Diocletian abandoned the ancient forms of government and transformed the empire into an absolute monarchy. He separated the civil and military administrations, created a new order of officials and brought the finances into order. The supreme power he vested in the hands of two Augusti assisted by two Casars who in turn were to succeed to the office of Augustus. Thus a more efficient administration would be ensured by the practical division of the empire into four parts. Diocletian, however, did not count on personal ambitions which were destined to wreck his plan. In 305 Diocletian resigned his office and compelled his fellow Augustus. Maximianus, to do likewise. They were suc ceeded by the Casars, Constantius Chloras and Galerlus, while new Casars were created. Con fusion and dv11 war followed and at one time there were six Augusti in the field. The strug gle finally narrowed down to a contest between Licinius and Constantine, a son of Constantius, and after two wars Licinius was overthrown and Constantine became sole ruler of the em pire. Constantine the Great (324-337) con tinued the administrative policy of Diocletian. He built Constantinople as a new capital for the empire and made Christianity the state religion. Of his three sons to whom he left power, Constantinns, Constantius and Constans, the first died in 340 and the last in 350. Constantius ruled with undisputed power from 353 to his death in 361. He was followed by Julian, known as the Apostate (361-363), who fell against the Persians and Jovian (363-364). Valentinian I ruled from 364 to 375. He left the government of the East to his brother Valens and made his son Gratian coemperor. Gratian ruled till 383 with Valentinian II as coemperor. The Goths had now broken into the empire and in 378 they inflicted a terrible defeat upon Valens at Adrianople. In this extreme Gratian conferred the government of the east upon Theodosius (379-395), who by war and diplomacy effected a settlement with the Goths. In 392 Valentin ian II died and Theodosius became sole ruler of the empire. His own death followed in 395, after he had divided the empire between his sons, Honorius, to whom was assigned the West under the guardianship of Stilicho and Arcadius, who became emperor of the East with Rufinus as his adviser. The influx of Ger manic tribes into Italy increased in volume. The tide of invasion was checked for a moment by the generalship of Stilicho (qv.), but in 410 Rome was sacked by the Goths under Alaric, who, passing into southern Gaul, estab lished a kingdom there. Other Germanic hordes wrested Spain from the Roman arms. Honorius died in 423 and was succeeded after a brief interval by Valentinian III who ruled till 455. The defeat of the Huns under Attila on the Catalaunian Fields in Gaul (451) by Aetius was the last effective assertion of the Roman power. Valentinian III was murdered in 455 and in the strife for the throne that followed, Valentinian's widow summoned to her aid the Vandals from Africa, who plundered the city of its treasures. For 20 years there came a succession of shadow kings, made and unmade by the all powerful commanders of the German mercenaries, Ricimer, and after him Orestes, who in 475 placed his young son Romulus on the throne. The troops under Odoacer (q.v.) revolted, Orestes was overthrown, the child em peror was retired to private life and in 476 Odoacer assumed for himself the title of Icing of Italy, thus marking the end of the Roman Empire in the West. For the history of the East Roman Empire see BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
Histou of the City of Rome subsequent to 476 A.D.— After the overthrow of the West ern Empire and the defeat and surrender of Odoacer, Rome came under the rule of the Ostrogoths. The city suffered severely in the wars between the Goths and Byzantines, in the course of which it was taken six times.
The depredations of the Byzantine emperors as well as of the Christian authorities, who made use of the materials and ornaments of the ancient edifices in the erection of their thm•ches, were the cause of the destruction of many ornaments of the imperial city: but more destructive still were the feuds that afterward (especially in the 10th century and later) raged in Rome between the leading families. In 1084 a part of the Campus Martins and most of the city in the south were devastated by the army of IsTormans, Greeks and Saracens which Robert Guiscard led to the relief of Gregory VII, then besieged by Henry IV of Germany in the Castle of Sant' Angelo. In the 14th century the work of destruction and depopulation wai hastened by the struggles which resulted from the at tempt of Rienzi (q.v.) to found a republic, and was continued during the period of confusion that ensued after the commencement of the great schism in 1378. A terrible pestilence which raged in the city in 1348 is said to have reduced the number of inhabitants to less than 20,000. A temporary check was given to the confusion that prevailed in Rome toward the end of the 14th century by Boniface IX, but order was not permanently re-established till Martin V took up his residence in the city after the schism had been virtually terminated by the Council of Constance. Martin's successor, Eugenius IV (1431-47), is usually named as the Pope under whom the work of restoration in Rome began. In this he was followed by Nicholas V (1447-55), who began the building of the Vatican, Pius II ()Eneas Sylvius, 1458 64), Paul II (1464-71), who, however, auarried in the Colosseum for the erection of the Palazzo di Venezia, as did also Paul III (1534-50), when building the Palazzo Farnese. But the most important period in the architectural his tory of Modern Rome was the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, when the labors of Bramante, the two Sangalli, Peruzzi and Michelangelo were pursued under the patronage of Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, Julius II and Leo X, and when the works of the great architects were adorned in the interior by artists as great or greater, such as Raphael and Michelangelo himself. In 1527 the city was sacked by an imperial army under the Con stable of Bourbon. Frotn this date onward the city began to extend more and more over all parts of the Campus Martins. Much was done in the 16th century especially by Paul III, Pius IV, Gregory XIII and Sixtus V, for the embellishment and enlargement of the town, the improvement of the streets and the restora tion of the fortifications. Many remains of antiquity were then rescued from destruction, although many more were sacrificed, particu larly under Sixtus, for the sake of modern structures. In the 18th century Benedict XIV, Clement XIV (founder of the Museo Pio Clementino) and Pius VI deserve special men tion for their efforts to nreserve and beautify Rome. In 1798 Rome was occupied by the French and deprived of many of its art treas ures. At the same time a republic was erected in Rome, but this only lasted for a short time, and after a series of disturbances and changes the Pope was again reinstated in his dominions in 1799. (See ITALY). From 1809 to 1814 Rome was once more under French rule, the States of the Church having in the former year been annexed to the Napoleonic Empire. The short lived Roman republic of 1848-49 was followed by the restoration of the papal rule in 1850. On 20 Sept. 1870 the Italian troops, after effect ing a breach in the Porta Pia, in the north east of the city, marched in along the Via di Porta Pia (henceforth called Via Venti Set tembre). Since then Rome has been in the pos session of Italy, and since the 1st of July of the following year the capital of the kingdom.
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