filled the ancient province, and was insensibly blended into one great people, still acknowledg'd thesuperiofrenown and authority of the GoZhic iribe, and claimed the fancied honour of a Scandinavian origin. _ At the same time the lucky though accidental resemblance of the name of Gmta, insused among the 'credulous Goths a vain persuasion, that, in a remote age, their own ancestors, already seated in the Dacian provinces, had received the instructions of Zamolxis, and checked the Victorious arms of Sesostris and Darius V.

_ While the vigorous and moderate conduct of Aurelian restored the Illyrian frontier, the nation of the Alemanni" violated the conditions of peace, which either Gallienus had purchased, or Claudius had imposed, and inflamed by their impatient youth, suddenly flew to arms. Forty thousand horse appeared in the field ", and the numbers of the infantry doubled those of the eavalry'C The first objects of their avarice

applies to the light infantry of the Alemassnni the technical terms proper only to the Grecian phalanx.

C 3 were

CHAP. were a few Cities of the Rhaetian frontier; but

A. D. 2 70. September.

their hopes soon rising with success, the rapidss march of the Alemanni traced a line of devastation from the Danube to the Po 23.

The emperor was almost at the same time informed of the irruption, and of the retreat, of the barbarians. Collecting an active body of troops, he marched with silence and celerity along the skirts of the Hercynian forest 5 and the Alemanni, laden with the spoils of Italy, arrived at the Danube, without susPecting, that on the opposite bank, and in an advantageous post, a Roman army lay concealed and prepared to intercept their return. Aurelian indulged the fatal

- security of the barbarians, and permitted about

veryjudiciousiy alters the word to Eridanus. martial

and discipline of Rome. The legions stood to their arms in well-ordered ranks and awful silence. vThe principal commanders, distinguished by the ensigns of their rank, appeared on horseback on either fide of the Imperial throne. Behind the throne, the consecrated images of the emperor," and his predecessors V, the golden eagles, 'and the' various titles of the legions, engraved in letters of gold, were exalted in the air on lofty pikes covered with silver. When Aurelian assumed his seat, his manly grace and majestic figure 3" taught the barbarians to revere the person as well as the purple of their conqueror: ' The ambassadors fell prostrate on the ground in silence. They were commanded to rise, and permitted to speak. By the affistance of interpreters they extenuated their perfidy, magnified their exploits, expatiated on the vicili fitudes of fortune and the advantages of peace, and, with an ill-timed confidence, demanded a large subsidy, as the price of the alliance which they offered to the Romans. The answer of the emperor was stern and imperious. He treated their offer with contempt, and their demand with indignation, reproached the barbarians, 'that they were as ignorant of the arts of war as