History of the Wars, Books III and IV | Page 4

their nobles, emperor of the Romans, investing him with the
diadem and the purple and whatever else pertains to the imperial
dignity. And he did this with the intention of removing Honorius from
his throne and of giving over the whole power in the West to Attalus.
With such a purpose, then, both Attalus and Alaric were going with a
great army against Ravenna. But this Attalus was neither able to think
wisely himself, nor to be persuaded by one who had wisdom to offer.
So while Alaric did not by any means approve the plan, Attalus sent
commanders to Libya without an army. Thus, then, were these things
going on.
And the island of Britain revolted from the Romans, and the soldiers
there chose as their king Constantinus, a man of no mean station. [407
A.D.] And he straightway gathered a fleet of ships and a formidable
army and invaded both Spain and Gaul with a great force, thinking to
enslave these countries. But Honorius was holding ships in readiness
and waiting to see what would happen in Libya, in order that, if those
sent by Attalus were repulsed, he might himself sail for Libya and keep
some portion of his own kingdom, while if matters there should go
against him, he might reach Theodosius and remain with him. For
Arcadius had already died long before, and his son Theodosius, still a
very young child,[18] held the power of the East. [408-450 A.D.] But
while Honorius was thus anxiously awaiting the outcome of these
events and tossed amid the billows of uncertain fortune, it so chanced
that some wonderful pieces of good fortune befell him. For God is
accustomed to succour those who are neither clever nor able to devise
anything of themselves, and to lend them assistance, if they be not
wicked, when they are in the last extremity of despair; such a thing,
indeed, befell this emperor. For it was suddenly reported from Libya
that the commanders of Attalus had been destroyed, and that a host of
ships was at hand from Byzantium with a very great number of soldiers
who had come to assist him, though he had not expected them, and that
Alaric, having quarrelled with Attalus, had stripped him of the
emperor's garb and was now keeping him under guard in the position of

a private citizen. [411 A.D.] And afterwards Alaric died of disease, and
the army of the Visigoths under the leadership of Adaulphus proceeded
into Gaul, and Constantinus, defeated in battle, died with his sons.
However the Romans never succeeded in recovering Britain, but it
remained from that time on under tyrants. And the Goths, after making
the crossing of the Ister, at first occupied Pannonia, but afterwards,
since the emperor gave them the right, they inhabited the country of
Thrace. And after spending no great time there they conquered the
West. But this will be told in the narrative concerning the Goths.
III
Now the Vandals dwelling about the Maeotic Lake, since they were
pressed by hunger, moved to the country of the Germans, who are now
called Franks, and the river Rhine, associating with themselves the
Alani, a Gothic people. Then from there, under the leadership of
Godigisclus, they moved and settled in Spain, which is the first land of
the Roman empire on the side of the ocean. At that time Honorius made
an agreement with Godigisclus that they should settle there on
condition that it should not be to the detriment of the country. But there
was a law among the Romans, that if any persons should fail to keep
their property in their own possession, and if, meanwhile, a time
amounting to thirty years should pass, that these persons should
thenceforth not be entitled to proceed against those who had forced
them out, but they were excluded by demurrer[19] from access to the
court; and in view of this he established a law that whatever time
should be spent by the Vandals in the Roman domain should not by any
means be counted toward this thirty-year demurrer. And Honorius
himself, when the West had been driven by him to this pass, died of
disease. [Aug. 27, 423 A.D.] Now before this, as it happened, the royal
power had been shared by Honorius with Constantius, the husband of
Placidia, the sister of Arcadius and Honorius; but he lived to exercise
the power only a few days, and then, becoming seriously ill, he died
while Honorius was still living, [421 A.D.] having never succeeded in
saying or in doing anything worth recounting; for the time was not
sufficient during which he lived in possession of the royal power. Now
a son of this Constantius, Valentinian, a child just weaned, was being

reared in the palace of Theodosius, but the members