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Outline of Universal History

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2, Theodora.
|
+--Constantius, _m_.
| 1, Galla;
| 2, Basilina.
| |
| +--GALLUS
| | _m_. Constantia, widow of Hannibalianus.
| |
| +--JULIAN
| _m_. Helena, daughter of Constantine I.
|
+--Constantia,
_m_. LICINIUS.


proved that its vitality was gone, by his ineffectual exertions to
rescue it, and restore its predominance. He was not without merits as
a ruler. He looked out for the impartial administration of justice: he
revived discipline and a military spirit in the army, and sought to
infuse a better spirit into the civil administration. While he avoided
cruel persecution, he directed all his personal efforts to the
weakening of the Christian cause. Julian led an expedition against the
Persians. He sailed down the Euphrates to _Circesium_, and thence
proceeded into the interior of Persia. He repulsed the enemy, but was
slain while engaged in the pursuit. The soldiers on the field of
battle chose one of his officers, _Jovian_ (363-364), who was a
Christian, to be his successor. He conducted the retreat of the
army. His reign lasted for only seven months. He showed no intolerance
either towards Pagans or Arians, but he gave back to Christianity its
former position. The army next chose _Valentinian I_. (364-375),
the son of a Pannonian warrior, who associated with him, as emperor in
the East, his brother _Valens_ (364-378). _Valens_ ruled
from Constantinople. _Valentinian_ fixed his court at Milan, and
sometimes at Treves. He was an unlettered soldier, but strict and
energetic in the government of the state, as well as of the army. His
time was mostly spent in conflict with the barbarians on the northern
frontiers. He carried forward this contest with vigor on the Rhine and
on the Danube. He trained up his son _Gratian_ to be his
successor. The great event of the reign of Valens was the irruption of
the _Huns_ into Europe, and the consequent invasion of the
_Goths_, by whom _Valens_ was defeated and slain in 378.
Several emperors followed, until, on the death of _Theodosius
I._, (the Great) (395), the Roman Empire was divided. In 476, after
successive invasions of barbarians had disorganized the western part
of the Empire, the line of phantom emperors at Rome came to an
end. The fourth century, in which these invasions--which overthrew the
Western Empire, and transferred power to new races--occurred, forms
the era of transition from ancient to mediaeval history.

LITERATURE.--The general works on Ancient History (p. 16). _On
Roman History as a whole_: MERIVALE'S _General History of
Rome_ (from 753 B.C. to A.D. 476: 1 vol.); DURUY, _History of
Rome,_ etc. (8 vols., 410); Wägner, _Rom_, etc. (3 vols.);
Allen, _A Short Story of the Roman People_; FREEMAN,
_Outlines of Roman History_.

_On the Roman Republic_: MOMMSEN, _The History of Rome_ (4
vols.); LIDDELL, _A History of Rome,_ etc. (1 vol.); IHNE,
_The History of Rome_ (Eng. trans., 3 vols.); Michelet,
_History of the Roman Republic_ (1 vol., 12mo); Schwegler,
_Römishce Geschichte_ (4 vols); How and Leigh, _A History of
Rome_; Shuckburgh, _A History of Rome_.

_On the Roman Empire:_ MERIVALE, _History of the Romans under
the Empire_ (7 vols ); Seeley, _Roman Imperialism_ [three
Lectures]; MOMMSEN, _The Provinces_ (5th volume of his History,
1885); Bury, _Students' Roman Empire_; Bury, _Later Roman
Empire_ (2 vols.).

_On special periods:_ IHNE, _Early Rome_ (1 vol.);
T. Arnold, _History of Rome_ (3 vols; reaches into the second
Punic war); Long, _The Decline of the Roman Republic_ (5
vols.); R. B. Smith, _Rome and Carthage_; MERIVALE, _The
Roman Triumvirates_; T Arnold, _History of the Later Roman
Commonwealth_ (2 vols.); GIBBON, _History of the Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire_ (Smith's edition); FINLAY, _A History
of Greece from the Conquest of the Romans to the Present Time_ (7
vols.); Dill, _Roman Society_ (5th century).

Trollope, _Life of Cicero_ (2 vols.); FORSYTH, _Life of
Cicero_ (2 vols.); Middleton's _Life of Cicero_; Froude,
_Life of Caesar_ (1 vol.); Boissier, _Ciceron et ses Amis_
(1 vol., 12mo).

