When in 410
Rome was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric, this came as a shock: how could
Rome – that eternal city – be conquered by barbarians? Were the old gods taking revenge on Rome for
adapting Christianity? Such questions
compelled St. Augustine to write his monumental De Civitate Dei `The City of
God’. But were the Visigoths really that
barbarian?
Alaric
(370 – 410) was a Gothic leader, who wanted to settle down with his band of
Gothic mercenaries in Northern Italy, but was prevented by Stilicho – the brilliant
Vandal general under Emperor Honorius – in the battle of Verona in 403. Stilicho
however saw the usefulness of this Gothic army for his own aspirations within
the constant strive between the Eastern and Western parts of the Empire. He and
Alaric decided to work together and indeed, when strive again broke out between
Honorius in the West and Arcadius in the East, Stilicho ordered Alaric and his
men to march on against Constantinople. Alaric had reached Epirus and then a reconciliation
was made between Honorius and Arcadius. Fine, but Alaric had made considerable
costs already and wanted to be compensated by the Roman Senate. He asked 4000
pound of gold, an extremely high sum of money indeed, but Stilicho persuaded
the Senate to pay that amount, as the Western Empire was now threatened in the
west by the usurpator Constantine iii
and Alaric’s men could be very useful. But Stilicho was suspected of high treason
by Honorius and despite that Stilicho was his father-in-law, Honorius put him
to death. In the aftermath women and
children of Goths, Vandals and whatever Germanics there were in Italy were
killed, while their husbands served elsewhere as mercenaries.
The
treaty with Alaric was abandoned and no money was send. Alaric had some reason
to besiege Rome with a 30.000 men strong force… Plagued by starvation, the city
consented in giving money and other valuable items.
This happened
in 408. In 410 Alaric and his troops controlled large parts of Italy, much to
the displeasure of the new emperor, Priscus Atallus. He cut off supplies of
grain from North Africa and now Alaric had to deal with shortages of food. He decided
to besiege Rome for the third time (I have left out the second time). On the 24th
of August for some reason the gates of Rome were opened by slaves and the city
lay open for luting. But Alaric was a Christian, be it from the Arian branch,
and Rome was for him a sacred city. He forbade the burning of churches and
guaranteed the safety of everyone who sought asylum in a church. Looting was
allowed, but in no way gold or silver used for Christian worship was allowed to
be taken and raping was forbidden. His men (largely) obeyed and this Gothic
barbarian, who by the way looked like a Roman and spoke Latin fluently, showed
more mercy than a Roman general ever did. The blow to Rome was not so much
material, as psychological.
St. Augustine
was thankful that the barbarians behaved so disciplined, but was quick to point
out that this was not due to their own morality – how could they, as they were despicable
Arian heretics? – but that it was God Himself who restrained their barbarian
minds.
St.
Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Book 1,7:
Quidquid
ergo uastationis, trucidationis, depraedationis, concremationis, adflictionis
in ista recentissima Romana clade commissum est, fecit hoc consuetudo bellorum;
quod autem nouo more factum est, quod inusitata rerum facie inmanitas barbara
tam mitis apparuit, ut amplissimae basilicae implendae populo cui parceretur
eligerentur et decernerentur, ubi nemo feriretur, unde nemo raperetur, quo
liberandi multi a miserantibus hostibus ducerentur, unde captiuandi ulli nec a
crudelibus hostibus abducerentur: hoc Christi nomini, hoc Christiano tempori tribuendum
quisquis non uidet, caecus, quisquis uidet nec laudat, ingratus, quisquis
laudanti reluctatur, insanus est. Absit, ut prudens quisquam hoc feritati
inputet barbarorum. Truculentissimas et saeuisimas mentes ille terruit, ille
frenauit, ille mirabiliter temperauit, qui per prophetam tanto ante dixit:
Visitabo in uirga iniquitates eorum et in flagellis peccata eorum;
misericordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eis.
vastatio, -onis
(f.): devastation
trucidatio, -onis
(f.): slaughter
depraedatio, -onis
(f.): luting
concrematio, -onis
(f.): burning
adflictio, -onis:
suffering
clades, -is
(f.): calamity
quod inusitata rerum facie inmanitas barbara
tam mitis apparuit:
(litt.) that in an unusual appearance of things, barbarian savageness appeared so mild
ut amplissimae basilicae implendae populo cui
parceretur eligerentur et decernerentur = ut
amplissimae basilicae eligerentur et decernerentur implendae populo, cui
parceretur
implendus (+ abl.): to be filled with
parco peperci parsum (+ dat.)
decernere decrevi decretum: to decide, destine
ferio: to strike
rapio rapui raptum: to seize and carry away
quo liberandi multi a miserantibus hostibus
ducerentur: to
which many were brought to be free by enemies having pity
caecus: blind
reluctor reluctatus sum (+ dat.): to resist
hoc feritati inputet barbarorum: ascribes this to the fierceness of
the barbarians
truculentus: savage, fierce
ille: God
freno: to restrain
Visitabo…ab eis: Psalm 88, 33-34
in uirga….in flagellis: with a rod…with strokes (This
use of in is under influence of the
Hebrew text,)
inequitas –atis (f.): transgression (Late Latin)
dispergo dispersi dispersum + ab: to take away (Late Latin)
Translation
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