Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/502

 480 DECLINE OF ROMAN EMPIRE acknowledge with some surprise that the arbitrary interpreta- tion of an accidental or fabulous circumstance has been seriously verified in the downfall of the Western empire. But its fall was announced by a clearer omen than the flight of vultures : the Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects."'-^ The taxes were multiplied with the public distress ; economy was neglected in proportion as it became necessary ; and the injustice of the rich shifted the unequal burden from themselves to the people, whom they defrauded of the iiidulgcncies that might sometimes have alleviated their misery. The severe inquisition, which confiscated their goods and tortured their persons, compelled the subjects of Valentinian to prefer the more simple tyranny of the Barbarians, to fly to the woods and mountains, or to em- brace the vile and abject condition of mercenary servants. They abjured and abhorred the name of Roman citizens, which had formerlj' excited the ambition of mankind. The Armorican provinces of Gaul, and the greatest part of Spain, were thrown into a state of disoi'derly independence, by the confederations of the Bagaudtc ; and the Imperial ministers pursued with pro- scriptive laws, and ineffectual arms, the rebels whom they had made.^*^ If all the Barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have re- stored the empire of the West ; and, if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of fi'eedom, of virtue, and of honour. ■^9 The fifth book of Salvian is filled with pathetic lamentations and vehement invectives. His immoderate freedom serves to prove the weakness, as well as the corruption, of the Roman government. His book was published after the loss of Africa (a.d. 439) and before Attila's war (a.d. 451). 8" The Bagaudse of Spain, who fought pitched battles with the Roman troops, are repeatedly mentioned in the Chronicle of Idatius. Salvian has described their distress and rebellion in very forcible language. Itaque nomen civium Ro- manorum . . . nunc ultro repudiatur ac fugitur, nee vile tamen sed etiam abominabile poene habetur. . . . Et hinc est ut etiam hi qui ad Barbaros non confugiunt Barbari tamen esse coguntur, scilicet ut est pars magna Hispanorum, et non minima Gallorum. . . . De Bagaudis nunc mihi sermo est, qui per malos judices et cruentos spoliati, afllicti, nccati, post quam jus Romanae libertatis amiserant, etiam honorem Romani nominis perdiderunt. . . . Vocamus rebelles, vocamus perditos quos esse compulimus criminosos. De Gubernat. Dei, 1. v. p. 158, 159-