[Ill.u.s.tration: Fall of Constantinople.]
26. The perfidious Ricimer soon became dissatisfied with Anthe"mius, and raised the standard of revolt. Marching to Rome he easily became master of the city, and Anthe"mius was slain in the tumult. The unhappy Romans were again subjected to all the miseries that military licentiousness could inflict; for forty days Ricimer exulted in the havoc and ruin of the imperial city; but a disease, occasioned by excessive intemperance, seized on his vitals, and death freed Rome from the tyrant.
27. Olyb"ius, the successor of Anthe"mius, dying after a short reign of three months, Glyce"rius, an obscure soldier, a.s.sumed the purple at Raven"na, but was soon dethroned by Ju"lius Ne"pos, whom the court of Constantinople supported. A treaty by which the most faithful provinces of Gaul were yielded to the Visigoths, produced so much popular discontent, that Ores"tes, a general of barbarian auxiliaries, was encouraged to revolt, and Ne"pos, unable to defend the throne, abdicated, and spent the remainder of his unhonoured life in obscurity.
[Sidenote: A.D. 476.]
28. Ores"tes placed the crown on the head of his son Rom"ulus Momyl"lus, better known in history by the name of Augus"tulus. He was the last of the emperors; before he had enjoyed his elevation many months, he was dethroned by Odoa"cer, a leader, of the barbarian troops, and banished to a villa that once belonged to the wealthy Lucul"lus, where he was supported by a pension allowed him by the conqueror[4]. 29. Odoa"cer a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of king of Italy, but after a reign of fourteen years, he was forced to yield to the superior genius of Theod"oric, king of the Ostrogoths, under whose prudent government Italy enjoyed the blessings of peace and prosperity, to which the country had been long a stranger.
30. Thus finally fell the Roman empire of the west, while that of the east survived a thousand years, notwithstanding its fierce internal dissensions, which alone would have sufficed to destroy any other; and the hosts of barbarians by which it was a.s.sailed. The almost impregnable situation of its capital, whose fate usually decides that of such empires, joined to its despotism, which gave unity to the little strength it retained, can alone explain a phenomenon unparalleled in the annals of history. At length, on the 29th of May, 1453, Constantinople was taken by Mohammed the Second, and the government and religion established by the great Constantine, trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors.
_Questions for Examination._
1. What induced Alaric to invade Italy a second time?
2. Did the emperor and his ministers make adequate preparations for resistance?
3. How was Alaric induced to raise the siege of Rome?
4. Why did Alaric besiege Rome a second time?
5. Whom did the Goths make emperor?
6. What favourable opportunity of making peace did Honorius lose?
7. By what means did the Goths become masters of Rome?
8. Where did Alaric die?
9. What events marked the reign of Adolphus?
10. What remarkable persons died nearly at the same time?
11. What was the fate of the usurper John?
12. To whom was the government entrusted during Valentinian"s minority?
13. By whom were the Vandals invited to Africa?
14. What was the fate of Boniface?
15. How were the Huns instigated to invade Italy?
16. Under what circ.u.mstances did Attila die?
17. Of what great crimes was Valentinian III. guilty?
18. How was Valentinian slain?
19. 20. What strange prophecy was now about to be fulfilled?
21. What terminated the brief reign of Maximus?
22. Had Eudoxia reason to lament her invitation to the Vandals?
23. Why was the emperor Avitus dethroned?
24. How did Ricimer procure the deposition of Majorian?
25. What changes followed on the death of Majorian?
26. How did Ricimer terminate his destructive career?
27. What changes took place after the death of Arthemius?
28. Who was the last Roman emperor?
29. What kingdoms were founded on the ruins of the western empire?
20. How was the existence of the eastern empire prolonged?
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Chapter xv. Sect. ii.
[2] The ferocious character of the barbarians was displayed in the funeral of their chief. The unhappy captives were compelled to divert the stream of the river Busenti"nus, which washed the walls of Consen"tia, (now Cosenza, in farther Cala"bria, Italy,) in the bed of which the royal sepulchre was formed: with the body were deposited much of the wealth, and many of the trophies obtained at Rome. The river was then permitted to return to its accustomed channel, and the prisoners employed in the work were inhumanly ma.s.sacred, to conceal the spot in which the deceased hero was entombed. A beautiful poem on this subject, ent.i.tled, The Dirge of Alaric the Visigoth, has appeared, which is attributed to the honourable Edward Everett.
[3] See Chapter i.
[4] See Chapter xxvii.
CHAPTER XXVII.
HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BARBAROUS TRIBES THAT AIDED IN DESTROYING THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
Lo! from the frozen forests of the north, The sons of slaughter pour in myriads forth!
Who shall awake the mighty? Will thy woe, City of thrones, disturb the world below?
Call on the dead to hear thee! let thy cries Summon their shadowy legions to arise, Array the ghosts of conquerors on thy walls Barbarians revel in their ancient halls!
And their lost children bend the subject knee, Amidst the proud tombs and trophies of the free!--_Anon._
1. We have already mentioned that the barbarous nations which joined in the destruction of the Roman empire, were invited to come within its precincts through the weakness or folly of successive sovereigns who recruited their armies from those hardy tribes, in preference to their own subjects, enervated by luxury and indolence. The grants of land, and the rich donations by which the emperors endeavoured to secure the fidelity of these dangerous auxiliaries, encouraged them to regard the Roman territories as their prey; and being alternately the objects of lavish extravagance and wanton insult, their power was increased at the same time that their resentment was provoked. 2.
Towards the close of the year 406, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Alans, first sounded the tocsin of invasion, and their example was followed by the Goths, the Burgundians, the Alleman"ni, the Franks, the Huns, the Angli, the Saxons, the Heruli, and the Longobar"di, or Lombards. The chief of these nations, with the exception of the Huns were of German origin. It is not easy in every instance to discover the original seat of these several tribes, and trace their successive migrations, because, being ignorant of letters, they only retained some vague traditions of their wanderings.