[Footnote 5:  This division of the Gothic tribes is commonly called the Visigoths (Western Goths), as distinguished from the Ostrogoths, or Eastern Goths.]

    8.  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain
    burning with fire was cast into the sea:  and the third part of
    the sea became blood;

    9.  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea,
    and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were
    destroyed.

The symbol of this trumpet is that of a volcanic mountain cast into the sea, whence it sends forth its streams of lava in every direction until a third of the creatures in the sea are destroyed, thus spreading desolation on every side.  It would naturally remain where it fell, a permanent instrument of destruction.

We have here a description of the next step of importance in the downfall of the Western empire.  The second great invasion was that of “the terrible Genseric” with his Vandal hordes, who pushed southward through Gaul and Spain, conquered the Carthaginian territory of northern Africa, and there formed a permanent independent government in A.D. 439.  From this fixed place, he continued for years to make incursions upon the bordering cities and islands, burning the cities, murdering the inhabitants, and intercepting the commerce of the Mediterranean.  During his military career, 429-468, he became the terror of the inhabitants of the empire, insomuch that historians designate him “the terrible Genseric.”  The depredations committed by his followers were but a repetition of such scenes of barbarity as have already been described in the invasions of Alaric under the first trumpet, therefore I will not devote much space to the historical facts in the case.  Their deeds, however, were such that the very term Vandal has come to be used as a designation of any man of ferocious character.  Concerning the important part that this chieftain acted in the downfall of the Western empire, Gibbon uses this significant language:  “Genseric, a name which, in the destruction of the Roman empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of Alaric and Attila.”  Vol.  III, p. 370.

In the year 454 the empress Eudoxia wished to be revenged on Maximus, who had murdered her husband Valentinian and had grasped the throne, and she secretly invited Genseric to attack Rome.  That fierce general, who is described by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as “cruel to blood-thirstiness, cunning, unscrupulous, and grasping,” was glad to undertake the task, and he soon landed an army of Vandals and African Moors at the gates of the city.  It was soon taken and for fifteen days given over to be sacked by the barbarous soldiery.  When they had glutted their savage instincts with the horrible deeds of murder and rapine, loaded with the spoils of the imperial city, they returned to Africa, taking with them an immense number of captives, including Eudoxia and