t period the civil and military powers of the
empire solemnly elected Valentinian as emperor at Nice in Bithynia.

The new Augustus divided the vast empire with his brother Valens, and
this division marked the final separation of the western and eastern
empires. This arrangement continued, until the death of Valentinian in
375, when the western empire was divided between his sons, Gratian and
Valentinian II.

His reign had been notable for the stemming of the invasion of the
Alemanni of Gaul, the incursions of the Burgundians and the Saxons, the
restoration of Britain from the attacks of the Picts and Scots, the
recovery of Africa by the emperor's general, Theodosius, and the
diplomatic settlement with the approaching hordes of the Goths, who
already swarmed upon the frontiers of the empire.

Under the three emperors the Roman world began to feel more severely the
gradual pressure exerted by the hordes of barbarians that moved
westward. In 376 the Goths, pursued by the Huns, who had come from the
steppes of China into Europe, sought the protection of Valens, who
succoured them by transporting them over the Danube into Roman
territory. They repaid his clemency by uniting their arms with those of
the Huns, and defeating and killing him at the battle of Hadrianople in
378.

To save the provinces from the ravages of the barbarians, Gratian
appointed Theodosius, son of his father's general, emperor of the East,
and the wisdom of his choice was justified by the success of one who
added a new lustre to the title of Augustus. By prudent strategy,
Theodosius divided and defeated the Goths, and compelled them to submit.

The sons of Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius succeeded respectively to
the government of the East and the West in 395. The symptoms of decay,
which not even the wise rule of Theodosius had been able to remove, had
grown more alarming. The luxury of the Romans was more shameless and
dissolute, and as the increasing depredations of the barbarians had
checked industry and diminished wealth, this profuse luxury must have
been the result of that indolent despair which enjoys the present hour
and declines the thoughts of futurity.

The secret and destructive poison of the age had affected the camps of
the legions. The infantry had laid aside their armour, and, discarding
their shields, advanced, trembling, to meet the cavalry of the Goths and
the arrows of the barbarians, who easily overwhelmed the naked soldier