Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/524

 60^ APPENDIX AVhether chosen by Constantine or not the coin " may at least be taken as evi- <_ dence that the new Caesar stood forth as the representative of the interests of 5 the Constantinian dynasty in the island as against the faction of the rebel ) Gerontins and his barbarian allies ". 20. THE TYRANT CONSTANTIXE-(P. 272) The best account of the rise, reign, and fall of the tyrant Constantine, rider of Britain, Gaul and Spain, ■will be found in Mr. FreemaTi's article, "Tyrants of Britain, Gaxd and Spain," in English Historical Review, vol. 1. (1886) p. 53 sqq. At first, in 407, Constantine's Gallic dominions "must have consisted of a long and narrow strip of eastern Gaul, from the Channel to the Jlediterranean, which could not have differed very widely from the earliest and most extended of the many uses of the word Lotharmgia ". That he was acknowledged in Trier is proved by the evidence of coins (Eckhel, 8, 176). Then he moves down to the ■ land between Rhone and Alps, which becomes the chief theatre of operations, ■ and Arelate becomes his capital His son Constans he creates Caesar, and a I younger son Julian nobilissimus. Early in 408 Sarus is sent against him by Stilicho. Sarus gains a victory over Constantine's officer (Justinian) ; and lays siege to Valentia in which Constantine secured himself. But he raises the siege on the seventh day, on account of the approach of Constantine's able general Gerontius, from whom he with diflBcidty escapes (by coming to an understanding with the Bar/audae, who appear to act as a sort of national militia) into Italy. Constantine's next step is to extend his rule over the rest of the Gallic pre- fecture, — Spain. We are left quite in the dark as to his relations with the Bar- barians who in these years (407-9) were ravaging Gaid. Spain at first submitted to those whom Constantine sent ; but very soon the influential Theodosian famiU^ organized a revolt against it. The main part of the resistance came from Lu3i- tania, where the four Theodosian brothers had most influence. The rustic arAiy that was collected was set to guard the Pyrenees. To put down the rising, Constantine sent troops a second time into Spain — this time under the Caesar Constans, who was accompanied by Gerontius and by ApoUinaris (grandfather of the poet Sidonius), who accepted the oflSce of Praetorian Prefect from Constan- tine. The Theodosian revolt was suppressed ; Constans set up his court in Caesar- augusta (Zaragoza), but soon returned to Gaid, leaving Gerontius to defend Spain. The sources for this story are Orosius, Sozomen and Zosimus. For the Spanish events we have no fragments of Olympiodorus. "On the other hand the local knowledge of Orosius goes for something, and Sozomen seems to have gained, from some quarter or other, a singular knowledge of detail of some parts of the story " (Freeman, p. 65). It is practically certain that Sozomen's source (as well as that of Zosimus) was Olympiodorus (cp. above, vol. ii.. Ap- pendix 1). Thus master of the "West, Constantine forces Honorius, then (a.d. 409) too weak to resist, to acknowledge him as his colleague and legitimate Augustus. Later in the year he enters Italy with an army, avowedly to help Honoriua against Alaric (so Olympiodorus), his real motive being to annex Italy to his own realm (Soz. ix. 12). At this time he probably raised Constans to the rank of Augustus. It appears that Constantine was in league with Allobich, the general of Honorius, to compass his treasonable designs. They were discovered, Allobich was cut down, £ind then Constantine, who had not yet reached Ravenna, turned back. Meanwhile the revolt of Gerontius in Spain had broken out, and Constans went to put it down. Gibbon's account of the revolt is inadequate, in so far as he does not point out its connexion with the invasion of Spain by the Vandals, Sueves and AJans. There is no doubt that Gerontius and JIaximus invited them to cross the PjTenees. (Cp. Olymp. ; Oros. 7, 28; Sozom. ix. 113; Zos. 6, 6; Renatus, in Gregory of Tours, 2, 9 ; Freeman, p. 74 : " The evidence seems to go