hated by both parties. 
 
 The But while these matters engaged a certain amount 
 advance'' of Coustaus' attention during the early years of 
 arrested. jj|g rcigu, they wcrc not his principal concern. 
 His chief attention was devoted to military affairs. From 
 the time that in 647 he took over the government his main 
 concern was the endeavour to arrest the Mahomedan flood 
 which during the latter years of his grandfather's reign and 
 his own minority had deprived the empire of Syria, Mesopo- 
 tamia, and Egypt, and was stiU sweeping forwards. And in 
 this endeavour Constans was remarkably successful, bringing 
 the Mahomedan advance almost to a complete standstill. 
 In 652 he led an expedition in person to prevent the Maho- 
 medans from gaining Armenia ; and though owing to local 
 disturbances they at length gained a footing in Armenia, 
 and though in 654 they captured the islands of Cyprus and 
 Rhodes, their conquests were small, and they gained no per- 
 manent advantage of importance so long as he reigned. In 
 655 Muawiyah, the Mahomedan commander in Syria, prepared 
 a powerful naval expedition to attack Constantinople. Con- 
 stans, then twenty-five, fitted out a fleet, took command of 
 it himself, and sailed for the coast of Lycia, where a great 
 naval battle ensued at Phoenix. The Romans were defeated, 
 Constans narrowly escaping with his life ; but though defeated 
 he inflicted sufficient loss upon the Mahomedans to put an 
 end to their project of besieging Constantinople. 
 
 Mahomedan In 656 the Khalif Othman was assassinated in a 
 s^»°°- rebellion fomented by Ayesha, the capable and 
 ambitious widow of the Prophet. Regarding who should be 
 his successor a serious dissension arose. Ever since the death 
 of Mahomed in 632 a considerable party among the Maho- 
 medans had considered that his proper successor should be 
 his son-in-law, the brave, religious, and simple-hearted Ali, 
 
 xxv] 
 
 SUNNI AND SHIAH 
 
 473 
 
 who had married the Prophet's daughter, Fatima.^ And 
 upon the death of Othman this party insisted that Ali should 
 succeed to the Khalifate, as he should rightfully have done 
 when Abu Bekr was chosen. The rival party chose Muawiyah, 2 
 and a struggle for the Khalifate ensued between Ali and 
 Muawiyah, which resulted in a double Khalifate during the 
 next five years, Ali establishing himseK as Khalif at Kufa in 
 Persia, and ruling Persia, Khorassan, Mesopotamia, Arabia, 
 and Egypt, while Muawiyah established himseK as Khalif at 
 Damascus, ruling Syria and Palestine. Thenceforth there 
 took place the permanent division of the Mahomedans into 
 two sects, the Shiahs and the Sunnis, the former of whom 
 refuse to recognize the first three Khahfs, and look upon Ali 
 as the first Khalif .» The Shiahs constitute the majority of 
 the Mahomedans in India and Persia, the Sunnis (considered 
 as the orthodox Mahomedans) being dominant in the Ottoman 
 Empire, Turkestan, Affghanistan, Arabia, and Africa. 
 
 The double Khalifate did not last long. In January 661 
 Ali was murdered at Kufa. Thereupon his adherents chose 
 his elder son Hassan, the grandson of the Prophet, to succeed 
 him ; but Hassan cared even less than his father Ali for rank 
 and power, and Muawiyah soon persuaded him to resign his 
 claims, and became himseK sole KhalK. Muawiyah removed 
 the capital from Medina to Damascus, establishing the 
 Omeyyad dynasty, and in 669 managed to get Hassan poisoned. 
 He entirely altered the character of the KhalKate, not only 
 by changing it from being an elective to a hereditary office, 
 but also by the change from its early simplicity and absence 
 of ceremonial to the luxury and magnificence which he 
 inaugurated at Damascus. 
 
 j^g^ As the Mahomedan conquests extended a new 
 ^^^°^^^^° policy was gradually developed. While the 
 sovereignty of the Mahomedan power still con- 
 tinued to be spread by the sword, conversion of the conquered 
 peoples to Islam became less and less carried out by that 
 
 ^ Chap. XXIV, p. 436. 
 
 2 Muawiyah was descended, Hke Othman, from Omiya, the head of 
 a collateral branch of the Prophet's family, and his descendants be- 
 came known as the Omeyyad branch. 
 
 ^ Ihe Shiahs, instead of " Khalif " prefer to use the title *' Imam," 
 as being the term used in the Koran. 
 
I 
 
 474 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 THE THEMES 
 
 475 
 
 method. The spirit of Khalid and Motanna was gradually 
 replaced by a policy which had a wider political horizon. 
 Instead of the two alternatives, death or Islam, between 
 which the conquered had had to choose in the earlier years 
 of the Mahomedan advance, a third alternative was by degrees 
 added. It became recognized that it was more advantageous, 
 both to the strength of the Saracen power and to the extension 
 of the Mahomedan religion, to make those who would not 
 accept the faith of Islam pay a heavy tribute towards the 
 support of the Mahomedan government than to slaughter 
 them,^ especially as the latter course would tend to render 
 the conquered district a desert. 
 
 It is true that this third alternative was for a long time 
 very irregularly applied. Where a city had made a fierce 
 resistance, causing great losses to the Mahomedans, the only 
 alternatives given when the city was at last taken would often 
 be death or Islam. Again in many cases the third alternative 
 though offered might be refused. The condition of accepting 
 the rule of harsh and tyrannical Mahomedan governors, of 
 occupying the position of a subject race under conquerors who 
 in their daily conversation habitually applied terms such as 
 " dog " and " infidel " to the conquered, and of paying a 
 crushing tribute to support this hated dominion, was to many 
 insupportable, death being preferred. But by degrees this 
 third alternative came to be more and more adopted ; so that 
 after a time Christian communities were to be found existing, 
 though in a much down-trodden condition, in the territories 
 conquered by the Mahomedans. 
 
 Expedition In 658 Constans, now twenty-eight, led in person 
 
 ^agai^sftTe ^^ cxpcdition against the Sclavs. By the agreement 
 
 Sclavs, made with Heraclius twenty years before ^ a large 
 
 proportion of that race were now tributaries of the empire. 
 
 But in 658 the Sclavs settled in Mcesia had refused to pay their 
 
 usual tribute. Constans therefore marched against them, 
 
 1 So strongly did this become felt in course of time that two or three 
 centuries later, in the Middle Ages, conversion of the conquered to 
 Islam became looked upon almost with disfavour by the Mahomedan 
 nilers, since on conversion of the conquered to that faith this pay- 
 ment of tribute ceased. ^ Qhap. XXIV, p. 448. 
 
 in a short campaign defeated them, took many of them pri- 
 soners, and compelled them to pay the tribute. As usual, 
 the Sclavs had in these twenty years greatly increased in 
 numbers, and the lands allotted to them in Moesia had become 
 too restricted for them. Constans therefore transferred a 
 large body of them to Asia Minor, giving them lands there 
 which had become vacant through the incursions of the Sara- 
 cens and slaughter of the inhabitants, the Sclavs in return 
 giving an agreement to assist in the defence of the districts 
 given them. 
 Redivisionof ^hcre is a very important change in the adminis- 
 the empire into tration of the empire about the middle of the 7th 
 century which appears to have been the work of 
 Constans II. This was the reversion to the older system 
 which had prevailed before the time of Constantino's reor- 
 ganization of the administration, 1 the rule of each district 
 being now again placed in the hands of a governor exercising 
 both civil and military functions, and the whole empire being 
 for this purpose given a fresh subdivision, its various sections 
 no longer being styled provinces or dioceses, but given the 
 name of Themes, The number of these themes was at first 
 apparently about twelve, ^ but their number gradually increased 
 by further subdivision until in the 10th century there were 
 twenty-nine. The question of exactly when this important 
 change was made is obscure, and all the more so because we 
 have so little information given us about Constans II in regard 
 to any matters which will not provide opportunities for black- 
 ening his character ; but that very obscurity is on this ground 
 an additional reason for considering that this satisfactory 
 change was his work, while it would appear from the few 
 scattered allusions to the subject made by Theophanes and 
 Nicephorus that this new arrangement was undoubtedly made 
 in the reign of Constans II, the attacks of the Saracens render- 
 ing it desirable to make military defence the primary con- 
 sideration in each district. At the same time it may be ad- 
 mitted that there are indications that such a change was 
 beginning to a small extent in the latter years of the reign of 
 Heraclius, 
 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. XIII, p. 426. 
 
 2 Six in Europe and North Africa, and six in Asia. 
 
476 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 This system was one eminently adapted to the new con- 
 ditions into which the empire had now entered. The former 
 system whereby the governor of a district had no military 
 authority had been one adapted to a state of peace ; but the 
 empire had now to be organized for a permanent state of 
 defensive warfare ; and for such conditions Constans' new 
 division into themes, each with a governor who combined 
 both civil and military functions, gave much increased power 
 of resistance ;i and it was probably chiefly by this means that 
 Constans arrested the Mahomedan advance (p. 472). 
 
 constans In 659 Constans put to death his brother Theo- 
 ^""brother^^ dosius (of whom we hear for the first time on this 
 Theodosius. occasion), in consequence, it is said, of finding him 
 engaged in a conspiracy. In their inveterate determination 
 to tell us nothing about Constans except what will bring him 
 into odium this is the only intimation given us by the ecclesi- 
 astical writers of the time that Constans had a brother. It 
 is extraordinary that we should be told not a single word 
 regarding this conspiracy or the part that Theodosius had 
 taken therein, and we can therefore only suppose that the 
 facts of the case did not furnish any material for vilifying 
 Constans, while the bare fact being related in this manner 
 did so. It would seem therefore that, severe though it was, 
 the action of putting his brother to death was kno\^Ti for some 
 reason to be justified. The detestation in which Constans 
 was regarded by the whole ecclesiastical party makes their 
 entire silence on the subject very marked. Nevertheless 
 these writers did not fail to use the event still further to blacken 
 Constans, asserting that apparitions of his brother came to him 
 in his sleep reproaching him for the act, while they assert that it 
 was owing to remorse, and in order to escape from these appari- 
 tions, that three years later he left Constantinople for Italy. ^ 
 
 1 Regarding the military constitution of these themes, see also 
 Chap. XXVI, p. 544. 
 
 2 It has previously been noted (Chap. XX, p. 183, footnote) that 
 with the writers of those ages there is no more favourite device for 
 instilling an idea that a person was guilty of crime in regard to another 
 person's death than to invent tales of subsequent remorse. The pro- 
 cedure is particularly base in this instance because the writers in 
 question in stating that Theodosius was put to death had made no 
 statement that there was any unjust reason for the deed. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 477 
 
 While in the East the publication of an edict against 
 
 Bavarian f^ ^ 
 
 lineofLom- coutrovcrsy, the banishment of a Pope of Rome 
 
 bard kings. « v it j.r • !• p -lj* • • 
 
 for rebeUion, the mauguration of a new subdivision 
 of the empire, and campaigns against Saracens and Sclavs 
 had kept Constans II for fifteen years in ceaseless activity, 
 in Italy little energy was shown at this period by the kings 
 of the Lombards. In the Lombard kingdom from the time 
 of the death in 652 of Rotharis,^ who was succeeded by Thiuda- 
 linda's nephew Aripert, the throne of Pavia was held for about 
 sixty years by a succession of kings of little importance. Upon 
 the death of Aripert in 661 Grimuald, Duke of Beneventum 
 (renowned in the Lombard sagas for the adventures of his 
 early life), seized the throne from the two sons of Aripert, 
 one of whom he murdered, and held it for ten years. He was 
 the first Lombard king who united under his actual govern- 
 ment both northern and southern Italy. At his death in 
 671 Perctarit, the elder son of Aripert, regained the throne, 
 chiefly through the devotion of the Lombards to one belonging 
 to the family of their revered queen Thiudalinda. Nothing 
 shows so strongly the extraordinary character that Thiuda- 
 linda must have possessed as this feeling existing among the 
 Lombards for a princess of another race even fifty or sixty 
 years after her death, causing them to insist upon having a 
 Bavarian line of kings upon the throne simply because they 
 were of her family. Their very names — ^Aripert, Perctarit, 
 Godepert, Raginpert, Cunincpert, Liutpert — show their foreign 
 origin. These Bavarian kings of the Lombards, however, 
 manifested little or no ability, and under their rule Italy 
 remained for the next forty years (671-711) in a more or less 
 divided state, the powerful Lombard nobles who held different 
 portions of it acting almost as independent sovereigns and 
 being often at war with the central authority. 
 
 Departure of ^^ ^^^ Coustans, uow thirty-two, determined to 
 Constans for make au effort to recover southern Italy from the 
 
 Italy 
 
 Lombards, while also establishing himself in a 
 better position to resist the Saracens. He had cowed the 
 Sclavs ; he had made Asia Minor strong ; the chief point 
 
 I Chap. XXIV, p. 425. 
 
478 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of danger now was in North Africa, against which province 
 in the previous year the Saracens had again advanced, and 
 were at this time besieging Tripoli. Established in strength 
 in southern Italy he would be far better able to offer a success- 
 ful resistance to the advance of the Saracens in the district 
 round Carthage than he was at Constantinople. With this 
 object, leaving his wife ^ and his three sons (the eldest of them 
 by this time about twelve years old) at Constantinople, and 
 taking with him a considerable force, he sailed for southern 
 Italy. 
 
 The ecclesiastical writers have made use of this action 
 taken by Constans to prosecute their usual object in regard 
 to him. They have suppressed the military side of the matter, 
 have spoken of this departure for Italy merely as a removal 
 to a more congenial locality, and have represented it as due 
 to the detestation with which they assert he was regarded 
 in Constantinople ; ^ and this theory has upon their authority 
 become the accepted one among historians. But setting 
 aside the fact that Constans was not the sort of man to be 
 swayed by such a motive, the military necessities of the time 
 and Constans' achievements in connection therewith, fully 
 suffice completely to refute this theory. For the event thor- 
 oughly justified the step he took ; not only did he reconquer 
 for the empire a large portion of southern Italy, which remained 
 for centuries afterwards part of the empire, but also he suc- 
 ceeded owing to this change of his base of operations in 
 putting a stop during his reign to the advance of the Saracens 
 in North Africa. 
 
 Moreover Constans had similarly left Constantinople on 
 previous occasions to prosecute military operations ; and his 
 leaving his wife and children there, together with several of 
 his actions during the first year or two that he was in Italy 
 and Sicily, show that this step was not intended as an aban- 
 
 1 Constans' wife was a daughter of the general Valentine, who in 
 641 had taken so prominent a part in his being placed on the throne. 
 We do not know her name, the ecclesiastical writers not taking the 
 trouble to mention it as it supplied no material for blackening Constans. 
 
 2 Combined with the effect of the apparitions of his dead brother 
 which they declare came to him in his sleep, and which the dates show 
 must if the assertion is true have been occurring for three whole years. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 AN ARTFUL STORY 
 
 479 
 
 donment by him of Constantinople, as these writers have 
 represented, and that his intention was simply to carry out 
 that which his ability in war correctly showed him was the 
 most effective mode of coping with the military situation, 
 and that he looked forward to returning when he had achieved 
 this object. The fact that afterwards the resistance made 
 by the Saracens in North Africa detained him year after year 
 at his base of operations in Sicily does not affect the question 
 of his original intention. The ecclesiastical writers in order 
 to give point to their story have declared that as the vessel 
 conveying Constans sailed away, and as the domes and towers 
 of Constantinople began to recede from view, Constans looking 
 at them shook his fist and spat at the imperial city. But, 
 as Prof. Bury has pertinently remarked, " This attribution 
 of an act of childish and indecent spite to a man of strength 
 and ability like Constans, throws suspicion on the whole 
 narrative." ^ 
 Successes ^oustaus ou rcachiug Italy landed with a large 
 gained over forcc at Tarcutum in Apulia, part of the extensive 
 
 the Lombards. _. ii-ii i»t-» mi • 
 
 Lombard duchy of Beneventum. This was the 
 largest and most important of the Lombard duchies, and 
 included the whole of southern Italy, except the district round 
 Naples, still belonging, with a few other coast towns, to the 
 empire. At this time Grimuald, the most powerful of the 
 earher Lombard kings, had the year before gained the 
 throne, 2 and on becoming king had installed his son Romuald 
 as Duke of Beneventum. The emperor at once advanced 
 through Apulia, driving back Romuald's forces, and capturing 
 city after city in Calabria and Apulia from the Lombards.^ 
 At length he reached Luceria, situated on a lofty plateau and 
 one of the most important cities of the duchy, which city 
 owing to its situation was regarded as the key of Apulia. 
 
 ^ Bury, Later Roman Empire, II, 299. 
 
 2 Page 477. 
 
 ^ The ecclesiastical writers, in their desire to represent Constans' 
 departure for Italy as a mere removal to the latter country owing to 
 his being hated in Constantinople, have made no mention of his taking 
 any troops with him ; it is however evident that he must have taken 
 with him a large force, since immediately upon landing in Italy he 
 proceeded to engage the Lombards in battle and to make important 
 conquests. 
 
480 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 REMOVAL TO SYRACUSE 
 
 481 
 
 I 
 
 PI 
 
 
 Constans took it, and razed it to the ground. He then ad- 
 vanced against the capital Beneventum,i and laid siege to 
 it. Beneventum made a brave defence, but after a time 
 was reduced to great straits, and to save it from being captured 
 Romuald offered to make terms. Meanwhile king Grimuald 
 was advancing to his son's assistance, which induced the em- 
 peror to accept the terms offered by Romuald, receiving 
 Romuald's sister Gisa as a hostage ; whereupon Constans 
 raised the siege and retired to Naples for the winter. In 
 the spring of 663 Constans renewed the war, the terms agreed 
 to by Romuald not having been carried out, and sent a force 
 against Romuald under the general Sapor ; but the latter 
 was defeated at Forinum, which reverse, together with the 
 fact that the Saracens were gaining successes in North Africa, 
 caused Constans to abandon any further attacks upon Bene- 
 ventum, and to content himseK with the territory he had 
 already gained.* 
 
 Visit to Rome ^^^^ Naplcs Coustaus in June 663 travelled to 
 and removal Romc, bclug met by Pope Vitalian and the clergy 
 six miles from the city, which he entered on the 
 5th July, being the first emperor who had visited Rome since 
 the faU of the western half of the empire 187 years before. 
 There he attended services in the principal churches, and 
 made valuable offerings to them. At the same time he ordered 
 the removal from Rome of various things with which to enrich 
 Constantinople, including all the ornaments of bronze which 
 stiU remained in Rome, and the greater part of the bronze 
 tiles of the roof of the Pantheon,^ which he despatched to 
 Constantinople. This again shows that he had no intention 
 of abandoning the latter city, but intended returning there 
 when he had driven back the Saracen attack upon North 
 Africa. After remaining in Rome rather less than a fortnight 
 
 ^ Beneventum lay on the Via Appia, forty miles north-east of Naples, 
 was an important Roman colony as early as B.C. 268, and was the most 
 important city in southern Italy after Naples. 
 
 2 These conquests of Constans in Calabria and Apulia remained 
 permanent possessions of the empire for many centuries. 
 
 ^ He cannot have taken the whole of them, as generally stated, 
 since part of them were used in 1633 to form the bronze canopy over 
 the high altajr in St. Peter's, 
 
 Constans departed again to Naples,^ and soon afterwards, 
 the Saracens having made a raid upon Sicily, he removed 
 thither, drove out the invaders, and established himself at 
 Syracuse, as being the most convenient centre from which 
 both to control affairs in southern Italy and as a base of oper- 
 ations for the defence of North Africa. And from Syracuse 
 during the next five years the affairs of Apulia, Calabria, 
 Sicily, Sardinia, and North Africa were administered directly 
 by the emperor himseK. 
 Repulse of While Coustaus had been fighting in southern 
 the Saracens, j^-^jy ^j^^ Saraccus had advanced into the district 
 round Carthage, and after taking various towns had in the 
 early part of 663 captured Carthage itself. Constans, there- 
 fore, having established himself at Syracuse, by means of 
 heavy taxes imposed on his Italian and Sicilian subjects, 
 prepared there a large army and fleet with which he attacked 
 the Saracens in North Africa, and was completely successful. 
 He retook Carthage, and all the towns which the Saracens 
 had captured, and drove the latter entirely out of that part 
 of the province, and though contests with them continued 
 during the next four years round Tripoli with varying success, 
 the Saracens gained no permanent footing in North Africa 
 during his reign. In Asia Minor they in 663 invaded several 
 of the southern provinces, carrying off many captives ; in 
 664, under Abdul Rahman, the son of the renowned Khalid, 
 they again did the same ; while there were similar incursions 
 in 666 and 667. But all these efforts partook of the nature 
 of raids, and though they caused much suffering to the people 
 of the districts concerned there was no loss of territory, and 
 the strength of the empire was maintained. 
 Last four years ^^ *^® ^^^^ ^^^ J^^rs of Coustaus' life (664-668) 
 "^^Sr"^ we are given scarcely any details, except that we 
 are told by the ecclesiastical writer Agnellus that 
 Constans made Maurus, the Archbishop of Ravenna, indepen- 
 dent of the Pope of Rome, giving the Archbishops of Ravenna 
 the privilege of receiving the pallium directly from the em- 
 
 Constans' short stay in Rome, and his conduct while there, simi- 
 marily refutes the declaration made by the ecclesiastical writers that 
 in leaving Constantinople he had the intention of making Rome, 
 instead of Constantinople, the capital of the empire. 
 
 E.W.— -II. I J 
 
CHAP. 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 xxv] 
 
 
 482 
 
 peror.i The prosecution of the war in North Africa compelled 
 Constans to impose much heavier taxes upon the people of 
 Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa than they had previously 
 paid, which was looked upon as a great affliction. Thus 
 AgneUus (who wrote in the 9th century), speaking of Constans' 
 rule over the provinces directly administered by him, says, 
 ** He imposed such affiictions on the inhabitants or proprietors 
 of lands in Calabria, Sicily, Africa, and Sardinia as never were 
 heard of before. So that even wives were separated from 
 husbands, and sons from their parents." The people of 
 the countries concerned as usual did not realize that con- 
 quest by the Saracens which was thus prevented would have 
 brought upon them tenfold greater miseries. It must also 
 be remembered that AgneUus is writmg from hearsay and 
 nearly two centuries later. 
 
 ^ .K * In the year 667 Constans, seeing no prospect of 
 
 Death oi -^^^ '' .7 . i • -i t 4.' 
 
 Constans II. ^^eiug able at present to quit his base of operations 
 at Syracuse if he was to continue to keep the Saracens at 
 bay, wrote, it is said, summoning his wife (whose name we 
 are not told) and sons to come to him from Constantinople ; 
 but we are told that some of his (or her) friends, or the people, 
 prevented this, though how they managed to do so is not 
 recorded. 2 In any case his wife and sons did not go to him, 
 and Constans died, as he had lived, alone. In July 668, when 
 he was thirty-eight, going one day to the Baths of Daphne 
 at Syracuse, he left the rest of his retinue outside, and went 
 into the Baths accompanied only by one attendant, named 
 Andreas, to wait upon him while he took his bath. The 
 writer Theophanes states that as the emperor was about to 
 smear his body with soap Andreas, seizing the vessel contaming 
 the soap, struck him on the head with it, and fled. When 
 after a long time the emperor did not appear his other atten- 
 dants went in to look for him, and found him lying dead. 
 
 1 Agnellus, Life of Maurus, Chap. IV. 
 
 2 The accounts are contradictory. Zonaras states, " Some of ms 
 friends prevented this. But others say that the people of the city did 
 not permit them to go.'* Theophanes says in one place that t lo 
 opposition came from the people, and in another place from two ot tiie 
 ministers. But if Constans really sent such an order it is hard to see 
 how any such opposition could have prevented their going. 
 
 CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 483 
 
 Character. 
 
 The reason for Andreas' act is unknown. Nor is it even 
 known whether he intended to kill the emperor, or merely 
 struck him in a sudden fit of anger ; and he does not appear 
 to have had any accomplices. Upon this tragic death of the 
 emperor occurring certain persons (whose names are not 
 recorded), as soon as the emperor's body had been buried, 
 induced an obscure Armenian named Mizizios to assume the 
 purple, the only reason assigned for their foolish action being 
 "because he was very goodlooking and handsome." How- 
 ever the troops in southern Italy, Sardinia, and North Africa, 
 not being swayed by his good looks, promptly united to over- 
 throw him, and put to death both Andreas and Mizizios, and 
 with them a certain Justinian, holding, it is said, a high position 
 in Sicily. From which it is to be presumed that the latter 
 had been concerned in the elevation of Mizizios. 
 
 Of the character of Constans it is impossible to 
 speak with certainty, so much obscurity on the 
 subject having been created by the ecclesiastical writers on 
 whom alone we have to depend. That he was a strong and 
 capable ruler, endowed with much ability, and with extra- 
 ordinary independence of character is obvious. His civil 
 administration of the empire was evidently good, as there 
 were no rebellions, while his ecclesiastical detractors have been 
 unable to record any failure on his part in this direction ; 
 and his military administration certainly was highly satis- 
 factory. Taking over the rule of the empire at a time when 
 the Mahomedan onrush had for fourteen years been carrying 
 everything before it, he stopped this course of uninterrupted 
 conquest, and during his reign the Saracens obtained no 
 important permanent advantage. Every part of the empire 
 testified to his military ability ; at a time of exceptional diffi- 
 culty such as none of his predecessors except Heraclius had 
 had to face, he made Asia Minor strong by his change in 
 the government carried out by his system of the Themes ; 
 he successfully repulsed the Sclavs ; he reconquered a large 
 part of southern Italy from the Lombards ; and he stopped 
 for as long as he Uved the advance of the Saracens in North 
 Africa. But the chief feature of his character and actions, 
 one which brought upon him unmeasured condemnation, 
 was his refusal to be dominated by the Church, and his rigid 
 
484 
 
 CONSTANS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 INDOMITABLE SPIRIT 
 
 485 
 
 determination not to be enrolled as a partisan in religious 
 strife, and to put that strife down with an iron hand. Taking 
 up this attitude when only a youth of seventeen he never 
 swerved from it throughout life, notwithstanding a volume 
 of abuse and misrepresentation such as few sovereigns have 
 
 had to endure. 
 
 The intense hatred which this attitude on Constans' part 
 called forth is a marked indication of the temper of the age. 
 It is highly significant that while there had been various em- 
 perors who held unorthodox opinions in religion, the emperor 
 who was hated above all others was not one who held un- 
 orthodox views, but one who prohibited controversy. Yet 
 Constans' attitude on this pomt was one which in these days 
 we should hold a sound and sensible one, the rage for religious 
 controversy threatening to swamp religion. It was not 
 without cause that his edict spoke of the controversy as a 
 " flame," and described it as " preying upon the souls of men." 
 Whereas (as his edict said) all reasonable limits of definition 
 had already been reached, men sought to define still further, 
 and by a never ending " hair-splitting " to indulge in a love 
 of controversy for its own sake. It was upon this that Con- 
 stans' edict fell with a heavy hand. And for thus doing 
 Constans was so universally and deeply detested by 
 every ecclesiastic, that they, the only writers of that age, 
 will tell us nothing about him except what they can relate 
 or invent to blacken his character. It is very possible that 
 he was, as they have said, harsh, cruel, and tyrannical. But 
 our belief in that fact is considerably lessened when we see 
 their determmation to relate nothing which will not tell against 
 him, and with the same object to invent to his discredit stories 
 which are always mawkish and childish, and generally malig- 
 nant and impossible.! And when all this is done, not because 
 the emperor concerned was a Pagan, or a man of vicious 
 life, or unorthodox as to religion, but simply because, being 
 none of these things, he insisted upon putting down the pre- 
 vailing love of controversy, it turns all the belief which we 
 
 1 Although we are frequently told that Constans was tyrannical, 
 yet the fact that throughout his reign of twenty-seven years there 
 were no rebeUions tends to throw some doubt upon the truth of the 
 gtatemeut. 
 
 might otherwise have had in their testimony to a distrust of 
 all their statements. 
 
 One thing at all events is clear, viz. that the army did 
 not concur in this hatred of Constans II. For had it done 
 so, violently detested as he was by the whole ecclesiastical 
 class and their supporters, there would certainly have been 
 plots against his life. Only by the strong adherence to him 
 of the whole of the army could Constans have continued to 
 rule for twenty-seven years while thus cordially hated by so 
 large and powerful a class without any plot against his life 
 or any rebellion taking place. The army would naturally 
 sympathize with an emperor determined to put down this 
 perpetual brawling over the deepest mysteries of religion, 
 and would feel that his law, the Type, was a perfectly proper 
 one, and evidently it was resolved to support him in enforcing 
 it. Moreover the fact that throughout Constans' reign there 
 is never any sign of disaffection among the troops even when 
 he was in so much disfavour in other quarters, shows that 
 Constans manifested qualities from a mihtary point of 
 view which gained the confidence and regard of his 
 soldiers. 
 
 Notwithstanding the narrow-spirited malice which without 
 having any definite facts to record against him deliberately 
 prevented any record to his credit being handed down to 
 posterity, it has yet been impossible wholly to hide certain 
 good points which he manifests. In an age when the West 
 was showing example after example of rulers whose profligacy 
 was only equalled by their weakness of character, Constans II 
 presented the spectacle of a ruler, strong in character, chaste 
 in fife, independent, and seK-reUant, steadfastly battling 
 against an evil which injured the State and *' preyed upon 
 the souls of men," and against which he fought with a spirit 
 which was indomitable. 
 
 Taking into consideration his bringing the Mahomedan 
 rush to a standstill, his preservation of the empire from further 
 loss of territory during his reign, his important reorganization 
 of the administration by the system of the Themes, his recon- 
 quest for the empire of a large part of southern Italy, and his 
 satisfactory civil administration during a reign of twenty- 
 seven years, Constans II may justly be considered a strong 
 
486 
 
 BRITAIN 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 THEODORE 
 
 487 
 
 I 
 
 and successful emperor, a success which the ecclesiastical 
 historians have contrived entirely to obscure. 
 
 Result of The three successive kings of Northumbria, Edwin, 
 ^conLrt^iT Oswald, and Oswy, by their strenuous fighting 
 Britain, jn the causc of Christianity ^ during the thirty years 
 627-657, a contest in which two of them lost their lives, had 
 by the latter year finally established Christianity firmly in 
 Britain. Oswy after defeating Penda's unprovoked attack 
 upon Northumbria, effecting his destruction, and compelling 
 Mercia to abandon Paganism, continued during his remaining 
 thirteen years to help forward the new religion (see below). 
 Peada, the son of Penda, who had succeeded to the re- 
 duced kingdom of Mercia in 655 and had established Chris- 
 tianity therein, was assassinated in 658, but was succeeded 
 by his younger brother WuKhere, who besides extending 
 Mercia greatly to the south, was also active in suppressing 
 Pagan temples and advancing Christianity. 
 ^. . , Up to this time the Churches which had been suc- 
 
 Disunion of *" • i • i r 
 
 the Churches ccssivcly estabUshcd in the various kingdoms oi 
 in ntain. ^y^^ Auglcs, the Saxons, and the Jutes were in a 
 much divided state, having Httle intercourse, not only owing 
 to the frequent warfare between those kingdoms, but still 
 more owing to having no sympathy with each other. One 
 had been founded by a mission from Rome, another by one 
 from Burgundy, another by one from Milan, and three by 
 the Celtic missions from lona and Lindisfarne, while to these 
 there has also to be added the ancient British Church in the 
 west ; and the Celtic missions in Northumbria and Mercia 
 looked with no friendly eye at the missions from Italy and 
 Burgundy, whose customs were entirely different from their 
 own, the two parties keeping Easter at a different time, 
 having a different liturgy, and differing in regard to numerous 
 other matters. 
 
 Conference In 664 Oswy Tcmoved one principal bar to union 
 
 of Whitby, among the different Churches in the kingdoms 
 
 of Britain — the discord between those planted from lona and 
 
 1 Chap. XXIV, pp. 433-434 ; and 466-467. 
 
 those planted from Italy over the date of keeping Easter — 
 by assembling the conference of Whitby. It is often called the 
 Synod of Whitby, but this is not strictly correct, as laymen took 
 part in the discussion and helped in formulating the decision, 
 the final verdict being given by Oswy himself, while only three 
 of the clergy present were Bishops. The conference decided 
 that in future the Roman date of keeping Easter should be 
 observed. Oswy himself and his queen Eanfled took part 
 in the discussion, he being on one side (the Celtic) and she 
 on the other (the Roman), which latter won the day. Though 
 Oswy had confined his invitations to attend the conference 
 to the clergy and others belonging to Northumbria, and though 
 it was therefore purely a local assembly, yet that kingdom 
 had so long led the way in Britain that the decision was accepted 
 by the other kingdoms. This removed one important ob- 
 stacle to union between the various Churches in Britain, 
 though there still remained many other points which con- 
 tinued to cause disunion. 
 
 Appointment Shortly afterwards Oswy took another step which 
 ° TsL^us'^Z ° ^^d stiU greater results, and was fraught with 
 archbishop, important consequences to the Enghsh race. In 
 the same year that the conference of Whitby took place, 
 Deusdedit, the Kentish archbishop, died. Thereupon Oswy, 
 king of Northumbria, and Egbert, king of Kent, mutually 
 agreed to select a man in his place likely to be acceptable 
 to both the rival parties. And as a special means to this end 
 they decided to send the man chosen to Rome to be conse- 
 crated as archbishop by the Pope of Rome, Vitalian, who had 
 succeeded to that office in 657. ^ The man they chose was 
 Wighard, and he was sent to Rome, but died there soon after 
 his arrival ; and upon Pope VitaHan being asked to choose 
 another in his place he wrote saying that it was very difficult 
 to find a man with the necessary qualifications. At length, 
 however, in 668 he chose and consecrated as archbishop for 
 Britain the wise and capable Theodore.^ The latter belonged 
 
 ^ He was the next Pope of Rome but one to Martin I. 
 
 2 This is the first case of an archbishop for the British Isles being 
 consecrated by a Pope of Rome, this being done for a special purpose ; 
 and after it there is not another case for 350 years, all who succeeded 
 Theodore being Englishmen. 
 
I 
 
 4SS 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 to Tarsus, the city of St. Paul, the city where the emperor 
 Julian had been buried, situated on the coast of that province 
 of Cilicia which had so often in recent years been harried 
 by the Saracens, and which was just about to see the great 
 Saracen Armada sailing past to besiege Constantinople. Being 
 a Greek, Theodore was better able to deal with such a divided 
 household as that in Britain than either an Englishman or 
 a Roman would have been. He landed in Kent in 669, accom- 
 panied by his friend Hadrian, the abbot of a monastery in 
 North Africa. 
 
 Death This was Oswy's last act. He died in 670 after 
 ^' reigning over Northumbria for twenty-eight years, 
 and was succeeded by his son Egferth. Oswy's reign (642-670) 
 almost exactly coincides with that of the emperor Constans 
 II ; so that it was while in the Later Roman Empire were 
 taking place the contests roused by Constans' edict the Tij^e, 
 his wars with the Saracens, the Sclavs, and the Lombards, 
 and his tragic death at Syracuse, that in Britain Oswy was 
 fighting to maintain his throne of Northumbria, destroying 
 Penda, bringing Mercia to renounce Paganism, assembling 
 the conference at Whitby, and joining with Egbert in obtain- 
 ing an archbishop for Britain from the East. 
 
 Constantino IV (668-685) was eighteen when he 
 
 Constantine IV. i t i • r j /^ at 
 
 succeeded his father Constans. A beardless youth 
 when he began to reign, for some special reason which is not 
 very clear ^ he became soon afterwards nicknamed by the 
 people ** Pogonetos " (bearded), and by this name is often 
 called in history to distinguish him from other Constantines. 
 We are told nothing about his personal character, and have 
 to judge of it solely from the actions recorded of him. In 
 the year of his accession Constantine was married to Anastasia, 
 of whom we know little more than her name. Soon after- 
 
 ^ Some writers state that upon his father being murdered he pro- 
 ceeded to Sicily and avenged him, and that on his return the people 
 noticed that his beard had begun to grow. But 'recent authorities 
 consider this journey to Sicily apocryphal. It seems more likely that 
 he was the first Christian emperor not clean shaven. 
 
 SARACENS AGAIN ADVANCE 
 
 489 
 
 wards the troops in the Anatolic theme (Isauria, Phrygia, 
 and Pisidia) marched to ChrysopoHs, and sent a deputation 
 demanding that Constantine should associate with himself 
 as emperors his two younger brothers, Tiberius and Heraclius, 
 in accordance with the custom which had been inaugurated 
 by his great-grandfather Heraclius in order to prevent any 
 chance of a usurper seizing the throne upon the death of the 
 reigning emperor, and in accordance with the directions left 
 by Constans II. Constantine temporized with the demand, 
 gave his brothers the empty title, and pacified the troops 
 concerned, but after they had returned to their district he 
 sent for the instigators of the movement and executed them, 
 while he kept his brothers immured in an honourable confine- 
 ment in the imperial palace. 
 
 In his reign of seventeen years Constantine IV displayed 
 that best of all qualities in a ruler,i strength of character, and 
 with this were combined wisdom and common-sense. Three 
 important events marked his reign, the five years' siege of 
 Constantinople by the Saracens, the assembly of the Sixth 
 General Council, and the founding of the Bulgarian kingdom. 
 In the first and second of these events the successful result 
 was largely due to Constantino's own personal ability, while 
 the disastrous result in the case of the third was not due to 
 any failure on his part, as he was at the time incapacitated 
 by illness. 
 
 Upon the death of Constans II the Saracens, perhaps con- 
 sidering that the young Constantine would prove a less for- 
 midable opponent than his father, began to be more active 
 on both the eastern and western sides of the empire. In 669 
 Muawiyah's general Fadala made a raid into Asia Minor, 
 advanced even as far as Chalcedon, and wintered at Cyzicus ; 
 in the same year the Saracen commander in Egypt sent an 
 expedition against Sicily which ravaged a great part of that 
 island, carrying off various treasures which had been coUected 
 there by Constans II ; and in 670 Muawiyah's general Busur 
 conducted another incursion into Asia Minor, and carried 
 off many captives. But most of aU in North Africa did the 
 Saracens now begin to show increased activity. 
 
 1 Chap. XVII, p. 42. 
 
490 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 The great province of North Africa, extending 
 ""' as the crow flies for a total length from Tripoli 
 to Tangier of about 1200 miles, ^ and the richest province of 
 the empire, while it had suffered grievously during the hundred 
 years of the Vandal dominion in the 5th century, had since 
 then been for 137 years again under the imperial rule, and 
 during the last hundred years of that period had regained 
 a considerable amount of its former prosperity, no longer 
 being in the condition to which Justinian's Logothetse reduced 
 it, and which had been described by Procopius in 555.2 -jij^jg 
 satisfactoiy result had been due both to the long period of 
 peace which the province had enjoyed for more than a hundred 
 years while every other portion of the empire had been fre- 
 quently devastated by war, and also to its having had a succes- 
 sion of able governors who had steadily improved its condition. 
 Especially was this the case with regard to Heraclius, the 
 father of the emperor of that name, whose wise and beneficent 
 rule had brought North Africa to a highly flourishing con- 
 dition. This prosperity had also been assisted to a very 
 large extent by the ruthless treatment to which the Roman 
 population of Italy had during one hundred years past been 
 subjected by the Lombards.^ All Romans who were suffi- 
 ciently wealthy, in order to escape slaughter, outrage, or 
 slavery, had by degrees fled from Italy to North Africa,* thereby 
 helping much to increase the prosperity of the latter country. 
 This combination of long peace, a series of good governors, 
 and the immigration of large numbers of well-off Romans 
 of the upper and middle classes had made North Africa at 
 
 ^ Theoretically its total length was 1600 miles, as its eastern boun- 
 dary was 400 miles eeist of Tripoli ; but almost the whole of this 400 
 miles was merely desert. 
 
 2 Chap. XXII, p. 269. 
 
 3 Chap. XXIII, pp. 332, 367-368, and Chap. XXIV, p. 431. 
 
 * This was probably a much larger cause of the remarkable dis- 
 appearance of the Roman race in Italy, previously noticed, than 
 losses occasioned through the actual slaughter of that race. So far as 
 central and southern Italy were concerned, for every one of the 
 Roman population slain probably three took ship for North Africa 
 before the Lombards actually reached the district. But of course 
 the poorest classes were unable to do this, being forced to remain 
 upon the lands whose produce was their only me£ins of subsistence. 
 
 il 
 
 xxv] 
 
 NORTH AFRICA'S FORTRESSES 
 
 491 
 
 this time by far the most prosperous of all the provinces of 
 the empire. 
 Flourishing A great network of roads connected Carthage, 
 numerous ^^^ Capital, with the cities to the south and west, 
 fortresses, and cvcn with distant Tingis (Tangier). The 
 province was crowded with flourishing cities (as we can see 
 by the numerous remains of them stUl existing), and its means 
 of defence had been gradually increased, notably by the lavish 
 fortress-building of Justinian, until they were at this time 
 astonishing. Nothing is more remarkable at the present 
 day than the immense number of fortresses, all erected sub- 
 sequently to the period of the Vandal dominion, whose remains 
 stud the country in all directions. ^ The Vandals had destroyed 
 the walls of many of the cities ; but the Later Roman Empire 
 had rebuilt these, constructing walls of much greater strength, 
 and in many cases had also erected a separate fortress to 
 protect the town. There are scarcely to be seen the remains 
 of a single town or even village, which is not provided with 
 its " Byzantine " fortress. ^ These fortresses, like the walls 
 built at the same period, are all of the most massive descrip- 
 tion, and distinguishable at once from the defences of an 
 earlier time of the Roman rule by their totally different char- 
 acter. The strength and excellence of their construction bear 
 witness to the high degree of military skiQ in this direction 
 possessed at the time that they were built, viz. during the 
 170 years from 534 to 704.^ Several of them are in us^ even 
 at the present day. 
 
 Foundation of North Af Hca had not up to the time when Con- 
 
 Kairowan. gtautine IV bccame emperor suffered seriously 
 
 from the Saracens, their attacks upon that province having 
 
 ^ It is only in recent years that these numerous and widespread 
 remains of Roman cities and fortresses in North Africa have come to 
 be fully known. 
 
 2 By the expression " Byzantine " fortresses, " Byzantine " church, 
 or " Byzantine " walls writers signify that the building in question 
 was constructed during the 170 years (534-704) subsequent to the 
 Vandal dominion, when North Africa had again become a part of the 
 empire and was ruled from Constantinople, instead of as formerly 
 from Rome or Ravenna. 
 
 ^ For list of the most important of these " Byzantine " fortresses, 
 see Appendix XVI. 
 
 I 
 
 i4» 
 
492 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 hitherto been of the nature of temporary raids upon the eastern 
 districts. Now however a fresh series of attacks began which 
 were of a more formidable character. The Khalif Muawiyah 
 had formed the ambitious design of conquering the whole 
 Roman empire, and as a part of this design he in 670 despatched 
 the capable Okba, ^ the most furious fighter among the Saracens, 
 in command of a picked force to attack North Africa. After 
 various contests with the imperial forces in the district south 
 of Carthage, Okba, feeling the disadvantage under which 
 he was placed from the want of any base of operations (the 
 Saracens not making the sea their base, and being separated 
 from Egypt by the Lybian desert), determined to found a 
 place of strength in North Africa to form, not only a base 
 on the western side of the Lybian desert from whence to 
 prosecute more effectively his attacks upon the territory of 
 the empire, but also a secure refuge for the Saracen families 
 and for the safe custody of the spoils taken in war. For 
 this purpose he in 672 founded the city of Kairowan, about 
 80 miles south of Carthage, its inland situation (distant about 
 12 miles from the western coast of the GuK of Syrtis) pro- 
 tecting it from attacks by the imperial fleets. The Saracens 
 thus obtained for the first time a permanent foothold in North 
 Africa, and Kairowan became thenceforth the centre of their 
 power in that country. During the next fifteen years it was 
 the scene of many battles, being frequently attacked by the 
 imperial forces, and several times taken and retaken. 
 
 I 
 
 Five years' "^^^ Constautiuc IV had now, at the age of twenty- 
 siege of two, to confront a more serious danger than attacks 
 
 Constantinople. xi. xi • • £ xi • tt- 
 
 upon the outlymg provmces of the empu*e. His 
 great-grandfather Heraclius had fought the Saracens in Syria. 
 and Egypt ; his father Constans had fought them in Asia 
 Minor and North Africa ; to Constantine it now befell to fight 
 them in the home waters of Constantinople itself, and to 
 meet an immense attack upon the capital of the empire made 
 with the whole force of the Saracen power, the second ^ of 
 
 ^ In India and Persia the form of his name is Akbar, but in the 
 rougher language of Arabia, Okba. 
 
 2 The first being the attack by the Avars and Persians in 626. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 t( 
 
 ROMAIC FIRE" 
 
 493 
 
 the long list of sieges of Constantinople during 827 years. 
 And well did this young great-grandson of Heraclius maintain 
 the credit of his dynasty, displaying in resisting this pro- 
 longed and formidable attack abilities which proved him to be 
 yet a third most capable defender of Christendom produced 
 by the house of Heraclius. 
 
 The Khalif Muawiyah in pursuance of his design to conquer 
 the whole of the Roman dominions, had resolved instead of 
 any further expeditions against the provinces of Asia Minor, 
 to attack Constantinople itself with a huge Armada, which he 
 now in 672 prepared for this purpose. He placed it under 
 command of Abdul Rahman, ^ and the latter towards the 
 end of that year sailed along the southern coast of Asia Minor 
 towards the iEgean Sea, part of the expedition wintering at 
 Smyrna, and part on the coast of Cilicia, where a further 
 squadron joined Abdul Rahman before the end of the winter. 
 In April 673 this great Armada entered the Sea of Marmora, 
 and began a siege of Constantinople which was to last for 
 five years. Abdul Rahman moored his fleet from the pro- 
 montory of Hebdomon to that of Kyklobios near the Golden 
 Gate, and during the whole summer, from April to September, 
 engagements with the Roman fleet, which defended the har- 
 bour, continued daily, while the Saracen army at the same 
 time attacked the city on the land side. 
 The " Romaic Coustantinc had made every preparation for meeting 
 ^^•" this attack upon his capital, the most important 
 being the construction of a large number of fireships for 
 destroying the enemy's ships by means of the " Romaic fire." ^ 
 This was a new invention, its preparation being strictly kept 
 a State secret ; and during all the centuries which followed 
 the " Romaic fire " became a prominent feature in all the 
 naval battles between the Romans and their adversaries. Its 
 form and the manner it was employed are not known with 
 entire certainty, but a receipt for its manufacture published 
 in the 10th century shows that this invention was a compound 
 of sulphur, tartar, pitch, Persian gum, nitre, and petroleum 
 
 1 Page 481. 
 
 2 Or " Greek fire." 
 named CaUinicus, 
 
 It was said to have been invented by a Syrian 
 
494 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 A GREAT VICTORY 
 
 495 
 
 boiled together ; tow was saturated with this and then set 
 on fire and thrown on the enemy's ships, the fire thus pro- 
 duced being inextinguishable by ordinary methods. Another 
 kind was composed of sulphur pounded in a mortar with 
 nitre and charcoal, the mixture being poured into long narrow 
 tubes, forming a sort of cartridge, which was ignited and 
 hurled through the air from a catapult.^ 
 constantine's Duriug a wholc summcr the fighting round the 
 great victor)-, ^alls and shorcs of Constantinople resulted in no 
 advantage for the Saracens, who lost many ships and men, 
 and upon the approach of winter Abdul Rahman drew off 
 his forces and sailed to Cyzicus, where he wintered. Returning 
 again in the following April he renewed the attack with in- 
 creased vigour and continued it throughout the summer, but 
 with the same result, Constantine's fireships destroying num- 
 bers of the Saracen vessels with their crews, while their land 
 forces could make no effect upon the walls of the city, and 
 in October 674 Abdul Rahman was again compelled to retire 
 for the winter to Cyzicus. The Armada being reinforced 
 during each winter by Muawiyah, who was determined to 
 take Constantinople, Abdul Rahman continued the struggle 
 in the same manner throughout the years 675, 676, and 677, 
 but was at length himself killed. Meanwhile Constantine's 
 troops in North Africa were not idle, and a severe contest 
 was maintained against Okba in the neighbourhood of Kairo- 
 wan, with the result that in 676 Kairowan was captured by 
 the Romans. At last in September 677, after a five years' 
 arduous struggle to take Constantinople, the Saracens, having 
 suffered enormous losses of both men and ships, finally aban- 
 doned the siege. But upon their fleet sailing away it was 
 caught in a storm, and the greater part of it was dashed upon 
 the rocks near Syllseum, while all the ships which escaped 
 being wrecked were attacked by the Roman admiral and 
 destroyed. At the same time that the fleet was being thus 
 annihilated the land army under the personal command of 
 Sofian, who had succeeded Abdul Rahman, was attacked 
 by the Roman generals during its retreat and suffered a total 
 defeat, 30,000 Saracens being killed. 
 
 ^ Bury, Later Roman Empire, II, 319. 
 
 Crushing nature This wholcsalc defeat of the great Armada paralyzed 
 ^^n^nthe^ tho opcratlous of the Saracens for sixteen years. 
 Saracens. Thc Khalif Muawiyah I had put forth the whole 
 of his resources upon this determined attempt to gain possession 
 of Constantinople, and when at length it thus signally failed 
 his spirit was crushed. He sent ambassadors to Constan- 
 tinople asking for peace, and offering to pay an annual tribute. 
 A peace for nominally thirty years was arranged, the tribute 
 to be paid by the Saracens annually being fixed at 3000 lbs. 
 of gold (equal in weight to £123,000), fifty captives, and 
 fifty thoroughbred horses, 
 wides read ^^^^ great victory, gained by Constantino IV before 
 results of the hc was twcnty-scven years old, was felt to be second 
 only to that of his great-grandfather over Persia. 
 And not only was his triumph complete, but it received wide- 
 spread acknowledgement. The nations of the West recog- 
 nized that he had stood forth as the defender of Europe ; 
 embassies laden with presents poured into Constantinople 
 from the Chagan of the Avars, from the kings of the Franks, 
 of the Visigoths, and of the Lombards, and from the chiefs 
 of other races in the West, conveying congratulations, and 
 making requests that he would execute treaties with them ; 
 and honour was universally lavished upon the Byzantines 
 for their brave and steadfast resistance to the Mahomedan 
 attack, the danger of which to all Europe had by this time 
 become apparent. 
 
 Birthda of While this great siege of Constantinople had been 
 the Church taking place an event occurred ia England probably 
 ngan . ^^^^.^ important to that country than any other 
 in all its history, more so even than its formation 127 years 
 later into one kingdom, or than its conquest in the eleventh 
 century by the Normans, viz. the " Birthday '* of the Church 
 of England, an event- which has had lasting results upon the 
 English race. 
 
 Theodore of Tarsus, who was sixty-seven years old when 
 he was appointed archbishop, was not only wise and capable, 
 and highly educated in both Greek and Latin, but also pos- 
 sessed a sympathetic and conciliatory disposition ; and the 
 
496 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 THE SYNOD OF HERTFORD 
 
 497 
 
 debt which England owes to him is immense. He first, at 
 much personal danger, travelled in a three years' tour all 
 through the various warring kingdoms in England to make 
 himself acquainted with the scattered portions of the Church. 
 Having completed this tour he then convoked a great Synod 
 of all the Bishops of the various Anglian, Saxon, and Jute 
 kingdoms, and of the four Welsh dioceses of the ancient British 
 Church, which Synod met at Hertford just at the time that 
 the first year's siege of Constantinople was ending. This 
 Synod of Hertford, assembled on the 24th September 673, 
 is the Birthday of the Church of England. Before that date 
 the various missions had been merely portions of the Church 
 in England, but after that date they became the Church of 
 England, Ecclesia Anglicana,^ 
 
 This Synod united the whole of these scattered portions 
 of the Church into one, the Church of England, and partly 
 on this occasion and partly at the re-assembly of this Sjmod 
 seven years later at Hatfield drew up important rules for 
 that purpose. First, it formally adopted for that Church 
 the whole Code of canons then recognized by the undivided 
 Catholic Church, i.e. the whole of the canons which had 
 been passed by the five General Councils (the sixth General 
 Council not having as yet taken place) ; this Code is still the 
 basis of the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England. Secondly, 
 it drew up a body of canons of its own to guide its customs 
 and practice, which canons also still remain in force. And 
 thirdly, this Synod provided (in its seventh canon) for its own 
 perpetual continuity by an annual re-assembly in Synod of 
 the Bishops of all the dioceses thus federated, which Synod 
 has grown with an unbroken life by slow constitutional deve- 
 lopment into the two Convocations of Canterbury and York, 
 these when sitting together forming what is officially styled 
 " The Sacred Synod of the English nation'' ^ This body alone 
 
 * This is its official title, and is that used in Magna Carta. Arch- 
 bishop Theodore, to whom the Church of England owes so much, died 
 in 690, at the ago of eighty-eight. 
 
 2 The two Convocations of Canterbury and York, though ordinarily 
 meeting separately, together form this Synod of the Church of Eng- 
 land, first convoked and its constitution laid down in 673. Every 
 assembly of these two Convocations of the Church of England is in 
 reaUty simply a re-assembly of the Synod of Hertford, 
 
 has the right to speak for the whole Church of England. For 
 which reason a canon of this Synod of Hertford is still printed 
 at the end of all large copies of the Prayerbook such as are 
 used in old parish churches in England, laying down severe 
 penalties for any one " who shall affirm that the Sacred Synod 
 of this nation, in the name of Christ and by the King's authority 
 assembled, is not the true Church of England by represen- 
 tation." 
 
 Effect upon ^^ ^^^^^ uatioual Church now existing has any- 
 *^'race^^^^ thing likc so ancient a record. ^ And the effect 
 upon the English race of this Synod of Hertford 
 in September 673 has coloured all their history. It 
 began the welding of the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, and 
 the Celts into one race, and paved the way for the forma- 
 tion of one kingdom of England 127 years later. And it also 
 paved the way, by its representative principle, for the form- 
 ation later on of a governing assembly of the nation in secular 
 affairs similar to that which the Church had akeady adopted 
 in spiritual affairs, and the formation of one " Parliament " 
 for all England in the same way as there had previously been 
 formed one Church Synod for all England. And from that 
 principle the whole scheme of government of the British Empire 
 has grown. 
 
 As this welding together of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and 
 Britons by means of one Church gave those races the first 
 beginning of national unity we henceforth speak no more of 
 " Britain," but of '' England." 
 
 Foundation ^^ ^^^^ ^^o ycars after his great victory over the 
 
 of Bulgaria. Saraccus, Constantino IV prepared forcibly to 
 
 chastise the Bulgarians. This Tartar race, 2 who during 
 
 ^ It is important to note (especially in view of the common error 
 which supposes the Church of England to have had its beginning at 
 some unknown date in the time of the Reformation) that the Church 
 of England at the present day holds the same doctrines that it did at 
 Its "Birthday" in 673 (see Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 540, footnote, and 
 Chap. XXIII, p. 382). 
 
 2 The Bulgarians in their customs differed entirely from the Sclavs, 
 and in this respect more nearly approached the Turks. They were 
 polygamists ; the women were veiled ; the men wore turbans ; and 
 both sexes wore loose trousers (Bury, Later Roman Empire, II, 336). 
 
CHAP. 
 
 498 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 xxv] 
 
 THE SCLAVS 
 
 the reign of Heraclius had revolted from subjection to the 
 Avars, were settled between the Danube and the Dneister, 
 along the north-western shore of the Black Sea. While the 
 siege of Constantinople had been continuing they had begun 
 to make incursions into the district now known as the Dobrud- 
 scha, and in 679 Constantine determined to punish them. 
 For this purpose he prepared a strong expedition composed 
 of both naval and military forces to attack them both by 
 sea and land. This expedition he led in person, and sending 
 his army across the Danube to attack the Bulgarians from 
 the south he at the same time attacked them from the sea 
 with his fleet, which he himself accompanied. The Bulgarians, 
 terrified at this great display of force, fled, and took refuge 
 in various castles difficult of access amidst morasses and rocky 
 hills, where they were besieged. After a few days, however, 
 Constantine became ill with a severe pain in his foot, and 
 ordering his army to continue the siege sailed himself with 
 a few ships for Mesembria, on the western coast of the Black 
 Sea. Unfortimately some regiments of cavalry, seeing this 
 departure of the emperor, and not knowing its cause, mistook 
 it for flight on his part, and being seized with a panic made 
 a rapid retreat ; the rest of the army seeing them hurriedly 
 retreating thereupon took alarm and also retreated; the 
 panic became general, and the Bulgarians, issuing from their 
 strongholds, pursued the panic-stricken army, and entirely 
 routed it, killing large numbers. Still pursuing, they crossed 
 the Danube, were attracted by the appearance of Mcesia 
 and the apparent defencelessness of its Sclav population, 
 and resolved to migrate and establish themselves south of 
 the Danube. This resolution they promptly carried out. 
 Advancing into Mcesia they reduced the Sclavs to subjection 
 as their vassals, placed them along the frontiers of their new 
 kingdom to protect it from the Avars on the west and from 
 the Romans on the south (along the border of Thrace), and 
 set up this new Bulgarian kingdom upon what until then had 
 been Roman territory. The Roman forts and towns in Mcesia 
 were soon taken, and Constantine, his great expedition being 
 thus completely wrecked, and he himself being too iU at the 
 time to assemble another, was compelled to make peace with 
 the Bulgarians and to agree to pay a tribute in order to protect 
 
 499 
 
 Thrace from being also invaded. The Bulgarian king, Isperich 
 made Varna his capital. ' 
 
 Remarkable ^"^ though the peace-loving and inert Sclavs were 
 T^Z":' f ^' ^"^d^^d ^y the warlike Bulgarians and made 
 by them then- vassals, by some process for which 
 we cannot account but which seemed to be the rule in the 
 case of the Sclavs, i instead of the Sclavs upon being subdued 
 by the Bulgarians becoming merged in their Tartar conquerors 
 the reverse took place, the Sclavs (a fair-haired and blue-eyed 
 race) m course of time graduaUy absorbing the Bulgarians 
 (a black-haired and Mongolian race), the latter becoming 
 "Sclavised." With the result that the Bulgarians at the 
 present day have no remaining vestige of a Tartar origin 
 but are almost purely Sclavs. The tendency also of the Sclavs 
 to multiply enormously beyond aU their neighbours still con- 
 tmued ; no race ever equalled the Sclavs in keeping its cradles 
 filled ; and this race, from a district (Polesie) less than half 
 the size of England, have graduaUy spread over Servia, Croatia, 
 Carinthia, Styria, Bohemia, Poland, the coast of the Baltic, 
 and almost the whole of modem Russia. 2 The Sclavs, as Dr! 
 Peisker has said, " by a process of peaceful penetration have 
 graduaUy thickly populated immeasurable regions. The 
 migrations of this interesting race have been no sudden torrents, 
 such as those of the Teuton races, but the slow advance of a 
 silent and irresistible tide." ^ 
 
 The tragedy In April 680 the Khalif Muawiyah I died after 
 ° ^^^^- having been Khalif for twenty years, being suc- 
 
 * Chap. XXII, p. 295. 
 
 I9n ^f,.^°^^^ ^^^.^^ ^* S^^^v« ^^ the present day is said to be about 
 120 millions, five-eighths of whom are Russians. They are divided 
 into two great groups, the western and the eastern Sclavs. The Wes- 
 tern Sclavs include ( 1 ) the Bohemians (called by themselves the Czechs ), 
 tIU r rf.^ (inhabiting n^rth-west Hungary), (3) the Poles (or 
 i^^llT rit^ ^^ Sorabians (extending along the Baltic north of 
 the Elbe). The Eastern Sclavs include (1) the Bulgarians, (2) the 
 Serbians, (3) the Croats, (4) the Wends (inhabiting Carinthia and 
 nf w* •/ ^ } ^^ Russians. Jordanes calls the Sclavs by the name 
 of Wimdae, and this, in its modem form Wend, is the name given by 
 the Germans at the present day to all Sclavs. ^ ^ J' 
 
 The Cambridge Medieval History, II, 426. 
 
, f ' 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 THE MAHOMEDANS 
 
 500 
 
 ceeded by his son Yezid I.^ This death of Muawiyah was 
 foUowed by a tragedy which has had a more powerful effect 
 upon the Mahomedans than any other event in the whole of 
 their history, its solemn commemoration, though more than 
 twelve centuries have since elapsed, being still annuaUy observed. 
 Of the Prophet's two grandsons, the sons of Fatima and All, 
 the elder grandson, Hassan, had been poisoned by Muawiyah 
 eleven years previously, but his brother Hosein was stil 
 Hving at Mecca. And upon Muawiyah's death the people of 
 Kufa sent messenger after messenger to Hosem implormg 
 him to come to Kufa and be mstalled upon his father's throne 
 as Khalif . Hosein, honoured by aU as the grandson of the 
 Prophet, and a man of high character and religious life, was, 
 like his father Ali and his brother Hassan, not anxious for 
 rank and power, while he also distrusted the fickle people of 
 Kufa • but after receiving, it is said, some 150 letters to the 
 same effect he at length consented to go. Accompanied by 
 his wive^ and children, and with an escort of about 200 
 men he left Mecca, traveUed northwards across the desert, 
 and 'early in the Mahomedan month Mohurrum reached 
 Kerbela on the Euphrates, about 60 miles south of Kufa. 
 But Yezid had ordered the governor of Kufa to oppose him ; 
 those who had urged him to come f aUed to appear ; and 
 Hosein's little band upon reaching Kerbela found themselves 
 confronted by an army of 4000 men. Yezid had sent orders 
 that Hosein and his adherents were to be destroyed unless 
 they would acknowledge Yezid as Khalif. Hosein would not 
 do this, though he offered to return to Mecca, which was 
 refused. He reminded the reluctant troops who opposed 
 him of the invitations which had been sent to him, but only 
 thirty of them responded to his appeal and joined his little 
 band, which subsequently received the name of the " Family 
 
 of the Tent." ^ ,. , . ^ . , 
 
 Hosein, after urging the members of his httle band to leave 
 him to his fate, which aU of them refused to do, on the mornmg 
 of the tenth of the month Mohurrum embraced each member 
 of the band, and they then prepared to seU their lives dearly. 
 
 1 For list of the Mahomedan Khalifs, see Appendix XVIII, 
 
 2 Meaning, the household of the Prophet. 
 
 TRAGEDY OF KERBELA 
 
 501 
 
 On the previous night they had grouped the tents close to- 
 gether and had constructed round them a ditch and a hastily 
 made breastwork of stones, and this feeble fortress they now 
 prepared to defend, the women and children being placed 
 inside the tents. The attack soon came, and was a slaughter 
 rather than a battle. At last none remained alive but Hosein, 
 the troops all shrinking from striking the last descendant of 
 the Prophet. He stood with his youngest child in his arms ; 
 an arrow pierced the child's ear ; and as Hosein laid the 
 httle body down dead, he was himself pierced in the back by 
 a lance and fell dead (Oct. 680). ^ 
 
 In India and Persia, the countries chiefly inhabited by the 
 Shiah Mahomedans, 2 every year as the date of this tragedy 
 in the month of Mohurrum comes round, the entire Mahome- 
 dan community give themselves up to ten days of deepest 
 mourning. In those countries Hassan and Hosein are looked 
 upon as victims sacrificed to the hatred of the Omeyyad 
 branch, Hosein especially being called " the Martyr," and 
 regarded as having given his life for his people. The whole 
 tragedy of the "Family of the Tent" is re-enacted with 
 terrible realism.^ And on the tenth day, when all are filled 
 with a burning fervour of religious excitement, the processions 
 make the streets resound with their perpetually repeated 
 mom^nful cry, " Alas Hassan, alas Hosein." 
 
 Sixth General Constantine was now thirty years old, and had 
 councu. |3ggj^ £qj, twelve years almost continually fighting 
 the enemies of the empire. At last he had leisure to turn 
 his attention to the settlement of the long-standing Mono- 
 thehte controversy in the Church. He wisely abstained 
 from issuing any more edicts on the subject, and since the 
 peace made with the Saracens now rendered this possible, 
 he in November 680 assembled at Constantinople the 
 
 ^ The spot was afterwards called Meshed Hosein (the sepulchre of 
 Hosein), and marked by a tomb. 2 p^g^ 473. 
 
 ^ In the intense excitement to which they become worked up the 
 actors have at times been known to be really slain, like the prototypes 
 whom they represent. This period of solemn mourning is known as 
 " the Mohurrum." 
 
502 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 Sixth General Cou^icil, the last of the General Councils of the 
 
 Church. 1 
 
 The First General Council had met by the peaceful lake of 
 Nicaea, its first sitting opened by the great Constantino 
 in all the flush of his dazzling conquest of the whole four 
 divisions of the vast empire extending from Scotland to 
 the Tigris; the Second had met in this city of Constan- 
 tinople, its first sitting opened by the emperor Theodosius, 
 who had lately returned in triumph after his successes over 
 the Goths, and had thereupon ejected the Archbishop and 
 all the parish clergy of the city for being Arians ; the Third 
 had met at Ephesus, convened by the young empress Pulcheria 
 in the name of her brother Theodosius II, at a time when a 
 large portion of the western half of the empire had been lost 
 to its barbarian foes ; the Fourth had met at Chalcedon, con- 
 vened twenty years later by the same empress Pulcheria in 
 her own right, at a time when the terrible Huns had become 
 the dread alike of East and West, had recently ravaged all 
 the fair lands of Thrace and Macedonia, but had just suffered 
 a crushing defeat in Gaul; the Fifth had met in this 
 same city of Constantinople amidst all the magnificence of 
 the reign of Justinian, who had reconquered Africa and Italy, 
 had restored the glory of the empire, and had raised a cathedral 
 which was the wonder of the world ; and now the Sixth met 
 again in Constantinople, but under utterly different circum- 
 stances to those existing when the previous Council had as- 
 sembled in the glorious reign of Justinian, meeting there 
 now after the empire had lost Italy, Syria, Palestine, Mesopo- 
 tamia, Armenia, and Egypt, and when the capital itself 
 had lately endured a five years' siege by the fleets and 
 armies of a powerful foe who had only been beaten off for a 
 season. 
 
 In this Sixth General Coimcil the western portion of the 
 
 1 At a coimcil assembled by the empress Irene in 787 large por- 
 tions of the Church (including the Churches of France, England, and 
 other coimtries of the West) were not represented, and refused to accept 
 its decisions ; for which reason it is not considered a General Council, 
 its decisions not having been accepted by the Churches of all coun- 
 tries, though so styled by those portions of the Church which took 
 part in it (see Vol. I, Chap. XV, p. 539, footnote). 
 
 XXV] 
 
 in 
 
 SIXTH GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 503 
 
 Church was more strongly represented than it had been at 
 any of the previous General Councils, while the Council had 
 an additional interest for those gathered at it owing to the 
 fact that to it came Bishops from several of those rough north- 
 ern nations, who had despoiled the empire of its western 
 territories, nations who had never before sent representatives 
 to a General Council of the Church. But little did any of 
 those assembled at this Council dream that this was the last 
 time that Bishops from the many lands there represented 
 would sit together discussing points of a common faith. Still 
 less would they have believed that united Christendom would 
 ever suffer the city in which they met, so often called " the 
 Christian city," to be captured by a non-Christian race, and 
 the cathedral which was its chief glory be turned into a Ma- 
 homedan mosque. 
 
 Since the previous General Council had assembled in 553 
 a great change had come over the Church, altering the pre- 
 viously existing counterpoise. Whereas then Christendom 
 had for many generations been grouped into five patriarchates, 
 forming in disputed questions a counterpoise to each other 
 by representing as they did the different attitudes of mind 
 in matters of religion which will always exist among widely 
 separated races of mankind, the recent Mahomedan con- 
 quests had blotted out three of these five patriarchates of 
 the Church, so that there were now left only those of Con- 
 stantinople and Rome. At the same time since the previous 
 General Council the Visigoths in Spain, the Lombards in Italy, 
 and the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons in England, had, 
 Hke the Franks previously, been converted to the Catholic 
 faith. And though for a long time these nations had not 
 looked upon themselves as owing any allegiance in reUgious 
 matters to the patriarchal see of the West (established in 
 territory which was to them an enemy's country), yet they 
 were beginning to do so, and to establish relations with that 
 see.i So that it was evident that in course of time, as this 
 tendency increased, the weight and influence of the western 
 
 ^ As, for instance, in the case of the application on the part of 
 Northumbria and Kent to Pope Vitalian for the selection of a man 
 as archbishop for Britain. 
 
504 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 Chap. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 FOUR POPES DECLARED HERETICS 
 
 505 
 
 patriarchate, though it had been for long so greatly reduced, 
 would eventually much exceed that of the eastern patriarch- 
 ate, especially if the latter continued to lose territories to 
 the Mahomedans. Had a Const antine the Great been on 
 the throne he would assuredly have foreseen the dangers likely 
 to arise from this ill-balanced state of affairs, and would have 
 brought about a redistribution of the patriarchal areas (per- 
 haps dividing the western patriarchate into three patriarchates) 
 to meet these altered conditions. But no such idea would 
 seem to have occurred to the Sixth General CouncU, which 
 confined itself simply to the doctrinal question which had 
 caused its assembly. 
 
 The Council was attended by 289 Bishops, and was thor- 
 oughly representative. Besides the Bishops from all territories 
 within the empire, there were also present Bishops from the 
 Lombards, from the Visigoths, from the Franks, and from 
 the lately constituted Church of England.^ Georgios, Pope 
 of Constantinople, presided. ^ The emperor opened the pro- 
 ceedings ; on his right at the opemng ceremony sat the Bishops 
 of the East, and on his left the Bishops of the West. The 
 Council did not sit like the previous one in St. Sophia, but 
 sat in the imperial palace, in the domed hall (the Chalke) 
 built by Justinian. It sat for nine months, its proceedings 
 being conducted with dignity and ability. In September 681 ^ 
 the Council published its decision. That decision was that 
 the Monothelite doctrine was opposed to the faith held " from 
 the first," laid down at the First General Council, and finally 
 defined at the Fourth General Council, and was not the doctrine 
 of the Catholic Church. It was therefore unanimously pro- 
 nounced to be a heresy ; and the four Popes who had sup- 
 ported it, viz. Sergius, Pope of Constantinople (its originator), 
 Athanasius, Pope of Antioch, Cyrus, Pope of Alexandria, and 
 Honorius I, Pope of Rome, were condemned by name as 
 
 ^ One of the latter was Wilfrid, Bishop of York. 
 
 * For presiding Bishops at the six Greneral Councils, see App. XX. 
 
 ^ In this same year the kingdom of the South Saxons, the last of 
 the kingdoms in England which was still Pagan, accepted Christianity 
 through the preaching of Wilfrid, formerly Bishop of York, who owing 
 to a quarrel with Egferth, king of Northumbria, removed to Sussex, 
 and converted the South Saxons. 
 
 heretics, 1 Honorius I receiving special condemnation owing 
 to his writings having formed the chief support of this heresy. 2 
 Several previous Popes of Constantinople had been publicly 
 declared to be heretics, but Honorius I was only the second 
 Pope of Rome who had been so, the first being Liberius in 
 the 4th century, condemned as such for the adoption of the 
 Arian belief.^ It was apparently due to the West being so 
 fully represented that this General Council gave such a decisive 
 verdict in condemnation of the Monothelite heresy. 
 
 The last General Council dispersed. It little knew that 
 it was the last, or foresaw the disruption in the Church which 
 was to begin when another hundred years had passed, and 
 was to prove the origin of unlimited disintegration in the 
 ages to follow, producing a divided Christendom. * But 
 though it was the last, this General Council had finally reiter- 
 ated for all time what is the belief held by the Cathohc Church 
 regarding the deep mystery of the union of the Divine and 
 human natures in Christ, and no further dispute on that subject 
 has since then ever arisen. The six General Councils had 
 also, during the 355 years from 325 to 680, given authorita- 
 
 1 The word " heretic," by the manner in which it has been wrongly 
 used by later ages, has been given a soimd of opprobrium which does 
 not properly belong to it. The term simply means one who does not 
 hold the doctrine of the Catholic Church. It has been pointed out 
 by Canon Staley and others that while e.g. an Arian or a Nestorian 
 was a "heretic," his religion might be more sincere and his life 
 more worthy than that of many who belonged to the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 2 In the sixteenth century a theory was propounded by the Papal 
 writers that the acts of the Sixth General Council had subsequently been 
 tampered with, that the name of Honorius I was not among those 
 condemned as heretics, and that the insertion of his name was a 
 forgery. But this theory has been entirely refuted after a very 
 exhaxistive examination into the subject by the learned German 
 scholar Hefele, and shown to be an attempt to deceive. 
 
 3 For nearly 1200 years afterwards (imtil the latter end of the 19th 
 century) the fu^t act of each succeeding Pope of Rome upon his elec- 
 tion was to appear before the people and publicly repeat this condem- 
 nation of these two predecessors, Liberius and Honorius I, and solemnly 
 to repudiate their errors. Since the enunciation, however, in 1870 of 
 the dogma of Papal infallibility this ancient ceremony, carried out 
 by some 185 Popes of Rome, has for a very obvious reason been dropped. 
 
 * See Chap. XXHI, pp. 388-389. 
 
 
606 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 HIS BROTHERS DEGRADED 
 
 507 
 
 I 
 
 tive decisions on all other points of primary importance con- 
 nected with the doctrine, the practice, the constitution, and 
 the government of the Church. And they had also shown 
 that they were the supreme authority in the Church, with 
 power to eject from their sees even Popes who taught doctrines 
 not held from the first, or who otherwise failed to obey their 
 authority as the united voice of the Church given by an assem- 
 bly of independent Bishops gathered from widely diverse 
 nationalities. 
 
 As we look for the last time at this undivided Catholic 
 Church (subsequently to be split, first into two, and then into 
 three great divisions) the most marvellous thing about it is 
 that notwithstanding countless imperfections in its leaders 
 and members, and notwithstanding wranglings, hair-splittings, 
 and disputes which at times make us turn with disgust from 
 the Church records of the age, yet this Church, outwardly 
 full of imperfections, was nevertheless the vehicle for handing 
 down to mankind that '* faith once for all delivered to the 
 saints," that Christian religion so extraordinarily superior 
 in its purity and lofty teaching to the lives and deeds of most 
 of those who handed it down. Nor was this due to that 
 teaching being written in a book, the Bible ; for every dispute 
 that arose throughout all the centuries turned upon the inter- 
 pretation to be given to some passage or passages in the Bible. 
 And this marvel is not confined to the Church of the first seven 
 centuries ; the same thing is to be seen throughout all the 
 ages which follow. Notwithstanding innumerable defects 
 in the Church's leaders, notwithstanding fierce fighting, terrible 
 cruelties perpetrated in the name of religion, and evils 
 of every description among the Church's members, notwith- 
 standing even this Catholic Church becoming eventually spHt, 
 through human pride, into three portions,^ it still goes on 
 through it all handing down a religion which suffers no stain 
 from the imperfections of the vehicle by which it is conveyed 
 to mankind, and showing itseK able to produce, in every 
 century and in every country, men and women whose characters 
 and lives are those of saints upon earth.. 
 
 1 The Orthodox Greek Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and 
 the Church of England. 
 
 constantine ^^^^g thc year 681, either while the General Council 
 degrades his was actually sitting, or immediatelv after it had 
 
 two brothers, j . t ■» A i ,- t-tt n 
 
 aispersed,^ Constantme IV for some reason deprived 
 his two brothers Tiberius and Heraclius of the imperial dignity, 
 and subjected them to the usual process in such cases of mutil- 
 ation by slitting their noses. No reasons are assigned for 
 this action on Constantine's part, and we can only suppose 
 either that the two brothers (who had been kept for about 
 eleven years secluded in the imperial palace) were discovered 
 engaged in some uitrigue agamst him, or else, as is much more 
 probable, that this action was taken because Justinian, Con- 
 stantine's only son, was now twelve years old. Constantine's 
 great-grandfather Heraclius, having in view the case of Phocas 
 and in order to reduce the chances in future of usurpers thus 
 seizing the throne, had left the imperial power to be exercised 
 jointly by three of his sons ; but the arrangement had not 
 worked well. Constans II had similarly given the imperial 
 dignity to his three sons even during his lifetime, but at his 
 death his eldest son had quickly seen the evils which this might 
 produce when his son grew up, and now apparently took this 
 step in order to nullify them. 
 
 This question of ensuring an undisputed succession to 
 the throne had been a permanent problem in the imperial 
 family ever since the time of Theodosius the Great, and various 
 methods had been tried in order to meet the difficulty. Among 
 these, in order to prevent as far as possible the existence of 
 collateral branches of the reigning family (with as a result 
 disputed successions), the peculiar course had long been adopted 
 of excluding from marriage the daughters of an emperor who 
 had sons. And from this time forwards, after this action 
 of Constantine IV in regard to his brothers, the same rule 
 was extended to the yoimger sons of emperors ; not only were 
 they not in future given joint powers with their elder brother 
 
 ^ There is some uncertainty as to exactly when this action occurred, 
 the statements of Theophanes on the point being somewhat ambigu- 
 ous. But as the proceedings of the last meeting of the General Coimcil 
 are signed by all three emperors, while the edict promulgating its 
 decision is in Constantine's name alone, it would appear that the 
 degradation of the two brothers took place in September 681, imme- 
 diately after the last sitting of the General Council. 
 
 in 
 
I 
 
 508 
 
 CONSTANTINE IV 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 I 
 
 OKBA'S RAID 
 
 509 
 
 (though they might be given the imperial title), but also they, 
 like their sisters, were excluded from marriage. But this 
 system worked even worse than that which had preceded it. 
 Its effect necessarily was to make hereditary succession for 
 any length of time in one family exceedingly unlikely ; ^ 
 so that upon the death of the reigning emperor the crown was 
 frequently at the mercy of any ambitious man. The results 
 are to be seen throughout the history of the Later Roman 
 Empire during the next 400 years, imtil in 1081 the Com- 
 neni family abolished the system and established their 
 dynasty. 
 
 okba's raid in Apparently the peace made with Muawiyah I in 
 North Africa. 577 ^^s cousidcrcd by his son and successor Yezid I 
 to be terminated by Muawiyah's death in 680, as fighting 
 soon afterwards began again in North Africa; and in 682 
 the reckless and adventurous Okba, who had been for twelve 
 years almost continuously fighting in the district between 
 Carthage and his capital of Kairowan, and had lately re- 
 captured Kairowan from the Romans, started thence with a 
 small force upon a wild marauding raid into the unknown 
 north-western regions of the province. Against the fortified 
 cities of the Romans 2 he could of course do nothing, and he 
 evidently avoided them, and turned his arms against the 
 various tribes of Moors inhabiting the mountainous tracts 
 that lay in his path, especially the Moorish tribe of the Aoureba, 
 whom he nearly exterminated, carrying off a large number 
 of their women and girls as captives. The Arabian chroniclers 
 give fabulous accounts of the deeds of this favourite Saracen 
 hero of the time, but these have to be largely discounted. 
 Okba at length reached the sea,^ where he is said to have 
 spurred his horse into the waves, and raising his eyes to heaven 
 to have exclaimed, " Great God ! if my course were not stopped 
 by this sea, I would still go on, to the unknown kingdoms 
 of the West, preaching the unity of Thy holy name, and putting 
 
 1 Though the dynasty inaugiirated by Basil I lasted from father 
 to son for four generations. 
 
 2 See page 491, and Appendix XVI. 
 
 3 Probably to the north-west of Tingitanum, near the modem town 
 of Tenes, on the coast opposite Cartagena (see p. 509, footnote). 
 
 to the sword all who worship any other gods but Thee." 
 Thirty years later those unknown kingdoms of the West 
 were to be reached by his successor Musa.^ 
 
 Then Okba fought his way back, but when he reached 
 the neighbourhood of Biskra in the Aures Mountains, about 
 120 miles south of Constantine, he was attacked by the rem- 
 nant of the Aoureba tribe (who thirsted for revenge), assi':ted 
 by some imperial troops from Timgad, his force was defeated, 
 and he himseK was killed. He is looked upon as the great 
 Arab saint of North Africa, and his tomb at the little village 
 of Sidi Okba, where he fell, is one of the most revered shrines 
 in that country. His raid, though related in extravagant 
 terms by the Arabian chroniclers, had no influence upon the 
 war, as he avoided the Roman cities, and its only effect was 
 to increase very largely the hatred against the Saracens felt 
 by the Moors, and especially by those tribes of the latter with 
 whom he had so severely dealt ; and this bore fruit sixteen 
 years later. In the following year (683) his capital of Kairowan 
 was again attacked by the imperial forces, and captured. 
 
 Yezid I was in this year 683 succeeded as Khalif by Muawi- 
 yah II, who was followed in the same year by Merwan I, and 
 the latter in 685 by the capable and energetic Abdul Malik, 
 who was Khalif for twenty j^ears (685-705). 
 
 Death of In the year 683, besides the capture of Kairowan 
 Constantine IV jj^ North Affica, Constantinc IV gained various 
 successes over the Saracens on the eastern border of Asia 
 Minor, Melitene, on the upper waters of the Euphrates, being 
 
 ^ Considerable confusion has occurred in regard to the history of 
 the Saracen conquest of North Africa owing to Gibbon having attri- 
 buted to Okba a large part of the deeds performed 25 years later by 
 the Saracen leader Musa, and having consequently represented Okba 
 as reaching the Atlantic beyond Tangier, after gaining numerous 
 victories. But the learned Weil, in his Geschichte der CJuilifen, has 
 pointed out that Gibbon (owing to being unacquainted with eastern 
 languages and relying upon interpreters of the, always obscure, writ- 
 ings of the Arabian chroniclers) has mixed up the expedition of Okba 
 in 682 with that of Musa in 704-709, that the chief part of the deeds 
 thus attributed to Okba were performed by Musa 25 years later, and 
 that Okba never got anything like so far west as Tangier. In fact 
 the time occupied by the latter' s expedition would alone make this 
 impossible ; for he was killed near Biskra on his way back in that sanie 
 year, 
 
 ill'* «' 
 
510 
 
 JUSTINIAN II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS 
 
 511 
 
 captured from them and destroyed, while m the same year 
 they were driven to abandon Germanicea. Two years later, 
 in September 685, Constantine IV died at the early age of 
 thirty-five, after reigning seventeen years. He was buried in 
 the church of the Twelve Apostles, leaving his widow Anastasia 
 with one son, Justinian, their only child. 
 
 At Ravenna, in the church of St. ApoUinare in Classe, is a 
 much damaged mosaic representing Constantine IV at the 
 time of his accession at eighteen, standing with his two young 
 brothers Tiberius and Heraclius beside him. AH three have 
 the title of emperor written after their names. To the left 
 of Constantine stands Reparatus, the Archbishop of Ravenna, 
 to whom he hands a document marked " Privilegium," reiter- 
 ating that independence of Ravenna from the jurisdiction 
 of the Pope of Rome which his father Constans II had pre- 
 viously granted.' 
 
 Justinian II. 
 
 Justinian II (685-711), the last of the dynasty of 
 Heraclius, was only sixteen when by his father's 
 death he succeeded to the imperial throne. Unfortunately 
 while he possessed the qualities displayed by his father Con- 
 stantine and his grandfather Constans of courage, energy, 
 and strength of character, he was not by nature endowed 
 with their wisdom and cool judgment, and coming to the 
 throne at so early an age he had not time to develope such 
 qualities before he became involved in serious disasters which 
 embittered his whole disposition. Moreover while in the 
 case of Constans II and Constantine IV we hear of no ministers 
 as being relied upon by them in any way, Justinian II, young, 
 hot-tampered, and rash, was in the earlier part of his career 
 influenced by two ministers who were execrable in character, 
 and who by their conduct were the chief cause of the odium 
 which at length, after ten years' misrule, caused his deposition, 
 mutilation, and banishment. There followed for Justinian 
 ten years of dire adversity in which his strong character and 
 indomitable spirit were remarkably demonstrated ; but when 
 after this harsh experience he returned to power, to wreak 
 vengeance upon all who had had any hand in his sufferings, 
 
 1 Page 481. 
 
 an ungovernable spirit of revenge made his acts like those 
 of a madman. 
 Justinian's Duriug the first five years of his reign Justinian II, 
 agaSThe notwithstanding his youth, gained remarkable suc- 
 saracens. ccsscs agaiust thc Saraccus. In 687 he despatched 
 an army under the Isaurian general Leontius to Armenia and 
 Iberia, which countries Leontius traversed as far as the Cauca- 
 sus ; while in the same year Justinian sent into Syria another 
 army which, co-operating with the Mardaites, in 688 retook 
 Antioch. In the same year in North Africa the Saracens, 
 led by Zoheir, the successor of Okba, severely defeated an 
 army composed of imperial troops and Moors at Thysdrus ; ^ 
 but Justinian despatched a powerful army to the assistance 
 of North Africa, and in 689 Zoheir was overthrown. These 
 defeats caused the new Khalif, Abdul Malik, who had suc- 
 ceeded his father Merwan I in the same year that Justinian 
 succeeded his father Constantine, to sue for peace, and a 
 peace was made in 689 by which the Khalif agreed to pay tribute 
 and to surrender to the empire Armenia, Iberia,* Arzanene, 
 and even distant Atropatne, which extended east of Arzanene 
 as far as the Caspian Sea. This peace was a great triumph 
 for Justinian, who had regained countries which had not been 
 subject to the empire since the time of his great-great-grand- 
 father Heraclius. 
 Successful Having gained this signal success over the Saracens, 
 agS'^e Justinian, then twenty-one, in 690 turned his arms 
 Bulgarians, agaiust thc Bulgarians who were oppressing the 
 Sclav tributaries of the empire. Leading his army in person, 
 he in a successful campaign defeated the Bulgarians and 
 Hberated about 30,000 Sclav captives. The latter he es- 
 tablished in Mysia, on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, 
 giving them lands, and forming them into a special corps to 
 help in resisting the Saracens. Returning from this campaign 
 Justinian in the same year proceeded to Armenia, where he 
 appointed chiefs and settled the various affairs of the lately 
 ceded country. 
 
