It is impossible to fill the dark interval of time, which elapsed, after
the Huns of the Volga were lost in the eyes of the Chinese, and before
they showed themselves to those of the Romans. There is some reason,
however, to apprehend, that the same force which had driven them from
their native seats, still continued to impel their march towards the
frontiers of Europe. The power of the Sienpi, their implacable enemies,
which extended above three thousand miles from East to West, must have
gradually oppressed them by the weight and terror of a formidable
neighborhood; and the flight of the tribes of Scythia would inevitably
tend to increase the strength or to contract the territories, of the Huns.
The harsh and obscure appellations of those tribes would offend the ear,
without informing the understanding, of the reader; but I cannot suppress
the very natural suspicion, that the Huns of the
North derived a considerable reenforcement from the ruin of the dynasty of
the South, which, in the course of the third century, submitted to the
dominion of China; that the bravest warriors
marched away in search of their free and adventurous countrymen; and
that, as they had been divided by prosperity, they were easily reunited by
the common hardships of their adverse fortune. The Huns, with their flocks
and herds, their wives and children, their dependents and allies, were
transported to the west of the Volga, and they boldly advanced to invade
the country of the Alani, a pastoral people, who occupied, or wasted, an
extensive tract of the deserts of Scythia. The plains between the Volga
and the Tanais were covered with the tents of the Alani, but their name
and manners were diffused over the wide extent of their conquests; and the
painted tribes of the Agathyrsi and Geloni were confounded among their
vassals. Towards the North, they penetrated into the frozen regions of
Siberia, among the savages who were accustomed, in their rage or hunger,
to the taste of human flesh; and their Southern inroads were pushed as far
as the confines of Persia and India. The mixture of Somatic and German
blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani, * to whiten
their swarthy complexions, and to tinge their hair with a yellowish cast,
which is seldom found in the Tartar race. They were less deformed in their
persons, less brutish in their manners, than the Huns; but they did not
yield to those formidable Barbarians in their martial and independent
spirit; in the love of freedom, which rejected even the use of domestic
slaves; and in the love of arms, which considered war and rapine as the
pleasure and the glory of mankind. A naked cimeter, fixed in the ground,
was the only object of their religious worship; the scalps of their
enemies formed the costly trappings of their horses; and they viewed, with
pity and contempt, the pusillanimous warriors, who patiently expected the
infirmities of age, and the tortures of lingering disease. On the banks of
the Tanais, the military power of the Huns and the Alani encountered each
other with equal valor, but with unequal success. The Huns prevailed in
the bloody contest; the king of the Alani was slain; and the remains of
the vanquished nation were dispersed by the ordinary alternative of flight
or submission. A colony of exiles found a secure refuge in the mountains
of Caucasus, between the Euxine and the Caspian, where they still preserve
their name and their independence. Another colony advanced, with more
intrepid courage, towards the shores of the Baltic; associated themselves
with the Northern tribes of Germany; and shared the spoil of the Roman
provinces of Gaul and Spain. But the greatest part of the nation of the
Alani embraced the offers of an honorable and advantageous union; and the
Huns, who esteemed the valor of their less fortunate enemies, proceeded,
with an increase of numbers and confidence, to invade the limits of the
Gothic empire.
The great Hermanric, whose dominions extended from the Baltic to the
Euxine, enjoyed, in the full maturity of age and reputation, the fruit of
his victories, when he was alarmed by the formidable approach of a host of
unknown enemies, on whom his barbarous subjects might, without injustice,
bestow the epithet of Barbarians. The numbers, the strength, the rapid
motions, and the implacable cruelty of the Huns, were felt, and dreaded,
and magnified, by the astonished Goths; who beheld their fields and
villages consumed with flames, and deluged with indiscriminate slaughter.
To these real terrors they added the surprise and abhorrence which were
excited by the shrill voice, the uncouth gestures, and the strange
deformity of the Huns. * These savages of Scythia were compared (and the
picture had some resemblance) to the animals who walk very awkwardly on
two legs and to the misshapen figures, the Termini, which were often
placed on the bridges of antiquity. They were distinguished from the rest
of the human species by their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small black
eyes, deeply buried in the head; and as they were almost destitute of
beards, they never enjoyed either the manly grace of youth, or the
venerable aspect of age. A fabulous origin was assigned, worthy of their
form and manners; that the witches of Scythia, who, for their foul and
deadly practices, had been driven from society, had copulated in the
desert with infernal spirits; and that the Huns were the offspring of this
execrable conjunction. The tale, so full of horror and absurdity, was
greedily embraced by the credulous hatred of the Goths; but, while it
gratified their hatred, it increased their fear, since the posterity of dæmons
and witches might be supposed to inherit some share of the præternatural
powers, as well as of the malignant temper, of their parents. Against
these enemies, Hermanric prepared to exert the united forces of the Gothic
state; but he soon discovered that his vassal tribes, provoked by
oppression, were much more inclined to second, than to repel, the invasion
of the Huns. One of the chiefs of the Roxolani had formerly deserted the
standard of Hermanric, and the cruel tyrant had condemned the innocent
wife of the traitor to be torn asunder by wild horses. The brothers of
that unfortunate woman seized the favorable moment of revenge. The aged
king of the Goths languished some time after the dangerous wound which he
received from their daggers; but the conduct of the war was retarded by
his infirmities; and the public councils of the nation were distracted by
a spirit of jealousy and discord. His death, which has been imputed to his
own despair, left the reins of government in the hands of Withimer, who,
with the doubtful aid of some Scythian mercenaries, maintained the unequal
contest against the arms of the Huns and the Alani, till he was defeated
and slain in a decisive battle. The Ostrogoths submitted to their fate;
and the royal race of the Amali will hereafter be found among the subjects
of the haughty Attila. But the person of Witheric, the infant king, was
saved by the diligence of Alatheus and Saphrax; two warriors of approved
valor and fidelity, who, by cautious marches, conducted the independent
remains of the nation of the Ostrogoths towards the Danastus, or Niester;
a considerable river, which now separates the Turkish dominions from the
empire of Russia. On the banks of the Niester, the prudent Athanaric, more
attentive to his own than to the general safety, had fixed the camp of the
Visigoths; with the firm resolution of opposing the victorious Barbarians,
whom he thought it less advisable to provoke. The ordinary speed of the
Huns was checked by the weight of baggage, and the encumbrance of
captives; but their military skill deceived, and almost destroyed, the
army of Athanaric. While the Judge of the Visigoths defended the banks of
the Niester, he was encompassed and attacked by a numerous detachment of
cavalry, who, by the light of the moon, had passed the river in a fordable
place; and it was not without the utmost efforts of courage and conduct,
that he was able to effect his retreat towards the hilly country. The
undaunted general had already formed a new and judicious plan of defensive
war; and the strong lines, which he was preparing to construct between the
mountains, the Pruth, and the Danube, would have secured the extensive and
fertile territory that bears the modern name of Walachia, from the
destructive inroads of the Huns. But the hopes and measures of the Judge
of the Visigoths was soon disappointed, by the trembling impatience of his
dismayed countrymen; who were persuaded by their fears, that the
interposition of the Danube was the only barrier that could save them from
the rapid pursuit, and invincible valor, of the Barbarians of Scythia.
