Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part III

When Stilicho seemed to abandon his sovereign in the unguarded
palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his
absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might
retard their march. He principally depended on the rivers of
Italy, the Adige, the Mincius, the Oglio, and the Addua, which,
in the winter or spring, by the fall of rains, or by the melting
of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous
torrents. 37 But the season happened to be remarkably dry: and
the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony
beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow
stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a
strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached
the walls, or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud
satisfaction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him.
Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs,
hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his
person in the city of Arles, which had often been the royal
residence of his predecessors. 3711 But Honorius 38 had scarcely
passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic
cavalry; 39 since the urgency of the danger compelled him to seek
a temporary shelter within the fortifications of Asta, a town of
Liguria or Piemont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus. 40 The
siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and
seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and
indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold
declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his
breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably
obtain much credit, even in his own court. 41 In the last, and
almost hopeless extremity, after the Barbarians had already
proposed the indignity of a capitulation, the Imperial captive
was suddenly relieved by the fame, the approach, and at length
the presence, of the hero, whom he had so long expected. At the
head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho swam the stream
of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost in the
attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of
much less hazard and difficulty; and the successful action, in
which he cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of
Asta, revived the hopes, and vindicated the honor, of Rome.
Instead of grasping the fruit of his victory, the Barbarian was
gradually invested, on every side, by the troops of the West, who
successively issued through all the passes of the Alps; his
quarters were straitened; his convoys were intercepted; and the
vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain of
fortifications, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A
military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the
Gothic nation; of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in
furs, and whose stern countenances were marked with honorable
wounds. They weighed the glory of persisting in their attempt
against the advantage of securing their plunder; and they
recommended the prudent measure of a seasonable retreat. In this
important debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the conqueror of
Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their
achievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating
speech by the solemn and positive assurance that he was resolved
to find in Italy either a kingdom or a grave. 42

37 (return) [ Every traveller must recollect the face of
Lombardy, (see Fonvenelle, tom. v. p. 279,) which is often
tormented by the capricious and irregular abundance of waters.
The Austrians, before Genoa, were encamped in the dry bed of the
Polcevera. “Ne sarebbe” (says Muratori) “mai passato per mente a
que’ buoni Alemanni, che quel picciolo torrente potesse, per cosi
dire, in un instante cangiarsi in un terribil gigante.” (Annali
d’Italia, tom. xvi. p. 443, Milan, 1752, 8vo edit.)]

3711 (return) [ According to Le Beau and his commentator M. St.
Martin, Honorius did not attempt to fly. Settlements were offered
to the Goths in Lombardy, and they advanced from the Po towards
the Alps to take possession of them. But it was a treacherous
stratagem of Stilicho, who surprised them while they were
reposing on the faith of this treaty. Le Beau, v. x.]

38 (return) [ Claudian does not clearly answer our question,
Where was Honorius himself? Yet the flight is marked by the
pursuit; and my idea of the Gothic was is justified by the
Italian critics, Sigonius (tom. P, ii. p. 369, de Imp. Occident.
l. x.) and Muratori, (Annali d’Italia. tom. iv. p. 45.)]

39 (return) [ One of the roads may be traced in the Itineraries,
(p. 98, 288, 294, with Wesseling’s Notes.) Asta lay some miles on
the right hand.]

40 (return) [ Asta, or Asti, a Roman colony, is now the capital
of a pleasant country, which, in the sixteenth century, devolved
to the dukes of Savoy, (Leandro Alberti Descrizzione d’Italia, p.
382.)]

41 (return) [ Nec me timor impulit ullus. He might hold this
proud language the next year at Rome, five hundred miles from the
scene of danger (vi. Cons. Hon. 449.)]

42 (return) [ Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo Victus,
humum.——The speeches (de Bell. Get. 479-549) of the Gothic
Nestor, and Achilles, are strong, characteristic, adapted to the
circumstances; and possibly not less genuine than those of Livy.]

