ave Carthage, and, though he made the bravest defence in
his power, he was driven into Hippo, which was so strongly fortified
that he was able to hold it out a whole year, during which time St.
Augustine died, after a long illness. He had caused the seven
penitential Psalms to be written out on the walls of his room, and was
constantly musing on them. He died, and was buried in peace before the
city was taken. Boniface held out for five years altogether before
Africa was entirely taken by the Vandals, and a miserable time began for
the Church, for Genseric was an Arian, and set himself to crush out the
Catholic Church by taking away her buildings and grievously persecuting
her faithful bishops.

Valentinian III, made a treaty with him, and even yielded up to him all
right to the old Roman province of Africa; but Genseric had a strong
fleet of ships, and went on attacking and plundering Sicily, Corsica,
Sardinia, Italy and the coasts of Greece.

Britain, at the same time, was being so tormented by the attacks of the
Saxons by sea, and the Caledonians from the north, that her chiefs sent
a piteous letter to Aetius in Gaul, beginning with "The groans of the
Britons;" but Aetius could send no help, and Gaul itself was being
overrun by the Goths in the south, the Burgundians in the middle, and
the Franks in the north, so that scarcely more than Italy itself
remained to Valentinian.

[Illustration: VANDALS PLUNDERING]

The Eastern half of the Empire was better off, though it was tormented
by the Persians in the East, on the northern border by the Eastern Goths
or Ostrogoths, who had stayed on the banks of the Danube instead of
coming to Italy, and to the south by the Vandals from Africa. But
Pulcheria was so wise and good that, when her young brother Theodosius
II. died without children, the people begged her to choose a husband who
might be an Emperor for them. She chose a wise old senator named
Marcian, and when he died, she again chose another good and wise man
named Zeno; and thus the Eastern Empire stood while the West was fast
crumbling away. The nobles were almost all vain, weak cowards, who only
thought of themselves, and left strangers to fight their battles; and
every one was cowed with fear, for a more terrible foe than any was now
coming on them.

[Illustration: PYRAMIDS AND SPHINX IN EGYPT.]

CHAPTER XLIII.

ATTILA THE HUN

435-457.

The terrible enemy who was coming against the unhappy Roman