斯提里科与晚期罗马帝国政局——基于“反日耳曼人情绪”视角下的考察

Stilicho and the Political Situation of the Later Roman Empire:From the Perspective of Anti-Germanic Feeling

395—408年间,西罗马帝国摄政斯提里科推行控制东部帝国的东伊利里库姆与色雷斯行政区的政策。该政策的战略目标是重新统一罗马帝国,而斯提里科推行该政策的个人目的在于巩固其权位,思想背景则是帝国上层社会中流行的重振帝国理想。但是,斯提里科并未能达到预期目的,他专注于伊利里库姆问题的行动导致军事与政治上的一系列失误,而他的行动激发反日耳曼人情绪,并造成皇帝疑心,从而招致垮台。斯提里科的垮台在实质上是在针对蛮族采取强硬路径或是有选择的合作共存路径之间进行选择的结果,斯提里科的失败导致强硬派暂时主导了西部帝国政府,从而导致410年罗马的陷落,并加剧了地中海世界东部与西部解体的趋势。

Between 395 and 408,Flavius Stilicho,regent of the Western Roman Empire,pursued a policy of controlling the administrative regions of East Illyricum and Thrace in the Eastern Empire.His strategic goal was the reunification of the Roman Empire;his personal goal,the consolidation of his power.The intellectual background of the policy was the revival of the imperial ideal among the empire’s upper classes.However,Stilicho failed because his focus on Illyricum led to a series of military and political errors,and his actions there provoked anti-Germanic feeling and aroused the Emperor’s suspicions.Stilicho’s fall was essentially the result of a choice between taking a hardline with the barbarians and opting for selective cooperation and coexistence with them.His defeat led to the temporary domination of the government of the Western Empire by the hardliners,resulting in the fall of Rome in 410 and intensifying the breakup of the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean world.