It is arrogant to ignore history’s lessons, and we are an arrogant generation. We are always looking forward, but progress is impossible without knowing where we’ve been. Yet, it is rare that our leaders and pundits ever look back to what happened before.

In an earlier article, I discussed how Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire contrasted two forms of immigration policy: accepting a small number of skilled immigrants versus the taking on millions of refugees. With the utter disaster of the refugee system in Europe, it is important that we return to the issue.

Chapter 26 describes how the Goths were refugees fleeing from their homeland and came to Rome for help: “[Valens] was informed that the North was agitated by a furious tempest; that the irruption of the Huns, an unknown and monstrous race of savages, had subverted the power of the Goths; and that the suppliant multitudes of that warlike nation, whose pride was now humbled in the dust, covered a space many miles along the banks of the river.”

Europe is facing the same situation with millions seeking aid as they flee from the terror of ISIS. Their homeland has been overrun, and the refugees have thrown themselves upon the mercy of Europe. However, the Goths promised that they only wanted protection and would, in turn, inhabit a sparse area and improve it: “With outstretched arms and pathetic lamentations they loudly deplored their past misfortunes and their present danger; acknowledged that their only hope of safety was in the clemency of the Roman government; and most solemnly protested that, if the gracious liberality of the emperor would permit them to cultivate the waste lands of Thrace, they should ever hold themselves bound, by the strongest obligations of duty and gratitude, to obey the laws and to guard the limits of the republic.”

It was a great offer, if it was true. It would make sense to take in a population willing to work hard and improve your nation. However, that is rarely the case. Their pleas were ignored, so they forced their way into Europe. As Gibbon recalled: “During this suspense of a doubtful and distant negotiation, the impatient Goths made some rash attempts to pass the Danube without the permission of the government whose protection they had implored. Their motions were strictly observed by the vigilance of the troops which were stationed along the river, and their foremost detachments were defeated with considerable slaughter; yet such were the timid councils of the reign of Valens, that the brave officers who had served their country in the execution of their duty were punished by the loss of their employments, and narrowly escaped the loss of their heads.”

Like the vigilant border patrol officers of our own nation who attempt to enforce the border, those officers who defended the integrity of Rome were punished. A weak government, unsure of how to act, relented and capitulated to the desires of the Goths, and the small group of immigrants became far more than Rome could ever handle. “It was thought expedient that an accurate account should be taken of their numbers; but the persons who were employed soon desisted, with amazement and dismay, from the prosecution of the endless and impracticable task,” Gibbon wrote. “A probable testimony has fixed the number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thousand men; and if we can venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of slaves, the whole mass of people which composed this formidable emigration must have amounted to near a million of persons, of both sexes and of all ages.”

Once one tribe was allowed into Rome, other tribes soon made similar demands: “The leaders of the Ostrogoths, Alatheus and Saphrax, the guardians of their infant king, appeared soon afterwards on the northern banks of the Danube, and immediately despatched their ambassadors to the court of Antioch to solicit, with the same professions of allegiance and gratitude, the same favour which had been granted to the suppliant Visigoths. The absolute refusal of Valens suspended their progress, and discovered the repentance, the suspicions, and the fears of the Imperial council.”

The Romans learned too late the error of their decision, and they attempted to cut off the flow before their borders were completely destroyed. Already, there was a humanitarian crisis with just one of the groups of refugees, “An undisciplined and unsettled nation of barbarians required the firmest temper and the most dexterous management. The daily subsistence of near a million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant and skilful diligence, and might continually be interrupted by mistake or accident.”

Pressure was put upon Rome as the refugees demanded more and more, wanting to be taken care of by their new state and ignoring their earlier promise to be self-sufficient: “The insolence or the indignation of the Goths, if they conceived themselves to be the objects either of fear or of contempt, might urge them to the most desperate extremities … a spirit of discontent insensibly arose in the camp of the barbarians, who pleaded, without success, the merit of their patient and dutiful behaviour, and loudly complained of the inhospitable treatment which they had received from their new allies. They beheld around them the wealth and plenty of a fertile province, in the midst of which they suffered the intolerable hardships of artificial famine.”

They complained that the Romans enjoyed luxuries that the citizens earned, and they wanted the same privileges without having to work. They ignored the protection and free goods, and they demanded more and more. Soon, the refugees became a major threat: “But the means of relief, and even of revenge, were in their hands, since the rapaciousness of their tyrants had left to an injured people the possession and the use of arms. The clamours of a multitude, untaught to disguise their sentiments, announced the first symptoms of resistance, and alarmed the timid and guilty minds of [Roman governors] Lupicinus and Maximus. Those crafty ministers, who substituted the cunning of temporary expedients to the wise and salutary counsels of general policy, attempted to remove the Goths from their dangerous station on the frontiers of the empire, and to disperse them, in separate quarters of cantonment, through the interior provinces.”

