Eagles in the Dust

by Adrian Coombs-Hoar

  The ramifications of the murder of Pap would make itself felt during the years just before Adrianople, and will be discussed in Chapter Nine.

  Valentinian, learning what had happened in Illyricum, made preparations to march to that province to deal with the Quadi and their Sarmatian allies; this was in the autumn of AD 374. However, he was persuaded to wait until the following spring due to both the fact that the weather would not be conducive for setting on campaign late in the year, and also because there were still threats from the Germanic tribes north of Gaul that needed to be resolved. Valentinian agreed to stay and deal with the Alamanni King Macrianus in a way that was advantageous to both parties. Accordingly a meeting was agreed at the city of Mogonticum (modern Mayence) on the bank of the Rhine. Macrianus arrived at the appointed date and time on the north bank with a large number of warriors. Valentinian was conveyed over by boat in a scene very reminiscent of Valens’ meeting with Athanaricus in their meeting on the Danube. Speeches were made and an oath of friendship was taken by both leaders, Macrianus becoming a loyal ally to the Romans to the end of his days. Valentinian then retired to Trier for the winter.68

  In the spring of AD 375 Valentinian set out from Trier to finally deal with the Sarmatians and their allies the Quadi. Whilst making his way to Illyricum a deputation from the Sarmatians met him and begged Valentinian for peace, stating that they had nothing to do with the incursions the previous year. Valentinian informed them that he would make proper investigation on his arrival in Illyricum and he proceeded to the abandoned town of Carnuntum in Illyricum where he set up his headquarters.69 He spent several months building up his army and supplies in readiness for an attack on the Quadi. During that time he was involved in several intrigues but did nothing either to investigate the murder of King Gabinius or to punish anyone involved in that act and other crimes.70 Once preparations were ready Valentinian sent Merobaudes and Count Sebastianus with an army to attack the territory of the Quadi, Valentinian himself with the rest of the army crossed the Danube near Acincum (modern Ofen) on a temporary bridge. The Quadi, having moved away from the area Merobaudes and Sebastianus were attacking were unexpectedly attacked by Valentinian’s force.71 The Quadi scattered and the survivors hid themselves in the hills. Having done this, and not being able to flush the remaining Quadi from their hiding places, Valentinian returned to Acincum where he began to look for suitable winter quarters. He made for Bregitio (modern Szoeny) by force marching along the bank of the Danube and set up his quarters there. Whilst at Bregitio various portents were seen in the West that would afterwards be interpreted as foretelling the death of Valentinian. They included a number of comets seen in the sky, a thunderbolt hit Sirmium setting fire to the Palace, Senate and Forum; an owl was seen perched on the roof of the Imperial baths at Savaria, whilst the night before his death Valentinian had a vision of his wife in mourning attire.72 The morning after the vision of his wife Valentinian was approached by envoys from the Quadi who begged for his forgiveness and for peace, offering to give recruits for the Roman army and other promises. Unfortunately the manner of the Quadi envoy during their plea sent Valentinian into a rage; such was the fury of it that it triggered a stroke from which he did not recover. Shortly after being led away by his attendants he died on 18 November AD 375 at the age of 55.73 This one event, amongst so many others that drove nails into the heart of the Empire, was to prove the most devastating as now Valens, who had tended to bend to his brother’s will, had no such constraints, and Valentinian’s influence would be sorely missed in the years leading up to the battle of Adrianople itself.

  The death of Valentinian almost led to a power crisis. Gratian, Valentinian’s son who had been promoted to the title of Caesar and who was next in line to take up the Imperial power, was back in Trier, and his uncle Valens, who could also have taken sole charge of the empire, was far away in Antioch in the East. To prevent the Gallic troops from raising another to the Purple, Merobaudes, taking stock of the situation, sent Sebastianus, who was the most likely candidate to be elevated to power by the troops and who was at that time unaware of Valentinian’s death, as far from the region as possible. Once Valentinian’s body was being taken to Constantinople to be interred, Merobaudes arranged for Valentinianus, the 4-year-old son of Valentinian to be brought from where he was staying to Bregitio to Constantinople. Just six days after the death of Valentinian, Valentinianus was clothed in a purple cloak and declared Augustus and to reign as co-emperor of the West with Gratian.74

