ALARIC. 



ALARIC II. 



It i* iMflraQy admitted that the be** ptatar* of SpanM. 

 the r*i(n of UM Philip* U eoouioed in the Spanish 

 _ Jtton to UM divine unities, u Boilaan and La Harp* 

 UMB. they nevertheleas tool* M h*Id tho minor up to 

 ad sbo**d the very age and body of U> time hia form and 

 * also DO mean historians 



' and they WOT* aso DO mean historians of Ui* chlrmlrotti 

 . praeadeJ UMM ; Ihiy UM t~t part* of the Ticotooa 

 of ibsfe aaearton, in their own *ooorous and majestic 

 . rvwy S(as*a*MD*.i*>pif<of lyrwal poetry. Alarcon 

 DM Mi May portraiiar** of that d%nin*d deportment, that generou* 

 aod manly sentiment, that punctilious MOM of honour, and that 

 honor of Weh of faith, which characterised th. old nobility of l,i. 

 country (aquaUo* Chrfathon* Tieio.); and he bat akatehetl them wit!, 

 DO IMB fcUltty tad apirit than Lop*, Calderon, and DC Cattro. No 

 wriur ha* ever nor* bwaUfully ddioaaUJ that true and delicate 

 mcud for hcnale character in UM high-born Spaniah cralier, for 

 whieh b* DM b*i and i* still distinguished. 



Tbw* i* mor*ot*r in mott of hit drama* a tone of morality which 

 do** him honour, and plaon them unquestionably among the beat 

 of thU branch of literature. It hai been truly obMrred 



coovry 

 Pared** 



annotator, "Hi* 



. 



pieoa* not only amuse, but generally 

 chastisement of the backbiter in ' La* 



(' Wall* bar* Kan '), and of the Liar in ' La Verdad 

 ('Suspicious Truth'), are example* of this. It is no 

 amall proof of the merit of the hut-named piece, that Corneille, who, 

 to OM hi* own phrase, partly translated, partly imitated it for tha 

 Parisian ****, under the title of ' Le Menteur,' affirms that he hud 

 often Mid b* would give two of hi* best piece* if he could call the 

 invention of that drama hi* own. Alarcon's plot* are ingenious, his 

 well marked, his style nervous, pure, and elegant, and hi* 

 IB easy and harmonious. His piece* are also free from tie 

 i and extravagance which disfigure the work* of most of his 

 contemporaries, and the object of which seem* to bare been to mys- 

 tify and te-*, rather than to instruct and delight. Among tho 

 numerous Spanish poet* of thi* class, none could be more fitly 

 selected as a model for a real national drama than Alarcon. Huerta 

 fftM the title* of thirty of hi* comedie*. Th* 'Oanar Aniigos,' ' La 

 Verdad ospecboea,' ' La* Parcde* oyen,' *nd ' El Examen de Maridos,' 

 are beat known. The 'Teiedor d* SegovU' was Terr popuUr. Like 

 Schiller's ' Robber*,' to which it bean a great resemblance, it has been 

 UM subject both of much censure and much praise. No complete 

 edition of Alaroon'* work* ha* appeared, nor any volumes except the 

 in the article. Hi* pieces are only found in mUcel- 



(Nkolau* Antoniua, BiUio&cem EitpaAa ; Coleccim General th 

 CwsMfcs*, Madrid, 1826-34.) 



AI.ARIC, on* of the most eminent of those northern chiefs who 

 *nec*a*iv*!y overran Italy during the decline of tho western empire, 

 aod UM fini of them who gained possession of imperial Rome. He 

 learned the art of war under the celebrated emperor of the East, 

 Tbeodoaios, who curbed th* depredations of the Goths, settled them 

 in different province* of the empire, and recruited hi* armies from the 

 youth of the nation ; but they threw off the yoke as soon a* the 

 powerful band which bad imposed it ceased to hold the sceptre, and 

 AUric, born of one of the noblest families of the nation, waa chosen 

 by bis countrymen as their leader. L'nder bis guidance the Visigoths, 

 th* division of th* Gothic nation to which he belonged, issued from 

 Thrace, where they bad ben settled, and overran Greece, A.D. 396. 

