 Chapter 26 Part 1 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2. Chapter 26. Progress of the Huns. Part 1. Manners of the pastorial nations. Progress of the Huns from China to Europe. Flight of the Goths. They pass the Danube. Gothic War. Defeat and death of Valens. Grattian invests Theodosus with the Eastern Empire, his character and success, peace and settlement of the Goths. In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the 21st day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. The impression was communicated to the waters. The shores of the Mediterranean were left dry by the sudden retreat of the sea. Great quantities of fish were caught with the hand. Large vessels were stranded on the mud, and a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun. But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt. Large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore. The people, with the habitations, were swept away by the waters, and the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation. This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome, and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of the momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bethania. They considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a declining empire and a sinking world. It was the fashion of the times to attribute every remarkable event to the particular will of the deity. The alterations of nature were connected by an invisible chain, with the moral and metaphysical opinions of the human mind, and the most sagacious divines could distinguish, according to the colour of their respective prejudices, that the establishment of hearsay tended to produce an earthquake, or that a deluge was the inevitable consequence of the progress of sin and error. Without presuming to discuss the truth or property of these lofty speculations, the historian may content himself with an observation, which seems to be justified by experience, that man has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow creatures than from the convulsions of the elements. The mischievous effects of an earthquake, or deluge, or hurricane, or the eruption of a volcano bear a very inconsiderable portion to the ordinary calamities of war, as they are now moderated by the prudence or humanity of the princes of Europe, whom use their own leisure and exercise the courage of their subjects in the practice of the military art. But the laws and manners of modern nations protect the safety and freedom of the vanquished soldier, and the peaceful citizen has seldom reason to complain that his life, or even his fortune, is exposed to the rage of war, in the disastrous period of the fall of the Roman Empire, which may justly be dated from the reign of Valens. The happiness and security of each individual were personally attacked, and the arts and labours of ages were rudely defaced by the barbarians of Scythia and Germany. The invasion of the Huns precipitated on the provinces of the west of the Gothic nation, which advanced in less than forty years from the Danube to the Atlantic, and opened away by the success of their arms to the inroads of so many hostile tribes more savage than themselves. The original principle of motion was concealed in the remote countries of the north, and the curious observation of the pastorial life of the Scythians or Tatars will illustrate the latent cause of these destructive emigrations. The different characters that mark the civilised nations of the globe may be ascribed to the use and the abuse of reason, which so variously shapes and so artificially composes the manners and opinions of a European or a Chinese. But the operation of instinct is more sure and simple than that of reason. It is much easier to ascertain the appetites of a quadruped than the speculations of a philosopher, and the savage tribes of mankind, as they approach nearer to the condition of animals, preserve stronger resemblance to themselves than to each other. The uniform stability of their manners is the natural consequence of the imperfection of their facilities. Reduced to a similar situation, their wants, their desires, their enjoyments still continue the same, and to the influence of food or climate, which, in a more improved state of society, is suspended or subdued by so many moral causes, most powerfully contributes to form and to maintain the national character of barbarians. In every age the immense plains of Scythia or Tatary have been inhabited by vagrant tribes of hunters and shepherds, whose indolence refuses to cultivate the earth, and whose restless spirit disdains the confinement of a sedentary life. In every age the Scythians and Tatars have been renowned for their invincible courage and rapid conquests. The thrones of Asia have been repeatedly overturned by the shepherds of the north, and their arms have spread terror and devastation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe, on this occasion, as well as on many others, the sober historian is forcibly awakened from a pleasing vision, and is compelled with some reluctance to confess that the pastorial manners which have been adorned with the fairest attributes of peace and innocence are much better adapted to the fierce and cruel habits of a military life. To illustrate this observation I shall now proceed to consider a nation of shepherds and of warriors. In the three important articles of, one, their diet, two, their habitations, and three, their exercises, the narratives of antiquity are justified by the experience of modern times, and the banks of the Baris the Anis, of the Volga, or of the Selengar, will indifferently present the same uniform spectacle of similar and native manners. One, the corn or even the rice, which constitutes the ordinary and wholesome food of a civilised people, can be obtained only by the patient toil of the husbandmen. Some of the happy savages who dwell between the tropics are plentifully nourished by the liberality of nature, but in the climates of the north a nation of shepherds is reduced to their flocks and herds. The skillful practitioners of the medical arch will determine, if they are able to determine, how far the temper of the human mind may be affected by the use of animal or of vegetable food, and whether the common association of coniferous and cruel deserves to be considered in any other light than that of an innocent, perhaps salutary, predigious of humanity. Yet, if it be true that the sentiment of compassion is imperceptibly weakened by the sight and practice of domestic cruelty, we may observe that the horrid objects which are disguised by the arts of European refinement are exhibited in their naked and most disgusting simplicity in the tent of a Tartarian shepherd. The ox or the sheep are slaughtered by the same hand from which they were accustomed to receive their daily food. And the bleeding limbs are served, with very little preparation, on the table of their unfeeling murderer. In the military profession, and especially in the conduct of a numerous army, the exclusive use of animal food appears to be productive of the most solid advantages. Corn is a bulky and perishable commodity, and the larger magazines, which are indispensable necessary for the substance of our troops, must be slowly transported by the labour of man or horses. But the flocks and herds which accompany the march of the Tartars afford a shore and increasing supply of flesh and milk. In the far greater part of the uncultivated waste, the vegetation of the grass is quick and luxuriant, and there are few places so extremely barren that the hardy cattle of the north cannot find some tolerable pasture. The supply is multiplied and prolonged by the undistinguishing appetite and patient abstinence of the Tartars. They indifferently feed on the flesh of those animals that have been killed for the table or have died of disease. Horse flesh, which in every age and country, has been prescribed by the civilised nations of Europe and Asia, they devour with peculiar greediness. And this singular taste facilitates the success of their military operations. The active cavalry of Scythia is always followed in their most distant and rapid incursions by an adequate number of spare horses, who may be occasionally used either to redouble the speed or to satisfy the hunger of the barbarians. Many are the resources of courage and poverty. When the forage round a camp of Tartars is almost consumed, they slaughter the greatest part of their cattle and preserve the flesh, either smoked or dried in the sun. On the sudden emergency of a hasty march, they provide themselves with a sufficient quantity of little balls of cheese, or rather of hard curd, which they occasionally dissolve in water. And this unsubstantial diet will support, for many days, the life and even the spirits of the patient warrior, but this extraordinary abstinence, which the stoic would approve and the hermit might envy, is commonly succeeded by the most voracious indulgence of appetite. The wines of a happier climate are the most grateful present, or the most valuable commodity that can be offered to the Tartars. And the only example of their industry seems to consist in the art of extracting from mare's milk a fermented liquor, which possesses a very strong power of intoxication. Like the animals of prey, the savages, both of the old and new world, experience the alternate vicissitudes of famine and plenty, and their stomach is anured to sustain, without much inconvenience, the opposite extremes of hunger and of intemperance. 