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The army of the invaders evacuated Italy, and Adol'phus, leading his soldiers into Spain, founded the kingdom of the Visigoths. 10. Adolphus did not long survive his triumphs; Placid'ia returned to her brother's court, and was persuaded to bestow her hand on Constan'tius, the general who had suppressed the rebellion of Constan'tine.

He returned to Italy, and was pardoned by Placid'ia; but the jealous Æ'tius led an army to drive his rival from the court; a battle ensued, in which Æ'tius was defeated; but Bon'iface died in the arms of victory.

Before, however, his army could pass the Strait, he was seized with an incurable disease, and his premature death protracted for a season the existence of the Western empire. 9. Al'aric was succeeded by his brother Adol'phus, who immediately commenced negociations for a treaty; the peace was cemented by a marriage between the Gothic king and Placid'ia, the sister of the emperor.

The next heir to the throne was Valenti'nian, the son of Placid'ia; but John, the late emperor's secretary, took advantage of Placid'ia's absence in the east, to seize on the government. The court of Constantinople promptly sent a body of troops against the usurper, and John was surprised and taken prisoner at Raven'na. 12.

Valenti'nian III., then in the sixth year of his age, was proclaimed emperor, and the regency entrusted to his mother, Placid'ia. The two best generals of the age, Æ'tius and Bon'iface, were at the head of the army, but, unfortunately, their mutual jealousies led them to involve the empire in civil war.

Placid'ia was at first determined to punish Æ'tius as a rebel; but his power was too formidable, and his abilities too necessary in the new dangers that threatened the empire; he was not only pardoned, but invested with more than his former authority.

Britain, Spain, and part of Gaul had been now irrecoverably lost; Constan'tius, whose abilities might have checked the progress of ruin, died, after the birth of his second child; Placid'ia retired to the court of Constantinople, and at length Hono'rius, after a disgraceful reign of twenty-eight years, terminated his wretched life.