  As can be seen in this chapter, the years from AD 367, when Valens was about to embark on his campaigns over the Danube against the Goths, up to AD 376 when the Goths massed on the northern banks of the same river, were very turbulent and there were few months when some sort of crisis did not rear its ugly head. Had not Sharpur intervened in Armenia then it’s highly likely that Valens would have been far more successful against Athanaricus and his Goths as he would not have had to despatch part of his campaigning army East under Arintheus. The forces despatched East from AD 371 would have weakened the Northern provinces facing the Danube frontier, and that would also have impacted on the ability of the Romans to deal with the upcoming crisis in AD 376. These events have not been fully considered by those who have studied Valens’ Gothic campaigns and the Battle of Adrianople itself. The impact of the almost incessant warfare from AD 367 onwards would have meant that resources that could have been put towards dealing a fatal blow to the Goths had to be used elsewhere.

  However, the one event for me that would prove deadly to the Roman state was the death of Valentinian. Valentinian’s death would be a most devastating blow, one that would not be appreciated at the time. It allowed Valens unbridled reign over the East as he would no longer have to seek approval from his much more able brother for any future actions. He would instead rely on his court officials and military officers for advice, and that advice would ultimately lead to Valens’ downfall.

  Chapter Seven

  AD 376 – The Beginning of the End

  When Valens woke up on the morning of the first day of the year AD 376 he would have had no idea how that year was going to change not only his life, his reign over the Roman Empire, but also the far more dramatic consequences for the Roman Empire as a whole. It cannot be underestimated that what was going to occur during this fateful year would do to the Empire, for just 100 years later one half of the Roman Empire would no longer exist, and the other half would increasingly rely on Goths and other ‘barbarians’ to protect their borders.

  There were indications to the citizens of the Empire that the year AD 376 was going to be a turbulent one. At the end of AD 375 various signs and portents were seen throughout the eastern provinces that were taken as predicting something dire was going to occur to Valens. The people of Antioch rioted and many chanted for Valens to be burned alive. The baths Valens had built in that city were torched; this was taken as a sign that this too would be the fate Valens would suffer in the future. The ghosts of Pap and the others Valens had condemned to death were seen to roam abroad ‘shrieking horrible songs at night, in the form of dirges, tormented many with dire terrors’. And when the walls of Chalcedon were being demolished at Valens’ command a stone block was revealed that had this inscription written in Greek on its surface:

  When gaily through the city’s festal streets

  Shall whirl soft maidens in a happy dance,

  When mournfully a wall shall guard a bath,

  Then countless hordes of men spread far and wide

  With warlike arms shall cross clear Istrus’ stream

  To ravage Scythia’s fields and Mysia’s land.

  But mad with hope when they Pannonia raid,

  There battle and life’s end their course shall check.

  These verses were to be later interpreted as signalling the coming of the Huns and the crossing of the Danube by the Goths.1

