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Fifth-Century Facts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Philip Bartholomew
Philip Bartholomew
Affiliation:
Hill House, Forest Hill, near Oxford
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Extract

In Britannia, volume viii (1977), Professor E. A. Thompson published a long account of British political history in the early fifth century. Arguing carefully and ingeniously, he derived from the literary sources an attractive and detailed narrative of the last years of Roman Britain. The source material, however, is full of difficulties; and it is the purpose of the present paper to draw attention to these difficulties and to show that the evidence cannot serve as a foundation for the elaborate superstructure which Thompson wishes to erect upon it.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 13 , November 1982 , pp. 261 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Philip Bartholomew 1982. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Thompson, E. A., ‘Britain, A.D. 406–10’, Britannia viii (1977), 303–18. This article is cited simply as ‘Thompson’CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 All references to Zosimus are to Mendelssohn's edition (Lipsiae, 1887).

3 Codex Theodosianus cum perpetuis commentariis Iacobi Gothofredi (Lugduni, 1665), torn. 4, p. 201. The second edition of volume 4 appeared in 1740.

4 Matthews, J., Western aristocracies and imperial court, A.D. 364–425 (Oxford, 1975), 320, n. 7Google Scholar.

5 Rivet, A. L. F. and Smith, C., The place-names of Roman Britain (London, 1979), 102Google Scholar, n. Birley, I. A., The people of Roman Britain (London, 1979), 33Google Scholar. Kent, J. P. C. in Casey, P. J. (ed.), The end of Roman Britain (Oxford, 1979), 18Google Scholar.

6 Müller, C., Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum 4 (Paris, 1851), 60Google Scholar: τò ‘Pήλιoν μήτρóπoγí∈ εστi τή∈ Βρεττiα∈

7 In fact, the Budé edition of Photius makes it clear that this mistake was also made by the scribe of one of the Photius manuscripts when he came to transcribe Olympiodorus, fragment 15 (R. Henry (ed.), Photius: Bibliothèque, torn. 1 (Paris, 1959), 171).

8 After the sack of Rome, Alaric marched to Rhegium, but could proceed no further. He too sensed the strategic importance of Africa: occupation of the province would enormously strengthen his hand against Honorius, and would permanently solve the problem of feeding the Gothic army (S. Oost, I., Galla Placidia Augusta (Chicago, 1968), 101–2)Google Scholar.

9 Thompson, 315, takes advantage of this difficulty to claim that Zosimus changed what he was wanting to say in mid-sentence, and that the reference to Britain is therefore genuine: but this still does not alter the fact that his subject matter here consists only of Italian politics.

10 Thompson, 306, translates this: ‘The Britons, therefore, taking up arms and fighting on their own behalf, freed the cities from the barbarians who were pressing upon them; and the whole of Armorica and other provinces of Gaul, imitating the Britons, freed themselves in the same way, expelling the Roman officials and establishing a sovereign constitution on their own authority.’

11 Mommsen, T., Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (Berlin, 1892), vol. 1, 654Google Scholar. In subsequent notes, this work is referred to as Chron. min.

12 Zosimus: Historia nova, translated by J. J. Buchanan and H. T. Davis (San Antonio, 1967), 253.

13 Herodian, with an English translation by C. R. Whittaker, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), 197: ‘the news reached Pannonia and Illyricum and the whole army of the Danube and the Rhine that was stationed there to protect the Roman frontier ….’

14 Zosimus V. 35. 5, ol ταí∈ πóγεσιν ενιδρνμενoι στρατιωται; v. 34. 2. ται∈ πóγεσιν, εν αι∈ βαρβαρων ετνξoν σνσαι λνμαικε∈ και παιδε∈.

15 Kirk, J. R. and Leeds, E. T., Oxoniensia 17/18 (1952-1953), 63–76Google Scholar.

16 Clarke, G., The Roman cemetery at Lankhills (Oxford, 1979), 377–403Google Scholar.

17 Thompson, E. A., Classical Quarterly xxxviii (1944), 43–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 48. Matthews, J., JRS lx (1970), 79–97Google Scholar, esp. 85-7.

