Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/525

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APPENDIX 503 for direct dealings between Gerontius and the invaders, and his treaty with them is more likely to have followed the proclamation of RLaximus than to have gone before it".) The dominion of Maximus was practically confined to the north- western corner ; the seat of his rule was Tarraco. As for the relation of Maximus to Gerontius, it is very doubtful whether nalSa. in Olympiodorus is to be interpreted son and not rather servant or retainer. The rest of the episode of Constantine's reign — the sieges of Vienna (which, some have suspected, is a mistake for Narbo) and Arelate — have been well told by Gibbon. These events must be placed in the year 411 ; for Constantine's head arrived at Ravenna on 18th September (Idatius ad ann.), and it was in the fourth month of the siege of Arelate that Edobich's troops came on the scene (Renatus ap. Greg. Tur. ii. 9). Mr. Freeman thus contrasts the position of Constantine with that of con- temporary tyrants : Constantine and Maximus clearly leagued themselves with the barbarians ; but they were not mere puppets of the barbarians ; they were not even set up by barbarian help. Each was set up by a movement in an army which passed for Roman. But the tyrants who appear in Gaul in the following year, Jovinus, Sebastian and Attalus — Attains, already known in Italy, is fresh in Gaul — are far more closely connected with the invaders of the provinces. Attalus was a mere puppet of the Goths, set up and put down at pleasure ; his story is merely a part of the marches of Ataulf in Gaul and Spain. Jovinus was set up by Bur- gundian and Alan help ; his elevation to the Empire and the earliest Bur- gundian settlement in Gaul are simply two sides of one event. Even Maximus was not in this way the mere creature of the invaders of Spain, though he found it convenient at least to connive at their invasion." 21. "THE STATUE OF A POET FAR SUPERIOR TO CLAUDIAN"— (P. 282) Other readers may, like myself, have been puzzled by this reference of Gibbon. Professor Dowden has supplied me with what must, I believe, be the true explanation. The statue of Voltaire by Pigalle (now in the Institut) was executed in 1770. The actress Mile. Clairon opened a subscription for it. See Desnoiresterres, Voltau'e et la Society au xviii. Si^cle, vii., p. 312 sqq. 22. DEATH OF RIAXIMUS— (P- 341) The chronicle of Count Marcellinus states that the tyrants Maximus and Jovinus were brought in chains from Spain (to Ravenna) and executed in the year 422, on the occasion of the tricennalia of Honorius (sub ann. 422, p. 75, ed. Moramsen, Chron. Min. vol. ii.). This, like some other unique notices in Mar- cellinus, was doubtless taken by him from the Consularia Italica (see above. Appendix 1), which have come down in a mutilated condition (op. Mommsen, ib. p. 46). It is borne out by Orosius, who, writing in 417, says (vii. 425) : Maximus exutus purpura destititusque a militibus Gallicanis — nunc inter barbaros in Hispania egens exulat ; which alone is of sufficient authority to refute the state- ments of the Eastern writers followed by Gibbon. 23. SEPTIMANIA— (P. 356) An error prevails in regard to the name Septimania. It first occurs in Sidonius ApoUinaris, Ep. iii., 1, 4, where it is said of the Goths of the kingdom of Tolosa: Septimaniam suam fastidiunt vel refundunt, modo invidiosi huius anguli (that is, Arverni) etiam desolata proprietate potiantur. In his Index Locorum to Luetjohann's ed. of Sidonius, Mommsen points out that Septimania is not derived from septem (the etymon is Septimus) and therefore did not signify either the Seven Provinces of the Viennese Diocese, or seven cities granted to the Goths (Greg. Tm'., 2, 20). It means the coast line from the Pyrenees to the Rhone, in Sidonius as well as in Gregory of Toms and