Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/529

Rh HONORTUS. veil of assumed piety, aggravated the einporor"'s suspicions and fears, and a mutiny was excited in the army assembled at Pavia, where the emperor was, in which a number of officers of rank, friends or supposed friends of Stilicho, were slain. Sti- liclio himself was at Ravenna ; but Olympius, send- ing to the troops there, directed them to seize him, and he was taken from a church in which he had taken refuge, and put to death by the hand of Ileraclian [Heraclianus], his son, Eucherius, escaping, for a time, to Rome. The plea for the execution of Stilicho was that he was conspiring the deposition, if not the death of Honorius, in order to make his own son, Eucherius, emperor in his room. Eucherius is said to have been a heathen ; and this circumstance may have either led him to cherish ambitious hopes, from a reliance on the support of the still numerous heathens ; or may have inspired a jealousy which led the emperor and his court to impute evil designs to him and his father. The Christian writers, Orosius, Marcel- linus, and Prosper Tiro, speak of the alleged treason without doubt. Sozomen gives it as a rumour ; while the heathen historians, Zosimus and Olym- piodorus, appear to have believed him innocent : an indication that his death was connected with the struggle of expiring Paganism with Christianity. By his death, which took place A. D. 408, Olym- pius became for a while the ruler of affairs. A severe prosecution was carried on against the friends of Stilicho : his daughter, Thermantia, was repudiated and sent home, still a virgin, to her niotlier, Serena, and died soon after. The death of Stilicho furnished Alaric with a pretence for the invasion of Italy, now deprived of its former defender. His demand of a sum of money which he said was due to him being re- jected, he crossed the Alps. Honorius sheltered himself in Ravenna, while Alaric besieged Rome (a. d. 408), which was obliged to pay a heavy ransom. During the siege the unhappy Serena, who was in the city, was put to death, on a charge of corresponding with the enemy. In A. d. 409 Rome was again besieged and taken by him, and Attains proclaimed emperor under his protection. [Alaricus ; Attalus.] The court of Honorius was the scene of intrigue ; Olympius was supplanted by Jovius, who became praefectus praetorio, but was, in turn, succeeded by Eusebius, who was himself put to death at the instigation of Allobichus, one of the generals of Honorms. Allobichus was executed not long after. Alaric and Attalus marched against Ra- venna, which Honorius was on the point of abandon- ing, and fleeing by sea into the Eastern empire, when he was encouraged to hold out by a reinforcement of 4000 men (the corrupted text of Zosimus says 40,000) from his nephew, Theodosius II., emperor of the East. Africa was saved for him by the ability and good faith of Heraclian ; and in a. d. 410 Attalus was deposed by Alaric, with whom he had quarrelled, and a negotiation begun and almost concluded between Honorius and the Visi-Gothic king. The treaty was, however, broken off, ap- parently from some act of hostility on the part of Sarus, a Goth in the Roman service, and the bitter enemy of Alaric, who, in his irritation, re- stored to Attalus the imperial title, but almost im- mediately again deprived him of it. He then marched to Rome, which he took and plundered. He died soon after ; and his brother-in-law, Ataul- phu8, who succeeded him, retired with his army, HONORIUS. 5!5 after a time, into Gaul (a. d. 412), and Italy was once more left free from invaders. [Ataulphus.] While Honorius (a. d. 409) was hard pressed by the Visi-Goths and by the revolt of Alaric, Constantino the usurper, who had established him- self in Gaul, proposed to come into Italy professedly to assist him, but probably with the intention of aggrandising his own power. In effect he entered Italy and advanced to Verona ; but alarmed by the execution of Allobichus, with whom he seems to have been in correspondence, and apprehending an attack from iiis own partisan, Gerontius, who had revolted in Spain, he returned into Gaul, and was defeated and obliged to surrender (a. D. 411), on promise of his life, to Constantius, the general of Plonorius, who besieged him in Aries. [CoN- sTANTius III. ; CoNSTANTiNus the tyrant ; Ge- rontius.] His life was spared at the time, but he was sent into Italy, where Honorius had him put to death, in violation of the promise on which he had surrendered. Fear, the source of cruelty, rendered Honorius regardless of a breach of faith where his own safety was concerned. Constantius was now the person of chief influ- ence in the West. He had probably already aspired to the hand of Placidia, or Galla Placidia [Galla, No. 3], the emperor's sister, who had fallen into the hands of the Visi-Gothic king, Alaric, and was now in those of his successor, Ataulphus. The energy and talent of Constantius rendered him of the greatest service to Honorius, around whom fresh difficulties were rising. Jovinus, commander apparently of Moguntiacum, or some fortress on the Rhenish frontier, revolted ; and At- talus, the ex-emperor, who had, for his own safety, remained with the Visi-Goths, incited Ataulphus to make an alliance with him. The alliance, however, did not take place : the intended confederates quar- relled, Ataulphus made a treaty with Honorius, seized Sebastian, brother of Jovinus, whom Jovinus had proclaimed emperor, and sent his head to Hono- rius; and having drawn Jovinus himself into Valentia (Valence), and obliged him to surrender, delivered him up (a. D. 412 or 413) to Dardanus, one of Honorius' officers, who, without waiting for the emperor's authority, put him to death. About the same time Sallustius, either an accomplice of Jo- vinus or a rebel on his own account, was put to death ; and Heraclian, who, in 409, had preserved Africa for Honorius, but had since revolted, was also defeated, taken, and executed. [Hkracli- ANus.] Ataulphus, who had again proclaimed Attalus emperor, rendered him no effective support ; and having married (a. d. 414) Placidia, sister of Honorius [Galla, No. 3], became sincerely de- sirous of peace. This was, however, prevented by Constantius, who had also aspired to the hand of Placidia, and who attacked the Visi-Goths, drove them out of Nai-bonne, which they had taken, and compelled them to retire into Spain, where Ataul- phus was soon after assassinated (a. d. 415). At- talus was afterwards taken ; and Honorius, whose natural clemency was not now counteracted by his fears, contented himself with banishing him. For other offenders a general amnesty was issued. We have omitted during these stirring events to notice the consulships of Honorius since A. D. 404. He was consul in A. d. 407, 409, 411, or rather 412, 415 and 417. Ravenna was his almost constant residence, except in 407 and 408. The year 417 was distinguished by the marriage LL 2