with innumerable tents. The late emperor had cultivated, with of the Lombards While Alboin served under his father's standard, he encountered Alboin, king in battle, and transpierced with his lance, the rival prince of the Gepida. The Lombards, who applauded such early prowess, requested his father, with unanimous acclamations, that the heroic youth, who had shared the dangers of the field, might be admitted (5) Corippus, 1. iii. 390. The unquestionable sense relates to the Turks, the conquerors of the Avars; but the word scultor has no apparent meaning, and the sole MS. of Corippus, from whence the first edition (1581, apud Plantin) was printed, is no longer visible. The last editor, Foggini of Rome, has inserted the conjectural emendation of soldan: but the proofs of Ducange (Joinville, Dissert. xvi. p. 238-240.), for the early use of this title among the Turks and Persians, are weak or ambiguous. And I must incline to the authority of D'Herbelot (Bibliothèque Orient. p. 825.), who ascribes the word to the Arabic and Chaldæan tongues, and the date to the beginning of the xith century, when it was bestowed by the khalif of Bagdad on Mahmud prince of Gazna, and conqueror of India. (6) For these characteristic speeches, compare the verse of Corippus (l. iii. 251–401.) with the prose of Menander (Excerpt. Legation. p. 102, 103.) Their diversity proves that they did not copy each other; their resemblance, that they drew from a common original. (7) For the Austrasian war, see Menander (Excerpt. Legat. p. 110.), Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc. 1. iv. c. 29.), and Paul the deacon (de Gest. Langobard. 1. ii. c. 10.). his valour, revenge. love, and 66 to the feast of victory. "You are not unmindful," replied the inflexible Audoin, "of the wise customs of our ancestors. Whatever may be his merit, a prince is incapable of sitting at table with *his father till he has received his arms from a foreign and royal "hand." Alboin bowed with reverence to the institutions of his country, selected forty companions, and boldly visited the court of Turisund, king of the Gepida, who embraced and entertained, according to the laws of hospitality, the murderer of his son. At the banquet, whilst Alboin occupied the seat of the youth whom he had slain, a tender remembrance arose in the mind of Turisund. "How dear is that place-how hateful is that person-" were the words that escaped, with a sigh, from the indignant father. His grief exasperated the national resentment of the Gepida; and Cunimund, his surviving son, was provoked by wine, or fraternal affection, to the desire of vengeance.. "The Lombards," said the rude Barbarian, "resemble, in figure and in smell, the mares of our "Sarmatian plains." And this insult was a coarse allusion to the white bands which enveloped their legs. "Add another resem"blance," replied an audacious Lombard; "you have felt how ❝ strongly they kick. Visit the plain of Asfeld, and seek for the "bones of thy brother: they are mingled with those of the vilest "animals." The Gepidæ, a nation of warriors, started from their seats, and the fearless Alboin, with his forty companions, laid their hands on their swords. The tumult was appeased by the venerable interposition of Turisund. He saved his own honour, and the life of his guest; and, after the solemn rites of investiture, dismissed the stranger in the bloody arms of his son; the gift of a weeping parent. Alboin returned in triumph; and the Lombards, who celebrated his matchless intrepidity, were compelled to praise the virtues of an enemy (8). In this extraordinary visit he had probably seen the daughter of Cunimund, who soon after ascended the throne of the Gepida. Her name was Rosamond, an appellation expressive of female beauty, and which our own history or romance has consecrated to amorous tales. The king of the Lombards (the father of Alboin no longer lived) was contracted to the grand-daughter of Clovis; but the restraints of faith and policy soon yielded to the hope of possessing the fair Rosamond, and of insulting her family and nation. The arts of persuasion were tried without success; and the impatient lover, by force and stratagem, obtained the object of his desires. War was the consequence which he foresaw and solicited; but the Lombards could not long withstand the furious assault of the Gepida, who were sustained by a Roman army. And, as the offer of marriage was rejected with (8) Paul Warnefrid, the deacon of Friuli, de Gest. Langobard. 