Constantius III: The soul of a dying Rome
The year is AD 408: Emperor Honorius orders the execution of the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire, Flavius Stilicho, who is effectively beheaded on the 22nd of August of that year.
Stilicho, a half-Vandal, was appointed by the late Emperor Theodosius I as the tutor of his youngest son, the aforementioned Emperor Honorius. He participated in key events of the reign of Theodosius, such as the battle of the Frigidus River against the usurper Eugenius, gaining his trust. However, when the Hispano-Roman Emperor died in 395, Stilicho’s power grew immensely, as Zosimus says:
“The empire now devolved on Arcadius and Honorius, who, although apparently the rulers, were so in name only: complete control was exercised by Rufinus in the East and Stilicho in the West. All cases were arbitrarily decided by them, and the man who bought the vote, or otherwise by some connection won the judge’s goodwill, went away the victor.”
Thus, Honorius would have to accept a secondary role during the first years of his reign. Stilicho, whose official title was Comes et Magister Utriusque Militiae, was a very capable general that quickly suffocated important menaces to the empire, such as the revolt of the Comes Africae Gildo, which he supervised, and the invasion of Radagaisus. During the invasion of Greece by Alaric, King of the Visigoths, Stilicho even departed to Illyricum (roughly modern-day Balkans) to fight the invaders, aiding the Eastern Roman Empire.
Be that as it may, Stilicho had a dark side; his personal ambition to rule by his own right over the two partes of the Roman world. The Vandal general claimed that Theodosius not only named him tutor of Honorius, but also of his older brother Arcadius, the Eastern Emperor. Since the start of his rule, Stilicho was determined to rule in Constantinople as well, leading to cold wars against Arcadius and his court, led first by Rufinus and later by Eutropius. His ambition is also demonstrated by the treatment he gave to Mascezel, the general who led the imperial forces in the Gildonic war (which was, in fact, against his own brother, Gildo): according to Zosimus, Stilicho threw him to the Tiber, where he drowned.
Stilicho also used Alaric and his Goths against the Eastern Romans in the context of the dispute of the Illyrian provinces between the two empires. Alaric, who was pivoting between the two thrones and was now stationed in Noricum, demanded a payment for his services to Stilicho, and the Magister summoned the Senate in Rome in 408 to decide what was to be done. The conscript fathers decided to declare war on Alaric, something which Stilicho did not want by any means. However, according to Zosimus, Honorius sent word, saying that the good relations with the court of his brother shall return, so Stilicho made peace with Alaric by paying him four thousand pounds of gold, an act that the Senate found outrageous.
In addition, in order to realise his military projects (not only the defensive ones such as the one against Radagaisus, but also the offensive ones against Arcadius), Stilicho decided to withdraw troops from the frontier of the Rhine, allowing the barbarian peoples to cross the river. The provincials, feeling abandoned by the Empire, elevated their own emperors, mainly in Britannia; in 408 Gaul was completely outside the Empire’s sphere of control, overrun by the forces of the usurper Constantine of Britannia.
The consequences of Stilicho’s actions severely damaged his reputation, but he wasn’t yet finished: in the same year that the Magister ceded to the demands of Alaric, Arcadius died. The successor was to be his infant son Theodosius II, who was seven years old. Honorius decided to travel to Constantinople in order to secure the rights of his nephew, but he was stopped by Stilicho, arguing that a figure of authority was needed in Italy in case of war with Alaric, who was now in Pannonia. The truth is that Stilicho wanted to go to Constantinople himself. Honorius allowed him to do so, but something was changing; an anti-Stilicho faction was rising in Honorius’ court, led by Olympius, the Magister Officiorum. The emperor was convinced to give the order of execution when he was told that Stilicho planned to elevate his son Eucherius as Emperor of the East. Thus, on the 22nd of August of 408, Stilicho was beheaded in Ravenna by a man named Heraclianus, to whom Honorius would reward the governorship of Africa.
In the short term, things would only get worse for the Empire, which was now without a capable military leader. Honorius, witnessing his power crumble, decided to recognise Constantine of Britannia as legitimate emperor in 409, but that would not stop Alaric from sacking Rome in 410 after the failure of negotiations with the emperor.
