Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/472

 450 THE DECLIXE AND FALL The Visigoths In Gaol onder the reign of Theodorlc. A.D. 419 451 [Arelate] A.D. 435-439 [Narbo Mar- tins] Gaul Avere devoted to the ambition of Aetius ; and, though he might suspect that, in a contest with Attila himself, they would revolt to the standard of their national king, the patrician laboured to restrain, rather than to excite, their zeal and resent- ment against the Goths, the Burgundians, and the Franks. The kingdom established by the Visigoths in the .southern provinces of Gaul had gradually acquired strength and maturity ; and the conduct of those ambitious Barbarians, either in peace or war, engaged the perpetual vigilance of Aetius. After the death of Wallia the Gothic sceptre devolved to Theodoric, the son of the great Alaric ; ^*^ and liis prosperous reign, of more than thirty years, over a turbulent people, may be allowed to prove that his prudence was supported by uncommon vigour, both of mind and body. Impatient of his narrow limits, Theo- doric aspired to the possession of Aries, the wealthy seat of government and commerce ; but the city was saved by the timely approach of Aetius ; and the Gothic king, who had raised the siege with some loss and disgrace, was persuaded, for an adequate subsidy, to divert the martial valour of his subjects in a Spanish war. Yet Theodoric still watched, and eagerly seized, the favourable moment of renewing his hostile attempts. The Goths besieged Narbonne, while the Belgic provinces were invaded by the Burgundians ; and the public safety was threatened on everj^ side by the apparent union of the enemies of Rome. On every side, the activity of Aetius, and his Scythian cavalry, opposed a firm and successful resistance. Twenty thousand Burgundians were slain in battle ; and the remains of the nation humbly accepted a dependent seat in the mountains of Savoy.i^ The walls of Narbonne had been shaken by the Discursu, flammis, ferro, feritate, rapinis, Delebant, pacis fallentes nomen inane. Another poet, Paulinus of Perigord, confirms the complaint : Nam socium vi.x ferre queas, qui durior hoste. See Dubos, torn. i. p. 330. If' Theodoric II., the son of Theodoric I., declares to Avitus his resolution of repairing or expiating the fault which his grandfather had committed. Qua; noster peccavit avus, quern fuscat id unuji. Quod te, Roma, capit. Sidon. Panegyric. Avit. 505. This character, applicable only to the great Alaric, establishes the genealogy of the Gothic kings, which has hitherto been unnoticed. [The reference to Alaric is clear ; cp. Luetjohann in his ed. of Sidonius, p. 418. But avus is used loosely. If Theodoric I. were .laric's son, the fact must have been otherwise known.] 11 The name of Sapaudiae, the origin of Savoy, is first mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus [xv. 11, 17]; and two military posts are ascertained, by the Notitia,