Gaiseric

Another invasion more fatal in its consequences to the empire, though itself transient as a conquest, was the consequence of the Gothic invasion of Spain.

The Vandals in Spain, the forerunners of the Goths, pressed by the combined power of the Gothic kingdom and the Roman provincials, and tempted by the invitation of a Roman governor, Count Boniface, who had been stung into treason by the intrigues at Ravenna, passed into Africa under Gaiseric, the most crafty, the most perfidious, the most ruthless of the barbarian kings, and of all of them the most implacable foe of Rome and its civilization.

The late repentance and the resistance of Count Boniface could not avert the Vandal conquest and the desolation of Africa.

The death of St. Augustine during the siege of his city Hippo in 430 and the surprise of Carthage in 439 marked the date of the ruin of Roman civilization on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, a civilization that had retained more unalloyed than that of any other province the peculiar Latin type, the roughness and the original force of the Latin mind and character.

The Vandal conquest, short-lived as it was compared with other barbarian occupations, dealt a far heavier blow than they to the weakened stability of the empire.

It was not only the severance from it of a great province, a second home of Latin letters and habits, but during the long reign of Gaiseric from 429 to 477, Rome and Italy were made acquainted with two new forms of suffering.

To the ordinary plagues of barbarian invasion were now added starvation and piracy.

Africa had been, with Egypt, the great storehouse from which Italy had drawn its usual supplies of corn.

Another invasion more fatal in its consequences to the empire, though itself transient as a conquest, was the consequence of the Gothic invasion of Spain.

The Vandals in Spain, the forerunners of the Goths, pressed by the combined power of the Gothic kingdom and the Roman provincials, and tempted by the invitation of a Roman governor, Count Boniface, who had been stung into treason by the intrigues at Ravenna, passed into Africa under Gaiseric, the most crafty, the most perfidious, the most ruthless of the barbarian kings, and of all of them the most implacable foe of Rome and its civilization.

The late repentance and the resistance of Count Boniface could not avert the Vandal conquest and the desolation of Africa.

The death of St. Augustine during the siege of his city Hippo in 430 and the surprise of Carthage in 439 marked the date of the ruin of Roman civilization on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, a civilization that had retained more unalloyed than that of any other province the peculiar Latin type, the roughness and the original force of the Latin mind and character.

The Vandal conquest, short-lived as it was compared with other barbarian occupations, dealt a far heavier blow than they to the weakened stability of the empire.

It was not only the severance from it of a great province, a second home of Latin letters and habits, but during the long reign of Gaiseric from 429 to 477, Rome and Italy were made acquainted with two new forms of suffering.

To the ordinary plagues of barbarian invasion were now added starvation and piracy.

Africa had been, with Egypt, the great storehouse from which Italy had drawn its usual supplies of corn.

Twice had the danger been averted.

The death knell of the empire struck for the third time two years later when Gaiseric the Vandal marched on Rome.

Gaiseric, who had conquered the Roman province of Africa fourteen years before, was no valiant warrior of generous instincts, but a crafty and treacherous schemer, who united with the savage nature of the barbarian the worst vices of the corrupt Roman world.

Beside him Alaric was a paladin, and a savage Attila an honest man.

He was, moreover, a bigoted Arian, and had relentlessly persecuted his Catholic subjects.

The emperor Maximus, his hands still red with the blood of his predecessor Valentinian, showed a craven cowardliness that disgusted even the Romans.

Stoning him to death, they cast his body into the Tiber and helplessly awaited their fate.

Gaiseric was three days' march from Rome, and no man dared to face him.

Another invasion more fatal in its consequences to the empire, though itself transient as a conquest, was the consequence of the Gothic invasion of Spain.

The Vandals in Spain, the forerunners of the Goths, pressed by the combined power of the Gothic kingdom and the Roman provincials, and tempted by the invitation of a Roman governor, Count Boniface, who had been stung into treason by the intrigues at Ravenna, passed into Africa under Gaiseric, the most crafty, the most perfidious, the most ruthless of the barbarian kings, and of all of them the most implacable foe of Rome and its civilization.

