A. H. L. Heeren

From Diocletian to the overthrow of the Roman empire in the west, A. C. 284—476.

Sources. It now becomes of importance to enquire whether the historians were Christians or pagans. Zosimus, the imitator of Polybius, belonged to the last. He describes the fall of the Roman state, as his model does the previous part. Of his Histories only five books and a half, to the time of Gratian, 410, have descended to us. He was certainly a violent antagonist of the Christians, yet, nevertheless, the best writer of this period. Ammiani Marcellini Historiarum, lib. xiv—xxxi. from the year 353—378 (the first thirteen books are lost). Probably a Christian, but yet no flatterer; and, notwithstanding his tiresome prolixity, highly instructive. Together with the writers of general history already noticed at p. 437, we must here especially add to the abbreviators, Pauli Orosii Hist. lib. vii. and ZonarÆ Annales. The Panegyrici Veteres, from Diocletian to Theodosius, can only be used with circumspection.—The writers of church history, such as Eusebius, in his Hist. Eccles. lib. x. and in his Vita Constantini Magni, lib. v. as well as his continuators, Socrates, Theodoret, Sozomenus, and Evagrius, are also highly important for the political history of this period, though, from their partiality towards the Christian emperors, they should rather be classed with the panegyrists than the historians. To these may be added another principal source, viz. the Constitutions of the emperors, which have been preserved in the Codex Theodosianus and Justinianeus, from the time of Constantine the Great.

Besides the works quoted at pages 411, 437, the Byzantine historians here become of importance. We shall mention also:

Histoire du Bas-Empire depuis Constantin, par M. le Beau, continuÉe par M. Ameilhon. Paris, 1824, 20 vols. 8vo. The first seven parts only belong to this period. † The German translation of Guthrie and Gray's Universal History, 5 sections, 1 vol. Leipsic, 1768. Rendered very useful by the labours of Ritter.

Histoire du Bas-Empire, depuis Constantin jusqu' À la prise de Constantinople en 1453, par Carentin Royou. Paris, 1803, 4 vols. 8vo. A useful abridgement, without much research.

Diocletian, Sept. 17, 284—May 1, 305.
Carinus, † 285.
Maximian associated in the government, 286.
Carausius, 288—293.
Galerius and Chlorus created CÆsars, 292.

1. The reign of C. Valerius Diocletian, aged 39—60, proclaimed emperor after the murder of Numerianus, by the troops in Chalcedon, begins a new section in Roman history. To the period of military despotism succeeded the period of partitions. After Diocletian had defeated Carinus the yet remaining CÆsar, in Upper Moesia, where he was assassinated, he made M. Valerius Maximianus Herculius, a rough warrior who had hitherto been his comrade in arms, the sharer of his throne. Herculius now contended with the Alemanni and Burgundians on the banks of the Rhine, while Diocletian himself made head against the Persians. Nevertheless, the two Augusti soon found themselves unable to withstand the barbarians, who were pressing forward on every side, more especially as Carausius had usurped and maintained the title of CÆsar in Britain. Each of them, therefore, created a CÆsar: Diocletian chose C. Galerius, and Maximianus Flavius Constantius Chlorus, both of whom had distinguished themselves as generals, at that time the only road to advancement. The whole empire was now divided between these four rulers; so that each had certain provinces to govern and defend; without detriment, however, to the unity of the whole, or to the dependence in which a CÆsar stood as the subordinate assistant and future successor of his Augustus.

In the partition, 292, Diocletian possessed the eastern provinces; Galerius, Thrace, and the countries on the Danube (Illyricum); Maximianus, Italy, Africa, and the islands; and Constantius, the western provinces of Gaul, Spain, Britain, and Mauritania.

2. This new system could not but have a striking effect upon the spirit of the government. It was now not only in fact, but also in form, entirely in the hands of the rulers. By their continual absence from Rome they became freed from that moral restraint in which the authority of the senate, and the name of the republic, not yet entirely laid aside, had held before them. Diocletian formally assumed the diadem, and, with the ornaments of the east, introduced its luxuries into his court. Thus was laid the foundation of that structure which Constantine the Great had to complete.

3. The consequences of this new system became also oppressive to the provinces, inasmuch as they had now to maintain four rulers, with their courts, and as many armies. But however loud might be the complaints of the oppression occasioned thereby, it was, perhaps, the only means of deferring the final overthrow of the whole edifice. In fact, they succeeded not only in defeating the usurpers, Allectus in Britain 293—296. (who had murdered Carausius in 293), Julian in Africa, and Achilleus in Egypt; but also in defending the frontiers, which, indeed, by the victories of Galerius over the Persians, they extended as far as the Tigris. Did not, however, the gloomy perspective present itself, that among so many rulers, and the undefined relations which existed between the CÆsars and the emperors, the union could not be of long continuance?