2. In the ages of rustic and martial simplicity, a people of soldiers and husbandmen are dispersed over the face of an extensive and cultivated country, and some time must elapse before the warlike youth of Greece or Italy could be assembled under the same standard, either to defend their own confines or to invade the territories of the adjacent tribes. The progress of manufacturers and commerce insensibly collects a large multitude within the walls of a city, but these citizens are no longer soldiers, and the arts which adorn and improve the state of civil society corrupt the habits of the military life. The pastorial manners of the Scythians seem to unite the different advantages of simplicity and refinement. The individuals of the same tribe are constantly assembled, but they are assembled in a camp, and the native spirit of these dauntless shepherds is animated by mutual support and emulation. The houses of the Tatars are no more than small tents of an oval form, which afford a cold and dirty habitation for the promiscuous youth of both sexes. The palaces of the rich consist of wooden huts of such a size that they may be conveniently fixed on large wagons, and drawn by a team perhaps of twenty or thirty oxen. The flocks and herds, after grazing all day in the adjacent pastures, retire on the approach of night within the protection of the camp. The necessity of preventing the most mischievous confusion in such a perpetual concourse of men and animals must gradually introduce, in the distribution, the order and the guard of the encampment, the rudiments of the military art. As soon as the forage of a certain district is consumed, the tribe, or rather army of shepherds, makes a regular march to some fresh pastures, and thus acquires in the ordinary occupations of the pastorial life the practical knowledge of one of the most important and difficult operations of war. The choice of stations is regulated by the difference of the seasons. In the summer the tartars advance towards the north, and pitch their tents on the banks of a river, or at least in the neighbourhood of a running stream. But in the winter they return to the south, and shelter their camp behind some convenient eminence against the winds, which are chilled in their passage over the bleak and icy regions of Siberia. These manners are admirably adapted to diffuse among the wandering tribes. The spirit of immigration and conquest, the connection between the people and their territory, is of so frail a texture that it may be broken by the slightest accident. The camp, and not the soil, is the native country of the genuine Tata. Within the precincts of that camp, his family, his companions, his property are always included. And in the most distant marches, he is still surrounded by the objects which are dear, or valuable, or familiar in his eyes. The thirst of raping, the fear, or the resentment of injury, the impatience of servitude, have in every age been sufficient causes to urge the tribes of Sofia boldly to advance into some unknown countries, where they might hope to find a more plentiful substance or a less formidable enemy. The revolutions of the North have frequently determined the fate of the South, and in the conflict of hostile nations the victor and the vanquished have alternatively drove and been driven from the confines of China to those of Germany. These great immigrations, which have been sometimes executed with almost incredible diligence, were rendered more easy by the peculiar nature of the climate. It is well known that the cold of Tartary is much more severe than in the midst of the temperate zone might reasonably be expected. This uncommon rigor is attributed to the height of the plains, which rise, especially towards the east, more than half a mile above the level of the sea, and to the quantity of saltpita with which the soil is deeply impregnated. In the winter season, the broad and rapid rivers that discharge their waters into the yukxin, the caspian, or the icy sea, are strongly frozen. The fields are covered with a bed of snow, and the fugitive or victorious tribes may securely traverse, with their families, their wagons, and their cattle, the smooth and hard surface of an immense plain. 3. The pastorial life, compared with the labours of agriculture and manufacturers, is undoubtedly a life of idleness. And as the most honourable shepherds of the Tartary race devolve on their captives the domestic management of the cattle, their own leisure is seldom disturbed by any servile and deciduous cares. But this leisure, instead of being devoted to the soft enjoyments of love and harmony, is used fully spent in the violent and sanguinary exercise of the chase. The plains of Tartary are filled with a strong and serviceable breed of horses, which are easily trained for the purposes of war and hunting. The Scythians of every age have been celebrated as bold and skillful riders, and constant practice had seated them so firmly on horseback that they were supposed by strangers to perform the ordinary duties of civil life, to eat, to drink, and even to sleep without dismounting from their steeds. They excel in the dexterous management of the lance, the long Tartar bow is drawn with a nervous arm, and the weighty arrow is directed to its object with an erring aim and irresistible force. These arrows are often pointed against the harmless animals of the desert, which increase and multiply in the absence of their most formidable enemy, the hare, the goat, the roebuck, the fallow deer, the stag, the elk, and the antelope. The vigour and patience, both of the men and horses, are continually exercised by the fatigues of the chase, and the plentiful supply of gain contributes to the subsidence and even luxury of a Tartar kent, but the exploits of the hunters of Scythia are not confined to the destruction of timid or inoxious beasts. They boldly encounter the angry wild boar when he turns against his pursuers, excite the sluggish courage of the bear, and provoke the fury of the tiger as he slumbers in the thicket. Where there is danger, there may be glory, and the mode of hunting, which opens the fairest field to the exhortations of valor, may justly be considered as the image and as the school of war. The general hunting matches, the pride and delight of the Tartar princes, compose an instructive exercise for their numerous cavalry. A circle is drawn of many miles in circumference to encompass the game of an extensive district, and the troops that form the circle regularly advance towards a common centre, where the captive animals, surrounded on every side, are abandoned to the darts of the hunters. In this march, which frequently continues many days, the cavalry are obliged to climb the hills, to swim the rivers, and to wind through the valleys, without interrupting the prescribed order of their gradual progress. They acquire the habit of directing their eye and their steps to a remote object, of preserving their intervals of suspending or accelerating their pace, according to the motions of the troops on their right and left, and of watching and repeating the signals of their leaders. Their leaders study, in this practical school, the most important lesson of the military art, the prompt and accurate judgement of ground, of distance, and of time. To employ, against a human enemy, the same patience and valor, the same skill and discipline, is the only alteration which is required in real war, and the amusements of the chase serve as a prelude to the conquest of an empire. The political society of the ancient Germans has the appearance of a voluntary alliance of independent warriors. The tribes of Scythia, distinguished by the modern appellation of hordes, assume the form of a numerous and increasing family, which, in the course of successive generations, has been propagated from the same original stock, the meanest and most ignorant of the Tartars, preserved with conscious pride, the inistemable treasure of their genealogy, and whatever distinctions of rank may have been introduced by the unequal distribution of pastoral wealth, they mutually respect themselves and each other, as the descendants of the first founder of the tribe. The custom which still prevails of adopting the bravest and most faithful of the captives may countenance the very probable suspicion that this extensive consanguinity is, in a great measure, legal and fictitious. But the useful prejudice, which has obtained the sanction of time and opinion, produces the effect of truth. The haughty barbarians yield a cheerful and voluntary obedience to the head of their blood, and their chief or Mercer, as a representative of their great father, exercises the authority of a judge in peace and of a leader in war. In the original state of