Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part IV

In all his public declarations, the emperor Leo assumes the
authority, and professes the affection, of a father, for his son
Anthemius, with whom he had divided the administration of the
universe. 83 The situation, and perhaps the character, of Leo,
dissuaded him from exposing his person to the toils and dangers
of an African war. But the powers of the Eastern empire were
strenuously exerted to deliver Italy and the Mediterranean from
the Vandals; and Genseric, who had so long oppressed both the
land and sea, was threatened from every side with a formidable
invasion. The campaign was opened by a bold and successful
enterprise of the præfect Heraclius. 84 The troops of Egypt,
Thebais, and Libya, were embarked, under his command; and the
Arabs, with a train of horses and camels, opened the roads of the
desert. Heraclius landed on the coast of Tripoli, surprised and
subdued the cities of that province, and prepared, by a laborious
march, which Cato had formerly executed, 85 to join the Imperial
army under the walls of Carthage. The intelligence of this loss
extorted from Genseric some insidious and ineffectual
propositions of peace; but he was still more seriously alarmed by
the reconciliation of Marcellinus with the two empires. The
independent patrician had been persuaded to acknowledge the
legitimate title of Anthemius, whom he accompanied in his journey
to Rome; the Dalmatian fleet was received into the harbors of
Italy; the active valor of Marcellinus expelled the Vandals from
the Island of Sardinia; and the languid efforts of the West added
some weight to the immense preparations of the Eastern Romans.
The expense of the naval armament, which Leo sent against the
Vandals, has been distinctly ascertained; and the curious and
instructive account displays the wealth of the declining empire.
The Royal demesnes, or private patrimony of the prince, supplied
seventeen thousand pounds of gold; forty-seven thousand pounds of
gold, and seven hundred thousand of silver, were levied and paid
into the treasury by the Prætorian præfects. But the cities
were reduced to extreme poverty; and the diligent calculation of
fines and forfeitures, as a valuable object of the revenue, does
not suggest the idea of a just or merciful administration. The
whole expense, by whatsoever means it was defrayed, of the
African campaign, amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty
thousand pounds of gold, about five millions two hundred thousand
pounds sterling, at a time when the value of money appears, from
the comparative price of corn, to have been somewhat higher than
in the present age. 86 The fleet that sailed from Constantinople
to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and
the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand
men. Basiliscus, the brother of the empress Vorina, was intrusted
with this important command. His sister, the wife of Leo, had
exaggerated the merit of his former exploits against the
Scythians. But the discovery of his guilt, or incapacity, was
reserved for the African war; and his friends could only save his
military reputation by asserting, that he had conspired with
Aspar to spare Genseric, and to betray the last hope of the
Western empire.

83 (return) [ Itaque nos quibus totius mundi regimen commisit
superna provisio.... Pius et triumphator semper Augustus filius
noster Anthemius, licet Divina Majestas et nostra creatio pietati
ejus plenam Imperii commiserit potestatem, &c..... Such is the
dignified style of Leo, whom Anthemius respectfully names,
Dominus et Pater meus Princeps sacratissimus Leo. See Novell.
Anthem. tit. ii. iii. p. 38, ad calcem Cod. Theod.]

84 (return) [ The expedition of Heraclius is clouded with
difficulties, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 640,)
and it requires some dexterity to use the circumstances afforded
by Theophanes, without injury to the more respectable evidence of
Procopius.]

85 (return) [ The march of Cato from Berenice, in the province of
Cyrene, was much longer than that of Heraclius from Tripoli. He
passed the deep sandy desert in thirty days, and it was found
necessary to provide, besides the ordinary supplies, a great
number of skins filled with water, and several Psylli, who were
supposed to possess the art of sucking the wounds which had been
made by the serpents of their native country. See Plutarch in
Caton. Uticens. tom. iv. p. 275. Straben Geograph. l. xxii. p.
1193.]

86 (return) [ The principal sum is clearly expressed by
Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191;) the smaller
constituent parts, which Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom.
vi. p. 396) has laboriously collected from the Byzantine writers,
are less certain, and less important. The historian Malchus
laments the public misery, (Excerpt. ex Suida in Corp. Hist.
Byzant. p. 58;) but he is surely unjust, when he charges Leo with
hoarding the treasures which he extorted from the people. * Note:
Compare likewise the newly-discovered work of Lydus, de
Magistratibus, ed. Hase, Paris, 1812, (and in the new collection
of the Byzantines,) l. iii. c. 43. Lydus states the expenditure
at 65,000 lbs. of gold, 700,000 of silver. But Lydus exaggerates
the fleet to the incredible number of 10,000 long ships,
(Liburnae,) and the troops to 400,000 men. Lydus describes this
fatal measure, of which he charges the blame on Basiliscus, as
the shipwreck of the state. From that time all the revenues of
the empire were anticipated; and the finances fell into
inextricable confusion.—M.]

