Stilicho - Honorius Becomes Emperor

Honorius Becomes Emperor

Following the death of Theodosius, Honorius became emperor of the Western Roman Empire while his brother Arcadius was placed on the Eastern throne in Constantinople. As both were underage, Theodosius had appointed Stilicho as the caretaker for Honorius until he came of age. He would claim to have been given a similar role in regards to Arcadius, although no independent verification of this exists. Neither proved to be effective emperors, and Stilicho came to be the de facto commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the West while his rival Rufinus became the power behind the throne in the East. In his role in the West, Stilicho proved his abilities energetically, although political maneuverings by agents of the two imperial courts would hinder him throughout his career.

His first brush with such court politics came in 395. The Visigoths living in Lower Moesia had recently elected Alaric as their king. Alaric broke his treaty with Rome and led his people on a raid into Thrace. The army that had been victorious at the Frigidus was still assembled, and Stilicho led it toward Alaric's forces. The armies of the eastern Empire were occupied with Hunnic incursions in Asia Minor and Syria so Rufinus attempted to negotiate with Alaric in person. The only results were suspicions in Constantinople that Rufinus was in league with the Goths. Stilicho now marched east against Alaric. According to Claudian, Stilicho was in a position to destroy the Goths, when he was ordered by Arcadius to leave Illyricum. Soon after Rufinus was hacked to death by his own soldiers.

Two years later, in 397, Stilicho defeated Alaric's forces in Macedonia, although Alaric himself escaped into the surrounding mountains. Edward Gibbon, drawing on Zosimus, criticizes Stilicho for being overconfident in victory and indulging in luxury and women, allowing Alaric to escape. Contemporary scholarship disagrees, and finds a variety of possible explanations, including an order from Arcadius ordering him to evacuate the Eastern Empire the unreliability of his mostly barbarian troops, the revolt of Gildo in Africa, or the possibility that he simply was never as close to Alaric as Claudian suggests.

Later that year, Gildo, a Roman general in Africa, led a revolt in which he tried to place the African provinces, the critical source of Rome’s grain supply, under the control of the Eastern Empire. Stilicho sent Mascezel, the brother of Gildo, into Africa with an army, which quickly defeated the rebellion. However, upon his return to Italy, Mascezel was drowned under questionable circumstances, perhaps on the orders of a jealous Stilicho. The year 400 also saw Stilicho accorded the highest honour within the Roman state by being appointed Consul.

Stilicho also fought a war in Britain in this time period, likely in the year 398, though a critical analysis of Claudian strongly suggests that it went badly.

Around this time, Alaric moved to invade Italy with his Visigoths and established positions around Milan, where Honorius lay trapped. Stilicho hastened forward with a selected vanguard in advance of his main body of 30,000 troops, breaking the siege of Milan and rescuing the besieged emperor . Alaric had to raise the siege of the city. One of his chieftains implored him to retreat, but Alaric refused.

In a surprise attack on Easter Sunday in 402, Stilicho defeated Alaric at the Battle of Pollentia, capturing his camp and his wife. Alaric managed to escape with most of his men. This battle was the last victory celebrated in a triumphal march in Rome, which was saved for the time being. In 403 at Verona, Stilicho again bested Alaric, who as Gibbon said only escaped by the speed of his horse. A truce was made and Alaric went to Illyricum. In late 406, Stilicho demanded the return of the eastern half of Illyricum ( which had been transferred to the administrative control of Constantinople by Theodosius), threatening war if the Eastern Roman Empire resisted. The exact reasons for this are unclear, but it is possible that Stilicho planned to employ Alaric and his battle-hardened troops as allies against the bands of Alans, Vandals and Sueves that were threatening to invade the West. To do so, Stilicho may have needed to legitimize Alaric's control of Illyricum.

In 405 there was a major invasion of Italy by those Alans, Sueves, and Vandals under the command of Radagaisus, disrupting Stilicho’s plans to re-take Illyria from the Eastern Empire with the help of Alaric. Stilicho, scraping together thirty legions (roughly 30,000 troops - legions during the Late Roman Empire had around 1,000 soldiers) through a variety of desperate methods, including efforts to enroll slaves in the army in exchange for their freedom, led a coalition of Romans, Alans, and Huns to defeat Radagasius at Ticinum in 406.

In 405, according to Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu 51–60, Stilicho ordered the destruction of the Sibylline Books. The reasons for this are unknown, and the story cannot be verified.