 ^ The modern El Djem, near Ras Kapoodia, where Behsarius had 
 landed in 533, and notable for the still existing remains of its fine 
 Roman amphitheatre. During these contests with the Saracens it 
 was often used as a fortress. 
 
512 
 
 JUSTINIAN II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 tIt 
 
 I ( 
 
 The Quinisext III 692 Justiiuaii, being bent upon a reform in public 
 ^"^''^- morals, more especially among the clergy, assembled 
 a Church Council for the purpose which has received the pecuHar 
 name of the Quinisext Council. It passed a large body of 
 enactments which not only show that such a reform was greatly 
 needed, but also are highly instructive as to the manners of 
 the time and the degree to which superstition and immorality 
 prevailed among both clergy and laity. The enactments of 
 this council are specially valuable owing to being almost the 
 only document extant which shows the manners and customs 
 of the age of Heraclius, Constans II, Constantine IV, and 
 Justinian II. 
 
 Defeat at In thc following year (693) Justinian, again leading 
 
 sebastopoiis. j^jg army in person, attacked the Saracens near 
 Sebastopolis, at the north-eastern comer of Cappadocia. But 
 in his force he had included the special corps of Sclavs which 
 he had formed, and two-thirds of this corps, with much in- 
 gratitude, suddenly during the battle deserted to the enemy 
 and turned upon the Romans, causing the latter to suffer a 
 total defeat. Justinian was not imnaturally furious at the 
 defeat and the slaughter of his troops through this ungrateful 
 treachery on the part of the Sclavs, whom he had liberated 
 from their captivity, and given lands for their support, but 
 he executed a punishment which was shamefully cruel and 
 unjust. Escaping from the battlefield he fled to Leucata 
 (near Nicomedia), the district where he had settled the Sclavs, 
 but on arrival there, stiQ furious with passion, he put to death 
 all of that race whom he could find, together with their wives 
 and children. The consequence of this defeat at Sebastopolis 
 was the loss of Armenia ; and in the following year (694) a 
 second defeat was sustained at Germanicea, which compelled 
 the Roman forces to abandon that city. 
 
 Unwise Justinian, young and hot-tempered, was when he 
 came to the throne amenable to both good and bad 
 influences, but unfortunately his unwise choice of 
 ministers caused him to be surrounded only by influences of 
 the latter kind, and the cruelty and rapacity of his two chief 
 ministers, Theodotus and Stephanus, in course of time 
 covered him with odium. Theodotus was a monk who had left 
 his monastery, preferring the more lucrative position of a 
 
 choice 
 of ministers. 
 
 MUTILATED AND BANISHED 
 
 513 
 
 Logothetes, and had been made by Justinian his financial 
 minister. His extortions and cruelties are said to have been 
 terrible, various accounts being given of his cruel methods of 
 forcing his victims to consent to the confiscation of their 
 property.! Stephanus was a Persian eunuch who had charge 
 of the privy purse, and is described as being similarly bent upon 
 amassing wealth for himself, and equaUy '* blood-thirsty." 
 It is stated that on one occasion when the emperor was absent 
 on a campaign " this savage beast " administered a whipping 
 with leather thongs to the empress-mother Anastasia " as if 
 she were a little school-girl." By these two men persons of all 
 classes were consigned to prison for no cause, and various 
 enormities perpetrated, untH the government of Justinian 
 became universally and justly detested. 2 
 
 Justinian Justiuiau had for ten years devoted his restless 
 """blthld"^ ^"^^^^.y . *^ military and foreign affairs, leaving 
 all civil administration in the hands of these 
 two ministers. The natural result followed. In 695, when 
 Justinian had been ten years on the throne, Leontius, the 
 Isaurian general who had gained much reputation in Armenia 
 in 687, but who had recently spent three years in prison (on 
 what account we are not told), was liberated by Justinian 
 and given an appointment in Greece. The people, however, 
 upon his emerging from prison surrounded him and urged 
 him to head a rebellion. It was immediately successful, none 
 raising a hand on behalf of the emperor. Justinian, at 
 this time twenty-six, was seized, taken to the Hippodrome, 
 and there his nose was slit and his tongue mutilated ; ^ after 
 which cruel treatment he was placed on board a ship 
 and banished to the Crimea. Theodotus and Stephanus 
 were tied together by the feet, dragged through the city, 
 
 ! Such as suspending them naked over a fire to scorch their bodies 
 until they agreed to his demands. 
 
 ^ It seems probable that a great part of the crimes of these two 
 ministers were perpetrated without Justinian's knowledge while he 
 was absent upon his campaigns, or his visit to Armenia. 
 
 ^ Most accounts speak of his tongue being " amputated," but this 
 must be an exaggeration, as in after years he was able to speak, though 
 no doubt with extreme difficulty. It was perhaps slit, or partially 
 removed. 
 
 '* 'X 
 
 "V 
 
 E.W.— II. 
 
 I'll 
 
614 THE FRANKS, AND ENGLAND 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 INA, KING OF WESSEX 
 
 515 
 
 and burnt; and the imperial dignity was assumed by 
 Leontius. 
 
 ^ In the Frank kingdom the chaos which had so long 
 
 Long anarchy y' , . . . j_ t_ • r 
 
 in the Frank Tcigncd bcgau about this time to snow signs oi 
 kingdom, g^^gi^ij^g j.j.oin the time of the death in 639 of 
 
 Dagobert I ^ there followed a succession of puppet kings of the 
 Merovingian race whose exceeding profligacy was only equalled 
 by their complete incapacity. It was " a dynasty of chil- 
 dren " ; they were fathers at 16, 15, and even 14 years of 
 age, lived surrounded by great luxury, on the few occasions 
 when they were seen outside their palaces appeared in mag- 
 nificent chariots drawn by oxen, and died as a rule before 
 they reached five-and-twenty. During this period inter- 
 minable contests between rival "Mayors of the Palace" for 
 the possession of these " rois faineants " (as they were called), 
 a chronic state of civil war between Austrasia, Neustria, and 
 Burgundy, and frequent assassinations, form the history of 
 the Frank kingdom for some fifty years. The frequent assass- 
 inations of which we read in the history of the Merovingian 
 kings are, however, scarcely to be looked upon in the same 
 light as they would appear in later times, or would have 
 appeared among the Romans. Among the semi-barbarous 
 Franks assassination carried out by the king, or on his behaK, 
 was recognized as the royal method of execution. At length in 
 689 the confusion began to abate through Pepin, commonly 
 called Pepin of Heristal,^ becoming " Mayor of the Palace " 
 and virtual ruler of the kingdom, and wielding for twenty-five 
 years a strong rule under which it obtained some measure of 
 rest from turmoil. 
 
 In England there occurred at this time a change 
 
 Northumbna ° , '^.^r. 
 
 loses the as regards the ceutre of power among the various 
 
 supremacy, ^j^g^j^jj^g^ ^Yie klugdom of Northumbria losing the 
 
 supremacy it had so long held. Egferth, king of Northumbria, 
 
 upon succeeding his father Oswy in 670,^ failed to maintain 
 
 1 Chap. XXIV, p. 432. 
 
 2 The name is said to be given to him on insufficient authority. 
 
 3 Page 488. 
 
 his father's wise and temperate course of action. In 675 he 
 attacked Mercia, and was at first successful, but in 679 suffered 
 a decisive defeat. He then turned his arms against the Welsh 
 tribes in Cumbria (Cumberland and Lancashire), and added 
 a great part of Cumbria to his dominions. But these conquests 
 brought about a blow to Northumbria from which it never 
 recovered. Egferth, emboldened by his successes against 
 the Welsh, determined to attack the Scots, and in 685 (the 
 year that at Constantinople Justinian II succeeded to the 
 imperial throne) he crossed the Forth into the territory of the 
 Scots and Picts. Advancing into the mountains of Scotland 
 he was attacked by the Scots and Picts on the 20th May 685 
 at a place which Bede calls Dumnechtan, and which has been 
 identified with Nechtansmere, near Forfar; and there his 
 whole army was destroyed, scarcely a man escaping to tell the 
 tale in Edinburgh, and Egferth himself being killed, i His 
 body was buried at lona. The kingdom of Northumbria, 
 unable to recover from this crushing blow, lost its supremacy,' 
 the centre of power among the seven kingdoms shifted, and 
 Wessex became for a time the leading kingdom, 
 ina. king of Nearly 200 years had elapsed since Cedric, leading 
 Wessex. ^j^^ sccoud great wave of Saxon invasion into 
 Britain, 2 in 496 (the year that saw Clovis and his knights 
 accept Christianity) had founded the kingdom of the West 
 Saxons. Since that time Wessex, converted to Christianity 
 by Berinus in 634, had generaUy remained weaker than the 
 other kingdoms owmg to domestic discord, no one branch 
 of the house of Cedric being able to control the others. 
 This state of affairs was at length ended by Ina, king of 
 Wessex, who succeeded to that kingdom in 688, and ruled 
 over Wessex with vigour and abUity to the great advantage 
 of the West Saxons for thirty-eight years (688-726). He at 
 once began to extend his dominions. He first attacked Kent, 
 won several victories over that * kingdom, took Sussex, and 
 set up his relative Nunna as ruler over it under himself. Ina 
 then in 694 turned his arms against the descendants of the 
 
 ^ Egferth's widowed queen, ^thelthryth (Audrey), known as St 
 ^thelthryth, founded the abbey of Ely, on an island in the marshes 
 ot Gyrwe, the debateable land between Northumbria and East Anglia 
 2 Chap. XX, p. 162. ^ ' 
 
 ■if 1, 
 
CHAP. 
 
 516 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 Romanized Britons to the west of his kingdom, drove Geraint, 
 the British king of Damnonia, out of his capital of Taunton, 
 conquered Somersetshire, and annexed it to his kingdom of 
 Wessex, building a castle at Taunton. 
 
 By this conquest of Somersetshu-e the Saxons at last gained 
 possession of the revered shrine of Avallon ^ (to which they 
 gave the name of Glastonbury), venerated for its legendary 
 history which associated it with the very earhest beginnings 
 of Christianity in Britain, while ever since the destruction of 
 Roman Britain it had gained additional honour as the burial- 
 place of the great British hero King Arthur.2 After being 
 protected from the Saxons for 200 years by the descendants 
 of the Romanized Britons, it now came into their possession 
 when they were no longer eager to destroy all Christian build- 
 ings, but on the contrary felt a superstitious reverence for 
 
 them.^ 
 
 Having thus triumphed both towards the east and the 
 west, Ina then endeavoured to extend his kingdom to the 
 north, and entered upon a war with Mercia ; but here he was 
 not equally successful, and though the war was continued 
 for a long time neither kingdom gained any advantage. 
 
 Ina's supremacy, however, was not attained merely through 
 his successes in war, but still more through his qualities as an 
 enlightened ruler. He drew up a code of laws which show 
 how carefully he provided for every detail of the affairs of his 
 kingdom and the welfare of his people. These laws are the 
 oldest in England except those of the kingdom of Kent, and 
 were taken in the 9th century as the basis of the code then 
 drawn up by AKred the Great. Ina was also a strong patron 
 of learning, while he is still more notable for having rebuilt 
 and endowed the abbey of Glastonbury.* 
 
 1 The first church at the far-famed island of Avallon (Glastonbury) 
 is said to have been a little wattled building of legendary antiquity, 
 dating from the 1st century. Some twenty-five years after Arthur's 
 death, David of Menevia is said to have built, about 546, a new chiu-ch 
 near the old one. About 628 the old one was entirely encased in lead 
 by Paulinus, the first Bishop of York. Ina's church, built about 700, 
 replaced these early foundations. 
 
 2 See Chap. XX, p. 163. ^ chap. XXVI, p. 573. 
 
 * Regarding the rest of Ina's reign and his abdication after reignins 
 thirty-eight years, see Chap. XXVI, p. 573. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 THE GREAT LINK 
 
 517 
 
 This action on the part of the Saxon king Ina marks one 
 of the most notable events in English history. For Glaston- 
 bury is the great link between the Romanized Britons who 
 were driven back into the west at the end of the 5th century 
 by a mass of Pagan foes, and their Saxon conquerors. The 
 one principal church of Roman Britain which was preserved 
 from the destruction which overtook every other when the 
 Saxons and Angles swept over Britain, turning that pros- 
 perous land into " a serpent-haunted wilderness, the country 
 of the dead," it remained protected from ruin by these Pagan 
 foes until in the 7th century they became Christians, and in 
 the time of Ina gained possession of this revered shrine. Then 
 the Imk between conquerors and conquered was forged. The 
 West Saxons, no longer ruthless destroyers, became builders ; 
 under the auspices of Ina a fresh and much larger church 
 was erected ; and in after centuries another and yet another, 
 each larger than its predecessor ; while in the plot of ground 
 adjoining this ancient shrine,— the ground where the body of 
 its British defender King Arthur had been interred,— were 
 laid in the course of many centuries the bodies of numberless 
 Saxon and Norman men and women of royal blood, making 
 this the most hallowed spot of English soil, a plot of ground 
 where three great streams of English blood unite, British, 
 Saxon, and Norman. Speaking of the early beginnings in the 
 dim mists of the past of this much-revered Avallon, the burial- 
 place of Arthur, thus rebuilt and endowed by the great West 
 Saxon king, and of the legends which surround it, Professor 
 Freeman has said, " It is on any showing a tie between the 
 Briton and the EngUshman, between the older Christianity 
 of our island and the newer, the one church of the first rank 
 which lived through the storm of EngHsh conquest, and 
 which passed into the hands of our victorious fathers as a 
 trophy of victory undestroyed and unplundered." i 
 
 Ten years' Duriug thc tcu ycars that Justinian II remained 
 
 interregnum. ^ banishmcnt (695-705) the imperial throne was 
 
 held, first for three years by Leontius (695-698), and then for 
 
 ^ Proceedings of Somersetshire Archaeological Society, 1874. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 518 
 
 LEONTIUS 
 
 SARACENS DRIVEN BACK INTO EGYPT 519 
 
 seven years by Apsimar (698-705). The period of the rule 
 of these two usurpers was chiefly marked by the further 
 strenuous conflicts with the Saracens, now under the rule of 
 the energetic Khalif Abdul Malik. 
 
 In 697 the Saracens overran a large part of Asia 
 the Patrician Minor, and also gained Lazica, which revolted from 
 at Carthage. ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ submitted to the Khalif Abdul Malik. 
 
 And in the same year the latter sent a large army against 
 North Africa under Hassan, the governor of Egypt. Hassan 
 retook Kairowan, and also captured Carthage ; but Leontius 
 despatched John the Patrician ^ to North Africa with the 
 whole of the Roman fleet, together with the assistance of 
 further troops from Sicily, and John defeated the Saracens 
 and retook Carthage. In 698 however the Khalif Abdul Malik 
 prepared a still larger army and fleet, and despatched it 
 against Carthage. A fierce battle was fought near Utica, on 
 the western side of the bay of Carthage, in which battle John 
 was totally defeated, and being forced to embark the remnant 
 of his shattered force sailed for Constantinople to obtain 
 reinforcements. He had no intention of abandoning the 
 struggle for Carthage, but intended to return when reinforced. 
 Upon his departure, however, the Saracens succeeded in 
 taking Carthage, and to prevent the return of the imperial 
 fleet Hassan fiUed up the harbour, and almost entirely destroyed 
 
 the city.^ 
 
 John sailed to Crete, but on his arrival there the 
 
 The throne irr x* i. 
 
 seized by dcfcatcd troops, fearmg the wrath of Leontms at 
 Apsimar. ^^^^ j^^^ ^^ Carthagc, chose Apsimar, the admiral 
 
 of the fleet, as his successor on the throne. Apsimar sailed 
 forthwith to Constantinople, entered the harbour of the 
 Golden Horn, and managed by treachery to gain admittance 
 
 ^ As an Exarch was given the title of patricius the designation of 
 " the Patrician " was often used in place of that of the Exarch. It there- 
 fore indicates that John had been appointed Exarch of North Africa. 
 
 2 It is generally stated that Carthage was given to the flames, but 
 this can only be partially true. The ruins of Carthage were used 
 for centuries as a quarry for materials which were sufficiently valuable 
 to be transported thence even to Kairowan (80 miles distant) and 
 other cities ; while many of its " Byzantine " columns were carried 
 off by the Saracens to Cordova when they subsequently conquered 
 Spain. 
 
 through the gate of the palace of Blachemae, at the north-west 
 comer of the city. Thereupon his troops proceeded to attack 
 those of Leontius and to plunder the city. Leontius was 
 seized, and treated as he had treated Justinian ; his nose 
 was slit, and he was sent into banishment. ^ 
 The Saracens Mcanwhile though John the Patrician was unable 
 ofNorTh* to return with reinforcements to contmue the 
 Africa. struggle round Carthage North Africa imaided had 
 effected its own deliverance. Though the Saracens had 
 destroyed Carthage they had not by any means yet conquered 
 North Africa. Not only were the numerous cities which were 
 scattered over the 1000 miles which lay between Carthage 
 and Septem (Ceuta), and were inhabited by the Roman popu- 
 lation of the province, exceptionally strongly fortified, and 
 held in many cases by small Roman garrisons, but also the 
 Saracens had to reckon with the Moors, inhabiting all the 
 mountainous parts of the province, and for many years past 
 accustomed in large numbers to form part of the imperial 
 armies, and in particular to furnish a considerable portion 
 of the imperial cavalry. Idolaters in religion, leading a nomad 
 life, and brought up amidst barren mountains and scorching 
 deserts, the Moors possessed many qualities akin to those 
 of the Saracens themselves'. Large contingents furnished by 
 this warlike race had taken part in all the contests against the 
 Saracens during the fifty years since the latter first invaded 
 the country, 2 while many of their tribes bore a special hatred 
 against the Saracens on account of various cruelties suffered 
 from them in the course of these contests, more particularly 
 those tribes who had suffered so severely at the hands of 
 Okba in the raid conducted by him in 682. 
 
 Led by their prophetess- queen Damia,3 the Moors now 
 violently attacked the Saracens, who had scarcely finished 
 destroying Carthage when they found themselves assailed by 
 the Moors with a fury and enthusiasm equal to their own. 
 
 ^ Apsimar upon thus usurping the throne called himself Tiberius III. 
 
 2 They had for instance formed nearly half of the large army of 
 the Exarch Gregory when he advanced to oppose the Saracens at their 
 first invasion of the province in 647 (page 460). 
 
 3 Gibbon calls her name Cahina, but "Cahina" simply means 
 " prophetess." 
 
620 
 
 APSIMAR 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 A TARTAR THEODORA 
 
 521 
 
 Apsimar. 
 
 The Saracen forces in North Africa, abeady much reduced 
 by the fighting round Carthage, were unable to withstand 
 this attack. They fell back before the Moors, lost Kairowan 
 and all the territory they had gained round Carthage and 
 Tripoli, and being steadily driven back by the Moors evac- 
 uated the country and retired again into Egypt, whence they 
 did not emerge for the next five years (699-704). 
 
 North Africa having thus given the Saracens a 
 severe repulse and being for the time free from their 
 attacks, Apsimar turned his attention to opposing them in 
 Asia Minor and Syria. He appointed his capable brother 
 Heraclius commander-in-chief of all the themes in Asia Minor, 
 and Heraclius well justified this choice. In 699 the Saracens 
 made a raid into the Roman territories, but were driven 
 back. In 700 Apsimar sent a strong force against them in 
 Syria which overran all the northern part of that country. In 
 701 the Saracens retaliated by invading Cilicia, but the Roman 
 forces again drove them back, and advanced as far as Samosata. 
 And in 703 Apsimar's brother Heraclius gained a great victory 
 over them in Cilicia, and a second still more crushing victory 
 at Sisium in Cilicia early in 704, and drove them out of that 
 province. These various contests during the years 697-704 
 show how steadfast was the resistance carried on by the 
 Later Roman Empire against the Saracen power even during 
 a period of domestic anarchy. 
 Vicissitudes Meanwhile the banished Justinian had been going 
 of Justinian, through many vicissitudes. Arriving towards the 
 end of the year 695, sorely wounded in the face and inwardly 
 raging in mind, at the cheerless frontier town of Cherson (near 
 the modem Sebastopol), he had been kept by the magistrates 
 of the town under strict surveillance and subjected to many 
 hardships. Henceforth he became possessed of but one idea, 
 viz. to wreak a terrible vengeance upon those who had mal- 
 treated him ; nor apparently did he after a time conceal this 
 determination. At length, after he had been at Cherson about 
 five years, the magistrates of the town, fearing to retain the 
 charge of one who they felt was fabricating plots against the 
 existing government, determined to kill him. But Justinian, 
 becoming aware of this intention, contrived about the year 
 701 to escape, and fled for refuge to the Tartar tribe of the 
 
 Khazars, with whom his father's great-grandfather Heraclius 
 had had friendly relations in 626. i The Chagan of the Khazars 
 was proud to show him honour, and after a time, about the 
 year 702, gave him his sister in marriage. Justinian was 
 fond of copying his great namesake, and by his desire upon 
 marrying him she took the name of Theodora. 
 
 Justinian remained with the Khazars for nearly three years, 
 durmg which time Theodora bore him a daughter. But in 
 the beginning of 704 Apsimar, becoming alarmed at the in- 
 trigues which Justinian was prosecuting, sent an embassy to 
 the Chagan promising him a large sum of money if he would 
 send him Justinian dead or alive, and the Chagan, won over 
 by this offer, secretly gave orders to two of his principal officers 
 to kill Justinian. But the latter's Tartar wife Theodora, 
 hearing of what was intended, warned Justinian ; whereupon 
 Justinian when alone with one of the two officers, Papatzys 
 (with whom he had been on friendly terms), seized him, and 
 strangled him with his own hands. He then promptly obtained 
 a private interview with the other officer, Balgitzys, governor 
 of the town of Bosporus, 2 killed him in the same way, fled 
 down to the shore, seized a fishing boat which he foimd there, 
 and sailed to a place called Symbolum, where he summoned 
 to him several adherents who had remained there. The 
 personal strength, boldness, and resource displayed in this 
 episode throw a light upon Justinian's remarkable character. 
 
 From Symbolum Justinian, taking with him his two or three 
 adherents, sailed in the fishing boat along the north-western 
 coast of the Black Sea, making for the mouth of the Danube, 
 but on the way the boat was caught in a severe storm and was 
 in the greatest danger. One of his adherents, thinking that 
 they were certainly about to sink, implored Justinian to vow 
 that if he got back his throne he would spare his enemies. 
 To which Justinian replied, " If I spare a single one of them, 
 may God drown me this instant in the waves." Not even 
 in imminent danger of death was Justinian's spirit quelled. 
 At length he reached the Danube, ascended that river a short 
 distance, and sent a messenger to Terbel, the king of the 
 
 1 Chap. XXIV, p. 417. 
 
 * The town of Bosporus was situated on the straits connecting Lake 
 Maeotis with the Black Sea. 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
522 
 
 JUSTINIAN II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Bulgarians, asking him to give him assistance to get back his 
 throne, and promising in return to give him his daughter (then 
 an infant) in marriage and many gifts. Terbel agreed, wel- 
 comed Justinian with honour, and the latter remained with 
 him during the winter of 704. At the same time Apsimar 
 collected all his available troops at Constantinople to meet the 
 attack which he now foresaw would come upon him in the 
 spring from the Bulgarians. 
 
 In the spring of 705 Justinian, by this time a man 
 regains his of thirty-six, accompanicd by Terbel with a large 
 
 army of Bulgarians and Sclavs, advanced against 
 Constantinople. Apsimar's troops insulted the Bulgarians 
 from the walls, but after the attack had lasted three days 
 Justinian with a small party of soldiers managed to find an 
 entrance through an unguarded drain leading into the Blach- 
 emae palace at the north-western comer of the city, and 
 established himself in that palace. It is evident that, whatever 
 may have been the attitude of the troops (regarding which 
 we are told nothing), the citizens of Constantinople did not 
 side with Apsimar. Possibly the cruelties which had been 
 carried out by Justinian's ministers had been chiefly directed 
 against the rich ; or the people may have recognized that 
 they had been chiefly the crimes of his ministers rather than 
 of himself ; in any case ten years had since then elapsed, and 
 these cruelties were forgotten. The people felt that Justinian 
 was their hereditary sovereign, they pitied his misfortunes, 
 and they admired the courage and fortitude which he had 
 displayed under them, and before September Justinian was 
 master of Constantinople, and Apsimar had fled. Terbel 
 was given the title of Caesar, and with his army departed to 
 his kingdom laden with gifts. Soon afterwards Justinian 
 received a scornful message from the Chagan of the Khazars 
 informing him that his wife Theodora had borne him a son, 
 and bidding him send for her and the child ; and towards 
 the end of the year Theodora and her son Tiberius reached 
 Constantinople. ^ 
 
 His Meanwhile Justinian had begun to carry out the 
 vengeance, yengcance ovcr which he had brooded for ten years. 
 
 1 In this same year 705 the Khalif Abdul Malik died, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Walid I (705-715). 
 
 XXV] 
 
 A TERRIBLE VENGEANCE 
 
 523 
 
 Leontius was dragged from the monastery where he had taken 
 refuge ; Apsimar was caught and brought to Constantinople ; 
 and after being dragged in ignominy through the streets 
 the two usurpers, each of whom had received homage as an 
 emperor for several years, were laid, bound in chains, below 
 Justinian's throne in the Hippodrome, while the latter sat 
 presiding at the games with his feet upon their necks ; after 
 which they were executed. Apsimar's brother Heraclius 
 was captured, brought to Constantinople, and hanged with 
 all his officers. CaUinicus, the Pope of Constantinople, who 
 had joined in the rebellion of Leontius and had crowned him, 
 was blinded, and sent as a prisoner to Rome, as an example 
 to others of a similar rank in the Church. Nevertheless it 
 is plain that Justinian had the people on his side, or he could 
 not have done all this. We are also told that he put to death 
 aU Apsimar's soldiers ; but this must be an exaggeration, 
 for without a force to support him Justinian could not have 
 seized Apsimar, Leontius, Heraclius, and others, and have 
 carried out all these executions. It appears however that 
 a large number of the soldiers were put to death, and that 
 Justinian's subsequent military operations suffered severely 
 in consequence. 
 Vindictive But Justinian was by this time practically mad. 
 *"^y- Long brooding over his wrongs (of which he had 
 an hourly reminder in the mutilation of his face ^ and in his 
 difficulties of speech), combined with uncontrolled indulgence 
 of vindictive wrath lashed continually into fury, had made 
 him a monomaniac. And the results in a strong nature like 
 his were terrible. The ne^t six years were a reign of terror 
 in Constantinople. The vow which he had sworn amidst the 
 stormy waves of the Black Sea not to spare a single one who 
 had had any part in his mutilation and banishment was carried 
 out to the letter. We are told that he " furiously raged " 
 for six years. Men in the highest positions were slain in 
 multitudes ; the axe, the cord, and the rack were unceasingly 
 at work ; and every fantastic device was employed to render 
 the deaths of those concerned as bitter as possible. While 
 thus occupied Justinian fell out with his ally Terbel, and in 
 
 ^ He was called by the Byzantines " Rhinotmetos " (the slit -nosed), 
 and by this name is known in history. 
 
524 
 
 JUSTINIAN II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 END OF THE DYNASTY 
 
 525 
 
 707 led an expedition against him ; but the army had become 
 demoralized by the slaughter of so many officers and soldiers, 
 and the force was routed by the Bulgarians. A similar result 
 ensued in the case of a force which Justinian sent to relieve 
 Tyana, then being besieged by the Saracens ; the force was 
 defeated, and in March 708 Tyana was taken by the 
 Saracens and destroyed. 
 
 Even distant Ravenna did not escape a share in this reign 
 of terror. The reason is obscure, but Agnellus indicates that 
 some citizens of Ravenna had taken part in Justinian's muti- 
 lation. ^ Theodore the Patrician was sent to Ravenna with 
 troops and a fleet, and on his arrival invited the chief men of 
 that city, including the Archbishop, Felix, to a banquet, at 
 which they were seized, placed on board ship, and brought 
 to Constantinople. There they were brought before Justinian, 
 " who was seated upon a golden throne studded with emeralds, 
 and wore a turban, interwoven with gold and pearls by the 
 cunning hands of his Khazar Empress." ^ The senators of 
 Ravenna were all slain ; the Archbishop was blinded in the 
 usual way, by being made to look into a red-hot dish until his 
 eyes were destroyed, after which he was permitted to return 
 to Ravenna.^ 
 
 Death of But most of all did Justinian's fury rage against 
 Justinian. Chcrsou, whosc inhabitants had planned to slay 
 him in his adversity. Expedition after expedition was des- 
 patched to Cherson with orders to slay the inhabitants 
 wholesale. When his officers only killed a portion of them, 
 roasting some over a fire, drowning others, and sending their 
 children into slavery, Justinian exclaimed " All are guilty ; 
 all must perish," and in 710 sent another expedition with 
 
 ^ Agnellus, Lib. Pont. Eccl. Ravenna^ in Vita S. Felicis. 
 
 2 Hodgkin, Invaders of Italy, VI, 374. 
 
 ^ We are given an opportunity of estimating the value of the records 
 drawn up by the Papal biographers regarding the events of this period 
 when we find that in recording this cruel and entirely unjust treat- 
 ment which came upon the Archbishop and chief citizens of Ravenna 
 these writers attribute it to the evil conduct of the see of Ravenna in 
 having obtained from Constans II and Constantino IV authority to 
 be independent of the jurisdiction of the see of Rome, and therefore 
 consider that those in question received in being thus treated a just 
 punishment. 
 
 orders to leave no human being alive, man, woman, or child, 
 and to level Cherson with the ground. But his officers HeUas, 
 Vardan (a son of the patrician Nicephorus), and the patrician 
 Maurus Bessus, who were sent in succession to execute these 
 inhuman commands, being determined no longer to endure the 
 rule of a madman, on arrival at Cherson revolted, and joined 
 the citizens. Justinian, suspecting them, crossed over to 
 Asia Minor with a force, and proceeded towards Sinope, to 
 ascertain what they were doiag. But his force upon the 
 approach of Helias (whose children Justinian in revenge had 
 slain, and whose wife he had compelled to marry her negro 
 cook) also revolted. Helias thereupon struck off Justinian's 
 head, and Vardan, taking the name PhHippicus, was proclaimed 
 emperor (Sept. 711). Maurus proceeded to the Blachemae 
 palace in Constantinople, where the six-year-old boy Tiberius 
 was living with his grandmother Anastasia (his mother Theo- 
 dora being apparently dead), took the child to the postern 
 gate, and there cut his throat. 
 Dynasty of Thc dynasty of Heraclius which thus came to an 
 Heraciius. ^j^^ ^^^ remarkable for its strength of character ; 
 Heraclius, Constans II, Constantine IV, and Justinian II all 
 showed this quality. Two things are also notable regarding 
 this dynasty neither of which are mentioned by the ecclesi- 
 astical writers who are the only authorities for the events of 
 the period. One is that the emperors of that house were 
 undoubtedly Hked by the people. We see this indicated 
 not only in the history of Heraclius, Constans II, and 
 Constantine IV by the entire absence of any rebellions or plots 
 against their lives, but even in the case of Justinian II, by 
 the readiness of the people to place him again on the throne 
 after he had been banished for ten years ; and it is therefore 
 to be inferred that as regards the great mass of the population 
 of the empire the rule of HeracUus and his descendants was 
 sympathetic and temperate. The other point to be remarked 
 is that they were remarkably free from immorality in their 
 private lives. Already noted in the case of Constans II, 
 this is no less plainly shown in a similar way in the case of 
 Justinian II ; notwithstanding aU the execration justly poured 
 upon the latter for his terrible cruelties we find no single 
 suggestion made against him on the score of immorality ; a 
 
CHAP. 
 
 526 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 fact which in the case of the erratic and violent Justinian II 
 is specially remarkable. It is evident that this quality of 
 personal chastity, at a period also when the characteristics 
 displayed in this respect by the kings of the western nations 
 were in such startling contrast, was hereditary in the race of 
 Heraclius. It is also noticeable that Heraclius, Constans II, 
 Constantine IV, and Justinian II aU departed from the custom 
 which had grown up under weaker emperors, by personally 
 commanding their armies in war on various occasions. 
 
 „ u J While Justinian had been regaining his throne and 
 
 Mahomedan ^ ^ 
 
 Conquest of exccutiug liis terrible vengeance, affairs in the 
 
 North Africa. •• . t , • j? j i 
 
 largest and most prosperous provmce of the empire 
 had undergone an immense change. For fifty- seven years 
 the Saracens had been attacking North Africa, but after 
 fighting for nearly two generations had in 699 lost even their 
 city of Kairowan and had retired back to Egypt for five years 
 to recruit their forces ; so that up to the year 704 they had 
 gained nothing except the destruction of Carthage and the 
 devastation of the district round it. Throughout the last 
 thirty of these fifty-seven years, ever since the founding of 
 Kairowan, the fighting had been almost incessant ; but the 
 eastern district of the province (from Carthage on the north 
 to Capsa ^ on the south) though itself continuously devastated 
 by war, had stood like a much battered shield, protecting all 
 that lay beyond it to the west. 
 Character of Behind that shield the province stretched (as yet 
 the province, unpcnctrated by the Saracens, except for the raid 
 carried out by Okba in 682) for a length as the crow flies of 
 1000 miles from Carthage to Tingis (now Tangiers), traversed 
 by the great Roman road, 1430 miles in length, running from 
 Carthage via Sitifis, Tingitanum, Pomaria, and Ruaddir to 
 Tingis. On its northern side, along the coast, the province was 
 bordered by the range of the Tel Atlas, and on its southern 
 side by the range of the Sahara Atlas, while its width, from 
 these latter mountains to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 averaged roughly 200 miles. A prominent and important 
 
 1 Now Gafsa. Portions of the *' Byzantine " fortress at Gafsa 
 are still in use, as also the Roman Baths. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 527 
 
 feature of the province were the wide plateaux in all directions 
 which extended from the lower slopes of the mountains, 
 watered by the numerous streams which descended from the 
 latter, and supplying large quantities of com. The province 
 included every variety of scenery,— lofty mountams, covered 
 in many places with forests of cedars, oaks, and elms, healthy 
 plateaux upon which stood many of the most important cities, 
 and beautiful valleys — and was for the most part exceedingly 
 fertile, except in the most western portion, west of Numerus 
 Syrorum (the modern Lalla-Mamia), beyond which for the 
 last 200 miles the country was in general bare and rugged, 
 with few towns. The mountainous districts were inhabited 
 by the rough mountain race of the Moors, ^ but the more open 
 parts of the province, including the plateaux, were crowded 
 with populous and strongly fortified cities, 2 and the inhabi- 
 tants of these cities were almost entirely Roman, North Africa 
 having always been the most essentially Roman province in 
 the empire next to Italy itself,^ while the latter country since 
 its conquest by the Lombards could scarcely any longer be 
 looked upon as in any sense Roman.* The Roman population 
 of North Africa was in fact at this time the largest body among 
 the subjects of the empire who were stiU entitled to be called 
 " Romani," in contradistinction to the " Romaioi." Even 
 the small fact of their habitually styling the Exarch by his 
 Latin title, and calling him the '* Patricius," in preference 
 to the Greek word " Exarch," helps to show their essentially 
 Roman character. 
 
 1 More properly Berbers or Khabyles. In Roman times, while the 
 term " North Africa " was usually applied to the part of the province 
 in the vicinity of Carthage (the country now called Timis), the western 
 part of the province was called by the general name of Mauretania 
 (its various portions being known as Mauretania Tingitana, Maure- 
 tania Caesariensis, Mauretania Sitifensis, and so on), and hence the 
 name of Moors became appUed by the Romans to all the indigenous 
 Berber or Khabyle tribes of North Africa, as a general name distin- 
 guishing them from the Roman population of the province. 
 
 2 See p. 491, and Appendix XVI. 
 
 ^ Differing in that respect entirely from the province which lay 
 next to it on the other side of the Lybian desert, Egypt, which had 
 always been as essentially Greek. 
 
 4 Chap. XXIV, p. 431. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 528 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 PROSPERITY WHEN ATTACKED 
 
 The total difference in sentiment, language, and 
 North amI. military qualities of the Romans of the province 
 of North Africa from the Romans of the province 
 of Egypt has previously been noted ; ^ just as thoroughly 
 as Egypt was in all matters in spirit eastern, so no 
 less thoroughly was North Africa in spirit western. The 
 Saracens in all their previous conflicts with the empire, as well 
 as with Persia, had been pitted against eastern races ; in 
 attacking North Africa they for the first time were met by a 
 race belonging to the West. The result had been shown in 
 the fact that, instead of their rapid progress in the east, they 
 had been for fifty-seven years fighting at the eastern end of 
 the province of North Africa without being able to progress 
 further. Professor Freeman in commenting upon this 
 fact in comparison with the rapidity of their conquests in 
 the east attributes it to "the strong imperial spirit of the 
 inhabitants of North Africa," and says : — " Roman in every 
 sense, their language Latin, and their faith Catholic, they 
 offered a far stouter resistance than the races of eastern origin." 
 Now however a final attack was to end for ever this Roman 
 province of North Africa. 
 Prosperous It has generally been assumed that North Africa 
 condition during thc 170 years after its reconquest by the 
 province, empire in 533 from the Vandals steadily declined 
 in prosperity, that at the time of the Saracen invasion the 
 Roman population had become much reduced, and that when 
 in 698 Carthage was destroyed not many were left to make 
 any resistance to the final invasion which came in 704. It 
 has however been shown ^ that so far from this decline in 
 prosperity having taken place, the decline which occurred 
 during the reign of Justinian had during the period 570-704 
 been reversed. The effects of more than a hundred years of 
 peace, of a succession of able governors, and of the immigration 
 into North Africa of large numbers of the Roman population 
 driven to fly from Italy to escape the dire miseries brought 
 upon them in that country by the Lombards, had raised 
 North Africa to a condition of great prosperity ; while the 
 supposition that the destruction of Carthage put an end to 
 resistance ignores all the rest of a province 1000 miles long 
 1 Vol. I, Chap. VIII, p. 292. « See p. 490. 
 
 529 
 
 by 200 miles broad, crowded for about four-fifths of its 
 length with numerous strong cities.^ 
 
 Nor is this all. The theory that at the time the Saracen 
 mvasion occurred the Roman population of that province, 
 and its prosperity, had become greatly reduced is now con- 
 clusively refuted by the greater knowledge which in recent 
 years has been gained regarding the numerous ruined cities of 
 North Africa (until lately not able to be visited), which furnish 
 copious proofs contradicting that theory. ot only was 
 it the most strongly fortified part of the whole empire, 
 but also the city waUs of latest date, and many of the 
 . numerous fortresses built to protect the cities, 2 have been 
 found to a large extent to have been constructed during the 
 very period when it has been assumed that those cities had 
 become empty of any inhabitants. 
 
 This evidence of a numerous population and much prosperity 
 at the period in question furnished by the ruins of many of 
 the Roman cities of North Africa is also corroborated by 
 other facts. Not very long before the Saracens first appeared 
 North Africa was able to fit out a naval and military expe- 
 dition sufficiently powerful to enable the son of the governor 
 of the province to seize the imperial throne, and at the same 
 time was able to equip an army entirely composed of cavalry 
 to proceed against Egypt to assist in the same object.^ Again, 
 throughout the reigns of the emperors of the house of HeracKus 
 the Church of North Africa was the most important part of 
 the Church in the West ; and on at least two occasions im- 
 portant Church Councfls of its Bishops took place, one of 
 these being in 646, only the year before the Saracens' first 
 mvasion of the province. This in the same way shows a 
 numerous population and much prosperity. 
 
 The destruction of Carthage in 698 had at last battered in 
 the " shield " ^ which had so long stood protecting aU the 
 
 1 The great length of the province of North Africa, combined with 
 the habit of the Roman writers in often using the term " North Africa " 
 as synonymous with ** Carthage," has caused much confusion, writers 
 frequently spealdng of " North Africa " when they only moan to refer 
 to the district surrounding Carthage. 
 
 2 Page 491. 
 ' Chap. XXIV, p. 396. 4 p^ge 526. 
 
 Ill 
 
 E.W. — II. 
 
 M M 
 
C3HAP. 
 
 630 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 remaining seven-eighths of the province ; but this removal of 
 its shield did not affect the rest of the province at the mo- 
 ment, being unmediately succeeded by the retirement of the 
 Saracen forces from North Africa in consequence of their defeat 
 by the Moors. So that up to the time when this final invasion 
 in 704 took place the greater part of this wide-spreading 
 province was in the same state of prosperity as hitherto, and 
 was in a condition, fortified so extensively as it was, to make 
 a vigorous defence. Again, the fact that in this invasion Musa, 
 the Saracen commander, took five years to cover a distance 
 of 1000 miles as the crow flies, or 1400 miles by road, shows 
 that he had not merely to march through cities empty of 
 inhabitants, or ready to submit, but that on the contrary 
 these cities had a numerous population and offered a strenuous 
 resistance. Such a march would not have taken Musa more 
 than five or six months at most if he had been unopposed, 
 or opposed only by attacks in the field made by the Moorish 
 tribes, so that in that case he would have reached Tangiers 
 at the end of 704 or beginning of 705, and not, as he did, in 
 
 709. 
 
 It would also appear that in the case of many of these cities 
 the citizens had the assistance of small bodies of regular troops. 
 For when John the Patrician, Exarch of North Africa, sailed 
 for Constantinople in 698 after his defeat at Utica we are 
 expressly told that he did so in order to obtain remf orcements ; 
 and during the period 698-704 the authorities at Constantinople 
 only refrained from sending such reinforcements, and turned 
 their attention to meeting the Saracens in Asia Minor, because 
 that was the point then chiefly attacked by the latter and 
 because North Africa was at that time completely free from 
 attack, the Saracens having retired to Egypt. ^ Since, there- 
 fore, the imperial authorities, notwithstanding the loss of 
 Carthage, had no other intention than that of resuming the 
 defence of North Africa at a future time when it should again 
 be attacked, they naturally left the garrisons in other parts 
 of the province undisturbed. Moreover when John the 
 Patrician embarked his shattered force after his defeat at 
 Utica we do not hear of any withdrawal of the garrisons from 
 
 1 Page 520. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE UNABLE TO ASSIST 
 
 531 
 
 important fortresses in other parts of the province ^ • nor 
 would there have been time for this, some of those gaiiisons 
 bemg at distances of 800 miles or more from Carthage It 
 therefore seems that the majority of these garrisons must 
 have remamed at their posts, and subsequently took part 
 (as they were intended to do) in the defence of the cities where 
 they were stationed. 
 
 These various considerations, together with the evidence 
 furnished by the ruined cities themselves, tend to show that 
 when this final invasion in 704 took place the province (except 
 that eastern portion lying between Carthage on the north and 
 Capsa on the south which had formed a shield to the rest) 
 was m a high state of prosperity, and its Roman population 
 very numerous, and occupying a large number of strondv 
 fortified cities. *^ 
 
 In 704 the Saracens, having in five years reorganized their 
 forces and gathered a much more powerful army, again ad- 
 vanced from Egypt in great strength under Musa, who had 
 succeeded Hassan as governor of Egypt, and who during the 
 five years 704-709 conquered North Africa. The time chosen 
 was just that when circumstances made the empire least able 
 to meet this invasion. At the time that this final attack 
 was launched against North Africa Apsimar, having defeated 
 the Saracens in Cfiicia, was coUecting aU his forces at Con- 
 stantmople to resist the threatened advance of the Bulgarians 
 to remstate Justinian ; and subsequently, during 705 while 
 Musa was slowly subduing one city after another in' North 
 Africa, Justmian was regaining his throne, executing his 
 vengeance upon Apsimar and many others in a reign of terror 
 at Constantmople, and creating demorahzation in the army 
 by the number of officers and soldiers put to death. At such 
 a time it was impossible that any troops should be available 
 to assist North Africa, and that province was necessarily left 
 to defend itself as best it might. That it did so bravely is 
 proved by the long time that it took Musa to subdue it. 
 
 cLlT^ ^^- ^^T «*^^i«n«d at Numerus Syrorum, Pomaria, Altava, 
 C^teUum Tmgitanum, Auzia, Sitifis, and other fortresses guarding the 
 
 S or w''^^ '""""^^ '''' P^""'"^^' ^"^ ^^^^^ holdinVimportant 
 cities or fortresses m other directions, such as Septem; Tingartia 
 
 C^sarea, Constantine, Timgad, Tebessa, Thubursicur^, Baga^, £sT 
 
 Augusta AmmaDdara, Thelepte, and Sicca Venerea. ^ 
 
CHAP. 
 
 532 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 The conquest of North Africa is a sealed book, a 
 v^app^L door over which a dark curtain hangs. Mystery 
 obscurity. ^^^^ broods over North Africa, and nowhere more 
 so than in regard to this great conquest which turned the most 
 Roman province of the empire into a Mahomedan land. The 
 case is like that of a ship which founders at sea with all on 
 board, and regarding which aU that is known is the condition 
 of the' vessel when she left port, the date of her departure, and 
 that she never arrived at her destination. We are only able 
 to trace out the main features from what we know of the con- 
 ditions which existed when Musa's army appeared on the 
 confines of the province in 704, and of what they were when 
 five years later that army reached Tangiers. 
 
 comse of Musa had a double enemy to meet. He had both 
 the campaign, ^q subduc au immcusc number of strongly fortified 
 cities, held by thek Roman citizens assisted in various 
 cases' by a smaU body of regular troops ; and he had 
 also to meet attacks from the half-trained Moors, tribe after 
 tribe of whom as he advanced westwards would descend upon 
 him either from the Atlas mountains on his left or from the 
 Kabyle mountains (the Tel Atlas) on his right. 
 
 Tripoli offered no obstacle, but after passing Tacape (now 
 Gabes), the chief harbour on the Gulf of Syrtis Minor, Musa 
 was opposed in the neighbourhood of Thysdrus by a 
 strong force of Moors, again led by their prophetess-queen 
 Damia. A fierce battle ensued near Thysdrus in which 
 the brave queen Damia was kiUed ; after which the Moors 
 suffered successive defeats. Regarding the subsequent course 
 of the contest for the possession of North Africa we know 
 only the result, the destruction which supervened over the 
 whole of this great province being so complete that it 
 left none alive capable of giving any record of its events. ^ 
 Nevertheless we can form some idea of those events from the 
 general information we possess as to the condition of the 
 province at the time. The whole life of seventy or eighty 
 busy and prosperous cities did not come to an end because 
 
 1 Neither the Saracens, nor of course the Moors (who knew nothing 
 of writing), supply us with any rehable information. The obscurity 
 of the writings of the Arabian chronicles has already been noticed, 
 ^nd in tl^s case they had more than usual reason for being obscure. 
 
 XXV] 
 
 MUSA'S ADVANCE 
 
 533 
 
 I 
 
 Carthage, distant hundreds of miles from many of them, 
 had ceased to exist, or because the Saracens were again fight- 
 ing, as so often before, at the eastern end of the province. 
 A city like Tingartia,i or Sitifis, or Constantine would hear 
 in 704 that the Saracens had returned and were again fight 
 ing in the eastern district, but its daily life would go on as 
 usual until, one, two, or three years later, the Saracens ap- 
 peared, surrounded the city, and called upon its whole popula- 
 tion to submit and become Mahomedans. 
 
 City after city was captured, plundered, and in many 
 cases destroyed. Musa (apparently dividing his army 
 after his victory at Thysdrus) took in succession, on the 
 south, Capsa,2 Thelepte,^ Augusta Ammsedara,* Tebessa,^ 
 
 1 Nearly 600 miles from Carthage. 
 
 2 The capital of the second section of the province of North Africa, 
 that called Byzacena." An important city in all ages, being the 
 portal of the desert, and all caravans passing through it. Its walls 
 were entirely rebuilt in the 6th century by Justinian, and these 
 " Byzantine " walls still remain, while the " Byzantine " citadel is 
 still in use. 
 
 ^ Up to the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 Thelepte 
 was the chief place on the main road between Capsa and Tebessa. 
 Its ruins include a " Byzantine " fortress with many towers, a large set 
 of Baths, and the ruins of many churches. 
 
 * A model Roman " camp " (castra), the junction of four important 
 roads. Up to the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 was 
 no less important than Tebessa. Its huge " Byzantine " fortress is 
 the largest in North Africa, enclosing an area of 219 yards by 120 
 yards, the walls being of great strength, with many towers, and includ- 
 ing within them the ruins of a church. Outside the fortress are the 
 ruins of another church with extensive " Byzantine " additions and 
 numerous tombstones. Also a set of Baths, and other Roman re- 
 mains (see also Appendix XVI). 
 
 ^ The original head-quarters of the Third Legion (the legion per- 
 manently stationed in North Africa), and connected with Carthage 
 by a Roman military road. After being destroyed in the Vandal 
 period, it was entirely rebuilt in the 6th century by Justinian, and 
 is still enclosed by the walls built at that time. These " Byzantine " 
 walls have 14 towers and 3 gates. Outside the walls are the ruins of 
 an immense church, the oldest portions being of the 4th century and 
 the latest of the 7th century, while its cemetery shows that it was in 
 use up to the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 (see also 
 Appendix XVI). 
 
 • Chap. XXI, p. 213. 
 
534 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 CttAP. 
 
 Bagai,^ Timgad,^ and Diana Veteranorum ; ^ and on the north, 
 following the great main road, took in turn Augusta 
 Mactaris,* Sicca Venerea,^ Madaura,« Tipasa,' Thubursicum,^ 
 
 * Bagai was one of the chief cities of this part of North Africa. In 
 the 4th century a Church Council of 310 Bishops had been held there. 
 It was at the time of the Mahomedan invasion in704-709 protected by 
 immense " Byzantine " walls, and a fortress the ruins of which, with 
 25 towers, enclose a space 360 yards long by 335 yards wide. On the 
 north-west side the fortress has a citadel 84 feet high. The city itself 
 has been entirely destroyed, the sole remnant of it being this huge 
 " Byzantine " fortress. 
 
 2 The most important military station on the southern side of the 
 province, standing on a high plateau. In the 3rd and 4th centiu-ies 
 what Cologne was to the Rhine frontier that Timgad was to the African 
 frontier of the empire. After the city had been ruined during the 
 Vandal period a huge " Byzeuitine " fortress to defend this part of 
 the province was built by Justinian in the 6th century, with walls 
 8 feet thick and many towers. These " Byzantine '* walls enclose an 
 area 122 yards long by 80 yards wide, while eight of the towers still 
 remain. Outside the fortress are the ruins of the church built by 
 Gregory, the governor of North Africa, in 645, only two years before 
 the first invasion of the Saracens. (Regarding the other Roman 
 remains at Timgad, see App. XVI.) 
 
 3 A considerable colony of vetergin soldiers. Its ruins include a 
 " Byzantine " fortress, and a " Byzantine " church, besides a Trium- 
 phal Arch, a Forimi, and other Roman remains. 
 
 * At the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 was an im- 
 portant city. Its ruins include a " Byzantine " church, a Triumphal 
 Arch, a Roman mausoleum, aqueduct, and other Roman remains. 
 
 5 A large and important city strongly situated on a rocky hill. At 
 the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 was considered 
 of the greatest strategical importance, being the junction of four 
 important main roads, a position which has given it its modem name 
 of Le Kef (the key). Its " Byzantine " remains have been largely 
 obliterated by the modern city, but among those still visible are 
 the " Byzantine " city walls and the " Byzantine " ruins of three 
 churches. 
 
 « Situated on a high plateau, with a conspicuous "Byzantine" 
 fortress. Also ruins of Baths, a church of the 4th century, and other 
 Roman remains. 
 
 ' A large " Byzantine " fortress on a high plateau, the only remains 
 of the destroyed city of Tipasa. 
 
 8 Situated on a high plateau. At the time of the invasion in 704- 
 709 was one of the chief cities in this part of North Africa, and was 
 protected by two "Byzantine" fortresses, the ruins of which remain. 
 Has also ruins of a Triumphal Arch, Baths, and Forum. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 CITIES IN TURN TAKEN 
 
 635 
 
 Thibilis/ Constantine,^ and Sitifis.^ From Sitifis, 
 
 steadily advancing westwards, Musa then took in succes- 
 sion Thamalla,* Tigsirt/ Csesarea,« Tingitanum/ Tingartia,^ 
 
 ^ Situated on a plateau. At the time of the Mahomedan in- 
 vasion in 704-709 was a prosperous city surrounded by " Byzan- 
 tine " town walls of a late date, the ruins of which remain, together 
 with the " Byzantine " ruins of a church. Also a Forimi, and other 
 Roman remains. 
 
 2 The capital of the third section of the province of North Africa, 
 that called Mauretania Sitifensis." A very strong city situated on a 
 high plateau encircled on three sides by the river Rhumel. Was the 
 only city which Gaiseric, the Vandal King, was unable to take when 
 he invaded North Africa in 429. Its name was changed from that 
 of Cirta in the 4th century by Constantino on his transferring to it 
 (instead of Lamboesis) the seat of the government of this part of North 
 Africa. 
 
 3 The second city of Mauretania Sitifensis. Its " Byzantine " 
 fortress with eleven towers still exists, having been converted into 
 quarters for the military garrison. Except a well-preserved Roman 
 mausoleimri all other remains of the time of the Mahomedan invasion 
 in 704-709 have been obliterated by the modern city. 
 
 * A " Byzantine " fortress ; the only remains of the destroyed 
 city of Thamalla. 
 
 ^ Situated on a promontory on the coast, and protected by an 
 older set of walls, and an inner " Byzantine " wall. Has also ruins of 
 an important cathedral with " Byzantine " additions. 
 
 ® The capital of the fourth section of the province of North Africa, 
 that called Mauretania Csesariensis." Situated on the coast, and 
 up to the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 one of the 
 wealthiest cities of North Africa, the rival of Hippo and of Carthage. 
 Its ruins included " Byzantine " city walls. Theatre, Baths, Amphi- 
 theatre, Roman Naval harbour, and a Roman Circus, 435 yards long, 
 within the city walls. 
 
 ^ At the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 was a highly 
 flourishing city. Most of its " Byzantine " remains have been oblitera- 
 ted by the modern city. It contains the ruins of a large church, said 
 to have been the oldest church in this part of North Africa, with addi- 
 tions made in the 7th century. 
 
 ^ An important city situated on a high plateau about 50 miles 
 south of Castellum Tingitanum, and at the time of the Mahomedan 
 invasion in 704-709 had for some time been made the capital of the 
 south-western part of Mauretania Caesariensis. Most of its " Byzan- 
 tine " remains have been obliterated by the modern city. 
 
 • Chap. XXI, p. 213. 
 
636 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 FATE OF THE POPULATION 
 
 637 
 
 Altava/ Pomaria,2 Numerus Syromm, Septem (Ceuta),* 
 and finally Tingis (Tangier).^ But to conquer that 1000 
 miles of Roman territory had taken him five years (704^709), 
 a rate of advance of only 200 miles each year ; giving some 
 idea of the resistance these and other cities made. But if 
 the conquest was slow it was thorough. Musa, hke Khalid,* 
 gave no quarter. By the year 709 no remnant of the Roman 
 population of North Africa survived. 
 
 Whether the inhabitants of these cities of North Africa 
 were given the option, instead of becoming Mahomedans, of 
 retaining their Christian religion, submitting to be ruled by 
 Mahomedan governors, and paying a heavy tribute to support 
 the Mahomedan rule, is not known. Very possibly owing 
 to the determined resistance which these cities had made 
 this alternative was not offered. But at any rate if offered 
 it was refused ; for no Christian communities subsequently 
 remained in North Africa.' Such a refusal was only what 
 
 ^ A " Byzantine " fortress, to protect the great Roman road to 
 the west. 
 
 2 Ditto. 3 Ditto. 
 
 * The capital of the fifth section of the province of North Africa, 
 that called Mauretania Tingitana." Situated on a promontory at 
 the eastern end of the straits of Tangier. Regarding Septem it was 
 declared that it was " so strong that the whole world could not 
 take it." 
 
 ^ An important military station. The only remains of the Roman 
 town are the Roman sea gate and the Roman bridge over the stream 
 of the Galeres. 
 
 « Chap. XXIV, p. 442. 
 
 ' While no community occupying any of these cities of North Africa 
 accepted any offer, if such was ever made to them, to retain their 
 Christian religion, to accept the Mahomedan rule, and to pay a tribute 
 to support that rule, it appears possible (though not probable) that a 
 small number of individuals may have done so ; as in 749 a letter was 
 sent by the governor of North Africa, Abdul Rahman, to the Khalif 
 at Damascus informing him that all remaining " infidels '* in North 
 Africa had accepted the religion of Islam. Though whether this refers 
 to Christians, or to sections of Berber or Khabyle tribes who, secure 
 in mountain strongholds, had up to that time refused to abandon their 
 idol-worship, is not apparent. It would seem, however, to be more 
 likely to refer to the latter. 
 
 • Chap. XXI, p. 213. 
 
 was to be expected in the case of a race still proud of their 
 descent as Romans, and by no means prepared to submit to 
 the degradation of being ruled by an Arabian race who habitu- 
 ally styled them " infidels " and " dogs." i 
 
 Fate of the So far as the Moors are concerned we know some- 
 ^°°"- thing of their fate. Musa is stated to have slain 
 immense numbers of them, and to have taken captive a vast 
 number of their women and girls, many of whom were after- 
 wards sold for as much as a thousand pieces of gold. 2 Eventu- 
 ally the Moors submitted, accepted the faith of Islam, and 
 30,000 of them entered Musa's army. 
 
 Fate of the ^^* ^^ ^^® ^^^ ^^^^ important Roman population 
 
 poprtlon. ^^ ^^^ province we hear nothing. And that silence 
 speaks volumes. We have but to look at the 
 remains of the immense number of cities which when Musa 
 advanced into the province were in a flourishing condition,^ 
 we have but to note that this was a community which at an 
 earlier period could assemble in a local Council of the North 
 African Church as many as 600 Bishops, and which (judging 
 by the general state of prosperity of the province and the 
 evidence afforded by its ruined cities) presumably at the time 
 of this conquest could still have assembled a good deal more 
 than a sixth of that number,* we have but to observe the 
 many ruins of churches, even every " Byzantine " fortress 
 having its church, irrespective of those in the city it protected, 
 to realize what happened in this the largest and richest pro- 
 vince of the empire. 
 
 It therefore speaks volumes when we find that by the year 
 709 no portion of this great Christian population remained. 
 Bishops and their clergy, soldiers and civilians, men, women, 
 
 1 In the East a dog is the most despised of all animals, and the iise 
 of the word as a term of opprobrium, now common in the West, was 
 learnt by the Western races from the Mahomedans. 
 
 2 Equal to £570 sterling. 
 
 ^ For details regarding some of these cities, viz. all those whose 
 ruins have " Byzantine " remains, showing definitely that they were 
 occupied at this time, see Appendix XVI. 
 
 * The dioceses were of course much smaller than an English dio- 
 cese ; each perhaps only included one important city with the smaller 
 towns and villages round it. But even supposing this to be the case 
 100 such dioceses represent a very largo Christian population. 
 
 (■: 
 
 ■ I 
 
538 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 TESTIMONY OF RACE 
 
 539 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 and children, refusing to become Mahomedans, perished by 
 the Arab sword. And moreover so complete was the extir- 
 pation of the Christian religion that out of a Church which 
 had had so many dioceses, not a single Christian, not a single 
 Christian building (other than a ruin), not a single Church 
 ornament, not even a single Christian book, document, or 
 relic of any kind, was to be seen in that country a hundred 
 years afterwards. 
 
 Nor was this acceptance by a whole population of death 
 in preference to becoming Mahomedans surprising. The 
 detestation with which that religion was regarded by the 
 Christians of that time was more intense than can in the 
 present day even be imagined. As already noted, these 
 Romans of North Africa were made of other stuff than the 
 inhabitants of Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and 
 Asia Minor. 1 Moreover the eastern Christians, speaking 
 generally, besides being a weaker race, were as regards re- 
 ligion divided into numerous sects as the result of the various 
 heresies — Nestorian, Monophysite, Monothelite, and others 
 — which had from time to time taken root in these eastern 
 countries, while the antagonism between these sects was so 
 bitter that we know that on various occasions it even pre- 
 vented them from combining against the Mahomedans when 
 the latter invaded their country. The Christians of North 
 Africa on the other hand were of western race, and were not 
 only of stronger physique and character, but also were uni- 
 formly Catholics in religion. To such a race obedience to 
 the teaching of him whom they designated the ** False Pro- 
 phet," and acceptance of a faith which in view of its conception 
 of Paradise * they commonly spoke of as " the polluted re- 
 ligion," was worse than death. And it was indignantly re- 
 jected by these Christians of the time-honoured North African 
 Church,^ who were strengthened in their scornful refusal to 
 abandon then- faith and adopt this "polluted religion" 
 by the many memorials around them of the steadfast deaths 
 
 » Page 528. * Chap. XXIV, p. 437. 
 
 ' Just as it was 748 years later by the prisoners taken at the final 
 siege of Constantinople by the Mahomedan conqueror, Mahomed II, 
 who one by one were given the same alternative, and similfiurly suffered 
 death rather than accept it. 
 
 endured in those same cities by their predecessors during the 
 persecutions under Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian four 
 hundred years before. ^ 
 
 They would not do as the Moors did, these Roman Chris- 
 tians, and they therefore died — men, women, and children, 
 the rich and the poor alike. But they have received no 
 honour for their steadfast martyrdom. The historian Gib- 
 bon, naturally anxious in his hatred of Christianity to avoid 
 crediting the Christians of North Africa with the honour of 
 having died for their rehgion, and finding nothing but silence 
 as to their fate, put forward 2 the view that the whole Chris- 
 tian community of North Africa " magarized," ^ becoming 
 thenceforth blended with the Arab population; and this 
 allegation of his has become the accepted view regarding 
 what occurred. 
 
 Impossibility ^^* *^is is impossiblc. For in that case when 
 ^^piuruoa'' ^®^* North Africa was seen by European eyes five 
 became ccnturies aftcrwards, in the time of the Crusades, 
 omedans. ^j,^^^^ ^f ^ixed Europcan and Asiatic blood (Roman 
 and Arab) would have been apparent in many of the inhabi- 
 tants of that country. Mixed blood between different Euro- 
 pean races soon becomes obliterated; but mixed blood 
 between European and Asiatic races never becomes obliterated. 
 Though three hundred years have passed, the Eurasian com- 
 munity in India shows no slightest sign of becoming any less 
 patently non- Asiatic and yet at the same time patently non- 
 European. And exactly the same result would have fol- 
 lowed in North Africa had the Roman population survived 
 in the manner stated. 
 
 But a second and still stronger testimony on the point 
 is that which the very face of the land of North Africa has to 
 give in refutation of the charge made against this Christian 
 
 ^ As for instance the inscription on the rock at Constantine (see 
 Appendix XVI). 
 
 2 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, VI, 352. 
 
 ^ The Greek Word of opprobrium used by the Romans of the Later 
 Roman Empire, signifying to renounce the Christian rehgion and be- 
 come a Mahomedan. The primary meaning of magarizein is "to 
 cover the face with dung," its secondary meaning being that here 
 noted. It is a word only used in late Greek and not met with before 
 the 7th century, the time when the Mahomedan advance began. 
 
 MuM- 
 
 J 
 
CHAP. 
 
 xxv] 
 
 540 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE LAND 
 
 541 
 
 ! 
 
 I 
 
 community, who have so long been thus traduced. The 
 widespread fertility of that province depended upon one 
 thing, — ^water ; and for generations the most elaborate system 
 of water-channels to be seen anywhere in the world had been 
 maintained by the Roman population, by which system every 
 tiny stream that descended from the mountains was con- 
 served and made to supply its quota towards producing that 
 fertility. This was specially the case with regard to the 
 great grain-producing lands on the plateaux, ^ which lands 
 without these water-channels would at once have become 
 entirely waterless and barren. These water-channels re- 
 quired unremitting care to keep them in due working order ; 
 and that care was supplied, not by the Moors, which rough 
 mountainous race knew nothing of such matters, but by the 
 Roman population who owned these lands. Musa's exter- 
 mination of the whole of that population left the matter to 
 be thenceforth administered by the Arabs and the Moors. 
 The results continue to this day; wherever one looks in 
 North Africa ruined water-channels are the most prominent 
 feature. A recent writer, speaking of the " vestiges of what 
 were once opulent towns standing amidst profuse vegeta- 
 tion, and are now lonely ruins surroimded by desert," says : 
 ^-" The causes are the barrages and dams and aqueducts 
 which have gone to pieces, the supplies of water which have 
 been cut off, the wells which have silted up ; and the conse- 
 quent invasion of the desert sand." 2 Yet had the assertion 
 that the whole Christian community adopted the faith of 
 Islam been true there would have been no effects of this kind ; 
 far that community, however mmh its religion were changed, 
 would have continued as heretofore to till its lands and main- 
 tain its water-channels, and the condition of North Africa 
 in this respect would have remained unchanged. So that 
 North Africa itself refutes the dishonouring assertion made 
 against this Roman population, whose faithful deaths have 
 deserved a better record. 
 
 How forcibly the land of North Africa gives its unerring 
 testimony on the point is shown by the words of another 
 writer who, speaking of that country as it is to-day, says :— 
 
 1 Regarding the great fertility of these lands, see Ch. XVn, p. 80. 
 
 2 xa Tripolitaine d'Hier et de Demain, by M. de Mathuisieulx. 
 
 ** Where are now the three hundred cities that once acknow- 
 ledged the sovereignty of Carthage ? What has become of the 
 fat lands and cornfields of Byzacium, of Emporia, of Zeugitana ? 
 The most impressive relic of old Carthage is the ruined aqueduct 
 which once led a river of water into the city from hills fifty miles 
 distant. 1 Its ruined condition is perfectly typical of the fate 
 that has overtaken Africa. The collapse of the water-supply 
 and of irrigation has involved the sterilisation of hundreds of thou- 
 sands of acres. Along the confines of the western desert, in the 
 southern parts of Algeria and Tunisia, throughout the provinces 
 of Tripoli and Cjo-ene, and even to the mouths of the Nile, the 
 sand has everywhere overcome man's resistance and everywhere 
 has invaded and eaten away, in its noiseless stealthy fashion, as 
 moths eat old clothes, the cultivated land. ... To what is this 
 change due ? To the Arab. It came with his coming, and its 
 explanation lies in the character and temperament of his race. 
 . . . The volatility and restlessness which seem ingrained in the 
 very temperament of these children of the shifting sand render 
 it physically impossible for them to persevere beyond a certain 
 time in any accustomed round of tasks and duties. They were not 
 made for agricultural routine or the fixed laws of settled communi- 
 ties. These things weary them, and by and by the paraphernalia 
 of civilisation crumbles under their touch. Their cities become 
 nests of depredators or strongholds of pirates ; their aqueducts 
 and irrigation works dissolve in ruin ; their fields and groves wither 
 and languish. Babylonia and Sj^ia have the same tale to tell as 
 North Africa. Wherever the Arab settles anarchy creeps in. He 
 feeds, like ivy, on decay ; and to-day, of the many Asiatic and 
 African States that were prosperous before his coming, there is 
 not one but since that visitation has fallen to cureless ruin." 2 
 
 A third testimony is that of language. The Saracens 
 conquered Persia and forced the Persians to accept Ma- 
 homedanism ; yet the Persian language survived. They 
 occupied Spain for 800 years ; yet there large traces of the 
 Roman language remain. But in North Africa not a trace 
 of the Roman language has remained ; a conclusive proof of 
 the very different treatment suffered by the population in 
 the latter case. 
 
 ^ It did so up to the year 698, when it was destroyed, like so many 
 others, by the Mahomedans. 
 
 2 Article on " The Desert," by L. March PhiUipps, published in 1912. 
 Though the fertility of Spain was not so dependent upon water- 
 channels the same thing to a large extent would have taken place 
 there when the Mahomedans conquered that country had not an 
 altogether different policy been adopted, by which the original inhabi- 
 tants of the country were spared. See Chap. XXVI, p. 548. 
 
 
542 
 
 NORTH AFRICA 
 
 CHAP. XXV] 
 
 j< 
 
 North Africa Little, howevcr, did considerations of this kind 
 left a rum. |^J.Q^^J|e Musa when, two years before the death of 
 Justinian II (still engaged in vengeance), that Arab com- 
 mander at last reached Tangier. He had subdued North 
 Africa to Islam, the largest and most valuable conquest 
 which the Mahomedans had hitherto made, and one which 
 they had been fighting for 62 years to achieve. He was 
 conscious of how great a difference this conquest would 
 create in the whole position of the Mahomedan power, con- 
 verting the Mediterranean Sea henceforth to a large extent 
 into a Mahomedan lake, and furnishing that power with a 
 base from which to carry out the conquest of western 
 Europe. And as he gazed across the narrow straits of 
 Tangier he was only eager, like Okba, to press on to *' the 
 kingdoms of the West," and to slay with the sword all who 
 would not accept the faith propounded by Mahomed. But 
 behind him, in his victorious course of 1400 miles, he had 
 left North Africa a ruined land, drenched from end to end 
 in Christian blood. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 EAST— THE EMPERORS PHILIPPICUS, ANASTA- 
 SIUS II, THEODOSIUS III, AND LEO III. 
 
 WEST— CONQUEST OF SPAIN BY THE MAHOME- 
 DANS ; FRANCE ; ITALY ; AND ENGLAND. 
 
 711 — 740 
 
 UPON the death in 711 of Justinian II there was one 
 man already marked out by his ability, military 
 achievements, and strength of character as the fittest suc- 
 cessor to the throne of the Later Roman Empire, Leo the 
 Isaurian, the commander of the troops in the Anatolian 
 theme (Isauria, Phrygia, and Pisidia). It was however six 
 years before he was made emperor, and in the meantime 
 the throne was given by the Senate and the aristocratic 
 party to three emperors in succession, each of whom proved 
 his unfitness for the office and was deposed after reigning 
 two years. 
 
 Philippicus (711-713), who had been made em- 
 peror in the general revolt against Justinian, proved 
 a worthless sensualist. While he spent his time upon frivol- 
 ous amusements, in which he wasted large sums of money, 
 the Bulgarians under Terbel overran Thrace, and the Sara- 
 cens invaded Asia Minor, and in 713 the army deposed Philip- 
 picus, and blinded him. Whereupon Artemius, his chief 
 secretary, who took the name of Anastasius II, was chosen 
 by the Senate as emperor. 
 
 Anastasius II (713-715) guided the admmistra- 
 tion with judgement. Becoming aware after a 
 time that the Khalif Walid I was making extensive prepara- 
 
 543 
 
 Philippicus. 
 
 Anastasius II. 
 
 ! 
 
544 
 
 ANASTASIUS II 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 THEODOSIUS in 
 
 545 
 
 » 
 
 a. 
 
 i 
 
 The 
 
 Themes. 
 
 tions for another siege of Constantinople, he showed prompt- 
 ness and wisdom in the arrangements he made to resist it. 
 But he was unpopular with the army, and in 715 the troops 
 in the Opsikian theme marched to Chalcedon, chose an obscure 
 official named Theodosius as emperor, and deposed Anas- 
 tasius, who made no resistance and retired to live as a monk 
 at Thessalonica. 
 
 It has already been noted that the term " Theme " ^ 
 (as a province of the empire) was adopted when 
 Constans II reverted to the principle of giving the governor 
 of a province both military and civil functions, ^ in order to 
 increase the defensive power of the empire against the Sara- 
 cens. And as, owing to the constant invasions of the latter, 
 military afiFairs grew everywhere to be the primary considera- 
 tion, the whole empire had now become organized upon a 
 military basis. The word ** theme " itseK was a military 
 term, denoting what we should call in these days an Army 
 Corps. Such a body of troops was commanded by a " s.trate- 
 gos," or general-in-chief ; and this name also had now be- 
 come that used for the military governor of each of these 
 provinces under their new designation. The term " theme " 
 was applied both to the Army Corps and the district it de- 
 fended, while the corps-commander was also the governor 
 of the district. And while some of these themes had geo- 
 graphical names, others were named after the division of 
 the army quartered there. This is the origin of the name of 
 the most important of the themes in Asia Minor, the Opsikian 
 theme, so called because the Opsikion, or Imperial Guards, 
 were quartered in that district (the north-western part of 
 
 ^ The themes in Europe (that of North Africa being lost) were : — 
 Thrace, Greece, lUyricum, Sicily, and the Exarchate of Ravenna. The 
 most important of the themes in Asia Minor were : — 
 
 (i) The Opsikian theme, embracing the north-western part of Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 (ii) The Thracesian theme, the south-western part of that country. 
 
 (iii) The Anatolian theme, the central part. , 
 
 (iv) The Paphlagonian theme, the northern part. 
 
 (v) The Cappadocian theme, the eastern part. 
 
 (vi) The Cibyrean theme, the southern part (called after the town 
 of Cibyra). 
 
 (vii) The Seleucian theme, the south-eastern part. 
 
 2 Chap. XXV, p. 475. 
 
 Asia Minor) as being the nearest to the capital, Constantin- 
 ople. The Thracesian theme had also a military name, 
 being thus called because it was occupied by regiments 
 transferred from Thrace to Asia for service against the 
 Saracens. ^ 
 
 Theodosius III. ^^^^^^«i"« ™ (715-717), who when thus chosen 
 by the troops had fled to evade the honour pro- 
 posed for him, but had been brought back and forced by the 
 troops to accept it, proved a complete nonentity. And the 
 certainty universaUy felt that the vast armament which the 
 Saracens had been for two years preparing 2 would soon 
 besiege Constantinople at length caused both the Senate and 
 the army to depose Theodosius and elect the one man capable 
 of meeting such an attack, Leo the Isaurian. 
 
 The growing power of the aristocracy and the Senate through- 
 out the whole period from the time of Heraclius to that of 
 the election of Leo the Isaurian is very noticeable. It has 
 been pointed out by Professor Bury that a long struggle had 
 in fact ever since the time of Justinian I been going on be- 
 tween the throne and the aristocracy, the latter desiring to 
 Hmit the absolutism of the emperor. This opposition made 
 itself felt in the case of both Constans II and Constantine IV, 
 but these emperors were too strong to succumb to it. Jus- 
 tinian II, however, strong but tactless, was eventually crushed 
 by it. But no sooner did the aristocratic party gain this 
 victory than the faUacy of the anti-imperial policy became 
 exposed. Each successive representative of the aristocratic 
 party placed upon the throne ^ found himseH forced to aban- 
 don his aristocratic principles and become an autocrat if he 
 would not be a puppet. There ensued a rapid succession of 
 emperors, each in turn finding the same necessity, and the 
 result producing anarchy. And eventuaUy the absolute need 
 felt, in view of the increasing danger to Christendom of the 
 Mahomedan menace, of a man who would rule with a 
 
 1 For a learned investigation into the whole of the obscure subject 
 of the system of the Themes, see Bury's Later Roman Empire, 
 Vol. II, pp. 339-351. ^ 
 
 2 The death of Walid I in 715 delayed the preparations. They 
 were however renewed by his successor Sulaiman. 
 
 3 Leontius, Apsimar, Philippicus, and Anastasius. 
 
 E.W. — ^11, 
 
 $^ l^ 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. 
 
 546 
 
 SPAIN 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 BATTLE OF LAKE JANDA 
 
 547 
 
 strong hand, forced the Senate, the army, and the people 
 to unite in choosing such a man in the person of Leo the 
 Isaurian. 
 
 In Spain during the 110 years since the death in 
 ^^n^u^est" 601 of Reccared I ^ the strength of the Visigoths 
 of Spain, j^^^ steadily declined. A period of fierce civil 
 wars, with much mutual slaughter among the nobles, had first 
 taken place, which reached its climax under the ruthless old 
 king Kindaswintha (642-653). Originally one of the nobles, 
 he at the age of seventy-nine seized the throne, and proceeded 
 to carry out a slaughter such as might have been executed 
 by an Amir of Affghanistan anxious to destroy all possible 
 rivals, Kindaswintha putting to death in the first year of his 
 reign about 700 persons, the greater part of them nobles. 
 This period of exhausting conflict had been succeeded by fifty 
 years of complete degeneracy in the powerful Visigoth no- 
 bility. Slumbering in a long peace, given up to luxury and 
 effeminacy, and abandoning the exercise of arms, these de- 
 generate lords of Spain had become at the end of the 7th 
 century difficult to recognize as the descendants of those 
 Visigoths who had swept into Italy under Alaric, and had 
 ravaged Rome's rich territories from the Danube to the 
 Atlantic. Nevertheless Roderic, the Visigoth king, at his 
 luxurious court at Toledo could scarcely believe the report 
 when early in 711 he heard that a presumptuous band of 
 Moors had dared to invade the southern part of his 
 
 kingdom. 
 
 Musa on reaching Tangier after his conquest of North Africa 
 did not delay long before making plans for an advance into 
 those " kingdoms of the West " which his eager spu-it yearned 
 to conquer. In April 711 he sent an advanced force of 5000 
 men across the straits into Spain ; and in accordance with 
 the usual Mahomedan custom which made the latest con- 
 verts take the lead in the next contest, this force was entirely 
 composed of Moors. It was led by Tarik, who has given his 
 name to the place where he landed, Gebel Tarik (Gibraltar). 
 
 Chap. XXIII, p. 352. 
 
 Quickly advancing, and overcoming all opposition, he soon 
 reached the vicinity of Cadiz. 
 
 Upon hearing of this invasion the Visigoth king, Roderic, 
 summoned the dukes, counts, bishops, and nobles, with their 
 feudal retainers, and marched southwards to oppose this 
 invader who had presumed to desecrate the sacred soil of 
 Spain. Roderic's army, very variously composed, is stated 
 by some of the Arab writers to have numbered 70,000 and 
 by others 40,000 ; in any case it amounted to at least double 
 that of Tarik, whose force had in the meantime been aug- 
 mented by reinforcements from Africa, bringing it up to 
 about 20,000 men. The fate of Spain was decided in a single 
 battle, fought in July 711 at Lake Janda, near Cadiz. But 
 as we are told that the Visigoth king appeared upon the field 
 of battle reclining in a car of ivory drawn by two white mules 
 and dressed in gold-embroidered silken robes, with a diadem 
 of pearls on his head, the issue was scarcely doubtful. Tarik 
 was completely victorious. Roderic, abandoning his car, 
 and mounting his horse Orelia, fled from the field, but was 
 drowned in the Guadalquiver ; and Tarik, rapidly pursuing 
 the flying Visigoths, was soon in possession of Granada, Cor- 
 dova, and ere long of Toledo. 
 
 Musa on receiving intelligence of this rapid success began 
 to fear lest his lieutenant might win all the glory. In the 
 spring of 712 he crossed the straits with another army of 
 about 30,000 men, and advancing northwards besieged and 
 took in succession Seville (which stood a siege of several 
 months), Merida (which also offered a stout resistance), and 
 other cities believed by the Visigoths to be impregnable which 
 Tarik had left unattacked in his rapid dash upon Toledo. 
 At Seville, 1 Merida, and elsewhere Musa was astonished at 
 the magnificent Roman aqueducts, bridges, triumphal arches, 
 and other buildings testifying to the former greatness of Rome. 
 Near Toledo he was met by Tarik 2 and conducted by him 
 to the palace of the Visigoth kings ; and by the middle of the 
 year 713 almost the whole of Spain was in the hands of the 
 
 ^ Seville had been the centre of government in the time of the Roman 
 rule of Spain. 
 
 2 Tarik was shortly afterwards disgraced by Musa, and deprived 
 of his command. 
 
 1 
 
CHAP. 
 
 548 
 
 SPAIN 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 Mahomedans.i Those of the Visigoths who refused to sub- 
 mit to the conqueror were driven into the northern part of 
 Spain, chiefly into Gallicia and Asturias, and the Saracen 2 
 capital was established at Cordova. 
 
 Upon this conquest of Spain being effected the 
 New poucy ^^^ rcligious poUcy previously mentioned ^ was 
 iiT Sprain, brought into force in that country, toleration 
 being granted to Christians on payment of an annual tribute, 
 and that alternative being readily accepted by the Spanish 
 Christians. There were two reasons for this. In the first 
 place suspicions regarding Musa's loyalty were abeady being 
 entertained at Damascus, a letter of recall had been des- 
 patched to him by the Khalif WaUd I, and Musa, bemg anxious 
 to pacify Spain as quickly as possible, adopted a temperate 
 course in all his measures in that country. In the second 
 place the Spanish Christians did not possess the stem and 
 courageous character exhibited by the North African Chris- 
 tians, while they were much divided among themselves, the 
 Spanish population (a mixed race, partly of Roman, partly 
 of Suevic, and partly of Visigoth descent) having a strong 
 hatred for the imperious Visigoth nobility. Thus everything 
 combined to make the pacification of Spain go smoothly, 
 and in a very short time that country settled down peaceably 
 under the Mahomedan rule. 
 
 This different treatment of Spain from that which had 
 been pursued in North Africa had very important results to 
 the former country, the effects of which to a large extent 
 remain to this day. The indigenous population of Spain 
 was by this means preserved, instead of being slaughtered as 
 in North Africa. The consequence was that instead of the 
 
 1 It is in these days sometimes asserted that the actual conqueror 
 of Spain was Tarik, and not Musa. But a study of the case from a 
 mihtary point of view shows that the older view is correct, and that 
 Tarik acted in the capacity of the commander of an advanced guard, 
 the heavier work of subduing Spain being accomplished by Musa. 
 
 2 In the East the Arabs were generally known by the name of Sara- 
 cens, in the West by that of Moors. As they arrived in Spain from 
 Mauretania, and as the first party were composed of Moors, the Spanish 
 chroniclers gave this name to the whole of the new conquerors of 
 Spain, and this name, notwithstanding its inaccuracy, has adhered 
 to them in Spain and the West, ^ Chap. XXV, p, 473, 
 
 CONQUESTS IN INDIA 
 
 549 
 
 results which have been noted in the case of Babylonia, Syria, 
 and North Africa, ^ Spain was not rendered a bare and un- 
 fertile land, and remains as the one example of a country 
 conquered by the Mahomedans where this result was not 
 produced. 
 
 Death Having thus satisfactorily subdued Spain, Musa 
 of Musa. towards the end of 714 departed to return to 
 Damascus as commanded, leaving his son Abdul Aziz as his 
 Vali (or lieutenant) at Cordova. 2 Travelling by land, he 
 passed slowly through North Africa, Egypt, and Palestine, 
 travelling in a princely style,^ and conveying with him many 
 valuable treasures as the result of his conquests of so many 
 rich lands. He reached Damascus in 715, found a new Khalif, 
 Sulaiman, in power, and was by him deprived of his office 
 and disgraced ; his son Abdul Aziz was soon afterwards assas- 
 sinated at Cordova, and in 716 Musa, who had had a 
 career of such glory, died at Mecca of a broken heart. 
 Mahomedan "^^^ Mahomcdaus duriug these years while they 
 victories had been subduing Spain had also extended their 
 
 in India. " ■*■ 
 
 conquests to India. Walid I (the predecessor of 
 Sulaiman) followed up what Omar had begun,* and between 
 the years 708 and 715 not only entirely conquered Scinde, 
 but advanced in a victorious career right into the centre of 
 northern India. The widespread dominion and ceaseless 
 energy of the Mahomedans is realized when we note that 
 at one and the same time they were subduing Spain, fighting 
 against the Later Roman Empire on the borders of Asia Minor, 
 extending their conquests to the east of Persia, and carrying 
 their victorious arms to the banks of the Ganges. 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 641. 
 
 2 As the conquests of the Mahomedans extended. Emirs (or vice- 
 roys of the KhaUf) were appointed to govern the different portions 
 of their widespread dominions. One had previously been appointed 
 for Persia, having his capital at Kufa (Bagdad), one for Egypt, hav- 
 ing his capital at Cairo, and one for North Africa, having his capital at 
 Kairowan, and in 717 one was appointed for Spain, having his capital 
 at Cordova. 
 