Under the command of Fritigern and Alavivus, the body of the nation
hastily advanced to the banks of the great river, and implored the
protection of the Roman emperor of the East. Athanaric himself, still
anxious to avoid the guilt of perjury, retired, with a band of faithful
followers, into the mountainous country of Caucaland; which appears to
have been guarded, and almost concealed, by the impenetrable forests of
Transylvania. *
After Valens had terminated the Gothic war with some appearance of glory
and success, he made a progress through his dominions of Asia, and at
length fixed his residence in the capital of Syria. The five years which
he spent at Antioch was employed to watch, from a secure distance, the
hostile designs of the Persian monarch; to check the depredations of the
Saracens and Isaurians; to enforce, by arguments more prevalent than those
of reason and eloquence, the belief of the Arian theology; and to satisfy
his anxious suspicions by the promiscuous execution of the innocent and
the guilty. But the attention of the emperor was most seriously engaged,
by the important intelligence which he received from the civil and
military officers who were intrusted with the defence of the Danube. He
was informed, that the North was agitated by a furious tempest; that the
irruption of the Huns, an unknown and monstrous race of savages, had
subverted the power of the Goths; and that the suppliant multitudes of
that warlike nation, whose pride was now humbled in the dust, covered a
space of many miles along the banks of the river. With outstretched arms,
and pathetic lamentations, they loudly deplored their past misfortunes and
their present danger; acknowledged that their only hope of safety was in
the clemency of the Roman government; and most solemnly protested, that if
the gracious liberality of the emperor would permit them to cultivate the
waste lands of Thrace, they should ever hold themselves bound, by the
strongest obligations of duty and gratitude, to obey the laws, and to
guard the limits, of the republic. These assurances were confirmed by the
ambassadors of the Goths, * who impatiently expected from the mouth of
Valens an answer that must finally determine the fate of their unhappy
countrymen. The emperor of the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and
authority of his elder brother, whose death happened towards the end of
the preceding year; and as the distressful situation of the Goths required
an instant and peremptory decision, he was deprived of the favorite
resources of feeble and timid minds, who consider the use of dilatory and
ambiguous measures as the most admirable efforts of consummate prudence.
As long as the same passions and interests subsist among mankind, the
questions of war and peace, of justice and policy, which were debated in
the councils of antiquity, will frequently present themselves as the
subject of modern deliberation. But the most experienced statesman of
Europe has never been summoned to consider the propriety, or the danger,
of admitting, or rejecting, an innumerable multitude of Barbarians, who
are driven by despair and hunger to solicit a settlement on the
territories of a civilized nation. When that important proposition, so
essentially connected with the public safety, was referred to the
ministers of Valens, they were perplexed and divided; but they soon
acquiesced in the flattering sentiment which seemed the most favorable to
the pride, the indolence, and the avarice of their sovereign. The slaves,
who were decorated with the titles of præfects and generals,
dissembled or disregarded the terrors of this national emigration; so
extremely different from the partial and accidental colonies, which had
been received on the extreme limits of the empire. But they applauded the
liberality of fortune, which had conducted, from the most distant
countries of the globe, a numerous and invincible army of strangers, to
defend the throne of Valens; who might now add to the royal treasures the
immense sums of gold supplied by the provincials to compensate their
annual proportion of recruits. The prayers of the Goths were granted, and
their service was accepted by the Imperial court: and orders were
immediately despatched to the civil and military governors of the Thracian
diocese, to make the necessary preparations for the passage and
subsistence of a great people, till a proper and sufficient territory
could be allotted for their future residence. The liberality of the
emperor was accompanied, however, with two harsh and rigorous conditions,
which prudence might justify on the side of the Romans; but which distress
alone could extort from the indignant Goths. Before they passed the
Danube, they were required to deliver their arms: and it was insisted,
that their children should be taken from them, and dispersed through the
provinces of Asia; where they might be civilized by the arts of education,
and serve as hostages to secure the fidelity of their parents.
During the suspense of a doubtful and distant negotiation, the impatient
Goths made some rash attempts to pass the Danube, without the permission
of the government, whose protection they had implored. Their motions were
strictly observed by the vigilance of the troops which were stationed
along the river and their foremost detachments were defeated with
considerable slaughter; yet such were the timid councils of the reign of
Valens, that the brave officers who had served their country in the
execution of their duty, were punished by the loss of their employments,
and narrowly escaped the loss of their heads. The Imperial mandate was at
length received for transporting over the Danube the whole body of the
Gothic nation; but the execution of this order was a task of labor and
difficulty. The stream of the Danube, which in those parts is above a mile
broad, had been swelled by incessant rains; and in this tumultuous
passage, many were swept away, and drowned, by the rapid violence of the
current. A large fleet of vessels, of boats, and of canoes, was provided;
many days and nights they passed and repassed with indefatigable toil; and
the most strenuous diligence was exerted by the officers of Valens, that
not a single Barbarian, of those who were reserved to subvert the
foundations of Rome, should be left on the opposite shore. It was thought
expedient that an accurate account should be taken of their numbers; but
the persons who were employed soon desisted, with amazement and dismay,
from the prosecution of the endless and impracticable task: and the
principal historian of the age most seriously affirms, that the prodigious
armies of Darius and Xerxes, which had so long been considered as the
fables of vain and credulous antiquity, were now justified, in the eyes of
mankind, by the evidence of fact and experience. A probable testimony has
fixed the number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thousand men: and
if we can venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of
slaves, the whole mass of people which composed this formidable
emigration, must have amounted to near a million of persons, of both
sexes, and of all ages. The children of the Goths, those at least of a
distinguished rank, were separated from the multitude. They were
conducted, without delay, to the distant seats assigned for their
residence and education; and as the numerous train of hostages or captives
passed through the cities, their gay and splendid apparel, their robust
and martial figure, excited the surprise and envy of the Provincials. *
But the stipulation, the most offensive to the Goths, and the most
important to the Romans, was shamefully eluded. The Barbarians, who
considered their arms as the ensigns of honor and the pledges of safety,
were disposed to offer a price, which the lust or avarice of the Imperial
officers was easily tempted to accept. To preserve their arms, the haughty
warriors consented, with some reluctance, to prostitute their wives or
their daughters; the charms of a beauteous maid, or a comely boy, secured
the connivance of the inspectors; who sometimes cast an eye of
covetousness on the fringed carpets and linen garments of their new
allies, or who sacrificed their duty to the mean consideration of filling
their farms with cattle, and their houses with slaves. The Goths, with
arms in their hands, were permitted to enter the boats; and when their
strength was collected on the other side of the river, the immense camp
which was spread over the plains and the hills of the Lower Mæsia,
assumed a threatening and even hostile aspect. The leaders of the
Ostrogoths, Alatheus and Saphrax, the guardians of their infant king,
appeared soon afterwards on the Northern banks of the Danube; and
immediately despatched their ambassadors to the court of Antioch, to
solicit, with the same professions of allegiance and gratitude, the same
favor which had been granted to the suppliant Visigoths. The absolute
refusal of Valens suspended their progress, and discovered the repentance,
the suspicions, and the fears, of the Imperial council.
An undisciplined and unsettled nation of Barbarians required the firmest
temper, and the most dexterous management. The daily subsistence of near a
million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant and
skilful diligence, and might continually be interrupted by mistake or
accident. The insolence, or the indignation, of the Goths, if they
conceived themselves to be the objects either of fear or of contempt,
might urge them to the most desperate extremities; and the fortune of the
state seemed to depend on the prudence, as well as the integrity, of the
generals of Valens. At this important crisis, the military government of
Thrace was exercised by Lupicinus and Maximus, in whose venal minds the
slightest hope of private emolument outweighed every consideration of
public advantage; and whose guilt was only alleviated by their incapacity
of discerning the pernicious effects of their rash and criminal
administration. Instead of obeying the orders of their sovereign, and
satisfying, with decent liberality, the demands of the Goths, they levied
an ungenerous and oppressive tax on the wants of the hungry Barbarians.
