Jovian was now proclaimed emperor by the Eastern army, and concluded a dishonorable peace with the Persians. He next published an edict restoring Christianity, but was found dead in his bed, A.D. 364.
Valentinian was next chosen emperor, who gave the Eastern provinces to his brother Valens. He made Milan the seat of his own government, while Valens reigned at Constantinople; and the empire was from this time divided into the Eastern and the Western. The whole of the Western world was distressed by the invasion of barbarous tribes, and Valentinian now made his son Gratian his heir, in order to remove all doubt as to the succession. The Saxon pirates, meantime, harassed all the coasts of Gaul, while Britain was invaded by the Picts and Scots. Theodosius, however, defeated them, and was soon after sent to quell an insurrection in Africa. This he succeeded in doing, when Valentinian died suddenly, A.D. 375.
Valens, his brother, meantime had suppressed a rebellion in the East, led by Procopius; and then, having become an Arian, commenced a severe persecution of the orthodox, of whom no fewer than eighty ecclesiastics were put to death for supporting the election of a bishop of their own faith at Constantinople. Valens also succeeded in repelling the attacks of the Persians.
In the West Valentinian had been succeeded by his sons Gratian and Valentinian II. The brave Theodosius, meanwhile, whose valor had preserved the peace of the nation, was executed by order of Gratian, and soon after the Huns appeared upon the Danube. These savages are thought to have entered Europe from Tartary. Their faces were artificially flattened and their beards plucked out. They left the cultivation of their fields to the women or slaves, and devoted their lives to warfare. A wandering race, they built no cities nor houses, and never slept beneath a roof. They lived upon horseback. The Huns first attacked their fellow-barbarians, the Ostrogoths, and made a fearful carnage, putting all the women and children to death.
The Gothic nation now begged permission from the Romans to cross the Danube, and settle within the Roman territory. Their request was granted, upon condition that they should surrender all their arms; but this condition was imperfectly fulfilled. The celebrated Bishop Ulphilas about this time converted the Goths to Arianism, invented a Gothic alphabet, and infused among the Goths a hatred for the Catholic faith, which served to increase their zeal in all their future conflicts with the Romans. Ill-treated by the Roman commissioners who had been sent by the Emperor Valens to superintend their settlement, the Goths marched against Constantinople. Valens wrote to Gratian for aid, and the latter, although his own dominions were harassed by the Germans, marched to the aid of his uncle, but died at Sirmium. Valens encountered Fritigern, the Gothic leader, near Adrianople, in A.D. 378, and was defeated and slain. Nearly the whole of the Roman army was destroyed upon this fatal field.
Gratian now chose as his colleague Theodosius, the son of the former brave commander of that name, and Theodosius for a time restored the Roman empire. He defeated the Goths, won their affections by his clemency, and induced them to protect the frontiers of the Danube. Gratian was defeated and put to death, A.D. 383, by a usurper, Maximus, who also deprived Valentinian II. of his province of Italy. Theodosius, however, defeated the usurper in A.D. 388, and generously restored Valentinian to his throne. Valentinian was murdered by a Frank, Arbogastes, in A.D. 392, but Theodosius marched against him, and defeated and destroyed the rebels Arbogastes and Eugenius, A.D. 394.
Theodosius the Great, who had thus reunited the empire under his own sway, belonged to the orthodox faith, and sought to suppress Arianism, as well as many other heresies which, had crept into the Christian Church. He was a prudent ruler, and resisted successfully the inroads of the barbarians. He divided his empire between his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius, the former becoming Emperor of the West, the latter, who was the elder, succeeding his father at Constantinople; and Theodosius soon after died, lamented by his subjects. Rufinus, who became the chief minister of Arcadius, oppressed and plundered the Eastern empire. He was universally hated by the people. Stilicho, on the other hand, who also became the chief minister of Honorius, was a very different character. He was a brave and active commander, and restored the former glory of the Roman arms. His chief opponent was the famous Alaric, who now united the Gothic forces under his own command, and, having penetrated into Greece, ravaged and desolated that unhappy country. The barbarians plundered Athens, Corinth, Sparta, and Argos; and those cities, once so renowned for valor, seemed to offer him no resistance, so fallen was the ancient spirit of the Greeks. Stilicho, however, pursued Alaric into Elis, and would, perhaps, have totally destroyed the barbarians had not the feeble Arcadius not only made peace with Alaric, but appointed him to the command of Illyricum. Alaric, not long after, invaded Italy, but was defeated by his rival. In A.D. 403 he again invaded Italy, and was induced to retreat by a considerable bribe.
The Emperor Honorius removed from Rome to Ravenna, where he believed himself more secure; and when a new horde of barbarians invaded Italy in A.D. 406, and had besieged Florence, they were totally defeated and destroyed by Stilicho. A portion of the invaders escaped into Gaul, where they committed great ravages, until Constantine, the governor of Britain, was proclaimed emperor, who wrested Gaul and Spain from the dominion of Honorius. This weak prince, in A.D. 408, consented to the murder of Stilicho. His new minister, Olympius, directed the slaughter of the families of the barbarians throughout Italy, a cruelty which was fearfully avenged.
Alaric, the scourge of Rome, marched into Italy, and in A.D. 408 besieged the capital. Pestilence and famine soon raged within the walls of Rome, until the Senate purchased a respite from their calamities by an enormous ransom. Honorius refused to confirm the treaty, and the next year Alaric once more appeared before the city. He took possession of Ostia, the port of Rome, reduced the Senate to surrender, and proclaimed Attalus emperor. Honorius still refusing to yield to his demands, Alaric resolved to punish Rome for the vices of its emperor. The sack of that city now followed, one of the most fearful tragedies in history.
No foreign enemy had appeared before the gates of Rome since the invasion of Hannibal, until Alaric made his successful inroad into Italy. The city still retained all that magnificence with which it had been invested by the emperors. The Colosseum, the baths, the aqueducts, the palaces of the Senators, the public gardens, and the ancient temples, still remained; but its people were lost in luxury and vice. Learning was no longer respected among them, the gamester or the cook being more esteemed than philosophers or poets; and the luxurious Senators passed their lives in frivolous and degrading amusements. The indolent people were maintained by a daily distribution of bread, baked in the public ovens; and oil, wine, and bacon were also provided for them during a part of the year. The public baths were open to the people, and for a small copper coin they might enter those scenes of luxury where the walls were incrusted with precious marble, and perpetual streams of hot water flowed from silver tubes. From the bath they passed to the Circus, where, although the combats of gladiators had been suppressed by Christian princes, a succession of amusements was still provided. In this manner the luxurious nobles and people of Rome passed their tranquil, inglorious lives.