Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/805

Rh FALL OF WESTERN EMPIRE.] R M E 781 by two events of first-rate importance, the conquest of Africa by the Vandals l and the invasion of Gaul and Italy by Attila. The Vandal settlement in Africa was closely akin in its origin and results to those of the Visigoths and of the Vandals themselves in Gaul and Spain. Here as there the occasion was given by the jealous quarrels of powerful imperial ministers. The feud between Boniface, count of Africa, and Aetius, the " master- general " or "count of Italy," opened the way to Africa for the Vandal king Gaiseric (Genseric), as that between Stilicho and Rufinus had before set Alaric in motion westward, and as the quarrel between the tyrant Con- stantine and the ministers of Honorius had paved the way for the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans into Spain. In this case too, as in the others, the hunger for more land and treasure was the impelling motive with the barbarian invader, and in Africa, as in Gaul and Spain, the invaders' acquisitions were confirmed by the imperial authority which they still professed to recognize. It was in 429 that Gai- seric, king of the Vandals, crossed with his warriors, their families and goods, to the province of Africa, a province hitherto almost as untouched as Spain by the ravages of war. Thanks to the quarrels of Boniface and Aetius their task was an easy one. The defenceless province was easily and quickly overrun. In 435 2 a formal treaty secured them in the possession of a large portion of the rich lands which were the granary of Rome, in exchange for a payment probably of corn and oil. Car- thage was taken in 439, and by 440 the Vandal kingdom was firmly established. Eleven years later (451) Attila invaded Gaul, but this Hunnish movement was in & variety of ways different from those of the Visigoths and Vandals. Nearly a century had passed since the Huns first appeared in Europe, and drove the Goths to seek shelter within the Roman lines. Attila was now the ruler of a great empire in central and northern Europe, 3 and, in addition to his own Huns, the German tribes along the Rhine and Danube and far away to the north owned him as king. He con- fronted the Roman power as an equal ; and, in marked contrast to the Gothic and Vandal chieftains, he treated with the emperors of East and West as an independent sovereign. His advance on Gaul and Italy threatened, not the establishment of yet one more barbaric chieftain on Roman soil, but the subjugation of the civilized and Christian West to the rule of a heathen and semi-barbarous conqueror. But Rome now reaped the advantages of the policy which Honorius had perhaps involuntarily followed. The Visigoths in Gaul, Christian and already half Romanized, rallied to the aid of the empire against a common foe. Attila, defeated at Chalons 4 by Aetius, withdrew into Pannonia (451). In the next year he overran Lombardy, but penetrated no farther south, and in 453 he died. With the murder of Valentinian III. (453) the western branch of the house of Theodosius came to an end, and the next twenty years witnessed the accession and deposition of nine emperors. The three months' rule of Maximus is memorable only for the invasion of Italy and the sack of Rome by the Vandals under Gaiseric. From 456-472 the actual ruler of Italy was Ricimer, the Sueve. Of the four emperors whom he placed on the throne, Majorian (457-461) alone played any 1 Hodgkin, ii. 233-290; Gibbon, iv. 176-188, 256; Jung, 183. The leading ancient authority is Procopius. See Ranke, iv. (2) 285 ; Papencordt, Gesch. d. Vandal. Herrschaft in Africa. 2 Prosper, 659 ; Eanke, iv. (1) 282. 3 The principal ancient authorities are Prisons (Muller, Fragm. Hist. Or., iv. 69); Jordanes (ed. Mommseu, 1882); Sidonius Apollinaris (ed. Barret, Paris, 1878). 4 For the decisive battle of Chalons, see Gibbon, iv. 234 fq. ; Hodgkin, ii. 138, note A, 161, where the topography is discussed. imperial part outside Italy. 