 2 Documents in the British Miiseum contain details of the heavy 
 expenses of supplying his nimierous retinue with food during the halt 
 that on the way he made in Egypt. * Chap. XXIV, p. 451. 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 550 
 
 LEO III 
 
 BATTLES BY SEA AND LAND 
 
 551 
 
 if 
 
 ^ 
 
 Leo III (717-740), better known as Leo the Icono- 
 ^ "^' clast, was forty-seven years old when he was chosen 
 by the united voice of Senate, army, and people as emperor. 
 He belonged to that brave and manly Isanrian race which 
 had so troubled the empire in the 5th century, ^ but which 
 now supplied to it a much needed deliverer and reformer of 
 its administration. As commander in the central portion of 
 Asia Minor Leo had for some years kept at bay the Saracen 
 general Moslemah, the brother of the Khalif Sulaiman, and 
 it was well known that his first work would be to meet the 
 great attack upon Constantinople which the Saracens had 
 long been preparing. His reign, like that of Constantine IV, 
 is notable for three important events, the great siege of Con- 
 stantinople in 717-718 which he successfully repulsed, his 
 important reform of the entire administration by which he 
 regenerated the empire, and his inauguration of that Icono- 
 clastic conflict which for more than a century afterwards 
 governed all politics both in East and West. 
 
 On the 25th March 717 Leo III entered Constanti- 
 orcontfn- nople in state by the Golden Gate. He had four 
 tinopie. months to prepare for the Saracen attack. This 
 was on an even more formidable scale than that made by 
 Muawiyah I in 672-677. In July Moslemah with an army of 
 80,000 men marched through Cilicia, Pisidia, Lydia and Mysia, 
 crossed the Hellespont at Abydos, advanced up the west 
 coast of the Sea of Marmora, and on the 15th August invested 
 Constantinople on the land side, surrounding it with a breast- 
 work and a ditch. Sixteen days later, on the 1st September, 
 the Saracen admiral Sulaiman arrived with a fleet of 1800 
 warships and transports, with which he proceeded to blockade 
 both the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus. As the portion 
 of this fleet allotted to the latter duty was proceeding north- 
 wards to its destination Leo sallied forth from the harbour 
 in the Golden Horn with a part of his fleet imder his own 
 personal command, and attacking the rearmost portion of 
 the enemy's long line of ships entering the Bosphorus, burnt 
 with the ** Romaic fire" twenty of the larger vessels (each 
 carrying 100 soldiers), causing great consternation among 
 
 1 Chap. XX, pp. 158-169. 
 
 the Saracens at the destruction wrought by this " moist 
 fire." The admiral Sulaiman died a month later. 
 
 There followed a long and imusually severe winter, during 
 which the efforts of the besieging army were greatly ham- 
 pered by the heavy snow and frost, while in their open camps 
 they naturally suffered much more severely from the cold 
 than the besieged, and they lost large numbers of men. The 
 ground was entirely covered with snow for more than three 
 months, supplies were scarce, and the camels and horses of 
 the besieging army died by thousands. The besieged suf- 
 fered no such scarcity, Leo III as a part of his preparations 
 for the defence of the city having ordered each family to lay 
 in a store of com sufficient for two years' consumption. In 
 the spring large reinforcements to the Saracens arrived from 
 Egypt under Sophiam, who brought additional ships, men, 
 arms, and food ; and this was followed by another large arma- 
 ment from North Africa under Yezid. Afraid of the deadly 
 " Romaic fire " these reinforcements moored at different 
 harbours on the Bithynian coast ; but Leo sent by night 
 vessels fitted with appliances for hurling the " Romaic fire," 
 which burnt ship after ship of the enemy's transports and 
 spread terror into their forces. Soon afterwards a fourth army, 
 under Merdasan, traversing Cappadocia and Phrygia arrived 
 in the vicinity of Nicomedia, and from thence, hovering on 
 the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus, 
 prevented the Roman boats from collecting supplies along 
 the Asiatic coast. But Leo secretly caused a small force 
 collected in Asia Minor to surprise Merdasan's troops from the 
 rear, and they were completely routed. 
 
 Defeat Mcauwhilc the immense Saracen host began to 
 of the suffer severely from famine, followed as usual bv 
 
 Mahomedans. ., ^ '' 
 
 pestilence. Leo making an aUiance with the Bul- 
 garians induced the latter to advance upon the rear of the 
 Saracen army surrounding the western side of the city. The 
 Bulgarians attacked the Saracens vigorously, and according 
 to the Arab writers slew 22,000 of them. This was a final 
 blow, and on the 15th August 718 the shattered remnants 
 of the once mighty Saracen armada abandoned the siege 
 and retired repulsed. The remnant of their army succeeded 
 in reaching Syria in safety, but their fleet as it sailed down the 
 
652 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 WORK OF REGENERATION 
 
 553 
 
 Hellespont suffered severely in a storm, and then was entirely 
 destroyed in a still more severe storm which it encountered 
 in the ^Egean Sea, all but ten vessels foundering or being 
 driven upon the rocks ; of these ten vessels five were captured 
 by the Roman fleet, and out of the vast Saracen fleet which 
 from first to last had entered the waters round Constantinople 
 only five vessels survived to reach Syria. Thus ended a 
 twelve months' strenuous contest in which the Saracens had 
 put forth their whole power. And while the circumstances 
 had greatly assisted him, the chief part of this victory had 
 been due to the energy, courage, and military ability of the 
 great Isaurian emperor. 
 „- ^ This total defeat of the immense effort made by 
 
 Effect upon •^ 
 
 omeyyad the Khalifs Sulaiman and Omar II ^ was even more 
 ^^^^' important to Christendom than the similar defeat 
 dealt to that made by the Khalif Muawiyah I in 677. The 
 Saracen empire was more extensive and powerful in the time 
 of Leo III than it had been in that of Constantine IV, and 
 the armaments gathered against Constantinople on this occa- 
 sion were on a considerably larger scale. And though desul- 
 tory invasions of Asia Minor began again in 726, and were 
 repeated in subsequent years, the Omeyyad dynasty of Khalifs, 
 founded by Muawiyah I, never recovered the effects of 
 this great defeat ; the power of that dynasty thenceforth 
 declined, and within the next thirty years came to an end, 
 except in their recently acquired dominion of Spain. Hence 
 this date of 718 marks an important stage in the long con- 
 flict maintained by the Later Roman Empire against the 
 Mahomedan power.* 
 
 Birth of Just at the time that Leo III had the joy of seeing 
 
 a son. ^jjQ shattered remnant of the defeated Saracen 
 
 fleet sailing past down the Bosphorus in flight, another event 
 
 ^ The Khalif Sulaiman died in 717 and was succeeded by Omar II. 
 The latter was followed after only three years by Yezid II (720), who 
 also only reigned for four years, and was succeeded in 724 by the Khalif 
 Hischam (724-743). 
 
 * Professor Oman considers that this victory had an even greater 
 effect in delivering Europe from the Mahomedan danger than that of 
 Charles Martel at Poictiers fourteen yeetrs later (Omsui's Byzantine 
 Empire, p. 187). 
 
 came to increase his happiness, his wife Maria bearing him 
 a son, Constantine, afterwards Constantine V, and destined 
 in his turn to win renown against the foes of the empire. The 
 boy was baptized on Christmas Day 718 by Germanus, the 
 Pope of Constantinople, Maria being at the same time crowned 
 as Augusta ; and we are told that as she returned from the 
 ceremony the new empress scattered gold Uberally among the 
 crowd from the cathedral to the gate of the imperial palace. ^ 
 About the same time Leo gave his daughter Anna 2 in mar- 
 riage to the general Artavasdos (who had supported him 
 during the short reign of Theodosius III), and made him 
 general of the Opsikian theme, the most desired of all the 
 commands. 
 
 Regeneration The great Saraccu attack having been successfully 
 of the empire, pepulscd, and a revolt in Sicily (718), and a con- 
 spiracy at Thessalonica (719), having been promptly put down 
 and the ringleaders executed, Leo III in 720 began that which 
 was the chief work of his life. The celebrated conflict raised 
 by his subsequent action in religious matters has obscured 
 the much more permanent work which Leo III performed in 
 carrying out a thorough regeneration of the empire, and 
 creating a more robust tone by his administrative reforms 
 and the modifications he introduced into the laws. The 
 ignorance, lack of culture, intellectual weakness, dissoluteness, 
 and superstition which had crept in during the 6th and 7th 
 centuries have already been once or twice alluded to, and the 
 effects had penetrated into every department of public and 
 private life, producing a universal tendency towards decay. 
 Leo's reforms were intended to bring about a general regenera- 
 tion ; and they succeeded in having that effect. More com- 
 pletely than Tiberius II ^ may Leo III be regarded as the 
 founder of a new era of the Later Roman Empire. The vigour 
 which by his far-sighted and radical reforms, — administra- 
 tive, military, and social, — he infused into the empire gave 
 it a new lease of life. 
 
 1 See Plan (Appendix XIX). 
 
 2 Leo Ill's daughter Anna, at this time about sixteen, does not 
 appear to Iiave been the daughter of the empress Maria. 
 
 3 Chap. XXIII, p. 337. 
 
 I 
 
 i' 
 
CHAP. 
 
 ^ 
 h 
 
 554 
 
 LEO III 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 ^3., , The condition of the people of the Later Roman 
 
 Condition of £. -^ .i i 
 
 empire at Empire when Leo III became emperor, though 
 his accession. ^^^ superior to the lot of those Roman inhabitants 
 of the unhappy provinces which once had formed the western 
 haK of the Roman Empire and had succumbed to Teuton 
 conquerors, was nevertheless little short of deplorable. The 
 greater part of Illyricum and the Balkan provinces had been 
 given up almost entirely to various communities of Sclavs, ^ 
 who oppressed the few remaining Roman inhabitants at 
 every opportunity ; large colonies of Sclavs had also been 
 planted in Bithynia, as well as in Macedonia and Greece ; the 
 Bulgarians from time to time plundered Thrace almost up 
 to the walls of Constantinople ; and the provinces of Asia 
 Minor were repeatedly harried by the Saracens. The turmoil 
 of the evil reign of Justinian II and the commotions which 
 succeeded it had kept the empire in a state bordering upon 
 anarchy for twenty-one years, during which time six emperors 
 in succession had been dethroned. ^ Owing to these circum- 
 stances the condition of the population of the empire, which 
 included many different races — Romans, Greeks, Armenians, 
 Isaurians, Phrygians, Sjrrians, and others — had been rendered 
 almost intolerable. Agriculture had become well nigh im- 
 possible, commerce was greatly hampered, and a general 
 lethargy had everywhere supervened. It was to the rule of 
 an empire in this condition that Leo III was called. In 
 twenty-three years of strenuous work the change which he 
 effected was marvellous. He reorganized the whole body, 
 political, military, and social, so completely that the symp- 
 toms of decay were swept away, order took the place of dis- 
 order, prosperity returned, the population revived from 
 lethargy, the increased strength of the government enabled 
 it ere long to drive the intruders from its territories, and such 
 a fundamental increase of vigour was infused into the empire 
 that it outlived by many centuries every government which 
 had been contemporary with it in the time of Leo III. 
 
 A general During the years 720-726 Leo III reformed every 
 restoration, b^anch of the administration, raised again to 
 
 ^ Chap. XXIV, p. 448. 
 
 * Leontius, Apsimar, Justinian II, Philippicus, Anastasius II, and 
 Theodosius III. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 FAR-REACHING REFORMS 
 
 555 
 
 strictness the relaxed discipline of the army and increased its 
 efficiency, swept away evils in the administration of justice, 
 reformed the police arrangements, remodelled the financial 
 administration of the empire, and introduced measures to 
 protect its commercial interests. Lastly, the Roman laws 
 codified by Justinian I being in Latin, and that language 
 being no longer imderstood by the officials who had to admin- 
 ister the law, Leo began the preparation in Greek of a selec- 
 tion ^ for ordinary use of all the most important laws on the 
 chief concerns of life, with additions and modifications bring- 
 ing them into accord with altered conditions. This important 
 Code took about fifteen years to complete ; when it was 
 published in 740 it was accompanied by three subsidiary 
 codes containing the regulations governing military, agri- 
 cultural, and maritime affairs, of which the two latter have 
 attained great importance. ^ And all this was done by a man 
 who had from his earliest youth been a soldier, and who until 
 he became emperor had been occupied aU his life with military, 
 rather than with civil, affairs. 
 
 Even in the domain of literature the effect of the reforms 
 of Leo III is to be seen. The 7th century, the most illiterate 
 of all centuries in the West, is also the darkest of all centuries 
 in the East, literature appearing to be absolutely dead at the 
 time of the accession of Leo III. But the vigour which he 
 breathed into every department of administrative and social 
 life had the same effect in the domain of literature, which 
 now began to revive. 
 
 The war "^^^ ^^ ^^^ considcrcd that this great work of 
 against regeneration of the empire would not be complete 
 unless he attacked what appeared to be the chief 
 root of many of the evils of the age, the gross superstition 
 prevailing in religion. Accordingly, eight years after he 
 became emperor, he entered upon a war against rehgious pic- 
 tures, icons,^ images, and other things of a similar character, 
 a war which has earned for him the name of " the Icono- 
 clast," and which, continued by his son and grandson, raised 
 
 1 See p. 682. 2 Page 583. 
 
 ^ Sacred pictures in relief, partaking of the character both of a 
 
 picture and an image ; they are to be seen everywhere in Russia at 
 the present day. 
 
 i 
 
CHAP. 
 
 556 
 
 LEO III 
 
 r n 
 
 n. 
 
 I 
 
 a bitter conflict lasting more than a hundred years, and affect- 
 ing all political events in both East and West. 
 
 Opposite opinions have ever been held, and wiQ 
 opinions on cvcF be hcM, regarding the Iconoclastic movement 
 the matter inaugurated by Leo III. The opinion held will 
 be determined, not by learning, scholarship, or wisdom, 
 but solely by the mental attitude in regard to religious 
 matters natural to the person concerned (a mental attitude 
 which is due to temperament), the most scholarly and the 
 most ignorant being on a par as regards this question. 
 Those whose temperament inclines them either to unbelief 
 or to a dislike of outward forms in religion, and to a disin- 
 clination to acquire knowledge on such matters, will approve 
 of the Iconoclastic policy ; those whose temperament inclines 
 them to acquire a knowledge on the subject which enables 
 them to see beyond the outward form, and to value it for 
 what it symbolizes, wiU disapprove of that policy. Neither 
 side has any right to look down upon the other, or to imagine 
 that it has a monopoly of spiritual enlightenment, or possesses 
 a superiority of wisdom.^ It is solely a matter of the general 
 mental attitude on such subjects natural to the temperament 
 of the person concerned. 
 
 Leo Ill's S^t; whatever opinion the general mental attitude 
 methods wrong, ^f qq^q\^ pcrsou upon rcHgious matters leads him 
 to hold regarding the rightness or wrongness of Leo Ill's 
 Iconoclastic policy, it will probably be admitted by most 
 people that his methods were wrong. A deservedly 
 honoured historian who has lately passed away,^ himself 
 by religion a member of the Society of Friends, and there- 
 
 1 This is a point which specially requires to be borne in mind at 
 the present day. For nothing is more marked in these days than the 
 inveterate habit of the rationalistic mind to imagine that it has a 
 monopoly of wisdom, and that those who hold an opposite view to 
 its own do so because they have less brains ; a habit of mind which is 
 certain entirely to mislead those who give way to it. No man is fit 
 to teach others, on any subject, who does not recognize, habitually, 
 that the pcurticular school of thought to which he belongs has no 
 monopoly of wisdom, that the other side is equally well equipped with 
 brains, that a superiority of knowledge on the particular subject is at 
 most all that he can claim, and that there is always the possibility that 
 his side may be wrong and the opposite side right. 
 
 « Dr. Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. Died 2nd March 1913. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 GROWTH OF SUPERSTITION 
 
 557 
 
 fore having no sympathy with that inordinate adoration of 
 religious pictures and images against which Leo III waged 
 this war, speaking of Leo's methods, has said as follows : — 
 " Undoubtedly there are times in the history of the world 
 when the holiest and most necessary work that can be per- 
 formed is that of the Iconoclast. . . . But even in perform- 
 ing it one who enters upon such work must remember and 
 allow for the love and reverence which for generations have 
 clustered round certain forms or words against which it may 
 be his duty to wage war ; and he will, if he is wise, gently 
 loosen the grasp of faith, rather than with ruthless hand break 
 both the worshipped image and the heart of the worshipper." i 
 Golden words. An infinite mass of misery to mankind, and 
 damage to the cause of religion, would have been avoided if 
 in all ages Puritanism when in power had been guided by such 
 principles. Not however that the Iconoclasts can be cor- 
 rectly styled Puritans. They considered that many of the 
 things which the monks inveighed against as pomps and 
 vanities were perfectly harmless and legitimate. The Icono- 
 clasts were the opponents, not of luxury and splendour, but of 
 austerity, credulity, and superstition. 
 
 stages in the "^^^ ^8^ ^^^ ^^® ^ which the grossest superstition 
 growth of and credulity were rampant, and a reform in this 
 
 superstition. j i 
 
 respect was greatly required. The chief stages 
 in the growth of the reverence paid to religious emblems, 
 pictures, and images, until it became excessive and harmful, 
 were as follows : — 
 
 (i) In the 2nd century, we find even the austere Tertullian 
 recording with approval the universal use among 
 Christians of the sign of the Cross, 
 (ii) In the 3rd century, during the age of persecution, the 
 Catacombs show everywhere representations of the 
 Cross, the Good Shepherd, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the 
 Lamb, the Fisherman, and the Fish (all emblems 
 of Christ), as well as other emblems representing the 
 Christian Church, such as the Ship, or the life of the 
 Christian, such as the Phoenix, the Dove, and the 
 Lyre. 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 
 1 Hodgkin, Itali^ and her Invaders, VI, 433 (First Edition), 
 
CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 558 
 
 LEO III 
 
 THE WAR AGAINST IMAGES 
 
 559 
 
 1 
 
 (iii) Early in the 4th century, in the time of Constantine, 
 we find for the first time likenesses of Christ ; also 
 pictures of Bible scenes beginning to be placed in the 
 churches. 
 
 (iv) By the middle of the 4th century the reverence for 
 religious pictures is shown to be well established. 
 Thus Basil of Csesarea says : — " I receive also the 
 Son of God and the holy Mary, and also the holy 
 Apostles, and Prophets, and Martyrs. Their like- 
 nesses I revere and kiss with homage, for they are 
 handed down from the holy Apostles, and are not 
 forbidden, but on the contrary are painted in all our 
 churches." (N.B. — This does not overstep the line 
 between a worthy reverence and an unworthy super- 
 stition ; the lover who kisses the letter written to 
 him by his love does not worship it.) 
 
 (v) It is from the 5th century onwards that that which 
 had hitherto been a just and worthy reverence begins 
 to change into superstition. In that century, con- 
 temporaneously with the general decline of the empire 
 and the loss of learning and culture, there begins an 
 ignorant credulity which rapidly developed legends 
 of all kinds (including legends of miraculous pictures 
 of Christ), while miraculous relics of various sorts 
 begin to be vehicles for a degrading superstition. 
 
 (vi) In the 6th century this credulity and superstition had 
 still further increased, as is to be seen in the letters 
 of Gregory the Great, who himself was imbued with 
 it as strongly as all others. 
 
 (vii) In the 7th century, in the time of the emperor Hera- 
 clius, we find on all sides indications of the still greater 
 dimensions to which superstition had grown, especi- 
 ally among the monks. 
 
 (viii) Lastly in the 8th century there was no limit to the 
 preposterous lengths to which superstition had at- 
 tained. Images of saints were dressed in linen and 
 made to stand sponsors for children at baptism. The 
 hair cut off from the heads of monks when they re- 
 ceived the tonsure was made to fall into the lap of 
 
 some saint's image. The bread of the Holy Com- 
 munion was placed in the hands of a saint's image 
 to be received from thence by the communicant. 
 And in some cases even the paint was scraped off 
 from the image of a saint and mixed with the bread 
 of the Holy Communipn. 
 First action in But though Sb rcf orm was urgently needed, such a 
 the contest, rcform, to be of any permanent benefit, needed 
 to be attained by far different means from those which Leo III 
 adopted. In the year 725 the latter began to move in the 
 matter, the statement of Theophanes being that in that year 
 "the irreligious emperor first began to stir the question of 
 the destruction of the holy and venerable images " ; and 
 ere long, moved by what he considered a portent conveyed 
 by the eruption of a volcano near the island of Thera, Leo 
 in 726 issued an imperial edict ordering the wholesale des- 
 truction of all religious pictures, icons, and images. ^ This 
 edict he at once began to enforce with a brutal disregard 
 for the feelings of his subjects, proceeding to stamp out all 
 opposition with the utmost severity. An example of the 
 scenes which took place all over the empire is furnished by 
 one incident which occurred at Constantinople. Over the 
 principal gateway of the imperial palace was a much revered 
 statue of Christ. A soldier of the imperial guard ascended 
 a ladder and began to destroy it. Some women cried out 
 to him to desist from such sacrilegious work, but in vain, 
 and the hatchet fell upon the revered face. Thereupon, 
 wild with indignation, the women shook the ladder, and the 
 soldier fell to the ground, being seriously hurt by the fall, 
 and as he still breathed, the women stabbed him to death. 
 A widespread riot followed, which was suppressed by execu- 
 tions, banishments, and mutilations of the women concerned 
 and of those who had shown sympathy with them. 
 
 Insurrection ^^ .^.^® ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ SUbjCCt COnUCCtcd with 
 
 raised in rcllgion a reform carried out on these lines could fail 
 to produce formidable troubles. The first of these 
 
 1 It is a curious example of how illogical men's minds often are 
 upon such subjects that the emperor who was beginning a war against 
 superstition should have begim his action in consequence of what he 
 considered a portent. 
 
560 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAp. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 OPPOSITION IN ITALY 
 
 occurred in Greece, which country promptly burst into furious 
 insurrection. A rival emperor, named Cosmas, was elected 
 by the insurgents, a large fleet was prepared, and on the 
 18th April 727 the Greek insurgents arrived before Constan- 
 tinople. But the " Romaic fire " was again brought into 
 play, the Greek fleet was destroyed, Cosmas and one of his 
 two generals were captured and beheaded (his other general 
 Agallianus being drowned in the battle), and the insurrection 
 was put down. But a rising tide of revolt against the em- 
 peror's authority, created by this ill-advised way of treating 
 such a question, began to permeate the empire. 
 - . , Having defeated this insurrection Leo turned 
 
 Suppression of o 
 
 thecouegeof his attcutiou to the educational establishments. 
 These, as was to be expected, were strongly op- 
 posed to his Iconoclastic policy, and they were one after 
 another suppressed, Theophanes declaring that Leo put an 
 end to a system of education which had prevailed since the 
 time of Constantine the Great. Specially notable among 
 these educational institutions was the college in Constantin- 
 ople situated near the cathedral of St. Sophia. At its head 
 was a provost or master, assisted by twelve of the most learned 
 men of the time, and the college had a high reputation in 
 Constantinople. Leo, feeling the advantage of gaining over 
 to his side in the conflict the representatives of learning and 
 education, endeavoured to bring this college to his views. 
 But as might be expected with any university composed of 
 learned men, a policy of Iconoclasm failed to commend itself 
 to them, and he failed entirely. Thereupon he suppressed 
 this honoured institution, ^ removed its valuable library to 
 the imperial palace, and one writer declares burnt down the 
 college buildings. 
 
 storm raised Meauwhile thc Iconoclastic edict had raised a 
 in Italy, perfect storm in Italy. Owing apparently to some 
 fresh taxation which had been imposed upon the Church in 
 Italy, and to which the Exarch of Ravenna had been ordered 
 to enforce comphance, the Exarch and the Pope of Rome, 
 Gregory II, were already at war, when in 727 the emperor's 
 
 * An act not unlike suppressing the University of Oxford or 
 Cambridge in the present day. 
 
 561 
 
 edict regarding the destruction of aU religious pictures and 
 images, which edict the Exarch was also ordered to enforce, 
 came to add fuel to the flames. The Church in Italy abso- 
 lutely refused to obey the edict, which was declared to be 
 " a new impiety " which had arisen ; plots on the part of 
 the Exarch to murder Gregory II were met by the stirring up 
 of revolutions against the Exarch ; aU the cities of the exarch- 
 ate rebelled, each choosing a duke for itself ; a proposal was 
 even made to elect a rival emperor and escort him to Con- 
 stantinople ; and Exhflaratus, governor of Naples, who tried 
 to enforce the edict, was kiUed by the people. Gregory II, 
 after holding a synod which unanimously condemned Icono- 
 clasm, wrote to the emperor solemnly warning him against 
 interfering in sacred things ; whereupon Leo sent orders to 
 the Exarch to seize Gregory and deport him to Constantin- 
 ople. But the Exarch was in no position to carry out the 
 order, the whole of his territory being in revolt, while Liut- 
 prand, king of the Lombards, sympathised with Gregory II 
 and all who were opposed to the emperor. 
 
 While the anarchy thus created continued throughout all 
 that part of Italy which stiU belonged to the empire, the most 
 learned man of the time, John of Damascus, pubhshed in the 
 year 727 a powerful oration against the Iconoclastic policy, 
 and asserted that the emperor had no right to interfere in a 
 question of religion. He foUowed this up with a second 
 equally strong oration of the same kind, pubhshed in 728. 
 And these two orations much strengthened the hands of all 
 those who were fighting against Iconoclasm. 
 Endeavour Lco III was Still as determined as ever to continue 
 G^r4°anus ^^^ Icouoclastic pohcy, but whether because he 
 to agree, thought to rcducc the turmoil by means of the 
 authoritative decision of a council representing different 
 classes of the community, or with a view to obtaining ad- 
 vice to assist him to attain his object by other means 
 than those hitherto employed, he on the 7th January 729 
 assembled at Constantinople a more or less representative 
 conclave, which perhaps may have received the name given 
 to it of a Silentium under some idea that it was to sflence all 
 further opposition. Leo had naturaUy from the first been 
 most anxious to obtain the assistance of ecclesiastical authority 
 
 ]S,W.— JI, 
 
 
 
CHAP. 
 
 562 
 
 LEO III 
 
 1 
 
 to support him in this struggle, and thereby to overawe by 
 the weight of the highest authorities in the Church all those 
 who were opposing his religious policy. And the friendly 
 terms upon which, up to the year 725, he had been with Ger- 
 manus, the aged Pope of Constantinople, a man greatly rever- 
 enced by all, had led him to hope that in time he would achieve 
 this. But in regard to the two Popes who now remained 
 where formerly there had been five, one, the Pope of Rome, 
 had opposed his policy with the utmost determination, and 
 with the other, the Pope of Constantinople, Leo had been 
 pleading for four years without avail, Germanus (now ninety 
 years old) being as resolutely opposed to Iconoclasm as 
 
 Gregory II. 
 
 At this conclave Leo III made a final appeal to Germanus 
 to lend the weight of his authority towards the destruction 
 of rehgious pictures, icons, and images. But Germanus, 
 instead of acceding, in solemn and pathetic words resigned 
 his office. " I am Jonah," said the aged Pope, " cast me 
 into the sea. But know, O Emperor, that without a General 
 Council thou canst not make any innovations in religion." ^ 
 He was, of course, absolutely right ; and this had been Leo's 
 mistake from the first. It was one which the cases of Jus- 
 tinian I 2 and Heraclius ^ should have taught him to avoid. 
 It might, no doubt, have been difficult to persuade a General 
 Council to promulgate canons embodying the reform he was 
 anxious to see carried out, or he might have had to be 
 satisfied with a modified programme, but unless he could 
 thus persuade a General Council to support his views any 
 other action he might take could only produce what had been 
 produced, viz. rebeUion and turmoil, constantly exacerbated 
 by harsh and cruel punishments. 
 
 Germanus was deposed, and suffered to depart into 
 made po^iJ^of au houourablc retirement, and in his place the 
 Constantinople, ^jj^pg^or obtaiucd a man who was willing to ad- 
 vance his views, Anastasius, hitherto secretary to Germanus. 
 
 1 Thus the Pope of Rome, the Pope of Constantinople, and John 
 of Damascus had each in turn made the same statement to Leo, viz. 
 that he had no right to interfere in questions of reUgion, except by 
 the authorized channel of a General Covincil. 
 
 ^ Chap. XXII, pp. 283 and 305. ^ chap. XXIV, p. 448. 
 
 XXVI] 
 
 LIUTPRAND 
 
 563 
 
 Anastasius was appointed Pope of Constantinople, and for 
 the next fifteen years supported the cause of Iconoclasm ; 
 so that in the eastern patriarchate those who opposed that 
 policy had now against them not only the emperor, but also 
 the head of the Church. Nevertheless, though thus heavily 
 handicapped, they did not give in; the Iconoclastic party 
 still remained in the minority, and the conflict continued. 
 
 Liutprand. 
 
 Bavarian line ^^ ^^^ Lombard kingdom the Bavarian line of 
 
 of Lombard kiugs ^ coutiuucd imtil 712, when Aripert II, the 
 
 ings ended, j^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^^ ^^ ^.^ ^^^^^ ^^^ Lombards 
 
 chose as his successor on the throne of Pavia one of their own 
 race, the deservedly honoured Ansprand, a Lombard noble 
 of Milan. He, however, died after three months, and was 
 succeeded by his celebrated son Liutprand. 
 
 Liutprand (712-742) was twenty-eight when he 
 ascended the Lombard throne, and in his reign of 
 thirty years he proved himself the wisest and most powerful 
 of the Lombard kings. 2 The first fifteen years of his reign 
 were almost entirely uneventful, and he was mainly occupied 
 during these years in consolidating his kingdom by gradu- 
 ally subduing the power of the semi-independent rulers of 
 its larger duchies, and in enacting measures for its good 
 government. Two notable events, however, occurred during 
 this period. About the year 720 Farwald II, the Lombard 
 duke of Spoleto, for the second time captured Classis, the 
 port of Ravenna, repeating the exploit of his predecessor of 
 the same name in 580,3 but Liutprand forced him to restore 
 Classis to the Exarch of Ravenna. In the year 725, however, 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 477. 
 
 2 The chief authority for the whole of the history of the Lombards 
 is Paul the Deacon, who was born about 725, and whose chief work 
 is his History of the LombardSy beginning from their origin and carried 
 down to the death of king Liutprand in 742. About the year 782 
 Paul the Deacon visited the court of Charles the Great, and won the 
 favour of the latter. He remained there about four years, after which 
 he returned to Italy, re-entered his beloved monastery of Monte Cas- 
 sino, and died there about 795. His History of the Lombards was pro- 
 bably written towards the end of his life, and would no doubt have 
 been carried still further had he not died when he had reached as far 
 as the death of Liutprand. 3 ^hap. XXIII, p. 332 (footnote). 
 
 ' 1 
 
564 
 
 THE LOMBARDS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 THE TRIANGULAR DUEL 
 
 565 
 
 
 Liutprand himself besieged Ravenna, captured Classis for 
 the third time, and destroyed it. 
 Liutprand's Liutprand during this first half of his reign pur- 
 ^'^- sued a custom which was alone sufficient to make 
 him remarkable. Every year on the 1st March for fifteen 
 years he, with the concurrence of the " Judges " and the 
 chief men of the kingdom, put forth a small set of laws re- 
 garding any important matters which had formed the subject 
 of disputes during the preceding twelve months. These laws, 
 though they are written in still more barbarous Latin than 
 even those of Rotharis (thereby showing that education in 
 Italy was still continuing to decline), are very instructive 
 in demonstrating how the Lombards were gradually advanc- 
 ing out of their previous state of barbarism. They show an 
 increasing value set upon human life, an increasing endeavour 
 after justice in all social relations, and an increasing respect 
 for women, besides including various enactments to prevent 
 oppression. 
 Triangular Whcn, howcvcr, Liutprand had been fifteen years 
 duel in Italy, qjj ^^q thronc thc disturbauccs created in Italy 
 by the emperor's Iconoclastic edict began, and during the 
 remaining fifteen years of his life Liutprand's career became 
 an intensely active one. During this latter half of Liut- 
 prand's reign there was maintained in Italy a triangular duel 
 between the Exarch of Ravenna (the emperor's representa- 
 tive), the Pope of Rome, and the king of the Lombards. They 
 had different aims. The object of the Exarch was to defend 
 the imperial territories, and to enforce the emperor's Icono- 
 clastic edict so far as those territories were concerned. The 
 object of the Pope of Rome ^ was to resist the emperor's edict 
 in every way, but at the same time to prevent the Lombard 
 king from becoming ruler over all Italy, Rome included, as 
 he threatened to do. The object of the Lombard king was 
 so to take advantage of the confusion and anarchy in the 
 imperial domains as to bring all Italy under his authority. 
 Thus at one time the Exarch and the Pope are found ranged 
 against the king ; at another the king and the Exarch against 
 the Pope ; and at another the king and the Pope against the 
 Exarch. And though the Pope of Rome in his resistance 
 
 ^ Gregory II died in 730, and was succeeded by Gregory III, 
 
 to the Iconoclastic decrees would at one time urge the Lom- 
 bard king to attack the Exarch, at another time he would 
 meet a threatened attack by Liutprand upon Rome by warn- 
 ing the latter that Rome belonged to the emperor and by 
 calling upon the Exarch to assist in defending it. The cir- 
 cumstances were still further complicated by the fact that 
 the Lombard dukes of Spoleto and Beneventum had long 
 maintained a virtual independence, that Liutprand was deter- 
 mined to end this and make them really subject to the crown, 
 and that the Pope of Rome from time to time supported the 
 two rebellious dukes against the Lombard king. 
 
 Liutprand during these fifteen years demonstrated his 
 ability. He took every advantage which the circumstances 
 of the time offered him, he captured one portion after an- 
 other of the ah-eady attenuated imperial territories in Italy, 
 he gradually reduced the dukes of Spoleto and Beneven- 
 tum to complete subjection to the crown, and when he 
 died in 742 i he was recognized as the most powerful of all 
 the Lombard kings. 
 
 Represented Liutpraud has oftcn been represented as a champion 
 ^' agaSsT" against the tyranny of Iconoclasm. But there seems 
 iconociasm. no cvidcncc for this assertion. His one aim was the 
 consolidation of his kingdom, the reduction of the Lombard 
 dukes to subjection, and the increase of his dominions at the 
 expense of the empire. And it was merely an accident that 
 in pursuing this aim he at times found that it assisted his 
 object to make common cause with the Pope of Rome whose 
 cause of quarrel with the emperor was over the question of 
 Iconoclasm. In doing so he has been represented by the 
 Papal biographers as showing " devotion to St. Peter " ; but 
 as ah-eady said, Liutprand's object was the advancement of 
 his kingdom, and whenever he made friends with the Pope of 
 Rome it was solely with this object in view. 
 Use made of ^^ during the time of Liutprand the only records 
 ^'"n^""^ ' ^^ events in Italy are those written by ecclesiastics 
 or Papal biographers, we naturally find various ex- 
 pressions put into the mouth of Liutprand (whose horizon 
 in Church matters evidently did not extend beyond the con- 
 fines of Italy) such as will exalt the position in the Church 
 ^ Not 743 as usually stated ; see p. 591, footnote. 
 
CHAP 
 
 566 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 CHARLES MARTEL 
 
 567 
 
 
 of the Pope of Rome. But although Liutprand in his laws 
 lays great stress upon the Lombard nation being now Cathohc, 
 he did not in his conduct act as one holding this exalted 
 view of the Pope of Rome, against whom he often made war. 
 It must also be borne in mind that though we find everywhere 
 in the writings of the ecclesiastics of the western patriarchate 
 at this period expressions intended to convey the idea that 
 the Pope of Rome was the head of the Church, we find exactly 
 the same kind of expressions used by the ecclesiastics of the 
 eastern patriarchate regarding the Pope of Constantinople. 
 Moreover to the latter was still applied, even officially, that 
 title of " Universal Pope " which had so much annoyed 
 Gregory the Great. The pretensions in this respect put for- 
 ward on every occasion by the see of Rome were no greater 
 than the pretensions put forward by the see of Constantinople ; 
 the only difference between the two cases was that in the 
 West the community at large were more ignorant, and there- 
 fore more easily imposed upon by such pretensions. The two 
 patriarchal sees were in fact in intense rivalry, all the greater 
 since the other three patriarchal sees had been swept away 
 by the Mahomedans. It was the old rivalry between New 
 Rome and Old Rome, between the imperial city and the city 
 which once had occupied that position. And during so 
 ignorant and dark an age in the West as the 8th century there 
 was no limit to which such pretensions might not be carried. 
 
 Charles Martel. 
 
 The Frank kingdom (including not only France, 
 but also a large part of Germany) lost in 714 the 
 strong rule of Pepin of Heristal,^ who had for twenty-five 
 years administered its afiFairs with firmness and ability. At 
 his death the kingdom threatened again to dissolve into 
 anarchy ; Austria and Neustria were at deadly feud ; the 
 dukes of Aquitaine, Thuringia, and Bavaria proceeded to 
 throw off their allegiance to the puppet king at Metz, Dago- 
 bert III ; and to complete the confusion Pepin, under the 
 evil influence of his wife Plectruda, had bequeathed his office 
 of Mayor of the Palace to her young son, a child of six, pass- 
 ing by his capable eldest son Charles, ^ then about twenty- 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 514. 
 
 * Afterw£urds known as Charles Martel (the Hammer). 
 
 five years old, whom his stepmother Plectruda promptly 
 imprisoned. But Charles escaped from his prison, raUied 
 the Austrasians round him, defeated a rival Mayor of the 
 Palace in Neustria, captured a Merovingian child, Thiudaric IV, 
 and placed him upon the throne, and in his name ruled the 
 whole kingdom. He soon made his strong hand felt in every 
 direction ; in Bavaria he installed a duke ready to be his 
 vassal ; marching against Eudo, duke of Aquitaine, he com- 
 pelled him to return to his allegiance to the Prankish sove- 
 reign ; and attacking one after another of the enemies of the 
 kingdom he defeated in succession the Saxons, the Allemanni, 
 and the barbarous and savage Frisians, who inhabited the 
 territory between the mouths of the Rhine and the Ems, and 
 had long vexed northern France. 
 
 Saracen inva- But a more formidable enemy had meanwhile 
 sions of France, appeared in the south of France. The Saracens, 
 eager to press northwards, did not long remain satisfied with 
 their conquest of Spain.i Scarcely had they established 
 themselves in that country than in 718 they crossed the 
 Pyrenees and ravaged part of southern France, and two years 
 later under their leader Zama gained the province of Nar- 
 bonne, which they held for the next forty years. Charles 
 Martel appears at this time to have underrated the 
 Saracen danger, his hands being full in the north. Mean- 
 while the Saracens in 721 were opposed by the brave Eudo 
 of Aquitaine and defeated in a severe battle under the walls 
 of Toulouse, in which Zama was killed, which for a time ar- 
 rested their onward course. In 725, however, the Saracens 
 again crossed the Pyrenees under Anabasa, and overran the 
 whole of southern France from the mouth of the Garonne 
 to that of the Rhone. But Anabasa died in 726, after which 
 the Saracens advanced no further for several years. 
 
 ^.j.^ In 731 the Khalif Hischam ^ appointed as Emir in 
 invasion under Spain thc ambltlous and energetic Abdul Rahman, 
 
 Abdul Rahman. i i i 
 
 and the latter at once began a formidable attack 
 upon western Europe. He had planned with the Khalif 
 that they should jointly advance from East and West, 
 conquering all that yet remained of Christian Europe, and 
 should meet in the centre of Europe after having subdued 
 1 Pages 546-548. « Page 552 (footnote). 
 

 568 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 the whole continent to Islam, and should then set up the 
 capital of the Mahomedan empire at Rome. Gathering from 
 Arabia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain an immense 
 host of Saracens and Moors, which apparently cannot have 
 numbered less than 500,000 men, Abdul Rahman advanced 
 in 731, crossed the Garonne, defeated Eudo of Aquitaine on 
 the banks of the Dordogne with great slaughter, burnt Bor- 
 deaux, overran Aquitaine, and advancing northwards cap- 
 tured city after city in Poitou, while his right wing overspread 
 Burgundy and advanced as far as Lyons. 
 The issue Charlcs Maitel had not been idle in preparing to 
 involved, meet this Mahomcdan torrent. But his forces 
 had to be gathered from long distances. From Bavaria, from 
 Thuringia, from the borders of Saxony, from the banks of the 
 Rhine, and from northern France he summoned his Frank 
 warriors to do battle in the cause of Christendom in a contest 
 as severe as any that their ancestors had experienced, calling 
 upon them to show that they were worthy descendants of the 
 warriors of Clovis. As all well knew, the issue to be decided 
 was whether Europe was henceforth to be Christian or Ma- 
 homedan, — whether the future Notre Dame at Paris and the 
 future St. Paul's at London were to be churches or mosques, 
 and whether Paris and London were to echo with the call to 
 prayer of the Muezzin, as Narbonne, Aries, and Avignon were 
 already echoing. For if the Franks lost this battle there 
 was no other force to stop the Saracens who had swept over 
 so many countries, and neither the British Channel nor the 
 Alps would have formed any bar to their advance. 
 
 The great ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^® Franks maintain their ancient 
 battle of reputation on this occasion, in a battle which is 
 
 Poictiers. . _ 
 
 recognized as one of the decisive battles of the 
 world. The two great armies met in October 732 about 
 fifteen miles west of Poictiers, not far from that field of Vouille 
 where 225 years before the Franks had crushed the Vibigoths,^ 
 and about sixty miles south of the site of that still more cele- 
 brated battle of the Mauriac Plain which had seen an equally 
 great issue fought out against Attila.^ 
 
 The Saracens in a long career of conquest during a hundred 
 years, from the borders of Syria to the centre of France, had 
 * Chap. XX, p. 156. « Chap. XIX, p. 101, 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 BATTLE OF POICTIERS 
 
 569 
 
 gained an absolute confidence of victory. But the plunder 
 of innumerable cities and the luxury thereby induced had 
 told upon them, and they had not now the same fiery enthu- 
 siasm in battle which they had possessed when their armies 
 first issued from Arabia led by Khalid, " the Sword of God." 
 Moreover they were now opposed, not by the effeminate 
 Visigoths of Spain, but by a northern race whose courage, 
 strength, and stature were a new experience to the Saracens. 
 Knowing the importance of the issue, the hostile armies fenced 
 with each other for six days in minor engagements, but on 
 the seventh day the great battle of Poictiers was fought. We 
 are given no details. The greater part of the forces on both 
 sides were probably mounted. No special tactics are men- 
 tioned, and the battle was apparently a simple sledge-hammer 
 contest. It lasted a whole day and until after dark. And 
 though we are told of the great valour displayed by Charles 
 Martel, this was too vast a struggle to be decided by the per- 
 sonal prowess of any one man, and the issue long hung doubt- 
 ful. But Charles fought with such determination, cleaving 
 his way with such ponderous blows through 'the ranks of the 
 Saracens, that he won ever afterwards his name of " the 
 Hammer," and inspired the Franks with the most steadfast 
 courage. Against the fiery charges of the Saracens and Moors 
 the warriors of the Rhineland stood, we are told, "like a 
 wall of ice." At length, when darkness was already coming 
 over the battlefield, Abdul Rahman was killed, and the Sara- 
 cens fled in a complete rout, and did not stay their course 
 until they had recrossed the Pyrenees. 
 
 The losses which the Saracens are said to have 
 suffered in this great battle have no doubt been 
 exaggerated ; though in a whole day's fight of this 
 character the losses are bound to be enormous. The historian 
 Paul the Deacon states that in this battle the Saracens lost 
 350,000 men, and Anastasius, the Papal librarian, augments 
 the number to 375,000. But even after making large allow- 
 ance for exaggeration in these figures the Saracen loss was 
 evidently immense ; and for generations afterwards the site 
 where this battle was fought was known in Andalusia ^ as 
 
 ^ The name given by the Saracens to Spain, meaning " the land of 
 the West." 
 
 Effect 
 upon the 
 Saracens. 
 
* 
 
 570 
 
 THE FRANKS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 ENGLISH MISSIONS 
 
 571 
 
 the ** Pavement of the Martyrs." So crushing was this de- 
 feat that during all the seven centuries afterwards during which 
 the Saracens ruled in Spain they never again attempted a 
 general invasion of France.^ 
 
 Actual ruler ^^^^rlcs Martcl, the consolidator of France and the 
 of the saviour of Europe, lived for nine years after this 
 great achievement, ruling the Frank kingdom 
 with firmness and justice. He might at any time have 
 taken the throne, but the Merovingian dynasty of Clovis 
 apparently had sacredness in his eyes, even though repre- 
 sented by puppet kings so little deserving of respect, and 
 Charles remained satisfied with being the actual though not 
 the nominal king of the Franks. Owing to his strong, firm 
 rule, and his refusal to be dominated by the Church, he has not 
 found favour with the ecclesiastical writers of his time ; but 
 he deserves honour on that very ground. 
 
 Friendship C^^rl^s Martel married Sonichildis, the second 
 with daughter of Thiudapert, duke of Bavaria, Liut- 
 prand, king of the Lombards, having married her 
 elder sister Guntrada ; and Charles was throughout his career 
 on cordial terms with his brother-in-law Liutprand. And 
 when in 737 the Saracens for a second time made a raid from 
 Narbonne into Provence Charles besought Liutprand to assist 
 him in attacking them. Thereupon Liutprand led an army 
 across the Alps, at the approach of which the Saracens, fear- 
 ing to be caught between two fires, fled back to Narbonne. 
 Two years later Charles was able to repay the debt. In 739 
 Pope Gregory III having made a league with the two rebel- 
 lious dukes of Spoleto and Beneventum, Liutprand, putting 
 the former of them to flight, marched upon Rome, and 
 took four cities belonging to the imperial territory near Rome. 
 Gregory III appealed in piteous terms to Charles Martel to 
 come to his assistance against the Lombard king. Charles 
 entirely refused to give any help against Liutprand, thereby 
 earning the wrath of Gregory III and animosity from the 
 Papal writers. Charles Martel died in 740 ^ at the age of fifty- 
 
 ^ Though they retained their hold upon the province of Narbonne 
 for about forty years, and from thence made raids into Provence on 
 several occasions. 
 
 ^ Not 741 as usually stated ; see p. 591, footnote. 
 
 two, leaving his office of virtual ruler of France divided 
 between his two sons. 
 
 ^Etheibaid, In England the seven kingdoms still continued their 
 king of Mercia. contcsts, though the ' Unification of the Church 
 which had been effected ^ tended to reduce the strife and to 
 make these contests less severe. ^Ethelbald, king of Mercia, 
 who ruled at Tamworth for forty-one years (716-757), gradu- 
 ally increased the power and importance of Mercia until he 
 brought that kingdom to a position of acknowledged su- 
 premacy. ^ With the exception of a raid into Somerset in 
 the early part of his reign, and a raid made into his kingdom 
 by Wessex in retaliation, ^Ethelbald remained for the most 
 part a peaceful ruler. He was active in supporting the Church 
 and in reforming abuses among the clergy. He also not only 
 gave large endowments of land to the Church, but drew up a 
 series of " landbooks " containing the conditions upon which 
 the lands given by him were to be held ; and these landbooks 
 contain much valuable information regarding the tenure of 
 land and the position of the peasantry in England at this 
 period. 
 
 English ^^^ *^® most prominent feature at this time is 
 
 missions to thc zcal dcvclopcd by the recently constituted 
 
 Church of England in endeavouring to convert 
 
 various Continental races who were still Pagans. England, 
 
 which had itseK been converted to Christianity less than 
 
 eighty years, now sent forth missionary after missionary from 
 
 the traming colleges which had been estabhshed at Lindis- 
 
 farne, Glastonbury, and Jarrow to give their lives in brave 
 
 attempts to convert the most savage and barbarous races of 
 
 Germany. From Northumbria in 695 went WiUibrord, who 
 
 for forty years laboured to convert the savage Frisians, and 
 
 at length was killed by them. Two priests, both named 
 
 Ewald, about the same time attempted a similar task in 
 
 Saxony, and were torn limb from limb at Cologne, and their 
 
 bodies thrown into the Rhine. From Wessex in 716 went 
 
 Winfrith, who received from Pope Gregory II the name of 
 
 Boniface, and is often called " the Apostle of Germany." 
 
 He worked for thirty-five years at organizing the half -formed 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 496. 2 gee p. 574. 
 
572 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 ROYAL PILGRIMS 
 
 573 
 
 \ 
 
 
 I 
 
 Churches of Thuringia and Bavaria, directed from his see 
 at Mainz the religious affairs of all central Germany, and 
 then at the age of seventy went a second time to try and 
 convert the Frisians, and was martyred by them. Ranke 
 is of opinion that the zeal of these English missionaries was 
 partly quickened by the rapid advance of the Mahomedans, 
 and says : "We ought not to consider the Christianization 
 of Germany only from the point of view of religious belief 
 and teaching. However important these may be, it was of 
 world-historical importance that some counteracting influence 
 should be prepared against Islamism, which was pressing ever 
 deeper and deeper into the continent of Europe. Boniface 
 knew right well what had happened in Spain : the work of 
 conversion which he was carrying on was the chief cause why 
 the same events did not repeat themselves in Gaul and Ger- 
 many." 1 It is somewhat difficult to follow Ranke's reason- 
 ing. For the chief cause of the repulse given to Islam was the 
 valour of the Franks, and the latter had been Christians for 
 more than 200 years. Moreover by far the greater part of 
 Boniface's work was done subsequently to this repulse of 
 Islam. 
 
 Increased "^^ establishment of one united Church through- 
 influenceof Qut England also gave rise to various changes in 
 
 the Church. ,.^. , _ . , «. . r^, ^, 
 
 political and social affairs. The Church became 
 ere long looked upon by the Angles and the Saxons with 
 greater respect than had hitherto been the case among them ; 
 the clergy began to be largely the advisers of the people in 
 temporal affairs ; no important laws were made without con- 
 sulting them ; and in the national assemblies they sat side 
 by side with the nobles to decide upon political, social, and 
 domestic concerns. A gradual toning down of the fiercer 
 elements of Anglo-Saxon nature was the general result. 
 
 Royal Rut auothcr effect of this increased influence of 
 pugrimages. ^y^^ Church of England upon the Anglo-Saxon 
 race was more remarkable in its demonstration of national 
 characteristics. It is often said even in the present day by 
 other European races that the English are the most religious 
 race in Europe. However that may be, they certainly seemed 
 to show signs of such a characteristic in the 8th century as 
 
 1 Ranke, Weltgeschichte, I, 286-287. 
 
 soon as the formation of one Church for all England produced 
 the increased influence mentioned. A constant succession 
 of royal devotees began, kings and queens resigning their 
 rank to enter monasteries and convents often founded by 
 themselves, or to make pilgrimages to shrines such as Glas- 
 tonbury, or to the tombs of specially revered martyrs or saints, 
 or even to walk barefooted on pilgrimages to Rome, as the 
 place where so many renowned martjn-s had suffered, and 
 there establishing hospitals for the reception of worn-out 
 travellers from England, or schools for the education of Eng- 
 lish children. This kind of action was not of course confined 
 to England at this period ; but it certainly appears to have 
 been much more largely followed in that country than else- 
 where. The kingdoms of Northumbria, Essex, East Anglia, 
 Mercia, Wessex, and Kent each contributed examples of kings 
 who thus resigned their crowns to enter monasteries, similar 
 action being taken by many queens and noble ladies who 
 entered convents, often becoming rulers of convents which 
 they had built and endowed. Among these kings Coinred, 
 king of Mercia, Ceadwalla, king of Wessex (Ina's predecessor), 
 and Offa, prince of the East Saxons, all made pilgrimages to 
 Rome. 
 
 The great contest taking place in the Later Roman 
 Empire and Italy from the year 726 onwards over 
 the Iconoclastic policy of Leo III raised no echo in 
 To the Anglo-Saxons missions to Pagan countries, 
 the founding of monasteries, and pilgrimages to holy places 
 were of more interest than nice questions of theology. In 
 716 Ina, king of Wessex, after a long and prosperous reign of 
 thirty-eight years, followed the prevailing fashion, being 
 impelled thereto mainly through the exhortations of his queen, 
 Ethelburh, who urged upon him the vanity of all earthly 
 greatness, and besought him to lay aside his crown and under- 
 take a pilgrimage with her to Rome. Ina did so, and together 
 he and Ethelburh, walking barefoot the whole way, per- 
 formed a pilgrimage to Rome, where Ina remained for the 
 rest of his life, living in a humble fashion. There he endowed 
 a school for English children in order that they might become 
 better acquainted with foreign countries, which school after- 
 wards became famous and was supported by various kings 
 
 Abdication 
 of Ina, king 
 of Wessex. 
 
 England. 
 
 ( 
 
574 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of Wessex who succeeded him. Queen Ethelburh after a 
 time returned to Wessex and died there in a convent which 
 she founded. After Ina's abdication of the throne of Wes- 
 sex the supremacy of that kingdom declined, and Mercia 
 became the leading kingdom, as already noted. 
 
 The Venerable The training colleges established at Lindisf arne, 
 Bede. Glastonbury, and Jarrow, besides sending forth 
 missionaries produced various notable scholars, such as Aid- 
 helm, Caedmon, and, above all, Bede. The latter, who has 
 gained the title of the Venerable Bede, was the most learned 
 man of his time in Europe. Bom in 672, he lived the whole 
 of his life of sixty-three years at the monastery of Jarrow-on- 
 Tyne, occupied upon translations of the Bible, commentaries 
 compiled from the writings of the Fathers, biographies of his 
 contemporaries, works on astronomy, rhetoric, and poetry, 
 and especially his celebrated Ecclesiastical History of the 
 Anglian Nation, written at the request of Ceolwulf, king of 
 Northumbria, and still the chief authority for events in the 
 eariy history of England. Bede died in 735 at Jarrow just 
 as he finished translating the Gospel of St. John. 
 
 Aidheim The general depth of ignorance into which the 
 
 ^i^o!^oi^^^^^ ^ad sunk has akeady been noted. Few 
 sevuie. could read or write, fewer still knew Latin, while 
 almost all knowledge of Greek had departed. Agathus, 
 who was Pope of Rome in 678-682, stated that theological 
 study had completely decayed in Italy, having become im- 
 possible owing to the proximity of the Lombards. It is 
 pleasant therefore to note that in such an age the exceptions 
 are chiefly to be found in England. In that country Arch- 
 bishop Theodore, in addition to his great work of forming 
 the Church of England, had inaugurated a study of Latin 
 and Greek literature which was continued after his death. 
 Aldhelm (or Eadhelm), Bishop of Sherborne in Wessex, wrote 
 in Latin and in Saxon, and translated the Psalms into Saxon. 
 And Ina, king of Wessex, is reported to have invited two learned 
 men from Athens to teach Greek to Aldhelm. Csedmon 
 translated portions of the Latin Bible into verses in Saxon. 
 Lastly Bede was a thorough Greek scholar, and, as noted, the 
 most learned man in Europe in his time. It has also even been 
 declared that at this period Greek was more studied in Eng- 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 THE ICONOCLASTIC WAR 
 
 575 
 
 land and Ireland than anywhere else in Europe. To these 
 scholars must be added on behalf of Spain the name of Isidore 
 of Seville, who was a prominent scholar of the time, and knew 
 Greek. But these few shining lights in the general darkness 
 only serve to show how great was the general degree of ignor- 
 ance which prevailed in the West. 
 
 The struggle From thc time that in 729 Leo III obtained a Pope 
 iconodasm ^^ Coustantinoplc willing to assist in enforcing his 
 continued. Icouoclastic poHcy it bccamc so difficult openly 
 to oppose the prohibition of religious pictures, icons, and 
 statues that immense numbers of persons quitted the eastern 
 provinces and sought refuge in Italy. ^ There the opposition 
 to Iconoclasm was maintained as stoutly as ever. Upon the 
 death in 730 of Gregory II he was succeeded by Gregory III. 
 The election of the latter is notable as being the last time that 
 an emperor of the Later Roman Empire was solicited to con- 
 firm the election of a Pope of Rome. The election was con- 
 firmed by Leo III in the usual manner ; nor was Gregory III 
 consecrated until the emperor's mandate reached Rome. But 
 Gregory III was not long in showing the same attitude as his 
 predecessor. He first sent three letters in succession to 
 Leo III urging him to abandon Iconoclasm, but aU his three 
 messengers were one after the other imprisoned. Gregory 
 then assembled a Synod in the Lateran palace which con- 
 demned Iconoclasm in still more unmeasured terms than 
 before, and excommunicated all Iconoclasts. Thereupon the 
 emperor despatched a fleet to Italy with orders to seize Gre- 
 gory III and convey him to Constantinople. But the fleet 
 encountered a storm in the Adriatic, the majority of the 
 ships were wrecked, and the officers and men of those which 
 escaped wreck being for the most part secretly opposed to 
 Iconoclasm the attempt came to nothing. 
 
 In regard to this action on the part of the emperor it must 
 be remembered that though Leo III was undoubtedly wrong 
 
 * It has been estimated that during the Iconoclastic conflict in the 
 reigns of Leo III and his son Constantine V more than 50,000 persons 
 migrated from the eastern provinces to southern Italy on this account. 
 
 ^\ 
 
676 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 ( 
 
 ft 
 
 j 
 
 in endeavouring to carry out Iconoclasm by force, instead 
 of through the proper channel of a General Council of the 
 Church, Rome and the other dioceses embraced in the Roman ' 
 patriarchate were under his rule ; and that this being so he 
 could not permit his authority in this portion of his domin- 
 ions to be thus defied, and himself and his officials to be ex- 
 communicated, unless he were ready to abdicate. It is only 
 another example of the difficulties created when a temporal 
 power attempts to deal with spmtual matters, i 
 Dioceses of thereupon Leo III took a step which had lasting 
 southern Italy cffccts. Hc transferred the whole of the dioceses 
 trans erred. ^^ ^^^ imperial domiuious in southern Italy, in- 
 cluding chiefly those in Calabria, Apulia, Naples, and 
 Sicily, from the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome to that of 
 the Pope of Constantinople, making them part of the eastern 
 patriarchate. This reduced the jurisdiction of the Pope of 
 Rome, so far as the empire was concerned, to only Rome, 
 Ravenna, and Venice. Southern Italy and Sicily thus re- 
 turned to that connection with Greek thought and sentiment 
 which those countries had had as a Greek land many centuries 
 earlier, before Rome conquered Greece. Gregory III was 
 unable to offer any opposition to this step, and from this time 
 forth, while northern and central Italy continued Latin in 
 sentiment, southern Italy and Sicily remained Greek ; « 
 churches were built in the Byzantine style, Greek ideas pre- 
 vailed in religion, and Constantinople and not Rome became 
 the authority appealed to on all occasions. This act of Leo III, 
 combined with the large number of fugitives from the eastern 
 provinces owing to the Iconoclastic edict, completely " Hel- 
 lenized " southern Italy, and its results largely affected the 
 history of Italy throughout the Middle Ages. 
 
 This change increased still further the immense difference 
 between the extent of the jurisdiction of the Pope of Constanti- 
 nople and that of the Pope of Rome. For while the juris- 
 diction of the latter was reduced to the small dimensions 
 noted, the jurisdiction of the Pope of Constantinople was in- 
 creased after this transfer of southern Italy to his patriarchate 
 
 1 Chap. XXV, p. 464. 
 
 2 Sicily until its conquest by the Saracens in the 9th century, and 
 southern Italy untU its conquest by the Normans in the 11th century. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 SOUTH ITALY GAINS PEACE 
 
 577 
 
 to a total of 650 bishops' dioceses, grouped under 52 Metro- 
 politan Bishops. 
 
 While Leo III thus severed southern Italy from the western 
 patriarchate and brought it under the Pope of Constantinople, 
 he was wise enough not to press his Iconoclastic policy in 
 that country, which might have resulted in the inhabitants 
 transferring their allegiance to the king of the Lombards. 
 As a result southern Italy enjoyed at this period a tranquil- 
 lity which was denied to all the rest of the empire. 
 Papal writers of In sccking to rcach the truth through the labyrinth 
 ce'nturil'not of falschood wMch surrounds it in the obscurity 
 reliable as to ^f ^j^g 7|^jj ^^d 8th ccuturics it is ucccssary to 
 
 7th and 8th • x x 
 
 centuries, rcccive with the utmost caution any statements 
 regarding the deference paid to, position of, or authority of the 
 Popes of Rome in the 7th and 8th centuries made by the 
 Papal writers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The first 
 time the claim of the Pope of Rome to a supremacy in the 
 Church is made is in a letter in 777 from Pope Adrian I to 
 Charles the Great. The claim then lay dormant until the 
 year 800 (when Charles became emperor of the West), but 
 after that date, during the 9th and 10th centuries, the whole 
 efiforts of the Papal writers became devoted to twisting every 
 allusion to ecclesiastical affairs in the preceding centuries 
 in such a way as to show that the Popes of Rome had 
 throughout all previous time been accorded the position 
 thus claimed. With, this object these writers stuck at 
 nothing, freely falsifying every statement bearing upon this 
 point, and (feeling that the end justified the means) had 
 no scruples in introducing forged sentences or expressions 
 into bona fide documents of the past, such as the letter of 
 Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, to Stephen, Bishop of Rome, 
 in the 3rd century, ^ or the letter of Chrysostom on the occa- 
 
 1 Strange to say, the forgeries in this celebrated letter (now in the 
 Bodleian Library), in which Cyprian severely reproved Stephen for 
 attempting to dictate to the Church of Carthage, have been exposed 
 by the Medieval scribe himself, who below the forged docimient 
 has transcribed the original letter ; doing this secretly to save 
 his reputation as a scribe, among which class it was a point of honour 
 in copying a document not to alter even the form of a letter of the 
 alphabet. Archbishop Benson, in his Life of Cyprian, has given fac- 
 simile reproductions of this letter and its curious forged alterations, 
 
 E.W. — II. ^ P 
 
 If 
 
578 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 A REMARKABLE PICTURE 
 
 579 
 
 sion of his banishment by Arcadius in the 5th century, * or 
 even in forging entire documents to prove their point, as the 
 well-known " Forged Decretals " and the forged " Donation 
 of Constantine " ^ (now acknowledged by all Europe as for- 
 geries) remain to testify.^ 
 
 Thus in regard to the 7th and 8th centuries any statements 
 made by these Roman ecclesiastical writers of the 9th and 10th 
 centuries which bear upon this point are quite valueless, and 
 reliance must be placed solely upon contemporary writings 
 (few though these are), making sure at the same time that 
 such have not subsequently been tampered with. The only 
 safe course is to bear in mind throughout, (i) that the Popes 
 of the two remaining patriarchates (Constantinople and 
 Rome) were of equal authority;* (ii) that it was the aim 
 of every ecclesiastical writer at Rome to hide this ; (iii) that 
 throughout the 7th and 8th centuries these two Popes were 
 in constant and bitter rivalry ;^ (iv) that in creating the office 
 it had been most carefully and specifically laid down that no 
 such supremacy attached to the Metropolitan Bishop given 
 this title of Pope over any other Metropolitan Bishop of his 
 patriarchate ; and (v) that when at the end of the 8th cen- 
 tury this claim to a supremacy in the Church was put forward 
 by one of these Popes (a claim entirely repudiated by the rival 
 patriarchate), it at once became the object of every ecclesiastical 
 writer at Rome, from the highest to the lowest, to demonstrate 
 by all means in his power, however unscrupulous, that this 
 
 1 Chap. XVII, p. 37. 
 
 2 Vol. Ill, Chap. XXVIII. 
 
 ^ These Papal writers of the 9th and 10th centuries were, however, 
 so ignorant of all matters outside Italy, or referring to times long past, 
 that they introduced into the documents thus forged glaring ana- 
 chronisms ; with the result that when in the time of the Renaissance 
 these documents came to be read by scholars their forgeries were at 
 once apparent, as for instance in the prominent case of the forged 
 *' Donation of Constantine," a document which in an illiterate age 
 had been supposed genuine for seven centuries. 
 
 * See Vol. I, Chap. XV, pp. 536-537 ; and Vol. II, Chap. XXIII. 
 pp. 383-387. 
 
 ^ The Pope of Constantinople still continuing to use the title of 
 " Universal Bishop " protested against by Gregory the Great at the 
 end of the 6th century. 
 
 claim had throughout all the preceding centuries been ad- 
 mitted, not only by all authorities in the West, but also by all 
 authorities in the East. And at the same time to bear in 
 mind also (vi) that no such claim had ever been admitted 
 by any General Council, nor could have been so without that 
 Cfeneral CouncU abrogating its own supreme authority. 
 
 The A remarkable historical relic still to be seen at 
 HodigHria. ■gg^j.j^ ^ southcm Italy is connected with the de- 
 spatch of the fleet in 731 to seize Gregory III. The church in 
 Constantinople celebrated for centuries under the peculiar 
 name " Ton Hodegon " (of the Guides) possessed as its chief 
 treasure a greatly revered picture, known as the Hodegetria. 
 This picture, a portrait of the Virgin Mary declared to have 
 been painted by St. Luke, which had formerly been kept at 
 Antioch, was in the 5th century given to the empress Pul- 
 cheria by her sister-in-law the empress Eudocia,^ and was 
 regarded by Pulcheria with the greatest veneration. To 
 house it she built the celebrated church at Constantinople 
 called the church of " Deiparae Hodegetrise " (the Mother 
 of God, the Guidress, or she who guides). Subsequently the 
 name of this church was changed to " Ton Hodegon " (of 
 the Guides), a point of considerable interest. 
 
 In course of time this picture, the Hodegetria, had become 
 regarded with ever increasing veneration ; emperors start- 
 ing upon a campaign worshipped before it, asking that *' the 
 Guidress " would lead them to victory ; it had more than 
 once been taken into battle ; and when in 717 Constantinople 
 was besieged by the Saracens Leo III himself caused it to be 
 carried round the waUs in a solemn procession. ^ 
 
 When, however, in 726 Leo III began to move in the matter 
 of the excessive reverence paid to sacred images the question 
 of this celebrated and much venerated picture had ere long 
 to be faced. The emperor avoided the subject for five years, 
 but in 731, soon after he had obtained an Iconoclastic Pope 
 of Constantinople, Leo III, notwithstanding his own action 
 fourteen years before, ordered this much revered picture to 
 be burnt. Such an order was looked upon as an even worse 
 sacrilege than the destruction of the image of Christ over the 
 
 1 Chap. XVIII, p. 87. * Ducange, Qon^tantino^lis Christianio, ^ 
 
580 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 gateway of the imperial palace, and to save the picture from 
 his hands it was consigned to the charge of a faithful adherent 
 who secretly escaped with it on board one of the ships going 
 to Italy. The ship was one of those which escaped wreck, 
 and the picture was safely landed in Italy near Bari, and 
 made over to the cathedral authorities at Bari.^ 
 
 But this did not by any means end the history of this re- 
 markable picture. About a century and a half later, when 
 the Iconoclastic policy had been finally reversed, the Hodege- 
 tria was again taken back to Constantinople, and became more 
 venerated than ever. The emperors of the Later Roman 
 Empire never started upon a campaign without first worship- 
 ping in the church where it was kept and imploring to be led 
 to victory ; upon return from victorious expeditions they 
 regularly went to this church to offer their thanksgivings to 
 ** the Guidress " ; the picture was again on several occa- 
 sions taken into battle to ensure victory ; it was in the 13th 
 century a second time carried round the walls during a siege 
 of Constantinople ; and it became the regular custom to 
 lodge it in the imperial palace during the festival of Easter. 
 Finally when in 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Turks, 
 a Greek poem on the fall of Constantinople declared that 
 this sacred picture, honoured for so many centuries, was pre- 
 served from falling into their hands by being taken up to 
 heaven by angels ; the truth apparently being that when the 
 fall of the city had become certain the picture was secretly 
 conveyed on board a ship and again despatched to Bari, 
 where it has ever since remained. 
 
 Great doubt exists among writers as to the meaning of 
 the name " Ton Hodegon " (of the Guides) given to the 
 church in Constantinople in which the picture was kept, and 
 also as to when this name was adopted in place of its earlier 
 one of " Deiparae Hodegetriae " (she who guides). Ducange 
 suggests that it was called Ton Hodegon " because the Byzan- 
 tine emperors never started on a campaign without worship- 
 ping there and asking the Virgin to lead them to victory." 
 But this accounts only for its earlier name, and fails altogether 
 
 * Several other old Greek pictures, brought to southern Italy at 
 this time to save them from destruction, are to be seen in various 
 towns in southern Italy, such as Otranto, Amalfi, Salerno, and Barletta, 
 
 BATTLE OF ACROINON 
 
 581 
 
 to account for the plural (the Guides) in the case of its later 
 name. It looks as though the party in the Church who ob- 
 jected to the exaltation of the Virgin Mary and to the term 
 '* Mother of God " (Theotokos, or in Latin, Deipara), wishing 
 to avoid this term and yet to retain the time-honoured name 
 of the church in some form, had at some period changed the 
 singular into the plural, making it " the church of the Guides," 
 with allusion to the Holy Trinity. 
 
 This celebrated picture, the Hodegetria, supposed to be now 
 nearly 1900 years old, and in any case a most interesting 
 historical relic with a history of 1500 years, is still to be seen, 
 blackened with age, kept in the cathedral of Bari. ^ 
 „ . , In 732 Leo's son Constantine, by this time fifteen, 
 Leo's son. was married to the daughter of the important 
 Khan of the Khazars. On thus marrying Constantine she 
 became a Christian and took the name of Irene. The Kha- 
 zars at this time had become very powerful ; in 728 they had 
 invaded Armenia and Media, and in those regions had thor- 
 oughly overawed the Saracens. They were uniformly hostile 
 to the latter and on friendly terms with the empire, and this 
 marriage was a political measure to cement stiQ closer this 
 advantageous alliance. 
 
 Battle of Towards the end of his reign Leo III again won 
 
 Acroinon. houour against the Saracens. In 734 the latter 
 
 again invaded Asia Minor, but without gaining any special 
 
 success. They made similar attacks in 736 and in 738, in- 
 
 1 The Byzantines preferred to ignore the fact that the picture had 
 ever been away from Constantinople, and though its secret despatch 
 in the fleet going to Italy is well attested, preferred to believe that it 
 was mysteriously hidden from the Iconoclasts in the 8th century in 
 some way not stated, and mysteriously preserved from the Turks 
 in the 1 5th century in the manner related. And Ducange, from 
 whom a large part of these details have been taken, speaks as though 
 the picture had never been removed from Constantinople. In that 
 case it is necessary to assimie, (i) that the picture was preserved in 
 some mysterious manner from the Iconoclastic emperors in the 8th 
 century ; (ii) that it was preserved from the Turks in the manner 
 noted, or in some other mysterious way, and to account for what 
 became of it, and (iii) that the picture which has so long been kept 
 at Bari is a copy, and to account for its name and how it got there. 
 The account given in the text appears more likely to be true than 
 these assumptions of mysterious agency. 
 
 }{ 
 
 ^1 
 
682 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 THE ECLOGA 
 
 583 
 
 cursions which had all more or less the nature of raids, and 
 were beaten off by the troops in the districts invaded. But 
 in 739 these incursions were succeeded by a much more 
 formidable attack. The Khalif Hischam despatched an army 
 of more than 100,000 men under four generals, one to 
 invade the Cappadocian theme, one the Seleucian theme, and 
 two to advance into the Anatolian theme. ^ To meet this 
 formidable invasion Leo III ignored the custom that the 
 emperor should not personally command in war, and with his 
 son Constantine, then twenty-one, took the field. The result 
 was another great success. At the battle of Acroinon, in 
 Phrygia, in the summer of 739 Leo gained a great and deci- 
 sive victory, completely routing the Saracen army, and driv- 
 ing the Saracens out of Asia Minor ; and as the result of thi^ 
 victory both he and the army gained high honour. At this 
 battle of Acroinon perished Abdullah Albattal, said to be the 
 original of the legendary hero the Qd. 
 
 The Ecioga ^^^^^ ^ '^^^ *^^ important Code of the Roman 
 laws 2 written for the first time in Greek, and 
 called the Ecloga, was finished and promulgated. Its full title 
 was:— "A compendious selection of the laws, made by the 
 wise emperors Leo and Constantine from the Institutes, the 
 Digest, the Codex, and the Novelise of the great Justinian ; 
 and an improvement thereof m the direction of humanity." 
 And its Preamble contained the words : — 
 
 " We exhort and command those who have been appointed 
 to administer the law to abstain from all human passion ; and 
 from a sound understanding to bring forth sentences of true justice, 
 and neither to despise the poor nor to permit a powerful transgres- 
 sor to go unconvicted. . . . Presents and gifts blind the eyes of 
 the wise. Therefore being anxious to put an end to such evil gain, 
 we have determined to provide from Our patrimony salaries for 
 the most illustrious quaestor, the comptrollers, and all the officials 
 employed m administering justice, to the intent that they may 
 receive nothing whatever from any person who is tried before 
 them. ' 
 
 Its accompany- Accompanying the Ecloga were the three special 
 
 ing codes, codes of regulations already mentioned. The first, 
 
 the Maritime Code, contained an immense set of regulations 
 
 dealing with the mercantile marine and sea trade, and pro- 
 
 ^ See p. 644, footnote. 2 p^g^ 555^ 
 
 viding laws for every case which could arise between the 
 ship-owner, the merchant owning the cargo, the captain of 
 the vessel, the passengers, and the crew, as well as for cases 
 of loss or injury to ship or cargo. The Code shows that in the 
 8th century sea-trade (that is, nine-tenths of all trade) was 
 carried on by companies, chiefly because the Mediterranean 
 was infested by Saracen pu-ates and the risk of loss was too 
 great to be borne by individuals. The importance of this 
 Maritime Code of Leo III, known as the Rhodian Code,i is 
 manifested by the fact that it became throughout the Middle 
 Ages, among all countries, the recognized universal code 
 governing all commercial traffic by sea. And when in modern 
 times each country drew up a maritime law for itself this 
 Rhodian Code formed the basis of that law among all nations, 
 and still continues to do so. 
 
 The second code, the Agricultural Code for the empire, was 
 also of high importance. It laid down laws for every case 
 which could arise between the proprietor of the soil and the 
 tenants who cultivated it, as well as for compensation in case 
 of loss, and also laws for cases where the land was cultivated 
 by a community of peasants holding the land in common. 
 But the most noticeable feature of this code is its showing 
 that a silent revolution had taken place since the 5th century, 
 serfdom being no longer found, and peasants, though divided 
 into two classes, being in both cases free men. Slavery, so 
 far as agriculture is concerned, had disappeared. 2 As to how 
 during the two centuries concerned this great change had 
 come about we are left in ignorance. Evidently the change 
 had been a gradual one. The Russian scholar N. Skabalono- 
 vitch considers that it was chiefly due to the large infusion 
 into the population of Sclavonic settlers, who in many districts, 
 both in Europe and Asia, had taken the place of the former 
 peasants, slain or carried off as captives in the various inva- 
 sions by the Avars and Bulgarians in Europe, and by the 
 Persians and Saracens in Asia.^ The Sclavs did not under- 
 stand an institution attaching men to the soil ; hence the 
 
 1 Rhodes having in former times been the centre of ocean traffic. 
 
 2 Slavery however still existed in a modified degree in other lines 
 in life, though rapidly disappearing. 
 
 3 See Chap. XXV, pp. 475 and 511. 
 
 Ir 
 
 ■ ti 
 
 ; } 
 
 i 1 
 
 4:' 
 
 « 
 
584 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 THE GOLD BY Z ANT 
 
 585 
 
 tie which had connected the peasants and the soil was broken, 
 the former ceasing to be serfs, and retaining a right to move 
 freely from place to place. ^ 
 
 The third code, the Military Code, provided regulations 
 for all the various affau-s of the army, and laws governing the 
 life of the soldier and his officer. The chief feature of this 
 code is that it shows the introduction of a much more strict 
 discipline than had for a long time prevailed. 
 
 The Ecloga of Leo III (with its subsidiary codes) is of the 
 more importance because the Isaurian emperors were regarded 
 with so much hatred by their successors on account of their 
 Iconoclastic policy (the Iconoclasts becoming looked upon 
 as the unorthodox, and their opponents as the orthodox 
 party) that these succeeding emperors destroyed every docu- 
 ment connected with them, and it was almost by an accident 
 that this solitary monument of the administrative measures 
 of Leo III survived. 2 
 The superiority These laws of the great Isaurian emperor cause 
 
 of the empire .__ a^ i* t_ • , 
 
 demonstrated "^ to rcalizc how immcnsc was still the superiority 
 by these laws, of thc Later Roman Empire over aU nations of the 
 West. The language in which these laws are couched, the 
 ideas they embody, the well-ordered system they exemplify, 
 and the scrupulous attention to detail in regard to different 
 classes of the population which they show, are all in marked 
 contrast to the uncouth laws, couched in still more uncouth 
 Latin, which some of the nations of the West were beginning 
 to formulate. And whUe both the empire itself and the 
 western nations had long since abandoned the idea which had 
 prevailed at the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th cen- 
 tury of a suzerainty on the part of the empire,^ nevertheless 
 the western nations looked up to the empire as superior to 
 themselves in aU such matters. But the time was long past 
 when communication between East and West had been easy 
 and frequent, and when a rapid ride such as that of Constan- 
 tino from Nicomedia to Boulogne had been possible.* Hos- 
 
 1 Vizantyskoe Gosudarstvo i Tserkvo (The Byzantine Empire and 
 Church), by N. Skabalonoviteh. 
 
 2 For a full description of the Ecloga see Bury's Later Roman Emvire 
 II, pp. 411-421. ^ 
 
 3 Chap. XX, pp. 145 and 172. * Vol. I, Chap. XII, p. 370. 
 
 tile nations, broken roads, and general insecurity rendered 
 communication from West to East scarcely possible, and 
 the races beyond the Alps knew little about the empire and 
 its affairs. Even a journey to Rome was a long, difficult, 
 and perilous undertaking ; further east than Rome the western 
 nations scarcely looked. 
 
 Commerce and The dcstruction of the western haK of the Roman 
 wealth. Empire had been a benefit so far as commerce was 
 concerned to what had been the eastern half of that empire. 
 The Franks, the Goths, the Burgundians and other northern 
 races who had overrun the West despised commerce, and the 
 whole of the flourishing trade of the western half of the Roman 
 Empire was destroyed when they conquered the western coun- 
 tries. Thenceforth all trade was directed to the Later Roman 
 Empire, Constantinople, especially, becoming the centre of 
 most of the trade with the far East. And when in the 7th 
 century the conquests of the Mahomedans blocked the Red 
 Sea route to the East this effect was doubled. The whole 
 trade between Europe and the far East at this time centred 
 in Constantinople ; in order to avoid the Saracen dominions, 
 it passed by the Black Sea, thence through the territory of the 
 Khazars to the north of the Saracen dominions in Persia, and 
 so to China and India. This route was the highway of Euro- 
 pean commerce from the 7th to the 10th century. And as 
 a result Constantinople at this time in wealth and commerce 
 surpassed every other city of the world to even a greater 
 degree than London now surpasses the other European 
 capitals ; in fact the commerce of Europe in the 8th century 
 centred at Constantinople more completely than it has since 
 then ever done in any one city. The great wealth of society 
 in the Later Roman Empire at this period as the result of this 
 enormous trade is shown by the immense amount of gold cur- 
 rency in circulation. That empire furnished for several cen- 
 turies the whole of the gold currency in circulation not only 
 in all the western nations, but also in the empire of the Mahome- 
 dan Khalifs, the gold " byzant '' ^ of the Later Roman Empu-e 
 being the only gold coin in both East and West.^ 
 
 1 See Appendix XVH. 
 
 2 Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire, p. 197. 
 
586 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 THE ARMY 
 
 587 
 
 Q^j^^ The Later Roman Empire (contrary to the erroneous 
 justice, and picturc drawn of it in later times by such writers 
 
 moral tone. r^'^ -, -i -rr ii • v i 
 
 as (ribbon and Voltau'e) was the country in which 
 reigned a higher degree of order and justice than in any 
 other at this period. In no other country were life and pro- 
 perty anything like so secure. The Later Roman Empire, 
 through the advantage of possessing a systematic administra- 
 tion of justice with a fixed legal procedure, gave a greater 
 degree of personal liberty, as well as greater security for pro- 
 perty, than was to be found either in the dominions of the 
 Mahomedan Khalifs or in any country of the West. It has 
 been said that the empire of the Khalifs and of Charlemagne, 
 though loudly praised by historians, could not, in their best 
 days, compete in this respect with the Later Roman Empire 
 as reorganized by Leo III, and that no other government of 
 which history has preserved the records has secured equal 
 advantages to its subjects for so many centuries. ^ At the 
 same time the moral tone of its society was on an altogether 
 higher level than was to be seen elsewhere. In the empire 
 of the Mahomedan Khalifs violence and injustice claimed an 
 unboimded license ; and in the West at this period licentious- 
 ness was universal, while the laws of the western nations 
 testify to the frequency of female drunkenness, the prevailing 
 immorality, and the general social anarchy. In marked 
 contrast to these conditions in the West it has been held that 
 the superior moral tone of society in the Later Roman Em- 
 pire was a main cause of that empire's long duration. 
 
 ^g A century ago it was customary among historians, 
 anny. as a part of the depreciatory view then held of the 
 Later Roman Empire, ^ to speak of that empire as if it were 
 destitute of military strength. The truth was far otherwise, 
 especially after the reforms carried out by Leo III, who both 
 by these reforms and by his own personal example breathed a 
 new spirit into the army. No contemporary government 
 possessed so perfect a military organization, nor could any 
 bring into the field on an emergency armies so well trained 
 and equipped. The pernicious system which had for cen- 
 turies obtained in the Roman Empire, and been one of the 
 
 ^ Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire, p. 9. 
 « See Chap. XX, p. li?7. 
 
 chief causes of the overthrow of the western half of that empire 
 in the 5th century,^ a system which deemed the conditions of 
 the soldier and the citizen incompatible, and under which 
 the artisan was bound to his trade, the proprietor to his 
 estate, and every restriction possible exerted to prevent free 
 enlistment of citizens as soldiers, stUl continued. It placed 
 an impassable barrier between the proprietor of the soil, who 
 was the taxpayer, and the soldier, who was the defender of 
 the country, the mass of the population still continuing to be 
 excluded from the use of arms. The system was of too long 
 standing in the empire for Leo III to attempt to break it ; 
 with the result, we are told, that " the imperial forces mainly 
 consisted of conscripts drawn from the lowest ranks of society, 
 or from rough mountaineers of almost independent provinces, 
 or of foreigners hired as mercenaries." * 
 
 But it is the special glory of the born leader of men, one 
 who possesses the true instincts of a soldier, to be able to make 
 troops of the finest quality out of what to the civilian's eye 
 would seem the most unpromising material ; as had been 
 shown by Belisarius and many another great commander. 
 And it is evident that many of the officers surrounding Leo III 
 had this power, and that whatever the original material may 
 have been like they were able to fashion it into troops of 
 which any country might be proud. For though the Sara- 
 cens devoted all the wealth of their empire to their military 
 establishment, and in arms and military science were in no 
 way inferior to the Romans, yet they never dared to meet the 
 latter with anything approaching equal numbers ; and the 
 many stubbornly contested battles fought in Asia Minor 
 against superior forces in the armies of the Khalifs entitle 
 the army of the Later Roman Empire to rank high in military 
 estimation.^ For in this, as in other cases, we must judge 
 of that army by its achievements. And it has won lasting 
 renown by the fact that by its valour and discipline it 
 successfully defended the empire, though greatly overmatched 
 
 1 Chap. XIX, p. 135. 
 
 * Finlay, History of the Byzantine E7npire, p. 27. 
 
 ^ Among the military arrangements maintained for the defence of 
 the empire was a regular system of telegraphing by means of fire- 
 signals from the frontiers of the empire to the shores of the Bosphorus. 
 
 II 
 
 ■t(i 
 
 
 
■11 
 
 588 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 589 
 
 in numbers, against the fanatical Saracens for four hundred 
 years, until at last the Saracen empire broke up. 
 
 In order to form a correct estimate of the Later 
 
 General 
 estimate 
 
 befonned^of ^^^^^ Empire in the progressive improvement of 
 
 Later Roman mankind it is necessary to compare it, on the one 
 "^"^" hand, with the degraded condition of the Roman 
 Empire in Pagan times in all matters relating to moral en- 
 lightenment ; and on the other, with the style of government 
 prevailing at this time in the Mahomedan empire, and with the 
 barbarous administration of the western nations. The regu- 
 larity of its civil and judicial administration, the defensive 
 power of its military organization, the state of education, and 
 the general tone in morals, are all in marked contrast to 
 the case of all other nations at this period. The one incur- 
 able defect in the Later Roman Empire, as it had been through- 
 out the history of the Roman Empire in all ages, was its 
 rapacious fiscal administration based upon erroneous financial 
 principles. Yet even in this direction no other government 
 of that age displayed equal honesty. And as respect for 
 the law was regarded by the emperors as self-respect, this 
 feeling tempered the exercise of arbitrary rule. 
 