Experience has shown, that the success of an invader most
commonly depends on the vigor and celerity of his operations. The
strength and sharpness of the first impression are blunted by
delay; the health and spirit of the troops insensibly languish in
a distant climate; the naval and military force, a mighty effort
which perhaps can never be repeated, is silently consumed; and
every hour that is wasted in negotiation, accustoms the enemy to
contemplate and examine those hostile terrors, which, on their
first appearance, he deemed irresistible. The formidable navy of
Basiliscus pursued its prosperous navigation from the Thracian
Bosphorus to the coast of Africa. He landed his troops at Cape
Bona, or the promontory of Mercury, about forty miles from
Carthage. 87 The army of Heraclius, and the fleet of Marcellinus,
either joined or seconded the Imperial lieutenant; and the
Vandals who opposed his progress by sea or land, were
successively vanquished. 88 If Basiliscus had seized the moment
of consternation, and boldly advanced to the capital, Carthage
must have surrendered, and the kingdom of the Vandals was
extinguished. Genseric beheld the danger with firmness, and
eluded it with his veteran dexterity. He protested, in the most
respectful language, that he was ready to submit his person, and
his dominions, to the will of the emperor; but he requested a
truce of five days to regulate the terms of his submission; and
it was universally believed, that his secret liberality
contributed to the success of this public negotiation. Instead of
obstinately refusing whatever indulgence his enemy so earnestly
solicited, the guilty, or the credulous, Basiliscus consented to
the fatal truce; and his imprudent security seemed to proclaim,
that he already considered himself as the conqueror of Africa.
During this short interval, the wind became favorable to the
designs of Genseric. He manned his largest ships of war with the
bravest of the Moors and Vandals; and they towed after them many
large barks, filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity
of the night, these destructive vessels were impelled against the
unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened
by the sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded
order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated
with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind,
the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers
and mariners, who could neither command nor obey, increased the
horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate
themselves from the fire-ships, and to save at least a part of
the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate
and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans, who escaped the
fury of the flames, were destroyed or taken by the victorious
Vandals. Among the events of that disastrous night, the heroic,
or rather desperate, courage of John, one of the principal
officers of Basiliscus, has rescued his name from oblivion. When
the ship, which he had bravely defended, was almost consumed, he
threw himself in his armor into the sea, disdainfully rejected
the esteem and pity of Genso, the son of Genseric, who pressed
him to accept honorable quarter, and sunk under the waves;
exclaiming, with his last breath, that he would never fall alive
into the hands of those impious dogs. Actuated by a far different
spirit, Basiliscus, whose station was the most remote from
danger, disgracefully fled in the beginning of the engagement,
returned to Constantinople with the loss of more than half of his
fleet and army, and sheltered his guilty head in the sanctuary of
St. Sophia, till his sister, by her tears and entreaties, could
obtain his pardon from the indignant emperor. Heraclius effected
his retreat through the desert; Marcellinus retired to Sicily,
where he was assassinated, perhaps at the instigation of Ricimer,
by one of his own captains; and the king of the Vandals expressed
his surprise and satisfaction, that the Romans themselves should
remove from the world his most formidable antagonists. 89 After
the failure of this great expedition, 891 Genseric again became
the tyrant of the sea: the coasts of Italy, Greece, and Asia,
were again exposed to his revenge and avarice; Tripoli and
Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number
of his provinces; and before he died, in the fulness of years and
of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the
West. 90

87 (return) [ This promontory is forty miles from Carthage,
(Procop. l. i. c. 6, p. 192,) and twenty leagues from Sicily,
(Shaw’s Travels, p. 89.) Scipio landed farther in the bay, at the
fair promontory; see the animated description of Livy, xxix. 26,
27.]

