Source: James Harvey Robinson, Readings in European History (Boston: Ginn and Company. 1904). Transcribed by Robert Brant.
The West Goths [terrified
by the victories of the Huns over the East Goths] requested Emperor Valens
to grant them a portion of Thrace or Moesia south of the Danube in which
to settle. They promised to obey his laws and commands and, in order
still further to gain his confidence, they engaged to become Christians
if only the emperor would send to them teachers who knew their language.
When Valens heard this he readily agreed to a plan which he might himself
have proposed. He received the Goths’ into Moesia and erected them,
so to speak, into a sort of rampart to protect his empire against the other
tribes.
Now, since Valens was infected
with the heresy of the Arians and had closed all the churches which belonged
to our party [i.e. the orthodox], he sent the Goths preachers of his own
infection. These missionaries poured out for the newcomers, who were
inexperienced and ignorant, the poison of their own false faith.
So the West Goths were made Arians rather than Christians by Emperor Valens.
Moreover, in their enthusiasm they converted their kinsmen, the East Goths
and the Gepidae, and taught them to respect this heresy. They invited
all nations of their own tongue everywhere to adopt the creed of this sect.
When news of this reached
the emperor Valens at Antioch, he hastened with an army into Thrace.
Here it came to a miserable battle in which the Goths conquered.
The emperor fled to a peasant’s hut not far from Adrianople. The
Goths, according to the custom of the raging enemy, set fire to the buildings,
having no idea that there was an emperor hidden in the little hut, and
so he was consumed in his kingly pomp. This was in accordance with
God’s judgment that he should be burned with fire by them, since when they
asked for the true faith, he misled them with false teaching and changed
for them the fire of love into the fire of hell.
After the great and glorious victory, the West Goths set themselves
to cultivate Thrace and the Dacian river valley as if it were their native
soil of which they had just gained possession.
[There they remained, hostile
to the Empire, and a perpetual menace. Finally Theodosius the Great,
the brace and stern, the wise and liberal, ended the war between the Goths
and Romans by a treaty. By his presents and his own friendly bearing,
he won the friendships of Athanaric, king of the West Goths, and invited
him to go to Constantinople.]
When the West Goth entered
the royal city he was astounded. “Now I see what I have often heard
without believing --- the glory of this great city.” Looking here
and there, he admired the site of the city, and the number of ships, and
the magnificent walls. He saw people of many nations, like a stream
flowing from different sources into one fountain. He marveled at
the martial array of the soldiers and exclaimed, “Doubtless the emperor
is a god of this earth, and whoever has raised his hand against him is
guilty of his own blood.”
A few months later, Athanaric,
upon whom the emperor heaped his favors, departed from this world, and
the emperor, because of his affection for Athanaric, honored him almost
more in death that he had done in life, gave him worthy burial, and was
himself present beside the bier at the funeral.
After the death of Athanaric, all his army remained in the service
of the emperor Theodosius, submitted to the Roman power, and formed, as
it were, one body with its soldiers. They resembled the allies whom
Constantine had had, who were called Foederati.
After Theodosius, who cherished
both peace and the Gothic people, had departed this life, his sons [Honorius
and Arcadius], through their lives of indulgence, began to bring ruin down
upon their empires and withdrew from their allies, the Goths, the accustomed
gifts. The Goths soon grew disgusted with the emperors, and since
they were fearful lest their bravery in war should decline by too long
a period of peace, they made Alaric their king….So, since the said Alaric
was chosen king, he took counsel with his fellows and declared to them
that is was preferable to conquer a kingdom through one’s own force rather
than to live in peace under the yoke of strangers.
He thereupon took his army
and advanced, during the consulate of Stilicho and Aurelianus, through
Pannonia and Sirmium into Italy. This country was so completely deprived
of forces that Alaric approached without opposition to the bridge over
the Candiano, three miles from the imperial city of Ravenna….
The Goths sent messengers
to the emperor Honorius who was at Ravenna, requesting that they might
be permitted to settle quietly in Italy. Should they be allowed to
do this, they would live as one people with the Romans; otherwise they
would try which people could expel the other, the victor to remain in control.
But the emperor Honorius, fearing both suggestions, took counsel with his
senate how they might rid Italy of the Goths. He at last concluded
to assign the distant provinces of Gaul and Spain to the West Goths.
He had, indeed, already nearly lost these districts, for they had been
devastated by an incursion of Genseric, king of the Vandals. If Alaric
and his people could succeed in conquering this region, they might have
it as their home.
[The Goths agreed to this,
but on their way thither were treacherously attacked by Stilicho, the emperor’s
father-in-law. The Goths, however, held their own in the battle which
followed. They turned back, full of wrath, towards Italy, and wasted
the northern part of the peninsula during the following years; then moved
south into Tuscany.]
Finally they entered the
city of Rome and sacked it at Alaric’s command. They did not, however,
set fire to the city, as is the custom of the wild peoples, and would not
permit that any of the holy places should be desecrated. They then
proceeded into Campania and Lucania, which they likewise plundered, and
came then to Britii….
Alaric, the king of the
West Goths, also brought hither the treasures of all Italy which he had
won by plunder, and determined to cross from here over to Sicily and thence
to Africa which would offer him a final abode. But a number of his
ships were swallowed up by that fearful sea, and many were injured; for
man is unable to carry out his wishes when they are opposed by God’s will.
While Alaric, discouraged
by this misfortune, was considering what he should do, he was struck down
by an early death and departed this world. His followers mourned
the loss of him they had so dearly loved. They diverted the river
Busento from its ordinary bed near the town of Consentia --- this river,
it may be added, brings salubrious water from the foot of the mountains
to the town --- and had a grave dug by captives in the middle of the channel.
Here they buried Alaric, together with many precious objects. Then
they permitted the water to return once to its old bed. Moreover,
in order that the place might never be found, they killed all those who
had helped dig the grave.
The Goths transferred the
rule to Atavulf, a relative of Alaric’s, and a man of fine figure and lofty
spirit, who, although he was not distinguished for his size, was remarkable
for his figure and face. When Atavulf had assumed the rule he turned
back again to Rome, and what had been left there from the first sack was
now swept clean away, as a field might be devastated by grasshoppers.
He robbed not only individuals of their wealth in Italy, but he also took
that of the state, and Emperor Honorius was able in no way to restrain
him. He even led away prisoner from Rome Placidia, the sister of
Honorius, and daughter of Emperor Theodosius by his second wife.
[Later he married Placidia
and strengthened the Gothic cause by this royal alliance. He then
moved on to Gaul, where he engaged in a struggle with the other barbarians.]