dreadful, and these calamities were aggravated by a pestilence and famine, which then raged with fury in that unhappy country. The barbarians divided the kingdom, and were no sooner settled in their possessions than, by a wonderful reverse of character, they became a mild, humane, and industrious people. They were now known under the general denomination of Vandals. The Romans kept possession of that part of Spain now called New Castile, and the Vandals had all the rest of the kingdom.

Alaric now renewed his demand on Honorius for the stipulated sum; still it was refused, with equal perfidy and imprudence. The Goth had been too forbearing; his patience was at length exhausted, and he laid siege to Rome for the third time, took the city, and abandoned it to be pillaged by his troops.* Still, however, he was humane in his revenge; he ordered his soldiers to be sparing of blood; he commanded that no senator should be put to death; that the honor of the women should remain inviolate; that the churches should be sanctuaries to all who betook themselves to them for shelter,-and that the public edifices should be preserved from destruction; and these orders were faithfully obeyed. Alaric might have reigned in Italy, but his views extended now to Sicily, and to the conquest of Africa. For these great enterprises he was busied in preparation when he died suddenly, leaving for his successor, his brother Ataulphus. Goths had a custom of concealing the burying-place of their great men. They turned aside the current of a small river, and dug a grave in the bed, there burying Alaric, and then returning the water to its course.

The

Honorius, equally indolent and despicable as his brother Arcadius, was so far from seizing the opportunity of Alaric's death, to regain the lost provinces of the empire, that he made a treaty with Ataulphus, and having broke it with his usual perfidy, the Goth was naturally provoked to further encroachments. Honorius was glad to purchase a peace by giving him some of those provinces. which still remained to the Romans in Spain, together with his sister Placidia in marriage. Thus we see the Goths gradually uniting themselves with the empire, and acquiring a connection by the rights of blood with those dominions of which they aspired at the possession. Honorius, much about the same time, allowed to the Burgundians, another tribe of northern barbarians, a just title to their conquests in Gaul. Ataulphus the Goth died soon after, recommending to his brother and successor to preserve the friendly alliance they had formed with the Romans.

Meantime, Arcadius, in the East, was wholly governed by his empress Eudoxia. This weak and dissolute prince died in the

* See a very minute and curious picture of the state of Rome, and the manners of the Romans at this period, drawn by Mr. Gibbon chiefly from Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xiv. c. 6, and lib. xxviii. c. 4.)-Gibbon's Rom. Hist. ch. 31

year 408, leaving the Eastern empire to his son Theodosius II., a child of seven years of age.

Pulcheria, the elder 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 Novella, 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 countenance 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 Theodosius 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 fortune, 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. 1. 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 Gepidæ, Rugii, Turcilingi, and Ostrogoths, each led by their own prince, though all under the banners of Attila.

tius, 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.f Attila was overpowered by the superior military skill of Ætius, 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 vitâ suâ conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miraculi 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 Moesia 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 tius, 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