History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0164/01640.txt

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$Unique_ID{how01640}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Part III.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Gibbon, Edward}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{attila
eunuch
footnote
theodosius
chrysaphius
son
tom

}
$Date{1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)}
$Log{}
Title:       History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Book:        Chapter XXXIV: Attila.
Author:      Gibbon, Edward
Date:        1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)

Part III.

     I must acknowledge myself unable to form any satisfactory theory as to
the connection of these poems with the history of the time, or the period,
from which they may date their origin; notwithstanding the laborious
investigations and critical sagacity of the Schlegels, the Grimms, of P. E.
Muller and Lachman, and a whole host of German critics and antiquaries; not to
omit our own countryman, Mr. Herbert, whose theory concerning Attila is
certainly neither deficient in boldness nor originality.  I conceive the only
way to obtain any thing like a clear conception on this point would be what
Lachman has begun, (see above,) patiently to collect and compare the various
forms which the traditions have assumed, without any preconceived, either
mythical or poetical, theory, and, if possible, to discover the original basis
of the whole rich and fantastic legend.  One point, which to me is strongly in
favor of the antiquity of this poetic cycle, is, that the manners are so
clearly anterior to chivalry, and to the influence exercised on the poetic
literature of Europe by the chivalrous poems and romances.  I think I find
some traces of that influence in the Latin poem, though strained through the
imagination of a monk.

     The English reader will find an amusing account of the German Nibelungen
and Heldenbuch, and of some of the Scandinavian Sagas, in the volume of
Northern Antiquities published by Weber, the friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Scott himself contributed a considerable, no doubt far the most valuable, part
to the work.  See also the various German editions of the Nibelungen, to which
Lachman, with true German perseverance, has compiled a thick volume of various
readings; the Heldenbuch, the old Danish poems by Grimm, the Eddas, &c.
Herbert's Attila, p. 510, et seq. - M.]

[Footnote 46: If we may believe Plutarch, (in Demetrio, tom. v. p. 24,) it was
the custom of the Scythians, when they indulged in the pleasures of the table,
to awaken their languid courage by the martial harmony of twanging their
bow-strings.]

[Footnote *: The Scythian was an idiot or lunatic; the Moor a regular buffcon
- M.]

[Footnote 47: The curious narrative of this embassy, which required few
observations, and was not susceptible of any collateral evidence, may be found
in Priscus, p. 49 - 70. But I have not confined myself to the same order; and
I had previously extracted the historical circumstances, which were less
intimately connected with the journey, and business, of the Roman
ambassadors.]

     But the Roman ambassador was ignorant of the treacherous design, which
had been concealed under the mask of the public faith.  The surprise and
satisfaction of Edecon, when he contemplated the splendor of Constantinople,
had encouraged the interpreter Vigilius to procure for him a secret interview
with the eunuch Chrysaphius, ^48 who governed the emperor and the empire.
After some previous conversation, and a mutual oath of secrecy, the eunuch,
who had not, from his own feelings or experience, imbibed any exalted notions
of ministerial virtue, ventured to propose the death of Attila, as an
important service, by which Edecon might deserve a liberal share of the wealth
and luxury which he admired.  The ambassador of the Huns listened to the
tempting offer; and professed, with apparent zeal, his ability, as well as
readiness, to execute the bloody deed; the design was communicated to the
master of the offices, and the devout Theodosius consented to the
assassination of his invincible enemy. But this perfidious conspiracy was
defeated by the dissimulation, or the repentance, of Edecon; and though he
might exaggerate his inward abhorrence for the treason, which he seemed to
approve, he dexterously assumed the merit of an early and voluntary
confession.  If we now review the embassy of Maximin, and the behavior of
Attila, we must applaud the Barbarian, who respected the laws of hospitality,
and generously entertained and dismissed the minister of a prince who had
conspired against his life.  But the rashness of Vigilius will appear still
more extraordinary, since he returned, conscious of his guilt and danger, to
the royal camp, accompanied by his son, and carrying with him a weighty purse
of gold, which the favorite eunuch had furnished, to satisfy the demands of
Edecon, and to corrupt the fidelity of the guards.  The interpreter was
instantly seized, and dragged before the tribunal of Attila, where he asserted
his innocence with specious firmness, till the threat of inflicting instant
death on his son extorted from him a sincere discovery of the criminal
transaction. Under the name of ransom, or confiscation, the rapacious king of
the Huns accepted two hundred pounds of gold for the life of a traitor, whom
he disdained to punish.  He pointed his just indignation against a nobler
object.  His ambassadors, Eslaw and Orestes, were immediately despatched to
Constantinople, with a peremptory instruction, which it was much safer for
them to execute than to disobey.  They boldly entered the Imperial presence,
with the fatal purse hanging down from the neck of Orestes; who interrogated
the eunuch Chrysaphius, as he stood beside the throne, whether he recognized
the evidence of his guilt.  But the office of reproof was reserved for the
superior dignity of his colleague Eslaw, who gravely addressed the emperor of
the East in the following words: "Theodosius is the son of an illustrious and
respectable parent: Attila likewise is descended from a noble race; and he has
supported, by his actions, the dignity which he inherited from his father
Mundzuk.  But Theodosius has forfeited his paternal honors, and, by consenting
to pay tribute has degraded himself to the condition of a slave.  It is
therefore just, that he should reverence the man whom fortune and merit have
placed above him; instead of attempting, like a wicked slave, clandestinely to
conspire against his master." The son of Arcadius, who was accustomed only to
the voice of flattery, heard with astonishment the severe language of truth:
he blushed and trembled; nor did he presume directly to refuse the head of
Chrysaphius, which Eslaw and Orestes were instructed to demand.  A solemn
embassy, armed with full powers and magnificent gifts, was hastily sent to
deprecate the wrath of Attila; and his pride was gratified by the choice of
Nomius and Anatolius, two ministers of consular or patrician rank, of whom the
one was great treasurer, and the other was master-general of the armies of the
East.  He condescended to meet these ambassadors on the banks of the River
Drenco; and though he at first affected a stern and haughty demeanor, his
anger was insensibly mollified by their eloquence and liberality.  He
condescended to pardon the emperor, the eunuch, and the interpreter; bound
himself by an oath to observe the conditions of peace; released a great number
of captives; abandoned the fugitives and deserters to their fate; and resigned
a large territory, to the south of the Danube, which he had already exhausted
of its wealth and inhabitants.  But this treaty was purchased at an expense
which might have supported a vigorous and successful war; and the subjects of
Theodosius were compelled to redeem the safety of a worthless favorite by
oppressive taxes, which they would more cheerfully have paid for his
destruction. ^49

