a nun," and thereby gain the highest esteem of the world.
VII
WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME
The Empire had forfeited its right to take its title from the ancient
city on the Tiber long before its final dismemberment.
Constantine had
removed his court and capital to the Bosphorus, and there the metropolis
of the East remained. The Western emperors established their courts in
various parts of Europe, their locations being usually determined by the
exigences of rivalry and the territorial success of their usurpation.
Roman citizenship had become universal and at the same time meaningless:
it represented no privileges other than the bare fact that its owner was
not a slave. The freedom it conferred was only relative and, to a very
great extent, merely theoretical; practically, all were the slaves of
the emperor. The race of Romulus had degenerated into a pretentious but
pusillanimous aristocracy, who desired no title to glory save that found
in pedigree. There was not left in them sufficient virility to set up,
much less to maintain, an emperor of their own race; their rulers were
of barbarian extraction. The Roman army was a cosmopolitan aggregation,
in which Italy was the least represented of the provinces. Ammianus
Marcellinus, the historian, writing late in the fourth century, says:
"The modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the
loftiness of their chariots and the weighty magnificence of their dress.
Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are
agitated by art or accident, they occasionally discover the
under-garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various
animals." Gibbon notes that the more pious coxcombs substituted the
figure of some favorite saint. Ammianus goes on to describe how,
"followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement,
they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they
travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly
imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are
continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs.
Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the
public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and
insolent command, and appropriate to their exclusive use the
conveniences which were designed for the Roman people.
If, in these
places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous
ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender
embrace; while they proudly disdain the salutation of their
fellow-citizens who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of
kissing their hands or their knees. As soon as they have indulged
themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings and
the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe
(of the finest linen, and of a quantity such as might suffice for a
dozen persons), the garments most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain
till their departure the same haughty demeanor.... The acquisition of
knowledge seldom engages the attention of nobles, who abhor the fatigue
and disdain the advantages of study. The libraries which they have
inherited from their fathers are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from
the light of day. The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable
testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is
perfectly understood; and it has happened that in the same house, though
in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design
of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to
declare, at the same time, their mutual but contradictory wishes."
It is probable that Ammianus, with the disdain which students are apt to
affect toward the unphilosophic multitude, has exaggerated the disregard
of the Roman nobility for books. We have seen that many of the female
friends of Jerome were most ardent lovers of literature; and the
Christian Fathers constantly evince an expectation of finding among
their female followers an enthusiastic reading public.
These women read
theological works; it is not unreasonable to suppose that their less
heavenly-minded sisters were as assiduous students of the classical
secular books.
We have the names and somewhat of the history of a few of the women who
lived in this period, but they are all from the highest and most
conspicuous society. History loves a shining mark. If the chroniclers of
the time had favored us with a detailed descriptive account of the life
of the common people, it would have been of more value than that of many
nobles.
The population of Rome at this time has been estimated at between one
million two hundred thousand and two million. This, of course, includes
the vast army of slaves, which remained undiminished after the change of
the national religion. But there was also a great horde of free, poor
plebeians, who were the perpetual paupers of the government. These lived
in the same careless, indigent idleness as had the same class in
preceding centuries. They inhabited tenements not unlike those known to
the great cities of modern times. These houses were of several stories,
each tenement sheltering a number of families. That they were
exceedingly uncomfortable is easy to believe, seeing that even the
wealthy of ancient times, notwithstanding the architectural grandeur
which they could command, were ignorant of the ordinary modern domestic
conveniences. The free working class of the present day was then
practically unknown: that place was taken by the slaves.
So the
poverty-stricken Roman citizen was both necessarily and willingly
unemployed. Generally, however, corn, wine, and oil were supplied him
with little or no expense to himself. Each morning, at a set time, his
wife would repair to a prescribed station in the district, and there, on
showing a citizen's ticket, she would receive a three-pound loaf of
bread. So indulgent was the government, that it ground and baked the
allowance which at one time was made in the shape of corn. During five
months in the year there was also distributed, to the poorer people, an
allowance of pork; the annual consumption of this kind of meat in Rome
was three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds. When the
populace had clamored before Augustus for free wine as well as bread,
that wise and firm ruler reminded them that since his friend Agrippa had
brought into the city a bountiful supply of pure water, no Roman need
complain of thirst. But those emperors who denuded Roman citizenship
entirely of its right of suffrage yet had an interest in keeping the
populace quiet and contented; hence, in the fourth century there existed
public cellars from whence was dispensed, at a small cost to the
inhabitants of Rome, the fermented vintage of Campania.