the pastorial world, each of the Mercers, if we may continue to use a modern appellation, acted as the independent chief of a large and separate family, and the limits of their peculiar territories were gradually fixed by superior force or mutual consent. But the constant operation of various and permanent causes contributed to unite the vagrant hordes into national communities under the command of a supreme head. The weak were desirers of support, and the strong were ambitious of dominion. The power, which is a result of union, oppressed and collected the divided force of the adjacent tribes, and, as the vanquished were freely admitted to share the advantages of victory, the most valiant chiefs hastened to arrange themselves and their followers under the formidable standard of a confederate nation. The most successful of the Tartar princes assumed the military command, to which he was entitled by the superiority, either of merit or of power. He was raised to the throne by the acclimations of his equals, and the title of Khan expresses, in the language of the north of Asia, the full extent of the regal dignity. The right of hereditary succession was long confined to the blood of the founder of the monarchy, and at this moment all the Khans, who reigned from Crimea to the Wall of China, are the lineal descendants of the renowned Zingas. But, as it is the indispensable duty of a Tartar sovereign to lead his warlike subjects into the field, the claims of an infant are often disregarded, and some royal kinsmen, distinguished by his age and valor, is entrusted with the sword and scepter of his predecessor. Two distinct and regular taxes are levied on the tribes to support the dignity of the national monarch and of their peculiar chief, and each of those contributions amounts to the tithe both of their property and of their spoil. A Tartar sovereign enjoys the tenth part of the wealth of his people, and his own domestic riches of flocks and herds increase in a much larger proportion. He is able, plentifully, to maintain the rustic splendour of his court, to reward the most deserving, or the most favoured of his followers, and to obtain, from the gentle influence of corruption, the obedience which might be sometimes refused to the stern mandates of authority. The manners of his subjects, accustomed like himself, to blood and raping, might excuse in their eyes such partial acts of tyranny as would excite the horror of a civilised people. But the power of a despot has never been acknowledged in the deserts of Sivia. The immediate jurisdiction of the Khan is confined within the limits of his own tribe, and the exercise of his royal prerogative has been moderated by the ancient institution of a national council. The corraltai, or diet of the Tartars, was regularly held in the spring and autumn in the midst of a plain, where the princes of the reigning family and the mercers of the respective tribes may conveniently assemble on horseback with their marshal and numerous trains. And the ambitious monarch, who reviewed the strength, must consult the inclination of an armed people. The rudiments of a feudal government may be discovered in the constitution of the Sivian, or Tartar nations. But the perpetual conflict of those hostile nations has sometimes terminated in the establishment of a powerful and despotic empire. The victor, enriched by the tribute and fortified by the arms of dependent kings, has spread his conquests over Europe or Asia. The successful shepherds of the north have submitted to the confinement of arts, of laws, and of cities. And the introduction of luxury, after destroying the freedom of the people, has undermined the foundations of the throne. The memory of past events cannot long be preserved in the frequent and remote emigrations of illiterate barbarians. The modern Tartars are ignorant of the conquests of their ancestors. And our knowledge of the history of the Sivians is derived from their intercourse with the learned and civilized nations of the self, the Greeks, the Persians, and the Chinese, the Greeks, who navigated the Uxin and planted their colonies along the sea coast, made the gradual and imperfect discovery of Sivia, from the Danube and the confines of Thrace, as far as the frozen Mirtosis, the seat of eternal winter, and Mount Caucasus, which, in the language of poetry, was described as the utmost boundary of the earth. They celebrated with simple credulity the virtues of the pastorial life. They entertained a more rational apprehension of the strength and numbers of the warlike barbarians, who contemptuously baffled the immense armament of Darius, the son of Hysterpes. The Persian monarchs had extended their western conquests to the banks of the Danube and to the limits of European Sivia. The eastern provinces of their empire were exposed to the Scythians of Asia. The wild inhabitants of the plains, beyond the Oxis, and the Jaxates, two mighty rivers, which direct their course towards the Caspian Sea. The long and memorable quarrel of Iran and Turin is still the theme of history or romance. The famous, perhaps the fabulous, valor of the Persian heroes, Rustan and Asphendia signalized in the defence of their country against the Asphraziabs of the north. And the invincible spirit of the same barbarians resisted on the same ground, the victorious arms of Cirrus and Alexander. The real geography of Scythia was bounded on the east by the mountains of Imus or Cath, and their distant prospect of the extreme and inaccessible parts of Asia was clouded by ignorance or perplexed by fiction. But these inaccessible regions are the ancient residents of a powerful and civilised nation, which ascends by a probable tradition above forty centuries, and which is able to verify a series of near two thousand years by the perpetual testimony of accurate and contemporary historians. The annals of China illustrate the state and revolutions of the pastorial tribes, which may still be distinguished by the vagapillation of Scythians or Tatars. The vassals, the enemies, and sometimes the conquerors of a great empire, whose policy has uniformly opposed the blind and impertuous valor of the barbarians of the north. From the mouth of the Danube to the Sea of Japan, the whole longitude of Sivia is about 110 degrees, which, in that parallel, are equal to more than 5,000 miles. The latitude of these extensive deserts cannot be so easily or so accurately measured, but from the 40th degree which touches the walls of China, we may scarcely advance above a thousand miles to the northward till our progress is stopped by the excessive cold of Siberia. In that dreary climate, instead of the animated picture of a Tata camp, the smoke that issues from the earth or rather from the snow, betrays the subterranean dwellings of the Tongausus and the Samoids. The want of horses and oxen is imperfectly supplied by the use of reindeer and of large dogs, and the conquerors of the earth insensibly degenerate into a race of deformed and diminutive savages who tremble at the sound of arms. End of Chapter 26 Part 1 Chapter 26 Part 2 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzy Driver Chapter 26 Progress of the Huns Part 2 The Huns, who under the reign of Valens, threatened the Empire of Rome, had been formidable in a much earlier period to the Empire of China. Their ancient, perhaps their original, seat was an extensive though dry and barren tract of country. Immediately on the north side of the Great Wall their place is at present occupied by the 49 hordes or banners of the Mungus, a pastorial nation which consists of about 200,000 families. But the Valor of the Huns had extended the narrow limits of their dominions and their rustic chiefs, who assumed the appellation of Tanju, gradually became the conquerors and the sovereigns of a formidable Empire. Towards the east their victorious arms were stopped only by the ocean. And the tribes, which are thinly scattered between the Amur and the extreme peninsula of Korea, adhered with reluctance to the standard of the Huns. On the west, near the head of the Urtish, in the valleys of Imus they found more ample space and more numerous enemies. One of the lieutenants of the Tanju subdued in a single expedition 26 nations. The Igors, distinguished above the Tartar race by the use of letters, were in the number of his vassals. And by the strange connection of human events the flight of one of those vagrant tribes recalled the victorious Parthians from the invasion of Syria. On the side of the north the ocean was assigned as the limit of the power of the Huns. Without enemies to resist their progress or witnesses to contradict their vanity they might securely achieve a real or imaginary conquest of the frozen regions of Siberia. The northern sea was fixed as the remote boundary of their empire. But the name of that sea on whose shores the patriot Sovo embraced the life of a shepherd and an exile may be transferred with much more probability to the Baikal a capitious basin above 300 miles in length which disdains the modern appellation of a lake and which actually communicates with the seas of the north by the long course of the Angara the Tongosha and the