5 Ricimer died in 472, and two years later a Pannonian, Orestes, aspired to fill the place which Ricimer had occupied. Julius Nepos was deposed, and Orestes filled the vacancy by proclaiming as Augustus his own son Romulus. But Orestes's tenure of power was Orestes brief. The barbarian mercenaries in Italy determined to the Pan - secure for themselves a position there such as that which nc their kinsfolk had won in Gaul and Spain and Africa. Their demand for a third of the lands of Italy was refused by Orestes, 6 and they instantly rose in revolt. On the defeat and death of Orestes they proclaimed their leader, Odoacer the Rugian, 7 king of Italy. Romulus Augustulus Romulus laid down his imperial dignity, and the court at Con- -^"R 11 *- stantinople was informed that there was no longer an emperor of the West. 8 The installation of a barbarian king in Italy was the King natural climax of the changes which had been taking place Odoacer. in the West throughout the 5th century. In Spain, Gaul, and Africa barbarian chieftains were already established as kings. In Italy, for the last twenty years, the real power had been wielded by a barbarian officer. Odoacer, when he decided to dispense with the nominal authority of an emperor of the West, placed Italy on the same level of independence with the neighbouring provinces. But the old ties with Rome were not severed. The new king of Italy formally recognized the supremacy of the one Roman emperor at Constantinople, and was invested in return with the rank of " patrician," which had been held before him by Aetius and Ricimer. In Italy too, as in Spain and Gaul, the laws, the administrative system, and the language remained Roman. 9 But the emancipation of Italy and the Western provinces from direct imperial con- trol, which is signalized by Odoacer's accession, has rightly been regarded as marking the opening of a new epoch. It made possible in the West the development of a Romano-German civilization ; it facilitated the growth of new and distinct states and nationalities ; 'it gave a new impulse to the influence of the Christian church, and laid the foundations of the power of the bishops of Rome. Chronological Table of tht Roman Emperors. B.C. A.D. A.D. 27 Augustus. ( Pertinax. 260. Gallienus. A.D. 193. 4 Didius Julianus. 268. Claudius. 14. Tiberius. ( ScptimiusSeverus. 270. Aurelian. 37. Caligula. 211. Caracal hi. 275. Tacitus. 41. Claudius. 217. Macrinus. 276. Probus. 54. Nero. 218. Elagabalus. 282. Carus. C8, 69. (Galba. 4 Otho. 221. ( Severus Alexan- ( der. 2S3. j Cariiius and Nu- i merian. (Vitellius. 235. Maximinus. ( Diocletian (Maxi- 69. Vespasian. /The twoGordiani. 284. mian associated 79. Titus. OOQ I Maxim us and Bal- ( with him, 286). 81. 96. Domitian. Nerva. iOO. j binus. ( Gordian III. 305. ( Constantius and Galcrius, Au- 98. Trajan. 244. Philip. ( gusti. 117. Hadrian. 249. Decins. 323. Constantine I. 138. Antoninus Piirs. ( Gallusand^Emil- 353. Constantius 11. 161. Marcus Aurelius. ( ianus. 361. Julian. 180. Commodus. 253. Valerian. 363. Jovian. Divit ion of the Empire. A.D. West. A.D. East. 3G4. Valentinian I. 364. Valens. 375. Gratian and Valentinian II. 379. Theodosius I. S83. Valentinian II. 392. Theoc osius I. 395. Honorius. 395. Arcadius. 423. Valentinian III. 408. Theodosius II 455. Maximus. 450. Marcian. 455. Avitus. 457. Leo I. 457. Majorian. 474. Leo II. MI. Severus. 467. Antliemins. 472. Olybrius. 473. Glycerins. 474. Julius Nepos. 475. Romulus Augustulus. (H. F. P.) 5 Majorian was the last Roman emperor who appeared in person in Spain and Gaul. 6 Hodgkin, i. 531. 7 The nationality of Odoacer is a disputed point. Hodgkin, i. 528 ; Ranke, iv. (1) 372. 8 Gibbon, iv. 298. The authority for the embassy to Zeno is Malchus (Muller, Fragm. Hist. Or., iv. 119). 9 Gibbon, iv. 302 ; Jung, 66 sq. ; Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 24-33. See also ROMAN LAW.