STILICHO, Flavius, Roman gen eral: b. of Vandal origin about 359 A.D. ; d. Ravenna, 23 Aug. 408. In 384 A.D. he was sent by the Emperor Theodosius on an important mission to Persia where he arranged a peace that was very advantageous to his sovereign and on his return in 384 was made commander in-chief of the Roman army and given the hand of Serena, the niece of Theodosius, in marriage and with it several high titles and flattering of ficial notice and the following year he was made commander-in-chief of the army in Thrace where he directed the war against the Picts, Scots, Saxons and the barbarians on the Hebrus. In 392 he carried on a very successful campaign against the Bostarnn. Goths. Alani and Huns. In 394 Theodosius appointed Stilicho guardian of his son Honorius whom he had raised to the dignity of Augustus with sovereignty over Africa, Gaul, Italy and Spain. But as the young man took little interest in affairs of state, this made Stilicho practical ruler of the Western Empire, which he defended against the invasion of the Goths under Rufinus, the guardian of the Empire of the East. He again repulsed the Germanic
hordes in 406, and was the loyal servant of the empire in its foreign wars, defeating Alaric at Pollentia. He was accused of aiding Alaric in his encroachments upon the empire previous to its final .conquest, and was obliged to flee from Rome. On the charge of high treason he was taken from the church at Ravenna which had given him shelter and executed. He was accused of plotting to put his own son upon • the throne; which, it would seem, he came very near accomplishing. His distinguished services in behalf of Rome were commemorated by the poet Claudius. Consult Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of Rome' ; Hodgkins, T., 'Italy and her Invaders' (Oxford 1880) • Villari, P., 'The Barbarian Invasions of Italy' (New York 1902).