4. Diocletian voluntarily abdicated the throne (although the growing power and encroaching disposition of Galerius might perhaps have had some influence), and obliged his colleague Maximianus to do the same. The two CÆsars, Constantius and Galerius, were proclaimed Augusti, and altered the division of the empire, so that the former possessed all the western countries, of which, however, he freely ceded Italy and Africa to Galerius, who had all the remaining provinces. The latter, during the same year, created Flavius Severus, CÆsar, and confided to him the government of Italy and Africa; as he did also C. Galerius Maximin, to whom he gave the Asiatic provinces. The administration of the two emperors, however, was very different; Constantius was as much beloved for his mild and disinterested government, as Galerius was hated for his harshness and prodigality. Constantius died very soon after at York, leaving his son Constantine heir to his dominions, who was immediately proclaimed Augustus by the legions, although Galerius would only acknowledge him as CÆsar.

5. Thus Constantine, who afterwards obtained the surname of Great, began to rule, aged 33—64, though at first only over Britain, Spain, and Gaul; nevertheless, after seventeen years of violence and warfare, he succeeded in opening himself a way to the sole dominion of the empire. The rulers disagreed among themselves; and formidable usurpers started up and rendered war inevitable.

6. However opposite may be the opinions formed respecting the reign of Constantine the Great, its consequences are perfectly plain. Although he annihilated military despotism, he established in its stead, if not completely, yet in great measure, the despotism of the court, and likewise the power of the hierarchy. He had already, during his expedition against Maxentius, decided in favour of the Christian religion; and since he thereby gained a vast number of partisans in all the provinces, and weakened at the same time the power of his co-emperors, or competitors, it was the surest way he could have taken to obtain sole dominion, the great object of his ambition. This change must nevertheless have had very considerable influence on every part of the government, as he found in the previously established hierarchy a powerful support of the throne; and since he, in concert with it, settled what was, and what was not the orthodox doctrine, he introduced a spirit of persecution heretofore unknown.

7. The removal of the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople was connected with this change in the form of worship—as a Christian court would have been awkwardly situated in a city still altogether pagan—although the need there was of protecting the frontiers against the Goths and Persians had a considerable share therein. It did, indeed, become the principal means of establishing the despotism of the court; but those who regard it as one of the causes of the decline of the empire, should remember, that for an empire fallen so low as the Roman was at this time, despotism was almost the only support that remained.

8. We ought not, therefore, to wonder that the consequence of this removal was so complete a change in the whole form of government, that after a short time it seemed to be altogether a different state. A partition of the empire was made, which, though it might in part have been founded on those which had previously existed, was yet so different, that it not only changed the ancient divisions of the provinces, but completely altered their mode of government.—The court, with the exception of polygamy, assumed entirely the form of an eastern court.—A revolution also had taken place in the military system, by the complete separation of the civil and military authorities, which the prÆtorian prÆfects had hitherto possessed, but who now became merely civil governors.

9. It would naturally be expected that these great changes should lead to others in the system of taxation. New taxes, or old ones revived, were added to those already existing, and became, by the manner in which they were collected, doubly oppressive. We shall particularly notice, a. The annual land-tax (indictio). b. The tax upon trade (aurum lustrale). c. The free gift (don. gratuit.), now grown into an obligatory tax (aurum coronarium). To these we must add the municipal expenses, which fell entirely upon the citizens, and especially upon the civic officers (decuriones), places which must have been generally held by the rich, as Constantine had in great measure appropriated the wealth of the cities to the endowment of churches, and the support of the clergy.

10. The rapid spread of the Christian religion, the promulgation of which was enforced as a duty upon all its professors, was now accelerated by the endeavours of the court. Constantine forbade sacrifices, and shut up the temples; and the violent zeal of his successors unfortunately soon turned them into ruins.

11. The three CÆsars and sons of Constantine the Great, Constantine, 337—340; Constantius, 337—361; and Constans, 337—350; had been carefully educated, and yet resembled one another as much in their vices as they did in their names. They indeed divided the empire again upon the death of their father; but were so eager after territory, which neither of them was qualified to govern, that a series of wars followed for the next twelve years, till at last Constantius was left master of the whole; and by the murder of most of his relations secured the throne to himself.

