Attila (63 page)

74
‘the German's bid for power'. Germans were never acceptable as Roman emperors and could only rule indirectly through puppets of their choice. This despite the fact that Spaniards, Africans, Illyrians, and an Arab had all at various times donned the purple – without anyone objecting on ethnic or cultural grounds.

74
‘the great Anician family of Rome'. The Anicii were, like the Symmachi, one of those great Roman families whose influence was felt in the corridors of power at the highest level. They were connected by blood to, among others, Eparchius Avitus (Emperor, 455–6), and in marriage to Emperor Theodosius I, to Petronius Maximus (Emperor, 455), to Eudocia, widow of Valentinian III, and perhaps to the Spanish usurper Magnus Maximus.

75
‘Gaius Valerius acquired an unofficial
agnomen
'. The Romans were sometimes referred to as ‘the people with three names'. From an early period they adopted the Sabine practice of using a
praenomen
or personal name (chosen from an extremely limited stock – Titus, Quintus, Marcus, etc., usually abbreviated to T., Q., M., etc.) – followed by a
gentile
or tribal name ending in ‘ius', such as Julius, Claudius, or Tullius. This, in the case of patricians, was followed by a family name or
cognomen
, often originally deriving from a personal peculiarity: Caesar (having a full head of hair), Cicero, Naso, etc. Occasionally, as a mark of distinction, a second
cognomen
or honorific
agnomen
such as ‘Africanus' or ‘Germanicus' was added. By the fifth century, the system had loosened up a little, to the extent of widening the choice of personal names, and occasionally the affecting of more than one family name. In general, however, naming practice remained remarkably conservative and consistent throughout the whole Roman period. Incidentally the style ‘Julius Caesar', referring to Caius Julius Caesar, is a modern adoption and wouldn't have been used by the Romans themselves. They would have called him Caius (interchangeable with Gaius), or Caesar, or Caius Julius, or Caius Caesar; never by a combination of the
gentile
and family names.

76
‘the Altar of Victory removed from the Senate'. This was bitterly opposed by Symmachus, city prefect of Rome, consul, orator,
man of letters, and distinguished member of one of the great influential Roman families, the Symmachi.

76
‘the pursuit of
otium
'. Leisured scholarship was the preserve of the senatorial aristocracy and country gentlemen in Rome and the Latin provinces, as well as in the Eastern Empire. This created a remarkably uniform, if sterile, classical culture which survived in the Western Empire right up to the end in 476, and even beyond.

77
‘Many of their leaders copy Roman dress and manners'. Sidonius Apollinaris, who visited the Visigoth court of Theoderic II, draws a flattering pen-portrait of the monarch, and describes Gallo-Roman aristocrats being sumptuously entertained by Visigoth courtiers displaying the courteous manners and wit of Roman gentlemen.

81
‘like a latter-day Cincinnatus'. In Rome's early days, the exconsul Cincinnatus was summoned from the plough to lead Rome against the Aequians; that tribe defeated, he returned to ploughing his farm.

91
‘Ariminum's five-spanned bridge . . . triumphal arch'. The bridge is still in use today, and the arch spans a main road into Rimini.

101
‘
Ad Kalendas Graecas
'. The Roman Kalends was the usual day for paying rents, accounts, etc. But as the Greeks used a different mode of reckoning, a postponement of payment ‘to the Greek Kalends' simply meant a refusal to pay altogether. Popularized by Emperor Augustus, the expression became a synonym for ‘never'.

107
‘his son-in-law Sebastian'. ‘the virtuous and faithful Sebastian' (Gibbon) was subsequently hounded implacably by the agents of Aetius, ‘from one kingdom to another, till he perished miserably in the service of the Vandals', a Catholic martyr of Arian persecution.

