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 334 THE DECLINE AND FALL from the obligation of their extravagant oath, to deliver Italy from the intolerable weight of the Gothic powers ; and they readily accepted their service against the tyrants and barbarians who infested the provinces beyond the Alps. Adolphus,''^'^ assuming the character of a Roman general, directed his march from the extremity of Campania to the southern provinces of Gaul. His troops, either by force or agreement, immediately occupied the cities of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bourdeaux ; and though they were repulsed by Count Boniface from the walls of Marseilles, they soon extended their quarters from the Medi- terranean to the Ocean. The oppressed provincials might ex- claim that the miserable remnant which the enemy had spared was cruelly ravished by their pretended allies ; yet some specious colours were not wanting to palliate, or justify, the violence of the Goths. The cities of Gaul which they attacked might perhaps be considered as in a state of rebellion against the government of Honorius ; the articles of the treaty, or the secret instructions of the court, might sometimes be alleged in favour of the seeming usui-pations of Adolphus ; and the guilt of any irregular, unsuccessful act of hostility might always be imputed, with an appearance of truth, to the ungovernable spirit of a Barbai'ian host, impatient of peace or discipline. The luxury of Italy had been less effectual to soften the temper than to relax the cour- age of the Goths ; and they had imbibed the vices, without imi- tating the arts and institutions, of civilised society. ^^"^ His marriage The profcssions of Adolphus were probably sincere, and his a!d! iir'**'* attachment to the cause of the republic was secured by the ascendant which a Roman princess had acquired over the heart and understanding of the Barbarian king. Placidia,^^' the daughter of the great Theodosius and of Galla, his second wife, had received a royal education in the palace of Constantinople ; but the eventful story of her life is connected with the revolu- tions which agitated the Western empire under the reign of her brother Honorius. When Rome was first invested by the arms 125 Jornandes supposes, without much probabihty, that Adolphus visited and plundered Rome a second time (more locuslarum erasit). Yet he agrees with Orosius in supposing that a treaty of peace was concluded between the Gothic prince and Honorius. See Oros. 1. vii. c. 43, p. 584, 585. Jornandes, de Reb. Geticis. c. 31, p. 654, 655. i^The retreat of the Goths from Italy, and their first transactions in Gaul, are dark and doubtful. I have derived much assistance from Mascou (Hist, of the ancient Germans, 1. viii. c. 29, 35, 36, 37), who has illustrated and connected the broken chronicles and fragments of the times. 137 See an account of Placidia in Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 72 ; and Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. i. p. 260, 386, &c. tom. vi. p. 240.