Genesee. The submission of so many distant nations might flatter the pride of the Tangyu but the valor of the Huns could be rewarded only by the enjoyment of the wealth and luxury of the empire of the south. In the third century before the Christian era a wall of 1500 miles in length was constructed to defend the frontiers of China against the inroads of the Huns. But this stupendous work which holds a conspicuous place in the map of the world has never contributed to the safety of an unwarlike people. The cavalry of the Tangyu frequently consisted of two or three hundred thousand men formidable by the matchless dexterity with which they managed their bows and their horses by their hardy patience in supporting the inclemency of the weather and by the incredible speed of their march which was seldom checked by torrents or precipices by the deepest rivers or by the most lofty mountains. They spread themselves at once over the face of the country and their rapid impetuosity surprised, astonished and disconcerted the grave and elaborate tactics of a Chinese army. The Emperor Kaotai a soldier of fortune whose personal merit had raised him to the throne marched against the Huns with those veteran troops which had been trained in the civil wars of China but he was soon surrounded by the barbarians and after a siege of seven days the monarch hopeless of relief was reduced to purchase his deliverance by an ignominious capitulation. The successors of Kaotai whose lives were dedicated to the arts of peace or the luxury of the palace submitted to a more permanent disgrace they too hastily confessed the insufficiency of arms and fortifications they were too easily convinced that while the blazing signals announced on every side the approach of the Huns the Chinese troops who slept with the helmet on their head and the cuirass on their back were destroyed by the incessant labour of ineffectual marches a regular payment of money and silk was stipulated as the condition of a temporary and precarious peace and the wretched expedient of disguising a real tribute under the names of a gift or subsidy was practised by the emperors of China as well as by those of Rome but there still remained a graceful article of tribute which violated the sacred feelings of humanity and nature the hardships of the savage life which destroyed in their infancy the children who were born with a less healthy and robust constitution introduced a remarkable disproportion between the numbers of the two sexes the Tartars are an ugly and even deformed race and while they consider their own women as the instruments of domestic labour their desires or rather their appetite are directed to the enjoyment of a more elegant beauty a select band of the fairest maidens of China was annually devoted to the rude embraces of the Huns and the alliance of the haughty tanguers was secured by their marriage with the genuine or adopted daughters of the imperial family which faintly attempted to escape the sacrilegious pollution the situation of these unhappy victims is described in the verses of a Chinese princess who laments that she had been condemned by her parents to a distant exile under a barbarian husband who complains that sour milk was her only drink raw flesh her only food a tent her only palace and who expresses in a strain of pathetic simplicity the natural wish that she was transformed into a bird to fly back to her dear country the object of her tender and perpetual regret the conquest of China has been twice achieved by the pastorial tribes of the north the forces of the Huns were not inferior to those of the Moguls or of the Mandachuoks and their ambition might entertain the most sanguine hopes of success but their pride was humbled and their progress was checked by the arms and policy of Vautai the fifth emperor of the powerful dynasty of the Han in his long reign of 54 years the barbarians of the southern provinces submitted to the laws and manners of China and to the ancient limits of the monarchy were enlarged from the great river of Qiyang to the port of Canton instead of confining himself to the timid operations of a defensive war his lieutenants penetrated many hundred miles into the country of the Huns in those boundless deserts where it is impossible to form magazines and difficult to transport a sufficient supply of provisions the armies of Vautai were repeatedly exposed to intolerable hardships and of 140,000 soldiers who marched against the barbarians 30,000 only returned in safety to the feet of their master these losses however were compensated by splendid and decisive success the Chinese generals improved the superiority which they derived from the temper of their arms their chariots of war and the service of their Tartar auxiliaries the camp of the Tanju was surprised in the midst of sleep and intemperance and though the monarch of the Huns bravely cut his way through the ranks of the enemy he left above 15,000 of his subjects on the field of battle yet this signal victory which was preceded and followed by many bloody engagements contributed much less to the destruction of the power of the Huns than the effectual policy which was employed to detach the tributy nations from their obedience intimidated by the arms or allured by the promises of Vautai and his successors the most considerable tribes both at the east and at the west disclaimed the authority of the Tanju while some acknowledged themselves the allies or vassals of the empire they all became the implicable enemies of the Huns they all became the implicable enemies of the Huns and the numbers of that haughty people as soon as they were reduced to their native strength might perhaps have been contained within the walls of one of the great and popular cities of China the desertion of his subjects and the verplexity of a civil war at length compelled the Tanju himself to renounce the dignity of an independent sovereign the freedom of a warlike and high-spirited nation he was received at Saigon the capital of the monarchy by the troops the mandarins and the emperor himself with all the honours that could adorn and disguise the triumph of Chinese vanity a magnificent palace was prepared for his reception his place was assigned above all the princes of the royal family and the patience of the barbarian king was exhausted by the ceremonies of a banquet which consisted of eight courses of meat and nine solemn pieces of music but he performed on his knees the duty of a respectful homage to the emperor of China pronounced in his own name and in the name of his successors a perpetual oath of fidelity and gratefully accepted a seal which was bestowed as the emblem of his regal dependence after this humiliating submission the Tanjos sometimes departed from their allegiance and seized the favourable moments of war and raping but the monarchy of the Huns gradually declined till it was broken by civil dissension into two hostile and separate kingdoms one of the princes of the nation was urged by fear and ambition to retire towards the south with eight great hordes which composed between 40 and 50,000 families he obtained with the title of Tanju a convenient territory on the verge of the Chinese provinces and his constant attachment to the service of the empire was secured by weakness and the desire of revenge from the time of this fatal schism the Huns of the north continued to languish about fifty years till they were oppressed on every side by their foreign and domestic enemies the proud inscription of a column erected on a lofty mountain announced to posterity that a Chinese army had marched 700 miles into the heart of their country the Senpai a tribe of Oriental Tartars retaliated the injuries which they had formally sustained and the power of the Tanjus after a reign of 1300 years was utterly destroyed before the end of the first century of the Christian era the fate of the vanquished Huns was diversified by the various influence of character and situation above 100,000 persons the poorest indeed and the most pusillanimous of the people were contented to remain in their native country to renounce their peculiar name and origin and to mingle with the victorious nation of the Senpai 58 hordes about 200,000 men ambitious of a more honorable servitude retired towards the south implored the protection of the emperors of China and were permitted to inhabit Antiguard the extreme frontiers of the province of Chanxi and the territory of Ortus but the most warlike and powerful tribes of the Huns maintained in their adverse fortune the undaunted spirit of their ancestors the western world was open to their valor and they resolved under the conduct of their hereditary chieftains to conquer and subdue some remote country which was still inaccessible to the arms of the Senpai and to the laws of China the course of their immigration soon carried them beyond the mountains of Imus and the limits of the Chinese geography but we are able to distinguish the two great divisions for middable exiles which directed their march towards the Oxis and towards the Volga the first of these colonies established their dominion in the fruitful and extensive plains of Sogdiana on the