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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Stilicho Biography STILICHO, FLAVIUS (?-408 A.D.) A Roman general and statesman. He was the son of a Vandal who served as an officer in the Roman army under Valens, Emperor of the East (364-378). He himself followed a military career, earning the special recognition of the Emperor Theodosius (379-395), who, in 383 sent him at the head of an embassy to the court of the Persian King Sapor III. Here by skillful diplomacy he at once arranged a very advantageous peace. On his return to Constantinople at the end of 384 he married Serena, the Emperor's niece, and received the titles of comes stabuli sacri and comes domesticorum. During the next decade he attained the grade of commander in chief (magister militum) of the army in Thrace (385) and directed the campaign in Britain against the Picts, Scots, and Saxons (386) . The same year he was battling with his Emperor against the barbarians on the banks of the Hebrus. In 392 he was successful in campaigns against the Bastarnæ, Goths, Alani, and Huns, but was prevented from gaining greater glory by the jealousy of the Consul Rufinus, who exercised a great influence over the Emperor. In 394, however, he received a greater honor; for Theodosius made his son Honorius Augustus, giving him the sovereignty of Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Africa, and appointed Stilicho and Serena guardians of Honorius. Thus Stilicho found himself on a footing with his hated rival Rufinus for he became the real ruler of the West, with headquarters at Rome, as the young Honorius was wholly indifferent to the cares of state. While Theodosius lived, Stilicho and Rufinus were forced to maintain a semblance of peace, but when he died, in 395, their rivalry broke out openly. Stilicho had a stronger personality and a close connection with the Imperial family, for his daughter Maria was betrothed to his ward, the Emperor Honorius. After successful campaigns on the Rhine he marched to the East, nominally to drive back the Goths and the Huns, whom Rufinus had persuaded to invade the Empire, but really to overthrow Rufinus and by connivance with these same Goths Stilicho procured his assassination at the close of 395. He was now the virtual master of the Empire, for Honorius and Arcadius, the joint emperors, were puppets in his hands; but Stilicho never aspired to the throne, remaining as yet loyal to the worthless son of his old patron. His attention, indeed, was now wholly occupied with the formidable invasion of the Goth Alaric (q.v.), who had forced his way into the Peloponnesus with a great army, and was abetted by Arcadius from jealousy of Stilicho. Alaric was almost caught in a trap, but escaped northward, where he held his own for six years. At the end of 402 the contest was fought out. Alaric had invaded northern Italy, and the cowardly Honorius fled from Mediolanum (Milan) to Ravenna. Stilicho gathered all available troops from the western provinces and made a stand. He was blockaded in Milan, but early in 403 he broke the blockade and won a victory over Alaric at Pollentia, near Turin, and another at Verona. Alaric withdrew from Italy, but retained his power at the court of Arcadius. In 406 a new invasion threatened. A countless horde of Germans and Celts was led down from the north by their chief, Radagaisus, who occupied the heights of Fæsulæ, above Florence, where Stilicho, by a brilliant movement, hemmed him in and forced him to surrender. Radagaisus was treacherously put to death and his followers were sold into slavery. This was the last great achievement of Stilicho. His downfall was due to his ambition to see his own son Eucherius on the throne of Rome; and in this he might have succeeded but for the wily Olympius, who warned Honorius of Stilicho's designs. Honorius now for the first time showed signs of energy. He aroused the soldiers by a clever speech and won over many partisans of Stilicho, who, deserted by his friends, met death by assassination at Ravenna in 408. Consult Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vols. i-ii (Oxford, 1880), and Pasquale Villari, The Barbarian Invasions of Italy, vol. i, English translation by Linda Villari (New York, 1902). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 530. |