88 (return) [ Theophanes (p. 100) affirms that many ships of the
Vandals were sunk. The assertion of Jornandes, (de Successione
Regn.,) that Basiliscus attacked Carthage, must be understood in
a very qualified sense]

89 (return) [ Damascius in Vit. Isidor. apud Phot. p. 1048. It
will appear, by comparing the three short chronicles of the
times, that Marcellinus had fought near Carthage, and was killed
in Sicily.]

891 (return) [ According to Lydus, Leo, distracted by this and
the other calamities of his reign, particularly a dreadful fire
at Constantinople, abandoned the palace, like another Orestes,
and was preparing to quit Constantinople forever l iii. c. 44, p.
230.—M.]

90 (return) [ For the African war, see Procopius, de Bell.
(Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191, 192, 193,) Theophanes, (p. 99, 100,
101,) Cedrenus, (p. 349, 350,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiv. p.
50, 51.) Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur, &c., c. xx.
tom. iii. p. 497) has made a judicious observation on the failure
of these great naval armaments.]

During his long and active reign, the African monarch had
studiously cultivated the friendship of the Barbarians of Europe,
whose arms he might employ in a seasonable and effectual
diversion against the two empires. After the death of Attila, he
renewed his alliance with the Visigoths of Gaul; and the sons of
the elder Theodoric, who successively reigned over that warlike
nation, were easily persuaded, by the sense of interest, to
forget the cruel affront which Genseric had inflicted on their
sister. 91 The death of the emperor Majorian delivered Theodoric
the Second from the restraint of fear, and perhaps of honor; he
violated his recent treaty with the Romans; and the ample
territory of Narbonne, which he firmly united to his dominions,
became the immediate reward of his perfidy. The selfish policy of
Ricimer encouraged him to invade the provinces which were in the
possession of Aegidius, his rival; but the active count, by the
defence of Arles, and the victory of Orleans, saved Gaul, and
checked, during his lifetime, the progress of the Visigoths.
Their ambition was soon rekindled; and the design of
extinguishing the Roman empire in Spain and Gaul was conceived,
and almost completed, in the reign of Euric, who assassinated his
brother Theodoric, and displayed, with a more savage temper,
superior abilities, both in peace and war. He passed the Pyrenees
at the head of a numerous army, subdued the cities of Saragossa
and Pampeluna, vanquished in battle the martial nobles of the
Tarragonese province, carried his victorious arms into the heart
of Lusitania, and permitted the Suevi to hold the kingdom of
Gallicia under the Gothic monarchy of Spain. 92 The efforts of
Euric were not less vigorous, or less successful, in Gaul; and
throughout the country that extends from the Pyrenees to the
Rhone and the Loire, Berry and Auvergne were the only cities, or
dioceses, which refused to acknowledge him as their master. 93 In
the defence of Clermont, their principal town, the inhabitants of
Auvergne sustained, with inflexible resolution, the miseries of
war, pestilence, and famine; and the Visigoths, relinquishing the
fruitless siege, suspended the hopes of that important conquest.
The youth of the province were animated by the heroic, and almost
incredible, valor of Ecdicius, the son of the emperor Avitus, 94
who made a desperate sally with only eighteen horsemen, boldly
attacked the Gothic army, and, after maintaining a flying
skirmish, retired safe and victorious within the walls of
Clermont. His charity was equal to his courage: in a time of
extreme scarcity, four thousand poor were fed at his expense; and
his private influence levied an army of Burgundians for the
deliverance of Auvergne. From his virtues alone the faithful
citizens of Gaul derived any hopes of safety or freedom; and even
such virtues were insufficient to avert the impending ruin of
their country, since they were anxious to learn, from his
authority and example, whether they should prefer the alternative
of exile or servitude. 95 The public confidence was lost; the
resources of the state were exhausted; and the Gauls had too much
reason to believe, that Anthemius, who reigned in Italy, was
incapable of protecting his distressed subjects beyond the Alps.
The feeble emperor could only procure for their defence the
service of twelve thousand British auxiliaries. Riothamus, one of
the independent kings, or chieftains, of the island, was
persuaded to transport his troops to the continent of Gaul: he
sailed up the Loire, and established his quarters in Berry, where
the people complained of these oppressive allies, till they were
destroyed or dispersed by the arms of the Visigoths. 96

91 (return) [ Jornandes is our best guide through the reigns of
Theodoric II. and Euric, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 44, 45, 46, 47, p.
675-681.) Idatius ends too soon, and Isidore is too sparing of
the information which he might have given on the affairs of
Spain. The events that relate to Gaul are laboriously illustrated
in the third book of the Abbe Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p.
424-620.]

