THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 164
The Second Sack of Rome
11-3. The Second Sack of Rome
How powerful the kingdom of Gaiseric was at this epoch is seen from the fact that the Visigoth king, Theodoric I, sought to form alliance with him by marrying his daughter to the king's son Huneric, the heir-presumptive to the throne. This state of affairs however did not last long, for Gaiseric, under the pretext that his daughter-in-law wanted to poison him, sent her back to her father after having cut off her nose and her ears. Probably the dissolution of this coalition, so menacing to Rome, was brought about by a diplomatic move on the part of the West-Roman minister Aetius, who held out prospects to the king of the Vandals of a marriage between his son and a daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III. Although the projected wedding did not take place, friendly relations were begun between the Vandals and the Romans which lasted until the year 455. Gaiseric was even induced to allow the see of Carthage, which had been vacant since 439, to be again filled.
But this friendly connexion ceased at once when the Emperor Valentinian, the murderer of Aetius, was himself slain by that general's following (16 March 455). Gaiseric announced that he could not recognise the new Emperor Maximus, who had had a hand in the murders of Aetius and Valentinian and had forced the widowed Empress Eudoxia to marry him, as a fit inheritor of the imperial throne.
Under this pretext he immediately sailed to Italy with a large fleet, which seems to have been long since equipped in readiness for coming events. That he came in response to an appeal from Eudoxia cannot be for a moment supposed. Without meeting with any resistance the Vandals, amongst whom also were Moors, landed in the harbour of Portus, and marched along the Via Portuensis to the Eternal City. A great number of the inhabitants took to flight; when Maximus prepared to do likewise he was killed by one of the soldiers of his body-guard (31 May). On 2 June Gaiseric marched into Rome. At the Porta Portuensis he was received by Pope Leo I, who is said to have prevailed upon the king to refrain at least from fire and slaughter and content himself merely with plundering.
The Vandals stayed a fortnight (June 455) in Rome, long enough to take all the treasures which had been left by the Visigoths in the year 410 or restored since. First of all the imperial palace was fallen upon, all that was there was brought to the ships to adorn the royal residence in Carthage, among other things the insignia of imperial dignity. The same fate befell the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, of which even the half of the gilded roof was taken away. Among the plundered treasure the vessels of Solomon's Temple, formerly brought to Rome by Titus, took a conspicuous place. On the other hand, the Christian churches as a rule were spared. Murder and incendiarism also, as has been certainly proved, did not take place, neither was there any wanton destruction of buildings or works of art. It is therefore very unjust to brand Gaiseric's people with the word “Vandalism” which indeed came into use in France no earlier than the end of the eighteenth century.
Besides the enormous spoil which the Vandals carried away were numerous prisoners, in particular the widowed Empress Eudoxia with her two daughters, Eudoxia and Placidia, as well as Gaudentius, the son of Aetius. The Vandals and the Moors divided the prisoners between them on their return; nevertheless Bishop Deogratias raised funds to ransom many of them by selling the vessels of the churches.
The capture of the Empress Eudoxia and her daughters gave the king valuable hostages against the hostile invasion of his kingdom which might now be expected. He was now fully master of the situation; his personality is from this time the centre of Western history. The Vandal fleet ruled the Mediterranean and cut off all supplies from Italy, so that a great famine broke out. In order to put an end to this intolerable state of affairs, Avitus the new Emperor of Western Rome (from 9 July 455) sent an embassy to Byzantium to induce the Emperor to take part in a joint attack against the Vandal Empire, for in an attack on Africa he could not dispense with the East-Roman fleet. But Marcian, probably influenced by the chief general Aspar, all-powerful in the East, still clung to inactivity and contented himself with asking Gaiseric to refrain from further hostilities towards Italy and to deliver up the prisoners of the imperial house, a proceeding which of course was quite ineffectual.
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