the indolent assurance of success. The barbarians, finding it impdslible to traverse the Danube and the Roman camp, broke 'through the posts in their rear, which were more feebly or less carefully guarded; and with incredible diligence, but by a different road, returned to. wards the mountains of Italy 3', Aurelian, who considered the war as totally extinguished, received the mortifying intelligence of the escape of the Alemanni, and of 'the ravage which they already committed in the territory of Milan, The legions were commanded to follow, with as much expedition as those heavy bodies were capable of. _ exerting, the rapid flight of an enemy, whose infantry and cavalry moved with almost equal fwiftness. A few vdays afterwards the emperor himself marched to the relief of Italy, at the

head of a chosen body of auxiliaries (among whom were the hostages and cavalry of the Vandais), and of all the Praetorian guards who had served in the wars on the Danube 33. ,

As the light troops of the Alemanni had spread themselves from the Alps to the Apennine, the incessant vigilance of Aurelian and his officers ' was exercised in the discovery, the attack, and i the pursuit of the numerous detachments. Notwithstanding this desultory war, three considerable battles are mentioned, in which the prin. cipal force of both armics was obstinater engaged 3'. The success was various. In the first, fought near Placentia,_ the Romans received so severe a blow, that, according to the expression ssof a writer extremely partial to Aurelian, the 'immediate dissolution of the empire was apprehended3-5. The crafty barbarians, who had ling ed the woods, suddenly attacked the legions in the dusk of the evening, and, it is most pro. bable, after the fatigue and disorder of a long march. The fury of their charge was irresistible; but at length, after a dreadful slaughter, the patient firmness of the emperor rallied his troops, and restored, in some degree, the honour of his

had advanced along the [Emilian and Flaminian way, with a design of sacking the defenceless But Aurelian, who, watchful for the safety of Rome, still hung on their rear, found in this place the decisive moment, of giving them a total and irretrievable defeat '7. The flying remnant of their host was exterminated in a third and last battle near Pavia; and Italy was delivered from the inroads of the Alemanni.

Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their invisible enemies. Though the best hope of the republic was in the valour and conduct of Aurelian, yet such was the public consternation, when the barbarians were hourly expected at the gates of Rome, that, by a decree of the senate, the Sibylline books were consulted. * Even the emperor himself, from a motive. either of religion or of policy, recommended this salutary measure, chided the tardiness of the senate 33, and offered to supply whatever expence, whatever animals, whatever captives of any nation, the gods should require. Notwithstanding this liberal offer, it does not appear, that any human victims expiated with their blood the sins of the Roman people; The Sibylline books enjoined ceremonies of a more harmless nature, processions of priests in white robes, attended by a chorus of youths C H AP.

Portifications of Rome.