When everything was at its lowest for Honorius, a man coming from the Illyrian provinces appeared, his name was Constantius, and he was born in the city of Naissus, the hometown of Constantine the Great himself. He was described by Olympiodorus:
“In public processions Constantius was downcast and sullen, a man with bulging eyes, a long neck and a broad head, who always slumped over the neck of the horse he was riding, darting glances here and there out of the corners of his eyes, so that all saw in him “a mien worthy of a tyrant”, as the saying goes. But at banquets and parties he was so cheerful and affable that he even competed with the clowns who often played before his table.”
Constantius was, above all, a rough soldier, but he was the improbable saviour that Rome needed. The only thing that we know about him before 411 (in fact, his birthdate is unknown) is that he served as a soldier in many of Theodosius I’s campaigns, thus demonstrating his military character. His first act of notice was executing Olympius, the former Magister Officiorum who was the leader of the scheme against Stilicho:
“Olympius, the man who had plotted against Stilicho, became master of the offices, then lost the position, then regained it and finally lost it again. After the second loss he was later killed by Placidia’s husband, Constantius, who first cut off his ears and then had him beaten with clubs.”
But Constantius would become famous for other deeds, soon to come. In 411, he was appointed by Honorius as the commander in chief of the war against the usurper of Gaul, Constantine. At the time, Constantine’s situation was extremely delicate: his former best general, Gerontius, had elevated Maximus of Hispania as a puppet emperor and declared himself in revolt against the usurper. It is important to note here, that neither Gerontius or Maximus were loyal to Honorius, and at the time of the appointment of Constantius as commander, was besieging Arelate (modern-day Arles, France). When the Imperial Army arrived, though, Gerontius fled. Constantius then fought the last remains of Constantine’s army, led by Edovicus, whose death pushed Constantine to surrender and be ordained a priest, but that would not save him;
“After this victory [against Edovicus] the troops of Honorius again laid siege to the city (Arelate). When Constantine heard of the death of Edovicus he cast aside his purple robe and imperial ornaments, and repaired to the church, where he caused himself to be ordained as a presbyter. […] Constantine, with his son Julian, was sent into Italy, but he was waylaid and killed.”
Be that as it may, Arelate was taken and Constantius had secured a massive victory for the Empire.
Rome’s next challenge would be the Visigoths. However, in 413 the Comes Africae Heraclianus (who was, in fact, the one who murdered Stilicho with his own hands) rebelled against Honorius, stopping shipments of grain to Italy. At first, Heraclianus remained loyal to Honorius and hostile to the Goths, but in 413 he proclaimed himself emperor and stopped the grain trade. He travelled to Italy with his army, but was crushed, as demonstrated in:
“Heraclian, a count of Africa, suddenly advanced towards the city of Rome with three thousand seven hundred ships. Frightened by the opposition of Count Marinus and put to flight, he returned to Carthage alone, having taken ship, and was immediately killed there.”
“Heraclianus advanced his army from Africa against Honorius, but after being defeated at Utriculum in Italy in a battle which resulted in the slaughter of 50,000 soldiers, he fled to Africa. He was himself later executed in Carthage in the aedes Memoriae by assassins sent by Honorius.”
After this, Rome could centre her efforts against her main enemy. Let us first review what the Visigoths did during these years. Before the sack of Rome, Alaric elevated a notable Senator, Priscus Attalus, to imperial dignity and forced the new usurper to name him Magister Militum, something that had been his ambition for years and that Honorius never wanted to accept. Alaric started to conquer cities all around Italy; he concentrated on the lands north of Rome, even besieging Ravenna, the imperial capital, while Attalus was ordered to supervise the campaign to take Africa, then ruled by a Heraclianus who was still loyal to the emperor in Ravenna. Attalus’ mission did not progress, so Alaric took the imperial title from him in 410. He would be captured by Honorius in 412, but not killed. Alaric then went to negotiate with Honorius but after his forces were attacked by an imperial army led by the Goth General Sarus, he marched towards Rome, where he entered without resistance, and sacked it on the 24th of August of that year. After the sack, which lasted three days, Alaric started marching towards the south, with the ambition to cross to Sicily and later to Africa. However, his ships were destroyed. Some time later, he would find death in the city of Cosentia (modern-day Cosenza). His brother-in-law Athaulf would succeed him. Sometime after the death of Alaric, Attalus would rejoin the Visigoths.