eastern side of the Caspian where they preserved the name of Huns with the epiphet of Euthelates or Nephelates their manners were softened and even their features were insensibly improved by the mildness of the climate and their long residance in a flourishing province which might still retain a faint impression of the arts of Greece the White Huns a name which they derived from the change of their complexions soon abandoned the pastorial life of Scythia Gorgos which under the appellation of Charismy has since enjoyed a temporary splendour was the residence of the king who exercised a legal authority over an obedient people their luxury was maintained by the labour of the Sogdians and the only vestige of their ancient barbarism was the custom which obliged all the companions perhaps to the number of twenty who had shared the liberality of a wealthy lord to be buried alive in the same grave the vicinity of the Huns to the provinces of Persia involved them in frequent and bloody contests with the power of that monarchy but they respected in peace the faith of treaties in war the dictates of humanity and their memorable victory over porossis or firas displayed the moderation as well as the valor of the barbarians the second division of their countrymen the Huns who gradually advanced towards the north-west were exercised by the hardships of a colder climate and a more laborious march necessity compelled them to exchange the silks of China for the furs of Siberia the imperfect rudiments of civilized life were obliterated and the native fierceness of the Huns was exasperated by their intercourse with the savage tribes who were compared with some property to the wild beasts of the desert their independent spirit soon rejected the hereditary succession of the Tanjus and while each horde was governed by its peculiar Mercer their tumultiary council directed the public measures of the whole nation as late as the 13th century their transient residence on the eastern banks of the Volga was attested by the name of Great Hungary in the winter they descended with their flocks and herds towards the mouth of that mighty river and their summer excursions reached as high as the latitude of Saratov or perhaps the conflux of the Karma such at least were the recent limits of the Black Kalmaks who remained about a century under the protection of Russia and who have since returned to their native seats on the frontiers of the Chinese empire the march and the return of those wandering Tatars whose united camp consisted of 50,000 tents or families illustrates the distant emigrations of the ancient Huns it is impossible to fill the dark interval of time which elapsed after the Huns of the Volga were lost in the eyes of the Chinese and before they showed themselves to those of the Romans there is some reason however to apprehend that the same force which had driven them from their native seats still continued to impel their march towards the frontiers of Europe the power of the Senpai their implacable enemies which extended above 3,000 miles from east to west must have gradually oppressed them by the weight and terror of a formidable neighbourhood and the flight of the tribes of Sivir would inevitably tend to increase the strength or to contract the territories of the Huns the harsh and obscure appellations of those tribes would offend the ear without informing the understanding of the reader but I cannot suppress the very natural suspicion that the Huns of the north derived considerable reinforcements from the ruin of the dynasty of the south which in the course of the third century submitted to the dominion of China that the bravest warriors marched away in search of their free and adventurous countrymen and that as they had been divided by prosperity they were easily reunited by the common hardships of their first fortune the Huns with their flocks and herds their wives and children their dependents and allies were transported to the west of the Volga and they boldly advanced to invade the country of the Alani a pastorial people who occupied or wasted an extensive tract of the deserts of Sivir the plains between the Volga and the Tannis were covered with the tents of the Alani but their name and manners were diffused over the wide extent of their conquests and the painted tribes of the Agathiracy and Galani were confounded among their vassals towards the north they penetrated into the frozen regions of Siberia among the savages who were accustomed in their rage or hunger to the taste of human flesh and their southern inroads were pushed as far as the confines of Asia and India the mixture of somatic and German blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani to whiten their swarthy complexions and to tinge their hair with a yellowish cast which is seldom found in the Tata race they were less deformed in their persons less brutish in their manners than the Huns but they did not yield to those formidable barbarians in their marshal and independent spirit in the love of freedom which rejected even the use of domestic slaves and in the love of arms which considered war and raping as the pleasure and the glory of mankind a naked scimitar fixed in the ground was the only object of their religious worship the scalps of their enemies formed the costly trappings of their horses and they viewed with pity and contempt the pusillanimous warriors who patiently expected the infirmities of age and the tortures of lingering disease on the banks of the Tannis the military power of the Huns and the Alani encountered each other with equal valor but unequal success the Huns prevailed in the bloody contest the king of the Alani was slain and the remains of the vanquished nation were dispersed by the ordinary alternative of flight or submission a colony of exiles found a secure refuge in the mountains of Caucasus between the Yuxin and the Caspian where they still preserved their name and their independence another colony advanced with more intrepid courage towards the shores of the Baltic associated themselves with the northern tribes of Germany and shared the spoil of the Roman provinces of Gaul and Spain but the greatest part of the nation of the Alani embraced the offers of an honourable and advantageous union and the Huns who esteemed the valor of the less fortunate enemies proceeded with an increase of numbers and confidence to invade the limits of the Gothic Empire the great Hermannric whose dominions extended from the Baltic to the Yuxin enjoyed in the full maturity of age and reputation the fruits of his victories when he was alarmed by the formidable approach of a host of unknown enemies on whom his barbarous subjects might without injustice bestow the epiphyte of barbarians the numbers the strength of the ancient motions and the impeccable cruelty of the Huns were felt and dreaded and magnified by the astonished Goths who beheld their fields and villages consumed with flames and deluged with indiscriminate slaughter to these real terrors they added the surprise and abhorrence which were excited by the shrill voice the uncouth gestures and the strange deformity of the Huns these savages of Scythia were compared and the picture had some resemblance to the animals who walk very awkwardly on two legs and to them a shape in figures the termini which were often placed on the bridges of antiquity they were distinguished from the rest of the human species by their broad shoulders flat noses and small black eyes deeply buried in the head of the destitute of beards they never enjoyed either the manly grace of youth or the venerable aspect of age a fabulous origin was assigned worthy of their form and manners that the witches of Scythia who for their foul and deadly practices had been driven from society had copulated in the desert with infernal spirits and that the Huns were the offspring of this excrecible conjunction the tale so full of horror and absurdity was greedily embraced by the credulous hatred of the Goths but while it gratified their hatred it increased their fear since the posterity of demons and witches might be supposed to inherit some share of the preternatural powers as well as of the malignant temper of their parents against these enemies Hermannric prepared to exert the united forces of the Gothic state but he soon discovered that his vassal tribes provoked by oppression were much more inclined to second than to repel the invasion of the Huns one of the chiefs of the Roxalani had formally deserted the standard of Hermannric and the cruel tyrant had condemned the innocent wife of the traitor to be torn asunder by wild horses the brothers of that unfortunate woman seized the favorable moment of revenge the aged king of the Goths languished some time after the dangerous wound which he received from their daggers but the conduct of the war was retarded by his infirmities and the public councils of the nation were distracted by a spirit of jealousy that he could his death which has been imputed to his own despair left the reins of government in the hands of Wethyma who, with the doubtful aid of some Scythian mercenaries maintained the unequal contest against the arms of the Huns and the Alani