2 The Invaders
But in spite of the extent and the fame of Gallic studies there come to us, every now and then, hints of decadence in education. The fourth-century Ammianus says that even the few homes in which the studious atmosphere of earlier days had survived were in his day given over to vanity. All they abound in is the trifling of sluggish idleness, while they resound with voices and the wind-borne tinkling of the lute. The singer replaces the philosopher, and instead of the orator they summon the actor to give them amusement.1337 In the fifth century we find Sidonius frequently referring to the decline of culture,1338 and Paulinus of Pella says of his former studies that they have all ceased to flourish, because, as all know, they have fallen on evil days.1339 Claudianus Mamertus, in the letter to the learned Sapaudus, after a eulogy on Greece as ‘Disciplinarum omnium atque artium magistra’, uses strong language about the failing culture of his age: ‘Bonarum artium... facta iactura, et animi cultum despuens’, ‘deliciis et divitiis serviens et ignaviae et inscitiae famula’, ‘pessum dedit cum doctrina virtutem’.1340 There is no progress and creative genius: hardly any one wants to learn. It cannot be, he reflects, that the nature of the human mind changes: history testifies to the contrary. No, the truth is that there is no enthusiasm or application. ‘Nostro saeculo non ingenia deesse, sed studia.’ A mark of decadence is the barbarization of the Latin language.1341 Barbarism and solecism are the tyrants that reign. Rhetoric (conceived in the Ciceronian sense) is too big for the petty compass of these present-day Epigoni. Music, geometry, and arithmetic call forth only their violent hate, and philosophy is utterly despised. The emphasis laid on oratory makes us suspect that the truth of some of his statements rather suffers from that ‘declamationum suavitas’ which he finds in Sapaudus.1342 But in the main he was undoubtedly right. No matter how enthusiastic the fifth-century ‘litterati’ were about letters, the stern march of economic and political events inevitably made for a decline. At the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century the Salian Franks, who were destined to conquer Gaul, were established in Toxandria in the north; and in ceasing to recognize the supremacy of Rome they slipped away from Roman civilization and from Christianity.1343 In the south the Goths were settled in the second Aquitaine and Toulouse under their own king in 419, and the step was significant of the decentralization of the Empire. More and more the Teutonic element encroached. ‘The process of history in the Western Empire during the period which lies between the death of Alaric (410) and the fall of Romulus Augustulus (476) is toward the establishment of Teutonic Kingdoms.’1344 However imperialistic Gaul might be, the Goths in the south-west, the Franks in the north, the Burgundians in Savoy, the Alemanni on the upper Rhine, and the Alani at Valence and Orleans in the middle years of the fifth century proved an effective barrier to the direct advance of Roman civilization. This civilization might advance, ultimately, through the barbarians: but meantime there was a transition period in which the shock of nations produced confusion and darkness. Euric aspired to dominion over Gaul, and by 476 he had attained his desire.
But more direct in their effect upon education than these large political movements, and swifter than the ‘barbarization’ of Latin as it passed into the Romance languages, were the invasions. Pagan and Christian alike testify to their horror. Rutilius Namatianus gives us a description of Gaul, piteously defaced by long wars, when he returned thither in 416 after having been prefect at Rome.
Illa (Gallica rura) quidem longis nimium deformia bellis,
sed quam grata minus, tam miseranda magis.1345
...
iam tempus laceris post saeva incendia fundis
vel pastorales aedificare casas.1346
So terrible were the injuries inflicted that dumb objects seemed to urge him on when the violence of his lament abated:
Ipsi quin etiam fontes si mittere vocem
ipsaque si possent arbuta nostra loqui,
cessantem iustis poterant urgere querellis.1346
This is the description of the spectator after the event. More poignant are the words of those who actually suffered:
Nos autem tanta sub tempestate malorum
invalidi passim caedimur et cadimus,
cumque animum patriae subiit fumantis imago
et stetit ante oculos quidquid ubique perit,
frangimur, immodicis et fletibus ora rigamus.1347
The invasions are like some immense tidal wave that sweeps all before it:
Si totus Gallos sese effudisset in agros
Oceanus, vastis plus superesset aquis.1348
All strongholds have given out against the barbarian arms—‘ultima pertulimus’. The author of the ad Uxorem writes in the same strain:
Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore,
mille modis miseros mors rapit una homines
... pax abiit terris, ultima quaeque vides.1349
What is the good of the winding, gushing river, the woods which outlive the ages, the flowery meads which the season renews?