18 Notitia Dignitatum, Occ. xxxvii. 13.

19 Notitia Dignitatum, Occ. xxxvii. 24-9.

20 Socrates, Sozomenus: Church histories (= Select library of Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church, 2nd series, 2) (Oxford, 1891), 427.

21 It cannot, of course, refer to Britain: cf. Procopius iii. 2. 38: βρεττανιαν μεντoι ‘Pωμαιoι ανασωσασθαι oνκετι εσξoν.

22 Translated by Hartranft (op. cit. (note 20), 425): ‘Constantine passed over from Britain to Bononia … he reduced to obedience the inhabitants of the regions extending to the mountains which divide Italy from Gaul.’

23 C. Müller, op. cit. (note 6), 59. R. Henry, op. cit. (note 7), 169: Constantine ‘fut maitre de toutes les provinces gauloises jusqu'aux Alpes, qui separent la Gaule et l'Italie’.

24 Thompson, 311, is prepared to admit that there may have been two revolts, not one, but is not enthusiastic about this possibility.

25 The date, 417, depends entirely on the validity of the dating arguments propounded for the poem by A. Cameron, JRS lvii (1967), 31-9.

26 Minor Latin poets, with introductions and English translations by J. W. Duff and A. M. Duff (Cambridge, Mass., 1935), 783.

27 Thompson, 311.

28 Doblhofer, in his note to this passage, frankly admits this: ‘Die “Herren”, nämlich die römischen Bürger, sind aus dem Zusammenhang zu ergänzen’ (Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, De reditu suo sive her Gallicum, hrsg. von E. Doblhofer, vol. 2 (Heidelberg, 1977), 114).

29 It should be noticed in passing that it is not, strictly speaking, correct to claim, as Thompson does, that the Bacaudic character of the revolt has never been doubted. The difficulty in the text was noticed by the seventeenth-century Dutch scholar, Heinsius, who proposed the emendation ‘servas’ for ‘servos’, so that the direct object of ‘sinit’ becomes ‘leges’. His conjecture was printed by Pieter Burmann (Poetae Latini minores, curante Petro Burmanno, tom. 2 (Leidae, 1731), 74), advocated by Herrmann (Revue beige de philologie et d'histoire xiv (1935), 856), and adopted by Paul van de Woestijne (Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, De reditu suo: édition critique (Antwerp, 1936), 46). If ‘servas’ is taken as a noun, amplifying ‘leges’, this will support Thompson; but if it is an adjective agreeing with ‘leges’, the poet will merely be saying that Exuperantius does not impose servile conditions of life on his own slaves. In any case the emendation is very awkward, and takes no account of the corruption at the end of the line.

30 See vol. 1 of his edition, 57-71, especially 70.

31 An additional fragment of Book ii was recently published by M. Ferrari (Italia medioevale e umanistica xvi (1973), 15-30).

32 This is clearly stated by Doblhofer: see his critical apparatus on page 104 of vol. 1 of his edition.

33 There is no justification in a claim that a foreign invasion was needed before the British would rise in revolt against the Roman empire. It was enough to know that the barbarians beyond the Rhine were showing signs of giving trouble (Zosimus vi. 5. 2). If any of these had reached Britain, the barbarian units stationed in the cities might well have joined them. The later chapters of Zosimus clearly illustrate how fickle the loyalty of units of the Roman army at this late period could prove to be.

34 Miller, M., ‘The last British entry in the “Gallic Chronicles”’, Britannia ix (1978), 317Google Scholar.

35 Notitia Dignitatum, Occ. xxiii. 8-15.

36 The two latest known Vicars are Victorinus (Rutilius Namatianus i. 500-2) and Chrysanthus (Socrates vii. 12). Unfortunately, precise dates for their period of office in Britain are lacking.

37 M. Miller, loc. cit. (note 34).

38 Chron. min. I, 662.

39 Chron. min. I, 660.

40 loc. cit. (note 34).

41 Miller, M., ‘Bede's use of Gildas’, English Historical Review xc (1975), 247CrossRefGoogle Scholar.