 Social life in Tumiug to regard social life in the Later Roman 
 Roman^Empire "^"^P""® in the time of Leo III, such glimpses as 
 
 in the 8th we obtain show that though the age was in some 
 century, j^gp^cts bclow that which had preceded it and that 
 which followed it, a fairly high degree of culture and refine- 
 ment was maintained. The universal ruin which had over- 
 spread everything in the West threw into greater contrast the 
 civilization and culture of the Later Roman Empke and the 
 magnificence of its capital city. Boys were regularly sent 
 to school, sometimes for as long as seven years, and this was 
 followed by a university course in rhetoric, literature, logic, 
 mathematics, and music. Girls also, though taught at home, 
 received in general a high degree of education ; apparently 
 this was as a rule given by their mothers, as it is noted of 
 Theoctiste, the mother of Theodore, Abbot of Studion, a 
 lady occupying a high position in society, that she had to 
 teach herself after her marriage, because being an orphan she 
 had grown up uneducated. 
 
 Life in Constantinople was enlivened by various festivities, 
 
 as well as by frequent ceremonials connected either with the 
 court or the Church. The monastic life was exceedingly 
 popular, men of the highest rank frequently becoming monks. 
 As such they not only became in many cases learned students 
 and writers, but also learnt various trades ; Theodore of 
 Studion states that when he became abbot of his monastery 
 he made rules by which every monk therein had to learn a 
 trade, some being masons, some weavers, some shoe-makers, 
 some rope-makers, and some bronze-smiths. The law of 
 Justinian was enforced which forbade any one below the rank 
 of the nobility to remain in Constantinople who was not gain- 
 ing his livelihood in some recognized trade or profession ; 
 any able-bodied man found without a trade was assigned 
 one, and if he refused to work was expelled from the city. 
 The law in question stated the reasons for this enactment to 
 be, first that idleness leads to crime, and secondly that it is 
 unfair that strong men should live upon the gains of others, 
 since any excess which the latter possess is owed to the weak 
 and maimed. Among the recognized trades was that of a 
 garden-labourer, employed by the State ; the so-called " gar- 
 dens " being public parks maintained by the State for the 
 enjoyment of the people.^ 
 
 The splendour of the imperial court tended ever more and 
 more to an eastern magnificence and an increasing departure 
 from the old Greek and Roman simplicity. The tiara, the 
 state-robe, and profuse ornaments all marked this tendency ; 
 the nobility wore jewels even on their golden shoes ; and 
 even the most ordinary domestic utensils were embossed or 
 overlaid with gold. Nevertheless the extravagance in Con- 
 stantinople at this period did not approach that of Rome in 
 the age of Caligula and Nero ; such tendencies had been to 
 no small extent suppressed by Christianity; and banquets 
 costing a fortune, or luxurious orgies such as were common 
 in Rome in the 1st century, would in Constantinople have 
 been considered a scandalous outrage upon society. Among 
 the upper classes, together with luxury, much elaborate cere- 
 mony was customary. Ladies in society took the titles of 
 their husbands with feminine terminations, with the result 
 
 1 For most of these details I am indebted to Prof, Bury's Later 
 Boman Empire, Vol. II, pp. 519-529, 
 
 I ! 
 
590 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 HIS ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 591 
 
 that we find them rejoicing in such titles as archontism, 
 iurmachism, hypatissa, and canditatisea, while we also find 
 in use the more familiar title of contesea (countess). But for 
 all their high-sounding titles these ladies were exceedingly 
 human, and though they spoke in melodious Greek in- 
 stead of in our rougher northern tongue, romantic and self- 
 sacrificing love, sorrowful tragedies, and unselfish labours 
 for the good of others, as also gossip, scandal, and worldly- 
 mindedness, were as common in Constantinople in the 8th 
 century as in these days in London or New York. Many 
 pathetic tragedies unknown to history must also from time 
 to time have been caused by the cruel rule that Byzantine 
 princesses who were the daughters of an emperor who had 
 sons might not marry. Though there was much eastern 
 extravagance of dress there were no eastern ideas as regards 
 the position of women ; Rome had always allowed perfect 
 freedom to women, and this continued under the Later Roman 
 Empire, women leading a perfectly free life, and more so 
 in fact than in the West, where Teutonic ideas as to the more 
 or less secluded life proper to be maintained by women pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 And while the women were womanly, the men were manly, 
 and by no means such as western historians of a later age 
 for long centuries imagined them. No doubt there were those 
 (as in every age) who preferred a lucrative civil appointment 
 at the court, or to lounge in the drawing-rooms of the capital, 
 rather than to endure the hardships and risks of a soldier's 
 life. But there were very many with whom it was otherwise. 
 And though these nobler spirits found no favour with the 
 monks and ecclesiastics who were the sole chroniclers of the 
 time, their deeds have afforded a more enduring and reliable 
 record than any such chroniclers could have furnished. The 
 great emperor Leo III, with his long and honourable record, 
 first as an aide-de-camp of Justinian II, then as an envoy 
 sent away from his court by the suspicious Justinian to the 
 tribes in the wild territory north of the Caucasus, where he 
 went through many adventures and hairbreadth escapes, 
 then as commander in the Anatolic theme, when he several 
 times defeated the Saracens, then as the heroic defender of 
 Constantinople, and lastly as the stem opponent of super- 
 
 stition, was in every way himself a most manly character. 
 And around him he gathered others like himseK, men who had 
 fought in many battles, in North Africa, in Asia Minor, in the 
 long siege of Constantinople, and in the great victory of 
 Acroinon, and who as they walked through the streets of 
 Constantinople were honoured by all as the defenders of the 
 empire, and would had they lived in these days have been 
 covered with medals. Such men took no part in court in- 
 trigues or the degrading chicanery of politics, and so found 
 no place in the writings of the time ; their business was to 
 defend the empire, and in this nobler task they have left behind 
 them a record which is imperishable. 
 
 Death of Leo III died on the 18th June, 740, ^ at the age 
 Leo III. Qf seventy, soon after the promulgation of the 
 Ecloga, having reigned twenty-three years. The year 740 
 in which this important code of laws was promulgated is thus 
 notable from the fact that the emperor Leo III, the most im- 
 portant figure in the East, Charles Martel, the most important 
 figure in the West, and Pope Gregory III, who had so strenu- 
 ously opposed Iconoclasm, all died in this same year. 
 
 In the Later Roman Empire up to this time three 
 Ildachtevl^'^ emperors stand out as specially remarkable, Jus- 
 ments. tinian I in the 6th century, Heraclius in the 7th, 
 and Leo III in the 8th ; and among these Leo III deserves 
 to occupy the second place, as the most notable emperor next 
 to Justinian I. His character was in every way an honour- 
 able one ; and had it not been for the strong prejudice against 
 him felt by the ecclesiastical writers of later ages on account 
 of his unorthodox Iconoclastic policy he would no doubt 
 have been placed upon a high pedestal. His military achieve- 
 ments against the Saracens before he became emperor, his 
 splendid repulse of the immense Saracen attack upon Con- 
 stantinople in 717-718, his brilliant victory over the Sara- 
 cens at the battle of Acroinon, when he was nearly seventy, 
 
 1 Not 741, as usually stated. Professor Bury has pointed out that, 
 in consequence of a mistake made by the contemporary chroniclers 
 which misled modern historians, for fifty years of the 8th century 
 (from 727 up to shortly before the death of Constantine V) all the 
 received dates are wrong by a year (see Later Roman Empire, II, 
 422-427). 
 
592 
 
 LEO III 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 and his able and thorough reform in the discipline of the army 
 attest his high claim to honom* from a military point of view. 
 But this was only one portion of his abilities ; in the adminis- 
 trative sphere he shone with even greater lustre. His regenera- 
 tion of the entire public and private life of the empire, breath- 
 ing into it a more robust spirit, his reforms in every branch 
 of its administration, his advancement of its commerce by 
 his various measures to protect commercial interests, and 
 lastly his remarkable and eminently practical code of laws, 
 with its three subsidiary codes, place him in the first rank 
 among administrators. 
 
 Unfortunately the line he took in matters of religion has 
 obscured his claim to honour in other respects. His deter- 
 mination to put down the gross superstition which prevailed 
 in religion was in every way laudable. But instead of attack- 
 ing so thorny and difficult a question slowly and cautiously 
 through the recognized channel of authority in the Church, 
 a General Council of Bishops, he proceeded by the unlawful 
 and arbitrary course of an imperial edict, and by the harsh 
 and cruel methods which he adopted to enforce obedience 
 to his will in the matter he robbed his endeavour to put down 
 superstition of all the commendation which it might other- 
 wise have won. The error of his action in endeavouring to 
 carry out such a reform by means of an imperial edict instead 
 of through a General Council of Bishops is rendered all the 
 more marked by the fact that whereas the superstitious 
 reverence for pictures and images was much less in the 
 western than in the eastern patriarchate, it was the western 
 patriarchate which was forced into being the chief opponent 
 to his authority, the eastern patriarchate having been ren- 
 dered powerless to resist it. 
 
 By this action in regard to religious matters Leo III did 
 harm which went far to counterbalance all his beneficial 
 reforms. Not only destroying valuable works of art, and 
 objects which had been long endeared to the hearts of his sub- 
 jects, but also ruthlessly persecuting all who opposed this 
 action, he by his harsh and unsympathetic Iconoclastic policy 
 raised an embittered conflict which lasted for several genera- 
 tions, and did widespread harm both to the Empire and to 
 the Church; driving a wedge between East and West. That 
 
 xxvi] 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE EMPERORS 
 
 593 
 
 policy was continued by his son Constantine V in a stiU more 
 ruthless and far less creditable fashion, many cruel martyr- 
 doms of those who opposed Iconoclasm taking place. And 
 though forty years after Leo Ill's death Iconoclasm was over- 
 thrown and the Iconoclastic policy reversed by the empress 
 Irene (the widow of Leo Ill's grandson), ^ it was then too late 
 to heal the division which that policy had created. East and 
 West having grown apart. And although this was not the 
 ultimate cause of the final breach between the eastern and 
 western patriarchates of the Church in the eleventh century, 
 yet it must be held to have contributed its quota to that 
 breach, through the two patriarchates having been separated 
 throughout the greater part of the 8th century by the Icono- 
 clastic policy. 
 Character of It is worthy of noticc, with reference to the char- 
 ^hl^^gTto acter in former days given to the Later Roman 
 740. Empire, that in the 345 years from the death of 
 Theodosius the Great to the death of Leo III (with the excep- 
 tion of course of the disgraceful usurper Phocas) the general 
 average of the twenty emperors who in turn sat upon the 
 imperial throne at Constantinople were men of ability, and 
 in moral character not only immeasurably higher than the 
 rulers of other countries their contemporaries, but also cer- 
 tainly as high as those which any list of sovereigns of similar 
 length in any country or age can show. 
 
 n 
 
 A general view over both East and West at this 
 
 ^"o^er^*^^ stage in their history shows that the long period of 
 
 ^^^If d^th^* confusion and turmoil which followed the irrup- 
 
 of tion of the northern nations into the Roman Empire 
 
 was passing away, that the " wild nations " were 
 beginning to become tamed. In Italy the Lombards had 
 thoroughly established their rule, and were becoming a civil- 
 ized race, the latest step in that process being the laws pro- 
 mulgated by king Liutprand. In France and southern Ger- 
 many a strong and orderly rule had been established over 
 the fierce Franks by Charles Martel, the effete Merovingian 
 
 1 The wife of Constantine V and the wife of his son Leo IV had 
 both of them the name of Irene. 
 
 !'l 
 
 E,w,— lit 
 
 QQ 
 
594 
 
 EAST AND WEST 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXVl] 
 
 A WORLD'S METROPOLIS 
 
 695 
 
 dynasty was near its end, and that dynasty was soon to be 
 succeeded by Charles Martel's own descendants. In England 
 a process of unification was taking place among the Anglo- 
 Saxons through the establishment of one national Church 
 for all England, a change which was gradually preparing the 
 seven kingdoms of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes for being 
 all brought under one king. The Mahomedans had been 
 beaten back on both flanks of their attack upon Europe, had 
 reached their furthest limit in the West, and were settling 
 down in Spain for a period of nearly 800 years. In the East, 
 the Later Roman Empire, though only hai its size in the time 
 of Justinian I, and only one quarter the size of the empire ruled 
 by Constantine the Great, was still strong, an example to all 
 the world in law, commerce, and methods of government, and 
 able successfully to oppose the Mahomedans. In the Church 
 three of the five patriarchates had been swept away, while 
 the two remaining patriarchates had for a time been driven 
 into opposition by the Iconoclastic policy. 
 
 The most prominent feature of the time is the depth of 
 ignorance into which the whole of the West had sunk. 
 Scarcely any except ecclesiastics could read or write, and even 
 they could only do so in the most uncouth language, knew 
 nothing of Greek (the language used in the East), and were 
 egregiously ignorant. Even in Rome, the city of Virgil, Horace, 
 Ovid, Livy, and Tacitus, all learning had departed. 
 
 But though the West was sunk in so much ignorance, it was 
 from the West that eventually the one thing was to come which 
 the East could not supply, so far as religion was concerned. The 
 East had done its part weU throughout the 5th, 6th, and 7th 
 centuries in maintaining the fight for the true faith against a 
 long succession of attacks ; and without this steadfast defence 
 of that faith nothing that could rightly be called Christianity 
 would have survived to later ages. But doctrine was not 
 everything. Christianity appeals not only to the intellect, but 
 also to the heart. And the Teutonic races of the West, gifted 
 with that susceptibility which the intellectually minded 
 East lacked, were in the fullness of time to supply this ele- 
 ment. We see this spirit showing itself in them even at the 
 end of the 5th century, and among the barbarous Franks, in 
 the speech recorded of Clovis when he was first told the story 
 
 of Christ's death, " If I had been there with my Franks, I 
 would have avenged his injuries." No Greek or Roman would 
 have made such a speech. We see the same spirit, one quite 
 foreign to the temper of the East, manifesting itself in the case 
 of those Burgundian and Frank princesses who had so much 
 to do with the conversion of various nations in the West, as 
 well as in the case of those Anglo-Saxon missionaries who 
 sacrificed their lives in attempts to convert savage races in 
 Germany. And when, later on, the time came for the noble 
 race of the Normans to be converted to Christianity, this 
 element which the East could not supply was through them 
 to produce great effects in the world's history. 
 
 Lastly, at this time of the middle of the 8th century Con- 
 stantinople still stood like a great fortress barring the way 
 against the Mahomedans, two grand attacks by whom it had 
 repulsed in disaster. It stiU remained the metropolis of the 
 world, the only home of the refinement, learning, and art of 
 the Roman empire, a city beside which neither Rome nor any 
 other city of the West was more than a provincial town, a 
 city which had still a glorious history of many hundred years 
 before it, and which before it died would replant in the un- 
 lettered West the laws, the learning, the culture, and the art 
 of the Roman Empire. 
 
 END OF VOL. n. 
 
Appendix xi 
 
 List of the emperors of the Later Roman Empire 
 
 from Zeno to Leo IIL 
 
 (For convenience the emperors who reigned over the eastern half of the 
 lloman Empire before it becomes called the Later Roman Emph-e are also 
 entered.) 
 
 [•' 
 
 n 
 
 ti 
 
 Emperor. 
 
 Date. 
 
 
 Arcadius . 
 
 395-408 
 
 Eastern half of the Roman Empire. 
 
 Theodosius II . 
 
 408-450 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Marcian . 
 
 450-457 
 
 Ditto, 
 
 Leo I . . . 
 
 457^74 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Leo II . . . 
 
 474 
 474-491 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Zeno .... 
 
 Later Roman Empire. 
 
 Anastasius I 
 
 491-518 
 
 
 Justin I. 
 
 518-527 
 
 
 Justinian I . 
 
 527-565 
 
 
 Justin II 
 
 566-578 
 
 
 Tiberius II . 
 
 578-582 
 
 
 Maurice . 
 
 582-602 
 
 
 Phocas . . . 
 
 602-610 
 
 
 Heraclius 
 
 610-641 
 
 
 Constantine III 
 
 641 
 
 
 Constans II. 
 
 641-668 
 
 
 Constantine IV. 
 
 668-685 
 
 
 Justinian II 
 
 685-711 
 
 
 Philippicus . 
 
 711-713 
 
 
 Anastasius II . 
 
 713-715 
 
 
 Theodosius III. 
 
 715-717 
 
 
 Leo III . . . 
 
 717-740 
 
 
 597 
 
APPENDIX XII 
 
 599 
 
 APPENDIX XII 
 
 The male and female martyrs shown in the two proces- 
 sions in the mosaic picture in the church of St. Apol- 
 linare Nuovo in Ravenna, the name of each being 
 written over his or her head. 
 
 {N.B. — In this Hat they are arranged chronologically, not in the order they stand 
 %n the procession.) 
 
 Name. 
 
 1. Vi talis 
 
 • • 
 
 2. Gervasius and^ 
 
 3. Protasius J 
 
 4. Apollinaris 
 
 f . Clement (a) , 
 
 ^. Ignatius (a) . 
 
 7. Polycarp (a) 
 
 8. Justin Martyr (a) 
 
 9. Cornelius (a). 
 10. Cyprian (a) . 
 
 When and Where Martyred. 
 (The eases of those marked (a) have been detailed in 
 Vol. I, Chapters V to XII). 
 
 Male Martyrs. 
 An officer in the Roman army who was a 
 Christian, in the time of Nero, and sta- 
 tioned at Ravenna. Seeing a Christian 
 led to death whose courage was sinking, he 
 encouraged him, and afterwards removed 
 and buried his body. For this he was 
 buried €dive on the spot in Ravenna where 
 the church to his memory stands . . a.d. 66 
 
 Sons of Vitalis. Martyred at Milan . . . a.d. 67 
 
 First Bishop of Ravenna. Said to have 
 accompanied S*. Peter to Italy from An- 
 tioch, and been sent by him to preach 
 Christianity on the eastern coast of Italy, 
 being appointed Bishop of Ravenna, the 
 chief city on that coast. Fifteen years 
 afterwards, in the reign of Vespasian, was 
 martjnred by the Pagan inhabitants at the 
 place where the church of St. Apollinare 
 in Classe now stands a.d. 79 
 
 Bishop of Rome. Martyred in the Crimea, 
 
 under the emperor Trajan . . . a.d. 101 
 
 (He heads the procession of male martyrs 
 in the mosaic picture.) 
 
 Bishop of Antioch. Martyred at Rome, 
 under the emperor Trajan a.d. 114 
 
 Bishop of Smyrna. Martyred at Smyrna, 
 under the emperor Antoninus Pius . . a.d. 156 
 
 Teacher of Christianity. Mart5rred at Rome, 
 
 under the emperor Marcus Aurelius . . a.d. 177 
 
 Bishop of Rome. Martyred at Rome, under 
 the emperor Gallus a.d. 262 
 
 Bishop of Carthage. Martyred at Carthage, 
 under the emperor Valerian .... a.d. 268 
 
 598 
 
 Name. 
 
 11. Lawrence (a) 
 
 12. Hippolytus . 
 
 13. Cassianua. 
 
 14. Demetrius 
 
 15. Sabinus . 
 
 16. Ursinus . 
 
 17. Pancras . 
 
 18. Vincent (a) 
 
 19 Sebastian (a) 
 
 20. Chrysogonus. 
 
 When and Where Martyred. 
 
 A deacon. Martyred at Rome, under the 
 
 emperor Valerian a.d. 258 
 
 A Roman soldier placed on guard over 
 Lawrence. Buried the body of the lat- 
 ter ; was seized and brought before Macri- 
 anus (the cruel minister of Valerian, and 
 instigator of the persecution), and declared 
 himself a Christian. After seeing nineteen 
 members of his family beheaded, is said 
 under the orders of the cruel Macrianus 
 to have been bound to two wild horses, 
 and torn asunder a.d. 268 
 
 A schoolmaster at Imola. Was denounced 
 as a Christian by his scholars, and given 
 up to their fury. Martyred at Imola. . a.d. 258 
 
 Martyred at Rome, under the emperor 
 
 Valerian a.d. 258 
 
 Martyred at Rome, under the emperor 
 
 Valerian a.d. 258 
 
 Martyred at Rome, under the emperor 
 
 Valerian a.d. 258 
 
 A brave Christian boy martyred at Rome 
 under the emperor Diocletian for tearing 
 down the edict of persecution when it 
 was put up in the Forum a.d. 303 
 
 (The church to his memory in Rome was 
 erected in a.d. 500. There is a well- 
 known church to his memory in London.) 
 
 A deacon at Saragossa in Spain, aged twenty. 
 Martyred upon the promulgation of Dio- 
 cletian's edict, with all the other Chris- 
 tians in Saragossa, by the Proconsul 
 Dacianus, being subjected to terrible tor- 
 tures as an example to the rest. The acts 
 of his martyrdom were read publicly in the 
 North African churches in the 4th century 
 in the lifetime of St. Augustine. Is 
 specially honoured in Spain, where there 
 is scarcely a city without a church dedi- 
 cated to his memory a.d. 304 
 
 Captain of the imperial bodyguard. Mar- 
 tyred under the emperor Diocletian . .a.d. 304 
 
 (Numerous churches to his memory were 
 built in the 4th century.) 
 
 All that is known of him is that when St. 
 Anastasia (see below) was persecuted by 
 her relations he sustained her by his 
 
600 
 
 APPENDIX XII 
 
 Name. 
 
 21. Johannes, and) 
 
 22. Paulus ) 
 
 1. Vivia Perpetua (a) 
 
 2. Felicitas (a) . 
 
 3. Eugenia (a) . 
 
 4. Agatha (a) . 
 
 5. Paulina . 
 
 6. Sabina 
 
 7. Daria (a). 
 
 8. Pelagia (a) 
 
 9. Valeria 
 
 10. Vincentia. 
 
 11. Crispina . 
 
 12. Anatolia . 
 
 13. Victoria . 
 
 When and Where Martyred. 
 
 exhortations, and for this was martjrred 
 with her at Rome by the emperor Maxen- 
 
 tius A.D. 
 
 307 
 
 Two Roman officers martyred at Rome, 
 
 under the emperor Julian a.d. 362 
 
 (Their house stood on the Coelian hill where 
 the church dedicated to their memory 
 stands.) 
 
 Female Martyrs. 
 A young Roman lady. Martyred at Car- 
 thage, under the emperor Septimius Severus 
 
 A slave girl. Martjrred with Vivia Perpetua 
 
 Daughter of the Proconsul of Egypt, and 
 highly educated. Martyred at Alexan- 
 dria, under the emperor Septimius Severus 
 
 Martyred at Catania in Sicily, under the 
 emperor Decius 
 
 Martyred at Rome, under the emperor 
 Decius 
 
 A Roman lady, martyred at Rome, under 
 the emperor Decius 
 
 (On the site of her house on the Aventine 
 hill a church was erected in 423 which 
 still exists.) 
 
 A Vestal Virgin ; one of the sacred six, the 
 highest persons in the State next to the 
 emperor. On the outbreak of the per- 
 secution under Valerian she was accused 
 by his cruel minister Macrianus of being 
 a Christian, and acknowledged it. She 
 was martyred at Rome by being buried 
 alive 
 
 A.D. 203 
 A.D. 203 
 
 A.D. 203 
 A.D. 251 
 A.D. 261 
 A.D. 261 
 
 An actress. Confessed herself to be a Chris- 
 tian, and was martyred at Rome, under 
 the emperor Valerian, by the cruel 
 minister Macrianus 
 
 A.D. 267 
 
 A.D. 267 
 
 Martyred at Rome, with hideous tortures, 
 under the emperor Valerian, by the cruel 
 minister Macrianus .... 
 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 
 A.D. 267 
 A.D. 267 
 A.D. 267 
 A.D. 267 
 A.D. 267 
 
 APPENDIX XII 
 
 601 
 
 Name. 
 
 14. Cecilia (a) 
 
 16. Christina 
 
 16. Lucia (a) 
 
 17. Justina 
 
 18. Eulalia 
 
 19. Agnes (a) 
 
 20. Anastasia 
 
 21. Euphemia (a) 
 
 When and Where Martyred. 
 
 A young Roman lady. Martyred under 
 
 the emperor Probus a.d. 280 
 
 (Her house in Rome was converted within 
 ten years after her death into a church, 
 which still exists.) 
 
 Daughter of the governor of Bolsena. Was 
 tortured by her father on his discovering 
 that she was a Christian, and was martyred 
 under the emperor Carinus, it is said by 
 being thrown into the lake of Bolsena 
 tied to a millstone a.d. 283 
 
 A girl of sixteen. Martyred at Sjrracuse, 
 
 under the emperor Diocletian . . . a.d. 303 
 
 Daughter of the priest of a Pagan temple at 
 Antioch. Being discovered by her father 
 to be a Christian was martyred at Antioch, 
 under the emperor Diocletian. . . . a.d. 304 
 
 A very determined little girl of twelve at 
 Merida in Spain, who announced herself a 
 Christian, broke in pieces the Pagan idols 
 to which she was ordered to bum incense, 
 and was thereupon martyred at Merida, 
 under the emperor Diocletian. . . . a.d. 304 
 
 A girl of fourteen. Martyred under circum- 
 stances of disgraceful cruelty at Rome, 
 under the emperor Diocletian. . . .a.d. 304 
 
 (St. Jerome writing about eighty years after- 
 wards says that hymns in her honour had 
 been written in all languages.) 
 
 A Greek lady married to a Roman husband. 
 Was persecuted by her husband and rela- 
 tions for becoming a Christian, and finally 
 martyred at Rome, under the emperor 
 Maxentius a.d. 307 
 
 (The church to her memory in Rome was built 
 within eighty years of her death.) 
 
 A young unmarried Greek lady, belonging 
 to Chalcedon, on the coast of Bithynia. 
 All the details of her martyrdom are 
 known with certainty (see Vol. I, p. 383). 
 Martyred at Chalcedon, under the em- 
 peror Licinius a.d. 311 
 
 (She was so highly honoured that the name 
 of Euphemia, Virgin and Martyr, received 
 the title of Great. Though last of all in 
 time, she is placed at the head of the pro- 
 cession of female martyrs in the Ravenna 
 mosaic in consequence of her memory being 
 held in so much honour.) 
 
APPENDIX XIII 
 FRANK KINGS FROM CaiLOTOCHAR I TO DAGOBERT I 
 
 I 
 
 Charibert I 
 (kingdom of Paris) 
 b. 521 : d. 567 
 
 i 
 
 Guntram 
 
 (kingdom of Burgundy) 
 
 b. 525 ; d. 593 
 
 I 
 
 Ingundis = Chlotochar I = Aregundis, 
 I b' BOO ; d. 561 | sister of Ingimdis 
 
 1 
 
 Sigibert = Brunhilda 
 
 (kingdom of 
 
 Australia) 
 
 b. 535 : d. 575 
 
 b. 546 : d. 613 
 
 1 
 
 Chlotosinda 
 m. Alboin, 
 king of the 
 Lombards 
 
 (1) Audovera =Chilperic 1= (2) Galswintha 
 
 (kingdom of b. 548 ; d. 567 
 Neustria) 
 
 ha 
 
 Bertl 
 m . ^thelbert, 
 king of Kent 
 
 Ingundis 
 b. 567 ; d. 586 
 
 m. Hermenigild 
 
 Childeberi II 
 b. 568 ; d. 596 
 
 (king of Australia 675 ; 
 king of Burgundy 693) 
 
 Athanagild 
 
 r 
 
 Thiudabert II 
 b. 586 ; d. 612 
 
 (king of Australia 696) 
 
 I 
 
 An infant son, 
 killed with his father 
 in 612 by Thiudaric II. 
 
 \ 
 
 Chlotosuinda 
 
 betrothed to 
 
 Beccared I, 
 
 but died 
 
 unmarried. 
 
 I 
 
 Clotilda 
 
 b. 523 ; d. 584 
 
 Merovech 
 
 I 
 
 Thiudaric II 
 b. 587 ; d. 613 
 
 (king of Burgundy 696) 
 
 Four young boys, 
 killed in 613 by 
 Chlotochar II. 
 
 = (3) Fredegonda 
 b. 643 : d. 697 
 
 Chlotochar II 
 b. 681 ; d. 628 
 
 king of Neustria 684 ; 
 king of whole Frank 
 kingdom 613 
 
 Dagobert I 
 b. 600 ; d. 638 
 
 From him were descended 
 the rest of the Merovin- 
 gian dynasty. 
 
APPENDIX XIV 
 
 Approximate distances traversed by Heraclius in 
 his six campaigns in 622-628 
 
 Year. 
 
 622 
 623 
 
 624 
 625 
 
 626 
 627 
 
 628 
 
 Boute. 
 
 From Tarsus through Cilicia and Cappadocia 
 to Trapezus in Pontus 
 
 From Trapezus through Lazica and Iberia to>| 
 the Araxes, and thence to Ganzaca in Azer- 
 biyan 
 
 From Ganzaca round the lake of Thebarma,^ 
 and thence to Getana in Albania on the 
 Caapian Sea 
 
 From Getana to the Araxes, thence into Ar- 
 menia, and thence to Lake Van 
 
 From Lake Van through Arzanene to Ger-\ 
 manicia, and thence through Cicilia and [ 
 Cappadocia to Trapezus in Pontus . . .j 
 
 From Trapezus through Armenia to Ganzaca \ 
 in Azerbiyan, and thence into Media and [ 
 back to Ganzaca 
 
 From Ganzaca traversing Media to Aspadana, 
 and from thence to Nineveh in Assyria 
 
 From Nineveh to Dastagherd 
 
 From Dastagherd to Ganzaca in Azerbiyan . 
 
 From Ganzaca to Amida 
 
 From Amida to Cnpsarea in Cappeidocia . 
 From Caesarea to Constantinople .... 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Intermediate. 
 
 750 
 
 630 
 
 Total. 
 
 580 
 
 1260 
 
 300 
 440 
 
 490 
 350 
 360 
 
 1380 
 
 600 
 1070 
 
 1200 
 
 2000 
 
 1200 
 
 The actual roads traversed by Heraclius' army being in many cases not 
 known, these figures are only intended to give a general idea of the distance 
 covered in each campaign. In most instances the real distance covered wm 
 considerably more, as in these figures marches and countermarches in manoeu- 
 vres against the enemy are not included. 
 
 605 
 
APPENDIX XV 
 GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSE OF HERACLIUS 
 
 I 
 
 Epiphania 
 b. 611 ; 
 
 (1) Eudocia=Heraclius = (2) Martina 
 |b.674:d641| 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
 1 
 
 Gregoria=Con8tantine III Heraclonas 
 d. ofNicetasI b.612;d.64l 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 Flavius Theodosius David Marinus Augustine Marina 
 
 Two other 
 daughters 
 
 Constantine IV=Anastasia 
 b. 6&0 ; d. 685 
 
 r 
 
 Tiberius 
 
 Constans 11= (name unknown) 
 b. 631 ; d. 668 I 
 
 1 
 
 Theodosius 
 d. 660 
 
 I 
 
 Heraclius 
 
 Justinian 11= Theodora, 
 
 b. 669 ; d. 711 
 
 I 
 
 A daughter 
 b.703 
 
 sister of the Khan 
 of the Khazars 
 
 Tiberius 
 b. 705 ; d. 711 
 
APPENDIX XVI 
 
 List of the principal ruined cities and fortresses in North 
 Africa having *' Byzantine " walls, showing that 
 they were occupied at the time of the Mahomedan 
 invasion. 
 
 (Irrespective of many other cities undoubtedly occupied at 
 that time, but whose ruins do not show this feature, 
 their walls or churches having been built before the 
 period 534-704.) 
 
 City or Fortress. 
 
 Agbia. . . 
 
 Altava 
 
 Annobaris 
 
 Augusta Am- 
 maedara 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Ain Hedjar. 
 
 Hedjar Roum 
 (" Roman 
 castle ") 
 
 Ain Rharsalla 
 
 Augusta 
 Mactaris 
 
 Haidra 
 
 Maktar . 
 
 Details of Euins. 
 
 " Byzantine " fortress, situated on a height 
 above the modern town of Ain Hedjar, 
 with other Roman remains. 
 
 " Byzantine " fortress to protect the great 
 Roman road running through the province 
 from east to west. 
 
 " Byzantine " fortress, situated on a height 
 above the main road from Sicca Venerea 
 to Tebessa. Near it, upon the road, are 
 two Roman triumphal Arches. 
 
 The junction of four important roads, and 
 in 704 as important a city as Tebessa. 
 Besides its huge " Byzantine " fortress 
 (219 yds. by 120 yds.), the largest in North 
 Africa, within which are the ruins of a 
 church, the ruins of Ammaedara also in- 
 clude a fine triumphal Arch of Septimius 
 Severus (used by the Byzantines as a fort), 
 a Roman mausoleum in excellent preser- 
 vation, and the ruins of a large church 
 with extensive " Byzantine " additions 
 and numerous tombstones. 
 
 In 704 was an important city, but is now 
 only a small village. Besides the " Byzan- 
 tine " ruins of a church, it possesses the 
 ruins of a triumphal Arch, a Roman 
 mausoleum, an Aqueduct, and other 
 Roman remains. 
 
 609 
 
610 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 611 
 
 Caty or Fortress. 
 
 Bagai . 
 
 Bulla Kegia 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Ksar Baghai 
 
 Hammam 
 Darradji 
 
 Caesarea 
 
 Calama . 
 
 Capsa. 
 
 Cherchol 
 
 Guelma 
 
 Gafsa 
 
 Details of Ruins. 
 
 City or Fortress. 
 
 Castellum Tin- 
 gitanum 
 
 Orleansville 
 
 Immense " Byzantine " city- walls or fortress, 
 with 25 towers, the interior space being 
 360 yds. long by 336 yds. wide, with a 
 castle on the north-western side having a 
 " keep " 84 ft. high. Bagai, where in the 
 4th century a large Church Council of 310 
 Bishops had assembled, was in 704 the 
 chief city of this district, but nothing now 
 remains of it except this huge fortress. 
 
 Once the prosperous capital of the Dakla 
 district. Was the place where the Vandal 
 kings kept their treasure as more secure 
 than Carthage, and the place to which in 
 533 Gelimer retired after he lost Carthage. 
 Its ruins include a " Byzantine " fortress 
 (still in use as a caravanserai), an Amphi- 
 theatre, Baths, Temples, and an interesting 
 Roman dwelling-house, the ground-floor 
 almost intact, with a mosaic pavement, 
 vaults, and stairs to the upper storey. 
 Also three well-preserved subterranean 
 palaces. 
 
 The capital of the fourth section of the pro- 
 vince of North Africa, that called Maure- 
 tania CaBsariensis. Situated on the coast, 
 and up to the time of the Mahomedan 
 invasion in 704-709 one of the wealthiest 
 cities of North Africa, rivalling Hippo and 
 Carthage. Its ruins include '* Byzantine " 
 city walls, an Amphitheatre, Baths, Thea- 
 tre, Roman Naval harbour, and a Roman 
 Circus, 435 yds. long, within the city walls. 
 
 Has remains of its " Byzantine " town- walls, 
 striking ruins of lofty Roman Baths, and 
 remains of a Roman Theatre. 
 
 The capital of the second section of the pro- 
 vince of North Africa, that called Byza- 
 cena. One of the oldest towns in North 
 Africa, important in all ages as the gateway 
 of the desert, all caravans having to pass 
 through it. Its walls were entirely rebuilt 
 by Justinian in the 6th century, and these 
 walls still remain, together with the " By- 
 zantine " citadel, which is occupied by the 
 French garrison. The Roman Baths are 
 also still in use. 
 
 At the time of the Mahomedan invasion in 
 704-709 was a highly flourishing city. 
 Most of its " Byzantine " remains have 
 
 Constantino 
 
 Diana Vetera- 
 norum 
 
 Hadrumetum 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Constantino 
 
 Zana 
 
 Susa. 
 
 Madaura . 
 
 Mdaourouch 
 
 Details of Euins. 
 
 been obliterated by the modern city. It 
 contains the ruins of a large church said 
 to be the oldest in this part of North 
 Africa, with additions made in the 7th 
 century. 
 
 The capital of the third section of the pro- 
 vince of North Africa, that called Maure- 
 tania Sitifensis. A very strong city 
 situated on a high plateau encircled on 
 thre'> sides by the gorge of the river Rhumel. 
 The only city which Gaiseric, the Vandal 
 king, when he advanced in 429 was unable 
 to take. Its " Byzantine " remains are 
 mostly obliterated by the modern city 
 which occupies the same site. Besides the 
 Roman Bridge over the gorge of the Rhu- 
 mel (with sculptures of elephants), and the 
 large Roman Reservoirs (164 yds. by 4C 
 yds.), has many other Roman remains, 
 and among these an inscription on a rock 
 near the Rhumel ravine in memory of 
 those martyred here in 259 in the Seventh 
 persecution, that in which Cjrprian suf- 
 fered. Its name was changed from that 
 of Cirta in the 4th century when the seat 
 of the government of this part of North 
 Africa was transferred to it by Constantino 
 from Lamboesis. 
 
 In 704 was a large colony of veteran Roman 
 soldiers. Besides a " Byzantine " fortress 
 and the ruins of a " Byzantine " church 
 it possesses a well-preserved triumphal 
 Arch, the ruins of a Forum, and other 
 Roman remains. 
 
 In all ages an important seaport, the great 
 outlet for the produce of the fertile and 
 thickly populated district to the west of it. 
 Its " Byzantine " fortress still remains, 
 and is in use as a college. At the time of 
 the final Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 
 the whole of the coast on both sides of 
 Hadrumetum was bordered with richly 
 adorned country-houses, and the mosaics 
 from many of these are now in the local 
 museum. Regarding these and other mo- 
 saics, see Chap. XVIII, pp. 82-83. 
 
 Situated on a high plateau, with a conspicuous 
 " Byasantine " fortress. Its ruins include 
 a Roman mausoleum. Baths, the ruins of 
 a church, and other Roman remains. 
 
612 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 Caty or Fortress. 
 
 Mascula . 
 
 Numerus 
 Syrorum 
 
 Pomaria . 
 Sicca Venerea 
 
 Simitthu 
 
 Sitifis , 
 
 Tebessa . 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Khenchela . 
 
 Lalla Marnia 
 
 Tlemcen 
 Le Kef . 
 
 Chomtou 
 
 Setif. 
 
 Tebessa . 
 
 Details of Euins. 
 
 In 704 an important city, the key of the 
 passes into the eastern part of the Aures 
 mountains. Its *' Byzantine " remains 
 were nearly all swept away in 1860 when 
 the present town was founded. 
 
 " Byzantine " fortress to protect the great 
 Roman road traversing the province from 
 east to west. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 A city at all times held of great strategical 
 importance, being the junction of four 
 great Roman roads, and strongly situated 
 on a rocky hill. Its " Byzantine " remains 
 have been largely obliterated by the modem 
 city, but among those still visible are the 
 " Byzantine " city walls, and the " Byzan- 
 tine " ruins of three large churches. The 
 older portion of the city is built partly 
 out of " Byzantine " ruins. Its other Roman 
 remains include a set of Baths, and the 
 Roman Reservoirs, which are still in use. 
 
 Specially famous for its Roman quarries of the 
 yellowish red " Numidian " marble. Be- 
 sides a " Byzantine " fortress, its other 
 Roman remains include an Amphitheatre, 
 Baths, Forum, an Aqueduct, a Roman 
 Theatre, and a cemetery with numerous 
 tombstones. 
 
 Was in 704 the second city of Mauretania 
 Sitifensis. Its " Byzantine " fortress with 
 eleven towers still remains, having been 
 converted into quarters for the modem 
 garrison. Most of its other " Byzantine " 
 remains have been obliterated by the 
 modem city, except a well-preserved Roman 
 mausoleum. 
 
 The original head-quarters of the Third 
 Legion, and the most important city in 
 this part of North Africa. Was entirely 
 rebuilt by Justinian in the 6th century, 
 and is still encircled by the walls then 
 built. These " Byzantine " walls have 14 
 towers and 3 gates, one of the latter 
 being formed by the *' Arch of Caracalla," 
 built in 214 by Julia Domna in memory of 
 her husband Septimius Severus. Outside 
 the walls is the well-preserved Templo of 
 Minerva (now used as a museum), and the 
 ruins of an immense church and monastery, 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 613 
 
 City or Fortress. 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Thamalla 
 Thelepte . 
 
 Ras-el-Oued 
 
 Medinet-el- 
 Kiiadima 
 
 Thibihs 
 
 Announa 
 
 Thubursicum 
 
 Khamissa . 
 
 Timgad . 
 
 Thamugadi . 
 
 Details of Ruins. 
 
 E.W. — II. 
 
 the whole of its area covering 213 yds. by 
 115 yds., its older portions being of the 
 4th century and its later of the 7th century, 
 and its cemetery showing that it was in 
 use up to the time of the final invasion by 
 the Mahomedans in 704-709. 
 
 A " Byzantine " fortress ; the only remains 
 of th3 destroyed city of Thamalla. 
 
 In 704 was the chief place on the main road 
 between Capsa and Tebessa. Besides a 
 " Byzantine " fortress with many towers, 
 its ruins include those of many churches, 
 a large set of Baths, and extensive and 
 interesting Roman quarries. 
 
 Situated on a narrow hill high above the 
 Announa valley. At the time of the final 
 Mahomedan invasion in 704-709 was a 
 prosperous town encircled by " Byzantine " 
 town-walls of a late date, which still remain, 
 together with the " Byzantine " mins of 
 a church with seats for the Bishop and 
 clergy. Its other Roman remains (only 
 brought to light in 1905) include the east 
 gate of the town, the entrance Arch of 
 the Fomm, and the much-ruined south 
 gate of the town, the only two-arched 
 Roman gateway in this part of North 
 Africa. 
 
 A large mined city occupying both sides of 
 a hill high above the valley of the Med- 
 jerda. At the time of the final Mahomedan 
 invasion in 704-709 was the most important 
 city in this part of North Africa, and was 
 protected by two " Byzantine " fortresses, 
 one on the crest of the hill and the other 
 on its western edge. The mins of these 
 two fortresses remain, together with those 
 of a " Byzantine " church. Its other 
 Roman remains include a triumphal Arch 
 which was the southern gate of the city. 
 Baths, Fomm, Theatre, another triumphal 
 Arch with three passage ways, andean 
 extensive burial ground. 
 
 The most important military station on the 
 southern side of the province, situated on 
 a wide plateau 3500 feet high extending 
 from the lower slopes of the Aures moun- 
 tains. Founded by Trajan in the 2nd 
 century Timgad grew to great magnifi. 
 
614 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 City or Fortress, 
 
 Present Name 
 
 Details of Ruins. 
 
 cence in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Origin- 
 ally, as the chief fortress on the southern 
 frontier, it was laid out as a square Roman 
 " Camp," 384 yards each way, with a gate 
 in the centre of each side, but subsequently 
 the city grew far beyond these limits. 
 After prospering exceedingly during the 
 3rd and 4th centuries it declined during 
 the hundred years of the Vandal dominion, 
 and in 535 was almost entirely destroyed 
 by the Berber tribes of the Aures moun- 
 tains. Thereupon the emperor Justinian 
 built a huge fortress on the southern side 
 of the city, with walls 8 feet thick and many 
 towers, and this fortress formed the chief 
 defence of Timgad at the time of the final 
 Mahomedan invasion in 704-709. Near 
 this fortress, the walls of which, with eight 
 of the towers, still remain, are the ruins of 
 the church built by Gregory as late as 
 645 ; and inside the city are the " Byzan- 
 tine " ruins of another church and monas- 
 tery occupied up to 704. The remains of 
 the city are very extensive, and include 
 no less than eleven Thermae (or Roman 
 Baths), one of these, the largest in North 
 Africa, being 88 yds. by 70 yds., with 
 thirty-five different rooms ; also an Arch 
 of Septimius Severus, 40 ft. high, and 
 forming the western gate of the city ; a 
 large Forum, with a colonnade of Corin- 
 thian colunms ; a Judgment Hall ; a 
 Theatre, accommodating about 4000 per- 
 sons ; a Capitol, with an inscription record- 
 ing that it was restored by the emperor 
 Valentinian I, its portico having columns 
 44 ft. high ; and a set of public Latrines, 
 the finest ancient building of the kind 
 anywhere known, copiously supplied with 
 water, having marble seats the arms of 
 which are adorned with carved dolphins, 
 and showing the high degree of civilization 
 of Timgad in the 4th century. After 
 North Africa was taken by the Mahomedans 
 in 704-709 the watercourses of Timgad 
 became broken, with the result that the 
 large streams of water which had supplied 
 the unusual number of Baths and other 
 requirements of the city, wandering as un- 
 controlled torrents, gradually in the course 
 of eleven centuries buried the whole city 
 
 APPENDIX XVI 
 
 615 
 
 City or Fortress. 
 
 Present Name. 
 
 Details of Ruins. 
 
 Tingartia . 
 
 Tiarot 
 
 Tipasa (Nu- 
 midia) 
 
 Tipasa (Mau- 
 retania) 
 
 Ksar Tifech 
 
 Tipaza . 
 
 Uthina 
 
 • • 
 
 Oudna 
 
 Vaga 
 
 Beja 
 
 under a mass of debris (except the Arch 
 of Trajan, the Capitol, and the " Byzan- 
 tine " fortress), and it is only since 1880 
 that it has been excavated. 
 
 The capital of the south-western part of 
 Mauretania Csesariensis at the time of the 
 final Mahomedan invasion in 704-709, on 
 a plateau 3500 ft. liigh. Most of' its 
 " Byzantine " remains have been oblitera- 
 ted by the modern city. 
 
 A large " Byzantine " fortress, standing on 
 a plateau 3100 feet high, the only remains 
 of the destroyed town of Tipasa. 
 
 A seaport on the coast about 17 miles east 
 of Caesarea, with " Byzantine " town- 
 walls. Its other Roman remains include 
 an Amphitheatre, a fine set of Baths, 
 Theatre, Mausoleum, Roman harbour, the 
 ruins of a Cathedral dating from the 4th 
 century, interesting ruins of two other 
 churches built in the 4th century, a Roman 
 burial-ground, and a large cemetery (with 
 thousands of Christian graves) which shows 
 use up to the time of the final Mahomedan 
 invasion in 704-709, and in it many Chris- 
 tian monuments and sarcophagi, the whole 
 being much desecrated by herds of cattle. 
 
 At the time of the final Mahomedan invasion 
 in 704-709 was one of the wealthiest cities 
 in the hill-country west of Carthage, and 
 protected by a " Byzantine " fortress the 
 ruins of which still exist. Its other Roman 
 remains include ruins of an Ampliitheatre, 
 and of a Theatre, Baths, and the Roman 
 Reservoirs ; also ruins of the " Palace of 
 the Liberii," the latter a fine example of 
 a rich nobleman's house in the 4th century. 
 
 In 704 was one of the most thriving towns 
 in the rich Medjerda valley. Has remains 
 of a " Byzantine " fortress, and also 
 " Byzantine " town- walls with many towers. 
 
 Boih Sufetula and Carthage had " Byzantine " defences, but having both 
 been destroyed (the^rmer in 648 and the latter in 698) before the final Maho- 
 medan mvasion in 704-709 they are not included in this list. 
 
APPENDIX XVII 
 
 Relative value of money in the period from the 5th to 
 the 8th century, as compared with our present 
 money. 
 
 It has been calculated by experts that the relative value of money 
 at this period was approximately as follows : — 
 (i) 100 Roman pounds of gold was 7200 solidi, and equal in weight 
 
 to £4100 sterling, 
 (ii) 20 pounds of gold was equal in weight to £820. 
 (iii) 1000 pieces of gold were equal in weight to £570. 
 (iv) 100 pieces of gold were equal in weight to £57. 
 (v) The gold " Byzant," called also the " Nomisma," appears to 
 have been about equal to £1 sterling. 
 
 616 
 
 APPENDIX XVIII 
 
 List of the Mahomedan Khalifs from 632 to 740. 
 
 Abu Bekr . 
 
 Omar I 
 
 Othman 
 
 Muawiyah 11 
 Ali J 
 
 Muawiyah I. 
 
 Yezid I 
 
 Muawiyah II 
 
 Merwan I 
 
 Abdul Malik. 
 
 Walid I 
 
 Sulaiman 
 
 Omar II 
 
 Yezid II . 
 
 Hischam 
 
 A.D. 
 
 632-634 
 634-644 
 644-656 
 
 656-661 
 
 661-680 
 680-683 
 
 683 
 683-685 
 685-705 
 705-715 
 715-717 
 717-720 
 720-724 
 724-743 
 
 617 
 

 1. 
 
 2. 
 8. 
 4. 
 ft. 
 
 6. 
 7. 
 
 10. 
 
 The Kathisma, or Royal Box. A two-storied 
 building, the lower storey consisting of porticoes 
 in whicli horses and chariots about to race waited. 
 
 Egyptian Obelislc. \ 
 
 Column of Delphi. >AU these placed on the spina. 
 
 Brazen Column. j 
 
 The Gold liillon. From which all distances through- 
 out the empire were measured. It stood under 
 a pillared roof open on all sides. 
 
 The Cochliag, a broad winding stair of marble 
 covered from view, leading up from the Palace 
 to the Koyal Box. 
 
 Balsed covered way for the emperor to reach St. 
 Sophia. He passed through the gate of Meletius 
 and the church of the Chalkoprateia. 
 
 Koyal Gate. It had double doors, the hmer pair 
 being of bronze. Over the gateway was a large 
 figure of Christ. 
 
 The Chalke. So called from Its dome of brass. 
 
 The strength of the Imperial Bodyguard in the 
 Palace was S500 men, divided into three classes, 
 the Scholares, the Domestics, and the Excubitors. 
 
 11. The walls ot the Throne Bxwm were Uned with 
 
 costly marbles, and its docn covered with ivory, 
 and draped with curtains of purple silk. 
 
 12. Chapel of the Saviour. Outside it, between the 
 
 Throne-room and the Banqueting Hall, was an 
 open terrace adorned with statues. 
 18. Banqueting Hall. Its roof was lined inside with 
 gold. 
 
 14. Statue of Constantlne (once that of Apollo) stand- 
 
 ing on a tall column of porphyry. 
 
 15. The Augusteum was also called the Forum of Con- 
 
 stantlne. It was paved throughout with marble. 
 
 16. Steps up to the Throne Bx>om. 
 
 17. Steps down to Daplme. 
 
 N.B. The arrangement of the buildings Inside the wall 
 of the Palace is that which appears most pro- 
 bable from the information which exists oo 
 the sobject. 
 
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INDEX 
 
 Abdallah, leads first Mahomedan attack 
 
 upon North Africa, ii, 459. 
 Abdullah Albattal, said to be original of the 
 
 Cid, killed at battle of Acroinon, ii, 682. 
 Abdul Malik, eighth Khalif, ii, 609 ; sur- 
 renders Armenia, Iberia, Arzanene, and 
 Atropatne, 611 ; gains Lazica and Car- 
 thage, 518 ; death, 622. 
 Abdul Rahman, son of renowned leader 
 Khalid, ii, 481 ; commands Armada sent 
 against Constantinople, 493 ; killed, 494. 
 Abdul Rahman, appointed Emir of Spain, 
 ii, 567 ; vast plan of conquest, 567 ; ad- 
 vances into France, 568 ; defeats Eudo of 
 Aquitaine, 668 ; vpverruns Aquitaine and 
 Burgundy, 568 ; fights great battle of 
 Poictiers, 568 ; killed, 569. 
 Abgarus, last king of Osrhoene, i, 302. 
 Abi Wakkas, Sayad, appointed vicegerent 
 of Khalif Omar in Persia, ii, 450 ; wins 
 battle of Kadesia and takes Ctesiphon, 450 ; 
 wins battles of Yalulah and Nehavend, 
 completing conquest of Persia, 450. 
 Abricium, Battle of, disastrous defeat of 
 
 Decius, i, 319. 
 Abu Bekr, first Mahomedan Khalif, ii, 436 ; 
 inaugurates policy of foreign conquest, 437 ; 
 attacks Persia and Syria, 437 ; death, 441. 
 Abulpharagfus, statement of destruction of 
 great Alexandrian library supported by 
 latest authorities, ii, 458. 
 Abu Ubeida, sent to command in Syria, ii, 
 442 ; captures Damascus, 442 ; wins 
 battle of the Yermuk, 443 ; takes Jerusa- 
 lem, 444 ; wins battle of Emesa, 444. 
 Abyssinia, Kingdom of, adopts Christianity, 
 
 i, 462. 
 Acacius, Pope of Constantinople, helps 
 emperor Zeno to draw up the Henotikon, li, 
 147. 
 Accusations, Regular system of, against 
 public men allowed among the Romans, 
 1, 7^. 
 Acroinon, Battle of, great victory of Leo III 
 
 over the Saracens, ii, 682. 
 Acte, Greek girl in attendance on Agrippina, 
 i, 127; her sway over Nero, 127; buries 
 Nero's body, 148. 
 Actium, Battle of, i, 7. 
 
 Adalwald, son of Agilulf and Thiudalinda, 
 birth, ii, 359 ; becomes king of the Lom- 
 bards, 424 ; puts to death many chief 
 nobles, 424 ; poisoned, 424. 
 Adda, Battle of the, between Theodoric and 
 
 Odoacer, ii, 162. 
 Ad Decimum, Battle of, between Belisarius 
 
 and Gelimer, ii, 207. 
 Aden, celebrated Roman water-tanks at, i, 
 
 228. 
 Ad Ensem, Pass of, gained by Narses, ii, 301. 
 Ad Silicea, Battle of, against the Goths, i, 522. 
 iEdui, Triumphal arch at Orange recording 
 defeat of, i, 78. 
 
 iElia Capitolina, new city built by Hadrian 
 
 on site of Jerusalem, i, 229. 
 ^lia Petina, second wife of Claudius, i, 103. 
 iEmilianus, proclaimed emperor upon death 
 
 of Gallus, i, 322 ; murdered, 322. 
 ^thelbald, king of Mercia, ii, 571 ; his " land 
 
 books," 671. 
 ^thelbert, king of Kent, ii, 354. 
 ^thelfrith, king of Northumbria, ii, 355 ; 
 gains title of Bretwalda, 365 ; increases 
 importance of Bamborough, 355 ; massacre 
 of the Christian Britons at Chester, 355 : 
 death, 433. 
 ^thelthryth (Audrey), widow of Egferth, 
 
 founds abbey of Ely, ii, 515. 
 Aelle, leader of second wave of invasion of 
 
 Britain, ii, 162. 
 •* Aerial tribute," annual gift to Justinian 
 
 by his chief minister, ii, 249. 
 Aetius, general, supports usurper Joannes, 
 ii, 68 ; sent to rule in south-eastern Gaul, 
 71 ; re-conquers centre of Gaul, 73 ; de- 
 feated by Boniface, 79 ; defeats Burgund- 
 ians and Visigoths, 86 ; imites with the 
 Visigoths to oppose the Huns, 100 ; takes 
 part in battle of the Mauriac Plain, 101 ; 
 arranges for defence of Aquileia against 
 Attila, 111 ; meditates flight from Italy, 
 113 ; killed by Valentinian III, 120. 
 Africa, see North Africa. 
 Agallianus, general, assists Cosmas against 
 
 Leo III, ii, 660. 
 Agatha, St.,martyred in Sixth persecution,i,320. 
 Agathias, historian in 6th century, ii, 214 ; 
 praised by Niebuhr for reliability, 214 ; 
 remarks as to Justinian, 214 ; statement 
 regarding date of Zoroaster, 413. 
 Agilulf, king of the Lombards, ii, 357 ; aban- 
 dons Arianism, 358 ; wars with Ravenna 
 and Rome, 367 ; gains territory from 
 Phocas, 423 ; death, 424 ; his crown, 426. 
 Agnellus, writes Lives of the Archbishops of 
 Ravenna, ii, 188 ; statement regarding 
 Theodoric's empty tomb, 188 ; regarding 
 Maurus being given the pallium by the 
 emperor, 481 ; regarding heavy taxation 
 in Calabria, 482. 
 Agnes, St., martyred in Tenth persecution, 
 i, 432 ; church of, built by Constantine 
 over catacomb in which she was buried, 
 432 ; church of, inside Rome, over vault 
 in which she was martyred, 434. 
 Agricius of Antioch, made first Bishop of 
 
 Trdves by Constantine, i, 399. 
 Agricola, Julius, appointed governor of Britain 
 by Vespasian, i, 181 ; begins Romanization 
 of Britain, 181 ; advances into Scotland, 
 186 ; crosses the Forth, 188 ; recalled by 
 Domitian, 188 ; death, 188. 
 Agricultural Code of Leo III, ii, 583 ; com- 
 prehensive character, 583 ; shows a silent 
 revolution as regards slavery, 583 ; no 
 record how this occurred, 583. 
 
 'Ml 
 
 iir ■ 
 
 **3 
 
 623 
 
624 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 625 
 
 Agrippa, see Marcus Agrippa. 
 
 Agrippa Postumus, son of Marcus Aprippa 
 and Julia, i, 21 ; depravity and scandalous 
 conduct, 22 ; banished to island of Planasia, 
 22 ; put to death, 23. 
 
 Agrippina the elder, daughter of Marcus 
 Agrippa and Julia, married to Germanicus, 
 i, 21 ; character, 79; saves army from 
 destruction, 80 ; declares husband's death 
 due to poison, 80 ; becomes a fire of wrath 
 and slander, 81 ; at length tried by Senate 
 and banished, 82 ; starves herself to death, 
 83. 
 
 Agrippina the younger, daughter of Agrip- 
 
 Eina the elder, married to Domitius Aheno- 
 arbus, i, 90 ; mado to carry ashes of 
 Lepidus from Gaul to Home, and banished, 
 90 ; released by Claudius, 97 ; antagonism 
 to empress Valeria Messalina, 104 ; marries 
 Crispus Passienus, 106 ; marries Claudius, 
 110 ; writes Memoirs, 111 ; makes Claudius 
 marry his daughter Oetavia to her son Nero, 
 114; puts various persons to death, 114; 
 poisons Claudius, 114 ; gains throne for her 
 son Nero, 126 ; quarrels with her son, 127 ; 
 miu-dered by him, 130. 
 
 Ahenobarbus, Domitius, father of Nero, i, 
 90 ; speech at his son's birth, 90. 
 
 Aidan, invited to Northumbria by Oswald, 
 ii, 436 ; given island of Lindisfame, and 
 establishes community there, 435. 
 
 Ajnadein, Battle of, ii, 441. 
 
 Alans, The, with Vandals and Suevi invade 
 Gaul, ii, 35 ; cross Pyrenees and ravage 
 Spain, 55 ; almost exterminated by Visi- 
 goths, 66 ; merge with the Vandals, 66. 
 
 Alaric, king of the VLsigoths, ii, 9 ; birth, 9 ; 
 belonged to royal race, 9 ; brought up as 
 a hostage, 9 ; serves imder Theodosius, 10 ; 
 character, 10 ; commands Visigoth con- 
 tingent at battle of the Frigidus, i, 569 ; 
 raised on shield as king, ii, 11 ; attacks 
 Macedonia and Greece, 12 ; given rule 
 of Illyricum, 13 ; resolves to invade Italy, 
 17 ; chiefs try to dissuade him, 17 ; crosses 
 Pear Tree pass, 19 ; wins battle of the 
 Timavus, 21 ; advances into Italy, 21 ; 
 difficulties, 21 ; reaches Ravenna, 22 ; 
 urged to abandon his enterprise, 24 ; turns 
 westwards, 24 ; besieges Milan, 25 ; de- 
 feated at Pollentia, 25 ; retires from Italy, 
 26 ; undaimted spirit, 26 ; again invades 
 Italy, 44 ; first siege of Rome, 45 ; second 
 and third sieges, 50 ; captures Rome, 51 ; 
 marches southwards to Reggio, 61 ; death, 
 52 ; buried in bed of Busento, 62 ; held 
 equalled only by three other men, 52. 
 
 Alaric's first campaign in Italy, Note on 
 chronology of, ii, 54. 
 
 Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, killed at 
 battle of Vouill6, ii, 156. 
 
 Alban, St., martyred in Ninth persecution, 
 i, 342 ; formerly patron saint of England, 
 342. 
 
 Albinus, commander in Britain, i, 280 ; high 
 character, 280 ; made Caesar, 281 ; at- 
 tacked by Severus, 281 ; put to death, 281 ; 
 his head displayed to Senate, 282. 
 
 Albinus, accused of sedition against Theodoric, 
 ii, 174. 
 
 Alboin, son of Audoin, king of the Lombards, 
 ii, 295 ; visit to king of the Gepidae, 326 ; 
 becomes king, 325 ; carries off Rosamund, 
 326 ; destroys the Gepidae, 325 ; makes 
 skull of Cummund a drinking cup, 326 ; 
 
 invades Italy, 327 ; rapid success, 328 ; 
 forces Rosamund to drink from her father's 
 skull, 331 ; murdered, 331. 
 
 Alchfleda, daughter of Oswy, married to 
 Peada of Mercia, ii, 466 ; induces him to 
 accept Christianity, 466. 
 
 Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, ii, 574 ; trans- 
 lates the Psalms into Saxon, 574. 
 
 Alexander Severus, emperor, i, 307 ; under 
 domination of his mother, 307 ; forced to 
 sacrifice life of XJlpian, 307 ; temperate 
 government, 308 ; constructs Alexandrine 
 aaueduct, 308 ; tolerance towards all 
 religions, 309 ; defeats the Persians, 309 ; 
 proceeds to Rhine frontier, 309 ; killed in 
 a mutiny, 309. 
 
 Alexandria, conquered by Augustus, i, 7 ; 
 second city of Roman Empire, 291 ; its 
 schools of philosophy, 291 ; riots in con- 
 nection with George of Cappadocia, 479; 
 riot in connection with Hypatia, ii, Go ; 
 besieged by Mahomedan general Amni, 
 461 ; captured by the Mahomedans, 4r-8. 
 
 Alexandria, Church of, founded by St. Mark, 
 i, 124 ; position in 3rd century, 292 ; school 
 of thought represented by it, 292 ; suffers 
 greatly in Fifth persecution, 294 ; the see 
 of Athanasius for forty-six years, 461 ; in 
 4th century made one of the five patriarch- 
 ates, its Metropolitan Bishop receiving 
 title of Pope, 637 ; overwhelmed in 7th 
 century by the Mahomedan conquest, ii, 
 458. 
 
 Alexandrian Library, The, ii, 468 ; burnt by 
 Khalif Omar, 468. 
 
 Ali, married to Mahomed's daughter Fatima, 
 ii, 436 ; installed as rival Khalif to Mua- 
 wiyah, 473 ; murdered, 473. 
 
 AUgem, brother of Ostrogoth king Teias, 
 ii, 299 ; guards royal hoard at Cumae, 303 ; 
 survives battle of Angri and takes service 
 under emperor, 304. 
 
 Allectus, usurper in Britain, defeated and 
 slain, i, 348. 
 
 Allemanni, The, derivation of their name, i, 
 253 ; invade Rhine proviiujes, 253 ; make 
 incursion into Gaul, 309 ; defeated by 
 Maximin, 310 ; invade Noricum, Rhsetia, 
 and Italy, 323 ; severely defeated by 
 Aurelian, 335 ; pursued to the Elbe by 
 ProbuB, 339 ; take root in northern part 
 of Gaul, 466 ; driven out by Julian, 4C7 ; 
 make a raid into Gaul, 497 ; three times 
 defeated by Valentinian I, 498; surprise 
 Maintz, 501 ; severely defeated at battle 
 of Solicinium, 602 ; again defeated at 
 battle of Colmar, 522 ; with Franks and 
 Burgundians invade Gaul, ii, 66 ; defeated 
 by the Franks, 156 ; driven by them into 
 Rhsetia, 156 ; protected by Theodoric from 
 annihilation, 173 ; their territories become 
 part of the Frank kingdom, 291. 
 
 Altar of Victory, i, 545 ; ordered by Gratian 
 to be removed, 645. 
 
 Altinum, destroyed by Attila, ii, 112. 
 
 Al Wakidi, speech of youth fighting at Emesa 
 quoted by him, ii, 437. 
 
 AlypiuB of Antioch, commissioned by Julian 
 to rebuild Jewish Temple, i, 480. 
 
 Amal, royal race of the Ostrogoths, i, 569. 
 
 Amala, mythical hero of the Goths, i, 318. 
 
 Amalaberga, sister of Theodoric, ii, 172 ; 
 married to Hermanfred, king of the Thur- 
 ingians, 172. 
 
 Amalafrida, sister of Theodoric, ii, 151 J 
 
 married to Thrasamund, king of the Van- 
 dals, 172 ; her imposing retinue, 172. 
 
 Amalasuntha, youngest daughter of Theo- 
 doric, ii, 172 ; married to Eutharic, 172 ; 
 succeeds her father as regent for her son, 
 182 ; character, 215 ; difficulties with the 
 Ostrogoth chiefs, 216 ; with her cousin 
 Thiudahad, 216 ; negotiations with Jus- 
 tinian, 216 ; made queen in her own right, 
 216 ; murdered, 217. 
 
 Ambrose, St., son of the Praetorian Prefect 
 of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, i, 511 ; birth 
 at Treves, 512 ; becomes governor of 
 Liguria, 512 ; remarkable election as 
 Bishop of Milan, 512 ; becomes leading 
 Bishop in the West, 613 ; treatise De Fide, 
 519 ; large share in education of Gratian, 
 543 ; grief at his murder, 563 ; solicited by 
 empress Justina to protect Italy from 
 Maximus, 658 ; extracts promise from 
 him not to attack Italy, 669 ; refuses 
 demand for a church for Arians, 559 ; 
 baptizes Augustine, 562 ; closes door of 
 cathedral against emperor Theodosius, 666 ; 
 Valentinian II committed to his care, 667 ; 
 comforts the boy Honorius, 572 ; deputa- 
 tion to him from Fritigil, queen of the 
 Marcomanni, ii, 13 ; death, 13 ; his tomb 
 in former cathedral of Milan, 14. 
 
 Amida (Diabekir), Siege and capture of by 
 Sapor II, i, 469 ; given back in exchange 
 for Nisibis, 488 ; its splendid walls of black 
 basalt built by Justinian, ii, 242. 
 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, officer in the Imperial 
 Guards, i, 427 ; principal historian in 4th 
 century, 588 ; books which survive, 588 ; 
 character as a historian, 588. 
 
 Amphitheatre of Carthage, its great splendour, 
 i, 295 ; two stories higher than Colosseum 
 at Rome, ii, l80. 
 
 Amphitheatre of Treves, Ruins of, i, 496. 
 
 Amphitheatres in North Africa, large num- 
 ber of, ii, 81. 
 
 Amphitrite of Rhodes, Statue of, sot up in 
 Baths of Zeuxippus in Constantinople, i, 
 422. 
 
 Amru, Mahomedan general, conquers Egypt, 
 ii, 451 ; takes Alexandria, 468 ; founds 
 Cairo and builds mosque of Amru, 459. 
 
 Anastasia, half-sister of Constantino, i, 379; 
 married to Bassianus, 379. 
 
 Anastasia, sister of the empress Theodora, 
 ii, 252. 
 
 Anastasia, empress, wife of Tiberius II, see 
 Ino. 
 
 Anastasia, daughter of the emperor Maurice 
 ii, 394 ; slain by Phocas, 394. 
 
 Anastasia, empress, wife of Constantino IV, 
 ii, 488 ; disgracefully treated by minister 
 of her son, 613. 
 
 Anastasius I, emperor, a silentiarius of the 
 Imperial Bodyguard, ii, 162 ; chosen by 
 the empress Ariadne to succeed Zeno, 162; 
 married by her, 152 ; character, 158 ; suc- 
 cessful administration, 158 ; expels the 
 Isaurian officials, 158 ; makes war upon 
 them, 159 ; recovers Jotaba, 159 ; vic- 
 torious over Persia, 159 ; constructs the 
 Long Wall, 160 ; reorganizes the army, 
 160 ; involved in religious conflicts, 161 ; 
 abolishes the chrysargyron tax, 161 ; pro- 
 hibits combats between men and wild 
 beasts, 161 ; leaves fourteen millions in 
 the Treasury, 161 ; successful character 
 of his reign, 161 ; death, 161. 
 
 Anastasius II, emperor, ii, 543 ; unpopular 
 
 with army, 544 ; deposed, 544. 
 Anastasius, Pope of Antioch, ii, 385 ; letter 
 to him from Gregory the Great, 386 ; tor- 
 tured in the insurrection against Phocas, 
 395. 
 Anastasius, made Pope of Constantinople 
 upon signifying readiness to support Icono- 
 clasm, ii, 662. 
 Anatolia, girl martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 Anatolius, Pope of Constantinople, ii, 103 ; 
 presides at Fourth General Coiincil, 103 ; 
 crowns Leo I, the first case of an emperor 
 crowned by an ecclesiastical authority, 123. 
 Andalusia, Saracen name for Spain, ii, 569. 
 Andragathius, commands cavalry of usurper 
 Maximus, i, 552 ; pursues Gratian, 552 ; 
 cruel artifice, 653 ; murders him, 553 ; 
 killed at battle of Siscia, 563. 
 Andreas, kills emperor Constans II, ii, 483 ; 
 
 executed, 483. 
 Andrew, St., goes as Apostle to Scythia, i, 
 
 122. 
 Anencletus, second Bishop of Rome, i, 195. 
 Angles, The, at end of 5th century invade 
 Britain, ii, 162 ; take possession of eastern 
 coast, 163 (for continuation see Britain). 
 Anglesey, Conquest of, i, 134. 
 Angri, Battle of, last stand of the Ostrogoths, 
 
 ii, 303. 
 Anicetus, vicious parasite of Nero, i, 130 ; 
 helps to assassinate Agrippina, 130;' con- 
 cocts vile plot to destroy Oetavia, 135. 
 Anio Novus, aqueduct constructed by 
 
 Claudius, i, 98. 
 Anna, king of East Anglia, ii, 466 ; attacked 
 by Penda, king of Mercia, and killed, 466. 
 Anna, daughter of Leo III, ii, 553. 
 Anonymus Cuspiniani, chronicle of 5th cen- 
 tury, ii, 139. 
 Anonymus Valesii, clironicle of 6th century, 
 
 ii, 139. 
 Ansprand, chosen king by the Lombards, ii, 
 
 663 ; death, 563. 
 Antae, Sclavonian tribe, ii, 294. 
 Anthemius, becomes minister of Arcadius, 
 ii, 31 ; governs on behalf of the boy Theo- 
 dosius II, 63 ; capable administration, 64 ; 
 constructs the Theodosian W^all, 64 ; death, 
 64. 
 Anthemius of Tralles, architect of cathedral 
 of St. Sophia, ii, 239 ; one of five brothers 
 all distinguished, 240 ; Agathias' com- 
 pliment to their mother, 240. 
 Antinous, favourite of emperor Hadrian, 
 i, 230 ; drowned in the Nile, 230 ; temples 
 and statues erected to him, 230 ; impulse 
 thereby given to sculpture, 230. 
 Antioch, important city of the Greek Empire, 
 i, 116; founded by Seleucus and called 
 after his father, 116; becomes third city 
 of the Roman Empire, 116 ; magnificence, 
 116; Christians first given that name 
 there, 118; becomes the capital of Chris- 
 tianity, 120 ; remarkable aqueduct con- 
 structed at its port by Vespasian, 181 ; 
 captured by Sapor I, 323 ; retaken by 
 Valerian, 324 ; great church built there by 
 Constantino, 432 ; called by Ammianus 
 " the Crown of the East," 560 ; riot there 
 in reign of Theodosius I, 660 ; captured 
 by Chosroes I, ii, 244 ; Persians driven 
 out by Belisarius, 261 ; again captured by 
 Chosroes I, 334 ; peace made, 342 ; cap- 
 
 ¥4 
 
 t>^\ 
 
 .' I 
 
626 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 627 
 
 tured by Chosroes II, 403 ; recovered by 
 Heraclius, 421 ; taken by the Mahomedans, 
 442. 
 
 Antioch, Church of, founded by St. Peter, 
 i, 157 ; its affairs guided for many years 
 by him, 157 ; Ignatius, its first Bishop, 
 appointed by him, 158 ; suffers much in 
 Third persecution, 224 ; in 4th century 
 made one of the five patriarchates, its 
 Metropolitan Bishop receiving title of Pope, 
 637 ; overwhelmed in 7th century by 
 Mahomedan conquest of Syria, ii, 442. 
 
 Anton ia, daughter of Marc Antony and 
 Octavia, i, 32 ; married to Drusus, 32 ; 
 refuses to re-marry when left a widow, 33 ; 
 informs Tiberius of the crimes of Sejanus, 69. 
 
 Antonia, daughter of the emperor Claudius, 
 i, 103 ; present at death of Britannicus, 
 128 ; murdered by Nero, 147. 
 
 Antonina, wife of Belisarius, ii, 206 ; char- 
 acter, 206 ; her provision for water on 
 voyage to North Africa, 206 ; sent to 
 Naples to urge on relief operations, 227 ; 
 scandals related by Secret History regard- 
 ing her, 247 ; assists Theodora to achieve 
 fall of John of Cappadocia, 250 ; sent by 
 Belisnrius to Constantinople to obtain re- 
 inforcements, 284 ; survives Belisarius and 
 retires to a convent, 317. 
 
 Antoninus Pius, emperor, ideal character, i, 
 
 238 : draws up Code of the Roman law, 
 
 239 ; erects the Temple of Baalbek, 239 ; 
 directs construction in Britain of " Wall 
 of Antoninus," 240 ; erects temple in 
 Rome in honour of his wife, 241 ; his last 
 word the keynote of his life, 242. 
 
 Antoninus and Faustina, Temple of, see 
 Temple. 
 
 Antony, see Marc Antony. 
 
 Apelles, renowned Greek painter, i, 430. 
 
 Aper, Praetorian Prefect, put to death, i, 344. 
 
 Aphouinon, Battle of, defeat of troops of 
 Maurice by the Persians, ii, 341. 
 
 ApoUinare in Classe, St., Church of at Ra- 
 venna, ii, 281 ; example as to architecture, 
 281 ; its mosaics, 282. 
 
 ApoUinare Nuovo, St., Church of at Ravenna, 
 ii, 276 ; example of church of 6th century, 
 276 ; its mosaics, 276 ; two processions of 
 notable martyrs, 276 ; mosaic pictures of 
 palace of Ravenna and port of Classis, 278 ; 
 importance of these mosaics, 279. 
 
 Apolfinarian heresy. The, i, 536. 
 
 ApoUinaris, St., first Bishop of Ravenna, ii, 
 276. 
 
 Apollo, Statue of, by Phydias, brought from 
 Athens by Constantino to adorn his new 
 city, i, 422 ; made to represent Constantino, 
 422 ; lower part of the column still remain- 
 ing, 422. 
 
 ApoUodorus of Damascus, architect, i, 213 ; 
 builds massive stone bridge over the 
 Danube, 213 ; architect of Trajan's column, 
 216 ; criticises Hadrian's plan of Temple 
 of Venus and Rome, 234. 
 
 ApoUonius of Tyana, Pythagorean missionary, 
 i, 190 ; memory honoured by Alexander 
 Severus, 309. 
 
 Apostles, The, spheres of work undertaken 
 by, i, 121. 
 
 Apsimar, usurper, gains throne, ii, 518 ; 
 defeats Saracens in Asia Minor and Syria, 
 620 ; bribes Chagan of the Khazars to kill 
 Justinian II, 521 ; attacked by Justinian, 
 622 ; captured and executed, 523. 
 
 Aquae Salviae, place of St. Paul's martyrdom 
 i, 171. 
 
 Aqueducts, Eleven, of Rome, i, 308 ; large 
 amount of water supplied by them, 308 • 
 of Constantinople, 424 ; of Carthace ii* 
 209. ^ ' • 
 
 Aquila and Priscilla, i, 170. 
 
 Aquileia, besieged by Attila, ii. 111 ; itg 
 destruction by him, 112. 
 
 Araric, king of the Goths, defeated by Con- 
 stantine, i, 429. 
 
 Arbogast, general of Gratian, sent by him 
 to oppose the Visigoths in Epirus, i, 531 ; 
 commands part of the army of Theodosius 
 I against Maximus, 563 ; sent by Theodo- 
 siuB to rule in Gaul, 564 ; murders Valon. 
 tinian II, 568 ; defeated at battle of the 
 Frigidus, 571 ; commits suicide, 571. 
 
 Arcadia, third daughter of Arcadius and 
 Eudoxia, ii, 27 ; death, 92. 
 
 Arcadius, emperor, elder son of Thoodosius I, 
 succeeds to rule of eastern half of the empire, 
 ii, 7 ; marriage to Eudoxia, 11 ; apathetic 
 character, 15 ; signs warrant for execution 
 of Eutropius, 16 ; banishes Chrysostom, 31 ; 
 love for Eudoxia his sole characteristic, 36 ; 
 death, 36. 
 
 Arch of Drusus, i, 16 ; in honour of Tiberius 
 at Arausio, 78 ; of Titus, 185 ; of Trajan, 
 216 ; of Severus, 289. 
 
 Arch of Trajan plundered by Constantino, 
 i, 218. 
 
 Arch, Four-sided, erected by Julia Domna 
 at Thebessa, ii, 81. 
 
 Arch of Constantino, last of the triumphal 
 arches erected by emperors, i, 376 ; adorned 
 with bas-reliefs taken from Arch of Trajan, 
 377 ; its Pagan emblems, 377. 
 
 Archbishops of Ravenna given the pallium 
 by the emperor, ii, 481. 
 
 Arches, Triumphal, in churches, ii, 94. 
 
 Aregundis, one of the wives of Chlotochar I, 
 ii, 344. 
 
 Areobindus, married to Justinian's niece 
 Praejecta, ii, 268 ; made Prefect of North 
 Africa, 268 ; subdues insurrection headed 
 by Stutza, 268 ; murdered by Gontharis, 
 268. 
 
 Aretas, sent by Belisarius to ravage Assyria, 
 ii, 248. 
 
 Arevagni, eldest daughter of Theodoric, 
 married to Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, 
 ii, 172. 
 
 Ariadne, daughter of Leo I, married to the 
 Isaurian chief Tarasicodissa (Zeno), ii, 124 ; 
 defeats attempt of Longinus to seize the 
 throne, 152 ; chooses Anastasius I ad 
 emperor and marries him, 152 ; death, 161. 
 
 Arianism, condemned by First General Coun- 
 cil, i, 411 ; spreads widely, 412 ; embraced 
 by Constantino, 439 ; enforced by his son 
 Constant iua, 460 ; demonstrates its ran- 
 corous spirit, 462 ; edict published by 
 Gratian and Theodosius putting it down, 
 535 ; makes its home among the northern 
 races, 535 ; abandoned by the Suevi, ii, 
 352 ; abandoned by the Visigoths, 363 ; 
 abandoned by the Lombards, 359. 
 
 Aripert, nephew of Thiudalinda, chosen by 
 the Lombards as their king, ii, 425 ; death, 
 477. 
 
 Arius, origin and history, i, 409 ; his opinionfl 
 declared by First General Council a heresy, 
 410 ; his doctrines taken up by Constantino, 
 439 ; death, 440. 
 
 Ariwald, duke of Turin, married to Thiuda- 
 linda's daughter Gundiperga, ii, 424 ; 
 chosen king of the Lombards, 425 ; death, 
 425. 
 
 Aries, Council of, i, 398 ; British Bishops 
 present at, 398. 
 
 Armenia, unsuccessfully attacked by the 
 Parthians, i, 74 ; temporarily lost by 
 Rome, 135 ; reconquered by Corbulo, 147 ; 
 Tiridates made king by Nero, 147 ; first 
 kingdom to adopt Christianity, 344. 
 
 Arminius, see Hermann. 
 
 Army, see Roman Army. 
 
 Arrecina Tertulla, first wife of Titus, i, 185. 
 
 Arria, wife of Caecina Paetus, Noble conduct 
 of, i, 102. 
 
 Arria the younger, wife of Paetus Thrasea, 
 i, 144. 
 
 Arsaces, Plot of, to murder Justinian, ii, 286. 
 
 Arsamosata, capital of Armenia, taken by 
 Trajan, i, 219. 
 
 Art, (1st century) under Augustus, i, 9, 15, 25, 
 and 36 ; under Tiberius, 78 ; under Nero, 
 138-140 ; (2nd century) under Trajan, 
 216-217; imder Hadrian, 231-234; (3rd 
 century) under Severus, 289 and ii, 80-81 ; 
 under Caracalla, i, 302-304 ; under Dio- 
 cletian, 353 ; (4th century) under Con- 
 stantino, 432 and 581 ; under Valentinian I, 
 499 ; under Theodosius I, 565 and ii, 82 ; 
 (5th century) under Galla Placidia, ii, 94 
 and 96-97 ; (6th century) under Justinian, 
 239, and 274-282. 
 
 Art, Greek, its zenith, i, 430. 
 
 Artabanes, Armenian prince, ii, 268 ; high 
 character, 268 ; kills usurper Gontharis 
 and rescues Praejecta, 268 ; made Prefect 
 of North Africa, 268 ; desires to marry 
 Prapjecta, 269 ; separated from her by 
 Theodora, 269 ^ induced to join plot of 
 Arsaces, 286 ; appointed to command 
 forces in Italy, 293 ; recovers Sicily, 298. 
 
 Artabanus, king of Parthia, seizes Armenia, 
 i, 74 ; defeated by Tiberius, 74. 
 
 Artabanus, last king of Parthia, defeated 
 and killed by Artaxerxes, i, 308. 
 
 Artavasdos, general, married to daughter of 
 Leo III, ii, 553. 
 
 Artaxerxes (Ardishir) overthrows Parthian 
 empire, i, 308 ; founds Sassanian empire 
 of Persia, 308 ; lays claim to all the domin- 
 ions ruled by Cyrus, 308 ; makes unsuccess- 
 ful attempt to conquer Mesopotamia, 309. 
 
 Artemidorus, faithful friend of Theodoric the 
 Great, ii, 169. 
 
 Arthur, prince of the Silures, ii, 163 ; chosen 
 king by the British, 163 ; defeats Angles 
 and Saxons, 163 ; wins battle of Mount 
 Badon, 163 ; protects shrine of Avallon, 
 163 ; burial there, 163 ; exploits preserved 
 by Welsh bards, 164. 
 
 Arxamon, Battle of, Chosroes II defeats 
 forces of Phocas, ii, 394. 
 
 Asdings, royal race of the Vandals, ii, 212. 
 
 Asia, extent of province known by that name, 
 i, 236. 
 
 Aspar, general, commands force sent to assist 
 Galla Placidia, ii, 68 ; sent to North Africa, 
 78 ; places Leo I upon the throne, 123 ; 
 failure of Armada sent against the Vandals 
 attributed to him, 124 ; struggle for power 
 with Zeno, 124 ; plots to eject the Isaur- 
 ians, 125 ; murdered with his sons, 125. 
 
 Ataulf , chosen king of the Visigoths, ii, 56 ; 
 leads them back from Calabria, 57 ; desires 
 
 to marry Galla Placidia, 58 ; leads Visi- 
 goths into Gaul, 59 ; policy of merging 
 Gothia into Romania, 59 ; marries Galla 
 Placidia, 61 ; evacuates southern Gaul 
 and establishes his capital at Barcelona, 62 ; 
 murdered, 62. 
 
 Athalaric, son of Theodoric's daughter Amala- 
 suntha, ii, 182 ; removed from her charge 
 by the Ostrogoth chiefs, 215 ; early death, 
 216. 
 
 Athanagild, reunites Visigoth kingdom, ii, 
 292 ; death, 347. 
 
 Athanaric, sent by Hermanric to oppose 
 Romans on the Danube, i, 501 ; defeated, 
 501 ; visits Constantinople, 533 ; death, 
 534. 
 
 Athanasius, one of the two chief speakers at 
 First General Council, i, 409 ; becomes 
 Bishop of Alexandria, 440 ; banished by 
 Constantino to Treves, 440 ; permitted 
 by Constantino's eldest son to ret\irn to 
 his see, 453 ; banished by Constantius, 
 453 ; cause espoused by Constans, 454 ; 
 persecuted by Constantius, 461 ; remains 
 alone defending the Catholic faith, 461 ; 
 takes refuge in the desert, 461 ; insulting 
 letter from Julian to him, 479 ; visits 
 Jovian at Antioch, 492 ; returns to his see, 
 492 ; acknowledged as leading Bishop of 
 the Church, 492 ; again driven into exile 
 by Valens, 510 ; returns to his see, 510 ; 
 death, 510. 
 
 Athanasius, last Pope of Antioch, ii, 447 ; 
 adopts the Monothelite heresy, 447 ; pro- 
 nounced a heretic by Sixth General Coun- 
 cil, 504. 
 
 Athene of Lyndus, Statue of, set up in Baths 
 of Zeuxippus in Constantinople, i, 422. 
 
 Atia, mother of Octavius (Augustus), i, 5. 
 
 Attains of Pergamum, martyred at Lyons 
 in Fourth persecution, i, 263. 
 
 Attains, king of the Marcomanni, given by 
 Gallienus part of Pannonia, i, 333. 
 
 Attains, puppet emperor set up by Alaric, 
 ii, 50 ; deposed, 51. 
 
