Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/520

 498 APPENDIX While Stilicho aimed at annexing Eastern Illyricum, the court of Constanti- nople aimed at the acquisition of Dalmatia. Olympiodorus sava that Stilicho employed Alaric to defend it (fr. ',i). The object was pursued in the reign of TheodosiuB ii. and was finally attained at the marriage of Eudoxia with Valentinian iii., when the boundary was changed to the advantage of the East. Compare Cassiodorius, Var. ep. 1, Giildenpenning, das ostrbm. Reich, p. 310. But even as early as a.d. 414-15 there is epigraphic evidence suggesting the conclusion that at that time Salonae was under the government of Constanti- nople. See Jung, op. cit. p. 187 note. It is possible to regard (with Keller ; Stilicho, p. 27) Stilicho's special Illyric policy and his relations with Alaric as part of a larger policy which had two chief aims : to maintain the unity of the Empire, under two emjierors, and to infuse new blood into it by absorbing barbarians. Stilicho's policy has been generally misunderstood. A monograph appeared in the year 1805 with the curious title : Flavi'os Stilicho, ein Wallenstein der Vorwelt (by C. F. Schidz). 15. ALAHIC IN GREECE— (P. 242-4) Though no record tells that Alaric burnt do^vn the Temple of Eleusis, it is certain that the invasion of the Goths was coincident with the end of the Eleu- sinian m^'steries. The sanctuary of the two goddesses must have already suffered much under Jovian and Theodosius. The cult, restored by Julian, was suppressed by Jovian, but renewed again under Valentinian through the intervention of Praetextatus, proconsul of Achaia. It must have been affected by the intolerant edicts of Theodosius ; certainly the demonstration of the Christian section of the Athenian community forced the last Eumolpid high priest to resign. Subse- quently — probably on the death of Theodosius — the pagan party felt themselves strong enough to appoint, as hierophant, a priest of lilithras from Thespiae, and he presided at Eleusis at the time of Alaric s invasion. See Gregorovius, Hat Alarich die Nationalgotter Griechenlands zerstort? (Kleine Schriften, voL i.), and Geschichte der Stadt Athen im ilittelalter, i. p. 35 sqq. As for Athens, there is no doubt that it capitulated and was spared by Alaric, and that the Goths did not destroy or rob its art treasures. Athens suffered, as Gregorovius remarks, less in the invasion of Alaric than in the invasion in the time of Dexiipus. There were of course acts of cruelty ; some are recorded in the Vita Prisci of Eunapius. But we must not press the words of Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 189) : nee fera Cecropiae traxissent vincula matres, further than at the most to interpret it of the rural inhabitants of Attica. Gregorovius observes that in the other passages where tlie devastation of Greece is mentioned (iv. Cons. Hon. 471, Eutrop. 2, 199, cons. Stil. i. 180), there is not a word about Athens. As to the Zeus-temple of Olympia, it is supposed that the Phidiac statue of Zeus had been removed about two years before the Gothic invasion (in a.d. 394, when Theodosius suppressed the 01}'mpic games) to Constantinople and was afterwards burned in the Palace of Lausus. Cp. Cedrenus, i. p. 364 (Gregorovius i. p. 43). The temple of Olympia was burnt down in the reign of Theodosius ii. The general conclusion of Gregorovius is that it is a gross exaggeration to ascribe to the Goths the deliberate destruction of the temples and sanctuaries of Greece. 16. PENETRABIS AD URBEM— (P. 248) The clear voice which Alaric heard in the grove uttered an acrostich with the help of Claudian's art. It has been pointed out that the first and last letters of the two verses (B. G. 546-7) spell ROMA. R umpe omnes, Alarice moras ; hoc impiger annO A Ipibus Italiae ruptis penetrabia ad urbeM. So it is printed in Koch's edition.