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PERIOD II
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See also:PERIOD II .: THE DOMINATE, A.D. 284-476.—(a) From the
See also:Accession of See also:Diocletian to the See also:Death of See also:Theodosius (A.D. 284-395). The The See also:work of fortifying the See also:empire alike against See also:internal reforms of See also:sedition and See also:foreign invasion, begun by See also:Aurelian and Diocletian See also:Probus, was completed by Diocletian and See also:Constantine and See also:Con- the See also:Great, whose See also:system of See also:government, novel as it
Augusts and Caesarea.
Altered See also:character of the Imperial authority.
Degradation of See also:Italy and See also:Rome.
empire, and the See also:building of the new See also:capital at See also:Byzantium. Recogni. The See also:alliance which Constantine inaugurated between
tion of the See also:Christian See also: 351-63. But in 355 Constantius granted the See also:title of See also:Caesar to his See also:cousin See also:Julian and placed him in See also:charge of See also:Gaul, where the momentary See also:elevation of a See also:tyrant, See also:Silvanus, and still more the inroads of See also:Franks and See also:Alamanni, had excited alarm. But Julian's successes during the next five years were such as to arouse the jealous fears of Constantius. In See also:order to weaken his suspected rival the legions under Julian in Gaul were suddenly ordered to See also: But empire between his victory was quickly followed by his own illness A, dlus and death (395), and the fortunes of See also:East and West and passed into the care of his two sons See also:Arcadius and ffonorius. See also:Honorius. (b) From the Death of Theodosius to the Extinction of the Western Empire (395-476).—Through more than a See also:century from the accession of Diocletian the See also:Roman Empire Fall of the had succeeded in holding at See also:bay the swarming hordes western of barbarians. But, though no See also:province had yet Empire. been lost, as See also:Dacia had been lost in the century before, and though the frontier lines of the Rhine and the See also:Danube were still guarded by Roman forts and troops, there were signs in plenty that a See also:catastrophe was at See also:hand. From all the writers who See also:deal with the 4th century we have one See also:long See also:series of laments over the depression and misery of the provinces.3 To meet the increased See also:expenditure See also:Distress necessary to maintain the legions, to pay the hosts of of the officials, and to keep up the luxurious splendour of provinces the imperial courts, not only were the taxes raised in the 4th in amount, but the most oppressive and inquisitorial century. methods were adopted in order to secure for the imperial See also:treasury every See also:penny that could be wrung from the wretched taxpayer. The results are seen in such pictures as that which the panegyrist See also:Eumenius' draws of the state of Gaul (306—12) under Constantine, in the accounts of the same province under Julian fifty years later, in those given by See also:Zosimus See also:early in the 5th century, and in the stringent regulations of the Theodosian See also:code, dealing with the See also:assessment and collection of the taxes. Among the graver symptoms of economic ruin were the decrease of See also:population, which seriously diminished not only the number of taxpayers, but the See also:supply of soldiers for the legions; 5 the spread of See also:infanticide; the increase of See also:waste lands whose owners and cultivators had fled to See also:escape the tax See also:collector; the declining prosperity of the towns; and the constantly recurring riots and insurrections, both among starving peasants, as in Gaul,6 and in populous cities like See also:Antioch.? The distress was aggravated by the civil See also:wars, by the rapacity of tyrants, such as See also:Maxentius and Maximus, but above all by the raids of the barbarians, who seized every opportunity afforded by the dissensions or incapacity of the emperors to See also:cross the frontiers - and harry the lands of the provincials. Constantine (306–12), Julian (356–60) and Valentinian I. (364–75) had each to give a temporary breathing-space to Gaul by repelling the Franks and Alamanni. Britain was harassed by Picts and Scots from the See also:north (367–70), while the Saxon pirates swept the See also:northern seas and the coasts both of Britain and Gaul. On the Danube the Quadi, See also:Sarmatae, and above all the Goths, poured at intervals into the provinces of See also:Pannonia and See also:Moesia, and penetrated to Macedon and See also:Thrace. In the East, in addition to the See also:constant border See also:feud with Persia, we hear of ravages by the Isaurian mountaineers, and by a new enemy, the See also:Saracens.8 3 F. See also:Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire (2nd ed., 1899). ' Eumenius, Paneg. See also:Vet. vii. 6 See also:Gibbon ii. 179. 