 Attila, succeeds to rule of the Hims, ii, 84 ; 
 great extent of his dominions, 84 ; appear- 
 ance and character, 85 ; extorts subsidy 
 called the Hungeld, 88 ; murders his 
 brother Bleda, 88 ; invades Greece, 88 ; 
 insulting message to Theodosius II, 89 ; 
 wrath at refusal of Pulcheria and Marcian 
 to pay the Hungeld, 92 ; demands sur- 
 render of Honoria and her dowry, 99 ; 
 invades Gaul, 100 ; carries out terrible 
 destruction, 100 ; fights battle of the 
 Mauriac Plain, 101 ; retires out of Gaul, 
 102 ; invades Italy, 111 ; beiseges and 
 destroys Aquileia, 111 ; destroys other 
 cities of northern Italy, 112 ; orders pic- 
 ture of his triumph, 113 ; advances upon 
 Rome, 113 ; meeting with Leo the Great 
 at the Mincio, 114 ; retires out of Italy 
 to Pannonia, 116 ; death, 116 ; burial, 
 116; impression produced by him among 
 the Latin races, 116 ; among the Scan- 
 dinavian races, 116; among the Teutonic 
 races, 117. 
 
 Audefleda, sister of Clovis, second wife of 
 Theodoric, ii, 172. 
 
 Audoin, king of the Lombards, ii, 294 ; 
 occupies Noricum and Pannonia, 294 ; 
 attacks the Gepidae, 295 ; death, 326, 
 
 Audovera, wife of Chilperic I| ii» 346, 
 
 Augurs, i, 40, 
 
 
628 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 629 
 
 i>; 
 
 August, name given to month Sextilis, i, 8. 
 Augusta, title borne by the empresses, i, 31. 
 Augusta Ammaedara in North Africa, ii, 
 
 609 ; its extensive Roman remains, 609. 
 Augustan History, The, i, 272. 
 Augusteum, The Forum of Constantine*s new 
 
 city, i, 421. 
 Augustine, St., Bishop of Hippo, born at 
 Thagaste, i, 562 ; sent to Carthage to study 
 rhetoric, 662 ; becomes professor of rhetoric 
 St Milan, 562 ; converted to Christianity, 
 562 ; baptized by St. Ambrose, 562 ; death 
 of his mother Monica, 562 ; made Bishop 
 of Hippo, 662 ; his theology, 563 ; its 
 strong influence upon the English race, 563 ; 
 effect produced upon him on hearing of the 
 fall of Rome, ii, 52 ; his great book the 
 De Civitate Dei, 62 ; opposition to the 
 Pelagian heresy, 72 ; his last ten days, 72 ; 
 death at Hippo during its siege by the Van- 
 dals, 72. 
 Augustine, St., sent by Gregory the Great to 
 Britain, ii, 372 ; establishes Christianity 
 in Kent, 373 ; harsh and unsympathetic 
 disposition, 373 ; fails to establish rela- 
 tions with the British Church, 374. 
 Augustus Caesar (Octavius), claims inherit- 
 ance as adopted son of Julius Caesar, i, 5 ; 
 joins Marc Antony and Lepidus in a trium- 
 virate, 5 ; punishes murderers of Julius 
 Caesar, 6 ; divorce from Scribonia, 6 ; 
 marriage to Livia, 6 ; defeats Sextus Pom- 
 peius, 7 ; defeats Antony and Cleopatra 
 and annexes Egypt, 7 ; made emperor 
 and takes title of Augustus, 8 ; consolidates 
 Roman dominions, 9 ; theoretical position, 
 10 ; refounds Carthage, 10 ; visits Gaul, 
 Spain, Sicily, and Asia Minor, 11 ; annexes 
 Noricura, Rhaetia, Vindelicia, and Pan- 
 nonia, 12 ; makes Judaea a Roman pro- 
 vince, 13 ; grief at disaster under Varus, 
 14; transforms appearance of Rome, 15; 
 chief buildings, 15 ; his system of admin- 
 istration permanently adopted, 16 ; en- 
 couragement of literature, 17 ; reorganiza- 
 tion of the army, 19 ; family troubles, 21 ; 
 death, 23 ; general character, 24 ; palace 
 built by him, 25 ; celebrated statues with 
 which adorned, 26 ; obelisks brought by 
 him from Egypt, 27 ; reverence for ancient 
 religion of Rome revived by him, 39 ; office 
 of Pontifex Maximus assumed, 40 ; personal 
 feeling regarding religion, 41 ; given divine 
 honours during his lifetime, 42 ; legend 
 regarding him, 43. 
 Aulus Plautius, sent by Claudius to invade 
 Britain, i, 98 ; defeats Caractacus, 99 ; 
 successes against Prasutagus, 101 ; returns 
 to Rome and given an " ovation," or lesser 
 triumph, 101. 
 Aurelian, emperor, i, 335 ; in five years regains 
 Gaul, Spain, Britain, Egypt, Syria, £Utid 
 Asia Minor, 335 ; defeats the Goths and 
 gives Dfbcia to the Visigoths, 335 ; severely 
 defeats the Allemanni, 335 ; marches into 
 Gaul, defeats the Franks, and subdues 
 Tetricus, 336 ; proceeds to the East, 
 defeats Zenobia, and besieges her in 
 Palmyra, 336 ; captures Zenobia and 
 destroys Palmyra, 336 ; celebrates magni- 
 ficent triumph, 337 ; conspired against by 
 the Senate, 337 ; suppresses the conspir- 
 acy and puts to death many senators, 337 ; 
 leaves Rome for Persian frontier, 337 ; 
 assassinated owing tQ a (orgery, 337 ; chief 
 
 work in Rome construction of present line 
 
 of walls, 338. 
 Aurelius, see Marcus Aurelius. 
 Aureolus, sets up independent kingdom in 
 
 Rhaetia, i, 333 ; crosses the Alps and takes 
 
 Milan, 333 ; defeated by Gauienus, 333 . 
 
 executed, 333. ' ' 
 
 Ausonius, Minister of Gratian, i, 516 ; his 
 
 writings, 589. 
 Austrasia, north-eastern part of the Frank 
 
 kingdom, ii, 346 ; its extent, 346. 
 Autharis, king of the Lombards, ii, 332 ■ 
 
 minority, 332 ; takes over the rule, 355 ] 
 
 defeats attacks made by Austrasia, 356 • 
 
 proceeds disguised to court of Bavaria 
 
 and falls in love with Thiudalinda, 357 ; 
 
 married to her at Verona, 357 ; death, 357] 
 Authorities, 1st and 2nd centuries, i, 271 • 
 
 3rd century, 367 ; 4th century, 588 ; 5th 
 
 century, ii, 139. 
 Auxiliary corps, i, 19 ; formed of men not 
 
 yet having rights of Roman citizens, 19; 
 
 efficiency equal to that of the legions, 20; 
 
 conditions of service, 20 ; chiefly cavalry,' 
 
 Avallon, Shrine of, greatly revered, ii, 163; 
 protected from the Saxons by king Arthur, 
 163 ; his burial there, 163 : earliest church 
 there, 516 ; captured by Ina, king of Wes- 
 Sex, 516 {see also Glastonbury). 
 Avars, The, Mongolian race driven westwards 
 before the Turks, ii, 313 ; settle tempor- 
 arily at foot of the Caucasus, 313 ; embassy 
 to Justinian I, 313; induced by him to 
 attack the Bulgarians and Sclavs, 314 ; 
 overrun countries north of the Danube, 
 314 ; embassy to Justin II, 324 ; defeated 
 by the Franks in Thuringia, 325 ; join 
 with the Lombards in destroying the 
 Gepidae, 325 ; take half their territory, 325 ; 
 Pannonia and Noricum resigned to them 
 by the Lombards, 327 ; demand cession 
 of Sirmium, 334 ; reduce Bulgarians and 
 Sclavs to vassalage, 338 ; extend their 
 dominions from Lake Constance to the 
 Don, 338 ; gain Sirmium, 339 ; make 
 incursions into Thrace,* 343 ; besiege 
 Hadrianople, 343 ; defeated and driven 
 back over the Danube by Maurice, 343 ; 
 in reign of Phocas ravage the Balkan pro- 
 vinces, 394 ; attempt to seize emperor 
 Heraclius, 407 ; in conjunction with the 
 Persians besiege Constantinople, 418; 
 repulsed with great loss and retire across 
 Danube, 419 ; carry out massacre of the 
 Lombards at Friuli, 424 ; decline in power, 
 448. 
 
 Avidius Cassius, revolts against IMarcus Aure- 
 lius, i, 263 ; assassinated, 254. 
 
 Avitus, Marcus, husband of Julia Massa, and 
 grandfather of the emperor Elagabalus, i, 
 306. 
 
 Awe with which name of Rome regarded by 
 the northern races, ii, 17. 
 
 Ayesha, favourite wife of Mahomed, ii, 436. 
 
 Azerbiyan, sacred district of the Fire worship 
 in Persia, ii, 413; invaded by Heracliud 
 and its capital Ganzaca taken, 413. 
 
 Baalbek, Temple of, erected by Antoninus 
 Pius, i, 239 ; description of, 239. 
 
 Baanes, general, opposes Mahomedans in 
 Syria, ii, 441 ; defeated at battles of Pella, 
 MarjasuiSar, and Damascus, 442. 
 
 Bacurius, Armenian general under Theo- 
 
 dosius I, i, 569. 
 Baduila, see Totila. 
 
 Bagai, in North Africa, its huge " Byzan- 
 tine " fortress, ii, 610. 
 Bagdad (Kufa), founded by Khalif Omar, 
 
 ii, 451. 
 Bahram, king of Persia, see Varanes. 
 Baise, Gulf of, Caligula's bridge of boats 
 
 across, i, 89. 
 Baian, Chagan of the Avars, sends embassy 
 to Justin II, ii, 324 ; besieges and takes 
 Sirmium, 339. 
 Balti, royal race of the Visigoths, i, 669. 
 Bamborough, capital of Northumbria, founded 
 bv Ida» ii» 292 ; importance increased by 
 iEthelfrith, 355. 
 Baptism, custom of deferring it until dying, 
 
 i, 441. 
 
 Barnabas, St., sent to Antioch, i, 117 ; 
 
 searches out St. Paul, 117 ; accompanies 
 
 St. Paul on his first tour, 123 ; visits 
 
 Cyprus, 124 ; accompanies St. Peter to 
 
 Corinth and Rome, 149 ; supposed to have 
 
 written Epistle to the Hebrews, 170. 
 
 Barsumas, Abbot, disgraceful conduct of at 
 
 the Latrocinium, ii, 90 ; condemned by 
 
 Fourth General Council and banished, 103. 
 
 Bartholomew, St., travels to India and 
 
 Armenia and martyred in Cilicia, i, 123. 
 Basil, St., Metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappa- 
 docia, i, 610 ; upholds the Catholic faith 
 in midst of persecution, 510 ; over-awes 
 Valens, 611 ; founder of moioastic orders, 
 611 ; death, 611. 
 Basilica at Treves, The, i, 496. 
 Basilike, The, Library founded by Julian 
 
 i, 477 ; burnt down, ii, 147. 
 Basilina, mother of the emperor Julian, i, 
 465 ; love for Homer and the Greek poets 
 transmitted to her son, 465 ; death, 
 465. 
 Basiliscus, brother-in-law of Leo I, ii, 124 ; 
 defeated by the Vandals, 124 ; given the 
 throne against the wish of his sister the 
 empress Verina, 146 ; banished, 147. 
 Bassianus, brother-in-law of Constantino the 
 
 Great, i, 379. 
 Batavian cavalry, their fine service in Britain 
 
 under Aulus Plautius, i, 99. 
 Bathanarius, brother-in-law of Stilicho, put 
 
 to death, ii, 42. 
 Baths of Agrippa, i, 10 ; of Titus, 185 ; of 
 Caracalla, 302 ; of Diocletian, 353 ; of 
 Constantino, 435. 
 Bftths of Zeuxippus at Constantinople, built 
 by Constantino, i, 422 ; celebrated statues 
 adorning them, 422 ; burnt down in " Nika" 
 insurrection, ii, 201. 
 Baths of Caracalla, Destruction of by Totila, 
 
 ii, 266. 
 Bate, Pannonian chief, i, 49. 
 Bauto, general, a Frank, sent by Gratian 
 against the Visigoths in Thessaly, i, 531 ; 
 made Count of the frontier for protection 
 of Italy from Maximus, 559 ; successfully 
 defends the passes of the Alps, 669 ; his 
 daughter married after his death to the 
 emperor Arcadius, ii, 12. 
 Bavarian line of Lombard kings, ii, 477. 
 Eede, The Venerable, birth, ii, 674 ; the 
 most learned man of his time, 574 ; all his 
 life spent at Jarrow, 574 ; chief work his 
 History oj the Anglian Nation, 574 ; death, 
 574. 
 
 Bedriacum, first battle of, i, 174 ; Otho's 
 troops defeated by those of Vitellius, 174 ; 
 second battle of, 176 ; troops of Vitellius 
 defeated by those of Primus, 176. 
 Belisarius, general of Justinian, ii, 200 ; 
 defence of Dara, 200 ; defeats Persian 
 forces in Syria, 201 ; subdues the " Nika " 
 insurrection, 204 ; marriage to Antonina, 
 206 ; sent to attack Vandal kingdom, 206 ; 
 wins victory of Ad Decimum, 207 ; cap- 
 tures Carthage, 208 ; wins victory of 
 Tricameron, 210 ; receives surrender of 
 the Vandal king, 211 ; escorts Vandal 
 captives to Constantinople, and given a 
 Roman triumph, 212 ; sent to conquer 
 Italy, 217 ; study of his profession, 219 ; 
 conquers Sicily, 220 ; suppresses revolt 
 in North Africa, 220 ; captures Naples, 220 ; 
 occupies Rome, 222 ; besieged there by 
 the Ostrogoths, 224 : energy and resource, 
 225 ; instals Vigilius as Pope of Rome, 
 228 ; puts the general Constantino to 
 death, 230 ; captures Fiesole and Osimo, 
 233 ; captures Ravenna, 234 ; implored 
 by the Ostrogoths to be their king, 238; 
 sails for Constantinople, 238 ; appearance, 
 246 ; care of his soldiers, and protection 
 of the conquered people from oppression, 
 246 ; bodyguard formed by men of races 
 he had conquered, 246 ; sent to make war 
 upon Chosroes I, 247 ; captures Sisaurane, 
 248 ; sends force to ravage Assyria, 248 ; 
 forces Chosroes I to abandon attack upon 
 north-eastern frontier, 248 ; recalled, 248 ; 
 sent to oppose Chosroes I in Syria, 251 ; 
 causes him to retreat, 251 ; disgraced, 262 ; 
 " pardoned " by Theodora, 253 ; her letter 
 to him, 254 ; sent a second time to conquer 
 Italy, 260; his "miserable squad," 261; 
 heroic attempt to relieve Rome, 266 ; severe 
 illness, 266 ; re-occupies Rome and there 
 sustains three attacks, 267 ; attempts to 
 defend Crotona, 270 ; forced to retire to 
 Sicily, 270 ; sends Antonina on a mission 
 to Theodora to endeavour to obtain a 
 proper army, 283 ; recalled, 286 ; made 
 commander of the household troops, 287 ; 
 puts the Bulgarians to flight, 316 ; accused 
 of complicity in plot of Sergius, 316 ; his 
 property confiscated, 316 ; his honours 
 and property restored, 317 ; death, 317. 
 Benedict, St., ii, 258 ; life as a boy, 268 ; 
 great influence, 258 ; founds twelve mon- 
 asteries, 268 ; founds monastery of ISlonte 
 Cassino, 258 ; reformed rules, 268 ; sur- 
 rounded by war, 269 ; his favourite pupils 
 Maurus and Placidus, 259 ; makes monas- 
 teries homes of learning, 259. 
 Berenice (Veronica), Jewish princess brought 
 to Rome by Titus, i, 185 ; forced by Ves- 
 pasian to return to Juda3a, 185. 
 Berinus, converts Wessex, ii, 434. 
 Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, 
 ii, 354 ; married to ^thelbert, king of 
 Kent, 364 ; receives mission sent by 
 Gregory the Great, 372 ; through her 
 influence Christianity planted in Kent, 373. 
 Bessas, general, placed by Justinian in com- 
 mand at Rome, ii, 237 ; inactive defence 
 of the city, 266 ; escapes upon its capture 
 by Totila, 266. 
 Bethlehem, Birth of Christ at, i, 42 : church 
 of the Nativity erected there by the emprcss 
 Helena, 419. 
 Bireme, warship, i, 20. 
 
 m 
 
 t 
 
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 '.■if.ll 
 
 . \\ 
 
630 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bishops, axiom that all are of equal rank, i, 
 608 ; stress laid upon this principle, 609 ; 
 election of, 612; translation" from one 
 see to another prohibited by First General 
 Council, 606 ; position of leading Bishop 
 in the Church not dependent upon the see 
 held, ii, 106 ; notable instances in cases 
 of Ambrose and Augustine, 106. 
 Blandina, slave -girl martyred at Lyons in 
 
 Fourth persecution, i, 264. 
 Blasius, St., Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, 
 
 martyred in Tenth persecution, i, 360. 
 Bleda, brother of Attila, ii, 88. 
 Blue and Green factions, ii, 196. 
 Boadicea, queen of Iceni, i, 133; shamefully 
 treated by the Romans, 133 ; leads Iceni 
 in revolt, 133 ; almost destroys the Ninth 
 legion, 133 ; takes Verulam and London, 
 133 ; Suetonius Paulinus advances against 
 her, 134 ; decisive battle fought near Lon- 
 don, 134 ; dress and appearance, 134 ; 
 defeated and commits suicide, 134. 
 Booking, German professor, characteristic 
 remark regarding the Notitia Dignitatum, 
 i, 572. 
 Boethius, Anicius Manlius, scholar, phil- 
 osopher, poet, and statesman, ii, 170; 
 seditious conduct, 174 ; imprisonment, 
 176 ; writes the Consolation of Philosophy 
 while in prison, 176; character, 176; 
 executed, 177. 
 Boniface, Count of Africa, ii, 71 ; driven into 
 rebellion by an intrigue, 71 ; invites Vandals 
 into Africa, 71 ; discovers the intrigue, 72 ; 
 forgiven by Galla Placidia, 72 ; defeated 
 by the Vandals, 72 ; besieged in Hippo, 
 72 ; again defeated by the Vandals, 78 ; 
 proceeds to Italy, 79 ; wounded in a battle 
 with Aetius, 79 ; death, 79. 
 Boniface (Winfrith), English missionary to 
 Germany, ii, 671 ; martyred by the Frisians, 
 672. 
 Bonosus, sent by Phocas to defend Egypt, ii, 
 
 396 ; defeated by Nicetas, 396. 
 Bora, icy wind over " Pear Tree " pass, i, 
 570 ; great force, 670 ; effect at battle of 
 the Frigidus, 671. 
 Bom in the purple, origin of the phrase, 
 
 ii, 27. 
 Bourtanger Morass, Defeat of Roman force 
 
 at the, i, 62. 
 Boweib, Battle of, Mahomedans defeat Per- 
 sians at, ii, 460. 
 Bracila, Count, put to death by Odoacer, ii. 
 
 144. 
 Brazen Column, The, in Constantinople, i, 422. 
 Brenner Pass, see Via Claudia Augusta. 
 Bretwalda, Title of, ii, 356. 
 Brigantes, occupying Lancashire, subdued 
 
 by Ostorius Scapula, i, 112. 
 Britain, invaded by Aulus Plautius, i, 98 ; 
 further districts conquered by Ostorius 
 Scapula, HI; revolt of Boadicea, 133; 
 further conquests by Julius Agricola, 181 ; 
 its Romanization begun, 181 ; perman- 
 ently garrisoned by three legions, 182 ; 
 construction by Hadrian of wall from the 
 Tyne to the Solway, 227 ; wall of Antoninus 
 from the Forth to the Clyde, 240 ; growing 
 importance in 3rd century, 286 ; wall of 
 Severus, 286 ; made part of western section 
 of the empire by Diocletian, 347 ; seized 
 by Carausius, but regained by Constantius 
 Chlorus, 348 ; ruled by Constantino aa 
 Caesar, 370 ; its coast defence organized 
 
 631 
 
 by Valentinian I, 498; advance in 4th 
 century, 499; country-houses of nobles 
 499 ; Roman roads, 600 ; complete Roman' 
 ization, 600 ; export of corn. 500 ; incursion 
 of Scots and Saxons, 500 ; both defeated 
 by Valentmian I, 600 ; province of Valentia 
 created in southern half of Scotland, 501 • 
 British Mint established, 601 ; 800 vessels 
 employed in export of com at port of 
 London, 601 ; one of the three Roman 
 legions withdrawn by Stilicho, ii, 23 ; the 
 usurper Constantino takes the other two 
 legions to fight in Gaul, 35 ; invaded by 
 the Jutes and Saxons, 56 ; terrible devasta- 
 tion wrought, 56 ; Roman Britain vanishes, 
 66 ; becomes called " the island of ghosts,'* 
 130 ; again invaded by Jutes under Hengist 
 and Horsa and by Saxons under Aelle, 162 • 
 again by Saxons under Cedric, 162 ; again 
 by the Angles, 162 ; the Romanized 
 Britons driven into west of the island, 163 ; 
 Angles and Saxons defeated in twelve 
 battles by Arthur, 163; battle of Mount 
 Badon, 163 ; change wrought in the 
 Romanized Britons, 164 ; fresh wave of 
 Angles under Ida, 292 ; seven kingdoms 
 established, 292 ; successes of Saxons 
 against the Romanized Britons, 354 ; 
 ^thelfrith, king of Northumbria, 355 ; his 
 massacre of the Britons at Chester, 355 ; 
 Northumbria becomes most important of 
 the seven kingdoms, 356 ; mission by 
 Gregory the Great to Kent, 371 ; Kent 
 accepts Christianity, 373 ; struggle between 
 Paganism and Christianity in Britain, 432 ; 
 East Saxons accept Christianity, 432; 
 Pagan temples in London, 432 ; East 
 Saxons revert to Paganism, 433 ; Edwin, 
 king of Northumbria, greatest of the Bret- 
 waldas, 433 ; accepts Christianity, 433 ; 
 East Anglia follows example of Northum- 
 bria, 434 ; Penda, king of Mercia, attacks 
 Northumbria and kills Edwin, 434 ; Wessex 
 accepts Christianity, 434 ; Oswald, king 
 of Northumbria, 435 ; Aidan at his request 
 sent from lona to Northumbria, 435; 
 Penda attacks East Anglia and kills its 
 king Sigebert, 466 ; attacks Northumbria 
 and kills its king Oswald, 466 ; attacks 
 Wessex and forces its king to renounce 
 Christianity, 466 ; again attacks East 
 Anglia and kills its king Anna, 466 ; again 
 attacks Northumbria, 466 ; Penda de- 
 feated by Oswy and killed, 466 ; Mercia 
 accepts Christianity, 467 ; Peterborough 
 founded, 467 ; East Saxons finally accept 
 Christianity, 467 ; conference of Whitby, 
 486 ; Theodore of Tarsus appointed arch- 
 bishop for Britain, 487 ; death of Oswy, 
 king of Northumbria, 488 ; birthday of 
 the Church of England, 496 ; South Saxons 
 accept Christianity, 604 ; battle of Nech- 
 tansmere, 615 ; loss by Northumbria of 
 the supremacy, 616 ; Ina, king of Wessex, 
 616 ; his conquests, 516 ; his laws, 516 ; 
 Glastonbury, gained by him, becomes link 
 between Britons and Saxons, 517 ; ^Ethel- 
 bald, king of Mercia, 571 ; valuable informa- 
 tion in his "landbooks," 571; English 
 missions to Germany, 571 ; WilHbrord, 
 571 ; Winfrith (Boniface) organizes 
 churches of Thuringia and Bavaria, 672; 
 royal pilgrimages, 573 ; abdication of Ina, 
 king of Wessex, 673 ; the Venerable Bede, 
 674 ; hie " History of the Anglian Nation," 
 
 674 ; Aldhelm, 574 ; Caedmon, 674. 
 Britannia, The traditional figure of, found 
 
 on coin of Hadrian, i, 228. 
 Britannicus, son of Claudius and Valeria 
 Messalina, i, 104 ; satisfactory education, 
 107 ; brought up with Titus, 107 ; promis- 
 ing character, 107 ; kept in the background 
 by Agrippina, 114 ; prevented by her from 
 succeeding to the throne, 126 ; attains 
 his majority, 128 ; poisoned by Nero, 128. 
 British Church, The ancient. Probable origin 
 of, i, 262 ; first comes prominently to notice, 
 398 ; its western diocese formed into five 
 dioceses owing to destruction carried out 
 by Saxons, ii, 164 ; its Bishops when asked 
 by Augustine whether they acknowledged 
 obedience to the Pope of Rome do not 
 know the title, 373. 
 Bronze horses originally adorning Arch of 
 
 Sevems, i, 290 ; their many travels, 290. 
 Brunhilda, Visigoth princess, ii, 346 ; married 
 to Sigebert, king of Austrasia, 345 ; char- 
 acter and ability, 345 ; avenges murder 
 of her sister, 347 ; taken prisoner, 347 ; 
 in vengeance for murder of her husband 
 and sister almost exterminates house of 
 Chilperic, 348 ; mles Austrasia and Bur- 
 gundy well, 348; attacks the Lombards, 
 366 ; fights in defence of her four great- 
 grandsons, 349; captured by Chlotochar 
 II and torn in pieces by wild horses, 349 ; 
 her enlightened rule of the Frank domin- 
 ions, 349 ; assistance given by her to the 
 mission to Britain, 349 ; impression made 
 by her in northern Gaul, 350. 
 Bucelin, leads raid into Italy, ii, 311 ; ravages 
 southem Italy, 311 ; his force destroyed, 
 
 oil. 
 
 Buildings of Augustus in Rome, i, 16. 
 
 Bulgarians, The, derive descent from the 
 Huns, ii, 295 ; become terror of the Danube 
 provinces, 296; attack Constantinople, 
 314 ; revolt from the Avars, 498 ; defeat 
 Constantino IV, 498 ; foundation of the 
 kingdom of Bulgaria, 498; make the 
 Sclavs their vassals, 498 ; defeated by 
 Justinian II, 511; become " Sclavised," 
 499. 
 
 Bulla Regia, the treasure-house of the Vandal 
 kings, ii, 208; refuge of GeUmer, 208; 
 Its interesting Roman remains, 610. 
 
 Burgundians, The, repulsed by Valentinian I, 
 1. 503 ; with Franks and Allemanni invade 
 Gaul, ii, 65 ; establish a kingdom in south- 
 eastern Gaul, 154 ; defeated by the Franks, 
 290 ; finally conquered by the Franks, 291. 
 
 Burning, Infliction of death by, a practice 
 regarded with horror under Later Roman 
 Empire, ii, 394. 
 
 BurrU Pillar, The, in Constantinople, lower 
 part of column of Constantino's statue, 
 1, 422. 
 
 Burrhus, commander of the Praetorian 
 Guards, i, 125 ; assists Agrippina to gain 
 throne for Nero, 125 ; speech when Nero 
 proposed to divorce Octavia, 114. 
 
 Bussora (Basra) founded by Khalif Omar, ii, 
 451. 
 
 Buzes, general under Justinian, ii, 252 ; im- 
 prisoned, 252. 
 
 Byzacena (or Byzacium) second section of 
 the province of North Africa, ii, 213: its 
 great fertility, 641. 
 
 Byzani, gold coin of Later Roman Empire, 
 u. 686 ; the only gold coin in circulation 
 E.W.— II, 
 
 in 8th century m both East and West, 586 ; 
 called also the Nomisma, 616; approxi- 
 mate value, 616. 
 
 " Byzantine " walls, term used regarding 
 walls of cities and forts in North Africa to 
 signify a certain date, ii, 491. 
 
 Byzantium, see Constantinople. 
 
 C^DMON, ii, 574 ; one of the most learned 
 men of 7th century, 574. 
 
 Caerleon-on-Usk, one of the three principal 
 Roman stations in Britain, i, 182 ; Bishop 
 of, present at Council of Aries, 398 ; its 
 diocese divided by the British in 5th century 
 mto five dioceses, ii, 164. 
 
 Caesar, family name of the first five emperors, 
 i, 6 ; their genius in ruling, 46 ; even the 
 worst of them display this ability, 103 ; 
 animosity of the other aristocratic families 
 against them, 62 ; vindictive jealousy of 
 Julian branch against Claudian branch, 
 59 ; Julian branch finally destroys the 
 family, 149. 
 Caesar, the name carried on by succeeding 
 emperors, i, 182 ; after time of Hadrian 
 used to denote heir of reigning emperor, 
 182 ; the name carried on into modern 
 times, 182. 
 
 Caesaria, sister of the emperor Anastasius I. 
 •ii, 168. 
 
 Caesarius, commissioner sent to inquire into 
 
 riot at Antioch, i, 660 ; rapid journey back 
 
 with his report, 662. 
 Caesars, The, satirical fable written by 
 
 emperor Julian, i, 477. 
 Caesonia, last wife of Caligula, i, 87 ; attempts 
 
 to make him desist from cruelty, 91 ; death, 
 
 vl. 
 Cahina, see Damia. 
 Caiaphas, Jewish High Priest, removed from 
 
 his office by Tiberius, i, 86. 
 Cairo, foundation of, ii, 459. 
 Caius, son of Germanicus and Agrippina, i, 
 
 24 ; death at eight years old, 24 ; Augustus* 
 
 fondness for him, 24. 
 Caius, brother of above, see Caligula. 
 Caius Caesar, son of Marcus Agrippa and 
 Julia, adopted by Augustus, i, 33 ; death, 
 34. 
 
 Caligula, emperor, youngest son of Germanicus 
 and Agrippina, i, 76 ; proper name Caius, 
 75 ; chosen by Tiberius as his successor, 
 75 ; his name how given him, 86 ; inherited 
 tendencies, 87 ; horrifies Roman society 
 by marrying his sister Drusilla, 87 ; career 
 of crime, 87 ; sweeps away all barriers to 
 autocratic power, 88 ; follies and extrava- 
 gance, 89 ; visits Gaul, 90 ; banishes his 
 two sisters, 90 ; murder, 91. 
 Caligula, Palace of, i, 91 ; peculiar construe 
 tion, 92 ; principal palace of the Caesars 
 under ten emperors, 92 ; scene of principal 
 events of Nero's reign, 140 ; many interests 
 attaching to it, 140. 
 Calixtus, Bishop of Rome in reign of Alex- 
 ander Severus, i, 310. 
 Callinicus, Pope of Constantinople, blinded 
 
 and imprisoned by Justinian II, ii, 523. 
 Campagna, The, Description of in time of 
 Trajan, i, 219 ; effect upon it of cutting of 
 aqueducts by the Ostrogoths, ii, 225. 
 Campaigns, Six, of HeracHus against Persia, 
 
 ii, 412-420. 
 Candidianus, son of Galerius, brought up by 
 empress Valeria, i, 380 ; death, 381. 
 
 
632 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 633 
 
 ' 
 
 I 
 
 Canon, word signifying a law, i, 540. 
 
 Canon of Holy Scripture, The, decided upon, 
 i, 673. 
 
 Capelianu8, attacks and kills Gordian I, i, 311. 
 
 Capreae (Capri), residence of Tiberius for 
 eleven years, i. 67 ; way in which the false- 
 hood regarding his manner of life there 
 has been unmasked, 698-599. 
 
 Capsa, made capital of Byzacena, the second 
 section of province of North Africa, ii, 2 1 3 ; 
 important in all ages as the gateway of the 
 desert, 633 ; its " Byzantine " walls, 533 ; 
 Roman mosaics at, showing chariots rac- 
 ing, 83. 
 
 Caracalla, emperor, elder son of Septimius 
 Severus, i, 283 ; suspected of having 
 poisoned his father, 301 ; murders his 
 brother Geta, 301 ; puts to death about 
 20,000 persons, 301 ; grants privileges of 
 Roman citizens to all free inhabitants of 
 the empire, 302 ; assassinated, 302. 
 
 Caracalla, Baths of, their great magnificence, 
 i, 302 ; luxurious arrangements, 302 ; costly 
 style of decoration, 303 ; richly coloured 
 marbles, 303 ; a people's palace, 303 ; 
 numerous works of art which their ruins 
 have supplied, 304. 
 
 Caractacus, king of the Silures, opposes 
 Romans on their invading Britain, i, 99 ; 
 loses Colchester, 100 ; retires towards the 
 West, 101 ; continues the contest. 111 ; 
 defeated at Leintwardine, 112; brought 
 a prisoner to Rome, 113; life spared and 
 given a pension, 113. 
 
 Caratene, mother of Clotilda, ii, 154. 
 
 Carausius, rebellious seizure of Britain by, i, 
 348. 
 
 Career Castrensis, chief prison of Carthage, 
 ii, 209. 
 
 Carduene, conquered by Trajan, i, 219; 
 given up by Hadrian, 227 ; ceded to Dio- 
 cletian, 348. 
 
 Carinus, emperor, profligate life, i, 343 ; 
 marches against Diocletian, 344 ; killed 
 by a tribune during battle of Margus, 344. 
 
 Carthage, refounded by Augustus, i, 10 ; 
 description of, in 3rd century, 296 ; cap- 
 tured by the Vandals, ii, 79 ; recaptured 
 by the empire, 208 ; description of in 6th 
 century, 209 ; captured by the Mahomedans 
 at end of 7th century, 618 ; destroyed 
 by Hassan, 618; rich columns carried off 
 to Kairowan, Cordova, and other cities, 518. 
 
 Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, i, 112. 
 
 Cams, emperor, gives his two sons rank of 
 Caesar^ i, 343 ; proceeds to attack Persia, 
 343 ; austerity, 343 ; declines overtures of 
 peace, 343 ; takes Ctesiphon, 343 ; killed 
 during a storm, 343. 
 
 Cassiodorus, chief minister of Theodoric the 
 Great, ii, 167 ; voluminous letters and 
 courtly verbiage, 168 ; letter to Arte- 
 midorus, 169. 
 
 Cassius Chaerea, arranges murder of Caligula, 
 i. 90. 
 
 Catacombs, The, i, 363 ; general chareuster 
 and great extent, 363 ; immense number 
 of martyred persons buried in them, 363 ; 
 originally belonged to private families, 364. 
 
 Cataphracti, see Cuireissiers. 
 
 Catherine, St., young Roman lady martyred 
 in Egypt in Tenth persecution, i, 360. 
 
 Catholic, meaning of name, i, 412 ; first 
 used, 412 ; distinguished from Roman 
 Catholic a name of 16th century, 412. 
 
 Catholic Faith, Depressed state of under 
 Constant ius, i, 460 ; its almost complete 
 obliteration through conquests of northern 
 races in the West and heresies in the East 
 ii, 166 ; final triumph, 360. 
 
 Cavalry arm. The, separated from the Infantry 
 arm by Constantino the Great, i, 427. 
 
 Cavalry as archers. Use of by Belisarius, ii, 219. 
 
 Cecidwalla, king of Wessex, ii, 573. 
 
 Cecilia, St., mart3rred at Rome in Ninth 
 persecution, i, 341 ; her house in Rome 
 converted into a church, 342 ; buried at 
 first in catacomb of St. Calixtus, but re. 
 mains subsequently removed to this church 
 342. 
 
 Cedd, heads mission from LindiBfame to the 
 East Saxons, ii, 467 ; made Bishop of 
 London, 467. 
 
 Cedric, leader of second wave of Saxon inva- 
 ders of Britain, ii, 162 ; founder of kingdom 
 of Wessex, 616. 
 
 Cemeteries (1st century) of Priscilla and 
 Domitilla recently excavated, i, 201 ; inter- 
 esting results, 201. 
 
 Censor of morals, elected by whole Roman 
 empire, i, 317. 
 
 Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, ii, 674. 
 
 Corinthians, Sect of the, i, 186. 
 
 Chains, Battle of the, ii, 449. 
 
 Chalke, Hall of the, in imperial palace, ii, 240. 
 
 Chapel of Archbishop's palace at Ravenna, 
 mosaics in, ii, 280. 
 
 Charibert, eldest son of Chlotochar I, ii, 345 ; 
 death, 347. 
 
 Chariobaudes, commander-in-chief in Gaul, 
 ii, 40. 
 
 Chariot-racing in North Africa in 4th century, 
 Mosaic picture of, ii, 83. 
 
 Charles Martel, eldest son of P6pin of Heristal, 
 ii, 666 ; imprisoned by his stepmother, 567 ; 
 defeats Neustria, places a puppet king on 
 the throne, and rules whole kingdom, 667 ; 
 prepares to meet Saracen invasion, 568 ; 
 fights battle of Poictiers, 669 ; marries 
 Sonichildis, 670 ; friendship with Liut- 
 prand, 670 ; refuses to give help against 
 him, 670 ; death, 570. 
 
 Chatti, Tiie, win great victory over Varus, 
 i, 13 ; repeatedly defeated by Tiberius, 14 ; 
 in later ages known as the Franks, 14 ; 
 successful contests with Germanicus, 60. 
 
 Chenisci, The, with Chatti win great victory 
 over Varus, i, 13 ; defeated by Tiberius, 
 14 ; their chief's daughter Thusnelda 
 marries Hermann, 61 ; two parties created 
 in consequence, 61 ; treachery of her father 
 Segestes, 61 ; war thereby caused, 61. 
 
 Chess, Game of, introduced by Chosroes I 
 into Persia from India, ii, 243. 
 
 Chester, one of the three principal Roman 
 stations in Britain, i, 182 ; Roman gate 
 at, 286 ; massacre of Romanized Britons 
 at, ii, 356. 
 
 Childebert I, third son of Clovis, ii, 289; 
 portion of the kingdom given to him, 289; 
 assists to murder his brother Chlodomir's 
 sons, 290 ; helps to conquer and divide 
 Burgundy, 291 ; death, 291. 
 
 Childebert II, son of Sigebert, king of Aus- 
 trasia, ii, 347 ; succeeds to Burgundy as 
 well as Austrasia, 348 ; leads four expedi- 
 tions against the Lombards, 356. 
 
 Childeric, king of the Salian Franks, father 
 of Clovis, ii, 164 ; discovery of his tomb 
 at Tournai, 164. 
 
 Chilperic I, second son of Chlotochar I, ii, 345 ; 
 given kingdom of Neustria, 345 ; vicious 
 character, 346 ; marriage to Visigoth prin- 
 cess Galswintha, 346 ; upon her murder 
 marries Fredegonda, 347; struggle with 
 his brother Sigebert, 347 ; forced to fly 
 to Tournai, 347 ; sees his sons successively 
 murdered, 348 ; death, 348. 
 Chlodomir, second son of Clovis, ii, 289 ; 
 portion of the kingdom given to him, 289 • 
 joins in attack on Burgundy, 290 ; murders 
 its kmg Sigismund with his wife and chil- 
 dren, 290 ; killed in battle by the Bur- 
 gundians, 290 : murder of his sons by his 
 two brothers, 290. 
 Chlotochar I, fourth son of Clovis, ii, 289; 
 portion of the kingdom given to him, 289 ; 
 murders his brother Chlodomir's sons, 290 ; 
 annexes half Chlodomir's kingdom, 290 ; 
 helps to conquer and divide Burgundy) 
 291 ; marries young widow of his grand- 
 nephew Thiudabald and annexes his king- 
 dom of Austrasia, 291 ; upon his brother 
 Childebert's death annexes his kingdom of 
 Paris, 291 ; rules whole Frank kingdom, 
 291 ; murders his son Chramnus, 291 : 
 death, 291. 
 Chlotochar II, son of Chilperic I, ii, 348 ; 
 cruelly puts to death Brunhilda, queen of 
 Austrasia, 349 ; murders her great-grand- 
 sons and becomes sole ruler of the Frank 
 kingdom, 432 ; death, 432. 
 Chlotosinda, grand-daughter of Clovis, first 
 
 wife of Alboin, ii, 325. 
 Chlotosuinda, daughter of Sigibert and Brun- 
 
 hilda, betrothed to Reccared I, ii, 357. 
 Chosroes I (Noshirvan), ii, 243 ; reign most 
 glorious in history of Persia, 243 ; famed 
 throughout the E^st, 243; achievements 
 m administration, 243 ; achievements in 
 literature, 243 ; attention to efficiency of 
 Persian army, 244 ; invades Roman Empire 
 and takes Antioch, 244 ; attacks Roman 
 dominions on east coast of Black Sea, 248 ; 
 invades Syria, 251 ; besieges Dara and 
 Edessa, 264 ; attacks Roman dominions 
 in Colchis, 294 ; suffers severe defeat at 
 Phasis, 294 ; makes peace, 294 ; begins a 
 fresh war, 334 ; defeated at battle of Sar- 
 gathon, 334 ; invades Syria and takes 
 Antioch, 334 ; takes Dara, 335 ; signs a 
 truce, 336 ; death, 338. 
 Chosroes II, grandson of Chosroes I, ii, 342 ; 
 driven out of Persia, 342 ; takes refuge in 
 Mesopotamia with the Romans, 342 ; with 
 help of the emperor Maurice regains his 
 throne, 342 ; becomes firm ally of Maurice, 
 342 ; declares war against Phocas, 394 ; 
 takes Edessa and Dara, 394 ; overruns 
 Mesopotamia, 395 ; invades Sjoia, 395 ; 
 overruns Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, 
 and Bithynia, 395 ; captures Antioch and 
 Damascus, 403 ; captures Jerusalem, and 
 carries off sacred relic of the True Cross, 
 4()3; advances up to Chalcedon, 403 ; takes 
 Alexandria, 404 ; insulting letter to Hera- 
 chus, 405 ; attacks Constantinople but 
 repulsed by Heraclius, 408; splendour of 
 his chief palace Dastagherd, 408 ; his 
 first army defeated by Heraclius, 412 ; 
 his second army defeated, 413; his third, 
 fourth, and fifth armies defeated, 414 ; his 
 sixth army defeated at the Sams, 416; 
 forms alliance with the Avars for a joint 
 attack upon ' Constantinople, 416 ; his 
 
 seventh army defeated near Amida, 418 ; 
 his eighth army defeated in its attack upon 
 Constantmople, 419 ; his ninth army de- 
 feated m severely contested battle near 
 Nineveh, 420 ; abandons Dastagherd and 
 flies to Susiana, 420 ; imprisoned and 
 starved to death by his son Siroes, 421. 
 Chramnus, son of Chlotochar I, murdered by 
 his father with his wife and children, ii, 291. 
 Christianity, Teaching of, inaugurated, i, 83 ; 
 beginnmg of Christian Church as result of 
 preaching at Pentecost, 84; conversions 
 m Judaea, Galilee, Samaria and Caesarea 
 by St. Peter, 94 ; strong position estab- 
 lished at Antioch, 117 ; name of Christian 
 first given, 118 ; distribution of the coun- 
 tries of the world among the Apostles, 121 ; 
 spread of Christianity east, north, and 
 south of Antioch, 149; first persecution, 
 159-169 ; second persecution, 195-196 ; 
 third persecution, 222-225 ; position of 
 Christianity at end of reign of Hadrian, 237 ; 
 fourth persecution (first general persecu- 
 tion), 257-269 ; fifth persecution, 294 ; 
 improved position in time of Alexander 
 Severus, 309 ; sixth persecution, 319-321 ; 
 seventh persecution, 325-330 ; eighth per- 
 secution, 338 ; ninth persecution, 340-342 ; 
 tenth persecution, 364-364 and 382-384; 
 Edict of Milan, 385 ; Christianity adopted 
 as the State religion of the Roman Empire, 
 387 ; the Arian heresy, 410 ; First General 
 Council, 411 ; constitution of the Christian 
 Church consolidated, 508 ; dioceses grouped 
 under Metropolitans, 609 ; the Macedonian 
 and Apollinarian heresies, 536 ; Second 
 General Council, 636; Metropolitans 
 grouped under Popes (or Patriarchs), 
 Christendom being divided into five patri- 
 archates, 537 ; the Nestorian heresy, ii, 76 ; 
 Third General Council, 77 ; the Eutychian 
 heresy, 89; the " Latrocinium," 90; 
 Fourth General Council, 103 ; depressed 
 state of the Catholic faith, 156 ; conversion 
 of the Franks, 156; controversy of the 
 "Three Chapters," 282; Fifth General 
 CouncU, 309; spread of Christianity to 
 Scotland, 318 ; conversion of the Visigoths 
 from Arianism, 353 ; conversion of Kent, 
 372 ; conversion of the Lombards from 
 Arianism, 359; final triumph of the 
 Catholic faith, 360 ; conversion of North- 
 umbria. East Anglia and Wessex, 434 ; 
 "lona's saints," 436; the Monothelite 
 heresy, 446 ; altered condition of the 
 Church through destruction of three patri- 
 archates by the Mahomedans, 467 ; con- 
 version of Mercia, 467; birthday of the 
 Church of England, 496; Sixth General 
 Council, 606 ; stages in the growth of 
 superstition, 667 ; the Iconoclastic cam- 
 paign of the emperor Leo III, 569. 
 Christianity, Special features in, causing 
 animosity to this religion to be felt by 
 Romans, i, 165 ; not a national religion, 
 165 ; appearance of godlessness, 166 ; sus- 
 picion of conducting orgies, 165 ; abstention 
 from public functions, 165 ; a secret society, 
 166 ; appearance of moroseness, 268 ; 
 loss of income to the priestly class caused, 
 268 ; accusation of sacrificing infants, 258 ; 
 diatribes of Caecilius against this religion, 
 259 ; further animosity against it upon 
 celebration of Rome's thousandth birthday, 
 320 ; combined effect of these grounds of 
 
634 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 635 
 
 1 
 
 'f 
 
 
 hatred culminates in reign of Diocletian, 
 355. 
 
 Christina, St., daughter of governor of Bol- 
 Bena, martyred in Ninth persecution, i, 342. 
 
 Chronology of events in the Christian Church 
 during Ist century, i, 203-208. 
 
 Chrysaphius, minister of Theodosius II, 
 ii, 87 ; agrees to pay Attila an annual 
 tribute, 88 ; lays plot to assassinate Attila, 
 88 ; takes up cause of Eutyche8,89 ; brings 
 about the " Latrocinium," 90 ; uses power 
 of the State to advance Eutychianism, 90 ; 
 brings down both Church and State to 
 ignominy, 91 ; put to death, 93. 
 
 Chrysopolis, Battle of, between Constantine 
 and Licinius, i, 401 ; leaves Constantine 
 sole ruler of the Roman world, 402. 
 
 Chrysostom, St. John, appointed chief prea- 
 cher of Antioch, 561 ; reputation as the 
 Church's greatest preacher, 561 ; style of 
 his sermons, 561 ; calms terrified people 
 of Antioch, 561 ; made Pope of Constanti- 
 nople, ii, 14 ; attacks luxurious ways of 
 society, 29 ; violent language against the 
 empress Eudoxia, 30 ; at length banished, 
 30 ; pardoned and recalled, 31 ; again 
 violently denounces the empress, 31 ; a 
 second time banished, 31 ; dies at Comana, 
 36 ; two peculiar documents in connection 
 with his banishment, 37. 
 
 Church, Christian, see Christianity. 
 
 Church and State, Settlement by Constantine 
 of future relations between, i, 406. 
 
 Church of England, Birthday of, ii, 496 ; 
 canons adopted, 496 ; provides for annual 
 Synod, 496 ; development therefrom of the 
 Convocations of Canterbury and York, 496 ; 
 lasting effect upon the English race, 497 ; 
 paves the way for one Parliament for all 
 England, 497. 
 
 Cibalae, Battle of, between Constantine and 
 Licinius, i, 379. 
 
 Cicero, words of, regarding ignorance of his- 
 tory. Preface, p. ix. 
 
 Circus, Roman, Plan of, i, 373. 
 
 Classis, port of Ravenna, Mosaic picture of in 
 time of Justinian, ii, 279 ; captured by 
 Liutprand and destroyed, 564. 
 
 Claudia, mother of Constantius Chlorus, i, 347. 
 
 Claudian family. The, Glory of, extolled by 
 Suetonius, i, 28. 
 
 Claudian, poet in 4th century, i, 571 ; poem on 
 the battle of the Frigidus, 571 ; called the 
 last of the Roman poets, ii, 8 ; character of 
 his writings, 8 ; describes Stilicho's crossing 
 of the Alps in winter, 23 ; taunts Alaric with 
 failure of his dreams of taking Rome, 24. 
 
 Claudius I, emperor, placed on throne, i, 96 ; 
 peculiar character, 97 ; remedies evils of 
 Caligula's reign, 97 ; constructs two fresh 
 aqueducts, new harbour at Ostia, and 
 road over Brenner Pass, 98 ; begins con- 
 quest of Britain, 99 ; annexes Mauretania, 
 101 ; entirely in the hands of freedmen, 102 ; 
 marriage to Valeria Messalina, 103 ; unbe« 
 cile scheme to give her up temporarily to 
 Caius Silius, 107 ; heartless consent to her 
 death, 108; marriage to Agrippina, 110; 
 persuaded by her to adopt Nero, 110 ; 
 treats Caractacus with clemency, 113; 
 persuaded by Agrippina to marry hia 
 daughter Octavia to Nero, 114; poisoned 
 by Agrippina, 114. 
 
 Claudius II, emperor, restores discipline in 
 the army and order in the government, i, 
 
 334; military talents, 334; defeats the 
 Goths, 334 ; dies of the plague, 334. 
 Clement, St., Bishop of Rome, i, 195 ; hjg 
 celebrated Epistle to the Corinthians, 1 98 • 
 
 Srobably a connection of the emperor 
 ^omitian, 200 ; martyred by Trajan, 222. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, head of the school 
 of Christian philosophy there in 3rd cen 
 tvu-y, i, 293. 
 
 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, i, 7 ; marries 
 Marc Antony and proposes with him to 
 found an independent empire, 7 ; attacked 
 and defeated at battle of Actium by Augus- 
 tus, 7 ; again attacked by him, and commits 
 suicide, 7. 
 
 Cleopatra, daughter of Marc Antony and 
 Cleopatra queen of Egypt, i, 8 ; brought 
 up by Octavia, sister of Augustus, 8 ; given 
 in marriage to Juba, son of last king of 
 Numidia, 8. 
 
 Cleopatra, daughter of the emperor Maurice, 
 ii, 394 ; slain by Phocas, 394. 
 
 Clepho, chosen king of the Lombards, ii, 332 ; 
 murdered, 332. 
 
 Clotilda, married to Clovis, king of the Franks, 
 ii, 154 ; brings about his conversion to 
 Christianity, 156 ; grief at murder of 
 Chlodomir's children, 290 ; burial of their 
 bodies, 290. 
 
 Cloud, St., youngest son of Chlodomir, 
 ii, 290 ; gives name to suburb of Paris, 290. 
 
 Clovis (or Clodwig) founds the Frank mon- 
 archy, ii, 154 ; imites the various sections 
 of the Franks, 154 ; marries Clotilda, 154 ; 
 conversion to Christianity, 156 ; defeats 
 Burgimdians, AUemanni, and Visigoths, 
 156 ; makes the Franks the leading nation 
 in the West, 156 ; death and burial at 
 Paris, 156. 
 
 Cniva, king of the Goths, defeats Gallus, i, 
 318 ; gains crushing victory over Decius 
 at Abricium, 319. 
 
 Code of Justinian, The, ii, 198 ; its high value 
 to mankind, 199. 
 
 Codex BossanensiSf copy of the Gospels in 
 silver letters on purple vellum, kept at 
 Rossano, ii, 274. 
 
 Coinage of Roman Empire stamped by Con- 
 stantine with the Labarum, i, 435. 
 
 Coinred, king of Mercia, ii, 573. 
 
 Colchester, made headquarters of the Roman 
 forces in Britain, i, 100. 
 
 College of Constantinople, suppressed by 
 Leo III, ii, 560. 
 
 Colmar, Battle of, AUemanni defeated by 
 Gratian, i, 522. 
 
 Colonia Agrippina (Cologne), headquarters 
 of Roman forces on lower Rhine, i, 60 ; 
 Agrippina's military court there, 79. 
 
 Colonization carried out in 3rd century by 
 Probus, i, 340. 
 
 Colossal statue of Nero in gilded bronze in 
 porch of the "Golden House," i, 138; 
 removed by Hadrian to front of Flavian 
 amphitheatre, 138. 
 
 Colosseum, The, constructed by Vespasian, 
 i, 180 ; general arrangements, 181 ; com- 
 pleted and opened by Titus, 186. 
 
 Columba, St., formds monastery of lona, ii, 
 318. 
 
 Column of Trajan, i, 217. 
 
 Column of Marcus Aurelius, i, 256. 
 
 Column of Phocas, ii, 395. 
 
 Comentiolus, general, drives So'avs out of 
 Thrace, ii, 343 ; murdered by Phocas, 376. 
 
 Comito, sister of the empress Theodora, ii, 252. 
 Commerce of the West destroyed by the 
 northern conquerors, ii, 585 ; benefit 
 thereby to Later Roman Empire, 585 ; 
 Mahomedan conquests increase this effect, 
 585 ; route thenceforth taken by commerce, 
 585 ; immense trade diverted to Con- 
 stantinople, 685. 
 Commissariat and arsenals. Separate depart- 
 ment for, created by Constantine the Great, 
 i, 427. 
 Commodus, emperor, appearance and char- 
 acter, i, 276 ; shameless profligacy, 276 ; 
 attempt to assassinate him, 277 ; cruelties, 
 278 ; appears as a gladiator, 278 ; assas- 
 sinated, 278. 
 Concordia, flourishing city destroyed by 
 
 Attila, ii, 112. 
 Consolation of Philosophy, The, written by 
 Boethius, ii, 175 ; its numerous editions 
 and translations, 175. 
 Constans I, emperor, fourth son of Constan- 
 tino the Great, i, 413; allotted central 
 portion of the empire, 452 ; becomes ruler 
 over the two western prefectures, 453 ; 
 defeats the Franks, 453 ; visits Britain, 
 453 ; forces Constantius to reinstate Athan- 
 asius, 454 ; treacherously slain by Magnen- 
 tius, 454. 
 Constans II, emperor, son of Constantine III, 
 ii, 457 ; placed on throne at eleven years 
 old, 457 ; at seventeen takes over the 
 government, 460 ; character, 460 ; offends 
 the ecclesiastical writers of his age by the 
 line taken by him in religious matters, 461 ; 
 endeavours to suppress controversy by his 
 edict called the Type, 463 ; thereby vio- 
 lently offends both parties, 464 ; refusing 
 to be shaken gains detestation of whole 
 ecclesiastical class, 465 ; his edict defied 
 by Pope Martin I, 469 ; banishes latter to 
 Crimea, 470 ; non-partisan attitude, 471 
 arrests the Mahomedan advance, 472 
 defeated in naval battle at Phoenix, 472 , 
 success against the Sclavs, 474 ; divides 
 empire into Themes, 475 ; puts his brother 
 to death, 476 ; leaves Constantinople for 
 southern Italy, 478 ; use made of this 
 action by the ecclesiastical writers, 478 ; 
 successes in southern Italy over the Lom- 
 bards, 479 ; visits Rome, 480 ; establishes 
 himself at Syracuse, 481 ; retakes Carthage 
 from the Saracens, 481 ; drives them out 
 of North Africa, 481 ; makes Archbishops 
 of Ravenna independent of Popes of Rome, 
 481 ; imposes heavy taxes to support the 
 war in North Africa, 482 ; killed at Syra- 
 cuse, 482 ; achievements, 483 ; strong 
 character, 484 ; unswerving opposition to 
 controversy, 484 ; regard for him shown by 
 army and people, 485 ; preserves empire 
 from further loss of territory to the Mahome- 
 dans diuring his reign, 485. 
 Constantia, half-sister of Constantine the 
 Great, married to Licinius, i, 377 ; inter- 
 cedes for Licinius' life, 401 ; her son Licin- 
 ianus mysteriously put to death, 416 ; 
 letter to Eusebius, 418 ; summons Con- 
 stantine to her when dying, 420 ; death 
 at Nicomedia, 420 ; her body carried to 
 Rome and buried there in a mausoleum 
 built by Constantine, 420 ; her sarcophagus, 
 
 Constantia, eldest daughter of Constantine 
 the Great, i, 413. 
 
 Constantia Postuma, daughter of Constantius, 
 i, 474 ; married to Gratian, 519. 
 
 Constantian, general of Justinian, ii, 237. 
 
 Constantina, second daughter of Constantine 
 the Great, i, 413 ; married to her coxisin 
 Hannibalianus, 457 ; granted by Constan- 
 tine title of Atigiista, 457 ; crowns the 
 general Vetranio, 457 ; married to Gallus, 
 457 ; character, 459 ; death, 459. 
 
 Constantina, daughter of Tiberius II, ii, 339 ; 
 married to the emperor Maurice, 339 ; 
 magnificent dress and remarkable crown, 
 339 ; bears the first of her six sons, 340 ; 
 imprisoned with her three daughters by 
 Phocas, 376 ; escapes to the cathedral of 
 St. Sophia, 394 ; tortured and slain, 394. 
 
 Constantine the Great, born at Naissus, i, 
 369 ; detained at court of Diocletian, 369 ; 
 wins distinction in Egypt and Persia, 369 ; 
 marries Miner vina, 369 ; appearance and 
 mental qualities, 369 ; excites jealousy of 
 Galerius, 370 ; rapid journey to join hia 
 father, 370 ; becomes Caesar of Gaul, 
 Spain, and Britain, 370 ; defeats the 
 Franks, 371 ; makes alliance with Maxi- 
 mian and marries his daughter, 371 ; gives 
 an asylum to Maximian, 372 ; owing to 
 latter's treachery forces him to commit 
 suicide, 372 ; starts from Gaul to oppose 
 Maxentius, 373 ; crosses the Alps, 374 ; 
 wins battles of Susa, Turin, and Verona, 
 375 ; defeats Maxentius at Saxa Rubra, 
 
 376 ; declares Christianity the religion of 
 the State, 376 ; publishes Edict of Milan, 
 
 377 ; war declared against him by Licinius, 
 379 ; wins battles of Cibalae and Mardia, 
 379-380 ; becomes virtually supreme over 
 whole empire, 381 ; immense energy, 394 ; 
 succession of edicts showing a new spirit, 
 395 ; introduces a high imperial ideal, 397 ; 
 assembles Council of Aries, 398 ; campaign 
 against Sarmatian Goths, 399 ; again 
 attacked by Licinius, 400 ; wins battles of 
 Hadrianople and Chrysopolis, 401 ; upon 
 Licinius again conspiring causes him to be 
 executed, 401 ; increases military strength 
 of the empire, 404 ; his six principal achieve- 
 ments, 405 ; settles future relations be- 
 tween Church and State, 406 ; assembles 
 First General Council, 407 ; visit to Rome, 
 414 ; gift to Bishop of Rome of the Lateran 
 palace, 415 ; mysterious tragedy of his 
 putting to death his son Crispus, his nephew 
 Licinianus, and his wife Fausta, 416 ; gives 
 his mother Helena title of Augusta, 418; 
 builds church of Sta. Croce and chapel of 
 the Scala Santa, 419 ; foimds his capital 
 of " New Rome," 421 ; separates the three 
 chief functions of government, 426 ; re- 
 organizes civil administration of the empire, 
 426 ; reorganizes the army on new principles, 
 427 ; inflicts crushing defeat upon the 
 Goths, 429 ; patronage of literature, 430 ; 
 builds at Rome church of St. Peter and 
 churches to the memory of St. Lawrence, 
 St. Sebastian, and St. Agnes, 431-432 ; 
 builds church at Thessalonica to the memory 
 of St. George, 432 ; significance of the four 
 churches built by him to the memory of 
 martyrs, 433-435 ; Baths and BasiUca 
 built by him at Rome, 436-436 ; removes 
 from Thebes the great Egyptian obelisk, 
 437 ; inscriptions upon it, 438 ; light 
 thereby thrown upon this action, 438 ; 
 adopts opinions of Arius, 439 ; celebrates 
 
636 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 637 
 
 dedication of church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 441 ; prepares to march against Sapor II, 
 441 ; taken ill, 441 ; baptized by Eusebius, 
 Arian Bishop of Nicomedia, 441 ; death, 
 441 ; imposing funeral, 442 ; buried in 
 church of the Twelve Apostles, 442 ; 
 honoured with Pagan rites at Rome at same 
 time that he was being buried with Christian 
 rites at Constantinople, 442 ; character 
 has not received justice owing to being 
 estimated chiefly from the religious point 
 of view, 442-446 ; surpassed all who had 
 preceded him, 447 ; mainly deserves honour 
 for achievements which no other emperor 
 displays ability to produce, 448 ; greatest 
 of the Roman emperors, 449. 
 
 Constantine II, emperor, second son of Con- 
 stantine the Great, birth, i, 399 ; given rule 
 of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, 440 ; treats 
 Athanasius with honour, 440 ; obtains 
 rule of the western portion of the empire, 
 452 ; makes an attack upon Constans, 452 ; 
 killed, 452. 
 
 Constantine III, emperor, eldest son of Hera- 
 clius, ii, 443 ; commands army sent to 
 recover Syria, 444 ; defeated at battle 
 of Emesa, 444 ; becomes emperor, 466 ; 
 death, 457. 
 
 Constantine IV, eldest son of Constans II, 
 becomes emperor, ii, 488 ; called " Pogone- 
 tos," 488 ; keeps his two brothers in con- 
 finement, 489 ; successfully defends Con- 
 stantinople during a five years' siege, 493 ; 
 by his victory paralyzes the Saracens, 494 ; 
 Khalif pays him an annual tribute, 495 ; 
 receives congratulations from nations of 
 the West, 495 ; leads expedition against 
 the Bulgarians, 498 ; defeated owing to 
 illness, 498 ; assembles Sixth General 
 Council, 501 ; degrades his two brothers, 
 607 ; captures Kairowan, 509 ; gains suc- 
 cesses over Saracens in Asia ^Nlinor, 509 ; 
 death, 510 ; mosaic picture of him at Ra- 
 venna, 510. 
 
 Constantine, son of Leo III, takes part with 
 his father in battle of Acroinon, ii, 682. 
 
 Constantine, usurper in Britain, carries off 
 the two remaining legions to Gaul, ii, 36 ; 
 defeated by the imperial general Sarus, 35 ; 
 establishes himself at Aries, 36 ; captured 
 and put to death, 58. 
 
 Constantine, general under Belisarius, put to 
 death, ii, 230. 
 
 Constantine, Baths of, at Rome, i, 435 ; exist- 
 ing remains, 435 ; group of the Horse 
 Tamers belonging to them, 436. 
 
 Constantine, Btksilica of, at Rome, i, 436 ; 
 great span of its arches, 436 ; have served 
 as a model to modern times, 430. 
 
 Constantine, capital of the third section of the 
 province of JNorth Africa, ii, 213 ; its inter- 
 esting Roman remains, 611. 
 
 Constantinople, founded as " New Rome," 
 on site of Byzantium, i, 420 ; inauguration 
 ceremony, 421 ; principal buildings, 421- 
 423 ; its walls, reservoirs, and aqueducts, 
 424 ; great beauty, 425 ; life in during 
 reign of Justinian, ii, 288 ; besieged by 
 the Persians and Avars combined, 418; 
 becomes the fortress of Europe during many 
 centuries, 456 ; the sole storehouse of 
 literature, culture, and art, 466 ; besieged 
 a second time for five years by great Armada 
 despatched by the Khalif Muawiyah, 493 ; 
 attack repulsed, 495 ; besieged a third time 
 
 by powerful Armada despatched by the 
 Khalif Sulaiman, 650 ; repulse of the attack 
 destroys power of the Omeyyad dynasty 
 of khalifs, 552 ; enormous trade drawn 
 to this city, 686 ; social life therein durine 
 reign of Leo III, 588-591. ^ 
 
 Constantinople, Church of, becomes in 4th 
 century one of the five patriarchates, its 
 Metropolitan Bishop receiving title of Pope, 
 i, 537 ; immense number of dioceses in- 
 cluded in its patriarchate after transfer 
 to it of those of southern Italy, ii, 577. 
 
 Constantius, called Chlorus from his pale 
 complexion, i, 346 ; parentage and charac- 
 ter, 347 ; able rule over Dardania, 347 ; 
 made Caesar by Diocletian, 340 ; forced 
 to divorce his wife Helena and marry Max- 
 imian's step-daughter Theodosia, 346 ; 
 defeats the usurper Allectus and regains 
 Britain, 348 ; made Augustus in succession 
 to Maximian, 352 ; summons his son Con- 
 stantine to join him, 370 ; death at York 
 370 ; his family a remarkable one, 475. 
 
 Constantius, emperor, third son of Constantine 
 the Great, i, 413 ; forced by the army to 
 agree to the massacre of his step-uncles 
 and their sons, 461 ; allotted cxxXe of eastern 
 portion of empire, 452 ; opposes Sapor II, 
 452 ; defeats him at Hileia, 452 ; perse- 
 cutes Athanasius, 453 ; forced by Constans 
 to restore him to his see, 464 ; upon death 
 of Constans becomes sole ruler of the 
 empire, 455 ; favourite son of his father, 
 455 ; high sense of duty to the empire, 
 
 465 ; awe-inspiring majesty, 456 ; main 
 interest assistance to Arianism, 456 ; 
 though bigoted and suspicious, possessed 
 certain qualities commanding respect, 456 ; 
 marches against Vetranio, 457 ; gives his 
 cousin Gallus rule of the east, 457 ; opposes 
 Magnentius, 457 ; defeats him at battle 
 of Jklursa, 458 ; takes possession of Milan, 
 468 ; married to Eusebia, 458 ; sends 
 officer to report upon misrule of Gallus, 
 459 ; puts Gallus to death, 459 ; under 
 dominion of Arian party persecutes the 
 Catholics, 400 ; sends a force to seize Athan- 
 asius, 461 ; summons his cousin Julian 
 to Milan and keeps him a prisoner, 403 ; 
 at intercession of Eusebia gives him rank 
 of Caesar and sends him to govern Gaul, 
 
 466 ; refuses to listen to calumnies against 
 him, 468 ; visits Rome, 408 ; defeats Suevi, 
 Sarmatians, and Quadi, 469 ; refuses re- 
 quest of Julian for rank of A ugustus, 470 ; 
 again marches to oppose the Persians, 470 ; 
 marries Faustina, 471 ; refuses to withdraw 
 troops from defence of the eastern frontier 
 to support his personal quarrel, 473 ; 
 learns of Julian's capture of Sirmium, 473 ; 
 marches to oppose him, 473 ; conceals his 
 mental distress, 474 ; taken ill at Tarsus 
 and dies at Mopsuene, 474. 
 
 Constantius, general, ii, 68 ; defeats Hera- 
 clian, 69 ; escorts Galla Placidia to Italy, 
 63 ; forces Honorius to agree to his marry- 
 ing her, 66 ; raised by Honorius to rank 
 of Augustus, 67 ; death, 67. 
 
 Constitution of the Church, The, i, 608-609. 
 
 Corbulo, general, reconquers Armenia, i, 147 ; 
 put to death by Nero, 147. 
 
 Cornelia Salonina, empress, wife of Gallienus, 
 i, 333. 
 
 Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, martyred in Sixth 
 persecution, i, 321. 
 
 Coronation, The, of an emperor in Later 
 
 Roman Empire, ii, 398. 
 Cosmas, heads insurrection against Leo III, 
 ii, 660 ; attacks Constantinople, 660 ; 
 defeated and beheaded, 660. 
 Costanza, St., Church of, at Rome, originally 
 the mausoleum of Constantino's sister 
 Constantia, i, 420 ; its remarkable 4th 
 century mosaics, 420. 
 Country house of a nobleman in 4th century. 
 
 Mosaic picture of, ii, 82. 
 Country fife in 4th century. Mosaic picture of, 
 
 ii, 83. 
 Court, Splendour of the, of Later Roman 
 
 Empire in 8th century, ii, 689. 
 Crecentia, girl martyred at Rome in Second 
 
 persecution, i, 196. 
 Crescent and star. Device of the, its origin, i, 
 
 424. 
 Crispin, St., martyred at Soissons in Tenth 
 
 persecution, i, 360. 
 Crispina, empress, daughter of Brittius 
 Praesens, i, 276 ; married to Commodus 
 and accompanies him to Pannonia, 276 ; 
 forced by him to witness shameless scenes, 
 276 ; accused of immorality and put to 
 death, 277. 
 Crispina, girl martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 Crispus, eldest son of Constantine the Great, 
 birth, i, 370 ; given rank of Caesar and 
 rule of Gaul, 399 ; gains much credit, 399 ; 
 greatly assists Constantine in the struggle 
 with Licinius, 401 ; demands title of 
 Augustus, 413 ; kept a prisoner at the court, 
 413 ; mysteriously put to death, 416. 
 Croce, Sta., in Gerusalemme, Church of, in 
 
 Rome, i, 419. 
 Ctesiphon, captured by Trajan, i, 219 ; by 
 Cams, 343 ; captured and destroyed by 
 the Mahomedans, ii, 450. 
 Cuirassiers {Cataphracti), how armed, ii, 
 
 205. 
 Cimimund, king of the Gepidae, ii, 326 ; his 
 daughter Rosamund carried off by Alboin, 
 325 ; makes war upon the Lombards, 325 ; 
 defeated and killed, 326 ; his skull made 
 iiito a drinking cup by Alboin, 326. 
 Curiales, hereditary members of civic corpora- 
 tions, ii, 83 ; the laws making them respon- 
 sible for the municipal taxes most crushing 
 to this class, 83 ; the system abolished by 
 Anastasius I, 161. 
 Cyprianus, Thascius Caecilius (St. Cyprian), 
 wealthy tee^cher of rhetoric at Carthage, i, 
 327 ; agreeable disposition, 327 ; con- 
 verted to Christianity, 327 ; chosen Bishop 
 of Carthage, 327 ; becomes leading Bishop 
 of the Church in 3rd century, 327 ; becomes 
 a tower of strength to the whole Church 
 during the Sixth persecution, 328 ; conduct 
 during the plague, 328 ; controversy with 
 Stephen, Bishop of Rome, 329 ; martyred 
 in Seventh persecution, 329. 
 Cjrprian, Reporter to the High Court of 
 Justice under Theodoric, ii, 174 ; accuses 
 Albinus and Boethius of seditious conduct, 
 174 ; integrity and high character, 174. 
 Cjrril, Pope of Alexandria, causes riot by 
 seeking to expel the Jews, ii, 66 ; indirectly 
 responsible for cruel murder of Hypatia, 66. 
 Cyrus, minister of Theodosius II, ii, 87. 
 Cyrus, last Pope of Alexandria, adopts the 
 Monothelite heresy, ii, 447 ; pronounced 
 a heretic by Sixth General Council, 504. 
 
 Daoobbtrt I, son of Chlotochar II, ii, 432. 
 
 Damascus, made by the Khalif Muawiyah 
 the capital of the Mahomedan power in 
 place of Medina, ii, 473. 
 
 Damasus, ■Metropolitan Bishop of Rome in 
 time of Valentinian I and Gratian, i, 511 ; 
 mediocre abilities, 611 ; first Bishop of 
 Rome to be given new title of Pope, 537 ; 
 endeavours to contest decree of Second 
 General Council as to its grounds for making 
 Rome one of the five patriarchal sees, 637- 
 538 ; his arguments treated with contempt, 
 538 ; death, 565 ; his tomb in the Cata- 
 combs, 511. 
 
 Damia, prophetess-queen of the Moors, ii, 
 619; wrongly named " Cahina," 619; 
 wins victory over the Saracens, 620 ; again 
 fights with them at Thysdrus, 632 ; killed. 
 
 Daphne, Grove of, at Antioch, i, 116 ; famed 
 for its licentious excesses, 116; visit to it 
 of emperor Julian to celebrate a festival, 
 480 ; finds it entirely deserted, 480. 
 
 Dardania, new province cut out of :\Ioesia 
 by Aurelian, i, 335 ; Roman inhabitants of 
 Dacia transported thither, 336. 
 
 Daria, one of the six Vestal Virgins, i, 326 ; 
 converted to Christianity, 326 ; martyred 
 in Seventh persecution, 326. 
 
 Dastagherd, great palace of Chosroes II, 
 ii, 410 ; description of, 410 ; its destruc- 
 tion by Heraclius, 421. 
 
 Dates for fifty years of 8th centm-y wrong 
 by a year, ii, 591. 
 
 Datius, Archbishop of Milan, ii, 307 ; refuses 
 to concur with emperor Justinian's edict 
 condemning the " Three Chapters," 307. 
 
 Daughters of an emperor who had sons pro- 
 hibited from marriage, ii, 507. 
 
 David of Menevia, builds a church at shrine 
 of Avallon, ii, 616. 
 
 David, third surviving son of the emperor 
 Heraclius, ii, 452 ; given equal right to the 
 throne with his brother, 456 ; mutilated 
 and banished, 467. 
 
 Decebalus, king of Dacia, i, 189 ; ignominious 
 peace with him made by Domitian, 189 ; 
 defeated by Trajan, 213; again defeated 
 and commits suicide, 214. 
 
 Decius, emperor, reign begun with much 
 splendour, i, 316 ; magnifies his office of 
 Pontifex Maximus, 317 ; revives office of 
 Censor of morals, 317 ; is attacked by 
 the Goths, 317 ; sends Gallus to oppose 
 them, 317 ; issues edict for general slaughter 
 of the Christians, 318 ; personally conducts 
 the persecution, 321 ; forced to proceed 
 in person to oppose the Goths, 318 ; suffers 
 a defeat, 318 ; again advances against them, 
 318 ; whole army destroyed and Decius 
 kUled, 319. 
 
 Defence of ChristianUy sent to Antoninus 
 Pius by Justin Martyr, i, 243 ; its three 
 parts, 243 ; second Defence of Chris- 
 tianity sent to Marcus Aurelius, 257. 
 Defensors appointed by Valentinian I for 
 
 protection of the people, i, 506. 
 Definition of the Catholic faith drawn up 
 by Fourth General Council, and embodied 
 in the Athanasian Creed, ii, 104. 
 Deification of the emperors, i, 182. 
 Delators (informers), original use of by 
 Augustus, i, 57 ; increased use by Tiberius, 
 67 ; their use checked by him, 57 ; abuses 
 created by them, 72 ; much employed 
 
 Ii 
 
 * 
 
638 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 
 by Domitian, 190 ; trade exemplified, 
 190 ; put down by Trajan, 223 ; denounced 
 by Hadrian, 236 ; ordered by Marcus Aure- 
 lius to be employed, and substantial 
 rewards promised to them, 259. 
 
 Delmatius, half-brother of Constantino the 
 Great, i, 413. 
 
 Delmatius, nephew of Constantine the Great, 
 i, 450 ; by latter's will given rule of Moesia, 
 Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, 450 ; slain 
 in massacre of collateral branch, 451. 
 
 Delphi, Ancient Column of, set up in Con- 
 stantinople, i, 422 ; its long history, 422. 
 
 Demetrius, martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 
 Demophilus, Arian Archbishop of Constanti- 
 nople, made to resign his office, i, 535. 
 
 Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage, ii, 121 ; 
 mitigates sufferings of Roman captives 
 carried off by the Vandals, 121 ; death, 121. 
 
 Deuterius, friend of Stilicho, beaten to death 
 by Olympius, ii, 42. 
 
 Deutsch, derivation of the name, ii, 171. 
 
 Diadem, Wearing of the, by emperors adopted, 
 i, 349. 
 
 Diana, Temple of, at Ephesus, destroyed, i, 
 
 Diana and Apollo, Temples of, in London, ii, 
 432. 
 
 Digna, her suicide to escape the Huns, ii, 112. 
 
 Diocletian, emperor, conduct upon death of 
 Numerian, i, 344 ; acclaimed emperor, 
 344 ; victory over Carinus, 344 ; birth and 
 character, 345 ; subdivides empire into 
 four parts, 347 ; establishes the four capitals 
 of Treves, Milan, Sirmium, and Nicomedia, 
 347 ; subdues Egypt, 348 ; gains Meso- 
 potamia and five districts beyond the 
 Tigris from Persia, 348 ; restores empire 
 to highest prosperity, 349 ; becomes 
 sole legal authority, 349 ; adopts wearing 
 of the diadem and imperial robes, 349 ; 
 reduces Senate of Rome to oblivion, 349 ; 
 celebrates triumph at Rome, 351 ; pub- 
 lishes edict for general slaughter of Chris- 
 tians, 361 ; abdicates, 362 ; his Baths at 
 Rome, 363 ; great palace at Spalatro, 3f S ; 
 death, 378 ; burial, 379. 
 
 Dion Cassius, writer of 2nd century, i, 262 ; 
 history and writings, 272. 
 
 Dioscurus, Pope of Alexandria, ii, 90 ; con- 
 duct at the " Latrocinium," 90 ; condemned 
 for his crimes, and banished, 103. 
 
 Disabul, Khan of the Turks, embassy to 
 Justin II, ii, 326. 
 
 Distances by main road from Gaul to Meso- 
 potamia, i, 611. 
 
 Divine honours to emperors, i, 41. 
 
 Divorce imder Roman Empire, frequency 
 and brief procedure necessary, i, 23. 
 
 Docetoe, Sect of the, i, 186. 
 
 Domestics, The, i.e. Household Troops, see 
 Guards. 
 
 Domitia Lepida, grand-daughter of Augustus' 
 sister Octa via, and mother of Valeria Messa- 
 lina, i, 103 ; murdered by Agrippina, 114. 
 
 Domitia Longina, empress, taken from her 
 husband by Domitian, i, 187 ; erects monu- 
 ment to her father Corbulo, 187 ; unhappy 
 life, 187 ; divorced, but reinstated owing 
 to indignation of the people, 189. 
 
 Domitian, emperor, character, i, 187 ; adoma 
 Temple of Jupiter, 187 ; cruelty to the 
 Vestal Virgins, 188 ; recalls Agricola from 
 Britain, 188 ; ignominious peace with 
 
 639 
 
 Dacians, 189 ; detestation felt for him 
 189; re-establishes the "Terror," 190;* 
 carries out Second persecution, 191 ; ruth- 
 less murders, 192; assassinated, 192; 
 chief building the Flavian Palace, 193. 
 
 Domitian, officer sent by Constantius to 
 report on misrule of Gallus, i, 459. 
 
 Domitilla, see Flavia Domitilla. 
 
 Donatists, The, i, 398 ; decision of Coimcil 
 of Aries regarding them, 398 ; subsequent 
 history, 399. 
 
 Drusilla, sister of Caligula, forced to marry 
 him, i, 87. 
 
 Drusus ( 1 ), younger son of Livia, i, 32 ; popu- 
 larity, 32 ; married to Antonia, 32 ; cam- 
 paigns in Germany, 12 ; death, 12 
 
 Drusus (2), son of Tiberius, birth, i, 48; 
 capacity, 60 ; sent to Rhine frontier in 
 place of Germanicus, 63 ; married to Livilla, 
 66 ; associated by Tiberius with himself, 
 66 ; poisoned, 67. 
 
 Drusus (3), son of Germanicus and Agrippina, 
 66 ; honours obtained for him by Tiberius, 
 66 ; led by Sejanus to conspire against 
 Tiberius, 67 ; tried by Senate and im- 
 prisoned, 69 ; starves himself to death, 71. 
 
 DjTiasty of Heraclius, Character of, ii, 525. 
 
 Eadbald, king of Kent, renounces Christian- 
 ity, ii, 433. 
 
 Eanfled, daughter of Edwin and Ethelburga, 
 married to Oswy, ii, 466. 
 
 Ebionites, Sect of the, i, 186. 
 
 Echthesis, The, Edict published by Heraclius. 
 ii, 448. 
 
 Ecloga, The, Code of the Roman law drawn 
 up for first time in Greek, ii, 582 ; preamble, 
 582 ; its three subsidiary codes, 582-584 ; 
 special importance of this Code, 584 ; 
 demonstrates superiority of the empire 
 over all contemporary nations, 584. 
 
 Edict of Milan, The, i, 377 ; its terms, 385. 
 
 Edwin, Anglian king of Northumbria, ii, 433 ; 
 becomes Bretwalda of Britain, 433 ; accepts 
 Christianity, 433 ; his wooden church at 
 York, 433 ; killed by Penda, Icing of Mercia, 
 434. 
 
 Egbert, king of Kent, unites with Oswy, 
 king of Northumbria, in obtaining Theodore 
 of Tarsus as Archbishop for Britain, ii, 487. 
 
 Egferth, king of Northumbria, attacks Mercia, 
 Cimibria, and the Scots, 516 ; killed at 
 battle of Nechtansmere, 615. 
 
 Egypt, Conquest of, by the Mahomedans, ii, 
 451. 
 
 Elagabalus, emperor, proper name Bassianua 
 Varius Avitus, i, 306 ; made high priest of 
 the Sjrrian sun-god Elagabalus and takes 
 that name, 306 ; marches against Macrinua 
 and defeats him, 305 ; declared by his 
 grandmother Julia Maesa to be a son of 
 Caracalla, 306 ; extraordinary entry into 
 Rome, 306 ; profligacy, 306 ; attempts 
 to murder his cousin Alexander Severus, 
 306 ; killed in an insurrection, 306. 
 Elephants, Train of, brought into the field 
 by Sapor II, i, 484 ; danger of use in battle 
 unless highly trained, 490. 
 Eleusis, Mysteries of, i, 466. 
 Emesa, Battle of, ii, 444. 
 Emirs, or viceroys, appointed by the Khalifa, 
 ii, 549. ' 
 
 Emperor, Title of, i, 9 ; technical position of, 
 9 ; becomes sole legal authority, 349. 
 
 Emperor crowned by an ecclesiastical author- 
 ity. First instance of, ii, 123. 
 Emperors of first four centuries. General 
 
 character of, i, 573. 
 Emperors from 395 to 740, High general 
 
 character of, ii, 593. 
 England, see Britain. 
 England, origin of the name, ii, 293. 
 English missions to Germany, ii, 571. 
 Enlistment of Roman army not confined 
 in Trajan's time to men born in Italy, i, 214 ; 
 Constantino's policy of enlisting men of 
 northern races a sound one, 400 ; import- 
 ance from a political point of view of allow- 
 ing all races included in the empire to con- 
 tribute a portion of the military strength, 
 569 ; opposition to that policy in time of 
 Honorius, ii, 61. 
 Epicharis, her brave conduct when tortured 
 
 by Nero, i, 143. 
 Epicurean philosophy. The, i, 38. 
 Epiphania, wife of Heraclius the elder, im- 
 prisoned by Phocas, ii, 396. 
 Equestrian Order, Procession of knights of 
 the, on anniversary of battle of Lake 
 Regillus, i, 414. 
 Erastus, appointed Bishop of Corinth by St. 
 
 Paul, i, 170. 
 Ethelburga, wife of Edwin, king of Northum- 
 bria, ii, 433 ; induces him to accept Chris- 
 tianity, 433 ; forced to fly with her children 
 to Kent, 434. 
 Ethelburh, wife of Ina, king of Wessex, ii, 
 573 ; persuades him to resign his crown, 
 573 ; death, 574. 
 Eucherius, son of Stilicho, ii, 38 ; put to 
 
 death by Olympius, 42. 
 Eudo, duke of Aquitaine, forced by Charles 
 Martel to return to his allegiance, ii, 567 ; 
 defeats the Saracens, 667 ; defeated by 
 Abdul Rahman, 668. 
 Eudocia (Athenais), empress, daughter of 
 Athenian sophist Leontius, ii, 67 ; chosen 
 by Pulcheria as wife for Theodosius II, 67 ; 
 baptized and takes name of Eudocia, 67 ; 
 married to Theodosius, 67 ; literary ability, 
 67 ; writes poem celebrating victory over 
 the Persians, 68 ; retires from the court, 
 87 ; oration to the Senate of Antioch, 87 ; 
 her writings, 87. 
 Eudocia, empress, betrothed to Heraclius, ii, 
 396 ; imprisoned by Phocas, 396 ; liberated 
 by Heraclius, 398 ; marriage to him, 398 ; 
 birth of her two children, 403 ; death, 403. 
 Eudoxia, empress, daughter of Coimt Bauto, 
 ii, 11; marriage to Arcadius, 12; char- 
 acter, 14 ; gives birth to a daughter, 14 ; 
 picture of her walking in a procession, 15 ; 
 gives birth to a second daughter, 16 ; 
 insolently treated by Eutropius, 16 ; ap- 
 peals to Arcadius, 16 ; shares with Galnas 
 Bway over Arcadius, 27 ; gives birth to a 
 third daughter, 27 ; conflict with Gainas, 
 27 ; becomes sole power in the State, 27 ; 
 description by Mark the Deacon of their 
 reception by her, 27 ; birth of her son, 27 ; 
 attacked by Chrysostom for the luxury 
 of the court, 29 ; his unmeasured language 
 against her, 30 ; makes Arcadius banish 
 him, 30 ; relents and recalls him, 31 ; silver 
 statue erected in her honour, 31 ; violent 
 sermon by Chrysostom against her, 31 ; 
 banishes him a second time, 31 ; death, 31 ; 
 grief of Arcadius at her loss, 31. 
 Eudoxia, empress,' daughter of Theodosius II, 
 
 married to Valentinian III, ii, 86 ; cruelly 
 treated by Maximus, 120 ; carried off a 
 captive by the Vandals, 121 ; ransomed by 
 the emperor Leo I, 123. 
 
