Arcadius

## Background

Arcadius was born in Hispania in 377 as the son of future emperor Theodosius I. His father was elevated to the office of emperor when he was two years old, and in the hopes of preparing his son for his future as emperor he declared him to be Augustus in the East when he was five years old in 383. His younger brother Honorius would get a similar treatment, being appointed Augustus in the West in 393 when he was ten years old. Up to this point the Roman Empire had become increasingly divided into eastern and western halves since 330 when Constantine I set up a "new Rome." The emperor in Rome and the emperor in Constantinople were considered co-rulers; Theodosius I would be the last emperor to make the claim of being emperor over all of Rome. By setting his sons up to occupy both thrones Theodosius hoped that his family would be able to keep control of the whole empire. He had not counted on dying when the two boys were only teenagers. Each son took on a main advisor who was essentially the power behind the throne. For Arcadius this was the prefect of the East, Rufinus. Originally Rufinus' plan was to solidify his position by having Arcadius marry his daughter, but he was not the only influence on the young emperor. When Rufinus was called away for business in Antioch shortly after Arcadius assumed the throne, the young emperor was shown a picture of Aelia Eudoxia, a daughter of the high-level Romanized Frankish soldier Flavius Bauto. Upon seeing his interest court eunuch Eutropius arranged a meeting and the two quickly fell in love and arranged a marriage which took place in 395. The preparations were so quick in fact that according to one source Rufinus was not even aware that his daughter was not to be the bride until the day of the wedding. This struggle for influence over the impressionable emperor was just the first of many during his reign.

## Early Reign

Arcadius was first tested in 395 when Alaric I, king of the Visigoths (a new term and title) decided to take advantage of the fact that both sides of Rome were in the hands of young (Honorius was only ten) inexperienced emperors. Alaric plundered Macedonia and Thrace as he marched his army to Constantinople. Arcadius was very poorly prepared because the bulk of the army had been in the western part of the empire when Theodosius died and had not made its way back. Because of this Stilicho was in charge of the bulk of the Roman army (since he was in charge of Honorius). At this time Stilicho declared that Theodosius had wanted him to be the advisor both of his sons (which would give Stilicho all the de facto power of a old Roman emperor) and marched east with the understood purpose being to help with Alaric. Arcadius saw this as the threat that it was and prioritized this situation over the one with Alaric. When Stilicho and his forces reached Thessaly they received an order from Arcadius to send his troops on but not to proceed further himself. He complied and sent his Gainus, the leader of gothic troops he had hired, on with the troops where they were received by Arcadius and Rufinus in the Campus Martius. This is the point where Stilicho's plan became clear as Gainus and his men made their move and assassinated Rufinus. Given how much he benefited from the Rufinus' removal it is likely that Eutropius was also involved, as he and Arcadius' wife Eudoxia stepped into the Rufinus' place as his main advisors.

Despite their ambitions and expert machinations Eudoxia and Eutropius appear to have not been as capable as Rufinus. Their main goal was to consolidate and strengthen their power in the eastern court, but they did this at the expense of ignoring what Alaric was still doing in Greece. It is thought that Eutropius may have sent some troops westward to join with Stilicho's forces early on, but when Stilicho personally led a charge that pushed Alaric back Eutropius and Arcadius got nervous about giving a potential usurper so many troops. To keep him from interfering in the business of the eastern court they pulled their troops back and refused to lend any more assistance. (Side note: this is so fucking dumb. Yes, Stilicho was a threat [mostly to Eutropius], but he was not the only threat. Furthermore, Stilicho was in a good position with a victory under his belt to defeat the plundering goths, but their decision to place their focus on the eastern court  when there was an outright hostile power coming for them seems short-sighted.) Reasonably, Stilicho withdrew his troops and went back to Rome. Eutropius convinced Arcadius to declare Stilicho a public enemy and made peace with Alaric instead, giving him a high ranking position in the army.

## Eutropius Era

Arcadius was such a weak ruler that it is really more relevant to talk about his reign in terms of who his main advisor was at the time. Eutropius held onto power for four years. He focused on shifting administrative power from the military to civilian offices. He also convinced Arcadius to give his office the rank of illustris, which put him equal to the praetorian prefects, which was a big deal considering that he was a eunuch and former slave, both of which would traditionally keep his status low. It seems that the power that Arcadius so willingly handed over to him went to his head. He issued a decree in the name of the emperor that again went after the military where he decreed that any conspiracy by soldiers or anyone under their command against an illustris (the title he had given himself that he would not have normally been entitled to) would considered treason. The punishment was to be death and deprivation of citizenship for their relatives. He led a successful campaign against the Huns in Roman Armenia in 398, after which he convinced the emperor to grant him the title of consul, which is the title that Arcadius' father had given him in preparation to be emperor. Reaching this height of power actually led to Eutropius downfall. Absolutely no one but Arcadius was okay with this promotion: Honorius refused to acknowledge him as consul, both the eastern and western courts protested, and the Ostrogoths who had been settled in Asia Minor near Constantinople during Theodosius' reign revolted. At first Arcadius sent forces to fight the rebelling Ostrogoths. The first one failed and the second was led by Eutropius' main rival in court, Gainas. He went out to fight but came back with the advice that the Ostrogoths would neither be calmed or defeated (You have to wonder if he even actually bothered to fight them. How would Arcadius even know for sure?) and that the best course of action would be to strip Eutropius of his consulship and banish him. Arcadius was reluctant to do this, but with pressure from all sides, including his wife Eudoxia who wanted more influence than she could have with Eutropius around, he eventually agreed. Eutropius was sent into exile on August 17, 399 and was recalled to be tried and executed that fall.

