OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 111 army. About the same time Count Richomer returned from the West, to announce the defeat and submission of the Alemanni ; to inform Valens that his nephew advanced by rapid marches at the head of the veteran and victorious legions of Gaul ; and to request, in the name of Gratian and of the republic, that every dangei'ous and decisive measure might be suspended, till the junction of the two emperors should ensure the success of the Gothic war. But the feeble sovereign of the East was actuated only by the fatal illusions of pride and jealousy. He disdained the importunate advice ; he rejected the humiliating aid ; he secretly compared the ignominious, or at least the inglorious, period of his own reign with the fame of a beardless youth : and Valens rushed into the field, to erect his imaginary trophy, before the diligence of his colleague could usurp any share of the triumphs of the day. On the ninth of August, a day which has deserved to be marked among the most inauspicious of the Roman Calendar,^^ Battle of the emperor Valens, leaving, under a strong guard, his baggage a.d. sts, and military treasure, marched from Hadrianople to attack the Goths, who were encamped about twelve miles from the city.^* By some mistake of the orders, or ignorance of the ground, the right wing, or column of cavalry, arrived in sight of the enemy, whilst the left was still at a considerable distance ; the soldiers were compelled, in the sultry heat of summer, to precipitate their pace ; and the line of battle was formed with tedious confusion and irregular delay. The Gothic cavalry had been detached to forage in the adjacent country ; and Fritigern still continued to practise his customary arts. He dispatched messengers of peace, made proposals, required hostages, and wasted the hours, till the Romans, exposed without shelter to the burning rays of the sun, were exhausted by thirst, hunger, and intolerable fatigue. The emperor was persuaded to send an ambassador to the Gothic camp ; the zeal of Richomer, who alone had courage to accept the dangerous commission, was applauded : and the count of the domestics, adorned with ^'Ammianus (xxxi. 12, 13) almost alone describes the councils and actions which were terminated by the fatal battle of Hadrianople. We might censure the vices of his style, the disorder and perplexity of his narrative ; but we must now take leave of this impartial historian, and reproach is silenced by our regret for such an irreparable loss. [The most recent investigation of the Battle of Hadrian- ople is by Judeich, in the Deutsche Ztsch. f. Geschichtswissenschaft, 1891, p. i, sqqJ] S'^The difference of the eight miles of Ammianus, and the twelve of Idatius, can only embarrass those critics (Valesius ad loc.) who suppose a great army to be a mathematical point, without space or dimensions. [The Goths had come from N.El. comer of the province of Haemimontus ; cp. Hodgkin, i. 269.]