8 For the Bagaudae, see See also:Jung, See also:Die romanischen Landschaf ten, p. 264. where the authorities are given. 7 In 387; See also:Hodgkin i. 483. 8 Amm. Marc. xiv. 4. Constar'. way for the final separation of East and West by Julian, 361-63. /ovian, rendered the territories beyond the See also:Tigris won by 363-64. Diocletian seventy years before. Jovian died on the 17th of See also:February 364; and on the 26th of February Valentinian Valen- was acknowledged as emperor of the See also:army at See also:Nicaea. In obedience to the wish of the soldiers that he should See also:associate a colleague with himself, he conferred the title of Augustus upon his brother Valens, and the division of the empire was at last effected,—Valentinian became emperor of the West, Valens of the East. Valentinian maintained the integrity of the empire death (in 395), which deprived the weaker Valens of a trusted counsellor and ally, and was followed by a serious crisis on the Danube. In 376 the Goths, Revolt of hard pressed by their new foes from the eastward, the See also:Huns, sought and obtained the See also:protection of the Roman Empire. They were transported across the Danube and settled in Moesia, but, indignant at the treatment they received, they See also:rose in arms against their protectors. In 378 at See also:Adrianople Valens was defeated and killed, and the victorious Goths advanced eastward to the very walls of See also:Constantinople. Once more, however, the danger passed away. The skill and tact Theo- of Theodosius, who had been proclaimed emperor of dostusi, the East by Gratian,2 conciliated the Goths; they 378-95. were granted an See also:allowance, and in large See also:numbers entered the service of the Roman emperor. The remaining ' In especial against the overweening See also:influence of the eunuchs, an influence at once greater and more pernicious than even that of the imperial freedmen in the days of See also:Claudius. 2 The son of Valentinian and ruler of the West. Galan 1., 364-75. the Goths. Even more ominous of coming danger was the extent to which the See also:European See also:half of the empire was becoming barbarized. The policy which had been inaugurated by Augustus barians See also:Bar- himself of settling barbarians within the frontiers within had been taken up on a larger See also:scale and in a more empire. systematic way by the Illyrian emperors of the 3rd century, and was continued by their successors in the 4th. In Gaul, in the provinces See also:south of the Danube, even in Macedon and Italy, large barbarian settlements had been made —Theodosius in particular distinguishing himself by his See also:liber, ality in this respect. Nor did the barbarians admitted during the 4th century merely swell the class of half-servile coloni. On the contrary, they not only constituted to an increasing extent the strength of the imperial forces, but won their way in ever-growing numbers to posts of dignity and importance in the imperial service. Under Constantine the See also:palace was crowded with Franks.' Julian led See also:Gothic troops against Persia, and the army with which Theodosius defeated the tyrant Maximus (388) contained large numbers of Huns, and Alans, as well as of Goths. The names of Arbogast, See also:Stilicho and See also:Rufinus are sufficient See also:proof of the See also:place held by barbarians near the emperor's person and in the See also:control of the provinces and legions of Rome; and the relations of Arbogast to his nominee for the See also:purple, Eugenius, were an anticipation of those which existed between See also:Ricimer and the emperors of the latter half of the 5th century. It was by barbarians already settled within the empire that the first of the series of attacks which finally separated the western provinces from the empire