_Treatises:_ Taylor, _Const, and Polit. History of Rome;_
KUHN, _Verfassung d. Römischen Städte_; GUHL AND KÖNER, _Life
of the Greeks and Romans;_ Marquardt, _Handbuch d. Römischen
Alterthümer_ (7 vols.); BECKER, _Gallus_ (an archaeological
novel); Abbott, _Roman Political Institutions;_ Greenidge,
_Roman Public Life;_ Preston and Dodge, _Private Life of the
Romans;_ Madvig, _Verfassung und Verwaltung des Röm Staates_
(2 vols.); Lanciani (_Ancient Rome_, and others); Burn, _Rome
and the Campagna;_ ZIEGLER, _Das alte Rom;_ Smith and Wace's
_Dictionary of Christian Biography;_ Smith and Cheatham's
_Dictionary of Christian Antiquities;_ FRIEDLÄNDER,
_Sittengeschichte Roms_ (2 vols.); Histories of Roman
Literature by Simcox. Cruttwell, SCHMITZ, Teuffel. Mac-Kail, Fowler.

_On Early Christianity:_ The Lives of Jesus, by NEANDER, WEISS,
Farrar, Edersheim, Andrews. Neander's _Planting and Training of
the Church_. Works on the Life of St. Paul, by CONYBEARE AND
HOWSON, by Lewins, by Farrar. Fisher's _The Beginnings of
Christianity;_ Pressensé, _Early Days of
Christianity_. Church Histories of NEANDER, GIESELER, SCHAFF,
Robertson, HASE, Kurtz, ALZOG. UHLHORN, _Christian Charity in the
Ancient Church;_ Ramsay, _The Church and the Roman Empire,
before 170 A.D._

Reber, _History of Ancient Art;_ Wickoff, _Roman Art;_ see
Dictionaries, p. 122.




PART II. MEDIÆVAL HISTORY.


INTRODUCTION.

CHARACTER OF THE MIDDLE AGES.--The middle ages include the long
interval between the first general irruption of the Teutonic nations
towards the close of the fourth century, to the middle of the
fifteenth century, when the modern era, with a distinctive character
of its own, began. Two striking features are observed in the mediæval
era. First, there was a mingling of the conquering Germanic nations
with the peoples previously making up the Roman Empire, and a
consequent effect produced upon both. The Teutonic tribes modified
essentially the old society. On the other hand, there was a reaction
of Roman civilization upon them. The conquered became the teachers and
civilizers of the conquerors. Secondly, the Christian Church, which
outlived the wreck of the empire, and was almost the sole remaining
bond of social unity, not only educated the new nations, but regulated
and guided them, to a large extent, in secular as well as religious
affairs. Thus out of chaos, Christendom arose, a single homogeneous
society of peoples. It was in the middle ages that the pontifical
authority reached its full stature. The Holy See exercised the lofty
function of arbiter among contending nations, and of leadership in
great public movements, like the Crusades. Civil authority and
ecclesiastical authority, emperors and popes, were engaged in a long
conflict for predominance. Thus there are three elements which form
the essential factors in Mediæval History,-the _Barbarian_
element, the _Roman_ element, with its law and civil polity, and
with what was left of ancient arts and culture, and the
_Christian_, or _Ecclesiastical_, element. As we approach
the close of the mediæval era, a signal change occurs. The nations
begin to acquire a more defined individuality; the superintendence of
the church in civil affairs is more and more renounced or
relinquished; there dawns a new era of invention and discovery, of
culture and reform.




PERIOD I. FROM THE MIGRATIONS OF THE TEUTONIC TRIBES TO THE
CARLOVINGIAN LINE OF FRANK RULERS. (A.D. 375-751.)




CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE: THE TEUTONIC
CONFEDERACIES.


GRADUAL OVERTHROW OF THE EMPIRE.--When we speak of the destruction of
the Roman Empire by the barbarians, we must not imagine that it was
sudden, as by an earthquake. It was gradual. Had the empire not been
undermined from within, it would not have been overthrown from
without. The Roman armies were recruited by bringing numerous
barbarians into the ranks. At length whole tribes were suffered to
form permanent settlements within the boundaries of the empire. A
"king" with his entire tribe would engage to do military service in
exchange for lands. More and more both the wealth and the weakness of
Rome were exposed to the gaze of the Germanic nations. Their cupidity
was aroused as their power increased. Meantime the barbarians were
learning from their employers the art of war, and were gaining
soldierly discipline. Their brave warriors rose to places of
command. They made and unmade the rulers, and finally became rulers
themselves. Another important circumstance is, that most of the
Germanic tribes were converts to Christianity before they made their
attacks and subverted the throne of the Cæsars. In fine, there was a
long preparation for the great onset of the barbarian peoples in the
fifth century.

CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE.--But the success of the barbarian
invasions presupposes an internal decay in the empire. It was one
symptom of a conscious decline, that the conquering spirit was
chilled, and the policy was adopted of fixing the limits of the Roman
dominion at the Rhine and the Danube. Rome now stood on the
defensive. The great service of the imperial government, for which it
was most valued, was to protect the frontiers. This partly accounts
for the consternation of _Augustus_, when, in the forests of
Germany, the legions of _Varus_ were destroyed (p. 172). The
essential fact is, that Rome became unable to keep up the strength of
its armies. _First_, there were lacking the men to fill up the
legions. The civil wars had reduced the population in Italy and in
other countries. The efforts of _Augustus_ to encourage marriage
by bounties proved of little avail. _Secondly_, the class of
independent Italian yeomen, which had made up the bone and sinew of
the Roman armies, passed away. Slavery supplanted free
labor. _Thirdly_, in the third century terrible plagues swept
over the empire. In 166 a frightful pestilence broke out, from which,
according to _Niebuhr_, the ancient world never recovered. It was
only the first in a series of like appalling
visitations. _Fourthly_, the death of liberty carried after it a
loss of the virtue, the virile energy, by which Rome had won her
supremacy. _Fifthly_, the new imperial system, after
_Diocletian_, effective as it was for maintaining an orderly
administration, drained the resources of the people. The municipal
government in each town was put into the hands of _curiales_, or
the owners of a certain number of acres. They were made responsible
for the taxes, which were levied in a gross amount upon the town. The
_fiscus_, or financial administration of the empire, was so
managed that the civil offices became an intolerable burden to those
who held them. Yet it was a burden from which there was no escape. One
result was, that, while slaves were often made _coloni_,--that
is, tillers or tenants, sharing with the owner the profits of
tillage,--and thus had their condition improved, many freeholders sank
to the same grade, which was a kind of serfdom. When to the exhausting
taxation by government, there were added the disposition of large
proprietors to despoil the poorer class of landholders, and from time
to time the predatory incursions of barbarians, the small supply of
Roman legionaries is easily accounted for.

THREE RACES OF BARBARIANS.--While the empire, as regards the power of
self-defense, was sinking, the barbarians were not only profiting by
the military skill and experience of the Romans, but were forming
military _unions_ among their several tribes. In the East, there
was one civilized kingdom, _Persia_, the successor of the
Parthian kingdom, but not powerful enough to be a rival,--certainly
not in an aggressive contest. But northward and northeast of the Roman
boundaries, there stretched "a vague and unexplored waste of
barbarism," "a vast, dimly-known chaos of numberless barbarous tongues
and savage races." A commotion among these numerous tribes, the
uncounted multitudes spreading far into the plain of Central Asia, had
begun as early as the days of Julius Caesar. They were made up of
three races,--the _Teutons_, or _Germanic_ peoples; eastward
of them, the _Slavonians_; and, farther beyond, the Asiatic
_Scythians_. The Slavonians, an Aryan branch, like the Teutons,
had their abodes in the space between Germany and the Volga. They were
a pastoral and an agricultural race, of whose religion little is
known. Their incursions and settlements belong to the sixth and
seventh centuries, and to the history of the Eastern Empire.