The Goths would migrate outside of Italy in 412, led by their new king. They would settle in southern Gaul. Soon before their arrival, a nobleman called Jovinus proclaimed himself emperor in northern Gaul with the support of the Burgundians and the Alans. Priscus Attalus urged Athaulf to endorse the usurper, which he did. Parallelly, Sarus, the general who attacked Alaric while he was on his way to negotiate with Honorius, was marching to meet Jovinus as well, for he was not loyal anymore to the emperor. When Athaulf’s army encountered Sarus, who was accompanied by a small number of men, the king attacked him and killed him.
Be that as it may, soon after, Jovinus elevated his brother Sebastianus as co-emperor without consulting Athaulf. The king was outraged, and sought an alliance with Honorius, promising the heads of the usurpers. The Gothic army defeated the usurper, who fled south. Sebastianus, however, died. Jovinus would not last for long, though; he was captured and executed by the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, Dardanus, who sent their heads to Ravenna.
The king then asked for shipments of grain in return for Placidia. The Romans agreed, but the grain never came. Tired of waiting, they started attacking many Roman cities in Gaul, being defeated in Massilia (modern-day Marseille) but successfully conquering Narbo Martius (modern-day Narbonne), where Athaulf would marry Placidia and elevate Priscus Attalus yet again to the rank of emperor. Angered at this, Honorius quickly sent Constantius to end the Visigothic menace once and for all. When they noticed the Roman advance, the Visigoths would retreat to Hispania in 415, abandoning Priscus Attalus, who would be pardoned by Honorius and exiled to the island Lipari, in the Aegean Sea.
Athaulf and Placidia had a son, Theodosius, who died at an early age. Athaulf would be murdered in Barcino (modern-day Barcelona), his capital. Wallia would succeed him, who would immediately seek peace talks with the Romans:
“Euplutius the agens in rebus was sent to Wallia, who had been proclaimed tribal leader of the Goths, to negotiate a peace treaty and the return of Placidia. He was readily received, and when 600,000 measures of grain had been sent, Placidia was freed and handed over to Euplutius for Honorius, her brother. ”
In addition, the Visigoths would attack the other tribes (mainly the Vandals, the Alans and the Suebi) that at the time occupied Roman Hispania in exchange for supplies. Thanks to this manoeuvre by Honorius, most of Hispania would return to Roman rule without the use of Roman lives. The campaign would start in 416, and while it took place, Constantius managed to pacify the rebellious peasants that rose up in northwestern Gaul, the bagaudae. After their services in the peninsula, Wallia arranged a foedus for his people, by which they were allowed to settle in Roman land, more exactly, in Aquitania. However, Wallia would never see it completed, for he died in 418. His successor, Theoderic, would complete the migration.
In this same year, Constantius would marry Galla Placidia. It is easy to romanticise their relationship, but, in reality, it was just a political marriage:
“When Honorius was celebrating his eleventh consulship and Constantius his second, they solemnised Placidia’s marriage. Her frequent rejections of Constantius had made him angry at her attendants. Finally, the Emperor Honorius, her brother, on the day on which he entered his consulship, took her by the hand and, despite her protests, gave her over to Constantius, and the marriage was solemnised in the most dazzling fashion.”
Honorius obviously sought to secure the ties he already had with his champion. The need of an heir also was a motivator of this union, for Honorius had been unable to bear any children, probably because of him being sterile. Nevertheless, two children would result from this: Valentinian, the future emperor Valentinian III, and Justa Grata Honoria.
The later years of Constantius’ life were strangely quiet for such a tumultuous period, something that he probably did not enjoy. In 421, Honorius decided to elevate him to the rank of Augustus, sharing the power with him. After arriving to the summit of Roman power, however, Constantius would never be the same:
“Constantius fell ill and regretted his elevation, that he no longer had the freedom to leave and go off wherever and in whatever manner he wished and could not, because he was Emperor, enjoy the pastimes which he had been accustomed to enjoy. Finally, after having reigned for seven months, as the dream already foretold to him – “six have already been completed, and the seventh begins” –, he died of pleurisy. ”
Such was the end of Emperor Constantius III’s life, after rising from the shadows of history to rescue his nation from the furies that tormented her. A man from Illyria whose deeds cause one to remember the triumphs of his countrymen: Aurelian, Diocletian, Constantine… Men who, in the darkest of hours, had hope as their flag and made Rome resurge to embark herself into new golden eras.
By Álvaro Cano Canedo
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