[g] Ducas, Historia Byzantina.
[For a further list of works on the Later Roman Empire in the East, see the General Bibliography of Roman History in Volume VI.]
BOOK II
THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY IN OUTLINE OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE SWEEP OF EVENTS AND A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY
Having followed the fortunes of the Later Roman Empire in the East to the final collapse, we return now to the ancient seat of the Roman Empire, where we are to witness a process at once of disintegration and of development—disintegration of the old Roman influence, development of civilisation and power in the new peoples of the north. Our caption “Later Roman Empire in the West” or “Western Empire” must be understood as applying rather loosely to the peoples now under consideration. We have already (in Vol. VI) witnessed the overthrow of Rome by the Goths and the deposition of the last legitimate emperor of the old Roman line. It has been urged, however, that no really critical alteration in the sweep of world-historic events attended this change.
The fall of Rome marks a convenient epoch in the retrospective view of the historian; it was scarcely an event that could greatly have impressed contemporary witnesses. Odoacer acknowledged the authority of Zeno, emperor of the West, and when Odoacer himself was assailed and overthrown by Theodoric, the latter acted under the influence and authority of the same emperor. And for some centuries the rulers of Italy regarded themselves either as representatives or opponents of the Roman Empire. The Goths, the Lombards, and the Franks in turn invaded Italy and came to dominate her affairs. Yet in theory the Western Empire was still the Roman Empire—though Rome herself had long since fallen from her old time position as capital. It will be recalled that as early as the time of Diocletian the seat of government for the Western division of the empire was transferred to Mediolanum (Milan), and that, at a later day, Honorius made Ravenna his capital. Still the traditional glory of old Rome could not be altogether effaced, and as time went on the ancient city came once more to be regarded as the centre of Italian influence. It was in Rome that Charlemagne was crowned as emperor of the West in the year 800, and his successors repaired to the same ancient capital to receive the imperial dignity for some centuries afterward.
Meantime the real centre of world influence in the West had been shifting to the north. The true capital of the empire of Charlemagne was Aachen (Aix la Chapelle). The land of his nativity and the seat of his chief activities lay to the north of the Alps. In a word, notwithstanding the retention of the old name, the Roman emperor of the West was ruler over a principality that differed radically from the old Roman principality. There was no longer any life in the Latin race. Its time of decadence had come. All hope for progress and development, all prospect of new world influences, lay with the peoples of the north—peoples of wonderful capacities, whose greatest traits could only hope to be developed after many generations of civilisation. A barbarian race cannot attain at once to all the fruits of higher culture. Just as in the early day the Greek and Roman worked their way slowly up to the high plane of world historical influence through many pre-historic generations, so these new races of the north must be given time for development before they could hope to rival in the fruits of their civilisation the works of the old empires of the south. They were to make progress rapidly, partly because they had the old civilisation as a model after which to build; but it was not to be expected that even this aid would enable them to cross the chasm between barbarism and higher civilisation at a bound.
In point of fact, they required some centuries for this development. And since during this time the old civilisation at the south had ceased to be productive, these centuries are known to posterity as the Dark Ages. Nevertheless, there are here and there rays of light in the gloom. At its worst the Western world did not recede into utter barbarism, though it certainly sank far back from the intellectual level of the earlier day. Fortunately, scholarship sufficed to produce records that enable us to form as complete a picture of the life and development of the period as need be desired. Following our custom we shall first outline the sweep of events in chronological epitome before turning to the detailed narrative.