The loose discipline of the Barbarians always exposed them to the
danger of a surprise; but, instead of choosing the dissolute
hours of riot and intemperance, Stilicho resolved to attack the
Christian Goths, whilst they were devoutly employed in
celebrating the festival of Easter. 43 The execution of the
stratagem, or, as it was termed by the clergy of the sacrilege,
was intrusted to Saul, a Barbarian and a Pagan, who had served,
however, with distinguished reputation among the veteran generals
of Theodosius. The camp of the Goths, which Alaric had pitched in
the neighborhood of Pollentia, 44 was thrown into confusion by
the sudden and impetuous charge of the Imperial cavalry; but, in
a few moments, the undaunted genius of their leader gave them an
order, and a field of battle; and, as soon as they had recovered
from their astonishment, the pious confidence, that the God of
the Christians would assert their cause, added new strength to
their native valor. In this engagement, which was long maintained
with equal courage and success, the chief of the Alani, whose
diminutive and savage form concealed a magnanimous soul approved
his suspected loyalty, by the zeal with which he fought, and
fell, in the service of the republic; and the fame of this
gallant Barbarian has been imperfectly preserved in the verses of
Claudian, since the poet, who celebrates his virtue, has omitted
the mention of his name. His death was followed by the flight and
dismay of the squadrons which he commanded; and the defeat of the
wing of cavalry might have decided the victory of Alaric, if
Stilicho had not immediately led the Roman and Barbarian infantry
to the attack. The skill of the general, and the bravery of the
soldiers, surmounted every obstacle. In the evening of the bloody
day, the Goths retreated from the field of battle; the
intrenchments of their camp were forced, and the scene of rapine
and slaughter made some atonement for the calamities which they
had inflicted on the subjects of the empire. 45 The magnificent
spoils of Corinth and Argos enriched the veterans of the West;
the captive wife of Alaric, who had impatiently claimed his
promise of Roman jewels and Patrician handmaids, 46 was reduced
to implore the mercy of the insulting foe; and many thousand
prisoners, released from the Gothic chains, dispersed through the
provinces of Italy the praises of their heroic deliverer. The
triumph of Stilicho 47 was compared by the poet, and perhaps by
the public, to that of Marius; who, in the same part of Italy,
had encountered and destroyed another army of Northern
Barbarians. The huge bones, and the empty helmets, of the Cimbri
and of the Goths, would easily be confounded by succeeding
generations; and posterity might erect a common trophy to the
memory of the two most illustrious generals, who had vanquished,
on the same memorable ground, the two most formidable enemies of
Rome. 48

43 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 37) is shocked at the impiety
of the Romans, who attacked, on Easter Sunday, such pious
Christians. Yet, at the same time, public prayers were offered at
the shrine of St. Thomas of Edessa, for the destruction of the
Arian robber. See Tillemont (Hist des Emp. tom. v. p. 529) who
quotes a homily, which has been erroneously ascribed to St.
Chrysostom.]

44 (return) [ The vestiges of Pollentia are twenty-five miles to
the south-east of Turin. Urbs, in the same neighborhood, was a
royal chase of the kings of Lombardy, and a small river, which
excused the prediction, “penetrabis ad urbem,” (Cluver. Ital.
Antiq tom. i. p. 83-85.)]

45 (return) [ Orosius wishes, in doubtful words, to insinuate the
defeat of the Romans. “Pugnantes vicimus, victores victi sumus.”
Prosper (in Chron.) makes it an equal and bloody battle, but the
Gothic writers Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Jornandes (de Reb.
Get. c. 29) claim a decisive victory.]

46 (return) [ Demens Ausonidum gemmata monilia matrum, Romanasque
alta famulas cervice petebat. De Bell. Get. 627.]

47 (return) [ Claudian (de Bell. Get. 580-647) and Prudentius (in
Symmach. n. 694-719) celebrate, without ambiguity, the Roman
victory of Pollentia. They are poetical and party writers; yet
some credit is due to the most suspicious witnesses, who are
checked by the recent notoriety of facts.]

