successors, MAXIMUS (383-388), VALENTINIAN II. (388-392), and EUGENIUS
(392-394), were either deposed or assassinated, and again there was,
for a short time, one ruler of the whole Empire, THEODOSIUS, whom
Gratian had made Emperor of the East. He was sole Emperor for one year
(394-395). On his death his two sons divided the Empire, HONORIUS
(395-423) taking the West, and Arcadius the East.

Honorius was only six years old when he began to reign. He was placed
under the care of a Vandal named STILICHO, to whom he was allied by
marriage. Stilicho was a man of ability. The barbarians were driven
from the frontiers on the Rhine and in Britain; a revolt in Africa was
suppressed. Honorius himself was weak and jealous. He did not hesitate
to murder Stilicho as soon as he was old enough to see the power he
was wielding. With Stilicho's death his fortune departed. Rome was
besieged, captured, and sacked by the barbarian ALARIC, in 410. When
this evil was past, numerous contestants arose in different parts of
the Empire, each eager for a portion of the fabric which was now so
obviously crumbling to pieces.

Honorius was succeeded, after one of the longest reigns of the
imperial line, by VALENTINIAN III. (423-455). The Empire was but a
relic of its former self. Gaul, Spain, and Britain were practically
lost; Illyria and Pannonia were in the hands of the Goths; and Africa
was soon after seized by the barbarians. Valentinian was fortunate in
the possession of AETIUS, a Scythian by birth, who for a time upheld
the Roman name, winning for himself the title of LAST OF THE ROMANS.
He was assassinated by his ungrateful master. A few months later, in
455, the Emperor himself was killed by a Senator, MAXIMUS, who
succeeded him, but for only three months, when AVÍTUS (455-456), a
noble of Gaul, became Emperor. He was deposed by RICIMER (457-467), a