Do Not Vex the Visigoths

The fifth century brought a series of disasters to the city of Rome. The exaggeration consists in picturing the Visigoths as sweeping into town in overwhelming numbers and completely destroying the place simply because they were Goths. The reality is much more complex.

First, the city of Rome had become a victim of its own success. The populaton of one million, reached in the first century, was as much and probably more than it could sustain; one could build only so many aqueducts. The city became so crowded that people began to look for better living conditions elsewhere.

Second, the Goths did not think of themselves as a labeled “demographic.” In the early fourth century, Constantine made an alliance with the Tervingi, who would move into the borderlands of the Danube to fend off first the Sarmatians and then the Huns. The deal was very profitable for both the empire and the Tervingi, who began to think of themselves not as Tervingi or Goths or Visigoths but as Romans.

The emperor Valens (r. 364-378) continued the policy at first:

The emperor Valens welcomed the Tervingi into the empire. He approved their entry, rightly seeing them as new taxpayers and fine prospects for military recruits. Romans saw them as part of a broad group of people called Goths, and so from this time on, the border crossers are called Visigoths. (pp. 83-84)

But then Valens reneged on the deal and attacked his erstwhile allies. He was killed when his army was routed in the battle of Adrianople.

Under emperor Honorius (r. 393-423), the Visigoths were further enraged when a trusted intermediary, Stilicho, was murdered by court skulduggery. The Visigothic leader, Alaric — who was, himself, a Roman general — tried to come to an agreement with the Senate. When negotiations failed in 410, the Visigoths, exceedingly vexed by their mistreatment, rioted.

The fifth century started badly for the city of Rome, but Theoderic, whose capital was at Ravenna, finally brought relief by establishing a long peace in Italy.