TEUTONIC CONFEDERACIES.--Of the confederacies of German tribes, the
_Goths_ are first to be mentioned. In the third century they had
spread over the immense territory between the Baltic and the Black
seas. They were divided into the West Goths (_Visigoths_) and
East Goths (_Ostrogoths_). Their force was augmented by the
junction of kindred tribes. To the east of them, towards the Don, was
a tribe of mixed race, the _Alani_. In the third century the
Goths had made their terrible inroads into _Mæsia_ and
_Thrace_, and the brave emperor _Decius_ had perished in the
combat with them. They had pushed their marauding excursions as far as
the coasts of Greece and Ionia. In the middle of the fourth century
they were united, with their allied tribes, under the sovereignty of
the East Gothic chieftain, _Hermanric_. A second league of
Germanic peoples was the _Alemanni_, which included the
formidable tribes called by Cæsar the _Suevi_, and who, after
various incursions, had established themselves on the Upper Rhine, in
what is now Baden, Würtemberg, and north-east in Switzerland, and in
the region southward to the summits of the Alps. Their invasion of
Italy in 255, when they poured through the passes of the Rhetian Alps,
and penetrated as far as _Ravenna_, was repelled by
_Aurelian_, afterwards emperor. A third confederacy was that of
the _Franks_ (or Freemen) on the Lower Rhine and the Weser. In
North Germany, between the Elbe and the Rhine, were the
_Saxons_. The _Burgundians_, between the Saxons and the
Alemanni, made their way to the same river near _Worms_. East of
the Franks and Saxons, were the valiant _Lombards_, who made
their way southwards to the center of Europe, and finally to the
Danube. The _Frisians_ were situated on the shore of the North
Sea and in the adjacent islands. North of the Saxons were the
_Danes_ and other peoples of _Scandinavia_,--Teutons all,
but a separate branch of the Teutonic household. To bold and warlike
tribes, now banded together, such as were the Franks and the Alemanni,
the Rhine, with its line of Roman cities and fortresses, could form no
permanent barrier. When they crossed it, they might be driven back;
but this was only to renew their expeditions at the first favorable
moment. The prey which they saw near by, and of which they dreamed in
the distance, was too enticing. No more could the Danube fence off the
thronging nations; all of whom had heard, and some of whom had beheld,
the wealth and luxury of the civilized lands.

Beginning at the _Euxine_, and moving westward along the line of
the _Danube_ and the _Rhine_, we find, at the end of the
fourth century, that the six most prominent names of _Teutonic_
tribes are the _Goths_, _Vandals_, _Burgundians_,
_Franks_, _Saxons_, and _Lombards_. Over the vast
plains to the south and west of the Caspian are spread the
_Huns_, who belong to one branch of the Scythian or Turanian
group of nations.

HABITS OF THE GERMANS.--We have notices of the Germans from _Julius
Caesar_, the most full description of them in the _Germania_
of _Tacitus_. They were tall and robust, and seemed to the
Romans, who were of smaller stature, as giants. Tacitus speaks of
their "fiercely blue eyes." They lived in huts made of wood, and
containing the cattle as well as the family. They tilled the soil, but
their favorite employments were war and the chase. Capable of cruelty,
they were still of a kindly temper, and fond of feasts and social
gatherings, where they were apt to indulge in excessive drinking and
in gambling. They were brave, and not without a delicate sense of
honor. Family ties were sacred. The women were chaste, and were
companions of their husbands, although subject to them. Most of the
people were _freemen_, who were land-owners, and carried
arms. The nobles were those of higher birth, but with no special
privileges. The freemen owned _slaves_, who were either criminals
or persons who had lost their freedom in gaming or prisoners of
war. There were also _freedmen_ or _leti_, who held land of
a superior. Many freedmen lived apart, but many were gathered in
villages. The land about a village was originally held in common. Each
village had a chief, and each collection of villages, or
_hundred_, possessed a chief of high rank; and there was a
"king," or head of the tribe. All these chieftains were elected by the
freemen at assemblies periodically held. When the duke or general was
chosen, he was raised on a shield on the shoulders of the men. The
judges in the trial of causes sat, with assessors or jurymen around
them, in the open air. But private injuries were avenged by the
individual or by his family. One marked characteristic of the Germans
was the habit of devoting themselves to the service of a military
leader. They paid to him personal allegiance, and followed him in
war. The Germans were, above all, distinguished by a strong sense of
personal independence. If their mode of living resembled outwardly
that of other savage races, yet in their free political life, and in
the noble promise of their language even in its rudiments, the
comparison does not hold. In their faithfulness, courage, and personal
purity, they are emphatically contrasted with the generality of
barbarous peoples.