 Eudoxia, daughter of Valentinian III, carried 
 off a captive by the Vandals, ii, 121 ; forced 
 to marry Gaiseric's son Himeric, 122. 
 
 Eugenia, daughter of the Proconsul of Egypt, 
 martyred at Alexandria in Fifth persecu- 
 tion, i, 294. 
 
 Eugenius, puppet emperor set up by Arbo- 
 gast, i, 668 ; death, 671. 
 
 Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, ii, 385 ; corre- 
 spondence with Gregory the Great, 386; 
 killed in the insurrection against Phocas, 
 395. 
 
 Euphemia, St., young Greek lady martyred 
 at Chalcedon in Tenth persecution, i, 383 ; 
 high honour given her by eastern part of 
 the Church, 383 ; church to her memory 
 at Chalcedon, ii, 103. 
 
 Euphemia, empress, wife of Justin I, ii, 192 ; 
 opposes her nephew Justinian's proposal 
 to marry Theodora, 192 ; death, 192. 
 
 Euraric, chosen king by the Ostrogoths, ii, 
 256 ; slain, 256. 6 » » 
 
 Euric, king of the Visigoths, ii, 126 ; capable 
 rule, 126 ; code of laws, 126 ; seizes Aries, 
 126; death, 126. 
 
 Eusebia, empress, second wife of Constantius, 
 i, 458 ; agreeable character and high ability, 
 463 ; intercedes for Julian, 463 ; persuades 
 Constantius to give him rank of Caesar, 
 466 ; supports him against calumnious 
 enemies, 468 ; death, 469. 
 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, present at 
 First General Council, i, 408 ; subsequently 
 adopts the Arian opinions, 439 ; gains 
 strong influence over Constantine, 439 ; 
 baptizes him, 441. 
 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, i, 
 383 ; account of some of the terrible cruel- 
 ties in the Tenth persecution, 383 ; des- 
 cription of the new church at Tyre, 394 ; 
 present at First General Council, 408 ; 
 description of Constantine's appearance 
 and manner of opening the proceedings, 
 409 ; warning to the princess Constantia 
 against superstition, 418 ; description 
 of the church of the Twelve Apostles built 
 by Constantine at Constantinople, 423 ; 
 account of the burial there of Constantine, 
 442 ; chief writings, 588. 
 
 Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, banished by 
 
 Constantine, i, 440. 
 Eutharic, descendant of the great Gothic 
 king Hermanric, married to youngest 
 daughter of Theodoric the Great, ii, 172. 
 Eutropia, half-sister of Constantine the Great, 
 married to Nepotianus, i, 413; put to 
 death with her son by the usurper Magnen- 
 tius, 464. 
 
 Eutropius, father of Constantius Chlorus, i, 
 347. 
 
 Eutropius, historian, put to death by Valens. 
 i, 627. 
 
 Eutropius, minister of Arcadius, brings about 
 his marriage to Eudoxia, ii, 11 ; forces her 
 to obtain for him titles and wealth, 15 ; 
 insolent arrogance and tyranny, 16 ; put 
 to death, 16. •> f 
 
 Eutyches, propounds a new heresy, ii, 89; 
 triumphs at the " Latrocinium," 90 ; vio- 
 lence of his party, 91 ; his doctrines con- 
 demned by Fourth General Council, 104. 
 
 f 
 
640 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 641 
 
 Nl 
 
 N 
 
 I "i 
 
 Eutychian heresy. The, ii, 89; called also 
 
 Monophysite, 104. 
 Eutychianus, Bi.shop of Rome, martyred in 
 
 Ninth persecution, i, 342. 
 Ewald, name of two English missionaries to 
 
 Germany, ii, 571 ; both killed at Cologne, 
 
 571. 
 Exarch, Title of, adopted instead of Prefect, 
 
 ii, 356. 
 Excubitors, The, highest class in the Imperial 
 
 Bodyguard, ii, 240 ; Hall of, in the Imperial 
 
 palace, 240. 
 
 Fabian, St., Bishop of Rome, first martyr in 
 Sixth persecution, i, 321 ; his tomb in the 
 Catacombs, 321. 
 
 Faith, St., a girl of eleven martyred at Agen 
 in Gaul in Tenth persecution, i, 360. 
 
 Family of the Tent, last descendants of 
 the household of the Prophet, all killed in 
 the slaughter at Kerbela, ii, 501. 
 
 Farwald I, Lombard duke of Spoleto, cap- 
 tures Classis, ii, 332. 
 
 Farwald II, Lombard duke of Spoleto, cap- 
 tures Classis, but forced to restore it, ii, 563. 
 
 Fatima, only child of Mahomed, ii, 436 ; 
 married to Ali, 436. 
 
 Fausta, empress, daughter of Maximian, mar- 
 ried to Constantino the Great, i, 37 1 ; saves 
 Constantino's life, 372 ; left at Vienne 
 when he invaded Italy, 374 ; her first child 
 born, 399 ; her six children, 413 ; accom- 
 panies Constantino to Rome, 414 ; joins 
 with him in presenting her palace the 
 Lateran to the Bishop of Rome, 416 ; her 
 mysterious death, 416. 
 
 Faustina the elder, empress, wife of Antoninus 
 Pius, i, 240 ; want of ground for the accus- 
 ation made against her character, 241 ; 
 death two years after her husband became 
 emperor, 241 ; institution for orphan girls 
 founded to her memory, 241 ; temple 
 erected in her honour the only one ever 
 erected in Rome to a woman, 241. 
 
 Faustina the younger, empress, daughter of 
 Antoninus Piiis, i, 247 ; married to Marcus 
 Aurelius, 247 ; the accusations made 200 
 years later against her character, 252 ; not 
 supported by Dion Cassius, the only con- 
 temporary writer, 252 ; her advice relied 
 upon by Marcus Aurelius, 263 ; accom- 
 panies him on his campaigns, 253 ; loses 
 all but two of her eleven children, 253 ; 
 her letter regarding the revolt of Avidius 
 Cassius, 253 ; becomes ill on the voyage 
 to Syria, 264 ; death, 254 ; honours paid 
 to her memory by Marcus Aurelius, 254. 
 
 Faustina, empress, third wife of Constantius, 
 i, 471. 
 
 FaustuB, St., martyred at Rome in First per- 
 secution, i, 167. 
 
 Felicitas, slave-girl martyred at Carthage in 
 Fifth persecution, i, 299. 
 
 Felix, brother of the freedman Pallas, made 
 Procurator of Judaea by Claudius, i, 102. 
 
 Felix, minister of Galla Placidia, ii, 71 ; by 
 treachery causes Boniface to revolt, 71 ; 
 death, 72. 
 
 Felix, Burgundian Bishop, converts East 
 Anglia, ii, 434 ; gives his name to Felix- 
 stowe, 434. 
 
 Felix, Archbishop of Ravenna, blinded by 
 Justinian II, ii, 624. 
 
 Feminism, attributed to the writers of the 
 6th century, ii, 69. 
 
 Festus, succeeds Felix as Procurator of 
 
 Judtea, i, 151. 
 Fiesole, siege and capture by Belisarius, ii, 
 
 Fifth General Council, ii, 309 ; condemns 
 doctrines of the "Three Chapters," 3l0; 
 excommimicates and deposes Vigilius. Pone 
 of Rome, 310. e » p 
 
 Filioque Clause, The, in the creed, adopted 
 by Synod of Toledo, ii, 353. 
 
 Firdah, Battle of, Persians defeated at, ii, 450. 
 
 Firmilian, Metropolitan of Caesarea, rebuke 
 to Stephen I, Bishop of Rome, for at- 
 tempt to dictate to Cyprian, Bishop of 
 Carthage, i, 329. 
 
 Firmus, Moorish prince. Rebellion of, against 
 Valentinian I, i, 504. 
 
 First General Council, Assembly of, i, 407 ; 
 Bishops composing it, 408 ; point debated] 
 
 410 ; procedure adopted, 410 ; decision, 
 
 411 ; draws up Nicene creed, 411 ; decides 
 various secondary matters, 412. 
 
 Flacilla, empress, first wife of Theodosius I. 
 
 i, 560. 
 Flamen Dialis, chief priest of Temple of 
 
 Jupiter, i, 40. 
 Flaminian Way, The, in time of Galla Placidia. 
 
 ii, 95. 
 Flavia Domitilla, wife of Vespasian, i, 178. 
 Flavia Domitilla, daughter of Vespasian, i, 178. 
 Flavia Domitilla, niece of Vespasian, ban- 
 
 ished by him for being a Christian, i, 201 ; 
 
 tomb in cemetery of Domitilla, 201. 
 Flavia Domitilla, niece of Domitian, ban- 
 ished by him, i, 192. 
 Flavian Amphitheatre, see Colosseum. 
 Flavian Palace, The, description of, i, 193. 
 Flavian, Pope of Antioch, rapid journey to 
 
 intercede for the people, i, 661 ; his success, 
 
 662. 
 
 Flavian, Pope of Constantinople, tries to 
 allay discord roiised by Eutyches, ii, 89; 
 disgracefully treated at the " Latrocinium," 
 90 ; death, 90. 
 
 Flavins Clemens, put to death by Domitian, 
 i, 192. 
 
 Fleets on Rhine and Danube maintained by 
 Constantino, i, 404. 
 
 Florianus, brother of the emperor Tacitus, i, 
 339. 
 
 Folcmote, The, Council of the Ostrogothic 
 nation, ii, 166. 
 
 Forged Decretals, The, ii, 678. 
 
 Forged documents relating to banishment of 
 Chrysostom, ii, 37. 
 
 Forged "Donation of Constantino," The, ii, 
 578. 
 
 Forgeries in letter of Cyprian to Stephen, ii, 
 577. 
 
 Fortified cities of North Africa, ii, 491 ; list 
 of those taken in succession by Musa, 633- 
 536. 
 
 Forts, Line of from the Forth to the Clyde, i, 
 186. 
 
 Forts along frontier maintained by Constan- 
 tino, i, 404 ; great line of fortresses built 
 by Valentinian I, 502 ; vast scheme of 
 fortifications constructed by Justinian, ii, 
 242. 
 
 Forum of Augustus, i, 15 ; of Vespasian, 179 ; 
 of Nerva, 202; of Trajan, 216; of Con- 
 stantino in Constantinople, 421. 
 
 Fourth General Coimcil, ii, 103 ; largest of 
 all the General Councils 103 ; sat in 
 church of St. Euphemia at Chalcedon, 103 ; 
 
 condemns proceedings at the "Latro- 
 cinium," 103 ; deposes Dioscurus, Pope 
 of Alexandria, 103 ; decides doctrine taught 
 by Eutyches to be a heresy, 104 ; draws 
 up definition of the Catholic faith, 104 ; 
 its definition incorporated in the Athan- 
 asian creed, 104. 
 Franks, The, origin of their name, i, 14 ; in 
 reign of Valerian cross the Rhine and 
 devastate Gaul, 323 ; defeated and driven 
 out by Aurelian, 336 ; again ravage Gaul, 
 340 ; thoroughly subdued by Probus, 340 ; 
 invade Gaul and capture Treves, 371 ; 
 defeated with great slaughter by Constan- 
 tino and their two kings torn to pieces by 
 lions in amphitheatre of Treves, 371 ; 
 again severely defeated by Constantino, 378; 
 invited to oppose Magnentius, and take 
 firm root in northern part of Gaul, 466 ; 
 defeated and driven out by Julian and pur- 
 sued into the interior of Germany, 467 ; 
 in the reign of Gratian again cross the 
 Rhine, 529 ; defeated and driven out by 
 him, 529 ; in the reign of Honorius, with 
 the Allemanni and Burgundians, seize the 
 northern half of Gaul, ii, 55 ; suffer terribly 
 from the invasion of the Huns, 100 ; assist 
 in the defeat of Attila, 101 ; securely occupy 
 northern Gaul, 154 ; divided into Salian 
 Franks and Ripuarian Franks, 154. 
 
 Frank kingdom. The, established by Clovis, 
 king of the Salian Franks, ii, 154 ; defeats 
 the Allemanni, 154 ; again defeats the 
 Allemanni, 156 ; defeats the Burgundians, 
 166 ; drives Allemanni into Rhsetia, 156 ; 
 defeats the Visigoths and takes Aquitaine 
 156 ; subdivision of the kingdom between 
 the four sons of Clovis, 289 ; Thuringia 
 conquered, 291 ; Bavaria conquered, 291 ; 
 whole kingdom reunited under Chlotochar I, 
 291 ; subdivision of the kingdom between 
 his four sons, 345 ; long struggle between 
 Austrasia and Neustria, 347 ; whole king- 
 dom reunited imder Chlotochar II, 432 ; 
 reign of Dagobert I, 432 ; succession of 
 puppet kings, 432 ; P6pin of Heristal 
 becomes virtual ruler of the kingdom, 514 ; 
 confusion upon his death, 566 ; Charles 
 Martel restores kingdom to order, 567 ; 
 defeats Saxons, Allemanni, and Frisians, 
 667 ; invasion of France by the Saracens, 
 567 ; defeated by Eudo of Aquitaine, 567 ; 
 again cross Pyrenees, 567 ; advance into 
 centre of France, 568 ; great battle of 
 Poictiers, 569 ; its permanent result, 570. 
 
 Fredegonda, murders Brunhilda's sister Gals- 
 wintha, ii, 346 ; marries Chilperic I, king 
 of Neustria, 347 ; her struggle with Brun- 
 hilda, queen of Austrasia, 347 ; death, 348. 
 
 Frigidus, Battle of the, Theodosius I vic- 
 torious over Arbogast, i, 571. 
 
 Frisians, The, defeated by Charles Martel, 
 ii, 567 ; kill English missionary Willibrord, 
 571 ; kill English missionary Boniface, 572. 
 
 Fritigil, queen of the Marcomanni, becomes a 
 Christian, ii, 13 ; sends to St. Ambrose to 
 ask for further instruction, 13 ; travels 
 from Bohemia to Milan in hope of seeing 
 him before he died, 13 ; grief at his death. 
 13. 
 
 Friuli, Raid upon by the Avars, ii, 424. 
 
 Fructuosus, Bishop of Tarragona, martyred 
 in Seventh persecution, i, 330. 
 
 Frumentarii, corps of messengers established 
 by Augustus, i, 14. 
 
 Gainas, commander of Ostrogoth contingent 
 accompanying Theodosius I, i, 569 ; placed 
 in command of the troops of the East, ii, 
 12 ; shares with the empress Eudoxia sway 
 over Arcadius, 27 ; substitutes Ostrogoths 
 for Roman troops in Constantinople, 27 ; 
 declared a public enemy, 27 ; defeated, 27 ; 
 killed, 27. 
 Gaiseric, Vandal king, invades North Africa, 
 ii, 72 ; conquers greater part of it, 73 ; 
 gains Hippo and Cirta, 79 ; takes Carthage, 
 completing his conquest, 79 ; takes Rome, 
 121 ; carries off all the Roman nobles to 
 Carthage, 121 ; death, 127. 
 Galba, declared emperor, i, 148 ; high reputa- 
 tion, 172 ; unpopular at Rome, 172 ; killed, 
 172. 
 Galerius, emperor, married to Diocletian's 
 daughter, i, 346 ; character, 346 ; defeat 
 in Mesopotamia, 348 ; achieves victory 
 over the Persians, 348 ; induces Diocletian 
 to publish edict of persecution of Christians, 
 351 ; succeeds Diocletian as Augttstus, 
 362 ; jealous of Constantino, 352 ; hatred 
 of Christianity, 357 ; practically rules three- 
 fourths of the empire, 368 ; attempts 
 against life of Constantino, 370 ; repulsed 
 by Maximian, 371 ; attacked by loathsome 
 disease, 372 ; abdication and death, 372. 
 Galilaeans, name given to Christians by 
 
 Julian, i, 478. 
 Galla, first wife of Julius Constantius, i, 464. 
 Galla, empress, daughter of Julius Constantius, 
 and first wife of emperor Constantius, i, 458. 
 Galla, empress, daughter of Valentinian I, 
 i, 513 ; married to Theodosius the Great, 
 563 ; urges him to avenge the murder of 
 her brother, 568 ; gives birth to a daughter, 
 669 ; death, 569. 
 Galla Placidia, empress, daughter of Theo- 
 dosius the Great, i, 569 ; contrast to her 
 half-brothers, ii, 57 ; captured by Alaric, 
 57 ; admired by Ataulf, 58 ; carried oif 
 into Gaul, 59 ; married to Ataulf at Nar- 
 bonne, 61 ; gives birth to a son, 62 ; in- 
 sulted by murderer of Ataulf, 62 ; restored 
 to the emperor, 63 ; married to the general 
 Constantius, 66 ; proceeds to Constanti- 
 nople, 67 ; defeats the usurper Joannes, 
 68 ; made regent, 68 ; forgives Boniface, 
 72 ; rebuilds churches of St. Laurence 
 and St. Paul at Rome, 94 ; splendid " tri- 
 umphal arch " erected by her, 94 ; builds 
 churches at Ravenna, 96 ; enactments for 
 better discipline of the clergy, 95 ; visits 
 to Rome, 96 ; death at Rome, 96 ; her 
 mausoleum at Ravenna, 97 ; her sarco- 
 phagus, 98 ; buried in it seated, 98 ; re- 
 mains thus seated for eleven centuries, 98. 
 Gallienus, emperor, assumes the throne, i, 
 331 ; character, 331 ; nineteen independent 
 kingdoms set up, 331 ; brings Goths to 
 capitulate, 333 ; defeats Aureolus, 333 ; 
 besieges Milan, 333 ; killed, 333. 
 Gallus, emperor, elected by the army on the 
 Danube on death of Decius, i, 332 ; pro- 
 ceeds to Rome, 322 ; revolt against him, 
 322 ; killed, 322. 
 Gallus, elder son of Julius Constantius, i, 461 ; 
 preserved in massacre of his relatives, 451 ; 
 sent to castle of Macellum, 467 ; given rule 
 of eastern provinces, 457 ; married to 
 Constantina, 457 ; his misrule, 459 ; rebels 
 against Constantius, 459 ; death, 459. 
 Galswintha, daughter of Athanagild, ii, 346 ; 
 
 / 
 
 liljl 
 
642 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 643 
 
 u i 
 
 married to Chilperic I, 346; murdered, 
 346. 
 
 Garibald, Frank duke of Bavaria, ii, 357. 
 Gelimer, king of the Vandals, ii, 204 ; defeat 
 
 by Belisarius, 207 ; again defeated, 210 ; 
 
 surrenders, 211 ; brought captive to Con- 
 
 stantinople, 212 ; given estate in Galicia, 
 
 212. 
 
 Gemara, The, sacred book of the Jews, i, 184. 
 
 General Councils, The supreme authority in 
 the Church, i, 538 ; decisions absolute, 638 ; 
 immense weight of authority, 538 ; only 
 assembled at long intervals, 539; special 
 interest for members of Church of England, 
 640 ; gave decisions upon other points 
 besides the main one upon which assembled, 
 640 ; need for assembly of such Councils, 
 ii, 74 ; what the six General Councils 
 effected, 606. 
 
 General persecution, Terrible character of a. 
 i, 260. 
 
 George, St., first martyr in Tenth persecution, 
 i, 360 ; history, and legend concerning him, 
 361 ; adopted as patron saint of England, 
 
 George, St., Church of, at Thessalonica, built 
 by Constantine, i, 432 ; belongs to class 
 called tholi, 432 ; remarkable mosaics, 432. 
 
 George of Cappadocia, i, 479. 
 
 George of Pisidia, friend of the emperor 
 Heraclius, ii, 402 ; his poem the HeracUad, 
 462. 
 
 Georgia kingdom of, adopts Christianity, i, 
 
 Georgios, Pope of Constantinople, presides 
 at Sixth General Council, ii, 504. 
 
 Gepidse, The, occupy Pannonia on its being 
 quitted by the Ostrogoths, ii, 150 ; oppose 
 march of Theodoric the Great, 150 ; incur- 
 sions into the empire, 294 ; Lombards 
 instigated to attack them, 294 ; destroyed 
 by the Lombards and Avars, 325 ; their 
 territories divided, 326. 
 
 Geraint, British king of Damnonia (Somerset), 
 ii, 516; defeated by Ina, king of Wessex, 
 and driven out of his capital, Taunton, 516. 
 
 Germanicus, elder son of Drusus and Antonia, 
 i, 56 ; sent to command on the Rhine, 60 ; 
 ill-advised proceedings there, 60 ; three 
 unsuccessful campaigns against the Chatti 
 and Cherusci, 60-63; transferred to the 
 eastern command, 64 ; quarrels with Piso, 
 governor of Syria, 64 ; death at Antioch, 64. 
 
 Germanus, nephew of Justinian, ii, 268 ; 
 temperate rule of North Africa, 268 ; 
 marries Matasuntha, 296 ; appointed to 
 command fresh army for conquest of Italy, 
 296 ; drives btick the Sclavs, 296 ; death. 
 296. 
 
 Germanus Postiunus, son of Germanus and 
 Matasuntha, ii, 296 ; gains important 
 victory over the Persians at Martyropolis, 
 342 ; forced by Phocas to become a priest, 
 376. 
 
 Germanus, Pope of Constantinople, ii, 562 ; 
 attempt of Leo III to force him to agree 
 to Iconoclasm, 562 ; his speech, 562 ; 
 deposed, 562. 
 
 Geta, yoimger son of Septimius Severus, i, 
 283 ; murdered by his brother, 301. 
 
 Gibamimd, nephew of the Vandal king 
 Gelimer, ii, 207. 
 
 Gildo, Moorish prince, raises a revolt, ii, 14 ; 
 force sent against him by Stilicho, 14 ; 
 defeated and slain, 14. 
 
 Gisa, sister of Romuald, Lombard duke of 
 Beneventum, ii, 480. 
 
 Gisulf, Lombard duke of Fiuli, ii, 424 . 
 killed in massacre by the Avars with hia 
 wife and children, 424. 
 
 Glabrio, Marcus Acilius, put to death by 
 Domitian for being a Christian, i, 201 ; hia 
 tomb in cemetery of Priscilla, 201. 
 
 Gladiators, imder Tiberius declare their live- 
 lihood almost gone, i, 58; combats of 
 prohibited by Constantine, 395 ; Rome 
 exempted from this law, 395 ; last combat 
 of, ii, 31 ; the law prohibiting them made 
 applicable to Rome, 32. 
 
 Glastonbury, Shrine of, ii, 163; this name 
 given it by the Saxons, 163; captured by 
 them in 7th century, 516 ; the great link 
 between three races in Britain, 517 {see also 
 Avallon). 
 
 Gnostics, Sect of the, i, 186. 
 
 Godomar, king of Burgundy, avenges his 
 brother Sigismund's death, ii, 290. 
 
 Goisvintha, wife of Visigoth king Leovigild, 
 ii, 351 ; fierce character, 351 ; cruel treat- 
 ment by her of her daughter-in-law In- 
 gundis, 351. 
 
 Gold carriages and saddles captured by the 
 Vandals in Rome, ii, 121. 
 
 Gold coinage of Later Roman Empire, ii, 586 
 
 "Golden Church," The, at Antioch, built 
 by Constantine, i, 432. 
 
 "Golden Gate," The, at Constantinople, 
 built by Theodosius I, i, 667 ; its position, 
 ii, 408 ; triumphal entry through it of 
 Heraclius after destruction of Persian 
 empire, 423. 
 
 " Golden Horn," The, i, 420. 
 
 " Golden House," The, built by Nero, i, 138; 
 vast space covered by it, 138 ; great height 
 of its entrance porch, 138 ; position of the 
 entrance marked by present church of Sta. 
 Francesca, 138; description of it by 
 Suetonius, 1 39 ; its interior decorations, 
 139; destroyed by Vespasian, 180. 
 
 " Golden Spears," The, special corps created 
 by Chosroes II, ii, 416. 
 
 Golden Throne, The, of Parthian empire, 
 captured and sent to Rome, i, 219. 
 
 Gordian I, emperor, descent, i, 311; high 
 character, 311 ; attacked by Capelianua 
 and killed, 311. 
 
 Gordian II, emperor, killed with his father, i, 
 311. 
 
 Gordian III, emperor, elected at thirteen, i, 
 311 ; transfers Third legion from Lambseaia 
 to Cologne as a punishment, 312 ; defeata 
 the Persians, 312 ; killed in a mutiny, 312 ; 
 monument on the Euphrates to his memory 
 
 Gospel of St. John, historical reason for its 
 difference from other gospels, i, 202. 
 
 Gothic names distorted by Greek writers, ii, 
 171. 
 
 Goths, The, in reign of Alexander Severus 
 leave Scythia moving westwards, i, 317 ; 
 reach the Dneister, 317 ; first invade Roman 
 Empire in reign of Decius, 317 ; defeat 
 Galfus and ravage Mcesia, 318 ; defeat 
 Decius and take Philippopolis, 318 ; gain 
 a crushing victory over Decius at Abricium, 
 319 ; defeated by yEmilianus, 322 ; ravage 
 Pontus, Bithynia, and Greece, 323 ; sack 
 Corinth, Athens, and Sparta, 331 ; defeated 
 by Claudius II, 334 ; again defeated by 
 Aurelian, 335 ; given Dacia by him, 336 ; 
 
 converted to Christianity, 407 ; invade 
 Mcesia, 429 ; crushingly defeated by Con- 
 stantine, 429. (For continuation see Ostro- 
 goths and Visigoths.) 
 Granianus, Proconsul of " Asia," his applica- 
 tion to Hadrian for instructions regarding 
 the Clu-istians, i, 236. 
 Grata, daughter of Valentinian I, i, 513. 
 Gratian, Count, father of Valentinian I, i, 493. 
 Gratian, emperor, elder son of Valentinian I, 
 birth, i, 513 ; succeeds his father at seven- 
 teen, 616 ; glowing pictures of him by con- 
 temporaries, 516 ; silence of Gibbon regard- 
 ing him, 617 ; marriage to Constantia, 519 ; 
 associates his four-year-old half-brother 
 with himself, 619 ; victories over the Len- 
 tienses, 522 ; victory over the Allemanni 
 at Colmar, 622 ; marches east to assist his 
 uncle Valens, 523 ; protects Pannonia 
 from the victorious Goths, 526 ; selects the 
 younger Theodosius as his colleague, 527 ; 
 defeats the Franks and Vandals, 529 ; 
 publishes joint edict with Theodosius put- 
 ting down Arianism, 535 ; upon his col- 
 league falling ill again marches to the east, 
 631 ; defeats the Ostrogoths in Pannonia 
 and the Visigoths in Epirus, 631 ; by his 
 powers of conciliation brings them both to 
 become Joederati of the empire, 632 ; suc- 
 cessful result, 633 ; in conjunction with 
 Theodosius assembles the Second General 
 Council, 535 ; his successful record of six 
 years, 541 ; burns registers of arrears of 
 taxation, 642 ; courtesy, temperance, and 
 chastity, 642 ; care for the wounded, 543 ; 
 character of sport in his time, 644 ; such 
 sport good training for war, 644 ; refuses 
 to adopt title of Pontifex Maximus, 545 ; 
 orders removal of Altar of Victory from 
 the Senate-house, 545 ; erects cathedral 
 of Milan on site of disused temple of 
 Bacchus, 546 ; prohibits payments by 
 people for support of Pagan temples not 
 used by them, 646 ; furious animosity 
 roused among the Pagan party in Rome 
 by these measures, 547 ; discontent in the 
 army at falling off in irregular donations, 
 547 ; assertions of the Pagan party against 
 him, 648 ; Gibbon's method of detraction 
 in the case of this emperor, 648-550 ; attri- 
 butes the falling away of the army to 
 Gratian's fondness for sport, 550 ; revolt 
 of Maximus, 551 ; troops, bribed by Maxi- 
 mus, melt away, 552 ; Gratian's ride to 
 Lyons pursued by cavalry of Maximus, 552 ; 
 captured by cruel artifice, 653 ; assassin- 
 ated, 653 ; attractive character, 553-554 ; 
 ii reality the first Christian empero-, 
 654 ; honour which is specially his own, 655. 
 Greek art. Zenith of, i, 430. 
 Greek fire, see Romaic fire. 
 Greek ideas of government incorporated by 
 
 Tiberius ii, 11, 336. 
 Greek influence gradually victorious over 
 
 Rornan influence, ii, 200, 337, and 449. 
 Greeklings, term of derision used by the Ostro- 
 goths towards army of Belisarius, ii, 220. 
 Green, sacred colour among the Mahomedans, 
 
 ii, 437. 
 Green, J. R., words of, regarding part played 
 by religion in a people's life. Preface, p. vii. 
 Gregoria, empress, daughter of Nicetas, ii, 
 
 461 ; married to Constantine III, 461. 
 Gregory of Nazianzus, i, 536 ; appointed 
 Archbishop of Constantinople, 636, 
 
 Gregory, Bishop of Tours, ii, 344 ; his History 
 
 of the Franks in the 6th centiu-y, 344. 
 Gregory the Great, birth and parentage, ii, 
 361 ; made Praetor of city of Rome, 36V; 
 sent to Constantinople as representative of 
 Pope Pelagius II, 362 ; becomes Pope of 
 R,ome, 362 ; extent of his authority, 363 ; 
 his letters, 365 ; character and attain- 
 ments, 365 ; credulity, 366 ; difficult posi- 
 tion, 367 ; acted in three different capacities, 
 368 ; Gregorian music, 369 ; Rome in hia 
 time, 369 ; contrast between his circum- 
 stances and those of John, Pope of Con- 
 stantinople, 370 ; correspondence with 
 Thiudalinda, queen of the Lombards, 371 ; 
 mission to Kent, 372 ; disgraceful conduct 
 upon the murder of Maurice, 378 ; apparent 
 cause, 379 ; last letter to Thiudalinda, 380 ; 
 death, 380 ; usually praised on mistaken 
 grounds, 381 ; chief claim to honour, 381 
 remarkable letters to John, Pope of Con 
 stantinople, and Eulogius, Pope of Alex 
 andria, 383 ; denunciation of title " Uni 
 versal Bishop," 385 ; letter to Anastasius, 
 Pope of Antioch, 385 ; second letter to 
 Eulogius, Pope of Alexandria, 386 ; not the 
 founder of the Medieval Papacy as often 
 styled, 387 ; has received no honour for 
 that which was his greatest glory, 389 ; 
 ground upon which he has a just claim to 
 greatness, 389. 
 Gregory, Exarch of North Africa, ii, 460 ; 
 attacked by the Mahomedans under 
 Abdallah, 460 ; advances to oppose them, 
 460 ; rejects demand to accept the faith of 
 Islam, 460 ; fights battle of Sufetula, 460 ; 
 his daughter fights by his side, 460 ; de- 
 feated and killed, 460 ; his daughter carried 
 off, but commits suicide, 460. 
 Gregory II, Pope of Rome, opposes Leo Ill's 
 
 Iconoclastic edict, ii, 561 ; death, 564. 
 Gregory III, Pope of Rome, appeals unsuccess- 
 fully to Charles IMartel for help against 
 Liutprand, ii, 570 ; opposes the Iconoclastic 
 edict, 575 ; attempt of Leo III to seize him, 
 675 ; dioceses of southern Italy transferred 
 from his patriarchate, 576 ; death, 591. 
 Grimuald, Lombard king, ii, 477 ; first Lom- 
 bard king to unite northern and southern 
 Italy, 477 ; death, 471. 
 Guards, The, reorganized by Constantine, i, 
 427 ; given name Domestics^ 427 ; a training 
 corps for officers, 427. 
 Guebres, Mahoraedan name for the Persians, 
 
 ii, 450. 
 Guizot, words of, regarding Gibbon's hatred 
 
 of Christianity, Preface, p. xiii. 
 Gundiperga, daughter of Agilulf and Thiu- 
 dalinda, ii, 359 ; married to Ariwald, duke 
 of Turin, 424 ; on his death choice of a king 
 left to her, 425 ; chooses Rotharis and 
 marries him, 425. 
 Gundobad, Burgundian king, ii, 172. 
 Guntrada, elder daughter of Thiudapert, 
 
 married to Liutprand, ii, 570. 
 Guntram, third son of Chlotochar I, ii, 346 ; 
 
 death, 348. 
 Gyrwe, debateable land between East Anglia 
 and Northumbria, ii, 615 ; abbey of Ely 
 founded on an island in its marshes, 615. 
 
 Hadrian, emperor, gives up Mesopotr^mia 
 and Armenia, i, 227 ; defeats the Sj.rma- 
 tians, 227 ; starts on his first great torn-, 
 227 ; in Britain lays out wall from the 
 
 ^ 
 
644 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Tyne to the Solway, 227 ; in Mauretania 
 defeats the Moors, 228 ; on the Euphrates 
 averts a war, 228 ; visits coast of Black 
 Sea, 228 ; visits Greece, 228 ; returns to 
 Rome, and begins construction of his Villa 
 at Tivoli, 228 ; starts on his second great 
 tour, 228 ; visits Antioch, Palmyra, Arabia, 
 the Red Sea, Egj-pt, and the Nile, 228 ; in 
 Judaea suppresses revolt of the Jews, 228 ; 
 returns to Rome, 228 ; benefits of his tours, 
 
 229 ; corps of architects and artisans, 229 ; 
 innumerable buildings. 229 ; suppresses 
 final revolt of the Jews, and builds new city 
 on site of Jerusalem, 229 ; erects statues 
 and temples in memory of Antinous, 230; 
 versatile talents and great mental energy, 
 
 230 ; his VUla at Tivoli, 231-232 ; builds 
 new palace on the Palatine hill, 232 ; builds 
 temple of Venus and Rome, 233 ; his 
 mausoleum, 233; melancholy madness 
 durmg last two years of his life, 234 ; re- 
 moves to Baiie,234 ; his poem to the soul, 
 236 ; death, 235 ; important edicts of toler- 
 ation to the Christians issued by him, 236 ; 
 no persecutions during his reign, 237 ; posi- 
 tion of Christianity at close of his reign, 237. 
 
 Hadrianople, Battle of, between Constantine 
 
 and Liciniua, i, 401. 
 Hadrianople, Battle of, Roman army under 
 
 Valens defeated by the Visigoths,* i, 523; 
 
 car. rs of the defeat, 625; its effect over- 
 estimated, 529-530. 
 Hadrumetum (Susa). remarkable mosaic from 
 
 country-house of 4th century, ii, 82. 
 Hannibalianua, half-brother of Constantine 
 
 the Great, i, 413 ; killed 451. 
 Hannibalianus, nephew of Constantine the 
 
 Great, i, 450 ; allotted rule of Pontus and 
 
 Cappadocia, 450 ; married to his cousin 
 
 Constantina, 457; killed, 461 
 Hassan, elder grandson of Mahomed, ii, 473 ; 
 resigns claim to be Khalif, 473 ; murdered 
 
 by Muawiyah I, 473. 
 Hassan, governor of Egypt, captures Carthage, 
 
 ii, 518; fills up the harbour and destroys 
 
 the city, 518. 
 Hegira, the, date of Mahomed's flight from 
 
 Mecca to Medina, the Mahomedan era, ii. 
 
 436. 
 
 Helena, empress, married to Constant ius 
 Chlorus, i, 369 ; divorced from him on his 
 being made Caesar, 369 ; strong character 
 and ability, 418; given by Constantine 
 rank of Augusta, 418 ; adopts Christianity, 
 418 ; at age of 75 sets out to visit Palestine, 
 418 ; claims discovery of site of Calvary and 
 the Holy Sepulchre, 418 ; builds church at 
 Bethlehem, 419; sends Constantine nails 
 of the Cross, 419; brings back part of 
 the Cross and steps of Pilate's palace, 419; 
 death at Naissus, 419 ; her bo<^ conveyed 
 to Rome, 419 ; her sarcophagus, 420 ; her 
 tomb subsequently a church, 420. 
 
 Helena, daughter of Constantine the Great, 
 i, 413 ; married to her cousin Julian, 466 : 
 death, 471. 
 
 Helias, commands force sent against Cherson, 
 ii, 525 ; wife and children shamefully 
 treated by Justinian II, 525 ; revolts and 
 strikes off Justinian's head, 526. 
 
 Helmiohif, assists to murder Alboin, king of 
 the Lombards, ii, 331 ; death, 332. 
 
 Helvillum, Battle of, between Totila and 
 Narses, ii, 301. 
 
 Hengist and Horsa, leaders of the Jutes, ii, 162. 
 
 645 
 
 ^^^no*''ii' 147^' ^^^^ "P ^^ *^® emperor 
 
 Heraclea, Battle of, Maximin defeated bv 
 Licmius, 1, 378. ' 
 
 Heracliad, The, written in honour of Herft/^i,„- 
 by George of Pisidia, ii. 462. "^^*<^I»U'» 
 
 Heraclian, executioner of Stilicho ii 40 
 made governor of North Africa, 69; revolts 
 and IS defeated, 69 ; put to death, 59 
 Heraclius, general, defeats Persians at battle 
 of Solachon, n, 341 ; gains another victory 
 at Martyropolis, 342; appointed ex- 
 arch of North Africa by Maurice, 396 • able 
 and beneficent rule, 396 ; prepares expedi- 
 tion to destroy Phocas, 396 ; places his son 
 m command, 396. 
 Heraclius, emperor, despatched by his father 
 Heraclius the elder to destroy Phocas, ii 
 396 ; captures Constantinople and puts 
 Phocas to death, 397 ; manner in which he 
 has been underrated, 397 ; coronation and 
 marriage, 398; conditions confronting 
 him, 399 ; appearance and character, 402 • 
 second marriage, 403 ; Persian invasion of 
 Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, 403 ; project 
 to remove capital to Carthage, 404; 
 insulting letter of Chosroes II to him, 405 J 
 change in tone of the Byzantines, 407 • 
 attempt of the Chagan of the Avars to 
 capture him, 408; defeats attack of the 
 Persians upon Constantinople, 408 ; starts 
 upon his great enterprise against Persia, 
 409 ; lands in Cilicia, 411 ; careful training 
 of his army, 412; first campaign, 412; 
 second campaign, 413 ; third campaign, 
 414 ; takes Salban, 416 ; fourth campaign, 
 416 ; fifth campaign, 417 ; defeat of joint 
 attack of Avars and Persians upon Con- 
 stantinople, 418; sixth campaign, 419; 
 final victory at Nineveh, 420 ; captures 
 palaces of Chosroes II, 420 ; puts him to 
 flight, 420 ; captures great palace of 
 Dastagherd, 420 ; exacts restoration of all 
 Roman provinces and captives, 421 ; 
 triumphal return, 422 ; entry into Con- 
 stantinople, 423 ; " Holy Cross Day," 423 ; 
 the Mahomedans attack Syria* 437 ; char- 
 acter of their attack, 438-440 ; Romans 
 defeated at battle of Ajnadein, 441 ; 
 collects a fresh army and places it under 
 Baanes, 441 ; defeats of Pella and ]\Iarja- 
 suffar, 442 ; defeat at the Yermuk, 443 ; 
 removes the Cross from Jerusalem, 443 ; 
 shattered state of health, 443 ; raises a 
 fifth army and places it under his son Con- 
 stantine, 444 ; Mesopotamia lost, 445 ; 
 unjustly judged in regard to these losses, 
 445 ; Monothelite controversy, 446 ; the 
 Echthesia, 448 ; admits Sclavs as feuda- 
 tories, 448 ; Mahomedans attack Egypt, 
 
 450 ; four generals in succession defeated, 
 
 451 ; prepares a force to relieve Alexandria, 
 462 ; death, 452 ; character and tempera- 
 ment, 462 ; power of enthusiasm, 453 ; 
 ability and popularity, 454. 
 
 Heraclius, see Constans II. 
 
 Heraclius, brother of Constantine IV, ii, 489 ; 
 disgraced, 507. 
 
 Heraclius, brother of the usurper Apsimar, ii, 
 620 ; victories over the Saracens, 520 ; 
 put to death, 523. 
 
 Heraclonas, second son of the emperor 
 Heraclius, ii, 466 ; crowns his nephew as 
 joint emperor, 457 ; mutilated and ban- 
 ished, 457, 
 
 Herseum, The, palace of Theodora, ii, 242. 
 Herculaneum, Destruction of, i, 186. 
 Herennius, son of the emperor Decius, i, 317 ; 
 
 killed at battle of Abricium, 319. 
 Heresies, Arian, i, 410 ; Macedonian, 636 ; 
 Apollinarian, 536 ; Nestorian, ii, 76 ; 
 Eutychian (or Monophysite), 89; Mono- 
 thelite, 446. 
 Heretic, its strict meaning, ii, 605. 
 Hermann (called Arminius by the Romans), 
 leader of the Cherusci, gains great victory 
 over Varus, i, 13 ; marries Thusnelda, 
 daughter of Segestes, chief of the Cherusci, 
 against her father's wishes, 61 ; his wife 
 Thusnelda treacherously captured by her 
 father and made over to the Romans, 61 ; 
 gains two great victories over the armies 
 of Germanicus, 61-62 ; death, 63 ; monu- 
 ment to his memory, 63. 
 Hermanfred, king of the Thuringians, married 
 
 to sister of Theodoric, ii, 172. 
 Hermanric, king of the Goths, i, 501 ; ex- 
 tends his dominions from the Dneister to 
 the Baltic, 501 ; sends Athanaric to invade 
 Roman dominions, 501 ; cruelty to wife of 
 the chief of the Roxolani, 520 ; death, 620. 
 Hermanric, youngest son of Aspar, saved by 
 
 Zeno from massacre, ii, 125. 
 Hermenigild, eldest son of Leovigild, king of 
 the Visigoths, ii, 351 ; married to Ingundis, 
 361 ; removes with her to Seville, 362 ; 
 converted by her from Arianism, 352 ; war 
 made upon him by his father, 352 ; cap- 
 tured and put to death, 352. 
 Herod the Great, given kingdom of Judaea by 
 Augustus, i, 13 ; character and many crimes, 
 695 ; death, 596. 
 Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, 
 rescues Caligula's body, i, 116; given 
 kingdom of Judaea by Claudius, 116; 
 persecutes the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, 
 puts St. James to death, and imprisons 
 St. Paul, 118; death, 120. 
 Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Peroea, 
 i, 595 ; marries Herodias, the wife of his 
 half brother Philip, 596 ; puts to death 
 St. John the Baptist, 596 ; deposed and 
 exiled by Caligula, 596. 
 Herodian, historian of 3rd century, i, 367. 
 Hertford, Synod of, ii, 496 ; its formation 
 of the Church of England, 496 ; lasting 
 effect of its action upon the English race, 
 497 ; begins the welding together of Angles, 
 Saxons, Jutes, and Britons, 497. 
 Hilary, St., of Poictiers, i, 510 ; supposed 
 author of the Te Deum, 510 ; banished by 
 Constantius to Phrygia, 610 
 his Fee by Valentinian I, 
 eloquence, 610 ; death, 510. 
 Hilary, St., of Aries, ii, 110 ; attractive char- 
 acter, 1 10 ; shameful conduct towards him 
 of Leo, Bishop of Rome, 110; temperate 
 way of meeting it, 1 10 ; asserts independ- 
 ence of Metropolitans, 110 ; death. 111. 
 Hileia, Battle of. Sapor II defeated by Con- 
 stantius and his heir killed, i, 452. 
 Hilparik, king of the Burgundians, father of 
 
 Clotilda, ii, 164. 
 Hippodrome, The, at Constantinople, built 
 by Constantine, i, 422 ; size and general 
 arrangement, 422 ; three notable columns 
 adorning its spina, 422. 
 Hippolytus, martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 Hischam, Khalif, ii, 552 ; appoints Abdul 
 
 restored to 
 510 ; great 
 
 Rahman Emir of Spain, 567 ; despatches 
 formidable army to invade Asia Minor, 
 582 ; his army defeated by Leo III at battle 
 of Acroinon and driven out of Asia Minor. 
 
 682. 
 
 Historia Francorum, by Gregory of Tours, ii, 
 344. 
 
 Hodegetria, The, picture with wonderful 
 history, ii, 579 ; church built for it, 679 ; 
 veneration with which regarded, 579 ; 
 ordered to be burnt, 679 ; secretly con- 
 veyed to Italy, 680 ; its subsequent history, 
 680 ; still to be seen in cathedral of Bari, 
 581. 
 Holy Cross Day, its origin, ii, 423. 
 Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, built by 
 Constantine, i, 418 ; its dedication and 
 costly adornment, 441. 
 Homonoia, Sta., church of, built by Con- 
 stantine, i, 413. 
 Homo-ousion (of one substance), word chosen 
 after long debate by First General Council, 
 i, 411. 
 Honoria, daughter of Constantius and Galla 
 Placidia, ii, 85 ; appeals to Attila to make 
 her his wife, 86 ; her surrender demanded 
 by him, 99 ; again demanded as price of his 
 evacuation of Italy, 114; her death at 
 Ravenna, 114 ; burial, 114. 
 Honorius, emperor, younger son of Theodosius 
 the Great, i, 571 ; succeeds to rule of 
 western half of the empire, 571 ; an incap- 
 able nonentity, ii, 7 ; married to Stilicho's 
 daughter Maria, 14 ; terror at hearing 
 Visigoths were in Italy, 22 ; removes to 
 Ravenna, 31 ; visit to Rome, 31 ; festivities 
 held there in his honour, including last 
 combat of gladiators, 31 ; rearing fowls 
 his sole interest, 33 ; married to Ther- 
 mantia, 37 ; allows massacre of eight high 
 officials, 40 ; concurs in murder of Stilicho, 
 41 ; allows massacre of families of Teuton 
 troops, 42 ; declines to ratify treaty made 
 with Alaric, 50 ; unmoved by fall of 
 Rome, 63 ; declines to agree to marriage 
 of his sister to Ataulf, 68 ; becomes ab- 
 surdly jealous of her, 67 ; death, 08. 
 Honorius I, Pope of Rome, adopts the Mono- 
 thelite heresy, ii, 447 ; his letter becomes 
 main support of this heresy, 447 ; pro- 
 nounced a heretic by Sixth General Council, 
 505 ; attempt made in 16th century to 
 maintain his condemnation by this Council 
 a forgery refuted, 505. 
 Horace, poet, i, 17. 
 
 Hormisdas, Pope of Rome, Death of, ii, 176. 
 Hormizdas IV, son of Chosroes I, ii, 338 ; 
 defeated by Maurice at battle of Con- 
 stantina, 338. 
 Horse Tamers, The, Group of, in Rome, i, 
 436 ; presented to Nero by Tiridates, king 
 of Armenia, 436 ; adorned Baths of Con- 
 stantine, 436 ; the only ancient statues 
 never buried, 436 ; curious idea regarding 
 them in the Middle Ages, 436. 
 Horses in a stable in 4th century with their 
 
 names. Mosaic picture of, ii, 82. 
 Hose in, younger grandson of Mahomed, ii, 
 500 ; resists persuasions to come to Kufa 
 to be installed as Khalif, 600 ; consents 
 at length to go, 500 : oppOKed at Kerbela 
 by troops of Yezid I, 500 ; his offer to 
 return to Mecca refused, 500 ; defends a 
 small entrenchment, 501 ; he and his 
 family all slain, 501 ; looked upon by the 
 
 Mi 
 
646 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Shiahs as martyrs, 501 ; annual com- 
 memoration of this tragedy, 501. 
 Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, chief adviser in 
 Church matters to Constantino the Great, 
 1, 406 ; wisdom and high character, 406 ; 
 presides at First General Coimcil, 408; 
 banished and imprisoned by Constantius, 
 460 ; gives way at 100 years old and signs 
 the Arian creed, 460. 
 Houn, a black-eyed girl of the Mahomedan 
 
 paradise, ii, 437. 
 Houses not to obscure view of the sea, ii, 289 
 Hungeld, The, ii, 58. 
 
 Huns, The, first heard of, i, 520 ; nature and 
 appearance, 520 ; their wide dominions, ii, 
 84 ; contrast to the Aryan races, 84 ; lived 
 perpetually on horseback, 84 ; invade 
 Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, 88 ; 
 cross the Rhine and fall upon Gaul, 100 ; 
 terrible destruction created, 100 ; fight 
 battle of the Mauriac Plain, 101 ; retire 
 out of Gaul, 102 ; invade Italy, 111 ; de- 
 stroy cities of northern Italy, 112; ad- 
 vance to the Mincio, 113; retire thence 
 to Pannonia, 116; exterminated in con- 
 tests between the sons of Attila, 116| 
 Hunting party in 4th century. Mosaic picture 
 of, ii, 82. ^ 
 
 Hypatia, celebrated lecturer on philosophy 
 in Alexandria, ii, 65 ; her cruel murder by 
 the fanatical monks, 65. 
 
 HjTpatius, set up as emperor in The " Nika " 
 insurrection, 202. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 647 
 
 Ibbas, gains Provence for Theodoric the 
 
 Great, ii, 173. 
 Icelus, rapidity of his journey from Rome to 
 
 Galba in Spain with news of the death of 
 
 Nero, i, 172. 
 Iceni, British tribe of the, defeated by Ves- 
 
 pasian, i, 101 ; their revolt, led by Boadicea, 
 
 Iconoclastic struggle. The, ii, 555 ; opposite 
 opmions regarding it, 556 ; Leo Ill's 
 methods wrong, 556 ; first action in the 
 contest, 659 ; insurrection raised in Greece, 
 560 ; storm raised in Italy, 561 ; Pope of 
 Constantinople deposed for refusal to agree, 
 562 ; fleet sent to depose Pope of Rome, 
 575 ; dioceses of southern Italy transferred 
 to eastern patriarchate, 576. 
 Icons, ii, 555. 
 
 Ida, Anglian king, leads fresh wave of Angles 
 into Britain, ii, 292 ; founds kingdom of 
 Northumbria, 292 ; builds castle and town 
 of Bamborough, 292. 
 Ignatius, St., appointed by St. Peter first 
 Bishop of Antioch, i, 158 ; great ability, 
 159 ; wide renown and influence, 224 ; trial 
 before Trajan, 224 ; journey to Rome, 224 ; 
 martyrdom, 224 ; remains buried in church 
 of St. Clement, 225 ; authenticity of his 
 letters, 225 ; apparent mistake as to their 
 date, 225. 
 Ildibad, on surrender of Ostrogoth kingdom 
 retains Verona, ii, 237 ; regains territory 
 north of the Po, 256 ; murdered, 256. 
 Ildico, last wife taken by Attila, ii, 116; 
 prototype of Kriemhilde in the Nibelungen 
 
 Ildiger, son-in-law of Antonina, ii, 220. 
 Iliad, The, and the Odyssey written in gold 
 
 upon intestines of a serpent, i, 477. 
 Illus, joins rebellion raised by the empress 
 
 Verina, ii, 147. 
 
 Imam, title used by Shiah Mahomedana 
 mstead of Khalif, ii, 473. 
 
 Imperial dignity. Gradual development of 
 the, i, 52. 
 
 Imperial Palace, The, at Constantinople, built 
 by Constantine, i, 423 ; much increased by 
 Theodosius I, 557 ; its reconstruction by 
 Justinian, ii, 240 ; hall of the Chalke, 240 • 
 hall of the Excubitors, 240 ; Throne-room' 
 240; Banqueting hall, 240; Daphne, or 
 private palace, 240 ; gardens, 241. 
 Imperial Palace, The, at Treves, i, 496. 
 Imperial Rome, Birth of, i, 9. 
 Imperial spirit. The true, largely wanting in 
 time of Augustus, i, 18 ; still greatly want- 
 ing in time of the Antonine emperors, 210 ; 
 eventually displayed in time of Constantine 
 the Great, 396. 
 Importance of Britain in 3rd century, i, 285. 
 Ina, king of Wessex, ii, 515 ; able rule, 515 • 
 defeats Kent, 515 ; defeats Geraint, British 
 king of Damnonia, 516 ; captures Glaston- 
 bury, 516 ; attacks Mercia, 516 ; code of 
 laws, 516 ; rebuilds and endows Gltiston. 
 bury, 516; resigns his throne, 573; pil- 
 grimage to Rome, 573 ; endows English 
 school there, 573. 
 India, envoys from sent to Constantine the 
 Great, i, 431 ; Mahomedan conquests in. 
 ii, 549. 
 
 Infanticide, made capital offence by Valen- 
 tinian I, i, 506. 
 
 Ingundis, one of the wives of Chlotochar I, 
 
 ii, 344. 
 Ingundis, daughter of Sigibert and Brunhilda, 
 ii, 347 ; married to Hermenigild, 351 ; 
 cruel treatment to force her to change her 
 religion, 351 ; removes to Seville, 352 ; 
 converts Hermenigild, 352 ; besieged in 
 Seville, 352 ; sails for Constantinople, 352 ; 
 death, 352. 
 Innocent I, Pope of Rome, ii, 47 ; want of 
 capacity, 48^; tone adopted by him, 48; 
 sent on embassy to Honorius, 50. 
 Ino, empress, wife of Tiberius II, ii, 335 ; takes 
 
 name Anastasia, 336. 
 Institutes, The, of Justinian, ii, 1^9. 
 lona, foundation of, ii, 318; Anglian king- 
 doms converted from thence, 435 ; " lona's 
 saints," 435. 
 Ireland, first mention of, i, 188 ; converted 
 
 by St. Patrick, u, 162. 
 Irenaeus, St., Bishop of Lyons, pupil of 
 Polycarp, i, 245 ; one of the earliest Chris- 
 tian writers, 278 ; his chief book, 279 ; 
 martyred in Fifth persecution, 293. 
 Irene, St., Church of, built by Constantine, i, 
 423 ; burnt in the " Nika " insurrection, ii, 
 202 ; rebuilt by Justinian, 202 ; the 
 largest church in Constantinople next to St. 
 Sophia, 202. 
 Irene, empress, daughter of the Khan of the 
 Khazars, married to Constantine V, ii, 581 
 {see also p. 593, footnote). 
 "Iron Crown," The, ii, 426; description, 426; 
 its first appearance, 426 ; subsequent history, 
 427 ; theory that it was given by Gregory 
 the Great an impossible one, 427 ; question 
 ^^ whether it is the crown of Constantine, 428. 
 •' Iron Gates," The, narrow channel of the 
 Danube, i, 213; inscription cut on rock 
 at by Trajan, 213. 
 Isenzo, Battle of the, between Theodoric and 
 Odoacer, ii, 151, 
 
 Isidore of Seville, prominent scholar of 7th 
 
 century, ii, 575. 
 Islam, the religion established by Mahomed, 
 
 ii, 435 ; its formula of faith, 435. 
 Isperich, first king of Bulgaria, ii, 499. 
 Issus, Battle of, Niger defeated by Severus. 
 
 i, 281. 
 
 Istamboul, Turkish name for Constantinople, 
 its Greek derivation, i, 424. 
 
 Italy, southern, " Hellenized " by the em- 
 peror Leo III, ii, 576. 
 
 James, St., brother of St. John, put to death 
 
 by Herod Agrippa, i, 118. 
 James, St., the Less, takes Jerusalem as his 
 
 special sphere, i, 122 ; stoned to death by 
 
 the Jews, 153. 
 Janus, Temple of, closed on accession of 
 
 Augustus, i, 3 ; opened for last time in 
 
 history by Gordian III, 312. 
 Jarrow, monastery and training college at, ii, 
 
 671 ; home of Bede during his whole life, 
 
 674. 
 
 Jerome, St., words as to equality of Bishops, 
 i, 508 ; removes from Rome to Palestine, 
 511 ; translates the Bible, 511 ; effect 
 produced upon hun by the fall.'of Rome, ii, 52. 
 
 Jerusalem, Apostles remain at for 12 years, i, 
 94 ; siege of, 172 ; destruction by Titus, 
 183 ; new city built on its ruins by Hadrian, 
 229 ; captured by Chosroes II, ii, 403 ; 
 regained by Heraclius, 423 ; captured by 
 the Mahomedans, 444. 
 
 Jerusalem, Church of, in 4th century made 
 one of the five patriarchates, its Metropolitan 
 Bishop receiving title of Pope, i, 537 ; over- 
 whelmed in 7th century by the Mahomedan 
 conquest of Syria, ii, 444. 
 
 Jews ' of the dispersion," i, 121. 
 
 Joannes, revolt of defeated by Galla Placidia. 
 ii, 68. 
 
 John, St., assists in the work at Antioch, i, 
 122 ; removes to Ephesus, 183 ; arrested 
 and tortured in Second persecution, 196 ; 
 banished to Patmos, 197 ; liberated by 
 Nerva and returns to Ephesus, 202 ; death, 
 
 John Pope of Antioch, combines with the 
 Nestorian party, ii, 77 ; attacks churches 
 of Ephesus, 77. 
 John I, Pope of Rome, sent by Theodoric on 
 mission to Constantinople, ii, 179 ; accused 
 of sedition and imprisoned, 181 ; death, 281. 
 John the Lydian, his description of Theodora's 
 
 character, ii, 197. 
 John of Cappadocia, minister of Justinian, ii, 
 201 ; tries to dissuade Justinian from the 
 Vandal war, 205 ; steals the money for 
 supplying the expedition to Africa, 206; 
 his many crimes, 249 ; eight years' struggle 
 between him and Theodora, 249 ; his ruin 
 effected by her, 250 ; degradation and 
 punishment, 250 ; death, 250. 
 John the Thracian, brings reinforcements to 
 Behsarius, ii, 228 ; captures Rimini, 229 ; 
 married to Justinian's niece, 269 ; made 
 Prefect of North Africa, 269 ; accompanies 
 the army of Narses, 300. 
 John Nesteutes, Pope of Constantinople, ii, 
 341 ; large-minded policy, 341 ; character, 
 o70 ; correspondence with Gregory the 
 Great, 385. ^ 
 
 John the Patrician, Exarch of North Africa, 
 retakes Carthage, ii, 618; defeated at 
 battle of Utica, 618, " ' 
 
 E,W.— II. 
 
 John of Damascus, ii, 561 ; powerful oration 
 agamst the Iconoclastic policy of the 
 Emperor Leo III, 561. 
 
 Jordanes, writer of 6th century, ii, 139. 
 
 Josephus, Jewish historian, words regarding 
 death of St. James the Less, i, 153 ; relates 
 his obtaining help from the empress Poppaea, 
 153 ; description of siege of Jerusalem, 183. 
 
 Jovian, emperor, elected upon Julian's death 
 during retreat from Persia, i, 487 ; receives 
 proposals for peace from Sapor, 487 ; un- 
 fairly condemned for surrender of Nisibis, 
 488 ; honourably refuses to repudiate his 
 agreement, 491 ; removes the mhabitants 
 to Amida, 491 ; issues edict of toleration 
 to Pagans, 492 ; receives Athanasius at 
 Antioch, 492 ; death, 492. 
 Jovinus, general, defeats the Allemanni, i, 
 498 ; sent by Valentinian I, to inquire into 
 the complaints against Romanus, Coimt of 
 Africa, 504 ; corrupted by him, 604 ; 
 executed, 504. 
 Jovius, minister of Honorius, ii, 60. 
 Juba, made king of Mauretania by Augustus, 
 
 1, o. 
 
 Judaia, made a Roman province by Augustus, 
 i, 13 ; change in its government made by 
 Claudius, 116; subjugation by Vespasian, 
 1 /*^. 
 Jude, St., with St. Simon, preaches in Meso- 
 potamia and Persia, i, 123 ; martyred in 
 Persia, 123. 
 Julia ( 1 ), daughter of Augustus, married to her 
 cousin Marcellus, i, 1 1 ; married to Marcus 
 Agrippa, 11; married to Tiberius, 12; 
 scandalous conduct, 21 ; banished, 21 ; 
 death, 23. 
 Julia (2), daughter of Marcus Agrippa and 
 Julia (1), married to ^milius Paulus, i. 
 21 ; scandalous conduct, 22 ; banished, 22. 
 Julia (3), daughter of Drusus and Livilla, 
 married to Nero, son of Germanicus, i, 67 ; 
 intrigue with Sejanus, 69 ; attempts to 
 gain influence over Claudius, 106 ; banished 
 and put to death, 106. 
 Julia Claudilla, first wife of Caligula, i, 86. 
 Julia Livilla, daughter of Germanicus and 
 Agrippina, married to Marcus Vinicius, i, 
 90 ; banished by her brother Caligula, 90 ; 
 recalled by Claudius, 97 ; intrigue with 
 Seneca, 105 ; banished and starved to 
 death, 105. 
 Julia, daughter of Titus, i, 185 ; taken from 
 her husband by Domitian, 187 ; death, 187. 
 Julia Domna, empress, wife of Septimius 
 Severus, i, 282 ; her good disposition, 282 ; 
 high character and attainments, 282 ; 
 wounded in trying to protect her younger 
 son from murder by his brother, 301 ; ill- 
 treated by Macrinus and commits suicide. 
 305. 
 Julia Maesa, sister of Julia Domna, banished 
 by Macrinus, i, 305 ; causes her grandson 
 to be made high priest, 305 ; procures his 
 election as emperor, 305 ; protects her 
 other grandson from him, 306. 
 Julia Soaemias, mother of the emperor Elaga- 
 balus, i, 306 ; killed with him by the troops, 
 306. 
 Julia Mammsea, mother of the emperor Alex- 
 ander Severus, i, 305 ; unwise in attempting 
 to take part in the rule, 307 ; killed with 
 her son in a mutiny, 309. 
 Julian, ernperor, nephew of Constantine the 
 Great, i, j^l •, spared froija gef^era,! njekg. 
 
 t'l' 
 
 1)1 
 
648 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 649 
 
 sacre of his family, 451 ; kept in confine- 
 ment at castle of Macellum, 457 ; secretly 
 studies occult science, 463 ; taken to IMilan 
 as a prisoner, 463 ; interceded for by the 
 empress Eusebia, 463 ; thoughtful and 
 imaginative temperament, 465 ; initiated 
 into the mysteries of Eleusis, 465 ; made 
 Caesar and sent to govern Gaul, 466 ; for- 
 midable nature of his task, 466 ; successes 
 against the Franks and Allemanni, 467 ; 
 successful expeditions into Germany, 467 ; 
 able government of Gaul, 468 ; enmity of 
 Constantius' ministers against him, 468 ; 
 proclaimed Augustus by troops at Paris, 
 470 ; requests division of the empire, 470 ; 
 makes a dash for Illjrricum, 471 ; captures 
 Sirmium, 472 ; upon death of Constantius 
 hailed £is emperor, 476 ; unfairly stigmatised 
 as " The Apostate," 476 ; Greek character 
 of his Paganism, 477 ; immense power of 
 work, 477 ; endeavours to restore Paganism, 
 478 ; special hatred for Athanasius, 479 ; 
 failiire of his efforts to revive Paganism, 
 480 ; attempts to rebuild the Jewish 
 Temple, 480 ; project to invade Persia, 
 481 ; his iinpopuiarity at Antioch, 482; pub- 
 lishes the Misopogdn, 482 ; starts to attack 
 Persia, 482 ; initial successes, 483 ; 
 unable to besiege Ctesiphon, 483 ; destroys 
 his fleet, 484 ; advances into Persia, 484 ; 
 forced to retreat, 485 ; surrounded by 
 Persian army, 485 ; his energy and bravery 
 486 ; mortally Abounded, 486 ; death, 486; 
 his body carried to Tarsus for burial, 491 ; 
 his tomb, 491. 
 
 Julius Constantius, half brother of Constan- 
 tino the Great, i, 413 ; killed in massacre 
 of the collateral branch, 451. 
 
 Julius Didianus, throne sold to him by the 
 Praetorian Guards, i, 280 ; death, 280. 
 
 Jupiter, Temple of, in Rome, burnt in contest 
 against Vitellius, i, 176 ; rebuilt by Ves- 
 pasian, 179 ; roofed at great cost with 
 gilded bronze plates by Domitian, 187 ; its 
 gilded bronze plates carried off by the 
 Vandals, ii, 121. 
 
 Justa, eldest daughter of Valentinian I, i, 513. 
 
 Justin Martyr, history and character, i, 243 ; 
 his " Defence of Christianity," 243 ; 
 martyred in Fourth persecution, 261. 
 
 Justin I, emperor, elected by the Senate, 
 ii, 162 ; puts down all Eutychian and Nes- 
 torian tendencies, 162 ; leaves chief power 
 to his nephew Justinian, 162. 
 
 Justin II, emperor, nephew of Justinian I, 
 ii, 324 ; popularity, 324 ; overawes em- 
 bassy of the Avars, 324 ; makes advan- 
 tageous alliance with the Turks, 326 ; 
 mental disease, 333 ; war with Chosroes I, 
 334 ; persuaded by the empress Sophia 
 . to appoint the general Tiberius as Caesar, 
 335 ; becomes a dangerous lunatic, 336 ; 
 crowns Tiberius as emperor, 336 ; death, 
 336. 
 
 Justina, empress, second wife of Valentinian I, 
 i, 513; character, 513; given by Gratian 
 nominal rule of Italy and North Africa, 
 519 ; begs Ambrose to protect Italy from 
 Maximus, 558 ; demands church for Arian 
 worship, 559 ; flies to Thessalonica, 563 ; 
 gives her youngest daughter in marriage 
 to Theodosius I, 563 ; restored to Milan, 
 664 ; death, 564. 
 
 Justinian I, emperor, ii, 191 ; marriage to 
 Theodora, 19,2 j elusive cbfi^racter, 1B2 j 
 
 picture painted of him by the Secret History 
 193 ; great works on law, 199 ; operations 
 against Persia, 200 ; the " Nika " insurrec- 
 tion , 201 ; prepares to attack the Vandal 
 kingdom, 204 ; small scale of the force and 
 its bad equipment, 206 ; overthrow of the 
 Vandal kingdom, 211 ; receives the Vandal 
 captives in triumph at Constantinople 212 • 
 arrangements for rule of North Africa, 213 * 
 change in his position after the " Nika " 
 insurrection, 214 ; declares war against 
 the Ostrogoths, 217 ; campaign in Italy 
 begxm, 220 ; capture of Naples, 220 ; Rome 
 occupied, 222 ; flrst siege of Rome, 224 ; 
 cities of central Italy taken, 230 ; capture 
 of Ravenna, 234 ; building of St. Sophia, 
 
 239 ; reconstruction of the imperial palace, 
 
 240 ; immense building operations, 241 ; 
 Theodora's palace, 242 ; vast scheme of 
 fortifications, 242 ; empire attacked by 
 Persia, 244 ; receives the Ostrogoth cap. 
 tives in triumph at Constantinople, 245 ; 
 Persian War, 247 ; ruin of John of Cappa- 
 docia, 249 ; campaign in Mesopotamia, 261 ; 
 visitation of the plague, 251 ; Justinian 
 attacked, 252 ; generals discuss selection 
 of a successor, 252 ; recovery of Justinian, 
 252 ; the generals disgraced, 252 ; defeat 
 of the army in Mesopotamia, 254 ; dis- 
 asters in Italy, 255 ; ruinous system of the 
 Logothetae, 255 ; defeats of the forces by 
 Ildibad, 256 ; victorious career of Totila, 
 257 ; Belisarius again sent to Italy, 261; 
 chronic question of arrears of pay due to 
 the troops, 263 ; second siege of Rome, 
 266 ; third siege of Rome, 267 ; mis- 
 government of North Africa, 2H8 ; effect 
 of a war carried on by a ruling authority 
 ignorant of military affairs, 270 ; Justi- 
 nian's works in art at Ravenna, 274-282 ; 
 plunges into the controversy of the " Three 
 Chapters," 282 ; edict on the subject, 283 ; 
 orders Vigilius, Pope of Rome, to Con- 
 stantinople, 283 ; lofty titles, 283 ; death 
 of Theodora, 284 ; laws for protection of 
 women, 285 ; plot to assassinate him, 287 ; 
 Rome surrendered by soldiers whose pay 
 was several years in arrears, 288 ; Sicily 
 conquered by Totila, 288 ; life in Con- 
 stantinople in Justinian's time, 288 ; pro- 
 gramme drawn up by himself for a week's 
 festivities, 289 ; the Colchian War, 294 ; 
 incursions by the Gepidae, Bulgarians, and 
 Sclavs, 294 ; appoints his nephew Germanus 
 to command an army to reconquer Italy, 
 296 ; upon death of Germanus appoints 
 Narses to command the expedition, 297 ; 
 advance of Narses, 298 ; difficulties en- 
 countered by him, 300 ; Totila defeated 
 at battle of Helvillum, 301 ; the Ostropnths 
 destroyed, 304 ; second edict regarding 
 controversy of the " Three Chapters," 305 ; 
 deep nocturnal studies, 306 ; story of hia 
 traversing the palace at night with his 
 head under his arm, 306 ; exasperation at 
 the tergiversations of Vigilius, 308 ; sum- 
 mons Fifth General Council, 309 ; sends 
 expedition against Spain, 313 ; induces 
 the Avars to attack the Bulgarians, 314 ; 
 Zaburgan put to flight by Belisarius, 315; 
 Justinian's ingratitude, 316 ; tumults of hia 
 last years, 316 ; second plot to assassinate 
 him, 316 ; his disgraceful treatment of 
 Belisarius, 316; Justinian's death, 318; 
 Jiis burial, 318 ; equestrian statue in front 
 
 of St. Sophia, 318 ; character, 318 ; looks 
 towards both past and future, 319 ; partly 
 by arms and partly by diplomacy defended 
 eastern frontier against Persia's most 
 capable monarch, 320 ; magnificent con- 
 ceptions, but faulty execution, 321 ; the 
 two achievements which will always give 
 him deserved renown, 322. 
 Justinian II, emperor, son of Constantino IV, 
 ii, 507 ; succeeds his father at sixteen, 
 
 610 ; character, 510 ; regains Iberia and 
 Arrnenia from the Saracens, 511 ; retakes 
 Antioch, 511 ; in North Africa overthrows 
 Zoheir, 511 ; Khalif agrees to pay him 
 tribute and surrenders large territories, 
 
 611 ; conducts successful campaign against 
 the Bulgarians, 611 ; settles liberated Sclavs 
 in Mysia, 511 ; proceeds to Armenia, 511 ; 
 assembles the Quinisext Council, 512 ; 
 suffers defeat at Sebastopolis through 
 treachery of the Sclavs, 512 ; as punish- 
 ment puts many Sclavs to death, 512 ; 
 unwise choice of ministers, 612 ; their 
 extortions and cruelties, 513 ; Justinian 
 mutilated and banished, 513 ; escapes 
 from Cherson, 520 ; marries sister of Cha- 
 gan of the Khazars, 521 ; strangles two 
 officers ordered to kill him, 521; speech 
 amidst the storm in the Black Sea, 521 ; 
 takes refuge with the Bulgarians, 522 ; 
 regains his throne, 522 ; carries out a 
 terrible vengeance, 523 ; slays senators 
 of Ravenna and blinds the Archbishop, 524 ; 
 endeavours to kill all the inhabitants of 
 Cherson, 524 ; the generals revolt, 525 ; 
 his head struck off, 526. 
 
 " Justinian's Vandals," five cavalry regi- 
 ments given this name, ii, 212. 
 
 Jutes, The, invade Britain, ii, 56 ; second 
 wave of them under Hengist and Horsa, 
 162 ; establish themselves in Kent, 163. 
 
 Juvenal, poet, i, 109. 
 
 Kaaba, The, black stone long worshipped in 
 Arabia, ii, 436 ; reverence for it incor- 
 porated by Mahomed in his new relieion, 
 436. 
 
 Kadesia, Four days' battle of, Persians de- 
 feated by the Mahomedans, ii, 450. 
 
 Kairowan, foundetl by Okba, ii, 492. 
 
 Kerbela, Tragedy of, ii, 600. 
 
 Khalid, sent by Abu Bekr against Persia, 
 ii, 437 ; his message to Yezdegerd, 449 ; 
 wins battle of " the Chains," battle of the 
 *' River of Blood," and battle of Firdah, 
 449 ; proceeds to Syria, and wins battle of 
 Ajnadein, battle of Pella, and battle of 
 Marjasuffar, 441 ; ruthless conduct at 
 taking of Damascus, 442 ; leads attack at 
 battle of the Yermuk, 443. 
 
 Khalif, signifying successor to Mahomed, ii, 
 437 ; first Khalif, Abu Bekr, 437 ; second 
 Khalif, Omar, 441 ; third Khalif, Othman, 
 459; division among the Mahomedans 
 regarding the succession, 473 ; subsequent 
 Khalifs, 617. 
 
 Khazars, The, a Tartar tribe, ii, 417 ; their 
 chief Ziebil makes an alliance with Heraclius, 
 417 ; Justinian II takes refuge with them, 
 
 520 ; their Chagan's sister married to him, 
 
 521 ; become very powerful, 681 ; overawe 
 the Saracens, 581 ; daughter of their Khan 
 (or Chagan) married to son of Leo III, 581 ; 
 become permanent allies of the ^mpir© 
 ftgain3t thp Sftracens, 681, 
 
 Kindaswintha, seizes the Visigoth throne at 
 age of seventy-nine, ii, 546 ; ruthlessly 
 slaughters about 700 of the nobles, 646. 
 
 Kobad (or Kowad), king of Persia, takes up 
 socialistic doctrines, ii, 159 ; makes war 
 upon the Roman Empire, 159; defeated 
 and makes peace, 169 ; again attacks the 
 empire, 200 ; death, 201. 
 
 Kotrigur Huns, The, ii, 297. 
 
 Kufa, see Bagdad. 
 
 Labarum, The, sacred banner of Constantino, 
 its origin, i, 384 ; subsequent history, 384. 
 
 Laddies' dress. Change in, necessitates widen- 
 ing the seat of the emperor's tribunal, i, 
 164. 
 
 Ladies' hair, curious arrangement of in 2nd 
 century, i, 211 ; contrast with Ist century. 
 211. '* 
 
 Ladies' fringes, denounced by Chrvsostom. 
 ii, 29. J .r . 
 
 Ladies' titles in Later Roman Empire in 8th 
 century, ii, 690. 
 
 Laeta, second wife of Gratian, i, 653; her 
 charitable conduct during siege of Rome, 
 ii, 45. 
 
 Lake Janda, Battle of, Saracens defeat Visi- 
 goths at, ii, 647. 
 
 Lambaesis, Third legion transferred thence to 
 Cologne as a pimishment, i, 312 ; capital 
 of second division of North Africa moved 
 thence to Cirta by Constantino, 427; ruins 
 showing perfect example of a Roman 
 " camp," ii, 81. 
 
 Language, Greek, finally supplants Latin, ii. 
 449. 
 
 Last view of Imperial Rome, ii, 222. 
 
 Lateran Palace, The, presented by Constantino 
 and Fausta to the Bishop of Rome, i, 415 ; 
 converted into a church named Basilica 
 Constantiniana, 415 ; becomes principal 
 church in Rome, 416. 
 
 Lateranus, Plautius, put to death by Nero, i, 
 146. 
 
 Later Roman Empire, see Roman Empire. 
 
 Later Roman Empire, Name of, adopted, ii, 
 146. 
 
 Latin declared by Justinian the official 
 language, ii, 199; decline in its use, 336; 
 finally supplanted by Greek, 449. 
 
 Latin race, Tenacity of the, ii, 329. 
 
 Latrocinium, The, name given to the 
 council held under Theodosius II, ii, 90 ; 
 disgraceful proceedings thereat, 90. 
 
 Laurentius, Archbishop of Canterbury, refuses 
 to fly when Kent renounces Christianity, 
 ii, 433. 
 
 Lauretum (Laurel-grove), Palace of the, built 
 by Galla Placidia, ii, 96 ; murder there of 
 Odoacer by Theodoric, 163. 
 
 Lawrence, St., martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 persecution, i, 330. 
 
 Lawrence, St., Church of, at Rome, built by 
 Constantino, i, 432 ; rebuilt by the empress 
 Galla Placidia, ii, 94. 
 
 Laws. Code of the Roman law drawn up by 
 Antoninus Pius, i, 239 ; laws of Constantino 
 the Great, 394; code of the laws of the 
 Christian emperors of 4th century (the 
 Theodosian Code), ii, 74 ; laws of the Vis}» 
 goths drawn up by Euric, 126 ; law9 of thq 
 Franks under Clovis (the Salic lawp), 156 i 
 laws of the Ostrogoths di'awn up by Theo, 
 doric, 168; great Code of the Roman law 
 ^T^wn up by Jugtlrimii, 198 { Jftws of tjis 
 
 m 
 
650 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lombards drawn up by Rotharis, 431 ; 
 laws of the Saxons drawn up by Ina, 616 ,' 
 Code of the Roman law for first time drawn 
 up in Greek by Leo III, with three sub- 
 sidiary codes, 682. 
 Legend, how the meaning of the word has 
 become reversed, i, 368; its original 
 significance, 369. 
 Legion, The Roman, its organization, i, 18 ; 
 armament, 19 ; rate of pay, 19 ; conditions 
 of service, 19 ; care taken in selection of 
 the men, 19 ; splendid discipline, 19 ; 
 auxiliary corps, 20 ; number of legions 
 maintained, 20 ; similarity to our organiza- 
 tion in India, 20 ; size of the legion reduced 
 by Constantino, 427 ; curious mode in 
 which this reduction has been criticized, 
 ' 428. 
 Legions, the Second (Legio Augusta), stationed 
 at Caerleon-on-Usk, i, 286 ; the Third, 
 stationed in North Africa, transferred for 
 26 years from Lambaesis to Cologne, 312 ; 
 the Sixth (Legio Victrix), stationed at York, 
 built the Roman Wall, 286 ; the Ninth, de- 
 feated and almost destroyed by Boadicea, 
 133 ; the Twelfth, given name of the 
 "Thundering Legion," 261 ; the Twentieth, 
 given name of Legio Valeria Victrix, 107 ; 
 Julius Agricola for a long time commanded 
 it, 181 ; stationed at Chester, 286. 
 Leintwardine, Battle of, against Caractacus, 
 
 i. 112. 
 Lentienses, The, subdued by Gratian, i, 622. 
 Leo I, emperor, ii, 122 ; the first emperor 
 crowned by an ecclesiastical authority, 123 ; 
 able rule, 123 ; long prevented from oppos- 
 ing the Vandals by Aspar, 123 ; ransoms the 
 empress Eudoxia, 123 ; begins important 
 chanfie in the army by substituting 
 Isaurians for Teutons, 123 ; sends great 
 Armada against the Vandals, 124 ; causes 
 Aspar to be assassinated, 126 ; surrenders 
 island of Jotaba, 126 ; death, 126. 
 Leo II, emperor, son of Leo I, death at five 
 
 years old, ii, 126. 
 Leo III, emperor, ii, 650 ; able defence of 
 Constantinople during a year's siege by the 
 Saracens, 660 ; crushingly defeats them, 
 651 ; birth of a son, 662 ; decadent con- 
 dition of the empire at his accession, 664 ; 
 breathes new life into it, 664 ; numerous 
 and radical reforms, 566 ; begins the war 
 against images, 666 ; opposite opinions 
 regarding his Iconoclastic policy, 666 ; his 
 mistaken methods, 666 ; first action in the 
 contest, 569 ; suppresses the college of 
 Constantinople, 660 ; storm raised in Italy, 
 561 ; endeavours to force Germanus, Pope 
 of Constantinople, to agree to the Icono- 
 clastic policy, 662 ; deposes him, 662 ; 
 sends fleet to Italy to seize Gregory III, 
 Pope of Rome, 676 ; transfers the dioceses of 
 southern Italy to the eastern patriarchate, 
 676 ; orders the much revered picture, the 
 Hodegetria, to be burnt, 579 ; severely 
 defeats the Saracens at battle of Acroinon 
 682 ; promulgates code of the Roman 
 laws for the first time drawn up in Greek, 
 682 ; its preamble, 682 ; attaches to it 
 three important subsidiary codes, 583 ; 
 commerce and wealth of the empire in his 
 time, 585 ; security to life and property, 
 586 ; Later Roman Empire as reorganized 
 by him superior to empire of Charlemagne, 
 1586 ; contrast between it and the kingdomg 
 
 INDEX 
 
 of the West, 686 ; breathes a new spirit 
 into the army, 686 ; character and achieve 
 ments, 691 ; death, 691. 
 Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, birth, ii, log • 
 character, 108 ; becomes Bishop of Rome' 
 108 ; his letter (the Tome) written to 
 Fourth General Council, 106 ; attempts to 
 alter decision of the General Council re- 
 garding precedence of Rome over Con! 
 stantinople, 107 ; meets with a refusal, 107 * 
 utilizes name of Rome to exalt his see,' 109 • 
 adopts unlawful methods, 109 ; marked 
 coldness of the empress Galla Placidia to 
 wards him, 109-110; shameful conduct 
 towards Hilary of Aries, 110 ; meeting with 
 Attila at the Mincio, 114; induces Attila 
 to retire, 114; powerful personality, 115; 
 death, 126 ; writer of many of the collects 
 in Prayerbook of the Church of England, 
 126. 
 Leonides, father of Origen, i, 294 ; martyred 
 
 at Alexandria in Fifth persecution, 294."^ 
 Leontius, joins revolt raised by the empress 
 
 Verina, ii, 147 ; death, 147. 
 
 Leontius, usurper, commands army sent by 
 
 Justinian II against Iberia, ii, 511; re- 
 
 volts against him, 513 ; seizes the throne, 
 
 614 ; banished, 619 ; put to death, 523. 
 
 Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, ii, 350 ; fiery 
 
 nature, 350 ; hatred against the Catholic 
 
 religion, 350 ; marries his eldest son to 
 
 daughter of Sigibert, king of Austrasia, 3r)l ; 
 
 banishes his son for accepting the Catholic 
 
 faith, 352 ; makes war upon him, 352 ; 
 
 defeats king of the Suevi and annexes his 
 
 kingdom, 352 ; captures his son and puts 
 
 him to death, 362 ; death, 352. 
 
 Lepidus, member of triumvirate with Marc 
 
 Antony and Octavius, i, 6 ; given rule of 
 
 North Africa, 6 ; defeated by Sextus Pom- 
 
 peius, 7. 
 
 Lepidus, husband of Caligula's sister Drusilla, 
 
 put to death by Caligula, i, 90. 
 Letters of Ignatius, apparent mistake as to 
 
 their date, i, 225. 
 Lex de Majestate, law regarding crimes against 
 the State, i, 57 ; its scope nrnch extended 
 by Tiberius, 67 ; by abuse becomes a means 
 for venting personal hatred, 08 ; employed 
 by Sejanus and Agrippina to remove eacli 
 other's adherents, 68. 
 Libanius, Pagan rhetorician, relates Julian's 
 conversations with the gods, i, 470-477 ; 
 instructor of Chrysostom, 661. 
 Liberius, Bishop of Rome, banished and 
 imprisoned by Constantius, i, 460 ; gives 
 way and signs the Arian Creed, 460 ; erects 
 the Liberian Basilica in Rome, 460. 
 Licinianus, son of Licinius and Constantia, 
 mysteriously put to death at twelve years 
 old, i, 416. 
 Licinius, Emperor, given by Galerius the rank 
 of Augustus, i, 371 ; makes an alliance with 
 Constantine, 377 ; married to Constantia 
 at Milan, 377 ; defeats Maximin, 378 ; puts 
 to death his wife and children, 378 ; makes 
 war upon Constantine, 379 ; defeated at 
 battle of Cibalae, 679 ; again defeated at 
 battle of Mardia, 380 ; left with the rule of 
 four provinces, 380 ; cruelly puts to death 
 the empresses Prisca and Valeria, 38 1 ; again 
 makes war upon Constantine, 400 ; de- 
 feated at battle of Hadrianople, 401 ; 
 again defeated at battle of Chrysopolis, 
 401 J ftt intercession of Constantia his life 
 
 651 
 
 spared, 401 ; retires to Thessalonica, 401 ; con- 
 spires against Constantine and executed, 40 1 . 
 
 Limenius, Prefect of Gaul, killed in massacre 
 at Pavia under Honorius, ii, 40. 
 
 Limes, The, fortified rampart between the 
 Rhine and the Danube, i, 211 ; strengthened 
 by Trajan, 210 ; reconstructed of stone bv 
 Probus, 340. 
 
 Lindisfarne, called " the Holy Isle," ii, 435 ; 
 community planted there from lona by 
 Aidan, 435 ; schools for teaching mis- 
 sionaries the Anglian language, 436 ; large 
 part of England converted from thence, 
 435 ; sends missionaries to Germany, 671. 
 
 Linus, first Bishop of Rome, appointed by St. 
 Peter, i, 166 ; contrast between him and 
 first Bishop of Anti6ch, 159; apparently 
 escaped from Rome before the persecution 
 by Nero, 171 ; mentioned by St. Paul at 
 his second visit to Rome, 171. 
 
 Literature, principal writers and their works 
 in time of Augustus, i, 17-18 ; in time of 
 Nero, 141, 146 and 271 ; in time of Trajan, 
 109 and 271 ; in 2nd century, 272 ; in 3rd 
 century, 367 ; in 4th century, 588-689 ; 
 in 6th century, ii, 8, 21, 23 and 139. 
 
 Liutprand, chosen king of the Lombards, ii, 
 663 ; forces Farwald, duke of Spoleto to 
 restore Classis, 663 ; captures and destroys 
 Classis, 664 ; annual laws, 564 ; triangular 
 duel with Exarch and Pope of Rome, 664 ; 
 subdues dukes of Spoleto and Beneventum, 
 665 ; misrepresented as a champion against 
 Iconoclasm, 566 ; assists Charles Martel 
 against the Saracens, 570 ; attacks Rome 
 and takes four cities of the imperial terri- 
 tory, 670. 
 
