Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/301

* ROME. 273 ROME. Empi'ioi- Decius (q.v. ). ami ravapred the wliole iiortliorn coast of Asia jMinor. A little later — (lur- ing the reigns of Valerianus (q.v.), tiallieniis, and the so-calletl thirli/ ti/runis — the Knipire is noth- ing but a wild distracted chaos, Franks, Alenian- ni, Goths, and Persians rushing in from their respective quarters. The Gotlis swept over the whole of Acliaia. pillaging and burning the most famous cities — Athens, Coriiitli, Argos, etc.; while tile hosts of Sapor conimittod even greater havoc in Syria and Asia Minor, and but for the courage and skill of Odenatlius, husband of Zenobia (q.v.), who had built up a strong inde- pendent kingdom in the Syrian desert, with Palmyra for its capital, might have permanently possessed themselves of the regions which tluv merely devastated. With Claudius Gothicus {A.B. 208-270), the fortunes of the Empire once more begin to brighten. By him, and his suc- cessors Aurelian (q.v.), Probus (q.v.), and Cams, the barbarians of the north and northwest, as well as the Persians in the east, wore severel.y chastised. Nay. when Diocletian obtained the purple (A.n. 284), it seemed as if the worst were over, and the Empire might still be rescued from destruction ; but his division of the Empire into East and West, with separate Aurjusti and assist- ant Ccesars — though it sprang from a clear per- ception of the inipossiliility of one man's admin- istering successfully the affairs of so vast a State — led to those labyrinthine confusions and civil wars, in which figure the names of Maximian (q.v.), Constantius, Galerius (q.v.), Ma.xentius (q.v.), JIaximinus (q.v.), Licinius (q.v.), and Constantine, and which were only brought to a close bv the genius of the last-mentioned. Under Constantine (sole Emperor x.d. 323-337) occurred the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the State. Constantine transferred the seat of government from Rome to Byzantiiun on the Bosporus, where he foiuuled a new city, and named it after himself, Constantinople. But no sooner was the statesman dead than the discords tliat he had kept under by the vigor of his rule broke loose; the Empire underwent a triple divi- sion among his sons; and though Constantius, the youngest, soon became sole ruler, he failed to displa.v the genius of his father, and in his re- peated campaigns against the Persians reaped nothing but disaster and disgrace. But the po- litical fortunes of the Empire now possess only a secondary interest; it is the struggle of the Christian sects and the rise of the Cliurch that mainly attract the attention of the historian. There, at least, we behold the signs of new life — a zeal, enthusiasm, and inward strength of soul that no barbarism cotild destrov. Christianity came too late to save the ancient civilization, but it enabled the Eoman world to endure three cen- tiiries of utter barbarism, and afterwards to re- cover a portion of the inheritance of culture that it once seemed to have lost forever. The attempt of the Emperor .Julian (a.d. 361-363) to revive paganism was an anachronism. After the death of .lulian, who shortly before his accession had beaten back the Franks and Alemanni. the signs of the approaching dissolution of the Empire became more unmistakable. Yet the great State again and again put forth a momentary strength that amazed her foes, and taught them that even the expiring struggles of a slant were to be feared. Valentinian (q.v.), Gratian (q.v.). and Theodosius the Great (q.v.) were rulers worthy of bettor times. But lliey fought against destiny, and their labor was in vain, .lready Hwurii'm of Huns (q.v.) from llie east had dViven the tuilhs out of Daeia, where they lind long been settled, and forced the Visigoilis to cross tli« Danube into the Koman territory, where the cruelty and oppression of the Imperial odicerii goaded the refugees into insurrerlion ; and in their fury, they devastated the whole Kast from the Adriatic to the Euxine. Theodosius, indeed, subdued and even disarmed them ; but he could not prevent them from drawing nearer to the heart of the Empire, and already they are found scattered over all .Mcesia and Northern Illyrienin. For a l)ricf monu'tit (..n. 3llt-3!l.")) the Hoinan world was reunited under the rule of Theoilohinri the Great. On his death occurred the linal divi- sion into the Western Empire and the Eastern or B.vzan tine (Greek) Empire, .rcadius and Mono- rius, the sons of Theodosius, sueceeiled to the sovereignty of the East and West respectively. Hardly was Theodosius dead when the 'isigollis rose again, un<ler their eliief, Alaric (q.v.), against llonorius. Emperor of the West. Home was saved only by the splendid bravery and skill of Stilicho (q.v.), the Imperial geniM-al; but after his assassination the barbarians returned, sackeil the city (a.d. 410), and ravaged the peninsula. Four years earlier hordes of Suevi, liurgnn- dians. Vandals, and .Vlani l)urst into Gaul (where the luitive Celts had long been largely Romanized in langiuige and habits), overran the wliole, and then penetrated into Spain. It is utterly impossible (within our limits) to explain the chaotic imbroglio that followed in the West — the struggles between Visigoths and Vandals in Spain, between Romans and both, between usurp- ers of the purple and lo.val generals in Gaul; the fatal rivalries of Boniface, Governor of Africa, and Aetius, Governor of Gaul, which led to the invasion of Africa by the Vandals under Genscric (q.v.), and its devastation from the Straits of Gibraltar to Carthage (a.d. 42!t). Meanwhile in the East the Iluns had reilueed vast regions to an utter desert. In 451 the.v swept westward as far as the interior of Gaul. Here they were checked b.v the forces of Ai^tius and the Visigoths on the C'atalaunian Plain. In the following ,vear Rome was saved from their as- sault only through the per.sonal interposition of its Bishop, Leo the Great, .etiuswas assassinat- ed by his sovereign Valentinian HI., whose out- rages led to his own nuirdi'r; while his widow, Eudoxia, to be revengeil on his nnirderer and successor, Petronius Maxinuis, invited Genseric over from Africa, and exposed Rome to (he hor- rors of pillage at the hands of a Vandal honlo. Ricinier, of the nation of the Suevi. next figures as a sort of governor of the cil.v, ami what relics of empire it still possessed, for Gaul, Britain. Spain, Western Africa, and the islands in tlic Mediterranean had all been wrested from it. While Majorian — the last able Emperor — lived, Rieimer's position was a subordinate one. hnt, thenceforth, the Western Emperor was merely an Emperor in name, while the real sovereignty was exercised by this Suevic mairr dii pnlnin, who was succeeded in his functions by the Bur- gundian King Eunohald. and the latter again by Orestes, in whose time the final catastrophe happened, when Odoacer (q.v.), placing him-^elf at the head of the barbarian niercenarie." of the Empire, deposed the last occupant of the throne