RELIGION OF THE GERMANS.--We know more of the Scandinavian religion
through the _Eddas_, the Iliad of the Northmen, than of the
religion of the Germans; but the two religions were closely
allied. Among the chief gods worshiped by the Germans were
_Woden_, called "Odin" in the North, the highest divinity, the
god of the air and of the sky, the giver of fruits and delighting in
battle; _Donar_ (Thor), the god of thunder and of the weather,
armed with a hammer or thunderbolt; _Thiu_ (Tyr), a god of war,
answering to Mars; _Fro_ (Freyr), god of love; and _Frauwa_
(Freya), his sister. Particular days were set apart for their
worship. Their names appear in the names of the days of the
week,--Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Sunday is the day of
the sun, and Monday the day of the moon. Saturday alone is a name of
Latin origin. Among the minor beings in the German mythology were
fairies, elves, giants, and dwarfs. There were festivals to the
gods. Their images were preserved in groves. Lofty trees were held
sacred to divinities. The oak and the red ash were consecrated to
_Donar_. Sacrifices, and among them human sacrifices, were
offered to the gods. Their will was ascertained by means of the lot,
the neighing of wild horses, and the flight of birds. Priests were not
without influence, but were not a professional class, and were never
dominant. Valiant warriors at death were admitted into Walhalla (the
_hall of the slain_), where they sat at banquet with the gods.



THE THEODOSIAN IMPERIAL HOUSE


THEODOSIUS
|
+--THEODOSIUS I (the Great), _m._,
| 1, Flaccilla;
| 2, Galla sister of Valentinian II
| |
| +--Grantianus
| |
| +--Pulcheria
| |
| +--ARCADIUS
| | _m._ Eudoxia
| | |
| | +--THEODOSIUS II
| | | _m._ Eudocia
| | | |
| | | +--Eudoxia
| | | | _m._ VALENTINIAN III
| | | |
| | | +--Flaccilla
| | |
| | +--Pulcheria
| | | _m._ MARCIAN
| | |
| | +--Three other daughters
| |
| +--HONORIUS
| | _m._ Maria, daughter of Stilicho
| |
| +--Placidia _m._
| 1, Adolphus;
| 2, CONSTANTIUS
| |
| +--VALENTINIAN III,
| | _m._ Eudoxia.
| | |
| | +--Eudoxia, _m._
| | | 1, Palladius, son of MAXIMUS;
| | | 2, Huneric, son of GENSERIC.
| | | |
| | | +--Ideric
| | |
| | +--Placidia
| | _m._ OLYBRIUS
| |
| +--Honoria
|
+--Honorius
|
+--Serena,
| _m._ Stilicho
| |
| +--Maria
|
+--Thermantia

[From Rawlinson's _Manual of Ancient History._]




CHAPTER II. THE TEUTONIC MIGRATIONS AND KINGDOMS.


THE GOTHS: THEODOSIUS I.--Towards the close of the fourth century,
when _Valens_ (364-378) was reigning in the East, the _Huns_
moved from their settlements north of the Caspian, defeated the
_Alans_, a powerful nation, and, compelling them to enter their
service, invaded the empire of the _Ostrogoths_, then ruled by
_Hermanric_. The Huns belonged to one branch of the Scythian
race. They had migrated in vast numbers from Central Asia. Repulsive
in form and visage, with short, thick bodies, and small, fierce eyes,
living mostly on horseback or in their wagons, these terrible
warriors, with their slings and bone-pointed arrows, struck terror
into the nations whom they approached. The Gothic Empire fell. The
Ostrogoths submitted, and Hermanric died, it is thought by his own
hand. The _Visigoths_ crowded down to the Danube, and implored
Valens to give them an asylum upon Roman territory. They had
previously been converted to Christianity, mainly by the labors of
_Ulphilas_, who had framed for them an alphabet, and translated
nearly the whole Bible into their tongue. Fragments of this
_Moeso-Gothic_ version are the oldest written monument in the
Teutonic languages. Christianity was taught to them by Ulphilas in the
Arian type; and this circumstance was very important, since it was the
occasion of the spread of _Arianism_ among many other Teutonic
peoples. Valens granted their request to cross the Danube, and, under
_Fritigern_ and _Alavivus_, to settle in Moesia (376). By
the connivance of the officers of Valens, they were allowed to retain
their arms. The avarice of corrupt imperial governors provoked them to
revolt; and, in the battle of _Adrianople_, Valens was
defeated. The house into which the wounded emperor was carried was set
on fire, and he perished. _Gratian_, who, since the death of
Valentinian I. (375), had been the ruler of the West, summoned the
valiant _Theodosius_ from his estate in Spain, to which he had
been banished, to sustain the tottering empire. Gratian made him
regent in the East. His father had cleared Britain of the Picts and
Scots, and restored it to the empire. Under him the son had learned to
be a soldier. He had been driven into retirement by court
intrigues. He now accomplished, as well as it could be done, the
mighty task laid upon him. He checked the progress of the Goths,
divided them, incorporated some of them in the army, and dispersed the
rest in Thrace, Moesia, and Asia Minor (382). Four years later
forty-thousand Ostrogoths were received into the imperial
service. Once Rome had conquered the barbarians, and planted its
colonies among them; now, after they had proved their power, and
gained boldness by victory, it received them within its own
borders. The indolence and vice of _Gratian_ produced a
revolution in the West. _Maximus_ was proclaimed imperator by the
legions of Britain, and Gratian was put to death by his cavalry
(383). After sanguinary conflicts, _Theodosius_ obtained, also,
supreme power in the West. He gave to orthodoxy, in the strife with
Arianism, the supremacy in the East; and, under his auspices, the
_General Council of Constantinople_ re-affirmed the Nicene
doctrine of the Trinity (381). In the ancient church he had a glory
second only to that of Constantine. With the exception of his harsh
and inquisitorial laws for the forcible suppression of Arianism and
paganism, his legislation was generally wise and beneficent.