  At the end of Chapter Five we saw that the Goths had elected a new leader, Alavivus, and had agreed to mov
e south-west towards the Danube with the intention of crossing over and settling in Thrace. Once on the northern bank of that river Alavivus sent an envoy to Valens, asking Valens’ permission for the Goths to be allowed to cross the Danube and settle in Thrace, and in return the Goths ‘would not only lead a peaceful life but would also furnish auxiliaries, if circumstances required’.2 Rumours had already swept through the Empire of troubles and warfare beyond the Danube, which was of a scale unheard of before. Tales of a terrifying new race who were the instigators behind this conflict also began to circulate. The Gothic envoys cemented the rumours into something concrete and real. Valens was swayed by the council of those at his court, who said that the coming of the Goths was a stroke of good fortune. They persuaded Valens that the Goths would provide him with willing recruits to swell the ranks of the eastern army, saving him the expense of raising recruits from the provinces who would have had to have been paid for otherwise.3 Valens duly despatched officials with carts to transport the Goths to their new homeland in Thrace, once they had crossed over the Danube. There were so many Goths massed on the far bank that it took days to transport them over, using boats, rafts and even hollowed out tree-trunks. Some, fearing to either be left behind or to be attacked by the rapidly approaching Huns, chanced swimming across and many drowned as a result.4 Alavivus, now joined by Fritigern, was warmly received by Valens who gave orders that the Goths should receive both food and lands to cultivate. Had this command been adhered to then it is likely the course of history would have been changed. Commanding the disarming of the Goths once they had crossed may also have prevented disaster striking. However, the two men sent with the army to oversee the transition of the Goths from the Danube to their new homelands so bungled the affair that the Goths rose up in an armed rebellion. Count Lupicinus, Commander of the army in Thrace, and his colleague Duke Maximus, abused the Goths under their charge. Instead of giving the Gothic refugees decent food to eat, they instead gave orders for all the dogs that were in the region to be gathered up and then each one was to be exchanged for a Goth. These Goths were then enslaved, and some of these poor devils were the sons of chieftains.5 To add to this insult, Viderichus, the boy King of the Greuthungi Goths, having arrived on the north bank of the Danube in the company of Farnobius, Alatheus and Saphrax, sent envoys to Valens to ask to be received like Fritigern and Alavivus had been. These envoys were rejected and the Greuthungi were forced to stay beyond the Roman frontier.6 Athanaricus also made his appearance on the banks of the Danube. He, on hearing that Viderichus and the Greuthungi had been refused entry, suddenly remembered that he had forced Valens in to signing a rather humiliating peace treaty in the middle of that river. Fearing Valens would perhaps not take this too kindly, he declared his vow to never set foot on Roman soil and retreated to Caucalanda, where his men drove out the Sarmatians who lived there.7

  The Tervingi Goths grew ever more restive and angry as Lupicinus and his cohort Maximus made the most out of the plight of those tribesmen. Finally Lupicinus recognized that his actions were rousing the Goths into anger and he sent troops to send the Goths as quickly as possible to their allotted place within the Empire. In the rush and confusion to speed up the transition of the Goths across the Danube, the Greuthungi, still camped on the north bank of the Danube, saw an opportunity to make their own crossing over the river whilst the troops and boats that were stationed there to prevent their crossing were now being tasked with moving on the Tervingi. This they did completely unopposed and they pitched their camp a little distance from Fritigern’s.8

  Fritigern made contact with the Greuthungi who had now crossed the Danube, and then in company with them, he made his way slowly to the city of Marcianople where both he and Alavivus had been summoned by Valens.9 And it was at Marcianople that the final act that led to the rebellion of the Goths took place. Lupicinus invited both Alavivus and Fritigern to a dinner in their honour, which in itself should have put those two leaders on guard, knowing the Roman penchant for dealing with their barbarian guests at such occasions! Lupicinus had his troops refuse the rest of Goths entry into the city, despite the Goths reminding them that they had been received into the empire in friendship and they needed to enter the city to obtain food. A quarrel arose between the inhabitants of the city and the Goths attempting to gain entry which quickly broke out into deadly violence. Lupicinus received word of what was happening outside the city and he ordered Alavivus’ and Fritigern’s attendants and guards, who were waiting outside the room whilst their leaders were eating, to be put to death. The Goths outside the walls were made aware of this treacherous act and, fearing that their leaders were going to suffer a similar fate, began to mass against the city walls and uttered dire threats towards the inhabitants unless their leaders were set free. Fritigern, quickly assessing the situation, demanded to be allowed to go with Alavivus to their people to prove they were still alive, and that would in turn calm their fellow tribesmen down. This was agreed to and when the Goths outside the walls saw their leaders still alive they began to loudly rejoice. Taking full advantage of the confusion, Fritigern and Alavivus found horses and quickly rode away, setting in motion the war that was soon to come. When word of the Roman treachery reached the rest of the Tervingi they became enraged, raising their standards, and blowing their horns, signalling that they were now at war with Rome. With that rallying call Gothic raiding parties spread out through Thrace to pillage and plunder it. Lupicinus reacted to this dangerous situation by gathering together all his forces at Marcianople and rushed to meet the Goths nine miles outside the city. The Goths, not waiting for the Romans to get into battle formation, fell on Lupicinus’ army and overran it, capturing all the standards and donning the arms and armour of the fallen Roman troops. Lupicinus fled the scene of the battle whilst his men were still fighting and made for the safety of Marcianople, leaving his men to die.10

