Stelle Anno itaque ab urbe condita MCLXIII...; (Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418), Lib. 7, Cap. 40, 1-10 (Vol. III, pp. 117-20, trans. Fear, pp. 404-6)) [2226]

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ID 2226
Text Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418) Orosius
Quotation Anno itaque ab urbe condita MCLXIIII inruptio urbis per Alaricum facta est: cuius rei quamuis recens memoria sit, tamen si quis ipsius populi Romani et multitudinem uideat et uocem audiat, nihil factum, sicut etiam ipsi fatentur, arbitrabitur, nisi aliquantis adhuc existentibus ex incendio ruinis forte doceatur. 2 In ea inruptione Placidia, Theodosii principis filia, Arcadii et Honorii imperatorum soror, ab Athaulfo, Alarici propinquo, capta atque in uxorem adsumpta, quasi eam diuino iudicio uelut speciale pignus obsidem Roma tradiderit, ita iuncta potentissimo barbari regis coniugio multo reipublicae commodo fuit. 3 Interea ante biennium Romanae inruptionis excitatae per Stiliconem gentes Alanorum, ut dixi. Sueuorum, Vandalorum, multaeque cum his aliae, Francos proterunt, Rhenum transeunt, Gallias inuadunt directoque impetu Pyrenaeum usque perueniunt; cuius obice ad tempus repulsae, per circumiacentes prouincias refunduntur. 4 His per Gallias bacchantibus, apud Britannias Gratianus, municeps eiusdem insulae, tyrannus creatur et occiditur. 5 Misit in Hispanias iudices: quos cum prouinciae oboedienter accepissent, duo fratres iuuenes nobiles et locupletes Didymus et Verinianus non assumere aduersus tyrannum quidem tyrannidem sed imperatori iusto aduersus tyrannum et barbaros tueri sese patriamque suam moliti sunt. quod ipso gestae rei ordine patuit. 6 Nam tyrannidem nemo nisi celeriter maturatam secrete inuadit et publice armat, cuius summa est assumpto diademate ac purpura uideri antequam sciri; hi uero plurimo tempore seruulos tantum suos ex propriis praediis colligentes ac uernaculis alentes sumptibus nec dissimulato proposito absque cuiusquam inquietudine ad Pyrenaei claustra tendebant. 7 Aduersus hos Constantinus Constantem filium suum, - pro dolor! - ex monacho Caesarem factum, cum barbaris quibusdam, qui quondam in foedus recepti atque in militiam allecti Honoriaci uocabantur, in Hispanias misit. hinc apud Hispanias prima mali labes. 8 Nam interfectis illis fratribus, qui tutari priuato praesidio Pyrenaei Alpes moliebantur, his barbaris quasi in pretium uictoriae primum praedandi in Palentinis campis licentia data, dehinc supra dicti montis claustrorumque eius cura permissa est remota rusticanorum fideli et utili custodia. 9 Igitur Honoriaci inbuti praeda et inlecti abundantia, quo magis scelus inpunitum foret atque ipsi sceleri plus liceret, prodita Pyrenaei custodia claustrisque patefactis cunctas gentes, quae per Gallias uagabantur, Hispaniarum prouinciis inmittunt isdemque ipsi adiunguntur: 10 ubi actis aliquamdiu magnis cruentisque discursibus, post graues rerum atque hominum uastationes, de quibus ipsos quoque modo paenitet, habita sorte et distributa usque ad nunc possessione consistunt.
Translation 1. And so 1,164 years after the foundation of the City, the City was breached by Alaric. Although this deed is of recent memory, if anyone were to see the great numbers of Rome’s population and listen to them, he would think, as they themselves say, that ‘nothing had happened’, unless he were to learn of it by chance from the few ruins which still remain from the fire. 2. During the breach, Placidia, Prince Theodosius’s daughter, and sister of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, was captured and married by Athaulf, a kinsman of Alaric and, as if Divine Judgment had made Rome hand her over as a hostage and, as it were, a special pledge of goodwill, finding herself in an influential marriage to a powerful barbarian was of great use to the state. 3. Meanwhile, two years before the breach of Rome, the Alans, Sueves, Vandals, and many other tribes with them, were, as I have mentioned, roused up by Stilicho, crushed the Franks, crossed the Rhine, invaded the Gallic provinces, and marched straight through them as far as the Pyrenees. They were halted by this barrier for a time and poured back over the neighbouring provinces. 4. While they indulged in an orgy of destruction in the Gallic provinces, in the British provinces Gratian, a citizen of that island, usurped power and was killed. Constantine, a man from the lowest ranks of the army, lacking in any ability, and whose only appeal was in his name, was chosen in his stead. Immediately he had usurped power, he invaded the Gallic provinces where he did great harm to the state, frequently being made a fool of by the barbarians, who broke the treaties they made with him. 5. He sent governors to the Spanish provinces. These were received obediently, but two young brothers, the noble landowners, Didymus and Verinian, acted not to usurp the usurper, but to defend themselves and their country for their lawful emperor against the usurper and the barbarians. 6. This was made clear from the order of events, for every usurper plots swiftly, makes his attempt in secret, and then openly defends his gains. The most important thing is to be seen wearing the diadem and purple before being known to have this wish. These two, however, spent a great deal of time gathering together merely their serfs from their own estates, feeding them at their own expense, and, with no attempt to hide their intentions, marched to the passes in the Pyrenees without causing any disquiet. 7. Constantine sent his son Constans to the Spanish provinces to fight them – O, the shame of it! He had been a monk and was made a Caesar – along with some barbarians with whom he had once made a treaty and recruited into his service, calling them the Honoriaci. This was the beginning of the Spanish provinces’ downfall. 8. When they had killed the two brothers who were trying to defend the Pyrenean Alps with their private army, these barbarians were first granted permission to plunder the fields of Palencia as a sort of reward for their victory, and then entrusted with the task of guarding the Pyrenees and their passes, this job being taken away from the old and reliable guard composed of the peasantry. 9. As a consequence, the Honoriaci, loaded down with plunder and further tempted by the wealth of the province to let their crimes go all the more unpunished and to have more scope for crime, betraying their watch over the Pyrenees, opened the passes and let all the tribes who were wandering through the Gallic provinces into the Spanish provinces and joined with them. 10. After indulging for a time there in great and bloody raids and causing destruction of both life and property, things for which they too now have some regret, they drew lots to divide up their gains and settled in those parts which they hold to this day.
Quotation source Lib. 7, Cap. 40, 1-10 (Vol. III, pp. 117-20, trans. Fear, pp. 404-6)
Temporal Coverage 410 - 411
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