12. As Constantius, however—sunk in effeminacy and debauchery, and surrounded and governed by eunuchs—was unable to sustain the weight of government alone, he took his cousin Constantius Gallus, hitherto a state prisoner, and whose father he had formerly slain, to his assistance, created him CÆsar, and sent him into the east against the Parthians. But his excessive arrogance, which was fomented by his wife Constantina, rendered him so dangerous that Constantius recalled him, and caused him, upon his return, to be put to death in Istria. His younger brother Fl. Julian, from whom the suspicious Constantius believed he had nothing to fear, was Nov. 6, 355. promoted in his place, created CÆsar, and sent to defend the frontiers on the Rhine. Although Julian passed suddenly from study to warfare, he not only fought against the Germans with success, but also made a deep inroad into their country. In the mean time Constantius, after his generals had been beaten by the Persians, who wished to reconquer the provinces they had ceded, was preparing an expedition against them in person, and with that view endeavoured gradually to withdraw the troops of Julian, in consequence of which the latter, suspecting his design, was induced to accept the diadem presented 361. by his soldiers. While marching, however, along the Danube against Constantius, he received information of that prince's death in Asia.

13. Fl. Julian, (the apostate,) who reigned from his twenty-ninth to his thirty-second year, was the last and most highly gifted prince of the house of Constantine. Instructed by misfortunes and study, he yet had some faults, though certainly free from great vices. He began with reforming the luxury of the court. His abjuration of the religion now become dominant, and which he wished to annihilate by degrees, was an error in policy, which he must have discovered to his cost had his reign been prolonged. Wishing, however, to terminate the war against the Persians, he penetrated as far as the Tigris, where he lost his life in an engagement, after a reign of three years.

14. Fl. Jovianus, now thirty-three years of age, was immediately raised to the purple by the army. He concluded a peace with the Persians, by which he restored them all the territory that had been conquered from them since the year 297. After a short reign of eight months he was carried off by a sudden disorder; and the army proclaimed Fl. Valentinian at Nice in his stead, Valentinian almost immediately associated his Valentinian and Valens. brother Valens with himself in the government, and divided the empire by giving him the prÆfectura Orientis, and retaining the rest for himself.

15. The reign of Valentinian I. in the east, who, in the year 367, created his son Gratian Augustus with himself, is distinguished by the system of toleration which he followed with regard to the affairs of religion, though in other respects a cruel prince. Nearly the whole of his reign was taken up in almost continual struggles with the German nations, who had recovered from the losses they had suffered under Julian. His first efforts were directed against the Franks, the Saxons, and the Alemanni on the Rhine; and afterwards against the Quadi and other nations on the Danube; where he died of apoplexy at Guntz in Hungary.

16. In the mean time his brother Valens (aged 38—52 years) had to contend with a powerful insurrection which had broken out in the east. A certain Procopius had instigated the people to this, by taking advantage of the discontent occasioned by the oppression of Valens, who, having adopted the opinion of the Arians, was more disliked in the east than his brother was in the 373. west. His war against the Persians ended with a truce. But the most important event that happened during his reign, was the entrance of the Huns into Europe, which took place towards its close. This in its turn gave rise to the great popular migration, by which the Roman empire in the west may properly be said to have been overthrown. The immediate consequence was the admission of the greater part of the Visigoths into the Roman empire, and this occasioned a war which cost Valens his life.

17. During these events, Gratian (aged 16—24 years) succeeded his father Valentinian I. in the west, and immediately associated his brother, Valentinian II. (aged 5—21 years) with himself in the empire; giving him, though under his own superintendence, the prÆfectura ItaliÆ et Illyrici. Gratian set forward to the assistance of his uncle Valens against the Goths, but receiving on his march an account of his defeat and death, and fearing the east might fall a prey to the Goths, he raised Theodosius, a Spaniard, who had already distinguished himself as a warrior, to the purple, and gave him the prÆfectura Orientis et Illyrici.

18. The indolent reign of Gratian led to the rebellion of Maximus, a commander in Britain, who, crossing into Gaul, was so strongly supported by the defection of the Gallic legions, that Gratian was obliged to seek safety in flight. He was, however, overtaken and put to death at Lyons. By this event Maximus found himself in possession of all the prÆfectura Galliarum; and by promising Theodosius not to interfere with the young Valentinian II. in Italy, he prevailed upon him to acknowledge him emperor. But having broken his promise by the invasion of Italy, he was defeated and made prisoner by 388. Theodosius in Pannonia, and soon after executed. Upon this Valentinian II. a youth of whom great hopes were entertained, became again master of all the west. But, unfortunately, he was murdered by the offended Arbogast, his magister militum; who, thereupon, raised to the throne his own friend Eugenius. Eugenius, magister officiorum. Theodosius, however, so far from acknowledging, declared war against him and made him prisoner. He himself thus became master of the whole empire, but died in the following year.