and set up a bar-Barbaric baric ruler in Ital} were made, and it was in men of invasions. barbarian See also:birth that Rome found her ablest and most successful defenders. The Visigoths whom See also:Alaric led into Aiaric Italy had been settled south of the Danube as the and the See also:allies of the empire since the accession of Theodosius. Visigoths. But, like the Germans of the days of Caesar, they wanted See also:land for their own, and Alaric himself aspired to raise himself to the heights which had been reached before him by the Vandal Stilicho at See also:Ravenna and the Goth Rufinus at Constantinople. The See also:jealousy which existed between the rulers of the western and eastern empires furthered his plans. In the name of Arcadius, the emperor of the east, or at least with the connivance of Arcadius's See also:minister Rufinus, he occupied the province of Illyricum, and from thence ravaged See also:Greece, which, according to the existing division of provinces, belonged to the western empire. Thence in 396 he retreated before Stilicho to Illyricum, with the command of which he was now formally invested by Arcadius; he thus gained a See also:base of operations against Italy.2 In 400 he led his See also:people, with their wives and families, their wagons and treasure, to seek lands for themselves south of the See also:Alps. But in this first invasion he penetrated no farther than the plains of See also:Lombardy, and after the desperate See also:battle of See also:Pollentia (402 or 403) he slowly with-See also:drew from Italy, his See also:retreat being hastened by the promises of See also:gold freely made to him by the imperial government. Not until the autumn of 408 did Alaric again cross the Alps. Stilicho was dead; the barbarian troops in Honorius's service had been provoked into joining Alaric by the See also:anti-See also:Teutonic policy of Honorius and his ministers, and Alaric marched unopposed to Rome. The See also:payment of a heavy See also:ransom, however, saved the city. Negotiations followed between Alaric and the court of Ravenna. Alaric's demands were moderate, but Honorius would See also: Two years later (412) his successor Ataulf led the Visi- The goths to find in Gaul the lands which Alaric had Visigoths sought in Italy. It is characteristic of the anarchical in Gaul. See also:condition of the west that Ataulf and his Goths should have fought for Honorius in Gaul against the tyrants,' and in Spain against the See also:Vandals, See also:Suebi and See also:Alani; and it was with the consent of Honorius that in 419 Wallia, who had followed Ataulf as See also: In this See also:case, too, land-See also:hunger was the impelling See also:motive with the barbarian invader, and in Africa, as in Gaul and Spain, the invaders' acquisitions were confirmed by the imperial authority which they still professed to recognize. In 429 Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, crossed with his warriors, their families and goods, to the province of Africa, hitherto almost untouched by the ravages of war. Thanks to the quarrels of Boniface and Aetius, their task was an easy one. The province was quickly overrun. In 43510 a formal treaty secured them in the See also:possession of a large portion of the See also:rich lands which were the granary of Rome, in See also:exchange for a payment probably of See also:corn and oil. See also:Carthage was taken in 439, and by 440 the Vandal See also:kingdom was firmly established. 2 For the treatment of Rome by Alaric, see Hodgkin i. 798; Gibbon iii. 321 sqq. ; See also:Ranke iv. 246. Allowance must be made for the exaggerations of the ecclesiastical writers. ' For these tyrants, see See also:Freeman in the Eng. Hist. Rev. i. 53-86. The capital of the new state was Tolosa (See also:Toulouse). 6 Jung, Die Romanischen Landschaften, 73 seq. For the connexion between his See also:movement and those of Alaric and of the Vandals, see Hodgkin i. 711; Gibbon iii. 262 seq. 6 The Roman troops were withdrawn from Britain by Constantine in 407; See also:Mommsen, Chron. See also:min. i. 465. 9 Hodgkin vol. ii. bk. iii. See also:chap. ii.; Gibbon ii. 400 sqq.; Jung, 183. The leading See also:ancient authority is See also:Procopius. See Ranke iv. (2) 285; Papencordt, Gesch. d. Vandal. Herrschaft in Africa. 