The vilest food was sold at an extravagant price; and, in the room of
wholesome and substantial provisions, the markets were filled with the
flesh of dogs, and of unclean animals, who had died of disease. To obtain
the valuable acquisition of a pound of bread, the Goths resigned the
possession of an expensive, though serviceable, slave; and a small
quantity of meat was greedily purchased with ten pounds of a precious, but
useless metal, when their property was exhausted, they continued this
necessary traffic by the sale of their sons and daughters; and
notwithstanding the love of freedom, which animated every Gothic breast,
they submitted to the humiliating maxim, that it was better for their
children to be maintained in a servile condition, than to perish in a
state of wretched and helpless independence. The most lively resentment is
excited by the tyranny of pretended benefactors, who sternly exact the
debt of gratitude which they have cancelled by subsequent injuries: a
spirit of discontent insensibly arose in the camp of the Barbarians, who
pleaded, without success, the merit of their patient and dutiful behavior;
and loudly complained of the inhospitable treatment which they had
received from their new allies. They beheld around them the wealth and
plenty of a fertile province, in the midst of which they suffered the
intolerable hardships of artificial famine. But the means of relief, and
even of revenge, were in their hands; since the rapaciousness of their
tyrants had left to an injured people the possession and the use of arms.
The clamors of a multitude, untaught to disguise their sentiments,
announced the first symptoms of resistance, and alarmed the timid and
guilty minds of Lupicinus and Maximus. Those crafty ministers, who
substituted the cunning of temporary expedients to the wise and salutary
counsels of general policy, attempted to remove the Goths from their
dangerous station on the frontiers of the empire; and to disperse them, in
separate quarters of cantonment, through the interior provinces. As they
were conscious how ill they had deserved the respect, or confidence, of
the Barbarians, they diligently collected, from every side, a military
force, that might urge the tardy and reluctant march of a people, who had
not yet renounced the title, or the duties, of Roman subjects. But the
generals of Valens, while their attention was solely directed to the
discontented Visigoths, imprudently disarmed the ships and the
fortifications which constituted the defence of the Danube. The fatal
oversight was observed, and improved, by Alatheus and Saphrax, who
anxiously watched the favorable moment of escaping from the pursuit of the
Huns. By the help of such rafts and vessels as could be hastily procured,
the leaders of the Ostrogoths transported, without opposition, their king
and their army; and boldly fixed a hostile and independent camp on the
territories of the empire.
Under the name of Judges, Alavivus and Fritigern were the leaders of the
Visigoths in peace and war; and the authority which they derived from
their birth was ratified by the free consent of the nation. In a season of
tranquility, their power might have been equal, as well as their rank;
but, as soon as their countrymen were exasperated by hunger and
oppression, the superior abilities of Fritigern assumed the military
command, which he was qualified to exercise for the public welfare. He
restrained the impatient spirit of the Visigoths till the injuries and the
insults of their tyrants should justify their resistance in the opinion of
mankind: but he was not disposed to sacrifice any solid advantages for the
empty praise of justice and moderation. Sensible of the benefits which
would result from the union of the Gothic powers under the same standard,
he secretly cultivated the friendship of the Ostrogoths; and while he
professed an implicit obedience to the orders of the Roman generals, he
proceeded by slow marches towards Marcianopolis, the capital of the Lower
Mæsia, about seventy miles from the banks of the Danube. On that
fatal spot, the flames of discord and mutual hatred burst forth into a
dreadful conflagration. Lupicinus had invited the Gothic chiefs to a
splendid entertainment; and their martial train remained under arms at the
entrance of the palace. But the gates of the city were strictly guarded,
and the Barbarians were sternly excluded from the use of a plentiful
market, to which they asserted their equal claim of subjects and allies.
Their humble prayers were rejected with insolence and derision; and as
their patience was now exhausted, the townsmen, the soldiers, and the
Goths, were soon involved in a conflict of passionate altercation and
angry reproaches. A blow was imprudently given; a sword was hastily drawn;
and the first blood that was spilt in this accidental quarrel, became the
signal of a long and destructive war. In the midst of noise and brutal
intemperance, Lupicinus was informed, by a secret messenger, that many of
his soldiers were slain, and despoiled of their arms; and as he was
already inflamed by wine, and oppressed by sleep he issued a rash command,
that their death should be revenged by the massacre of the guards of
Fritigern and Alavivus. The clamorous shouts and dying groans apprised
Fritigern of his extreme danger; and, as he possessed the calm and
intrepid spirit of a hero, he saw that he was lost if he allowed a moment
of deliberation to the man who had so deeply injured him. "A trifling
dispute," said the Gothic leader, with a firm but gentle tone of voice,
"appears to have arisen between the two nations; but it may be productive
of the most dangerous consequences, unless the tumult is immediately
pacified by the assurance of our safety, and the authority of our
presence." At these words, Fritigern and his companions drew their swords,
opened their passage through the unresisting crowd, which filled the
palace, the streets, and the gates, of Marcianopolis, and, mounting their
horses, hastily vanished from the eyes of the astonished Romans. The
generals of the Goths were saluted by the fierce and joyful acclamations
of the camp; war was instantly resolved, and the resolution was executed
without delay: the banners of the nation were displayed according to the
custom of their ancestors; and the air resounded with the harsh and
mournful music of the Barbarian trumpet. The weak and guilty Lupicinus,
who had dared to provoke, who had neglected to destroy, and who still
presumed to despise, his formidable enemy, marched against the Goths, at
the head of such a military force as could be collected on this sudden
emergency. The Barbarians expected his approach about nine miles from
Marcianopolis; and on this occasion the talents of the general were found
to be of more prevailing efficacy than the weapons and discipline of the
troops. The valor of the Goths was so ably directed by the genius of
Fritigern, that they broke, by a close and vigorous attack, the ranks of
the Roman legions. Lupicinus left his arms and standards, his tribunes and
his bravest soldiers, on the field of battle; and their useless courage
served only to protect the ignominious flight of their leader. "That
successful day put an end to the distress of the Barbarians, and the
security of the Romans: from that day, the Goths, renouncing the
precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the character of
citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the possessors of
land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces of the empire,
which are bounded by the Danube." Such are the words of the Gothic
historian, who celebrates, with rude eloquence, the glory of his
countrymen. But the dominion of the Barbarians was exercised only for the
purposes of rapine and destruction. As they had been deprived, by the
ministers of the emperor, of the common benefits of nature, and the fair
intercourse of social life, they retaliated the injustice on the subjects
of the empire; and the crimes of Lupicinus were expiated by the ruin of
the peaceful husbandmen of Thrace, the conflagration of their villages,
and the massacre, or captivity, of their innocent families. The report of
the Gothic victory was soon diffused over the adjacent country; and while
it filled the minds of the Romans with terror and dismay, their own hasty
imprudence contributed to increase the forces of Fritigern, and the
calamities of the province. Some time before the great emigration, a
numerous body of Goths, under the command of Suerid and Colias, had been
received into the protection and service of the empire. They were encamped
under the walls of Hadrianople; but the ministers of Valens were anxious
to remove them beyond the Hellespont, at a distance from the dangerous
temptation which might so easily be communicated by the neighborhood, and
the success, of their countrymen. The respectful submission with which
they yielded to the order of their march, might be considered as a proof
of their fidelity; and their moderate request of a sufficient allowance of
provisions, and of a delay of only two days was expressed in the most
dutiful terms. But the first magistrate of Hadrianople, incensed by some
disorders which had been committed at his country-house, refused this
indulgence; and arming against them the inhabitants and manufacturers of a
populous city, he urged, with hostile threats, their instant departure.
The Barbarians stood silent and amazed, till they were exasperated by the
insulting clamors, and missile weapons, of the populace: but when patience
or contempt was fatigued, they crushed the undisciplined multitude,
inflicted many a shameful wound on the backs of their flying enemies, and
despoiled them of the splendid armor, which they were unworthy to bear.
