Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. VI.
420. Wherefore the _Valia_ of _Jornandes_, who reigned at the least twelve years, is some other King. And I suspect that this name hath been put by mistake for _Valamir_ King of the _Ostrogoths_: for the action recorded was of the _Romans_ and _Ostrogoths_ driving the _Hunns_ out of _Pannonia_ after the death of _Attila_; and it is not likely that the historian would refer the history of the _Ostrogoths_ to the years of the _Visigothic_ Kings. This action happened in the end of the year 455, which I take to be the twelfth year of _Valamir_ in _Pannonia_, and which was almost fifty years after the year 406, in which the _Hunns_ succeeded the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ in _Pannonia_. Upon the ceasing of the line of _Hunnimund_ the son of _Hermaneric_, the _Ostrogoths_ lived without Kings of their own nation about forty years together, being subject to the _Hunns_. And when _Alaric_ began to make war upon the _Romans_, which was in the year 444, he made _Valamir_, with his brothers _Theodomir_ and _Videmir_ the grandsons of _Vinethar_, captains or kings of these _Ostrogoths_ under him. In the twelfth year of _Valamir_'s reign dated from thence, the _Hunns_ were driven out of _Pannonia_.
Yet the _Hunns_ were not so ejected, but that they had further contests with the _Romans_, till the head of _Denfix_ the son of _Attila_, was carried to _Constantinople_, A.C. 469, in the Consulship of _Zeno_ and _Marcian_, as _Marcellinus_ relates. Nor were they yet totally ejected the Empire: for besides their reliques in _Pannonia_, _Sigonius_ tells us, that when the Emperors _Marcian_ and _Valentinian_ granted _Pannonia_ to the _Goths_, which was in the year 454, they granted part of _Illyricum_ to some of the _Hunns_ and _Sarmatians_. And in the year 526, when the _Lombards_ removing into _Pannonia_ made war there with the _Gepides_, the _Avares_, a part of the _Hunns_, who had taken the name of _Avares_ from one of their Kings, assisted the _Lombards_ in that war; and the _Lombards_ afterwards, when they went into _Italy_, left their seats in _Pannonia_ to the _Avares_ in recompence of their friendship. From that time the _Hunns_ grew again very powerful; their Kings, whom they called _Chagan_, troubling the Empire much in the reigns of the Emperors _Mauritius_, _Phocas_, and _Heraclius_: and this is the original of the present kingdom of _Hungary_, which from these _Avares_ and other _Hunns_ mixed together, took the name of _Hun-Avaria_, and by contraction _Hungary_.
9. The _Lombards_, before they came over the _Danube_, were commanded by two captains, _Ibor_ and _Ayon_: after whose death they had Kings, _Agilmund_, _Lamisso_, _Lechu_, _Hildehoc_, _Gudehoc_, _Classo_, _Tato_, _Wacho_, _Walter_, _Audoin_, _Alboin_, _Cleophis_, &c. _Agilmund_ was the son of _Ayon_, who became their King, according to _Prosper_, in the Consulship of _Honorius_ and _Theodosius_ A.C. 389, reigned thirty three years, according to _Paulus Warnefridus_, and was slain in battle by the _Bulgarians_. _Prosper_ places his death in the Consulship of _Marinianus_ and _Asclepiodorus_, A.C. 413. _Lamisso_ routed the _Bulgarians_, and reigned three years, and _Lechu_ almost forty. _Gudehoc_ was contemporary to _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_ in _Italy_, and led his people from _Pannonia_ into _Rugia_, a country on the north side of _Noricum_ next beyond the _Danube_; from whence _Odoacer_ then carried his people into _Italy_. _Tato_ overthrew the kingdom of the _Heruli_ beyond the _Danube_. _Wacho_ conquered the _Suevians_, a kingdom then bounded on the east by _Bavaria_, on the west by _France_, and on the south by the _Burgundians_. _Audoin_ returned into _Pannonia_ A.C. 526, and there overcame the _Gepides_. _Alboin_ A.C. 551 overthrew the kingdom of the _Gepides_, and slew their King _Chunnimund_: A.C. 563 he assisted the _Greek_ Emperor against _Totila_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ in _Italy_; and A.C. 568 led his people out of _Pannonia_ into _Lombardy_, where they reigned till the year 774.
