The Western Empire. R O 
cious, and consequently capable of affording an asylum to 
great numbers of people. Having given these orders, he 
abandoned the city to his Goths, who treated it no better, 
according to St. Jerome, than the Greeks are said to have 
treated ancient Troy; for after having plundered it for the 
space of three, or, as others will have it, of six days, they set 
fire to it in several places; so that thestately palace of Sallust, 
and many other magnificent buildings, were reduced to ashes; 
nay, Procopius writes, that there was not in the whole city 
one house left entire; and both St. Jerome and Philostorgius 
assert, that the great metropolis of the empire was reduced to 
an heap-of ashes and ruins. Though many of the Goths, 
pursuant to the orders of their general, refrained from shedding 
the blood of such as mace no resistance; yet others, more 
cruel and blood-thirsty, massacred all they met: so that the 
streets in some quarters of the city were seen covered with 
dead bodies, and swimming in blood. However, not the 
least injury was offered to those who fled to the churches; 
nay, the Goths themselves conveyed thither, as to places of 
safety, such as they were desirous should be spared. Many 
of the statues of the gods that had been left entire by the 
emperors as excellent pieces of art, were on this occasion 
destroyed, either by the Goths, w’ho, though mostly Arians, 
were zealous Christians, or by a dreadful storm of thunder 
and lightning which fell at the same time upon the city, as if 
it had been sent on purpose to complete with them the 
destruction of idolatry, and abolish the small remains of pagan 
superstition. Notwithstanding these accounts, some affirm 
that the city suffered very little at this time, and even not so 
much as when it, was taken by Charles V. 
Alaric did not long survive the taking of Rome, being cut 
off by a violent fit of sickness in the neighbourhood of 
Rhegium. After his death the affairs of Honorius seemed a 
little to revive by the defeat and death of Constantine and 
some other Usurpers; but the provinces of Gaul, Britain, and 
Spain, were now almost entirely occupied by barbarians; in 
which state they continued till the death of Honorius, which 
happened in the year 423, after an unfortunate reign of 28 years. 
It has been previously mentioned, that Constantine, a 
common soldier, being invested with the purple in Britain, 
had extended his empire over the Gauls. His son Constans, 
who had been brought up in a monastery, was created Caesar, 
and, after bringing Spain under his father's subjection, he 
was raised by him to the dignity of Augustus. At the time 
when Honorius was hard pressed by Alaric, their usurpation 
was acknowledged, and Constantine entered Italy under pre¬ 
tence of assisting the emperor, but in fact to appropriate 
some portion of the general wreck. In this project he was 
seconded by the treachery of Allabucius, one of the generals 
of Honorius, which being discovered, and its author punished, 
Constantine was obliged to retreat. The defence of Vienna 
he committed to his son Constans, who had been driven out 
•of Spain by Geroncius the Spanish leader, and soon after 
lost his head, while the father was blockaded in Arles. 
Honorius, during the siege, sent an able general, named 
Constantius, against him, who seduced his troops, and forced 
Geroncius himself to fly into Spain, where he was soon 
after assassinated. Maximius, an emperor, who had been 
raised to that dignity by the late usurper, was taken by Con¬ 
stantius, who spared his life. The same general obliged 
Arles to surrender to the arms of Honorius. The principal 
article of the capitulation was, that the lives of Constantine 
and his brother Julian should be spared : they afterwards 
entered into holy orders, that they might avoid being the 
objects of future suspicion ; but even this prudent humility 
did not save them; for, in violation of the faith of trea¬ 
ties, Honorius caused them to be put to death. 
In the mean time the Britons, continually exposed to the 
Saxon pirates, and the savages of Ireland and Caledonia, 
no longer relied on the tardy and doubtful aid of a declining 
monarchy. They assembled in arms, repelled the invaders, 
and rejoiced in the important discovery of their own 
strength. Britain was thus irrecoverably lost to the Romans. 
But as the emperors wisely acquiesced in the independence 
of a remote province, the separation was not embittered by 
the reproach of tyranny or rebellion; and the claims of 
M E. The Western Empire. 307 
allegiance and protection were succeeded by the mutula an 
voluntary offices of national friendship. 