Ista manent, nostri sed non mansere parentes;
exigui vitam temporis hospes ago.1350
‘Respice’, says Orientius, referring to the same invasions,
Respice quam raptim totum mors presserit orbem,
quantos vis belli perculerit populos,
non densi nemoris, celsi non aspera montis
flumina non rapidis fortia gurgitibus,
non castella locis, non tutae moenibus urbes....1351
Added to these troubles from without was the internal commotion caused by robber bands like the notorious Bagaudae, who, in spite of periodical repressions,1352 continued to exist.1353 So formidable were they that in 407 Sarus, the general of Honorius, was obliged to buy from them his passage into Italy with a rich portion of spoil.1354 The oppression of officials swelled their ranks,1355 and in the middle of the fifth century they established a commonwealth which took a prominent part in the fighting in Spain at that time. Thus they were a constant source of disturbance, and the prolongation of this unrest is mirrored in the pages of Sidonius. In a letter to Lupus,1356 he tells of a woman who has been carried away by bandits, the local Vargi who were the spiritual descendants of the Bagaudae. The attacks of the Goths towards the end of the fifth century made travelling dangerous, and Sidonius postpones writing to Eutropius on this account.1357 He sends his messenger only after he hears that ‘the treaty-breaking race’ (foedifragam gentem) has returned within its borders. We hear of a man who had fled with his family into the diocese of Bishop Censorius ‘depredationis Gothicae turbinem vitans’. Sidonius asks Censorius to treat him indulgently and to remit the glebe-dues in his case, so that he may have the whole harvest for himself.1358 And so it went on. There were constant disputes,1359 and whenever there was an invasion the Arvernians suffered: ‘huic semper irruptioni nos miseri Arverni ianua sumus.’1360
We can hardly wonder that this constant unrest made men despair of final peace. Avitus, Bishop of Vienne, writes to Aurelian in a pessimistic strain.1361 The evils of the time, he thinks, are not really healed. At best they cannot be said to be more than kept within bounds, so that the peace which coyly appears is fictitious. The mind is lulled to rest with a false security only until there comes the recrudescence of a worse fear and the faltering sobs of grief. ‘Wherefore, my good friend, cease to hope for the end of our evils in the midst of fiery ills, and when a change comes and the storm has abated and the face of ever so small a calm shows itself, do not delight in the altered events; make use of them.’
The effect of this upon the social fabric, and so on education, is obvious. Even if, as Freeman thinks, the youth of Gaul were not much concerned in the defence of their country, which was left mainly to such allies as the Franks,1362 education must have shared in the general disorganization of society. The material means of instruction was frequently removed by the impoverishment of families.
Qui centum quondam terram vertebat aratris,
aestuat ut geminos possit habere boves.
vectus magnificas carpentis saepe per urbes,
rus vacuum fessis aeger adit pedibus.
ille decem celsis sulcans maria ante carinis
nunc lembum exiguum scandit et ipse regit.1363
The roads, which had promoted education by linking up towns and spreading civilization, were now (as we have seen) uncertain and unsafe. Centres, consequently, which had previously teemed with life, now became isolated, torpid, despairing. Schools and books were neglected.
Maxima pars lapsis abiit iam mensibus anni
quo scripta est versu pagina nulla tuo.1364
The sum total of education was decreased materially by the slaughter of children:
Quid pueri insontes? Quid commisere puellae
nulla quibus dederat crimina vita brevis?1365
Yet there is the spark which kept alive the flickering torch of learning in the dark ages, the interest in literature surviving material ruin. For, in spite of the crash of circumstances and although times are sad, there is a feeling that the mind, even when oppressed by misfortune, should keep unconquered its interest in education:
Invictum deceat studiis servare vigorem.
There is much of rude and rushing violence in this ‘barbarization’ of Gaul. One of the writers likened it to a flood, and as far as the time at which he wrote is concerned he was right. But, regarded as a whole, the process was gradual and persistent. Gaul became de-Romanized ‘not as a valley is ravaged by a torrent, but as the most solid substance is disorganized by the continual infiltration of a foreign substance’.1366 So Rutilius says of Rome, referring to Stilicho’s German followers:
Ipsa satellitibus pellitis Roma patebat,
et captiva prius quam caperetur erat.1367
But subtler still than gradual infiltration of foreigners in producing the decline of culture were the ideas and ideals that lay at the root of the imperial and the rhetorical systems. While on the one hand the Empire made the schools of Gaul its proper care, it was, by its economic system, calling into life the subversive power of Bagaudae bands.1368
While the schools were fostering education and creating a love of learning, they were at the same time killing the true spirit of education by the methods they employed. It was a matter of ends and ideals, and these we must now briefly consider.