 AUric look Athens; but instead of treating it with severity and 

 destroying to edifice*, aa ha* cometine* been aaserted, it is most 

 probable that b* did very little damage to it* work* of art, although 

 be carried off rack a* were moveable. The Goths were soon com- 

 pelled by Btflieho to evacuate that country, and to return into Kpinii 

 About (be year A.D. 398, Alarie, on the ground* of his high military 

 WM proclaimed King of the VMgoths; and about the same 

 diua, UM uceMor of Theodo*iu>, alarmed at hi* repeated 



time Arcadiu*. the 



td to identify hi* interest* with thwe of the empire 



by declaring him Matter General of th* Eastern Illyrian Prefecture. 

 The Visigoth* who obeyed hi* order* were thoroughly organized a* an 

 army, tat u yet bad few claim* to the civil character and stability of 

 nation. They threatened both empire* equally at the same time, 

 and sold their alliance to each alternately. Alarie at last determined 

 to make bis way into UM empire of the west, for tho purpose of 



Early In UM year A.D. 403 h* appeared before Milan, which was 

 ImmrdlaUly evactuUd by UM Emperor Honorius. Besieged in the 

 fortrs** of AHa, Hoooriu* wss on the point of surrendering, when 

 MHebo CUM to hi* axisUnoe, with an army hastily recalled from the 

 frontier* of Haul and Germany. On Kasbr-day, A.D. 403, waa fought 

 UM battle of PoUeati*. Th* testimony of historians vane* a* to the 

 *v, nt of it ; but the advantage isms to have been on tho side of the 

 RocBeos. In a mbwqnent bstUe, near Verona, AUric was completely 

 defeated by Htilkbo, aad wa* compiled by the voice of his people to 

 MOfpt term* which bis pride would have rejected to ratify a treaty 

 witi. the Mapire of UM west, and to retire from Italy with the remains 

 of his army. (Claudian, I)e IU-llo Oetioo.') 



After hi* retreat from Italy, Alarie concluded a precarious peace 

 with Hoooriu*, and crrn entered into hi* service, being nominated 



Master-Oeneral of the Western Illyrian Prefecture, In this capacity 

 be WM required to enforce the claims of the court of Ravenna to 

 certain province* held by the eaitera empire ; but hi* effort* were 

 ineffectual, and at the end of a few yean, when his army was recruit. .1 

 by the German youth* who were attracted by his fame, he renewed 

 kit design of eatablishing himself in Italy. Claiming an extravagant 

 reward for the service* which he had performed, be plainly intimated 

 that war would be the consequence of a refusal. The demand waa 

 made in the year A.D. 403. The emperor was then at Rome, and it 

 was debated in the senate what steps were proper to be taken. Tho 

 majority were for war; but by Stilicho's advice it was determined to 

 buy off the enemy by a contribution of four thousand pounds weight 

 of gold. One of the senators exclaimed, in the language of Cicero, 

 "This is not a treaty of peace, but a contract of slavery." Tho 

 minister maintained the demand to be nothing more than just, a* 

 Aloric had remained three years in Epirus for the service of Honorius. 

 While the Visigoth* were at the foot of the Alps, tho cowardly and 

 weak Honorius procured the assassination of Stilicho, the only man 

 who could still have defended the empire. Hia son and almost all his 

 officer* were murdered along with him. Those Visigoths win 

 serving in the pay of the empire hod left their wive* and children in 

 the Roman cities : they were all massacred at the same time. All the 

 treaties concluded by Stilicho with AUric were annulled, and tin- 

 court of Ravenna seemed to take pleasure in provoking an enemy 

 whom it was unable to resist. Alarie crossed Yenetia without encoun- 

 tering any Roman soldiers; with tho rapidity of a traveller who meet* 

 with no obstruction, he advanced under the very walla of Rome, and 

 formed the siege. An application for terms was made on the part of 

 the Romans, with an intimation that if once they took up arm* they 

 would fight desperately. Alarie returned this pithy answer : " Tho 

 cloeer bay is pressed, the more easily it i* cut." He demanded all 

 the wealth of Home. The ambassadors asked what he would leave 

 to the inhabitants ; " Their lives." He at length however consented 

 to retire, on condition of receiving a heavy ransom. But Honoriti.", 

 although he had taken no measures for the defence of hia capital, 

 refused to ratify the treaties by which it might have been saved. 