48 (return) [ Claudian’s peroration is strong and elegant; but
the identity of the Cimbric and Gothic fields must be understood
(like Virgil’s Philippi, Georgic i. 490) according to the loose
geography of a poet. Verselle and Pollentia are sixty miles from
each other; and the latitude is still greater, if the Cimbri were
defeated in the wide and barren plain of Verona, (Maffei, Verona
Illustrata, P. i. p. 54-62.)]

The eloquence of Claudian 49 has celebrated, with lavish
applause, the victory of Pollentia, one of the most glorious days
in the life of his patron; but his reluctant and partial muse
bestows more genuine praise on the character of the Gothic king.
His name is, indeed, branded with the reproachful epithets of
pirate and robber, to which the conquerors of every age are so
justly entitled; but the poet of Stilicho is compelled to
acknowledge that Alaric possessed the invincible temper of mind,
which rises superior to every misfortune, and derives new
resources from adversity. After the total defeat of his infantry,
he escaped, or rather withdrew, from the field of battle, with
the greatest part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Without
wasting a moment to lament the irreparable loss of so many brave
companions, he left his victorious enemy to bind in chains the
captive images of a Gothic king; 50 and boldly resolved to break
through the unguarded passes of the Apennine, to spread
desolation over the fruitful face of Tuscany, and to conquer or
die before the gates of Rome. The capital was saved by the active
and incessant diligence of Stilicho; but he respected the despair
of his enemy; and, instead of committing the fate of the republic
to the chance of another battle, he proposed to purchase the
absence of the Barbarians. The spirit of Alaric would have
rejected such terms, the permission of a retreat, and the offer
of a pension, with contempt and indignation; but he exercised a
limited and precarious authority over the independent chieftains
who had raised him, for their service, above the rank of his
equals; they were still less disposed to follow an unsuccessful
general, and many of them were tempted to consult their interest
by a private negotiation with the minister of Honorius. The king
submitted to the voice of his people, ratified the treaty with
the empire of the West, and repassed the Po with the remains of
the flourishing army which he had led into Italy. A considerable
part of the Roman forces still continued to attend his motions;
and Stilicho, who maintained a secret correspondence with some of
the Barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprised of the designs that
were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the
Goths, ambitious to signalize his retreat by some splendid
achievement, had resolved to occupy the important city of Verona,
which commands the principal passage of the Rhaetian Alps; and,
directing his march through the territories of those German
tribes, whose alliance would restore his exhausted strength, to
invade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and unsuspecting
provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason which had already
betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards
the passes of the mountains, already possessed by the Imperial
troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a
general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In
this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona,
the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had
sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who
escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been
slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had
not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric
secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and
prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege
against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on
all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of
hunger and disease; nor was it possible for him to check the
continual desertion of his impatient and capricious Barbarians.
In this extremity he still found resources in his own courage, or
in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic
king was considered as the deliverance of Italy. 51 Yet the
people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational
judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign
the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often
surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the
republic. The first momen of the public safety is devoted to
gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy
and calumny. 52

49 (return) [ Claudian and Prudentius must be strictly examined,
to reduce the figures, and extort the historic sense, of those
poets.]

50 (return) [

Et gravant en airain ses freles avantages De mes etats conquis
enchainer les images.

The practice of exposing in triumph the images of kings and
provinces was familiar to the Romans. The bust of Mithridates
himself was twelve feet high, of massy gold, (Freinshem.
Supplement. Livian. ciii. 47.)]

51 (return) [ The Getic war, and the sixth consulship of
Honorius, obscurely connect the events of Alaric’s retreat and
losses.]

52 (return) [ Taceo de Alarico... saepe visto, saepe concluso,
semperque dimisso. Orosius, l. vii. c. 37, p. 567. Claudian (vi.
Cons. Hon. 320) drops the curtain with a fine image.]

