nian III., then in the sixth year of his age, was proclaimed emperor, and the regency entrusted to his mother, Placid'ia. The two best generals of the age, E'tius and Boniface, were at the head of the army, but, unfortunately, their mutual jealousies led them to involve the empire in civil war. 13. Boni'face was recalled from the government of Africa through the intrigues of his rival, and when he hesitated to comply, was proclaimed a traitor. Unfortunately the African prefect, unable to depend on his own forces, invited the Vandals to his assistance. Gen'seric, the king of that nation, passed over from Spain, which his barbarous forces had already wasted, and the African provinces were now subjected to the same calamities that afflicted the rest of the empire. 14. Boni'face became too late sensible of his error; he attempted to check the progress of the Vandals, but was defeated, and Africa was finally wrested from the empire. He returned to Italy, and was pardoned by Placid'ia, but the jealous E'tius led an army to drive his rival from the court: a battle ensued in which E'tius was defeated, but Boni'face died in the arms of victory. Placid'ia was at first determined to punish Æ'tius as a rebel; but his power was too formidable, and his abilities too necessary in the new dangers that threatened the empire; he was not only pardoned, but invested with more than his former authority.

15. The hordes of Huns that had seized on the ancient territory of the Goths, had now become united under the ferocious Attila, whose devastations procured him the formidable designation of "The Scourge of God." The Eastern empire, unable to protect itself from his ravages, purchased peace by the payment of a yearly tribute, and he directed his forces against the western provinces, which promised richer plunder. He was instigated also by secret letters from the princess Hono'ria, the sister of the emperor, who solicited a matrimonial alliance with the barbarous chieftain. E'tius, being supported by the king of

the Goths, and some other auxiliary forces, attacked the Huns in the Catalaunian plains, near the modern city of Chalons in France. 16. After a fierce engagement the Huns were routed, and it was not without great difficulty that At'tila effected his retreat. The following year he invaded Italy with more success; peace, however, was purchased by bestowing on him the hand of the princess Hono'ria, with an immense dowry. Before the marriage could be consummated, At'tila was found dead in his bed, having burst a blood-vessel during the night.

17. The brave E'tius was badly rewarded by the wretched emperor for his eminent services; Valentinian yielding to his cowardly suspicions, assassinated the general with his own hand. This crime was followed by another; Max'imus, an eminent senator, had a wife whose beauty was only equalled by her virtue; the licentious emperor artfully inveigled this noble lady into his palace, and, by force made her the victim of his licentious passions. 18. The injured husband, eager for revenge, joined in a conspiracy with the friends of Æ'tius; they attacked the emperor publicly in the midst of his guards, and slew him.

19. The twenty years which intervened between the assassination of Valentinian, and the final destruction of the Western empire, were nearly one continued series of intestine revolutions. 20. Even in the age of Cicero, when the empire of Rome seemed likely to last for ever, it was stated by the augurs that the twelve vultures seen by Romulus, represented the twelve centuries assigned for the fatal period of the city. This strange prediction, forgotten ages of peace and prosperity, was recalled to the minds of men when events, at the close of the twelfth century, showed that the prophecy was about to be accomplished. It is not, of course, our meaning that the ominous flight of birds, the prophetic interpretation, and its almost literal

in

1 See Chapter I.

fulfilment, were any thing more than an accidental coincidence, but, it must be confessed, that it was one of the most remarkable on record.

21. Max'imus succeeded to the imperial throne, and found that the first day of his reign was the last of his happiness. On the death of his wife, whose wrongs he had so severely revenged, he endeavoured to compel Eudox'ia, the widow of the murdered emperor, to become his spouse. In her indignation at this insulting proposal, Eudox'ia did not hesitate to apply for aid to Gen'seric, king of those Vandals that had seized Africa, and the barbarian king, glad of such a fair pretence, soon appeared with a powerful fleet in the Tiber. 22. Max'imus was murdered in an insurrection, occasioned by these tidings; and Gen'seric, advancing to Rome, became master of the city, which was for fourteen days pillaged by the Moors and Vandals. Eudox'ia had reason to lament her imprudent conduct; she was carried off a captive by the ferocious Vandal, along with her two daughters, the last of the family of the great Theodo'sius, and many thousand Romans were at the same time dragged into slavery.