till he was defeated and slain in a decisive battle the Ostrogoths submitted to their fate and the royal race of the Amali will hereafter be found among the subjects of the Hortia Tilla but the person of Witherich the infant king was saved by the diligence of Alotheus and Sapharax two warriors of approved valor and fidelity who, by cautious marches conducted the independent remains of the nation of the Ostrogoths towards the Dannisters on Yester a considerable river which now separates the Turkish dominions from the empire of Russia On the banks of the Nyester the Pruginter Thanarak more attended to his own than to the general safety had fixed the camp of the Viscoths with the firm resolution of opposing the victorious barbarians whom he thought it less advisable to provoke the ordinary speed of the Huns was checked by the way to baggage and the incomparance of captives but their military skill deceived and almost destroyed the army of Athanaric while the judge of the Viscoths defended the banks of the Nyester he was encompassed and attacked by a numerous detachment of cavalry who, by the light of the moon had passed the river in affordable place and it was not without the utmost efforts of courage and conduct that he was able to effect his retreat towards the hilly country the undaunted general had already formed a new and judicious plan of defensive war and the strong lines which he was preparing to construct between the mountains the Pruth and the Danube would have secured the extensive and fertile territory that bears the modern name of Rulakia of the Huns but the hopes and measures of the judge of the Viscoths were soon disappointed by the trembling impatience of his dismayed countrymen who were persuaded by their fears that the interposition of the Danube was the only barrier that could save them from the rapid pursuit and invincible valor of the barbarians of Scythia under the command of Fritigern and Alvivius the nation hastily advanced to the banks of the Great River and implored the protection of the Roman Emperor of the East Althannaric himself still anxious to avoid the guilt of perjury retired with a band of faithful followers into the mountainous country of Corkorland which appears to have been guarded and almost concealed by the impenetrable forests of Transylvania End of Chapter 26 Part 2 Chapter 26 Part 3 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver Chapter 26 Progress of the Huns Part 3 After Valens had terminated the Gothic War with some appearance of glory and success he made a progress through his dominions of Asia and at length fixed his residence in the capital of Syria The five years which he spent in Antioch was employed to watch from a secure distance the hostile designs of the Persian monarch to check the depudations of the Saracens and Disaurians to enforce by argument more prevalent than those of reason and eloquence the belief of the Aryan theology and to satisfy his anxious suspicions by the promiscuous execution of the innocent and the guilty But the attention of the emperor was most seriously engaged by the important intelligence which he received from the civil and military officers who were entrusted with the defence of the Danube he was informed that the north was agitated by a furious tempest that the eruption 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 of many miles in the banks of the river without stretched 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 wastelands 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 these assurances were confirmed by the ambassadors of the Goths who impatiently expected from the mouth of Valens an answer that must finally determine the fate of their unhappy countrymen the emperor of the east was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder brother whose death happened towards the end of the preceding year and as the distressful situation of the Goths required an instant and preemptory decision he was deprived of the favourite resources of feeble and timid minds who consider the use of dilatory and ambiguous measures as the most admirable effects of consummate prudence as long as the same passions and interests subsist among mankind the nations of war and peace of justice and policy which were debated in the councils of antiquity will frequently present themselves as the subject of modern deliberation but the most experienced statesmen of Europe has never been summoned to consider the property or the danger of admitting or rejecting an innumerable multitude of barbarians who are driven by despair and hunger to solicit a settlement on the territories of a civilised nation when that important proposition so essentially connected with the public safety was referred to the ministers of valence they were perplexed and divided but they soon acquiesced in the flattering sentiment which seemed the most favourable to the pride, the insolence and the avarice of their sovereign the slaves who were decorated with the titles of prefects and generals dissembled or disregarded the terrors of this national immigration so extremely different from the partial and accidental colonies which had been received on the extreme limits of the empire but they applauded the liberality of fortune which had conducted from the most distant countries of the globe a numerous and invincible army of strangers to defend the throne of valence who might now add to the royal treasures the immense sums of gold supplied by the provincials to compensate their annual proportion of recruits the prayers of the Goths were granted and their service was accepted by the imperial court and orders were immediately dispatched to the civil and military governors of the Thracian diocese to make the necessary preparations for the passage and substance of a great people till a proper and sufficient territory could be allotted for their future residents the liberality of the emperor was accompanied however with two harsh and rigorous conditions which prudence might justify on the side of the Romans but which distress alone could exhort from the indignant Goths before they passed to the Danube they were required to deliver their arms and it was insisted that their children should be taken from them and dispersed through the provinces of Asia where they might be civilized by the arts of education and serve as hostages to secure the fidelity of their parents during the 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 emotions were strictly observed by the vigilance of the troops which was stationed along the river and their foremost attachments were defected with considerable slaughter yet such were the timid councils of the reign of Valens that the brave officers who had served their country and the execution of their duty were punished by the loss of their employments and narrowly escaped the loss of their heads the imperial mandate was at length received for transporting over the Danube the whole body of the Gothic nation but the execution of this order was a task of labour and difficulty the stream of the Danube which in those parts is above a mile broad had been swelled by incessant rains and in this tumultuous passage many were swept away and drowned by the rapid violence of the current a large fleet of vessels, of boats and of canoes was provided many days and nights they passed and repast within defatigable toil and the most strenuous diligence was exerted by the officers of Valens that, not a single barbarian of those who were reserved to subvert the foundations of Rome should be left on the opposite shore 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 and the principal historian of the age most seriously affirms that the prodigious armies of Darius and Xerxes which had so long been considered as the fables of vain and credulous antiquity were now justified in the eyes of mankind by the evidence of fact and experience a probable testimony has fixed the number of the Gothic warriors at 200,000 men and if we can venture to add the just proportion of women of children and of slaves the whole mass of people which comprise this formidable immigration must have amounted to near a million of persons of both sexes and of all ages the children of the Goths those at least of a distinguished rank were separated from the multitude they were conducted without delay to the distant seats assigned for their residence and education and as the numerous train of hostages or captives passed through the cities they're gay and splendid apparel they're a bust and martial figure excited the surprise and envy of the provincials but the stipulation the most offensive to the Goths and the most important to the Romans were shamefully eluded the barbarians who considered their arms as the ensigns of honour and the pledges of safety were disposed to offer a price which the lust or avarice of the imperial officers was easily tempted to accept to preserve their arms the haughty warriors consented with some reluctance to prostitute their wives or their daughters the charms of a buttious maid or a comely boy secured the convenience of the inspectors who sometimes cast another who sometimes cast an eye of quervaciousness on the