mon man still spoke Aramaic, i.e., Syriac, then one may safely suppose that inside the province the Greek language was not the language of the educated class, but only the language of those who made a special study of it." We might point out the Syrian-Roman Lawbook of the fifth century as shining proof of the fact that the native Syriac language was widely used in the East.91 The oldest Syriac manuscript of this lawbook now in existence was written in the early part of the sixth century, consequently before Justinian's time. This Syriac text, which was probably written in Northeastern Syria, is a translation from the Greek. The Greek original has not yet been discovered, but on the basis of some existing data it must have been written some time during the seventies of the fifth century. At any rate the Syriac translation appeared almost immediately after the publication of the Greek original. In addition to the Syriac text, we have also Arabic and Armenian versions of the lawbook, which was very probably of church origin, since it analyzes with much detail the items of the marriage and inheritance laws and boldly advances the privileges of the clergy. But for our present purpose it is not the content of this lawbook that matters, but rather the fact that it was very widely distributed and applied to the living problems in the East, in the territory between Armenia and Egypt, as evidenced by the numerous different versions of the lawbook, as well as by the borrowings from it found in many Syriac and Arabic works of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Later, when Justinian's legislation became officially obligatory upon the whole Empire, his code proved to be too bulky and difficult of comprehension for the eastern provinces, so that in actual practice, they continued to use the Syriac lawbook as a substitute for the codex. In the seventh century, following the Moslem conquest of the eastern provinces, the same Syriac lawbook was in wide use even under Moslem domination. The fact that this lawbook was translated into Syriac as early as the second half of the fifth century indicates 90 Th. Nöldeke, "Ueber Mommsen's Darstellung der römischen Herrshaft und römischen Politik im Orient," Zeitschrift der morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XXXIX (1885), 334. 91 Bruns and Sachau, Syrisch-Römisches Rechtsbuch aus dem fünften Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1880). clearly that the mass of the people were still unacquainted with Greek or Latin and clung strongly to the native Syriac tongue. In Egypt, in spite of the proximity of Alexandria, the very center of world-culture, Hellenism spread also among the higher class only, i.e., among the people prominent in the social and religious life of the province. The mass of the people continued to speak their native Egyptian (Coptic) language. The central government found it difficult to manage the affairs of the eastern provinces, not only because of the racially varied composition of the population, but also because the great majority of the population of Syria and Egypt and a certain part of Eastern Asia Minor firmly held to Arianism with its subsequent ramifications. The complex racial problem became further complicated in the fifth century by the new important developments in the religious life of these provinces. In the western provinces of the Eastern Empire, i.e., in the Balkan peninsula, in the capital, and the western part of Asia Minor, the important problem of this period was the problem of Germanic power, which threatened the very existence of the Empire. After this problem was settled favorably for the government in the middle of the fifth century it seemed for a while that the savage Isaurians would occupy in the capital a commanding position similar to that of the Goths. In the East the struggle with the Persians continued, while in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula the Bulgarians, a people of Hunnic (Turkish) origin,92 and the Slavs began their devastating attacks. ARCADIUS (395-408) Favorites.-Arcadius was only seventeen when he ascended the throne. He possessed neither the experience nor the force of will necessary for his high position, and he soon found himself completely overruled by his favorites, who directed the affairs of the Empire in a manner satisfactory to their own interests and the interests of their respective parties. The first influential favorite was Rufinus, "On the origin of the earlier Bulgarians, see V. Zlatarski, A History of the State of Bulgaria (Sofia, 1918), I, 23 ff. (in Bulgarian); L. Niederle, Manuel de l'antiquité slave (Paris, 1923), I, 100. appointed during Theodosius' lifetime as general guide of Arcadius. Rufinus was soon murdered, and two years later the eunuch Eutropius exerted the greatest influence upon the Emperor. The rapid rise of this new favorite was due primarily to his success in arranging the marriage of Arcadius and Eudoxia, the daughter of a Frank who served as an officer in the Roman army. Honorius, the younger brother of Arcadius, had been placed by his father under the guidance of the gifted chief, Stilicho, a true example of a romanized Germanic barbarian, who had rendered great service to the Empire during its struggle with his own people. The settlement of the Gothic problem.