19. The vigorous reign of Theodosius in the east, from his thirty-fourth to his fiftieth year, was not less devoted to politics than to religion. The dexterity with which he at first broke the power of the victorious Goths (though they still preserved their quarters in the provinces on the Danube), procured him considerable influence, which the strength and activity of his character enabled him easily to maintain. The blind zeal, however, with which he persecuted Arianism, now the prevailing creed in the east, and restored the orthodox belief, as well as the persecutions which he directed against the pagans and the destruction of their temples, occasioned the most dreadful convulsions. His efforts to preserve the boundaries of the empire, not a province of which was lost before his death, required an increase of taxes; and however oppressive this might be, we cannot impute it to the ruler as a crime. In an empire so enfeebled in itself, and which, nevertheless, had powerful foes on every side to contend with, it followed that every active reign would be oppressive. Yet never before had the internal depopulation of the empire made it necessary to take so many barbarians into Roman pay, as under this reign; whence naturally followed a change in the arms and tactics of the Roman armies.

20. Theodosius left two sons, between whom the empire was divided. Both parts, however, were certainly considered as forming but one empire—an opinion which afterwards prevailed, and even till late in the middle ages had important consequences—yet never since this period have they been reunited under one ruler. The eastern empire, comprising the prÆfectura Orientis et Illyrici, was allotted to the eldest son, Arcadius (aged 18—31) under the guardianship of Rufinus the Gaul. The western, or the prÆfectura Galliarum et ItaliÆ, to the younger, Honorius, aged 11—39, under the guardianship of the Vandal Stilico.

21. The western empire, to the history of which we shall now confine ourselves, suffered such violent shocks during the reign of Honorius, as made its approaching fall plainly visible. The intrigues of Stilico to procure himself the government of the whole empire, opened a way for the Goths into its interior, just at a time when they were doubly formidable, fortune having given them a leader greatly superior to any they had hitherto had. Alaric king of the Visigoths established himself and his people in the Roman empire, became master of Rome, and mounted the throne: it was the mere effect of chance that he did not overthrow it altogether.

22. In this manner was a great part of Spain, and part of Gaul, cut off from the Roman empire during the reign of Honorius. After his death the secretary John usurped the government, but was defeated by the eastern emperor Theodosius II. The nephew of Honorius, Valentinian III. a minor (aged 6—36), was then raised to the throne, under the guardian care of his mother Placidia († 450). Under his miserable reign the western empire was stripped of almost all her provinces with the exception of Italy. Yet the government of his mother, and afterwards his own incapacity, were as much the cause as the stormy migration of barbarous tribes, which now convulsed all Europe.

23. But while the western empire seemed thus of itself almost to fall to pieces, another impetuous rush of nations took place, which threatened the whole of western Europe. The victorious hordes of Huns who now occupied the territory formerly the seat of the Goths, between the Don and the Theiss, and even as far as the Volga, had united themselves, since the year 444, under one common chief, Attila; who, by this union and his own superior talents as a warrior and ruler, became the most powerful prince of his time. The eastern empire having bought a peace by paying him a yearly tribute, he fell with a mighty army upon the western provinces. The united forces, however, of the Romans under Ætius and the Visigoths, obliged him near Chalons (in campis Catalaunicis) to retreat. Nevertheless, the following year he again invaded Italy, where he had a secret understanding with the licentious Honoria, Valentinian's sister. The cause of his second retreat, which was soon followed by his death, is unknown. The miserable Valentinian soon after deprived the Roman empire of its best general, being led by his suspicions to put Ætius to death. He himself, however, was soon doomed to undergo the punishment of his debaucheries, being murdered in a conspiracy formed by Petronius Maximus, whose wife he had dishonoured, and some friends of Ætius, whom he had executed.

24. The twenty years which intervened between the assassination of Valentinian, and the final destruction of the Roman empire in the west, was nearly one continued series of intestine revolutions. No less than nine sovereigns rapidly succeeded one another. These changes, indeed, were but of little importance in this troublesome period, compared to the terror with which Genseric king of the Vandals filled the Roman empire: he by his naval power having become master of the Mediterranean and Sicily, could ravage the coasts of the defenceless Italy at his pleasure, and even capture Rome itself. While in Italy, the German Ricimer, general of the foreign troops in Roman pay, permitted a series of emperors to reign in his name. It would have been his lot to put an end to this series of Augusti, but for mere accident, which reserved that glory for his son and successor, Odoacer, four years after his father's death.

25. Thus fell the Roman empire of the west, while that of the east, pressed on every side, and in a situation almost similar, endured a thousand years, notwithstanding its intestine broils, which would alone have sufficed to destroy any other, and the hosts of barbarians who attacked it during the middle ages. The impregnable situation of its capital, which usually decides the fate of such kingdoms, joined to its despotism, which is not unfrequently the main support of a kingdom in its decline, can alone, in some measure, explain a phenomenon which has no equal in the history of the world.