 Alarie laid siege to Rome a second time in A.D. 409. The imposing 

 name of the Eternal City seemed to inspire the barbarian with 

 involuntary respect. He endeavoured to save it from the consequences 

 to which he was otherwise pledged, by appointing a new emperor in 

 the person of Attains, prefect of tho city ; but the weakness of Attains 

 rendered it necessary for tho Visigoth conqueror to undo the work of 

 his ytn hands, and Honorius was reinstated on a powerless throne. 

 A treacherous attack on the Goths at Rarenna, while the conferences 

 were still open, exhausted tho patience of Alarie. The city was a 

 third time besieged, and Alarie entered at midnight on the 24th of 

 August, 410, when he gave the town up to be pillaged for six days, 

 but with orders to hi* soldiers to be sparing of blood, to respect the 

 honour of the women, and not-to burn buildings dedicated to religion. 

 After the limited period of plunder and vengeance he hastened to 

 withdraw his troops, and led them into the southern provinces of 

 Italy ; but he died in the course of a few months, after a very short 

 illness, while besieging Coeenza in Calabria. Alarie not only dispUyed 

 great courage and military skill in his various campaigns, but was 

 distinguished by his moderation and justice in the intervals of pence. 

 The works of art and the usages of civilised life were respected by 

 him, and bis humanity restrained not a little the excesses of hia 

 followers. He showed by his reverence for the churches of Hume 

 during the sack of the city, that he was in some measure umlrr tin- 

 influence of the Christian faith, which he bod learned from Arian 

 teacher*, and while some regarded him as an instrument of vengeance 

 against the remaining paganism of Rome, he seems to have mado 

 pretensions at times to an impulse from Heaven. 



(Zosimus; Claudian ; Jornandez, DcJlcbta Geticit; Gibbon, ch. xxix., 

 xxxi.) 



ALARIC II., ALARICUS, king of the West Goths, succeeded his 

 father Eudcs in A.D. 484. Gothio, the then name of the West Gothic 

 kingdom, had been considerably enlarged by Eudes, and exi 

 over Hispr.nia Tarraconensis and Bxtica, and in Gaul as far as the 

 Loire and the Rhone, by which rivers it was separated from the king- 

 dom* of the Franks, tho Burgundians, and the East Goths, who \\.T.- 

 matter* of the province. If we can trust Isidorus, Alarie had spent 

 bis youth in idleness and luxury, though the truth seems to be that, 

 preferring a peaceful reign to war, which in the eyes of the Goths was 

 the only occupation worthy of kings, ho incurred that reproach because 

 he wa* not fond of bloodshed. He wa* an Arian, like most of his 

 countrymen, but very tolerant, as wo sec from tho acts of the Council 

 of Agde, which wa* held in A.D. 506, and by which many privileges 

 were granted to the orthodox Catholics. Clovis, king of the Franks, 

 having overthrown tho last remnants of the Itomnu power in Gaul, 

 coveted the fine countries west of the Loire ; and there being still 

 many Catholics in Qothia who were dissatisfied because their king 

 did not adopt the Catholic faith, be declared war against Alarie. The 

 old East Gothic king, Thcodoric the Great, whose daughter Tlieudi- 

 gotha was the wife of Alarie, foresaw the war, and tried to prevent it 

 by conciliatory mrans : the letters which be wrote to that (-fleet to 

 the king* of the Franks, the West Goths, and the Burgumlians, are 

 given by Casaiodorua ; but his endeavour* were in vain, nnd the war 