The citizens of Rome had been astonished by the approach of
Alaric; and the diligence with which they labored to restore the
walls of the capital, confessed their own fears, and the decline
of the empire. After the retreat of the Barbarians, Honorius was
directed to accept the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to
celebrate, in the Imperial city, the auspicious era of the Gothic
victory, and of his sixth consulship. 53 The suburbs and the
streets, from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were
filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of a hundred years,
had only thrice been honored with the presence of their
sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where
Stilicho was deservedly seated by the side of his royal pupil,
they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like
that of Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The
procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been purposely
erected: but in less than seven years, the Gothic conquerors of
Rome might read, if they were able to read, the superb
inscription of that monument, which attested the total defeat and
destruction of their nation. 54 The emperor resided several
months in the capital, and every part of his behavior was
regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy,
the senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his
frequent visits and liberal gifts to the shrines of the apostles.
The senate, who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused
from the humiliating ceremony of preceding on foot the Imperial
chariot, was treated with the decent reverence which Stilicho
always affected for that assembly. The people was repeatedly
gratified by the attention and courtesy of Honorius in the public
games, which were celebrated on that occasion with a magnificence
not unworthy of the spectator. As soon as the appointed number of
chariot-races was concluded, the decoration of the Circus was
suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded a various
and splendid entertainment; and the chase was succeeded by a
military dance, which seems, in the lively description of
Claudian, to present the image of a modern tournament.

53 (return) [ The remainder of Claudian’s poem on the sixth
consulship of Honorius, describes the journey, the triumph, and
the games, (330-660.)]

54 (return) [ See the inscription in Mascou’s History of the
Ancient Germans, viii. 12. The words are positive and indiscreet:
Getarum nationem in omne aevum domitam, &c.]

In these games of Honorius, the inhuman combats of gladiators 55
polluted, for the last time, the amphitheater of Rome. The first
Christian emperor may claim the honor of the first edict which
condemned the art and amusement of shedding human blood; 56 but
this benevolent law expressed the wishes of the prince, without
reforming an inveterate abuse, which degraded a civilized nation
below the condition of savage cannibals. Several hundred, perhaps
several thousand, victims were annually slaughtered in the great
cities of the empire; and the month of December, more peculiarly
devoted to the combats of gladiators, still exhibited to the eyes
of the Roman people a grateful spectacle of blood and cruelty.
Amidst the general joy of the victory of Pollentia, a Christian
poet exhorted the emperor to extirpate, by his authority, the
horrid custom which had so long resisted the voice of humanity
and religion. 57 The pathetic representations of Prudentius were
less effectual than the generous boldness of Telemachus, an
Asiatic monk, whose death was more useful to mankind than his
life. 58 The Romans were provoked by the interruption of their
pleasures; and the rash monk, who had descended into the arena to
separate the gladiators, was overwhelmed under a shower of
stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they
respected the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honors
of martyrdom; and they submitted, without a murmur, to the laws
of Honorius, which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the
amphitheater. 5811 The citizens, who adhered to the manners of
their ancestors, might perhaps insinuate that the last remains of
a martial spirit were preserved in this school of fortitude,
which accustomed the Romans to the sight of blood, and to the
contempt of death; a vain and cruel prejudice, so nobly confuted
by the valor of ancient Greece, and of modern Europe! 59

55 (return) [ On the curious, though horrid, subject of the
gladiators, consult the two books of the Saturnalia of Lipsius,
who, as an antiquarian, is inclined to excuse the practice of
antiquity, (tom. iii. p. 483-545.)]

56 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xv. tit. xii. leg. i. The
Commentary of Godefroy affords large materials (tom. v. p. 396)
for the history of gladiators.]

57 (return) [ See the peroration of Prudentius (in Symmach. l.
ii. 1121-1131) who had doubtless read the eloquent invective of
Lactantius, (Divin. Institut. l. vi. c. 20.) The Christian
apologists have not spared these bloody games, which were
introduced in the religious festivals of Paganism.]