109
‘he will be outlawed'. After the Battle of the Fifth Milestone,
Aetius and the remnants of his force managed to retreat to Gaul. Defeated, disgraced, declared a rebel by Placidia, he then withdrew to a fortified estate inherited from his father, where he attempted to hold out. However, besieged by imperial troops and nearly falling victim to a murder attempt by Sebastian, Aetius soon realized that his position was untenable. Accompanied by a few loyal followers, he slipped away in secret and escaped to Pannonia, to be granted sanctuary by his faithful friends the Huns.

119
‘the sword had been gifted to him by a herdsman'. The full story is recounted by Priscus of Panium in his
Byzantine History
, which contains a graphic account of his visit to the court of Attila.

123
‘both an Aristotle and an Arrian to Attila's Alexander'. Aristotle was tutor to the young Alexander, Arrian (second century
AD
) his biographer.

124
‘even copied by the imperial cavalry of China'. This seems to have occurred
c
. 300
BC
. Gradually tunic and trousers spread among the Chinese population, displacing traditional flowing robes and tight shoes to become the Chinese national dress. Today, this ubiquitous costume is giving ground to Western clothing, itself a throwback to Persian dress, introduced into Britain by Charles II: a long, open-fronted jacket worn over waistcoat and breeches – the embryonic three-piece suit.

125
‘if Ptolemy is correct'. The foremost of classical geographers, Ptolemy flourished in the mid-second century
AD
. His
Geographia
, a standard work of reference up to the Great Discoveries of the fifteenth century, shows on its great world map lines of latitude and longitude (calculated from Ferro in the Canaries), Europe and the Near East reasonably accurately, and – distorted though recognizable – the main features of Asia and Africa as they were known in his day.

127
‘a drink called
chai
'. Tea is thought to have been introduced to China from India before 500. ‘Brick tea', steamed and compressed tea dust, is only one-sixth the bulk of loose tea, making it an ideal article of trade.

127
‘rhinoceros and elephant'. That is, woolly rhinoceros and mammoth. John Ledyard in his 1787–8 journal,
A Journey through
Russia and Siberia
, noted seeing large quantities of such bones in the vicinity of Irkutsk. Significant amounts of commercial ivory have been recovered from mammoth tusks.

128
‘still permitted to discuss all matters freely'. But not for much longer. Within a few generations they were to be closed by order of Justinian, one symbol of the winding up of classical culture.

138
‘between Scylla and Charybdis'. In Homeric legend, these were two sea-monsters who dwelt on either side of a narrow strait, constituting a deadly peril to passing seafarers. In modern parlance, ‘between Scylla and Charybdis' would translate as ‘between a rock and a hard place'.

165
‘one of those German legends'. The Burgundian campaign, of which this was the prelude, was in fact to become the subject of one such saga, the
Nibelungenlied
, which conflates several separate events, and even features Attila.

169
‘an Aurelian to wipe out the Alamanni sweeping into Italia'. Aurelian, huge in character as well as physique, was instrumental, along with his predecessor Claudius II and his successor Diocletian, in rehabilitating (in a bleak and totalitarian fashion) the Roman Empire after its near-eclipse in the third century. Rome is still (mostly) surrounded by the defensive walls he built against incursions by the Alamanni.

194
‘a race of uncivilized allies'. At the time Sidonius was writing, the Visigoths were attacking Arvernum (Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne) of which Sidonius, son-in-law of Avitus, had become bishop.

196
‘the milestone marking the centre of Gaul'. It has since been moved a few miles to the town of Bruère-Allichamps, south of Bourges, to mark the supposed geographical centre of France.

197
‘Revessium'. Also known as Ruessio or Ruessium, it was the capital of the Vellavi tribe, allies of Vercingetorix against Julius Caesar.

197
‘the fierce and volatile Arverni'. Under their famous leader
Vercingetorix, they inflicted on Julius Caesar his single reverse at Gergovia in 52
BC
.