  Word of the Gothic rebellion quickly spread, and when the news reached Adrianople another outbreak of Gothic violence occurred. Sometime beforehand Valens had received two other Gothic chieftains, Colias and Sueridus, and had allowed them, with their tribesmen, to spend the winter at Adrianople. At first those two chieftains took little notice of the reports of their fellow tribesmen’s revolt, their main concern being the welfare of their people within the city. This was soon to change when they were unexpectedly presented by a letter from Valens ordering them to go to Hellespontus in Asia Minor. The two chieftains were willing to comply, but first they requested food and money for the journey and a stay of two days, presumably to allow their tribesmen to make themselves ready for the journey. The chief magistrate of the city, who was already angry with the Goths due to them plundering his suburban villa that was beyond the city walls, armed some of the citizens and with them descended upon the Goths within the walls. The citizens brandished their weapons and made threats against the Goths, issuing demands that the Goths leave immediately. The Goths were stunned at this turn of events and refused to move, but when the armed mob before them resorted from hurling abuse, to then hurling missiles at them, the Goths reacted by attacking the mob, killing many and putting the rest to flight.11 The Goths stripped the fallen of their arms, leaving them armed and armoured on an equal basis to their Roman enemies, and they left the city. They soon fell in with Fritigern and his tribesmen who were camped not far off. This combined horde then laid siege to Adrianople. Unfortunately the Goths were both ill-prepared for and inexperienced in that kind of warfare, losing many men to the slingshot and arrows from the defenders on the walls. Fritigern, seeing how ineffective his men were at besieging a city, called off the attack and uttered these famous words to his men, that he ‘kept peace with walls’; he sent the bulk of them to plunder the area around the city, just leaving a small force behind to prevent the defenders of Adrianople undertaking any rash action.12

  Once news of the revolt at Adrianople reached the ears of the other Goths scattered throughout Thrace they came rapidly to Fritigern’s camp, swelling the r
anks of his horde. And not only Goths came to him, disaffected Romans too flocked to Fritigern’s banner. These deserters proved very useful to Fritigern, and extremely disastrous to the Empire, as they were able to show the Goths hidden stores of grain, less frequented pathways and the hiding places of citizens who had taken refuge in the countryside. Many were captured and dragged off into captivity by the Goths, age and sex did not seem to matter, such was the fate of those who were unable to resist.13

  Some interesting points need to be examined here. The first one that demands attention is why didn’t the Romans who were ferrying the Goths across the Danube disarm them before they reached the other side? This is surely the one thing anyone with even an ounce of sense should have done to ensure that if the Goths became restive then at least they could have been relatively easily overpowered by the smaller yet better armed Romans supervising them. Yet, it is quite apparent that this did not happen as commentators at the time lamented. Another interesting fact was that Goths were already in residence in the Empire before Alavivus and Fritigern had crossed the Danube, because, as I noted above, Colias and Sueridus were already stationed in Adrianople with their fellow tribesmen. This may well be due to the fact that Valens had begun actively recruiting from the Goths for his proposed invasion of Sassanid Persia, which was as a direct result of the Sassanid interference in Armenia. We will read later in this book that other Goths were stationed much further East for that very same reason. One last point intrigues me the most. After escaping for his life with Alavivas, Fritigern then camped a short distance outside of Adrianople, and there is little evidence he moved very far from the vicinity of that city during the following two years before the Battle of Adrianople itself. Which begs the question: why? Was it that Fritigern really intended to take up Valens’ offer to cultivate lands in Thrace? Was he actually sticking to his side of the bargain as much as he could do so, because he still had a debt owing to Valens due to the support that Emperor had given to him against Athanaricus? Was Fritigern hoping that the situation could still be resolved peacefully? If this was indeed the case then subsequent events would put paid to that rather vain hope.