XXI.

with the titles of præfects and generals, dissembled CHAP.
or disregarded the terrors of this national emigration;
so extremely different from the partial and accidental
colonies, which had been received on the extreme
limits of the empire. But they applauded the libe-
rality of fortune, which had conducted, from the most
distant countries of the globe, a numerous and invin-
cible army of strangers, to defend the throne of Va-
lens; 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 despatched to the civil and
military governors of the Thracian diocese, to make
the necessary preparations for the passage and sub-
sistence of a great people, till a proper and sufficient
territory could be allotted for their future residence.
The liberality of the emperor was accompanied, how-
ever, with two harsh and rigorous conditions, which
prudence might justify on the side of the Romans;
but which distress alone could extort from the indig-
nant Goths. Before they passed the Danube, they
were required to deliver their arms and it was in-
sisted 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.

over the

into the

During this suspense of a doubtful and distant They are negotiation, the impatient Goths made some rash transported attempts to pass the Danube, without the permission Danube of the government, whose protection they had im- Roman plored. Their motions were strictly observed by the vigilance of the troops which were stationed along the river; and their foremost detachments were defeated with considerable slaughter: yet such were the timid councils of the reign of Valens, that the

empire.

XXI.

CHAP. brave officers who had served their country in the execution of their duty were punished by the loss of their employments, and narrowly escaped the loss of their heads. 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 repassed with indefatigable 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 jus tified, in the eyes of mankind, by the evidence of fact and experience. A probable testimony has fixed the number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thousand men ; and if we can venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of slaves, the whole mass of people which composed this formi dable emigration must have amounted to near a million of persons, of both sexes, and of all ages. 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

The

the Da

rel assigned for their residence and education; and as
the numerous train of hostages or captives passed
through the cities, their gay and splendid apparel,
their robust and martial figure, excited the surprise
and envy of the Provincials. But the stipulation, the
he most offensive to the Goths, and the most important
to the Romans, was shamefully eluded. The Bar-
barians, 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 Goths, with arms in their hands, were permitted
to enter the boats; and when their strength was col-
lected on the other side of the river, the immense
camp which was spread over the plains and the hills
of the Lower Mæsia assumed a threatening and even
hostile aspect. The leaders of the Ostrogoths, Ala-
theus and Saphrax, the guardians of their infant king,
appeared soon afterwards on the northern banks of
the Danube; and immediately despatched their ambas-
sadors to the court of Antioch, to solicit, with the
same professions of allegiance and gratitude, the same
favour which had been granted to the suppliant Visi-
goths. The absolute refusal of Valens suspended
their progress, and discovered the repentance, the
suspicions, and the fears, of the Imperial council.

CHAP.

XXI.

tress and discontent.

An undisciplined and unsettled nation of Bar- Their disbarians required the firmest temper, and the most dexterous management. The daily subsistence of near a million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant and skilful diligence, and might continually be interrupted by mistake or accident. The insolence or the indignation of the Goths, if they conceived themselves to be the objects either of fear or of contempt, might urge them to the most

XXI.

CHAP. desperate extremities; and the fortune of the sta 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 exer cised by Lupicinus and Maximus, in whose vend minds the slightest hope of private emolument outweighed every consideration of public advantage, and whose guilt was only alleviated by their incapacity discerning the pernicious effects of their rash and en minal administration. Instead of obeying the orders of their sovereign, and satisfying, with decent likerality, the demands of the Goths, they levied an ungenerous and oppressive tax on the wants of the hur gry Barbarians. The vilest food was sold at an er travagant price; and, in the room of wholesome and substantial provisions, the markets were 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 a precious, but useless, metal*. When their property was exhausted, they continued this ne cessary 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 chil dren to be maintained in a servile condition, than to perish in a state of wretched and helpless independ ence. 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

* Decem libras; the word silver must be understood. Jornandes betrays the passions and prejudices of a Goth. The servile Greeks, Eunapius and Zosimus, disguise the Roman oppression, and execrate the perfidy of the Barbarians. Ammianus, a patriot historian, slightly, and reluctantly, touches on the odious subject. Jerom, who wrote almost on the spot, is fair, though concise. Per avaritiam Maximi ducis, ad rebellionem fame coacti sunt (in Chron.).

XXI.

harose in the camp of the Barbarians, who pleaded, CHAP. pr without success, the merit of their patient and dutiful ! behaviour; and loudly complained of the inhospitable treatment which they had received from their new Mi 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 d famine. But the means of relief, and even of revenge, were in their hands; since the rapaciousness Jk of their tyrants had left, to an injured people, the possession and the use of arms. The clamours of a multitude, untaught to disguise their sentiments, announced the first symptoms of resistance, and alarmed the timid and guilty minds of Lupicinus and Maximus. Those crafty ministers, who substituted the cunning of temporary expedients 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 Visigoths, imprudently disarmed the ships and the fortifications which constituted the defence of the Danube. The fatal oversight was observed, and improved, by Alatheus and Saphrax, who anxiously watched the favourable moment of escaping from the pursuit of the Huns. By the help of such rafts and vessels as could be hastily procured, the leaders of the Ostrogoths transported, without opposition, their king

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