OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 101 enemy, marched against the Goths, at the head of such a mihtary force as could be collected on this sudden emergency. The Barbarians expected his approach about nine miles from Marcianopolis ; and on this occasion the talents of the general were found to be of more prevailing efficacy than the weapons and discipline of the troops. The valour of the Goths was so ably directed by the genius of Fritigem that they broke, by a close and vigorous attack, the ranks of the Roman legions. Lupicinus left his arms and standards, his tribunes and his bravest soldiei's, on the field of battle ; and their useless courage served only to protect the ignominious flight of their leader. "That successful day put an end to the distress of the Barbarians and the security of the Romans : from that day, the Goths, renouncing the precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the character of citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the possessors of land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces of the empire, which are bounded by the Danube." Such are the words of the Gothic historian, '^'^ who celebrates, with rude eloquence, the glory of his countrymen. But the dominion of the Barbarians was exercised only for the purposes of rapine and destruction. As they had been deprived, by the ministers of the emperor, of the common benefits of nature and the fair intercourse of social life, they retaliated the injustice on the subjects of the empire ; and the crimes of Lupicinus were ex- piated by the ruin of the peaceful husbandmen of Thrace, the They pene- n n 1 ■ ■^^ ii ■•• trate into conflagration oi their villages, and the massacre, or captivity, Thrace of their innocent families. The report of the Gothic victory was soon diffused over the adjacent country ; and, while it filled the minds of the Romans with terror and dismay, their own hasty prudence contributed to increase the forces of Fritigem and the calamities of the province. Some time before the great emigration, a numerous body of Goths, under the command of Suerid and Colias, had been received into the protection and service of the empire. '^^ They were encamped under the walls of Hadrianople : but the ministers of Valens were anxious to remove them beyond the Hellespont, at a distance from the dangerous temptation which might so easily ^4 Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 26, p. 648. edit. Grot. These splendidi panni (they are comparatively such) are undoubtedly transcribed from the larger histories of Priscus, Ablavius, or Cassiodorius. "■"'Cum popuhs suis longe ante suscepti. We are ignorant of the precise date and circumstances of their transmigration.
