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A note on Professor Bury's ‘History of the later Roman Empire’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Norman H. Baynes
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Extract

To all students and teachers of the political, administrative and constitutional history of the Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries Professor Bury's volumes will be indispensable. This History of the Later Roman Empire (A.D. 395 to A.D. 565), though in name but a second edition of the book originally published in 1889, is in fact a new work, narrower in limit of period—it only extends to the death of Justinian—but ‘written on a much larger scale.’ Thus for the history of the centuries from Justinian to Irene the edition of 1889 must still be consulted; indeed, even for the sixth century that edition is not entirely superseded, since for the Lazic War of Justinian the reader is referred to the earlier account (ii, p. 113, n.). It is of course obvious that in a work of so wide a scope every student will regret the omission of matters which he would have wished to see included: some would have welcomed a fuller treatment of social conditions, of monasticism, of the barbarian legal codes, of the evidence of the papyri, of the questions recently raised by Dopsch concerning the survival of Roman culture in territories occupied by the barbarians—examples could easily be multiplied; but such criticism on the part of a reviewer would be beside the point, for the treatment of these subjects would have altered the character of Professor Bury's work: he has not sought to write a Kulturgeschichte; the great value of his work lies in the masterly clarity of his historical narrative and in his illuminating treatment of the problems of imperial administration.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 12 , November 1922 , pp. 207 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Norman H.Baynes1922. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 207 note 1 Macmillan, London, 1923. 2 vols. 42s. net.

page 211 note 1 Gesammelte Schriften, iv. pp. 517-518. Gratian had surrendered E. Illyricum to Theodosius the Great: Seeck has inferred from C. Th. i, 32.5 that it was reunited to the West on the revolt of Maximus, and that on the tyrant's defeat the province once more reverted to the praefecture of the East. Rheinisches Museum, N.F. lxix (1913), pp. 37–38Google Scholar.

page 211 note 2 Gesammelte Schriften, iv, p. 521.

page 212 note 1 De Obitu Theodosii, 5.

page 212 note 2 Mommsen: op. cit. p. 516.

page 212 note 3 So Nagl., M. Assunta: Galla Placidia. Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums. II. Heft iii (Paderborn, 1908), p. 9Google Scholar,n5.

page 212 note 4 Preface to his edition of Claudian's Works. M.G.H., p. xxviii.

page 214 note 1 Birt. op. cit. p. xxx, and cf. Koch's, J. article, ‘Claudian und die Ereignisse der Jahre 395 bis 398,’ Rheinisches Museum. N.F. xliv. 575-612 at pp. 607-608.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 Cf. Seeck, O. in Rheinisches Museum, N.F. lxix (1913), p. 38Google Scholar; Regesten der Kaiser und Päpste, i, pp. 14086-43, 14839-42.

page 216 note 1 Cf. the fragment of Olympiodorus quoted supra.

page 217 note 1 Koch has suggested that the sources of Zosimus depend in part upon the poems of Claudian; this cannot, I imagine, be proved, but the suggestion raises an interesting question: How far were Claudian's poems designed to provide propaganda in the East for Stilicho's policy ? This purpose is at least possible in the case of the latter part of In Eutropium ii.

page 217 note 2 For another explanation of this confusion see Mendelssohn's note on the passage in his edition of Zosimus p. 249. The ninth fragment of Olympiodorus must have suffered in the epitomised form in which it has been preserved. It has been suggested that it too refers to the year A.D. 401 and records an alliance of Stilicho with Radagaisus in that year. To my mind, the silence of Claudian is conclusive against this view. The words ‘Ραδαγάισον προσηταιρίσατο must in their original form have been equivalent to τοὐς τô ‘Ραδαγάισουπ. and = the enlistment by Stilicho in the Roman army of survivors after the Battle of Faesulae. They were so understood by Zosimus πλὴν ἐλαχίστους ὅσους αὐτὸς(=Stilicho) τῆ ‘Ρωμάιων προσέθηκεν συμμαχίᾳ (loc. cit.). On these passages cf. Stein Studien zur Gesch. des hyzantinischen Reiches, etc., p. 127.

page 217 note 3 Aug., De Civ. Dei. v, 23. Orosius vii, 37, 8 and 15. Mommsen, : Chron. Min. in M.G.H. i, pp. 299, 652Google Scholar.

page 217 note 4 So Schmidt: Gesch. d. deutschen Stämme i, p. 121n3Google Scholar. ‘König war Radagais so wenig wie Odotheus, nur Führer freiwillig zusammengekommener Scharen’; but cf. Seeck, : Geschichte des Untergangs, etc. v, 587 s.fGoogle Scholar.

page 217 note 5 Cf. Orosius vii, 37, 8. ‘duo tune Gothorum populi cum duobus potentissimis regibus suis, etc’.

page 217 note 6 Cf. also Olympiodorus, fr. 9.

page 217 note 7 Claudian: De Bella Gothico, 415, with the apparatus criticus of Birt in M.G.H. ad. loc. and and preface pp. xlviii and xlix.