The resemblance of their sufferings and their actions soon united this
victorious detachment to the nation of the Visigoths; the troops of Colias
and Suerid expected the approach of the great Fritigern, ranged themselves
under his standard, and signalized their ardor in the siege of
Hadrianople. But the resistance of the garrison informed the Barbarians,
that in the attack of regular fortifications, the efforts of unskillful
courage are seldom effectual. Their general acknowledged his error, raised
the siege, declared that "he was at peace with stone walls," and revenged
his disappointment on the adjacent country. He accepted, with pleasure,
the useful reenforcement of hardy workmen, who labored in the gold mines
of Thrace, for the emolument, and under the lash, of an unfeeling master:
and these new associates conducted the Barbarians, through the secret
paths, to the most sequestered places, which had been chosen to secure the
inhabitants, the cattle, and the magazines of corn. With the assistance of
such guides, nothing could remain impervious or inaccessible; resistance
was fatal; flight was impracticable; and the patient submission of
helpless innocence seldom found mercy from the Barbarian conqueror. In the
course of these depredations, a great number of the children of the Goths,
who had been sold into captivity, were restored to the embraces of their
afflicted parents; but these tender interviews, which might have revived
and cherished in their minds some sentiments of humanity, tended only to
stimulate their native fierceness by the desire of revenge. They listened,
with eager attention, to the complaints of their captive children, who had
suffered the most cruel indignities from the lustful or angry passions of
their masters, and the same cruelties, the same indignities, were severely
retaliated on the sons and daughters of the Romans.
The imprudence of Valens and his ministers had introduced into the heart
of the empire a nation of enemies; but the Visigoths might even yet have
been reconciled, by the manly confession of past errors, and the sincere
performance of former engagements. These healing and temperate measures
seemed to concur with the timorous disposition of the sovereign of the
East: but, on this occasion alone, Valens was brave; and his unseasonable
bravery was fatal to himself and to his subjects. He declared his
intention of marching from Antioch to Constantinople, to subdue this
dangerous rebellion; and, as he was not ignorant of the difficulties of
the enterprise, he solicited the assistance of his nephew, the emperor
Gratian, who commanded all the forces of the West. The veteran troops were
hastily recalled from the defence of Armenia; that important frontier was
abandoned to the discretion of Sapor; and the immediate conduct of the
Gothic war was intrusted, during the absence of Valens, to his lieutenants
Trajan and Profuturus, two generals who indulged themselves in a very
false and favorable opinion of their own abilities. On their arrival in
Thrace, they were joined by Richomer, count of the domestics; and the
auxiliaries of the West, that marched under his banner, were composed of
the Gallic legions, reduced indeed, by a spirit of desertion, to the vain
appearances of strength and numbers. In a council of war, which was
influenced by pride, rather than by reason, it was resolved to seek, and
to encounter, the Barbarians, who lay encamped in the spacious and fertile
meadows, near the most southern of the six mouths of the Danube. Their
camp was surrounded by the usual fortification of wagons; and the
Barbarians, secure within the vast circle of the enclosure, enjoyed the
fruits of their valor, and the spoils of the province. In the midst of
riotous intemperance, the watchful Fritigern observed the motions, and
penetrated the designs, of the Romans. He perceived, that the numbers of
the enemy were continually increasing: and, as he understood their
intention of attacking his rear, as soon as the scarcity of forage should
oblige him to remove his camp, he recalled to their standard his predatory
detachments, which covered the adjacent country. As soon as they descried
the flaming beacons, they obeyed, with incredible speed, the signal of
their leader: the camp was filled with the martial crowd of Barbarians;
their impatient clamors demanded the battle, and their tumultuous zeal was
approved and animated by the spirit of their chiefs. The evening was
already far advanced; and the two armies prepared themselves for the
approaching combat, which was deferred only till the dawn of day. While
the trumpets sounded to arms, the undaunted courage of the Goths was
confirmed by the mutual obligation of a solemn oath; and as they advanced
to meet the enemy, the rude songs, which celebrated the glory of their
forefathers, were mingled with their fierce and dissonant outcries, and
opposed to the artificial harmony of the Roman shout. Some military skill
was displayed by Fritigern to gain the advantage of a commanding eminence;
but the bloody conflict, which began and ended with the light, was
maintained on either side, by the personal and obstinate efforts of
strength, valor, and agility. The legions of Armenia supported their fame
in arms; but they were oppressed by the irresistible weight of the hostile
multitude the left wing of the Romans was thrown into disorder and the
field was strewed with their mangled carcasses. This partial defeat was
balanced, however, by partial success; and when the two armies, at a late
hour of the evening, retreated to their respective camps, neither of them
could claim the honors, or the effects, of a decisive victory. The real
loss was more severely felt by the Romans, in proportion to the smallness
of their numbers; but the Goths were so deeply confounded and dismayed by
this vigorous, and perhaps unexpected, resistance, that they remained
seven days within the circle of their fortifications. Such funeral rites,
as the circumstances of time and place would admit, were piously
discharged to some officers of distinguished rank; but the indiscriminate
vulgar was left unburied on the plain. Their flesh was greedily devoured
by the birds of prey, who in that age enjoyed very frequent and delicious
feasts; and several years afterwards the white and naked bones, which
covered the wide extent of the fields, presented to the eyes of Ammianus a
dreadful monument of the battle of Salices.
The progress of the Goths had been checked by the doubtful event of that
bloody day; and the Imperial generals, whose army would have been consumed
by the repetition of such a contest, embraced the more rational plan of
destroying the Barbarians by the wants and pressure of their own
multitudes. They prepared to confine the Visigoths in the narrow angle of
land between the Danube, the desert of Scythia, and the mountains of Hæmus,
till their strength and spirit should be insensibly wasted by the
inevitable operation of famine. The design was prosecuted with some
conduct and success: the Barbarians had almost exhausted their own
magazines, and the harvests of the country; and the diligence of
Saturninus, the master-general of the cavalry, was employed to improve the
strength, and to contract the extent, of the Roman fortifications. His
labors were interrupted by the alarming intelligence, that new swarms of
Barbarians had passed the unguarded Danube, either to support the cause,
or to imitate the example, of Fritigern. The just apprehension, that he
himself might be surrounded, and overwhelmed, by the arms of hostile and
unknown nations, compelled Saturninus to relinquish the siege of the
Gothic camp; and the indignant Visigoths, breaking from their confinement,
satiated their hunger and revenge by the repeated devastation of the
fruitful country, which extends above three hundred miles from the banks
of the Danube to the straits of the Hellespont. The sagacious Fritigern
had successfully appealed to the passions, as well as to the interest, of
his Barbarian allies; and the love of rapine, and the hatred of Rome,
seconded, or even prevented, the eloquence of his ambassadors. He cemented
a strict and useful alliance with the great body of his countrymen, who
obeyed Alatheus and Saphrax as the guardians of their infant king: the
long animosity of rival tribes was suspended by the sense of their common
interest; the independent part of the nation was associated under one
standard; and the chiefs of the Ostrogoths appear to have yielded to the
superior genius of the general of the Visigoths. He obtained the
formidable aid of the Taifalæ, * whose military renown was disgraced
and polluted by the public infamy of their domestic manners. Every youth,
on his entrance into the world, was united by the ties of honorable
friendship, and brutal love, to some warrior of the tribe; nor could he
hope to be released from this unnatural connection, till he had approved
his manhood by slaying, in single combat, a huge bear, or a wild boar of
the forest. But the most powerful auxiliaries of the Goths were drawn from
the camp of those enemies who had expelled them from their native seats.
The loose subordination, and extensive possessions, of the Huns and the
Alani, delayed the conquests, and distracted the councils, of that
victorious people. Several of the hords were allured by the liberal
promises of Fritigern; and the rapid cavalry of Scythia added weight and
energy to the steady and strenuous efforts of the Gothic infantry. The
Sarmatians, who could never forgive the successor of Valentinian, enjoyed
and increased the general confusion; and a seasonable irruption of the
Alemanni, into the provinces of Gaul, engaged the attention, and diverted
the forces, of the emperor of the West.