It was also necessary, the people being idle, that they should be
amused. There were the magnificent public baths where they could while
away the time in luxury and gossip. But the amusement with which the
multitude was never satiated was found in the exhibitions of the circus.
On special occasions, many would sleep in the porticoes near by, in
order to be the first on hand to obtain seats in the morning. The
immense amphitheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand.
Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but
there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the
hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to
purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a
statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer
than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of
Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the
city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were
exempted by the edict.
The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the
ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the
theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth
century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be
sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble
Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in
which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the
common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies.
Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the
episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They
contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the
wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist
or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire
into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained
on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies
were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their
religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the
people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the
splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize
should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest
and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that
he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his
dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his
chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the
imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments
provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops."
The practice of taking advantage of the charity--or the sentiment--of
wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the
government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely
legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed
Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the
subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to
have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a
humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the
presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the
houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy
and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and
private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter
was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from
profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protégée; the same
abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we
have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be
perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same
in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her
to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary
delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic,
frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of
ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not
unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to
the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these
women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the
comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the
disinterestedness of the latter.
Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the
causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After
Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief
reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed
that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and
Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of
bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both
the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives.
The latter
could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and
surging upon its borders, and at times it seemed as if the former had
quite succumbed to the heresy of Arianism. It was the most deadly battle
that the Church has ever had to wage. After the question of who should
rule, theology was the most important item in the politics of the time.
Varying metaphysical definitions which baffled the acumen of the wisest
philosophers were confidently espoused in a spirit of partisanship by
mechanics and ignorant persons of both sexes. It was the difference of
an iota--_homoousios_ or _homoiousios_.
Valentinian favored orthodoxy, not because of sturdy convictions (he
said it was a question for bishops), but because the Church in the West
was mainly Catholic; but in Justina, his wife, the Arians were
compensated by a powerful champion. Socrates, the historian, describes
the marriage of Justina as having taken place under most remarkable
circumstances. The story is interesting, though of somewhat doubtful
veracity: "Justus, the father of Justina, who had been governor of
Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed
to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side.
When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the
knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a
descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be
assassinated. Justina, being thus bereft of her father, still continued
a virgin. Some time after, she became known to Severa, wife of the
Emperor Valentinian, and had frequent intercourse with the empress,
until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were
accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she
was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to
the emperor, saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature
and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a
woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this
description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he
could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, who had borne him
Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a short time before. He
accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all
the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The
law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian
the younger, and three daughters--Justa, Grata, and Galla.... Galla was
afterwards married to Theodosius the Great, who had by her a daughter
named Placidia."
This story, romantic as it is, lacks all the hallmarks of credibility.
In the first place, there is absolutely no trace of this remarkable law
either in the codes or in other historians. Furthermore, the ancient
Church was more severely opposed to bigamy and polygamy than it was to
any other deviation from common morals. Also the Roman law strongly
discountenanced plurality in marriage. Moreover, we have it on the
authority of Ammianus, who is a most trustworthy witness, that
Valentinian was remarkable for his chastity, both at home and abroad.
Also in contradiction to what Socrates relates, Zosimus asserts that
Justina had already been married to Magnentius, and that the emperor was
joined to her in matrimony after the death of Severa, his first wife.
Either this latter statement must be accepted as the fact in the case,
or we must believe that the first empress was divorced, a procedure that
was certainly not difficult and was extremely customary for the rulers
of Rome. What is probably the truth of the matter is that this story of
Justina being the partner of Valentinian in bigamy was a malicious
invention; possibly the discredit of its promulgation should be laid at
the door of some of the Unscrupulous among the orthodox, who were
incensed at her support of heresy.
It was customary for the empress to accompany her imperial husband in
his military expeditions about the Empire. Apart from other
considerations, this was necessary to her safety and that of her
offspring. Conspirators are apt to perpetrate their designs in the
absence of the ruler against whom they are plotting; and in that case,
the legitimate successor, with his protectors--if within reach--is the
first victim of the ambition or precaution of his father's enemies.