58 (return) [ Theodoret, l. v. c. 26. I wish to believe the story
of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has
been erected, to the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of
humanity.]

5811 (return) [ Muller, in his valuable Treatise, de Genio,
moribus et luxu aevi Theodosiani, is disposed to question the
effect produced by the heroic, or rather saintly, death of
Telemachus. No prohibitory law of Honorius is to be found in the
Theodosian Code, only the old and imperfect edict of Constantine.
But Muller has produced no evidence or allusion to gladiatorial
shows after this period. The combats with wild beasts certainly
lasted till the fall of the Western empire; but the gladiatorial
combats ceased either by common consent, or by Imperial
edict.—M.]

59 (return) [ Crudele gladiatorum spectaculum et inhumanum
nonnullis videri solet, et haud scio an ita sit, ut nunc fit.
Cicero Tusculan. ii. 17. He faintly censures the abuse, and
warmly defends the use, of these sports; oculis nulla poterat
esse fortior contra dolorem et mortem disciplina. Seneca (epist.
vii.) shows the feelings of a man.]

The recent danger, to which the person of the emperor had been
exposed in the defenceless palace of Milan, urged him to seek a
retreat in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might
securely remain, while the open country was covered by a deluge
of Barbarians. On the coast of the Adriatic, about ten or twelve
miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the
Thessalians had founded the ancient colony of Ravenna, 60 which
they afterwards resigned to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who
had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the
distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbor,
for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This
naval establishment, which included the arsenals and magazines,
the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers,
derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the
Roman fleet; the intermediate space was soon filled with
buildings and inhabitants, and the three extensive and populous
quarters of Ravenna gradually contributed to form one of the most
important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured
a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the
city, to the entrance of the harbor; the same waters were
introduced into the profound ditches that encompassed the walls;
they were distributed by a thousand subordinate canals, into
every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of
small islands; the communication was maintained only by the use
of boats and bridges; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance
may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation
of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many
miles, was a deep and impassable morass; and the artificial
causeway, which connected Ravenna with the continent, might be
easily guarded or destroyed, on the approach of a hostile army
These morasses were interspersed, however, with vineyards: and
though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town
enjoyed a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water. 61
The air, instead of receiving the sickly, and almost
pestilential, exhalations of low and marshy grounds, was
distinguished, like the neighborhood of Alexandria, as uncommonly
pure and salubrious; and this singular advantage was ascribed to
the regular tides of the Adriatic, which swept the canals,
interrupted the unwholesome stagnation of the waters, and
floated, every day, the vessels of the adjacent country into the
heart of Ravenna. The gradual retreat of the sea has left the
modern city at the distance of four miles from the Adriatic; and
as early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian era, the
port of Augustus was converted into pleasant orchards; and a
lonely grove of pines covered the ground where the Roman fleet
once rode at anchor. 62 Even this alteration contributed to
increase the natural strength of the place, and the shallowness
of the water was a sufficient barrier against the large ships of
the enemy. This advantageous situation was fortified by art and
labor; and in the twentieth year of his age, the emperor of the
West, anxious only for his personal safety, retired to the
perpetual confinement of the walls and morasses of Ravenna. The
example of Honorius was imitated by his feeble successors, the
Gothic kings, and afterwards the Exarchs, who occupied the throne
and palace of the emperors; and till the middle of the eight
century, Ravenna was considered as the seat of government, and
the capital of Italy. 63

60 (return) [ This account of Ravenna is drawn from Strabo, (l.
v. p. 327,) Pliny, (iii. 20,) Stephen of Byzantium, (sub voce, p.
651, edit. Berkel,) Claudian, (in vi. Cons. Honor. 494, &c.,)
Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. i. epist. 5, 8,) Jornandes, (de Reb.
Get. c. 29,) Procopius (de Bell, (lothic, l. i. c. i. p. 309,
edit. Louvre,) and Cluverius, (Ital. Antiq tom i. p. 301-307.)
Yet I still want a local antiquarian and a good topographical
map.]

