16 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINto Constantine's new empire, and that its magistrates had voluntarily
accepted his authority.
The immediate lack of resistance to the usurper in Spain proved,
however, to be short-lived. The legitimate imperial dynasty, the
Theodosians, represented at that time in the west by the emperor
Honorius (395-423), was Spanish in origin, and members of the
family still lived in the peninsula. Two brothers, cousins of Honorius,
determined to oppose Constantine and, raising an army from the
slaves on their estates, they attempted to seize the passes Qver the
Pyrenees, cutting Spain off from the rest of the usurper's empire.
This probably occurred early in 409. Constantine sent his son Constans,
a former monk whom he had elevated to the rank of Caesar, or
junior emperor, together with his British general Gerontius and an
army of barbarian mercenaries, to suppress this resistance. The revolt
of the two brothers, Didymus and Verinianus, was crushed, though
not without difficulty.8
Constantine and Constans, who became co-emperor with his father
in 409 or 410, seem to have had little faith in the regular units of
the army stationed in Spain, who appear to have taken no part at all
in the struggle with Didymus and Verinianus, and they decided to
replace them in guarding the crucial Pyrenean passes with units of
barbarian troops of unspecified origin known as the honoriaci. This
was clearly resented, as the regular troops petitioned Constans to
change his mind, albeit unsuccessfully. Their subsequent revolt against
him and his father may well stem from this episode. However, even
more momentous consequences were to follow. In September or
October 409 Constans's barbarian guards on the Pyrenees, either
through deliberate treachery or just negligence, allowed the confed-
eracy of Alans, Vandals and Sueves to come through the passes. Orosi us
records that the honoriaci then joined forces with them in the destruc-
tion that was to follow.^9
In the meantime it seems that Constans had returned to Gaul,
probably to deputise for his father, who was proposing to invade Italy
in the spring of 410. In his absence, and taking advantage of the
discontent of the Spanish soldiery, the general Gerontius rebelled.
Rather than take the throne himself, he proclaimed as emperor a
friend of his, Maximus, a former member of the 'domestics', or corps
of honorary imperial bodyguards. This took place in Tarragona, prob-
ably early in 410. Maximus soon began issuing coins from Barcelona,
whilst Gerontius went straight on to the offensive, and invaded Gaul