92 (return) [ See Mariana, Hist. Hispan. tom. i. l. v. c. 5. p.
162.]

93 (return) [ An imperfect, but original, picture of Gaul, more
especially of Auvergne, is shown by Sidonius; who, as a senator,
and afterwards as a bishop, was deeply interested in the fate of
his country. See l. v. epist. 1, 5, 9, &c.]

94 (return) [ Sidonius, l. iii. epist. 3, p. 65-68. Greg. Turon.
l. ii. c. 24, in tom. ii. p. 174. Jornandes, c. 45, p. 675.
Perhaps Ecdicius was only the son-in-law of Avitus, his wife’s
son by another husband.]

95 (return) [ Si nullae a republica vires, nulla praesidia; si
nullae, quantum rumor est, Anthemii principis opes; statuit, te
auctore, nobilitas, seu patriaca dimittere seu capillos, (Sidon.
l. ii. epist. 1, p. 33.) The last words Sirmond, (Not. p. 25) may
likewise denote the clerical tonsure, which was indeed the choice
of Sidonius himself.]

96 (return) [ The history of these Britons may be traced in
Jornandes, (c. 45, p. 678,) Sidonius, (l. iii. epistol. 9, p. 73,
74,) and Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 18, in tom. ii. p. 170.)
Sidonius (who styles these mercenary troops argutos, armatos,
tumultuosos, virtute numero, contul ernio, contumaces) addresses
their general in a tone of friendship and familiarity.]

One of the last acts of jurisdiction, which the Roman senate
exercised over their subjects of Gaul, was the trial and
condemnation of Arvandus, the Prætorian præfect. Sidonius, who
rejoices that he lived under a reign in which he might pity and
assist a state criminal, has expressed, with tenderness and
freedom, the faults of his indiscreet and unfortunate friend. 97
From the perils which he had escaped, Arvandus imbibed confidence
rather than wisdom; and such was the various, though uniform,
imprudence of his behavior, that his prosperity must appear much
more surprising than his downfall. The second præfecture, which
he obtained within the term of five years, abolished the merit
and popularity of his preceding administration. His easy temper
was corrupted by flattery, and exasperated by opposition; he was
forced to satisfy his importunate creditors with the spoils of
the province; his capricious insolence offended the nobles of
Gaul, and he sunk under the weight of the public hatred. The
mandate of his disgrace summoned him to justify his conduct
before the senate; and he passed the Sea of Tuscany with a
favorable wind, the presage, as he vainly imagined, of his future
fortunes. A decent respect was still observed for the
Proefectorian rank; and on his arrival at Rome, Arvandus was
committed to the hospitality, rather than to the custody, of
Flavius Asellus, the count of the sacred largesses, who resided
in the Capitol. 98 He was eagerly pursued by his accusers, the
four deputies of Gaul, who were all distinguished by their birth,
their dignities, or their eloquence. In the name of a great
province, and according to the forms of Roman jurisprudence, they
instituted a civil and criminal action, requiring such
restitution as might compensate the losses of individuals, and
such punishment as might satisfy the justice of the state. Their
charges of corrupt oppression were numerous and weighty; but they
placed their secret dependence on a letter which they had
intercepted, and which they could prove, by the evidence of his
secretary, to have been dictated by Arvandus himself. The author
of this letter seemed to dissuade the king of the Goths from a
peace with the Greek emperor: he suggested the attack of the
Britons on the Loire; and he recommended a division of Gaul,
according to the law of nations, between the Visigoths and the
Burgundians. 99 These pernicious schemes, which a friend could
only palliate by the reproaches of vanity and indiscretion, were
susceptible of a treasonable interpretation; and the deputies had
artfully resolved not to produce their most formidable weapons
till the decisive moment of the contest. But their intentions
were discovered by the zeal of Sidonius. He immediately apprised
the unsuspecting criminal of his danger; and sincerely lamented,
without any mixture of anger, the haughty presumption of
Arvandus, who rejected, and even resented, the salutary advice of
his friends. Ignorant of his real situation, Arvandus showed
himself in the Capitol in the white robe of a candidate, accepted
indiscriminate salutations and offers of service, examined the
shops of the merchants, the silks and gems, sometimes with the
indifference of a spectator, and sometimes with the attention of
a purchaser; and complained of the times, of the senate, of the
prince, and of the delays of justice. His complaints were soon
removed. An early day was fixed for his trial; and Arvandus
appeared, with his accusers, before a numerous assembly of the
Roman senate. The mournful garb which they affected, excited the
compassion of the judges, who were scandalized by the gay and
splendid dress of their adversary: and when the præfect
Arvandus, with the first of the Gallic deputies, were directed to
take their places on the senatorial benches, the same contrast of
pride and modesty was observed in their behavior. In this
memorable judgment, which presented a lively image of the old
republic, the Gauls exposed, with force and freedom, the
grievances of the province; and as soon as the minds of the
audience were sufficiently inflamed, they recited the fatal
epistle. The obstinacy of Arvandus was founded on the strange
supposition, that a subject could not be convicted of treason,
unless he had actually conspired to assume the purple. As the
paper was read, he repeatedly, and with a loud voice,
acknowledged it for his genuine composition; and his astonishment
was equal to his dismay, when the unanimous voice of the senate
declared him guilty of a capital offence. By their decree, he was
degraded from the rank of a præfect to the obscure condition of
a plebeian, and ignominiously dragged by servile hands to the
public prison. After a fortnight’s adjournment, the senate was
again convened to pronounce the sentence of his death; but while
he expected, in the Island of Aesculapius, the expiration of the
thirty days allowed by an ancient law to the vilest malefactors,
100 his friends interposed, the emperor Anthemius relented, and
the præfect of Gaul obtained the milder punishment of exile and
confiscation. The faults of Arvandus might deserve compassion;
but the impunity of Seronatus accused the justice of the
republic, till he was condemned and executed, on the complaint of
the people of Auvergne. That flagitious minister, the Catiline of
his age and country, held a secret correspondence with the
Visigoths, to betray the province which he oppressed: his
industry was continually exercised in the discovery of new taxes
and obsolete offences; and his extravagant vices would have
inspired contempt, if they had not excited fear and abhorrence.
101