One of the most dangerous inconveniences of the introduction of the
Barbarians into the army and the palace, was sensibly felt in their
correspondence with their hostile countrymen; to whom they imprudently, or
maliciously, revealed the weakness of the Roman empire. A soldier, of the
lifeguards of Gratian, was of the nation of the Alemanni, and of the tribe
of the Lentienses, who dwelt beyond the Lake of Constance. Some domestic
business obliged him to request a leave of absence. In a short visit to
his family and friends, he was exposed to their curious inquiries: and the
vanity of the loquacious soldier tempted him to display his intimate
acquaintance with the secrets of the state, and the designs of his master.
The intelligence, that Gratian was preparing to lead the military force of
Gaul, and of the West, to the assistance of his uncle Valens, pointed out
to the restless spirit of the Alemanni the moment, and the mode, of a
successful invasion. The enterprise of some light detachments, who, in the
month of February, passed the Rhine upon the ice, was the prelude of a
more important war. The boldest hopes of rapine, perhaps of conquest,
outweighed the considerations of timid prudence, or national faith. Every
forest, and every village, poured forth a band of hardy adventurers; and
the great army of the Alemanni, which, on their approach, was estimated at
forty thousand men by the fears of the people, was afterwards magnified to
the number of seventy thousand by the vain and credulous flattery of the
Imperial court. The legions, which had been ordered to march into
Pannonia, were immediately recalled, or detained, for the defence of Gaul;
the military command was divided between Nanienus and Mellobaudes; and the
youthful emperor, though he respected the long experience and sober wisdom
of the former, was much more inclined to admire, and to follow, the
martial ardor of his colleague; who was allowed to unite the incompatible
characters of count of the domestics, and of king of the Franks. His rival
Priarius, king of the Alemanni, was guided, or rather impelled, by the
same headstrong valor; and as their troops were animated by the spirit of
their leaders, they met, they saw, they encountered each other, near the
town of Argentaria, or Colmar, in the plains of Alsace. The glory of the
day was justly ascribed to the missile weapons, and well-practised
evolutions, of the Roman soldiers; the Alemanni, who long maintained their
ground, were slaughtered with unrelenting fury; five thousand only of the
Barbarians escaped to the woods and mountains; and the glorious death of
their king on the field of battle saved him from the reproaches of the
people, who are always disposed to accuse the justice, or policy, of an
unsuccessful war. After this signal victory, which secured the peace of
Gaul, and asserted the honor of the Roman arms, the emperor Gratian
appeared to proceed without delay on his Eastern expedition; but as he
approached the confines of the Alemanni, he suddenly inclined to the left,
surprised them by his unexpected passage of the Rhine, and boldly advanced
into the heart of their country. The Barbarians opposed to his progress
the obstacles of nature and of courage; and still continued to retreat,
from one hill to another, till they were satisfied, by repeated trials, of
the power and perseverance of their enemies. Their submission was accepted
as a proof, not indeed of their sincere repentance, but of their actual
distress; and a select number of their brave and robust youth was exacted
from the faithless nation, as the most substantial pledge of their future
moderation. The subjects of the empire, who had so often experienced that
the Alemanni could neither be subdued by arms, nor restrained by treaties,
might not promise themselves any solid or lasting tranquillity: but they
discovered, in the virtues of their young sovereign, the prospect of a
long and auspicious reign. When the legions climbed the mountains, and
scaled the fortifications of the Barbarians, the valor of Gratian was
distinguished in the foremost ranks; and the gilt and variegated armor of
his guards was pierced and shattered by the blows which they had received
in their constant attachment to the person of their sovereign. At the age
of nineteen, the son of Valentinian seemed to possess the talents of peace
and war; and his personal success against the Alemanni was interpreted as
a sure presage of his Gothic triumphs.
While Gratian deserved and enjoyed the applause of his subjects, the
emperor Valens, who, at length, had removed his court and army from
Antioch, was received by the people of Constantinople as the author of the
public calamity. Before he had reposed himself ten days in the capital, he
was urged by the licentious clamors of the Hippodrome to march against the
Barbarians, whom he had invited into his dominions; and the citizens, who
are always brave at a distance from any real danger, declared, with
confidence, that, if they were supplied with arms, they
alone would undertake to deliver the province from the ravages of an
insulting foe. The vain reproaches of an ignorant multitude hastened the
downfall of the Roman empire; they provoked the desperate rashness of
Valens; who did not find, either in his reputation or in his mind, any
motives to support with firmness the public contempt. He was soon
persuaded, by the successful achievements of his lieutenants, to despise
the power of the Goths, who, by the diligence of Fritigern, were now
collected in the neighborhood of Hadrianople. The march of the Taifalæ
had been intercepted by the valiant Frigerid: the king of those licentious
Barbarians was slain in battle; and the suppliant captives were sent into
distant exile to cultivate the lands of Italy, which were assigned for
their settlement in the vacant territories of Modena and Parma. The
exploits of Sebastian, who was recently engaged in the service of Valens,
and promoted to the rank of master-general of the infantry, were still
more honorable to himself, and useful to the republic. He obtained the
permission of selecting three hundred soldiers from each of the legions;
and this separate detachment soon acquired the spirit of discipline, and
the exercise of arms, which were almost forgotten under the reign of
Valens. By the vigor and conduct of Sebastian, a large body of the Goths
were surprised in their camp; and the immense spoil, which was recovered
from their hands, filled the city of Hadrianople, and the adjacent plain.
The splendid narratives, which the general transmitted of his own
exploits, alarmed the Imperial court by the appearance of superior merit;
and though he cautiously insisted on the difficulties of the Gothic war,
his valor was praised, his advice was rejected; and Valens, who listened
with pride and pleasure to the flattering suggestions of the eunuchs of
the palace, was impatient to seize the glory of an easy and assured
conquest. His army was strengthened by a numerous reenforcement of
veterans; and his march from Constantinople to Hadrianople was conducted
with so much military skill, that he prevented the activity of the
Barbarians, who designed to occupy the intermediate defiles, and to
intercept either the troops themselves, or their convoys of provisions.
The camp of Valens, which he pitched under the walls of Hadrianople, was
fortified, according to the practice of the Romans, with a ditch and
rampart; and a most important council was summoned, to decide the fate of
the emperor and of the empire. The party of reason and of delay was
strenuously maintained by Victor, who had corrected, by the lessons of
experience, the native fierceness of the Sarmatian character; while
Sebastian, with the flexible and obsequious eloquence of a courtier,
represented every precaution, and every measure, that implied a doubt of
immediate victory, as unworthy of the courage and majesty of their
invincible monarch. The ruin of Valens was precipitated by the deceitful
arts of Fritigern, and the prudent admonitions of the emperor of the West.
The advantages of negotiating in the midst of war were perfectly
understood by the general of the Barbarians; and a Christian ecclesiastic
was despatched, as the holy minister of peace, to penetrate, and to
perplex, the councils of the enemy. The misfortunes, as well as the
provocations, of the Gothic nation, were forcibly and truly described by
their ambassador; who protested, in the name of Fritigern, that he was
still disposed to lay down his arms, or to employ them only in the defence
of the empire; if he could secure for his wandering countrymen a tranquil
settlement on the waste lands of Thrace, and a sufficient allowance of
corn and cattle. But he added, in a whisper of confidential friendship,
that the exasperated Barbarians were averse to these reasonable
conditions; and that Fritigern was doubtful whether he could accomplish
the conclusion of the treaty, unless he found himself supported by the
presence and terrors of an Imperial army. About the same time, Count
Richomer returned from the West to announce the defeat and submission of
the Alemanni, to inform Valens that his nephew advanced by rapid marches
at the head of the veteran and victorious legions of Gaul, and to request,
in the name of Gratian and of the republic, that every dangerous and
decisive measure might be suspended, till the junction of the two emperors
should insure the success of the Gothic war. But the feeble sovereign of
the East was actuated only by the fatal illusions of pride and jealousy.
He disdained the importunate advice; he rejected the humiliating aid; he
secretly compared the ignominious, at least the inglorious, period of his
own reign, with the fame of a beardless youth; and Valens rushed into the
field, to erect his imaginary trophy, before the diligence of his
colleague could usurp any share of the triumphs of the day.
