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155 ST. PLAOIDIA 155 A medal, reprodnoed by Dantier, re- presents her wearing, on her right arm, a braoelet inscribed with the name ''Jesus Christ ; " a dove is bringing her a crown from heaven. Oalla Placidia Augusta, daughter of Theodosius the Great, by his second wife Galla, was born either at Constantinople or at Milan. She was hardly more than a baby when her mother died, and she and her half-brother, Honorius, were confided by their father to the care of his niece Serena, the wife of Stilicho. After the death of Theodosius at Milan, in 395, Serena persuaded Honorius, emperor of the West, to marry her daughter Mary, and further to assure the throne to her own descendants, she be- trothed her son Euoherius to Plaoidia, probably against her will. Stilicho and Serena were nominally Christians, but they brought up their son as a heathen, to please a certain party among the people. In 404 Placidia was in Home with Honorius. She walked before his chariot, swelling the triumph he had done nothing to earn ; and she sat beside him and his child-wife in the Colosseum, to witness the last fight of gladiators and captives ever exhibited there, and the death of the last Christian martyred on that classic ground. In 408 the Goths were besieging Bome, and Serena was accused of treacherous correspondence with them. The Senate condemned her to death and it is said that Placidia approved the sentence. History has neither acquitted nor con- demned Serena, nor is Placidia's share in the matter known with certainty. In 410 Eome was taken by Alaric, king of the Goths, and Placidia was among the prisoners. He had learned from his foes how to treat a captive lady, for his wife had been the prisoner of Stilicho and had been honourably enter- tained and duly returned to him. Pla- cidia was treated with the most scrupu- lous respect and consideration. When the sack of the imperial city had lasted six days Alaric withdrew his army, and taking with him an immense booty and great numbers of prisoners, he marched through Apulia and Calabria, intending to cross over to Sicily and Africa, but his plans were frustrated by a sudden and &tal illness. His brother Ataiilf — a name which means Father's help — succeeded him as king of the Goths and guardian of the captive princess. He had not the gi- gantic stature of Alaric, but he was gentler and, although a widower with six children, was still young and hand- some. He soon became deeply attached to Placidia. The wish to please her combined with admiration for everything belonging to her, gradually civilized and romanised him, and he sought a lasting peace with Honorius. But the emperor, as a preliminary to any conditions, de- manded the restoration of his sister. Ataiilf hoped to make her his wife, but the daughter of Theodosius the Great did not consider the chief of a barbarian horde a fit match for her, and in spite of her inclinations, long delayed her con- sent. At the same time, Constantius, one of the few honest officials and the best general and statesman the emperor had, was violently opposed to the mar- riage of the princess to the king of the Goths. It was said that he himself aspired to the honour of the alliance. Messages and letters came and went on each side for more than three years, during which the mutual esteem and ad- miration of Ataiilf and Placidia ripened into love, until at last, after Ataiilf had removed his army and his prisoner to the south of France and taken possession of several towns and a great tract of country, he besieged Marseilles. There he was repulsed by Count Boniface, long afterwards a friend in need to Placidia and ill repaid by her ; and there the Gothic hero was dangerously wounded. The alarm caused by this incident is supposed to have surprised the princess into an avowal of her affection and a consent to marry her royal Gothic lover. The wedding was held with great splen- dour and rejoicing at Narbonne, in 414, four years after the fall of Bome. The short period of her wedded life with Ataiilf was probably the happiest part of Placidia's existence. With the approval of the emperor, they crossed the Pyrenees with a plan of setting up a new kingdom