97 (return) [ See Sidonius, l. i. epist. 7, p. 15-20, with
Sirmond’s notes. This letter does honor to his heart, as well as
to his understanding. The prose of Sidonius, however vitiated by
a false and affected taste, is much superior to his insipid
verses.]

98 (return) [ When the Capitol ceased to be a temple, it was
appropriated to the use of the civil magistrate; and it is still
the residence of the Roman senator. The jewellers, &c., might be
allowed to expose then precious wares in the porticos.]

99 (return) [ Haec ad regem Gothorum, charta videbatur emitti,
pacem cum Graeco Imperatore dissuadens, Britannos super Ligerim
sitos impugnari oportere, demonstrans, cum Burgundionibus jure
gentium Gallias dividi debere confirmans.]

100 (return) [ Senatusconsultum Tiberianum, (Sirmond Not. p. 17;)
but that law allowed only ten days between the sentence and
execution; the remaining twenty were added in the reign of
Theodosius.]

101 (return) [ Catilina seculi nostri. Sidonius, l. ii. epist. 1,
p. 33; l. v. epist 13, p. 143; l. vii. epist. vii. p. 185. He
execrates the crimes, and applauds the punishment, of Seronatus,
perhaps with the indignation of a virtuous citizen, perhaps with
the resentment of a personal enemy.]

