Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1225

Rh VALENTINIANUS. ensued in which Litorius was defeated, and the Goths carried him a prisoner into the city which he had hoped to take. Notwithstanding this success, Theodoric concluded a peace with Aetius, who threatened with a formidable army to dispute the further conquests of the Gothic king. The Western empire was gradually losing its ex- treme possessions. Merida in Spain was taken by Richila, king of the Suevi ; and Genseric seized Carthage by surprise on the 9th of October A. D. 439. This was the more unexpected as a treaty had been made with him in a. d. 435. The capture of Carthage, which had been in the hands of the Romans for near six hundred years, destroyed the Roman power in a large part of western Africa ; but Valentinian still retained the two provinces of Mauritania, and some other parts. Valentinian was at Rome in January and in March a. d. 440. as appears from the date of several Novellae. In the month of June Genseric left Carthage with a great fleet. He landed in Sicily, ravaged the country and laid siege to Palermo. Aetius was still in Gaul, where he restored tran- quillity and set out for Italy. It was about this time that Salvianus wrote his work on the Judg- ment of God, in which he shows that the Romans had brought upon themselves, by their sins, the calamities under which they were then suifering. The grievous burden of taxation and the oppression of the powerful made the Romans prefer the form of servitude under the Franks, Huns, and Vandals, under which they enjoyed real liberty and paid no taxes, to the semblance of liberty under the Roman government whose exactions were intolerable. The barbarians were in possession of a large part of Gaul and a still larger part of Spain ; Italy had been ravaged several times, Rome had been be- sieged, Sicily and Sardinia devastated, and Africa was in the hands of the Vandals. Treves had been several times sacked, and yet, says Salvianus, while the place was reeking with the blood o£ the slain, the citizens still eagerly called for the games, which were exhibited in their amphitheatre, the ruins of which still exist on the site of the ancient city of the Treviri. By a constitution of the 20th of February A. D. 441, the emperor made some regulations for making the property of the great dignitaries of the church and of the city of Rome liable to equal taxation with other property, and also liable for the repair of the roads and the walls of the towns and all other imposts. In A. D. 442 Valentinian made peace with the Vandals, who were left in undis- turbed possession of part of Africa. In A. D. 446, the Romans abandoned Britain. The Picts and Scots were ravaging the country, and the Britons in vain applied for help to Aetius who was then consul. A revolt took place in, Armorica in a. d. 448 which was however soon I settled. Ravenna was the ordinary residence of the em- peror ; but he went to Rome early in A. D. 450 !with his wife and mother, when by a constitution, jdated the 5th of March, he remitted all the taxes Ithat had become due up to the 1st of September Ia. d. 448 ; from which we may conclude that the (people were unable to pay them, Sardinia and Africa were excepted from this indulgence. The emperor spoke of the exactions of the conmiissioners who wei-e sent into the provinces to prevent the exactions nf others ; they enriched themselves at VALENTINIANUS. 121' tlie expence both of the tax-payers and of the Fiscus. Oppressive taxation is the symptom of vicious government and of the approaching ruin of a state. Theodosius II. died on the 28th of July A. D. 450, and Marcianus succeeded him without waiting for the approbation of Valentinian, who, however, confirmed his election. On the 27th of November in the same year, Placidia, the emperor's mother, died at Rome just when hostilities were going to break out between Valentinian and Attila, king of the Huns. The result of this war was the defeat of Attila by Aetius, near Chalons sur Marne in the former French province of Champagne, in a. d. 451. [Aetius; Attila.] The history of Va- lentinian's unfortunate sister Honoria is connected with that of Attila. [Grata, No. 2.] The Western empire was in a deplorable state, overrun by barbarians who brought with them " the detestable heresy of the Arians with which they were infected." Italy however seems to have been free from barbarians, though it contained many Goths under the name of confederates ; and they were Arians too. The Visigoths, whose capital was Toulouse, had a new king in consequence of the death of Theodoric who fell in the great battle at Chalons, fighting on the side of the Romans. He was succeeded by his son Thorismond. In A. D. 452 Attila made a descent into Italy and spread consternation. Aetius had returned to Italy, and he and Valentinian sent Pope Leo to Attila to sue for peace, and the barbarian retired after he had devastated the north of Ital3% [At- tila.] A constitution of Valentinian of this year, which a zealous Roman Catholic writer calls " a scandalous law and altogether unworthy of a Christian prince," declares that the law does not allow bishops and priests to have jurisdiction in civil aifairs, and that they can only take cognizance of matters pertaining to religion ; and it requires even bishops to appear before the ordinary judges in all suits to which they were parties, unless the other party consented to submit to the judgment of the church. It also forbids ecclesiastics to traffic, or if they do, they are allowed no particular privilege. Valentinian was relieved in A. d. 453 from a formidable enemy by the death of Attila, and in the same year Thorismond, king of the Visigoths, who was of a restless and warlike character, was murdered by his brothers, one of whom, Theo- doric II., succeeded him. The power and influence of Aetius had long ex- cited the jealousy and fears of Valentinian, and the suspicious temper of the unwarlike and feeble em- peror was encouraged by the calumnies of the eunuch Heraclius. Aetius was too powerful to be the subject of a contemptible master ; and the betrothal of his son Gaudentius to Eudoxia, the daughter of Valentinian, may have excited his am- bitious designs and awakened his treacherous dis- position. His pride and insolence were shown in a hostile declaration against his prince, which was followed by a reconciliation and an alliance, the terms of which were dictated by Aetius. After this insult he had the imprudence to venture into the emperor's palace at Rome, in company with Boethius, Praefectus Praetorio, and to urge the marriage of the emperor's daughter with his son. In a fit of irritation the emperor dreAV his sword and plunged it into the general's body. Theslaughter