## Gainus Era

With Eutropius out of the way Gainas, who had not learned from the mistakes of the very recently disgraced and executed Eutropius, took the opportunity to gain power for himself. He was of Gothic origin and had risen to prominence through military service and used these skills to bully the emperor into position. Although he had just been sent to fight the Ostrogoths when they rebelled (another point for the suspicion that he never actually fought them) he actually now joined forces with them and in a meeting between him, the Ostrogoths, and the emperor forced Arcadius to grant him the office of magister militum praesintalus and consul designate for later in 401. He also got Arcadius to dismiss select officials and give him and his troops land in Thrace. He did ask for an Arian church to be established in Constantinople, which Arcadius refused. This was not an instance of him actually making a decision for himself though, it was on the advice of the Archbishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom.

In July of 400 the public of Constantinople was openly hostile towards Gainas and the power he had gathered. Riots broke out in which as many as 7,000 goths living in the city were killed, including ones who sought refuge in churches, where they were stoned and burned with the permission of the spineless emperor (in a highly Christian move the Archbishop did not condemn it). In response Gainus left the city with his men and entered open rebellion. It is worthy of note that he had troops just outside the city walls and a high ranking military position but chose not to interfere. He attempted to take his forces across the Hellespont towards Constantinople but was quickly defeated. He fled to the Danube area where he was killed by the Huns..

## Eudoxia v. John Chrysostom (aka Wife v. Pope)

With Eutropius and Gainas out of the way Eudoxia came into her power. Her main issue though was John Chrysostom, who like many church officials of his time was self-righteous, ascetic, and a misogynist. Anyone was open to his criticism against shows of wealth, but wealthy women were his main target. He followed the main line of criticism that is still going strong today of calling them vain, greedy, frivolous, etc. Eudoxia took this personally, which she had every reason to, since she was the target of a pointed sermon in 401. Chrysostom believed that Eudoxia had profited from a senator's fall from power by taking his wife's belongings for her own. In his sermon he openly referred to her as Jezebel, which logically put Arcadius in the position of Ahab (weak ruler railroaded by his wife into sin). She and Arcadius responded by throwing their support behind Bishop Severian of Gabala, a strong critic of the archbishop. The populace of Constantinople, who appeared to be tired of all of the upheaval caused by Arcadius' seeming inability to make a decision for himself, was so supportive of the archbishop that they eventually had to back down. Although Chrysostom had won this round, Eudoxia did not forget and in 403 again supported his strongest critic. This time it was Theophilus of Alexandria, who was presiding over the Synod of the Oak in which Chrysostom was being charged with heresy. In a rare show of thinking for himself Arcadius supported the archbishop at first, but when he refused to participate in the synod switched sides (maybe taking this refusal as an admission of guilt?). This resulted in him being deposed and banished, which once again was not a popular move with the citizens who largely supported him. They again rioted, this time threatening to burn down the imperial palace. In addition there was an earthquake the night of his arrest, prompting Eudoxia to fear that they were going against God's will. In response he was reinstated. Peace did not last. In 403 a statue made of silver was placed in a public space near Chrysostom's church. He responded with another sermon, this time comparing her to Herod's step-daughter who requested the head of John the Baptist and calling the ceremonies around the unveiling pagan. With this insult he had finally pushed Arcadius too far and he called another synod in 404 in which he was again condemned. Chrysostom was defiant, refusing to leave the church even when soldiers were sent to escort him into exile. Arcadius actually won this fight, but Eudoxia did not have the opportunity to enjoy their victory as she died from complications suffered during a miscarriage  or stillbirth later that year. Chrysostom died in exile in the Caucasus in 407.

## Death

The power behind the throne for the last four years of Arcadius' reign was the praetorian prefect Anthemius, who turned out to actually be a competent politician who for once was not solely interested in grabbing power. He attempted to heal the tensions that had grown in Constantinople and with the western court during Arcadius' tumultuous reign, notably by trying to reach peace with Stilicho, who was still in power in Rome. Stilicho was not interested in deals with the eastern court anymore though and refused to negotiations, instead in 407 urging Alaric to take the prefecture corresponding with modern-day Greece in the hope that he would then be able to make it part of the western empire. This plan failed, but Arcadius died soon after, leaving his son six year old son Theodosius II as emperor.