page 217 note 8 F. Gabotto: Storia della Italia occidentale, appendix i and ii.

page 218 note 1 Seeck, : Geschichte des Untergangs, etc. v, p. 587Google Scholar.

page 218 note 2 Freeman, : Western Europe in tbe Fifth Century, p. 45 n.*Google Scholar

page 219 note 1 Cf. Ferdinand Lot : ‘Les migrations saxonnes en Gaule et en Grande-Bretagne du llle. au Ve. Siècle, , Revue Historique cxix, (1915) pp. 1–40Google Scholar.

page 219 note 2 ‘The collection of Flavian names in the family of this private soldier is certainly remarkable, Most likely they were popular in Britain.’ Freeman, op. cit. p. 57.

page 220 note 1 Cf. Collingwood, R. G. : Roman Britain, Oxford, 1923, pp. 97 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 220 note 2 Schmidt, L.: Bonifatius und der Übergang der Wandalen nach Afrika,’ Historische Vierteljahrschrift, 1899, ii. pp. 449–462Google Scholar.

page 220 note 3 Bugiani, C.: Storia di Ezio (Firenze, 1905) c. viiGoogle Scholar.

page 220 note 4 Mommsen: Chron. Min. (in M.G.H.) i, p. 658, 107.

page 220 note 5 Cf. Seeck, : Geschichte des Untergangs, etc. vi, p. 112Google Scholar.

page 221 note 1 de Lessert, Pallu: Fastes des provinces africaines ii, p. 289, n. 2Google Scholar.

page 221 note 2 Cf. Clarke, M. G.: Sidelights on Teutonic History during the Migration Period. (Cambridge 1911), pp. 211Google Scholar, eqq.

page 221 note 3 The passages of the chroniclers are collected in Lizerand's, monograph Aetius (Paris, 1910) p. 48Google Scholar, n1.

page 222 note 1 Dessau, 803.

page 222 note 2 If John was recognised in Rome, Professor Bury's reconstruction (J.R.S. ix, p. 3) of Placidia's intended route to the West cannot stand. Whence did Procopius derive his enthusiastic account of the virtues of John ?—in Rome ?

page 223 note 1 Cf. Mommsen, : Gesammelte Schriften, vi, p. 376Google Scholar.

page 223 note 2 Cf. Mommsen, : Chron. Min. in M.G.H. ii, p. 28Google Scholar.

page 224 note 1 Magliari, Guiseppe: ‘Del Patriziato romano dal Secolo iv al Secolo viii’, Documenti di Storia e Diritto xviii (1897) pp. 153–217Google Scholar.

page 225 note 1 Another such story may be found in the fragment of an anonymous writer ( fr. 200 of John of Antioch in Müller, F.H.G., iv, 614Google Scholar) who apparently found the explanation of the treason of Maximus in the rape of the latter's wife by Valentinian.

page 226 note 1 Mommsen, : Chron. Min. 1, p. 305Google Scholar : entry in the Consularia Italica (edition in M.G.H.).

page 226 note 2 Ibid.: Chron. Min. ii, p. 29. Hydatius.

page 226 note 3 Ibid.: Chron. Min. i, p. 304. Fasti Vind. Priores.

page 226 note 4 Cf. Seeck, : Geschichte des Untergangs, etc. vi, 478Google Scholar. The text of Seeck pp. 332, 338 should be corrected, as he himself appears to suggest in the Anhang.

page 226 note 5 F. Martroye: Génseric, etc. pp. 178-9.

page 226 note 6 Mommsen, : Chron. Min. i, p. 304Google Scholar.

page 227 note 1 I doubt whether I have understood Professor Bu y aright, but he seems to state that the first master of soldiers mentioned in our literary sources who was magister equitum per Gallias was Aëtius J.R.S. x, (1920) p. 145Google Scholar, and to contend that there is no good evidence for the assumption that the post of magister equitum per Gallias was a regular and standing institution before the end of the fourth century, his view being (p. 154) that the office of magister equitum per Gallias was introduced as permanent command in A.D. 429. But surely this is an impossible conclusion in face of the evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus. As I understand the position, Arbetio was magister equitum in praesenti while Julian was in Gaul (Amm. xv, 4, 1, xxi,13, 3), but at this time Marcellus was magister equitum in Gaul, for the insertion of the word magister in the text of Amm. xvi, 4, 3 is justified by the title magister armorum given to Marcellus in xvi, 7, 3. In xxv, 8, 11 Jovinus is magister armorum (=doubtless magister equitum) per Gallias and is succeeded by Malarichus (cf. xxvi, 5, 2). I cannot doubt that Giudentius, the father of Aëtius, who died in battle in Gaul as magister militum held the same position. If I have rightly understood Professor Bury, I am convinced that his view cannot be maintained.

page 227 note 2 Mommsen, : Gesammelte Schriften vi, p. 422Google Scholar, n.5.

page 227 note 3 Mommsen, : Chron. Min. ii, p. 90Google Scholar.

page 228 note 1 Mommsen, : Gesammelte Schriften vi, pp. 422–3Google Scholar.