Stilicho

On August 22, 408, Flavius Stilicho, West Roman field leader (395-408), was executed at the age of 48. An excerpt from the article:

"Downfall

Meanwhile, Stilicho revisited his dream of annexing Illyricum. His first order of business was to close the ports of Italy to all eastern ships. He appealed to his long-time nemesis Alaric for help. According to historian David Potter in his The Emperors of Rome, Stilicho had always believed Alaric was more useful alive than dead. He instructed Alaric to hold Epirus in northwestern Greece while he planned to cross the Adriatic Sea into Greece, but he had to abandon his plans after he heard rumors that Alaric was dead. Together with the news of Constantine's revolt in Gaul, Stilicho had no alternative. An angry and much alive Alaric kept waiting at Epirus, marched into Noricum, a province north of Italy, and demanded compensation of 4,000 pounds of gold for his troubles. Surprisingly, Stilicho was able to convince the Roman Senate to pay the demands. With a disgruntled Alaric on the rise and Constantine besieging Gaul, Stilicho's fate was sealed.

After Honorius' wife Maria, Stilicho's daughter who he had married in 398 CE and detested, died, he married Stilicho's second daughter Thermantia in 408 CE. Arcadius died the same year, and although rumors circulated that Stilicho had plans to go to Constantinople and put his son Eucherius on the eastern throne, Arcadius had been replaced by his 7-year-old son Theodosius II (r. 408-450 CE). Meanwhile, the army in the west was in complete disarray. Roman troops mutinied and killed several of Stilicho's generals. Realizing his fate was sealed, Stilicho went to Ravenna to surrender to the emperor and was promptly arrested. He was beheaded on 22 August 408 CE. His son's execution soon followed and so did many of Stilicho's commanders, mostly Germanic.

Some historians point to Stilicho's ambition and blame him in part for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. He failed to defeat Alaric and even allied with him. Stilicho was also criticized for filling his army with non-Romans, particularly remnants of the German invaders - something that angered many of the old Roman commanders. This shift in political and economic power left Rome weak and vulnerable. A frustrated Alaric would take his army to the doors of Rome, and in 410 CE, he left a weak and broken city."