According to _Paulus Diaconus_, the _Lombards_ with many other _Gothic_ nations came into the Empire from beyond the _Danube_ in the reign of _Arcadius_ and _Honorius_, that is, between the years 395 and 408. But they might come in a little earlier: for we are told that the _Lombards_, under their captains _Ibor_ and _Ayon_, beat the _Vandals_ in battle; and _Prosper_ placeth this victory in the Consulship of _Ausonius_ and _Olybrius_, that is, A.C. 379. Before this war the _Vandals_ had remained quiet forty years in the seats granted them in _Pannonia_ by _Constantine_ the great. And therefore if these were the same _Vandals_, this war must have been in _Pannonia_; and might be occasioned by the coming of the _Lombards_ over the _Danube_ into _Pannonia_, a year or two before the battle; and so have put an end to that quiet which had lasted forty years. After _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_ had quieted the _Barbarians_, they might either retire over the _Danube_, or continue quiet under the _Romans_ till the death of _Theodosius_; and then either invade the Empire anew, or throw off all subjection to it. By their wars, first with the _Vandals_, and then with the _Bulgarians_, a _Scythian_ nation so called from the river _Volga_ whence they came; it appears that even in those days they were a kingdom not contemptible.
10. These nine kingdoms being rent away, we are next to consider the residue of the _Western Empire_. While this Empire continued entire, it was the Beast itself: but the residue thereof is only a part of it. Now if this part be considered as a horn, the reign of this horn may be dated from the translation of the imperial seat from _Rome_ to _Ravenna_, which was in _October_ A.C. 408. For then the Emperor _Honorius_, fearing that _Alaric_ would besiege him in _Rome_, if he staid there, retired to _Millain_, and thence to _Ravenna_: and the ensuing siege and sacking of _Rome_ confirmed his residence there, so that he and his successors ever after made it their home. Accordingly _Macchiavel_ in his _Florentine_ history writes, that _Valentinian_ having left _Rome_, translated the seat of the Empire to _Ravenna_.
_Rhætia_ belonged to the _Western_ Emperors, so long as that Empire stood; and then it descended, with _Italy_ and the _Roman_ Senate, to _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_ in _Italy_, and after him to _Theoderic_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ and his successors, by the grant of the _Greek_ Emperors. Upon the death of _Valentinian_ the second, the _Alemans_ and _Suevians_ invaded _Rhætia_ A.C. 455. But I do not find they erected any settled kingdom there: for in the year 457, while they were yet depopulating _Rhætia_, they were attacked and beaten by _Burto_ Master of the horse to the Emperor _Majoranus_; and I hear nothing more of their invading _Rhætia_. _Clodovæus_ King of _France_, in or about the year 496, conquered a kingdom of the _Alemans_, and slew their last King _Ermeric_. But this kingdom was seated in _Germany_, and only bordered upon _Rhætia_: for its people fled from _Clodovæus_ into the neighbouring kingdom of the _Ostrogoths_ under _Theoderic_, who received them as friends, and wrote a friendly letter to _Clodovæus_ in their behalf: and by this means they became inhabitants of _Rhætia_, as subjects under the dominion of the _Ostrogoths_. When the _Greek_ Emperor conquered the _Ostrogoths_, he succeeded them in the kingdom of _Ravenna_, not only by right of conquest but also by right of inheritance, the _Roman_ Senate still going along with this kingdom. Therefore we may reckon that this kingdom continued in the Exarchate of _Ravenna_ and Senate of _Rome_: for the remainder of the _Western Empire_ went along with the Senate of _Rome_, by reason of the right which this Senate still retained, and at length exerted, of chusing a new _Western_ Emperor.
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