Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/530

Rh S16 HONORIUS. of Constanthis (who was colleairue of Ilonoriiis in the consulship) with Placidia, who, after the death of Ataulphus, had suffered much ill usage from his murderer, but had been restored by Valia or Wallia, the successor (not immediately) of Ataul- phus ; and the year 418 (when Honorius was consul for the twelfth time ) by a treaty with the Goths, ceding to them the south-western part of Gaul, with Toulouse for their capital, in a sort of feudal subordination to the empire of the West. The Franks were gradually occupying the left bank of the lower Rhine, and the Armoricans, who alone of the Gauls exhibited anything of a military spirit, were acquiring a precarious and turbulent independence ; and their revolt perhaps induced Honorius to concede to the portion of Gaul remain- ing in the hands of the Romans a popular repre- sentative body. In Spain, which had been miserably ravaged by Suevi, Alans, Vandals, and Visi-Goths, a new claimant of the purple arose in Maximus, who occupied some part of that country for three years, when he was taken and sent to Ravenna. According to Prosper Tiro, who alone notices the beginning of his revolt, it appears to have taken place in 418 : its suppression is fixed by the better authority of Marcellmus in a.d. 422. Meanwhile, troops of Honorius maintained some footing in the country, and a part at least of the inhabitants re- mained faithful to him. In A.D. 421 the importunity of Placidia extorted from Honorius a share in the empire for her hus- band Constantius [Constantius III.], the dignity of Augusta for herself [Galla, No. 3], and that of Nobilissimus Puer for her infant son Valentinian [Valentinianus III.] The death of Constantius a few months after delivered Honorius from a col- league whom he had unwillingly accepted. His manifestations of affection for the widow, especially "their incessant kissing,'' according to Olympio- dorus, gave occasion to some scandalous reports ; but their love was succeeded by hatred, and Placidia fled with her children, Valentinian and Honoria [Grata, No. 2], to her nephew Theodosius II. at Constantinople, A. D. 423. The death of Honorius took place soon after his sister's flight. He died of dropsy, 27th Aug. 423, aged 39, after a disastrous reign of twenty-eight years and eight months. The place of his burial appears to have been at Ravenna, where his tomb is still shown in a build- ing said to have been erected by Placidia his sister; though it was pretended that his body and that of his two wives, Maria and Thennantia, were dis- covered buried under the church of St. Peter at Rome A. D. 1543. His thirteenth and last consul- ship was A. D. 422, the year before his death. The character of Honorius presents little that is attractive. His weakness was not accompanied either by the accomplishments or the amiableness of Gratian and Valentinian II. ; and though not naturally cruel, his fears impelled him occasionally to acts of blood and violations of good faith ; and the interference of the secular power in the affairs of religion led to persecution and consequent dis- content. His feebleness prevented all personal exertion for the safety of his dominions ; and his long reign, the longest the empire had known, with the exception of those of Augustus and Constantino the Great, determined the downfal of the Roman empire. A long catalogue of usurpers, the siire indication of a weak government, is given by Oro- siuB. Rome itself was taken by a foreign invader. HONORIUS. for the first time since its capture by the Gauls, under lirennus, B. c. 390 ; and the barbarians ac- quired a permanent settlement in the provinces; the Visi-Goths, the Franks, and the Burgundians, in Gaul ; and the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans, in Spain ; while Britain and Armorica became vir- tually independent. The vigour of Theodosius the Great, and the energy of Stilicho, had deferred these calamities for a while ; but the downfal of the latter left the remote parts of the empire de- fenceless; and all the military ability of Constantius just protected Italy, and preserved with difficulty some portions of the transalpine provinces. Ho- norius, shut up in Ravenna, appears, from an anec- dote preserved by Procopius, as resting, however, on report only, and repeated with some variation by Zonaras, to have looked on these calamities with apathy. When Rome was plundered by Alaric, a eunucb who had the care of the poultry of Honorius announced to him that " Rome was destroyed " ('PojjUtj diT6we). "And yet she just now ate out of my hands," was the reply of the env^'jror, referring to a favourite hen, of unusual size, which he called " Rome." " 1 mean," said the eunuch, " that the city of Rome has been de- stroyed by Alaric." " But I," said the emperor, " thought that my hen ' Rome ' Avas dead." " So stupid (adds Procopius) do they say this emperor was." Yet, weak and stupid as he was, he re- tained his crown, so firmly had the ability of Theo- dosius fixed the power of his family. (Zosimus, v. 58, 59, vi. ; Orosius, vii. 36 — 43 ; Olympiodor. apud Phot, Bibl. cod. 80 ; Claudian, Opera, passim; Marcellin. Chron. ; Idatius, Fadi and Chronicon ; Prosper Aquitan. Chron. ; Prosper Tiro, Chron. ; Cassiodor. Chron.; Chron. Fasclud, pp. 304 — 313, ed. Paris, vol. i. pp. 563 — 579, ed. Bonn ; Pro- copius, De Bell. Vand. i. 1 — 3 ; Jornandes, De Reb. Getk. c. 29—32 ; Socrat. H.E. vi. l,vii. 10; Sozom. //. E. viii. 1, ix. 4, 6 — 16 ; Theodoret. H. E. V. 26 ; Theophan. Chronog. pp. 63—72, ed. Paris, pp. 116—130, ed. Bonn ; Zonaras, xiii. 21 ; Gothofred. Chronol. Cod. The.odos. ; Tillemont, Hint- des Empereurs, vol. v. ; Gibbon, ch. 29, 30, 31, 33 ; Eckhel, vol. viii. pp. 171— 174 ; Ducange, Famil. Byzaniinxie.) [J. C. M.] COIN OF HONORIUS. HONO'RIUS, .TU'LIUS, the name prefixed to a short geographical tract first published by J. Gronovius, in his edition of Pomponius Mela (Lug. Bat. 1685), from an imperfect MS. in the Thu- anean library at Paris, under the title Julii Honorii Oratoris Excerpta quae ad Cosmor/raphiam per- tinent. According to the arrangement here adopted, the worid is divided into four Oceans, the Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern {Oceanus Orientalis, Occidentalism Septcntrionalis, Meiidianus), and a catalogue is given of the seas, islands, mountains, provinces, towns, rivers, and nations contained in each, furnishing nought save a bare enumeration of names, except in the case of the rivers, whose source, termination, and occasionally length of