61 (return) [ Martial (Epigram iii. 56, 57) plays on the trick of
the knave, who had sold him wine instead of water; but he
seriously declares that a cistern at Ravenna is more valuable
than a vineyard. Sidonius complains that the town is destitute of
fountains and aqueducts; and ranks the want of fresh water among
the local evils, such as the croaking of frogs, the stinging of
gnats, &c.]

62 (return) [ The fable of Theodore and Honoria, which Dryden has
so admirably transplanted from Boccaccio, (Giornata iii. novell.
viii.,) was acted in the wood of Chiassi, a corrupt word from
Classis, the naval station which, with the intermediate road, or
suburb the Via Caesaris, constituted the triple city of Ravenna.]

63 (return) [ From the year 404, the dates of the Theodosian Code
become sedentary at Constantinople and Ravenna. See Godefroy’s
Chronology of the Laws, tom. i. p. cxlviii., &c.]

The fears of Honorius were not without foundation, nor were his
precautions without effect. While Italy rejoiced in her
deliverance from the Goths, a furious tempest was excited among
the nations of Germany, who yielded to the irresistible impulse
that appears to have been gradually communicated from the eastern
extremity of the continent of Asia. The Chinese annals, as they
have been interpreted by the learned industry of the present age,
may be usefully applied to reveal the secret and remote causes of
the fall of the Roman empire. The extensive territory to the
north of the great wall was possessed, after the flight of the
Huns, by the victorious Sienpi, who were sometimes broken into
independent tribes, and sometimes reunited under a supreme chief;
till at length, styling themselves Topa, or masters of the earth,
they acquired a more solid consistence, and a more formidable
power. The Topa soon compelled the pastoral nations of the
eastern desert to acknowledge the superiority of their arms; they
invaded China in a period of weakness and intestine discord; and
these fortunate Tartars, adopting the laws and manners of the
vanquished people, founded an Imperial dynasty, which reigned
near one hundred and sixty years over the northern provinces of
the monarchy. Some generations before they ascended the throne of
China, one of the Topa princes had enlisted in his cavalry a
slave of the name of Moko, renowned for his valor, but who was
tempted, by the fear of punishment, to desert his standard, and
to range the desert at the head of a hundred followers. This gang
of robbers and outlaws swelled into a camp, a tribe, a numerous
people, distinguished by the appellation of Geougen; and their
hereditary chieftains, the posterity of Moko the slave, assumed
their rank among the Scythian monarchs. The youth of Toulun, the
greatest of his descendants, was exercised by those misfortunes
which are the school of heroes. He bravely struggled with
adversity, broke the imperious yoke of the Topa, and became the
legislator of his nation, and the conqueror of Tartary. His
troops were distributed into regular bands of a hundred and of a
thousand men; cowards were stoned to death; the most splendid
honors were proposed as the reward of valor; and Toulun, who had
knowledge enough to despise the learning of China, adopted only
such arts and institutions as were favorable to the military
spirit of his government. His tents, which he removed in the
winter season to a more southern latitude, were pitched, during
the summer, on the fruitful banks of the Selinga. His conquests
stretched from Corea far beyond the River Irtish. He vanquished,
in the country to the north of the Caspian Sea, the nation of the
Huns; and the new title of Khan, or Cagan, expressed the fame and
power which he derived from this memorable victory. 64

64 (return) [ See M. de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p.
179-189, tom ii p. 295, 334-338.]