23. The army in Gaul saluted their general, Avi'tus, emperor, and the Roman senate and people at first acquiesced in the choice. But Avi'tus was soon found unfit to hold the reins of power at a time of so much danger and difficulty; the senate, influenced by Ri'cimer, the commander of the barbarian auxiliaries, voted his deposition. He died shortly after; whether by disease or violence is uncertain.

24. The powerful Ri'cimer now placed upon the throne Julian Majo'rian, who united in an eminent degree the qualities of a brave soldier and a wise statesman. The coasts of Italy had long been wasted by Gen'seric, king of the Vandals, and in order to put an end to their incursions, the emperor determined to attack the pirates in Africa, the seat of their power. The judicious preparations which he

made were disconcerted by treason; Ri'cimer, who had hoped to rule the empire while Majo'rian enjoyed the empty title of monarch, was disappointed by the abilities which the new emperor displayed. Some of his creatures betrayed the Roman fleet to the torches of the Vandals; and Ri'cimer took advantage of the popular discontent occasioned by this disaster, to procure the dethronement of his former friend. Majo'rian died five days after his deposition, and the humble tomb which covered his remains was consecrated by the respect and gratitude of succeeding generations.

25. Ri'cimer's next choice was more prudent; at his instigation the obsequious senate raised to the throne Lib'ius Sev'erus, of whom history records little more than his elevation, and his death, which occurred in the fifth year after his election. During the nominal reign of Sev'erus and the interregnum that followed, the entire power of the state was possessed by Ri'cimer, whom barbarian descent alone prevented from being acknowledged emperor. was unable, however, to protect Italy from the devastations of the Vandals; and to obtain the aid of Le'o, the Eastern emperor, he was forced to acknowledge Anthe'mius, who was nominated to the throne of the West by the court of Constantinople.

He

26. The perfidious Ri'cimer soon became dissatisfied with Anthe'mius, and raised the standard of revolt. Marching to Rome he easily became master of the city, and Anthe’mius was slain in the tumult. The unhappy Romans were again subjected to all the miseries that military licentiousness could inflict; for forty days Ri'cimer exulted in the havoc and ruin of the imperial city, but a disease, occasioned by excessive intemperance, seized on his vitals, and death freed Rome from the tyrant.

27. Olyb'ius, the successor of Anthe'mius, dying after a short reign of three months, Glycerius, an obscure soldier, assumed the purple at Ravenna, but was soon

dethroned by Julius Ne'pos, whom the court of Constantinople supported. A treaty, by which the most faithful provinces of Gaul were yielded to the Visigoths, produced so much popular discontent, that Ores'tes, a general of barbarian auxiliaries, was encouraged to revolt, and Ne'pos, unable to defend the throne, abdicated, and spent the remainder of his unhonoured life in obscurity.

28. Ores'tes placed the crown on the head of his son Rom'ulus Momyllus, better known in history by the name of Augus'tulus. He was the last of the emperors; before he had enjoyed his elevation many months, he was dethroned by Odoa'cer, a leader of the barbarian troops, and banished to a villa, that once belonged to the wealthy Lucul'lus, where he was supported by a pension allowed him A. D. by the conqueror1. 29. Odoa'cer assumed the title 476. of king of Italy; but after a reign of fourteen years, he was forced to yield to the superior genius of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, under whose pruden government Italy enjoyed the blessings of peace and prosperity, to which the country had been long a stranger.

30. Thus finally fell the Roman empire of the West, while that of the East survived a thousand years, notwithstanding its fierce internal dissensions, which alone would have sufficed to destroy any other; and the host of barbarians by which it was assailed. The almost impregnable situation of its capital, whose fate usually decides that of such empires, joined to its despotism, which gave unity to the little strength it retained, can alone explain a phenomenon unparalleled in the annals of history. At length, on the 29th of May, 1453, Constantinople was taken by Mohammed the Second, and the government and religion established by the great Con'stantine, trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors.

1 See Chapter XXVII.