Fall of Carthage.
Peace was not of long duration, and the Vandals renewed the war, on the retreat of Boniface to Italy, where he was killed in a duel, by Aetius. All Africa was overrun, and Carthage was taken and plundered, and met a doom as awful as Tyre and Jerusalem, for her iniquities were flagrant, and called to heaven for vengeance. In the sack of the city, the writings of Augustine, bishop of Hippo, were fortunately preserved as a thesaurus of Christian theological literature, the influence of which can hardly be overrated in the dark period which succeeded, A.D. 439.
Vandals in Italy. Sack of Rome by the Vandals.
The Vandals then turned their eyes to Rome, and landed on the Italian coast. The last hope of the imperial city, now threatened by an overwhelming force, [pg 641] was her Christian bishop—the great Leo, who hastened to the barbarians' camp, and in his pontifical robes, sought the mercy of the unrelenting and savage foe. But he could secure no better terms, than that the unresisting should be spared, the buildings protected from fire, and the captives from torture. But this promise was only partially fulfilled. The pillage lasted fourteen days and fourteen nights, and all that the Goths had spared was transported to the ships of Genseric. The statues of the old pagan gods, which adorned the capitol, the holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which Titus had brought from Jerusalem, the shrines and altars of the Christian churches, the costly ornaments of the imperial palace, the sideboards of massive silver from senatorial mansions,—the gold, the silver, the brass, the precious marbles,—were all transported to the ships. The Empress Eudoxia, herself, stripped of her jewels, was carried away captive, with her two daughters, the sole survivors of the family of Theodosius.
The fall of Rome.
Such was the doom of Rome, A.D. 455, forty-five years after the Gothic invasion. The haughty city met the fate which she had inflicted on her rivals, and nothing remained but desolation and recollections.
The Huns.
While the Vandals were plundering Rome, the Huns—a Sclavonic race, hideous and revolting barbarians, under Attila, called the scourge of God, were ravaging the remaining provinces of the empire. Never since the days of Xerxes was there such a gathering of nations as now inundated the Roman world—some five hundred thousand warriors, chiefly Asiatic, armed with long quivers and heavy lances, cuirasses of plaited hair, scythes, round bucklers, and short swords. This host, composed of Huns, Alans, Gepidæ, and other tribes, German as well as Asiatic, from the plains of Sarmatia, and the banks of the Vistula and Niemen, extended from Bash to the mouth of the Rhine. The great object of attack was Orleans—an important strategic position.
Battle of Chalons.
The leader of the imperial forces was Aetius, banished for [pg 642] the death of Boniface, composed of Britains, Franks, Burgundians, Sueves, Saxons, and Visigoths. It was not now the Romans against barbarians, but Europe against Asia. The contending forces met on the plains of Champagne, and at Chalons was fought the decisive battle by which Europe was delivered from Asia, and the Gothic nations from the Mongol races, A.D. 451. Attila was beaten, and Gaul was saved from Sclavonic invaders. It is said that three hundred thousand of the barbarians, on both sides, were slain.