

Theodosius the Younger was a son of Arcadius the emperor. After he had ruled fifteen years with Honorius, the latter died, and this Theodosius was confirmed in the sovereignty. But while Theodosius ruled in the East, one John (Iohannes), at the behest of Castinus, Master of the Soldiers, sought the sovereignty. When the death of Honorius was reported to Theodosius, he made Valentinian, his aunt's son, an emperor, and sent him forth with his mother to take possession of the empire in the West. Meanwhile John determined upon war in Africa, which was in the possession of Bonifacius, who was too weak to protect it. The war was terminated by the forces of Valentinian. Theodosius, a most Christian emperor and gracious man, received and took possession of the empire in a great tumult and while Roman affairs were in distress; and he lost all of Africa, which was soon taken away from him by Genseric, king of the Vandals. He suffered many ravages in Britain. After that, Valentinian, by common consent of all Italy, was crowned at Ravenna to reign and rule over the Roman Empire; and he silenced the enemy in Italy. After Theodosius had governed the empire for twenty-seven years (not counting the twenty-one years during which he reigned with his uncle Honorius), he died of the plague at Constantinople.[Theodosius II, Roman emperor of the East (408-450), was born in 401, and at the age of seven succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Arcadius. Theodosius was a weak prince, and his sister Pulcheria became his guardian in 414 and was declared Augusta, or empress. She virtually had the government in her own hands during all his lifetime, and on his death in 450 she still remained at the head of affairs. Shortly afterwards she married Marcian, with whom she continued to reign until her death in 453. She was a woman of ability, celebrated for her piety and virtue. Bonifacius was a Roman general and governor of Africa under Valentinian III. Believing that Placidia meditated his destruction, he revolted against the emperor, inviting Genseric, king of the Vandals, to settle in Africa. In 430 he was reconciled to her, and attempted to drive the Vandals out of Africa, but without success. He left Africa in 431, and in 432 died of a wound received in combat with his rival Aetius.]

Valentinian (Valentinianus), governor and ruler of the empire in the West, made peace with Genseric, king of the Vandals, and gave the Vandals certain territory in which to live. But while Valentinian went to Constantinople to espouse the daughter of Theodosius, the Vandals under the leadership of Genseric began the destruction of the city of Carthage. During this revolt Attila decided to attack the empire in the West, and, accordingly, he speedily assembled a great host and marched forth. When Aetius (Etius) learned of this, he hurried messengers to king Theodoric at Toulouse (Tolosa), urging a peace between them, and suggesting that they make common cause in the war against Attila. On the side of the Romans and Theodoric as allies were the Alans, Burgundians, French, Saxons, and all the peoples of the West. When Attila came on, a battle ensued in the fields of Chalons; and it continued into the night. In this battle there perished on both sides one hundred eighty thousand men. But since victory and power always give birth to envy, Valentinian murdered the said Aetius, being envious of his good fortune; and with Aetius the empire of the West and the hopes of the Roman people fell. But the murder did not remain unavenged, for in the following year Valentinian, after having reigned for thirty years, was stabbed to death by Trusilus, a knight of the aforesaid Aetius.[Valentinian (Valentinianus) III, Roman emperor (425-455), was born in 419, the son of Constantius III, by Placidia, sister of Honorius and the daughter of Theodosius I. He was declared Augustus in 425 by Theodosius II, and was placed over the west. But as he was only six years of age, the government was entrusted to his mother Placidia. During his long reign the empire was repeatedly exposed to barbarian invasions, and it was only the military ability of Aetius which saved the empire from ruin. In 429 the Vandals under Genseric crossed into Africa, which they conquered and held until the reign of Justinian. The Goths likewise established themselves in Gaul; but Aetius finally made peace with them (439), and with their assistance gained a great victory over Attila and the vast army of the Huns at Chalons in 451. The power and influence of Aetius excited the jealousy of Valentinian, who murdered his faithful general in 454. In the following year the emperor himself was slain by Petronius Maximus, whose wife he had violated.]

Marcian (Marcianus) was installed as emperor in the East, in the year from the founding of the city (i.e., Rome) one thousand two hundred and four. He was a Christian prince, favorably disposed toward the churches. He espoused the sister of Theodosius. When Attila died, Marcian on that same night had a dream in which he saw the bow of Attila broken. During his reign the empire of the West was entirely separated from the empire of the East. Within this period the Romans lost all of Germany, Dacia, Sarmatia, and other regions and countries situated on the Danube and the Rhine; also the hinterland of Spain, Aquitania, Vasconia, and certain regions in Gaul, as well as those lying about Paris. Since then none of these countries have returned to the Roman Empire. This Marcian died at Constantinople in the seventh year of his reign.[Marcian (Marcianus), emperor of the East (450-457), was a native of Thrace (Illyricum), and served for many years as a common soldier in the Imperial army; but he attained such distinction at the death of Theodosius II in 450, that the sister of the latter, the celebrated Pulcheria, offered her hand and the imperial title to Marcian, who thus became emperor of the East. He was a man of resolution and bravery; and when Attila sent to demand the tribute, which the younger Theodosius had engaged to pay annually, the emperor sternly replied, "I have iron for Attila, but no gold." Attila swore vengeance; but he first invaded the Western empire, and his death, two years later, saved the East. In 451 Marcian assembled the Council of Chalcedon, in which the doctrines of the Eutycheans were condemned. He died in 457 and was succeeded by Leo.]

Leo attained to imperial office at Constantinople on the death of Marcian, and immediately made his son Leo a co-ruler of the empire. Leo was the first emperor of Greek ancestry at Constantinople. In this period there was much disorder in the Roman Empire. In the first year of the emperor Leo, a man named Majorian (Maioranum), upon the advice of Leo, was elevated to Caesar by the army at Ravenna; but he was slain in the third year, and the Romans elected Severus (Severianus) in his place. Upon the latter's death, another, called Athenius, was crowned. But in the meantime Leo, at Constantinople, was not without difficulties. At length Leo died of a sickness, and left Leo as a successor to the empire, after having ruled over the empire of the East for seventeen years.[Leo I was a Thracian, a military tribune, whom the Patrician Aspar, most powerful of the Eastern emperor's subjects, elevated to the throne. Leo I interfered in the concerns of the Western empire in 467, in order to secure the Western throne for Julius Nepos. Leo I and his son Leo II died in 474, and were succeeded by his son-in-law Zeno.]