The Early Centuries - Byzantium 01 (15 page)

6

The Fall of Rome

[395
-410]

A dreadful rumour reaches us from the West. Rome is occupied: her citizens ransom their lives for gold; but no sooner are they stripped of their possessions than they are again besieged and, having already lost their goods, they must now lose their lives as well. My voice is choked with sobs as I dictate these words. The city that has conquered the universe is now herself conquered . . . She dies of hunger before dying by the sword - scarcely do any men survive to be led off into captivity. The fury of the starving fastens on to nourishment unspeakable; they tear each other to pieces, the mother not sparing even the infant at her own breast.. .

St Jerome, Letter cxxvii, 12

Theodosius the Great was the last Emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire before the final collapse of the West. From the moment of his death the Western Empire embarks on its inexorable eighty-year decline, the prey of the Germanic and other tribes that progressively tighten their grip upon it until the day when the ironically named young Romulus Augustulus makes his final submission to a barbarian king. The states that rise from its ashes, amalgams of Teuton and Latin, of conquerors and conquered, have little to do with the old order: their laws, languages and institutions are shaped by new influences from the north and east. The gravitational pull that once held them together is no longer there; they move off centrifugally, each in its own direction. But the Empire of the East, in contrast with that of the West, survives. For various reasons - not least the hopeless mediocrity of its fifth-century rulers - its development is slow at first; gradually, however, it gains momentum, acquiring as it does so an individual, oriental personality of its own. Latin gives way more and more to Greek, the world of the intellect to that of the spirit; yet the classical tradition remains unbroken. The Byzantine Empire is less the inheritor than the continuation of the ancient world. That world itself, however, has passed away; and, for more than one recent historian, it is on the fateful night of 17 January
395
that the Middle Ages begin.

When Theodosius died his elder son, Arcadius, was not yet eighteen; Honorius, as we have already seen, was ten. The care of both he therefore entrusted to his nephew-by-marriage Stilicho, the most trustworthy of the surviving male members of his family. Stilicho's star was now rising fast. Of his early life we know little, except that he was the son of a Vandal chieftain who had fought loyally but with no outstanding distinction under Valens, and that he had been a member of the diplomatic mission to Persia that had negotiated the treaty with Shapur III. It was then, presumably, that he attracted the attention of Theodosius, for a few months later we find him married to Serena - the Emperor's niece, adopted daughter and particular favourite: the only one, it was rumoured, who could calm him in those terrible rages when no one else dared approach.

The poet Claudian, whose admiration for Stilicho borders on idolatry, tells us that the tall, good-looking young Vandal with the prematurely grizzled hair possessed so powerful a presence that people instinctively made way for him in the street; despite this advantage, however, and despite his new imperial connections, he does not seem to have attracted the notice of contemporary historians until the battle of the Frigidus. It was in recognition of the courage which he showed during that encounter that he was appointed
magi
ster militum
in Italy. In this capacity, though technically responsible for the well-being of both the young Emperors, Stilicho's principal charge was Honorius, now Emperor of the West; Arcadius, far away in Constantinople, fell under less desirable influences - the strongest and most pernicious of which was that of the Praetorian Prefect Rufinus.

It was almost certainly Rufinus who, five years before at Milan, had incited Theodosius to order the Thessalonica massacre. Originally a lawyer from Aquitaine, he too was outstandingly handsome; unlike Stilicho, however, he had reached his present exalted position, while still in his early middle age, less through any military or diplomatic ability than through a combination of high intelligence and a totally unscrupulous eye to the main chance. His greed and avarice were renowned throughout Constantinople, as was his corruption; not surprisingly, therefore, he had become possessed of immense and steadily increasing wealth. Above all he was ambitious, and his ambitions were centred on a single object: the imperial throne.

Even to an energetic and self-willed young Emperor, such a man as
Rufinus would have been dangerous enough; Arcadius, alas, was neither. Small, dark and swarthy, slow in both speech and movement, with heavy-lidded eyes that always seemed about to close in sleep, he was in fact even stupider than he looked; and his character was as weak as his intellect. People meeting him for the first time found it hard to believe that he was his father's son. One thing only prevented him from being a mindless puppet in Rufinus's hands: the influence of the so-called Superintendent of the Sacred Bedchamber
(Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi
), an elderly eunuch named Eutropius. Physically, with his egg-bald head and wrinkled yellow face, Eutropius was even less prepossessing than his master; nor would his past life, which included outstandingly successful careers first as a catamite and subsequently as a procurer, normally have been considered ideal recommendations for a trusted position in the Imperial Household. But, like Rufinus - whom he naturally detested -he was intelligent, unscrupulous and ambitious; he too wished to control the Emperor; and to that
end he was determined to thwart his enemy in every way he could.

Rufinus, he knew, planned to marry his daughter to Arcadius. Once he had become a member of the imperial family it would be but a short step to the throne itself, and Eutropius's own chances of survival would be slim. The eunuch's only hope was to find a rival candidate for the Emperor's affections; and, in default of progeny of his own, he picked on a young Frankish girl of startling beauty who, after a sophisticated upbringing in Constantinople, had exchanged her outlandish barbarian name for a more harmonious Greek one and was now known as Eudoxia. Taking advantage of Rufinus's brief absence in Antioch to supervise the execution of a distinguished official, he introduced her into the Palace and, with a skill born of long practice, quickly aroused the Emperor's interest. By the time the Praetorian Prefect returned to the capital, Arcadius and Eudoxia were betrothed. It was typical, however, of the devious character of Eutropius that he allowed no public announcement to be made of the bride's identity; and Zosimus relates with glee the colourful if somewhat improbable tale of how, on the wedding morning, an imposing procession of court officials wound its way through the streets to fetch her. Eager to catch a glimpse of their future Empress, an

1 'The wardrobe of the sovereign, the gold plate, the arrangement of the Imperial meal, the spreading of the sacred couch, the government of the corps of brilliantly attired pages, the posting of the thirty
sile
ntiarii
who, in helmet and cuirass, standing before the second veil, guarded the slumbers of the sovereign, these were the momentous responsibilities which required the undivided attention of a Cabinet Minister of the Roman F.mpirc" (T. Hodgkin,
Italy and her Invaders
,
Book I, Chap. 3).

expectant crowd had gathered outside the house of Rufinus; and great was their astonishment when the cortege marched straight past it, stopping instead at the far more modest residence of Eudoxia - who shortly afterwards appeared in full nuptial array, to be borne in state to the Palace and her waiting bridegroom.