197
‘Avitacum, the estate of Senator Avitus'. Sidonius Apollinaris, son-in-law of Avitus, has left us a description of the place. There are views of the hills and across Lac d'Aydat, heated baths, outhouses, women's quarters, and a summerhouse. Sidonius talks of drinking snow-cooled wine while watching fishermen on the lake; and he describes the rural sounds of frogs, chickens, swans, geese, wild birds, cattle, cowbells, and shepherd's pipes. A scene straight out of Virgil's
Georgics
– ironically, painted as the Western Empire tottered towards its final collapse.

202
‘the recently enacted Law of Citations'. This was compiled under Valentinian III in 426, in an attempt to clarify the rather ramshackle mass of sometimes conflicting Roman legislation; a further improvement, the Theodosian Code (compiled in the Eastern Empire) followed in 438. The stately fabric of Roman law which we know today and which forms the basis of Scots law and the legal systems of other nations, is the great
Digest
of Justinian, a selective condensation of Roman laws from Hadrian to 533, the year of the
Digest
's publication.

202
‘Papinian was to have the casting vote'. Aemilius Papinianus was the most celebrated Roman jurist before the time of Justinian. He was put to death by Caracalla in
212 AD
.

203
‘But this could happen only once'. Penance would obviously incur prior admission of the sins to be expunged. But that was very different from the present practice of Confession followed by Absolution, on a regular basis. This only became formalized in the fourth Lateran Council of 1215, and received final confirmation in the Council of Trent, 1545–63.

214
‘another Zama'. Zama was the decisive battle in North Africa, in which Scipio the Younger inflicted a crushing defeat on Hannibal in 201
BC
. The long and bitter struggle against Carthage brought out the best in the Roman character, creating a patriotic resolve akin to the ‘Dunkirk spirit', or the sentiments expressed in Robert Burns' poem, ‘Bruce's Address at Bannockburn'.

219
‘sowing dragon's teeth'. A reference to an incident recounted in the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece, where warriors sprang up from land sown with dragon's teeth.

220
‘Orestes, his young Roman secretary'. A brave and talented man who, after the death of Attila rose to become Master of Soldiers in Italia, Orestes was the father of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus – those names a chilling echo of Rome's founder, and of her first Emperor.

223
‘Sirmium, the mighty Illyrian city'. Mitrovica, in Kosovo, along with Belgrade, is by a macabre coincidence once more associated with a policy of genocide and ‘ethnic cleansing'. For Huns read Serbs. Illyria, comprising the East's Balkan provinces, should not be confused with Illyricum, the West's most easterly diocese.

226
‘the city was . . . systematically demolished'. The capture and destruction of great cities like Sirmium, hitherto thought impregnable, especially to barbarians, must have dealt the Romans a terrible psychological blow, creating panic and hopelessness.

227
‘the circus faction of the Greens'. The Greens and the Blues were the opposing supporters of the rival chariot-racing teams in Constantinople, distinguished by those colours. They could wield enormous influence, as in the ‘Nika' riots of 532, which almost toppled the emperor Justinian. Shades of Celtic
v
. Rangers! The Blues tended to identify with the emperor and the Establishment.

237
‘in extending their conquests so far westward'. Recent discoveries have confirmed the vast distance the Huns migrated from their original homeland, which was probably to the north of Korea. In north-west Hungary, the last area to fall to them, a Hunnic hoard has been found, containing small gold horses, identical to others discovered in a huge arc extending across eastern Europe, and Asia as far as eastern Siberia.

239
‘a grotesquely inflated nose'. Europe's only antelope, the saiga formerly existed in enormous herds across the steppelands of Asia and eastern Europe. Almost wiped out in the severe winter of 1829, it is making a comeback and is now protected. Its salient
feature, a hugely enlarged nose, contains structures to warm the air and filter dust from it.

241
‘a mighty aqueduct'. Built by Emperor Valens in 375, much of it is still standing, having been in use until the late nineteenth century. A classic Roman structure, it dramatically spans a valley in a double series of superimposed arches.

242
‘four mighty horses in bronze'. They were looted by the Venetians after their capture of the city in 1204, and are now to be seen adorning St Mark's Cathedral in Venice.