-The central issue for the government in the time of Arcadius was the Germanic problem. The Visigoths, who had settled during an earlier period in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula, were now headed by a new and ambitious chief, Alaric Balta. At the beginning of the reign of Arcadius, Alaric set out with his people for Moesia, Thrace, and Macedonia, threatening even the capital. The diplomatic intervention of Rufinus brought about a change in Alaric's original plan of attacking Constantinople. The attention of the Goths was directed to Greece. Alaric crossed Thessaly and advanced into Middle Greece by way of Thermopylae. The population of Greece at that period was almost purely Greek, and on the whole almost the same as Pausanias and Plutarch had known it. According to Gregorovius, the old language, religion, customs, and laws of the forefathers remained almost unchanged in the towns and villages. And in spite of the fact that Christianity had been officially pronounced the dominant religion, and the worship of the gods, condemned and forbidden by the state, was doomed to die out, ancient Greece still bore the spiritual and artistic impress of paganism, mainly because of the preservation of the monuments of antiquity." 93 In their march through Greece the Goths pillaged and devastated Boeotia and Attica. The Athenian harbor, Peiraeus, was in their hands; but fortunately they spared Athens. The pagan historian of the fifth century, Zosimus, narrates the legend of how Alaric, upon surrounding the Athenian walls with his army, beheld 93 Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Athen, I, 35. the goddess Athena Promachos in armor, and the Trojan hero, Achilles, standing before the wall. So greatly astonished was Alaric by this apparition that he abandoned the idea of attacking Athens.** The Peloponnesus suffered greatly from the Gothic invasion, for the Visigoths sacked Corinth, Argos, Sparta, and several other cities. Stilicho then undertook to defend Greece, and landed with his troops in the Gulf of Corinth on the Isthmus, thus cutting off Alaric's way back through Middle Greece. Alaric then pushed his way to the North into Epirus with great effort and against many difficulties. The Emperor Arcadius was apparently not ashamed to honor the man who had devastated the Greek provinces of the Empire with the military title of Master of Soldiers in Illyricum (Magister militum per Illyricum). After this Alaric ceases to threaten the eastern part of the Empire and directs his main attention to Italy. In addition to the menace of the Goths in the Balkan peninsula and in Greece, the prevailing Gothic influence since the time of Theodosius the Great was felt particularly in the capital, where the most responsible posts in the army and many of the important administrative positions were in Germanic hands. When Arcadius ascended the throne the most influential party in the capital was the Germanic party, headed by one of the outstanding generals of the imperial army, the Goth Gaïnas. About him were gathered soldiers of Gothic origin and representatives of the local pro-Germanic movement. The weakness of this party lay in the fact that the majority of the Goths were Arians. Second in strength, during the first years of Arcadius' reign, was the party of the powerful eunuch, the favorite Eutropius. He was supported by various ambitious flatterers who were interested in him only because of his ability to help them in promoting their personal greedy interests. Gaïnas and Eutropius could not live side by side in peace, since both were striving for power. Beside these two political parties, historians speak of a third party, hostile to the Germans as well as to Eutropius, whose membership included senators, ministers, and the majority of the clergy. This party represented the nationalist and religious ideology in opposition to the growing foreign and barbaric influence. This movement, naturally, could not lend its support to the coarse Zosimus, V, 6 (ed. Mendelssohn, pp. 222-23). and grasping Eutropius. The main leader of this party was the city prefect, Aurelian.95 The menace of Germanic dominance was fully understood by many people of the time, and ultimately the government itself became conscious of it. Time has preserved for us an exceedingly interesting document which describes vividly the reaction of certain social groups to the Germanic question. This document is the address of Synesius on "The Emperor's Power," or, as it is sometimes translated, "Concerning the Office of King," which was presented, or perhaps even read, to Arcadius. Synesius, a native of the North African city of Cyrene, an educated neo-Platonist who adopted Christianity, set out in the year 399 A.D. for Constantinople to petition the Emperor for the remission of the taxes of his native city. Later, upon his return home, he was chosen bishop of the North African Ptolemais. During his three years' stay at Constantinople, Synesius came to see very clearly the German menace to the Empire, and he composed the before-mentioned address, which, according to one historian, may be called the anti-German manifesto of the national party of Aurelian.96 The least pretext [writes Synesius] will be used by the armed [barbarians] to assume power and become the rulers of the citizens. And then the unarmed will have to fight with men well exercised in military combats. First of all, they [the foreigners] should be removed from commanding positions and deprived of senatorial rank; for what the Romans in ancient times considered of highest esteem has now become dishonorable because of the influence of the foreigners. As in many other matters, so in this one, I am astonished at our folly. In every more or less prosperous home we find a Scythian [Goth] slave; they serve as cooks and cupbearers; also those who walk along the streets with little chairs on their backs and offer them to people who wish to rest in the open, are Scythians. But is it not exceedingly surprising that the very same light-haired barbarians with Euboic headdress, who in private life perform the functions of servants, are our rulers in political life? The Emperor should purify the troops just as we purify a measure of wheat by separating the chaff and all other matter, which, if allowed to germinate, harms the good seed. Your father, because of his excessive compassion, received them [the barbarians] kindly and condescendingly, gave them the rank 9 See J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (London, 1923), I, 127. |