Such criminals were not beyond the reach of justice; but whatever
might be the guilt of Ricimer, that powerful Barbarian was able
to contend or to negotiate with the prince, whose alliance he had
condescended to accept. The peaceful and prosperous reign which
Anthemius had promised to the West, was soon clouded by
misfortune and discord. Ricimer, apprehensive, or impatient, of a
superior, retired from Rome, and fixed his residence at Milan; an
advantageous situation either to invite or to repel the warlike
tribes that were seated between the Alps and the Danube. 102
Italy was gradually divided into two independent and hostile
kingdoms; and the nobles of Liguria, who trembled at the near
approach of a civil war, fell prostrate at the feet of the
patrician, and conjured him to spare their unhappy country. “For
my own part,” replied Ricimer, in a tone of insolent moderation,
“I am still inclined to embrace the friendship of the Galatian;
103 but who will undertake to appease his anger, or to mitigate
the pride, which always rises in proportion to our submission?”
They informed him, that Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, 104 united
the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove; and
appeared confident, that the eloquence of such an ambassador must
prevail against the strongest opposition, either of interest or
passion. Their recommendation was approved; and Epiphanius,
assuming the benevolent office of mediation, proceeded without
delay to Rome, where he was received with the honors due to his
merit and reputation. The oration of a bishop in favor of peace
may be easily supposed; he argued, that, in all possible
circumstances, the forgiveness of injuries must be an act of
mercy, or magnanimity, or prudence; and he seriously admonished
the emperor to avoid a contest with a fierce Barbarian, which
might be fatal to himself, and must be ruinous to his dominions.
Anthemius acknowledged the truth of his maxims; but he deeply
felt, with grief and indignation, the behavior of Ricimer, and
his passion gave eloquence and energy to his discourse. “What
favors,” he warmly exclaimed, “have we refused to this ungrateful
man? What provocations have we not endured! Regardless of the
majesty of the purple, I gave my daughter to a Goth; I sacrificed
my own blood to the safety of the republic. The liberality which
ought to have secured the eternal attachment of Ricimer has
exasperated him against his benefactor. What wars has he not
excited against the empire! How often has he instigated and
assisted the fury of hostile nations! Shall I now accept his
perfidious friendship? Can I hope that he will respect the
engagements of a treaty, who has already violated the duties of a
son?” But the anger of Anthemius evaporated in these passionate
exclamations: he insensibly yielded to the proposals of
Epiphanius; and the bishop returned to his diocese with the
satisfaction of restoring the peace of Italy, by a
reconciliation, 105 of which the sincerity and continuance might
be reasonably suspected. The clemency of the emperor was extorted
from his weakness; and Ricimer suspended his ambitious designs
till he had secretly prepared the engines with which he resolved
to subvert the throne of Anthemius. The mask of peace and
moderation was then thrown aside. The army of Ricimer was
fortified by a numerous reenforcement of Burgundians and Oriental
Suevi: he disclaimed all allegiance to the Greek emperor, marched
from Milan to the Gates of Rome, and fixing his camp on the banks
of the Anio, impatiently expected the arrival of Olybrius, his
Imperial candidate.

102 (return) [ Ricimer, under the reign of Anthemius, defeated
and slew in battle Beorgor, king of the Alani, (Jornandes, c. 45,
p. 678.) His sister had married the king of the Burgundians, and
he maintained an intimate connection with the Suevic colony
established in Pannonia and Noricum.]

103 (return) [ Galatam concitatum. Sirmond (in his notes to
Ennodius) applies this appellation to Anthemius himself. The
emperor was probably born in the province of Galatia, whose
inhabitants, the Gallo-Grecians, were supposed to unite the vices
of a savage and a corrupted people.]

104 (return) [ Epiphanius was thirty years bishop of Pavia, (A.D.
467-497;) see Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 788. His name
and actions would have been unknown to posterity, if Ennodius,
one of his successors, had not written his life; (Sirmond, Opera
tom. i. p. 1647-1692;) in which he represents him as one of the
greatest characters of the age]

105 (return) [ Ennodius (p. 1659-1664) has related this embassy
of Epiphanius; and his narrative, verbose and turgid as it must
appear, illustrates some curious passages in the fall of the
Western empire.]

The senator Olybrius, of the Anician family, might esteem himself
the lawful heir of the Western empire. He had married Placidia,
the younger daughter of Valentinian, after she was restored by
Genseric; who still detained her sister Eudoxia, as the wife, or
rather as the captive, of his son. The king of the Vandals
supported, by threats and solicitations, the fair pretensions of
his Roman ally; and assigned, as one of the motives of the war,
the refusal of the senate and people to acknowledge their lawful
prince, and the unworthy preference which they had given to a
stranger. 106 The friendship of the public enemy might render
Olybrius still more unpopular to the Italians; but when Ricimer
meditated the ruin of the emperor Anthemius, he tempted, with the
offer of a diadem, the candidate who could justify his rebellion
by an illustrious name and a royal alliance. The husband of
Placidia, who, like most of his ancestors, had been invested with
the consular dignity, might have continued to enjoy a secure and
splendid fortune in the peaceful residence of Constantinople; nor
does he appear to have been tormented by such a genius as cannot
be amused or occupied, unless by the administration of an empire.
Yet Olybrius yielded to the importunities of his friends, perhaps
of his wife; rashly plunged into the dangers and calamities of a
civil war; and, with the secret connivance of the emperor Leo,
accepted the Italian purple, which was bestowed, and resumed, at
the capricious will of a Barbarian. He landed without obstacle
(for Genseric was master of the sea) either at Ravenna, or the
port of Ostia, and immediately proceeded to the camp of Ricimer,
where he was received as the sovereign of the Western world. 107

106 (return) [ Priscus, Excerpt. Legation p. 74. Procopius de
Bell. Vandel l. i. c. 6, p. 191. Eudoxia and her daughter were
restored after the death of Majorian. Perhaps the consulship of
Olybrius (A.D. 464) was bestowed as a nuptial present.]

