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СКАЧАТЬ Gratian and Theodosius, and made a submissive peace; the Visigoths and Thervingi returned to their seats in Mæsia and Thrace, the Hunns retired over the Danube, and the Alans and Gruthingi obtained seats in Pannonia.

      About the year 373, or 374, the Burgundians rose from their seats upon the Vistula, with an army of eighty thousand men to invade Gallia; and being opposed, seated themselves upon the northern side of the Rhine over against Mentz. In the year 358, a body of the Salian Franks, with their King, coming from the river Sala, were received into the Empire by the Emperor Julian, and seated in Gallia between Brabant and the Rhine: and their King Mellobaudes was made Comes domesticorum, by the Emperor Gratian. Richomer, another noble Salian Frank, was made Comes domesticorum, and Magister utriusque Militiæ, by Theodosius; and A.C. 384, was Consul with Clearchus. He was a great favourite of Theodosius, and accompanied him in his wars against Eugenius, but died in the expedition, and left a son called Theudomir, who afterwards became King of the Salian Franks in Brabant. In the time of this war some Franks from beyond the Rhine invaded Gallia under the conduct of Genobald, Marcomir and Suno, but were repulsed by Stilico; and Marcomir being slain, was succeeded in Germany by his son Pharamond.

      While these nations remained quiet within the Empire, subject to the Romans, many others continued so beyond the Danube till the death of the Emperor Theodosius, and then rose up in arms. For Paulus Diaconus in his Historia Miscell. lib. xiv. speaking of the times next after the death of this Emperor, tells us: Eodem tempore erant Gothi & aliæ gentes maximæ trans Danubium habitantes: ex quibus rationabiliores quatuor sunt, Gothi scilicet, Huisogothi, Gepides & Vandali; & nomen tantum & nihil aliud mutantes. Isti sub Arcadia & Honorio Danubium transeuntes, locati sunt in terra Romanorum: & Gepides quidem, ex quibus postea divisi sunt Longobardi & Avares, villas, quæ sunt circa Singidonum & Sirmium, habitavere: and Procopius in the beginning of his Historia Vandalica writes to the same purpose. Hitherto the Western Empire continued entire, but now brake into many kingdoms.

      Theodosius died A.C. 395; and then the Visigoths, under the conduct of Alaric the successor of Fridigern, rose from their seats in Thrace and wasted Macedon, Thessaly, Achaia, Peloponnesus, and Epirus, with fire and sword for five years together; when turning westward, they invaded Dalmatia, Illyricum and Pannonia; and from thence went into Italy A.C. 402; and the next year were so beaten at Pollentia and Verona, by Stilico the commander of the forces of the Western Empire, that Claudian calls the remainder of the forces of Alaric, tanta ex gente reliquias breves, and Prudentius, Gentem deletam. Thereupon Alaric made peace with the Emperor, being so far humbled, that Orosius saith, he did, pro pace optima & quibuscunque sedibus suppliciter & simpliciter orare. This peace was ratified by mutual hostages; Ætius was sent hostage to Alaric; and Alaric continued a free Prince in the seats now granted to him.

      When Alaric took up arms, the nations beyond the Danube began to be in motion; and the next winter, between A.C. 395 and 396, a great body of Hunns, Alans, Ostrogoths, Gepides, and other northern nations, came over the frozen Danube, being invited by Rufinus: when their brethren, who had obtained seats within the Empire, took up arms also. Jerome calls this great multitude, Hunns, Alans, Vandals, Goths, Sarmatians, Quades, and Marcomans; and saith, that they invaded all places between Constantinople and the Julian Alps, wasting Scythia, Thrace, Macedon, Dardania, Dacia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Dalmatia, and all Pannonia. The Suevians also invaded Rhætia: for when Alaric ravaged Pannonia, the Romans were defending Rhætia; which gave Alaric an opportunity of invading Italy, as Claudian thus mentions.

      Non nisi perfidiâ nacti penetrabile tempus,

      Irrupere Getæ, nostras dum Rhætia vires

      Occupat, atque alio desudant Marte cohortes.

      And when Alaric went from those parts into Italy, some other barbarous nations invaded Noricum and Vindelicia, as the same Poet Claudian thus writes:

      ——Jam fœdera gentes

      Exuerant, Latiique auditâ clade feroces

      Vendelicos saltus & Norica rura tenebant.

      This was in the years 402 and 403. And among these nations I reckon the Suevians, Quades, and Marcomans; for they were all in arms at this time. The Quades and Marcomans were Suevian nations; and they and the Suevians came originally from Bohemia, and the river Suevus or Sprake in Lusatia; and were now united under one common King called Ermeric, who soon after led them into Gallia. The Vandals and Alans might also about this time extend themselves into Noricum. Uldin also with a great body of Hunns passed the Danube about the time of Chrysostom's banishment, that is, A.C. 404, and wasted Thrace and Mæsia. Radagaisus, King of the Gruthunni and succesor of Winithar, inviting over more barbarians from beyond the Danube, invaded Italy with an army of above two hundred thousand Goths; and within a year or two, A.C. 405 or 406., was overcome by Stilico, and perished with his army. In this war Stilico was assisted with a great body of Hunns and Ostrogoths, under the conduct of Uldin and Sarus, who were hired by the Emperor Honorius. In all this confusion it was necessary for the Lombards in Pannonia to arm themselves in their own defence, and assert their liberty, the Romans being no longer able to protect them.

      And now Stilico purposing to make himself Emperor, procured a military prefecture for Alaric, and sent him into the East in the service of Honorius the Western Emperor, committing some Roman troops to his conduct to strengthen his army of Goths, and promising to follow soon after with his own army. His pretence was to recover some regions of Illyricum, which the Eastern Emperor was accused to detain injuriously from the Western; but his secret design was to make himself Emperor, by the assistance of the Vandals and their allies: for he himself was a Vandal. For facilitating this design, he invited a great body of the barbarous nations to invade the Western Empire, while he and Alaric invaded the Eastern. And these nations under their several Kings, the Vandals under Godegisilus, the Alans in two bodies, the one under Goar, the other under Resplendial, and the Suevians, Quades, and Marcomans, under Ermeric, marched thro' Rhætia to the side of the Rhine, leaving their seats in Pannonia to the Hunns and Ostrogoths, and joined the Burgundians under Gundicar, and ruffled the Franks in their further march. On the last of December A.C. 406, they passed the Rhine at Ments, and spread themselves into Germania prima and the adjacent regions; and amongst other actions the Vandals took Triers. Then they advanced into Belgium, and began to waste that country. Whereupon the Salian Franks in Brabant took up arms, and under the conduct of Theudomir, the son of Ricimer, or Richomer, abovementioned, made so stout a resistance, that they slew almost twenty thousand of the Vandals, with their King Godegesilus, in battel; the rest escaping only by a party of Resplendial's Alans which came timely to their assistance.

      Then the British soldiers, alarm'd by the rumour of these things, revolted, and set up Tyrants there; first Marcus, СКАЧАТЬ