1. i. c. 23, 24. His pictures of national manners, though rudely sketched, are more lively and faithful than those of Bede, or Gregory of Tours. contempt, Alboin was compelled to relinquish his prey, and to partake of the disgrace which he had inflicted on the house of Cunimund (9). When a public quarrel is envenomed by private injuries, a blow that is not mortal or decisive can be productive only of a short truce, which allows the unsuccessful combatant to sharpen his arms for a new encounter. The strength of Alboin had been found unequal to the gratification of his love, ambition, and revenge: he condes cended to implore the formidable aid of the chagan; and the arguments that he employed are expressive of the art and policy of the Barbarians. In the attack of the Gepida, he had been prompted by the just desire of extirpating a people whom their alliance with the Roman empire had rendered the common enemies of the nations, and the personal adversaries of the chagan. If the forces of the Avars and the Lombards should unite in this glorious quarrel, the victory was secure, and the reward inestimable: the Danube, the Hebrus, Italy, and Constantinople, would be exposed, without a barrier, to their invincible arms. But, if they hesitated or delayed to prevent the malice of the Romans, the same spirit which had insulted would pursue the Avars to the extremity of the earth. These specious reasons were heard by the chagan with coldness and disdain: he detained the Lombard ambassadors in his camp, protracted the negotiation, and by turns alleged his want of inclination, or his want of ability, to undertake this important enterprise. At length he signified the ultimate price of his alliance, that the Lombards should immediately present him with the tithe of their cattle; that the spoils and captives should be equally divided; but that the lands of the Gepida should become the sole patrimony of the Avars. Such hard conditions were eagerly accepted by the passions of Alboin; and, as the Romans were dissatisfied with the ingratitude and perfidy of the Gepida, Justin abandoned that incorrigible people to their fate, and remained the tranquil spectator of this unequal conflict. The despair of Cunimund was active and dangerous. He was informed that the Avars had entered his confines; but, on the strong assurance that, after the defeat of the Lombards, these foreign invaders would easily be repelled, he rushed forwards to encounter the implacable enemy of his name and family. But the courage of the Gepida could secure them no more than an honourable death. The bravest of the nation fell in the field of battle; the king of the Lombards contemplated with delight the head of Cunimund; and his skull was fashioned into a cup to satiate the hatred of the conqueror, or, perhaps, to comply with the savage custom of his country (10). After this victory, no farther (9) The story is told by an impostor (Theophylact. Simocat. 1. vi. c. 10.); but he had art enough to build his fictions on public and notorious facts. (10) It appears from Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus Marcellinus, that the same practice was common The Lombards and Avars destroy the king and kingdom of the Gepida, A. D. 566. Alboin obstacle could impede the progress of the confederates, and they faithfully executed the terms of their agreement (11). The fair countries of Walachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and the parts of Hungary beyond the Danube, were occupied, without resistance, by a new colony of Scythians; and the Dacian empire of the chagans subsisted with splendour above two hundred and thirty years. The nation of the Gepida was dissolved; but, in the distribution of the captives, the slaves of the Avars were less fortunate than the companions of the Lombards, whose generosity adopted a valiant foe, and whose freedom was incompatible with cool and deliberate tyranny. One moiety of the spoil introduced into the camp of Alboin more wealth than a Barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond was persuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the rights of her victorious lover; and the daughter of Cunimund appeared to forgive those crimes which might be imputed to her own irresistible charms. The destruction of a mighty kingdom established the fame of undertakes Alboin. In the days of Charlemagne, the Bavarians, the Saxons, the conquest of Italy, and the other tribes of the Teutonic language, still repeated the A. D. 567. songs which described the heroic virtues, the valour, liberality, and fortune of the king of the Lombards (12). But his ambition was yet unsatisfied; and the conqueror of the Gepidæ turned his eyes from the Danube to the richer banks of the Po and the Tyber. Fifteen years had not elapsed, since his subjects, the confederates of Narses, had visited the pleasant climate of Italy: the mountains, the rivers, the highways, were familiar to their memory: the report of their success, perhaps the view of their spoils, had