The late repentance and the resistance of Count Boniface could not avert the Vandal conquest and the desolation of Africa.

The death of St. Augustine during the siege of his city Hippo in 430 and the surprise of Carthage in 439 marked the date of the ruin of Roman civilization on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, a civilization that had retained more unalloyed than that of any other province the peculiar Latin type, the roughness and the original force of the Latin mind and character.

The Vandal conquest, short-lived as it was compared with other barbarian occupations, dealt a far heavier blow than they to the weakened stability of the empire.

It was not only the severance from it of a great province, a second home of Latin letters and habits, but during the long reign of Gaiseric from 429 to 477, Rome and Italy were made acquainted with two new forms of suffering.

To the ordinary plagues of barbarian invasion were now added starvation and piracy.

Africa had been, with Egypt, the great storehouse from which Italy had drawn its usual supplies of corn.

In 1923, hyperinflation and the whole tribute obligation were not unrelated events.

And then in 439, and this is the one that actually kills the Western Empire, the Vandals under Gaiseric take Carthage.

Now, everybody focuses on the sack of Rome.

The real

He fought in battles, even when a boy, and was known far and wide for his bravery and skill as a leader.

About the time that Genseric became king, the governor of Roman province in the north of Africa, on the Mediterranean coast, was a man called Count Boniface.

Count Boniface had been a good and loyal officer in Rome, but a plot was formed against him by Aetius, the general who had fought Attila at Chalons.

The Roman emperor at the time of the plot was Valentinian III.

At the same time, he wrote secretly to Count Boniface and told him that if he came to Rome, the Empress would put him to death.

Boniface believed this story, and he refused to return to Rome.

He also sent a letter to Genseric inviting him to come to Africa with an army.

Genseric was greatly delighted to receive the invitation from Boniface.

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Genseric the Vandal, king from four twenty-seven to four seventy-seven AD.

One, the Vandals were another wild and fierce tribe that came up from the shores of the Baltic and invaded Central and Southern Europe in the later times of the Roman Empire.

In the fifth century, some of these people occupied a region in South Spain.

One of their most celebrated kings was named Genseric.

He became king in four twenty-seven when he was but twenty-one years of age.

He was lame in one leg and looked as if he were a very ordinary person.

Like most of the Vandals, he was a cruel and cunning man, but he had a great ability in many ways.

Another invasion more fatal in its consequences to the empire, though itself transient as a conquest, was the consequence of the Gothic invasion of Spain.

The Vandals in Spain, the forerunners of the Goths, pressed by the combined power of the Gothic kingdom and the Roman provincials, and tempted by the invitation of a Roman governor, Count Boniface, who had been stung into treason by the intrigues at Ravenna, passed into Africa under Gaiseric, the most crafty, the most perfidious, the most ruthless of the barbarian kings, and of all of them the most implacable foe of Rome and its civilization.

The late repentance and the resistance of Count Boniface could not avert the Vandal conquest and the desolation of Africa.

The death of St. Augustine during the siege of his city Hippo in 430 and the surprise of Carthage in 439 marked the date of the ruin of Roman civilization on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, a civilization that had retained more unalloyed than that of any other province the peculiar Latin type, the roughness and the original force of the Latin mind and character.

The Vandal conquest, short-lived as it was compared with other barbarian occupations, dealt a far heavier blow than they to the weakened stability of the empire.

It was not only the severance from it of a great province, a second home of Latin letters and habits, but during the long reign of Gaiseric from 429 to 477, Rome and Italy were made acquainted with two new forms of suffering.

To the ordinary plagues of barbarian invasion were now added starvation and piracy.

Africa had been, with Egypt, the great storehouse from which Italy had drawn its usual supplies of corn.