10 Prosper 659; Ranke iv. (1) 282. Eleven years later (451) Attila invaded Gaul, but this Hunnish movement was in a variety of ways different from those of the Visigoths and Vandals. Nearly a century had passed since the Huns first appeared in See also:Europe, and drove the Goths to seek shelter within the Roman lines. Attila was now the ruler of a great empire in central and northern Europe and, in addition to his own Huns, the See also:German tribes along the Rhine and Danube and far away to the north owned him as king. He confronted the Roman See also:power as an equal; and, unlike the Gothic and Vandal chieftains, he treated with the emperors of east and west as an independent See also:sovereign. His advance on Gaul and Italy threatened, not the establishment of one more barbaric chieftain on Roman See also:soil, but the sub- jugation of the civilized and Christian West to the rule of a See also:heathen and semi-barbarous conqueror. But the Visigoths in Gaul, Christian and already half Romanized, rallied to the aid of the empire against a See also:common foe. Attila, Battle defeated at Chalons' by Aetius,withdreW into Pannonia Chalons. s. (451). In the next year he overran Lombardy, but penetrated no farther south, and in 453 he died. With the murder of Valentinian III. (455) the western See also:branch of the house of Theodosius came to an end, and the next twenty years witnessed the accession and deposition of nine emperors. Under the three-months' rule of Maximus, the Vandals under Gaiseric invaded Italy and sacked Rome. From 456-72 the actual ruler of Italy was Ricimer, the Suebe. Of the four emperors whom he placed on the See also:throne, See also:Majorian (457-61) alone played any imperial part outside Italy.2 Ricimer died in 472, and two years later a Pannonian, See also:Orestes, attempted to fill his place. He deposed See also:Julius See also:Nepos and proclaimed as Augustus his own son See also:Romulus. But the barbarian mercenaries in Italy determined to secure for themselves a position there such as that which their kinsfolk had won in Gaul and Spain and Africa. Their demand for a third of the lands of Italy was refused by Orestes,3 and they instantly rose in revolt. On the defeat and death of Orestes they See also:pro- claimed their See also:leader, See also:Odoacer the Rugian,4 king of Italy. Rom- Romulus ulus Augustulus laid down his imperial dignity, and Augus- the court at Constantinople was informed that there tutus. was no longer an emperor of the West .5 The See also:installation of a barbarian king in Italy was the natural See also:climax of the changes which had been taking place in the West throughout the 5th century. In Spain, Gaul and Africa barbarian chieftains were already established as See also:kings. In Italy, for the last twenty years, the real power had been wielded by a barbarian officer. Odoacer, when he decided to dispense with the nominal authority of an emperor of the West, placed Italy on the same level of See also:independence with the neighbouring provinces. But the old ties with Rome were not severed. The new king of Italy formally recognized the supremacy of the one Roman emperor at Constantinople, and was invested in return with the See also:rank of " patrician," which had been held before him by Aetius and Ricimer. In Italy too, as in Spain and Gaul, the See also:laws, the administrative system and the See also:language remained Roman.6 But the emancipation of Italy and the Western provinces from See also:direct imperial control, which is signalized by Odoacer's acces- See also:sion, has rightly been regarded as marking the opening of a new See also:epoch. It made possible in the West the development of a Romano-German See also:civilization; it facilitated the growth of new and distinct states and nationalities; it gave a new impulse ' For the battle of Chalons, see Gibbon iv. 464; Hodgkin ii. 124 n. 6, 143, where the See also:topography is discussed.
s Majorian was the last Roman emperor who appeared in person in Spain and Gaul.
3 Hodgkin ii. 520.
' The See also:nationality of Odoacer is a disputed point. Hodgkin ii. 5,6; Ranke iv. (I) 372.
' Gibbon iv. 5o seq. The authority for the See also:embassy to See also:Zeno is Maichus (See also: Gr. iv. 119). ' Gibbon iv. 54 seq.; Jung 66 seq.; See also:Bryce, See also:Holy Roman Empire, 24-33. See also ROMAN See also:LAW.to the influence of the Christian church, and laid the See also:foundations of the power of the bishops of Rome. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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