On the ninth of August, a day which has deserved to be marked among the
most inauspicious of the Roman Calendar, the emperor Valens, leaving,
under a strong guard, his baggage and military treasure, marched from
Hadrianople to attack the Goths, who were encamped about twelve miles from
the city. By some mistake of the orders, or some ignorance of the ground,
the right wing, or column of cavalry arrived in sight of the enemy, whilst
the left was still at a considerable distance; the soldiers were
compelled, in the sultry heat of summer, to precipitate their pace; and
the line of battle was formed with tedious confusion and irregular delay.
The Gothic cavalry had been detached to forage in the adjacent country;
and Fritigern still continued to practise his customary arts. He
despatched messengers of peace, made proposals, required hostages, and
wasted the hours, till the Romans, exposed without shelter to the burning
rays of the sun, were exhausted by thirst, hunger, and intolerable
fatigue. The emperor was persuaded to send an ambassador to the Gothic
camp; the zeal of Richomer, who alone had courage to accept the dangerous
commission, was applauded; and the count of the domestics, adorned with
the splendid ensigns of his dignity, had proceeded some way in the space
between the two armies, when he was suddenly recalled by the alarm of
battle. The hasty and imprudent attack was made by Bacurius the Iberian,
who commanded a body of archers and targiteers; and as they advanced with
rashness, they retreated with loss and disgrace. In the same moment, the
flying squadrons of Alatheus and Saphrax, whose return was anxiously
expected by the general of the Goths, descended like a whirlwind from the
hills, swept across the plain, and added new terrors to the tumultuous,
but irresistible charge of the Barbarian host. The event of the battle of
Hadrianople, so fatal to Valens and to the empire, may be described in a
few words: the Roman cavalry fled; the infantry was abandoned, surrounded,
and cut in pieces. The most skilful evolutions, the firmest courage, are
scarcely sufficient to extricate a body of foot, encompassed, on an open
plain, by superior numbers of horse; but the troops of Valens, oppressed
by the weight of the enemy and their own fears, were crowded into a narrow
space, where it was impossible for them to extend their ranks, or even to
use, with effect, their swords and javelins. In the midst of tumult, of
slaughter, and of dismay, the emperor, deserted by his guards and wounded,
as it was supposed, with an arrow, sought protection among the Lancearii
and the Mattiarii, who still maintained their ground with some appearance
of order and firmness. His faithful generals, Trajan and Victor, who
perceived his danger, loudly exclaimed that all was lost, unless the
person of the emperor could be saved. Some troops, animated by their
exhortation, advanced to his relief: they found only a bloody spot,
covered with a heap of broken arms and mangled bodies, without being able
to discover their unfortunate prince, either among the living or the dead.
Their search could not indeed be successful, if there is any truth in the
circumstances with which some historians have related the death of the
emperor. By the care of his attendants, Valens was removed from the field
of battle to a neighboring cottage, where they attempted to dress his
wound, and to provide for his future safety. But this humble retreat was
instantly surrounded by the enemy: they tried to force the door, they were
provoked by a discharge of arrows from the roof, till at length, impatient
of delay, they set fire to a pile of dry fagots, and consumed the cottage
with the Roman emperor and his train. Valens perished in the flames; and a
youth, who dropped from the window, alone escaped, to attest the
melancholy tale, and to inform the Goths of the inestimable prize which
they had lost by their own rashness. A great number of brave and
distinguished officers perished in the battle of Hadrianople, which
equalled in the actual loss, and far surpassed in the fatal consequences,
the misfortune which Rome had formerly sustained in the fields of Cannæ.
Two master-generals of the cavalry and infantry, two great officers of the
palace, and thirty-five tribunes, were found among the slain; and the
death of Sebastian might satisfy the world, that he was the victim, as
well as the author, of the public calamity. Above two thirds of the Roman
army were destroyed: and the darkness of the night was esteemed a very
favorable circumstance, as it served to conceal the flight of the
multitude, and to protect the more orderly retreat of Victor and Richomer,
who alone, amidst the general consternation, maintained the advantage of
calm courage and regular discipline.
While the impressions of grief and terror were still recent in the minds
of men, the most celebrated rhetorician of the age composed the funeral
oration of a vanquished army, and of an unpopular prince, whose throne was
already occupied by a stranger. "There are not wanting," says the candid
Libanius, "those who arraign the prudence of the emperor, or who impute
the public misfortune to the want of courage and discipline in the troops.
For my own part, I reverence the memory of their former exploits: I
reverence the glorious death, which they bravely received, standing, and
fighting in their ranks: I reverence the field of battle, stained with
their blood, and the blood of the Barbarians.
Those honorable marks have been already washed away by the rains; but the
lofty monuments of their bones, the bones of generals, of centurions, and
of valiant warriors, claim a longer period of duration. The king himself
fought and fell in the foremost ranks of the battle. His attendants
presented him with the fleetest horses of the Imperial stable, that would
soon have carried him beyond the pursuit of the enemy. They vainly pressed
him to reserve his important life for the future service of the republic.
He still declared that he was unworthy to survive so many of the bravest
and most faithful of his subjects; and the monarch was nobly buried under
a mountain of the slain. Let none, therefore, presume to ascribe the
victory of the Barbarians to the fear, the weakness, or the imprudence, of
the Roman troops. The chiefs and the soldiers were animated by the virtue
of their ancestors, whom they equalled in discipline and the arts of war.
Their generous emulation was supported by the love of glory, which
prompted them to contend at the same time with heat and thirst, with fire
and the sword; and cheerfully to embrace an honorable death, as their
refuge against flight and infamy. The indignation of the gods has been the
only cause of the success of our enemies." The truth of history may
disclaim some parts of this panegyric, which cannot strictly be reconciled
with the character of Valens, or the circumstances of the battle: but the
fairest commendation is due to the eloquence, and still more to the
generosity, of the sophist of Antioch.
The pride of the Goths was elated by this memorable victory; but their
avarice was disappointed by the mortifying discovery, that the richest
part of the Imperial spoil had been within the walls of Hadrianople. They
hastened to possess the reward of their valor; but they were encountered
by the remains of a vanquished army, with an intrepid resolution, which
was the effect of their despair, and the only hope of their safety. The
walls of the city, and the ramparts of the adjacent camp, were lined with
military engines, that threw stones of an enormous weight; and astonished
the ignorant Barbarians by the noise, and velocity, still more than by the
real effects, of the discharge. The soldiers, the citizens, the
provincials, the domestics of the palace, were united in the danger, and
in the defence: the furious assault of the Goths was repulsed; their
secret arts of treachery and treason were discovered; and, after an
obstinate conflict of many hours, they retired to their tents; convinced,
by experience, that it would be far more advisable to observe the treaty,
which their sagacious leader had tacitly stipulated with the
fortifications of great and populous cities. After the hasty and impolitic
massacre of three hundred deserters, an act of justice extremely useful to
the discipline of the Roman armies, the Goths indignantly raised the siege
of Hadrianople. The scene of war and tumult was instantly converted into a
silent solitude: the multitude suddenly disappeared; the secret paths of
the woods and mountains were marked with the footsteps of the trembling
fugitives, who sought a refuge in the distant cities of Illyricum and
Macedonia; and the faithful officers of the household, and the treasury,
cautiously proceeded in search of the emperor, of whose death they were
still ignorant. The tide of the Gothic inundation rolled from the walls of
Hadrianople to the suburbs of Constantinople. The Barbarians were
surprised with the splendid appearance of the capital of the East, the
height and extent of the walls, the myriads of wealthy and affrighted
citizens who crowded the ramparts, and the various prospect of the sea and
land. While they gazed with hopeless desire on the inaccessible beauties
of Constantinople, a sally was made from one of the gates by a party of
Saracens, who had been fortunately engaged in the service of Valens. The
cavalry of Scythia was forced to yield to the admirable swiftness and
spirit of the Arabian horses: their riders were skilled in the evolutions
of irregular war; and the Northern Barbarians were astonished and
dismayed, by the inhuman ferocity of the Barbarians of the South. A Gothic
soldier was slain by the dagger of an Arab; and the hairy, naked savage,
applying his lips to the wound, expressed a horrid delight, while he
sucked the blood of his vanquished enemy. The army of the Goths, laden
with the spoils of the wealthy suburbs and the adjacent territory, slowly
moved, from the Bosphorus, to the mountains which form the western
boundary of Thrace. The important pass of Succi was betrayed by the fear,
or the misconduct, of Maurus; and the Barbarians, who no longer had any
resistance to apprehend from the scattered and vanquished troops of the
East, spread themselves over the face of a fertile and cultivated country,
as far as the confines of Italy and the Hadriatic Sea.
