04-22-2006, 10:12 AM
We may have discussed this before (I know we did) , but I can't find it in the database anymore.
Anyway, something I come across all too often is a description like this:
"On the last day of the year 406, barbarian masses crossed the frozen Rhine and sacked Gaul".
The thing is, there's no source which describes it like that...
Modern authors often quote the above line, although some keep an open mind.
Averil Cameron for instance says that the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans crossed the frozen Rhine at the end of 406 (The Later Roman Empire, p. 139, citing Zosimus); AHM Jones says that in the winter of 406-407 "at least four tribes simultaneously crossed the Rhine into Gaul," without referring to the ice on the river. So where do the date and the state of the river come from?
Maybe the first of the 'modern' authors is answerable; Gibbon says:
"...on the last day of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were "most probably" frozen, [the Vandals and three other tribes] entered without opposition the defenceless provinces of Gaul." (The Decline and Fall (Modern Library ed., vol. II, p.117).
Gibbon cites Zosimus, Orosius, the Chronicles, plus a fragment of an account preserved in Gregory of Tours.
So this is what I tracked down from the sources (previously published on Arthurnet):
Hieronymus, Epistle 123.16:
But what am I doing? Whilst I talk about the cargo, the vessel itself founders. He that letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ "shall consume with the spirit of his mouth." "Woe unto them," he cries, "that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Now these things are both the fruits of marriage.
I shall now say a few words of our present miseries. A few of us have hitherto survived them, but this is due not to anything we have done ourselves but to the mercy of the Lord. Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni and--alas! for the commonweal!--even Pannonians. For "Assur also is joined with them." The once noble city of Moguntiacum has been captured and destroyed. In its church many thousands have been massacred. The people of Vangium after standing a long siege have been extirpated. The powerful city of Rheims, the Ambiani, the Altrebatae, the Belgians on the skirts of the world, Tournay, Spires, and Strasburg have fallen to Germany: while the provinces of Aquitaine and of the Nine Nations, of Lyons and of Narbonne are with the exception of a few cities one universal scene of desolation. And those which the sword spares without, famine ravages within. I cannot speak without tears of Toulouse which has been kept from failing hitherto by the merits of its reverend bishop Exuperius.
Even the Spains are on the brink of ruin and tremble daily as they recall the invasion of the Cymry; and, while others suffer misfortunes once in actual fact, they suffer them continually in anticipation.
Zosimus, Historia nova VI.3.1:
Some years before, Arcadius being in his sixth consulate, and Probus was his colleague, the Vandals, uniting with the Alani and the Suevi, crossed in these places, and plundered the countries beyond the Alps.
Salvian, De gubernatione Dei: 7,12:
We are judged by the ever-present judgment of God, and thus a most slothful race has been aroused to accomplish our destruction and shame. They go from place to place, from city to city, and destroy everything. First they poured out from their native land into Germany, which lay nearest them, a country called barbarous, but under Roman control. After its destruction, the country of the Belgae burst into flames, then the rich estates of the luxurious Aquitanians, and after these the whole body of the Gallic provinces. This ruin spread gradually, however, in order that while one part was being visited with destruction, another might be reformed by its example. But when has there been any amendment among us, or what part of the Roman world, whatever its affliction, is corrected by it? As we read: "They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become useless." And in like manner the prophet cried out to the Lord, saying: "Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
One source has a scant note about the date being on the last day of the year:
Prosper Tiro, Epitoma chronicon 13a 1230:
Vandali et Halani traiecto Rheno ingressi II k. Ian.
So the date may indeed have been January 1st, however, none says anything about the crossing being over a frozen river!
Anyway, something I come across all too often is a description like this:
"On the last day of the year 406, barbarian masses crossed the frozen Rhine and sacked Gaul".
The thing is, there's no source which describes it like that...
Modern authors often quote the above line, although some keep an open mind.
Averil Cameron for instance says that the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans crossed the frozen Rhine at the end of 406 (The Later Roman Empire, p. 139, citing Zosimus); AHM Jones says that in the winter of 406-407 "at least four tribes simultaneously crossed the Rhine into Gaul," without referring to the ice on the river. So where do the date and the state of the river come from?
Maybe the first of the 'modern' authors is answerable; Gibbon says:
"...on the last day of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were "most probably" frozen, [the Vandals and three other tribes] entered without opposition the defenceless provinces of Gaul." (The Decline and Fall (Modern Library ed., vol. II, p.117).
Gibbon cites Zosimus, Orosius, the Chronicles, plus a fragment of an account preserved in Gregory of Tours.
So this is what I tracked down from the sources (previously published on Arthurnet):
Hieronymus, Epistle 123.16:
But what am I doing? Whilst I talk about the cargo, the vessel itself founders. He that letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ "shall consume with the spirit of his mouth." "Woe unto them," he cries, "that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Now these things are both the fruits of marriage.
I shall now say a few words of our present miseries. A few of us have hitherto survived them, but this is due not to anything we have done ourselves but to the mercy of the Lord. Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni and--alas! for the commonweal!--even Pannonians. For "Assur also is joined with them." The once noble city of Moguntiacum has been captured and destroyed. In its church many thousands have been massacred. The people of Vangium after standing a long siege have been extirpated. The powerful city of Rheims, the Ambiani, the Altrebatae, the Belgians on the skirts of the world, Tournay, Spires, and Strasburg have fallen to Germany: while the provinces of Aquitaine and of the Nine Nations, of Lyons and of Narbonne are with the exception of a few cities one universal scene of desolation. And those which the sword spares without, famine ravages within. I cannot speak without tears of Toulouse which has been kept from failing hitherto by the merits of its reverend bishop Exuperius.
Even the Spains are on the brink of ruin and tremble daily as they recall the invasion of the Cymry; and, while others suffer misfortunes once in actual fact, they suffer them continually in anticipation.
Zosimus, Historia nova VI.3.1:
Some years before, Arcadius being in his sixth consulate, and Probus was his colleague, the Vandals, uniting with the Alani and the Suevi, crossed in these places, and plundered the countries beyond the Alps.
Salvian, De gubernatione Dei: 7,12:
We are judged by the ever-present judgment of God, and thus a most slothful race has been aroused to accomplish our destruction and shame. They go from place to place, from city to city, and destroy everything. First they poured out from their native land into Germany, which lay nearest them, a country called barbarous, but under Roman control. After its destruction, the country of the Belgae burst into flames, then the rich estates of the luxurious Aquitanians, and after these the whole body of the Gallic provinces. This ruin spread gradually, however, in order that while one part was being visited with destruction, another might be reformed by its example. But when has there been any amendment among us, or what part of the Roman world, whatever its affliction, is corrected by it? As we read: "They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become useless." And in like manner the prophet cried out to the Lord, saying: "Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
One source has a scant note about the date being on the last day of the year:
Prosper Tiro, Epitoma chronicon 13a 1230:
Vandali et Halani traiecto Rheno ingressi II k. Ian.
So the date may indeed have been January 1st, however, none says anything about the crossing being over a frozen river!
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
