year 408, leaving the Eastern empire to his son Theodosius II., a child of seven years of age. Pulcheria, the clder sister of Theodosius, on the death of her father, took the sole government of the empire, in the name of her infant brother. She was a prudent and intelligent princess. The Eastern empire enjoyed under her administration, which the weakness of her brother allowed to be of forty years' continuance, all the blessings of good order and tranquillity.* At this time (the beginning of the fifth century) in the west of Europe, is supposed to have been laid the foundation of the French monarchy by Pharamond. But of this, and the doubts attending the existence of this prince, we shall afterwards treat more particularly under the first period of modern history. Honorius died in the year 423. The death of a weak and of a vicious prince would, in former times, have been accounted a blessing, but the empire was now laboring under that universal decay which was beyond a remedy. It has been justly remarked that, notwithstanding the despicable character of both these emperors, Arcadius and Honorius, their laws, with few exceptions, breathe often the most admirable sentiments, and the wisest political principles: but this proves no more than that there were some men of abilities who were employed in framing them; it was another thing to enforce their observance, and while that was neglected, as the deplorable situation of the empire too well declares, they were words without meaning, empty sounds, to which the public administration of government was a daily contradiction. Theodosius II. is famous in history for the celebrated code of laws which bears his name. In the view of reforming the complicated system of jurisprudence, of which the multiplicity of contradictory statutes formed a most inconsistent mass, he caused a code to be composed solely of the laws of the Christian emperors, which from that time he declared should be the only statutes in force. The new laws added from time to time to this collection were called Novelle, and this code was enforced by Valentinian III., the successor of Honorius in the Western empire, as it was by Theodosius in the East. It is curious to remark that this "Pulcheria," says Mr. Gibbon, "alone discharged the important task of instructing her brother in the arts of government, but her precepts may counte nance some suspicion of her capacity, or of the purity of her intentions. She taught him to maintain a grave and majestic deportment, to walk, to hold his robes, to seat himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain from laughter; to listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; to assume by turns a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman emperor. But Theodosus was never excited to support the weight and glory of an illustrious name.' Gibbon, Decl. and Fall, ch. xxxii. It is not a little extraordinary that Mr. Gibbon, in the whole of his account of the reign of Theodosius II, has never once mentioned this celebrated code of laws, which is certainly not the least remarkable circumstance relative to the life and character of this insignificant emperor. 3 VOL. II. code of laws subsisted only for ninety years in the East, though in the West it remained in force after the destruction of the empire, and was partly adopted by the Visigoths. Genseric, king of the Vandals, in the meantime established a formidable power in Africa; he soon made himself master of the Roman province,* and while Theodosius was obliged to employ his whole force against the Huns, that barbarian procured himself to be acknowledged for an independent sovereign, who had a just title to his conquests. The Huns were at this time governed by two brothers, Attila and Bleda. Attila joined to great courage and excellent political talents an unbounded ambition. The two brothers, after overrunning Tartary to the borders of China, had crossed the Danube, and laid waste the Roman provinces of Moesia and Thrace. Attila, impatient of a divided power, murdered his brother, and proceeded to extend his conquests from the Eastern ocean to the Sinus Codanus, or the Baltic. Theodosius attempted to soothe him by conferring on him the title of general of the Romans, but was soon glad to purchase a peace of his general at the price of 6000 pounds' weight of gold, and a tribute besides of 2000 pounds, to be paid annually in all time to come. Theodosius became more despicable in the eyes of Attila by an unsuccessful attempt to procure his assassination, which Attila pardoned, though at the same time with this severe reproach, that he considered him as a vile and perfidious slave, who had traitorously conspired to murder his master. Theodosius II. died soon after, having reigned ingloriously for forty-two years. He left an only daughter, who was married to Valentinian III., emperor of the West, but the imbecility of this prince prevented him from availing himself of that title to both empires. Pulcheria, the sister of Theodosius, who