The Romans, who so coolly, and so concisely, mention the acts of justice
which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion, and their
eloquence, for their own sufferings, when the provinces were invaded, and
desolated, by the arms of the successful Barbarians. The simple
circumstantial narrative (did such a narrative exist) of the ruin of a
single town, of the misfortunes of a single family, might exhibit an
interesting and instructive picture of human manners: but the tedious
repetition of vague and declamatory complaints would fatigue the attention
of the most patient reader. The same censure may be applied, though not
perhaps in an equal degree, to the profane, and the ecclesiastical,
writers of this unhappy period; that their minds were inflamed by popular
and religious animosity; and that the true size and color of every object
is falsified by the exaggerations of their corrupt eloquence. The vehement
Jerom might justly deplore the calamities inflicted by the Goths, and
their barbarous allies, on his native country of Pannonia, and the wide
extent of the provinces, from the walls of Constantinople to the foot of
the Julian Alps; the rapes, the massacres, the conflagrations; and, above
all, the profanation of the churches, that were turned into stables, and
the contemptuous treatment of the relics of holy martyrs. But the Saint is
surely transported beyond the limits of nature and history, when he
affirms, "that, in those desert countries, nothing was left except the sky
and the earth; that, after the destruction of the cities, and the
extirpation of the human race, the land was overgrown with thick forests
and inextricable brambles; and that the universal desolation, announced by
the prophet Zephaniah, was accomplished, in the scarcity of the beasts,
the birds, and even of the fish." These complaints were pronounced about
twenty years after the death of Valens; and the Illyrian provinces, which
were constantly exposed to the invasion and passage of the Barbarians,
still continued, after a calamitous period of ten centuries, to supply new
materials for rapine and destruction. Could it even be supposed, that a
large tract of country had been left without cultivation and without
inhabitants, the consequences might not have been so fatal to the inferior
productions of animated nature. The useful and feeble animals, which are
nourished by the hand of man, might suffer and perish, if they were
deprived of his protection; but the beasts of the forest, his enemies or
his victims, would multiply in the free and undisturbed possession of
their solitary domain. The various tribes that people the air, or the
waters, are still less connected with the fate of the human species; and
it is highly probable that the fish of the Danube would have felt more
terror and distress, from the approach of a voracious pike, than from the
hostile inroad of a Gothic army.
Whatever may have been the just measure of the calamities of Europe, there
was reason to fear that the same calamities would soon extend to the
peaceful countries of Asia. The sons of the Goths had been judiciously
distributed through the cities of the East; and the arts of education were
employed to polish, and subdue, the native fierceness of their temper. In
the space of about twelve years, their numbers had continually increased;
and the children, who, in the first emigration, were sent over the
Hellespont, had attained, with rapid growth, the strength and spirit of
perfect manhood. It was impossible to conceal from their knowledge the
events of the Gothic war; and, as those daring youths had not studied the
language of dissimulation, they betrayed their wish, their desire, perhaps
their intention, to emulate the glorious example of their fathers. The
danger of the times seemed to justify the jealous suspicions of the
provincials; and these suspicions were admitted as unquestionable
evidence, that the Goths of Asia had formed a secret and dangerous
conspiracy against the public safety. The death of Valens had left the
East without a sovereign; and Julius, who filled the important station of
master-general of the troops, with a high reputation of diligence and
ability, thought it his duty to consult the senate of Constantinople;
which he considered, during the vacancy of the throne, as the
representative council of the nation. As soon as he had obtained the
discretionary power of acting as he should judge most expedient for the
good of the republic, he assembled the principal officers, and privately
concerted effectual measures for the execution of his bloody design. An
order was immediately promulgated, that, on a stated day, the Gothic youth
should assemble in the capital cities of their respective provinces; and,
as a report was industriously circulated, that they were summoned to
receive a liberal gift of lands and money, the pleasing hope allayed the
fury of their resentment, and, perhaps, suspended the motions of the
conspiracy. On the appointed day, the unarmed crowd of the Gothic youth
was carefully collected in the square or Forum; the streets and avenues
were occupied by the Roman troops, and the roofs of the houses were
covered with archers and slingers. At the same hour, in all the cities of
the East, the signal was given of indiscriminate slaughter; and the
provinces of Asia were delivered by the cruel prudence of Julius, from a
domestic enemy, who, in a few months, might have carried fire and sword
from the Hellespont to the Euphrates. The urgent consideration of the
public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive
law. How far that, or any other, consideration may operate to dissolve the
natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I
still desire to remain ignorant.
The emperor Gratian was far advanced on his march towards the plains of
Hadrianople, when he was informed, at first by the confused voice of fame,
and afterwards by the more accurate reports of Victor and Richomer, that
his impatient colleague had been slain in battle, and that two thirds of
the Roman army were exterminated by the sword of the victorious Goths.
Whatever resentment the rash and jealous vanity of his uncle might
deserve, the resentment of a generous mind is easily subdued by the softer
emotions of grief and compassion; and even the sense of pity was soon lost
in the serious and alarming consideration of the state of the republic.
Gratian was too late to assist, he was too weak to revenge, his
unfortunate colleague; and the valiant and modest youth felt himself
unequal to the support of a sinking world. A formidable tempest of the
Barbarians of Germany seemed ready to burst over the provinces of Gaul;
and the mind of Gratian was oppressed and distracted by the administration
of the Western empire. In this important crisis, the government of the
East, and the conduct of the Gothic war, required the undivided attention
of a hero and a statesman. A subject invested with such ample command
would not long have preserved his fidelity to a distant benefactor; and
the Imperial council embraced the wise and manly resolution of conferring
an obligation, rather than of yielding to an insult. It was the wish of
Gratian to bestow the purple as the reward of virtue; but, at the age of
nineteen, it is not easy for a prince, educated in the supreme rank, to
understand the true characters of his ministers and generals. He attempted
to weigh, with an impartial hand, their various merits and defects; and,
whilst he checked the rash confidence of ambition, he distrusted the
cautious wisdom which despaired of the republic. As each moment of delay
diminished something of the power and resources of the future sovereign of
the East, the situation of the times would not allow a tedious debate. The
choice of Gratian was soon declared in favor of an exile, whose father,
only three years before, had suffered, under the sanction of his
authority, an unjust and ignominious death. The great Theodosius, a name
celebrated in history, and dear to the Catholic church, was summoned to
the Imperial court, which had gradually retreated from the confines of
Thrace to the more secure station of Sirmium. Five months after the death
of Valens, the emperor Gratian produced before the assembled troops
his colleague and their
master; who, after a modest, perhaps a sincere, resistance, was compelled
to accept, amidst the general acclamations, the diadem, the purple, and
the equal title of Augustus. The provinces of Thrace, Asia, and Egypt,
over which Valens had reigned, were resigned to the administration of the
new emperor; but, as he was specially intrusted with the conduct of the
Gothic war, the Illyrian præfecture was dismembered; and the two
great dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia were added to the dominions of the
Eastern empire.
