Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/803

Rh FOUKTH CENTURY.] K M E 779 uta, 61563. 'ai- ini I., i5<375. !6378. wtoths n,. l"is 57-395. stantius reluctantly granted the title of C<esar to his cousin Julian and placed him in charge of Gaul, where the momentary elevation of a tyrant, Silvanus, and still more the inroads of Franks and Alemanni, had excited alarm. But Julian's successes during the next five years were such as to arouse the jealous fears of Constantius. In order to weaken his suspected rival the legions under Julian in Gaul were suddenly ordered to march eastward against the Persians (360). They refused, and when the order was repeated replied by proclaiming Julian himself emperor and Augustas. Julian, with probably sincere reluctance, accepted the position, but the death of Constantius in 361 saved the empire from the threatened civil war. The chief importance of the career of Julian, both as Caesar in Gaul from 355 to 361 and during his brief tenure of sole power (361-363), lies, so far as the general history of the empire is concerned, in his able defence of the Rhine frontier and in his Persian campaign; for his attempted restoration of pagan and in especial of Hellenic worships had no more permanent effect than the war which he courageously waged against the multi- tudinous abuses which had grown up in the luxurious court of Constantius. 1 But his vigorous administration in Gaul undoubtedly checked the barbarian advance across the Rhine, and postponed the loss of the Western provinces, while, on the contrary, his campaign in Persia, bril- liantly successful at first, resulted in his own death, and in the immediate surrender by his successor Jovian of the territories beyond the Tigris won by Diocletian seventy years before. Julian died on June 26, 363, his suc- cessor Jovian on February 17, 364; and on the 26th of February Valentinian was acknowledged as emperor by the army at Nicaea. In obedience to the expressed wish of the soldiers that he should associate a colleague with himself, he conferred the title of Augustus upon his brother Valens, and the long-impending division of the empire was at last effected, Valentinian became emperor of the West, Valens of the East. From 364 till his death in 375 the vigour and ability of Valentinian kept his own frontier of the Rhine tolerably intact, and prevented any serious disasters on the Danube. But his death, which deprived the weaker Valens of a trusted counsellor and ally, was followed by a crisis on the Danube, more serious than any which had occurred there since the defeat of Decius. In 376 the Goths, hard pressed by their new foes from the eastward, the Huns, sought and obtained the protection of the Roman empire. They were transported across the Danube and settled in Mcesia, but, indignant at the treatment they received, they rose in arms against their protectors. In 378 at Hadrian- op le Valens was defeated and killed; the victorious Goths spread with fire and sword over Illyricum, and advanced eastward to the very walls of Constantinople. Once more, however, the danger passed away. The skill and tact of Theodosius, who had been proclaimed emperor of the East by Gratian, conciliated the Goths; they were granted an allowance, and in large numbers entered the service of the Roman emperor. The remaining years of Theodosius's reign (382-395) were mainly engrossed by the duty which now devolved upon the emperor of the East of upholding the increasingly feeble authority of his colleague in the West against the attacks of pretenders. Maximus, the murderer of Gratian (383), was at first recognized by Theodosius as Ciesar, and left in undisturbed command of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; but, when in 386 he proceeded to oust Valentinian II. from Italy and Africa, Theodosius marched westward, crushed him, and installed Valentinian 1 Iii especial against the overweening influence of the eunuchs, an influence at once greater and more pernicious than even that of the imperial freedmen in the days of Claudius. as emperor of the West. In the very next year, however, the murder of Valentinian (392) by Arbogast, a Frank, was followed by the appearance of a fresh tyrant in the person of Eugenius, a domestic officer and nominee of Arbo- Division gast himself. Once more Theodosius marched westward, of tn. e and near Aquileia decisively defeated his opponents. his victory was quickly followed by his own illness and death (395), and the fortunes of East and West passed and into the care of his' two sons Arcadius and Honorius. Honoriu (b) From the Death of Theodosius to the Extinction o/Falloftl the Western Empire (395-476). Through more than a Wes t em century from the accession of Diocletian the Roman eni P ire - empire had succeeded in holding at bay the swarming hordes of barbarians. But, though no province had yet been lost, as Dacia had been lost in the century before, and though the frontier lines of the Rhine and the Danube were still guarded by Roman forts and troops, there were signs in plenty that a catastrophe was at hand. From all the writers who deal with the 4th century Distress comes the same tale of declining strength and energy. of the From Lactantius to Zosimus we have one long series of? r t lj n ^ laments over the depression and misery of the provinces. cen t u ry. To meet the increased expenditure necessary to maintain the legions, to pay the hosts of officials, and to keep up the luxurious splendour of the imperial courts, not only were the taxes raised in amount, but the most oppressive and inquisitorial methods were adopted in order to secure for the imperial treasury every penny that could be wrung from the wretched taxpayer. The results are seen in such pictures as that which the panegyrist Eumenius 2 draws of the state of Gaul (306-312) under Constan- tine, in the accounts of the same province under Julian fifty years later, in those given by Zosimus early in the 5th century, and in the stringent regulations of the Theodosian code, dealing with the assessment and collec- tion of the taxes. Among the graver symptoms of economic ruin were the decrease of population, which seriously diminished not only the number of taxpayers, but the supply of soldiers for the legions; 3 the spread of infanticide; the increase of waste lands whose owners and cultivators had fled to escape the tax collector; the declining prosperity of the towns; and the constantly recurring riots and insurrections, both among starving peasants, as in Gaul, 4 and in populous cities like Antioch. 5 The distress was aggravated by the civil wars, by the rapacity of tyrants, such as Maxentius and Maximus, but above all by the raids of the barbarians, who seized every opportunity afforded by the dissensions or incapacity of the emperors to cross the frontiers and harry the lands of the provincials. Constantino (306-312), Julian (356-360), and Valentinian I. (364-375) had each to give a temporary breathing space to Gaul by repelling the Franks and Alemanni. Britain was harassed by Picts and Scots from the north (367-370), while the Saxon pirates swept the Northern seas and the coasts both of Britain and Gaul. On the Danube the Quadi, Sarmatse, and above all the Goths, poured at intervals into the provinces of Pannonia and Moesia, and penetrated to Macedon and Thrace. In the East, in addition to the constant border feud with Persia, we hear of ravages by the Isaurian mountaineers, and by a new enemy, the Saracens. 6 Even more ominous of coming danger was the extent 2 Eumenius, Paneg. Vet., vii. For Julian's administration in Gaul see Ammianus, xv.-xvii.; Julian's own oration to the Athenian senate and people, Juliani Opera (ed. Hertlein, Leipsic, 1875) pp. 346 sq.; Zosimus, ii. 38. Of. Gibbon, ii. 333, 412; Jung, Roman. Lund- schaften, 264, 265; Hodgkin, i. 600 sq. 3 Gibbon, ii. 323. 4 For the Bagaudae, see Gibbon, ii. 69, and Jung, op. cit., 264, where the authorities are given. - In 387; Hodgkin, i. 178. . 6 Amm. Marcel., xiv. 4.