kindled in the rising generation the flame of emulation and enterprise. Their hopes were encouraged by the spirit and eloquence of Alboin; and it is affirmed, that he spoke to their senses, by producing, at the royal feast, the fairest and most exquisite fruits that grew spontaneously in the garden of the world. No sooner had he erected his standard, than the native strength of the Lombards was multiplied by the adventurous youth of Germany and Scythia. The robust peasantry of Noricum and Pannonia had resumed the manners of Barbarians; and the names of the Gepida, Bulgarians, Sarmatians, and Bavarians, may be distinctly traced in the provinces of among the Scythian tribes (Muratori, Scriptores Rer. Italic. tom. i. p. 424.). The scalps of North América are likewise trophies of valour. The skull of Cunimund was preserved above two hundred years among the Lombards; and Paul himself was one of the guests to whom duke Ratchis exhibited this cup on a high festival (1. ii. c. 28.). (11) Paul, l. i. c. 27. Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 110, 111. (12) Ut hactenus etiam tam apud Bajoariorum gentem, quam et Saxonum, sed et alios ejusdem linguæ homines. in eorum carminibus celebretur. Paul, 1. i. c. 27. He died A. D. 799. (Muratori, in Præfat. tom. i. p. 397.). These German songs, some of which might be as old as Tacitus (de Moribus Germ. c. 2.), were compiled and transcribed by Charlemagne. Barbara et antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella canebantur scripsit memoriæque mandavit (Eginard, in Vit. Carol. Magn. c. 29. p. 130, 131.). The poems, which Goldast commends (Animadvers. ad Eginard. p. 207.), appear to be recent and contemptible romances. Italy (13). Of the Saxons, the old allies of the Lombards, twenty thousand warriors, with their wives and children, accepted the invitation of Alboin. Their bravery contributed to his success; but the accession or the absence of their numbers was not sensibly felt in the magnitude of his host. Every mode of religion was freely practised by its respective votaries. The king of the Lombards had been educated in the Arian heresy; but the Catholics, in their public worship, were allowed to pray for his conversion; while the more stubborn Barbarians sacrificed a she-goat, or perhaps a captive, to the gods of their fathers (14). The Lombards, and their confederates, were united by their common attachment to a chief, who excelled in all the virtues and vices of a savage hero; and the vigilance of Alboin provided an ample magazine of offensive and defensive arms for the use of the expedition. The portable wealth of the Lombards attended the march: their lands they cheerfully relinquished to the Avars, on the solemn promise, which was made and accepted without a smile, that, if they failed in the conquest of Italy, these voluntary exiles should be reinstated in their former possessions. and death of Narses. They might have failed, if Narses had been the antagonist of the Disaffection Lombards; and the veteran warriors, the associates of his Gothic victory, would have encountered with reluctance an enemy whom they dreaded and esteemed. But the weakness of the Byzantine court was subservient to the Barbarian cause; and it was for the ruin of Italy, that the emperor once listened to the complaints of his subjects. The virtues of Narses were stained with avarice; and, in his provincial reign of fifteen years, he accumulated a treasure of gold and silver which surpassed the modesty of a private fortune. His government was oppressive or unpopular, and the general discontent was expressed with freedom by the deputies of Rome. Before the throne of Justin they boldly declared, that their Gothic servitude had been more tolerable than the despotism of a Greek eunuch; and that, unless their tyrant were instantly removed, they would consult their own happiness in the choice of a master. The apprehension of a revolt was urged by the voice of envy and detraction, which had so recently triumphed over the merit of Belisarius. A new exarch, Longinus, was appointed to supersede the conqueror of Italy, and the base motives of his recal were revealed in the insulting mandate of the empress Sophia, "that he "should leave to men the exercise of arms, and return to his proper "station among the maidens of the palace, where a distaff should (13) The other nations are rehearsed by Paul (1. ii, c. 6. 26.). Muratori (Antichita Italiane, tom. i. dissert. i. p. 4.) has discovered the village of the Bavarians, three miles from Modena. (14) Gregory the Roman (Dialog. 1. iii. c. 27, 28. apud Baron. Annal. Eccles. A. D. 579, No. 10.) supposes that they likewise adored this she-goat. I know but of one religion in which the god and the victim are the same. |