The same province, and perhaps the same city, which had given to the
throne the virtues of Trajan, and the talents of Hadrian, was the original
seat of another family of Spaniards, who, in a less fortunate age,
possessed, near fourscore years, the declining empire of Rome. They
emerged from the obscurity of municipal honors by the active spirit of the
elder Theodosius, a general whose exploits in Britain and Africa have
formed one of the most splendid parts of the annals of Valentinian. The
son of that general, who likewise bore the name of Theodosius, was
educated, by skilful preceptors, in the liberal studies of youth; but he
was instructed in the art of war by the tender care and severe discipline
of his father. Under the standard of such a leader, young Theodosius
sought glory and knowledge, in the most distant scenes of military action;
inured his constitution to the difference of seasons and climates;
distinguished his valor by sea and land; and observed the various warfare
of the Scots, the Saxons, and the Moors. His own merit, and the
recommendation of the conqueror of Africa, soon raised him to a separate
command; and, in the station of Duke of Mæsia, he vanquished an army
of Sarmatians; saved the province; deserved the love of the soldiers; and
provoked the envy of the court. His rising fortunes were soon blasted by
the disgrace and execution of his illustrious father; and Theodosius
obtained, as a favor, the permission of retiring to a private life in his
native province of Spain. He displayed a firm and temperate character in
the ease with which he adapted himself to this new situation. His time was
almost equally divided between the town and country; the spirit, which had
animated his public conduct, was shown in the active and affectionate
performance of every social duty; and the diligence of the soldier was
profitably converted to the improvement of his ample patrimony, which lay
between Valladolid and Segovia, in the midst of a fruitful district, still
famous for a most exquisite breed of sheep. From the innocent, but humble
labors of his farm, Theodosius was transported, in less than four months,
to the throne of the Eastern empire; and the whole period of the history
of the world will not perhaps afford a similar example, of an elevation at
the same time so pure and so honorable. The princes who peaceably inherit
the sceptre of their fathers, claim and enjoy a legal right, the more
secure as it is absolutely distinct from the merits of their personal
characters. The subjects, who, in a monarchy, or a popular state, acquire
the possession of supreme power, may have raised themselves, by the
superiority either of genius or virtue, above the heads of their equals;
but their virtue is seldom exempt from ambition; and the cause of the
successful candidate is frequently stained by the guilt of conspiracy, or
civil war. Even in those governments which allow the reigning monarch to
declare a colleague or a successor, his partial choice, which may be
influenced by the blindest passions, is often directed to an unworthy
object But the most suspicious malignity cannot ascribe to Theodosius, in
his obscure solitude of Caucha, the arts, the desires, or even the hopes,
of an ambitious statesman; and the name of the Exile would long since have
been forgotten, if his genuine and distinguished virtues had not left a
deep impression in the Imperial court. During the season of prosperity, he
had been neglected; but, in the public distress, his superior merit was
universally felt and acknowledged. What confidence must have been reposed
in his integrity, since Gratian could trust, that a pious son would
forgive, for the sake of the republic, the murder of his father! What
expectations must have been formed of his abilities to encourage the hope,
that a single man could save, and restore, the empire of the East!
Theodosius was invested with the purple in the thirty-third year of his
age. The vulgar gazed with admiration on the manly beauty of his face, and
the graceful majesty of his person, which they were pleased to compare
with the pictures and medals of the emperor Trajan; whilst intelligent
observers discovered, in the qualities of his heart and understanding, a
more important resemblance to the best and greatest of the Roman princes.
It is not without the most sincere regret, that I must now take leave of
an accurate and faithful guide, who has composed the history of his own
times, without indulging the prejudices and passions, which usually affect
the mind of a contemporary. Ammianus Marcellinus, who terminates his
useful work with the defeat and death of Valens, recommends the more
glorious subject of the ensuing reign to the youthful vigor and eloquence
of the rising generation. The rising generation was not disposed to accept
his advice or to imitate his example; and, in the study of the reign of
Theodosius, we are reduced to illustrate the partial narrative of Zosimus,
by the obscure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative style
of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious assistance of the
ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to
despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation. Conscious of
these disadvantages, which will continue to involve a considerable portion
of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I shall proceed with doubtful
and timorous steps. Yet I may boldly pronounce, that the battle of
Hadrianople was never revenged by any signal or decisive victory of
Theodosius over the Barbarians: and the expressive silence of his venal
orators may be confirmed by the observation of the condition and
circumstances of the times. The fabric of a mighty state, which has been
reared by the labors of successive ages, could not be overturned by the
misfortune of a single day, if the fatal power of the imagination did not
exaggerate the real measure of the calamity. The loss of forty thousand
Romans, who fell in the plains of Hadrianople, might have been soon
recruited in the populous provinces of the East, which contained so many
millions of inhabitants. The courage of a soldier is found to be the
cheapest, and most common, quality of human nature; and sufficient skill
to encounter an undisciplined foe might have been speedily taught by the
care of the surviving centurions. If the Barbarians were mounted on the
horses, and equipped with the armor, of their vanquished enemies, the
numerous studs of Cappadocia and Spain would have supplied new squadrons
of cavalry; the thirty-four arsenals of the empire were plentifully stored
with magazines of offensive and defensive arms: and the wealth of Asia
might still have yielded an ample fund for the expenses of the war. But
the effects which were produced by the battle of Hadrianople on the minds
of the Barbarians and of the Romans, extended the victory of the former,
and the defeat of the latter, far beyond the limits of a single day. A
Gothic chief was heard to declare, with insolent moderation, that, for his
own part, he was fatigued with slaughter: but that he was astonished how a
people, who fled before him like a flock of sheep, could still presume to
dispute the possession of their treasures and provinces. The same terrors
which the name of the Huns had spread among the Gothic tribes, were
inspired, by the formidable name of the Goths, among the subjects and
soldiers of the Roman empire. If Theodosius, hastily collecting his
scattered forces, had led them into the field to encounter a victorious
enemy, his army would have been vanquished by their own fears; and his
rashness could not have been excused by the chance of success. But the
great Theodosius, an epithet which he honorably
deserved on this momentous occasion, conducted himself as the firm and
faithful guardian of the republic. He fixed his head-quarters at
Thessalonica, the capital of the Macedonian diocese; from whence he could
watch the irregular motions of the Barbarians, and direct the operations
of his lieutenants, from the gates of Constantinople to the shores of the
Hadriatic. The fortifications and garrisons of the cities were
strengthened; and the troops, among whom a sense of order and discipline
was revived, were insensibly emboldened by the confidence of their own
safety. From these secure stations, they were encouraged to make frequent
sallies on the Barbarians, who infested the adjacent country; and, as they
were seldom allowed to engage, without some decisive superiority, either
of ground or of numbers, their enterprises were, for the most part,
successful; and they were soon convinced, by their own experience, of the
possibility of vanquishing their invincible
enemies. The detachments of these separate garrisons were generally united
into small armies; the same cautious measures were pursued, according to
an extensive and well-concerted plan of operations; the events of each day
added strength and spirit to the Roman arms; and the artful diligence of
the emperor, who circulated the most favorable reports of the success of
the war, contributed to subdue the pride of the Barbarians, and to animate
the hopes and courage of his subjects. If, instead of this faint and
imperfect outline, we could accurately represent the counsels and actions
of Theodosius, in four successive campaigns, there is reason to believe,
that his consummate skill would deserve the applause of every military
reader. The republic had formerly been saved by the delays of Fabius; and,
while the splendid trophies of Scipio, in the field of Zama, attract the
eyes of posterity, the camps and marches of the dictator among the hills
of the Campania, may claim a juster proportion of the solid and
independent fame, which the general is not compelled to share, either with
fortune or with his troops. Such was likewise the merit of Theodosius; and
the infirmities of his body, which most unseasonably languished under a
long and dangerous disease, could not oppress the vigor of his mind, or
divert his attention from the public service.