fringed carpets and linen garments of their new allies or who sacrificed their duty to the mean consideration of filling their farms with cattle and their houses with slaves the Goths with arms in their hands were permitted to enter the boats and when their strength was collected on the other side of the river the immense camp which was spread over the plains ensued the hills of the lower Macia assumed a threatening and even hostile aspect the leaders of the Ostrogoths Alothea and Sapharax the guardians of their infant king appeared soon afterwards on the northern banks of the Danube and immediately dispatched their ambassadors to the court of Antioch to solicit 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 fear of the imperial council an undisciplined and unsettled nation of barbarians required the firmest temper and the most dexterous management the daily subsidence of near a million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant and skillful diligence and might continually be interpreted by mistake or accident 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 make the most desperate extremities and the fortune of the state seemed to depend on the prudence as well as the integrity of the generals of Valens at this important crisis the military government of Thrace was exercised by Leprkinnis and Maximus in whose venial minds the slightest hope of private emolument outweighed every consideration of public advantage and whose guilt was only alleviated by their incapacity of discerning the pernicious effects of their rash and criminal administration instead of obeying the orders of their sovereign and satisfying with decent liberality the demands of the Goths they levied an ungenerous and oppressive tax on the wants of the hungry barbarians the violist food was sold at an extravagant price and in the room of wholesome and substantial provisions the market was filled with the flesh of dogs and of unclean animals who had died of disease to obtain the valuable acquisition of a pound of bread the Goths resigned the possession of an expensive though serviceable slave and a small quantity of meat was greedily purchased with ten pounds of precious but useless metal when their property was exhausted they continued to this necessary traffic by the sale of their sons and daughters and notwithstanding the love of freedom which animated every gothic breast they submitted to the humiliating maxim that it was better for their children to be maintained in a servile condition than to perish in a state of wretched and hopeless independence the most lively resentment is excited by the tyranny of pretended benefactors who sternly exact the debt of gratitude which they have cancelled by subsequent injuries 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 largely 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 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 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 Lopkinus and Maximus those crafty ministers who substituted the cunning of temporary expedience to the wise and salutary councils 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 as they were conscious how ill they had deserved the respect or confidence of the barbarians they diligently collected from every side a military force that might urge the tardy and reluctant march of a people who had not yet renounced the title or the duties of Roman subjects but the generals of Valens while their attention was solely directed to the discontented Viscoths imprudently disarmed the ships and the fortifications which constituted the defence of the Danube the fatal oversight was observed and improved by Alotheus and Saphrox who anxiously watched the favourable moment of escaping from the pursuit of the Huns by the help of such wraths and vessels as could be hastily procured the leaders of the Ostrogoths transported without opposition their king and their army and boldly fixed a hostile and independent camp on the territories of the empire under the name of judges Alvivus and Vertigan were the leaders of the Viscoths in peace and war and the authority which they derived from their birth was ratified by the free consent of the nation in a season of tranquility their power might have been equal as well as their rank but as soon as their countrymen were exasperated by hunger and oppression the superior abilities of Vertigan assumed the military command which he was qualified to exercise for the public welfare he restrained the impatient spirit of the Viscoths to the injuries and the insults of their tyrants should justify their resistance in the opinion of mankind but he was not disposed to sacrifice any solid advantages for the empty praise of justice and moderation sensible of the benefits which would result from the union of the Gothic powers under the same standard he secretly cultivated the friendship of the Ostrogoths and while he professed an implicit obedience to the orders of the Roman generals he proceeded by slow marches towards Marcianopolis the capital of the Lower Mercia about 70 miles from the banks of the Danube on that fatal spot the flames of discord and mutual hatred burst forth into a dreadful conflagration Lupakinius had invited the Gothic chiefs to a splendid entertainment and their marshal train remained under arms at the entrance of the palace but the gates of the city were strictly guarded and the barbarians were sternly excluded from the use of a plentiful market to which they asserted their equal claim of subjects and allies their humble prayers were rejected with insolence and derision and their patience was now exhausted the townsmen the soldiers and the Goths were soon involved in a conflict of a passionate altercation and angly reproaches a blow was imprudently given a sword hastily drawn and the first blood that was spilled in this accidental quarrel became the signal of a long and destructive war in the midst of noise and brutal intemperance Lupakinius was informed by a secret messenger that many of his soldiers were slain and dispoiled at their arms and as he was already inflamed by wine and oppressed by sleep he issued a rash command that their death should be avenged by the massacre of the guards of Fritigan and Alvivus the clamourous shouts and dying groans a praised Fritigan of his extreme danger and as he possessed the calm and intrepid spirit of a hero he saw that he was lost if he allowed a moment of deliberation to the man who had so deeply injured him a trifling dispute said the Gothic leader with a firm but gentle tone of voice appears to have arisen between the two nations but it may be productive of the most dangerous consequences unless the tumult is immediately pacified by the assurance of our safety and the authority of our presence at these words Fritigan and his companions drew their swords opened their passage through the unresisting crowd which filled the palace the streets and the gates of Markinopolis and mounting their horses hastily vanished from the eyes of the astonished Romans the generals of the Goths were saluted by the fierce and joyful acclamations of the camp war was instantly resolved and the resolution was executed without delay the banners of the nation were displayed according to the custom of their ancestors and the air resounded with the harsh and mournful music of the barbarian trumpet the weak and guilty Lappacinius who had dared to provoke who had neglected to destroy and who still presumed to despise his formidable enemy marched against the Goths at the head of such a military force as could be collected on this sudden emergency the barbarians expected his approach about nine miles from Markinopolis and on this occasion the talents of the general were found to be of a more prevailing efficiency than the weapons and discipline of the troops the valor of the Goths was so ably directed by the genius of Fritigan that they broke by a close and vigorous attack the ranks of the Roman legions Lappacinius left his arms and standards his tribunes and his bravest soldiers on the field of battle and their useless courage served only to protect the ignominious flight of their leader 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 such are the words of the Gothic historian who celebrates with rude eloquence the glory of his countrymen but the dominion of the barbarians was exercised only for the purposes of raping and destruction as they had been deprived by the ministers of the empire 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 lubricinius 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 the report of the Gothic victory was soon disfused over the adjacent country and while it filled the minds of the Romans with terror and dismay their own hasty imprudence contributed to increase the forces of fritigin and the calamities of the province some time before the great immigration a numerous body of Goths under the command of Surid and Cholius had been received into the protection and service of the empire they were encamped under the walls of Hadrian Empire but the ministers of Valens were anxious to remove them beyond the hell-spont at a distance from the dangerous temptation which might