The chain of events is interrupted, or rather is concealed, as it
passes from the Volga to the Vistula, through the dark interval
which separates the extreme limits of the Chinese, and of the
Roman, geography. Yet the temper of the Barbarians, and the
experience of successive emigrations, sufficiently declare, that
the Huns, who were oppressed by the arms of the Geougen, soon
withdrew from the presence of an insulting victor. The countries
towards the Euxine were already occupied by their kindred tribes;
and their hasty flight, which they soon converted into a bold
attack, would more naturally be directed towards the rich and
level plains, through which the Vistula gently flows into the
Baltic Sea. The North must again have been alarmed, and agitated,
by the invasion of the Huns; 6411 and the nations who retreated
before them must have pressed with incumbent weight on the
confines of Germany. 65 The inhabitants of those regions, which
the ancients have assigned to the Suevi, the Vandals, and the
Burgundians, might embrace the resolution of abandoning to the
fugitives of Sarmatia their woods and morasses; or at least of
discharging their superfluous numbers on the provinces of the
Roman empire. 66 About four years after the victorious Toulun had
assumed the title of Khan of the Geougen, another Barbarian, the
haughty Rhodogast, or Radagaisus, 67 marched from the northern
extremities of Germany almost to the gates of Rome, and left the
remains of his army to achieve the destruction of the West. The
Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians, formed the strength of
this mighty host; but the Alani, who had found a hospitable
reception in their new seats, added their active cavalry to the
heavy infantry of the Germans; and the Gothic adventurers crowded
so eagerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that by some
historians, he has been styled the King of the Goths. Twelve
thousand warriors, distinguished above the vulgar by their noble
birth, or their valiant deeds, glittered in the van; 68 and the
whole multitude, which was not less than two hundred thousand
fighting men, might be increased, by the accession of women, of
children, and of slaves, to the amount of four hundred thousand
persons. This formidable emigration issued from the same coast of
the Baltic, which had poured forth the myriads of the Cimbri and
Teutones, to assault Rome and Italy in the vigor of the republic.
After the departure of those Barbarians, their native country,
which was marked by the vestiges of their greatness, long
ramparts, and gigantic moles, 69 remained, during some ages, a
vast and dreary solitude; till the human species was renewed by
the powers of generation, and the vacancy was filled by the
influx of new inhabitants. The nations who now usurp an extent of
land which they are unable to cultivate, would soon be assisted
by the industrious poverty of their neighbors, if the government
of Europe did not protect the claims of dominion and property.

6411 (return) [ There is no authority which connects this inroad
of the Teutonic tribes with the movements of the Huns. The Huns
can hardly have reached the shores of the Baltic, and probably
the greater part of the forces of Radagaisus, particularly the
Vandals, had long occupied a more southern position.—M.]

65 (return) [ Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. iii. p. 182)
has observed an emigration from the Palus Maeotis to the north of
Germany, which he ascribes to famine. But his views of ancient
history are strangely darkened by ignorance and error.]

66 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 331) uses the general description
of the nations beyond the Danube and the Rhine. Their situation,
and consequently their names, are manifestly shown, even in the
various epithets which each ancient writer may have casually
added.]

67 (return) [ The name of Rhadagast was that of a local deity of
the Obotrites, (in Mecklenburg.) A hero might naturally assume
the appellation of his tutelar god; but it is not probable that
the Barbarians should worship an unsuccessful hero. See Mascou,
Hist. of the Germans, viii. 14. * Note: The god of war and of
hospitality with the Vends and all the Sclavonian races of
Germany bore the name of Radegast, apparently the same with
Rhadagaisus. His principal temple was at Rhetra in Mecklenburg.
It was adorned with great magnificence. The statue of the gold
was of gold. St. Martin, v. 255. A statue of Radegast, of much
coarser materials, and of the rudest workmanship, was discovered
between 1760 and 1770, with those of other Wendish deities, on
the supposed site of Rhetra. The names of the gods were cut upon
them in Runic characters. See the very curious volume on these
antiquities—Die Gottesdienstliche Alterthumer der Obotriter—Masch
and Wogen. Berlin, 1771.—M.]

68 (return) [ Olympiodorus (apud Photium, p. 180), uses the Greek
word which does not convey any precise idea. I suspect that they
were the princes and nobles with their faithful companions; the
knights with their squires, as they would have been styled some
centuries afterwards.]

69 (return) [ Tacit. de Moribus Germanorum, c. 37.]