Consequently, it was usual for the emperors to take their families with
them even in the most distant journeys. The advantage of this was
illustrated in the death of Valentinian. He had marched against the
Quadi who were vexing the frontier on the bank of the Danube. In his
customary cruel manner, he put to death all who fell into his power,
murdering even the women and children. The desperate people sent envoys
begging for peace and forgiveness, but Valentinian broke out upon them
in one of those paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and, in the
midst of his terrible invectives, ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs,
which caused his death upon the spot.
At the moment, Justina was occupying a palace at a short distance from
Bregetio, where the death of her husband occurred.
Gratian, the son of
Severa, had already been invested by his father with the imperial
purple; but the court ministers, inspired probably with the thought of
those advantages which such men enjoy during the reign of an infant,
immediately planned to exalt to the throne of Valentinian the latter's
four-year-old son, who bore the same name. Justina was sent for and
placed by the ministers on a regal platform facing the troops. She held
her young son in her arms; and the picture of a beautiful woman, endowed
both with the fruit and the graces of motherhood, had its never failing
effect of stirring the soldiers to an outburst of chivalric enthusiasm.
The infant was there and then invested with the purple and the insignia
of empire, which, it may be added, he never wore with greater effect
than in the hour when his puny infant form was first arrayed in them.
Whatever real influence his name had in the government was wielded by
Justina. But Gratian was emperor. He it was who commanded the army and
ruled the Empire, while Justina held court and engaged in petty domestic
politics at Milan and Sirmium. One thing is certain and is remarkable
enough to be mentioned--the two empress-mothers, Severa and Justina,
lived as co-widows in that mutual harmony which Socrates would have us
believe characterized them as co-wives.
Perhaps the principal event of the life of Justina was her controversy
with Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who was one of the noblest men of
the ancient Church, and who, by his courage and integrity, set an
example for all succeeding bishops. Contemning the pomps and vanities of
the world, he did not disdain to use the powers of his office for the
political advantage of either the Church or the state; so, when Maximus
usurped the imperial privilege in the Gallic provinces, Ambrose was sent
as an ambassador by Justina to beg the clemency of the new emperor for
herself and her son. Maximus reigned in the far West, while at his
sufferance Valentinian II. was emperor in Italy.
While this young emperor--who died at the age of twenty-one--reigned,
his mother ruled. Justina, however, appears to have been an easy-going
woman. She does not seem to have been possessed of much ambition, and
there is no indication that she interfered very strenuously in the
affairs of the Empire. She found herself in the position which she
occupied, and endeavored to preserve herself and her son in safety.
Tolerance was marked in all that she did, and there was a very evident
willingness to leave others unmolested, provided she and her son were
allowed to maintain their position in security. Of course, while they
retained the names of empress-mother and emperor, their real power was
but slight. Valentinian II. was never more than a boy, and Justina
possessed no military command. Nevertheless, it does seem as if she were
endowed with some real ability, or she could not have maintained herself
in comparative security during seventeen years of such troublous and
changeful times.
Justina's controversy with Saint Ambrose seems to have been the one
point on which she had serious difficulty with her subjects, and this
appears to have affected only the people of Milan.
Gibbon, in his
inimitable manner, thus describes the incident: "The government of Italy
and of the young emperor naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a
woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the midst of an orthodox people,
had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored
to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded that a Roman
emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his
religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and
reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church,
either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was
governed by very different principles. The palaces of earth might indeed
belong to Cæsar, but the churches were the houses of God; and, within
the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the
apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity,
temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers; and
the mind of Ambrose was satisfied that his own theological opinions were
the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold
any conference or negotiation with the instruments of Satan, declared
with modest firmness his resolution to die a martyr rather than to yield
to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an
act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert the imperial
prerogative of her son."
Under ordinary circumstances, in a like situation, it is very probable
that the bishop's reiterated desire for martyrdom would have been
gratified. But Ambrose was secure, owing to the intense orthodoxy of all
Justina's subjects. In an attack on religion, there was no one to carry
out her commands. "As she desired to perform her public devotions on the
approaching festival of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the
council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject,
but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they
pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the
affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence
of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requested that he would
interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to
restore the tranquillity of the capital."
In the end the bishop prevailed. There are extant certain letters
written by the saint to his sister, Marcellina, in which he describes
the circumstances of this dispute with Justina. He recounts how soldiers
were sent to occupy the church which the empress desired for her own
heretical use, and how they fraternized with the Catholic people who
refused to give up t