This revolution dissolved the artificial fabric of civil and 
military government, and the independent country, during a 
period of forty years, till the descent of the Saxons, wasruled 
by the authority of the clergy, the nobles, and the munici¬ 
pal towns. Under the protection of the Romans, ninety-two 
considerable towns had arisen in the several parts of that great 
province; and, among these, thirty-three cities were distin¬ 
guished above the rest by their superior privileges and im¬ 
portance. Each of these cities, as in all the otherprovinces of 
the empire, formed a legal corporation, for the purpose of 
regulating their domestic policy ; and the powers of muni¬ 
cipal government were distributed amongannual magistrates, 
a select senate, and the assembly of the people, according to 
the original model of the' Roman constitution. The ma¬ 
nagement of a common revenue, the exercise of a civil and 
criminal jurisdiction, and the habits of public counsel and 
command, were inherent to these petty republics; and 
their jurisdiction over the adjacent country, was supported 
by the patrimonial influence of the principal senators; 
while the smaller towns, the villages, and the proprietors of 
land, consulted their own safety by adhering to the shelter 
of these rising republics; so that the sphere of their attrac¬ 
tion was proportioned to the respective degrees of their wealth 
and populousness. But the hereditary lords of ample pos¬ 
sessions, w r ho were not oppressed by the neighbourhood of 
any powerful city, aspired to the rank of independent prin¬ 
ces, and boldly exercised the rights of peace and war : and it 
is shrewdly conjectured by Gibbon, that the disputes that 
arose between these petty chieftains and the municipal cities, 
gradually depopulated and destroyed the power of the island, 
before the invasion of the Saxons. 
This was the age of usurpers, and no sooner was one 
quelled, than another rose to supply his place, and some¬ 
times several appeared upon the stage at once. Jovinus, de ■ 
scended from an honourable family among the Gauls, under 
the protection of Adolphus, the successor of Alaric, and 
some other princes among the barbarians, caused himself to 
be proclaimed emperor, and associated with him his brother 
Sebastian. His career-was soon terminated by his imprudent 
offence to his principal patron, who put Sebastian to death, 
and sold Jovinus to the emperor for a certain quantity of 
wheat, of which his army stood in need. Heraclianus, 
another usurper, assumed the purple in Africa, and after 
venturing to brave Honorius in Italy, was driven back to his 
first station, where his soldiers, eager to obtain the price set 
upon his head, soon after dispatched him. 
Adolphus, who had acted a principal part in all these 
revolutions, had for some time taken upon him the character 
of a Roman general, and his attachment to the cause of 
Honorius was now secured by the ascendant which a Roman 
princess had obtained over his heart. Placidia, the daughter 
of the griat Theodosius, and of Galla, his second wife, 
was about twenty years of age, and resided in Rome when 
that city fell under the arms of Alaric. The barbarians 
detained the sister of Honorius, but their treatment of her 
was decent and respectful; while her youth, elegant man¬ 
ners, and suavity of disposition, made an indelible impres¬ 
sion on the heart of Adolphus. The king of the Goths made 
overtures of marriage to the court of Honorius, but met 
with a disdainful repulse. Placidia, however, yielded her¬ 
self without reluctance to her lover, who was young and 
valiant; and their nuptials were consummated at Narbonne. 
The provincials rejoiced in an alliance which tempered, by 
the mild influence of love, the fierce spirit of their Gothic 
lord. Attains, who had so long been the sport of fortune, 
assisted at the ceremony, and led the chorus of the hymenseal 
sorig, which it seems was of his own composing; and 
was invested with the purple by the bridegroom, who 
wished to intimidate his brother-in-law, and force him to a 
durable Ireaty of peace. After experiencing other vicissi¬ 
tudes, Attalus was at length confined in the Lipari islands, 
where he led a life of tranquillity. His right hand was cut off 
to prevent his writing, but on what account is not ascer¬ 
tained: he was a man better calculated for pleasure than 
business, 