[Footnote 48: M. de Tillemont has very properly given the succession of
chamberlains, who reigned in the name of Theodosius.  Chrysaphius was the
last, and, according to the unanimous evidence of history, the worst of these
favorites, (see Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 117 - 119. Mem. Eccles. tom.
xv. p. 438.) His partiality for his godfather the heresiarch Eutyches, engaged
him to persecute the orthodox party]

[Footnote 49: This secret conspiracy and its important consequences, may be
traced in the fragments of Priscus, p. 37, 38, 39, 54, 70, 71, 72.  The
chronology of that historian is not fixed by any precise date; but the series
of negotiations between Attila and the Eastern empire must be included within
the three or four years which are terminated, A.D. 450. by the death of
Theodosius.]

     The emperor Theodosius did not long survive the most humiliating
circumstance of an inglorious life.  As he was riding, or hunting, in the
neighborhood of Constantinople, he was thrown from his horse into the River
Lycus: the spine of the back was injured by the fall; and he expired some days
afterwards, in the fiftieth year of his age, and the forty-third of his reign.
^50 His sister Pulcheria, whose authority had been controlled both in civil
and ecclesiastical affairs by the pernicious influence of the eunuchs, was
unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East; and the Romans, for the first
time, submitted to a female reign.  No sooner had Pulcheria ascended the
throne, than she indulged her own and the public resentment, by an act of
popular justice.  Without any legal trial, the eunuch Chrysaphius was executed
before the gates of the city; and the immense riches which had been
accumulated by the rapacious favorite, served only to hasten and to justify
his punishment. ^51 Amidst the general acclamations of the clergy and people,
the empress did not forget the prejudice and disadvantage to which her sex was
exposed; and she wisely resolved to prevent their murmurs by the choice of a
colleague, who would always respect the superior rank and virgin chastity of
his wife.  She gave her hand to Marcian, a senator, about sixty years of age;
and the nominal husband of Pulcheria was solemnly invested with the Imperial
purple.  The zeal which he displayed for the orthodox creed, as it was
established by the council of Chalcedon, would alone have inspired the
grateful eloquence of the Catholics.  But the behavior of Marcian in a private
life, and afterwards on the throne, may support a more rational belief, that
he was qualified to restore and invigorate an empire, which had been almost
dissolved by the successive weakness of two hereditary monarchs.  He was born
in Thrace, and educated to the profession of arms; but Marcian's youth had
been severely exercised by poverty and misfortune, since his only resource,
when he first arrived at Constantinople, consisted in two hundred pieces of
gold, which he had borrowed of a friend.  He passed nineteen years in the
domestic and military service of Aspar, and his son Ardaburius; followed those
powerful generals to the Persian and African wars; and obtained, by their
influence, the honorable rank of tribune and senator.  His mild disposition,
and useful talents, without alarming the jealousy, recommended Marcian to the
esteem and favor of his patrons; he had seen, perhaps he had felt, the abuses
of a venal and oppressive administration; and his own example gave weight and
energy to the laws, which he promulgated for the reformation of manners. ^52

[Footnote 50: Theodorus the Reader, (see Vales. Hist. Eccles. tom. iii. p.
563,) and the Paschal Chronicle, mention the fall, without specifying the
injury: but the consequence was so likely to happen, and so unlikely to be
invented, that we may safely give credit to Nicephorus Callistus, a Greek of
the fourteenth century.]

[Footnote 51: Pulcheriae nutu (says Count Marcellinus) sua cum avaritia
interemptus est.  She abandoned the eunuch to the pious revenge of a son,
whose father had suffered at his instigation.

     Note: Might not the execution of Chrysaphius have been a sacrifice to
avert the anger of Attila, whose assassination the eunuch had attempted to
contrive? - M.]

[Footnote 52: de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4.  Evagrius, l. ii. c. 1. Theophanes,
p. 90, 91. Novell. ad Calcem. Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 30. The praises which
St. Leo and the Catholics have bestowed on Marcian, are diligently transcribed
by Baronius, as an encouragement for future princes.]