so easily be communicated by the neighbourhood and the success of their countrymen their 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 but the first magistrate of Hadrianapole 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 popular city he urged with hostile threats their instant departure the barbarians stood silent and amazed till they were exasperated by the incest until 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 shameful wounds on the backs of their flying enemies and disboiled them of the splendid armour which they were unworthy to bear the resemblance of their sufferings and their actions soon united this victorious detachment to the nation of the Viscoths the troops of Colius and Surid expected the approach of the Great Fertigan ranged themselves under his standard and signalised their ardour in the siege of Hadrianapole but the resistance of the garrison informed the barbarians that in the attack of regular fortifications the effects of unskilled courage are seldom effectual their general acknowledged his error raised his anger and general acknowledged his error raised the siege declared that he was at peace with stone walls and revenged his disappointment on the adjacent country he accepted with pleasure the useful reinforcement of Hardy Workman who laboured in the gold mines of Thrace for the monument and under the lash of an unfeeling master and these new associates conducted the barbarians the secret paths to the most sequestered places which had been chosen to secure the inhabitants the cattle and the magazines of corn with the assistance of such guides nothing could remain impervious or inaccessible resistance was fatal flight was impracticable and the patient submission of helpless innocence seldom found mercy from the barbarian conqueror in the course of these depredations a great number of the children of the Goths who had been sold into captivity were restored to the embraces of their afflicted parents but these tender interviews which might have revived and cherished in the mines some sentiments of humanity tended only to stimulate their native fierceness by the desire of revenge they listened with eager attention to the complaints of their captive children who had suffered the most cruel indignities from the lustful or angry passions of their masters and the same cruelties the same indignities were severely retaliated on the sons and daughters of the Romans the imprudence of Valens and his ministers had introduced into the heart of the empire a nation of enemies but the Viscoths 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 he declared his intention of marching from Antioch to Opel to subdue this dangerous rebellion and as he was not ignorant of the difficulties of the enterprise he solicited the assistance of his nephew the Emperor Gratian who commanded all the forces of the west the veteran troops were hastily reconciled from the defense of Armenia that important frontier was abandoned to the discretion of Sapoir and the immediate conduct of the Gothic war was entrusted during the absence of Valens to his lieutenants Trajan and Prophetaurus two generals who indulged themselves in a very false and favourable opinion of their own abilities on their arrival in Thrace they were joined by Recoma Count of the Domestics and the Auxiliaries of the west that marched under his banner were composed of the Gaelic legions reduced indeed by a spirit of desertion to the vain appearances of strength and numbers in a council of war which was inflamed by pride rather than by reason it was resolved to seek and to encounter the barbarians who lay encamped in the spacious and fertile meadows near the most southern of the six mouths of the Danube their camp was surrounded by the usual fortification of wagons the barbarians secure within the vast circle of their enclosure enjoyed the fruits of their valor and the spoils of the province in the midst of riotous intemperance the watchful Fritigun observed the motions and penetrated the designs of the Romans he perceived that the numbers of the enemy were continually increasing and as he understood their intention of attacking his rear the curiosity of Forage should oblige him to remove his camp he recalled to their standard his predatory detachments which covered the adjacent country as soon as they described the flaming beacons they obeyed with incredible speed the signal of their leader the camp was filled with the martial crowd of barbarians their impatient clamors demanded the battle and their tumultuous zeal was approved and animated by the spirit of the chiefs the evening was already far advanced and the two armies prepared themselves for the approaching combat which was deferred only till the dawn of day while the trumpet sounded to arms the undaunted courage of the Goths was confirmed by the mutual obligation of a solemn oath and as they advanced to meet the enemy the rude songs which celebrated the glory of their forefathers were mingled with the fierce and dissonant outcries and opposed to the artificial harmony of the Roman shout some military skill was displayed by Fritigan to gain the advantage of a commanding eminence but the bloody conflict which began and ended with the light was maintained on either side by the personal and obstinate efforts of strength, valor and agility the legions of Armenia supported their fame in arms but they were oppressed by the irresistible weight of the hostile multitude the left wing of the Romans was thrown into disorder and the field was strewed with their mangled carcasses this partial defeat was balanced however by a partial success and when the two armies at a late hour of the evening retreated to their respective camps neither of them could claim the honors or the effects of their decisive victory the real loss was more severely felt by the Romans in proportion to the smallness of their numbers but the Goths were so deeply confounded and dismayed by this vigorous and perhaps unexpected resistance that they remained seven days within the circle of their fortifications such funeral rites as the circumstances of time and place would admit were piously discharged to some officers of distinguished rank but the indiscriminate vulgar was left unburied on the plain their flesh was greedily devoured by the birds of prey who in that age enjoyed very frequent and delicious feasts and several years afterwards the white and naked bones which covered the wide extent of the fields presented to the eyes of Imanius a dreadful monument of the battle of Salicus 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 pressures of their own multitudes they prepared to confine the Visigoths in the narrow angle of land between the Danube the desert of Scythia to their strength and spirit should be insensibly wasted by the inevitable approach of famine 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 Saturnanus 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 Fritigun the just apprehension that he himself might be surrounded and overwhelmed by the arms of hostile and unknown nations compelled Saturnanus to relinquish the siege of the Gothic camp and the indignant Visgoths breaking from their confinement satiated their hunger and revenge by the repeated devastation of the fruitful country which extends above 300 miles from the banks of the Danube to the straits of the Hellsbond the sagacious Fritigun had successfully appealed to the passions as well as to the interest of his barbarian allies and the love of raping and the hatred of Rome seconded or even penetrated the eloquence of his ambassadors he cemented a strict and useful alliance with the great body of his countrymen who obeyed Alotheus and Saphrax as the guardians of their infant king the long animosity of rival tribes was suspended by the sense of their common interest the independent part of the nation was associated under one standard and the chiefs of the Ostrogoths appeared to have yielded to the superior genius of the general of the Visgoths he obtained the formidable age of the Tifela whose military renown was disgraced and polluted by the public infamy of their domestic manners every youth on his entrance into the world was united by the ties of honourable friendship and brutal love to some warrior of the tribe nor could he hoped to be released from this unnatural connection Tillier deproved his manhood by slaying in single combat a huge bear or a wild boar of the forest but the most powerful auxiliary of the Goths were drawn from the camp of those enemies who had expelled them from their native seats the loose subordination and extensive possessions of the Huns and the Alani delayed the conquests and distracted the councils and left that victorious people several of the hordes were alert by the liberal promises of Fritigin and the rapid calvary of Scythia added weight and energy to the steady and strenuous effects of the Gothic inventory who could never forgive the success of Valentinian enjoyed and increased the general confusion and a seasonable eruption of the Almani in the promises of Gaul engaged the attention and diverted the forces of the Emperor of the West End of Chapter 26 Part 3