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the Impe rial city, which had sub–
dued and civilized so considerable a
part of mankind, was delivered to
the licentious fury of the tribes of
Gennany and Scythia."
But to contemporaries, the sack–
ing of Rome is an even more
profound shock. The unimaginable
has happened; the Eterna! City has
surrendered. Only a few years be–
fore 410, the poet Claudian had
confidently written, "Nor will there
ever be a limit to the empire of
Rome."
But the city that was "destined to
live so long as roen shall exist" has
been invaded and pillaged.
An
omi–
nous feeling of despair is coming
over roen. There is the dreaded
thought that Rome may be invaded
again and perhaps destroyed for–
ever.
The sacking of the city is be–
moaned throughout the empire. Je–
rome, writing from Be thlehem,
laments wben he hears the news,
"My voice is choked, and my sobs
interrupt the words I write. The city
which took the whole world is her–
self taken. Who could have believed
that Rome, which was built upon
the spoils of the earth, would fall?"
The fact that Rome's destruction
ís such a profound shock shows how
unreal is the world in which many
Roman cit ízens live. That Rome has
been spared for so long from being
pillaged is rather the thing to be
wondered at.
Years
410-415:
The Visigoths
in
Italy, France and Spain. In the same
year that he sacks Rome, Alaric
dies. His brother-in-law Ataulf has
an intemational approach to gov–
emment, and he is definüely a con–
vert to the Roman system.
Orosius, a contemporary officíal
describes it: "Originally he [Ataulf]
had ardently desired to wipe out the
Roman name, to make the whole of
the Roman realm an empíre of the
Goths, and to call it so: it was to be,
if I may use a colloquialism,
Gothia,
instead of
Romania:
Ataulf was to
be what Caesar Augus tus had
been."
But Ataulf realizes bis barbarians
34
will never accept or understand this
concept. So he decides "to declare in
favor of sustaining the Roman ero–
pire, and acting in the Roman name
by the strength of the Goths, and
thus
to
win from posterity the title
of restorer, since he could not ac–
quire that of substitute."
Ataulf leaves ltaly shortly, mi–
grates to Gaul, and begins the con–
quest of Spain. However, bis dream
for himself and bis people will never
become a reality; AtauJf is assassi–
nated in 415. Rome does, however,
grant the Visigoths the richest parts
of GauJ as a permanent residence.
Thus, southwestem Gaul remains
an integral part of the empire, pass–
ing into the hands of
foederati
acknowledging the supremacy of
Emperor Honorius.
There are now three federate
kingdoms in Gaul - the Vísigoths,
the Burgundians and the Franks.
Years 440-454:
Leo
Spotlights the
Papacy. Leo I, the bishop at Rome,
makes the Roman epíscopate the
successor to the Roman state in
Ita!y and the Wes t. He hírnself be–
comes the leading figure in Italy.
In 452, Hun armies are camped
outside Rome, poised to attack and
destroy the Eterna! City. lt is Leo
who leaves the city for a meeting
with AttiJa. Incredibly, Attila does
not attack Rome but departs. No
one knows what happens or what
Leo has said. However, even to cas–
ual observers, the point tbat the
bishop of Rome has taken the place
of the Roman emperor as the de–
fender of Rome is not lost.
Years
455-475:
Gaiseric the Van–
dal vs. Ricimer the Visigoth. Two
important happenings occur in 455.
The first is the invasion of Italy by
the Vandal Gaiseric. He sails up the
Tiber River from bis North African
strongholds. Rome is in a panic.
Again, the bishop of Rome, Leo,
comes to plead the cause. But unlike
the pagan Attila, Gaiseric is an
Arian Christian. Arians do not be–
lieve in the preexistence of Christ
and have no love for those who do.
Gaiseric simply turns his Vandals
loose on the city. For fourteen days
and nights indescribable pillage by
Christian against Christian occurs.
Everything ofvalue is hauled away.
Utter chaos follows in Italy. Fam–
ines and plagues occur on the heels
of repeated invasions. Farms are
deserted and untilled. Rome and
Italy are stripped bare of every–
thíng. Its physical wealth is gone;
th e people a re reduced to an ani–
malistic existence. From secure har–
bors at Ca rthage and Hippo,
Gaiseric's warships operate with
more impunity and on an ever-in–
creasing scale. Sicily, Calabria and
Campania are raided periodically;
Corsica, Sardinia and fina lly Sicíly
are added to Gaiseric's kíngdom.
Gaiseric cuts off Rome's grain
supply, sapping her strength . Later,
the historian Procopius will write,
"Every year at the beginning of
spring, Gaiseric invaded Sicily and
ltaly, enslaving sorne of the cities
and razing others to the ground, and
plundering everything." Gaiseric
breaks two treaties with Rome,
made in 435 and 442, continuing bis
game of truce and truculence.
The leaders at Rome cannot but
shake theír heads at the paradoxical
beginning of the Vandal nightmare.
The reason the Vandals are in Af–
rica ís due to the renegade Roman
m il itary commander of Africa,
Boniface. Boniface, after being sus–
pected of treachery, was recalled to
Rome. But he refused to come.
When armies were d ispatched
against him, Boniface invited the
Vandals to come to bis aid. All this
is now a 30-year-old his torical
tragedy.
Meanwhile, new political devel–
opments occur in Italy. In 455
Aetius
is
succeeded as master of the
troops by Ricimer. Ricimer is of
pure Germanic descent, a barbarían
in tbe service of Rome, as was Sti–
licho. Ricimer will become the most
powerful roan in the Western Ro–
roan Empire, assuming the role of
kingmaker in Italy. Though there is
still an emperor in the East at Con–
stantinople (modero Istanbul , Tur–
key), Ricimer relies primarily on the
support of new German barbarians.
PLAIN TRUTH Odober 1973