IS 



WESTERN EMPIRE. 



t\on of it, (see Poland}, with the exception of 

 Dantzic and Thorn, which fell into his hands in 

 1793. By the peace of Tilsit, a part of it was 

 ceded to France, atid one portion of the ceded ter- 

 ritory was annexed to the duchy of Warsaw, Dant- 

 zic being erected into a free city ; but, in 1815, it 

 was restored to Prussia by the congress of Vi- 

 enna. It now constitutes a Prussian province, 

 with a population of 79*2,207 souls, and is di- 

 vided into the two governments of Dantzic and 

 Marienwerder, with chief towns of the same 

 name. 



WESTERN EMPIRE. Theodosius the Great, 

 the last sole sovereign of the whole Roman empire, 

 shortly before his death, divided, by bis will, that 

 immense extent of territory between his sons, Arca- 

 dius and Honorius, neither of whom was then of 

 age, the former being eighteen years old, and the 

 latter only eleven. Arcadius was to possess the 

 East (see Byzantine empire) ; his brother, the 

 West ; which comprehended Italy, Africa, Gaul, 

 Spain, Britain, and half of Illyria. The empire, 

 thus divided, was to be ruled in common, according 

 to the direction of Theodosius, by the two bro- 

 thers ; but the reunion of both crowns upon one 

 head was to remain lawful, for it had not escaped 

 the penetrating mind of the emperor, that such a 

 union could alone preserve the empire from ruin. 

 At the death of Theodosius, January 11, 395, the 

 guardians appointed for his sons entered upon their 

 duties; the minister Rufinus, a Gaul, ruling for 

 Arcadius, and the commander-in-chief, Stilicho, a 

 Vandal, (by marriage, a nephew of the late emperor), 

 for Honorius. Rufinus was soon overthrown by 

 the superior power of the general, and the plans of 

 the latter were afterwards frustrated by the artifices 

 of the court of Constantinople. Stilicho, did, in- 

 deed, at the wish of Rufinus, divide the territories, 

 the army, and the immense treasures left by the 

 emperor ; but he had no intention of yielding to 

 him one half of the power of regent, as guardian to 

 the young emperor of the East. The general had 

 taken the command of the portion of the troops 

 belonging to Arcadius, ostensibly to lead them to 

 their proper commander, but in fact to secure to 

 himself the command of all the forces of both por- 

 tions of the empire. He had already reached 

 Thessalonica, on the way to Constantinople, when 

 Rufinus, dreading above all things his appearance 

 in person, sent orders to him to halt, with the de- 

 claration that every step he took nearer the capital 

 would be deemed an act of hostility. Stilicho was 

 too prudent to disobey openly ; but he was deter- 

 mined to remove out of his way a rival bold enough 

 to oppose him, the general and deliverer of the im- 

 perial house. Gainas, a Goth, appointed by him 

 general of the army of the East, received his orders ; 

 and Rufinus, in the presence of the army, already 

 prepared for such an event, was assassinated on the 

 field of Mars, before Constantinople, by an auda- 

 cious soldier, under the eyes of the emperor Arca- 

 dius. But Stilicho was still farther than before 

 from the object of his wishes. The sagacious 

 courtier Eutropius, first chamberlain and principal 

 favourite of Arcadius, and the empress Eudoxia, as 

 remarkable for her talents as for her charms, were 

 too pleased with the power which they exercised over 

 the weak prince, to allow the general an influence 

 which might become dangerous to the favourite. 

 Arcadius himself might also prefer the mild sway 

 of the -courtier, and of his beautiful wife, to that 

 of the stern and able soldier. The dependence of 



the troops, and of their general Gainns, was secur- 

 ed ; and after every means had been tried to injure 

 Stilicho in the public opinion, a decree of the senate 

 of Constantinople was procured, declaring him an 

 enemy of the state, and all his possessions within 

 the limits of the East forfeited. Attempts were 

 made upon his life, but without success. This ho- - 

 tility against the regent of the Roman dominion* 

 in the West, gave the first signal for a division of 

 the empire ; and the wise views of the prudent 

 Theodosius failed through the passions of a few 

 men, and the weakness of his two young sons, who 

 were unable to restrain them. Stilicho might per- 

 haps have opened the way to the palace of Arcadius 

 with the sword; but the terrible image of a civil 

 war restrained the ambition of a man who certainly 

 could not be charged with want of boldness, llr 

 now devoted himself entirely to the interests of his 

 pupil Honorius, and to the government of his 

 dominions. After the rebellious governor of Africa, 

 Gildo, had been conquered by his own brother, the 

 Moorish prince Mascezel, who revenged upon tlie 

 tyrant the murder of his two children, and when 

 he had himself ended his campaign in Greece against 

 the Goths, Stilicho married his daughter Maria to 

 her cousin, the emperor Honorius, then in his four- 

 teenth year, in the year 398 of the Christian era. 

 Ten years after, she died, as the historians siv, 

 still a virgin. Two years after this marriage, Ala- 

 ric, king of the Visigoths, who had been prevented 

 by Stilicho, in the year 397, from subduing Greece, 

 resolved to avenge himself, and in the year 400, 

 attacked Italy. Honorius fled from Milan to the 

 castle of Asta (now Asti), upon the Tanarus. 

 Being besieged there, he was on the point of a 

 shameful surrender, when Stilicho, who had collect- 

 ed the scattered troops of the West, passed the 

 Adda, and saved Italy. Alaric's camp at Pollentia, 

 with the treasures collected in Greece, and Alaric's 

 wife, became the prey of the conqueror. Never- 

 theless, the king of the Goths marched to Rome. 

 In vain did Stilicho offer to restore his treasures 

 and his wife to induce him to retreat. Another 

 battle was fought at Verona, in the year 403, and 

 Alaric, after an entire defeat, in which he came 

 near losing his life, saw himself obliged to leave 

 Italy. In 404, Honorius, with the victorious Stili- 

 cho at his side, entered ancient Rome in triumph. 

 The city received its emperor with rejoicings ; 

 and he perpetuated the memory of his presence 

 by an edict suppressing the fights of gladiators at 

 the public games. After a visit of some months, 

 Honorius left Rome to live more securely in the 

 fortified city of Ravenna. Two years later, Rada- 

 gaisus, at the head of 200,000 Germans, Sarma- 

 tians, and other warriors, broke through the Alps, 

 and advanced to Florence. Stilicho, who had been 

 busily forming an army, without being able to pre- 

 vent the ravages of the barbarians, hastened, with 

 40,000 men, to support the failing strength of the 

 empire. He enclosed Radagaisus by a chain of 

 forts, supplied the suffering Florence with means 

 of subsistence, while the barbarians were exposed 

 to hunger, and at last, in a general attack, com- 

 pleted by the sword what famine had begun ; Ra- 

 dagaisus was taken and executed ; the other pri- 

 soners were sold as slaves. Thus was Italy a se- 

 cond time delivered; but these repeated blows 

 shook the tottering pillars of the empire. The 

 remainder of the barbarian army invaded Gaul in 

 407, and the Germans, Vandals, Alans, and Suevi, 

 soon became masters of seven Gallic provinces and 



