having procured the murder of Valentinian III. and married his widow Eudoxia, had reigned three months, when the fleet of Genseric entered the port of Ostia to take vengeance on the guilty emperor, who was torn in pieces by the exasperated populace, while the injuries of ancient Carthage were avenged by its new citizens. Rome, which in forty-five years had recovered its magnificence and forgotten the depredations of Alaric, was given up during fourteen days to the license of the invaders. On the abolition of paganism, the capitol had been abandoned, but the statues of the gods and heroes which adorned it were respected; all of which, with the celebrated roof of gilded bronze, fell into the hands of Genseric. The golden table and candlestick, brought from Jerusalem several centuries before, were transported to Carthage by a barbarian who drew his first breath on the shores of the Baltic. The Christian churches and the treasures of the imperial palace offered a rich booty; but the vessel loaded with the spoils of the capitol, the most precious objects of art, foundered on its passage. Thousands of Romans of both sexes, whose charms or talents might contribute to the pleasures of their masters, were removed to Africa, where they furnished Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, with the opportunity of exercising his boundless charity. Eudoxia herself, who was plundered of her jewels while hastening to meet her liberator and ally, also followed the Vandal into a captivity which was shared by her daughters.

Genseric during twenty years was the terror of the East and West. With his numerous fleet, which he always commanded in person, he desolated all the coasts of the Mediterranean. After his death 477, the Vandal kingdom was incessantly agitated by religious persecutions or harassed by the Moors, until Belisarius reduced Africa once more under the Byzantine dominion, 534.

END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.-During the twenty years which elapsed from the death of Valentinian in 455, Italy had acknowledged the rule of nine successive emperors. Most of them were mere puppets, managed by Ricimer, the commander of the barbarian mercenaries in the pay of Rome, and who was too prudent to assume in his own person the title of Augustus. Of all these, MAJORIAN was the only one who merited the title and station. He enacted many wise laws, reformed the imposition and collection of taxes, and endeavoured to preserve the monuments of the city from destruction at the hands of its own inhabitants. Nor, while thus peacefully

occupied, did he neglect the external relations of the state. The Vandals and Moors were defeated at the mouth of the Liris, and Genseric's brother-in-law was among the slain. With a brave and disciplined army, the active monarch crossed the Alps in the middle of winter, marching on foot at the head of his legions, sounding the depth of the snow, and encouraging by his example the barbarians, who complained of the severity of the cold. His intention was to pass through Gaul and Spain into Numidia, and to overthrow the Vandal domination. Gaul submitted to his arms, Spain again recognised the authority of the empire, and a fleet of three hundred galleys was constructed to menace the African shores. But Majorian saw all his expectations blighted; his ships were surprised and burnt in the port of Carthagena, and he himself perished by the hands of his own soldiers, 460. The murderers conferred the supreme dignity successively on three senators-SEVERUS III., ANTHEMIUS, and OLYBRIUS, all equally undeserving of the throne. These were followed by GLYCERIUS and JULIUS NEPOS, who were deposed in their turn, and ended their career, the one in the honours of a bishopric, the other in the retirement of Salona. The patrician Orestes, master-general of the army of Italy, after having been the minister of Attila, invested his son ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS with the purple which he had stripped from Nepos. But the barbarians in the service of the empire, under the name of federates, not succeeding in their demand for one-third of the lands of Italy, revolted under the Herulian Odoacer. Orestes was defeated and killed at Pavia, and the youthful emperor was banished to Lucullanum in Campania, where he soon after died.

ODOACER, A. D. 476, received from his troops the title of King. of Italy; but fearful of exciting jealousy, he never assumed either the purple or diadem. His office was without power; for in case of attack he could not rely on the zeal of the population whom he had despoiled; while his army, composed of men of every race and tribe, without any national tie, and enervated by a long sojourn in the luxurious peninsula, was unable to defend the country against invasion. Although professing the Arian doctrines, he tolerated orthodox believers; he strictly enforced the laws; caused ancient institutions to be respected; re-established the consulate; and, by promoting agriculture, endeavoured to obviate those frequent famines which devastated the cities of Italy,—a necessary consequence of their entire reliance on supplies from Africa and Egypt. After reigning four

teen years, he was attacked by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, and being three times defeated, was driven into Ravenna, where he was blockaded nearly three years. He was at last compelled to surrender; but his rival, not very scrupulous about his plighted word, caused him and his faithful companions to be massacred in the midst of a banquet, 493.

REFLECTIONS.-With the banishment of Augustulus, A. D. 476, ended the Roman empire, 1228 years from its foundation. Its decline was the necessary consequence of its immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principles of decay, which were to be found in the licentiousness of the soldiery, the weakness of the government, and the irruptions of the barbarians. The Queen of Nations fell by the hands of a tribe unknown, even by name, in the days of her pride. Her fall made no noise; it was the last sigh of a victim expiring under a tedious and incurable malady. Her monarchy was no more than a name. Britain was independent; in Gaul a few provinces only remained faithful; Goths and Suevi disputed Spain; the Vandals governed Africa; Italy was crowded with foreign legions; and Germany was daily sending forth her swarms to prey on the riches of the West.

The history of the world took another form. Christianity became the dominant religion, threatened indeed for a time by the furious invasion of Islam. No mighty empire now threw its shadow over the whole world; the monarchies were limited in extent and power; feudalism gave rise to a new order of ideas and feelings; and the usurpations of ecclesiastical authority, while they promoted peace and encouraged the arts, stifled that freedom of thought which is the birthright of every reasonable being. Construct: Synoptical Table of Barbaric Invasions.