This was a key moment for what would lead to the fall of Rome: the large, dangerous group of refugees was moved from the outskirts of Europe into more delicate areas. While moving one group further into Rome, more refugees forced themselves across the border by rafts: “But the generals of Valens, while their attention was solely directed to the discontented Visigoths, imprudently disarmed the ships and the fortifications which constituted the defence of the Danube. The fatal oversight, as observed and improved by Alatheus and Saphrax, who anxiously watched the favourable moment of escaping from the pursuit of the Huns. By the help of such rafts and vessels as could be hastily procured, the leaders of the Ostrogoths transported, without opposition, their king and their army, and boldly fixed an hostile and independent camp on the territories of the empire.”

Soon after, open warfare began within the empire. Gibbon quotes the Gothic historical work Getica: “That successful day put an end to the distress of the barbarians and the security of the Romans: from that day the Goths, renouncing the precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the character of citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the possessors of land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces of the empire, which are bounded by the Danube.”

The Goths began to rampage across Europe, killing and laying waste as revenge for not being provided goods, welfare, and the benefits of citizenship by the Romans: “As they had been deprived by the ministers of the emperor of the common benefits of nature and the fair intercourse of social life, they retaliated the injustice on the subjects of the empire; and the crimes of Lupicinus were expiated by the ruin of the peaceful husbandmen of Thrace, the conflagration of their villages, and the massacre or captivity of their innocent families.”

Soon, the Romans grew fearful of the loyal immigrants who already proved they were faithful to Rome, and the leaders sought to move one such group: “the ministers of Valens were anxious to remove [the loyal Goths] beyond the Hellespont, at a distance from the dangerous temptation which might so easily be communicated by the neighbourhood and the success of their countrymen. The respectful submission with which they yielded to the order of their march might be considered as a proof of their fidelity; and their moderate request of a sufficient allowance of provisions and of a delay of only two days was expressed in the most dutiful terms.”

However, chaos and fear further alienated the still loyal immigrants from the Romans: “But the first magistrate of Hadrianople, incensed by some disorders which had been committed at his country-house, refused this indulgence; and arming against them the inhabitants and manufacturers of a populous city, he urged, with hostile threats, their instant departure. The barbarians stood silent and amazed, till they were exasperated by the insulting clamours and missile weapons of the populace: but when patience or contempt was fatigued, they crushed the undisciplined multitude, inflicted many a shameful wound on the backs of their flying enemies, and despoiled them of the splendid armour which they were unworthy to bear.”

The Romans were unable to tell which of the immigrants were loyal and which were not, and their fear only turned all of the loyal immigrants against them. Things quickly got out of hand, and the Emperor had to chose between giving the Goths their own nation within Roman borders or to wage war on them. The Emperor chose war: “The imprudence of Valens and his ministers had introduced into the heart of the empire a nation of enemies; but the Visigoths might even yet have been reconciled by the manly confession of past errors and the sincere performance of former engagements. These healing and temperate measures seemed to concur with the timorous disposition of the sovereign of the East: but on this occasion alone Valens was brave; and his unseasonable bravery was fatal to himself and to his subjects.”

At first, the Romans were victorious in their war on the rampaging barbarians: “The progress of the Goths had been checked by the doubtful event of that bloody day; and the Imperial generals, whose army would have been consumed by the repetition of such a contest, embraced the more rational plan of destroying the barbarians by the wants and pressure of their own multitudes. They prepared to confine the Visigoths in the narrow angle of land between the Danube, the desert of Scythia, and the mountains of Haemus, till their strength and spirit should be insensibly wasted by the inevitable operation of famine.”

However, an uncontrolled border and the flood of more refugees led to the campaign failing: “The design was prosecuted with some conduct and success; the barbarians had almost exhausted their own magazines and the harvests of the country; and the diligence of Saturninus, the master-general of the cavalry, was employed to improve the strength and to contract the extent of the Roman fortifications. His labours were interrupted by the alarming intelligence that new swarms of barbarians had passed the unguarded Danube, either to support the cause or to imitate the example of Fritigern.”

The spiral of uncontrolled immigration to national disaster is the lesson of Rome. What was first seen as necessary for humanitarian reasons soon turns into an out of control mess that breeds envy and fear. The refugees will always desire the goods of the citizens, and they will turn on their saviors if they do not receive an equal portion regardless if they provided an equal contribution. The citizens will always overreact to any violence caused by the refugees, turning upon even those who have fully integrated and proven their willingness to serve faithfully.

The Roman immigration system was completely turned on its head because there was no way to manage the massive influx of refugees. Although it did not happen immediately, the allowance of such large numbers of refugees created a separate nation within the borders of Rome, which ultimately lead to the collapse of the Roman Empire. It is impossible to defend against an enemy abroad when you have an enemy within your home.

This essay was originally published as When Refugees Overwhelmed Ancient Rome on March 24, 2016.