had in reality governed the empire during the whole reign of her weak and insignificant brother, now boldly placed herself on the throne, and at the same time married Marcianus, a soldier of for tune, and their joint title was acknowledged by the Eastern empire. The West was in the lowest state of imbecility. Rome, unable to defend her provinces, allowed them to drop off without an attempt to retain them. It was at this time that the Britons, by a very melancholy deputation, implored the Romans to protect them against the Picts and Scots. "We are (said they) in the * In this barbarian war, Carthage, which, in the course of five hundred and eighty-five years from the time of its destruction by the younger Scipio, had risen to the rank of a splendid and opulent city, under the government of a Roman proconsul, was taken by Genseric, the inhabitants completely stripped of their wealth, and all the lands of the proconsular province divided by the con queror amongst his Vandal officers.-Procop. de Bello Vandal. I. i. c. v. Gibbon chap. xxxiii. + See Gibbon, chap. xxxiv., for a detail of this transaction, curiously descriptive of the character and mode of life of the Huns. The feeble and distracted state of the empire had now for a long course of years allowed no attention to be given to this distant province. The legions hat. utmost misery, nor have we any refuge left us; the barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us back upon the barbarians." In return to this miserable supplication, the Romans gave them to understand that their own situation was such that they could now afford them nothing but compassion. The Britons, therefore, in despair, made an application to the Saxons, a people settled at the mouth of the river Elbe. These, with the Angles from Jutland, made themselves masters of the country which they were invited to protect, and established by degrees the Heptarchy, or seven distinct kingdoms, which subsisted till the age of Charlemagne, when they were united into one monarchy by Egbert. But of these transactions we shall treat more particularly in our account of the first period of the history of Britain. Attila in the meantime meditated the total destruction of the empire. He hesitated at first whether to turn his arms towards the East or the West.* Genseric, king of the Vandals, ambitious of a share in the general devastation, invited the Hun to begin his attack upon Gaul. Attila begun his progress at the head of 500,000 men, the Gepida, Rugii, Turcilingi, and Ostrogoths, each led by their own prince, though all under the banners of Attila. Etius, at that time general of the Romans, and a man of remarkable abilities, had the address to render Genseric the Vandal apprehensive of his own safety, and to persuade him to join the Romans against the invaders. The Visigoths, too, took part with the empire, and the army of Etius was likewise increased by the Franks, Burgundians, and several other nations, from the universal dread of the arms of Attila. The hostile powers came to a decisive engagement in the plains of Champagne. 162,000 men are supposed to have fallen in this battle. Attila was overpowered by the superior military skill of Etius, and obliged to make a precipitate retreat. Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, was killed in the engagement. But Attila, though foiled in this attempt, returned in the following year with fresh forces. The Romans had not as yet had time to recruit; they retreated before the barbarians, and left the country been gradually withdrawn, and about forty years before this period, under the reign of Honorius, the Romans had entirely left the island, and Britain was regarded even by the empire as an independent country.-See Procop, de Bello Vandal. 1. i. c. 2.-Bede, Hist. Gent. Anglican. lib. i. c. 12.-Gibbon's Rom. Hist chap. xxxi. The nature of the government that subsisted in Britain, and the state of that country during this interval of forty years, till the Saxon invasion, can only be conjectured. Mr. Gibbon has given a fanciful picture of it, towards the end of the chapter above quoted. According to his idea, the country was ruled by the authority of the clergy, the nobles, and the municipal towns. Previous to his determination, he sent a defiance to both the courts, and his ambassadors saluted both the emperors in the same tone of authority. "Attila, my lord and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace for his immediate reception."