Ascaric
Ascaric or Ascarich (
, are the earliest known leaders explicitly called Frankish, although the name of the Franks is earlier.The
Historical incident involving Ascaric and Merogais
Sources
The sources for the appearance of Ascaric and
The earliest of the three panegyrics, IX, delivered at Lyon or Autun by Eumenius to the governor of the province, which was probably Lugdunensis II between the Seine and the Loire, on the occasion of a visit, begs the governor to restore the Maenianae school of Autun, and contributes his own salary to the effort.[2] Only background information about the Franks is given. They assisted the pretender Carausius, the temporary ruler of Britain and parts of Gaul. When the imperial government stabilized after a dynastic struggle, Constantius Chlorus reconquered northwestern Gaul, ejected the Franks from there and proceeded to the liberation of Britain. The speech, made in 297 or 298, immediately after the reconquest, in the ruins of the city, presented a letter from Constantius expressing his desire to do something for the children of Gaul and appointing Eumenius, a member of the imperial staff, whose grandfather had been headmaster, to rebuild the school.
Panegyric VII is a speech delivered to
In Panegryric VI, on the anniversary of the foundation of Trier a middle-aged school-teacher from Autun and former member of the imperial court addresses the emperor, guest of the celebration, at the beginning of August. He could be Eumenius, but there is no proof that he is. The emperor has just successfully struck a blow against the Bructeri. The speaker reveals the details but a note of fear manages to pervade the speech. Let the Franks retaliate, he says. We know they can cross the Rhine anywhere at any time they choose. Our defense is such terror that they will fear even to approach the bank. There are forts and ships on every landing place. We don't fear them.[4]
Eutropius has only the summary statement that Constantine, having defeated the Franks and the Alamanni, had their kings torn to pieces by wild beasts in the arena.[5]
Accession of Constantine
According to Panegyric VI, the young
The command was subsequently confirmed by the senior emperor, Galerius, who insisted he take the role of Caesar, or junior emperor.[9] Rome had been sharing the burdensome and dangerous highest office between multiple emperors for some time, at that time two, junior and senior. Dynastic struggles were a frequent distraction, which the Franks could always be counted on to exploit to the fullest, from which they acquired the reputation of being mobile, "treacherous," a serious character flaw in the Roman ethic, and one always punished severely.
The Frankish expedition
In 306 Ascaric and Merogais led a Frankish raid across the
Retaliation against the Bructeri
Having made an example of the two war leaders, Constantine judged that it was not enough of an object lesson. In addition, "so that the enemy should not merely grieve over the punishment of their kings," [11] he determined to conduct a punitive raid on the Bructeri, presumably the tribe of the two leaders. The Romans viewed them as important kings of the Franks. They were probably not that, as the term Francia comprised all the tribes on the right bank of the Rhine. They had undoubtedly followed the Frankish custom of proposing an expedition, which the subsequent action of the Romans supports, and therefore their status could have been any of respect and import. As war chiefs, they were commanders of the expedition. Constantine was going to hold responsible all the villages that had supported the expedition.
The Bructeri were located in the vicinity of Wuppertal, opposite the site of the future Düsseldorf, not far downstream from the Frankish city of Cologne, later the capital city of the Ripuarian Franks.[12] They were relative newcomers to the area, having been allowed to settle there from further downstream by the Ubii. Constantine struck the Bructeri in 308 by surprise to prevent them from escaping through the woods and marshes. He killed or captured the target population with their herds and burned several villages. He then made a selection:[11]
"The adults who were captured, those whose untrustworthiness made them unfit for military service and whose ferocity for slavery, were given over to the amphitheater for punishment, and their great numbers wore out the raging beasts."
He did not depopulate the tribe or the region, as they remained to participate in subsequent historical events, nor did he subject them. The limits of the empire remained the Rhine river. Moreover, the Panegyric implies that, not only were Franks serving in the Roman military, but that Frankish prisoners of war might be given that option as well.
Notes
- ^ Manuscript variants of Panegyric VI (VII) offer some variant spellings generally ignored as scribal errors.
- ^ Nixon & Rodgers 1994, pp. 145–149
- ^ Nixon & Rodgers 1994, p. 215
- ^ Nixon & Rodgers 1994, pp. 211–212.
- ^ Abridgement of Roman History, 10.3.
- ^ Panegyric VI.10.1.
- ^ Panegyric VI.8.2.
- ^ Panegyric VI.10.1-4.
- ^ Nixon & Rodgers 1994, p. 197.
- ^ Long 1996, p. 92, from Panegyric VII.4.2.
- ^ a b Panegyric VI.12.1-3.
- ^ Nixon & Rodgers 1994, p. 235.
References
- de La Baune, Jacques (1728). Panegyrici veteres (in Latin). Christian Schwarz (Contributors). Venice: Bartolomaeum Javarina.
- Grimm, Jacob; Stallybrass, James Steven (Translator, Contributor) (1883). Teutonic Mythology. Vol. II (4th ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.
{{cite book}}
:|first2=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Landriot, Jean-François-Anne, and Rochet, Benoît Joseph (1854). Traduction des discours d'Eumène: accompagnée du texte. Autun: Michel Dejussieu et Louis Villedry.
- Long, Jacqueline (1996). Claudian's 'ISBN 0-8078-2263-9.
- Nixon, C.E.V.; Rodgers, Barbara S. (1994). In praise of later Roman emperors: the Panegyrici Latini. The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, 21. Berkeley: University of California Press.
External links
- Baehrens, Aemilius, ed. (2007) [1874]. XII Panegyrici Latini (in Latin and German). Lipsiae: B.G. Teubner; Internet Archive.
- Eutropius (1853). Abridgement of Roman History. John Selby Watson (trans.). London: Henry G. Bohn; Forum Romanum.