107 (return) [ The hostile appearance of Olybrius is fixed
(notwithstanding the opinion of Pagi) by the duration of his
reign. The secret connivance of Leo is acknowledged by Theophanes
and the Paschal Chronicle. We are ignorant of his motives; but in
this obscure period, our ignorance extends to the most public and
important facts.]

The patrician, who had extended his posts from the Anio to the
Melvian bridge, already possessed two quarters of Rome, the
Vatican and the Janiculum, which are separated by the Tyber from
the rest of the city; 108 and it may be conjectured, that an
assembly of seceding senators imitated, in the choice of
Olybrius, the forms of a legal election. But the body of the
senate and people firmly adhered to the cause of Anthemius; and
the more effectual support of a Gothic army enabled him to
prolong his reign, and the public distress, by a resistance of
three months, which produced the concomitant evils of famine and
pestilence. At length Ricimer made a furious assault on the
bridge of Hadrian, or St. Angelo; and the narrow pass was
defended with equal valor by the Goths, till the death of
Gilimer, their leader. The victorious troops, breaking down every
barrier, rushed with irresistible violence into the heart of the
city, and Rome (if we may use the language of a contemporary
pope) was subverted by the civil fury of Anthemius and Ricimer.
109 The unfortunate Anthemius was dragged from his concealment,
and inhumanly massacred by the command of his son-in-law; who
thus added a third, or perhaps a fourth, emperor to the number of
his victims. The soldiers, who united the rage of factious
citizens with the savage manners of Barbarians, were indulged,
without control, in the license of rapine and murder: the crowd
of slaves and plebeians, who were unconcerned in the event, could
only gain by the indiscriminate pillage; and the face of the city
exhibited the strange contrast of stern cruelty and dissolute
intemperance. 110 Forty days after this calamitous event, the
subject, not of glory, but of guilt, Italy was delivered, by a
painful disease, from the tyrant Ricimer, who bequeathed the
command of his army to his nephew Gundobald, one of the princes
of the Burgundians. In the same year all the principal actors in
this great revolution were removed from the stage; and the whole
reign of Olybrius, whose death does not betray any symptoms of
violence, is included within the term of seven months. He left
one daughter, the offspring of his marriage with Placidia; and
the family of the great Theodosius, transplanted from Spain to
Constantinople, was propagated in the female line as far as the
eighth generation. 111

108 (return) [ Of the fourteen regions, or quarters, into which
Rome was divided by Augustus, only one, the Janiculum, lay on the
Tuscan side of the Tyber. But, in the fifth century, the Vatican
suburb formed a considerable city; and in the ecclesiastical
distribution, which had been recently made by Simplicius, the
reigning pope, two of the seven regions, or parishes of Rome,
depended on the church of St. Peter. See Nardini Roma Antica, p.
67. It would require a tedious dissertation to mark the
circumstances, in which I am inclined to depart from the
topography of that learned Roman.]

109 (return) [ Nuper Anthemii et Ricimeris civili furore subversa
est. Gelasius in Epist. ad Andromach. apud Baron. A.D. 496, No.
42, Sigonius (tom. i. l. xiv. de Occidentali Imperio, p. 542,
543,) and Muratori (Annali d’Italia, tom. iv. p. 308, 309,) with
the aid of a less imperfect Ms. of the Historia Miscella., have
illustrated this dark and bloody transaction.]

110 (return) [ Such had been the saeva ac deformis urbe tota
facies, when Rome was assaulted and stormed by the troops of
Vespasian, (see Tacit. Hist. iii. 82, 83;) and every cause of
mischief had since acquired much additional energy. The
revolution of ages may bring round the same calamities; but ages
may revolve without producing a Tacitus to describe them.]

111 (return) [ See Ducange, Familiae Byzantin. p. 74, 75.
Areobindus, who appears to have married the niece of the emperor
Justinian, was the eighth descendant of the elder Theodosius.]