 Livia, first empress, daughter of Livius Drusus 
 Claudianus, i, 27 ; greatness of the Clau- 
 dian family, 28 ; married at fifteen to 
 Tiberius Claudius, 28 ; suffers dangers and 
 hardships while accompanying him in the 
 civil war, 28 ; induces him to divorce her 
 and marries Octavius (afterwards Augustus), 
 28; beauty and attractions, 29 ; importance 
 to Octavius of this marriage, 29 ; her good 
 sense and moderation, 29 ; considered 
 by the Romans " the perfect model of a 
 lady of high society," 30 ; speech in the 
 Senate regarding her, 30 ; becomes the 
 first of all empresses, 31 ; strong artistic 
 tastes, 31 ; her two sons, 31 ; abuse heaped 
 upon her by the party of Scribonia, 32 ; 
 mortification she was forced to endure, 33 ; 
 loss of her younger son, 33 ; at seventy- 
 two left a widow, 34 ; Augustus' dying 
 speech to her, 23 ; disagreements with her 
 son Tiberius, 34 ; her death, 34 ; her high 
 character, 35 ; generosity and humane 
 disposition, 36 ; her house on the Palatine 
 hill, 36 ; paintings with which adorned, 
 36 ; her villa on the Flaminian Way, 37 ; 
 paintings of its atrium, 37 ; tomb of her 
 chief servants on the Appian Way, 37. 
 Livia Orestilla, bride of Caius Piso, carried 
 off by Caligula, i, 87 ; after a few days 
 divorced and banished, 87. 
 Liyilla, daughter of Drusus and Antonia, 
 i, 60 ; married to Drusus, son of Tiberius 
 60 ; corrupted by Sejanus and under his 
 influence poisons Drusus, 67 ; takes 
 refuge with her mother Antonia and starves 
 herself to death, 70. 
 Livy, principal historian during reign of 
 Augustus, i, 17 ; death, 18. 
 
 Logothetae, The, tax-collectors of Justinian, 
 ii, 255 ; their vicious practices, 255 ; their 
 operations in North Africa, 208 ; cause a 
 revolt, 268 ; destroy for a time the pros- 
 perity of North Africa, 269. 
 
 Lollia, wife of Memmius Regulus, i, 87 ; taken 
 as a wife by Caligula, 87 ; divorced, 87. 
 
 Lollia Paulina, banished by Agrippina, i, 114 ; 
 tribtme sent by latter with orders to bring 
 back her head, 114. 
 
 Lombards, The, originally situated on the 
 Elbe, ii, 294 ; name derived from that dis- 
 trict, 294 ; instigated by Justinian to attack 
 the Gepidae, 294 ; fierce wars with them, 
 295 ; call in the Avars to their assistance, 
 325 ; exterminate the Gepid®, and take 
 Noricum and Pannonia, 325 ; invade Italy, 
 327 ; their ferocity specially noted, 327 ; 
 rapid conquest, 328 ; trample Italy under 
 foot, 329 ; ten years' anarchy, 332 ; 
 Autharis made king, 355 ; attacked by 
 Austrasia, 356 ; Autharis married to 
 Thiudalinda, 357 ; at his death Thiudalinda 
 married to Agilulf, 357 ; change in the 
 Lombards wrought by her, 358 ; reverence 
 of the Lombards for her memory, 426 ; 
 Rotharis, 430 ; his code of laws, 431 ; 
 Bavarian line of Lombard kings, 477 ; 
 Apulia and Calabria taken from the Lom- 
 bards by Constans II, 480 ; Liutprand, 
 663 ; consolidates the Lombard kingdom. 
 564. ^ 
 
 London, captured and destroyed by Boadicea, 
 i, 133 ; Roman colony there re-established 
 by Hadrian, 227 ; given title of Londinium 
 Augusta by Valentinian I, 501 ; British 
 Mint established by him, 501 ; largo export 
 of corn from the port of London, 601. 
 
 Long hair carefully arranged a custom of the 
 Merovingian family, ii, 154. 
 
 Longinianus, Prefect of Italy, killed in mas- 
 sacre at Pavia under Honorius, ii, 40. 
 
 Longinines, Count of Isauria, heads revolt of 
 the Isaurians against Anastasius I , ii, 1 58. 
 
 Longinus, brother of emperor Zeno, attempts 
 to seize the throne, ii, 152, 
 
 Longinus of Cardala, Isaurian official, joins 
 revolt against Anastasius I, ii, 158. 
 
 Longinus, Prefect of Ravenna, captivated by 
 Rosamund, ii, 332. 
 
 Long Wall, The, a wall and canal, constructed 
 by Anastasius I, ii, 160. 
 
 Lothaire, with his brother Bucelin, leads a 
 raid of Franks and Allemanni into Italy, 
 ii, 311; ravages southern Italy, 311; 
 departs for Brenner Pass with much spoil, 
 311 ; dies near Trent, 311. 
 
 Lucan, poet, implicated in conspiracy of Piso 
 against Nero, i, 146 ; tries to purchase 
 safety by involving his mother, 143 ; put 
 to death, 146. 
 
 Lucia, St., martyred at Syracuse in Tenth 
 persecution, i, 360. 
 
 Lucian, St., martyred at Beauvais in Tenth 
 persecution, i, 360. 
 
 Lucian, Count of the East, beaten to death by 
 Rufinus, ii, 11. 
 
 Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and 
 Faustina, i, 247 ; married to Lucius Verus, • 
 248 ; second marriage, 253 ; organizes 
 plot against her brother Commodus, 277 ; 
 banished and put to death, 277. 
 Lucius I, Bishop of Rome, martyred in Sixth 
 
 persecution, i, 321. 
 Lucius Caesar, son of Marcus Agrippa and 
 
 11 
 
652 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 653 
 
 Julia, adopted by Augustus, i, 33 ; death at 
 
 Marseilles, 34. 
 Luke, St., writes at Caesarea the Gospel of St. 
 
 Luke, i, 151 ; accompanies St. Paul to 
 
 Rome, 151 ; writes there the Acta of the 
 
 Apostles, 153. 
 Lupicinus, official of Valens, i, 521. 
 Lutetia (Paris), favourite city of Julian, i, 
 
 470 ; practically founded by him, 470 ; 
 
 palace there built by him still remaining. 
 
 Luxury in time of the Roman Republic, 
 
 Instances of, i, 15. 
 Lyons, Events at, in Fourth persecution, i. 
 
 262. ^ 
 
 Lysippus, sculptor in zenith of Greek art, i, 
 
 430. 
 
 Macedonia, ravaged by the Huns, ii, 88. 
 
 Macedonian heresy. The, i, 536. 
 
 Macedonius, Archbishop of Constantinople in 
 4th century, i, 536. 
 
 Macedonius, Pope of Constantinople in 5th 
 century, ii, 161 ; exiled by Anastasius I, 161. 
 
 Macrianus, chief of the Magi, becomes min- 
 ister of Valerian, i, 325 ; induces him to 
 order slaughter of the Christians, 326 ; 
 treacherously causes destruction of Valerian 
 and whole Roman army, 324 ; sets up an 
 independent kingdom, 331 ; overthrown 
 by Odenathus and Zenobia, 332. 
 
 Macrinus, emperor, after assassinating Cara- 
 calla procures his own election, i, 305 ; 
 causes Julia Domna to commit suicide and 
 banishes Julia Maesa, 305 ; defeated and 
 slain, 305. 
 
 Macro, made by Tiberius commander of the 
 Praetorian Guards, i, 70 ; put to death by 
 Caligula, 87. 
 
 Magarize, To, meaning of the term, ii, 539. 
 
 Magi, priests of the religion of Zoroaster, i, 
 325 ; name subsequently applied to priests 
 of any eastern religion, 325. 
 
 Magical arts. Fantastic charges regarding use 
 of, i, 507. 
 
 Magic ring suspended over metal dish, i, 513. 
 
 Magnentius, usurper, kills Constans I, i, 454 ; 
 puts to death Nepotian and his mother 
 Eutropia, 454 ; defeated by Constantius 
 at battle of Mursa, 458 ; death, 458. 
 
 Mahomed, Prophet, ii, 435 ; his new religion, 
 
 435 ; flight to Medina, 436 ; takes Mecca, 
 
 436 ; incorporates reverence for the Kaaba 
 in the new religion, 436 ; subdues most of 
 Arabia, 436 ; death, 436. 
 
 Mahomedans, The, ii, 436 ; their rapid sweep 
 of conquest, 436 ; attack Syria, 437 ; spirit 
 in which they fought, 437 ; unfair estimate 
 formed of the Romans in this contest, 437 ; 
 defeat of men determined to die, 438 ; 
 "those who love death," 439; similar 
 results seen in regard to the Persians, 440 ; 
 battles of Ajnadein, Pella, and Marjasuffar, 
 441 ; capture of Damascus, 442 ; battle 
 of the Yermuk, 443 ; capture of Jerusalem, 
 444 ; conquest of Mesopotamia, 444 ; 
 attack upon Persia, 449 ; battles of " the 
 Chains " and the " River of Blood," 449 ; 
 battles of Firdah, Boweib, and Kadesia, 
 450 ; Ctesiphon taken and destroyed, 450 ; 
 battles of Yaluiah and Neliavend, 460; 
 Persia conquered, 450 ; Bagdad and Basra 
 founded, 451 ; Scinde subdued, 451 ; 
 Egypt attacked, 461 ; seven battles fought 
 
 ilo''"'?^ months, 451 ; Alexandria taken, 
 of North Africa, 459; battle of Sufetula 
 
 ^f^r;^^}'"^ *^,*i?? **" ^^yP*' ^60; capture' 
 of Rhodes and Cyprus, 472 ; naval battle 
 of Phoenix, 472; permanent division 
 among the Mahomedans, 473 ; two rival 
 Khalifs, 473 ; Sunnis and Shiahs, 473 . 
 capital removed from Medina to Damascus' 
 473 ; Omeyyad dynasty established, 473 • 
 new policy inaugurated regarding those 
 refusing to become Mahomedans, 473 • 
 capture Carthage, but again driven out of 
 North Africa by Constans II, 481 ; Okba 
 sent to attack North Africa, 492 ; ' founds 
 Kairowan, 492 ; five years' siege of Con- 
 stantinople, 493 ; crushing defeat, 495 ; 
 tragedy of Kerbela, destroying last descon' 
 dants of the Prophet, 501 ; Okba's raid in 
 North Africa, 508; Khalif Abdul Malik 
 surrenders Armenia, Iberia, Arzanene, and 
 Atropatne, 511; Carthage captured and 
 destroyed, 518; Mahomedans again driven 
 out of North Africa, 520 ; severely defeated 
 in Cilicia, 520 ; advance under Musa from 
 Egypt against North Africa, 531 ; in five 
 years' campaign conquer North Africa, 
 533 ; slaughter of the Roman population, 
 538-542 ; advance against Spain, 546 ; 
 battle of Lake Janda, 547 ; conquer Spain] 
 648 ; put in force new policy there, 648 ; 
 conquer large part of northern India, 549; 
 great siege of Constantinople under Omar 
 II, 551 ; effect of its defeat upon the Omey- 
 yad dynasty, 562 ; Abdul Rahman invades 
 France, 567 ; great battle of Poictiers, 669 ; 
 Mahomedans crushingly defeated and retire 
 into Spain, 570. 
 
 Mahomedan era. The, ii, 436. 
 
 Mailed cavalry, first organized by Constantius 
 i, 452 ; their armament, ii, 206. 
 
 Main road from Constantinople to the West, 
 Route of, i, 471 ; distances by, 611. 
 
 Majeatas, Law of, i, 68. 
 
 Manuel, general of Heraclius, defends Alex- 
 andria for 14 months, ii, 451 ; forced to 
 surrender the city, 468 ; makes ineffectual 
 endeavour to recover it, 469. 
 
 Marble for buildings in Rome, whence chiefly 
 imported, i, 16; magnitude of the trade, 
 242 ; different kinds used in Baths of Cara- 
 calla, 303. 
 
 Marc Antony, contest with Octa vius, i, 5 ; 
 joins with him in a triumvirate, 6 ; wins 
 battle of Philippi, 6 ; obtains rule of the 
 East, 6 ; proposes to found an independent 
 empire with Cleopatra, 7 ; divorces Octavia 
 in favour of Cleopatra, 7 ; defeated at 
 battle of Actium, 7 ; commits suicide, 7. 
 
 Marcella, niece of Augustus, married to Mar- 
 cus Agrippa, i, 10 ; divorced, 11. 
 
 Marcellinus, Ammianus, see Ammianus. 
 
 Marcellinus, imperial treasurer, assists the 
 usurper Magnentius, i, 456. 
 
 Marcellinus, Count of Illyricum, his words 
 regarding end of western half of the empire, 
 ii, 128; his writings, 139. 
 
 Marcellus, nephew of Augustus, i, 11. 
 
 Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, one of the two 
 chief speakers at First General Council, i, 
 409. 
 
 Marcia Furnilla, second wife of Titus, i, 186. 
 
 Marcia, holds almost the position of empress 
 after death of Crispina, i, 278 ; tries to 
 prevent Commodus from appearing as a 
 
 gladiator, 278 ; protects Christians, 278 ; 
 joins in causing death of Commodus, 278. 
 Marcian, emperor, chosen by Pulcheria and 
 married by her, ii, 92 ; refuses to pay the 
 tribute to Attila, 92 ; after Pulcheria's 
 death reigns in his own right, 117; abstains 
 from rendering help against the Vandals 
 owing to a vow, 122 ; death, 122 ; testi- 
 mony of posterity to the excellence of his 
 rule, 153. 
 Marcian, general, defeats the Persians at 
 
 battle of Sargathon, ii, 334. 
 Marciana, sister of Trajan, i, 211. 
 Marcomanni, The, ravage Rhaetia, Noricum, 
 and Pannonia for 14 years, i, 249-255; 
 immense number of captives carried off by 
 them, 249 ; peace concluded by Commodus, 
 276 ; given by Gallienus a large part of 
 Pannonia, 333. 
 Marcus Agrippa, commands fleet at battle of 
 Actium, i, 7 ; constant companion and 
 adviser of Augustus, 10 ; married to Mar- 
 cella, 10 ; builds the Pantheon, three aque- 
 ducts at Rome, and the aqueduct at Nismes, 
 11 ; divorced from Marcella and married 
 to Julia, 11 ; death, 11. 
 Marcus Aurelius, emperor, specially chosen 
 by Hadrian, i, 246 ; education, 246 ; at 
 eleven years old becomes a Stoic, 246 ; 
 attractive character, 247 ; married to 
 Faustina, 247 ; becomes emperor, 247 ; 
 his " Meditations," 247 ; series of public 
 calamities, 249 ; numerous duties per- 
 formed by him, 260 ; operations against 
 the Marcomanni and Quadi, 261 ; pro- 
 ceeds to the Rhine, 263 ; called thence to 
 Syria to meet a revolt, 253 ; death of 
 Faustina, 254 ; honours paid by him to 
 her memory, 254 ; proceeds to Egypt, 254 ; 
 publishes edict for general massacre of 
 Christians throughout the empire, 255 ; 
 again proceeds to the Danube provinces to 
 oppose the Marcomanni and Quadi, 255 ; 
 death from infectious disease, 255 ; his 
 equestrian statue in Rome, 256 ; solemn 
 ceremonies with which he inaugurated the 
 first general persecution of Christians, 259 ; 
 general character of the persecution, 260— 
 266 ; this action considered the great blot 
 upon his character and reign, 266 ; endea- 
 vours which have been made to palliate 
 it, 266 ; his action bluntly declared by 
 Pagan writers due to expediency, 266 ; 
 contrast between his deed and the senti- 
 ments expressed in his writings, 267 ; his 
 casting aside the principles of his two pre- 
 decessors, 268 ; condemnation of his deed 
 by John Stuart Mill, 269. 
 Marcus the Deacon, his account of the birth 
 
 of Theodosius II, ii, 27-28. 
 Mardia, Battle of. Victory of Constantino 
 
 over Licinius, i, 380. 
 Margaret, St., daughter of a Pagan priest, 
 martjnred at Antioch in Tenth persecution, 
 i, 360. 
 Margus, Battle of, won by Diocletian against 
 
 Carinus, i, 344. 
 Maria, Sta., in Trastevere, Church of, in Rome, 
 founded in reign of Alexander Severus, i, 
 310. 
 Maria, empress, daughter of Stilicho, married 
 
 to Honorius, ii, 14 ; death, 37. 
 Maria, empress, wife of Leo III, ii, 563 ; bears 
 a son, 553 ; munificence at her coronation, 
 663. 
 
 Marina, second daughter of Arcadius and 
 Eudoxia, ii, 16 ; death, 92. 
 
 Maritime Code, The, of Leo III, ii, 582 ; com- 
 prehensive character, 583 ; becomes the 
 universal code for sea traffic during the 
 Middle Ages, 583 ; basis of the maritime 
 laws of all nations, 683 ; also called the 
 Rhodian Code, 583. 
 
 Mark, St., sent by St. Peter to Egypt, i, 122 ; 
 founds the Church of Alexandria, 124 ; 
 apparently at Rome shortly before St. 
 Peter was martyred, 169 ; sent for by 
 St. Paul, 170. 
 
 Martin, St., of Tours, ii, 189. 
 
 Martin I, Pope of Rome, ii, 468 ; defies the 
 edict of Constans II, 469 ; trial and banish- 
 ment, 470 ; death, 470. 
 
 Martina, empress, second wife of Heraclius, 
 ii, 403 ; joins Heraclius in Pontus after 
 his first campaign against the Persians, 412 ; 
 accompanies him during several of his 
 campaigns, 419; returns with him to 
 Chalcedon, 422 ; disturbed about his 
 health, 443 ; left by his will the supreme 
 authority in conjunction with three of his 
 sons, 456 ; opposed by the Senate, 467 ; 
 orders the army of Thrace to the capital, 
 457 ; deprived of authority by the Senate, 
 banished, and her tongue mutilated, 457 ; 
 ability and force of character, 458. 
 
 Martyrdoms, Number of. Dr. Arnold's words 
 on the point, i, 261. 
 
 Martyropolis, Battle of, defeat of the Persians 
 at, ii, 342. 
 
 Mascezel, appeals against his brother Gildo 
 the Moor, ii, 14. 
 
 Massacre, The Vatican, by Nero, i, 163 ; des- 
 cription by Tacitus, 164 ; by a Christian 
 writer of modern times, 166 ; names of 
 some of those slain, 167-168. 
 
 Massacre of the Gothic boy hostages, i, 526. 
 
 Masterpieces, Greek, taken from disused 
 Pagan temples to adorn Constantinople, i, 
 422. 
 
 Matasuntha, daughter of Theodoric's daughter 
 Amalasuntha, ii, 216 ; forcibly married 
 by Witigis, 221 ; carried captive to Con- 
 stantinople, 246 ; treated as a friend by 
 the empress Theodora, 245 ; after death 
 of Witigis married to Justinian's nephew 
 Germanus, 296 ; bears him a posthumous 
 son, 296. 
 
 Matidia, niece of Trajan, i, 230. 
 
 Matthew, St., takes as his sphere southern 
 Egypt and Ethiopia, i, 122 ; writes his 
 Gospel, 155 ; martyred in Egypt, 170. 
 
 Matthias, St., preaches in Judaea, and mar- 
 tyred there, 1, 123. 
 
 Maturus, young son of Attains, mart5rred at 
 Lyons in Fourth persecution, i, 263-264. 
 
 Mauretania, given by Augustus to Juba, i, 
 8 ; annexed by Claudius, 101. 
 
 Mauriac Plain, Great battle of the, ii, 100 ; 
 its site, 100 ; decided whether Europe in 
 future to be Teuton or Tartar, 101 ; no 
 tactics employed, 101 ; furious charges 
 of the Huns, 102 ; victory of the allies, 102 ; 
 immense slaughter in the two armies, 102 ; 
 Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, killed, 
 102 ; retreat of the Huns, 102 ; legends 
 regarding the battle, 102. 
 
 Maurice, emperor, success as commander 
 on Persian frontier, ii, 336 ; invades Car- 
 duene, 336 ; succeeds Tiberius II as 
 emperor, 339 ; marriage to his daughter 
 
654 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 655 
 
 Constantina, 339; high character and 
 ability, 340 ; his difficulties, 340 ; attitude 
 in religious matters, 341 ; successes and 
 reverses in Persian war, 341 ; by sagacious 
 action in regard Chosroes II brings the 
 war to a successful end, 342 ; curbs the 
 Avars, 343 ; instigates Brunhilda to attack 
 the Lombards, 366 ; refuses to annul 
 election of Gregory the Great, 362 ; objects 
 to latter's action in concluding a peace 
 with Lombard duke of Spoleto, 368 ; the 
 first to realize value of Armenia as a recruit- 
 ing ground, 374; by an ill-timed order 
 causes mutiny of the troops on the Danube, 
 375 ; takes refuge at Chalcedon, 376 ; 
 slain with his six sons by Phocas, 376. 
 
 Mauritius, Prefect of Rome, intercedes for 
 St. Clement, i, 222. 
 
 Maurus, Archbishop of Ravenna, ii, 481. 
 
 Maurus Bessus, sent by Justinian II to destroy 
 Cherson, ii, 626 ; revolts, 626 ; kills the boy 
 Tiberius, ending the dynasty of Heraclius, 
 526. 
 
 Mausoleum of Hadrian, i, 233 ; its three 
 stories decorated with statues, 233 ; spolia- 
 tion it has suffered, 233. 
 
 Mausoleum of Diocletian, i, 379. 
 
 Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, ii, 96 ; mosaics, 
 96 ; three notable sarcophagi, 97 ; her 
 alabaster sarcophagus, 98 ; buried in it 
 sitting in her chair, and remained thus for 
 eleven centuries, 98. 
 
 Mausoleum of Theodoric the Great, ii, 187. 
 
 Maxentius, emperor, brutal character and 
 incapacity, i, 371 ; revolts against Severus, 
 371 ; banishes his father Maximian, 371 ; 
 tyrannical rule of Italy, 373 ; prepares to 
 attack Constantine, 373 ; defeated at 
 Saxa Rubra and drowned, 376. 
 
 Maxentius, Circus of, i, 373. 
 
 Maximian, emperor, chosen as colleague by 
 Diocletian, i, 346 ; character, 346 ; con- 
 quers Moorish tribes in North Africa, 348 . 
 celebrates triumph with Diocletian at 
 Rome, 351 ; abdicates at Milan, 352 
 resumes the throne, 371 ; defeats Severus 
 371 ; marries his daughter Fausta to Con 
 stantine, 371 ; banished by his son Maxen 
 tins, 371 ; takes refuge with Constantine 
 at Trdves, 372 ; makes two attempts 
 against Constantine 's life, 372 ; upon 
 second attempt forced to commit suicide. 
 372. 
 
 Maximianus, Archbishop of Ravenna, sup- 
 posed author of the Anonymus Valesii, li, 
 1 68 ; carries out works constructed at 
 Ravenna in Justinian's reign, 274 ; con- 
 secrates church of St. Vitalis, 276 ; adorns 
 chapel of the Archbishops with mosaics, 
 282 ; consecrates church of St. Apollinare 
 in Classe, 282 ; sarcophagus and ivory 
 throne, 282. 
 
 Maximin, emperor, barbarian shepherd of 
 Thrace, i, 310 ; inunense height, 310 ; pro- 
 moted by Caracalla, 310 ; revolts against 
 Alexander Severus, 309 ; brutal character, 
 310 ; drives back the Allemanni, 310 ; 
 murdered, 310. 
 
 Maximin, appointed Caesar under Galerius, 
 i, 362 ; revolts against Licinius, 378 ; de- 
 feated by him, 378 ; flies from Nicomedia, 
 378 ; commits suicide, 378. 
 
 Maximin, sent by Justinian as Prefect to 
 Italy, ii. 267. 
 
 Maximinus, official of Valens, i, 621. 
 
 Maximus, usurper, revolts against Gratian i 
 561 ; brutal character, 651 ; usurps Gaul' 
 661 ; bribes Gratian's troops, 652 ; estab* 
 lishes himself at Treves, 669 ; designs upoii 
 Italy foiled by Ambrose and Bauto 669. 
 invades Italy, 663 ; defeated at Siscia and 
 PoBtovio, 663 ; put to death, 564. 
 
 Maximus, chosen by the Senate to succeed 
 Valentinian III, ii, 120 ; forces the widowed 
 empress Eudoxia to marry him, 120 ; torn 
 to pieces by the people, 121. 
 
 Mazdak, earliest teacher of socialism, ii, I59. 
 
 Medical aid. Regular system for, established 
 by Valentinian I, i, 507. 
 
 Melchiades, Bishop of Rome when the city 
 was taken by Constantine, i, 377. 
 
 Meletius, Pope of Antioch, presides at Second 
 General Council, i, 536. 
 
 Mellitus, appointed Bishop of the East Saxons, 
 ii, 432 ; forced to fly to France, 433. 
 
 Menestheus, by forgery causes murder of 
 emperor Aurelian, i, 337. 
 
 Merdasan, Mahomedan general, defeated by 
 Leo III, ii, 651. ^ 
 
 Merobaudes, general, a Frank, faithful ad- 
 viser of Gratian, i, 516; accompanies him 
 to oppose Maximus, 652 ; put to death by 
 Maximus, 553. 
 
 Merogais, Frank king, slain in amphitheatre 
 at Treves, i, 371. 
 
 Merovech, king of the Salian Franks, ancestor 
 of the Merovingian dynasty in France, ii, 154. 
 
 Merovech, son of Chilperic I, marries Brun- 
 hilda and assists her to escape, ii, 347 ; 
 seized and forced to become a priest, 348; 
 assassinated, 348. 
 
 Merovingian dynasty, The, of the Franks 
 founded, ii, 156. 
 
 Mesopotamia conquered by the Mahomedans, 
 ii, 444 ; fertile condition when taken by 
 them, 446. 
 
 Messalina, see Valeria Messalina. 
 
 Metropolitan, Title of, begun to be used, i, 
 329 ; definitely adopted by Second General 
 Council, 508 ; jurisdiction carefully de- 
 fined, 609 ; Metropolitans grouped under 
 Popes, 536 ; their rights viildicated by 
 Hilary of Aries, ii, 110-111. 
 
 Miklagard, name of the Goths for Constan- 
 tinople, its meaning, i, 424. 
 
 Milan, capital of second section of the empire 
 under Diocletian, i, 347 ; capital of western 
 half of the empire under Valentinian I, 
 495; the see of St. Ambrose, 513; its 
 cathedral built by Gratian, 646 ; made 
 his capital for three years by Theodosiua I, 
 664; his death there, 671; besieged by 
 Alaric, ii, 26 ; capital transferred from it to 
 Ravenna, 31. 
 
 Milan, Edict of, i, 386 ; its terms, 386. 
 
 Milan, Cathedral of (now church of St. Am- 
 brose), built by Gratian on site of ruined 
 Temple of Bacchus, i, 645 ; porphyry 
 columns of latter used to support canopy 
 of high altar, and still remaining, 646 ; its 
 doors closed in the face of Theodosius I, 
 666 ; its atrium, 667 ; tomb of St. Ambrose, 
 667 ; the " Iron Crown " kept in this 
 church for eight centuries, 667. 
 
 Milion, The, gold milestone set up in Con- 
 stantinople, i, 422. 
 
 Military service, compulsory in time of the 
 Roman Republic, ii, 133 ; voluntary in 
 time of the Roman emperors, i, 1 9 ; system 
 of, imder the Lombards, ii, 423. 
 
 Military Code of Leo III, ii, 584 ; its com- 
 prehensive character, 684 ; demonstrates 
 a strict discipline, 684. 
 
 Milvian Bridge, Battle of the, see Saxa Rubra. 
 
 Minervina, first wife of Constantine, i, 369 ; 
 her son Crispus born, 370 ; divorced, 371. 
 
 Minor works of art in 4th century, i, 681. 
 
 Mint, British, in London in 4th century, i, 601. 
 
 Mirrors, Corridor lined with, i, 192. 
 
 Mishna, The, sacred book of the Jews, i, 184. 
 
 Misitheus, capable minister of Gordian III, 
 i, 311 ; death, 312. 
 
 Misleading picture drawn by Gibbon of the 
 emperor Gratian, i, 617, 628, 633, and 
 648-550. 
 
 Misopdgdrif The, satire written by Julian, i, 
 482. 
 
 Mistaken view formerly held regarding Later 
 Roman Empire, ii, 167 ; curious remark 
 by Mr. Lecky, 167. 
 
 ^lizizios, usurper in Sicily, ii, 483 ; executed, 
 483. 
 
 Modesta, martyred in Second persecution, i, 
 196. 
 
 Moesia, division of, by Aurelian, i, 336. 
 
 Mohurrum, annual celebration of mourning 
 for the slaughter of Hassan and Hosein, 
 last descendants of the Prophet, by the 
 Omeyyad dynasty, ii, 501. 
 
 Money, Relative value of, during 6th to 8th 
 centuries, ii, 616. 
 
 Monica, mother of St. Augustine, i, 562 ; 
 prays for many years for his conversion, 
 662 ; lives to see him baptized, 562 ; death 
 at Ostia, 662. 
 
 Monophysite heresy. The, ii, 104 ; meaning 
 of name, 104 {see also Eutychian). 
 
 Monothelite heresy. The, ii, 447 ; meaning 
 of name, 447 ; accepted by Popes of An- 
 tioch, Alexandria, and Rome, 447 ; firm 
 stand against it of Sophronius, Pope of 
 Jerusalem, 447. 
 
 Monte Cassino, Monastery of, founded by 
 St. Benedict, ii, 258 ; rules drawn up for it, 
 258 ; made a home of learning, 269 ; re- 
 nowned library, 269 ; sacked by the Lom- 
 bards, 328. 
 
 Montius, quaestor of the palace murdered, 
 by Gallus, i, 459. 
 
 Moors, The, indigenous tribes of North 
 Africa, ii, 527 ; properly Berbers, 627 ; 
 attack the Saracens, 619; drive them 
 back into Egypt, 620 ; defeated at Thys- 
 drus, 632 ; large numbers of them slain, 
 537 ; accept Mahomedanism, 637 ; form 
 advanced force sent against Spain, 646 ; 
 give their name to the Mahomedan con- 
 querors in Spain, 648. 
 
 Mosaic pavement at Nennig, near Trdves, 
 i, 607 ; mosaics in North Africa, ii, 81-83 ; 
 in church of St. Vitalis, Ravenna, 1 97 ; 
 in church of St. Apollinare Nuovo, Ra- 
 venna, 276-280. 
 
 Mosaic pictures of chariots racing and racing 
 stables in 4th century, ii, 82-83. 
 
 Moslemah, brother of Khalif Sulaiman, ii, 
 550 ; leads army to attack Constantinople, 
 660 ; unsuccessful siege of the city, 661 ; 
 abandons the siege, 661. 
 
 Mosque of Omar, built by him in Jerusalem, 
 ii, 444. 
 
 Motanna, Mahomedan general in Persia, ii, 
 460 ; wins battle of Boweib, 460. 
 
 Mount Badon, Battle of, severe defeat of the 
 Saxons at by King Arthiu", ii, 163. 
 
 Muawiyah I, fourth Khalif, ii, 473 ; defeats 
 force sent against him from Constantinople, 
 469 ; begins creation of a fleet, 469 ; be- 
 longed to Omeyyad branch of the Pro- 
 phet's family, 473 ; chosen rival Khalif to 
 Ali, 473 ; causes division among the Ma- 
 homedans, 473 ; becomes sole Khalif, 473 ; 
 removes capital from Medina to Damascus, 
 473 ; establishes the Ome5ryad dynasty 
 of Khalifs, 473 ; poisons Hassan, elder 
 grandson of the Prophet, 473 ; alters 
 character of the Kalifate, 473 ; makes 
 incursions into Asia Minor, 481 ; sends 
 expedition against Sicily, 489 ; ambitious 
 designs, 492 ; sends Okba against North 
 Africa, 492 ; prepares immense Armada 
 to besiege Constantinople, 493 ; puts forth 
 whole resources during five years to gain 
 Constantinople, 494 ; sustains signal defeat, 
 494 ; his spirit crushed, asks for peace, 
 and agrees to pay tribute, 496 ; death, 499. 
 
 Mucapor, general, murders Aurelian owing 
 to a forgery, i, 337. 
 
 Murdock Moor, Battle of, victory of Agricola 
 over the Scots, i, 188. 
 
 Mursa, Battle of, victory of Constantius over 
 the usurper Magnentius, i, 468. 
 
 Musa, Mahomedan governor of Egypt, ii, 631 ; 
 advances against North Africa, 631 ; wins 
 battle at Thysdrus, 632 ; cities in succes- 
 sion taken by him, 633-636 ; at end of five 
 years' campaign reaches Tangier, 636 ; 
 leaves no remnant of the Roman population 
 alive, 536 ; sends a force into Spain, 646 ; 
 himself follows with larger force, 647 ; 
 takes Seville and Merida and subdues 
 Spain, 647 ; inaugurates a new policy, 
 648 ; recalled to Damascus, 549 ; disgraced 
 and retires to Mecca, 649 ; death, 549. 
 
 Music, Ambrosian, ii, 369 ; Gregorian, 369. 
 
 Myron, sculptor belonging to zenith of Greek 
 art, i, 430. 
 
 Nachoragan, Persian general, flayed alive 
 by Chosroes I, ii, 294. 
 
 Naemorius, commander of the guards, killed 
 in massacre at Pavia under Honorius, ii, 
 40. 
 
 Name of Rome, Influence exercised upon 
 mankind by, ii, 17. 
 
 Name Later Roman Empire used from 476 
 to 1453, Preface, p. xi ; reasons for so doing, 
 xi. 
 
 Name Germanic Roman Empire, reasons for 
 using it in preference to Western Roman 
 Empire, Preface, p. xii. 
 
 Narcissus, leading minister of Claudius, i, 
 102 ; induces Claudius to put Valeria Mes- 
 salina to death, 108 ; opposes Agrippina, 
 protecting claims of the boy Britannicus, 
 110 ; banishment and death, 114. 
 
 Narses, king of Persia, defeats Galerius, i, 
 348 ; subsequently defeated by him, 348 ; 
 surrenders Mesopotamia and five districts 
 beyond the Tigris, 348. 
 
 Narses, Grand Chamberlain of Justinian, ii, 
 296 ; appointed to command fresh army 
 for conquest of Italy, 296 ; appearance 
 and character, 297 ; given a free hand as 
 regards money, 297 ; large army collected, 
 297 ; advances to Salona, 298 ; slow 
 movements, 298 ; opposed by the Franks, 
 300 ; march along the seashore, 300 ; 
 reaches Ravenna, 300 ; advances by valley 
 of the Cesano, 300 ; gains pass of Ad Ensem, 
 
656 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 657 
 
 300 ; defeats Totila at battle of Helvillum, 
 302 ; takes Rome, 303 ; war of extermina- 
 tion against the Ostrogoths, 303 ; crushes 
 them at battle of Angri, 304 ; meets raid 
 of Franks and AUemanni, 311 ; restores 
 order in Italy, 312 ; his rule unpopular, 
 326 ; superseded by Justin II, 326 ; retires 
 to Naples, 326 ; invited back to Rome, 
 326 ; death, 326. 
 
 Narses, able general of the emperor Maurice, 
 ii, 394 ; burnt to death by Phocas, 394. 
 
 Naval power. First use of, by Constantine, 
 i, 373. 
 
 Navy, The Roman, naval battle of Actium, 
 i, 7 ; imperial fleet created by Augustus, 
 20 ; its two stations, 20 ; description of 
 ships used, 20 ; naval battle of Phoenix, 
 ii, 472 ; of Constantinople under Constan- 
 tine IV, 493-494 ; of Constantinople under 
 Leo III, 650-552 ; invention and use of 
 the " Romaic fire," 493. 
 
 Nebridius, Prefect of Gaul, his bravo faithful- 
 ness to Constant ius, i, 473. 
 
 Nechtansmere, Battle of, Egferth and whole 
 Northumbrian army destroyed by the 
 Scots, ii, 616. 
 
 Nectaridus, Count of the Saxon Shore under 
 Valentinian I, killed in resisting a raid of 
 the Saxons upon Britain, i, 600. 
 
 Nehavend, Battle of, crowning victory of 
 the Mahomedans over Persia, ii, 450. 
 
 Nepotian, nephew of Constantine, put to death 
 with his mother Eutropia by the usurper 
 Magnentius, i, 454. 
 
 Nero, son of Germanicus and Agrippina the 
 elder, i, 66 ; honours obtained for him 
 by Tiberius, 66 ; married to Tiberius' 
 grand-daughter Julia, 67 ; led by Sejanus 
 to conspire against Tiberius, 68 ; tried by 
 the Senate and imprisoned, 69 ; commits 
 suicide, 69. 
 
 Nero, emperor, son of Domitius Ahenobarbus 
 and Agrippina the younger, i, 90 ; speech 
 of his father at his birth, 90 ; adopted by 
 Claudius, 1 10 ; married to Claudius' daugh- 
 ter, Octavia, 114 ; made emperor by arti- 
 fices of Agrippina, 126 ; appearance and 
 character, 126-126 ; falls in love with Acte, 
 127 ; poisons Britannicus, 128 ; struggle 
 with his mother, 129 ; falls under dominion 
 of Poppaea Sabina, 130 ; murders hia 
 mother, 130 ; triumphal pageant in the 
 Circus Maximus, 132 ; wild revel of ex- 
 cesses, 132-133; murders Octavia, 136; 
 marries Poppaea, 1 36 ; tries and acquits 
 St. Paul, 153 ; plans to build a new palace, 
 136 ; causes Rome to be set on fire, 136 ; 
 accuses the Christians of causing the fire, 
 137 ; causes them to be tortured in various 
 inhuman ways, 160 ; massacre in the Vati- 
 can gardens, 162-163 ; description of it 
 by Tacitus, 164 ; begins construction of 
 the "Golden House," 138; description 
 of it by Suetonius, 139 ; its interior decora- 
 tions, 139-140; climax of "the Terror," 
 141-142 ; aspect it presented to Tacitus, 
 143-144 ; fawning servility of all around 
 Nero, 145; conspiracy of Piso, 146; Nero 
 kills Poppaea, 147 ; murders Antonia, 
 147 ; marries Statilia Messalina, 147 ; 
 confers crown of Armenia upon Tiridates, 
 147 ; visits Greece, 147 ; puts to death 
 Corbulo, 147 ; flies from Rome, 148 ; com- 
 mits suicide, 148 ; buried by Acte, 148 ; 
 his memory execrated, 148. 
 
 Nerva, emperor, i, 201; just rule, 202; 
 associates Trajan with himself, 202 ; com! 
 pletes Forum known by his name, 202 • 
 death, 202. 
 
 Nestorian heresy. The, ii, 76 ; condemned 
 by Third General Council, 77 ; widely 
 adopted from the Euphrates to China, 78. 
 
 Nestorius, Pope of Constantinople, ii, 75*; 
 character, 76 ; doctrine put forward b\' 
 him, 75 ; General Council summoned to 
 determine its orthodoxy, 76 ; refuses to 
 appear, 77 ; deposed from his office, 77 ; 
 banished to Antioch, 78. 
 
 Neustria, north-western part of the Frank 
 kingdom, with capital at Soissons, ii, 345. 
 
 Nevitta, general under Julian, i, 472. 
 
 New Testament, Books of the, when and 
 where written, i, 204-208. 
 
 Nibelungen Lied, The, Attila's history trans- 
 formed therein, ii, 117. 
 
 Nibelungen Ring, The, composed from the 
 Nibelungen Lied and the Edda, ii, 117. 
 
 Nicaea, chosen as place of assembly of First 
 General Council, i, 407 ; position and sur- 
 roundings, 407. 
 
 Nicene Creed, The, drawn up, i, 411 ; its 
 object, 411 ; subsequent value to mankind, 
 411. 
 
 Nicephorus, writer in 8th century, ii, 452. 
 
 Nicetas, commands force sent by Heraclius 
 the elder against Egypt, ii, 396 ; captures 
 Alexandria and defeats forces of Phocas, 
 396. 
 
 Nicolaitans, Sect of the, in 1st century, i, 186. 
 
 Nicomedes, martyred in Second persecution, 
 i, 196. 
 
 Nicomedia, capital of the fourth section of 
 the empire under Diocletian, i, 347 ; death 
 there of Constantine, 441. 
 
 Niger, chosen emperor by legions in Syria, 
 i, 280 ; defeated and killed by Septimius 
 Severus, 281. 
 
 Nika insurrection, The, ii, 201 ; destruc- 
 tion caused, 201 ; rival emperor chosen, 
 202 ; flight proposed by the Council, 203 ; 
 opposed by Theodora, 203 ; the-insurrection 
 subdued, 204 ; effect upon Justinian's 
 position thenceforth, 214. 
 
 Ntobe group of statuary, one of the works 
 adorning the palace of Augustus, i, 26 ; 
 where afterwards found, 26 ; now at Flor- 
 ence, 25. 
 
 Nisibis, chief Roman stronghold on the 
 eastern frontier, i, 302 ; three times be- 
 sieged unsuccessfully by Sapor II, 463; 
 surrendered to him by Jovian, 488 ; outcry 
 at its surrender, 488. 
 
 Nobleman's house in 4th century, Ruins of, 
 called " Palace of the Laberii," at Oudna, 
 ii, 82. 
 
 Nomisma, gold coin, aee Byzant. 
 
 North Africa, invaded by the Vandals, ii, 
 72; its conquest by them completed, 79; 
 great prosperity when conquered by them, 
 80 ; existing remains demonstrating splen- 
 dour of its cities, 80-81 ; its mosaics, 82- 
 83; reconquered by the empire, 211; 
 arrangements for its future rule, 213; 
 immense scheme of fortifications constructed 
 by Justinian for its defence, 242 ; in reign 
 of Constans II first attack upon it by the 
 Mahomedans, 459 ; they retire again to 
 Egypt for 14 years, 460 ; again advance 
 and besiege Tripoli, 478 ; capture Carthage, 
 but city retaken by Constans and the 
 
 Mahomedans driven out of the province, 
 481 ; in reign of Constantine IV again 
 advance, 489 ; flourishing condition of 
 the province, 490 ; numerous fortresses, 
 491 ; Okba founds Kairowan, 492 ; that 
 city several times taken and retaken, 492 ; 
 Okba'sraid and death, 608 ; Kairowan again 
 taken by the empire, 609 ; in reign of Justin- 
 ian II Mahomedans again advance, 618 ; 
 Kairowan retaken by them, 618 ; Carthage 
 taken and retaken, 618 ; battle of Utica, 
 
 618 ; Carthage taken by Hassan and des- 
 troyed, 618 ; Mahomedans defeated by 
 the Moors and driven out of North Africa, 
 
 619 ; retire again to Egypt for five years, 
 
 620 ; eastern district had acted as a shield 
 for 67 years, 526 ; description of rest of the 
 province, 527 ; Roman character of its 
 population, 628 ; evidences of its prosper- 
 ous condition, 529 ; the Mahomedans in 
 704 again advance under Musa, 631 ; 
 general course of his five years' campaign, 
 632 ; cities in succession captured and des- 
 troyed, 633 ; fate of the population, 537 ; 
 the statement tliat they became Mahome- 
 dans, 639 ; impossibility that this can be 
 true, 639 ; testimony of race, 639 ; testi- 
 mony of the land, 540 ; testimony of lan- 
 guage, 641 ; Musa reaches Tangier, 642 ; 
 North Africa left a ruin, 542. 
 
 North Africa, Church of, position in 3rd cen- 
 tury, i, 292 ; school of thought represented 
 by it, 292 ; practical tone, 292 ; suffers 
 greatly in Fifth persecution, 294 ; in 3rd 
 century refuses to be dictated to by Church 
 of Rome, 329 ; in 4th century suffers much 
 discord through the Donatists, 398 ; in 
 6th century again refuses to be dictated 
 to by Church of Rome, ii, 364 ; in 7th 
 century becomes the most important part 
 of the Church in the West, 529 ; in 8th 
 century entirely destroyed by the Mahome- 
 dan invasion, 538. 
 
 Northumbria, made by ^thelfrith the lead- 
 ing kingdom in Britain, ii, 355 ; under 
 Edwin accepts Christianity, 433 ; attacked 
 by Penda, king of Mercia, and Edwin 
 killed, 434 ; Oswald king, 435 ; attacked 
 by Penda, and Oswald killed, 466 ; Oswy 
 king, 466 ; fiercely attacked by Penda, 
 466 ; Oswy victorious, 466 ; brings about 
 conversion of Mercia, concluding long con- 
 test of Northumbria in cause of Chris- 
 tianity, 467 ; battle of Nechtansmere, 616 ; 
 loss by Northumbria of the supremacy, 615. 
 
 Notitia Dignitatum, The, Official Army List 
 and Civil List for the whole empire com- 
 piled at end of 4th century, i, 672 ; impor- 
 tant information supplied by it, 573. 
 
 Numerian, emperor, accedes to the demands 
 of the army for retirement from Persia, i, 
 344; death, 344.' 
 
 Obelisks, Egyptian, first two brought to 
 Rome by Augustus, i, 26-27 ; a third 
 brought by Caligula, 89 ; a fourth brought 
 by Claudius, 98 ; a fifth brought by 
 Hadrian, 234 ; a sixth brought by Con- 
 stantine, 436. 
 
 Obelisk, The, outside church of the Lateran, 
 i, 436 ; the largest in existence, 437 ; 
 taken by Constantine from Temple of the 
 Sun at Thebes, 437 ; now 3612 years old, 
 437 ; words of Marcellinus regarding its 
 removal, 437 ; inscriptions upon it, 438 ; 
 
 their curious revelation regarding Constan- 
 tine, 439. 
 
 Octavia, sister of Augustus, married to Marc 
 Antony, i, 6 ; divorced in favour of Cleo- 
 patra, 7 ; brings up the daughter of Antony 
 and Cleopatra, 8 ; Portico erected to her 
 memory by Augustus, 16. 
 
 Octavia, daughter of Claudius and Valeria 
 Messalina, married to Nero, i, 114; char- 
 acter, 135 ; murdered by Nero, 136. 
 
 Octavius, see Augustus. 
 
 Odenathus of Palmyra, married to Zenobia, 
 i, 332 ; together with her makes war upon 
 Persia, 332 ; defeats Sapor I, and besieges 
 Ctesiphon, 332 ; overthrows kingdom set up 
 by the traitor Macrianus, 332; recognized 
 by Gallienus as a colleague, 332 ; assassin- 
 ated, 332. 
 
 Odoacer, chosen king by the Goths in Italy, 
 ii, 127 ; takes Ravenna, 127 ; temperate 
 rule, 144; attacked by the Ostrogoths, 
 151 ; defeated in three battles, 151 ; 
 defends Ravenna, 152 ; after a three years' 
 siege capitulates, 163 ; treacherously mur- 
 dered by Theodoric, 163. 
 
 Odoin, Count, put to death by Theodoric, 
 ii, 168. 
 
 Okba, Mahomedan leader in North Africa, 
 ii, 492 ; founds Kairowan, 492 ; his raid, 
 608 ; death, 509. 
 
 Olympiodorus, his writings, ii, 139. 
 
 Olympius, infamous tool of the nobles for 
 the destruction of Stilicho, ii, 37 ; ras- 
 cality, 38 ; causes massacre of eight high 
 officials friends of Stilicho, 40 ; murders 
 Stilicho, 41 ; tortures to death his servants 
 and friends, 42 ; contrives massacre of 
 wives and children of the Teuton troops, 
 42 ; flies for his life, 50 ; beaten to death, 
 50. 
 
 Omar, second Mahomedan Khalif, ii, 441 ; 
 sends Abu Ubeida to take charge in Syria, 
 442 ; comes in person to take possession 
 of Jerusalem, 444 ; kneels at shrine of 
 Holy Sepulchre, 444 ; builds Mosque of 
 Omar on site of Jewish Temple, 444 ; sends 
 Abi Wakkas to Persia as his vicegerent, 
 450 ; orders Bagdad to be built on a new 
 site, not on that of Ctesiphon, 451 ; founds 
 Bussora, 451 ; despatches an army into 
 Scinde, 451 ; takes Alexandria and des- 
 troys the Alexandrian library, 458 ; founds 
 Cairo, 459 ; death, 459. 
 
 Omeyyad dynasty, established by Muawiyah, 
 the fourth Khalif, ii, 473 ; destroys last 
 descendants of the Prophet at Kerbela, 60 1 ; 
 never recovers efl[ect of defeat of the armada 
 sent against Constantinople in reign of 
 Leo III, 662 ; its decline and end, 552. 
 
 Optatian, leading poet of Constantino's time, 
 i, 430. 
 
 Orestes, Prefect of Egypt, intervenes in riot 
 between Christians and Jews in Alexandria, 
 ii, 66. 
 
 Origen, a student at Alexandria in reign of 
 Septimius Severus, i, 293 ; plunged into 
 poverty by the martyrdom of his father, 
 294 ; tortured in Sixth persecution, 321 ; 
 death, 322. 
 
 Orosius, Spanish ecclesiastic, mouthpiece of 
 the clerical party opposed to Stilicho, ii, 38. 
 
 Orshoene, conquered by Trajan, i, 219 ; 
 finally annexed by Caracalla, 302. 
 
 Ostia, port of, silted up, i, 98 ; new harbour 
 made by Claudius, 98. 
 
 i 
 
658 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 659 
 
 Ostorius Scapula, conquests in Britain, i. 
 111-112; death, 113. 
 
 Ostrogotlis, The, seek protection of Roman 
 Empire, i, 622 ; ill-treatment, 522 ; rise 
 in revolt, 522 ; win battle of Hadrianople, 
 624 ; ravage Thrace and lUyricum, 626 ; 
 defeated by Theodosius, 529 ; invade Pan- 
 nonia, 631 ; defeated by Gratian, 631 ; 
 magnanimously treated by him, 632 ; 
 become f<Bderati of the empire, 532 ; given 
 lands in Pannonia and upper Moesia, 633 ; 
 long held subject by the Huns, ii, 148 ; 
 •wars with the Suevi, 148 ; migrate to the 
 Dobrudscha, 148 ; start under Theodoric 
 to invade Italy, 160 ; defeat the Gopidse, 
 
 150 ; cross Pear Tree pass into Italy, 151 ; 
 win battle of the Isonzo, 161 ; of Verona, 
 
 151 ; and of the Adda, 152 ; capture 
 Ravenna, 163. 
 
 Ostrogoth kingdom. The, set up by Theodoric, 
 ii, 1 66 ; Romans and Ostrogoths ruled 
 with equity, 165 ; promulgation of laws, 
 168 ; treasonable conduct of Roman 
 Senate, 174; Amalasuntha's reign, 215; 
 Thiudahad, 216; kingdom attacked by 
 Justinian in vengeance for Amalasuntha's 
 murder, 217 ; Naples captured, 220 ; 
 Rome captured, 222 ; Ostrogoths besiege 
 Rome, 224 ; siege abandoned, 229 ; Rimini 
 captured, 229 ; Milan captured, 231 ; Fie- 
 sole and Osimo captured, 233 ; Ravenna 
 captured, 235 ; king and nobles sent 
 prisoners to Constantinople, 238 ; imder 
 Totila Ostrogoths regain most of Italy, 267 ; 
 eight years' desultory warfare, 263-267 
 and 287-288 ; army under Narses sent to 
 reconquer Italy, 298; fatal defeat of the 
 Ostrogoths at battle of Helvillum and 
 death of Totila, 302 ; slaughtered in a war 
 of extermination, 303 ; remnant under 
 Teitks make their last stand at peninsula 
 of Sorrento, 303 ; battle of Angri, 304 ; 
 death of Teias, 304 ; end of the Ostrogoth 
 nation, 304 ; causes of their failure to 
 establish a permanent dominion, 306. 
 
 Oswald, Anglian king of Northumbria, ii 
 435; invites Aidan to Northumbria, 435 
 gives him island of Lindisfarne, 435 , 
 attacked by Penda, king of Mercia, and 
 killed at battle of Oswestry, 466 ; his dying 
 speech, 466 ; his body refused burial by 
 Penda, 466 ; owing to his character and 
 death in the cause of Christianity canonized 
 as St. Oswald, 466. 
 
 Oswestry, name given to it in memory of 
 Oswald, ii, 466. 
 
 Oswy, Anglian king of Northumbria, brother 
 of Oswald, ii, 466 ; married to Eanfled, 
 daughter of Edwin, 466 ; animosity of 
 Penda, 466 ; Oswy's daughter married to 
 Penda'a son, 466 ; Oswy attacked by 
 Penda, 466 ; wins battle of Doncaster, 
 466 ; causes Mercia to accept Christianity, 
 466 ; assembles conference of Whitby, 487 ; 
 unites with Egbert, king of Kent, in obtain- 
 ing Theodore of Tarsus as Archbishop, 487 ; 
 death, 488. 
 
 Othman, third Mahomedan iOialif, ii, 469 ; 
 character, 459 ; sends expedition against 
 North Africa, 459 ; captures Cyprus and 
 Rhodes, 472 ; death, 472. 
 
 Otho, emperor, profligate companion of Nero, 
 i, 129 ; refusing to divorce his wife Poppaea 
 Sabina is sent to Gaul, 130 ; rules southern 
 Gaul well for ten years, 173 ; joins Galba, 
 
 1 73 ; proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian 
 Guards, 173; completes the "Golden 
 House, 174; attacked by army of Vitel- 
 1ms, 174; loses battle of Bedriacura, 174- 
 decides to end civil war by taking his 
 own life, 174 ; dignified speech of farewell 
 and suicide at Brixellum, 1 74 ; grief of the 
 Praetorian Guards at his death, 176. 
 Ovid, poet, history and WTitings, i, 18. 
 
 Paetus, Caecina, put to death by Claudius, 
 
 Pagan ceremonies. Performance of in private 
 prohibited by Constantine, i, 396. 
 
 Pagan emblems on Arch of Constantino, i, 377 
 
 Pagan sacrifices. Contributions for, 'from 
 people of Rome stopped by Gratian, i, 646 
 
 Palace of Augustus, i, 26-26 ; of Tiberius, 78 • 
 of Caligula, 91-93; of Nero, 138-140- 
 of Domitian, 193-194; of Hadrian, 232) 
 of Septimius Severus, 290. 
 
 Palace of the Caesars, The, at Rome, its 
 fine appearance after construction of 
 Domitian's additions, i, 193. 
 
 Palace, Imperial, at Constantinople, built 
 by Constantine, i, 423 ; increased by Theo- 
 dosius I, 557 ; becomes like a marble city 
 in time of Arcadius, ii, 14; entirely reeon- 
 structed by Justinian, 240 ; magnificence, 
 240 ; hall of the Chalke, 240 ; hall of the 
 Excubitors, 240 ; Throne-room, 240 ; 
 Banqueting hall, 240 ; gardens, 241 ; the 
 Cochlea, 241. 
 
 Palace, Imperial, at Ravenna, ii, 272 ; its 
 position, 272 ; mosaic picture of it, 273. 
 
 Palladius, sent by Valentinian I to inquire 
 into complaints against Romanus, Count 
 of Africa, i, 504 ; corrupted by him, 604 ; 
 commits suicide, 504. 
 
 Palladium, The, sacred figure of the goddess 
 Pallas, i, 40. 
 
 Pallas, one of the freedmen surrounding 
 Claudius, i, 102 ; assists Agrippina in her 
 crimes, 114; banished by Nero and 
 poisoned, 129. 
 
 Pallium, The, scarf worn as a mark of their 
 office by the Popes of the five patriarcliates, 
 i, 637. 
 
 PalmjTa, made by Zenobia the most splendid 
 city of the East, i, 332-333 ; entirely des- 
 troyed by Aurelian, 336. 
 
 Pancras, St., boy martyred at Rome in Tenth 
 persecution, i, 359. 
 
 Pandataria, island of, i, 33. 
 
 Pandects of Justinian, The, ii, 199; their 
 rediscovery in the 12th century, 199. 
 
 Pantheon, Ihe, built by Marcus Agrippa to 
 commemorate his marriage to Marcella, i, 
 10 ; exemplifies solidity, simplicity, and 
 splendour of Roman architecture, 10 ; 
 lower part of the walls 20 feet thick, 10 ; 
 the only building of ancient Rome still 
 in possession of its roof, 10 ; stood through 
 Nero's fire, 10 ; diameter of its dome, ii, 
 239. 
 
 Papal Medieval historians. Accounts of regard- 
 ing treatment of Pope Vigilius full of im- 
 possibilities, ii, 308 ; attribute action to 
 Theodora three years after she was dead, 
 309. 
 
 Papal writers of 9th and 10th centiu-ies not 
 reliable as to 7th and 8th centuries, ii, 677. 
 
 Paris, see Lutctia. 
 
 Parsees, remnant of the Fireworshippers 
 
 driven out of Persia by the Mahomedans, ii, 
 451. 
 Parthian empire. The, overthrown by Arta- 
 
 xerxes and ended, i, 308. 
 Patmos, St. John's exile to, date of, i, 197. 
 Patriarch, see Pope. 
 Patriarchates, The five, i, 637. 
 Patrick, St., Christian noble of northern 
 Britain sent to convert Ireland, ii, 162 ; 
 becomes Ireland's first Bishop, 162 ; estab- 
 lishes his see at Armagh, 162. 
 Paul, St., conversion, i, 84 ; escapes from 
 Damascus, 94 ; retires to Tarsus, 94 ; visits 
 Arabia and Jerusalem and returns to 
 Tarsus, 117; brought by St. Barnabas to 
 Antioch, 118; countries allotted to him 
 as his special sphere, 123 ; first missionary 
 tour, 123 ; second tour, 123-124 ; third toiu-, 
 124 ; journey into Greece and thence to 
 Jerusalem, 150 ; arrested at Jerusalem and 
 sent to Caesarea, 150 ; sent to Rom.e, 161 ; 
 brought before Nero, 161 ; allowed to live 
 at large in Rome, 162 ; marked considera- 
 tion throughout shown to him by the 
 Roman authorities, 152 ; final trial "before 
 Nero, 163-154 ; acquitted and travels to 
 Spain, 156 ; returns thence by sea to Jeru- 
 salem, 169; thence by sea to Jerusalem, 
 169 ; thence visits Philippi, 170 ; arrested 
 and sent a second time to Rome, 170; 
 imprisoned at Rome, 170 ; his martyrdom, 
 171. 
 Paul, St., Church of, at Rome, founded by 
 Theodosius the Great, i, 666 ; enlarged and 
 adorned by Galla Placidia, ii, 94 ; splendid 
 triumphal arch erected by her, 94. 
 Paul, Pope of Constantinople, a strong ad- 
 herent of the Monothelite error, ii, 462 ; 
 assertion that he may have helped to draw 
 up the edict called the Type refuted, 464. 
 Paul the Deacon, ii, 663 ; his History of 
 
 the Lombards, 563. 
 Paulinus, commander in Britain, subdues the 
 Silures, i, 134; defeats Boadicea, 134; 
 recalled by Nero, 135. 
 Paulinus, first Bishop of York, ii, 433 ; induces 
 Edwin, king of Northumberland, to become 
 a Christian, 433 ; forced to fly to Kent, 
 434 ; encases church at shrine of Avallon in 
 lead, 516. 
 Peada, son of Penda, king of Mercia, ii, 466 ; 
 married to Alchfleda, daughter of Oswy, 
 466; after death of his father accepts 
 Christianity, 466 ; allows a community 
 from Lindisfarne to be established in Mer- 
 cia, 466 ; death, 486. 
 Pear Tree pass, over Julian Alps, i, 570 ; 
 
 fierce wind which blows over it, 670. 
 Pelagia, an actress, martyred at Rome in 
 
 Seventh persecution, i, 331. 
 Pelagius, a native of Britain, arouses a con- 
 troversy by his doctrines, ii, 72 ; his teach- 
 ing declared by Third General Council 
 to be erroneous, 77. 
 Pelagius II, Pope of Rome, during his election 
 Rome isolated by being besieged by the 
 Lombards, ii, 333 ; sends Gregory to Con- 
 stantinople as his representative, 362 ; 
 death, 362. 
 Pella, Christians in Jerusalem take refuge 
 
 there, i, 172. 
 Penda, king of Mercia, claims descent from 
 Woden, ii, 434 ; violent opponent of 
 Christianity in Britain, 434 ; attacks 
 Northumbria, kille jts king Edwjn, takes 
 
 York, and drives Christianity out of North- 
 umbria, 434 ; attacks East Anglia and 
 kills its king Sigebert, 466 ; attacks North- 
 umbria and kills its king Oswald, 466 ; 
 attacks latter's successor Oswy, 466 ; 
 attacks Wessex and forces its king to re- 
 nounce Christianity, 466 ; again attacks 
 East Anglia and kills its king Anna, 466 ; 
 again attacks Northumbria, 466 ; refuses 
 terms offered by Oswy, 466 ; defeated 
 and killed at battle of Doncaster, 466. 
 P6pin of HerLstal, becomes virtual ruler of 
 the Frank kingdom, ii, 514 ; efficient rule, 
 566 ; death, 566. 
 Perctarit, Lombard king, regains his father's 
 
 throne, ii, 477. 
 Peredeus, lover of Rosamund, ii, 331 ; assists 
 to murder Alboin, king of the Lombards 
 331 ; death, 332. 
 Perpetua, see Vivia Perpetua. 
 Persecutions, The: — 
 
 First, Christians slain in batches by cruel 
 methods in the Circus Maximus, i, 160 ; 
 massacre in the Vatican gardens, 163 ; 
 names of some of those slain, 167-169. 
 
 Second, carried out by Domitian, i, 196 ; 
 names of some of those slain, 196 ; St. 
 John tortured, 196. 
 
 Third, under Trajan, St. Clement mar- 
 tyred, i, 222 ; letter of Phny regarding 
 torturing and killing Christians, 223 ; St. 
 Ignatius martyred, 224. 
 
 Fourth, first general persecution, carried 
 out by Marcus Aurelius, i, 269 ; terrible 
 nature of a general persecution, 260 ; 
 description of events at Lyons, 262-265. 
 
 Fifth, carried out by Septimius Severus, 
 i, 293 ; protest of TertuUian, 294 ; immense 
 numbers who suffered in North Africa and 
 Egypt, 294-295; martyrdom of Vivia 
 Perpetua and her companions, 296-299. 
 
 Sixth, carried out by Decius, i, 320 ; special 
 magistrates appointed to require all to 
 sacrifice to the Emperor, 320 ; three Bishops 
 of Rome martyred in four years, 321 ; 
 meaning of a " confessor," 328. 
 
 Seventh^ carried out by Valerian under 
 influence of Macrianus, chief of the Magi, 
 i, 326 ; five commissioners ordered to visit 
 every town and see that this religion was 
 completely stamped out, 326 ; martyrdoms 
 of Cyprian, Stephen I, Sixtus II, Fruc- 
 tuosus, Lawrence, and Daria, 326-330. 
 
 Eighth, carried out by Aurelian, i, 338 ; 
 tombstones of many of those slain to be 
 seen in the Catacombs, 338. 
 
 Ninth, inaugurated by Probus, and con- 
 tinued by Carus and Carinus, i, 340 ; 
 many tombs in the Catacombs of those 
 slain in this persecution, 341 ; martyrdoms 
 of Cecilia, Alban, Eutychianus, and Chris- 
 tina, 341-342. 
 
 Tenth, inaugurated by Diocletian, i, 356 ; 
 wholesale destruction of all Christian 
 writings ordered, 368 ; martyrdom of St. 
 George, St. Sebastian, St. Vincent, St. 
 Blasius, St. Faith, St. Agnes, St. Marg£u*et 
 and many others, 360-363 ; martyrdom 
 of St. Euphemia, 383 ; description by Euse- 
 bius of some of the sufferings endured, 383. 
 Persian Empire, The, finally destroyed by 
 Heraclius, ii, 421 ; Persia, conquest of, by 
 the Mahomedans, 449-451. 
 Persian kings from a.d. 222 to 380, i, 590 : 
 from a.d. 380 tg 628, ii, 3?3, 
 
660 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 661 
 
 Pertinax, emperor, elected by the Senate, i, 
 280 ; murdered after three months by the 
 Praetorian Guards, 280. 
 Peter, St., movements during Caligula's reign, 
 i, 94—95 ; imprisoned at Jerusalem and 
 liberation from prison, 118; countries 
 taken by him as his special sphere, 121-122 ; 
 founds Church of Antioch, 122 ; founds 
 Church of Corinth, 149 ; rules Church of 
 Antioch for seven years, 165 ; visits to 
 Rome and superintendence of the Church 
 there, 156-157; last visit to Rome, 158; 
 writes his First Epistle, 160 ; legend of 
 Quo Vadis, 160 ; thrown into prison at 
 Rome, 161 ; writes his Second Epistle, 161 ; 
 martyrdom, 162. 
 Petilius Cerialis, commander of Ninth legion, 
 
 defeated by Boadicea, i, 133. 
 Petra Pertusa, fortified incised rock in the 
 Apennines on the Flaminian Way, form- 
 ing the chief obstacle on this route, ii, 300. 
 Petronius, called the Arbiter, director of 
 Nero's pleasures, i, 146 ; writings, 146 ; 
 degraded character and death, 146. 
 Petronius, Minister of Finance, killed in mas- 
 sacre at Pavia under Honorius, ii, 40. 
 Peuke, island of, birthplace of Alaric, ii, 9. 
 Phidias, sculptor belonging to zenith of Greek 
 
 art, i, 430. 
 Philip, St., stated to have preached in Scythia 
 
 and been martyred in Phrygia, i, 123. 
 Philip the Arabian, emperor, character, i, 
 312 ; poisons Misitheus and causes death 
 of Gordian III, 313; celebrates the thou- 
 sandth anniversary of the founding of 
 Rome, 313 ; legions in Moesia revolt against 
 him, 314 ; killed in battle at Verona, 314. 
 Philippi, Battle of, i, 6 ; murderers of Julius 
 
 Caesar killed, 6. 
 Philippicus (Vardan), emperor, commands 
 force sent by Justinian II to destroy Cher- 
 son, ii, 526 ; proclaimed emperor, 525 ; 
 takes name Philippicus, 626 ; deposed, 543. 
 Philostorgius, speech regarding Arcadius, ii, 
 
 16 ; his writings, 139. 
 Phocas, leader of mutinous troops on the 
 Danube, ii, 375 ; crowned as emperor by 
 the Green faction, 376 ; murders the em- 
 peror Maurice and his sons, 376 ; also his 
 brother Peter, the Prefect Constantino, 
 and the general Comentiolus, 376 ; tortures 
 the empress Constantina, 394 ; murders 
 her with her three daughters, 394 ; burns 
 alive the general Narses, 394 ; carries out 
 indiscriminate slaughter, 394 ; causes 
 general anarchy in which enemies overrun 
 the Balkan provinces, Mesopotamia, Syria, 
 Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithy- 
 nia, 395 ; creates a riot in Constantinople, 
 395 ; force sent against him from North 
 Africa, 396 ; dragged on board ship of 
 Heraclius, and hewn in pieces, 397. 
 Phoenix, Naval battle of, against the Maho- 
 
 medans, ii, 472. 
 Pineta (pine forest). Battle of the, outside 
 Ravenna between Theodoric and Odoacer, 
 ii, 163. 
 PLso, Cneius, governor of Syria, accused by 
 Agrippina of poisoning Germanicus, i, 64 ; 
 summoned by Tiberius to Rome and tried 
 by the Senate, 65 ; charge proved false, 
 66 ; seeing all were determined on his death 
 commits suicide, 65. 
 Piso, Calpurnius, heads conspiracy p-gainst 
 ^'e^o, j, 146 ; death, 146. 
 
 Plaicidia, see Galla Placidia. 
 PltKjidia, daughter of Valentinian III, ii, 120 ; 
 carried off as a captive by the Vandals, 121 • 
 ransomed by Leo I, 123. 
 Plague, severe visitation of, in reign of Jus- 
 tinian I, ii, 251 ; its ravages in Constantin- 
 ople, 252. 
 Plancina, wife of Cneius Piso, accused with her 
 husband of poisoning Germanicus, i, 64 ; 
 protected by Livia, 66. 
 Platonic philosophy. The, i, 38. 
 Plautia Urgulanilla, first wife of Claudius, i. 
 
 103. 
 Plautianus, minister of Septimius Severus, 
 i, 283 ; severely carries out new policy of 
 Severus, 283 ; extortions, 283 ; his daugh- 
 ter married to Caracalla, 284; put to deiath, 
 284. 
 Plautilla, daughter of Plautianus, married 
 
 to Caracalla, i, 284. 
 Plectruda, wife of P6pin of Heristal, ii, 566. 
 Pliny the elder, history and writings, i, 271. 
 Pliny the younger, his Panegyric of Trajan, 
 i, 216 ; description of the Campagna in 
 his time, 219; letter to Trajan regarding 
 the Christians, 223 ; history and writings, 
 272. 
 Plotina, empress, wife of Trajan, i, 211 ; char- 
 acter, 212 ; successor of Trajan chosen 
 upon her report, 221 ; mausoleum erected 
 to her memory at Nismes, 227. 
 Plutarch, called the prince of biographers, 
 i, 191 ; birth, 191 ; visits to Rome, 191 ; 
 a passionate admirer of Greece, 191 ; chief 
 work his " Lives of Illustrious Men," 191 ; 
 death, 191. 
 Poem to the soul, by Hadrian, i, 235. 
 Pogonetos (bearded), name given to Con- 
 stantino IV, ii, 488. 
 Poictiers, Great battle of, ii, 568 ; Saracens 
 completely defeated by Charles Martel, 5r.9. 
 Poisoned cup drunk together by the Dacian 
 
 nobles, i, 214. 
 PoUentia, Battle of, Alaric defeated by Stil- 
 
 icho, ii, 26. 
 Polo, game of introduced by Theodosius II 
 
 at Constantinople, ii, 68. 
 Polycarp, St., Bishop of Smyrna, i, 244 ; 
 martyred in reign of Antoninus Pius, 245. 
 Pompeii, earthquake at, i, 135 ; destruction 
 
 of, 186. 
 Pomponia Graecina, wife of Aulus Plautius, 
 
 i, 101. 
 Pomponia Vipsania, first wife of Tiberius, i, 
 32 ; bears him a son, 48 ; cruelly divorrrd 
 from him by Augustus and given to another 
 husband, 48. 
 Ponticus, boy of fifteen, martyred at Lyons 
 in Fourth persecution with long and terrible 
 tortures, i, 264-265. 
 Pontifex Maximus, head of the religious 
 system for the worship of the gods of Rome, 
 i, 40 ; important duties, 41 ; the office 
 assumed by Augustus, and thenceforth 
 held by every emperor up to Gratian, 41 ; 
 refusal of Gratian to bear the title, 545. 
 Pope, Patriarch, or Papa, immaterial which 
 lorm of the title used, but essential that 
 same form be used in all five cases, Preface, 
 p. xii. 
 Pope, Title of, begins to be applied as a 
 courtesy title to the Metropolitan Bishops 
 of Antioch and Alexandria, i, 440 ; used 
 by First General Council in regard to the 
 JdptrPpolitan of Alexandria, 604 ; definitely 
 
 given by Second General Council to the 
 Metropolitans of the principal sees of the 
 five " patriarchates,'^ 537 ; used by 
 Gregory the Great in addressing John of 
 Constantinople, Anastasius of Antioch, and 
 Eulogius of Alexandria, ii, 385-387 ; juris- 
 diction of the five Popes carefully defined 
 so as not to trench upon the independence 
 of Bishops, i, 537 ; mark of their office, the 
 pallium, 537. 
 
 Poppaea Sabina, wife of Nero's companion 
 Otho, i, 129 ; beauty and extravagance, 
 129 ; arbitrarily divorced from Otho and 
 married by Nero, 136 ; killed by a kick from 
 Nero, 147. 
 
 Porphirius, Bishop of Gaza, visit to present a 
 petition to the empress Eudoxia, ii, 27. 
 
 Porta Nigra, Roman gateway at Treves built 
 by Valentinian I, i, 496. 
 
 Portrait busts of the imperial family, i, 24 ; 
 their reliability, 25. 
 
 Postumus, general in Gaul in reign of Valerian, 
 i, 323 ; sets up an independent kingdom, 331. 
 
 Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, martyred in 
 Fourth persecution, i, 262. 
 
 Praejecta, niece of Justinian, ii, 268 ; married 
 to Areobindus, 268 ; seized by his murderer 
 Gontharis, 268 ; rescued by Artabanes, 
 268 ; desires to marry him, 269 ; sepa- 
 rated from him by the empress Theodora, 
 and given to another husband, 269. 
 
 Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, subdued, i, 101. 
 
 Praxiteles, sculptor belonging to zenith of 
 Greek art, i, 430. 
 
 Presiding Bishop at each of the General 
 Councils, ii, 621. 
 
 Primus, commander of the army of the East 
 at second battle of Bedriacum, i, 176 ; 
 takes Rome and puts Vitellius to death, 177. 
 
 Prisca, St., young girl of noble family mar- 
 tyred at Rome in Eighth persecution, i, 338. 
 
 Prisca, empress, wife of Diocletian, i, 352 ; 
 put to death by Licinius, 381. 
 
 Priscus, Roman writer in 6th century, ii, 139. 
 
 Priscus, general, appointed by Maurice to 
 command in Balkan provinces, ii, 343 ; 
 successes over the Avars, 343. 
 
 Probus, emperor, early ability, i, 339 ; drives 
 the Allemanni out of Rhaetia, 339 ; subdues 
 the Sarmatians and Isaurians, 339 ; puts 
 down a rebellion in Egypt, 339 ; drives the 
 Franks and Allemanni out of Gaul, 340 ; 
 advances into Germany up to the Elbe, 
 340 ; his important measures of coloniza- 
 tion, 340 ; employs the troops upon useful 
 works, 340 ; killed in a mutiny at Sirmium, 
 340. 
 
 Procedure in trials before the emperor in time 
 of Nero, i, 163-154. 
 
 Procopius, relative of the emperor Julian, 
 commands half the army invading Persia, 
 i, 482 ; his failure to afford assistance, 
 483 ; conveys Julian's body to Tarsus, 491 ; 
 retires to Cappadocia, 497 ; raises revolt 
 against Valens, 497 ; defeated and put to 
 death, 497. 
 
 Procopius, Roman historian in 6th century, 
 ii, 140 ; histories of the wars of Justinian's 
 reign, 140 ; character as a writer, 192 ; 
 description of the empress Theodora, 196- 
 197 ; his six books of The Edifices, 241. 
 
 Programme of races and sports drawn up by 
 Justinian, ii, 289. 
 
 Prosper Tiro, Rom^rj writer in 6th century. 
 ji, 139. 
 
 Province of North Africa, Extent of, ii, 71. 
 
 Ptolemy, son of Juba and Cleopatra (2), last 
 king of Mauretania, i, 8. 
 
 Pulcheria, empress, eldest daughter of Arcad- 
 ius and Eudoxia, ii, 14 ; invested at six- 
 teen with rule of eastern half of the empire, 
 64 ; reforms the court, 64 ; takes vow of 
 chastity, 65 ; selects a wife for her brother 
 Theodosius II, 67 ; inaugurates compila- 
 tion of the Theodosian Code, 74 ; assembles 
 Third General Council, 76 ; sends a force 
 to assist western portion of the empire in 
 North Africa, 78 ; driven from the court, 
 86 ; proclaimed empress in her own right, 
 92 ; marries Marcian, 92 ; restores good 
 government, 93 ; assembles Fourth General 
 Council, 93; death, 117; leaves all her 
 property to the poor, 117 ; her fine record, 
 119. 
 
 Puppet emperors during last twenty years 
 of the western half of the empire, ii, 126. 
 
 QuADi, The, ravage Pannonia, Noricum, and 
 Rhaetia for fourteen years, i, 249-266 ; 
 defeat by the Twelfth legion, 261 ; defeated 
 by Constantius, 469 ; severe punishment 
 inflicted upon them by Valentinian I, 514 ; 
 form part of force of Radagaisus invading 
 Rhaetia, ii, 19; become thenceforth known 
 as the Suevi, 19. 
 
 Quadratus, attempts to assassinate Com- 
 modus, i, 277. 
 
 Qualities of a body of troops to be estimated 
 by the deeds accomplished, not by state- 
 ments of contemporary writers, i, 490. 
 
 Quinisext Council, The, assembled by Jus- 
 tinian II, ii, 512 ; important enactments, 
 512 ; valuable information conveyed by 
 them, 512. 
 
 Quintilia, actress, her brave action when 
 tortured by Caligula, i, 91. 
 
 Quintilian, his teaching regarding the science 
 of Rhetoric, i, 45 ; nevertheless gives high 
 example to those he taught, 46 ; strongly 
 praised by Pliny, 46. 
 
 Quo Vadia^ Legend of, i, 160. 
 
 Radagaisus, leads mixed host against Italy, 
 ii, 19 ; defeated by Stilicho in Rhaetia, 23 ; 
 again invades Italy, 32 ; destroyed by 
 Stilicho at Fiesole, 33. 
 
 Ranke, opinion regarding the Secret History, 
 ii, 193 ; words regarding English missions 
 to Germany, 672. 
 
 Ravenna, becomes capital of western half of 
 the empire, ii, 31 ; alone among cities pre- 
 serves the spirit of the 5th century, 70 ; 
 becomes capital of Theodoric the Great, 
 165 ; buildings erected by him, 187 ; re- 
 taken by the empire, 237 ; memorials of 
 the age of Justinian, 272 ; preserves almost 
 sole remaining examples of Justinian's 
 countless works, 282. 
 
 Ravenna mosaic. The, ii, 277-280. 
 
 Razates, general of Chosroes II, ii, 419 ; placed 
 in command of ninth and last army of 
 latter, 419 ; fights battle of Nineveh, 420 ; 
 killed, 420. 
 
 Reccared I, king of the Visigoths, ii, 352 ; 
 fine character, 362 ; abandons Arianism, 
 363 ; summons Synod of Toledo, 363 ; 
 correspondence with Gregory the Great, 
 364. 
 
 Regulus, Aquilius, typical career as a delator, 
 i. 190, 
 
 \v 
 
662 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Religious system, Pagan, The, i, 40. 
 Benaissance, The, a revival of Roman ideas 
 
 in a new dress, ii, 137. 
 Reorganization of the army by Constantine, 
 i, 427 ; manner in which it has been criti- 
 cized, 428. 
 Reparatus, Archbishop of Ravenna in time 
 of Constantine IV, ii, 610 ; mosaic repre- 
 senting him receiving the " Privelegium," 
 610. 
 Reservoirs, Roman, at Aden, i, 228 ; at Con- 
 stantinople, 424 ; at Carthage, ii, 209. 
 Retreat of the Roman army from Persia under 
 Julian, i, 484 ; force gathered by Sapor II, 
 484 ; the retreat begvm, 484 ; character 
 of the Persian attack, 486 ; eleven days* 
 retreat to the Tigris, 486 ; Julian killed, 
 486 ; army reaches the Tigris, 487 ; con- 
 tinues the retreat to Dura, 487 ; there 
 receives overtures of peace from Sapor, 487 ; 
 no disgrace, but on the contrary one of the 
 finest records of the Roman army, 488 ; 
 splendid example of discipline evinced, 
 489 ; all the honour remained on the side 
 of the Roman army, 490. 
 Revelations, Book of the, its date, i, 197-198. 
 Rhetoric, Science of, its artful and unscrupu- 
 lous teaching, i, 45 ; had become the whole 
 of Roman education, 45 ; its insincerity 
 frankly avowed, 46 ; held to have entirely 
 perverted the moral sense of the Romans, 46. 
 Rhinotmetos (slitnosed), name applied to 
 
 Justinian II, ii, 523. 
 Rhodian Code, The, see Maritime Code. 
 Ricimer, Count, creates a succession of puppet 
 
 emperors, ii, 125. 
 River of Blood, Battle of the, ii, 449. 
 Roderic, king of the Visigoths, ii, 546 ; as- 
 sembles an army to oppose the Mahomedan 
 invasion of Spain, 547 ; ivory car and silken 
 robes, 547 ; fights battle of Lake Janda, 
 647 ; drowned, 647. 
 Romaic fire. The, ii, 493 ; composition and 
 
 mode of use, 494. 
 Romaioi, name applied to themselves by 
 subjects of Later Roman Empire, ii, 449 ; 
 just right to the name, 449. 
 Roman Army, The, organization under 
 Augustus, i, 18-20 ; reorganized by Trajan, 
 215 ; strength increased by Constantine, 
 404 ; radical changes in its organization 
 made by him, 427 ; great efficiency to 
 which brought by him demonstrated under 
 Julian in Gaul, 467 ; its splendid discipline 
 manifested in the retreat from Persia under 
 Julian, 488-489 ; long list of victories in 
 the 4th century, 576 ; western half of the 
 army repulses first invasion by the Visi- 
 goths and the two invasions by Radagaisus, 
 ii, 23, 25 and 33 ; western half of the 
 army submerged and overwhelmed, 49 ; 
 reduction of the Teuton element in eastern 
 half of the army by Leo I, 123 : carried 
 on by Anastasius I, 160 ; want of attention 
 paid to the army by Justinian, 200 ; its 
 composition in his time, 206 ; its eflBciency 
 improved by Tiberius II, 337 ; textbook 
 of military instruction drawn up by Maurice, 
 340 ; high state of discipline under Hera- 
 clius, 414 ; unfair estimate formed of it 
 in regard to the loss of Syria, Egypt, and 
 Mesopotamia to the Mahomedans, 437- 
 440 ; demoralization created by Justinian 
 II, 624 ; complete restoration of its morale, 
 discipline, and efiftciency carried out by 
 
 Leo III, 686 ; its efficiency proved by its 
 subsequent achievements, 587. 
 Roman Empire, The, foundation by Augustus 
 i, 9; Noricum, Rhaetia, Vindelicia, and' 
 Pannonia added by Augustus, 12 ; general 
 system for rule of the empire laid down 
 by him, 16 ; Cappadocia adcled by Tiberius, 
 66 ; Britain and Mauretania added by 
 Claudius, 98-101 ; eighteen months' civil 
 war after death of Nero, 173-177 ; advance 
 of the empire under the Antonine emperors 
 209; Dacia added by Trajan, 213 ; Meso' 
 potamia conquered by him, 219 ; boundary 
 again withdrawn to the Euphrates by 
 Hadrian, 227 ; devastation of Pannonia, 
 Noricum, and Rheetia under Marcus Aure- 
 lius, 249-266 ; Mesopotamia annexed by 
 Septimius Severus, 284 ; crushing defeat 
 of Decius by the Goths, 319; Valerian 
 carried off prisoner by the Persians, 324 ; 
 fifteen years' disorganization under 19 
 usurpers, 331 ; restoration of the empire 
 under Claudius II, Aurelian, Tacitus, and 
 Probus, 334-340 ; reorganization into four 
 parts under Diocletian, 347 ; empire 
 again united under Constantine, 381 ; his 
 great reforms, inaugurating zenith of the 
 empire, 394-396 ; Constantinople made 
 the capital, 420 ; strengthening of the 
 northern frontier by Valentinian I, 497 ; 
 defeat of Valens by the Goths, 524 ; the 
 Goths made foederati of the empire by 
 Gratian, 632 ; successful administration 
 of Theodosius I, 664-666 ; magnificent 
 spectacle of the empire at the end of 4th 
 century, 686-587 ; beginning of the fall 
 of the western half of the empire, ii, 16; 
 first invasion of Italy by Ra^gaisus de- 
 feated, 23 ; first invasion by the Visigoths 
 defeated, 25 ; removal of western eapital 
 to Ravenna, 31 ; second invasion of Italy 
 by Radagaisus defeated, 33 ; loss of Gaul, 
 36 ; second invasion of Italy by the Visi- 
 goths, 46 ; Rome taken by them, 61 ; 
 loss of Spain, 66 ; loss of Britain, 66 ; loss 
 of North Africa, 79 ; promulgation of the 
 Theodosian Code containing the laws of the 
 empire since Christianity had become the 
 religion of the State, 86 ; the Huns ravage 
 Macedonia and Greece, 88 ; defeated at 
 battle of the Mauriac Plain, 101 ; ravage 
 northern Italy, 112; Rome captured by 
 the Vandals, 121 ; armada sent against 
 them by Leo I, 124 ; western half of the 
 empire brought to an end, 127 ; eastern 
 half thenceforth styled the Later Roman 
 Empire, 145. 
 Roman Empire, Later, The, civil conflicts 
 under the emperor Zeno, ii, 146 ; successful 
 reign of Anastasius I, 158 ; splendour of 
 the reign of Justinian I, 191 ; North Africa, 
 regained by the empire, 211 ; successful 
 defensive wars against Persia, 294 ; Italy 
 regained by the empire, 304 ; Italy again 
 lost under Justin II, 328 ; new policy in- 
 corporating Greek ideas inaugurated by 
 Tiberius II, 337 ; successful conclusion of 
 the Persian war by Maurice, 342 ; incur- 
 sions of the Avars and the Sclavs, 343 ; 
 devastation of the empire under Phocas, 
 394 ; Persian invasion of Syria, Meso- 
 potamia, and Egypt, 403 ; defeat and 
 destruction of the Persian empire by Hera- 
 clius, 421 ; empire attacked by the Maho- 
 paedans, 437 ; loss of ^yciek, and Meso< 
 
 INDEX 
 
 663 
 
 potamia, 444 ; loss of Egypt, 451 ; suc- 
 cesses of Constans II against the Mahome- 
 dans, 472 ; against the Sclavs, 474 ; and 
 against the Lombards, 479 ; the empire 
 divided by him into Themes, 475 ; five 
 years' attack upon Constantinople suc- 
 cessfully repulsed by Constantine IV, 492 ; 
 loss of Bulgaria, 498; successes gained 
 over the Mahomedans by Justinian II, 
 611 ; demoralization created by his mur- 
 derous vengeance, 624 ; final loss of North 
 Africa, 642 ; third great siege of Con- 
 stantinople defeated by Leo III, 661 ; 
 regeneration of the empire by him, 653 ; 
 his crushing defeat of the Saracens at the 
 battle of Acroinon, 582 ; Code of the 
 Roman law promulgated for the first time 
 in Greek, 682 ; commerce and wealth of 
 the empire in 8th century, 586 ; its order 
 and justice, 586 ; high efficiency of the 
 army, 586 ; general estimate of Later 
 Roman Empire in middle of the 8th cen- 
 tury, 688. 
 