—Gibbon, chap. xxxv. Bellum atrox," says Jornandes, "multiplex, immane, pertinax, cui simile nulla usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi talia gesta referuntur ut nihil esset quod in viti sui conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miracul privaretur aspectu." without defence. evacuated by their for shelter to the The districts of Venetia and Liguria being inhabitants, part of these betook themselves islands in the Adriatic gulf, where they built huts, and laid the first foundation of the illustrious city and state of Venice. Valentinian III., shut up in Rome, sent to Attila to sue for peace, and promised an immense tribute. On these terms the Hun withdrew, and the Romans were soon after delivered by his death from the terror of his name and arms. He was known in the empire by the epithet of the Scourge of God. His dominions were ruined by the dissensions of his sons, among whom they were divided. They formed distinct settlements in Illyria, Moesia, Dacia, and at the mouth of the Danube, and several of them became the allies of the empire. The Ostrogoths received from Marcian all Pannonia, from upper Moœsia to Noricum, and from Dalmatia to the Danube. Valentinian, sunk in debaucheries, and the dupe of his parasites, was persuaded by false insinuations to destroy his general Etius, the man who had saved the empire from absolute destruction, but the abandoned prince himself was soon after assassinated by one of his favorites. A minute detail of the transactions of the times at which we are now arrived would be equally tedious and unimportant. We shall content ourselves with the leading facts. Marcian was suc ceeded in the Eastern empire by Leo, who, upon his death, bequeathed the empire to Zeno, a weak, wicked, and profligate man. The empire of the West, after Valentinian III., had for some time a succession of princes, or rather of names, for history records of them no transactions which merit the smallest notice. The Gothic nations continued their progress. Euric, king of the Visigoths, had subdued almost the whole of Spain as well as the southern part of Gaul. Nepos, who then held the empire of the West, sent his general Orestes to oppose the conquests of Euric, out the general turned his arms against his prince, and dethroning Nepos, raised to the empire his own son Romulus, surnamed Augustus, or Augustulus. In him the empire of the West was doomed to come to a final period. Odoacer, a prince of the Heruli, with a formidable army, had found his way into Italy. He attacked Pavia, where Orestes had fled for security, and having taken that city, and put to death Orestes, he consented to give Augustulus his life, on his resigning the throne. The terms were complied with, and Odoacer was now in reality what he styled himself, king of Italy. Thus ended the Western empire of the Romans, having subsisted, from the building of Rome, 1224 years." In a fragment of a poem of Gray's, which has been preserved by Mr Mason, a very fine passage occurs, painting, in all the force of his splendia Ingenious men may point out a variety of internal as well as external circumstances, which had their operation in producing the decline, and at length the ruin of this immense fabric; but they may be all reduced to one single head. The fall of the Roman empire was the inevitable effect of its overgrown extenThe commonwealth subsisted by the virtuous and patriotic ardor of the citizens; but the passion for conquest, which at first found sufficient scope in the domestic wars among the Italian states, was, after their reduction, necessarily extended to a distance. Remote dominion relaxed the patriotic affection, which of necessity grew the weaker, the more extensive were its objects. The vices of the conquered nations infected the victorious legions, and foreign luxuries corrupted their commanders. Selfish interest took the place of public virtue; the people were enslaved by despots, who, regarding as the first object the security of their own power, found it often their wisest policy to abase that martial spirit which was no less formidable to the master of the state than to its foreign enemies. Thus the military character of the Romans went gradually to decay, because it was purposely depressed by the emperors; and thus their extensive dominions, wanting their necessary support of brave, of virtuous, and of disciplined troops," fell an easy prey to that torrent of barbarians which overwhelmed them. Historians universally agree that the Romans gained by their change of masters. Odoacer retained the imperial laws, the officers, and the form of government; and he diminished the taxes. He, with an affected show of moderation, sent to Zeno the imperial ornaments, and requested for himself only the dignity of patrician, which Zeno had the prudence not to refuse. This spiritless emperor was now embroiled with the Ostrogoths, who were settled in Pannonia and Thrace, and were governed by two kings of the name of Theodoric; the younger had been educated at Constantinople, and loaded with honors by Zeno. At the request of Theodoric, Zeno granted him permission to attempt the conquest of Italy, transferring it to him as a kingdom in case he should succeed in wresting it from Odoacer. Zeno died soon style of poetic description, the irruption of the barbarous nations into Italy:Oft o'er the trembling nations, from afar, Has Scythia breathed the living cloud of war; As oft have issued, host impelling host, The blue-eyed myriads of the Baltic coast;- Mason's Life of Gray, p. 196. |