Date of Invasion.

People. Chief. Origin. Conquests.

Manners, &c.

Laws, &c.

A. D.

365, Allemanni invade Gaul.

402, Goths invade Italy, under Alaric.

409, Suevi, Vandals, Alani, and other barbarians invade Spain. 419, Burgundians settled in Gaul.

449, Saxons invade Britain.

451, Huns, under Attila, invade Gaul and Italy.

The prophet Daniel, about 550 B. C., foretold the destruction of the Roman empire, and its division into ten kingdoms. Machiavelli, a most unprejudiced authority, gives us the following list:-1. Huns (Hungary) A. D. 356.-2. Ostrogoths (Mosia, Italy) 377.-3. Visigoths (Pannonia) 378.-4. Franks (Gaul) 407.-5. Vandals (Africa) 407.-6. Suevi (Spain) 407.-7. Burgundians (Burgundy) 407.-8. Heruli (Italy) 476.--9. Saxons (Britain) 476.-10. Longobards (Danube) 483; (in Lombardy) 526.

VENICE.

The destructive campaigns of Attila laid the foundation of one of the most commercial and enterprising cities of the Middle Ages. The inhabitants of the Roman province of Venetia, of which the principal cities were Aquileia and Padua, fled from the swords of the Huns, 452, and found an asylum in the midst of the Adriatic islands, on a point named Rialto. The danger over, many continued to inhabit the spot, which, for a long period, was ruled by consuls nominated at Padua. In 709, the Rialto and the adjoining isles began to be governed by their own magistrates; they became independent of the Paduan authorities, and considered themselves a republic. This is the epoch of their first doge, Anafesto, a tribune of the people elected by the citizens. Heraclea was the seat of this republic until the death of their third president.

Consult: Daru's Venice -Sketches of Venetian History, in the Family Library.

GAUL.

Gaul was inhabited in remote antiquity by two nations: the Gauls, from the north of Europe, who filled the country as far as the mountains of Auvergne; and the Aquitanians, from the south, by way of Spain, who lived between the Pyrenees and the Garonne. At a very early period the Ligurians from Spain occupied the district from the Pyrenees to the mouth of the Arno. A Grecian colony of Phocæans settled near the mouths of the Rhone, and founded the city of Marseilles. About 600 B. C., the Cymri, driven by other tribes from the shores of the Black Sea, advanced along the Danube, crossed the Rhine, and forcibly established themselves in that part of Gaul which lies between the Loire and the Seine. This invasion was the cause of the irruption of the Gauls into Italy, where they established themselves in what was afterwards named Gallia Cisalpina. The great Julius formed the whole country into an integral part of the empire, from which period it shared the destinies of Rome.

In the fifth century, with the rest of the Western Empire, Gaul suffered from the ravages of the Northern barbarians. In 406, the Suevi, Vandals, and Alani ravaged it; and in 412, after the death of Alaric, his successor Ataulphus led the Visigoths along the coast of the Mediterranean into Spain. Aquitaine and all the country between the Loire and the Pyrenees formed one kingdom, with Toulouse for its capital. Besides this people, at the end of the reign of Honorius we find two others firmly established in Gaul. The Burgundians, of Teutonic origin, from the banks of the Oder and the Vistula, were first settled near the head of the Maine; but about the year 414, they occupied Alsace and the western parts of Switzerland. Another Teutonic race, the Franks, had emigrated from the Lower Rhine and the Weser, and in 358 were allowed by Julian

to settle in Toxandria (Brabant), where for a time they became the guardians of the Rhine, and the defenders of Gaul. Pharamond, son of Marcomir, an unknown and perhaps fabulous prince, has no title to be regarded as the founder of the French monarchy. This honour belongs rather to Clodion, who crossed the Rhine and made incursions as far as the banks of the Somme, where he was defeated by Etius.* On his decease, a prince of his family, named Meroveus, was raised on the buckler by the Salian Franks in 448, and gave his name to the first or Merovingian line of kings. His son Childeric, at first expelled for his debauchery, was afterwards recalled by the warriors of his tribe, who, during his banishment, had recognised the authority of Ægidius, the Roman governor of Celtic Gaul. Childeric made war on the Visigoths on the banks of the Loire, while the Ripuarian Franks were forming settlements at Cologne. From his adulterous marriage with Basine, wife of the King of the Thuringians, was descended Chlodwig or Clovis, the real conqueror of Gaul.

BRITAIN.

SAXON INVASION.-The Caledonians, celebrated in the wars of Agricola, A. D. 85, disappear, and their place is supplied by the Picts and Scots. The former are supposed to be the Caledonians under a new name, and were of Scandinavian descent. The latter came from Ireland, then called Scotia, and appear to be a division of the Celtic Cotti, whose language, if it remain in that of the Vaudois in the Cottian Alps, was related to the vernacular Irish and Scotch. The barriers which the Romans had built to check the incursions of these fierce tribes, proved unavailing in the feebleness of the empire; but when the Britons were left to themselves, 408, instead of sinking in unmanly despair, they took arms against their enemies, and drove the Picts from their cities. They had thrown off their foreign yoke and declared their independence, before Honorius sent letters to the respective states exhorting them to protect themselves. Britain was never after this subject to the power of the emperors. The whole southern part of the island during the Roman domination appears to have been divided into thirty-three districts, which were all continued after 410, although each city (civitas) claimed and exercised an independent jurisdiction. Vortigern,

*Clodion wore long hair, a mark of distinction introduced from Germany; hence the race of long-haired monarchs. Meroveus is said not to have been a son of Clodion.-Thierry's Letters.