Evacuation of Rome.
After six days the Goths evacuated the city, and advanced on the Appian way, to the southern provinces of Italy, destroying ruthlessly all who opposed their march, and laden with the spoil of Rome. The beautiful villas of the Campanian coast, where the masters of the [pg 639] world had luxuriated for centuries, were destroyed or plundered, and the rude Goths gave themselves up to all the license of barbaric soldiers.
Death of Alaric.
At length, gorged with wine and plunder, they prepared to invade Sicily, when Alaric sickened and died in Bruttium, and was buried beneath the bed of a river, that the place of his sepulchre should never be found out. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Adolphus, with whom Honorius concluded peace, and whom he created a general of his armies. As such, he led his forces into Gaul, and the southern part of the country became the seat of their permanent settlement, with Toulouse for a capital. The Visigoths extended their conquests on both sides of the Pyrenees; Vandalusia was conquered by his son, Wallia, A.D. 418, on whom the emperor bestowed Aquitania. His son, Theodoric, was the first king of the Goths.
Kingdom of the Franks. Discords between Boniface and Aetius.
The same year that saw the establishment of this new Gothic kingdom, also witnessed the foundation of the kingdom of the Franks, by Pharamund, and the final loss of Britain. Thus province after province was wrested away from the emperor, who died, A.D. 423, and was succeeded by Constantius, who had married his sister. He died the same year, leaving an infant, called Valentinian. The chief secretary of the late emperor, John, was proclaimed emperor; but he was dethroned two years after, and Valentinian III. six years of age, reigned in his stead, favored by the services of two able generals, Boniface and Aetius, who arrested by their talents the incursions of the barbarians, But they quarreled, and their discord led to the loss of Africa, invaded by the Vandals.
The Vandals.
These barbarians also belonged to the great Teutonic race, and their settlements were on the Elbe and the Vistula. In the time of Marcus Aurelius they had invaded the empire, but were signally defeated. One hundred years later, they settled in Pannonia, where they had a bitter contest with the Goths. Defeated by them, they sought the protection of Rome, and enlisted in her armies. In 406 they [pg 640] invaded Gaul, and advanced to the Pyrenees, inflicting every atrocity. They then crossed into Spain, and settled in Andalusia, A.D. 409, and resumed the agricultural life they had led in Pannonia. The Roman governor of Spain intrigued with their old enemies, the Goths, then settled in Gaul, to make an attack upon them, under Wallia. Worried and incensed, the Vandals turned against the Romans, and routed them, and got possession of the peninsula.
The Vandals in Africa.
It was then that Aetius, the general of Valentinian III., persuaded the emperor,—or rather his mother, Placidia, the real ruler,—to recall Boniface from the government of Africa. He refused the summons, revolted, and called to his aid the Vandals, who had possession of Spain. They were commanded by Genseric, one of those hideous monsters, who combined great military talents with every vice. He responded to the call of Boniface, and invaded Africa, rich in farms and cities, whose capital, Carthage, was once more the rival of Rome, and had even outgrown Alexandria as a commercial city. With fifty thousand warriors, Genseric devastated the country, and Boniface, too late repenting of his error, turned against the common foe, but was defeated, and obliged to cede to the barbarians three important provinces, A.D. 432.