At just about the time of the wedding - it took place on 27 April 395 -the Goths within the Empire rose again in revolt. By this time they had adopted as their leader the twenty-five-year-old Alaric, who had noted that the vast majority of the Eastern troops that had accompanied Theodosius to the West were still in Milan, and that the Eastern Empire was consequently almost defenceless. The opportunity was too good to miss: pretending fury at the appointment of Stilicho in preference to himself as
magister militum
after the battle of the Frigidus, in a matter of weeks he and his followers spread havoc through Moesia and Thrace, advancing to within a short distance of the walls of Constantinople itself. Here he turned back - probably bribed by Rufinus, who, disguised as a Goth, is known to have paid several visits to his camp and whose neighbouring estates remained suspiciously undevastated - and headed west again towards Macedonia and Thessaly. But although the citizens of the capital breathed again, it had been an uncomfortable moment; and Arcadius sent an urgent message to Stilicho in Milan, ordering him to bring back the eastern army with all possible speed.

Stilicho started as soon as he could, having further strengthened the eastern army with several crack contingents from the West; but instead of leading them directly back to Constantinople he marched straight down to confront Alaric in Thessaly. There he found to his irritation that the Goths had withdrawn inside a fortified stockade; and he was still trying to persuade them to come out and fight when he received another order from the Emperor. The army was to come at once to the capital; he himself however was to advance no further, but must return to the West where he belonged. The order probably came as a blow to Stilicho, who already had ambitions where the Eastern Empire was concerned; but he did as he was bid. The eastern army he placed under the command of a Gothic captain named Gainas and dispatched to Constantinople; then, taking the western elements with him, he set off for home.

After the departure of the imperial army, Alaric and his followers were once again free to continue their advance unimpeded. Southward they marched through Thessaly, passing without obstruction through the
historic defile of Thermopylae and emerging into Boeotia and Attica. Few towns or villages on their path escaped their attentions; the port of Piraeus was completely destroyed, and the same fate would surely have befallen Athens itself had its walls been less formidable. Zosimus tells us that Alaric's courage failed him only when he was vouchsafed a vision of the goddess Athena in full armour standing upon the ramparts while Achilles, scowling horribly, patrolled the battlements; however this may be, he was certainly regaled at a sumptuous banquet by the commander of the garrison and persuaded to come to terms. Pausing only to set fire to the great temple of Demeter at Eleusis, he and his army crossed the isthmus of Corinth into the Peloponnese, ravaging the Argolid and descending southward to sack Sparta and the rich cities of the central plain. Then, in the spring of
396,
they struck to the west, meeting the sea somewhere near Pylos and swinging north again up the coast into Elis. But here a surprise awaited them: Stilicho was back, together with a new army brought by sea from Italy, Suddenly, at Pholoe on the river Alphaeus - not far from Olympia - the Goths found themselves surrounded. At last, it seemed, the
magister militum
had them at his mercy. But now there occurred one of those inexplicable twists of which early history is so maddeningly full, especially when contemporary records are poor or in short supply. Just as Stilicho was on the point of victory, and about to give the Goths their
coup de grace,
he deliberately allowed them to escape.

Why? Zosimus's claim that he was 'wasting his time with harlots and buffoons' is patently ridiculous, while Claudian's suggestion that he had received orders from Arcadius, who had come to a secret agreement with Alaric, is scarcely borne out by the facts: had such a contract existed, the Goths would hardly have continued across the Gulf of Corinth and north as far as the mountains of Epirus, pillaging and plundering as they went. Only in the following year did they finally conclude a peace treaty with the Empire. By its terms, Alaric was invested with the title of
magister militum per Illyricum
- a curious reward for the havoc he had caused. Obviously, he had struck some bargain at Pholoe; but it must have been with Stilicho, not with Arcadius. Later in the chapter we shall have to speculate - though that is all we can do - on the nature of this bargain; but for the moment we must wait, and let the story unfold.

And what, it may be asked, of the great army of the East, so hastily summoned home by the Emperor Arcadius? Its newly appointed commander, Gainas, led it as instructed along the Via Egnatia1 to Constantinople, halting in the Campus Martius just outside the Golden Gate, where by tradition Emperors came out to welcome their returning armies. Here on
27
November Arcadius duly appeared, accompanied by Rufinus, who - and at this point we may raise our eyebrows a little -was expecting to be made co-Emperor on that very day, and was consequently even more proud and arrogant than usual. After the review, however, he seemed to relax somewhat and began mingling with the troops, insidiously soliciting their support for his forthcoming elevation. At first he did not notice that they were slowly closing in around him; when he did so it was already too late. Suddenly, a sword flashed. Others followed, and a moment later Rufinus fell dead to the ground. His body was swiftly hacked to pieces, and his magnificent head carried on a pike through the streets. One group of soldiers, with a particularly nasty sense of the macabre, even struck off his right hand at the wrist and carried it from house to house, crying, 'Give to the insatiable!' as they pulled the tendons to make the fingers jerk open and shut.