 Roman race. The, leading characteristic, i, 
 397 ; tenacity of that race, ii, 329. 
 
 "Roman Stairs," The, at Carthage, i, 295. 
 
 Roman writers unreliable regarding men of 
 northern race, ii, 43 ; misleading habit in 
 speaking of soldiers of the Roman army, 
 
 ^ 1 o. 
 
 Romanization of Britain begun in 1st century 
 by Agricola, i, 181 ; thoroughly completed 
 by the 4th century, 499-500. 
 Romanized Britons, The, driven back from 
 southern Britain about 420 by Saxons 
 and Jutes, ii, 56 ; destruction of their 
 country, 66 ; by the year 600 driven out 
 of all the eastern and southern part of 
 Britain, 163; in 520 at battle of Mount 
 Badon severely defeat the Saxons, 163 ; 
 divide their western diocese, 164; change 
 wrought in them during 6th and 6th cen- 
 turies, 164. 
 Romanus, Coimt of Africa, misrule of, i, 604 ; 
 corrupts officials sent by Valentinian I, 
 604 ; drives Moorish prince Firmus into 
 rebellion, 604 ; intrigues brought to light, 
 604 ; escapes, 504. 
 Romanus, Count of Palestine, defeats the 
 Arabs and recovers island of Jotaba, ii, 169. 
 Rome, City of, its appearance transformed 
 by Augustus, i, 15-16 ; three-fourths of 
 the city burnt by Nero, 136 ; further des- 
 truction in the fighting with Vitellius, 176 ; 
 largely rebuilt by Vespasian, 179-180 ; 
 buildings erected by Domitian, 193 ; by 
 Nerva, 202; by Trajan, 216-217; by 
 Hadrian, 231-234; by Septimius Severus, 
 289-290; by Caracalla, 302-304; its 
 eleven aqueducts, 308 ; encircled by the 
 walls of Aurelian, 338 ; buildings erected 
 by Diocletian, 363 ; and by Constantine, 
 431-432 and 436-436 ; captured by Alaric, 
 ii, 61 ; captured by the Vandals, 121 ; 
 conquered by the Ostrogoths, 166; re- 
 gained by the empire, 222 ; last view of 
 Imperial Rome, 223 ; first siege, 224 ; 
 second siege, 266; third siege, 267; left 
 for six weeks without an inhabitant, 267 ; 
 fourth siege, 287 ; fifth siege, 303 ; reduced 
 to little more than a heap of ruins, 312 ; 
 desolate condition in time of Gregory the 
 Great, 369 ; miserable state in which it 
 remained from the 6th century onwards 
 for many centuries, 223, 
 
 Rome, Church of, founded by St. Peter and 
 St. Paul, i, 155 ; its first Bishop Linus, 166 ; 
 suffers cruelly in First persecution, 159-169 ; 
 in 3rd century five of its Bishops martyred 
 in seven years, 330 ; in 4th century becomes 
 one of the five patriarchal sees, its Metro- 
 politan Bishop receiving the title of Pope, 
 637 ; its depressed state in 6th centiwy 
 owing to the conquests of the Lombards, 
 ii, 370 ; its still more depressed state in the 
 7th century, 468 ; its contest with Leo III 
 over the Iconoclastic question, 661 ; 
 struggles against the Lombard King Liut- 
 prand, 665 ; fruitless endeavour to obtain 
 help from Charles Martel, 670 ; the dioceses 
 of southern Italy severed from its patriarch- 
 ate, 576. 
 Romilda, wife of Gisulf, duke of Friuli, ii, 424 ; 
 declared guilty of treacherously surrender- 
 ing Friuli to the Chagan of the Avars, 424 ; 
 slain with hideous cruelty by him, 424. 
 Romuald, Lombard duke of Beneventum, ii, 
 479; defeated by Constans II, 479; be- 
 sieged in Beneventum, 480 ; gives his 
 sister Gisa as a hostage, 480 ; defeats the 
 imperial forces at Forinum, 480. 
 Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the 
 western half of the empire, ii, 127 ; given 
 a pension by Odoacer, 127. 
 Rosamund, daughter of Cunimund, king of 
 the Gepidae, ii, 325 ; carried off by Alboin, 
 326 ; insulted by him, 331 ; causes him 
 to be murdered, 331 ; escapes to Ravenna, 
 332 ; death, 332. 
 Rossi, recent discoveries of, in cemeteries 
 
 of Domitilla and Priscilla, i, 201. 
 Rotharis, Lombard duke of Brescia, ii, 430; 
 chosen king of the Lombards by Gundi- 
 perga, and married by her, 430 ; his not- 
 able code of laws, 431 ; death, 477. 
 Roum (Rome), name still used in the East. 
 
 i. 424. 
 Roxalani, Wife of chief of the, torn in pieces 
 
 by wild horses, i, 620. 
 Rufinus, minister of Arcadius, ii, 7 ; causes 
 Lucian, Count of the East, to be beaten to 
 death, 11 ; schemes to marry his daughter 
 to Arcadius, 11 ; his scheme thwarted, 12 ; 
 torn to pieces by the troops, 13. 
 Rufus, Foenius, Praetorian Prefect, put to 
 
 death by Nero, i, 146. 
 Rufus, Scribonius, commander on the Rhine, 
 
 put to death by Nero, i, 147. 
 Rufus, mentioned by St. Paul, Tomb of, i, 168. 
 Rusticiana, daughter of Symmachus, married 
 to Boethius, ii, 170. 
 
 Sabina, empress, wife of Hadrian, i, 229; 
 strict circle in which brought up, 230 ; 
 treated by Hadrian as a nonentity, 230 ; 
 death, 234. 
 
 Sabinus, mart5rred at Rome in Seventh perse- 
 cution, i, 331. 
 
 Sahin, general of Chosroes II, ii, 413 ; de- 
 feated by Heraclius on the Araxes, 414; 
 defeated in Mesopotamia by Theodorus, 
 417 ; death from mental distress, 418; 
 his dead body flogged by Chosroes, 418. 
 
 St. Peter's, First Church of, built by Constan- 
 tine, i, 431 ; its architecture, 431. 
 
 Salic law, the ancient legal code of France, ii, 
 156. 
 
 Salii, The, sacred dancers, i, 40. 
 
 SaUwst, general, instructor of Julian, i, 467; 
 
 VJJ 
 
664 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 665 
 
 present at hia death, 486 ; declines the 
 throne, 487. 
 
 Salsa, Pagan saint. Christian church dedicated 
 to, ii, 81. 
 
 Salvius, Quaestor, killed in massacre at Pavia 
 under Honorius, ii, 40. 
 
 Sanctus, deacon of Vienne, martyred at Lyons 
 in Fourth persecution, i, 263-264. 
 
 Sapor I, king of Persia, son of Artaxerxes, 
 323 ; in reign of Valerian conquers Armenia, 
 takes Antioch, and devastates whole 
 eastern frontier of the empire, 323 ; defeats 
 Roman army at Edessa and captures the 
 emperor Valerian, 324 ; sacks Caesarea 
 in Cappadocia, 324 ; treats Valerian with 
 insult, 324 ; twice heavily defeated by 
 Odenathus and Zenobia and pursued to 
 gates of Ctesiphon, 332 ; death, 336. 
 
 Sapor II, sixth in descent from Sapor I, and 
 crowned even before his birth, i, 590 ; 
 asserts claim to districts east of the Tigris 
 surrendered by Narses, 441 ; defeated by 
 Constantius, 452 ; conducts three unsuc- 
 cessful sieges of Nisibis, 453 ; captures 
 Amida, 469 ; takes Singara and Bezabde, 
 471; gathers immense army to resist 
 Julian, 484 ; fights contest of 15 days with 
 retreating Roman army, 485 ; proposes 
 terms of peace, 487 ; obtains surrender 
 of four districts, and of Nisibis in exchange 
 for Amida, 487-488. 
 
 Sapor III, son of Sapor II, obtains agreement 
 from Theodosius I for partition of Armenia, 
 i, 560. 
 
 Sarablagas, general of Chosroes II, ii, 413; 
 defeated by Heraclius on the Araxes, 414; 
 killed. 414. 
 
 Saracens, see Mahomedans. 
 
 Sarcophagi, Carved porphyry, of Helena and 
 Constantia, i, 581. 
 
 Sardica (Sofia), capital of Dardania, i, 336. 
 
 Sargathon, Battle of, Chosroes I defeated by 
 the general Marcian, ii, 334. 
 
 Sarmatian Goths, The, invade lUyricum, 
 i« 399 ; defeated by Constantino, 399 ; 
 followed into Dacia and thoroughly sub- 
 dued, 399 ; appeal for protection against 
 the Vandals, 429 ; given lands within the 
 empire by Constantine, 429. 
 
 Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital, captured 
 and destroyed by Trajan, i, 214. 
 
 Sarus, imperial general, defeats the usurper 
 Constantine, in southern Gaul, ii, 35. 
 
 Sassanidae, Persian dynasty of the, overthrows 
 the Parthian empire, i, 308 ; holds the 
 throne of Persia for four centuries, 308 ; 
 kings of the dynasty from 226 to 380, down 
 to Sapor II, 590 ; continuation of the 
 dynasty from 380 to 628, down to Chosroes 
 II, ii, 323 ; greatest sovereign of the whole 
 dynasty, Chosroes I, 243. 
 
 Saul, an Alan, general under Theodosius I, 
 i, 569. 
 
 Saxa Rubra, Battle of, crowning victory of 
 Constantine over Maxentius, i, 376. 
 
 Saxons, The, attacks of upon coasts of Gaul, 
 i, 498 ; ascent of the rivers, 498 ; extend 
 depredations to coasts of Britain, 498 ; 
 their operations cxirbed by Valentinian I, 
 498 ; make a raid upon southern coast of 
 Britain, 600 ; the general Theodosius sent 
 against them by Valentinian I and thor- 
 oughly defeats them, 500 ; make their first 
 invasion of Britain, ii, 56 ; a second wave 
 invade Britain under i£lle, 162 ; severely 
 
 defeated at battle of Mount Badon by 
 Arthur, 163 (for continuation see Britain). 
 
 Saxon Shore, Count of the, office created by 
 Valentinian I, i, 498 ; stationed at Auguato- 
 dorum on coast of Brittany, 498 ; curbs 
 operations of the Saxons, 498. 
 
 Scaevinus, reveals conspiracy of Calpurniua 
 Piso to Nero, i, 146. 
 
 Scala Santa (Holy Steps), Chapel of the, i, 419. 
 
 Scandinavian races. Legends of the, regard- 
 ing Attila, ii, 116. 
 
 Scandinavian religion. The, followed by the 
 Pagan kingdoms of Britain, ii, 354. 
 
 Scherin, favourite wife of Chosroes II, ii, 411 ; 
 a Roman and a Christian, 411 ; married 
 by him while in exile in Mesopotamia, 411 ; 
 celebrated on account of her beauty, wit 
 and musical talents, 411 ; Persian poems 
 regarding her, 411, 
 
 Schools of thought. Two, represented by 
 Alexandria and Carthage, i, 292 ; remark- 
 able men each produced, 292. 
 
 Scinde, partially subdued by the Khalif 
 Omar, ii, 451 ; conquest completed by 
 Walid I, 549. 
 
 Sclavs, The, most eastern of the Aryan races 
 of Europe, ii, 295 ; terrible foes to the 
 inhabitants of the empire in 6th century, 
 295 ; far more backward than the Teuton 
 races, 295 ; possessed no king or central 
 government, 295 ; not formidable to 
 trained troops, but savage foes to unarmed 
 population, 295 ; extraordinary skill in 
 ambuscades, 295 ; always in subjection 
 to some other race, 295 ; tendency to 
 *' Sclavize " the race to whom subject, 
 
 295 ; rapid increase in numbers, 295 ; in 
 5th century fly before the Huns to the 
 Baltic, 296 ; detested by the Teuton racee, 
 296 ; again driven southwards by them, 
 296 ; become vassals of the Bulgarians, 
 
 296 ; their cruelties, 296 ; establish them- 
 selves in Dalmatia, 338 ; during the 
 anarchy of the reign of Phocas estabhsh 
 themselves in a large part of Moesia, 394 ; 
 renounce subjection to the Avars and 
 become foederati of the empire, 4^8 ; de- 
 feated by Constana II and a body of them 
 transferred to Asia Minor, 475 ; those in 
 Moesia made vassals by the Bulgarians, 
 498 ; " Sclavize " the Bulgarians, 499 ; 
 enormous extension of the Sclavs, 499 ; 
 groups into which divided at the present 
 day, 499. 
 
 Scopas, sculptor belonging to zenith of Greek 
 art, i, 430. 
 
 Scribonia, first wife of Augustus, i, 6 ; 
 divorced, 6 ; becomes implacable enemy 
 of Livia and her sons, 31. 
 
 Sculptors, Greek, chiefly renowned, i, 26. 
 
 Sebastian, St., Captain of the Bodyguard, 
 i, 562 ; Diocletian's affection for him and 
 efforts to save him, 362 ; his martyrdom, 
 363 ; church built to his memory by Con- 
 stantino at Rome, 432. 
 
 Sebastopolis, Battle of, defeat of Justinian II 
 by the Saracens through treachery of the 
 Sclav contingent, ii, 512 ; causes loss of 
 Armenia, 512. 
 
 Sebert, king of the East Saxons, ii, 433. 
 
 Second General Council, i, 536 ; gives decision 
 regarding the Macedonian and Apollin- 
 srian heresies, 536 ; adds certain clauses 
 to the creed, 530 ; completes the organiza- 
 tion of \he Church, 536 j groups Christep- 
 
 dom into flve '* patriarchates," 537 ; gives 
 title of Pope to the Metropolitan Bishops 
 of their principal sees, 537 ; carefully 
 defines their jurisdiction, 537. 
 
 Secret History, The, ii, 193; discovery by 
 Alemannus, 193 ; not the work of Procopiua 
 as long supposed, 193; glaring inconsist- 
 encies, 194 ; no longer held a veracious 
 record, 194 ; its foul and malignant state- 
 ments, 194. 
 
 Secular Games, The, impressive character of 
 the ceremonies at, i, 313 ; midnight dances 
 by the Tiber, 314 ; religious hymns sung 
 by 27 youths and 27 virgins, 314 ; the 
 gods implored to continue their favour 
 to the Roman people, 314. 
 
 Security to life and property under Later 
 Roman Empire in 8th century, ii, 586. 
 
 See of capital city. Greater importance 
 practically always attaching to, ii, 307. 
 
 Segestes, chief of the Cherusci, opposes Her- 
 mann owing to his daughter Thusnelda 
 marrying him, i, 61 ; by treachery gains 
 possession of Thusnelda and several adher- 
 ents of Hermann and delivers them to the 
 Romans, 61 ; thereby rouses the whole of 
 the northern tribes, 61. 
 
 Sejanus, becomes chief minister of Tiberius, 
 i, 67 ; his despicable character, 67 ; numer- 
 ous crimes, 68 ; the emperor at last un- 
 deceived regarding him, 69 ; trial and 
 death, 70. 
 
 Senate of Rome, The, treated with deference 
 by Augustus, i, 9-10 ; and by Tiberius, 57- 
 58 ; trodden under his heel by Caligula, 
 88-89 ; abject servility towards Nero, 
 143-146 ; treated with respect by Trajan, 
 211 ; nearly half its members put to death 
 by Septimius Severus, 282 ; almost all 
 power taken from it by him, 283 ; con- 
 spires against Aurelian and severely pun- 
 ished by him, 337 ; its last semblance of 
 legal authority abolished by Diocletian, 
 349 ; decrees deification to Constantine 
 at his death, 442 ; indignation against 
 Gratian for removing the altar of Victory 
 from the Senate-house, 545 ; puts to 
 death Stilicho's widow Serena, ii, 46 ; sends 
 envoys to treat with Alaric, 46 ; sets up 
 a puppet emperor, Attalus, 60 ; conspires 
 against Theodoric the Great, 180 ; its mem- 
 bers carried off by Totila, 267 ; last that 
 is heard of it, 267. 
 
 Senate of Constantinople, The, condemns 
 the ex-emperor Licinius to death, i, 401 ; 
 invests Pulcheria with the rule of the 
 eastern half of the empire, ii, 64 ; chooses 
 Pulcheria as successor to Theodosius II, 
 92 ; chooses Leo I as emperor, 122 ; chooses 
 Justin I as emperor, 162 ; opposes policy 
 of the emperor Maurice in proposing to 
 assist Chosroes II to regain his throne, 342 ; 
 opposes the empress Martina, 457 ; ban- 
 ishes her and her sons, 457 ; instals the 
 eleven-year-old Constans II on the throne, 
 457 ; chooses Philippicus as emperor, 
 543 ; chooses Anastasius II as emperor, 
 543 ; long struggle between the throne and 
 the Senate from the time of Justinian I 
 545 ; chooses Leo III as emperor, 546. 
 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, i, 105 ; one of the 
 inner circle of the court of Claudius, 105 ; 
 his intrigue with Julia Livilla, 105 ; ban- 
 ished at instigation of Valeria Messalina, 
 106; recalled afte? eight years' exile by 
 
 Agrippina, 105 ; refuses in his writings to 
 support Agrippina's accusations of im- 
 moraHty against Valeria Messalina, 109 ; 
 made tutor to Nero, 126 ; becomes Nero's 
 chief minister, 129 ; prepares Nero's letter 
 to the Senate, 131 ; his terrible picture of 
 life in the time of Nero, 141-143 ; commits 
 suicide, 146 ; chief writings, 271. 
 
 Separation of secular history and Church 
 history. Loss caused by. Preface, p. vi. 
 
 Septimius Severus, emperor, previous history, 
 i, 282 ; chosen by the legions in Pannonia, 
 280 ; disbands the Praetorian Guards and 
 forms a new body under that name, 280 ; 
 defeats his rival Niger, 281 ; defeats 
 Clodius Albinus, 281 ; puts to death half 
 the members of the Senate, 282 ; deprives 
 the Senate of almost all power, 283 ; ap- 
 points Plautianus his representative in 
 Rome, 283 ; reconquers Mesopotamia, 284 ; 
 proceeds to Egypt and North Africa, 284 ; 
 celebrates a Roman triumph, 284 ; in- 
 creases greatly the efficiency of the army, 
 284 ; issues edict for Fifth persecution, 
 293 ; makes various changes in the admin- 
 istration advantageous to the provinces, 
 285 ; proceeds to Britain, 286 ; war against 
 the Scots, 286 ; rebuilds and greatly 
 strengthens the Roman Wall, 286 ; death 
 at York, 289; chief buildings in Rome, 
 289-290; his buildings in North Africa, 
 
 Septizonium, The, built by Septimius Severua 
 for the Sun-worship, i, 290 ; some of its 
 marble columns used in St. Peter's, 291. 
 
 Septuagint, The, i, 84. 
 
 Sequence, Chronological, of events, importance 
 of maintaining. Preface, p. x. 
 
 Serena, niece of Theodosius the Great, i, 666 ; 
 married to Stilicho, ii, 8 ; accompanies 
 Theodosius on visit to Rome, i, 666 ; takes 
 necklace from statue of the goddess Rhea, 
 566 ; escorts the boy Honorius from Con- 
 stantinople to Milan, 571 ; accompanies 
 Stilicho and Honorius on visit to Rome, 
 ii, 31 ; put to death by the Senate, 46-46. 
 
 Sergius, plot of, to murder Justinian, ii, 316. 
 
 Sergius, Pope of Constantinople, ii, 397 ; 
 crowns Heraclius, 397 ; becomes his chief 
 supporter, 407 ; conducts the ceremony on 
 Holy Cross Day, 423 ; originates the Mono- 
 thelite heresy, 446 ; assists Heraclius to 
 draw up the edict called the Echthesis, 448 ; 
 death, 448 ; condemned for heresy by the 
 Sixth General Council, 504. 
 
 Service of posts, Roman, i, 370 ; efficiency, 
 370 ; speed with which journeys were made, 
 
 Sessorium Palace, The, built by Varius Mar- 
 cellus, father of the emperor Elagabalus, i, 
 419 ; becomes the empress Helena's palace 
 in Rome, 419; one of its halls converted 
 into the church of Sta Croce in Gerusa- 
 lemme, 419. 
 
 Severa, first wife of Valentinian I and mother 
 of Gratian, i, 513. 
 
 Severus, nephew of Galerius, appointed 
 Caesar, i, 362 ; given rank of Aiigustus, 371 ; 
 attacked by Maximian, 371; put to death, 
 371. 
 
 Seville, Roman capital of Spain, ii, 547. 
 
 Sextus Pompeius, defeated by Augustus, i, 7. 
 
 Shah Barz, chief general of Chosroes II, ii, 
 412 ; defeated by Heraclius in Cappadocia, 
 412 ; defeated by him on the Araxes, 413 ; 
 
 I 
 
 
666 
 
 INDEX 
 
 forced to fly from Salban, 416 ; defeated 
 at river Sams, 415; defeated at Chaleedon, 
 418 ; revolts from Chroaroea' son Siroes» 
 421 ; seizes the Persian throne, 422 ; 
 death, 422. 
 Shahnamah (Annals of the Kings), The, 
 drawn up by Chosroes I, ii, 243 ; its wide 
 renown in the East, 243 ; still studied in 
 Kashmir, 243. 
 Shiahs, one of the two great divisions of the 
 
 Mahomedans, ii, 473. 
 Sidi Okba, much venerated tomb of Okba in 
 
 the Aures Mts., ii, 609. 
 Sigambri, The, i, 113. 
 
 Sigberet, king of East Anglia, adopts Chris- 
 tianity, ii, 434. 
 Sigberet, king of the East Saxons, establishes 
 a community from Lindisfarne in his king- 
 dom, ii, 467 ; East Saxons accept Chris- 
 tianity, 467. 
 Sigebert, king of East Anglia, defeated and 
 
 killed by Penda, king of Mercia, ii, 466. 
 Sigerich, Visigoth king, ill treatment of Galla 
 
 Placidia, ii, 62. 
 Sigibert, fourth son of Chlotochar I, ii, 346 ; 
 marries Visigoth princess Brunhilda, 346 ; 
 to avenge her sister attacks his vicious 
 brother Chilperic, 347 ; captures Paris and 
 Rouen, 347 ; murdered, 347. 
 Sigismund, eldest son of the king of the Bur- 
 gundians, married to Thiudagotha, daugh- 
 ter of Theodoric the Great, ii, 172 ; cruelly 
 murdered with his wife and children by 
 Chlodomir, king of Orleans, 290. 
 Silchester, Roman coins showing date of its 
 
 destruction by the Saxons, ii, 56. 
 Silentiarii, specially tru^^ted portion of the 
 
 imperial Bodyguard, ii, 306. 
 Silius, Caius, marriage to Valeria Messalina, 
 
 i. 108. 
 Silk, first introduction of its manufacture 
 
 into Europe, ii, 241. , 
 
 Silures, Tribe of the, in Britain, i, 111. 
 Silver statue of Eudoxia on porphyry column, 
 
 ii, 31. 
 Silverius, Pop)e of Rome, appointed by the 
 Gothic king Thiudahad, ii, 221 ; character, 
 222; sent by the citizens to Belisarius, 
 222 ; deposed by order of the empress 
 Theodora, and banished to Patara, 228 ; 
 brought back to Rome and made over to 
 Vigilius, 228 ; escorted to island of Pal- 
 maria, 228 ; death, 228. 
 Simitthu, its Roman remains and quarries 
 of yellowish red Numidian marble, ii, 612. 
 Simon, St., with St. Jude takes Mesopotamia 
 and Persia as his sphere in the work, i, 123 ; 
 martyred in Persia, 123. 
 Simon Bar Gioras, heroic defender of Jerusa- 
 lem, put to death by Vespasian, i, 180. 
 Simpatia, Quality of, ii, 402 ; high value 
 set upon it by southern races of Europe, 
 402 ; its effect in regard to the emperors 
 Justinian and Heraclius, 402. 
 Siricius, Pope of Rome, founds church of Sta. 
 
 Pudenziana, i, 665. 
 Sirmium, capital of third section of the empire 
 under Diocletian, i, 347 ; its capture by 
 Julian, 472 ; captured by the Avars, ii, 339. 
 Siroes, son of Chosroes II, imprisons his father 
 and starves him to death, 421 ; agrees to 
 terms of peace with Heraclius, 421 ; de- 
 feated and killed by Shah Barz, 422. 
 Sisebut, king of the Visigoths, ii, 424. 
 Sixth General Council, ii, 501 ; last General 
 
 Council of the Church, 602 ; the West 
 more fully represented than at previous 
 General Councils, 503 ; change in the 
 Church since assembly of Fifth General 
 Council, 503 ; attended by 289 Bishops, 
 504 ; condemns the IVIonothelite heresy) 
 604 ; declares four Popes heretics, 504 • 
 specially condemns Honorius I, Pope of 
 Rome, for his writings, 505 ; finally reiter- 
 ates the belief held by the Catholic Church, 
 606 ; what the six General Councils had 
 effected, 606. 
 Sixtus II, Bishop of Rome, martyred in 
 Seventh persecution, i, 330 ; the fifth 
 Bishop of Rome martyred in seven years, 
 330 ; buried in the Catacomb of St. Calixtua* 
 330. 
 Slavery, silent revolution regarding, shown 
 by the Agricultural Code of Leo III, ii, 583. 
 Slaves, large number maintained by the 
 
 Roman families, ii, 133. 
 Smaragdus, Exarch of Italy, ii, 356 ; des- 
 picable flattery to the tyrant Phocas, 395 ; 
 column erected by him in honour of the' 
 latter, 396. 
 Social life in Later Roman Empire in 8th 
 
 century, ii, 688. 
 Socialism, earliest teaching of, ii, 159. 
 Sofian, Mahomedan general commanding 
 land forces at second siege of Constantinople, 
 ii, 494 ; totally defeated, 494. 
 Solachon, Battle of, Persians defeated at. ii. 
 
 341. 
 Solicinium, Battle of, defeat of the Allemanni 
 
 by Valentinian I, i, 602. 
 Solomon, governor of North Africa, killed. 
 
 ii, 268. 
 Sonichildis, daughter of Thiudapert, married 
 
 to Charles Martel, ii, 670. 
 Sophia, St., Cathedral of, at Constantinople, 
 (first), built by Constantino, i, 423 ; burnt 
 down in reign of Arcadius, ii, 31 ; (second), 
 burnt down in the " Nika " insurrection, 
 202 ; (third), built by Justinian, 238 ; cost, 
 239 ; shape, dimensions, and interior 
 decorations, 239 ; Justinian's pride, in his 
 achievement, 239. 
 Sophia, empress, niece of Theodora, married 
 to Justin II, ii, 324 ; embroidered curtain 
 prepared by her, 333 ; carries on the 
 government during his insanity, 335 ; pro- 
 cures appointment of Tiberius as Caesar, 
 336 ; refuses to allow his wife to reside in 
 the imperial palace, 336 ; her speech when 
 pressed to do so, 336. 
 Sophiam, Mahomedan general, ii, 651. 
 Sophronius, last Pope of Jerusalem, firm 
 stand against the Monothelite heresy, ii, 
 447; his " synodical letter," 447; con- 
 ducts the Khalif Omar through the cap- 
 tured city, 444 ; distress at seeing him 
 at the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, 444 ; 
 death, 447. 
 South Saxons accept Christianity, ii, 504. 
 Sozomen, asserts guilt of Licinius against 
 
 Constantino, i, 402. 
 Spain, Conquest of by the Mahomedans, ii, 
 
 646-648. 
 Spalatro, Palace of, built by Diocletian, i, 
 353 ; character of its architecture, 353 ; 
 becomes modern town of Spalato, 353. 
 Spina, wall down centre of a circus, i, 373. 
 Spirits of fallen warriors fighting in the air. 
 
 Legend of, ii, 102. 
 Sport in 4th century, i, 644, 
 
 INDEX 
 
 667 
 
 Stages in the growth of superstition, ii, 557. 
 Standard of civilization elevated in 4th cen- 
 tury to a higher plane, i, 405-406. 
 Standard by which characters in history 
 
 must be measured, i, 267. 
 Stanley, Dean, words of regarding Constan- 
 tino's position among benefactors of man- 
 kind, i, 396. 
 Statilia I\Iessalina, third wife of Nero, i, 147. 
 Statue of Augustus, Details regarding, i, 9. 
 Stephen, St., first martyr, death of, i, 84. 
 Stephen I, Bishop of Rome, rebuked for 
 attempt to dictate to Cyprian, Bishop of 
 Carthage, i, 328 ; draws upon himself cen- 
 sure from whole Church, 329; martyred 
 in Seventh persecution, 330 ; buried in 
 Catacomb of St. Calixtus, 330. 
 
 Stephanus, Treasurer of Justinian II, ii, 513 ; 
 character and crimes, 513 ; rouses universal 
 detestation, 513 ; killed by the people, 614. 
 
 Stilicho, commander-in-chief of the Roman 
 army in time of Honorius, ii, 7 ; early 
 history, 8 ; married to Serena, niece of 
 Theodosius I, 8; character, 9; conflicts 
 with Rufinus, 10 ; prevented from attack- 
 ing the invading Visigoths, 12 ; sends 
 back the troops as ordered, 12 ; suppresses 
 revolt of Gildo the Moor, 14 ; dispositions 
 to meet the two invasions of Italy, 19-20 ; 
 calms panic-stricken Court, 22 ; crosses the 
 Alps m winter, 23; collects forces in 
 Rhaetia to oppose Radagaisus, 23 ; with- 
 draws legions from the Rhine and the 
 Twentieth legion from Britain, 23 ; defeats 
 Radagaisus, 23 ; returns to confront the 
 Visigoths, 26 ; wins battle of PoUentia, 
 26 ; drives the Visigoths out of Italy, 26 ; 
 removes emperor and court to Ravenna, 
 31 ; defeats second invasion of Radagaisus, 
 33 ; cabal formed to destroy him, 37-38 ; 
 massacre of his friends at Pavia, 40 ; im- 
 portuned by the Teuton generals to lead 
 them against the troops at Pavia, 40 ; 
 refuses to create civil war, 40 ; seized by 
 treachery, 40 ; put to death, 41 ; tomb 
 in former cathedral of Milan, 41. 
 
 Stilichonism, term invented by Olympius, 
 ii, 61. 
 
 Stoic philosophy. The, i, 38. 
 
 Strassburg, Battle of, defeat of the Allemanni 
 by Gratian, i, 467. 
 
 Strategikon, The, miHtary text-book written 
 by the emperor Maurice, ii, 340. 
 
 Strava, The, funeral feast of the Huns, ii, 116. 
 
 Stutza, leads a revolt in North Africa, ii, 268 ; 
 killed in battle of Sicca Venerea, 268. 
 
 Suavi (or Suevi) half the tribe of that name 
 which remained in Germany, ii, 148 ; wars 
 with the Ostrogoths, 148 ; give their name 
 to Suabia, 148. 
 
 Suetonius, Roman writer in 2nd century, i, 
 
 Suevi, The, defeated by Constantius, i, 468; 
 in reign of Honorius with the Vandals and 
 Alans invade Gaul, ii, 35 ; cross the Pyren- 
 ees and ravage Spain, 56 ; driven by the 
 Visigoths out of a great part of Spain, 66 ; 
 driven into Portugal, 126. 
 
 Sufetula, Battle of, against the Mahomedans, 
 ii, 460 ; the Exarch Gregory killed and 
 his daughter made a prisoner, 460. 
 
 Suicide of 2,000 girls, ii, 35. 
 
 Sulaiman, tenth Khalif, ii, 649; deprives 
 Musa of his office, 649; sends Armada to 
 attack Constantinople, 550 ; death, 552. 
 
 Sulaiman, Mahomedan admiral, commands 
 
 fleet sent against Constantinople in reign 
 
 of Leo III, ii, 560 ; death, 551. 
 Sunday, observance of, adopted into the public 
 
 life of the Roman Empire, i, 395. 
 Sun-dial, Obelisk set up as a, by Augustus, 
 
 i, 27 ; its failure to mark the time correctly 
 
 in the reign of Trajan, 27 ; Pliny's idea as 
 
 to the cause, 27. 
 Susa, Battle of, i, 374. 
 Sword and ornaments of gold found buried 
 
 with a skeleton believed that of Theodoric, 
 
 king of the Visigoths, ii, 102. 
 Sylvester I, Bishop of Rome, i, 414. 
 Symmachorum diptych. The, i, 581.N 
 Symmachus, leader of the Senate, accused 
 
 of sedition against Theodoric the Great, ii, 
 
 180 ; trial and execution, 181. 
 Synod of Toledo, abandons Arianism among 
 
 the Visigoths, ii, 353 ; inadvertently ori- 
 
 ginates alteration in the creed, 353. 
 Syrian sun-worship, i, 305-306. 
 
 Tacfarinas, rebel leader in Numidia, i, 66. 
 Tacitus, historian, i, 271 ; his strangely 
 drawn picture of the emperor Tiberius, 45- 
 47 ; his high ideals and contempt for ignoble 
 conduct, 73-74 ; power of making the 
 episodes he relates vivid, 74. 
 Tacitus, emperor, elected by the Senate, i, 
 337 ; defeats the Alans, 339 ; death, 339. 
 Tapae, Battle of, in Dacian war, i, 213 ; an 
 entire Roman legion of 6000 men des- 
 troyed, 213. 
 Tarasicodissa, Isaurian chief, see Zeno. 
 Tarik, Mahomedan general, leads first force 
 invading Spain, ii, 546 ; wins battle of Lake 
 Janda, 547 ; seizes Granada, Cordova, and 
 Toledo, 547 ; has given his name to Gibral- 
 tar, 646. 
 Tebessa, original headquarters of the Third 
 legion in North Africa, ii, 533 ; four-sided 
 Arch and temple of Minerva at, 81 ; its 
 " Byzantine " walls, 612. 
 Teias, trusted lieutenant of Totila, ii, 299; 
 constructs obstacles to the advance of 
 Narses, 299; after battle of Helvillum 
 escapes to Pavia, 302 ; elected king, 302 ; 
 fights battle of Angri, 304 ; killed, 304. 
 Telemachus, protests against gladiatorial 
 
 combats and stoned to death, ii, 32. 
 Temple of Mars Ultor, vowed by Octavius 
 at battle of Philippi, i, 6 ; built, 15. 
 „ of Augustus, i, 15. 
 „ of Vespasian, i, 182. 
 „ of Venus and Rome, built by Hadrian, 
 
 i, 232. 
 „ of Antoninus and Faustina, i, 241. 
 „ of Vesta, four times destroyed, i, 
 289 ; rebuilt for fourth time by 
 Septimius Severua, 289. 
 „ of Jupiter Capitolinus, i, 40 ; sacred 
 books of the Sibyl guarded there, 
 40; rebuilt by Vespasian, 179; 
 roofed with gilded bronze plates by 
 Domitian, 187. 
 „ of " Diana of the Ephesians," i, 323. 
 Temple, The, of the Jews at Jerusalem, Des- 
 truction of, i, 183 ; temple of Jupiter built 
 on its site by Hadrian, 229 ; attempt by 
 Julian to rebuild it, 480. 
 Terbel, king of the Bulgarians, ii, 521 ; helps 
 Justinian II to regain his throne, 522 ; 
 attacked by Justinian II and defeats him. 
 524. 
 
 I N D P. Y 
 
668 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 669 
 
 ** Terror," The, i, 86 ; its climax reached in 
 last half of reign of Nero, 141 ; its aspect 
 as revealed in writings of Seneca and 
 Tacitus, 141-144. 
 
 Tertulian, writer of 3rd century, i, 293 ; denun- 
 ciation of the Pagan religion, 293 ; indig- 
 nant protest to Proconsul of North Africa, 
 294. 
 
 Testament of Augustus, The, carved in stone, 
 i, 39. 
 
 Tetricus, usiirps part of Gaul, i, 331 ; gains 
 Gaul, Spain, and Britain, 335 ; subdued 
 by Aurelian, 336. 
 
 Teutoburger Wald, The, destruction of the 
 three legions of Varus at, i, lS-14. 
 
 Teuton auxiliaries. Wives and children of, 
 massacred by Olympius, ii, 42. 
 
 Thebarmes, birthplace of Zoroaster, ii, 413. 
 
 Thecla, St., martyred at Rome in First perse- 
 cution, i, 167. 
 
 Themes, New division of the empire into, by 
 Constans II, ii, 476 ; their military char- 
 acter, 544 ; the principal themes in Asia 
 Minor, 544. 
 
 Themisteus, Pagan writer in time of Gratian, 
 i, 616. 
 
 Theoctiste, daughter of the emperor Maurice, 
 ii, 394 ; slain by Phocas, 394. 
 
 Theoctiste, mother of Theodore of Studion, 
 ii, 688. 
 
 Theodora, empress, birth and previous his- 
 tory, ii, 196-196 ; married to Justinian, 
 192 ; given equal authority, 192 ; appear- 
 ance and characteristics, 196 ; picture of 
 her, 1 98 ; speech in the Nika insurrection, 
 203 ; deposes Silverius and appoints 
 Vigilius as Pope of Rome, 227 ; her palace 
 the Heraeum, 242 ; accomplishes ruin of 
 John of Cappadocia, 249 ; alarm during 
 Justinian's illness, 262 ; causes Belisarius 
 to be disgraced, 252 ; her letter to him, 
 254 ; deports Pope Vigilius, 265 ; takes 
 up cause of wife o! Artabanes, 269 ; assists 
 the Monophysites, 282 ; death, 284 ; 
 remarkable character, 284 ; Justinian's 
 name for her, 284 ; hand seen in two of 
 Justinian's laws, 285 ; ability in the art of 
 ruling, 286. 
 
 Theodora, empress, sister of the Chagan of 
 the Khazars, ii, 521 ; married to Justinian 
 II, 521 ; warns him of plot against his 
 life, 621 ; bears a son, 622 ; arrives at 
 Constantinople, 522. 
 
 Theodore of Tarsus, chosen as Archbishop for 
 Britain, ii, 487 ; qualifications, 495 ; makes 
 three years' tour of Britain, 496 ; convokes 
 Synod of all the Bishops of Britain at Hert- 
 ford, originating the Church of England, 
 496 ; death, 496. 
 
 Theodore, Abbot of Studion, ii, 589 ; writings, 
 689 ; makes every monk learn a trade, 589. 
 
 Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, celebrated 
 writer in 5th century, ii, 90 ; unrighteously 
 banished from his see by the Eutychians, 90. 
 
 Theodoric the Great, Ostrogoth king, brought 
 up at Constantinople, ii, 148 ; becomes 
 king, 148 ; torn between conflicting aims, 
 149 ; persuaded to lead the Ostrogoths 
 against Italy, 160 ; defeats the Gepidae, 160 ; 
 wins battle of the Isonzo, 161 ; takes 
 Milan, 161 ; besieges Ravenna, 152 ; mur- 
 ders Odoacer, 153 ; sets up the Ostrogoth 
 kingdom, 165 ; called Dietrich of Bern, 
 165 ; just rule over both Romans and 
 Ostrogoths, 166 ; refusal to learn to read 
 
 or write, 166; principles of government 
 167 ; distortion of his name, 171 ; matri- 
 monial alliances, 172 ; extension of his 
 dominions, 173 ; treasonable action of the 
 Senate, 174; trial of Boethius, 175; false 
 record given by the Anonymus Valeaii, 177 • 
 religious animosity added to political 
 sedition, 178; embassy to Justin I, 179 . 
 execution of Sjnnmachus, 181 ; imprison- 
 ment of members of the embassy, 181 ; 
 death of Pope John I, 181 ; death of Thee' 
 doric, 182 ; false colour given by the Roman 
 writers to these events, 182 ; injustice 
 thereby done to Theodoric, 183 ; character, 
 186 ; statue erected by hira, 187 ; his' 
 mausoleum, 187 ; unworthy treatment 
 of his remains, 188 ; skeleton in gold armour 
 believed his, 189 ; church built by him, 189. 
 Theodoric, Visigoth king, joins with the 
 Romans to oppose Attila, ii, 100 ; killed 
 in battle of the Mauriac Plain, 102 ; skeleton 
 believed his, 102. 
 Theodoric II, Visigoth king, takes large part 
 of Spain from the Suevi, ii, 126 ; death, 126. 
 Theodorus, brother of the emperor Heraclius, 
 ii, 416 ; his remarkable victory over the 
 Persian general Sahin, 418 ; defeated by 
 the Mahomedans at battle of Ajnadein, 
 441. 
 Theodorus Trithurius, defeated by the Ma- 
 homedans at battle of the Yormuk, ii, 443. 
 Theodosia, step-daughter of Maximian, mar- 
 ried to Constantius Chlorus, i, 346 ; her 
 three sons, 464. 
 Theodosian Code, The, its compilation in- 
 augurated by the empress Pulcheria, ii, 
 74 ; a valuable mine of information, 74 ; 
 promulgation, 86 ; names of its chief com- 
 pilers, 87. 
 Theodosian Wall, The, constructed by the 
 minister Anthemius during minority of 
 Theodosius II, ii, 64. 
 Theodosius the elder, general of Valentin ian I, 
 i, 600 ; sent to Britain to oppose Saxons 
 and Scots, 500 ; defeats both, 500 ; creates 
 new province of Valentia in southern half 
 of Scotland, 501 ; sent to North Africa to 
 supersede Romanus, 504 ; conducts two 
 years' war against Firmus the Moor, 504 ; 
 brings back the province to peace and order, 
 604 ; disgracefully put to death, none know 
 by whose order, 527-628. 
 Theodosius the Great, son of Theodosius the 
 elder, i, 527 ; serves in Britain under his 
 father, 528 ; appointed by Valentinian I 
 governor of Moesia, 528 ; upon execution of 
 his father resigns the service, 528 ; made 
 by Gratian his colleague, 628 ; defeats 
 the Goths, 529 ; falls dangerously ill, 531 ; 
 ejects the Arian clergy from Constantinople, 
 635 ; joins with Gratian in assembling 
 Second General Council, 536-536 ; upon 
 Gratian's death becomes ruler of whole 
 empire, 557 ; character, 556-567 ; tem- 
 porizes with the usurper Maximus, 558 ; 
 divides Armenia with Sapor III, 560 ; 
 fury at news of the riot at Antioch, 560 ; 
 at intercession of Flavian pardons the city, 
 662 ; marriage to the princess Galla, 663 ; 
 defeats Maximus, 663 ; puts him to death, 
 564 ; fixes his residence for a time at 
 Milan, 564 ; visit to Rome, 566 ; fury at 
 news of the riot at Thessalonica, 665 ; orders 
 massacre of the inhabitants, 666 ; reverses 
 his order too late, 566 ; refused admittance 
 
 to the cathedral, 566 ; remains eight 
 months in seclusion, 667 ; publicly acknow- 
 ledges his crime, 667 ; returns to Con- 
 Btantinople, 567 ; marches thence against 
 Arbogast, 669 ; wins battle of the Frigidus, 
 670-571 ; establishes himself at Milan, 
 671 ; sends for his younger son, 571 ; divides 
 empire between his two sons, 671 ; death, 
 671 ; burial at Constantinople, 671 ; sum- 
 mary of his reign, 572 ; general vi^w of the 
 empire at his death, 586-587. 
 Theodosius II, son of Arcadius and Eudoxia, 
 joy at his birth, ii, 27 ; succeeds his father at 
 seven years old, 36 ; placed imder charge 
 of Anthemius, 63; at thirteen placed 
 under charge of his sister Pulcheria, 64 ; 
 married to Eudocia, 67 ; becomes ardent 
 Nestorian, 76 ; abandons Nestorianism, 
 78 ; comes under domination of Chry- 
 saphius, 87 ; increasing misgovernment, 
 
 87 ; agrees to pay the Hungeld to Attila, 
 
 88 ; becomes ardent Eutychian, 89 ; causes 
 the scandal of the Latrocinium, 90 ; in- 
 creases turmoil by using power of state to 
 advance cause of the Eutychians, 90-91 ; 
 brings down both Church and State to 
 degradation, 91 ; death, 91. 
 
 Theodosius III, chosen by the troops to re- 
 place Anastasius II, ii, 644 ; unwillingness 
 to accept the honour, 545 ; deposed, 645. 
 
 Theodosius,eldest son of the emperor Maurice, 
 ii, 375 ; put to death by Phocas, 376. 
 
 Theodosius, brother of Constans II, put to 
 death, ii, 476. 
 
 Theodotus, minister of Justinian II, ii, 512 ; 
 character and crimes, 513 ; rouses universal 
 detestation, 613 ; killed by the people, 614. 
 
 Theophanes, writer in 8th centm-y, ii, 452. 
 
 Theo tokos, term used for the Virgin Mary 
 by Third General Council, ii, 77 ; its mean- 
 mg as interpreted by Bishop Westcott, 77. 
 
 Thermantia, second daughter of Stilicho, 
 married to Honorius, ii, 37. 
 
 Theurgy, Mysteries of, i, 466. 
 
 Third Century, The, too sweepingly held a 
 period of decline, owing to Roman writers 
 who regarded only the city of Rome, i, 364- 
 366. 
 
 Third General Council, The, ii, 75; point 
 debated, the opinions of Nestorius, Pope 
 of Constantinople, 75 ; assembles at 
 Ephesus, 76 ; condemns Nestorianism as 
 a heresy, 77. 
 
 Thiuda (people), the numerous Gothic names 
 having this root, ii, 171 ; distorted by 
 Greek writers, 171 ; changed gradually 
 by the northern races to Teutonen. 
 
 Thiudabald, son of Thiudabert, king of 
 Austrasia, ii, 291. 
 
 Thiudabert I, eldest son of Thiudaric, and 
 grandson of Clovis, ii, 291 ; greatly extends 
 his kingdom of Austrasia, 291 ; assists in 
 partition of Burgimdy, 291 ; makes raid into 
 Italy, 233 ; conquers Bavaria and the 
 Allemanni, 291 ; death, 291. 
 
 Thiudabert II, elder son of Childebert II, ii, 
 348 ; succeeds to kingdom of Austrasia. 
 348 ; death, 349. 
 
 Thiudagotha, second daughter of Theodoric 
 the Great, ii, 172 ; married to Sigismund, 
 172; cruelly murdered with her husband 
 and children by Chlodomir, 290. 
 
 Thiudahad, nephew of Theodoric the Great, 
 ii, 216 ; forced by Amalasuntha to surren- 
 der lands stolen from the people, 216 ; 
 
 associated with her in the rule, 216 ; mur- 
 ders her, 217 ; proposes to sell the kingdom. 
 220 ; slain, 221. ^ * 
 
 Thiudalinda, daughter of Garibald, duke of 
 Bavaria, ii, 367 ; beauty and a«complish- 
 ments, 357; wooed by Autharis in dis- 
 guise, 367 ; flight from Bavaria and mar- 
 riage to Autharis, 357 ; at his death choice 
 of a kmg left to her, 357 ; chooses Agilulf 
 and marries him, 367 ; becomes good 
 genius of the Lombard race, 368 ; change 
 effected by her, 358; causes them to 
 abandon Arianism, 359; her palace at 
 Monza, 359 ; bears a son, 359 ; his baptism 
 by the Catholic rite, 359 ; correspondence 
 with Gregory the Great, 371 ; writes to him 
 for guidance regarding controversy, 380; 
 becomes regent on behalf of her son, 424 ; 
 her death, 425 ; reverence of the Lom' 
 bards for her memory, 425; relics of her 
 preserved at Monza, 426. 
 Thiudamir, Ostrogoth king, father of Theo- 
 doric the Great, ii, 148. 
 Thiudans, Gothic name for king, ii, 171. 
 Thiudapert, duke of Bavaria, marries his 
 elder daughter to Liutprand, king of the 
 Lombards, and his younger daughter to 
 Charles Martel, ii, 570. 
 Thiuda Reik, correct form of name of Theo- 
 doric, ii, 171. 
 Thiudaric I, eldest son of Clovis, ii, 289 ; por- 
 tion of kingdom allotted to him, 289 ; 
 extends his kingdom of Austrasia by con- 
 quest of Thuringia, 291 ; death, 291. 
 Thiudaric II, younger son of Childebert II, 
 ii, 348 ; succeeds to kingdom of Bureundv. 
 348 ; death, 349. e J'* 
 
 Thiudaric IV, placed on Frank throne by 
 
 Charles Martel, ii, 667. 
 Thomas, St., takes southern India as hia 
 
 sphere in the work, i, 122. 
 Thorismund, Visigoth king, ii, 126. 
 Thousandth birthday of Rome, The, i, 313: 
 
 ceremonies at, 313-314. 
 Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, married 
 
 to sister of Theodoric the Great, ii, 172. 
 Thrasea, Paetus, refuses to join in adulation 
 
 of Nero, i, 131 ; put to death, 146. 
 
 Three Chapters, Controversy of the, ii, 
 
 282 ; Justinian's first edict on the subject, 
 
 283 ; second edict, 306 ; controversy 
 
 put an end to by Fifth General Coimcil, 309. 
 
 Thugga, remarkable Roman remains at, ii, 
 
 81 ; picture of charioteer and his horses, 83. 
 
 Thundering Legion, The, name given to 
 
 the Twelfth legion, i, 261. 
 Thuringia, conquered by Thiudaric, eldest son 
 of Clovis, and annexed to the Frank king- 
 dom, ii, 291. ^ 
 Thusnelda, daughter of chief of the Cherusci, 
 i, 61 ; marries Hermann against her father's 
 wish, 61 ; seized and handed over to the 
 Romans, 61 ; bears a son, 63 ; principal 
 prisoner at triumph of Germanicus, 63 ; 
 kept prisoner at Ravenna for rest of her 
 life, 63. 
 Tiberius, empt^ror, birth, i, 28; lofty ideals 
 even as a boy, 32 ; fictitious picture of him 
 h^ Tacitus, 47 ; forcibly divorced from 
 his wife Pomponia and made to marry 
 Julia, 48 ; earns distinction in many cam- 
 paigns, 48 ; retires to Rhodes, 48 ; retrieves 
 disaster in Germany, 49; awarded a 
 triumph, 49 ; becomes emperor, 50 ; char- 
 acter, 60-61 ; four main forces arrayed 
 
670 
 
 INDEX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 671 
 
 against him, 61-54 ; lofty hopes disap- 
 pointed, 54 ; high reputation in the pro- 
 vinces, 55 ; reserve, 55 ; uniformly re- 
 spected by contemporaries, 56 ; extension 
 of the law of majestaa, 57 ; endeavours to 
 raise tone of the Senate, 58 ; dignified 
 conduct at trial of Piso, 65 ; wrath of 
 Agrippina against him, 65 ; grief at death 
 of his son Drusus, 66 ; retires to Capreae, 
 67 ; odium through intrigues of Sejanus, 
 68 ; the Capreae legend, 71 ; disorganiza- 
 tion at Rome, 72 ; subsequent speech of 
 Cahgula to the Senate regarding it, 73 ; 
 choice of a successor, 76 ; death, 76 ; 
 estimate of his character and actions, 76- 
 78 ; builds second palace of the Caesars, 78. 
 
 Tiberius II, emperor, made Caesar^ ii, 336 ; 
 crowned as emperor, 336 ; inaugurates 
 new policy incorporating Greek ideas, 337 ; 
 successfully prosecutes war with Persia, 338 ; 
 loss of Sirmium to the Avars, 339 ; betrothes 
 his daughter to Maurice, 339; death, 339. 
 
 Tiberius III, name taken by the usurper Apsi- 
 mar, ii, 519. 
 
 Tiberius, brother of Constantino IV, ii, 489. 
 
 Tiberius, son of Justinian II, ii, 525. 
 
 Tiberius Claudius, first husband of Livia, i, 6 ; 
 death, 29. 
 
 Tiberius Gemellus, grandson of emperor 
 Tiberius, i, 75 ; murdered by Caligula, 87. 
 
 Tigellinus, infamous assistant to Nero's crimes, 
 i, 135 ; devises tortures of the Christians, 
 160. 
 
 Timavus, Battle of the, fought by Alaric, ii, 
 21. 
 
 Timgad, chief Roman station on the southern 
 frontier, i, 211 ; founded by Trajan, 211 ; 
 defences increased by Valentinian I, 503 ; 
 remarkable Roman remains at, ii, 613-614. 
 
 Timothy, sent by St. Paul to be Bishop of 
 Ephesus, i, 169. 
 
 Timothy and Titus, Epistles to, words of 
 Sir W. Ramsay regarding their authenticity, 
 i, 170. 
 
 Tiridates, made king of Armenia by Nero, 
 i, 147. 
 
 Tiro, see Prosper Tiro. 
 
 Titles, High-sounding, used by Justinian, ii, 
 283. 
 
 Titus, left by St. Paul as Bishop of Crete, i, 
 169. 
 
 Titus, emperor, captures Jerusalem, i, 180 ; 
 celebrates triumph, 180 ; becomes emperor, 
 186 ; character, 185 ; builds Baths of Titus 
 and Arch of Titus, 185 ; celebrates open- 
 ing of the Colosseum, 186 ; assists sufferers 
 by the great eruption of Vesuvius, 186 ; 
 death, 186. 
 
 Tolbiacum, Battle of, ii, 166 ; vow of Clovia 
 at, 156. 
 
 Toledo, Synod of, see Synod. 
 
 Tomb of " the Freedmen of Livia," i, 37. 
 
 Tomb of "Caesar's household," i, 168. 
 
 T&n Hodigdn, Church of, in Constantinople, 
 ii, 679 ; former name, 579 ; reasons given 
 for change of its name, 580. 
 
 Totila, Ostrogoth king, ii, 256 ; noble char- 
 actor, 266 ; gains nearly all Italy, 267 ; 
 strict discipline and justice, 267 ; takes 
 Tivoli, 264 ; captures Rome, 266 ; des- 
 troys Baths of Caracalla, 266 ; proposes 
 entirely to destroy the city, 266 ; leaves 
 Rome empty, 267 ; destroys Villa of 
 Hadrian, 267 ; drives Belisarius into Sicily, 
 270 ; besieges and again captures Rome, 
 
 287; ravages Sicily, 288; his just rule 
 of Italy, 298 ; prepares to meet the army 
 imder Narses, 299 ; his plan of camnaifm 
 299 ; fights battle of Helvillura, 301 ' 
 death at Caprara, 302. ' 
 
 Tradition, solid basis of in certain cases, i 
 121 ; reliable to be separated from un- 
 reliable tradition, 360. 
 
 Trajan, emperor, character, i, 210 ; reduces 
 the Praetorian Guards to obedience, 210 ; 
 greatly strengthens the " Limes," 210 • 
 foimds Timgad, 211 ; puts to death 
 Clement, Bishop of Rome, 222 ; prepares 
 for war with the Dacians, 212 ; first cam- 
 paign in Dacia, 213 ; second Dacian cam- 
 paign, 213; widespread reforms, 216; 
 stores com in Rome for seven years' con- 
 sumption, 215 ; constructs the Aqua Tra- 
 jana, 215 ; bluntness of his moral sense, 
 216; his Forum, 216; his Column, 217; 
 letters to Pliny, 218 ; proceeds to the East, 
 219; puts to death Ignatius, Bishop of 
 Antioch, 224 ; conquers Colchis, Iberia, 
 Albania, Armenia, Osrhoene, Mesopotamia, 
 Carduene, and Assyria, and captures 
 Ctesiphon, 219; suffers defeat at Hatra, 
 220 ; given title of " Parthicus," 220 ; 
 death, 220 ; his reign just and temperate 
 as regards the Christians, 226. 
 
 Treves (Augusta Trevirorum), capital of the 
 first section of the empire under Diocletian, 
 i, 347 ; made a bishopric by Constantino, 
 399 ; importance in 4th century, 495-49G ; 
 chief residence of Valentinian I and Gratian, 
 496 ; Roman remains at, 496 ; called 
 Rome beyond the Alps, 496 ; proximity 
 to most dangerous part of the frontier, 606. 
 
 Tribonian, assists Justinian in drawing up 
 his great works on law, ii, 198 ; unpopular 
 with the people, 201. 
 
 Tribunal, Seat of, increased in width owing 
 to change in fashion of ladies' dress, i, 154. 
 
 Tricameron, Battle of, final blow to Vandal 
 kingdom, ii, 210. 
 
 Trireme^ warship, i, 20. 
 
 Tryphena and Tryphosa, Tombs of, i, 168. 
 
 Tufa, treachery of against the Ostrogoth 
 chiefs, ii, 162. 
 
 Tulum, Count, the faithful friend of Theodoric 
 the Great, ii, 169. 
 
 Tumere, Chagan of the Turks, ii, 313 ; com- 
 putes his cavalry by millions, 313. 
 
 Turin, Battle of, won by Constantino, i, 375. 
 
 Turisund, king of the Gepidae, ii, 325. 
 
 Turks, The, called by the Chinese Thu-kiu, 
 ii, 313 ; in 6th century become very power- 
 ful, 313 ; after long contests witli the 
 Chinese push their way westwards, 313 ; 
 first heard of in reign of Justinian, 313 ; 
 embassy to Justin II, 326 ; make an 
 alliance with the empire, 326. 
 
 Twelve Apostles, Church of the, in Constan- 
 tinople, built by Constantino, i, 423 ; its 
 magnificence described by Eusebius, 423 ; 
 twelve tombs with one in centre for Con- 
 stantino, 442 ; becomes regular burial- 
 place of all the emperors, 514. 
 
 Type, The, Edict of Constans II, ii, 463 ; its 
 terms, 463 ; causes him a troubled reign, 
 463 ; reasonable and moderate, 464 ; 
 anathematized by 85aiod held at Rome, 469. 
 
 Tyre, church built at, in 314, Description of, 
 i, 394. 
 
 Tzazo, brother of Gelimer, the Vandal king, 
 ii, 208 ; brings reinforcements to (Jelimer, 
 
 210; killed at battle of Tricameron, 211. 
 
 Uldin, kills Ostrogoth chief Gainas, ii, 27. 
 
 Ulpian, minister of Alexander Severus, i, 307 ; 
 ability and high character, 307 ; life sacri-' 
 ficed in mutiny of the Praetorian Guards. 
 307. 
 
 Uraias, nephew of Witigis, attempts to relieve 
 Ravenna, ii, 234 ; retains Pavia, 237 ; 
 murdered, 256. 
 
 Urbicius, assists empress Ariadne to put 
 down revolt of Longinus, ii, 152. 
 
 Urbicus, Lollius, commander in Britain under 
 Antoninus Pius, i, 240. 
 
 Ursinus, martyred at Rome in Seventh perse- 
 cution, i, 331. 
 
 Ursula, St., and the virgins of Cologne, ii, 100. 
 
 Ursulus, imperial treasurer in Gaul, stead- 
 fastly loyal to Constantius, i, 476 ; shame- 
 fully put to death by Julian, 476. 
 
 Utica, Battle of, defeat of John the Patrician 
 by the Saracens, ii, 518. 
 
 Valens, brother of Valentinian I, and made 
 jomt emperor by him, i, 495 ; contemptible 
 character, 495 ; leans entirely upon his 
 brother, 495 ; goads Procopius into rebel- 
 hon, 497 ; puts to death many believed 
 implicated with him, 497 ; gains a victory 
 over the Goths, 501 ; oppresses the Catho- 
 lics, 608 ; obstructs operations of Sapor II 
 against Armenia, 613 ; hears of magic ring 
 spellmg out name of his successor, 613; 
 paroxysm of fear thereat, 627; puts to 
 death many persons in consequence, 627; 
 suspicion against him regarding death of 
 Theodosius the elder, 527; weakly allows 
 the Visigoths to enter Roman dominions, 
 621 ; by gross mismanagement converts 
 them into maddened enemies, 521-622 ; 
 marches to attack them, 623 ; refuses to 
 wait for his nephew Gratian, 623 ; de- 
 feated at battle of Hadrianople and killed, 
 624. 
 
 Valentia, new province in southern part of 
 
 Scotlflnd named after Valentinian I, i, 501. 
 
 Valentine, St., martyred at Rome in Eighth 
 
 persecution, i, 338. 
 Valentine, general, assists Senate in its 
 opposition to the empress Martina, ii, 457 ; 
 his daughter married to Constans II, 478.' 
 Valentinian I, emperor, birth, i, 493 ; becomes 
 commander of the legions in Gaul and 
 Britain, 493 ; chosen emperor, 493 ; 
 appearance and characteristics, 493-494 ; 
 associates his brother Valens with himself', 
 495 ; makes Treves his chief residence, 
 496 ; speech upon hearing of revolt of 
 Procopius, 498 ; prepares to make war, 
 498 ; defeats the Allemanni, 498 ; curbs 
 the operations of the Saxons, 498 ; sends 
 Theodosius the elder to Britain, 500 ; 
 crushes the Allemanni at battle of Soli' 
 cinium, 602 ; erects chain of fortresses 
 along Rhine frontier, 602 ; increases 
 defences of Timgad, 603; repulses the 
 Burgundians, 503; speech to his son 
 Gratian, 506 ; measures for welfare of 
 the people, 506 ; establishes regular 
 system for medical assistance, 507 ; hatred 
 of sorcery, 507 ; determined impartiality 
 in matters of religion, 508 ; severe ven- 
 geance upon the Quadi for invasion of 
 t*annonia, 613-614; death, 614; open 
 
 and upright character, 616 ; hatred of 
 effeminacy and profligacy, 616 ; iron 
 hand upon all who oppressed the people, 
 616 ; high praise given him by Romans 
 of later times, 615. 
 Valentinian II, younger son of Valentinian 
 I, i, 613 ; associated by Gratian with 
 himself, 519; weak character, 667; 
 murdered by Arbogast, 568. 
 Valentinian III, birth, ii, 66; succeeds to 
 rule of western half of the empire, 68; 
 vicious and incapable, 86 ; married to 
 his cousin Eudoxia, 86 ; leaves his mother 
 to conduct public affairs, 93 ; upon inva- 
 sion of the Hims remains terror-stricken 
 in Rome, 113; kills Aetius, 120; 
 assassinated, 121. 
 Valeria Messalina, empress, daughter of 
 Valerius Messala Barbatus and Domitia 
 Lepida, i, 103; beauty, 103; married 
 at sixteen to Claudius, 103 ; her two chil- 
 dren, 104 ; conflict with Agrippina, 104 ; 
 causes banishment of Julia Livilla and 
 Seneca, 106 ; her splendid entertainments, 
 106 ; brings up her children with good 
 sense, 107 ; divorced by Claudius in order 
 that she might marry Caius Silius, 107-108 ; 
 murdered, 108 ; the charge against her 
 of excessive immorality of very doubtful 
 authenticity, 109; is not supported bv 
 Seneca, 109. ^ 
 
 Valeria, a young girl martyred at Rome in 
 
 Seventh persecution, i, 331. 
 Valeria, empress, daughter of Diocletian, 
 1, 346 ; married to Galerius, 346 ; history, 
 380-381 ; put to death by Licinius, 381. 
 Valerian, emperor, high character i, 323 ; 
 universally honoured, 323; simultaneous 
 series of calamities, 323; his efforts to 
 confront so many enemies at once, 323; 
 sends his son Gallienus to oppose the 
 Franks, 323 ; stops the Decian persecution 
 and at first highly favourable to the Chris- 
 tians, 326 ; in fourth year of his reign under 
 influence of Macrianus issues edict for the 
 Seventh persecution, 326 ; proceeds to the 
 East to oppose Sapor I, 324 ; by treachery 
 of Macrianus almost whole army destroj^ed, 
 324 ; treacherously seized by Sapor and 
 carried off a prisoner to Persia, 324 ; treated 
 for five years with greatest insults, 324 ; 
 death, 324 ; his skin stuffed and hung up 
 m temple of Persepolis, 324. 
 Valerian, general, brings reinforcements to 
 
 Belisarius, ii, 269. 
 Vallio, Count, faithful general of Gratian, 
 
 1, 661 ; put to death by Maximus, 563. 
 Vandals, The, in reign of Honorius, with 
 the Alans and Suevi, cross the Rhine and 
 pour over Gaul, ii, 36 ; cross the Pyrenees 
 and ravage Spain, 56; driven by the 
 Visigoths into southern part of Spain, 66 ; 
 mvade North Africa, 72; complete the 
 conquest of that country and set up Vandal 
 kingdom, 79 ; capture and plunder Rome, 
 120 ; carry away the nobles and wealthy 
 Romans and sell them as slaves, 121 ; 
 defeat Armada of the emperor Leo I, 124 ; 
 become the leading power in the Mediter- 
 ranean, 127 ; attacked by the emperor 
 Justinian, 204; defeated at battle of 
 Ad Decimum, 208 ; defeated at battle of 
 Tricameron, 210 ; king and nobles trans- 
 ported to Coni=;tantinople, 212; "Justi- 
 nian's Vandals," 212; end of the Vandal 
 
672 
 
 INDEX 
 
 kingdom, 213; causes of its rapid over< 
 
 throw, 212. 
 Vandal, Name of, justly used as typical of 
 
 ruthless destruction, ii, 122 ; led the way 
 
 in destruction of three flourishing countries 
 
 in succession, 122 ; immense plunder 
 
 carried off by them, 122. 
 Varangian Bodyguard, The, ii, 337. 
 Varanes II, king of Persia, embassy to Carus 
 
 to treat for peace, i, 343; curt manner in 
 
 which overtures were declined, 343. 
 Varanes V, sumamed " Wild Ass," favourite 
 
 hero of Persian romances, ii, 323. 
 Varius Marcellus, married to Julia Soaemias, 
 
 i, 306 ; father of the emperor Elagabalus, 
 
 306. 
 Varronianus, general, father of the emperor 
 
 Jovian, i, 487. 
 Vatican mass£M;re, The, by Nero, see Massacre. 
 Veklal, great park of Chosroes II, ii, 410. 
 Venice, fugitives from Attila form settlements, 
 
 ii, 112 ; true founding of Venice later, at 
 
 invasion by the Lombards, 330. 
 Venus and Rome, Temple of, see Temple. 
 Verina, empress, widow of Leo I, ii, 146 ; 
 
 stirs up revolt against the emperor Zeno, 
 
 146 ; assists him to regain the throne, 147 ; 
 
 imprisoned by him, 147 ; intrigues against 
 
 him, 147 ; flies to the Papirian castle in 
 
 Isaurift, 147 ; besieged there, 147 ; dies 
 
 during the siege, 147. 
 Verona, Battle of, by Constantine, i, 375. 
 Verona, Battle of, between Theodoric and 
 
 Odoacer, ii, 161. 
 Verus, Annius, father of emperor Marcus 
 
 Aurelius, i, 246. 
 Verus, Lucius, colleague of emperor Marcus 
 
 Aurelius, i, 248. 
 Vespasian, emperor, character, i, 178 ; restores 
 
 order to the State, 179 ; works a revolution 
 
 in the moral atmosphere of Rome, 179 ; 
 
 subdues Judaea, 180 ; builds the Colosseum, 
 
 180 ; extends Roman dominions in Britain, 
 
 182 ; death, 182. 
 Vestal Virgins, The, charged with care of the 
 
 ever-burning fire in Temple of Vesta, i, 40 ; 
 
 high rank and privileges, 40 ; cases rare 
 
 of unfaithfulness to their vow of chastity, 40; 
 
 cruel treatment of one of them by Domitian, 
 
 188 ; one of them, Daria, converted to 
 
 Christianity and martyred in Seventh 
 
 persecution, 372. 
 Vestal Virgins, House of the, rebuilt by the 
 
 empress Julia Domna, i, 289. 
 Vetranio, general, crowned as emperor by 
 
 the princess Constantina, i, 457 ; submits 
 
 to Constantius and resigns, 457. 
 Vettius Epagathus, young Roman noble, in 
 
 Fourth persecution voluntarily confesses 
 
 himself a Christian and martyred, i, 263. 
 Vetus, Lucius, his project for a water-way 
 
 through Gaul, i, 129. 
 Via Claudia Augusta, crossing Brenner Pass, 
 
 completed by Claudius, i, 98. 
 Via Flaminia, connecting Rome with Ravenna, 
 
 ii, 95. 
 Via Lata in Rome, St. Paul's house in the, 
 
 i, 162. 
 Victoria, girl martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 Victory, Altar of, aee Altar. 
 Victor Vitenais, Roman writer in 5th century, 
 
 ii, 139. 
 Vienne, Archbishop of, bears title of " Primate 
 
 q{ Oaul " for 17 centuries, i, 262, 
 
 Vigilantia, sister of the emperor Justinian 
 ii, 324. 
 
 Vigilius, Pope of Rome, appointed by the 
 empress Theodora, ii, 227 ; character, 
 227 ; his letter to Belisarius, 228 ; causes 
 death of his predecessor Silverius, 228 ; 
 deported by order of the empress Theodora', 
 266 ; ordered to Constantinople, 283 ; 
 humiliating vacillations there, 307 ; dragged' 
 from altar of a church, 308 ; condemned 
 by Fifth General Council for heresy, 310 ; 
 banished, 311 ; changes his opinion for 
 fifth time, 311 ; allowed to return to Sicily. 
 311; death, 311. 
 
 Villa of Hadrian, object with which con- 
 structed by him, i, 231 ; magnificence of 
 its conception, 231 ; numerous works of 
 art collected therein, 231 ; its principal 
 buildings, 231-232 ; remained intact for 
 400 years, 232 ; destroyed by the Ostro- 
 goths under Totila, ii, 267. 
 
 Viminacium, Trajan's bridge of boats across 
 the Danube at, i, 213. 
 
 Vincent, St., martyred at Saragossa in Tenth 
 persecution, i, 363. 
 
 Vincentia, girl martyred at Rome in Seventh 
 persecution, i, 331. 
 
 Vindelicia, annexed to the empire by Augustus, 
 i, 12. 
 
 Virgil, poet, history and writings, i, 17. 
 
 Visigoths, The, given Dacia by Aurelian, 
 i, 335 ; pressed by the Huns, 520 ; request 
 from Valens protection of the empire, 620 ; 
 cross the Danube, 620 ; evil treatment, 
 621 ; rise in revolt, 622 ; win victory of 
 Hadrianople, 624 ; ravage Thrace, 626 ; 
 defeated by Theodosius, 629 ; invade 
 Thessaly and Epirus, 631 ; defeated by 
 Gratian, 631 ; become foederati of the 
 empire, 632 ; given lands, 633 ; take part 
 in battle of the Frigidus under Theodosius, 
 670 ; refuse to be treated as a subject race, 
 ii, 1 1 ; make Alaric their king, 1 1 ; plunder 
 Macedonia and Greece, 13 ; first invasion 
 of Italy, 17-26 ; defeated at PoUentia, 
 25 ; second invasion, 46 ; capture Rome, 
 61; traverse southern Italy, 67; 'cross 
 the Alps into Gaul, 69 ; more civilized 
 than other northern races, 60 ; cross 
 Pyrenees into Spain, 62 ; drive Vandals 
 and Suevi into south and west of Spain, 
 66 ; establish themselves in southern 
 Gaul and Spain, 66 ; the first of the northern 
 races to gain a regular kingdom, 66. 
 
 Visigoth kingdom. The, imder Theodoric 
 joins with the Romans against the Huns, 
 ii, 101 ; contests between Tiieodoric's 
 sons, 126 ; the Suevi driven into Portugal, 
 126 ; the kingdom brought to great power 
 under Euric, 126 ; absorbs remaining 
 Roman dominions in south-east of Gaul, 
 126 ; severe defeat at battle of Vouill6 
 by the Franks, 166 ; driven steadily back 
 by the Franks, 291 ; internal dissensions, 
 292 ; kingdom reimited by Athangild, 
 292 ; part of coast seized by emperor 
 Justinian, 313; Leovigild regams Malaga 
 and Cordova, 360 ; defeated by the Franks 
 and removes capital from Toulouse to 
 Toledo, 360 ; makes war upon his son 
 Hermenigild, 352 ; annexes kingdom of 
 the Suevi, 362 ; under Reccared Arianism 
 abandoned, 363 ; Synod of Toledo, 353 ; 
 decline of the kingdom after death of Kec- 
 Qfkr^d, 646 ; fierce civil wars, 646 ; ruth* 
 
 INDEX 
 
 673 
 
 less slaughter by Kindaswintha, 546 ; 
 
 battle of Lake Janda under Roderic, 547 ; 
 
 kingdom conquered by the Mahomedans, 
 
 648. 
 Vision of Augustus, i, 43. 
 Vitalian, Pope of Rome, receives Constans II, 
 
 ii, 480 ; at request of Oswy and Egbert 
 
 selects Theodore of Tarsus as Archbishop 
 
 for Britain, 487. 
 Vitalianus, rebellion against Anastasius I, 
 
 ii, 161. 
 Vitalis, St., martyred in reign of Nero, ii, 
 
 698 ; church to his memory at Ravenna, 
 
 274 ; its architecture and mosaics, 276. 
 Vitellius, emperor, infamous career, i, 174 ; 
 
 given command on the Rhine by Nero, 
 
 174 ; his troops win battle against Otho, 
 
 174 ; celebrates his victory by combats 
 of gladiators, 175 ; gives Rome up to plunder, 
 176 ; gluttony and extravagant banquets, 
 
 175 ; his troops defeated at second battle 
 of Bedriacum, 176 ; watches the conflict 
 in Rome, 176 ; seized and slain, 177. 
 
 Vitus, martyred in Second persecution, i, 196. 
 
 Vivia Porpctua, young Roman lady martyred 
 at Carthage in Fifth persecution, i, 295 ; her 
 family and circumstances, 296 ; record 
 written by herself of what she and her 
 companions suffered in their imprisonment 
 and trial, 296-298 ; her death, 299. 
 
 Volcano of Lipari, believed one of the mouths 
 of hell, ii, 188. 
 
 Vouilld, Battle of, disastrous defeat of the 
 Visigoths by the Franks under Clovis, ii, 
 166. 
 
 Vow written in diamonds on wall of St. 
 Sophia, ii, 66. 
 
 Vuldetrada, young widow of Thiudab^Jd, 
 ii, 291 ; taken as a wife by his grand-uncle 
 Chlotochar I, 291. 
 
 Vulgate, The, Latin translation of the Bible 
 by St. Jerome, i, 611. 
 
 Wahballath, eldest son of Zenobia, i, 333. 
 
 Walamir, Ostrogoth king, ii, 148. 
 
 Wall of Antoninus, from the Forth to the 
 
 Clyde, i, 240. 
 Wall of Hadrian, from the Tyne to the Solway, 
 
 laid out by him, i, 227. 
 Wall of Severus, reconstruction of Hadrian's 
 
 wall by Severus, i, 286 ; built by the 
 
 Sixth legion, 286 ; description, 286-287 ; 
 
 interesting remains of its fortresses, 287- 
 
 288. 
 Wall of Aurelian round Rome, i, 338 ; general 
 
 character, ii, 222. 
 Walls of Constantinople, i, 424. 
 Walls of black basalt round Amida, ii, 242. 
 Wallia, Visigoth king, restores Galla Placidia 
 
 to the emperor, ii, 63. 
 War, Terrible character of, when carried on 
 
 by ruling authority ignorant of war, ii, 
 
 270. 
 Water-channel, Remarkable, cut in rock 
 
 near Antioch, i, 181. 
 Wealth, Great, of Later Roman Empire in 
 
 8th century as result of trade diverted to 
 
 Constantinople, ii, 685 ; furnishes whole 
 
 of gold currency in circulation in East and 
 
 West and in Mahomedan empire, 686; 
 
 the gold " Byzant " the sole gold coin in 
 
 both East and West, 585. 
 Weird banquet arranged by Domitian, i, 191. 
 " Well of the Goths " at Angri, where the 
 
 Qstrogoth? ended as a nation, ii, 303, 
 
 Western half of the Roman Empire, Over- 
 throw of the, ii, 4 ; its swiftness in many 
 countries, 6 ; terrible results to the coun- 
 tries concerned, 129 ; feeling of the genera- 
 tion on whom this doom fell, 131 ; need 
 not have taken place, 131 ; the military 
 position, 132 ; dislike to military service, 
 135 ; want of patriotism of the Roman 
 nobles, 136 ; the lesson taught by this 
 great overthrow of civilization by bar- 
 barism, 137. 
 
 West Saxons accept Christianity, ii, 434. 
 
 Whitby, Conference of, ii, 487. 
 
 Widimir, Ostrogoth king, ii, 148. 
 
 Wilfrid, Bishop of York, present at Sixth 
 General Council, ii, 504 ; removes to 
 Sussex and converts the South Saxons, 504. 
 
 Will of Augustus, i, 23. 
 
 Willibrord, English missionary to the Frisians 
 slain by them, ii, 671. 
 
 Winfrith, see Boniface. 
 
 Winidae, name given by Jordanes to the 
 Sclavs, ii, 499. 
 
 Withdrawal of legions from Britain, the com- 
 mon idea regarding it incorrect, ii, 36. 
 
 Witigis, chosen king of the Ostrogoths, ii, 
 221 ; abandons Rome, 221 ; forcibly 
 marries Amalasuntha's daughter Mata- 
 suntha, 221 ; cedes territory to the Franks, 
 221; besieges Belisarius in Rome, 224; 
 sluggish incapacity, 229 ; raises siege of 
 Rome, 229 ; loses one stronghold after 
 another, 230 ; retakes Milan, 231 ; sur- 
 renders Ravenna and offers Belisarius 
 the crown of Italy, 235 ; brought a captive 
 to Constantinople, 246 ; treated with 
 honour by the emperor, 246 ; death, 245. 
 
 Wives and sisters of emperors in first three 
 centuries. Evil atmosphere by which sur- 
 rounded, i, 277. 
 
 Woden, Hall of. Belief of the Saxons regarding 
 it, ii, 331 ; ale to be drunk out of skulb 
 of enemies, 331. 
 
 Women, vague teaching of Mahomedanism 
 regarding their future state, ii, 335. 
 
 Worship, Pagan, in Rome, Religious system 
 of, i, 40-41. 
 
 Wulfhere, succeeds his brother as king of 
 Mercia, ii, 486 ; active in suppressing 
 Paganism, 486. 
 
 Yalulah, Battle of, giving the Mahomedans 
 
 western half of Persia, ii, 450. 
 Yermuk, Battle of the, final victory giving 
 
 the Mahomedans Syria, ii, 443. 
 Yezdegerd, grandson of Chosroes II, ii, 449 ; 
 
 threatening message sent him by Maho- 
 medan leader Khalid, 449 ; after losing five 
 
 battles flies to Iran, 460. 
 Yezdem, " Paradise " of, country palace of 
 
 Chosroes II, ii, 420. 
 Yezid I, fifth Khalif, ii, 600 ; destroys Hosein, 
 
 grandson of the Prophet, and his family 
 
 at Kerbela, 601 ; breaks treaty made by 
 
 his father, 608 ; death, 509. 
 Yezid, Mahomedan general, ii, 661. 
 York, fixed by Agricola as one of the three 
 
 principal Roman stations in Britain, i, 182 ; 
 
 becomes capital of Roman Britain, 289 ; 
 
 Edwin's capital, ii, 433 ; his wooden church 
 
 built there, 433. 
 
 Zaburoan, chief of the Bulgarians, ii, 314 ; 
 crosses the frozen Danube and attacks 
 Qonstantinople, 314 ; put to flight b^ 
 
674 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Belisarius, 316; retires again north of 
 
 the Danube, 316. - 
 
 Zacherias, Pope of Jerusalem, earned oS 
 
 a prisoner by the Persians, u, 40d. 
 Zama, Mahomedan leader, invades southera 
 
 France, ii, 567 ; killed in battle of Toulouse. 
 
 Zenith of Roman Empire in 4th century, 
 not in 2nd century. Preface, p. vm ; best 
 evidence on such a point. 574 ; superiority 
 of 4th century as regards military strength, 
 675-577 ; as regards splendour of cities. 
 677-578; as regards national prosperity, 
 678-581 ; as regards general standard of 
 enlightenment and civilization, 581-5U4; 
 Roman Pagan writers, blind to rest of 
 empire, extolled 2nd century, 68f ; to 
 rest of the world proof overwhelming 
 that it was far surpassed by 4th century. 
 685 ; reason why not hitherto recognized, 
 
 Zeno!" emperor, original name Tarasicodissa 
 chief of the Isaurians, u, 124 ; marriea 
 daughter of emperor Leo I. and takes 
 name Zeno, 124 ; struggle with Aspar, 124 
 reveals plot of Aspar to Leo I, 125 ; saves 
 
 * o«T, nf A^T>a^ 125: becomes 
 youngest son ot Aspar, i^^u , ^ 
 
 emperor. 125 ; unsatisfactory rule, 146 , 
 rel^lUon against him, 146 : flies to Isauna 
 146 • regains throne, 147 ; contest with 
 the ' ex-empress Verina, 147 ; continues 
 policy of Leo I, regarding the army. 148 ; 
 instigates Theodoric to attack Odoacer, 
 148 : death, 152. , 
 
 Zenob a, princess of Palmyra, i, 331 ; remark- 
 able character, 332 ; marries Odenathus, 
 
 332 • with him defeats Sapor I, overthrows 
 Macrianus, and reconquers the East, 332; 
 rules alone, 332; conquers Egypt, 332 ; 
 makes Palmyra the most splendid city m 
 the east, 332 ; takes title of Empress of 
 the East, 333 ; attacked by Aurelian, 336 ; 
 defeated at Antioch, 336; defeated at 
 Emesa, 336 ; stands a long siege m Palmyra. 
 336; flies towards Persia, but captured. 
 336 • made to adorn triumph of Aurelian, 
 336 i given a villa at Tivoli. 337; her 
 descendants survive in Rome until 5th 
 
 century, 337. , . . „« 
 
 Zenodorus, sculptor of the colossal statue of 
 
 Nero, i, 138. 
 Zenonis, wife of Basiliscus, u, 147. 
 Zeus of Dodona, Statue of, i, 422. 
 Zeuxippus, architect employed by Constan- 
 
 tine, i, 422. . -, ^ . 
 
 Zeuxippus, Baths of, i, 422 ; celebrated statues 
 
 adorning them, 422. .j.-, t n u 
 
 Zeuxis, painter belonging to zenith of C^reelc 
 
 art, i, 430. .. .,- i 
 
 Ziebil, khan of the Khazars, ii, 417 ; makes 
 an alliance with Heraclius, 417 ; death, 
 
 419 
 Zoheir, Mahomedan general, gains victory at 
 Thysdrus, but afterwards overthrown, u, 
 
 Zoroaster, founder of the Magian Fire- 
 worship, ii, 413; said by some to have 
 been contemporary with Moses, 413; 
 called by Plato the son of Oromazes, 413; 
 district of Azerbiyan the chief seat of the 
 worship, 413. . 
 
 Zosimus, Pagan Roman writer, i, 5»». 
 
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 oAmmaedara 
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 Thviwlrua 
 
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 U 
 
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 English Miles 
 
 30 
 
 100 50 O lOO 200 
 
 H.B. It is curious to note that in Roman times 
 the Zuider Zee was a lake. The strip of 
 coast to the north-west of what was then 
 Lake Flevo does not now exist. 
 
 WESTERN HALF ^^ ... 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ROMAN EMPIRE 
 
 J' 
 
 ^ 
 
 30 
 
 Longitude West of Greenwich O Longitude East of Greenwich 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 L'anamans. Green Jt Co Londen, N«»ioH:.Bombar. Calcutta^ JI^Msdra^ 
 
 I — - r 
 
MAP C 
 
 SMo^af^b^yfir.SJULJ6 
 
 n 
 
 loi^mmiU, Ormm. A Ca Itndmi Jffw IMtJomity, CnlfiOtn' A Madras 
 
 In this map Tyana should he more to the west, on the 
 north-western side of the Tdurus mountains, arid abotU 
 sixty miles north of Tarsus. 
 
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 4^ 
 
 H 
 
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