THE present volume covers a space of about two hundred years beginning
with Constantine and stopping a little short of Justinian. At its opening the
Roman Empire is standing in its ancient majesty, drawing new strength from the
reforms of Diocletian and the statesmanship of Constantine: at its close the
Empire has vanished from the West, while the East is slowly recovering from the
pressure of the barbarians in the fifth century, and gathering strength for
Justinian's wars of conquest. At its opening heathenism is still a mighty
power, society is built up on heathen pride of class, and Rome still seems the
centre of the world: at its ending we see Christianity supreme, Constantinople
the seat of power, and the old heathen order of society in the West dissolving
in the confusion of barbarian devastations. At its opening Caesar's will is law
from the Atlantic to Armenia: at its ending a great system of Teutonic and
Arian kingdoms in the West has just been grievously shaken by the conversion of
the Franks from heathenism direct to orthodoxy.
In our first chapter we trace the rise of Constantine, his reunion of
the Empire, his conversion to Christianity, the political side of the Nicene
Council, and the foundation of Constantinople. Then follows Dr Reid's account
of the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, which fixed for centuries the
general outline of the administration. After this Mr Norman Baynes takes up the struggle with Persia under
Constantius and Julian, and continues in a later chapter the story of the wars
of Rome in East and West in the times of Valentinian and Theodosius. The
victory of Christianity is treated by Principal Lindsay; and he describes also
the rival systems of Neoplatonism and Mithraism, and
gives an account of Julian's reaction and the last struggles of heathenism. The
next chapter is devoted to Arianism. First the doctrine is described, in itself
and in some of its relations to modern thought; then the religious side of the
Nicene Council is given, and the complicated history of the reaction is traced
down to the decisive overthrow of Arianism in the Empire by Theodosius. After
this Mr C. H. Turner describes the organization of
the Church—clergy, creeds and worship—looking back to the beginning, but
chiefly concerned with its development in the age of the great Councils.
We now pass to the Teutons. Dr Martin Bang begins in prehistoric times,
describing their migrations and their conquests westward and southward till the
legions brought them to a stand on the Rhine and the Danube, and their long
struggle of four centuries to break through the Roman frontier before the
battle of Hadrianople settled them inside the Danube. Then Dr Manitius carries down the story through the administrations
of Theodosius and Stilicho to the great collapse—the passing of the Rhine, the
overrunning of Gaul and Spain, the Roman mutiny of Pavia, and the sack of Rome
by Alaric. After this the great Teutonic peoples have to be dealt with
severally.
Dr Ludwig Schmidt begins with the settlement of the Visigoths in Gaul,
traces the growth and culmination of their kingdom of Toulouse, and ends with
their expulsion from Aquitaine by Clovis. Professor Pfister gives the early history of the Franks; but they are still a feeble folk when he
leaves them, for the conquests of Clovis belong to another volume. Then Dr
Schmidt tells the little that is known of the Sueves and Alans in Spain, and
more fully describes the history and institutions of the Vandal kingdom in
Africa to its destruction by Belisarius.
Our next chapter differs from the rest in containing very little
history. It is Dr Peisker's account of Central Asia
and the Altaian mounted nomads. It is given as a
general (and much needed) introduction to the chapters on the Huns, the Avars,
the Turks, and the rest of the Asiatic hordes who devastated Europe in the
Middle Ages. To this is attached Dr Schmidt's short account of the Huns and
Attila. We next turn to our own country. Professor Haverfield describes the conquest and organization of Roman Britain, and the decline and
fall of the Roman power in the island, while Mr Beck
deals with the English in their continental home, and tells the story of their
settlement in Britain from the English side. After this Mr Barker records the last struggles of the Western Empire—the loyalty of Gaul and
the disaffection of Africa—under Aetius and Majorian,
concluding with the barbarian mutiny at Pavia which overthrew the last Augustus
of the West. Then M. Maurice Dumoulin continues the
history of Italy under the barbarian rule of Odovacar and Theodoric, describing
the great king's policy, and showing how he kept in check for awhile the feud
of Roman and barbarian which had wrecked the Western Empire. Turning now to the
Eastern provinces, the fifth century, which falls to Mr Brooks, is upon the whole a prosaic period of second-rate rulers and dire
financial strain. Yet even here we have striking events, remarkable characters,
and important movements — the fall of Rufinus and the failure of Gainas;
Pulcheria ruling the Empire as a girl of sixteen, the romance of Athenais, and the catastrophe of Basiliscus;
the Isaurian policy of Leo, and the reforms of Anastasius.
Then Miss Alice Gardner traces the history of religious disunion in the East.
The fall of Chrysostom brought to the front the rivalry of Constantinople and
Alexandria, the defeat of Nestorianism at Ephesus and
of Monophysitism at Chalcedon fixed the lines of
orthodoxy, but left Egypt and Syria heterodox and disaffected, and the
reconciling Henoticon of Zeno produced nothing but a
new schism. In the next chapter Dom Butler traces the growth of monasticism and
its various forms in East and West, including the Benedictine rule and the
Irish monks. After this Professor Vinogradoff surveys the whole field of social
and economic conditions in the declining Empire, and shows the part which
rotten economics and bad taxation played in its destruction. Then Mr H. F. Stewart gives his account of the heathen and
Christian literature of the time, and of the various lines of thought which
seemed to converge upon the grand figure of Augustine. The volume concludes
with Mr Lethaby's account
of the beginnings and early development of Christian art.
Shortly: to the student of universal history the Roman Empire is the
bulwark which for near six hundred years kept back the ever-threatening attacks
of Teutonic and Altaian barbarism. Behind that
bulwark rose the mighty structure of Roman Law, and behind it a new order of
the world was beginning to unfold from the fruitful seeds of Christian thought.
So when the years of respite ended, and the universal Empire went down in
universal ruin, the Christian Church was able from the first to put some check
on the northern conquerors, and then by the long training of the Middle Ages to
mould the nations of Europe into forms which have issued in richer and fuller
developments of life and civilisation than imperial
Rome had ever known.
It remains for us to give our best thanks to Dr A. W. Ward for much
counsel and assistance, and to all those who have kindly helped us by looking
over the proofs of particular chapters.
H. M. G.
J. P. W.
September 1911