ARCADIUS: HONORIUS.--Theodosius left the government of the East to his
son _Arcadius_, then eighteen years of age, and that of the West
to a younger son, _Honorius_. The empire of the East continued
ten hundred and fifty-eight years after this division; that of the
West, only eighty-one years. The Eastern Empire was defended by the
barriers of the Danube and the Balkan mountains, by the strength of
Constantinople, together with the care taken to protect it, and by the
general tendency of the barbarian invasions westward. Rome, in the
course of a half-century, was the object of four terrible
attacks,--that of _Alaric_ and the Visigoths; of
_Radagaisus_ with the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans; of
_Genseric_ with the Vandals; of _Attila_ with the Huns.

ALARIC IN ITALY.--The Visigoths made _Alaric_--the head of their
most illustrious family, the Balti--their leader. _Honorius_ was
controlled by the influence of _Stilicho_, a brave soldier, by
birth a Vandal; _Arcadius_ was ruled by a Goth, _Rufinus_, a
cunning and faithless diplomatist. Alaric and his followers were
enraged at the withholding of the pay which was due to them yearly
from _Arcadius_. _Rufinus_, in order to keep up his sway,
and out of hostility to _Stilicho_, arranged that they should
invade _Eastern Illyricum_, a province on which each of the
emperors had claims, and which he feared that Stilicho would
seize. They ravaged Thrace and Macedonia, passed through the
undefended strait of Thermopylae, spared Athens, but devastated the
rest of Greece. The only protector of the empire now was
_Stilicho_, to whom Theodosius had committed the care of his two
sons, and whose power was exercised in the West. He caused the
perfidious _Rufinus_ to be put to death by _Gainas_, one of
the Gothic allies of Arcadius. The place of the minister was taken by
_Eutropius_, an Armenian who had been a slave. _Stilicho_
fought the Goths in two campaigns, but, perhaps from policy, suffered
them to escape by the Strait of _Naupactus_ (_Lepanto_). To
prevent further ravages, Arcadius had no alternative but to appoint
_Alaric_ master-general or duke of Illyricum. This obliged
_Stilicho_ to retire. Raised upon the shield, and thus made king
by his followers, Alaric led them to the conquest of
Italy. _Honorius_ fled for refuge from Milan to the impregnable
fortress of _Ravenna_. Stilicho came to his relief, and defeated
the Visigoths at _Pollentia_ (402). But Honorius copied the
example of Arcadius, made Alaric a general, and gave him the
commission to conquer Illyricum for the Western Empire. After his
defeat, he was moving against Rome with his cavalry, when his retreat
was purchased by a pension. It was when Honorius was celebrating his
triumph at Rome that a monk named _Telemachus_ leaped into the
arena to separate the gladiators. He was stoned to death by the
spectators, but the result of his self-devotion was an edict putting a
final stop to the gladiatorial shows. The emperor now fixed his
residence, which had been at Milan, at _Ravenna_, a city that was
covered on the land side by a wide and impassable morass, over which
was an artificial causeway, easily destroyed in case it could not be
defended. It had served him as an asylum during the invasion of
Alaric.

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